BFHS 10/27/25: Even par through nine

BFHS 10/27/25: Even par through nine

All right, up in Adam everyone. It is a Monday morning here in Western New York, October 27th, 2025. The Baker Hockey Show is back here. It’s been a interesting weekend of hockey in Saberland. I’m here Chris Baker, your host. You can find me on X at Sabres Prospects. Here as always with Matthew Fairburn, your Sabres beat writer for The Athletic. You can find all the Matthew’s work at theathletic.com/sabers. He’s been busy as always and we’ll get into some of the details of what he’s been writing about. Before we begin today, if you could please, if you’re watching on YouTube, like this video, subscribe to the Sabres Prospects YouTube channel, and hit that notification bell so you know when a video drops so you know when Matthew and I go live. You can find the Baker Faburn Hockey Show on Apple, Spotify, any other podcast app that you use out there, you can find us. And if you would please follow the show, download the episodes, and leave a five-star review. All right, Matthew Farburn, let’s just dive right into it. The Sabres take three or four points over the weekend from their home and home series with the Maple Leafs on Friday. They get a 5-3 victory on home ice. Matias Samuelson popping off for a pair of goals. Yuri Koulik, Tage Thompson, Alex Tuck, each with a goal and an assist while Alex Lion continued his fine play in the Sabres crease with 31 saves to get the victory. Teams get right back at it on Saturday. Thompson scores twice. Good to see Tage getting going here after a slower start. Matthew Fairburn. Savers get a seeing eye shot from Bo as well to get a goal. UPL takes the net on Saturday, making his season debut, 18 saves and a 4-3 overtime loss at Scotia Bank Place. Matthew Fairburn, you were on site for that. Really loving uh would love to hear your observations from Saturday’s game. But first, let’s just kind of set the table. So, the Sabres are now 44 and one early in the season, tied with Ottawa for fourth place in the division. neutral goal differential. Couple games coming up again this week. Tuesday at home against Columbus. Thursday they’re on the road in Boston. Buffalo by the way 02 and one on the road to start this year. But it was a homeheavy start. So when this the schedule came out and you looked at how things were laid out. We knew that the Sabres had a good amount of games at home to start the year and here they are a 500 team through nine games. Should the Sabres be happy with that start in the big picture here? Matthew Fairburn, I want to pass it over to you to get your thoughts. I would say yes. Uh given the expectations of this team, given the injuries that they’ve dealt with and given the fact that they started 0 and3 being 44 and one is is okay in my book. Now, you could say that maybe they shouldn’t have started 0 and three, right? That’s certainly part of this, but I think if you take all the context, especially starting 0 and three with the injuries, the early adversity, they could have gotten to 0 and4 or 1 and five really quickly and they didn’t. They are tied, like you said, with the Senators and the Leafs at 44 and one. And so, is there a little bit of an element of maybe a missed opportunity because other teams in the division have started slow? I I think you could make that case, but the way they’re playing is a big part of why I I say they should be okay with 44 and one because they’re playing almost to your point, the even goal differential. Like it feels like they could be better than 44 and one and it doesn’t feel like a mirage that they’re 44 and one, which is a good sign. I think they’re going to be or they have a chance to be the competitive hockey team that we thought they were going to be. And they are still not even close to healthy really. I mean, Michael Kessle rings out, Josh Norris obviously out for a little bit. Justin Danfor going to be out for a bit. Greenway isn’t back yet. Tyson Kak went down with an injury. you know, one of the depth guys that was filling in and making things work throughout all these injuries. And you know, Colton Ellis went down on Saturday. UAL Lucinan had to make his first start. He’d been dealing with an injury. So, healthwise, they’re still not where they would like to be. So, I think I’m all right with four four and one. Yeah. And, you know, we talked about it last week. What do you want out of this weekend set with Toronto? You want four if you can get them and three of four is a good number. They walk away with three of four, but four of four was getable. So, I think we should probably talk about the Friday and Saturday contests as a whole. I think with probably a greater emphasis on the Saturday, the most recent taste that we have left in our mouth with the Sabres team. And I think we should probably start with the goalending because it was kind of a surprise. We talked about it last week. I thought that there was going to be an opportunity, especially since they brought Lucinan back up from his conditioning stint where he had one start down in Rochester where they would purposely with intention eye one of those games to get him the net and they did on Saturday, but it doesn’t sound like that was the plan. So, what did you see from Lucinan? And let’s just talk about the goalending situation again now with Colton Ellis scheduled to get the start but back tightness I believe was what happened with him that didn’t allow him to play and Lindy Ruff had to deviate from his plan. So let’s just start with Lucin’s performance as a whole. Yeah. So they did plan to start Coltton Ellis. It’s a it’s important context because it helps you wrap your head around Lucin’s, you know, what Lucin was thrown into. Essentially, Ellis was supposed to start. They sent him up early on Friday. The the Sabres and Leafs obviously played on Friday night in Buffalo. So, they wanted him to not be on the late bus getting in late. Kind of a smart move, actually. Get him in early. get him a normal night of rest and sleep. He wakes up