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00:00Here we go. Some sort of trite, unfunny reference to that chill in the air doesn't even really work
00:07because it actually is kind of cold today. So it's actually the case as hockey starts with
00:14the first preseason game for the Sabres of the year. Paul Hamilton with us now on the
00:20West Her Hotline. Sabres at Penguins. Paul, who do you like? What's your pick?
00:27Well, I think Poulin will probably have the hat trick. Bortolo with a couple of goals.
00:33So, you know, that should go well.
00:36All right. You're throwing some ideas out there for this game.
00:41Maybe the most notable thing about this, for folks who don't know, the Sabres and Penguins
00:45play in Pittsburgh tonight at 7. And it's the first preseason game for the Sabres. I don't
00:51know what the story is with the Penguins. But not uncommon, Paul. Only four preseason
00:56games. And for the away game, the first game being an away game, we get a pretty heavy
01:01AHL lineup, which I assume means you'll see basically the NHL lineup tomorrow night when
01:07they host. Is it Columbus tomorrow night?
01:08Right.
01:09And the thing is, too, this is the way it's always been. You know, Buffalo goes to Pittsburgh
01:15and there's Malkin and there's Crosby. And then there's the lineup that we're staring
01:19at here that has maybe three or four names you would recognize if you're not a hardcore,
01:25hardcore fan. And, you know, then when Pittsburgh comes here, it's basically the lineup we used
01:32to see in the prospects challenge against Thompson and Darlene. And, you know, that's just kind
01:37of the way it's gone. Now, there is a new rule this year. I think it's because of the two
01:44extra games. So this is what the Players Association maybe wanted. If you are an NHL player that has
01:52played over 100 NHL games, you can only play in two preseason games. That's it.
01:59So, like Thompson can't play in all four or whatever. So my guess is most of the Sabres
02:06will play in the two home games. And that'll be that. Now, Kulik's only played 75 games,
02:11so he can play in them all if they want, and he will play in this one. He's one of
02:15the names
02:15that you would recognize. So, and I probably, I don't know if I'd go back to back with him,
02:21but I think I'd play him in the other two. I think I would play him in three out of
02:24the four,
02:25you know, with what he's been through and everything. So, yeah, that's, so you.
02:30I wonder, Paul, if they want to see how he handles a back to back, because there will be,
02:34if he's going to be an NHL regular, there will be back to back games. It might be a little
02:38early
02:39to do that for him, I suppose. I could certainly listen to that.
02:41It would be three and four if you count the scrimmage.
02:44Right.
02:44You know, they didn't practice yesterday, but it would be, you know, three and four
02:48if you count the scrimmage. And you could be right. You know, I don't, and by the way,
02:53Lindy Ruff will not be there tonight. He's at Brent Peterson's memorial service in Nashville.
02:59Brent Peterson died?
03:00Yes.
03:01I didn't know.
03:01Parkinson's, yeah.
03:02Really?
03:02Yeah, they were very good friends.
03:04Oh, no.
03:05And so he's there. So Seth Appert will be the coach, will be coach. And actually had a very
03:10good conversation, which everybody will hear on pregame, about the power play. What did
03:16you guys do about it? Many people feel they don't understand. They kind of think it's like
03:21football where, you know, there's an offensive and defensive coordinator and, you know, how the
03:27responsibilities are in the power play. It's not actually his power play. It's Lindy Ruff's
03:31power play that he coaches. But he talked about how, whether it's power play, special
03:37teams, whatever, they spent all summer as a group, coaching staff and analytics staff,
03:43and really did a deep dive, especially into the power play. And he talked about what the
03:49analytics staff did for them and what, you know, they then took that information and what
03:55they're doing with it to try to improve their power play. And he goes, it's nice when you
04:00can, he goes, I got it like 65 pages from the analytics people and I had to cut it down
04:04to like
04:04five to give to the players. But he said, this is what you can take to the players and say,
04:10look at
04:10this isn't guessing games. This, these are facts. These are analytic facts that good power plays do
04:17this, this, and this well. We don't do this, this, and this well, you know, and he goes, you know,
04:24that's kind of the way he's presenting it to the team. The players all got TLDR tattooed on their
04:30middle fingers and held them up as one. So the coaches knew they were not going to read 65 pages.
