Baker Fairburn Hockey Show, Jan. 14, 2024

Baker Fairburn Hockey Show, Jan. 14, 2024

All right everyone we are live it is midafternoon edition of The Baker Fairburn hockey show today on a very snowy blustery January 14th it’s Sunday right Matthew Sunday it is seeing you on a Sunday this is usually the day of rest for you rest and recovery but um thanks everyone for

Hopping in YouTube only live stream today thought maybe we’d get together kind of the idea was hopefully some of you are like us sitting at home trapped in our houses you’re not going to be able to drive anywhere today so what better way to spend this afternoon before the football playoffs begin then

Sitting here with Matthew Fairburn from the athletic and I so just formal introduction that’s Matthew Fairburn right there here we go I got it right time I this is easy one I’m Chris Baker at Sabers prospects you can find me on Twitter hey before we jump in I’m

Getting really good at this like this video subscribe to the channel you can find the baker Fairburn hockey show wherever you get your podcast please leave a festar rating of this show and crap all over us in the comments if you like all right Matthew we were last together let’s just

Jump right in kid we were last together on January 4th and since then the Sabers have kept up their ping ponging ways uh of wins and losses so last time you and I were together coming off a 61 Victory against that was Devon Levi’s return to the province of

Quebec picked up a big victory there they seem to be doing pretty well on the road I’m having kind of deja view here because then um the game after we were together they went into Pittsburgh and won 3-1 they got back on that two wins in a row

Train after a long stretch of not being able to do so but then they come back home enter a six-game home stand and they’ve since gone one and two losing to Seattle 5 two defeating Ottawa 53 and then on Saturday falling one nothing to Vancouver so kind of a moral Victory

There Matthew I think they um held the highest scoring I think they’re the highest scoring team in the league Vancouver held them to one goal that’s great but kind of doesn’t matter if you can’t get one of your own so I think to properly Tee It Up today I thought um

Well first of all the sabes are 43 games into the season 1821 and four that’s good for 40 points on the year eight points back at the final wild card spot 127 goals forer they’re at a minus 16 goal differential and if you go back to a year ago kind of

Prudent right we’re kind of at the halfway point of the season a little over halfway through one year ago today January 14 2023 the Sabres at that time had played 41 games they were 218 and two good for 44 points they were five back from the wild card spot at that time

But they were 159 goals four with a plus 17 differential so this year minus 16 goal differential plus 17 a year ago is that the only thing that’s different on this team this year because I think that that’s kind of a nice proper starting point here I mean where

Are we going with this team you and I talked about it a week ago it’s like if they don’t start winning some games well then you got to start pushing some buttons right but what else am what am I missing they’re not scoring at the same

Rate this season that they did last year but maybe not right Matthew Fairburn they are they’re not scoring at the same rate they did a year ago but what if I told you at five on five they have the six most goals in the NHL now they’ve played 43 games so if we

Make that a rate statistic they’re right around the top 10 per 60 minutes I believe um and goals four at five on five the five on five offense has not had a massive drop off but the power play is awful the power play is in the bottom of the league I think they’re

Marginally better defensively I think the statistics would bear that out Advanced and otherwise but I don’t think anybody would confuse them with a good defensive hockey team at this point so the goal tending has not been Stellar it’s not been a massive problem the defense hasn’t improved enough to make up for

The lack of offense and I just consider them to be one of the most confusing teams I’ve ever you know certainly the most confusing team I’ve ever covered in either sport you know just trying to figure them out and Brian Cummings is here in the chat as always and had a a

Great question question the other day in the comments of one of my stories that I’ve been chewing on and don’t really have an answer for the gist of it was it was a long wellth thought out comment but the gist of it was individually there’s a lot we can agree that you can

Like about this team right a lot of players that you like a lot of moves that in a vacuum were okay but the sum does not equal the parts and that for whatever reason has been consistent throughout the season that the SU does not equal the parts and that’s why when

We talk about going forward with this team I think it’s really hard to pinpoint you know anytime you bring up a player to trade there’s going to be disagreement Casey midat we’ve talked about and there’s a lot of people that like Casey middl stat for good reason uh

You can go down the roster of players that including other teams sure absolutely and so it’s hard to pinpoint where you go forward from here but they are one of the most disappointing teams in the NHL I think this season based on their preseason expectations and the frustrating part is

That they’re no longer in that position where you feel as a fan I I can’t imagine there’s a lot of fans sitting there feeling good about another top 10 draft pick right other fan bases this time of year if they’re in a similar spot start to get

Get excited about a top 10 pick because they’ve tasted the playoffs before in the last Dozen Years and they know that you know it’s okay to have a top 10 pick once in a while the sabes took a one-year break after a decade plus straight of having top 10 picks and it

Looks like they might be right back there picking in the top 10 again and it’s uh it’s just not good enough from from the top down I feel like so part of it I think tell me what you think about this comment is is are are injuries that the sabes have experienced

This year a valid excuse for lack of sustained winning streaks good play because some of I mean just look at what’s happening right now Thompson was out for a while right key player now Skinner’s out Skinner was scoring goals one of the few guys that was consistently putting the puck in the

Back of the net this year is that a valid excuse I mean Samuelson we don’t know what’s going to be going on with him he’s been a kind of a minute horse regardless of what you think about his metrics and everything else is that a valid excuse you think that the Sabers

Can lean into or do you just have to say look every team deals with injuries uh suck it up and find a way I fall closer to the the ladder there um I I was asked this question as well I did a two-part mail bag this week

Tons of questions so for any anybody out there that thinks apathy is setting in in saber uh I would have them go check out the the comment thread on my mailbag it was almost 200 comments strong and a lot of good and valid questions and one

Of them was how much are injuries a part of of what what is happening and I do want to give them some you know I want to give them some weight here on injuries because you mentioned some of the big ones missing Tage Thompson for three weeks Alex tuck being banged up

For a good part of the season but here’s where it falls short for me and I’m actually curious to get your thoughts on this because it’s been rattling around in my brain and I’ve been saving it for for the podcast to get your thoughts early in the week Don Granado

Was talking about how the team has struggled to be in the moment and or how they need to be in the moment when it was ahead of the homestand and the conversation was steering towards needing a bunch of wins on the home stand stand and he said we need to stay

In the moment we can’t be looking at stuff and I asked how do you feel like the team has done staying in the moment this year and long the long and short of it was not well but he said he thought it had been better lately and I said why

Do you think it’s been better lately and he pointed to health and the first name and he brings this name up a lot when he talks about health is Jack Quinn and valid right jack Quinn was out until mid December and we see what he done since being inserted into the

