The Sabre Roundtable: Episode 71 – Grading the 23-24′ Sabres

The Sabre Roundtable: Episode 71 – Grading the 23-24′ Sabres

so we’re recording this on Friday night and you know I’ll be honest I wanted to record it Wednesday um I think JP was good to do so as well but one of us couldn’t make it that night and I promised him that because the reason was so ridiculous he would have to explain himself on the podcast Christian why didn’t we record Wednesday uh I don’t know why didn’t we record on Wednesday well I don’t know I heard there was some Machinery issues at your home that you couldn’t get your wash done properly please go on oh yeah um so our our dryer broke so I had no clean clothes left and our washer still worked so you know I like to I like to go to the gym after work you know because I like to you know get active afterwards and then I got back and I was like oh I think we’re supposed to be recording tonight and I was like well I already did two loads of wet laundry and if I don’t dry them now they’re going to stink so I had to go to a laundry mat for the first time in my life and it was pretty cool yeah would you recommend it I would I’d recommend the one on Lawson Road it’s very clean okay uh a dry is only a150 and uh dries them pretty good too usually with the dryer at my house it would take a long longer but yeah so I had legitimate reason I need clothes to live guys it was the most ridiculous sorry I can’t record tonight reason that that I’ve had thus far it’s not to say we’ve had some life-altering uh obstacles here but I just thought I thought it was notable to bring up I think a more ridiculous reason is definitely JP studying for his little exam like come on dude what’s more important I don’t think so you don’t need clean clothes you’ll be fine okay how’d your fat ass break the the dryer what the hell did you do you know you just stuff it with too many clothes and you know it just it burns out I actually don’t know what happened because we had some guy come over try to fix it and it just didn’t work but that thing is running nonstop because we have like seven people in this house my mom is constantly doing towels because she works out of the house and it’s just yeah it’s that I’m surprised it didn’t break sooner just getting overloaded just overwork is it really is that that dryer is the hardest worker in this house in any case folks welcome back to another episode of the saber Round Table my name is Jonah I’m Christian and I’m JP and as always we’ll be talking to you about all things Buffalo Sabers hockey and even a little bit of The Wider NHL and possibly giving laundry mat reviews in the future I if this is a if this is a trend lawon lrat five stars he’s bought paid for now folks in any case what’s going to happen today in today’s episode uh not a lot of Sabers news going on other than the World Championships being finished up this past week um so what we’re going to do is I guess this is sort of one last one last look back at the previous season which we all want to move on from obviously for many reasons but the the reason that this is fun uh is first we’ll be doing our final player grades and then afterwards we get into reviewing our hot takes from oh way back in probably SE well October they were way back in October before the puck dropped on opening night and you’re in for a treat if you stick around that long let me tell you and there’s going to be some bad ones I I remember a couple of them it’s not going to be it’s not going to be fun I don’t remember any of mine so I’m ready we were so blind dude I know one of them is completely ridiculous I’m not going to say it now but one of them is so ridiculous I just can’t even wrap my head around just like the overconfidence of just going into the season we uh the mentality of any Sabers fan has evolved maybe just a Ted I think the optimism has faded a wee bit since last fall so we’ll it’s it it’ll be fun to hop in a time machine but we’ll get there when we get there what we will be doing first is our final player grades now we did these at the midseason I did keep a record of what we graded players midseason so it’s going to be interesting to see what we agree on here and then I’ll reveal what uh what we graded them back in I think it was February when we did them so we’ll go over each player on the Savers roster now I did cut the games played off to 10 so the players that don’t qualify uh past that Benchmark uh include Matthew seavoy Yuri Kulik they each played one game Brett Murray only played two games kelp clay played three games five games for Brandon buau and seven games for Isaac rosan so we will not be grading those players I think we actually graded rosan and buo back in February so I don’t remember what probably like a d or something nothing nothing too notable but every everybody else is fair game so that’s what we’ll be doing here shall we get into it let’s do it all right so we’re g to start from I guess we can start from the top because this is this is somebody who I’ve had an interesting relationship with since the start of the season I criticized him a ton that back in I guess in the we beginnings of the Season Rasmus diene and I should state that the way we’re going to do this the way we did this last time I’m just going to throw a grade out there and then we’ll try to find a common consensus between between us three Ras M stene very slow start to the season I think by his own standards despite the fact he was leading the the NHL defenseman in goal scoring for a good chunk of the Season finishes finishes on an absolute tear I thought hits 20 goals just misses out on 60 points but I think relative to how I thought of him back in February or so I thought he finished on a tear and I thought that by the end it was it was the Rasmus diing that you knew so I I’m going to go with an a here yeah you make a lot of good points with the uh leading defenseman and goals and uh just you know him being himself uh he did have you know a little bit of a quiet stretch but he did you know he he brought it back towards the end of the season I probably so what’s what’s the highest grade we can give like an A+ were you doing like A+ to F do yeah A+ uh and B B is like relative to expectations that’s exactly what I thought the season he had should have been okay if our Benchmark is B then I’m leaning like a a minus but considering he was leading you know defenseman goals for a while I’m I’ll go with a uh I gave him a B+ I think he still had a very good season but I think everybody was um I guess a little underwhelmed and he started slow and finished on a higher note um but I came to a B+ so we got two A’s and a B+ I’m kind of like teetering in like the a minus range originally that was going to be my grade um so we got an A an A minus and a B+ I think we know what that average is out to I think we do this is this is just like the tough job of any NHL arbitrator who every single contract you walk in oh player a wants 6 million the team wants 4 million hm what should we do how about we give them five million and then they collect their paychecks at the end of the week A minus how’s that sound sounds good me a minus for Rasmus Donley now to put it in perspective back in February we agreed on a B minus so I do think that reflects reflects the his strong end to the year t H Thompson so it was a tumultuous campaign at least especially on the fan side of things just been unfortunately I kind of played into that at points in terms of negativity towards him has a good start to the year it’s putting up like suky caliber numbers through November then he gets his leg cut open comes back Don Granado makes the brilliant decision to to put him on the penalty kill in the same game takes a slap shot to the wrist breaks his wrist goes out for some time comes back plays with a wrist um with a wrist guard on another brilliant decision plays through that and just for the longest time it just seemed like like this is not Tage Thompson he can barely shoot the puck his skating looks off any Breakaway ability he has and then something happened around marchish he started to look healthy he finished the season on a another similar Terror to Rasmus Dalene and just just missed out on 30 goals finished with 29 amongst all the the the discourse around him what I did I I put him at a B plus so like he averaged out the negative take into account the injuries but also so the decrease in production I put him at a B+ I mean we’re taking injuries into account well I guess well but if bees are we’re going to we’re going to get to some players who have injuries follow them around like a shadow um but it’ll be different for each player I just I it it it’s with him it’s it it’s interesting because it’s like how do you approach him right cuz there’s a decrease in production this huge step defensively he’s playing with injuries but he finished the season great but at the end of it you know 56 games or 56 points 71 games like how do you how do you grade that out I mean I would probably I’ll keep this one short I mean all of that sounds great but at the end of the day he didn’t really meet what expectations I had for him and I understand injuries and everything and at the end of the day it is still Tage Thompson so I’d probably go with like a B minus I gave him a b looks like we’re averaging out doing it again just averaging it out I I think he um everybody we said this before everybody looks down on a season a little too much he still finished with 29 goals um which is definitely below expectation so I it sounds like I should give him a lower grade but consider considering everything that went on I’m