Sabres Trading Bowen Byram? w/ Paul Hamilton | The Jeremy and Joe Show

Sabres Trading Bowen Byram? w/ Paul Hamilton | The Jeremy and Joe Show

as we bring in Paul Hamilton here. Paul, I don’t know if you knew this or not. It’s not exactly the kind of thing people know. Happy birthday, the Sabres. Today is the day the franchise was launched. Mayed May 22nd is the is I I looked it up because I thought, “Oh, May 22nd. That sounds like a famous Sabres playoff game in history.” I know the fog game was yesterday and I’m like, “All right, May 22nd, Sabres history.” Turns out it’s the Sabres birthday. Happy birthday, Sabres. No, that’s also what, Howard Simon’s 50th birthday? Yeah, I believe so. 60th. 60th, Paul. 60th. Yeah, that day. Yeah. Long time ago. Long time ago. He was uh he was considering retirement when they launched and he just, you know, stuck stuck through it for a while. Uh happy birthday, Sabres. All right. Paul Hamilton on the Western Hotline. We’ll chat some sabers here. The Boyram stuff there and uh an update on Rochester. They lost last night. Paul, the thing about, you know, I know sometimes rumors and insiders and all this. The one thing about Bum and these sort of conversations, it seems to be a a pretty consistent message throughout and I’ve seen some reporting again that it’s about the role that he wants and he views himself as a kind of a top guy and here there’s a tough road to be a top guy. So to me it kind of all lines up. Do they want to pay him? Does he want a different kind of circumstance? Do you buy all this that they would be shopping him that they would be considering a move to to move things around on the hockey team with Byum being the target to go out? Well, you know, Kevin Adams also, if a player says he doesn’t want to be here, he’s not going to be here. And um you know, one thing Elliott said, which is true, I mean, they were talking, well, he cleaned out his house. Well, you can clean out your house all you want. you’re stuck here for two more years if if if that’s what the Sabres want. Um now Adams has been very consistent with this that he does not want anybody here who does not want to be here. Uh so that and if he went in there and told him that uh he doesn’t want to be here and that would be the that would be the reason you know that uh he wants a bigger role a role he knows he’s not going to get when Dene is here and you know you can add power to that list also I mean mo most nights he was better than power but um more towards the end of the year he wasn’t so he had a an up and down year and basically when he was with Rasmus Tallen he played very very well when he wasn’t it was average at best and uh now you can resign him and pair him with Rasmus Dallene and it work it works very very well for you but you’re kind of pigeon hole then I mean it’s like well what happens when you don’t want him with Rasmus Dalene or you want somebody else with him or or you don’t want Rasmus Dallene playing the right side or you don’t want him playing the right side. It works well when when they’re together, one of them plays the right side, usually Dene, and they don’t have a problem with it. They they play very well. So, if you went out and got player A to play with Owen Power, all right, that’s fine. Then B then Byron can play with with Dene. But also, do you want to sign a guy for anywhere from $6 to $8 million per season and have him pigeon hole that well, he’s got to play with Dene or he’s not any good? Um or thinking, well, he’ll could he’ll improve, you know, type of a thing with with other players. So, you know, if he went in there and told them that he does not want to be a Buffalo Saber, then they will try to accommodate him. Paul, what kind of value could Byum get? Is he about the same as he was when the Sabres traded Middlestat? I mean, I I feel like it’s not that long. Could I say, “All right, the Sabres traded a middle stat for Byum. Could they get a middle stat caliber player?” However you think that might be, that’s a guy that needs a change of scenery. We know he had his time here. They went to Colorado. He was traded again. But to me, that’s a that’s a guy on your roster that if you trade for him, he’s in your lineup. The idea would be you could trade Byum possibly for a player that would immediately be in your lineup. Definitely. Definitely. Uh I don’t think he’s any worse than he was when they traded for him. And he he played some good hockey here at times. And that’s what he did in Colorado. I remember when Colorado won the cup. That’s when my when I found Oh, who’s this guy? Look at him. I thought he he was one of their better other than uh Macar. I thought he was one of their better guys. I thought he played very very well through that playoff run for them and I seen him play very very well for the Sabres at times too as usually with Dene but um so so he was inconsistent here he was inconsistent there that’s why they were looking to trade him because of the inconsistency and they felt they needed another centerman to to and they thought they had gotten it in Casey Middlestat and when he first got got to Colorado looked like he was going to rip it