Marty Biron on What He Wants Sabres To Accomplish This Offseason and His Thoughts on Connor McDavid

Marty Biron on What He Wants Sabres To Accomplish This Offseason and His Thoughts on Connor McDavid

like I think you had a a shot this year and you missed it because you didn’t fix your crease it may be too late uh they may never get back there what do you think about McDavid now so there’s so we talked about this a lot yesterday there’s so little time between the end of the season and free agency right it’s like little more than a week could have even been less had Edmonton forced game seven but it’s still not much and today McDavid didn’t exactly slam the door on speculation about you know his future uh I think that’s putting it mildly i think now it’s a it’s a real topic whether or not they can do enough to keep him what do you think he might be thinking well I also think like if you’re Conor McDavid you know what money you’re going to get like it’s it’s it’s it’s written in you know in stones you’re you know you’re the best player you’re probably going to get close to a max deal max deal is 20% of the cap right so in a year now from now when he signs the cap will be over 100 million so that could be 20 million million dollars a year so he’s going to say maybe he takes 18 and a half but it’s everybody knows what he’s going to get so the Oilers can’t say we’ll overpay McDavid you can’t he’s the best player in the league so it all comes down to does McDavid want to stay there i think he’s gonna stay there but you know what i he he knows and and his old agent is the president of the Oilers Jeff Jackson that was his agent so I think they all understand the business of it but at the end of the day like if you’re McDavid and you see okay so the Florida Panthers won a couple uh you know you saw Vegas and and Jack Eel won and you saw Tampa and you saw Colorado Nathan McKinnon win and you’re Conor McDavid and you’re like I Sydney Crosby’s one three like you’re like I want to win so maybe at that point when money doesn’t matter because you know the deal like if he became a free agent or if he gets traded he knows he’s getting at least seven years at $18.5 million on the free agent market somebody’s going to do it so it’s all about does he want to stay there does he think he’s he’s going to win there and if the answer is no well the orders are in big trouble bulldog is this something the Sabres should consider for president of the organization like Purka’s agent or his dad or whoever like he likes having around uh should they do something like that sneaky Joe had an idea for McDavid Marty that you may have heard of or you might have had the same thought like if he ends up leaving Edmonton what would be best for the league joe said Florida it’s like Durant and the Warriors you know just like that would get people talking it would get people talking if if McDavid ever left the Edmonton Oilers i I know that nobody’s going to like this answer but what would be best for the league is if he went to Toronto Austin Matthews went down to you know Vegas or LA or whatnot like they would want like an American and an American city keep McDavid in the mecca that is Toronto that’s what they would want business-wise it would make sense um now I I don’t know if that’s what McDavid would want i I don’t know if that’s what the lease would want but you know when you put it all together that would make sense for Gary Bman Bill Dailyaly the net worth and all of that they they would want this type of scenario yeah i as soon as I saw the clip of McDavid today saying you know all the you know that being said I got to do what’s best for me and my family that wow trade time Toronto they want to they want to change I mean they’re going to have change no matter what I mean is I’m sure not going back there uh as a UFA here Marty but Matthews is a great starting point for a trade for McDavid but that it’s there’s no move clauses like some you know somebody big somebody that big is and I’m assuming Matthews has protection although I didn’t look today to make sure uh but somebody would have to agree to go to Edmonton and that maybe could be tricky but man the idea of just spinning out trade ideas like who’s got a player that could be a starting point for a package to get you McDavid toronto absolutely fits the bill now I don’t know if you guys remember when Eric Lindros got drafted by Quebec right so he set out a year after a year of him setting out he was traded to the Flyers actually there was two deals in place there was a trade to the Flyers and a trade to the Rangers they ended up having to go to court to see which trade was agreed upon first and the Flyers end up winning but the deal that the Flyers sent to the Quebec Nordics was like $10 million it was Duchain on the fence it was uh Forsber it was a a first round pick another first round pick it was uh Mike Reichi it was it was insane like the I I like Conor McDavid would get like three times that like if you trade Conor McDavid you’re you’re trading everything that you have so that’s why I think it’s unlikely if McDavid doesn’t sign he’s probably walking out as a free agent and then it becomes the silly season of what would be the summer of 2026 