Buffalo Sabres in Chaos & Flyers Early Momentum ft. Michael Augello & Kevin Kurz | The Sheet
So, our conversation before the season started went like this. If the Buffalo Sabres have a horrible start, it might be bad news for Kevin Adams by Thanksgiving. I didn’t think the person meant Canadian Thanksgiving. I thought he was referring to US Thanksgiving, but here we are, Tuesday, October the 14th. Welcome to the sheet once again. Glad to have you aboard. There’s going to be plenty coming up today uh about the Buffalo Sabres and want to play some video for you going back to last year’s trade deadline and the deal that saw Dylan Cousins become a member of the Ottawa Senators and Josh Norris become a member of the Buffalo Sabres. Um I like that the Buffalo Sabres do this. I like that a lot of teams do this where they’ll put their sort of behind thescenes look about how trades come together. Even though when you know you’re having the conference call, they leave out what the other side is saying. I understand that. Um I think it’s good the Buffalo Sabres do it. Um but there’s one piece, you know, going back and having a look at this thing this morning. Um there’s one piece that’s that’s really troubling now that we know what’s happened to to Josh Norris, again. Uh in the meantime, a pretty interesting night around the NHL. Can can we show something um Zach that before we get into, you know, what’s happening on the program today and introduce our guests, something that I’m I still haven’t stopped laughing about. Do we have the clip of the uh of the D’vorak tip last night? Do we have that? Do we have that one handy? I know I’m sort of calling an audible on you. This is the Christian D’Vorax, but I can get that one. If you could if you could grab that. I mean, let me let me know when you have it. We’ll we’ll we’ll get to what’s coming up on the program today. It might be It’s one of the funniest moments that I’ve seen in a long time. Oh, and by the way, congratulations to the Philadelphia Flyers in their home opener last night. Not only did they defeat the defending Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers, but they also did the Bernie Pant tribute for the second time after he passed away in the preseason. They did one for him, I believe, in the game against the Boston Bruins. And they did a second one for him last night to say nothing of the player of the game, Bernie Perant mask, which is just the nicest touch. Anyway, the Philadelphia Flyers hitting a lot of the right notes and did yesterday, although there’s problems with Meechoff. And we’re going to isolate a little bit later on where I think the problem that Rick Tocket had occurred with Meechoff. We’ll get into that coming up on the program here uh in a couple of moments. Thanks for joining us in the chat. Thanks for joining us live on YouTube or on your favorite podcast platform. Always appreciate your attention. You have a lot of things you could be listening to or watching right now. Uh thank you for choosing us here at the sheet. The blueprint is powered by FanDuel. Here’s what’s coming up. Make every moment more with North America’s number one sports book. That is of course our friends at FanDuel. And coming up on the program today, it’s going to be a very sort of Eastern Conferencebased program. A couple of teams we’re going to sort of revolve around here. Uh Mike Aello from the Hockey News will stop by. He covers the Buffalo Sabres. Uh we’ll get into a conversation with Mike here in about 5 minutes time. Kevin Curves from The Athletic will talk to us about the the Philadelphia Flyers, the good, bad, and the Mitchkoff with the the Philadelphia Flyers. Our QOD is what’s next in Buffalo. And as I mentioned, we’ll do a lot on the Philadelphia Flyers coming up here in a uh in a couple of moments. Um, one thing that um that I went this morning, I went went back and watched um just wanted to make sure that I had seen it properly. Uh, and that is the behind thescenes peak, the the video from the 2025 NHL trade deadline where Kevin Adams makes the trade for Josh Norris, Dylan Cousins going the other way. A little bit later on, the Buffalo this week, the Buffalo Sabres will face off against the Ottawa Senators. Ottawa without Brady Kachchuck, by the way, with the hand injury. Minimum four weeks on that one after the um entanglement yesterday with Roman Yosi, the National Predators. But in this video, there’s there’s one moment that really catches my eye and catches my ears, and this is when Kevin Adams, general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, is addressing other members of the Buffalo Sabres front office about the health status uh and more specifically the future health status of Josh Norris. Now, the less that you’re going to hear Kevin Adams refer to is Les Bon, who’s the uh the medical doctor for the Buffalo Sabres. So, keep that in mind. Here’s Kevin Adams from the Buffalo Sabres video inside the 2025 NHL trade deadline. Kevin Adams brings Josh Norris to Buffalo. Buffalo Sabres embedded. The Sabres put this one out last year. Let’s have a look. Um, okay. Let me in the in a second. um for uh Norris Bernard Docker. Let me let me work on this. Um and I will I need to I need to I got the uh owner and doctor um kind of on standby too just to say, “Okay, I want to have I want to circle up with them one more time and just make sure everybody’s on the same page from the medical and um let me work on this and I’ll be back to you.” Okay, Steve. I just talked to Les completely comfortable, zero issue, but he’s like, “I have zero reservation. I have enough information to give me complete comfort. I would say the exact same thing to Terry.” And I said, “Are you sure?” Because this is a very good hockey player, but I He’s like 100% comfortable. The offer on the table from Ottawa is Cousins, Gilbert, and a second round pick for Norris. and we would get Bernard Docker. Okay. Um, the place where you probably paused is the same place where I paused and that is zero reservation from the Buffalo Sabres medical director, medical doctor, um, Les Bon just and and for for a bit of context to, and again, not to to pile on, but it’s it’s tough not to. Um that same medical director was um in the middle of the uh the situation with Jack Eel with the Buffalo Sabres where he wanted the ADR surgery, the artificial disc replacement. And the Buffalo Sabres on the advice we assume of their medical director uh was saying no, it hasn’t been done before in hockey, hasn’t been done in other sports, football, MMA specifically, but never in hockey. were in favor of the uh the spinal fusion which caused an even greater rift between Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres which ended up costing the Buffalo Sabres the services of Jack Eel. That was a trade that brought aboard Pton Krebs and also Alex Tuck. Alex Tuck who we also wonder about now. Um does he have a future with the Buffalo Sabres? And if he doesn’t, what does that make that trade look like? But the idea that there was zero reservation, again, I am not a doctor. I just play one on a on a podcast here, I suppose, he said tongue and cheek. Um, but I I I think about the the only person who would have had zero reservation would have been that medical director in question with the Buffalo Sabres. Going back to that trade, as someone pointed out on Twitter, uh Josh Norris has played four games for the Buffalo Sabres and only finished two. We all feel awful for Josh Norris. Nobody wishes that on anybody. And that’s not anything that Josh Norris has chose and didn’t want his career to become this injury punchline. But unfortunately, the big story about Josh Norris has been the injuries. And that’s one of the reasons why we find ourselves in this position where we’re wondering, is there a future for Kevin Adams? and will Kevin Adams be given the ability and the runway to steer out of this skid or does it all get turned over to the person we’re all wondering about and that is Yarmmo Kealinan and if you’re handing it over to Yarmokalinan and you marry that with the Sabres performance that we’ve seen so far this season most recently yesterday against the Colorado Avalanche where I don’t think the Buffalo Sabres touched the puck in the second half of the game specifically the third where it looked like the entire team had quit on Lindy Ruff. You wonder if there’s if there’s going to be one dismissal. Perhaps there are two. But that’s where we’re at. Three games in. But it’s not really three games in. It’s 14 seasons and three games in because that’s the way it feels to Buffalo Sabres fans. More on this issue and others. There are plenty. the Buffalo Sabres. We bring in Michael Jello. Finally have him on the broadcast here from the Hockey News who covers the Buffalo Sabres. Uh Michael, how are you today, my friend? Oh, wonderful, Jeffy. Just wonderful. There’s uh there’s there’s a few things. So, I’m not sure if if you saw before you came on. I went back and and played the uh the Buffalo Sabres embedded piece uh from last year’s trade deadline where you know Kevin Adams is assuring the group that the medical director Les Bison has has given you know full clearance to Josh Norris and the line is zero reservations about this player despite the significant injury history uh that he has and and now it’s it’s happened a couple of times uh with with the Buffalo Sabres. I don’t know that we can isolate one very specific moment where everything sort of came off the the wheels came off the wagon here whether it’s Eel situation even before that Ryan O’Reilly losing his smile. We can go all the way down the list to essentially when Terry