Are the Sabres good enough at goalie? Owen Parker of WGR 550 joins the show to break things down

Are the Sabres good enough at goalie? Owen Parker of WGR 550 joins the show to break things down

Welcome to Buffalo pregame, your source for live Buffalo hockey discussion, news, analysis, opinions, and more. Presented by ASM Publications. Hello everybody and welcome. You thought Bills had a day off today. You thought we’d take a day off. Well, you thought wrong. As we have a great guest in store for you today, Owen Parker of WGR550, giant goalie son as he’s been known for many years now behind the mic, behind the scenes at WGR, their YouTube general over on the AM station in Buffalo and quite the knowledgeable Sabers analyst. So, we wanted to bring him in, get his thoughts, particularly on the goalie situation. Now, you view the Sabres entering the season and how relatively disappointing their off season was, and I had Owen’s father, Bulldog of WGr on earlier this off season, and he made the point that it’s going to take a phenomenal goalie season to save the Sabres this year and really vault them into the postseason. And ever since he said that, it really stuck with me. And I believe it wholeheartedly. I I think UPL, Alex Lion, the new addition, or perhaps Devin Levi are going to have to come in and provide the Sabres with an elite goalie season. Now, UPPL has had his flashes, but last year he struggled to make big saves, and that’s what the Sabres need. They don’t have the offensive firepower that you’d like them to have, but they’ve spent the entire offseason trying to get harder to play against. So, they certainly need that stopper on the back end to carry them over the edge. And it starts with UPL. Uh he’s been given the reigns these past few seasons. Had a great season a couple of years ago. This past season, a lot of inconsistencies. And that opened the door to bring in another veteran goalender who perhaps may challenge for a starting job. Alex Lion has spent a lot of time in recent years, particularly for the Red Wings and and the Florida Panthers, playing in a starting role. So, he has the experience. I’m not sure he has the ceiling you’d like him to have, but if UPPL falters, I think they’ll be quick to go to Alex Lion and then perhaps we see Deon Levi come up quickly as well. But without further ado, we we hosted this program here on this Saturday evening because we wanted to get Owen on the show and have him deliver some analysis regarding the Sabres goalie position. So without further ado, we bring in our guest Owen Parker of WGR 550. All right, here with Owen Parker of WGR. Very grateful for his presence on the show to talk some goalending and more about the Sabres off season. As we are in the heart of the off season, Owen, it’s it’s kind of Bill’s season now, but with a Bills day off on Saturday, wanted to bring the people some added content. And what a better time to talk Sabres. And like I said, very grateful for your time, my friend. Yeah, happy to be here. happy to uh get the invite. I really appreciate it and happy to happy to talk some sabers whenever I can. I uh I love my hockey. So yeah, even in the heart of like I said, Bill season and late July with temperatures creeping into the 90s and we’re still talking a little bit of puck here on Buffalo pregame. I want to kick things off with some goalie talk. I don’t want to pigeon hole you to the goalie talk on this episode, but I know that that’s your specialty having played junior hockey and elevated your game and and done so much at the playing level, but now behind the microphone analyzing things. So, wanted to get your thoughts on the Sabres goalending situation. And we know how critical goalending is going to be in terms of telling the story of the 2025 Sabres and whether or not they can dig themselves out of the doldrums and punch their playoff ticket. And the new addition this off seasonason, Alex Lion, is this somebody that sa the Sabres, the Saber Hood, I should say, should want to be in net. Obviously, if he’s playing extended time, that means things went wrong with UPPL, and that’s never a good situation, but he has played some serviceable hockey in his past. 94-2 for Florida in 2022, went 1-2 in the playoffs. I think he was good for them down the stretch of that regular season and really helped them punch their tickets and kind of catapult what they’re doing now success-wise. And then 3527 and six with the Red Wings the last two years. So like I said, certainly a serviceable goalender, but you also have to keep in mind if he’s in there, that means something went wrong with UPL. Yeah, I think you’re you’re definitely if you’re the Sabres hoping that UPPL goes in there and takes that net over next season like you were hoping he would this past season. Um, but you’ve got to be able to have assurances and and plan for that not to happen because we’ve seen that goalending can be a very volatile, inconsistent position. So, you can’t go into a season with one sort of lottery ticket hoping that one hits for you. I think Lion gives you a nice just solid profile of a a veteran goalie that’s played in the league while not being sort of a hope and prayer guy that’s really late in his career. um like somebody that maybe would have been like a Jake Allen who I would have liked the Sabres to have seen the Sabres had, but I think would have been sort of a stop gap guy, whereas Lion I think has the potential to come in and play and and be a three, fouryear player for the Sabres until Devin Levi proves that he can really come in and do the job that we all want him and are are believing that he can do. Um, but I think it’s smart for them to give themselves a a veteran goalender