The Hockey PDOcast - The Buffalo Sabres are very fun

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

Lance Lysowski from The Buffalo News joins Dimitri to talk about how the Sabres have just right into the playoff race, what's been driving their recent success, and how it'll impact their decision-making at the trade deadline. This podcast is produced by Dominic Sramaty.  The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

dressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDEOCast. My name's Dimitri Filipovich and joining me somehow for the first time ever on the PEDAO cast, first of many, hopefully. It's my good buddy, Lance Lascalsi. Lance, what's going on, man? Dimitri, thanks for having me.

Always a pleasure to talk to you. And yeah, I think, you know, first time, hopefully for more. Oh, well, I mean, we're going to be talking about our sabers. So there's going to be plenty to get to, and I'm sure it's going to be able. a fun time and looking forward to it. So a lot of topics to get to, let's get into it from a team perspective first because this is clearly good timing on our part to be doing a Sabres debrief. They're coming off a road trip that was wildly successful for them. They have points in seven straight games. They're up to a 94 point pace on the season now. You know, they're one point

behind Pittsburgh with the same number of games play. They're two points behind Washington with three games in hand. And I noticed Dom's model at the athletic has them at 16% probability to make the playoffs. And that seems at first blush to be low on the lower end of things for me because, you know, both wildcard spots as I mentioned have kind of opened up here for the taking. And I think Dom's model and he admit as much, you know, makes into account previous performance as well. And that's almost, I feel like, irrelevant for the Sabres team just because it's so fundamentally different to group of young players than it has been in the past. So considering all that, I think, you know, things are unequivocally trending up,

and this is a good time for us to chat about kind of this recent performance we've seen from them. Of course, yeah. And I think strength of schedule ahead seems really difficult. You look, I've seen a few of the models way they've had one of the most difficult, you know, roads, roads to the end of the regular season. But yeah, I mean, this is the product of development. Of course, Tage Thompson is a big piece of that and how his game has reached this superstar level. But you also look at the transformation of this team began almost a year ago with Mattia Samuelson reaching the NHL. That really strengthened the back end. And Rasmus Dahlene can be Rasmus Dahlene.

And then Owen Power shows up in April. And now all of a sudden you have this blue line that can execute Don Granato's system with precision and get the puck up to these forwards. When you have Dylan Cousins, J.J. Patyrka, Jack Quinn, you know, Peyton Crabbs. They have so much skill up front. Alex Tuck has taken his game even to another level since arriving from Vegas. this team is offensively dangerous. And they're learning how to defend. They're learning how to adjust their game to their opponents.

Like when the most recent road trip to Dallas, St. Louis, Winnipeg, and Minnesota is a good example to where very difficult, tough defensive teams. And the Sabres, you know, they didn't try to play running gun. They tried to take what was given to them. And it led to them getting seven or eight points on the road trip. Yeah, except for, well, I thought the one game in Winnipeg showcased why I don't think anyone would be super excited about seeing the Sabres as their round one opponent. It's clearly still a young flawed team, especially defensively, right? They've got a lot of work to duo. It's a work in

progress, undoubtedly. And I think like a, you know, a top team to play them in round one would eventually, I think, find a way to expose some of those weaknesses in the roster. At the same time, though, if you're talking about a seven-game series where you really just need a couple games of getting hot, I don't think there's any, there's very few teams, let's say, in the league that are a better bet to just go completely nuclear offensively for like a three or four game stretch than they are. And that Jets game showed perfectly why there's such a problem because Winnipeg's having this great year. They're at home. So many things have been going right for them. And Buffalo just comes in and it was almost this like unstoppable momentum when they started playing

where it felt like the Jets really just had no recourse or no options for slowing them down. And Connor Hellebuck was amazing. I think he only gave up three goals or so in that game. and eventually the Jets kind of clawed back into it and made a game of it on the scoreline. But if you watch that throughout, it was about as one-sided of a 3-0 game, as you're going to see for the first like 50 minutes of it. And it, to me, highlighted or showcased exactly what makes this team such a nightmare to try and defend against. Yeah, I mean, the puck possession that they showed in the second period was reminiscent of the Russian 5. Just rolling four lines.

That's the way that the sabers were able to do it against the Jets. and you just zip the puck, you know, tape-to-tap passes to create time and space. And a different goalie, a different opponent, it's a seven or eight-nothing game. Well, we've seen those types of performances from teams across the league where, I mean, catch an opponent on an off night, you pass the puck like that. You're going to be scoring a lot of goals in the Sabres. Not only, it's not a one-line team anymore. And now it's not just H. Thompson who has the ability to score you an easy goal, you know,

to really shift momentum in your direction. They've got a lot of guys. You saw Jack Quinn Saturday in Minnesota, just an incredible individual play. You look at around the league right now, New York Islanders, there's teams that just don't have those guys that can get you that easy one and really just free up the game. Habers have a lot of them. And you're absolutely right. Defending is a big piece of this. I think that they have that one defense pair with Dahlian and Samuelson is extremely good at killing plays and getting the team back to its transition game.

