The Buffalo Sabres have to keep winning to fend off long-term questions about Adams, Tuch, Dahlin

The Buffalo Sabres have to keep winning to fend off long-term questions about Adams, Tuch, Dahlin

Sabres finally got a win, but they’ve got a lot more work to do to keep the long-term questions at bay. We’ll run through all the rumors and reports and also what I’ve been hearing about the long term for the Sabres coming up here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast. [Music] You’re locked on Sabres, your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabres, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. What is up everybody and welcome in to this Thursday edition of the Locked on Sabers podcast. Thanks for making us your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you listen to your podcast. You can check us out on our YouTube channel where you can watch the show. Be sure to do that. Hit the like and subscribe button. You can also be a part of our lockedown savers text club which has been was a lot of fun yesterday uh for sure. And uh if you want to become a part of that, you’re just texting group chat, but you got to sign up online first. You go to joinsubtex.com/lockedon savers. Today’s episode is presented by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Sneaky Jody Biosi Sabres finally got the win. If you missed our recap of the 8 to4 victory over the Ottawa Senators, be sure to check that out uh in the feed. go back to yesterday’s show and check it out. Was a very fun night. I don’t know how meaningful the the game is, you know, now that we are about 24 hours from the result. You look back on it and I think, okay, that was fun. It is not to me totally changing my opinion about what they’re going to be this season. Um, but it absolutely is a step in the right direction. It’s nice to see them have a little bit of energy. And one point that I’m not sure I really made yesterday that is worth getting to here before we get to some of the rumors and the rundown and um what I’m hearing about the Sabres right now is that game last night. Well, you’re not going to win games like that every night. You play a bad goalender. You know, you you didn’t have a million shots, but you you showed energy. And the belief in the room, while I will snicker at that on most teams, on this team, it probably does actually mean something because of the history of the organization, because of the history that the players have already gone through. I mean again Taage have been around for half the drought that it would be very easy to get sucked into all the negativity and to win a game like that even if you know even if it’s not totally meaningful on the outside for what you’re going to do on the inside if it’s meaningful to them then I do think that matters because you don’t want these players being playing in a depressive state. Um, and hopefully that doesn’t happen after a win like that last night. So, a lot to get to on today’s show. The GM, the players, the important players, Alex Tuck and his negotiation. Something I heard about that that we’ll get to. Lot coming up on today’s show. Let’s start though as we kind of go through like what is on the line here. What is the Sabres need to keep winning? Not just to break the playoff drought. That’s number one. Most important, not just to keep the fans happy. that’s there too. Um the players happy, but also on a lesser extent, keep the long-term questions about you away. Every win you have, the fewer and fewer people are going to line up to question what’s going to happen with you and whether players are going to want out and are people going to get fired and so on and so forth. Winning keeps that away. Now, some things that we heard in podcast this week from some of the guys that are plugged in in the league. I heard Elliot Freriedman talk about this being a very big week for the Buffalo Sabres on 32 thoughts when talking about the organization, when talking about Adams and even mentioning Yarmmo Kalinan as a potential replacement for Kevin Adams already being in the organization. He called this a really big week and I took that and thought Freriedman might know something and I wonder if he’s you know wink wink telling us they better win a few games this week or else the GM he’s cooked and he’s out of here. So, I thought that immediately when he said it, and it’s not the only thing we’ve heard about Kevin Adams this week. And I fully believe, too, that if they got off to a very, very poor start, that the GM was going to be the first to go. And I haven’t seen anything different out there in these from these media guys. Jeff Merrick, um, although no, no, no, not Jeff Merrick. I want to get to Bruce Gerriak, who is Ottawa Sun. You know, this is not even a national guy, but different guys in the league hear different things. And what he said this week, or what he said yesterday even, was that I do think that the first domino to fall will be Kevin Adams. And I