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00:00General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen this morning with the Jeremy and Joe show
00:04talking about the Sabres goaltending situation which may be the hottest topic in the NHL right
00:10now. Yeah it's not just here. Yeah it's uh that that this this hellebuck story is growing and
00:17growing and gaining momentum and momentum and it feels like we are careening towards
00:23some sort of result. Well it starts like it starts with him kind of pressing it a little
00:27bit by threatening to come back right like threatening to report then they're like no
00:31don't come here. The story is that they he agreed to come back on night one it was all right
00:40I'm good
00:41I bailed on training camp you didn't trade me night one October 2nd I'm back I'll play and the Jets
00:47said no we don't want you and they got with the Players Association and the league and decided
00:54that under the CBA they were allowed to suspend him for a quote reasonable amount of time which
01:00the you know two parties agreed to would be this Friday would be the end of that suspension
01:06it just so happens that we all just started hearing about that last week when Elliott Friedman dropped
01:11that bomb right and said like he's coming back and something's gonna happen whether it's gonna be ugly
01:18there because he's going back there whether it's they're gonna pay him to just stay at home or
01:24whether he's gonna get dealt something juicy is coming down the pipeline here and I figure that's
01:29where we should start today I mean I'm I'm here I got my start on this station because Jeremy wanted
01:35to ask me a bunch of questions about goaltending today feels like a day where my uh you can lean
01:40into that a little I can stretch my legs a little bit okay so let's just jump to the the
01:45hellebuck part
01:45of it um just thinking about the nhl and trade rumors and you know I've found rumors to be funny
01:51forever because they always exist they're almost never right true um and we're months and months
02:00into hearing hellebuck's name connected to the sabers and I get the sense from a bunch of people
02:06that I'm talking to that the sentiment is really growing like this is about to happen but we've been
02:13through a little of it before so I I guess my overall like starting point question slash conversation
02:20is why do we believe these rumors right now when nhl rumors prove to be so misleading almost all the
02:29time and every time it's going to be a massive trade deadline because all these parts are going
02:33to move it doesn't uh and then there are moves where you just don't see it coming and the big
02:38deals
02:38happen without the lead-up rumors so why is this one different in that we've got all this backstory
02:44all these different versions of it all these connections to the sabers all this time passed
02:48and suddenly it's like yeah I think now I think now it's gonna happen yeah that's a great question
02:52because you're right it is a constant mill of just this guy's gonna get moved this guy's gonna get
02:58moved this team's put this name out there this team likes this guy and all that stuff it's a
03:03never-ending flow in the nhl and it's maybe more than any other league as dormant as any like they
03:10just don't do anything right nothing ever happens but this situation this hellebuck thing and this
03:18really this offseason for me is bucking that trend a little bit this is this is a player that is
03:26that is demanding to be traded he needs out he says so you've got you've got that just to start
03:34with this is not just a player that a team maybe is putting out there to see what somebody might
03:39want
03:40and like matthew nize was this this is a guy that everybody thinks that the organization wants to trade
03:46this guy but there's not a deal in place there's not a team in place and the player doesn't necessarily
03:52want that but it's talked about this is not that this is a player that met with the team and
03:58said
03:58get me out of here publicly about it all right and that's the next part is that that happened privately
04:04it traded did not come and then a public ugly statement happened from hellebuck where he says
04:12listen i demanded to be traded i want to be traded that has not changed i need to leave right
04:18so that's
04:19a second sort of direct source rumor right that is not a rumor that is right that's hellebuck telling
04:26you i'm out i gotta go so you are now you you can say with certainty the jets will trade
04:33this player
04:34or at least if they have a brain they will and so like that that is already for me stronger
04:40than
04:41most rumors you'll ever get because you've got confirmed 100 percent at least one side of this
04:47equation wants it to happen unequivocally so that is all the other side really can't fix it right
04:54you just you've reached a point all right new question sure wait let me let me okay briefly
04:59wrap that up sorry because they're it's not just and it's not just a player that wants to leave
