What Needs to Change for the Buffalo Sabres?

What Needs to Change for the Buffalo Sabres?

[Music] [Applause] [Music] the Buffalo Sabers Who coming into the season had high expectations for some people others they kind of tempted it tempered it and the people who tempered expectations seem to be right right now because in 54 games played they have 52 points and they have 24 26 and4 record and they just have been absolutely brutal and the offense from last season has disappeared in the entirety of this season and the goal tending that they didn’t have last season showed up this season and it just kind of sucks as a Sabers fan because it’s like well if you have the goal tending that you have this season last season you make the playoffs if you have the offense from last season to this season you’re in a playoff spot or competing for a playoff spot right now you’re in the thick of things but instead you only get one or the other and earlier this season they tried to implement a defensive system and obviously didn’t work uh so they kind of reverted back to what worked last season and that seems to not really be working because they’ve been dealing with a ton of injuries this season I’m not going to blame injuries as as an excuse because I think that it’s just the next ManUp mentality this is how I think um but Tage hasn’t looked the same Dylan cousins Alex tuck Jeff Skinner haven’t looked the same rash mallion has been doing Ras mallion things but defensively he kind of struggled Owen power is kind of struggling as well um but he’s also currently out of the lineup at the moment moment Matias Samuelson mostly most likely out for the rest of the season um so a lot of the guys that you relied on last season to produce are not producing this season and you’re getting great goal tending out of uh UPL right now who started the season off kind of struggling but has picked it up since then um in 30 games played he has a 14 13 and two record with the 249 goals against and a 914 save percentage dude has been absolutely lights out for the past couple months 2 and a half months what whatever it is um and really outside of like maybe Casey midad and rasma saline you’re getting very in and JJ PKA I cannot forget about JJ petka those three players have been your best three players and then obviously throwing up and everybody else has been very very either a inconsistent or B just very disappointing yeah so I have a lot to say about this team uh obviously we’re both Sabres fans I’m a season ticket holder so I go to a lot of their games the the biggest thing with the Sabers I’ve noticed this year is you never know what team you’re going to get every night you know at the beginning of the year they they tried changing it up trying playing more defense and this isn’t a team built for that mhm you know you look at they have a lot of high-end really fast forwards you know Tage Thompson has not looked like himself this year Jeff Skinner’s kind of had a step back year this year Alex tug cousins I can go on and on there none of the forwards really I think have feel like have continued what they were doing last year into this year you know with the exception I think JJ PKA has been awesome aome and Casey Middle’s been pretty solid but and outside of that no one I feel like you’ve seen pretty much regression all all across that offensive lineup you know I hope it’s not a case where everyone just had a career year the same year uh cuz that would be really bad for the Sabers cuz they’re all most of them are locked up long term so the only one I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to is Zach Benson know he’s a 18-year-old rookie who nobody thought would be in the NHL this year so I’ll give him a break I think he’s been good though for the most part just a little small but he’ll get stronger and then defensively that defensive cord is disaster obviously you got R notan dude’s a stud ow power he’s still he’s really good he’s still this is only uh his second full year in the league and you know he has he’s been out for the last little bit um I think I’m not worried about either one of those too um but outside of those too um the defensive depth has been kind of a disaster Conor Clifton’s been very up and down Eric Johnson very up and down Yoki Haru Ryan Johnson he’s a rookie I’ll give him a little bit of break break too but uh yeah outside of that the defense has not been very good and then goenda Levi’s clearly not ready to play in the NHL yet and you know I was kind of surprised by all the expectations people were putting on him you know he was great at the end of the year last year he almost snuck him into a playoff spot but uh you know he’s 21 years old he coming out of the NCAA you know going straight from the NCAA to the NHL just doesn’t really happen very very RAR happens for players and almost never I don’t think it’s ever happened really for a goalie even like I think the two most well-known NCAA goalies that were successful in the NHL Ryan Miller and Conor hu they both spent a couple years in the AHL the developing like it’s it’s not it’s not an easy transition going from playing you know D1 college is really good hockey but NHL is different it’s the best players in the world every night you know and Eric comry has been horrible for them just horrible uh nothing El I could really say about that and ukap peka Lucan has been playing a lot better lately he was a little shaky to start off the year but he has like emerged as like that number one goal tending and I think that helped I think that’s helped St Levi a lot kind of like okay we don’t need you to play in the NHL right now you can go play in the AHL and develop particular time we got a guy up here that we know we can play you know and that really uh another thing that really told me about that is the other night um ukap lugan was uh he’s dayto day well I I don’t know what kind of injury but like he probably be back next game but they just sat him uh did he play Yesterday yeah he played yesterday yeah yeah yeah so yeah they just sat in one game and they didn’t even call Levi up which they had done earlier in the they uh called Dustin tari up to be the the backup goalie because you know why call Levi up let’s let him play in Rochester he’s 21 years old I think they they’re finally learning that’s the right thing to do uh but I think this team has some changes to make in the off season um I don’t think they’re going to fire I don’t think they’re going to fire D Granado unfortunately um I don’t think Kev Adams is getting fired either um you know for the most part I feel like Kev Adams has done a good job and you know this is the first year in Forever where they’ve had real expectations to be good and obviously they haven’t met them uh don