do think that Yarmmo Keolin will land as the GM of that team. I don’t think that they will fire Lindy Ruff. That was from Bruce Gerak yesterday. Um, that is I think not maybe saying a lot because I think that’s the assumption for many, but there it is kind of put out laid out there in public that Adams would be the first to go and that’s expected. Now, Kalinan, hear him over here. We hear him over there. Freriedman talking about Kalinan. That is I I would just be so surprised if they were to move off of Kevin Adams early in the year and hire anybody whose name wasn’t Yarmmo Kechalin. Like this is part of why I think he’s here. Part of why he was willing to take the job. A seasoned hockey executive that has many years of experience being a general manager. Why would he with no prior working relationship with the Sabres front office, why would he be willing to to sign up for being a senior advisor to Kevin Adams? That doesn’t make a lot of sense. Well, it does if you put yourself in Kalinan shoes. He’s trying to be a GM in the league again. And if there’s no GM job out there, there’s no team that wants you right now, why not sign up for a role in the organization of a team that’s got a GM that is going into either a lame duck year or is one bad losing streak away from getting fired for his own career. It’s actually what you should do if there’s not a job available out there for you. So that’s that’s the other thing that was said about um GM this week is that it would be Yarmmo Merrick yesterday mentioned I wonder if uh he takes John Tordella with him. Now I mentioned that yesterday too that that wouldn’t happen this year and I’m not even sure that would happen next year. It’s the natural name that will get mentioned and I think you’ll hear a lot of that if he becomes the GM and I think at some point he will become the GM. I just wonder what the timing of that really ends up being. If they make the playoffs he doesn’t, but we’ll see. Um, Yarmmo and Tors, the reason that’s mentioned is Tortoella was hired by Yarmmo in Columbus and coached for many seasons there and took them to the playoffs and won a huge round against Tampa in the postseason. And that’s kind of the coach that Yarmmo ends up going for a lot. Um, which is why I don’t think he would fire Lindy because I think Lindy is in that mold. Um, but his last head coach hire before it got scrapped because he’s a terrible person and people called that out and they had to hire somebody else was Mike Babcock. Mike Babcock was the last coach that Yarmmo tried to hire and that was a couple of years after Tortoella had been the head coach. So that’s t typically the type of coach that Yarmmo goes for. It’s part of why I think if we do end up in a situation where he’s the GM in the short term, I don’t think Lindy is going anywhere. Maybe after a year they’d make a change to a guy like Tors who is available right now. Um but I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon. The coach change, the GM change. Again, let’s see. Let’s play this day by day. Let’s play this game by game. Uh monthto month. Maybe not even month to month. Maybe week to week. And the last point on this that I want to make that this is more of my opinion that I think is critical to the decision here and it’ll be very fluid as to where they are in the standings because if they’re in a playoff spot then you’re not worried about this. If they are maybe even as solidified looking like they’re going to make the playoffs like they’re eight points ahead. I mean what kind of existence does that sound like right now? Then we’re not talking about this. But if they’re a few points back, if they are a lot of points back, 10 points back, then it no longer becomes just, hey, do you wait on Adams till after the season? It’s you got to do this now because if you’re going to make the move to Yarmmo, then don’t you want him to have his hands on the steering wheel as you navigate top players that might want to leave? Alex Tuck, who we’ll get to a little bit later on. If you don’t have an extension, who do you want making the decision on whether to trade him or whether to take one last swing or take the risk of going all the way to free agency and trying to sign him? Who do you want to make that decision, which is a big decision into determining the future of the team? You probably want the next guy to make that decision, Yarmmo. And at that point, you need him to be in place by the trade deadline. Um, so Dave Pegnota right about Bo Byum for this as well. Like maybe that’s a similar decision with Bo Byum if he’s back on the trade market. Who do you want deciding whether to trade Bo Byum? Who do you want deciding whether to trade or to sign Alex Tuck? What about other player movement that you want to make? I think this is why a GM change in the middle of the season would make sense if things are not going well. And again, they won last night, so we could put that off uh I guess for a little bit when we come back. What