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Where Do The Sabres Stack Up In The Atlantic This Season? - 2026-27 Season Preview: Sabres Semantics · The Armchair GM's Sports Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: This is Saber Semantics, covering all things Buffalo Sabers, exclusively
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: on the Armchair GM Sports Network.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: And welcome in to the season preview episode of Saber
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Semantics right here on the Armchair GM Sports Network. Thank
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: you to everybody tuned in live tonight on the YouTube version.
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• 1:21
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• 1:24
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• 1:28
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• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Austin Broad of Elite Prospects are with you. As again,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: regular season starts tomorrow for the Buffalo Sabres playing in Columbus.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Their home opener is Saturday. Welcoming back Bowen Byram, Patrick Kane,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Buffalo Boy, and the Chicago Blackhawks. We're going to get
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: into all of that. We're going to talk bold predictions
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: on today's show. We're going to talk the updated injuries
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and what the lineup is going to look like going
• 2:05
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• 2:54
  Speaker 1: So Austin, all the housekeeping out of the way. We
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: got a lot to discuss today. obviously you haven't been
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: on since I believe it was the season premiere episode
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: at the beginning of September. So I guess I'll just
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: give you a couple of quick minutes to talk about
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: what you thought of the shortened training camp and the
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: four game preseason.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: Four game preseason might still be too long, especially if
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: you're a Sabres fan. Thankfully, it looks like the injuries
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: that actually happened are not significant and will be minor,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: but no, even like not even the four game preseason,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: the shortened training camp. I, it, my body clock is
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: not prepared. Like hockey was on yesterday and was on tonight.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: And in my brain, I can't comprehend that meaningful hockey
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: is being played in the month of September tomorrow for
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: the Sabres opening the season, October 1st, we'll probably feel
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: a little bit more normal because at least it's October.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: But I think this starting the league earlier is, is
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: going to be a lot of fun. And I mean, honestly, the,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: for the month of September for it being training camp
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: and just like the prospects showcase, I guess what they're
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: calling it now. Um, pretty busy for for the sabers
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: some some housekeeping that that was done a lot of
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: a lot of things that yarmulke was able to get
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  Speaker 3: done and just all in all sabers were able to
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: make some news before the season started and it's it
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: feels good it feels like like i just said how
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: i'm not used to hockey being meaningful in september but
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: oddly like i'm i'm ready for it and i'm excited
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: for things to get going here tomorrow night tonight if
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: you're listening to this the day that we release.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: It Yeah, 84-game season now. Obviously, the two extra regular
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: season games. And as you mentioned, some teams are already started.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: You've got to do some math in your head now
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: if you're doing point productions and things like that. That's
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: going to be also something to get used to there. Right.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: And then also, some teams already started at the end
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: of September, as you mentioned. I wasn't prepared for regular
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: season NHL hockey at the month of September. That just
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: seems like way too early, right? Because it goes all
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the way to the first couple weeks of June and
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: then we're right into the offseason with the draft. free
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: agency it just seems like the clock never stops for
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: i guess 10 months of the year now.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah and it's a good thing i mean obviously different
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: for us this year because you know we didn't just
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: do off-season talk from april to september like we actually
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: had playoff hockey through the month of may so it
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: was time ever yeah first time ever that you've you
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: know since we've done this show but it it that
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: coupled with the earlier start has kind of yeah the
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: summer flew by and i'm it's here already. And again,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: the earlier start and everything is good, but honestly having,
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: you know, MLB playoffs, NFL season, you know, and the
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: NHL all around the same time is always fun. It's
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: the most time of the year. And now we only
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: do like a two week difference with the NHL starting,
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: but getting to have that opportunity to have all that
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: stuff happen for an extra two weeks is fantastic.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Fall is the best time of the year, not just
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: for the weather, but also for sports for us.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: So a lot of good things happening there. So, We
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: did quickly touch on this last week when Jonathan was on, Austin,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: but I want to give you the opportunity to talk
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: about the Noah Ostlund extension, one of the last eight-year
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: deals signed under the new current CBA or under the
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: current CBA that's now expired. You know, people can only
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: sign seven-year contracts now with their respective teams. So what
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: did you think of the Noah Ostlund re-signing and how
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: much are you looking forward to seeing him hopefully progress
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: and make that a bargain deal down the road here?
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean... honestly didn't identify him as a candidate
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: for a max extension, like made sense with the timing
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: and everything. But I honestly didn't think, I don't think
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: really many people thought it was realistic that, that he
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: was going to get an eight year extension heading into,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: you know, one year away from when he was eligible
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: to be a restricted free agent. So that's cool. Um,
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: I really like him a lot. Obviously, he's a really
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: talented two-way center. He's really good on the forecheck, despite,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: you know, potentially his lack of size. Good skater. We
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: saw the impact that he made when he was healthy
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: in the Boston Bruins series. Would have been nice to
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: have him in the Montreal series, fully healthy for everything
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: like that. But just, you said it there, the potential
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: to make this a bargain. I think there's high potential
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: that he makes this a bargain deal, right? We got
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: to wrap our heads around the fact that 6.6 million
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: just isn't that much anymore. It's probably going to be
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: the going rate for a third line. winger or center
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: third line forward uh going forward and i think he
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: has potential to be a true top six forward um
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: his playmaking ability his forechecking his skating everything like that
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: his shot has gotten a lot better so he's got
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: all the potential to make this a bargain but i
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: think worst case scenario this is a fair market deal
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: and how are you going to complain about having you
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: know a guy that is really reliable locked up max
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: term for a fair market deal like the sabers don't
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: have a bad contract. Like if this is a quote
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: unquote bad contract, well, 6.6 million with the way that
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: this cap landscape is kind of shaping up to be like,
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: that's not really a bad contract.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: And you line that up with the other re-signings that
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: they did this off season, right? You got the Dones. Well,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was before last season, but they were
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: all lined up for re-signing this season. Don, Benson, Krebs, Malenstein, Ostland,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: like getting all these guys locked up now, you know,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: as opposed to, pulling an Anaheim and then having to
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: wait and potentially getting offer sheeted and just avoiding all
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: of that together. And we know, we know with the
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Skinner buyout coming off the books next off season, that
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: frees up another $ 6 million for hopefully them to maybe
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: lock up Helen news or one of these other guys
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: that still need a contract as well. So again, people
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: were a little bit critical of Yarmule for not going
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: out outside the organization to, to add, But he had
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: to work within what he had on his own roster
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: first and not lose some of these key young players
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: within the roster. I think that he did a really
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: good job of getting all these guys locked up for
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: reasonable contracts as we see where the cap is going
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and where some of these contracts around the league are going.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Some of them have been pretty outrageous.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I totally get the criticism when he didn't
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: go outside the organization. That's fine. We already did a
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: podcast about that.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: I have.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: I have time to hear that argument. But the one
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: thing I will say about the Sabres, now this will
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: rely on them maintaining the success that they had last
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: year and building off of it. But long-term cap-wise, they
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: are set up perfectly. Coming into this offseason, you have
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: Yuri Kulik, Jack Quinn, and Louis Crevier as your restricted
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: free agents. Now, Consta Hellenius is eligible for an extension.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: I anticipate him getting an extension this summer. But that
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: won't kick in until two years from now. So he
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: set himself up really well where he doesn't really have
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: a lot of internal work to do this upcoming offseason.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: So as long as the team builds off the success
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: we think they're going to, the Sabres are in really
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: good shape to make that splash acquisition. Now, that'll be
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: a future debate there. But like we just said, like
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: he did all this work internally, kept his guys, you know,
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: did a tidy piece of business there with, with Ocelin,
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: you know, he got Benson done and everything like that.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: So like he set himself up well, and we just
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: talked about the way the cap is going on. Some
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: of these contracts are, he, you know, this will be
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: a debate for another day, but if Jack Quinn has
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: the year that the Sabres anticipate him having, that contract's
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: going to balloon like three, four times what he's making now.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: It's like, there's, there's reasons why he did what he
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: did and there's reasons to, you know, be skeptical of
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: the off season approach, but there's also reasons to kind
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: of buy into what he was doing. And a guy
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: like Noah Oslund or a guy like Jack Quinn or
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: a guy like Constance Helene is having an impact right
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: away is reasons why you buy into it. Now, hopefully
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: that doesn't come back to bite him in the butt,
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: but he also has himself set up this year where
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: if things are not clicking the way that he wanted
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: it to, he has flexibility to be aggressive, to make
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: an acquisition. And we know that, Whether he gets across
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: the finish line or not, we know Jarmo will take swings.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: So I think he set himself up really well. It
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: wasn't a splashy offseason that we had there. But on
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: the other side of that is, I don't think many people,
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: at least that I've seen, are too concerned about the
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: forward group. I think their areas of concern lie elsewhere
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: on the team. So I think the work that Jarmo
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: was able to do was good. And I think he
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: set himself up well. And I think rewarding a guy
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: like Noah Ostlund, giving him that 6.6 figure, it's just
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: giving him more belief and more confidence that will hopefully help,
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: help with his development and help him turn into what
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: we think he could be because he's still only 22
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: years old. And I wouldn't be surprised if by the
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: end of this year, we're talking about him the way
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: we were talking about Hellenius at the end of last year.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: Cause I think, you know, it was Oslin then Hellenius
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: and then Oslin kind of became the full-time guy and
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: people were like, Oh, this guy's really good. And then
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: the way Hellenius kind of, stormed into the playoffs he
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: became like the the bell of the ball which he's
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: an extremely good player and should be one of the
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: like he's one of the Sabres top prospects if not
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: the top prospect but like I think people forget that
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: Olsen's got two years on him and more NHL experience
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: so like I wouldn't be completely surprised if we're sitting
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: here before the contract even starts and that Olsen contract
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: already looks like a pretty pretty solid deal because I
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: think he'd only need to put up in the 50
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: point range to to make that a value contract and
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't be shocked at all if that's where he
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: ends up at the end of this year with the
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: role that it looks like he's going to get.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: And other than Darlene making 11, I mean, you look
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: at the forward group, Thompson's making 7.1 Norris is 7.95.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Don'ts under seven. So like realistically, they've got this entire
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: forward crew locked up for a long period of time.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: And then, you know, they're very fortunate in that case,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: when you look at some of the other top teams
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: around the NHL, you know, with some of the, the,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the cap, you know, maneuvering they've had to do even
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: this last off season.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: So the Sabres have it, you know, really good right now.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: and getting those guys on those long-term contracts to, to
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: maybe take, you know, those hometown discounts, I guess you
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: could say based off of what their potential could even
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: be this season with the dones and the Benson's and
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: those types of guys and Ausland as well. He's, I
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: know he's got one more year at the eight, 887,000.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: And then he goes to, to the cap it that
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: he just signed, but they're in a good spot there.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: As you can see from, from Puckpedia and the Skinner
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: bio comes off 6.4 and, next season and their, their
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: deadline cap is going to be 7.1. So maybe they
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: can maneuver something there if they're, you know, in the,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the running in the Atlantic division, that looks really tough
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: this year. And that's going to be one of our,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: our Twitter polls later as well. But another, I guess,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: key point that we should mention was after Zellweger and
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Samuelson went down in the preseason, we sort of wondered,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: are the Sabres going to make a signing? Are they
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: going to call somebody up? They end up signing veteran defenseman,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Matt Gryzlik, and he's, Obviously got a pass at Sabres
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: fans know him well from those years he had in
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Boston as an enemy played last season with Chicago. He
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: played with Pittsburgh, I think the year before as well,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: but a guy that they signed for under a million dollars,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: you know, depth type of signing. What do you think
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: that Grizzly could possibly bring here? If the Sabres don't
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: get Samerson and Zellweger back, you know, immediately.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah. He's also got that familiarity with Louis Crevier too, right?
