Buffalo Sabres 2025 NHL Offseason Needs & Goals - Sabres Semantics - The Armchair GM's Sports Network

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Time to sharpen those swords. You're listening to Saber Semantics,
a hard hitting, just interview and discussion show featuring players, alumni, media,
and all others who have or still cover the NHL's
Buffalo Sabers. With interesting stories from the past and current

(01:00):
objective analysis, this show is sure to provide an entertaining
and unique perspective for both savers and hockey fans alike.
Exclusively on the armchaired GM Sports Network. Now here's your
host of Sabers Scenantics, Brandon Capudo.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Welcome into a special episode of Saber Semantics right here
on the Armchair GM Sports Network. Thank you. Those that
are tuned in on our YouTube channel, make sure to
hit like a subscribe smash to that belts the update
with all of our coverage going into next season, as
well as those listening on your favorite on demand audio platform.
Brandon put on Austin brought her with you in our
off season two quickly go over upcoming NHL Entry Draft

(01:41):
with the Sabers with a ninth overall pick, what they
might do with that pick, some free agent predictions going
into next week's offseason, as well as reactions to the
Kevin Adams press conference with some I guess interesting quotes
that we'll discuss quickly on today's show. Again, this is
a quick impromp episode in our offseason, but Austin and

(02:01):
I wanted to come on here and give you guys
a quick episode leading up to the draft, and obviously
this being an exciting time and you know everybody has
an opinion on at this time of year. But what
the team should do, what they might do, and with
the draft coming on Friday, the first round and on Saturday,
rounds two to seven, gonna be interesting. There's some trade
rumors that have been going around with the Savers as well,

(02:23):
some of their players being told that they're one of
the more active teams in the trade market. We'll see
if that ends up coming to fruition, but definitely a
lot to discuss on today's show. With that said Austin,
before we get going with sort of the Adams presser,
because I know you've got a lot to you know,
unwind with that. A couple of big pieces of news

(02:43):
that did happen since our last episode. The first one
was Yarmo Keika line and being hired as senior advisor
for the team to help out Cavin Adams. He talked
about him a little bit in his presser. He did
say that he's gonna be based out of Columbus, so
he's gonna be able to get a look from the
pro scoutingside in Columbus and be available to Kevin Adams.
He wants to be boots on the ground and help

(03:05):
him out in that sense. You know, longtime Columbus Blue
Jackets General manager Yermo Keika Linen, that was sort of
a name that you had talked about that you would
wanted them to bring in if a guy like Brendan
Shanahan wasn't available. Your thoughts on that and how you
think he's gonna be able to help the franchise going forward.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Yeah, I mean it was just a guy that made
a lot of sense, right. He kind of checked off
all their criteria being former GM, he's been a GM
for a while, he had success with Columbus and he's
didn't get a GM job, so like it made sense.
It's the base out of Columbus stake doesn't really bother me.
I mean, as far as we know, he's a guy

(03:44):
who wants to be a GM again, so this is
likely a one year job, or he becomes a GM
of Buffalo, and then when he's a GMA Buffalo, who'll
obviously move to Buffalo. So that part didn't bother me.
But it's just it's a voice in the room that
Adams needs remains to be seeing how much influence power
he actually has. It's kind of why I'm intrigued over
the next week kind of see what they make, to

(04:06):
see if anything does have any keck a line in
influence under it, whether that's a guy with ties to Columbus,
whether that we know Keck Alina was aggressive with like
trades like Seth Jones, the Panaren trade, like things like that.
So I'm kind of just interested to see some kind
of inkling of how much power this guy will have,
because I do think he's a guy that can be
leaned on. And you know, say what you want about

(04:27):
his ending Columbus, it wasn't great, but he had success there,
so good guy, a good move. Out of all the
names that were kind of thrown around, he was obviously
on the list that we talked about, So I don't
really have any don't There's not a downside to it.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, the Sabers actually got a lot of positive pr
for once for that higher so that's very rare for
them as of late. But a guy that's well respected
and we'll see what his sort of role is going
forward with Kevin Adams. Like you mentioned, things go south
south again for Adams, you know, maybe he steps into
the GM chair once again, but bringing in Yarmo Kika
line and as the senior advisor as well as a

(05:00):
long time coming for Sabers. Legend Alexander mcgilney seventy six
goals as a rookie over a thousand career points, spent
six seasons with the Buffalo Sabers, six best seasons in
my opinion of his career, before going on to to
play for the Vancouver Canucks, New Jersey Devils and the
Toronto Maple Leafs that we try to forget about on
this side of the show. But Austin, you know, we've

(05:22):
been talking about mcgilney trying to get in for the
better part of a decade now. Wondered what the heck
was going on, you know, considered his you know, historic
career and a trailblazer for you know, defecting Russian players
being able to come to North America. He was really
the first one that that paved the way for all
the other great you know Russian players and people from

(05:43):
that area that we're able to come over and have
great careers in the National Hockey League. Look what alex
Ovechkin's doing right now. You look at Sergei Federal, Pavl Burret,
all those guys. You know, we're after Alexander mcgilney and
just it's such an amazing and fun player to watch,
especially for in that nineties brand of hockey still played,
you know, an uptempo game and one of the you know,
flashiest players you'd see in that time. So number eighty

(06:05):
nine has already been inducted into the Sabers Hall of Fame,
but getting the nod to the Hockey Hall of Fame,
I know, means a lot to both of us and
to not only Sabers fans but hockey fans in general.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yeah, I mean playing career aside obviously fantastic playing career.
Were a thousand points and under a thousand games. Like
you said, seventy six goals he scored, you know with
the Sabers in seventy seven games that one year but
just you said it, the trailblazer, the fact that he
was able to set a precedent for Russian players to
come to the NHL, being the first one, do deserve
a spot in the Hall of Fame. Last I don't know,

(06:40):
four or five years, maybe even a little bit longer
than that kind of didn't really make sense that he
was somehow passed over, but he finally got in well deserved,
and it's a guy that you know, like you said,
the saber Ties there, you know, good for Buffalo on
doing what they did back then, helping them get over here,
and just yeah, a guy that beyond deserves that. It's

(07:03):
been a long time coming, and it feels like this
conversation shouldn't happen a long time ago.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, only six years in Buffalo, but if it was
six impactful years and you see him and Pat Lafontaine
were able to do together. And I know his number
is probably never going to be retired in the rafters,
but I would love to see it. You know, my
favorite player of all time, you know, skater along with
Domina Kashick. So it was really exciting for me to see,
you know, mcgilney get inducted into the Sabers Hall of Fame.

