Lehner and Legwand land in Buffalo
The Ottawa Senators were the first one to act in the goalie derby when it was announced that the Senators have traded goaltender Robin Lehner and veteran David Legwand to the Buffalo Sabres for Buffalo’s 1st Round pick which ws the second one in the 1st round sitting at no.21. AS we reported many times on Trade Rumors.ca, it was the intent for Bryan Murray to act early to trade one of his goaltenders because of the saturated goaltender market.
According to Bob McKenzie, the Buffalo Sabres will eat all of Legwand’s 3.5 million salary and cap hit. This will help them reach the salary floor cap. With this trade, the Ottawa Senators will be picking in the 18th and 21st position tonight at the draft. This 21st position was an additional selection Buffalo had from the Thomas Vanek trade to the New York Islanders in 2013. So originally this position was the old New York Islanders position.
In Lehner, the Sabres get a young goaltender at 23 with a tremendous upside. In 2014-2015, Robin Lehner compiled a record of 9-12-3, a goal against average (GAA) of 3.02 combined with a save percentage of .905. Drafted at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in the second round (46th overall), Lehner has posted a 30-36-13 record, a career GAA of 2.88 with a .914 save percentage. His current contract was paying him $2.23M annually and he has two years remaining. he will be a RFA comes 2017.
As for Legwand, now 35, the Buffalo Sabres are getting some veteran leadership with the likes of Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges. With the Senators, Legwand was never able to regain the drive he had with the Predators, the team he always played for before joining the Senators. In 2014-2015, David Legwand recorded 9 goals and 18 assists in 80 games played. The Senators signed him last summer to a three year deal at $3.5M annually after spending the end of the 2013-2014 season in Detroit with the Wings, when he was traded at the trading deadline by Nashville. This prove to be a bust for the Ottawa Senators as they were looking for more offence from the centre.
He was selected 2nd overall at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft by the Nashville Predators. In a career that has spanned over 17 years, Legwand has recorded 223 goals for 604 points in 1,057 games played.
