- Buffalo hired Jack McNaughton as a goalie scout and emergency replacement goaltender, one of seven front-office moves
- The new CBA forces all 32 teams to sign a full-time EBUG who travels to every game starting this season
- Read below for the eligibility rules and why the Sabres handed their EBUG a second job
The Sabres just filled a job that did not exist last summer.
Buffalo announced seven front-office hires and promotions on Friday, and the one sitting near the bottom of the list is the one all 31 other clubs have to match. Jack McNaughton is the new goalie scout and emergency replacement goaltender.
That role used to belong to whoever happened to be in the building. Under the collective bargaining agreement the NHL and NHLPA ratified in July 2025, every team must now carry a full-time emergency goaltender who is signed by the club, approved by the league, and on hand for home and road games alike.
Clubs have to declare their EBUG 48 hours before the season opens, then again 24 hours before every game.
Eligibility is tight. A candidate cannot have played an NHL game on a standard player contract, cannot have appeared in more than 80 professional games, and cannot have played pro hockey in any of the three previous seasons.
McNaughton clears all of it. He spent the last four seasons in net at the University of Western Ontario and played major junior for the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen before that.
One hire, two jobs. The CBA lets an emergency goalie hold another role in the organization, so McNaughton scouts goaltenders when he is not dressing as the third option.
David Warsofsky headlines the rest of the group. The former Bruins, Penguins and Avalanche defenseman, brother of Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky, comes in as defense development coach after running the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays last season. Eric Weissman returns as director of college recruiting and reserve list scouting, nine years after leaving Buffalo’s amateur scouting staff for the Kings.
Chris Knieste joins as a data engineer and Ariel Amaral as a data scientist, while Matt Barlowe and Domenic Galamini Jr. were both promoted to manager roles on the hockey research side.
What the rule wipes out is the best part of the EBUG legend. Scott Foster was an accountant playing beer league hockey when Chicago ran out of goalies in 2018, and he stopped all seven shots he faced. David Ayres drove a Zamboni for the Marlies and beat the Maple Leafs for Carolina two years later.
Take a look at the night Ayres became the only emergency goalie ever credited with a win:
Nobody is getting pulled out of the stands at KeyBank Center this season.
