“I’m Super Excited, It Will Be A Lot of Fun” | Ryan McLeod After Being Traded to Buffalo

“I’m Super Excited, It Will Be A Lot of Fun” | Ryan McLeod After Being Traded to Buffalo

hi Ryan uh welcome to Buffalo and I was just wondering your emotions when you found out were you happy sad were you surprised did you maybe see it coming what were your emotions when you when you heard about the trade uh yeah a little surprised um I you kind of I don’t wasn’t really expecting to get traded but um you know super excited to at the same time um I think I’m coming to a you know a team where there’s a you a lot of excitement around and uh think it’s be a great spot were you able I mean what kind of things did Kevin Adams and Lindy Ruff talk to you about once you got a chance to talk to them uh yeah just you know they were kind of more letting me you know just uh soak it all in but just you they’re excited to have me and I’m excited to be there too so um you hopefully it’s a good foot hey Ryan Lance in the Buffalo News uh welcome when it comes to really the last two years getting all the experience that you have you know versatility playing in different situations when it comes to playing Center in particular how do you feel like you’ve really established yourself you know as that middle six guy who can play with basically anyone whether it be D idle or or Fogle or other guys you’ve had the opportunity with these last couple of years uh yeah you know it’s uh it’s been great to be able to play with lot of those guys um I think my game I you know try to play with a lot of speed and I try to play uh kind of the defensive side of the puck but you I’m kind of working on that offensive still so um yeah just kind of the confidence of of uh you know having to you know play with Dr s and a demanding player and and he wants to make so many great plays and you you gota you gota do those if you want to play with them so um yeah just yeah the experience I think is really goingon to help me you talk about the offensive piece of it but I mean like playmaking so much of the foundation of your game is I mean you make a very significant impact on the offensive side so in your opinion what’s that next step for you when it comes to I’m sure Point production is is is what you’re referring to yeah just uh think scoring more goals I uh kind of trying to make a hobit of you know shooting the puck more and get into the net more so um you I think anytime you could you know chip in offensively and score a goal it’s going to help the team so just kind of looking to do more of that what were your impressions of the sabes um you guys had some interesting games the last couple of years in particular you know the one where you did you know get off the ice in overtime and get back on I mean what did you just think about you know the style of play that you’re expecting from them and just the Personnel some of the guys that you’re you’re going to be with you know now moving forward yeah they look great uh a lot of skill on that team um you know we got a lot of skill in the back end too which is uh it’s going to be fun to play with that um a lot of good Puck movers got could skate so um yeah just kind of seeing where I can fit in and and I think it’s going to be you know you know the younger team obviously than before in Edmonton so um yeah know I’m I’m super excited it’ll be a lot of fun thanks Ryan Ryan just you know you’re very good at face offs I was just wondering how you’ve honed that part of your game how you’ve worked on it over the years and become you know I guess you know over 50% guy uh yeah I think it’s you know it takes time uh it’s kind of tough you coming into the league maybe the you know linesmen don’t give you as much respect either so it’s you know tough on that part but um you know my brother’s a great face off guy worked with him a ton um just kind of getting tips from from different guys you know throughout my career and um yeah just kind of you know really trying to dig in in the draws and you know how important it is to start with the puck and The Possession game so anytime you know we could win a face up it’s huge I guess you grew up in Mr Saga did you come to a lot growing up like do you have any connections to the area the city uh my brother played at Kish uh college so he was years so I was I was uh I was down there quite a bit watching him play yeah did you ever play any youth tournaments here or anything uh trying to think not that I really remember to think we went to more like the Detroit areas to play so um I’m sure I probably you know was in there at some point thank you Ryan uh welcome to Buffalo um wanted to know what what’s allowed you to have such a strong possession game because going going through your numbers and I don’t know if you pay any attention to that stuff but looking through your numbers I mean you were able to maintain really strong numbers even playing playing away from Dre zal and McDavid for most of the last three years what what’s helped allow you to be so good on the puck yeah no I don’t really check that out much but uh uh I don’t know maybe it’s the way you know I uh you try to play the game with a lot of speed and a lot of pace and I know it’s uh you know it’s tough to get the puck back there’s so