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: Like I think I'd have to look at the numbers,
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: but they played a decent amount for Chicago last year.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: I like the Creslick signing, I think, regardless of the
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: health of Samson and Zellweger. I mean, Timmons going on
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: IR opened up the spot for him to be a regular.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: But I think when you look at, you know, he's
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: 32 years old. He's a veteran. But not only that,
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: this is going to sound extremely crazy to say because
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: the Sabres' top four defensemen when healthy are all lefties.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: So bear with me here when I say this. It
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: is nice that they have a depth left-hand shot defenseman.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Not that they need left-handed depth, but they now have
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: a left-hand shot defenseman that they can probably feel comfortable
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: about playing on the third pair regularly. Whereas before, it was,
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: is Zellweger or Samuelson going to have to go down
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: to the third pair to get a lefty down there?
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: I don't think they want Zellweger down on the third pair.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: I don't think they want Samuelson down on the third pair.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean? So giving them... the flexibility
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: to have a left shot defenseman that can play on
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: the third pair to make that third pair a little
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: bit more traditional, I think is a good thing. And
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: he's just, to me, he's clearly an upgrade over a
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: guy like Dennis Gilbert. So like for $ 850, 000, I like
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: the signing regardless. The injuries opened up the spot for him,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: but it looks like he's, you know, he's, he's going
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: to be on the opening night. He's going to be
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: in the opening night lineup based off everything that we're seeing.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: So wonder how they're going to deploy. I'm wondering if
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: they're going to play into that familiarity with Cravier early
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: on or, how they're going to use it because he's
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: played a lot in this league. At the very least he's,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: he's quality, he's quality depth on the third pair there.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: You know, some people were asking about Ryan Johnson, Zach Metza,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: obviously as an extra defenseman, what are your thoughts there?
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like Ryan Johnson just did. He
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: is what he is, at least in the eyes. No,
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: you know, he is what he is. Like, I'm not
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: going to sit here and say the Sabres haven't given
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: him a fair shot. He's just, he hasn't earned a
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: spot to be on the Sabres. Every chance he's getting,
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: he's kind of not looked the part. So, That's not
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: too surprising with Mets. That's a weird one because every
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: time he's in the lineup, he plays well, but I
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: just don't know. I don't know what he has to
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: do to show that he's a full-time regular NHL defenseman
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: who can play in your six every single night, because
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: even when he gets in and looks good, he's still
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: only playing like 10 to 12 minutes a night. I
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: think they'd probably just, like I said, they just feel
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: more comfortable with Grieslich and his handedness and his, his
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: reliability there. But to me, it's, Mets on this roster
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: will be your extra defenseman. Wouldn't be surprised if he
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: gets in. But I think it's just the experience of
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: a guy like Grieslich. And like I said, we all
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: know that their lineup is full of really talented left
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: shot defensemen. I think having a third pair left shot
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: defenseman who won't force their hand and force them to
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: play him in the top four is something that they
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: need because They could start Zellweger on the third pair,
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: but I think if he lives up to what he is,
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: what we think he can be, he's much better than
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: a third pair defenseman. So I think it's all these
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: things kind of factored into signing him, and he's got
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: some familiarity with people in the organization, so it works
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: out well.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: And I mean, the Sabres had two lefties on the
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: second pair last year with Power and Byram, right? And
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: it worked out okay. And even Power and Zellweger had
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: looked good in that preseason game before Zellweger got rocked
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: by Soucy, so... I don't think that Lindy's necessarily opposed
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: to having the two lefties.
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: No, yeah, absolutely. And that's why I said, I think
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: it's more about that third pair. I just don't think
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: he wants two right shots on the third pair. So
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: getting a third pair depth left defenseman is a win
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: for them.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: It'd be funny if they do have a five out
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: of 60 in their starting lineup for lefties. Like you said,
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: our top four was all lefties last year and it worked.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: And I imagine with the news that Samuelson is potentially
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: good to go tomorrow, him and Dahlien are going to
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: play together. And I imagine when Zellweger is back, he'll
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: slot in there with power. So we have a potential
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: for the top four to be all lefties again early on.
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: So let's, let's move forward here with kind of the
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: injuries and the update of the lineup for tomorrow. As
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: you mentioned there with Samuelson, but this is from Matthew
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Fairburn at practice today on the forward group, Norris Thompson,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Doan on the top line, Benson, Oslin, Quinn on the
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: second line, Krebs, McLeod, Hellenius on the third line, Kulich, Carrick,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: and Mallenstein on the fourth line. And as he mentions there,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the defensive pairs have been shuffled around a bit. Again,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: barring if Samuelson is able to play tomorrow. Doesn't sound
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: like Zellweger is going to be ready to go. And
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: you mentioned Timmons going to IR. So we'll have to
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: wait and see what the final defense lines are going
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: to look like. Lukonen was in the starter's net, which
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: is also encouraging as well, given that he left one
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: of the preseason games. It looked like Colton Ellis was
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: potentially in line to be the opening night starter. in Columbus,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: but what are your thoughts and reactions to what it
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: looks like today at practice?
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, going into yesterday, I was not super optimistic,
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: but I was like, okay, it seems like Zellweger was
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: good to go. So having Zellweger power and Darlene in
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: your top four was a good thing. And then when
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: the news came out, Samuelson was going to join them
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: for practice earlier today and potentially be activated off IR.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: We don't know. We'll find out. you know, when they,
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: when they practice on the, on game day, as long
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: as three of those top four are healthy to start
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: the season, I will feel pretty good. Especially it sounds
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: like Zellweger might be ready to go for the home opener.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: So we went from potentially not having our top four
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: defense healthy for multiple weeks to potentially having them all
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: healthy by game two. So like, that's a huge win.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: It just goes to show we can't trust Lindy Ruff.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: Tell us about injuries. And that's obviously we as Sabres
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: fans know, know that because for, He's just always been
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: that way.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: And I mean, you know, looking at that forward line
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: there again, I think we have the, the power play
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: lines as well. I got to pull those up. Those
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: are from, Joe Yurden today at practice. But here's what
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: the top unit looks like. Actually, both units. Doan Thompson, Benson, Quinn,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Darlene on the top. And then the second unit was
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Norris slash Kulich kind of rotating in there with Oslin, McLeod, Hellenus,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: and Power. What are your thoughts on that?