Lineup I don’t know that you get to use missing Jack Quinn as an excuse when there was not much effort made to replace Jack Quinn that’s something that I’ve kind of been been rattling around is why does Jack Quinn’s name keep popping up when there was plenty of time to

Find some sort of stop Gap make some sort of effort you’re not going to replace Jack Quinn one for one but the same forward group came back untouched other than Zack Benson who surprised them I think at Camp by making the team and there was no outside help for

That forward group and we’re sitting here talking about a team that’s struggling on the power play a team that is not scoring at the same rate that it was a year ago knew it would be without Jack Quinn as of NHL draft weekend and is now sort of you you know throwing up

Their hands and saying well we were missing Jack Quinn for a few months as if it was an opening night injury I just feel like they didn’t prepare themselves well enough for the injuries so have the injuries been a problem yes but I just don’t think that

There was enough done to protect against that and deal with you know have the the appropriate depth to withstand the inevitable you know they weren’t going to be as healthy as they were a year ago it’s almost inevitable so I don’t know I I I can see both sides of it there I

Don’t think that they were gonna go out and replace Quinn by making a trade and bringing in another skill player because when you go back to last season the offense really wasn’t the problem they were amongst the league leaders and team goal scoring right I mean they were up

There goals per game for the entire season we talked about it last week I think that you were if you were gonna go shopping you were going to do it with more grit grunt work guys that are going to play fast and hard at the bottom of

The lineup we talked about two names last time we were together Garnet hathway miles wood two examples of the types of players that maybe they could have brought in Kevin Adams has also told us in dong Granado that they were gonna block the path of some of their

Younger players right or wrong right but I think they kind of told us that they weren’t going to go out and fish they were going to lean into year-over-year growth with the core group that they had and bring back aoso and garson’s for that veteran leadership but then you

Look at a game like last night I don’t want to get too far off track because I think we want to go back to your point but it’s like aoso has been like in an island he and ggens all year though with the leadership that’s the problem

There’s still a gap between guys that play that team toughness game the team game Eric Johnson has to come out and take on JT Miller last night so back to your point I think that right or wrong right or wrong not saying I necessarily agree with it I think they

Looked at Matthew seavoy and they wanted to give him a look they want to block some of these young players was Ki ready Brandon brro a guy that they wanted to call up last year before getting dinged up were those the types of guys that they could insert to help them just ride

It out until Quinn got healthy I think that’s the answer again I’m not saying I agree with it I’m just trying to explain it kind of go back and assess the situation where they were at the end of last year as a team how young they were forecasting the year-over-year growth

And then rolling the dice just like they did with the goal tending I think that’s what happened Quinn though to your point is I said it last week and I don’t want to sit here and repeat everything I said said last week he changes the way the

Team looks that’s been a huge injur I think that the injuries do matter especially when you look at who the injuries have been too Tage now Skinner but it’s It’s Tricky man that thatal tuck yeah yeah he’s been held together by a string it’s part of the

Tricky part of the injuries in in hockey compared to football where you get an injury report every week you know some of these guys that are out you know dalen’s been getting routine maintenance days all year it feels like and playing through stuff samuelson’s been in and out of the lineup tuck was

Really fighting it early in the year and seems like he’s starting to get relatively healthy so like I said they are valid but the depth forwards that they brought back and we should also mention ggens since he was out for a while too and so it just strains your depth and the

Inability to move Victor Olson or really have a plan for giving him a legitimate role at any point the you know bringing back Tyson Jost needing to go out and get Eric Robinson to try to you know put duct tape on a on a bullet

Wound all it felt like to me they’re not leaning into those young players right Kik gets one game and then he’s right back down one game that was a ugly Team game where he had you know seemingly no chance to really fit in or show what he

Could do and so I don’t know I just felt like they made the wrong bets you know th this summer is what it comes down to and I don’t think they underestimated what Jack Quinn meant to their lineup I don’t think they did that but him coming

Back I think shows everybody else how much they were missing and then it just begs the question why wasn’t more done because because even if it’s a a grittier player like we talked about Garnet Hathaway or miles wood that pushes somebody else up the lineup right

I think Zack Benson could play top six minutes for you I think I wrote down today that I want to talk about that yeah I think Casey middl stat could have jumped into a first or second line Wing roll if you wanted to shuffle up those

Top two lines but you can’t do that unless you insulate the the bottom six with some of those veteran depth signings that we talk about so I think part of the bigger bigger picture conversation is that the injuries matter in the big picture when we’re talking

About this team as if they don’t make the playoffs it is a failure right because that’s the bar that was set and failing does not mean you tear it down and burn it to the ground and start over you just have to assess where do you

Move you can’t run it back right and and just hope it goes better but where is patience necessary and where is patience holding them back I think is what they have to figure out the rest of this season and the rest of you know into the offseason starting with the head coach starting

With you know some of the key players and then evaluating their own talent because what you just talked about I think your mindset on what they were thinking is dead on but I also think that’s part of the problem that the evaluation of what was in house especially the prospects here

Because none of them were really ready other than the guy they drafted in June and if they were ready they didn’t give him much of a chance to show it so that’s what has to happen because the playoffs are a bit of a pipe dream given the way they’ve started this home stand

Stand could it happen sure but mathematically it’s a long shot so it becomes about it’s slim it’s like you know depending on who you ask let’s see what money Puck says right now but go ahead yeah I’m sure it’s I’m sure it’s less than what three I don’t even want

To throw a number out there because I haven’t looked at it but it can’t be more than three% right I mean look Lightning’s not gonna strike twice 45 a couple years ago 4.5 okay better than I according to moneyed um the Athletics most recent had them at around 3% so

They’ve got eight points back and they’re be you know how many teams between them and the Devils or the lightning whoever they keep flipping swapping back and forth so it’s four or five teams between them and it’s a challenge point being it’s about self-evaluation the rest of the way

Because I do not think that I think the expectation should remain the same going into next season the playoffs should be very much attainable next season and I have not changed my opinion on that and part of it maybe is because of the injuries because if they were healthier and they

Had gotten rolling a little bit earlier maybe things do go a different way so I’m not of the belief that it’s time to you know tear things down and start selling them for parts you know what was interesting so this week um a couple Publications I think had like their

Valuations of NHL franchises come out you know like the Maple Leafs mlsc it’s worth like you know billions of dollars right and then you have the Sabers that are like down near the bottom it’s a franchise that hasn’t had playoff Revenue coming in in forever I can’t

Tell you was President the last time the Sabres were in the playoff series you had a flat cap this year right because escrow kind of so B I think what we’re saying is so do I can go back to the offseason and say their inability to to move Victor Olsen

