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00:00Hi there, do you think the Sabres are shopping for a new goaltender, perhaps in the highest
00:07rent district of them all?
00:10And do you think they should be, if they are or aren't?
00:13We don't know, but they are connected through reports to Connor Hellebuck and Winnipeg,
00:21and Sergei Bobrovsky of Florida, Bobrovsky is up, so he'll be a free agent next week
00:28unless he signs with Florida.
00:30Before that, Hellebuck is under contract with the Jets for a few more years.
00:35Three or four more years, eight and a half million.
00:38I think that's the right time frame.
00:40I've got to double check, but it's a few years.
00:42You'd be buying a 34-year-old guy into his late 30s for eight and a half.
00:48Eight and a half is, you know, with the cap going up, it's not a bad deal.
00:53It's not outrageous, really.
00:55He's not overpaid.
00:56No, no.
00:57No, in fact, he's probably, I would say, underpaid for his level of accomplishment.
01:01Even better.
01:02Considering what Shesterkin and maybe, well, Bobrovsky's been getting 10 a year.
01:08I don't know what he'll get on a new deal at his age, but.
01:11He'll be 38.
01:12Yeah, right.
01:14When were we talking about Hellebuck before?
01:17Was it last year or two years ago?
01:19When was he rumored to be potentially available?
01:23Two years, I don't think it was last year.
01:27The Sabres had Levi.
01:29The guy we were talking about the most often of their goalies was Levi.
01:34Three years ago?
01:35Is that that long ago now?
01:38Man, I don't remember.
01:39I know it did come up.
01:43And then I think he had, he was the MVP and, did he win MVP and Hart?
01:49You mean and Vezina?
01:50And Vezina, I mean, yeah, yeah.
01:54I think that happened.
01:56I think that happened.
01:57They won the President's Trophy and I think he swept.
02:0024-25.
02:01Yeah.
02:02So.
02:03I doubt.
02:04Last summer?
02:04We were talking, yeah.
02:05I don't, I can't imagine during that year we were talking about him being available.
02:11So the year before.
02:12So maybe it would have been before that.
02:13Yeah.
02:14Yeah.
02:16Well, I just think it's kind of funny.
02:19The Sabres were trying to get into the playoffs.
02:22So how do you do it?
02:24And that's a move that they had not made before.
02:27Kingpin goalie.
02:28Right.
02:28They'd won lotteries.
02:30They had done, you know, whatever you want to say, different strategies in free agency.
02:36But the goaltending mostly was hit and hope.
02:40Backup type guys that maybe if you expanded their role they would pay off for you.
02:46I don't, I don't remember, you know, minding any of that.
02:49Like I was always, usually anyway, on board with that kind of strategy.
02:53Often referring to a Kevin Adams comment made once about how the thing with goalies is you
03:00just don't always get what you think you're getting, which is totally correct.
03:04I mean, there are lots of examples of goalies spiking and then coming back down.
03:10Even Ryan Miller was this player too.
03:12That's one of the reasons why, outside of the Bobrovsky-Hellebuck category, I would not at all consider changing their
03:21goaltending trio at all.
03:25You know, maybe they're going to trade Devin Levi away.
03:28He's not a part of the trio.
03:29I guess you could trade Ellis away and make Levi that third guy, whatever.
03:33But you don't move Alex Lyon out for Cam Talbot, right?
03:38You don't move Lucanen out for, I don't know, I'm struggling to think of like a $5 or $6 million
03:46goalie.
03:47You're just shuffling cards and hoping you get the guy that has the good year, right?
03:53But if you're buying a trade for a guy off of a good year, that's in that pool, all you're
04:01doing is you're just flipping cards and hoping you hit is all you're doing.
04:06You might as well just stand pat.
04:07But, you know, the other category is the proven year-over-year great goaltender.
04:14And Hellebuck is still absolutely in that category, maybe even more so than Bobrovsky.
04:19I mean, Bobrovsky is more decorated now with two cups prior to this year falling apart for Florida.
04:26But, I mean, at this stage, the age, it's a four-year age difference.
04:31That's a big difference.
