Sabres playoff race dies in Edmonton

Sabres playoff race dies in Edmonton

About as embarrassing a performance as it gets 8 to3 and probably the final nail in the coffin for the Sabers playoff race plus I got a theory on Don Granado coming up here in the lock on Sabers Podcast your locked on Sabers your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabers part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day And thanks for making locked on Sabers your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today’s episode is presented by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use the code locked on

You’ll get $20 off your first purchase at game time the Sabers got rolled in Edmonton on Thursday night we’ll talk about a game that they pretty much gave up on and with this result I say the final nail in the coffin for the Sabers playoff race 33 33 and five far out of

The race and to me it would take an undefeated record pretty much at this point to talk about a likely playoff spot we’ll get to all that coming up here on the show I’ve Got a Theory an added Theory as to why I do not expect Don Granado

To be fired this off seon and I think this theory is the best if you’re someone that wants to see Granado canned this summer I believe this is the best theory to get you to say okay I guess it’s not so bad if he sticks around I

Think I could convince you on that but we’ll see be sure to check out our locked on Sabers text line you can hit us up uh if you have not subscribed already the way to do that go to join subtext decom loock ons saers when you

Do that you are in the chat from there on and it’s all texting from there so you only have to go into the browser one time and then we get you updates we get you line combinations um stuff during the games as well especially once the Savers are returning from this homand um

One comment from our text line that I uh do want to get to is reaction to last night’s game this team has major flaws and I don’t know where to start anymore they may not make the playoffs in the next 10 years get rid of all the players

So coach is the oh excuse me can’t get rid of all the players so coach is the only real change I like Granado but something has to give here that is from one texter another texter uh on Adams Kevin Adams is the biggest reason the Sabers regressed uh failing to make a

Move When Quinn went down with injury over the summer that was compounded when T Thompson Skinner cousins all Miss time too not shedding olison in the offseason reigning aged veterans in the offseason uh failing to address lack of physical presence with The Upfront uh group failing to hold Granado accountable for

His coaching staff that one I will throw in I don’t believe is all on Granado I think Matt Ellis is someone that was a part of the organization already and that was a part of the deal for Granado to become the head coach was that Matt

Ellis would be his assistant coach so I don’t put that one on Granado Adams talks about not sacrificing the future but there are only 12 spots of forward seven of those are tied up there are three spots in which a decision needs to be made Greenway Krebs Genson I don’t

Agree on Greenway uh this leads two to three spots with five top tier prospects uh means the youngest team in the NHL gets younger that’s a good point too and that is something we’ll talk about a lot as we get into the summer which is when are the Sabers going to decide

Whether or not they want to continue to be the youngest team in hockey or they want to start to change that age curve and become a little bit of a more older presence team veteran team but to do that they would have to package some of those prospects we’ll talk more about

That as We Roll Along 8 to3 Oilers over the Sabres in a game where the Sabres took a two nothing lead into the final five minutes of the first period it really could have been three nothing had Rasmus Dalene not put his teammate off side in the first period they scored a

Goal it got reviewed it was obviously offside that one wasn’t even close uh I think all of us saw it the moment it happened that it was offside so that game very easily could have been three nothing in the first period but it was two Dr Idol on the power play Matias

Atol the Oilers got back into tie it but oh look there’s JJ bka to give the lead back five minutes to go in the second period 25 minutes left the Sabers are up three to two they gave up six unanswered and we’ll get to what happened on those

Six unanswered but it’s a very very different type of story uh some of the numbers before we get to what happened at the end of the game the Sabers were outshot 39 to 29 in this game they didn’t play that poorly they played pretty well I thought in the first

Period they played fine I thought in the second period and then of course let’s get to the third period the third period totally different story Darnell nurse Matias eolm they score within a minute of each other at the 438 Mark and the 540 Mark of period one so it’s 53 at

That point you got 15 minutes to go you’re only down two things have gone really poorly you’re probably not going to win you’re probably not going to come back and tie but the game’s not over you got 15 minutes get one in the next five six seven minutes and then you’ve got a

