- 2 days ago
Mike Schopp and Chris "Bulldog" Parker discuss which Sabres players this season deserve the credit for helping turn the team around.
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00:06Oh, the invitation to talk fantasy.
00:08Why don't let's go ADP chasing last night.
00:13I'm sure you saw it before the Sabres game.
00:15We wrapped up at about nine.
00:17So there was that I wore my Toronto St.
00:21Pat's toque not realizing that the Leafs wore that uniform,
00:24which I guess they always do.
00:26Yeah, they do.
00:27And how great is that?
00:29It's a really great look.
00:30Yeah.
00:30And they lost.
00:31Yeah, well, that's what they do, largely.
00:34That's what they do now.
00:35But hey, Morgan Raleigh fought a guy that bumped into the goalie,
00:37so, you know, they're on the way back.
00:39Culture's right.
00:40That must mean good things about the culture.
00:42Is that coach out?
00:44Oh, my God, yes.
00:45Really?
00:46Yes.
00:46Is he going to be back in somewhere?
00:48Yes.
00:49Because he won a cup?
00:50Yeah, he chews the gum and he's got the look.
00:53Like, yeah, yeah, he'll be back.
00:56I think the GM, I talked to Luke Fox on Friday.
00:59You weren't here Friday, right?
01:00Correct.
01:00Yeah, you went to Philly.
01:02Luke Fox, Sportsnet, Leafs beat.
01:06And yeah, there's just so, I mean, just everything.
01:10They are living last year, to an extent, from us.
01:14Like, all the Matthews getting cheap shotted and nobody doing anything,
01:18and now it's like, oh, we're going to show we're a team.
01:21It's just so pathetic to watch from a distance.
01:24Like, we've lived this life many times.
01:28I can't believe the GM will make it out, either.
01:32I just don't try living.
01:33I just, they botched so badly a restart.
01:40Like, oh, well, you know, this core four, we can't win in the playoffs.
01:43We need to be tougher and meaner and harder to play against and all this sort of stuff.
01:47And it just, right from the start this year, like very early, I remember thinking,
01:52they're not good.
01:53Maybe they'll get better, but this is not a good hockey team.
01:57And they've been that all year, even with Matthews and Nylander and Tavares.
02:02They miss Marner.
02:04They don't, they like decided their fastball couldn't win for them anymore.
02:08And they, you know, look, there's a reason to do that.
02:11It was nine years in, and it wasn't getting them anywhere.
02:14That's the Bills.
02:15But, man.
02:16Isn't it?
02:17Yeah, I guess.
02:18Yeah.
02:19The Bills didn't exactly do that.
02:21Yeah, they didn't change.
02:23I mean, they did run focus, but the league kind of became,
02:27more run focused.
02:28Not like the, the Bills were more like on the front end of a wave than they were
02:32like, let's change how we play because this isn't working as much.
02:36I mean, I think anyway.
02:38But, yeah, there's similarities.
02:40But, man, what did, what did, and I don't know what the way back is.
02:44Their pipeline doesn't exist.
02:46They got nothing.
02:47You know, I don't need to tell you, Sabres fans have had it really tough,
02:51not just with the 14-year playoff drought, and even years before that,
02:57without even winning a round.
02:58But then, the, the, having to watch departed stars go win elsewhere,
03:05like, immediately.
03:06O'Reilly in St. Louis, Eichel in Vegas, Reinhardt in Florida.
03:11And Toronto did a lot of winning in the last decade, had a tough time winning
03:17rounds, and, you know, almost the best we could do here was to sort of laugh at
03:23that.
03:23Right.
03:24You know, it's really not enough to laugh at that.
03:26They're still better than you.
03:27But at least it was something, I watched, was it game seven against the Panthers
03:32last year in Toronto?
03:33And they got blown out.
03:35Like, it was 5-0 maybe at some point, and I was with my brother-in-law who lives
03:38in Toronto, and just like, I thought they were going to do it, and there you are
03:43watching the Leafs, you know, be the Leafs again in that game.
03:47Just far not the better team.
03:50Imagine, saying all that is leading to this, imagine if the Sabres go and win the
03:54Stanley Cup.
03:55I know.
03:57I know.
03:57And Toronto is just like, Buffalo is not even, does not even rate at all.
04:02We can go to any of their games we want in their building and make fun of it.
04:06They're never even in the playoffs.
04:08Sure, we lose to Tampa and Florida, but still, and it's pretty good.
04:12We've got stars.
04:13We're in the mix.
