BFHS 10/24/25: A good goalie problem

BFHS 10/24/25: A good goalie problem

All right, TGIF everyone. It is October 24th, 2025. The Baker Fairbird hockey show is back here on a beautiful Friday in Western New York. I’m your host, Chris Baker, here as always with your Sabres beatriter from The Athletic. That’s Matthew Fairburn. You can find all of Matthew’s work at the aletic.comsabers. We are just going to dive right into things today. Matthew Sabres have a big I think everything’s important for this team right now, but a big home and home series coming up with the Toronto Maple Leafs. But first, let’s just recap quickly what went down on Wednesday night at Key Bank Center with the Sabres riding a 29 save performance in his NHL debut from Colton Ellis to get that win over a red hot Detroit club. Jack Quinn broke out in that game with a goal and two assists. He’s now tied with Josh Don and Zack Benson for the team lead with six points through seven games. Didn’t see that one coming. Tyson Kak, another nice game from him. He continued his ascendance with a goal in the second straight game. Jason Zooker and Alex Tuck also scored for the Sabres. While Zack Benson led all Sabres forwards with over 21 minutes time on ice for the second straight game. Coming into this season, Benson never eclipsed 20 minutes in a single game. So now he’s gone over 21 in back-to back. I think that’s a significant development in my eyes. But before we get into goalending, which I think you and I want to talk about with Ellis having a nice game there in his debut, uh need to mention that Jason Zooker left the game on Wednesday in the second period uh with an upper body injury. Let’s just cover that real quick because again, we don’t know. I guess for now he’d be dayto-day unless you know something different. But uh just an update from what you know on Zuker. You were down at the arena and then we should probably just talk about what does it do to the lines now because again just been a non-stop situation with this team juggling forwards in and out of the lineup early in the season. Yeah, at this point they took the day off yesterday. So didn’t get to find out whether he would be able to skate, but he left the game in the second period and didn’t return. It was a a collision with old friend Jacob Bernard Dock or JBD. And it looked like a shoulder if I had to guess. It looked like, you know, he sort of was hunched over in that way, but it could have been anything in the uh in the torso region. but he seemed to know he was in a lot of pain and went right to the room and didn’t come back. So to your point, this team has already dealt with enough injuries up front and now depth is going to be further tested. he was playing I guess the the silver lining is that he was playing in a bottom six role and you know it shouldn’t disrupt what they have going in the top six but obviously they’d been searching for something in that bottom six as well and started to find it maybe a little bit with Quinn and Osland playing on that line and although Kak jumping up and playing with Quinn was working as well. So, we’ll see exactly what happens. They have not yet called anybody up as of the time of this recording. So, maybe that’s a good sign. Maybe it’s just because they were off yesterday. I’m not entirely sure, but that’s what we’ve got so far on Silker. Yeah. I mean, it’s interesting, you know, with him. He’s leading the team with four goals in the first seven games. So you lose him while your top six isn’t exactly been this model of consistency throughout the first seven games and you definitely need to get Thompson going. You need to get more out of Tuck. So it it’s it could be impactful here. Uh I don’t think there’s any question about that. Not just from his veteran presence, but also from the production that he’s had here in the first couple of games. And to your point about they didn’t call anyone up. Um, you know, they still could obviously I think maybe they wanted to sit and see, you know, with another overnight. Who knows? But they did call up a player, the Sabres this week, and they they brought Ukopeka Lucin back up uh from Rochester to put a halt to his conditioning stint. Lucinan did get in a game. I don’t have his numbers up in front of me, but he picked up a victory on Wednesday night for the Amirs. Made over 20 saves, let in two goals. Um, so now the Sabres are seemingly having three healthy goalies on the roster, but look, it’s only one game from Ellis and we could talk about him. Let’s let’s talk about Ellis first, I guess, before we kind of dive into the goalie situation. Nice story. Had a whole crew up there in the 200 level in the box or yeah, you know, in in the box there and came out and I think he looked pretty solid. Did he look perfect? No. But it I think it was a nice it’s a nice story, but I think he performed really well in the game. But again, not perfect, but we probably shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. He had some clutch saves, right? I I think that one on de Brinket um he stopped a breakaway but the save on de Brinket when they’re up three to2 and he comes sliding across to make the save with his right arm on de Brinket right a guy that scored 40 goals twice in his career a guy that scored 39 goals last year uh 27 goals or more I think in like five or six straight seasons like that guy’s a goal scorer and it was a good shot and and Ellis got him so and you know, in terms I think he was eight for 10 on the high danger shots that he faced, which is really good. So, a nice night and to your point, a great story. A guy that has really, you know, he does have some of the draft pedigree, right? He’s a third round pick in 2019 and we know goalies don’t really go in the first round all that often. So, these second and third round picks are, you know, legitimate pedigree players as far as draft status goes, but he hadn’t played an NHL game until Wednesday night. So, awesome to see