| Sabres frustrating Offseason and much more… | Due Hockey Hotline | Due Champions
Quick joke. We got it. Okay, we are back live and we are in version two of our hockey hotline on this morning of July 12th. And much like the Buffalo Sabres and many of their off seasons, you know, we just had a little blurp in the system. So, it’s kind of fitting for how uh things have been going up in Saverland over these last 14 years. But hey, we are back here on this Saturday morning to discuss some Buffalo Saber rumors with you, the offseason that has been, and we’ll talk about maybe some other players that could still be available. I know it looks pretty bleak right now uh in some respects for a lot of Sabre fans. If you look at the offseason, we did Matt and I did get into the JJ Purka trade in detail uh before we left for break. And of course, a lot of our thoughts were it wasn’t a bad trade, but it’s also contingent on what else do the Sabres do? Who else could the Buffalo Sabres get for another top six forward? Is it a long-term option like a Marco Rossi? Is it a veteran guy? Maybe the Pittsburgh Penguins look like they are going to be cleaning house. So, could the Buffalo Sabres go after the Penguins to get themselves a Brian Rust or a Ricard Raquel who’s going to have a little bit of a higher price? So, there are plenty of options out there, but here’s, you know, there are a lot of problems with that that we’re going to get into as well. So, here, if you’re in the comments, I want to hear from you. I want to hear what you’re thinking about the Buffalo Sabres. Me standing here for an hour or sitting here for an hour, whatever you want to say. Talking about this team can be pretty tiresome, but we’re going to go piece by piece and kind of look at things after July. But I want to take a highlevel look at the Buffalo Sabres in general and the off season. And I had some comments on how we have to start looking at the off season now in the NHL. About 15 20 years ago when we hit July 1st, it was almost like Christmas morning. You woke up, you had 50 60 moves, you had tons of signings all over the place. You had UFAS, you had trades and the like. Right now, since the hard salary cap has come in, obviously we have seen changes on a lot of fronts, some good, some not so good. We’ve seen some of the low tax markets. We talk about that at Nauseium and the advantages, the built-in advantages they have to add about 8 to 12 million more of AAV versus even a New York. Uh, so it’s interesting to see how that’s changed things and now instead of the New Yorks and Toronto getting first dibs on guys like Mitch Mner, it’s Vegas, it’s Dallas, it’s Florida. I mean, whoever thought we’d be in this kind of world. Now, when you look at this off season, salary cap’s going up a little bit more than usual. And in the next couple years, it’s going to go even higher. So on that front, you’re going to see some players that might be hesitant to sign long-term deals with teams because they know the bigger paydays could be coming. So that’s just one thing in particular that we’re seeing. So, the other big change to the offseasons, and this is a frustration that I have with the NHL in general, and if you go to puckpeddia.com, and if you just go over rosters, for example, guys like on our team, Jordan Greenway, Jason Zucker, they have no move clauses. The no move clauses have absolutely deterred any particular uh movement. And and we have a comment. What exactly is July 1? Well, it’s the start of unrestricted free agency in terms of the first day that you could talk to UFAS and things like that. So, that used to be Christmas for and I know what what Matt’s saying there. It just feels like, hey, what is that again? So, and we’re getting to an overall point here. So, the the fact that there are so many no trade movements and I’ll give you an example. Let’s tie this into our Buffalo Sabres. The Buffalo Savers, I am sure, and I’m sure if we had cameras inside their war rooms and talked to Kevin Adams off the topic, if we were able to see, they may have been going after more players than we realize. We we don’t have a clue on that as not a lot of that information is leaked. But even if they do, in some cases, for example, let’s say they had a deal in place for player, it could be anybody, right? I mean, let’s just look at Anaheim for example. Troy Terry. Troy Terry is a very solid right-winger. He’s 27. He makes $7 million a year for the next five years. Let’s say the Savers had a trade in place with the Anaheim Ducks. Well, he has a modified no trade clause. He could just say no. Trade is over. That’s it. I mean, you look at their roster. They have Frank Vetrono, Kilhorn, Krider, McRanulan, guys like Jacob Trouba, Rako Gudis. They have so many no movement clauses. So, it really limits on who the Buffalo Sabres could target in trades. And it’s not just the Buffalo Sabres aren’t alone, folks. There are other teams as well. Now, what causes this frustration for the Savers is something that I think some Sabre fans miss the boat on out there on Twitter. And I call them Saver apologist. I’m like, well, what could the Savers do? What is Kevin Adams going to do? What is Terry Pagula going to do? But the Buffalo Savers have laid down this path based on the the terrible decisions they’ve made for over 15 years now. Example, same market, same weather, same taxes, same lack of of palm trees. How come the Buffalo Bills don’t have a problem bringing players in? Now, I know that they don’t have no there’s not a lot of no movement clauses, but this is a team that you could see the culture over there. You could see the locker room. You could see the what’s going on. They are able to attract players to come into Buffalo. Now, not every player is going to want to play for Buffalo, no matter how good the Savers are or not. There are certain players that maybe just don’t want to be there. That’s fine. But if the Buffalo Sabres were the old Savers as we knew back in the mid 2000s, the 90s, you could bet your bottom dollar the Sabres would have been able to make a trade by now. So, it’s the it’s what Poula has set up going forward. And I want to say hello to my buddy here, Real Deal Prime. It’s always great to see you. I love that logo. It always puts a smile on my face when I see the late great one and only Rick Richer on my screen. So, I I miss him every day. So great to see him. And you know, I just want to bring up and our other friend of the show and I and I always love Steve’s comments here. Steve is one of our best as well. You’re both great, by the way. Drafting 17-year-olds that are years away from the NHL. If a team develops like they should makes no trade clauses, even worse for parody and teams starting to corner. I could not agree more, Steve. The Buffalo Sabres are really in a corner right now. I know we’re frustrated. I know we want to go out and say, “Hey, let’s go get a Sydney Crosby. Let’s go out and get I’m just naming some weird names here in terms of and has somebody made an appearance.” Oh, all right. I thought maybe we had a special guest coming in through the back channels, but and it’s so true, Steve. It’s It’s really limited on what the Buffalo Sabres can do. And that also ties in to another problem that the Buffalo Sabres have had, and that’s a development of their players and letting guys go at the wrong times before they really take their next step. That’s been a big problem in Saberland as well for a long time is that it’s the you remember how what we did with Deon Levi when he first got here. We brought him up for those seven games. He teased us, had some great moments in that run where we almost made the playoffs. And I think a lot of us got way ahead of ourselves, including myself, about how great Devin Levi could be. Now, he’s been in Rochester. He’s been developing pretty nicely. And this is what they probably should have done from from Jump where he maybe he shouldn’t even with the team at all. Let him be down there season as much as possible. And he’s he’s continuing to improve his game. Now he’s 23. So, we’ll see if he could come up now. Maybe this year, maybe next year. and we’re going to get into one of the moves the Sabres made. So, I want to start again, we’re looking at the Sabres as a whole, as an organization before we get into the offseason. Now, I don’t know if you saw hockey I don’t know if you saw Craig Rey and Andrew Peters recent podcast this week, but they talked about something about Brendan Shanahan. And Brendan Shanahan supposedly was told allegedly by