- 11 minutes ago
Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase kick things off with Owen Parker on Thursday morning by discussing the Sabres embarrassing 8-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. They highlight just how ugly that performance last night was on multiple levels, which quickly gets to a big picture discussion about what they should do now. The goaltending, forward group, and sub-par play from the top players are all highlighted as major issues.
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00:00I'll be honest. I drove home yesterday. I was driving around yesterday. I thought,
00:03you know, obviously we don't want to be too formulaic. And I thought maybe tomorrow morning
00:08we start with something goofy or something funny or whatever. I'm thinking about a bills topic or
00:13a trade topic. It was just something different. You know, who knows? It's been a minute since we
00:19did a let's get stupid or something like that. Yeah. And actually I have a let's get stupid for
00:23you. I do. I do have one. And I thought, you know, it's just like maybe we don't have to
00:27talk
00:27about every Sabres game right out of the gate and the bills made a trade. Everybody's happy.
00:31So let's just, let's have something goofy. And we're not, I'm not going to do that. No,
00:36we're not going to do that. We're not going to do that. It would, I think it would sound
00:40ridiculous if we, if we did that because the Sabres got completely embarrassingly roasted
00:48by Tampa in a game that maybe you were able to call back to, ah, yeah, I remember last
00:54year kind of, this was a big moment at the arena. It didn't quite launch the amazing magic,
01:00but it was a key cornerstone in the magic of our season. And man, Tampa, let's do it.
01:06Four nothing. Oh, okay.
01:12Four, three, four, three, we're back. We're back. This is the moment.
01:16What a minute that was. This is the magic. This is the
01:20I want to fall. Should I fall over? If I fall over, I might injure myself, man. If anybody's
01:28got anything they want to just roll with, you got, you got some shouting to do. You got
01:33some, what the, to do anything like that. You can have it. I am at a spot that I get
01:40to every couple of years on the Sabres where it's just this. Anybody got any ideas? Well,
01:46this is every November for, uh, maybe most Novembers for 15 years. Anybody got any ideas?
01:52Any ideas on what? How to fix it? Yeah. Town hall. Does anybody have any ideas? Honestly,
02:01because that was the thing about Hellebuck. It was at least an idea. Larkin does not happen.
02:08Does anybody have any ideas? With family meeting level, what, what, what's, what, what do you
02:16guys want to do? What's everybody want to do out there? Madve Mischkoff? Okay. Maybe.
02:22A disgruntled first round pick that, uh, wants his way out of Philadelphia is totally going
02:27to be like, yeah, I'll come here and save your bacon. All right. Right. That's an idea.
02:31That counts. I'm trying. It's actually a good idea in that you are getting a player before he
02:36has like, he's on a rookie contract, right? All right. Is he onto a new contract? No,
02:40no. He's on a rookie deal. One is one. All right. I'm in. He scores a lot. Yeah. Yeah.
02:46He's towards the top of the league in goals. All right. There's a lot. 46 goals in his first
02:50two years in the NHL. That's one, one idea. Uh, next idea. Anybody? I mean, is it too reactionary
02:57to, I'll just, I'll just throw the idea out that I was talking about in a group chat last night,
03:01like trading page. That was going to be my let's get stupid. Yeah. Trade page. I mean,
03:07that's he scored last night, but man, like there are just, there are moments, there are
03:12moments where it's like, how, how did that happen? Why'd the puck go there? Him and Darlene
03:18are, I'm not trying to trade Darlene. Him and Darlene have both been pretty below their standards
03:24this season. Yes. Like there's a lot, there's a lot to get into on the roster and the plan that
03:30they executed in the off season. Darlene and Tage were not a part of that. There was no
03:34deciding what to do with them. They are your core players. They're your leaders. They're your best
03:38players. And like behind all the, they got nobody to replace Alex Tuck is, uh, those two guys are
03:46not playing great this season. And that matters a lot. That's mattering a lot this, this year.
03:51Well, it's, I mean, maybe they are good enough players that you think that will never happen.