perfectly fine with how was season one especially with how the team played B for Tage Thompson and back in February it was as low as a C+ sounds about right all right so here’s here’s the first interesting one I truly interesting one I think Dylan cousins so to call this season underwhelming I don’t I don’t think that does it justice and I also fan perception on him has switched on a freaking dime you can’t even I mean he’s playing his ass off at the world championships and it’s people find a way to make that you know put a Bad spin on that but I I did wonder if I should like play into the negativity and just put it at a hard f I think I’m I’m too much of a softy though I just went with a D I ended up giving him a c minus I didn’t I didn’t put it all the way down because I don’t think it was absolutely putrid but it was a very underwhelming season for him but I think situation really played into that I mean we saw how much better and worse he played with Jack with Jack Quinn hurt or healthy um and the system just did not work to his favor this year so I think considering all of that I’m not going to give him an awful grade but I’m good with the c minus I mean I thought it was a huge step back from last well I guess now it’s two seasons ago um if you say D+ I’m reaching through the screen no strength like you no I was I was going to go with like D or D minus I don’t know if I want to go that low just because like he wasn’t he wasn’t like a complete well he was he was pretty bad compared to what you know we’re used to seeing but I wouldn’t want to put him in like a D minus or an F because I don’t think it was like something that I see is like almost irreparable like he wasn’t a liability out there like no he wasn’t down he wasn’t doing anything and that’s like almost worse like it’s almost more frustrating it’s more frustrating but it’s not worse like sometimes you know he’s just getting his steps in but at the same time I don’t know he like the one underrating underrated thing he became a force on the penalty kill this year which was great to see but that was the only time he looked like a functioning hockey player for a lot of nights I just don’t know what went wrong mentally I mean people point to his face getting caved in by Garrett hathway I just even then I feel like it’s too simplistic he just it felt like he completely changed as a player and yeah I’m not too I’m not I’m not even really concerned about it it’s just more like you know like what went wrong here I’ll go doesn’t feel like it should have been this bad I’ll go D so settling at a D+ I don’t think your vote has that that much sway yeah it really doesn’t if you think about it I’m fine with the D but D for Dylan cousins yeah D for Dylan he was at a C+ so we do have our first player that went down uh from the February mid-season break Alex tuck for me personally this is weird because I feel like he had such like a I don’t I don’t want to call it a nothing Burger of a season but it just felt like he you know he was just quiet and steady and yet he led the team in points that surprised me when I was doing my research for this I was like I forgot about that yeah he he tied with Rasmus stene but Dalene played six more games than him it’s it’s weird to think about you know you know he wasn’t you know it was a ways off from his career season last year but at the same time it’s you know he was producing by the end of the season a lot just like Tage Thompson so I’m te I’m like I’m teetering between an A minus and a B+ I don’t and I don’t know I need some sway on this I gave him a B+ I think he did not have a flashy season by any means but I think he was arguably our most consistent player like all year other than you know maybe petka like he was very consistent he really didn’t have any hot streaks but he didn’t also have any cold streaks um I think he did about just as good as I thought especially considering how good he did last year or two years ago now I keep saying that it’s that weird point of the off season where you don’t know what to call the previous season it is everybody I talked to with him like oh yeah last year oh I mean two years ago yeah that that was a good year what we thinking Christian I don’t know man I need you to give me some well what was your grade for him what was your grade give you some talking point we just went on for two minutes about the guy let’s just put it out there let’s put it out there Christian has not come prepared he’s looking up at every time yeah was twilling my thumbs I debated winging it but I was like you know what I’ll come prepared funny because especially if you’re like me and you go through the editing process he’s always the first guy to talk not this time waiting for me and JP to go first he’s like all right yeah I thought you know they went with that they went with that grade they went with this grade all right I’m going to go with the next grade up or down and then we’ll just average it out it would be perfect you know I thought I’d sit back and you know take a little bit of the weight off my shoulders you know maybe like toss the conversation to your your shoulders for a little while mhm well we’ve got a B+ and an A minus so you are the deciding actor unless you say something wild like d d we’re going with no um I don’t know he was pretty yeah he was pretty consistent and I guess he yeah I guess he surpassed my expectations I’d probably put him like like I don’t know if I’d go a minus it’s weird like it’s such a it’s it doesn’t feel like he had a great season but he let the team in points so it’s you almost go to I feel you got to respect some of that at least plus he injured a points I had him at a B before I saw that he L the team of points because I thought just he had a good season just a fine season but then I was like oh geez okay I’ll move him up a little uh considering he led the team in points I’ll probably I got to give him at least any the A’s I’ll give him an A minus all right A minus for Alex tuck and he was at a B back in February so took off the second half of the Season apparently yeah yeah I guess all right this one should be fairly consensus JJ petka I had him in an A and you know great breakout season 50 points 208 goals fantastic he was the guy he wanted to see take that big step and he ended up taking that I think there was still some parts of his game that need to be ironed out primarily he’s not a great power play contributor yet and that’s why as great of a season he had that 50 point total it seems kind of empty given how good he’s been but like I said he took that step he wanted to see him take and by the end of the season seon he finally found his place on the first line which should have been on a while before so I went with an a yeah I also had an a I think he may have segmented himself as a top six forward for us not that he wasn’t coming into the year but now I think there’s no question about it and he’s arguably a Topline player for us um and yeah he needs to get better on the power play but just imagine once we actually have a functioning power play what his numbers might actually be so he had a great season if you want to talk about one one position player other than you know a goalie who had a really good season you’d probably talk about petka he was one of like the few bright spots on this entire team last season like I’m going A+ like he took the exact step you wanted a guy to take going into this year um you wanted that production and then he got his opportunity on the top line and he has I think he cemented himself there um I don’t think he’s going to be leaving that Top Line anytime soon um so I don’t know why I wouldn’t go A+ I think I I can be talked into it I can I think there’s anyone else on this team that’s deserving of an A+ out of this forward group yeah oh well forward grou absolutely but I forward group I thought he was I thought Christian was going into some old habits there we we’ll get we’ll get to oopie JJ petka I I can be convinced it’s just like I said it’s you don’t want production to to sway you but it’s like man I look at that point told I’m like he should have had more points but we saw in the we saw on the ice he was you know he was their best forward from start to finish aside from middle stat so JP if you want to go up to an A+ I think I can get talked into it I honestly don’t think I could get up to an A+ really he had a great season an A+ for me is like you just shocked the world and I don’t think he completely shocked the world I don’t well I mean like I I understand we don’t want to just be handing out a pluses but like when I think of the rest of the roster I don’t really see anyone else I’m going to give an A+ to out of the skating group H it’s up to you Jonah cuz I take I don’t think I could go up am I a glass half full or glass half empty kind of guy here here this is tough I think we already know the answer to that question a minus oh we’re going a we’re going a all right sorry sorry folks glass half glass half empty he was at an A+ back in February by the way so I guess does make it s are we talking about I’m the only one consist I you guys did your homework I’m the only one that’s consistent right now moving on Matias Samuelson so this this is the player that I think it’s it’s it it’s not fair but at the same time it’s become a trend he can’t stay healthy it’s completely fair and I think just given and it’s like even when he played like he looked good he he put up good results he you know whenever him and do were together you kind of rolled your eyes a bit but once that finally got broken up and there was that time he spent with Conor Clifton and