with back tightness and they’re trying to work it out. They thought he could push through it, but they didn’t think it would be smart to have him push through it. So, Uko Pekkalucan gets thrown in seemingly when he wasn’t quite expecting it and maybe a little bit on short notice. Uh, probably found out sometime late morning maybe that Colton Ellis wasn’t able to go. Maybe maybe it was a little bit later than that. And that does matter because I think that’s not an ideal spot for Lucin to be making his season debut. Second half of a backtoback. He was backing up on Friday, so he gets in late Friday night. I mean, that’s how it happens a lot of times in the league, but you know, when he’s not expecting it and I would say I I you know, it wasn’t it wasn’t a great performance from Pekkalucan and I think it was he was pretty good and and sort of you know, it was uneventful for most of the game which I thought is what you want uh from Ukopan and I thought they played well in front of him. But what’s going to stick with him, what’s going to stick with Lindy Ruff, what’s sticking with the fans is that third goal, predominantly that third goal. And I think the fourth goal we could probably debate a little bit, but the third goal is one Lucin said he wants back, one Lindy Ruff said he’ll want back, one that it was pretty obvious to anyone watching that he has to have that. They’re up three to two in the third period with what about sixish minutes left. And yeah, a little over six I think. I will say Dakota Joshua skates through the middle of the Sabres ice like untouched practically. There’s a bunch of Sabres there. Uh Josh Don was close to him in pursuit and then I think Tuck, you know, didn’t step into the lane. In fairness to the defending players, Joshua gets off like a turnaround. It’s not like he got off a high danger opportunity there, you know. So, could they have knocked him off the puck? Yes. Did he get a high danger opportunity? No. Lucinan may have been slightly screened, but he said afterwards that he didn’t see the release of the shot, but it wasn’t really an excuse. He should have been fighting for his ice. And he also probably didn’t see it cuz it was like a turnaround shot. Seemed like it caught him by surprise. He was stabbing at the puck with the glove. It was It didn’t look great. And all of a sudden you’re in a three-3 game. You’re going to overtime. Botched play by the Sabres at one end with uh Quinn probably should have shot it. Power lost the puck. Um, and then John Tavvarus comes down the other way on not quite a breakaway because Tae Thompson, you know, skated hard to get back and kind of take away the middle of the ice a little bit, but it was still he had all the time he needed to get set and and take that shot, which was from about 24 ft out, right? You know, near the the faceoff dot, maybe a little bit inside, and beat Lucin. beat Lucan and clean. Not an easy save, but I would throw it sort of in not in the same category as the third goal, but throw it in the the category of you want to make a big save, you you need a big save, that’s an opportunity to do it. In my mind, I’m not, you know, Lucinan said after the game he feels like he cost the team a point. And, you know, in a way he did. I’m not putting the whole game on Ukopan. I thought the Sabres played well. I thought, you know, they weren’t perfect, but you know, they had a chance to come out with the win. I put this in the category for Uka Lucan of major missed opportunity for him to step up, get a win. This is a guy who did not play well last season by pretty much any measure that you look at. Lost, I think, the trust of his coach late in the season because James Rhymer, I’m just going by actions on that. James Rymer got the net a lot late in the season and this is a chance to win back that trust. Win the trust of your teammates who are probably feeling really good about what they’re getting out of Alex line and to a lesser extent Colton Ellis because it’s one game and I think nobody really knows exactly what they have yet in Colton Ellis. but a chance to come up big, start your season strong, and win back the trust of your coach at the very least. Because I just get the sense that both based on how he talked before the game, I mean based on the end of season, based on how Lindy Ruff talked before the game when Lucinan came back up essentially coming out and saying we don’t know if this guy can stay healthy, so we need to carry three goalies. and then how he spoke after the game confirming everything about Colton Ellis want you know basically saying they wanted him to be the guy that was in the net and then saying they couldn’t have played the third period any better you know to me you know big alarm bells going off that Lukinan’s going to have to has some work to do now to win back uh the trust of his coach Yeah, big alarm bells for sure. Especially when you go back and you look at the past two years of Lindy Ruff being back in Buffalo, going back to his introductory press conference when asked by the media, maybe Paul Hamilton about, you know, do you have a goalie controversy or what’s going on? And Lindy was emphatic. What did he say at that press conference? He said, “I I you know, Paul Hamilton in Jest was sort of like, well, you know, for for old time’s sake, I got to ask you who your goalie is, you know, because Lindy never reveals it in the morning of a of a game.” And he he said, “Well, I know three letters, UPPL.” Uh, and yeah, times have changed, but it was emphatic. Yeah, it was. So, no, with Lucidin, um, third goal, I think you nailed it. You know, that’s one that he has to see it all the way in and make the stop regard. It’s the NHL. Guys are going to get open. They’re going to find open ice. Doesn’t matter if it’s, you know, Nikita Cooerov or Dakota Joshua. Those guys are going to find open ice and get a shot on net. Lucin, I think for a long time, has had a propensity to kind of drop down early. So then you lose the ability to look over a screen. You have to look under a