BFHS 11/21/25: Passengers

BFHS 11/21/25: Passengers

All right, we’re back here for another episode of the Baker Fairburn Hockey Show here on a glorious Friday in Western New York, November 21st, 2025. I’m your host, Chris Baker. You can find me on X at Sabers Prospects. Here as always with Matthew Fairburn, your Sabres beat writer for The Athletic. You can find everything Matthew’s been cooking up all season long over at theathletic.com/sabers. Holiday season’s coming up. Go over there, get your favorite people in your life a subscription to the Athletic. You won’t regret it, and you’ll probably get a pretty kick-ass gift in return next year for that new subscriber that you gift. If you’re watching this on YouTube, like this video, subscribe to the Sabres Prospects YouTube channel, and hit that notification bell so you know when a new video drops. And if maybe soon, we’ll see. Matthew and I go live. You can find the Baker Fabern Hawk Show on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. And you could please leave a fivest star review. And don’t forget to all over me in the comments. All right, so Matthew Farburn, let’s just kind of dive right in. Wednesday night, Sabres came out and hosted the lowly Calgary Flames. Calgary gets out to a two nothing lead. Sabres even it up in the second period. Then the wheels fall off. So just for the formalities, Matias Samuelson continued his Norris campaign with his fourth goal of the year. Tage Thompson scored for the fourth straight game and now has 10 on the year. Colt Ellis made 29 saves. Gets another blemish on his record. He moves to three and two in his third straight start for Colton. Third straight start. Four in five games for him. So, so the wheels fell off Colton Ellis a little bit, which, you know, it’s part of managing the goalies, right? We’ll get to the goalies, but it’s, you know, one of pretty low on the list of of problems from Wednesday night, I think. Well, yeah, the problems, you know, you know, that third period was just here we are again with this team. You know, investing in all the strength and conditioning and players came into camp in good shape. But those third periods have just been uh a real problem for this team this year again as have a lot of things to your comment earlier. But look, after the game, I think there were some pretty choice words said by some of the leaders, de facto leaders for this team, mainly Ta Thompson, Matias Samuelson, perhaps some others. I think that’s really where we should start today because there was a word said in one of those comments that I don’t think is a good word to hear when you’re debriefing from a game and it’s passengers. And let’s just kind of dive right into that. Matthew. Yeah, go for it. Passengers and then soft and casual were two words that Tae Thompson threw out there when talking about the way they competed in puck battles and board battles. So, yeah, those three words right there are are big ones. And Matias Samuelson was the one that said he thought there were too many passengers. Lindy Ruff said he thought they didn’t respect the opponent. Taage Thompson took it a step further. Said he didn’t think they they showed a lack of respect for the game of hockey, which I think it kind of hits the nail on the head for this 14-year drought. You know, you go back to the origins of it. Um they’re paying the price for disrespecting the game of hockey in some ways, but that’s pretty intense saying that you don’t respect the game. It’s It was a lot. It was uh and that’s what happens when you lose a game like that in the way that they did. It’s an interesting It’s an interesting dynamic. We talked on on when did we get together? Tuesday. They had beaten the Edmonton Oilers 5 to1. They had had that impressive comeback against the Red Wings. and you were sitting there saying that kept it on the rails, but whatever happens on Wednesday really tells us if this team is growing up in some way and maturing in some way. They aren’t in a position, obviously, it’s not breaking news to say they’re not in a position to be taking anybody lightly. And in a way, I’m not entirely convinced that they did take the flames lightly. I think that’s an easy crutch. It’s a it’s an easy thing to say that they overlooked the Flames, that it was some sort of trap game. I think it’s just the fact that they’re right there with the Flames. Like, they’re not much better of a team than the Flames. And so the Flames are capable of, look, the Flames are a heavy, hardworking, experienced team. They’re not playing well right now. They’re going through it, but they have a lot of adults in the room. And yeah, they were on the second half of a backto-back. They were playing their backup goalie. They were on the road for the second straight game, but they have some guys that took it personally. They are a more mature team with better leadership than the Sabres. And so it’s it’s interesting like did they take them lightly or are the Flames just capable of being a better team than the Sabres? You know, I think they the way they played the game, you know, a lot of guys took the night off, right? and and they certainly did have too many passengers, but was that because they woke up and said, “Oh, it’s the Flames. This will be an easy one.” I don’t know if I’m convinced necessarily of that when you’re right there in the same bucket. Maybe it’s just a case of two two bad hockey teams and and one of them had the better night. I think we should probably focus on the leadership a little bit of this team when talking about that. You know, what was it? what led to the effort. You know, the coaches have to get the players up for the games, but the players play the games. And I believe that Matias Samuelson also kind of said something similar, right? You know, with the leadership, I do think that Taige Thompson and Rasmus Dalian are kind of pulling their weight. There’s another leader on this team that I I’m not convinced is right now in the, you know, or at least the leadership’s been very inconsistent. When I say leadership, I mean leading by example on the ice. And it’s Alex Tuck. And I think uh there’s a concern that’s really starting to brew more so than it has at any point in this whole Tuck needs a new contract saga. What did you see from Tuck? Did he speak after the game? Um he he did not. Um, and I’ll throw Samson into the leaders who have been pulling their weight. He’s been Yes, absolutely. one of their most consistent