But it's also, I think a big part of the evolution is going to be all in power. I mean, he is so dynamic offensively, but he still is such a work in progress defensively. Once that kid figures it out, they are going, they're going to be in a much better spot in terms of defending these other elite offensive teams of the league. You look at the division, there's going to be some very difficult tests rest of the way. Yeah, I think the roadmap towards improving their defensive metrics is going to come through sort of some of that natural development of the young players. I think they're ultimately, ideally always going to be a team that gets there just through

sheer domination of the puck and tilting the ice, right? I don't think it's going to be a type of team where they're going to sit back in a defensive zone and just work the lanes and try to suppress and keep everything that outside. I think they're going to give up theirs. That's kind of the byproduct of playing the way they play, which is a good thing, right? Because I think they've proven they can still be a net positive. And so when you have someone like going to power who we're going to do a full section on here in a bit, the defensive metrics I think are always not going necessarily line up with what he can probably individually in isolation do with his like skating ability and his reach and even his ability to play a physical game at that size because he's always

going to be pushing the envelope in the offensive zone and finding himself, you know, all the way down behind the goal line and in the attacking end. So sometimes that's going to lead to being out a position and a two-on-wide rush the other way and that's going to reflect incredibly poorly on your defensive metrics. And so I think you kind of take the good with the bad in that case and I'm perfectly fine with that. So I think there's going to be an evolution in that over the next couple of years, but ultimately, like, I don't think it's nearly as big of a deal as people might think just based on sometimes you see the goals against numbers or whatever, and you're like, oh, my God, there's so much work to do. And I think we need to take all of that into consideration

as kind of like little pieces of the puzzle. It's such a great point. I think it's one of the reasons why we haven't heard Owen Powers name nearly as often in the colder trophy conversation as some of these other players, despite the fact that he's playing, you know, at 23 minutes a night and he's getting top, top opponents, snide in and night out. And he has been. been so much better than what the, even like the bait, you know, you'll get the points. They're not there yet. They're going to be, though. He has just been threatening, threatening offensively, activating, showing so much confidence. And I haven't seen a player look, you know, at a lesser level, the way that Owen Power did. It's, his game is translated almost identically to the NHL,

you know, and he never looks, the poise is always there defensively and with the puck. There's not a whole lot of hesitation in his game. You pair that with fellow number one pick, Rastmasdollin, who's playing like our Norse trophy winner. I mean, that, that is really the key to this, this team taking that next step is, is what they've done with the blue line. And that has all been through development. And of course, they had, they had a Leo Lubushkin, which has been a nice add to the third defense pairing to stabilize things a bit there.

Well, okay, let's see. I was going to see power for the back half of the show, but I think we've, we've touched them a little bit now. Let's just fully dive into it because I really want to unpack a lot of this. I know I've mentioned people that have listened to the show throughout the year, like, all right, you're talking with this guy enough. But I really think it's an important topic because, Owen Power is turning into a great sort of knowledge test for hockey fans to separate the real ones from the rest.

Like it, to me, your thoughts on Owen Power in the season he's having are very reflective of, do you watch hockey? Do you know puck? Because if the answer is yes, then you can appreciate not only how special he's been, but how important it is for Owen Power to be doing what he's doing and the way he's doing it. Right? I think like the reason why I'm so infatuated by it is, is he really is like a paradigm shifting defenseman. He's a six foot six guy who's 20 years old, who's still a rookie in the league, and he's making all these subtle decisions to drive tremendous offensive results.

And he's not doing it through, you know, he had the three straight games where he scored a goal, and I'm sure he's going to score plenty of goals throughout his career. But what's special about him is he doesn't need to individually be the person putting the puck into the net to make, to kind of set the table for everyone around him. And so when he's out there, the Sabres are having these tremendous offensive results. And it's through all these little subtle things that he's doing with the puck and the decisions he's making, which is so rare and so uncharacteristic to say about any defenseman, let alone a rookie defenseman at that size, right? Typically, if you're talking about a six-foot-six defenseman, it's going to be sort of that

traditional, like, stay-at-home, physical around the net, crease clearing, all that stuff, all those tropes and instead he's doing it in this like way where he may as well be a five foot eight defenseman that's known purely for a skill game and so I think that is so cool and so when you see people saying I don't get why he should be in the calder conversation he's only got 18 19 points or whatever that just proves to me that like you're you're either not watching these games or you're not watching it with enough like attention to detail to appreciate what he's doing yeah the type of opponents he's on the ice against the situations he's in and it's all it's all the subtle plays right And that's, we've seen Dahlene really master a lot of those subtleties in his game.

But you look at him a couple years ago as a rookie in the league in particular, there was none of that. So for a kid like going power to come in the league, at 19 years, always turned 20 since the season began. But to have to know what to do to really spark to break out, you know, how to really break pressure against elite defensive teams in this league and to do it while showing such poise. And, you know, like you said, it's such so much of the defense. sense of stuff, you know, and the underlying metrics is, is system-based and it's going to, it's going to write itself naturally through his development. But once the, once he really develops the shot, I think that is the one key for him in terms of offensive point production. It's going to unlock, it's going to really open a lot of eyes around elite to people who

aren't able to watch the Sabres night in and night out. I was talking to Mattia Samuelson recently. And he just said, wait until this kid gets a shot, right? Like everybody looks at, everybody looks at the goals and the points, but, you know, there are so many times this season where Owen Power just completely fools somebody in the offensive zone to create a shot lane for himself. And he's not able to, he's not able to beat the goalie clean. There's going to come a time. We saw it with Rasmus Dahlin where he's going to be able to really take advantage

of those opportunities. He's been creating, not only for his, you know, the other guys on the eye, but also for himself. Yeah, there's still so much meat on the bone. and I hate to, you know, to single out poor Henry Yoki, how are you here? But he's just been his most regular defense partner this season. And there's been times where, unfortunately, you can see, like, Owen Power has such a special mind for processing the game. And unfortunately, not everyone does. It's kind of what makes Owen Power so good.