screen or around, you know, when you’re down. And he didn’t do it. stabbed at the puck. When Luke, and we’ve talked about it last year and maybe even two years ago on this show, when he’s not fully dialed in, fully confident, he starts getting stabby with his glove. And that’s what he did there. That was an an alarm for me. The overtime goal, just my read on the play, Quinn has to shoot the puck. That right there, that whole sequence where then Power misplays it. It goes into the corner and the transition game starts really quickly. Lucin’s not off the hook there, but you can certainly understand that it’s going to be a more difficult play coming back than it should have been because all three guys were then below the dot and the Sabres had to retreat back. Tage to your point earlier makes that play where he’s at center ice. He backtracks. So, he he turns around. He’s not skating backwards. He’s on his horse going back, but then he makes a play on the puck and misses it. A defenseman would probably stay with the man and try to go body on body on the man and maybe it’s a different outcome with Tavvarus getting a clean look on net. It’s 50/50 from there. You do want to stop. I’m not going to hang that entirely on Lucin that last goal. You do want to stop there and it is. I think you you capsulize it perfectly. It’s a missed opportunity. I was out to dinner on Saturday for the game by the way. Great food. 1812 Tavern in Hamburg. Great food. Free plug. Free plug. Um but plug is free. Next one will cost you. That’s that’s correct. Um my my mom and and my stepfather, they had risoto dishes. I had a risoto dish. My girlfriend had a southwestern chicken sandwich. Awesome. Anyways, um I could see some of the game like I saw Alex Tuck almost get his head knocked off. We should probably talk about that, too. But um I didn’t, you know, I wasn’t dialed into the game. So got home, watched most of the third period, saw the end of the game in real time, read your gamer, read some other thoughts online, and before I went back, it it it sounded like maybe Lucin didn’t have the greatest game. When I went back through the game, I thought that the Sabres played really well in front of him to start the game. He made some key saves at early I think there was an early power play that he made a couple key stops on. He only had five shots in the first period. He only had five shots in the third period. Missed opportunity. So, they kind of go back in the bigger picture. Should they be happy with 500 through nine games? Yes. But they still have some sorting things out to do. Uh they still have some getting healthy work to do. But I like where the team’s going. Alex Lion is the savior of the team through nine games. But when Alex Lion can’t go, what are they going to do? And that’s going to be, I think, a storyline that you and I are going to talk about for the next couple of weeks because Colt Ellis, I think there’s fans in Buffalo that are frustrated with UPPL, but we might not want to be, it might not be wise to be so dismisses dismissive of UPL. Got to keep an eye on Colt Nellis, this back thing. Well, that’s a big piece of it, right? All of a sudden, he wakes up with with back tightness, which could be nothing, could be something, right? You know, anybody who’s ever had a tight back could tell you that it he’s young enough that you would hope it’s nothing. But you never know if it could linger. I mean, he goes up early. He sleeps in a different hotel room, you know, maybe he was in the car all day. Like, but that’s going to be the league, right? Like, you’re going to be traveling. You’re going to be in strange hotels. You’re going to be getting in late. So, who knows? There’s that piece. There’s the other piece that he’s only played one game and so I still think there’s a a degree of unknown there. I am sort of compartmentalizing this in two ways. Like I wrote it this way in my in my story. It’s like two things can be true. You know, one is that that wasn’t really an ideal spot for Lucin and two is that he could have been better. he he had a chance to win them a game and he didn’t. I guess the third thing I would say is that’s also true is that doesn’t mean that his Sabres career should be over and that he’ll never play another good game for the Sabres again. But I think he has his work cut out for him to earn back the trust of of Lindy Ruff. And I don’t think it’s going to happen overnight, but I think it’s important also to consider the fact that Alex Lion may not play this way all year. There’s probably going to be some stretch where he needs a breather or isn’t at his best. I mean, ideally, he would play this way all year and that would relegate Lucan into a backup at best. then, you know, maybe there’s a a different problem if Ellis continues to look like a a really solid backup. But until you get to that point, I don’t think you take one game in Toronto, which is his first game, eight games into the season, given the circumstances. I don’t think you take that game and you know I hesitate to extrapolate the opinion of a few people and you know generalize it to the entire fan base obviously but I don’t think it’s an uncommon thought that they should trade Lucin right or you know move on from Lucin and it falls into the category of things we’ve talked about in years past when it was boys trade Payton Krebs, trade Henry Ooki Haru, trade, you know, X, Y, and Z. It’s like, who wants him? Who’s trading you something extremely valuable for Uko Pekal Lucinan at this moment? Like selling completely low on a goalie who still has what almost four full years left on a contract that pays him 4.75 million, which isn’t crazy, but why why sell low when you might need him? You know, if Colton Ellis’s back isn’t right, if Colton Ellis doesn’t look as sharp in his second, third, and fourth games as he did in his first, if Alex Lion falters at any point, like Lucinan, there’s still potentially something there. And to take his first start as an indictment on him entirely, I understand he wasn’t good last