At long last, time is winding down on the Sabres season. The marathon trek to the league basement is all but complete at this point as the Sabres hold a four-point advantage over the Arizona Coyotes for the right to the 20% odds at the NHL Draft Lottery.
One position that is still a question mark is goaltender. I’ve touched on this previously, researching some of the goaltenders who might become available this summer on the trade market. I won’t be surprised to see Murray use his second first round pick as currency to acquire a goaltender – perhaps he’ll follow some of my advice and chase Frederik Andersen or John Gibson – but he’s also expected to build the backend of the pipeline along the way.
With word coming today from Bob McKenzie that the Sabres are expected to be a front runner for Matt O’Connor’s services once BU’s season comes to a close, it would appear that the goaltending pipeline will be anything but shallow heading into the 2015-16 season.
O’Connor has had a very strong season with BU this year and while he would want NHL minutes right away (a likely selling point for his NHL deal), he’s going to need some time in the minors before he’s truly NHL ready. Knowing that O’Connor would likely be playing in the AHL come the fall adds another layer to a somewhat complicated goaltending depth chart.
Linus Ullmark will be making his way to North America next year to begin the clock on his professional contract. He’ll join Andrey Makarov in Rochester to start the year and there’s no guarantee that they’ll be alone in the Blue Cross Arena crease.
Matt Hackett ticked another game off the eight, 30-minute appearances he needed to get in this season to remain a restricted free agent. Hackett, despite a somewhat shaky start against the Capitals, has shown plenty of promise in his limited play this season. As someone who is a fan of his game, I truly hope his rights are retained.
Hackett moves very well in net and isn’t afraid to play an aggressive game. He’s not unlike Ryan Miller in some respects when it comes to the athletic style he employs and that’s exactly the type of goalie I like.
One thing that would work against Hackett’s future with the Sabres would be the signing of O’Connor. If the Terrier is to be signed, I would have to think it seals Hackett’s fate with the Sabres. The lone silver lining for Hackett would be if his play in the final few games would be enough to convince Tim Murray to pencil him in as his NHL backup next season. Even without O’Connor in the fold, Hackett would still be one of three goaltenders in the AHL unless he is able to work his way into the backup role in Buffalo.
That is a very tough ask, of course. While Hackett has shown the chops to play at the NHL level, his resume is hardly that of an NHL goaltender. However, if Murray went out and acquired a goaltender with a bit more experience (think Antti Niemi), it wouldn’t be hard to see a younger option like Hackett stepping into the backup role. Of course, if Murray signs a veteran to a short deal, there would be no reason not to find the goaltender of the future through another avenue.
One thing is for sure, Anders Lindback won’t be back. While his play since arriving has been impressive, his resume simply is not that which a GM would want to sign. Maybe he stays in North America, but I would be very surprised to see him signing anywhere besides the SHL or KHL.
The other route is to acquire a young goaltender who is ready, or close to being ready for a starting role in the NHL. Martin Jones is a terrific example of a goaltender of that ilk who has shown the ability to carry a team but may not be ready for a full 65-game workload just yet. Another option would be Freddie Andersen, who has already been starting at the NHL level but may be forced out by John Gibson
It’s my opinion that the best benefit for both the short and long term outlook of the Sabres is to make a strong offer for one of the league’s up-and-coming young netminders. Whether that’s Jones, Gibson, Subban, Andersen or someone else altogether, doesn’t matter at this point in time. Finding a young goaltender under the age of 27 would give the Sabres a player who can step in next season and being working towards a long career as Buffalo’s goaltender.
Signing a veteran may wind up being a necessity, especially if the Sabres wind up with a goalie who is closer to prospect status as opposed to being closer to starter status. However, there’s no reason to waste more than three years on any veteran they sign, especially considering the free agent goalie class this year.
For example, if Murray was able to move a package for Martin Jones and then signed Antti Niemi to a two-year deal, it would set up a very nice transition between the very unsettled situation today through to the time that Jones would be taking over as the full-time starter.
There are a lot of factors at play here. There’s no guarantee that Buffalo will wind up signing O’Connor, just as there’s no way to know the plan for Hackett at this time. Hackett could just as easily get pushed out by Murray signing O’Connor as he could play out his four games and accept his RFA tender this summer. All of that doesn’t even directly affect what would happen with the big club, either.
I’d love to see Hackett get one more look, even if that means starting at the AHL level, but at this point I feel like what makes the most sense is to add O’Connor to the mix in while utilizing their other first round pick to acquire a legitimate prospect ahead of the draft.
Either way, you can pretty much count on either Hackett or O’Connor to slot in as an AHL goaltender for the Sabres organization along with Ullmark and Makarov. It’s likely that one of those players would be loaned to another AHL club or possibly and ECHL club, although that wouldn’t do much for development. As silly as it may sound, the player who would be most likely to be loaned might actually be Makarov simply because he doesn’t appear to be much more than a solid depth option compared to other organizational assets.
The big club can be a little more complicated since it’s hard to see any of Buffalo’s current goaltenders as a full time backup other than Hackett. I do feel that the Sabres will have some combination of a veteran and a young, promising goaltender as their combo for next season.
It’s hard to say exactly who will fit into those very important roles, but if one of the league’s promising youngsters is in the mix, Murray will have the club on the right track.
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