it looked pretty solid as a third pair it’s like man those those those injuries just it’s frustrating because you can’t it’s it’s a common occurrence so I went with a c here yeah I was uh I was thinking about C minus um yeah he just can’t stay healthy and when he’s on when he’s on the ice don’t get me wrong he’s you know he’s a good defensive presence for us I think over the course of the Season we’ve kind of come to figure out he’s probably more of a guy who’s going to bolster the bottom pair going forward if he’s going to be on this roster um but in the limited minutes that we saw him before he got put on ltir for the rest of the year which just seems like it’s just a broken record at this point wonder if he’s still just if they still got him there I think he is but it’s they got him locked in for next season they know he’s going to fall off he’s gonna fall down the stairs during the summer or something the trend has worn old on he is still on there yeah he’s gonna fall off his bike at um training camp ah Jonah Jonah knowes that a good old Chris Sale reference yep the trend is wor old it it it’s worn old and I’m sure it on the rest of the fan base people out there listening could definitely agree so it’s a TR he played two years that’s how that’s how many that’s how injured he’s been right there’s the oh here we are year after year it’s like no he made his debut two years ago yeah still I I’ve run out of empathy I obviously I don’t want to see him injured and I hope he gets healthy but I’ve run out of excuses to make to you know be like oh he’s gonna he’s important he is important but I can’t see myself putting him him above a c minus for this year I gave him a d for disappointing I mean it just extremely disappointing I mean you guys have said everything it’s it’s the fact that what he’s one or two years into his contract and half of Sab Twitter um including us at times have talked about trading him already which I I personally think is ridiculous but it is a conversation and I think deservedly so so I really like him as a player but he needs to stay healthy I don’t know if he has to change his game up or what he has to do but it’s just you can’t continue on like this just wrap him in bubble wrap and just pray do something so we got a C we got a C minus and we got a d I don’t know how we average this out I can move up to a c minus I can agree on that but C minus that’s C minus now I’m thinking now I’m thinking D+ I was just now look who’s the pess I think I I think I’ll move up to a D+ I don’t think I can move up to a c minus I can in my right mind gave him a c I like the D for disappointing so I’ll move down to a D+ D+ if you want to look at it a little more going into the season he was our top pair guy now he’s what a bottom two pair pair guy like he’s not even be consider not his fault that was more of the fan base you know gassing him up true but he he was he was solid but but two years a the two years ago he was very good donalene and Sammy this year they were not good together so he’s not I don’t think he’s a top pair well he’s not a top pair guy anymore but that’s another way to look at it this fan base loves gassing up mid players moving on to our next defenseman Owen power obviously he is um I don’t know what term to put on him we’ll we’ll just say divisive depending on how you look at his play style he gets too much hate this season pretty much putting up the same exact point total as last season defensive impacts were up offensive impacts were a little down which kind of was the story for the entire team I just put him in a b I think he was just a round where you know the sophomore slump it’s kind of a myth but at the same time it happens a ton he didn’t really suffer from that he just kind of had I mean he just he was he was all right he didn’t take that big step but he didn’t take a he took he took a step in some areas took a step back in others and just kind of averaged out to a similar caliber of season as he did as R season it’s also what I had he had a good season he didn’t take like a big step forward um but he also didn’t take any steps back so I I think B’s the most perfect grade for any player on this team for for a power yeah he didn’t do anything that was he didn’t have a a stretch of the Season where it was like oh my God this guy needs to take a seat in the Press Box I don’t know some people were advocating for it no dude I they don’t need to be named but they were advocating for it they they were but all I’m going to say is people don’t understand how good Owen power actually is and how important he is to the team he does a lot of things that you don’t really see but he just plays the game so well and has such a presence about him that it just you know makes it that much difficult for the other team but yeah considering how the season went and you know he put up he put up points he didn’t put up like a ton or anything but it wasn’t also anything to make me worry about his production going into next year I I’d give him a b too and I I do think he kind of found a scoring touch towards the end of the season so hopefully he could build on that he might be developing a shot here which would be very nice that’ be a beautiful way to round out his game and here’s before we get off of him interesting stat here he had a higher War than last season if you’re going off evolving hockey really by how much uh I don’t know the difference it might it might have been slight I I can look at it right now let me pull up evolving hockey but I’m fairly certain that actual actual war that he was statistically higher than last season was his defense just that much better yeah I think it’s sort of a Tage situation I mean it was the same thing with Tage Thompson he was at close to the same War as he did uh as he did last as he did in his breakout season so power and his rookie season had a had a war of 1.6 if you’re going off evolving hockey this year was 1.8 little uptick little up little uptick look he was basically the same caliber of player just excelled at different things so we are in agreeance on a b yes all right Jeff Skinner I think it’s interesting because if I’ll say the grade now back in February we had him at a a minus and I think things shift it they shifted it had to be right after yeah all of a sudden the narrative just turned on the guy and now you’ve had the summer talk of buying him out and it’s not going to happen but just trying to get out but it’s the first time like people are talking about ways to get out of the contract you want to talk about a guy who gets too much hate I know we just mentioned Owen power Jeff is another one well he really is I’m not about it I think it’s fair he does have the contract look the guy can’t play defense or just doesn’t want to he’s just not interested which you know what I think is fine with I don’t have any interest in playing defense for beer league as you guys know but Jeff Skinner doesn’t have he didn’t have the offensive season where you could just throw away his defensive impacts his defensive impacts are not good and when he’s not producing at Elite level look it you’re going to get kind of worried now this isn’t a we don’t need to make this into a buyout conversation this is just we’re talking about his grade I went with a B minus I originally had him at a SE coming into this but I I do I think we all do forget that he did have a pretty good first half of the season um I mean I honestly he was good yeah he was he was real good completely forgot until you just said that we gave him an A minus so I will bump it up to a C+ and I can hear a B minus but I think C+ is fair considering how much he dropped off I mean he was our first line player now he’s our third line player so yeah I won’t deny there was a bit of a drop off towards the end of the year so that kind of does swing my letter grade a little bit um I I am kind of in the B minus territory but um I’ve stated before on this show that this team should not buy out Jeff Skinner there’s a lot of people out there reporting that they should get rid of him now they should buy him out he doesn’t play the game the right way but people forget he’s our best goal scorer at 5v5 um he brings a certain offensive presence to the team that you know you can’t really just find in free agency sometimes I mean you could but you’re taking a chance and if you wanted to buy him out let’s see how next season goes and we’ll go we’ll go from there because you know the money situation will be a lot more favorable to the team and I really don’t think like I I know people think Kevin Adams is going to make a lot of moves but Jeff Skinner will still have a place on this roster next season when it’s all said and done so I will probably go with a B minus as well like I wish he had a better end of the season but with it being not as good I don’t think I could give him a b I’m close to a b but it’s not my expectation for him so I’ll go B minus B minus I guess all right B minus for Jeff Skinner all right moving on here Zack Benson I I remember I think I remember the last time we we did this I had a little bit of contention I think it was from Christian because I put him at a B+ and it’s like if you if you go back to October you’re like okay this guy’s 18 he’s basically a nightly player in the lineup how can you only put him at a B+ and I think I know my justification was look he was he’s good he was a he’s a replacement level NHL player and that as an 18-year-old is very very good but you know his points his points haven’t come yet but his you still like he’s like Zack Benson this whole season I legit do not think there was one game where I’m