Minnesota Gets Quinn Hughes & Adams OUT in BUF ft. John Hynes, Matthew Fairburn, & Matthew Barnaby

Minnesota Gets Quinn Hughes & Adams OUT in BUF ft. John Hynes, Matthew Fairburn, & Matthew Barnaby

[music] Well, that was an exciting weekend, wasn't it? [music] Welcome to Monday, December the 15th. the sheet back on the air. Glad to have you here with us [music] today. We are going to spend a lot of time with Quinn Hughes. Just I I know it's the topic of the weekend. It's been the the topic for everybody on Daily Face Off and elsewhere all day long. But there's a there's a couple of points that I want to make here um that I haven't quite heard made in relation to both this story and subsequent comments made by Quinn Hughes after a very successful debut yesterday by Quinn Hughes in the green of the Minnesota Wild. First of all, the no trade issue. Um Elliot talked about this on Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada has you know written about it, discussed it. Uh the idea that the New Jersey Devils couldn't get the ball over the finish line on Quinn Hughes essentially because there are players that refuse to wave their no trade. Now, a couple of things here. One, let's back up. Uh, as someone with a with another team uh told me this morning, if you have a superstar player who wants to come to your team and you want to have that player and you can't get it done, that's a major problem. Now, that's the obvious statement of the day. But I also think that this one is a little bit more complicated than it just looks at. like it's a little more complicated than just, oh, let's just, you know, get out our slingshots for Tom Fitzgerald, general manager of the New Jersey Devils. Now, do they have too many no trades? Yeah, probably. Specifically on the back end. And I would imagine considering the deal that the Vancouver Conucks took from the Minnesota Wild, if you're starting to put together a deal that was similar, that would entice Jim Rutherford to making the deal with the New Jersey Devils. I'm going to go ahead and say it would probably start with Simon Neich and Dawson Mark Berser and then you just start adding up from there. Now, where the um New Jersey Devils got in trouble are two places really, as someone mentioned to me this morning. And one of the main ones is uh they're capped out and [snorts] they can't make room to bring in players right now. And that's complicated by the fact that they have a lot of no trades and can't move money out. So, the issue there that gets even more complicated is the nature of the no trade itself. Zach, let me know if I'm missing anything along the way here. I want to be slow and thorough and as precise as I can with how we frame all of this and then we'll get into the Quinn Hughes comments after yesterday's game as well. The issue with a no trade or a no move is it's not really in some ways worth the paper that it's written on digital or otherwise. Players wave their no trades and no moves all the time. And if you ask any player and you ask any agent, ask any hockey observer, insider or otherwise, what no trades are for, no trades are there primarily so a player can be part of the process of dictating where they go next. Essentially, if you say to a player, we don't want you here anymore. You're not welcome. We don't want you. We want you somewhere else. We want someone else in your spot. Generally, the player will say, "Okay, let's work on a new landing pad." That doesn't always happen. I'm going to try really hard for your sake [snorts] not to bring up the Muscoa 5, Zach, because I know it's a sensitive No. >> Okay. No need. Well, we we'll move along from there. But essentially, no trades mean the player gets to be involved in the process and gets to decide. Part of the issue here is it's a combination of the New Jersey Devils are capped out. They have too many no trade clauses specifically on the back end. And thirdly, and this is going to sound harsh, but it's true. Players don't want to go to Vancouver right now. I shouldn't say that. Players don't want to play for the Canucks. I think a lot of people would go to Vancouver. For my money, outside of Montreal, it's the finest of all the major cities in the country, but they don't want to play for the Canucks. It is always, you know, with this administration and the previous one, it has been at times toxic, [snorts] certainly chaotic. We've seen um dressing room feuds spill out into the public, which led to a player getting traded, a significant player. And even before that, you had a captain who was essentially run out of town and disrespected by uh management. That is, of course, Bo Horvat. Uh you've had a a once considered franchise player take a step back in his career. You've now had back-to-back captains find their way out of town. You've had a coach who refused to sign an extension. Think about that for a second. When have you seen a coach, considering there's only 32 jobs, say, "No, I'm not I'm not I'm not coming back. >> I'm I'm going I'm going somewhere else." That doesn't happen. And >> on top of all of it, it's a last place team, which is surrounded by question marks and controversy and no slight against Adam Foot, but you're going to you're going to a situation where it's a rookie NHL coach. Does that sound desirable for anybody who has control over where they go? Right? Hockey players talk. Hockey players read. Hockey players watch. Hockey players listen. What do I always say on this show? You can't lie to hockey players. >> Hockey players know what a good situation is and what a bad situation is. Right? You can't lie to them. You cannot pretend to a hockey player. They know. They know which players belong on the ice and which don't. They know which markets they should be going to and which they should stay away from. So, it should come as really no surprise that there are some players on the New Jersey Devils that in conversation about a deal for Quinn Hughes would have exercised their no trade/no move and said, "Why would I go there? Why would I leave here?" here. Like cuz I'm saying like I'm sure some of those players that we're talking about right now, if you turned around to them and said, "Hey, we've got a deal for you to go to the >> Florida Panthers." You do? [snorts] We have a deal for you to go to the Tampa Bay Lightning. I'm listening. We have a deal for you to go to the Vancouver Conucks. Call my agent. Right. That that's part of this, too. This was always going to be a really tough deal for Vancouver to make with the New Jersey Devils. And to the previous point, if you start with Neich and and you go to Dawson Mercer as well and maybe look at Anton Salv as well and then you keep on adding up, part of the other problem here is the Vancouver Conucks or the New Jersey Devils rather haven't really done a great job stocking the cupboards. And that's where that's where the Minnesota Wild swoop in who've done a great job with not just drafting but development as well. Okay. And the one thing you need to always consider too is something that looks like looks like a detriment can turn out to be really good luck for you. Like if Zeve Boy doesn't fall as far as he did in that Vegas draft because there were many. and myself. I was I was in this camp too. I thought Ze Buham was going three to Anaheim and then watching him fall. It was kind of like Cam Fowler or Jacob Chikin in their drafts where you're like, how far down is this guy going to go? And because he did, again, we always focus on, you know, sliding door moments here. The sliding door moment for the Minnesota Wild to get Quinn Hughes was Zoham falling in the draft. Because without see boy in this deal, this deal does not get done at all. >> Watching that and you don't realize it at the time, right? Hindsight 2020, we're going to look back on this deal and say, "What put this deal over the finish line? What was the thing that got this deal done?" It was Zeve Boy falling into the laps of the Minnesota Wild. They were thrilled and they should be thrilled that they ended up getting Zoam. But with all these things colliding all at the same time, we probably shouldn't look at this and say, "What a shock that Minnesota got in." They have excellent amateur scouting. They have excellent development. They have excellent pro scouting as well. like it is um it is a an organization [snorts] that is very much in sync and and it has as Quinn Hughes himself said a general manager who isn't shy about sacking up and here's the other thing about it too this is the second time we've seen Bill Garin involved in major deals he signed the biggest contract of the year so far okay Capri's off we looked at that and said, "Wow, massive." He got the player. He knows what it costs and he knew the cost for Quinn Hughes. And that's why he went in there and said, "I am going to put together a deal that nobody is going to match. That no one's going to have a show. New Jersey Devils think they can do not a chance. No one's coming in here to touch what my offer is." And go have a look at the New Jersey Devils lineup. Like you think if Jesper Brat was one of the asks or Nikico Heir was one of the asks then maybe you look at it and go like for the Vancouver Conucks. Yeah, for sure. But those guys aren't going to wave to go to Vancouver. I don't know if they were part of the deal. But like think about it logically. Are they going to wave to go to that situation right now? Not a chance. >> Also, can I step in on that, Jeff? The other thing that I think about when you bring those players up is if you're trying to draw parallels in my mind at least to what Minnesota traded verse what New Jersey would have had to trade in a hypothetical trade you know when we talk about okay let's say maybe it comes across and it's Neich and it's Mercer if that is in your head what is you know the equivalent kind of offer going back from New Jersey to Vancouver that's the beginning right beginning >> yes exactly but I I just mean like the starting point of that if you're looking at the Heeshers and those guys and you're starting to look into your lineup, at what point does that actually start to detract from your lineup versus what you're adding? Um, totally, >> right? And whereas Minnesota, and again, no disrespect to Rossy or to Zeve Boy, but I look at Minnesota the day after that trade's made and I just look at a team that has improved. They've still got to go and add to centers or add and to support the centers depth that they have on the team. That's fine. What team in the NHL right now isn't trying to do that? But, you know, you look at New Jersey, I think if you have to add on to that by trading your Nikicoish, all of a sudden you're going, >> okay, well, that was a really good move. That's the starting point. Now, we got to go make another one and and like a pretty decent size trade. That's the other kind of problem where I look at what Billy G did and I'm like, wow. Like, that's it's good work having the balls to do that, too. got a really funny tweet this morning from Taj, the mysterious Taj in Vancouver, uh, who's a a a mustf follow for Vancouver Canucks fans and a very much a a thorn in the side of Vancouver Conucks management and ownership. Um, for the the podcast I do with Bruce Budro, every show we do like an ask Gabby segment, hey Gabby segment, and it was any questions for Bruce Budro. And Taz tweeted me and said, "Ask him if Quinn Hughes will play center for the Minnesota Wild." [laughter] And uh so we put it on the show. Um uh Bruce M Bruce mentioned too that um >> he was asked three different times >> by Jim Rutherford about Quinn Hughes at center. And as Gabby mentions, this is when we had Horvat, JT Miller, Elias Patterson, and Jason Dickson. [laughter] Anyhow, I digress. I I hope that I sort of spelled that out. That's just that's just my thinking on all of this and and where we're at. I want to get to a couple of clips. Elliot Freedman was on Morning Cup of Hockey. Uh we'll get his thoughts uh on all of it. Le let's get to what's coming up on the program today because it's not just the Minnesota Wild. We're going to talk about a lot today, but also the Buffalo Sabres uh which are who are poised to do something that well we probably have seen coming now for uh for a little for a little while. Uh the blue the first day with the new tongue. The blueprints is it Monday or what? The blueprints is powered by FanDuel. Don't use a new tongue on the big show. America, the blueprint is powered by FanDuel. Download the app today and play your game on