Grading and Analyzing the Buffalo Sabres 2025 Off-season Movement - Sabres Semantics - The Armchair GM's Sports Network

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

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Show.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
With interesting stories from the past and current of analysis,
this show is sure to provide an entertaining and unique
perspective for both savers and hockey fans alife exclusively on
the Armchair GM Sports Network.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Welcome into the first Saber Semantics of the twenty twenty
five to twenty twenty six season right here on the
Armchair GM Sports everyon. Thank you everybody that's tuned in
on our YouTube channel on our new video layout, make
sure to hit like hit subscribe to smash that belt,
stay up to date with all of our Sabers coverage,
and thank you to those that are listening on your
favorite on demand audio platform. Back for another season of
Saber Semantics right here on the show. We're gonna have

(01:34):
a lot of great guests on as well, some Beat
reporters over in Buffalo. We're gonna do some more prospect
in depth prospect look with Austin a little bit as
we go forward into the season. We're gonna look ahead
to the Prospect Challenge today as well on the show.
But to open this first episode up of this of
this season, we're gonna look back at what was an
interesting offseason for the Buffalo Sabers, you know, whether you

(01:56):
want to say in an interesting in a good or
bad way. We're gonna get into the additions, subtractions, the
resignings that Kevin Adams was able to do. We'll get
the fan polls as well. What you fans out there
thought of this offseason for the Sabers, your biggest acquisitions,
and how you would grade it in Kevin Adams, what
he was able to do with the drafts, with the signings,

(02:17):
with the trades. The Sabers were active and did add
in some players and bring some players back. But you know,
with what we thought this offseason might be could be
underwhelming to some people within the Sabers Twitter again, make
sure to give us a follow on ex at Saber Semantic,
stay up to date with all of our Sabers coverage
as well as get in on our fan polls. Brandick
Puto and Austin brought her with you Austin. Great to

(02:40):
be back with you. We've been trying to figure out
when we get going with this show again, but we
end up just deciding to wait until we get get
ramped up the beginning of September. We're gonna do a
quick offseason episode here and again, I don't know what
your your thoughts are. We're gonna guess we're gonna get
into it. But Sabers did make some moves. But we
did get some you know, funny stuff in the off season,

(03:02):
with Terry Pagoula wearing a Sabers helmet as the top
six forward, the roof caving in, a lot of a
lot of stuff that just easy for Sabers fans to
get on honest about. But you know, how did you
how would you kind of overview this off season for
Kevin Adams and what could possibly be if things don't
go well His last kick at the can.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, I mean, I will say it wasn't the roof
that cave, Dan, I have an inside source there. It
was literally just a sprinkler head. So can't really blame
you know, the Sabers for that one, as much as
we would like to the off season itself, Like I said,
this is a good time to kind of talk, right,
we have a quick little bit to here, just to
kind of summarize the off season, because it was a
long one and you know, nothing, there are a couple

(03:44):
of major things, but there actually was like there is
obviously a lot to talk about, but we're finally gearing
up here for the season. A much more normal September
for the Sabers organization. But yeah, I mean the off
season was. Yeah, it's the same criticism for Adams that
I think most people will have, right, it's you weren't

(04:06):
acting like a GM trying to save his job. Now
realistically this year, I think there actually might be a
counter argument to that, which is maybe the team was
saying like, hey, we're not going to let you. But
then the more that I'm saying this, it makes no
sense because they let him trade JJ Bertrica and they
let him trade Dylan Cousins in last trade deadline. So

(04:30):
I don't know. Maybe I don't really know, but I
do know what had happened this offseason was half of
what I originally expected, but the other half the shoe
never fell, right. We got the top six forward moved
out for a top four defenseman, which I think we
all were expecting. And I think the JJ Berturca stuff,

(04:50):
which we'll get into here obviously in a little bit,
because that's the biggest storyline here. I think that kind
of became a little bit of reality the knight Frank
Sarah Valley, I think it was the night before or
the trade deadline.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
You had talked about all that smoke after the trade.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, I think it was the night before the night
before the trade down on the Sabers were playing on TNT,
and Sarah Valley and Kate are not Kate with the
extra name, the girl the insider for TNT. Her name's
escaping me right now. They both kind of just dropped
the bomb that hey, jaj patricka might be available and
teams are going hard to try and acquire him at
the trade deadline. Nobody believed him, obviously, because you know,

(05:28):
he was one of the few productive Sabers swards. And
then as the offseason kind of kept ramping up, Sarah
Valleys kept hammering at home, hammering at home, almost to
the point where you could clearly tell he was being
a mouthpiece for the agent, because clearly that's where he
was getting all this stuff from, which is fine. That's
how these insiders get their info. He ended up being right.
The Sabers moved on from Patrica, got a top six

(05:52):
defenseman and a potential utility piece in Josh Don. But
it was again, I could sit here today and say,
if you would have told me back in June that
Paturka would be gone and Byron would still be here,
I'd call you crazy because I didn't think there was
any way bow and Byron would still be here, and
he is now. Who's to say he still could technically
get traded, but the Savers extended him to two year deal,

(06:12):
and here we are. Obviously a couple of small moves.
There was the Connor Clifton for Timmins, which I think
is a nice little upgrade there on the third pair, obviously,
but yeah, it's just another Adams did something, didn't quite
do the next thing, which has kind of just been

(06:33):
his whole mo as a GM for the Buffalo Sabers.
You make a good move, but you don't do that
next thing that everyone knows is should be coming, but
it just never comes.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
And we had kind of looked at it going into
the off season, was where the Saber is going to
be as active. We always hear that Adams is one
of the most active gms talking trade, but whether he's
taken seriously by all those gms and whether or not
any of those things really materialized. Other than the Paturka thing,
you heard names swirling around that could be a available,
big game hunting for the Sabers. But I think that

(07:04):
probably Kevin Adams looked at these guys that he had
to re sign and probably thought that he couldn't, even
though that they have the cap space go out and
waste all of their cap to be able to get
one of those top end guys. But again the Purka trade,
as you mentioned, when they're smoke, there's fire, and it
ended up coming to fruition, which we'll get into here shortly.
But like I guess, what I'm asking is we hear

