Sabres remake bottom-six, fail to add to top-six on free agency day

Sabres remake bottom-six, fail to add to top-six on free agency day

we have a lot to get to a draft that we’ll talk about this week and free agency day the sabes signed a lot of players but not the ones that I’m guessing saber fanit wanted them to see signed we’ll get to it all coming up here in the lockdown Sabers [Music] podcast you’re locked on Sabers your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabers part of the locked on podast cast network your team every [Music] day and thanks for making locked on Savers your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more playoffs have wound down but the Sports Stop uh don’t stop this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily it’s right there’s something for everyone every day All Summer Long visit fanduel.com lockon to get started sneaky Jo debiasi a lot to get to on today’s show it’s free agency day it’s also our first show since the NHL draft we will save a lot of the draft talk for later on this week we’ll get to it all though cona helenus we’re going helenus not helenius helenus is what he said after the draft his last name is pronounced as so that’s what we’re rolling with he is a player that I like a lot in terms of the prospects we talked to him a little bit about him last week uh I think it fits really well with what they need in their pipeline they did some other things later in the draft that fits with their pipeline as well we’ll talk more about that coming up this week we’ll get hottie cacash locked on NHL prospects along as well a lot to get to this week but there’s a ton to get to today it was fast and it was Furious the before noon even right it started at like 11 the action if you were on Twitter today it was nuts now we tried to keep you plugged in as much as possible if you were a subscriber to our lockdown Sabers text line you got all the news immediately sometimes before it even reached Twitter we got that news to you about Jason zuker about Nicholas Obe kubel about Sam laferty about Dennis Gilbert about Jacob Bryson all the players of the Sabers signed today uh we had the scoop for you we had it right there for you we had some banter back and forth about those signings if you are not a subscriber already you want to be a part of our lockdown Sabers text line throughout the summer maybe you’re not going to be paying as much attention and if they make this wild trade in the middle of the summer we’ll be the ones you’ll find out first from if you’re not already a subscriber join sub text.com lockdowns saers to sign up we’ll get some texts uh this week as well that we saw uh from our listeners today but a lot to get to and really I kind of want to we’ve heard from Kevin Adams too he just wrapped up his press conference I got some thoughts and some crazy things that he had to say today in my opinion um it on the overall though it’s a disappointing day it’s a disappointing weekend I was hopeful I you know call me naive I got myself to be optimistic going into the weekend going into the week the draft free agency they know it’s time to win Lindy Lindy has said it’s time to win so all right actions speak louder than words let’s see your actions match the words the the words say we want to win right now we want to make deals we want to spin futures for for right now that’s how they were talking then it was time to do it and they didn’t really do it and now it’s excuse making time right and listen some of the excuses are real some of the reasons why the Sab sit here today without the top two things that it was said they wanted the most top six Winger and third line Center without add adding those two things there are real reasons why that didn’t happen how could you possibly though feel like you’re feel in a good place about this team after they didn’t address their top two needs and maybe they still will the offseason as I saw on Twitter today from a lot of people hey the offseason doesn’t end today but 80% of the offseason ended today 80% of the offseason ended this weekend all of those available players in free agency all of those players that we thought could get traded around the draft and there were some not as many as we thought Martin n just didn’t get traded so a lot of guys didn’t get dealt but a bunch of guys did and the sabes end up Jason zuker Nicholas OB kubel Sam laferty Dennis Gilbert and they bring back Jacob Bryson and of course they trade over the weekend um for uh I keep forgetting Beck binstein even him like I’ve got to remember his name because I crazy like I follow the league I watch The League I play the video game I bet the sport I watch the playoffs and Beck malinin is not someone I had in my head not had in my database I saw that notification on my watch I went who so looked them up shop blocker big hitter really the theme of what they’ve done so far they’ve remade the bottom six and they haven’t really remade the top six they haven’t improved the top six but they’ve remade the bottom six especially the fourth line Beck malen Stein Nicholas Obe kubel Sam laferty to go with Jordan Greenway already in the pipeline or already on the roster and pton Krabs already on the roster count that as Five Five Guys put him an ink for the Sabers bottom six their bottom six I think they’ve done a decent job I think their bottom six is faster I think their bottom six is more physical I think their bottom six is better defensively on the penalty kill especially Malin is a great shop blocker Obe kubel is an incredible four Checker and laugher T is physical and really malen Stein and and Obi kubal are physical in their own right we know kreb’s game is a little bit of that we know Greenways game is that they’re a big physical team now at the depth