Rumor: Is Devon Levi done in Buffalo?

Late last night the Buffalo Sabres signed goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to a five year contract worth $4.75 million per season.

Check it out:

The 25 year old Luukkonen set career highs in games played (54), wins (27), and shutouts (5) last season and established himself as the team's starting goaltender. In fact, this new deal all but confirms that the Sabres plan on riding Luukkonen as their starter moving forward ahead of 22 year old top prospect Devon Levi.

“We really like the position we’re in with having UPL and Devon Levi as still young, developing goaltenders, guys we think are going to continue to grow and get better, that are extremely talented, hard-working, and character people,” GM Kevyn Adams said in a prepared statement.

Personally, I think it'll be fascinating to see how this plays out. There's a very real chance that Levi manages to wrestle #1 duties away from Luukkonen as early as this season. In which case the Sabres would wind up paying their backup goalie $4.75 million per season... for five seasons. Yikes...

Then there's the possibility that Luukkonen continues to carry the weight and that Levi's development stagnates. Imagine Levi turns into the next 'Justin Pogge' because the Sabres couldn't properly develop him. Double Yikes...

Luukkonen has made it clear that it's his goal to continue as the Sabres' #1 goalie, saying as much in the team's press release announcement.

“I think that was really good for me and it’s good learning for me,” he said after the season. “I want to be a starting goalie in this league. I feel like I can be a good starting goalie in this league. Kind of going through that this year, it helped me a lot. It helped my confidence. I feel like physically and mentally, I was really as fresh as I can be and kind of went through it without any difficulty, so I think that gives me confidence for next year too.”

Thoughts, Sabres fans? How do we feel about this news?

Are you concerned? Or can the team balance these two talented netminders?