(07:29):
But then you're wondering if he was ever going to
get that call to the Hockey Hall of Fame, you know,
being back in Russia now and we know, you know
the political games and you know the the landscape, but
what's going on there just in a world stage, so
in a world landscape. So for him to be able
to get the nod despite all that, it was a
lot of questions as to why he didn't and then

(07:49):
it was sort of a shock to everybody that they
just assumed he would be a snub once again. But
he gets the call there along with you know, another
great great player, and Joe Thornton, Duncan, Keith, you know,
Zadane o'chara, some great players. And it makes us feel old, Austin,
because we grew up watching these guys and now they're
getting inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. So I
don't know if you had any quick thoughts on the

(08:11):
rest of the class.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, no, I mean class, everyone was pretty much worthy.
It's just I don't know if it makes you feel old,
but it also just feels like you don't have to
It makes it even more insane why mcgilney took so
long that he did because the fact that Chara, Keith
and Thornton were already eligible for the Hall of Fame.
They didn't retire that long ago, so just yeah, just
makes it even crazier how mcgilney took so long. But yeah,

(08:34):
they I don't think. I saw some people say, like
car even carry Price was eligible. He was passed over
for the first time, and even that, I was like,
how the heck is carry Price already eligible for the
Hall of Fame. But that's a different conversation. And obviously
carry Price will get in. He's not gonna have to
wait very long. So no one on the Canadians fans
or you know, Hockey Canada fans, they don't have to
worry about that. But mcgilney was worthy. He's been worthy

(08:56):
for a long time. Yeah, guys, that we kind of
saw the whole career already going into the Hall of
Fame like a Duncan Keith, like is a Dane Otara,
like Joe Thornton. It is weird. It is odd. Does
make me feel a little bit old, but I mean
it feels like it feels like it feels like yesterday

(09:16):
they were playing that's I guess that's my point. It
just seems like it's crazy that these guys are already
in the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
But whatever I've been, I've been playing fantasy hockey long
enough that those guys were top end players, you know,
back when I was still drafting fantasy hockey. Joe Thornton
my favorite Shark of all time, the reason that I
do like the Sharks as well. And you know, mcgilney
finally getting in just you know, don't have enough words,
and we could go on for hours about you know,

(09:42):
his impact on on Buffalo, the game of hockey and
a lot of us growing up, so very well deserved
the number eighty nine. Alexander mcgilney, and I believe he
is going in as a Buffalo Saber. At least they
put his Sabers picture up there, so I would assume
that he is going in as a Saber. So that
makes it even even more sweet, you know, given how
how much he meant to the organization at that time.
So with that, we'll move on to the Kevin Adams pressure.

(10:05):
We go from the highs of Alexander mcgilney to the
lows of Kevin Adams. This pre draft press conference and oh, Austin,
did we get one or two quotes that I'm definitely
looking forward to hearing your reaction, and I'm sure the
listeners you know, want to hear your reactions to it,
you know, as somebody that has been very critical of

(10:26):
Kevin Adams over the last little bit. On this show,
we'll start off with our Twitter poll. Make sure to
give us a follow on Exit Saber Semantics to get
in on our Twitter polls. Again. We're in the off season,
but when we do get this show started up again
full time in September, we've got a lot of big
plans for it. Were posting all of our polls on
there for you guys to get involved. For you guys
listening and audio. It is the on Thoughts on the

(10:46):
Sabers GM thoughts on Sabers General Manager Kevin Adams is
pre draft press conference informative some substance, no substance, or
train wreck And to no surprise today, given the you know,
the Sabers fans reaction, train Wreck one with fifty five
point three percent. No substance was second at thirty six
point eight and some substance there were a few of

(11:07):
them out there. Seven point nine and a crickets for
the Informative at zero percent Austin. We had talked about
this right when the presser happened. You had an instant
reaction to it. You've had a little bit of time
to settle down now and maybe re listen to a
few of the quotes and a few of the things
that Kevin Adams and Jerry Forton had to say leading
up to the draft on Friday, you know, initial reactions

(11:30):
to it.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
Now, Yeah, like I said, we were saying off camera,
you know, before we started recording. In a vacuum, I
don't think there was necessarily anything blatantly bad, right, Like
I mean, we can get into the way he handled
the Turker question and the way he just randomly brought
up buying it with Tia Samuelson. That was like one

(11:53):
rumor that that was and he just for some reason
decided to single that one out. Whatever it's it's it's
the off season. Rumors happened. But like I said, in
a vacuum, nothing overly bad. But Kevin Adams does not
get to operate in a vacuum. He has to operate
in the fact that he's now you know, almost half
of this drought is on him now. He's been here
a long time, gotten progressively worse over the last handful

(12:17):
of years. It still has the job and just sits there.
And again, I'm not asking. I don't think fans are
asking for you to tell us which players you're trading,
which players you're you're you're targeting, and free agency and
all that stuff. But like the tone of his media
availabilities lately are just bleak right, Like you can start with,

(12:37):
I'll give him credit the after trade deadline one I
didn't hate. I thought he was reflective and had some
substance there. But then it's just like the end of
season one, you know what area of your job can
you get better? And his response was just everything. It's like, oh, okay, cool,
it's good even today. It's just like you talk about
all this misinformation and how you feel bad for fans.

(12:58):
First of all, you feel bad for fans that you
haven't put a watchable product on the ice. Beens beside
the point. But you feel bad for fans that there's
all this misinformation, and then you single out the Samuelson stuff.
But then when you're asked blatantly about Paterka, a guy
you traded it up for, drafted and developed, and deserve
some credit for because you traded up, drafted and developed
that kid. He's apparently the hottest one of the hot
like Frank Sara Valley, I swear to God is on

(13:19):
Alan Walsh's payroll the way he's chilling for a Purka
trade this offseason. But beside the point his name is
out there. You talk about all the misinformation, but you
provide no clarity on that situation whatsoever. Okay, that's a
little bit odd. That's a player that fans would like
some clarity on, Like you were able to provide clarity
on Samuelson. You were able to provide clarity on Tuck.
You talk about how Tuck knows he's a priority for you.

(13:42):
By not providing clarity on Paturka, it kind of plays
into maybe he is available, which if he's available, that's
totally cool. Like you have trade chips to use them,
make sure they're good deals. But if he's a trade chip,
that's garner interest use him. But there's no clarity there.
So Samuelson stuff is just weird, Like, oh, there was

(14:03):
no conversations about buying out a defenseman who has been
called out by his teammates for not stepping up in
the Taje. Thompson situation. There's been no talks about buying
out a player who just is the first long term
contract you gave out for it. It was a good gamble
at the time, I thought, but it just clearly hasn't
worked out.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Here's the quote. I feel bad for our fans. There's
so much misinformation. It's nonsense. Someone has someone that has
no idea what they're talking about, reporting that we're gonna
buy out Sammy. We've never had that conversation once.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, and I'll give Adams credit here. All he did
was mention the buyout, so not necessarily saying, hey, we're
not planning on trade like we're not. Never denied that
they might trade him, which is cool. If someone's gonna
trade sam for Samuelson, that's awesome, But it's just like,
why that player, Why that rumor specifically did you bring up?
I don't blame people for being like, oh my god.
Clearly that means Samuelson's staying, like I it is what