(07:28):
all this activity going on, and sometimes it happens and
sometimes it doesn't. Around the league in general, guys sometimes
don't get moved at all that are talked about league wide.
So from a Saber's perspective, like, were you even really
expecting them to get that top six forward that we
had really been clamoring for, especially after you move out
a guy like JJ Peturka, and you don't really replace

(07:51):
him with anybody that has NHL caliber or has that
pedigree of being a top six forward already in this league. Obviously,
guys with potential or guys that they've draft did that
they want to take that next step, but that's all
hope based. It's not results based already. Josh Norris coming
off a major injury as well, Taje Thompson hopefully going
to be one hundred percent. So, like, what were your

(08:11):
thoughts on that whole situation.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, I think the second JJ Berturca was traded, it
was fair for everyone, Sabers fans, media who aren't covering
the Sabers, Sabers media, everyone in general to expect a
top six edition because again it's been widely discussed that
the Sabers need a true, proven, top six forward before
the Perturka trade. Now Perturca's gone, I think you upgraded

(08:35):
your biggest need in the Perturca trade, which we'll get
into again. Like you said, but I think it was
fair to expect that.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
It was and again, like Paterca, necessarily like he he
was a great goal scorer and nobody's taken that away
from him, but it sounded like they wanted more compete
on the defensive side. They ended up trading away Cousins
and Paturca, which were two guys that you had talked
about building around the last few prior years. Now you
trade out two of those guys, you get Quinn re

(09:03):
signed on a on a small bridge. So you know
that that kid line that was so good just a
few years ago, two thirds of it is gone. And
now you're looking for answers and looking for hoping that
Zach Benson takes the next step forward, Hoping that Yuri
Koleach can play a full season, Hoping that each rose
and can make the jump from the from the American
hockey like like, all these things are our hopes. They're

(09:26):
not tangible things that you can say that these guys
will be sixty to seventy point producers at the National
Hockey League level.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
Yeah, and I think you know, I'll say one difference
between Cousins and Paturca, and this isn't even speculator anymore.
It's very clear that this is what happened. Cousins wanted
to be a part of the solution here. It's very
clear Perturca did not I mean, let's just call us
beatas baid. I like Jaj Perturkey's phenomenal offensive player. He
scores a ton of goals, but it's very clear that
he didn't want to be here so much to the
point where the Sabers, who had all the power right

(09:58):
like he was an arbitration eligible a team could have
offer sheeted in. But let's be honest, the offer sheet,
the contract that he signed with Utah, if that's an
offer sheet that could sign to your Kevin Adams and
clearly match that. Patrica was never going to sign an
offer sheet because he didn't want to be here. In
the threat of the Sabers matching was there. Obviously there's
a way it could have been constructed that it could

(10:18):
have worked out. But I think, just like again, the
Sabers gave it, not gave it. The Sabers essentially said Perturca,
you don't want to be here, We're not, We're just
gonna we'll we'll upgrade our team and we'll trade you.
I think you know Cousins had already locked in here,
so I think you know the two differences there. Everything else,
the hope and stuff. Again, when we get into the season,
We'll get into that obviously when we do our preview,

(10:39):
but I will say I see a much more clear
strategy than Hope. The Hope is definitely there in terms
of who's going to replace Patrica, right because they never
got a top six forward. But this year they weren't
hoping on making strides. They are relying on Tage Thompson,
Alex Tuck, you know, Zooker, McLeod, Norris, Well, Norris is

(11:05):
a different category. Those four the proven ones. To me,
they're they're hoping Norris can stay healthy. They're hoping Quinn
gets back to form, which isn't great, but you could,
like Jack Quinn could still be very good. And then
I mean, hey, who replaced jj berturkeyo with Jack Quinn?
The Benson and the Kool each are the two big
ones obviously to me, But to me, their strategy is

(11:25):
and I'm not saying it's a great strategy, but I
see the strategy. It's our defense is now our strength.
Last year, offense was the strength and defense sucked. This
year We're not gonna let defense suck. And again, no injuries,
and on paper their top six defense is very good.
I don't think anyone can debate that. So I that's
kind of back to the pertect situation where I get

(11:47):
what they did. I don't like what they did because
it kind of set a precedent where JJ any pending
RFA complains, Okay, we'll trade you. I don't like again.
At some point, maybe a new GM comes in, maybe
they play hard, the new GM will start saying absolutely
not like you're signing here, we own your rights. That's
a whole different story there. But the pertective situation, it
was clear it deteriorated and deteriated fast, and the agent

(12:11):
went to work and said, we're not signing you here,
get us out of here, and that's what happened. I mean,
I don't know how fondly he's going to be remembered
here because of the way it ended. He was a
very good player while he was here, and one of
their more consistent goal scores is the wrong word because
he was a very streaky goal scorer, but he was consistently,
you know, twenty five thirty goals the last couple of seasons,

(12:31):
So could he could have been a very big, key
core piece for this team. But it's clear like he
didn't want to be here, and whether you agree that
they should have that they gave into that or not
is a whole different thing. But this is this is
clearly a player who didn't want to be here. And
to my when I say to you, is have fun

(12:52):
in you tom My friend. They're a good team obviously,
like he has a good team, But good luck having
the night life you had in Buffalo, which is again
I'm not going to get into it, have fun in Utah.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
The Sabers got the time of recording five point one
million in cap space, so you know, after all the
signings and resignings that they were able to do, they
still have some money to work with and they can
still have some flexibility there where you know, maybe a
top six forward comes in sometime and I don't know when,
but regardless of that, let's get into the additions and

(13:25):
subtractions here. I'm going to put it up on the
screen for you guys following along here on our new
video layout, and for those listening and audio, I'll quickly
go over it so that you guys understand what we're set.
We're talking about ends. We've got Michael Kesselring and Josh Stone.
Obviously was the big move for JJ Peturka that we
talked about. Austin will stop there and just quickly touch

(13:49):
on this because it was the most significant thing that
happened in this offseason was this JJ Peterca and what
the kind of return would be. You get a guy
like Josh Stone at twenty three years old, you know,
son of obviously Shane Doane and again a guy that
has played in the American hockey legue got a sprinkle
in the NHL, still some decent potential as possibly a
bottom six six type of player. If he plays anything

(14:13):
like his dad, he's gonna be a valuable NHL player.
Michael kessel Ring, a twenty five year old right shot defenceman,
obviously brings a lot of size. Not the most point
producing guy, but the Sabers really don't need that. They've
got enough of those point producing guys. So Michael kessel
Ring as a right handed shot defenseman. Some people were
asking for a draft pick within that as well. Just
a little bit maybe the value for Paterca. Maybe teams

(14:37):
knew that the Sabers were trying to unload him, so
he weren't going to get full value back. So what
were your thoughts on Don and kessele Ring coming back
in the Turka deal.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah, I think. I think the original rumor was these
two plus potentially swapping first round picks. I can't remember
what U top picked. I think it was four, which
obviously that trade would look a lot better. But I
think again, initially, like me, I wasn't thrilled with just
those two for Perturca. But I think the more you

(15:08):
break it down and the more you look into particularly
kessel Ring, Doan is also a very good piece here too,
But kessel Ring to me, just has potential to be
a McLoud type addition to the back end. Very good skater,
has a nice shot, good passer, physical edge, good defensive guy.