Because everything has to be a financial move you can’t make an emotional move it has to work financially their inability to move that salary and reinvest some of those dollars elsewhere I think was what defined the off season if you if you look at what they had and

These assets that they had to manage through in the offseason going forward is that fair or am I way off I could be way off I don’t think you’re way off but I don’t think it’s fair if that makes sense I don’t think you’re way off but I

Don’t think that should have been a reasonable excuse because they still had cap space right at some point they well but they’re on a team that just because there’s a salary cap for the league they’re on their own cap and that’s part of what I mention that’s why I mentioned

The that’s lack of Revenue just because the cap is X the stabbers have their own cap okay sorry yeah that clear that’s why I say you’re right but it’s not a fair excuse right like I think you’re right you know money in Money out matters to them but you know we all have

Heard the quotes from when Terry Pula bought the team and so if anybody I don’t think anybody sitting at home would be feeling too good to know that 4.5 million of Victor Olson prevented them from going out and spending 4.5 million on Garnet halfway you know and that’s

Where like I do think you’re you bring up a good point and I think you’re you’re probably on to something there but is it a reasonable excuse when Kevin Adams I asked him after they signed Owen power about just that spending willingness to spend and I said is it

This starting to show that you know the willingness to spend is there for the right players and he was emphatic that there’s always been a willingness to spend and you know seemed to to scoff at the notion otherwise but it was what we’re coming up on four years since

Terry Pula at the start of the pandemic was talking about needing to be economic and efficient and all these things and to your point playoff Revenue has not come in the bottom line for this franchise has not improved attendance is an issue they are bottom five in the NHL in attendance once again

And that could be a reality here and it could be you know part of what maybe prevented and the other thing that I think we’ve brought up before but the reputation of the franchise has not improved enough in League circles to be in the running for everybody you know whether it’s G like

Uh Tomas toar those players would have perfect have been perfect but he went to Colorado why would he choose Buffalo over Colorado you know it and that’s on them they have to continue to to climb the standings and if Buffalo is not a winner Buffalo is not a destination so I

I saw it in football covering the bills once the bills started winning really once they got Josh Allen and he proved to be good attracting free agents was not an issue Buffalo the location is not an excuse I would think especially for hockey players right in the NHL where

You have more guys that are from Canada the Toronto area uh you know I think the location itself isn’t a problem but you have to win and you have to not only win but you have to not be a franchise that’s chasing off good players that you

Know these guys leave and they they act like they’ve been reborn uh you know and Ryan O’Reilly talking about losing the love of game You Know Jack eel having his you know issues with the team all these little things I think add up in terms of your reputation with players so

Was there internal spending limiting them was there external reputation limiting them probably and that’s why sometimes they are forced to bet on homegrown talent and the patient approach and hope it pays off and when you do that you’re gonna have Growing Pains it’s not going to be easy and that’s where

Individually I think there’s still reason to have faith in a a lot of these players and that’s where I’m not totally pessimistic about the future of this team I also think it’s why fans are so frustrated because there is so much talent and there is it is sort of right

There but it’s not you know the sum is not equal to the parts well yeah and that question from from Cummings I think was what got me on the injury thing that’s my answer to it I think when it’s all said and done it’s a big part of it

Honestly I mean you can’t argue the results that they had last year and then what happened this year and say injuries don’t have something a big part of that I think I think I’m not making excuses I just that’s that was my knee-jerk reaction to that thought that that Brian

Brought up you know you mentioned attendance how the hell did they have 17,6 162 build at yesterday’s game against Vancouver that’s like one of the higher attendances at least tickets I think that’s a ticket sold number but like when you look at like opening night then the holiday games like Thanksgiving

The two that were around Christmas New Year’s and then like a Leafs game that’s like one of the higher is it Vancouver is Vancouver that much of a draw there were quite a few Vancouver fans there I was surprised they played the game as scheduled I would have

Thought they would move it up but sportset had the game ABC had the exclusive window at one o’clock all these things to me weatherwise it made perfect sense move it up to one o00 Vancouver would have been able to get out of town they could not get out of

Town last night uh the Shar could not get into town yet and I don’t know if anybody in the chat was at the game and and drove home but my drive home was not I you know I come to the South Towns I know not everybody does getting out of

Downtown was pretty much fine but getting to the South Towns was not not great so I was like you shocked to see I don’t know if 17,000 were there but I was shocked to see the amount of people that were in the building and in add you

Know we talk about the business business side of things and just as like an aside from an attendance standpoint they’re not doing great this year they’re also getting terrible luck you have this Saturday game afternoon against Vancouver that should be a big draw like you know bringing some fans from Canada

Some visiting fans whatever best team in the league and you get the the snowstorm that probably keeps some people out of the building Monday the game is now pushed up to noon against the the team or The League worst San Jose Shark with a bills playoff game you know a few

Hours later with a snowstorm still you know swirling in parts of Western New York they may still have to change that game but if they don’t there’s going to be hardly anybody there I would think and then Wednesday Conor Bard and the Chicago Blackhawks come to town which

Would have been a massive draw uh you probably still have some leftover Blackhawks fans in South Buffalo from from the Patrick Kane days but Conor Bard broke his jaw and won’t be playing so this kid that’s like the hot tick item in the NHL now we won’t be playing

So in addition to having not won the fan base back entirely and issues with the arena all these variables that are causing poor attendance and the disappointing team they’re also just now catching bad luck with in January here with some of these games that that could

Have been you know nice draws and now they’re I don’t know how many people are going to be there for the next two games the economic hockey gods have not been good to the Sabers to your point tomorrow by the way that game against San Jose that sets up for for me you

Know good feeling in town people are going to be Juiced up for the Bills game that should be like a big win for the sabes like a big win like six nothing win like that like that Montreal I’d probably just jinx it saber’s probably gonna get the [ __ ]

Kicked out of him now but that should be a big win for the Sabers and it’s it’s usually those games who like no one’s paying attention to that like people be watching Twitter like oh this Sabers are rolling they’re up four nothing in the first perod then they’re going to turn

It on TV they might not be in attendance on site to your point but that’s part of that whole thought coming into this part of the schedule like San Jose Chicago you gotta win those games kind of keep the hope alive but um let’s talk about Tage for a second

Um I don’t know exactly when you know so him coming back from that injury he had some extra padding on his wrist right and then it seemed noticeable I texted you I think during the game might have been the Ottawa game when he started really firing those

Shots he looks different with that shot now he like do you think the goals are going to start coming for him now that the padding’s off he seems to be freed he can do more with his hands are you expecting a big second half Surge from page what is it