Terry Pagula that we already have a a director or a president of hockey operations and it’s him. Now, I know a lot of Saber fans out there do not want to hear about they’re in denial. I feel like, oh, there’s no way Pagula would say that. There’s no way that that would be the case. But if you look at the actions of this franchise since 2010, is it really that hard to believe that Terry Beula would not say that? Not for me. It isn’t because of some of the yesmen that he has in the organization, the lack this this how he scaled down things after co with the scouting etc. and all the other moves, some of the kickbacks and cutbacks that they’ve made. Is it really hard to believe that Terry Pagula doesn’t feel that he’s the guy that’s going to make these decisions? All I’m saying is I know there’s some people out there say, “Oh, that can’t be. It’s just Ray and Peters being Reay and Peters.” But what I like about Reay and Peters is they tell you things you may not want to hear, but we need to hear them, right? And these guys were in the organization. They they understand what it is. So I I’m not saying they’re always right. I’m just saying I’m going to listen. It you know, my eyebrow went up when I heard that. Interesting because I would love a Brendan Shanahan to be the face of the Buffalo Sabres right now. He wanted Maybe he also wants to be in the area. Wouldn’t it be great if we had someone like that uh on that? So, and I’ll tell you what. Wow. This comment right here. Wow. You know what, Steve? I I didn’t even want to go down that road, but a muted Jerry Jones. I’ll tell you what, that is something that in terms of hockey, what’s weird about Terry Pagula is you look at what he’s doing with the Bills. Now, I know a lot of people say, “Oh, they just got Josh Allen. They got lucky. You could say that about a h a ton of owners. And Matt is I love Matt at work still still behind the scenes doing his thing as always. The great Matt Digard. So, you know, but he’s right. I I I I agree, Steve. I think that’s a that’s a it’s a it’s a comment that a lot of us are not going to be comfortable with, but it’s true. Now, what’s what’s weird about Pagula is with the Bills, he gives them all the resources. Now, they’re under a different umbrella. They get ton NFL makes a ton of money, right? the the TV money, they’re getting the stadium money now. Um, you know, NFL is a totally different animal than, let’s say, the NHL. The NHL is very dependent on the gate. Um, about 40% I think of their revenue. A lot of it is dependent. Like, for example, the NFL could have half empty arenas and they’re still going to make money. It It’s just not It’s not the same animal. But and you look at the job that Terry Pagula did as he has really helped the Penn State hockey program and now they have the great Gavin McKenna who’s the prize of the 2026 lottery making 700,000 from NIL to play for Penn State hockey. So you could see what’s going on there in that respect. I mean so what is who is Terry Pagula and what is his involvement with this organization? That’s the first thing this organization needs to fix. We could talk about goalending. We could talk about Kevin Adams. We could talk about everything. It has to start with Terry Pagula. What is his involvement? How much of a meddler is he? And will he hire the right people here to be the face of the organization where he could take a step back, be the fan that he wants to be, and let him run the things? We don’t we don’t know that. That’s the unknown. It’s like with the New York Jets in football. The New York Jets have had some talent over the last 14 years. But the problem is Woody Johnson, he’s he’s a terrible owner. He’s horrible. And that’s why the New York Jets continue to struggle and they continue to go round and around you on on this, you know, hamster wheel, so to speak. They just continue trying to get out of it and they can’t get out of it because underneath them is that terrible ownership. The Buffalo Sabres fans have to come to realization. Terry Pagula needs to answer this and Terry Pagula needs to get the hell out of the way and he needs to hire someone here who could be the face. We need guys like Brendan Shanahan would be I it would be a great hire. We could have brought in a guy like Ken Holland as a general manager who say what you want about him. He’s got a lot of experience. He’s now he’s making weird moves with the Kings right now. But he did that with the Oilers, too. And we see what happened. The Oil the Oilers took that next step. He was a little bit criticized at times. So, I know I’m getting a little bit off the path, but I hope you understand where I’m going. The Goula is the number one thing we got to fix. And that’s what causes frustrating offseasons, terrible trades, Reinhardt’s leaving, Eel’s leaving, not paying for his fusion surgery. It starts with Terrence Spagula above all for me. I I can’t get past it. So, I’m hoping that some of the moves that he’s made in terms of bringing in Jer this off season, I’m hoping uh that, you know, Yeah. Agula needs to use a fantasy hockey league as his outlet instead of the Sabres. Yeah. You listen, Terry, I want Terry to take his victory laps on the new beautiful stadium in Orchard Park. I want Terry to take his victory laps with the great Josh Allen and one of the most likable teams I’ve ever watched in my life, this current Buffalo Bills team. I want him to take his victory laps with that. He’s done he’s done a good job with that. I we can’t take that away from He is the owner. He is part of what’s going on there. So, we can’t just say, “Oh, he’s lucky with the Bills but terrible with the Savers.” Like, we can’t you can’t have it both ways, right? He’s done some He’s He’s a mixed bag owner in my opinion right now. So, we’ll have to see, you know, how it goes going forward. But, let’s get off that for a second. Now, let’s move into some of the moves that they made. Now, we did talk about a little bit about Devin Levi, and they brought in a guy named Alex Leon. And Matt, our fearless leader here, said Alex Leone will be the starter. Could be. Alex Leon was a very I will say I will grade that as a very nice move for the Buffalo Sabres. The one thing that that Kevin Adams has done pretty well since he’s been here is acquiring that cheap veteran goalender. We did it last we did it with Craig Anderson where he was pretty solid. We did it with um James Rhymer. So we we’ve done some good moves there. Not that that takes a lot of skill to do that as a general manager, but he’s done a pretty nice job there. I’ll give him some We’re not going to bash Kevin Adams here for over an hour. He can get We’re gonna We’re going to bash him. Don’t worry. there. Matt will tell Matt will be here and will be back in our new date and time. We’ll have plenty of time over the summer to bash Alex Leone, which is becoming a pastime here on our podcast. But Leon is a guy that has shown some flashes at times. Uh last year 1491, 2.81 896 on a pretty okay Detroit team. Uh he, you know, he’s a veteran who’s been around. I loved his interview. I like his his attitude and personality. And that’s one thing we’re going to get into here about some of the changes we’re seeing with the Sabres. So, you know, he’s only had 113 games in his career. He’s 51 38 and 11. He’s a backup. He’s a solid backup. He’s got he’s had a few shutouts. He’s got some moments of brilliance at times. Don’t expect the world out of him uh going forward. Uh but oh, Matt Digger saying Alex Leo will be the starter and help break the drought. Uh, so and Eric Anthony here, want to welcome you here. And maybe this is true. And that’s a good point. Uh, he was going to the Kings all along. Very possible, Eric. And you know, I guess my only thought is if the thing about Brennan Shanahan is true, right? And the fact that they didn’t want to get rid of Kevin Adams, maybe he wasn’t interested. He probably wanted the keys to the the keys. Like, here, Terry, give me the keys to everything and I and I’ll handle it. But you could very well be right, Eric. That’s that’s a very good point. and welcome to the podcast. We’re happy to have you here. Want to hear more. Anything you got to say, this is what we want. We want you all to be This is interactive podcast. This isn’t just about me. This isn’t just about Matt. I want to hear from you on a lot of things. So, and just to come back to what Steve said earlier, and I want to get this comment up here about Zack Benson. A lot of criticism of fans, and I don’t know why either. I mean, you