Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep. 4 - The One Where Tom Stumps The Boys
67 Plays2 years ago
Nigel, Jake, and Tom hang out and chat the Bills 53 man roster, other pickups, Tom confounds the boys with a Who The Puck Is This Guy, and they get into the nitty gritty of Sabres offseason moves.
Give us a like and share our pod!
Follow us on IG @letsgobuuffalopod and Twitter @letsgobufpod
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!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Let's Go Buffalo Podcast'
00:00:09
Speaker
You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo Podcast, your new favorite podcast for everything, bills and sabers.
00:00:23
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? You're listening to the Let's Go Buffalo podcast with the pals Nigel, Tom, and Jake. Episode four coming at you here.
Fantasy Football Plans and Fall Excitement
00:00:36
Speaker
Tom, how we doing, good buddy? Pal, I'm good. Just got out of the ice bath. I'm cozy in my sweater and ready to do a little podcast and a fantasy football draft tonight. It's like this is fall is here, boys. I am ready to go. I think I said that last time too, but now I have a different reasons why.
00:00:52
Speaker
We do have a fantasy draft tonight, don't we?
Fantasy Football Struggles and Success
00:00:56
Speaker
I hate fantasy. We do. I remember you being like, I'm not touching anything. And now you have done more mock drafts like a little fiends this past week. Dude, I've done so many mock drafts in the last few hours and for nothing because it's not going to matter because without a doubt, dude, I am not getting out of the bottom three in this league.
00:01:22
Speaker
I thought you were going to just auto draft. What happened to that? I know. Well, Jake, first of all, Jake, how are you doing, buddy? I'm good, man. I'm good. Got back, got back from my brother-in-law's bachelor party over the weekend. So my hangovers finally gone. I'm yeah, I'm ready to play a podcast. Hell yeah. Yes. So the three of us are in a fantasy football league together. We do have a draft this evening and.
00:01:46
Speaker
I, yeah, I, so fantasy football is a tough one because the very first year that I played, I won the whole thing, won a bunch of money. And that has got to be around seven to eight years ago now at this point. And ever since then, no matter how many leagues I'm not getting out of the bottom three. So you used up all your luck all in one spot. Like that's, that's, that's your problem there. Yeah, but dude, like,
00:02:11
Speaker
Somebody blowing your little too early jokes. But this year could be different. This year could be, but it won't.
Beverage Choices and Sabres Season Anticipation
00:02:21
Speaker
And with that, let's get into a little bit of a beer corner here. Fellow's ready to snap a beverage. We're going to open a bottle. So enjoy Jake's snap. Ready, boys? If I got a good snap to one.
00:02:40
Speaker
like it. So what are you drinking this this evening? I'm going straight into straight up. I have just a nice harpoon IPA. Excellent. Excellent. I promise next time I won't get something that's brewed in Windsor, Vermont. I will get something separate. Now there's some good stuff. Brewed in Windsor, Vermont. I don't see why. Why switch that up. Jake, what about you, buddy? What do you got?
00:03:02
Speaker
So I got one down the street from me from return brewing. It's called the sword Lily. And there is a there's a nice picture of a frog on it. And shout out to Maggie, my sister, she picked this one out for me, but it's a sour ale brewed with strawberry rhubarb, tart cherry and blue spruce. The sword Lily, dude, that is that's epic. Yeah, it sounds almost medieval. It's kind of medieval. Is he like a like a knight frog on there?
00:03:31
Speaker
He's got some, he's got some, it's like almost, I don't know, I'd say like, troubadour kind of feeling. Yeah, troubadour, yeah. But, but not to, not to spoil anything, but planning on talking about the sabers today. So sword, Lily? That's, that's where I was going. That's where I was going with that. Oh, we're, we're reaching folks. We're reaching. Believe me, I haven't found the bottom of the well yet. It'll come.
00:03:56
Speaker
How about you what you pop open? Yeah, dude, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna do it again It's it's the same thing. I still I only have one more kind left in the fridge after this one. So But I'm making a promise to both of you right now. I asked two of my best friends before next pot I am gonna go to Wegmans and
00:04:19
Speaker
and I'm going to craft a nice little six pack of cans so that I am prepared for the pod for the next six weeks.
00:04:27
Speaker
There you go. Yeah, Mr. You have beautiful Wegmans at your front door. Yeah. Yeah. You have no excuse. I'm not even going to answer that into the spreadsheet here. You don't get another entry until you give me a different kind of beer. I also it was going to be the same situation last week. And thankfully, I just simply forgot to to mention what I was doing. So you did. Yeah, not great. Not great. Either. All
Bills Roster Analysis
00:04:51
Speaker
right. So for this episode, folks, last week we did our Bill's roster projection that took up
00:04:57
Speaker
the entire episode. This week we're going to touch on a couple Bill's things to start but then today is really going to be a big savers day and we're going to get into some of the off-season conversations and things that have happened over the course of the entire off-season not just super recently because that would be a super short conversation. So Tom, what are we going to do to kick off our Bill's talk
00:05:24
Speaker
Let's talk about the roster, pal. I think I got a two to our own little horns here. We did a pretty darn good job. We got probably a good 80 to 85% of the roster completely correct. I think we did even better than that. We missed, what are some of the misses that you know? I know neither of us protected Justin Shorter. Justin Shorter, yep. Alec Anderson was one that we did not have.
00:05:47
Speaker
We have question. They're making the team tackle. Yeah, he's a tackle. Right. Rookie tackle. Alec Anderson. You know, Kingsley Jonathan sneaking into the edge group, but he was. Yeah, he was kind of a winner from the Boogie Basham trade. Yes, which we're going to get to in just a second. But other. Yeah, nothing else. I don't remember anything else besides the ones you just mentioned. I'm sure there are more. Nobody. I don't want anybody to grill us and be like,
00:06:15
Speaker
Oh, it was actually whatever. But yeah, no, I think we did. I would say I was going to give us an A minus on that one. Yeah, no, I think we did pretty good. They. Yeah, I think the bills did a good job of kind of setting us up for it. But yeah, for sure. I'm excited that this is a stacked roster pal. Like I know we're all with like up in our emotions, like because we're bills fans and we're we sit here and we analyze it. We talk about it on a freaking podcast with our best buddies like
00:06:43
Speaker
We are definitely overthinking this. If you take this and you look at every other 53 man roster across the league.