all his family and friends be able to get to town. You know, he is, you know, seems like a really great guy. like just getting to know him a tiny bit in the locker room over the last month and uh talking to him, you know, more leading up to this. Like clearly he was pretty upfront, open about how emotional it was for him and, you know, just everything he was going through. So cool to see, you know, kind of a window into his world and see his family all there. So pretty great. And you know, one thing that I was thinking about before we get into how this impacts the goalie situation and you know, all the hockey piece of it, this may be minor, it may be nothing, but it crossed my mind that we’ve talked about, you know, how this team is going to play for each other, how they’re going to stick up for each other, things like that. And that shows up in the after the whistle stuff when you know you’re sticking up for your teammate and you know somebody’s taking a cheap shot. I think it also shows up in how you rise to the occasion for guys in moments like this for a goalie making his first start. family in town, you know, he’s going to be a little bit probably overwhelmed early in the game and they go 10 plus minutes without letting the kid see a shot. You know, they played arguably their most complete game wire to wire in front of this guy who, not for nothing, they don’t really know, right? He only got here in early October. They know him from what they know in the last few weeks, but uh not a guy that they’ve, you know, seen in training camp the last few years grinding away and they they’ve built this, you know, deep bond with, but a guy that they welcomed in with open arms and said, “We’re going to pick this guy up in his first game.” I thought that was a small thing, but a little bit encouraging. And now you sit here and you think there’s no reason this guy can’t be a legitimate prospect. And I say prospect because he’s played one game. And I I use that word intentionally because I do think there are some people acting like this guy is now has now established himself or proven that he’s capable of being the number two. And I think we need to probably slow down on that because this is still a team that needs wins and needs to get to the playoffs. So, a guy that’s only made one start, there’s still some unknown with that, but it was a damn good start. It was a fun night and an impressive one for him. It was a good start. Sabres did allow the first goal in that game which I think I was chatting with you yesterday. That was definitely a welcome to the NHL moment for Colton Ellis. U just seeing a comfort kind of corral that puck go around him and deacon him. That’s not really AHL skill that does that. That’s an NHL skill. That was a a moment that he was just like, “Okay, yeah, I’m here in the NHL.” Uh poor defense on that play by Zack Mets. By the way, the irony of that welcome to the NHL moment is that it was an AHL defenseman in front of him. And that is an AHL defenseman, Zack Mets. Again, we talked about Mets the other day coming off his NHL debut crisp, but we knew there’s going to be limitations. That’s another snapshot of the limitations. Yeah, maybe a welcome to the NHL moment for Metsa as well. For sure. For sure. Um, but what I would say too on this whole Yes, I I agree with you. It’s one game Ellis has always been a solid goalender. He’s always been a solid prospect. you need to see more like there is I think a little bit of a knee-jerk overreaction that you can see from fans when this happens. Um but for perspective and maybe it’s an outrageous example he has as many NHL games on his resume as David Ayes you know so like let’s not kind of go overboard but it’s good we talk a lot on this podcast about creating competition at every position at every level of the organization and this is just another wrinkle to that. So now Ellis is a guy I think it was October 6th that he was claimed. So there’s roughly two weeks, right? Because I think what what is it 30 days like St. Louis have them here for 30 days otherwise St. Louis can take them and put him right in the AHL off waiverss which I feel like they would have no reason not to. You would also, I mean, regardless of when you do it, you’re going to run the risk that he gets claimed, but based on one game, there’s teams that might do it after that game. You know, they get a look at him in that game. And it’s interesting because, you know, he had some really good numbers in the minors. I would say he rose up the minors a little bit slower, right? He got a lot of time in the ECHL and then last year had a really, I would say, his first full AHL season and had really strong numbers, pretty good in the playoffs as well. He’s a much different goalie in some ways, I think, than Devin Levi. He’s much different than Alex Lion. But really, I think the conversation probably comes down to mostly a a lion lucin conversation. Like lion continues to be the guy right now, but Ellis entering the picture creates a roster, just some roster gymnastics. It is a good point by you though to bring up the added competition. I think it is another another move that you got to give Kevin Adams some credit for because I don’t think he would have done this last year. So is this like the Yarmmo Keolin influence maybe around the start of the season? Like I don’t think he would have brought up Gueorgiev. I I don’t think he would have signed him and I don’t think he would have claimed Ellis last year. Uh there was no urgency to add competition around his young goalies last year. In fact, he brought in what I would describe as sort of a non-threatening veteran presence and waved him at the end of camp like missteps at goalie just last year. We could go back to how they’ve messed up the position over the years, but just last year, they wouldn’t have done stuff like this. They probably weren’t even looking at who was out there. And this is trying to improve on the margins every spot that you can. And now, at the very least, you’ve got a goalie that, you know, I don’t know. I don’t I don’t even really want to get into, you know, will they trade one of these guys or will they not? But it’s like you have another lottery ticket. You have another prospect who I still think Devin Levi probably has the higher ceiling, you know, but they’re not that far apart in age. And now Levi has up here to compete with. before he had this, you know, he had Lucinan and Lion and, you know, because he views himself as as an NHL goalie. Well, now it’s like now you’ve got a guy that is your age essentially. I think he’s a year older and could be the guy that they turn to at some point if he develops better than Levi does. So, competition. UPL, it’s not like UPPL is that much older than both of those guys either. No, that’s a good point. He’s like 26. 