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: I am.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: I like the second unit i'm it'll be interesting when
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: if we actually see what happens with kuleek when he's
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: like fully up to speed and like fully back in
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: his normal like everyday game shape um to see if
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: you know it's him or norris i imagine i don't
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: know that would be interesting but the top the top
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: unit is it's very intriguing i mean assume again we
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: also have jason zucker coming back eventually too we know
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: how vital he was to the power play so it'll
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: be very interesting what they do with their personnel but
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: i like these groups i think you know we'll talk
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: about i mean obviously we need to see how the
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: top unit is that'll be the biggest one but i'm
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: very excited to see owen power running power play too
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: because you know for the last couple years that's been
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: bowen byron's spot nothing wrong with that bowen byron is
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: very good at running a power play but i'm very
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: i'm excited to see power there's no debate now owen
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: power is the number two defenseman right like he's going
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: to be the second pair driving that pair and he's
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: now going to be able to run the second power
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: play something i think he's very capable of doing i
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: think will help him take his game to the next
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: level but obviously when you look at those units like
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: looks good it'll all come down to strategy because you
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: know my my whole thing last year was it's not
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: a lack of talent it was their deployment so we'll
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: see what is changing there we'll see if maybe sam
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: ventura that report of him coming up with a ton
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: of data about how to fix the power play hopefully
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: it works because something needs to change Yeah.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was not good last year and that
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: is maybe one thing that I'm looking at to be bold, uh,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: an improvement from last season, 19.5 20th in the league.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah. A hundred percent. And it's one of those things
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: where people are talking about how are they going to
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: replace production that they lost? Well, you know what would
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: really help if the power play is competent, that will
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: ease some of their even strength need, like need for
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: all that even strength production if their power play is lethal.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: So like, it's one of the ways to fix it.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: So I'm, it'll be, it'll be good. I'm, I'm hoping,
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: hoping it'll, I mean, we need it to look better.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: They just, they straight up.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Need to, especially what happened in the playoffs. That was
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: a putrid. So, um, a little bit better in the
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: regular season, but once playoffs came around, you know, if
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: they would have, if they would have been decent on
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: the power play, maybe that Montreal series looks different.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: So, uh, that's the update from the lineup there, Austin. And, uh, again,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: we might as well just sort of go into, uh,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: like I mentioned with the, the injuries there, I'll pull
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: up the caption. So, People know what we're talking about here,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: but you know, some guys, as you mentioned, Zucker's a
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: little bit a ways away. It doesn't sound like Zellweger
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: is going to be ready to play either. Maybe for
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the home opener, we'll see what concussions you never really know.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: You know, sort of take them day by day there.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Lukanen sounds like he's going to be the starter to tomorrow, tonight,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: whenever you're listening to it, the opening game against Columbus,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Alex Lyon sounds like he's a few days away. According
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: to what Lindy said today, sounds like he's getting very close,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: but he's just not there yet. Timmons going to IR
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Samuelson is going to take the morning skate in Columbus
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: and sort of see where he's at. And he could
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: potentially be a game time decision as well. So considering
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: where things were in the preseason and having upwards of
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: five guys injured and you're like, oh, my goodness. And
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: even the title of this episode is like, you know,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: just a war of attrition so far in the preseason
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: going into game one of the regular season. Sounds like
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: some pretty encouraging news on on most of these guys.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: And looks like it was more precaution than anything with
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: a shortened preseason.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. Like I said, with the potential of, oh,
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: we lost Samuelson and Zellweger, that's not good at all, too.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: We might have the entire top four healthy by the
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: second game. That's a huge plus. Lukanen obviously being good
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: to go, night one is big. Whatever you think about
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: the goalie situation, Lukanen, Lyon, Ellis, that was a tandem
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: that got us to the playoffs last year. So riding
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: with that, if that's what they're deciding to ride with,
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: they're going to need them all to be healthy. So
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: having Lukanen ready to go, night one is a big deal.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: Lyon doesn't seem like it's too long-term based off the
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: things that Ruff has kind of been saying. So like,
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: that's obviously another nice sign. And then, you know, Timmons
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: is Timmons. He's a third pair. He's vital to the
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: penalty kill and things like that. But his two years,
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: like his Sabre stint has been riddled with injuries. So hopefully,
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: hopefully he's back sooner rather than later as well. And Zucker,
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: I don't know. He said he might miss a few
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: weeks of the season. I don't know. It was, they
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: said it was a hernia, right? So you don't really
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: know how the recovery is there, but he's obviously a
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: guy they're going to want to get back as soon
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: as possible too. But at least for the short term
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: with Zucker out, like it, it alleviates the need for
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: the forward roster crunch because there is going to be
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: one just by the sheer number of bodies that they have.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Do you have any thoughts on the preseason statistics? I
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: know there's only so much we can take from preseason,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: but anything stick out to you from some of the
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: leaders there?
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: No, I mean, I'm not going to read too much
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: into it, but obviously like the two things that you,
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: are going to be excited about are one Noah Oslund,
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: not only playing well, but that line seemed to gel
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: right away. Like Benson, him and Quinn, which could be
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: a very fun line. And then Owen power, right? Like
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Owen power, not has not been a points guy since
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: he's joined the NHL, but he, he was obviously, he
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: looked very, very good in the preseason. And if he
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: can carry that into the regular season and not only
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: play the way that he played in the playoffs, but
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: start to translate that play into point production, like that
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: would obviously be huge. But we know how the preseason goes.
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: These numbers literally could mean nothing. Alex Lyon was by
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: far the worst goalie in the preseason, but he was
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: in the regular season last year by far the best goalie.
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: So take it all with a grain of salt, but
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: it was encouraging to see Ocelot and Power have really
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: good starts in the preseason.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: How about Ryan McLeod being the only one with a
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: power play goal?
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: I mean, who would have thought that, right?
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, considering he wasn't really a shooter on the
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: power play last year.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you could have stopped that right after shooter. You
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: didn't have to add on the power play.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Louis Crevier taking eight shots on net, that's encouraging.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, like I said, we'll see how all this stuff translates, obviously. But,
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, the good thing you can take away from
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: the preseason is two of the guys you need to
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: step up, look good in the preseason, just hopefully... Hopefully
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: that translates to the regular season because we all remember,
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, not we all, this is for true Sabo stickers,
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: but like Derek Grant was unreal one preseason. And I
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: don't think he scored a goal for the Sabres till
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: like 40 games into that year. So we know that
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: generally means nothing, but shorter preseason. Now everyone like it,
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  Speaker 3: it is what it is. It's time for real hockey.
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  Speaker 5: Hi, this is Dan Dunleavy, play-by-play voice of the Buffalo Sabres,
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  Speaker 5: and you are watching and listening to Sabres Semantics.
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  Speaker 4: Hey, hey, here we go, it's hockey night in Buffalo Hey, hey,
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  Speaker 4: here we.
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  Speaker 2: Go, the boys in blue, white, and gold Hey, hey,
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  Speaker 2: here we go, make some noise, get in the zone
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  Speaker 2: All for one and one for all, let's.
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  Speaker 3: Hear you from your heart and soul Hey!
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  Speaker 1: So this is the point of the show. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to do our giveaway for our $ 25 gift certificate for
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  Speaker 1: in the Niagara region on the Canadian side to be
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  Speaker 1: eligible for this. So the Americans are listening, unfortunately. Sorry,
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  Speaker 1: you guys, you'll have to just skip through this. But
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  Speaker 1: our trivia question, every single month, we're going to do
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  Speaker 1: a giveaway, one for our two $ 25 gift cards for
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: either store. But this month for the month of October,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: our trivia question is who scored the first goal of
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: the 2025-2026 season? For the Sabres, hint, they got shut
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: out in their opening game, so it was their second
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: game of the regular season last year. Who scored their
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: first goal? Make sure to give us a DM on
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: whatever social media platform that you can, or you can
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: comment here on YouTube, but we have to confirm your
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: information and everything like that. Let us know who scored
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: the first goal of the Sabres season last year. Also,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: just put it in the private chat for you to know.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: So there we go with that. Second game of the
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: season last year, and they also lost that one as well, so.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: There you go for that with our global pet foods,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Niagara gift card giveaway. Again, give us a message on
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: direct message on social media for that. Let's move forward
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: here with our fan polls. Again, give us a follow
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: on exit saber semantics, get in on our fan polls
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: as well. You can DM us there. If you have
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: the answer to those, to that, that trivia question, let's
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: start with the first poll Austin. And let me pull
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: it up here. It's going to be most concerning position
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: going into the season for Forward, defense, goaltending, or all
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: of the above. Goaltending won this, or I guess, I
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: don't know if you can call it winning, but it
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: was the leader of this poll, 72.7%. Forward was second
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: at 22.7%. All of the above was 4.5%, and defense
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: was zero.
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: Defense being zero, crazy. Not like I think the defense
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: is bad. It's just funny that it's zero percent. Yeah,
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, this is, of course, the man in Winnipeg aside,
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: we all know not only is goaltending a weird position
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: in hockey, unless you have a truly elite one. When
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: you just look at the guy that we've had as
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: our starter, it has been one good, one bad, one good,
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: one bad, one good, one bad. That's just been his
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: whole career. One good season, one bad season. And last
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: year was a good season. So I get why everyone
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: is concerned. I am one of the people that was
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: very concerned about him in the playoffs, was very concerned
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: about him all in the off season. So it, Not surprising.
