00:00One of your moments of the game brought to you by Firth Jewelers.
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00:05The Magic Puck, Noah Oslin scores to tie the game and they get the point.
00:1011 points in 11 games.
00:124-4-3, that is three points out of a playoff spot in the early stages here.
00:17Montreal has won a couple of games in a row, so they are in that final spot.
00:22And the Sabres are out west.
00:24This week, little Sabres after dark.
00:26Tomorrow, 10-30 against the Sharks.
00:29Good morning, it's Jeremy and Joe.
00:30Jeremy's off to Wednesday.
00:31We've got a lot of football to get into, of course, from yesterday.
00:34But it was a big hockey weekend.
00:37I was not hoping for the big things while I'm away to be that a Hellebuck trade would happen somewhere
00:44else.
00:44But he goes to the Devils.
00:46And they don't really pay that much to get him.
00:50So, now what?
00:54Are they just going to be luking in and goal for the next three years?
00:57He's got this year and then two more years remaining on his contract.
01:02And, by the way, what's happening right now is he's their guy until Alex Lyon returns.
01:07And then they likely go back to a rotation.
01:10Six starts in a row, though.
01:12Excuse me.
01:13Five starts in a row.
01:14The sixth game was the Florida game where he came in in relief.
01:17But he is the guy.
01:20He is playing every night.
01:22And until Lyon comes back, I feel like they have just decided that Colton Ellis is not a rotational goalie
01:30for them.
01:30No, and Yarmou, when he was chatting with you guys, made a point to mention he's not playing as well
01:34for them as he did last season as well.
01:37That was unprompted, right?
01:38Just mentioned him.
01:39Yeah.
01:39I don't know how Lukanen's going to go over here.
01:42I don't think he stayed.
01:43You mentioned the next two or three years.
01:45Is he just the guy?
01:46He's done, in the court of public opinion at least, no matter what he does.
01:51Now, especially as we talked in the first segment, you've got Friedman putting out there what happened on July 1st
01:56as well.
01:57They were almost at the finish line, but he was the reason it couldn't get done.
02:00Like, this is just going to turn real.
02:02It was already south.
02:04We're heading as far south as you could possibly go, I feel like.
02:06I don't know if he's going to be able.
02:08He might play well.
02:09He might, now with all the pressure off his back of this looming in the background, and he's going to
02:14be here now, he might play better.
02:16I don't think that's going to do anything for the court of public opinion, though, unfortunately.
02:20Can we talk about that, though?
02:21Like, why that is true about him?
02:25Wow.
02:25Why we are at this point where nobody really has any confidence in him being their lead goaltender and that
02:35many would just like to see it end.
02:36That, like, I've seen enough of this.
02:39It honestly, you could even argue, goes back before he played here.
02:45It's been almost 10 years since he was drafted, and he has been on the mind as this goalie of
02:52the future idea.
02:55Like, he was drafted in 2017.
02:57Yeah.
02:58It was nine and a half years ago, and I remember the back of your mind, like, oh, there's this
03:06guy out there, Lukonen.
03:08The crazy name.
03:10He's big.
03:10He's talented.
03:11You know, was he the first goalie drafted in his draft?
03:14Whatever.
03:15Like, that was there.
03:16And then he debuted for the team seven years ago, six years ago, 2020.
03:23So part of it for me is how long it's been, how long it's gone on.
03:28And I don't think that it's all his fault.
03:33I think a lot of it is what the Sabres have done with him, the treatment of the player thrusting
03:43him into a role, into a job that for many years I think has been above his head.
03:51He is a fine NHL goaltender.
03:54I think he has a place in this league.
03:56But he's been a constant for this team really since 22.
04:02Like, that's four years ago.
04:04That's five seasons ago now.
04:06He's been a constant.
04:08And he's been kind of the guy.
04:10He's been, I know he's been in rotation in many of these seasons, but he's been relied upon.
04:15And what do I have in 200 hockey games?
04:20It's a lot of games for a goalie.
04:22Yeah.
04:22I've got a guy who's sub-900 save percentage for his career, and in goal saved above expected, if you
04:28care about that, he's in the negative.
04:30For comparison, Alex Lyon, who is not an all-world goalie by any means.
04:37He's a journeyman backup.
04:39He's plus 20.
04:41He's above plus 20 for his career.
04:44So the numbers show, like, yeah, Lukanen's just not really that good.
04:48No, right.
04:49And I've got another season here where I feel like, well, I need him to be because, again, I'm counting
04:58on him.
04:58And he was drafted nine years ago to be the goalie of the future.
05:02And, like, when's the future?
05:03And I think many have decided now, like, there is no future.
05:07He's not ever going to be this team's lead goaltender and feel great about it.
05:11I think that's why everybody is where they're at with him at this point, is that that never came to
05:16fruition, and yet the organization continues to act like it has.
05:20Right.
05:20And continues to put him in position to go out there and be a No. 1 goalie when he is
05:25not.
05:26And when it's going to actively hurt the team, as it has this season, as it has in years past,
05:33not last year.
05:34But he's had years where he has hurt them pretty badly.
05:38And this year is off to a roaring start in that department.
05:41And I think that this town is a smart hockey town.
