BFHS 10/31/25: Another missed point

BFHS 10/31/25: Another missed point

All right, it’s another TGIF edition of the Baker Fairburn Hockey Show here on Friday, October 31st, 2025. Happy Halloween, Matthew Fairburn, Baker Fairburn Hockey Show. Let’s get one through following another Sabres overtime loss. If you’re watching the show on YouTube, like this video, subscribe to the channel, hit the notification bell so you know when a new episode drops or when Matthew and I go live. You can find the bigger favorite hockey show on Apple Spotify wherever you get your podcast you could please leave five star review. All right, Sabres claw their way back last night Matthew with a pair of third period goals but lose 4-3 in overtime for the third straight game. So quick rundown, Rasmusene and Alex Tuck each bag a goal and an assist. Josh Don continues his excellence with another goal going to the net. Love to see it. Alex Lion was in net last night and I have him down for 18 saves on 22 shots and he takes another loss. So big picture in the game. Matthew Sabres wildly outshoot out chance the Bruins and they still fall short. Like it’s a game that you know by and large they should feel good about but the end result just prevents that from happening. Give me your thoughts at a high level on the game, Matthew, because it was kind of a strange one for me. It’s like we said last show about overtime losses that they’re just these weird, you know, weird outcomes where you can feel good about getting the point, but you never feel good leaving the rink when you lost. So, when you’ve lost three of those in a row, I think it starts to to eat at you a little bit. And again, a missed opportunity, right? The first two were a missed opportunity because they had third period leads that they let slip away and then they lost the game in overtime. This one was a missed opportunity because they really outplayed the Bruins. They were the better team and they came back down two goals in the third period and they get to overtime and Raasmus Dalene blows a tire turns into a threeon-one the other way in part because Taige Thompson jumps up, you know, when he probably should have saw what was happening and and sat back. They end up with a twoon-one, three, really a threeon-one with Jack Quinn defending and Alex Lion gets beat short side and there’s your game. So then it’s another day of overanalyzing an overtime goal, which again I I’m in the spot where I say you’d want Rasmine to have the puck on his stick in overtime more often than not. And I know this hasn’t been the best start to the year for him, but I actually thought he had a really good game last night up until overtime. I thought he was playing better. He He’s still probably, you know, has a few more mistakes than you’d like him to have, a few more, you know, turnovers and things like that. But I thought this was a game that he could really build on. And it and he was starting to you could see the fire in his eyes, you know, with some of those after the whistle stuff with Zadorov and, you know, he scored the goal. He had a nice assist on the game tying goal. Like this was a nice night for Dene and then it leaves it’s kind of a a microcosm of the Sabres game. It’s like it was a nice night but you you end it with that taste in your mouth. So they’re still getting points. They’re 4-4 and three points in seven of their last eight after the 0 and3 start. Like that’s a that’s nothing to sneeze at, but they’ve now, you know, coughed up points in three straight games. You know, you would have liked to get two points in one or two of these. So to to take the overtime loss in three, not ideal, but also the teams that stack up overtime losses have a way of hanging around in the playoff picture. and this team didn’t get enough games to overtime last year. So, if you’re going to say they need to do that, then, you know, you got to be at least mildly pleased with the fact that they’re they’re getting some of these points. Yeah, I’m with you on getting the points. Um, you know, playoffs will be within reach if the division stays the same and if the conference stays the same as the first 10 or 11 games of the season have gone for the entire Eastern Conference and the entire division. It’s just so getting a point in a game like that is find disappointing for sure. You know, they they didn’t get goalied last night even though they had 40 shots on goal, right? So they had 40 they outshot the Bruins 40 to 22. They out hit them 25 to 12. They blocked 19 shots compared to the Bruins blocking seven. Everything was coming up Milhouse for the Sabres. And I think maybe we should kind of get into the forwards now a little bit because there’s one stat that has been a glaring weakness for them all year. And by the way, the advanced metrics look even more impressive for the Sabres in terms of high danger chances and the shot metrics. And maybe we can get into some of those too while we’re on this topic. But I I kind of want to talk about the faceoffs. And I know it’s like five minutes into the show and we’re talking about faceoffs, but 43% again last night and you saw the power of what happens when this team wins a faceoff on the tuck goal. It’s incredible what happens when you win a faceoff. I don’t want to talk necessarily just about winning draws and the faceoff metric because there’s people that always say they don’t matter and we always say, “Yeah, well, they matter when you really need one.” But it speaks to the center depth problem that you and I are going to continue to focus on with this team. I think Jordan Greenway comes back into the lineup last night. You’re missing Norris, which we all know about. You’re still missing Kak. They put him in at center. Greenway. What does that tell you about where the Sabres are right now with center depths? Sending Noah Olland back down to make room for Greenway and they have to put him at center. Yeah, it it says everything about the center depth. You know, there were some people that were, you know, raising their eyebrows at the fact that Greenway was at center. And I get it. You know, I think in an ideal world, you’re not playing