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Have the Sabres done it again? Another gem goalie?


Buffalo Rick

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If you watched last nights game you have to wonder if the Sabres have done it again and found their next great goalie of the franchise?  Lerner was great  Not good.  GREAT!!!!  Got that?  He can even fight and will not back down.  I am starting to love the guy.  The rise has started.  Bylsma is spot on in his rebuilding job.  I am loving what I am seeing.  Reinhard, Eichel and Risto are all monsters!!   Good days are just around the corner folks.  Like it or not.  Buffalo is back in the NHL

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13 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said:

If you watched last nights game you have to wonder if the Sabres have done it again and found their next great goalie of the franchise?  Lerner was great  Not good.  GREAT!!!!  Got that?  He can even fight and will not back down.  I am starting to love the guy. Lehner has been good...in a very small sample size. he was up and down with Ottawa. Whether he can be consistent in Buffalo will be the big question. The rise has started.  Bylsma is spot on in his rebuilding job. Bylsma? He did the rebuild? Who knew? And here I was crediting Murray. I am loving what I am seeing.  Reinhard, Eichel and Risto are all monsters!!   Good days are just around the corner folks. Hate to say I told you so but I (along with several others) told you so.   Like it or not.  Buffalo is back in the NHL And 8 points behind our woefully pathetic Flyers.

 

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HJ- I'm sure Ryan Miller will be relieved to find out you are finally moving on and able to love another goalie. One word of advice, if your going to profess your love for Robin you should probably make sure you know how to spell his last name otherwise it might make the relationship a bit awkward ?

 

Lehner ? ?

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Gotta agree, Robin Lehner has been pretty good since his return........ALSO agree that the sample sizes are still very small, so will need more time (rest of the season perhaps) to see if Lehner is the real deal (goalie gem is just a tad ostentatious at this point).

 

Buffalo will have an interesting decision to make come this off season though: Chad Johnson will be a UFA. If all were right in Sabre-Land, then I'd say you can have the tandem of Lehner and Ullmark for next year.

Problem with that is, Ullmark may very well be a fine goaltender....if he is put in a situation with a good defense that can cover his miscues as he learns...plus, he needs to get the starts on a consistent basis. Being a part time goalie at the NHL level behind a still-porous defense simply won't cut it.

 

I think Ullmark could use one more season at the AHL, being called up only for a spot start here and there.....which of course, means the Sabres will need a short term NHL back up. Will Chad Johnson take a short term (one or two year) deal to stay on? Or will Buffalo need to find another stop gap backup while the defense improves which would allow Ullmark to come up and learn proper at the NHL level?

 

All the while, the Sabres will be seeing what Robin Lehner is really made of.

 

Good for you, HJ, and good for the Sabres that Lehner is proving so far he belongs, but let's hold off on the individual accolades till we see how he does under pressure, adversity, and when it counts the most.

 

As for Lehner FIGHTING....lol....isn't it refreshing to have a guy who will actually hit back rather than get run over then just complain to the media about it? Methinks so.....  :ahappy:

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6 hours ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Gotta agree, Robin Lehner has been pretty good since his return........ALSO agree that the sample sizes are still very small, so will need more time (rest of the season perhaps) to see if Lehner is the real deal (goalie gem is just a tad ostentatious at this point).

 

Buffalo will have an interesting decision to make come this off season though: Chad Johnson will be a UFA. If all were right in Sabre-Land, then I'd say you can have the tandem of Lehner and Ullmark for next year.

Problem with that is, Ullmark may very well be a fine goaltender....if he is put in a situation with a good defense that can cover his miscues as he learns...plus, he needs to get the starts on a consistent basis. Being a part time goalie at the NHL level behind a still-porous defense simply won't cut it.

 

I think Ullmark could use one more season at the AHL, being called up only for a spot start here and there.....which of course, means the Sabres will need a short term NHL back up. Will Chad Johnson take a short term (one or two year) deal to stay on? Or will Buffalo need to find another stop gap backup while the defense improves which would allow Ullmark to come up and learn proper at the NHL level?

 

All the while, the Sabres will be seeing what Robin Lehner is really made of.

 

Good for you, HJ, and good for the Sabres that Lehner is proving so far he belongs, but let's hold off on the individual accolades till we see how he does under pressure, adversity, and when it counts the most.

 

As for Lehner FIGHTING....lol....isn't it refreshing to have a guy who will actually hit back rather than get run over then just complain to the media about it? Methinks so.....  :ahappy:

Well I respect all that you have said unlike Mr Jagemeister above.  Ryan Miller was and is an elite goalie.  He won the Vezina and won the MVP in the Olympic games.  No small potatoes fella.  So to say Hasek was our last elite goalie is BS.   And Donnie Edwards and Bob Sauve were darn good too.  Back to the current situation, I do not think our defense will be bad for long.  Ristolainen is the standout exception though he still is improving.  Mike Weber is actually playing well for once in his life.  Bogosian had one hell of a game today in a loss.  Penguins were lucky too escape that first period barage.  Balsam is right on schedule with this team.  I am more than satisfied with the way the season is going.

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39 minutes ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Well I respect all that you have said unlike Mr Jagemeister above.  Ryan Miller was and is an elite goalie.  He won the Vezina and won the MVP in the Olympic games.  No small potatoes fella.  So to say Hasek was our last elite goalie is BS.   And Donnie Edwards and Bob Sauve were darn good too.  Back to the current situation, I do not think our defense will be bad for long.  Ristolainen is the standout exception though he still is improving.  Mike Weber is actually playing well for once in his life.  Bogosian had one hell of a game today in a loss.  Penguins were lucky too escape that first period barage.  Balsam is right on schedule with this team.  I am more than satisfied with the way the season is going.

He won the Vezina? I would like to be in your mind for one day if I could.

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To date, Lehner's career stats are pretty squarely in the middle ground of goalies, his 13 games this season notwithstanding. In contrast, the Sabres traded away Michal Neuvirth last season (For Chad Johnson), who has been having a phenomenal season with a larger sample size than Lehner. So if the alternative to Lehner is Neuvirth and Colin White, Brock Boser, Ilya Samsonov, or Travis Konecny - Buffalo better hope they hit a home run with the Lehner acquisition.

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Career record for Lehner:

30 wins: 49 losses. 2.88 goals against.

 

Even this year, he is 4-7 with a 2.45 goals against.

 

I have said a million times that this is the most overrated goalie in Buffalo since.....Well, you know.

 

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  • 4 months later...

Giving this thread a

Bump.gif

 

Because seeing as how Chad Johnson has moved on to Calgary, Robin Lehner WILL have to be 'goalie gem' if the Sabres are take advantage of their most recent signing with Okposo and have a chance to even sniff at a playoff berth.

 

I knocked Chad Johnson a bit last season because he was always a career backup, but looking at his numbers overall, though still a backup primarily, he put up a decent season and in many games helped make up for the fact that Lehner wasn't there due to injury and guys like Linus Ullmark weren't quite NHL ready.

 

Well, Lehner and the Sabres will no longer have Chad Johnson to pick up the slack.

Anders Nilsson now takes the slot as back up....and from I can tell, at the NHL level, and at age 26, he is still largely unproven.

 

That leaves fans with Lehner having to be 'The Man'...and live up to his HJ proclaimed "Gem" status.

To his credit, when he was in, Lehner did have a pretty good season with the Sabres...especially given the holes on defense.

 

But can he take things to a new level and will he stay healthy enough to be a factor all season long?

 

Have the Sabres really found a "gem" in Lehner? He will be an RFA at season's end, Buffalo fans....so this season would be a good one to find out if that is indeed the case!

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