- 21 hours ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00is on Friday. They still have the fourth pick as of now. Hold on, Paul, let me refresh Twitter.
00:04Just make sure they still have the fourth pick. Yeah, I think we're good. I think we're good to
00:09go. Good morning. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, no problem. How are you? Good. There's a lot of
00:15you know, it's rumor season, right? So you're seeing no, they're at least talking about the
00:19pick. And I mean, we didn't need to see a report about that. Yarmulkekeleinen talked about that
00:25yesterday, among a lot of other things that they're certainly going to be willing to talk
00:30about that pick, but also aren't afraid to make it. So I don't know. We'll see. Did you
00:34have a feeling right now, one way or the other, whether they are, they want to trade that pick?
00:41Well, you know, as of one o'clock yesterday or a little bit after he said right now, all
00:50we're doing is listening about the pick, you know, where he goes, we're not in any, any,
00:59you know, one of any of these things that will, Hey, we got to make a decision right this second.
01:04He goes, we are listening, seeing what's out there, seeing what people are willing to pay
01:09for it. And then they'll start moving. So they've had a day of doing that, of just listening to what
01:17other teams feel about it and what they're willing to do about it. And of course you have to figure
01:23it out by Friday tomorrow, but you know, that, that was the, what is going to be his approach
01:28is let's see what's out there. Let's see what people are willing to give for the fourth pick.
01:33And then it's our turn. And then we'll figure out what we're going to do with the fourth pick.
01:37Yeah. Paul, there's been a lot of talk about, we'll get to Alex talk, Zach Benson. There's,
01:41there's a lot of news happening around the team right now, but there has been a lot of discussion
01:46in Toronto about Matthew Nyes. And I know that's been a popular discussion amongst Sabre fans.
01:53Is he worth the fourth pick to you or is that a different trade? Yeah, that's weird. Cause I've
02:01heard him being associated with the fourth pick and I didn't discard it, but I did give it a thought
02:08of
02:08really. Okay. Is that a lot for him? He's a good player. I mean, no question about that. Let's,
02:15let's get that right out of the way. But yeah, I, I, and I'm not going to lie to you.
02:21I haven't
02:22really come up with an answer yet. So if I, if I feel that way about, about him, look at
02:29the type
02:29of player you're going to get at number four, right? Right now people are talking about the top
02:36three forwards going one, two, three, which means then if you make the pick, you're getting,
02:40you're probably taking the best defenseman in the draft in a good defenseman draft, a defenseman
02:46heavy draft, or you're now that defenseman probably isn't going to help you for two or
02:52three years. Yeah. It's rare. It's rare that a guy you pick there even does that. I mean,
02:58they do it, but their names are Makar and Quinn Hughes and, and Schneider, Schaefer, Schaefer,
03:05Schaefer, I'm sorry. Uh, last year. I mean, those are the names that you can, that can maybe
03:11pull that off. Um, so you, you're probably the forward would have a better chance of helping
03:17you sooner than the defenseman would. Um, and you know, so Matthew nice is ready to help you
03:24right now, you know, and help you in a good way. So if you look at it that way, you
03:33know,
03:34you're getting a 66 point guy last year with his, which was his career high the year before he had
03:3929 goals, which was a career high and more assists last year than he had goals the year before he
03:44was
03:45even that way. He's only 23 years old, but the development is over, you know, he's already done
03:52his development. He never played in the American hockey league. He went right from the university
03:57of Minnesota to the NHL. That was right at the end of the season. And now has played three full
04:03seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. And he's only 23 years old. So when you put it in that context,
04:10yeah, maybe he is worth the fourth pick. Yeah. I continue to think about to the connections he
04:15has because he's really good buddies with Josh Stone and has been for a while. And his dad is
04:22Shane Doan, who we know does not like the new GM in Toronto. So I wonder what their relationship
04:28might be like. They parted ways quickly. Right. When he, when he was hired. Right. So if Nyes is
04:32close with the Dones, I wonder if him and Chayka can coexist. I mean, it's not like it's a coach
04:37and player, so maybe they can, but yeah, we'll see. I mean, and if you're wondering about the
04:41connection, they had the connection in Arizona when everything, right. Chayka went, went haywire.
04:47And that's why a lot of people were like, Chayka's getting another job after what happened
04:52in, in, in Arizona. Really? Right. And Nyes is from Phoenix too, by the way, from the area. Yes.