(14:52):
it is. They could end up trading him and it
means nothing. But it was just weird that that was
a situation, he singled out, you know, and then there
just like I said, in a vacuum, not that bad
of a press availability. But like when you're Kevin Adams
and you've tanked your goodwill with this fan base as
much as you have over the last three years, you
don't get the benefit of the doubt. And you know,

(15:14):
the whole theme over the last what four or five years.
And nothing against a Postal, but even guys like a
post said, we don't own this whole drought. Unfortunately, you
can't do that as Kevin Adams because you are the
general manager and you've been here for six years. So yeah,
you don't own the fourteen year drought, but you own
almost fifty percent of it. Is it too much to
ask to hear your GM say we're gonna be aggressive

(15:34):
and do everything in our power to make sure we
make the playoffs next year? Because Verbek did that in Anaheim,
and all for not, his actions have kind of backed
it up. He hired. Whatever your opinion on Joel Quinnville is,
I don't necessarily think he should be a coach, but

(15:54):
they went out and spent on a good head coach.
They didn't go get nothing against lendiy Rough. They didn't
go get a co who was just fired and you
didn't have to pay a lot of money to He
traded Trevor Zegris, albeit not for a lot, but made
a core trade there. There's still time for Adams to
do all this, but it's just like you don't get
the benefit of the doubt anymore. Now Again, you could

(16:18):
make two trades by the draft and you know this
is all for nothing. But unfortunately for Kevin Adams, you
don't get to operate as if the fan base trusts
you because they don't. And there's a reason that they don't.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
And I mean, how many years have we come on
here and talked about, you know, as this drought has
gone on with Kevin Adams at the helm about the transparency, right,
And I think that's something that you're talking about, is
that he gets transparent about the things like Alex Tuck.
But then when talking about like the JJ Paturka situation,
he just said, you know, there's positive talks at the
end of the season, you know, and just says like

(16:54):
he'd rather not comment on it in fairness to the player,
and you know, doesn't want to talk about it until
they go in to the off season or go back
to that.

Speaker 3 (17:02):
To me, signals he doesn't know what he's doing with
j J Perturkey yet, which is fine. If you're thinking
about trading him, that's cool. You don't have to say
I'm thinking about trading him. But like, you don't get
to say there's a lot of misinformation and then be
vague about a player when you're specifically asked about it,
but then also go to bat for a guy like
Samuelson who wasn't even brought up. It's just it was
a weird. It was a weird vibe, that's.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
All, especially when top insiders, and I mean say what
you want about insiders, but you know, where there's smoke,
there's fire sometimes and when you when you have guys
like el Elliott Freeman saying like you know, they're listening
to calls on JJ Perturca And we've been hearing this
from multiple insiders for multiple weeks now, not necessarily that
he's requested it.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Trade deadline. Yeah, back to the trade deadline. Sarah Vali
was pushing it the night before the deadline, which again
I don't whatever whatever, but like just did start back
in March.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah, I remember you talking about that that you know,
that stuff at the trade deadline was concerning as far
as if Peterka really wanted to be here long term
or not. And it's just interesting because he had, you know,
twenty six goal, twenty seven goals, sixty eight point points.
He's a guy that you would assume that they want
to keep around, as you mentioned, developed, drafted, and a
guy that they like a lot. But if the right

(18:08):
trade package is out there, and we've heard that Buffalo
and Kevin Adams are one of the more active teams
within the trade market and being aggressive and looking at
we haven't heard today that they're looking They've talked about
moving up, they've talked about moving down, they've talked about
trading it for impact players. When they were asked about
it in the press conference today, Adams just said, we're

(18:28):
leaving everything on the table. It's like, well, you know,
the draft's coming up on Friday, and then you know,
free agent frenzy starts next Tuesday. We're really going to
see what their sort of beginning of that plan is.
Whether they keep the ninth pick, whether they trade it,
they trade up, who knows, but you know, to me,
I think Kevin Adams, and he hasn't really said or

(18:49):
shown any sort of urgency that this is his final
chance or he may be let go giving that the
last year of his contract. Yarmokeiga Linen is now in
the building, So like, where do you stand as far
as if they are to make a significant trade like
that for Paterco or a bowe and Byroom is the
other name as well, you know, is this sort of
Adams's last hope that they can get this thing on

(19:10):
the rails or he knows that next offseason he won't
be having a chance at this.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
It should be his last kick at the can. I
mean last year should have been his last kick at
the can. But that's beside the point. And it's just
you know, I don't listen to WGR very often, but
I saw a clip from Shop and I don't normally
always agree with my shope that's the beauty of you know,
these guys, But show, I think said it perfectly. It
was just like Kevin Adams, you don't get to you
don't get to frame it, like the misinformation and things

(19:38):
like that. You don't get to frame it that like
the media and the insiders are the villains here. There's
a reason your good players are said to be unhappy,
and it's your part of that reason why they're unhappy.
You have not built a team to make the playoffs.
You know, we gave them credit for waiting and seeing
two years ago when they probably should have been more active.
After missing the playoffs by one point, he literally did

(19:59):
nothing but sign Cliff and Johnson clearly was not good enough.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
And then you know, revamping the bottom six this past offseason,
which we thought was gonna help.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
But work and it did not Other than Cloud Yeah yeah,
like yeah, And like Chop said it perfectly, be all in.
Tell everyone in your organization you are all in. If
you go down with the ship after being super aggressive,
who cares it's your last year on the jobs according
to your contract. Anyway, why are you not going guns

(20:32):
of blaze and trying to make this team a playoff team? Again?
He still could, He's still very well could. But giving
off the vibe and the message, sending that message to
your fan base via a press conference is a good thing.
It would get people back on your side in some level. Again,
you could say it all you want, you have to
do it still, but just by saying that with your chest.
People would be like, Okay, let's see what you're gonna do.

(20:57):
But when you sit there and just go like we
have a plan, we're gonna exect it. And the way
he said it like it, it's not confident and it
doesn't instill confidence in your fan base. Again, you could
still go out and execute and we look dumb. That's
cool whatever, But like it's not like he Maybe I
am wrong, maybe it's just rose colored glasses from two

(21:18):
years ago when they were one point out of the playoff.
But like he used to seem to handle the media well,
the press conference used to be something that like I
thought he was good at and now it's just like again,
I'm not not asking you to give away your entire
offseason plan. That's that'd be stupid.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
But like, just deflect questions.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
Deflect questions. He's monotone. He doesn't seem to doesn't even
seem like he has any life as the GM of
the Buffalo Savers, which is just that's what you want
to hear, you know what I mean, Like, say what
you want about the bills, whether you agree with it
or not. Brandon Bean went on WGR and blasted Jeremy
and Joe. That's fire, that's passion. That's a GM who's
you know, pay Like all gms pay attention to the media,

(22:00):
But that's a GM of The GM of the good
team can blast the media. It's not necessarily right, but
like he can get away with that. The GM of
the crappy team in Buffalo trying to say that the
media has a ton of misinformation out there and he
feels bad for the fans. Get out of here. You
don't get to play that stuff. You're you guys like again,