Jordan Greenway at center. You’re just that’s just pretty cut and dry for me. You know, I know he’s done it before. He’s played it in the past. He’s defensively responsible. He’s a big body. It’s not the end of the world. But not only are you playing him at center, he’s your third center, which you have Yuri Koulik as one of your top centers, you know, a 21-year-old. So the center depth chart is absolutely a problem. You know, they I would actually say that they need to get one regardless, you know, of when, you know, Norris comes back. I still feel like they need another one. Even if you have Norris and and Kak healthy, you kind of want somebody pushing Kak. And I wouldn’t mind Kak, you know, bumping Krebs out now and again or having one of them play wing and and just having a little bit more competition down in the bottom six. But Greenway playing center is exactly like you said, it is an indictment on the depth that they have right now at center. They have had injuries, some of which were maybe easier to foresee than others, but sort of like we discussed with, you know, Metsa to be an injury away, and in this case, it’s two injuries away because it’s Norris and Kak from having to put Jordan Greenway at center in his first game back. Mind you, this guy has not played a game since the spring and he’s not, you know, a fast player to begin with and you’re throwing him in there, they probably felt better about it because of the matchup, you know, and and thinking speedwise he would be okay. Yeah. But and he was he was okay, but you’re not getting a ton of pop out of that third line with him at center. And I think that still remains an issue is the layers of scoring depth. And to your point, I think is related. They didn’t get goalie in this game. They weren’t finishing. They were missing open looks. They had a a fouron-one at one point where Zack Benson misses the net, you know, early in the game. Yeah. You know, it’s like and then they fall behind two to nothing because they missed all these opportunities early. They’re not finishing not because you’re getting goalie or you’re getting bad luck. They’re not finishing because they’re not a high-end finishing team as far as their offensive talent. Everything that we talked about leading into the season, their best line right now most nights is the Don Mloud tuck line. and they’re the best line because they’re getting to the net and they’re just getting the greasy ugly goals that you need to get. So, and I mean in the case of Tuck’s game time goal, it was uh not greasy at all, but there was a net front component to it with Don and creating traffic. It was a nice very nice play, you know, nice setup from Dallene, nice shot from Tuck, but there was a netront component to the goal for sure. So, I I’ve really really liked that line as a whole, but it it feels like you’re you’re lacking that top end skill to finish these plays and to finish all these chances. They’re doing the right things. This isn’t the first three games of the season where they look totally disjointed offensively, but now you’re waiting for that. Maybe some of it is like regression to the mean shooting percentage- wise, but it’s also easy to wonder if there’s enough skill in that department because I mean, you have, like you said, you have Jordan Greenway as your your third line center, and that’s just not not how anybody sketched it out, including the front office and coaches during the summer. Look, I use faceoffs as just one example of talking about the center situation with the Sabres. I mean, there’s a hell of a lot more that goes into playing center than just faceoffs. A lot of times a winger can take a draw and still go out and play wing. I get it. Um, a listener of the show, Rob Weise, give a shout out to Rob. He sent me a note last night because the concern about the faceoffs also lends into special teams and gaining possession and and gaining the zone. And I’m not going to go over all the metrics here. We can get into it at some point, Matthew. I think I shared the comment with you. Rob has been tracking the amount of time it takes to gain zone possession on special teams with draws. It’s incredible data that he’s putting together. So, shout out to Rob and and I owe you some responses, Rob. I was falling asleep last night during the game. So, like I was taking little catnaps between periods. I’ve been it’s been tough week over here. not just the squirrel uh trauma, but um there so it’s a concern for me the the center position. We’re going to keep talking about it. I think you you did a nice job there summarizing the situation. Pushing Kak is a big part of it. Um when that happens, too, uh when you’re short a man, you just got to create that competition. And I’m just really concerned about 42% year-to- date faceoff percentage for the Buffalo Sabres. You mentioned shooting percentage by the way real quick while we were talking about uh Tuck and the goal. I had mentioned last week his shooting percentage. Do you recall that Matthew? You know his his past three years coming into the season were 18.4, 11.5, 16.5 and then at the point when we were talking about I think it was last week or maybe late uh the week before that he was at 5.9%. Tuck is now back up to 14.3%. Right in his sweet spot where he should be. a sign that his game’s coming along, a sign that he’s getting to the right spots to shoot the puck and he’s having some success. So, I just wanted to kind of bring back some things that we’ve talked about recently. Let’s talk about um defense real quick. Matthew, I just want to kind of go through the positions before we get to Alex Lion. I want to start off by saying because Dallene is a talking point of the game last night because of the overtime goal, but his game’s gotten better past few games. And who’s he been playing with? Matias Samuelson. Samson was a workhorse last night. And I just want to remind everybody like when we’re talking about Owen Power and when we’re talking about some of these players, not too long ago, scores of Sabres fans wanted to buy out Matia Sanden and look at him now. He’s playing really good hockey and I think that