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00:00Okay, Darren Dreger, everybody.
00:06I'm not standing on top of a mountain saying hail and farewell, Alex Tuck.
00:13No, I wouldn't either.
00:14That's how I said it earlier.
00:16But you want him.
00:18You would pay him what he wants, and I wouldn't.
00:22I don't think you'll have to pay him what he wants.
00:24I think you should be able to get him to stay.
00:26I'm not paying him $11 million.
00:29I'm going to pay him what he'll get out of $11 million over seven years
00:35if he signs here for eight.
00:37And if he doesn't want to do that, like you made a good point on Friday
00:40because a lot of people, including me, will get, well, that eighth year.
00:44But it's another year of your professional life
00:47where you're not getting paid as much as you wanted to.
00:51So I don't know.
00:53It's just what's the objective?
00:55Is it the big pot of money?
00:56Does he want $88 million?
00:58I think I can find a way to get you, or $77 million, excuse me, seven by 11.
01:04I can find a way to do that for less than $11 million a year because I have the eighth
01:08year.
01:09And if that doesn't work, then he's leaving to me.
01:14Like, I'm not ready to just say, what do you want?
01:16Here's $12 million because we love you.
01:19Like, I wouldn't do that.
01:21Yeah, I just, I am not on the top of the mountain.
01:26I'm not even that, like, proud, I guess I want to say, or I can do better.
01:32Like, that insistent here.
01:33If they paid him anything of that sort, it's kind of a new day for the Sabres.
01:39And maybe it'll work out.
01:42I don't love the idea because I don't think it works out for that long, probably.
01:46I think it's pretty soon where we're likely to be just like, oh, now this, here we go again.
01:51We've got another albatross contract.
01:54But it would be, it would be a new day.
01:58It would be, like, the Sabres are now what Terry Pagula claimed, bragged, when he bought them, would be the
02:07new normal.
02:09And he was wrong.
02:10I don't think he was necessarily dishonest, but he was not able to do that.
02:15Yeah, it was not worked out.
02:16I mean, then they're under the cap and people have to want you back.
02:20And he had a moment there where that could have happened, but it really, they didn't get that far off
02:25the ground with it.
02:26So, I wouldn't hate it, but I've said this the same way a few times.
02:33I, if I've got a GM now, we were all bored with Kevin Adams.
02:38We thought they failed in terms of credibility with him.
02:43Who's hiring him in the first place?
02:45And then he gets extended a couple of times.
02:47Like, this is, this is a joke.
02:49Now you've got a guy who has that credibility that Adams didn't, we think.
02:54I think it's true of Kekaline, and I don't know that everybody, you know, dissed Kevin Adams.
02:59But, anyway, you've got a guy now that has that sort of respect.
03:04If he's that good, I want to think 31 other teams, go find an Alex Tuck.
03:11Like, actually, Adams, I mean, Adams had a Jack Eichel chip that was worth a lot, but he did it.
03:17Like, go find somebody that isn't there yet, but you're going to put him on the Sabres at four or
03:24five million dollars a year for some period of time.
03:26And he's going to play with Thompson, or he's going to play with, you know, these young guys, whoever it
03:31is.
03:31And he's going to bring out, they're going to bring out what he's capable of, and now I don't have
03:37the age problem that I have with Tuck.
03:40I don't, I'm paying this guy half the money in theory, something around that.
03:44I didn't have to trade one of these 20-year-olds that we all love.
03:49And, okay, like, that's to me what, I know that these kinds of things are easy to say, but to
03:55me, this is the kind of move that a top GM can find.
03:59It's not being a top GM to just pay through the nose for the top free agent.
04:03I mean, that's a donkey move.
04:05It doesn't have to be bad, but it's just like, you know, look at me.
04:08What did I do?
04:09I had the money, and I just, here, this is easy for me.
04:11The fans are going to like it, and the fact that he's going to get old, well, everybody gets old,
04:16and you're not going to blame me because we went for it.
04:18And I don't know.