(15:29):
Not you know, he can produce points. He had twenty
nine points last year, but he's not you know, he's
not there to put up points like a Dolliene or
a Power or a Byrom. I think he really stabilizes
that top four. An issue that could arise is they're
gonna he's here to play with Power, which is good
Owen Power has needed a partner for multiple years. An

(15:51):
issue that they might run into though, is Byrom's in
their top four and Byron is only good with Dollien,
so they're kind of pigeonholing themselves to kessel Ring, Power,
Dolly and Virum, which is a solid top four, but
it doesn't give you a lot of flexibility if an
injury there happens, but things like that. But I think
kessel Ring is a player that could be here a lot.
Like he's depending on RFA. So everything goes well, you

(16:14):
get him to a nice long term extension, and you
have again a relatively solid top four. Doan is an
X factor because I don't know what to expect from
Josh Done. He's, you know, twenty three years old, kind
of still developing. But the fact is what I'll call
him a top nine piece. I don't think he's a
fourth f liner at all. He could be really good.

(16:38):
He's a really solid two way guy. He played, you know,
if he plays anything like his old man. He's got
a hard nose, physical type of player who can also
produce it every now and then. But just seems like
two solid pieces. The trade itself, it's felt like it
was missing one more major piece, but again there's no
point in rehashing the trade that was literally months ago.

(17:00):
But the two pieces they got I think are quality.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Pieces like do you see Josh Done being a full
time Saber this season?

Speaker 3 (17:07):
Yeah, I don't even know why that's I saw some
people trying to kind of talking about that. I don't
even know why that was really up for debate. Did
you see the way they talked about Josh Done and
that embedded video? No, oh Man Armstrong said he was
too core of a player to give up. And there
was literally multiple again and so the way it was edited,
but there was multiple phone calls where like Adams was
insisting on Josh Done, you don't insist on Josh Doen

(17:29):
being in that trade if he's not a full time saver.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Twenty three years old, he played fifty one games in
Utah last season, eleven the year before in Arizona, played
twenty eight games with Tucson in the American Hockey League
and was almost the point of game As an American
Hockey League player. He was a second round pick thirty
seventh overall in the twenty twenty one draft. You know,
he's an intriguing talent, that's for sure, right shot, right winger.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Where did you get those numbers he played all or No,
I'm looking at kessel ringh my bad. I was like,
wait a.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
Minute, yeah, no, I'm double josh done.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
I mean I think we all know what kessel Ring
brings to the table. I think people that know watch
the NHL enough know that he's a quality right shot,
top four defenceman, and he's definitely a guy that's going
to be fitting in that Sabers top four because they've
got so many left shots up there that you just
think that automatically he's going to be, you know, at least,
if not on the top pair, at worst on the

(18:22):
second pair.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
Yeah, casse Raing's your top four defenseman to play with power.
I don't think there's any debating that because that was
again has been the biggest needed, not even a partner
for power, a top four defenseman was the biggest nee
last year. Particularly a partner for power. You probably could
have argued they needed two top four defensemen. They're gonna
rely on Byrum, which if he's with Dalli and that
can work, it can be downright dominant at times. So
I think that's good. But yeah, doan to me is

(18:45):
he's the X factor here. I don't know where he
slots in on the Sabers roster, but he's a Saver.
He to me is a Buffalo Saber this year unless
you know, injury or he literally just looks completely lost
in the preseason. But I just don't see that happening.
Fairburn Matthew Fairburn had a nice article about kessel Ring,
which again was like, oh you read that article. In

(19:06):
the way people talk about Kesselring, You're like, holy hell. Well,
the way people talk about josh Don is like, there's
not a bad thing to say about this kid, and
I think he could be a player. Don't expect like
elite level production from him, but expect like just quality,
two level, like two way play, which is what the
Sabers need. And it's very clear that quality two way

(19:27):
play is what this mo is for Kevin Adams going
into his last year of his contract, because look at
the like again, just everything that they've done has been
defense first defense, first defense. Hurst that's the acquisition of Timmins,
trading Partriuclar for guy like kessel Ring on a defensive forward, Like,
don't Dan Forth the free agent signing quality you know,

(19:50):
two way fourth line player. Everything about this is we
trust our offense. We just need to play better defense.
We'll see if it works.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yeah, I mean I think josh Don's intriguing because maybe
slots in more as a third line player, but in
case of injury or some sort of line combination, maybe
he can play on the second line. Again, Like, is
that too much to ask?

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Uh? I don't know. We'll see right on. My only
worry with Doan is I would also have him on
the third line. I think I would have in a
perfect world, given the roster, your second lines probably Norris,
Tuck and Quinn. Your first line would be cool Each

(20:32):
Thompson Benson because they played so well, and then your
third line would be McLeod Zuker done, and then have
your fourth line be any combination of Greenway, Malenstein Crabs
Danforth in a perfect world. But we'll see. That's why
I'm looking forward to the actual preseason. I know the
preseason stinks, but we'll actually get to see some tinkering

(20:53):
this year because last year they had to take the
entire roster over to Europe, so we kind of knew
who the roster was, so it'll be a te thing.
They have time to tinker and I will be looking
forward to that aspect of it.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
So we'll move on to a couple of the other
acquisitions this offseason. You you quickly touched on Connor Timmins
that move and Connor Clifton going out to Pittsburgh. Connor
Timmans coming in along with Isaac Belovo probably more so
going to be a Rochester type of guy, twenty two
years old. But Connor Timmins, twenty six year old defenseman
from the Niagara area, drafted originally by Colorado, moved around