And there's these times where they're, like, passing the puck around the point. And part of Power's game or his repertoire is already, like, when you see open ice, you go towards it, even if it's somewhere where most defensemen are uncomfortable going to. And so he passes it, point to D to D to the point to Hany Yoki Haru, and the other defenders kind of go towards Yogi Haru because he has the puck. And so power just streaks towards the middle of the ice because it's a wide open, give and go.

And unfortunately, Yuki Haru, like either just takes a point shot or looks the other way. And I think that's probably going to come more with time. But also, I think it's partly why him and Dali and in particular that's so much success in these isolated offensive zone shifts because they actually can play off of each other in that regard in terms of their offensive versatility.

And so I'm really excited to see what the next year's come and it look like for Owen Power because I think there's going to come a time where all of those little give and goes and little set play nuances are going to finally materialize for him. And so he's going to get even more opportunities to shoot from great areas on the ice just because he's going to be finally receiving those passes. And the evolution of this roster is going to be so fascinating to watch. We know that Kevin Adams, the Sabres Journal, Manager, reached out to the Arizona Coyotes, the gauges, you know, what's it going to cost to get Jacob Chikrin?

They're still trying to add to this group. And if you add another defenseman like that who, you know, hypothetically could play with Owen Power and they can work off of each other and that there is a lot of opportunity here to help the younger players on this roster reach another level. And a lot of it is, you know, of course, they have the coach who has the, the system that just fits this personnel, you know, just perfectly. but you're going to continue to see through development and talent acquisition the ways that they're going to get even more out of their core pieces like power, like Dahlene. So, you know, I think a lot of people are obviously surprised that the Sabres reached the level that they've had this season a little sooner than expected.

A lot of that, though, of course, is Tatee Thompson, harassment as Dahlene. And when you have elite, elite players reaching that, you know, reaching that next level of their game, it's going to sort of speed up results a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Well, one final note on power, you mentioned how it's sort of rare to see a player go from the way they played at a lower level in his case in the NCAA to immediately translating that.

I thought that, you know, his came cameo towards end of last season was amazing. I was like provided a window into everything he could be. And then this year he started off a bit slow for whatever reason in my eye. He was a bit tentative. He wasn't making those same decisions. And so the first maybe five, six, seven games or seven. so it was a bit of a slower burn. But ever since then, he really has kind of played with that freedom that he played in in Michigan.

And just think about the goal he scored against the Blues the other night, right? I think for my money, that was, you're going to see like higher skill level plays. And Tj Thompson himself has scored a number of them already this season. But just like conceptually, it was one of the best executed in-zone plays I've seen where they were running this, you mentioned the Russian five, they were running this like three-man weave up high in the zone where you know, Tage Thompson's coming up, he's running a handoff with power, power streaks down, passes it across, I used to tuck for a chance, then he himself gets the rebound, then they keep cycling it around, and he goes back door and he gets the tap in, and that type of free-flowing

and movement. I'm really curious for your take, because part of it is individual talent and young players coming in and they either have it or they don't, but it's rare also to see a coach kind of allow them and give them the freedom to play that way, so I'm kind of curious for your take on the Granado element of this and how he factors into this entire formula for them because I think in the wrong hands and we've seen it with Ralph

Kruger for example notably a whipping boy on this on the podcast we've seen how it can kind of go south where young players come in and they want to do all this stuff and the coach is like no that's a bit too risky for my blood we can't play this way at NHL level you really have to dumb down your game and instead

there's going to be mistakes along the way but we've seen them also just embrace what makes them special and keep doing that night in and night out. Don Granada was the perfect hire for this team. It was just the perfect time for a coach with this philosophy, this understanding and development. And when you see a shift like that where it's almost positionless hockey, that is exactly how Don Granada wants them to play. And it took time to really build the conference within the group to do it because the forwards

have to know that, okay, you have to cover for the defense, but you guys have to all work together. There has to be chemistry with the five players on the ice to execute. a play like that at the level that they did. And of course, you have Alex Tuck, who I think a lot of people outside of Buffalo or who haven't really watched the Sabres parts of the season overlooked a bit was just how impressive he has been and just the way that his development has gone.

And of course, there's going to be mistakes. If you have a turnover, you're willing to live with it. But the way that they've been able to execute the system that Don Granado has with precision, it just goes to show you. I think a lot of this is also practice. They haven't had a lot of practice time over the last three weeks

because of the schedule, but they practice with such intensity, and they practice with, it's not the same drills over and over again. There's an understanding, okay, here are the concepts we need to work on to really develop our offensive game in the zone, and here's how we're going to execute it. And there's, when you look, it's such a unique dynamic in that locker room with all those young guys who have such a thirst for getting better. And even when you look at the older guys, like Kyle Okoso and Jeff Skinner, when you have veterans who want to stay out in the ice long after.

practice ends, it really goes, it speaks to their dedication to, to take their games through next level. You know, for example, you'll walk in a locker room after practice and you'll have Jeff Skinner walking around talking, talking power play concepts with Dahlene and in Skinner, or sorry, Dahlene and Thompson. You have Owen Power talking about with the second power play unit just openly, just that free flow in conversation of how can we better execute this play in other situations. I'm really curious, you know, I think it's one thing. on the way up in this kind of like organizational trajectory, right? You come from rock bottom. And then you start playing fun, exciting games and integrating young players into the lineup.