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: Goalies are weird. They're always going to be weird unless
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: you have a truly elite one. Not surprised at all. Forward,
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: I get why that's second. I mean, I'm not nearly
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: as concerned with the forward group, although I understand the
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: concern when you go from not only losing Alex Tuck
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: to just relying on the internal growth. We've heard that
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: story before and it didn't work out. I just am
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: a little bit more lenient because the internal growth that
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: we're banking on, we've seen succeed in the NHL. It's
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: not a complete random crapshoot. Noah Oselin's played really well.
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: Hellenius looked good in the playoffs and has been very
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: good at professional hockey no matter what country he's been in,
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: no matter what league he's been in. But I get it.
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: When you lose a guy like Alex Tuck and you
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: don't replace him, you don't replace him even though we
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: thought we needed to add on top of him. I
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: get it. And all of the above, it's just, yeah,
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, I get it. I am not concerned about
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: the defense, but I am surprised that people are just like, yeah,
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: everything's going to be good because as bullish as I
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: am on Olin Zellweger, which I am, I don't want
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: to try and downplay the impact that Byron had. He
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: was very good. When Dallin was out, Byron was the
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: number one guy and things like that. Now, I'm not
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: saying I would not be surprised if Zellweger matches his
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: production within a year or two because I think Zellweger
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: has that much potential. But the defense was the lifeblood
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: of the team last year. And for all the changes
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: on the back end, I am surprised there wasn't a
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: little bit more people who were concerned. That's all.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was kind of shocked that it was 0%
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: as well. But again, maybe that was people just putting
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: all the above that they were concerned about everything for
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: the eternal skeptist around there. So sounds like your cat's
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: in agreeance too.
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Uh, this poll number two is what is your expectation
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: for where the Sabres will finish in the 2026, 27
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: regular season standings, Atlantic division winner, top three in the
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: Atlantic wildcard playoff team, or narrowly missing the playoffs. The
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: winner of this poll was top three in the Atlantic
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: at 46.7%. Second place was wildcard playoff team at 40%.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: And then Atlantic division winner and narrowly missing playoffs were
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: all the way down at only 6.7%. Austin, your thoughts.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: I am a little bit surprised that over like a
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: majority of the poll was top three in the Atlantic
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: because again, I think they're firmly in the wildcard race
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: and I don't think that's a problem. I don't think
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: it's also a surprise to say that there are, there
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: should be some natural regression expected for the Sabres. Like
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: they won the Atlantic division last year. They were 110
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: point hockey team. It is going to be hard to
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: duplicate that. Like it just straight up is that is,
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: Not factoring in that, you know, whether we like them
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: or hate them, Florida will be competitive again. Toronto looks better.
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: Toronto is going to, at the very least, be a
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: much more competitive hockey team. We'll see what happens when
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: that translates into their standings, but they're going to be
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: more competitive. Like they're not going to be in contention
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: for the lottery. They're just not like the Eastern Conference
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: in general. I don't think there is a team in
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: the Eastern conference that is going to be in the
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: bottom five of the league. Like I think the Eastern
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: conference is very competitive, whether you, you know, especially the
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: Atlantic division, like Detroit, I think is the consensus worst
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: team in the Atlantic, but Detroit was in the playoff
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: hunt last year until March. And I know Larkin being
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: out will obviously be a big deal for them, but
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: you can't necessarily just write them off as a garbage team. So,
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: I do expect them to be in the wild card hunt.
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: I think most models I saw have them in the
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: 93 to 97 point range. And I would be very,
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: very happy with that because that's kind of about what
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: I have them. Yeah.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think that the bottom three of the
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: division are going to be Detroit, Ottawa, and potentially Boston
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: as well, but that doesn't mean that they're all going
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: to be bad. Like I think the Atlantic division from
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: top to bottom is the most competitive division in the
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: NHL this year. And I will, you know, I'll be
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: very much, uh, you know, I'll die on that hill
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: because I think that from top to bottom, there's not
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: a horrible team within that entire division. And the top
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: end teams, again, we'll have to wait and see how Tampa,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: if they can continue where they're at or if they
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: regress a little bit, but they still, you know, they're
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: still up there from based off of last season. You've
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: got Montreal, you've got Florida, you've got Toronto that you
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: mentioned is going to be better. Buffalo obviously wants to be,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: you know, one of those teams in the mix as well.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: So I just think that the Atlantic is going to
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: be so tough this year. And if Buffalo is going to,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to say I'm sort of in the
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: middle of where this poll is. I think that they
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: could be that second or third team in the Atlantic,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: but they could also slip to a wildcard team, which
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: unfortunately with how competitive the division is, you know, that
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: maybe that's, that's where they're, where they're slotted in this year,
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: as opposed to people would say, well, then that would
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: be a regression. But based off of, you know, just
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: the division being better as a whole, I think that
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: that's quite a realistic possibility. And as long as they're
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: a playoff team, I don't really care where it is.
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I, I'm honestly even on the more pessimistic side,
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: whereas I will be pleasantly surprised if they're top three
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: in the Atlantic again this year. I think they're firmly
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: in the wildcard hunt. My expectation is that they are
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: a playoff team, but I think it'll likely be the wildcard.
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: I just think that, you know, whether it's Tampa, Montreal, Florida,
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: those are three really good teams in our division, obviously. Again,
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: you just don't know. Toronto is going to be more
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: competitive this you have Boston being one of the bottom
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: three teams. I, they were a playoff team last year.
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: Ottawa was also very, you know what I mean? Like
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: there's just, it's very, it'll be very hard. It is
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: clearly the most competitive division in hockey and it'll be
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: very hard to just be like, yeah, 50 wins, 109
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: points last year. They need to match that. So I
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: have them more in the the mid 90s and I
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: will be very happy if they're a mid 90 point
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: team because that should still get them in the playoffs
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: and at the end of the day I don't care
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: what your seating is just make the playoffs.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: And you look at you're looking at it on the
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: video version for you guys listening in audio like you
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: look at the bottom two teams the Atlantic last year
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: Toronto at 78 points Florida at 84 you expect both
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: those teams florida to potentially be in the top three
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: and at the very worst toronto being a wild card
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: spot so they would have to flip uh overtake two
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: teams there so is that a combination of ottawa boston
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: is it buffalo boston you know tampa bay you know
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: where is that because we all expect montreal to take
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: another step forward i would believe i think they shot
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: above their ceiling last season i'm very much in the
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: pool that I think that Montreal takes. This should be
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: the year that they finish in the top two of
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: the Atlantic, but we'll see. But, I mean, with their
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: players potentially taking another step and how well Jeff Gorton
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: and Kent Hughes have done with their cap situation, you
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: expect them to go out and make more moves as
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: well to add. So, you know, right now I just
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: can't see Buffalo repeating as Atlantic Division champions. I think
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: it had to go really right for them last year.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: if they do get 50 wins, that gets Lindy rough
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: to the, the accolade of a thousand wins, which would
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: be amazing for him. But realistically I'm in like that
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: three to the third team in the Atlantic top team
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: in the wild card, because we just don't know what
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: the Metro is going to be. And both wild card
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: spots came from the Atlantic last year, not from the Metro.
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And like what I'm about to say is not
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: anything negative whatsoever. Cause like last year was an amazing ride,
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: but like they did have two, win streaks of 10
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: games plus last year. That's just not going to happen again.
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: So that's kind of baking into me saying, okay, they're
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: probably not going to win the Atlantic again. Teams got
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: better in the Atlantic, also baked into that. So when
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: I say, like when I'm saying regression, I do expect
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: the Sabres to regress, but regress in terms of I
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: don't think they're going to win the Atlantic, and I
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: don't think they're going to have 109 points. I think
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: they're going to be in the 95, like I said,
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: 94 to 98 point range, and obviously like looking at
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: the standings last year, that wasn't enough to get into
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: the playoffs, but I expect that to be a borderline
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: playoff team. And that's kind of, I'm all right with that.
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: Like if you tell me right now that the Sabres
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: end up with 98 points and miss the playoffs by
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: a point, that's going to sting, but like, and it's
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: going to be a quote unquote failure, but like, dear God,
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: that's a 98 point hockey team. And that's kind of
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: what I think they are.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: And I just think there's going to be a good
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: team in the Atlantic that misses the playoffs. Cause I
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: just think that at some point.
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: There is, there has to be with the way that
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: our division is stacked this year.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Right, and I think a team from the Metro is
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: probably going to be one of the wildcard teams this season,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: and that might not necessarily be that they're better than
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: a team in the Atlantic, but I just think the
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: Atlantic is going to beat itself up, that there's going
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: to be a good team that doesn't make it out
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: of that division.
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the Metro, I'm not sure, because I think the Metro, again,
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: is going to be competitive, but Washington is going to
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: take a step forward. Washington is a much better hockey
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: team this year. I don't think anyone can argue against that.
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: They added Cairo, they added Tuck. They're going to be
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: a really good hockey team again. But I also expect
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: the Flyers to take a step back. The Flyers are fine.
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: They're a good hockey team, but I expect them to
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: take a step back. I think last year was maybe
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: a year too early for them. Columbus don't really know
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: what to expect.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: Is Matt Schaefer going to carry the Islanders to the playoffs?