FanDuel. I used up all my words talking about the Quinn Hughes deal. I've got nothing left now. I'm just going on fumes at this point. Uh coming up on the program today, uh more thoughts on the Quinn Hughes trade. Um Minnesota Wild next in action tomorrow against the Washington Capitals. Uh Matthew Farburn will join us from The Athletic who's uh who wrote a really good piece on the weekend. Very well researched and very thoughtful along with Tim Graham talking about um the future of Kevin Adams and the Buffalo Sabres and what we may see as early as I don't know. I keep checking my watch and refreshing my social media. Uh also we'll talk to uh John Hines who's the head coach of the Minnesota Wild. Uh how'd you like to get that phone call? Uh John. Yeah, Billy here. Uh, I just got you Quinn Hughes. Uh, are you good with that? Uh, all this plus more coming up on today's edition uh, of the sheet. In the meantime, want to let you know this segment is a presentation of Bower and the Bower ProSharp Advanc Edge. This at home sharpener gives you the ability to sharpen your skates with prolevel precision at the touch of a button. Leveraged by decades of progressive innovation, this machine is designed to be as automated, precise, and convenient as possible. Easy to use. The Advantage features an interactive touchscreen, user profiles, and has readily available how-to videos and troubleshooting tips to have you ready to sharpen like an expert. Whether you're sharpening skates in your garage, at the rink, or even on the road, the Advantage Atome sharpener ensures that your skates are always game ready. Bower's holiday gift guide makes it easy to find gifts for every type of player or fan from on ice gear to lifestyle apparel. Learn more about the Bower Prosharp Advantage at Bower.com. With that, we'll bring aboard Matthew Fairburn from The Athletic. Uh an excellent uh piece of journalism over the weekend discussing the Buffalo Sabres, how they got here, and where they go next. Matthew, first of all, thanks so much for for joining me today. I know it's been a I want to say busy 72 hours, but it's kind of been like a busy 14 years uh with with the Buffalo Sabres to give it its its proper context. Uh a nice little three-game win streak here for the Buffalo Sabres culminating in a win last night against the Seattle Kraken. Uh doesn't really feel like it's going to amount to much. Uh it feels almost like die has already been cast. Um based on your piece over the weekend in the Athletic, can you give us a snapshot of where you see the swords right now? >> Yeah, at the moment, you know, it's like you said, it it things could change quickly, right? We're all kind of, you know, waiting heading into the week to see what might happen. But they have at least started to discuss the idea of moving on from Kevin Adams as their general manager. What all goes along with that, I think, is the big question, right? You know, he still has another year on his contract after this one. He's been employed by the Pagoulas for a long time, predating his time as general manager. So, there's, you know, some factors there. And then Yarmmo Keolin, who joined the team as a senior adviser over the summer, is the most logical candidate uh to replace Adams if they were to make a move either on an interimm or permanent basis. He shared this morning that his father passed away yesterday. So, he's been out of the country uh you know, being with his family. And so there there's a lot of you know, things kind of complicating the the timeline of everything. But I think the fact that it's being >> at least discussed is a sign that um you know Terry Pigula is seeing things the way maybe others in the hockey world have seen them with this team and and is starting to recognize uh a need for potential change here. And that would be welcome I think by a lot of people in Buffalo certainly the fans. Uh, and I think the situation has been hanging over >> the organization as well from the locker room to the business side about what's going to happen here. There's a lot of negativity locally around this team and most of it is directed at Adams. And so, >> it's been a bit of a wait and I think this is, you know, they have three days between games. We'll see what what this team looks like when they take the ice on Thursday night. >> You know, we don't see um manager moves made very often. It has happened, but we don't see manager moves getting made during the season. Coaches certainly players all the time. But to to to make a decision on a general manager and listen to your point, we don't know whether this is considering he has another year on his deal. Could this be a situation where Kevin Adams as we like to say could fall upwards? Uh I'll wonder about the same thing about about Lindy Ruff who we'll get to in a couple of seconds as well. uh have now what we have seen before in the NHL is sometimes managers will be on quarterly reviews and if the team is not in a playoff spot as each quarter rolls around that general manager could be dismissed which is why despite this winning streak right now that the Buffalo Sabres are on I don't think that would factor into any decision on Kevin Adams because at the quarter it's not a team that's in a playoff position. Do you know that again like I don't know whether Kevin Adams is on one of these agreements with Terry Pagula. It very much considering your reporting with him um that it feels that way. Do you know that to be any type of agreement that Adams has with his owner? Quarterly reviews. If you're not in the playoffs, we can make a move. >> I don't know for sure, but I know they're in pretty regular communication. Kevin Adams has said in the past that they speak almost daily. And I think the difference with where the Sabres are now compared to where they were even just a year ago when a lot of people locally were calling for this, you know, the fan base has been chanting for Adams to be fired for about a year now. The difference is they now have somebody to turn to. [clears throat] You know, Kevin Adams has had, you know, pretty inexperienced front office around him before this off season. And the addition of Yarmmo Kealinan immediately made people wonder, okay, if things go south, this is a guy that they could turn to at the very least on an interim basis. And as far as the timing goes, I don't know what you how you feel about this, Jeff, but the way the hockey calendar works, particularly for a team like the Buffalo Sabres that is not going to be building through free agency just because it's hard to attract outside talent. >> Yep. Everything they do from here from like this day forward impacts their roster next year, the year after that, you know, they're going to be building this team through through trades and, you know, through internal development. They have Alex Tuck presently unsigned and the trade deadines a few months away. So, >> if you want somebody handling that contract or that trade, depending on which direction it goes, you're going to want the right person handling that. They have Zack Benson, uh Josh Don, and Michael Kessler as restricted free agents. You know, >> all these deals, everything that happens, like you want to get to work as soon as possible. And so, unlike in other sports where I feel like the off season is when general managers do all of the heavy lifting, it almost feels like by the time you get to the off season, you better have done some work as a general manager. So, I do think the timing makes sense from that standpoint. You also have three goalenders and uh despite what they may tell you publicly, despite what they may tell their their general manager, there has never been a time I'm quite confident in in saying there's never been a time in the NHL when three goalenders on an NHL roster have been happy about that situation. It's miserable for for everybody. Um and the Buffalo Sabres have got themselves into this position. Like if we take another sort of step forward here uh and let's just say they make a decision on Kevin Adams dismissal promotion what whatever it is and there's a new general manager and let's assume that it's going to be Yarmmo Kalenan I think the first one of the first things that needs to be done and probably Yarmmo already has this in his head is what's our direction right now and I think it's I think it's really wise you bring up Alex Tuck right away on the expiring contract. Uh, I have a hard time believing that Dallas isn't interested here. Like Minnesota just made a big move and Jim Nell is not one to sit on his hands. I mean, Edmonton would make a lot of sense, I think, as well for a for someone like Alex Tuck. I think they need to decide like, okay, who are we? Uh, where do we want to go? And on whose timeline are we going to do this on? I think before we make any decisions, if you're the Buffalo Sabres here, you need to decide what is the direction. Are we a couple of pieces away from being a team that can compete from the playoffs or do we need to take a mild retreat, take stock of all of this and then move forward? You have a thought on that? >> I know they don't want to take a step back necessarily. They don't want they want to keep pushing for the playoffs. The playoffs are I know it can be a bit of a tricky subject in some other markets where just getting to the playoffs is not good enough and and you want to set yourself up to be making the best possible run at a Stanley Cup. But there's so many reasons the Sabres need to be focused on the playoffs first before anything else. And I think you could start on the business side where attendance has, you know, it's been a struggle for them. I mean, they've they've done a little bit better this year. Uh they've gotten creative about ways to fill the building, but it's still, you know, they know the easiest way to do it is to get back to being a playoff team first and foremost. I also think the weight of the drought is just hanging over a lot of things. And I think if you looked at it from a hockey standpoint, some people I talked to around the league don't think this team is that far off. you know that you know they've been building this thing for a while with a lot of young players some of whom are starting to make a mark in the NHL like Noah Oseland Isach Rosanne's had a a pretty decent run here Yuri Koulik's been out but you know another young piece you know in the middle of that lineup a really young defense core like a lot of these guys they've been doing the hard part of going through the growing pains and watching these guys mature I think it's about shifting some pieces around moving some guys out finding the right veterans to support this young core and trying to get rid of that playoff drought because it it is something that permeates so much of what they do and puts so much pressure on everybody in that building that if they could get rid of that then they can worry about you know the ultimate goal. >> So I I would imagine then it would be more deals not unlike the JJ Purka deal. We're not trading for magic beans and lottery tickets uh at the draft. We want young players or or or or players in the in the same demographic age-wise as the player that we're trading. Not too dissimilar to what the Vancouver Conucks are trying to do here in in in in some ways. We need to stay competitive. We can't take that step back and just say picks picks picks picks picks. But having said that, um Tuck is an interesting name. uh anytime a new manager comes in, that manager brings with him uh a bias about certain players. And the thing about Yarmmo, if again we're all assuming that this will be Yarmmo Kolain and if a decision is made on Kevin Adams, he's been there enough, seen enough, evaluated enough, normally when new general managers take over, the first thing they do is they try to buy themselves some time. Oh, I need to get to know the organization. I got to get to see this player up close. I need to, you know, I need to have conversations with the coaching staff. I need to and essentially what a what a GM is doing is saying, I'm going to take a year on my off my contract here and essentially surf under the guise of I'm just getting to know everybody. Yarmo's already been there. Yarmmo knows these players, understands the dynamic, knows what's happening with the coaching staff, knows who's making decisions, knows who should be on the ice, knows who shouldn't be on the ice, understands the dynamic between Buffalo and Rochester and the uh the issues that can exist in the room, on the