04:19I don't think that that's, like, an A-grade kind of move.
04:23None of that is to say, like, what Tuck really is worth to the Sabres.
04:30It's just sort of beating around that.
04:33But I kind of think that at the risk of copping out on it, we're not going to really know
04:37that.
04:38You know, as he, we know what it was this year.
04:40We know what it wasn't in round two.
04:43And, you know, who knows when the cliff comes.
04:46So, I hope that made sense.
04:48It did to me, but I'm in the room.
04:52No, I think we probably are, because I also, if he leaves for $11.5 million a year somewhere, there's
05:03going to be a fairly well, I think the majority of me will be there.
05:07It's just like, that's just too much.
05:08I didn't want to do that.
05:10I didn't think they, well, you can do anything, you can find a way to make anything happen if you
05:14want it bad enough.
05:14But I don't think it would be smart to do that, either, myself.
05:19And mostly, I, so I won't be, sort of like you're saying, if he stays, you're not going to be
05:25mad about it.
05:26I'm also not going to be mad, I think, if he leaves, if it's some outrageous number.
05:32Because I want to see, like you're saying, what else can you do?
05:35What are you going to do to replace him?
05:38Like, my biggest objection in the whole thing, while the playoffs were kind of still going on, even once they
05:45ended, was, oh, just plug the kids in and it'll be fine.
05:50And I just don't think that's a Stanley Cup contender mentality at all.
05:54It could work.
05:56Anything could work.
05:57I mean, if one of those guys becomes the rookie of the year candidate, then you're probably in, you know,
06:03in pretty good shape there.
06:05And, of course, you're doing it for much cheaper.
06:08But I think other moves are warranted.
06:11Like, and I don't say that with any kind of cautionary intent.
06:15Because I don't think for one second that the guy you're talking about here, Kekalainen, is going to put his
06:23feet up.
06:24Like, Alex Tuck leaves, like, well, that's all right, the kids are good.
06:26Light me another cigar.
06:27Like, I just do not see that.
06:29I think he was ready to make big moves, Pareko, Robert Thomas, Matthew Nyes at the trade deadline.
06:38I think he will go hard here in the next few weeks.
06:43If he knows Tuck is priced out of his market, I think he'll do something substantial to try to replace
06:51him.
06:51And we think that he might think that, based on his comments, based on moves they made or were rumored
06:57to be interested in making around the deadline.
06:59They are not going to be caught with their pants down at all about this situation whatsoever.
07:06So I don't think they're sitting around thinking, we've got it, whatever.
07:11We'll just wait until the end and whatever his lowest number, what's his last lowest number, and we'll just agree.
07:17I highly doubt that they're doing that.
07:19I'm sure they have a number that they would settle at, and it's even been reported.
07:24Nine and a half million, I think, has been the number all along from the Sabre side.
07:28And if Tuck can't get there, then all these other moves will happen.
07:33I think they could keep Tuck and still do something big, in fact.
07:39Like, I'm expecting a lot here.
07:41Like, I don't think Kekalainen is going to just try to run it back and think, well, we will grow
07:48because we, you know, we played in a game seven and we'll be better next time.
07:52I think he will get some better – he's going to go out and try to get some better players,
07:57I think, and improve the team.
07:58Gary is next.
07:59Hello, Gary.
08:01Hey, guys.
08:02How are you?
08:02Good.
08:03I have a question for you.
08:05I'm just – maybe I'm just missing something here.
08:07Is there a reason why we are putting so much energy into signing him when he did absolutely nothing in
08:16two series with us?
08:18I mean, he was nowhere to be found.
08:21You're exaggerating grievously, including the Boston series.
08:24He might have been their best forward in the Boston series.
08:28He scored seven points.
08:30He had two games that was good, but the rest of that series and the other two series, he didn't
08:35show up.
08:37They only played two series.
08:39One of them, he was one of their best players.
08:41The other one, he didn't have any points.
08:43Like, there's no disputing.
08:44Montreal, he disappeared.
08:45I don't want to ignore it.