00:06:50
Speaker
This is a top five roster. Yeah, dude, it's it's you know, like the depth across. We can't joke ourselves here. Yeah, the depth across the board is is is really, really impressive.
Boogie Basham Trade Discussion
00:07:01
Speaker
And we had we even had some guys already get scooped. Yeah, the people. Yeah, I saw a stat from Sal Capaccio. Shout out Sal. We five bills players were released from the roster have already been signed to other active rosters. Like, yes, that speaks to Brandon Bean.
00:07:19
Speaker
getting as many people.
00:07:21
Speaker
many players who are capable of competing for a spot into camp. And other teams are scrambling to get the players that he signs. So yeah, dude. So as of as of 1251 today, the Bills lost Nick Broker, Alex Austin to both of those guys went to the Texans and Zane Anderson to the Packers. So like right there, like you've got a couple that, you know, I mean, the Houston Texans roster is an absolute disaster, but
00:07:51
Speaker
Yeah, Jake was there anything there for you? That was uh, that was surprising or not so much No, not not so much to be honest with you. I mean you guys are more connected to yeah. Yeah I guess I guess I'll say Andy Isabella was a guy we talked about a lot that I thought looked good in preseason So that'd be my surprise if I had to pick so I think there's gonna be a little bit I think we will see him especially because I'm excited to say that he has been resigned to the Bills practice squad so he signed with us he was a
00:08:21
Speaker
more than four year invested veteran in the league. So he could just become a free agent and sign wherever he wanted. And I'm glad that he chose to stick around. I think we'll see him honestly earlier than we think, because Justin Shorter is going to be slated for the four week IR where so he's going to be on the 53 man roster right now, but he's more than likely going to this four week IR where he's going to be not able to play for at least four weeks. And I bet we see Andy Isabella maybe gets brought up for game day.
00:08:50
Speaker
maybe anything like that. So there's some things that could happen there where we'll see him. So I'm excited that he's around and sticking with the team. That's the same situation with. Sorry, I interrupted. That's the same situation with Bail inspector, right? Had had an injury. He'll go on in season. Yeah. Yep. He will go on in season. I are giving Brandon Bean and Sean McDermott some flexibility to then work around that. So those numbers can go flux. This is not this. This roster is absolutely going to be a living organism all year.
00:09:18
Speaker
It's be players on players off. Like it, it flexes and it grows, um, as, as it goes. Um, now night, I need you to talk me off this cliff. Um, can you walk me through the boogie Basham trade? He was traded to the giants. Correct. I believe it was essentially for a late round swap while you're talking, I'm gonna go look up the exact, but I don't understand why
00:09:44
Speaker
why we couldn't have gotten more than a swap. We essentially moved up a couple of spots. Or if the if the Giants performed better than the bills this season, we gave away more. So I don't understand as the bill's expert on this podcast. I got I got this for you. We traded Boogie Basham and a seventh round pick in exchange for the Giants sixth round pick. Say that one more time. We traded Boogie Basham and the bills seventh round pick.
00:10:14
Speaker
in exchange for the Giants sixth round pick. So we move not conditional at all. Like there's no conditional marking there. I'm going to bow out of my expert role and say I have no idea. I don't I don't think there is. But we have a text there going with some buddies and Bill's buds and you and one of our good friends, Dana, we're going we're we're feeling OK with what we got in return for Boogie Basham. And I just can't get there. Can you walk me? Why should I feel OK about it?
00:10:43
Speaker
I think, man, I'm not gonna necessarily say that I'm okay with it because it sucks, man. It sucks that you invested a second round pick. I think it says two things, and I think the first one is more important. The first one being, I think this is probably more of a reflection of how the league views Boogie Basham, right? It's not like teams were dying to get after this guy when they found out he was on the trade block.
00:11:12
Speaker
I'm confident enough to Brandon Bean that if there was a better offer out there, he would have found it. So I think, yeah, I think that's just, I think that's the most telling thing about all this. And I think the second thing is, if I'm, I mean, if I'm a part of the Bill's Brass, right, a part of the organization making decisions, what's the, what's the gap between Kingsley Jonathan and Boogie Basham?
00:11:38
Speaker
Like, is it so wide that it's not worth shaving a million bucks off the salary cap? I think that answer for me is probably no.
00:11:45
Speaker
I don't know, but if there's any plus in Boogie Basham's column and we're in the middle of a hopefully deep playoff run, like I want, I want the cupboard stocked. Like give me everybody, like, especially if it's, he's on a rookie deal still. It's not like we're paying the guy a lot of money like to stay like he was still, he was a second round pick salary. I don't know it off top of my head, but it's, it's still a rookie deal. Like it's not a lot.
00:12:10
Speaker
And if he had any sense of, I don't know. And I understand that if maybe if he was going to be cut at cut down day.
00:12:20
Speaker
and then there was a chance that he was gonna be picked up anyway, at least Brandon Bean got something, but he got like a six and a half round pick, right? If we're training, boogie and a seventh for a six, it's like the math doesn't, I don't know. Anyway, I'm still unsure about it. I would, if Kingsley Jonathan comes in here and he's a impactful player and tells me and shows me that he deserves to be in this rotation and on the starting roster and the 48 man starting roster each week, then I will feel better about it.
Bills Signings and Roster Changes
00:12:48
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, I guess. Oh, man. Here we go. I feel really confident in in the fact that the disparity between the two isn't so big that like in the middle of a tight game in week 11 or whatever, you know, we're not we're going to be like, oh my God, this would be different if Boogie was here.
