Michael Houser makes a save Feb. 17 in Rochester. ©2023, Micheline Veluvolu, Rochester Americans

Sabres sign goalie Michael Houser to NHL contract

The Buffalo Sabres on Monday signed goalie Michael Houser, who has spent all season with the Rochester Americans, to an NHL contract and placed him on waivers.

This is the third straight year the Sabres have awarded Houser, 30, an NHL deal during the season. Each time, he had been playing on an AHL contract.

His new contract is worth a prorated $750,000 in the NHL and $100,000 in the minors, according to capfriendly.com.

Last season, as injuries and illness ravaged the Sabres, they signed Houser in January. He went into COVID-19 protocol after playing two games. Two years ago, they utilized him on their taxi squad the latter half of the campaign. When they ran out of goalies, he started the final four games of the season, his first NHL appearances.

It’s unclear why the Sabres signed Houser now. They have three goalies on the NHL roster: Craig Anderson, Eric Comrie and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. In Rochester, Houser has been backing up Malcolm Subban, who has NHL experience and a two-way contract.

Giving Houser an NHL contract, of course, increases their depth. If he clears waivers, he will almost certainly stay with Rochester.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Houser has compiled a 6-5-1 record with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage in 14 games with the Amerks this season. In his NHL career, he has compiled a 4-2-0 mark with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.

3 thoughts on “Sabres sign goalie Michael Houser to NHL contract”

    1. But why would they have to sign him to an NHL contract to do that? They could simply trade a goalie, and would still have 2 remaining. Doesn’t make sense. Doesn’t make sense why we’d aquire another depth DMan as well, considering it puts us over the roster limit. I could understand acquiring one that was an upgrade, then we could easily send Clague back down to Rochester. But these specific moves dont seem to make much sense unless there are more coming.

  1. Bring him up to the Sabres for the remainder of the season. All he did was win when the Sabres needed him previously. I am still confused why they haven’t given him a real chance at the NHL level. I’m sure there is some sort of analytics that say otherwise but the dude was great when called on for the Sabres. Our current options are swiss cheese so why not ride him and Levi for a test drive for rest of season.

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