bench, in the American Hockey League, all of it. If there is a change, I don't expect anything other than Yarmmo Kalenan to hit the ground running. with a lot of his own ideas since he's already been there for a while. Agree, disagree. >> I agree based on Yarmmo's track record, too, right? He's been a bold decision maker in the past. And what I think makes him an interesting candidate, whether it's interm or permanent, is that I would start with the fact that they went through a pretty extensive process to land on him as their senior adviser. and they haven't had a general manager with prior general manager experience under Terry Pagula's ownership. And so >> on the surface, I understand those who would be skeptical of a hire when a full search was not done, right? But >> if you're looking for somebody with former general manager experience, then you're looking in the pool that they were looking for for a senior adviser. So I think if they had fired Kevin Adams in May and hired Yarmmo Keolinan, I think most people would have been okay with that locally. What I like about him as a fit, if they go that route, is that he did work in Columbus where, you know, small market trying to attract uh talent to come there, trying to attract talent to stay there. And he made a lot of bold moves to reshape that roster. And I thought he did a a decent enough job drafting as well. Nobody's perfect, and and certainly when you're a former general manager, you're definitely not perfect. But I think you're right about the idea that he's been around this enough and this is not I know these senior adviser jobs can vary around the league >> and some of them are sitting in their home office and are never around the team. Kekal Linan was here has been here almost daily. You know he's back home right now so he wasn't on the most recent road trip out west but all throughout training camp he was there every day. He was watching almost every practice right next to Kevin Adams. He was on some road trips early in the year. That built-in excuse like you talked about of, oh, I need to take some time to get to know things. He's already had a six-month head start on that. And he also doesn't strike me as the type of guy who's who's real hesitant to jump in and take action when when he sees fit. And so I I think your instincts are right there that if it's him, he's not going to mess around. and you can't afford to have him, you know, wait around too much because like I said, some of these decisions are pretty big and they're going to impact. I think that's part of why you have to have the conversation about Adams in general is because >> you can make the argument that Josh Don, Zack Benson, like you would have been prudent to get those done before the season. Don's number has definitely gone up. Um maybe not Benson, but >> we know how the the market is shifting. Certainly Tuck would have been better to get done in the summer. So, you know, the longer you wait, sometimes the more you're paying in these cases, and the landscape can shift dramatically very quickly in this league. So, they they'd be right to have a bold decision maker, and I think Kekalinan kind of fits that bill. >> You know, I I I threw this out there on Saturday just based on sort of speculation here, but if they do, and let's again, we're assuming that it's Kekalan who comes in if they make a move, uh a decision would have to be made on the on the bench uh with with Lindy Ruff, who's on the uh the expiring deal here. Uh, I wondered about someone like John Tortoella who has a background with the Buffalo Sabres, former assistant coach, can come in and talk about culture change and whipping him into shape and all these types of things that we've grown accustomed to drawn Tortoella doing. Um, when he when he takes over a new team, um, that would be one of the decisions I would imagine there'll be decisions made on the net minding situation. three three doesn't work and that would have that that's going to have to be cleaned up with a decision. I would wonder about some of the, you know, underperforming players. I would wonder about Owen Power. Uh I would wonder about Jack Quinn. Like there would be a a few players that would need decisions as well. There's the Alex Tuck situation that you talk about. But here's ultimately maybe the big question, all of it. Does it mean anything if at the end of it Terry Pagula is significantly involved in the decision makingaking process? I understand one of the most important skills you can have as a manager now is the ability to manage upwards and have a relationship with your owner. Massage your message in. maybe hoodwink your owner to believe that the idea that you're putting forward is actually his idea and we can all have a a merry Christmas. Um, I don't know exactly how much involved Terry Pagula is. I hear it is a I don't know if it's significant, but Terry Pagula isn't involved is involved in decisions. I don't know if he's choosing goalenders, for example, but nonetheless. Um, does any of it matter if Terry still wants two hands on the wheel here? I mean, listen, it's his right. He owns a thing, but it's not always the prudent way to go. >> I think it does matter because I think the specific relationship he has with Kevin Adams added to the complications as far as the optics and even probably the day-to-day mechanics of how all this was happening. I mean, Kevin Adams is not a general manager in the NHL if not for his relationship with Terry Pigoula and the work he did for Terry Pagula. prior to becoming a general manager, he did not have a hockey operations resume coming into his time as GM. His proximity to ownership is what made this possible. And so when you get into the chair in that way, you're forever linked to the owner who's not the most popular owner, obviously um among the Sabres fan base. And it probably changes the dynamic about how hard you're able or willing to push back or keep them at at an arms length. I I think you make a great point about the ability to manage upward and I think about the Buffalo Bills, Terry Pagoula's other professional sports franchise and the way Shawn McDermott and Brandon Bean have done that and kept him involved but at enough of a distance so that they're the ones making all the important decisions. Pagula might be around probably is around the Bills more frequently than he's around the Sabres. So, it's difficult to say exactly. Like you said, he's certainly not in there, you know, insisting that they hang on to three goalies, for instance. You know, I think he's he's roped in on some of the important decisions. But I say that it it matters because Yarmmo Keolin's something of an outsider, >> you know, if if he's the one that that takes over, he'd be somebody that has a different ability to manage upwards. and Terry Pagula, you know, he that relationship with Adams, I think, just made that tricky for Adams to be managing Upward in the same way. The way it all started, what they did in those first few years, really tearing things down to the studs from a business and and hockey ops side, it it was all very messy and it was not a great situation for Kevin Adams, frankly. It it didn't set him up for success. this would be a bit different and he would have there's now a few more experienced hockey people around Terry Pagula, Kekalinan and Lindy Ruff who can manage him a little bit and and kind of set him straight on some things which I think is valuable. >> Do you think it's legit to to consider uh Lindy's future here? I mean, listen, the team doesn't play again until Thursday. Do we look at okay, maybe this is the time right now, we've seen it before, the gap, the pause in the in the schedule. Not just do we see a new general manager, but maybe do we see a new coach. >> I think it's definitely prudent to have on the radar for sure. I think what's important to consider though is that Terry Pigula did not like firing Lindy Ruff the first time. Did not like how it all went down. Yep. >> And I think we'll be very careful about the next steps here. I I don't think Lindy Ruff I don't think much happens with Lindy Ruff without Lindy Ruff's involvement at this point. I think he's earned too much. He didn't have to come back to the Sabres, right? And almost, you know, at first his reaction was maybe that that he wasn't going to and then he decided, you know, this franchise means too much to him and and he really wanted to be a part of of fixing it and getting it back to where it belongs. So, I think there's way too much mutual respect between Terry Pagula and Lindy Ruff for this to be, you know, a rash decision to just get rid of the coach. And but I I think it's difficult to say 100% without knowing like, okay, what, you know, what could happen here? Is Adams completely out of the organization or is he still around? Is Kalinan the guy? You know, you would think a new general manager would have some say in how this all happens, but Lindy Ruff being in the final year of his deal, being, you know, 65 years old, I believe, turning 66 in February, you know, it it's pretty clear, I think, that at some point they're going to be transitioning away from him. I just think Lindy deserves to have a little bit of say in what that transition looks like. >> Um, last one for you here and, uh, you've been very generous with your time. I know it's a it's a busy time on on the beat that you're on here. It's, you know, it's it's constantly uh constantly checking your messages uh to to see what's happening with with the swords. Um when I look at the Buffalo Sabres uh in this generation in the in the Kevin Adams and you've already you've already winked at this as well uh with Kevin himself refusing to surround himself with anyone senior, anyone with experience. There's no like here's Kevin Adams and senior consultant, you know, insert four-time general manager here. Um, I look around the Sabres organization and whether it's Kevin Adams, whether it's a lot of the coaching hires, whether it's players that did not spend time in the American Hockey League with Rochester. To me, the the story of the Buffalo Sabres in this era right now is players rushed, coaches rushed, general manager rushed. It's rushing people and celebrating inexperience more than anything else. And that's got us to this place right now where on December 15th, 2025, we're wondering if we're going to see the rare GM firing in season. Do you agree with that? That the story has been inexperienced at every level. I think to an extent that that's definitely the case. I mean, you start with with Kevin Adams getting pushed into the chair probably before certainly before he had built the resume that you typically see of somebody in that chair. And the same goes for some of the coaches that have hung around longer than they would elsewhere. Obviously, experience is not an issue for Lindy Ruff. And I think when it comes to the players, it's a little bit of a mixed bag. You know, some guys spent some time in Rochester. Purka and Quinn spent a little, you know, a year in Rochester. Uh certainly lately Roseanne and Osland have gotten some time to develop down there, but it's probably as much about players being pushed up into the lineup before they were ready, like into bigger roles than they needed to be pushed into or in some cases like Owen Power getting a contract at $8.3 million per year without really doing a heck of a lot to earn that contract other than one NHL season. And so you end up in a position where a lot of players have more on their plate than maybe they have traditionally earned the way you might see around the league. And that might be the big, you know, you could parse Kevin Adams general manager resume and go through every trade he's made or signing he's made and it's not going to be perfect. There's going to be some some big misses, but there's some hits, right? There's, you know, some trades he made that worked out pretty well. But I think the big problem was the overall vision and the idea behind this build is that they they did rely on youth too much and didn't surround that youth with the proper experience to show these guys what it takes to win. And some of that might be because it's hard to attract veterans to play here. But a lot of it was by design. Kevin Adams talked a lot early on about not wanting to block players from their spot when they were ready. And what happened was they ended up with one of, if not the youngest team in hockey every year that Kevin Adams was the general manager. And I think you could talk about