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00:00Ah! That's the gray beard, Paul. I'm going to shave the beard.
00:04We'll ask your son. We're going to stand next to each other. We'll ask your son. Who looks older?
00:08So what do you make of... I'll start on Zach Benson. That's the latest news today.
00:15Kevin Weeks says the Sabres, and this is not shocking, are working towards a long-term, pretty significant contract with
00:23Zach Benson.
00:24I said it this way to Brian, and I said it this way to Joe Yurden.
00:27It feels, to me, like the highest approval rating you might ever get for a Sabres contract.
00:32I think there'll be very few people going, yeah, but he's only so young, or he's so little, or he
00:38only scored 40 points, or whatever.
00:40I think, right now, we're in a torrid love affair with Zach Benson, and seven years, seven million, sign me
00:46up.
00:47Well, I got a story for you. In Montreal, I was at my favorite restaurant, getting Montreal meat on top
00:52of spaghetti, and it's awesome.
00:53But I was sitting at the bar, and of course, there are going to be Montreal Canadian fans all sitting
00:59at the bar.
01:00The bartender knew I was from Buffalo and mentioned it, and so I said to everybody, I said, all right,
01:05who's your favorite Sabre?
01:07Every single person there, said Benson. Every single one.
01:12That's who they, if they could pick anybody off the Sabre roster, every Montreal Canadian fan sitting in that bar
01:19would have picked Benson.
01:21So that gives you an idea of what people around the league think of him, too.
01:25Mm-hmm. So, full speed ahead, right? I mean, there's no buyer beware, in your opinion?
01:31No, and I think, from an offensive standpoint, you know, I've said from the beginning, he came up at 18.
01:37I said, look, he has scored goals in every level, every league he's been in, but I don't think he's
01:43going to walk into the National Hockey League at 18 years old and score 25 goals.
01:47I just didn't think he would, and he didn't.
01:49But it seemed like about midway through this season, maybe a little later than that, it was before the playoffs,
01:58he started, you know, showing some offensive skill.
02:02Well, his first goal ever showed a lot of offensive skill, if you remember it, through the legs, and, but,
02:08you know, and he was starting to pile up some points in the last, what do you want to say,
02:1330 games or so of the season.
02:15And then, in the playoffs, he started scoring some big goals, and scoring, like, not just goals going in off
02:21your elbow or something.
02:23I mean, scoring some goal scorer's goals type of a scenario.
02:27So, I feel there's still more to come on the offense.
02:32There, of course, are all the intangibles that he brings, and the thing, the minus that he had, Lindy Ruff
02:40got out of him.
02:41But his last year, not this past year, the year before, he would take a lot of stupid penalties with
02:47all his shenanigans.
02:49Lindy Ruff sat him down and told him, look it, you've got to stop taking the penalties.
02:53I don't mind the shenanigans, but you've got to know where the line is, and you've got to stop putting
02:58a shorthanded.
03:00And he did.
03:01How many, there weren't too many times last year that he took dumb penalties that made them shorthanded.
03:07And he was in a lot of garbage going on, but when it went on, he usually took somebody with
03:11him, or he would draw the penalty.
03:14You know?
03:15So, that was really the only minus that you could say really hurt the team, and he figured out a
03:21way to get it out of his game, but still play his game.
03:25And so, I don't think, it's a little more than I would have thought, or what the reporting was.
03:31But, no, I don't think it's, you know, a lot of people thought, well, Samuelson really got overpaid.
03:37Well, they're not saying it at the end of this year.
03:39A lot of people thought, Thompson, wow, he got overpaid.
03:43Yeah, not really.
03:46Not when you're looking at what he's making now.
03:48And he's probably wishing he didn't sign a long-term deal at a younger age.
03:53I would need to.
03:53That was the thing to do in the NHL back when he signed back.
03:56I would need to do a deep dive to confirm this, but it feels like Samuelson, that contract has to
04:03be in the running for the best contract in the league right now.
04:06With the level he played at last year.
04:07And people hated that contract for how many years?
04:09Yeah, right.
04:10No, I know, a year ago, we were talking about this earlier in the week, I don't remember what day.
04:15You know, the GMs, someone called us, like, do you think the people running these teams pay attention to the
04:23fans or to what you guys say or whatever?
04:26I'm like, well, I mean, here's an example of why you shouldn't, because we all wanted Samuelson bought out off
04:32the team after last year and how he didn't respond against the Devils when Thompson got hit.
04:37That was really the flashpoint.
04:38His play was poor all along.
04:41But when he didn't show up for that, it was like, that's it, I'm done.