that’s played in the league, a chance to really prove himself in an organization that could use as many guys that could possibly do the job well because you haven’t had a guy that’s proven that they’ll do it year-over-year. Yeah, as you mentioned, Lion 32 years old, still has some gas left in the tank. And if you listen to him at the microphone, he’s really a ball full of energy, a quote machine. uh somebody who I’m sure you’ve been cutting up plenty of audio over there at WGR. What about UPPL when you watch his game on a year-to-year basis? What do you see from him? What does he need to improve upon? What what is he failing to kind of add to his game yearover-year to provide that level of consistency that that team is looking for out of the goalending position? because he had a great year a couple years ago, took a step back in terms of gametoame, like I said, consistency that the team’s looking for this past season. So, if you’re to step back into the goalie helmet and analyze his game, what does he need to do better to really take that step and cement his position as the starting goalender for this team? Well, to me, it’s all it’s all mental at that point in development as a goalender. Every guy that’s in that league in the NHL and and is the age that UPL is is essentially physically the goalender that they’re going to be for the rest of their pro career. There’s not a ton left to learn in terms of technique or in terms of just small details. You’ll pick up a thing or two along the way, but really what UPPL needs at this point is the confidence in his own game to go in and make reads a and believe in his own game. I think that’s a lot of what we saw last year in terms of his struggles was he’d go out there and you could see himself doubting what he was his reads were and what he was wanting to do. And that is just not something that you can function with at the highest level of hockey. It’s just too fast of a game for you to ever waste that half second thinking, is this the right play to make? Is this the right movement selection to make here? Am I making the right read? All that. As soon as you get even a smidge of doubt in there, that will put you behind the eightball enough that you’re going to be given up whatever percentage more goals and you see the results like we saw this year with UPPL. I think when you see in his game he starts to slide a lot, he overpursues on plays, that to me is just an indicator of he’s late to plays and he’s overcompensating for that half second that he’s taking to think, am I making the right move here? And I think that just comes with time and confidence. And it’s really hard to do that when you’ve got a team that’s playing the way the Sabres have played in front of you. So I think it’s a really difficult spot for a goalender to get that level of confidence in the league when you’re playing in front or behind a team that’s playing a leaky sort of not great style of hockey that it’s going to be really difficult for you to gain that level of confidence. really need to become break through and become the level of goalender that UPL’s expected to be and can be in this league. Yeah, and that’s what the Sabres have honed their focus on this off season, building that defensive core, being tougher to play against, trading JJ Purka for a Michael Kessle ring. Uh adding a Connor Timonss who I believe we got a deadline on his contract which should be coming soon to really solidify the Sabres cap situation. So that is the hope this off seasonason that they have gotten tougher to play against and they’re going to have something better to offer in terms of that defense in front of UPL. And you look back to the Don Granado days, I mean, it had to be extremely tough to play in that system as a goalender. Just kind of the helter skelter style that they played and and really not having much focus on the defensive end. But now shifting philosophy, I’m sure a a more conducive style to goending set to move forward for UPL. And talking to him in the locker room over the years, he’s kind of a soft-spoken guy, so I’m sure maybe it’s not I’m sure as a goalender, everyone has it in their personality to kind of take over a game, especially once you reach that level. But maybe like you’re saying, he just needs to take a leap forward in that regard and bring that extra bit of confidence to push him over the edge this year. But let’s talk Devin Levi because I think entering this off seasonason, I was looking for the Sabres to kind of move him to the forefront and and give him a chance to compete for this job. But with the addition of Alex Lion, like we mentioned previously, I’m not so sure that they’re going to be set to do that now. So, where is UPPL or excuse me, Devin Levi at with his game? Is he kind of that AHL star that that can’t quite catapult himself to the NHL level? Because he’s about 500 at the NHL level, well over 500 for the Ammers, 4119 and 10 for the Amirs. I think he’s something like 17 and 17 for the Sabres during his time in the NHL. So when you look at his game, what is holding him back from the team, not giving him the reigns, but giving him the opportunity to step forward full-time in the NHL and really give a run at this thing. So I I would definitely caution against anyone that’s feeling like Devin Levi is running out of runway. He has got nothing but time. He’s a young goalender in professional hockey. He just got out of college hockey a few years ago and it takes a long time as a goalender to learn how to play at the pro level as compared to a junior level or especially college where your schedule’s so so different. It’s a completely different lifestyle. Everything travelwise is so much so much bigger of a load