Buffalo Sabres Glaring Lack Of Urgency Is Infuriating

Buffalo Sabres Glaring Lack Of Urgency Is Infuriating

All right, old friends, new friends, everyone else. What is going on? Welcome to another episode of Talking Buffalo, your weekday daily driver for Buffalo Sports Talk and more. My name is Patrick Moran. Thank you so much for watching, for listening, however you consume Talking Buffalo. Appreciate you guys very much. Uh, if you’re watching us on the video side or the audio side, I suppose to make sure that you follow, like, subscribe, um, all that nonsense. Big shout out to today’s sponsor, Sunny Reds. 1841 Abber Road, just down the way from High Mark Stadium. Uh that brand new outdoor patio is bumping. I did a live show with the Bulldog from WGR last week there. Great time and great food. They got music out there now, too. So, great place to be. And also, Imperial Pizza 10:35 Aber Road uh just down the way from actually from Sunny Rides. I’m going to be there with a live show next Thursday night. Matt Parino and Matt Fairburn, both of them are going to join me. That will be a good time. So, look out for details for that. All right, folks. Our our Friday episode, I am joined right now by recurring guest, buddy of mine over from Two in the Box, my man Chris Astrander. What’s going on, dude? How you doing? Not too bad. How you doing? Pretty good. Pretty good. I missed the show Monday, so I’m kind of making up for it. Kind of uh bulk taping a few episodes to have in the can. not this one, but other ones just in case something happens. Uh, again, we’re going to talk Sabres, more specific. I’ve been waiting all week to talk to you. By the way, I I’ve reached out to you earlier. I’ve had some good episodes this week, but mainly football stuff. I I’ve been waiting to circle back around to the Sabres and talk to you specifically all week. I just feel such a a sense of a lack of urgency right now with this team. I know you’ve written it about it. I know you’ve uh you’ve had on your podcast, the Instigator podcast. Um you’ve talked about it. We’re going to cover that some Saber stuff today. Before that though, two things that I wanted to ask you about. You’re going to have to refresh my mind with a couple things. If you follow folks, if you’re on Twitter X, whatever the hell you want to call it, there’s, you know, every once in a while you get a viral tweet that just everybody sees that [ __ ] And there’s one going around about tell someone about like lore from your past or whatever. and we’ve all, you know, had our various things. I saw you earlier in the week. Actually, it was yesterday. Um, you hid for 3 hours in a 200 level bathroom suite uh to go to a G. Explain this. What What the hell are you talking about, man? I want to know about this. What’s your What What’s Chris Osarender’s lore? Something about yourself. Your lore about yourself. It’s a It’s a decent enough story. So this 2007 playoffs, so 2006 07 season, conference finals versus Ottawa. So I’m still in college at that time, uh, playing hockey and my one roommate, uh, I think it was my roommate. It was that the next year, it doesn’t really matter. One of my teammates was interning for the Sabres. He had a family member that worked in the front office. And so he was driving up from Cleveland during the first two rounds to to intern and then continued through the end of the school year. in in that in that conference final. And so by the time the conference final rolls along, obviously school’s out, we’re home. And he sends me a text or calls me. He’s like, “Hey, uh, do you want to try to go to game two tonight or tomorrow?” I’m like, “Yeah, like how are you going to get me in that?” So, you know, games been, you know, they sold out the whole season, right? All these games been sold out for ages. There’s no chance of getting a ticket. He goes, “Listen, all you got to do is you dress up like an intern. You’re going to walk in with me. there’s no way security’s asking you questions and then you just got to hide in the arena till the doors open. So, he drives off from Cleveland uh that that day and I don’t remember what time we got to the arena. I guessed three hours when I tweeted it. It could have been four. I don’t remember the exact time frame, but we got So, I you know, I put on button-down shirt, khakis, you know, dress the part to look like an intern. Mhm. We we show up might have had a tie on. I don’t remember. We get to the arena. I’m like, “All right, are you sure this is going to work? Like, you cannot don’t [ __ ] me here cuz if I get kicked out of the arena for life, I’m going to be pissed off.” And he’s like, “No, no, trust me. The security guard, he’s he’s seen me for the last two, three weeks, however long it had been. There’s no way he’s going to give us any grief.” And lo and behold, we walk in the security entrance down there at at uh Key, well, at that time, uh, HSBC Arena. Guy gives us a wave. We go upstairs. Didn’t check the credentials. Um, I don’t remember the guy’s name, so I don’t think he works there anymore. So, hopefully I’m not getting anyone in trouble now, but 20 years, there’s a statute of limitations on that. Exactly. Yeah. So, we go upstairs, we we go up the ele for those of you who who have or haven’t entered the the arena through the security entrance. There’s the the elevators that serve all three levels, if I’m not mistaken. But, you know, he he knocks me out at the 200 level. He goes, “You just got to find somewhere to go.” He goes, “Hide in the bathroom. I don’t know what you’re going to do, but the doors opened at I think the doors opened at 5 back then. Um, if I’m not mistaken, maybe 5:30. So, let’s just assume we got there at 2:00 and the doors open at 5. He’s like, “Go find a place to hide out. I’ll come check on you if I can, but like you’re going to have to chill.” So, walk up, find a like found the first bathroom I could find. F right off the the elevator, chilled out in a stall and sat sat there for for three hours. And pre- smartphones, mind you. So, like the iPhone, I think it just come out. I certainly didn’t have one. I think my phone had like a putt putt golf game on it. So, I I blew through that after about an hour and a half. Yeah. Um, and all the while I’m sitting there, I’m like, if someone comes in here and realizes that like this same pair of shoes have been down there for two hours, like they’re going to get suspicious. So, I moved a couple times. Like, I shifted between the stalls. A couple guys came in. They used the bathroom. I was like sweating bullets. And uh, and then at one point like door opens next to me and the guy knocks on, you know, knocks on the the wall. He’s like, “Azie, is that you?” And it’s my buddy. He goes, “Here, I got game notes. You can something to read.” So, he hands me like the packet of game notes under the stall and then like 5:30 rolls along, whatever time it was. Again, I don’t remember when the doors open exactly for for that particular game, but he comes out, he goes, “Yo, there’s people in the building. You can probably come out now.” And but even then, like, you know, right when the doors open, even back then with, you know, the the fervor around the team was so hot. Sure. It’s still pretty quiet in the 200 level. So, there were a few things that played in my favor. First of all, I’m sure that there were a hundred other things that security people were looking for other than some [ __ ] hiding in a bathroom stall. Um, but also like once I got out there, there were enough people milling around like the Harbor Club bar. And back then that you didn’t buy tables. Like the tables weren’t ticketed like they are now. It was just like common space. So, I just hung out at a table kind of near some people. And as it got closer and closer, the arena got fuller and fuller and I was like, “Oh, I’m like, we’re going to pull this thing off.” And and we did. And so that game uh for, you know, that game was unfortunately a loss. Um they lost in double OT. Joe Corvo scored the winner, but it was an unreal game. Buffalo scored like 30 seconds in something like that. Thomas Vanic scored and it got waved off because it hit his glove. Uh so they waved the goal off and he scored though like another minute and a half later. Like so a really early goal for Buffalo. The place was electric and then they’re losing for the whole game. Danny Brerier tied the game with like seven or eight seconds left. And honestly, it was almost an identical situation to Drury’s goal the round before. Super late situation. Goalie pulled pots a goal to tie it super late. We’re jumping up and down. So, and we stood the whole game. Obviously, we didn’t have tickets. And so like we’re in a standing room kind of area there in