Paul on Sabres Goalies

Paul Hamilton explains the Sabres claiming G Colten Ellis off waivers

Transcript

00:00Paul, the Sabres, they open up tomorrow.

00:02The Rangers played last night, got shut out by Pittsburgh,

00:05and the Rangers will come in here for tomorrow night's opener at Key Bank Center.

00:09Looks like it'll be Alex Lyon in net.

00:11Let's talk a bit about the goaltending situation,

00:13because they also claimed a guy off waivers from St. Louis.

00:17Do you like this move?

00:19I mean, I know a waiver claim is what it is,

00:22but they had just signed George EF.

00:23Now they waive him and claim Ellis.

00:25To me, it at least looks like they're aware they've got so much uncertainty there,

00:29and they're willing to try a couple different things.

00:32Yeah, honestly, after talking to him and listening to Lindy Ruff,

00:38as Lindy Ruff said, it was just something they felt they could not pass up.

00:42I guess Ellis has been on their radar for a while,

00:45and it was an opportunity they felt they couldn't pass up.

00:49They saw Gorgiev in preseason, as we did.

00:52It wasn't good.

00:53I mean, it wasn't any better than what I've seen the past two or three years.

00:57But on the other side of the coin, too, I'll tell you what my first thought was.

01:04If I'm Devin Levy, I'm like, excuse me?

01:06Yeah.

01:07We talked about this a little bit.

01:08Yeah.

01:10You just picked up a 25-year-old goaltender who was in the AHL with me last year,

01:15and our numbers are almost identical last year in the AHL.

01:20So that was the first thing I thought is what's Devin Levy thinking

01:26and what's his move going to be one of these days?

01:28Yeah.

01:29So we talked about that with Owen, and his theory, Paul,

01:32was like maybe that Ellis is a bit more disposable here,

01:35whereas Levy, they're invested in this idea of a development arc.

01:39But I don't know.

01:40It's been a while here for Levy, and he's continuing to do the job,

01:44and they just feel he's still not ready.

01:47Because even Armstrong, the GM of the Blues,

01:53I mean, I put some quotes from him in the article,

01:56and he said he was somewhat surprised just because Ellis doesn't have an NHL resume.

02:03So he was surprised the Sabres would grab him.

02:06He would have thought maybe if they were looking for somebody,

02:09they'd be looking for somebody with more experience.

02:14Because his next game is his first game in the National Hockey League.