26, I think. Yeah. Like he’s not very double check that. No. So, you know, and the UPL thing, look, if you’re a Sabres fan, you should want UPL to come up and do really well. And in that only preseason game that he played, he actually looked pretty good. The game against Pittsburgh, I want to say, right, UPPL played against Pittsburgh in the preseason. I thought he looked okay. and better than okay. I’d like to see what UPPL can do with a fully healthy defense. You know, get Kessle Ring back and and then it’s like then you have an apples to apples comparison pretty much or you know, throw him in. I you know, what do we think’s going to happen now that UPL’s up? I mean UPL is clearly going to play I think one of these games this weekend on the backtoback. Don’t you like why why would they disrupt his conditioning stint if he wasn’t going to play in one of these games? That’s what I was thinking because you could have kept him down there a little bit longer and you didn’t need to do this right at this minute. But I don’t I don’t mind it. I know people are going to say, you know, Ellis had a good game on Wednesday and so why not go back to him? Well, you have to think about what they have coming up this weekend. Friday night home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs 7 o’clock. Then a five o’clock puck drop against those same Maple Leafs in Toronto. So they’re going to be traveling up to Toronto after the game tonight and then, you know, have really less than 24 hours to get ready for a game in Toronto playing the same team twice. You know, you gonna throw Ellis. So, how you gonna do that? You gonna play Ellis two games in a row, or are you gonna throw him in on the road in a building he hasn’t played in? You know, I you could go line Lucin. Lucin’s got, you know, a bit more experience against the Leafs. Obviously, has played up in that building plenty. And if he’s healthy, at some point you do need to start to see how he looks, get him into a rhythm at the NHL level. It only serves him so much to keep playing AHL games if he looks okay, if he feels okay. So I as good as Ellis was on Wednesday, you almost need to give him some time to calm down. I mean, that that kid was buzzing. He was really, I think, had a lot of nervous, anxious energy in that game. A lot of adrenaline like, and I think you got to pick your spots with him and and be smart about how you you work him in the next time. But I would like to see them also work him in again. It just doesn’t need to be immediately this weekend in a building he hasn’t played in against a team that can I know they’re not off to the best start but they can score and you know so I don’t mind that and if Lukan’s ready you do just have to play him at some point. So part of what I liked about Alice playing on Wednesday it was a home game against a hot team. I think Lion needed a break anyways, but for his first NHL game, he’s been practicing with the Sabres most of the time in the arena. So, you’re putting him out in a situation, the sightelines, the surroundings, the bounces off the boards, bounces off the glass. He’s kind of familiar with that. What would you think about it if the Sabres put Lucan in out there against Toronto tonight on home ice on Friday and not went and didn’t go to Lion? Maybe for some of the same not that you have to do that with Lucinan. Lucinan’s been all over. He’s played. You don’t have to handle his first start with kid gloves like maybe you would want to in a perfect world with Ellis. What would you think about it if they put Lucan out there on home ice? Especially coming off the performance that the team had to start the game against a good team on Wednesday. Does that put Lucan in a position to succeed? It could. It could. And you could make the argument that in what is going to be a tight turnaround and sort of one of those tricky road situations on Saturday. I know they only have a a couple hour bus drive up there, but it’s a different, you know, road game because of the, you know, the five o’clock start and and all that. I think you could make the case that the calming veteran presence of Lion might help you there. It It’s tough because these backtobacks, they’re not easy and, you know, the the percentage of being able to get both of them is not always great. And but still, you know, how do you want to m you know, what’s the game theory there of trying to maximize your your chances, right, of Lion gives you the best chance to win. And so, do you feel like, hey, home game, let’s go with the goalie that gives us the best chance to win. Let’s go right back to him. He wasn’t outstanding against Montreal and so it’s not like letting him sit is like he’s going to lose his mojo, right? You know, I that’s probably the determining factor for me if you know, and I don’t have access to all the sports science data, but like how’s he feeling? How’s how rested is he? And was the one game off enough? Because he did play a lot. So, is this a chance to maybe reset his body a little bit? And I mean, I know it’s only one extra day, but it helps. I think I’m going Lucin