04:58And, and that need, I mean, that now is more of one because talk is officially gone on his way
05:04to Washington and the price he ends up going for Paul, I don't think surprised anybody. Maybe you
05:11might've thought, you know, like there had been a lot of smoke that like Seattle would
05:14have been willing to go above 11, but when Adrian Kempe signed for 10 and a half, or he
05:19was 10.6 million in the fall, that's always been the comparable that people have pointed
05:25to. And I don't think it should be surprising that he went for basically the exact same contract.
05:29Yeah. If Seattle was willing to pay that, he'd be in Seattle because this obviously was
05:34about money and nothing else. I mean, and it, I've said that I said this way back in the
05:40beginning and I'll say it again. It amuses me that the Sabres thought they had leverage
05:44in this thing. They had none, never had any. I mean, talk basically, this is what you're
05:50going to pay because this is what I'm going to get. This is, you know, as you said, what
05:55Kempe got, this is my market value and this is, this is it. And you're going to pay it or
06:02you're not. And the Sabres said, we're not, but the Sabres for some reason thought they
06:07had leverage with them. And I don't know why they felt that way, starting with Kevin
06:10Adams, because they had none. And it was all about money because it wasn't about going
06:15out West where his wife is from. It, you know, wasn't about a hometown discount or trying
06:22to win with your hometown team, your hometown team. Finally, after all these years of suffering,
06:29you know, we're, we're, we're almost in the, in the conference finals of the playoffs. So
06:35you could have maybe taken a million less or so. And I think your, your family still would
06:41have been fine. Let's say the Sabres offered you nine and a half. Really? You can't, you
06:48can't swing that. I mean, if, if you really wanted to, if you really wanted to win a championship
06:53with your hometown team. So it was about money and nothing else. And he's with the Washington
06:58Cavs and I'm not criticizing that. I'm just saying, I'm just stating a fact. I'm not saying
07:04it's wrong or anything else. That was his choice. Fine. And everybody has to move on.
07:10Yeah. He does go to a team that should be pretty good right away. I mean, they were not a
07:14playoff
07:15team last year, but they also added Cairo and you know, like I, it wasn't like a bottom feeder
07:20team he went to. It also was not a Stanley cup contender that he went to. Cause I don't
07:23think that's also Washington. Um, but I wonder. I'm interested in Cairo. What? Yeah. Cause
07:30he's the type of player and you can, you can say, if you disagree, I he's a, he's a very
07:35good hockey player who needs a kick in the pants from a coach. Yeah. He's like, he's always
07:39been that way that he needs a kick in the pants. He had run-ins with Berube along the way
07:44when he was the coach in St. Louis. I remember a little bit. Yeah. Um, but it ended up
07:49working out for him, right? Like he had, he had some tough times with Berube and then
07:53he ended up scoring 37 goals at some point. Yeah. But then there were other times where
07:56he was nowhere and then he, he got benched, you know, he just, he just, so I am always
08:03a little bit leery. You know, you love talent, but I'm always a little bit leery of players
08:08that need to be coach motivated in the NHL. And, but, but he's got a different coach now
08:13in Washington, a coach that a lot of players compliment who has done well with the
08:18capitals. Um, so maybe that's what he needs, you know, maybe that coach and he will, will
08:24combine and he will be able to play his abilities all the time instead of some of the time.
08:29And they're clearly trying to go all in at the end of Ovechkin's career here. Like
08:32if, if Ovechkin's going to give them one more year, it's well, let's try to win at all costs
08:36and we'll deal with the consequences later, I think is kind of their mentality. Do you, how
08:41hard do you think the Sabres really tried to sign tuck Paul? Cause I don't think they
08:45weren't going to do anything, right? Like I think if they wanted to do other things,
08:49we talked about nice or any halibut, whoever, whatever the idea is, you, they, they've limited
08:55cap space signing talk probably blocks them out from doing anything else on that level.
09:01So if, if that was Yarmou's mentality is there are other things out there I want to do, I guess
09:08is that maybe why they didn't go all out for talk? Cause I also don't feel like they would
09:13have not tried at all on talk because I don't know that Rasmus Dahlien or Tate Thompson would
09:18have appreciated if they just said immediately after the season, like, we're not even going
09:21to try to sign this guy. We're totally good with him walking away.