know, but yeah, I there’s some things that Zach Benson does on the ice where he shows a maturity to his game. even with his baby face, he looks like, you know, he’s 10 years old at times out there. Um, but I agree, Steve. I think the best is coming for Zack. I feel like it’s going to be one of those years where maybe it’s this year where maybe, listen, he’s not going to go from 30 points to 80. But what if I told you Zack Benson gets to about 45 50 points this year, right? Starts getting pop six minutes. Uh, he starts taking his game to a little bit of the next level. He had 28 points in 75 games this past season. I’m hoping he can get those numbers closer to 50, maybe 4550. I think he’s kind of ready for that at this point. So, I’d like to see him take that next step up in his game and maybe start using as to become a very solid top six option on this roster going forward. But I would still ideally like to see Benson take a little lesser role as I still think he needs a little more seasoning as we’ve seen from other players that we have let out of the Buffalo Sabres where Sam Reinhardt was here. He was, you know, he had good moments till he was 23, but he wasn’t really incredible until he got to 24, 25, 26. I mean, that’s the thing about hockey. It takes time to develop. You have to be patient with some of these young kids. Yuri Koulik, uh, guys like Zack Benson. And the other frustrating part is that it’s hard for us Sabre fans to be patient because we’re on a 14 game. They’re out. And we don’t want to wait for a a Yuri Koulie. We don’t want to wait for a Zack Benson. Some of those guys should have been in Rochester, especially Benson. I still, as much as I love Benson, I wish he was still more in Rochester a little longer, not up with the team and we eased him in a little bit. So, I just hope he’s not developing some of those loser losing habits and getting too frustrated with the losing uh going forward like it did maybe with a Dylan Cousins as an example. So, Alex Leo just a circle back solid move gives us good options in net. We don’t have to force Deon Levi if we don’t want to right now. I still think it’s good to have a good backup for Ukapukin. I’m still mixed on Ukapukin and Matt’s out on him. I still think there’s something there with Ukah. I want to see a better defensive structure from some of our forwards. I want to see the things that Lindy talks about that were missing from this team last year. Want a little more consistency, especially from the back end of that defense. I think moving Clifton out was a good move. We’re going to get into that in a second as well. So, overall, I do like the Alex Leo move. So, just a couple of the moves and we’re not going to go drag it on all show. A lot of you know the moves that we’ve made uh so far. Uh we did the Alfur mentioned uh trade where we got Connor Timonss from the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s the one guy here. He’s 26214. Uh he’s got some talent. He’s got some skill. Uh not a lot of offensive prowess per se. Uh, but he can he’s got good numbers in terms of I believe his analytics are pretty solid. Uh, I I think he could give us he’s another right-handed shot. So, the Savers are pretty well set now with the right hands on the right-handed shot of the ledger here is something that we really have needed um in terms of that. So, we saved a little bit of money on moving Clifton, but not that that’s really a big issue with this team because they’re not weaponizing their cap space. That’s something else we can talk about. See, there’s always something to talk about with the Buffalo Sabres. So, you know, that did save a little money, but I do like what Adams has done with the Keserling move. I like the Zachary Jones move from getting him from the New York Rangers. He’s a left-handed shot, 24 years old. Again, he’s got one more year in his ZLC, then he’s a restricted free agent for a couple years. So, we’ll see what they could get out of him. So, there are options. And the other reason why I like these moves is if we could push If we could push Jacob Bryson off this roster at some point, I’m all for it. So, I I don’t mind him, but I just think he’s I don’t think he’s an NHL defenseman at this point. So, yeah. Oh, wow. Matt Ziggard has said Kevin Adams is almost at the same level as Brad Marshed. Now, if any of you are friends of the show, you know how Matt feels about Brad Marshed. You don’t want to bring that up to Matt or just duck and cover if you do. So, but congratulations, Matt. Brett Brad Morett is a Florida Panther till he’s basically 70. So, don’t worry about him coming to Buffalo anytime soon, so we don’t have to worry about it. Um, but now we’re going to get into one of the elephants in the room, and we’re going to get into Bowen Byum now. And I want to bring up Steve brought up a great comment here, and I do want to bring that up, and we’re going to get into that in a second. So Bow and Byum uh as many of you know has been one of the big talks of a trade. Now I want to talk about something here for a second about Bow and Byum. JJ Purka wanted out. Okay, we all know that Bowen Bum he wants out for different reasons. He’s not unhappy with the Sabres as an organization. He’s not He just wants to probably sign a seven, eightyear deal. He feels like his skill set is probably going to be better for another team that could use a number one power play guy or even a number two power play guy. We have o we have Owen Power and Ras Stallene kind of blocking that for him. Uh so it’s tough to ask the Buffalo Sabres to pay this guy $9 million a year to be a basically a third wheel on defense and I would rather use that money for a forward and then get a better pairing option for Rasen. Rasmus Alene doesn’t need a lot to to he he’s a great one. I mean, I’m not sure if if a lot of us really understand how great Rasmosene is or at least some in in Buffalo area. Like, this guy is a special special talent. And I’m okay with getting a solid option there. Just a good veteran that understands what he’s got to do. Think TON for all you older Saber fans. That kind of defenseman. Like, I want someone like that for Rasmus. Doesn’t need to be flashy. We don’t need a $9 million option playing next to to him at all. So the Buffalo Sabres, I’m sure that there were a lot of rumors out there about trading Bow and Byum. Sometimes we heard from Freeman that the market was a little softer than we thought. I mean, who knows? I mean, Ellie Freeman hears a lot of things and sometimes he gets stuff right, sometimes he doesn’t, just like anybody else. And there were a lot of strong whispers, quote unquote, that a lot of teams were considering offer sheets. Now, the key to this, and I know a lot of Saber fans jumped on Kevin Adams or taking the offer sheet off the table and doing, you know, they elected to file for salary arbitration with him and he’s an RFA. I didn’t go crazy about it. I I actually thought it’s probably the it tells me one of two things. Number one, the Buffalo Sabres are not interested in getting trade uh draft assets for Bowen Byron. And for me, that’s music to my ears. And I think a lot of you would feel the same way. We’re tired of draft picks. We’re tired of thinking about the future. We’re tired of developing guys for four or five years. We’ve done that at Nauseium, and we still got some good players in the system. It’s getting a little drier than it has been in recent years, but that’s because of some graduations up to the Sabres and things like that. But so that’s a good sign to me. And in terms of what the offer sheets were going to be, they probably weren’t going to be for $9 million. The probably some of if I had to guess some of the speculation or the whispers that some of these teams may have made a one or twoear offer sheet to Bowen Byum and the compensation would have been a lot less than let’s say a first or second or third round pick for Bowen Byum. Something the Buffalo Sabres wouldn’t have been interested in. it would have been put him in a terrible predicament where they would have to keep him for two years and then or let him go for the compensation they really don’t want in the first place. So I think it was the right call by Adams and again I don’t say that too often around here but I think it was it was an okay move. I didn’t have any problem with them doing that to electing to file for salary arbitration. So here we are. We still have Bow and Byum. Now, they could still keep him, too. That’s option one. You could keep Bow and Byum, right, for like