And it's easy to kind of latch onto that. And everything is foul money, right? Like you win a game five, four. It's like, all right, this is cool. Like this is really fun. There were a bunch of highlights. Even if you lose, it's like, all right, at least it was an entertaining product and we're building towards something. Now you kind of get into almost this uncharted territory for this organization where when's the last time they were playing legitimately meaningful games at this point of the season? right, where they, it wasn't even that they were mathematically in the equation. It was that they had a real shot to make some noise if they get there. It's been, what, 11 seasons since they were in the playoffs.

Not that I need to remind Sabers fans of that, but it's, so now they're getting into this point where it's like, all right, there's this kind of organizational baggage of we haven't played these meaningful games. We really want to get there. I'm curious for your take on, like, how that is going to factor into the decision-making of the front office to be very aggressive. or not come the trade deadline in terms of adding to this group. I imagine a lot of the calculus is going to be like we really want to add, even if that comes at the expense,

prospects and picks, if it's a player that can help us this year and years to come, right? It's not going to be your traditional trade deadline, rental, help us for 30 games, and they're out the door. So I imagine it's going to be a lot of that. But I'm curious, like, based on the good vibes that they've had so far, whether that pushes you even further in the direction of like really trying to make something happen this season and acknowledging that one way to do that is by adding a real piece of the deadline. It's a test of patience. Kevin Adams can't make the same mistake as his predecessors. We saw Tim Murray try to expedite a rebuild by making trades that not only disrupt well completely ruined the culture behind the scenes in some ways. Then you saw Jason Botterall

who you know kind of succumbed to outside pressure in certain situations where there's such a demand from the, from the market, from the fan base to do something. You finally are on the precipice of potentially having a chance to make the playoffs. You have to do something. Even if it sacrifices your plan in the, you know, in the short and long term, go get another piece. And there's always that phrase that friends like to use reward these guys, right? Like it's, it's the one, the one adage we keep hearing. But Kevin Adams all along, it says, this is my plan. I'm going to be patient. I am not going to defer from it. You've heard, you've heard the, confirm reports of him calling around checking on Shikrin, checking on Tim O'Meyer, he's

settled along. I'm not doing my job if I don't go ahead, call these general managers and see if we can get a player, a high-impact player to help our team that doesn't disrupt that long-term plan. So, of course, trade season, we hear a lot of goofiness five weeks leading up to the deadline, and the Sabre's given their cap space, their prospects, their draft capital, they're going to be connected to every guy on the market. The fact of the matter is, though, when it comes to Kevin Adams, he's not going to deplete organizational depth, Dimitra, because you know that injuries, you never know when somebody's development can go sideways. You can't just bank on everybody continuing to replicate performance year after year and you have to have some balance there.

I know there's a lot of cap space as well. You also have a lot of guys who are going to need to get paid. Imagine how much Ellen Bauer's going to cost in his second contract. You know, Dylan Cousins is going to be in for a big raise this summer as well. Yeah, you're right. Well, Cap Friendly has them at about 18 million in available cap space for the rest of the season, which makes them one of five teams with meaningful room. In my opinion, three of those five teams are openly tanking. And so, yeah, it's tricky because on the one hand, you look at the money, the money they have committed that's like tied down no matter what for next season and beyond, right? And it's, on the forwards, it's 23.5 million and Tage, Tuck, Skinner, Quinn, Patyrka, and Krebs. And then

11.2 million in Dahlian Samuelson and Power on the back end. They're really nothing on the back end, like nothing that you can't bury or move down or trade away. They've got guys like Victor Oloves and Middlestad and Lubushkin and Yoki Haru and Bryson. But all of that is like they're all expiring after next season so it doesn't prevent you from, you know, limiting your flexibility or whatever. They can really add any money they want, but they have to pay cousins this summer and then they have to pay Daly and Empower the next summer. And you made an interesting point earlier in the show where you're talking about like part of why they're here is because of the young stars developing at a rapid pace and leading the charge right and the point that I keep making

that doesn't just apply to the sabers it's a league-wide phenomenon is i think this stuff happens much more quickly though than people realize like you don't want to box yourself in by just taking one shot and being like all right well we hope everyone develops perfectly and if they don't we have no backup plan like you clearly want to have other resources and other options available to you but we see see that when your best players are already your young players and they have very like a sustainable skills in terms of driving offense, that is a foundation and a nucleus that tends to translate to success much sooner than we probably like to think. And it might not lead to a Stanley Cup,

but certainly being a regular playoff team, a regular team that's competing in the mix. And so I really think they have this unique competitive advantage the rest of this season and next year where Dahlian and Power in particular are making like seven million. and combined because of Power's ELC. And after next season, that's probably going to jump up to like mid-teens combined at least, if not approaching 20, depending on what Dahlian plays himself into. And so this is their window, not that you, they're going to be limited from doing stuff two years from now or three years from now when they're paying those guys.