Shot here so what happens Sabers get some chances they didn’t play that poorly I thought in those next 15 minutes and then boom total utter quitting by the Sabers Zack Heyman gets his second of the night 48th of the Year Ryan McLoud Conor Brown they get it all

The way to eight go back and watch those goals and don’t watch the puck watch where the Sabers are watch where their move watch how much they’re moving watch where they are positionally it’s a total give up guys aren’t moving their feet they are completely leaving ukap peka

Lukanin out to dry rebounds that are in the middle of the ice sure that’s not a great job by Lucan to put a rebound out there in the middle uh that’s on the Conor Brown goal but an Oiler gets there and it’s not even like there’s no saber

Even close there’s no saber even ready to contest the shot let alone pick up the loose Puck they did not challenge Edmonton at all in the final five minutes and Lucan in knew it Lucan in at one point maybe this was after it was seven to3 made a save covered the puck

And shot the puck into the corner in frustration and then after the Conor Brown goal to make it8 to3 he smashes his stick on the post and I thought he had every right to do so I thought he had every right to do so for his the way

His players around him let him down I think they totally utterly let him down in that third period they let a lead get away from them that was crime number one of the game but then to let the guy down out to dry that is the only reason

You’re even in a playoff race this late in the season was a pretty terrible job I thought by the Sabres the Sabres had been the best team in the league at defending Conor McDavid in his career the only team in the league that had held McDavid to a point a game or fewer

He’s now well over a point a game Conor McDavid four assists in this one including the Matias acol goal the one that made it two to2 early on in the second period that there’s no fault in that one there’s no fault on anybody I mean the other seven goals there’s a lot

Of fault to go around but that one is just Conor McDavid Leon D Idol flying down the ice two of I mean McDavid is the best player in the world D Idol is one of the best players in the world and there’s only so much you can do they

Made as skilled a play as possible McDavid ping tuck to a spot which is super impressive because tuck is also an incredible skater and McDavid Slams on the brakes he throws it over to M to dry Idol makes a great behind the back pass to EOL I mean that’s one goal that made

It two to two that you just you there’s nothing you could do about it that is skill and speed and McDavid was phenomenal on the night he’s now up to 885 assists actually 86 assists on the season um but they had done a very good job of defending McDavid before that

Game and now he’s well over a point of game against uh against the Sabers for his career so that’s another loss out west and with that being compounded by a Detroit Red Wings win over the Islanders seven points back seven points back of the playoffs they don’t have enough time

And they have not showed anyone any reason to be confident that they could go on the run that they need and now that they are seven points out and have played more games than everybody it’s probably going to take for them to have a greater than 5050 shot to make the

Playoffs the current playoff Pace in the East is 91 the Red Wings are on Pace for 91 for that eighth and final playoff spot to clear 91 the Sabres would have to go 11-0 to get above a 5050 shot they basically got to go 11 and0 for a team

That’s longest win streak on the season is three they have to almost quadruple their longest win streak of the Season no reason to believe that’s going to happen nobody should believe that that’s going to happen at all this season is dead they are not going to make the

Playoffs for the 13th consecutive season I’m declaring it if you want to hold out hope and keep scoreboard watching you can part of the reason I’m ready to finally declare the season Dead Right Here and Now not only is the how far out they are we’re got a lot of waiting

Around to do here they’ve got one game in their next five days so it’s going to be a lot of sitting around watching Detroit play watch the Islanders play watch Washington play Pittsburgh New Jersey and they’re all going to pass him they’re all going to run away from him

By the time the sabes return home they could win on Sunday night against Calgary they could win that game on Sunday and by the time they play Ottawa Wednesday at home and their return to KeyBank Center they could be like they could be 11 points back that’s not

Unrealistic at all they could be back to being double digigit points back so not hopeful at all their playoff odds right now according to money.com 3.4% their odds to pick number one overall if the season ended today 5% right now their odds to get Macklin celebrini number one overall in the NHL

Draft are higher than they are to make the playoffs and that’s the type of mentality I think uh I’m going to be having for the rest of the season not that they should be tanking there’s really no much higher they could go in the lottery odds um but that’s the way