00:13:08
Speaker
like I just don't see that happening and I yeah I like that's just he just has never moved the needle for me that much I know we get a good preseason but I you know I've been thinking about this more dude and don't forget they started him in the third preseason game
00:13:24
Speaker
You don't think there was a little part of them that was like trying to, you know, feature him a little bit. Oh, absolutely. This was clearly in in Bean's plan that he wanted to kind of, yeah, put him on showcase. Hey, hey, you know, hey, you teams who need a D and like come and get them. And you're right. Maybe maybe he that was the best offer they got. They have a connection, obviously, with the Giants with Joe Shane down there and Brian Dable. But yeah, yeah, I don't know.
00:13:49
Speaker
I think I will feel better. Maybe I have to go back and check on how many times Boogie Bastion was not active for game day. And maybe that will help me feel a little bit better. Yeah, maybe. But I don't even know if that number is going to be big, but I don't know. I don't know either. So any other moves here? Yeah. Jake, did you have any thoughts on Boogie real quick before we I know we're spending a little bit too much time, but.
00:14:08
Speaker
No, you're good. I'll just say one thing. Well, you guys look at other other signings that we want to talk about. It's tough to remove that expectation with him because he was a second round pick. That's a high draft pick to spend on a player. But he probably wasn't going to make that starting starting 11 anyway. So there's already some disappointment there with Boogie. It's more, you know, it's sunk cost fallacy. It's you've already spent that on him. That sounds like an accountant term.
00:14:37
Speaker
So you feel, well, maybe. But you have this expectation for him because of the resources that were spent on him. If you strip that away, if this guy came over from another team like he did for the Giants, he comes over from the Bills, I don't think they'll have as high as expectations for them. So it's not great that you don't draft well in the second round. But at this point, I don't think he was going to be a
00:15:04
Speaker
Impact player for the starting roster anyways, so get some assets back from him in some way instead of just losing him And I hear you won't you want to play like that in the cupboard for sure? But you know, we don't know what Brendan beans thinking He may have been first on the chopping block when Vaughn Miller comes back. So true Maybe just just get something for him now. It makes your decision easier later on the season. I don't know. But yeah, you're right. Yeah, the other big player that To that would suffer when
00:15:34
Speaker
when Von Miller came back, but. True. Yeah. Go ahead, Tom. The last player I kind of want to touch on here before we shift over to our Sabres talk tonight is the Bills have signed linebacker Christian Kirksi to the practice squad. He came down from Houston.
00:15:52
Speaker
He's played a total of, uh, nine years, um, in the league. So he's a, he's a veteran. He started a total of, uh, 94 games across his career. He had six years was Cleveland two years with, um, well, one year with green Bay. And then most recently, two years with Houston, where he started 29 games, he's had.
00:16:09
Speaker
almost a 90 to 100% snap or percent starting percentage of snaps. So like he's clearly an impactful player and can be a starting linebacker in the league. Um, he is, he's coming from Houston, which I don't know if anybody else would say is the best roster in the league, but I think that I'm glad that the bills are looking at other players.
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah, it just shows it. It just shows that they're not. They realize this minute. Oh, my goodness. I pull a time here. Realizing the linebacker situation isn't great. And they just can't. They can't go to the season with it how it is and expect to be. Yeah.
00:16:44
Speaker
you know, perfectly competent. So that at least, you know, tells me that they recognize that it needs to get better before we go into the season. I mean, you'd have a hard time convincing me right now that Christian Kirksey isn't going to fight his way onto this team and be the starting linebacker.
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, I would. Hey man, if he comes in and does it, I would love that. Honestly, like give these, give these other younger players some, they can play more depth roles and then we can hopefully punt this decision and problem the next off season.
00:17:17
Speaker
Yeah. Get our way through this. So anyway. All right. So anything else you want to touch on? Newsy wise boys, Jermaine, a fatty that that tag always signed. That could be notable. That's I don't know what that means exactly. But I just want to tell you, he started two games in his whole career like he has not. So I'm interested, I think, hopefully maybe some development. But yeah. Yeah. Again, another indicator that the bills aren't settled or satisfied with what they have. So I think that's all a good sign.
00:17:46
Speaker
Yep. All right, Tom, what do you got for us? Well, what do you say?
Sabres Game Show: 'Who the Puck is This Guy?'
00:17:51
Speaker
Should we transition over to some sabers things and start in with our favorite game? Oh, boy. Yes, sir. Give me the sound cue. Here we go. Saddle up. Who the fuck is this guy? Well, I think in a fast life you were a game show host. OK.
00:18:13
Speaker
Who's to say I wasn't? I love it. All right, so for those folks who are new or maybe have forgotten, I'm not sure if that's possible, who the puck is this guy, is a game that I'll be playing and leading for Jake and Nigel to compete against each other for the entirety of the Sabres off season here, remainder of the off season, and then the entirety of the regular season, where I will come up with five clues that will hopefully lead them to a Sabres player.
00:18:42
Speaker
These two can lock in their answers at any point on any clue. If they lock it in on clue number one, then, and they get it correct, they get one point.
00:18:53
Speaker
if they lock it in on clue number four, and they get it correct, they get four points. Your goal is to have the lowest amount of points as possible. And if at any point they get it wrong, then they get all five available points for this round. The last time we played was on episode two. We had two rounds that day. Currently, Nigel is leading Jake five points to six.
00:19:21
Speaker
All right, here we go. Are you ready for clue number one? This sabers player. I'm just kidding. Go ahead. Five points. That's not a game. Yeah. Now, that's six. That's six interrupting the game show. Oh, six points. Savage. OK, resetting.
00:19:46
Speaker
The contestants need to stay controlled here. In 2022 and 2023, this player is one of three Sabres players to score more than 32 points. In the 2022-2023 season, this Sabres player is one of three on the team to score more than 32 points. Is that supposed to be goals? Because there were so many players
00:20:15
Speaker
OK, correct. I was going to say there's so many players that have more than 32 points. That's going to be a new cue later for all those save all those hockey fans that don't understand the fucking difference between goals and points. But all right. I feel like I should get no reward for that.
