Sabres’ Luukkonen, Kesselring out week-to-week

Both Luukkonen and Kesselring exited the Sabres’ preseason game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. Luukkonen left after the first period of the game with a lower-body injury, in which he gave up a goal on 12 shots. Ruff clarified on Friday that the ailment UPL is suffering from isn’t the same injury that he had leading into training camp. It was the Finnish netminder’s first game of the preseason.

Kesselring has reportedly been battling a nagging, undisclosed injury throughout camp. On Wednesday, he played just 14:26 of ice time, the lowest of any defender for Buffalo in a 5-3 loss to the Penguins. He posted two shots on goal, had three blocked shots and delivered a hit.

With the injuries this close to the end of the preseason, both players are now questionable to play when Buffalo opens the regular season next Thursday night against the New York Rangers. If that were the case, Ruff would be looking at either veteran Alexandar Georgiev or the young Devon Levi as the team’s starter for the first game of the new year.

Luukkonen was hopeful that he could have a bounce-back season after struggling in 2024-25. In 55 games, the 26-year-old posted a 24-24-5 record with a 3.20 goals-against average, a .887 save percentage and two shutouts. UPL is entering the second season of his five-year contract, which he signed in July 2024, with a cap hit of $4.75 million.

In 155 NHL games, Luukkonen has a career record of 71-65-15, with a 3.06 GAA, a .898 SV% and seven shutouts.

Kesselring was one of the main returns in the trade that saw the Sabres send JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth last June. He brings some necessary depth on the right side and can play top-four minutes for the rebuilding team. With Utah last year, the 25-year-old scored seven goals and 22 assists for 29 points in 82 games. In 156 career NHL appearances, he has totaled 12 goals and 41 assists for 53 points.

The New Hampton, N.H. native is heading into the second year of his two-year contract that he signed with Utah in June 2024. Kesselring is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.