(22:20):
you know whatever I call Kevin Adams, he's I call
him Dufis. He looks like a dufis up there sometimes
when he talks him. Today was one of those things.
It's just like, my god, it's a layup. You want
to lay up. Tell your fans you're gonna be aggressive
and go all in to make this team better. I
am going back to the trade deadline when Dollleene supposedly
had a meeting with him. I'm terrified of what he

(22:41):
told Rasmus Dallen because right now doesn't seem like whatever
he told Dollien either was a lie or Dollen was
okay with Hey. Our offseason plan is we're gonna make
one trade and oh, yeah, Josh Norris is our big addition.
Nothing against Josh Norris, but like you can't play that,
oh we got Josh Norris at the trade deadline, only
had him for three games, he's our big addition. No,
that's your fan base is not stupid, and you can't

(23:03):
treat them like they're stupid. That's why people have turned
on them so much as this organization treats fans like
they're dumb when they're not.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
Fourteen year playoff drow doesn't help either.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
No, of course, of course not. It's just like man,
like I said today, it wasn't that bad in a vacuum,
But you don't get to operate in a vacuum when
you're here for six years of the playoff drought, did you?

Speaker 1 (23:23):
And you're on your third head coach, right, and you
talked about this guy being the guy when Lindy and
again he talked about the hires and talked about the
coaching staff's all back under contract. But if Lindy wants
to bring in somebody, they're gonna talk about it.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
And they the coaching staff was the most irking thing
for me, because one you had no reason to praise
your coaching staff. Your coaching staff was bad last year.
You were terrible and special not when the isolated. You
were bad on special teams, you were bad defensively and sorry.
This strength and conditioning guy that they hired has gotten
rave reviews on everyone from the hockey community, and that's great, fantastic.

(24:00):
When you're a joke about an organization who has a
terrible reputation, you don't get to hang your hat on
we hired a good strength and conditioning coach that makes
you look d up. The good teams get to do
that because then it matters. The bad teams don't get
to be like, yeah, the strength and conditioning coach is
going to fix everything. So what you're just admitting that
your players don't show up and don't train, which is
clearly not true, but like it's just done little things

(24:22):
like that. It's like, you can't hang your hat on
hiring a good strength and conditioning coach even if he
is really good, because he probably is. He got rave
reviews of everyone in the hockey community. People were surprised
that he came to Buffalo, which again shows your reputation
in the hockey world. It's just like and you. Yeah,
Lindy has the power to evaluate the coaching staff, is

(24:44):
what Adam said. Oh, congratulations, your head coach has the
ability to do his job, which also does he really,
because I'm pretty sure Lindy would have at least liked
to bring in someone that he has a working relationship
with because he didn't get to bring in any of
these guys.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Or when you went through a massive losing and you
didn't even wave a player.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
Yeah, it's just like I got into it today. Someone's like, well,
what self respecting assistant coach is going to take a
job with for one year? Blah blah blah, all of them.
Anyone who wants to be assistant coach in the NHL
will take a one year assistant coaching job because they'll
get a job somewhere else next year. That's how it
works in the end.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
That's a resume builder.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
It's and the Nashville just hired Luke Richardson today as
an assistant head coach. There's a self respecting assistant coach,
so he's not an upgrade over seth Afford or Marty Wilford.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Quickly on that dollyne point after that meeting that they
had about needing to be competitive or he's gonna want
to you know, be showing the door like so many others,
you know, Sam Ryan Hart, back to back Stanley Cup champion,
Jack Eichels, Ryan O'Reilly just to name a few. But
did you take anything away from that Tage Thompson clip
from his I think he was on Cam Jansen's podcast

(25:52):
a few weeks back.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
Yeah, yeah, Cam and strick.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
Right, Yeah, and he he had talked about, you know,
the lack of response when he had gotten on the
ice and talk to Samuelson.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
To me, that was again we went over this in
detail when it happened. Yeah, that's another indictment on Mattia
Samuelson because again, you can say what you want about
Owen Power and Eriku Leak. I would have loved to
see one of them respond cool, it's not really the
rookies job and no offense to own power. That's he's
never gonna do that. He's not. I know people who
hate hearing that. I know he's big boy. He's not

(26:27):
a physical guy. He's just never has been. And that's
anyone who thinks he should be. Sorry, You're just never
gonna like own power that's never been his game. Samuelson,
that's your calling card. You're supposed to be the big, defensive,
physical guy.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
You have an A on your chest.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
A on your chest. And to me, whether Tage called
it out or not, that was an indictment on Samuelson
and fans took it that way. We're not dumb again.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
It's just like, did you think that was sort of
like a like a shot at the organization to say, like,
let's wake up.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
Hell? Yeah it was, and they need of that. They
need Tage, they need Tuck. Adams talked about Tuck being
a priority. If I'm Alice Tuck, I'm using whatever power
I have. You want me to stay here, be a
serious organization and he'll stay.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Here, which is crazy because he grew up as fan.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
How bad is it going to look when the guy
who grew up a Sabers fan says I don't want
to be here anymore.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
Who who was so excited to put that jersey on
after the Jack Chel trade.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
And like a player that Kevin Adams desert like you can.
That's your big acquisition is Alex Tuck. You can kind
of hang your hat on that you failed him. You've
failed Dollie. You've failed Thompson, You failed though in Power
from day one because you have never gotten him a
real partner to play with. He finally looked okay with
Jacob Bernard Docker and that took you. You know how

(27:49):
long did we hear Cousins was getting out last year
started in October? You know how many times do we
hear Kevin Adams is the most aggressive on the phone lines.
We heard that dating back to last free agency.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
It's just like, do you think Byram's been failed as
well in his short time here?

Speaker 3 (28:05):
Yes and no, Yes and no, because Biram has really
only shown an ability to be effective when playing with
Rasmus Dollien. You know when he's been separated from Dollien,
he's five. He's a very good offensive defenseman. But it's
also and look nothing against Boone Byron. I don't think
he is as good of a two way player as
he needs to be to be playing with a guy
like Power or with Dollion. Doling can carry anybody, but

(28:28):
Biram is never going to be a one or a
two guy here because of power in Dollien. And hey,
all the power to him if he wants to go
do that he has the right to do that, right,
Like he's got the right to say, I want to
go be a number one or a number two defenseman,
I want to play more on the Power play shouldn't
be here because you're not better than Dollian and you're
not better than Power. But also, I mean, you didn't

(28:50):
fail Byram, but you you put yourself in a spot
where you can't sign him, right. I'm sure when Adam's
traded for Byram, he was hoping that Byram dolliing in
Power would be three pillars on his back end. And
you never, aside from when he was with Dalien, he
never had success. And to me, it's just roster building,
and roster building comes down to the GM. It's like

