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Sabres Built Momentum but are NOT Satisfied After Bitter Ending w/ Joe Yerdon - Sabres Semantics · The Armchair GM's Sports Network

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network and welcome
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  Speaker 1: into another live episode of Saber Semantics right here on
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  Speaker 1: the Armchair GM Sports Network. Thank everybody tuned in live
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  Speaker 1: tonight on the video version, make sure like get debscribed,
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  Speaker 1: smashed that bell and comment your thoughts on today's show.
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  Speaker 1: And thank you everybody listening the next day on your
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  Speaker 1: favorite on demand audio podcast platform. As always, Saber Samantics
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  Speaker 1: is probably brought to by Global Pet Foods, where pets
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  Speaker 1: Niagaregian locations and Niagara Falls, Fawn Hill and Scott Street
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  Speaker 1: in Saint Catharines. Brandik Putto pleased to be joined tonight
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  Speaker 1: by Joe Rden of Noted Hockey and Bleacher Report to
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  Speaker 1: discuss the Sabers recent exit interviews after their miraculous season
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  Speaker 1: came to a heartbreaking end in Game seven of overtime
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  Speaker 1: against the Montreal Canadians. We'll break that all down for
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  Speaker 1: you guys here. Get Joe's thoughts. He was there for
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  Speaker 1: all the interviews over the last few days. Pick his
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  Speaker 1: brain on the post going on there down there with
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  Speaker 1: the team. We'll get the yard moocheek line in a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of audio from him, a good question from
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  Speaker 1: a quote from Mattia Samwilson as well from one of
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  Speaker 1: the interviews Joe conducted.
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  Speaker 2: There, and we also got some Kevin Adams quotes.
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  Speaker 1: He was able to speak a little earlier today of
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  Speaker 1: this coming out, about his thoughts on Buffalo going on
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  Speaker 1: the run they did after he was let go, and
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  Speaker 1: just the general thoughts he got. You know, Alex Tuck
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  Speaker 1: is his future with the team, as he played his
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  Speaker 1: last game as a Saber, Landy Ruff's contract extension, what's
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  Speaker 1: gonna happen with his assistants, notable pending you know, free agents,
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  Speaker 1: restricted free agents, and just in general, how the Sabers
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  Speaker 1: can get better next season after you know, really setting
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  Speaker 1: the bar high this year. So, Joe, appreciate you coming
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  Speaker 1: on tonight. I know it's been a long gauntlet for
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  Speaker 1: you here and being able to to get through it.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, your your thoughts and how do you
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  Speaker 1: feel after after all this finally came to an end
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  Speaker 1: just a few days ago, and sort of coming off
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  Speaker 1: off the adrenaline of another you know, the longest season
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  Speaker 1: you've had cover in the Sabers.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been a little crazy to finally sit down
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  Speaker 3: and breathe for for a moment here because two playoff
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  Speaker 3: rounds of Game seven, a couple couple of full days
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  Speaker 3: with with end of season stuff with the Sabers. It
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  Speaker 3: was it was a full year man, very full season,
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  Speaker 3: and very exciting year. Just looking back, it's it's very
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  Speaker 3: strange to try to put it all together and and
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  Speaker 3: remember how tough it started, and then remember, yeah, that
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  Speaker 3: was actually this season. It wasn't wasn't one of the
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  Speaker 3: previous years. And and then everything that we saw the
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  Speaker 3: last four or five months of this year for for.
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  Speaker 4: Buffalo was something else.
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  Speaker 3: And boy, what a way to what a way to
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  Speaker 3: come crashing through the wall and announce announce your presence
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  Speaker 3: to the league. Then by by doing what they did
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  Speaker 3: this year, it's been it's been one heck.
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  Speaker 4: Of a year. And uh why it's kind of crazy.
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  Speaker 4: It's over already. It doesn't seem like it should be over.
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  Speaker 1: But here we are September to the end of May,
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  Speaker 1: almost here. It's been quite the season. And again, usually
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  Speaker 1: you know we're here in the last fourteen seasons at
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  Speaker 1: least in late or early mid April talking about off season.
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  Speaker 1: But it was almost a good problem to have, but
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  Speaker 1: everybody had to get adjusted to it, right, the media
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  Speaker 1: had to get adjusted to it. We had to get
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  Speaker 1: adjusted to it to you know, being able to cover
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  Speaker 1: games late into May.
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  Speaker 2: It's a privilege right to be.
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  Speaker 1: Able to to be in this position, you know, covering
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  Speaker 1: a team, you know, at that at this point in
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  Speaker 1: the season. But it's just a lot different from from
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  Speaker 1: previous years obviously.
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  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, and.
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  Speaker 3: It's you know, it's it's the way that their season
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  Speaker 3: went though. It was you could prepare for the playoffs
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  Speaker 3: in your head at least for for a little while, because, uh,
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  Speaker 3: they had gotten.
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  Speaker 4: To a point where it was pretty much pretty much.
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  Speaker 3: Good to go there, you know, late in March where
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  Speaker 3: you're like, wow, this this is a playoff team they're
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  Speaker 3: going and you know you're just kind of waiting for that,
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  Speaker 3: you know, for them to officially clinch it. And when
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  Speaker 3: they did, it was just like, all right, let's see
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  Speaker 3: where we go from here. And you know, it ends
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  Speaker 3: up with you know, winning winning the division and you know,
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  Speaker 3: playing Boston play in Montreal, like you know, it's just
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  Speaker 3: like the old times, back in the day, the old
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  Speaker 3: Adams Division.
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  Speaker 4: Man, it was, it was.
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  Speaker 3: It was something else it was kind of, you know,
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  Speaker 3: as down as we are on like, the current playoff
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  Speaker 3: format kind of made it a little bit throwback fun
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  Speaker 3: for for Buffalo this time around. Having things play out
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  Speaker 3: the way it did. It might have been a little
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  Speaker 3: different if they were playing, you know, maybe somebody from
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  Speaker 3: the Metro Division in the first round, but by getting
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  Speaker 3: Boston right off the hop and then having to deal
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  Speaker 3: with the Canadiens was something else.
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  Speaker 4: Man.
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  Speaker 3: It was just I just I for being a writer,
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  Speaker 3: I'm kind of lacking the words to really talking about it,
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  Speaker 3: trying to put it all together because it's just been
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  Speaker 3: such a such a wild rush of everything this season.
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  Speaker 1: And I guess it's sort of poetic in a way
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  Speaker 1: that the time of recording this is what is game
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  Speaker 1: one of the Eastern Conference Final and Montreal is currently
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  Speaker 1: up four to one in the first period on Carolina.
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  Speaker 2: So there you go, right, what could have been?
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  Speaker 1: But it again when Carolina has had you know, a
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  Speaker 1: bi month, basically, I guess it was expected to happen.
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  Speaker 1: When the Canadians, I mean, we're not much about them
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  Speaker 1: on this show, but winning two game sevens on the
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  Speaker 1: road just seems like a team of destiny right now
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  Speaker 1: with what they were able to do, you know, in
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  Speaker 1: Tampa Bay and in Buffalo was almost a blessing of
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  Speaker 1: Montreal didn't have homeiice advantage because we saw what happened
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  Speaker 1: in Game six where Buffalo blew the brakes off of
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  Speaker 1: them at the Belston or eight three, and you were
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  Speaker 1: there for that one as well.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was just the way Buffalo played on the
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  Speaker 3: road and the playoffs was really really impressive to see
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  Speaker 3: and kind of helped add to the overarching theme of
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  Speaker 3: home home ice not really meaning meaning a whole lot
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  Speaker 3: to anybody, at least as far as the way the
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  Speaker 3: Canadians played and the way that you know, the way
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  Speaker 3: the Savers played and some of these other series, I
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  Speaker 3: mean kind of take Colorado and Carolina out of that
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  Speaker 3: equation a little bit, but everybody across the playoffs just
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  Speaker 3: home ice didn't really mean and mean much anything, and
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  Speaker 3: it was It's one of those stories where like you
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  Speaker 3: couldn't really figure out what made it go. And we've
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  Speaker 3: kind of seen this in the regular season the last
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  Speaker 3: couple of years, where you know, home teams just you know,
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  Speaker 3: struggle a little bit more, even though home teams have
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  Speaker 3: have an actual advantage, you know, getting last line change
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  Speaker 3: and all that and having all of your fans there.
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  Speaker 4: But but yeah, the eight.
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  Speaker 3: Three game was that might have been the worst game
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  Speaker 3: Montreal has had in the entire playoffs. And if that's
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  Speaker 3: if that's the game that turns it around for them
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  Speaker 3: and rallies them to take them to the Cup final
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  Speaker 3: and maybe even winning the Cup, that would be a.
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  Speaker 4: Bit of it.
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  Speaker 3: Well I can't say dubious, but just kind of a
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  Speaker 3: funny twist on things that the Sabers, the ones that
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  Speaker 3: made them snap their heads around right and and go forth.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I mean, yeah, I mean, we could sit
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  Speaker 1: here for days and try to figure out what the
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  Speaker 1: right algorithm was for teams on the road and on
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  Speaker 1: home ice. Just a weird playoffs so far. But let's
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  Speaker 1: start things off, your Joe with some positive news. Lindy
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  Speaker 1: Rouff two year contract extension to remain the head coach
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  Speaker 1: of the Buffalo Sabers for the at least the next
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  Speaker 1: two seasons. We'll see how much longer it is there,
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  Speaker 1: but obviously this is a big deal for Buffalo and
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  Speaker 1: hearing what Yrmo keek Line said in the exit interview
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  Speaker 1: that this was they had had talks about this you know,
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  Speaker 1: a few months ago, and it was just sort of
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  Speaker 1: you know, crossing the uh, crossing the t's, dotting the
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  Speaker 1: i's and and Lindy wanted to kind of wait until
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  Speaker 1: the season ended for it, but you know, considering where
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  Speaker 1: things were at the beginning of the year and wondering
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  Speaker 1: if he was even gonna be back or even finish
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  Speaker 1: out the season as the head coach, when that Kevin
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  Speaker 1: Adams rumors of him, you know, being relieved started for
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  Speaker 1: Lindy to be able to be a Jack Adams Trophy finalist,
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  Speaker 1: take the team where it did, get them to buy in,
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  Speaker 1: and now he's going to be here in Buffalo for
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  Speaker 1: the next two seasons. Uh, for a guy that's a
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  Speaker 1: round him every single day at the rink there? What
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  Speaker 1: are your thoughts on Lindy staying.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's the move that makes the most sense, honestly.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you see the way this team played, and
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  Speaker 3: you know the work they, the players and the coat
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  Speaker 3: and Lindy got did.