I’m thinking about it right now timeout here when we come back Doom and Gloom season I’m declaring it over we’ll talk more about that on our next show I want to get to at least one positive thing if not even two if you want to consider my

Don Granado Theory coming up in the third segment a positive thing one one positive thing that I did see come out of THS uh out of Thursday’s loss to Edmonton uh JJ petka coming back here on the locked on Sabers podcast we are presented by game time check out the

Game time app the Sabers do have a home stand coming up and listen the one positive about the team being pretty bad uh at this moment in time is you do get some cheaper tickets if you just want to get into the arena have a night go watch

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Sabers podcast be sure to check out lockdown sports today you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day long got to turn down the volume with all that shouting make the switch to locked on sports today a free 247 sports streaming Channel program for you every

Day to bring you the biggest stories without all the yelling lock on sports today brings you can’t miss analysis opinions and news streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the lockon podcast Network your Team every day Oilers eight Sabers three Sabers fall in their only

Trip to Edmonton of the Season Zack Heyman by the way noted Buffalo Bills fan Toronto native Zack Heyman 48 goals on the year it’s what you know pays the uh pays to be playing with Conor McDavid uh for a career so one positive thing that did come from the Sabers win uh

Loss excuse me on Thursday I think they had a little bit of a nice combination between Tage Thompson Alex tuck and a linemate that I don’t remember those two ever having for an entire game JJ petka was awesome on that line with those two that line had so much speed and skill

When they were really going good and petka gets two goals in his first game with those two uh petka scoring his 22nd and 23rd goals on the season if you look at the teammates that he’s played this with this season you know and the production that he’s had with them so

Far this year Alex tuck 92 minutes of ice time at five on five Tage Thompson 58 minutes of ice time for comparison pgas played 600 minutes with Dylan cousins he has played with 137 minutes with pton Krebs he has played uh 335 minut I’m actually you know what I’m

Doing right now I apologize for this I’m looking at the wrong season uh the numbers are not going to be too far off though I guarantee you uh cousins this year 467 minutes Thomson 68 minutes uh and Krebs 195 minutes middle stat 237 minutes so the by far the center that P

Turus has played the least with is Tage Thompson and I like that combination all three have speed all three have skill all three have the ability to put the puck in the back of the net and one thing that I liked about petka on that line as opposed to like when Jeff

Skinner’s on that line is Pace they all can go with the same Pace Skinner is a guy that likes to slow the play down a little bit more now I don’t mind that I mean that worked last year to a t but there is something to be said for when

You want to go go go having three guys on the ice that can all play that speed uh and I think Thompson I’ve talked about how I don’t have like skating but I do like his skating when he is going full speed and I think PKA helps that

Out so I hope they continue with that combination PKA is an interesting one quickly on him he has the second most goals on the team this year he might even pass Jeff Skinner for the most I do wonder if he is the guy they will give an extension to this offseason I mean

They have to make a decision on Uka lukanin but they can pay PKA this summer if they so choose now if they want to be extremely bold you could sell high on JJ petka you could you could say hey we got to make spots somewhere and we can’t trade cousins or

Thompson and I don’t even know if you’d want to they’re centers and you don’t have any other centers uh We’re Not Gonna trade tuck because of the veteran presence in the two-way game and because of what he means to the team we’re not going to trade Jack Quinn because he’s

Coming off an injury uh and value won’t we won’t get value for that you not going to get anything for pton Krebs you’re not going to get anything for anyone at the bottom of the lineup right now so if there’s a forward on the roster that would be sell High there’s

Only one that is tradable and it’s petka I don’t like the idea personally because I think pka’s ceiling is massively High uh I don’t know how high but I think it could be crazy high so I personally don’t love that idea but but it’s the

Only real sell High type of move I think you could find anywhere at forward now they don’t have to make a sell High move they already did it with middle stat um but just saying if that’s if that typically in concept is an idea you like