up for them and then then all of a sudden he he didn’t. I mean both players if you look at it I think played the way they did with their old teams um very inconsistently and Colorado with Middlestead I don’t even think they gave him a year. It was he was gone before I think a year was up or or it just was a year or and uh well no this isn’t working out. So, um, yeah, they that’s the thing is they don’t have to trade him now if there’s not a good deal on the table. They’ve got two years to do it. I mean, now he I if he doesn’t want to be here anymore, he’s not going to sign a sixyear or eight-year deal or anything like that. He’s going to do what Sam Reinhardt said, right? Sam Reinhardt says, “I’ve got one more year here. If you want me to play one more year here, I’ll play one more year and then I’m gone.” you know, and the Sabres wound up trading him before that year started. So, they only had a year to do it with him, where with Byum, they’ve got two years. So, you know, they they they could keep him here for another year or maybe they want they might want to see how it goes for another year. One thing we talked about yesterday, Paul, with Byron, was he never ever really plays power play. And I don’t know if you feel like he’s someone that could do that. Yes. Because, you know, maybe that’s what he wants. Is does he want is that part of the bigger role? That is part of it. That is part of it. It’s kind of amazing how many power play points he has in his career. It’s 10 10 points on the in like 270 games. So, you’d think the skill set is there. What I’m getting at, Paul, is I mean, I’m I’m not sure the Savers are of a mind to just do something just for trade value, but if they gave him an opportunity, they if they knew they were going to trade him and you say, like you said, they’ve got two years to do this, they could say, you know what, let’s give him some power play time. See if we can boost his point totals. And if he gets his point totals up, maybe we get more in a trade. And the thing is Owen Power was no great shakes on the power play anyway. So I I wondered a lot. We actually chat I remember chatting about this with you guys. It’s like well why not give him a chance out there. It’s not like I understand that maybe you feel that Power being the number one overall pick should be a good power play guy, but he really hasn’t been so far and you know why not give him a chance? It’s the only time he would get a chance is when Dene or Pawa were out of the lineup and then he’d get an opportunity. Well, same thing in in I’m not surprised at all about his power play points because what happened in Colorado, there’s a guy named Mar over there and he’s not he’s not going to be running the power play there either. He wants to be someplace where he can and I think he’s very capable of doing it and I just never understood when things were going so poorly, why not give him the opportunity? Why do we have to sit there and pound your head against the wall and it’s got to be Owen Power? It’s got to be Owen Power. It’s got to be Owen Power. Why, Paul? Let’s take it from the Sabres side of things. How much of an appetite would there be from them without him saying, “Hey, I want to be moved to say, you know what, maybe we need to remake this and we have to pay him at some point here. He is an RFA this year.” Or how does it go with him with restricted free agency? He is arbitration eligible. I would still again um you know you you’re you’re looking at a deal I think you know it’s going to be around between six and eight million you know whether he signs a one-year deal, a two-year deal, an 8-year deal, which doesn’t obviously that’s not happening. Um but um so I I think that’s what you’re looking at right now. So, they could, you know, now he could just sign his qualifying offer if he if he wanted to. And uh now you can give him a two-year qualifying offer. It’s a one or two-year type of an situation. Um but that’s the thing. The Sabres, again, they don’t want they would like to get this over. If he has gone in there and said, “I don’t want to be here.” They would like to get it over with, but they’re not going to get it over with just to do it, you know, and it’s not like, you know, he was moping around or anything like that. You go in the locker room and he he’s kidding around with the guys and he fits right in with them and, uh, would usually have a smile on his face, uh, you know, after practice and it it wasn’t one of those things, oh, gez, I got to get out of here type of a type of a thing. And, you know, Dylan Cousins being traded away doesn’t help either. they they were best friends, have been since like 7 years old. Um, now he’s also been best friends with Krebs for many many years. So, uh, he he likes the guys around here. I think it’s it’s not that he hates the city or he hates his teammates. I think he hates his role and, uh, he just wants to be somewhere where he is going to have a more expanded role. Paul Hamilton on the Western Hotline chatting with us about the Sabres and Emmers in a moment. Paul, the senior adviser Kevin Adams role any I don’t know any tumble weeds rolling by about that? You