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Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks. Here

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shit Cuss, your source of information and analysis to help

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you win your fantasy hockey league.

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Speaker 2: Block off hot a step hit on, stay lock. Here's

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your hosts, Jesse Sovie and Victor Noun. You Fantasy Hockey

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Live once again. Jesse Severe, Victor Nuno ready to talk

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a little bit of fantasy hockey. Victor Nonio, my friend,

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how you doing today?

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Speaker 3: I'm doing awesome, Jesse. It is the first day we

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are recording in my new home. This is move number

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two in for a month. It's been crazy. So yeah,

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it's been It's been a busy few months. I'm happy

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to be in my new place, in my new office

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where I can just my wife peek her head and said, yep,

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that's a man cave mission accomplist. I can do all

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my recordings in here and not be bothered, just like

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you have had for years. I believe I've never actually

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seen your house, but sometimes you turn the background off

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and I see some hintings of what I would imagine

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it looks like.

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Speaker 2: Is man cavish. It's a decent room, it's got laundry,

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it's got the TV. Well, if you can get a

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refrigerator closer in here. I'd pretty much be set, Victor.

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I would be set, But you shouldn't do that. I'd

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become too big to leave the room probably at some point.

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So let's avoid that and instead, let's go to the

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Fantasy Hockey Life discord and talk with people about man

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caves and woman caves and all the caves that people

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like according to their needs and desires. And to get

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into the Fantasy Hockey Life discord and hang out with

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the folks there, all you have to do is email

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is FANTASYHOCKEYLFE at gmail dot com, get yourself a free

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invite link, pop in and chat away about fantasy hockey Victor.

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There are other cool things that we do for the

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people because we're men of the people. Tell them about

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what they can win.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, all kinds of great stuff. You can go to

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patreon dot com plash Fantasy Hockey Life and you can

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check out all the bonus content that we have. Get

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in access draft content, top ten lists as we'll be doing,

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access to the website, and of course access to the

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Tier dynasty. We definitely are going to be looking to

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add some gms to that league. It's super fun. We've

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talked about it a bunch and would love to get

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you in there, So head on over to patreon dot

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COM's slash Fantasy Hockey Life and support the show and

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get some bonus content and get in the coolest league,

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coolest dynasty league out there.

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Speaker 2: All right, we'll be back in one minute to talk

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to the Buffalo Sabers. Here to talk today about the

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Buffalo Sabers, we have our friend Michael Agello of the

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Hockey News of Hockey Hot Stove. Michael, how are you

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doing today?

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Speaker 4: Very well, getting ready for the NHL Draft, getting ready

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for the Stanley Cup Final, and getting ready for free

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agency and all that good stuff.

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Speaker 2: Oh, you gotta love this time of year in hockey

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because everything happens so quickly. The Cup, the Draft, all

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the free agency had just right there in a row.

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So summer is not time off for us hockey guys.

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It is usually time off for the Sabers. However, at

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least the months of April and may have traditionally been

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for the last couple of years. Unfortunately, it was another

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rough season, but hey, it was not a total loss,

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to be honest. So we're going to talk about the

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good and the bad here today. They scored the tenth

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most goals in the NHL. Did the Sabers. I bet

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a lot of people didn't expect to hear that they

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had the sixth best shooting percentage. Unfortunately, they also gave

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up a lot of goals. I suppose if you went

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to a Sabers game, you at least got to see

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some offense because both teams were scoring every time they

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were out there. They still haven't been able to make

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the jump to the playoffs, have the Sabers. But we're

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going to talk about several players today that are really

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taking a leap better than anybody basically who are on

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the Sabers in the real foulol period a few years

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ago that we really associate with the tanking Sabers. Just

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before US Thanksgiving, the team was eleven nine to one

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before enduring an ten and three period that really knocked

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him out of the picture for good. This season, I'd

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say they moved Dylan Cousins at the deadline team ownership, which,

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by the way, the Pagoulas rule in the NFL they

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do great over there, but it just doesn't seem to

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be working so far. In hockey. They've not managed to

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get together, although I understand there are more there's more talk.

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There's more talk going on this offseason, whether we can

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believe it or whether this change is coming or not.

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What do you think of the Sabers season and their direction, Michael?

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Speaker 4: Their direction is all over the place, and that's the

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reason why I think they brought in Yarmo Keckline and

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as a senior advisor to help Lindy Rough and to

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help Kevin Adams. Now, a lot of people, I think

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almost every other NHL organization would fired Kevin Adams by now,

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but there's a loyalty there on the part of Terry Pecoula.

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Regarding Adams, He's this is his sixth NHL draft that

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he will be embarking on and I would hazard to

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guess that if he doesn't make the playoffs this year,

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that he probably will be out of a job. But

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they kept him, they brought in Yarmo, and I think

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this is going to be an off season of great change.

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There were some positives this year, but I think the

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thirteen game losing skid that you referenced was a killer,

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was a season killer. And it's funny because you said

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at Thanksgiving they had that record that you mentioned, they

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were in a playoff spot, and I think the odds

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are if you're in a playoff spot at thanks and

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American Thanksgiving, the odds are I think like eighty percent

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that you're going to make the playoffs. They lost the

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game before Thanksgiving and they fell one point out of

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a playoff spot. I'm sure that wasn't on their radar,

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but I know it was on my radar. And as

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soon as I saw them dip out and like they're

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not going to make it, and they didn't.

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Speaker 3: One of the guys who did all he could to

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help get them into the playoffs was Tage Thompson. We're

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going to start with him. He rebounded this past season

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after a down twenty twenty three to twenty four. He

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went from sixty five point pace up to seventy eight

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point pace this season, not as high as that ninety

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nine point pace twenty two to twenty three, but he

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nearly matched his goal high from that season of forty

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seven with forty four. He did it in two fewer games.

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Although he did spike a career high shooting percentage five

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percentage points over his career high, all the other numbers

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looked pretty good high power play time on ice, a

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good average time on ice. He had some pretty good

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face offs, and some of his advanced numbers showed that

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maybe he was a bit lucky, but actually it was

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all pretty much in line. So it seems like this

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point per game ish range is where he should live.

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Do you think that's what we should expect from Tage

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moving forward a round point per game or do you

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think he can get up to that hundred point pace? Again?

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Speaker 4: We had ninety four points three season. Three seasons ago

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his career high forty seven goals, and I thought he

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topped out at that, and then he had an injury

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plagued year two years ago, but still managed to score

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pretty decently. This year, he started off with some injury issues,

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was slow at the beginning, and then really in the

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second half was on fire. And it coincided because the

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injury I think was a wrist injury, he couldn't play center,

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so they had moved him to the wing, and they

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had promoted Yuriku Leach up to the top line as

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the center, and he was scoring like crazy playing on

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the right side, so that might be something he could

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play center next year. He could stay at the wing

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but he seemed to have a lot of success in

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the second half, scoring playing as a winger rather than

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playing up the middle. So do I think he can

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maintain a point per game pace. I think it's all

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dependent on injuries. But if he is healthy, yes he can.

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Speaker 2: JJ Peterca his third full NHL season was his statistical breakout.

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Ciscount nearly doubled from his prior to campaigns. He was

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death on the Atlantic Division with twenty seven points in

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twenty three games, pretty amazing. On the downside, his shot

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rate was down from ten point h nine to seven

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point four to one per sixty minutes, so half a

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shot per game, a little more than half a shot

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per game, and a fifteen point six percent shooting helped

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preserve his goal scoring. Despite that drop in shooting totals,

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he was second on the team in power play tom

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on I's tops among forwards. But now all the talk

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seems to be that maybe JJ Paterca will leave the Sabers.

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He's been in the trade rumors. Oh yet Friedman's out

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there talking about it. There's some thought maybe it's coming

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actually from Peterka's camp and he's dissatisfied. I always hate

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this stuff. When the big outlets start talking about, oh,

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maybe this player needs to be maybe stop thinking you're

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going to trade for every good player from markets that

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are just smaller than yours. You deserve to have them.

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That's a Yankees type of thing to do. Michael. I'm kidding, Michael.

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Michael's a Yankees fan. All right, what did you see

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with Paturka? Because he had an amazing season. I don't

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want to ruin it by talking about all that stuff,

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but tell me about Turka's year and what you could

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see for next year.

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Speaker 4: Well, there's been remarkable growth on the part of Paturka.

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He had twelve goals as a rookie. He was playing

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mostly third line minutes. He's moved up each year. He

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was playing mostly second line last year, scored twenty eight goals.

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This year he was top line. He was playing with

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Thompson and Tuck, and then they reshuffled the top line

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and Kole each moved into the middle and Thompson moved

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to the wing, and Paterca put up a career high

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sixty eight points. His issue is defensive. He is really

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not fully formed defensively. He's a really good offensive player,

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and I think he could grow to potentially a forty

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goal scorer, but he's got to improve on the other

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end of the ice. I think there were some issues

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that in terms of Lindy Rough trusting him to play

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those big minutes and to be able to be good

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at both ends of the ice, But in terms of

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his offense, I don't think that's in question. In terms

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of all the contract stuff, I personally believe this is

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a ploy on the part of Alan Walsh because Peterka

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probably is looking to get paid. This is the end

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of his ELC. Maybe he wants an eight year deal.

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If there's truth to the fact that he wants out

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of Buffalo the offer sheet which has been out there

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and a lot of talk about offer sheets, I don't

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think that option is open to him because the Sabers

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have so much cap space they'll just match it. They

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don't want to trade him, they don't want to get

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rid of them. But if he's unhappy in Buffalo, then

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they might have to trade him. But I don't know

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if I buy it. I'm not sold on the fact

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that he's not going to be a Saber next year,

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but he's gonna get paid wherever he is.

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Speaker 2: Let's hope there's not just to site another NHL rivalry

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like Canadians versus Hurricanes, where petty offer sheets could exchanged.

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That was my favorite a couple years ago. Anyway, Yeah,

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Paterka amazing year. Alex Tuck also an excellent year. He

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tied a career high thirty five goals, led the NHL

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with six shorties and nine short handed points, both of

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them led the Leak. Played his first eighty two game season.

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That's a big accomplishment for Tuck, who's had injury issues

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throughout his career. He received Selki votes this year, although

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the expected goals of our replacement had him as an

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offensive superstar and pretty much just neutral on even strength defense,

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so that was a little strange, but you have the

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eye test on what you might have seen. He had

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a big jump in black shots this year with one thirteen.

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There was also a lot of talk about whether the

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Sabers should sign Tuck to a big extension. The kid

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likes being in Buffalo. That's one of the reasons he

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got traded there. It seems it could kick in after

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next year if he did sign an extension, presumably for

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the bulk of his active career, since he's already his

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late twenties. That would be a contract for his thirties.

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I gather he's very well liked in Buffalo too. Tuck,

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what is your take on his season this year and

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what are you expecting next for Alex Tuck.

