Buffalo's Goaltending Conundrum After Strong Stretch w/ Joe Yerdon - Sabres Semantics - The Armchair GM's Sports Network

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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 interview and discussion show featuring players, alumni, media,
and all others who covered the NHL's Buffalo Sabers. With

(00:57):
interesting stories from the past and current of analysis, this
show is sure to provide an entertaining and unique perspective
for both Sabers and hockey fans alike. Exclusively on the
Armchaired GM Sports Network.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Welcome back to another episode of Saber Semantics right here
on the Armchair GMS Sports Network. Thank you those that
are tuned in are on our video version on YouTube,
and those that are chosing to listen to us on
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Speaker 3 (01:25):
Saber Semantics.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Say up to date with all of our Sabers coverage
whiles on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok by searching the Armchair
GM Sports Network for all of our short reels and content.
Brandick Budo joined alongside Joe Urdin of Noted Hockey and
Bleacher Report to give us an update from the Sabers
most recent stretch of games. Injury Report and everything else
going on around the team. Joe, thanks so much for

(01:48):
taking the time to join us, coming off of a
tough back to back against the Toronto Maple Leafs and
the travel for you as well, and everything going on
being up there in Toronto for the World Series going
on at the same time. I'm sure that was definitely
an experience for you, but I always appreciate you coming on.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, it was scenes, I think, is how it gets
phrased on on Twitter and everywhere else. Now. It was
a sight to behold up there. Man. It's kind of
crazy to see Toronto like in playoff modes, crazy action
and have it not be around the Leafs for us,
because gotten to cover some Leafs playoffs the last few years.
But World Series a whole different thing. Man. The city's

(02:26):
going crazy for it.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
And I got to ask you quickly before we get
into everything else going on with the team. That game
against Toronto usually is a home game in sense for
the Leafs, But did you get a little bit of
different sense because the Blue Jays were playing in the
World Series that night, that it was a little bit
more of a Buffalo friendly crowd than you would have
usually seen for a least Buffalo game in downtown Buffalo.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
I think the turnout was still very heavily Leafs, but
a lot of the Leafs fans were wearing blue Jay stuff,
and I think a lot of the Sabers fans were too,
because the Buffalo Bisons are our at home, you know,
or the hometown team for Triple A Baseball, that's the
Jays farm team, and half the Jay's roster is guys
that were in Buffalo of the past year or two.

(03:12):
So uh, it united under a common cause. They're kind
of kind of deal where, you know, I think everybody
was a little bit distracted because I think it was
the game started right in the middle of the second
period getting underway on Friday night. But yeah, it was
not a bit of a muted Maple Leafs crowd. Plus

(03:33):
they didn't exactly play very well against the Sabers on
Friday night. They didn't play very well against them on
Saturday night either, But but yeah, the Sabers getting to
kind of take it to them on Friday help keep
the visitor the visiting crowd tamp down a bit.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
It might be the only time the Leafs and Sabers
can have some Kumbaya together is when the Jays are
in the World Series with like you mentioned the Bisons
being the Triple A team of the Blue Jay, So
let's get into a joe with the the I'd say
the most pressing news other than the games was the
recalling of uco Peca Lucanan just a couple of days ago,

(04:12):
and coming off of what was a great NHL debut
for Colton Ellis the other night as well against the
Detroit Red Wings on national television. Everybody sort of got
to see his family and how excited they were. They
were talking about him a lot on the postgame on
I believe it was ESPN or TNT, can't remember exactly
which one it was, but it was a nationally televised
game that night, seven thirty start against Detroit, Ellis gets

(04:32):
that big win and then all of a sudden, Lucanan's
recalled with how well Alex Lyon has been playing. So
we saw Lucanan in the game last night against against
the Leafs. But what are your general thoughts now that
they got three goalies here and if they want to
make a roster move on one of them, they might
not be able to clear.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Well, this is a organizational crowded house and goal kind
of issue. Because Lucanan got the one rehab start in Rochester,
played pretty well, got to win. I think he made
twenty two to twenty four saves in that game against
Syracuse and did well. And I think the idea was

(05:11):
give him two weeks. And this is just a big
assumption on my part here, maybe give them two weeks
down there, because that's the max you can you can
do that for for rehab assignment is fourteen days. Give
him two weeks, figure out what you're gonna do between
Lyon and Ellis and how to prepare for that, and
and and kind of go from there. But the problem

(05:31):
is in Rochester, you've got three goalies there even before
Lucanan shows up, with Devin lev Alexander gay Orgiev and
Topius Lanin and who's first year pro in North America.
So adding Lucanan down there meant they had four goal
three goalies as the crowd house four is four is
somebody's got to move kind of thing. So so Lucan

(05:54):
it comes down, gets a start, which I mean, it's fine,
he needed one. He hadn't played and you know it's
into April basically, so he needs needs those reps, needs
the shots. But the problem means, the problem in doing
that Rochester is you're sitting Levi, which you need him
playing games, and then you have lineing it and Georgiev.
You know, Georgiev probably not very happy being a Rochester

(06:18):
and lineing and needs games too. So you can't keep
four goalies there for for any amount of time, kind
of the same way you can't keep three goalies in
the NHL and keep everybody happy either. So it's a
very difficult situation. And uh, you know, we've spoke with
lucan An after Saturday Nights game and he was asked