(29:13):
I said, today was just another culmination of everything that
Adams has done the last three four years that's just
not been good. And it's just like even with the
Byron rumors, right, it's like, oh, they want a right
shot defenseman for Byrom. Okay, good, you've identified you need
a right shot defenseman. But why why are you so
tunnel visioning on? We have to get a right shot
defenseman for Byrom. Go get anything of value for byrom

(29:35):
because a lot of player teams reportedly want this kid
and go get the best package and go get your
right shot defenseman another way. There's more than one way
to get a right shot defenseman.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
In point of order, he made it. He made a
note of that in the presser to talk about they've
got a really good right defenceman pipeline.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
They don't. They don't, according to him, they do nothing
against guys like maximum Stirback, you know, those like cold
like they're they're fine players, but they they're not playing
in the NHL in the next two years, and that
they're not supposed to be playing in the NHL the
next two years. They're prospects who were drafted in the

(30:09):
last couple of years. Like the tunnel vision is how
And I'm okay with Josh Norris. I want like people
have a split opinion on him. I know he's not
a playmaker. He doesn't get a lot of assists, but
he scores goals when he's healthy, and I know he
needs to stay healthy. But they tunnel visioned on we're
trading cousins. We need to get a center back, and
that's how they ended up with Josh Norris. We'll see

(30:30):
what happens with Norris. There's other ways, like you could
have traded Cousins for anything and then acquired another center
some other way. Stay with Biram. You can trade him
for anything and acquire a right shot defense. But in
one way, you just have to be smart. Isn't even
the right word. You have to be competent at your job.
A smart team would be like, hey, someone's only offering

(30:51):
me a first and a prospect for Byram. I'm gonna
take that and I'm gonna flip that for a player.
That's what savvy, smart organizations do. Competent organizations say Byron
is a trade. I have other needs beside one right
shot defenseman. I'm gonna trade Byrom for anything that fills
my need. I'm not gonna tunnel vision my negotiations down
to I need this. That's what desperate, dumb organizations do,

(31:13):
not even desperate, because I don't think Adam is acting desperate,
but he's acting. He's acting as if there's only one
way he can build this team. And even today he said,
I believe we have to build through the draft. Buddy,
you're not inherently wrong, but you've had five drafts, and
they're no closer to being good. There's other ways to

(31:36):
build a team. I'm not saying go full on Steve Eiserman,
but did you know that? Again, this isn't inherently a
bad thing. It's just an observation. Connor Clifton is the
longest contract Kevin Adams is given out to an unrestricted
free agent three years. I'll give him credit. He doesn't
overspend in free agency, which is how you get yourself
into trouble if you overspend on bad contracts. But like

(31:59):
Jason Zuker, you are able to extend him for two
more years. But like that one year, five million dollar contract,
it couldn't have like found a way to make that
two or three years back then, instead of coming down
to the morning of the trade deadline hoping you could
extend this guy. It's just like things like that. And
now you've given Zuker two more years, which who knows

(32:20):
how he's gonna be in two years. Guess what, It's
not gonna matter if your team's not good. If your
team's not good this year, Jason Zucker being on this
team does nothing for you.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
Could probably be a trade piece. But it's just like
and the seven year extensions that he's been giving out
as well to like gave with cousins.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
Like I said, if this was year two for Kevin Adams,
this press conference probably doesn't bother anybody. But it's not
year two, right, and you still aren't. Like people are
worried that Cage and Dolin are gonna want out next year.
You have every rate to be worried that that's gonna happen,
because so far this team has done nothing to instill
any confidence in you.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
We're gonna take a break. We're gonna let Austin regroup
here and be right back on Saber Samantics ays we'll
preview the upcoming NHL Draft and the Sabers ninth overall picks.
Stay with us.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network, the NIGA
region's best local source for North American sports podcasting coverage,
Buy sports fans for sports fans.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
Hey, here we call it's talking died in b Here
we call the Boys and Blue.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
Here we call me some noise. Get into one and
one here from your on soccac.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
And we're back on Saber Semantics and our special NHL
Draft preview, as well as a Free Agent Prediction Show
and sort of reactions to Kevin Adams is a press
conference for the pre draft with Jerry Forton. On today's show,
Brandon put on Austin brought her back with you. Thank
you to those that are watching on YouTube. Make sure
it hit like a subscribed smashed that belts the up
to date with all of our video coverage and those

(34:13):
listening on your favorite on demand audio platform. Thank you
very much for doing this. For a quick off season episode, Awestome,
we talked a lot in the first segment about just
you know, off season plans for Kevin Adams, you know,
what he's going to need to do, the players, and
where the direction of this team is going. We've heard
the trade rumors we talked about a little bit on
the first part of today's show. You know, peterca and

(34:36):
Byram have been talked about maybe as a package for
certain trades. We've heard today Frank Serravali throwing out Noah
Dobson for for JJ Petka has been discussed. We heard
that trade with Minnesota where it was evolving both Byram
and Patka. We heard Vancouver as well. So there's been
a lot of teams that have you know, apparently kicked
tires and Kevin Adams has been aggressive in that sense.

(34:59):
And and as you've talked about sort of a lot
on the show this year about you know, Adams's rep
around the league. You know, if we are to see
sort of a big trade coming up now that we
sort of transition to the draft part of it, you know,
do you anticipate them picking ninth on Friday night?

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Picking ninth? I can't. I anticipate them picking in the
top thirteen of the draft because what was the last year,
the day of the draft, they traded back with San Jose.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
And picked up another pick eleven to fourteen. San Jose
drafted Sam Dickinson, they got constat Hellnis.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
And then we think we shipped that second round pick
the next day for beck Mallensteine or whatever the other
pickure that trade. So I think, just given their history,
they'll probably pick where they pick. I don't know, maybe
they do move back. Thought it was interesting that fort
And was like, to me, this is a six or
seven place.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Yes, I'm glad you mentioned that.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
I know if people got mad at that, but it's
just like, yeah, like you know, he thinks that that
doesn't necessarily mean the player that he would pick at
nine as a bad player. But he thinks like the
top six or seven of this class can be very
good and the other ones like Consta Hoan it's had
a solid HL season his first year and pro. So
that's that. I maintain that the Sabers have three three.

