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00:00This is the general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks speaking, Kyle Davidson.
00:06Patrick Kane, I guess, there continues to be speculation about whether he could be a Sabre.
00:14I very much hope he will not be one.
00:16I just, I think it's not interesting in any way.
00:21You?
00:23I'm not as dug in, dead set against it as that.
00:28I don't love it, but to me, it would only happen if something else happens.
00:37And that trade-off might be worth it to me.
00:42I think if they divest themselves of a couple of players in a Connor Hellebuck trade eventually,
00:48then I think I can find a place for Patrick Kane.
00:51Like, if I move Jack Quinn, say, in a Connor Hellebuck trade, then I might have my power play.
01:02Like, I get a veteran that's won cups.
01:05There's an appeal there.
01:07I'm not sure about him skating five-on-five with his team, but the power play stuff might offset that
01:14enough that you could get me there.
01:16But it's mostly, to me, to make room.
01:20Like, I was tweeting about Vincent Trocek last night because there was some account that I follow said something about
01:28that trade
01:28and referenced how the Sabres were thought to be interested in that.
01:32And I heard, I trust very much that they were.
01:35But I think it was contingent on a space opening up.
01:39Like a Ryan McLeod being involved in a Connor Hellebuck trade.
01:42I need a third-line center now.
01:44Okay, let's go get Vincent Trocek.
01:47And they obviously didn't make that trade, and Trocek ended up going, where did he go?
01:51Anaheim?
01:51I can't remember where he went.
01:52He went somewhere.
01:55So I think you could get me into Kane only from the convenience of making a bigger move is really
02:03how I would end up there.
02:04Because I think they would have a need.
02:06If they trade, you know, two rostered players and some other stuff for Connor Hellebuck, then I might have room
02:14for Patrick Kane.
02:15Robertson's out.
02:16Right, that happened.
02:17One-year deal.
02:19One for 12?
02:20Right.
02:20I'd take it.
02:22I'd take a one-year $12 million deal.
02:27And they can, the way the rules work, they can revisit that after January 1st and extend him and keep
02:36him, or he's going to get walked right into UFA, which, you know, that's great for him.
02:40So he's betting on himself.
02:42Yeah, so they're pushing off the conversation with him.
02:45He'll hope to go score 45 goals and then be a free agent and get $20 million next summer.
02:52Well, that's probably where we'll be at, right?
02:54I mean, we're at $18 million now for Carlson.
02:57I read today that his young teammate, Gautier, Cutter Gautier, is expected to come in around $17 million.
03:05So if we're there on those guys, then Robertson is going to get $20 million next summer.
03:11The cap's going to go up again.
03:13What does Allen make again?
03:14Like $50-ish.
03:16So Allen is worth three times more than, quote, Leo Carlson?
03:21Sure.
03:22That's how that works?
03:23Now the sport is 300 times more popular.
03:26Wow.
03:27Allen's a bargain, which we knew.
03:29Yes.
03:29He's always been and will always be a bargain.
03:32If he wants to – who do we do this for once?
03:35He walks in and wants to double his pay.
03:37Who says no?
03:38Do the bills really – I mean, that's not a perfect example.
03:41But somebody like him, Mahomes, he signed for the record deal, ownership stake.
03:48And then, like, that was the biggest bargain in sports.
03:50And then that got redone already.
03:53That's been redone already.
03:54Allen's been redone already.
03:55Three times more, maybe.
03:57Yeah.
03:58It happens all the time.
03:59Yeah.
03:59Not because of this point, but just because –
04:02Just team –
04:03Yeah.
04:04Incentives.
04:04He helps – yeah.
04:05He, you know, changes the cap figure for the coming year kind of thing.
04:08They just push it down the road.
04:10Here's Greg with us.
04:11Hi, Greg.
04:12Hey, guys.
04:13Good afternoon.
04:13Thanks for taking my call.
04:14You're welcome.
04:14Thank you for calling.
04:16Yeah.
04:16So, I mean, I agree with you that, like, the trades are going to be really interesting over the next
04:22few weeks or so.
04:23With Hellebuck and with Kane, too, it's kind of like, you know, there have been kind of three groups of
04:29people that have been involved in all these kind of discussions.
04:31It's obviously hockey ops, and then there's the national and local media, and then there's fans, and everybody has a
04:37different, you know, perspective, of course.
04:39But I think, like, I'm also curious of what the owner has a hand in and then what the –
04:46even the marketing team.
04:47I think, Mike, you said that last week when you're talking about, like, when Mario Williams came to the Bills
04:52and, like, what that did for just the marketability of stars.
04:56I was chatting with a friend, and I was like, can you name me a time that the Bills, you
05:03know, and the Sabres had their, like, the most athletic or even best athletes of their respective sports if the
05:12Hellebuck trade goes through?
05:13So, you have Josh Allen and Hellebuck on both Buffalo sports teams.
05:17Like, I was like, when was the last time that happened?
05:20Could be Hasek and Bruce Smith.
05:21I don't even know, but I'm like, that makes the marketability of, I guess, this whole conversation even more interesting.
05:28So, I'm just curious of your thoughts.
05:31Okay.
05:33There are people in this room –
05:35I mean, Hellebuck is not the best player in the league.
05:36No, right.
05:37He's the best – he's arguably the best goalie in the league.
05:40I mean, there's competition for that.
05:41Right, right.
05:42He's been the MVP, which is the best player in the league, right?
05:46So – but, yeah, he's not the best player in the league.
05:49So, they would have – this is the closest I can get to the caller's point.
