Sabres' Hot Trade Rumors & Hotter On-Ice Play (S7 E25)

What's up everybody and welcome back to another episode of Straight Up Sabers presented

by the hockey podcast network and sponsored by Mr. Goodbar.

As always I'm Brendan and I'm Taylor and folks, the Sabers are at the center of some hot

trade talk this week. As rumors are swirling right now about a potential move with the blues

for Colton, Parico in addition to Tuesday's report on the Sabers making a push for Robert

Thomas as we approach Friday's trade deadline. We're in a bit of a holding pattern as we're

recording this episode waiting for concrete updates so we're going to cover the past few

games first before we get into the trade talk in the event that news breaks mid episode

as we're recording. That being said, the only thing that is hotter than these trade rumors

right now are the Sabers play on the ice as they've come out of the Olympic break scorching

with four straight wins. After beating the devils in their first game back, the Sabers

took both games against Florida teams on the road with huge wins against the Panthers

and Lightning. They followed those games up with a huge home win over Vegas on Tuesday

and now sit just two points back of the top of the division. Tampa does have two games

in hand on the Sabers. However, the teams face off two more times before the end of the season.

The Sabers are now five points ahead of the Bruins who sit in the last wild card spot

with 21 games to go. And I got to tell you, Taylor, I think the craziest part of all of

this is that the Sabers only need to win 11 of their last 21 games to reach 100 points

this season. This remarkable season just rages on and needless to say it is an incredible

time to be a Sabers fan. So let's get right into it. Taylor, what were your thoughts on

the wins on the road in Florida and the home victory over Vegas?

Well, they're honestly three of the best wins of the year. And we, you know, we've talked

about on here, I think, even the last episode, how good Tampa's been this year. They've

been pretty awesome. I kind of thought by this point, they'd fall off and they just keep

adding more and more parts to the point that I felt like they were one of, along with

unfortunately, Carolina, the only two good teams, really good teams in the East. And

now it was your two points back to them, which is pretty crazy. So that's kind of a fun

game to start with that Saturday game. They really just took it to them, like right away,

they just all over them in the first period. They were clearly the better team and being

able to chase a gold center like that, that's, it's really impressive. And just the opportunities

they were getting. So they're like Vasilevsky and only took 14 shots. You got five goals

on this guy. That's unbelievable. And they were able to just coast from there. Just an

incredible effort. The scoring was really spread out. Like Dallin gets the first goal from

power. And then basically, if I'm not mistaken, you're none of the next two goal, well,

Josh Norris had each of the next two goals. So they kind of did. But the amount of guys that

have points in this game, it's kind of astounding. It's almost everyone. The only guys that didn't

have points among the forwards were Kozak Malenstein McLeod. Oh, Anzucker. But look at all these

other guys, you know, and Byram has a assist, Dallin is a golden assist, Metsa has a golden

assist, power as an assist, just up and down the lineup. And that's almost entirely within

the first half of the game within the first 30 minutes. So that was just an unbelievable effort.

It's probably the best game they've had all year. I mean, the Dallas game is also close.

But doing this on the road at the second half of a back-to-back against a team that's probably

the most talented team in the Eastern Conference. That's unbelievable. Tuesday, we had a nice

showing at trivia, Mr. Goodbar. Shout out to everybody you came out.

Absolutely. And that was another interesting game. That one, less impressive, I would say,

for two reasons. First of all, how they played. And second, Veg is just, they're winning the division,

but like, they're not good. So that's, and it's an interesting one, too, for sure. But the

Sabers took it to them. Again, basically for the first half of the game. And then you had two

really unfortunate plays. One where Barbyshev kind of just makes a really impressive move

and lining it over fast enough. And then another where there's a kind of a bad Josh don't turn over

and power just can't get back and Pablo Dorfay have just, you know, makes them both look

incredibly slow in scores. But then in an impressive fashion, the Sabers hung out in the third

period. They did a good job of not really giving up too many good chances. They parked the bus,

as people say. And they got the game the garage. Any other vehicle related metaphors we want to

throw out there. They strongly held on to a one goal lead. And the only way it could have been

better is if Peyton Crabbs had yet another empty net goal. That would have been cool. But they

did a good job, you know, in the final two minutes. Their Vegas has the six on five. They didn't

really get, they had one really good opportunity. But aside from that, like, the Sabers kind of been

really good in that situation this year. So that was impressive. And man, Friday, they beat Florida.