Begoula bought this team and said Darcy Regger go spend money and they got Veno and Christian Airhoff to show for it. But with last year’s trade deadline and the Josh Norris situation and now the injury, like how do you contextualize all this? Like essentially what I’m asking you is a long-winded way of saying how did we get here? Like how do we get here now? It’s it’s baffling as somebody who’s lived in Buffalo his entire life, as somebody who, you know, as a hockey fan since the age of four, uh, and, uh, who has covered this team for a few years and covered the Maple Leafs and covered the NHL for various sites. I mean, this is a great hockey town. This is, uh, you know, steeped in tradition, 55 years. They were a perennial playoff team for most of the that stretch before uh Terry Beula’s ownership in 2011. I’m not saying it’s tied to him, but it’s just ironic that he takes over. Um he tells Darcy Regier, here you have an open open checkbook, go ahead. He trades for Brad Boy at the trade deadline. And then as you said, Leno and Airhoff. And I I just think that there’s been a series of misjudgments and a series of bad luck with this organization over this 14-year stretch. They’ve come close at times. They were point out of the playoffs uh in 2023. They got uh beat out by Alex Lion and the Florida Panthers. Uh and then Florida makes the magical run to the Stanley Cup final. And it’s sort of been downhill from there because I think they thought they could come back with that same team and add a couple pieces and and make the playoffs and it didn’t turn out anywhere to be close and now they seem to be ruerless and grasping at uh you know what’s the cause of this. Mhm. You know, there’s um there’s a there’s a few things there um going back to the to the beginning of this era. And the one thing I think that we all sort of circle back to like I understand it like I understand I understand the lure that when you buy an NHL team, this idea that you have to for the good of the team keep your hands off it. You know, these guys that buy NHL teams, I should rather say these families that buy NHL teams and it’s it’s rare that it’s a family now. Now, usually it’s a corporation like they’re not used to buying businesses and not having any input. Sports is unique, though. But along the way, and you know, as as you mentioned, you know, there seems to be like the Pagula fingers in the pie all the way. He loves the Sabres. I can remember that first press conference as can you, you know, with Terry Pagula with the tears in his eyes, you know, mentioning, you know, Joel, here’s Joel Bear Perau, and he’s crying about the French connection. Like, listen, I grew up watching the Buffalo Sabres in that era, too. And I felt the same way, like this is awesome. Like this is going to be great. There was the the cringey line for Gary Bman when Terry sat right next to the commissioner and said, “If I want to make money, I’ll drill another oil well.” To which I’m like, “Oh man, I wish I was in Gary Bman’s brain right now. I wish I was in Gary Bman’s brain right now hearing Terry Pula speak like this.” Um, but at the at the same time, here we are at this moment now where there’s Kevin Adams as the general manager and there’s Yarma Kalanan who’s casting a shadow over this entire organization. And then Mikey, let’s rewind it to 24 hours ago. We’re watching the Buffalo Sabres and the Colorado Avalanche. And I’ll just be blunt. You know, we were on the air while the game was on. I watched part of the first period and and then caught the end. by the end of the game. I mean, I know it’s Colorado and they’re really good, but like that team quit. That team quit and we saw someone throw a jersey on the ice and there were the fire Kevin Chance. You were there. Give us I mean I know it was sort of friends and family night. Um, and you know, costume party dressed up as an empty seat, but like what was it like in the building yesterday? Well, I I just have to say that I was I was talking to a couple reporters after the game and I said, you know, in the third period in which they were outshot 15 to four, I mean, there was no urgency. And Lindy Ruff this morning said, well, you know, we really played our top 4 D a lot in the first two periods. And without saying, he was saying they were fatigued or gassed or whatever. And I I I you know, that may be a coach covering for his players. and that’s what his job is. I I I just got the impression that that, you know, they just did not seem, you know, that they were holding the puck inside their zone. It’s like they were leading three to one and they were trying to kill the clock. And, you know, after the game, Tae Thompson, you know, um, waxed philosophic about the fact that, you know, it’s only three games into the season, there’s 79 to go. It’s not It’s not three games. It’s not three games. It’s 14 years and three games is what that’s how it feels to Buffalo Sabres fans, right? And it’s it it’s you cannot you cannot tell me that this is not a weight on their shoulders. They they feel it in the building when they start getting booed and when, you know, there’s that that muddling in the crowd. They hear it. They feel it. It’s palpable. And I’m I’m sorry. It’s like I mean it it’s like with with the Leafs. They wear 1967, you know, even though those players, most of them or all of them weren’t born since, you know, in 1967 with the Sabres, it’s 2011. It’s the 14 years and until they somehow bust that streak, this is going to weigh on them like an anchor. Uh, real quick, is there any update um to the best of your knowledge on Lucin and where he’s at? So, I want to get to the goalie question here. What’s the latest? Uh we actually talked to him about a half an hour ago. He um practiced for the first time. Uh the injury that occurred uh late in the preeason was not the same injury that he had in the summer, but without going into detail on it said it was in a similar area. It was discomfort. I mean, we know the issues that Lucinan has had throughout his career. He’s played 50 plus games the last two years, but this is a guy who had double hip surgery, who’s had ankle problems. Um he probably will have to go down to Rochester to play a couple games rehab because he missed the entire training camp and all he’s done is practice about five or six times and played one period. So it’s probably going to be a little bit of time before they can get him back in the net. Okay. So we just sort of lobbed another grenade into the whole conversation here and that is conditioning stint when he’s ready with the Rochester Americans. Rochester Americans already have their own goalie issue as the Buffalo Sabres are deciding right now to ride or die with Alex Lion and Colton Ellis. You have Devin Levi down there. Now you have and there was some all kinds of speculation over the weekend. You know where is Alexander Gorgiev here? Like where did he go? And then someone from the organization told me he is going to report on Monday. He reported on Monday. He is there with the Rochester Americans. They have two games this weekend. And I’m going to guess that Devin Levi and probably his his camp feel that Deon Levi is going to play those two games. And if he doesn’t, does that begin another chain of dominoes? If he does, what happens to the Gurgev camp? And how do they feel about that? Like this whole thing is just headed to yet again another mess. which circles back to the point that I was making on the show last week. Why was Guorgiev not a PTO? If nobody wanted him, what was the rush to sign this guy and complicate an already crowded crease and difficult to manage goalie situation? I know I just lobbed a lot into your corner there, Mike, but massage that as you see fit. Well, I think they signed Gorgia because at the time that they were, you know, milling through what was going on with Lucinan, they weren’t sure about what was going on. They weren’t sure how serious an injury it was. This is with with lower body, with groin, what you know, high ankle, whatever it is, it could be a long period of time. So, I think they felt better safe than sorry. you know, we don’t want to sign Gorgv to a PTO and then somebody else come in and snatch him. Although, I don’t remember the last time somebody had a PTO with one team and another team snatched him up. So, Sunny Milano, Sunny Milano, Sunny, I’ll throw Sunny Calgary, Calgary to Washington. I mean, it has happened. Sunny Milano was one. Sorry. It’s possible, but it’s it’s very rare. It’s rare, right? So, um you know, they had the roster spot. They were under 50 contracts. They said, “What what the hell? Why not?” Um okay. I mean, but now, you know, they’ve sent Scott Rasoff, who’s a good goalending prospect, they’ve sent him to the ECHL to get playing time now. Yeah. And and and and Top Topius Leonin, the the the second round pick from a few years ago who was playing who played in the SHL. He was over. I don’t know where he is. So, I mean, maybe he played Saturday. He played Saturday against Toronto, right? So, I mean, you know, so now you’ve got four now you’ve got four goalies if they send Lucinan down. So, you know, it starts now you bring up the interesting thing about Levi because yes, uh, clearly this organization, I mean, they they’ve said, “Well, we believe in Devin Levi. We think Devin Levi is going to be a great goalender. He’s 23 years old. He’s had two really good years in the American Hockey League.” And really, he did not get a legitimate sniff at making the NHL roster. They signed him to a two-year deal. He was waiver exempt. He and I looked into this. He’s got um from our friends at Puck Pedia 21 games before he is not