09:24Well, wasn't it refreshing to have a GM be brutally honest like he was yesterday? Um, you
09:32know, he, he, he wasn't afraid to talk about any of these things and, and tell you exactly
09:37what went on. Yep. Um, and he said that in order to sign talk, which would have been 10
09:46and a half million dollars, that's what it was going to take that they, he would have
09:50had to get rid of two, three, maybe four players off the current roster to, to accommodate
09:56the salary. He also did talk about, it is a risk to sign a 30 year old to an eight
10:03year
10:03contract. If I'm going to do it, I probably would have done it with talk, but true. That's
10:10true too. So he felt that way. I always felt, let's say the eight and a half was correct.
10:15That, that was the, that was the figure that was been kicked around for a while. That's
10:19what the Sabres were offering. I always said to you guys, I don't know. I doubt that's the
10:23Sabres final offer. That's the, that's for the staring contest to see who's going to blink,
10:30you know, but when it gets down to a couple of days ago when, all right, all right, things
10:36are starting to go again. And you know, I'm hearing that the Sabres did move. I don't
10:43think they moved over 10 million. They probably moved up around nine or a little bit over nine.
10:48I would say probably they moved to between nine and 9.5 somewhere in there. Um, that would
10:55be, that would be my guess and, and kind of what I was hearing too. Well, that's not going to
11:01get
11:01it done, but at least you did move. And that is, if you did start at eight, five, that is
11:05a
11:05significant move in your position. But I think he had to know that wasn't going to get it done.
11:12I think that's, that's hoping that he's going to give you the hometown discount and he wants to
11:16try to win a championship with his hometown team. I think that's what that is. Right. Yeah. Cause
11:208.5 sounds to me like you're not really trying to sign the guy. You're just trying to make it
11:25that is when didn't the Sabres offer Briere at the end, like a five-year deal that was way,
11:32way less than Philly was going to offer. Like you offered him a contract knowing that he wasn't
11:36going to take it like that to me, that to me would have been the tuck deal at eight and
11:40a half. Like
11:40that's not realistic, but you're right. Like it does seem as though they moved up and we're hoping
11:46that he would take a bigger discount to come here. So now, now that it's over, Paul, like,
11:52how do you think he'll be remembered as a Sabre? I mean, he was a part of the team that
11:57ended the
11:57playoff drought. It's not like he was here long enough that we're talking about, I think like
12:01hall of fame or number retirement stuff, obviously. But I mean, he was a part of a monster trade that
12:08was ugly when it happened. And I remember talking with you and others about like, he had been a good
12:14player in Vegas, but not maybe a great player. And he definitely elevated once he, once he got here.
12:21Yeah. And always gave the fans here, everything he had both on and off the ice. You know, I, I
12:27know
12:28fans sometimes feel like when these things happen, that they've been abandoned and then the player
12:34gets booed and that type of thing. I would hope that's not going to happen, that people recognize,
12:40you know, what the Sabres meant to him while he was playing here. It's professional athletics
12:48are a business. It's as simple as that. And, and he had the opportunity to maximize his amount and
12:58players do it all the time. Don't just blame Alex Tuck because he wanted to go out and get the
13:02most
13:02money he could get. That's what athletics are about. Well, probably 95% of the time that if you have
13:10the opportunity to do that, you're going to go out and get the most money you can get. That's what
13:14he
13:14did. But I, I would hope that wouldn't overshadow the five years that he spent here and the blood and
13:22sweat that he showed on the ice, the, what he did for the community off the ice. Um, you know,
13:28so that's
13:29what I would think he would be, should be remembered for and not that he decided to take as much
13:35money as
13:36he could get and, and, uh, go to in free agency. And by the way, he ends his Sabre career.
13:41So he
13:41is sixth all time amongst Sabre wingers in points per game. I think you should be able to nail the
13:47top five. Who are the five forwards in Sabre history with a higher points per game than him?
