Observations:

July 2016 – Lieuwen was not given a qualifying offer from the Buffalo Sabres and has now become an Unrestricted Free Agent. Lieuwen battled with Makarov and Ullmark for starting time for the 34-38-3-1 Rochester Americans. Lieuwen finished the season with a record of 14-11-2 in 28 games played. Lieuwen was pushed out by the younger, more talented goaltenders in the Buffalo depth chart.

October 2015 – Lieuwen appeared in two preseason games in training camp. But he only totaled 2 full periods and only had ten shots on goal. He did only let in one goal, but also had two wins to his name. He was sent down to Rochester to compete with Andrey Makarov and CJ Motte for the starting role for the Amerks. Lieuwen has played one preseason game for the Amerks and recorded the win by making 26 saves on 28 shots. Paul Zwambag

July 2015 – Nathan Lieuwen has signed a one-year, two-way deal worth $605,000 at the NHL level and $60,500 at the AHL level. With the acquisition of Robin Lehner, Lieuwen is likely to backup Andrey Makarov again this year in Rochester. Lieuwen played 16 games with the Amerks last year, with four wins, nine losses, 3.29 GAA and .883 SV%. He split the backup role with Matt Hackett, who was not resigned by the Buffalo Sabres. Lieuwen's crease competition is with Makarov for the Amerks starter role. Paul Zwambag

March 2014 – Most people in fantasy hockey know the name Matt Hackett, but not many probably know who Nathan Lieuwen is and he is actually the goalie to know in Rochester this season. Lieuwen sits in the top 10 in both major goaltending categories after posting a solid 2.34 GAA and 0.922 SV% which is good for eighth and sixth respectively. Not too shabby for a rookie. So it wasn't all that surprising to see Lieuwen get the call ahead of Hackett when the Sabres were in need of a goaltender after the newly acquired Neuvirth went down with an injury. The Sabres recalled the former Kootenay Ice product to back-up Enroth ahead of a divisional rival matchup with Montreal and it didn't take long for him to get into game action as Enroth went out with an apparent lower-body injury. Due to the aforementioned injuries, Lieuwen was thrust into action stopping all 10 shots he faced the rest of the way. Coach Ted Nolan then rewarded him with his first career NHL start on March 18th versus the struggling Flames but it was the Sabres who struggled to muster up any offence only putting 13 shots on net and in the process couldn't help him come away with a victorious debut. Buffalo may not have an established number one option in net but they have multiple NHL caliber options in their system with one being this 22 year old goaltender from Abbotsford, British Columbia. Travis Watson

March 2013 – Is performing adequately at the ECHL level, but is behind Connor Knapp and David Leggio on the depth chart…Will need to unseat one of those two in order to make his mark and get on the fantasy hockey radar. Dobber

June 2012 – Nathan Lieuwen is a big, athletic goalie that is known to make the occasional highlight reel save. After leading the Kootenay Ice to the Memorial Cup last year, Lieuwen had a strong individual season, but his team was unable to make it out of the first round of playoffs. He put up a 2.50 GAA with a 0.914 SV% on his way to 27 wins. His style is similar to that of Pekka Rinne. He is a long term project with a lot of upside.

Fantasy Outlook: C-

Has some upside and is starting to show it, just needs a few lucky breaks to get a real shot.

Footage:

Lieuwen post-game interview:

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