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  Speaker 4: To get on the same page.
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  Speaker 5: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: You know, going back to December to to kind of
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  Speaker 3: put everything together into rally and and find ways to
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  Speaker 3: make it work for with each other and for each
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  Speaker 3: other was was really it was really.
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  Speaker 4: Something else to see.
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  Speaker 3: And you know this wasn't just a job by rough
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  Speaker 3: where you know, it came together this season. All of
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  Speaker 3: last season was part of this too, you know, learning,
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  Speaker 3: learning what makes the players go, what you know, how
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  Speaker 3: to how to push them, you know what you know
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  Speaker 3: which ways for him because he's not.
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  Speaker 4: The old, the old way Lindy used to be.
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  Speaker 3: It's he's not that you know, the the you know,
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  Speaker 3: the firebrand, the you know, really you know, hot tempered,
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  Speaker 3: emotional guy.
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  Speaker 4: Like he's still emotional.
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  Speaker 3: He still has that temper in him, but it's not
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  Speaker 3: a everyday thing. He's not a guy that's just got
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  Speaker 3: to pop off whenever because let's face that stuff doesn't
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  Speaker 3: really fly these days. When working with NHL players and
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  Speaker 3: being able to find that balance now, which is what
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  Speaker 3: he's done over the last you know, the last couple
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  Speaker 3: of stops in his career, particularly a Jersey you know,
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  Speaker 3: to to find that the way the ebbs and flows
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  Speaker 3: go with with working with with younger you know, younger players,
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  Speaker 3: different generations, this whole thing and different style of game.
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  Speaker 3: Lindy's really found a way to make that, make that
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  Speaker 3: work and to work with the guys to have it go,
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  Speaker 3: because this this Sabers team doesn't get as far as
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  Speaker 3: they did without the natural, young, speedy talent they've got,
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  Speaker 3: but also Lindy's ability to instill in them how to
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  Speaker 3: how to defend better, how to play more physically, how
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  Speaker 3: to play the gretty, grinding kind of game that we're
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  Speaker 3: used to seeing from from a lot of his Savers
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  Speaker 3: teams in the past, where that that you know, hardest
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  Speaker 3: working team in hockey kind of methodology that they used
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  Speaker 3: to have back in the day was kind of back
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  Speaker 3: there a little bit with this group.
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  Speaker 4: And you know.
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  Speaker 3: This, this is a team that you know, a few
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  Speaker 3: years ago under Don Granado was a high flying, high scoring,
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  Speaker 3: you know, damn the defense kind of team. They weren't
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  Speaker 3: going to play that way for Lindy, and Lindy found
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  Speaker 3: a way to strike the balance to a point where
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  Speaker 3: this was one hundred and nine point team that wanted
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  Speaker 3: a vision and very well could have gone very much
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  Speaker 3: deeper in the playoffs than they did. But a heck
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  Speaker 3: of a job by Lendy and certainly a well earned extension.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean when he came in, they said
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  Speaker 1: they wanted to be held more accountable and that's definitely
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  Speaker 1: the kind of coach Lindy Ruff is. But as you mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: he's adapted over the years and added a lot of
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  Speaker 1: things to his coaching toolbox there, you know, with his
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  Speaker 1: other stop.
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  Speaker 2: You could see it up on the video version.
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  Speaker 1: Just his his head coaching pedigree since that nineteen ninety
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  Speaker 1: seven season in Buffalo and then obviously, you know, moving
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  Speaker 1: on after the twenty thirteen season in Buffalo, went to Dallas,
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  Speaker 1: became the assistant in New York and was the head
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  Speaker 1: coach with the Devils as well, and you wondered if
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  Speaker 1: that was going to be it, but came back and
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  Speaker 1: these last two seasons with Buffalo, he's now near the
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  Speaker 1: top of all time wins for National Hockey League head coaches.
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  Speaker 1: So Lindy Ruff continues to you know, adapt and stay
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  Speaker 1: in the league. And obviously, you know, has had a
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  Speaker 1: coaching pedigree that has lasted, you know, so many decades now,
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  Speaker 1: and he'll at least have two more seasons in Buffalo.
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  Speaker 1: I know he was criticized a little bit early on
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  Speaker 1: in that Montreal series that you know, Saint Louis was
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  Speaker 1: making the good adjustments and you know, really you know,
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  Speaker 1: taking it to him in and that department, but seemed
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  Speaker 1: like as he pushed the right buttons as the series
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  Speaker 1: went on and got them to that game seven, and uh,
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  Speaker 1: you could really tell why, you know, the team loved
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  Speaker 1: Lindy and being able to respond the way that they did,
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  Speaker 1: you can see why he's a finalist this year for
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  Speaker 1: the Jack Adams.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it took a lot of guts to put
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  Speaker 3: Constant Helenas into the middle of that series as a
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  Speaker 3: I believe just freshly twenty year old player. I think
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  Speaker 3: he came in for a game four a day after
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  Speaker 3: he turned you know, he turned twenty, to put him in,
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  Speaker 3: to put Zach Metsa into the lineup, to just change
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  Speaker 3: a couple of things up to to kind of get
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  Speaker 3: the mojo going in a different way, and and and
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  Speaker 3: figure things out from there, and gutsy calls because if
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  Speaker 3: they lose that, that series is over, you know, a
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  Speaker 3: lot sooner than than it was. And you know, we're
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  Speaker 3: not maybe not talking quite as glowingly about how the
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  Speaker 3: season ended, but you make make a couple of switches
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  Speaker 3: like that, and the series turns around and you know,
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  Speaker 3: you come within a you know, you know, a two
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  Speaker 3: on one opportunity, unity and overtime Game seven of maybe
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  Speaker 3: playing tonight in and Raleigh, and you know, things breaking
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  Speaker 3: the way they did. I mean, it's it's very hard
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  Speaker 3: to look back on this and say, boy boy, he
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  Speaker 3: really blew it. Not a shot, no shot there. This
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  Speaker 3: was this was a this was a heck of the
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  Speaker 3: heck of a thing for Lindy to pull the right
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  Speaker 3: strings even in such a deep part of the playoffs
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  Speaker 3: where you're putting your neck on the line by doing that,
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  Speaker 3: and it all it all almost all worked out completely correctly.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the goaltending you obviously had to go
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  Speaker 1: back and forth with Lyon and Luken and struggling at
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  Speaker 1: times in the playoffs, but as you mentioned, you know,
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  Speaker 1: a couple a couple of those guys he brought in
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  Speaker 1: the forward group, making those changes on the defensive core
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  Speaker 1: as well.
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  Speaker 2: There's are not easy decisions to make in the middle
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  Speaker 2: of a series.
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  Speaker 1: But you can tell, you know, Lindy Rustlin through this
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  Speaker 1: before and being able to get a Sabers team that
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  Speaker 1: won thirty six games to winning fifty lash this past
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  Speaker 1: season now like just an incredible turnaround. And and he's
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  Speaker 1: earned himself obviously the two year extension. We there hasn't
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  Speaker 1: been anything announced with his assistance yet. Is there anything
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  Speaker 1: that you're expecting there seth Apbert and anything else, you know,
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  Speaker 1: regarding what he might do uh next season with his assistants.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's going to be the same group back.
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  Speaker 3: You know, Lindy's had the opportunity to to change assistance
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  Speaker 3: up if he wanted to. I mean, certainly when he
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  Speaker 3: was hired, he could have told Kevin Adams like, Hey,
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  Speaker 3: these are I want to bring in some of my
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  Speaker 3: own guys. The way that discussion went seemed a little
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  Speaker 3: bit awkward, at least outwardly facing where it seemed like like, Okay,
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  Speaker 3: Lindy's gonna take this job and he's got these assistants,
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  Speaker 3: that's fine. And then after last season you wondered, like,
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  Speaker 3: all right, does does Lindy get a say here to
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  Speaker 3: to kind of switch things up? And he didn't because
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  Speaker 3: he enjoyed working with all of these guys because they're
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  Speaker 3: all good guys. And the way Lindy spoke about them
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  Speaker 3: on on on Wednesday certainly marked that this is a
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  Speaker 3: group that he likes. He likes the way they prepare,
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  Speaker 3: he likes the way that he gets they get everything ready,
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  Speaker 3: the way they handle their jobs, the way they do everything,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, when you make it this far, rocking
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  Speaker 3: the boat with new assistance, with new voices and whatnot
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  Speaker 3: might not be the best thing. I know some fans
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  Speaker 3: are probably you know, pulling their hair out, wanting some
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  Speaker 3: you know, some guys to get swapped out. But I
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  Speaker 3: think a lot of that gets very overblown. Never never forget,
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  Speaker 3: the head coach is the boss. Head coaches the boss
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  Speaker 3: and the staff, and if there's something that he doesn't like,
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  Speaker 3: I have to imagine he's going to be able to
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  Speaker 3: make make a change there if he wants to. And
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  Speaker 3: if it's a point where the GM has to make
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  Speaker 3: some pulls on the coaching staff, things aren't probably going
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  Speaker 3: very well at all. So so yeah, so I can't
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  Speaker 3: foresee any changes unless somebody gets a head coaching job
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  Speaker 3: somewhere else.
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  Speaker 4: Which I mean, who knows it's the NHL.
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  Speaker 3: Things like that can happen, but it'd be very tough
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  Speaker 3: to see that happening right now this group.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Before we get to current general manager Yarmokika line and
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  Speaker 1: his exit interview thoughts, Kevin Adams' thoughts popped up today
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Joe and from Pierre Lebron The Athletic. Quick thoughts from
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Kevin Adams. So happy it's my hometown. I grew up
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: there as a Sabers fan. I was sitting in the
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: oranges with my dad as a kid. I understand what
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the team means to the fan base in Buffalo. I'm
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: just so proud to see the success of the team.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Had I spent sixteen years in the organization. I hired
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: got hired by Darcy Vergeer and Lindy Ruff and started
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: in player development back in two thousand and nine. I
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: had a lot of different jobs and opportunities within the organization.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: To see the success of the team, I'm just so
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: happy for the city and incredibly proud of the players
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: and coaches the way they were able to navigate the season.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Yarmo and I have a great relationship.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: We hit it off, and I think he's brought a
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: lot of value to the organization from the minute he
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: stepped in the door. So you can read the full
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: article there on the Athletic from Pierre Lebrun, But you know, Joe,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: you were around Kevin for all the years here in
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Buffalo as well, and you know the way his tenure
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: ends did I'm sure was not the way that he
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: wanted it to end, and now seeing a lot of
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the team that he helped create went on to do
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: great things. Yarmo obviously put his stamp on the team
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: as well, and the team responded after you know, they
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: made that the general manager change, But what do you
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: what do you think that Kevin Adams might be thinking
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: at this moment? And you know, just you know, I
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: know that Yarmo gave praise to Kevin as well, and
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: there seems to be a lot of mutual respect both
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: ways there. But definitely definitely an odd situation to to
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: see your team after you're let go go on to
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: achieve great things like that.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's something where you you know, you wonder
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: what the if if this run would still happen if
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: Kevin was was still still in charge, And I for
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: one think it does, which might be a controversial take.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: I still think they they take off like that and.