05:48People know the game enough to know what they're looking at and know when it's over and when you're not
05:57going to get anything else.
05:58And, I mean, I think that's where everybody's at with him.
06:02And that is before you get into the playoffs and him up and down and the bouncer from center ice
06:12and the Game 7 overtime winner and then the offseason rumors and thinking about what this team would look like
06:19with Connor Hellebuck and then not having that and then him having the start that he's had.
06:25And now Friedman confirming that he's blocked a Hellebuck trade and that all adds up to, yeah, dude, we don't
06:36want to watch you play anymore.
06:38Right.
06:38And I don't think that that's entirely unfair, but I think that the vitriol about it, the aggressiveness and how
06:48keyed in we are on it is probably disproportionate and unfair to him.
06:53But I think it's fair to not want him to be your goaltender anymore.
06:57I have.
06:58That's true.
06:59I think we are as locked in on every single goal and whether or not it was whether it was
07:06his fault totally, none at all, or like somewhere in between.
07:12It's a goal to goal conversation that I'm having with people, whether it's on we have our Lockdown Sabres Discord.
07:18We have group chats that are that.
07:20It's Twitter.
07:20Like every goal is, all right, after every goal that goes in, how much of that was UPL?
07:28And that's not healthy for really anybody.
07:31No.
07:31But it's, again, kind of the situation that they have signed themselves up for.
07:38And maybe you don't even want to say, I don't even want to say Yarmou for that.
07:41I'll go back years now.
07:42Like the extension Adams gave him after one good season.
07:46Right.
07:46And he's been inconsistent his entire career, so that was way too early to be doing that.
07:50So there's that.
07:51And there also is, well, what do you do instead?
07:56I said, as much as I have been wanting them to do something different than Lukanen for three years now.
08:03Like I was early on this.
08:05Maybe too early, you would even say.
08:06Like it was a couple years ago.
08:08I'm like, this is just not, I don't think this is ever going to happen with this guy.
08:12I was with you, though.
08:13Yeah, that's right.
08:14You were too.
08:14I just, the way he plays, the style is not conducive to consistent success.
08:22With that, I still said in the summer, if it's not Hellebuck, I don't see another move out there that
08:26I'd rather do.
08:27That I would upgrade from Lukanen with Lyon.
08:31Like I'm not getting rid of Lyon in any of these equations.
08:34Like he's got another year, I want him for that year, and then Ellis is just hanging out as the
08:38third guy.
08:39And I think the same is still probably true.
08:41I don't know who is out there right now.
08:45There isn't.
08:45I don't think anybody out there that would speak to, oh yeah, you bring this guy in right now,
08:52and he is going to be your number one goaltender, and you are going to improve in that area.
08:57Maybe you would just do it to do it with somebody different that's on the same level.
09:03So that is where I have gotten to a new place with this.
09:08Over the summer, I told you guys, everybody, a million times,
09:12I am not making a goalie move unless it breaks you out of this sort of middle of the NHL
09:20where there's a bunch of goalies that you don't really know what you're going to get.
09:22I don't think it's worth it to make a move, give up any kind of assets,
09:26to get to a guy that isn't that much better.
09:31I think you are now at a point where it's detrimental,
09:35and the environment is such that I think a move just to move on, it might be worth it.
09:43And is it a Vemelka for Lukonen, one for one, just swap him, same goalie, same contract, same everything.
09:50Just flip him because he's struggling in Utah.
09:53He might need to change the scenery, and I think Lukonen certainly does.
09:57Like, that's the kind of thing I'm thinking about now because I think that at this point,
10:03Lukonen is going to really have a hard time finding success here because of the fan environment,
10:08because of the pressure, because of all of that.
10:10That is where we've got to take a break, and I want to get to George's call on the other
10:14side.
10:15I'd love to hear from him or somewhere in the team, like, how much is that affecting him?
10:22I asked Yarmo that, and he basically said, like, you have to ask him because—
10:25Is that not telling you something?
10:29Maybe that he didn't answer the question because I feel like it might be being used as a crutch.
10:34This is what he is.
10:36He's an every-other-year goaltender, and this is the other year where he's usually bad.
10:40I don't think it has to be.
10:42It could be.
10:43I think it's not helping.
10:44It's definitely not helping.
10:46I guess what I'm saying is I think if fans were, like, 100% like, oh, no, it's okay, UPL.
10:51You're still, like, we're behind you.
10:53Like, we think this is going to turn around.
10:54Even if that was the case, I think he'd still probably be struggling.
10:56Yeah.
10:57To an extent, I agree with you.
10:59Because that's what he is.
11:00Yeah.
11:00You said he's consistent.
11:01The only consistent thing about him is that he's inconsistent.
11:03I think we're going to pull our hair out if he is their goalie for three years.
11:06Oh.
11:08Joe, I will jump out the window of the studio if he's their goalie next season.
11:13There's no way.
11:14I don't think that's happening.
11:15I do have an idea that is really risky that might be out there, but I want to hear what
11:20Owen thinks about it.
11:21We have a quick segment, so we'll get to George and maybe this idea, which we've got time for
11:25because the guy's not going to play for, like, two months.
11:27That's when we come back here on WGR.