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Speaker 4: I think it's a situation where they're either going to

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sign him or they're going to trade him, because he's

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got the year left. If you look in past history,

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players like Graspins, Rus de Lane, and Sam Reinhardt, they

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traded him with a year left in their contract because

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if they let him walk to free agency, then they

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get nothing and they either have to decide whether they

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want to sign him or trade him. Now. I personally

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think they should sign him because he is a not

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Western New York, but Central New York. If he's from Syracuse,

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he's from me. He's a lifelong Saber fan, He's a

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leader in the room. I think he wants to stay,

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but I think he also wants to get paid. He

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was on an eight year deal that he originally signed

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with Vegas where he was making less than five million dollars,

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so I think he wants to get paid, and that's

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always been a question with the Saber. Will they pay

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their players, They pay their star players, they pay ay goal,

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they paid Rasmus Daleen. But will they pay that sort

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of middle management on their roster. He scored thirty four

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goals last year. As you said, he blocked a lot

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of shots. He penalty killed. He fulfills all those aspects

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that I think Lindy Roff wants on this roster. So

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I would expect that they would sign him. But there's

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always the possibility to move him.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. Maybe that he sure did kill penalties.

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He killed a lot of them by scoring goals, So

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that was a pretty good deal. Next up, Jason Zucker.

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I keep I was given Buffalo a hard time at

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the beginning, but so many guys had amazing years and

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Zucker was one of them. Maybe a little under the radar.

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Fifty three points in seventy three games, Maybe that doesn't

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jump out, but would you believe that was the second

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highest scoring season of Jason Zucker's fourteen year career and

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his career high assist total with thirty two assists last year.

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He is on his fifth franchise. He enjoyed good deployment

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at five on five, although it did vary a lot.

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His most common line mate was Tuck, but he played

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less than forty percent of the time with Tuck, so

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he was all over the board in terms of who

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he's playing with. This sort of thing happens on a

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team that's struggling to figure out what's going to click

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for them. Was Zucker's season as good as it looked

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on the stat sheet? And do you expect that he

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could be like a solid middle six type guy again

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next year or what do you see going forward for

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Jason Zucker.

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Speaker 4: The funny thing with Zucker is that he was originally

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signed and a lot of people thought that the five

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million dollars one year contract was an overpayment and that

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he was signed for that much because it was a

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one year deal and because it was Buffalo, and the

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Buffalo has had trouble attracting free agents, and that was

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the reason for the overpay. But it was a success

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because he played now. He started off as a third

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line guy and he worked his way up the lineup,

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and the reason is that other players like Jack Quinn

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or Peturca at times, or Zach Benson, who's a young player,

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they just didn't fit the role. And he moved up

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in the lineup and he did very well in the

294
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power play. He was a leader in the locker room, again,

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a veteran guy that they was brought in for that reason,

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and they didn't trade him at the deadline because I

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think they wanted him and his attitude and his work

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ethic in the locker room. Now he's thirty three. He

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got a two year deal at less money than he

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was paid on this one year deal, but I think

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they paid him in the sense they gave him the

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extra year and they expect him. I think he's going

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to be a top six forward for them. I think

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he probably will be the winger on this on their

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second line, and I think they're going to expect him

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to score around the same amount of points as he

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did last year.

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Speaker 2: Well, that would be amazing for him to do that.

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That was a savvy move. And talk about getting a

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value veteran leader, that is something they've talked about for

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a while, trying to get more of in Buffalo to

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go with so much young talent that's coming up. Another

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one of those young talents is Jack Quinn. And this

314
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is a team where a lot of the young guys

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that they took in this last Generation Project prospects have

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slowly broken through. Quinn was drafted actually the same year

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as JJ Paterca, And if you look at all these

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guys who were drafted since two thousand and nineteen, there

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00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:38,399
have been several There's cousins in Paterca and Quinn and

320
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Power and Benson and Coolich. So many guys are cool

321
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lock as you said it. And Jack Quinn actually has

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two of the top ten performing seasons of the guys

323
00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:51,360
who've been drafted in that era, but still is around

324
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middle of the road in terms of about half a

325
00:16:53,279 --> 00:16:57,559
point per game. He is still being used outside that

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top tier of Buffalo forwards, and I guess I don't

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know if there are more movements in that top six,

328
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is he going to be able to ascend into a

329
00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:09,839
bigger role or are we starting to see what Jack

330
00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:12,599
Quinn's going to be and it's going to be third line,

331
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middle six type player.

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Speaker 4: They're hoping that there's more. But the killer was the

333
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achilles injury that happened in June of twenty twenty three

334
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that really wrecked the first half of last of the

335
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twenty twenty three to twenty four season. He didn't come

336
00:17:29,799 --> 00:17:33,119
back until December. Then he had another injury and he

337
00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,759
only played twenty seven games. He had nineteen points, so

338
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he actually when he did play, he played fairly well.

339
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This year. It was almost as if the sort of

340
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slump or hayes from that injury was still hanging over him.

341
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He had a healthy summer and he worked out, and

342
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I think they were depending on him to be the

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guy to pick up the slack for Jeff Skinner, who

344
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they b It just simply didn't happen. He struggled, I

345
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would say, the first forty five to fifty games, and

346
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then played pretty well at the end of the season.

347
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But again, this is when the Sabers were already out

348
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of it and all the pressure was off, and that

349
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that's when he did the majority of his scoring. And

350
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they need players that will show up when they're in

351
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,240
the race rather than when they're not in the race.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, makes sense, good stuff. We're gonna move on to

353
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a couple of pickum's here, and so the first one.

354
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This may seem surprising to some that we're gonna put

355
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:39,559
Josh Norris and Ryan McLeod together, may seem like a

356
00:18:39,559 --> 00:18:42,839
little disrespectful to Josh Norris. The guy has had some

357
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injury issues. He was traded to Buffalo this past season.

358
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He's only played one season where he's had more than

359
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,160
fifty six games played, and that was his second full

360
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season in Ottawa, where he ended up playing sixty six

361
00:18:54,759 --> 00:18:57,400
games and had a sixty eight point pace. But below that,

362
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he's basically Beyond that, he's basically been a fifty is

363
00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:05,720
point pace player and he's been in fifty ish games

364
00:19:05,759 --> 00:19:08,599
a year, so that's been an issue for him staying

365
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,319
healthy and having consistent production. You look at Ryan McLeod

366
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:14,960
and he had a bit of a breakout in terms

367
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,559
of his effectiveness in Edmonton during their Cup round last season.

368
00:19:19,039 --> 00:19:22,440
Buffalo acquires him and all of a sudden, he's so

369
00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:25,640
good and really has improved his point totals. He went

370
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up to a fifty five point pace, so just based

371
00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,200
on last season, he had a higher point. He had

372
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,000
to have more production than Josh Norris. I'm running between

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00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:34,240
these two. Who do you think is going to have

374
00:19:34,319 --> 00:19:37,640
a bigger role and possibly might score more points.

375
00:19:39,279 --> 00:19:44,799
Speaker 4: It's funny because McLeod was the direct beneficiary of Norris's

376
00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:50,640
injury prone situation, because Norris was traded acquired at the

377
00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,359
deadline for Dylan Cousins and he played three games and

378
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:55,920
then he was out for the rest of the year.

379
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And now with Cousins gone and nor Us out for

380
00:20:00,519 --> 00:20:05,400
the year, McLeod moved up into the second center spot

381
00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:09,119
and benefited with the best offensive year of his career.

382
00:20:09,799 --> 00:20:12,319
He's a restricted free agent this year, so that's it.

383
00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:15,799
Behooves him because he's gonna hit. He's gonna hit the

384
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,039
jackpotter at least, either an arbitration or on a year

385
00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:23,599
on a new deal. Norris there's a ton of talent there,

386
00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:26,039
but he's got to prove to me that he can

387
00:20:26,079 --> 00:20:29,240
stay healthy. So in the end, and if you're asking

388
00:20:29,279 --> 00:20:31,720
me to choose between the two, I would choose McLeod

389
00:20:31,799 --> 00:20:34,880
because I know McLeod is going to be there. I

390
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:36,559
don't know if Norris is going to be there.

391
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,000
Speaker 3: That's where I would land on that too. You know

392
00:20:40,039 --> 00:20:41,799
what you're getting at least with mclar a least.

393
00:20:41,799 --> 00:20:42,920
Speaker 5: I think I know what i'm getting.

394
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,200
Speaker 3: And I'm not even sure Norris will play that many games,

395
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:51,359
so that's a concern. Let's do another sort of interesting one,

396
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:52,720
and this is gonna be with a couple of the

397
00:20:52,759 --> 00:20:56,000
younger players, and that's Zach Benson and Juri Kulik, and

398
00:20:56,079 --> 00:20:58,440
we don't know exactly what these players are going to

399
00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:02,079
be yet. But for Benson, he was getting just under

400
00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:03,960
fifteen minutes time and ice. In fact, both of these

401
00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:07,119
guys had similar time on ice, similar point pass both

402
00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:10,400
were in the low thirties. I think that there's some

403
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,079
pretty significant offensive talent between the two. One of the

404
00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:16,559
big differences I see is that Benson is an exceptional

405
00:21:16,599 --> 00:21:18,920
defensive player. You look at his ranks and it's just

406
00:21:19,039 --> 00:21:22,359
off the charts. He's already one of the best defensive

407
00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:25,039
forwards that he might win Selki trophies one day, depending

408
00:21:25,039 --> 00:21:27,720
on how the rest of his narrative goes. But the

409
00:21:27,799 --> 00:21:31,680
offensive has in terms of the NHL has been just

410
00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,400
a little bit above average, not exceptional, and so that

411
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,119
has been part of it. For Koolik, always known as

412
00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:39,440
a high motor, good two way guy, but some of

413
00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,160
his defensive metrics haven't looked great in the NHL, and

414
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,759
some of his finishing has looked pretty good. So just

415
00:21:45,799 --> 00:21:47,240
hard to know where you think these guys are going

416
00:21:47,279 --> 00:21:49,279
to end up. I'd like to know if you think

417
00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:52,160
both of them can get well past thirty point paces,

418
00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:53,960
because that seemed to be where they are right now.

419
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,240
They're still young in their careers. But and then between

420
00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:58,400
the two, who would you pick to have a better

421
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,640
season at least next season based on the.