waiver exempt. And my theory, which now this is my theory, Yeah. is they didn’t want to risk having to call up Devin Levi if Lucin was hurt and have him play 21 games and then not be able to send him to Rochester. Now, may maybe that’s completely off base, but may maybe that’s the reason why Gorgi was the was the safety net in case Luke Nin was out long term. But right now, you’ve got Colton Ellis who I don’t know when he’s going to get into a game as the backup. You’ve got Ellis Lion who’s played all three games. He’s going to play uh tomorrow against Ottawa. And this team, the schedule was their enemy. We looked at this in the summer. The six of their first eight games were at home and me and a couple reporters met had broke bread together over the summer. We looked at the schedule and we said this is potential trouble if they get off to a bad start. And gee, now you’ve got three games and they’re 0 and three and everybody’s calling for Kevin Adams head. Ah, okay. Let me let me let me go another way here because people are asking about this one. By by the way, um I had a couple of people asking about um Pete Dbor if they do if there is a coaching change here. I’m I’m of the mind that if if Pete Dorcs, he’s got this year to to surf on his Dallas contract. If he’s going to jump back into the NHL, I would have to believe it would be in a situation where the team is closer to winning the Stanley Cup than just trying to claw and scratch into the playoffs. I I I don’t know necessarily that Dborah wants to jump into that. If you look historically at the situations that Peter Dbor has put himself in, right? But having said that, I watch John Toddella on TV now and Yarman is around the team and he casts a pretty long shadow over all of this. If the Buffalo Sabres do make a move here, do you think it’s one move or two? I think it’s one. Uh, but the Tortoella talk is it’s natural obviously because of the the uh connection in Columbus in Columbus. Yeah. Uh I’ve talked to some reporter friends in Philadelphia who said at the end of the year that he was gassed. He was done. He was, you know, and he’s 67 years old. But I I you know I find it hard to believe that if uh Yarmmo came hat in hand and said I need you to come into this building and put a bomb in that locker room and wake everybody up and you know I think he would be up to the task. Believe me as a reporter I would love it cuz I’ll have no no problem writing uh Tordella stuff but I don’t know former assistant for we should former assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres too. So there is that there is that background which will make Terry Pagula happy. Yes, but um I find it hard to believe that Lindy that they would fire Lindy. He’s got a year, this is the final year of his two-year contract. Maybe in a scenario saw Mike, you saw them play or whatever that was yesterday. Like did that look like a team that’s playing for Lindy Ruff? No. And and the befuddlement of Lindy after the Boston game where he was basically saying they just didn’t compete. We need them to compete. Okay. Well, the the training camp seemed, you know, everything seemed on a positive track. They were, you know, everything was, you know, jovial and light and you came in and you got shut out by the by Igor Shasturkin and then the the negative role started and now they have to win uh these two one of these two games in the first in the remaining two games of the three-game home stand. They play Ottawa now without Brady Kachchuk for a few weeks. So that’s to the Sabres benefit and then Florida. So I mean it’s not going to be easy, but they have to just get a get one in the W column and then maybe they can snap this air of negativity. No one likes to watch anybody go through this. No one likes to watch any people go through this, any players go through it. Nobody Nobody enjoys any of this. I mean, you have to be sort of a I guess like a real significant Buffalo Sabres hater to to enjoy this, but like 14 seasons of futility. Like at a certain point, you say to yourself, “Man, I just feel bad uh for for all the people involved here.” And you can see the script that’s coming, right? You could see Dylan Cousins lighting up the Buffalo Sabres. You could see Sam Reinhardt lighting up the Buffalo. I don’t know how the Buffalo Sabres survive if that happens. Those are two signature moves by Kevin Adams. Like at a certain point, you just turn the lights off and say, “Last call.” You can see coming a mile away. I joked that I could see Dylan Cousins score a hat-tick and do a Terrell Owens dance on the Saber logo like he like Terrell Owens did on the on the Dallas Star. man. I mean, you know that I mean, yeah, it’s I but but already already after three games, one of the reporters this morning was saying, I’m hearing Tank and Gavin McKenna. And I mean, that’s only Terry’s other team. It’s Terry’s other team, Penn State. That’s that’s only that’s only natural. But but to to your point about to your point about the trades um the the Norris deal for everything that you laid out was I mean his injury history and Dylan Cousins they clearly wanted to move on from Cousins with the long contract and he just did not repeat that 31 goal season that he had a few years ago. But the deal that still makes me shake my head and I know Allen Walsh got involved in the whole thing is the Purka deal. Especially for a team that right now is having trouble scoring. You traded your second leading scorer because you didn’t want to pay him on a long-term deal. They probably want wanted to bridge him like Jack Quinn was bridged. They traded him for Josh Don who I think is a good third line winger and Michael Kessler who hasn’t played a game for them and he’s close apparently to getting back in the lineup maybe in a few weeks. But Michael Kessler is a decent right shot defenseman. Um, but I I don’t think that they they needed to get scoring back and they needed to get a scorer back in the summer and they didn’t. The one the one that I think gets a free pass that we don’t talk about very often as we run down, you know, the the history of of trades that haven’t worked out for the Buffalo Sabres. second round pick for Beck Menstein, which turned into checks, notes, Cole Hudson. Yeah. For the Washington Capitals. And that’s a tough one. That’s a tough one. But the thing is, and then and they had to work for that because at the draft in Vegas, they had the I think it was the 11th pick. Yeah. And they traded down five slots um to get that second round pick to flip for Beck Menstein. So that first round pick for San Jose who they made the trade with was Sam Dickinson. Now I think I think Consta Helenius is going to be a good player. I do. But you traded down four slots just to get a second round pick to get a fourth liner because your fourth line really wasn’t doing very well. And if you look at all the players that they signed and traded for uh in that group, Beck Malenstein, Nicholas Abbe, Coupel, the only one that you know the Sam Laughy, the only one who was a success was Jason Sucker. Every one of them else has been a mild or dismal failure. So on that cheery note, uh let me get the uh the micello crystal ball out. We’ll close on this one. Um, and it’s it’s the QFD. We’ll get into this one. Okay. Here. Yeah. Here we go. The amazing Cresken, the amazing Gello. Uh, so how Carak, sorry, Carson Carson reference. Uh, what happens for the rest of the season? Like, how do you see this playing itself out? We’ve already got, you know, like you know, Ryan Whitney already threw in the towel on on Twitter last night about the Buffalo Sabres as well. The team looks like they threw in the towel in that game against the Colorado Avalanche. They’ve been booed off the ice. We’ve seen jerseys hit the ice. There’s a howl for heads um at the Key Bank. What happens now? I mean, let’s say I’m sure Cousins, whatever Cousins does in the game against Ottawa, whatever Reinhardt does in the game against Florida, how does this season play itself out for you? Like, what are the sort of the touchstone moments for you? Because for me, I’m really wondering about Levi here and what happens with with Levi because that was like that was a signature piece in that Reinhardt deal. And that was that opened the tenure and I wonder if it closes the tenure for this general manager. And the the other signature piece of that deal was Yuri, the first round pick which turned out to be Yuri Koulich who um sounds like he may be a healthy scratch tomorrow because they moved Ta Thompson back to the middle and Lindy Ruff wasn’t exactly happy with uh his performance. Um what’s going to happen? I mean and obviously the logically the first move is going to be you know Kevin Adams being fired and if they don’t improve if they don’t if that that stretch of six home games of their first game first eight games um I’ve said you know if they go one and five or two and four at home and he’s not going to make it out of October I think he probably gets the first quarter of the season so we’re talking American Thanksgiving and if They don’t show any sign. If they’re eight to 10 points out of a playoff spot, the first move is Kevin Adams being fired and then Yarmmo obviously who was brought in I think to be the safety net will be made the general manager. I don’t know whether there there will be a firing of of Lindy Ruff. I think Pouloola I have too much respect for Lindy. Maybe he gets kicked upstairs, but I think I think that Ruff plays out the season. But I I I wonder about the the the falling upwards part for both of them, both for Kevin Adams and for Lindy Ruff. Like look, like he ran that, you know, Academy of