year. I get that. And so this is sort of a continuation of that. It’s kind of like the 0 and3 start for the Sabres. Normally you wouldn’t, you know, send up alarm bells over an 0 and3 start, but it’s the Sabres. It’s the 14 years before that. It’s the way they were playing and it’s the way this happened for Lucin. But I guess I’m not even trying really to be a Lucan apologist because I wouldn’t give him the net for a little bit here. I I just don’t think I would go back to him, especially with how the schedule sets up. But that said, let’s not get too far ahead and completely write the guy off. Yeah. Did Did Lucin cost them a point? Yeah, I think I could see that argument. Was he the reason they lost the game in overtime? No. No, he’s Oh, and I think Lucin put it exactly right when he said, “I feel like I cost the team a point.” And then the game gets to overtime and it’s a 5050. It’s a coin flip. You know, it’s always a coin flip in overtime. He makes that save on Tavvaris. There’s nothing saying, you know, it’s overtime. Overtime is is a little crazy. So, like him not making that save in overtime is a bit of a let down. But, you know, they had numbers coming like would the rebound have gotten in? I don’t know. It’s the third goal that even allows it to get to overtime because in that case you were in a situation where you could have been getting two and Toronto gets none and instead Toronto gets two and you get one. So, that’s a big swing and now you’re tied in the standings. Instead, you you could have had an upper hand on them. You could have gotten four points out of the weekend. just a like I said a missed opportunity where I don’t know that his team you know Ta Thompson was understanding he’s like look there he hasn’t played and also there weren’t a lot of shots in this game so like he’s like I’m not a goalie but I imagine it was kind of hard to get into a rhythm and there’s there’s plenty of reasons for why he wasn’t particularly sharp but it’s going to be interesting to track going forward because like I said I don’t know when he gets the net again if Ellis is healthy. And so the whole not being in rhythm thing, that’s going to continue to be a challenge for Lucinan. And you have to wonder a little bit, I think, at least something to monitor is Lucin’s headsp space overall, big picture, think about his Sabers’s career and some of what he has dealt with. Now, he got the contract, so I’m not saying, you know, we need to have a tremendous amount of sympathy for the situation here, but he got paid. That’s the best way to show him that that he’s the guy. But he’s he’s constantly had to deal with, you know, the idea that Devin Levi is the goalie of the future, which has come from management as much as it has the fan base. you know, he’s sort of this constant presence of like this guy will replace me eventually or this guy’s the the favorite of the general manager and then, you know, the bad luck of getting injured and, you know, another goalie gets claimed and and boom, all of a sudden he’s sitting there at number three, which is what he was at the beginning of his breakout season, which is easy to forget that Devin Levi started that season. Eric Comry was the backup and Lucan only got thrown in when I believe both of them got hurt. uh or at least Levi got hurt. I’m pretty sure Comry got hurt too at some point. And so it was like, you know, all of a sudden Lucin gets thrown in, plays a pretty good game. But I bring this up just to say like all of this with Lucin. It seems like, you know, and who knows how he felt at the end of last year with Rhymer getting the net as much as he did. So, you know, it’s like he and you go back to the end of Levi’s rookie season and Lucinan was just like not playing hardly any hockey. So, you know, it was Levi and and Craig Anderson were getting in and there was four goalies. So, that seems like it impacts Lucin’s psyche, his performance, like his confidence. And so, you know, is he the best for this like third wheel type of role? I think that remains to be seen. Yeah, Devin Levi, by the way, 3-0 down in Rochester to start the year. 2, three, four goals against. He’s got a 908 save percentage. He can improve there and that number in aggregate, but a shut out in this last time out. So, keep him going. You know, I don’t think that Levi is definitely part of the equation here unless he really has to be. And that’s where another layer of questions get answered, I think, on where does UPPL really stand in this organization. say Alex Lion does. And by the way, let’s just talk about all of them, right? Lion’s been around long enough where there’s probably enough video on him. Teams know how to pre-scout him. So, if he falls back down to earth, it’s going to be just because he hasn’t been managing, he doesn’t manage the workload properly or whatever, right? Or the team mismanages his workload. They should be good there. We both, I think, shared the same sentiment last week when talking about Alex Lion that we can envision him maintaining a pretty high level of play, especially as the Sabres start jelling as a better defensive team, fiveman unit in front of him and they get healthy, all that stuff. Ellis, it seems like minor stress. We have no reason to believe that there’s a history with this guy having back problems. Probably just minor stress. Could be days, but what if it isn’t, right? Could be days, could be couple weeks. We don’t know. Could be longer. Who the hell knows, right? Something to keep an eye on. You mentioned that the schedule is set up pretty well right now for them to manage it properly where UPPL may not see the ice in a while. But then with Levi again, I don’t think that Kevin Adams wants to even think about bringing Levi up this year. But if he has to, if Ellis can’t play and Lucin maybe gets the net, has another iffy start, then it’s going to get really interesting. Well, it’s it’ll be interesting. I think less from Kevin Adams where I feel like the Devin Levi situation has been driven by Kevin Adams a lot in his first