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Ep. 19 - No Good Very Bad Buffalo
54 Plays1 year ago
Buckle up folks! The boys hang out, have some beer, and get the demons out over Buffalo Sports. Tonight's focus was the Sabres and their progress (or lack thereof) this season.
3 buds. 2 teams. 1 city - The "Let's Go Buffalo" Podcast. Your new favorite podcast for all things Sabres and Bills. Our mission is to be your guide through the ups and the downs of being a Buffalo Sports fan. We are not members of the media nor are we experts - we’re just 3 friends who love our hometown teams and want to bring you along for the ride. This podcast will be for both veteran and newly ordained fans. We’ll have in depth conversation and debate with a few “newbie” questions sprinkled in to keep everyone afloat. Thanks for being here!
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Transcript
Welcome & Podcast Achievements
00:00:02
Speaker
you
00:00:10
Speaker
You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your new favorite podcast for everything bills and sabers. What's going on, everybody? You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your favorite podcast for all things bills and sabers with the pals Nigel, Tom, and Jake. Episode 19 coming at you all.
00:00:39
Speaker
Quick reminder to follow our social medias at let's go buff pod that is buff with two F's on Instagram and X and speaking of social medias You may or may not know but it is indeed Spotify wrapped season
00:00:55
Speaker
This is the time of year when those of us that you Spotify, excuse me, everyone gets to see what they have sessed over this year, putting in their ears. And with us being podcasters now, quote unquote, we got our first podcast rep wrapped, excuse me, as well.
Fun Ideas & Personal Reflections
00:01:13
Speaker
So we did find out that we were we were a top podcast for a handful of you. So if you were one of those people where we were your top lessons, please give us a shout out on your social media.
00:01:25
Speaker
We would love to see it and share it. In fact, we would like to do a thing where like, if we were your number one listen podcast, like I said, share it, tag us, and we're gonna get in touch with you. We've got some cool, very dope holographic stickers, not Pokemon cards, holographic stickers that we would like to send out to you. We're pretty stoked. We just recently hit over a thousand listens of this absolutely
00:01:53
Speaker
goofy, ridiculous comic excuse of a podcast. And that doesn't happen without all of you that are out there listening and clicking those download buttons and leaving reviews and all that stuff. So from all three of us, and I know the boys want to thank you all as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for being along with us. We're having a blast. Like I said, we don't know what we're doing pretty much ever. We're just three buds that love one another and love talking bills and savers. And we're so grateful to have you guys along for the ride. Tom, how are you doing this evening, pal?
00:02:23
Speaker
I'm good. I think you're onto something. I think we should do Pokemon cards of us next. That could be sick, dude. That could be awesome. Yeah, absolutely. Shout out our buddy Gabe who made those holographic pictures. Those things are sick, dude, and appreciate you for doing that.
00:02:41
Speaker
We got to make sure he gets one. I hope you snag one before you send them to Jake. But if not, we got to get you one for sure. We actually got to see Lisa, our graphic design artist, a couple of weeks ago. And she got to see her artwork in person. We had the stickers made, and she got to see them in real life, as opposed to just digitally on our Spotify or Apple Music podcast icon. So that was pretty fun.
00:03:05
Speaker
But no, man, I'm good. I, um, yeah, been a good week and plugging away. And, um, man, it's been kind of upside down land here in Buffalo sports world, but Jake, how are you?
Mental Health & Sports Fandom
00:03:17
Speaker
I'm good. Yeah, we'll get into the upside down for sure. It's been a long week. I've been stressed and busy, so what better way to unwind than to talk about the failures of my favorite sport teams, right? Let your demons out a little bit. I might go off on this one, so let's buckle up. This is it. I'm going to be trying to poke the bear. I'll pass.
00:03:38
Speaker
That's gonna be in this one. This one should be a bit of a doozy So our plan for tonight tonight's gonna be mostly a big big big big focus on the sabers But first as always we should probably handle a little bit of a beer corner here a fellas
00:03:54
Speaker
inject a little alcohol into me, please. So real quick, I'm going to jump in. I'm going to jump in first here. Well, actually, let's have them cracked. Ready? Three, two, one. OK, so I'm going to go first and I actually don't have a beer and I just want to touch on something real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real quick. The reason I don't have a beer is because I came straight from a therapy session and very, very quickly, just as three dudes that are working out, hanging out here together.
00:04:24
Speaker
I just want to take a quick, tiny two-second moment here to encourage any and all people, men included, to not be afraid of going and pursuing something like that. I've only been doing it for a little bit, but I'm already feeling the positive effects from it. And I'm just super stoked on it. And I know sometimes as dudes, there's a little bit of
00:04:47
Speaker
Stigma. Yeah, but of a stigma that like, you know, we're not supposed to do that because we don't get sad. But like I'm the first one to sit here, raise my hand. I get sad about shit and life these days is not hard. And I'm super proud of myself and super proud of my friends that I know that have also pursued therapy. So that's my little beer corner stick. I just that was very important to me to mention because I just think, you know, we need to start changing things like that. No, it needs to be. Absolutely. It does. Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah. No beer for me.
00:05:17
Speaker
one of the best things I've ever done for myself. So yeah, I agree. Jake, what are you drinking tonight, buddy? You, uh, you set it up. I set it up. Yeah. Well, prior podcast off air. Yeah. Offline. I completely agree with you, Nigel. I do think it's important. And yeah, props for putting it out there and encouraging people. And if there's ever a podcast that needs to encourage people to go to therapy, it's a Buffalo sports podcast. Yeah, that's, that's, that's one of the big reasons.
00:05:42
Speaker
No, so for me tonight, I'm drinking from Rising Storm Brewing Co., out of Rochester. A very fitting beer. It's called the Everyday Struggle, which, goddamn, that's how I feel pretty much day in, day out, watching
Beer Talk & Humor
00:05:55
Speaker
these teams. That's what I got. It's a New England IPA. It's tasty. Yeah, good beer from them. Yeah.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, buddy. Tom, what are you slugging down over there? I have. Mine is called Roller Dogs from Upper Pass Beer Company. It's an American light lager and I got it specifically for this week because I thought my week needed a bunch of artwork that has a bunch of different pups all on roller skates.
00:06:21
Speaker
that was really fun yeah no it's tasty it's a light nice light beer funny enough man my shirt that i'm wearing right now is a bunch of puppies on surfboards which i just think is the coolest thing jake tell me you have something with dogs on jet skis yeah you got yeah i i didn't get the memo that you guys were tossing around shit yeah all right well you know tom and i typically will plan things just there's the two of us jake because you know we like to we like to sometimes just have our own thing you know
00:06:47
Speaker
It's just coordinating outfits. I get it. I get it. Yeah, Tom and I, we're very often considered fashionistas by most people we talk to. That would agree. Yeah, my wife agrees. The only time she's ever told me that I've matched is when I'm wearing my, uh, either Bill, my white or blue Bill's jerseys and my white, blue and red Zubaz, um, uh, pajama pants. So that's the only time she's ever told, told me I've ever matched. So.
00:07:14
Speaker
I'll be honest, I really thought you were gonna go the only time she ever told me I matched was the day of our wedding. That one didn't even factor in. That wasn't even a call. Tom was like, you know what? I know I'm not matching. We're just, we're going up there.
00:07:30
Speaker
All righty, here. Well, I'm glad we got some laughs in because it's about to become bleak.