the 200 level. I think it’s over now kind of near the um like that Senica sports lounge. I’m pretty sure that’s where we stood. We’re hugging random people. It was unreal. Um and then of course they lose in double OT and we got to drive home at like 12:00 all all pissed off. But it was uh it was worth it. It was though honestly like I mean I never did anything like that again. But it was just like hey man I think I can sneak you into this game. do you want to try it? And I’m 22 years 21 years old, an idiot. Like I was like, “Yeah, why not? We’ll we’ll go for it. It’ll be fun and and we did it and it was great.” So, you know, we I we haven’t done anything that stupid since, I don’t think. But that was one of the dumber things I tried. It was fun, man. It was an unbelievable game. I’ll never forget going to that one. Even though they lost, it was uh it was a good one. I don’t think you’d have to have to worry about anybody looking for you in the bathroom these days with this team, though. And I’m glad you brought up that point too because you know you go back 20 years or so like you said to your point like it would be a lot easier to kill if you had to kill if you were hiding today for whatever reason and you had to kill three hours having a smartphone today would be a hell of a lot easier between social media apps and you know much more uh advanced games and things like that it would make the time go a lot quicker but well that is definitely interesting that’s for sure man um the other thing that I want to ask you about too before we get into actual hockey stuff. Let’s kind of flip gears here a little bit because I All right, so what’s going on with soccer, right? I’m clueless about this right now. All right, I’ve barely followed along. I I believe Reed Ferguson was involved at one point with the stadium or the team or whatever. Kind of educate me and for people who are listening to the show, what’s going on? Again, I’m clueless. I I’ve barely followed along. I know there was a soccer stadium that was going to get built downtown and now it apparently it’s not. Um, explain to me as best you can what the hell that’s all about, what’s going on. I know you’ve written about I know you’ve talked about it. Yeah, we had So, Pete Marlet’s a local guy. Uh, we actually had him on the podcast to talk about the team. He’s trying to bring uh a USL soccer team to Buffalo, which is like the second kind of second tier pro soccer in the US. It’s not um it’s not on the same level as the MLS, but it’s a competing league. So, it’s not like specifically minor league baseball either. It’s kind of a weird dynamic in terms of the US soccer pyramid, but either way, he he’s bringing a um he’s bringing a team to Buffalo or he’s working to bring a team to Buffalo. I’m pretty sure Reed Ferguson is one of the investors if I’m not mistaken or a brand ambassador or something like that. I don’t remember his exact role. Um but so he’s working on bringing this team to Buffalo. The initial plan was for them to start play next year and their stadium plans call for what they’re call what’s called a modular stadium. So, it’s a faster build. It’s not like a a true brickandmortar groundup stadium project that you might see with um like if you were to compare it even to to the baseball stadium downtown. And they’ve been going through all the processes gathering investors, you know, for the ownership group and all that good stuff. Um I’ve tried to follow that as closely as I could. Um, and I’ve I’ve stayed pretty well up to date with everything. And they had initially picked a stadium location in uh in the city right downtown Cobblestone District, the HSBC atrium lot, which is now owned by Doug Jamal. That was I think kind of like their preferred choice. The issue with that at the time when it was announced was that they were going to need about $20 million I think in state funding, so public funds. And I think and they even acknowledge like we understand that this is going to be a heavy lift. it’s a, you know, kind of a bad time to be asking in terms of like when the state budget was put together and stuff like that. And so they had other state sites in mind. One thing that Pete said specifically to us on our podcast, but he said in other places like he’s committed to building the stadium in the city. He’s not building it elsewhere. He’s going to be downtown. He’s not screwed around with a suburban location, okay? You know, UB or anything like that. And so the all their sites were were in Buffalo within the Buffalo city limits. And so they they kind of regrouped and re reconfigured their plans when they found out that they weren’t going to be able to do it at the cobblestone site. They settled on a site close to Larkin. Not not in Larkin, but close. It’s about a mile away on Elk Street and uh that’s over for anyone who’s been to the powerhouse. It’s like right across the street from the powerhouse on Elk. But the issue there is it’s where Madai built their uh sports facility. The issue there is that it is next door and downwind from a company called PVS Chemicals. I don’t know all the details to that. I know that they make it’s like a sulfuric acid sort of thing. So like it stinks over there at times. Like it’s smelly and PVS chemicals and I believe someone else basically came out and said like we’re not in support of this. This is not the right use for the land. We were against the Madai complex as well. This is not a good choice. And so Buffalo Pro Soccer, they were kind of pushing back at some point, but I have to assume, and this is just an assumption. I this is not fact-based. I’ve got to assume that PBS Chemical and whatever the other stakeholders who were there pushing back, we’re going to say um we’re going to sue to stop the project. Like we will file a lawsuit to to prevent you from building here. And so that’s my guess as to what happened. So Buffalo Pro Soccer, they’re resetting. they’re kind of going to regroup and they’re going to go and look elsewhere. And so there’s been some positive momentum there in terms of like maybe they have more investors than they initially planned. Maybe that cobblestone site is more affordable now. Um so potentially they could go back downtown, right downtown, I should say, but but they’re they’re looking at other areas. There there was a uh a Buffalo News report that even suggested like a I don’t know if they said unknown or not secret, but an unknown or undisclosed uh waterfront location. I don’t know what that means exactly, but that’d be interesting, too. Um so, the only downside to all this is that it delays their start. They’re not going to play next year. They’re going to have to wait till 2027. So, pushing that out is disappointing. I I would be, you know, the pessimist in me is like, “Oh, geez, like another year of waiting on a minor league team is tricky.” you know, that that gets tricky at times. Uh, but if if it means they’re going to build the stadium in a better location, I’m I’m all for it. So, I really I I really hope it works out. It would be nice to have soccer here again. I I remember growing up as a kid, little kid, when the Buffalo Stallions were still uh a thing. Um, remember Randy and Rudy, the Big Brothers? I remember the names. Yeah. I don’t remember the Stallions all that well, but I remember the names for sure. Yeah. Well, I think they might have been the Blizzard, too, later on after Yeah. I actually live with Randy for a while before back in the day, man. man. That was that was my buddy, man. Fast fastest dude you’ll ever see in uh in your life. But anyway, yeah, I hope that works out. It’s Look, I I know Buffalo is not exclusive. There’s so many cities where you like there’s promising things that come, you’re going to hear about them and you kind of get yourself a little bit excited and then ultimately they don’t work out. I know Buffalo’s not the only city, but you know, I hope the soccer thing works out. I remember hearing about, you know, the big golf thing that was going to get built supposed to go right down the street from them. Yeah. I mean, I don’t know when I know CB Johnson has been talking about bringing arena football to Buffalo, but you know, that kind of stalls out, too. So, hopefully, uh, all while that ends well, I’d love to see some soccer, whatever level it would be. I’m sure a lot of fans would as well. As we get into the Sabres, before we talk about this recent team, uh, again, going back to Twitter, there’s an account called Sabres Classics, which I just discovered recently, and they just they don’t do anything except post clips from the past, and some of them have been really interesting. And yesterday, yesterday, well, we’re recording this on Thursday, so yesterday being