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00:02now paul are you at the arena i'm home hey it was the way you said that you're so happy
00:08yeah it was an easy day because uh lindy ruff had a and most of them have been optionals
00:13so when a 10 30 optional happens he doesn't go on the ice we usually talk to him about 10
00:1845
00:19and that gets you out of there fairly quickly so i thought well i have a work crew here putting
00:24in
00:24a patio and i needed to talk to you guys and then after i talk to you guys i'll write
00:28my pre-game
00:29article but which i can do anywhere i can do it from a parking lot if i have to uh
00:33so uh yeah i
00:34went home what's this about a dog i know the saber dog is back yeah if you go on twitter
00:41it's it's
00:42actually at saber dog and they have a new dog and uh can you tell us about this dog have
00:48you seen
00:49this dog have you touched this dog have you pet this dog i was very disappointed that they they
00:53announced it this morning and i was very disappointed that uh he he or she was not
00:59there this morning uh because i they is the pronoun of choice by this particular dog paul
01:06they them so uh yeah i i retweeted a couple of photos of uh the dog i'm trying to look
01:13to see
01:13what kind of dog it is here on my repose it looked fuzzy ralph is the dog's name uh nice
01:23and what is
01:24ralph ralph is a i don't know he's a white dog i don't know what kind of dog oh a
01:30samoyd is that
01:31right a lot of hair yeah yeah a lot of not you gotta have a good vacuum cleaner with one
01:38of those
01:38dogs i thought this dog probably is the cutest of all of them that they've had so far wow high
01:43praise
01:44and what people just so people know uh that this what the sabers do is this is for western new
01:50york
01:50heroes and this dog is trained by specially trained and will when uh the training is over
01:58it goes to a military family so that's where the other dogs went and that's what will happen with
02:05this dog uh you know the training has started and the dog will make appearances here might be there
02:11tonight i don't know um and uh at the end of the year usually they introduce the family and they
02:18give
02:18the dog to the family near one of the home games near the end of the year i think it's
02:23a great program
02:23i believe this is the fourth or fifth dog i don't remember which one but uh i always in one
02:30game they
02:31actually had all they actually at the time it was the fourth dog and all four dogs were there one
02:36night wow so i i and they came up to the press box so we got to play with all
02:40four dogs for for a
02:41little bit and uh you know so they they came back for a guest appearance after they were with their
02:47their military families but i just love this program and it's a and i i know other teams have kind
02:52of followed suit uh and are starting to do this also i enjoy where you say uh ralph will be
02:58making
02:58appearances like uh sal capaccio out at north town automotive maybe ralph can come and join sal
03:04capaccio when he's out there i had a sal wouldn't mind i don't i don't think he absolutely dogs you
03:09know if i'm out somewhere if this dog wants to make an appearance with me i'm there or if he
03:14would
03:14like he can make an appearance and i'll just go join him bring this dog into the studio right i
03:19wonder
03:19any problem with that i wonder what his appearance fee is i wonder how much that how much that will
03:25run
03:25you well i know you i know you're the highest price there at the station so of course you know
03:30so you know with all the money that you you wind up getting you can take them on one of
03:34your
03:34appearances drowning in it over here paul drowning in it all right so paul where do the let me just
03:41ask paul where the sabers stand after the nfl trade deadline they haven't they're they're no better
03:48and they're no worse i see you know they're they're just the same so uh they they need to get
03:53better and we all know that um especially here at home i mean come on it's just you think maybe
04:00they got it straightened out played a really good game against columbus scored five goals they can't
04:05score goals really now yeah they did score against columbus they got in that win i believe it was the
04:12five five two five yeah five two final but they get one at home against vegas they get one at
04:17home
04:18against ottawa they get one at home against philadelphia they did score five against florida
04:23one at home against utah none against dallas um and then the three two win over minnesota they got
04:31three and then they got four against the blackhawks so they play tomorrow so they started off well they
04:35won their first two games at home and scored seven goals so and then it's just gone kind of south
