Undrafted 4th year Russian-born goaltender Andrey Makarov(1) was signed by Buffalo Sabres in 2012/2013 season but sent back to finish up his third year of juniors with Saskatoon Blades. where he won the Memorial Cup and was voted Most Outstanding Goalie despite a 4.09 GAA and .889 SV%.
He started his rookie campaign with affiliate Rochester Americans but was pretty quickly sent further down to Fort Wayne Komets playing 31 ECHL games posting a decent 2.79 GAA and .906 SV% before returning to the AHL.
The 6’1″ 195 lbs. net minder appeared in 10 contests putting up a very decent 7-3 record with 2.20 GAA and .927 SV% then starting all 5 Calder Cup Playoff match-ups.
A late cut from his sophomore training camp he appeared in his only NHL game near the end of the 2014/2015 season.
He was primarily the Amerks‘ starting goalie amassing 39 games without a postseason berth.
For the final year of his entry level deal he was shipped to the minors and basically forgotten.
The still super-young 23-year back stop voiced his displeasure with the arrangement and heading into restricted free agency has decided to head back home the the KHL signing for two years with Spartak Moskva.
It will be super-interesting to see how this develops.