Wednesday, I saw on their account a video of a News4 broadcast where there was outrage um among Sabres fans stemming from Powderfield, surprisingly not, in South Buffalo. I love, by the way, Potterfield, one of my favorite spots. Love that place, especially to go eat. Anyway, they interviewed Channel 4, a bunch of fans who were pissed the hell off because the Sabres in their mind did Tim Kennedy dirty. Uh, they got rid of him. I don’t remember this. Well, you do. And then you kind of you you were tweeting about a little bit. I was like, “No, I don’t want to look. I don’t want to look cuz I want to wait till I have you on the show today to kind of explain.” But for people out there who remember South Buffalo’s own Tim Kennedy, I should probably put that out there. Why South Buffalo especially was outraged about that. But other Saber fans were is too tells you, you know, this [ __ ] has been going on with the Sabres now. But take us back 15 years ago. Um Sabres fans being pissed off over Tim Kennedy. What happened with Tim Tim Kennedy that pissed these mainly South Buffaloonian uh Buffalo Sabres fans off? Yeah. So the Sabres bought him out after like right after his salary arbitration hearing. So he and the Sabres went to salary arbitration. He was awarded a million dollars. So assume the Sabres came in and said they wanted to pay 700,000. And Kennedy came in and said, “I want to get 1.4 million.” And they settled in the middle at a million. And that’s almost always what happens with these ARB earrings. They’re they’re pretty cut and dry um in terms of how it all goes down. But um at least how in terms of how the award is calculated, but Kennedy gets a million-dollar award and the Sabres and this is at the time of Tom Galisano and this is very much in the in the height of the Galasano is too cheap to for them to win phase because you’re post Jury Brriier, you are post Campbell and so it’s like right in the mix of that of those the end of the Galasano era just before Pugoula coming in to buy the team when it was really like a lot of heat out there of like, man, they never spent any money. Uh maybe that sounds familiar to now. It sure does. Um but so a million-dollar reward and it was later reported that the Sabres basically were pissed because they thought it was $300,000 too much or even like $300,000 more than they had budgeted for internally in terms of their cap spending. And so they bought him out because his age was a one-third buyout. And funny enough, the buyout cost was $333,000. So they actually spent more money to buy him out and prove a point uh than than they would have if they had just paid him. So it was a really bizarre set of circumstances as you could imagine. Um you know, he wasn’t any sort of a game-breaking talent for them, but he was a useful player. He’d been good enough for them and I think he would have been part of their plans. But he gets bought out. Obviously, you know, South Buffalo was was was furious, but I think a lot of people were like, “What’s what are we doing here?” you know, it’s a million- dollar reward. It’s it’s a very small salary even then in terms of where the cap was. A million dollars was not much to worry about in terms of paying a player. And they bought them out because of a $300,000 difference. It was just very much a like a very very good representation of where fans felt what fans felt about ownership then and also really how ownership was operating the team. And so certainly at the beginning of the end of of that era of Saber Seams, that was like the Miller Luchich hit, but emblematic of the era for sure. No question about it. So, I I I feel like you kind of answered it already, though, because what I was going to follow up and ask you was if Tim Kennedy from South Buffalo was Tim Kennedy from Garden View, New Jersey, and the same exact thing happened, Sabres fans would still be pissed off because it felt like a a cheap move. I I kind of felt like watching that clip going back from 15 years ago again, a lot of emotion from those fans and I think in part because it was their neighborhood guy, but it was more than just because it was a neighborhood guy. It was You’re saying it was kind of like an indictment even at the time of how the organization was just operating generally speaking. Right. That’s Yeah. And I I do think to your point if if it had if Kennedy had been born in Cleveland, people would have just been like that was weird. Why would they do that? and then they would have moved on quicker. Um, you certainly wouldn’t have had News4 would not have gone to the local watering hole for to ask people’s opinion that um, you know, they would not have held a an Irish Wake for him at Pottersfield if he was from Cleveland. Um, that but that being said, I think people still would have, you know, it would have raised their eyebrows. Um, but yeah, definitely it would have been a different take. It’s the same thing like with Pat Kane like you know for a while there everyone’s like oh this is the offseason they get Pat Kane this when they get him. even as his powers were diminishing. Um, you know, if he had been Pat Kane from from Arizona, everyone would be like, “Yeah, there’s other free agents they could go after.” Um, so yeah, the local angle definitely plays it plays more into it than than otherwise, but it was still a very bizarre set of circumstances. No question. Yeah. And when it comes to Pat Kane, he resigned with Detroit. So, he did that before I had a chance to ask you if this was going to be the summer. That was part of my plan, especially after Burka was gone. Right away I’m like, hm, I wonder if they’re trying to get a short-term JJ Burka type with with Pat Kane. And of course, he uh he ends up going back to uh Detroit. Before we talk about any specific moves, Chris, how annoying is it um you know, let’s remove the uh objectivity, you know, uh writing for your blog, doing your podcast, this podcast, whatever it may be, and and put your Sabres fan hat on. Okay. How annoying and infuriating is it? Or maybe it’s not to you that that this just this team right now, right now is operating with what feels to me like absolutely no urgency. Like if I had just taken a you know, if I just woke up from a six-month coma, okay, and I’m seeing what the Savers are doing right now. My first thought would be, “All right, well, you know, this is a a contending this is a playoff team or this is a team that was damn near the playoffs, you know, that they’re just re they’re tweaking up. They’re retooling a little bit. Doesn’t feel to me like a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in forever. It feels like now at this point anyway, there just doesn’t seem to be any urgency with this team. From Kevin Adams’s comments to some of the actions, which again, we’ll talk about a couple specific things here, but no. Wow. Wow. Wow. And I know you you’ve been on this show plenty now and we’ve had conversations about, you know, or offseason previews, so to speak, what they might do, the keep the pick, trade the pick, uh what free agents out there, trade targets, all this stuff. I just don’t feel like this team has really done much. One big trade, which was kind of a lateral trade, which we’ll talk about here, but um just I don’t know. Generally speaking, do you feel like there’s any urgency with this team right now? Because I don’t if there is, I don’t see it. It doesn’t seem that way. I think I think it’s a I think that’s a a good way to look at it is that they’re just very content with their their players and I don’t know if it’s a you know where does the the the blame lie is it is it because ownership is you know really doesn’t want them spending directly to the cap because even after you know if you assume resign and then whatever Timmans gets they’ll wind up with like I don’t know like four or five million bucks in cap space probably which is more than they spent last year but not a ton and it’s certainly not spending to the cap. And then if you also factor in the fact that, you know, $4 million of their cap is going to Jeff Skinner’s buyout. So, you know, in a in a sense, you’re not spending $8 million on the roster if if you want to look at it that way. Uh that’s a little bit of creative accounting, but still, um yeah, like it’s it doesn’t it just doesn’t track. Chris Baker made a great point on his his show this week where he, you know, he pointed out that not only has Kevin Adams not traded his picks or prospects and picks, but even going back to Darcy, there was always this hesitation to to spend picks and prospects. Um, you know, you know, obviously Tim Murray made his fair share of deals. Let’s let’s not pretend like no one’s done it, but certainly big picture like the Sabres for