on you as a as a pro player than as a college player. You’re playing college hockey. You play once or twice a week. It’s on the weekends and you got all week to prepare for that. And it’s almost it’s almost a football style of get ready for the game all week, ramp up, ramp up, ramp up, and then the game comes, you play it, and then you’re done. You go recover again and reset. Pro hockey is a lot more just stay in it, grind every day, look no past the day you’re in today, and keep going. And I think it takes time to learn that. and that combined with just the goalending position really just add up to a a long development path for NHL goalenders. So I I would definitely say that he is still on track to be the Sabres goalie of the future. He’s absolutely talented enough. He’s done everything at the AHL level that they’ve asked of him. And there’s been a lot of talk about his struggles against the Laval Rocket in his last series this this summer on that run with the with the Rochester Americans. I I I struggled to get scared about a player, especially a goalender, based on one series. You saw a massive sample size of a full season of him dominating that league and then he goes up against that Rocket team. They’re they’re a really, really good team. There’s a lot of NHL fringe players on that roster. And one bad pay, one bad playoff series to me does not change what the Sabres plan should be with Devin Levi. He is still I think the whole team struggled in that series to be fair. Exactly. They they were a little overwhelmed. That team was just a better team. The team was really impressive. They were on a hot run. And it’s just sometimes you get steamrololled and there’s not a whole lot you can do about that as a goalender when your team’s getting dummied like that. You just got to try and hold on for dear life and see as far as you can get them. And so I I I tried not to put too much of a stink on him based on that last series. I I hear a lot of people talk about it. I think it’s something that should be you should definitely be aware of it because obviously you don’t want your goalie struggling in the biggest series he’s played so far, but I don’t think you need to be hitting the panic button on Deon Levi at this point because of that series. Um, and then I I I think the Sabres are smart to be doing what they’re doing. I think if you look at the development of goalenders in this league, the guy I I continue to look to every time I think about Devin Levi’s development is Dustin Wolf in Calgary. He is another smaller goalender, really elite prospect, and he cooked in the AHL for like two years longer than I think many fans in Calgary wanted to see him play there. And they just let him play. Let him play. Let him play. Let him get super comfortable in his skin, in his process, and then let him come up and really start dominating. And we saw that at the back half of this year where they really gave him the reigns, and he looked unbelievable. He almost dragged that Calgary team into the playoffs and that Calgary team should not have been anywhere near the playoffs. They he he performed incredibly well for them last season and I think that another year in the AHL is just fine for Deon Levi. Let him get over ready. Let him come in next season. If you’re not feeling great about the Lion signing, then you move Lion. If UPL has another bad year, I think you’re looking at moving off of UPPL anyways. And that’s clearing your room for Levi in the next season. Yeah, and I think the Sabres fans and and maybe I’m a prisoner of this as well. I think where the angst comes from in terms of the goalending is you’ve been waiting for so long to lock down that position and with the looming playoff drought, you’re just kind of trying to rush things along here perhaps when the Sabres may be taking the better tact and and and the more concerted approach where they’re looking to take things slow with this goalender because they put so much stock in that in that selection that if things go wrong with him at any point, it’s a fragile situation with with a goalender and you really have to build and develop that confidence as you mentioned like you do any other skill. Uh that’s it’s kind of a skill for a goalender when it comes and and really any athlete is is something the mental side of the game. It’s it’s more of a skill than anything else. And I I I think that the Sabres fans expectations for Devin Levi were placed are placed on him because of the way the Sabres treated him when he got here. he came out of college and they let him come in and he played well right away and they said, “No, he’s going to be different. He can come in and play and that next season it didn’t happen.” And I think that’s where a lot of the Sabres fans get caught up is, “Well, you guys told us that he’s ready. You you gave him that spot on the team two years in a row and he’s failed both times to really go and take it.” So, I think it’s totally fair for Sabres fans to feel those expectations and to even feel disappointed if Levi doesn’t accomplish that this season, but I also don’t think that disqualifies him from accomplishing what we want him to in the future. Sure. Five that five and two stretch that first year with the Savers really got people really raring to go with this young goalender comes in under three goals per game allowed. really got off to that hot start and then still a second year solid 108 and two and then you’re right I think when you try to jumpst start a player’s expectations like that especially with a starving fan base things can go drastically wrong and I’m not saying things have gone even wrong with Deon Levi but in terms of like you’re saying the expectations set I think