WEBVTT
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Welcome to another short shift episode of expected buffalo the
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podcast we are brought to you by richmond devona and
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we so it's buffalo we sew at buffalo.com don't forget
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at we saw buffalo.com. You can get that expected Buffalo discount.
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Expected 10 is your discount code at we. So it buffalo.com.
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I forgot that yesterday. Didn't forget it today. Uh, here
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we are on a Monday of the opening week. The
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NHL season starts tomorrow. Uh, we have final rosters for
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the entire league. Uh, we'll definitely get into the sabers
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and there's some interesting, uh, Decisions and moves that were
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made here as they trimmed their roster down to 23 officially.
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And there was also a pretty significant trait that happens
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on the eve of the NHL season. So we'll close
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discussing that one. But where we'll start, like I said,
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we have our opening night 23-man roster from the Buffalo Sabres.
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Will consist of 14 forwards, 6 defensemen. And three goaltenders. Yes,
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three goaltenders. Maybe that is where we'll start here. So
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we knew Ellis was going to be fine. I talked
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about yesterday, sounded like everything was going to be fine
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with Lukanen to at least be the backup or dress
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if he had to in these, at least this week
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in these opening games. Now, I think the surprising one
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is Lyon, that he does not go on injured reserve
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after that shoulder injury or arm injury, whatever. He, you know,
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Does that mean he'll be good to go on Thursday
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or Saturday? I don't know. That remains to be seen.
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We'll see if he practices tomorrow with the team on
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Tuesday when the official full lineup makes their way into
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practice for the first time as they prepare for the opener.
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We'll get some interest from Lindy Ruff and all of that.
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But it's encouraging that it turns out nothing really was
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significant there. It might have looked like a couple days
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ago we were down to one healthy goaltender. Now it
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looks like we're back up to at least two. Maybe
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we'll call it 2.5 or 2.25 or however you want
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to do it. With Lukanen and Lyon being banged up
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a little bit. So we'll see who starts on Thursday.
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Maybe it's still Ellis with the injuries. Letting guys recover.
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And maybe somebody else jumps in on Saturday for the
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home opener. We'll see. The season opener is in Columbus,
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by the way. It's in Chicago yesterday, but in Columbus
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on Thursday. And that'll be an interesting environment because there
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was some news out of there today. I guess I
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will get into at the end. But yeah, good to
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see the goaltenders. Yuri Kulik, Justin Danforth, Tyler Kozak all
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will start at the NHL level. Kozak and Danforth, not
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so much of a surprise when the two were not
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placed on waivers yesterday and with the injuries to Zucker
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and then also the uncertainty of what Kulik is. Not
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an injured reserve, so that's a good sign. so those
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two will be your 13, 14 forward, if you will,
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and your rotational fourth lines, uh, we'll get a good
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glimpse of what lines look like. I said, I practiced tomorrow, uh,
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cool league. There was some discussion I mentioned yesterday about
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potentially starting in the age zone. I didn't think that
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was a terrible idea. I still think that is possible. Uh,
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you know, it makes sense to keep them. Now you
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have the roster spot, um, Maybe get him in a
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couple games or keep him around and let him get healthy.
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I don't know. And maybe he's the guy you send
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down being waiver exempt when you have to make some
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roster decisions when guys are coming back in and getting
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healthy here. But we'll see. They'll play that one out.
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We'll see if he's in the lineup on opening night
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or maybe he rotates in. All remains to be seen
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there where they slot him in. But those three occupy
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your final spots at forward. Defense. This is where things
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got a little bit interesting. Six healthy defensemen on the
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opening night roster, which I'm not quite sure they'll take
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six to Columbus, but we'll see. You probably want to
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have that extra one. But Good news is Olin Zellweger,
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no injured reserve. So that lines up to potentially being
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good to go on Thursday. We'll see if he practices tomorrow.
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Matthias Samuelsson, as you would expect, on injured reserve. We'll
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see how long that lasts for before he can get
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back on the ice. But then there was the interesting one.
