Jack McNaughton has become a regular presence at Buffalo Sabres practices and on road trips, working in a job that offers daily NHL experience while making an actual game appearance unlikely.
The Sabres hired the 25-year-old in August as their emergency backup goaltender and a goaltending scout, according to Justin Alpert’s feature for Sabres.com. Alex Lyon’s injury subsequently created more opportunities for McNaughton to practice with the team than he initially expected.
A college graduate gets an NHL opportunity
McNaughton, a Calgary native, graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 2026 with a finance degree. He won 20 games over four seasons there before searching for a professional opportunity in Europe.
His agency, Bartlett Hockey, helped bring him to the attention of Sabres assistant general manager Jerry Forton. McNaughton told Alpert that friends who had also graduated initially doubted his account of landing the Buffalo job, believing it only after seeing an Instagram post.
According to the team report, the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement requires each club to employ a designated emergency backup goalie, commonly called an EBUG. That goalie also travels when a team has only two healthy, active goalies.
The report describes eligibility requirements that include fewer than 80 professional games, no NHL appearances and no professional games in the preceding three seasons. Some emergency goalies have another responsibility within their organization, as McNaughton does through scouting.
Extra practice time brings lessons and harder shots
Buffalo had planned to carry three goalies, limiting McNaughton’s expected workload. Lyon’s absence instead made the 6-foot-1 goalie a frequent participant in practices, morning skates and travel.
McNaughton often stays on the ice after the starting goalie and backup have finished, taking additional shots and receiving instruction from goaltending coach Mike Bales. He told Alpert that observing Bales’ conversations, video work and technical instruction has shown him how much there is to learn at the NHL level.
The shots themselves have provided another adjustment. McNaughton described the force of attempts from players such as Tage Thompson and Jack Quinn, including shots that struck his mask and left his ears ringing.
Before college, McNaughton played for the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen alongside current Rochester Americans players Zac Funk and Riley Fiddler-Schultz. Another teammate was Dakota Krebs, older brother of Buffalo forward Peyton Krebs.
He did not already know the current Sabres players, but Lyon helped him adjust to the team. McNaughton initially used his college pads and a glove and blocker from former Sabres goalie Alexandar Georgiev before receiving Buffalo equipment of his own. His mask now carries Bugzy, a nickname derived from EBUG.
Scouting and readiness remain part of the job
Lyon’s return does not eliminate McNaughton’s practice role. Injuries and maintenance days can still create a need for another goalie, the team report explained.
His scouting work includes attending college games and reviewing film. McNaughton said evaluating other goalies also helps him understand his own play, complementing the instruction he receives from Bales and Buffalo’s goalies.
He knows the memorable emergency appearances of Scott Foster for Chicago in 2018 and David Ayres for Carolina in 2020. Foster made seven saves in 14 minutes against Winnipeg; Ayres made eight saves in 28 minutes and earned a win against Toronto after both Hurricanes goalies were injured, according to Alpert’s report.
McNaughton also understands that his own opportunity would require injuries elsewhere on the roster. Remaining available without being needed in a game would mean Buffalo’s regular goalies were healthy.
“Obviously, nobody wants to see me on the ice, preferably,” McNaughton told Sabres.com. “That means everything’s going right, everybody’s healthy.”
The Sabres have nevertheless made him part of the group. When Thompson and Dennis Gilbert led the stretching circle on their birthdays after practice Oct. 30 in Los Angeles, teammates made sure McNaughton, who shared the birthday, joined them.
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