The Bulldog And Paul Hamilton Debate If The Sabres Should go All In On Marner!

The Bulldog And Paul Hamilton Debate If The Sabres Should go All In On Marner!

it’s been a minute since we talked to the mighty Paul Hamilton on the Wester hotline or really any hotline for that matter but here of course it is always the Wester hotline glad to have you with us here on a Monday and Paul Hamilton joins me now live on said Wester hotline paul was shaking man how are you willis Reed Walt Frasier Dave de Busher Bill Bradley and Dean Meager paul are you on another line talking to someone like what would Well I just heard in sports that the last time the New York Knicks won the championship of 1973 good job yeah good i was eight all right yeah good deal all right guys like Walt Frasier and Willis Reed been a minute yeah dave de Busher yeah no I I I remember all of them i mean I I can’t give you a chapter and verse on them all but I you know playing against Jerry West yeah well Paul thanks do you hate Mitch Mner i don’t like the idea he might be a very nice person um he’s a very good offensive hockey player but he’s not what the Buffalo Sabres need i mean the Buffalo Sabres were 10th in the league in scoring at 3.23 goals per game if you got up to 3.26 two six goals per game they’re seventh in the league in scoring i mean well Mitch Martyr can do that for him Paul um what the problem with the Buffalo Sabres is is they’re 29th in the league in defense and they have goalenders that can’t make a big save at a big time for them and they need players that can jump into your top six um I have a better idea than Mitch Mner how about Sam Bennett or Marawn who have won cups who can play in your top six who can play offensively and defensively can upset the other team uh they they will get the other team upset instead of the Sabres having to react other teams will have to react to the Sabres um it that’s the types of players that they need and they’re winners you know they’re winners they can play both ends of the ice they’re tough to play against they score goals in big games um you know they’re they’re leaders i I mean and people Well they’re not coming to Buffalo well is Mitch Mart Yeah we this entire conversation requires a certain level of suspension of disbelie that that like maybe the girrations aren’t even worth the time but you know whatever here’s the thing about I I I don’t disagree with you about Bennett or Marshand even uh at this stage um the thing is I think everyone agrees Marner is you know Paul I’m trying I’m trying to get through a day here marner Marner people are I think going to overreact to Marner a part of my thinking is a player that looks flawed in one place and I recognize Toronto is not Buffalo okay so it’s not exactly apples and apples but you’ve seen guys who acquired reputations for sulking and not being able to to pull it together even though they had a very talented roster and all these different things they they go elsewhere and they fly and they’re free um I I’m not predicting for sure that will happen with Mitch Mner but to me getting out from under Toronto and all the expectations could be extremely good for him and as far as his you know one-sided type player he was a Selky Trophy finalist two years ago um so and he plays on the penalty kill this is not just a one-dimensional player entirely agree i he I think he is a one-dimensional player i think he makes them worse defensively not better um I They’ll probably be 30th or or whatever defensively i especially watching him in the playoffs some of the some of the things he’s done defensively in the playoffs I’m shaking my head what are you doing what I mean you’re just wandering around you’re not even paying attention you know I’ve said that out loud as I’m watching him it’s like what in the world are you doing and so to me you know I don’t care if he was a Silky Trophy candidate or whatever um it’s not whatever i mean it’s the best defensive forward in hockey now he didn’t win it but to be nominated was everybody sniffing glue that year i mean I I don’t understand by what the Canadian media or you you know I just Okay i’m not I’m not on board with it i’m just not and I I think they become a worse defensive team on a team that has to be better defensively and all right so he shows up and instead of being 10th in the league in scoring you’re seventh in the league in scoring or sixth in the league and scoring great now what i still don’t have a goalie that can make a save i I still don’t I still I still don’t have a team that plays well defensively and I’ve I’ve just sunk 121 13 million into that oh keep going 14 50 whatever whatever the max is is what it would cost anyway I I just Well Paul can I interest you in a bunch of five wins that’s what I’m after right i would rather go with the established winning uh players that that um can also score goals maybe don’t can’t get 100 points but allows me to put Zack Benson in Rochester and put a very decent hockey player into my top six uh that is that is going to be good offensively and good defensively and can score the big goal at the big time and and h and have been winners and are abrasive to play against and um I would just rather have that player i think that’s the player the Sabres need a lot more than just and I’m just going to say it a one-dimensional offensive guy type guy well I I love that you have chosen to not respect the Selky Trophy finalist thing because it it certainly helps your argument and hurts mine but I mean I I don’t know i mean I I the fact that he plays on the penalty kill and was nominated for that to me flies in the face of the reput they got all offensive forwards oh are you kidding me they’re about what ponchius Homeberg can’t kill penalties yan Krook or whoever these people are what are you talking about they changed it around this year they did change it around this year they they were better defensively this year as a team um that game against Buffalo here in Buffalo did the Sabres even have a scoring chance all night i mean they they just shut it down and got great goalending so yeah they were better defensively this year definitely but at the end of the day when they needed to be good defensively in a game seven they certainly weren’t holy cow Paul yeah let’s we we can table the you know the modern thing is going to be there that that is going to be evergreen until July 1st when he signs you know with Tampa or whatever whatever’s going to happen uh wherever he ends up