players. I I feel like those three guys that you mentioned are three of the guys who have not been passengers. There’s been games where Tae Thompson has has been a passenger, but I think more so, you know, he’s he’s doing what he can to pull his weight. And I think I think you’re spot on about Alex Tuck. if we’re going to go through and and try to identify who Matias Samson might be talking about. Now, I don’t know if Matias Samson was trying to take a shot at Alex Tuck, but if I’m zooming out and saying, “Okay, who were the passengers?” Alex Tuck’s on my list. There’s a lot of guys on my list, but Alex Tuck’s on my list from Wednesday night for sure. So, is Owen Power and and those are two of your, you know, Owen Power is one of your highest paid players, and Alex Tuck is one of the guys wearing a letter. And that’s a big part of the problem, right? You know, your highest paid players don’t necessarily need to be leaders all the time, but they need to have some sort of leadership. They need to be the guys that are snapping you out of games like this. And when I say that, I don’t think they played down to the flames. What I feel like happened is that they felt like they accomplished something with two wins. This is their big pattern, right? Ta Thompson mentioned this. We, you know, we got too high on ourselves after two wins. We thought we were better than we are. That’s what I think happens with this team. I think it’s easy to say, “Oh, it’s a last place team. They they thought they were going to win.” It’s more so they relax. You know, they get their backs against the wall, they’re scrapping, they get a win, they feel like underdogs against the Oilers. They get up for that game, they get a win, and then they feel like they can relax a little bit, whether it’s the Flames or because they won. And it’s an indictment of leadership, I think, because they don’t know what it looks like to be a real winning team. Not just win two games in a row, but take care of business on the nights where it’s it’s more difficult to get up. It’s more difficult to you don’t have Conor McDavid circled on the board on Wednesday, so you’re not quite as locked in. And you’ve won a couple of games, so you’re feeling pretty good. And they just don’t know what it looks like. And to have key players like Alex Tuck and Owen Power not going and not locked in, not engaged, not even just not going, right? I mean, Alex Tuck had zero shots at five on five. He had two shots on the power play, but zero shots at five on five. He has 12 hits all season. And the latest report from Pierre LeBron is that they’re not particularly close in contract talks, that there’s still a pretty big gap and that the Sabres haven’t gotten to a double-digit AAV and there’s no guarantee that they’re going to get to a double- digit AV. So, I think we’re getting pretty close to the point, if we’re not there already, where you have to start wondering who’s a good fit for Alex Tuck and what that looks like. You know, I think you if you’re the general manager of this team, if you’re the one making decisions about this, you have to gauge where the contract talks are at versus what the trade market is. And it’s not where I thought you would be with Alex Tuck. But here’s here’s the thing. He has mentioned and said he’s said all the right things in this about blocking out the contract stuff, focusing on playing, focusing on winning. But I think all of us can see that it’s impacting him in some way. And not in the way you would normally hope a contract year would impact a guy, right? Usually, you’re hoping contract year this guy’s going to play out of his mind to maximize his value. But it feels like the contract stuff has creeped in in some way into his head. Whether it’s impacting his his focus or whether it’s maybe, who knows? Maybe it’s making him, you know, leave something in the tank. you know, he’s just not as locked in and engaged as we’ve seen him in the last few years. And Ta Thompson said before the season, it would be great for morale to get Alex Tuck under contract, right? So, how is it impacting the rest of the group, you know, and their consistency, their nightight when one of their leaders is a not under contract and b it’s kind of impacting his game? Yeah, we talk a lot about veteran leadership or even sometimes when we talk about bottom of the lineup forwards, guys that maybe they don’t always have to be bottom of the lineup forwards. I shouldn’t even say that. Just guys that drag your team into the fight. You’re 20 games into the season. You’ve had eight skaters that have appeared in all 20 games. That’s it. Just eight. But Alex Tuck’s been one of them. You know, Tage Thompson’s been one of them of the six forwards. Six forwards and two defenseman. That’s what they’ve had that have appeared in all 20 games. Alene’s played probably what 17 just the three that he missed. Yeah. So, so like injuries really aren’t like the excuse, you know, but like you need those guys like they were here. That I guess that’s what the the brewing concern becomes now with Tuck because we talked about it a little bit. I don’t know if it was the last episode or the one before. or maybe it was last Friday. Just you have to kind of make your decision what you’re going to do now. And I think that he’s making the decision easier with his inconsistent effort or maybe not being that guy that constantly is dragging you into the fight unless there’s something going on that we don’t know about. And sometimes you always have to have a little bit Yeah. You have to, you know, give a little bit of benefit of the doubt always because we don’t always know if they’re nursing something. Alex Tuck’s historically been a guy that spends a lot of time in the training room. He’s also had a lot of wear and tear over the years, regularly playing 20 minutes a night last year. His ice time doesn’t look radically different this year. He’s had a couple dips here and there, but his ice time really doesn’t look radically different. It was although he did only play 169 against Calgary, but I mean when you go back and you look at last season, he had a couple games where he dipped below, you know, this his normal workload. But so I do want to throw that caveat out there. But no, I I agree with you. It’s time to determine if you’re running this team, do I need Alex Tuck number one? Do I need him at the number that he’s going to command? Because the market has shifted and I think it’s definitely taken his number