Nathaniel Thompson yes TNT uh I I am but he’s probably as snake bitten as anybody in terms of injuries right now because he has that big game against Ottawa and then he can’t finish the game because of an injury the second injury he had that night because he took a stick to the

Face and had to get stitches yeah and then I don’t even know they didn’t label it as upper or lower but you know he didn’t come out against Vancouver and necessarily looked like he did against Ottawa so he’s got to stay healthy and you know these injuries aren’t the same

Injuries that plagued him last year these ones feel like more more bad luck you know he had sort of the back last year a hip injury at one point the back was one where you were worried guy that tall is that going to be a nagging thing

But yeah this year it’s takes a puck off the wrist you know should he have been on the penalty kill at that point when they were down like 5-1 against the Bruins probably not but you know there he was and didn’t use the best technique

To block the shot and has a it was actually a broken hand so he you know with the extra padding and the grip on the Stick Of course his shot’s not going to be as good it looks like that part of his game is back but then he loses a

Linemate right uh and Jeff Skinner and has something else that’s nagging him they run into a hot goalie on Saturday so you know in theory yes it should be a big second half for Tage Thompson and you’d like to our point about you know evaluating this roster showing some patience giving some

Benefit of the doubt you would like to see a big second half from him because you don’t you’d prefer to believe that all these guys who had career years who have since regressed that there’s a middle ground somewhere right maybe he’s not a 47 goal scorer every single season but he should

Have more than what’s he got now 13 at the moment you know he should have more than that so that’s a big part of the equation is Tage Thompson being a superstar you know these top teams in the league have Superstars carrying their team and the Sabers Superstars

Have either not been healthy enough to carry the team or not consistent enough when they are healthy and the other guys Dylan cousin I think falls into that that camp who has made some improvements in parts of his game but the offensive game just hasn’t been there I don’t want to steal

Your thought here but you mentioned this before we hopped on while I was having my weekly bout of technical difficulties the year-over-year transformation of the Vancouver Canucks right because we talked about where the Sabres were a year ago and I’m trying to bring it up here because I had

To restart so I lost all my windows that I had open to support this endeavor yeah okay so last January 14th Vancouver was 1722 and three oh yeah they were like hold on sorry I need to just do this on the Fly I apologize this is really good for

People that are gonna be listening to this on audio but they were oh my God yeah they were like 14 points out of the final wild card spot so it’s like so let’s just get to that part right because I know you want to talk about this and we didn’t really

Discuss this so I’m kind of curious to see where this this goes how did Vancouver do it and how can the Sabres become next year’s Vancouver so I would have oh my God they were minus 22 gold differential last year at this time also they were

Wild they were a bad hockey team last year thater Demco was not healthy so that was part of it um they so getting Thatcher Demco back’s been a big deal he has four shutouts he’s playing excellent they have a new coach right fired Bruce Bruce Buro partway through last season halfway

Through maybe around this time and Rick tett came in um and started to turn things around they have Carson Susi is new zadorov is new early this this year yeah so a few small moves uh I’m trying to see who else is new two two similar moves

That Sabers fans would have liked to have seen maid this year right defensive depth now I know one was in season okay now they the Sab the Sabers at Eric Johnson and Conor Clifton not quite not quite the same uh there’s a player profile difference there between

Sabers add and what Vancouver went out and got SS’s a good player he he and zadorov you know his presence was felt yesterday uh against the Sabres so i’ would say they’ve been more aggressive they’re getting big bounceback years from the players that need to have them and to the point about

Superstars right you have Quinn Hughes playing out of his mind right like looking like a Norris Trophy you know a Norris Trophy winner this year and rasma like is he capable of that absolutely so you know there’s are the ingredients there for a similar turnaround maybe

But you know I asked Don Granado you know what his what he saw as the biggest difference between you know last year and this year with the Canucks and he mentioned confidence Mojo they’re not afraid to make mistakes they’re last year they were tight they and they

Carried that around all year and as he was saying that I was thinking of the Sabres this year it’s like that’s what they’re carrying around right like that’s that’s their big problem is they’re they are afraid to make mistakes this pressure seems to be getting them the injuries are are piling up and

Taking them out of the moment or whatever phrases Don Granado wants to use and but that confidence wasn’t just those guys woke up and got confident it was a few moves that you know be them up you get the goalie healthy and you’re off and running a little bit and the big

Variable right is a new coach they even had a guy that wanted out after last year right didn’t Conor Garland want out of there and he’s still there yeah and they’re even scratching uh you know a guy that had how many goals did kusenko have last year 40 something and he’s been healthy

Scratched once in a while because Rick tet’s trying to get through to him and 39 goals last season yeah so you know how much of that do you attribute to Rick tett I guess we’ll find out when the when the Jack Adams votes come through right how much the the hockey World At

Large you know believes that that he’s had a big hand in that but there’s also some out there that would say that they’re shooting percentage being so high that maybe they will fall back down to earth a little bit but still what you pointed to from a

Year ago they are a much better team even if they are getting some nice shooting luck or nice goalie luck once in a while like they are they’re a dangerous team seems like go tending is kind of that big differentiator year-over-year with Demco I mean Demco is having a VZ inous

Season just having that that in them well no I think that’s the big and again it aligns with what fans wanted more defensive depth goal tending veteran n minder maybe we heard that a lot you go through those there’s some similarities there did they get a doover

This year they go out and add some defensemen you know Yoki Haru they’ve been scratching him is he in the future plans what’s the story there do you go out and get the goal tender do you reset that whole thing a year late coaching though I think it’s

Coaching a go tending right I think that’s kind of what this whole thing’s gonna boil down to yeah because the Personnel moves weren’t dramatic you know they did they make better bets than the Sab did with their few moves hard to argue the results hard to argue right

Like the their defenseman you know have been have been pretty good trying to see who else they added Ian Cole is back in there for them uh this year they lost Oliver emman Larson uh Teddy beler uh is new when did they pick up Sam lafy there’s a gritty

Uh role player yeah he’s another one so yeah I mean they did make you know these enough tweaks this was not a team that a lot of people had a lot of high hopes for coming into the season either uh they were written off I think by a lot

Of people so sure coaching is probably the biggest variable like you’re getting more out of certain players goal tending is a huge variable can the Sabers get that level of goal tending with what they have because it’s not like they went out and got Demco the Canucks right he just got healthy

But that would have to be a veteran from outside I think unless Devon Levi you think is ready to make that kind of jump in year two which is quite the leap or maybe uko pek lukanin can can find one of those Seasons I think you would probably be

Closer to me on this than some people I’m not of the opinion that goal tending is some impossible to predict position I think possible I think there is a degree of difficulty there’s some Randomness to the position but I think throwing up your hands and saying it’s