in tonight. How many games has what’s Lucinan’s uh career game log against like cuz I can pull that up uh eventually. Part of me feels like in Toronto, well, Levi played in Toronto last year. Uh one of the games. Yeah. Here, let me get you uh career splits. Lukanin did not play in Toronto last year. He lost 4 nothing at home to Toronto. Lost 63. Looks like he got pulled at home against Toronto. Um well, I know he’s 05 and one in his career against the Leafs. So now I don’t know that that impacts the conversation a little bit, doesn’t it? I mean, well, they play him. You you think you’re going to get him in one of the two games. He’s going to have to face that demon no matter what. It’s whether do you do it on home ice with the team going well and him maybe in rhythm coming off a start that he had on Wednesday in Rochester or do you wait? It’s an interesting thought. I guess it’s like another it’s a the game within the game I guess and how you’re managing the goalenders. And he did have a 21 overtime loss in Toronto in March of his breakout year where he he only allowed one goal on uh 20 or no he allowed two goals the overtime winner on 27 shots. So a decent game from him up there. It’s not like he’s been a total failure in Toronto, but he doesn’t have it’s not he also doesn’t have a tremendous amount of experience playing in that building. So, worth noting. Alex Lion gives the Sabres more of the known commodity at the NHL level at this point. He gives you the best chance to win. I think it’s a matter of do you do it at home or you do it on the road. You need to get what do you want to walk away from after your Savers this week? and obviously won four points, but you know, if you can get three, that’s not a bad situation either. It’s not like the Maple Leafs are a juggernaut right now. Kind of a I’m sure it’s over inflated by the media and the fan base up there. I don’t think it’s as much of a show as we’re led to believe right now. It’s going on in Toronto. They still have a lot of firepower. By the way, they’re switching up their lines. They’re already doing that. They have a I think they’re going with a top line of they put Marner not Mar. See, look at this. Like it’s I got to reprogram my brain. Matthews and Nelander together, I think, with Bobby McMahon up top and then they’ve kind of mixed some things up. So, basically switched N out on that. They took N off that line because I think he was up there playing with Matthew. So, they’re already moving some things around. Um, so we’ll see, I guess. You come out of here with four, you’re it’s off to the races. I think you’ve got I feel like they’re getting it’s always a a hard thing to gauge, but I feel like they have people’s attention in Buffalo a little bit, which is a little bit crazy considering they’re only three and four and they started 0 and3 and we know people are skeptical and slow to buy in. But doesn’t it feel a little bit Maybe it’s the Bills bye thing. Maybe it’s the Bills losing streak. Like for a couple weeks here, they’ve gotten to to sort of be the center of attention and they’ve played some good hockey. Like the the thing about Sabres fans is they appreciate the honest, simple, direct game that they’ve gotten back to after the 0 and3 start. you know, the hardworking game, the sticking up for each other. You know, there’s been standing ovations in the third period of these last two home games, and they were calling for the GM to be fired, and they’ll probably do it again if the situation calls for it. And I’m not saying those are entirely over, but people are getting behind them a little bit. The building’s not full, and I don’t expect it to be full tonight with the World Series going on. And I don’t think there’s going to be as many Leafs fans coming over the border for this one, which is going to make it hard to fill up the building. It’s going to be a huge blow to the Sabres, by the way, because, you know, they have these games earmarked as money makers for them. Oh, yeah. I mean, in a situation where they need to make every penny they can. Friday night against the Leafs in the past, even if it was 50% Leafs fans, your building’s full. You’re selling, you know, concessions. It’s it’s a nice for a team that the revenue most nights is not great. This is a one of the good ones. Especially they got fortunate with the Friday night and Guelli was a Mariners fan there for a week. Probably. Yeah, probably a quiet Mariners fan if he was. And I I didn’t realize too like in my head I was like assuming the Dodgers were the higher seed. I’m, you know, not living and dying with every day on the baseball calendar. Particularly, uh, as a Red Sox fan, I’m, you know, not necessarily paying attention to the NL West. And you just, you hear all the discourse about the Dodgers. You’re like, they must be the the higher seed here. And so then I’m looking up the schedule, I’m like, “Oh no, this is uh this starts Friday, Saturday, and I I’ve got to get up to Toronto on uh on Saturday.” So, luckily they moved that game time. It’ll make it a lot easier logistically, but certainly does not make it easier for the Sabres to fill their building. Maybe a good thing for the actual hockey team because I don’t think they handle the 50% Leafs crowd the best over the years. And it can be a real negative depending on how the game goes. And it can be kind of a morale killer. But my point about people paying attention, not necessarily buying all the way in, but paying attention to the Sabres. Bills don’t play again until Sunday. You got two games against the Leafs. It feels like a really big weekend all of a sudden in late October. They all feel big for this team. You’re right about that. Like they all feel big. And I think the team needs to adopt that mindset. They need to be able to flush it when it doesn’t go well, but they need to come into all these games feeling like they’re big because frankly they are. Especially when they’ve had so many division