00:20:32
Speaker
Yeah, you get a pat on the head and sit down. Would you like to lock in? Would you like to lock in your answer or not? So one of three players that scored more than 32 goals during the last season. Correct. No. OK. OK. I would not like to look in, but that's a good clue. All right. Number two. This this one might not be as much helpful. This this sabers player is Canadian born. It's a little helpful, but not super helpful. That is a little helpful.
00:21:04
Speaker
Would anybody like to lock in an answer? Two points is low points, boys. I went bold last time. I'm going to I'm going to play it conservative and say I'd like the next clue. Oh, I learned his lesson. I I will. Oh, God. All right. Yeah, I'll be bold. I'll lock in here.
00:21:29
Speaker
Okay. Don't say it out loud, but you have to scouts honor. This is for you. Now you have your answer locked down. Okay. Number three, this player did not witness the new millennium. He was born after the year 2000, which accounts for a lot of savers players. I understand. So I realized that was not a very informative clue. That's why it's not the last one. Would you like a fourth clue?
00:21:59
Speaker
Yeah. Nigel has locked in. I'd like to lock in. Okay. Alright. So, Nigel, first and second. I think at the count of three, you guys say your answer. Okay, we can do that. Yup. Are you ready? Three, two, one. Jeff Skinner. Dylan Cousins. What's wrong? Both.
00:22:27
Speaker
So sad. It was Jack Quinn. He had 32 goals. Maybe it was 32 points. Maybe I was correct, Nigel. But then there were so many more players that had more than 32 points. Oh, oh, oh, the integrity of the game. That's good. This might be. OK, going looking, looking, looking. Well, look, Nigel, we're tied other way, I guess. Yes, but I still have one point on you from the last round.
00:22:57
Speaker
It's true. That's true. That's true. OK, well, we will report back the contest. The show host may may have pulled stats. But anyway, all right. We will have a reward points at a later date. We'll catch up on it. We'll catch up on the next episode. Maybe we'll try again next episode if you got better. All right. Yeah, we go. I would like to start with the first new cue before you go over. Can you please explain the difference and why
00:23:27
Speaker
Hockey stats are counted as both goals and as points. What is the difference and why the heck do we have them? Because I still don't understand. I've had both of you explain this. Go ahead. You don't get it. All right, so.
00:23:41
Speaker
to break it down a goal is when you have the puck you shoot the puck and it goes into the net that is goal for that player cool so you get one goal one goal so tom you shot that puck you shot the puck into the net there did pass the goalie key bank center erupts you know so you get the you get the goal now every night yeah keep going so a goal
00:24:06
Speaker
A goal counts as a point for you. Before you got the puck to shoot it into the net, you had two teammates who are really slick passers pass the puck to you. I passed it to Nigel, Nigel passed it to you, and then you shot it into the net.
00:24:27
Speaker
Nigel and I, having played a big part in the play, are credited with an assist. We assisted on your goal. Okay, so would you get one assist? I would get one assist. Nigel would get one assist. You would get one goal. Now all three of us get one point from that interaction.
00:24:48
Speaker
So what other things contribute to points? Is it just assists and goals? Nothing yet. So why don't you do that? You don't look at the point. They accumulate to your total points. Why don't you just look at your stat sheet and say, OK, that column is goals and that column is assists. And wow, that player has a lot of goals and a lot of assists. Why do we count them as points? That doesn't make any sense to me.
00:25:12
Speaker
I think it's, I think it's really just to see like, okay, if you've got, if you got a shit ton of points, you're clearly a player that is, that is contributing to goals for your team on a regular basis. Just because you're not scoring the goals themselves, doesn't mean you're not having a super important part in the play that still contributed a goal for your team. So like a lot of the time, like when you're recruiting a player, right? Like you might.
00:25:41
Speaker
Like, if you're a GM, right, you might say, OK, we're not getting enough goals for, I really do need a goal score. But typically, players will have different kind of roles, right? Like, your forwards will be, you know, guys will be natural goal scores. Some guys will have really good vision and be really good at setting up plays. There's a lot of players that will have 100 points in a season, but they'll only have 30 goals. But they set up 70 of them. They'll have 70 assists.
00:26:08
Speaker
So that player still gets credited for being an important part of a goal for his team. I like it. I think it's a good system. All right. On the stat sheet, it's just like, think of it as a convenience. Like, oh, they did the math for me. They added the goals and the assists. There's the points. OK.
00:26:26
Speaker
devil's advocate, it's two columns. I'm still I'm still not a believer. I would like I'm going to count everything on goals and assists. I will no longer be giving any any game shows points. This stupid punts. All right. And you're going to have to continue to convince me. But you got a whole season to do it. So here we go. So we tell them about primary and secondary. It's just going to explode, dude.
00:26:49
Speaker
Oh, this needs to be easier. Let's see. Okay. All right. Noob Q. That was it. Keep going, boys. Think of it as goals assist. Different stat. Different players do different things. Sounds great. That's all you need. All you need to think about. I'm getting stuck. Continue. All right. So Jake and Tom, this is, I thought this would be a kind of a neat thing to talk about because this will start to give you an idea.
NHL Player Salaries and Performance Metrics
00:27:12
Speaker
as to
00:27:28
Speaker
I'm going to read you off the amount of goals, the amount of points that, or sorry, the amount of goals, the amount of assists and the amount of points that a player had this season. I only have a couple here. All right. And based on that information, I want you to just give me a ballpark of what you think that player should make. Were they a UFA this season or this off season?
00:27:53
Speaker
U.F.A. standing for unrestricted free agent. I mean, you can sign with any team at your leisure. OK, cool. Tom, can I can I put you to work here? Can you can you just write these down? Absolutely. OK, yeah. Perfect. Put them in the show notes. So, Jake, player one, 40 goals, 47 assists, 87 total points. What do you think that player is making?
