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00:00Good. Good choice.
00:01Yeah, I'll just roll with it.
00:02There's too much to talk about, probably, anyway.
00:04Exactly.
00:04Let's get to business here.
00:05Paul Hamilton on the West Her Hotline.
00:08Paul, you've had a long day.
00:09It's okay.
00:10I mean, it's actually the last hockey day of the year for me.
00:14Yeah, that's right.
00:15Of this season.
00:16Now we'll be picking up fairly soon with the Combine.
00:20That'll be coming up.
00:21And, of course, the draft.
00:24That'll be coming up in just a little bit over a month.
00:27So, yeah, it's not as long of an offseason as it used to be.
00:30And you don't have any Amherst playoff games to fall back on
00:33because the Sabres played for five extra weeks or four extra weeks
00:36or whatever it was.
00:37So it's all been new.
00:38I've got a little Bisons to do yet, though, which is good.
00:41A week from Saturday I'll be over at the ballpark doing a ballgame.
00:46And the NHL draft is in Buffalo, if people didn't know that.
00:50It is.
00:51So you'll be here for that.
00:52What's the most interesting thing you heard today?
00:57Oh, the most interesting.
00:58Well, the Lindy Ruff contract extension was already done.
01:03Not that I didn't expect it.
01:04I absolutely expected it.
01:06But, you know, it was already done and taken care of.
01:09And basically for Lindy Ruff, the only thing was it had to be, you know,
01:14he needed to go home and talk to his, quote, assistant coach,
01:17which was his wife.
01:18And she basically told him, you have a sickness and you need to do it.
01:22So let's go.
01:23You need to do it.
01:24So he was more than happy to accept the two-year offer.
01:29Next time he should refer to her rightly as the head coach.
01:32Right.
01:33You're the assistant.
01:34Because she's not his assistant.
01:35Let's get the hierarchy straight here.
01:37I thought it was interesting that both men that just spoke,
01:40Jarmo Kekalainen, the GM, and Lindy Ruff, the head coach,
01:43both just, Prenners called their shot on three goalies next year,
01:46it sounds like to me.
01:48They're at least interested in exploring it.
01:51Well, there's a new rule.
01:52I didn't know this nugget about the e-bug.
01:55And I think, just to be clear, I don't know all the ins and outs of that.
02:01But an NHL goalie who's played NHL games cannot be your e-bug.
02:05So if there has to be an e-bug, they would still have to have something on the side.
02:10But if they want to carry three guys, like Lindy said, if someone gets sick
02:14or even a second guy gets sick and you're really stuck, you know,
02:17you want to have a guy around.
02:19There were five teams this year that began the year.
02:22The beginning of the year is always a little tough because, you know,
02:25some teams are hanging on to a guy.
02:26They don't want to slip him through waivers, maybe later, whatever.
02:29But five NHL teams this year on opening night had three goalies on their roster.
02:34And I don't have a way to find out other than combing through game notes
02:38copiously from all year for every team, how many teams did it as often as the Sabres,
02:44like basically all year.
02:45Once they had Ellis, they carried three.
02:47But it is becoming – there's a lot of things that are changing,
02:51goaltending trend-wise.
02:53Shared crease, you know, 1A, 1B, which the Sabres did, again, even to have three.
02:59So I think maybe a lot of old standards are going by the wayside,
03:03or slowly but surely in the NHL with that.
03:06I knew all about the e-bug, but I didn't think of this.
03:08You know, what Lindy Ruff and Kekalainen are talking about,
03:11that, well, you just carry three goalies and you can get around it.
03:14And they felt, you know, I think circumstances allowed it to work for them this year.
03:21It was kind of weird that you'd have an injury,
03:25and then that injury healed up before the next injury came.
03:28You never really had two injuries.
03:30And it just all kind of fell into place for them throughout the season with that.
03:35But now that – I'd almost guarantee you they're going with three.
03:38I mean, they didn't say for sure.
03:40They said it's definitely an idea.
