Mastodon
@Buffalo Sabres

Paul Hamilton On The Perfect Linemate For Power and Explains Why The Sabres NEED Tuch!



Paul Hamilton On The Perfect Linemate For Power and Explains Why The Sabres NEED Tuch!

career high you know he he he had 28 goals a few years ago in in Florida 25 this year so like there there’s that’s that’s not nothing but he’s going to get a contract that I think I I I’m I’m a little worried if a team doesn’t have the right setup for him to play the role he’s in there behind Barov um because he’s going to get paid like a number one center I think in free agency and he is not that guy at least he never has been and and you know this long into his career I’d be surprised if he suddenly became that player and if it were me we’ve we’ve talked about this he’d be the number two target if I were Kevin Adams and with him and maybe Marshad you’re taking a chance because of the age and uh you know you just never know how how that’s I mean when does it end for a player for some players they go a long time and can go you know look at Marand at 37 or 38 whichever he is and um you know we talked about Tuck’s contract a little while ago when he signs his new deal he’ll be 30 you know well if you give him a seventh or eight year deal you’re taking him to 37 or 38 years old you know so but so you just don’t know when when it is but I still with what he does in the playoffs he just for two years in a row now has just come up huge when it’s time to play and he’s you know he can play at both ends of the rank especially in the playoffs i I think he gets a little tighter defensively in the playoffs maybe than he does in the regular season but it’s not like he’s bad in the regular season but if you’re expecting a 100 points out of them you’re going to be disappointed that’s not what you’re going to get but you know I just like players who when when when it’s on the line the biggest games they come up with the biggest games when it matters and he does that now I still would say Eblad would be my number one priority to play with power and it seems you know with what we’re reading that maybe Eblad might be the guy who’s available it seems like maybe Florida will resign Bennett and maybe not resign Eblad just by some of the things I’ve been reading along the way and uh so it could be I don’t think they can sign them both honestly um unless they both unless they both agree to like you know hometown discount whatever right we want to keep the band together so I’ll take a million less or two million whatever um you know that might be out there it’s been I think pretty widely circulated they’re they’re tight um you know so maybe maybe that maybe that could happen i mean I don’t know business is business we know but um so but I’d be more interested in the really good defenseman to try to help the young defenseman here especially because if the Sabres don’t improve drastically defensively they’re not going to make the playoffs they can’t be 29th in the league and make the playoffs they just can’t even though they can score goals certainly i mean they were four goals from being sixth in the league in goal scoring this year but that’s not their problem their problem is keeping the puck out of the net paul Hamilton with us doesn’t sound like many people know too much about where things are headed with Conor McDavid Paul so I’m not asking you to know something that none of us knows either but now it’s such a tight window right like the season ends on June 17th free agency is July 1st in McDavid’s case with a year left that’s just sort of the starting period for a new deal i feel like Edmonton could very well go to Conor McDavid and say “We’ll give you anything you want blank check record money whatever it is anything you want name it in an effort to keep him of course which is what they’d want to do but I’m not sure McDavid would say yes right because couldn’t everybody else wouldn’t everybody else make him the same offer if it got to that point so he’ll be interesting here in a few weeks yeah he’s going to get whatever he wants so it’s to it’s like where do you want to go where do you want to be and you now have made the Stanley Cup finals two years in a row with Edmonton which I think would help the Oilers case um I always wondered how he felt being in Edmonton especially when he when the draft lottery came up and and all of a sudden the Edmonton Oilers got the pick i mean he the look on his face was his face got flushed as did Gary Bman’s and um and mine yeah he he he wanted to be a saber i mean he he wanted to come play in Buffalo remember that that game that Erie played here at the arena and he came for the press conference and and you know being close to here that that’s what he was looking at but you know it’s it’s a number of years later now nine years later and they you know they’re very very close so I haven’t heard anything at all that he’s unhappy in Edmonton or doesn’t like being there and with them now just on the cusp of doing it you know I I I I would I would think he’s okay with it but of course I’m not his agent well if he’s not you know willing to take their deal then he becomes a trade candidate you know sure and and and don’t forget the Gretzky thing in Edmonton was a little bit different that was basically the league going to Peter Pucklington and saying “We need Wayne Gretzky in the United States.” Sorry um it you know with with you’re going to get a lot of money in return which Pockington liked he needed Yeah he needed and we need him as a league in Los Angeles so that so that’s different than what we’re talking about here with McDavid well Paul we’re heading for the draft you’re talking about Eblad and Bennett like I mean you feel like the Sabres that sounds very uh foreign I think to maybe a lot of uh a lot of our listeners