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: He's probably capable of, but we've got to find out.
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: They don't have Barzell to start the year. Who knows
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: how long that's going to be. That's obviously a killer.
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: The devils could be better, but I don't see them
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: taking a massive leap. The Rangers, I expect them to again,
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: improve over last year, but also not be that good.
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: But like looking at those standings that we have with
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: the East there, it's just, I would be shocked if
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: an Eastern conference team is in the bottom five of
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: the league standings this year, because I just think that
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: there's so there's a lot worse teams in the West
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: than there are in the East. I think the East
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: overall is a much more competitive conference this year, which
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: obviously does not bode well for a team like the Sabres. Yeah.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: It could just, again, there could be a couple of
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: good teams out of the, East that if they went
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: over to the West bracket, you know, like we saw
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: last season with Vegas, you know what I mean? Like
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: they would have been what seventh or eighth in the
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: East and they won their division and made the Stanley
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: cup final. So just the way that this playoff format
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: works and the East West, you know, there could be
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: potentially a couple of really good teams out of this thing.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: And the Sabres, again, I think the fans need to
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: sort of level the expectations that even if they don't
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: repeat as Atlantic division champions, it's not necessarily a failure season.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: If they still make one of the wildcard spots.
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: Exactly. Playoffs should be the expectation and is the expectation.
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: But I just I me personally, I don't care how
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: they get in and I don't expect them. I honestly
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: I expect them to be a wildcard team this year.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm in agreeance there. So we'll move into our
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: last poll here. It is which of these Sabres players
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: will have the biggest breakout season in 2026-27? Noah Ausland,
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: Yuri Kulich, Konstantin Helenus and Olin Zellweger. There were a
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: couple other players I could have put on here, but
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: unfortunately I can only put four options on the polls.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Consta Helenus won this at 55.8%. Second place was Olin
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: Zellweger at 30.2%. Third place was Noah Oslund at 11.6
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: and Yuri Kulich at 2.3. Austin, do you have somebody
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: here or off the board?
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: Mine, I guess. Sure. I'll save it for my bold
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: predictions because the guy that I'm thinking is off the board,
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: but I, I'm a little surprised Hellenius has that much
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: on Ausland. Because I think Ausland is going to be very,
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: very good this year. And I think the points are
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: going to show that. That being said, I've seen a
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: couple people online who have Hellenius as a frontrunner slash
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: candidate for the call there. And if people are expecting
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: that from him, that would be a pretty big breakout.
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: I think the three that won this poll, you could
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: have them in any order. And I wouldn't be surprised.
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: for Kulik. I'm still pretty bullish on him, but I
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: think even for myself, it's probably going to take him
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: a lot longer than even I thought to get back
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: to looking like normal. Didn't see too much of him
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: in the preseason. Was a little shocked they had him
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: play back-to-back nights early on. Was kind of thought they
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: would ease him in. I don't think they ever will,
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: but I truly do wonder if they'd given any thought
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: to maybe sending him down to Rochester or to just
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: get a quick conditioning stint because I personally don't see
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: any benefit to playing him on the fourth line. Even
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: if it is to ease him in, I just don't
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: personally see the benefit to it, but I don't think
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: that's what they're going to do. I think they're going
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: to ease him in, in the NHL. So a little
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: bit more, still very excited for him and a little,
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: and still have high hopes for him. But I, I
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: think it'll be a much slower burn than I originally
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: maybe thought. But I think he, how hellenist osland or
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: zellweger either one of them could have a pretty solid
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: season and they those should be three of the top
• 46:25
  Speaker 3: candidates for a breakout season but when we get to
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: our predictions i have somebody else in mind.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah with cool each i mean again he hasn't played
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: hockey in so long that and he's got the the
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: he's got the ability to go back to rochester without
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: going through waivers right so you would potentially like to
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: see him go down but i just don't think i'm
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: in the agreeance with you i don't think they're going
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: to do that either they're going to have him play
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: on the fourth line, which I don't think is going
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: to be helpful for his development. But hopefully, you know,
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: as he gets up into game speed and game shape again,
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: maybe he's a guy that gets some middle six minutes
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: at some point, but you don't want to see a
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: guy like that with his skillset on the fourth line.
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: No, I just don't. Yeah. I don't think it's beneficial
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: in terms of play style. If you're worried about his conditioning,
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: like I said, I'd send him down to Rochester for
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: a weekend or two, let him play in some games,
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: see how he responds to that. But we'll see. I mean,
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: When Samuelson is activated, they do have to send someone down.
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: It'll probably just in all likelihood end up being like
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: a Kozak or something. But maybe they use the Kulich
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: button to do some roster finagling. I know it was
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: a different GM. It wasn't Kekalainen that did this, but
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: we did see that with Oslin last year. So who
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: knows what kind of roster gymnastics they'll try to do
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: here early on.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: And Jarmo said last week during training camp that they
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: are comfortable keeping the three goalies again. So it seems
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: like that's going to be an extra roster spot or
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: one less for the skaters. I know that they sent
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: Connor Sherry down to Rochester as well. You expect him
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: to clear waivers. Was there anything else with the roster
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: that got announced that surprised you?
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: No, not really.
• 47:57
  Speaker 4: No, no.
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, I mean, yeah, no. Okay. I think the
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: only thing that was remotely surprising was we didn't know
• 48:05
  Speaker 3: Connor Timmons was injured until he was thrown on IR.
• 48:07
  Speaker 3: other than that. No, I think, I think everyone kind
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: of knew there wasn't really a big roster battle this
• 48:13
  Speaker 3: year in terms of someone not on like someone we
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: didn't already have penciled in making the team. Like, I
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: think everyone kind of knew who the 23 man roster was.
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: And I don't know. Does anything surprise you?
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: No, I just, I was always curious to, if you,
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: if when they announced those rosters, if somebody stuck out
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: like a sore thumb to you, but as you mentioned, Kozak,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: you know, potentially as a guy that might have to
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: go down to Rochester.
• 48:40
  Speaker 3: So, um, not, it's not a surprise that he's on
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: the roster, but I genuinely have no clue what the
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: plan for Justin Danforth is. And I'm not necessarily saying
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: I'm intrigued or whatever, but that's a storyline that it's
• 48:50
  Speaker 3: just like, I don't know. It felt like when they
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: signed him last off season to that two year deal,
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: they had a plan in place for him.
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: And then he got injured.
• 48:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So like, it'll be interesting to see if does
• 48:59
  Speaker 3: that plan still exist? I, right. They kind of did
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: replace him by acquiring Carrick. So like, I'm, It's not
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: like a surprise or like a huge storyline to follow,
• 49:08
  Speaker 3: but like I am genuinely curious, like what what is
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: his role, if any?
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: Yep, that makes sense to me. So let's get to
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: our bold predictions before. uh we wrap it up here
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: bold predictions for the sabers 2026 27 season austin and
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: i were kind of talking about this one back and
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: forth leading up to the show uh we don't know
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: what each other picked so this will be fun to
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: get our reactions to it we're both going to pick
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: two things that uh Each that we think are bold predictions,
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: quote unquote, for the Sabres this season to potentially have
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: them be back-to-back playoff teams. Austin, you go first.
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: You want me to go first? All right. So my
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: first one, this is when I said breakout player. I
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: had somebody else off the list. I think this isn't
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: necessarily that bold. I have three bold predictions that kind
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: of go, they start lukewarm and they get a little
• 49:59
  Speaker 3: bit more bold as they go. But Jack Quinn's going
• 50:02
  Speaker 3: to score 30 goals this year. he's my breakout player
• 50:05
  Speaker 3: for this year. I genuinely think if you look at
• 50:07
  Speaker 3: the way he performed in the playoffs, I know he's
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: like a, he was a big empty point getter last year,
• 50:11
  Speaker 3: which was like, he didn't really play well, but he
• 50:13
  Speaker 3: would find a way to get points. Especially if you
• 50:15
  Speaker 3: look at his underlying numbers and things like that. But
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: I genuinely was a huge fan of how he performed
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: in the playoffs. He was just snake bitten and couldn't
• 50:22
  Speaker 3: find the back of the net. And I think that
• 50:24
  Speaker 3: that might've been a step forward for him. And if
• 50:26
  Speaker 3: he plays the way that he played in the playoffs
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: for a full season, the production is going to come
• 50:31
  Speaker 3: and we know how lethal of a shooter he is. So,
• 50:34
  Speaker 3: I think Jack Quinn scoring 30 is my first bold prediction.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Play-by-play voice, Dan Dunleavy said that as well, that
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: he thinks Jack Quinn's going to be a 30 goal
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: scorer as well. So I think he sort of has
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: to be to try to pick up that production that's
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: lost with a guy like Alex Tuck. So I think
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: it's going to happen too. And I think that's a
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: good prediction on your part to have Jack Quinn reach
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: that potential. We always knew he was a talented goal scorer,
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: scored 50 goals in the Ontario hockey league with the
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: Ottawa 67, which made him a top 10 pick by
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: the Sabres and, has obviously had some injury struggles in
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: his NHL career so far, but getting up to 30 goals,
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: I think, would be a reasonable expectation for Jack Quinn.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: My first one is that Josh Norris will play at
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: least 65 games for only the second time in his career.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: He did it back in 21-22. He played in 66
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: with Ottawa. I think number nine stays on the damn
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: ice this season and plays at least 65 games.
