It’s Time For The Buffalo Sabres To Make A Change W/ Paul Hamilton| Schopp and Bulldog

It’s Time For The Buffalo Sabres To Make A Change W/ Paul Hamilton| Schopp and Bulldog

are again out in Western Canada. They have played three games on this eventual six-game road trip and lost them all in regulation, even by multiple goals, right? Are they all three goal losses? Philadelphia, Winnipeg, and then Calgary. Winnipeg and Calgary are Yeah. Yeah. What was five? 5-2. Oh, they got a second guy. I might have turned it off Friday night. Maybe he’s 51. I remember Paul. Do you remember? First question. First question. What was the score last Wednesday? 52. Philadelphia. Yes. 5-2 was Philadelphia. I’m sure. So, three straight losses all by three goals. Um, how bad is it? I do have one question before we get going. I could. Sure. Was there action in what? In the game. In your guys playoff game. Oh, hear me. Your your game for the playoffs. Bulldog one. Was there Was there action? Oh, side action. No. Yeah. No, we didn’t action. We did. We did not. That was not even broached. No. I didn’t I don’t like I didn’t like that team enough to bet on it. Yeah. I played Pat Malacharo in a meaningless game and we had action. Well, you’re better than us, Paul. Why don’t you Why don’t you divulge how high were the stakes? Uh, chicken wings at an establishment. All right. That’s a sweet That’s a sweet little get. No, we did not do that. No, we didn’t. Okay, back to the Sabres now. Back to the Sabres. I You know where I want to be begin, Paul, is with Lindy. I mean, you you obviously have been around him god it thousand thousands of more times than me and Mike have been. I was around him when he was a player. Right. Okay. Right. Scoreboard. Mother of all scoreboards. It’s not even close. Um, but I feel like we all know him, you know, to a degree. Was he was a player here, was a coach for so long during Mike during our show being on the air and the way he sounded before yesterday’s game even about Alen going down. I I I just I don’t know. Like I know you weren’t in the room um but I feel like you know him. I felt like he knew what he was saying when he said what he said the way he said it, right? Like he’s not naive enough to know that he’s going to come off as displeased that he had to tell this kid he’s going back to Rochester because they can’t find a way out of this three goalie Meyer they’re in. Wouldn’t and it wouldn’t surprise me if the well now with the with Zooker out they’d probably be back. Um now I don’t know what I don’t know about the new rule is the new rule is when you go down you got to play at least one game, right? And they haven’t played yet, right? But what about if it’s an emergency recall? Can is that a different case? That’s where that’s what I don’t know and have to find out since it’s a new rule. Um if they can bring him right back on an emergency recall. Um and again, I’ll have to find that out now. But there’s been no I haven’t seen anything today, but you would have been f you know, we’re we’re in here working. I mean, I’m following He probably would have been back to Rochester by the time they found out about Zooker. So getting him to to Edmonton would have been close to impossible. Not impossible, but pretty hard. Yeah. So if if they were going to bring him up, I think Vancouver would be the more, you know, likely thing. And then the thing is too, well, what’s Greenway doing? Can he play two games in a row yet or no? You know, if he can play two games in a row, then you’re fine because you have enough guys. But, you know, if he doesn’t, then it it it makes my head hurt. Right. But no move has been made today, right? We haven’t heard a recall or anything. And the game is in 3 hours, right? So, um I you know, I I guess they better hope that Greenway can play or they’re going to be playing a man short. Done. Oh, done. Right. Okay. So, they Yeah. All right. They won’t be down a guy or anything. Nothing embarrassing is going to happen. But how about the initial premise here, Paul? Like do do you feel like Lindy wanted everyone to know like I’m sort of sick of this thing with the three goalies? Well, you never know when he’s sending messages and when he’s not. Uh you know, he it’s he’s not above him to send messages through the media. Um the one thing he said that people kind of caught on to about a week ago, he had already said like four or five times. Yeah. You know, and it just everybody happened to catch on to it then. um he had said it after a few practices and you know he he’s made it very clear for a while now that a three three goalies is not ideal you know for him for the goalies or for anybody and um you know so to be wasting a roster spot again when you haven’t even figured out who could possibly be your number one goalender because you’re not giving it a good enough chance to find out you know you got to me I just feel like pick one and give him 25 games as the starter you know play him as a starter when you have a backtoback play somebody else but don’t pull him out because he has a bad game and then you don’t see him for three weeks I don’t disagree with this theory it’s just nobody in their defense no none of these guys has given this team this coach really any sort of path in that direction get a chance to get on a roll you’ve got to give the guy a chance, not just pull him after a game. And none of them are getting that opportunity. There there was one moment earlier this year where I was surprised. Maybe it was was it off of Lucin’s really good third period in overtime in the shootout was at Washington