Player Discussion Sabres sign G Carter Hutton to a 3 Year Deal with $2.75M AAV

[26CornerBlitz]

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[TheMistyStranger]

It's a good signing. You want to change the LR environment, you grab a guy like Hutton when he's out there.

 

[gallagt01]

I can’t believe we’re not qualifying Lehner to sign the dude with an identical HDSV%.

How do Hutton's other numbers stack up to Lehner's?

 

[Dreakon13]

Friend of mine was pretty critical of the idea of Hutton. He's older, will probably be overpaid, and may not necessarily be a statistical improvement to Lehner... but I think the Lehner -> Hutton swap is a massive improvement on the attitude/locker room front. Which I think is almost as important at this point as the talent side of things.

If Hutton/Ullmark are even just serviceable (which is a realistic outlook), while being a positive influence and a good attitude duo in the room... I call that a win in the short term.

 

[struckbyaparkedcar]

To be clear, I’m questioning the process that brought us to Hutton, not the jettisoning of Lehner.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

Friend of mine was pretty critical of the idea of Hutton. He's older, will probably be overpaid, and may not necessarily be a statistical improvement to Lehner... but I think the Lehner -> Hutton swap is a massive improvement on the attitude/locker room front. Which I think is almost as important at this point as the talent side of things.

If Hutton/Ullmark are even just serviceable (which is a realistic outlook), while being a positive influence and a good attitude duo in the room... I call that a win in the short term.

From an 'eye test' perspective, the Sabres also played much better in front of Ullmark than Lehner. They seemed tentative in front of Robin, to the point of sacrificing offensive opportunities. If Hutton's presence gives the team in front of him confidence, then you see a better Sabres team.

 

[CrazyPsycho]

I can’t believe we’re not qualifying Lehner to sign the dude with an identical HDSV%.

Just gonna ignore the 1-2 Lehner softies and equipment changes per game?

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

To be clear, I’m questioning the process that brought us to Hutton, not the jettisoning of Lehner.

He’s proven to be consistently serviceable at the NHL level, doesn’t cost any assets, and is willing to play for buffalo. Not sure how many other options we had that fit that criteria.

 

[Chainshot]

Strickland is pretty solid with Blues rumors. It will be interesting to see what the term and dollar figure is if this gets finalized.

 

[jcbeze]

Good.

 

[Paxon]

Works for me

 

[MackAttack26]

Guessing 3 years, $10.5m (3.5m AAV)

Happy we are able to get him. By no means does our goaltending look like a sure thing next year...but it could have been a lot worse if we completely missed out on the likes of him, Bernier, etc.

 

[Jim Bob]

Carter Hutton Stats | Hockey-Reference.com

HR's Similarity Scores have a few former Sabres in his list:

Jacques Cloutier, Anders Lindback, Darcy Wakaluk, and Jhonas Enroth.

 

[gallagt01]

Needed a goalie. Got a goalie.

Could be a slight upgrade on the ice and a heck of an upgrade in the room.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

Carter Hutton Stats | Hockey-Reference.com

HR's Similarity Scores have a few former Sabres in his list:

Jacques Cloutier, Anders Lindback, Darcy Wakaluk, and Jhonas Enroth.

Darcy Enroth ftw

 

[Jim Bob]

Carter Hutton hockey statistics and profile at hockeydb.com

One concern I would have if they are planning on him being the #1 is that he only has two pro seasons of 50+ GP and the last of them was in 2012-13 with Rockford/Chicago.

 

[sincerity0]

Friend of mine was pretty critical of the idea of Hutton. He's older, will probably be overpaid, and may not necessarily be a statistical improvement to Lehner... but I think the Lehner -> Hutton swap is a massive improvement on the attitude/locker room front. Which I think is almost as important at this point as the talent side of things.

If Hutton/Ullmark are even just serviceable (which is a realistic outlook), while being a positive influence and a good attitude duo in the room... I call that a win in the short term.

From an on ice perspective, Lehner could have been brought back on another one year deal 1yr/4.25m without much issue. As you stated, he was definitely not brought back due to attitude — being outspoken is not a negative, but there was definitely some negative energy about him that likely rubbed Management the wrong way.

Your friend has a valid point about Hutton. Since it seems unofficially official that he’s signing with Buffalo (probably 3yrs $4m per range), he’s going to be marginally overpaid. That is the nature of picking up UFAs. Given that Ullmark is signed for 750k this year, and is an RFA next year, Buffalo likely won’t be paying a substantial amount of cap space for their goalies for at least a few years.

Buffalo is hedging their bets with Ullmark by bringing in an experienced vet that had a good year last year. Ideally, Ullmark is the guy, but Hutton could be a solid stop gap until UPL is ready.

 

[WeDislikeEich]

I'm good with this. Hopefully they didn't overpay by too much. But Buffalo was desperate for a veteran goalie to help shoulder the load.

I've heard that Carter Hutton is a excellent teammate and locker room guy, too.
And doesn't get shook by a bad goal, or game. He's supposed to have a great attitude.

Hope he does well here!

 

[SECRET SQUIRREL]

Barring a crazy contract I'm ok with this. He's a solid vet and a good teammate and will be good for Linus.

 

[Chainshot]

Carter Hutton hockey statistics and profile at hockeydb.com

One concern I would have if they are planning on him being the #1 is that he only has two pro seasons of 50+ GP and the last of them was in 2012-13 with Rockford/Chicago.

I'm still thinking this could be much more like the old Sauve-Edwards 50-50 (or 60-40) splits as they sort out what they have with Ullmark.

 

[Chainshot]

And as much as his numbers are very similar to Lehner, this is clearly about getting the locker room back in working order. They're introducing two new goalies who may not be great (we don't even know if they are going to be good as Sabres, that will come in time) but who are both well regarded by their previous teams as incredible influences in the locker room. Players like these guys, and it's know that these two both like their teammates and team success. That is what the bonus is in this. It may not be any bounce in GAA or SV%, but it could very well be a bounce in how the team performs in front of them.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

To be clear, I’m questioning the process that brought us to Hutton, not the jettisoning of Lehner.

He had zero trade value, ZEE EE AR OH. Botterill didn't want to risk getting stuck with him, if there are issues in the dressing room Lehner would be one of the suspects.

 

[GellMann]

He's going to be a nice backup for the first 25% of Ullmark's illustrious Sabres career

 

[Sabre the Win]

If his AAV comes cheaper than Lehner and his attitude is positive and good for the locker room than that is a substantial upgrade.

On ice performance tho will likely be the same except we may steal some shootouts or at least save a shot.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

More praise for Hutton as a great team and LR guy.