The Buffalo Sabres have traded goaltender Jhonas Enroth to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Anders Lindback and a conditional third-round pick in 2016.
Buffalo Sabres trade Enroth to the Dallas Stars.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hours after a blockbuster deal with Winnipeg, the Sabres continue to make moves well in advance of the trade deadline. Enroth is due to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. While the Sabres were believed trying to re-sign him it’s evident by this move they were unsuccessful. This means Michal Neuvirth, also a UFA, could be retained for next season. I have my doubts they’ll keep Lindback beyond this season. He really struggled as a backup in Dallas and is also a UFA in June. He’s now on his third NHL teams since last season.
As for the Stars, this indicates they haven’t given up hope of a playoff berth. This move addresses a significant need for experienced depth between the pipes. They risked burning out starter Kari Lehtonen because of weak backup goaltending. Enroth should provide stability and provide an opportunity to lighten Lehtonen’s workload a little down the stretch. This should be a good short-term pickup for them, with the option of re-signing Enroth should he play well over the rest of this season.
People on TSN are freaking out about this trade and about Buffalo “tanking” on purpose…pretty hard to tank when you’re already in last place in the NHL. I am with Lyle on this one…clearly they weren’t able to come to terms with Enroth and managed to pickup a big body goalie who hasn’t lived up to expectations after leaving Nashville. Maybe a change of scenery will do him good. Who knows. But now Buffalo can evaluate him over the rest of the season and even if they don’t resign him, they got a 3rd round pick essentially for free. I think this was another good deal by Murray.
The trade makes sense given the situation. The tank is obvious though; they moved instantaneously on the Kane sweep stakes and in my opinion over paid a touch, this to me indicates that they are ok giving up a little bit more if it strengthens their chance of landing McD-Eichel. The oilers are pushing them for the worst record in the league and this helps Buffalo improve at being worse
Kudos for a job well done. Usually because of work and being at the rink I don’t get much of a chance to comment. Don’t no if u no or hear of a guy who works for cfrn 1260 radio in Edmonton, his name is John Short, does the late nite sports show. John has a saying “Everybody has the democratic right to be wrong” and some of the commenters here just exercise their rights more often than others. If some of these bozos were so smart, why aren’t they out coaching. Always a shortage of coaches everywhere. Coach potatoes everywhere not a coach to be found. Everybody should try it they just might find that the kids just might teach them something. You might get a more intelligent conversation out of some of them. But anywho, great site, great job Lyle
Maybe the Oilers can counter in the McDavid sweepstakes. With Hall, Pouliot, and Fasth injured, maybe they can play Bachman, and ‘tryout’ more AHL D men. Even if Buffalo is last, though the odds of drafting first are one in five. The 29th team (Florida-Ekblad) drafted first last year.
I can’t get mad at Buffalo for trying to tank because I can’t see them doing any better keeping these players around. Aside from Myers the rest of the players are UFA’s which is normal for an out of playoff team to trade, or prospects that have no impact.
Solidifies the tank.
Tanking, per se, isn’t going to help the Sabres that much. Let’s face it: they’re already last in the NHL and even if they finish there, they still will have just a 20% chance at winning the lottery. There’s an 80% chance they won’t get Connor McDavid. They would be better served maximizing their return on any deal. Goalies typically aren’t in especially high demand this time of year, particularly pending UFAs.
Drew last place is the only spot you want to be if tanking. Sure Buffalo only has 20% chance of landing MacDavid, they also have a 100% chance of landing one of the two studies in this draft, MacDavid or Eichel. So there is value in tanking to the top. I would bother if you were aiming for #2, pretty easy to get pushed to #3 and still a great player to be had but not the calibre of MacDavid or Eichel.
Good summary of Buffalo’s situation. They will get either McDavid or Eichel!
Ehh Id say with out making these moves there was a chance that Arizona and Edmonton could get under them…especially now that Hall is out for a prolonged period (again) & once or if Arizona starts shipping out guys like Vermette Doan Yandle, by going this early and this hard tankstravaganza is on, now they are guaranteed Eichle at the very least.
Let’s look at the Sabres deals. Trading Enroth and starting Nuevirth are a wash. This trade does not have a tanking scenario. In the other deal the Sabres shipped out 2 current roster players and received 1 back while the other (Kane) is done for the year. The Sabres only have to replace Stafford on the roster til the end of the year. Which if you saw him play and his stats isn’t that hard to do.