Hockey, Junior Sabres, did a lot of business with with with the Pagoulas before he came over as a general manager, Kevin Adams that is. And we all know the respect um that the owner has for Lindy Ruff. I can see both guys fall upwards here. Oh, they might be empty empty calorie titles, but I could see it happen. Sure. Sure. Like like like the Cliff Fletcher, Jacqu Laair roles in Toronto when uh Lou Lamarella was there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sort of. I could see that. I mean, Lyn the 2-year contract that Lindy signed was the same two-year contract that he had with New Jersey. So, Basically, he he he came back to Buffalo to hopefully, you know, dig them out of a hole and they’re still in that hole. But I mean, honestly, I think you can move things around. I think I think Lindy is still respected in the organization. I’m not sure how much he’s respected in the locker room, but I I think that he gets the year. But if Yarmmo comes in as general manager, I think there’s going to be significant roster changes and there’s going to have to be because clearly the mix doesn’t work. Um, I will say one thing on a positive note. They still have the best logo in the NHL. Yeah, they’re still the best. They had the best logo, but then the organization was stupid enough to switch to the Garden Slug or the decapitated goat. I mean, you know, thank God they came back to this logo and to the original colors or close to the original colors. Um, yeah. I mean, I I I grew up watching Pero, Robert, and Martin wearing those blue and gold jerseys and the white jerseys at home. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful. So, yeah. I mean, there’s there’s a there’s a romanticism about this organization. Um they made a cup final to in two times and they’ve gotten to a few conference finals. Um, this is a great hockey fan base. Oh, yeah. And they’ve been taken ad they’ve been taken advantage of and they’ve been sort of abused by this bad hockey the last 14 years and they don’t deserve it. They don’t. Um, on that cheery note, enjoy your afternoon. Maybe go touch grass, have a nice walk, have a great lunch, read one of the mini uh military history books behind you or hockey books behind you right now. Do you have one? By the way, I always like to ask you what uh what um what history/military book do you have on the go right now? Um I well, it’s obviously a World War I book. Uh actually, it’s the one back on this shelf here called July 1914 by Shaun McMakin. It’s uh excellent like laying out what happened laying out what happened after the assassination of France Ferdinand leading into the guns of August, which I’ve read many a time. And uh does he is is he maintaining it was collusion between the Russians and the French that they were they’re agitating for all of this the whole time? Um no he seems to he seems to lay the lay the uh the the uh bad things on the Germans. Um you know but there there definitely there definitely was enough fault to go around. That’s the easy uh explanation. I I don’t think you want to talk World War I for three. Oh, well you I know you and I do. Well, I do because because that but the the genesis of World War I is one of my favorite things to talk about because it’s like grabbing water, right? He’s like grabbing a hand. How did it start? I and and a professor that I had at my in college said, you know, you know what was World War II? It was the last battle of World War I. Yeah. And that made and that made me interested in World War I because I was always fascinated in World War II. I watched the World at War documentary with Lawrence Olivier narrating and you know then that got me into World War I and then you know before that. So you know I’m just I’m just chalk full of history stuff. From 1918 to 1939 it wasn’t peace, it was a pause. Mike, thanks. You be well. We’ll check back soon. Sounds good. Thanks Jeeoff. There he is. Mike Aello from the Hockey News covering the Buffalo Sabres. Not exactly, Zack. The cheeriest topic to discuss here on a Tuesday afternoon is weird. I mean, you know, part of me like the whole time you’re like, “Oh, geez. Well, other than the drive, Mrs. Kennedy, how’d you enjoy Dallas?” Like, it’s just like this is like bad story after bad story after bad story with the Sabres. Like, anything positive here? What happened with Lance? No. Lance I know Lance before he before he went off to do Bills. I know the Sabres killed Lance. They they chased Lance out of hockey. How’ they do that? They came to you and they’re like, “Larry Lance, you got another season covering the Savers?” He’s like, “No.” Yeah. Is there an opening with the Bills? Is there a opening at the post office? Is there an opening anywhere? The local liquor store? Can I do anything else? Can I wash windows? Can I I got my own squeegee. Can I do anything? it. And like in all seriousness, I it is like we’re we’re joking about it. It’s just like I feel like that’s almost the only way that you can go about trying to kind of navigate the sabers right now. Like we’ve kind of gone through we’ve gone through all these scenarios and like what could happen, what’s going on, what’s wrong there. And it’s like these people like I genuinely do feel bad. Like I don’t say that out of like pity and like trying to like, oh yeah, no, it’s okay. Like give him a pat on the back. Like no, no, like I feel bad. This is a nightmare situation that’s gone on. And it’s like every time you feel like there could be something good coming or you’re turning the corner, it’s like you’re like you’re like wy coyote trying to run through the train tunnel and it’s painted up like it’s just wy coyote. I I don’t know. I don’t know. Wy Coyote, genius. Super genius. Uh, yeah. Okay. Do we have the uh do we have the Christian D’vorak clip? I want to I want I need like to cleanse my pallet here. I have not stopped laughing about this since last night. So, Florida Panthers, even just thinking about it, it’s so good. First of all, when I used to work with uh Kobe Armstrong, we would always talk about chisling. You know what chisling is, Zach? You played hockey. You know what chisling is? Chisling is when you take someone else’s goal. So like the puck’s about to go over the goal line and you tap it in yourself to take the goal, but he was going in anyway. Like let the guy that’s like you chisel the goal off someone. So we’ll set the scene for people that may not have watched this game last night. So it is late in the third period. The Philadelphia Flyers and their home opener are leading 4 to2 over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The Panthers have pulled their goalie, right? Puck comes back to Travis Sanheim. Christian D’vorak is in front of an empty net set up like he’s netfront screening. The puck shot The puck is shot towards the net. If you’re watching us on YouTube, you could watch Christian D’vorak direct it, deflect it. Maybe he thought it was going wide. Maybe I give him the benefit of the doubt, but that’s a chisel. Chisel’s a goal from Travis Anahheim. Make sure that that thing is going in the net. I have not stopped laughing at that. But it’s 4-2. It’s 4-2. And D’vorak net front like he’s screening a goalie and then he chisels a goal from Travis Sanheim. Nonetheless, the Philadelphia Flyers win this one by a score of 52. And by the way, and we’ll get into this with Kevin Curry coming up here in a couple of seconds. Let me let me know when he’s aboard. Um, I love the player of the game award that the Philadelphia Flyers have. Uh, sometimes you see it’s a hat or a necklace or a wrestling belt or something like that. Do we have the video of this one? Can we play it? Cuz it’s it’s just so beautiful. Uh, yeah. Can we let’s play it and then and let’s let’s get to the audio. This was the announcement of what the the player of the game award is going to be in the Flyers locker room. I just love this. Just love this. Boys for player of the game this year. We’re going to go with the Bernie Pon mask. I think uh I think it’s just very ghost. The Bernie Pant mask goes to Dan Ladar, which is absolutely perfect. First of all, it is one of the most iconic masks. Like that was the era of masks as well. We always think of the Jerry Chver’s mask with the Boston Bruins. That was gorgeous. If you’re watching us on YouTube, you’re watching Fedar put it on. Just looks fantastic. Ken Dryen had a beauty as well. My boy Joel Malashsh had a great one. But the Bernie P mask with the Philadelphia Flyers, just so iconic and so beautiful. And the other thing that was wonderful about last night was um they did the second tribute to Bernie Pon. The Philadelphia Flyers did one I believe it was um the preseason game against uh the Boston Bruins where they did you know the u the announcement and and the moment for Bernie Pant and then they did it again yesterday uh at the home opener. Here’s the other one. Here’s a couple of other things I want to point out before we get Kevin Kerr on. Just a sort of preview of the things we want to talk about with the Philadelphia Flyers. Sean Couture looks awesome. Sean Couture with four points last night. Sean Coutureier um had significant back surgery as we all know and it looks to have given his career a new lease on life. He’s flying out there. He looks fantastic and I know that a lot of players and I would have to imagine Sean Couturier would have been one of them um sort of got behind the eightball at Flyers training camp um because of the old skate test, the John Tortoella skate test where a guy’s like, you know, there’s a couple of days where pucks don’t hit the ice and by the end of it everybody’s hobbling. My guess is that that