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, that would just be massive, right? Like health
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: has been like, since Norris got to Buffalo health has
• 51:36
  Speaker 3: been the only thing that's like derailed him. He's played well.
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: Like he's a good hockey player. He's a reliable hockey player,
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: but health has always kind of either taken him completely
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: off the ice or slowed him down. Like there were
• 51:48
  Speaker 3: times last year at the end of the year when
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: he was on the ice, but you could tell that
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: something necessarily wasn't right. But early on, like when he
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: was first injected back into the lineup after the early
• 51:58
  Speaker 3: injury and he was healthy, he was, he was clicking.
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: Like he was, He was scoring at like a 60
• 52:02
  Speaker 3: point pace, which would be huge for the Sabres. So
• 52:05
  Speaker 3: I personally cannot predict him to stay healthy because I
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: got burned by that last year. But if he does
• 52:11
  Speaker 3: play 65 plus games this year, that's a huge win
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: for the Sabres because I would expect him to, you know,
• 52:18
  Speaker 3: in 65 games be around the 40 to 45 point mark.
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: And they need him to stay healthy down the center
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: ice position, right? Again, we'll see. It looks like Tage
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: is going to play center to start. But again, he
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: could go to wing if, you know, Norris gets elevated
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: there and Helen who's moves to wing or Austin moves
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: to center cool leech as well. Like you have to
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: wait and see where it goes with that. But I
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: think number nine being in the middle of the ice
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: would obviously be massive for the Sabres. So that's my
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: first bowl prediction. Josh Norris playing at least 65 games. Austin,
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: what's number two for you?
• 52:49
  Speaker 3: Uh, number two for, okay. Cause like I said, I have,
• 52:51
  Speaker 3: I have three, so I'll give him my third after this. So, um,
• 52:56
  Speaker 3: this is a big podcast for players that I've hated on.
• 52:58
  Speaker 3: I was a Jack Quinn hater last year, even though
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: I was a supporter the year before that. Now I'm
• 53:02
  Speaker 3: pretty damn to have a breakout. Um, it becomes a guy.
• 53:08
  Speaker 3: Use my wording carefully here. Legitimate number one goalie. So
• 53:12
  Speaker 3: he starts 55 plus games, not because of injuries, but
• 53:16
  Speaker 3: he starts 55 plus games because he earned it and
• 53:19
  Speaker 3: forced Lindy Ross hand. He's a guy that, you know,
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: I was very skeptical of. I have not been a
• 53:25
  Speaker 3: huge fan of his. I have not bought into the
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: athleticism and the things like that. But despite the Game
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: 7 performance, I really like the way that he played
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: in the playoffs. I've liked what I've kind of seen
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: from him. And this is just me personally. He's going
• 53:42
  Speaker 3: to have a huge chip on his shoulder being thrown
• 53:44
  Speaker 3: in all those Hellebuck rumors. So I'm predicting he starts
• 53:48
  Speaker 3: 55 plus games based off merit.
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: Good thing he had that trade clause in his contract, right?
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: Or else he probably would have been in that trade
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: to Winnipeg. So does that mean that you're a little less,
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: or you're more down on Lyon and Ellis, or you
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: just think that Lukanen takes the net this year?
• 54:05
  Speaker 3: I think Lukanen takes the net this year. I mean,
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: something that we haven't really talked about. I don't know
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: if you and I have specifically talked about it, at least.
• 54:13
  Speaker 3: Colton Ellis will get, let me see. He needs a
• 54:17
  Speaker 3: certain amount of starts to become an RFA, because right
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: now he's a Group 60 UFA at the end of
• 54:21
  Speaker 3: this year. I think it'd be really stupid for the
• 54:25
  Speaker 3: Sabres not to get him the 13 starts that's required
• 54:28
  Speaker 3: to be an RFA. Why wouldn't you? He played 16
• 54:30
  Speaker 3: games last year. So that does kind of throw a
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: little bit of a wrench into what I was saying there,
• 54:37
  Speaker 3: but I just think Lukanen is going to... I've said
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: this so many times. If not now, when for Lukanen?
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: But I think the chip on the shoulder and the
• 54:49
  Speaker 3: way he played in the playoffs despite the Game 7,
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: things like that, I do think that Lukanen is poised
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: for a big year. And I think, I think almost,
• 54:57
  Speaker 3: sorry to the people of Winnipeg, I think almost being
• 54:59
  Speaker 3: shipped to Winnipeg might be the kick in the pants
• 55:01
  Speaker 3: that he needs. Literally.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: And again, they needed all three last year because it
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: seemed like one was on the shelf all season long.
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: So hopefully Lukanen is the guy to take the net
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: this year. And again, with the sour taste of game
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: seven as well with that overtime winner that he let
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: in that you most likely want him to have back. So, Uh,
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: Ukopeka Lukanen is Austin's bold prediction. Number two, Jack Quinn,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: Ukopeka Lukanen. Who would ever thought that?
• 55:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Uh, and also, uh, according to Puckpedia, 12 starts
• 55:29
  Speaker 3: for Ellis will give him RFA status. So I imagine like,
• 55:32
  Speaker 3: I don't know why the Sabres wouldn't do that.
• 55:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: I think that'd be pretty foolish.
• 55:36
  Speaker 3: You claimed him. You used him to basically push out Levi.
• 55:39
  Speaker 3: You might as well get him as 12 starts and
• 55:41
  Speaker 3: keep him as an RFA.
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: That's fair. So, yeah, we'll see with Lukanen there. My
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: number two is going to be Josh Doan also scores
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: 30 goals this year if he remains on that top
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: power play unit. He had 25 last season with 52 points.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: I think he gets he could be upwards of 30
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: goals and 70 points this year. I don't think that's
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: unreasonable for Josh Doan. As I mentioned, he had 25
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: and 52 last season. So if he has five more
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: goals and 18 more points total, that gets him to
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: the 70. And I think signing that big contract, they
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: expect him to maybe not fill Alex Tuck's shoes completely
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: with the point total right away. But I think he's
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: got the, every opportunity to do so on that right
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: wing spot. And I think Josh Stone's going to have,
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: you know, a really breakout year and show why that
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: contract is going to be one of the best in
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: the national hockey league going forward.
• 56:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Don't is an interesting one because honestly, don't was
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: a guy I was having this talk with a friend
• 56:32
  Speaker 3: at work the other day. And don't was a guy
• 56:34
  Speaker 3: that I said, I wouldn't be shocked if he has
• 56:36
  Speaker 3: a better season this year. but the points don't look
• 56:40
  Speaker 3: the way that they looked last year because he does
• 56:42
  Speaker 3: so many things that don't show up on a score sheet.
• 56:46
  Speaker 3: But then, you know, fast forward to now, it looks
• 56:49
  Speaker 3: like he's going to be the first guy to replace
• 56:50
  Speaker 3: Tuck on that top line. So would not be surprised
• 56:54
  Speaker 3: at all if he's on the number one power play,
• 56:55
  Speaker 3: if he's on that top line. The production should be
• 56:58
  Speaker 3: expected to, at the very least, be what it was
• 57:00
  Speaker 3: last year. 30 goals for Doan and 70 points. That's
• 57:02
  Speaker 3: a bold one. I like that. If Doan gets that,
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: Buffalo's in extremely good shape this year.
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that would only be five more than
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: he had last year.
• 57:12
  Speaker 3: He replaces Tuck by himself. He replaced Paterka by himself
• 57:15
  Speaker 3: last year. So that would be lofty expectations for Dome.
• 57:18
  Speaker 3: But if there's someone that can handle it, he's one
• 57:20
  Speaker 3: of the guys that can do that.
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: So what's your final bold prediction for the Sabres this season, Austin?
• 57:26
  Speaker 3: So I kind of hinted at it earlier in the
• 57:28
  Speaker 3: podcast when we were talking about Owen Power. I said
• 57:30
  Speaker 3: he's not a big point guy. My boldest prediction is
• 57:34
  Speaker 3: Owen Power, 65 plus points from the back end. This
• 57:38
  Speaker 3: is a guy who has, you know, this one's bold.
• 57:44
  Speaker 3: This one's bold. He's never even sniffed that point total
• 57:47
  Speaker 3: in his career. But he's a guy that Byron's gone now.
• 57:51
  Speaker 3: There's no more. Not that there ever was. I don't
• 57:54
  Speaker 3: necessarily think there was. But there was a debate if
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: Byron was getting locked up long term. What does that
• 58:00
  Speaker 3: mean for Owen Power? There were people having those conversations.
• 58:04
  Speaker 3: Those conversations are dead now. Owen Power is here. Bowen
• 58:06
  Speaker 3: Byron is gone. He's going to step into that second
• 58:08
  Speaker 3: power play role. He's going to be, you know, he's
• 58:12
  Speaker 3: on the second pair, but like, I don't think it's
• 58:16
  Speaker 3: a stretch to say own power is their number two defenseman.