(06:39):
about the three goalie thing and he's like, well, I'm
kind of used to it by now because they've done
it but each the last two years in Buffalo and
he's had to be part of that. So h an
unfortunate thing to be used to, especially as a goalie,
because you got to play well to be able to
get reps. Because Lindy Rouff does not want to mess
around with goaltending and cycle guys out and do all

(07:00):
that stuff. It's the last thing in the world he
wants to do. He wants to ride the hot hand
go which he did with Alex Line. He played in
the first six games of the season, so but Lucan
wasn't supposed to start on Saturday. Colton Ellis was scheduled
to start. He didn't back up on Friday night against Toronto.
They sent him up to Toronto early to rest and get

(07:20):
ready and be ready because it was a very quick
turnaround from a seven pm game to a five pm game,
so they wanted him set and ready. He woke up
Saturday morning in Toronto with a tight back, so he
was out. So it's a good thing to have three
goalies in that kind of situation. But also I don't
think the plan was to have Lucan and get right

(07:42):
into a game that quickly, and against Toronto, who historically
he's done very badly against. So a situation where it's
a happy accident. That's having three worked out, okay to
make it a little less stressful, But it's not an
ideal situation by any stretch of the means. And you know,

(08:03):
with Lucan and Lindy Roff told us on I think
it was Friday Friday, trying to keep track of my
days here, but he said, you know, the biggest thing
with Lucan Is, we want, you know, he needs to
stay healthy. So worked just kind of a signal to
us that he doesn't trust that Lucan is going to
stay healthy because it's been two injuries here since you know,
before camp. Uh, So it's understandable. And you can't put

(08:25):
a guy in waivers if you're not sure a guy's
going to stay healthy. You got to make sure he
gets through it. So three goalies is going to be
here for a little while. And it's a little awkward
now that let's woke up with a tight back because
now you're you're back to two, but the one guy
you need to figure out what you're gonna do with
is now maybe on the shelf. So it never ends. Man.

(08:46):
The injury stuff is something else this season.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
And especially because all three, you can't send one down
without going through waivers, right, And I'm sure Saint Louis
would love to reclaim Colton Ellis if they had the opportunity,
because they were pretty upset by all means from what
we were reports that we heard that when Buffalo had
claimed him they were pretty upset about it because they
saw him as their their third goalie. That they were
very high on. So then as well as Lions played

(09:09):
to begin the year with lucan In on the shelf,
you'd think that the team would be interested in claiming
him as well. So you don't want to lose one
of those guys for free right now, but it's taking
up a roster spot that you could be using for
another skater as well.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, and the thing is, you know, when you analyze
the situation, Lions played so well, so he's not going anywhere,
and plus they signed him to a two year I
think it was a two year contract, so like he's
not Savers aren't letting him go, Like that's not gonna happen.
Alis they picked up and they talked him up like crazy.
You know, he's a guy we've had our eye on.

(09:42):
We really like him. Never mind that he's almost the
same age as Devin Levi Lions Lowward there, he's you know,
he's a little bit bigger than Levi's So maybe that's
you know, maybe in the back of their minds that
you know, they don't have to worry about, you know,
the positioning aspect of guys get whatever. So they talked

(10:03):
him up like crazy and they're like, yeah, we really
like him blah blah blah, all right, cool and lucan In,
you know, he's signed for you know, it's palatable money,
but he's he's got the bigger car, he's got the
biggest contract out of out of everybody, and it's not
exactly easy to move when he's been hurt all preseason
right and all year and didn't play great last season.

(10:26):
So you know, even if you are looking at, you know,
moving on from lucan In, like teams need goaltending, there's
more than a few teams out there that could that
could that would probably love to get to get a
hold of lucan In and you know fresh, you know,
fresh location, new start, the whole thing. But you know,
when you're talking lower body injuries for goalies, that's tough

(10:48):
because those can linger because what are they using all
game long? They're using the lower body and he had
the hip surgery a few years ago. So it's a
lot of things in the back of everybody's mind. So
you know, and if you're trading a guy like Lucian
if you're Buffalo, you're not just going to trade him
for nothing, like you're looking for something that's going to

(11:09):
help you, help out your NHL lineup if you're moving them,
So it's an awkward situation and and and you know
you're you're you're looking at it where like if you
put Ellis on waivers, either Saint Louis gets to reclaim
them or they're going to claim them no matter what.
Like that, you know one team is grabbing them, you know,

(11:29):
no doubt, and probably a few others because goaltending is
hard in a few spots. So you know you're you're
banking on losing him. So you know, maybe it's up
to Kevin Adams to kind of figure out what you're
going to do, because I can guarantee you all three
goalies don't want to have three goalies in the house,
and I know Lindy Roff doesn't want to try to
juggle three guys with playing time because that's just is

(11:53):
exceedingly difficult to do.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
And then as well, with the Rochester situation that you mentioned,
you've got Levi down there, who's supposed to be getting
bulk of the starts, and then you've got Gorgiev as well,
who uh you know, is there for now we'll see
what happens in going forward. And then you mentioned leaning
and getting his first taste of North American action. So
six goalies in the organization through your your top two
teams right now, that's that's tough. Let alone adding guy

(12:17):
like Holton Ellis into the fold and having lucan In
back in the fold, like, it just seems like there's
no real clear answer yet as to what they can
do here. You mentioned can you even make a trade
here in the late October beginning of November, and would
you even be able to to get the value that
you want or just forced to lose losing a guy
for a lot less than what you would have wanted.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
To Yeah, and you're you're looking at trying to maybe
not swindle a team on a deal, like, but you're
looking to take advantage of somebody who might be desperate
to fix up a goaltending situation that's changed very suddenly.
And you know, in the Sabers case, I mean you're
looking at you've also got Scott Ratz laugh playing down
on the EHL because he's also first year pro. So

