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00:00Speaking of ideas, so, you know, the Sabres are done, the Bills are not yet, I know there
00:08are practices, there are always practices, I know that that's happened, I'm not blind
00:12to that.
00:14I thought today, and yesterday I sort of set it up, the same kind of thinking, like, what
00:20do we do now?
00:23And I go, oh, I have to remind myself, the Sabres, you can talk about the Sabres, that's
00:26still, I think that's still the number one, with the draft in a month, and all the moves
00:36that are going to happen, I don't know that it has to matter whether you're watching the
00:40playoffs anymore.
00:41No, not really at all.
00:43There might be takeaways, most of them are like, do you still hate Jack Eichel, do you
00:47still hate Montreal, do you hate Carolina, do you hate Taylor Hall, do you hate Eric,
00:52I know he's not playing, but, you know, just like, these are not feel-good teams, with
00:59Montreal beating us and everything.
01:02But, I think, I mean, there are more than two, but the topics that bled out of the playoffs,
01:11tuck, and then goaltending, are still really interesting.
01:16Like, nothing has changed on that, and I think fans are split on both things.
01:21And then there might be other things, like, trading a star.
01:26Is that something you would do?
01:28Is there, you know, Thompson is even interesting for that, because of his struggles, can I get
01:35away with that word?
01:36In the playoffs, I know he had 15 points, but, come on.
01:40Like, we watch these games.
01:41Yeah.
01:41I don't, I'm not eager to do anything with him.
01:44Yeah, I want to shut you down on that front, because he's making $7 million and scores 40
01:49goals, and, like, he could be making $15 million.
01:52So, like, I'm going to ride that horse into the ground.
01:56What about tuck, then?
01:57That'll be on cinder blocks in my front yard before I trade it, Thompson.
02:01See, again, I want to invest in that.
02:02I want to invest in you putting cinder blocks in your yard, and, like, oh, that's probably good
02:08for the property value.
02:11I might want to invest in that.
02:13I haven't decided yet.
02:15I'm just open to it.
02:16Tuck, tuck, though.
02:17I think those sorts of things are much more welcome when you've got, like, a big plot of
02:21land on a country road somewhere, not, like, in a busy city neighborhood.
02:25I don't know.
02:25Don't sell yourself short.
02:26Yesterday, you were on ladders, and it's five hours, and then you had a beer after that?
02:30You waited the whole five hours?
02:32I don't know.
02:33I think I'm interested.
02:35All right.
02:36Anyway.
02:36Tuck.
02:37Where were we?
02:37Tuck?
02:38Sure.
02:38What do you want to do?
02:40Do you want to let him walk?
02:42Do you want to pay him some number that you'd have to bump this up to make it realistic,
02:47probably, unless you can get away with two years or three years at some insane rate?
02:53I mean, I just don't see.
02:56I guess anything could happen.
03:00Could they use up all their cap space in a short amount of time to make him happy?
03:04I don't know.
03:05I mean, everybody always wants the long-term.
03:07Short-term, that dollar figure that, you know, 11 times 8 is what you end up looking at.
03:14So I find it hard to believe he's going to take some short-term deal because he wants to really
03:21win here or something.
03:22I believe he really wants to win here, but he also has this first, and I mean, I don't want
03:29to say last, but it's his opportunity.
03:33He's going to be 30.
03:34The next time he's in this position, if he took a two-year deal, he'd be 32, and he's probably
03:41not as hot a commodity, so he's going to have to cash the biggest, fattest check ever here.
03:46And I don't know, man.
03:48Like, I've mostly wanted them to just sort of suck it up and do it because I don't really like
03:56what breaking this team up already feels like.
04:00And I also don't know, you know, what they're going to do about replacing him in the lineup.
04:08Like, does that all come down to the kids?
04:14It's a very interesting term.
04:16Because that's a very Sabers-y thing to do, and I think it's a lot of how we ended up
04:22spinning our wheels for as long as we did with them, or they ended up spinning their wheels for us,
04:28however you want to put it.
04:29I mean, we really didn't have any impact on it.
04:30They made the decisions they made.