05:04because they're not happy with how the team is playing that is a part of it it is a bigger
05:09issue
05:10than that with hellebuck in that it's the canadian versus usa story for him personally because he is
05:17in the eyes of i think both americans and canadians the guy that won the game for them in the
05:23olympics
05:24and then everything that came after that with the president and the white house and all of that can i
05:29just go be american right yeah it is a lot of he's getting harassed because of that and so that
05:35that is
05:36another level of like you can't fix this by trading for another guy that's going to make him feel good
05:40he's not going to feel safe in his house anymore it's like you're not fixing that problem i just
05:45wanted to make that point right ahead with your next right well you do the you take the gold from
05:51canada and then you go live in canada and then you quit on your team in canada in an outpost
05:57well
05:59how welcome are you are you and not quit on the team is strong but you agreed you declared i'm
06:04out
06:04i'm not here that's i mean that's quitting it's it's i think what it is is it's it's bailing on
06:10it's it's bailing on your teammates at the very least you are playing ghost with your friends and
06:18family okay so that's the next question are you do you want to be in the business of acquiring a
06:25disgruntled athlete because you solve his canada u.s problem by a couple miles by getting him to play
06:32just just east of uh of canada here i don't love taking on headaches i don't love taking on holdout
06:40guys but i would like you to explain to me why it's fine here it's fine here because the sabers
06:46are in a position where they are ready to win which is his his primary issue with the organization
06:51in winnipeg is that he doesn't feel that they're set up to be good the sabers very much are the
06:58sabers i'll tell you this as a goaltender they they seem to be to be like a real dream for
07:04a
07:04goalie this team is going to have the decor is absurd young and locked up that's as comfy as you
07:12could ever ask for as a goaltender maybe they play a little more of a high event style than you
07:16might
07:16prefer yeah but you're 33 years old you're coming into a situation where you're looking for it all to
07:21happen right now you've got whatever you've got left in your career and i know goalies can go
07:25you know approach 40 and be okay but um it's a it's a pretty tight window if you're hellebuck to
07:31just be rotting in manitoba yeah no it's terrible he's at home in michigan skating right now just
07:37waiting and that's that's part of this is that he feels like i'm not doing that much more if i'm
07:42playing for winnipeg in terms of my aspirations to go win a stanley cup and i think that buffalo
07:48represents a much greater chance at that right now at least in his mind he agreed to come here
07:54and also this player is not just disgruntled i just like he's he's disgruntled about his
08:02environment on a deeper level than just my organization and that will not be a problem
08:07here right i don't love my organization and i'm in a town i really don't want to be in in
08:11a country
08:12i don't really want to be in and i'm sorry that we just or even maybe more than that that
08:15doesn't
08:16want me here it's it i think he's fine with living in winnipeg and from what i understand about
08:22hella buck he is very much a i want to go hunt and fish and be alone and kind of
08:27live in the woods
08:28and do my thing and like that's very much winnipeg but i think what's happened is that that winnipeg
08:35has turned on him and that the organization isn't supporting him the way he feels is necessary
08:39and the community has turned on him in a significant way and that would be anything but here in buffalo
08:46i mean we've we've done this all summer haven't we brad they the people comes up every day the
08:51people demand it if he gets traded here he is going to be a god amongst men it's going to
08:58be absurd
08:58i mean we know we love our goalies in buffalo dom you've got miller like this is a town we
09:04still
09:04love marty marty is a guy right like the goalie is a star here and and always is when they're
09:11good
09:12and he is good and he he could walk into a scenario where like talk about a storybook ending of
09:19of a
09:19town that fits him as i referenced like outdoorsy guy wants to hunt and fish that's buffalo you're
09:26not in a big big city you're in a city but it's you can drive 20 minutes and be in
09:31the middle of
09:31nowhere and there's just it really you'll be you'll find everything you need yeah not much different
09:38from michigan honestly same basic concept here um i also think about how much i enjoyed having
09:45ryan miller as the representative goaltender for team usa and i know they don't play again for three
09:51years four years um but just thinking of the sabers goaltender as the usa goaltender at the same time
09:58it's just a fun it's a fun little extra twist that you know think of all how excited we were
10:04about
10:05tage thompson and his participation this year and his strong contribution to this team winning gold so