(12:58):
that it's a it's a it's an obscenely crowded house.
I mean you're but like seven goalies doing Yeah, no,
it's six goalies between the top two teams in the
organization and then a seventh you know in the e
getting his starts, which you know, that's good. You gotta think,
you know, maybe he and line in and switch off

(13:18):
at some point. Maybe, I don't know, I don't know.
You know, Linen just got his first just got his
first win on Saturday night for Rochester. So like you're
looking at you're looking at it. It was it was
a stacked house to begin with when they signed Georgiev
and when Lukening was initially injured, uh, to start a camp.
And it's much more difficult now after claiming Ellis, which

(13:41):
they knew was going to be the case. But I
you know, I just wonder if they thought maybe it
would be easier to move somebody and Georgiev maybe like
you're looking to for found money at that case, giving
him a tryout. Well it's not even try out. They
signed them straight out. But this is it's it's a
situation that's out of everybody's hands except for Kevin Adams.

(14:04):
And that's about it, because you know, it's it's kind
of a it's kind of a you know, a mess
of his making, although it's not really a mess. It's
just really awkward. It's you're looking at like a jar
on a really high shelf that's kind of teetering, and
you're like, boy, we should push that backup on the shelf,
make sure it doesn't fall. But you're like, I don't

(14:25):
have a ladder, you know, I can't fix that right now.
Let's just hope it stays there, it doesn't fall and break.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
Do you think that possibly they thought Lucanin's injury was
going to linger for a little bit longer because you
signed Gorgia for the preseason, you claim Colton Ellis, So
do you think Lucanan might have come back a little
bit quicker than they had anticipated than they were just
trying to, you know, fill the gap until he possibly
returned in maybe two or three months into the season.
But now that he's back maybe a little bit earlier
than scheduled, do you think that changed its Well?

Speaker 3 (14:54):
I think the case with Lucanan was they were worried
that that might have been a much worse off injury,
because I don't think you signed somebody like that. If
you're thinking like, oh, he's just gonna miss a couple
of weeks, you sign somebody like that, if you think
like this could be months missing, and I think they

(15:14):
weren't totally sure what the case was yet, and they
had to make sure they had some kind of insurance
to cover, you know, to cover them, because they needed
an NHL caliber goalie. If Lucan it was going to
be out for an extended period of time, they needed
an NHL caliber goalie to be in there. Because you

(15:35):
can't rely on waivers, you can't rely on all this
other stuff, because you know, if there's an obvious hole
team we've seen it already because we watched Buffalo do
it in the past along with Detroit and Montreal, where
if there's a team that is in desperate need of
filling a goaltending hole, teams will make sure. Teams will say,

(15:55):
screw it, we're keeping three because we don't want to
lose a guy on waivers that we know this other
team teams going to take. I think of like I
think it was when Vaslevsky was got got a little
banged up. I think it was last year, maybe two
years ago, I forget, but he got banged up like
in training camp and was going to miss a month,

(16:15):
and Detroit, Montreal, Buffalo all three teams were like, yeah,
we're not waiving any goalies. So you had three teams
in the same division keeping three goalies because they're like,
Tampa's gonna grab a guy. We're not letting those guys
get one on us. I mean, it's strategic, it's smart,
it's the right thing to do. And you know, other

(16:37):
teams have to make moves as they have to make them,
like that's just how it goes. But we saw a
few goalies get plucked off waivers. One of them played
for Toronto last night, Caden Primo. You know, the Leafs
snagged him on waivers from from Carolina because Carolina was
trying to scoot him through to the to the AHL
and you know Toronto had you know, wol takes it

(16:59):
takes a leave of absence. Oops, they need a goalie
and it's Caden Primo. And so teams, you know, teams
got to make their moves. But also, you know, teams
don't want to throw you a freebie either, Like that's
that was the whole thing with Lukenan. So they signed
signed Georgiev because you have to make sure your your

(17:19):
bases are covered, and that was the thinking. There's just
you're doing it based on a guy who struggled really
badly last year and had a kind of poor second
half the year before, and you're kind of hoping that
the history with Lindy Ruff from this time with the
Rangers would work out so that, hey, you know, if

(17:40):
this guy works out good, then we're good. And it
didn't work and that's you know, it's unfortunate for Georgiev
because he was really good three years ago in Colorado.
Two three years ago in Colorado he was lights out,
but not the same guy anymore. No, absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (17:56):
And it's just you wonder sort of what the long
term play is here, And you know, we want to
talk abou a little bit more than the goaltending, but
it's obviously something that has come up and it's something
that the team has to work through right now in
the present. But then also know that they have to
make a decision at some point of what they're going
to do because this three system is not it's not

(18:17):
going to be ideal going forward, and as you mentioned,
all three guys are not going to want to be
in a three person rotation goaltending wise. They want to
be able to play, So it's going to be interesting
to see how this sort of plays out and see
Ifellas doesn't miss any more time with that type back
and if Lukenin is able to remain healthy going forward.