he’s helping Dalene out there on the ice. For sure. I think it’s the unfortunate part of last night’s game for Dene is that the way it ended is what sticks with people. And I’m not saying he was perfect otherwise. you know, obviously I think there’s, you know, parts of this game that that fall on, you know, just about everybody, but if you remove the overtime, he was he had a goal and an assist for seemingly the first time in a handful of games, like they were significantly outchancing the Bruins when Dene was on the ice. like the plays he made to get those points. You know, the goal was a really nice shot. The assist was a really nice play from Dallene, a good look, a clean, crisp pass, which I think is what’s been missing from his game is just crisp puck handling. And obviously that showed up in overtime, but when you have a player in the situation that Dalene’s in fighting it a little bit to start the season and for good reason as we touched on and and we don’t need to dive into the details of that every show, but he he had a tough summer. So we don’t know we know it impacted him significantly. Probably the most difficult thing he’s ever been through in his entire life. How it impacted him, we don’t know for sure, right? How much it impacted maybe summer training and and interrupted some of that and how much it’s just affecting his headsp space overall. Very hard to quantify, but we know it is impacting him. For a player like that to get going a little bit last night, I I was taking it as a positive. Again, I try not to overreact to overtime because it’s kind of 5050. it it’s a and it hasn’t been 50/50 for the Sabres, but there’s been a few plays in each game where it easily could have been. And just like I’m not going to dog on Owen Power for, you know, having a puck jump over his stick, you know, in the first overtime, I don’t really feel like Rasmusene losing an edge is the end of the world. Would I like it if he maybe chose a different play there, you know, knowing the numbers situation he had entering the zone? Probably. You know, Lindy Ruff mentioned he could have peeled out, come out of the zone, regrouped, and gone back, but he was not in a if he doesn’t lose an edge, he probably doesn’t lose the puck. I don’t think uh maybe he does. And it’s hard to beat up. And it’s hard to beat up Paige on that play because he was going in to assist Darene. He’s not expecting him necessarily to lose an edgy either. Yeah, I think he probably could have put the brakes on, but again, these are three on three. I don’t want to over analyze it. I don’t want to over analyze. We don’t need to spend it’s it’s a crapshoot. Like the whole concept three on three overtime is just, you know, it’s like, oh, it’s not that. I think Tuck even mentioned like, oh, there there’s, you know, we’re probably giving up a few too many two-on- ones and breakaways in overtime. Like that’s what overtime is like. You get some, they get some, and whoever, you know, comes out on top, you know, whoever gets the save in a lot of cases, and frankly, they should have gotten a save on that play in my opinion. Uh if if we’re holding Alex Lion to the same standard that we held Uko Pekalukan in over the weekend, I’d like a save from Alex Lion in overtime. A lesser player and he gets beat clean on a shot. Jack Quinn plays it the way he’s supposed to play it. But my larger point about Dalene is he’s catching a lot of heat. I get it. This is not the Dene that we’re used to seeing, but he’s got nine points in 11 games. And so even at not his best, he’s still close to a point per game. And in the game last night, he had a hand in two out of three goals in regulation. And a significant hand, too. you know, not just like cheap secondary assist, like a goal and a primary assist. That was a nice play and the ice was tilted more in their favor when he was on the ice than it has been in a lot of these games. So, I take this as kind of a building block for Darene. I think he needs to I don’t know what it is. Like I said, I I can’t really speak to exactly how he this this summer is impacting him. Like, was it is he not quite Are his legs not quite there because he he didn’t get to train the way he normally would? I don’t know. Mentally, I think it’s clear that that he hasn’t been as crisp early in the season, but this is the type of game that can help with that, I think, because he was. And I don’t think Diene’s the type to ruminate on what happened in overtime. I think it it’s more likely that he’ll take what happened the rest of the game. And if anything, you looked at, you know, Zidorov was getting into him after the whistle, right before he scored the goal, and like Dalene got up and had that look in his eye. Like that was the encouraging sign to me. He was pissed off. He he was fired up and he was he was yelling at Zidorov and I thought, “Oh, there he is. There’s that guy.” He wanted one last night at times. I felt like he really wanted one. He scored like almost immediately after that, you know, and so I I just want to see that look in his eye again. And I understand why it hasn’t been there. So, if this is going to be I don’t know what today is going to be in terms of the the discussion uh in the greater Sabres ecosystem about Dalene, but I just want to put it out there that I’m largely encouraged by by what I saw from him last night. Six high danger chances, four two high danger chances against at even strength last night when Rasmus Stallene was on the ice. I mentioned Matias Samuelson. Definitely, you know, healthy and and looking like a mule, a reliable mule out there next to Dolly. Great game. Great game from Samuelson. The three block shots, I believe. Um, no giveaways, which I think was the biggest. Yeah, there were there were a number of issues with Samson’s game last season, but giveaways and sloppy breakouts to me stood out. I know everybody wanted to talk about his physicality and everything else, but his sloppy decision-m stood out to me at times. I think this is the best Samuelson has looked in since probably 22 23. I mean, this is the kill at the end of regulation, the penalty kill. Greenway takes a bad