hurt Shan Coutureier more than anybody else in that room, but Sean Couture and specifically last night looks like a much different player and evidence of that was last night against the Florida Panthers with four points. We’re going to get to all of this with Kevin Curtis, the Athletic in a second. This segment is a pres presentation of Prime Video and Monday Night Hockey, your exclusive home to the NHL streaming games nationally in Canada every Monday. Also on Prime Video, Faceoff Inside the NHL, which is excellent. Subscribe with a 30-day free trial to Prime Video to watch Monday Night Hockey and the new season of Faceoff. Download the app or go to primevide.com. Back to the uh the Flyers conversation. And Kevin Curtis joins me now from the Athletic. And there’s so much to talk about, Kevin. First of all, thanks for joining me. Um, Maiden Voyage this season. Hopefully, we’ll be calling you a lot because there’ll be a lot to talk about with the Philadelphia Flyers. But one thing that uh that I just loved as you know, being someone who who watched Bernie Pant, I love that they did the tribute to Bernie for the second time. There was a preseason game and then again they did it yesterday. Sean Couture awarding the mask to Dan Var after. Bernie seemed everywhere. the number behind the net, etc. No question here, Kevin, just to start things off. The floor is yours. Bernie Perant and the uh Philadelphia Flyers organization. Yeah, I I mean, you know, obviously most of the fans that were sitting in that arena last night probably never saw Bernie play, right? It was 50 years ago since the team won a Stanley Cup and and he retired in the early 80s. So, but what was striking to me in the aftermath of of his passing was just how much community work he did and um you know speaking with the executive director of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, you know, he said Bernie was out in front really from day one of when that uh that foundation was established 10 years ago. Um so he was always doing stuff. He was at games. He was visiting suites. I mean he had that personality, that French Canadian accent. He had all these little quirky phrases that he would say over and over again. I mean, he was just beloved in this area, even by the fans that had never seen him play. So, I think that’s why his death sort of resonated in this area so much is that even if you never saw him in goal, you probably got a chance to meet him or be around him and just understand uh just how wonderful of a person he was really. I mean, if we’re just being plain and simple, you know, in in Toronto, that goalender like crossgenerationally like you can be like seven or 70. You loved Johnny Bower because he was always there. I mean, Bower’s career, I mean, sort of the the crescendo was 67 and there were the, you know, the other cups in in the 60s for for for Johnny Bower and the Maple Leafs. But really, he was always around the team, always involved in charitable initiatives, one of the most generous, much like Bernie, generous athletes that city had had ever known. Uh, which is why I’ve always maintained that the most popular Toronto Maple Leaf player ever, like there are people that like, you know, this I’m the Dave Keon fan because that was my era. There’s like the Doug Gilmore, like that was my era. But if you look era over era over era, I always maintain that Johnny Bower was the most popular. Do you think we can say the same thing about Bernie Pant or is the ultimate answer Bobby Clark? You know what? It’s it’s it’s really it’s hard to say. you know, they’re definitely one and two no matter which order you place them in. But the fact that goalending in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Flyers organization, has kind of been synonymous with how how uneven it’s been, I guess, to be polite here for the last five decades. Well done. Well done, Kevin. Yeah, Bernie probably uh he probably resonates a little bit more just because of the position he played, right? I mean that that’s always going to be in the spotlight here just like the quarterback of the Eagles or uh you know it’s just one of those things that everyone it’s always a talking point when it comes to this franchise for sure. Uh okay so I was having a laugh before you came on and I’ll be honest with you I’ve been laughing about it ever since I saw it last night uh watching that Flyers Panthers game. First of all great performance and I want to get into to one very specific Meechoff issue. Um, but the Christian D’vorak deflection on the empty net. It’s 4 to2. He’s fronting like there’s a goalie in and the Florida Panthers haven’t pulled the goalie. Sanheim fires it. I don’t know if he’s trying to deflect it or he’s just trying to guide it to make sure that it goes in the net. First of all, his positioning, it’s like you would swear there was a goalie in there. Second of all, you know, Colobby Armstrong and you just wrote a great piece on his brother Riley. Colobby Armstrong and I whenever we’d work together, we’d talk about chiseling goals from other players. Did D’vorak just chisel a goal from Travis Sanheim there, Kevin? Yeah, you know what? I I wish we had gotten a chance to talk to him and and and I didn’t get a chance to corner him today after practice. Uh it’s a good question. Knowing Travis Sanheim, I’m sure he doesn’t care and he’s probably even happy about it because it’s a guy that’s joined the organization and I think he’s played pretty well, right? We’ve seen his versatility. we’ve already seen Rick Tocket move him up and down the lineup and and put him in in key spots because he trusts him so much having had him in Arizona. So, the fact that he got a goal, I thought he had a good game last night. Um, that’s probably something that everyone would agree is is is just fine. Um, but, you know, switching gears a little bit, Sanheim has been very good. I mean, he’s probably been their most important player so far this year, other than maybe Couttoriier. Um, he’s playing big minutes. It’s a banged up blue line. I think he was at 25 minutes last night. Rick Taka just told us that he wanted to skate for practice today, but Taka told him to stay on the ice, stay off the ice because of how much he’s he’s been relying on him. And um he’s a guy that for me is going to be really in focus for this year because the last couple years he started off so strong and of course last year that strong start resulted in him in him being uh named as part of team Canada for the four nations. Um but we’ve also seen him wear down a little bit late in season. So it’s going to be interesting to me how they manage him moving forward. But right now, because they’re show so short-handed, they need him. And he’s he’s really sort of I would say he’s risen to that, you know, risen to those responsibilities. Uh I want to get to Korea here in a second, but um there was a moment in last night’s game where I went, “Ooh, different player.” And that was Trevor Ziggress behind the net. This I want to say it was the 3-2 goal. Uh, normally when you see Trevor Ziggress with the puck behind the net, everybody thinks Michigan or he’s gonna lob it over the net looking for Sunny Milano or or vice vers. And right away, two players charge at him, Aaron Eblad and Sam Bennett, and he like, it’s big boys. He takes the hit and makes a glorious pass to Shan Couturier for the one-timer. I looked at that and I said, first of all, Tucket’s got to love that. Take the hit to make the play. It’s two big boys like Bennett Necklat. Like, these two guys just won Stanley Cups and playing a very physical brand of hockey. He absorbed it. He didn’t look like, you know, the the soft player that’s just looking to dish the puck and get and get rid of it. He took it, made a great play, and it resulted in the go-ahead goal um for the for the Philadelphia Flyers. Do you have a thought on what we’ve seen from Zegris so far? Yeah, you know, throughout training camp, I I guess I should say to your first point, Rick Taka did mention that immediately after the game was was Zegris taking that hit and making that play. And Couture did too. And in fact, Sam Bennett just before he tried to run Zegris, he he did run over Shan Couttori. we saw him pop right back up. Um, and training camp, it wasn’t a great training camp here in my mind. It was it was very sort of disjointed in terms of the line combinations and Rick Tocket obviously deserves, you know, a measure of sympathy because he didn’t know these guys before coming to camp this year. Um, but we didn’t really see we didn’t see Ziggris mesh with Matt Bee Mitchkov. They’re not together right now. We saw him play center a little bit with, you know, just some moderate results. Uh he was taking more shifts on the wing last night, I believe, than he than than center. Um so, you know, it’s it’s gonna have to be we’re gonna have to see this play out a little bit, but but I think he has gotten incrementally better with every game and certainly last night was was probably his best game and and he makes that fancy play. So, um you know, they want they want him to be a center. He wants to be a center. Taka has talked about giving him a lot of rope in order to to try to ease back into that position. Um I’m not sure what his faceoff numbers were like last night or even how many he took, but um he was okay there the first couple games. Um the first power play unit they’re struggling with a little bit right now. Um and Taka just mentioned that they’re giving up too many short hop short-handed opportunities the other way. And in fact, Florida scored a short-handed goal on that top power play unit in last night’s game. So that’s