04:15And you take a year, and they fall out of the picture, and the Sabres just go, whoo.
04:21Right.
04:21How great would that be?
04:22How great would it be to have scoreboard over teams like that?
04:25That would be so tasty.
04:26And even Ottawa, right?
04:27It's just, I do like, I mean, look, I, I, I, I can, we're so close.
04:33It's a hockey market.
04:34Like, if you're interested in how hockey is covered and talked about, like I am, you're
04:39going to dip into the media there.
04:40Um, so I, I, I, I'm, I'm always sort of, I'm more, I think, than the average fan, like
04:46conscious of what's being said and written up there about their team and about our team.
04:51And when the Sabres went in there, the last time they visited there, I just sort of danced
04:56on them.
04:56It's like, like, I'm not one to go find my favorite Canadian radio show and listen to
05:02it in a podcast during the day.
05:04But I was as close as I've ever been after that, because I'm just curious, what do hosts
05:10I like on shows that I like think about this?
05:13Like what's happening here versus what's happening in Toronto when it's right in their face and
05:18it's happening in Toronto's building.
05:21Who are these people?
05:23Who's Helenoose?
05:25What happened?
05:27Where, what, how did we end up here?
05:29They're there.
05:30We're here.
05:31I mean, holy cow.
05:32And even, I don't know, barely at Christmas, would you have thought this was a thing?
05:37Oh yeah, no.
05:37And like, it's just...
05:39I'm not sure I still think it's a thing.
05:41I have to remind myself that I do.
05:43It's just incredible.
05:43And then they go out and play like the game of the year, Sunday before last, and like,
05:49it's just so wild.
05:50It's just such a cool thing.
05:52Well, it's, it's a little bit what happened this year with New England.
05:55Yeah, I guess.
05:56We're not supposed to see you at this party.
05:59You know, how did you get invited to this?
06:01Right.
06:01But, you know, there it was in the Super Bowl, right?
06:04That could, maybe the Sabres can actually do it.
06:07We talked about them a lot early today.
06:10You just, I just love their makeup to be a team that can maybe pull this off.
06:18Because they've never been this team.
06:20They've never been a team so deep and strong on the blue line.
06:26And it just makes it so hard for their opponents to get through.
06:30I mean, Vegas, Vegas has a few star players, as we know.
06:33And they had chances in the game last night.
06:36But you're just like, with a team like that, the Sabres, you're really kind of in every game.
06:42You should be in every game.
06:44You give up a couple bad goals.
06:45Well, they've even had that.
06:46I mean, they're like, what, 30-5 or something in their last half a season.
06:50There was a game in Florida where they went down 2-0 right away and won maybe 5-3.
06:54Yeah.
06:55Like, the way they're constructed, which I'm sure is no accident, they, you know, tested a certain thing.
07:03Let's keep going on the blue line.
07:05Let's pay Samuelson.
07:07Let's add Byram.
07:08And then, I think they wanted to trade Byram.
07:10I don't know that.
07:11They weren't successful if they wanted to.
07:13And here he is.
07:15And I think he probably needs the other guys.
07:18Yes.
07:18But, you know, he's talented.
07:20He's a big part of what they do back there.
07:24Sure.
07:24I mean, I think, you know, thinking about replacing him with anyone else who's here, it's not the same.
07:31He is an elite skater and a very good puck mover.
07:35He's not the tightest in his own zone.
07:38But he is a part of making this work for sure to me, those four guys.
07:43And, hey, you know, not for nothing, we spent a lot of time the last week or so since the
07:47trade deadline on these new guys.
07:50And it didn't start off great.
07:51Stanley and Shen had a couple of rocky games.
07:53And there's giveaways here or there.
07:55And they go, oh, did I hurt myself instead of help myself at the deadline?
08:01Stanley and Metzah looked really nice last night to me.
08:04There was one shift in the third period where I got a little scared.
08:09But the first two periods, like, every time they were on the ice, the puck was out of the zone
08:14quickly.
08:15I thought they really had it.
08:16Metzah especially.
08:17Metzah looks like, to me, a guy who, you know, he's been scratching.
08:24A little guy.
08:24Of course, right?
08:26Undrafted.
08:27National champion at Quinnipiac.
08:29Captain of that team, captain of the Amerks.
08:31He's a scratcher in a car because little guys have to be.
08:34But he moves really well.
08:35And he handles the puck really well.
08:37But he's just tiny.
08:39He looks to me like a guy that went, are you going to go trade for two defensemen?
08:43All right.
08:44Let me just show you what I got.