04:32They rushed a lot of guys, and some of that is still going to end up working out for them.
04:38Quinn maybe has progressed, right?
04:40But he was here maybe too fast.
04:43So I don't want to do that.
04:46I said last week, I think, you know, as the sun was setting on the season, if you want to
04:52walk away from Tuck, I understand it,
04:54but you better do something really big that, you know, we just don't see, well, I don't want to say
05:03we don't see coming.
05:04Like, Robert Thomas has been talked about a lot.
05:06Devil's Advocate, respectfully, you sounded very much the same way last year when Paterka left.
05:13That's right.
05:14They better do something, all the points you just made.
05:17Yeah.
05:17Kids.
05:17Right.
05:18We've been sold this bill of goods for 15 years.
05:22Yep.
05:22It worked out.
05:24Like, they traded Paterka for Doan and Kesselring.
05:27Kesselring never played.
05:28Don't really hit and save that for them.
05:31Okay.
05:31It made it okay.
05:33And so does that, you know, does that mean I should just sit back and put my feet up and
05:39go, well, I've got Helen Euse and I've got Ausland.
05:42That's the question.
05:42So I should be all set?
05:45I mean, I don't know.
05:46I just, I think it's, you know, last year I said that and I meant it.
05:52And it turned out to be wrong.
05:54And it's, I don't think it's dealt, it's factually correct.
05:57Like, they got, they got more than by.
05:59They won the division.
06:00They cruised.
06:01Well, now I'll play devil's advocate with myself because that doesn't mean this year will be that either.
06:08That's right.
06:09And it also is a year where you are not trying to end a 14-year playoff drought.
06:16Which should make life easier.
06:17So you should act as a team that is trying to defend a division title and maintain the level of
06:27contender that they are.
06:28And if you just let Tuck leave and say the kid's got it, I just, I can't imagine a scenario
06:36where they do that.
06:38But I would think, and the way the timing works out, I think is fortunate for them.
06:43Because they may end up, if nothing works, and they can't find trades they like to replace Tuck and also
06:54don't want to pay Tuck and don't pay Tuck just because they couldn't make a trade.
06:59Because that would be bad.
07:00Like, they've got to decide whether they want to pay Tuck or not.
07:02And if they don't, then they have to have alternate plans.
07:06If all that falls apart, maybe you end up sifting through free agency to try to replace Tuck.
07:11But there's not a player of his caliber that you're going to find on the open market.
07:15You don't have to trade for that person.
07:16And that all happens before free agency opens.
07:20Or at least it starts.
07:22Like, the Sabres should have a pretty reasonable idea by draft weekend whether they're going to be able to swing
07:29for a top six forward.
07:32To replace Tuck.
07:34And at that point, we'll kind of know.
07:36Like, if they make that move and trade, I don't know, maybe one of the kids has to go in
07:43order to pull off a trade of this magnitude?
07:44It would make sense.
07:46So you might have to get busy deciding which one of them you can live without.
07:52And those guys are going to have their fans.
07:54I think you have to do something substantial if you just let Tuck go.
07:58I don't think you can just live with the kids.
08:01With the kids.
08:02Hmm.
08:03There are so many aspects of this.
08:06One being the point about that they're not on a playoff drought anymore.
08:11I have to think about whether that matters.
08:14I think I said, I just sort of interjected to your commentary, like, that should make life easier.
08:20But that wasn't your point.
08:22Your point was you have to act like a grown-up now.
08:25And I don't want to overdo that.
08:29Think about this.
08:30Like, I love this topic.
08:34Whether it's Tuck or just all of it.
08:35We finally had a season we could sink our teeth into.
08:40And now we finally have an off-season we can sink our teeth into as well.
08:45Because now it's, like, really interesting.
08:47Now you're kind of a boss.
08:49And it's a very different, you know, sound, I think, to the meetings, probably, and the conversations, led by a
08:57different guy, Kekalainen, who is a serious hockey man.
09:02He's going to want to, you know, treat this seriously.
09:05Not that Adams didn't.
09:06But I think it's probably just different now in a few ways.
09:10What is the goal next year?
09:13I had 109 points, and I made Game 7 in the second round.