few years. Him getting onto the NHL roster, him, you know, getting to basically, you know, get games right away in both seasons. I wonder about it from Lindy Ruff if the frustration Yeah. with Lukan and gets to him to where if Ellis can’t go, he’s like, “Let’s call up Levi or I don’t think they would go to Gorgiev after the way the preseason ended.” But if he does try to bypass him in that way because he doesn’t want him to see the net. I don’t know that we’ll get that answer immediately. So what? Gorgiev, by the way, a player that Lindy has history with. That’s true. I mean, and it’s probably the reason that Gueorgv is even here. And they, you know, he did end up, you know, reporting to Rochester and and playing and, you know, he’s Yeah, he got a game in. He had a 31 save performance and a loss. So, they don’t have a backto back again until the 12th and 13th of November. It’s at Utah, at Colorado. So, you would think that Ellis should be okay by then. You know, they have Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday this week, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday next week. I think you could probably give Lion all those games, right? I I don’t see why not. Um, yeah. I also think knowing Lindy Ruff’s tendencies, he probably wants to give him all those games. Maybe Ellis is okay and you’re able to get him back into one of those games. So that would leave you, you know, they have another backtoback at the very end of November the 28th and the 29th, Thanksgiving weekend, afternoon home game, road game in Minnesota on Saturday the 29th. So it’s uh it’s not like you’re only you’re going to play Lion every game except the backtobacks, but spots where you absolutely have to go to somebody else are limited. So, it allows them to maybe extend the runway with Ellis a little bit, make sure he’s 100% healthy, and avoid potentially going to going to Lucin. Also, by the way, I’m not saying I wouldn’t trade Lucin if the right deal. There are some holes on this roster, especially with injuries. If you could fill one of those with Lucin, I’m not opposed to that idea. I just don’t know if now is the time to get the maximum return on this guy. I mean, teams have cap space and teams always have goalie issues. I think the benefit you would have putting him on the market would be teams would be like maybe thinking it’s a Buffalo thing, right? Get him out of Buffalo. Look what happened to U. They would look at that season he had a couple years ago and maybe feel like Lindy Ruffelt when he came and just had the outsiders perspective. Three letters, UPPL, right? That was his guy. So maybe there’s a little bit of that. I just don’t know that it would be, you know, there’s there’s term left on that contract. It’s not a terrible contract for a goalie by any means. Um it’s really not even like true number number one goalie money, but my main reason for not bothering with that is a you might need them, but b who knows what you’d even get for him. But if you could fill a a real hole on your team, especially up front, I wouldn’t be totally opposed to the idea. But because I do feel good about where Lion is at. I do. I mean, could he is he going to play right at this level all year long? Probably not. He’ll probably have some off nights at some point, but I think But I think he’s got a chance to hang out near this level, you know? That’s what I’m at too with him. I think I think what I why I think he can sustain it is there’s been a few games where I feel like he hasn’t been like a world beater but even that game against Toronto on Friday you know that breakaway he lets kind of squeak through his legs which is you know not ideal but the thing with him is like the big save when you need it. That’s what happened two games in a row for them and it didn’t happen on Saturday. But Colton Ellis on Wednesday makes the big save. They go down the other way. They get the insurance goal. And the same thing happens on Friday with Alex Lion. Big save. Uh and they go down the other way and get that goal from Tuck set up by Owen Power. Lion made, you know, a great save coming across to to get that shot. So, I like his leadership. I like the way he’s, you know, making timely saves in big moments. And overall, you look at his numbers, he’s he’s rock solid. So, I have a a certain level of faith that maybe if his baseline is just a touch lower than this, but I think he’s I think this is what you’re getting. This guy’s ready ready to take advantage of his opportunity. Goalending is not necessarily about the saves you make. It’s about the goals that you let in. And that I think is a proper place to just stop the discussion right now. We’ve talked about goalending here for nearly half an hour. Like this video. Subscribe to the channel. We’re going to keep going. Got to get some plugs in. Alex Tuck gets in a fight. Not a good showing my opinion on that fight. Got spun around and almost got his head spun around. Yeah, I I get so nervous when he fights or when he go when guys go down like that. Like I It’s amazing to me that more of them don’t hit their head on the ice, you know? And he was really close in that. And he got tagged too by McCabe. Like for him to come out of that unscathed is a major win honestly. I mean, forget whether he won the fight or not. he gets to jump in and stand up for his teammate and you know as he said after game he’s like I guess I was kind of the one answering you know he’s like um but to come out of it without an injury to come out of it without an injury for Bow and Byum you know that h those that happened and I thought what if they just lost both of those guys you know there was a moment where that crossed my mind and then I think it was later in the same period that Tage came off uncomfortable And I like they went into that. Was that the first intermission? I think. Yeah, it was because Tuck was in the box for like the whole second period. And I was like wondering what was going to happen when they came out to the bench. Like is Tuck going to be out there? Is is