the last 15 almost 20 years have always been very very conservative with trading picks and prospects to to a fault almost. And so for a general manager who last year said again like he said last year, win now mode, you know, we’re going for it, whatever, you know, whatever it was that that he said exactly. And then he did very very little to to suggest that he was going for it. And now he comes back this off seasonason with almost the exact same game plan. He extended his guys. You know, Jack Quinn got a bridge deal. He got a couple players on the fringes with, you know, with like Justin Danforth and the Conor Timonss trade and and then, you know, we’ll see what happens with Byum, you know, how how that all shakes out. But, you know, no splash acquisitions, no one at the top of the roster in terms of like a real differencemaker acquisition. And he’s done it now certainly for the last three seasons. You know, 22 23 they missed the playoffs by one point. Everyone’s like, “Oh, they’re close.” Like, this group is getting it. Like, a couple more saves. They would have been a playoff team. and they roll Devin Levi and and Lucin and at the time Eric Comry like they had that three-headed monster but like it was kind of like we think Levi is going to be the guy for us and then he wasn’t but 2223 no huge acquisitions they’re they’re counting on continued internal growth and that their guys are going to get them over the hump and then 23 24 well you know Jack Wayne got hurt and maybe we you know we we would have done two or three things differently But still like the same group comes back, no big changes. 24-25, the same group is back. Save Jeff Squinner swap for for Ryan Mloud effectively. And now here you are again like yet another offseason and it’s like well you’ve got a new fourthline center possibly and Justin Danforth or winger and obviously you have the Burka trade which which we can talk about more if we need to. But, you know, again, like the the core of the the core of the forward group, certainly the forward group remains largely unchanged. The the the top of the forward group, you know, you’ve lost Purka. We’ll see how they’re going to replace his his offense, but he’s gone. The rest of the group roughly the same. You go back, you roll it back to last year, almost all their attention was paid to to reforming the identity of the bottom of the lineup and and in, you know, improving that fourth line to make them harder to play against was that the big talking point last year and and all the work that they did. The only guy left is Beck Menstein and you can make a case that he’d be the forward. So, you might not see a single one of their fourth liners from last offseason on opening night. Um, and and then here we are again this offseason having the same conversation. Both us having the same conversation, but also Kevin Adams talking about being harder to play against, we need to be tougher and all that stuff. So, uh, I I have to think that either he’s looking at the wrong things, you know, he’s focusing too much on the toughness aspect and the the identity, or he’s just not he just doesn’t have the the willingness or ability to to make that big trade. Yeah, it’s it’s infuriating to me. Anyway, let’s take a real quick break. Come back. Plenty more coming up here uh with Chris Austral. Guys, if you haven’t gone already, uh make sure you do. Mafia Con 2 is coming to Senica 1, July 19th, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Vendors, food, plenty of Buffalo Bills, especially the rookie class. Uh autograph opportunities, personalities will be there. Bills super fans. There will be plenty of live podcasts, including this one. I’ll be doing a live show uh with Tim Graham there at 12:45 p.m. Go to buffalomafia.com for more information and to get your tickets. All right, I’m back here with Chris Ostrander and um you know, before the break, we’re just talking about the the frustration, maybe more so with the some than others, but I’m just at that point right now. How do you if you’re a fan, how do you even hold on to whole? Because you talked about it so perfectly before the break. Internal growth is obviously what they’re banking on with kind of like a little supplementary pieces here and there that you think could help the team. It’s kind of in the Bills philosophy in a way over the last handful of years. The difference is the Bills are a very good team and you know they’re not trying to break the bank, but they will they’ll go they’ll go spend money on Jill Bosa. They spend money on Bon Miller. they will take bigger swings. It just is it that they can’t or is it that they’re unwilling to? That’s I guess what I’m trying to balance or or you know come to grips with in my mind right now. I refuse to believe that Kevin Adams could be stupid to the point that he can’t possibly be thinking about, you know, the where the state of the fans are with this hockey team right now. and to put on the ice a team with and again a lateral trade and we did talk about um in fact I had you on right after the trade the Burka Kerling trade not a bad trade pros and cons to it and you laid them out last time um but beyond that it’s just I don’t know man it’s just a bunch of who cares it’s a bunch of doesn’t matter to me right now it’s not going to improve a team that was what 12 points out from making the playoffs where am I seeing this jump we’re relying on a lot of whatifs yet again Um, which I believe you talked about that in your latest show, too. But, um, I How do you believe in this team right now? If you’re a fan, I mean, I just I I don’t know how you could sell fans anymore. It’s just it feels like we’re out of gimmicks now. I I just don’t even know what they could do. Yeah. It’s it there’s there’s just there’s no rope left to give, right? It’s just that’s that’s where I’ve settled on is that they And again, let me go I want to go back to last offseason. And I’ve said this to people before, but you know, he he said last offseason when he was pressed on the cap and the Skinner buyout and not using that money or maybe this was during the season, might be messing up my timeline, but talks about the fact that he needs money. We need cap planning for restricted free agents. We need to be we need to make sure that we don’t overspend now because we have JJ Purka coming up, Devin Levi, you know, they had a handful of restricted free agents that they were going to need to potentially pay, which is a fair enough point. At the time, I would I pointed out often saying like, well, that doesn’t mean you can’t sign a guy for one year and then still have the cap next next off season. But fast forward 12 months later, Jason Peter is gone. Jack Quinn got a fine bridge deal, but I think some would argue maybe got a little bit too much. I think it was a fine fine cap hit overall, but he gets a bridge deal, so he’s not getting big money. Devin Levi’s going back to Rochester, who his cap’s not even going to hit hit Buffalo’s cap during the year, and Bowen may or may not be traded. So, all of that cap planning that they needed to to make sure they were careful for went up in smoke. So either they were lying to you and Kevin Adams was lying either just right to your face or on behalf of his owner or they really just don’t have a real plan. Um and now this year he you know just last week two weeks ago last week he’s talking about well we we are prepared to match a bow and buy them offer sheet and we we planned for this. we our cap strategy, you know, fit the bow and buy them offer sheet into the into the the mix, which could be true. I not that’s not quite as much of a bald-faced lie as as last year’s was, I think. Um, but they, you know, then they do the club elected arbitration and eliminate an offer sheet. So, now I think that was more strategic to their credit, but still overall like you there’s always an excuse that they’re not spending all their money, that they’re not being as aggressive as they possibly can be. Uh, all of this also ignores the fact that you’re allowed to go over the cap by like 10 or 20% in the offseason. If you go look on Puck Pedia right now, there’s like four teams that are over the NHL’s salary cap. And they have work to do it. You know, it makes more work for the general manager, heaven forbid, but it it is an option. You you have the ability to spend more in the offseason and then and then, you know, sell off some pieces. You are, Kevin Adams, whether or not you’re aware of this, you are allowed to trade play more than one player at a time. Um, so yeah, like it’s like the the lack of action. Like I I can get behind people who are still who have optimism for it. It’s fine. There there’s reasons that you could look at be like, “Okay, Jack