- 14 hours ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00If I would be mad or jealous in the Sabres drought era, which really has just ended,
00:08if all this action were happening and we were just sort of in a lonely state,
00:15sitting out here, you know, on a patio, on a deck, watching everything go by.
00:21Kind of like it almost always was here, even when the Sabres were not terrible.
00:28Yes, but at least there was the occasional, if not constant, complaint that,
00:34oh, well, remember when hockey was fun and there were trades and now there aren't any?
00:38Because there are trades.
00:40It's like heavy action yesterday.
00:41It's been kind of nuts, yeah.
00:43I mean, one of the first things I saw this morning when I woke up was a tweet from
00:46longtime hockey commentator Jeff Merrick that said,
00:50this is the craziest trade deadline ever.
00:53Yeah.
00:54Okay.
00:54It is.
00:55I think it goes hand in hand with what is happening with some of the players.
01:04I think the players are, we talked about this the other day, I think.
01:08Yeah, yesterday, yeah.
01:08They're getting more empowered.
01:11Like, it's less of a scarlet letter if you step out of line.
01:16Like, hockey players have traditionally been sort of,
01:19I don't want to put my head up above the horizon here because I'll seem selfish or needy or something,
01:29right?
01:29So, just go with the flow.
01:31I'm just here to try my best.
01:33Go team.
01:35And guys are, I don't know if it's beginning with Matthew Kachuk a few years ago when he wanted out
01:40of Calgary,
01:41but his brother just did the same thing.
01:43Bowen Byron ostensibly just did the same thing.
01:46He said, you know, I don't know that he picked his spot necessarily, but I'm not going to resign.
01:52You know, we went through this with Reinhardt.
01:54Like, guys are feeling, I think, the more guys that do it, the more the realization is that, like, life
02:02goes on.
02:03Yeah, those fans may be mad at you, but whatever.
02:05I'm just going to do what I've got to do.
02:07There's so much to say.
02:08Yeah.
02:09Yesterday, for me, it was Cairo, where I sort of had a light bulb moment.
02:14Like, why would you do that?
02:16I mean, what is the incentive for the Blues?
02:18They just don't want the headache.
02:19They don't want the cost of a guy that's – I mean, he did have a down year, as you
02:25said.
02:25But I think there are sort of, like, non-stat-based factors that somehow have incentivized teams to just move
02:36on fast.
02:38And Byron is a great case study in this.
02:41Because, really, how long ago did we first hear that maybe there were loggerheads with him?
02:48Like, two weeks ago?
02:50If that – you know, there was always speculation.
02:53The season ends and, like, what are you going to do here?
02:55But then it became he wants to leave.
02:59And there's a lot of luck in this.
03:02I think Kevin Adams would maybe say this.
03:05The timing was, I think it seems, ideal in this move for what the Sabres just did as a team,
03:16for what Byron just did as a player.
03:19I mean, a year ago I just would have driven him to the airport to get a fourth-round pick
03:24or something.
03:24I don't want to have to pay this guy.
03:26His numbers are terrible.
03:27Can I just be done?
03:29And then a year went by and they had 109 points and a playoff round win and everything else.
03:34And he was a big part of the success.
03:37So, apparently, he was ready to move on.
03:42And here he is today talking about how Chicago or somebody is saying on his behalf, like, Chicago, you always
03:48wanted to be there.
03:49And then you have Chicago's kind of like a moron team.
03:53Right.
03:54So, then it's just perfect.
03:56And you also have today – there's a lot to unpack.
03:59Like, Kekalainen said today, I was trying to convince him all year.
04:07Right?
04:07He said that about Byron.
04:08To stay.
04:09To stay.
04:09I wanted to sign him.
04:10To sign.
04:10So, when he said when the season ended how much of a priority Byron was, I think he was playing
04:18cards with the other GMs.
04:20Because I think he probably would have already had a sense that Bowen Byron was going to want to do
04:24what he ended up doing,
04:26which is go somewhere where he's going to get paid $12 million a year to be a number one defenseman.
04:31But yet, Kekalainen, I'm guessing – you know, because you shouldn't make a habit of telling people your objective is
04:40to do a thing that you already know is unlikely to happen.