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: Things are a little bit different. I mean, it's it's.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: So tough to say because changing a GM shouldn't have
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: that kind of effect on a team on the ice anyways,
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: unless the new GM is really shaking things up and
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: changing up the lineup.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: But y'all wentn't do that. He didn't have to do that.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: The team was in place already and even as it was,
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: you know, by the time Kevin was fired, they had
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: you know, won the first three of that ten game
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: first three wins of the ten game win streak were
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: already in place. But but it's certainly very classy, classy
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: take from Kevin, and I didn't expect anything less from that.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: It would be would have been very strange to hear him,
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: you know, spit venom about what was going on with
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: a team that that he put together, if anything else,
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: if he's going to if he's going to become a
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: GM elsewhere in the NHL. I mean, the resume rights itself.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: You can just look at what the team did this
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: year on the ice, and look at who put that
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: team together for the most part, I mean, ninety percent
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: of that roster, and and you know, the depth in
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: the organization came from Adams and his staff, and you
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: know it, he should be very proud of that. I
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: know it's very it's probably very bittersweet, uh, considering he
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: was let go. But but for for Kevin, he can
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: he can take a lot of pride in that because
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: that's it's a lot of a lot of his fingerprints
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: are on this team. Uh, fans are gonna be quick
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: to forget that, which we understand because it was just
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: very awkward, you know, five six years with Kevin in charge.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: But in the end, this is this team was.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: Was really Kevin Adams' team, and the fact that they
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: were able to kind of rally under Lindy and and
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: and take off the way that they did just showed
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: that a lot of the talent that that was amassed
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: with this group, a.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Lot of that.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: Chosen by Adams, acquired by Kevin Adams, A lot of
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: that means that he did something right.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: He did a lot of things right.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: Now, we always like to circle back and point out
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: the areas where maybe he didn't step up and do
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: the right thing, but given the way, a lot of
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: the right things played out and worked and continue to
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: work and will in the future.
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: For this group.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: It's I'm positive it's a very bittersweet thing for Adams.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: But but if some if there's another team that is
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: looking for a GM that's been able to do something
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: right and and put the put a winning team together,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: it's you can't ignore them. You can't ignore what what's happened.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: There's I know, there's extenuating circumstances and whatnot, and uh,
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: you know how how odd things seem to be set
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: up here in Buffalo for a while. But but you
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: can certainly point to the results and say, listen, this
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: guy put this together.
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: Maybe he can do that for my team next.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: And you know, it's the way the way executives get
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: recycled in the league. I mean, I don't see I
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: don't really see any reason why not why a team
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: wouldn't take a chance. But but I don't know. It's uh,
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: NHL is very very finicky that way. Sometimes you never know,
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: you never know how things are gonna go.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: No, absolutely not.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: And again like whether they go on the run with
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Adams as the GM or not, I mean, we'll never
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: really know the answer to that. But as you mentioned,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of the a lot of the players were
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: brought in. Should you know, for another team that wants
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: to hire a general manager, you know, maybe they look
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: in Kevin Adams's way. With the success of Sabers are
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: having now and obviously Yarmo's gonna put a lot of
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: his his fingerprints on it, this this full offseason that
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: he's gonna have as the full time general manager. So
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: let's get to a few minutes here. Not going to
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: play the entire thirty three minutes. You can go listen
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: to that on the Sabers YouTube channel, but I want
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: to play a little bit here. Come back and react
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: to it. Get Joe's thoughts on what the Yarmo keek
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: lineon had to say. But here are a little bit
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: of his snippets from this most recent exit interview.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: We'll get to that right now.
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: M With Michael Kesselring. He had three injuries that really
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: derailed his season. I know he tried to play through
• 21:55
  Speaker 6: one of them, and then he gets more healthy near
• 21:58
  Speaker 6: the end of the year, but he's not the line
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: up and of course, as any player would be upset
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: about that. So where is he at now? You know
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: that you have talked to him, I mean, does he
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: still want to be a part of this and how
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: do you feel about him moving forward.
• 22:13
  Speaker 7: I've actually had several conversations with him during the year.
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: You know, try to recognize a player when he's struggling
• 22:21
  Speaker 7: a bit and maybe needs to have that conversation. So
• 22:24
  Speaker 7: I talked to him a couple of times during the
• 22:25
  Speaker 7: year about his situation. I think that we have lots
• 22:30
  Speaker 7: of belief in his ability a great skater, big guy,
• 22:35
  Speaker 7: right handed defenseman. We've seen the potential that he has.
• 22:39
  Speaker 7: Tough season obviously with the injuries, and again I think
• 22:43
  Speaker 7: it's adjusting to the new team as well.
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: Our top four is.
• 22:49
  Speaker 7: Really really good, and if you come from a situation
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: where you might have had top four minutes before expecting
• 22:58
  Speaker 7: to get top four minutes, it's tough competition. It's really
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: tough competition, and then you might have to adjust your
• 23:05
  Speaker 7: style of play a little bit. You might have to
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: just be the reliable five to six now instead of.
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: Being a top four.
• 23:11
  Speaker 7: And I don't blame any player player for trying to
• 23:16
  Speaker 7: be hungry for more, but first you have to fulfill
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: the role that you're in and be proud of it.
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: And then then you can grow. And if the go
• 23:25
  Speaker 7: coaches decide that, okay, it's time for him to grow
• 23:28
  Speaker 7: to be a little bit more than then we've given him,
• 23:30
  Speaker 7: then he'll get it. But you know you, I think
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: every player that gets traded goes through a little bit
• 23:36
  Speaker 7: of an adjustment period with that where they have to
• 23:39
  Speaker 7: settle in with their new team, what their role is,
• 23:42
  Speaker 7: how they fit in with with with all of the
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: the components and the chemistry of the team.
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: And I think i think that was part of his
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: season two.
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: But I've also seen how hard he works when he's
• 23:56
  Speaker 7: not in the lineup. You know, I'm I'm usually in
• 23:59
  Speaker 7: the gym in the afternoon when.
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: The players leave.
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: Well, he was still there a couple of times long
• 24:05
  Speaker 7: after other players had left, and and going hard at
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: it just to be ready whenever he.
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: Was called upon.
• 24:12
  Speaker 7: And yeah, he had his chances late in the season
• 24:18
  Speaker 7: here too, to to get back in the lineup and
• 24:21
  Speaker 7: prove that he belongs and and you know, we we
• 24:25
  Speaker 7: have a lot of a lot of faith in his
• 24:26
  Speaker 7: ability and and that's why he's here.
• 24:32
  Speaker 8: Jarmo, what are your initial thoughts on Zach Benson, the
• 24:36
  Speaker 8: season he had and just the contract situation obviously kind
• 24:40
  Speaker 8: of unique with him being being so young in the
• 24:42
  Speaker 8: cap going up like it is.
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm excited about that. That's that's a great situation.
• 24:47
  Speaker 7: I mean, that's why we locked up Josh Done early
• 24:51
  Speaker 7: because we saw the character, the competitiveness and the potential
• 24:55
  Speaker 7: for leadership role.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: Belonging to the future.
• 25:00
  Speaker 7: You want to lock guys like that up, and that's
• 25:02
  Speaker 7: the same thing with Benson. I see him as a
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: true core piece that fills all the boxes.
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: Maybe not the height, but everything else.
• 25:14
  Speaker 7: I mean the way he plays, how he's just relentless,
• 25:18
  Speaker 7: dog on the bone. I can't say enough good things
• 25:23
  Speaker 7: about Zach Benson. I mean, he's got skill, he's got
• 25:27
  Speaker 7: hockey sense, he's got instincts, he's relentless, he's a competitor.
• 25:35
  Speaker 7: What a great playoff he had, and again, I'm so
• 25:39
  Speaker 7: excited about the level that he can get to.
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: Still.
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: I mean, he should have been just first year out
• 25:45
  Speaker 7: of junior this year. His age, he's twenty years old,
• 25:48
  Speaker 7: just turned twenty one to have his first legal beer
• 25:53
  Speaker 7: in the playoffs.
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: I mean, he's just getting started. Even when you look
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: at him, he looks young. He still looks like a boy.
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: And just wait until he becomes a big, strong man
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: that we're gonna be.
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: Pushing him to get to.
• 26:09
  Speaker 7: I might make a visit to Western Canada just to
• 26:11
  Speaker 7: see that his summer training is going the way he's
• 26:14
  Speaker 7: supposed to.
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: And I think he's really bought into.
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: That now with with Galley and his group. So I
• 26:22
  Speaker 7: can't wait to see where those guys can get to
• 26:25
  Speaker 7: when they reach their peak. And I think there's so
• 26:31
  Speaker 7: many players like that in our group. There's Jack when,
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: there's Josh down, there's Owen Power. There's so much growth
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: potential within our group. Of those young players, You're e Cooleague, Austland,
• 26:47
  Speaker 7: Helen you. So I could go on and on, and
• 26:50
  Speaker 7: I say this to the older guys too, that hey,
• 26:53
  Speaker 7: don't you ever stop thinking that you can't get better.
• 26:56
  Speaker 7: There's always an area where he can get better, even
• 26:58
  Speaker 7: if you're chasing Sucker. I said that to him today.
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: I mean, there are areas that, for sure he can
• 27:05
  Speaker 7: get still better at and make a little difference. And
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: there are a lot of great players around the league
• 27:11
  Speaker 7: that have that longevity.
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: They play into.
• 27:13
  Speaker 7: Their forties or close to forties, but fine different ways
• 27:17
  Speaker 7: of getting better within their game. Maybe it's not the
• 27:19
  Speaker 7: speed anymore or the quickness part of it, but it's
• 27:22
  Speaker 7: the decision making, the spark, the little things, the stick,
• 27:28
  Speaker 7: the battles, the poise and all those little things that
• 27:32
  Speaker 7: you can get better at. But I'm just really really
• 27:35
  Speaker 7: excited about our group.