of their roster the other bottom six forward is Jason zooker bottom six is Zack Benson bottom six I have to imagine one of them is a bottom six forward my problem is that they should probably both be bottom six forwards and and there should be a third line Center option that’s not what’s presently on the roster so as I we stare at the bottom six at this moment in time I like the players they’ve brought in for it I like malen Stein is way o an overpayment for the draft pick there’s no way that dude should cost a second round pick I like the player I like the fit should never cost a second round pick second round picks are not everything it’s like a 5050 shot the guy even makes the NHL but 26-year-old fourth liner that just became an NHL regular last year that guy never gets traded for a second round pick that guy gets traded for a fifth that guy gets traded for a sixth that’s Eric Robinson conditional seventh type of trade why in the world did they have to trade a second round pick for him beats me laferty all right fourth line Center uh physical scored 13 goals last year he’s the one that I’m okay with but I’m not really a big fan of his game his defensive numbers are just okay offensively as a fourth liner just okay he’s a guy he’s a guy he’s not terrible he’s probably an upgrade over what Tyson Jost was in their bottom six because he’s a bigger body and he’ll at least give you some the physicality I really like the Nicholas Obe kubel signing for the bottom six that guy is super fast he is a great for Checker he’s got decent skill nothing crazy I mean we’re talking about a guy that’s been in the league for five years and his career high in goals is 11 uh so nothing crazy to write home about last year six goals 10 assist 16 points for Obe kubel in Washington but I think he’s an incredible Defender the numbers evolving hockey 96th percentile for defense this guy is a great defender great defender um and I think he’s going to be very valuable in that role in their bottom six I like that signing a lot one-year Deal $1.6 million not bad at all all um in terms of the contracts they’ve given out they still have to sign malen Stein uh but you know $2 million two years for laferty okay I don’t love the second year but the money is nothing 1.5 million for Obe kubel is is fantastic um and then there is zuker five year five excuse me one year $5 million might imply that he’s Bound for the top six I don’t really know what they want to do with that other spot they don’t have much skill they don’t have much scoring in their bottom six okay I like that you’ve improved yourselves physically but did you and defensively but did you go too far because now five of your six bottom six forwards I don’t count on to give you anything offensively and that is where my concern would lie right now did you go too far towards physicality and defense and now you’re going to have a problem with secondary scoring because I think there’s going to be not one but two lines on this sab’s team that are going to have a lot of trouble producing offense and can you win that way you better be damn good defensively if you’re going to go that route and I am very concerned right now that secondary scoring is going to be a big problem for this team uh in part because again no third line Center Adam Henrik he’s still out there he was my favorite idea for a third line Center I set offer him three years $6 million per year bring him over from Edmonton and Anaheim who spent split last year between he has great faceoffs very good offensively still even at age 34 he had 51 points last year bring him in he’ll give you everything little defense more offense secondary scoring faceoffs let Adam Henrik be one of their big editions this offseason to be their third line Center but they didn’t do that uh not yet he’s still signed or still unsigned um at the moment my biggest problem with their bottom six is that pton Krebs is currently their third line Center and I did a show a couple weeks ago what does a disaster offseason look like for the Buffalo Sabers and part of that blueprint for what the disaster looked like was that Payton Krebs was your third line center now one hope I really have one thing I’m rooting for is Krabs to get knocked down to the fourth line again and laferty to play the wing him OB kubel malen Stein one of those guys is always a healthy scratch or one of those guys or maybe they’re all playing because there’s there’s an injury but all those guys are fourth line and you’ve got Benson on the third line maybe or zuker you’ve got Greenway on the third line and then what I am at a point of and I didn’t want to be here and I really would like to see the Sabers correctness and still make a move to prevent this from being the case but at the moment I’m cross my fingers because the best case scenario at this moment in time for third line Center is that Matt seavoy shows up at training camp and is ready to go and I have no idea if he’s gonna be ready to go I’ve got no idea if he’s matured enough this off season he’s gotten any thicker physically where he’s ready to make the NHL but I’ll tell you there’s a spot open for him there if he comes into training camp and looks awesome and in the preseason looks awesome he has the camp in preseason that Benson did last year I think he’s your third line Center I think he opens the season as your third line Center because he is someone that you could keep Greenway on that line and keep you could still have that physicality right with him and then you have a whole fourth line for all of that but seavoy could take a third line that would be centered by Krebs and include Greenway and a Benson and you might think ah it’s more a defensive line it’s a physical line it’s a line I don’t really count on to score much because