It’s totally random and there’s no no way to predict which goalies will be good I think is I I think it’s kind of imagine if football teams did that with quarterbacks well there’s no way to know you just got to guess right like Cas goalie is too important to guess and I

Think they the advantage goes to teams that figure it out and get the answer and you know the scouting and development and you know of that position in particular is super important and so the saber big bet at that position is on Devin Levi they have

Passed up doing a lot of things and cleared the path in a lot of ways for him so are they gonna going into his second season make a big bet on a veteran I have have a hard time seeing it got to see how he finishes this

Season I think it’s clear you know Devon Levi is going to be a good NHL net minder it’s just a matter of when I mean look at that Demco he’s having this VZ inous season at age 28 he to me in his draft year was a first round Prospect I

Think he went early second round Jake ottinger is a very good goalie he was a first-rounder I want to say and he was clearly a firstr talent that goes to my point it’s not perfect but you know a good Deon Levi that’s how I think Kevin Adams obviously feels about Devon Levi Don

Granado right so now it’s just a matter of when but can you wait until Devon Levi’s 28 to have his VZ Calibur season hell no right right so I think that the people that wanted attention to the position in hindsight were completely correct as much as they wanted to just

Roll the dice and have faith that this was going to be this outlier this talented kid who’s Supreme mentally skilled just going to get it together and bypass some learnings that it took I don’t know man it’s it’s exhausting thinking about the team these days we’re going to do it we’re going to

Continue to do it but that Vancouver thing was interesting when you brought it up um I’m still trying to figure out how like process like you know what did they do when you realize they’re very similar and and how they’re constructed um but yeah I don’t know did

You we should probably talk about Dalene too by the way I’m segueing like all over the place czy today talk about but we should talk about delene because I saw your story and that was some interesting comments about the rush yeah it was I talked to him on

Thursday and my impetus for talking to him was he was clearly frustrated on Tuesday against Seattle broke his Stick Over the crossbar and you know people always start talking when stuff like that happens of only a matter of time before Rasmus stene you know wants people are a

Little bit scarred here uh you know Rasmus Dalene wants to win with the saers I think he very much wants to be you know that leader that future captain but I was curious just about how he there’s been a lot of mixing and matching back there right on defense

Like how how is it all working are you starting to find some answers and his answer was that you know I’ll read the the couple of quotes that he had he said I’ve been thinking about it the last two days here and what the team needs right

Now is a steady Decor I can’t really jump into rushes right now I got to have more responsibility and I have to take care of the dzone more it’s going to be a little bit different from my side in terms of defensively but it’s what the team needs right now and I’m very

Excited for it and on the defense as a whole he said I’m responsible for that too we’ll see how much offense we’re going to create because we need good defense now the individual stuff you have to put that aside and dial in defensively and I it’s it’s an

Interesting part of what makes Rasmus doen so good is that he can create offensively right you need those defens you know the best defenseman in the NHL are that way and I think there is a definite perception from the outside that when Don Granado took over and

Allowed him to play more free and got him out of his head that he unlocked some of the best parts of Rasmus dalen and it’s parts of why he earned that 11 million a year contract but he’s not been good defensively this year well I was gonna

Say is he that good defensively that he can just focus right I mean you know you have to be competent defensively you can’t be a pylon out there when you line up on the blue line right but I mean is he that good defensively to say that right is it a

Matter of Focus right is it a matter of just turning his attention back which is you know probably a bigger point about the team don Granado’s point a lot of the times last year was well now we’ve turned a lot of focus to offense now we

Just need to turn it to defense and it’ll be fine and obviously that’s not really been the case is it isn’t a matter of just focusing on it and you’ll be better he hasn’t been good defensively this year Rasmus doen and so it may not be the worst thing for him to

I think he has a tendency to try when he gets frustrated he tries to do everything right he tries to put the team on his back he tries to uh you know kind of do a little bit too much at times and so maybe just trying to settle

Down a little bit is the best thing for him and but in a way you know Don Granado mentioned that he likes to see Samuelson and D at their best you know they’re assertive and they’re they’re closing their gaps in a hurry their first step isn’t backwards all these

Things so I think the worst fear for a lot of people at least based on you know response to that quote on social media is that dalen’s gonna be two in his head now right and that he’s already two in his head and that this is like Ralph

Krueger stuff right I just gonna ask you how many people commented like the Ralph Krueger flashback did you get you got some of yeah a lot of that and soed yeah I don’t think this is quite that but I think it’s just the reality of the

Points are there if you just looked at the points you would think Rasmus doen season is just like it was last season but it’s the defensive part that’s uh pretty bad I had in my story last night he’s been on the ice for I believe it’s 169 High danger chances against at five

On five which is like a the most in the NHL for defenseman and yesterday was the first game he had all season long where he wasn’t on the ice for a single high danger chance against at five on five he did miss a little bit of time but he

Didn’t miss that much time and that’s a really good hockey team and actually since we had that conversation on Thursday morning he’s only been on the ice for one high danger chance at five on five in two games so maybe to your point maybe he is is maybe he is good

Enough when he just turns his attention and and you know wakes up a little bit and focuses on because he had some moments in that Seattle game where it was it was like what are you doing right you know he jumped way into to pinch on

You know in the neutral zone on one play and it was like what was the end goal here you know and I think maybe it’s just eliminating some of that and then you you work back in the offense a little bit but I think there’s probably

A tendency from him he sees the injuries up front early in the season right and thinks I can I can put this team on my back I can you know I can generate I can you know be that guy that makes up for some of that offense and he can but at

What cost right and Matia Samson hasn’t been quite as good this year hasn’t always been in the lineup either and so then you know you’re playing with Matia Samuelson or Henry Oki Haru and those guys aren’t you know Samuelson can be when he’s at his best but those guys aren’t established shut down

Stay-at-home defenseman that allow you to necessarily play the way Dalene does so I think it’s been a mix of factors I don’t consider myself in the camp of massively concerned about razus doen but I think he’s an interesting player to watch the rest of the way because

Because of him trying to find that balance of you know where exactly the Right Mix is for him and he had it last year but it’s it’s kind of gone away from him a little bit this year he’s the critical component for the team right so there’s always is going to

Be concern or at least you know he’s too important where you got to watch him closely but I think that that’s really encouraging the performance especially how short-handed they were at times in that game they had freaking gurgenson back there taking defensive shifts for a car and out loud you lose Samuelson who

Lined up started the game as dalen’s partner so just to kind of reset the defensive pairs that they went to Market with yesterday you had Dalene with samelson power with Eric Johnson Ryan Johnson with Clifton on the assumption are we thinking that it’s fair to say that we