about Rasmus Dalene? What about Tae Thompson? Things that have been said. Um, and I want to mention a Merrick conversation that I had not thought about when it comes to Rasmus Dalene. And um, maybe a reason to think that he is going to stick around. Um, and then what I’ve heard about Alex Tuck, that’s coming up here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast. Today’s episode of Lockdown Sabres is presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. Whoa, was I off on the overunder yesterday. Uh, I went under five and a half goals for Buffalo and Ottawa and there were 12 goals scored. So, you win some, you lose some. Still got a winning record on the season. Uh, tonight you got Thursday Night Football, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. So, a lot of fun stuff to look at. Maybe you want to watch the game. You just want that little bit of extra rooting interest in something there. You just look around FanDuel. Maybe you like uh Joe Flacco first touchdown scoreer. Something that I’m on tonight. Big big odds on that one. 50 to 500 to one uh anytime touchdown. So, you’d have to run that in or catch it, but that’s not going to happen. But a lot of fun stuff like that you could throw on at FanDuel. A lot of fun ways to watch the game, track the games. It’s playoff baseball right now as well. Um it’s a perfect time of year for sports. And right now, new customers, you bet just $5 and you get 300 in bonus bets to win. Use that anything. Futures are always fun for those situations. Or maybe you want to put it on a game. That’s right. Just pick a bet, put down five bucks. if it hits $300 in bonus bets that you can use all across the app. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fan duel.com, download the FanDuel app today and get started. Sneaky Jody Biosi back here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast. just running through some of the the rumors and the the reports that we’re seeing from people in the league about the existence of the Sabres and the future of the Sabres and what the way forward is for them in the uh in this 14-year playoff drought. So, couple of things, Cage and Dene going to be the two players that get talked about the most if the Sabres continue to lose and they’ll be the ones that people wonder about the futures of uh talked to. But those two of the guys that are under contract, Thompson, I really wonder about Taage. Tage I’ve always had the belief that he he’s not the personality to when he’s on a long-term deal like this to really be aggressive and pushing out. Maybe he would be someone that would give these slight little indicators or, you know, softly try to get that through to management that he might like to leave. Um, but he’s not going to go demand a trade, march into the office and do that. I could be wrong on that. He’s a competitive dude. Um, but I’ve never really fully believed that Tae would go that far with it, at least not yet. Dalene is, of course, the other one that we’re going to wonder about a lot. a reported meeting last year between him and Kevin Adams. There was a meeting. Um he just didn’t say in the meeting that he wanted out. He might have given an indication that I need to see this thing turned around here. I’m playing to my caliber. Why isn’t the team What’s the plan forward? Um he’s the captain. He’s the superstar. He signed up to be here for a long time. I I do think he was committed and has been committed to this point and maybe he’ll be committed even further going forward because a good thing that Jeff Merrick propo brought up that I had not thought about is before the year really like almost tragic story and um she’s still going through her recovery but Rasmus Dalene and his uh fiance or wife I think wife now wife had heart failure when they were vacationing in France and she’s still in Europe recovering from that. Um, I mean, scary scary situation. And Merrick said that I do think there is some loyalty with Dene and the Sabres for just specifically how they helped his wife in the offseason. That does go far when a team goes above and beyond. I actually don’t know what he’s talking about specifically. I mean, I know the Sabres, I’m sure, would have supported him in certain ways. I’m not sure what above and beyond is, but if whatever that means, like good job by the Sabres. Like, you do that on a human level, not even worrying about what it means for the hockey team. Um, so good that they did something like that. Um, and that’s worth pointing to that if they’ve been good to him, if they’ve been human to him, um, if they’ve been willing to have meetings with him about the future of the organization, right? Like, not every GM would do that. Not every organization would do that. I don’t know that Lou Lemarel would do that. Old school hockey guy like the the the best player wants to meet with you about what we’re doing going forward. There are some GMs that might go, “Yeah, go back to the locker room. This is my