Quinn is now a full year removed recovery wise, healthwise. Maybe he does get back to the player you saw that that kind of that rookie year with the the the Cousins Peter when it looked so good.” Um, and maybe Josh Norris does stay healthy. maybe he he his the surgery he had means that he’s a healthier, more effective player. And so there there are reasons that it it could work. I get that. And and so if you want to be optimistic for those reasons, by all means, go for it. But I’m out of I’m just out of it. Like I have nothing left in the tank for them. And so I I mean I hope that they make the playoffs. I want them to make the playoffs. But in terms of when I look at the roster and how they’re they’re made up, I certainly don’t expect them to make the playoffs. And I’m not like I’m not going to throw 20 bucks on DraftKings no matter how long the odds are and how good the payout would be just because I have next to no faith that this is a playoff team right now even with like Ring added who’s a player I really I really really like you know and like you just said if you want to be optimistic and go you know live in the optimism house that’s cool and actually more all power to you. I I kind of wish I could get myself in life a little more often to that optimistic place when, you know, I’m pessimistic about something. It’s a good attitude to have, I guess. And it it makes life a little bit easier to to live, whether it’s the Savers or just life in general. But, uh, and I will add one thing. I had uh my buddy PK from Buffalo Sports Collective on just yesterday. He brought up a good point about Kessle Ring. It’s not even so much what Kessle Ring will be as a player, which obviously that matters a ton too, but he he he made the point that if Kessle Ring could be the guy that plays with Owen Power and helps unlock Owen Power to be the best player, you know, the best version of himself, what we’ve hoped that Owen Power will become, if playing with Kessle Ring is what ignites that, then that does make that a a better trade. not just what Kessle Ring does, but what it does for Owen Power hopefully as well. So again, it’s another thing to throw in the little branch of of optimism there. Look, at the end of the day, they’re just not doing enough. And and like kind of like your heart of hearts, do you feel it’s more a case of an owner right now who’s saying, “Look, I’m not going to change the way I spend. I’ll spend money on my own guys when I want to get them locked up, but I ain’t paying more than $10 million for a guy to come here.” which is like factual because that’s been the case other than the Norris trade I think going back as free agents since Aposo I believe but is it more a case of the owner being uh when it comes to this team let’s just call what it is a cheapkate look at the coaching staff right now is it the owner being a cheapkate or is it you know maybe Kevin Adams is saying hey man I’d love to get me Mitch Martin I’d love to get one of these prime free agents or one of these big swing note you got trades with a guy who doesn’t have a no trade clause. But guess what? I call and they hang the freaking phone up on me, man. They don’t even want to talk to me right now. You think it’s more a case of that’s what it is that they want to, but nobody wants to come here. Or do you think it’s a case of the owner who just despite all the [ __ ] talk from Kevin Adams just doesn’t have a real commitment to winning? You know, I think when it comes to some of the offseason stuff, I I look more at a Pagoula. So, this requires a caveat. Like Mitch Marner sounded like he was really dead set almost on going to a Western Conference team and maybe specifically Vegas. So, they may not have been in that sweep stakes to begin with. Uh Nikolai Eers, for example, probably looked at and said like, I I want to go to a winning team. I don’t want to play play for a team like Buffalo. Um, so there there’s there’s pieces surrounding Buffalo’s work that that are working against them. Um, and I would also point out I think it was was it Thad Brown who tweeted the thing about the $10 million contract? You know, yeah, factually correct. There’s nothing wrong with what he what he said. I the one thing I push back on with that is free agency is almost always a boondoggle. So the fact the Sabres haven’t overspent in free agency isn’t a damning indictment of how they operate. Um it it’s my bigger issue is that they aren’t spending assets to in trades. Uh you almost you almost rarely ever see a really really good free agent class. Mitch Marner didn’t technically didn’t even make it this year even though I think that’s a that’s a full technicality. He was a free agent, right? Um but like everyone’s talking about next year’s free agent class. Like it’s just this incredible incredible class. And dollars to donuts by November half those guys are going to be assigned to extension. So, I don’t get too excited over free agency. Yeah, Posa move was was exciting at the time. It was it was a great thing to see him do. And if you get those premier talents, and not that post was a premier talent, but when you get premier players in free agency, you would hope the Savers are going after them. Um but but to bring it back to my my thought on Pigoula, my concern is that he has whatever his internal budget is for this team, whatever the internal cap is, should it exist, and I think it does, it is preventing Kevin Adams from being more aggressive in pursuit of trades. Now, Kevin Adams, it sounded like, was pretty close to getting Elias Patterson at or near the trade deadline. So Josh Norris probably doesn’t come. I would assume it would have been like Cousins and Byum. I think that was like the rumor going around. Um I mean Darren Dreger was talking about that since like October, but assume for now it was would have been Cousins and Byum going for Patterson. Now the cap would have been relatively flat. You’re still acquiring an 11 million player. And so that’s where I I I think some of the issues lie is that you have an owner who’s saying, “Well, we can’t spend more than like I don’t let’s call it five million. Let’s say $5 million under the cap is the like that’s the hard line, right? He wants to save $5 million on on the roster.” It is then causing Kevin Adams to look at it and say, “Okay, well maybe we will we’ll just keep Jack Quinn instead of trading for this guy or we’re going to hold on to Pete and Krebs instead of packaging him with Bow and Byron in a bigger trade.” Whatever it may be. Krebs isn’t that expensive, but you get the point. Sure. So I think that’s a big part of it is that Pagoula if if that internal cap does indeed exist and there there’s very few signs left to suggest that it doesn’t. Um, that’s where it’s hamstringing them because you’re now stuck trying to think about flat cap trades or kind of like negotiating smartly because you know that if you’re going to go and get an $8 million forward, you may need to offload a two or three million dollar player elsewhere. Um, because and this is like very much like an a late era Galisano thing too, like the Brad, not Brad Boys. um the Dominic Moore trade. Uh if you want to remember some guys um when they acquired Dominic Moore, they traded Clark MacArthur, that was the next year, they traded Alles Cota League that same deadline and so it ended up being like a flat cap thing. Um so to give you kind of an idea of that, so that that’s what my worry is is that whatever the the internal cap is and however it exists is affecting what sort of negotiations that Adams can make. With all that being said, Adams just isn’t getting it done. And I don’t know if it’s a case of like, is he afraid to offer too much? You know, is he gunshy or whatever, but you know, a lot of the moves they’ve made this year are very much that of a guy who thinks like, okay, if I don’t make the playoffs this year, I’m out. But we we’re going to try to get like that last playoff spot. We’re going to improve on the fringes to the point where we think we can compete with like Ottawa, Montreal, and the Islanders. and will sneak into the eighth spot and that’ll be good enough. Whereas thinking more strategically, more aggressively would probably be more beneficial to them. I think both short and long term quite quite frankly, it goes back to kind of my original point like the title of this podcast. It’s the lack of urgency. It doesn’t Kevin this is Kevin Adams’s last year of his contract. You don’t need to be fired after this year. We talked about him getting fired the last couple years. That’s not necessary. just he’s not going to get his contract renewed if Terry Beula doesn’t want him back then and you have to fire him ditto with Lindy Ruff. It just