Might be with without Matias Samuelson tomorrow history shows us when he goes down he probably misses a couple games right that’s what history tells us who you put concussion protocol too oh so then yeah there you go so it’s hard to predict and they don’t usually say concussion protocol unless they’re mad

About the hit um and so that’s true we got a little extra info uh uh from both of those guys went into concussion protocol Dalene came back in the game samelson did not so this is not like football either where the concussion protocol is very well spelled out and

There stages and all this you could be back on Monday and it’s a guessing game as to what stages he went through to get there I don’t think with it being an early game that’s realistic but uh right so I would say Dalene could be dealing

With a new partner here um do you go uh do you go Yoki Haru or do you go Ry Johnson or do you go someone else completely different you probably plug Yoki Haru in there because here’s another interesting thing I gathered this week for a story that’ll

Probably come out this week at some point talking to Conor Clifton about his game that’s kind of gotten back on track uh quietly he drew a lot of criticism from fans for his first 20 so games and he absolutely took it on the chin I mean

He you know when we talked this week he was pretty open about that not being you know him not playing well at all but we T smaller part of the story but we talked about him switching from left defense to right defense and he hadn’t really played left defense very much

Before this season and at some point Eric Johnson was like hey we should switch and that started to help and then now they’ve been going a little bit more Lefty righty and it’s made a big difference for Clifton and I think it probably speaks more to a plan on

Defense as a whole Clifton spent all of training camp playing with doen and then right before the start of of the season they switch they switch it back up and then he’s playing Left defense so he now you’re switching where he’s playing who he’s playing with and

Then you have all sorts of Lefty righty stuff kind of jumbled up you’re not going Lefty Lefty Lefty right righty righty righty and not every guy is good with that it impacts you know how you’re playing the puck it impacts Vision a little bit where you’re looking opening

Your body up probably opening the puck up at times to more dangerous plays some guys prefer it some guys do not I would say I can say confidently Clifton does not prefer it but it sort of speaks to the plan right you could say oh he’s an

NHL defenseman he should be able to play wherever I would say not that easy I would say he’s a $3.3 million doll player that you signed for three years and you need to have a better plan than that for him that that would be my stance on it that it’s not really

Fair you know to judge this guy when he had to play all of camp with one guy get switched with another guy now he’s playing his off hand and that didn’t seem like it was part of the plan going in so now you have Eric Johnson up with

Ow and power seems to be working out a little bit better it seems to be helping power out a little bit at the the very least but that’s why I you know Dalene seems to be one of the players that doesn’t mind being on his off hand um

But I think there’s a component there is like what was the plan on defense and now you have Ryan Johnson who I think is an interesting talking point for us because because he’s uh a favorite of Sabers Prospect has been for a while but he’s another Lefty right

That’s not the only reason why though that should be talking about him here when we’re talking about Samuelson because he had a great game yesterday he had a great game yesterday he’s one of their best skaters on the entire team he is really sharp with the puck but my

Question is he’s another Lefty so it’s like it kind of complicates things a little bit with the lineup I like him with Clifton I think it kind of worked pretty well but you know and Clifton’s kind of of a stay-at-home guy Johnson can move the puck a little bit get involved on the

Offense but you know do you put him at at right defense or left defense and have Dalene over on the right that could work um and then you have power Johnson but then you have to go what Yoki Haru Clifton with who’s playing Left you know

Depends on what you want to do with Yoki Haru right like why are they sitting him down do you put him back up there because he’s gonna have to play Big minutes if he’s going to be paired with Val my thought with Johnson is you have a guy that’s going

Well and maybe you feel more comfortable with that guy and you mentioned his skating but it’s how crisp he moves the puck he’s forceful with his passes everything is purposeful can he be the guy that plays those minutes you know and can handle it the requirement of playing with Rasmus

Dalene it’s going to be interesting to see tomorrow on Monday we’re recording this again on a Sunday for those that aren’t live with us right now and thank you for everyone that is here today and I see the chat I’ve been looking at you Matthew on the screen but I do see the

Chat moving it’s been moving seems like it’s been cooking is there any is there anything in there because we are 53 minutes in I don’t have all my my prop bets in yet that I probably missed all the good lines anyways for over under receiving airs and receptions and things

Like that that I like to dabble in the NHL or NFL excuse me but um I haven’t really been watching the chat time because I’ve so engaged I’ve been so engaged in this discussion with you Matthew and trying to be careful by the way this is a um it is a tequila

Cocktail but you can see look I barely touched it so if anyone thinks I’m being stupid it’s not the booze it’s just me naturally not being a smart human being we have some Captain chatter in the uh Captain chatter as always what do you want to talk about Dylan Cousins

Being Captain do you bring back ooso for another year and if not you know what happens okay you know who’s the captain not reading the chat not knowing the flavor of the captain Chat thing that’s going on in there you can’t bring Kyle poo back I just think that even though he’s

Playing well I think you have to you have to move on and give a different look top to bottom where you can I don’t think Kyle laoso wants to come back either and that’s a big part of my veh opposition to him coming back is

Just let him go be a husband father he could still be around the team I think he’d be the the young group that’s still here finding their way would benefit from having kyoso being around but I don’t think I think it’s time I think he’s playing well but I agree uh I think

The we’ve talked about the captain the future captaincy before I maybe have changed my tunee slightly which is why those uh comments stood out to me because kyok poo leaving creates a big leadership vacuum and you then have to decide whether you give it to Rasmus Dalene

Who has all the makings of a captain and would be a fine choice but who is very young still he’s 23 right has he turned 24 yet not necessarily your I guess he’s getting getting old by hockey years but still a young man you know just signed his first big contract

And and all that whereas you have Alex tuck who is acting very Captain like this year when they lose when he when they lose he’s there to say what needs to be said he got a letter when Kyle ooso was out with an injury which was noteworthy right because we’ve talked about Dylan

Cousins and Tage Thompson as two other you know leadership candidates but tuck the one who got the letter and in some ways it feels like you can’t fully judge who the next Captain should be until the current Captain is gone right because the leadership pecking order and the leadership flavor and and how

The whole dynamic is is a little bit different when the guy in charge is gone you know who starts to fill the different roles and is darene maybe a better fit with the a than the C uh I don’t know I think it’s maybe not as cut

And dry but they have plenty of leadership candidates in the room and I know tuck has been a fan favorite pick for Captain for a long time in my sense just from you know the team was that it was probably more likely to be Dalene and maybe still is but I’ve come around

To tuck with how he’s handled this season in particular fighting through injuries and just constantly being the voice when the voice is needed it feels like and there was a comment in here about Dylan cousins uh you know yeah because he’s the one who really said