10:10um connecting the sabers to usa hockey with the guy at the most important position i don't know
10:17whatever you want to say um i like that like a face of usa hockey being a face of buffalo
10:22hockey
10:23that all sounds really good to me i don't know sure i don't know the guy i don't know a
10:27ton about him
10:28but it all sounds right and even the things that are kind of red flags about disgruntled and hold
10:34like you're explaining it all the way to the point where i'm not worried about it yeah so now
10:38let's talk about compensation what are you willing to do what are you if you're the sabers what are
10:42you willing to give up to make this happen knowing full well that you're also upping the cost of
10:48goaltending and you're gonna have to find something to do with upl which pretty clearly isn't going to
10:53be shipping him to winnipeg because of a no movement clause in his contract yeah i think that that
10:59you you now that's where you get into a very interesting conversation that i think has been
11:03the biggest roadblock of this deal getting done is the what can these two teams agree on as fair
11:10and i think the name everybody continues to to throw out there is ryan mcleod and that's a pretty for
11:17me
11:17an easy one to stomach as a sabers person like he's not been great for you but he's shown that
11:24he's
11:25a top six player in the nhl i think which makes him valuable enough that winnipeg would be interested
11:32he's super fast he's super fast he kills penalties he
11:38doesn't shoot not a whole bunch else doesn't shoot doesn't shoot he doesn't shoot he turns
11:43the puck over a lot and gets scored on when he's on the ice right now okay and don't listen
11:48if you're
11:48in winnipeg don't listen you're right now this is it for you this is our stock and amongst ourselves
11:51this is not for it's not for your consumption right it is purely it's just us it's just us
11:57talking this buffalo talk and nothing to do you just we're just justifying it you guys are getting
12:01a great player he's gonna be awesome he's gonna score like 50 goals it's gonna be great probably
12:05rather have him than hellebuck honestly if i were the jet i'll do it one for one all right so
12:09what
12:09else that's not it ryan mcleod doesn't get your counter held up right uh the the defensive prospect
12:15has been named a lot one of radim murka or or stirbeck um or sorry adam kleber is the name
12:21preference there you seem to like murka a lot i like murka stirbeck is a a lower or a higher
12:28floor
12:29lower ceiling guy murka is a much higher ceiling but also a much lower floor like he he could go
12:35either way for me kleber feels in my mind like a guy that's pretty solid like he's he's pretty much
12:43pro ready but with the core locked up aren't you more inclined to want the big swing if you were
12:49going to take a pick of one of those guys where am i i'm going to take my chances that's
12:53exactly
12:53i plug this guy into my six and i make myself infinitely better as opposed to another guy who
12:58can hold his own right i i am way more interested in holding on to a guy like murka that
13:03could be a
13:04stud stud than i am in just backfilling another average nhl defense because you've got you've already
13:11got two i mean power is i would say right now playing like a norse trophy candidate guy dalene
13:19was a finalist last year so you've got like top two spots are pretty well locked down we all love
13:24samuel sam and i got a thing for zell wigger like this is this is working out all right right
13:28like they're in good shape back there if i'm not moving any of them which i'm not no um then
13:33i
13:33kind of am okay with whatever you want to do on the defense right i don't i'm not gonna be
13:38mad
13:38if it's murka over over kleber but i'd prefer it to be kleber personally okay so you just gave up
13:42mcleod and you just gave up kleber and a first round pick will be included it's fine first or
13:49second i would expect and what else now i've heard nino niederreiter rumors which i don't hate at all
13:55no um being a nice piece to add to a team that's expecting to go on another playoff run right
14:01and
14:01that that is so that that adds in another component on the jet side so you're probably going to have
14:06to
14:06pay a little more and from how often these names are thrown out there mcleod sterbeck i keep saying
14:13i've got sterbeck in my head kleber kleber and murka are thrown out there it feels like those pieces are
14:20things that those these two teams have agreed to being in this deal we know that this deal was
14:24agreed to once already right or was very close was agreed to once already so like there have to be
14:31pieces that these two teams feel confident that all right you're interested in this i'm fine with
14:35giving it up let's start there that feels to me like the starting point is the the mcleod one of
14:42kleber murka in a pick place i think where it's getting hung up right now my sense is that there's
14:48got to be another player in there and my guess would be that winnipeg wants that to be a roster