There's still going to be opportunities to add. But this next year and a half or so is a very intriguing opportunity to just add as much talent to your team as you can in my opinion. Yeah. And this is why Kevin Adams is exploring. those avenues. I think with Tim O'Meyer, the big challenge there, of course, is the contract. Long, you know, it's reportedly wants $9 million. They already have, you know, Jeff Skinner on the book for $9 million. Plus, of course, we just went through all the other

contracts that are going to pay people. So that's why I don't think Timel Meyer makes sense. That being said, given all their assets and the opportunity in the next, in this window here, for lack of a better way of putting it, I do think you're going to see Kevin Adams being aggressive. The big mystery there, though, is where does he identify as the need to? for this group. You know, I think the chickering is a big physical, you know, is a physical defenseman who can help kind of protect to insulate a guy like Owen Powell or even Dahlene. When it comes to the forward group, I think they need to get some more, more of physical presence. I'm not talking about going out and trading for somebody like Ryan Reeves, but you need to have

somebody who, you know, if he's on the ice with Rasmus Dahlene that can get up, get in there and protect Dahlene. Dahlene's been taking quite every night in the night out. He is in the middle of pretty violent scrums at times because that's the way that guy that guy plays the game. So some protection would be good. But at the same time, you know, I know that everybody wants to go out and get somebody like Tim O'Mire. This team's scoring a lot of goals. They are, they are not having trouble on the offensive side. So the challenge here for Kevin Adams, and I guess it's an opportunity, is a better way of winning it, is to go out and it add to the group without sacrificing it long term. And there's a lot of opportunity to go ahead and do that, whether it be a rental, because I don't

I think that's not a question or somebody in the chikrin sense where a couple of years left on the deal where you don't have to, you know, it would be expiring around the time you'd have to pay the other, you know, the other big pieces. Yeah, I think Dom on his player cards has power and Dali at a combined market value of $20 million this season. And yeah, I think that roughly makes sense. And so when those guys are making seven combined, that provides you with a lot wiggle room to to add creatively right and and that that window will shrink once those guys are getting paid accordingly based on how they're actually producing so it's a really interesting dilemma um we'll talk more about the specific players they can add and come on some of the situations to consider after the break

so let's take our little break here and then we'll do so right after we're going to keep chatting sabers with lance you're listening to the hockey pdf cast streaming on the sports net radio network all right we're back here in the hockey pdio cast talking about the buffalo sabers with lance lasowski Lisa Lance, we're talking about the deadline and kind of what the agenda or motivation is going to be and what type of players to target. And you mentioned Chikrin there and I think, I really think they can't go wrong in terms of, I think they should be in the business of just adding best player available or the bet like the player that makes the most sense for them from just improving this team's talent level. Because if you're talking to, the stat that I keep coming back to is

at 5-1-5, when they have power and Dalian on the ice together, they're up by now. goals. When they have one of them out there at least, they're up by 13 goals. And with neither of them in the ice, they're down 14. Now, most teams, you could kind of make that case where the third pair is going to be the weak link. And unfortunately, you just kind of have to survive those minutes. And as close as you can get to 50%, you'll live with it and take the rest. But it makes sense that adding another piece that could potentially anchor another pair or give you more flexibility in terms of moving guys around on their defense pairs would make sense. You also mentioned this team already scores goals, so does Tim O'Meer make a lot of sense? They're fourth and five-on-five

scoring. They're tied with the Sabers in all situations' goals. I still think, I'm, I understand that acquisition cost is going to be high. I understand the future contract might be prohibitive in terms of all of a sudden factoring in all these other extensions that are coming down the line. But man, Timom Meyer on this team just stylistically is such a good fit. And I know I've said that on the show about like the Leafs, I've said that about the Devils. I've said that like it speaks to how good of a player, Timomeyer is that you can make the same case for like four or five other good teams, right? Like he'll fit in wherever you put him. But just from a size and speed perspective and also how he creates his offense, it's more of the same of what the Sabres already

have and do. But I don't think there's a, I don't think there's a point of diminishing returns in that regard. Like I think you can almost, you can you can push the agenda and become even more dominant offensively. I don't think it becomes like, all right, we're scoring too many goals. Let's get better defensively. Like, I think there's still room to grow in that regard. So I don't know. Talk me out of it if you want, but I'm very tantalized by the idea of it. I'm not talking to you out.

I'm not going to talk to you out of it at all. And the more that you think about what the potential cost would be, and of course, how good of a player he is, it would be the perfect fit. It would take pressure off of Quinn and Petrke, adapt to be, to really be contributing on a consistent basis the rest of the season. It would strengthen this line up considerably. You could put T.M. Meyer next to Dylan Cousins and J.J. Petrker, Jack Quinn, and that your top six is solid.

It is solidified. If it's the right cost in terms of the trade, then absolutely you do it. And I would just be fascinated to hear what it would be or what the initial offer was. Do I think that Kevin Adams is going to go out and part with Yuri Kulik, Matt Savoy, in a first round pick? I don't. but yeah of course this is the type of player that pushes you to the playoffs right now I think they need to add in order to really be able to withstand the tail end of this schedule

it is very condensed as you move along you have to worry about some of the younger players how are they going to respond to the grind of the season is victor olson someone who can sustain what he's done over the last month or so he had some five on five struggles that were really really dragging his game and dragging down T performance. He's kind of figured it out here. Could he be involved in the Tim O'Mire trade? We know the sharks want to be competitive in the short term, which might be a little short-sighted, I guess. I think that they need to do a proper rebuild. But adding somebody like Oliveson, the contract would make everything, it would make sense for both sides, would make it work for

the sabres for the next couple of seasons, still give them room to add in the summer if they would like. Big question here is just ice time. Timom Meyer, is he going to want to play 20 minutes? Does he need to play 20 minutes? He's not going to be getting in that top. line. You don't want to disrupt that. If it doesn't disrupt your chemistry and you think that you can keep buzzing along here without giving up too much, you absolutely have to do it. Because you're right. This one, these next two years, you know, even if even if you end up losing them for nothing and taking it down restricted for agency, and I guess we can't really worry about contracts too much in the same sense that, you know, I talked about, well, what if