feels like I I keep going back to where’s the urgency and I’ll tell you I do feel there is a part of me because Kevin Adams just gets dragged on a day-to-day basis and a lot of it is deserved but there’s also a part of me that has a little bit of sympathy towards Kevin Adams because some of the [ __ ] is just straight up him taking bullets for Terry McGoula. First of all, there’s a lot of pressure on Kevin Adams every time he speaks because this is a team with an owner who will not speak. So Kevin Adams is literally the voice of the organization cuz you are not going to hear from the owner. You’re just not going to. And so he’s got he’s got to worry about that. That might bring some stress. It’s led to some really dumb comments like the palm tree thing, all that stuff, blah blah blah blah. But then there’s other times where I just think he’s taking a bullet for for Lyn for uh for Terry because I’ll give you an example like the coaching staff. You know, Matt Fairborn in his article that he wrote not too long ago about the hamster wheel thing said that when he spoke with Kevin Adams, Kevin Adams said he’s not afraid to talk to Terry and say what’s wrong with this team and he mentioned specifically the defense and special teams. Well, what got done about that? Absolutely zero. And at Kevin Adams’s uh recent more recent pressor, he kind of pushed back. It’s all about, you know, Lindy knows what he’s doing. He’s been at this for a long time. If Lindy didn’t want to coach, blah blah blah blah blah. I refuse to believe that Lindy Ruff has signed off and this is the coaching staff that he wants. He wants his whole staff back. He didn’t want any additions. He didn’t want any firings. I refuse Yeah. Absolutely refuse to believe that Lindy might be playing good soldier right now. Also, he’s not really speaking at all right now at this time anyway. I’m sure he will. But, um, to me, that’s just an example of Kevin kind of taking a bullet for Terry, saying Terry ain’t going to spend no money on new coaches right now. He’s not going to fire coaches and hire more coaches despite what Kevin Adams says. So, it’s at times Kevin Adams is lying, but I also think Chris that he’s lying in doing so by taking bullets for the owner. Get more annoyed with the owner. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He’s got to deflect. No, I I’m with you there. I think, yeah, like the coaching staff point is a great one because, you know, not only is is Adams’s contract up, or at least we believe it’s up at the end of this year, but I think Lindy signed a two-year deal when he came on last year, so he would be up. And it by all accounts, all of their staff contracts, the major ones, end at the end of this year. So, is if Terry Pigul is just running out the clock on this staff, like is he just going to light a season on fire here and then come back with a new coaching staff? But is that what’s is that the way he’s going to operate because that’s no way to win? Um like I think a more serious owner, more serious organization would have looked at this season, two years of regression, very minimal changes. Like you probably don’t bring back your general manager. You certainly don’t bring back your special teams coaches who failed you at almost every turn. Uh and yet all of these guys are back at least for right now. And it’s getting late enough in the offseason here where it doesn’t seem likely that you’d see more staff changes. never say never, but it’s the writing’s on the wall. Um, but yeah, no, I I’m I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think that that very much traces back then to to Pigula and I I I even have issues like I I know it was like Hamilton and and Harrington, one of the two of them were like, you know, this is like this roster has Lenny Ruff’s fingerprints all over it. Um, and I said this on my podcast this week. I was like, why why why do we want them to have Ly R’s fingerprints all over it? like his teams have not made it out of the the playoffs in quite some time. The best teams that he had in in New Jersey were not the the exact opposite of this, but they certainly had more skill. Um, and you know, there there were more skilled, more effective players in key positions than than you see here in Buffalo. And so, like, do I want Lenny Ruff’s view on this? like is Lindy Ruff actually the the guy that you want in that seat making those decisions or or should Kevin Adams be exerting a little bit more control and and getting less of a consensus in some ways? That’s a red flag for me on like the it’s it’s related to the coaching staff, but it obviously ties into the roster construction, too. Um, but the fact that I just it just it strikes me that Terry is often out of or short on ideas and so they’re left scrambling. It’s just it’s just so very little strategy and so much more of a reactionary way of operating and I don’t think it’s it certainly is not treating them well. They it’s they’ve not reacted well to it. You know, a full year later, so I still wonder was Lindy Ruffs hiring a Terry Beula PR move. Um there was no kind of extension there certainly was no extensive uh head coaching search, that’s for sure. Um so I was probably kind of predetermined there that that’s what they were going to do. Uh, I don’t know. Here’s what I do know, though. As as a fan right now, I I I feel like the the fun of rooting for this hockey team, the the true passionate, caring um I want to go to the bar with my buddies and get some wings, and I, you know, I’m not doing this. I want to make sure I’m at the bar cuz I want to watch the Sabres game tonight. The passion that fans have had for so long, it just feels like it’s being sucked away right now with this team. And look, maybe we’ll talk six months from now and maybe some of the things they didn’t do will prove to be the right move. To your point, like you said, maybe power gets unlocked. Uh Jack Quinn takes that next step. Norris could stay healthy. Maybe a lot of these things and you know, we’re over we’re being overreactionary right now and maybe staying the course ends up being right. But you’re not going to sell fans on that and they’re not going to give you any more blind faith. Blind faith. and giving you the benefit of the doubt. That is out the door. Do want to ask you one other thing, too. And I know it’s only July, what is it? July 10th. I don’t even know what the hell day it is right now. All right, it’s July 10th. It’s still early. Go to sleep, buddy. It’s still, it’s still early, but the fact that Alex Tuck, no extension for him, that was something I might have expected to see at what 12:01 p.m., 4:01, whenever it started. I expected day one, Alex Tuck to sign. Are you surprised at all that there’s no extension yet or not even any real news other than maybe they’re still talking should that have our attention and if for some reason he doesn’t want to sign an extension and that comes out you know Elliot Freriedman you you start hearing stuff like that is that like the ultimate indictment on this organization that if you can’t get Alex Tuck who’s a Saber you know through and through if you can’t get that dude to want to extend what does that say about your organization? What are you feeling about that right now? If anything yet, is it just too early still? It’s still early. I I I don’t think it’s necessarily time for, you know, you don’t have to go into the Fallout shelter yet. But like the my doomer view of it is that it it to your point would be the like the harbbringer of of dread for this group. And and I’ll say this, like maybe he doesn’t want to sign because you won’t spend any money on the roster. like hot take I guess but like maybe spend to the cap for a year and maybe you know your veteran leaders will will feel better about the direction of the team. I’ve heard so many people talk about this like the fact that like you know you had like that Delene meeting before the cousins trade and and apparently they’ve they talked with if it wasn’t just Dalene like Denene Thompson maybe Tuck was involved in this too about like like hey like how do you like we’re trying to get this thing right you know we want you guys to keep stay bought in and all that good stuff and you know they they wanted to make sure that the players understood what they were going to do and I can’t I wish I remember who tweeted this they’re like there’s no way that this is what they sold sold those guys on. Like this can’t be an offseason that they sold those guys on. So yeah, like if you don’t spend on your roster and you you look like another a cheapkate for another offseason from an ownership perspective and and then also GM and there’s no meaningful additions made to the group. Like I can’t blame a guy