job. You let me handle this. You play for me and that’s it. I handle trades. I handle free agency.” There are a lot of guys in the sport that would do it that way. And to Adam’s credit, he didn’t. he met with Diene and they discussed that. Um, and I think Dene is involved to some extent about what they’re doing or he’s at least engaged in it and I think that’s a good thing. So, these are all good things. I think these are all good things about Dalene, his commitment to the team, their commitment to him. Um, and what I just want to brace you for though is if the Sabres lose games this year, even if Dene has 0% chance of leaving because he’s loyal to to this to to the team, the city, the organization, and they’re loyal to him, even if that’s true, you’re going to hear it. You’re going to see it. You’re going to see other teams talk other teams fans, media talking about trading for him. That’s going to be expected. So, I just want to mentally prepare you for that right now. That’s going to happen because you’re in a 14-year playoff drought and if you’re bad, teams are going to go after your best players. That’s just what’s going to happen. Um, doesn’t mean it has to turn any anything. Just just know that if you’re ready for a fight on that, get ready for it. Or if you are want to be ready to ignore it, be ready for that, too. Because um if they don’t win games, that’s absolutely going to happen. So, that’s where we’re at right now with those two, which, you know, we don’t really know, right? like it’s you’re you’re picking up on as many tea leaves as you can get. Um but I guess at the moment like on a scale of 1 to 10, how worried am I that they’re gone after the year? I mean there have been times where I’ve been like a six, which is like that’s on my mind and it definitely is on my mind, but I’m not I’m at like a I’m at like a four right now. It’s worth tracking. It’s worth thinking about, keeping keeping an ear out for, but it’s not something that I’m losing sleep over at the moment. It’s not something that is waking me up in the middle of the night that oh, Ta and Dene are going to want out. It’s not impossible. I’m just not in a place right now where I’m expecting it. When we come back, what about Alex Tuck? I think it’s a little bit of a different story with Alex Tuck. I’ll tell you why when we come back here in the Locked On Sabers podcast. Today’s episode of the Locked On Sabres podcast is presented by Game Time. Hockey season is officially here and nothing beats being in the arena for those opening games. But let’s be real, getting tickets can be a total headache between waiting and cues, surprise fees at the end. Those are always the worst. Prices that jump right before checkout. It’s easy to get frustrated when all you want to do is cheer for your team. So that’s where Game Time comes in. The app that gives fans the advantage. It’s your ultimate life hack for scoring amazing NHL tickets fast, easy, and stress-free. Got zone deals, big game changer. You pick the section, game time picks your seats, and you save big. You can even find NHL tickets for under $25, some as low as $15. I saw for last night’s game, and I’m sure that’ll be true in some other games uh coming up. So, take the guesswork out of buying NHL tickets with Game Time. Lastman tickets, too, by the way. You can walk up to the arena without a without a seat and you get it right away right in your account and you can walk in the door without skipping a beat. Download the FanDuel Game Tap Game Time app. Create an account. Use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. That’s code locked on NHL for $20 off. Swipe tap ticket go. Sneaky Jody Bioi back here on the Locked on Sabres podcast. The Sabres will get with get a win over Ottawa last night, but uh little look into the future as that was being discussed by everybody in the hockey world in the last couple of days. Um it probably settles down a little bit, I think, going into the weekend after the win over the Senators. So, you know, people are talking about Alex Tuck. Here’s something that that I’ve I’m hearing about Alex Tuck. Um a lot of vibes right now. The agents out there talking a little bit. Um, the sense that I get in the Alex Tuck sweep stakes right now is that Alex Tuck wants to win with the Buffalo Sabres that in his heart of hearts, his perfect scenario is he wants to stay. He wants to sign a big money deal to stay here in Buffalo and win with the Sabres. However, he’s 30 and if the team does not give him reason to believe that they are going to win anytime soon, that there’s no amount of love for the Buffalo Sabres that could get him to sign up for losing for the rest of his career. He’s a competitive dude. A lot of these guys are. He’s one of them. And he loves the Sabres. He grew up a a fan of this team and I think it would even in some ways crush him that if he was if he had to leave without having it work here. Um that’s the sense that I get. That’s kind of how I would feel