games this week and they’re two for three so far, winners of three of their last four. And now you got two coming up here. And look, Toronto’s in the exact same situation they are, other than the fact that when they go on the road, you know, they get to do it. It’s an easier road trip, I guess, for them, but it’s the exact same situation back to back. And if if anything, they’re going to be more distracted by everything going on in their city. So, not a ton of excuses for the Sabres. You know, coming into this season, we talked a little bit about left wing maybe being the weakness up front for the Sabres. It’s kind of flip-flopped, isn’t it, right now with the way that Benson’s going and Don’s going. Zooker was leading the team before this injury with four goals. Like I said, what do the Sabres have to do to get these the strength what we thought was maybe one of the strengths of their lineup going, you know, because I think that’s going to be you. This is I guess this is a series for sure, the home and home. You need to see your leaders step up with all the factors that you just discussed and everything. You know, is this the weekend that Taige kind of busts out? Alec, Alex Tuck maybe has a little bit extra drops of gasoline on his game and he, you know, plays the body a little bit more and and, you know, plays with a little fire, right? Still at one hit here through seven games now. And he I think it’s a good call out by you. He’s had some success against the Leafs in the past and Tuck Thompson and Raasmus Dalene I would throw into this bucket all need to be better and that might be the most interesting aspect of this winning three and four that they have going on right now is I would argue they’ve done it without those guys contributing much at all. you know, they’re really not playing all that well. I know Tuck had a goal, I believe, in that Ottawa game, right? Uh was when he got his first goal, had a goal and an assist. He’s got some points. Uh Tae Thompson is he’s active, but he’s definitely not finishing. And I have to double check this stat after the game action from last night, but Dalene is racking up a lot of turnovers. And he was leading the league coming into the game on Wednesday in turnovers. I believe he and we talked about that a couple weeks, you know, through three games. I think he had 12 because we had mentioned that on this show. He’s tied for the league lead with 21 giveaways according to Natural Statrick. So, and only has three takeaways. So, it’s it’s he and and Jack Hughes and David Posternox got 20. Most of, you know, the guys at the top of this list are I mean, look, that stat is one’s one of those guys with the puck on his stick constantly, right? So, you know, you see Jack Hughes, David Posternnock, Martin Nas, Jack Eel, Nathan McKinnon, like the guys that have the puck on their stick all the time, but those other guys are also all forwards. You’ve got Sergeev, Orlov, Riley, and the 16, 15, Eric Carlson 15. Not the company you want to be keeping as a defenseman. Winsky’s got 15, but Dalene’s got 21. And in over the course of a small, you know, sample size, having six more, five, six, seven more than some of these guys is is notable because that’s an extra, you know, pizza a game, you know, and one of them cost him against Colorado. So, he’s definitely definitely on notice, I think, because, you know, you’re the captain of the team, you’re the best player, you’re the highest paid player. Um, maybe on notice isn’t the right phrase. It’s not like anybody’s coming to take his job, but I think he should be feeling some urgency to get going because everybody else is. We were talking yesterday and I think it’s a worthwhile topic to bring to the the show about on ice leadership. Yeah. And I said to you, which I believe strongly, that through seven games, Josh Don is their their leader on the ice. I’m not rushing to throw a letter on them. I don’t even I at this point I almost don’t even care who has the letters. It’s not important to me. I mean, I’m not I feel like just as much as there’s fans online that are wanting to say trade UPL after one game from Colton Ellis, you hear people talking about throwing letters on Benson and Don and all these guys. It’s like I don’t what I like about Don is that it’s all organic and this is just who he is, how he plays, and he’s starting to find his way. It’s so early on in his time in Buffalo, but everything people said about this guy is showing up in the room and on the ice. And as far as on ice leadership goes, this is the guy right now that is setting the tone. And 23 years old at 23. Well, that’s why I say I’m not I’m not turning this into a letter conversation. No, I know. And I don’t want it to be that. But in terms of who is and this is a good development for the Sabres that secondary that secondary layer of leadership right when you’re your big guns aren’t going not just secondary on ice production but secondary layer of leadership guys that can be the drivers for you emotionally and with their play when other guys aren’t going. It’s not totally uncommon for Tuck and Thompson to get off to slow starts. Dalene got off to a slow start last year because he was hurt, but this is the point where you would like to see it turn if for no other reason. To your point, they’re playing really important games against if not a true rival in the sense that I don’t know that the Sabres have been at the level to it’s a rival. It’s a big rival. It’s a historic rival, right? But like they haven’t been on the level to have too many big games against this Leafs team over the last few years, but definitely a historic rival. Big game. Is that Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, I guess, technically, right? Yeah, it should be. Yeah. Tonight’s game, by the way, on ESPN Plus, the Friday game. ESPN Plus and Hulu. As a reminder to the fans, Saturday is going to be baseball night in Canada, I think. Yeah. No um an interesting