like Tuck for saying like, you know what, I it’s not going to happen here. I got to go like I got to get out to a winning organization. Um again, it’s very early in the process. You know, there’s still plenty of time for them to work this out. I’m not overly concerned about it from that perspective, but this the warning signs exist. Maybe there’s no lights blinking yet, but the the warning signs are there. And that’s where I would be worried if I was a fan. And again, if you if you want to take the kind of the doomeristic view of it early on here, but like they have not had an encouraging off season thus far. They were not a good team last year and so little has changed from that group. what like what are you selling him on other than saying like no we’ll pay you nine and a half million dollars and like and that’s it like I just I can’t help but wonder if if like all of a sudden Alex’s like you know what like I think the grass might be greener over there in you know Columbus or or wherever he might try to sign um I’ll say this the offseason’s not over yet but I do feel comfortable in saying I this is not an encouraging offseason and it’s not going to get encouraging If you get a top six player by chance, it means you’re giving up Bum and probably more to go get them. Or if you get any other significant player, you’re probably trading Broom to go get them. Now, if they were to keep Byum and maybe find a package with Helenius and a future draft pick or or things like that and they got a really useful player, maybe that would change my perspective, keeping Byum and still getting somebody else. But I just don’t think that’s going to happen. The second last thing here, talked about talking that being the ultimate indictment. I don’t know that that’s realistic at this point, but here’s what I do think and what I believe. I don’t have any inside information, but I believe this. I think there was on the bone last year with the Rasmus Dalene thing. I don’t know that, you know, he didn’t come out and say, “I’m out or this and [ __ ] better change right now or whatever.” But I do think the frustration level of Rasmus Dalene, if it’s not there already, I feel like it’s on the it’s on the warmer. It’s getting warm, right? And another season of you know, his career just rotted away here where he’s not even in the mix to to make the playoffs as good as he is for as long as he’s been there now. I do think that we’re getting into territory where I’m not necessarily predicting it, but say come next January, February, the Sabres are in the same boat that we think they’re going to be in that you’re not going to start hearing it’ll be more than just little whispers about Ras Mustalene being ready to say, you know what, get me out of here. It’s Yeah, it’s possible. I I think Yeah, kind of it kind of mirrors that what we just talked about with Tuck, right? the idea that the lack of investment, the lack of success is going to wear on and it’s worn on the fans. Like there’s a few a lot fewer fans in that building every night than than there was a few years ago. Um and so like yeah, like you can’t imagine why it wouldn’t wear on the players too. The one thing I got to wonder though, and this isn’t necessarily, assuming it go to your point, assuming it goes poorly, I I would hope it’s not Kevin Adams problem come April or May. I mean, it could be with this owner, but it hopefully you have a new general manager in place. Um, and it’s not Lindy Ruff, but I would almost have to think like you got to start playing hard ball with some of these guys. You know, Elliot Friedman on his last podcast pointed out like the Sabres keep losing control of situations. You know, we went from hearing like JJ Purka like important player, don’t want to trade them, really don’t want to trade him, but we’re going to hear calls to now he’s gone because he was upset and didn’t want to be here. Like Turka had a little bit of leverage as a a restrictive free agent, but not that much. You know, Dene’s under contract. So was Tay Thompson. And I you almost got to think like you know are you going to go full hard rebuilt build like you did post post Eel even which obviously that’s not really worked out or are you going to try to keep some of your high skill players and continue to build around them. I just got to like at what point do you as Kevin Adams or or whatever the GM whoever the GM is say is like no man you’re part of the you’re going to be part of our solution. Sorry I know you’re upset. I know it sucks. we got to fix it, but we can’t possibly afford to trade you. No matter how good the trade offer for Essence, Dalene might be if you’re starting from scratch again. Like you’re talking about like you going to make the PL by 2030, you know? I just that’s what I got to I I’m I’m thinking about a bit here as as more and more people maybe start talking about this like when will Dene want out. Do you simply just say like, “Listen, dude. Sorry. You signed a deal. You’re here long term. We’re gonna fix it and you got to be part of the solution.” Um, he’s going to be pissy and and then obviously that that creates other issues for the team, but like you can’t keep trading these guys away. I’m sorry. You got to at some point you got to put your foot down and say like, “No, JJ Perk is too important for us offensively to let him dictate terms.” Not the best example, but still big picture. Um, yeah, like you got to start I don’t know. Someone’s got to put their foot down here and say like, “No, like if we’re going to win, if we’re going to be successful, Den’s got to be here. Ta has got to be here. And we got to turn, to your point, Constellaneous and Bowen Bram into Jared McCann or whoever. That’s one of my favorite players. Uh, like you got to get someone better. You got to improve. You gota you got to improve your group.” And so that’s where I fall is like at some point the the ownership needs to accept that you got to spend to win and the general managers has got to grow a set and make a big trade and and whether that’s Adams or someone else, you know, they got to do it. You got to make a big swing if you’re going to be serious and they just haven’t done it yet. I just I couldn’t agree more and it’s just again it goes back to the fan thing too about taking sides. Look with the Bills right now. The Bills could trade Khalil Shakir for Andre Lazard. Okay, straight up. And give the Bills fans 48 hours and they will convince you that the Bills did the right thing. I mean, they didn’t, but the fans will believe it cuz they believe in the team. The Sabres is literally the complete and utter opposite. Put it this way, dude. If they do cave and Dene Walton and they traded him, you just blow the whole thing up. Kind of lead to my last question here. This sounds sickening to say, especially in July. This is the last thing I be thought I would be talking about with Chris Astrander here in freaking early July after spending so many hours talking about what may or may not happen in the offseason. All right, let’s get to New Year’s. We’ll go we’ll go we’ll get near Valentine’s Day. This team’s buried yet again. All right, you got a GM who’s dead man walking. You got a head coach who’s dead man walking. Players have mailed it in. They’re so sick of it. They’re so over it. His teammate doing [ __ ] They’ll be sellers at the deadline. blah blah blah blah blah. Are we looking at a potential it’s time to tank again kind of mode right now with this team when in the second half of the season there is a quote unquote alleged generational talent at the top of this draft the the gag for for Gavin talk are we going to go are we going to have to live this [ __ ] again because I’m going to tell you right now if it gets to be New Year’s and the Sabres are second or third from the bottom in the East I’ll be rooing for him to lose. Is that gonna be something that picks up steam again? I sure hope not. But we talked about this uh about three months ago. Yeah. Well, it never stops here. If you think about it, we we talked probably back in was it March? Probably around the deadline. And I said, I’m like, is it better like what would you prefer for them to have a hot end of the season and like maybe they look okay? And then Kevin Adams keeps his job and they keep all these guys around. Yep. And then, you know, fast forward to July 10th and it’s like, god damn it, Kevin is still here. I hate Jack Quinn and nothing changed. And like, would you like I would pose this question to Eddie Sabers fan. Would you have preferred to watch James Rymer’s hot streak? He’s not back, right? They signed Alice Lion, which I think it was a good signing, but would you have traded James Rhymer’s hot streak for, let’s call it, five spaces