(21:25):
a little bit, played for the Leafs, a guy that's
you know, sought after as a as a solid NHL
you know, bottom pair defenseman moving out Clifton, who just
did not fit in from the time he was signed here,
did have a better second season than his first season,
but wasn't really saying much, but quickly touch on what
you think Timmins if he's going to be, you know,
that that third third pair kind of guy for the Sabers,

(21:49):
and you know, obviously moving out Clifton was probably in
addition by subtraction.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
Yeah, I think Timmins is clearly a nice upgrade on
the third pair as long as that's ree slots. He
had a nice run with Pittsburgh after Tronto moved on
from him. They had a very nice run with the Penguins,
so like spot in a pinch, play the top four, Yeah,
but kind of belongs as that right D three, and
I think will be I think he'll be his pleasant surprise,

(22:14):
Like I'm not again, we're talking about third pair defensemans,
so when I say pleasant surprise, like, he's not gonna
go out there and get his teeth kicked in, which
is all you really want from your third pair. And
if again, when we get like based off the construction
of the D, it kind of seems like the third
pair is going to be a Samuelson Timmins, if Timmins
can drag Samuelson into relevancy and make him kind of

(22:34):
play the way we know Samuelson can play when things
are going well, because when things are going well for Samuelson,
he's very serviceable. Things just very rarely go well for him.
So it'll be interesting. But I like that acquisition. I think,
like you said about Clifton, just never really got off here.
I think Granado tried to set him up for success,

(22:56):
then he was gone and it was kind of what
is he going to be? He kind of seemed like
a good the rough type defenseman too, but it's just
too many dumb penalties, too many turnovers. It just he
was too inconsistent, I think. But he's gonna be in Pittsburgh.
They're not exactly great either, so it's not like you
can say, is he useful on a better team, because
he's not going to be on a better team. But

(23:18):
just never really clicked here, and you know, I know
you had to attach a second to him, but saving
some money and upgrading the quality of play from your
right D three again, it's one of those moves by
Adams where it's, hey, that's a pretty savvy move. Just
it's just so hard to give him credit because he's
always leaving you on and more.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
As much as we like the James Rymer as a
backup thirty seven years old, they bring in Alex Lyon,
who's been a journeyman thirty two years old, most recently
with the Detroit Red Wings. What do you think he's
going to bring to the position. Obviously behind lucan In
and whatever we see from Devin Levi as the X
factor is resigned to a two year contract as well,
But what do you think of bringing Lion in to

(23:59):
replace Rhymer? Oh?

Speaker 3 (24:01):
I love it. I think Lion is a very not
underrated because whatever that we're just thrown around a lot.
But he can give you what James Rymer gave you
last year. But he's only thirty two compared to late thirties,
Like you don't have to worry about his no offense
to Rhymer, Ryman played very well down the stretch and
the Savers had to rely on him. But it was

(24:24):
pretty clear at the end of the year, like, hey Man,
like Rhymer was an older player, he probably wasn't coming back,
and if he did come back, there's no way that
you could even bank on the same level at play
with Lion. There's a better shot of him being able
to play consistently that the way he's played throughout his
career over the length of his contract. They only gave
him a two year deal. He's only thirty two, one

(24:45):
point five million dollars, not the worst cap hit. So like,
if you know somehow they do have to send into
the miners, it's fine, but there's no way, like Lion's
your backup for the next two years, nothing against at least,
sorry not next too. Why is your backup this year?
To me, there's just no way last year, I was

(25:06):
I banked on it was Levi and Lucanan, and that
ended up being pretty much correct. Like they wanted Levi
to be the backup last year, he just they waved
Rhymer and Rymer got picked up the hit to get
him back because Levi was struggling so bad. This year,
there's just no way it's It's it's Lyon and Lucanan
and that's what it's gonna be. Levi is going to
be the start in the year in Rochester. We'll see
what happens after that, but to me, I think Lyon

(25:28):
was a really solid signing. I wouldn't if Lucanan plays
the way he played last year, like Lyon, Lion's probably
the starter by the end of the year. I don't
expect lucan In to be that bad as he was
last year, but that's the kind of player I think
you've got in Lion, where he's just steady. He's not elite,
he's not terrible. He's a steady goalie you can throw
out there, and let's face it, last year the Sabers
needed steady goaltending, and I think improved defense will help

(25:51):
both Lion and lucan In this year, because again it's
not all Lukenan's fault last year, but you have more
consistent goaltending from the backup position and hopefully your starter,
along with better defensive play. Again, I don't necessarily agree
with it, but I see the vision that the Sabers
front office put forth in this roster.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
And rounding out the bottom six. We talked about last
offseason that that was Devin Adams's big mo He brought
in Sam Lafferty didn't really work out, Nicholas Obey, Kobell
didn't really work out. They've brought in a couple of
depth pieces here, and you mentioned Justin dan Forth, Zach Jones,
Jake Lecision, and Carson Meyer. One do you see any
impact from any of those guys? And two, obviously Lafferty

(26:33):
and Kubell you know, just did not bring anything that
they were expecting as bottom six players.

Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yeah. No, again, get in Chicago to give you something
for Lafferty. Do you take that to the bank. But
also it's the same thing, right, your whole reconstructed fourth
line you thought was going to make it harder to
play against and make you a better team. The only
one here is Malenstein And as I said the signing
of Dan Forth, there's a chance balen Stein's you're extra

(27:02):
forward because again and we'll see what happens. Crabs is
a rough guy like Lindy Roff likes Peyton Krebs. Is
the way that he plays. I know people hate Payton Crabs,
but like he was shining a little bit better offensively
at the end of the year, but he also is
still that four checker who's not afraid to mix it up.
And Jeordan Greenways making four million dollars, So like Greenway
is not a fourth liner and a perfect role that

(27:23):
I would have him on the fourth line, but it's
not a guarantee he's a fourth liner. And then dan
Forth one point two million dollars or one point eight
million dollars, and again it's another year, So money isn't
exactly comparable to that of Mounain sign because he signed
his contract a year before. But like, when you give
a guy like Dan Forth who's thirty two years old,
a two year contract at almost two million dollars, to me,