Krebs hasn’t shown me anything seavoy would give you in your mind in my mind more upside offensively him and Benson maybe could mesh well together maybe him and zuker could mesh well together and you could have a third line that has some physicality to it has some defense to it but also has some scoring to it it would be well balanced to me if Matt seavoy can win a job and that is one I think he’s one of the big winners on this day because the sabers did not add a third line Center and I think it’s crazy that it’s July 1 and they have not done that what about the top six Benson versus zuker Skinner being bought out and really not replacing him all that well we’ll get to that when we come back here on the locked on Sabers podcast we are presented here on the show by FanDuel Sportsbook if you’re listening here on Monday night the soccer game is still coming you’ve got the US and Uruguay tonight in Copa America you get your odds for that over at FanDuel you can bet on anytime goal score if you want Christian pulisic or others I love sports uh love them all and never want them to stop playoffs are done we got fewer games the sports aren’t sportsing like we want them to but FanDuel lets us keep the sports going whever we want all you got to do is open the app dream up bets anytime that we’re in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily it’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long so head over to f ./ lockon start making the most out of your summer FanDuel official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball back here in the lockdown Sabers podcast we are previewing or recapping I should say free agency as the Sabers making a couple of moves we’ll get to Adam’s role in all of this of course he is like it’s his job to bring in the players um but they cap situation he made some comments about spending to the cap and another comment that I was kind of Scrat scatching my head at from today his his place in all of this and where the sabes are at with their general manager after this weekend fans are not in a good place fans are not feeling good and optimistic about this team right now and I think most of that is within the top six more even than third line Center but third line Center is Big too for this they it was said by Elliot fredman other insiders and it’s basically assumed because they bought out Jeff Skinner and there’s no obvious answer for them to play in the top six oh they want a top six forward it’s why they’ve been connected to guys like Martin niches in trade rumors it’s why they were connected to a guy like Logan cure maybe in trade rumors for a moment in time they’ve been connected to a lot of guys they’re poking their head around why they probably want one and we’ll talk about Adams again a little bit more but Adams said that we’re still open to adding a top six Winger when asked and if you were set if you thought zuker’s top six or Benson’s going to be relied to be top six then you wouldn’t say you’re open to it but he said they’re open to it so that my guesses they’re still looking to add in that department but will they be able to we’ve talked about all their struggles I don’t know that they’re going to be able to right now you are hoping that one of two things is going to happen to fill in the spot that Jeff Skinner whose bad year was 24 goals last year who scored 92 goals in the last three seasons 92 goals an average of almost 31 goals a year is going to be replaced by either Jason zuker who they signed today and we’ll get into him or 19-year-old Zack Benson and I’m open to Zack Benson being able to play in the top six of course I am he could take a big step from last year to this year we just saw petka do it I’m very open to Benson doing that how about counting on it though counting on it see seems V risky doesn’t seem like it’s smart business to count on the 19-year-old to go from 30 points last year to 50 60 this year shouldn’t be counting on that and then what about zuker zuker veteran player I think there are some deeper numbers that show that the guy had a down year last year and there’s still a good player in there he kind of got buried on the depth chard in Nashville and Arizona last season playing less than 14 minutes a night which was you know almost a two-minute difference from the year before in Pittsburgh uh very much saw worst teammates that he played with and what happened he went down from 27 goals to 14 goals last year but two two years ago playing with mostly of Genny Malin in Pittsburgh 27 goals 21 assists 48 points not bad he’s a fast player he’s not that big 511 192 but a nice shot de decent hands very good speed I think he’s a better version of Conor Sherry it’s what he reminds me of little bit bigger little bit uh similar speed Sherry was a very fast player better shot and better hands so better version of Connor Sherry is what comes to mind for me for Jason zuker the problem is you’re counting on him to return to form from what he was two years ago and let’s keep in mind 27 goals that great that’s a good season for him everyone that just said Jeff Skinner has to go because he had a down year a down year for Jeff Skinner 24 goals was about as good as Jason zuker’s top year 27 goals I think they might have downgraded I think zuker is a better all-around player he’s not amazing defensively we’re talking like a 40th percentile defens defensive forward um so little bit below average but near the average Skinner was like zero like near like worse than the league so you are getting a better 200 foot player no doubt about that and you’re getting faster that’s really a good theme of today by the way I should have mentioned with the bottom six Obe kubal laferty malen Stein zuker the sabes got fast they got fast in the last couple of days did