422
00:22:01,559 --> 00:22:06,240
Speaker 4: Way things ended at the last I'd say six weeks

423
00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,839
of the regular season. I expect Kulich to be their

424
00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:12,119
number one or number two center. I expect him to

425
00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:14,599
play up the middle. Lindy Ruff had a lot of

426
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:19,559
confidence in him winning faceoffs and being decent defensively, and

427
00:22:19,599 --> 00:22:22,559
he seemed to gel with Peterka and Thompson on that

428
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:27,759
top line. Benson, I completely agree with your assessment that

429
00:22:27,799 --> 00:22:30,599
he's a good defensive player. He's been a good defensive

430
00:22:30,599 --> 00:22:33,200
player as an eighteen year old coming into the NHL

431
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,680
a couple of years ago. And he continued that, I

432
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:40,079
think Lindy Ruff appreciates his work ethic. The thing I

433
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:42,319
think that's sort of hurt him is he played in

434
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,240
the NHL as an eighteen year old. He may have

435
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:49,240
benefited from going back to the WHL and honing his

436
00:22:49,319 --> 00:22:53,920
offensive skills. He is concentrated on being that energizer Bunny,

437
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:58,039
being that antagonistic, sort of smaller Brad Marshan type of

438
00:22:58,039 --> 00:23:03,000
player without the cheap shots, And I think he's grown

439
00:23:03,039 --> 00:23:06,240
into that role. But the last two seasons he scored

440
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,200
I think thirty nine or twenty nine and thirty points.

441
00:23:09,799 --> 00:23:11,440
I think he can be a little better than that.

442
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:13,480
He can probably get to the forty point range if

443
00:23:13,519 --> 00:23:15,839
he plays in on the top three lines, which I

444
00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,640
expect him to do. But if you're asking me who's

445
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:21,519
going to be better offensively, I would say Kool each

446
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:23,440
is going to probably play in their top six, so

447
00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:26,480
he's going to probably be in the fifty to fifty

448
00:23:26,519 --> 00:23:28,039
five point range at least.

449
00:23:30,759 --> 00:23:34,599
Speaker 2: Let's move ourselves over to the blue line because Rasmus

450
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,200
Doalin needs to be covered. And I love Rasmus Stalin.

451
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,079
I absolutely love him, and I bet Buffalo Sabers fans

452
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,240
love him more than I do. He was nineteenth in

453
00:23:44,279 --> 00:23:47,960
the NHL Unexpected Goals above Replacement last year, one spot

454
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,839
behind Nikita Kucharov. To give everybody some perspective, he is

455
00:23:52,079 --> 00:23:56,240
absolutely a star defenseman in the NHL. Since he arrived

456
00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,920
his rookie year twenty eighteen nineteen, he's seventh defenseman points,

457
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,960
He's eighth in total time on ice for anybody. He's

458
00:24:04,039 --> 00:24:07,160
eighth in shots. All this on the team which has

459
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,160
been nineteenth in goals over that span. Not bad to

460
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,519
be that high in points when your team will respectable

461
00:24:13,519 --> 00:24:15,599
in goals has not been necessarily at the top of

462
00:24:15,599 --> 00:24:18,799
the NHL. At this point, Dollan is twenty five, he's

463
00:24:18,839 --> 00:24:21,440
the captain. He's locked in for a very long time

464
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:25,319
to come with this team. Nonetheless, again there's rumors or

465
00:24:25,319 --> 00:24:27,839
at least those like to get entertained, and in this case,

466
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,400
it's not for a contract that if the team isn't

467
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:34,960
able to get competitive maybe in the near future, whether

468
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:36,920
he would want to be there in the long term.

469
00:24:37,079 --> 00:24:40,000
Believe me, I'm in Milwaukee and I'm a Yannis fan,

470
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,440
so I know how that feels. Maybe we should just

471
00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,599
focus on how awesome Dollan is and what you expect

472
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:49,640
next from him for the next year. In the Buffalo Sabers.

473
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,359
Speaker 4: He dealt with those rumors at the end of the year.

474
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:54,799
Paul Bisonette came out and said that you know what

475
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,359
you just said, and he shot it down. Did he

476
00:24:57,559 --> 00:24:59,960
even joked he didn't even know who Paul Bisonett was.

477
00:25:00,759 --> 00:25:03,319
But he's a premier offensive defenseman. He's one of the

478
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,599
that's say, top five offensive defenseman in the NHL. He

479
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:08,880
played great in the Four Nations for Sweden. He's going

480
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,400
to be on Sweden's Olympic team next February. But he

481
00:25:12,519 --> 00:25:16,279
had I think it was his second best offensive year.

482
00:25:16,839 --> 00:25:19,799
He scored twenty goals last year. He scored seventy four

483
00:25:19,839 --> 00:25:23,519
points the year before. I expect him to score in

484
00:25:23,559 --> 00:25:27,440
that range next year. I think the frustration is that

485
00:25:27,519 --> 00:25:30,680
he's doing well, and Tge Thompson is doing well, and

486
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,039
Alex Tuck is doing well, and it doesn't seem to

487
00:25:33,079 --> 00:25:35,759
go anywhere. There's just not enough there with the rest

488
00:25:35,799 --> 00:25:39,799
of the roster or their goaltending for them to be competitive.

489
00:25:40,039 --> 00:25:43,880
So I can understand the frustration of Dolleyan if that's

490
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,960
what the root of some of the rumors were. But

491
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,160
I don't think he's going anywhere. And I think he

492
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,640
will probably lead them in ice time and lead them

493
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:54,240
in points on the blue line. But whether that'll be

494
00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:56,400
enough to get them into the playoffs, we'll see.

495
00:25:57,119 --> 00:25:57,319
Speaker 2: Well.

496
00:25:57,359 --> 00:25:59,119
Speaker 3: One factor that might have a lot to do with

497
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:03,200
that is Owen power and power. Completing his third full season,

498
00:26:03,839 --> 00:26:06,720
he was able to increase his point pace from two

499
00:26:06,759 --> 00:26:08,839
back to back thirty six point paced seasons up to

500
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:12,359
forty two. His power play time has remained about the

501
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,160
same as total time on ice decreased, actually a little bit.

502
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:17,920
All in all, he just looks like a really solid,

503
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:23,000
minute munching defenseman both sides. Offense defense looks good. I

504
00:26:23,039 --> 00:26:25,440
think really what it comes down to is some people

505
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:29,119
believe or feel like he might have another offensive gear,

506
00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:31,079
and I'm just not sure about that. I feel like

507
00:26:31,319 --> 00:26:33,640
this is probably who he is. He's probably a forty

508
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,160
to fifty ish point guy, maybe on the lower end

509
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:38,319
of that, but maybe there's upside for more. So you

510
00:26:38,319 --> 00:26:39,519
tell us what do you think. Do you think he

511
00:26:39,559 --> 00:26:41,400
can Is this kind of what we should expect from

512
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,160
him moving forward, or do you think there's a whole

513
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:44,319
other gear that he hasn't.

514
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:45,400
Speaker 5: Quite gotten to yet.

515
00:26:45,799 --> 00:26:48,200
Speaker 4: I think he can be a little better offensively. Dollen

516
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,799
is the top the quarterback on the top power play,

517
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,759
so he's always going to get that ice time a

518
00:26:54,799 --> 00:26:58,519
minute thirty on the power play, and power is usually

519
00:26:58,519 --> 00:27:01,400
going to pick up the remaining seconds. I think he

520
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:03,839
can be a fifty point defenseman, but that's not the

521
00:27:04,039 --> 00:27:08,160
issue in Buffalo regarding Power, it's the fact that he's

522
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:12,000
a big defenceman and he doesn't play like a big

523
00:27:12,039 --> 00:27:18,359
defenceman and defensively like some of their forwards, like Paterca,

524
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,680
he's not fully formed. Defensively, he's decent, he's good positionally,

525
00:27:22,799 --> 00:27:24,440
he gets pushed around in front of the net. He

526
00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:26,279
doesn't clear to the front of the net that those

527
00:27:26,279 --> 00:27:30,839
are issues that you know everybody who watches the Sabers

528
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,079
has with power. Now he's I think he's a very

529
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,079
talented kid. There's a lot of room for growth there.

530
00:27:37,599 --> 00:27:40,000
He's never going to be on the top pairing on

531
00:27:40,079 --> 00:27:43,279
this team because him and Dollen are both left shot defenseman,

532
00:27:43,319 --> 00:27:46,880
and unless Dollan flips over to the right side and

533
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:48,960
they play him together, which is putting all your eggs

534
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,119
in one basket. I don't expect them to do that.

535
00:27:51,759 --> 00:27:54,440
But I think there's room for growth, but I'm not

536
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:55,720
sure how much growth.

537
00:27:58,240 --> 00:27:59,359
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's totally fair.

538
00:28:00,079 --> 00:28:02,119
Speaker 3: And as you said, Dellen is going to gobble up

539
00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:04,720
all those minutes. No one's going to surpass him anytime soon.

540
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:10,079
Let's talk about the other more offensively inclined of defenseman.

541
00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:12,599
That's Bowen Byron. I've been such a fan of Byron

542
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:16,000
for a long time, but you see the highs and

543
00:28:15,599 --> 00:28:18,359
what he did in junior and what he at times

544
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:21,720
did in Colorado, and this was his first full season

545
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:23,880
with Buffalo, and he did have I would say overall

546
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,480
a successful season. He had a thirty eight point pace.

547
00:28:27,559 --> 00:28:30,640
He's playing almost twenty three minutes a night, he's playing

548
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:35,359
in different situations, and nothing super unsustainable in that forty

549
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:38,440
point pace. I just think some people might want a

550
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:40,640
little bit more, think that there could be room for more.

551
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:43,240
You look at some of his underlying zone and one

552
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,200
thing that I think is interesting is that he rates

553
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,559
out pretty awfully defensively. He's in the twenty fifth percentile

554
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,839
for defense offense, is pretty high. But also it shows

555
00:28:52,839 --> 00:28:55,519
that he's one of these guys who's a defenseman who

556
00:28:55,759 --> 00:28:58,440
gets a lot of his points from the finishing aspect,

557
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,799
and that's just really hard to sustain year to year.

558
00:29:01,839 --> 00:29:04,279
That's probably one of the most volatile stats is defenseman

559
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,319
goal scoring, and so that might make it hard for

560
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:09,839
him to push his numbers up even more. In addition

561
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:11,880
to the fact that, as we said, no one's taking

562
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,880
Dollen's pot So what do you think we can expect

563
00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,240
from Byron or do you think he might have to

564
00:29:17,279 --> 00:29:19,480
go somewhere else to realize his potential?

565
00:29:19,559 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 5: Or would they even consider that.