03:56But one of the things about doing nothing in an off season, except thinking all of our young
04:02players will just get better is that somewhere in there, other things happen too. And maybe
04:07somebody has a bad year. It's one of the reasons that you try to improve year over year is if
04:13you
04:13actually do improve, but something falls apart, that's maybe where you maintain like, Hey, we added
04:20X, Y, Z, but we lost ABC. So we're the same. Instead, you just lose stuff and then you fall
04:27apart. They're the performances at home. We're about to get into another one of these horrible
04:34spots where people call and start asking if it's our fault, right? The fans fall. The fans have too
04:40much of an expectation. They boo the power play or something. They fill the building. They came back
04:45in a moment. Hey, you got good. Bang. We're back. We love you. Let's do it. Okay. We can't win
04:49a home
04:50and we give up goals all the time. At least they scored last night, but only down four and then
04:54got beat by five. Yep. So, yep. Kucherov. How about that for an idea? Kucherov. He's not going anywhere.
05:04He's sticking there and he's just going to sign somewhere on July 1st. And you're not on that list.
05:08Of course not. Of course not. One of the reasons that when you have the opportunity to make literally
05:14any trade, you might want to do it because you don't, you don't, you don't fish in the same ponds.
05:20Right. You, you, you're not, you're not even in that conversation. You don't have a Russian player.
05:24You're not, you're not. Okay. Uh, idea number one, get a Russian player. Mishkov. Mishkov. Okay. So then
05:30you can get part of my thinking there. Do you need, is this like a catch 22? Do I need
05:34one before I get
05:36one? So I need to get two in the, I got to trade for two. You drafted one in the
05:40first
05:40round. True. He doesn't care about that. No, of course he doesn't. Why would he care
05:45about that? We don't, we don't care about that. He'll be 38 by the time that guy arrives.
05:50Um, I just call Kucherov like, listen, have you seen our first round pick? Our second first
05:56round pick, by the way. Yeah. Right. I mean, I mean, I'm looking at Dax and Rudolph highlights
06:01and I get, that's all I've got right now. He looks, he looks great. That's unbelievable.
06:05Just, I don't, I don't ever want to be back to, okay, my hope for this team or what do
06:11I need to
06:11feel good about the Sabres? I need to look up college hockey highlights or I need to look up
06:15OHL highlights. Like that was supposed to be, it was supposed to be over. That was supposed to be
06:21dead and buried this year. I also don't want to like, I bring up the Tage idea. I feel like
06:27it
06:28probably sounds ridiculous to zoom out and say, after last year, if I, if I told myself in August,
06:36Hey, they're going to have 19 points in their first 18 games. You want to trade Tage Thompson
06:41who has 10 goals? And I'm going to probably think like, no, that sounds ridiculous. That sounds like
06:46they got off to a, a slow start, but not a catastrophic start. And no, I'm not trading
06:53my best forward off the roster in a situation like that. So I don't, but I don't know. I don't
06:58know like what a realistic idea is. I still want to feel confident. They just will chase all the big
07:06ideas and eventually they will get one of them. But I don't know what big idea is out there right
07:11now that even sounds like they have that's attainable at all. And doesn't that bleed away
07:15every game that you play like that? Yeah, it doesn't, that reputation that you tried to wash
07:22off yourself last season is just coming back game by game. As you look like this, it's, it's going to
07:30get harder and harder to land those guys. The Pareko already said, no, you've got, right. You were in a
07:35playoff spot when he said no. Right. And now you're sliding and look like you're panicking and
07:42you look like you don't have a four group that can compete. You're on pace for like, you know,
07:46an 89 point season. Right. And your goaltending is awful right now. And like, they've been better,
07:53but last night is a nightmare. Oh, we usually ask you, Owen, about the goals and are we allowed
07:58to be mad? We'll dedicate that to the eight o'clock hour. Sure. How about that? We might need a
08:02whole
08:02hour. We'll get through all the goals. Sounds good. I've got, I've got notes on all of them.
