Does Buffalo Make The Playoffs ?

[LeafFever]

Haha.

That's even funnier than Reilly.

Advanced stats had Gardiner as a #1 D-Man last year.
And Rielly is certainly a top-pairing D-Man right now.

 

[Snippit]

Advanced stats had Gardiner as a #1 D-Man last year.
And Rielly is certainly a top-pairing D-Man right now.

That should tell you the flaws of advanced stats.

 

[Snippit]

The Kulikov addition is huge, IMO. The left side of that defense was almost comical last year. It was a roster hole that was big enough to sink the titanic. While Kulikov doesn't make it a strength, it makes them soooooo much more respectable. And if McCabe can build on his rookie season, it might not be half bad.

I still have questions about the forwards and team speed. I just don't think it's a very fast roster. The goalie questions are meaningless to me. They are like halfbacks in the NFL, you can generally plug them in and they are all relatively equal.

Good post. Especially agree about the goaltending part. Buffalo has plugged in guys like Enroth and Johnson (during the years we were positively horrific) and they've been fine, or in some cases excellent.

 

[LeafFever]

That should tell you the flaws of advanced stats.

Gardiner was very good. And Rielly clearly already is a top-pairing D-Man.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

No. Definitely not. They actually were an inferior team to their record.

No they weren't lol

 

[Sansbacon]

I agree. People make a big deal out of Lehner and consider him a bad goalie. Really the dude has had an unfortunate string of injuries, but has otherwise been solid in the starts he's had. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if he ended up being an above average starter when the season is all said and done.

Agreed.

There weren't many games where Lehner started and I thought "he lost the game for us". Maybe he could have stolen a few more, but that's what an elite goalie does, and he's definitely not that right now. He is pretty damn solid when he's not injured.

I'm excited to see what he can do minus 50 lbs or whatever he lost this offseason. I really think that's gonna go a long way this year.

 

[toomuchsauce]

I have t trashed him at all I have called him whst he is which is a backup goalie, I have said I would take him as Andersen's backup of course now we have Enroth but that's a 1 year deal chances are we will be looking for a backup again next off season

Okay, great. So what is your argument that Lehner is a backup at best? The sentence structure goes, "I think Lehner is an NHL backup, and not an NHL starter, BECAUSE...."

We can probably all agree that, "he might get injured!" is a fair concern. However, anyone could get injured at any time. So, outside of that, is there something about Lehner you'd like to dissect and expose as the reason why he will be bad?

 

[toomuchsauce]

After watching their prospects get smoked and Eichel playing like hot garbage, they're probably in line to draft 6-9. Not bad enough to tank but not good enough to contend for the last playoff spot. Destined to be the new Oilers.

omg this post goat, also, bro, some people don't even have hot garbage, they only have cold garbage, or no garbage at all, so you are being EXTREMELY micro-aggressive and you should not be like that; instead reconsider your life; what then?

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I'd like to hear why Buffalo can't make the playoffs in 2017. Why can't they? What do they lack that Boston, for example, has?

A legitimate # 1 goalie

 

[Club]

Depends on Lehner, as people are saying.

 

[Royal Thunder]

A legitimate # 1 goalie

Yet you love Andersen who at the same age had about 30 NHL games while Lehner has 107. You have already been thoroughly debated and debunked in this thread, you're clearly just biased. Lehner is more than good enough and is in terrific shape. Yawn.

 

[Aladyyn]

A legitimate # 1 goalie

If Lehner has the same stats as career backup Chad Johnson did for us, I think we're gonna be fine

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Yet you love Andersen who at the same age had about 30 NHL games while Lehner has 107. You have already been thoroughly debated and debunked in this thread, you're clearly just biased. Lehner is more than good enough and is in terrific shape. Yawn.

Like I have said I have no bias I simply have confidence in a guy who has been a starter on a playoff team

The other guy has yet to play half an NHL season

You can say I have been debunked but the only way that can actually happen is with him proving he can be a consistent #1

And so far we have 21 games as a starter to go on and 21 games proves nothing

 

[MayDay]

Like I have said I have no bias I simply have confidence in a guy who has been a starter on a playoff team

The other guy has yet to play half an NHL season

You can say I have been debunked but the only way that can actually happen is with him proving he can be a consistent #1

And so far we have 21 games as a starter to go on and 21 games proves nothing

I'm reposting this table of regular season goalie stats.

Player|Games Played|Starts|Shots against|Goals against|GAA|Saves|Sv%|Shutouts
Andersen|125|114|3,305|271|2.33|3,034|0.918|6
Lehner|107|97|3,310|278|2.8|3,032|0.916|3

Andersen and Lehner have essentially proven themselves exactly as much as the other. They're almost identical players, even down to height, weight, and age.

The only difference between the two is that Andersen had the good fortune to play behind a much better team and defense than Lehner has, which is why Andersen has gotten postseason starts and a better GAA (which is more of a team defense stat than a goalie stat anyway).

But overall neither is significantly more proven or unproven than the other, and there's no reason to assume at this point that one will be much better than the other.