out of the Sabres comfort zone. all signs I think whether it’s performance but also the business of how they run this team and have a pay structure I think it’s pointing them in one direction and I think it’s it might be time you know like we said last week on Friday it’s time to make a change at the general manager position it might be time for them to really just plant their flag in the ground and make their decision what they’re going to do and stay ahead of the market start gauging interest. That’s radical. Coming into the season, I didn’t see us having this conversation. No, I I thought I I saw it as a potential conversation because when he enters the season unsigned, you know how things can get here as early as November and December. But this is part we don’t need to go back and have the same conversation we had last Friday. People can go back and listen and you know we laid out our position pretty clearly on on which direction they should go with this hockey operations department. Nothing has changed there. I know they had a couple of wins with you. Nothing has changed and I don’t anticipate anything really will change. And the reason I say that and and tie that into this conversation just a little bit is I want to reiterate that the reason to change and make a change in hockey operations has to do with situations like this one and the other roster decisions that they have to make. There’s a lot of work to do and they’re not. It’s gonna sound a little weird to say, but I don’t feel like the roster is that far off once it gets healthy from, you know, especially in in the Eastern Conference with the parody in the NHL. I don’t think they’re anything close to a playoff team this year just because they’ve already dug the hole. they’re not healthy and I just I can’t really see this group as constructed. But these decisions that have to be made and these moves that have to be made are really important to what this team looks like next season and beyond. And it starts with Tuck. I mean, there’s the three goalie saga that they need to figure out. There’s the, you know, they just waved Mason Gearson, but there’s other decisions that need to be made about whether to keep Osceland and Roseanne and how that all looks. But a lot of this starts with Tuck and what you do with him, how much you pay him or if you don’t pay him, how you handle his departure, whether that’s trading him and getting a a decent return or trying to take this thing right up to July 1 and convince him to stay. like somebody needs to make that decision and be ready to handle the fallout because there will be some fallout for losing a really popular player. And that’s where all of these decisions and the leadership that is needed to navigate them is crucial because you could screw this up. You could screw up the next steps and find yourself in another longer than necessary rebuild. But I think with the right leadership and the right moves, losing Alex Tuck doesn’t mean doesn’t need to mean that you lose the faith of Ta Thompson and Rasmus Dalene. Also, you know, I I think you can I think they’re both bought in. I think you can keep this thing on the rails, which I wouldn’t necessarily have thought maybe in the summer, but I do think you can keep this thing on the rails with the right leadership and direction and vision. You can get those guys. I I think to your point, they are bought in. The way they’re playing suggests that, but I think they can remain bought in, but they might need the right leadership around them in the dressing room and in the front office. coming into the season on our show sheet, you know, or this was over the summer, just thinking about Kevin coming back and, you know, maybe not a lot of inspiration coming from the front office for this team, certainly for the fan base. I had this thought that I was like, you know, Rasmus needs to get these guys together and it’s almost like go major league, the movie major league, like we have headwinds against us all around us. if that they’re not gonna the front office isn’t gonna magically wave its wand and get this team in the playoffs. We have to do it ourselves, guys. So, let’s just win the whole thing, right? Maybe in this case, it’s make the playoffs. In the movie Major League, though, they had what was it? Jake Taylor, the veteran, the leader, the guy that had all the experience. I don’t know if this group has that. I know it’s not the best analogy, but I think leadership underscores or lack thereof the problems that they have. To your point about Rasmus and Tage, like Thompson is not an asset that I could trade right now because I think that he is your greatest asset to build your team moving forward with Dolly. That contract such a good everything. Such a good contract for the production, everything else. That’s how we get to talk and you know you you you say a lot work around the edges win in the margins right it’s a strategic move to make your team better because when you look at this team’s most like best assets to trade you know the common ones always come out there Payton Krebs you know maybe Jack Quinn so on Lucin Lucinin right okay but what are you getting in return I’m talking about hockey trades. Your best assets to make a trade. Tuck right now. Top of the list. I mean, there’s three big ones to me that stand out that would move the needle on a trade. Tuck and who do you think the other two are in my mind? You’re going to say, we’re going to say the same ones because it’s pretty obvious. Owen Power and Bow and Byum are those are the two and it’s all it’s situation dependent. Alex Tuck’s number three on the athletics trade board. First one came out this week from CJ Power. He was the only Saber on there. I bring up power because of the way he’s playing and that he may still have some value as a former number one overall. Well, he’s a number one overall pick. Former is grammatically incorrect. Um he’ll always be a number one overall pick. He’s got the contract. He’s under team control. You might find a suitor there. He might still have some value. And Byum is the contract. you know, he’s got, you know, now about a year and a half left before he becomes a UFA. So, that’s a situation I think to monitor until he’s under contract for longer than that. And you have a surplus obviously, I think, at leand defenseman, both on the NHL roster and organizational depth. You know, you’ve got a pretty decent situation there. So, those are the three I look at. I would