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So I put out an article today talking about the
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defense pairs. And in the beginning of it, I called out,
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That I heard, I didn't know who the players were,
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but I heard there was one or two players that
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were dealing with a minor injury. Didn't know. Didn't know
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who the guy was. Or guys or players, whatever. Well,
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now we see that one of the players, if not
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the player, was Connor Timmons. He will start the season
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on an injured reserve with what I believe is a
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lower body injury. So, it almost definitely means that he
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will miss The opener. Because the last time he played
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was Saturday. So the Sabres can retroactively put him on
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IR back to Saturday. So he will at least miss Thursday.
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I don't know for sure if that means he can
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play Saturday or not. But at the very least, he's
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probably going to miss the first two games. And we'll
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see beyond that what that means. So I was sitting
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here wondering... do the Sabres really want to take only
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six defensemen? You know, what if somebody is sick or
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gets hurt in warmups or whatever, that's not the best
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situation to be in. I feel like you'd always like
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to have an extra defenseman. And so I, I kind
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of was thinking about, I wonder, you know, I, I'm,
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I tried to look it up and I couldn't really
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find anything, but I wonder if there's some sort of
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thing where, especially when it comes to waivers, um, when
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they made their guys they sent down to the AHL,
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because if they called somebody up, it would be Ryan
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Johnson or it would be Dennis Gilbert. I feel like
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there might be something that if the players, when the
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rosters are due, are in the NHL and it's past that,
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and then you call them up after, that I think
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that 30-day window that there is, they don't have to
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clear waivers yet, they already did in the last 30 days,
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kicks in When the season starts or something like that. Again,
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I don't know for sure. I'm kind of spitballing here.
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But it's getting to my theory that I wonder if
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they decided this is how we're going to structure the roster.
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And then tomorrow, there's another move. Or Wednesday, whatever. They
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wait a couple days. Is there another move? Do you...
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Do you call up Gilbert or do you call up Johnson?
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And then maybe you can put, let's say Lions, I
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could be ready to go. You could retroactively put Lion
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Ninja Reserve, I think. I think, and again, it gets
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kind of tricky here with what the rosters ever do
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and how you want to do that. So you could
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do that. You could put Kulik in the AHL if
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you wanted to, to find a roster spot. All things
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that could be possible. Maybe we go tomorrow and we
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see that there's, I don't know, by somehow Samuelson is
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feeling better and he's not going to play, but he's
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going to have to be a seven and whatever. Because
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they could take him off injury reserve because of how
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long he's been out. But again, they still need to
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make a roster decision. So I don't know. Maybe they
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do go to Columbus and they only bring six. Maybe.
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I don't know. It's not often that teams will do that.
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They'll travel without an extra defensive. And again, because anything
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could happen. There's warm-ups. They can trip and fall on
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a mat. They can wake up sick or whatever. I mean,
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it's not difficult to get somebody to Columbus that morning
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if you really need to. But it'd be nice if
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they were practicing with the team probably these couple of
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days and then travel with the team so they're there
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if they do have to step into the lineup and play.
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You know, we'll see. But it's something to keep an
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eye on, I think, over the next few days here.
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or even as soon as tomorrow if they do make
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one more move to get them to a seventh defense
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member that's using injured reserve slot or whatever they decide
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to do. We're putting Kulik in the AHL. Remember, if
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they do do that, the new rule that Kulik would
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have to play at least one AHL game before he
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can come back up. There's not the put him on
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a paper transaction now and then recall him and all
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of that. Can't do that. So he'd have to play
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at least one AHL game before he would be eligible
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then to return to the NHL. So we'll keep an
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eye on that. But overall, nothing really surprising. The biggest
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surprise was probably Timmons. So we'll see what Lindy Ruff
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says tomorrow in terms of those injuries, how long he's
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going to be out, and where the team decides to
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go from there. So as I hinted a few times,
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there was maybe one of the more significant moves of
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the NHL offseason happens on the eve of NHL action
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getting underway. The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Columbus Blue
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Jackets came together on a deal to send Kirill Marchenko,
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Elvis Merlikens, uh, a couple other players, I think, uh,
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Miles Wood was another one, uh, to the Toronto Maple
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Leafs in exchange for Matthew Nyes, uh, Steven Lorenz, I think,
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a defenseman, I forgot who, and then a draft pick,
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and maybe I'm missing something. Um, handful of player swaps there.