That was another one that was another one where they had to, you know, like you do when you're a good

team, take it down to the wire, make sure they don't score on the empty net all that. I mean,

there's more we could say about that game. But I really have a headline on that to me, especially

given what's happened in the day's sense is it is 100% over from Florida. They're out. They are not

defending the Eastern Conference after winning it for three straight years, winning two straight cups.

It's over this season, at least. 63 points and 61 games. They're in last.

They're actually, they're 14th of the East. The Devils are only one point back at them.

Like that's the Devils have been in free fall. They have a negative 19 goal differential. I think

it's become incredibly clear. Two things. One, how important Park office, probably the best player in

the conference has not been available. And two, how important it was to have to really sell

Goliath Bobrovsky. And you know, what happens when a guy like that turns 38 years old. So the

Sabers are now Brendan 15 points up on the Panthers. But even the Bruins who you mentioned are

holding on to the last wild card spot. There are 10 games back at the Bruins. Time points back,

I should say the Bruins and the Bruins have a game in hand on them. So I think it's over

and to be honest, I saw Brennan's boy, John Buchegross say, hey, with the smart off season and you

get Barkov back, there's a chance to win. Maybe not just one more cup, but even two more cups,

potentially. And let me tell you, I'm saying this right now, no, they will not. It's over.

Damn. They they'll be in the playoffs. They'll be back in the playoffs. They are done being

a cup contender. Even if they upgrade on Bob, like if they move on from Bob and they bring in somebody,

they're old. And they also, I would say, they have real stars, obviously, right? They have

Kitchuck and Barkov high level stars. Right heart to. Right heart to. Yeah, they three high level

stars of Ford. Sam Bennett is really stepped up in the playoffs in the past. Their defense

better than some of its parts. Bob was a Hall of Fame goalie. Those all three other playoff runs,

especially the last two, are they are a 20 man team. Everyone gets better when they're down

there. Yeah. They're tough to play against all four lines, all three D pairings. That's a really

hard thing to keep up. It's not like Tampa where they just have like, well, here's five Hall of

Famers at the top. And we'll see what else we can do. And usually what else Tampa can do is also

very good. So that is just, first of all, one of those Hall of Famers is just straight up gone,

regardless of if they bring them back. And then they have Marshand, who's

turned to 39 years old. He's not going to be that good going forward. That was an insane contract.

And they gave Bennett too much money. Although, I'll say, you know, if I'm a Florida fan,

if there were Florida fans, they would say, well, I'd rather just have Sam Bennett around because

you know, it's important. I'd rather, you know, go down with these guys. And I don't blame them.

But I think they're 100% done as a contender. They're cooked. Damn. I think it's interesting

because I think about the Tampa comparison there that you made with them. And I think a lot of

that really does kind of go back to gold tending. I mean, what you're looking at, like Bob,

like we're talking about there, who's really at the tail end of his career now, winning two cups

this late into a career and playing at the level that he did, I think is rare. But then you look

at Tampa, though, I think in addition to the things you outlined there, Florida doesn't have a

victor headman on the blue line and a surrogate chave and whatnot. I mean, don't get me wrong,

fore's laying and act platinum, everything are solid. But not to the level of those guys,

McDonough, you know, where there's that depth there. But I think when it comes to gold tending,