Bo Byron going to be out there? Is going to be out there? Like three of your what, six best players? Maybe three of your five best players. Um that would have been but you know they were all they finished the game. They I mean with head stuff I guess you’d never you know know what could pop up after the fact but Tuck Tuck seemed fine. He was posting pictures from a Halloween party yesterday. So seems like he’s in uh he’s in okay spirits and you know Bo Byum uh you know I think Bo Byum the you know the hit was definitely high and a little bit of a blind side. You know, Byum had his head down, so some of that’s on him a little bit, but with his history of concussions, I think it was just one of those that makes you stand at attention a little bit. Fortunate that they got out of it unscathed. And Tuck finished the game strong. Tuck was maybe, you know, having 17 minutes off on the second half of a backtoback helped him. You know, he had his legs. He was a big part of that that goal standing net front with Josh Don when Bo Byum uh snuck a shot through. So uh this team is one that will stand up for each other a little bit more than last year. And we haven’t seen too many of those moments. But there’s really no hesitation from Tuck in that moment. Maybe he should have had just a split second of hesitation to compose himself. He was so eager to jump in that he didn’t get his gloves off and he got all spun around. That’s the reason he got tagged the way he did. Maybe just take a quick breath then jump in so that he had but he went right in. And I I give him credit because he’s always the one doing that. Um and you could say somebody else should have done it, but he was the one that was right there so he jumped in. Yeah. Yeah, I get nervous whenever those situations come up with Tuxis because he’s not a very skilled pugilist. No, he’s not. It’s not his uh he’s very willing. He’s a willing combatant. He’s willing. I loved his comments after the game. I just get nervous when it happens because whether it was in the Czech Republic, whether it was fighting Brady Kachuk in preseason last year, whether it was in the uh World Championship a couple years ago, it’s just not a strong suit of his game. Sometimes it’s just the act of doing it and I get it. But it would be nice if if he was even more effective when doing it. So he needs some lessons. Kudos to him if he got some lessons. He’s got the size, the reach, and the mentality. He just he he gets off balance a lot. Um yeah, that’s what always makes me nervous, guys falling backwards like that. It’s like uh Yeah, the back of your head. And that was the same thing with Yeah, it’s unfortunate that sometimes he fall like you see it too often. It’s like a like when you fight balancing I think he needs he needs like I said some there’s the art of fighting is probably lost in a lot of ways like there you know in terms of how to actually do it and be good at it. And so if you got a little bit of an edge and you found a way to get good at it, not even, you know, the physical act of throwing punches, but maintaining balance and some of the strategy involved, if he’s going to do it, he should he should figure that out. Let’s go back to Friday’s game real quick. Matias Samuelson comes out and that’s a pair of goals in that one. And that’s not the only moment this season where I think that we’re saying, “Okay, Samuelson’s a guy that seems to be getting it. Defensively, he’s blocking a fair amount of shots. He’s not costing the team uh with bad giveaways at least. You know, there’s he’s not perfect. I’m not saying that. But really good to see Samuelson’s game nine games in. Number one, he’s been reasonably healthy. There’s always going to be those concerns there with this guy. If you go back and look at his NHL resume, there’s always a risk of him getting hurt. But where you at with Samson right now, I think that he’s one of those elements to the game that’s helped stabilizing the team defensively, keeping them in games. He and Jason Zooker looks like leading the team. Goals above expected. 1.7 goals above expected for Matias Samuelson. I’m not sure we had that on our early season bingo cards here for the Buffalo Sabres. Yeah, I think goals above expected would also like apply to goals above what Matias Samuelson expected it seems like because he uh he was definitely surprised on Friday night. He was getting a kick out of it. I think at the time he was tied with Tage Thompson uh in goals maybe or maybe one behind him or something. So, he was uh this early in the season kind of among the team leaders in goals, but it’s really more than that. Like you said, he is he’s been good on the penalty kill and he’s playing that game that he played a few years ago. You know, I think there’s probably some element, you know, he said on Friday night that confidence, you know, his confidence, he’s playing with a little more swagger and he said when you don’t have the confidence, it can be really hard to find it over the course of the season. So, I think he’s just found a way to manufacture it, like come into this season and just have a little bit of attitude and a little bit of confidence. I think it starts to snowball when you play physical. When you’re getting into it after the whistle, you start to to feel a little bit more of it. So, they shuffled around the defensive pairs a little bit and had him up with Dalene, I think, maybe as a way to try to get Dali going um and, you know, give him an old partner back. So something to watch because as we brought up you know maybe Kessle ring comes back and isn’t you know right away Owen P’s partner like we had penciled in because Power Timonss seems to be kind of this sturdy little pair that they got going. Timonss has been I mean if you’re talking about who’s been the best defenseman for the Sabres this season I think you can make a case for for Connor Timonss I think Timmons and Samuelson are sort of in that mix as far as who’s been the steadiest for these guys and that was pencled in as your third pair so it speaks