many good players in this league so um you know I try to you know hold on to it and keep the puck as much as I can and um yeah I can’t really pinpoint one thing but I think just yeah just kind of getting that confidence over the years to you know to be able to make those plays out of the puck what have you uh have you got to speak with Lindy Ruff at all about uh what kind of role you’ll be playing and what he what he’s looking for you to do uh I just had a quick like introduction talk with him but uh no nothing nothing too major what do you uh what do you recall of playing against the Devils while he was a coach uh while he was coaching them they played fast uh you know Center set the pcket ton through the nral zone and um you they talked really well they they transition the puck really well um yeah they it seem like they’re making a ton of plays too they’re kind of always buzzing around the so yeah appreciate it Ryan thank you hey Ryan welcome to Buffalo just one quick question for me um Kevin Adams has spoken a lot this offseason about wanting this team to be tougher to play against this year what do you feel like you bring to the table and helping that team kind of fit that description this season um yeah I think you know I play the game you know kind of on both sides of the puck so you know I think my defensive game really helps you know be hard to play against I could play you know hopefully against those top guys and and try and shut them down but um yeah I think just just being you know on the puck having in the puck it’s you know it’s kind of tough to score or get scored against when you you have it and um yeah I think when you play with Pace obviously you know tough it’s tiing tiing their team down so kind of like that thank you Ryan I mean the Stanley Cup Final ends um what’s it like you don’t even really have much time to reflect on your season the whole journey that you just went through the last nine months I mean can you just take us through you know what the the couple of days were like leading up to this and of course you know where were you when you when you found out about the deal I know you you said you weren’t expecting it I mean especially the timing of it so soon after your season ends I just can’t imagine having to wrap up such an emotional you know moment in your career and then for something like this yeah just uh you know it’s kind of just taking some time off uh enjoying you know a little bit of downtime since after the season uh was actually at my uh my buddy’s wedding I was taking uh wedding photos there so when I got the call a little funny then and then uh yeah just you know the motion obviously super excited uh you know a little bit a little Whirlwind you you know don’t really know what’s going on or anything but you just super excited yeah um I think it’s a great opportunity they have a great group there seems to a bunch of great guys too so excited to get down there and meet everyone what did you learn through that playoff run about you know just yourself as a player you know what it takes to to win in those situations and you know just in terms of what you can take moving forward um as you go through your career here oh yeah you know it’s tough to win uh you gotta learn that obviously it’s uh tough to make the playoffs then especially you know winning round is is really tough and gets harder every time so um just kind of how much it takes how hard it is and um you know I think the basest thing that that we did in neon is we you know we try to keep our confidence side as we could we trying to make plays throughout the whole playoffs and I think I could bring try try to bring that into next season more thanks Ryan as far as last season goes just the season as a whole you guys obviously had that uh Week start then you got going just what what lessons I guess will you take with you for how you guys came together you know in whenever November December and just took off off and put that in the past uh yeah you know it’s uh you kind of Don’t Stop Believing I think we we had a great group there and you know we kind of off to a rocky start and like everyone kind of DED us out and you know we were kind of playing with a little bit of Edge on our shoulder and a little bit of Chip and um you know we kind of just had such a good belief in our room that we would uh you know come out that stronger and I think we did a great job of that but uh just lessons you know you’re never really you got to you know everything’s uh it’s tough league to win in it’s the mar a is so small that you know those little things really really do matter in over 82 games it’s going to if you do it right the right way it’s going to you know balance out so uh just kind of playing the game the right way and and you try to keep your confidence as as you can thank you all right I think that’s it on questions so thank you Ryan for the time and thanks everyone

Buffalo Sabres forward Ryan McLeod speaks to the media for the first time after being traded to the Sabres on July 5th, 2024. McLeod discusses his initial feelings after the trade happened and his outlook on joining this Sabres team. He talks about what he can bring to the team to take them to the next step.

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