and to me i I I understand I I can’t imagine a world where those guys take our call but I I’m very demoralized so um you know it’s hard for me to get invested in the idea of you know topshelf players twotime cup winners like going oh yeah no Kevin Adams is on the phone sure i’ll talk to Buffalo um you know I I I’m being defeist admittedly about it um you know how you don’t how realistic do you think any of that is yeah that’s the caveat we’ve said all along i understand you we all understand that it’s a long shot that any of the top free agents would want to come to a team that hasn’t been in the playoffs for 14 years and is just still floundering around really you know how much hope is there right now if you’re looking at the Buffalo Sabres from the street um but stranger things have happened i mean Kyle Aoso was the number one free agent of his class because Stamco signed before free agency started which made Aposo the number one free agent and the Savers got him um you know Johnny Goodro was signed with Columbus as the number one free agent nobody thought that would happen so stranger things have happened um but no obviously I I would not think the Buffalo Sabres are on top of anybody’s list right now especially with you know you look at the Sabres and if you know you hear “Well wait a minute here we’re hearing through uh Elliot Freriedman that uh Broy might be traded and Tuck might be traded and Purka might be traded and what what I mean honestly I’m just going to say they cannot afford to lose Alex Tuck he does so many different things and does them well for this team they cannot afford to lose him off this team or it’s just going to be f 10 steps backwards you know he he’s part of the team that if you got want to say they’re going to improve or they improved at the end of the year he was a big part of that uh in every way whether it’s penalty killing whether it’s scoring 36 goals um whether it’s leadership they just can’t afford to lose him and you know so if you’re a free agent you’re looking at well what’s going on there are these guys gonna And if if Buffalo loses all three of those guys what do you think Thompson and Dene are thinking right yeah i mean I’m I’m I’m worried about Tuck and you know this because we’ve talked about this at locker cleanout i just I was I was scared by the way he took the question about his future yes um and so you know that that that doesn’t have to mean a listener pointed out to me that maybe that’s just the start of negotiation right he he doesn’t want to like portray that he’s so eager to sign like put anything in front of me and I’ll do it so like like okay um I I sure hope that that’s right because Paul it feels to me yeah I agree 100% like I know it’s never going to be one move means turn the lights out but if the guy that is the face of the we want guys who want to be here campaign doesn’t want to be here anymore who’s been a Saber fan his whole life right then what am I even doing here like that just like it just seems really really tough i I hope it doesn’t come to that and maybe Alex Tuck is also he’s got another year he might say “Look it let’s see how this is going to go.” You know you brought in Yarmmo you know he’s a guy that’s been a GM for 11 years he brings some experience here he brings some guts to the position that you know maybe the Sabres might be able to pull some things off we don’t have to do it this year you know there’s still one year left on the contract so he might say “Look at all right let’s see how this year goes and we’ll talk to you next summer.” Then it becomes on the Sabres to decide whether they want to live that way right because that that because then you may lose him to free agency for nothing right right so So you never know sorry sort of on this topic before you go you want to mention or I’ll just tee you up here the article on JJ Purka a lot of this and sort of along the same lines yeah i I was curious and I I don’t I didn’t remember him being you know like I want out of here or I’m unhappy yeah he didn’t set off any warning flares on lock and clean out like did tuck did but not I went back and listened and I was right there was nothing in that end of the year press conference that told me he wants out of here he talked about Lindy Ruff he was fine in talking about Lindy Ruff um he talked about you know how he can get better it was more we he even talked about his his you know body language body language and everything and and you know he said I I get frustrated I totally agree on that and I’m just trying to have my body language be better more positive um is what he was saying and I you remember a couple years ago he’d score a goal and he was so happy he was like a little kid out there and that changed this last year he’d score and He just like you know he he had a scowl on his face and he’s always you know available to the media all the time never says no but when you talk to him now he’s basically looking at the floor um and just looks miserable you know not that he hates the person he’s talking to he just looks miserable you know and so is that the frustration you know going out but I just there’s nothing so you know is it rough is it Adams is it Pigula is it the losing but he hasn’t been here for all that much losing yet it’s not like some of the others that have been here six seven years um or is it already to a point now is the is it is it the contract has there you you know when you look at the negotiation is that a problem right now is Petka and his agent Allen Walsh are they upset with the offer are they at an impass you know and is that it that could be it you know I just I’m just grasping at things right now as but I I was listening to that and I was just thinking to myself there’s just nothing here that indicates to me that he’s unhappy

