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Buffalo Sabres Roundtable: Late First Round Picks

ByTim Redinger|

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Mar 17, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Buffalo Sabres goalie

Anders Lindback

(35) makes a save on top of the goal during the third period against the Boston Bruins at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Tim Redinger, Buffalo Sabres Senior Editor, SabreNoise

Tim Murray is going to find a trade partner for the late first round pick that he has in the first round, because – he doesn’t need to make that first round pick.

Tim Murray and the Buffalo Sabres are eyeing this off-season as the end of the rebuild and the start of the future. With that in mind, he has to be thinking about his goaltending. The plan wasn’t to rebuild everything in front of the crease, and then allow his prospects, who still might be at least a year away from being even NHL ready, let alone ready to start the bulk of the games for an NHL team, to mature.

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A guy like Anders Lindback is supposed to be solving our problems right now. Not winning games, keeping us in the bottom of the standings, but someone we can take a sub-par goaltender and turn him into a magic man once he gets into the crease full time. Look at the season Jhonas Enroth had here in Buffalo; he leaves and the number drop. Michal Neuvirth played horrible in relief, but once he got the crease full time he turned into the same thing Enroth had been doing.

Now we are seeing the same thing out of Lindback. These numbers don’t last forever though, and he will eventually return back to his normal state. That is why I think Tim Murray might target a goaltender with the first overall pick in this year’s draft via trade. Now he certainly won’t be trading one for one – goaltenders aren’t first round draft picks. They are more like running backs – guys you can find in later rounds serve the same purpose.

I would like to see Tim Murray swing a trade for a solid goaltender prospect, maybe someone who has proven himself at the NHL level, and is ready to step in and play the role of starting goaltender. The only problem with making this move, is he might night be your guy of the future. The Buffalo Sabres have a guy further down the depth chart in Linus Ullmark, and have been showing interested in their college goalie Cal Petersen and undrafted free agent Matt O’Connor.

There is no saying that these guys would be ready for the NHL next season though, so Tim Murray could land himself a bridge guy that will win and get him to his goaltender.

Next: Tim Murray Open To Trading Late First Round Pick

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