14:55player
14:55a guy that can play for them right now and buffalo likely says i don't really want to give you
15:01a guy
15:01right now i'll give you a good prospect i'll give you another name there but i don't want to do
15:08yuri kulik or jack quinn or you know no right definitely not and definitely not oslin they just
15:16paid him like oslin i don't even think is in this conversation i'm sure winnipeg would love it but
15:21it's just it's a no so i think that is likely if this deal is hung up that's probably where
15:26it's at
15:27is buffalo is trying to say take the take the morozov kid we took in the first round this year
15:32and just be on your way and winnipeg is probably saying no give us kulik or give us quinn and
15:39we're
15:39good and we're done here and that's that i would think makes the most sense as the place that this
15:46is getting hung up okay um let's say five minutes from now this deal is done it's made it's all
15:53the
15:53stuff we're talking about or similar when does hellebuck suit up for the sabers how close are
15:58we to that they play tomorrow i'd expect it not to be tomorrow they play again on saturday is he
16:03ready to start on saturday at washington i would take a week to ramp up to speed is it a
16:07month what
16:07is it it's it's definitely not a month it's i would say somewhere between a week and two weeks
16:12up to two weeks would be my guess uh emily kaplan reported yesterday that there's three teams in the
16:18mix and at the end of that report it was hellebuck is in michigan skating now keeping himself in shape
16:24but that is he's not skating with an nhl team you got to get in for a few a few
16:29reps against you know
16:31guys of your caliber is there anything to learn playing goaltender for a new team with people
16:36you don't know in front of you obviously he's aware of some of the star players he knows what
16:40dalene is you know he's been in the nhl long enough he knows who that is what that is probably
16:44knows what power is but is there anything about even team defense where you need to adjust to
16:51become ready to play for a particular team or is it as simple as get in there do your thing
16:55keep the
16:56puck out of the net we'll figure the rest out it can be that especially for a guy that's been
17:01around
17:01as long as hellebuck has that has the sort of experience that he does it's not necessarily the
17:07same challenge that trying to put in a new cornerback into the bill secondary would be where
17:11you've got to understand the play calls somebody else do the first half of the show and so like
17:17that that is a much bigger challenge there are some things that you will get ironed out over time
17:23but those are not prerequisites to playing the same way that knowing what a play call means is
17:28so it's it's get in there do your thing we'll figure out our calls for puck handling you'll figure
17:35out how we like to backtrack and forecheck and you'll like you'll acclimate and that's not a
17:40problem to do on the fly for a guy that's doing a solo job i'd say that's more difficult for
17:45a guy
17:46like zell wigger was sure than it would be for hellebuck yeah and come in here here's how the
17:50power play works in buffalo it can be different everywhere you are but goaltending is to a
17:54certain extent goaltending so uh i'm not scared there all right so
18:00i don't know if i want to ask you to like pin a number or a percentage or anything on
18:04this how
18:05how optimistic are you that this is all real this is you know we're getting the same text
18:11messages and phone calls your phone's ringing right now did hellebuck just get traded real quick
18:15no i'm real quick you know what i should make sure really he really should no he did not get
18:19traded
18:19at least that's not what my notification all right and i won't expect that to happen before we leave
18:24the air but how confident are you that within a week this is done oh here in buffalo all of
18:30it
18:31all of it if he he will be traded within 85 he's traded within a week 85 okay there's a
18:38chance for
18:39me that winnipeg stays stubborn about this and says nobody's giving us what we want we're gonna pay
18:45hellebuck to stay at home or we're gonna you know designate him for a conditioning stint in the ahl
18:52and send him there so he doesn't get in our locker room what i will tell you i i 99
18:57.9 chance he
18:58never steps foot in that winnipeg locker room again that would stun me yeah that would really
19:03really stun me because you read how the players are talking about it how the coaches talked about
19:07it they are not happy campers well why would he go back if he's in michigan why would he go
19:11back
19:11to winnipeg to be paid well okay but like does he have to pick up his stuff when he gets
19:16traded like
19:16i don't think he ever sets foot in that town again until he's a visiting player yeah i don't think
19:20he
19:20has to i don't think he has to i really don't i i would be stunned if he's not traded
19:25by friday