05:52They can have – they would – if they traded for him, giving up anything, they would have a former
05:57MVP on both teams.
05:58Right.
05:59Which is – yeah, which is – I don't know that that's ever happened.
06:05Dom and Kelly or Thurman.
06:07Yeah, okay.
06:08If that –
06:09Yeah.
06:10Yeah, like mid-90s.
06:11Yeah.
06:11I don't know.
06:12There's not – I don't know that there's – well, I know there's no MVP on at least two of
06:17these.
06:18But there's a man – I'm old enough to remember OJ, Gilbert Perrault, and Bob McAdoo all playing.
06:24And, like, those are three studs in their respective sports.
06:30Let me say this.
06:30This is what I was thinking about earlier before Topsoil got brought into the chat.
06:37And I mean that in the nicest possible way.
06:39But I enjoyed that.
06:40Yeah.
06:43Every day is a step closer to – maybe it's, like, sort of made up, but a certain deadline where
06:52you just don't bother anymore.
06:55Like, this idea that they could have or would have signed Patrick Kane if they had moved pieces is yet
07:02another, perhaps, at least, reason to believe that they have wanted to do that.
07:10Or else –
07:10Right.
07:11What are we talking about?
07:12Same with the Trocek stuff.
07:13Same thing with that.
07:14I absolutely trust that they were very far down the road on Trocek enough to get him to agree to
07:20come here, but they had to make the other move.
07:22They didn't make the other move, and therefore the Trocek thing didn't happen.
07:25So, okay.
07:26Like, any team in any sport is always entitled to do that.
07:30I mean, you should be thinking generally at least that way.
07:36All right, well, what else can we do?
07:38Like, why take a minute off?
07:40I mean, you're able – you want to be thinking that way, but practically speaking, you really don't because you
07:47get to a point where you want to just sort of get your team on the ice, and this is
07:52our roster, and we've got tweets with pictures and images, and we want – these are the players.
08:00This is it.
08:01Right.
08:01And the Sabres are at a point where the vibes are good.
08:06And you really can't name anybody on the team that that isn't true of.
08:10Even – I mean, who do you want to test it with?
08:12McLeod or somebody like that that didn't have a great playoff.
08:15Really, like, they did so well last year in improving their image and getting fans back that – I mean,
08:25all of it works.
08:26Okay, you lost Tuck.
08:28All right, you traded Byram in a trade that most people objectively thought was really good for the Sabres overall.
08:33Okay, well, you know, you're going to miss Tuck, but really, who holds anything against any of their current players,
08:41right?
08:42So, you want to get – eventually, maybe this isn't real.
08:48Maybe this can just take half the season or something where, like, Hellebuck is still on the front burner, if
08:55he really was already.
08:58But, yeah, I think more practically speaking, again, you want to be, like, a month from now, say, or by
09:04Labor Day, you want to know, you know, Lindy comes in.
09:08And the players start to come in.
09:09Like, this is the group.
09:10I think they want to do that.
09:12They don't want anybody left hanging – fans, players, coaches – on, like, who their number one goalie is going
09:17to be.
09:18Right.
09:18So, there is – I think there probably – I can only say probably – there is some line drawn
09:24where, like, all right, well, we're going this far, but then that's it.
09:29Right, and I think it sort of makes sense to think that they have leverage in this if they want
09:35him, because if Winnipeg is intent on moving him, well, they're going to have to do that.
09:39Right.
09:40And maybe the Sabres think, well –
09:42We can wait you out.
09:43We'll wait you out.
09:44But can they wait him out forever?
09:46No, right, because you do have – the players you are counting on if you don't make the trade, some
09:54of them are in – especially the goalie.
09:55Look, Lucanen is on another team, whether he goes to Winnipeg or not.
10:00Like, if they make a Halibut trade that doesn't involve Lucanen, he's going somewhere else.
10:05Like, they're not going to have him here at his money with Halibut here.
10:09I mean, that would – there's just no way that's happening.
10:11So, he's got to be sort of – you know, wants to be squared away at some point as you're
10:18getting closer to training camp.
10:20And same for any of the guys that are in the mix as far as the – you know, being
10:25involved in the trade package as well.
10:27Like McLeod, Quinn, whoever, Mirka.
10:29Not that he's, you know, coming here necessarily.
10:32He's going to go to Rochester.
10:33But still, yeah, there's a lot of people that are – their professional lives are just sort of hanging on,
10:39is this ever going to happen right now?
10:41And that's not a great place to be heading into – you know, you want to get it done before,
10:46you know, before you settle in, like you're saying.
10:49Like, everybody gets here.
10:50You're not going to make that trade three days into training camp, I don't think.
10:54No.
10:54I mean, marketing is not why you do it, but it's not nothing.
10:58They make a trade for Halibut, and by Monday they have jerseys in that store that cost $10 to make,
11:04and they sell for $400.
11:05You sell $100 of those, those line out the door.
11:08It's $40,000.
11:09Like, you just – you're printing money.
11:11And is it why you make moves in sports?
11:15No.
11:16But there's some value to it.
11:18That's something to be capitalized on for sure, yeah.
11:20You know, like, that would be a great-looking jersey.
11:24Oh, yeah.
11:24His name around the number with the 37, that's a great – that's a great fit.
11:28Number and name together, not everything is for the aesthetics.
11:32So, yeah, I mean, I think there would be – the sooner you make that trade, the better for the
11:40organization in the offseason and sort of keeping yourself on the radar and selling tickets.
11:48I'll see you next time.
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