00:28:24
Speaker
I'm assuming this is a forward. Yes. All forwards. Goals come at a premium. I think you get paid extra for putting the fuck in the net for 40 goals. If you were an RFA hit the market, 40 goals, 47 assists. I mean, I'd say eight plus million easy. I'd say to give you a number, I'll go
00:28:53
Speaker
9.1 million. Okay, cool So you said nine point nine point one million there beautiful player number two? 43 goals 56 assists 99 points Nine nine point five million player number three 42 points or start 42 goals 69 points 111 points
00:29:22
Speaker
I'll go 10.1 million. Cool. Player number 4. 37 goals, 67 assists, 104 points. 9.8 million. I have two more here for you. 61 goals, 52 assists, 113 points.
00:29:48
Speaker
61 goals, 52 assists, 113 points, 11.3 million. I think, I think I see where you're going with this and I'm excited about it. Uh, 40 goals, 45 assists, 85 points. I'll go back to 9.2 9.1 million. Um,
00:30:15
Speaker
These are the cream of the crop players. I mean, those are those are excellent stat lines. Can you tell me what Jake said for player number one? Kind of. I think you said he said nine.
00:30:30
Speaker
9.1 million. That's Will Nylander. OK, he is scheduled to make this upcoming season just under seven million six point nine five. OK, player number two. I think you you brought it up to nine point nine point five. That's Jack Hughes. OK, he is set to make eight million next year.
00:30:54
Speaker
That contract is up. Player number three, 111 points. Okay. So that's eight points and he makes 12 six. Okay. Uh, player number four, 104 points. What do you say, Tom? That's Hopkins. He makes 5.25. Um, player number five, 113 points. I think you said 11.3. 11.2.
00:31:25
Speaker
And then the last guy, 40 goals, 45 assists, 85 points, nine points, Austin Matthews, and he set to make 13.25 million highest paid player in the league as of his new contract. First of all, find me a planet where, um, Connor McDavid,
00:31:52
Speaker
should not be the highest played player in the league. He should have the Nick Saban rule in his contract where any time any other person makes more money than him, he just goes up by another one million. That should be the way his contract operates, dude, because there is no planet where Austin Matthews, except for Nugent Hopkins and William Nylander, Jake,
00:32:18
Speaker
These are all players I would rather have over Austin Matthews. You can add Leon Dreyseidel to that list. You can add Connor McDavid to that list. You can add Nick Cannon's on the list already. It's like, dude, is it just because it's Toronto? Like, oh, and one more question that I wanted to ask you. There's one player and one team in the history of the NHL.
00:32:44
Speaker
that has won a Stanley Cup with a player making at or more than $10 million in a season. You're nodding. Who is it? It's Vegas just this year. It was the first time. Yeah. Which shout out we gave that contract.
00:33:03
Speaker
It doesn't happen often. You need a balanced team. It's tough to make a balanced team when you have a guy taking up that big of a percentage. So I think you also have Tavares at 11 million and Marner at 11 million. What the hell is Toronto going to do? I think so. One thing I want to say before, like for Ryan Nuge and Hop, right for Nuge. Sorry. Well, blank on his name.
00:33:30
Speaker
Part of what you need to factor in is when the contract was signed too. So McDavid signed a couple of years ago and when he signed, he was the highest paid player in the league as he should be. He should be every year here on out. So when it's signed, it plays a factor there. And so I think he said Willie Nylander was one of them. He's due for, this is his final year of his contract and he's going to get a massive raise at the end of that deal.
00:33:57
Speaker
But to your point, I don't know if that's going to be Toronto to do it because I don't think he should take a discount to stay in Toronto. I mean, that's his decision, but I don't know what Toronto is going to do. They have some high end talent, but they pay the premium for that high end talent. And I think that's contributed to some of their issues is that roster inefficiency where you're paying some of these top guys.
00:34:22
Speaker
look I like I don't in a bubble if everybody was paid the same you're taking Austin Matthews as a top 10 player in the league easy he is he deserves it but whether or not I don't think he should be the top paid player in the league I think what contributed to that
00:34:39
Speaker
ballooned salary that he got is a bit of a shift in the way contracts are structured in the NHL where he took a lesser number of years. He took four years. And so I think Toronto said, look, we're going to pump up the AV average annual value of that contract if you're willing to sign here and willing to take four years. It's just so much money wrapped up into three players.
00:35:03
Speaker
And I don't care what the sound it is up to because it's going to go up. I. OK, so so the reason the reason this becomes relevant to the savers right to tie back into what we're doing here is the fact that a Toronto is in our division. So it's a team that we need to be cognizant of and be they're just a massive fucking rival. We goddamn hate the Toronto Maple Leafs. They goddamn.
00:35:29
Speaker
hate the Buffalo Sabres, we travel to each other's stadiums or arenas, and we boo the shit out of the other team. And it's just a heated thing. So I will always be rooting for Toronto to make a mistake.
00:35:42
Speaker
I think they made a mistake. I don't think Austin Matthews is worth this amount of money. I don't think his two way game justifies it. I don't think the way he sets up plays justifies it. Yeah, he's a sick goal scorer and he's super consistent. But holy cow, did everybody get a massive chubby when he put up 60 and then McDavid and pasta did it this year and nobody said a thing. Like what the hell, dude? Yeah.
00:36:11
Speaker
I, he, I mentioned it earlier, goals get a premium and he is, I think you could make the argument for him to be a top three goal scorer in the league and I wouldn't bet shy away from it. But again, like you said, I don't, I don't think his complete game warrants that kind of money. But I think if you're Toronto, if he, if you let Austin Matthews walk, what, where, where's your team going? I mean, they, they're all in on this core and I think they have to be given the moves that they've made to get here.