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Speaker 2 (21:44):
You're listening to the armchair GM Sports Network.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
Here it's talking Died and Block.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
Moving forward a little bit to Joe as far as
the recent results in October, and you know, the first
after the first week, the sky was falling in Buffalo
once again after the you know, oh and three start,
and you know, they had only scored a combined two
goals in the three games. And since then they've gotten
sort of things sort of back on track. There have

(22:39):
been four to one and one since that horrible oh
and three start. They scored eight goals against Ottawa. They
went three nothing against Florida, and you know, people can
say what they want about no Barkov, no Kachuk, but
they're still a very good team down there in Florida.
Stanley Cup champions Montreal a little bit disappointing for two
loss there, and then they come back with that big
win Colton Ellis's debut against the the Detroit Red Wings

(23:02):
and then the win against Toronto on Friday.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Back to back.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
They lose an overtime against Toronto on the Saturday. So, Joe,
what have you seen the last sort of week and
a half ish since that zero and three start? Sort
of what's the morale like and how have things changed
since then?

Speaker 3 (23:18):
You know, I've seen a team that's like that's found
a level of confidence, you know, and I don't think
they were lacking it necessarily, because when you start, oh
on three, it gets shaken a little bit. That's just
gonna happen, and you know, the questions from us start immediately,
and these guys are just like, She's like, you know,

(23:38):
I forget. I think it was Jordan Greenway. We were
talking to him after he returned to practice easily. He's like,
what are we? How many games we got? Seventy nine? Yeah,
I think you know, there's no reason for anybody to
get worried here. But I know past experiences tend to
taint the current view of things sometimes, And it was

(23:59):
just a matter of cracking through and getting the first one.
And you know, they dog pile on Ottawa in that game,
and you know, leave you Marror lying and had had
a really rough day, and you know Autowa has been
kind of sorting through their stuff too, but you took advantage.
They took advantage of it and ran rough shot on them.
But you know, beating the Panthers the way that they did,
you know, you get an outstanding performance from Lyon, you know,

(24:23):
a three nothing when you know you drive Brat Marshan
crazy like that's a good way to kind of, you know,
instill some of that confidence that was already there and
have it build up because you know, I mean, that's
a team that's knocked them around the last couple of
years pretty pretty badly, and you know that gets them,
you know, they gets them back to it's you know,
it's two and three and you're like, okay, fine. Rough

(24:46):
game in Montreal did not play particularly well. You saw
some of like the old bad signs where you know,
they give up play and then kind of SAgs and
SAgs a little bit and you're like, oh boy, okay,
we're not Let's not do this roller coaster thing here, guys.
Let's it's knock that off. But following that with great
games against Detroit and a great game against the Leafs

(25:08):
on Friday, and they played great on Saturday. Let's not
get it crossed up. He was an ot that was
an outstanding game and really unfortunate. You know, Dakota Joshua's
goal is one that uh you know uh Lukenan said
he didn't see it coming, but his reactions sort of
seems to be like I'm gonna take a guess and

(25:29):
I'm gonna hope it hits me right in the glove
right here. No, it didn't crap, you know, like like
one of those kind of things. And you know the
breakdown in ot where you know it was just you know,
every bit of bad luck goes goes against you there.
It's stuff happens. But the reaction to that loss tells
me a lot that, like this team is just like

(25:50):
all right, whatever, next one. You know, next game up,
let's go. Which past season is a loss like that
that plays out that way where you know, you give
up a goal, you give up a goal like in
the third period that ties it up. You're in control
of that game, that's the only scoring chance against you,
and it goes in and you're like, ah, man, like you,
you'd be be hard pressed to find guys to not

(26:13):
be in a little bit like man, nothing goes our way,
this sucks, blah blah blah. In games like that in
the past. Instead last Night, Tuck Thompson, even Lucanan, you know,
Lucanan's you know, upset in himself for for how that
plays out. But but losing like that in ot it's
a point on the road and this team doesn't never

(26:36):
got games to overtime in the past. Now. Granted, if
you want to be negative, you can say like, wow,
they letn't get to OK. Fine, great, you know, like
look at it that way all you want, But that's
still the Toronto Maple Leafs. That's still a team that's
like a playoff you know, a playoff team that's gone
deep you know for years now. That's a point that's

(26:57):
good to get and it's against the division team. Well
they let to get away against Trent whatever. It's fine,
you know, you can live with it because you got
to point out of it. And it's a three out
of four weekend. Those guys, yeah they got two, whatever,
you got three. Move on, you know, move on and
get ready for the next one. Because the team's playing well.
They're special teams, which was a huge problem last year,

(27:18):
is playing extremely well on both sides. The PK particular
is awesome because they're not given anything like that. You know,
teams are very rarely getting any looks in the PK,
and they're clearing the park, taking care of business, getting
getting it out and doing the job, which is awesome
to see. Uh and Taje. Thompson's getting hot now. So

(27:40):
I'm not too worried about this group, and I don't
think the group's too worried about themselves either. I think
they're very confident in what they're doing and how they're
playing and how they're taking care of business. I mean, yeah,
the goaltending things a little bit of a you know,
a little bit of a mess right now, but like
they're taking they're getting the job done. And you know,
Alex Line's the number one right now and he's played out.
So this is a group that's feeling good. And they've

(28:03):
got every reason to.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
Second rank penalty killing all the National Hockey League, just
a few few ticks behind the Winnipeg Jets in that department, Joe,
pretty incredible to have them with those types of stats
right now.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
And I had something else up. I had, Oh it
was a standings thank you.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
So the Atlantic, I mean, you look at it right now,
and you know you've got Tampa Bay in Toronto near
the bottom and you'd expect that both those teams going
into the year were projected to be in the top
three for the Atlantic Division, and teams like Montreal, Detroit
Buffalo maybe weren't. So you look at it sort of
how this has sort of played out through the first