08:46Because he is more and more.
08:48Last night, Lindy says after the Toronto game, he deserves to be in the lineup.
08:55I don't know what you say after.
08:56I thought last night was his best game as a Sabre.
08:59He made so many good little plays with the puck.
09:03The play he made, it's one of these odd man rushes that they didn't convert.
09:06He makes a play.
09:08He sees he's pursuing the puck into his own zone.
09:11He sees Oslin coming off the bench, skating toward the wall through the neutral zone.
09:16And he just throws, it's not exactly no look, but he just throws a pass up off the wall
09:21right to Oslin.
09:22He's in on a two-on-one with Tage Thompson.
09:24Yeah.
09:25That was in the third?
09:26Yeah.
09:27He just made plays like that all night.
09:30He was dynamite.
09:31The goal, the regulation goal they scored, I don't think they awarded assists because
09:36the goalie played the puck behind the net.
09:38And so I think that was Doan unassisted.
09:40But in the neutral zone, that was Stanley right in front of the benches,
09:45right around the red line, over to Mezza, into the zone.
09:48That was the play.
09:50And I thought they had a really stabilizing, encouraging night together, those two.
09:54It was the first time they'd been paired together, and I liked it a lot.
09:57That's a sneaky, great play by Doan, too.
10:00Yep.
10:00Just like, okay, bank it in.
10:03Right.
10:04Wins the race.
10:05Yeah, really good.
10:07What is the stat?
10:08I texted Travis Yost during the game about Mezza because I thought I was hearing, hadn't
10:15been on the ice for a goal against since October.
10:18Five on five.
10:19That has been said.
10:23Travis had their being, there was one against Nashville in January, he said.
10:27Okay.
10:27That maybe is the one.
10:28I don't know.
10:29But really good.
10:32Yeah, no, it's been, yeah, scoring chances, all that stuff, like for and against, have
10:38been very tilted in his favor.
10:42And, like, again, they're trying him out.
10:45He's, you know, last night he was with Stanley.
10:48I don't think he played with anyone but Stanley last night, unless I'm mistaken, which is possible.
10:52It's a long game.
10:53Um, but, last night felt more like, like, less of, okay, let's really choose our spots
11:02here.
11:02Let's be careful.
11:03Um, you know, you're on the road, so that, that dictates some of that, right?
11:07There's a D zone draw.
11:09I don't remember what period, first or third, but it was, the Sabres were defending that
11:13goal.
11:14And they, Stanley and Mezza were out there against the Eichel line for a draw on their own end.
11:19I'm like, okay, let's see what happens here.
11:22And, I don't remember if it was a clean win, but Mezza got the puck and it was on the
11:26tape
11:26of a forward and out of the zone.
11:28Just like, boom.
11:30You know, not worried about D zone faceoff against their top line.
11:34We're just going to get it out of here.
11:37I think it was a very encouraging night for that.
11:39Um, for, for Stanley too, because he's got, I think they're going to want him to play and
11:45they got to find the right fit for him and maybe Mezza is it.
11:49But the Sabres were 11, 14, and four through 29 games.
11:56Now they are 42, 20, and six.
12:00So 31, six, and two in their last 39.
12:06And almost all of those wins are in regulation.
12:09A couple aren't, but the vast majority are regulation.
12:12This is not a team that's won 10 shootouts.
12:14Right.
12:14They haven't lost a shootout.
12:15They're four and oh, but.
12:16Only four.
12:17In their last 21 road games, they are 18, two, and one.
12:22Has that ever happened in the history of the Sabres?
12:2518 out of 21 on the road.
12:27Again, almost all in regulation like last night.
12:31We did this with Paul yesterday.
12:33They had a road loss in Tampa, the overtime loss where they were leading with under a minute.
12:40Right.
12:40Then they went to Tampa after the break and beat them badly anyway.
12:44So you have an overtime loss to Tampa.
12:45You have an overtime, well, that's a home game.
12:47That's a home game.
12:48We did this yesterday with the road games.
12:49The second last road loss is Carolina on Martin Luther King Day on a Monday afternoon.
13:02They played great.
13:03Two to one.
13:04And then they got goalied by Bussie.
13:06Who?
13:07They got Bussied.
13:08They got Bussied.
13:09Their third last road loss was January 3rd on a Saturday afternoon against Columbus.
13:15And you remember that game.
13:16That was the 10-game win streak ender.
13:19And I was out to watch that game, which they're playing at 4 o'clock again on Saturday against the
13:23Kings.