04:45The only motivation you'd have to do it is to hope that you're not going to be put in a
04:50position where everyone knows you're trading the guy.
04:54And maybe you can get a better deal.
04:56And so, I'm assuming Kekalainen was just blowing smoke when he said that because I doubt that that changed between
05:03the conversations he had.
05:04The way he said it today was, I was trying to convince him all year.
05:07And if it hadn't worked by the middle of May, I don't know why it would have changed when the
05:13season was over.
05:14Because, you know, just to play it out, they did so well.
05:20And, you know, vibes, right?
05:22Yeah, maybe.
05:22We want to think that the Sabres are now a vibes team.
05:25And, you know, come on.
05:28We'll pay you a lot of money.
05:29You just won't be number one.
05:32And, you know, Kekalainen, you're going to have to maybe – I'm not sure you'll want to.
05:38Anybody's welcome to try to rein me in.
05:40I have Seinfeld on the brain.
05:42Last night on ADP chasing, Seinfeld came up and I botched it.
05:45But I brought up – we're talking about Brandon Ayuk.
05:49And now if Brandon Ayuk just sort of like set foot on the 49ers practice field, that would mean he's
05:56sort of like officially back.
05:57And then they would cut him immediately and, you know, then that would be resolved.
06:02But he won't do that.
06:04And it reminds me of a Seinfeld where Kramer goes to work at that store, but he wasn't hired.
06:11He's just doing it for fun or something.
06:14If Joe's listening, he'll straighten me out here.
06:16And it's my favorite line in the history of the show where the manager is across the desk.
06:20He's like, we're going to have to let you go.
06:22And then Kramer says, I don't even work here.
06:24And the beautiful favorite line of mine in Seinfeld history is when the manager responds by saying, that's what makes
06:31this so difficult.
06:32Right.
06:34And so, like, you know, maybe kekeleinen to use Seinfeld again.
06:41And I know this – has the show ever sounded older?
06:43I don't know how actually relevant Seinfeld still is to people half my age.
06:48But there was that – there's also a Kramer storyline where it's Elaine's boyfriend and he's a psychiatrist.
06:56And he's in that dark room.
06:59And what?
07:01Kramer is trying – on Elaine's behalf, Kramer is – I don't know.
07:04Kramer is trying to talk him out of going out with her or something like that.
07:08She's trying to break up with him and she's using Kramer to do it.
07:11Yes.
07:11And Kramer's having no luck with this guy and, you know, the guy says something like, I want you to
07:17tell her this.
07:18And Kramer sort of hems and haws and the guy goes, you can and you will.
07:23And I think that might be kekeleinen.
07:25Right.
07:26Yeah, maybe.
07:27So it took me a minute.
07:28Yeah, yeah.
07:28But I feel like I'm a little bit giddy.
07:31While you're sorting yourself through that and maybe catch your breath.
07:34Uh-oh.
07:34Well, we're, I think, bracing for this.
07:39Elliott Friedman is reporting Tuck is being traded to Washington.
07:43Fine.
07:44Says, not sure how all the pieces will fit, but Tuck to Washington in signing 8 by 10 and a
07:49half.
07:50When Elliott Friedman tweeted an hour and a half ago that that was likely to happen, I took that to
07:55mean it was going to happen.
07:56It was going to happen, right.
07:57By 3 o'clock.
07:58It looks like that is happening, yeah.
08:01Okay.
08:01So I don't know what, I wouldn't expect any reason to be excited about the return, but they'll get something,
08:07right?
08:07I mean, the mid-round pick is probably what you're looking at here, right?
08:12I doubt it's anything that's going to matter.
08:14I did want to ask you or Paul about one aspect of that, which is, does Tuck, as a member
08:22of the Sabres, as it is not yet July 1st, before this trade is consummated,
08:29does he and his, do he and his agent get to negotiate with Washington?
08:33Like, somebody must tell Washington whether he would do it.
08:37And then if he wouldn't, then there is no trade.
08:40I'm not sure how the order of that works, because it is a sign in trade, is how we say
08:45it.
08:46But I think, really, it's a trade in sign.
08:48Because Washington, if they acquire his rights before July 1st, they can then do the eight years, right?