still think that’s something that they will look to do? Yeah, especially if you know the they want to be sure and who knows you know how many people they’re talking to for that role. Um, so yeah, it’s it’s you know, are they waiting for Rochester to be done in Carmonos? You know, where well, is this a guy that basically would replace him? You know, are they looking to move him out and but they’re waiting for the Amirs to be done and that maybe they have a guy in mind. if that’s what they’re doing, maybe they have a guy in mind and they’re not going to announce it until, you know, the the Amirs are out and then one would be out and one would be in that that type of a situation. So, um I I don’t think it’s a big cause for alarm that it hasn’t been announced or they don’t have a guy yet. Um they they tend to be very, you know, let’s be sure, let’s do our due diligence and and that those types of things. I mean, I we haven’t heard anything about the coaching staff either. Does that mean they’re not doing anything with the coaching staff? Does that mean they haven’t found who they’re looking for? Does that mean they’re waiting for Michael Pekka to make a decision? Uh, at least no decision has been announced. What do you mean by that? Is there is there What do you mean by that? Make a decision. What decision is there to make? Or make let the New York Rangers make a decision. Somebody make a decision. I just want to make sure we’re clear. like is there something on the table that we’re unaware of here for him? No, not a decision here. Okay. What are the Rangers doing with him? Right. You know, he did not get fired. Um so, you know, are they keeping him? Are they not? What’s the situation there? Um if they aren’t, would he would he be interested in coming back here under another head coach? Um so, a guy he’s played for and he likes doing that. I mean, that’s one of the reasons he went to New York because he got to coach with a guy that he played for. Paul, I I bring it up a lot. You know, I talk about like Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanic who are in the Sharks front office and Pekka. It’s just it’s something that is done in the NHL where your alumni kind of become your your board of directors or like your front office. And I I do feel like if Pekka were brought back, that would be a very a move that the Sabres would get a lot of credit for locally at least. And again, like he’s working for the Rangers, so accomplished enough. I I’ I’d be all about that move and bringing, you know, another set of eyes, a guy that cares. I mean, I I I think honestly, Paul, Sabres fans would be encouraged by the idea that people that have been part of the organization in the past are still here and still want it to be great and want to work at it. So, I mean, I’d be on board with the PC idea. Yeah, I would also. And if it doesn’t work out for Lindy Ruff, you know, that maybe he’d be a guy that he’s not going to take a head coaching job till he feels he’s ready. And I’ve always gotten the impression he hasn’t felt he was ready yet. Um I don’t know if he’s gotten any offers, you know, but I I just felt he he’s always been that way. And you know, a guy like Ryan Miller, Ryan Miller eventually, he said he said it on our air, he said it in an interview I’ve done with him, that he eventually would like to build a hockey team. Yeah, being a general manager, but I’m ready to give him the keys, Paul. I keep saying it like I feel like there’d be another one if they hired him in the same kind of role again. You see this in the NHL where he’s the GM in waiting? Like I we what the Blues did this with Alex Steen maybe? I I just did the the Brier was this in Philadelphia too brought on before and then I mean I I would sign up for it. The thing is with Ryan Miller and what he said to me when we talked about it is he’s got to be ready to leave California and he’s not yet. Yeah. You know, he’s because, you know, he’s not going to be sitting in California even if he took on a Eric Stall type role. Um, he’s going to be there. You, you know, he’s going to, you know, put everything he has into it and be there. So, he has to be of the mindset that he’s ready to move also, which he wasn’t ready to do when we had the conversation, which is why he would be doing something with the Sharks, you know, and the opportunity came with Mike Reer and and that’s why he would be doing that. Now, Thomas Vanic is a different story, you know, being a a Minnesota guy, you know, you know, what what does he want to do? Does he want to still coach his kids, which I think he’s still doing if I’m not mistaken. He talks he’s talked about it when he’s on with uh Peters and Ray, you know, you know, coaching his kids and having a great time doing that. Uh that’s the same thing with with Ryan Miller. is enjoying being with his kids and you know but when the time comes that he’s going to be allin he he wants to be allin and that just at that time when when I had a chance to chat with him he just wasn’t there yet Paul Hamilton his appearance brought to you by Rayax Honda Rax we get we got this all right Paul on to the Amors who lost to Laval last night