development falls apart for one guy? You know, what if a conference, you know, what if performance really dips, you have an injury. You also can protect yourself by having somebody like Timo Myers. So, you know, if somebody, you just never know what's going to happen and have another guy in the building who you have shown this is what we're all about. This is what we're doing. This is what you can create within this, within this system with these line mates. Here are the pieces we have. You can convince, you know, maybe the price lowers. You just don't know. You can't really predict the future. But the big question is, does he need an extension when you add him, right? Like, are you going to commit to eight years before he even walks in the building? I don't see the savers doing something like that. Yeah, I think based on the acquisition cost, it would need to come with an extension from their end, which you're right. I think there's such a not logical fit because, you know, they're one of the teams they can just take on that money and the future cost without many accompanying moves. There's no real complications in that regard. You know, they can do so without like you mentioned all of some there. They can in theory make that move without really touching their NHL roster at all.

Like their prospect pool is so loaded. They have so many blue chip prospects. They also have three second round picks, one of which is Philadelphia's this year as well. Like they have a lot of interesting assets that are necessarily headliners. But if you want to, if you're at the sharks and you're looking at it, you kind of need to cash in O'Mire because he's one of the few trade chips you have that can, you know, help you move in the right direction long term. But also you kind of need volume because they haven't had a ton of pick volume in the past. And so that the receivers are an interesting trade partner from that end.

I just think stylistically, like I mentioned, like, you know, he plays, he's huge. She plays fast. He attacks off the rush. He also, if you look at his shot profile, like, Lance, he lives in that high danger area. And then you pull up, like, you go on Micah's website on hockey biz and you pull up Owen Powers shot sure when he's on the ice. And it's a work of art. Like, it needs to be just like hanging in a museum somewhere because it's, it's just a red blob in between the two circles and no shots from anywhere else. And that's why we were talking about why Owen Power is such an offensive maestro. And so you add Timel Meyer, who I believe is like second in the league in a five on. five high danger attempts lives around the net as the trigger man on a lot of those shots it's highly intriguing and the power play I think factors in here as well because I think a lot of damage would be on f515 in terms of helping this team but you know they're scoring a lot on the powerplay right now I'm curious for your take on this because there's this debate on whether the expected goal models are undervaluing the sabers power play a little bit because they have high-end shooters taking a lot of these shots and that's probably not factored into like all right one one shot from tage thom

from that flank is not equivalent to, you know, a shot from any generic shooter, right? And so the expected goals models aren't properly calibrating for that. But they're scoring a lot of goals. They're also like bottom five and chances generated, expected goals generated on the power play. And so Meyer would give you an interesting threat there as well because he plays on the opposite flank. All of a sudden now you've got two shooters. We've seen opposing penalty kills.

I forget which game recently, but one team had one, like a player specifically just attached to Tage Thompson, basically. and was like you are not getting the shot off no matter what. And it seemed to fluster the Sabres powerplay a little bit because even though it gave them four on three advantages elsewhere, they're like, well, we want to get it to stage though. It's cool. So now what do we do? Now that you've taken that away. And so adding someone like Meyer that's a real threat all of a sudden makes it much more difficult to do that for other teams. So there's a lot to there's a lot to parse with it. I'm kind of curious for your take on sort of the logistics of that and kind of how the power play has manifested over the year. they would work perfectly and I think it would take it would take some pressure off of Dylan Cousins and it would strengthen your second unit I think the one key for the sabers where the models are you know

painting um not a grim picture but I guess showing that there's going to be some regression there is the fact they don't use the bumper they never do it's just the flanks and it's dally and if those aren't if those aren't working they don't know what to do with the puck the personnel is there to really make an impact and and to really spread teams out you've got it out stuck you got Jeff Skinner you know those are two guys who are really good down low,

that if you get the puck to the bump, really that's going to be an opportunity to create some more high danger chances. I think the big piece of this here for me. We've seen some, the first power play unit, really the last three weeks without practice time, fall apart a bit. They're having trouble with entries.

They're having trouble in the zone to get the puck to the cousins and Thompson. There's been some uncharacteristic turnovers. You get a player like Timelmeyer, who is obviously extremely established in this league. That's going to keep penalty kills honest. It's going to free Tage Thompson up. I think that you look at the second unit as well, Turcha and Quinn, you add team O'Meer. That's going to take some pressure off for those guys and maybe one of them doesn't even have to be on the power play,

which isn't the worst thing in the world, have them focus on their five-on-five game. And I think when it comes to the power play, special teams in general, this team also needs to get really needs to get much better on the penalty kill, which is why when I'm looking at the deadline. I think that's an area that you address, whether it's forward or defense, that, you know, special teams, we know how important they are later in the season as the five-on-five game tightens up. You know, you look at Saturday against Minnesota, the Sabres only had one power play against a, you know, with the high-end skill against a team league Minnesota that's very, very responsible defensively, taking advantage of your power play opportunities or even earning more is obviously

going to help you, you know, get that important goal. to give you the separation that you eat. So, yes. And, of course, to meet you, the more I talk to you, the more I'm on the, more I'm leaning towards Tebowyer. That's good. That's good. That's good.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the best, well, the best thing, I mean, beyond just being really good at hockey and continue you to score a lot of goals and make difference making plays, yeah, the best thing that's happened to Tew O'Byer that sees it is me having a daily show because it gives me more opportunity to come and, and, and pump his stock as well on the, on the patio guess here. Yeah, the, the tage element of this is really interesting to me because, you know,

obviously just having an unbelievable season and continues to be so productive. The adjustment that he's had to make over the past, I don't know, a handful of games here, maybe even a couple weeks, has been fascinating to me, right? And it was to be expected, right?