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But the big one really is, you know, Merzlikens is
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out for the season. He'll go on long-term reserve. That's
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just a cap dump. Wood, I think, is still going
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to go to the AHL because he already cleared. So really, really,
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it's all a bunch of moving pieces from a contract
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and making it work from a cap perspective. Two, it
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comes down to a Kirill Marchenko trade for Matthew Nyes.
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So Marchenko signs a new deal worth $ 12. 5 million annually.
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and the Maple Leafs get a new winger, and Matthew
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Nyes gets a new opportunity in Columbus. The Blue Jackets
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replace Marchenko with a player with a $ 7. 75 million cap
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hit for the next, I think, six or seven years.
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Cost certainty there. They bring in a player who's respectable
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and can play on the top line. So, you know, I...
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I see a lot of people maybe think that Columbus
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didn't do so well here. I think they did fine.
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You got a capable top six winger. You dumped off
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two bad contracts. You got rid of a disgruntled player
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for your culture and all of that. And teams knew
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you had your back up against the wall with the
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disgruntled player, with the new contract being required. So I
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think all things considered, you did fine. On the Leafs
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side of it, I'm not thrilled to see Marchenko in
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the division, but it seemingly looked like that was going
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to happen anyways. The belief was that it was probably
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going to be Montreal, then the Boston thing happened, and
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lo and behold, it ends up in Toronto. I'm a
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big Marchenko fan. I think he's got a lot of skill.
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I think he's a really nice player. It will be
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interesting to see how he looks in Hiller's system. That's
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not the same kind of open style he's familiar with.
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But again, in Columbus, I think they've always kind of
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played that lockdown game. But, you know, we'll see. We'll
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see how it looks in Hiller's system. He'll have some
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really nice players to play along with, whether that'll be
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Tavares or whether it'll be with Matthews or Nylander or whatever,
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how they, you know, McKinnon, don't forget he's there, however
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they decide to put that lineup together. But, you know,
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the Maple Leafs make a move the day before the
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season to bolster their roster, get a player in here long-term.
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You know, of course, you have to mention maybe, I
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don't know, show us that Matthews are serious about things
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and Although you should trade a good player away, but whatever.
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I mean, these are always fun, right? Trades are fun.
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So I think the Leafs did okay. I think Columbus,
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with the circumstances, did okay. So that'll be interesting on
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Thursday for the opener in Columbus that Matthew Niles will
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be presumably making his debut with the Blue Jackets and
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the environment and all that behind that. Uh, that'll be
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something that Sabres will have to contend with, uh, when
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they are there in Thursday, uh, a place I feel
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like the Sabres would just see have not done well
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in Columbus. So, you know, we'll see how that, uh,
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how that plays for them. Uh, okay. So that is
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going to be it for this one. Just wanted to
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touch on the roster and then the big trade for
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the day. Uh, tomorrow we will record our season preview episodes.
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So it'll obviously be much longer form podcast, a lot
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to cover and get into. Um, And then the day
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after that, Thursday, the regular season begins and all of
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the fun gets started. So thank you very much for listening.
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As I said yesterday, do not forget, if you are
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not a YouTube subscriber, go to YouTube, Spice the Buffalo page, subscribe.
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If you want to try to get to that thousand
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before Thursday, still a little bit of a ways to go. But,
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you know, we'll do the best we can to close
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that gap. It'd be greatly appreciated. And obviously go to SpiceTheBuffalo.com.
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A lot of written content is going to be going
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out here now that we're really in the flow of things.
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So check that out. Subscribe this season if you're not
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a subscriber. Annually for the year or on a month-by-month basis.
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Whatever works out best for you. So thank you very
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much again for listening. And we will talk tomorrow for
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our season preview. See ya.