there may have been a little bit misguiding done by by the Sabres front office and how they treated that player But I brought up Michael Kessle Ring in this defensive core and that’s what a lot of the talk has been about this off season, but I want to talk about one of the forwards that maybe Sabres fans aren’t as focused on, and that’s Josh Don. Somebody who may have the ability to eventually develop into a top six forward. He’s a young player. Uh certainly somebody that the Sabres are hoping at the very least can contribute moving forward. I don’t know if top six potential is asking too much of him, but like I said, this is a player that they seem to not have just thrown in this trade. It seems to be somebody that Kevin Adams and the Sabres front office like as a player and you look at his time with Utah last year and it was kind of a mixed bag, not a ton of production, but the reports are that this is a guy that can develop. Is is that how you view him? And how quickly can he become a contributor for this team and and somebody that the team can rely on offensively? Yeah, Josh Don is somebody that I saw in that trade and I knew immediately people are not going to be excited about him the way that they would be excited about a different big name, but he’s a good player that will fit in here. Josh Don is a heavy all-around winger that just he he plays really hard and he’s got a lot of upside and room to grow from where he’s been already in his young career. And I think that we saw how much Kevin Adams and and Yarmokan targeted him in the Bills or in the Sabres embedded that came out early this week where you heard Adams circle back to Utah and say I I want to take another run at Kessle Ring and Don specifically. He he wanted those two players. And I think everybody can kind of wrap their minds around why Kessle Ring is wanted. He’s big right-hand shot defenseman that can really skate. Makes sense. Everybody wants a guy like that. Don was a little more of an unknown in that deal. Who I think has the ability to play in that middle six in the NHL, can play on your second power play unit in front of the net and really make a difference. He’s got a great shot on him. I played a little bit against him coming up in our USA hockey travels. Um, and he was always just a big horse of a kid and you hear nothing but unbelievable things about this guy. You obviously his dad Shane Dones, he comes from a great family, but I hear nothing but really like truly this kid is a good guy and he will be a great fit in this city. Uh, I I’ve even I I keep thinking of everybody talking about how Josh Alen was when when he got drafted here, like he’s Buffalo through and through. I think there’s a little bit of that with Josh Don in terms of he’s a really really great person. He will fit in here really well. He’s somebody that will fit in the culture and be a core piece. Uh, and I think that’s why you saw Kevin Adams and really zone in on him on this deal and why Utah didn’t want to get rid of him. You heard in that same Sabres embedded, they didn’t want to move off a dome because they felt he was too core of a player. Well, here he is. We got our hands on him. Let’s see what they were talking about, right? They’re really going to have to turn that trade into something. I think this entire off season and how you judge it is based on what you get out of that trade because obviously Bowen Byum and how he’s able to develop over these next two years if he sticks around for the entirety of the contract. that plays into it as well because that was the other lever that they could have pulled this off season to gain uh some some production up and down the lineup and they weren’t able to do so or or they decided not to do so. I’m not sure how you want to phrase it. Uh it seemed like it was kind of a catastrophic situation and something that the Sabres really didn’t treat as properly as they should have and things kind of got away from them and then they were kind of forced into the situation that they were with. But with the Purka trade, Kessle Ring and Don, I think what you get out of those two guys really tells the story of an otherwise underwhelming off season for the Buffalo Sabres. And I think that’s why it has fans up in arms and and really waiting with baited breath to see what happens at the start of the season, whether or not they can get off to that good start with all those home games over the course of their early season schedule. I want to ask you this to to round out our conversation about Radim Murka. MKA. And for somebody who isn’t as locked into the NHL as me, I it took me a while to realize, oh, these guys that they’re drafting aren’t going to be around for a few years. Some do contribute a little bit sooner than others. Like we mentioned with Deon Levi kind of got a chance right away as a goalender. Some other forwards, defenseman come up a little bit early, but I think this is a guy judging based on what I’ve heard is it’s going to take a little while with him. This is somebody that they have pegged for down the road. Is that the way to look at Radim Murka? And what do you see out of him or his development over these next few years? What is that going to look like for the Sabres first round pick? Yeah. So Murka is a really really interesting prospect, but like you said, with the way the NHL draft works, with how young guys are when they’re picked, it’s very, very rare that you’re going to get a player that’s going to be on your NHL roster outside the top five in the first round. It’s just incredibly difficult to make these rosters as a 18, 19 year old player. We saw it recently with Zack Benson, uh, who who has had two decent years, but hasn’t been the producer