The Buffalo Sabres were involved in plenty of goalie rumors in the offseason, but with their regular season opener next Thursday, nothing of that sort has come to fruition.
For better or worse, it seems they plan to head into the new season with the same trio they had last year: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis.
There’s just one problem with that at the moment: Lyon is injured.
He started in the preseason on Thursday night, but he didn’t finish.
Ellis had to come into the game to finish things off against the Detroit Red Wings in what turned out to be an overtime loss for Buffalo.
The result doesn’t count yet, but the injury does. The Sabres will have no choice but to wait for more information.
Alex Lyon Injury Update
Lyon left the Sabres’ preseason game with the Red Wings on Thursday night midway through to be replaced by Colten Ellis.
As he left, Lyon was favoring his shoulder, according to The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn.
Alex Lyon just left the Sabres’ preseason game against the Red Wings. Looked like he was favoring his shoulder. Colten Ellis is going into the game.
— Matthew Fairburn (@MatthewFairburn) September 24, 2026
Fairburn didn’t provide any later updates on social media other than that “the Sabres will return home with … new injuries to monitor.”
Yep, it’s not just Lyon — but hold that thought.
A Lyon injury would be particularly disappointing because of how well he played in the playoffs in his first season in Buffalo.
Lyon had a 90.6 save percentage in the regular season with a 2.77 goals against average. Then as part of the Sabres’ first playoff appearance in 15 years, Lyon had a 90.4 save percentage and a 2.59 goals against average.
UPL and Ellis are quality goalies, too, but having Lyon in the fold again seemed like a massive plus.
Nothing is clear yet, but there’s a chance the Sabres have to navigate without Lyon in the early going.
Jiri Kulich Injury Update
Kulich vanished a bit mysteriously from Thursday night’s game.
After a shift in the middle of the second period, Kulich didn’t return to the game. It wasn’t clear what he may have hurt.
Jiri Kulich hasn’t played since about midway through the second period. Sabres down a forward to finish this game.
— Matthew Fairburn (@MatthewFairburn) September 25, 2026
Red Wings beat the Sabres in overtime. And the Sabres will return home with two new injuries (Alex Lyon, Kiri Kulich) to monitor.
— Matthew Fairburn (@MatthewFairburn) September 25, 2026
This was the postgame update:
Lindy Ruff on Sabres injuries tonight:
Alex Lyon has an upper-body injury but Ruff’s “optimistic it’s not too bad.”
Jiri Kulich left game for precautionary reasons. He wanted to keep playing but Ruff “didn’t want to take any chances.”
— Justin Alpert (@alpert_justin) September 25, 2026
The Sabres at least open the season a couple days later than some teams. They play in Columbus against the Blue Jackets on Oct. 1, then have their home opener against Chicago on Oct. 3.
They’ll give some hints as to how everyone is doing when they take on the Penguins in their final preseason game on Saturday.
Until then, Sabres fans will hold their breaths.
Alex Lyon Injury Update Comes With Bad Sabres Forward News