Carter Hutton is now into his seventh full season and second with the Buffalo Sabres after breaking into the league with the Chicago Blackhawks playing one game during the 2012-13 season.
Since his debut with the Blackhawks, Hutton has played for the Nashville Predators, the St. Louis Blues and is now with the Sabres. He has seen only backup for the majority of his National Hockey League career to date with the exception of last season when he played 50 games for Buffalo and 40 games for Nashville during his first full season in the league in 2013-14.
Since joining the Sabres, he has shown much inconsistency. He started this season strong going 6-0-0, allowing only 10 goals through those six games with a .943 save percentage. That stretch included two shutouts. Since then, he has allowed 42 goals on 316 shots for a .867 save percentage over his last 10 games played in which he had a record of 0-6-4.
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Note: this tweet was after the 2nd period of the Dec. 19 game against Philadelphia. Hutton made four saves in the 3rd period and did not allow a goal.
What is most concerning about Hutton's latest slump is that his performance last season was similar, in that he had a strong start to the season and then fell off after a couple months.
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While the regression in performance was not as glaring last season, it shows that this may be becoming a pattern for the Sabres' goaltender.
Last season and so far this season, Hutton has shared the net with Linus Ullmark; roughly splitting the workload. This season, Buffalo's points percentage is 57.5% in Ullmark's 20 starts and is just 50% in Hutton's 16 starts. Over the last 10 starts made by Hutton, that number is only at 20%.
Maybe surprisingly, Hutton has never been sent back to the American Hockey League since he became a regular with the Preds. The Sabres are currently in a tight Atlantic Division battle in the standings and with a playoff spot on the line, many in the Sabres' fan base are calling for a demotion for Hutton.
If the Sabres were going to call up a netminder from the Rochester Americans, the most likely candidate would be Andrew Hammond. Hammond had a breakout season with the Senators in 2014-15 posting an incredible 20-1-2 record. Unfortunately, since then he has not been consistent enough to stick. His record since then is 7-14-4 over three seasons with the Sens and the Colorado Avalanche, playing in only one game for the latter. He did not play a single National Hockey League game during the 2018-19 season.
The other goalie the Sabres have available is Jonas Johansson, who has yet to make his NHL debut. After being drafted out of Sweden in the 3rd round of the 2014 Entry Draft by the Sabres, Johansson has floated up and down between the Rochester Americans and the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL). In 13 games with the Americans this season, Johansson has a record of 8-2-2 and a save percentage of .927.
Hammond has played 16 games for the Americans this year and has a record of 10-3-2 and a .916 save percentage.