Vasilevsky was what 25 when Tampa won their first Stanley Cup. And it's still in the middle of his

prime right now. And so that's a huge part of the longevity factor. And I mean, yeah, a lot of

compound to gold tending. Like if they can make like a crazy move, like let's say, let me just throw

something at you here. Is there a world where maybe in the offseason, let's say while they're doing

this retool that they go out and get Jesper wall stat from Minnesota? Does that change your opinion

on that? Maybe. I mean, that's that'd be big. If they could just get, if they could just plug in a

goalie who I was pretty confident was going to be good. Yes, it would probably would. It's just not

easy though. It's not. No, it's definitely not otherwise or otherwise. The other thing is two

things. First of all, you mentioned when they won their first cup, Vasilevsky was 25. When they

made their first cup, he wasn't even in the NHL. How insane is that? They made a cup in 2015,

not a surprise or a fluke or anything. They were really good. They made it to game six against

a Chicago in a dynasty year. And Ben Bishop was their goalie who was very good at the time.

But they've been able to, it's been 11 years. What was that? Former Buffalo Saber. Yes, yeah. I don't

know if you ever set foot in the building. Yeah, he was on the sheet. He was on the salary sheet

for one or two years. But they also like, they've just, if you look at who's really good on that team

in 2014, 15, they're almost all gone besides headman. Like Kutraoff was there. He was what

their fifth best forward at that point. And he not only is he their best now and has been for a few

years, he's one of the reasons I draw distinction between Tampa and Florida. Barkoff, like I said,

is probably the best player in the conference given his two way play when he's healthy. Kutraoff

is probably second, I would say. But if you're looking at the teams right now where Barkoff is gone,

Sam Reiner, having a nice series, 57 points. Kutraoff has 96 points. That's a huge difference.

There's not that many guys in the world that could just have 96 points in fewer than 60 games.

So I think that's that's big part of the difference. But yeah, I just, I feel like this is such good

news. First off, Florida, the idea that the Sabers would be ahead of them in points this year

would have been insane if we said that before the season. It's almost a gear. It's, you know,

there's 20 games left and it's almost a guarantee that the Sabers will be better than Florida.

And it probably doesn't seem like it's going to be that close. There's a report today that

Florida is looking to sell or whatever rentals they have at the deadline, including potentially

Bob Rowski, but potentially not. But yeah, it's just it's kind of crazy to think about, but I think

we're always behind in terms of like this team's window is over. And I I include myself in that

I might be pumping up maybe I'm pumping up Tampa too much or whatever, but I remember in 2015,

like we just mentioned earlier that cup, I'm looking at Chicago's roster and their salary sheet

and just saying, I think this might have been it for them like right after they won their third cup.

Now the next two years they were good. They lost in seven in the first round against St. Louis

the following year. Two years later, they got spanked by Nashville. They got swept

not even close enough scored like 15 to three. And then it really was over despite them not

accepting that for a few years. Hmm. I want to you can we switch gears here a little bit

because I want to go back to some Sabers talk here specifically with regard to the Vegas game.

And I really want to kind of dial in on on goal tending because we talked about it last

episode. We've been talking about it for the past few weeks, right? That goal tending has just

been such an incredible strength for this team. And it's really quite remarkable when you consider

how much of a question market really was coming into the year. Now you go back to the offseason

and you look at the Alex lion sign signing and you and I both were we got behind it. Like it was

not a right off the bat like that you needed to do more or anything like that. The thought process

was it's a veteran to push UPL at somebody who has had a history of success has played on on good

teams. And you know, he really hasn't had you know, been a true one A or anything like that,

but you didn't really need him to be right? Like it's it's similar to how Rhymer kind of was able

to take the reins when UPL was faltering last year. And with the hope that bringing in a guy like

that pushes UPL in a positive way more than Devon Levi would. And I just think that

the game against Vegas is just such a shining example of the value that Alex lion brings to this

team and what he has brought it and that also extends to UPL to really the goal tending in general

here. Jay fresh the other day former guest had posted league wide all situations goal saved

above expected through March 1st. The Sabers are fourth in goal save above expected with only

the Islanders who are in first place 30 plus 34 by the way, absolutely outrageous numbers from

Ilya Sorok in this year. What a bounce back for him. Yeah, he's got it with a Vesna. He's I mean at

least a finalist amazing. Washington, which Logan Thompson, of course, we know Colorado's third

which is so funny that it's like they have pretty much like half there at plus 16.4 compared to

the Islanders outrageous, but Colorado has the great tandem with Scott Wedgewood who started off

the year with McKenzie Blackwood being injured now Blackwood's back and you know they're just a

fantastic duo there again. We're a fantastic duo. What's that? We're a fantastic duo.

