Sam Bennett isn’t a slam dunk free agent target for the Buffalo Sabres

Sam Bennett isn’t a slam dunk free agent target for the Buffalo Sabres

let’s start talking about some free agents as free agency is only a few weeks away and let’s begin with the Khan Smite favorite Sam Bennett get to it coming up on Locked on Sabres [Music] you’re Locked on Sabres your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabres part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day what is up everybody and welcome in to this Wednesday edition of the Locked on Sabers podcast thanks for making us your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast you can watch the show on YouTube be sure to like and subscribe if you do and if you would like to become a part of our Locked Sabers text club you can do that by heading over to joinsubttext.com/lockedonabers sneaky Jody Viosi here in the middle of the week couple of weeks away from free agency in the middle of the Stanley Cup final and there is a lot to get to um on today’s show when it comes to what we’re going to do what the Sabres are going to do in free agency we’ll start evaluating different names and today that is going to be Sam Bennett we talked Mitch Mner a couple of times during the season and then once the season was over so we’ve already talked a little bit about MNER and maybe there’s a little more of that to come but we’ll start diving into some of the other big names and why not start with the guy that leads the Stanley Cup playoffs in goal so we’ll get to some talk about Sam Bennett on today’s show if you missed our recent episodes evaluating some of the players on the Sabres roster like Zack Benson and others be sure to check that out uh as well wherever you may listen to this podcast in the feed it is uh today is my 30th birthday and I did have one Sabres thought about turning 30 today actually actually two Saber thoughts about turning 30 today one is there is only two Buffalo Sabres on the roster actually really one that’s under contract no two it’s two that are in their 30s that’s when you start feeling a little bit old is hey there’s nobody on the team that’s older than you well in this case there are two sam Laughafer and Jason Zucker all right so there’s a couple um the other one I found out today is running backs is a good way to do that go back and look at running backs that are your age and you’re going to feel really old todd Gurley is 30 years old how is that possible so that was one thought I had the other is a more depressing one so I’m sorry to bring the mood down on this beautiful Wednesday afternoon here in Buffalo but man the Buffalo Sabres really went my whole 20s without making the playoffs and you know you never get those years back and your 20s are you know I’m I’m still young i’m still you know having a great time but your 20s are fun you’re you’re going out all the time right and there’s college of course how fun is it when you’re in those years and your team is in the postseason well I at least know that from my Bills experiences i have no idea about that from my Sabres experiences i will never know what it was like to go through a Saber playoff run in that age group i was in middle school the last time they were running through the playoffs um in elementary school even so I’ll never know what that was like you know maybe I’ll know a little bit when you know my 30s i’m not 50 but um they really went my whole 20s and here’s to them making it in my 30s i am 99.9% sure they’re going to make the playoffs in my 30s they can’t possibly go 10 more years right it’s going to happen it’s going to happen in my 30s and I look forward to the day where I get to do this show talking about a upcoming playoff game previewing a Saber playoff game let’s go come on let’s get that happening well one guy that maybe you would think could help them to that is a guy that is right now looking like the best goal scorer in the entire Stanley Cup playoffs so as we start to break down potential free agent options for the Buffalo Sabres coming up at the end of this month and into July let’s kick it off with Sam Bennett the star player the K Smite favorite of the Florida Panthers who has 14 goals through 20 playoff games again that is number one in the NHL this postseason defending Stanley Cup champion a veteran of nine years in the NHL a former top five pick if you go wind back to the 2014 NHL draft you might remember debates about what the Sabres should do should they draft Sam Reinhardt the hockey IQ guy with all the stats should they draft Sam Bennett who was dominant in juniors but he can’t do a pull-up or should they draft Leon Dry Iidle who was a big guy Joe Thornton comparisons and then he turned into the best of the three Reinhardt pretty good too same with Sam Bennett they’ve all turned into really really good players all more valuable players than I would argue the guy that went number one Aaron Eckl so here’s Sam Bennett about to hit free agency on a team that has done a very good job of locking up all its other pieces but Bennett Bennett is one that might get away i would still consider the Panthers the favorite to sign him but he could leave and what you have here is a gritty player even sometimes a dirty player that is going to give you a lot of different things as a player stepping into a lineup he definitely is going to be like whoever signs Sam Bennett in free agency is going to talk about him as a culture changer bringing that culture that he had in Florida with him to whatever team he eventually is going