What needed to be said U you know a few months ago at this point about what the team was really lacking but I think Rob wise makes a good point here that cousins has had trouble with the pressure he has this year he doesn’t need to add the captaincy to that

Necessarily yet well right that’s always been my asterisk with the Dylan cousins captaincy conversation is that he’s close he has the he’s cut from that cloth but it’s too soon going back to aoso for a second though part of it is not just they need

To move on it’s also the on Ice product I know he’s playing well they need to get faster and harder in that role that he currently occupies that was the appeal going back to the names that I will no longer speak of after today but the Hathaway and the um miles wood they’re

Fast they would have added a little bit more of a speed injection in there as well as playing physical having a little bit of attitude Moxy but they have to figure it out I you know it’s always you talk about making guys feel uncomfortable remove them we talked about this a couple

Episodes ago Matthew when those those guys when they were going through that stretch before you had to take your break was who was gonna pick that team up and drag them out of that hole that they dug and that’s where I saw cousins step up I think that’s where you started

To see tuck tuck was battling the injury though too for me Tuck’s an a I think he can lead without the sea everyone has to lead you hear it’s cliche right but a professionals they all have to lead in a certain way I don’t think tuck and I get it he’s fan

Favorite he’s not a c to me I can see that I think the I think the hesitation I’ve always had with tuck is that he is a happy go-lucky kind of guy and making him be the guy that always has to answer for the losses and

For this and for that might change you know some of that he’s kind of he’s he’s a guy that can lighten the room and and connect to to everybody and and maybe the a is the better fit for that reason and Dalene is competitive as anybody like leads with

That here’s an interesting question worth some some conversation from from Stephen canor in the chat he said I don’t think the C is on the roster right now the Sabres need to go out and use some of their prospects to go get their captain now I don’t know and I’m not

Sure Stephen knows exactly who that is but it’s also something I’ve thought about is that maybe you don’t go with a captain right away and maybe there is a way to make a trade and add some leadership from outside because I don’t think there’s anybody that would argue that could use a little

Bit more of that you know a different voice somebody who could really drag them into the fight you know as you say we started talking about that at the top of this podcast you know I kind of threw it in there it was almost like a throw

Just a brief throw in but I did I did feel that and I still do guys like Eric Johnson ooso they’re on their they’re on an island it seems like with the leadership like there’s just not enough there’s a big gap between those guys and the rest of the young guys and they’re

Not all puppies man like but maybe that’s a good call maybe the captain isn’t on the roster it’s also very dangerous I think the last time they did that where they brought someone in brand new like Craig R they voted him Captain his first year here

When they went and got him from San Jose that was years ago but trading the prospects for a guy look we it’s either the com the commentary on like what the Sabers need to do what type of trade they need to make it’s either people get the the concept of

Moving Casey midd stat it’s either move a guy like that or bundle the prospects but no one’s talking about Casey midat and a prospect to get the talent level the leadership level that might be required to take this team to the next level it’s been a lot of one

Or the other and my whole thing was there’s people that don’t want to trade middle stat and again I’m going all over the place but that’s we’re an hour in so all bets are off now everything’s fair game okay people think it’d be a mistake to trade middle stat

And I get it because he’s a good hockey player he’s your leading scorer on the team still right I haven’t looked but I’m pretty sure because no one else’s been lighting the world on fire yes I remember okay SK yeah so but I remember a while ago like maybe not a

While ago a couple years ago before middle stat became what he is now people wanted to trade him so like I get a lot of trade seavoy trade K like not Kik trade Osan there’s not enough room for all these guys but those guys are still developing

Like we’re I think we’re and I said this by the way I said the easiest move to make it’s just yeah bundle your prospects I get it when I said that the conversation devolved on the last episode that we did I’m like how did the conversation devolve you talked me into

Like saying that should just trade a bunch of these prospects it’s the easiest thing to do on paper but when you step back and you start thinking about it a little bit it might not be the best you have to build your bench in every business like your bench strength

Right they have a lot of strength right now but I think the move let’s come let’s let’s have both of these Concepts be brought together it’s it’s middle stat and a prospect a good prospect that probably gets you the talent that you need and I think that that’s like the

Launching Point into like future discussions that we have like who and like what’s out there because as the trademark it becomes a little more clear I think that concept is right there for us to talk about yeah I think it it gets you maybe that top four defenseman that you’ve

Been after uh to to pair with either one of your you know top because the other thing is Samuelson looked pretty good with Clifton too so you know playing a little Lefty righty third pair so you could argue that you need somebody to play with

Dalene not just power um so yeah I think that combination and that’s where the Casey middl stat conversation always ends with me is that it’s not that Casey midd stat can’t be a part of a winning team it’s not that he’s not a good player it’s that you’ve already

Committed to a couple of other players at his position you have some prospects at his position just from balancing out your Rost building out you know your team if you’re going to change the look of it that’s one place to do it henryi Haru would be another but it’s more minor

Because I don’t think he fetches the same return uko peka lukanin would be yet another one if you wanted to get more experienced in goal with Devon Levi um you have to look at your pieces that have actual value and not just prospects because I don’t think you want to spend

All these years building up this Prospect pool and then just throwing away point you’ve already been patient you’ve already done the hard part right you’ve already been pretty patient with these guys and as they’re on the cusp of becoming NHL players I don’t think you want to just throw that away you’re

Dealing from a position of strength there and you want to be selective about how you pick apart that Prospect pool they’re not all going to fit in your NHL lineup they’re not all going to be good NHL players so I understand that but you also have to be a little bit selective

Figure out try to time their arrivals too right space them out properly all these things that it’s quite a a puzzle that they have to put together but that’s where all those things have to factor into the Casey middle stat decision it’s not just because I got a

Lot of people responding to me when I wrote about it about you know I can’t believe a team that doesn’t have enough good players is talk you know we got people talking about trading one of their good players and it’s like you have to do some you know if you want to

Change the look of this team that’s on Pace for 76 points you have to do something like that you have to give to get and the way it’s built right now isn’t working partly because of injuries but partly because of the makeup of the team and the lack of depth at certain spots

And that’s where it’ll be interesting like you said to gauge the trade market see who’s out there see what’s going on and what opportunities exist because you know so far the sabes under Kevin Adams have not been opportunistic about adding they’ve been opportunistic about selling when they had Jack eel Sam Reinhardt

Rasmus vist the Lan but to make these big trades to add a big name we haven’t seen it yet and maybe the timing wasn’t right before but I think everybody can agree that they are at that stage where a bold move will be needed at some point I think in the next six