08:54If that's how that works, so it's like the Sabres are the only team that, until he's on another team
09:00and his rights are traded,
09:02they're the only team that can do that.
09:03But now Washington can do that.
09:04So, yeah, I think the negotiation happens directly with the team acquiring the player.
09:08It's the most exciting trade deadline ever.
09:10It's the most exciting July 1st ever.
09:12And it's June 24th.
09:14Yeah.
09:14I don't know.
09:15Well, here we are.
09:18803-0550.
09:20Byram is gone.
09:20Byram is gone.
09:22Jordan Greenway?
09:23Greenway is gone.
09:24Do we want to spend just a minute with all of this unfolding last night like it did?
09:29Because it felt like it just sort of kept getting better.
09:34Although, I mean, the lead of it was the fourth pick, was right away.
09:38The first tweet I saw involving this deal potentially happening said the fourth overall pick.
09:45So that's a hell of a lead.
09:47Like, holy cow, right?
09:48And then it's like, there's more.
09:52But I thought that might be more coming back than going out.
09:57And then next thing I hear is it's Greenway.
10:00They're going to take the Greenway contract.
10:02And I like Greenway more than maybe most fans did.
10:05But still, I mean, $4 million is...
10:08You don't need them.
10:10It's great at this time of the year to free that up.
10:13They need another big guy on the fourth line.
10:15Go find one later.
10:17They're out there.
10:18So that's great news.
10:20And then, oh, the guy that's coming is 6'8 and led the league in 100 mile per hour shots
10:26last year.
10:27Like, I don't know.
10:28Like, I think that's a third pair guy probably, you know, on this team.
10:32I don't think that's a buy room replacement or anything.
10:35I don't think they have a buy room replacement in the organization currently.
10:39But it just was so cool to have a trade, sort of just each layer of it.
10:46There was no, oh, oh.
10:49It was all just, yeah.
10:51It was not the comfort.
10:52Yeah.
10:53There was not the comfort angst.
10:54Right.
10:55There's a door off or whatever.
10:57There's going to be more here.
10:58Right.
10:58You sort of sit back.
10:59Yeah.
11:00So that was awesome.
11:01So now what?
11:03Right?
11:03I mean, right away, me, I'm thinking, I mean, the fourth pick, it's a great haul.
11:09I mean, I think they killed the Blackhawks in this trade.
11:12Even if buy room does become exactly what they're dreaming of him becoming, they've done great
11:17here because this guy was not going to be with them anymore long term.
11:21They could have rented him for the year, I guess.
11:23I think I brought that up yesterday as a outcome that I wouldn't have been, you know,
11:28terrified of necessarily, depending on what else they did.
11:31But they make him around.
11:33Yeah, yeah.
11:34But they don't.
11:35They do great in the trade.
11:37They unload some salary.
11:38The fourth overall pick, what?
11:40I haven't even been thinking about who's at the top of the draft.
11:43The Sabres were picking 27th and they were picking 20th and now they're picking fourth
11:48and 20th.
11:49And 20th.
11:50But for me, as valuable as the fourth overall pick is, I feel like it's much better turned
11:57into something that is immediate.
11:59Because I think as good a player as they can pick at four, and they probably can pick a
12:04player that will be maybe even great at four.
12:07That's not helping them right now.
12:09I doubt that that guy is stepping into the NHL and playing, you know, meaningful top.
12:15If they wanted to draft one of the defensemen at the top here, am I drafting Matthew Schaefer?
12:21No.
12:21I mean, that was one overall.
12:23I think whoever they pick will probably not help them right away.
12:27So I'm all about, all right, is four too much to pay for Matthew Nye's?
12:33Or is it just perfect?
12:35Do I not add any sweeteners at all?
12:38Can I just do that one for one?
12:40Can I get Dylan Larkin on the phone?
12:42Let's get Tage Thompson recruiting.
12:44I want to spin four into something immediate.
12:47Because as cool as it would be to have another hotshot young guy, man, my cup's pretty full
12:56in that department.
12:57And I need to now replace Alex Tuck if indeed he's gone, gone.
13:02Which he is.
13:02Which he is.
13:04Regardless of this trade, I mean, Kekalainen slammed the door shut on that.
13:07So I've got to replace Tuck and Byram now.