(28:39):
nine or ten games that most of these teams have played.
Tampa's only played eight at the time of recording this.
But you know, if things sort of shake out, I mean,
that zero to three start right now doesn't look like
it was too detrimental when you really look at the
grand scheme of things. I know they've played a lot
of divisional games lately, beating teams like Ottawa, Detroit, Toronto
like those are those are big wins within the division

(29:00):
Florida as well, So it was a big It was
a big big for them to be able to get
back on track because if they would have maybe went
the opposite of like a one, one, one, four and one,
they could find themselves being really behind right now. But
this four one in one stretch has them, you know,
sort of back into into the contention here of getting
off to such a slow start.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yeah, and I'm generally not a huge fan of looking
at playoff pictures so early. But it's encouraging. I think
it's encouraging for the fan base to see this, to
be like, Okay, all right, these guys are on the
right path. Because if you open that up and you say, no,
they're playing good and then you see like a one
four and two record and you're like, you're full of crap.
They're not playing good and they're not playing good at all.

(29:41):
Like that may that's that's that's a big mental change
as far as fans go, and even for the players too.
And but like the players know how well they're playing,
they know they're doing the job. They're they're they're getting
things done. And but the fact that they're getting these
points and the win the wins and the points again
teams within the division, and you know, you know how

(30:04):
we all know how a season goes, Like any bad
stretch is gonna get equaled out at some point. Usually
usually I don't lose thirteen in a row. Usually that
gets balanced out. You lose three in a row, Okay, whatever,
go back and win three. Bang, you're back to normal.
You're back to even. So like teams like Montreal, you know, Montreal,
the Devils Pittsburgh, Like these teams jumping out to these

(30:27):
hot starts, like, well, the ain't gonna stay like that
all season. That is not gonna happen. So you're you're
you're feeling okay about that, and you look into like
some of the advanced stat stuff, some of like the
shot metrics, pdo stuff like that. This team, Sabers are
kind of like this is what they are, which is
a good Like that's that's good. That's a good thing

(30:48):
because the special teams is keeping up with the even
strength play, and I think that's the that's a huge
part of what's going to drive this team for a
playoff push this year because in the past, the five
and five play was very good, but either the power
play was really bad or the PK was bad or
both were bad, and it was just like, well, as

(31:09):
long as we keep it at fives, we're good. But
every game does not stay at fives for sixty minutes.
So it's tough to it's tough to punch through when that,
you know when that happens. But they're getting good work
and you know what you're doing this and we're not
even seeing the best of Dulaine yet either, Like that's
that's the part that's kind of it's kind of crazy
with this is you know one of their best players

(31:31):
is not at not at his not playing his best
game right now. He'll be better eventually here, so like
that's not that's not a problem. But you're getting really
solid play from Power Byron's playing very well. Connor Timmans
is playing really good too, Like defensively speaking, he's very good.
And you're looking at Michael kesslerin coming back here soon

(31:51):
because he's back in practicing. He's probably going to be
back this week. So whether it's as early as Tuesday,
which I don't know, maybe maybe, but Thursday in Boston,
I think it was a good chance we'll see him.
We'll see him back by then. So uh so, I mean,
that's just another guy back into the mix that you're
banking on to play big minutes for you. And you

(32:13):
know that this group getting these guys back while they're playing, well, boy,
that's that's a huge thing. That's a huge thing to happen.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
And I was gonna quickly mention that Joe was the
the latest to injury report. They recalled Josh Dunn, Tyson
kozak As to miss at least a week. You can
see it up in the video version there. Redeem Merca
got sent back to Seattle in the in the chl
uh for after he played a game, a couple of
games for Rochester. So anything on that list that you

(32:42):
want to mention or worth noting that the that our
listeners should know about.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
Yeah, well I mentioned Castle Rings, So that's I mean,
he'll be back. I mean Lindy Rough said like within
a week when we asked him about it. I think
it was on Friday. So that's that's really encouraging. Whatever
issue he was dealing with was something he was trying
to battle through in camp and then played like the
last preseason game that he played in he was like,
that's not push this too far and dragged this into

(33:08):
the regular season. So good on him to recognize it
and good on him to get it, get it addressed,
and listen if he has the same kind of impact
Josh Don has had so far, Boil boy, that's gonna
be nice. Jordan Greenway has been practicing here for a
couple of weeks. He was back in a grade jeers,
he was in a regular jersey one day and then

(33:30):
back to like the gray no contact Jersey the next day.
So whatever, I mean, he's dealing with like a core
you know, like a core injury kind of thing, like
a body injury, I guess, but yeah, he's got a
body injury. Oh well, informative, thank you, But no, his
is like a like a mid section core kind of

(33:50):
thing that he's been dealing with. And whenever that's ready
to go, I mean, again, that's a great guy to
get back in the lineup. Not that you know, anybody
in the forward group really playing poorly, but a guy
that's as good as him, that's as good on the
p K as him, that's you know, that helps drive
play the way he can. That's that's awesome. But and

(34:11):
Jacob Brison returned to practice the other day. He took
a monster hit from Jonah Gadjovich in the Florida game
and he just got I mean, and you know, Jacob's
not a big dude, but man, he took a heavy
hit from Gadgovich and I think it hit the back
of his head against the the the boards in the
corner because it was just it was like one of
those big hits where you're like, oh, like you're just

