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Sabres goaltending situation might get interesting. |
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It's no secret that Buffalo forward Chris Stewart's name is being thrown around in trade talks. Of the Sabres eight soon-to-be unrestricted free agents, Stewart is the only one that is being looked at as an impact player above a depth role.
Every other UFA asset in the organization is of the depth variety. Up-front there's Torrey Mitchell and Matt Ellis while on the back-end there's Andre Benoit, Andrej Meszaros and Tyson Strachan. But the Sabres have two goalies in Buffalo right now who are pending UFA's in Michal Neuvirth and recently acquired Anders Lindback, and the former could very well be in play in the next week and a half.
Neuvirth, along with defenseman Rusty Klesla (who never played a game for Buffalo,) came from the Washington Capitals in exchange for goalie Jaroslav Halak and a 2015 3rd round draft pick. Halak was a part of the Ryan Miller to St. Louis Blues deal less than a week before. Neuvirth is a former 2nd round pick (2006, 34th overall) and at 6'1" 190 lbs. has a decent enough frame to just fit the mold of what Sabres GM Tim Murray is looking for in his goaltenders.
As of right now, Neuvirth sits atop the food chain in net for Buffalo.
Lindback was acquired from the Dallas Stars last week, along with a conditional 2016 3rd round pick, for Jhonas Enroth, who was a pending free agent. At 6'6" 210 lbs. he has even more of the size that Murray likes in his goalies. Unfortuantely for Lindback, that size did not serve him well this season as he was torched to the point where the Stars felt the needed to upgrade their back-up position with Enroth. The 5'10" 165 lb. Enroth had an excellent year on a historically bad Sabres team and he could eventually end up succeeding Kari Lehtonen as the starter in Dallas (should he do so and win four playoff games, the 3rd rounder becomes a 2nd.)
Although Lindback looks to be second on the depth-chart, he looks to be more of a security blanket for Murray than a legitimate back-up goalie. If the Sabres are hell-bent on finishing 30th in the league this season, based upon Lindback's 3.71 goals against average and his .875 save percentage, putting him in net at any point from here on out would further the cause.
Neuvirth has done real well in his three starts as the Sabres #1 goalie since the February 11th trade of Enroth. He's allowed five goals in those three games (two of which went into overtime) and his save percentage is right about .950. His strong performances have lifted the team to a 1-1-1 record and if he keeps this up, he may play his way out of town.
I like Neuvirth and think they should re-sign him but circumstances may signal his departure. Simple notes to keep in mind: the Sabres are six points behind the 29th place Edmonton Oilers with one game in hand; teams in the thick of a playoff race or those with Cup aspirations are always looking for depth, and that includes goaltending; Murray has said that he doesn't want his free agents walking for nothing.
Which leads us to how Matt Hackett fits into all of this.
Hackett will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, but as Kevin Oklobzija of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle points out, that will turn to UFA-status should Hackett not play in at least seven games (for at least 30 mins./game) with the Buffalo Sabres. With so much turmoil in Buffalo since he came to the organization as a part of the Jason Pominville trade in 2013, one would think Hackett would welcome the opportunity to move on to another team.
Oklobzija asked him what his "optimum scenario would be" and surprisingly, Hackett said he wanted to stick with the organization. 'Play the seven," he told Oklobzija. 'I enjoy Buffalo. It's close to home and my family likes that I'm there. I enjoy the guys around here. When you're close to a team, it makes it more fun to come to the rink and do your job.'
Things could stay as-is in goal for the rest of the season and the 6'2" 174 lb. Hackett could still re-sign in the off season as an unrestricted free agent. If Murray wanted him in the fold.
The goaltending situation is kind of a big question mark for the organization right now, at least in Buffalo.
In looking at Rochester for next season, their situation is a little more settled. The Amerks will be welcoming Linus Ullmark from the Swedish Elite League for 2015-16 and incumbent Amerks starting goalie Andrey Makarov has played well enough to earn a spot, either as a starter while Ullmark acclimates himself to North America or as a back-up. Makarov will be in a RFA entering the third year of his entry-level contract next season.
With the long-term goal at the fore, flux is could be the key word in Buffalo as Murray could move Neuvirth for anything in return and have Lindback take over the starting role upon his departure. Should Murray keep Neuvirth, what he does with Lindback might give a clue as to what he sees in Hackett.
Interesting to note that Hackett struggled last season in Rochester but was solid in Buffalo before being felled by a knee injury. Kris Baker of sabrerspropects.com likened Hackett to an old-school goalie when it came to his intensity while long-time Amerks broadcaster Don Stevens said that Hackett had the quickest glove he'd ever seen. He has the size that Murray likes, but is there still the potential for him to rise to the level of a #1 goalie?
That's the thing with goalies. You just don't know. Lindback came up in the Nashville organization and looked to be in the Pekke Rinne mold, with size and quickness. He was making gradual progress before things fell apart.
2011 Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas was a ninth-round draft pick of the Quebec Nordiques in 1994. He bounced between Europe and the AHL for over 10 years before landing a one year deal with Boston for the 2005-06 season. He would put up fairly decent numbers in 32 games for the Bruins that season and eventually lead the Bruins to their first Cup in over 40 years.
You just don't know.
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