13:11And maybe Byram is the focus and they feel like the kids maybe will be enough.
13:17Because, I mean, Kekalainen is right there to mention the kids after saying Tuck, we're
13:21not, probably not going to be revisiting this.
13:24But that could be just GM smoke too.
13:26I mean, who knows?
13:27But I think he's got to be working on something big with four and 20 in his pocket now.
13:33And a team that should be treated as a cup contender.
13:37I feel like those picks can turn into something really cool here in the next few days.
13:43Well, I'm optimistic.
13:44I'm certainly open to that.
13:47I love draft picks.
13:48And I don't think I would hate it necessarily if they just used the draft picks.
13:53Because there's also the potential to do more next week.
13:57Or in trades.
13:58Like you still have other, you know, opportunities here in theory.
14:02But I am just really geeked up for what this guy is doing.
14:10I just think, I don't know if he was conning anybody after the season about Byram.
14:16You know, I mean, if I'm going to give him all the credit, all the respect, the Seinfeld
14:22psychiatrist comp, I'd need his name.
14:27You know, it's like, listen, all right, he's talking to Byram.
14:31And he knows what Byram is feeling and thinking.
14:35And he's like, look, you can be in on it, all right?
14:39I'm going to talk about our future together.
14:43And I'll get you what you need, as long as I can do it, as long as there's a way
14:46to do it.
14:47And I could have been lied to right to my face at that press conference.
14:53And, like, I'm not mad.
14:55Right.
14:55No, me either.
14:56I'm just, okay, I know this kind of thing does happen.
15:00And really what it is is my feelings about the player and the trade to begin with.
15:06And that's going to, if you don't like the trade, then you're not as likely, obviously,
15:12you're not as likely to be receptive to, like, sort of whatever game you might have been
15:16subject to in the last month or so.
15:20But I never got all the way there with Byram.
15:23I thought a year ago he was a disaster of an idea for some sort of long-term deal, that
15:30it was exactly what the Sabres usually would do.
15:33But it was interesting to me that they couldn't do it or didn't do it.
15:39And my takeaway was, well, they tried to move him and they couldn't, which I don't know.
15:44Like, nobody ever told me that.
15:46But that's always how it sounded.
15:47This is a year ago.
15:48It's always how it sounded to me.
15:50And this really was this week last year, because, like, the draft is when you do that.
15:54Right.
15:55And they didn't.
15:56And it just seemed like more of the same.
15:58And then they agreed on a two-year deal.
16:00Yeah.
16:00I mean, well, you got to do something if you're going to keep him.
16:03So they did that.
16:04But Samuelson really tipped the whole thing.
16:07I mean, his ascent opened, not to take credit away from Byram, because he did very well.
16:14He improved.
16:16I think that's safe to say.
16:18He was a bit, I mean, I treated those four guys as equals.
16:22But, I mean, yeah, he had as much to do with them dominating from the back end as any of
16:29the guys did.
16:29I mean, he's not Darlene, I know.
16:31But he, I thought he was their best player in the Boston series.
16:35Best player on the ice.
16:37So, I mean, that's impactful.
16:39And that's not a guy that I want to, I'm eager to part with.
16:43But all along, it's like, you got to understand, like, the player has a saying that, too.
16:49You can't just do everything you want to do.
16:51So, I think, given the situation that they were in, not really feeling like they're going to be able to
16:59keep this guy long-term because he wants to get out of here and go somewhere where he can fly
17:04and be free.
17:06To get the haul they did is just, it's kind of incredible, I think.
17:11Like, I was really worried.
17:12I mean, I would guess, I mean, the way he's talking, maybe there was some assurance given to the Blackhawks
17:18that, like, I will commit to you.
17:20I will sign long-term, but he's not eligible to do that until July 1st.
17:26So, they have to do this, you know, without the security of maybe they can agree to it or something,
17:32nod, nod, wink, wink.
17:33But, like, until he's into the last year of his deal, which doesn't happen until July 1, he can't sign
17:39an extension.
17:40So, they had to do that, you know, there has to be some amount of risk there that they won't
17:46end up with what they really wanted.
17:48That usually mitigates what you're going to get in return.
17:52Fourth overall, what?