games of experience, which they've now accumulated, but to me, >> you're still talking about young human beings, and the maturity that you need to be a consistent winner in this league. You know, a lot of these guys don't know what that looks like. And so, I think you're right that some of that has definitely been a problem. And you know, maybe this is a chance to correct some of that and you know, have a little bit bit more experience. Leadership I just think has been maybe Kevin Adams biggest failing the last couple of years and that probably speaks to the inexperience that you talk about. >> This has been great. Um, listen, excellent piece in the athletic a must readad for for everybody, whether you're a Buffalo Sabres fan or just are curious uh about the the state of this this franchise that I I'll tell you like my bias here on this one is I really want the Buffalo Sabres to do well. I grew up, you know, as a a kid in southwestern Ontario, uh, cheering for the Buffalo Sabres. I find that market a great mix of both American and Canadian fans. You don't get that in any other market. There are people in St. Arens and a Hamilton that that call the Buffalo Sabres their home team. I always found that to be a really really unique spot in sports and I really want them to do well. I take no delight in in what's happened to the to the Buffalo Sabres. All you're here to do is say look at this. Look at this and how can this thing improve? Um and a great piece uh by you and Tim on the weekend. Thanks so much for for stopping by, Matthew. I really appreciate it. And uh keep your phone on. Uh, I think you know you're I think you know you're in for a for a busy week. Thanks for making our little show a part of your busy week. >> Thanks so much for having me, Jeeoff. I appreciate it. >> There he is. Um, so Matthew and Tim with a really good piece uh in the athletic on what's happening with the uh the uh the Buffalo Saber situation specifically around their general manager um Kevin Adams. So we'll see what happened. It would have been a late night flight last night getting in from Seattle after another win by the Buffalo Sabres, mind you. Um, so a nice little three-game win streak. They don't play again until Thursday and we're all just kind of waiting to see what happens here. Um, we're standing by for for for John Hines, who's the uh the head coach of the Minnesota Wild. I I am curious. I think one of my opening questions here with John is going to be something along the lines of uh how does it feel to get that call from your general manager? Uh, hey John, we just got Quinn Hughes. you know, was talking to uh on the the podcast that I do with Gabby the other day, and he was talking about the the story about the the conversation with his then general manager of the Washington Capitals, George McI, and they were talking about and Bruce would always go to George and say, "We need a second line center. We need a second line center. We need a second line center." And one day, George called him and said, "I just got you Sergey Federof. How's that?" And Bruce kind of went, "Oh, that's it's that's pretty good." Uh, I wonder what type of reaction um John would have had when when Bill Garren called him uh to tell him that Quinn Hughes is now a member of the Minnesota Wild. And by the way, like I've mentioned this in a few places and specifically on this show. Um, I'm someone who obviously covers the game from a from a national perspective. Uh, I watch as much as I can every single night of as many teams as I possibly can. And the the one team that I keep coming back to which has become mustwatch television are the Minnesota Wild. And this is even prequin Hughes. Like for the longest time in the NHL, the best games were always when regular season games, playoff games carry their own emotional gravitas to them. But as far as regular season games go, the best games consistently were always Minnesota and Vegas. I don't know why it was. Obviously, it's something about those two styles that when they get together, they just produce very watchable games, but this season, and just talking to Jackie Redmond from the NHL and TNT about it uh yesterday, and kind of arriving at the same conclusion, we're spending more time watching the Minnesota Wild this year. you know, it's uh as much as, you know, Colorado is fun to watch because of how they go out there and and dummy teams to be to be blunt, um the Minnesota Wild uh this year have been an incredibly fun story to follow. Uh Matt Baldy continuing to distinguish himself as as one of the best wingers uh in the game. The goalending story is a great one um as both of them just continue to to pile up shutout after shutout. The Yesper Walstad story has been a great one. Didn't have the best of all possible years last year playing in the American Hockey League, uh the farm team, uh with the with the Minnesota Wild, but this year uh has hit the ground running and it seems as if every time he's a net and he's earned the reputation and the nickname the wall of St. Paul for good reason. You can't get pucks by this guy. The puck looks as big as cantalopes right now for for Yesper wall stats. Um it's been a delightful story. And then Bill Garin shocks everybody. And I got to say, as much as I'm annoyed by it, I have to really respect the fact that this whole thing was kept quiet by Bill Garren and the Minnesota Wild. Nothing. Not a peep. You know, that's why you always hear uh a lot of people in the industry say there's always teams that we didn't expect to be in the conversation for a player, right? Like sometimes there's the obvious ones and for Quinn Hughes, you know, two of the obvious ones that I think everybody circled right away were the New Jersey Devils obviously because of the brother association and what Jim Rutherford had had hinted at, not I shouldn't say hinted at, what Jim Rutherford had said uh last year about Quinn Hughes and his brothers. And then there was, you know, the Michigan tie. So, you wondered about the Detroit Red Wings and and how uh how, you know, they were probably at a place in their winning cycle where they were ready uh to sort of maximize the value of having someone like Quinn Hughes in the lineup. If we have a little bit of time later on, I want to play a clip from Elliot on the morning cup of hockey show today where he talks about the Detroit Red Wings specifically and not knowing where the the hangup was or the the place where there was a disagreement in the deal, out of the deal and could that place have been in and around Simon Edmonson. Um, but give it to Bill Garren like he under like I was making this point the other day with with Jason Greger on the the rundown show. Bill Garin has signed the biggest deal this year in the NHL in Carl Capri off and Bill Garin has pulled off the biggest trade and a lot of it is because he's sort of swimming against the stream of manager group think in the NHL. And that is if you want something good, you're going to have to really pay for it. And I think about, you know, Ed Snyder when he owned the Philadelphia Flyers before he passed and he would always talk about like, look, did we pay too much? Yeah, perhaps. But we got the player. Now, sometimes that got the Philadelphia Flyers in trouble, but the Philadelphia Flyers were always able to quote unquote get the player, and that's what the Minnesota Wild have done here with Quinn Hughes. I think when we saw the return, we all looked at this and said, "Wow, you know what? If if you would have said like, hey, Vancouver is looking for the equivalent of four first round picks," we would have said, "Well, good luck with that." But that's exactly what Vancouver did here. And that's what Bill Garren was able to pull off with the Minnesota Wild and the Vancouver Conucks. It's Zeve Boy. So the whole thing to me hinges around Zeve Boy. Let me break it down this way. We're standing by for for John Hines. Um, Marco Rossi on a Stanley Cup team is probably your third line center, but on a team like Vancouver, he's your second line center. And they've been looking for that. Listen, they try to get Marco Rossi before and they've wanted Marco Rossi for a long time as I'm told. Um, on Vancouver, he's a second line center playing behind Elias Person and as he's hurt, he'll play topline minutes for the Vancouver Conucks. Uh Liam Ogrren at his draft there were there were three players at Vancouver spot that they looked at and I'm not sure if they looked at and said they all have equal value but Philip Beastad was one of them. Jonathan Leceramaki who they ended up going with and Liam Ogrren. Those were the three. And Ogrren and Leam Maki had played together in Sweden. And maybe a side effect to all of this is can the presence of Ogrren help get Jonathan Leer Maki going and vice versa to be honest. So that might be one of those unintended benefits that the Vancouver Conucks get out of this. We shall see. Uh, the first round pick is whatever the first round pick is going to be. Is it going to be uh a pick that they use? Is it going to be a pick that they trade for a younger player? Is it going to be a pick that they package up to bring in another younger player? Is it someone that they use in a subsequent trade for a veteran player to continue this youth movement? Don't say the word rebuild. Don't say the word rebuild in Vancouver. But these are all nice pieces. They're not impact pieces. There's one impact piece in this trade and that's Eve Boyam. [snorts] And we talked about the sliding door earlier on. And the sliding door moment for this trade was Eve Boy falling in the draft. And to me, that's the whole ball game on this deal. Right away, the Minnesota Wild win this trade because they got the best player and they got someone that's going to impact their blue line, is going to impact their forwards is going to impact uh where the Minnesota Wild end up in the standings and how they do in the playoffs. And make no mistake about the race for first place in the Central is something that all three of those teams have on their mind because nobody wants to finish 23 because that will be an absolute nightmare of a series for both teams. take your pick. Right now, it's it's Dallas, Minnesota. Those are good games, but the race to finish first is is very much a thing for all three of those teams. Um, so Quinn Hughes is the impact player here, but the whole ball game for Vancouver's point of view. And look at the game against the New Jersey Devils Sunday afternoon. Zeve Boy passes the first test. But that's it. Like, how good can Zeve Boy be? I don't think that Z Boy is going to be the next Quinn Hughes, but can he be more similar than different to Quinn Hughes? Look, this guy's going to anchor the power play. This guy's going to play 25 minutes a night. This guy is a marvelous young defenseman who still has, albeit a lot of learning to do, an incredibly high ceiling. He is a sublime skater. He is offensively gifted, a really smart player, a really good The other thing too, a really good citizen, like a really good decent person as well. You know, I remember um at his uh at his at his at his draft and talking to him at the combine and one of the things he always came back to was his mom and his mom uh the family uh moved from Israel to San Diego and it was the mom that made that drive. I think it was like every day to Los Angeles so so Zev could play in that in that I think it was the Kings program, the the Kings Junior program. every single day without complaint. He goes out of his way to mention how the first hockey star in the family was mom who was an athlete herself uh making all these sacrifices uh all these sacrifices uh for the for the kids and specifically Zoam. So they're getting a really good person too who has his head on his shoulders. Um but that's the ball game. Everyone else in this deal is a very good player but they've traded a great one. The question is how great can Zeve buy be with the Vancouver Conucks and that's it. And we're not going to be able to judge that right away. You know, the Minnesota Wild could go on to win the Stanley Cup this year. They could like legit the Minnesota Wild could win the Stanley Cup. They're right there in that conversation with Dallas and Colorado and other teams you look at as being Stanley Cup contenders. They are right there. Do they still need a couple of pieces? Yeah, probably. But still, no team is perfect. But right now, as constructed, a they have the most entertaining games, I think, of anyone in the NHL. And two, they are