Of taking a guy that is at probably his Peak value and getting rid of him right then and there and getting a ton of stuff or using him as part of a bigger deal uh PKA is the only name to even really have a discussion about but again

I don’t think that’s going to be much of a discussion uh throughout the summmer but PKA extension maybe a seven-year deal for six five and a half six million bucks uh that would be about the range I think you would have to give him to get

Him on that long-term deal uh right here and now all right when we come back a lot of people wondering about like the biggest move they can make this off season and I think a lot of people believe that that move is firing Don Granado there are financial reasons that

I think fly in the face of them firing Don Granado I don’t believe they will fire Don Granado and I think a big reason is finances but another reason that I don’t hear often mentioned that I want to throw past you when we come back

A a reason you will like I I think to all right fine if they’re going to keep them that’s not a bad reason to do it I’ll let you know what that is when we come back here on the lock on Sabers podcast I might I might convince a few

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Customers final segment here in the lock on Sabers podcast the Sabers fall 8 to3 to Edmonton next up Sunday at Calgary to finish off a pretty abysmal so far west coast road trip where the season pretty much died so lot of texter especially uh on our lockdown Sabers text line that

Really want Don Granado fired and I toally get it totally get it here’s one uh texter today uh would love to see brind more here my biggest concern with Donnie came after the Casey trade and hearing the work ethic focus and intensity the Avalanche practice with

We’ve seen far too many times this year the teams slow out of the gate in games and you wonder if there is correlation between the two so a lot of sentiment like that right like the middle stack comments as of late he made another comment about how how high paced and

Hard the practices are in Colorado um Granado has a microscope on him right now and the roster isn’t very flexible they’ve paid guys they have their top six forwards figured out they have their top four defenseman figured out they have their two goenda really bold move this summer so

Naturally okay if I can’t change the roster too much what about the coach the coach is the sixth longest tene coach in the NHL and he’s not even he hasn’t made the playoffs yet obviously that’s incredible a league that fires coaches all the time this is the one organization where it

Feels like nah that’s that’s not that’s not part of the deal here so why is that I think there are two maybe three even big reasons why that’s the case two of them are kind of the same point though number one is his contract extension that he signed last summer hasn’t even

Kicked in yet and does Terry Pula want to pay a head coach not to coach for him like a whole what and for 100% of a contract he has not coached a game yet on that new contract so that’s one that’s a trepidation I have about them just firing him this offseason another

Reason and these two things kind of tie together there’s two other reasons why I think they’re going to bring Don grenado back the players love him they love him but that bleeds into my third point and maybe this is a huge one this might be the only one I think fans can can

Empathize with and say okay I get it enough and it’s that that’s the best reason to keep him you know you might not agree with it you might still want him fired but I think most would agree that of these couple of reasons this is the best reason to hang on to Don

Granado the sabes have a problem convincing players to come here I got another you know kind of implication from Kevin Adams Paul Hamilton’s been mentioning in a wgr referencing this from the trade deadline that Adams talked like he had a deal done for about like a 27 28y Old

Centerman and the center he kind of implied the center didn’t want to come here the Sabers have a problem convincing players to come here and that’s even with Don Granado I understand that that’s even with Don Granado that that’s the case but think of the guys they’ve

Acquired how do they get guys to come here they kind of only have one path to do that they can’t do it for the the city the city they can’t do it the right like I mean unless you’re from Buffalo you don’t know so like it’s not fair to

Expect some kid from Vancouver that’s playing in La is gonna go yeah I’ve always wanted to play in Buffalo I mean he might love it here once he gets here but that’s not fair to expect that he would think that way so it’s not the

City it’s not the team the team has had no success for a long time a long time 13 years I mean these guys were kids uh they don’t even remember it maybe the last time the Sabers were good uh they aren’t going to come here based on the organization right they

Don’t have a very good reputation I would doubt it what’s one thing that would get him here it’s the coach and it’s his respect amongst players look at how much the Sabers players love Don Granado there was one and only one that I remember fire Don Granado chant in

December in a game where they gave up nine goals that’s it and that one chant has caused Rasmus Dalene that same week to kind of call out the fans saying we didn’t like that when they scored nine the next game against Toronto it really fired him up they played that game for