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Welcome to another short shift episode of expected buffalo the
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podcast we are brought to you by richmond devona and
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we so it's buffalo we sew at buffalo.com don't forget
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00:00:26.089 --> 00:00:30.000
at we saw buffalo.com. You can get that expected Buffalo discount.
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00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:35.679
Expected 10 is your discount code at we. So it buffalo.com.
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I forgot that yesterday. Didn't forget it today. Uh, here
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we are on a Monday of the opening week. The
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NHL season starts tomorrow. Uh, we have final rosters for
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the entire league. Uh, we'll definitely get into the sabers
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and there's some interesting, uh, Decisions and moves that were
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made here as they trimmed their roster down to 23 officially.
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And there was also a pretty significant trait that happens
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on the eve of the NHL season. So we'll close
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discussing that one. But where we'll start, like I said,
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we have our opening night 23-man roster from the Buffalo Sabres.
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Will consist of 14 forwards, 6 defensemen. And three goaltenders. Yes,
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three goaltenders. Maybe that is where we'll start here. So
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we knew Ellis was going to be fine. I talked
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about yesterday, sounded like everything was going to be fine
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with Lukanen to at least be the backup or dress
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if he had to in these, at least this week
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in these opening games. Now, I think the surprising one
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is Lyon, that he does not go on injured reserve
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after that shoulder injury or arm injury, whatever. He, you know,
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Does that mean he'll be good to go on Thursday
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or Saturday? I don't know. That remains to be seen.
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We'll see if he practices tomorrow with the team on
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Tuesday when the official full lineup makes their way into
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practice for the first time as they prepare for the opener.
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We'll get some interest from Lindy Ruff and all of that.
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But it's encouraging that it turns out nothing really was
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significant there. It might have looked like a couple days
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ago we were down to one healthy goaltender. Now it
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looks like we're back up to at least two. Maybe
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we'll call it 2.5 or 2.25 or however you want
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to do it. With Lukanen and Lyon being banged up
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a little bit. So we'll see who starts on Thursday.
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Maybe it's still Ellis with the injuries. Letting guys recover.
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And maybe somebody else jumps in on Saturday for the
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home opener. We'll see. The season opener is in Columbus,
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by the way. It's in Chicago yesterday, but in Columbus
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on Thursday. And that'll be an interesting environment because there
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was some news out of there today. I guess I
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will get into at the end. But yeah, good to
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see the goaltenders. Yuri Kulik, Justin Danforth, Tyler Kozak all
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will start at the NHL level. Kozak and Danforth, not
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so much of a surprise when the two were not
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placed on waivers yesterday and with the injuries to Zucker
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and then also the uncertainty of what Kulik is. Not
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an injured reserve, so that's a good sign. so those
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two will be your 13, 14 forward, if you will,
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and your rotational fourth lines, uh, we'll get a good
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glimpse of what lines look like. I said, I practiced tomorrow, uh,
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cool league. There was some discussion I mentioned yesterday about
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potentially starting in the age zone. I didn't think that
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was a terrible idea. I still think that is possible. Uh,
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you know, it makes sense to keep them. Now you
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have the roster spot, um, Maybe get him in a
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couple games or keep him around and let him get healthy.
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I don't know. And maybe he's the guy you send
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down being waiver exempt when you have to make some
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roster decisions when guys are coming back in and getting
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healthy here. But we'll see. They'll play that one out.
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We'll see if he's in the lineup on opening night
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or maybe he rotates in. All remains to be seen
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there where they slot him in. But those three occupy
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your final spots at forward. Defense. This is where things
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got a little bit interesting. Six healthy defensemen on the
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opening night roster, which I'm not quite sure they'll take
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six to Columbus, but we'll see. You probably want to
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have that extra one. But Good news is Olin Zellweger,
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no injured reserve. So that lines up to potentially being
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good to go on Thursday. We'll see if he practices tomorrow.
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Matthias Samuelsson, as you would expect, on injured reserve. We'll
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see how long that lasts for before he can get
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back on the ice. But then there was the interesting one.