04:40sit
04:40there they they beat in florida and they've beaten columbus and the game was right there the vegas game
04:46they had over i think it was 34 shot attempts in the first period that would be over a hundred
04:52if
04:53you keep up that pace in a game there are times you don't get 34 shot attempts in a game
04:58and part of
05:00the problem is they had 34 shot attempts and only 14 hit the net they this is a team that
05:06misses the net
05:07a lot and they hit a lot of posts which they did coolie hit the crossbar you know so you
05:12had a
05:12goaltender who and owen can talk about this he was actually giving me some tips on it that was all
05:19over the place but somehow was keeping the puck out of the net even though he was all over the
05:23place
05:25and um part of that is the sabers are shooting at him and missing the net and all that kind
05:31of neat
05:31stuff but you know you say to yourself all right they picked up where they left off against columbus
05:37that's four good periods in a row at home they didn't score but if they keep playing like this
05:42for the rest of the game they should be okay they should win this hockey game even if they got
05:47to win
05:47it one two nothing because they still even though ellis gave up four goals i i have really zero problem
05:53with with uh i almost said matt ellis colton ellis i don't have a problem that else either he's fine
05:58uh colton ellis and um goaltending was not the problem in that game the problem was
06:05the people who are expected to be the stars of the vegas golden knights showed up and the people
06:12who are expected to be the stars for the buffalo savers were their worst players that was the
06:16difference in the game and when it turned jack quinn in the beginning of the second period a great
06:21chance got himself into the slot came flying down the slot hill made a great elbow save on him
06:27looked like that shot might have been labeled and from that point forward now buffalo goes on the power
06:33play and you're thinking great buffalo has three straight power plays all right yeah they're gonna
06:38break the zero zero tie here you know no it i have never i've covered this team a long time
06:46i have never
06:46seen a power play take a team out of the game like this did three power plays that were as
06:52horrific as
06:53you'd ever want to see turnover after turnover on the first power play carlson in alone ellis makes the
07:00save i thought he made a save on the rebound maybe the shot was going wide he didn't get credit
07:05for a
07:06save but still i i'd say two saves and then all right shouldn't that charge you up on the saber
07:13bench
07:13as a power play shouldn't you get oh okay he bailed us out let's go get a goal no they
07:19got worse and then
07:21on the third power play they do it again thompson's up up high on the point tries to force a
07:27play to
07:28dolein marner's there he steals it here comes another shorthanded breakaway this time and carlson's
07:34a good hockey player but he's not marner when it comes to offensive ability marner goes in nice deke
07:40scores there's your shorthanded goal now they're on the board as the power play is ending barbachev
07:46comes out of the box like he got shot out of a cannon power just basically hands him the puck
07:52from
07:52behind the net and he i don't know if he passed it or kicked it over to eichel who's open
07:58he comes in
07:59it's not a shorthanded goal but it was like 12 seconds after the penalty ended so basically on
08:04that penalty you've given up two goals and that's your third power play of the period where you've
08:09done basically absolutely nothing other than give vegas chances and uh all right so now you're down to
08:17nothing but you finally get some people around the net you finally charge the net and the
08:23mallenstein and carrick and kozak line they just keep working until they get a goal now you've made
08:28it two to one all right you know you've come back from two goals down many many times this year
08:33so shouldn't that give the bench a lift saying look at how those guys just worked okay we're okay
08:39it's early in the third it's two one let's go get another one we we know how to do this
08:44nope they give up two more uh it's a hurdle and owen power i think has had a really really
08:50good
08:51year that you could make a case he's been their best defenseman um and analytics would back that up
08:56the eye test would back that up he had a rough game and that's going to happen that you know
09:02he was on
09:02the ice for three goals against as was dalene and he just had a rough day and it's nothing you
09:09can do
09:09about it and but on both hurdle goals he's like flat-footed he it just he he didn't react uh
09:16it