08:06So yeah, I, it's, it's really tough. This is really tough. It feels like they've been bouncing
08:15back and forth, like a little stretch of good, a little stretch of bad. And, and this last
08:20night felt like it was a boulder on the bad side. And that's, it's really difficult to feel
08:27okay about. After a perfect Western conference trip, they lose three out of four at home. Yeah.
08:33Mike home. What, what is, what is that? That's what I mean. We're about to be blamed. Someone
08:38will call and say the fans have expectations and they can't live up to them or something
08:42like that. It's usually how that goes. I mean, if you rewind to the playoffs, they lost at
08:48home a lot. They lost, how many did they end up losing at home? Uh, they lost three, three
08:53against three against Montreal and two against Boston and they won two. So that's six wins
09:01and 11 losses in their last 17 home games. If you go back to the playoffs, that's, that's
09:07like at Chicago, that's, that's one of the, that's Vancouver. That's like, you're one of
09:11the worst teams in the league. That's your home record. Yeah. I don't know what, what that
09:17is. I mean, it cost them the second round last year, cost them a conference finals berth.
09:21And right now the road record is good enough to be a playoff team, right? Like that, they're
09:27three points back of it. Be a, be a, a middling 500 home team. And you would be in a
09:34playoff
09:34spot right now. We probably all feel like, okay, but, but last night's more than even
09:37just the standings and like what your record is last night is that team you beat three
09:42times last year at the end. And to prove like, this is not a fluke. This is not some, the
09:48river
09:48hockey flag behind you over there. Like this is not, you know, we are just this fun
09:54little thing, but we're not a serious team. Like, no, this is supposed to be, we're
09:58actually legitimately good. And the era of this franchise being a joke is over. And
10:04then for them to body bag you like that, the first game of the season, it, it very
10:09much felt like Hagel's laughing on his way to the bench yesterday. It's like, what does
10:14that guy think? Like these guys, it's not a serious team. Like you had your fun last
10:17year, but let us get back in here. Like the season of course is not over. And
10:22last year they started slow so they could turn it around, but you will, you wonder
10:27if Tampa looks at the Sabres like the wildcat dolphins. Yeah. Oh yeah, that was
10:32cool. Good for you. We had a good game. We had 11 in a row and then you won one
10:37and then we won 11 in a row again, basically like cool. You had a good year.
10:42Things went your way. Your goaltending came in, you played river hockey. Remember
10:45river hockey? Remember the Sabres being a wagon. I like all these things we had
10:49last year, this romantic little run and it's been tough. It's been real tough.
10:56I mean, the first 10 games of the year, I thought they looked sloppy and I got
10:59yelled at because of expected goals and like, okay, I feel like they look like a
11:03team that looked like they needed an off season and didn't get it. And I feel
11:07like that more every single day. Like they needed an off season that they
11:10didn't get. You asked us the other day, like, remember them having like river
11:13hockey, remember them having an identity? Like we knew what they wanted
11:17to be. We knew what they were good at. We knew what they were great at. They
11:20were, they, they, they were good in that and they were a good penalty kill team.