wrinkle to the whole thing. It’s going to be an interesting scene there. But yeah, this is a weekend where you need you need something from Thompson, Tuck, and Dollene. Both. Yeah, your best players need to be your best players. Uh really, you know, starting this weekend and for the rest of the way, honestly. I mean, you’re going to be before you know it, 10% of the way through the season. That came quickly, didn’t it? Yeah. One hit through 10 games would put you on pace for what, like eight? Eight. Yeah. or nine and not Tuck last year was a shot blocking, you know, not a guy that’s hitting all the time anyways, but you know, a guy that got some Selky votes, including deservedly so. One from you, right? Including from me. I thought he earned them. And so, again, he has started slow in the past, but now would be a good time to get going. to your point almost, you know, 10% of the way into the season. So, you know, Zucker potentially being out, Oscelin came up, that’s something that I thought we could have afforded to see the game before. So, delayed his entry into the lineup. They put him in, sat down. Gearson, I would suspect that Oscelin and Quinn would be still stapled together there. is the easy fix if they don’t recall anyone to bring up Kak into that line and let him play uh you actually play Kak at center and bump Oscelin out to the wing if you wanted to mix and match there. Whatever you want to do and in and insert Gearson because you’re not sitting with another extra forward right now, are you? Or or what’s the injury situation because Kessle Ring on defense is getting close for this weekend. Greenway. Greenway is apparently not an option for this weekend. Okay. As of the other day, it sounded like Greenway was not an option for this weekend. That could have changed, but I think they’re being careful and slowly ramping him up. To your point, I mean, Gearson is almost the only option because Dunn got sent down. they would have to make make a move. And you know, the the upshot is that they haven’t put Zucker on injured reserve. We’ll see exactly what what’s going on there. By the time people are listening to this, we might have have an answer, but I do like the idea of bumping Kak up for a couple reasons. One is that I don’t think Krebs is really going. And the other is that it seems like Kak has a real knack for uh he’s like the guy that’s picking up the fumble, you know, when the when the ball gets dropped on offense. He’s picking it up and it’s like that’s how he’s scoring his touchdowns. Quinn keeps like mishandling or fumbling the puck and Kak’s just at the net to whack it in. Um, so he’s like picking up those touchdowns at the goal line, but he does seem to have a little something working with Quinn. And I don’t want to pigeon hole Kak as strictly a fourth liner because the way he plays the game and depending on how you have your matchups, he can play on the third line. Uh, and Lindy likes this guy a lot. Says he feels like he can play him against anybody. So does Chris Baker. Yeah. And co Kak um defensively he he is actually but now thinking about it on the fly he could almost be the Sabres version of Bobby McMahon. Another player that you know that I liked coming out of Colgate and didn’t get an NHL contract. Tyson Kak a seventh rounder. the way they play and the way you can move them up. I think we’re going to see like I mentioned McMahon up top tonight with Matthews a Toronto series home and home. It is a rivalry situation at least for the Sabres. Toronto fans will be like, “The Sabres aren’t even a rival.” Yeah, tough You’re an hour and a half away. You’re a rival. It’s set up well for a guy like Hour and a half, man. Not uh hour and a half these days with that traffic up there. I don’t know about that. You know, you know what I’m saying? from Grand Island. Maybe this is a this is a situation that a player like Kak’s built for. Did you see Kak in the final minute of the game, he was out there guarding against the empty net against Detroit. You see that play he made going into the corner, racing in the corner, just lays a guy out on the boards. Probably the biggest hit the Sabres had all game was Kak in the final minute. I can’t, you know, think of a bigger one. I mean, I don’t know, maybe there were a couple other pops that I’m just forgetting um conveniently at this point. That was a nice hit. That’s what he does. Well, and I believe he was the one that contributed the puck getting out of the zone at one point in that six on five as well. It was eye opening to me that he was out there on the six on five because it’s interesting. He has been it feels like he’s one of those guys that’s been around for a bit now. You know, he’s been in the um in the orbit, you know, since I’ve been on the beat. And so as I was writing my story last night, you know, double-checking everything, it’s like, how old is this guy? He’s like, he’s got to be like 24 now. He’s 22. 21. 22. Yeah, I was going to say 22. Turns 23 December birthday, right? Yeah. Turns 23 in December. I mean, that’s a an impressive poll right there. That’s that’s how you know we’ve got the the prospect expert right here. Knows Tyson Kak’s a December birthday. December like 21st or something, isn’t it? 29th, something like that. It’s 12:20, I think. 