I mean tickytac call but but careless and there’s a minute 17 all of a sudden you got to kill a penalty to even get the game to overtime and Samson was a beast on that penalty kill his reach uh his quickness decisive he talked about it a few games ago the confidence that is hard to manufacture when you’re not going but he he’s playing with swagger and being next to I think is helping I mean this is Again, three straight overtime losses. I get it. But there’s a lot going on with this team that is worth feeling good about. And the blue line is a big part of that. And I know power isn’t quite going now. It’s like one guy starts going, another guy isn’t. But you have a segue. Yeah, that you have Samuelson Dene going pretty good. I’m liking a bit of what I’m seeing from Byum and Kessler. I think that could Hustle Ring’s minutes were low last night though. Was that situational? Because I I can’t figure out why his minutes were low. They had a few power plays. So, you know, I had him at 14 and change. I don’t, you know, I closed the window because I’m, you know, real professional, you know, with this show. He had 1450. Dene led the way with 2549. Samuelson had 2349. And then uh Byum had 1950 and then it was Owen Power with 1802, Timmons with 1556 and Kessle Ring with 1450. So I mean he’s missing Power had 3 minutes of 322 of power play time. Byum had 311 of power play time. So, okay, you know, that’s probably where where the difference is because Byum and Power also got short-handed time. Easing them, you know, probably easing them back in and and you know, I don’t want to interject because I think like it seems like the pairs kind of switched spots last night. Dene and Samson are going really well. And we kind of talked about this, right? Like it gives you when you have your top pair holding their own and you can confidently get them extra shifts where applicable, you can go with who’s going. It’s sometimes like like we say sometimes your third line is your first line on a given night based on matchups or how they’re go how they’re running. started to feel a little bit of that at times in the game last night or maybe that Timman’s power pair wasn’t necessarily coming over the boards right after Dallene Samson were taking a shift. Fair. Yeah, I think second straight game that was, you know, not the greatest from Owen Power and you might maybe even throw Timonss into that bucket. Uh but Timmans had some some nice moments on the penalty kill as well. But that’s the luxury of having the six that they have is that when they’re not going, you don’t have to keep throwing them out there because you have, you know, Bryson and Metsa playing on your third pair or or, you know, in the case of last season, guys like Yoki Harario and Clifton who who really weren’t going. And I think this is especially as Kessle Ring gets up to speed, you know, a couple give him a few games to kind of get going, but still seeing some of the same stuff we saw in that first game that the subtle plays with the puck that, you know, really helped the skating is such a big part of his game that once, you know, he gets, you know, ramped up to full speed. I’m curious to see how he how he kind of gels with Byum because Byum is a little bit of a wild card. I feel like sometimes you get these great games from him and sometimes you get some careless puck play and you know some some interesting decisions that you know create a lot of chances the other way. So, he could probably use uh a steady hand, a consistent hand on the other side, a righty on the other side, which he hasn’t gotten a lot of. We’ll see how that that kind of comes together. But at least if you have two of these pairs going tonight, I’ I’d like your chances to have two of them going a night because they’re Yeah. six quality players, six, you know, NHL level defenseman that could all fill in in your top four if needed. Kessle Ring was cracking me up last night when Zidorov was kind of acting up. Kessle, you know, Byum’s over there talking and and Kessle Ring’s like on the bench like banging his stick, laughing. Did you see that? I You probably noticed that with Kessle Ring. Kessle Ring also did something that I didn’t like in the game though where he he was on the right wing boards, you know, off the rush, shoots a puck, misses I think he missed the net and he’s been missing the net quite a bit in the first two games. I don’t know if you noticed that. and he bangs his stick off the boards while the play is still going. Yes, I if your stick breaks, you just screwed yourself and your teammates. I I saw that. I was Yeah, I I couldn’t remember hardly ever seeing that. Like a guy like almost peeling off to Yeah. find the boards instead of like slamming it on the ice or But yeah, to your point, if your stick breaks, you’re in real trouble. Uh and you miss the net. It happens. Like I mean so you could that to me tells me there’s some frustration in his game a little bit. I mean he’s especially I think probably gripping the stick extra tight last night. You know being in Boston probably had a lot of friends and family uh in the building and he’s trying to trying to make a play. But yeah, rain it in a little bit. You know he’s he’s pressing. I think he needs to two games in two games. It it it needs to he needs to take to heart what he said last week. He was joking about how well Josh Don was playing and he’s like, “Man, like I don’t need to feel any pressure at all about this this trade. Like I can just come in and play.” He needs to take that to heart because Josh Don is making the trade look really good. I I think there has been a component of Kessle Ring that is like feeling the weight of the trade, but it’s it’s really not that big of a deal. Like people are happy to have Josh Don and I’m sure are going to be happy to have Castle Ring. uh once they see him at full go. Before we get to Alex Line, I just had a thought pop into my head and I can’t jot it down and I’m like raising my finger cuz I don’t want to lose a thought. You’re like Brian Winhoring it. He’s like, “Well, here’s the thing. So, let me just let me throw something at you real quick.” We talked