08:47I don't think I'm ignoring it.
08:50It's seven games and the season is 82.
08:54I don't think it needs to be held above that.
08:57You can't – it's part of the reason, Gary, that I'm not excited about this.
09:01Like, you don't know when guys are going to get to the end of their peak, you know?
09:07And –
09:08I guess the reason why I'm bringing this up is that, you know, you reward people who come to you
09:12when it means the most.
09:14And that's where I don't see it happening.
09:16Yeah, he had that – it was a couple good games with the Boston series, but beyond that, I mean,
09:22I just didn't think he added very much to the group.
09:27I just don't think that was worth it.
09:29Okay.
09:29Yeah, I –
09:31I just don't think it's a good process to base a decision of this magnitude on seven games.
09:35That's really – the tricky thing is the balance between the long-term versus the small sample, but then also
09:46the small sample means a lot more than, you know, most of your regular season does.
09:51And I can tell you it doesn't – it isn't the first step toward a deteriorating asset.
09:57I don't know that.
09:59You don't know.
09:59I can't know that.
10:00I don't know – like, the Sabres and teams would have a better idea about that because – and we've
10:08talked about this a couple times.
10:09Like, Tuck chose to say, no, no serious injuries, just some nuisances, right?
10:17Was that the word he used, I think?
10:20And that could be absolutely right.
10:22That also could be a player about to go into the most important contract negotiation of his life, not wanting
10:30to tell the hockey world, you know, my back was bothering me or I had a hamstring or I had
10:36– whatever.
10:37Anything that could be perceived as a nagging old man thing, he might want to protect against that.
10:44The teams would know.
10:45The Sabres definitely know if he was at all compromised.
10:50I'm not saying that he was.
10:51I'm just saying they have all the information.
10:55So, if they think it's the first step towards him hitting a wall, then, of course, they're not going to
11:01meet his number.
11:03In fact, I don't think they would even want to do anything for eight years if they thought that.
11:08My guess from all this is that the Sabres, as we've talked about here, at least indirectly, have figured –
11:16they have decided a long time ago that he probably was going to be too expensive for what they were
11:24willing to pay.
11:24And that's before there was any Montreal series.
11:27That's before there was any Boston series.
11:29It was maybe during the season when they thought, well, we know what he wants.
11:32They had conversations.
11:34We know what we're willing to do.
11:36And maybe if the Montreal series had gone completely the other way, all they needed was one more goal in
11:42the end.
11:42Like, if it had gone completely the other way and you're still playing, then it's harder to just be like,
11:48yeah, no.
11:49But I think they have sort of – my guess is they have planned for, we're not going to be
11:55able to do this.
11:56We're choosing not to do this.
11:58And maybe the – at least with the fans, at least with this fan, Gary, maybe the Montreal series will
12:04make that easier for them in the public eye.
12:08It's a fair question.
12:09Why are we not fixated on it?
12:13Because it's only seven games.
12:15It's also the most important seven games they had.
12:19Right.
12:20So, I hope that's an answer.
12:21And why are we talking so much about it?
12:22Because Alex Tuck is an assistant captain and from the region and has been the face of the we want
12:30guys who want to be here.
12:31And they just had 109 points with him on the team.
12:37And, like, so there's – why are we fixated on it?
12:40Well, because it's a conversation to have.
12:42I mean, I talk about many things in here more repetitively than, in reality, I care about them.
12:48It's the job.
12:49Like, we're having a conversation in here about the Sabres.
12:52So, like, we're going to talk about Alex Tuck.
12:54What's the next most important thing they have to figure out this summer?
12:58I don't even know what's next on the list.
13:01Yeah, that's interesting.
13:02I don't know either.
13:03I don't know what I would pick second.
13:04If it's goalies.
13:06But I'm not sure they're inclined to move on goalies.
13:10All right.
13:10Thanks again, Gary.
13:11Mike Schopen, the Bulldog here.
13:12Sal Capaccio in less than 20 minutes.
13:14It's – this is –
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