Sabres' Struggles & Analysis
00:07:37
Speaker
So we're going to be like I said, we're going to be taking a bit of a deep dive into the sabers this evening. We're going to touch on the bills, too. All right. But there will be some there will be some sabers discussion primarily this evening. So to get things. Oh, God. Yeah. Right. So back to the Halloween music. Wait, this is the same thing coming soon, right? Oh, yeah. Wait. Tell us what's going on here. Yeah.
00:07:59
Speaker
So the last couple games since the last podcast for the Sabres in terms of their record. Oh, that's so fat. Four straight lines. Lost to the St. Louis Blues, 64. Lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 62. Lost to the Nashville Predators, 2-1. Lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3.
00:08:22
Speaker
Short record on December 7th is 10, 14 and two. They are seven in the division. You and currently six points out of playoff spot. Oh, boy. Upcoming games tonight. Grizzly. Grizzly. They have a lot of games that they've played above the teams that are that they're trying to catch. Right. Like Sabers have played 26 games. A lot of the teams above them have played 22, 21, 23 games. Yeah. So.
00:08:51
Speaker
just again, hampering themselves. They're basically last in the division. Ottawa is the only team beneath them. Ottawa has played six less games and only has two less points. They're going to pass Buffalo at that point. I got a new cube. How can some teams get six games ahead? I'd understand one or two, but scheduling lies. Why is that fair? Does that mean the Sabres have been playing that many more games in a compressed amount of time? That doesn't seem
00:09:21
Speaker
Jake, you want to take that? It's, yeah, I mean, I guess it's not uncommon. I think those are kind of.
00:09:30
Speaker
opposite ends of the spectrum, like, like the most teams have played around 24, 25 games. So Buffalo has played one or two more. Auto has played one or two less, but it's just, it's scheduling. It's availability of arenas, um, things like that. I mean, it's not uncommon for a team to be separated by that many games. It just seemed like an alarmingly amount. It's like, it's like, uh, like when an NFL team playing two less games at this point, like that would seem unfair to me. That would be like wiry.
00:09:59
Speaker
It's that much more time. It's all going to come out in the wash. Every team play 82 total games and there will come a point at the year where like Buffalo will be on a like a little bit of a slower part of the schedule and Ottawa will close that gap in terms of their six game deficit right now. So it'll all come out in the wash. It's not something to be like concerned about or feel like it's it's unfair. It's it's all going to it's all going to come out in the wash.
00:10:23
Speaker
Auto was the lowest team at 20. Every other team has played 22 or more. So it's not that big of a difference. Yeah. Um, upcoming games tonight, Thursday, uh, at Boston, which my, you can just put up an L right now.
00:10:39
Speaker
Saturday versus Montreal, Monday versus Arizona, and then we head out west for a bit of a stretch here, Wednesday at Colorado, Friday at Vegas, Saturday at Arizona, and boy oh boy oh boy, that's an ugly looking stretch there. Maybe we'll be able to scrape out some dubs against Arizona, but
00:11:01
Speaker
Maybe, dude, they've been hot. They've been hot. They beat for fun status. Their last five games, they played the last five cup winners and have won every single match. Oh, I did see that. See that? They're hot right now. They're playing well. And so those aren't easy wins. They play them twice in that stretch. And then the easy match-ups against Vegas, Colorado, and Boston.
00:11:26
Speaker
Yeah, there's no shot we're beating Boston. There's no shot we're beating Colorado. And there's no shot we're beating Vegas. So at best, over that next stretch that I just mentioned, we're going to be three and three.
00:11:39
Speaker
That's that's best case scenario. That's super, super, super generous of me to say with the way this team is playing, which I think like the biggest prevailing issue at this point is what the hell has happened to the offense? Why? Like we were putting up goals. I think I think we ended last year scoring the third most goals in the entire league. Yes, we did. Yes, we did.
00:12:10
Speaker
And we're absolutely plagued right now with a complete inability to put the puck in the net. I think for me it's really concerning because we brought back the same goddamn team. We changed two things and none of them were on the offensive side of the puck.
00:12:31
Speaker
Like, it's the same iteration in most capacities of the exact same four lines we were rolling last year. And all of a sudden, this year, this team cannot score. And I have absolutely no idea why that is. 26 games played. We've only scored first in nine of those games. As of Tuesday, and again, this is Thursday. So as of two days ago, Sabres were in a three-way tie.
00:13:00
Speaker
for the worst in the league for that stat, meaning scoring first. Like it's like it's so it's a really good way to struggle in a hockey game is to always be playing from behind. Right. Like if you're constantly giving up one, two goal leads to start games and you're always battling back, it is such a shitty way to play hockey, Jake. Yeah, it's tough. Well, and the the stuff that we don't have, but it's significant. It's not always one goal. It's often.
00:13:29
Speaker
two goals, three goals. So they're digging a hole in the first period. They've been a horrible first period team, just looking unprepared to play and then needing to play this kind of reckless, like, fuck it, let's try to get some goals here style, which is what they did last year, but they didn't dig themselves that first period hole last year. Right. Yeah.
00:13:53
Speaker
So those nine games that they scored in first, do you have an idea what their record might be? Tom, Nigel, I want to throw a guess out what the record is in the games that they scored first. Seven and two. I was going to say seven and two as well. I'll change it. I'll say eight and one. You guys are super. You're both super close. Seven, one and one is their record in games they scored first. So like makes sense. Oh my God. Yeah. Right. Not a brain buster there. You score first. You win more games than you lose.
00:14:18
Speaker
You're going to control the narrative, right? You're controlling how the other team has to play, right? They're playing your game instead of you having to play their game.
00:14:26
Speaker
Yeah, you're doing a lot more dictating. You're absolutely right, Tom. I, Jake, and you, you already touched on like the, so like I said, like the biggest thing is what happened to the offense. But like to take it one step further, it's not even that we're not scoring, which obviously in sports, you have to score more than the other team. I think John Matt put it best. Well, you know, you, you score more parents. Both you win the game.
00:14:52
Speaker
Right? Like, John Madden said it best, dude. So, like, we're not scoring, which is an issue. But the team flat out completely... Whoa, I just touched my drums next to me on accident with my talking with my hands. Sorry about that. The team looks completely flat out lifeless, dead, uninterested. Like, here's the thing that really sucks.
00:15:16
Speaker
is even last year when we were losing games, the team was pretty easy to watch. These last four or five games, whatever, the team is absolutely unwatchable. I broke my own personal record last game. I did not even make it through the first 10 minutes of the game before I shut that shit down, dude, because I'm, and I mean this, like it's not good, but like,
00:15:46
Speaker
Will watch every single game even if we lose as long as we are competitive and hanging in there and showing up to these games and right now dude the team just looks like if you if you
00:16:01
Speaker
If you put 12 zombies on the forward lines, it would look about how they do right now. And that, for me, is the most upsetting thing. It legitimately hurts my heart. It makes me feel duped and sad and hurt because this was supposed to be the year. And not only does it look like it's not the year, but it is such a monstrous regression. I was saying to the guys earlier,
00:16:28
Speaker
I haven't seen Sabre's Twitter be like truly this bleak and depressed and pissed since 2007 when we watched Jason Pommenville and Chris Drew would just walk away for nothing.
00:16:43
Speaker
And like, that's where we are right now. I, Jake, do you have thoughts on that, man? Like, I mean, I think about Danny Brier. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Thank you. No, I mean, it's, there were some dark years in the current drought still. Like I'm surprised. I think like the, the tanking teams that.