about center depth being a problem. In Kevin Adams history as the general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, he’s been slow to react, slow to make changes, slow to whatever, make a waiver claim, whatever. Does Don start? It’s It’s primarily booied by Josh Don’s start this year. You know where I’m going with this. and Kessle Ring looking like a player two games in, even though he’s not like lighting the world on fire, but certainly stabilizing your group. It’s hell of a lot better than Bryson, hell of a lot better than Metsa, right? Does it give Kevin Adams the confidence to get more aggressive in the trade market, especially with a Yarmmo line in his ear? And you see where I’m going with this? Does it give him the Yeah. Does Okay, so let’s let’s talk about this before because the market isn’t exactly He’s got to be patient. You don’t just want to chase down, you know, every piece of that becomes available just because it’s a body. I shouldn’t say piece of That’s not fair to a professional athlete, but you know what I mean. Yeah. You don’t want the right Yeah. the first thing that’s offered. And I think that the presence of Yarmmo is significant here because he has really the opposite track record of Kevin Adams in the sense that he is quick to act and aggressive and he has been there’s been a few practices or a few games lately at least a couple practices where I feel like I didn’t see Yarmmo, but I’ve seen Yarmmo almost every day that I’ve been at the rink and he has been around a lot. Usually sitting right next to Kevin at practice, sitting with him in the box. He was up in Toronto at that game. He’s been on the road. I think he’s starting maybe to make his way out on the road to look at players and stuff like that, but he’s been around a lot. So, he’s right there. And this is a guy known for aggressive trades. He’s also got relationships throughout the league and can probably help get some of these deals, you know, on the tracks and over the finish line. I think Columbus is an easy team to look at, too, because of his history there. There’s probably some players there that he likes that he would like to to get a hold of, but he’s got other relationships around the league, I think. I think it’s really it’s easy to say because it’s the knee-jerk reaction is like make a move, make a trade, do something. But this is a chance for Kevin Adams to show the locker room like we’re we’re going for it. And look what he did at goalie. Look what they they did in net with Lucinan gets hurt and it’s like they’re going to get two guys in the span of a month to make sure that that’s not going to cost them or make sure that they’re doing something to try to make sure it doesn’t cost them. And I think to your point about the the additions that they made and the impact that they’re having on the ice, but not just on the ice, like in the room as well. And you could go to Alex Lion, too. you could throw him into that bucket even though he didn’t have a great game last night. It’s like these guys that you added are helping. Have some confidence to go add another one. And the trade market is definitely, you know, it’s not great right now, but things will break loose. Things will break loose. I mean, the Conucks made a deal. Uh, you know, they they got things going. They’re a team that that’s always trading it seems like and trying to shake things loose. And you know, you talk about in the past like, oh, we don’t want to block this guy or we don’t want to disrupt whatever in the room. Like that feels like it’s going out the window. Any sort of, you know, kid gloves that they were handling this roster with should be off. I mean, look at how I bring up goalie because in the past it would have been like, well, we gave Luc in this contract like, we don’t want to step on his toes or we got Levi in Rochester and we don’t want to hurt his feelings. But it’s like, no, they’re adding to that position to make sure it doesn’t cost them because they need to make the playoffs. They should do the same thing at center even if it means that Pton Krebs is up in the press box once in a while when everybody’s healthy. Yeah. Or, you know, somebody’s not getting as much minutes or add another winger. So, so Jack Quinn isn’t playing on your power play. Something like that that I don’t think it disrupts the chemistry in your room. I think it enhances it. The competition and the feeling from guys like Ta Thompson, Alex Tuck, Raasmus Dalene, Bowen Bum, these veteran players, these high-end players that you have that look around and say, “Damn, we’re doing something. We’re acting like the rest of the league. We’re acting like our goal is the playoffs and not just saying that our goal is the playoffs. And if Kevin Adams really learned that lesson last year, oh, I should have acted quicker. I should have done this. I should have done that. It’s not just about when your team’s not playing well. It’s about taking an average team and trying to level it up because injuries have been a problem. And what do you do when injuries are a problem? If not, try to add to the group. You’ve tried a few different things. Kak was really working. he gets hurt. You try Oseland. In an ideal world, what you’re developing internally, a 21-year-old, he jumps in and grabs hold of it. He didn’t. He wasn’t bad, but he didn’t grab hold of it. He didn’t grab it by by the lapels and say, “I’m here.” You know, so go look for some I mean I So, a great example, I was thinking about this last night, is Morgan Geeky. That guy was essentially free. Yeah. He the the Kraken didn’t extend him a a qualifying offer. What was it? Two this is his third season in Boston. So a few years ago before the 23 24 season that summer he becomes an unrestricted free agent. I think he signed for 2 million per year two years 4 million. Guy’s a beast. Doesn’t play most goals in the NHL in the calendar year 2025 probably. He’s he’s up to nine. And you know, Postastern said the other day, and I don’t think it was an insane statement, that like Geeki is the type of guy that could score 50 in this league. He had like 30 something goals last year. He looks