Turnaround: a promising goalie suddenly becomes available, he is linked to the CH and his name is Erik Portillo

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MarcO
January 21, 2023 (2:03)

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Some time ago, there were rumours that the Habs had a strong interest in goaltending prospect Devon Levi. The connection was easy to make, as he is a native of the Montreal area...

With the loss of Carey Price and the hope of a rapid progression of the club's young players, the CH will need a true number one goalie sooner or later. Kent Hughes should not make the opposite mistake of Marc Bergevin (who never gave a team to Carey Price), by not giving a real goalie to a young team in reconstruction.

It seems, according to what Marco D'Amico reports, that Kent Hughes could very well look to the Buffalo Sabres to find a goalie of the future. The goalie in question would not be Levi, who is from here, but Erik Portillo.

In a recent episode of the podcast 32 Thoughts, Jeff Marek reported that he doesn't seem to like what he sees in Buffalo, while many goalies will be vying (Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Devon Levi, and Eric Comrie) for one of the two available NHL spots. It appears that the 22-year-old prospect will explore his autonomy next summer.

Given this situation, it wouldn't be surprising if the Sabres traded the young goalie's rights by the trade deadline. That's when the CH could take a gamble and go after him. Portillo would then have the end of the season to prove that he can be an important member of the organization and that he could be a future goalie for the club.

Portillo is a third-round pick (67th overall) of the Sabres in the 2019 draft. He currently plays in the NCAA with the University of Michigan and is one of the top goalies in the league.

As D'Amico mentions, having Portillo on staff for a year would also go a long way in getting a head start on prospect Jakub Dobes, who has also impressed in the NCAA. The latter still has two years of eligibility before he needs to be signed.

A file to follow closely...