a year or so. You’re still gonna have the trade deadline coming up. And with the salary cap going higher and higher, he’s going to be worth something. But here’s the problem. There’s other young defenseman coming up through all these other teams that are also going to have value, too. I think the time is now. And this comes to what Steve said. We still need to make two trades. a Byum Deal needs us to get and this is the name that I love. Jared McCann from from the Seattle Kraken. Steve, I love this thought. Jared McCann is would be an excellent move for the Buffalo Sabres. Guy just puts the puck in the net. He’s a solid veteran. He’s got some versatility. He could play center and wing, which I think is is something that would be nice on this team to have that versatility because, you know, Josh Norris is a guy that, you know, he has injury problems. So, just nice to have that flexibility where we can move guys up and down on that. Uh, so and I would like and I love the uh the Ligoran idea from San Jose. We’ll see how that goes. And how about San Jose signing Jeff Skinner yesterday? Uh, that was interesting. So, Jeff Skinner, I guess, got tired of making the playoffs. Said, “Nope, going to San Jose. Want to be back to making no playoffs.” So, this is the kind of thing that I I agree with Steve on. Now, I I know Seattle could use some defensive help. Uh, but they do have some guys that are expiring on the books. Uh, so is Jared McCann a top center? Well, I’m not really so sure about that. And and that’s something that leads to Matt’s other comment here. Josh Norris is a second line center and they still need a number one center. I I would agree, Matt. And that’s something that Yuri Koulich, I’m sorry, he’s not ready to be a number one center. I like Yuri Koulik, okay? But he is not ready for that for that role right now. So, we’re going to get into Yuri Kulic a little bit later in the show because I have an idea that may upset some of you, but I don’t care because I like this idea. So, we’re going to get into that a little bit later. So, yeah. Steve Brand Borchett says, “Kevin has palm trees and no taxes for the rest of his career.” Yes, he does. And Matt has this face. So, Matt, don’t get too sick at work. Or maybe you could take a sick day, you know, saver talk. You could say, “Hey, you’re not feeling well, Matt, at your new job.” Ah, the saver talk just got to me a little bit. So anyway, we’re about 30 minutes in. So if you’re here, we’re happy to have you here. Love talking saber hockey with you all. It’s weird doing this without Matt and I miss him dearly, but I’m glad he is in the comments firing away and it’s it’s it makes my day. So again, want to hear keep hearing from all of you about any ideas you have about trades in particular. Um, now the one guy that Matt brought up, I mean, excuse me, Steve brought up here is a defenseman from San Jose. Um, in terms and I want to look at his contract. I believe Timothy Ligin is a right-handed shot defenseman. Uh, he’s a solid option. Uh, he’s 61201. Good skater, very solid. Um, he is from Sweden, so he would be a countryman with with a guy like Rasmus. could maybe I don’t think that would be a negative at all in terms of that. You know, he’s had a couple years with Toronto. He had 23 points a couple times uh with the Leafs. He had six goals, 11 assists, 17 points with the Sharks. Very responsible defenseman. That would be a very nice pairing. $3 million for that guy for one more season. I would be on board with that, Steve. And then maybe you could extend him somehow if he really works out and and see where that goes. And I think that’s a manageable contract the Sabres could work with for sure. So that’s something I would like to see as well. Now, in terms of what he said about Jared McCann, Jared McCann, I think would be a very nice addition uh for the Buffalo Sabres and I think it’s something that Seattle would consider because the Kraken are starting, you know, they have a lot of young guys coming up through the system. You uh Senaki, I believe they got some other guys down in their system. They’re probably itching to get up here. Seattle’s still sort of in a long-term build. They’re they’re really not looking to compete right now. Now, McCann is 29. He plays leftwing and center. He’s got a $5 million contract for the next two years. Pretty valuable. One problem, the old modified no trade. He’s got 10 teams on the list that’ll have to discuss that. He is an Ontario kid, so maybe a guy I should say. So maybe he would consider coming to the area. He had he’s had 70 Here’s the last three years, folks. 70 points, 62, and 61. We put this guy in the middle of our top six. Uh that would be a very, very nice addition to the Buffalo Sabres. Uh I like the versatility. And again, he’s had 30 goals the last uh No, he had 40 goals a couple years ago and then 29. He only had 22 last year. some of that. He was a little snake bit, but you also what I like about Jerem, 79 games played, 80 games played, 82 games played, durable. That’s the kind of player I want. That those are the kind of guys I’m looking for on this Buffalo Saber roster. If you told me we get him today, Steve, in a trade for Bowen, I’m good. I feel like the Savers are a better team now than they were. Yep. And this is what I like what Matt said. Uh Lingren and Dene is a top pairing and slots everyone correctly. That’s important right there. Slotting everyone correct cor collect correctly. Excuse me. I need more coffee. That’s very important to the s the defense as a group. So you a lot of us we we play video games, right? We play NHL, we play Madden. Sometimes you can sign all these, you know, great defenseman, but that’s not how it works in real hockey. Hockey, more than almost any sport, synergy is so important. having the right types of players in on your lines to do the certain tasks that you need to do. You just can’t get a bunch of snipers and put them on the top line. It just doesn’t work that way. So, you have to have certain options and and that’s why I like some of the moves that Adam’s making like a Josh D. You read his profile. I got fired up watching some stuff about Josh Don. He goes above and beyond. He’s a great teammate. Like we’re hearing this a lot about the guys they’re bringing in and that’s a welcome fresh of fresh air for me as a Saver fan. I want players that want to be here. Again, this is going to take some time to manifest itself and really come to fruition and show its true benefits for the Savers, but it’s a definitely a nice welcome change in some cases to what’s going on in Saabland. Now, as far as you know, where where can Bo and Byron go? Let’s circle back to Bow and Byron right now. Some of the rumors have sort of dwindled away a little bit. Obviously, St. Louis has been a hot team that we that has been linked to a guy like a Bowen Byron. Now, the problem with St. Louis is now is now St. Louis has only $600,000 in cap space. They got everybody signed, but they’re right up against it. So, you have to think about that for them. Jordan Kyu’s no trade clause has kicked in. It’s a full no trade clause, folks. So, there’s no 10 teams. He could do whatever he wants. Um, so, you know, maybe another guy I would consider is he’s a veteran of Braden Shen, 33 years old, center winger. I know he’s not what he once was. 6.5 million for the next three years, but that’d be a solid option for the Savers, too, but he also has that no trade. Another guy we’ve heard of, and I would love this move, is Jake Neighbors. Guy makes 3.75 million. Jake Neighbors had 40. He had uh 46 points in 82 games this past year. 56 minutes plays is the little grit. Uh I really like I feel like Jake Neighbors is a guy that is a player that the Sabres would give away and then he would take the next step somewhere else. Now, we did this with Purka. We’ll have to see how that works. But we could do the reverse here and maybe get a guy like Jake Neighbors. He’s still going to be a tough get. I’m sure the Blues really have plans for him. But that’s someone I would really target if I were going to talk to the Blues. They could also consider talking to the Blues about seeing if they can get Justin Faulk to wave his no trade. He’s a 33-year-old right-handed shot defenseman. Makes 6.5 million the next two years. Maybe the Blues would love to move off of that deal to free up some money for some of the other players that they’re going to eventually have to sign like a Dylan Holloway and some others like that. So, there are some options there with