Granado I don’t think is a bad coach um I don’t think he needs to bring in some new assistant coaches though um that power play is one of the worst Power plays I’ve ever seen in my life I don’t know how any coach can look at that power play on a nightly basis and think they don’t need to change any of it cuz they haven’t made changes all year to the power play it’s the same system from day one to today and it’s pretty sure it’s bottom five in the league and power play percentage wise and when you look at the Players you have out there it shouldn’t be that bad their power play is pretty much get it the Tage Thompson or Dalene that’s their power play try to get one of them open for a onetime or a shot from the point they have a ton of moves to be made especially with that defensive blue line I think the Blue Line needs an overhaul outside of uh Power and ding there needs to be like big chains you thought Kevin Adams thought signing Eric Johnson and Conor Clifton were going to change the entire blue line and make it this where oh now you’ll get actually actual defense you bring in Clifton to be physical well dude barely hits for us and on top of that he cannot play defense um you have like one good play out of him and then you like five or six absolutely brutal plays from him I’m sorry I’m ripping on you Clifton but they signed you to a threeyear $3 million contract you have to play better than a 7 $150,000 defenseman on our Blue Line um Eric John C Clifton’s been a lot better lately yeah that’s fair he’s he’s like he he’s he’s been more aggressive on the offensive zone um he’s not making as many boneheaded mistakes as I saw him make early in the year I mean I’m not super worried about Clifton as I was in the beginning of the year I think he’s a solid like bottom three defenseman he obviously playing more just due to the defensive situation on the team especially with power being out but I honestly like at the beginning of the year was horrible but I think he’s settled down I think he’s been a lot better lately uh Eric Johnson I don’t think he’s been horrible either um you know he’s a veteran defenseman he’s a little slow and he he looks slow uh but yeah I mean I like I’ll like you Contin what you were saying um so that’s all I had for that however though something came out from the Sabers is that so remember when Don Granado was getting fired Donnie chance uh when they were getting killed by Columbus earlier this season yeah sorry that you were there um but I guess so before that game obviously the Sabers would salute the fans after I don’t know if it was wins or every game whatever the Sabers have not done that ever since because I guess they were pissed off and wanted to stand with Don Granado about oh like we support our coach we’re going to play for our coach and we’re not going to tolerate that type of thing from the fans and I guess an anonymous player came out and said we haven’t been here for 13 years most of us have only been here for a couple Seasons maybe three outside of a few guys whatever yada yada yada so they have no control over that I think that’s Absolut the fans are fed up here it’s been 13 years I mean we can barely remember the Sabers making the play the last time they made the playoffs that is absolutely pathetic um so I think the fans have the right to be pissed off to chant the fire Donnie chance and now I get as a player you’re fed up because the coach like you don’t want to hear that about your head coach and if you want to play for him the half the nights that you play it doesn’t look like you’re playing for your head coach it looks like you’re playing sloppy looks like you just don’t want to be there looks like you guys are just playing out unmotivated and I always go back to a game against the Ottawa Senators I don’t know when it was it might have been New Year’s Eve or somewhere around there so I’m like I haven’t watched the Sabers game in a while before that so I’m like all right I have nothing else better to do let me go watch the Sabers game Sabers go down one nothing against Ottawa and the rest of the game will look like like they did not want to be there they went down one nothing early in the game it was like a couple minutes in and the Sabers after that were playing last of days a goal were unmotivated and I just go back to that game because it’s like last season that team that goes down one nothing earlier against Ottawa does they fight back and they claw their weights on one nothing with like 55 minutes left to go in the game you don’t just be like well that’s that’s the game that’s at least how it looked like you guys were playing now I get Sabers the Sabers players get pissed off when they get called out for playing un motivated for you know looking like they don’t care and everything like I totally get that it’s your job you want to be there but it just doesn’t show on the ice and it would be one thing if maybe you’re losing now I I wish the sabes would not lose obviously but it’s one thing if the Sabers were losing but they were losing a either a close games they were in every game um or B when they would lose they actually would work hard for the entire 60 Minutes of the game but when they’re losing it just doesn’t look like they’re working hard for the last 60 minutes and I don’t want to be that guy um but I kind of am that guy right now so I think things have to change I don’t know if it’s a lock room thing I don’t know what it is um I’m I’ve been saying that I think that Don Granado is is a great assistant coach but I think as a head coach he’s great for Player Development and after that I think he’s kind of um me I I don’t know what goes on in the locker room so I can’t say that he doesn’t get the boys fired up and motivated but it kind of seems like when they step out on the ice half the time they don’t look motivated to be there so that’s that’s just my opinion I’m I’m not saying that that is exactly what’s going on because again like I said I don’t know what’s going on in the locker room and everything but that’s just from my POV uh yeah I mean I think ronal gets at least one more year before they fire him I think I think they definitely are going to get new assistant coaches um yeah I mean he only signed a two-year contract extension it looks like from what look so he’s he’s under contract till the end of the 2025 2026 season so his new contracts will start the beginning of next year so if they fire him it’s not that big of a deal um I I think he’ll I think he’ll uh yeah I think we’ll get at least 6 months into next year you know if it’s to a point where I think the Sabers are like by the allstar break like clearly out of the playoff race they fire him then you know just get get move on get someone out in for the rest of the year