When you score goals at the level he has and take the league by storm the way he has, everyone is all of a sudden game planning for you. And it's like, all right, our first thing we need to try and take away our limit our exposure to is Tage Thompson and what he does best. And so you're all of a sudden game planning defensively for that. And it's very encouraging that we've seen, like, the game winner in overtime against the stars, for example, is a perfect encapsulation of this where he's starting to use his shot as a leverage point to create as a passer as well and kind of use that attention, right?

And so just the way he took that attention from the stars on that play and even Jake O'Dinger, who had committed so much to him as a shooter and then dished it off beautifully to Owen Power for an easy taping. And those types of plays are going to help open up so much more for him. And then adding a guy like Meyer, for example, would clearly help alleviate some of that pressure. But just seeing he's still going to have some of those roadblocks throughout the year, but I'm really curious to see how he continues to combat against them and how his game as a creator and as a playmaker continues to evolve because the shot is obviously brilliant. But I think there's even more playmaking potential that Cage is kind of starting to show a little bit

that I think will come along the way as well. I absolutely agree with you. we've seen young centers in this league. That is one of the layers they need to add to their game aim is how do you use your linemates? How do you make your linemates better? How do you use the attraction that you're drawing from the opponent to create opportunities for the other guys who are on the ice with? For Tage Thompson, though, he's doing this at 20, he's doing this at 25 years old. It's only a second season playing sign in the NHL, which is just, well, for the second time playing second year playing center at any level since, you know, junior, you know, since the,

program. So he's still adding layers to his game. And the the adjustments that he's showing, you know, there are times where you're seeing him still try to beat guys one-on-one, which was what Tage Thompson did earlier in his career. He could do it. You know, when he does it, it, it looks like Mario Lemieux. It looks real. When he's able to pull it off, you're the, you are always the one who is putting the clips out there for people to wow over. So there's no, you know, you can't blame the guy for doing it. But the way that he's adjusting game to game, And he's still, you know, you look at how unique he is in terms of just the size, you know, the size skill package that he has. And he's still learning how to use his body, you know, at that size.

You know, as the season goes along, we know now that he's been playing through a little bit of, you know, some bumps and bruises, upper body injury that might keep him out of the game Wednesday, against Carolina. So the fact that he's still able to have that playmaking element, I think a big big piece of that as well is just Jeff Skinner and Alex Stee. talk how good those two have been this season and how they've worked so well with tage thompson to create opportunities the the big piece of this for the sabers is those other two talking and skinner need to start just shooting the puck more and you know and knowing when not to defer to tage thompson because it can be very very tempting to pass the puck to that guy i'm sure yeah tase is intoxicating like the best way i can put it i can see why you'd want to be involved in that highly real yeah no i'm glad you brought up tuck there i think he's someone who's

game certainly deserves a lot more love just nationally, right? Like, it's very easy to focus on a lot of the names that we've already covered on today's show. But I love the way that they utilize his speed in creative ways, right? We've seen a couple times this year they run that set play with him and Dalyan where Dahlian just indirectly passes it to him off the back wall and he skates into a full speed. I believe they burned both the abs and the Bruins with that set play for a goal against. They unleash him on the four check. He just like harasses opposing to the ball. defenders into making mistakes. But I think also he makes Tage's life a lot easier because his speed is so overwhelming that when he's a puck transporter, he backs everyone off, right? And then

all of a sudden that's such a big development for Tage where he backs him off, he passes it back to Tage who's coming in kind of as the late trailer. And that gives him that extra second or extra you know, couple inches of space to all of a sudden do something creative with it. And that was an issue for Tage earlier in his career where when you'd pressure him in tight like that, he would try to be you one-on-one, but he'd get himself into trouble and he turned the puck over. And then now he's having less of these situations where he's being immediately pressured right off the entry. And so I think we can't, like, we marvel at the season stage is having, but I think the element that tuck has added to that, I think, is a key part of like telling that story of why he's been so successful.

Yeah, when we talk about the discourse around the Eichael trade, adding a player with that skill set in Alex Tuck, the Sabers had nothing like it in their system. And a lot of teams don't. It's very difficult to find a guy who plays a power forward like game with that speed, that playmaking ability. And to pair him with Thompson, it's just been, it's been for like a better way of putting it magical at times with what they're able to create on the ice and just create so many opportunities. You know, in the offense zone on the rush, it's what's made this team so dangerous, right? And his, the zone entries is another thing. The controlled zone entries, the way that he can take the puck across the blue line. to get them in.

And even against the most difficult defensive teams in the league to face, it's, yeah, they've just had the puck more often, you know, and the impact on the forecheck. You know, when you have that guy who's able to create space and you have a goal scorer like page, it's a recipe for disaster for the opponent.

Well, I haven't checked this recently, but I believe the last time I looked, they were, like, if not number one, top three in the league at both creating off the rushes of team, and also the amount of times they enter the puck, enter the zone with possession of the puck. Like they're a team that doesn't really dump the puck in, even in the fourth line now where you have Payton Krebs kind of anchoring that unit, like they're still able to play with a certain level of skill. And I think that's a big part of this as well where you're trying to kind of establish

that identity and be a skilled high octane offensive team, those habits and that process is a huge part of this. And then that leads into Granado and the system and the impact he's had on that as well, where it's one thing to have the players. It's another thing to put him in. a position to succeed by playing to that skill. And the key there is the breakouts, right? Yes. You need to get your forwards in the right spot to be able to enter the zone the way in which they are.