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  Speaker 9: You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network. Here we
• 31:43
  Speaker 9: call a talking item block, Here we call the Boys
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  Speaker 11: Here we came.
• 31:55
  Speaker 8: On.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: There was Yarmo Kika line and just a little bit
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: from him. That was only two questions and wow, we
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: just you know, very very long winded answers, but a
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: lot of insightful thoughts from Yarmo there, Joe, and you
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: know his whole threat press conference was thirty three minutes long,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: and you know the way that he talks about the team,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: you can tell he's how he passionate he is about
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: it and he knows a lot about the team already.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: Again.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: Video courtesy of Buffalo Sabers YouTube channel and credit to
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: the National Hockey League for the video and audio there.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: What were your thoughts there, because I thought those were
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: two of the more interesting quotes from that presser. Joe,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: and you know what he talked about kessel Ring there,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: and you know they're very high on them, but they
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: want to see him improve and in in areas. But
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: then also you know the praise that he gave to
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: all those players, especially Zach Benson and others as far
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: as how they've improved, and even wants to see some
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: of the the veterans take a step as well. So
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: I know it was only two questions, but what were
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: your takeaways from what Yarmo said in those two answer? Specifically, Yeah,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: we'll start with Zach Benson because I think he's at
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the front of everybody's mind because he is a restricted
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: free agent this summer.
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: He's not going anywhere. Everybody just just everybody.
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: Calmed down before you want to get excited about offer
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: sheets and any of that stuff. But but I Benson,
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: it was a breakout year for him. And you know,
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: folks are gonna look at the regular season stats and go, yeah,
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: well so what big deal, And you look at the
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: playoffs stats and go, oh right, okay, got it. The
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: way he plays and you know what he can do,
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: and we saw so much of everything from him, you know,
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: the skill, the nastiness, the raw ability, just all of
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: it was on display in the playoffs. And you know
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: we've seen flashes of that, you know, and you know, flashes, spurts,
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: you know, streaks of it throughout his first three years
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: in the league, and they're part of us. I think
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: a lot of us are just kind of like when
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: he puts it, when he gets it, where it's an
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: every night threat kind of thing.
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: This guy's gonna be a menace to deal with.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: And I'm thinking I think along the lines of a
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: guy like Brad Marsham, where you know, it took a
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: few years for him to hit that stride, and once
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: he hit it, he was there for the rest of
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: his career. I think Benson's gonna be a guy out
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: of that same sort of way, because he has all
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: the tools, all the abilities there, and he also has
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: the uncanny ability to drive everybody crazy. So but the
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: way Yarma was just so effusive in praise for him,
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: I think he maybe he caught himself halfway through and said, wait,
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: I still gotta pay him.
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: I better better better calm down here a little bit.
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: But but it's hard.
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: It's hard to not get excited about watching the way
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: he broke out the playoffs and doing that. Even Jason
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: Zooker said, you know, this is the guy who does
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: this stuff every night, but the spotlight of the playoffs
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: catches everybody, and everybody sees it now every but he
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: knows what he can do. But you know, and he
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: finally had some luck on his side. And you know
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: what Zka was right about that the shooting percentage was
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: a lot higher, the scoring chances were piled up a
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: lot more, and he was a lot more effective in
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: everything he did. So whatever that next contract turns out
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: to be, you know, and if I'm Yarmo, I'm trying
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: to maybe try to do a Josh Doen type of
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: contract with him to say like, hey, let's let's let's
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: copy that contract and see if.
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: We can get you in for that. I'd imagine maybe
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: Zach would say yes to that.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: But something along those lines I think would would would
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: make well, it would certainly make Yarmo happy. But but
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: for Benson for a get you know, he had a
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: career year this year, forty three points I think in
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: sixty five games, which you know, again those stats don't
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: really jump off and grab your attention, but when you
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: think about it, he just turned twenty one, he's been
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: playing in the NHL for three seasons. He's insanely young still,
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: and you know now now he he's a known factor
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: for for what he can do, and I think that's
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: that's a big deal for Buffalo. And you know, when
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: I get it done, if it's a bridge deal or
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: if it's a long term extension, I'm very happy walking
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: away from it, walking away with it, not from it,
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: walking away with it. If I'm the Sabers, because because
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: you've got this guy and he's he's about to really
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: become a big star.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: Fourth on the team and points in the playoffs and
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: tied for first for goals, So what more can you
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: ask from a guy that you know checks every boxes.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: You saw the quote from Yarmo there. You know, he's
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: he's the main cornerstone piece if they want to build around,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: and they're going to have to, you know, lock him up.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: It's luckily for him, he's a restricted free agent, so
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: he's going to get that contract right off the bat here,
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: but definitely well earned. And you know, Zach Bentson is
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: going to be a key piece of the Buffalo Sabers
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: success here for many years to come.
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And you know, on the the flip side of that,
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: you think of he was talking about Michael Kesselring and
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: everything that he had to go through this year and
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: hearing him and hearing Lindy rough talk about him, and
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: even some of some of kessel rings teammates, especially Josh
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: Don who you know that's like his best friend, came
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: over in the trade with Utah.
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: But you know, the injuries.
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: Injuries really set him back this year and got him
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: caught up, got him caught in a way where he
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: wasn't able to really get caught up to what the
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: team was doing. And you know, playing defense on a
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: new you know, playing defense period is tough, playing defense
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: and a new team is also tough to adjust. Doing
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: it a new system is very difficult. And for a
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: guy who's never had injuries before, who's never had to
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: deal with him before, that's a different kind of mental
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: and physical hurdle to clear. And you know, kessel Ring
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: was up against it all a year and he was
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: tried so hard to you know, to hurry back to
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: get back in there because he knew he was missing
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: out on games, missing out on an opportunity to get
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: himself solidified in the lineup and UH and to to
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: be able to play the kind of game he does.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: Really stood out about. What Yarmo and Lindy both said though,
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: is that sometimes when you when you come into a situation,
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: you think like I have top four ability, which kessel
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: Ring does. He's quick, he's big, he's physical, he's got
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: a huge shot, and you think, I'm gonna be able
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: to play this kind of way. When you're playing in
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: that third pair, they linearn want you play in that way.
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: He does not want you playing high risk, He does
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: not want you taking chances or doing any of that
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: kind of stuff. He wants the third pair to be
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: as pedestrian, quiet and competent as possible, which is why
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: zach Metza worked out so well, which is why Connor
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: Timmons worked out so well on the play. You know,
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: guys like that who just go out do their job,
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: know their role and get it done. Player shift, hop off,
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: take care of business makes them insanely happy because he's
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: got four other defensemen who do all the other crazy
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: creative stuff because they can do it and recover and
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: get back in place and not cause too many problems
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: third pair guys doing that. You don't want third pair
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: guys doing that. And I think for kessel Ring, part
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: of his game is stepping up, being more, you know,
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: doing more offense, trying to get more involved in the game,
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: and trying to do that while you're on the third
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: pair is a good way to drive the coach crazy.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: So I think there was a lot of that that
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: was going on, and I don't blame kessel Ring for that.
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: Like he's trying to make an impression.
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: He's trying to, you know, say like all right, I'm here,
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: I can do this too, let's go, And I get it.
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: I totally get it.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: It's just it's not what what the coach was exactly
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: looking for now. If he settles in and starts blocking shots,
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: hammering guys in the corners, playing solid in front of
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: the goal, doing all that kind of stuff, he's got,
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: Linny's gonna be like, don't take that guy out of here.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: He's six foot five, he's a monster. Let's go like,
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: we got we're solid. I think that's a lesson he's
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: gonna be able to take forth with him. Question is
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: he's going to be here to do it. You know,
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: he's RFA. You know, has to get signed. It's not
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: going to be a big contract to get settled out.
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: But I think other teams are gonna come calling. And
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: I don't mean as like a as like an offer sheet.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: I don't think that's I don't think that's something you
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: got to worry about too much.
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: But but I.
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: Mean other teams are going to look at him and
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: go like, hey, this guy might be out of a
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: spot here in buff Let's see what we can get
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: for him.
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: And I don't know.
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: I think Buffalo likes his tool set, and I think
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: that they like him as a guy at a player,
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: and guys love him in the room. So but I
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: think if I was in his spot, i'd wonder, like,
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: you know, how much of a fight is this going
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: to be to stay in the lineup? How much you know,
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: is this going to be something where like I sign
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: up to play and then like I'm the number seven eight.
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: Guy and then I'm not playing a lot.
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: And you know, you're just kind of kind of fighting it,
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: fighting it to get back in the lineup every day.
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: I do wonder about that.
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: But he's young, toolset is good, and the abilities are there.
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: A healthy him, I think is a is a way
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: better player to.
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: Have in the lineup.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and much different, as you mentioned, of an adjustment
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: than what he was used to in Utah playing in
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: those you know, top four minutes and adjusting here to Buffalo.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: And that trade still worked out for Buffalo because they
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: got Josh done in the deal for JJ Petterca. But
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: if Michael kessel Wering can really you know, turn it
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: turn things up for Buffalo here, it makes it even
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: better of a trade for Kevin Adams on one of
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: his last as the general manager. But you've got it
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: up on the screen here, Joe, and for those listening,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: I'll kind of read it off. The Sabers obviously entered
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: entering with an estimated again, you know, quotation marks on
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: that twelve point nine million of cap space, Zach Benson,
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: Peyton Krabs, and Michael Kesselring are their pending restricted free agents,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: and then on the pending unrestricted free agents Alex tuck, Beck, Mallenstein,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: Tanner Pearson, Josh Dunn, Luke Shen, and Logan Stanley. And
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: as you mentioned, Michael kessel Ring didn't get in a
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: single playoff game that get the likes of Luke Shen,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: Zach Metza, Logan Stanley, Connor Timmins all played in playoff
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: games over Michael Kesselring, So he was sort of like
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: the ninth defenseman if you really think about it in
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: that way. But I would if it makes sense to
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: bring him back. I think he's a guy on that
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: list that obviously you could see being brought back. You know,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Crebs and Benson you'd think would get locked up as
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: well as the RFA. So then you sort of look
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: down the list to the pending UFAs and you know,
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: we'll talk about Tuck here in a minute, but you know,
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: looking at that list right now, what are your thoughts
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: on how many of those guys are realistically going to
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: get brought back here.