• 58:18
  Speaker 3: When doll, if Darlene, God forbid ever had to miss
• 58:21
  Speaker 3: any time, like power would be the guy to step
• 58:23
  Speaker 3: into that role. There's no doubt in my mind. So
• 58:25
  Speaker 3: he's going to have every opportunity, the way he was
• 58:27
  Speaker 3: playing at the end of the year, last year in
• 58:28
  Speaker 3: the playoffs, he's looked like the Owen power that we
• 58:30
  Speaker 3: thought he was. And I know points don't matter for defense,
• 58:33
  Speaker 3: but I know he's not a point guy, but I'm
• 58:35
  Speaker 3: predicting a, big jump in his production this year. He's
• 58:41
  Speaker 3: got everything you want in an offensive defenseman. I can't
• 58:44
  Speaker 3: say defenseman because I know people will yell at me
• 58:46
  Speaker 3: because he doesn't necessarily hit people.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: Blah, blah, blah.
• 58:49
  Speaker 3: But Owen Power, 65 plus points because he's finally going
• 58:55
  Speaker 3: to show people what he can be. And if we're
• 58:59
  Speaker 3: being honest, he's hitting the right age where offensive defensemen pop.
• 59:06
  Speaker 3: Not everyone's a Quinn Hughes, not everyone's a Dali, and
• 59:08
  Speaker 3: not everyone is able to have massive offensive impacts in
• 59:11
  Speaker 3: their first 18, 19, 20-year-old seasons. People take a long
• 59:16
  Speaker 3: time to develop. Power is about to hit his stride.
• 59:20
  Speaker 3: I know with the way contracts have been inflated, his
• 59:23
  Speaker 3: contract looks like a perfectly fine contract now, but I
• 59:27
  Speaker 3: think he has potential to show one of the best
• 59:31
  Speaker 3: value contracts in the league because aside from Dali, there's
• 59:36
  Speaker 3: no one on this roster on the back end that
• 59:38
  Speaker 3: can do what Power can do. And I'm very bullish
• 59:41
  Speaker 3: on Owen Power.
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: He's going to do his year 24, 24-year-old season, right?
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: 29 points in 81 games last year. But again, if
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: you look at preseason and you care about it, he
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: led the team in points in the preseason.
• 59:55
  Speaker 3: Don't let that trick you. That's not why I'm saying
• 59:57
  Speaker 3: 65 points. But no, I just... I think getting the
• 59:59
  Speaker 3: number two power play unit is going to be big
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 3: for him. I think, again, Byron was fantastic, but I
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 3: wouldn't be surprised if you told me there was an
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 3: internal debate between the two. Like, well, if this one's
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 3: here long-term, what does that mean for me? And vice versa.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 3: So I think it's just, it's opens up a huge
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 3: spot for power to kind of step into that role.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 3: You know, we talk about Zellweger filling the Byron spot.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 3: I think it's, No, like, just body-wise, that makes sense.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 3: But to me, like, Owen Power is going to take
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 3: Bo and Byron's spot. And Byron had 40 points last year. Like,
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 3: Power can easily hit 40, in my opinion. Like I said,
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 3: I'm predicting him to hit more. So, really like that.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 3: I was going to do a, not negative prediction, but, like,
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 3: Josh Doan was going to be a bold prediction for me,
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 3: which is, I was going to say it has a
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 3: better season than last year, but the production does not
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 3: equal what he had last year because... he's just the
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 3: type of player where he doesn't need to score points. Um,
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 3: but you predict him to score 30. And I like
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 3: that one a lot better. So I'm not going to
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 3: talk about that.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: I just think he might lock himself into some points
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: with the areas that he goes to. Right.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 3: And Oh no, for sure. He's, he's the, he's the
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 3: perfect hockey player. He's exactly what you want. Like I said,
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 3: that's to me was my prediction for him. What if
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 3: I was going to do it was he's going to
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 3: have a better season, but it wouldn't look like in
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 3: production wise. Um, not unnecessarily, but what I was going
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 3: to say, I decided to go with Owen power, but
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 3: I was going to say the Sabres have a top
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 3: five power play, but I don't think I could.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 3: There we go.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: That's exactly what my last one was. Sabres will have
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: a top five power play in the NHL at least
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: 25% after being 20th place last season at 19.5. You
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: took the word.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 3: I like, yeah, that was, that was honestly one that
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 3: I was, I was going back and forth and I
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 3: was like, no, I think the Owen power one spicy
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 3: or something to go with Owen power. I like, I like, listen,
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 3: all the things that we are having, we only need
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 3: like one of one, my, one of mine and one
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 3: of yours. If, one of our each comes true I
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 3: think the Sabres are in pretty good shape because that's
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 3: we talked about our biggest fear was how do they
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 3: replace the production that they lost if any of the
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 3: six things happen that we said they replace.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: That production exactly so I love that that you uh
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: you teed me up for that for my last one
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: there so there were bold predictions for the Sabre season
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: and yeah I think the Owen Power one is very
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: intriguing right like heaven forbid that Rasmus Darlene misses any
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: time due to injury but I don't think that we
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: would like obviously you would you'd hit, you'd be panicked,
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: but at the same time, you'd think that power could
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: step into that role and at least, you know, run
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: the power play.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely. I think, listen, I love Rasmus Dahlien. He's
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 3: an elite defenseman. Last year at times, the power play struggled,
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 3: I think partially because him, like he wasn't doing an
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 3: efficient job at running the power play. He wasn't the
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 3: only problem with it, but there were times where it
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 3: was just like, you could tell he's pressing the issue.
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 3: He's trying too hard. He's doing whatever, all this stuff. So,
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 3: I perfectly think power is perfectly capable of stepping in
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 3: and running the power play. That's why I'm excited to
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 3: see him run the second unit. How many times last
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 3: year did we say the second unit was better than
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 3: the first one? So I'm excited to see what that
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 3: looks like with, with, with power. Do you, I, we
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 3: obviously don't have to do this, but do you have
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 3: any like negative predictions for the Sabres?
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: No, not, not off the top of my head.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 3: The only two that I could think of were, like,
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 3: Kulich just isn't ready, but that looks like it's coming
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 3: to fruition. Obviously, too early to fully write that off.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 3: But the one that I had was, Helenius struggles in
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 3: the first half of the year. Like, doesn't, Helenius' momentum
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 3: from the playoffs doesn't carry over to the start of
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 3: the season. I'm not saying I expect that to happen,
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 3: but that's the only one that I could, that's the
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 3: only one that I was like, I could really like
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 3: it's a negative one that I wouldn't be shocked if
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 3: it happens.
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he's a he's a top five Calder
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: candidate and a lot of people's boards that I've seen.
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: And I mean, I took him in fantasy because I
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: think that he's going to have a potential to be
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: a boomer bus type of guy there. But as you mentioned, yeah,
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, he could potentially have that that slump for
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: a young player, right? Like, are we expecting every Sabres
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: young player to have a career year?
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 3: That's kind of where I was getting. I was just like,
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 3: if you told me right now, who's going to have
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 3: a better 26, 27, Oseland or Hellenius. I think right
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 3: now I'm leaning towards Oseland. Like I, to me, he
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 3: is the one that is, he like, he needs to
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 3: have a good season. If Hellenius has a good season,
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 3: it's a bonus for me. But to me, like Oseland
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 3: there there's, you have to have a good season.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: Signing that contract that kicks in next season.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 3: That obviously added more pressure to it for sure. But
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 3: to me, it was all the factors I said earlier, right?
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 3: Like he's older, he's played a full NHL season. Like
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 3: to me, there is much more pressure on him than
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 3: there is on Hellenius. which is why I think I
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 3: wouldn't be shocked if Hellenius maybe struggled out of the gate.
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 3: That being said, not everyone can have an elite season.
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 3: Someone is going to not have the season that we
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 3: think they're going to have. I don't think it's going
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 3: to be Hellenius, but also people need to realize, and
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 3: I think most people do, for a player like Hellenius,
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 3: or Hellenius, early on, the points aren't going to tell
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 3: the whole story. It's going to be his two-way play,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 3: his four-checking play. It's going to be things like that. Now,
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 3: that can't be the story of the whole season for
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 3: a player like him. No offense, when Jarmo Kekalainen says, Oslund, Benson,
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 3: and Hellenius can replace Tuck, that means you guys need
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 3: to also be scoring points. I don't think anyone Benson
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 3: is just, I think the expectation is 50 points for him.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 3: I think the expectation is 40s for Oslund. I don't
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 3: know what to expect from Hellenius, so You're telling me,
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 3: if we sit here right now and Helene is, if
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 3: Helene finishes in the top five for the Calder, again,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 3: that's like, to me, that's a huge win. Yeah. I just,
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 3: I don't know if I see that happening. He's a
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 3: very good hockey player. I still have a ton of
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 3: high hopes for him. I am still very bullish on him.