that they’ve hoped. Um, but in terms of MKA, he he is as raw as they come. Just coming over to the North American game this season about halfway through to play with Everett and he has never had a skating coach, never had a skills coach. So, he has got unlimited room to grow. He’s already a very talented hockey player innately just in the skills that he was born with and what he’s been able to develop on his own coming where he’s come from. And I think now as we see him get integrated into this North American game into major junior hockey, will we see him play college hockey for a year after next season? Who knows? Because that landscape’s changing so much. I think he is absolutely somebody that has an unbelievable potential to be a top four defenseman in the NHL. Huge size, right-hand shot, can already skate well without ever having been coached on it. I think he’s definitely someone that Sabers fans should be excited about, but don’t expect to see I I would at the earliest see him in two years. I would expect three years to before we see Ratty Murka in the uh NHL. Yeah, let him brew. Let him do his work at the AHL level. Uh this is a player that I think they have pegged for big things in the future clearly selecting him in the first round and somebody I think that they’re really excited about. And Owen, why don’t you tell the people before I let them go, where can they hear you on WGR? I know that uh you’re kind of behind the scenes there in some respects, but at the same time, they do a great job there of getting that giving their producers air time. So, where can the people hear you on WGR? Yeah. So, I’m on I’m in there every morning with Jeremy and Joe from 6:00 to 10 in the morning. Uh I do all the YouTube content. So, we just in the late stages of last year started doing YouTube live. We post YouTube videos every day. We do social content. I’m running all that stuff for the Jeremy and Joe Show and I’m on with them almost every day, once or twice, just chitchatting, little sabers, little bills. Um, so tune in wgr 550 and we are on every day. Come watch us. Like, subscribe on YouTube. It’ll help us out a ton. Uh, obviously my Twitter is O&P29 and uh, yeah, I’m I’m going to be on posting intermittently, filling in for now. We’ll see uh, we’ll see how much I can get on as the season approaches and I’m hoping to get on to talk some more Sabres. So, keep an ear out. All right, great stuff. Owen will certainly circle back with you is great stuff today. Great analysis that uh, is a is a different level of knowledge than I can bring to the table. So, it’s very valuable in this circumstance and we appreciate your time. Appreciate it, Alex. Thanks so much for having me on and uh go Savers, go Bills. All right, a big thank you to Owen. He brings great stuff to the table. I think it’s only a matter of time before you start hearing Owen regularly on WGR550. He has a different level of hockey knowledge than I think many people in this market. The Sabres haven’t been really the main attraction for quite some time enduring that 14-year playoff drought, but there’s a lot of focus on the team entering this season and a lot of pressure being placed on Kevin Adams, Lindy Ruff in their final years under contract. And it’s not only being applied by the fans, but also being applied by the Sabres. We heard about Rasmus Dalene’s meeting with Kevin Adams this past season, and these players are going to start holding this organization’s feet to the fire and rightfully so. Uh, a lot of them have been here for quite some time now. They need the goalending to develop as we mentioned uh ad nauseium throughout that conversation with Owen. But at the same time, the leadership has been spotty. The route that they’ve been taking has been cut off so many different times throughout the past three, four years and sent in different directions. and there’s just been no level of consistency up and down the organization. And I think that that’s the main thing that the Sabres need to get in store in order to end this playoff drought. But long story short, thank you to Owen. Great stuff. Like I said, I’m I’m in full goss mode, but always keeping an ear to the ground in terms of the Sabres. At the same time, I’ve been on the daily beat for the Bills for for many years. In terms of the Sabres, I I’ve kind of followed them at an arms length just due to demand and in and success level this that or the other thing availability in terms of my own availability. But that’s the beauty of Buffalo pregame. We’ll be covering both extensively moving forward at least one podcast a week on each team. the Bills will likely come a little bit more frequently, but once the Sabres get going, this season is going to be under the microscope and it’s going to be great to have people like Owen on the show to break things down. So, thank you Owen Parker. Thank you to you, the listener, for joining this latest episode of Buffalo pregame. Bills back in action tomorrow. But stay tuned for another Sabres episode coming up next week. Brighten Wilson from WGR will be on the show. So, thank you for joining me and we will see you next time. [Applause] [Music]

After a disappointing offseason, Sabres fans have many questions entering the 2025 season. Is the goaltending going to be good enough? What about the pieces the team added elsewhere? We discuss with Owen Parker of WGR 550.

Welcome to Buffalo Pregame! Your source for LIVE Buffalo sports discussion. Each week, we will dive into the latest comings and goings from both One Bills Dr. and KeyBank Center as Bills Digest editor Alex Brasky follows the Bills and Sabres with news, analysis, opinions and more.

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