the cap makes that kind of trade like almost impossible now right i mean we talk sabers trades all the time and just like sort of what can you make sense of in terms of a return for certain players it’s hard as opposed to in those days matthews has full no move through 28 by the way um Marty what about the Sabres now I know this is your your profession to talk about them and so I’m sure you’re uh you know you’re you’re ready for this but like I is is there a certain strategy this off season it seems like what we’re hearing the most about is Alex Tuck and Purka and whether or not they do want to stay which is very familiar unfortunately but doesn’t sound like a great starting point for getting a team you know going the right way so the way that I see it is I think this is all agent driven like I know these players I talked to these players they they love the team they love the group they they know that there’s steps to be taken um so but if you’re an agent and you’re trying to build this case that I need to maximize the the value of my client what are you going to use you’re going to use you know something that is going to go rampant through the media and through the fan base and they want to leave they don’t like it here they they want to you know and then you say calls are being happening and teams are calling i I feel like it’s all agent driven that’s me uh but there is definitely some work to be done for the sabers to say okay we need to sign JJ Purka and he doesn’t have arbitration rights so if he doesn’t sign with us like if it’s October and November and we don’t have JJ Purka like we’re in a tough place because we need him in the lineup he’s a really good player he’s one of our best players so I think that there’s a strategy that is is not often used here because of the position the Sabres are in they have to start out good lat next year they can’t go October November and be you know 10 and 16 and say “Oh we’re good.” Uh you know without JJ Purka so if he’s not signed and if the agents are holding their side of the thing and say “No we’re not signing.” Then you may be forced into training him but I don’t think that is what JJ Purko wants and I really feel like Alex Tuck and and everybody else wants to be a part of it um the big thing is they were a top 10 scoring team last year and they had a terrible power play if the power play gets better they’re probably a top five scoring team but does that alone make you a playoff team no you have to make sure your blue line is better and you have to make sure your crease is better and so that is what the focus on i’ll be interested to see how that works out at the draft and free agency you know but that’s what you got to focus on i I know JJ talk all of that that’s the the big talk but behind the scenes like if I was working on it I’d say we have to be better defensively blue line and and crease is my focus where do you think you end up at in goal here lucin just was year one of a new extension pretty pretty significant levi had another strong year in Rochester do you maybe just go with that or is there some idea out there that piqus your interest to sort of jump the line ahead of Lucinan i I have a hard time thinking that you would be going UPL and Levi Levi’s got another year where he’s waiver exempt right he doesn’t have to go on waiverss to be going down to Rochester and and look let’s be patient with with with a goalender and develop maybe at some point in the season he makes his way back to Buffalo and there’s a role there’s a factor but I there’s there’s two way to go about it either you swing for the fence and you say I’m going to get I’m going to call on on Pennington i’m going to call on Gibson i’m going to call on on all those goalies that may be in the market or I’m bringing a um excuse me I’m bringing a good veteran guy and we saw what James Rymer did at the end of the season like he played well now I’m not I’m not suggesting you bring back Rhymer but maybe there is somebody out there that is a good veteran guy you know Jake Allen is a is a really good veteran guy i may the rumor is he’s gonna stay New Jersey but who knows like maybe that’s an a possibility um there’s there’s good free agent veterans to be able to come in and support uh but that would mean that you’re hoping that Lucinan is playing at the level of two years ago and not last year so there’s a lot of different scenarios that I’m sure they’re talking about they’re they’re spinning um but I everything would be on the table everything would be on the table for me uh because that is a big year that is a very big year and again just like JJ Purka you know you may be forced to move him if he doesn’t he doesn’t sign or if the contracts aren’t aligning because you can’t start the season you know 10 and 16 or what 10 and 15 well it’s the same thing for with goalending you don’t want to say “Oh well we’ll figure it out by Thanksgiving or by Christmas.” By that point I may be too

Mike Schopp and The Bulldog talk to Retired NHL Goalie and Studio Analyst for the Buffalo Sabres and Sabres Live on the Sabres offseason plans and the recent rumors of Connor McDavid potentially wanting out of Edmonton!

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