19:26i'd be even more stunned if he's not on like it just it can't keep going on like this okay
19:31it's
19:31amazing to me it got to this place okay um i had another one and i lost it you haven't
19:40asked me yet
19:40if i think it's a good idea oh i know what it is owen do you think it's a good
19:45idea i do i do i went
19:48back and forth on this and there are there are reasons to think it's not i think that you look
19:54at
19:54his season last year hellebuck and and you see a down year however i want to be clear about what
19:59a
20:00down year for connor hellebuck means a down year for connor hellebuck was better than all but two
20:06of ukopeka lukanen seasons in his entire career based on goals saved above expected connor hellebuck
20:12was at one goal saved above expected last year that's bad for him and average for everybody else
20:20so i i understand why people have some concern about whether he's still the best goalie on the
20:25planet he doesn't have to be the best goalie on the planet for this to make sense he's got to
20:29be
20:29pretty good still best goalie on the sabers is all we're really looking for right and i think that
20:34you are absolutely going to get better more consistent goaltending play year over year for
20:41the next four or five years than you would doing what you're doing right now and the the playoff
20:47struggles all right that's real the last three playoff runs have been tough look at the four
20:53before that they're unbelievable and he played unbelievable in the olympic gold medal game
20:58you do not forget as a goaltender how to play under pressure connor hellebuck knows how to play under
21:04pressure i am not worried that he's got some goal like playoff nhl playoff issue now he's gonna be
21:12fine he's had a couple of rough runs i i don't have concern about that being a trend for him
21:18i seriously go look i'll i'll rattle him off right now his his last three playoff runs 866 save
21:25percentage 870 save percentage 886 save percentage that's pretty rotten like it's not great the four
21:32before that 931 904 913 922 that's really really good and i i see no reason that he can't get
21:46to that
21:46place again or split the middle saw the difference right you saw it in the in the olympic gold medal
21:50game he played i mean the greatest goaltending 60 minutes 60 plus minutes that i have seen from a
21:58goaltender in five years in a while yeah it was incredible that is not something that is fleeting
22:04and just leaves it he will be fine and so i think it's a good idea he's old sure goalies
22:11get stay good
22:12when they're old 33 is not crazy 33 is not 37 year old goal 33 is 30 for a player
22:17yeah in that relationship
22:19and 30 a guy like this you could be good until 36 and what's that in the age i just
22:27dazed oh 39
22:28like okay great the contract isn't that big eight and a half million dollars is like six last year
22:34and you're paying five for lucan and now it's not that much more money that's the other question um
22:40you mentioned sort of the the secondary or tertiary compensation being a potential holdup
22:47how much of a potential holdup is perhaps needing to involve a third team here to make all of it
22:53work
22:53because it's not reasonable to have hellebuck and lucan in on the same roster for even five minutes
22:58no it it it would be a little bit silly to do that and so i i think that that
23:04will be a challenge
23:05they've got to find a home for lucan in if it's in this deal back to winnipeg great that makes
23:10it easy
23:10if it's a three-team deal and you send him to new york and new york sends a pick instead
23:15of you
23:16into the deal great but that that i think that can be figured out new york the rangers clearly are
23:23interested they they sent a goalie scout to watch him in montreal there's a lot of buzz about that
23:28being possible steve valiquette talked about it elliot friedman's talked about it like it's it's a
23:33thing that is is definitely the year right sirkin is done for the year and maybe more like he's in
23:42worth noting all right let's take a break it is middays with brad tim and owen your phone calls
23:47are welcomed at 803-0550 kind of switched it from almost entirely bills the first two hours to this
23:53hellebuck trade that it's not just here like i was just on the nhl page at espn.com and the
23:59first
23:59thing up there is you know three suitors involved in the attempted trade for hellebuck somebody else
24:03could swipe in or it's not swipe in what's the word i was looking for swoop in swoop in swoop
24:07in
24:08and uh you know and the buffalo portion of this but i'm not ready for that i'm uh i'm leaning
24:13into
24:14it just there have been too many phone calls and text message text messages the last couple of days
24:19um with regard to hellebuck and sort of the buzz that is around it right now and a lot has
24:25to do
24:25with um you know friday kind of being a deadline too um so i'm there i'm excited about this i'm
24:30into it
24:32i wonder if you are you could call 803-0550 how about that we'll be right back brad tim and
24:38owen middays driven by norhtown automotive wgr