09:17just and wasn't all his fault i mean you had a bad back check on one of them um it's
09:24just uh so you had
09:25an opportunity even then to get yourself back in the game and and i i scratched my head going why
09:30does
09:30all this happen at home they're four oh and three in their last seven road games picked up points in
09:35all of them had a good trip won three in a row out out west the trip you're three oh
09:40and one with
09:41the uh overtime loss to washington and and he had an opportunity to win that game too he had the
09:46puck
09:46for most of overtime but you never put any pressure on the goaltender uh you could have actually walked
09:51out of that trip for no but still i i if the next question is why are they playing so
09:57much better on the
09:57road than at home i don't think i have a decent answer for you and why can they score goals
10:02on the road
10:02but they can't score them at home on for the most part again i i don't know if they're trying
10:09to be
10:09too cute i don't know if i one thing i can tell you is they don't blast the net like
10:14they do on the road
10:15on the road in california every line was in the crease all the time they were crashing the net
10:21constantly they weren't doing that they don't do that at home so maybe that's one thing right there
10:26it's like play play that kind of a game at home where you're always crashing the net
10:30use the mallenstein goal as an example because they crashed the net and didn't stop until it was
10:36in the net yeah it's been it's been frustrating with them at home right now uh and paul you lay
10:43all
10:43that out there about their their struggles scoring goals five on five at home the power play just in
10:49general struggling as much as it has and i find myself asking paul and i'll ask you do they have
10:54enough guys who can actually score goals in the nhl no they i've i've always felt they were one
11:01top six forward away even with tuck here now with tuck on they're two away and i was just uh
11:09doing the podcast with uh peters and reveille and the question was what happens if somebody in
11:15the top six gets hurt where who do they call up silence there's nobody to call up we thought we
11:23lost you we thought we yeah we thought yeah we'd lose ball there there's nobody to call up they are
11:30they i've seen this movie adams tried this movie three three or four years ago where we got our guys
11:38they're here and he rushed guys to the national hockey league signed them to contracts and they
11:43weren't ready there was one guy that did better that season that was the oh yeah all these guys are
11:50going to come in they're going to have better years than they had last year and we're going to be
11:54fine
11:54so you don't make a move they all regressed except one you're going to ask me who the one was
11:59i believe
11:59it was jj peterka but i'm not sure yeah there was one i do remember there was one guy who
12:04didn't
12:04regress i think it was peterka too i think he that was one of his breakout years yeah the rest
12:09of them
12:09regressed yeah jack quinn has regressed until this year and then we're three or four years down the
12:16road from from that dylan cousins never spent one day in rochester how is that and and i think it's
12:23killed his career along with getting hit by hathaway he's an okay player it's not like he doesn't belong
12:28in the national hockey league right now but i think he could have been a so much better player had
12:33he
12:33learned his craft down in the american hockey league for 100 games or so but he never spent
12:37one game down there it's like oh here are our guys and what are we doing again here we are
12:42again new
12:43gm he's doing the same thing we're watching the same movie again tux gone yeah but we got our guys
12:50helenus austin benson don't we got our guys other than austin which one of them is excelling
12:58i would i would give you benson in that group i would say i think he's been their probably most
13:04impactful forward in terms yeah you're right i forgot i forgot you're right you're absolutely
13:08right but everybody else i'm with him yeah i'm with you it's too much let them organically grow
13:15into their career coolique would be one of them too sure um let them organically grow into their
13:19career and they're not tuck they don't do what tuck does uh maybe the closest one would be doan
13:25who uh will be on the pregame show today and you know he's he knows what he needs to do
13:32to start
13:32getting points and he feels he's starting to get there and if he gets there more the points are
13:37going to come for him but to me it's a flawed plan and we've already seen it once now kekalainen
13:45wasn't here when adams tried it but it's a flawed plan and it just i i said this many times