And this really, the transformation for this team at 5 on 5 all started, in my opinion, when Mattia Samuelson finally joins them last January and gives Dalin that responsible defensive presence that allows Dalin to play his game. Right? And not only is Mattia Samuelson, that responsible guy on the back end, but he can also he can launch the break. He can really spark your breakout with what he's able to do with the puck at that size. That is why the Sabres gave him that seven-year contract.

I know it was a head scratcher for some on the outside, but the guy is just a perfect fit for the way that they want to play. Then, of course, that is also a strength of Yokhiari. We know it's a strength of Owen power. And it's the five-on-five offense for this team is something that it's been a long time developing since Grado took over. It was very rough at times last year. Of course. And a lot of that was personnel. They didn't have Jack Quinn, J.J. Petterka, Peyton Krebs was still finding his way in the league. And now Casey Middlestad was banged up. Victor Olson has had his five-on-five struggles. Now they know how they have to play. They know how to enter the puck and lose on. I think Dolan Cousins is another guy on this team that is extremely good at controlled zone entries. When you're able to do that, you're able to keep possession of the puck. You're able to draw attention to the puck carrier to the boards. You're opening up.

all sorts of possibilities in terms of rush chances. Yeah, I love it. I love watching this team play. This is why I was excited to talk about it with you and break it down. Is there any other stuff that we need to get to while we're here when kind of, you know, trying to capture this team season? We've mentioned Dahlian and passing a little bit, especially when we were talking about power. I don't, I've talked about him a lot on the show throughout this year.

I'm not sure what else there is to say, right? Like, he's having a magical season. He's second in scoring amongst the fence and behind Carlson. He's on pace for like 25 goals and 90 plus points. He's eating up a ton of minutes. he's playing north of 26 per game. They're doing really well with him on the ICA-5-15. Like that aggression and the confidence he's playing with is huge and ties into this entire

conversation. I guess the one thing that I'd say that I really enjoy seeing and from him in particular that I recommend viewers who don't watch the Sabres on a regular basis watch is like how he creates his own shots, right? Like that patience of like he shoots a lot, but he has the patience to either make a move on the first guy coming to try to block the shot or. wait for a better window to open up. And I love seeing that from him. I think that really speaks to the confidence that's been integrated into his game. Is there any stuff on Dallien that you think is

worth mentioning while we're here? First of all, what you mentioned, it's a fantastic observation. That is the product of tireless work by Dahlane of being on the ice before practice, working with an assistant coach to try to figure out how to create those shot lanes. There were times earlier in his career where he would pass up opportunities and it was such a point of frustration for because he knew that he could have a greater impact if he could finally use that shot to keep teams honest because they weren't pressuring him very much. They're like, all right, well, hey, you know, we're, shoot it. Yeah, prove to us that you're finally going to shoot the puck and it took away the flanks.

Finally, Dahlina's learned not only how to, how to utilize that shot, he's made it stronger, but he's also, yeah, he's manipulated defenders and he baits them into bad decisions, you know, and that creates opportunities for guys on the flanks on the power play, creates opportunities to really create, you know, more time and space on the offensive zone. I think for him in particular, it's the defensive system for this team that has unleashed his skill.

He is much more confident with the way that Don Granada wants this team to defend. He doesn't want them chasing checks. There are some people in the market here in Buffalo who want to see, finish your check, finish your check, finish your check. I understand that. But Don Grinornaud doesn't want those guys

to get out of position. You chase your check, then you have a potential Audrey and Rush the other way. You've got the numbers against you in that situation. You want to be on the right side of the puck. And Dahlene, that fits perfectly with the way that he wants to defend. He doesn't know. Man to man is the way that Hasley had this team play.

They didn't have the personnel to do it. And it could be confidence crushing when you feel like you're chasing the game the entire time. Ralph Krueger wanted them, wanted Rasmus Dahlian to be Rasmus Ristelian, which of course isn't the best model. What a sentence. Yeah. And that's, but that's the reality, right? Yeah. So now that Dahlene understands that he can use his skills.

set to defend without having to be a different type of player. I think Ralph Kruger wanted Dahlie to be fit 45 pounds heavier and to be able to lay a big hit and just be more of that stay-at-home guy. You don't have to be that. You know, you can defend extremely well while also having the ability to be the defenseman that you can possibly be. And I think that that is that, the knowledge of knowing, hey, I can kill this play without putting myself out of a position to make a play with the puck

once I get it back. That's unleashed all the confidence and all of the skill that we're seeing out of him today. That's really well said, Lens. All right, this is a blast. I'm really glad we finally got to do this. I'll let you on the way out, promote some stuff, let people know where they can check you out, and all the stuff you've been cooking up lately. Thank you so much, Dimitri. Really appreciate you having me on. You could find my work in the Buffalo News and print and online. line and, you know, Joe Yarden and I from Bleacher Report, we host a podcast every week, well, most weeks when the schedule allows it maintenance day. So you can find that on your streaming platforms. And yeah, that's all I got for you. All right, man. Well, like I said,

this was awesome. We're certainly not that we've opened the floodgates. Hopefully this aprers will give us plenty of opportunities to reconvene and chat about what they've been up to. So looking forward to that. For the listeners, if you enjoy today's show, you can help us out by smashing that five-star button wherever you listen to the PDO cast. And thank you for listening to us. We're going to be back tomorrow with more of the show here on the Sportsnet Radio Network.