and from what I see in the numbers and you can you can speak to this a little bit more uh Levi’s just not had a great series no he hasn’t and uh it’s uh he did so well against Syracuse and you look at it um Mike Leone was on with uh Duffer and and Marty yesterday and he talks about shot volume and I’ve heard him talk about it before and Rochester usually does it for him. They they get shot volume for him because he feels they have the type of team that causes chaos with that shot volume. Well, they certainly got it last night with 33 shots and Primo uh made 32. I put up in the article a couple of saves that he had in that game. And Laval had five shots in the third period and scored three times. The the one that he would want back is, you know, Rousk scored at 246 and tied the game. It was only a one- nothing game going into the third period and now it’s tied and it only took Laval a little over two minutes to tie it. And it was a goal that definitely Levi would want back. Jacka came in down the right side. He’s on the backhand. It was a beautiful backhand shot up under the bar, but you got to have a save there. I mean, you just have to have a save. you know, uh, for your team to keep the game at 1-1 and so far you’d played pretty well, but you hadn’t been too busy. Laval had seven shots in the first period, eight in the second, and as I said, they got five in the third and scored three times. So, uh, the other goals were just basically um a turnover that turned into a it was actually two turnovers that turned into a goal. Uh, some battles that weren’t won behind the net. So, as as you as you watch the goals that Laval scored, they weren’t the typical type of goals that Rochester normally gives up. Um, three out of the four would be goals that, you know, you usually don’t see guys standing around around the net by themselves like Tuck 15 seconds into the game. He’s right there. Nobody was nobody’s with him. He and he uh tips in uh Ryan Becker Ryan Becker shot. So those aren’t the type of that’s not the type of defense that Rochester normally plays and they only gave up 20 shots. So it wasn’t like they were horrendous defensively, but they were horrendous on the goals that where they just guys weren’t weren’t being covered. Paul Hamilton on the Western Hotline. So next up for the Emmers is tomorrow night uh facing elimination against Laval. They’re doing two road games in a row because the series goes 23, right? And that was Laval’s choice, right? them being the higher seed, they had the chance to, you know, go that way or 221 is the other way, right? Yeah. Right. So, they they chose to All right, we’ll go to Rochester. Let’s at least get a split and then we’ll we get to go home for three and we’re the best team in the league. Even though Rochester is a good road team and Rochester is a team that gets off the mat, too. Um they they’ve already done it in this series. You know, they lost game one five to four and played very well in game two. Uh they won five to three. It could have been a lot more. They could have won this game. You know, when it was when it was one- nothing for 40 minutes, Primo stood on his head. Primo gave up four goals in the first game. He’s won two games in this series. He didn’t get the loss. He didn’t play in that game, but um you know, so they they know they can score on him, but they certainly didn’t in this game. He of course was the number one star. And uh so he’s had one eh game and one one really good game. And look at Levi. Levi had a good game in game two. He gave up three, but he he played really really well. And I I wouldn’t blame him for any of the three goals. Um but uh you know, he also gave up five in game one, and now he’s given up four in game three. So, you know, you look at his numbers in this series alone, it’s 4.07 and an 836 save percentage in three games, and that’s not going to cut it. Paul Hamilton on the Western Hotline. Paul, thank you. And happy birthday to the Sabres. Yes. Happy. What did you What did you get them? Did you get them anything? Um, I don’t know. What does Saber-tooth need? What does Saber-tooth need? Uh, I don’t know. Does a Saber-tooth need a toothbrush? A new t-shirt gun. There you go. A more powerful t-shirt gun. Yeah. Yeah, that would be a good one. Thanks, Paul. Take care, guys. Paul Hamilton, the Amors play Laval tomorrow.

Jeremy and Sal are joined by Paul Hamilton to break down what’s going on with Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram. Paul explains why despite Byram seemingly wanting out of Buffalo, the Sabres hold all the cards and can control his status for the next two seasons. Paul also explains that despite this fact, the Sabres do not want to keep players who don’t want to be with the team. Paul breaks down the reasoning behind Byram wanting out, as he likes his teammates and the city, the problem only lies in his role with the team. Jeremy also asks Paul about the continued search for a senior advisor to work under GM Kevyn Adams. Then the guys recap the Rochester Americans loss to the Laval Rocket last night, going down 2-1 in the series.

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