04:33Like, I would much easier have an easier time stomaching paying Hellebuck however many years he's got left at eight
04:41and a half into his late 30s
04:44than signing up for what's rumored to be a six-year deal is what Bobrovsky is said to be looking
04:50for.
04:50And I doubt he's looking to take a huge pay cut off of what he's been getting paid as an
04:55unrestricted free agent.
04:56So that just sounds like a – that sounds real slippery to me.
05:00Like, I'd be really nervous about that.
05:03Well, whenever it was, and I'm going to say again, I think it was two years ago, I was not
05:10on board.
05:11Like, didn't – it was my brand, you know, kind of.
05:16Just somebody that I'll take my chances with certain of these backups.
05:20I don't think I want pedigree.
05:23I don't want to pay top dollar.
05:24That might have been top dollar three or four years ago whenever – you know, however that lined up.
05:31Wasn't impressed with the idea.
05:34Right now, I feel kind of differently about it.
05:39Because when we talked this through earlier, I just don't see – I mean, I don't want to say it
05:46too strongly
05:46because there are answers, other answers to this.
05:49There are other ideas, but I could see the Sabres thinking that they're a goalie away.
05:57How about putting it that way?
05:58This goalie away.
05:59I mean, like you, I don't need – I don't have any time for anybody that's not on the top
06:04tier.
06:05And there are only really ever a couple of guys on the top tier.
06:10He's one of them.
06:11He almost defines it.
06:12Yep.
06:13He is coming off a down year for him.
06:16But a lot of the stats say don't worry about it too much.
06:21Anyway, I think I could see them thinking that.
06:24And they're probably expecting to lose Tuck.
06:28They're also, I'm sure, optimistic that their young forwards will fill the void.
06:33And anybody else they could go get.
06:36There's money to spend still, and you don't have to spend money on him anymore if that happens.
06:41And then even with the Byram piece, if he wants to leave and they accommodate him, they'd get a pretty
06:50good return for him.
06:51And it could even be this player, Hellebuck.
06:54There could even be a fit there, you know, supposedly.
06:57So, I don't know.
06:59I know you said before, like, you hope that the Sabres aren't calculating their offseason that way.
07:06That they think the big goalie get is going to –
07:08That they're prioritizing it.
07:10Right, yeah, yeah.
07:11But I kind of – I guess I keep saying the same thing, which is not me saying, you know,
07:16planting a flag for this idea myself.
07:18But I'm getting closer.
07:20Yeah, yeah.
07:21And I could just imagine, given how the season ended and how good they were, you know what?
07:29Maybe we got away with it a little bit in that.
07:32And we're exposed in the Montreal series.
07:35So, how about this idea?
07:37It is five more years, by the way, Hellebuck, through 30-31 is the contract.
07:42But the money's right, eight and a half.
07:44Yeah, I am certainly – I would not be in a position to pitch a fit if they traded –
07:51you know, I guess I want to, you know, add the – depending on what I'm giving up.
07:56You know, sight unseen.
07:58I don't want to just say, you know, whatever you got to do, do it, and I'm going to like
08:02it.
08:03But I could get there.
08:05I can certainly understand if they end up there.
08:09And I'm choosing that phrasing intentionally because, to me, it is – and this isn't maybe ideal.
08:15Maybe this is an ass-backwards way to go about it.
08:18But from my view, I would prioritize – this would be the move I make if I can't do something
08:31else up front.
08:32Like, if I – I can't find my way to offloading Josh Norris and replacing him with Robert Thomas or
08:39getting the Leafs interested in Bowen Byrum and an extension for him, and that gets me Matthew Nyes.
08:48Does Dylan Larkin want to waive his – can Paige Thompson put a call into Dylan Larkin?
08:51Does he want to waive his no trade?
08:53What does that package look like?
08:54I can't do that.
08:55Right?
08:56Any of the St. Louis guy already mentioned Thomas, but Kyru's another idea there, winger, and it seems much more
09:01– it's certainly being talked about much more – that he's going to be moved and the Thomas thing has
09:06cooled down, but that could just be, you know, GM smoke for all we know.
09:11If you can't pull off that, which I'm sure they're – they want to do something.
09:19I mean, I believe that Jarmo Kekalainen wanted to add Robert Thomas to this team for the playoffs this year.