13:52i'll just say
13:53it again i would overpay to get dylan larkin if he would waive his no trade yeah um because that's
13:58exactly the type of player that you need uh for this hockey team and i would give up a lot
14:05if and i
14:06and i i i know kekalainen is making the calls and and i would knock their socks off with an
14:13offer and
14:14that that they could take to dylan larkin and say look at you want to be traded you're sitting at
14:20home
14:20right now this is a team you know change thompson give tage thompson a call um you know give other
14:26guys a call that that you know to find out about this team would you accept a trade to this
14:32team
14:33it's an up-and-coming team you would make it better and see you know if you could talk him
14:37into it yeah
14:38because he has moved on his no trade first to his three teams then he made it four and then
14:43he made it
14:43ten but if the red wings are saying jesus this is a trade this is a great trade and go
14:49to him with it
14:50and just say look at you know you're sitting at home you got you got to work with us here
14:55a little
14:55bit you mean you're well you know i want to be traded whatever we're not trading you to the worst
15:00team in the national hockey league you and tage thompson have played together before you know what
15:05it's like to be with tage thompson's you know type of type of a scenario so that's the way i
15:10would
15:11and if i were yarmo kekalainen i would be such a pest to the detroit red wings right now
15:15um that uh you know to see to see if you could make this deal because i think this is
15:21the deal
15:21they of all the ones that have been around this is the deal that i think could make them a
15:26better team
15:26yeah i i'm with you i think the larkin idea i've been hot on it since since it sort of
15:31he expanded
15:32the list really is when i started thinking about it but all the reporting right now is buffalo's got a
15:37really strong offer in and they're just not on the list and larkin's not budging but we'll see how long
15:41that lasts we also there was a recent report i think it was yesterday or the day before elliot
15:46friedman saying that the the wild have an offer on the board you're off who's one of their top
15:51prospects and three firsts is their offer right now and detroit but they want players i think right
15:57that's exactly they i think that that's probably good value but they're not going to get that's there's
16:03no players in there for them and so that's that's the struggle i think you might have guys that might
16:08be more attractive than that but it's tough let me just briefly before we move on to another topic
16:12but thinking about additions to help with goal scoring reporting about madvay mishkov yesterday
16:18paul i don't know if you have a strong opinion on the player but he is towards the top of
16:22the league
16:23in goals right now and absolutely fits the window of time that the sabers are in right now
16:31i there's no question about his talent none zero i have a problem with players i got a kick in
16:39the
16:39butt all the time uh and he's one of them he he's had problems with the flyer since he's been
16:45there
16:45with that and just because there's a change of senior he doesn't necessarily mean that's that's a
16:51change a good example is patrick linea do you think patrick linea could help this power play sure he
16:56could but i i don't want him anywhere near the locker room and how much different really is
17:01lindy ruff from rick tockett in terms of the approach to the game yeah and the message that
17:06will be whether or not the message is received um is is it really gonna how much is it gonna
17:11change
17:12yeah and i and listen i could be totally wrong on that but i just think when you when the
17:17when you
17:18have players that are problems that need a kick in the pants to get going um i i just think
17:23it it
17:24just you're you're just at the end of the day you're gonna be you're gonna wind up eventually
17:29in the same boat probably not not definitely who knows how it would work out but i think you're
17:36going to wind up in the same boat uh now do players mature sure he's a young kid i mean
17:42we we've watched
17:43players mature after they've left buffalo that they were very immature when they were here and and now are
17:49good veterans around the national hockey league i think jack eichel would be considered a good
17:55veteran around the national hockey league i think he's considered a leader in vegas he got he was too
18:01young to be a leader here when he was expected to be a leader and he was immature and uh
18:08it didn't it
18:09didn't work out from that standpoint never it always worked out on the ice he and reinhardt were great
