Roster review: #40 Robin Lehner

[dudacek]

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 46^th 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:

Anders Lindback: http://forums.sabres...nders-lindback/

Pat Kaleta: http://forums.sabres...patrick-kaleta/

Johan Larsson: http://forums.sabres...-johan-larsson/

Matt Hackett: http://forums.sabres...1-matt-hackett/

Andrej Meszaros: http://forums.sabres...ndrej-meszaros/

Phil Varone, Zac Dalpe, Jerry D'Amigo: http://forums.sabres...e-dalpe-damigo/

Mikhail Grigorenko: http://forums.sabres...ail-grigorenko/

Tyson Strachan, Andre Benoit: http://forums.sabres...han-and-benoit/

Mark Pysyk: http://forums.sabres...w-3-mark-pysyk/

Tim Schaller: http://forums.sabres...9-tim-schaller/

Matt Ellis: http://forums.sabres...-37-matt-ellis/

Cody Hodgson: http://forums.sabres...9-cody-hodgson/

Tyler Ennis: http://forums.sabres...63-tyler-ennis/

Chad Johnson: http://forums.sabres...3-chad-johnson/

Nick Deslauriers: http://forums.sabres...ck-deslauriers/

Cody McCormick: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23505-roster-review-8-cody-mccormick/

Rasmus Ristolainen: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23511-roster-review-55-rasmus-ristolainen/

Josh Gorges: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23515-roster-review-4-josh-gorges/

Matt Moulson: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23526-roster-review-26-matt-moulson/

Marcus Foligno: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23528-roster-review-82-marcus-foligno/

Zach Bogosian: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23530-roster-review-47-zach-bogosian/

David Legwand: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23537-roster-review-17-david-legwand/

Brian Gionta: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23544-roster-review-12-brian-gionta/

Zemgus Girgensons" http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23556-roster-review-28-zemgus-girgensons/

 

 

Edited August 12, 2015 by dudacek

[3putt]

Where's the poll?

[dudacek]

Where's the poll?

:lol: You're too fast man.

I have to post the content first, then add the poll, but it only takes a minute.

[3putt]

I am not to blame.  I am now addicted to broadband, 4gb downloads and an instantaneous gratification.  The Matrix has won :P

[Doohicksie]

ROBIN LEHNER WILL BE FINE.

 

 

 

I HOPE.

[LGR4GM]

:lol: You're too fast man.

I have to post the content first, then add the poll, but it only takes a minute.

When you start to a new topic on the right hand side there will be a hyperlink that says "Manage Topic Poll".  You can create the poll and the first post content all in one.

ROBIN LEHNER WILL BE FINE.

 

 

 

I HOPE.

Lehner will be something.  I won't even vote in this poll because I view him as that unpredictable.

[3putt]

Hmmm...interesting choice of questions.  Previous polls were focused on projecting where the player fit in or where their ceiling would be.  I make a distinction between the player and asset use so I have to think about this one.  

 

PS:  This is not intended to derail this thread into a discussion of trade value/ player value.  

[Doohicksie]

I disagree with the structure of the poll.  How about making about where we see him projecting going forward instead of valuing him against a pick that's already out of our hands?

[ddaryl]

He needs to be a decent starter for it to be worth 21.

[Huckleberry]

He needs to be a decent starter for it to be worth 21.

 

He was worth the gamble, nothing we have in our system screams NHL starter at the moment.   If he gets to the same playing level as Miller i'd be happy already.

That being said i can see him getting into a couple of fights , dude seems a bit nutty :D

[mphs mike]

I voted for decent NHL starter BUT, in my opinion, "decent nhl starter" and "ryan miller's career" are synonymous

Edited August 12, 2015 by mphs mike

[dudacek]

I voted for decent NHL starter BUT, in my opinion, "decent nhl starter" and "ryan miller's career" are synonymous

 

At the risk of derailing the thread, Clint Malarchuk and Daren Puppa were decent NHL starters.

Miller owned the crease here for nearly a decade, was the face of his franchise and won a Vezina trophy.

[...]

I think a "decent NHL starter" is a fair equivalent...IF this trade were to have occurred in a vacuum.  However, considering there were other NHL starters available at less cost,  there is still that veteran D slot to fill, and this team is coming off a tear-down where the slate was blank and there's no specific model to follow, I believe it's not-unreasonable to place the baseline for this trade at a Ryan-Miller-career-equivalent level. 

 

As it is, I think Sabres fans are goalie-spoiled, excepting the time since Miller was traded.  We have simply had good to better-than-good goal-tending for a long time. For whatever reason, the Lehner trade seems to slide right into that mold.

[MattPie]

I think a "decent NHL starter" is a fair equivalent...IF this trade were to have occurred in a vacuum.  However, considering there were other NHL starters available at less cost,  there is still that veteran D slot to fill, and this team is coming off a tear-down where the slate was blank and there's no specific model to follow, I believe it's not-unreasonable to place the baseline for this trade at a Ryan-Miller-career-equivalent level. 

 

As it is, I think Sabres fans are goalie-spoiled, excepting the time since Miller was traded.  We have simply had good to better-than-good goal-tending for a long time. For whatever reason, the Lehner trade seems to slide right into that mold.

 

I tend to agree. We've forgotten what average goaltending looks like. You can argue the last year+, but that's a bad example given how bad the team was. This will go two ways, most likely: Lehner will be good enough and in a few years Buffalo looks like Chicago. Or Lehner will be not good enough and Buffalo looks like several Philly teams over the past decade (good skaters being let down in net).

[Sabres Fan in NS]

You want to know what I think about this guy?

 

Well, I'll tell you what I think about this guy ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.... FUCALE!!

