Chad DeDominicis Explains Bowen Byram Extension | The Jeremy and Joe Show

Chad DeDominicis Explains Bowen Byram Extension | The Jeremy and Joe Show

Byum, of course, gets a two-year contract extension with the Sabres. Going to chat about it with uh Chad Deminis, Expected Buffalo podcast, and founder of Expected Buffalo Deep Savers analysis. And, you know, as we track this whole thing with Byum, we’ll see if uh the Savers can make it work, if in fact he is going to stay for those two years, the I guess the total of the two years. So, joining us on the Western Hotline is Chad Deminis on this Thursday morning. Chad, good morning. Thanks for taking some time today. Were you were you shocked? I mean, if if we can go back to the start of the offseason, do you end up shocked that Byum is still here and now has a two-year extension? Yeah, I think if you go back to like April, probably. I mean, as it went along throughout the summer, no. But definitely went back to where it was in April. I thought it was a foregone conclusion that he was going, but I guess, you know, the Birka thing changed and couldn’t find something they like and here he is for two more years. Do do you think the Sabres were more willing or more eager to trade Byum, but the Purka deal was the one that ultimately came to fruition, so that’s the one they did? I think so because I think they ultimately got what they wanted in the Purka deal, too, and that’s the right shot defenseman. I don’t think they were going to get significant value in that type of player back using Byum. Uh, and and they said and and you know, a lot of the insiders said like they really wanted to keep a Turka. So I I think once that whole situation started to unfold and then the Utah, you know, option with Kesserling, you know, presented itself, they, you know, decided to that’s the path they’re going to go and then they were so open moving by for something else. But, you know, it just I guess it wasn’t really out there. It wasn’t, you know, what they expected, which I’m a little bit surprised, but at the same time, maybe I’m not surprised. you know, teams are I don’t want to say smarter these days, but they have, you know, everybody has numbers now, so everybody kind of sees all the same things that, you know, you hope people don’t realize that he’s more a little bit of a Denine merchant, but you know, teens notice those things, too. You refer to him as a Dene merchant for for Byron. Let’s get into it. So, what does he do well? How can they use him well? And is having him be a Dalene partner um maybe not a long-term idea? Yeah, you don’t want to do that for, you know, a 7-year 70 million contract, but he’s making, you know, NHL top four defenseman money. So, can he sit with Dene for the year? And can the Savers be better as a result of that? Yeah, I think so. I think if they’re going to put him with Den, that’s going to be a really good pair. Uh, their numbers last year, you know, were fantastic. Among the tops of the leagues as a pair, they were above 50% shot, above 50% expected gold. I think like their goal differential was 70%. I mean, if you’re getting those numbers out of your top pair, that’s that’s great. That’s excellent. And you know, that that was the thing with the Byum, it was never an issue when he was playing with Dalene. That worked quite well. They, you know, they mesh pretty good together. They float off each other. So, that was never the concern. If they’re just going to do that, that’s perfectly fine and acceptable. It’s the problem becomes if other pairings that you’re hoping work don’t because then you might have to pull Bum off of that dialing pair. And we’ve seen in Buffalo that he just he doesn’t really work with anybody else. We saw in Colorado they couldn’t really find a partner for him really either that works consistently. So he’s not somebody who really can drive their own pairings. But I mean he has his upside. He moves the puck well. He skates well. I think there’s some upside offensively. Maybe not as high as some people think. And he can get by defensively. It’s just that you know you need to put him with a decent partner because it just we’ve seen it throughout his career and it’s just it is what it is. Some guys just can’t do it. they he just can’t really drive his own bearing. Chad D. Deinis is joining us on the Western Hotline. Uh Chad of expected Buffalo. Does Byum fit the off seasonason because they want to be tougher to play against, right? I mean, they’ve talked about um a certain style that they want to be. They’ve talked about that a lot. Maybe it is just lip service because each and every season it seems like they’re kind of talking about that. Um you know, is he fit? And I I guess like I don’t know the whole thing. I think what Sabres fans struggle with, Chad, is that keeping him for a year or two more seems like it’s just well, plan B or maybe even plan C because this is a player that they were actively maybe hoping to move and all the reports about it being a softer market than they had expected means that they did not pull the trigger, which is something that Kevin Adams is probably criticized for a lot that he does not pull the trigger. Is it fine or is it should it be viewed as disappointing in the in the context of this off seasonason and what they’re trying to accomplish? Oh, that’s a good question. Uh, I think there’s you can go on both sides of it. Does he fit the hard to play against part? No. I mean, he’s not a physical player. Make it more difficult to play against. Uh, is it fine in the sense of a two-year contract and what he’s making and how they’re going to utilize him? Yeah. I mean, that’s not going to kill you. it’s going to be easier to move. You know, the way they’re going to use him, he’s a fine player. Um, probably one of the better partners that Dene has had throughout his time in Buffalo. You