00:36:40
Speaker
So I think they were kinda up against a wall. I mean, they had to sign Austin Matthews. They cannot trade him. That essentially signals we're not competing with this core. We need to recoup assets and move on from this core. And I don't think they're ready to do that. They have a new GM in. Name a market that has more pressure to win than Toronto. You're not gonna find it. Yeah, I don't know, man. I don't know if I necessarily agree that it means
00:37:08
Speaker
automatically that they're moving on from this core that's 13.25 million dude and and that contract doesn't kick into the season after this one that's upcoming which is worth mentioning but true yeah you take that money dude that's
00:37:25
Speaker
That's three solid players that play a style of hockey that is more appropriate for the playoffs, which is, which, which that is what Toronto needs. So I don't know, Jake, we're getting that we're getting pretty off topic here, but Tom, is there anything here that you're listening to us as we're talking that you want to ask a question about, or you're just like along for the ride right now? Uh, definitely along there for the ride, working on a new, uh, measurement for, uh,
00:38:01
Speaker
Uh, uh, no, but my, my, I do have a real question and it's a, what is the salary cap? So if these players, these high-end players are getting between nine and 10, 12, 13 million.
00:38:11
Speaker
What is, uh, what is the calories? Well, the calorie sap is that's me. I do love these calories. Um, in fact, I have some Chipotle with my name on it that I'm going to body after this pod. Um, Jake, do you, do you know at the top of your head? I do not.
00:38:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I got you so that the current salary cap Tom is right around 83 Million it is projected in the next handful of years and I by handful I think I probably mean actually more like three It's supposed to get up to 90 so it's gonna jump in the next couple years Which I think is what teams are banking on with these bigger contracts. I don't care if it goes to a hundred I feel like 13.25 is still
00:39:00
Speaker
Too much to have wrapped up in one player for what you need to succeed in the NHL, but I digress Awesome cool. So let's I guess get into the next thing unless Tom did you have something? No, no, thank thank you for that information. Sorry. Can I can I can I say something first of all, I want to correct myself It's 82.5 million coming up and I agree. So during COVID there was a lot of
00:39:27
Speaker
in flexibility with the salary cap, it went up one million every year. Whereas before COVID, it was going up anywhere from three to four million per season. Now that the player's debt to the owners, if you will, caused by COVID is gone, that salary cap should rise aggressively in the next off season and the off season after that. So you could see four, five, six million salary cap increase.
00:39:55
Speaker
And so teams are kind of budgeting for that by giving massive contracts to somebody like Austin Matthews. If I can bring it back to the Sabres, what I love about what they did, they've identified pieces that are integral to their core and locked them up for seven, eight years at very friendly cap hits. So Austin Matthews is
00:40:19
Speaker
It's not a dispute. He is the number one center in Toronto. Our number one center in Buffalo is Tage Thompson. Tom, given that, throw out a number. What do you think Buffalo's number one center makes? And keep in mind, Tage Thompson is right up there with Auston Matthews as far as skill level. I think he's on a second deal or is he on a rookie deal? He's on a second deal. Second deal. He's signed a big, big ticket contract. What do you think he makes this season? Seven point eight. You're not a bad guest, Tom.
00:40:50
Speaker
Yeah. So I think you did it. So Tate Thompson will make right around 7.1 million this year as Buffalo's number one center. I would like to add to a salary just a little bit. Dude, I would take it. I would take it. If he was signed for 7.7 million, he signed at that contract for the next eight years. That's insane value. How many years in is he?
00:41:17
Speaker
his contract that he signed hasn't even begun yet. This is the first season. This is the first season started first season. Okay. And he had, what, 48 goals?
00:41:30
Speaker
Yeah, something crazy like that. Yeah. And injured for what seemed like he was out for a lot of games towards the end of the year, but still was playing through injury for a lot of time and still put up those numbers. I mean, he's not, he's done this for the past couple of years. I wouldn't say he's as established as somebody like, like McDavid, someone like that.
00:41:50
Speaker
But he's proven that he can do it. It wasn't a one-off year for him. Buffalo's number two center, Dylan Cousins, is making a similar amount. So Buffalo has their top one-two centers, which is arguably the most important position for a roster, signed to about 14.2 million. That is insane.
00:42:13
Speaker
right around what one player in Toronto is making in Auston Matthews. And that's just great value. It's good roster construction. I'm thrilled about it. All right. So, Jake, let's probably this in the savers a little bit, because there's two players that I'm really hoping are going to get Tron Tron tracks contracts before the season starts, my goodness.
Sabres Contracts and Free Agent Acquisitions
00:42:31
Speaker
So real quick, after all that contract, I'll just say the name. Tell me what you think they're going to make. Rasmus Dali.
00:42:43
Speaker
Uh, I think it gets paid. I think, uh, 10, 10 to 10.5. I'd be happy with that's what I have. That's what I have in my head. And then own power.
00:42:57
Speaker
I'll give you a two point answer. I think Owen Power could go the route that Rasmus Darlene did and do a bridge deal for two, three years. If he does that, I mean, I wouldn't mind giving him the same contract. Darlene just is coming off of. I think it was three years, six million, six million a year. I love that. I agree with you 100 percent. I think predictably he's going to sign a bridge deal, ideally because I I just don't know what else there is to see. Personally, the kid was unreal for a rookie.
00:43:27
Speaker
I would love to see him just go eight for eight right now.
00:43:32
Speaker
What should be? I would take that in a heartbeat. In a heartbeat. He would be underpaid by year two of that contract if he took that. I agree. I think. All right. Yeah. Well, those are our predictions for those. We'll see if they actually A, happen, and B, how close we are. A couple more thing here that I want to get into. I think it's one more thing. Maybe two more things. Real quick, Sabre's free agent acquisition is this offseason, Jake. Connor Clifton.