throw Lucin in that bucket, I guess. But as far as value goes, you know that he’s not nearly as valuable as Tuck Power or Byum. And you don’t want to rip things down to the studs, right? You just don’t want to do that. It it shouldn’t be what happens. And with the right vision and direction, the players shouldn’t, you know, want that. I I I don’t think you can’t just open the door, right, if Tuck leaves and say, “Anybody else want out?” Right? And you just trade guys for spare parts because then you end up back where they were when Eel and Reinhardt and Rristinan and uh Lena Olmark and Brandon Montour were all gone within a few months and you’re back with one of the worst rosters in the NHL. It’s just not It’s not where they are. It’s not. They have a lot of young players still and they have even some of these other pieces like Don and Kessle Ring are like coming into that age range that you want. Even Thompson and Dene are where you want them to be as long as you can keep them bought in. So they’re, you know, people think that a tuck trade is destined to be a futures trade and it could be, but I think it could be a combo, too. I think you could get a piece back, a young player, a prospect that’s maybe on the cusp of breaking through. I think you could potentially make a hockey trade because I don’t think Tuck’s issue right now is that he is dead set on getting to July 1 because of the market. I think I mean if Pierre Lebron based on Pierre LeBron’s reporting, Tuck is well within his rights to not have pen to paper right now simply based on dollars, right? The market says he should probably get double digits uh 10 on the AAV. We’ve discussed the signing bonus piece of this that I’m sure is also causing some friction. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that maybe he doesn’t want to sign up for more of what’s gone on here in Buffalo. He’s not totally convinced that they can win. If he gets sent to a place where he feels like some of those factors are different, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets traded and and puts pen to paper pretty soon thereafter. And that changes the calculus on a trade a little bit. If a team thinks that they can extend a guy, they’re not just getting a rental. But you if you want to do that, you have to start doing it pretty soon because the closer you get to the deadline, the more he feels like a rental the teams. The more it feels like you’re just getting a few months in a playoff push out of them. But right now, I think teams could be convinced that they’re getting a little bit more. And so maybe you get a little bit more in a trade. Probably don’t need to retain money because he’s only making 475. It’s kind of a bargain contract. then the cap hit would even be less because he’s already played some games. But you could retain, you know, if there’s a team that’s really squeezed and but I don’t see the point. I think most likely you’re getting some money back anyways, right? You’re you’re getting a player of some sort. And so it’ll be interesting if they they go that route. And I think we’ll get into at some point, maybe even today, throw out some some teams. We don’t have, you know, we started batting around some ideas yesterday, but don’t have really formal potential targets and but there are some teams that it’s pretty easy to to point to that would make sense that that we can get to at some point, but it is reaching a decision point. Yes. Especially you have a loss like you did on Wednesday and it they’re not we we brought up the the Canadians right on one show recently that they let’s throw that stat out there again just as of today if you have it. Yeah. On this day last year the Canadians I believe were still in last place. Let’s pull it up real quick. I have the uh the standings page here from November of what 2024 is what I need here. November 21st, 2024, the Montreal Canadians were 710 and two with 16 standing points minus 17 goal differential. last place in the Eastern Conference, five points out of a wild card spot, and they stormed all the way back to get one. Now, you may think that’s that’s reason to well, actually, nobody probably thinks this, but that’s reason to stay the course, right? Like, maybe they can turn this thing around when they get healthy. To me, that’s the reason why making some moves, making necessary changes even at the top with the general manager is important because maybe the season isn’t totally off the rail. Like, if there’s even a sliver of a chance that you can fight your way back into it, you need to you need some leadership to do it. You need some moves to be made. You need some some vision. You need the players to believe something. You need to to rattle some cages a little bit. And otherwise, I think most of us sit there and see a game on Wednesday and say that’s not a team that’s going to pull what the Canadians pull. But it is a wide openen year in the Eastern Conference. I think the Sabres are probably what four six six points out now. I mean, they’re not. I’m not feeling real confident that they’re going to do it. I mean, Dom has them at like a 26 or 30% chance to make 30%ish, I think, is what he had them at. So, you know, I don’t want anyone to think that me personally like that I’m trying to push Alex Tuck out of town. What I’m saying is is that as much as you can, you got to stay ahead of it. I don’t know how how much longer you give yourself to make the decision, but it can’t be, you know, January one. I don’t think, honestly, I think you really got to look at a fivegame window here and say, “Okay, I got to figure it out. I got to know what I’m doing with this.” And that’s what I’m saying. I’m planting the flag and getting your decision made so you could create a market for Alex Tuck and get your best return back if you elect that you he’s not a $10.5 million player for you for your business model. That’s all I’m saying. And I’m not singling them out. That’s why I wanted to mention the other guys. Yeah. Like even for your hockey model. Oh, sure. Like we can talk business and and we have right that between signing bonus money and I mean they are spending to the cap now but yeah there’s that piece of it but you could there is a case to be made a hockey case to be made that the trade is the best move depending on how far the gap is. Now the gap is of their own doing I think. Could they have gotten them for less than double digits in the summer? Maybe. I think they could have. I think the market