13:52McGilney. McGilney's number one. See, I always do this one. I'm my, my brain is turned off. It's a
13:58little, it's a little early. So I'd be asking the trivia questions like Rick Martin and Renee
14:02Robert, two and three. You might get this in order. Yeah. Um, and so I have one more,
14:07two more wingers. Yeah. Two more wingers. Who am I forgetting? Who am I forgetting? Uh,
14:12Thomas Vanek? Nope. Just below one. One's name is in the rafters. Oh, Danny Gare. Danny
14:19Gare is fourth. And then forget Danny Gare. I was the one who was pounding the table to get
14:24his number in the rafters. Yeah. He's for like I do with Mike Ramsey. Right. Um, and then I'll
14:31give you the last one. Andrew Chuck is fifth. Oh yeah. Yeah. That's your top five, five,
14:35five legends. Yeah. Vanek like right there, not far behind. So yeah, the numbers were very
14:39good also while he was here. The other news from yesterday, Paul Hamilton on the Western
14:43hotline, Benson, Paul, the seven year deal comes in at seven and a half million dollars
14:49per is not far off. I think what anybody thought it was going to be. And, uh, I think this
14:56is
14:56the most unanimously loved signing that you could have because I don't think any Sabre
15:01fan that you can find doesn't love Zach Benson as a player. Well, yeah. And it's intangibles
15:06that we're talking about, which is what may where his value lies. But I still think offensively
15:11there's going to be more here. I mean, this past year, his third season in the NHL at age
15:1621, he set career high for goals, assists and points in his last 36 games. He had 26 points.
15:23So it started then. And then in the playoffs, he was scoring big goals and being responsible
15:29for big goals. So I think there is an upside still to his offense and might be a pretty
15:35quite a bit of an upside. I mean, he had 13 goals and 30 assists last year for 43 points,
15:41which by far were his career highs from the first two years. And I would expect him again
15:48to set career highs just from what I saw, as I mentioned in the last 36 games in the playoffs
15:53from him, from an offensive standpoint, we, we've talked about how, you know, he would
15:59take dumb penalties with all the shenanigans that he did. And Lindy Ruff sat him down and
16:04says, look, I don't mind the shenanigans, but you got to understand where the line is and
16:08you've got to stop putting a shorthanded because goals were being scored because of it. And he did
16:13last year, most of the time, he was the one drawing the penalties and the other team were
16:19taking penalties because they were so angry with him. And he was giving the Sabres power play and
16:24he can play special teams. And with Tuck gone, he probably will play more special teams, whether
16:29it's penalty killing or on the power play. So there's a lot of value there that you just don't
16:34look and say, well, he only scored 13 goals. Yeah, but there's a lot more. I think there's a lot
16:39more there, but there's a lot more to his game than just 13 goals. Yep. And now after
16:44that signing, it's $13.7 million in cap space, Paul. And that's, we'll see if they do anything
16:52else that's big. The remaining players to sign Malenstein, Peyton Krebs. Would you, would
16:59you assume at this point that both of those players are just back on new deals? Malenstein
17:04for sure. I mean, he could pretty much confirm that, that they are in negotiation with him and
17:09they want him back, uh, very much. So, so I, I, I don't see, and Malenstein, I think wants to
17:16play
17:16here. So I, I would not anticipate a snag in that, even though he's an unrestricted free agent
17:23Metza, I would think they can get to come back here right now. They still only have 60. So, uh,
17:29with
17:30him. So I would think Metza would be a player. They'd bring back, of course, Krebs. Um, I don't
17:35know about Josh Dunn. It depends. I mean, you only got so many spots and, uh, you've got, you've got
17:43the three kids that are going to wind up in the lineup. You got Kozak, uh, you know, and you've
17:48got to get, uh, Carrick into the lineup. You just, uh, brought in a guy in a trade. What are
17:53you doing
17:53with camp? That was a, that was a strange one. I was very interested in that. He's, he's
17:57unrestricted. So is that somebody you're interested in? Uh, are you interested in the
18:03guy who's 51.5% in face-offs? He only played 40 games last year. I mean, this isn't a
18:09goal
18:10score or anything like that. He's got 50 goals in 576 games, but this is a veteran guy who
18:16is a good defensive centerman. Uh, but you, well, so's Carrick and so is Kozak and so
18:24is Krebs. And so is, you know, well, Jarmo said it yesterday. He goes, we're to a point
18:30now, where are we going to put all these guys that, that, that, that deserve maybe to
18:35be in the lineup, which again, well, where are the trades? Who's leaving? Uh, some of
18:41these guys are probably leaving, which are going to open up spots because
18:46I don't think trading is over. I, I always tell you, not much surprises me. I
18:53would be surprised if trading is over from Jarmo Kekalainen for this season.