00:17:03
Speaker
were tanking for McDavid in 1415. Those were bleak, but it was with the impression that there was hope on the horizon, right? You're going to tank, you're going to tear the roster apart, there's going to be pain, was a direct quote from one of the former GMs, Darcy Regere. You could kind of stomach it because there was some vision for the future, like, all right, we're going to tank and get this all-star superstar player.
00:17:32
Speaker
That was tough years to watch. The other one that was tough to watch was the COVID season, where they had more established players. They had Eichel, Reinhardt.
00:17:42
Speaker
Whatever your thoughts on him, wrist a line. They had decent players, but then bottomed out and finished last in the league. I think it was a shortened season, but I probably watched like 10 games that year because I just couldn't do it. They looked lifeless. Even when they were winning, they looked lifeless. And you're seeing some similar things to that this year where they just come out and don't look ready to play and don't have the jam and the...
00:18:11
Speaker
firepower to go against teams that they've been losing to this year. It's tough to watch, yeah. It's so frustrating, man. And you touched on it. Even when the years were... The expectations were infinitely lower in those other shitty years, right?
00:18:29
Speaker
This was the year that most people, and I think rightfully so. I don't think anyone was like being overly dramatic or anything like that. When people were saying this year is playoffs or bust. Yeah. And like, I think that was warranted after the season we had last year.
00:18:48
Speaker
No, I guess I'll ask you, Jake, you have some, you have a lot of great stuff on this planning doc here. Do you want to get into some of this data that's going on here? Or do you want to like, cause I'm, for me, dude, I'm, I, I could shift it at any point to who's to blame and what do we have to fix between Kevin Adams and Don Granado? Um, but I think there's a lot of really good stuff that you put together here on the planning doc. If you want to touch on some of that first.
00:19:14
Speaker
Let's touch on that first, and then let's get to the bigger picture conversations later. But I just want to say, I totally agree with you that I think the expected mindset this year was playoffs are bust. They missed the playoffs by a single standings point last year. It wasn't like they were out of it by 10 points, and we were hanging our hats on moral victories. They played really well, especially down the stretch last year, to get within a point of the playoffs.
00:19:44
Speaker
And like you said, they brought back the same players for the most part. They added a little bit on D. You would expect them to still have that similar...
00:19:52
Speaker
team play and that just has disappeared this year and it's I think we'll get into it a little bit here with some of the stats that I pull as far as why that is but it's yeah it's it's it's tough to watch like I stuck through the Detroit game I didn't turn it off after 10 minutes and I was you know a little uh masochistic there just trying to watch the game and realizing I was in pain but they they
00:20:20
Speaker
They got down four goals in the, I think it was all in the three and the first, maybe one in the second. But anyways, at any rate, they were down four nothing and they did claw back. They played well. They pushed the tempo. They got shots on net. They outplayed Detroit for long stretches in the second and third and clawed back to within a goal. It was four to three. It was a four to three game. And yeah, it's.
00:20:46
Speaker
At no point did I expect them to win the game. I was expecting them to have a big comeback and make it close and then lose in the end and feel heartbroken as a Buffalo fan. And that's exactly what happened.
00:21:02
Speaker
I don't know where to go with that, but I guess let's talk a little bit more about the offense, like what's changed. Defense too. I mean, I guess let's just talk about what's changed last year to this year, because the look and feel of the team on the ice is so noticeably different, and the results obviously are different. But I wanted to kind of talk about what is happening that's making it a different result on the ice.
00:21:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. I mean, if you I would say let it rip, Jake. Yeah. Like, is you got I'm looking at stuff that you've got here. It's it's all killer. And I see some things here that I'm going to jump in on, too. But do you want to walk through some of these some of these things you have written down?
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah, let's, let's do it. So, I mean, I guess first and foremost, the offense, like you, you mentioned it earlier, Nigel, they were third in the NHL in goals for in the prior season. Uh, that's elite offense and they, they played like it and generated chances to warrant that level of production. And to some extent that production is still there this year. They are a good team at creating chances off the rush, but they they've not been as lethal.
00:22:07
Speaker
in capitalizing on them this year and the chances that they're generating have dipped.
00:22:14
Speaker
You know, they were such a dominant team off the rush last year. I was expecting some regression, but not to this level. So when Jake is, when Jake is talking about off the rush, we're talking about like, if maybe if you're a basketball fan, like transition basketball off the rush is transition hockey. Like when you scoop that puck in your defensive zone and you're ripping through the neutral zone, like you're, you're rushing into the offensive zone. That's what we're talking about.
00:22:41
Speaker
And the Sabres being as young as they are, they're so, like when they're going and they're firing on all cylinders, they're so fast, dude. I truly believe that when this team is in the right head space, there aren't that many other teams in the entire League of 32 that can skate with the Sabres. And I think that was a big reason why they were just feeling themselves and everything was so fast.
00:23:05
Speaker
It was like a hot knife through butter and that's not like that's I think that's a big piece of Like why the chances are different man. It just looks so much slower this year. It's like they're skating through molasses Yeah, agreed. I the the the rush Shots the the official definition is any shot on goal that happens within four seconds of entering the offensive zone Okay, and yeah, they
00:23:32
Speaker
It's tough, like the games that stick out to me that I thought they played really well and deserved to win are the games where they are, they're motoring, they're moving through the neutral zone and breaking in effectively into the offensive zone for checking and winning puck battles down there. Like the Rangers game most recently comes to mind. That's the only sliver of good. In the past two weeks or so.
00:24:02
Speaker
But yeah, those those chances have dipped and that that is that's that's where they that's where they make their money, right? That's where they score their goals. It's not they're not a
00:24:13
Speaker
you know, LA Kings of the early 2010s where they're grinding through the offensive zone to chip a puck into a high danger area. They excel from their speed and finishing ability to get into the zone and expose other defenders and get a quick shot off to beat a goalie with a cross seam pass. And that's not happening.
00:24:35
Speaker
It's not, I think this kind of overlaps with the defense side of the conversation, but I think it's relevant. I've noticed like a lot of the emphasis this year seems to have been placed on
00:24:49
Speaker
neutering the defensive players a bit off the rush i've noticed defensemen joining rushes less regularly and staying more conservative staying back closer to the neutral zone when the team does break into the offensive zone um with the intention being to not allow as many odd man rushes the other way towards their own net so putting themselves in a bad position
00:25:14
Speaker
player-wise coming back towards their own net. But I really do think that's hampered the offensive production quite a bit without a big impact on the defensive game that they've played. And it shows. I mean, they're 18th in the league right now in goals four. It's not where you want a team with this much firepower to be.
00:25:34
Speaker
No, definitely not. I think a huge piece of that, too, is I last year we had for a good chunk of the year, we had a sick power play and and this power play this year. Oh, my God, dude. Anytime we get a power play, I'm like, can we can we not? Can we just choose to stay at five on five, dude? Because
00:25:53
Speaker
I can't watch another one of these goddamn Buffalo Sabres power plays, dude. It is so boring and stupid. Again, it looks slow. The shot choices are terrible. Now that teams know they have to cover to H. Thompson, who hasn't been playing recently, just came back to their night.
00:26:19
Speaker
It's like you take that away and this team has absolutely nothing to offer on the power play. And again, dude, even if you take out Tage Thompson, there is a lot of firepower on this team. There is no good reason on the planet why this power play should be this bad or let alone this much worse than it was last year. Yeah, I totally agree.
00:26:46
Speaker
What I have the most issue with this, there's less creativity. The plan for a lot of last year was feed Tate Thompson the puck. And that's a good plan. He has a monster shot. He has one of the hardest shots in the NHL.