like he you got to get him off the ice he’s just not seeing it tonight I don’t think he had a single game like that and Rasmus Dalene had games like that as an 18-year-old and I remember that Zack Benson not once I don’t think looked out of place and I think by the end of the season that line of him cousins and Quinn was you know they were doing pretty well especially the last few games and he found him he got his spot back on the first Power Play unit which he got taken off after a great preseason never got back on and then eventually like I said found his place back on there by the end so I’m willing to bump him up to an A minus that’s what I had him at great season um he’s he finished a season pretty hot too um I just saw a stat on that I forget what it was but I know we finished hot so I think an A minus is a good spot for him yeah you think how crazy it is that like everyone in the draft like every Sabers fan was screaming at their TV draft night last year because he somehow fell to us and we were like my God JP was everybody that was me this is the best pick and I still didn’t like I thought it was gonna be like a Matt seavoy type of deal you know like you just send him through the miners he immediately made the team and you’re right on a nightly on a nightly basis he hasn’t looked out of place at all like he I haven’t seen any I can’t I can’t think of any plays where I would just be like looking at and be like oh man that you got to have that one or you got to back check you got to he he played well like the you’re right the points aren’t there but he definitely exceeded my expectations so I can go a minus as well not only was he put on the Power Play to year he was on our penalty kill as an 18-year-old too so he’s just a great well-rounded game yeah look there’s limitations in his game and you you still you like that’s what you saw at points he doesn’t have a great shot yet he’s still he’s an 18-year-old kid he’s GNA get out muscled at points and he hasn’t popped offensively as we’ve said but like other than that he just never he just never looked out of place he played like someone who’s already been in the league for a few years so I’m excited to see what rookie Zack Benson or sophomore Zack Benson’s going to look like yeah he looked like a guy who is a very sustainable middle six player just didn’t get many points but again he’s young that’ll come did we set on a grade was it a minus a minus all right A minus for Zack Benson Payton Krebs this one hurts a bit this one hurts a little bit this hurts me he was a B minus back in February and I don’t know if that was before he got the bump to that line with Perka and Benson and he was playing well or if it was after I don’t recall but in any case he was in Granado’s dogghouse for a large part of the Season got his shot and then seemingly got his shot taken away which was very frustrating but then Casey middlest was traded and he got his shot back and him and Jeff Skinner just did not work as a Duo whatsoever and he just wasn’t he wasn’t very good through the end of the season and now third line Center is you’re heading into the you’re heading into the summer and third line Center is a need you’re looking for his replacement yeah arguably the biggest need so it’s it’s it’s frustrating I went with a c h I would probably go C minus I just I hate to just like pile on them but one of our one of our big talking points for why we were sticking up for him so much was because you know he’s getting buried on the fourth line with gearson and ooso you know two offensive black holes so when he got a shot and he just didn’t seem to run with and you know what maybe it was the kind of I could I could defend him a little bit maybe it was the guys he was playing with maybe Jeff Skinner doesn’t really suit his skill set um even though he’s even though Krebs is more of like a pass first player and Jeff Skinner is a he’s like a a play driving he’s not a play driving Winger he’s more of a scoring type Winger so you you’d think that combo would work but who knows maybe think it would work it it did not it looked terrible they both play their worst hockey of the Season together yeah yeah it could have been either one of them or could have been both but after he got a shot and he didn’t run with it it’s just you know there’s not much else to say after that so I’d probably go I don’t want to give him like in the D’s I give him a c minus I was going to give him a c minus but then I I think that’s a little too harsh I end up giving him a c um I’ll give him one more chance to see if he could you know maybe his offensive abilities will finally you know come out in his play a little more um I’ll give him one more shot because we’ve been big Defenders of him and it it’s it’s backfired on us so we got two C’s and a c minus we going with c i I guess yeah that’s the you know the point it wasn’t a question I was going to go with C it was I was I was hoping you would just say yes of course guys I’ll bump it up just for you see for pain crabs henryi Haru back in February he was a B+ I think by the end of the season for me personally he kind of wore out his welcome just a little bit I bump him down to a C+ he wasn’t noticeable enough um I tell you what though I I give him credit he’s one of the only guys I see on the blue line who’s just like soon as he gets that puck he just wants to shoot it as hard as he can at the net Colin Colin Miller mentorship is yes thank you Colin Miller but um based on you know Kevin Adams end of season press conference it seems like they’re looking for his replacement um and throughout the course of the season I wouldn’t say he was awful but again he I don’t think he did enough to an impress enough people to have him stick around I don’t know if they’ll tender his RFA status it’s an expensive qualifying offer that’s the thing he’s due for a raise and it’s not it’s not a Tyson Jo situation where you can just drop him to free agency and then sign him back for cheaper he’s got enough of a pedigree where pick him up you either get yeah you either give him a raise or he’ll he’ll find another team yeah I don’t think he’s due for a raise so I I feel like we kind of danced around just let’s let’s let’s go into what his overall play was like how many points Jonah how many points did he have he finished the season with three goals 17 assists 20 points and 74 games okay he’s not a power play guy and he’s not he’s not even a he’s not even a penalty kill guy really he might have gotten some at the end of the season when after they traded Johnson but he’s never been a special team he’s just he’s kind of like he’s a decent player but he’s young and he’s right-handed and he plays with important players like he’s gotten a ton of ice time with Owen power and he’s gotten a ton of ice time with Rasmus Dalene so like he can I think he can command money if he wanted to but and yeah we can get away from the contract situation in terms of actual play where are we at like I said I’m at C+ uh this is this is another Skinner situation for me where I guess I kind of forgot that he had a decent first half this season so I had a c I’ll move up to a C+ sorry to cut you off Christian I’ll give him a C+ he’s not sorry no yeah I I know he’s not sorry and I I know you purposely wanted to cut me off anyway so um I was just going to say it’s like he’s he seems like one of the biggest wild cards on the team just because he’s been around so long and you don’t know if getting rid of him could do more damage than good because as you said he plays with important guys you know he he’s pulling weight but has he done enough to impress me this past season to give him that pay raise I’m going to go with no and just based on that I can’t give him a grade above a b so I’m probably just going to go would you say C+ yep I will go with a C+ then all right C+ for Yoki Haru Jordan Greenway now this this is really unfortunate because I feel like if the wider consensus people would be sort of down on him and I just feel like that’s because Granado shoved him down our throats this season and I feel like if you just take a step back and just look at the season he had 10 goals 28 points pretty decent season he was great on the penalty kill got a little bit too much power play time and top six time for that matter are you talking about first line Center Jordan Greenway oh my God I forgot about that in any case yes he he got a little bit of Center time too he was on the first line he he got time on the first line as well I gave him a B I think when given where I thought he was going to be going into the season I thought he’s just around where I thought he’d be yeah nothing nothing’s changed in my opinion on him I’ll give him a be he’s great penalty killer he had one of his better offensive years in his career um and honestly about exactly what I expected the only reason people are down on him is because of how he was used and that’s not his fault he plays that important fourth line role you know he’s a you know for checking forward and he he play that fourth line role on the top line yeah he’s a real he’s a real on the top line what were we doing um yeah he he was a great addition to the Penalty kill um that needed a huge facelift after the season beforehand and I thought he brought a lot to that um I wasn’t expecting him to score a lot of goals or get a lot of points I just expecting him to you know when he’s on the ice and his line his so-called fourth line when he’d play on it was on the ice that we wouldn’t get scored on and um I didn’t really see too much of that because he did get shuffled around the lineup a lot but hopefully next