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So I put out an article today talking about the
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defense pairs. And in the beginning of it, I called out,
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That I heard, I didn't know who the players were,
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but I heard there was one or two players that
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were dealing with a minor injury. Didn't know. Didn't know
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who the guy was. Or guys or players, whatever. Well,
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now we see that one of the players, if not
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the player, was Connor Timmons. He will start the season
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on an injured reserve with what I believe is a
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lower body injury. So, it almost definitely means that he
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will miss The opener. Because the last time he played
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was Saturday. So the Sabres can retroactively put him on
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IR back to Saturday. So he will at least miss Thursday.
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I don't know for sure if that means he can
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play Saturday or not. But at the very least, he's
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probably going to miss the first two games. And we'll
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see beyond that what that means. So I was sitting
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here wondering... do the Sabres really want to take only
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six defensemen? You know, what if somebody is sick or
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gets hurt in warmups or whatever, that's not the best
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situation to be in. I feel like you'd always like
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to have an extra defenseman. And so I, I kind
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of was thinking about, I wonder, you know, I, I'm,
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I tried to look it up and I couldn't really
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find anything, but I wonder if there's some sort of
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thing where, especially when it comes to waivers, um, when
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they made their guys they sent down to the AHL,
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because if they called somebody up, it would be Ryan
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Johnson or it would be Dennis Gilbert. I feel like
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there might be something that if the players, when the
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rosters are due, are in the NHL and it's past that,
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and then you call them up after, that I think
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that 30-day window that there is, they don't have to
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clear waivers yet, they already did in the last 30 days,
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kicks in When the season starts or something like that. Again,
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I don't know for sure. I'm kind of spitballing here.
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But it's getting to my theory that I wonder if
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they decided this is how we're going to structure the roster.
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And then tomorrow, there's another move. Or Wednesday, whatever. They
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wait a couple days. Is there another move? Do you...
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Do you call up Gilbert or do you call up Johnson?
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And then maybe you can put, let's say Lions, I
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could be ready to go. You could retroactively put Lion
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Ninja Reserve, I think. I think, and again, it gets
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kind of tricky here with what the rosters ever do
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and how you want to do that. So you could
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do that. You could put Kulik in the AHL if
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you wanted to, to find a roster spot. All things
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that could be possible. Maybe we go tomorrow and we
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see that there's, I don't know, by somehow Samuelson is
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feeling better and he's not going to play, but he's
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going to have to be a seven and whatever. Because
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they could take him off injury reserve because of how
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long he's been out. But again, they still need to
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make a roster decision. So I don't know. Maybe they
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do go to Columbus and they only bring six. Maybe.
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I don't know. It's not often that teams will do that.
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They'll travel without an extra defensive. And again, because anything
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could happen. There's warm-ups. They can trip and fall on
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a mat. They can wake up sick or whatever. I mean,
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it's not difficult to get somebody to Columbus that morning
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if you really need to. But it'd be nice if
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they were practicing with the team probably these couple of
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days and then travel with the team so they're there
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if they do have to step into the lineup and play.
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You know, we'll see. But it's something to keep an
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eye on, I think, over the next few days here.
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or even as soon as tomorrow if they do make
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one more move to get them to a seventh defense
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member that's using injured reserve slot or whatever they decide
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to do. We're putting Kulik in the AHL. Remember, if
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they do do that, the new rule that Kulik would
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have to play at least one AHL game before he
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can come back up. There's not the put him on
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a paper transaction now and then recall him and all
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of that. Can't do that. So he'd have to play
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at least one AHL game before he would be eligible
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then to return to the NHL. So we'll keep an
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eye on that. But overall, nothing really surprising. The biggest
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surprise was probably Timmons. So we'll see what Lindy Ruff
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says tomorrow in terms of those injuries, how long he's
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going to be out, and where the team decides to
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go from there. So as I hinted a few times,
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there was maybe one of the more significant moves of
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the NHL offseason happens on the eve of NHL action
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getting underway. The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Columbus Blue
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Jackets came together on a deal to send Kirill Marchenko,
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Elvis Merlikens, uh, a couple other players, I think, uh,
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Miles Wood was another one, uh, to the Toronto Maple
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Leafs in exchange for Matthew Nyes, uh, Steven Lorenz, I think,
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a defenseman, I forgot who, and then a draft pick,
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and maybe I'm missing something. Um, handful of player swaps there.