566
00:29:21,359 --> 00:29:23,559
Speaker 4: Yeah, the expectation is he's not going to be a

567
00:29:23,559 --> 00:29:25,640
Saber next year. There's a lot of talk he's a

568
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:30,240
restricted free agent. He wants to be a top pairing defenseman,

569
00:29:30,799 --> 00:29:33,000
and at times he was. This year, he played the

570
00:29:33,079 --> 00:29:36,039
left side when Dollen flipped over to the right, and

571
00:29:36,039 --> 00:29:39,839
they were pretty good together. But with two years left

572
00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:44,000
before unrestricted free agency, he either wants a long term deal,

573
00:29:44,039 --> 00:29:45,880
which I don't think the Sabers are prepared to do

574
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,160
because they're already paying Dollen in power big money on

575
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:53,119
the blue line, or a short term deal, or he

576
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:55,960
gets paid and he's allowed to go unrestricted free agent

577
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,599
in two years, and that doesn't benefit the Sabers because

578
00:29:59,279 --> 00:30:01,599
they don't want to a player walking away from nothing.

579
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:04,759
And he's also another lefty, so you have Byrom, you

580
00:30:04,799 --> 00:30:07,160
have Dolleen, and you have power all on the left

581
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,799
side ideally, and they really don't have a lot of

582
00:30:09,839 --> 00:30:13,319
strength on the right side. So I think there's a

583
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:15,160
room for growth there. I think he could be a

584
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,839
power play quarterback. He has the offensive chops, he can

585
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,880
rush the puck. I think he has a pretty decent shot,

586
00:30:21,759 --> 00:30:23,519
but I don't think it's going to be in Buffalo.

587
00:30:23,599 --> 00:30:26,720
He'll never get power play time with Dollen being the

588
00:30:26,759 --> 00:30:30,440
top power play QB and then you got power as

589
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,279
the second guy. So I don't think he's going to

590
00:30:33,319 --> 00:30:36,119
get enough power play time, and I don't think he's

591
00:30:36,119 --> 00:30:38,519
going to sign here long term with the current situation,

592
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:41,000
so I expect him to be someplace else.

593
00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:44,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, that makes sense, and it could be a good

594
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:46,680
by low for born Byron if he's going to go

595
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:48,799
somewhere else and be the number one guy, which we

596
00:30:48,839 --> 00:30:50,759
don't know for sure, but it seems pretty likely at

597
00:30:50,799 --> 00:30:54,480
this point. Let's move on to the goalies. Yes, we

598
00:30:54,519 --> 00:30:57,160
do need to talk about them. They were ranked twenty

599
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,759
seventh and expected goals against per sixty, but conceded the

600
00:31:00,799 --> 00:31:03,839
thirtieth ranked actual goals, So I bet you can imagine

601
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:06,119
what that means. The goalies did not perform as well

602
00:31:06,119 --> 00:31:09,640
as expected, and we had upl Ukopeca Lucan in play

603
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:12,640
fifty five games. Rhymer filled in for twenty two of those,

604
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:15,440
and then Devin Levi, who mostly was in the AHL,

605
00:31:15,519 --> 00:31:18,359
played nine games for the Sabers and none of them

606
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,480
have a positive goals save above expected or culsive above

607
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,599
average Rymer actually did have a positive goal save above expected,

608
00:31:26,119 --> 00:31:30,519
and UPL and Levi were both negative single digits negative

609
00:31:30,559 --> 00:31:34,680
five and seven respectively, but neither was able to They

610
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:36,720
weren't not for great protection and they weren't able to

611
00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,640
outperform it, which is basically the bottom line. What do

612
00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:42,440
you think we can expect moving forward in this Tanem?

613
00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:45,400
I know that Levi is an RFA. Rymer doesn't seem

614
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,079
like Kobe Back. He's thirty seven in the UFA and

615
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:51,599
they have committed to UPL for four more seasons, so

616
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,000
it seems like he probably will get the majority of

617
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:55,359
the starts, or you tell me, what do you think

618
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:56,799
the breakdown is going to be there?

619
00:31:58,279 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 4: They went into the season. It's funny because Lindy rough

620
00:32:01,319 --> 00:32:04,519
said at the press conference when he took the job

621
00:32:05,119 --> 00:32:07,759
because he had situations in New Jersey where he didn't

622
00:32:07,759 --> 00:32:11,160
have a goaltender and he was asked about the Sabers

623
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:15,240
goaltending and he said three letters EPL. So going into

624
00:32:15,279 --> 00:32:17,920
the season he was expected to be the starter. And

625
00:32:18,359 --> 00:32:20,279
they didn't do the same thing that they did the

626
00:32:20,279 --> 00:32:24,200
previous year where they kept Levi around till January and

627
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,279
then sent him to the American Hockey League. He was

628
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:28,880
in the American Hockey League for most of the season,

629
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:31,400
which was smart because he needed to develop and he

630
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:33,359
had a really good year in the American Hockey League.

631
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,960
But what the Sabers may have found out is that

632
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,680
they didn't have a number one goaltender in Lukenan because

633
00:32:39,519 --> 00:32:42,759
he did not match what he did the previous year.

634
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:45,960
When he was given the number one job, I think

635
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,160
it was the end of December or early January, and

636
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:50,000
he had I think it was a nine to eleven

637
00:32:50,119 --> 00:32:52,440
say percentage was he had a really good second half,

638
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,319
and again the pressure was off, there was not a

639
00:32:55,319 --> 00:32:57,880
lot of expectation. There was a lot of expectation this

640
00:32:58,039 --> 00:33:01,759
year starting out the season and he did not play well.

641
00:33:02,359 --> 00:33:04,920
And I remember one reporter saying, I don't remember a

642
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:09,880
game that Ukapeca Lucnan stole for the Buffalo Sabers. So

643
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:13,920
at the end of the year when they were hot,

644
00:33:14,039 --> 00:33:17,480
Lindy Roff went to James Rymer. He played him most

645
00:33:17,519 --> 00:33:20,920
of the time in the mid March to the end

646
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:24,160
of the year. As for where their goaltending tandem is

647
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,119
going to be next year, it's probably going to be

648
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:31,039
Levi and Lucanan, and I could see Lindy Roff basically

649
00:33:31,079 --> 00:33:35,839
making it an open competition and seeing what Lucanan does.

650
00:33:35,839 --> 00:33:38,759
And if Lucanan continues to play well, then he'll go

651
00:33:38,799 --> 00:33:41,039
with him, and if he doesn't, then he goes to Levi.

652
00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:43,440
But I don't know if that's the way to go

653
00:33:43,839 --> 00:33:46,119
because they went that way a couple of years ago

654
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:49,119
and it didn't really turn out well. But they have

655
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,400
to be better defensively to help either one of these

656
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,960
goaltenders out, and that's a big question as well.

657
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,079
Speaker 2: All right, hey, Michael, this is some great talk on

658
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,240
the Buffalo Sabers. If people want to check out your work,

659
00:34:01,279 --> 00:34:02,160
where should they go.

660
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:06,240
Speaker 4: If you're interested in Sabers. I'm covering the Sabers for

661
00:34:06,279 --> 00:34:10,400
the Hockey News. I'm also co managing editor with Bill

662
00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:13,840
Meltzer of a website called Hockey Hot Stove. I cover

663
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:17,480
the Maple Leafs and the NHL for Hockey Hot Stove,

664
00:34:17,559 --> 00:34:20,000
so you can see me in a number of different places.

665
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,360
Speaker 2: Awesome, and the stove is never hotter than it is

666
00:34:24,559 --> 00:34:27,000
right about now, as you can't wait for the draft

667
00:34:27,039 --> 00:34:30,320
and the Regency. Thank you so much for coming on today,

668
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:32,599
Michael and talking to us about the Sabers.

669
00:34:32,639 --> 00:34:39,920
Speaker 4: My pleasure, guys will.

670
00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:44,840
Speaker 2: Be that's good fired, pats my goodness. Well, long with

671
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:52,039
a cat grabs. Now it's your weekly goalie talk. But

672
00:34:52,199 --> 00:34:54,719
Kat Silverman, Kat's Instincts.

673
00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,000
Speaker 3: Time once again for Cat's Instincts. With Kat Silverman and

674
00:34:58,039 --> 00:35:02,559
Bengold mag we're talking a buffalo Hello, Saber goalies, and

675
00:35:02,599 --> 00:35:05,480
we're going to start with Scott Ratslaugh six to one,

676
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,320
one hundred and seventy nine pounds, fifth round pick back

677
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:11,679
in twenty twenty three. He is twenty and had a

678
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:17,519
strong WTL season with the Seattle Thunderbirds. He was previously

679
00:35:17,639 --> 00:35:20,320
with them the last several seasons, and he's trended a

680
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:22,920
little bit up and down. He had a good second season,

681
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,360
a little bit down last season, and then improved those

682
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,440
numbers again this season and got some playoff time.

683
00:35:28,559 --> 00:35:31,559
Speaker 5: Was pretty good there as well. He joined the.

684
00:35:31,599 --> 00:35:35,199
Speaker 3: Rochester Americans last season in this season, but hasn't gotten

685
00:35:35,199 --> 00:35:38,599
into a game yet. Overall, looking at his equivalent season,

686
00:35:38,599 --> 00:35:41,039
a little bit on the lower side. He's got some

687
00:35:41,519 --> 00:35:44,599
comps of guys like Jake Allen. But Kat, what are

688
00:35:44,639 --> 00:35:45,480
his things to tell us about?

689
00:35:45,559 --> 00:35:46,039
Speaker 5: Ratslaugh?

690
00:35:47,559 --> 00:35:50,320
Speaker 6: I think he looks good There's nothing about his game

691
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:55,840
that I found to be overly spectacular. I thow that

692
00:35:55,880 --> 00:36:00,679
he looked like his skating is fine, his track is fine,

693
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,639
his hands are fine. I thought his positioning could use

694
00:36:03,639 --> 00:36:05,039
a little bit of work, and I thought that his

695
00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:09,440
decision making, which he was still playing in the juniors,

696
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:12,880
so that's fine, but I think his decision making still

697
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:14,760
needs a little bit of work. He still seems pretty

698
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:19,679
reliant on the defense in front of him, communicating with

699
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:24,519
him well enough to protect him, which I think it's

700
00:36:24,559 --> 00:36:26,000
a good sign. And he was one of the alternate

701
00:36:26,039 --> 00:36:28,760
captains for his team this past year. That's usually a

702
00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:30,679
good sign that the goaltender is going to be a

703
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:33,719
good bit when it comes to the communication and strategy

704
00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:36,480
for the defense. But there was just something when I

705
00:36:36,519 --> 00:36:39,239
was watching his game with his decision making on some

706
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:42,400
of the positioning, some of his angles, some of his

707
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:46,599
reaction timing that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

708
00:36:46,639 --> 00:36:48,119
It looked like it was just a little bit of

709
00:36:48,119 --> 00:36:53,079
a oh, just a little bit off. And I couldn't

710
00:36:53,079 --> 00:36:55,320
tell if that was just the way he plays, or

711
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,360
if it was something that once he is playing at

712
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:00,679
the AHL level that we'll see exposed to pretty quickly.