00:27:03
Speaker
And it's a good plan. But guess what? Other teams wise up to that and start covering Paige Thompson. So you need another plan to get the puck to the net. And they have not really explored that. Even with Paige Thompson out, you would think that that would force a little bit more creativity and movement and other players getting in. And to some degree, it has. But the results have not really changed at all. If anything, they've gotten worse. They're, I think, 25th in the league in power play percent right now. Correct.
00:27:31
Speaker
It's just, it's just not where you want to be for a team that has two power play quarterbacks on the team and Rasmus Dallin and Owen Power. Both of those guys should be elite power play producers. Oh my God, I know, dude. And Owen Power is a different discussion for him, like with himself this year, but we'll get to him. Yeah, for sure.
00:27:55
Speaker
But you just the blueprint that they have has not worked so far this year. Tage Thompson has been getting smothered and the power play is just sputtered because of it. And I just I need to see more effort, really. Like you said it, like it seems slow. Yeah. There's there's not a lot of motion within the offensive zone when they're on the power play. And that that is how they make goals happen, is creating confusion. Yes.
00:28:25
Speaker
Throwing off defenders because oh shit, Owen power's behind the goal line. Like what do we do now? And there's that constant rotation of play. It's just not happening. A lot of players are standing still, firing passes between the two space off circles and the guy at the point. And then eventually, you know, firing a shot on goal, that's an easy save for the goalie. So I'm no power play coach in the NHL. I know that for a fact, but
00:28:51
Speaker
something has to change. I truly hope the coaching staff is looking back at last year to this year and saying, what the hell happened?
00:29:03
Speaker
A lot of so we made very few moves this offseason and two moves that we made were bringing in Clifton and Johnson, right? And holy shit, dude, like I so I step back and I look at this, right? What did this this team needed a couple of things in my eyes going into this this most recent offseason to me, they needed an established veteran goaltender.
00:29:26
Speaker
They needed a legitimate top four defenseman to play alongside Owen Power, and they needed more scoring help on the wings. Those were my big things, particularly I believe right wing, was where we needed more scoring help. And instead of any of that, we got Colorado's sixth best defenseman, maybe, and Boston Bruin's seventh best defenseman. Meaning, the only dressed six per night, there were plenty of games where he was a healthy scratch.
00:29:55
Speaker
And I recognize when it comes to trades, people always get super worked up about trades because they want it to happen. But you have to remember, it takes two teams to be willing to trade. Kevin Adams can't just go to somebody and say, hey, I'd like to trade for this person, so you have to. It's got to be a two-way street. But for those things, and I think those things that I just mentioned, goaltending, top four defensemen, and some more scoring depth on the wings,
00:30:24
Speaker
I think those three things were pretty universally considered needs in Sabrehood. Would you agree, Jake? Or am I reaching a little bit there? No, I don't think you're wrong. I might not go as far as needs. Definitely wish list. In a perfect scenario, I would say those three things 100%. I didn't think
00:30:47
Speaker
I guess I was less high on the scoring depth on the wings. That was the least of the three for sure. Goalie was a huge one for me, especially because like all off season, right? All anybody was thinking.
00:31:02
Speaker
was Levi, right? Everybody was all tunnel vision on Devin Levi, right? And I think I said it before the season started. And we talked about it. We can't just bank on a 21-year-old rookie goaltender to come in and crush it. He needs reliable help. And I emphasize the word reliable because up to this point, UPL and Comrie have not demonstrated that they can be that reliable veteran
00:31:29
Speaker
Well, Devin Levi acclimates. So, and I don't know how it happens because if you would sign somebody, now all of a sudden you're in this world with four goaltenders. That's not my job to figure out. But I think like for me, dude, like that was a huge, that was a need for me. Like I didn't want to go into this season banking on Devin Levi.
00:31:47
Speaker
We've been pleasantly surprised for the most part with UPL, but for me, and that's just for me, I can't speak for anybody else, that was a need. Same with the top four D-men, I thought that was a legitimate need that this team had. And it was just, I shouldn't say the word ignored, because like I said, for trades it takes two.
00:32:11
Speaker
I don't know, dude, we're the buffalo savers, dude. There will never come a time where we do not have to pay more than other teams to get legitimate free agents to come here. And we had the cap space, dude. We're never going to be able to compete with a Tampa Bay or Florida where it's warm and sunny, 365. And oh, that's right, no state income tax.
00:32:36
Speaker
Like, when you come to New York, six months of the year, it's cold and shitty and rainy and snowy, and we get taxed, like, more than everybody, aside from those in California. So, like, I don't want to hear about, like, oh, there were no free agents like there were, and we didn't go get anybody. I recognize, yes, you don't want to mortgage the future by spending all your money on one legit top 4D man, but holy fuck, dude, like, sorry, but, like, I'm being proven right here.
00:33:05
Speaker
like this time like last week or last episode we were like raving about upl what's happened i well he's been sick he hasn't really been playing the and the uh the st louis game in particular i remember he played in like the games the games that he's played in since we last spoke the
Defensive Dilemmas & Player Performance
00:33:25
Speaker
goals weren't his fault the the the
00:33:28
Speaker
I don't think he's been the issue. It's, it's team play. It's way more play for sure. And, and giving up, giving up bad opportunities against that lead to goals, not necessarily a goalie torpedoing the output of the team. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I don't know. Maybe I'm speaking very emotionally, Jake, you're much better at being level hatted than I am. I just like.
00:33:50
Speaker
I don't think you're wrong though. I just don't like I don't want to live in a world where Owen Power's part and Yokey's played pretty well this year but Yokey is not a top four NHL defenseman that should be playing with our six fucking six prized possession young defenseman that is
00:34:09
Speaker
Yes, definitely in the middle of a sophomore slump right now. But once he gets through that is going to be an insanely good defenseman in the NHL. Again, the kid is like 20. He's a fetus, dude. And sophomore slumps happen, right? It's not uncalled for. He's definitely struggling right now. I'm not sitting here saying he should be benched. But I can't help but feel like if he had,
00:34:38
Speaker
that like legit veteran, good top four defensive partner, that things wouldn't be a little bit different for him this year. I don't know, man. All right. Oh man. I got, I got a lot of thoughts. I'm so excited. Um, the, the, the two issues, goalie veteran goalie, and then top four defensemen, somebody play with Owen power.
00:35:02
Speaker
I'm going to start with the goalie. The goalie, you made great points. I agree. I think there's a significant need for a more stabilizing presence than we've had. I think Levi, I'm not upset that he needed time in the AHL. I still think he might need time in the AHL. He's called up right now. He's going to play tonight, Thursday against Boston. We'll see how he fares.
00:35:27
Speaker
Look, I think he's going to be fired up coming. He was sent down to the HL. I think that kid takes that personally, not in a bad way, not, not in a, you know, fuck these guys. I know exactly what you're saying. I think he comes back with kind of a fuck you attitude. I, I belong here. I'm going to prove it. So I do think I'm going to say this and he's going to live in seven holes tonight. No, exactly. Exactly.
00:35:52
Speaker
But I think it is a failure to not have addressed the goaltending situation in the off season. But I don't say it's a failure with any blame necessarily. I think the free agent goaltending market was not incredibly deep. I think if Kevin Adams went out and signed a quote unquote veteran goalie that we might be talking about, and that guy looked like dog shit, I think we're having a conversation right now saying, why the fuck did Kevin Adams sign?