still a work in progress. Maybe trying to figure out um the power play units quite frankly. Uh, so we’ll see. You know, it’s it’s it’s certainly was a lowrisisk bet by Danny Brier. He didn’t give up a whole lot to get him. Zris is a pending restricted free agent, so there’s no guarantees. This isn’t going to be a long-term marriage. But, um, I think so far the early returns have been encouraging. He won one faceoff, he lost three. So, not the best percentage, but but nonetheless. Let me ask you about about Mechov. So, there there’s one there’s one moment cuz we saw, you know, Mechov have a seat and watch the game for a while. Um, when it comes to special teams, you’ll always hear coaches say possession over position. It doesn’t matter where your position is, possession is the most important thing. And on the Sam Reinhardt goal, and we’ve we got this one queued up. Mich does the flyby and then circles back to the neutral zone before the Philadelphia Flyers have possession. Sam Reinhardt ends up uh scoring a short-handed goal. And you know, we’re just watching this for our our viewers on on YouTube right now. You know, Mitchkov is not in the frame right now because as the puck is around the Flyers net and on the replay here, you’ll be able to see his skates along along the blue line, he’s already blown the zone. Was that the moment where Tak said, “Okay, time to watch the game.” Because that’s what it that’s what it felt like. I thought I think it was two. It was that one and and and Tak had actually just mentioned that a few minutes ago uh in in his press availability after practice. It was also the fact that he took an avoidable hooking penalty in the neutral zone early in the third period. Now that’s just me speculating. Pocket hasn’t said that, but he had he did mention the fact that the Flyers had taken five minor penalt I think they’ve taken 15 minor penalties in three games which is too many. Um, and you know, when Mitchkov took that penalty in the third, I think it was, you know, a minute, a minute and a half into the into the third period where they’re trying to hang on that two-1 lead, they killed the penalty off, but it was just one of those avoidable penalties. And he’s not the only one that’s taken penalties that have been, you know, quote unquote bad, but that was an inopportune time to take a penalty. So, it was that and I think it was also the combination of Nikita Gbankin is a guy that has made the opening night roster which that that was one of the training camp battles we were monitoring in camp. He beat out a kid Alex Bump who we thought had the inside edge in that position and Gbankin really has had good legs. Uh we saw it early last early in the game yesterday. He’s playing on the fourth line. So I think Takid wanted to get him more minutes and at least at the end of the game it came at the expense of Meichoff. So um I think it’s the combination of those two things. But you know Tet was very clear that this isn’t going to be a situation where he’s going to scratch Mechov. He kind of shot down that suggestion maybe 10 15 minutes ago. He’s going to let him play through it. He complimented him on his practice today. So, I think they’re just going to hope that that he gets out of it and and and he learns along the way what this coach expects out of him, which frankly isn’t that much different from what the previous coach expected out of him. Uh Sean Couture looks again, I mean, every conversation we have right now about anything in the NHL has to be prefaced with it’s early, but it’s early. But Shan Couture looks fantastic. He really does. You know, I was wondering before you came on, you know, the the dreaded John Todorella, you know, skate test uh that he would put players through. I always felt that like uh I don’t know how this is going to go for Sean Couturier and he always seemed labored um after those after those skate tests. I don’t know if I’m on base or or off base on that one. You’re more of an authority Kevin than than than I am. Um but what what gives like looks like a different player here. Well, I think what Sean Couttori liked less than the skate test was the fact that the previous home opener he started as the fourth line left wing, which was less than a year ago. uh coincidentally enough against the the Canucks and and Rick Tocket. So yeah, um you know, listen, we all know at this point Chunktori and John John Tordella did not see to eye to eye. They weren’t on the same wavelength. I think from Tortoella’s perspective, he just thought he was too slow and and at times Couttoriier was you know at if you go back to two seasons ago when when Tor scratched Couttori for two games, well Couture wasn’t playing very well and it was his first full year back from those multiple back surgeries. Um, so in some ways the scratching was probably justified even though Tordella for whatever reason didn’t feel like he owed Couttori an explanation as to why. That was sort of the weird part of it. Um, but you know then you go back a year ago like I just said, you know, he he starts the home opener as the as the fourth line left wing and um, so and it just sort of sort of went on from there. And I thought it was pretty telling too if you go back to when John Toriel was fired I believe on March 25th or 26th last year. Victoria did finish the season pretty strong. Uh the interim coach Brad Straw put him with Mitchoff and Travis Kknney. It was a pretty good line. We’ve seen Tak experiment with it a little bit here so far this season. Um but you know last night he was he was outstanding. He was he was all over the ice. He’s responsible and as Trevor Zus mentioned he does so many little things well. He’s still a big body. Tak has him has had him playing a key role still really since day one from camp. He’s been a fixture in the top six power play, penalty kill. So, it’s pretty clear that this head coach views Shan Couttori as a pretty key cog. Certainly more important than John Tortoella did. Okay, last one. I want to be sensitive about your time. Last one for you. Does Jet Lenchenko get past nine games? He looks good. Well, if he’s going to He looks good. Yeah, he looks he looked good last night. He he looked good last night. Um, you know, he he still has to shoot the puck more. That’s something that everyone has has said that we ask whenever we bring up Jet Luchenko’s name is he’s got to shoot the puck more, stop looking for a play, be a little bit more aggressive offensively. Um, he has made some plays, no doubt about it. Um, but Danny Brier was pretty clear, I think, when we asked him about this after they made the roster that in order for Leenko to stick around, it’s going to have to be more than in a fourthline role. So, is there enough time for Jet Luchenko to play, you know, to work himself into the top six or the top nine? I mean, I’m skeptical of that. I I don’t I don’t really see it. Um, but we got some games left here, right? And um, yeah, it’s it’s pretty clear the Flyers don’t want him to go back to G. They want to keep him here. They want him. They’re probably frustrated as hell they can’t send him to the Phantoms, right? Um, but you know, we’ll see. I I do think this was a case of of management keeping the player around even though the coaching staff I don’t think really saw a natural role for him when the season began. Uh, which is different from last year because last year it was basically Tordella who I think loved this kid’s speed and that’s why they kept him on the roster. Um, so sort of a reverse situation this year, but um, yeah, I don’t know. I I tend to think it’s a long shot, but uh if if he can keep progressing inch by inch and he can start doing some of the things that the the team wants him to do, particularly in the offensive zone, then maybe he’s got a shot. Awesome. Uh always appreciate the insight. Uh great to have you thumb on the pulse there. Uh great stuff. We’ll hopefully check back. We had a whole conversation and didn’t mention Flyers, goenders, uh except for Bernie Pant, and I’m totally fine with that. Thanks, Kevin. You be well. Thanks so much for this. Okay. Thanks, Jeff. Take care. There he is. Kevin Kurs from the Athletic covering the uh the Philadelphia Flyers. Um big win last night against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. If you’re a fan, by the way, if you’re a junior hockey fan, if you’re a fan of the OHL, uh you might want to make sure you watch my Twitter after the show goes off the air. I might have something for you. Sorry to be so vague. Sorry to sorry to be so vague, Zach, but you know what the old saying is? What’s that? What happens in vagueness stays in vagueness. Like that one. No. No. That’s Don’t like don’t like that one. No. Back to the drawing board this year. Look at my Twitter. Cheap plug for my social media. I might have a little news p there for you coming up. Yeah. Uh, I will, uh, I will find out more about this when the show goes off the air. I just got an interesting note. We shall see that what happens in vagueness stays in vagueness. Come on. It’ll grow on you. It’ll grow on you. Come on. Um, see the other sayings that you have that I always was like, “Oh, these are so dumb.” They’ve stuck. So, how dare you? How dare you? Where’s my fainting couch? Where’s my fainting couch? Zach has offended me. Oh, no. Don’t you know who I think I am, Zach? Don’t you know how long I’ve been in this business? No, I can’t pull that one on you. It’s not going to work. They stuck around. All right. All right. Okay. So, time now for the uh QOD, which is uh which is going to be a fun one. So, time now for the Ninja Krispy question of the day. But first, this meet