(36:18):
They have other trade pieces, but they have three really
big trade pieces. Number nine, which depends on you. You
know how big is that. I don't really know. It
seems like every team outside the top five is interested
in moving their pick. Doesn't really help then, but you
have number nine, you have Bone Byron, you have JJ Perturca.
Two of those should be moved. Byron is the slam
dunk that should be moved, and then you should probably

(36:38):
move nine or Perturca. I think if you move two
of those pieces, you can get a couple assets that
make your team look really good and then you go
from there. That being said, I've been banging the drum
forever to trade the pick. I don't know what the
value of number nine is this year with so many
teams from five to ten being interested in trading their

(36:58):
pick and the class a route the draft class around
the league has a weaker reputation than most, so don't
know what that value is. You're probably better served holding
the I don't know. I don't have an answer, but
I would anticipate that they pick, maybe they move down
a couple spots, maybe they move up a spot, which
I think would be dumbe because I don't know what
that trade looks like, but I would. I would. My

(37:22):
gut right now says they're picking, and they're they're holding
the pick.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
Jerry Forton, when asked, as you mentioned you, brought that
up where he said, some people say it's a two
two person draft. I think it's six. And then he
didn't say that there was only six good players in
this draft, but he just said the rest after six
are pretty much comparable and get wide open. Yeah, you
get pretty wide open at that sense. And if they're
picking at nine, you know, if they want to get
into that top two or three, you'd think it would

(37:47):
cost them, you know, either Petka or a Byrum in
that sense. But that's even if the team that has
that pick is even interested in those types of players.
We heard the Jason Robertson pipe dream, but it sounds
like Dallas is going to keep him now that they
were able to move marchmen out, But you never know
what these moves happened on trade or on a draft day,
especially with it being centralized or non centralized. I mean,

(38:08):
where you know, everybody's going to be at their home bases,
the Sabers are going to be at the Bills drafting facility,
you know, down at the stadium. So you know, Adams
talked about them losing sort of that face to face
interaction that they would get when they're all in the
same room at the draft and maybe talk about something,
But he didn't say it was significant. But if there
were trades that come up, maybe we don't see them

(38:31):
as quickly as we might see at the draft if
they were in person. You know, they can always text
or pick up the phone and call somebody.

Speaker 3 (38:37):
But I find that odd because again, I know it's
a different league, but the NFL draft is fine with that. Now,
granted the NFL Draft you're not trading players per chance,
but how many times do we see trade ups and
trade downs at the NFL Draft with that draft he centralized.
I'm hoping the league goes back to the centralized draft.
It's one of the things that makes the NHL draft cool,

(38:59):
but I don't. I think that's just a lame excuse
for any GM who says, oh, we're decentralized, so it
makes trades harder. Dude, have a trade deadline where you're
at your office and you're decentralized. Like, if you want
to make trades, make trades, like don't whatever. They not
being said, they absolutely should go back to the centralized draft.
It's cool. Yeah, I also thought it was again Forton

(39:20):
said this multiple times, so I thought it was interesting
that said, I, you know, as a scout, I put
work in here. But you know, if we trade number nine,
that means we're doing something to help the team right now,
and that's more important. So like Adams doesn't get credit
for saying I'm so open to trading number nine, because thanks, dude,
you should be. But I guess it's a good thing

(39:41):
that he said that. Like trying not to crap on
the dude so much, because, like I said, today's press
conference wasn't that bad in a vacuum. It's just a
lot of resentment the fans and myself have towards him
over the last couple of years. But I mean it
should be a not a benefit, but like maybe that's
why we've a little bit more activity leading up to

(40:01):
the draft because guys are saying, hey, we're not traveling,
so I can be a little bit busy prior to
the draft because again, hey, Kevin Adams and other NHL gms,
you can make trades now. You could have been making
trades the last three weeks, like you know what I mean.
Like it's it just feels like the NHL, more than
any league, has crutches onto why they can't make deals

(40:23):
and you look at all the other leagues the way
players are. I know every league is different, but it's
just like, come on, man, you want to make a trade,
you can figure out a way to get it done,
whether you're centralized decentralized. If you don't want to trade
number nine, don't trade it. But don't don't pretend like, oh,
we might trade it. I know again you have to
it's NHLGM speak, but it's just like I'm not saying

(40:47):
it's easy, but it's not that hard. Like tell Forton, hey,
we're not picking number nine, so don't even worry about it,
Like you can do that stuff internally.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
They had them show up so for that press.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
I know I did. I felt bad for Forton because again,
nothing against him. It's not a hymn thing the way
the last three years have gone with Adams. Nothing against Forton.
We're not here to talk about that. I know this
was the pre draft press conference, but like media and
fans don't care about the draft, and it's not because whatever.
It's because again, how many times have we said we're

(41:19):
gonna be aggressive and improve the team and they've just
not done it. The draft becomes secondary. You can only
take fourteen years of caring about the draft before you
had enough. And this is a guy who scouted and
loves the draft. I'm over it as a Sabers fan,
not as a hockey fan.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
And he did mention that they're they're just drafting best
player available and it's not necessarily what the need of
the roster is.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
So thanks tips, no every like it's the NHL, that's
all they could have. Again, See I'm getting mad at
him for not Yeah, like he's not saying anything wrong.
That's whatever GM says, but it's just it's what.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
Happens now, barring any trades, because we have heard about
you know, maybe Pittsburgh's got the New York Rangers pick
now and they're picking back to back. Maybe they try
to pass that move up. But as of now, if
the draft were to stay with it, as you guys
are following along on video, I got some stuff up
on the screen there as far as just the depth
chart for the Sabers, the contracts going over, Bob McKenzie's

(42:13):
list for his final draft rankings for this upcoming draft,
as well as the North American projected North American skater
list from that has been released the last one, as
well as the international skaters. Really only Anton Frindell and
Victor Ecklund are even remotely close to being around where

(42:34):
Buffalo is going to be picking, but it seems like
it's going to be a North American player, and with
us being so close and covering the Ohl, there could
be up to five OHL players that are taken in
the top ten, which would be pretty incredible Austin, There's
been a lot of debate on where the Sabers might
go with this pick. Bob McKenzie has Roger McQueen as
the number ninth player right now. Brady Martin has been

(42:56):
skyrocketting up. He's number eight. Victor Eckland the brother of
William Eckland. San Jose Sharks is ten. You had talked
about Redee Merca on our season finale episode as a
guy that you'd be interested in on the defensive side.
Kashawn Aherson's another name rumored around there. Maybe even a
j O'Brien from Branford if James Haggins is to fall there.
You know, first off, what are give me a name

(43:17):
or two that you're interested in, and who do you
think would be the best fit for the Sabers if
they are to keep number nine and going forward?

Speaker 3 (43:26):
Names that I'm person personally interested in are, you know,
like Redeve Merca, O'Brien, Martin. But Martin is not only rising.
I think the Sam Bennett discourse is is going to
make some team over draft Brady Martin. Nothing against Brady
Martin's a phenomenal player.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
I've heard upwards of maybe fourth overall for Britain.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
Yeah's you know what I mean. It's whatever. So those
are kind of the names that I like, names that
I think that they might like. MRCA is up there obviously.
I think they could easily fall in love with Cason Aherston.
He's that old school physical defenseman who has the offensive upside,
but he's more of a He's the closest thing you
can get to an old school defenseman. We heard Forton

(44:04):
who was asked about him. I didn't hear the question
because you can't hear questions when you listen to the
press conference's life. They just don't apparently have microphones for
the media.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
Yeah, he was asked about Ahison and Murka specifically, so I.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
Could see them falling in love with those two guys,
And honestly, I'm disample size is just too small, so
I'm worried about him. But I could see them falling
in love with Rodger and McQueen six with five score.
He's physical. I could see all the team's falling in
love with him. I don't know enough about him, but
I'm a little bit nervous on the fact that he
was just injured and had to sample size there. But yeah,