know, that’s not really saying a lot, but still, you know, I think by a considerable amount, he’s one of the best partners he’s had. Uh, but I think, yeah, when you then separated from that, the overall disappointment of it, it seems the same thing we say every year. You’re all you’re one that one move short every time. like if you just got that one more thing that you needed, you would probably be in a good shape. And that was my feeling on the PURK thing. While it feels like a light return, I can live with it. If you would have got the next move to I don’t even need you to go out and replace him with a 28 goal 70 point forward. Give me a middle six forward that is decent that can play two-way hockey. and you know I can buy into what you’re doing but now you’re going to try to tell me well Jack Quinn and you know Jason Zucker can just step into the Berserka spot and I was like I don’t I don’t know I guess we’re going to find out but every year it’s hope it’s hope this guy does it hope that guy does it and it’s going to be year three of that and and maybe this summer works or maybe it’ll be the same as the last two years. Is there maybe possibly still some hope that they would trade Samson because you know if the if the market’s soft on Byum I don’t know what teams are going to think of Samuelson who does not bring the offensive up upside really and um his own team I I don’t know what they think of him that people have seen him on the ice what he does they gave him a big long contract extension because at the start of his career looked like a defensive stalwart and that’s not really played out the way they thought. So uh what do you make of Samson? Is it just is it just run it back? I would assume so at this point there’s just not a lot of talk out there that involved him really at all the entire offseason. Uh I just think that there’s people in that front office that still like him and believe what he can be. Now the good news is that in theory the way this team was put on paper he is going to be a third pair defenseman instead of playing top minutes within. And maybe in that scenario you he can you know be fine play with counter Timonss as long as he can stay healthy. Um, you know, it could be a decent third pair for you. He doesn’t play enough minutes to hurt you. Um, and you kind of just get by for at least one more season, but yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t anticipate. I mean, I honestly think they’re done unless they grab a nice, you know, cheap free agent here at the end. You know, I I would say this is your roster as you have it. Yeah. Which I don’t know. Is that pretty uninspiring? What’s what’s the letter grade on the offseason? The Persa trade that they’re kind of uh bullied into a little bit. They get Castle Ring, which is something that they wanted. Okay. And and Josh Tone, but that’s the move. And Alex Lion is your new, you know, Rhyr replacement. It it I mean, I’m I feel like Sabers fans probably tired of hearing the same old thing, but it seems like an offseason that really didn’t get much done. Yeah. My thing that I’m kind of rolling with is I think that they’re a better team right now overall than they were when the season ended last year. But it’s the degree of better. They missed the playoffs by 12 points. I think maybe they added four to five points. Clearly not enough to get where you need to go to be a playoff team. You know, I like Keling. He was a guy I talked about a lot in the offseason. That was that’s a good move. I think that’ll help you. I I I’ve watched a lot of Josh Stone games. I’ve done a lot of digging on him. I think he’s actually going to be a pretty sneaky impressive addition. Uh but again, that’s not going to get you all the way. And and really it just like I said, it’s hope. It’s you got to hope Josh Norris stays healthy. You gota hope Jack Quinn bounces back. You got to hope Lucin makes saves. And it just goes on. I mean, the list can go five, six, seven deep. Um, you know, of hope things. And sure, if you get all of those things to go right, yeah, you can maybe beat what Montreal was last year and surprising people and be in the playoffs. Uh, but still, it’s just it’s so much that has to go right and you’re banking on young players. You got a 21 year old as your top six center. you’re going to have a 20-year-old probably be a top six left winger. It’s just it’s, you know, for a team that’s really saying that they want to be a playoff team, it’s hard to believe that that’s what they’re trying to strive for when all of those things, you know, you look at Chad Dminis expected Buffalo uh the website, the podcast on the Sabres. Chad, thanks very much. And uh we’ll check in down the line if anything, you know, ultimately does come of this. So, um you know, good luck to the Sabres, I guess. You know, we’ll still have some fun, I’m sure. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Chad. All right. Thanks, Chad. Heading to miss is expected Buffalo.

Jeremy White is joined by founder of Expected Buffalo Chad DeDominicis to discuss the Sabres decision to sign defenseman Bowen Byram. The guys start off with how the Sabres came to the decision to keep Byram rather than trading him as expected. DeDominicis explains that the market for Byram seemed a lot weaker than the Sabres had hoped, and believes the team couldn’t find a move that would improve the team in the short term. Jeremy then asks if Byram fits the “bigger and harder to play against” theme of the offseason, and DeDominicis shares he does not necessarily fit that mold but he should help the team. After that the guys discuss the offseason as a whole, and they break down the moves to analyze how much the team has improved. They settle on the fact that they’ve improved, but not enough to make up the gap to the playoffs.

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