Yes, we are. You're goddamn right. You and we're the McKenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood of

podcasters Taylor. You and I. Oh, sir. I said we're as in. Yeah, I will first of all, I agree. We

are a fantastic duo. Damn, was those guys were a fantastic duo. It's not been as good in 2026.

No, that mean they've been I think they've been fine. I just they have they have been yeah fine.

They've been fine and this year they they in the since the new year Colorado is barely above 500

since the new year, which is a very interesting thing. True, but I don't think that's necessarily

to the fault of their goal tending. Well, yeah, their power play is a huge problem. Huge problem.

I mean, Blackwood is is sport in a 916 say percentage right now. Like he's you know, and again,

coming back from injury, there's going to be some growing pains with that, but overall though,

it's a good tandem. Clearly the numbers say as such, but I get you that Colorado has falter,

which I guess also is natural. There's going to be some regression after that outrageous start they

were on. But anyway, so then you get to the sabers and the lion and you P L duo and again,

going back to the tying back and I know I kind of got off track there, but with with why I felt like

the biggest game is such a great example of the value that he has brought and it's in it extends

to you P L as well. As you mentioned, that was a game where in the early goings, let's say like the

first half of the game first, you know, 30 30 minutes of the game, the sabers. It felt like they

were in control and they were dominating really, you know, solid high danger chances in this one.

And then as has been the case though, they get off to a lead and they don't necessarily, you know,

kind of fall back on their heels how they used to I would say in years past, like particularly

I think about like the Granado era sabers, where they would get out to a lead and then would just

let the other team just go on a fallout onslaught on them. But still, you know, they get out to

these leads and then they really are working to protect them. And while Vegas is certainly a flawed

team and they kind of are the inverse of the sabers where their goal tending is just killing them

this year. Akira Schmidt and Aiden Hill and Carter Hart have just been so bad. Schmidt had a little

bit of a run in the beginning of the year and it's completely, completely tapered off. But it was

kind of the opposite there, you know, where Vegas, they're bringing it down the stretch, a lot of

really great chances. And there's just something to the composure that Alex Lyon exhibits when he's

in there for them. And especially in big moments this year, like you're playing down the stretch and

you're in the last 10 minutes of the game and you're playing against a team that's hungry and they're

down by a goal or two. And they are really bringing it. And maybe the sabers kind of have a way

about them in those moments. Like I would even say like I felt like they were really timid in their

own zone yesterday in the second half of the game. The amount of times as we were sitting there

and watching the game in the middle of trivia where you like we were just saying like they're not

moving their feet. They're not moving their feet where guys are just kind of gliding around and

this is at five on five. It's not even like they're on a penalty kill. It was a little frustrating

to watch that. But again, I think Lyon just plays with such a composure to him that it kind of

extends out to the team. Of course, there's a different kind of value when you have a goalie that

has a crazy level of athleticism and is able to have great recovery on saves and is able to move

around really well. But when you watch Lyon, it just really feels as though he's got this and he

keeps his cool. He keeps his composure and it's helped them close out these games so often. It's a

huge reason why they're in the spot that they're in is because they can score early and then their

goal tending is just allowing them to hold it down. Now that's not always the case obviously. There's

times where they score early and then they're able to just play a solid puck possession game

the rest of the way through. But it was just another example of feeling really impressed about Lyon

and that's something that I think UPL has exhibited too. Again, we obviously don't know the inner

workings of the locker room. Nobody really does. But I would like to think that some of that has

really like Lyon has kind of extended that onto UPL and UPL has fed off of that a bit. And it's

just been such a bright spot for this team this year. Again, when you take into consideration the