has shifted man. Yeah, the market has shifted in a big way. If they structured a contract with the necessary signing bonus up front, could they have gotten him for less than double digits? I think there’s a a decent chance they could have. I had nine and a half kind of as the the number that made sense for him based on the Bush Nevich contract and you know some other factors like eight by nine and a half I think would have been in. Would you do that now? Would you do that now if you’re the Sabres? eight by nine and a half. Like right now, even given everything that we just talked about. I think I would going up. I think I would. I think I think I think I would too. So, it’s like let’s balance out the conversation a little bit, right? That’s what I mean. We’re not pushing him out. But if he’s not there, right? If he’s not, you know, then you do have to make a decision at some point. And there can be a world where it can benefit you. Look at the Purka trade, right? That trade I think has benefited them in some ways. Uh it hasn’t shown the full effect yet because Kessle Ring hasn’t been healthy, but Don is a real nice addition to this group, to this culture, to what you’re building. So I think there is definitely the other piece of this that is you know somewhat minor but a real factor when you talk about deciding you know in the next however many games he does have a history of getting banged up right so you know there is that risk here as well he gets banged up all of a sudden he doesn’t have much value or his value goes down and you know it’s it’s less important certain of a factor, but it’s still something in the back of your head. I think on that topic, you see this sometimes on social media, comments on stories or videos on this YouTube channel, subscribe to this channel, like this video. I don’t buy into Alex tucks in a contract here. He doesn’t want to get banged up and lose his, you know, ability to earn or, you know, have his next contract. I don’t buy into that. I really don’t. No, I think, if anything, he’s just distracted. Yes. And not focused. That’s why like when we were talking about it earlier, it’s like yeah, I don’t think he’s making business decisions out there. I think he’s just his head’s a little clouded with with all of it. And it would be almost impossible for it not to be because it’s not a normal year. It’s not any other year. And it it does have to enter into your the conversations you’re having with your agent, with your family, everything. It’s it’s a constant drum beat. Frankly, he hasn’t had to talk about it publicly all that much. So, it’s not even that, you know, it’s not like every day we’re going in there asking him about it or asking his teammates about it. It’s just kind of hanging over a lot of things. So, yeah, it’s it’s it becomes a a throughine to the season. You know, the the conversation becomes a throughine. And maybe people are sick of the conversation, but I think the conversation has shifted to the point where it’s worth bringing up this part of it because I don’t think we’ve really gotten to this point in any of our other conversations of really thinking it could it could be the right proactive move to get ahead of this if he’s especially as teams look around and think, man, this free agent class is not good all of a sudden, right? it what looked like one of the great free agent classes we might ever see of course became not that when everybody ressigned and Kempe being the latest. There could be others, right? But you’re looking at Paneran, Schmaltz, and Tuck at the top of the board uh of unrestricted free agents for forwards. And teams might want to get ahead of that and look at Tuck and say we can fit him in this year, of course, at 4.75 and fit him in beyond that because the cap’s going up and there’s a lot of teams with space and there’s not much to spend it on. So, I think it would be it’ll be an interesting uh situation to follow probably right up until, you know, either he signs or the deadline. Yeah, maybe it’s that ro I mean that’s a month away. You know, that roster freeze around the holidays. It’s got to they got to know what they’re doing it at the latest by then. Is uh I’m not going to put you totally on the spot, but maybe a yes or no question. Do we think it’s a 50/50 thing right now that that Alex Tuck is a Buffalo Saver in 2026 27 50/50 right now? It’s probably Yeah. Do we think it might even be less like you know 40 that he stays and 60 that he’s not? Yeah. If there’s a gap in negotiations then I start to think I mean that can change. So, it’s always a bit of a guessing game, but yeah, it’s a tossup for sure. Fascinating conversation, you know. So, I don’t Let’s not get into the teams. We We’ll save that a little bit because I think they need a few more games to kind of see and so do we, right? But I would say um yeah, let’s just table the suitors, but I have some ideas of where he makes sense and well, that’s that’s for another day. if Alex Tuck is it moves on whether it’s you know in season next season potential replacements in the system sent you a text earlier this week we were talking about Isach Rosane Noah Osland Ice was down a little bit in the last game you know we could talk about roster decisions as his team returns to health and so on but just on Rosane if you look at him in totality let’s just forget about the goals let’s talk stylistically for a second because Alex Tuck, he brings you goals when he’s fired. You know, he can score. Is Rosane kind of a hybrid? Is he like a Tuck replacement long term, you think, in this organization given this little snapshot? Again, forget the goals, but just think about the player profile, the penalty killing, the defensive awareness, or because I almost think that that’s where I started my thought process is like, yeah, he’d be a poor man’s Tuck, but is he more of that hybrid between a Tuck and like a Jack Quinn? Yeah, he need He obviously doesn’t have the size of Tuck, right? But what Tuck, the way Tuck plays isn’t 6’4, 220 either, right? You know, he doesn’t play that big. He’s not, even though his hits are down this year, he’s not a huge heavy hitter even when he’s going. So, I can see it a little bit where you have and I mean you’ve also got Don who is, you know, kind of that defensive, you know, responsible type of player. I think what makes Roseanne stylistically a little bit more of a poor man’s tuck, as you put it, is the skating, right? He’s got juice just like Tuck does. He’s