like a a building block for the Bruins, and they found him kind of on the scrap heap. So, I get that that was a summer edition, but point being like some you uncover some of these gems. I mean, some of the pieces on Florida they found were waiver claims. So, do something. turn over the roster, add competition, shake things up and make the culture of your room that. Make the culture of your room competition and you know the the bar being raised instead of treating the the balance of personalities as some delicate flower that can’t be disrupted. Make it that it’s being disrupted all the time, that it could be disrupted at any moment. You could get bumped out of your position like that. That’s what I’d like to see. whether it’s a trade claim or whatever. It’s also part of creating competition that we talk about all the time. But to your point, don’t do this, don’t do that. Don’t wait for Danforth to come back and get healthy so you can improve your faceoff percentage because he was at like 54%. Like all these things, that is an underrated part. That was the underrated part of the Danforth injury is the draws. And now that’s a good point. You’ve lost three centers. Really, you’ve lost three centers. Like Danforth could be the one and probably was the one that was going to plug these holes. Like I think you’d feel better actually about that third line if Danforth was in the middle because he’d be winning faceoffs. He’d be his speed and for checking would be a nice element there. So the center depth health will help in a lot of ways. You know, it’s not it’s why I actually when I’ve discussed the center depth, I haven’t totally like I I haven’t been like see look how bad Kevin Adams screwed up. like no, they had they didn’t have a strong center depth chart at the top, but they did have the depth that would prevent Jordan Greenway from being the third line center. You know, it’s it’s been bad luck with injuries. I think the criticism of not having another top six center is probably fair or not having enough top six scoring is definitely fair, but you know, relying on Josh Norris to be your number one center was always going to be a risk. Relying on Yuri Koulique to be the next man up was always going to be a risk because of his age. So those are valid, but the actual depth, the guys that were supposed to back fill, they did have options there before guys got hurt. So, it’s the situation they’re in, but go go get somebody and go get somebody that can play both center and wing. So, when everybody’s healthy, you know, you have competition for who actually gets to to play center and take faceoffs and uh you know, get the important minutes because would anybody argue that the Sabres could use more of that, more competition, more more talent up front? Obviously, they need it. The real kick of the nuts about the center position, you know, because Josh Norris injury was the kind of first domino that led to this discussion that we’re having right now was Norris got injured taking a face off. Taking a face off and he I think he was okay that night taking face offs. I mean, look, the thing about No, but it’s just like the act of him taking a face off and we’re talking about it being a problem. Face off. If if you removed faceoffs from the game, the Sabres would be a lot better off. They wouldn’t he wouldn’t have gotten hurt and Yeah. Right. Exactly. You know, they they changed that rule. You know, while you were talking, I was I was looking at, you know, Red Savage, you know, because like you’re saying like who back fills like if they have another injury at the center position and you know, you call up Oselin obviously. And by the way to to Osam before he went back I thought like when you look at his numbers not great but when you watch the game in spurts he did some good things in spurts. He was out there late in the his la his final game that he played I think with two minutes left. He had a really good shift holding his own that allowed the big guns to get rested. I remember that one sticks out. He did things okay. He’s not gonnaower anyone. He’s not gonna outmuscle anyone, but his positioning was noticeable in spurts. His positioning was pretty good. I feel like what I noticed about him was that he almost felt nervous with the puck on his stick more so than you would see him in Rochester, right? Like a guy that’s confidently taking over games. Like he just was gripping the stick a little bit. And it’s natural to an extent, but you want to see that go away at some point, right? Like that’s part of why I’ve been intrigued by getting Helenius up is because I feel like there’s just a he won’t give a There’s a swagger about him. There’s a such a confidence that that just comes out of his game and he’ll make mistakes, but he’ll he’ll be confident. And I I didn’t feel that confidence from Noah Osen. It’s having the physical ability to roll your sleeves up and get involved in the trenches. That’s what Helenius has. That’s what maybe Rosanne and Oseland don’t have. And that’s what gives you confidence, I feel like at the NHL. I know. It gets you into the game. What do we talk about all the time? Get guys on the team that drag their teammates into the game. Helenius has the ability to drag himself into the game because he’ll roll his sleeves up and kind of grind through those situations on the ice. And that’s it’s uh something that we keep we need to keep in mind. But here’s here’s where I was going with Red Savage. It was like he’s on an AHL contract. If you have another injury at the NHL level at center and say Austin gets hurt, say Austin gets hurt or say Helenius gets hurt, you might want to throw a contract at Red Savage and like seriously he had a goal the other night, I think, right? His first goal. got a goal and assist in two games and like he he’s got some coast league games on his resume this year, you know, it’s crazy. So, so it’s just again that’s how like desperate I’m feeling the situation’s going to get if they keep having injuries because like the way the season’s gone, you know, you never know. You never know. Well, part of the problem for them I think is, you know, oh, you