17:54Like, I just, I'm blown away by it.
17:57But yet, I want it to be, I want it to turn into something else.
18:01So, but it's a great haul.
18:04Yeah, you would love to know how Yarmou pulled it off.
18:11What, I want a documentary on all these big trades, just exclusive to the particular trade in question.
18:19Like, how did the conversation start?
18:21Who called whom?
18:21Who started it?
18:22You know, did he call everybody?
18:24Like, look, we might have a problem here with Byram.
18:26And sort of sound really sad when he's actually thinking, you know, he's, now I'm in a rounder's moment where
18:33he's like, you know, just sort of bluffing.
18:35I know I've got this, but I have to look like I am beat.
18:40Or does his phone ring off the hook with offers for him?
18:43Like, how about San Jose?
18:45How about Mike Greer talking about Byram openly?
18:48Like, that he was interested.
18:50Yeah.
18:50But, you know, he basically said Chicago did way more.
18:54Right, we had the ninth pick.
18:55They had the fourth.
18:57And like that.
18:59It read like he might have been laughing when he was talking.
19:01Like, oh, well, we can't compete with that.
19:03Yeah.
19:03So he did, you know, the Sabres did what was best for the Sabres.
19:07I don't know.
19:08So it's a really a great moment here with the draft this weekend in two nights, not to mention that
19:14it's in Buffalo, actually.
19:15But either way, we're right in the middle of all this.
19:20July 1st is one week from today.
19:23And then you have free agency.
19:25There's all kinds of more rumor stuff today.
19:28Vincent Trocek.
19:29There's just a lot more in the air, balls in the air today.
19:33And I just wonder what fans' impression of Kekalainen is.
19:39Like, did he – has he overstepped?
19:42Or is he now your new, you know, your new daddy?
19:47Is he now the, you know, your hero?
19:52Is this a GM that has basically just taken over your life?
19:58I mean, I don't know.
19:59I'm not sure of the words.
20:00I can't get all the way there yet because, to me, the job is not – he has not done
20:06a single thing yet to make the team any better.
20:09Well, okay.
20:10What are the odds that that will happen?
20:11I think really good.
20:12But I need to see it first, you know.
20:16But, I mean, I'm encouraged.
20:18I think the fact that he could pull this off to this extent makes me feel like there's bigger things
20:25coming.
20:26But I'm going to need to see him because the objective this offseason should not have been and definitely is
20:32not to see how much I can get for Bowen Byram.
20:35And can I salvage something for Alex Tuck by trading his rights at the last minute?
20:39It's got to be, you know, making this – improving the hockey team.
20:44That's the idea here.
20:45So, they now need a top-four defenseman that, again, I don't think organizationally they have that guy at all.
20:55Mertka might be still another year away unless he shows up and is just, like, you know, just out of
21:01this world.
21:02But, I mean, he –
21:03You can't really count on that.
21:04No, you just – not as a cup-contending team, you can't.
21:08And I sort of feel, to an extent, the same way about – I want room for kids, but I
21:14don't want to just open the door wide and say,
21:16Come on in, I've got spots for all of yous.
21:19Because I'm going to need some veterans, I think, here.
21:22So, I'm very – I'm not at all upset with Yarmulkekeleinen or down on him, but the job is nowhere
21:34near done.
21:34Find a Willy Wonka meme where he opens the door and all the kids run in.
21:40That's the Sabres opening the door to the 2026-27 season.
21:45Come on in.
21:46Yeah.
21:46I mean, I don't want to say the easy part is done, but, like, dumping guys is easier than pulling
21:54guys in that you think are going to improve the overall here.
21:59Like, that's the meat of the job here.
22:02Well, I haven't yet really dug in on the fourth overall pick options, and I don't know.
22:09Maybe something will happen before I get to it.
22:11Right.
22:12That's right.
22:14Because –
22:14And don't rush.
22:15I didn't expect it to be a big topic.
22:18803-0550 for your thoughts.
22:20Yesterday, we had Hellebuck.
22:22I guess that could still be a possibility.
22:25Now we have the Byram trade.
22:29Tuck is traded, not officially necessarily, but reportedly, to Washington, so that's over.
22:35And whatever else comes along.
Comments