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But the big one really is, you know, Merzlikens is
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out for the season. He'll go on long-term reserve. That's
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just a cap dump. Wood, I think, is still going
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to go to the AHL because he already cleared. So really, really,
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it's all a bunch of moving pieces from a contract
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and making it work from a cap perspective. Two, it
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comes down to a Kirill Marchenko trade for Matthew Nyes.
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So Marchenko signs a new deal worth $ 12. 5 million annually.
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and the Maple Leafs get a new winger, and Matthew
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Nyes gets a new opportunity in Columbus. The Blue Jackets
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replace Marchenko with a player with a $ 7. 75 million cap
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hit for the next, I think, six or seven years.
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Cost certainty there. They bring in a player who's respectable
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and can play on the top line. So, you know, I...
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I see a lot of people maybe think that Columbus
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didn't do so well here. I think they did fine.
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You got a capable top six winger. You dumped off
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two bad contracts. You got rid of a disgruntled player
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for your culture and all of that. And teams knew
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you had your back up against the wall with the
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disgruntled player, with the new contract being required. So I
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think all things considered, you did fine. On the Leafs
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side of it, I'm not thrilled to see Marchenko in
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the division, but it seemingly looked like that was going
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to happen anyways. The belief was that it was probably
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going to be Montreal, then the Boston thing happened, and
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lo and behold, it ends up in Toronto. I'm a
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big Marchenko fan. I think he's got a lot of skill.
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I think he's a really nice player. It will be
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interesting to see how he looks in Hiller's system. That's
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not the same kind of open style he's familiar with.
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But again, in Columbus, I think they've always kind of
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played that lockdown game. But, you know, we'll see. We'll
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see how it looks in Hiller's system. He'll have some
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really nice players to play along with, whether that'll be
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Tavares or whether it'll be with Matthews or Nylander or whatever,
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how they, you know, McKinnon, don't forget he's there, however
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they decide to put that lineup together. But, you know,
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the Maple Leafs make a move the day before the
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season to bolster their roster, get a player in here long-term.
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You know, of course, you have to mention maybe, I
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don't know, show us that Matthews are serious about things
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and Although you should trade a good player away, but whatever.
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I mean, these are always fun, right? Trades are fun.
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So I think the Leafs did okay. I think Columbus,
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with the circumstances, did okay. So that'll be interesting on
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Thursday for the opener in Columbus that Matthew Niles will
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be presumably making his debut with the Blue Jackets and
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the environment and all that behind that. Uh, that'll be
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something that Sabres will have to contend with, uh, when
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they are there in Thursday, uh, a place I feel
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like the Sabres would just see have not done well
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in Columbus. So, you know, we'll see how that, uh,
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how that plays for them. Uh, okay. So that is
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going to be it for this one. Just wanted to
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touch on the roster and then the big trade for
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the day. Uh, tomorrow we will record our season preview episodes.
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So it'll obviously be much longer form podcast, a lot
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to cover and get into. Um, And then the day
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after that, Thursday, the regular season begins and all of
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the fun gets started. So thank you very much for listening.
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As I said yesterday, do not forget, if you are
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not a YouTube subscriber, go to YouTube, Spice the Buffalo page, subscribe.
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If you want to try to get to that thousand
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before Thursday, still a little bit of a ways to go. But,
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you know, we'll do the best we can to close
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that gap. It'd be greatly appreciated. And obviously go to SpiceTheBuffalo.com.
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A lot of written content is going to be going
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out here now that we're really in the flow of things.
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So check that out. Subscribe this season if you're not
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a subscriber. Annually for the year or on a month-by-month basis.
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Whatever works out best for you. So thank you very
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much again for listening. And we will talk tomorrow for
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our season preview. See ya.
