erickompositör72

Once again, this is a straw-man argument. Lehner doing some things better than a career NHL back-up is not something a starter should brag about. EDIT: Just to indulge the Chad Johnson comparisons, I don't think he'd have allowed the first 2 goals. He may not have made some other saves, but the point is- Lehner allows goals that should not be allowed by a starting NHL goaltender. EDIT 2: Furthermore, when people say, "come on, he made 39 saves! What do you want?" I want 40 saves and a win. Remember even when we had Neuvirth? He'd have made the 40th save.

I'm going to ignore this, to save you the embarrassment of having just compared a goaltender to Chad Johnson to defend them.

It's about the goals he allows, everyone. NHL goaltenders won't allow goals that he does. Lundqvist gobbles up every rebound. If Lehner could do that, overtime goal wouldn't have happened. Lundqvist wouldn't have allowed the first goal, either. No NHL goaltender would have allowed the 2nd goal. The only way we'll receive anything in return for Lehner is if a team is desperate for a goalie and has goaltending scouts

No, Lundqvist gave the Rangers a chance to win

The fact is that we have a tradition here in Buffalo of strong goaltending. Lehner just does not live up to what we've come to expect. I don't expect another Hasek who single-handedly carries us to the playoffs, but we at least need a goaltender who steals a few games for us. We have the opposite.

Lehner looked like I do in goal- after not being on the ice for a few years

He's "under the weather"

Lehner is swiss cheese

Was away and couldn't post, but just dropped in to say- Lehner was the Sabres worst player on the ice this game. The goal where he couldn't cover up the rebound- when it was next to his knee- was the most pathetic example of a type of goal he lets in all the time. Locate the ###### puck and cover it up, dude

Let the refs try to give them the edge. McDermott is going toe-to-toe with Belichick and has outsmarted him a couple of times. We're in their heads.

Phil may turn out to be a fine coach, but he's definitely no prodigy. The fact that he is the only difference between the best powerplay and the worst powerplay we've ever seen shows that he's not too good at multi-tasking his coaching priorities

Think they may give Rodrigues a shot on the Kane/Okposo line?

I think he could have a Moulson-like career, with the right center. If that turns out, I'm not incorrect in saying many #2 overall's haven't had Moulson's career numbers, right?

So his ceiling is, like, Ovechkin What a shame

You will believe it, too, when a winning team gives up some assets to acquire him

agree 100% Re:speed- I think Reinhart has adequate speed to be part of a rush, but he just needs time to build up the speed (he doesn't have good acceleration). He does, though, lack a 3rd gear. His 2nd gear is adequate for a rush, but not enough to blow by someone I think, through junior, etc, he didn't have to be fast to score goals. So, he didn't even worry about it (similarly to Jack not having to worry about play away from the puck before getting to the NHL). I watch Samson with the puck, and he just coasts. He probably could play at a faster pace, but has just not developed that as part of his game. The sad thing is, he doesn't seem to be trying to. Last night, I saw him receive a pass after he had built up speed, and I thought, wow, he looks good flying down the right wing- why doesn't he do that more often? I think it will take a concerted effort of focusing on how to inject more speed into his game, and then understanding how to integrate that into the new system. Basically, I think there are a lot of other factors contributing to his lack of speed- not just a physical deficiency.

Yeah, this is kinda a lazy take, IMO:

Dream scenario: package Okposo in a trade with Kane, then re-sign Kane July 1 EDIT: I just thought about this more- it'd only work if we take someone who's salary is equal to Okposo's, but would be UFA after this season

Whatever their strategy for Antipin is... I'd say it's working :thumbsup:

Wait for a team that's making a playoff push whose goalie goes down. If he keeps these stats, a desperate team may overpay for him

I really liked these lines. Any chance we'll ever see them again?

I knew we should've signed him

The anomaly is his amount of assists this season. His goal pace is .41, up from a career average of .31. You could argue that's not too far off his average. And, I'd argue, the fact that he has grown as a player in many ways contributes to this, as well as his chemistry with teammates. I don't buy the "contract year" trope.

As long as Falk isn't playing OTOH, I've had no problem with Gorges's playing

Your chuckling/laughing is hardly a convincing counterpoint to my assertion. But at least someone is amused at the situation.