11:24Whatever their identity was this team transition game and their blue line
11:30speed. Like they were just going to hit you so quick. And right now, I don't know
11:35if they're trying to still be that last night, honestly, like that's probably what
11:41they were trying to do because they're down for nothing, right? Like their,
11:44their D are all up in the play. And that's what actually cost them on the
11:47Kucherov goal, which Lindy was mad about. I think Zellweger is up in the play
11:51when he didn't need to be, but that was them a year ago. Do is that, is that
11:58what they're trying to still be? It should be. But I think part of, part of
12:03their problem right now is that they've got a bunch of defensemen that are
12:07willing to do that. And they got a bunch of forwards who aren't playing at a
12:10level that can handle it. They don't have anybody that can finish and they
12:13don't have guys that are doing enough to make that worth doing. And, and when
12:18you're, when you've got the defensemen are the only guys that are, and even
12:22they like Darlene, we've talked about today is not been the Darlene that I
12:27think we need him to be in order for this team to be what they are or to be
12:31what they were last year. And I think when you've got a group that's trying to
12:37make up for that on the back end, stuff gets loose like it did last night with
12:42Zellweger in that scenario. And they, what are you, I, it's really hard to see how
12:48they get this on track without either a multitude of their forwards up front who
12:55are playing poorly now magically turning around or just acquiring better players
13:00up front. Yeah. They, they are not good enough up there. They've got a bunch of
13:05centers who are struggling to play center and nobody can score. Well, I mean, I, I got
13:11that far down the road on what's going on at forward that it made me again, mad that
13:17they drafted a defenseman. And I understand like that doesn't mean Dax and
13:20Rudolph won't be a franchise star, a cornerstone, but this team needs forward
13:26help. They need the, these three kids, Kulik, Aslan, and Helenius are supposed to be
13:32it. And right now you're getting that from one of them and maybe the other two
13:35come, but the idea of a scoring winger, drafted scoring winner, winger, I need
13:42Thomas Vanek, right? Not specifically, but I need Thomas Vanek. I need a guy that
13:48can score 40 on the wing. Yeah. That's why I like this Mishkov idea, even though
13:54they're the flyers are saying that he's not even requesting a trade and it's a
13:58weird thing, but it just like that archetype of guy. I almost, I like it
14:03because it, he almost neglects everything else about the game aside from scoring
14:07goals on the wing. And like, that's really what they need. And, and they just, they
14:14didn't do anything to get better in the off season. And it's, it's getting more and
14:19more frustrating every game that goes by and they look like they did last night.
14:22Right. The best thing we've got is like Zellweger looks fast. Right. And he does, he
14:26does look pretty good. And that was not improving. That was, we need to replace
14:30a guy that was really important for us. Right. That was not, we're going to try
14:33to add to what we've got. That is, we've got to get back to where we were. And
14:37even that is like, it's working out, but that's, it's not anywhere near enough.
14:44803-0550. If you want to join us, we want to spend the whole day here. We've got, you
14:47know, plenty to get to on the bills, bills and jets, Amani Hooker. He says he's going
14:51to play. That's exciting. Something to watch right away. And, uh, I started thinking about
14:56the one seed. I started thinking about the first playoff game at Highmark stadium, which
14:59looks like a near lock with what a three game lead on new England. Like that's you can,
15:05you can almost bank on that regardless of, uh, whether or not you think they're going
15:08to get the one seed. So here we are. We'll get a call in Mitch in Buffalo. Mitch. Good
15:12morning. Uh, it's actually Rick, but good morning. Uh, I had a bad feeling about yesterday's
15:19game and it's just, it's, it's scary to watch right now. I mean, where's Yarmul? I think
15:26we need to do a welfare check on the GM because I haven't heard anything. It's been quiet on
15:31that front. I thought he was supposed to be a very aggressive general manager and so
15:36far, nothing. I feel like we still have Kevin Adams. Uh, this, this team is, is losing ground
15:43in the Atlantic division and it's, it's, it's embarrassing. I I'm, I'm at a loss for words
15:49and it seems like Lindy doesn't have anything either. So that's really it. Thanks. Thanks
15:55Mitch. Like, I don't know if Lindy's out of answers. He was definitely as angry as he's
15:59been all year and the press conference ends just with everybody was terrible. We're on
16:04Chicago. Pretty much. He was mad during the game, right? Like he had an animated timeout.
16:10He was very, uh, he's not as after referees anymore, but again, the frustration of the
16:17game built up with what the call was like, I, he was hot after the penalty against Quinn,
16:23which is understandable. Hagel did the exact same thing that led to the Kucherov goal two
16:28minutes before then Quinn does it and Quinn got called for it. So like, I understand why
16:33Lindy was hot about it, but I mean, you could tell like it boiled over for him. It should
16:39right. Like they got embarrassed and they also constantly were leaving guys open yesterday.