got speed. the defensive stick that is coming along. He had a tough one against against the Flames where you know the he lost his man should have tied that guy up. You know strength is still coming for him but and I don’t know that I see a 36 goal season in his future. But there are some components, you know, what’s the the line from the money ball? Like you got to replace him in the aggregate, right? Like, you know, you got to find way, you know, you’re probably not going to find a one to one for Tuck, but do you have enough depth in your organization to fill in around the edges if if you were to lose him? Maybe. you know, you might be uh I think Roseanne has taken this 10 game, nine game sample, however long he’s been up, and he has changed the conversation around what he can become and what he can be for your team, which was a development that they needed. They needed, you know, and we’ll see where he goes. Was it just seven or eight games where he he was hot and he’s going to fade or, you know, was Wednesday night the blit and he’s got is he his window is is shrinking here because Benson’s coming back and Zooker’s coming back tonight against the Blackhawks. Benson might be I think there’s a chance Benson could be back tonight, but maybe Sunday if not, you know, the the game after that. So all of a sudden that window is is closing a little bit for guys like Roseanne and Osland, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Roseanne. So it it’s it’s a little crazy when you first hear it to think of him as a potential tuck replacement, but there are elements of his game that that fill There is. There is even, you know, if you go back and you watch how Isach Rosane has developed the past couple of years in Rochester, started getting to the middle more. Even when Rosane tips pucks for goals, it’s not right at the doorstep, it’s 7, 8, 10 feet cruising through between the hash marks, getting his stick on a puck. Tuck does that, too. And Tuck had a ton of tip goals last year. Isak Rosane 33 goals per game this year for the Sabres. Alex Tuck 35 goals per game this year for the Sabres. I just want to throw that out there. I think stylistically you can fill a gap there. The window is probably shrinking a little bit for those young players as they return to health. And and by the way, to go back to something earlier earlier, if this team is healthy, Danforth, Benson, get all these guys back, they can compete. They can compete. The pieces, they they showed it when they had a semblance of health that they were competitive. I’m not throwing You’re 25% of the way into the season. I’m not throwing it in like the tuck conversation that we’re having does not imply that you’re throw and I know you’re kind you’ve already said that. I want to say it clearly. You’re not throwing in the towel if you consider moving tuck and having a young guy sit up here, but it’s not having a young guy move up into that spot is not ideal either. No, you and you can’t throw it in for a few different reasons. Number one is that I mean the Eastern Conference is pretty wide open. I’m not sitting here feeling like good about the Sabres chances of turning it around because a game like Wednesday night shows that they still have a lot of growing up to do and they still are capable of losing games that they really shouldn’t lose. But the other reason I don’t think you throw it in is because it’s vitally important to what you’re trying to do beyond this season to developing players and trying to stay in the fight. And you you’re not pulling the plug. You know, this is it’s why I say I don’t think this is a complete tear down in any way, shape, or form. even if like I just don’t envision Dalene getting to the point where he would be, you know, asking out. I don’t envision that imminently anyways with Ta Thompson either. And so, as long as those guys are bought in, I think a lot of other guys are going to be bought in as well. You got to get guys pulling in the same direction. And you can’t sit here and I get the instinct and my instinct is they lose to the Flames. it’s it’s it’s over, right? Like you can’t lose to the flames and pretend to be taken seriously. But in that room, you know, you certainly can’t be thinking that way. And they got to have they got to make sure that that guys aren’t thinking that way. And I do think one of the the key things, I’ve said it before, I don’t like Josh Norris when he gets healthy, I think is their has the potential to be their best forward. and at least their most complete forward, their most their all-around forward and he’s the type of player that that they really need to tie their lineup together. And you could have Tage Thompson, Josh Norris, one two down the middle, which all of a sudden isn’t that bad of a center group. And Ta Thompson’s playing pretty good in the middle right now. So if you have that, you know, the rest of the pieces start to fall into place. To your point, I think Danforth, you know, as people are working their way through these, what does the roster look like? And I posted something at the athletic this morning, you know, reacting to the Gearson news, but also looking at some of the decisions that are to come with this team and what the lineup could look like when everyone’s healthy. And I didn’t include Kik because we just don’t know when he’ll be back with the blood clot issue. But I’ve seen some people suggest like, oh, you got to move on from Danforth. And I don’t think that’s the case at all. I think Danforth is a pretty important piece. You know, you look at what Malenstein brings, you know, the the energy every night, the the hard for check. He’s becoming a really valuable player. Danfor, I think, can bring a lot of the same things. and some of the maturity, right? Some of the veteran leadership is definitely there with Danforth. It’s just a shame that they haven’t gotten any of it because he’s been out of the lineup. Uh Danforth wins faceoffs when he play when he takes him down the middle. and the the leadership that comes with a guy again he’s not maybe like that’s not the first word that you think about when Danforth comes up but I think there is some of that with his experience and his route his route as a mature human being in the locker room and on the bench during the games I I’m not moving on from Danforth to keep Oselyn or Rosane up no way as good as they’re doing and and as much pop as they’re bringing into the lineup, I’m putting the veteran guys in