(27:47):
that kind of seems like you have a plan for
him to be playing consistently like he played since he
signed with Columbus. He's only played eight AHL games that
dating back to twenty twenty one. So like, this dude's
NHL player, right, I don't Mallenstein. The year before the
Sabers acquired him was splitting time between Washington and Hershey,

(28:09):
so there's a there's a world where your entire fourth
line that Lenny Ruff and Adams got for Linny Ruff's
first year here is not playing, which in hindsight is
hilarious because Allenstein cost you a second round pick. Yeah,
but again, I'm all for whatever makes the team better.
So if dan Forth makes the team better instead of
Allen Stein, yeah, you got to play it. I'm excited

(28:30):
to see what dan Forth can do.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
And Jones, Lecian and Meyer most likely Rochester guys.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Yeah, Jones, I don't see factoring much into the defensive
battle because this team also forked over money to Jacob
briceon last year in the middle of the year for
no reason. They gave I think they gave Ryan Johnson
a three year contract, which I thought was very funny
because again, I didn't see him factoring in very much. Yeah,

(28:58):
they gave Ryan Johnson a three year contract. Ryan Johnson,
Bryson are probably are definitely not probably are definitely ahead
of Zach Jones. But I guess maybe Zack Jones could
win that seventh or eighth defenseman job, but I don't see.
And yah, then meyern Luitian.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, there's just they don't factor in here, right, So
a lot of additions, but again a lot of them
most likely would be in Rochester. And then you've got
Merca as well, who was the eighth overall selection, big
right shot, the defenseman from Chechia, most likely going to
be playing, you know, with Seattle Thunderbirds. You would assume
we're somewhere in the Western Hockey League again this year.

(29:32):
But they already did sign him, so I look forward
to seeing him at prospect camp and obviously a lot
of intrigue and potential with him, but obviously not right away.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah, MRCA was an interesting one. The fact that the
same again, the fact that the Sabers signed him basically
just made it it's Seattle. He was a guy I
was kind of curious to see if there's gonna be
any NCAA attraction there with the way things are going now.
But obviously him signing his entry level deal negated all that.
But I would say, yeah, it's like ninety eight percent.

(30:03):
He's in Seattle because I'm trying to think. I don't
know if he's like Neelander where he can go straight
to the AHL. I don't think so. But even if
he could, Seattle is clearly the place that he needs
to be. He is a very good prospect. He's going
to be a factor for the Sabers a couple of
years on the road. But he's still really raw and
still needs some ironing out. And I think him playing

(30:24):
in Seattle for a full year, because he wasn't even
Seattle for the full year last year, so I think
him be hating a full season in Seattle will be
good for him.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Absolutely. So we're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna
come back. We're going to get the fan polls, We're
gonna discuss the resigning for the Sabers. We'll look at
some other news as well, regarding Rasmus DLin, Tates Thompson,
and some national broadcast news and looking ahead to the
prospect talent. Let's stay We're here, me right back on
Saber Samantics Center off season episode right here on the
arm Pure GM Sports networking right back after this.

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Speaker 2 (34:05):
You're listening to the Armchair GM Sports Network.

Speaker 5 (34:14):
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Speaker 2 (34:19):
Here we call the boys and blue light.

Speaker 3 (34:23):
Here we call me. Some noise gets from.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
One and one. Let's hear you from your ons same.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Welcome back to part two of today's Saber Semantics off
season episode right here on the Armchair GM Sports Network brand.
Couto and Austin brought her back with you, continuing to
break down the addition and subtractions for the Sabers this
twenty twenty five NHL OP season. Thank you for those
that are tuned in on our video version on YouTube
and our new video layout. Make sure to hit like hid,
subscribe and smash that bell. Stay up to date with
all of our coverage of the same here this upcoming season.

(35:01):
There's the QR code to scan it if you're watching
on your phone or somewhere else, and you can scan
it and subscribe to our YouTube channel right there. And again,
thank you to those that are listening on your favorite
on demand audio platform. Appreciate you being with us for
another season of Saber Semantics are sixth season a part
of the Armchair GM Sports Network. Austin can't believe we've
been talking Sabers six years on this network. But again

(35:22):
a lot of exciting stuff coming the season, prospect to
updates as well from Austin side of things with his
great work at FC Hockey. So Austin, as we continue
on here, we talked a lot about the ins and
the outs, as you guys can see up on the
video version. Got that graphic up for you guys. The
re signings is something that we haven't really discussed a
lot about. Kevin Adams talked about needing the cap space

(35:44):
to re sign a bunch of guys. We quickly touched
on Devin Levi and Ryan Johnson, but the three big
ones were obviously bowen Byrom getting that bridge deal, Ryan
McLeod getting an extension, and Jack Quinn getting that bridge
hoping that he can return to form after a few
injury riddled seasons. What are your thoughts on bringing those

(36:04):
technically five? But I guess we're gonna put Levi and
Ryan Johnson aside right now. So Quinn, McLeod and Bowl
and Byram mall coming back.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
Yeah, I'll me. I'll touch quickly on the Levi contract.
I think less money than I originally anticipated, but also
it makes sense him going two years really right? Yeah,
him going multiple years was also interesting. But yeah, as
I said earlier, I expect him to be in Rochester.
So I mean the big ones are, like you said,
McLeod Quinn Byram, and I guess we'll just go there. Quinn,

(36:40):
I kind of thought potentially it was a trade chip.
So when he got signed, I think that was a
couple maybe not a couple. I think it was the
day of the draft. I think it was maybe not morning,
but it was like the afternoon of the draft. So
when that kind of came through, I was like, all right,
Jack Quinn bridge deal, don't hate it. I'm not. You know,
It's funny when Quinn was after I was probably his

(37:00):
biggest supporter, and then over the last two years I've
completely bought out on him, which most of us have.
But the people who were out on him from his
draft kind of probably get a little bit of a
victory lot. But I still think it's a little too
early for that. I do think this is a player
that you know, we're talking about how bad he was
last year, and he was he was bad, and points

(37:20):
aren't everything, but we're talking about a player no matter
how bad he was this is a player that had
career highs and goals assistant points and he was bad.
So I'm not fully out on him. I think there's
a chance that the player we saw, you know, dominate
Rochester as first. I mean technically a second year pro's

(37:42):
first year pros fifteen games in that weird COVID season,
but his first full season in Rochester played forty five
games at sixty one points and was just a dominant player.
Like that player is still in there. I'm probably about
like thirty five percent sure that that player will be
there this year. So I'm still not fully in on him,
but part of me is starting to buy back in
on the Jack Quinn and I think that two year