03:42Yeah, but they like Ellis.
03:45They thought it worked better than maybe they anticipated it was going to work.
03:49But the e-bug thing makes all the sense in the world that you would want –
03:54they don't want to lose Ellis anyway,
03:56and you would want a third goaltender that's competent
03:59because there were situations this year – I can think of two in particular –
04:04where the third goaltender was up in the stands or up in the press box,
04:10and he had to come down and dress.
04:11Yes, that's right.
04:12Interestingly enough, he cannot sit on the bench.
04:15Right.
04:16Which I find very interesting.
04:17Even once the other goalie has left, right.
04:19Yes.
04:20He can't –
04:20He can dress.
04:21Yep.
04:22But he's got to sit in the locker room,
04:24which is what both Lyon and Lukonen did the two times it was done.
04:29They both sat in the locker room dressed, ready to go if they had to be put in.
04:34But I would do this too, I think, now that I have the idea in my head.
04:38As I told you, I didn't even think about it.
04:40Yeah.
04:40And I think it is definitely the way to go now,
04:43and I bet you a lot of teams will do this.
04:45If that ends up being a one-for-one switch out.
04:49Like, if you have a third guy and you can just do that.
04:51What I'm wondering is if there's a new e-bug rule,
04:54whether or not you need to have that guy,
04:57or if you have a third guy on the roster,
04:59can he just come down and get the gear on?
05:01You know what I'm saying?
05:02Like, I think that has to be made clear, and I'm not sure that I'm from either guy.
05:07But the way they're talking, it sounds like they think they can do this instead of that.
05:10They can do that because they wouldn't be talking about it if they couldn't.
05:14Now, you may still have to have that e-bug in the building, a fourth guy.
05:19Maybe every team has to have an e-bug in the building.
05:22That's what I mean.
05:23No, right.
05:24So he may still have to be in the building,
05:26but you don't have to put him in as the third guy if you have three goalies.
05:30You have three goalies, and the number three guy would be the guy sitting there waiting to come in,
05:34and if he had to get to a fourth, then it's the e-bug.
05:37Right.
05:38E-bug, by the way, because we don't all know this term, emergency backup goalie.
05:42It might be an acronym that we all know by next year, given this development.
05:47That's right.
05:48Good point.
05:48It has been a while.
05:49Well, Toronto, to much acclaim, had to put one of these guys in
05:54into a game against Carolina back in 21, 22.
05:58I don't remember the year now.
05:59There's been two instances.
06:00Did Carolina have to do it, too?
06:02There have been two instances.
06:03Oh, I think that might be right.
06:04Another team did do it, yeah.
06:05But Toronto put the guy in.
06:07Yeah, I'm pretty sure Carolina did it.
06:09Carolina put him in.
06:11It was Carolina in Toronto.
06:12The guy was the Marley Zamboni driver, and he went in,
06:16and Carolina won the game with him in goal.
06:18Very nice.
06:19Yeah.
06:19Sounds like it should be an electric Volkswagen, but E-bug is now a hockey team.
06:23All right.
06:23Enough on the goalie stuff, although there's a lot there,
06:26but we'll have other times to get to it.
06:28Yeah.
06:28But I think we now have clarity of what we'll probably see next year.
06:31Right.
06:32On Tuck, Mike noticed it first.
06:35I thought Kekeleinan was very careful with his words about Tuck,
06:40because it sounds like, you know, yes, of course, he's important,
06:43and we love him, but, you know, it's got to work for us, too.
06:48Does the contract make sense to make the team better?
06:51Right.
06:51That's how he put it.
06:52Yeah.
06:53And you know what?
06:53He has said that before, and, you know, what he means is, you know,
07:00does it make sense to him to have a seven, six, seven, eight-year contract,
07:06you know, for a 30-year-old player?
07:08Does that make your team better?
07:10You know, maybe it does, but I think, you know,
07:14those are the types of things,
07:15because this doesn't necessarily have to be about money.