09:26So if he wanted to do that, then, I'm sure he still is thinking, you know, I don't know if
09:32that involves swapping out Norris, but the money almost necessitates it, because even losing Tuck only opens up so much
09:39more for you, considering how little he's been getting paid currently.
09:45Little, I know, right?
09:46Four and a half million bucks.
09:48So if all of that doesn't work, you should – you got to – I think you got to do
09:54something significant that, you know, makes an example for your fans that, like, you're trying to improve.
10:02You're working to improve the hockey team.
10:04And, look, the news conference sounds the same no matter what order these things are prioritized in.
10:10Whatever news conference – whatever they're announcing at the news conference is what the plan was.
10:14You know, oh, we were working on Connor Hellebuck for four months.
10:18And that very well may be true, because you got to lay groundwork.
10:22You got to be working on it if you're going to be in line to pull the trigger should it,
10:27you know, become realistic that it's going to happen.
10:29And I just – I hope, anyway, I can't know, because it is – it's perfectly reasonable to think that
10:36they could be prioritizing getting Connor Hellebuck as their offseason move.
10:40And just backfilling the roster with kids and hoping that that's enough.
10:45Or really selling us on the idea that that's enough.
10:48But I think I would – I would rather stand pat with goalie and spend my resources on those other
10:56players.
10:56But I can't know that I'm going to be able to pull them in.
10:59And if Hellebuck – if you can get that done, then that becomes your offseason plan, I think.
11:07But either way, you got to do something.
11:09Like, staying pat with goalies, trading Byram because you feel like you have to, and letting Tuck walk, and then,
11:17what, re-signing Malenstein and maybe a couple of $2 or $3 million guys that are just sort of bottom
11:23fillers.
11:24You know, maybe you trade away Greenway and replace him with someone making half as much money or something like
11:29that.
11:30Like, they'll do other stuff.
11:31But as far as impactful, top-of-the-line-up moves, I think if you end up on Hellebuck, that's
11:39it.
11:40Like, that's your big move.
11:42And again, I'm saying end up on because I do think it is right to consider the other things bigger
11:49priorities.
11:50Well, you're talking about a press conference, and they try to sell you on the idea that this is what
11:56they wanted most.
11:58If we're talking about, can they sell the idea of it working, I'm buying.
12:05Like, if it's some combination of these pieces, and I get this goaltender, and this is interesting to me because
12:15I'm usually not this way, but with this team, I could buy it.
12:21But I think it would dramatically change their cup odds, which to me are suspiciously not great for what kind
12:28of season they just had.
12:29I think whether it's really right or not, the takeaway most people would have about the Sabres is that they
12:37just didn't have it in the end.
12:40And I know how Carolina won, and I know Carter Hart, and how seemingly random the goalie stuff is.
12:48Yeah, I know, but my odds are pretty good with, you know, the gold medal goalie here.
12:55And he's having, I think, a Hall of Fame career.
12:58And he might not be, cross your fingers if they were to do it, you know, too old.
13:03Here's Mike with us.
13:04Hi, Mike.
13:05Hey, guys.
13:07Correct me if I'm wrong, but until this playoffs, or until the Olympics, Connor Hellebuck was thought of as a
13:16great regular season goalie, but he had gagged three years in a row, my recollection, in the playoffs.
13:22And it was big time in Winnipeg that they were calling him choking Buck and all this kind of stuff
13:27because he had terrible playoff series.
13:30And, you know, Wabrowski has a bad year last year.
13:34Hellebuck, but for the Olympics, for sure, has never really performed well when it counted.
13:42I just, I'm really leery about picking up either of those guys.
13:45I think we're fine with the goaltenders that we have.
13:49I think, you know, we can use that money and really, like Bulldog, I think, really wants to do is
13:56supplement our top six or our top nine.
13:59Or, if we lose Byron, pick up a really good number four defenseman with that money.
14:06I just think we're better off spent that way.
14:09Okay.
14:09You are right about the last three years.
14:13It's not a ton of, I mean, in part because he was so bad.
14:17Five games in 22-23, save percentage 8-86.
14:21I don't have the advanced stats here to give you any of the above expected stuff.