on a Saturday night. And then the next game I thought, oh well this they’ve been waiting for Lucin. He’s the contract. He’s the most pedigreed. They’re waiting and it was somebody else the next night. Yeah. And I was and it wasn’t a backtoback and I was like what are we even doing here? The like the best 10 minutes of goalending I’ve seen all year from anybody on this team was Lucin in in that late in that third period overtime and shootout against Washington and they played on like the next Monday and he didn’t go back in. I was like I don’t was he sore? I don’t know. But that was maybe the one time I thought they really didn’t give a guy who looked really good the chance to build on it. Yeah. I mean, Ellis had one bad game and we didn’t see him for how long? I I thought because I don’t think he was going to play against Chicago anyway. I think it was time they was going to get a night off, but I thought Sunday they had a game on Sunday that okay, let’s give him a chance to get right back in the net because he had played well before that bad game and nope, he had to wait x amount of games to get back in after one bad game in his career. Uh, and it I just I I just hate the way they have approached this. Now Lindy’s he doesn’t want three goalenders, but he’s stuck with three goalenders. He’s got to figure it out. I don’t think he’s figured it out at all. Yeah, for folks who don’t even maybe not know, I should have said this before we got into it, but Lindy before yesterday’s game in Calgary was asked about having to tell Oseland he was going down. And the way he talked about the player was like, you know, he he was his offensive instincts were great. His playmaking was great. His defensive awareness was really good. The only negative is that he had to go down, which did not sound like a guy to me that was eager to get this kid out of his lineup. But he had no choice because he was the one guy that could clear waiverss. Once they get back from the West and maybe Kessle ring by them will be ready to practice with the team. They can flip it again where you don’t have to have a defenseman and and he he Austin would be the next guy back. He’ll be back. You know, I I don’t I don’t you know, I’m not real worried about it. He’ll be back. He was fine. You know, he had three goals in 20 games. He was fine. Um, and you know, they they did what they had to do because they can’t make a decision on a goalender uh to get one off a roster. So, they did that, but he’ll be back. You know, with that’s one area and there are others. It’s game 30 and they have eight regulation wins and are 30th in points and 30th in goals allowed. I mean, you you were you pushed back on there, you know, a few wins away from being right in it before the losing streak, and so now it’s even more, it would seem probably you’d be even more likely to, you know, maybe roll your eyes at any thought. It feels very much to me like if they don’t pull out of this on this trip, they’ve got what? They got tonight and then Seattle and then they’re back home, right? Vancouver. Oh, Vancouver. So, they got three left. I mean, I feel like if they don’t win all three, Paul, they’re going to get home and be buried. They could be buried if they win all three with the way the standings have been going, but still, at least they could keep pace here. Um, but if if they if they slide through the rest of this trip like with with one win out of these next three or something, you know, merry Christmas. Pula’s got Pakula’s got to stop this. I mean, he’s got to I mean I mean, he’s got to fly fly to Buffalo after New England, put a stop to this. I mean, it’s it’s it’s an absolute joke. People around the league are laughing at this team. I watch players joke about the Buffalo Sabres and laugh about them, and I watch him on the ice laugh in their faces. I mean, they’re a joke. And, you know, he’s he enough is enough. I I don’t care if they win all three. Enough is enough. I mean, everybody has seen enough of this team to know that Kevin Adams has to go. What? What is What’s he going to do? Keep him and let him let him run the trade deadline and then not resign him to a new deal and that’s the end of him? Really? Is that your plan? I mean, come on. I mean, this this has to be over when the Savers get back only not sooner because they’re in Western Canada, right? You couldn’t do it there. You could. You could. I’m not I’m not saying no. A serious team that wanted to make that move would make it immediately. A serious team that would have want should have made it back in April, maybe even before that. Sure. Yeah. How long is the Zooker absence likely to be? I’m not there with them, so I don’t know. Um I I just know with what Lindy was talking about this morning. So, he did finish the game cuz he didn’t look good when he went off the ice and was kind of hobbling to the locker room, but he was on the bench pretty quick afterwards and he did finish the game, but uh you know at whatever afterwards they decided that he’s going to be out for how long? We don’t know yet. Um okay, who’s getting tonight then? By the way, back to the goalies. Do we know? I would guess, and I am guessing, it would be Ellis cuz he played very well against Edmonton. So, I would think you would want to put him back out there against Edmonton. The other two goalenders both played last night. Now, Lion hardly saw any shots. I think he saw four maybe, something like that. And he, you know, so he didn’t he didn’t strain himself out there in the 20 minutes he was out there, but um I my guess, especially with the way he played