00:44:01
Speaker
Eric Johnson. How about you talk about one? I'll talk about one. Which one do you want? I'll talk about I'll talk about Connor Clifton a little bit. I'm I'm I'm excited about him. So Tom, he came over from Boston. Boston had in. Oh, but but also credit where it's due. Boston had an unreal season. They were record breaking.
00:44:28
Speaker
and a really sound defensive team. They play a different structure defensively to Buffalo because they have a defensive structure.
00:44:41
Speaker
But I'm excited about Clifton coming over. He fits the mold for what Buffalo's trying to go for. He wanted to come and play in Buffalo, and that's something that we've talked about on this podcast and something that they preached. But beyond that, he's a solid hockey player. He's not gonna anchor your first pairing, and that's okay. We don't need him to do that. What I think they brought him in for is to be a more reliable partner to Owen Power, like we referenced.
00:45:11
Speaker
Owen Powers most played with partner last season was Henry Okiharu and no disrespect to Henry Okiharu, but Connor Clifton is a better all around hockey player than he is. I think having Clifton next to power will help power excel a bit more. I think Clifton is a much better
00:45:36
Speaker
creator of offense off the rush than Henry Okiharu is. So I think that will help our excel on those skills that he already has. Owen Power is, as a rookie, an excellent creator off of the rush and is a lights out elite passer and awareness in the offensive zone. Clifton will help give him another partner to play off of that.
00:46:03
Speaker
not to mention, Clifton can play a little mean. He's got some edge in his game and I love that. I think there needs to be a little bit more of that on the back end in Buffalo. I'm excited about him. If I could say things I'm worried about, Clifton is not necessarily the best
00:46:22
Speaker
at zone entries into his own zone, defending other teams off the rush. And that was in a system in Boston where they were very sound defensively. So coming into a system like Buffalo, where it is fire wagon hockey, like chances at both ends, I'm curious to see how he adapts to that. But I think he'll be a stabilizing presence for Owen Power. And that's really everything that we were looking for with a free agent position.
00:46:52
Speaker
Anything that yeah, so you're convinced he's are he's locked for the top four. I think so. I think I think he'll I think he'll start the season with the one because I think in Boston, I think he was always either five or six playing bottom or bottom pair of minutes. So I just don't know. I'm not positive.
00:47:16
Speaker
I'm just not positive he's going to be ready to take on the workload that Owen Powers, because Owen Powers is going to be on the ice a freaking lot. So that's my only hesitation about Connor Clifton. I'm hopeful that I'm hopeful that he's ready to take on a bigger role. That was one that was one of the reasons he said he signed here to begin with was he was ready for a bigger role. So how many questions you want to ask about Connor Clifton? New D man.
00:47:44
Speaker
Um, no, you guys are doing a great job. So Nigel, I'll throw it back to you. Who, who do you think does start with the one power? I think it's going to be guilty again. I think Clifton and Johnson are just simply your new bottom three pair.
00:48:04
Speaker
Yeah. So talk about Johnson a little bit. I just like the veteran presence in the room, which is the most cliche thing on the planet to say. But more importantly, with that, I like a veteran presence in the room that has won a Stanley Cup. And I like a veteran presence in the room that was also a former number one overall pick as a defenseman, just like Rasmus D'Alene and Owen Power. I like that a lot.
00:48:31
Speaker
I also think there might be a possibility, and I don't love this, I wouldn't be shocked if Eric Johnson played with Owen Power.
00:48:42
Speaker
just because you know, he's going to be, he, he's going to be a stay at home defenseman. He's not going to go anywhere. He's going to allow own power to rove and OP is just going to learn by being on the ice with that guy. Predictably, I think it's going to be yokey again, but with EJ, you're just getting a savvy vet whose best days are behind him, but that's savvy that matters. And a guy, I think primarily.
00:49:06
Speaker
Tim then toward Darlene and Owen Power, who are as cornerstone as cornerstone can get on the back end. That's my thoughts on that. Tom, did you have any questions about anything at all? Can you walk me through? And I think maybe some of our listeners through when you're talking about
00:49:29
Speaker
like players playing with other players. Like, can you talk to it? Because I think what you're meaning is which shift they're on. Right. Am I using the correct terms? So can you kind of talk to, hey, like, OK, we think this these two players are going to be on the bottom shift. Yes. So what is actually we're going to do do a roster projection for the savers to once we get closer to the regular season in October. But what we're talking about here, typically you you want to pair your defensemen with other defensemen that have complementary skill sets.
00:49:58
Speaker
So the top defensive pair, meaning the best pair in Buffalo, which is Rasmus Dallin and Matias Samuelson. Rasmus Dallin is an absolute wizard with the puck. He skates like a freak. He's got sick mitts, meaning he can deke for days or dangle for days, as the kid said.
00:50:17
Speaker
Um, and, uh, he's, he's got an unreal shot, but his vision is unreal. He's a great, like he's a guy who gets a lot of assists Tom, because he's got sick vision. Matias Samuelson is just a rock defensively. He's not going to put up on real offensive numbers, but when Darlene finds a crease and wants to take off with the forwards.
00:50:38
Speaker
you can bet your money that Samuelson is going to be back, staying at home, doing his job and allowing Darlene to play his game, which is to be an offensive defenseman. So that's what we mean by complementary skill sets. You have your top there, which is your your two best defenseman, your middle pair and your bottom pair. There's only three three lines for defenseman. Your top two are your best. Your middle two are your next best two. And it just keeps going. So, yeah, that's what we mean by that.
00:51:08
Speaker
Cool. And it it wrote. It's not it's not clean changes every time, right? Like they rotate and now there are overlap with other other players and situated situationally during a game, too. You know, if you're down a goal, you need a goal, you're putting out Dalian and power to try to get you a goal. Right. So it can shift up that way. Sick. All right. OK, so let's see here.
00:51:33
Speaker
Uh, go ahead, Jake. I think the- Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Can I say one more thing about Johnson? He's a great penalty killer as well. And as a tangent, I'm glad they brought someone like Sam Gaskergensen's back as well. Both those guys are really good penalty killers. And Buffalo's penalty kill over the past few years has not been stellar. And special teams is such a big part of what wins you a game. I'm hopeful that he can stabilize some of the defensive core on the penalty. For sure, dude.