the first of its kind, the Ninja Krispy portable cooking system. The power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hand. So you can cook big or small batches. Just prep it, crisp it, serve it, and store it all in one. Okay, meet the first of its kind, the Ninja Crispy portable cooking system. Now you have the power of a full-sized air fryer in the palm of your hand. Just prep it, snap it, crisp it, serve it allin-one container. This glass air fryer is PFSA free, thus no harmful chemicals while cooking. Lovely. It includes a small six cup and larger four QT tempware container. Whether you’re whipping up quick single serve meals in 7 minutes, sharing crispy snacks on the go, or serving a crowd, the Ninja Krispy makes it easy. Cleanup is simple. All accessories are dishwasher safe and designed to nest for easy storage. I’ve never said that before. I’m going to say it to my wife. Can you please nest these dishes? Uh, check out the link in the You put them away. No, can you like nest them? It sounds so much like warm and warmer and you know family vibe to it. Oh, just going to just going to nest these bowls. Check out the link in the episode description or go to sharkninja.ca. The ninja krispy question of the day and today involves the buffalo saber. Zach, what do we have? It’s the what next for the swords in Buffalo. Yeah, you got a lot of responses. We got a couple responses here. So, I’ll feature some of them on the show. Um I don’t know the responses went about the way you would expect. So the question of the day was and the theme of the day is what’s next in Buffalo as you mentioned. So Jeff uh this one was the one that got uh the first laugh out of me before we went on and I’ve got a compilation here but Matt from Buffalo at that’s Wilmore on Twitter. Better chance that Terry builds a second mega yacht than he builds a playoff team. We started there. He really does have a beauty. He does. I’m not going to lie. I’ve seen it. I haven’t been on it, but Taro Sujimoto from Joe. Make my day. So, we went to Sujimoto emerges from the wilderness of the samurai to save them. Uh Corey says the house is the first to go. Joe. Yeah. Sorry everybody else is second place. I love you all. Well, you’re all beautiful, but Joe’s number one. Sorry. Go ahead. No, no, it’s all good. You stop wherever you feel fit. No, keep going. There’s some me laugh, but there’s some good ones. Um, there you go. Chuck E. Goods says Adam’s out, Yarmmo in. Prospect and pick for Chinnikov. Similar deal. Lindy out, Tors and Dbor or Dbor in, sorry. Uh, second half playoff. I can’t I can’t I can’t I can see Tors. I can’t see Pete. Uh, no, I don’t see that either. Uh Taylor Charman, Sabres find themselves at the bottom of the like we just so negative. Sabres find themselves at the bottom of the league by Thanksgiving. Terry still think No, I don’t blame him. Still thinks the solution is in the room. Adams does nothing to help out the roster. It’s in Can be more specific as we say in the Atlantic. Terry, which room we talking about? The solution is in the room. Which one? I don’t know, but it’s room that be Terry. the one down in Penn State. Um, Terry thinks the solution is in the room. Kevin Adams does nothing to help out the roster. Tuck is moved at the deadline. Dollene and Tae ask out after the drought hits year 15. The team eventually moves to Arizona. That took a turn. Jeez, Taylor tweeting dandruff by decapitation. We’re not talking about like moving the team. Just a little bit of dandruff. You just change shampoos. Move the team to Arizona. I’m sorry people of Buffalo. I’m not trying not to laugh at you, but Matt Young Adams begins planting palm trees in Buffalo in hopes of solving the problems because what he’s doing isn’t working. Um, can I pause on that for one can we pause on that for one second? I really wanted I’ll tell you what, I really wanted the Buffalo Sabres after that disastrous palm trees press conference. I really wanted the Buffalo Sabres to go on a winning streak because I can tell you this with full authority. Like they had a lot of plans with uh game ops and and marketing to actually do something with palm trees and the Buffalo Sabers. They just couldn’t do it while they were losing. I really wanted to see what they were coming up with with the sort of palm tree vibe, which would have been really fun. The problem was it just kept on losing, so they couldn’t do it. But I will tell you like I I have full confidence in tell you the Buffalo Sabres were a aware of it obviously and b had plans to turn that negative into a positive. They just never got the chance to do it which really sucks. Yeah, it does suck. That would have been funny. Like a good play on it, too. It It would have been nice to see if they could have turn that around and be able to do that. Yeah. Um yeah, there’s a lot more here about you know missing the playoffs. Mike, what’s Mike Leinsky saying? What’s Mike saying? Lifelong Saber fan. Okay, go ahead. Don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t see a season where Dalene, Thompson, and Tuck want to stay for the next rebuild. The team is lost and looks inept, yet no coaching changes were made in the off season. It it’s it’s a lot of this, Jeff. And like I looked through too and vetted like vetted, let’s say, uh these Twitter accounts kind of to see like is it people making fun of Buffalo? Was it like people around rival organizations? so many of these people’s like locations in there. Buffalo Sabres fan and just like these poor people and it’s them who were giving me the funniest responses that I was laughing at which is like hilarious. But don’t forget also not like like don’t forget like they’ve had a lot of time to think about all these responses like every single day. Yeah. Like they’re not just like a Rangers fan that’s in for a quick driveby or someone from LA that’s just like you know you know quick sniper and and gone like these people have had a long time to think about these often hilarious lines and great historical polls like Taros Suchimoto. Yeah the great marketing also like I’ll give this one here uh as well like this is the the other one. Um, Sabres playoffs hopes at just_tage said would love to modify that to what should happen verse what do we expectation nothing answers in the room part two best case Adams to president and Yarmmo to GM should Terry needs to stop making hockey decisions hire someone with knowledge invest in front office get a new GM I thought that was kind of like I don’t know that I the shoulders versus verse would Terry Pagula not I mean managing upwards is one of the great skills GMs have to have right now and hopefully you have a manager who just wants to know what’s going on and doesn’t want to have any decision making obviously don’t surprise your GM worst thing you can do is surprise your your owner worst thing you can do is surprise your owner your owner cannot be surprised that’s why managing upwards is so important even we saw We played that clip from the video from last year’s trade deadline. You know, one of the things that Kevin Adams right away when he’s talking to Steve Seos about the cousins Norris trade is um let me go let me go talk to my owner. Now, we don’t know the nature of that conversation. That would have been an interesting part of the embedded video, right? Right. That would have been interesting like the conversation between Kevin Adams and Terry Pagoula much like we saw in a previous video where remember the one with Taylor Hall where Kevin Adams says we can get Taylor Hall and Terry Pagula says if we’re talking about Taylor Hall then we’re talking about the Stanley Cup. No. What? You don’t remember that video? Oh buddy. And it’s just the audio. And Pagula says, “We got Taylor Hall. We’re talking about the Stanley Cup.” I never disagree with the owner, right? What was Homer Simpson’s uh three words uh the the best three words you can say in the English language or the smartest three words you can say in the English language? Good idea, boss. Those are three words that’ll get you through a lot. Good idea, boss. Anyway, I just sent you a you got a treat in that one. You can uh you can enjoy that one. But yeah, it’s never always make sure your owner is informed. Otherwise, your career will be limited. Owners don’t like to be surprised. All right. Um final thing to wrap up the program today. Some great tweets. The the uh Ninja Krispy QD is uh is turning into something great here. And right off the bat, like Toro Sujimoto, like talk about like hitting your boy Jeffy where he lives. Uh the sheet is powered by H. That’s a great one. Thanks, man. You You know how to take you know how to take care of me. Uh the sheet is powered by FanDuel, home of the same game parlay. Make every moment more on FanDuel. FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. We got more games. Hey, uh your team didn’t win last night, but you were right picking uh James Van Ree to score. Did you put your money where your mouth is, big boy? I think I did. Did you? No way. I did. Yeah. James Van Remike scores as you said here on the show. Look at you. How was your payout? Do you get that long quiet green? Not the noisy stuff that rattles around your pockets when you walk down the street normally, Zach. Well, I I had a moment of uh debating. It was It was a nice It was a Let’s just say it was a nice return. And I thought about it for a moment and I said, “Will you turn around? Will you be taking your lady friend to some somewhere a little bit nicer for dinner on Friday?” Probably. Yes. But I debated I debated investing in the Blue Jays and I thought to myself, let’s not ruin this day just