going um really though one last thing the point to me is the way I phrased it to begin with like if if cuz I don’t think any of these people are going to be interested in signing with the Buffalo Sabres like the top any of the names you mentioned here Bennett and Marshand who again I’ll say it again just in case anyone didn’t catch it i’m sure you did i I agree with you that that style of player is certainly in line with what I need i’m just saying if Marner actually wanted to talk to me I’m not hanging up the phone like I I I’m not going to feel too proud uh to to take that call and consider signing him despite him not being the best fit because I need to do something to change the narrative uh around this team and he’s you know someone that I think could certainly do that um anyway Paul games five and seven in Toronto have you Mike said it great after game five on Wednesday Thursday in here he said it’s got to be the worst sporting event you’ve ever attended if you were there and I mean and I would agree and and then maybe last night only trumps it because you got the you got the game six to give you hope again and then here comes game seven and it’s really I’ve never seen a team after the handshakes when a series is over gather at center ice to salute the fans and get booed I mean that was brutal and I’m not saying they didn’t deserve it i mean those two games Paul I just can’t even explain it and that the thing about it is it’s not just this year i mean it keeps happening over and over and over and over again and it’s so that’s I think the what makes it even worse that you’ve got a guy guys that perform very well in the regular i mean Austin Matthews is one of the best goal scorers in the National Hockey League in the regular season and then he gets to the playoffs and where where is he we need a goal it’s game five it’s game seven where where is he where why where are where are all these guys you know that that that are very very good in the regular season and and as we as we said they were a better defensive team this year thinking okay we’ve made ourselves better defensively we have a goalender that’s playing very very well for us unfortunately that goalender got hurt but Wol wound up with a shut out along the way and he I don’t think he as good as Stellars was but I’m not sure Stellars would have changed this around we don’t know we’ll never know but um that’s the thing i think that’s what makes it worse is it just keeps happening over and over and over again and and if you’re the Toronto Maple Leafs trying to figure out what are you going to do what makes you think sticking with it is going to make it change all of a sudden so what do you think moving forward here not not for the Leafs entirely i mean I think their decisions will be largely made for them by guys hitting the market though I guess maybe Tiver might want to stay and and they’ll have a choice to make there if they want to keep going uh down that road really will depend on whether they can attract one of the players you’ve mentioned here because Sam Bennett seems like a perfect ready-made replacement uh for Tiveras uh on the free agent market should he get to the market we’ll see how that all shakes out but we’ve got Florida and Carolina in the east Dallas and Edmonton in the west three of the four from last year only the Rangers were in the Carolina spot last year uh what what do you think of uh of the field left it’s interesting that in the NHL the overall placement of these teams you got team five in Dallas team nine in Edmonton team 10 in Carolina and team 11 in Florida and even in the NBA you do have team one in Oklahoma City but then you got to go down to team five with the Knicks team six with Indiana and team 10 with Minnesota so the you know in both leagues the higher seeds for the most part other than Oklahoma City and Dallas if you want it just it just goes to show you you know the and Tampa did the same thing tampa didn’t care if they won the division they didn’t care they didn’t care if they won the President’s Trophy or any of that kind of stuff it’s like let’s get ready for the playoffs that’s what the regular season for those teams it’s an 82 game preseason it’s like let’s make sure we get in the playoffs but we don’t care where we get in let’s just play you know and Florida’s 11th are they the 11th best team in the National Hockey League i No but that’s the way they they they hung out and and that’s what Tampa did for for those years too they just hung out made the playoffs they didn’t care it doesn’t really matter if you’re home ice or not i mean the road team wins quite a bit in the in the playoffs and I think that’s what we’re seeing now is teams you know good teams are just like “Yeah that’s nice to win the president’s trophy congratulations we don’t care uh we want to hang the big banner up there and we’re going to get ready to play for that big banner.” And I think that’s what we’re seeing now as far as Carolina I I feel like Jacqu Laame Mer has reentered the league um I I do I I I probably would rather do chores in the backyard than watch Carolina play i hated every minute of that Washington Carolina series that I watched i even would say like Owen would be in the kitchen you know grabbing something to drink or whatever be like I hate watching these teams play this is terrible and I understand and people are right well they win they won the cup yet but they’re in the they’re in the top four so it’s working for them to to play this way it worked for the New Jersey Devils as Jacqu La Mer systematically ruined the National Hockey League by winning a couple of Stanley Cups that way and then making other teams think well we now we got to play that way no no we don’t have to play that way why don’t we just play some hockey that we actually can enjoy uh instead of playing that way and and Carolina plays that way and if they happen to win the Stanley Cup then all of a sudden here we go we’re going right back to Jacqu Laair and the Devils uh fire Lindy Ruff and get Jacqu La Mer in here and hire uh you know Lou Lamarello and here we go and you know it’s just uh I I just do not enjoy watching Carolina play at all paul that’s coming across paul Hamilton on the West Her hotline here for a few more minutes um h how do you feel about the am

The Bulldog and Paul Hamilton talk about Mitch Marner and Paul gives his thoughts on the type of player he wants the Sabres to sign instead!

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