there because the team is devoid of that uh man men. And I know it looks like it’s just easy to move the guys down that don’t need waiverss, but it also could be the best thing for them to have them as essentially your your fifth line, right? The top line in Rochester, ready to go cuz you can bring them up when somebody gets there. Keep them hungry. get them hungry and and even put the other guys on notice. Like I wrote this morning like it could be the best thing to have some competition for Quinn Krebs, Greenway, Kak, Mloud, whoever. You know that, okay, Mloud’s not going at center. Maybe you can move him to the wing and call up Oslin, you know, in a spot, you know, if a guy’s banged up or something. all these little thing like you want the organizational competition and I think Osland and Roseanne have now provided that even if they go back down because they’re right there ready to go and they’re more ready and more confident and hungrier to your point the next time they come up. That’s that’s not a bad thing. And the experience piece is important because you’re already one of the youngest teams in the league and with the condens condensed schedule you’re going to need more bodies. You’re going to need a lot of guys to get through the season because we look at what is it going to look like when they’re fully healthy. They might not be fully healthy at all, you know, because the team might be fully healthy. Exactly. There’s a lot of injuries all over all over the league. And so Norris might come back and somebody else might go down. Danforth comes back and somebody else might miss a few games. There’s going to be opportunity for Oseland and Roseanne to get up and get more games. You don’t need to make maybe a a knee-jerk shortsighted reaction just because they’ve had a good stint. Like getting rid of a Danforth doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Now, if there’s a trade out there, this is where, you know, the trade piece comes into this and again where we come back to the general manager and why this is important and why you need vision and leadership in that spot because yeah, a Jack Quinn trade, I’m not opposed to a Jack Quinn trade if the right one is out there or you know, Krebs to a lesser extent. like Krebs to me is an an okay 13th forward to have, but if there is a the right deal to be made out there that that opens up some some room and then you can bring up Roseanne or Osen like that, that’s fine by me. Um, but you don’t need to be waving otherwise potentially valuable either players or even just assets when you can move a guy down freely. like you can with Austin and Roseanne. I like having the young kids here, you know. I like having them here. I think like while they’re here right now, they’re fun. They’re playing well. I think they’re getting experience. I mean, hell, we just talked about it a couple days ago, you know, should they go and like crash with Dene and they still can, but as the team returns to health, it creates this issues because they haven’t done anything to kind of ease that roster pressure. If if they don’t trade a skater, there are other levers that we should probably talk about for like a couple minutes before we get out of here today. They still have three goalies on the roster. Colton Ellis had a little bit of a not a sparkling performance against Calgary. Bit of a let down, right? A bit of a I don’t love how like it seems like they’ve been doing this where there’s riding the hot hand and then there’s having a little bit of awareness about when to pull off, right? And look, maybe this was a natural letdown spot for either Colton Ellis or the whole team, right? The emotional let down off of the high of a comeback win and beating Conor McDavid. And then, hey, there’s going to be a let down spot. Maybe we you go to your veteran, you know, goalender who has become a bit of a leader who plays with quite a bit of emotion. You know, maybe that could have hindsight’s 2020, but it’s also not entirely hindsight because it’s like this happens all the time where it’s like, let’s ride the hot hand. Well, guess what? Eventually, the hot hand’s going to burn out. Showcasing Ellis for a trade. I mean, may I don’t know. Maybe, maybe. Certainly putting Lucin in has not helped showcase him for a trade. Like, it hasn’t been helping his value to play Lucin, right? It seems like he’s had what, one good game out of the four that he’s played. that contract would not be easy to move, but I don’t think you can carry three goalenders too much longer. I don’t think it’s necessary and I think Lucinan is the odd man out in my eyes. I I I look at who does Lindy Ruff trust? He trusts Alex Lion and I think he trusts Colton Ellis more than he trusts Ukalucan. His actions have shown you that even some of his words, you know, he said, you know, we can’t be sure if he’s going to stay healthy. And I also I don’t know. I look at the way the team has played. I I look at big saves and key moments. All right. Key saves that that turn games. Lucin is not making those. He’s having won a game in a spot that kind of bag deflators, right? The bag deflators and it’s and it’s all on tracking. It’s not positioning. It’s track. No. Yeah. It’s like losing the Yeah. Losing the puck. you know, the glove side is is hurting him. Is there a good goalie in there somewhere? Is there a guy that could resurrect his career and and play some good hockey? Yeah. Yes, there is. Yes, there is. Like I I I mean, he’s got the pedigree. He’s had moments in his NHL career where he could be that guy. We see it all the time with goalies though where teams are are quick to, you know, pull the plug or a change of scenery sometimes sparks something in a player. He feels like a guy that needs that. And I’m not terrified of him becoming something Lenus Olmark like elsewhere. And even if it happens, you know, you could have the same fear about Colton Ellis, right? The guy I’m not touching is Alex Lion. Alex Lion. Yeah, Alex Lion is staying if I’m running things like he’s your best goalie right now. He’s a great guy to have in the room. He’s on a good deal for this year and next year and I think could remain effective beyond that as a veteran backup. Like I want this guy on my team. And so that leaves Ellis or Lucinan. And I know it’s a small sample size with Ellis, but you’ve, you know, this team really wanted him for a reason, and I don’t think he’s done anything since he’s been on the ice to make them feel worse about