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: I think we could see I think.
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: All those the rest of those guys have very specific
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: role play ability to them, apart from Logan Stanley, because
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: I think Logan Stanley knows he could be I mean,
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: he could be the number five in Buffalo. I mean
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: he you know, let uh Yarmo. I think it was Yarmo.
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: Lindy pointed out that he was a little bit more
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: injured than he let on in the playoffs, which is
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: why Logan Stanley found his way out of the lineup.
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: I know he had a very tough game. I think
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: it was Game three in Montreal. Uh had a couple,
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: had one play in particular that led to a goal against.
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: And I think you know that that if that's the
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: final memory of him as a Buffalo Saber, that's a
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: tough one because I think I think there's a very
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: good player there in Logan Stanley's I mean, he's big,
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: he's intimidating his all. Heck he can yeah, I mean
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: he could certainly play, you know, play the body, deliver
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: you know, deliver hits, do all that stuff. But he's
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: UFA and I think somebody else is going to pay
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: him the kind of money that that that area, I
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: don't becomes more of a luxury thing for Buffalo as
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: long as this is you know, what they're playing with,
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: you know, money wise, this is you know, this is
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: barring them moving guys out or making other trades to
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: free up money whatever. Right now, I don't think he's
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: a guy that sticks just because I think the cost
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: will be a little bit too prohibitive and might hurt
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: them from being able to keep somebody else they might
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: want to keep, like Beck Malenstein.
• 43:25
  Speaker 4: I think Mallenstein's a guy they would love to keep.
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: But his toolbox and his set of his set of
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: abilities I think is very attractive to other teams around
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: the league as well. If Beck really likes it here
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: in Muffalo, and I know he does, if the money's right,
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: I could see him coming back very, very easily because
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: I think him on that fourth line is dynamite.
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: And I know there's a view.
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: That you know, fourth line guys can be kind of,
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: you know, interchangeable. I think with Beck's skill set, where
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: his speed really sets him apart, makes him a much
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: different kind of fourth liner. To go with the physical play,
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: He's got some skill we seen, you know, scoring bangers
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: only this year has been his thing, but like that's
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: not that's not what's asked of him. But he does
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: so much other stuff blocking shots, especially especially on the PK.
• 44:12
  Speaker 4: I think that's a really valuable tool.
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: Tool set to have, and I gotta imagine Lindy would
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: love to have him back. So if they can figure
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: that out, I think that's a guy you keep. If
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: it's if it's a toss up between Stanley and and Mallenstein,
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: I think Mallenstein wins that battle. Josh Dunns another one
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: where he's a good depth guy to have, plays physical play.
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: You know, big guy has some skills there, but it's
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: really useful in that fourth line kind of role. But
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: same thing where you know, he was kind of like
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: a thirteenth fourteenth forward for them this year, Like he
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: went down to Rochester and then came back and then
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: never left again.
• 44:49
  Speaker 4: Because he he did so well in that role. I
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: don't know.
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: Again, when you've got guys like Hell and Us and
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: Austlin and those guys, you got to start thinking about
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: where you're gonna play them in the NHL lineup, if
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: you're gonna play them here or if you're gonna send
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: them back to Roch, which I.
• 45:06
  Speaker 4: Know the Amerks and their fans would love that. I
• 45:08
  Speaker 4: don't know how many.
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: I don't know how that's gonna work at the NHL
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: level because I think, no, Austin's not going anywhere, and
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: I got a feeling const hell In US isn't going
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: anywhere else.
• 45:17
  Speaker 4: I think those guys are gonna stick.
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: But but those guys are you know, those are the
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: budget areas where it's like, we have a set amount
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: and if you're okay coming back for that, cool welcome back.
• 45:29
  Speaker 3: If not, we might have to we might have to
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: figure some things out here. But but those are the
• 45:34
  Speaker 3: areas where it's a little bit tougher, especially with Zach
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: Benson as an RFA Crabs as an RFA, he's been
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: so useful in cassel ring as well.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I mean a lot of decisions here coming
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: up this offseason for general manager Kevin Adams. But having
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: too much talent is is always a good thing as
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: opposed to not having enough of it, which obviously the
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: Sabers have had a straw or time putting that together
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: over the last fourteen seasons, so this is something that
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: they're not used to. But again, when your team's playing well,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: the players get noticed, and you know, some guys might
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: just get overpaid in the free agent market because usually
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: we see the unrestricted free agent market lean that way.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: So we'll see what happens with the cap going up
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: as well. But obviously the Sabers are gonna most likely
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: make sure that those RFAs get locked up, and even
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: kessel Ring if it's a short, you know, bridge type
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: of deal and maybe a movable contract that you know,
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: if they don't come to terms long term for his.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: Role, maybe he's he's an easy movable contract going forward.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: But Joe, I want to move on here to just
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: kind of the pulse of the room after after you know,
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: what was a tough ending but a fantastic season. The
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: exit interviews, Alex talk is obviously a point of emphasis
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: and and a major talking point with him as he
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: played his last game as a Saber. You know, his
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: thoughts on being a Sabers fan growing up and you know,
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: whether you know, he's got to do what's best for
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: his family and things like that, and how much of
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: a strong leader he is in that room as well,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: and that's why they kept him as that sort of
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: their inner rental at the trade deadline to make sure
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: that they could you know, have a deep playoff run here.
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: But what's the pulse going on down there in the
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: first couple of days.
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: It's still fresh.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: You know, Losing an overtime at Game seven is never
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: easy when you know, you thought that they did all
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: the right things to win that game and win that
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: series to have the opportunity to face Carolina in the
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: Eastern Conference Final, but also reflecting on what was a
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: fantastic revival season for this organization.
• 47:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's talking to these guys a day or two after.
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: You know, losing a game seven is tough because it's
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: still there and honestly, well we talked to these guys
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: in September when camp opens. It's probably still going to
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: be there too, especially depending on who wins the Cup
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: in the end. But it's you know, you have to
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: look forward, you have to move forward. It's just two
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: days after is really tough to move forward. And you know,
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: I think of how guys, you know, because Alex Tuck's
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: you know, contract situation is just ever present for everybody,
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: especially for the leaders on the team, you know, and
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: every guy, Dolly and Thompson, Samuelson, all of them they're
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: all like, you know, given everything, we would love to
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: have him back.
• 48:10
  Speaker 4: We want to have him back.
• 48:11
  Speaker 3: You know, he's our guy, He's a leader. You know,
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: he does so much for these guys in the room
• 48:16
  Speaker 3: that you know that we're not privy too obviously as media,
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: we'rely privy to so many things, but but a lot
• 48:21
  Speaker 3: of like the you know, person of person, personal you know,
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: personal dealings. You know, I Cage even joke that, you know,
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: Alex is the guy in the neighborhood, since their neighbors
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: lives across the street, that Alex is the guy that
• 48:32
  Speaker 3: brings in, brings in his garbage cans. You know, he's
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: helping everybody else out in the neighborhood doing stuff, and
• 48:38
  Speaker 3: like he's just that guy. And having a guy like
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: that in your room that's a really good thing. And
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: you know, I get the the hockey realities of it,
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: are you know, he's thirty years old. Giving him a
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: long term deals tough, because you know, thirty is kind
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: of like that, you know, the kind of that dividing
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: line between you know, how good you've been and how
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: thing you know, where things might start going down downhill
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: a little bit. But you know, all these guys want
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: him back. They all love him, they adore them, and
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: he's a leader. He's absolutely a leader. And you know,
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: being being such a died in the wool Buffalo Sabers guy,
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: you know, going back to you know, being a kid.
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: You know, I know that what the heart wants is
• 49:22
  Speaker 3: probably let's stay here, let's do this. But also you know,
• 49:25
  Speaker 3: he's a guy who's coming off a you know, the
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: first big extension that he signed with Vegas back in
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: twenty eighteen or he signed for I think it was
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: like seven years, four point seventy five million a year,
• 49:37
  Speaker 3: which you know, when he signs it, you know, seven
• 49:40
  Speaker 3: years ago, eight years ago, it's like, wow, this is great,
• 49:43
  Speaker 3: huge money, this is awesome. And then you get a
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: few years into your career and you're like, wait a minute,
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: I'm underpaid now by a lot, you know, and you know,
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: you start thinking about thinking ahead of like, right, the
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: next contract's got to be a got to be a
• 49:59
  Speaker 3: big one.
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: It will be.
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: It's absolutely going to be a big one. The only
• 50:02
  Speaker 3: question now is can Buffalo do it? Will Buffalo do it?
• 50:07
  Speaker 3: And if it's not one that's comfortable, cap wise, roster, whatever,
• 50:11
  Speaker 3: whatever the case, you know, where does Alex want to
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: go after that?
• 50:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, he'll have his pick of places.
• 50:17
  Speaker 3: There's plenty of teams that are going to be well
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: under the cap that that would love to have a
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: guy like that in their room, that maybe have another
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: you know, young setup. I think of a team like Chicago,
• 50:25
  Speaker 3: a team, you know, a team like Vancouver who's you know, rebuilding.
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: I can't imagine that would be a fun place to
• 50:31
  Speaker 3: go to right now, but you know, a couple of
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: years down the road, maybe it would be uh, Santos,
• 50:36
  Speaker 3: you know, San Jose would be a huge one.
• 50:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, good lord, imagine.
• 50:40
  Speaker 3: Imagine San Jose pulling in an Alex tuck and then, oh,
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: the Sharks are now monsters in the.
• 50:46
  Speaker 4: West for the next you know, eons.
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: So a team like Seattle, I mean it, you start
• 50:51
  Speaker 3: thinking about places like that where you know the money
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: is there and the opportunities there.
• 50:58
  Speaker 4: But it's just it's such a change. It's such a change.
• 51:00
  Speaker 3: And at thirty years old, he's got two kids, he's
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: got it, they've got a third on the way. How
• 51:05
  Speaker 3: much moveing do you want? Because the next move you
• 51:07
  Speaker 3: make is the one you hope is it? And if
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: you don't have to move and you can just stay
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: in Buffalo.
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: Hey, that's great. All you know, Alex's whole.
• 51:14
  Speaker 3: Family's out here. You know, his wife's family is from
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: out west. But but i mean, once once you got
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: your roots down, like, you're good to go. But he's
• 51:22
  Speaker 3: gonna make a ton of money no matter where he
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: wants to go. And it's really just a matter of
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: how how hard Buffalo goes to show that they want
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: to keep them and how hard the reality is of
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: the cap situation right now is that makes it you know,
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: maybe you have to kind of eat crap this year
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: if you're Buffalo, if you want to keep Alex, knowing
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: the next couple of years the CAP's gonna go up. Uh,
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: and then you know, the skinner money comes off the
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: cap and then suddenly you're you're you're bathing and money.