you need a center. Well, get in line. You know, the whole league, I think, would like to add a center. So, that’s part of the problem when we talk about, you know, oh, do something, Kevin. Like, go go go out and get something. Like, I understand that the situation is not going to be uh especially this early in the season with the trade market not really shaking out quite yet. There’s not a ton out there and there’s, you know, it’s a sellers market at the center position for sure. But, you gota you got to kick the tires. You got to kind of figure it out. And maybe that means a claim somewhere that, you know, just adds a little more depth if they ever get desperate. Before they get truly desperate, I’d love to see a period of Zack Benson playing center. He won a faceoff last night and I thought, “Oh, like um I I think it might have been the only one. It was on it was on a I think it was on a power play.” Let me see. I think it was a power play faceoff. He’s won, I think, two or three draws this year, but it’s not because of his faceoff stats. I mean, his actual playmaking ability is kind of interesting. His skating, maybe hold him back a little bit. And because that’s like kind of what held Sam Reinhardt back, who again, similar profile in a way, the playmaking instincts. I mean, I’m not comparing Benson to Reinhardt as a pure playmaker. They’re different. Reinhardt, you know, reinvented his game also when he got to the NHL. But don’t get Okay, bring me back. Don’t get me off on that tangent. I do want to see it once though. I do want to see it once. But to your point though about Greenway there then I mean what’s the major difference other than size? I mean the the difference is that Benson’s a better playmaker for sure. So you give up a little bit of size but the skating you know is he that much I guess he’s probably not covering as much ice as Greenway but he could do it but I don’t think it would ultimately work um long term. It’s not a viable long-term solution for sure, but I don’t know. I’m just I’m just Can you tell I don’t want to talk about goalending because we’ve talked about it so much on this show in the past week and a half, but um we will get there. But hey, to your point though about like um you know, doing something and like you know, obviously it’s like centers don’t grow on trees. There’s still a name that I think is getable out there at some point and I texted about texted you about it yesterday. Like if you can get Brian Rust, you find room for him. I don’t care if he doesn’t play center in this Thompson back at center and he could. I don’t love that. I still love it. Find ways to to make it work. A top six scorer, center or not. Yes. I think would help balance out this lineup in Yes. a lot of ways. I mean, you could bump Zack Benson down if you had to. Alex Tuck could play center theoretically. That can skate and lock down the defensive part of the center position. But okay. All right. Let’s get to Alex Lane because I’ll sit here all day. I’m trying to find I’m like who you know maybe Tony down the road can play center. You know what I mean? The production crew maybe garbage can get a couple reel me in. Can you tell I’m waking up now because I did not again I had another night where I didn’t really sleep much. But we’re not even going to get into the details of why I shared them with you and you’re just like Jesus. Okay. Alex Lion, are we starting to see um where he needs a little bit more of a rest? Is he starting to maybe where like what do we think or was it just an off night? What what are we because let’s talk about his game last night first. Not good. Um not good. Not good. I mean I think he made what 18 saves. Is that right? Total. Me too. Yeah. And if you look at, you know, natural static, I think had him down for only one of those goals was a high danger. Uh, three medium danger. Um, Posternok beats him five hole. Kind of want to stop there. It’s also posternoc, but kind of want that one. Um, you know, you don’t want to get beat when it’s when it’s hitting your pads like that. The third goal is definitely the problem for me. Two chances to to swallow that puck with a rebound and it squirts through both times. And you know, you could nitpick the defensive coverage and whatever else, but it’s like I just want that puck handled. And so there’s that one and then there’s overtime. I mean, I was on Lukan in for the Tiver goal in overtime. I think it’s the exact same thing with a lesser player. And thank you for being fair. I’m not trying to protect you up, but thank you for being consistent. It’s like I want that save. Jack Quinn plays it right. Get out, challenge, make the glove save. Like, it’s short side. He beats you. You’re going to get beat from time to time, but just not his night. And it does raise the question of, okay, this is a guy he’s played nine of the 11 games. Clearly, clearly the guy they trust the most. They’re number one right now. I am not in the position where I’m saying, okay, the Nets’s up for grabs again after one game. I think he’s earned the net. I think he’s earned the ability to have an off night and still have the net. But the question that it raises is does he need to be spelled more often? Does he need more nights off? And I think the answer is probably yes. This is a guy that has not played. He started 43 games for Detroit a couple years ago. Other than that, he’s never had this type of workload. And so he needs to get used to that physically. He needs to get used to that mentally and emotionally, the way that he plays. And probably needs to have some more nights off. So does that come on Saturday? Maybe. I think it’s a good opportunity on Saturday to probably give them a game off and Yeah, 100%. You know, especially after an off game and then go back to them next, what do they play next Tuesday? They got Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday next week. So you can go back to him next Tuesday and he’ll have had one, two, three, four, five days between starts. Pretty good reset for him. One of those days is an off day for the team. They’re supposed to practice today. I don’t know if they’ll if they’ll