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Next up in our player discussion series: #41 Andrej Meszaros D (29-year-old UFA) Buffalo 60/7/7/14/-13/36 There was a time Meszaros was a big, highly regarded young defenceman who strung together three consecutive 35-point seasons with the Ottawa Senators. The sky seemed to be the limit. Two disappointing seasons in Tampa turned into two rebound seasons in Philadelphia, turned into two seasons where injuries rendered him irrelevant. When Tim Murray signed him to a one-year $4 million contract it seemed like a decent gamble on both sides. The Sabres had the cap space to overpay on a one-year deal for a guy who had received a Norris trophy vote just three years before. Meszaros gave up security to get paid more this year than he would have received anywhere else. Both sides were betting he could shake off the hurts and rebound into a solid NHL defenceman, setting himself up for a better UFA deal this summer. By anyone’s estimation, Meszaros got off to a horrible start to the season, looking slow afoot, making frequent poor decisions and seemingly picking up a minus nearly every game. He quickly became Sabrespace’s favourite whipping boy, a status he never really relinquished, even though he had seven goals and was a respectable -3 over his final 50 games. Virtually everyone seems to believe he is gone. The question is does Tim Murray feel the same way? Links to the rest of the series: Anders Linback: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23313-roster-review-35-anders-lindback/ Pat Kaleta: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23321-roster-review-36-patrick-kaleta/ Johan Larsson: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23326-roster-review-22-johan-larsson/ Matt Hackett: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23335-roster-review-31-matt-hackett/