04:38Brent Peterson scored a famous goal for the Sabres. RIP. Didn't know. 1983 at the forum,
04:45the back-to-back shutouts against the Canadians in the first round. Adam Semis, he scored the goal
04:49to win that first game one to nothing. Peterson, number 20. He was a very, very good penalty killer
04:55and a very, very good face-off man. Yep. That's, that's a game you can watch, by the way, on
05:00the
05:01CBC broadcast on, on YouTube. Kulik, Paul, what's right to expect, or what do you think the Sabres
05:07expect? Well, he is playing center today between Rashard and Sherry. But he's been practicing on the
05:16wing, practicing with Carrick and Malenstein. And if you want my honest-to-God opinion, I think
05:24that's a complete waste of time. Why even bother? I agree with you. There's no, there's no need for
05:29him, number one, be on the, on the wing. Or, Lenny Ruff is just obsessed with Thompson being in the
05:34middle. So, your three centermen, right, and they've moved McLeod. Your three centermen right now
05:40are Thompson, Norris, and Ostland. And that was one of the things I talked about. If you wanted to
05:46open up some money to sign Tuck, and I, I have, I was looking, shooting for like 10 million,
05:52you could trade Greenway at three and a half. You could trade McLeod at five and a half. And the
05:56reason I said McLeod is number one, by the time the playoffs ended last year, he wasn't even on his
06:01line anymore. Right. He really had slipped last year. And number two, there was five and a half
06:05million there. So, that's nine million dollars you could have shipped out of your lineup. And I felt
06:11Ostland could slip into that spot and be probably even better than what McLeod was. Not as fast,
06:18but he certainly is a very smart, dedicated, two-way player who's only going to get better.
06:24And it looks like Lindy Ruff kind of agrees. It looks like that's what he's doing here.
06:28That he's basically putting Ostland into that spot and moving McLeod over to the wing with Norris
06:35Hellenus. And that's where I have a problem. If you're going to play Kulik at the wing,
06:39at least put him on the Norris Hellenus line, you know, and, and, and let him do there and let
06:43McLeod play with Carrick and Malenstein. That's where he finished last year. Um, so I, you know,
06:50I just, so, you know, it looks like, but he really wants Thompson in the middle right now,
06:55since camp is open, he's centered Doan and Krebs and Krebs, I think has earned the right to stay
07:00there. You know, he really improved last year and produced.
07:02He did. He did. It feels a little to me though. Like it's, uh, how harsh do I want? It
07:11feels
07:11like Thompson training wheels to me. Like we don't trust you to play 200 feet. So we need
07:15a dependable all around guy on your wing. And that's not how I want to decide who's my top
07:20line. Well, it might be part of it, but I think Krebs has earned that spot. He and Thompson,
07:24but I would have still have Thompson on the wing and I have Kulik in the middle between him
07:29and Krebs. Not that I think Don't can't handle it, but, um, that's just the way I would do
07:34it. Uh, but I certainly wouldn't have Kulik out there with Carrick and Malenstein. If that's
07:39what you're going to do, then just dress Kozak or Danforth and put Kulik in the press box.
07:44Yeah. Well, we'll see where that all shakes out. I, I a hundred percent agree. Like I, I know
07:49Lindy made the point last week about Thompson. Like he's already maybe bracing for questions about
07:54it. Like, you know, our, our, you know, we played our best hockey with him at center
07:59basically is what he will tell you last year. And you know, I, okay. I think there are defensive
08:06shortcomings. We saw it in the playoffs that make me really worry about him playing, you
08:11know, 18, 20 minutes a night as your number one center matched up with who that means you're
08:16matched up with. I just, I think that's going to be, that's going to be tough. Um, so I'm,
08:21I also prefer the wing there and I think they've got, maybe it's just Paul, a thing they're going
08:26to do until they know they have Kulik really back because you've said for, I mean, going
08:30back to when Kulik first broke through season before last, like he almost needs to be at
08:36center. Yeah. Right. So, um, I don't know, maybe they totally disagree with you on that
08:42assessment, or maybe they're just making sure that Kulik is up to all of this, which
08:47is, you know, reasonable enough. He missed almost an entire year of hockey here.
08:51And we all know how coaches are. I mean, it's not Kulik's fault. He got a blood
08:55clot, but he missed the whole season. He's young and the coaching staff may be saying
09:01to him, earn it. If you want to go back and plan that line, earn it, you know, earn the
09:05right to be there. So, and he did say too, to be fair, that this is preseason and, you
09:11know, we will probably see different looks as things go along. And, uh, you know, so we'll,
09:18we'll see where that goes. So we may see Kulik, uh, you know, in the middle with those guys.