(34:33):
your gut reaction. Then you see him get up slow.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
And you're like, oh no, they're done to five D
for played a while in that game.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yeah, yeah, and they've been kind of doing that the
last few games because Zach Metz's who's it's been great
to see him play in the NHL and make his debut.
He's such a great it's such a great story with
him for getting there. But he's been kind of out
of the rotation. Both games against Toronto, I think he
played one or two ship in the third period and

(35:01):
then they were going to five five D, which given
how great Mattia Samuelson's played, to go with Byram and
Timmins and Dolling and power, like you can get by
with that like that. That worked out fine, But obviously
you'd like to have three pairs going and that's where

(35:21):
kessel Wring coming back is going to be such a
big deal for them. So but yeah, like that's you know,
injury wise, could be better, but like things are getting better.
So that's that's the positive sign of this, especially kessel Ring,
because there's been we've been hyping his return, you know,
his arrival to this team up quite a bit because

(35:42):
we're like, no, this guy's good. You're going to see it.
And now it's like we're going to see him, like
let's go. And but it's coming, it's coming soon, coming
this week at some point, And would be cool to
see him in the lineup on Tuesday. But I got
a funny feeling it's gonna be.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Thursday, right And looking at their upcoming sched jewel here
Joe in November playing against some Western Conference opponents. He
got Utah, Saint Louis, Utah again Colorado, they play Edmonton Calgary.
Encouraging to see where the team's at as of late.
You mentioned sort of the team stats within the National
Hockey League where they stack up. It's actually quite good

(36:17):
even with the rough start. So what are you hoping
to see from the team going forward in the next
couple of weeks and as they sort of start to
get some of these key bodies back in the lineup
as well.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
Yeah, you'd like to see them take care of business
against Columbus on Tuesday, because Columbus kind of fighting it.
Same for Boston. I mean, they lost a tough one
in Boston earlier this year. I already think this team's
a lot different than the team that you know, they
get from game two of the season, I think they
are already a lot different kind of team because they've

(36:48):
kind of got their way going now. And Boston's still
dangerous because Jeremy Swaeman's playing extremely good hockey. Even on
the nights when Boss is not playing very good hockey,
he's been good. So and we know you get against
the hot goalie or a goalie that's playing really well,
it just makes the entire night so much, so much
harder to get through. But you want to see them

(37:09):
come back with a much better effort in that one.
Then you roll it over into November, which, oh my
god for November. But like the Caps that I mean,
that's a team that's given them fits forever. And maybe
you're kind of hoping that Ov gets goal number nine
hundred before that night, but you don't don't have that
kind of like looming around you, and you don't want

(37:30):
to give that up because that becomes a pressure point.
But uh, and then Utah comes to the town. So
the JJ circus is back, well, the JJ circus is
heat will be here, not necessarily back, but it'll be here.
And he's playing well. Utah is playing some great hockey.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
And you know what, based on how those two teams
played last year, if from Buffalo, I want to stick
it to those guys because Utah, when they came into
Buffalo last season, they punked out the Sabers like they
outskated them. They were faster them, they and they just
beat them up and down the ice the whole game.
So and you know, with you know, Doan and Kesselring

(38:11):
are gonna want to get something back at their old guys,
and you know JJ's going to want to show off.
And I do wonder what the reception is going to
be like for JJ because you know, there's the whole.
You know, people kind of pick on Adams for doing
the whole, like we want guys that want to be here. Well,
JJ made it very clear he didn't want to be here.
So I wonder if it's going to be a really

(38:34):
icy reception for me, even though the fans loved them.
But you know, turn good way to get booze is
to turn your back on on Buffalo fans and say like, nah, nah,
I don't want to be I don't want to do this.
They love too, Yeah, and you know we're not going
to relitigate that whole thing. But I I would argue

(38:54):
that Jack's exit here was a lot more understandable than JJ.
But maybe we'll save that one for like the Olympic break,
when we got a lot of time to discuss things.
But but yeah, it's this is a this is a
really interesting schedule, and getting out of the division might help,
you know, kind of diversify some things that they need

(39:17):
to they need to do and to work on. But
but yeah, this is it's gonna be interest especially with
Chicago coming up. Chicago's playing really well too, a bit surprising,
although I'm very happy for Jeff Blaschell. I think you know,
he had such a bad hand del to him in
Detroit where it was like, hey, this aging dynasty is
now dead. Good luck buddy, like but he's also the

(39:41):
last guy to coach the Red Wings to the playoffs.
So I don't know, I don't know, but yeah, but yeah,
it'll be It's a very interesting time. But that three
and four on the road Utah, Colorado. What a day off.
And then in Detroit, I think it is, yeah, is evil,

(40:01):
Like that's an evil three and four. He go play
at Elevation for two days and then go to Detroit,
Oh thanks and then a three on four three and
four after thanksgeting American Thanksgiving, which is normal. But at
Pittsburgh Holiday home for Jersey at Minnesota, what dirty different times.