14:25But the hockey card stats, the goals against in the playoffs in 23, 3.44, save percentage 8-86.
14:32Following year, five games, 5-2-3 goals against 8-70, save percentage 24-25.
14:38When they had, like, the best regular season maybe they've ever had, 3.08, 8-6-6, save percentage.
14:45That's 13 games they did win a round that year.
14:47Prior to that, he had great playoffs.
14:51Again, it wasn't long runs, but his numbers were good.
14:559-31 one year, 9-22 another year.
14:59That was 17 games.
15:00That's almost 10 years ago now.
15:02That's 17-18.
15:04Three rounds.
15:05But the most recent playoff examples are down.
15:11There's no question.
15:12That's why him performing like he did in the Olympics was so important, I think, for his stature within the
15:19sport.
15:19Because it's the first time he'd really demonstrated a big spot like he was.
15:25And he was the difference in the game, I think everyone mostly agrees.
15:28So, it's a pretty nice feather in his cap.
15:31And, you know, doesn't wash away three down years in a row in the playoffs, but could also, you know,
15:38get you to sort of overlook it, I think.
15:42If you look at that, those statistics on hockeyreference.com, there's a stat called BS.
15:49Bad starts.
15:50Okay.
15:51There's a stat called bad starts.
15:52Yep, I like that.
15:53And in the last playoff appearance of his that season, so this is 2025, he had six.
16:00Six bad starts.
16:02Yeah, it's tough.
16:02Which is under 85% for a game.
16:04Yeah.
16:05You get tagged with a bad start.
16:08I don't know.
16:10I'm choosing to be flexible on the idea of the big goalie, all caps, in general here.
16:17It's got to be the right guy.
16:20And that's, you know, different for me.
16:22But I'm choosing not to be that flexible on whether I'm going to think about the playoffs as that different
16:28than the regular season based on, you know, his pretty small sample size in recent years.
16:33I mean, I'll take this profile.
16:35I'll take my chances with this profile.
16:38I mean, playoff series, I know, this is how it always is, much more of a spotlight, much more important
16:44to your legacy and all of that.
16:46But I've just, it's not a huge deal for me.
16:50I mean, the guys had a great career.
16:53Last time they were in the playoffs, 2025, so last year, right, they beat St. Louis in seven games, overtime,
17:01maybe double overtime in game seven, Winnipeg, and then lost to Dallas in six, losing game six in overtime, two
17:09to one.
17:10And Dallas is a super strong team.
17:13There's no...
17:13And he had two shutouts in that series.
17:15Everything we, I, was saying about that division this year with Minnesota and Dallas chasing Colorado, just substitute Winnipeg for
17:26Minnesota last year.
17:28And it was the same thing.
17:30I mean, it was a death trip to try to get out of that division.
17:33Well, I think it's really interesting to think about whether the Sabres' reputation, to the fans at least, I mean,
17:43we're the fans, we can't speak for the players, if it's changed.
17:48If it's something now where, while they probably can never be what Florida is in terms of a destination, a
17:57topic we've gone around and around on, are they a team that we think needs to make this kind of
18:05a statement, you know, to the league or to even their own players and to us?
18:10Because, I don't know, we've argued about this some, when it comes to Tuck himself, that, well, just to replace
18:18him with 20-year-olds doesn't really look great.
18:23And I think, I get it, but look who the 20-year-olds are and look what they've done already
18:28on the big stage.
18:29Like, I'm not totally guessing here on them like I would be.
18:33It could work.
18:34I mean, anything could work, but that's not, maybe it's not as reachy as, you know, other times they've counted
18:44on the kids.
18:46But I still, we're talking about a handful of games.
18:51If you're thinking about the playoffs, I mean, Austin played two playoff games because he was hurt and then he
18:57got hurt again.
18:58And Helene's played, what, four?
19:00Or, it's just not a lot of, it's not enough for me to just go, oh, absolutely, they can replace
19:07Alex Tuck.
19:07I mean, I don't know.
19:09Doan can maybe do some of the things Tuck was doing.
19:11You know, the penalty killing stuff and like that, maybe there's a different role for him.
19:16Anyway, I just, I highly doubt.