to the depth that they have and what they could be when they’re fully healthy. So nice game from from Samuelson for sure. And you know, good to see Byron get on the board too on on Saturday night. Um because he was the one that went down to play with Mets. You know, because Samson got bumped up. It was Byum, you know, going all the way down to the third pair playing with Mets. Obviously, they’re they’re rotating five in some cases, too, which goes back to the idea that all these guys need to be able to play with each other and, you know, balance things out that way. Still probably not, you know, quite the highest level of Raasmus Dalene yet, but asked about that before the game, Lindy Ruff brought up everything that happened in the summer. Um, which I think was was good that Lindy Ruff brought that up. I mean, we’ve talked about it a few times and I think it was good on the coach to just publicly put that out there as a like everything he went through. It’s natural that maybe the first, you know, month or so of the season might not be perfect, but to credit, it’s not, you know, not exactly, it’s not like it’s a lack of of effort, right? Like he’s he’s putting it all out there. I think there’s just been moments where he doesn’t look as sharp with the puck as he usually does. and kind of difficult to imagine even playing with everything that that’s on his mind with his fiance still back home in Sweden recovering. So, I think I would expect him to find it eventually, but wanted to call that out. I know we had some people mention that also in the comments of our our last video when we were talking about Dalene. Certainly not something we’ve forgotten about, right? We haven’t forgotten about it and it was good back up. Yeah, we don’t mention it every time we’re talking about Sabers, but maybe we could uh mention it a little more frequently than we have, but to me it’s assumed, right? Like we all know what the situation is. Um but yet you have to you have to comment analyze the on ice performance and that’s kind of where I’m at with it. But yeah, I I agree with you. I mean he’ll I think he’ll settle and he’ll get dialed in. It’s a new world for him and it’s certainly a new world, a new life for his girlfriend. She is fiance. Fiance. Girlfriend. Fiance. It’s a new life. Yeah. For her. So, um and and thus it’s a new life for Rasmus as well. So, no, I get it. Um but things are starting to come together. I think after this weekend, three or four points, Ta Thompson has um reclaimed his mantle at top the Sabres points leaderboard. He’s now leading the team. when we did the rundown last week, you know, it was Benson and Quinn and I think Zooker. I can’t remember who were the who were the three. Oh, no, Don. It was Don leading the team. Um, Tuck emerging, showing that leadership, getting in the fight. Talked about that. I think things are really starting to come together for this group. Can’t get ahead of ourselves, but I think they’re moving in a good direction. Again, 44 and one, not a bad place for this team to be. Um, and Alex Lion’s been a big part of that. Some other housekeeping notes unless uh you want to get into anything else from the weekend, but I do want to mention Redeem Murka was sent back to Seattle from Rochester. It was the most reasonable outcome. I think making that pit stop in the AHL was fine. There was no reason to really keep him there all season long. He had an assist, seven penalty minutes, couple shots on goal. I think he had like three shots on goal. Yeah. Got a fight, right? Four games. got in a fight. Kept his gloves on. Tuck actually probably looked a little more skilled. At least Tuck got his gloves off. But yeah, he did get in a fight. Murka did. Um didn’t like he didn’t get, you know, he didn’t decisively lose the fight or anything like that. He just you got to get your gloves off, kid. You know, like it was just like what the what are you doing? But anyways, it’s part of the learning. Um but he’s back in Seattle. He went back got an assist in his first game. Seattle Thunderbirds also got um Coots back from Vancouver. So, they’re getting uh the Thunderbirds are getting both of their first round players back and they went out won their first game together. MK had an assist. All good there. He’s just going to play a ton of work. He’s going to be physically dominant. It was the right outcome. I think some people were maybe they understand it now, but like it’s there was a faction of fans that didn’t want him to go back to juniors. Just from the human developmental side, from the player development side, it’s the right move. I think we leave it at that. Do you have any thoughts on that? No, I think that was how it should have gone, especially with the minutes he was getting in Rochester, right? Like you’d rather him play, I think, the big role and all situations than even have to feel like you’re you’re maybe forcing him more minutes than he’s ready for in Rochester. Like the role he was going to play in Rochester that you could see in the first handful of games is like get him back to junior. Good that he got a taste. Good that he got an extended taste really with the preseason, you know, all those games in Buffalo and then gets a little bit of AHL time. It’s the best of both worlds. I think there there’s no rush, especially with a defenseman to to have him playing in the AHL. I think he can he’ll develop just fine out there in Seattle. You know, a bigger takeaway from the week uh the weekend of games, Tyson Kak goes down with an inch. Kak has been a an incredibly important piece to this team to start the season. Losing him now because there was a little bit of uh a discussion going on on Saturday. Who they who were the Sabres going to call up from Rochester to fill that void. Ultimately, they elected to stay big in the bottom half of the lineup and bring Dunn back up. But Helenius that Friday night, two goals, two assists. He had the overtime winner again on Saturday. He’s slowly making a case to get himself maybe some looks at some point here. Were