16:48Like it's kind of incredible. They only gave up 22 shots yesterday, but were all of them
16:54grade a scoring chances? It was six goals on 14 at one point. Yeah. Right. So like there
17:00was an element of like, I needed a big save somewhere in there, but yeah, that was, that
17:05was one of their worst defensive nights of the season. Kucherov breakaways where they
17:08need, is that the biggest one they need? They need that one. Cause Kucherov can only go one
17:11direction with that and he goes that direction and still wins. Right. Yeah. The, the, the
17:17Kucherov breakaway goal is to me as egregious a breakaway goal as you can get. It's not just
17:24like, I know it's Kucherov and like, that's, I understand that he's an all time great and
17:30I respect that, but you've given up five on 14 or whatever it is, or four on 14 for Lukonen
17:36before that goal or four on 13. And it's that moment you're roaring back in the game. They
17:44give up that scoring chance, but Zellweger's right on him. He's right with him. He's got one
17:48way to go. You know, that as the goaltender and you get beat under the arm over the pad
17:53through your body. I I'm sorry. You cannot give up that goal for your fifth goal of the
18:01game at that time. After what your team is doing, it's another one of these goals from
18:07him. And I know people are with the defense. I know they were bad last night, but both can
18:12be true. He was atrocious as well. Just watch the first goal and you could tell he's going
18:16to have a terrible night. He's all over the place on that first goal. Even though it's
18:20a good chance, you see him get down, he's spread way out, he gets back in and then he
18:25goes back out again as it gets by him. And like from there, I'm, I'm, I'm thinking, oh
18:30no, here we go. And he can't stop. He can't make a big save for him. And, and no matter
18:36how bad your defense is, sometimes that is, that is okay to say. And that Kucherov goal
18:41last night, even with how terrible the rest of it was for him, was an opportunity to give
18:46them a big save and let them get back in the game. And he just couldn't, he cannot
18:50do it. I, I, I don't know how the team doesn't at some point when that goal goes in, just
18:58throw their hands up in the air and say like every time, what, what are we supposed to
19:01do? Right. I know we've been terrible tonight, but we fought back here and we give up one
19:06chance and we need one save from him and it's in. They didn't introduce Amani Hooker at the
19:11game or anything like that. Right. Sometimes that'll happen. Hey, come to town, come to the
19:14hockey game. I don't think I, I was not in the building last night. I watched from home,
19:19so I don't know, but I doubt it. I feel like we would have seen a video maybe somewhere
19:23on social media. Joe and I were not there. I had to open up the spreadsheet of our, our
19:26shared season tickets because we're keeping standings of wins and losses and the standings
19:31will determine, uh, sorry for this, but a playoff order. So I had to write in another
19:36L because Joe and I were not there. Yeah. Playoff, playoff order. That does not feel like
19:41it's something we need to keep right now. I saw 48% they showed on the broadcast. 48%.
19:46Was that before they got eight to three by a division rival? Before or last night. How
19:51much would one game knock it down? Like 45? 46%? Whatever. Something like that. Who has
19:56that? Dom Lecision? That was, yeah, I think Dom Lecision. Although I saw that number I saw
20:01on the broadcast yesterday. Okay. I thought Dom maybe had something similar yesterday. Yeah.
20:05Money puck puts the savers at 33% if you care about that one. I like Dom better, but all
20:11right. Maybe just cause it's higher. Whoever tells me it's 80%, that's why. Yeah. Whoever
20:14is higher. I like that person. Yeah. Thanks. 803-0550. You know, the whole thing was foreseeable
20:20when they changed the odd club. I could have seen it all coming. This is, this is, this
20:26is bad. This is bad karma. Mike and Cheek Diwaga. Hey Mike. Good morning. How are you two
20:32guys? We're okay. We're okay. Excited about the football game on Sunday. Yeah. Well, I'm
20:37not going to talk about football today. I'll talk about that tomorrow. I'm going to talk
20:41about hockey. First off, I believe that the Sabres are going to, are going to open up
20:46a win streak coming up in December and it's going to be a big win streak. That's number
20:52one. Number two. Oh, and I'm going to ask you one simple question, whatever happened
20:58and then, and then one last thing, whatever happened to the technique of poke checking
21:02for a, for a, for a, for a, for a bull tender on a breakaway. And then third, your GM
21:12and
21:13not just a GM in Buffalo, but GMs all over the place. I'm just going to say something that
21:19don't get anybody in trouble. They need a set of pucks and they don't have them. They're
21:25afraid of losing a job, which makes no sense because they have so much money that it makes
21:32no sense why everybody is so, uh, so keen on being afraid to lose a job, but yet they're
21:39making millions, millions of dollars open up. How about the poke check Owen thoughts on
21:47that? I don't have a ton of issue with it. Uh, I, I just, I, it's not, it's the least
21:56of what I think about last night. Right. Honestly, I think a lot more about the, the goals that
22:04I just, I'm like scramble brain about it. I don't know. I, I, I, that, that performance
22:10in net is completely unacceptable from both of them. Like Ellis is no better when he gets
22:15in there. His chances are good too, but you just can't, you cannot win with eight on 22.