very much in the conversation as being one of those teams who can legitimately qualify for the Stanley Cup and could win the Stanley Cup. They are right there with any other team, your Colorado and your Dallas's, etc. Um, and the man behind the bench is John Hines. And, uh, he joins us now, uh, here on the sheet. John, first of all, thanks so much for stopping by. I know it's a really busy time. Here's what I'm I'm dying to ask you, and I'll frame it this way. I was telling the story earlier on. I do another podcast with Bruce Budro, and he was talking about needing a second line center when he was coaching the Washington Capitals, and George McY called them one day and said, "I just got you Sergey Federof. Are you happy now?" And Bruce said, "Well, yeah, he just got me Sergey Federof. Of course, I'm happy." Um, what was the conversation with your general manager when he told you we just got Quinn Hughes? >> Well, thanks for having me. Uh, first of all, Jeeoff, I appreciate it. And, uh, it was a good conversation. I had uh a couple discussions with Billy and couple of the other managers just of the possibilities obviously when you heard the rumors about Quinn possibly being traded and uh just kind of talked in general that he was a player, you know, that's that obviously would make a team better uh on any team he went on. So when when it wound up coming to to fruition, I was obviously really excited and it was a great conversation with Billy and I think he did a really good job of finding a way to get the deal done. >> Yeah, it was uh it was it was spectacular. I mean, as working on this side of it, I'm a little disappointed in all of us that no one saw this coming. Uh that everything was kept really quiet and then bam, the Minnesota Wild with with the absolute with the absolute uh bomb of a deal. Um and you know, watching the game yesterday against the Boston Bruins and your general manager, Bill Gar was on, I believe, the second period talking about how he almost didn't play yesterday because the equipment was left in his brother's car and the equipment had to be shuttled. How close was it for for Quinn not playing in that game against Boston? >> Well, that was when I actually would got a little bit I I got a little bit nervous because obviously you want him to be able to come and play, but yeah, you know what? He uh they flew him. Billy flew out to grab him um Friday, Saturday, and uh we just he just forgot his equipment in in in uh in Jack's car actually in New Jersey. So, >> I think they found a way to get it flown out early from New Jersey uh 6:00 in the morning at the game day uh yesterday morning and then Quinn actually got his equipment I think right around 9:15 9:30 he went out for a quick skate and then he was ready to go for game time. >> Uh it's it's a it's a great part of the story too and like what are the what's the the nature of like this is one of the best players in the game. I don't think, you know, you need a lot of instruction uh for for for a for a regular season game, but nonetheless, like what were the what was the conversation between you and Quinn before yesterday's game against the Bruins? Any like here's what we do. Here's how we play. Or is it just like you're a pro, you know what to do. You're one of the best in the games. Go skate, Quinn. >> You know what? It's really a combo when you get, you know, a lot of times the best players, you know, they want to know what just the kind of the intricacies of uh what you do tactically, but for the most part, you know, it was in one we just talked about um you know, I actually had the opportunity to coach two of his brothers. So, finally uh have a chance to coach uh coach Quinn full-time. Uh really just a little bit about some Dzone coverage, some line rush defense, and and some breakout situations. those were things that he felt that he just wanted to take a look at really quick. So, we had a little bit of a a package. One of our assistant coaches, Jason King, sat down with him yesterday morning uh and just showed him some quick things on that. Very limited, but just an idea so he could be able to get out and play on his instincts. A few things on the power play, but other than that, you know, he's uh he he's such a talented player. And usually with veteran guys, they've played on numerous teams or you uh for numerous coaches and there's not many changes in the systems. It's just that they want to know exactly what they're supposed to do and that's all we did with Quinn. >> You know, it seemed as if and maybe I'm projecting, but I'm curious the coach's uh position on on this one, John. Uh it seemed as if right away Brock Faber had an even more of a jump in his step in that game. Like I'm watching this and I'm like Brock Faber is an elite defenseman. Brock Faber is awesome. But even you could tell like there's something like first half of the game I thought Brock Faber was your best player. Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but like it seemed like it like the the presence of Quinn Hughes affected him right away. Am I just projecting that? Like do I just want to see that or is that legit? >> No, I think I think you're right on on that. I think, you know, one I think, you know, for Brock in particular, but I think for the team to be able to add a player like Quinn, I think, you know, really galvanizes the group and I think gives everyone a little bit extra pep in their step uh for the game. And then obviously with Brock playing with Quinn, you know, watching the game live, but then going back through it this morning when you're watching the clips and things like that, they they had some good chemistry. Both of them are really good skating defenseman. I think the thing what you see with with Quinn is I think his poise with the puck and his ability to to help get out of the zone, I think, helps, you know, really help Faves. And then I think as the game went on, you started to see Brock, you know, make some plays and the chemistry between the two of them, I thought better and better as the game went on. From a coaching point of view, I'm curious. Um, you know, fans are always wondering, you know, what do coaches see? Because coaches see things much differently than than fans do, than people who do what I do for a living. See, like you you've seen a lot. What is is there something that you see already just in Quinn Hughes's game that even gives you like a little bit of like, oh, wow. I I I didn't know I I've never seen that before or this is a skill that impresses me. You know, last last week on this show, I was going on about how, you know, Mark Sevard used to do this thing and I I haven't seen anyone else do it as as well as Sevard. Maybe Coocher off. He would take like a hard rim on his backhand spin and fire sauce passes to the slot and it's just and he did it like like it was nothing or Marian Hosa picking up passes in his skates like things that like if you're a coach, you're like, "Oh, oh, it just makes the game so smooth." Is there anything already that you see in Quinn's game where you're like, "Oh, wow, man. What a what a luxury item to have here?" >> Yeah. You know, I see a couple. I think one is just his his his lateral movement. You know, when he gets in situations where like his ability to change direction, whether it's on breakouts or sometimes through the neutral zone, particularly in the offensive zone, you know, he he's going one way and and the defender is doing what they should be doing and next thing you know, he spins out of it or cuts back and then there's just like two steps and he's gone. And that's that's something that is uh is really impressive that you see with him. And the other one, I think, just his vision. He's just so calm. He plays at a high pace. Uh but his ability to see plays and and and and make plays at a high pace. Um you know, he's going quick. He's going fast. The game's happening, but he's just calm and he distributes the puck and and makes makes great decisions to uh to create offense. >> Uh what kind of feedback did you get from your team? Like once once the the trade is announced, like who's calling, who's like what's the the the group chats like? any particularly interesting conversations with anybody like is this true like did we really get Quinn Hughes anything like that John? >> Yeah. Yeah, there was Yeah, there was a little bit of that going on for sure whether it was with w with the staff or the players. But you know what it's always funny too because we lost three guys right and and and those guys were with us you know for uh for a while and then and in particularly this year. So you're always you always you know want to wish those guys luck and and and deal with that. But, you know, the group that's here now in in in Minnesota, I I would say was extremely excited to have Quinn. And I think to see, you know, the organization of Billy make the move and and the vote of confidence for the team to be able to add a player of that caliber right in the prime of his career. I think it it it really galvanized our group. >> I'm glad you mentioned those players that uh now find themselves with the Vancouver Conucks. you know, before you came on, I was talking about uh Zeve Boyham and talking about his mom, you know, driving from San Diego to LA every single day and the worst traffic in the United States so the kid could skate uh at at a high level. Like just specifically, what is Vancouver getting in Ze Boyam? Not just the player, but also the person. >> Yeah, I mean, I think if you start with the person, he's a he's a great kid. Obviously, he comes from a great background with his family. Um, you know, I think all the way coming up, no matter how much success he's had, he's always been known as a as a great teammate, uh, really good person, coachable player, and in my experiences with Zeus, no different. You know, he's got a smile on his face all the time. I think he loves the game. Uh, he really endeared himself, you know, to our team. We have, you know, a lot of a lot of older guys that have been around, you know, for a long time. I mean, obviously Zeve comes with a track record of success and and and and the potential in him to move forward in his NHL career. Sky's the limit for him, but he's just a humble humble kid, great teammate who's really coachable. Uh loves the game. He works hard, and I just think he's it's just a matter of time before he continues to to grow and progress like he has at every level he has um prior to the NHL. >> Uh a couple minutes with you here. I want to one one more thing about Quinn Hughes. I want to ask about the Minnesota Wild. Now that you have Quinn Hughes uh on the Minnesota Wild, does it change in any way the the way that you play? I mean, this is such a unique talent with a unique skill set. Like, who has to adapt to who here? Does Quinn adapt to how the Wild play or do the Wild lean into, hey, we've got Quinn Hughes. Let's lean into what Quinn Hughes can do here. Or is it a combination of both? >> I think it's a it's a combination of both. I think, you know, we have we have a few players as well like Capri off and, you know, Baldi and and and some guys that have some high-end offensive instincts. I think, you know, you always want to be able to uh to allow players to play in their instincts and use their gifts and and Quinn's certainly that type of player. Um, I think where we where it turns into a combination really is is the play without the puck is the understanding of, you know, how you want to be able to play on your line rush defense, your your defensive zone coverage coming into defensive zone. You know, those areas are really they need to be in sync and and everybody has to be on the same page. But I think on the offensive side of the puck, breakouts, neutral zone, transition, line rush, offensive zone, you know, there's a there's a structure that you want to play with, but you also have to let uh high-end offensive players play within that structure, but they also can use their instincts and and and and do some things that make them special. So, that's where you want to have a little bit of a combo. But, we'll certainly let Quinn uh play to her strengths and and do what he does. Uh let let me ask one one question about uh about a nonquinn Hughes uh topic here and that is um everybody knows about Carl Capri off. He's a superstar in the NHL. More and more people are getting acquainted now with just how great Matt Baldi is. Um Quinn Hughes's story is well told. I thought last year, listen, last year at the