against Edmonton here in Buffalo, that it would be Ellis. Yeah. Um, h how did you like does it matter? I mean, I don’t know. We don’t need to be assigning style points to games they lose at this point. Uh, it’s really gotten old, but I guess I did. Did Did H what did you think of their play overall last night? Well, when four different times they went out and scored and pulled to within a goal and four different times almost immediately they gave up a goal to go back down by two. I mean, that’s just inexcusable. I mean that and it’s just dumb stuff like all right you score a goal now let’s take two penalties and then give up another one uh you score a goal and the guy that scores the goal just stands there and watches cadre blow right by him and go in all alone. Um it it just it boggles my mind that four different times they they pulled within a goal worked worked to do that and within minutes they were back down by two again. Uh it’s just I I I can’t I can’t even say, you know, it’s just to me that’s not playing well. There was a schmazzle right at the end of the game where it was six on four and I almost was yelling at the TV going, “Yes, this is exactly what Lindy Ruff is talking about.” Everybody was diving nose first into the crease. They’re swinging their sticks at the at the puck at what they can hit whatever they can hit. They got the Calgary Flames so upset the Flames took a couple of penalties and it’s like that’s what that’s what Ruff is talking about. He wants to see some determination around the crease, some get up and go, just act like you’re alive every now and then. And then sure enough, Calgary took some stupid penalties out of that scrum and Buffalo scored on the six on four, you know, again with a guy camped in front of the net tipping the puck. It’s like that is what they’re talking about. Yeah, they had 40 some odd shots in that five to nothing loss to New Jersey. I can’t tell you how many pucks were laying in that crease and with around Allen and just no Saber really. They were kind of around, but nobody really really really went all out to go get one of those pucks because had they done it, they would have scored a goal because those you could have tapped the puck in. And that’s what they did in that scrum. And I thought to myself, why does it take game 28,9 whatever it was to see this and you see it once? Because that’s exactly what you need to do if you want to be a better hockey team. Yeah. Kind of around is not going to get it done. Yeah. All right, Paul. Well, you asked us your question, so I know I got it done early. Are you excited about Philip Rivers coming back? Is he going to screw up this Hall of Fame thing thing now? Yes, he will. It’s on the list. He will. Yeah. He should be able to pick somebody to go with him. Take somebody else off the list with him. Just somebody he doesn’t like. You guys did that. We did. Oh, we made a We made a You were taking people out of the Hall of Fame. We were a factory of kicking people out of Halls of Fame. We We’re the people to call. Yeah. That is a job for us. That’s right. All right, Paul. Thank you. Take care, guys. All right. Enjoy the game. Paul will be back in um at 8:00 with Brian Kosial to get you ready for tonight’s game in Edmonton Puck Drop a little after 9. Paul’s appearance with us just now brought to you by Equitable Advisors. Planning for your future is about more than just money. Let Equitable be your guide and by Rayax Honda. Rayax, we got this. I I I feel like I’m alternating between getting mad at the players when they don’t perform the way that Paul’s talking about, the way Ruff wants them to, and feeling like I completely understand what it’s like to be, you know, an employee somewhere that is completely demoralizing in every way. I totally believe, Paul, about like people laughing at them. There’s there’s been no question in my mind for years that that’s been going on. the they’re the guys that have left here like this word word is around this is not a serious operation and so everyone in there I mean the what do we do this roster nonsense the three goalies I mean pick the maybe Alice will play great tonight but man if you got to pick one pick him send him if somebody claims him claim another one like him there’s a hundred of them you know it was a really cool story and I I I really admire the kid taking as long as he did to get the NHL, but you got a team to run. So there like that and then the talk thing is just hanging there. It’s almost Christmas. They’re not going to get that done. And how’s he feeling about that? Like every time he steps on the ice, the lifetime contract is in peril because he’s got to go what? Spill his guts for for this organization. Man, I would I I’m telling you, I would understand being completely demoralized. Sure. It’s just not a good situation at all for anyone that has to lace them up and go play for that team. So, you can get mad and boo them and yell at them, and I’ve done plenty of it. I probably will still. I was super hot about, and we never got around to talking about it because nobody cares anymore. We’re all dead inside. I was so mad about Thompson on Wednesday night and this one play and the comments he made after it just kind of in the wind just goodbye. And then now today I’m over here going, you know, I kind of understand what a disaster they are. Just epic. You’re saying it all. How tall is Thompson? 667. Oh, baby.

Mike Schopp and The Bulldog talk to Paul Hamilton about the Sabres Road Trip and how they are starting to Collapse.
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