(40:22):
That's a different time zone, man, Like, come on, got
eleven Olympic year. Seriously, seriously, it's guys covering it. I
fear for your travel man, Like, I mean, I've been
wanting to go back to Minnesota for years, but I'm like,
that is not happening. That trip is never like home

(40:43):
against Jersey and then be like all right, game over,
run to the airport. No, I don't know, I don't
think so.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
No, quickly on the you mentioned Josh done there and
the Sabers have the third most penalties taken in the
National hockey but their penalty kill has been so good.
You look at Alex Tuck with twenty three p only minutes,
was one of the top.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
Did get seventeen of them last night sticking up for
for bo byram So.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Right now, that whole thing was I don't know how
he ended up with seventeen penalty minutes in that one when.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
He got pummel. Well we'll leave that for another day.
But yeah, Taje.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Thompson leading the way in points. You mentioned him sort
of starting to get going even without a guy like
Josh Done in the lineup. He sort of has taken
that that role again, you know, is as one of
the top point producers on the team. You mentioned Dollen
hasn't even been full strength yet. We mentioned how good
dog Josh Doon's been where he had those three power

(41:35):
play goals in the two games last week as well.
So they begin contributions from the guys even without some
even with some guys out of the lineup that who
have been sticking out to you as far as the
guys to watch and maybe going forward here, well.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
Benson's been awesome since coming back. He's he's like that
top line with with him, Koolik and Thompson. And I
think Thompson was off to not just because he wasn't
scoring goals, but I think just his all round game,
Thompson was kind of struggling. He's looked very good the
last three games to me, and now the goals are going.
In the two he scores against Toronto, you know, one

(42:09):
was that you know, spinning turnaround snapper through Primo on
the power play and you know, I mean that if
Quinn's pass gets through to Thompson and ot, he's going
away with a game winning hat trick out of that one.
So but I think Thompson's been much better. I want
to see Thompson shot kind of find the net more

(42:32):
he used for the last few years whenever he shot
it would be on goal, on target. This year it's
been a lot wilder, which is kind of a first
year or two Thompson in Buffalo trait of sorts. But
like once he finds his like once he finds his range,
and I think I said this during the game last night.

(42:53):
Once he once he's got his range down, the goals
are going to start pouring in. So but like that trio,
Kleig's played very well in my eyes, like he's owning
it in the face off circle, which they've desperately needed
somebody to do. Uh, they've lost too many draws. So
like that top line is good. I know, crazy, crazy sentiment.
But but Quinn Quinn's been very active offensively. I think

(43:16):
that's been good to see. Zucker has been very good too,
although whatever happened to him the other the other game
where he was a little bit banged up. I think
it's kind of hanging around him a little bit, but
but that's you know, he'll play through it, figure it out,
and he'll be fine. We've saw I'm just seeing Heather's

(43:37):
lines posted here. Remindedly, we've had Noah Austlin here and
it's been kind of awkward for him because he's been
getting kind of limited in some of his minutes, just
because you know, if you're going to Kolik and McLeod
in those big moments and then Crebs, you know, the
Creb's done Melenstein fourth line, like they've got a very

(43:58):
specific role and if you need guys to kind of
muck it up, like those are the guys doing it. Austlin.
I listen. I know he's not getting the points and
all that, but boy, he can he can get stuff done.
I would love to see more minutes for him, but
you know, everybody's got a role here, so it's a
little tricky. But he's playing with two guys that can score.
And I think it was his first game, the first

(44:19):
game he played when he got recalled up with those guys,
Quinn went off. You know, Quinn played a really good game,
so did Zucker. So I would love to see more
of that, although I do wonder with like guys coming back,
like if that's you know, if he ends up cycling
his way out. Plus you got constat helnious blowing up
in Rochester right now, so there's pressure to get him

(44:40):
up here. And I'm like, everybody, calm down, calm down,
everybody like, no, Austin's a really good player, man, But
but yeah, it's yeah, top Line, Benson Koolik Thompson like
that's that's absolutely watch Josh Jones been awesome. Uh and
Alex Tuck's starting to come out of it too, so
you know, thing are starting to come together. It's these

(45:01):
are you know, I'm not a guy that likes to
gas up guys just aimlessly, but like you're seeing it now,
like everything that Lindy's been coaching them to do and
everything that he's wanted to see out of them, You're
starting to see it come through with more guys in
the lineup and everybody committing to this, and you know,

(45:22):
even the guys that you want to see a little
bit more from. It's like give it a week, you know,
like Dline, like I'm not worried about Darleen I'll never
be worried about Dahlen h McLoud. He'll come out of
it too. Like it's another guy. I think he's stressing
too much to try to do too much offensively. I'm like, nah, man,
just do your thing, like play how you play, how
you play, and you'll be fine because it worked less

(45:43):
it's worked last year, it worked great. And Crabs Crabs
is like their utility knife, Like whatever they need him
to do, he just does it. So you know, I'm
not sweating too much stuff right now. Of course, you know,
I'm not looking at this from a from a fan's
eye view. I'm looking at this as like a you know,
we got a lot more games to watch here, still

(46:03):
kind of kind of way to look at things, and
uh and yeah so but yeah, I once we see
a couple of these injury guys getting back in the lineup,
this might have something cooking here. Maybe, yes, I gotta
couch to it. Maybe all the time with the Savers.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
I don't know, because you don't see Norris on there.
You don't see a Kessel ring on there. Bryson, you know,
more of a depth defenseman as well, but he's not
in there as well. No, Greenway, So like the lines
could look very different in a month or so if
they start to get some of these guys back.