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 3: To me, he's probably the Sabres. Him and Osa under
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 3: one and two. To me, it depends on what day
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 3: you get me. Like you can ask me tomorrow and
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 3: I can totally change, change my mind. But I just,
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 3: to me, not everyone can, can have high expectations so
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 3: like if you told me is there one player that
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't be shocked if we're sitting here in December
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 3: it's like ah he hasn't popped the way that I
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 3: thought he would to me it might be him that's
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 3: not saying I expect that to happen but to me
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 3: like that one is in the realm of possibilities for
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 3: me and Kulik would have been but to me it's
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 3: just it's not really fair to say that to him
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 3: when I just earlier in the show said like I
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 3: would send him to Rochester right now because I just
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's fair to put that pressure on
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 3: him Like if we were sitting here and they tried
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 3: to slot him as the number one center, the way
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 3: they did at the start of last year, like to me,
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 3: that would just, that would have been a sign that
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 3: he's ready to go, but they clearly don't, they don't
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 3: eat themselves. Don't even have that expectation of him right
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 3: now with where they have them slotted in the lineup. Yeah.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: You got to see how, how he progresses after five,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: 10 games, see if he's, you know, completely past, you know,
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: what he dealt with last season with the blood clot.
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: So you want to be cautious with him. So as
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: we wrap it up here, Austin, looking at the October schedule, Um,
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: we're going to be here, uh, on this show Saturday night, uh,
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: following the Chicago Blackhawks game. Zach, uh, Zach Bird is
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: going to join me, uh, co-hosting that one for our first, uh,
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: home game post game show. We're trying to do them
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: for as many home post, uh, home games as we
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: can this season. So, uh, bear with us there, but
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: the Austin is going to be back with us for
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: the Dallas game next Thursday, uh, on the post game
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: as well. But, uh, they got four straight home games,
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: five actually, uh, before they go on the road. And
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: then they've got one against Philly later in the month, but, uh,
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: you know, quick outlook on what you think, uh, coming
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: from October and tonight, I guess, or tomorrow night, whenever
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: you're listening to this, um, Columbus, uh, on the road
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: to start the season.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 3: I mean, Columbus and Chicago two, obviously last year is
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 3: not the same, but it feels like you have two
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 3: games that are winnable to start the year, which I
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 3: think is a good thing. Uh, the thing that I noticed,
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 3: obviously you said like the four straight home games, but, um,
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 3: Not even the week after. So like the week starting
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 3: with that Panthers game, you got a week of four
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 3: big divisional games. Yep.
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: That's three of them on the road.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 3: That's three of them on the road like that. That's
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 3: that's big.
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: Sabres after dark early this season in October.
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 3: I was just going to say, it feels like that
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 3: California trip has been going earlier and earlier. And then
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 3: even the Western Canada trip is in December, but they're
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 3: all like eight o'clock at night. So it's like we
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 3: really only have the one week of Sabres after dark.
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah. San Jose, Anaheim, L.A. But yeah, I mean that
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: the week of the 12th is massive because you have.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 3: Four big, four huge divisional games.
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: Florida at home in an afternoon Monday game for Thanksgiving
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: Monday on the Canadian side. I forget what holiday it
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: is in the States. And then also Montreal. You play
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: Montreal twice in Montreal that week. So you go Montreal, Toronto,
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: back to Montreal. So those are obviously massive and rivalry
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: games in the Atlantic. That's a big eight points right
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: there in the first three weeks of the season.
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 3: Massive. And I mean, this is just a, I think
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 3: you and I, I think I've said this every time.
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 3: What is the NHL's obsession with Buffalo, Philadelphia on national TV?
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 3: It feels like every time we play Philadelphia, it's a
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 3: Wednesday TNT game in the States.
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: Billy Lano effect, I guess.
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 3: I don't know. But yeah, no, a lot of, yeah.
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 3: October schedule is a fun one. A lot of out
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 3: of conference games in the first month, which is fun.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 3: I was just about to say that. It's the reverse
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 3: of last year, right? I think last year, we ended
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 3: the season with Chicago, Dallas. It was weird. This year,
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 3: we're starting the season with some random out-of-conference games.
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: Other than Columbus, yeah, four straight out-of-conference, and then you
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: got four straight in the division. So quite the contrast.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 3: Weird schedule. And I forget how it works now, but
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 3: with the extra two games, they're playing every divisional opponent
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 3: the same amount of games now, right?
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 3: Is that what that added there? Okay.
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. Cause they knew we needed to
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: play a home and away against every Western conference opponent,
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: which it is what it is. But my last question
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: for you before we wrap it up Columbus tonight, dude.
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: And I saw that they signed Carson Susie. Do you
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: think the Sabres are going to do anything there? They're
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: just going to say, you know what? Forget it. We're
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: going to move on here. After the hitty late on
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: Zellweger that obviously gave.
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Right. Like, Columbus is going to be
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 3: amped up for their home opener. It's a big season
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 3: opener for the Sabres to kind of start things off
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 3: on the right foot. I feel like they kind of
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 3: said that they answered the bell adequately in that preseason game.
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 3: But I think if something organic shows up, it will happen,
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 3: but I'm, I'm not going to, I don't think there'll
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 3: be going out of their way to like headhunt cartons
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 3: Carson sushi because they kind of already had that response
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 3: in that preseason game. Um, But also, I don't know,
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 3: Beck Malenstein flying around out there. We'll see what happens.
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: It's kind of interesting that that happened. And then their
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: first game of the regular season is against that same team.
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: And that team signed that player from the PTO.
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 3: So it'll be interesting. But yeah, I don't know. Like
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 3: I said, I think if something organic happens, they'll make
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 3: sure to answer the bell there. But I don't know
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 3: if it'll be like something that they're seeking out because
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 3: of the response that they had later in that preseason game.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: Gotcha.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: You think they come away with the two points to
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: open it up in Columbus?
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 3: I'm going to say no because the Sabres historically in
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 3: their season opening game have kind of stunk.
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: Did they win on Saturday with Bo and Byram's return?
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 3: Saturday, yes. I feel like not only is it a
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 3: must win, right? Home opener starting off on the right foot.
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 3: But like that... arena i imagine is going to be
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 3: the closest thing we've we will have to that playoff
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 3: atmosphere like it i expect saturday night to be a
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 3: highly charged atmosphere and i expect the saber say what
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 3: you want about this group over the last three to
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 3: four years they always respond in these highly charged environments
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 3: and i don't think there will be a more highly
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 3: charged environment than saturday night that home opener coming off
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 3: the the success of the playoff season and don't know
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 3: necessarily what they're doing to honor the division win, but
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 3: they'll announce the team is the division winner and things
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 3: like that. So yeah, they're, they're definitely, I, to me,
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 3: they're winning the home opener, but to me, maybe it's
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 3: also just me being wanting to protect myself. I'm not
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 3: going to predict that they win tonight against Columbus, even
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 3: though I think they should, they should win your better
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 3: team than Columbus.
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: What kind of reception does Bowen Byram get in his
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: return to Buffalo?
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 3: I feel like it ha I don't know. In my brain,
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 3: like it has to be positive. Like I, Say what
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 3: you want. I know he said he wasn't going to
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 3: sign here and everything, but like... It doesn't feel like
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 3: that ugly of a breakup. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 3: kind of just downplaying it. I don't know.
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: Maybe if they wouldn't have went on that playoff run
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: because he's sort of part of that crew that we'll
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: always remember that broke the drought.
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's definitely playing into it as well.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 3: But I feel like whether you agree with Byram or not,
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 3: he was very open and honest about why he wanted
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 3: to leave. It wasn't because of lack of success. It
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 3: was because he thinks he's a number one defense when
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 3: he wanted to get paid like one. And that's what
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 3: he did. So like, I don't know. I, I think
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 3: them breaking the drought last year and him having a
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 3: big part in that will ease it. I'm sure he'll
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 3: be put it like this. I would expect when they
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 3: welcome him back, it'll be a huge reception. And then
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't be surprised if he's booed when he touches
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 3: the puck.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: Patrick Kane, same thing.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 3: Nah, screw Patrick Kane.
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I mean, he was never going to be
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: a number one defenseman as long as Rasmus Darlene was
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: a part of the team. So can't really blame him there. But, yeah,
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a– it's a great out-of-conference opponent
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: given the storylines with Patrick and Colin Byram for the
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: home opener.
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 3: I said it, like, yesterday when Chicago was playing on
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 3: the season opener. I was like, they really got to
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 3: stop putting Chicago in these spots. But, obviously, with the
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 3: market that they have and everything, like, Byram going to
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 3: Chicago– Kane being there. Like it's, it's a fun, it
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 3: is a very fun, like storyline out of conference home opener.
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 3: And I like random teams on the home opener. It's
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 3: like Chicago being the home opener. Like I, I like that.
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: And it gives, it just gives you something extra to
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: look forward to. I mean, you like, if it was
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: Utah or Colorado, like just doesn't have that same, same juice. Yeah, exactly.
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: So yeah, we'll have to wait and see. Austin will
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: be back with us next Thursday night, following the Dallas game.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: But that's going to wrap it up for our season
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: preview episode of Saber Semantics right here on the Armchair
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: GM Sports Network with the Saber season starting tonight in Columbus.
• 1:15:03
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• 1:15:05
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  Speaker 1: right here on the Armchair GM Sports Network. We'll talk
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: to you guys following the home opener on Saturday night
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: against the Chicago Blackhawks. This is the Armchair GM Sports Network.