With Robin Lehner’s recent injury, the Sabres will be using a new look tandem for the next 6-10 weeks. It appears that Nathan Lieuwen will serve as Chad Johnson’s backup until Lehner comes back. For now, I will still review Lehner’s and Johnson’s equipment, and will do will Lieuwen’s at a later time.

Robin Lehner

Mask- Lehner’s mask was featured in one of my earlier posts about masks to watch for this NHL season. The design of this mask is incredible. I really like the personal inclusion of Robin’s favorite band, and the variety of Sabres logos featured on the mask. The matte finish though, is what puts this mask over the top for me. Rating: 10/10.

Lehner’s mask was featured in one of my earlier posts about masks to watch for this NHL season. The design of this mask is incredible. I really like the personal inclusion of Robin’s favorite band, and the variety of Sabres logos featured on the mask. The matte finish though, is what puts this mask over the top for me. Glove- Holy yellow. Seriously though, that is a lot of yellow in this pad set. Since yellow is only a secondary color of the Sabres uniform, I feel that the amount of yellow on the entire pad set is overbearing. I like the Vaughn Ventus design, but Robin did not execute with his color scheme. The dark blue stripe in the glove is perfect the way it is, the yellow just needs to be toned back significantly for me to give this glove a high rating. Rating: 3.5/10

Holy yellow. Seriously though, that is a lot of yellow in this pad set. Since yellow is only a secondary color of the Sabres uniform, I feel that the amount of yellow on the entire pad set is overbearing. I like the Vaughn Ventus design, but Robin did not execute with his color scheme. The dark blue stripe in the glove is perfect the way it is, the yellow just needs to be toned back significantly for me to give this glove a high rating. Blocker- Again, yellow is too dominant. Lehner does a similar thing with the dark blue stripe on the blocker as he does the glove, and it works well. It’s just the yellow that is killing the look. Rating: 3.5/10

Again, yellow is too dominant. Lehner does a similar thing with the dark blue stripe on the blocker as he does the glove, and it works well. It’s just the yellow that is killing the look. Leg Pads- At this point, I’m sounding like a broken record. But I really do not like how yellow is utilized in this equipment. That being said, it doesn’t look as bad as it does on the glove and blocker. If he had added an extra dark blue stripe on teh outside of the yellow, these actually would look pretty decent. Rating: 6.2/10

At this point, I’m sounding like a broken record. But I really do not like how yellow is utilized in this equipment. That being said, it doesn’t look as bad as it does on the glove and blocker. If he had added an extra dark blue stripe on teh outside of the yellow, these actually would look pretty decent. Stick- Lehner sticks with the yellow on his stick as well. That being said, I like when a goalie uses secondary uniform colors as a primary logo color on the stick. I’m also rating sticks based on how well it works with the rest of the pad set, and in this case it matches really well. Rating: 9.6/10

Lehner sticks with the yellow on his stick as well. That being said, I like when a goalie uses secondary uniform colors as a primary logo color on the stick. I’m also rating sticks based on how well it works with the rest of the pad set, and in this case it matches really well. Overall- It’s pretty apparent what I have to say about this setup overall. I am not a fan of the dominant yellow color at all. Luckily for Lehner, he has one of the best masks in the leauge, and that definitely helps his overall score. Overall Rating: 6.6

Chad Johnson

Mask- Pretty simple mask from Johnson here, but I like it. It’s essentially just the Sabres logo on both sides of the mask. The rest of the mask is just the Sabres colors, and a ton of hidden little Sabres logo. Not much of a personal touch on this mask, so it loses some points for that. Rating: 7.7/10

Pretty simple mask from Johnson here, but I like it. It’s essentially just the Sabres logo on both sides of the mask. The rest of the mask is just the Sabres colors, and a ton of hidden little Sabres logo. Not much of a personal touch on this mask, so it loses some points for that. Glove- Johnson uses the Vaughn V6 2200 glove, along with the rest of that set. His glove is looking really good. I’m biased to the white-base, and there’s a perfect balance between the yellow and dark blue stripes. To me, this is the ideal way to set up a pad set: mostly white, with one stripe dedicated to each uniform color. Rating: 10/10

Johnson uses the Vaughn V6 2200 glove, along with the rest of that set. His glove is looking really good. I’m biased to the white-base, and there’s a perfect balance between the yellow and dark blue stripes. To me, this is the ideal way to set up a pad set: mostly white, with one stripe dedicated to each uniform color. Blocker- Just like the glove, this V6 2200 blocker is mostly white with one yellow and one dark blue stripe. It works perfectly with the Sabres jerseys and looks really good in the process. Rating: 10/10

Just like the glove, this V6 2200 blocker is mostly white with one yellow and one dark blue stripe. It works perfectly with the Sabres jerseys and looks really good in the process. Leg Pads- There’s not really anything different to say about the pads that hasn’t been said about the glove and blocker. It’s a cohesive pad set and one that was executed perfectly. Rating: 10/10

There’s not really anything different to say about the pads that hasn’t been said about the glove and blocker. It’s a cohesive pad set and one that was executed perfectly. Stick- I don’t like how the stick works with the rest of the pads. While I like keeping the stick predominantly white, the blue used on the stick’s logo is not the blue of the Sabres uniform found on the pad set. Not sure if this was an old stick from his Islanders days or what, but the color does not match. Rating: 2.0/10

I don’t like how the stick works with the rest of the pads. While I like keeping the stick predominantly white, the blue used on the stick’s logo is not the blue of the Sabres uniform found on the pad set. Not sure if this was an old stick from his Islanders days or what, but the color does not match. Overall- An otherwise perfect pad set is brought down by the mismatched logo color on the stick, and a simpler mask design. While the mask looks good, it lacked a certain personal element. But the pad set is cohesive and is a really great utilization of the Sabres colors. Rating: 7.9

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-AB