713
00:37:01,639 --> 00:37:06,239
But I think he looks fine. I think Buffalo needs

714
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:11,360
their goaltenders to be able to make those decisions pretty

715
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,480
quickly because I'm still waiting for them to really take

716
00:37:14,519 --> 00:37:15,599
a huge step forward.

717
00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:16,519
Speaker 2: But that's okay.

718
00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:19,760
Speaker 6: He doesn't look like he's They've had a few goaltenders

719
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:21,800
in the past where I've watched them plan. I'm like,

720
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,719
this guy needs work, and you guys are not the

721
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,400
team to have a guy who's a big project. I

722
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,280
think Ratzloff looks just fine, which is probably a good

723
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:33,719
thing for their system.

724
00:37:34,159 --> 00:37:37,679
Speaker 3: About the other guy, and that's the pious Lannan in

725
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,760
six thirty four pounds, twenty twenty two to forty first

726
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:43,559
overall pick. He's now twenty one. Last year, when we

727
00:37:43,599 --> 00:37:46,719
talked about him, we discussed the fact that he might

728
00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:48,320
not even be a top prospect anymore.

729
00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:49,719
Speaker 5: It looked pretty bad.

730
00:37:50,119 --> 00:37:53,000
Speaker 3: He had a couple of down seasons and it was

731
00:37:53,039 --> 00:37:56,079
trending all in the wrong direction for him. His play

732
00:37:56,199 --> 00:37:58,920
was a little concerning, and we'll put him back on

733
00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:01,360
the list because he did have a pretty strong season,

734
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:03,760
albeit it was in the Hockey else Fen skin, not

735
00:38:04,039 --> 00:38:06,639
in where he was previously. He'd been up and down

736
00:38:07,079 --> 00:38:09,519
between the Liga and the Mestis and the U twenty

737
00:38:09,639 --> 00:38:12,559
League over in Finland. So he made a change and

738
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:15,119
nine ten save percentage in hockey. Eel s fen skin

739
00:38:15,199 --> 00:38:19,559
for more ik pretty good. His hockey prospecting rembound in

740
00:38:19,639 --> 00:38:22,519
a little bit. He's still in the mid twenty percent

741
00:38:22,599 --> 00:38:25,440
chance of being in NHLer. Probably his best comp is

742
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:29,199
Carter Hutton, which isn't amazing, but at least he's back

743
00:38:29,199 --> 00:38:31,320
in this conversation, Cat, So what are instincts tell us

744
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:32,239
about to Pius.

745
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:36,039
Speaker 6: Lennon in, I do think that he I don't know.

746
00:38:36,119 --> 00:38:41,519
He looked fine, but he also had some issues with

747
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:45,440
just some timing, some rebound control. I thought his tracking

748
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:47,960
was probably the weakest part of his game. I thought

749
00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:50,039
his foot speed looked good. I thought his skating looked

750
00:38:50,079 --> 00:38:54,760
pretty good. Has pretty active hands, but it was hard

751
00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,199
to tell if his tracking or if his timing was off.

752
00:38:57,519 --> 00:39:02,599
I don't know. I feel like Buffalo Oh doesn't need

753
00:39:02,679 --> 00:39:07,360
him immediately, but I don't love his game so far,

754
00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:12,280
so we'll see. I think he's probably still a ways

755
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:16,920
off on being someone that we would really want to

756
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,280
consider as a top tier prospect, but it's going to

757
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:21,599
be fun watching Rochester next year. I think they're going

758
00:39:21,679 --> 00:39:26,239
to have a lot too. I think they're going to

759
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,480
have a lot to see in terms of shaping their

760
00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:31,679
team moving forward. So that's okay. They went through a

761
00:39:31,679 --> 00:39:33,840
phase where they had no clear cut prospects, and I

762
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:39,039
think that right now they have mostly B T C

763
00:39:39,199 --> 00:39:43,440
plus and then an A at the NHL level, but

764
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:47,400
mostly B prospect which is fine with goaltending.

765
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,360
Speaker 5: But at least they have some, so that's good.

766
00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:54,280
Speaker 6: Yes, that's a win for them, all.

767
00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:56,079
Speaker 3: Right, Thanks for giving us your instincts on the Buffalo

768
00:39:56,079 --> 00:39:57,360
Sabers goalies.

769
00:39:57,199 --> 00:39:58,840
Speaker 2: Will be back right after this.

770
00:40:09,039 --> 00:40:11,039
Speaker 1: Dig the.

771
00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:21,000
Speaker 2: Dynasty Dig Buffalo Sabers Edition, Victor, this is your number

772
00:40:21,079 --> 00:40:24,320
seventeen prospect system. Of course, been a lot of graduations here.

773
00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:27,880
They've got the number nine pick coming up and their

774
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:30,480
first their no brainer was a favorite of mine in

775
00:40:30,559 --> 00:40:32,079
last year's draft, Victor, who is it?

776
00:40:33,599 --> 00:40:36,360
Speaker 3: Well, that would be consta Helinius of course, twenty twenty four,

777
00:40:37,119 --> 00:40:41,159
fourteenth overall pick five or eleven one hundred and ninety pounds.

778
00:40:41,719 --> 00:40:44,960
He was someone who played in a lot of different leagues.

779
00:40:45,079 --> 00:40:47,559
Last year bounced around a little bit, and this year

780
00:40:47,639 --> 00:40:50,599
he was in the AHL the whole time, and that

781
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:52,840
was good for him. Thirty five points and sixty five

782
00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:56,199
games in the AHL for a teenager is pretty darn good,

783
00:40:57,039 --> 00:40:58,480
and so that was really nice to see.

784
00:40:58,519 --> 00:40:59,559
Speaker 5: He was actually.

785
00:41:00,559 --> 00:41:03,159
Speaker 3: Eighteen most of this season and then he just turned

786
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,079
nineteen on May eleventh, so really young for the AHL,

787
00:41:06,119 --> 00:41:08,199
and that's really strong production there, So you like to

788
00:41:08,199 --> 00:41:10,000
see that. He was also good for filling at the

789
00:41:10,079 --> 00:41:13,079
U twenty World Junior Championships and was good for them

790
00:41:13,079 --> 00:41:15,440
in the playoffs, So good for the art Rochester Americans

791
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:17,800
in the AHL in the playoffs as well. So all

792
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:20,239
in all, I would say a super strong season for Lennius.

793
00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:22,679
Looking at his FHL player card, I have him at

794
00:41:22,679 --> 00:41:24,480
a six point five to five to fifty five percent

795
00:41:24,559 --> 00:41:27,760
chance of being just above average on your roster. I'm

796
00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:30,719
a little worried about some of that scoring translating. He's

797
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:32,559
also a bit of a jack of all trades kind

798
00:41:32,599 --> 00:41:35,199
of player, so he'll probably be above average NHL ROR,

799
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:37,960
but maybe not a whole lot above and may not

800
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:41,639
have a lot of scoring to say for it. And

801
00:41:41,639 --> 00:41:44,320
it took ing at his bash it's actually pretty bad.

802
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:46,559
He doesn't He shoots just a little bit more than

803
00:41:46,599 --> 00:41:49,800
average for the AHL. His hits and blocks are below average,

804
00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:52,440
so he's averaging out to a thirtieth percentile for bash.

805
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,199
So that's part of the problem too, is if you

806
00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:57,639
don't have the potential to have huge scoring upside and

807
00:41:57,639 --> 00:41:59,719
your bash is weak, it's like, what are you doing

808
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:02,679
for me here? That's part of the concern. So that

809
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:04,360
is part of the reason to have him a little

810
00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:06,159
bit lower Jesse. But let's find out a little bit

811
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:11,119
about what makes Constant Helenious that interesting. From OURFHL Scout.

812
00:42:14,239 --> 00:42:17,760
Speaker 2: FHL Scout Tim has this to say about Constant Hellnius.

813
00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:21,840
He has excellent edgework ability to help in tide areas,

814
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,880
top speed, needs work to be able to transition with

815
00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:27,960
his puck on the stick at the NHL level for

816
00:42:28,079 --> 00:42:31,599
passing excellent real highlight of his game. Handles the puck

817
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:35,559
quite well. Shooting shot is solid but not spectacular, aided

818
00:42:35,599 --> 00:42:40,880
by a deceptive release IQ. Very smart player. Skates impeccable

819
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:45,400
routes both offensively defined space and defensively to beat his

820
00:42:45,639 --> 00:42:48,920
check to pucks. Sees everything on the ice, allowing him

821
00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:53,039
to find teammates in the slot often for checking. Very active,

822
00:42:53,199 --> 00:42:56,960
not afraid to engage with larger opponents to fight for pucks. Defense,

823
00:42:57,559 --> 00:43:00,719
very good back checker, sticks to his checks, shoulder checks

824
00:43:00,719 --> 00:43:03,519
relentlessly to make sure he knows where his opponents are,

825
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,679
will engage large players. So the best asset was the IQ.

826
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:11,880
He sees ice very well and anticipates plays. Biggest concern

827
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:15,559
the north south foot speed may limit him at higher levels.

828
00:43:16,119 --> 00:43:20,239
Top tier potential would be a two C with power play.

829
00:43:21,119 --> 00:43:23,639
That would be because of the elite Hockey IQ and

830
00:43:23,679 --> 00:43:27,440
the versatility that could see him getting the two C roll.

831
00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:31,039
The bottom outcome or the median outcome I should say

832
00:43:31,039 --> 00:43:35,119
for Helenius would be a bottom six centerman. That's because

833
00:43:35,199 --> 00:43:37,599
while he's a very well rounded player, he lacks one

834
00:43:37,639 --> 00:43:39,679
element to his game that will have him stand out

835
00:43:39,719 --> 00:43:43,639
from his peers. Style is to comparable here Elias Lindholm

836
00:43:44,039 --> 00:43:46,960
and our friend Mason Black, the NHL Rankking, the Tidy

837
00:43:47,039 --> 00:43:50,119
Ultimate Champion. Put out the poll, put out the call

838
00:43:50,199 --> 00:43:54,639
to the people. Consta Helenius versus col Richie and Richie

839
00:43:54,639 --> 00:43:57,960
in a ROMP sixty five to thirty five percent. Boo

840
00:43:58,280 --> 00:43:59,360
Victor's this how you sea?

841
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:00,719
Speaker 3: Yeah?

842
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,599
Speaker 5: I think so, I I think it's a lot closer

843
00:44:03,679 --> 00:44:03,880
than this.

844
00:44:04,079 --> 00:44:07,719
Speaker 3: Actually, I think that Richie we talked about him on

845
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:10,719
an Islanders dig, and I think he's one of these

846
00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:12,519
jack of all trades kind of guy. But I think

847
00:44:12,559 --> 00:44:14,480
he's got a little bit more scoring pop and he's

848
00:44:14,599 --> 00:44:17,280
been he had a little taste of NHL action and

849
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:18,519
looked pretty good overall.