00:36:22
Speaker
this horrible goalie that doesn't fit into the Sabres like roster construction, long-term plans, anything. Why are we wasting assets on this kind of thing? Um, it's, it's, it's fucking hard to find a good, reliable, steady goaltender in the NHL. Some teams luck into it. Some teams just, just have them from the draft. Like it's, it's hard to do though. Like not, not every team is able to find that kind of goalie that we're looking for.
00:36:51
Speaker
Yeah, the big the big name all sees all offseason was Connor Hellebach and he was looking for like some fucking he was looking for like 10 million a year or something ridiculous like that.
00:37:01
Speaker
Yeah, so the contract that he got in Winnipeg, say Buffalo signed him for that, how would you feel about that? If he was, say it was goaltender for that. So I will say this, and this is, you can choose to believe me or not, once I found out what he was planning to command, I immediately, because I was high on him too, I was like, yo, like, this could be, like, imagine Devin Levi sitting behind Connor Hellabuck and learning from him, like, that on paper seems awesome to me.
00:37:24
Speaker
Once I found out what kind of hella buck was demanding or, or wanted to make, it was like, it was a whole, I was like, no, he's, he can't, he's not. He signed for eight and a half million right now. He signed a eight year contract extension with Winnipeg for eight and a half million dollars. That's too much. Yeah. I don't think, I don't think I want that on the team. It's a up and down team dependent, uh, position. I.
00:37:55
Speaker
The only situation where I would be comfortable signing a goalie to that kind of deal is if it's a goalie that came up through the Sabres system, played behind the Sabres for many years and looked really good doing it and then extending that player just because there's so much
00:38:09
Speaker
variability going from team to team as a goalie. It's so much more different than a defenseman or especially a forward. For forwards are practically interchangeable in teams systems. Goalies are so unique in that way that it's it just I don't think it makes sense to throw money at a goalie that you've never seen play in your system to me personally. It's just personal opinion. I see what you're saying there. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I get it. I don't know.
00:38:38
Speaker
Okay, so dude, Clifton, Clifton and Johnson, like where are you? So like, talk to me about the defensive stuff then, because like, I would have been perfectly content, right? Like, making, making like Riley Stillman and Ilya Leibushkin, right, that we had last year, your bottom two,
00:38:57
Speaker
Right, or maybe maybe Yoki Hari becomes part of that because now you have a new partner playing with own power. So let's say, let's take away Riley Stillman sorry that was a bad example. Let's say like what I wanted what I was hoping for for this year for the defensive pairs dolls and Sammy op and new top four veteran.
00:39:16
Speaker
Yokey Leibushkin. That was what I was hoping for on the defensive end. And now we're close to that, but Yokey's still playing on the second pair with Opie. And we've had the absolute, I don't know, upsetting privilege of watching Clifton, Connor Clifton and Eric Johnson, absolutely shit down their leg through 20 some odd games. Yeah.
00:39:48
Speaker
I'm not as high on Lebuchkin. I was very OK seeing him walk. I think Stillman would have been a better option for the roster. I think Stillman was a very serviceable defenseman for us last year. Take your pick on any of those. Whatever iteration, yeah, I'd be fine with any of them. And I agree. I was looking for them to add a solid defenseman in the off season to ideally play with power. I'm not upset that he plays with Yokiharu.
00:40:17
Speaker
I'm not upset that Daliin plays with Samuelson, but I do think there's something to be said about pairing Power and Daliin. You're two A++ grade, puck-moving defensemen.
00:40:32
Speaker
not playing them with somebody that's incredibly defensively minded. I look at Vancouver right now. Look at what Quinn Hughes is doing with that Vancouver team. He might be the best player in the league right now. He is playing off the wall. He's been paired in the past few years with more defensively minded players. I'm thinking of like Tyler Myers. He was with Chris Tannenverle in his career. And he did well. He's a good player. They paired him with...
00:41:02
Speaker
Philip Ronak this year. And Ronak is not a world-beating defenseman by any means, but he's a player that's good in transition and moving the puck out of his defensive zone. When you're an offensive, transition-based defenseman and you're going back into your own zone so many times, like Dalin and Power are, especially with a player that's struggled in their own zone so much, like Power, if you have somebody back there with you as your D partner,
00:41:31
Speaker
that is not defensively minded, that is also transition focused. It makes the first pass that you make in the defensive zone easier for power, easier for D'Alene. It gives them a better outlet for them than to rocket the puck out of the zone if there's somebody back there that is kind of on the same page as them rather than a defenseman that is designed to just kind of hunker down and stifle shot block
00:42:00
Speaker
get in the lane and then chip the puck off the glass. I just think that that combo of highly mobile offensive defenseman with super defensive, structured, don't let shots go to the net defenseman is not always the best combo. So with that said, one idea I wanted to throw around with you, what would you think about a Daliin power pairing?
00:42:25
Speaker
The only, so I see what you're saying there, and you're right, I have not looked up to see who Quinn Hughes is playing with. You can't ignore Quinn Hughes' numbers, no, they're off the wall. My only concern with what you're talking about, which it sounds like is pairing two more offensively-minded defensemen together, my only concern there is getting caught in transition. I mean, Dolls and OP are both rovers, man. How often do you see
00:42:55
Speaker
OP down, oh, Linus Almark is dressed against us tonight. I've got the game on my phone here. Fuck. So OP spends a ton of time below GLE, which stands for goal line extended, meaning as a defenseman, he spends a lot of his time down behind the opposing team's net. And that's just because of the way the cycling is working in the offensive zone. I like that.
00:43:23
Speaker
My concern with having two guys like O.P. and Dolls who are both rovers is getting caught in transition. I'm picturing a nightmare scenario where those two are out on the fourth line with O.K., Gergensons, and Krebs, and they're both roving, and there's a turnover, and all of a sudden you've got Gergensons or Posos skating backwards to defend because Dolls and O.P. got caught down low.
00:43:48
Speaker
That's immediately where my mind goes, which is absolutely worst case scenario. However, it's not like I don't see the validity and the potential of what it is that you're talking about with two guys like that playing on the same D pair. So let's paint a picture. Let's live in a world for a second where those guys are D partners, right? What are the rest of your pairings look like?
00:44:10
Speaker
Ooh, I mean, I don't think Yoki Haryu is a bad NHL defense. Not this year. This year, he's been solid, man. I think truly, and he was playing with an injury last year. I thought Yoki last year was dog poopy. I thought he was terrible. He has made several plays this year where I've gone, holy shit, that was Yoki? Like a couple of really great, awesome poke checks and transition. A couple of really nice jumps into the rush. I mean, keep in mind, this is 24. He's looking awesome.
00:44:40
Speaker
He's not some, like, 33-year-old grizzled vet. I mean, he's 24 years old. I know, he's still young, too.
00:44:46
Speaker
there's still room for him to grow. I really don't mind him being paired with power for that reason. Like Yoki Haru's not bad in transition and gives power a bit more of an outlet, I think, than someone like Clifton or Johnson does. At this point, you got to try something, right? And here's the other thing. Jay, can you help me to understand why on God's green earth are we scratching Ryan Johnson for hockey games right now?
00:45:17
Speaker
I, it beats me man. I don't know. I mean, I think the, he's been, he's been better than
00:45:24
Speaker
his namesake, Eric Johnson. Yeah, I'm sorry. I sit, sick, Eric, sit Eric Johnson until he, his foot falls asleep, dude. Like I, I don't need for him to be on the ice right now. I would much rather see some iteration in your top four. And I know Sammy's had his moments too. This year Sammy said really terrible moments where he has very clearly gotten caught puck watching.