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: But but figuring that out right now is is is
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: really tight because if you're gonna do that and know
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: you're gonna be comfortable down the road, you probably have
• 51:59
  Speaker 3: to sacrifice something that's also really important to this team
• 52:02
  Speaker 3: right now that costs a lot of money.
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: And there's a lot of young players that have shown
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: already that they're ready to take the those next steps
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: and those next roles. We know the Yeri Coo Leach
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: is going to be you know, fully healthy, Austlin's going
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: to be healthy. Helenus proved that he's ready to take
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: that step as well. So there's a lot of young
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: players for Buffalo that are dying for these roles, whether
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: you know the Sabers go in that route. With Tuck,
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: you know, he led the team in points in the
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: first round, but then didn't have record a point in
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: the second round, and kind of a bitter ending for
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: him in the playoffs and one that he sort of
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: you know, wants to to put in the past and
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: would like to have seen gone different for him. Just
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: you know that Thompson Tuck line with Krebs as a
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: whole struggled until they were broken up in the last
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: few games. So do you think that sort of plays
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: into it as well?
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: A little bit of you know, if he wants that
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: massive contract, you know, ken Buffalo even really afford to
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: do that, given you know what he showed there in
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: the biggest moment.
• 52:56
  Speaker 3: It's that's a really tough way to have a season end,
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: you know, without getting a point in that whole series.
• 53:02
  Speaker 3: It's not without trying, though. I mean, he wasn't exactly invisible.
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: I mean I think of the number of you know,
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: ten bell saves Yakub Doobsh made on Alex Tuck alone.
• 53:13
  Speaker 3: I can think of about four or five of them
• 53:14
  Speaker 3: just in the last few games. Uh, you know, the
• 53:18
  Speaker 3: play coming out of the penalty box, you know, just
• 53:20
  Speaker 3: thinking of all these plays where it's just like boil Boy,
• 53:23
  Speaker 3: chances were right there, and do Besh just you know,
• 53:26
  Speaker 3: comes up huge in those moments and you're just like
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: boil boy, like.
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: And he led the team forwards right right.
• 53:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: So I mean it's you know, it's the sort of
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: thing where like, yeah, results are results. Zero points is bad,
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: but goodness, the chances were copious and they were there,
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: and they just didn't. He just didn't punched through with him,
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: which is also a tough look. And I understand that fully,
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: but but and I don't know if that's the kind
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: of thing where you see that happen in that second
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: round and you realize that, you know, he's thirty years old,
• 54:00
  Speaker 3: and you're like, boy, there could be a lot more rounds.
• 54:01
  Speaker 3: There could be a lot more moments like that, you know,
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: as he gets older. But you know, and maybe you
• 54:07
  Speaker 3: take a look at how you know, Miko Ronson and
• 54:10
  Speaker 3: did it thirty years old this year for Dallas, and
• 54:12
  Speaker 3: you're like, I don't know, man, thirty is the spooky
• 54:16
  Speaker 3: age in the NHL these days. But but I mean,
• 54:21
  Speaker 3: hockey's a lot is mostly about what you're doing on
• 54:25
  Speaker 3: the ice, but it's also a lot what goes on
• 54:26
  Speaker 3: off the ice too, and Alex's role in that is
• 54:31
  Speaker 3: is huge. And if you sub if you subtract him
• 54:35
  Speaker 3: from the roster in the room, how does that void
• 54:38
  Speaker 3: get filled in the room and then also on the
• 54:41
  Speaker 3: ice on the ice, you can you know, you can
• 54:43
  Speaker 3: say like, oh your a Kaleiku's got it.
• 54:46
  Speaker 4: You know, Zach Benson's gonna be better.
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: Like all these young guys are going to jump in,
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: you know, Are they gonna be able to jump in
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: on the PK? Are they gonna be able to jump
• 54:55
  Speaker 3: in to score thirty to thirty five goals every year?
• 54:57
  Speaker 3: Are they going to be you know, big figure in
• 55:00
  Speaker 3: the room that are that are gonna help tie everybody together?
• 55:03
  Speaker 3: Are they going to be able to do all that?
• 55:05
  Speaker 3: Those are tough questions to ask, and those are tough
• 55:07
  Speaker 3: questions to answer to, and then there's you know, trying
• 55:11
  Speaker 3: to put a monetary worth on that. It's it's a
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: lot I do not envy yarmokeck line and trying to
• 55:16
  Speaker 3: get this figured out.
• 55:17
  Speaker 4: And you know, I just think back to I think.
• 55:20
  Speaker 3: Of Alex talking about, you know, how the discussions went
• 55:23
  Speaker 3: going back to last summer with Kevin Adams, and you
• 55:26
  Speaker 3: could kind of see a little bit of pang of
• 55:28
  Speaker 3: I wish we had gotten this done a year ago,
• 55:30
  Speaker 3: so we weren't discussing this right now because it would
• 55:33
  Speaker 3: be a lot better and everything would be figured out.
• 55:35
  Speaker 3: But you know, this is what it is, and he
• 55:37
  Speaker 3: can make a lot more money out of it. But
• 55:38
  Speaker 3: also like it's this is a big headache for everybody.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So I mean we're probably gonna not going to
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: know the answer of that until around draft time or
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: under circuit free agency on July first, But obviously it's
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: a it's a big talking point for Buffalo, you know,
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: whether they resign him or not. They've got a big
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: decision there for their you know, top line right wing spot.
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: If is there or if he's gone, what the what
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: that money is going to be used towards? But that's
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: sort of a little bit looking ahead to the offseason there,
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: which will have plenty of time for so Joe before
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: we sort of wrap up. Is there any other interviews
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: that or quotes from certain guys that that piqued your interest?
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: I know, you know a lot of the players spoke
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: and we're not gonna go over every single one, but
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: are there anything that any quotes from any specific players
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: that caught your eye over the last few days?
• 56:26
  Speaker 3: Well, I was, I was, you know, personally, and I'm
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: not doing this to pat myself on the back, you know,
• 56:32
  Speaker 3: I'd asked Mattia Samuelson about what what it was like
• 56:37
  Speaker 3: this season to have the year that he had after
• 56:40
  Speaker 3: everything that he's dealt with the last few seasons where
• 56:43
  Speaker 3: you know, he's had injuries, you know, for the you know,
• 56:45
  Speaker 3: the first few years of his career, his injuries kept
• 56:48
  Speaker 3: him out of action. And I think back to last
• 56:51
  Speaker 3: season when you know, his play wasn't very wasn't very strong,
• 56:55
  Speaker 3: and he had injuries. And I think back to that
• 56:58
  Speaker 3: game a year ago when it was announced he was
• 57:01
  Speaker 3: playing in his two hundredth career a NHL game, you know,
• 57:04
  Speaker 3: don't you know it's a home game, it's in Buffalo
• 57:05
  Speaker 3: and fans start booing, and I'm just like, boy, that's
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: that's hard. That is that is a hard, bitter fan
• 57:12
  Speaker 3: base that has just taken it out on a guy.
• 57:14
  Speaker 3: And and I you know, I asked Samuelson because he
• 57:18
  Speaker 3: had such an incredible season, incredible playoffs, incredible regular season,
• 57:22
  Speaker 3: just an awesome year, and he got very reflective talking
• 57:25
  Speaker 3: about how, you know, how hard it's been the last
• 57:28
  Speaker 3: few years, and you know how dark the day has got,
• 57:31
  Speaker 3: and about how you know, he just really didn't like
• 57:35
  Speaker 3: coming to the rank. He wasn't having fun anymore. And
• 57:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is the guy who's whose dad is
• 57:39
  Speaker 3: Shelle Samuelson. You know, it was a you know, career
• 57:42
  Speaker 3: outstanding NHL defenseman, Stanley Cup winner, And for a guy
• 57:46
  Speaker 3: that's growing up in hockey, who's lived hockey his whole
• 57:49
  Speaker 3: life to say, I don't like coming here anymore. This
• 57:52
  Speaker 3: is not fun, that's that's as down as it gets.
• 57:55
  Speaker 3: And you know, Samuelson gave a lot of credit, you know,
• 57:58
  Speaker 3: because he found religion and found you know, found found
• 58:01
  Speaker 3: a way to get himself centered and pick him you know,
• 58:03
  Speaker 3: get himself picked up through that. And give him credit
• 58:07
  Speaker 3: for that give him credit for for for sticking through
• 58:10
  Speaker 3: it and finding a way to weave his way through
• 58:13
  Speaker 3: those dark years or those dark times to come out
• 58:16
  Speaker 3: and play the way he did this year is in
• 58:19
  Speaker 3: credible because he's now a top elite, top four defenseman. Uh,
• 58:24
  Speaker 3: he's got one of these, a dominant player at the
• 58:28
  Speaker 3: position defensively speaking, where you know, he's so good with
• 58:31
  Speaker 3: the stick of the body, all that stuff, p K everything,
• 58:34
  Speaker 3: and then he's scoring goals on top of it. To
• 58:36
  Speaker 3: go from as low as it gets to you know,
• 58:40
  Speaker 3: basically he's he's on Dollian's pair now for life, you know,
• 58:45
  Speaker 3: and he's looked at as like, wow, this guy's unbelievable.
• 58:49
  Speaker 3: Is that's the kind of like feel good story that
• 58:51
  Speaker 3: just makes you just kind of go wow, all right,
• 58:54
  Speaker 3: didn't know he was going through all of that, but
• 58:57
  Speaker 3: now we know, and it's like, wow, all right, this
• 58:59
  Speaker 3: is this is something and it kind of helps add
• 59:03
  Speaker 3: a little extra something special to the season to see
• 59:05
  Speaker 3: a guy who's been down as low as it gets
• 59:07
  Speaker 3: to come through and get to the get.
• 59:10
  Speaker 4: To the top of his game and be one of
• 59:11
  Speaker 4: the best defensemen on his team.
• 59:12
  Speaker 3: And you know, I'm not gonna crown a guy for
• 59:15
  Speaker 3: being one of the best in the league. But he's
• 59:17
  Speaker 3: up there now, playing the way he did this year.
• 59:19
  Speaker 4: He's up there.