I mean uh outside of that though yeah they need to reshaped I agree with you they need to reshape the defensive core um they finally they have a goalie now that they can at least depend on you know they were waiting for ukap peka Lucan in to kind of take that next step and it looks like he has so it’s nice that they don’t have to worry about that for a little bit at least what it looks like when we’ll see we’ll see if we get bad opl or bad good UPL mhm um I mean I think it might be time to start kind of trade in some of these prospects too you know they have had a lot of draft picks over the last few years and um you know they clearly identified their core with who they’re signing to extensions you know Tage Thompson Dylan cousins both locked up long term Dal and power just got locked up long term uh you know those Samuel s’s locked up for I think another six or seven years after this year yeah uh so you clearly have identified the guys that you want to be here for a long time so clearly those guys are getting traded and you have you just have too many prospects not all of them is going to be good enough to make it into the like for your team they because you have other good prospects so train to another team where you might get a player who can play now and help contribute now um there are reports that they’re starting to do that look for that now I think it’s a little too late in the year to do that unfortunately um they’re too far they’re not going to make the playoffs they’re too far out of it but uh yeah it’s about time they finally uh picked up that philosophy and started acquiring players to come here I know Kevin Adams is all about guys I only want guys that want to be here well no one’s ever going on want to play from you if you don’t count winning like no one’s ever if you keep losing and losing and losing no one’s ever going to want to play for you um they do have a little bit of Advantage cuz they it’s an attractive market for a lot of Canadian players from Ontario because you know they’re very close to Toronto where a lot of players are from very close to Canada literally just across the street from the arena pretty much yeah uh we’re Buffalo’s pretty much Canada I can admit that the here it’s pretty much Canada but uh so that is an attractive place for a lot of Canadians from Ontario to play because like they’re not far from home their family their friends can come to any game they want really and it’s way cheaper to live here so that is an advantage but if you’re not going to win why why would you waste your time Conor McDavid you are a Buffalo saber no oh yeah um but yeah going back to the prospect thing I like you stated it’s a little bit too late this late in the season because you’re out of the playoff race you’re not you don’t even have a chance of even sniffing the playoffs like you did last season I I really don’t think they should trade any prospects away until the end of the season until the offseason starts um I just think that would be the smarter thing maybe wait till the draft um I think is when you can really start kind of trading guys like Rosen uh actually yeah Rosen oen and kind of like those prospects I think the only Untouchables that are around right now are K and Benson um obviously you’re not trading benon and I think kich is the best peer prospect that hasn’t uh made the team out of training camp yet um I and then like I’ve seen some trade proposals around sooy i’ I know I’ve stated in like a little group chat with us three Preston um that I wouldn’t mind seeing a SEO trade um be open trading right I would be open into trading him for sure I’m on the fence I’m like going back and forth I think you could get a lot for seavoy I don’t know what it is off the top of my head but I think seavoy uh Rosen and Austin are three guys that I think you can get a decent amount from because like let’s say all of these guys make the team right are you going to have uh let’s say rhods and Austin for example playing on your fourth line like no you you don’t have room for all like those type of skillful players are not fourth line guys um so I think you have to unad on some prospects but don’t go crazy with it where you would you acquire some guys that you think are fit for your team and then they aren’t and now you’re stuck with nothing you’re back to square one where now now you have to trade away players because you have to acquire more draft capital and everything and you don’t want to repeat that cycle once again like you’ve already been through like two or three times in the past 13 years so uh again it’s too late but we’ll see we’ll see what happens with Kevin Adams I think he had in order to save his job now they’re they’re not going to fire him or Don Granado uh this early but I do think that in order to save his job he’s going to have to actually start to improve the roster in the NHL instead of just acquiring draft capital and Prospects that doesn’t mean trade away a bunch of draft picks to go get guys that are 27 28 29 plus years old um that will help your team for two seasons three seasons it means goes go help guys that are going to be here long term that are going to help your team right away but also you don’t want to give up too much for those guys so I think Kevin Adams is going to have to be very meticulous with how he makes the moves and that’s kind of the life of being an NHL GM or just a GM in sports in general so I’m excited for this off season to see what happens but I’m a little nervous as well but yeah we’ll see what happens with them so I’m getting really tired of hyping myself up the draft lottery every year I can’t I can’t do it anymore man I can’t it it’ss exhausting like it it’s nice because like with the bills and like halfway through the season we’re not sitting here we can’t wait to get like the fifth overall pick who are we going to pick at fifth overall now we’re like okay like can we win the division can we win the Super Bowl like I kind of wish it would be like that for the Sabers for once man I one more thing I want to say about the Savers and we can move on is it’s harder to be this bad for this long than just to be good by mistake once like there’s teams like look at Arizona when they made it to the conference final that one year like teams will just randomly be good one year and then go back to sucking like the Sabers hav even done that unless you count last year but I don’t count that because they didn’t make the playoffs like it’s harder to be bad for this long to accidentally be good once like it’s it’s so I’m so done with it man I’m so done with it if you stayed forward the entire video head over to our Spotify and apple podcast for the full episode links are in the description and we’ll see you in our next video