00:45:51
Speaker
But we've seen a bigger sample size of him being really good defensively than we have very poor. So for right now, and I'm taking that from my guy Joe Marino, like the sample sizes don't lie. It's tough to not get caught with your emotions, but the sample size of Sammy playing much better than he is right now is much bigger than what we're seeing. So my iteration of the top four right now is, I said that poorly, top four right now for me is some iteration of
00:46:22
Speaker
Dolls, OP, Yokey, and Ryan Johnson. Yeah, I totally agree. I think those are the four best defensemen on the roster. So, or excuse me. Wait a second. Did I say Yokey in the top four? I did, didn't I? I think so. I don't. I meant to say, sorry, I need to backtrack because we're talking about so many players. I just got fired for a second. The top four for me, Sammy, Dolls, OP, and Ryan Johnson.
00:46:49
Speaker
That for me right now is the top four. And again, I know there's a lot of contention with both OP and Sammy right now. And Yokey's been playing solid. But I think, truly, those are our best four defensemen in this organization right now. Are those four guys that I just mentioned? Yeah, totally agree. But then you get into the situation, what's your bottom three look like? Because you've still got Eric Johnson, Clifton, Yokey, how are you? Am I missing anybody?
00:47:21
Speaker
Bryson, I guess. But he hasn't been playing much anyway. No, not really. So talk for a second, Jake, on what your thoughts are on what I just said, because I want to look up and see what the pairings and line combinations are in this game right now. Yeah, I'm curious about that, too. Let me know. In a perfect world, I'd like to see Samuelson step up a little bit and look like the pairing him and Dalene looked like last year. I don't know what's changed about that pairing. But Samuelson has looked lost.
00:47:50
Speaker
And I think it's Eric Johnson. I never expected him to play all 82 games. I hoped he wouldn't play all 82 games. They've started to spell him and sit him for games at a time. But what you see is what you get with Eric Johnson. He's an older player. He's had a lot of miles on his body playing the league for as long as he has. You're not getting anything different from him. What you see is what you get. So yes, spell him. Rotate him in when you need to.
00:48:20
Speaker
The most troubling part for me, the defense has not been banged up. There's a lot of injuries to talk about with the Sabres. The defense really has not been a part of that for the most part. You're speaking of here too soon because Dallas is actually not playing tonight. Oh, great. He was going to be a game time decision I saw on Twitter today. He's been dealing with some nagging shit. I think it was a very not the best idea to choose to play him the other night and sit him against Boston. But I'm not a coach. What do I know?
00:48:48
Speaker
So with that, the defensive pairs for tonight, Opie and Sammy are your top pair. Second pair is Ryan Johnson and Yokee. Love that.
00:48:59
Speaker
Third pairing is Johnson and Clifton. So we're just going to keep banging our fucking heads against the wall with those two jamokes. Forward lines, dude, I find this incredibly interesting. And this has been the case since Tage has come back. There's only two games. But that top line is, and Tuck is hurt, so that could be part of it. But that top line, Tage is not centering that top line. Casey Middlestadt is centering that top line. So your forward lines this evening.
00:49:24
Speaker
Skinny, Mitzi, Tomer, Benny, Kuzzy, Turks, Roseanne, Yost, Olafson, Robinson, Krebsy, Okey are your forward pair or forward trios right now. I love all the nicknames in there. I'm a huge nickname guy, dude. I like to pretend that I'm actually in the locker room and I'm on the team and I know everyone's nickname.
00:49:48
Speaker
I don't mind. So looking at positives, Casey middle stats, centering the top line, I think is a huge win. He's been the best player on the team. I see. I don't think there's, I think if you're going to debate that, maybe I could see Skinner, but Casey middle stats been fucking awesome this year. No two ways about it.
00:50:04
Speaker
Yeah, I'm here for it. I'd love to see it. He's such a good creator. He doesn't create a whole lot for himself, and he doesn't have a good shot, but the opportunities that he opens up with his play and his passing for other players around him is...
00:50:20
Speaker
It's borderline elite. I mean, he's it really is. His is nobody can take the puck from him this year, which I think is the most impressive thing about his game this year for me. You watch defenseman come up on him. He is using his body to defend the puck.
00:50:36
Speaker
So well, dude, I'm I'm blown away. Like you you can't take the puck from him right now. And it's it's absolutely awesome. I'll tell you what, dude, I really I can't stand to look at that third line. Roseanne, Jost and Olafson. I think that's just a poor line, dude, in my opinion. But
00:50:55
Speaker
They've dealt with a lot of injuries this year. Talk has been in and out of the lineup. Thompson's been out for a couple of weeks here. Greenway's been in and out. Gherkin's down for the long term, it seems like. Quinn still hasn't made his debut. There's been a lot of injuries, but there's still a lot of firepower out there. With those injuries, I would expect some regression. I wouldn't expect this much regression. And it's more how they're playing, like we've talked about.
00:51:36
Speaker
Hell yeah. So the new edition from Columbus, I think we should touch on that. The Sabres traded forward from Columbus. His name's Eric Robinson. He's debuting for the Sabres tonight. They acquired him for a conditional seventh round pick. I think the condition on that is that he has to play 45 games or so for Buffalo this year. So a real low risk move. Somebody that just got kind of squeezed out in Columbus, they have a lot of forwards. Couldn't ice him every night.
00:51:46
Speaker
I don't think it's personnel, it's how they're preparing for and getting into games is hampering them.
00:52:05
Speaker
And look, I think I think it's an indication that maybe Greenway or Gergensen's or one of their forwards is going to be out longer term than we think. I get the impression that it's Gergensen's and not Greenway that's going to be out for more long term, just based on what he's been saying and interviews and stuff like that. Yeah. But, you know, it's we don't have to deep dive on this guy. He's a he's a good penalty killer. He's a.
00:52:28
Speaker
kind of an energy guy.
00:52:44
Speaker
I'm not the end all be all for for hockey knowledge. This is a guy for me to have never heard of somebody is not nothing. I watch a lot of hockey. I don't just watch the Sabres. I love this time of year because I always know there's going to be sports on that I want to watch at night because you just can't you can't escape hockey season. It's on all the time.
00:53:04
Speaker
This is a player I've never heard of. His stats didn't do anything for me. He more or less seems like a younger Zemgus Gergensons, which if I can get more offensive output, I love that. But, and again, maybe I'm just negative and a prick and a jerk. I just don't fucking care.
00:53:21
Speaker
Nigel, Nigel, are you saying you've never heard of Eric Robinson? Yes, that's what I'm saying. You don't remember the hat trick he scored on Buffalo last year? Which is, and I saw that highlight and I'm like, are we kidding? Like, what is this team? So, yeah, dude, I don't know. It just moves, it moves the needle for me nothing. Now you watch, the Sabres historically,
00:53:46
Speaker
I've never seen this from anything in my life, dude But like for whatever reason so many players when they play for Buffalo for the first time first game They fucking score a goal. So he's probably gonna get one tonight and then people are gonna be like To which I'm gonna say I just don't care it moves the needle needle for me nothing. It's like you just said I think it's just I think it's as I'm just scared since replacement which I'm okay with the sense that it's he's younger and
00:54:13
Speaker
Yeah. Which is good. I think, I think there's more, more offensive upside than, than Zemgis. Not, not to say a lot, but I think there's a slight margin more. I would agree with that. Yeah, for sure. But it does. It's like, it's not like, if you're somebody that saw this, it was like, Oh, maybe this is where things are turning around. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. That's, that's, that's not the, the, the move that's going to make the team click. That's not the, the. That that's not the secret sauce for sure. Yeah.
