Buffalo Sabres Targeting Toughness | The Jeremy and Joe Show

Buffalo Sabres Targeting Toughness | The Jeremy and Joe Show

okay so the uh over the weekend Kevin Adams and the Sabres they they they make their draft ESPN has given the draft class a grade I find the idea of an NHL draft class even funnier than an NFL draft class
Cuz in the NFL it’s like well we can evaluate this draft in three years because the guys will have played for three years In the NHL we if we were to evaluate the draft class in three years most of the players still would not be in the league right And like what what’s the f right now What’s the most recent draft that anyone that like studies prospects or studies hockey would feel comfortable evaluating like in giving like a like a grade deal like you do
2020
2020 There you go So five years ago that’s Quinn and Purka
Yeah Okay Right
Like you can you can look at those picks now and go yeah Quinn at eight probably not a great pick Purka though Oh 34 great pick
So five years
Five years Anyway
that’s wild One thing about this though the so the breakdown at ESPN on their draft grades it’s less about the draft grade and more about the writeup They gave them a C+ The Sabres whatever fine You don’t have to care about that Okay Now this write up about what the Sabres did I I feel like there going to be a lot of This might be 50/50 You might like this you might not like this but the writeup says Buffalo had a modus operandi that was quite a bit different from previous drafts and it showed Talking about Murka the number one pick Reasonable bet to play top four minutes in the NHL Fits the profile Big and hard to play against That’s a bit high for him Left significant talent on the board But the Savers clearly identified him as an organizational need David Bkowski a good selection as one of the most violent physical defenders in the draft If he makes it he’ll fill a depth role and be a nightmare to play against And then they finish out with there’s a real chance that those are the only players who play NHL games for the Sabres in this class as they departed from their previous mo of drafting high-end skill So the writeup is basically you know that they used to draft skilled players and what they did in this draft was
meat and potatoes hard to play against And their top two picks are guys that are hard to play against to to say anything of any team’s draft and say you know their top two might be the only guys that make the NHL That would be normal That’s that is a very normal draft
And you’re giving a third round pick a lot of credit to say that like he’s like he he could make the league
Yes That’s
at 18
Like odds would say he’s just just on where he was picked He’s what 10% to make the NHL But when I heard Kevin Adams utter the phrase tough to play against I thought about another famous thing that happened in Bill’s history which is boy took the sail took the sales out of our wind I don’t know if you remember that No All that what how that happened There’s a very famous moment in Bill’s history where an old coach people get mad because I’m trying to like forget I’m trying to remember this but Malarkey said it like he malarkey said they took the sales out of our wind or maybe it was Greg Williams And it’s a gaff from the Bills from 40 years before 30 years before He kind of said the thing he said before that was embarrassing
But whatever Why did that come up in my brain Because when Kevin Adams said tough to play against and he spent another offseason saying tough to play against I thought back to a Savers draft long ago and I thought can I find this clip How hard would it be to find this clip The answer is not hard It’s just on YouTube 2013 draft day for the Buffalo Sabres They’re beyond blue and gold And the message is they want to be tough to play against And so when we got him we had conversations about should we focus on on forwards
What about Zadov Zadov’s still there
Yeah
My view of that is you need to focus on the player you think will have the best NHL career and we’ll sort the other stuff out later
You want to get tougher to play against
Yeah I do want to I do want to
I think so
I want to get tougher to play against
That’s the route Sidorov just kept sliding and he wasn’t he wasn’t the plan We just kind of looked at each other So this was a no-brainer
Pull the trigger The big Russian Buffalo Sabers select Nikita Zidorov 2013 So Zidorov ends up being a nice NHL player Has a nice long career Didn’t last long here because Tim Marie traded him away
because he had some issues like alarm clocks
Alarm alarm clock problems But I flashed back to I’ve been hearing this team say we got to be tough to play against for more than a decade The entirety of the drought it’s been about how we got to be tough to play against And
Mhm
They never are They never are
No Why does anybody Can anybody give a theory on that Like a real honest theory I’ve got an organization a team that has wanted to be a thing for 12 years Yeah that’s pre-tank Then they tank and they go get Eel and you know they start going with some young guns and some young talent and every other year outside of years where they’re trying to be bad they are trying to be tough to play against and they never are And I also think that the fans would respond to that The most the fans ever came back in this entire drought was as you pointed out one of those Granado years where they scored a ton of goals and they were really fun to watch Mhm Were they tough enough to play against I don’t know I guess not But they were fun and they won
and they won games they finished over 500 I’m not even I know there’s value in what Kevin Adams wants to add to this team I’m thinking to the article I read after Florida won the cup You know what lesson will teams take Will it be about the grit and the toughness and the physicality Or will it be about Yeah you need that from great players
Mhm