Donnie they said it they had stopped saluting the fans for a bit and Kyle aoso and other players kind of you know didn’t shy away from that and basically made it known through the grape fine like yeah we were not happy at all with the fans because they did that again

We’re talking about one chant in a game where they give up nine goals Alex tuck as recently as this week on the 32 thoughts podcast this week is still out here talking about it he’s still talking about how the fans chanted fire Donnie in December and how they didn’t like it

And that gave him a kick in the butt for some of these games this season um I know the joke there is like how much kick in the butt did give you because he didn’t make the playoffs but this recently is this week I’ve still got a

Veteran player on this team that is talking about that chant from four months ago now you can criticize the players all you want for that and I would that’s how much they love Don Granado crazy it’s a crazy crazy amount that they love Don Granado they are still carrying that around with them

That’s how much they respect this dude and that’s not unusual that’s not that’s not just for the s I mean I mean I know he was a saber Jack eel has always spoken glowingly about Don Granado United States national development program too uh Austin Matthews is someone who has always

Talked glowingly about Don ronado anyone and look at Jordan Greenway willing to come here if he had a choice willing to come here because he was with Don Granado Conor Clifton chose to sign here why he was coached by Don Granado at the US national development program there

Are other examples too uh ERS bork they traded for once upon a time that might be a bad one CU you didn’t have to convince him to come here but you know what I mean he’s a sales pitch you don’t have a lot and players talk Casey midd

Stack goes to the Colorado Avalanche you know what he probably tells teammates or if a team if a player ever asked him member of the Avalanche Hits free agency and he’s thinking about Buffalo he text Casey midat and what does midat say you’re gonna love him he’s awesome

You’re going to love playing for him I bet that word gets out and I bet that that’s one of their only sales pitches right now two players around the league is listen our team our our organization’s a dumpster fire our fans are mad uh we haven’t been good in 13

Years the city is the city but you’re gonna love Donnie that is maybe the best sales pitch they have right now should that outrank results I don’t think so Tech personally but I don’t know that they have the ability to make that choice that they can choose results aren’t good

Enough over we’re trying to trade for guys we’re trying to sign for guys we’re trying to add to our player pool do we really want to fire a coach who makes us more appealing of a destination I think that’s a big factor here as to why Don Granado is probably

Going to stick around into next year that better translate into players though I’ll say that right like hey if if that dries up if you have all your guys now that are willing to come and play for you because they love you that much because they used to be coached by

You in the junior level um you know then there’s that that’s not being valuable to me you gotta get guys to come here you got to add the talent pool um but anyways I think that’s something that I don’t often hear mention that I do think

Is a big factor here with Don Granado he is respected by players his players on this team would go to war for that guy and they have almost kind of got they have gone through a cold war with the Sabers fans that they chose Granado think about that in a cold war they

Chose Granado over they chose over the fans incredible all right that’s going to do it for us today here on the lockdown Sabers podcast Sabers and flames on Sunday at 9 o’clock we’ll see if they can get a g a game here and get to within five but you’re going to need

A ton of Health just to get to within five there’s no way here here’s there’s too many games there’s no way they’re going to be within five by Wednesday of next but I don’t know seven they’re not gonna win all their sorry to you know let everybody know that’s not all right

That’s it for us today here in the lockdown saers podcast again be sure to check out lockdown sports today uh a lot of college hoops coverage that time of year YouTube or Amazon Fire TV channels app uh and the free Fire TV channels app lock On’s podcast Network your team

Every day thanks everybody for listening today the lockdown saers podcast and we’ll talk to you next time here on the show part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day

The Sabres are now seven points out of the playoffs after an 8-3 shallacking at the hands of the Oilers, in a game where the Sabres quit on UPL. Sneaky Joe blasts the Sabres for their effort in the third period, but does give props to JJ Peterka playing on the top line.

Plus, can the Sabres afford to lose Don Granato’s ability to recruit talent to the team, given players clearly would go to war for him?

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