you surprised at the recall had done or was it just par for the course with Lindy? I think what you’re going to see because you’re going to have Rosane, you’re going to have Helenius. It’s it’s going to be the role that the Sabres need to replace is likely going to dictate who they call. It’s not always going to be best guy going. That’s what I I I felt like I shouldn’t have been surprised on Saturday. You know, Friday night I was writing and I thought, you know, I threw a note in there about Kak obviously getting hurt and added on a note about Helenius having two goals and two assists. Like, hey, might be time to you got a hot hand here. You could use some offense. But given the situation, Dunn did make sense in that it is, you know, that opponent, the Leafs, they were, and you saw it on Saturday night. They were they’re they have a bit more of an edge to them maybe than, you know, a few years ago. They’ve sort of been building towards that. McCabe was sort of all over the place being Chippy all night. And, you know, having a a bigger guy in there made sense. I also like the way Dun’s playing when he comes up, you know, as a I actually appreciate that Dunn was in there instead of Gearson because I feel like Dunn can do what Gears can do in terms of fighting and he can also give you some useful minutes. So, it made some sense. Depending on how these injuries shake out though, there would potentially be an opportunity to get Helenius up. The idea that the window was closing, as Lindy mentioned a few weeks ago, I don’t know. It depends how quick Greenway can get back. There still hasn’t really been any definitive timeline on that. Kak’s out at least a week, maybe more. Danforth and Norris aren’t coming back anytime soon. So, you know, could depend on how they feel about Osland and what they’re getting out of him. 8 minutes and 39 seconds of ice for Oseland on Saturday and I think he had nine something on Friday. So, not a lot. And they certainly don’t want to be in a position where they’re rushing Helenius, but what they get out of Helenius is definitely different than what they get out of Osland in terms of physicality and, you know, tenacity on the forche. I think there’s, you know, bump him to wing if you want to. There’s some flexibility there. I’m still I still have my eye on Helenius. I’d like to see him get he’ll get games this year, I think, at some point. It may not be soon, but I wouldn’t mind it if it if it was. All right, it’s Monday morning. I’m gonna get you out of here. Before we do, coming off the the Kak mention, quick injury update to set the table to start this week of the season here. What are we What are we looking at here with guys like Greenway, Kessle Ring, Bryson, all those guys? Just quick injury rundown. Any notes you have on those guys? Bryson, I think, should be getting close. he was back at practice and you know when you’re back at practice that quick after a concussion usually it’s a good sign. So um I wouldn’t be surprised if he can get back in there which probably means Mets is going back down I think probably for the best um in terms of just how this depth shakes out. Kessle Ring I would say Tuesday is optimistic. I feel like Thursday or Saturday probably makes a little bit more sense, but we’ll have a better idea later today at practice where he’s at, how he recovered from that skate on Friday. Thursday would be a good little spot for him. New Hampshire boy, Northeastern guy, Boston being his first game. That would be uh that would be, you know, pretty fun for him. Greenway is sort of the the mystery. They’re they’re taking it slow there. And Lindy Ruff, it feels like one day we’ll just get an update like, yeah, he’s good to go. But Lindy Ruff hasn’t been locked in committed to anything in regards to Greenway. Um, I think they said no time frame is what they Yeah, no time, which is probably because of what he’s dealing with. They want to make 100% sure so that they’re not getting three games out of him and then he’s back on the shelf. So, uh, you know, still a few weeks away on Danforth and obviously Norris is what, probably a month and a half away, but have seen Norris walking around. He was with the team on Saturday night in Toronto. So, uh, that’s good at least. But Norris was what, eight weeks as of October 13th. So, yeah, another month and a half and maybe we see that. That would be a huge get. the I know you had more the on the Greenway thing, you know, losing Kak because they did put Kak on IR which makes he’s at least a week, right? So, he’s at least a week. Getting Greenway back would be just his length and his defensive acumen. That would be really huge for the team if they could somehow get him in before K, you know, to kind of fill that Kak void a little bit. then you’re not relying on, you know, Osceland, Dunn, Helenius, like at the See, but I I get no time frame, but it’s just I’m connecting those two. It would be nice. It’d be ideal for Lindy, but I know I know you had more before we get out of here. No, that was that was pretty much it, I think. Um, Greenway, we’ll see. I mean, practice today should give us a a better indication of where some of these guys are at. and and then Ellis, right? We’ll see what’s up with that that back and if that’s something that was just a blip or something that might keep him out. Not pulling any alarms yet on Colton Ellis. I guess we’ll see. Storylines are bound to follow up on this week in Saberland. Matthew Fairburn. Do your plugs and we’ll get on out of here to start this Monday. Yeah, you can find everything I write at theathletic.comsabers. like the video and comment on the video to help the algorithm and Chris’s personal happiness algorithm as well. All right, for Matthew Farburn, you can follow everything he does at theathletic.com/sabers for the production crew who is going to refill my coffee because I have a long day ahead of me, Chris Baker. Thanks everyone for checking out the podcast. We’ll see you again next time.

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