season we see more of that I thought he was perfectly average so I’ll go with a B before we get off of him I just I just want you guys to guess how many forwards averaged more ice time than Jordan Greenway this season in the league uh on the Sabers this seems like a trick question just asking I’m gonna say three you said no one specifically in mind just I’m gonna say three you said forwards forwards because defenseman I think every single one of them average more I’m going to say I think Alex tuck had a ton of ice I’m going to say one JP is correct it is three can you name the three was one of them Alex talk Alex talk was one okay I feel a little bit better um it’s I don’t think it’s Jeff Skinner I think cousins nope really Greenway beat him out by one second but he did he did average more is it is is one of them kyopo no God no geez I this would have been a kylo poso question if it was um this is average on night not average on the season okay um Tage Thompson Tage Thompson’s one there’s one ofka pka’s not one B Jeff skin he doesn’t play for the team anymore oh Casey middle stat the only forwards that played more on average Casey midat Tage Thompson and Alex tuck that’s kind of that I I I can’t get mad at it because he’s you know he’s a big special teams guy but it’s still funny to look at you just go down the list oh cousins is lower p is lower Skinner’s lower Quinn’s lower I I mean I think you got you got pton Krebs way down the list I I think that might mean that Jordan Greenway is due for a pay raise B for Jordan Greenway Victor Olson this was the swan song for him his last his last Harrah as a buffalo saber I just went with a d you know he wasn’t he wasn’t he wasn’t terrible when he played but he just didn’t do much this season if we’re being honest my king Victor Olson what went wrong well we know what went wrong it’s been going wrong for a long time now when he’s on man it’s trick to watch but he the last time he was on if we’re grading Victor Olson based on games and blowouts that on the other hand that’s an A+ that might be an interesting conversation to have no but um he had a tough year and I’m rooting for the guy I really am seventh round pick you know odds are just stacked against you right off right off the bat um but yeah I I can’t give him above a d he just didn’t do anything he wasn’t good defensively he had his shot wasn’t there and that’s the biggest part of his game arguably the only part of his game and he didn’t do much on the power play when he had his opportunities free agent good luck out there Vic I’ll give you I’ll give you a d can’t believe I’m gonna be the most positive for Olson uh I gave him a c minus I don’t think I I he wasn’t put in a position to succeed not saying oh my God I’m not saying he for our listeners out there for sorry to cut you off JP but for our listeners out there Christian did just grab his vintage 68 royal blue olivon jersey out of the closet one last time that’s what did it that’s what did it he changed his number yep but as I was saying I I don’t think he shouldn’t have been put in a position to succeed like meaning he shouldn’t have been one of our top players but with the player he is he needs to be surrounded by talent and he just wasn’t all year so I think wasn’t completely his fault and I was actually surprised that he had 15 points this year because I thought he actually had less than that so I’ll give him a c minus just because he was put in probably the worst position he had ever Ben in his career Two D’s and a c minus I think I think I think we have our answer here D for Victor Olson God damn it man like do I I have such terrible luck with buying jerseys like I get the Olson Jersey like this is right when the Royal Blues Dro so he was still he was can you buy a Conor Clifton Jersey please take one for the team I’m getting a j I’m getting a JJ peterka Jersey oh god well no but um I like I buy this at the height of Co like right when the royal blue drops and he’s on the top line with Jack eel and he’s you know he’s lighting it up he’s so good so I bought this at the right time okay I didn’t buy this like thinking oh he’s I don’t think you did if you went if I think if you compared prices between a Victor olivon Jersey today and back then I there would be a disparity a 68 Victor Olson Jersey I think you could buy listen I think you could buy a 71 Victor olivon Jersey full price pay the money to have 71 taken off pay the money to put 68 on and you would still have more money left over compared to when you bought the 68 Jersey back in 2020 that’s just my guess I’m I’m not I’m not go I’m not going off of if I made a profit on this jersey or not I know inflation has been a killer but I mean come on let’s not let’s not beat around the bush here you made a bad financial decision no okay this was good and I will I I will die on the S but the only thing is it’s like I get a goathead Jersey and it’s Jeff Skinner and the season after I get it now we’re talking about buying them out I’m like you got to be kidding me so what I’m going to get a petka jersey and what what someone you hate I you know what if you want if you want to get rid of the guy get a Lucan in Jersey that’s how you’ll know yeah and then make our team that much worse thanks thank you can’t get a Luca and Jersey I I don’t curse this team with the jerseys I bu I swear well why don’t we talk about the big fellow uko peka lukanin I’m not even gonna give the guy an introduction this is an A+ yep I wanted this guy waved at the start of the year I wanted him waved in the middle of the [Laughter] Year Chris still wants some wave now Christian held on to his his take a little too far into the season Christian gonna be Christian’s gonna be biting his tongue when the arbitration numbers come out and he sees ukcan and asking for seven and a half million a year he was he was he was God awful to start the year he was he had like one or two bad games okay and we all dumped on him because we thought it was a trend yes he was he was bad for a few games and then he became obviously we saw what happened right yeah he he turned it around okay I can’t deny that he was a fantastic goalie this season so I will give him an A+ is that what you wanted to hear that’s that’s character growth right there okay that that sounded spiteful though I’m trying to spite you guys A+ for uko pekanin why don’t we get into the other goalies we’ll start with Eric comry unfortunately um the season did not go the way he would have hoped the team to say the team had no confidence in him if that would be an understatement I think he played one game in the last two months of the season or two games in the last month um finish on a I’m glad he got that last win of the Season finished on a high note good book end to his sapr career I don’t think they’re going to bring him back he started off the season well then he got that no contact injury against New Jersey and then he wasn’t really reliable for the team and then they just stopped playing the guy I went with a d here yeah I mean we expected this guy to be our number two to Lucan in or Levi this season because of his veteran presence and we saw him as more of like a stabilizing [Music] goenda pretty early on after he got injured that Levi was completely able to step into that role and Lucan took off and Eric was left on Earth and with that I yeah D D minus just well he wasn’t around he was just a ghost we we he was like he was like the the Ghost of Christmas I mean the goalie of Christmas passed yeah I gave him a d I thought they put him in a really shitty position the whole year barely playing him him just sitting on the bench the whole time so I did feel a little bad for him but he did didn’t really earn anything so the D two D’s D minus looks like we’re going to settle on a d for Eric comry Devon Levi see now this one’s interesting because depending on how you viewed him coming into the season this this can be a wide range of things if you’re of the belief of the Sabers organization and you expected him to come in him to come in and start 50 games for the team and lead them to the promised land is a bit disappointing now I feel like if you were on the more pessimistic side of things and you’re like this guy’s 21 years old he’s not gonna start 50 games for your team you would have been proven right and relative to expectations you would have been right on I went with a B minus here I think and this doesn’t and it’s really I’m not taking really into account the Rochester um his stins in Rochester where he was a monster especially in the playf play offs so solely Sabers hockey so I think he was a you know and if you take a step back he was about a backup caliber go tender if you take his age and everything out of the equation I could go up to a b and be like yeah that’s about where I expected him but I I I settled on a B minus cuz you know he had his rookie ups and downs which I think if you had a realistic point of view was to be expected I I had to throwout my preseason expectations or I probably would have given him a really bad grade because I was delusional so I think Christian might have been worse if we’re going off the hot takes but we we’ll we’ll get to that we’ll get to that yeah I I was hot takes for a reason they’re not they’re not right takes yeah I’m ignoring my expectations coming into this season I’m gonna go with the B I think he started off pretty slow but after that I mean he was a very good goalie like he was very good for us his second stint was considerably better yeah so I think I I don’t know be just it just it just sits well in my mind I think he didn’t really like Amaze anybody