One year ago everyone was calling me an idiot for defending him.

I was always a fan of Lehner’s game, little did we know his off ice battle he was fighting. Really glad he’s found his game and has become a high end starter

For me and it was obvious a year ago that the problem was not in Lehner.

I didnt like when we gave up a late first for a goalie, but i respected the decision to go get your guy that was cost controlled. Never got to see the best he could be here, but a lot of fans never forgave him. And those shootouts, woof. Happy he got his life and career back on track, and happy he and oreilly are making murray look like he may have known a thing or two after all. Im starting to think we have a real red sox pre 2004 thing going here in buffalo. Apparently its extremely stressful playing under the microscope in boston (sox at least), especially when you never win. Lehner has indicated as much recently. Maybe our media coverage isnt as big as weei, but our media comes off as either being a nest of vipers or state sponsored radio. Lest i get off track, best of luck lehner, send the leafs packing if boston doesnt, and get yourself a conn smythe.

I am starting to literally hate Buffalo media. Theyre so elitist, its a joke. I can really only tolerate Ryan Gates on WGR, everyone else, oof

Do you think DATM knew Lehner had a substance abuse problem since he just left the Ottawa organization before he traded for Lehner?
Did you know Betterall in some ways helped Lehner recover? http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/24663802/goalie-robin-lehner-writes-panic-attack-substance-abuse and https://buffalonews.com/2018/09/13/former-sabres-goalie-lehner-reveals-last-season-ended-because-of-bi-polar-disorder-treatment-for-alcohol-abuse/
I am sure you all know Mitch Korn.
I wanted Lehner to succeed as well, but too often the back up GK played better than he (first Johnson then Nilsson), which led me to think he had locker room problems, I did not know he had substance abuse problems. I asked someone close to the team about him, he would only tell me Lehner was strange. Now I think my contact was being kind and did not want to spread scandal.
To give up a first and take on a cap dump for a GK who at the time was third behind Anderson and Hammond on Ottawa's depth chart was excessive, and was just another example of DATM over paying for players he wanted.
To not stop a single shoot out attempt in two years was shall we say unacceptable.
BTW did any of you happen to catch his post game interview after he shut out the Sabres to clinch the playoff spot? If you did let's chat about it.

I've only heard about the alcohol problem, but it's all solved, why can't we talk, hire a psychologist, anything else to do. Lehner is a great goalie, good physique, except that he have gambled wrong in the first place, I believe it is the fault of the coach and coaching staff , what they were doing there I do not understand, ROR was also supposedly some problems in the locker room, so that there is a team such that all problems in the locker room. I know that Lehner is grateful to Botterill, that he supported him all summer and called him regularly. Hutton and Ullmark had a great start to the season, and then both dropped, hello to the coaching staff.

Yeah, I know, this thread is not about Botterill, this is about everyone on here who told me Lehner is garbage, despite all the evidence I showed that said it was the teams fault and not his (sounds familiar this year too). This was before I knew about his substance issues. I do wish Botterill would have rewarded Lehner's sobriety and recovery with a contract (he only saved 1.25 mill for Hutton, a career back up to this point).

Thank you for your great comments. I feel really badly for Lehner and very happy that he turned his life around. he was near suicidal and I cannot find the site to corroborate this story but Betterall left the press box to chat with Robin in the locker room when Robin could not continue his last game in Buffalo.

Just some points to ponder, Lehner had a losing record here and his back ups his first two years performed much better than he, DATM had to know he was damaged before the trade and did nothing to address the problem, a first and taking cap dump was way too much for a teams 3rd GK (see Talbot and Mrazek traded for a late second and thirds), remember Mitch Korn, and finally, do you remember his on ice antics when a player made a poor play which led to a goal? So he never performed this well here, his problems were ignored, we over paid to get him, Corsi should never have been fired, he seemed to be a team's pariah on and off of the ice.

Finally, it would have been nice if he had been offered a contract by Betterall, but if he had returned to Buffalo after the recovery, he may have relapsed if he had to revisit his past. He needed a new start, and the Islanders gave it to him. I should mention long before the season started, my inside source told me the Islanders had a good team, it was the only team he mentioned. so it obviously more than just Lehner.