(38:03):
contract will be nice if that works out.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
Only twenty three years old too, like yeah, still time.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Yep, and you know, again not the same player, but
I think like the sabers Bridge middle Stat and that
ended up they ended up trading him, so it's not
a great comparison, but like middle Stat ended up turning
into a player that we thought was pretty good. I
know Quinn was different. Quinn was good and then was bad.
Middle Stat kind of consistently gone a little bit better
that was good. The what do you want to do

(38:32):
Shouil McLeod or Syro McLoud? Yeah, the McLoud contract was
just a nice piece of work by Kevin Adams, right. Like, again,
you don't love to give the guy credit because I
just don't like him, But getting McLeod at five million
for four years, like, that's that's quality work. Right, he's
twenty five years old. That's a good trade that you made.
You locked him up for. You know, people will say

(38:52):
four years is a long term contract, mid term, whatever
you want to call it, Like, that's a nice You
got him for a majority of his prime to age
twenty five to age thirty. I think that was a
very nice contract and he was a vital part of
this team. He is a guy who is your third
line center, can push up to that second line center.
And let's face it, if Josh Norris is who we

(39:13):
think he is, they're gonna need McCloud to play second
line center because Norris is probably good to miss twenty
games no matter what. But McCloud's quality player and a
key part of this team. So I like that contract
a lot there, and the Byron one is just it
is what it is. The way Adams talked about byram
I was he was as good as gone. Like he
was openly saying, we're going to trade this guy if

(39:34):
the right offer comes, not saying not typical GM speak,
were like, you know, I'll listen on anyone if the
right offer is there. No, he basically said, if someone
offers me something for Byron, I'll move for two years. Yeah,
I think the contract, the contract itself for Byron is fined.
I have no issue with it. Two years.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
It's a tradible deal, it's.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
A tradeable deal. It's more so, I just can't believe
it got to that point. Like I said, I don't
hate Byron, I just know he like any smart, logical
saber saying we know he's limited, but when he plays
with Dollien and he's good. The problem is hopefully we
don't have to deal with this problem because hopefully the
things work out. But say you keep Birom here for

(40:17):
two years and you play him with Dolly because that's
the only place that he's effective, You're setting yourself up
for where if your team gets good, is Kevin Adams
still here? And then if the team gets good and
Kevin Adams is still here, and Byron's a vital part
of that. What the heck does that next contract look like?
I don't know, it's just a I don't care that

(40:39):
he's back. It's just it was so much easier to
just trade that guy and move on, but they didn't.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
I mean, I didn't want to give him away for
free either because obviously he had value or he has
value around the league.

Speaker 3 (40:51):
See I thought so too, But I don't clearly not
that good because he's still here. Right. There was that
reported trade with saying Lewis where people it was never
Jordan Kyro. I don't care what anyone says, but like
if if Saint Louis Blues offered Jake Nighbors for Bowling Byrom,
that trade gets done. In my opinion, that's a no
brainer for the Savers, and that trade never happened. So

(41:13):
to me, it's what the heck were the Blues offering
for Byron for that trade not to get done.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Hopefully it was more than Patrick Bergland and Vladimir Seboca
you could up working out because they got Tae Thompson
in that deal. But regardless of that, but yeah, Byron's
back on a bridge, but again tradeable deal. Whether he
stays for a year, gets moved next offseason, or gets
moved at the deadline, who knows. But again he's back
for on paper two years, but could be less than

(41:38):
that and we'll see, you know, maybe maybe he's in
the long term play here as well for a big contract,
but again, walking him, he walks to free agency when that,
if that, when that deal is done correct.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
Yeah, which is fine because they filed for arbitration, so
it was always.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Going to be that anyway, right, And then the other
we talked about McLeod like just a career season, I
like four years at five million, because he's a guy
that has shown that when needed, he can move up
to play that second line center role. And as you mentioned,
when Norris misses fifteen or twenty games, which seems like
an automatic, you hope that it doesn't, but if it does,

(42:14):
McLeod has shown the ability that he can elevate his
game to play a second line role when needed. A
guy that went to the Cup two years ago with
Edmonton and really had a great second half with the
Sabers and really fit in well. So I think getting
McLeod done was one of Kevin Adams's best things he's
done as a general manager, I think in the last
three or four years.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Yeah, no, I said that was solid trade and you
extended him for four years. Is all around good business
by Atoms on that one. And I don't need, like
like you said, career, I don't need McLeod to put
up fifty three points every year. If he can be
that eighteen to twenty goalscorer with forty five points, I
think you're very set for a guy who is your
third line center. I don't There's a lot of ins

(43:00):
and outs, but I would like to see McLoud get
more power play time next year this upcoming season, like
I hope he does, because I think he could be
a vital player on that. He's one of their best
playmaking forwards, which is something that they desperately need. They
need playmakers. So we'll see what their thoughts are there.
But I think just McLeod is a nice he's a
nice piece and that was a nice piece of business there,
And yeah, I mean, aside from the Tage contract, it

(43:24):
might be his best piece of business until you know,
knock on wood, he gets Tuck resigned. But even that,
I still think that McLeod's value will be better than
whatever Tuck signs if Tucked us side long term.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Here so we'll get into our fan poll here again.
Make sure to give us a follow at Saber Semantics.
Stay up to date with all of our Sabers covered,
and get in on the polls we do post them
for our shows. How would you grade the Sabers off season?
A very pleased, be somewhat pleased, CE, could have been better,
and be very dissatisfied. C won this poll with could
have been better with forty percent. Second was a tie

(43:58):
with the somewhat pleased and very dissatisfied, and then very
pleased had zero percent to nobody's surprise, but Austin C
grade was the consensus here.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
Yeah, I think that's perfectly fair. Right, could have been better? Like,
it's basically what we spent the whole last you know,
thirty five minutes basically saying it was it was fine,
It just could have been better. It wasn't the offseason
of a team desperate to make the playoffs. It was
a team It was the offseason of a team who
thought they were one piece away, which is we kind
of we've outlined that we've known for multiple years they're