• 59:20
  Speaker 3: It's that's really it moves you to hear that kind
• 59:24
  Speaker 3: of stuff, you know, and you know we're supposed to
• 59:27
  Speaker 3: be hardened media guys, but you hear that and it's
• 59:28
  Speaker 3: just like, Wow, Okay, big guy, Good on you, Glad,
• 59:31
  Speaker 3: glad you found your way through all that, because when
• 59:33
  Speaker 3: when things get down and things get tough, it can
• 59:35
  Speaker 3: be really hard to get yourself.
• 59:36
  Speaker 5: Out of that.
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: Good on him for doing it, especially a guy that
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: probably has a lot of pressure on him wearing an a.
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: You know, last season, you know, he was heavily criticized for,
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: you know, in the whole team in general, just for
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: some of the responses when you know, when Tage got
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: hit and just other things throughout the season that obviously
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: spiraled out of control when things didn't go their way
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: and the leadership was questioned on the team and things
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: like that. So for him to have about the bounce
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: back season in the career season that he had, that
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: to credit to Mattia Samlson scored some big goals in
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: the playoffs for Buffalo as well, and just seemed like
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: he's matured on and off the ice significantly. You know,
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: since he he's been a full time in Hler with
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: the Sabers and we've sort of been waiting for this
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: sort of breakout, coming out party for Samulson, and he
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: had it in twenty five to twenty six for sure.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 4: Boy did he ever. And you know, looking back, I
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 4: mean he was is he drafted? I think he was
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 4: drafted by.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 3: Botrel Maybe I think he Wastrel. And you know, you
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 3: look back on that pick and at the time, it
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 3: was like, Wow, great pick. This guy's got something because
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 3: you saw the size he played at Western Michigan. You know,
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 3: before Western Michigan became a title winning team, he was
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 3: one of those guys in on the ground on the
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 3: ground floor over there playing for Andy Murray as the
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 3: head coach there. And you know, with his pedigree with it,
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 3: you know, being Shell's kid and all that, and you know,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 3: it's a lot of pressure. I mean, that's that's a
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 3: that's a career, that's that's already got pressure before he
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 3: even stepped foot in the NHL. And you know the
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 3: struggles that he had early on and now coming through
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 3: it now being on top of his game. Man. It's
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 3: it's really it's really cool to see and kind of
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 3: again kind of selfishly gratifying for for for some of
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 3: us who were who were there and talk to him
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 3: as a kid, and you know, fans dogging them immediately
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 3: going like, ah, this guy's never got to do anything,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 3: and I'm like, I don't know, way from to play
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 3: some pro games first, Guys like, let's see what he
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 3: does because playing defense is hard and it takes time
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 3: and he's got to figure it out now.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 4: And he's incredible.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 8: He is.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 4: It's just an awesome story.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 2: To see at that time. The thirty second pick was
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: the first pick of the second round, right.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 4: So that you're, oh, yeah, I think it was was Vegas.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 4: Was that Vegas' first draft?
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: I think so?
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 5: So he was.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: It's his second round pick, thirty second overall. So it
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: was the top of the second round.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 3: Pick about that you picked do Lean and Samuelson with
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 3: your first with your top with your top pick in
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 3: the first round, and then in the second round your.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 4: Top pair comes from from one draft. That's something else.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, was there any any other quotes from anybody else?
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: You know, Doling is the captain. You know, he's obviously
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: good for a quote here or there, but anybody else
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: catch your eye from you know what those guys said
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: on the way out, you know, I you.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 4: Know, I really liked a lot of constant helenis too.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 3: He you know, he's going to play for Finland at
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 3: World Championships, so I mean a very full season for him,
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 3: and he's excited about playing over there.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 4: He was.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 3: He's a guy that I'm very excited to see what
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 3: next season holds for him. And you know, he's just
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 3: such a confident guy. I mean, he's ooh's confidence ever
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 3: since the first day we talked to him after he
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 3: was drafted.
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 4: I mean he just you look at him, You're just like,
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 4: how did you get this cocky? What have you done? Buddy?
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 4: And it's like he's been playing against men since he
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 4: was sixteen.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he should be pretty cocky about about everything, but
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 3: like he just it's such a swagger to him where
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 3: you know, you know, I imagine playing against him is
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 3: really annoying, but put him in that room with those guys,
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 3: I mean he's just an instant hit player for them,
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 3: and like that's very excited to see what a full
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 3: season of him in the NHL could be if it
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 3: works out that way, Like, there's so much that has
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 3: to get figured out. Everybody's got him written in ink
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 3: on their lines right now, which is probably still a
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 3: good idea. But I'm very, very interested to see how
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 3: his summer goes, how he does it worlds and when
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 3: he comes back for camp. Same goes for Yuri Koolik,
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 3: who was very happy to hear from him at the
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 3: end of this year hearing that, you know, he had
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 3: the blood clot removed. He's you know, had to take
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 3: some time off the ice. He's back skating. They're saying
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 3: he can play. Hopefully that hopefully that stuff goes away,
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 3: because blood clots can can be that way. They can
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 3: come back sometimes, but hopefully it's gone for good for him.
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 3: I mean they send him to the Mayo Clinic to
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 3: get it removed. So this is pretty important stuff. There,
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 3: very very serious stuff for him. But if Boyle boy,
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 3: if he comes back and he's ready to go, goodness,
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 3: this this team, this team could be a lot of
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 3: fun next year.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 4: They're gonna be fun no matter what.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 3: But you start adding some of these parts where we
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 3: got a little little glimpse of them here and there,
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 3: you know, with telling us you know, Benson emerging and
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 3: if Kooley comes back, you know big, you know better, bigger, better,
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 3: faster than ever. Oh man, this is this is a
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 3: has got some hard decisions to make, and they're the
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 3: good kind of hard decisions, not like how we're going
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 3: to replace, how.
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 4: We're going to replace all of our good guys that
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 4: want to leave.
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: Hey, yeah, I mean the only quote that I just
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: want to kind of bring up to you, Joe, is
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: more so just in generality of I guess the stigma
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: of Buffalo changing. Right, Josh Norris gets trade here from
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: Ottawa last season and the Dylan Cousins swap. He talked
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: about Buffalo being awesome. I've come to love the city.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: I think every guy in that room would say the
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: same thing. It's a pleasure to play here. And he
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: went on to just talk about more of I love
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: being in Buffalo, and guys want to be in Buffalo,
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: and even Jarmo talked about that, and Lindy as well
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: of just the pride of wanting to play for the
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: Buffalo Sabers again and wanted to be part of this
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: organization which for a long time was something that you
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: went in that room and you didn't really know if
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: it was the truth or not. And all the you know,
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: elite players that have come and gone through that room
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: over the fourteen year drought. But it really seems like
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: those thoughts of Josh Norris I thought were very big
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: and echoed throughout the room, just for a guy that
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: hasn't been here that long and has been at other
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: places as well through his career, but saying how much
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: he loves to be in Buffalo and didn't seem like
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: he was just saying that. It seemed like, you know,
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: the guys that have played elsewhere and have come to Buffalo,
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: they want to stay here and that's sort of building
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: that positive culture now that they're going to need to
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: go forward here if they want to continue to be
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: a sustainable, winning franchise.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and Josh, Josh is one of those Rossbelt guys.
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 3: You know, he's from Detroit, so he gets what it's
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 3: like to play in this in this kind of area,
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 3: this kind of kind of setting, and.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 4: You know, he's a guy who.
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 3: You know, he gets knocked out in the first you know,
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 3: for a couple of games against Boston and you know
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 3: Austin comes in and you know, sets everybody's hair hair
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 3: on fire, and you know, Austin gets hurt, he comes
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 3: back in and everyone for a lot of the fans,
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 3: it was kind of a letdown because everybody wants more Austlin,
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 3: which I understand.
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 4: But Norris came in from that point on. He was
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 4: really good at the playoffs and that you.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 3: Know, when they put when then he put that line
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 3: together of him with Benson and Thompson, that line was
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 3: great and Norris had a lot to do with that
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 3: by driving it, by by using his speed, getting in
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 3: playing with an edge, like he he plays some nasty,
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 3: mean hockey, uh for a guy that you may not
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 3: naturally expect it from, but like he's in the mix
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 3: of everything. He's constantly stirring it up. But he also
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 3: has a great shot and does a lot of great
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 3: offensive stuff. And I you know, to have him feel
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 3: that good about things coming out of the playoffs, I
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 3: mean I completely get it, and I have him feel
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 3: good about this situation. I mean, he a guy, he's
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 3: a guy who could be you know, obviously the health
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 3: is the big bugaboo with him, but like we saw
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 3: the best I think we saw a lot of the
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 3: best of him against Montreal in the playoffs because we
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 3: saw him being effective, being on top of everything. And
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 3: you know, if he's if he's the guy driving driving
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 3: the bus to carry Benson and Thompson to the net
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 3: to get goals and points, that's a good job to have, man,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 3: because you're gonna have that for a for a long
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 3: time if you got it. So I'm really and you know,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 3: honestly genuinely happy to see him kind of put a
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 3: lot of the health stuff aside this year.
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 4: I know he was in and out occasionally, but once
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 4: he was back in and he was good to go.
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 9: Man.
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 4: He we saw a lot of what really makes him
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 4: so good.
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean like it.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: It would love to see what would be a full
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: season of Josh Norris, right, and we don't know what
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: the future is with potential offseason moves and things like that.
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: We know, you know, his name was floated around in
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: that Robert Thomas rumor train things like that, but you
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: armor wanted to keep this gript together. We'll sort of
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: see how things go in that regard, and we've got
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: a lot offseason to talk about that. But before we
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: let you go, Joe, I mean, I think I pretty
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: much covered everything that that I wanted to get your
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: thoughts on from from just the exit interviews. But you know,
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: just I guess in closing, like what is did even
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: though the series the season ended the way it did,
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: Like how how much optimism is there in that room?
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: Just the way the guys were talking, like their spirits
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: after a tough loss like that, Like what do you
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: think that they're they're going to take away from this
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: and now going into an important offseason and coming back
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: you know in the fall for obviously wanted to take
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: that next step at least you know, to the Eastern
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: Conference Final or even trying of win the Stanley Cup.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: And that was a common theme with what was said
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: in that room. And it wasn't just a joke anymore
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: just a cliche saying like they truly believe it in there,
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: So I guess what what?
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 2: What's uh?