We discuss the buffalo sabres disappointing season and what changes need to be made in order to turn the franchise around for the better
🔊 New episodes drop every Monday @12 pm EST 🔥

🏒Don’t miss out on the latest updates and expert analysis! If you’re a sports fan, make sure to hit that subscribe button and join our community for more exciting content! 🔥👇

🔥 Download Full Podcast Here:

▶ Spotify 🔊 https://open.spotify.com/show/5uw2X8eZ9hHdmfJYfyq2Ey?si=8c317be978f74600

▶ Apple🔊 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/checking-from-behind/id1696887245

▶ Youtube 🔊 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_hxGzOah0JKhfjmf-WMtrQ

🔥 Follow Us on Social Media:

▶ twitter | https://twitter.com/CheckFromBehind

▶ tik tok | https://www.tiktok.com/@checkingfrombehind

▶ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/checkfrombehind/

▶ Discord | https://discord.gg/RFDmTMa7tD

▶ Email 📧 checkfrombehindzcp

🔥 Support the show:

▶ USE CODE “CHECKINGFROMBEHIND” AT SEATGEEK FOR $20 OFF FIRST PURCHASE https://seatgeek.com/

▶ CFB Membership
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_hxGzOah0JKhfjmf-WMtrQ

▶ Donations: if you wish to do so! https://streamlabs.com/solarforseen (any support is appreciated)

#trending #nhl #hockey #nhlpodcast #seatgeekcodecheckingfrombehind