19:18The reason I'm open to the goalie thing is to me, it just could end up that everything else can't
19:24be, can't be done.
19:25And I think they would want, and maybe this will fall in the same category.
19:30I mean, they're not going to be the only team, if Hallibuck is indeed being shopped, they are not going
19:35to be the only team looking for him.
19:38So, they're going to have to win that.
19:40He has a 10-team approved trade list.
19:43So, he's got, you can tell the Winnipeg Jets, 10 teams that he's willing to be traded to.
19:48Do you think the reports, including the Sabres, about him already is an indication that he would accept a trade
19:55to the Sabres?
19:55Or do we have Pareko again?
19:56I know, that's why I was just going to say, I don't want to say.
20:00I mean, I could assume, but I might have assumed with the way the Sabres season was going that a
20:05guy like Pareko would go, yeah, absolutely.
20:07Like, when that trade was announced and we talked about it, like it was going to happen, I wasn't thinking
20:14he was going to turn them down, but he did.
20:17So, I don't know, I'd be guessing about Hallibuck.
20:19Because why would it get out before he was asked about it?
20:23Right.
20:23And then we found out that it did, which is really an interesting thing.
20:28Who wanted it out?
20:29And everybody denied that it was them.
20:31But somebody did.
20:33Somebody broke that story.
20:36Looking up Winnipeg history is not as easy as it might be for other teams because it's all broken up.
20:41It's split, right.
20:43Ian Harditz had a tweet today about the Ravens just basically taking the Cleveland Browns, but not their history.
20:52Because then the Browns returned and the Browns got their history back.
20:56And has that ever happened before?
20:58Winnipeg, the current Winnipeg, is Atlanta.
21:02Right.
21:03So, all the Atlanta Thrashers are on the Winnipeg encyclopedia page.
21:08Utah is just Utah.
21:12And Arizona, which does not currently exist, is old Winnipeg.
21:16Wow.
21:18That's on hold, like the Browns.
21:21That's on hold for Arizona to come back and then get all their stuff back and have Utah go its
21:27own way.
21:28So, Utah and Arizona are not together.
21:33So, Arizona's not apparently going to be invited back in this round of expansion that was being reported about today
21:40that involves Houston or Austin, Texas.
21:42Bulldog, they're always welcome.
21:44Arizona is welcome back anytime.
21:45Hurry up and get Arizona back in the league.
21:47Mostly because we just need to know where all the old Winnipeg guys are.
21:51Yes.
21:52You got to dig a little bit.
21:55We got to get another college arena back in the league.
21:56I want Phil Housley's Winnipeg stats.
21:59I got to go to the ArizonaCoyotes.org.
22:02You got to go to Phil Housley's page.
22:04That's easier.
22:05Yeah, probably.
22:05But, yes, Dale Howarchuk belongs to the Coyotes, not the Jets, officially.
22:13Nice league.
22:14The Jets are only these Jets and the Thrashers.
22:17If Quebec ever got a team, would they get their gear back from Colorado or does Colorado get to keep
22:22that stuff?
22:23The old jerseys that they're wearing.
22:27They've been wearing a couple times a year the old Quebec jerseys.
22:32I think they would have to go back home then.
22:35I don't know.
22:37Because if Quebec came back, it would be, I think I'm going to go with an atrocity if they wore
22:43anything but those uniforms and were called anything but the Nordique.
22:47Yeah, they're not going to be, though.
22:48You'll be upset.
22:49They're probably never going to get a team, so I don't have to really worry about it.
22:52I'm just preemptively being aggravated about something that's never going to happen.
22:56They're going to be the Quebec Guardians when they come into the league, and it'll be all different.
23:01All new arena, I hope you would think, new colors.
23:08Maybe a patch.
23:09No.
23:10Maybe a patch.
23:11That's it, though.
23:11Thanks for that.
23:12Maybe an igloo patch.
23:14Mike Schoep and the Bulldog at 803-0550.
23:16Do you want to see the Sabres go after Connor Hellebuck?
23:20I'd say like a big goalie, but even Bobrovsky to me is not the same.
23:25And this would be a trade.
23:28Bobrovsky would just be a signing.
23:30Back after the update, this is WGR.
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