04:45Get off my team, right?
04:47And not only did the Sabres hold steady there, I mean, they're getting paid off for the next however many
04:53years, assuming Samuelson stays at the level he's at.
04:56Like, that $4.5 million, he should be getting, you know, for the way he played last year, he should
05:01be getting paid somewhere between what Power and Darlene are getting paid.
05:05Right.
05:05I mean, he's, I know Byram will be our next topic, but he's kind of one of the reasons why
05:10Byram basically has told the Sabres, you got a year and I'm leaving.
05:16You know, he can't get the role that he wants playing with the Buffalo Sabres.
05:21And what Frank Cervelli said on his podcast is something that we said last summer when we were talking about
05:26contracts for Byram.
05:27It has nothing to do with the city of Buffalo.
05:30It has nothing to do with the Buffalo Sabres organization.
05:32It has nothing to do with his teammates.
05:35He loves his teammates.
05:36He has a great time with them.
05:37He likes the organization.
05:38He likes what it's turned into.
05:41He likes the city of Buffalo.
05:43It has nothing to do with any of that.
05:45It has to do with he wants to be a number one defenseman and he has an agent who will
05:51take guys to free agent.
05:53And they basically have told the Sabres, no matter what, even if he's traded, he is going to test free
05:59agency.
06:00So I think, are we ready to jump into this?
06:04Yeah, sure.
06:05Go for it.
06:05Yeah.
06:06Okay, I wanted to make sure we didn't short shrift the other topic.
06:09No, no.
06:10All good.
06:11You know, there's a number of things you can do.
06:16Because this is kind of a little bit like the Reinhardt thing.
06:19Reinhardt had one more year before unrestricted free agency, told the Sabres he wouldn't resign,
06:24and that gave Adams the opportunity to make the trade to get Levi and a draft pick that turned into
06:30Kulik.
06:32So, again, the Sabres have a year.
06:35They could do what they've done with Tuck and make him a rental, their own rental, if they wanted to
06:43run it back, if they wanted to do that.
06:45Or they can do what they did with Reinhardt and find some type of a deal that, you know, would
06:52help both sides.
06:54Or find out, does Byram have a team he's thinking of, or two teams that he's thinking of?
07:02And see if you can rattle their cage a little bit, and see what they're thinking.
07:06And, you know, let's say he wanted to go to Team A, and you call Team A, and Team A
07:12goes, you know what?
07:13We were kind of thinking of him.
07:15What would it take to get him here?
07:17So they could sign him to the eight-year deal if they wanted to.
07:21You know, so, you know, there's a possibility.
07:24There are options right now that you can still do if he has done you the favor of letting you
07:31know that, look it, I'm going to unrestricted free agency.
07:34The problem with that is, though, too, with other teams, they know they're basically getting a rental, too, unless it's
07:42a team that he really wants to go to.
07:43But if it's not, you're not going to get the value you want if everybody knows, well, I'm only going
07:52to get him for a year, and he's going to test free agency.
07:55Yeah, no, you want to try to place him in a place where he wants to sign for the seven
08:01or the eight, whatever.
08:03Like, yeah, otherwise, he's not the key piece in a Matthew Nye trade if he's only playing in Toronto for
08:09a year.
08:10There's just no way that Toronto's doing that.
08:13And Toronto might have just finished that with Radish.
08:16Yeah, well, possibly.
08:17Yeah, that's right.
08:18Maybe.
08:19Maybe.
08:20Maybe.
08:20I mean, very different type players, but sure.
08:23I mean.
08:23Money-wise, though.
08:24Yeah, oh, sure.
08:25That's right.
08:26Yeah.
08:26We'll see.
08:27They might, who knows, maybe they'll move Riley, and that would open up another spot.
08:31Sure.
08:32Sure.
08:32And we'll see where that ends up.
08:34All right, Paul.
08:35Our time is at an end.
08:37Enjoy, I don't know, enjoy the volatility of the weather.
08:40It seems like it's nice again now, right?
08:42Are we in the clear?
08:43I think we're in the clear.
08:43I think the weather's gone.
08:44I had a thunderstorm for about 15 minutes, and it's blue sky, white clouds.
08:49I'll be on my way to the bison game before too long, and it's beautiful.
08:54Giddy up.
08:54Well, enjoy.
08:55Are you doing the game, or are you just going to the game?
08:57No.
08:57Tomorrow, I'm doing tomorrow's game, so today is my scouting trip.
09:00All right.
09:00Good deal, Paul.
09:01Enjoy that.
09:02Thanks for carving out a little time for us today.
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