18:14on the ice yeah and uh there's no no questioning that i understand why sam reinhardt was was upset
18:21and told kevin adams i'm not resigning here good for him to give him a one-year advance notice so
18:27he
18:27can make a better deal um but he felt and he said so after he got to florida he felt
18:33like i did everything
18:34they asked me to do on the ice and he was a goal scorer here he's a better goal scorer
18:38in florida but he's
18:39also with a better team and um and everybody's getting long-term deals except him and it was two
18:48or three gms that wouldn't give him a long-term deal so i don't blame him at all that he
18:54he wanted
18:54out because of that and wasn't going to resign here i feel like you know we've talked a lot about
19:01forwards we talked a lot about uh the goaltending but a little bit about the defense here paul any moves
19:08that could be made there and i'm not talking about trades but what can be done just to mix things
19:13up
19:13there try to provoke some sort of improvement from the blue line it's as simple as this rasmus
19:21dalene has to be rasmus dalene and he's been has not been rasmus dalene and most of the games he
19:28and
19:28samuelson were great in san jose and i thought to myself there it is they've got their game back it
19:34was
19:34just perfect game offensively defensively i asked dalene about it after the game he felt it
19:40and uh and that's yeah i understand that's a lot of pressure on it it's not like he's been awful
19:46he hasn't been awful he's been okay maybe pretty good but in order for the buffalo sabers they're
19:53built around him he is their guy and he was third in the norris trophy voting last year and look
19:59where
19:59the team wound up and that's with having all those horrible horrible things happening to he and his
20:05fiancee that they had to deal with where hockey is irrelevant because of that and he made it through
20:12all of that luckily it was a very positive result and um wound up third in the voting rightfully so
20:20for the norris trophy where is that it hasn't been there this year he was awful the other night along
20:26with power he was on the ice for three goals too he um he he led to the uh three
20:32on two that got them
20:33beat the other day uh against ottawa the second goal late in the game he made a bad turnover and
20:40off they
20:40go and it's in the net um he in order for the buffalo sabers to be a very good hockey
20:47team they need him
20:48to be a superstar and that is not happening samuelson i think has been better i think power has been
20:54better than dolly yeah um samuelson again i don't hate his game and he but he seems to kill his
21:03plays
21:03pretty well still and everything but it's still not what it was last year and that where i think is
21:09is
21:09where they're falling is they they your stars your best players need to be your best players and right
21:14now they're not um in owen powers case other than the other night yes he is i'd like zell wigger
21:21i think
21:22you know is he a top four defenseman borderline but i've liked him and i think he and power have
21:28a
21:28very good relationship and a very good chemistry together i think eventually either rudolph or
21:34murtka or kleber are going to take that spot and wind up in the top four and but then if
21:41they do that
21:42then you got zell wigger playing in the number three pair great that strengthens your third pair
21:47that way so um i really i think that's it plus crevier right now looks lost trying to figure out
21:56what he's supposed to be doing out there i just don't think he's comprehending what lindy ruff wants
22:00of him and i think that's one of the reasons why he hasn't been in the lineup recently is so
22:05he could
22:05work on some of the things that he needs to work on and i'm not hugely concerned about him i
22:12think
22:12he'll figure it out um but that you know that's been a reason to he's struggled and he just looks
22:19confused and if you're confused and that puts you a half step behind if you're a half step behind you're
22:24not going to be playing very well you're thinking too much it's got to be reaction not thinking the
22:30thinking has to be already done so it becomes a reaction and that's you know kind of hurt that way
22:35i don't think metza has played quite as well as he did last year again hasn't been awful but i
22:40just
22:40haven't seen the same metza that we saw last year timmons will help coming back especially on the
22:46penalty kill but that's where i think the defense can improve that their best players have to be their
22:51best players and that's not happening really paul thanks for doing this anytime and oh how about this
22:59i mean come on we can't talk about them playing the lightning and not talk about what happened last