St. Louis. That’s just one team. Another team uh that could be considered uh is the Calgary Flames. So, we’ll get into that as well. And we got some great comments in the group chat here and we’re gonna get into one. And it’s funny because as far as I don’t think this is a fit for Bowen Byum, okay, but Steve hit the guy that I really wanted to talk about today. McTavish would be a nice piece to get as well. Now, some of you may know I live by Anaheim. I would say if I had I don’t even like to call them a second team, but if I have a team that I really pay attention to a little bit as well, I pay attention to the Ducks. They’re in my backyard. I go to some games sometimes just for the hell of it. They’re 15 minutes down the street for me. So, I like to pay attention to them and I like some of the moves they’ve been doing this off season. And now Mason McTavish is a restricted free agent. He is also a guy with versatility, a center left winger. He’s 22 years old, left-handed shot. Mason McTavish this year had 52 points, 22 goals, 30 assists. Two years before 43 and 42. I feel like Mason McTavish is a guy that is ready to take that next step pretty soon. Now, this may not sit well with you Sabre fans, but if I have to give up a Yuri Koulik and a package to get Mason McTavish, I’m not hesitating because Mason McTavish is getting close to what we think Koulik could be and more. Mctavish is a third overall pick in a great draft. He’s got oodles of talent. I think he really started coming on last year. I would be very comfortable giving him a 67 long-term deal, $7 million. Put him as one of my top six. You can put him at center. And I got I’ve sort of accelerated the timeline of a Yuri Koul League now. Would love to do it. And if they’re cons and if they’re interested in Bo, then let’s talk, right? Anaheim’s got tons of cap space. I mean, they have so much. They have $28 million in cap space. So, I would love to see this team consider Mason McTavish. I feel like he’s the guy and and this like Matt said as well, he also mentioned Mason McTavish. Marco Rossi is another guy. We’ve heard about him for a while and now it’s gone quiet, but he’s still out there. I could see the Sabres still being interested in a Marco Rossi as well. That would give us another center to pair with one of the top guys. And folks, I like Yuri Koulik, but I’m not afraid to move him. I’m not. Yuri Koulik is a nice player, but he’s still raw. He’s not ready to be a top center yet. Marco Rossi, Mason McTavish are at that age in development where they are ready to take that now. We want a guy that could be young, but a piece that could take that next step now. We can’t afford to wait three years for Yuri Koulig. I’m sorry. I’d love him, but he should be on the third line right now. And if we brought in uh just like here Matt said, you bring in a guy like Brian Rust or maybe a a guy like Ricard Raquel, that could work as well. So, and it pushes again, it pushes the other players like Matt said about putting guys in the right place, right? We have some good young players, but even Zach Benson, I love him. I’m not sure if he’s ready to be a topline guy yet. Could he be 100%. Absolutely. You you look at the way the Ducks developed even a guy like McTavish, they didn’t push him along. They didn’t overwhelm him. And you see how he’s progressing nicely now and he’s he’s ready to take that next step. If I if I am the Sabres, I’m all over Mason Mcavish. I am finding a way to get him. I like him better than Marco Rossi. But I like Marco Rossi, too. But yeah, if you give me a lingering here, Matt, and you give me a Rossi or McTavish, I’m feeling better about this Buffalo Sabres this this season. Is it enough to make up those 12 14 points we need to make the playoffs? I’m not so sure because the East is getting better and better. These teams behind us are are right in front of us are really starting to improve. So that’s going to be the tough call right now uh for the Buffalo Sabres. But this this off season to me is just getting started. We think of look at all the names we just mentioned. Marco Russy, Mason McTavish, we talked about the Blues, we talked about Lingren. There’s still plenty of options out there in the trades, but the Savers are going to have to get creative. They’re going to have to get aggressive, and they’re gonna have to get a little uncomfortable, unlike years past. Kevin Adams is going to have to say to himself, you know what? I still got $13 million in cap space. We only, you know, we only need a couple guys signed. They could still move off a guy. They could still buy out our favorite defenseman and you know who it is, Matias Samson, and they could save almost $4 million on the cap and plenty of room to bring in plenty of bigger bigger options on this team. So most of the roster is set though in terms of the top. I mean, we could even see in a trade a guy like Pton Krebs get moved if they have to. I’d love Kreby’s, but listen again, if if it takes getting if if moving Payton Krebs takes the top six forward, fine. Other things that happened since we were gone are we did sign Ryan Mloud, $5 million a year for four years. I think a lot of us pretty much nailed that contract. I I like Ryan Mloud, right? My only concern about it’s it’s a it’s an overpay for me and I’ll tell you why. Mloud got top six minutes when he probably shouldn’t have. I I still love him as a third option. I still love what he brings. I mean, he’s one of the fastest skaters in the world. He’s dynamic, but his numbers were a little inflated last year because of a need and and he juiced his numbers up and he got paid. So, but it’s fine. He wanted to be here. I like it. We got him for four years. Congratulations to Ryan Mloud. I I you know it’s it’s something I’m not really complaining about. I in a perfect world I would like to see it about four million dollars instead of five, but what are we talking about here? The Sabres never go to the cap anyway. So why are we worried about it, right? We got a guy uh come in here. So and this right here, this is another guy, you know, this is the thing about this team and Steve coming coming with the thunder today. Ryan Johnson would be a great pairing with Timonss. Samson and Timmons would have difficulty getting the puck out in the zone. I agree. And Ryan Johnson, Steve costs a lot less. Ryan Johnson, I feel a guy that’s been pinging ponged around with this team. And I feel like he could really give, you know, I I feel I’d love to see him just get a clear shot with the Savers and get those consistent minutes. And I still think he’s part of their plan. Um it’s just hard to say where uh in terms of that. But again, I like some of the I really like some of the depth the Sabres have added on the back end on defense. I like the, you know, we’re not hurting for right-handed shot guys now. Uh I I really like the Zack Jones move. That was just a why not a total lowrisk move that could pay off. Um I talked to some Ranger fans. You know, I’m very in tune with the Rangers. They all told me, you know, listen, he’s a guy, he only, you know, he had 11 points in 46 games last year, but he didn’t he doesn’t get a ton of minutes with the Rangers, but he still has some potential. I mean, they they all like him. So, I I really thought that was a a why not type move. Again, if that could push Bryson off the roster, I’m all for it. I think that’s an addition by subtraction. But, so I like what they’ve done. Uh, and this is another thing. Don and Danforth. We haven’t even talked about Danforth yet. Do not take a shift off. See, those are the things that I like. What again, I hate to give I’m not sitting here saying Kevin Adams is great and he’s doing all these great things. There still I still have a lot of issues with Kevin Adams, but at least they’re trying to bring in some of these guys. Those are the type of players in hockey you need those type of guys, guys that give maximum effort. That could be the difference between wins and losses in some cases. that could be the difference between not going on a 13game winless streak. I digress, but just that and you know over a course of a long season, you need guys like that because then it it it goes through the whole locker room, right? And that’s that’s important too. The message that you’re trying to send a team that’s been frustrated, you even heard Ta Thompson’s comments during the off season sounds a little frustrated to you at times, doesn’t he? So that in itself um you know you have to send a message to the organization and that’s