13:24I think I'm going to saddle up for that.
13:27Four road losses ago was December 8th in Calgary.
13:33Four road losses.
13:34I know we did this yesterday, but it still is mind-boggling.
13:38That is insane.
13:40Four road losses ago.
13:42It was December 8th.
13:44It was before this all really started.
13:47Three and a half months.
13:47Before it started.
13:48I mean, the next night is the Edmonton game.
13:51It's the start of the 10-game win streak and the start of this whole thing rolling.
13:55And it's incredible that that was only four road losses ago.
13:59Yes.
14:01What can you say?
14:02I mean, it's just the numbers.
14:03These kind of stats speak for themselves.
14:05They're amazing.
14:08Trivia question.
14:10Okay.
14:11So I found some – I told you about Jim Otto earlier.
14:14I found some cards.
14:14Right.
14:15I found an exciting pile of –
14:17Excellent at blocking or whatever it says.
14:20Yeah.
14:20On the back of the card, 61 Fleer, Jim Otto, it says.
14:22He does everything well, but is particularly good at blocking.
14:26Being a center in football, let's hope.
14:29I mean, that's what I – I really need that to be one of your specialties.
14:33Yeah, I think –
14:34Blocking guys.
14:35And snapping and blocking.
14:37Snapping, blocking.
14:38What department are you in?
14:39I'm snapping and blocking.
14:43Apparently, snapping is no better than his second-best trait.
14:46The late, great Jim Otto.
14:48My favorite sports jersey is a white Raiders Jim Otto jersey, double zero.
14:54And I have one.
14:54I'm lucky to have one.
14:57With the silver numbers that you like so much?
14:59Silver numbers, black letters.
15:02They also had a silver letter stint, the Raiders, which is the best.
15:08But still great.
15:10Here's a trivia question.
15:11So, in the course of looking through some of my stuff, I found an exciting pile of 8081 Edmonton Oilers
15:19cards.
15:20Okay.
15:20I bought a collection.
15:21I remember doing it a long time ago.
15:23And this woman had tons of cards from those years, like 81, 82 football.
15:29And I also bought a collection around that time from a guy in Toronto who had the same for hockey.
15:35So, I've got, like, way too much from those years.
15:37Anyway, this pile of 8081 and 81, 82 Oilers.
15:42And, I mean, the names.
15:45This is a pile you want to have.
15:47This is a fun find.
15:49What former Sabre shared the 8081 Oilers lead, season lead, in shorthanded goals with Wayne Gretzky at four?
16:01Former Sabre.
16:03Lee Foglund.
16:04Right.
16:06So, he's the only former Sabre that would have even been there, I think.
16:10I can't think of anyone else.
16:12I was about to say, he was already a former Sabre at the time.
16:15So, maybe there's somebody who, you know, like Craig Simpson or somebody.
16:19Yeah, right, right, right.
16:20Who came here after.
16:21Putty.
16:22Yeah, right, right.
16:24But, yes, Lee Foglund and Wayne Gretzky.
16:26If I'm Lee Foglund, that's in my bio.
16:28Oh, yeah.
16:28Gretz and I shared the team lead in shorties in 81.
16:33Yeah.
16:36Here's Joe with us.
16:37Hi, Joe.
16:38Hey, guys.
16:39Thanks for taking my call.
16:40Sure thing, Joe.
16:42Yeah, so, I heard your, I just got in the car.
16:45I was coming home.
16:46Heard your Mets a point and, you know, Logan Stanley.
16:51And I just, as much credit as they deserve.
16:53I just, I honestly, I think that Owen Power and the way he's been playing, it gets missed
17:01because so many people want to bash him over the last couple years.
17:05And when I watch the kids skate and I watch him take the puck away in the defensive zone
17:11and the way he positions his body and the passing and everything that he does on the elite level
17:20to be the guy that he was getting picked in one overall, especially being that he's not playing the role.
17:27Maybe he's, I guess, everyone thought he would be this number one, you know, Cal McCarr, Rasmus, Darlene type.
17:38Anyway, I just, I hope it doesn't get lost on Sabres fans.
17:42And I don't think it does now at this point.
17:45But I just, I just want to make, because I've been on his wagon for a while, because I could
17:51see that he was developing.
17:53And I just, when I watch a game like last night, I see the way that he sets his body
17:59up defensively
18:00when he's off the puck, where he gets to positionally, I just think that the kid has just arrived.
18:07And I just want to make sure he gets some credit.
18:09That's all I got to say.