at the the Four Nations, uh, Jacob Slavven and Brock Faber were, you know, the the they were the best uh the the best two on on on the blue line in that tournament. Um, from your point of view, that's a lot of stars to say nothing about how no one can get a puck past your goalenders and that's become a great a great story as well. Who do you think we're missing on? Like who do you say like I like as a coach say I can't believe Merrick's not talking more about this guy or I can't believe that this guy is not getting more attention. Who's that guy? >> I would say uh Joel Eric. I think that he's a you know he he he he's a guy for us that really really stirs the drink as well. He plays he's a big strong power forward two-way guy. Uh plays all key roles for us. Power play, penalty kill, plays against the other team's top lines. And you know, he's one of these guys that night in and night out, he plays the game, you know, with tremendous effort on both sides of the puck. He has hard minutes and he's a tremendous competitor. Like, he's one of the hardest guys to play against. He's he's physical. He's strong. He plays with great structure. He can hurt you offensively. Um, and and and he's a guy that he gets to the opponent's net front. He's physical. like he there's a lot of the thankless jobs that he does night in and night out that are critical to giving a team a chance to win. >> Uh on that we'll let you go. Uh John, thanks so much for uh for stopping by. Congratulations. I mean it's always nice to to wake up in the morning and there's a brand new Ferrari to drive. So uh enjoy [laughter] enjoy taking the the red sports car out on the road. >> All right, we'll do. Thanks, Jeeoff. I always enjoy talking with you. >> Good catching up. John Hines, the head coach of the uh the Minnesota Wild, um with a brand new Ferrari in the driveway or Lamborghini or a Porsche or whichever is your sports car of choice. Uh Quinn Hughes of the Minnesota Wild. In the meantime, the Buffalo Sabres have made a decision as we talked to Matthew Fairburn about for about I don't know 25 minutes. Uh shortly after we hung up with Matthew and brought John aboard, uh the Buffalo Sabres made it official. Um Kevin Adams is out. Yarmmo Kealenan is in. And with that, we'll go to a former Buffalo Saber uh now one of the top analysts uh in this country or anywhere for that matter. Matthew Barnaby, former Buffalo Saber, uh joins me now here on the program. First of all, uh Matthew, thanks for popping on here at at late notice. But uh Barney, this doesn't surprise you, does it? I don't think it surprises anybody at this point. No, if you're surprised by this, I I got uh some oceanfront [laughter] property that I want to sell you in uh in Scottdale. So, yeah, absolutely not. Uh this has been a long time coming. I mean, listen, uh, you never like to see someone get fired in any business, and this is a very coveted job, but in in the end, the NHL is about results, and the results have not been there, and there's been some trades that haven't worked out, and areas of need that haven't been addressed. So, they're not going to be a playoff team again this year. And when Yarmmo was was hired, if you didn't see the writing on the wall, well, you're the naive one. this was we're either going to do it this way, we're going to make the playoffs or he's going to take over. >> Yeah, that's what I wondered about too. Hey Barney, like I've heard about situ and I don't know if this is true of Buffalo. I've just heard this in in other situations where you know the the coach is on on thin ice, but the deal is every quarter there's a review with the owner and if the team's not in a playoff position um that could mean that the general manager finds his way out of the organization. I don't know if that is true or not in this case. It might feel that way, but this little mini three-game winning streak is is essentially meaningless. I I would make the argument that, you know, even before they won these last three games, the decision had already been made that when they come back from Seattle, there was going to be a GM change. >> Yeah, it it it happens in every organization. Jeeoff, you you you nailed it. The these guys review every year. And listen, he's Terry Pugula is more out of it now than he used to be. I mean, he was he was in the forefront before. I'm talking trades. I'm talking everything. But in the end, I I I agree with you. The decision was made before and this is how they were going to handle it. And uh we can't think in any which way that Kevin Adams was actually the guy that hired Halen. I I I know if you're a guy that hasn't made the playoffs in five or six years, you're not going to go hire a guy that can probably take your job if you're not going to make the playoffs again. So, I think that was an organizational decision, not a Kevin Adams decision. And again, it's not a surprise. This this this this team has a lot of faults. And even with this three-game winning streak, um it's it's not going to be a playoff seat. >> So, what are the because this is a unique situation to your point, you know, Yarmokan has already been around this team. He's had a look under the hood. He knows, you know, uh what's working, what's not working, uh which relationship is good, which relationship is bad, who belongs, who doesn't. um whether it's the coaching staff, whether it's player personnel, like what do you think the the the first decisions here that Yarmmo makes? Because I I don't think he takes the route of a lot of new general managers who come in and say, "I'm going to buy myself a year and say, well, I need to get acquainted with the organization. I need to really get in here and roll up my like he's done all that already." I think this is a situation where he hits the ground running. What do you think the first decision is? I absolutely well his first decision better be to try to get Alex Tuck to resign. We can't have you know Buffalo can't have an Alex Tuck leaving even though he hasn't had a great year this year but it's convincing him not to not to want to leave. Then I think they're they're going to look at Listen, this team was like 1-7 at the start of the year and Lion save percentage was like 924. Like that's ridiculous. They couldn't score goals. Then goalending wasn't so good and they did score goals, but it's it's you know there's so many areas of of need. The back end, listen, Owen Power is a is is a good offensive player, but for what they're paying him and they already have a number one quarterback uh on the power play in in Dalene. Dalene is going nowhere. What do you do with an Owen Power? Like there's a lot of parts of his game I don't like. So, are you going to address that bottom six? The bottom six is small. Like they're not a heavy like you watch the Florida P, you watch these teams that are good and those bottom six are pretty heavy. It's just a small team on that bottom six. So, uh there's there's a lot of areas that this team needs and that's why they aren't in playoff contention and why they haven't been. >> None of these needs were ever made. >> Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's it's interesting too. Um, you think about how you go about constructing uh this team and there are more players that they've acquired through trades or signings or or waiverss uh than there are that are homegrown. Like there are the obvious ones you mentioned Owen Power and Raasmus uh Deline, but like the the lion share of these players aren't the homegrown kids as much as they've had plenty of draft picks. And like look, I I think that Noah Olland's a really good player. I think that Isak Rosanne is going to be a really nice player for this for this organization. But, you know, a lot of this has kind of been built not from the traditional way to do things, drafting and development. It's trying to grab players from wherever you can. And the the only way to really win in a salary cap era is to build from within and have draft choices because yes, the salary cap's going up and up, but the only way you're going to get a Buffalo someone to come to Buffalo and be a Buffalo Saber is to overpay him. So now the the guy that's worth 6 million is now getting 7.5 million. The guy that's getting 10 million is going to be he wants 12 million. And the thing that, you know, upsets a lot of the fans is you trade Ryan O'Reilly. Yes, you got Tae Thompson back. It that's not that that's a great trade in the in the long term. But Ryan O'Reilly goes and wins a Stanley Cup in St. Louis. You trade Jack Eel, he's a problem. He He's a cancer. He He's a bad What an ass this guy is. He We'll be better without him. Okay, how has that worked out? Still one of the best players in the league. He's a Stanley Cup champion. Sam Reinhardt. Let's go through all these guys that are elite hockey players that want it out of Buffalo. That's the hardest thing. And that's that's an organizational thing. And that's guys want to win. They're they're going to get their money, but now they want to win. So, I think that's the hardest part about being a Buff Sabres fan right now. >> That that that's you know what that that's a really interesting point, too. And that winks back at what you said about Alex Tuck. like will Alex Tuck become like I I I do want the two teams that I wonder about with Tuck. One is Edmonton and everybody's wondering about that but the other one is Dallas and now that you know Minnesota's made their move, you know, Jim Nil is not going to sit on his hands. Um Tyler Sean is seeing someone tomorrow about his injury. Uh there'll be a decision at some point made on surgery and if he's gone for the entire season, there's a lot of cap space there for Jim Nil. I would wonder about Alex Tuck with Dallas. But to your previous point, like at a certain point, you have to stop sending players to teams to go win Stanley Cups, then you just feel like the Montreal Expose of the National Hockey League, right? Cuz that's essentially to the to the point that you're making like all these guys are they're a problem in Buffalo, but then they go and they win Stanley Cups and get huge contracts elsewhere and are like model citizens and are darlings of their organization. So somewhere along the way it does have to stop. The other the other area that I that I wonder about here and you can speak with with a lot of authority on this one. I wonder about Lindy Ruff. I wonder about the decision on coaching and that's going to be a lot of I I would imagine conversations with with players and how they feel about Lindy Ruff and obviously how Yarmmo feels about Lindy Ruff. And if they do decide to make a change, the obvious name out there is former Buffalo Saber assistant coach John Tordella. Could you see that? >> Wow, that's a really hard one. Um >> cuz you could do the culture change and we got to get these boys back into shape and you you've seen it, Barney. You've seen it a million times. >> Yeah. Yeah. And and and honestly, I I I know this is the John Portoella is a very good coach. He's a good guy. He's an ass at the rink, but that's that's that's his stick. That's that's how he [laughter] he handles things. But here's here's what I know. >> Yeah. >> You are going to play a certain way if John is your coach. >> Yes. >> Because you won't be there. >> You won't be there. You will not be in the lineup. Uh could I see it? Yeah. Yeah. I I mean I I could see it. I'd also love I'd love for Jay McKe to get a chance. He's not going to get they are not hiring a first time coach in J McKe with where they are. But I I would love to see him cuz he first of all he's one of my best friends. Second of all, he works tirelessly and he's a very very smart hockey guy and his teams do very well whether uh whether they're really talented or if they're in in a rebuild and that's from from the OL and his years there and he has a wagon of a team right now in uh in Brford. So um you know I I I yes I can see Tors I mean >> but I'm not like Tors and Lindy are a little bit of the same. They're a little bit of the same in the way they that they coach. I think Lindy might have softened up over the years, but he's not an easy person to play for. He's he he he he's tough and he he is hard on guys. He just looks in his interviews now that he is just so dejected. Just so dejected. So, you know, when you miss the playoffs for 15 straight years, it's it it's not the coaches. I'm a New York Jets fan. We've talked about this before. >> [laughter] >> We didn't have 15 year we didn't have 15 years of bad coaches. We