(44:30):
not one piece away. We'll see maybe maybe we all
looked down. Maybe the team defense was the only thing
holding them back. Maybe they will still be the best
file on five scoring team this year. Maybe their power
play will you know, take an up tick, maybe their
defense will improve. But just it was fine, just not
like literally like the Pole says could have been better.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
Second poll that we posted was which resigning by the
Sabers this offseason was the most important to get done.
Ryan McLeod won this sixty two point five percent. Second
place was a tie between Bowe and Byron and Devin
Levi at eighteen point eight. Again, I know you were
a little bit hesitant about even putting Levi on it
because it's more of a Rochester move at the moment,
and Jack Wynn was at zero percent. But I don't

(45:14):
think anybody surprised that Ryan McLeod was the very much
consensus winner here.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
Yeah. Again, clearly, even the Levi thing, it's not even that.
It was just like to me, that wasn't he The
signing Levi is was not an important signing for this
year Sabers, right, because I just as I outlined, it's
it's lying and lucan In and I think it's unless
something goes wrong. But yeah, I mean McLoud was clearly
the answer here. Most people probably thought Byron was going
to be gone. Most people like me think Byron's a

(45:42):
little bit overrated unless he's playing with Daalien. Mcloud's just
all right, downright solid h So that resigning made the
most sense and out of I mean, depending on who
you hear, right like Drager kind of pumped it a lot.
I think the only one, if they're was an offersheet threat.
I think it would have been McLeod but I got

(46:05):
done relatively fast and never had to worry about it.
I don't think, like I said, I don't the Byron
one is it is what it is. This pole was
clearly going to be mclowd no matter.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
What, and then the last pole that we were able
to put up was there. It is new acquisition that
you're most intrigued to see on the ice for the
savers A season. Josh Done, Michael kessel Ring, Alex Line,
and Connor Timmins. Michael kessel Ring won this poll with
fifty percent, second with Josh Done at forty four point
four and Connor Timmins at a mere five point six percent.

(46:34):
Michael kessel Wring obviously the most well known name you
know as far as pedigree in the National Hockey League.
I know Timmins has been around longer, but more of
a lesser won name. So especially with kessel Ring being
that top four right shot defenseman, I don't think there
was much debate here that he was if not gonna
squeak out done. I think he wins this and it's

(46:56):
probably well deserved.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Yeah, I mean, honestly closer than I thought, But it
was the clear answer. He said he's the top four
defense mean, he's the vital piece of the cog if
he unlocks Owen power, which you know, I'm not if
all in power is good to the people who hate empower?
Are they happy? Are they not? You know what I mean? Right, Like,

(47:19):
if power is already solid, but if kessel Ring is
the piece that helps put Power over the top and
has him playing like a true number one overall pick defenseman,
like that was clearly like the most intriguing thing to
be nothing against. Don't I think Doane's going to be solid,
But it's much more intriguing to me if kessel Ring
can unlock power and make that top four legitimately solid.

(47:42):
Secondary to that would be where does don't fit in
and how well does he play? But clearly to me,
like and as the poll says, I think most closer
than I thought. But to me it was kessel ring
in a landslide is what I thought it was gonna be.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
I thought Line would at least get one vote.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
But I think people just hate goaltending, which is fair.
I don't like goaltending either, Like there's like, what three
goals in this league you can trust to be good
year over year, Like Lukenan was almost downright dreadful last
year and then two years ago was dominant, like it right,
Lion is just I think, like I said, I think
he's gonna be an underrated part of this team because

(48:16):
I think he's gonna be able to take some pressure
off Lucan him. But that's like Alice lyons, he's not
a sexy goal goalie name, Like, I get it. I
get why he got zero.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
So it would have been a bee if they would
have been out. Got a top six forward in your opinion,
which was pretty obvious.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
Yeah, I don't know though, like simply simply like moving
Peterka and buy rom out and just replacing them. To me,
like it would have been like like if we're sitting
here today and it was they traded byrom for like
Jake Nabors, it's probably still a C because now there's
a gaping hole in your top four defense.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Right unless you're marka to make it as a nineteen
year old rookie.

Speaker 3 (49:00):
Yeah. To me, what really would have put this offseason
to like a B almost like borderline A was been
get too legitimate defenseman three because I think Connor Timmans
is legitimate, but he's as bottom pair as I've said,
and a top six forward. They didn't get a top
six forward.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
But.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
They also have two top four defensemen, so the kind
of balance is like, yeah, I don't know. Simply getting
a top four defenseman and a top six forward in
here with their two trade chicks probably would have just
made it similar because he would have just been replacing
two guys with two different guys. You wouldn't have been
adding to the roster. But like I said, well, they're
banking on Jack Quinn, Zach Benson and Yurikolic. I guess

(49:45):
which is I mean, the hey, all three can't be bad, So.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
That's our off season overview. I guess in forty five
minutes that we were able to do that. We've been
sitting on for about a month and a half. But
again we'll see what we'll start to break down what
the lineup is gonna look like as we more so
get into the season here. But as we wrap up,
we got a little bit of business to talk about here,
a little bit of news. We'll start off here Austin,

(50:10):
as they pull it up on the screen, We'll start
off with, let's do this. Sabers to appear seven times
on national broadcast this season. Again, we had a little
bit of discussion before coming on about you know what
this actually meant. I know it's less games than the
Sabers had the previous year as well, but does that
count towards streaming? Does it count towards actually on national

(50:32):
television or as well with the increased amount of games
that are going to be on these these streaming platforms.
According to this press release that talks about their seventy
five games are sorry, the Sabers will play four times
on TNT and three times exclusively on ESPN slash Hulu Plus,
so again a streaming service there they'll be playing Detroit

(50:54):
on TNT, Toronto on ESPN, the Flyers on TNT, the
Flyers again on ES, then the Flyers again. They played
the Flyers three times in these these games on TNT
in January, and then another January game against Carolina, and
finishing off February with a Tampa Bay game on ESPN plus.
So against seven games less than than a year before Austin.