Cuz that’s what Florida has skill They have skilled players that do all that and that’s going to be your ceiling for that kind of team and they’re going to be a lot of teams that chase the middle ground and I think
the Sabres are kind of in a spot where it’s just like we we got we got to be tough to play against It’s the GM’s sixth off season
If this was something he wanted to do and he’s still chasing it forever ago they’ve been chasing this the entire time that the Pagoulas have owned the team Tough to play against 2025 We got to be tough to play against 2024
was the same message
Yeah And they let and they let their best player lay on the ice without his helmet off and did nothing about it
Right
Not that that’s the same quite the same thing
It’s part of it It’s part of it
It is It’s Yeah it is a part of it
Just kind of it took me right back into 2013 that blew and go like want to be tough to play against Remember but it you want to say like how it’s related What’s that after That’s after Miller gets his head taken off after they they man those two draft picks but also that is they trade Derrick Roy for Steve and they signed John Scott right because they just thought we got to be tougher and that’s kind of where it all started going south right
that’s when it all started to go this team kind of stinks right around there and is that just what you do when the skilled guys aren’t good enough to get you to to the playoffs is well we got to do something and we’re Buffalo so we can’t get better star skill guys so we’ll do this we’ll be mean and gritty and I think that’s when it could start that that’s when it can really start going south and
if you’re not skilled the fact that they’re not actually ever that much tougher to play against you know where there are there are like a story in the league like man can you believe how hard it is to play against I they never get that I think that’s just when you lose are is it more about the size of the player or the DNA of the player or is it more just the uh kind of a result of uh when your team stinks it’s harder for everybody to be like 100% bought in all the time
I think that’s a lot I think that’s a ton of it That’s why when you watch Florida why do all these players do it Some of them have that just they do it all the time and others
but there’s a wave that they’re riding
Yeah They buy in There’s a buy in There’s a buy in
There’s a buy in But it’s all it’s all based in this team is great and is can win the cup
Mhm
And if you don’t believe that your team has that in them because they are 12 points out of a playoff spot I think it’s a little bit harder I think it’s harder to be that way So it’s kind of a chicken in the egg It’s a hamster wheel right Like just going back and forth and like well why aren’t they like this I it feels like when you artificially pump it in when your team’s not that good in the first place
I I don’t know how valuable it actually is If your if your team isn’t actually good
8030550 We’ll see how it goes It just kind of you get to a spot where you’ve been the GM of the same team for so long
and you’re still saying tough to play against I saw also points made this weekend about like Lindy Lindy likes this Like this is this is this is a Lindy style isn’t it Well like sure Lindy in 99 maybe was like that right Around the best goalie in the world uh ever Um Lindy’s last two legitimately great teams maybe I’m skipping over Dallas I don’t remember you know what his teams were like when he went to the playoffs with Dallas Uh when he went to the playoffs more recently with New Jersey what were they
They small and skilled Yeah they scored a
led by Jack Hughes Uh what were the Sabres in 2007 2006 he won the Jack Adams
He won the Jack Adams in ’06 And what were they in 07 Were they setting records with how many goals they scored with small forwards So like
mobile defenseman
Does Lindy like it or did Lindy like cuz I’ve got two Lindy teams two of his most successful teams ever which were small skill let’s go outscore them And this team is the opposite of that right now They’re big They might be able to score still They were good at scoring last year Yeah And I’ve only taken PURK off that Uh they certainly are big though They actually updated after the Timmans trade on Saturday They’re now the second tallest team in the NHL So they’re big They got that They got they wanted to be that and they are that 8030550 if you want to jump in 1888 5502550 to join us Jeremy and Joe on a uh beautiful Monday morning Last day of June tomorrow July 1st unrestricted free agency You know maybe May maybe they just shock us Maybe they blow us away What What would be the minimum for shock
They’re not getting Martner
A a top honestly Honestly yeah
A top six player would shock me
Like a legitimate legitimate a legitimate top six player Like if they sign Nikolai Elers tomorrow
Yes That would be shocking
Yeah Right Yep Okay Brock Besser That’d be shocking right Yes
There’s only a couple of those guys that they would get it done that they would get that commitment Yeah
Okay Maybe surprise is the correct answer here But
John Brad Marshand that’s got to be the end of the list Like one of those five Yeah Patrick Kane Toar is signed Toar sign Thank you That’s right Tavar signed off Extended in Toronto Yep

Jeremy and Joe discuss the Buffalo Sabres draft and trades that all indicate that the team is looking to add size and grit. They discuss the first two Sabres picks in the 2025 draft both being 6’5”+. They also point to the addition of defenseman Conor Timmins and Michael Kesselring who are also big strong skaters. Jeremy shares the fact that he as reminded of the NHL draft in 2013, where the Sabres management made shockingly similar claims to Kevyn Adams made over the weekend. They question how it’s possible the Sabres have been trying to get tougher for the entirety of the drought, while seemingly never accomplishing that goal. They question whether the approach is even effective or worth continuing to pursue.

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