to go to so that’s one part of it and listen the Buffalo Sabres if there is a team where you would think of oh that team needs a culture shift that team needs an adult in the room that team needs a change in ideology of how they play i mean the Sabres fit that profile really well so all of that you could look at Sam Bennett and say “Yeah he’s a guy they could really use.” Now looking at Bennett on the ice above the you know he’s a sneaky dirty player right like last year he punches Brad Marshon in the face coming across nobody’s looking cuz he knows he can get away with it he He’s also a savvy player in that way like he is very good I’ll give him credit very good at doing things that the refs aren’t going to notice earlier in this series game one against Edmonton he falls after making very little contact with a defenseman in front of the net i think it was Wallen and he falls into Steuart Skinner and it helps create a goal goes off of him the goalie’s on position but hey it’s not goalender interference because the Oiler defenseman made contact with Sam Bennett bennett knows what he’s doing in a spot like that and you could you could say he’s a smart player for that in this way where he’s smart enough to know colliding with this Oiler if I go down and it doesn’t look too obvious they’re not calling me for anything and I’m going to cause chaos in front of the net i’m going to help prevent the goalie from getting over to make the save and they’re not going to call it that’s that’s helping my team and Bennett does a lot of things like that on a regular basis he is a good goal scorer he is a guy that could put the puck in the back of the net he has had 20 goals three of the last four years the only season that he did not get to 20 goals since he got to Florida was a 16goal campaign in 63 games so he missed almost 20 games fair to say he would have got right up to that 20 goal mark he is also somebody though that does not pile up as a playmaker even though he’s a centerman he’s not much of a passer he’s not much of a guy that sees the ice in that way he only has in Florida 101 assists in 289 games 95 goals i mean he almost has as many goals as he does assists he’s certainly a better finisher than he is a playmaker up front offensively he’s always on the ice when the team is generating chances he’s a fast player last night or last game if you saw him on that breakaway luke Serenan has a clear ice in front of him he’s got a guy trailing bennett shoots up the center and Laren just lays it out for him like you go you’re going to be way faster than me in this spot you go on the breakaway bennett went forehand uh backhand forehand and scores so Bennett is a good goal scorer a good goal scorer not a great one but a good goal scorer and you are going to get positive results offensively when he is out there on the ice the one thing that I am a little bit back and forth on with Bennett is how good defensively is he i think you are seeing him block shots and in the playoffs he’s certainly going to give this to you a lot of his numbers though during the regular season show a guy that well his team might generate a lot of offense when he’s out there but his team gives up a lot too i mean he if you go to like shots allowed per game when he’s on the ice per 60 when he’s on the ice he’s not like one of the worst players in the league but he’s definitely below average when it comes to giving up more shots um shot attempts you know expected goals goals in general it it it and when I watch him not watching every game of his regular season watching much more of him in the playoffs honestly I guess my best explanation for that would be it’s a very back and forth type of style when he’s out there it’s not really slow the game down it’s play fast play instinctual um and when you play like that you are going to get more back and forth you’re going to get more scoring chances yourself and you’re going to give up more as well so maybe it’s a little bit overrated how good of a two-way player he is um but still a very valuable player I think in Sam Bennett and a valuable culture shifter which would be important to the Buffalo Sabres so I know you’re if you stuck with me through one segment and didn’t go this guy’s crazy the Sabres have no shot at him i’m not saying the Sabres have a great shot at him at all but should they be in hot pursuit of Sam Bennett we think they’re at least going to try on Mitch Martyr they’re probably going to try and fail should they also try on Sam Bennett the Sabres pursuit of it coming up here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast today’s episode of the Lockdown Savers podcast is presented by Indeed so you just realized that your business needed to hire somebody yesterday well how can you find amazing candidates fast easy just use Indeed when it comes to hiring Indeed is all you need stop struggling to get your job post seen on other sites indeed sponsored jobs puts your post at the top of the page and helps you reach the right candidates faster you you’ve been in the spot where you need to write the right hire like yesterday you can’t wait around the pressure is on and every day without the right person is a setback and that’s exactly when Indeed sponsored jobs comes in handy they make sure that your post is seen by the right candidates right now no waiting around get the job done for you right away so now you can speed up your hiring process get a $75 sponsored job credit all you got to do is go to indeed.com/lockedon right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed on this podcast the Locked On Savers podcast terms and conditions apply hiring Indeed is all you need sneaky Jody Biosi back here on the Locked On Savers podcast we’re talking some free agency today and we are talking about Sam Bennett should the Sabres go after Sam Bennett and should they do it aggressively there’s one avenue that I would say you get your foot in the door and as the Buffalo Sabres this is a familiar discussion that we’re about to have but you’re in my opinion most able to go get a free agent of this caliber one of two ways one is money overpay have the highest bid pay more money than others the Sabres are often not that team because of the way ownership likes to run the show so that’s one angle two is getting lucky enough to find a guy that is from the Toronto area the southern Ontario area and play the angle and hope like hell that the guy wants to be a wants to be closer to home and that is his most motivating factor or one of his most motivating factors so where is Sam Bennett from might have trouble pronouncing the name of the town that he is from east Guilbury which is not Toronto it is just north of Toronto um and it is about a 2hour and 20 minute drive from Buffalo so you know a few minutes north of Toronto so Toronto’s certainly closer but if you wanted if you wanted to be closer to home that’s you’re going to need that if you want to get your foot in the door and be taken seriously for this unless you’re willing to overpay him a ton of money you’re going to need him to want that and you’re probably still going to have to overpay what everybody else is going to want the pursuit of Bennett if the Sabres want to go after him and think he’s the right type of DNA for this roster what they are going to need is to beat Toronto cuz Toronto I would be floored if the Toronto Maple Leafs were not allin to sign Sam Bennett it feels more and more like the Toronto Mitch Marner relationship is over so the Leafs who tried to trade for Miko Ranton at the deadline too and that didn’t work they’re going to be left with more money to spend this off season than they’ve ever had at their disposal where they’ve always had to tinker and do these little value contracts because they’ve had everybody at big big salaries well Tiver’s contract is over and they get him at a lower number martyr’s contract is off the books now um and the cap by the way is going up to $95 million toronto finds himself with more money than ever and if you think about the Maple Leafs think about how their seasons have gone they are falling in the playoffs they are always labeled as being too soft they are always being criticized and I think this part is definitely rightfully so for their game going down in the postseason becoming a worse team overall not elevating in the playoffs here’s a guy that is certainly not soft and has elevated in the postseason not the other way around toronto I’d expect to act desperately to get a guy like Sam Bennett in their organization probably to the tune of n10 million a year which that’s got a sticker shock to it and sounds like a lot for a player of his caliber he’s a good player he is not an elite player the cap going up though I think you’re going to see salaries start to boom a little bit in the NHL and this might be one of the first guys that we really see that with and there will be criticism of that contract but in three years when the cap is over $und00 million you know $10 million is going to be the new eight and even eight you could say is a little bit of an overpayment for a player of his caliber you’re spending the premium of getting a guy in free agency when everybody’s able to bid and getting him to leave Florida a winning organization where he’s going to win cups the beach right the taxes all of it all of it in the the guys in that locker room where you’re comfortable and you know they have what it takes to win getting him to leave all of that you’re going to have to spend big so from the Saber perspective you better hope that Toronto isn’t going to come at him with a 9.5$10 million contract because the Sabres would likely have to go well above and beyond that and then we’re starting to talk about 112 million for a player that’s careerhigh is 51 points and that sounds like crazy talk i did put this question in our text club you’re Kevin Adams you find out through the agent hey Bennett wants to play closer to home we’re talking to Toronto he wants to know if you’re willing to make an offer and even if you were to think hey this is just him using us as a bargaining tool what are you willing to offer and a lot of the contracts I saw just they’re not going to be enough four years for $7 million i think that’s appropriate for Sam Bennett i also think you’re not getting him for near that uh $8.5 million times six years with a no movement clause from one other texter little bit closer maybe that’s maybe the term gets him to come on that one one soul said they should give him 5 years $12 million a year and that’s crazy also might be what it takes to get him and it also you know you might just say “YOLO Sabres are always under the cap anyway whatever i’m sick of this i want to make the playoffs.” Sure $12 million a year they would be laughed out of the building if they gave him $12 million doesn’t mean though that he wouldn’t help them so to to kind of go go full circle on this I think it’s very very unlikely that he would even seriously consider the Buffalo Sabres but maybe there’s some wiggle room on that and if he were to do it then I think the