850
00:44:18,719 --> 00:44:21,000
Speaker 5: I really like what I've seen from him.

851
00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:24,039
Speaker 3: But I do think that Helenius is strong ahl year

852
00:44:24,159 --> 00:44:27,800
as a teenager really commands a lot more respect than

853
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:29,039
maybe what he's gotten.

854
00:44:29,159 --> 00:44:31,119
Speaker 5: So I do think this is quite a bit closer

855
00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:32,079
than it seems here.

856
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:36,199
Speaker 3: I think that the issue with Helenius, unless he gets

857
00:44:36,199 --> 00:44:38,679
traded to a different team, might be the problem we

858
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,360
talked about him when he was drafted is that Buffalo

859
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:45,159
has a lot of these guys he's undersided, undersized.

860
00:44:45,199 --> 00:44:48,880
Speaker 5: Skilled but not overly skilled, two way forwards.

861
00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:50,679
Speaker 3: Who don't really need to move the needle in any

862
00:44:50,679 --> 00:44:52,679
of the one direction too much, and he might just

863
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:54,800
fall into that trap of being good but not great,

864
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:57,840
and so then that's not a whole lot in fantasy. Richie,

865
00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:00,480
on the other hand, eventually, as we talked about on

866
00:45:00,559 --> 00:45:05,280
that episode, probably will be the second line center, and

867
00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:08,039
that could eventually lead to a decent amount of points.

868
00:45:08,239 --> 00:45:10,159
So I do think that I would take Richie, but

869
00:45:10,199 --> 00:45:12,800
I think it's pretty close between the two, and probably

870
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,280
more of a toss up or a pick. I'm looking

871
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:18,320
at the FHL player card for Richie. Six point seventy

872
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:19,719
five is what I have him had. It's a little

873
00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:21,519
bit higher percentage of being a six and I might

874
00:45:21,679 --> 00:45:24,159
consider even bumping that up. We'll have to see based

875
00:45:24,199 --> 00:45:27,000
on next season. But his bash looks like eightieighth percent

876
00:45:27,119 --> 00:45:30,119
hel and good shots, good hits, good blocks, But that's

877
00:45:30,159 --> 00:45:34,360
based on Ohl time, and that Ohl time might is

878
00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:36,199
a little bit more generous to some of those stats,

879
00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:38,719
and when you're in the AHL, you expected to look

880
00:45:38,719 --> 00:45:39,440
a little bit worse.

881
00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:40,880
Speaker 5: Looking at the hockey.

882
00:45:40,679 --> 00:45:44,000
Speaker 3: Prospecting between these two, Hellenius dropped down from sixty seven

883
00:45:44,039 --> 00:45:46,280
to forty two percent chance of being a star, and

884
00:45:46,440 --> 00:45:48,840
Richie has trended down from twenty two to fourteen to

885
00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:51,440
eight percent chance of being a star. So it still

886
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:54,320
looks like Collennius by a landslide in this model, but

887
00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:57,480
I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. I think Richie has

888
00:45:57,519 --> 00:46:00,239
a little bit more to say about that. Looking at

889
00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:04,400
the some other comps for Lennius, I think one that

890
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:07,000
I mentioned during his draft season, and it's funny because

891
00:46:07,039 --> 00:46:09,760
the percentages align even better now than they have a

892
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:12,760
draft plus one season. But Arterry Luckinin is someone who

893
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:16,199
he reminds me of someone who's really good defensively good

894
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:18,280
two way, doesn't have the most offensive pop, but in

895
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:22,000
the right situation, Artery Luckinon can be a really interesting player.

896
00:46:22,199 --> 00:46:25,440
And I think that's pretty solid. So I'm liking that

897
00:46:25,559 --> 00:46:26,159
comp more and more.

898
00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:26,440
Speaker 5: Jesse.

899
00:46:26,639 --> 00:46:29,639
Speaker 3: Sometimes past self doesn't agree with future self, but this

900
00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:31,280
time it did align, So I like that.

901
00:46:33,119 --> 00:46:36,840
Speaker 2: Good Victor. You are one man now, all united across

902
00:46:36,880 --> 00:46:39,719
time and space. Who is the need to know prospect?

903
00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:46,559
Speaker 3: The need to know is Jake Richard. He is from Jacksonville, Florida,

904
00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:49,480
so it's not Richard, it's Jake Richard, even though he

905
00:46:49,599 --> 00:46:51,480
is a dual citizen. Maybe at one point in his

906
00:46:51,559 --> 00:46:54,119
family lineage they pronounced it differently, but we're going with

907
00:46:54,239 --> 00:46:54,800
Jake Richard.

908
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:55,960
Speaker 5: As far as I can tell.

909
00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:58,599
Speaker 3: He is a twenty twenty two hundred and seventieth overall

910
00:46:58,679 --> 00:47:01,840
pick six rounder, six one and ninety four pounds. I

911
00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:03,440
don't think I mentioned yet. He's a right winger, a

912
00:47:03,519 --> 00:47:06,800
right shot right wing. Really late birthday, so he was

913
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:10,400
August fifteenth birthday, so just like literally a month from

914
00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:13,280
being eligible for the following draft. And he was in

915
00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:18,400
the USHL that draft season, and he had a pretty

916
00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:20,559
good season, but it wasn't remarkable. Then he had a

917
00:47:20,599 --> 00:47:22,960
little bit better D plus one in the USAHL. But

918
00:47:23,079 --> 00:47:26,239
now what really has set him up to be noticed

919
00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:29,760
is his most recent season, his second season at Yukon

920
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:33,159
of the NCAA forty three points in thirty four games.

921
00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:37,639
That's going to get you noticed. I haven't quite adjusted

922
00:47:38,039 --> 00:47:40,519
or calibrated my FHL player card for him yet. I

923
00:47:40,599 --> 00:47:43,880
still have him at a four. And anytime you see

924
00:47:44,119 --> 00:47:46,800
my cards and there's a zero zero after it, you

925
00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:50,039
know that I haven't manually adjusted it because I always

926
00:47:50,119 --> 00:47:53,320
do that for the players, even changing the percent just

927
00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:55,760
a little bit. So I might need to do that

928
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:58,920
for Richard. I think that he probably is closer to

929
00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:01,159
being an average NHL. I probably have him had a

930
00:48:01,679 --> 00:48:04,199
five point four or five or something like that. But

931
00:48:04,559 --> 00:48:06,800
I think that he's someone in a deep league that

932
00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:09,159
he might be really interested in. And let's find out why.

933
00:48:09,639 --> 00:48:11,119
Jesse from our FHL.

934
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:18,719
Speaker 2: Scout FHL lead scout Tony comes in for Jake Richard skating,

935
00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:22,599
good skater. His game really isn't about speed, though, says Tony.

936
00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:26,239
Passing and handling Jake quite good at passing the puck

937
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:29,119
and handling it in close to get his body to

938
00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:32,960
get off a shot. Jake has many good shots slapper,

939
00:48:33,079 --> 00:48:35,920
wrist snap. He can also get his own shot while

940
00:48:36,039 --> 00:48:39,760
processing the puck. He has a high hockey IQ, good

941
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:42,880
vision to see passing lanes and word to shoot. Seems

942
00:48:43,039 --> 00:48:46,840
very poised with his peers. For checking, there was some

943
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:50,880
poor checking in what Tony watched, at least not remarkable.

944
00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:54,079
According to Tony, a defense did play some defense one

945
00:48:54,119 --> 00:48:56,599
particular shift against Maine, he made a really good poke

946
00:48:56,719 --> 00:49:00,280
check during overtime. But the best ass set overall per

947
00:49:00,639 --> 00:49:04,159
Tony is that shot and the biggest concern he needs

948
00:49:04,199 --> 00:49:07,840
to work on acceleration for his game. He needs to

949
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:11,880
increase his bash for fantasy. The top tier outcome Tier

950
00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:16,039
one wing Top six wing power play one. That's because

951
00:49:16,079 --> 00:49:18,880
his shot will allow him to play top six minutes

952
00:49:18,920 --> 00:49:22,159
and plenty of power play one time. The median outcome

953
00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:25,519
Tier three spot duty on the third lines, body power

954
00:49:25,599 --> 00:49:29,079
play time that's because of the lack of speed, not

955
00:49:29,199 --> 00:49:33,400
a lot of bash and the comp that Tony gives.

956
00:49:34,039 --> 00:49:39,760
Perhaps a Patrick line was slightly more mobility Mason Black.

957
00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:43,559
The NHL ranking put out the poll Jake Richard versus

958
00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:46,960
Aiden Fink. Never trust somebody with two first names, Vicker

959
00:49:47,559 --> 00:49:50,320
and the people definitely didn't because Fink is not a

960
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:53,519
first name. So Aiden Fink wins sixty seven to thirty

961
00:49:53,559 --> 00:49:58,280
three percent over Jake Richard. Is this inaccurate assessment of

962
00:49:58,400 --> 00:49:59,639
the future of these two men?

963
00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:04,760
Speaker 3: Both of these guys are depth forwards and so hard

964
00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:06,960
to say that they're similar in the sense that they

965
00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:12,360
both were relatively unheralded in their first couple of seasons

966
00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:15,280
after being drafted. Fink was a seventh round pick by

967
00:50:15,559 --> 00:50:19,360
Nashville in twenty twenty three. He was drafted the AJHL,

968
00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:21,840
which we know the equivalency can be tricky coming from there.

969
00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:24,719
But he just spent two seasons at Penn State, did

970
00:50:24,800 --> 00:50:28,159
Fink and was really awesome. His first season last season

971
00:50:28,440 --> 00:50:30,880
was a point per game. This season fifty three points

972
00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:33,159
in forty games. So both of these guys popping off

973
00:50:33,199 --> 00:50:35,719
in their second college year, and I think that they're

974
00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:38,800
fairly similar, and so that's something to keep in mind.

975
00:50:39,119 --> 00:50:42,000
I will say that Richard has three inches on Fink,

976
00:50:42,079 --> 00:50:44,440
and sometimes I can make a big deal so Fink

977
00:50:44,559 --> 00:50:49,000
five to ten. But he is someone who is pretty

978
00:50:49,119 --> 00:50:52,159
intelligent and I think can translate some of this some

979
00:50:52,280 --> 00:50:55,880
of this scoring to the NHL. He is someone who

980
00:50:56,119 --> 00:50:58,559
gets inside a bit and has a pretty good tenacity

981
00:50:59,119 --> 00:51:01,480
for checking. So I think that might bode well for

982
00:51:01,599 --> 00:51:04,400
Faint and probably would take him. I think that there's

983
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:06,400
been a little bit more of a track record. He

984
00:51:06,440 --> 00:51:09,039
has a couple of seasons of strong NCAA production, not

985
00:51:09,159 --> 00:51:11,800
that Richard doesn't, but I think I would go Faink

986
00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:13,760
as well. I don't know that it should be quite

987
00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:16,840
the landslide. I think more people need to give a

988
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:20,079
little respect to Jake Richard. That's just my feeling on that,

989
00:51:20,280 --> 00:51:23,119
but I think they are a little bit closer looking

990
00:51:23,159 --> 00:51:27,199
at the hockey prospecting between the two. Richard graduated the

991
00:51:27,239 --> 00:51:28,920
model this year. I had just two percent chance of

992
00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:31,880
being a star, pretty pessimistic. Most of his comps are

993
00:51:32,519 --> 00:51:34,719
replacement level guys or bus. There are a couple of

994
00:51:34,880 --> 00:51:37,559
guys who beat the odds to be stars, like Tony A.

