The NHL’s 2025-26 season is just around the corner, and here at THN.com’s Buffalo Sabres site, we’ve committed to analyzing every Sabres player and the expectations on them next season. Every Buffalo player has the pressure to get this Sabres team into the playoffs for the first time in a decade-and-a-half, but every player’s outlook is at least a little bit different.
We began the series with this look at Sabres presumptive starting goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen,and today, we’re moving along to the veteran netminder signed by the Sabres this summer – Alex Lyon.
Player Name: Alex Lyon
Position: Goaltender
Age: 32
2024-25 Key Statistics: 30 appearances, 14-9-1 record, .896 save percentage, 2.81 goals-against average
2025-26 Salary: $1.5 million
2025-26 Expectations: Lyon has spent the past two seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, but he failed to make the starter’s job his own each year. Still, Lyon did enough this past season to merit a $600,000 raise from the $900,000 he earned last year.
But Lyon – who has never made more than 44 appearances in a single season – may be called into action for significantly longer if Luukkonen spirals and fails in the starter’s role for a second straight year. And if Lyon does struggle along with Luukkonen, the Sabres may turn to 23-year-old Devon Levi, who will almost assuredly begin the season with Buffalo’s American League affiliate.
In the past two years with the Detroit Red Wings, Lyon did show more promise in the first year, posting a .904 SP and 3.05 G.A.A. But consistency has been a problem for him – and if the Sabres are turning to Lyon in any meaningful way, it’s because the defense corps in front of Luukkonen is also under-performing. So Lyon may be on an island unto himself depending on how the year unfolds.
Lyon’s contract runs through the 2026-27 campaign, and the investment the Sabres have made in him limits their moves if things don’t turn out particularly well. Buffalo doesn’t want to pay anyone other than Jeff Skinner to not play for them multiple years from now. So, for better or worse, Lyon is likely to be a fixture for Buffalo. And buying out the final year of his deal just doesn't make sense for the Sabres.
Still, we’ve already said we like the Lyon signing for the Sabres. They’re not breaking the bank for Lyon, nor are they committing two or three more years to him. Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams needed to bring in goalie insurance, and at a cost that wouldn’t harm the Sabres’ chances to improve the roster in other areas. He did that with Lyon.
Lyon isn’t being asked to be a world-beater. He’s there to provide support to Luukkonen and perhaps Levi, and be a professional whose consistency is something on which the team can rely.
And if he can do those relatively modest things, Lyon will be considered a successful Sabres signing.
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