amount of money you’re talking is in the double- digit range for millions of dollars a year i think you’re talking 10 million to get Sam Bennett to come here and is that a good idea i don’t think it is i think that Marner is the better idea if you’re going to put all your eggs in one basket i’m not saying Bennett wouldn’t help them but I think a move like that where you show your desperation I would respect the desperation part of it honestly like we’ve wanted Kevin Adams to act more desperate more aggressive yarmokign hopefully going to help that so I would respect the desperation part of it i hope this isn’t the guy they’re desperate for though because I’d like them to be more desperate for a player that makes more of an impact on the ice rather than just the DNA and the culture of the team on the overall so I don’t think they’re going to get him i kind of hope they don’t go all out for him also do I expect them to be in on him i’d expect them to make a call i don’t expect the Sabres to be ultraaggressive i’ How How here’s this i’d be expecting them to be more ultraaggressive on Marner than I would on Sam Bennett but I could be wrong on that now if you stuck with this lunacy long enough Sam Bennett and the Sabres if let’s just play the if game hypothetical he chose to come to Buffalo and whatever the contract was how would he fit in the lineup even that’s not a simple question to answer we’ll get to that coming back sneaky Jody Biosi today’s episode is presented by Wonderful Pistachios if you are looking for a snack that is both delicious and nutritious be sure to crack into a good source of protein with Wonderful Pistachios wonderful Pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts each 1oz serving has six grams of protein that gives you over 10% of your daily value and plus they are packed with fiber and better for you unsaturated fats that’ll help keeping you feeling fuller longer as you’ve heard my my number one for wonderful pistachios is throw a bag in my golf bag and if I need a snack out on the course it is the perfect golf course snack especially the noshells variety because you just take a handful it’s super simple but if you are somebody that likes that that sound of the crack of the opening of the shell uh it’s like snack meditation you could get the snack the uh the the shells variety as well so whether you’re running between meetings or you’re dropping off the kids wonderful pistachios are the snack that works as hard as you do get snacking get cracking with the snack that packs a protein punch be sure to visit wonderfulpistachios.com today to learn more final segment here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast the Oilers and the Panthers tomorrow night game four two to one in favor of Florida i don’t necessarily love Edmonton’s chances at the moment but I would still pick them to come back and win this series even though they just lost six to one I’m very confident that McDavid and Dry idol who had no points in game three are going to have that happen again for the rest of the series back to Sam Bennett wrapping up the conversation on his candidacy as a free agent option for the Sabres i think you’ll start to get more realistic options here as we start to go down this list maybe in the middle of the list rather than the top end of the list like Mner and then to uh and then to Sam Bennett bennett he if he chose to come to Buffalo everything lines up stars align he wants to be closer to home they offer him the most money and you know Toronto for some reason isn’t as interested as we thought and he comes to Buffalo how would he fit in the Buffalo Sabres lineup well that’s not an easy answer because center-wise the Sabres are already kind of I don’t want to say flush but they’re certainly deep at the center position josh Norris Yuri Kik Ryan Mloud Pton Krebs one two three four everybody is in a spot that feels about right for them maybe Norris is punching a little bit above his weight as a number one center you might be more comfortable with him as a number two center but they love Koulique lindy loves Koulique and there’s another step coming from him I’m sure in his second season and by the way all of that is not even mentioning that Ta Thompson is perfectly capable of going back to the middle whenever he needs to bennett signing would either mean he’s got to play the wing or he’s going to play center koulique is going to move to the wing norris is going to move to the wing mloud I can’t imagine would move to the wing i think he is a permanent center as permanent as it gets or Bennett will play the wing he also I would expect to play in the top six especially the amount of money he’d be making he’d be playing on the power play i think though you look at the roster and think do they really need Sam Bennett i think they need a Mitch martyr they have some forwards what they don’t have is another elite offensive contributor along with Ta Thompson they have one guy on the top tier a lot of these playoff teams regular playoff teams regular contenders have more than one elite elite offensive producer and the Sabres have one of those they have a bunch of good ones after that you hope JJ Purka could develop into the elite one maybe Koulique but Marner would be that bennett bennett gives you a lot of attitude and you know culture the Sabres don’t have but everything else I feel like they kind of have it already they have guys who score 20 to 30 goals they have guys that are you know debatably good defensively uh do do they have a guy that has got the