in the draft? Well, absolutely. Picking ninth, right? Yeah. again. And now that’s effectively a tank argument, you know, right? Like would you have just accepted all those losses instead of wins and they would have picked fourth instead of get seventh, but they got pushed back. So let’s just say they went from ninth to fourth. I think I would have preferred they picked fourth. Sorry, not sorry. Because again, like maybe that means Adams is out. Maybe that means some of the coaching staff changes over. Maybe there’s more urgency with with how they they manage their roster. And so I would look at it very similarly with Gavin McKenna. And Gavin McKenna is a far far better prospect than anyone at the top of this year’s draft. So that’s another it’s an entirely different conversation from a talent perspective too. Um like I’m not going into October hoping for losses, right? Like that’s not the mindset. Uh so I don’t think you could really compare it to like those tank years where you were selling players off. you were you knew that you were two years out from being serious about building again or one year out from being serious about building again. So, it’s a different mindset. But yeah, like if it comes to February and they’re horrible, I’m like yeah, like let it like let it die on the vine, I guess. Like I I don’t want to jump to too many conclusions about like what getting Gavin McKenna would mean for them. Um Chris Baker’s gonna be so mad at me for saying that. But by the way, but uh like if you got to that point, like if picking ninth in next year’s draft does not help you. It probably didn’t help you this year for what it’s worth, but picking ninth or seventh in next year’s draft, that does not help you. Picking first if they were to win the lottery does. And there’s too many things that can go into that to really get too deep into it now. Like if they suck again next spring, you should not be hoping for a late season surge and a heroic march to 11th place, you just be you you just got to set put the cruise control on and let that thing roll into the lake because it’s not it’s it like it’s just you’re just doom and gloom otherwise. So like yeah like I guess big picture if you’re you know late in the season and they suck. Yeah. Like you’re going to you might want to start watching Gavin McKenna highlights otherwise like there’s too much talent on this roster to to spend certainly spend the whole season but to spend any significant amount of time thinking like well Gavin McKenna is the answer and know I think the answer is gonna should come with Tae Thompson and Ras Sten at at the center of it. there there’s enough talent here that they can they could be a really competitive good hockey team. They just keep shooting themselves in the foot. So I I want to be clear too. So for people who were rolling their eyes the moment I mentioned the word tank, I’m with you there. I’m not going into the fall, you know, Bill season starts, go Bills, tank savers. That’s that’s not what I’m saying. I said if it gets to be like Christmas, New Year’s, a little bit later than that, and they’re clearly out of it. And to your point to end this past season and I was kind of openly on Twitter and got on a lot of beasts with a lot of people on Twitter near the end of the regular season. I was roo against the Sabres but it wasn’t because of the the better draft picking. I mean that played a role in it. I’m not going to say it didn’t but it was to your point. The last thing I want to see is this team finish well enough for them to have hope that they don’t need to do as much right than what Yeah. I think that’s the bigger thing for me was the bigger thing for me too is like if if you again rewinding to to the spring if you’re not a fan of Kevin Adams now and you weren’t a fan of him then a a hot finish that would grant him a stay of execution would be one of the last things that you would probably otherwise want to see. Um and I would apply again I would apply this to to that to next year to the 2026 draft pick. Like I’d be very hesitant to trade that without any sort of lottery protection on it. you know, I think if you know, a top five protected pick, I think that’s maybe something I’d want to do. Um, but otherwise, like I would be open to to to shopping it again, like not unprotected as as I said, but this it’s the same thing as last year’s draft pick. It’s the same thing as this year’s draft pick. And I would apply this to Constant Helenius. I would apply it to Noah Olland. Their prospect pipeline kind of stinks now, but I guess you apply it to Yuri Koulique as well. like not a lot of deals out there that I wouldn’t want to turn down for those guys if you’re if you’re talking about a bigger trade package because again it’s you’ve got to start getting aggressive here. You can’t keep banking on Jack Quinn to stay healthy or Owen Power to find a good partner. Not that he was a bad player last year, but like you know all of these things that you keep hoping are are going to happen. I hope this power play is better. How about you just like get better players, get a better coach, like you know, and and affect some change directly instead of hoping that everyone figures it out. Yeah. And you know, I was just looking as as you were uh talking here as we finish up. Yeah. From March 23rd through April 8th, the Sabres had won five in a row. They won eight out of nine. And you look back now, you know, if they would have lost the majority of those cuz they had a losing streak after that. At least it’s you ponder if maybe that prompts Pigoula to to fire Kevin Adams or if that prompts go at the very least get rid of a couple coaches or just be a little more aggressive or something because you can’t even try to sell fans on hope that hey man we were starting to get it right at the end of the year. You just wait till next year kind of deal. I don’t know. flip side of it is the fact that with that 13game losing streak, if you cut that thing in half, if you had the confidence to cut it in half, either through coaching, players, or whatever it may have been, they would have been right in the mix of the thick of the playoff race, you know? So, like it’s there’s two sides to every coin. Sure. But but again, given how it ended, given how it all went down, my question to fans would be, would you have traded that ninth pick and those wins for the fourth pick? because not only could you have taken a better prospect, you could have also probably entertained a trade with the Islanders who wanted James Hagens, right? Like so there’s way more possibilities have opened up for so yeah 100%. Well, we’ll see what happens uh with the Sabres again. You got the Byum thing. Maybe they do something else. I don’t know, man. But uh I feel like next time we talk it’ll we’ll be in Bill’s training camp mode, too. So Bill’s training camp shirt on. Yeah, you do. You got the I love baby. It still fits. 2007. There you go. Yo, ain’t nothing from 2007 still fitted me. I can promise. This ran this ran pretty big on me back. That’s the problem. Good stuff though, man. All right. Make sure you follow Chris on Twitter. I I’ll put the links to all this stuff in the show notes for Twitter, the podcast, the blog, uh all that good stuff. Like I said, we’ll we’ll get together again pretty soon and we’ll talk bills, man. Appreciate you, dude. Oh, no doubt. Thanks, man. All right, guys. I’ll be back actually with a bonus uh pod bag episode uh on Saturday to make up for no show on uh on Monday. Talk to you guys then.

On this episode of Talking Buffalo, Patrick Moran is joined by Chris Ostrander from Two in the Box to discuss several topics, including what’s turning out to feel like a glaring lack of urgency from the Buffalo Sabres to throw caution to the wind and operate with a sense of urgency.

The Sabres have missed the playoff a historic 14 years and are tied with the New York Jets for the longest drought in all of the four major professional sports. They also have a general manager and head coach both in the final year of their contracts. However, you’d never know given the way they’ve operated this offseason, with the exception of one trade has very much felt like the status quo. Chris has plenty of thoughts it all and spoiler alert—most of them aren’t of the positive variety. One topic examined is if this organization has legitimately sucked all the passion or even the fun out of being a Buffalo Sabres fan.

Also, Chris explains as best he can what happened to the soccer stadium that was supposed to get built in downtown Buffalo to support a professional soccer team. That plus reliving the Sabres Tim Kennedy fiasco from 15 years ago and tons more.

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