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: What's the final thoughts and takeaways that you had leaving
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: Key Bank Center the other day? Just as those guys
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: part for the summer.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 3: I think what really stuck out is that the way
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 3: the guys talked about the way this, you know, the
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 3: playoffs ended for them, it was less of a opportunity
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 3: missed as it was a Okay, this is unfinished business now,
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 3: you know, because you lose a game seven, it would
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 3: be really easy to dwell on that and to let
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 3: it just chew at you. And you know, we're still
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 3: in the middle of these guys kind of digesting how
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 3: that game went down. But a big feeling was like,
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 3: all right, now we know what that's like. Now we
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 3: know what it you know what it is to get
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 3: to the playoffs, what it is to do that. Now
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 3: it's like, all right, we got to go farther. We
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 3: gotta we gotta get to that East Final, we got
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 3: to get to the Cup final.
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 4: We got to win it all. I think that was
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 4: a what it wasn't said.
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 3: It wasn't spoken directly as such, not you know, for
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 3: the most part, but like that was that was what
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 3: I picked up from from what guys were saying and
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 3: how they were saying it is that, yeah, like you know, first,
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 3: you know, new situation for us with a game seven, playoffs,
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 3: the whole thing, this was all new to us. But
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 3: like we're not done with this, Like we we can
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 3: we can do better than this, we can we can
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 3: go further than that, and that's what we have to
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 3: do next. And I think that's an important mindset because again,
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 3: like I said, for a group this young, that this
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 3: inexperienced playoff wise, it would be very easy to just
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 3: get really down in the dumps about that.
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 4: And it reminds me a bit.
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 3: And you know, for for some of the fans, maybe
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 3: you know, maybe you don't like this comparison, but it
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 3: reminds me a bit of how Montreal treated getting bounced
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 3: from by Washington in the first round last year, where
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 3: you know, as young as they are and they still are,
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, wasn't really discussed a lot when they were
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 3: facing the Sabers because they had playoff experience, you know whatever,
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 3: but they were just as young. They're just as you know,
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 3: apt to having you know, brain farts out of the
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 3: ices as anybody. But but having that experience a year
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 3: ago really helped Montreal kind of settle in.
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 4: And you know, these teams are division fos. It's not
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 4: gonna be easy.
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 3: I think we know that, you know, we knew that
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 3: a month into the year, like, boy, this good luck
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 3: get into the playoffs because this this division is evil.
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 3: It's gonna be evil again next year. All of these teams,
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 3: like geez, seven of eight teams you can pick out
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 3: right now are good or are going to be back
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 3: and are going to be good.
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: Florida will be back.
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 3: Florida will be you know, once you get Alex Barkov
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 3: back out of the ice, they're But they're a much
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 3: better team.
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 4: Detroit.
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 3: I mean, people get down on the dumps on them.
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 3: They were still, you know, a ninety five point team.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 3: It's not a bad team like ninety three whatever they had.
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 3: They just collapsed at the end, just a you know,
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 3: third year in a row. They just fall apart late
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 3: in the season. If they figure it out, okay, well
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 3: they're right there.
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 9: You know.
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 3: If they don't crumble at the end of the season,
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 3: that's another dangerous team. They're a dangerous ninety percent of
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 3: the season. You know, we know about Boston now, you
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 3: know Boston with Swayman and all that stuff. Those guys
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 3: are good. Montreal's good, Tampa's good, Buffalo is good. Toronto
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 3: is probably gonna be wading through it. But like they
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 3: still have Austin Matthews. We don't know who their coach
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 3: is gonna be. You know, it's Gavin McKenna, gonna be
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 3: you know, the next celebrating. I don't know, Like, that's
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 3: still a lot of talent. You still have to worry
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 3: about them maybe snapping out of it. But it's a
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 3: loaded division, it.
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 8: Is, and like.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 4: And and Ottawa, my god, I'm forgetting about Ottawa.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 3: And it's you know, it's just a team that's got
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 3: It's a division that is just if you have a
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 3: brain fart for a month, you're in trouble. And the
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 3: Sabers were fortunate that they got their brain fart out
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 3: of the way in the first you know, two months
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 3: of the year and they just went on a tear
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 3: that you know, we haven't ever seen in Buffalo before.
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 3: But it's gonna be hard. But fortunately this group now
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 3: has the experience. They now have all that and they
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 3: know talent wise, they're one of the best teams in
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 3: the league. The key is to stay grounded, you know,
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 3: not not let your heads get too fat going through
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 3: the door so you can't get through the door anymore.
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 4: But they got rid of that.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 3: They stopped doing that this year, and I think this
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 3: is a team that's a lot more professional and how
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 3: they do it. They still have a lot of fun
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 3: obviously because they this team really enjoys being around each other.
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 4: But but this this is.
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 3: It's going to be a lot to get through. But
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 3: I mean they showed this year that they are very
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 3: capable of doing that. I think that's that's going to
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 3: help them out in next season and the years to come.
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 2: In closing, Joe, just like what a fun season.
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: Like obviously, you know, covering the team day in and
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: day out, you know, there's been some tough times going
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: to the rank and and the way the season sort
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: of turned.
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 2: I just wanted to end on the statistic game.
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: Monday's Game seven between the Canadians and Sabers average three
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: million viewers on ESPN, the most watched game of this
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: year's playoffs and second most Round two game ever on
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: cable television. ESPN average two point two million viewers for
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: the second rounds, mashing a previous high records. So again,
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: like just obviously with Buffalo and Montreal, you know, the
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: Sabers fan base that has waited so long for this
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: equated to that. As well as Montreal being one of
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: the you know, most popular teams in all the National
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: Hockey League. I'm sure played into that as well, But
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: just for the fan base and everything we saw, the
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: lead up games, the pregames, the canal side, you know,
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: the the Blade gang, everything inside with the alumni coming back,
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: the drum, the pregame stuff, Saber Tooth risking his life
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: coming down from the rafters, you know, you know, money
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: for nothing, as the pregame, as the intro song. Like,
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: there were just so many positive moments that Sabers fans have,
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: you know, sort of rallied around this team once again
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: and gotten rid of that negative stigma and the what's
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: gone on negatively over the.
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 2: Last fourteen seasons.
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: So I guess, like in closing, what would be your
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: message to the fan base now going into this offseason
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: and obviously going to be so excited and eager and
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: now with the them, you know, resetting the bar even
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: higher now going into uh, you know what, what will
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: be another big season next year.
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 3: I all I say is just enjoy this for what
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 3: it was, because every season is hard, every season is difficult.
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 3: But uh, don't let this the success the season jade
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 3: you into thinking, like, you know, if they don't run
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 3: rough shot over everybody next season, that it's a bad year.
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 3: Getting the playoffs. All you have to do is get there.
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 3: Just get there and let's let the chips fall where
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 3: they may and see how it goes from there. But
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 3: but this is, this is a differently wired group. Now,
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 3: this is and it's a fan base that's invigorated for
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 3: a good reason, and there's there's a lot of good
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 3: reasons to to stay stay on it, stay hot, and
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 3: stay with it because this group is really good. And boy, if, if,
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 3: if the fans ever needed to know that the players
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 3: feed off of them, they've found it out this year
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 3: because they got they The way this team fed off
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 3: the fans was with something else, and the way the
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 3: fans responded to their success was was really genuinely heart
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 3: heartening to see because you know, for so many years
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 3: I said, all you got to do is all the
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 3: all the Sabers have to do is win, and the
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 3: fans will be back. And then, boy, did they ever
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 3: come back. And this is just like you know, I
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 3: wasn't here for the old days. I haven't been around
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 3: that long. But but but talking to folks who were
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 3: and and being friends with people who were and seeing
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 3: the way it was, this is this is really cool
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 3: to witness firsthand, but it's still kind of secondhand all
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 3: the same well.
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 2: Joe, that's gonna wrap it up.
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: You know, appreciate all your great work this season, not
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: just coming on our shows, uh, to to give us
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: a pulse of what's going on down there at the rink,
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: but all season long with everything that you did driving
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: up and down the roads for all the road games
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: and all the series and being under the weather and
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: powering through that and being at all the you know,
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: the the game day skates and all the practice days
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: like it's it. I feel like sometimes it goes unnoticed
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: the amount of work you guys do down there, the
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: ones that that are on the beat every single day.
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: It's a long season, but moments like this sort of
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: is is why you love to do it right, uh,
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: covering playoff games, And I just want to congratulate you
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: and all the great colleagues down there with the Sabers media.
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: You guys did a fantastic job keeping us updated, keeping
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: us pull on what was going on. And look forward
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: to having you, you know, do more with us next
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: season as we go forward with our full time Sabers coverage.
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: But uh, you know, just hope you get some good,
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: well earned and well deserved rest for the draft and
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: combine things like that, but uh, you know, we look
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: forward to, uh to what's next, but uh, you know,
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: just to really appreciate all that you do.
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 3: I appreciate you saying that, and I know everybody else
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 3: down there that's that's been on the beat all season
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 3: long they do too as well.
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 4: And uh yeah, I think a week of sleep is
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 4: what we're all doing. What we're all doing for here,
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 4: We're gonna.
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 3: Do our best to catch up because boy, it's as
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 3: fun and enjoyable as it as it can.
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 4: Really knock it out of you too.
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: Put the phone on D and D for a few
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: weeks and you know, relax a little bit. Yeah, it's
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: just unbelievable season for the Sabers and look forward to
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: to seeing how they try to replicate it next season
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: because again, as you mentioned, nothing guaranteed, especially within this
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: tough Atlantic division. So that's going to wrap it up
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: for today's Sabers Semantics episode right here on the Armchair
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: GM Sports Nework. Thank you everybody that tuned in live
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: here tonight on the YouTube version. Make sure to like
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: it described smashed that bell. Stay update with all of
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: our video coverage here on the network, and thank you
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: those listen to the next day in your favorite on
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: demand audio podcast platform.
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 2: As always sabers Semantics.
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: It's probably brought to by Global Pet Foods, where pets
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: are unknabibily part of the family and their three great
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: Niagara Region locations, the Niagara Falls, Fon Hill and Scott Street.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: Instant Catherine checking to them for their support all season long.
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: That's gonna be it again. Make sure to give us
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: a fall on ex that Saber Smantics was on Facebook,
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: Instagram and TikTok by search in the armchaired GM Sports Network.
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: Far of our short reels and content. So for Joe
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: Jurdon of Noted Hockey and Bleacher Report, my name is Brandick.
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: Putto have yourself a great night, a great long weekend
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: for those Americans as well, and we'll talk to you
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: again very soon here on the Armchair GM Sports Network
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: and Saber Semantics oct you soon.
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 2: We're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.