had 15 years of bad players and injuries and that starts with ownership and then it filters down to the GM which obviously then filters down to the players. >> Speaking of players, two that I wonder about specifically, we've just had the Alex Tuck conversation. Two uh that that I do wonder about and again you never want to be the you never want to be the manager that again like sends a young player somewhere and next thing they sprout. Um, yeah, but Owen Power, who we already mentioned as well, that's one of them. Uh, and I do wonder about Jack Quinn. >> Those are the two that I wonder about right out of the gate here with Kalainan. What do you think? >> Yeah, I Yeah, and I I again I think I think Power is just a little bit overrated from what I see and defensively. And I know we we have a stigma because he's big, he should be tough, and >> I get it. >> He doesn't play physical enough for me. I I you know what I mean? So I I I I I think if the guy that is going to go for the biggest return you're going to get w would be an own power. I don't think Alex Tuck signs with Buffalo. We're talking having a chance to go compete for a Stanley Cup. He's going to get the money anywhere he goes. And if Dallas is a place no state tax for anyone that thinks that no state tax isn't a big thing, it's a big thing. It's it's it's huge. So Jack Quinn, listen, I've watched that kid since he's been 15 years old. He grew up in Ottawa and he's talented. He can skate. Um he he's battling to find consistency, but he is one of those guys that could go somewhere else and be a 30 goal guy cuz the guy can snap the puck around, he can skate. Uh but he he is a guy that you could make a big mistake on if you don't get the right package in return. >> Mhm. um the goalending situation. I mean, we're sort of running down the laundry list here and then I'm going to ask you sort of a an sort of over overall assessment of of of Kevin Kevin Adams as as general manager. But, um I mentioned off the top of the show today, there are exactly zero goalenders in the history of the NHL who enjoy being part of the three-headed monster. They may say all the right things publicly. Yeah, we're all mature. We're all athletes. We're all professionals. We can hire it. They may even tell their general manager that, but nobody believes it. Most of all, the goalenders themselves like that. That has to get sorted asap. >> 1 million%. First of all, you're not even getting the reps in practice. You're you're you're you're cast off to the side and then you're back in the net and then this guy's in the net. You you think if you have one bad game that you're going to be that third guy that doesn't even dress and and you're just splitting duties there. I I know what he was trying to do. He's just trying to find lightning in a bottle and someone to be unbelievable for, you know, a short period of time and then if he falters hopefully the other guy does. But no one it it it's the worst decision you can make is having three goalies. I've been on teams that there's three guys there for a short period of time and yeah, they say it publicly that, oh, we're fine. We're fine. [laughter] >> But no, God, no chance. No, no, >> no. That's that's that's one, you know, the um there's there's another goalender here, too. Like again, players can come out of college like forwards and defenseman can come out of college and step onto an NHL roster. Okay, it's rare. you have to be a really really special kind of player to do it, but it happens. Okay, it happens. It's possible. Can't do that when you're a goalender. And one of the one of the the areas of of of failure that I see here with with Adam was was and it's not just him, but it's also people around the decision that Devin Levi could slash should go from college to the red carpet to the Buffalo Sabres was one that was fraught with disaster. And now we're at the point where we're wondering about Devin Levi and his future with the Buffalo Sabres at all or his future in the NHL at all. Like you talk about hurting hurting a guy by rushing him. Exhibit A is Deon Levi. >> We we we can name a thousand players that has been rushed into the NHL out of necessity or trying to sell it to a a fan base. >> We we we we've seen it so many times. It's it's hard to be a winger, but probably the easiest to step into the NHL because of your responsibilities defensively. The the difference between its pace, its size, but it's the defensive awareness. When you're in junior and you're a scorer or a w, >> you're allowed to do pretty well whatever you want cuz you're the you're the big man on campus. Colleague McDavid McDavid's not going to get yelled at if he misses a man his man. they're they're gonna let him away with it. Well, I scored 111 points in junior. I was allowed to get away with anything I I I I wanted in junior. So, it's easier to become a winger and then it's probably easier to be a center after that >> and then a defenseman and a goalie is almost almost impossible because of the speed of the shot, the the creativity of guys. These guys have never seen this kind of talent coming at them. And I I I think a perfect example and and this almost cost him this this guy's career. Spencer Knight. Spencer Knight rushed in, didn't play very well, doubted himself a lot, and then now we got some seasoning in the AHL, and he looks terrific. So, >> I hope Levi can can find his game. Hopefully, he is the long-term solution for them. But, can I unequivocally say, "Oh, he's the man." No, he he could be done in a year. We don't know that. >> Yeah. Uh okay. Uh last one for you. Give me a hot 60 on when you look back at the Kevin Adams era. What will come to mind right away? Like what's what's the one thing that that you will that you will look at Barney and say that defines Kevin Adams era? For me it's it's it's inexperience and and like rushing players to the NHL without doing the adequate enough development time in the American League. But how do how do you look at the Adams era? >> I said I said it when he took over and this is no I I I think when you say like no disrespect you're going to disrespect him. So >> true. Experience is the biggest thing. Experience is the biggest thing. He he he didn't put in his time and that side of it to to know have all the knowledge and all the tools to to be successful. And that's on that's on ownership. That that's that that's on ownership. For me, it's going to go down as Jack Eel. That was just a debacle. Uh you have a great player and because of the surgery and the lack of uh production from the organization, uh Jack Eel didn't want to be there anymore. And him to go right away and win a Stanley Cup in Las Vegas. I think um you know, I'm always going to connect Kevin Adams and I'm like, "Oh yeah, he traded Jack Eel away." >> Yeah. You know, you know what I wonder about Barney still to to this day and like they're not going to share. I don't think the Saber is going to share any personal information about, you know, players health or not that I'm not asking about a specific player, but just sort of a medical philosophy. I wonder too, um, even though Jack had asked out even before the the the ADR issue and spinal fusion, um, >> yeah, >> considering the success of ADR with not only Jack Eel, but Tyler Johnson, uh, Joel Farabe, like it's more of a common practice now in the NHL. It always had been in MMA and football, but it hadn't been in in in hockey. I wonder if now the Buffalo Sabres medical team has changed their tune about [clears throat] ADR. I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that during that saga, and you could talk to you can you could talk as a player to us here obviously. >> Yeah. >> Other players watched that >> and said they're not letting this guy have the surgery that he wants. They're not allowing him to have a level of bodily autonomy that we should. But given the success of it with not just one athlete, but a handful, I wonder if that's changed in Buffalo now. I I don't know the answer. I don't. Yeah, >> I know the players watch it. >> Listen, I two-part question. Has it changed? I I I would hope so. I I'm I'm not privy to the knowledge of the doctors or any of that, so I don't want to speak out of turn, but it has to be when you lose a guy like that. and the backlash over it all um as it unfolded. So, I'm going to speak from a player's point of view. >> Mhm. >> Two parts again, I if it's a serious injury like that, I want to have the final say on my own body. >> It's my body. It's my career. I'm not I'm not I'm not going to I'm not going to sign up for anything that that I don't think's going to help me and and I'm going to do my research. I am I'm going to go to their doctors, get their information, then I'm going to go to my doctors and and get and try to come up with a plan. But in the end of the day, it's Matthew Barnaby's decision to to what we're going to do here. >> Yep. >> And that's and and then further speaking of like you said, people know when coaches treat players like >> Yeah. >> People know when organizations are cheap. People know when you just aren't treated well. And this just falls in the line. This is the same thing as as not spending money on a on a on a practice rank or not not giving them all the tools that they need uh to be successful. So, this falls into that category on on a big big way. Of course, players talk when they're becoming free agents. >> I think every player in the NHL while Jack Eel was going through his situation with the Buffalo Sabres and asked the exact same question. What if this was me? >> Yeah. I think that every single player watched that and said, >> "It might not. It might be Jack now, >> but do I want to go there and maybe this is going to be me next time?" I I think that's a I think that's a a a that was a major issue. I think you're bang on. I think that was a major issue with the Sabres and not just for Jack Eel. It may have felt like it was just Jack Eel, but it wasn't. >> It was for other players around the NHL. 100%. Great point. >> Absolutely. 100%. >> All right. Um enjoy the rest of your day. We'll see what happens next, albeit decisions on coaching or or players or whatever, but there's a not a dull moment these days around the Buffalo Sabres. Thanks as always for popping by. Thanks, bud. >> No problem. I also want to thank everyone here. We're in Asking the Colorado raised a million and a half dollars extreme hockey out here. Uh Brian Bard, Sheldon, uh amazing outdoor game. It was just a lot of fun. A great great time out here and great people. >> I love it. I absolutely love it. Congratulations, Barney. It's a significant It's a significant number. Congratulations on being a part of it, pal. >> Hey, cheers, buddy. Have a great show. >> There he is. Matthew Barnaby uh commenting on the the Buffalo Sabres situation. Uh if you missed it, and we spent about half an hour speculating about it today, uh the Buffalo Sabres have parted ways with their general manager Kevin Adams Yarmmo Kalenan uh takes over as the 10th general manager in Buffalo Sabres history. How's it going, Zach? Remember like an hour ago when we were wondering about Kevin Adams? [laughter] We're like we do this whole thing. We got Matthew. We're talking about could it happen? When's it going to happen? Stay by your phone. He leaves. We get Hines on. Bang. It happens. >> Five minutes later. [laughter] >> Five minutes later. It's it's it's official. And the Buffalo Sabres have themselves a new a new general manager again. Like I don't think this is a a a dip your toe into the water situation if you're Yarmmo Keelan. It's let's get in here and make decisions because this is this is an organization that needs decisions made right now. And it's better if it's someone who is at an arms length from the decisions that have already been made. You've seen this before, right? Oh, no. He's he's he's Kevin's guy. No, no, that's Kevin's guy. you know that's Kevin's coach and that's Kevin that's Kevin's this that's Kevin's that that's the guy on the bench that Kevin talks to can't do anything like that's that's gone now that's gone now this is the Yarmmo Kolain show and like the thing about Yarmmo and I always think about him around contracts excuse me [cough] good >> I got to switch brands of cigarettes are making me cough [laughter] um the thing that I um the thing that I always say about Yarmmo Kolenan is he is decip decisive and he knows when he has an advantage. Like when he was running the Columbus Blue Jackets, when it came to contract