Cal Petersen not signing with the Sabres

Cal Petersen will not be the Sabres goalie of the future.

The Notre Dame star will not sign with the Sabres and will go to free agency according to Sabres GM Jason Botterill.

“I don’t believe he’ll be signing with the Buffalo Sabres,” General Manager Jason Botterill told the media Friday. “I’ve spoken to Cal. At this time, I think he’s going to probably move to free agency, and we’ll go from there.”

Petersen declared his intention to go pro last month following his junior year at Notre Dame. He played 40 games with the Fighting Irish last season, putting up a 23-12-5 record and a 2.22 GAA and .926 save percentage.

The Sabres had 30 days to sign Petersen before he became a free agent. He’ll be able to sign with another team next week. Petersen was originally a fifth-round pick of the Sabres in 2013.

The move was somewhat expected and makes Botterill’s decision to give up a pick to protect Linus Ullmark in the expansion draft make plenty of sense. Ullmark is now the far-and-away best goalie prospect in the system.

This is the second straight year the Sabres have lost a college player to free agency, but last year’s situation was very different. The Sabres traded for the rights to Jimmy Vesey after he wouldn’t sign with the Predators. He didn’t sign with the Sabres either, opting to go to the Rangers as a free agent.