the other reason why I want to see Adams get aggressive here is imagine Rasmus Dalene or Taage Thompson these guys have you know Dene voices displeasure to Kevin Adams as we know after the deadline which I’m happy he did um in terms of hey this is what I want I’m the captain right and he stepped up and made his voice clear. Imagine Nollen sitting on a beach somewhere or wherever he’s doing for the off season and hears that the Sabres got themselves a really nice like a Mason McTavish or a Rossi or made a big trade uh for even a Jordan Kyro if they could get him to wave his no trade. That’s going to be a tall order now. But let’s say they did. You know what kind of message that sends the team? You know what Tae Thompson’s going to think? It’s like yes, like you know you’re going to do a little pump fist. Yes, this team’s showing me they’re going to give me something to play with here to try to break that 14 game winless streak. Uh drought, excuse me, playoff drought. So, and I agree with Matt, urgency is huge this year. They need to just get in. You know, Matt, at least they need to operate like it, right? I mean, it’s it’s, you know, it’s hard to it’s going to be hard to guarantee. Again, if you look at the landscape of the Eastern Conference, let’s just look at some teams around us. Have the Detroit Red Wings gotten better this off seasonason? Yes. They added John Gibson. That was a good move for them in goal. They’re going to be a tougher team now uh to play against. Philadelphia Flyers, I think, are even getting better, too. They’re doing some nice moves, but I’m not sure if it’s going to show itself yet, but they’re going to be in the mix, too. Um Ottawa’s getting better, but I don’t think we’re we’re close to Ottawa at this point in terms of the playoffs. Uh teams like New Jersey, they’re going to get healthy. They’re going to be way better this year. The Rangers I thought got better this off seasonason is it may seem weird but I think they did. Um so I think the Rangers, you know, if they if Shurken bounces back, they’re going to be a tougher team to to get over for the Buffalo Sabres. So you just look at all these teams that are sort of in that muck in the middle uh for the playoffs. It’s going to be a tall order for the Savers. And of course, we haven’t even talked about Montreal who made the big move for Noah Dobson. They have oodles of good young talent on that roster that and if you’re not paying attention to what’s going on in Montreal right now, you better because but this is a team they’re over the cap. They’re going to have to make some moves too to get under. But you know with guys like Shvowski, Caulfield, Suzuki, smart contracts all gave them seven million across the board. Helps with that ridiculous uh cap problem that they have. Maybe they got to move out Patrick Lane. Maybe there’s a team that could weaponize cap space to make that happen. I wonder who that could be. Uh but anyway, I just got to throw out some jokes here on this Saturday morning. But and then you you’re going to have some you have Ivan Demidov. If you haven’t heard of this guy, 19 years old, he is going to be dynamite. And I hate to say this for Montreal, but it’s just the way it’s going to be. He is just going to be an absolute monster in the NHL. So, Montreal, but again, is the is Montreal ready to take that next true step? I don’t know yet. So, it there’s still an opportunity for Buffalo to do it. And you and we all know folks, and I hate to just say, oh, just remove the 13 games, but I’m going to do it with the Savers because something weird happened that December. They had a lot of bad luck. They had a lot of bad breaks that didn’t go their way. Dene was injured. If you took away the 13 games and just watched this Saber season, they they actually played pretty well. That’s the craziest part about it. I I think they were eight games over 500 or nine games over 500. Like they played pretty solid hockey from three4s of the season. That’s the weirdest thing about this Sabre team. But the other thing is they won a lot of games late when a lot of teams were just whatever. They’re they’re getting ready for the playoffs. They’re playing backup goalies. So, we got to be careful how much we take from that as well. Uh, I could see this too, Matt. I could see. Yeah, Crosby is I don’t think he’s from Quebec, but they said privately that he is probably wanted to play with the Canadians at some point. I could see it, Matt. I It’s weird. Matt, I know you you’ve always been a Pittsburgh guy, too. You you lived there for a bit. I don’t really want to see Crosby move off the Penguins. I I really want to see him stay there for his whole career, but I do have a feeling he is going to leave uh Pittsburgh at some point. Pittsburgh’s probably going to be tanking for McKenna. There’s going to be that’s going to be an interesting dynamic as the season goes along, too. So, I want to see the Buffalo Sabres play both sides of the fence here on that. Speaking of McKenna, now we learned from the Eel Conor McDavid exercise. And back then, the Sabres had a way better chance to get the pick than they do now in terms of the 20 the 2026 lottery. They don’t they have a lesser chance now to get that top pick. But here’s what I’m telling you. I would trade my 2026 first, but only, and I mean only if it’s top four, three or four protected. I am not moving that pick unprotected, unless you’re telling me we’re getting like a real Capri off. It’s some wild deal, but there’s no way I’m even doing it. So, and this is something else that I want to circle back with Matt on. Goalending is an issue. If they get average goalending for UPL, they would have made the playoffs. I agree, Matt. This is something that we’ve spoke about a lot with the Buffalo Savers. If you think about any of you as old as me, even if you’re not, and if you old days, goending was always a staple. Tom Baraso, even Darren Poopa, uh, was great for a couple years, Ryan Miller, of course, Dominic Ashik, of course, uh, Martin Bon. They’ve always had really strong goalending through, I believe, the first 40 years of this franchise. we made the play last 33 years and I believe the Sabres, if I remember correctly, had the fourth highest winning percentage in hockey over those first 40 years. Those numbers sound foreign to you now, don’t they? I mean it it but that’s what the Sabres were. They were very strong, solid organization. They always had lunch pale guys that went to work. We had some dynamic scorers over the years too. La Fontaine, Tjans, we had players like that and you know, so but that’s what the Savers need to get back to. They need to get back to my dad always said this with the Bills. It’s a weird thing. He always talks about the when the Bills were struggling in their day. They said they need a heartbeat. They need a guy that kind of personifies that fire and desire to to really win for Buffalo. Josh Allen is that, right? He and he and he told he called me when he first watched Josh and he watched he said, “Brian’s son, they got their heartbeat back.” And I know my dad isn’t as tuned in with these teams as we are, but it was a great comment and I and I agree with him on the Sabres. The Sabres need that heartbeat back. They need that they need guys that want to be here that go to work and they play hard. They get the fans excited. Like that’s what we want, right? I mean, I don’t want to talk about tanking anymore. I’m done with all that. So, Yep. And this is something too, you know, and just to go back to what Matt said about the goalending, I I like the I like the Leon signing, too. I’m not expecting the world, but I think he gives us that stable option that could maybe we don’t have to wear out UPL or maybe he maybe he supplants him. Maybe Deon Levi comes out. We don’t We’ll have to see. That’s going to be an interesting story as it develops as the year goes on for sure. And this is something that Steve said, and I want to bring this up. GMKA, it’s Kevin Adams for all you out there. I spent the last two years hoping for guys to take a step. Taser never took off till he was 24. Right there. I want you to focus on that comment. Not sure why this happens at age 24. Quinn, Krebs, and Don are at that age. You know, I want you all to think back. Listen, I’m 51 years old. Okay. When I was 20 to 24, 25, big difference. I was 20 years old. I was a college kid. Didn’t know what he was doing. Harding, studying, trying to get through St. John’s in New York. you know, thought I knew everything, but I didn’t know really crap. Okay, 24,25, you start getting in the real world. You start working, you you start, you know, your first car payment, your your first job, you get your got to get the new clothes. You got to be an adult. You got to start acting like an adult. There is a difference. 