It seems the Buffalo Sabres and GM Tim Murray aren't willing to sit around and wait for the Rangers to decide which NHL franchise to ship Cam Talbot to.
Instead, it looks like Murray has already set his sights on another young netminder most would be hard-pressed to consider a consolation prize to Talbot and may, in fact, be more of a goaltender trade option 1A.
"Much like NYR and Talbot, VAN has multiple offers on Lack. Hearing BUFF among most interested," TSN NHL Insider Aaron Ward tweeted Wednesday.
With new head coach Dan Bylsma in place, the Sabres are likely looking to turn the page as quickly as possible on the frustratingly inept and ineffective Ted Nolan era.
Murray has proven that he's not interested in taking another season or two to rebuild and that he's willing to take risks and make big moves to make the Sabres a contender again in as expedient a manner as possible as shown by his blockbuster trade for Evander Kane just prior to the NHL trade deadline last March.
After stumbling through an abysmal early portion of the 2014-15 season with the netminder duo of Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth, Murray shipped both players out while they still had some modicum of value, bringing onboard Andres Lindback and Chad Johnson in the process.
Neither Lindback or Johnson is likely a player the Sabres would like to see start a game next season, so another addition between the pipes seems to be as much an inevitability as a likelihood.
The team was linked to Senators goalie Robin Lehner earlier this month and just this week they were floated as one of the teams pushing hard to land Talbot, but it now seems that Lack may be the apple of Murray's eye.
In an interesting twist, Lack is currently backing up former Sabres netminder Ryan Miller, a player Murray jettisoned in 2013. Like Talbot, the 27-year-old Lack seems to be just entering his prime and has posted very good numbers in a recent backup role.
In 37 starts in 2013-14, Lack posted a 2.41 goals against average and a .912 save percentage. In 35 starts in place of Miller in 2014-15, Lack amassed a 2.45 goals against average and a .921 save percentage.
As with any young goalie, there's a bit of projection and a whole lot of hope that goes into adding them when they've managed good production but haven't yet shown they can shoulder a full-time load.
Still, with Lindback having fallen far out of favor in Dallas and likely inching closer to the end of his NHL tenure and Johnson having proven to be nothing more than a career backup, an injection of young talent at the goaltending position is sorely needed in Buffalo, and Lack looks about as enticing, if not more enticing, than any of the options currently available on the market.