in case things go poorly. That was a wise decision. Oh, was it ever? Stayed away. Stayed away. What do we got today? What are you looking at? Uh today just quick swing around the league. Uh games on the schedule. Uh Oilers at the Rangers. That was the one I’m excited about. I saw our boy Johnny Lazarus down at Morning Skate, you know, posting videos and talking to Jack Rosik. Big boy was talking to Rosik. Get in there doing a journalism. Mike Howard doing a journalism as I like to call it. Johnny was doing a journalism. Big Jay. Big Jay Lazarus. That’s the new name. Sweet Baby Jay. There you go. Um, yeah. Doing a journalism. Nashville in Toronto. Look, I’ll ask you this. No, I don’t expect it to go well. And yes, I I I I fully expect that like, you know, Brady Martin and Ryan O’Reilly dance all over the Toronto Maple Leafs again because they look slow. Yeah. And Kadan Primo’s playing for the Leafs. And yeah, I was gonna I was going to ask you specifically, is this Hold on. Hold on. Ready? Okay. four g game four of the regular season. Is this a must-win? No. But if I’m co-hosting with, you know, Nick Albera and Jay Rosel, oh yeah. Oh, this is this is a must. This is a must listen program, a mustwatch program, and a must-win game tonight. And if they don’t win it, tune in tomorrow for all the analysis. But it’s not. And tonight for Leafs Nation After Dark following the game. Yeah. How are you going to Are you doing the smelling salts again this year? Yeah, I am. I am. That’s right. By the end by the end of this season, if things continue to go like this, it’s just going to be like a bottle of vodka sitting on the bench. Never mind the smelling salts. It’s just like watch Zack. It’s You know what it’s going to be? It’s going to be like watch Zach turn into a puddle. They’ll have to get you They’ll have to get you out of that out of that. You know what it’s going to happen? Your roommate’s gonna have to get you out of that chair with a soup ladle. That’s how buckled you’re gonna be at the end of these shows if the wheels keep coming off the wagon like they have for the Maple Leafs so far this season. It’s going to happen. Nope. I stay levelheaded. I try my best. All right. Very good. Uh Lightning Washington, Vegas, Calgary, Minnesota, Dallas. Those are some of the other games we’ve got tonight. Uh Anaheim Pittsburgh as well. I didn’t have on the graphic, but that was another one. You know, it it’s nice that we have games that can just roll game after game after game here at this point. How good was yesterday? Buzzing around. It’s nice. There was like that brief like 2hour period where there actually wasn’t a game, but then I was like bam, right back at it. Yesterday was awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it was good. It was a good day. It’s nice to have regular season hockey back and feel like actual intensity in the game. You know what? You know, you know what it is? Because we’ve done it for for so long. We’ve all been fans for for so long that it just becomes part of your like your rhythm, you know? Like I I don’t know what it would feel like not to have an October in my life where this wasn’t the rhythm of it. And then like your whole rhythm of your life just you’re just used like from October to the end of June like this is just the rhythm of our lives. I don’t know how I would feel if that if I didn’t have I mean that’s what made 2004 2005 so awful was everybody got out of rhythm. Although Ken Dryden had an interesting point um about that. He said about what was happening during the 0405 lockout. He said every hockey fan most specifically in Canada who have that rhythm. He said what these fans are about to find out is is is hockey and the NHL and the rhythm that you’re in. Is it um is it really a passion or is it a habit? And I think everyone had a different answer for it. Like you came to the conclusion that you miss it because you really love it or you miss it because you just feel like your life is out of sync and you’ve just done it for so long that it’s just the habit of your life. And everybody came to different conclusions about it. But nonetheless, not to get too philosophical here on this program, we’re just here to show like Christian D’vorak tipping and empty net goals and having a laugh about it. It’s hockey. And the Schmaltz tweet too with the video. That’s how I came across it. I don’t know. Oh, what did he What did I I missed that one. What What did he write? He’s like great something about like Great Twig by my boy CD. Nice touch or something like that. Look, if you need here’s here’s what we’re saying. If you need like a reason to laugh, if you need like a break in your day, like, “Oh god, that meeting went horrible.” Or, “Oh, that phone call did not go the way that I thought it was going to go today.” Just go look at the Christian D’vorak emptiness tip. Yeah. have a laugh about it because I can assure you everybody in the Flyers organization was probably having a laugh at that one. Uh anyhow, let me see if I can let me see if I can do something here. Uh did I get a response? No. So, I may have some OL news a couple. Follow the socials. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. There we go. Cheese in the trap. All the cliches. Clickbait. Blah blah blah blah blah. Thanks, Zach. Thanks, Zach. Uh thanks to Mike Jello for stopping by the program today. Uh Kevin Kurs as well. We focused a lot on Buffalo and Philadelphia. Might be doing a little bit more of Philadelphia. Again, stay on to the socials for an announcement about that for tomorrow’s show. Tomorrow, as always, it is Wednesday, so that means the return of Let’s Get Ready to Grumble with Brian Burke. He’ll be here as he is each and every Wednesday. Uh we hope you can join us as well, either live on YouTube or whether you’re listening on your favorite podcast platform. We appreciate it. Uh hit the subscribe button. That is very appreciated as well. the feedback, uh, the comments, all of it, the likes, the thumbs up, the interaction, all the buzzwords. If you can do all those things, not to hand you homework here, but we’d really appreciate it around these parts. Tippy Zamboni driver, thanks for the buns and the use of the hall. We’re back tomorrow 1:00 Eastern for the sheet. We’ll talk to you then. Jeff Merrick along with you. Hope you enjoyed the program today. If you did, or maybe even if you didn’t, they can’t all be gems, folks. Uh, please hit the subscribe button. Also, a reminder, every morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern, Johnny Lazarus, Colobby Cohen, I call them the impact players. You might know them as a tandem that makes up the Morning Cup of Hockey. Also, DFO Live at noon Eastern this year, your host, Tyler Yurchuk, alongside Carter Hutton. Full days worth of programming right here on Daily Face Off, your favorite YouTube hockey channel. And as a reminder as well, Zach Phillips, our producer here for The Sheet, said if you subscribe, he’ll buy you a puppy. It’s true.
The Buffalo Sabres are spiraling — and Jeff Marek is breaking it all down on The Sheet.
On today’s episode, Jeff is joined by Mike Augello (The Hockey News) to dissect the Sabres’ brutal start to the season, the fallout from the Josh Norris trade, and the shocking behind-the-scenes clip from Buffalo’s 2025 trade deadline video revealing Kevin Adams’ “zero reservations” medical clearance. From the haunting echoes of the Jack Eichel saga to Tage Thompson’s frustrated postgame comments, Jeff and Mike unpack 14 years of dysfunction in Buffalo — and whether Jarmo Kekäläinen could be the next man in charge.
Then, Kevin Kurz (The Athletic) joins to talk all things Philadelphia Flyers — their emotional Bernie Parent tribute, Sean Couturier’s resurgence, and Trevor Zegras’ early impact under Rick Tocchet. The guys break down Matvei Michkov’s rocky adjustment, the Flyers’ penalty-kill issues, and how Tocchet’s system is reshaping Philly’s identity.
From Buffalo’s collapsing front office to Philadelphia’s surprising start, Jeff Marek and The Sheet deliver in-depth, insider-level hockey talk you won’t find anywhere else.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro – Buffalo’s brutal start & Thanksgiving reality check
01:00 Revisiting the Josh Norris trade and Kevin Adams’ “zero reservations” quote
06:00 The Eichel fallout, Alex Tuch’s uncertain future & medical missteps
09:00 Mike Augello joins – How Buffalo fell apart under Terry Pegula
13:00 The crowd turns: boos, jerseys on the ice, “Fire Kevin” chants
16:00 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen injury update & goaltending chaos
20:00 Why the Levi–Georgiev goalie logjam could explode
22:30 Could Pete DeBoer or John Tortorella be next in Buffalo?
25:00 The Dylan Cozens & Sam Reinhart revenge storyline
28:00 What’s next for Kevin Adams & Lindy Ruff? Jarmo’s looming shadow
32:00 Buffalo’s 14-year curse and fan frustration
37:00 Jeff & Zach react – Sabres’ nightmare cycle continues
41:00 Kevin Kurz joins – Flyers honour Bernie Parent
45:00 Trevor Zegras’ gritty breakout under Rick Tocchet
50:00 Matvei Michkov’s struggles & learning curve
53:00 Sean Couturier’s comeback story
56:00 Cutter Gauthier, roster battles & Flyers’ youth movement
57:40 Closing thoughts – The Flyers’ new identity & Buffalo’s uncertain future
#TheSheet #NHL #JeffMarek #BuffaloSabres #PhiladelphiaFlyers #TageThompson #LindyRuff #KevynAdams #RasmusDahlin #OwenPower #DylanCozens #RickTocchet #MatveiMichkov #MichaelAugello #KevinKurz #FloridaPanthers #NHLHighlights #NHLAnalysis #dailyfaceofflive
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1 comment
Tuch was their 2nd leading scorer, not Peterka.