00:54:43
Speaker
So I'm just going to rattle through a couple of things that I had. So we talked a lot about the offense and what's changed. We talked a little bit about some of the individual players' defensive issues and struggles this year. But just as a team, I feel like I'm included in this. I was pushing this narrative that they were an improved defensive team earlier in the year, that they were trending towards being a better defensive team. And I wanted to just give a little bit of context as to how wrong I was and how disappointing that is.
00:55:13
Speaker
Um, so last season, they, again, we talked about it. They were a powerhouse offensive team, but a horrible team at giving up goals against last season. They were fifth worst in the NHL and goals against currently fourth worst in the league. Uh, so they're doing worse San Jose sharks. For those of you that don't follow hockey closely, the San Jose sharks started the season and are currently a horrific team like
00:55:42
Speaker
borderline historic levels of bad, they cannot score, they hemorrhage goals against. That was real quick, two games in a row, I believe, where they gave up 10 or more goals, if I remember right? You are correct, yeah. So two games span, 20 goals against. That San Jose team has allowed only five more total goals than the Buffalo Zebras this year. And that's how you know you suck. Just sit on that one for a second. And to meet like the,
00:56:11
Speaker
One of the most troubling parts is they're giving up an equal or greater volume of goals against Buffalo is this year, but they're, they're different. They feel different. Last year, there were so many breakaways against odd man rushes against where they would, they would push the pace and get into the offensive zone, give up a bad turnover. And then all of a sudden the other team is pushing a three on two, three on one, two on one breakaway, whatever it is against and scoring.
00:56:41
Speaker
I was more okay with that because it was at the cost, like the cost of it was that they were pushing the pace, driving play to the other team's net, and then giving up a bad turnover. I couldn't agree more. This year, they're not really doing that. They're not giving up a lot of odd man rushes or breakaways. They're just getting scored on. That's so much worse to me. They're giving up worse goals more frequently than they were last year when they were giving up higher quality chances. Yeah. And yeah, like to touch on that too, like there's just like a lot of the time right now when I see goals go in,
00:57:11
Speaker
It's guys just standing there, right? Like I was standing there and then there then the puck goes in the net and they're doing that thing where they look up at the rafters like, oh, fuck, I knew that was me. There's so much of that this year. I agree. And I think I know I know we got to watch our time, but I think it warrants a bit of a discussion about Don Granado and the coaching staff and getting these guys ready to play and preparing them to succeed because
00:57:39
Speaker
It's a noted departure from the feel and timbre of the team from last year to this year where they just they just look flat all the
Coaching Critiques & Strategic Flaws
00:57:47
Speaker
time. It's not one game here one game there every couple of weeks. It's it's been a couple games in a row now and kind of a trend throughout the whole season of just not being prepared to play.
00:57:59
Speaker
I don't know about you, Najib. That is a coaching thing to me. 100%, dude. And so I'll kind of do my little side tangent on all of this. So Kevin Adams and Don Granado both share a lot of blame here. And I'll start with Kevin Adams, because I really do think, I don't think this team currently is constructed the way that it needs to be in order to make a deep dive into the playoffs. And the reason I feel like that is because we have too many players
00:58:26
Speaker
that their role is the same thing. We have so much skill on this team. Truly, I believe that. And it's slumping right now to something awful. But we have so much elite skill on this team. And I picture this team is missing a guy like Anthony Sorelli, those types of players, man, that can put the puck in the net.
00:58:53
Speaker
but are just such pricks to play hockey against, dude. This this sabers team looks so easy to play against, dude. So that for me is Kevin Adams and roster construction. He does not have the bottom six pieces in place that I believe that this team needs in order to make a legitimate run at a Stanley Cup.
00:59:17
Speaker
Now, I think that's an area to address for sure. Like, I'm sorry to interrupt. No, no, no, no, please. Kyle Posey, he's the captain. He's the heartbeat of the team. But he looks like he's skating uphill, man. Like he's he's he's washed. I hate to say it, but he is. And like, dude, we have we we're we're not at the point where.
00:59:35
Speaker
We have got to stop searching for moral victories, right? Like Kyla Pozo is a moral victory. Craig Anderson coming back was a moral victory. The shit like that dude has got to stop because I'll tell you what, if I'm 20 something year old Dylan Cousins and I keep seeing shit like that, I'm like, bro, what are we doing? Like I want to win some goddamn hockey games.
01:00:02
Speaker
Yeah, I'm glad you brought him up because he, he is somebody that called the whole team out after one of the most recent losses, just saying like, look, we got to, we got to play fucking hard or we're too soft. Yeah. And I totally agree with him. I think he's, I mean, he's a young kid. I think he's what, 20, 21 years old. Like he's, he looks lanky on 23 a little bit older than what you just said, but not by much.
01:00:23
Speaker
He does but he plays with that like that style that that kind of your face. I'll prick to play against. He's a great he's a two way center to he's not he's not really focused on one side of the pocket the other I think he can be that Anthony Sorelli type that
01:00:38
Speaker
that kind of prick to play against that can that can punish you on both ends of the ice but he's not showing it this year honestly like it's he called the team out but it's as much in indictment of his own play as it is the team correct and and i would even go like i don't know man like he he is a prick to play against you're right he could but i'm talking about in the bottom six dude like dylan cousins is never going to be in the bottom six on this team
01:01:03
Speaker
That's where I want to see that kind of stuff. I think historically we don't get enough contribution offensively from our bottom six in the last 12 years. I think that's a huge piece of it.
01:01:18
Speaker
You could argue our entire lineup was bottom six for a while. You look at the teams that have won the Stanley Cup in the last handful of years, the Tampa Bay's, the Colorado's, the Vegas. These teams are running four lines of combinations that can put the puck in the net. The only difference is the top six
01:01:40
Speaker
do it in a way fancier, sexier, sleeker style where those bottom six are just motherfuckers to play hockey against and they get the dirty grungy in your face. We're just going to beat the hell out of you goals. And that's what I never feel like I have from this team, dude.
01:01:56
Speaker
Um, the bottom line is depth depth. Yes. Yes. So Kevin Adams shares a good chunk of blame here, but dude, you can have all of the wrong pieces in place and still look competitive and show up to play hockey every night. And that's where I land with you, dude. The way this team is showing up for games right now is 150% on Donnie meatballs, dude.
01:02:22
Speaker
I don't know why unacceptable. It's entirely unacceptable. And I'll tell you what, dude, I to watch this coaching staff be as useless as it feels right now. And I'm not talking just Marshawn got a penalty that fucking big nose.
01:02:37
Speaker
And it's not just Donnie meatballs. I don't think Matt Ellis is doing a damn thing. And I don't think Marty Wilford is doing a damn thing. And here's where I make my ass gets really chapped, bro. We let the exact guy that I think this organization needs to turn some of the shit around in Michael Pekka, walk away and coach for the Rangers.
01:02:57
Speaker
And I'm like, dude, like, are we kidding? We couldn't pony up and keep that guy in the organization because I'll tell you where he needs to be. It's in Matt Ellis's spot focusing on player development and running the power play. And Marty Wilford is not, he's running the defensive side of things. I think maybe I have those two reversed, but no, I think, I think you're right. I mean, dude, like how does Marty Wilford still have a job?