Speaker 3 (46:34):
And yeah, you know, the goaltending is what it is.
We talked about that at nauseum in the first part
of today. But they like things.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
I am encouraged about what I see from the lineup,
especially when they start to get some of these guys back.
But it's been very encouraging to see them not let
the oh and three start get to them and sort
of be able to come on the other side of
that and afore one in one stretch right now at
the time of recording. So, uh, I guess final thoughts
for you, Joe, and if you want to plug anything
got going on at Noted Hockey, your Bleacher Report, have

(47:02):
at it.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
Yeah, it's uh, I just like, what like what we're
seeing from from this group right now, and they do
like the collective confidence that they're showing, Like it's a
lot of you know, just letting stuff roll off their
back instead of letting a linger because you know, I
know we can be annoying asking them questions about things,
that's for sure, but but they've just kind of like
been like all right, next up let's go. And I

(47:24):
think that's such a different mindset and attitude change from
the past, where even one loss would just kind of
like sit and fester and shoo at him, even though
they'd be like, no, it doesn't bother us, and be like, well,
how you're playing, certainly, you know belies the fact that
you know it is definitely upsetting you that you lost
that one game. But but I I do like what

(47:45):
we've seen from them as far as just being able
to move on, next, next, next thing up, let's go.
I think that's really good to see Bleacher Report. Come
check out everything we got going on over there. We've
we've got tons of stuff. A couple of my colleagues
are working on, you know, very way too early saber
trade ideas, which boy, they didn't bring those to my
to my attention to be like, hey, could you do

(48:07):
one of these, and I'd be like, no, I'm not
doing that. Somebody else can handle it. I don't want
to get grief in the room from the guys, so
it's that's fine. But but yeah, we we have tons
of stuff going on there. I might have some interview
stuff coming up there soon with some some NHL legend
types and other folks, and and like, anytime somebody releases

(48:30):
a brand new jersey, your boy's gonna be critiquing it.
Let me tell you that right now, because I've been
teams are dropping these things like crazy all over the place,
and I'm like, yo, like, let me know you're doing
this please. So but I understand. I think we're probably
gonna be seeing Winter Classic jerseys here soon, so hopefully,
I mean, because it's like, what was that Florida and

(48:52):
Rangers or Tampa Rangers or something like that, some crazy
thing they're doing down Oh it's in Miami, So I
don't know. Man, Like I'm I'm I want the Panthers
to bring me a winner. They had a winner with
those bright blue reverse retros a couple of years ago,
and I've just been dying for them to bring him back.
And they're never coming back. Yeah you're nae Harford and

(49:13):
Quebec the other night. Uh, yay to the jerseys, big
nay to the circumstances. It's you know, like there's like
internet meme ways to talk about those that are very
crass and cruel, but like I can't imagine, like you're
wearing the clothes of the teams, you're erased from history.

(49:35):
I don't care for that very much. You know, like
you went and became something else. That's fine, That's totally fine.
That's who you used to be, though, Like, come on, man,
like you gotta I know, if I were a Whalers
or a Nordics fan, I'd be like, boy, it's cool
seeing it. Where is it those guys wearing them? I

(49:55):
don't like them, you know, like that kind of deal.
So I but it just it feeds into my long
running theory that anything teams wore, and this goes for
all sports, anything teams were like in the eighties and
nineties was the best any sports have ever looked ever,
and changing from it was the worst thing to ever

(50:16):
happen to anybody ever. So seeing stuff from those days
coming back and people being like, oh my god, they
look so good, I'm like, of course they do, because
they're perfect.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
So that I guess that means you're not going to
be looking forward to the Utah versus Winnipeg game where
it's Thrashers versus Coyotes.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
Wrong that well, I would hate the circumstances, but UH
would be all about it because that's I did a
piece for Bleacher Report, for old you know, for old
jerseys I would love to see come back. And I
didn't pick Thrashers jerseys for the Jets. I picked like
the nineties or yeah, the nineties Winnipeg jerseys for Winnipeg.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
Who technically they technically belonged to Phoenix, who doesn't exist
right now.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
So because they've been put on the shelf because it's
you know whatever, man like, okay, but but I I
you know, the team ussalone ninety you know, or mid
nineties Jets jersey says like come on, I know, I
know for a fact Winnipeg would bring those back. The
second the league was like, okay, you want that history,

(51:26):
it's yours, like kind of like what they do with
the Cleveland Browns and all that in the NFL, and
they let the Browns leave to go to Baltimore and
then they're like, oh, well, you know, the Browns were
on hiatus and like, you know, okay, sure, and then
it was expansion team Browns and they're like, well now
they have the history, and I'm like, they just started.
What do you mean they have the history? They just started.

(51:46):
They drafted Tim Couch, Like give me a break. I
mean that's something the classic old Browns would have done anyways,
But you know, still.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Sorry to get you down this rabbit hole at the
end of the At the end of the show, Joe,
I'm sure you can go on for hours about.

Speaker 3 (51:59):
This, Yes, one hundred percent could.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
But again, always appreciate your time and always look forward
to seeing what you got going on Noted Hockey and
Bleacher Report.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
Appreciate it, Brandon, Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
That's gonna wrap it up for another entertaining episode right
here on the Armchair GM Sports Network. Thank you those
that tune in on our video version on YouTube and
those who listened to your favorite on demand audio platform.
Please give us some love whatever one you chose to
listen to us today, make sure you give us a
follow on exit Saber Semantics as well for all of
our sabers coverage and Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for our
of our short reels and content. Or my guest joe

(52:30):
Yurdin of Noted Hockey and Bleacher Report. My name is
Branick Putto. And that's it for another episode of Saber Samantics.
We'll talk to you again very soon. You're listening to
the Armchair GM Sports Network.

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Buffalo's Goaltending Conundrum After Strong Stretch w/ Joe Yerdon - Sabres Semantics

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Buffalo's Goaltending Conundrum After Strong Stretch w/ Joe Yerdon - Sabres Semantics