Months no right there with you right there with you I don’t know if you have anything else in the chat here um I still have gone through the chat we usually are pretty attentive to the chat but we’ve just been kind of rapping here and I haven’t really been paying

Attention to so I am seeing a lot of the captain talk in the chat absolutely um you know this too could drive help Drive uh future agenda points James Campbell says Ryan Johnson has been much better than IID thought yep I agree JT Miller yeah we haven’t really

Talked about JT Miller by the way in that whole incident maybe we end there you know that was he plays tough Miller does and that’s another thing that’s been missing from the Sabers roster if you want to you some feathers yeah he ruffled some feathers yesterday uh so Owen power

Responds were I was happy to at least see it I mean was it a successful response no but did it meet the minimum requirement yes was it overdue yeah yeah it was not a it was not a super strong response uh but it was a response umh first step in his journey into

Becoming what you think he might be able to be in terms of realizing how big and strong he is physically never going to be an ass kicker yeah well and it shows me that I think like you said it showed a bit of a baseline for me that this guy

Needs to get stronger because after that he was thrown his body around the next few shifts and it was like man even when he wants to it’s just not there um yeah but I liked to see the willingness like it was the angriest I’ve seen him that

You know I don’t think he gets uh super angry so but it showed a little bit of what you need um and and I thought maybe you know Eric Johnson jumping in was needed um they needed you know but then they were so short-handed on defense so

It just shows how few guys they have that are you know able to kind of take up that that role and that responsibility but uh it certainly got the blood boil and it made for a you know a pretty interesting game but yeah it shows a little bit of that edge the

Guys that ride the line Brady kachuck was in here the other night you know another one that that really can can get sparks flying a little bit and Sabres are missing that you know that you know not talking about somebody with no skill either you know those are two guys that

Play big roles and have pretty big skill so it’ be interesting to see if the Sabers can address that either internally or externally this offseason I was happy to see the response from Power I was happy to see Eric Johnson I was like yes good on him you know and

It’s not like a uh Neanderthal dinosaur hockey thing to like and appreciate what Eric Johnson did that’s because at least we saw something this time I remember in that Carolina game it was n got caught up with Dalene knocked him to the ice and

No one did a thing and it was just like this message to the rest of the league hey you can go and hit Dalene the Sabers aren’t going to do anything about it it was like Lich running Ryan Miller all over again it took you know Paul goad to

Go and get punched in the face a couple times by Lich like a couple months later you know for them to kind of do anything about it I was happy to see your response but yeah more of that more gumption and hopefully that was a first

Step into the pool for Owen power to kind of realize that he can play that way he can do more than just try to make plays with the puck he’s a big kid it’s gonna take some time but I was happy to see it um anything else man because I

Don’t know if I want to go back to the chat and I don’t really have a whole lot of other things written down the line combinations you know I mentioned wanting to talk about Benson we should probably talk about that maybe next time I saw the Skinner what I’ll just say on

This I saw the Skinner exiting the lineup to get well is potentially an opportunity for Benson we haven’t seen that come to fruition yet I could be wrong maybe and I thought maybe they were going to do it because they wanted to keep that whole Benson Greenway Middle stat thing going but to

Me that might have been a missed opportunity maybe we still see it depending on how long yeah there could still be time and as we get into the second half of the Seas I think that’s another big story to watch is is what can Zack Benson be uh

You know as soon as next year or the year after you know on his entry-level contract are you looking at a guy that can can really boost your lineup in the top six and I think you are uh I think that is who he is and I would like to

See it I I I think we’re we’re getting to that point where you’re in evaluation mode and that’s an important guy to see you know as you make these offseason decisions that we talk about you know just how good can he be next year uh we

Know the upside but how good and how soon because you need to make other decisions around that so let’s make a deal the next time we get together because it seems like we always talk about Casey midad it’s becoming almost too obvious and too predictable there are other players and

We even mentioned them I think the last time we were together and but I think there’s other players though that we should be talking about potentially you know like do you offer them up if if you’re Kevin Adams I mean you’re not winning consistently with this group and the answer isn’t just bundle

Some prospects you know because then you’re you’re never gonna install a winning tradition with these young guys on the farm and I know that’s not Paramount but it’s something that you want to do but there’s other like what happens if you trade prospects by the way you still have all these other guys

On the roster that you’re not winning with it’s not just Casey midad okay there’s other guys there to talk about I think you just mentioned maybe one of them but it’s not that Casey midat is contributing to the losing it’s that Casey Middle’s in a spot in his career

With his contract that you need to decide whether to trade him or keep him so he’s an attractive asset League wide but here’s the thing you can pay six million to your third Center you can absolutely because you have to have Center strength when you’re talking about changing the look of your team

You’ve made decisions on other players you haven’t on him and so that’s where he’s going to be a potential trade chip but leaves us with plenty to plent to get to like some non-middle stat stuff to get to I guess next week or later this week when we get together hopefully

Uh yeah I love talking about it but I’m sick and tired of it at the same time well we were a little ahead of the curve on it weren’t we we were we’ve been talking about it since September uh when we first started chat true actually that’s true you know knowing that it

Could get to this point so still will be a story to track but other there’s other threads to pull at here as as we get going um Olson is not hurt by the way right just quick injury update so we’re waiting Sams he did have illness okay so

Ol had an illness but he’s back Skinner week to week upper yeah Thompson a little banged up but fine Dalene a little banged up but seems like he’s fine and then it’s about it so San Jose Monday Chicago Wednesday Tampa Saturday all at home and then they hit the West

Coast so maybe we’ll talk do Thursday let’s do we okay there it it’s settled we both said Thursday at the same time all right so I’ll see you Thursday um leave us with this I’m put you on the spot scale a one to 10 Jordan G greenway’s Performance as a centerman

How would you rate it on a one to 10 scale seven I think it was he looked okay he looked pretty good not bad I was pleasantly surprised honestly um and a pretty attractive trade asset maybe we can get to that next time ah you just

Stole it ah you bastard okay anyways um we’re an hour 15 in I think it’s a good place to stop it even though our numbers haven’t been higher than they have right they are right now so that’s great thanks for everyone for hopping in on a Sunday afternoon again please um like

This video please subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already please rate and review the baker Fair bur hockey show on Spotify Apple podcast wherever else I don’t even know who who else allows ratings but please do so it helps grow this thing we’ll be better

About the chat next time and um I think that’s it Matthew for there it is I got it right for Matthew Fairburn at the athletic for the production crew freezing their balls off out in front of my house right now in the production truck I’m Chris Baker thanks everyone for hopping and we’ll

See you again next time

Kris Baker and The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn catch up on all things Buffalo Sabres.