Who cares they don’t get mcdavid they are guaranteed Eichle then 30 drafts no lower then 29th well worth the tank everyone here notice is upset their teams did not tank early enough
Lol sorry this tablet of mine is hard to use”studs” not “studies”
The Sabres are at least trying to look good while tanking as that was one moxie trade with Winnipeg earlier today and oddly enough, seemingly fair to both sides for the most part.
I give Tim Murray credit for being active prior to the deadline and getting trades done including the Enroth trade and acquiring a pick back too.
In contrast, by the time Nonis sits on his laurels long and hard before doing anything, all teams interested in the Leafs cast offs will have found some other solution leaving the current not give a sh*t lineup standing pat on deadline day.
In true Maple Leaf fashion, led by a healthy Dion ” my wrist is fine now thanks for asking”, they go a 10 game win streak to screw up the lottery chance just to show Brendan what a tight knit group they really are.:)
Pfft a little overreacting? The Leafs were not finnishing in the bottom 2, I am not a big Nonis fan but if anything now that Myers Enroth Bogosian and Kane are most likely at theor final destinztions and still 15-20 games left the price on Leafs or whatever team is thinking of moving pieces out for that matter just went up.
No overreacting. Nonis is a perennial sit in the weeds wait and lurk kind of guy who, along with Burke, created much of this mess. Nonis likes to sit and sit waiting for the ideal trade scenario to appear. Maybe he gets lucky..maybe not.Top 5 finish? Maybe.
I just think what Murray and Cheveldayoff pulled was quite creative and wish/hope/pray that Nonis/Shanahan..anybody in Maple Leafville who actually is in charge, can and will be as creative as those two GM’s were today.
Now can you live with that Shticky?
I am not sure how “creative” it was on Murrays part…I think it solidified the Sabres as a bottom 2 team, and got himself a questionable winger for next year who he paid a very high price for, that could maybe work out but thats far from guaranteed. Outside that he sent a good ufa goalie away for a bad one that has a contract and a pick and swaped D men. As I said I am not a big fan of Nonis, but to say he isnt being as “creative” because he wasnt the first guy to make a trade seems silly to me.
And how is Burke responsible for this? The Leafs had decent cap space when Burke was here…tell me we are not going to go back to the Kessel trade again? This mess is totally on Lieweke Nonis Poulin Loiselle and Carlyle, you know the guys who thought it would be a good idea to cap the team out with big contracts 3rd and fourth liners and bottom pairing D men, while ignoring the fact that the top line needed a center the coach was awful and he didnt have anyone better than a questionable 2nd or 3rd D man.
Buffalo kept 1/2 of Stafford’s salary to boot. At least there is some type of market established. Check out the post by “Peg something” on Feb 10. Almost nailed the Sabre part of the deal (except Lemieux). Which is probably the amount of an overpayment. This was a hockey deal and about time.
I can’t help but wonder if Murray has his sights set on Robin Lehner. Ottawa had interest in Stewart last year. Not sure if they still do. Lehner is signed for a few more years. Wonder if Stewart and Lindback or Neuvirth end up in Ottawa. Because this return for Enroth is not what I expected. Enroth is actually a very good goalie and I would have waited a little longer in case a team that has the cup in their sites loses their starter to injury. Dallas just made a great move. Lindback, Rynnas, etc. were not pushing Lehtonen at all. I bet Lehtonens game picks up a bit now that Enroth is capable of seriously taking it.
Hey tman, what’s up? I don’t see Ottawa giving up on Lehner and trading him, especially in the division. If they want to trade Lehner, send him to NYI because he’d be a huge upgrade over Chad “Juicy Rebound” Johnson.
Hed Geduffer! Been a while. I read the articles every day but I miss the forum! I actually think that if Lehner gets moved he’s not going to be grabbed as a back up. It will be a team that wants him as their starter. Unproven sure but he’s signed for a few years and has done the AHL thing and NHl back up thing with relative success. Who knows what happens but that’s my thoughts on him. Dallas just made a great move by getting Enroth. I’d like to see C Johnson play a bit more and get some more success. He has not looked like a guy that we could win a playoff with and Halak need a push. His save percentage is not exactly great (Under .900 in like 8 of the last 10 games or something) but then again he pulls out great games and wins them for the boys when they aren’t winning them for him.
Who are the free agent goalies for next season? I want to be the first to call Antti Niemi signing with the Sabres on an inflated 2-3 year deal, just to get them over the hump until they are once again a powerhouse. And oh the drama of this years draft, so excited, I like one posters comments about a conspiracy with Bettman to give the 1st pick to the Coyotes to save face, ahhh the drama
I was hoping that the Isles might grab him to back-up Halak. CJ is not consistent enough to handle the stretch run.