20 to 24 is a big difference, Steve. I I I I think your point is excellent. And you look at Quinn. Quinn’s another guy, too. We haven’t even spoke about that extension and I didn’t mind it. I still there’s still things about Jack Quinn, you know, poor Jack Quinn, you know, he he was a little sneak that injury was a serious one he had. So mentally that takes about a couple years to get over as well. So it’s just going to take some time on that. Uh Krebs, I think Krebs is what he is. I think Krebs has transformed himself into a real pesky third, fourth line option that could have a really nice career in the NHL. I love Krebs. He’s He’s going to be a fan favorite um for this team. He was originally a first round pick by the Knights. I think middle of first round if I believe. So, but you know, he’s definitely found himself a nice niche and I still think he could be a 30-point guy. I still think he could throw some points in there, too. I love Don. I I’m telling you guys right now, Don is going to be one of the most popular players on this team this time next year. Mark it down. I don’t care what the record is. fans are gonna love watching Josh Dome play hockey. Great pedigree. His father Shane Dawn was a great player. I just think he’s going to be that guy. And that’s a great comment by Steve. I I really love that. So, and and I agree to here with Matt Quinn had a reset last year because of the injuries. I think he fully breaks out. Matt, that that I listen, I think it’s possible. He’s got a great shot. Zack Quinn has such amazing hands. He’s got one of the He’s got an elite shot. Hard to move off those guys in this league. He needs consistency. Quinn needs to be on the ice, have a consistent role, and have a consistent solid, even a playmaking guy next to him that could feed him the puck. That’s something else, too. So, Matt said heard dome for Purka thought they were getting shade. Yeah, probably. Oh, we’re getting shade. Yes. Hey, but you know the solution’s in the room. Just remember, you know, Terry Pagula said it. So, you know, solution definitely isn’t with Terrence Pagoula. I’ll tell you that right now. So, we’ll we’ll leave that alone. But, yeah, we’re about six we got about six minutes left here. So, we’ll we’ll take it for a few more minutes. So, what’s next for the Buffalo Sabres going forward? Well, again, we spoke at the top about the new off seasonason NHL. The new off seasonason is from July 1st till August 31st. It’s not just July 1st anymore. July 1st is for those drunken sailors. They’re at the, you know, they’re spending money that they shouldn’t. They overspend on certain players. I don’t want the Sabres building their team through that. It’s nice to get a free agent here and there. I would have loved if they got Nikolai Eers. Again, we spoke about it about the message that would have sent this team would have said, “Hey, we mean business now, right? Tell tell these guys in the locker room.” You bring in a guy like, “Wow, that Even if it is an overpay, so what? It’s okay. You’re taking a guy from a team and you’re not giving up assets for him. So I call UFA the 20 20 to 30% rule. You’re always going to pay about that much more over than what you should, but remember if you trade for Nicolaiers, you’re probably going to give up a couple assets to do it. I’m not doing it. So I’m keeping those assets and I’m going to overpay for him. So and so that the first step here obviously is Bowen Byron. We got to figure something out with him. what’s going to be happening with him. I keep working those phones. Get the best deal you can. Find a way to get a guy like Mason McTavish, Jake Neighbors. There are still some options out there, folks. And just like Nick, just like Steve said about the 24 years old. It’s hard to believe Krebs is 24. Feels like he’s been saber for 10 years. Kind of feels like that with Ukapan, too, right? It feels like they’ve been here since like Ryan Miller was here. Uh, now we can’t give up power. Koulie and Benson. Now, I’ll say this, Steve. I partly agree with you on that. Owen Power is still 22 years old. That’s a good point. But I hope that having a Kesserling with Owen Power settles him down and frees him to do the things he needs to do. Owen Power needs a more of an adult next to him to say, “Hey, don’t worry. You’re going to be okay, right? To kind of show him the ropes.” Hulik is a guy I still like him, Steve. But if it comes if his cost comes at getting a Mason McTavish, I could live with it because we’ve again accelerated the time the time frame on the age. Benson is a guy I agree with you, Steve. I would love to keep Benson. I think there’s something about Benson. I see he could be a special player in this league. I’m not saying I’ve heard Mitch Marty vibes with him. I don’t know if he’s ever gonna get to 100 points like that, but he could be Mitch Marty Light, which there’s nothing wrong with that, but with more of an edge. And I think he could be a good playoff player. I think he’s one of those guys like Sam Reinhardt, I said that for years. If he ever gets in the playoffs, he’s going to be a monster. And that’s exactly what’s happened. I mean, he’s got that that kind of skill set for it. I think he he would be an excellent player. So powered Benson Benson has to be the perfect package for me. It has to be for like a top number one center for sure. Ellias Patterson type like you you can’t miss on it. But if not, but Koulique is a guy I would consider moving if the price was right. I’m not moving Koulique for picks. I’m not moving Koulique for another 20-year-old. That’s that just makes no sense. I I agree with you on that. So, it all depends on the context and who they’re going to try to get. So, going forward, the options for the Savers are a little bit limited. We’ve also heard Bowen Byron to Calgary as well. Just wanted to circle back there. I’m not sure who the Sabres could get that I was considering Joel Farabe as an option. He is a leftwing right-wing 25 years old. He is also a Western New York product if I believe. I believe he is from Syracuse if I remember correctly. I could be wrong. Makes $5 million over the next three years. But my problem with him is I like his skill set. He’s had 50 points before, 22 goals, but he he’s played 50 games and only 31 games last year. He’s been a little banged up. I don’t think he’s obviously he wouldn’t be enough for a buyer. That would be part of the deal. A guy that I’ve always been a little intrigued in, but I don’t like the term is Nasam Cadgery. Uh, I know he’s not a favorite of our Matt Digger, if I remember correctly, but he brings that nastiness and and experience that I would not mind this team having, but he makes $7 million over the next four years, but he doesn’t have a no movement clause, which again lights me up. Say, hm, that’s a guy we could consider, but we’ll see how that goes. We’ve also heard uh some rumors maybe about a Connor Zary, uh, 23 years old. I would not mind that. If the Sabres want to overpay and get Connor Zaryi, I’m good with that, too. Uh, so we’ll see. This is crazy that Beck Benson played 150 games at 20 years old. Yeah. So, but again, I Steve, I kind of wish he only had about half that or less. I still wish he was in Rochester for a year or so where he was just lighting it up and then they brought him in. I I still think they rushed him a little bit, but I I hope he overcomes that. Uh, so, and this is something else, too. This is another big story this off season. Jason Robinson, I would agree. Uh the Styles Stars found a hench for Matt Dumba to get rid of some money. Uh he went to the Pittsburgh Penguins. I have no idea what the hell this the Penguins are doing on that move, but they did it. Um Dallas found a way to move some money off of they’re going to find a way to get that done. I But some of the P, you know, some of the guys in the know still think there’s stuff out there with Dallas. I think Dallas is going to look for and you got to you got to absolutely wow me for this guy and I hate to say it. I only think there’s one player the Sabres could throw in in a deal to get Robinson that will get them to move. And we haven’t talked about this guy and I want to save this for the last segment. Alex Tuck. And I don’t think the Buffalo Sabres would