22:20Alex Lyon's got to come in and win the heart trophy. Basically is what's got to happen.
22:23Pretty much. They got to get Lyon in and he's got a, what, what are they? He's playing tonight,
22:29isn't he? He could have three good games and he'll get an extension. Maybe I'm, I don't know.
22:33He's in the final year of a deal. He might need one. They have no prospects. No, they have
22:40no future here. It's Ellis. Yep. And UPL like Lyon and it is in the ECHL right now. That's
22:48nothing for you. It's kind of wild. It is. It is. And you know, I, I hate, I hate bringing
22:54them up, but Levi's been unbelievable for Edmonton. And I, I, I don't think it's even really worth
23:00being upset about because it was over, but it's just organizationally. It's frustrating
23:07that you, that's happening to you again. He's played nine games. He's eight and one. He
23:12does get a lot of support. Yes, of course. Like McDavid is scoring like three goals every
23:17game he plays. His percentage is 899. Right. But that's what's Lukanen right now? 860.
23:24Right. That's a pretty big difference. I saw above the expected numbers. Levi was better than
23:29what his save percentage is too. Yeah. His, his goal saved above expected. I'm looking at
23:32that's too above expected. Like that's, that's pretty good. It's not like in, it's pretty
23:36good. It's at least a starting level. It's positive. Right. Right. It's a starting goal.
23:40At least that, that point that the caller makes though, I bet we're about to hear a lot more.
23:45So prepare yourself for it and how you want to react to it when people bring up what they
23:50were this time last year, that's going to be the whole next month. Right. Between now and
23:54whenever that win streak began last year, was it December like ninth or something? Yeah. Early
23:58December between like that next month, no matter what they are,
24:03that's going to be like, well, you know what? Last year they were this and I don't have
24:08in front. I bet they were worse a year ago today. Sure. They were in last, right? It's
24:13just, they were actually in last like the whole month of November. It's simultaneously an important
24:17reminder. And also it's no way to live. Yes. I agree. It's, it's no way to live to say
24:22like, sure. My team is bad, but remember that time that they weren't because for 14 of those
24:27years, they stayed bad pretty much. Right. Anyway, eight Oh three Oh five 50 road trip
24:34for the Sabres up next. Bad team coming up. Find some wins. Byram and Kane are both hurt.
24:39Beat Chicago. Beat Chicago. Bills and jets. We got a great quote from Robert Sala on, uh,
24:46Amani hooker. As he joins the team, we'll learn a little bit more about him. He seems excited.
24:52That's the flip side of this is I just want to say this for the break and we'll get to
24:55more of your,
24:55your rants. If you want to more of your calls and you know, have some fun today. It's fun as
25:00a
25:00bills fan when they make a move for a player and that player is genuinely really excited to join
25:07gives you an idea. Just whatever. It's a nice reminder of how, how good things are going for
25:11the bills, which, uh, they're on their way to another division title, eight Oh three Oh five 50
25:15bills and jets. We got a football game tonight as well, but Thursday night football, but, uh,
25:21opened up with the savers and what on earth? Any ideas? Anybody? Uh, any ideas? Jeremy and Joe here on
25:28WTR.