[Thorner]

I tend to agree. We've forgotten what average goaltending looks like. You can argue the last year+, but that's a bad example given how bad the team was. This will go two ways, most likely: Lehner will be good enough and in a few years Buffalo looks like Chicago. Or Lehner will be not good enough and Buffalo looks like several Philly teams over the past decade (good skaters being let down in net).

Two definite possibilities. But there are other possible outcomes as well. I would argue that had Philly had the depth of talent Chicago had, it would have been sufficient enough to mask any issues in net. I think this is actually what is going on in Chicago to some degree, I'm still not sold on Crawford being a true difference maker. If our talent develops as we hope, "good enough" for Lehner could be a substantially lower baseline than the goaltending required by other teams to achieve contention.

 

If Lehner completely bottoms out, I also trust that GMTM would attempt to upgrade in net.

[qwksndmonster]

You want to know what I think about this guy?

 

Well, I'll tell you what I think about this guy ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.... FUCALE!!

:lol: :lol:

[Sabresince70]

Does anyone else look at the Lehner deal as being something we can use to learn about GMTM in many ways? If Lehner truly ends up being elite (whatever "elite" means to you) - GMTM shows great evaluation skills. If Lehner is "good enough for 2 years, and at that point either one of our prospects becomes "elite" and GMTM lets Lehner go and accepts that, he shows that he is willing to accept change and not strictly rely on one of  "his boys". If Lehner bombs from the start, and GMTM doesn't hesitate to correct the mistake, is he showing that he will own up to his decisions? 

 

It seems everyone who had problems with Darcy were upset not just because of mistakes, but because we seem to have had to live with those mistakes for so long. I am anxious to see how GMTM does when something doesn't work (The ROR trade can be looked at the same way). I don't expect him to be perfect, I just hope he can own up to and attempt to fix things when they don't work out. And I am hoping this works out.

[JohnnyK]

Does anyone else look at the Lehner deal as being something we can use to learn about GMTM in many ways? If Lehner truly ends up being elite (whatever "elite" means to you) - GMTM shows great evaluation skills. If Lehner is "good enough for 2 years, and at that point either one of our prospects becomes "elite" and GMTM lets Lehner go and accepts that, he shows that he is willing to accept change and not strictly rely on one of  "his boys". If Lehner bombs from the start, and GMTM doesn't hesitate to correct the mistake, is he showing that he will own up to his decisions? 

 

It seems everyone who had problems with Darcy were upset not just because of mistakes, but because we seem to have had to live with those mistakes for so long. I am anxious to see how GMTM does when something doesn't work (The ROR trade can be looked at the same way). I don't expect him to be perfect, I just hope he can own up to and attempt to fix things when they don't work out. And I am hoping this works out.

Well said.

For GMTM if Lehner is a legit number one Goalie he has done a masterful job of creating a solid team to make some noise in the playoffs!!! (Soon)  If not he still has made moves to make the Sabres a tough team that should be hard to play against... I love it!

Go Sabres!!! 

[Mustache of God]

I like the deal. At this point I haven't seen anything from Murray which makes me question his judgement. The man has a plan this whole time and has been following it just as he said he will. One aspect of the trade to consider compared to the other goalies that were floating around at the time was the term of the contract. Doesn't Lehner become an RFA when his initial contract runs up? If he performs the way Murray hopes he will or is at least trending upwards we'll be able to sign him on long term if all goes well.

 

Here's a link to all the 21st picks going back 30+ years: http://www.mynhldraft.com/nhl-draft-picks/21st-overall/210509/

 

I'd rather take a dice-roll on a starting goalie who can produce NOW rather than wait 2-4 years for the 21st pick to develop (and I'd much rather have a starting goalie than any of the names listed above). I'm tired of waiting on this team through this re-building process and I'm glad the moves Murray is making is helping accelerate the process. You can't win big if you don't take some risks.

Edited August 13, 2015 by mustacheofgod

[Sabel79]

That's quite the list.  I had actually forgotten that Mika Noronen existed until just now...

[JJFIVEOH]

Did somebody say Ryan Miller?

As long as he doesn't have lingering effects from his concussions, I think he'll be fine. I think the days of standout goaltenders as waning, unless rules changes take effect. As long as we have a consistent starter I'll be happy.

[wjag]

Does anyone else look at the Lehner deal as being something we can use to learn about GMTM in many ways? If Lehner truly ends up being elite (whatever "elite" means to you) - GMTM shows great evaluation skills. If Lehner is "good enough for 2 years, and at that point either one of our prospects becomes "elite" and GMTM lets Lehner go and accepts that, he shows that he is willing to accept change and not strictly rely on one of  "his boys". If Lehner bombs from the start, and GMTM doesn't hesitate to correct the mistake, is he showing that he will own up to his decisions? 

 

It seems everyone who had problems with Darcy were upset not just because of mistakes, but because we seem to have had to live with those mistakes for so long. I am anxious to see how GMTM does when something doesn't work (The ROR trade can be looked at the same way). I don't expect him to be perfect, I just hope he can own up to and attempt to fix things when they don't work out. And I am hoping this works out.

 

 

Yep.  This is his rubicon.  I see this as his watershed selection and a good optic into his ability to judge talent.  I didn't like it when he did it.  Lehner had the chance to be a starting goalie in Ottawa, and yet fell to third on the depth chart.  If he is as good as GMTM believes, how did he get beat out by the Hamburgler (a rookie) and Anderson?  

[Hoss]

 

Here's what appears to be a preview of Robin Lehner's mask. It was posted on David Gunnarsson's Instagram. David and Robin have worked together previously on masks and the mask clearly has Buffalo on the right side.

 

Preview also featured a ghost woman walking across the screen so I'm assuming there's some type of horror aspects to his mask.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Hoss

[Thorner]

That almost looks like the Witch-King of Angmar to me!