but when he did play I mean he he did his job um I have to I agree with you JP um I thought he was perfectly average as a goenda where we thought he was going to be this season um I have to at least put some sort of weight on that so if we’re doing that I’m going to go with B minus you know consistent goenda aul games but if we kind of Stack it up as to where we thought he was going to be at the beginning of the year possibly the number one goalie because we had no idea what was going to happen with Lucan and um I’ll just just slightly under B Just Just A B minus I think I’m Gonna Bump mine up and it’s only because the last time we did these he was at a B minus so I kind of want to show some progression here that he did play better so I’m feeling optimistic for this one he’s fudging the numbers folks yeah well whatever I edit the show we’re going to a B I just want to point out I was pulling up my stats because I do remember he had a very good goal saved above expected he finished 15th in the league in the regular season he was above UPL now I’m not take that with the grain of salt that he was he was not above you up I know that’s what I’m saying it sounds crazy per money is this is this like a per 60 stat uh no goal saved above expected look it up money Puck he’s got 10.7 UPL is 9.4 so that’s also in the back of my mind he did play very good while he was with us um I do think that is a little extreme like he was not better than UPL but it stats stats don’t lie sometimes I money par is great it’s a great free tool I actually you want you want go saved above expector per 60 he’s 0496 UPL was .83 that’s just ridiculous I don’t know how they’re getting those numbers I’m not saying I completely agree with them but I did remember seeing that so yeah evolving hockey has Lucan in at 22.4 6 they got they got Levi at 7.92 so both good there’s a bit of a disparity there between models there’s def I don’t know what I don’t know what happened I don’t know if money Puck forgot to carry the one I’m I I trust evolving hockey a bit more so we go with a B then yeah that’s good okay all right Bowen Byam so here’s a guy who came in guns blazing first four or five games he’s playing pretty out of his mind hockey up Tempo fast fast pace him and Dal are jelling and the team gets goes out west he starts practicing more with the team and you saw a little bit of a dip and then he got thrown with Henry yokei Haru and I think it was one of it might have been one of the worst combinations I’ve seen in some time for this team and I’ve watched an Elia lbushkin and Jacob Bryson 2022 2023 pair I’ve seen my fair share of bad pairs Byam and Yoki Haru were it was it was not good so I went with a B minus and I and I even that I feel like it’s kind of being kind to his time with Yoki Haru but I’m putting my stock in his hot start and I’m just going to throw in the Granado uh the multiplier yeah he became a victim of uh the Granado effect as in we got him and he looked like he was still playing like his old Colorado stealth and we were like wow this is great and then he was get ready to learn Don Granado buddy and he did really quick and then he learned Henry Yoki Hari the first video session they’re doing he like Bowen you’re going BL you’re going below the hash marks here we don’t do that no no no don’t do that you see all this moving going on on the power play we don’t do that here okay there’s no such thing as a bumper um but he yeah like the grade it was such a short amount of time you didn’t really get to see him too often so I can’t really lean too even if he had a great uh even if he had like a great end of the season which obviously he he didn’t I even and if he had a terrible end of the season I don’t think I could swing too far the other way I I probably would hover around what our Benchmark is I’ll probably go I’ll give him a b uh I’ll I’ll give him a little bit of the benefit of the doubt you know but I’ll go B I gave him B minus I it’s it’s crazy thing to hear that once he starts practicing with the team he gets worse so I’m really not putting F because you say it and I feel like you know it’s been a joke that’s sort of used you know any player that gets traded here it’s like well he got used to the team it that that might have been the case for bow and Byrum that’s what I’m saying like I his how he played like I I’m not really blaming it on him like much like I think if we let him play his game next year I think it’s he’s GNA be very good so I can’t give him too bad up a great I’m going be minus I’m just the odd man out every time now he showed his flashes too and I I think that’s something that you definitely want to see well I think it’s important and I think it’s important to learn the lesson with his time at Yi with Yoki Haru look those are two guys at least for right now with Byam he’s a complimentary player he’s I don’t think he’s at the stage now he could get there but I don’t know if he can drive his own pair yet and if and if you want him to you need someone better than Yoki Haru so I think going into next season you got to put him with 26 or 25 yeah all right moving on good old friend Connor Clifton I’m not going to mince words I’m not a fan of the player at least how he played this season and I and I’m gonna I’m gonna I’ll say this honestly he I we gave well we say we I’m sure I drove the conversation I gave him a D minus back in February by the end of the season he had settled into a third pair role which is just what I think he is and he he he did better I’m G to give him a C+ C+ wow I’m very surprised by that I gave him C minus it’s character develop yeah you’re right that was probably a miss that was probably a typo see this input uh yeah back back in the beginning of the Season no good that’s all I’m going to say no good but yeah he he settled in he still had his hiccups but he settled in he’s not worth the money paying him if we did like a quarter season grade I think I would have given him a score lower than an F I would have found a way yeah for the for like if we checked in in November that let’s also put it this way once he got away from Eric Johnson I think he was better oh God that’s a guy you could just give an f triple minus to Eric Johnson we don’t even have to talk about him F triple minus I’ll give Conor Clifton a c minus C minus we in agreement all right Jacob Bryson fairly good season by his standards he was playing Super well in March and I think by the end he kind of fell back to the mean but it was a decent campaign I went with a B+ I think given given his state with the fan base heading into the season I think by the end of it I don’t think people are too against the idea of bringing him back as a possible seventh guy yeah I well I hate to talk first because I know we’re talking about JP’s favorite player here but um yeah uh if if I gave him a Benchmark I mean after samelson got hurt he stepped into that middle pairing role and he he didn’t disappoint I I thought yeah he played he played well so I I I’m right there with you I’ll give him a B+ I also give him be+ um with that being said I’m not saying that I don’t think we need to bring him back I think I’m not saying I’m not saying they need to I’m just saying if it happened you know it’s better than signing Tyler Myers for three years well not not to some people but yeah I agree B+ for Jacob Bryson rounding out the defenseman here Ryan Johnson now this this is an unfortunate one I think because way back in February we gave him a b and I think by the end of things he slowly lost his place in the lineup I know I said I wasn’t taking the Rochester stins into account but you know he did have a rough Rochester playoff which I think reflected how he was by the end of his time with the Savers I gave him a C+ I’m leaning more towards a c we’re close on all of these but says the guy who didn’t bring pre-prepared score it’s like wow like guys like we’re right on the money here man we’re just you know we’re we’re in sync like that um considering he did lose his place in the lineup um and coming into this he he started the season on the roster right uh I think he didn’t and I think I think by like early November he was up yeah he was just up and down a lot he had a great start there was those games with awesome and then he just he’s one of our best defenseman at handling the puck like you see him how quick he moves he’s got so much great potential um I’ll I’ll stick with the I’ll stick with the C+ all right C+ for Ryan Johnson all right zamus gurgenson I think he had a very zamus gurgenson season that’s a good way of putting it um yeah I’ll just go right into it I gave him a C+ just’s give him a c I think and I and I say he had another gurgenson type season even by his own standards I think it was a bit muted at least compared to last year yeah I gave him a c I thought compared to what I expected for him I thought he had a down here see it is all right I’m going to group these last two together because we have been going for a little while Lucas rusek and Tyson Joost I gave him both these yep especially it’s it’s disappointing I look he’s going to be making NHL money this season he’s got a oneway deal I don’t think they anticipated him to have what I think 15 games played this season he played 15 games I think they anticipated a little bit more yeah you are forgetting about one player am I Eric Eric Robinson oh no I oh he was in here I guess I just skipped over him my fault Eric Robinson I gave him a C+ as did I C+ it is all right so that’s going to wrap up our player grades that went a while moving on to the hot takes the fun part of this the fun part we we get to make fun