23:04year with the lightning yes what i mean you you know you got a feel for it being around there
23:11being
23:11around this team does that carry over is that even a thing i know fans are going to be looking
23:15at it
23:16tonight there's been clips going around all day about what happened and 23 guys in the penalty box at
23:22the same time and how you know just crazy it was is that gone and packed away or does does
23:29that's
23:30that that those embers still burn a little bit no they better pull it out because why did they beat
23:36the lightning first of all they hadn't played the right lightning until the beginning of february that
23:40was the first game and the lightning were solidly in first place the sabers basically had to do what
23:45they did to catch them and that's take seven out of eight points one game against vasileski in 21 minutes
23:52and 54 seconds he gave up five goals and they chased him in one of the wins he played in
23:57three of the
23:57four games and tampa didn't win any of them in regulation um and why because the sabers came
24:04after the lightning the lightning had no respect for the buffalo sabers whatsoever they thought we're
24:09going to come in here we're going to slap them around where they're going to quit and we're going
24:13to win this going away and they found out that wasn't going to happen because the sabers were
24:16initiating contact they were initiating whatever they don't necessarily have to win the fight or
24:21whatever but they were there and they were there with five guys and tampa finally realized by the last
24:27game it's like you know what these guys aren't a pushover anymore this is a tough game we used to
24:31be able to walk in here throw them around a little bit they'd quit and you know we'd get our
24:36an easy
24:37win well it's not an easy thing anymore and and i don't think the lightning are going to forget about
24:42that from last year so i think they're going to be ready to roll and this is a team that's
24:47four one and
24:47two in their last seven so they've been playing pretty well and um you know vasilevsky is going to want
24:54to
24:54be better you know then because he is a very very very good goaltender and he's going to want to
25:00be
25:00better too so if i'm the buffalo sabers my game plan is once again go out there initiate things and
25:06show
25:06the tampa bay lightning that they're for the same garbage and and ride that you gave them last year
25:13and they better be ready for it paul thanks for this i hope you're ready for it whether you're there
25:20to see a fight or pet a dog i hope you have a great night tonight if the games were
25:24like they
25:24were last year i'm going to be totally ready for it i mean those were awesome hockey games to watch
25:29because i i i like fighting if it's organic if it's part of the game i don't like two guys
25:36who
25:36are supposed to fight all right we got a fight here let's go you know and they hate nothing happened
25:41but if it's part of the game and we're it's part of the organic part of the game i i
25:45enjoy i enjoy a
25:46hard-hitting game that maybe there are a couple of fights or whatever and that's what we saw last
25:51year and as you said we've seen clips of you know half the team in the penalty box for both
25:56both both
25:57teams that's our man paul hamilton not at the arena observing his patio being installed thinking
26:05about dogs hoping he doesn't see a dog game tonight or a dog effort i know with all this on
26:12my mind now i
26:12gotta sit down and write i have to you know change my change my brain here into all right now
26:17you
26:17gotta get your pregame consider this your warm-up you're all you're all worked up and uh you got all
26:22these thoughts ready to stream out just channel it from your mouth to the keypad i think you're gonna
26:27be all right yeah i have faith in you i think so too all right paul hamilton thanks for doing
26:31this
26:32paul hamilton's appearance is brought to you by ralax honda ralax we got this always good to hear
26:39from from our man paul now it's time to hear from the fans yes it is 8030550 when we come
26:45back
26:45from the break we'll talk about the sabers and the lightning we'll talk about bills at the trade
26:50deadline we'll talk about well we had a thought earlier in the show and we still haven't gotten to
26:58it our time machine trade deadline yeah just something we came up with just some fun something
27:04to think about if you could take one player from the super bowl bills and put them on this team
27:10or one player from these bills and put them on the super bowl teams
27:18who would you do and which team would have the better chance to win it all
27:24we'll talk about that and more when we come back on wgr middays

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