attitude of him on the ice i’m not going to argue that i think one thing he would do for them is he would drive a a attitude in their locker room that hey if you’re not stepping up for your teammates if you’re not throwing your body around every single night if you’re not doing everything it takes to win then I’m going to be in your grill about it that’s what you would hope for from Sam Bennett showing this group what it takes to win i don’t personally believe that that is the right type of mindset though when you’re overpaying for free agents i don’t want to say that has no value but that’s not worth 910 million to me a year okay so the one other point I want to make about why the Sabres maybe shouldn’t do this name me and this is actually this is a challenge i I looked around briefly and I couldn’t really find a good example of this go find me a role player it feels unfair to call Bennett a role player though because he is leading the Panthers in goals right now and leading the playoffs so I get it if you want to say that’s too harsh on him fine but if I were to rank the Panthers players over the last three years making these runs based on their importance to the team Bararkov is one Reinhardt is two uh Forsling is three Babski is in the top four you know like and then Bennett is debatable with Carter Verhagy and maybe I’m even missing somebody else Aaron Eblad he’s on that second tier so name me a guy that wasn’t one of the core members of a Stanley Cup dynasty that left and then that team won the same way or won at all they’ve been good players think of Chicago dustin Bufflin left Chicago he got Atlanta and then Winnipeg and he was a great player for a long time what did they win did they ever even leave the first round andrew Lad who was another part of that Chicago team Andrew Led leaves Chicago and he goes to uh Winnipeg with Buffalo then he goes to the Islanders and when did he ever win anything anywhere else after winning the Stanley Cup in Chicago um you know if I were to go back to what else some of those uh some of those did any of those Kings teams really leave how about Tampa tampa tyler Johnson for years was going to be on the move and he’s never won anything in Chicago especially but maybe that’s a little unfair to him uh like Yanni Gourd Yanni Gourd’s not as good of a player as Sam Bennett is but that guy was a you know 60point player in Tampa won the cup he went to Seattle never won anything but you know what I mean like a lot of those guys go somewhere else and it’s always perceived as they’re going to show this group how to win but you can’t show you can’t show Josh Norris how to be Alex Barkoff you can’t show Ukapekalucan and how to be Sergey Babroski you can’t show Matias Samson how to be Gustaf Forsling like you just I think that point gets overtalked about a little bit too much and I don’t see many examples of a guy like a Bennett leaving a cup contender going and sprinkling his pixie dust knowledge over the other the new team and having that new team win in a big way so I wouldn’t expect the Sabres to win in a big way they would they make the playoffs i mean they might do that anyway so all in all to summarize I’m not in on the Sam Bennett idea because the cost is going to be exorbitant and if I’m going to start reaching into the tens of millions of dollars a year I want them to have all their eggs in the Mitch Martyr basket not in the Sam Bennett basket i would rather go for Brock Besser Nikolai Eers Aaron Ecklad his teammate in Florida i’d rather go after that and there’s others that I’d like to see the Sabres go after as well some of those names that I just mentioned and others are going to be talked about on this show leading up to July 1st we’ll start talking more and more about free agency i expect the Sabres to be active i expect them to try harder in free agency this off season than they have in almost a decade will they land anybody good question but in past years I feel like these free agent topics were not even worth having at all because just wouldn’t expect the Sabres to try not just not land them not try this year they might not land him they’re going to try and for that i think we’ve got some good ideas to talk about coming up so Sam Bennett let me know what you think tomorrow on the show we’ve already talked about Mner we’ve talked about Bennett now next up we are going to talk about Aaron Ecklad of the Florida Panthers another free agent option this summer is he the right partner for Owen Power we’ll talk about it and also if you want to get more on the Stanley Cup playoffs the Stanley Cup final I should say be sure to check out Locked on NHL game night every game every night through the rest of this series until we see someone lifting the cup find NHL game night on Lockdown NHL on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcast we’ll talk to you next time you’re the Lockdown Sabres podcast part of the Lockdown Podcast Network your team every day

Sam Bennett presently leads the NHL playoffs in goals and is the favorite to win the Conn Smythe. He’s also going to be free agent in less than a month. Why shouldn’t the Buffalo Sabres go all-in for a player like that? A look at Bennett’s overall game and what it will cost to get him, presents a dangerous free agent to show desperation for.

Is Bennett as good defensively as his reputation says? Will it cost $10M to get him to even consider Buffalo? And why the Maple Leafs will likely be the team anyone has to outbid to get Bennett.

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