09:23We're going to see him in the middle with, uh, two Rochester guys in this game, but, you
09:29know, it's also a guy like in Connor Sherry, who has played in the NHL for a long time.
09:34Rashard, who's just starting his career, but is a scorer type of a player. So, you know,
09:39he's going to get a good look with, uh, you know, a couple of guys like that tonight.
09:44Connor Sherry revenge game tonight. Sabers at Penguins. How about a season? Bulldog. Would
09:49you sign off on this? No line combination changes are allowed at anywhere in the league.
09:54Would that be of interest to fans? You have to have your lines in by a certain date and
09:59that's that. Injury is the only way someone comes out. That's right. You get one chance.
10:04This is it. These are line combinations for the season. There's no moving around. Uh, no
10:08changing it. Well, fans would like that because they hate it when this, when the, when the
10:12coaches, you know, you know, shift lines. It's like, what are you doing? And this is
10:17that, you know, every time I put a different line combination out there, of course, there
10:21are going to be people that don't like them and what is he doing? And that type of thing.
10:25So I think there are some fans who would love that. To me, it's a famous comment Lindy
10:30made, you know, in private, but we've referenced it many times over the years. Got to do
10:33something. I'm the coach. Can't do nothing. Got to do something.
10:38What am I here for? Exactly. No, it's true. I mean, if you're spinning your wheels and
10:43in the middle of the second period, you've got five shots and, and in the last three
10:49games, you have one goal. Why would you keep going with it? You got to switch it
10:53around then. That's it. What's, uh, what is our coverage tonight? Uh, six o'clock
10:58pregame with, uh, Zach and Derek Kramer. Uh, now that you folks are, uh, yeah, we're
11:03out, not on, not on the air until six o'clock now. So they are going to be pregame hosts
11:08and we are going to do in the past, uh, we haven't, but we are going to do, um, pregame
11:15for preseason games. So that's exciting. So, uh, you know, I'll be on with them at,
11:19uh, the regular, uh, first segment there at six o'clock and, uh, they will have Seth
11:26Appert. They will have, uh, Danforth who is back and, uh, Colton Ellis. I chatted
11:32with too, uh, to see where, cause he will get some game. Right. The goal, the goalies
11:36are, and it's a line and Ellis. Yeah. The line is going to start and Ellis will be
11:39in at some point. Seth Appert didn't know what point, but, uh, he said both will
11:44play. Sure. Live it up. Now that we're out of the way. Good for you. Live it up.
11:48Now that we're out of the way. Good for you is back. All right. Thank you, Paul.
11:52Take care. Good for you. Another game tomorrow. So I'll get, get, get used to
11:56Paul. Paul's appearance with us here on WGR brought to you by Raylax Honda. Raylax.
12:01We got this. You want something embarrassing? Maybe. Sure. I'd love something
12:05embarrassing. I watched that back. Good, good for you. I did. I wanted to see a
12:09friend of mine texted me, uh, like I just thought that was hilarious. Like, all
12:14right, let me see. I watched it back. All right. All right. Good for you. I just
12:19now, now I'm going to get stuck in it again. That was the pick segment. That's
12:24how I was so close on your picks results is cause I watched the, had to watch the
12:28pick segment back to hear good for you on Friday. Oh baby. I don't remember the
12:34pick segment. I was a blind drunk when we did the pick segment. Good for you.
12:38Really got to you. Yeah. It really, it wiped me right out. You were, you were
12:43halfway to the festival. One in four. Here's three words for next week. Prepare. Yeah.
12:49Yeah. Well, how about that idea? Listen, that's fair. I, I, I'm, I'm taking it to
12:55heart. I have, I have maybe never enjoyed picking a team more than I loved picking
13:00the Tennessee Titans on, on Friday for yesterday. I just loved it. The whole
13:03day, every time they came up in a red, they score Philly's driving, no score
13:08Philly's driving. Hertz gets picked guy runs it back like 90 yards. This is
13:12totally my day. I know this is going to be my day. They lost, but they got, what
13:18was the seven? Seven. Okay. Yeah. Right. 24, 20 law nine seconds left to beat
13:23them. Devante Smith, Mike show up in the bulldog here at eight Oh three Oh five
13:2750. We have Deon Dawkins at four 30 Eastern. This is WGR.
13:32Day 10 of the tw рабs is peligろ to take super-something par.
13:33Day 10 is a good time off vote, but now we're flying through from the back of the
13:33Day vary.
13:33Part 4.
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