09:17Great.
09:18Before this season, we all would have said yes to that.
09:20We all would have signed for that.
09:22Great.
09:23I've got a roster that's mostly set.
09:26I have Alex Tuck.
09:28I have some RFA stuff.
09:30I don't have any.
09:31It's ironic to me that a very good Sabres team is this well-positioned.
09:38And after years where they were bad, and they were going to lose guys.
09:42Like, it was double bad.
09:44And now it's kind of double good.
09:46You've got both things.
09:47You've got youth and quality.
09:50And it's cost-controlled, you know, relatively speaking.
09:53So, great start.
09:54Great place to start.
09:56What is my goal as I look forward to next season for next season?
10:02What do I want?
10:03Do I want to be in the playoffs?
10:05Is that enough of a goal to, you know, go back?
10:09I think it might be.
10:11I don't know that trying to figure out ways to repeat as division champions is really, like, that much worth
10:18the effort.
10:19Sort of, what's the difference?
10:20What was the difference this year?
10:22Ten points.
10:23Between Boston and Buffalo?
10:24Ten, eleven points.
10:25Like, okay.
10:26I mean, that's five games.
10:29I can't really control that in hockey.
10:32I can't really seriously sit down in a room and figure out a way to win, you know, five more
10:39games than a team that's in the, whatever.
10:41Like, it's all just, to me, like, kind of trivial.
10:44You think be a contender and make the playoffs are synonymous for the purposes of this conversation is what I
10:48think it sounds like you're trying to say.
10:50I mean, I think the ultimate goal, we want to talk about the Stanley Cup.
10:55Right.
10:56That's the next level up.
10:57That's what they should be trying to do right now.
11:00But how much can I do?
11:03Well, that, you know, then you end up, you might end up at talk then.
11:06Mm-hmm.
11:06And just be like, fine, whatever he wants.
11:09Yeah.
11:10And I don't know, like, I want to do better than that.
11:12I want to appreciate how, I mean, Vegas is in the finals.
11:18What were they?
11:20Like, I think I need to move out west is what I need to do.
11:22That would be the first.
11:23I want to bring that up in the meeting.
11:24Anyway, like, I still think I want to respect how close it is.
11:30And really, my goal should be to be the same team.
11:33Right?
11:33I mean, I would take the same team next year.
11:35Sure.
11:35109 points.
11:36Absolutely.
11:37You know, first place.
11:38That doesn't mean all the same people.
11:40But, yeah, I mean.
11:41I'm never the cup favorite.
11:42Even in my own conference, we had the abs.
11:46We have the hurricanes.
11:46We have the lightning, even.
11:48Like, but we don't take the same year.
11:51So how do I have the same level of success?
11:56But is that good enough for you?
11:58Like, do you want to say, well, I lost, though.
12:00And so maybe I need someone else or something more than what,
12:04and that could get you to goaltending.
12:06That might be the obvious.
12:08That could get you to goaltending.
12:09The reason I like the Thomas idea, and there's got to be other guys that fit that description,
12:16is because I think if I can do it right, Norris has to be moved as a part of that,
12:25too.
12:26And then I have more money to do even more stuff with.
12:30Like, if I'm not keeping Tuck and I can unload Norris and replace him with Robert Thomas,
12:35I think my team is almost, I feel like it's almost a break-even, which I know sounds nuts,
12:43because I'm talking about two top-line guys being gone and only one coming in.
12:50But I feel like Thomas is such a level, he's even, he's like almost a point-per-game type, he's
12:55a point-per-game player.
12:59And Norris, to me, is just not someone I can really count on.
13:03If I do that, and then you want to tell me about backfilling with the kids and Justin Danforth coming
13:08back from injury
13:09or whatever else is going to happen on the fourth line, I think I'm going to have a pretty comparable
13:14team,
13:15even if I let Tuck walk.
13:18But where I think it gets dicey is if I don't have the ability to swing anything of substance
13:24before free agency comes, and I'm sort of over a barrel with Tuck.
13:29Because then I'm stuck.
13:31Then he's the best player on the market.
13:34Period.