they get better I hesitate to say that because listen top six is more important than bottom six it’s just the way it is it’s why the guys get paid more top six is more important than bottom six and Jeff Skinner out Jason zuker in Jeff Skinner has scored 43 more goals in the last three seasons in Jason zuker zuker in the last three years 49 goals Jeff Skinner 92 92 to 49 massive difference Skinner who by the way the report today is that he’s gonna go to Edmonton maybe that dude’s gonna score 50 goals with Conor McDavid next year and win the cup he’s going to score 50 goals if he plays with Conor McDavid next year I think the Sabers downgraded in their top six it’s about scoring uh my whole theory on Skinner thesis on Skinner was if you don’t have a spot for him in the top six that’s when you buy him out and that’s what you do but guess what they have a spot for him in the top six today they have one they haven’t added a top six forward I’m gonna I’m gon to retain some patience here not much but a little bit The Reason Not much cuz you might tell me oh there’s months to go to the draft there have been years that have gone by now and they have not made the move they need to make on this front years that have gone by so I’m not assuming they’re making a trade between now and the start of the start of the season um how could I possibly expect that that’s going to happen if they do great they go trade for Martin niches they go trade for Nikolai eers awesome because that is g that’s what we’re talking about that starts to bring the roster a little bit more together but right now just not liking their options I’m praying that these kids do it Benson or Kik or Rosanne somebody from Rochester or Benson at 19 come and save me and that is not where they should be in a year where they’ve got to make the playoffs when they said it was time to win that is not where they should be so zuker overall I like the signing one year $5 million I’m not committing to him long term at all they’re they were 30 million under the cap I don’t care what they give him on a one-year deal give him 8 million if you it doesn’t matter $5 million on a one-year deal fine because I do think the player is better than the numbers he had last year I do expect that he’s going to score 20 goals for the Sabres this year and I do expect he’s someone that could play in your top six if you really need him to you probably don’t love that and you probably would rather have him in the bottom six but if he’s in your bottom six really good secondary score um but counting on him or Benson to fill in for Skinner on the second line with cousins Gwyn or on the Top Line with Tage and Tuck I just I can’t believe they I mean I can believe it of course I can but at the same time I can’t believe they haven’t ended up in a better spot they have not ended up with a better idea than Jason zuker when it’s time to win when all these other teams are signing bigname players here s the saers still unable to get that done so what does that mean for Kevin Adams we’ll get into that when we come back and what Adams had to say defending all of this can’t believe some of the reasoning behind that that’s coming up here in the lock on Sabers podcast we are presented here on the show by game time uh game time authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball all the leagues killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seat that’s my favorite feature because you could look right at 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after all of these signings and if you are on Sabers Twitter it didn’t go particularly great um my reaction to a lot of the comments was an IR roll or a what did you just say a lot of that I don’t know Adam’s in a tough spot right like I am I am not giving him a stamp of approval at all but he’s probably got a league that doesn’t want to play here he’s got an owner that might not want to spend right to the cap and spend all the money on this team um I mean those are really the top two right those are the two biggest reasons why he’s got a tough job but it’s also the job other GMS do it all their GMS do it all the time bad teams that have missed the playoffs for years figure out a way to go make big swings Ottawa has made big swings all the time and I know it doesn’t work for them you know but Claude jaru INF free agency Jacob Chan Alex to Brink it again I know that that doesn’t work all the time because two of those three are already off the Senators they traded Chan today to Washington but Detroit they got Patrick Kane they signed David pan they signed JT Comer like they find ways to get players to come there has it worked no but they don’t have the youth Talent yet that the Sabers do so if the Sabers and they moves like that it probably would have worked better Columbus got Johnny goodro a couple years ago again I make I bring up examples where it hasn’t worked um there are countless examples of good teams doing it right Jake gensel uh to Tampa is is one that happened today that’s easy the Predators signed everybody today all in they get stamp Coast they get Marsha show they get Brady Shay Nashville gets everybody done they’ve got to be in the NHL they don’t feel like a real team right now because they’re not capable of making the signings they need but all that being said then Adams tries to explain it away and that’s to me where he starts to get into a little it starts to but he gets into more trouble um I mentioned the comment about his philosophy on the top six he says he’s still open to it I take that to mean that he’s still looking into it um other things that he had to say on the cap he said on the cap not concerned about spending to the cap have to leave room for future contract extensions no you don’t or actually you already