995
00:51:37,639 --> 00:51:40,480
Monte Steve Sullivan, So of course it can happen, but

996
00:51:40,559 --> 00:51:43,639
it seems unlikely. Aiden Fink, on the other hand, is

997
00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:45,639
in his de plus two season and he's covered in

998
00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:48,280
that ten percent chance of being a star, which is

999
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:51,480
where he is now. Some guys like Shane Pinto probably

1000
00:51:51,599 --> 00:51:53,880
a reasonable comp there, and I think that would be

1001
00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:56,840
a really good outcome for him. Looking at some other

1002
00:51:56,880 --> 00:52:00,679
commps for Jake Richard, he's looking at just guys like

1003
00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:03,159
maybe Sammy Blay is probably a little bit more realistic,

1004
00:52:03,559 --> 00:52:06,360
someone who is a little bit more of a replacement producer.

1005
00:52:06,800 --> 00:52:10,039
But there's always a chance that he defies that. Looking

1006
00:52:10,079 --> 00:52:13,159
at the Jfresh model one percent chance of being a star,

1007
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:15,119
ten percent chance of being an NHL or of course

1008
00:52:15,159 --> 00:52:18,440
a little bit more pessimistic there from our j Fresh friends, Jesse.

1009
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:24,039
Speaker 2: Yes, sir Victor, I don't remember mister Richard from the

1010
00:52:24,039 --> 00:52:27,039
twenty twenty two draft. The guy I remember from the

1011
00:52:27,079 --> 00:52:30,119
Buffalo draft is the keep your eye on prospect.

1012
00:52:30,199 --> 00:52:30,599
Speaker 4: Who is it?

1013
00:52:32,679 --> 00:52:35,920
Speaker 3: Let's be Noah Ousland twenty twenty two to sixteenth overall

1014
00:52:36,599 --> 00:52:39,800
pick five eleven, one hundred and seventy four pounds. He

1015
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:43,199
is someone who's been interesting to track. He was mostly

1016
00:52:43,280 --> 00:52:46,400
in Sweden, then had had two games last season in

1017
00:52:46,440 --> 00:52:49,480
the AHL after a pretty decent SHL season, and this

1018
00:52:49,599 --> 00:52:54,159
past season he was exclusively in North America. He did

1019
00:52:54,239 --> 00:52:56,679
get eight games with the Sabers no points, minus six,

1020
00:52:57,280 --> 00:52:59,519
and then in the AHL he was really strong thirty

1021
00:52:59,519 --> 00:53:02,000
six points in forty five games, including a couple apples

1022
00:53:02,039 --> 00:53:03,400
in the playoffs, so.

1023
00:53:03,559 --> 00:53:04,320
Speaker 5: Overall not bad.

1024
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:06,760
Speaker 3: You look at some of his numbers in the NHL

1025
00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:11,000
and only seventy eight game any seventy eight total minutes,

1026
00:53:11,840 --> 00:53:14,360
and it was pretty average. Some of his numbers were

1027
00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:16,920
actually pretty good, like his cours he against, but overall

1028
00:53:17,039 --> 00:53:19,599
nothing to write home again about in that small sample size.

1029
00:53:19,960 --> 00:53:22,400
Looking at his FHL player card, five point sixty five

1030
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:25,039
sixty five percent chance of being a star or six

1031
00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:27,840
percent chance of being a five out of ten an

1032
00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:32,000
average roster player, and his bash his seven out of

1033
00:53:32,079 --> 00:53:34,960
ten for shots, and the blocks and hits are pretty low,

1034
00:53:35,199 --> 00:53:36,679
almost non existent for hits.

1035
00:53:37,159 --> 00:53:38,119
Speaker 5: So he's someone whose.

1036
00:53:38,039 --> 00:53:41,800
Speaker 3: Bash is probably going to be well below average. So

1037
00:53:41,920 --> 00:53:43,480
that might make it hard because you're counting on a

1038
00:53:43,559 --> 00:53:48,599
center who's undersized to eventually be able to translate that scoring,

1039
00:53:48,639 --> 00:53:49,880
and I just don't know that it's going to work.

1040
00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:51,840
If he stays at center, he's probably going to be

1041
00:53:51,880 --> 00:53:54,840
a third liner, bottom six center. If he does move

1042
00:53:54,920 --> 00:53:57,159
over to the wing, I'm not sure that he's going

1043
00:53:57,239 --> 00:53:59,800
to feel as comfortable or be able to increase his scoring.

1044
00:54:00,079 --> 00:54:01,519
Speaker 5: You never know, so we'll see.

1045
00:54:02,719 --> 00:54:04,559
Speaker 3: Well, let's find out a little bit more about Uslin

1046
00:54:04,599 --> 00:54:06,239
though from our FHL scout Jesse.

1047
00:54:09,599 --> 00:54:13,239
Speaker 2: Noah. Osland is brought to you today by Austin Kelly,

1048
00:54:13,440 --> 00:54:17,239
one of our FHL scouts. Skating Osland solid skater with

1049
00:54:17,320 --> 00:54:22,039
good footwork, lot of speed, intensity, mobility, something in which

1050
00:54:22,079 --> 00:54:25,840
he's always had as a strength. The passing and handling,

1051
00:54:25,840 --> 00:54:30,840
always an oppressive playmaker. Strong transition forward with positive skating

1052
00:54:30,920 --> 00:54:33,199
allows him to easily carry the puck. The distance of

1053
00:54:33,239 --> 00:54:37,199
the ice allows him to control and dictate play Oasland

1054
00:54:37,239 --> 00:54:40,199
has improved his puck control, although he can still still

1055
00:54:40,239 --> 00:54:42,920
has some work to do with past accuracy, but he's

1056
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:47,000
a mature playmaker with an NHL puck creation game. Shooting

1057
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:50,840
Ousland has grown but more of a shooter, using his

1058
00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:53,239
shot a bit more than he did back in Sweden,

1059
00:54:53,440 --> 00:54:56,880
taking a lot more shots, Analyzing his shooting opportunities better

1060
00:54:57,239 --> 00:54:59,960
good slap shot with accuracy as well as being scrapped

1061
00:55:00,199 --> 00:55:04,239
in scrambles at the net. The IQ smart player who

1062
00:55:04,239 --> 00:55:07,119
has shown more control in his game, less panicky than

1063
00:55:07,159 --> 00:55:09,280
when he first came to North America, and as he

1064
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:12,280
matures he gets more comfortable in his decision making. He

1065
00:55:12,360 --> 00:55:15,079
does well analyzing the ice and figuring out the right

1066
00:55:15,159 --> 00:55:19,280
plays for checking. Decent, not overly physical, but he has

1067
00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:22,039
a good active stick and can apply pressure to win

1068
00:55:22,159 --> 00:55:25,880
the puck. The efforts there to be a bit pesky

1069
00:55:26,119 --> 00:55:30,199
against opponents for Austin Osland doesn't have the most physical

1070
00:55:30,239 --> 00:55:33,159
game on defense, not poor enough to keep him from

1071
00:55:33,239 --> 00:55:35,920
a potential NHL career, but he needs to add some

1072
00:55:36,039 --> 00:55:39,440
more defensive intensity to his game. His lack of size

1073
00:55:39,559 --> 00:55:41,800
was notable in the NHL, where he struggled to win

1074
00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:45,159
physical battles due to his lighter frame, average defender who

1075
00:55:45,199 --> 00:55:48,079
positions himself well, but the lack of size could hinder

1076
00:55:48,199 --> 00:55:52,159
his potential long term. So the best asset Osland is

1077
00:55:52,199 --> 00:55:55,519
a highly mobile player who can create a lot of offense.

1078
00:55:55,880 --> 00:55:59,199
There is a very projectable motor play driving ability that

1079
00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:04,199
could be a strong point producer in the NHL. He's flashy,

1080
00:56:04,320 --> 00:56:08,079
competitive player who has talent to make the league. The

1081
00:56:08,119 --> 00:56:10,880
biggest concern Oceland isn't so weak that it'll keep him

1082
00:56:10,920 --> 00:56:13,000
from the NHL, but if he doesn't add more muscle

1083
00:56:13,079 --> 00:56:15,760
to his frame, it could end up hurting him down

1084
00:56:15,840 --> 00:56:18,360
the road. He needs to get stronger to ensure his

1085
00:56:18,480 --> 00:56:22,199
projectability is there and win a roster spot in the NHL.

1086
00:56:23,079 --> 00:56:26,320
The top tier outcome that Austin sees for Oceland first

1087
00:56:26,360 --> 00:56:29,960
line winger or a second line center. That is because

1088
00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:32,880
he is a strong offensive game and he's got quickness.

1089
00:56:33,119 --> 00:56:35,039
He'd have to get stronger, but the upside is there

1090
00:56:35,199 --> 00:56:38,519
to potentially get in that top six, although it's more

1091
00:56:38,719 --> 00:56:42,039
likely on the wing. More likely is going to be

1092
00:56:42,119 --> 00:56:45,559
the second line role. Probable to be on the wing,

1093
00:56:45,679 --> 00:56:49,039
but he's a capable center and the median outcome well

1094
00:56:49,079 --> 00:56:51,880
a third line center or a winger. He could have

1095
00:56:52,039 --> 00:56:54,119
more of that third line role and what's a strong

1096
00:56:54,199 --> 00:56:56,920
and young saber step chart with a good amount of

1097
00:56:56,960 --> 00:57:00,840
talent with more upside perhaps than Oceland has. He could

1098
00:57:00,880 --> 00:57:03,159
move to the wing of players like Colinias and Kulik

1099
00:57:03,599 --> 00:57:05,559
keep him out of the top six, but most likely

1100
00:57:05,639 --> 00:57:08,440
he's going to be middle six for a team stylistic

1101
00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:12,719
comparable a bit similar to Vancouver's p Suitor as a versatile,

1102
00:57:13,039 --> 00:57:16,960
smaller center wing with two way offense and good intensity.