(51:15):
I don't know if you've got any quick thoughts on this.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
No, right, you're not that good of a team. You
get less national TV games, right, and playing the Flyers
three times on national TV as wild? That's my only thought. Really,
the guys whatever, that's insane.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
So then we look at Rasmus Dalen going to be
a guy that we're looking at here named the NHL,
named top NHL player born this century. So what are
your thoughts on I guess this random thing that came
out last week. I guess this is for anybody that's

(51:57):
born after the year two thousand.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
I guess, yeah. I mean, I don't really have thoughts
on it other than you know, Dollian's a very good player,
and this team and market owes it to him to
build a solid team around him, to get this guy
some national attention because I don't think he's getting enough
attention for the player that he really is. He Yeah,

(52:24):
I just like this dude was not on the Sabers.
He's probably I'm not gonna say he's won a Norris,
but he's definitely been the runner up to the Norse
a couple of times if he's on a good team.
So it's up to the Sabers to to finally do
something about it. Otherwise we're looking at another first overall

(52:44):
pick captain that they're going to have to trade because
he's not going to want to be here much longer.
And like, like I said earlier the Protectar situation, you
said a president, people don't want to be here, you
move them. Apparently that's what you do now, So you
have to be careful with how you handle him going forward.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
And there was that conversation with Kevin Adams that you know.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
Yeah, that's the whole other thing. If you're Rasmus Dallian,
what that like? What if this is after I talked
to you at the trade deadline, Kevin, you laid out
a plan for me and this is what you did.
I don't know, maybe this was enough to make Dollian happy.
But I can't sit here and actually believe that.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
Maybe Michael Kesselring will make them happy. On that right side, I.

Speaker 3 (53:28):
Said, maybe we're underrating the improvements that they've made on
defense because a lot of people are talking about you know, uh,
who was it that j Fresh He put out his model,
and his model as Sabers projected as ninety three points
in the second wild card. So I mean, maybe the
defensive improvements again, if everybody stays healthy, aren't good enough.
We'll see.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
And then lastly, the thing that we're looking towards next
on the Sabers calendar is the Prospect Challenge thing that
they've done the last few years. Five teams with their
prospects New Jersey Columbus boss in Pittsburgh will all be
there September eleventh to fifteenth. Full Disclosure will be there
covering the event for two of the days, so we'll
be able to give you guys coverage there throughout. Hopefully

(54:10):
that that Prospect Challenge, but Austin and US as prospect
guys and junior hockey guys, it's just nice to be
able to see those guys again. It's not going to
be anything where those guys are going to be you know,
Sabers in the next year or two. But it gives
you a good idea of what your pipeline looks like
and how it shapes up comparatively to other teams.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
Yeah, and you know, for everyone, I know how disastrous
development Camp has become because the Sabers just straight up
don't invite anybody to Development Camp. This is a chance
to see like some of those you know, obviously like
the Mercas and them are going to be there, But
this is a chance to see like some of those
Rochester guys like Hellnius, who wasn't at Development Camp, which

(54:53):
I thought was hilarious because yeah, that guy clearly like
nothing against Helenaious Blake. He probably should have been there.
You know, maybe a guy like Oceland is there, Wahlberg
is there, these guys who you know also and played
NHL Games last year. So, like, the Development Camp was
a bit of a letdown considering the roster that they're there.
I think it was like they didn't even have enough
forwards to do the three on three scrimmage a development

(55:15):
camp this year. It was. It was bad. So at
least his prospect challenge will give you a chance to
see like some real top prospects within the Saber system
because there are so a good amount.

Speaker 1 (55:26):
Look forward to seeing Redeem Murka and David Benkowski for
me obviously too. You know, big, big, rugged defenseman ben
Keowski plays with Owen Sound and Murka obviously already signed,
so really looking forward to seeing him in person because
they really went D heavy in this draft Austin that
was now a couple of months ago and they went
heavy D.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
Yeah, you know, Jerry Fordon said, we're a little recncy biased.
We're going with the heavy, physical defenseman. So we'll see,
we'll see if it works out. Big Kowski will be
an interesting one if he's there, I would very much
look forward to watching him. A name or two that
I am interested in, and this is more because they're

(56:08):
not Sabers, they're signed to Rochester. But you know, Mateo
Costantini I think played in the Prospect Challenge a couple
of times because he was drafted by the Sabers and
they recently signed Red Savage to a two year AHL deal.
So I wonder if any of those two get an
AHL like an invite to the Prospect Challenge because other
than that Yeah, it's just the same guys like the

(56:29):
Murca is going to be a guy that everyone wants
to watch. Helenius is going to be a guy that
everybody wants to watch goaltending, and I imagine it.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
Will be Leanders.

Speaker 3 (56:41):
Leanders leaning in in rats laugh because I believe the
Russian that they drafted this year did not He was
drafted by Flint, I think, but I don't think he
came over. I think he stayed in Russia. That would
have been interesting to see if he was there, right,
But I don't think he will be because I don't
think he signed with Flint.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
So the Sabers are going to be playing their game.
It starts on the Thursday, the eleventh, But the Sabers
aren't playing on opening night on their own prospect challenge.
I find that weird. But they're playing on Friday against
New Jersey at seven pm, Saturday against Columbus at seven
and then they finish off on the Monday against Pittsburgh
at twelve pm. So look forward to getting down there.
But again we'll see what the rosters look like and

(57:20):
everything else. But that's basically at Austin. If you don't
have anything else for our first episode back.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
Now go Ahead Prospect Challenge coming up, and then we'll
probably have a little preseason training camp preview and then
it's here like the ninth of October is the home opener,
which yep, that will be another topic for another day,
but that clearly doesn't seem like sales are going well.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
We're gonna hand off on that because we'll have to
see how things go and progress through the preseason. And
again we're gonna have Austin on for more of the
prospect side of things this season. We're gonna have joe
Yurden on Bleacher Report and some other Sabers Beat reporting
guests throughout the season as well. So thank you everybody
this's tuned in on our first episode back of Saber
Semantics right here on the arm Chair GM Sports Network

(58:10):
and our twenty twenty five offseason recap, and thank you
to those that are going to be with us for
this twenty twenty five twenty twenty six NHL season. Back
for another full season talking Sabers here on this network,
so make sure you give us a follow on exit
Saber Semantics, the update with all of our Sabers coverage.
Thank you to those that have watched today on our
video version on YouTube and those who listened to your
favorite on demand audio platform. So for Roust and broad To,

(58:31):
my name is Brandon Capudo. That's been another episode and
we'll talk to you again very soon. This is the
Armchair GM Sports Network

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Grading and Analyzing the Buffalo Sabres 2025 Off-season Movement - 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;}Grading and Analyzing the Buffalo Sabres 2025 Off-season Movement - Sabres Semantics