07:19This could be, all right, we'll give you the money,
07:20but how about three years, or how about four years?
07:24You know, it doesn't necessarily have to be the average of the thing.
07:29It could be, but it doesn't have to be.
07:31The years could be the hang-up.
07:33If I were the GM, that would be the thing hanging me up a little bit.
07:35Sure.
07:36Because the years.
07:37I think I'd still be doing it, and maybe I'm an idiot for doing it,
07:41because signing a 30-year-old like that,
07:43but I think it's something that he's a big part of this team,
07:47but that would be what I would be worried about is the years,
07:50more than the actual amount.
07:53You didn't get, we didn't get really much from Tuck on injuries.
07:58He used the word nuisances to describe his health.
08:02You say how it's the last hockey day of the season,
08:04let's make this the last injury report of the season,
08:07because Kekalainen gave out some interesting information.
08:09Want to run that down?
08:11Yeah, Carrick came back too soon, which we kind of thought had happened.
08:15Danforth had to have a second surgery after busting his kneecap,
08:20so that meant four games, and that was it for him.
08:24Kulik revealed yesterday that he had to go to the Mayo Clinic to have that removed
08:30instead of having it dissolve, so it was actually removed,
08:35which means he will be able to continue his career.
08:38Where Owen Power was a grade three sprain, I believe it is, going by memory here.
08:42Ankle sprain, yeah.
08:43Ankle sprain.
08:45And you want, people, if anybody is questioning his toughness,
08:49try to go play in a hockey game on a grade three ankle sprain.
08:52That's the most severe.
08:53Yeah, exactly.
08:55And I thought he played very well.
08:57Yes, yeah, me too.
08:58Going through it.
08:59So, you know, kudos, kudos to him.
09:04Stanley?
09:05Oh, Stanley, yeah.
09:07It was revealed Stanley was fighting an injury that was worse than he let on.
09:11And how about Thompson, Paul, by the way?
09:13Thompson was the back injury.
09:16He said it was his lower back,
09:17said he probably shouldn't have answered the question the way he did,
09:20but there was emotion after a game.
09:23And, you know, but, again, and I don't care how he answered the question.
09:29It didn't matter to me.
09:30I don't care.
09:32I'm to a point here nothing surprised me in the locker room.
09:35I take nothing personally.
09:37You know, things happen.
09:39People are upset after games.
09:41You got people firing questions at you right after a game
09:44that maybe you didn't play real well in.
09:47I get it.
09:47I get the whole thing.
09:48But, anyway, you know,
09:50he kind of thought maybe he shouldn't have answered the question that way.
09:54Well, he was playing through something like we suspected.
09:56Yes, yes, and that's why he did.
09:58It was like he was angry because of the game.
10:00You don't think he thought he played that well.
10:02And now I'm sitting there asking about are you injured?
10:06And, you know, we got, well, I don't feel it's any of your business.
10:09And fine, that's fine.
10:10Maybe it's not.
10:12And let's move on to the next question.
10:14I didn't take offense to it at all.
10:15Paul, time is going to get tight here.
10:17But not that these things are all, like, connected.
10:21But how cautious Kekalainen was talking about Tuck and that contract,
10:27he sounded the opposite about signing Bo Byram to a long-term extension.
10:31I mean, he sounds excited to, like, get his name on a contract
10:34for the next seven or eight years.
10:36And Benson.
10:37Yeah.
10:37And he may feel that it's more important to have those four defensemen
10:40for years than having Alex Tuck for years.
10:44Maybe it's got to be a choice because if they don't make a trade
10:48and they sign both of them, I don't see how they can.
10:51I think they've got to move people to be able to sign both of them.
10:55So maybe it's this guy or the other guy.
10:59We can't do both unless you move some people.
11:02And so that might be part of it, too, that they're trying to figure out.
11:07Okay, Paul.
11:08Long day.
11:09Good job.
11:09We'll talk again soon.
11:10Okay.
11:11Sounds good.
11:12There's our Paul Hamilton on the way.
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