about it if I were a great NHL player like he is from the area. Grew up a Saber fan. Loved the team. Got traded there. Was super hyped up to fix it. go through 5 years, not fix it, and feel like you got to go before it’s been solved. That would that’d be kind of crushing, I think. Um, but I do think if the team is really bad by the middle of the year that he’s not signing up for this, he’s not going to commit the rest of his career to a team that he doesn’t think is going to get him to the playoffs, doesn’t get him to the Stanley Cup. Um, so that’s where we’re at with Alex Tuck at the moment. I think my guess is it would probably only take a middle of the road team like in the hunt. They don’t have to make it, but in the hunt by the deadline. I’m not sure you’ll have an extension by then, but maybe you’ll have an indication from him that I’m willing to stay. And then that’ll become a conversation if there’s no deal struck by the trade deadline as to, well, do you risk it? He’s telling us that there’s a really good shot or even that he’s committed and wants to stay here, but we don’t have pen to paper and we got to decide now if we want to trade him for a first round pick and a top prospect or we want to risk losing him for nothing, carry him through the rest of the year, maybe we make the playoffs, maybe we don’t make the playoffs. a lot of really interesting conversations that I think would branch off of the Alex Tuck situation if he is unsigned as we get closer and closer to the deadline. At the moment though, like I’m not thinking that there’s any deal that’s coming in the next couple of days. Like this is a middle of the year contract if it comes at all. Um or again, he might just need to be proven that the team can win. If they were to go on a big win streak, eight, nine games, 10 games, they went on a 10-ame win streak once upon a time in this drought. Something unseen like that would get him to sign right away. I I think that’s possible. But, you know, what are the odds of that? What are the odds they’re going to rattle off a seven or an eightgame win streak? It’s not zero, but um I’m not super confident that that’s what we’re headed for at the moment. If you’ve got a comment or you got a question about the future, the landscape that surrounds the Sabres right now, everything is kind of on shaky ground. Like this is this is loose soil that the Sabres are standing on thin ice and the more winds they get, the thicker the ice gets. Um, but it’s definitely going to be something that’s going to be the theme of the season because this is not like last year. This is not like the year before that or the year before that where they’re being patient and there’s a lot of young guys and their expectations aren’t as high. This is different. This is you got to win. You got to win right now. And what happens between right now, October 16th, and the trade deadline, which I believe is in March, usually is between now and March. What happens with the Sabres on the ice is going to shape the next five years. It really is. If it goes great, then you keep going and you hope that you get the monkey off your back and guys are willing to stay and there’s more belief for the long term and then maybe more players are willing to come to you. Um, everything could be better. And if you lose and you’re bad and you’re not in the race, then there’s a possibility that a lot of it gets torn down. Maybe not all of it, maybe not Dalene and Taage, but a lot else. Talk Bum. Who else? Who knows what else? Adams, of course, as well. That’s going to do it for us today here in the Locked On Sabres podcast. If you’re looking for more hockey talk, be sure to check out Locked On NHL Game Night. They’ve got you covered every day, every game that’s going on around the league. They’re available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. Locked on Fantasy Hockey is a great listen right now as well. You can check them out wherever you get your podcast. Be sure to set those lineups on a daily basis. Fantasy hockey is a lot of fun. And we will talk to you tomorrow here on the Locked On Sabres podcast. We we’re getting you ready for Sabres and Panthers which is coming your way um on Saturday afternoon. So talk to you then. Enjoy the weekend. We’ll talk to you during the weekend though. So stay tuned. You’re on the Lockdown Sabres podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

The Buffalo Sabres finally got a win over the Ottawa Senators, so everyone’s in a good mood. This comes just days after lots of rumors and reports about the futures of Kevyn Adams, Alex Tuch, Rasmus Dahlin, and Tage Thompson.

As we dive into the futures of the Sabres most important figures, how quickly could the Sabres fire Adams and promote Jarmo Kekalainen? Joe shares why we should not be expecting an Alex Tuch extension anytime soon. And maybe we should be optimistic about Dahlin and Thompson’s loyalty to Buffalo?

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