Jhonas Enroth Acquired by Dallas Stars

The Buffalo Sabres made trade headlines again this afternoon when they dealt starting goaltender Jhonas Enroth to the Dallas Stars for Anders Lindback and a conditional third round draft pick. While not as highly publicized as the morning’s blockbuster, this Enroth-Lindback swap will play a key role in the Western Conference playoff race and the “race” to the bottom of the league for a chance at the top pick in this year’s draft.

The Stars have 58 points and sit only three points out (and several teams to climb over) of the final wild card spot in the West. While no one is ready to hand the Stars a playoff spot now, Jhonas Enroth represents a massive upgrade at the backup position over Lindback, and is solid enough that the coaching staff can spell starter Kari Lehtonen every so often with confidence. Lehtonen has started 10 of the team’s last 11 games and is currently on pace to start 70 games this season. Poor Kari was in danger of being carted out in a wheel barrel and tied to the posts before today’s move.

On the surface, Enroth’s numbers are nothing to do flips over. His 3.27 goals against average and .903 save percentage for the bottom-dwellar Sabres are pedestrian at best. But when compared to Lindback’s 3.71 goals against average and .875 save percentage, Enroth probably will look like an all-star to Dallas fans. Also in Enroth’s defense, he’ll not play behind a team that isn’t treating winning games as a nuisance and after a shakey January, Enroth has posted a .938 save percentage in four February games so far. The Dallas’ backup goalie situation went from horrific to above-average, and it could be enough to help them sneak into the playoffs.

Of course for the Sabres, this trade is all about the future draft pick received. While it is questionable why they didn’t wait to make a move until closer to the March 2nd trade deadline when teams tend to get more desperate and prices could rise (you don’t think the Rangers may be looking for a netminder to split time with Cam Talbot now?), Buffalo protected itself against a potentially thin seller’s market with goalies and took the guaranteed pick right now. Enroth is a free agent after the season and Buffalo had no interest in re-signing him.

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The trade today also ensures that Michal Neuvirth will get the bulk of the starts these final 27 games for the Sabres. Yes, the same Michal Neuvirth with a 3-14-1 record on the season. Or if the Sabres really want to go all-out, they could just start Lindback 20 times down the stretch. That’ll ensure about 18 losses.

With 35 points on the season, Buffalo is hoping to maintain its four point cushion on the worst record and ensure a top-two pick in this June’s draft, a.k.a., The McEichel Sweepstakes. At this point they’ll be hard-pressed to NOT finish worst in the league.

However, most Sabre fans welcome that (dis)honor because they know the future got a lot brighter today. They took a chance on a big-time talent in Evander Kane who they’ll have ready to go next season. Zach Bogosian is still a 24-year old talented defenseman. Sure, they gave up on Drew Stafford and Tyler Myers (and a first round draft pick), but Stafford was going to walk and Bogosian cancels out Myers’ departure. And while dumping Jhonas Enroth for a third round draft pick is hardly earth-shattering, it provides general manager Tim Murray another asset to use this summer either through the draft of by flipping the pick in a trade for an established player. Sure, the Sabres have been horrible this year, but at least the plan in place makes sense and the team should reap the benefits of it for years to come.

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