change those plans, but that gives him a couple practice days, an off day, and maybe he doesn’t even have to back up on Saturday and you can give him a true night off to really reset and recharge. That to me is the bigger question than but there then there becomes a legitimate question of, you know, what’s going to be real? Was the first seven or eight starts real or is there going to be a a level below that that he finds as his equilibrium? I think no. Such lies the question. Yeah, we’re not going there yet because I’m with you. And the way that I wanted to pose the question is does he need a rest? Do they need to kind of give him a break? I still think that he has the juice in his game and he’s seen enough situations in the NHL, even in the role that he was always been in as a two or a guy that can come in and stop, you know, plug the hole for periods of, you know, of play that he I think he’s the guy here that can be at a minimum 50/50, you know, es and even with the the bal like the the number of starts. Why Why the hell am I having such a hard time talking right now? the number of starts that he’s pulled the beginning of the season. He’s I think he’s gonna have that effect on the team and the team plays good in front of him. He just needs to be rested when that team is playing in front of him tomorrow against Washington. Ellis, I think so. If he’s healthy, I think I’m going Ellis because Okay. He’s the most recent. I mean, between him and Lucan, he’s the one who’s had a good game more recently. And yeah, you know, I want to get him back in the net as long as he’s healthy and feeling good before too too long. You know, it’s been over a week now since he had that that good game to to start his career. They wanted to go back to him in Toronto. Like, good chance to get him back in there at home. you know, tough opponent, but I think it’s a good spot probably to turn to him. Just recognize the fatigue that that was in Lion’s game. You know, the I think fatigue shows up when the pucks squirting through. I mean, he even had one towards the end of regulation, I believe it was, that squirted through him. Samuelson had to sweep it away. Um, I think that was the end of regulation. Maybe in overtime. Samuelson. Ah, it might have. Was it overtime? I don’t know. Whatever it was, could have been overtime, but puck’s just kind of squirting through them. The posternot goal, the third goal, that one in overtime, you know, a few others where that’s where the fatigue just being not quite locked in. Get him a rest, see how he looks next week. I think there is a baseline with Alex Line that you’re going to be comfortable with that he’s going to return to. Will he always be putting up crazy high-end numbers like he did the the first handful of games? Maybe not. But I think his baseline is a lot higher than the other two goalies. I think you continue to treat him like your starter, but I also think you got to you got to be mindful. This isn’t 2005. He’s not going to play 70 games. So yeah, give him some more nights off. The home heavy start continues for the Sabres. Three I think the next three games are at home. Washington, Utah, and St. Louis. Sabres are now 02 and two on the road. So still searching for their first road victory. Mix these home games. All the more important to bank points here early in the season. We’ll see what happens. We’ll be around doing more shows for sure. Matthew Fairburn, anything else that you want to get to before I ask you to do your plugs? I think that was it. It’s a good place to to tie a tie a bow on this one and we’ll be back at it next week. People can uh comment on the video. Spirited debates in the comments. I love it. A lot of discussion about about the squirrel, about the bags under our eyes in these early morning editions of the show. Uh I love it. It’s been pretty crazy for me this week. I haven’t been surfing the the chat much, but um I’ll trust that you’re you’re in there holding it down as always. Help the algorithm. Five star reviews on get some we’ve gotten well over 2,000 subscribers now comfortably on the channel. So that’s that’s good. And yeah, we’ll talk to everyone early next week. You can find my work at theathletic.com/sabers. As always, I’ve got a a story on Alex Lion coming, of course, because, you know, he has to have a bad game while I’m working on a story on him. But a couple other interesting stories coming down pretty soon as well. And we got that to look forward to. And we’ll be back on these airwaves before you know it. Programming note, I will not be there will not be postgame coverage on Saturday night. I have a wedding to go to. So you’ll find something new on the athletic on Monday. But if you’re waking up on Sunday morning, Bill’s Chiefs day, you’re at your tailgate and you’re thinking, “Where is Fairburn story?” Got a wedding to go to. So, um, just be in and out in a day, but there’ll be something up on the site on Monday morning. Good plugs. Good plugs. Good uh giving good job giving your readers a heads up. All right, I’m gonna take us out of here. I need to refill my coffee. I I went like this. I went I got up. I I hit my peak. Now I’m out of coffee and I’m crashing again. So I got to get my ass downstairs and keep my day moving for Matthew Fairburn. You just heard all his plugs. You can find Matthew’s work at theathletic.com/sabers. He’s got some things cooking as always. Get over there, subscribe, comment on his stories over there as well. Well, he’s got a lot of action in his comments over there every time he drops a Saber story at the Athletic for the production crew who I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t got to comment on the production crew today. That’s where I’m at. I hope they’re uh their candy bowls are full for the trick-or-treaters that are going to be coming down your street. I hope they have my candy bowl full. I think I need a little boost right now. I’m Chris Baker. Thanks everyone as always for your support of the Baker Verban Hockey Show. We’ll see you again very soon.

Kris Baker and The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn discuss everything Buffalo Sabres.