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Next up, the Sabres new number one goalie #40 Robin Lehner G (two years left at $2.2 million per, age 24) Ottawa 9/12/3/3.02/.905 6’4”, 225 pounds with an icy glare, a background in martial arts and an affection for death metal music, Robin Lehner has a presence that screams more Georges St. Pierre than Gump Worsley. But he is the man Tim Murray has hand-picked to barricade the Buffalo crease for the foreseeable future. Two years ago, Lehner seemed poised for big things. The 46th overall pick in the 2009 draft, he used a strong performance for Sweden in the 2011 World Juniors to springboard his way to a Calder Cup victory as an AHL rookie later that year. During the next two seasons, save percentages over .935 in brief stints with the Senators only cemented his position as one of hockey’s best goaltending prospects. But he followed that up with two disappointing campaigns where bouts of inconsistency and temper, plus a concussion equaled a failed bid to take hold of the Ottawa crease. The goalie-rich Senators decided it was in their best interests to move on and they surprised many by securing a first-round pick from the Sabres in exchange for his services. Murray believes strongly a fresh start with a team where he is the unquestioned number-one will give Lehner the circumstances he needs to prove himself an upper-echelon NHL tender. He also thinks his age and contract status make him worth the price paid to acquire him when there were other, cheaper options available. Many Sabre fans are not so sure and will be quick to pounce should he get off to a poor start. Links to the rest of the series:

Somebody made a great suggestion a while back about doing a series of individual player discussion threads to keep the hockey talk moving through the offseason. I figured if I want to read them, I may as well create them too. I'm will start a new thread about another Sabres player every couple of days running through the next few months. We can have at it about what we like about this player, what we don't, and how we see him fitting in to this team in the future. It might be a great opportunity to see what the forum consensus is about our roster. I'll start with our free agents, move on to the veterans under contract and finish up with prospects and new acquisitions as we get closer to next season. To kick things off: #35 Anders Lindback G (26-year-old UFA) Dallas 2/8/0 3.37 .875 Buffalo 4/8/2 2.76 .924 Lindback arrived in the NHL as part of an emerging trend for goalies: the big Scandinavian picked outside the early rounds. He spent his first two years shining as Pekka Rinne's backup in Nashville, making scouts around the league wonder if he could duplicate Rinne's success. Tampa believed, shipping two seconds and a third to the Preds for his services with the idea of making him their number one keeper. Instead, they got two years of disappointing performances. He lost his job to Ben Bishop and the Bolts did not offer him a contract last summer. He found work as a backup in Dallas, but his play there was so spotty that when Buffalo acquired him in a deal for Jhonas Enroth, many dismissed him as a contract dump at best. Others, pointing to his league-worst stats, said his real role was to ensure the success of the Sabres' tank. But Ted Nolan rode him hard and he responded very well, posting far superior numbers to his two predecessors in the Buffalo crease and adding an element of puckhandling, as he kept the Sabres in a number of games. The question is which version is the real Lindback. Did his post-deadline play has earned him another NHL shot? And will that shot be in Buffalo?