of ourselves for how stupid we look some of us more than others so back in October there were there were two methods that we did this so we did our hot takes here on the podcast before opening night and then if anybody remembers we did a little predictions Roundtable in written form on buffalos Sports talk.com so not and not all of those hot takes where there wasn’t a lot of crossover there was quite a wide range of uh opinions predictions we’ll start with the Stanley Cup picks and this was via the podcast so I’m going to start out with I guess I’ll start out with the war you know none of us had bad picks surprisingly for the most part Christian picked the New Jersey Devils to win the Stanley Cup oh damn but you had them beating the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup finals okay JP had the Dallas Stars winning the Stanley Cup against the Carolina Hurricanes o now I know they got close but I’m going to dump on you dumb pick very bad pick could have seen that coming could have seen that second round exit coming from a mile away you just hate them so much and I also had the New Jersey Devils as Stanley Cup finalists but I did have the Edmonton Oilers winning the Stanley Cup so you know what round of applause guys Round of Applause not too not a bad start each of us still have one team alive how much worse can it get from here let’s get into it things off our Atlantic predictions via the podcast every single one of us took Toronto really and they finished in third yeah well I mean you know the the Atlantic it gets to be a crapshoot sometimes towards the top it gets so close it could have gone anyway a couple games here and there that could have been completely different yep all right so we we’ll we’ll start we’ll go after JP first JP predicted that Rasmus dalen would not only be a Norris finalist he would hit 90 points he was 31 short you know what I’ll double down next year that doesn’t scare me oh no don’t clip that chat clip that so that’s a gamblers a gambler’s response yeah it is Christian sorry buddy you’re next next yeah I I already know what’s coming you said Tage Thompson would hit 60 goals yeah I remember he also finished 31 [Laughter] short I didn’t even a thir oh man what a what a terrible did just just think back to last summer how happy we were how how much confidence we had going into the season we could just say something like that I didn’t expect him to hit 60 goals but I thought he’d get like you know close enough to where it wasn’t a terrible take you couldn’t even Round Up by you couldn’t even all right this one’s for me I predicted Jordan Greenway could hit 20 goals he was 10 short that might one that might be the worst of them all the worst the worst of them all yeah I don’t think it’s the worst of all 60 go a guy has his had 50 but if you T had 40 what 47 the last time that a saber hit 60 goals there were like 20 teams in the NHL it goes Pat LA fontain or Mill mgy yeah they’re playing against janitors oh my God how many how many goals did Jordan Greenway have he had 10 he had 10 Granado wanted him to get 20 let’s put it that way so Jonah was on the right track and there’s a reason he doesn’t have his job anymore it’s not like you know I I could at least defend you to and be like oh the power play stunk no Greenway got the usage he would have needed MH yeah all right next one is also from me I said that Devin Levi could I’m G to put emphasis on could he could Dethrone Conor Bard for The Calder I remember that one he just didn’t get enough games he didn’t play good enough yeah he played pretty think once UPL once UPL took the Reigns you know he wasn’t getting much time I don’t think that was a bad take that’s going to be my Donnie Granada one I already know that one’s coming up oh God yeah that’s it is coming speaking of it’s literally the next one if the Savers make the playoffs grenado is a lock for the Jack Adams did they make the play make the playoff but here here’s the thing though they could have he would not have gotten I don’t think he would have gotten any votes that’s that’s a good point that’s a good point all right so this this is the first one well the first solo one that wasn’t that bad but it was also bad I said Victor olison would stay on the team the entire season I also said he could possibly hit 30 goals oh that second one is awful he was only 25 he had like 28 last year you know plus with the Jack Quinn injury I was there was some logic behind it how many goals did Vic end up with 18 yeah couldn’t have been that was that’s bad all right JP you’re up you said Casey middlestead would hit 70 to 75 points how many points did he finish with this season 57 really yeah he didn’t even hit 60 I’m surprised by that you know what that is it’s sort of crazy to think about this was his year he had more points last season two seasons ago God damn it I hate this point of the off season that actually is crazy do we you know I’m because I’m looking at the next few and I’m I’m going to hold the next two off because he’s next three they’re pretty good pretty good takes JP you said Pittsburgh would miss the playoffs that’s a good take look at that good take you also said the coyotes would surprise this season they were on did and you could also say they surprised a lot of people they will no longer be in Arizona yep yep and this one looks pretty good for me I predict are just piling on me you didn’t have I I don’t think you had that many of that episode you saved all your good ones for the blog I said Vegas would have a cup hangover and that they would bow out early yeah out in the first round yeah all right Christian these next two they’re me and you ah so I’ll go with you because yours is this one’s bad it’s better no it’s better than mine I you said that Boston would comfortably comfortably miss the playoffs it made so much it still makes sense that’s what I don’t understand it makes sense doesn’t it tell me tell me I’m wrong does it make sense that they could with that roster with that lineup losing Patrice berson and losing David Cree you can’t tell me that that team couldn’t have easily missed the playoffs they comfortably made the playoffs how are you making this argument I no I’m just saying in theory Theory will only take you so far my friend yeah yeah all right it’s a bad take looking bad because okay people are going to forget about it in two seconds and Christian’s going to double down in it next year I know he is that’ be like a triple down no I already said I already said I am not betting against Boston this year because every single time I do they prove me completely wrong so I’m going to shut my mouth I’m not going to say anything it’s it’s okay you’re gonna nobody’s nobody’s going to remember that because this next one I said oh man I said the Rangers would miss the playoffs they won the President’s trophy yeah is that good they’re two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final Jonah hates the hurricanes and he hates the Rangers he hates Metro teams I hate expansion teams he hates the hell was I thinking I mean I know I know what I was thinking look sorry I didn’t expect 2012 Jonathan Quick to show up for them in the regular season while eigor was down yeah stepped in it’s my bad got that one wrong yeah that’s a bad Miss I think I also was a bit more down on Laviolette than I should have been like guy’s a good coach he can never get it done also you know sorry like I saw Phil housle on the coaching staff I just I didn’t see success coming from that team you got Michael Pekka though that’s why yeah that’s how I should have known that’s how I should have known they that they were known they were they were a lock all right so that that wraps up everything from the podcast that we did on to the article so the way this article was structured if nobody if people didn’t read it at the time we would propose the question and we would just give our answer in response to it so the first question that we were asked who was the Sabers MVP going to be this season Christian you pick the 60 goal man Tage Thompson J P you picked Devon Levi yeah I remember that and I picked Rasmus Dalene hey if if Levi would have performed we would have made the playoffs and he would have been an MVP so well if I mean the real the real MVP probably was JJ petka or up it come on every chance this guy gets yeah every chance uh this guy the Clos Christian when Christian goes to opening night next season and UK peka Lucan and lets in six goals in a 6-1 blowout to the Ottawa Senators he’s goingon to be like see I told you yep I be in there licking my chops be the first guy all right so the next question was which saber will break out JP and Christian you guys picked JJ PKA me trying to be this trying to be different I picked Jordan Greenway so you get for being different yep teach you that in school man never be different just file in with the rest of them file in with the rest and shut your mouth the next one was who will surprise people the most Christian you picked Payton KBS oh JP you picked Jordan Greenway and I picked Conor Clifton that’s a swing in the M for everyone that’s three strikes so the next question was who will disappoint the most see this one this one’s sort of interesting I don’t JP definitely got the worst of it he picked Alex tuck which it’s funny because he probably still disappointed a little bit but so so did everybody Christian you picked Jack Quinn so you you were kind of right in a way I just don’t think it was for the I don’t remember what the reasoning was did I curse him I picked Jeff Skinner you were right on then well you were you were wrong for more more than