that. So, but he he also showed on Wednesday night a reminder that it was a small sample size, right? And you don’t know what he is. But the reason I’m okay moving off Lucinin is because if Ellis goes through it for a while, you have Levi. And I have not given up on Deon Levi either. So, you know, you can call him up and get some spot starts and push Ellis that way, but or find another goalie on on keeping guys hungry. Devin Lev has got to be starving. I would think. I mean, he’s got to have uh definitely a fire lit underneath him, you know, especially the way Mike Leone talked after he pulled him. Like, you know, I think this guy should be pretty hungry. It’s kind of a weird situation down there with Gorgiev, you know, playing a little bit. And yeah, it’s a a weird goalie room for sure. Yeah. But he should be he should be hungry and ready to go and in spot starts could give you something. So, They’re going to have to make a decision at some point because all four of these guys are under contract for next year and and that’s not sustainable. Like Devin Levi, I don’t think can spend a whole another year in the AHL. I think he needs waiverss anyways. So, you’re in a spot where you’re going to have to make some sort of decision. And it feels like Lukan is going to get squeezed out of the picture, but getting somebody to take that contract is not going to be easy. there’s three years left on it beyond this season at 4.75 million a year and that is that’s a even in a rising cap world a big number for a goalie that’s kind of a question mark we’ve seen other goalies in a similar spot at a similar number get moved I would never say never you know Corposalo comes to mind there’s other guys that come to mind you’re not going to get a ton for them probably and you can retain you have all your slots left you can eat a little bit of that they don’t want to but they could if they really when push comes to shove have to make a Um, but in the short term, you know, they already waved Gearson, you still have to find room. I think if they get 100% healthy and so it’s almost like, you know, forget the long term, like in the short term, I think they got to kind of really m manage their way through that also. And Dunn could be a guy that goes down at some point also. But I think Dunn got a little job security with the Gearson news yesterday because Dunn is I don’t think the Gears News signals that Lindy Ruff has has come to the conclusion that they don’t need an enforcer. I think the fact that they held on to him so long shows that Lindy Ruff really valued that and they probably should have waved him a little while ago, but because they were, you know, healthy and or they weren’t healthy and, you know, they they needed the bodies, it was fine to have them around. But you can’t have three goalies and Gearson, right? But Dunn is a willing combatant as far as fighting goes and a better player. you know, he’s a more trustworthy and he didn’t have a great game either the other night, but nobody really did. So, I think that helps him because he has a defined role. Same goes for Kak. Like, these guys are kind of locked into these bottom six spots and they’re useful in those roles. Whereas Roseanne and Osland, if they’re not getting the power play time, and if they’re not playing in your top nine, it serves them better to go down to Rochester, keep playing, get the power play time, the top line minutes, and be ready for when the next call up comes because it will come. On merit, Rosane probably stays if Osen goes back down. like who’s the f like like we always talk about him in pair as a pair but the reality is that I mean but Oselin’s playing ability to play center factors into this doesn’t it well because the wing the wingers are the ones who are coming back right coming back getting healthy that’s why that’s why I said on merit but now that Paige Thompson’s playing in the middle what’s tricky about it is Zooker’s coming back right and he plays the net front on the power play they’ve had Oseland at the net front on the power play so Benson comes back he’ll probably push Roseanne off the power play. Page Thompson playing center makes you think, okay, you know, Kak is kind of your third center right now. Mloud your second, Thompson your first. Are you keeping Osceland around to play fourth line center and not play on the power play? Or do you keep Roseanne around as a an extra winger and move Krebs to the middle on that line and you got Krebs, Malenstein, Dunn or even could throw Roseanne on that line. It’s I think Osland might be the first to go down, but I could see it either way because the the wingers are the ones who are coming back and getting healthy. So that could push push Roseanne out of the picture. Yeah. Albeit, you know, just for the time being. Here’s a cliffhanger for next episode. I want to talk about Mloud. We’ll get to that at a future episode. Sabres host Chicago tonight on that’s Friday the 21st. Back in action on Sunday afternoon 1:00 kickoff at Key Bank Center against Carolina. And then they have a couple days off. They go down to Pittsburgh on Wednesday before enjoying turkey stuffing everything else. We’ll do our Thanksgiving food rankings next time we’re together. Matthew Farburn. But in the meantime, if you could please do your plugs. Yeah. Head to the athletic.com/sabers. As I mentioned, I have a full breakdown of what’s to come here roster-wise and a and of course had a a column reacting to that smoldering tire of a loss on Wednesday night. and I’ll be on the scene all weekend to chronicle whatever comes next with this group. So, theathletic.com/sabers is the spot to find everything there. And of course, the Sabres Prospects YouTube channel uh for our next episodes to come, which will will be uh before too long here. All right, I’m going to get us out of here. Hope everyone has a lovely Friday for Matthew Fairburn. You just heard where you can find him. go there and do that. For the production crew who just heard me talk about Thanksgiving and they’re like getting excited. It’s production crew’s favorite food holiday. I’m Chris Baker. Thanks everyone for making the Baker Favorite Hockey Show part of your routine. TGIF, we’ll see you again next time.

Kris Baker and The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn discuss everything Buffalo Sabres. Read Matthew’s latest at The Athletic: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6824170/2025/11/21/buffalo-sabres-roster-mason-geertsen/