(44:35):
the physical attributes and the tools, I could see them
falling in love with. So those are probably the guys
that they're looking at there. I genuinely don't know, Like.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Is there a guy you hope that would fall like
maybe that's a top five that you would.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
Like to see that I would help fall.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
Yeah, like obviously like Schaeffer and Misa probably not, but the.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
One guy I don't necessarily hope will fall, but I
could see falling Marton or Hagen's. I don't know if
they fall at nine though, right, you know what I mean.
But I did see one of the athletic guys was
either Promin or Wheeler, and one of their mocks did
have Martone falling to the Sabers, which I thought was interesting.
Don't necessarily know how connected you know, they are to
that type of stuff, but there seems to be one

(45:19):
guy who rises every year. I think it was last
year on draft day. That's when Beckett sene Key's name
started circling around for Anaheim at three the other day.
Don't know how accurate it was. Friedman said he heard
Frontell as early as two to San Jose, which would
be interesting because that would kind of throw Misa Hagen's

(45:39):
because we're just assuming Shaffer was number one overall, right, right,
so that would kind of Frontell at two, if true,
would be an interesting one. So it'll be interesting. I think,
you know, it's if there is going to be that
late riser, like I said, I think that the Sam
Bennett discourse here will have Brady Martin sky rocket up

(45:59):
people's boards. Brady Martin's a phenomenal player. Don't necessarily think
he's a top three pick, but he's a phenomenal player
and he plays that way. So I could see some
team over drafting there. Philly gets a little interesting because
they just traded for Zegres. Does that mean I don't
think that would change their draft philosophy or process, but
you know, you never know, you know, some some front

(46:19):
offices are dumb and are short sighted like that, So
it'll just it'll be interesting. Like I kind of agree
with Forton where I do think it is Misa and
Schaeffer and then a little bit of a gap and
then like a group of like four or five players,
and then another bigger gap. So it will be interesting
to see what NHL front offices think that second tier

(46:41):
of players are, like the Brady Martins, the James Hackins,
the Porter Martin. Like how high does Marton go? How
low does Marton? There's a couple interesting things. But I
could see Marton he would be the one I would
pick that would fall. And if he's there at nine,
I mean it's kind of hard to pass that up.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
There's a lot of talk in Nashville has heavily scouted
Marton and maybe he's an option for them at five.
But again, it makes sense they really need a center bad.
But if they end up going winger, that would be
interesting if you're the Sabers, and I know we've talked
about it, you know, for most of the year, and
you can't just necessarily say that that person's gonna pull
a Zach Benson and make the team as an eighteen
year old rookie. You know, in your opinion, what is

(47:18):
their biggest need as far as a draft need, because
you've got, you know, the Hillarious that you took last
year as a center. Maybe he projects to a winger.
I'm not sure. But like, if you're looking at their
biggest need right now, would you say it's it's right
right defenceman, right shot defenseman.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
Yeah, I think it's their biggest need short and long term.
I just had Adam said they have a good pipeline.
I don't think they have a good pipeline. I have
some guys like I think MX Team starback on Michigan
State is a really good option. But even then, It's
like you're not sotting him in your top four next year.
He's still he's still going to school. So I think
short and long term right shot defenseman. Yeah, why I

(47:55):
kind of like Merca Again. I don't love the idea
of pitching hole in yourself into taking Murca because you
need a right shot guy. But hey, if he's the
best available player on your board at nine, take them.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
You've got Dallen as a left shot defenseman signed until
twenty thirty two, which again barring him wanting out, You've
got Power signed until twenty thirty one left shot defenseman.
You've got Boween byrohim as a restricted free agent, whether
you know if he gets a contract or not. And
then you've also goten Mitia Samuson who has played some
right d but you know he's signed till twenty thirty

(48:28):
regardless of if you believe that that buyout discussion, and
Adams really, you know, shot that down today. So you're
looking at your right defenseman right now as Connor Clifton,
Jacob Bernard docker. Obviously, that's not going to get it
done if you want to be a playoff team. And
he talked about the pipeline of right shot defenceman and
you know, whether you want to believe him or not,
that those guys are are ready to go. I would

(48:51):
say right defenseman is their biggest need, as you mentioned,
like short term and long term. So to me, they
say they don't. They never want to reach for a
position a knee. But if they're at nine and they're
looking at a defenseman and you know, guys like Brady
Martin Jcobrien are still on the board as centers, do
you think that they might go in the direction of

(49:11):
just reaching and taking the defenseman or will they do
what they did last year and trade out of the spot?
San Jose comes up to take Sam Dickinson, which looking
back would have been a nice addition, you know, Ohl
Defenseman of the Year, and then they took Helenius at fourteen.
Do you see them doing a small trade like that
to trade back to somewhere in the mid mid round
to take that right defenseman instead of reaching on him

(49:33):
at that point.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
I could see it, But I think if that happens,
it would be like last year, where it happened like
the day, like the not the morning, but it happened
earlier in the day of the first round right, I
don't think they wait, But at the same time, it's
just I don't I always believe in best player available.
Don't pigeonhole yourself into taking a right shot defenseman. But
if you're sitting there at nine and you have Reddy

(49:57):
Murkiz your number eleven overall player, it's not real reaching.
This depends on how high they have the kid ranked.
Right he's the premier right shot defenseman to this draft class.
I don't think there's really much arguing against that, but no, never,
never pigeonhole yourself into drafting that. Like I said, you
need a right shot defenseman. You need one on the
roster now, so go fix that, and then you can

(50:20):
actually truly draft best player available. Because Helenius is a
very good player. I know you know. His coach in
Finland oleyoken and said he's gonna make the Sabers. Obviously
that was never happening. But you can get a player
and he can make an impact sooner than you thought,
but you can't bank on that. It's kind of like

(50:40):
getting back to their offseason approach. I love Yuriko Leach
and I love Zack Benson. You can't pencil them in
as your number one center at number one left winger,
I'll play with Tage just because that line was good
last year. You can't just pencil them in because they're
so young. That is development isn't linear. It's not an
indictment on the player. But it's like what serious playoff
team has goes into and must make the playoff season

(51:02):
with a twenty year old as the number one center.
It's not a shot at EURI college at all. That
has to be addressed. So it's just like, make smart
moves so you don't have to make dumb decisions with
your draft picks.