00:52:01
Speaker
All right, and the last thing we had was to just do real quick, just touch on the first handful of draft picks the savers made this year.
Sabres Draft Picks and Future Potential
00:52:13
Speaker
So everyone's probably more familiar, the most familiar was Zach Benson. So I think you can probably Jake and correct me if you think I'm wrong.
00:52:20
Speaker
Zach Benson, highly skilled, a little bit undersized, but insanely tenacious on both sides of the park. Like this kid for checks like an absolute son of a bitch. And I think I think that's one of the main reasons he was drafted where he was, was his tenacity. I think based on things I was seeing, he was he was the best for checker.
00:52:45
Speaker
of all the guys that went in the first round. Just an insanely tenacious guy. His two-way game is his strength on top of being super skilled in the offensive zone.
00:52:56
Speaker
Yeah, an incredible playmaker. He leverages his for checking into setting up his teammates. One of if I remember correctly, one of the best playmakers in the OHL in recent memory, you're putting that up against names like McDavid Crosby, people like like high end talents. I'm not saying he's going to be one of those players, but that playmaking ability is evident and I think can translate to the NHL based on his, like you said, his tenacity is for checking.
00:53:23
Speaker
His size is I have no issue with, but I think that's why he felt where he was. Yeah, I am thrilled that it was our first pick. That was an insane value pick in the first round there. Tom, any questions about the first round pick? Oh, no, not today. We'll probably come back to this at another time. But no, keep going. I think you guys just go ahead and touch on it. Don't don't check back with me if you're OK with that. Jake Anton Volberg, the second round pick.
00:53:55
Speaker
Anton Wahlberg, big Swedish center. I believe he won silver with team Sweden at the under 18th recently. Just an excellent two-way center. So obviously, like Tom, for example, this guy's not going to be in a Buffalo jersey for
00:54:15
Speaker
minimum two, three years. But as he develops, I hope to see more of a two way presence to his game. I think we have enough race horses offensively where we don't necessarily need him to be putting up.
00:54:27
Speaker
40 goals, 40 assists, 80 points done. But just to, yeah, just to help stabilize the bottom six as he develops, replace some of the guys that we lose, I'm excited about him too. We'll see how he develops. Yeah, you pretty much touched on it. I just think it's maybe good. Anything to add on him or do you want to take it to the third round pick? As just like a good size, yeah, just a good size power forward.
00:54:56
Speaker
kind of guy that I imagine will have a good play style for the playoffs. Nice mitts and small spaces. Another spacious guy in the forecheck. He had six points in seven games at the under 18 like you just mentioned. So yeah, and good on the walls too. That was another note I had written down here.
00:55:14
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And so two forwards off the top. The defensive prospect cupboard is a little bare, so they went with a defenseman with the 45th overall pick. What were your thoughts on? I think it's pronounced Maxim.
00:55:31
Speaker
Um, no, no, no, it's okay. Excuse me. Excuse me. Yeah, dude. Um, first of all, I go for Slovakia because they're starting to get a lot of players in this league, man. Um, and he is no exception. Six to two Oh five. Um, I, my biggest note that I've written down, he's a good two way defenseman. He likes to try and make his offensive plays. He's got decent hands. Sometimes he gets a little bit too carried away with trying to make a play like every time he gets the park. Um, but I've written down, he's got nice hands. Good in transition.
00:55:59
Speaker
He is Michigan State bound, which I like. Michigan State is an insanely good college hockey team. They're always going pretty deep into the playoffs and whatnot, so he loved that. Also loved that he's a right-handed defenseman, which seems to be a premium in the NHL. I don't know why there seem to be so few righties, but he just projects as a nice two-way, probably bottom four.
00:56:23
Speaker
um, defenseman in the NHL. Um, but yeah, great pick. He had 18 points, um, this year in the SHL, which is pretty solid for, you know, an 18 year old in their first year, another guy who projects to get over to America playing probably in the next two years, two, three. Um, yeah, I don't know anything else there, Jake.
00:56:44
Speaker
No, nothing for me. I think we should mention Buffalo's fourth pick from the draft to hometown kid, Gavin McCarthy, another defenseman, you know, hope the best for a hometown kid to make the squad at some point. I think he's probably a long shot, but shout out to Buffalo. Always got to love the Buffalo kids, man. Who was Kennedy? Tim Kennedy wasn't he a Buffalo boy?
00:57:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're right. They're all long shots in the draft, right? First overall, it's still still. I know Jake and I did a lot of talking on the same stuff.
00:57:19
Speaker
No, I think you guys are covered. I'm excited to learn more about these players as we go. And I'm just trying to soak it in. I know it's a lot. It's a lot to keep up here. No, you're doing great. Awesome. Yeah, you're doing great. Well, yeah, it's it's it's September coming up probably tomorrow when you hear this podcast will be September. Hockey news will start to roll in and we'll we'll keep you updated on anything. Anything sabers and can't wait for the season to get going. Absolutely. Tom, you want to take us home, buddy?
00:57:47
Speaker
All right, pals. Well, hey, we had a nice filled up podcast here. We got started some bills news, got into a slightly bungled version of who the fuck is that. But we'll come back to that another time.
Podcast Promotion and Listener Engagement
00:58:02
Speaker
And a great.
00:58:05
Speaker
stints of kind of setup work from our two Sabres boys here. So as we're closing out here, can everybody please go out and give us a five stars, a thumbs up, a high five, whatever you can on your choice of listening platform, Spotify, Apple Music. Go find us out at
00:58:22
Speaker
uh instagram at let's go buffalo pod and on twitter at buffalo pod um my name is tom that's jake that's nigel we are so happy to have you here with us hope you have a wonderful evening night day wherever you are and uh go bills go savers