18:10Joe, this is like my favorite call in 10 years.
18:13I swear, I want to meet you out for a beer sometime.
18:18I just, I think it's all well said.
18:21Go ahead.
18:21If you've got more to say, go ahead.
18:23But I mean, I agree across the board.
18:25I think you're going to say it and I appreciate it.
18:27All right.
18:27I agree too.
18:28Yeah, I, there's not a guy that's gotten more crap on this team since he got here.
18:36And I'm not saying none of it is deserved, but if you're, Joe is just highlighting, it's
18:42all subtle stuff that he does so well that helps them all the time.
18:48And I know he misses a guy in front of the net and it's in the net or there's a
18:52bad clear
18:53and like the mistakes are glaring.
18:55Everything, the other stuff is so good almost all the time.
19:02You got to really pay attention and you just got to get over the, he's, oh, he should be
19:08meaner, whatever you want.
19:10He's not Darlene.
19:11He is not Kale McCarr.
19:12We knew it in the draft year.
19:14He was not, it was, I even remember at one point saying it's not the best year to win
19:18the lottery because he's not like a unbelievable player.
19:21That doesn't mean he's not a very good player on a, what has become a very good team.
19:27I mean, he's the number two defenseman on one of the best teams in the league right
19:30now.
19:32Yeah.
19:33I, I, uh, echo what you said about the phone call.
19:36It's one of the goals is without even thinking about it to always make sure nothing gets left
19:41out of the conversation, but the caller had the instinct, this is Owen power is being
19:45left out of this conversation.
19:46He's right.
19:47Yep.
19:48And I, I think the same way about him, but we were just talking about, here's Metza,
19:52who's everything you laid out, undrafted underdog, you know, young.
19:56And, um, that's like a better story, but right.
19:59And more of a concern.
20:00Like I'm not talking about power cause I'm not worried about power.
20:02Uh, all I say, and I say it all the time.
20:05So it's not like, I'm not saying his name all the time, but I've been saying for months,
20:08this team's superpower is those four dudes.
20:11He is among those four dudes.
20:13Like he's not a weak link at all in that equation to me.
20:17He matters as much as any of them to me.
20:22Sidney Crosby is back for Pittsburgh tonight, by the way, they had a nice win.
20:26Was that last night in Denver or was it Monday?
20:29Seven, three.
20:30I think it was last night.
20:32Monday, seven, two.
20:33It was Monday.
20:33Okay.
20:34Sorry.
20:34Seven, two.
20:35They beat the abs and they got outshot, but maybe one of those games.
20:38Uh, tonight Crosby is supposed to be back in the lineup at Carolina.
20:43Who do we want?
20:45Penguins.
20:46They're going to be in keep Carolina within, you know, keep them tied with the Sabres.
20:51Man.
20:51If I wasn't annoying already with how teams should get to pick their playoff opponents.
20:55And I think the NHL is the best league for why that, why I feel strongly about that.
21:02Imagine the Sabres getting the one and we're going to get stuck with some team that we
21:08might think is way better than the other team in the wild card or something, you know,
21:12whether that's Ottawa or even Columbus, maybe like I, I want to pick Detroit or whoever it
21:18is at the time, but you don't have that kind of a luxury to, you know, we haven't got,
21:23we haven't evolved to the point, no, the teams are all so close, make the regular season worth
21:30something.
21:32You can't play out of your division in most cases.
21:35So like Dallas and Minnesota are going to play, even though both will have way more
21:38points probably than anybody in the Pacific.
21:40Right.
21:41And really like, what did you accomplish in six months?
21:45If the top team in the East has 105 points and the last playoff team has 91, how much of
21:51a difference is that make it worth something.
21:54And if they all wimp out and pick from the standings, you've lost nothing.
21:59Right.
21:59And then we can rip them for making a bad choice, which is the reason they don't do it.
22:05Cause it's much easier.
22:07It's, I mean, it's a, to some, it sounds like a ridiculous idea.
22:10Why, what, why do we need that?
22:11I don't, we don't need it, but very often you wouldn't rank.
22:17Usually you would not rank the teams in the order that they land in.
22:19No, that's right.
22:20In terms of quality, there could still be upsets anyway, but yep.
22:24I'm going to drive you nuts with that.
22:26If the Sabres get the one seed and get a bad matchup or what we think is one.
22:31Anyway, that can wait.
22:33NFL draft talk with Chris Trapasso today.
22:35He joined us earlier.
22:36We'll have that conversation for you after this.
22:39Mike Shope and the Bulldog WG.
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