half the season but then at the end he started to disappoint more so I I guess you know it’s not it’s not terrible yeah so the next question in the article was does Victor olon play the entire season in Buffalo I said yes you two said no no nothing different from the uh from the podcast thought he was going to be a deadline acquisition so here’s a funny one we asked the question does UPL finish the season on the Sabers oh jeez oh no JP and I both said yes oh Christian you said no huh that doesn’t seem like me why would I have said that oh my God okay going into the season in November if we did this talk in November I would be on track you dou down in November God what two games into his into his year correct small sample sizes are always correct man no but yeah I was yeah I missed the ball on that one I did I I had hey I’m a big man I’ll admit when I’m wrong UPL had a fantastic year and I was wrong that’s how me boys that one’s on me the next question was does Tage Thompson hit 50 goals Christian you obviously said yes JP you also said yes I said no we were blinded I do think if I were to guess I would have said he was probably around there definitely not I definitely wasn’t like oh he’s not even going to hit 30 just a oh man last season felt like H what what we’re still in the drought but what 2010 season could you compare last season to 16117 without a doubt let’s hope we they match up let’s hope we don’t turn into 171 18 because that could get ugly quick the next question does Zack Benson play more than nine games Christian you said yes yes let’s go JP you said no wow and I said yes boom the next question I mean we were we were we were all off base how many games does Ryan Johnson play Christian you said six JP you said 12 I said 15 do you want to guess what his final total was it was 25 um 40 21 41 really that many God he played 41 games man he must have just been invisible out there half the time then should we go should we amend our grades all right we’re going back to the grades the next question was how many games does Yuri Kik Play I said five games JP said three games Christian said two2 three he he played one yeah he only had that one game the next one was how many games does Devon Levi start I said 55 is JP said 50 to 55 and Christian said minimum 41 I’m the I was the only rational one out of that group you said minimum you said okay so you guys said 50 to 55 so that implies that UPL would have played under 30 Games meaning he was not good we are all delusional he played 23 Bo yeah goalies are voodoo actually outand by my take goalies are voodoo the next question would the savers have any award winners this season I said darene JP also said darene But JP also said Granado as did Christian I said Granado you said Granado damn so this next one because we all knew we all know what was going on at the time will Patrick Kane be a saber by season end I said no JP also said no Christian said yes hey I mean with how the Sabers were pursuing him there was a great chance he could have been and if he wanted to be he would have been and then the last question do the Savers make the playoffs h a resounding yes from all three of us no it hurts it hurts will it ever happen that’s all of them so I think that always a fun exercise we’ll do those rangers that Rangers one is so bad that’s the worst one miss the playoffs they win the freaking president’s trophy yeah what was the worst like for us three for each one of us which one was the worst yours was the Rangers one definitely the Rangers I think mine was probably the Bruins or the UPL take probably the Bruins yeah I would say JP he is I think M would be Levi MVP Levi MVP yeah I don’t know I feel like I don’t know Christians yours might be does UPL finish the year on the Sabres that could have yeah that could have been that’s true that could be it too I don’t know I guess JP didn’t have a wild one we could all laugh I guess Dalene hitting 90 points and finishing with the Norris was pretty off base but it’s not conceivably bad you know I bet I I bet we were like we I bet we were were pading you on the pack like yes I love that so yeah that’s going to put a wrap on our hot takes our our player grades one last look at the dreaded season that was 22 20 2023 2024 NHL season so goodbye I definitely would not want to redo that ever again nope that was that was pretty bad frustrating Christian did you see the Lindy rough video calling yeah all the season ticket holders we were right we had we were right at first but we talked about it on here like as a joke not we didn’t we didn’t know any of this was going on we just kind of joked about it we were just like man maybe he could just get season ticket holders back and we literally you made the joke where like he’s just reading off of like a piece of paper doing reading off a script doing a super robotic voice the Sab video showed exactly that I was laugh it was so funny that was yeah that was funny we got to make like a short out of that all right I think that’s basically going to put a wrap on things um the Panthers one win away from the Stanley Cup Final Sam Reinhardt the overtime hero the other night love that doesn’t hurt so much I mean you know how I am with the bumper spot man the bumper guy we needed was right there the whole time the whole time he was there beautiful one timer moving on we got to we got to keep our we got to keep our head forward until we talk about his free agent profile I think I saw someone tweet and they said I think Sam Reinhardt would call the police if the Sabers offered him a contract I think that was saber’s metrics Oh Hey Kevin how are you it’s been a while yeah it’s been a little bit imagine he’s got his like caller ID in his phone he just looks at his phone he’s just like they’re about to offer me $12 million aren’t they I really have to go back to Buffalo I think that’s basically going to do it for this one um I think next time we’ll talk I don’t know hopefully be next week hopefully no hopefully Christian has his dryer up and running again it’s still broken it’s been like two weeks did you did did did you schedule an appointment to have it like looked at we trying man we’re trying we don’t we we already we had a guy come over they not returning your calls we had a guy come over and he said he fixed it guess what didn’t fix it so did you get charged no no no no okay just making sure all right I did I did hear rumors that Jonah was actually watching some Prospect tape so are we gonna get like a prospect episode we might we might cuz you I think anybody that that knows us we’re we’re YouTube Scouts you know we’ll we’ll watch a draft video but I I’ve I’ve been reading up on this draft class a little bit trying to familiar familiarize myself so maybe we’ll do we’ll do like a fun episode where uh I try to like I lay out all the prospects and you guys got a pictures try to convince you YouTube Scout on a good day on a good day so what so wow that guy guy’s pretty good you see that man that guy’s great yeah he was drafted six years ago you’re on the wrong channel oh I don’t know we’ll see uh we definitely got some time to fill here before the draft by the time this episode comes out we will be in the month of June so the off season is right around the corner but I know we will we will be doing some free agent profile stuff like I said maybe we’ll do a draft profile thing and then hopefully that buys buys us enough time to where the the offseason really begins last thing I did want to bring up um if there are any Edmonton Oilers fans out there I’m sorry I willed into existence a Jason Roberts and hatrick that’s my bad that’s that’s my bad about that we’re texting in our in our group chat and I said the words like because legitimately I was barely noticing the guy I’m like is Jason Robertson playing in this series scores his first goal I think 10 minutes later and then he scores another and then he scores the gamewinner I have a horrible history of doing this Bros a jinx people the PE the listeners at home don’t even know the extent to which I Jinx people yeah it’s actually actually you know I’ve done it a few times on the saber report count account it’s happened a few times I was gifted with powers of jinxing so you know what I’ll have to use them next season we’ll see what we’ll see what I can do but I think with that I think it’s going to do it for this episode if you want to follow us follow us on Twitter at the saer report follow us on Instagram Tik Tok at atth saer report subscribe to us on YouTube thank you very much for watching uh if you want updates for the Pod follow us at at saer report pod go give our friends over at the Buffalo Sports Talk podcast a listen but I think other than that that’ll do it for this one so thank you very much for listening take care feel free to leave a review and go Savers go Sabers go sabers

In this week’s episode, the guys grade the 2023-24 Sabres roster and review their hot takes from before the season.

Thanks for watching!

(0:00) Intro
(6:19) Rasmus Dahlin
(8:58) Tage Thompson
(12:14) Dylan Cozens
(15:36) Alex Tuch
(19:18) JJ Peterka
(23:01) Mattias Samuelsson
(27:27) Owen Power
(30:50) Jeff Skinner
(34:09) Zach Benson
(37:39) Peyton Krebs
(40:43) Henri Jokiharju
(44:09) Jordan Greenway
(48:25) Victor Olofsson
(52:55) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
(54:07) Eric Comrie
(56:06) Devon Levi
(1:01:14) Bowen Byram
(1:04:53) Connor Clifton
(1:06:20) Jacob Bryson
(1:07:37) Ryan Johnson
(1:09:12) Zemgus Girgensons
(1:09:45) Lukas Rousek/Tyson Jost
(1:10:16) Eric Robinson
(1:10:36) Reviewing Hot Takes

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