29. No, I know this because like I I update birth dates manually. That’s why I do all my stuff manually because then I know it. December 29th, he’ll be 23, but it’s like, man, this is a young young guy still. And, you know, still becoming, you’re seeing for sure some of that man strength kicking in. Um, he’s always had the willingness and now the way he’s finishing the these hits, like he’s just playing heavier. And so I have no problem if he’s the one that that’s up on the third line. This is really straining their depth, right? Like if you have to put Gearson in for one or both of these games, it’s just not ideal. I think we’ve seen that, you know, in the games that he’s played, he’s not he’s not super useful. You can’t lean on him for more than a few minutes. And so then you’re shuffling up, you know, those guys in the bottom six. And when you’re playing back to back and you need legs, that’s a tough situation. So if Zooker can’t go, you almost need need a recall. But maybe they’ll get some good news on Zooker and and they won’t need to go that route. And as much as I’d like to see Rosane or Helenius, um I’m not doing it here. You already made the move to get Oelen up on the lineup. I think that this would especially again I’m trying to play into Lindy’s tendencies a little bit too. Um Dunn would be the guy I think that comes back up. It gives him that that uh option to be big on that fourth line. Slide Krebs into the middle. You have Malenstein who had a great game. Very good. Little baby swag. Little baby swag coming off um on Wednesday’s game from Malenstein. I think you know have that Malenstein done option in throw on Wednesday too. He did. went right down and scored like right away in the game. So, I thought I think he’s played, you know, fairly well when he’s been up, too. He’s definitely more more a guy that you can lean on than Gearson. And I also think he’s a willing and capable fighter when it comes down to it. So, it’s almost they’re going to have decisions to make for sure, you know, when guys get healthy. And one of those decisions is going to be whether to keep Gearson on the NHL roster. And if you’re gonna cough up a player like Ellis and risk losing him to keep Gearson, I think that would be a mistake. So, but they also I mean they’re also getting a little bit healthier on the blue line and so it was interesting to me as kind of a side note and you know as uh some catnip for the the listeners like Mets allow you know had that you know coverage laps in front of the net like I don’t know how long you can lean on Mets but Metsa being in the lineup is it was interesting to me just because old friend Jacob Bernard Docker was in the lineup on the other side for Detroit JBD. Thanks for bringing this up. Yeah, he has and I’m writing a little something for a notebook kind of figuring out where to fit it in because I did talk to JBD on Wednesday for the listeners, you know, for Fairburn hockey show legend JBD. Yeah, you know, it’s just had a great chat with JBD. He’s doing well in case anybody is is is wondering. But certainly not, I guess to, you know, throw a teaser out there and give people an idea is like he certainly wasn’t expecting to leave over the summer. And so you’re in he’s got a 66% on ice expected goal share for Detroit. He’s playing pretty well. Played pretty well here last year. capable, you know, not huge guy, but a little bit bigger body. And I remember when I was asking about that in the summer because I went back and listened to that press conference, you know, and I was trying to drill down exactly what the rationale was on the salary and everything else. But one of the things I mentioned too beyond the salary was, you know, isn’t there a little bit of an imbalance now on your blue line? like as far as lefties, righties go and Kevin Adams uh you know made that face that he makes um when he doesn’t love a question and he said well I wouldn’t think of it as an imbalance um you know we’ve got Kessle Ring and Timonss you know these guys that are going to be big pieces for our top six but what I was talking about was Zack Jones, Jacob Bryson, Ryan Johnson, that cluster of players That probably made JBD your eighth, right? Because that’s what Kevin Adams said. He was our he’s our eighth guy. And you know, the arbitration award probably would have been like he didn’t say the number, but it would have been higher than the 875 that he got from Detroit. I think maybe between 1.5 and 2.5 maybe would have been the max on JBD in that award. And you could have went and talked to him about an extension to lower that number. You could have went and talked to him, you know, about any of it before, you know, you’re just kind of guessing what the arbitration award is going to be. You could have taken him to arbitration and walked away. You could have built an arbitration case. I know that would have required some extra paperwork and whatnot, um, extra hours, but I bring it all up because they’re they’ve been put into a spot where injuries have made it so, you know, one injury to Kessle Ring has made it so that Bryson’s in the lineup. You can’t trust Johnson in the lineup. I I’m not saying that as a knock on Johnson. I’m saying it as what they their actions have shown. Lendy Ruff doesn’t feel like he can trust Johnson. So you have Bryson or Samuelson or whoever one of the lefties playing on their off hand to the point where you felt like you needed to bring up Mets who just you know he’s undized. He he’s a limited player and so not an ideal situation to have Mets in your lineup. But it’s the injury to Kessle Ring, one injury to Kessle Ring that has created this domino effect. Zack Jones also is a guy that they don’t trust right now because they brought him up, didn’t play him. And Lindy loves that lefty righty thing. And so I’m sitting there, you know, Bernard Docker wasn’t incredible on Wednesday night, but he did injure Zooker. And you know, I’m sitting there watching. It was just a little ironic. He competed, man. Like even at the end of last year, he competed for this team. He got in a fight, remember? Yeah. He scored had four points in 15 games. Played pretty, you know, at the end of the season, you know, Kevin Adams was praising his work with Owen Power. And, you know, you go from praising his work with Owen Power to and it I did have to laugh because in that um summer press conference he did say, “And I really like JBD.” And I was like, “Well, I know you do.” And why didn’t he take him to arbitration? And if he didn’t like the number just like why didn’t he take the chance? Yeah. Why didn’t I mean there was multiple teams interested on July 1st