negotiations, whether it's an RFA, a UFA, he would always say the same thing. He said, "In these situations, sometimes I have the hammer and sometimes they have the hammer. And when I have the hammer, I'm going to use it as I expect when they have the hammer, they will use it." That's his mentality. I have the hammer, I'll use it. You have the hammer. You're an impending UFA, you got a hammer, use it. Go for it. Excuse me while I cough. You talk now. >> Yeah. Yeah. All good. I I was just kind of curious about a situation like this and I wonder how because [clears throat] when I was looking at this and we're talking about Yarma who's coming in here >> usually and I I think most of us are under the same understanding that a guy's going to come in. He's going to watch this. He's going to sit and see how everything plays out, who likes who, what's the coaches doing, what players he like, etc. Right? You know, some of these guys sit and watch from the sidelines. You know, we heard from Pete Dbor cup of hockey last week. He watches everything. He's not watching team in particular, but he knows what's happening so he could jump into a team. Now, that said, when he gets to said team, he's going to have to take a little bit to adjust. Yarmo's being there. So, I guess what I [clears throat] want to ask you because I want to see if you can maybe paint a picture here. Unfortunately, I'm going to ask you to talk a little bit more as you're battling for your life right now, but and I think that it might help people um just from the outside understand >> from your perspective and in your opinion, somebody like Yarmmo comes in here and takes this over with the understanding of the organization that he does right now, what does he start doing right away? And I don't mean like what's his first step, but I mean is he starting to call other GMs and starting to get active cuz maybe that's not something he's going to do beforehand. Uh is is his phone going to be ringing off the hook cuz other GMs are calling him? Does he go down and he's got a meeting with Lindy? Like in your opinion, what's the process here that Yarmmo takes and how quickly does this start taking place? >> So he's already had the conversation with Terry Pagula obviously, right? There's always there there's there's already been that conversation taken care of. Secondly, he'll get on the GM's chat again. Welcome back, Yarmmo Khalenan. Uh, so that will happen. Will there be general managers who already try to pick his pocket or sorry, relieve him of the burden of having certain players thought? Absolutely. If you're not doing that, then you're not you're not doing your job. Um, I think one of the first conversations is with the coaching staff. I think another conversation is with your captain, Raasmus Dalene. And I think you probably talked to um the group in Rochester as well. Mike Leone is the head coach there. Um and I and I I think that's how you do your day. Um and I think you do talk to other managers right away just to get a snapshot of if you're looking to create a marketplace around anybody, you want to know how other teams value your players. Like if Yarmmo Kolain is going to come in, I'm not sure that he's going to. But [clears throat] if you're Yarmmo Kickan and you want to come in, you have a couple of ideas about players you want to move or what you want to do direction-wise with this team, you better know who's interested fast. You better know how other teams feel about your team and how other teams value certain players. just so you have an understanding that if I want to make a decision on player X, I know that I call this team and I think you start laying the groundwork for that now. That's what I think Galena does. And all that would have been based on the [clears throat] conversations um that he's already had with Terry Pagula and it just and it just it just goes from there. Yeah, I just think it's an interesting situation because he can kind of come in slinging a little bit more than a normal GM switching situation >> and and you don't like you don't uh you don't see this very often, right? Like GM firings happen in the off season. They don't happen during the season. Coaches get punted at any time, but to move a general manager in season, that means your organization is in a really really bad way. We've seen GMs dismissed or contracts, you know, not renewed at v at various times or in the offseason despite performance, >> but uh you fire a GM in season, something's gone horribly wrong and [snorts] it's probably been a long time coming here for the Buffalo Sabres. I hope this is I say this legitimately as someone again who grew up watching the swords. I hope this improves the Buffalo Sabres. I hope that every longtime Buffalo Sabres fan who may have gone away from the team or has stopped buying tickets or already has tickets but and this is the worst case scenario has tickets but is choosing not to go to the games. I hope this is a good news day for them. I hope that this is the beginning of the Buffalo Sabres taking a a positive step um as they try to climb up an Atlantic division that when you look at it and [clears throat] it's not just your team Philly, but it's it's it's an Atlantic division that is starting a significant transition here. And I hope for the Buffalo Sabres that they're very much in that conversation with that next wave of Ottawa, Montreal, Detroit and not on the outside looking in because they do have a lot of really good players here. But right now, they're better as a bunch of individuals than they are collectively as a team. That's why I hope this is a good this is a good news day for the Buffalo Sabres. It's a good news day for Yarmmo Kalinan. I hope it's a good news day for the organization. It's a tough day for Kevin Adams. I don't like laying the boots to people uh when they lose their job. Um that this is probably not the day for this to just pile on. There's going to be enough piling on that happens on Kevin Adams, certainly on social media. And I get it. Like I I I understand that Savers fans are upset. Some of the things that he did, some of the things uh that he said, a lot of things that he'd like to take back, trades he'd like to take back, palm tree statements that I'm sure he'd like to take back, taxes, etc. I'm sure that he probably wants a mulligan on. I [clears throat] don't think for a second that Kevin Adams didn't try to make the Buffalo Sabres a better team for I don't think for one second he didn't try. He just didn't have the background or the people around him for support that had experience that he probably needed that entire time to say things like, "I know you were on the Blackhawks when Taves and Kane went right in the lineup, but they're Taves and Kane. They're different than Dylan Cousins." Okay? like we can't we we can't behave the way that you saw the Chicago Blackhawks behave when you were there because it's different. I hope Kevin Adams finds uh finds uh employment somewhere else. I find hope that that Kevin Adams is is still part of the uh the NHL. He's always been a good person to deal with. He was just an inexperienced person put in a situation where Listen, I'll be honest with you. Someone offers me that job as inexperienced as awful as I'll be at it. >> I'm there in the morning and I'll bring donuts. [laughter] And >> yeah, exactly. >> You would be the same. I'll bring donuts every single day to the office. >> You would do the exact same thing, Philly. >> What is my job and what's the paycheck? I'm there. [laughter] I'm your guy. Hey, and on the bright side for Kevin, you no longer say no, he's got no experience. He was the general manager of the Buffalo Sabres. >> Now, there you go. There you go. Put it on the resume. He's uh he's had the experience. Uh okay, let's finish things off here. Thanks for uh for if you're listening or watching live or you're listening in the archive, like bless you for hanging on. We've been abusive of your time. Uh the sheet is powered by FanDuel. Play your game with FanDuel. It's the NHL season and FanDuel is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to bet slip, we've got you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Miss Puck Drop? No sweat. With a live same game parlay, you can build up your bets until the final buzzer. Download the FanDuel sports book today and play your game. Please play responsibly, 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Ontario at 1866531-2600 to speak to an adviser free of charge. Are you tickling us under the chin today, Philly? [laughter] >> What do you got? >> You've heard of uh Nikki Nikki Nondors? Oh, I've heard of >> Nicki Nikki Neighbors, Nikita Coutroof, Nick Cousins, and Jake Neighbors all to score tonight. [laughter] >> I thought you going to do something with like, you know, Chris Krider returns to the Garden and he's bringing his former captain with him, Jacob Trouba. >> Nope. >> Nope. [snorts] >> Like, that's the low hanging obvious. and LZ gave that one out this morning and I figured we better stay away from like doubling down on this one because the curse that I've been with and the curse that he's been running with I don't think it like blends well so we might as well go on opposite sides or different ends of this. So uh Nikki Nikki Neighbors >> Nikita Nick Cousins and Jake Neighbors $5 pays 502. All right, >> that tells you how much of a stretch that is. [laughter] >> But if [snorts] you're going to swing for the fences, really, really swing for the fences. >> That's what Billy G did in Billy G. That's why he's carrying him in a wheelbarrow. Uh, good on Billy G [laughter] and the Minnesota Wild. Thanks, by the way, to the Minnesota Wild for making their coach John Hines available. Um, just played yesterday. Hey, it's been a busy sort of I would imagine a lot of people in the organization are getting a lot of media requests and thanks to to the Minnesota Wild and their their outstanding media relations and communications team for making John Hines available uh for our program today. Also, thanks to Matthew Fairburn for chumming the waters uh for what happened about 10 minutes after he went off air with me and that is the dismissal of Kevin Adams as the general manager of the Buffalo Savers. Thanks to Matthew for stopping by. Read his excellent piece, Him and Tim Graeme and the Athletic, which sort of set you up for what was going to happen today. Uh this was this one was um not exactly the best kept secret, let's just say, uh around the NHL. And thanks to uh Matthew Barnaby uh who popped by from Colorado um and uh wanted to weigh in and we're only too happy to accommodate Barney. Uh we called, he picked up the phone, uh put in a quarter uh and Barney went. and he's got a lot of experience with a lot of those players and that organization and brought some great perspective to the program. Meanwhile, I coughed. Thanks for joining us today. We're back tomorrow uh with Greg Washinsky for MVSW Tuesdays. We'll talk to you tomorrow 1:00 Eastern on the Sheet. Jeff Merrick along with you. Hope you enjoyed the program today. If you did, or maybe even if you didn't, they can't all be gems, folks. Uh please hit the subscribe button. Also a reminder, every morning 9:00 a.m. Eastern, Johnny Lazarus, Colby Cohen, I call them the impact players. You might know them as a tandem that makes up the Morning Cup of Hockey. Also, DFO Live at noon Eastern this year, your host, Tyler Yurchuk, alongside Carter Hutton. Full days worth of programming right here on Daily Face [music] Off, your favorite YouTube hockey channel. And as a reminder as well, Zach Phillips, our producer here for The Sheet, said if you subscribe, he'll buy you a puppy. It's true.

A massive day in Minnesota as the Wild pull off a blockbuster to acquire Quinn Hughes, sending Zeev Buium, Liam Öhgren, Marco Rossi, and a 2026 first-round pick to Vancouver in one of the biggest NHL trades in recent memory. Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes joins Jeff Marek to break down the full Quinn Hughes trade package, what it means for the Wild’s identity, how it shifts expectations after four straight wins, and how Hughes fits into the core going forward. Then Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic stops by to dive into the state of the Buffalo Sabres, including where Kevyn Adams stands, what the next steps are, and how Buffalo tries to steady its season. Full reaction, analysis, and context to a franchise-altering moment across the NHL.

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