have is what I really mean to say that reasoning for not spending to the cap is completely flawed they spent money today on one-year contracts next year at this time Obi kual is not on your books uh Beck malen Stein might not be on your books he’s not under contract right now uh oh I should have mentioned Dennis Gilbert another signing they made today third pair defenseman seventh defenseman uh Buffalo native Junior saber guy who actually a lot of the stat guys like I might want to predict he overtakes Conor Clifton in their lineup in the top six I like that signing a lot for them as a very cheap you know under the radar depth signing um they need bigger than that but I like that signing to play over Clifton he’s a one-year contract $800,000 anyway Bryson’s a one-year contract they have next year because they signed a bunch of one-year contracts 30 8 million $38 million in cap space that’s before the cap goes up even more so yeah you have to save money for some young players who are those young players who’s up next year the three guys that are up next year petka Quinn Byrum I would never do this Adams would never do this if you set aside $1 million per year each to those three players 10 million each you’d still have $8 million left over they’re fine they have the room they can plenty afford one or two big priced free agents and still have the room they need to pay those three guys next year if they want to do it you have the room not a good excuse of the excuses Adams gave today that one on spending the cap is flaw I don’t buy that for a second and I know Lucan and Yoki har are you and krabsy contracts too but you’ve got room you’re not up against the cap other teams are over the cap Florida is over the cap after signing Sam Reinhardt they got to figure out how to sign Anton londell guess what they’re gonna figure out how to sign Anton londell teams figure it out good teams figure it out the Sabers have to save 10 million in cap for a year and not spend the cap because of that I don’t buy it for a second go give out more one-year contracts if you want um I can’t believe that part of it um so what else did he have to say he talked about Krebs third line Center still a young player showed signs of starting to understand defensive side of the game great vision and his offensive skill it’s a chance of playing higher in the lineup a chance I mean right now he’s penciled in to play higher in the lineup I don’t great vision and offensive skill I got to see it man it’s year three now I haven’t seen enough flashes and he finally got a chance with some more skilled players and we Skinner and Benson and we didn’t see any sign any improvement over what he had done with Oso and Genson so I’m not buying that as well um the physical end of the game and talking about the the playoff games as a reason why zuker was signed and laughery being winning hockey players all right fine but I needed to hear more about what the style of the team is going to be what the skill of the team is I just I I heard a change of tune um he also talked about trades he definitely did not like the idea that he isn’t willing to pay the price for good players and that I might be willing to buy of the excuses that’s the one I might be willing to buy the one point he made was I’ve been it’s been told it’s been said that I might not be willing to pay the price to get these top six players but yet those top six players weren’t traded so maybe that team just doesn’t want to trade him and maybe that and that was maybe maybe him talking about Nikolai eers or Martin niches so all right I can listen to that um but again it’s it’s you’re not going to get the benefit of the doubt in these things when it’s year four and we’re still waiting for these types of moves so approval rating for Kevin Adams certainly it’s not like it was super high to begin with amongst saber fans today or before today but it definitely went down after today and the GM fredman talking about the GM maybe being someone that could lose his job if this year goes very poorly I think fans are are going to approach that if they have a slow start to the season after not making any swing in this off season at least yet if they have a slow start to the regular season fans are going to be calling for his head no doubt fans are gonna be calling for his head all right maybe we get something maybe they’ll surprise us all and they’ll give us a big a big trade but I’m just not counting on it maybe they’ll sign Adam Henrik who is easily the best idea for me left on free agency that’s going to do it for us we’ll talk prospects we’ll talk uh consta helenus their draft class from the weekend uh we’ll have hottie karash on this week from locked on NHL prospects I’ll have some line combinations too amongst what they’ve done uh some line combos that I really think are the best you could do for uh for the start of the Season all that ahead thanks for listening appreciate you following this team it’s not easy it’s not easy to stay plugged in and to be interested in this team uh these days but we have great listeners and they come back every time so come back next time we’ll talk draft maybe you get a little bit more optimistic talk when we’re talking cona helis that’s going to be next time here in the lockon sabers podcast part of the lockd on podcast Network your team every day

The Sabres sign Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Sam Lafferty, and Jason Zucker to go with Beck Malenstyn, completely remaking the bottom-six of the team’s forward group.

What’s the impact of the new look bottom-six? Does it make up for the inaction in the top-six? Sneaky Joe talks the failure to add the team’s top two needs, top-six winger, and third line center.

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