and so could you move them for a pick or whatever? But the lefty righty thing is sticking with me because Mets is out there, you know, and Bernard Docker is definitely a more reliable player than Metsah and definitely has more upside. You know, I think there’s still some runway here for Bernard Docker to become something more. Not saying for sure that he will, but first round pick in 2018. Defenseman can take some time. He’s had some injuries. I don’t know. Something I was thinking about and I’m sure some of the podcast listeners were as well. I know we’ve got a big JBD fan club here. Yeah, we do. We do. Including us, right? We’re clearly JBD fans. I like the player. I like the guy. He’s a good guy. He’s like, you know, he’s like, I thought I played well here. I was like, so did I, man. Like, for what for whatever it’s worth, but um when are we going to get Kessle Ring into this lineup and kind of get a look at him? You think it’s You think they’re going to hold him back tonight and try to get him in? Well, he hasn’t he hasn’t practiced because didn’t he say didn’t Lindy say this week that he was possible? I think what he was saying was that it was possible to get him back skating with the team and he said long shot for Thursday. Well, then they didn’t practice on Thursday. So, will he be out there for the skate? Maybe. And then, you know, maybe hold him off until next Tuesday, but that’s most likely then. Okay. I thought for whatever shot. I mean, he hasn’t he hasn’t practiced with the team since the injury. So, I don’t know that you’re going to throw him in in this situation and risk the injury flaring up again and just putting them in a in a bad spot. So that would give them I believe they don’t play again until next Tuesday maybe. So I think they have a practice on Monday off day Sunday. That would maybe be a good target for him. But yeah, getting him and getting Greenway back, you know, Greenway solves this sort of Gearson dilemma too in some ways. Not saying he’s going to be out there chucking nucks the way Gearson might be able to, but he just gives you another body to throw in. Need him to need him on that forche. Need him just bringing more of what Don is bringing. Benson’s bringing. Just need another guy that has the size and the reach. I’m excited to see what this team can look like with Greenway in there and Kessle Ring. I’m excited to see both those guys in here. Let’s see this team at full speed. Let’s see how they do uh elevating their emotional side of the game in a big series beginning tonight on home ice. 7 o’clock puck drop down at Keybank Center. Savers Maple Leafs to your point by the way just to tie a couple loose ends up and we’re kind of doing the um so Sabres Leafs Friday, Saturday and yes home ice again on Tuesday against Columbus the Kikin and bowl and then just in terms of like a PTI move. Okay, top of the show I said that Tuck scored a goal on Wednesday I believe and I omitted Don. It was the same play. NHL.com boxcore still has Tuck with the goal. Oh, so but it’s Don that’s getting it I think on the official stats interesting ties. So either way I just wanted to point that out. They have tuck but no but Tuck still has one goal credited to him on hockey reference. So just to kind of tie that up. I don’t want someone in the comments. I don’t I’m just reading what I you know somebody’s still going to do that and that’s okay. That’s okay because comments help the algorithm. So that’s right. Those who listen to the end will jump in and comment and say, “Hey, listen. Baker tied that up at the end if you kept listening.” You know what else they’re going to say? You know what else they’re going to say in the comments? I didn’t do the plugs. You didn’t like this video. Subscribe to the Sabers Prospects YouTube channel. You can find the Baker Fairburn Hockey Show on Apple Spotify wherever podcast. Or could please leave a fivestar review. But yes, leave all over me in the comments. It’s wonderful for the algorithm. To Matthew’s point, Matthew, can you do your final plugs before I get us out of here on this glorious Friday? Yeah, you can find all my work at theathletic.com/sabers. There’ll be plenty of it. I got obviously a steady drum beat of Saber stuff coming and then a few a few stories that are sort of sabers in focus in some ways but have more of a national scope that I’m I’m chipping away at that uh have been fun. So spent most of the day yesterday kind of reporting some of those out and excited to share those when they’re ready. Don’t know exactly when, but one should be early next week. one maybe mid later next week and then a couple others are a little bit longer term ranging from you know some some serious nitty-gritty topics to uh one kind of silly topic that I’m excited to you know you got to keep it keep it light sometimes and you know especially even with the guys in the room you know I think they can count on me to occasionally come up to them with a real off-the-wall conversation starter which is uh I like to I like to be that, you know, for them once in a while. Matthew Fairburn going around the Sabres locker locker room asking him if a hot dog’s a sandwich. All right, for Matthew Fairburn, you can find all of Matthew’s work at the aletic.com/sabers. Go there if you’re not a subscriber. There’s always a deal. Go subscribe. Help their algorithm for the production crew who hopefully is polishing my winter boots. 42 degrees. I got to go out there and walk the dogs. And my my piggies were cold yesterday in this office, man. I’m Chris Baker. Thanks everyone for subscribing, liking, downloading the podcast every week. Your support is critical to my happiness. We’ll see you again very soon.

Kris Baker and The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn discuss everything Buffalo Sabres. Read Matthew’s latest work at the Athletic: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6742334/2025/10/23/sabres-colten-ellis-nhl-debut-quinn-red-wings/