01:03:22
Speaker
I don't know, man. Yeah, it's, it's, yeah, it's not to say it's just on Renato is a lie. It's, it's the coaching staff. I mean, it's their, their number one, their only job really, like, like whatever else they do is secondary. Their only job is to get the players ready to play. And I think that's one of the big question marks that everybody had with on Renato when he came in and took over as head coach.
01:03:46
Speaker
he has a long history of developing players. But how are his tactics? How are his motivation skills? How does he get the guys in an NHL room ready to play an NHL game? The team tends to be emotionally prepared for big games. Kyle Acposo's 1000th game aside. We'll put that one to rest. But they tend to get up for those big games. But it's not about that. You don't make the playoffs by playing well in those games. You make the playoffs by getting yourself up and ready to play
01:04:16
Speaker
against fucking Seattle on a Tuesday night in November. That's how you make the playoffs. Not when you get your back against the corner and you're like, all right, I need to win this game or else we're knocked out. That's not how you get to the playoffs long term, for sure. So I couldn't agree more with everything you just said. Did I think you hit it directly on the freaking head, bro? Tom, how are we doing? How are you doing, buddy? This thing on.
01:04:49
Speaker
We should we should touch on just a few quick little things for the upcoming bills game, but Jake I'm ready to boil it down. So just yeah, you finish this up dude. I could go on for another hour Is there anything that's sitting on your sitting on your conscience right now Jake that you want to get into?
01:05:05
Speaker
No, nothing major. A lot needs to change. They've not played their, they've not played their best hockey this year. I think they will play better hockey throughout the year. My only issue is have they dug themselves to dig a hole too deep, a hole to dig out. Is it too little too late? Yup. I might be my big prevailing thing. Oh, I'm so glad we're on a power play. Um, my big prevailing thing was I wanted to say those two things about Adams and Granado. I think they're both at fault right now.
01:05:30
Speaker
I think Kevin Adams rolled the dice a year too long on looking for growth from the current players and did not make any moves to inject some new exciting shit into this team. And I think we're being shown that Donny Meatballs is just simply maybe not cut out to be a head coach for a team like this. Again, the development track record speaks for itself, but we're getting past that point now.
01:05:58
Speaker
And the draft, the drafting, I think Kevin Adams has done an excellent job drafting and allowing that to happen. That there's, oh my God, there's so many more things I want to say, but I do think we should, we should move on. We'll come back to Savers later. Tom, you want to take us into some build stuff?
Buffalo Bills' Playoff Hopes
01:06:12
Speaker
Yeah. Ready for the two minute breakdown.
01:06:14
Speaker
Yeah, hit me, bro. I'm so good. The bill's got to win. This is it, right? We're at this point where six and six, the expectations going into the season were incredibly high. We were, this was, we were looking at 13 threes, three team, right? That's what the expectations were. And the bills go take on the Kansas city chiefs in rare head on, uh, this Sunday, um, at four 25, four o'clock time slot.
01:06:37
Speaker
And we got to go win. We are going to win. The bills have five games left on the rock, on the, on the slate. And, uh, we have to, we have to go at least four and one five and Oh, gets us in the playoffs four and one. We sure got to hope. And that's not a fun place to be. So I think we don't even have to really talk about me in the details here. We've, we've been, um, we've kind of, I think all we need to boil it down to is the bills have to go in and take care of business. We've won an Arrowhead the last two years. Let's go do it again that we have. Yep.
01:07:06
Speaker
Go get him. Yup. Offense has to keep humming. That's the big one. And God, Sean McDermott, please stop zero blitzing on the last defensive play of the game. There's there's been too much bad juju, bad vibes, bad. I don't care what you call it around this team right now. Go in, look clean, take care of business. Don't do anything stupid. Take care of the ball. And it's hey, one week at a time. Go win this week.
01:07:34
Speaker
Go win this week. That's what it has to be. And then we talk about next week. And that's where we're at. So that's my shtick for those big chiefs. How are we looking health-wise coming out of the buy? Pretty healthy, which is a good sign. Having a week 13 buy is a nice spot to be. We were getting Christian Benford back, cornerback. We're getting Dane Jackson back, Kyra Elam. That cornerback room is coming back to life. So that's a big deal.
01:08:04
Speaker
Dawson Knox could possibly be back. He just got reactivated. He had ended up having wrist surgery about four or five, six weeks ago. Years ago. Feels like maybe this week. And so he could be his 21 day window has been activated. So he could be played this week or he could he could wait.
01:08:29
Speaker
I'm excited to see him. I know a lot of people are out on Dawson Knox. I think they're silly and I think they're not looking at how the game of football is played. He's an excellent blocking tight end. He has clearly had trouble catching the ball because he had a freaking broken wrist. So I'm glad they took the time for him to go get that healed up. So I'm excited to have him back out. He's a clutch player. He has had some of our biggest, he has been one of our biggest player, best players in our biggest moments.
01:08:57
Speaker
and the last few years and we need him. So we need him. We need Dalton Kincaid to come to life. We need Stefan Diggs to come out and show us why he's the top three receiver in the league. We need Josh Allen to show us why he's better than fucking Patrick Mahomes. And we need Arrowhead to quiet down. So that's where I'm at. Yeah, well said. I'm with you. I agree. I think he is. He takes it out. I think now that he's going to be and I think I think this is
01:09:26
Speaker
pretty obvious for everybody at this point. And if it's not, everyone should be fired. But Dalton Kincaid is the tight end one. And I think with that, or yeah, Dalton Kincaid is the tight end one. And I think with that, you're going to see Dawson Knox in the role where he really succeeds, which is a blocking tight end role. And who can leak out and make great catches and make catches, clutch catches and clutch moments. I don't care what people say. They don't understand what it takes to block in this league. They don't understand what it means
01:09:55
Speaker
to be a tight end who knows your quarterback in this league. And now we have two of them. Sign me up buddy.
01:10:01
Speaker
Yep, I'm with you, pal. Tommy, you want to hit us with top three or four matchups that we should be cheering for or against this week? Yeah, the Bills need a lot of help. Even if a perfect weekend happens and all the things that can happen for the Bills that we need to, we're still not in a playoff spot, everybody, so that's fun. We need, though, to get us closer and to get us approaching a playoff spot. We need the Patriots to win over the Steelers tonight.
01:10:27
Speaker
We need the Bengals to beat the Colts on Sunday. Could happen. We need the Jaguars over the Browns. Will happen. We need the Jets over the Texans. Probably not. We need the Vikings over the Raiders. Probably will happen, I think. We need the Chargers over the Broncos. That, I would say, would be Broncos.
01:10:51
Speaker
I do too, but it's a divisional game, so who knows? It is. That's a weird, that's weird shit. Titans over dolphins. Not in your wildest dreams. Oh, come on, Vrable. We're big Vrable fans. Here we go. So yeah, that's it folks. Thanks for tagging along with us and we appreciate you. All of you Spotify rappers out there who had us in their top slot. Please don't forget to
01:11:13
Speaker
reach out and say hello and tag us. We'd love to send you a little shiny little sticker. So thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for spending some time with us.
01:11:22
Speaker
Tonight, a lot of time with us. It would mean a lot to us if you'd share this episode. Give us a like, give us a follow on Instagram and X at Let's Go Buff Pod. That's Buff with two Fs. These are my pals, Jake and Nigel. My name is Tom and you're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast. We are sending you love wherever you are. Go Bills, Go Savers, Let's Go Buffalo.