18:57That, that's that part of that trade, Paul, because why else would you want
19:01comp in the deal unless you have some motivation to sign him? If, yeah, because
19:06it's not like Washington needs to get him off the cap because he's not on the
19:09cap. Right. He's UFA. He's expiring. Yeah. So why do you want him in the deal? I'm
19:14with you. Like, as you laid that out, I don't need him at all. Like he's
19:17overlap to what I've already got, including Carrick specifically. Like
19:21they're both to me, fourth line centers that are really good at face-offs.
19:25I've already got Justin Danforth is making 1.8 million Danforth, right? Like
19:28he applies for that too, but you're right. Like why I might want that guy is I
19:33have deals in the cooker that are going to increase the need for him. And maybe
19:38that, maybe that is Krebs coming off for a trade or, I mean, that could be
19:41anybody. It could be McLeod, like you've talked about. Well, they get
19:45goofy about, about arbitration. Yeah. And he, Guillermo brought that up with
19:50Kesselring. He said, all of a sudden we could have wound up in an arbitration
19:54and it got in a one year thing. And then he goes, then you can't trade him. I
19:58forgot about the rule. So that that's after he's awarded arbitration, a one
20:03year deal. You, then you can't trade him for the whole contract for the one
20:06year. Okay. For the one year to one year deal. We're talking about if an
20:09arbitrator, he, an arbitrator can offer you a one year deal or a two year
20:12deal. If it's a one year deal, you can't trade him. Right. And that's what
20:16they were afraid was going to happen with Kesselring. So they thought it was
20:20just best to do. And I agree. It was just best to do what they did. He
20:24didn't want to be here anyway. As he said, we probably would have been a
20:28little more patient with him than his camp would have been. Meaning he wanted to
20:32get out of here. But yeah. So, well, Krebs falls in that spot too. So, you
20:38know, what, what, what is an arbitrator? He's coming off a contract that paid him
20:421.45. So what's an arbitrator going to, you know, give him? So, so maybe he could
20:50be included in some type of a trade. There's just so many options here. Right.
20:55You know, that, that, that, and that we don't know about that could happen with a
21:01GM that is not afraid to make trades. Um, you know, if you make a big trade, one of
21:08those three youngsters might be gone. You know, that we're talking about making the
21:12team. Uh, so the, the one thing I don't think is going to happen. I don't think
21:17Samuelson, Darlene or Power are going to be involved in any trades. Right. Because he
21:21really believes in building from the back end out. He's got three stud defensemen. He
21:26had four, he had to get rid of one of them. So that would be shocking to me. If
21:31any one of those three were involved in trades. Well, that also is why I was in
21:35would expect more is when I saw a couple of the reports yesterday during the
21:40afternoon about the Sabres and Vincent Trocek, it was the same thing for me. Like
21:44I need Trocek. Like I know he is incredible at face-offs and penalty killing
21:49too, but at his age and I don't really have the need, like, why am I doing that? I mean,
21:55the only reason I would want to do that, I think, is if I have other things
22:00coming. Um, I don't know what you think. Does that mean then you're trading
22:02Carrick and you're trading Krabs and you're, you know, the, the guys who would
22:06be Danforth, are they all leaving then? Because you definitely, I think you're
22:11going to bring Malenstein back. Um, and, and then he Trocek or are you getting rid
22:17of McLeod and you're going to put him in that spot? Yeah. Do you have an opinion
22:21on Trocek at this point? I mean, he is, they're going to be 33. Um, I mean,
22:26he's still good, but I don't think most believe he's the same player he was three,
22:30four years ago. Definitely. I agree with you a hundred percent there that he's,
22:33he's definitely, uh, uh, he would immediately be the Sabres best face-off guy
22:38by far. Um, you'd lost a premier penalty killer in Alex Tuck. Um, so, you know,
22:46he could definitely take that role. Um, if you bring him in and are you getting
22:53rid of, as I said, McLeod, well, there's another very good penalty killer
22:57that you're getting rid of. Um, so that's, you know, if, if, if they wind up
23:03bringing him in, then I'm thinking Ryan McLeod's probably going to be elsewhere
23:07because that's where I kind of see him fitting. Right. Yep. Me too. Paul
23:11Hamilton. We'll see if, uh, we get that in the next day or something. I mean, I think
23:15everybody's anticipating we will get more. It's just a matter of when. Thank
23:19you, Paul. And, uh, we'll chat tomorrow. Take care guys.
Comments