want to do that right now. Uh, it would have to be an Alex Tuck, Koulique, maybe a first round pick and more for a guy like Robinson. He He’s a 100 point guy. I mean, you don’t those guys don’t grow on trees. They’re very, very rare that they’re available. So, that’s what it would probably take. Um, Matt puts up Samson, Dene, Kerling, Power, Johnson, Jones, Timmons. Yeah, I’m okay with that. I I I’ll go to war with that this year. I’m good. I I feel like Samson, he had moments with Dalene. I just I want to sit down Sam and say, “Listen, we’re wiping the slate clean with you. Get out there. Show me a little more of an edge, right? Give me use that body he’s got. Use some of that, right? Just play with Deli. Maybe Dene will rub off on him on that.” So, we’ll have to see how that goes. But speaking of Alex Tuck, and we’re going to end with this. We’re hearing whispers that the Sabres are going to try to aggressively, not aggressively, but they’re going to start making offers to Alex Tuck or talk to him through the season. Our Matt Digger has been on a roll with the extensions. He’s been nailing them. So, right now, uh, Matt Digger, I’m gonna bring it up here. He may even be here, so he may be able to put it in here before he’ll probably beat me to it. Eight years, $8 million a year is what he is calling for Alex Tuck. I originally was calling for seven, but I’ll agree with Matt on the eight. I think it’s going to just take eight by 8.5 million. I think they’re going have to give him just a little bit more to keep him here uh long term. I I feel like Alex Tuck is a guy a little bit like a Josh Allen where I think he would probably take the a deal that kind of works good for both sides. So, we’ll see how that all works out on that front. Hopefully the Sabres get him signed up. I would love to see Alex Tuck stay here for a couple of reasons. He wants to be here and those guys are not easy to find. We talked about this at nauseium and yeah, I agree. And this is Matt’s full prediction here. Full no movement clause. I’m good with that, too. I don’t like giving out no movement clauses. I mean, the fact that Jordan Greenway has one is a joke. I’m going to be honest with you. I I I’m I’m call I can’t stand it. Jordan Greenway is a good He’s a solid player, but come on. No moving clauses for for Jordan Greenway. Come on. What do we do in NHL? Like, they got to do something about that. I don’t know what the answer is, but I I I can’t have just average players with no moving clauses. Those should be reserved for the top guys, but I understand why they give them out. I mean, teams got to keep these guys. They got to keep them get They want some power to know where they’re going to go. They don’t want to be shipped off to Winnipeg. I shouldn’t say W. I mean, is it a no trade clause? So, right now, Tuck has, and I think we inherited that from the Knights, if I remember correctly. I’m going to try to bring that up really fast here. We’re down savers. So, Tuck right now has a modified no trade. He only has a 5T no trade list right now. So, I would imagine the Sabres would up that a little bit, give him some more power in that case if he wants to stay. Oh, Greenway. I’m sorry, Matt. Uh, so Matt wanted to know about Greenway. Greenway has a five team no trade as well. I just don’t like that that these guys have this. It just limits the possibility of trades. And again, I think this is one of the reasons if you wiped out 80% of no trade clauses, we would have probably 15 20 more trades right now to talk about in this league. Maybe more. It would be unbelievable. We would have so many deals. Eight years for Tuck Scar is what Steve says. Perfect bottom six. Yeah, I agree, Steve. And I think Alex Tuck for eight. Let’s say we give him eight. I think for five or six of that, he’ll be fine. Now, Alex Tuck has had some injury bugs in his career before, but not lately. So, yeah, I’m good with uh Yeah, they could still buy him out, Matt, too, on Greenway, too. I get it. I I I’m just bothered by the no trade clauses. It just as a Saber fan, it frustrates me because we can’t seem to get off that. So, but I digress. But anyway, but we are probably here about the end of the show. We’ve been going for over an hour and I’ll tell you doing this myself, Matt, it it’s rough, man. It’s an hour or more, but hey, we could talk about the Sabres, but thank goodness for you. Thank goodness for Steve. You guys are f Steve, you’re fantastic as always. We always Matt and I really appreciate what you bring to the show. Again, want to welcome Eric Anthony. We saw him in here for a second. Wish he would have stuck around, gave us some more comments, but thanks for coming on. Uh we saw briefly our our guy Real Deal Prime. He only made a quick uh quick comment today, but it was good to see him as well. Uh so yeah, that’s true. Matt, the trade deadline was just uh on a roll. And so yep, so we’ll see. So, you know, listen, it’s sometimes it feels bleak with the Sabres, folks, but I still think this off season has had, again, if we’re in a dark room and we’re looking at the Sabres, I still think there’s a little bit of light there focusing out. So, hopefully we can continue to build off that. And again, please like and subscribe to our podcast at Do Champions, Please. If you are listening, you can find us on Twitter, on all kinds of platforms, uh I believe Twitch, I believe, uh Tik Tok and everything. So, look for Do Champions. This is where we are. Give us a follow. Uh give us a like and subscribe to our podcast. That’d be great. And just remember, Third and Manageable with Matt Digger and student body right for all great Bills uh talk football. Uh great guests. They always have. We have a lot of great shows coming up. A lot of exciting things as the Bills get ready to kick off their season. Myself and Whittle uh do our Coast to Coast on Wednesdays with the great one. Whittle just, you know, he’s worth the price of admission. So, please join us. Uh if you can look for Matt and I uh coming up with the Sabres, we’re going to give you more great content as we go forward into the season. We’re very excited for it. Hopefully the Sabres give us some excitement to build with that. Um but we may have a new date and time. Look for that as well. Uh we’ll try to make it something good uh for you all uh going forward. And you know what I this is a great I I Steve you’ve been on a roll today. Many are worried about replacing Peter’s 27 goals. The guy we acquired the guys may save us 50 goals. That’s a great point. That’s what we talk about building a team. The savers need a team. They need those guys that will do those things. They’ll take those t chances the the dirty work. you know, it’s a 4-3 game late and Josh Jones diving all over the place to block shots and we win games. Those are the kind of things we got to get. We’ll find goals, folks. Some of these young guys will step up and supplant some of those Purka goals. I’m telling you, I’m not even worried about losing Purka. I’m telling you right now, the more I think about it, I’m good. And I still think the Sabres will add a top six guy somewhere here, folks. I’m still confident that by the end of the summer, we’re going to have somebody to speak about. Who it is, place your bets. So again, want to thank you all for joining us today. We’re going to get out of here on this Saturday morning here in California. Hope you and yours are well. I hope you’re enjoying your summer. Look for us again. We’re going to have some announcements about when we’re going to be on and how we’re going to do it. But thanks for joining us, folks. I hope you all have a great rest of the week. And we will leave you with one more roll of this. and have a great one. Bye bye. Thank you, Steve. I appreciate you as well. And go. Let’s How about this? Let’s go savers. Let’s get something done here soon, guys. So, hopefully you’ll have some great great news to talk about here. Take care, everyone.
Join Matt Diegert and Beyond716 as they discuss all things Sabres and what’s happening around the NHL on Due Champions weekly hockey show, join the guys from Due’s Hockey Hotline! We get you primed up with all the news for the Sabres and around the NHL Join us only on Due champions!
Click link below and use code due for 10% off your first order with the official energy drink of Due Champions
https://www.dubby.gg/discount/DUE?ref…
Due Champions Channel: / @duechampions
#Sabres #BuffaloSabres #YouTube #Sub #Like #NFL #football #LetsGoBuffalo #BuffaloSabresnews #Sabresnation #Due #DueChampions