Speaker 1 (51:15):
And the Sabers obviously for the last fourteen years, have
been drafting high, so they have a decent prospect pipeline
as far as forwards go. So you'd assume like at
some point there's not going to be room for all
these guys. You almost forget about Eesac Rosean and some
of those guys. They moved, you know, Matt Savoy in
the trade for Ryan McLeod, which worked out, but he

(51:36):
was another top fifteen pick for them as well, So like,
at some point there's not going to be enough room
for any of these guys, or not all of them.
To come up, so you're gonna have to trade them
for your needs and roster players. So I just I'm
curious as to how they're thinking about that and whether
they want this player to be more impact now or
they're thinking about him being in more impact two or

(51:58):
three years down the road.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
You know, what really should be happening. Kevin Adam shouldn't
be thinking about the impact of this player at all,
because Kevin Adams should be acting like he won't get
a chance to be here when this player is ready,
because his job should be on the line. That remains
to be seen though.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
So lastly, I guess as we sort of look at
you know, the cap and everything and the roster breakdown,
and we talked about pick nine, I think Roger McQueen
just quickly is sort of an X factor in this
draft because if he didn't have that back injury, he
could have been a top three or four prospect in
this in this year's draft. He's got the size and
you know, a force like that, you know, coming out

(52:35):
of the Brandon Weekings is definitely a guy that has
a lot of intrigue, you know, sort of like a
boom er bust type of player. But if the Sabers,
you know, take him at nine, you know, we'll have
to wait and see. I've seen Victor Eckland go into
Buffalo as well in some mock drafts, but again, you
never know what happens. And if if Forton's right about
sort of it being a Mesa and Lisa and Schaeffer

(52:57):
and then a drop off to those guys in the
top six and then another drop off, we might end
up seeing maybe some teams trade up into this because
it is known as a weaker draft as opposed to
next year and picking up you know, a guy that
they just like. You never know, so it's you know, what,
what do you think we're expecting come Friday? And then
Saturday the Sabers have an extra fourth round pick, I believe.

(53:22):
Let me try to pull that up. So I guess
what would you be expecting or hoping to see coming
out of this weekend with you know, the seven rounds
of the draft and possible trades as well.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
I would say preferably bow and Biram has moved by
the end of the draft. Preferably they move number nine
for something. I just don't know what. I don't know what,
Like you have to package number nine with something. But

(53:56):
the reason I stress like Biram should be moved before
the draft is if a team like throw Vancouver out
there right, Vancouver is offering, Vancouver has rumored to be
interested in Biram, why not move him now? If you're
getting a player and a pick, get to pick for
this year again, this is how a smart organization would work.
Then flip that pick for another asset, or package that

(54:18):
pick with something else for another It's why I think
Byron needs to be moved by the time the draft concludes,
because it gives you a better outline of what you'll
need to address come free agency. We know they're not
a very active team in free agency, but it probably
should be. So I would say Byram has moved and

(54:41):
one other significant move is made, whether that's trading number
nine or trading a guy like Perturca, or moving on
from a guy like Jack Quinn or even a Saqueose
and we mentioned him right, We're approaching. We're approaching. Either
you're an NHL player or you're not. Because if you
can't make Buffalo in your fourth year after being drafted,

(55:02):
nothing against Rosen. He's a phenomenal HL player. I think
he has a skill set that can play in the NHL.
But it's just like, if you don't make it this year,
what are you doing? And on the flip side from
the Sabers, you shouldn't be having Isaac Rosen on your
roster this year because you need to make the playoffs.
And having a twenty three year old who's never played
in the NHL before in any significant role, you're not

(55:23):
like you're not a real team. So it's like it's
I would I preferably two significant moves byrom plus one
other move. I don't know what that is. I'd open
to anything. And then, just like I said, I want
some kind of inkling on how much power tech Alnan
has and to me, this draft and the moves that

(55:44):
they make leading into this draft and coming out of
this draft will do that. And I'd rather know that
before heading into free agency because it could drastically change
everyone's approach to free agency. Like, hey, if keck a
Line has got power, not that he's gonna do this,
but like Kecklina did get Johnny Gudro to come to Columbus, Like,
if this dude's got some influence in real power, I know,

(56:06):
like there's no real shot that they're landing a Johnny
Gudro type free agent. But maybe you could get a
Tier two free agent to come to Buffalo. Like, we're
only four or five years removed from them getting Taylor
Hall on a one year deal. I'd love to see
some savvy like that happen again. But like I said, we'll.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
See ten picks they have between Friday and Saturday. You know,
they have an extra fourth and three three thirds, So like,
would you assume that if they are to make excuse me,
some of the moves, you're hoping they don't make ten selections.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
No, I don't imagine they make ten selections. Adams has
been known to trade up in the later rounds, right,
like traded up for Perturka when he drafted Peteca in
round two, traded up for Brodie Ziemer, and I believe
there was another. There's a couple like other trade ups
he's done later in the draft.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
So he all so traded their fourth last year where
Winnipeg went up and drafted Kevin he Kevin.

Speaker 3 (57:03):
He ye, yep, So like he does make moves later
in the draft, but oh sorry, No, he didn't trade
up another trade last year. He traded the second for
Beck Mallenstein. So it's like you you do have these
extra currencies, Like just right, this has got it, Like
we say this every year, but like this has got
to be the year.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Said it last year when they revamped the bottom six.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
But like now, even like even like as dumb as
it sounds like, you do have if you're keeping everyone
except Byrom, you still have to sign Bernard, doctor Mcleodeka Quinn,
even Jack Quinn and Devin Levi, like those are guys
you have to sign, like you got work to do.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
Bud he does, And we'll see what the scouting staff
does again Friday night, round one and then rounds two
to seven. Believe they begin at twelve noon on the Saturday.
So Austin, that's gonna be it for us. You know,
we're in the offseason right now, and you know it's
the exciting time of year. But we look forward to
coming back full time in September. But uh, you know,
we'll probably have to come back and talk about hopefully

(58:05):
you know, Sabers making some significant trades or significant moves
come free agency and maybe they shock us coming out
of out of the draft. But again with the way
Kevin Adams is been operating. You know, don't want to
get her hopes up about that, but uh, you know,
it's a it's interesting to come back and talk about
this because everybody else has an opinion on it.

Speaker 3 (58:22):
So yeah, I don't know. Like I said, I I've
been overly harsh on Adams, and I just want to
stress it. It's not just because of his press conference today.
His press conference today wasn't that bad. I'm just like
most of the fan base, I'm just fed up. Yeah,
I mean it's it's it's above Adams.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
As a fan of both the Savers and the Bills,
it's just hilarious to see the stark contrast that Pagoola
has approaching the Bills versus approaching the Savers. The Bills
Brandon Bean has the power to spend whatever he wants
to get whoever he wants. On the Sabers side, it
looks like Adams always says he has the power too,
but the actions never match what he says.

Speaker 1 (59:03):
See if the actions speak louder than words. Come this
Friday with the twenty twenty five NHL Entry Draft, and
whether these trade rumors actually come to fruition that we've
been hearing over the last month or so, so that's
gonna wrap it up for a special off season episode
of Saber Semantics right here on the Armchair GM Sports
Network for Ross and broad Mina is Grand Ecquido. Enjoy
the Draft, Enjoy free agency, stay cool out there in

(59:24):
this warm weather, and we'll talk to you again very soon.
You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.

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Buffalo Sabres 2025 NHL Offseason Needs & Goals - Sabres Semantics

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