13:35Like, I haven't been able to shake anything else free, and there he is,
13:39and he's still my property for another few hours.
13:42What do I do?
13:43Do I blink?
13:44Do I go to whatever number it is he needs and know I'm going to be regretting it eventually?
13:51You know, a part of this for me, and I want to try to be consistent and reasonable,
13:59but I feel like even me, the Sabres, did so much to win us back
14:05that sort of as soon as Kekalainen sounds like it's going to be hard to keep Tuck,
14:11oh, well, okay, I guess we can't do that.
14:14And I want to stop from doing that.
14:17Like, it's in my nature to just sort of go, well, you know, I guess.
14:23You want to stand in front of that.
14:24I kind of want to stand in front of that because they should be treated as a team
14:30that is trying to maintain their status as a cup contender.
14:34Right.
14:35They're not trying to get there.
14:36They are right now.
14:39I mean, I know they lost in game seven, and they still needed to win, you know,
14:43nine more games, I heard Brad and Tim talking about.
14:45And they weren't even halfway there.
14:47Still.
14:47But still, they were amongst the best teams in the league.
14:53So they're not, to me, trying to become a cup contender.
14:57They already are.
14:59And that makes the Tuck situation very different to me.
15:05Because on one hand, you can go, well, you know, we achieved all this with him.
15:10We have this in mind to replace him.
15:13And I'm sorry, if that's all just kids who can't grow beards yet,
15:17you're not acting like a team that's trying to maintain their status as a cup contender.
15:22You're punting.
15:24Hmm.
15:26Have the Sabres ever, there's so much in this.
15:29I love it.
15:30Have the Sabres ever had the best, the quote, best player on the market?
15:36We are well aware of stars that left.
15:42Because I think we're all conditioned to think they all will, eventually.
15:45And that's kind of Sabres history.
15:47But have they ever had the best guy?
15:49Was Chris Drury or Daniel Breer the best?
15:52I don't know, maybe they were.
15:53But that's perhaps unique in this, too, is this notion that, well, I can't top him.
16:03So I guess I'll try to keep him.
16:05I guess I'll pay through the nose.
16:06That's a little bit different.
16:08They've had expensive free agents.
16:09It's really just semantics.
16:10But best player on the market.
16:13And I want to press you on the word that you've used a half a dozen times already here.
16:22Kids.
16:23So who are the kids?
16:26Does it extend to Doan?
16:28Doan is 23.
16:29Is he a kid?
16:30Doan's got a contract and produced an NHL season already that, if it's even just a baseline,
16:36I think you can be comfortable with.
16:38Is Quinn?
16:39He's older than Doan.
16:41Is he a kid?
16:42No.
16:44So who is it?
16:45It's Helen Euse and Osland.
16:47And Benson?
16:50Well, yeah, I guess to an extent, Benson, because he has not produced a top-line player yet.
16:57Except in the playoffs.
16:58Right.
17:01So I think he still works.
17:04Like Quinn, to me, there's a baseline.
17:06He's an NHL player.
17:07He's been on the team for three years.
17:09And he had his best year this year.
17:12And sort of like I just said about Doan, if that's my baseline, okay.
17:18Cool leak.
17:19I'm good there.
17:21Yes.
17:22Complete guesswork.
17:23No idea what, you know, even though he's older, no idea what I'm getting there.
17:27You know, Benson leads the NHL playoffs still in penalty minutes.
17:32Really?
17:3364.
17:34Wow.
17:34He managed his way to 64 penalty minutes, Benson.
17:38That's tops in the NHL.
17:39I wonder where he ranks on penalties drawn.
17:41I love it.
17:42I'll bet he.
17:43I wonder.
17:44I mean, this can't be that rare.
17:46I don't really think about penalty minutes.
17:47But he could end the playoffs as the leader and have played two rounds.
17:52Because there aren't really penalty minutes anymore.
17:54Maybe especially when you get deep.
17:56The first rounds maybe are stupider.
17:58But in the finals, are there game-ending misconduct penalties that often, like he had a couple of?
18:04Maybe how many?
18:06He had maybe three.
18:10Lots here.
18:11803-0550.
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