1103
00:57:17,239 --> 00:57:20,320
Oasland's less of a natural center and has slightly higher

1104
00:57:20,440 --> 00:57:24,280
upside than Suitters current NHL status, but the two have

1105
00:57:24,679 --> 00:57:28,559
similar traits in the NHL rank King Mason black Wood,

1106
00:57:28,599 --> 00:57:30,960
this is a little bit more exciting No Usland up

1107
00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:35,960
against Riley Height of the Minnesota Wild Heights star is

1108
00:57:36,119 --> 00:57:39,880
oaned just a little bit this year, but nonetheless he's

1109
00:57:39,960 --> 00:57:42,920
able to nose out of victory fifty point six percent

1110
00:57:43,480 --> 00:57:45,920
to forty nine point four percent. I guess that's probably

1111
00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:49,440
a one vote margin in an eighty seven vote poll.

1112
00:57:49,639 --> 00:57:52,880
Victor Riley Height, No Usland, who you got?

1113
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:57,480
Speaker 3: What's interesting because those other two poles were landslides, and

1114
00:57:57,519 --> 00:57:59,639
I thought they should be closer. This one's basically a

1115
00:57:59,719 --> 00:58:01,840
toss up, and I think this isn't close at all.

1116
00:58:02,239 --> 00:58:05,039
I would take Riley Height easily. I don't understand what

1117
00:58:05,159 --> 00:58:10,159
people are hedging here or wanting Osland for. He doesn't

1118
00:58:10,199 --> 00:58:12,320
really have a huge upside, and he's got a lot

1119
00:58:12,360 --> 00:58:14,840
of question marks in terms of translatability, even though he's

1120
00:58:14,880 --> 00:58:16,639
been in the HL maybe that's part of it, is

1121
00:58:16,719 --> 00:58:22,280
you just see the AHL production and I think that

1122
00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:25,320
you have to really still be excited about Height. I

1123
00:58:25,440 --> 00:58:28,239
know that Bill Garran has talked pretty glowingly about him,

1124
00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:31,000
and the Wild are still excited. And yeah, he was

1125
00:58:31,079 --> 00:58:34,280
back in the WHL for another season, but that wasn't

1126
00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:36,519
his fault. He's in March twenty fifth birthday. He could

1127
00:58:36,559 --> 00:58:38,920
not be in the AHL, so he was either NHL

1128
00:58:39,039 --> 00:58:41,360
or back to the dub for him, and that was

1129
00:58:41,400 --> 00:58:43,840
part of it. I think he did join the Iowa

1130
00:58:43,880 --> 00:58:46,239
Wild at the end of this season for the playoff run,

1131
00:58:46,239 --> 00:58:48,119
but I don't think he got into any games. So

1132
00:58:48,519 --> 00:58:50,880
it's going to be turning pro next season, which canna

1133
00:58:50,880 --> 00:58:53,360
be a big test for Height. But ninety points in

1134
00:58:53,440 --> 00:58:58,239
sixty games, including a few at nine and six games

1135
00:58:58,280 --> 00:59:01,320
for the playoffs he captain the Prince George Cougar's. Of course,

1136
00:59:01,400 --> 00:59:03,159
things could have gone a little better for them, but overall,

1137
00:59:03,159 --> 00:59:06,480
I still think it was pretty successful and I definitely

1138
00:59:06,480 --> 00:59:09,159
would rather have Height, even though there's maybe some question

1139
00:59:09,239 --> 00:59:12,400
marks about his translatability to the NHL, there's just the same,

1140
00:59:12,440 --> 00:59:15,199
if not more for Osland and in these types of situations,

1141
00:59:15,280 --> 00:59:18,199
Jesse I'm always taking the winger in fantasy. In real

1142
00:59:18,239 --> 00:59:20,199
life you tend to want the center because it's a

1143
00:59:20,199 --> 00:59:21,960
little bit more value to your team. But we're not

1144
00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:24,239
building an NHL roster here. We're just trying to find

1145
00:59:24,280 --> 00:59:26,440
the best fantasy assets, and it's a lot easier to

1146
00:59:26,480 --> 00:59:28,599
translate you're scoring as a winger than it.

1147
00:59:28,679 --> 00:59:29,280
Speaker 5: Is as a center.

1148
00:59:29,360 --> 00:59:32,280
Speaker 3: So I'm taking Riley height all day, every day and

1149
00:59:32,440 --> 00:59:34,920
looking at the hockey prospecting between the two, it reinforces

1150
00:59:34,960 --> 00:59:37,199
this point. Height did turn down a little bit to

1151
00:59:37,280 --> 00:59:39,440
twenty eight percent chance of being a star, but Uslan

1152
00:59:39,480 --> 00:59:43,199
has trended down to nine, so that easily gives the

1153
00:59:43,320 --> 00:59:46,800
nod to Height and Riley height in my FHL player

1154
00:59:46,840 --> 00:59:49,039
card six point seven eight, so seventy eight percent chance

1155
00:59:49,079 --> 00:59:52,320
of being at six a little bit above average, and

1156
00:59:52,679 --> 00:59:56,079
the Bash is a little bit average. His shots are

1157
00:59:56,119 --> 00:59:58,239
pretty good, his blocks are actually pretty good for four,

1158
00:59:58,320 --> 01:00:00,880
but he ends up being just an average for bash.

1159
01:00:01,039 --> 01:00:02,760
But one thing that is true about Height, which is

1160
01:00:02,840 --> 01:00:05,920
counted negatively in our status, is that he is a pimmer.

1161
01:00:06,039 --> 01:00:07,480
Speaker 5: He likes to get some penalty.

1162
01:00:07,119 --> 01:00:10,119
Speaker 3: Minutes, so if you like that, then you might be

1163
01:00:10,239 --> 01:00:13,559
rewarded by him some other comps for Oasland that might

1164
01:00:13,599 --> 01:00:16,599
be a little bit more reasonable. Brandon Sad as someone

1165
01:00:16,679 --> 01:00:19,239
I think he might look a little bit like average

1166
01:00:19,280 --> 01:00:23,920
producer Mike Yorke as someone else who could look like him.

1167
01:00:24,719 --> 01:00:27,079
And I think that you're looking at more of an

1168
01:00:27,079 --> 01:00:30,280
average slash replacement level producer quite frankly for no Oasland.

1169
01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:32,840
But you never know, maybe he can turn things around

1170
01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:36,000
and be more more positive looking at the j fresh

1171
01:00:36,079 --> 01:00:38,519
card six percent chance of being a star, fifty three

1172
01:00:38,679 --> 01:00:41,280
percent chance of being an NHL or so, a bit

1173
01:00:41,320 --> 01:00:43,119
more pessimistic as usual, Jesse.

1174
01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:44,559
Speaker 5: And if you are a.

1175
01:00:44,559 --> 01:00:47,079
Speaker 3: Patreon you can listen to my top ten points recap

1176
01:00:47,199 --> 01:00:49,760
on Patreon. And if you're instant doing any scouting with

1177
01:00:49,920 --> 01:00:51,519
us or helping with the show, shoot me a DM

1178
01:00:51,599 --> 01:00:53,320
on Twitter, Discord, or email us.

1179
01:00:54,559 --> 01:01:04,400
Speaker 2: You're right back to Quis on the show. Before I leave,

1180
01:01:04,480 --> 01:01:06,800
yet a couple of things for you to keep in mind.

1181
01:01:06,880 --> 01:01:08,360
One of them is our shows brought to you by

1182
01:01:08,400 --> 01:01:11,360
fantracks dot com. You can set up a hockey league

1183
01:01:11,440 --> 01:01:14,280
for next year if you'd like right now, and you

1184
01:01:14,320 --> 01:01:16,679
can play all kinds of other sports. We just did

1185
01:01:17,199 --> 01:01:20,599
some rookie football drafts this last weekend, and we include

1186
01:01:21,400 --> 01:01:25,079
rookie you know, draftees, but we also include college players

1187
01:01:25,119 --> 01:01:27,159
and you can do all those types of things over there.

1188
01:01:27,800 --> 01:01:31,079
They have the most options too, for scoring, salaries, contracts,

1189
01:01:31,639 --> 01:01:34,800
all the things you'd want to do. We also have

1190
01:01:35,000 --> 01:01:39,079
fantasy content at fan tracks HQ. In fact, there's perhaps

1191
01:01:39,119 --> 01:01:41,039
a little bit of a refresher in the way that

1192
01:01:41,159 --> 01:01:42,920
that's going to look in the near future. You might

1193
01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:46,320
want to take a look at that starting I believe Monday,

1194
01:01:47,599 --> 01:01:51,639
you know, pinning everything going right technical wise, articles on

1195
01:01:51,719 --> 01:01:56,039
fantasy hockey in there. FHL has so many people that

1196
01:01:56,159 --> 01:01:59,360
we need to acknowledge and think for their hard work

1197
01:01:59,599 --> 01:02:03,840
every episode. Craftzer, Ryan, Simo and Tim are the commission

1198
01:02:03,840 --> 01:02:06,159
team for the Tidy Leagues, Tony and Patrick the co

1199
01:02:06,320 --> 01:02:09,519
lead scouts, Mike, Steven and Matt who really come through

1200
01:02:09,559 --> 01:02:11,679
this summer to help with show prep for all these

1201
01:02:11,719 --> 01:02:16,920
team previews. Brandon who helps with the website, prospect ranks visualizations.

1202
01:02:17,320 --> 01:02:19,159
If you've got skills that you'd like to lend to

1203
01:02:19,199 --> 01:02:23,000
the show, find Victor in the discord, email or social media.

1204
01:02:23,360 --> 01:02:26,000
We're also brought to you by Dauber Hockey. Daber Prospects

1205
01:02:26,119 --> 01:02:29,039
Victors and editor at Daber Prospects and you can find

1206
01:02:29,079 --> 01:02:31,760
all his work there. I do a solo show called

1207
01:02:31,800 --> 01:02:34,960
Dynasty Sports Life. I talk about four different Dynasty sports.

1208
01:02:35,000 --> 01:02:38,280
If all goes well, this Tuesday, you'll be hearing about

1209
01:02:38,400 --> 01:02:42,719
some football previews. Follow on social media. You can find

1210
01:02:42,840 --> 01:02:47,159
Victor on Blue Sky the One Victor with the number

1211
01:02:47,199 --> 01:02:51,599
one being the One, or on x at Victor Nunio twelve.

1212
01:02:51,800 --> 01:02:54,320
Or you can follow me fan Hockey Life on x

1213
01:02:54,800 --> 01:02:59,480
Jesse Severe on Blue Sky, Rate and review us, Apple Pod, Spotify,

1214
01:02:59,559 --> 01:03:01,480
or wherever else you get your pods. Thank you for

1215
01:03:01,599 --> 01:03:04,679
listening to this episode on the Buffalo Sabers and until

1216
01:03:04,800 --> 01:03:09,599
next time, keep living that fantasy hockey life.