Mike Schopp and The Bulldog talk to Paul Hamilton on Sam Bennett next contract, who he wants to see the Sabres sign to pair with Owen Power, Connor McDavid rumors, Why The Sabres need Alex Tuch, JJ Peterka Rumors #bills #billsmafia

Share, Thumbs Up & Subscribe to WGR 550 for New Content Daily!

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WGRSportsRadio550
Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WGR550
Follow on X/Twitter: https://x.com/WGR550
Follow on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/wgr550
Follow on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/buffalowgr550

15 Comments

  1. I thought Mike Schopp was taking a pull off a bottle of Jim Beam near the beginning of this but it was just iced tea. Discussing the Sabres every day, I thought, okay, this makes sense. One day at a time folks. 🦬

  2. San Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and/or Brad Merchant are pure pipe dreams. The Sabres have a 0.01% chance of signing any one of these.

    Bennett is getting 10 AAV elsewhere or 6 AAV from the Panthers. Ekblad wants term. Merchant wants a contender.

  3. If you paid any attention to JJ on the ice near the last 1/4 of the season you could plainly see he was not happy & had no emotion when he scored. There is clearly an issue & it needs to be fixed.

  4. Reverse the curse. How about making a pitch for McDavid. Include Peterka, Byram, Quinn a first or more to leverage a trade with Edmonton. Reverse the curse of the 2015 draft lottery and hopefully the hockey gods will stop spanking Buffalo for tanking. Connor grew up north of Toronto and he has ties to Buffalo with Jay McKee coaching him in Erie.

  5. “Fans” saying that our best young prospects “Suck and we need to get rid of them” because they don’t win the Hart Trophy by the end of their second season, or “The best thing our best players can do for their career is to get as far away from Buffalo as possible!” are the reason we’re on the tail end of 14 year playoff drought!

    Trying to rush potential Superstars to reach their peak by the end of their rookie contract and/or giving up on them when that doesn’t happen is why these players want to get the hell out of Buffalo! Stop chasing our young stars away and making our fanbase look worse than we already do to the rest of the Hockey World!!

  6. Talking shit about marchands age when he just dominated the playoffs. Gtfo here. I hate marchand and respect his performance. Sabres need to dump samuelson #1. Then any player too soft to play defense.

  7. wait til next yr after 15 yrs, tuch thompson zucker dahlin will all want out n its all over for buffalo hockey.

  8. Not sure how you can blame JJ, who cares how long he's been here. Competitive players hate losing, stupid to think someone should be OK with a few losing years, (it hasn't been 7 or 8?!). All these rumors start escalating after Adams is brought back….. coincidence???

  9. The perfect linemate for Owen Power is for him to be traded to another team rather than the Sabres paying a effeminate playing defense for the team. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO soft!!!!

  10. This idiot owner TP is so clueless. He is too stupid to understand players like JJ Peterka don't want to rot in Sabres, where failure is tolerated hence why he wants to bolt out, otherwise he would fire this failed GM Kevin Adams to prevent defetism which will only get worse, with running organisation like this. In literally any other NHL franchise, GM who failed like GM KA did, would get fired 2 years ago, let alone now. Sabres can queue up Benny Hill music as main theme song on pregame, and during the game, would fit perfectly.

Write A Comment