uncertainty with which we were talking about it coming into the season. So I know we've been

talking about it a bit lately Taylor, but can you speak to that a little bit? Like you get that

similar sense from Alex Lyon as well. And really, you know, talk a bit about the level to which

the goal tending has kind of gotten us to this point of where we're at. Yeah, it's it's a weird

thing because like you said, we're not expecting this at all. But yeah, I agree. There's a confidence

there with Lyon and there's still like as much as we've ragged on them over the years. A

there's a genuine potential in talent within UPL. It's not even really can't say potential because

he had a full good season in the NHL two years ago. So the fact that he's been like kind of awesome

this year is not really that much of a surprise. But it's but it is kind of a surprise. I would

have been surprised if he told me that in October because he's been so inconsistent. A 908, you know,

he has a shared safer sandwich in 23 starts or 23 games played. That's really good. I mean,

I would that would have been more than I would have asked for. If you would have told me, you know,

at that point, like, oh, yeah, he's 908. The other guy, quote unquote, because there's two other

guys that's named at 896, which is what Colton Ellis is at. I would have said they're pretty good,

goal-tending duo. But it's like, wait, the guy that's the actual starter who's played the most games,

Alex Lyon at a 915 safer sandwich. I kind of I just don't know if I would have believed that.

But it's not that crazy when you break it down because Lyon, he's had success in short bursts

in the past. He has been, for example, Florida a few years ago when we were fighting with them

for the last spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. And what ended up happening, obviously,

is they went they ended up going to the Stanley Cup. But we were right there. The Sabers were like

two points back of them. The Sabers barely missed the playoffs. And one of the big games they did

was because Alex Tuck was like a foot off side in a early April game against them, which was very

disappointing. However, worth mentioning in that situation, one of the reasons the Sabers,

who were the one of the highest scoring teams, believed that you didn't score more on them,

the reason it was a 2-1 loss to them. And now let's say, I don't know, a 5-3 win. It's because

Alex Lyon was awesome. He just was dominant down the stretch. Bob Robbsky was having issues

that year. And then he got hurt. And it was like kind of like an uh-oh moment. But then Alex Lyon

came in and saved the season for them. And they ended up upsetting Boston, F-Kird,

and they ended up going to the Stanley Cup. Incredible. Obviously, Bob Robbsky took the job

back in the playoffs. But he went to Detroit after that. He was a 904 on a Detroit team that

really, let's be honest, they don't, they haven't played a lot of defense these past few years.

They're better this season, but putting up a 904 into Detroit a couple years ago, not that crazy.

And now he's in Buffalo. And this is definitely, I'd say, probably his best seasons of the day in

terms of being full-season, full workload, and how well he's done. And he, along with UPL,

I think they do give the Savers a level of confidence out there that, hey, we can protect this lead.

Blowing leads was a huge problem the past two seasons. And I would say that's one of the most

demoralizing things in hockey. Obviously, it still happens sometimes. But the being up three

goals or two goals and being like, shit, I don't know. I don't know if we're going to win this.

I don't know if we can hold on. It's got to be something. First of all, it's demoralizing,

like I said, as a fan, as a player, I think it leads to you playing differently.

I think that leads to you being more, either sometimes, probably too aggressive,

or sometimes being, you know, sitting back too much, being like, while we can't let them get

good opportunities, because otherwise we'll blow this lead. And I think it just

is bowed really well that the team does not play like that, knowing that they can get some saves.

So, what they've provided is peace of mind not just for the fans, but also the team.

And they don't have to keep playing this well. But I'm not going to complain if they do.

The Savers just finished with one of the best Savers sandwiches in the league. In a time when

the league-wide Savers sandwiches a little bit under 900, that'd be fine with me. I'd like that.

Well said. I mean, what else was it really that stood out for you? Over these last few games.

For one, I think it's important also to give a shout out to Zach Metsa.

I mean, the production that we're getting out of him is just remarkable to see. It's great.

I mean, he's filling in a great spot. Obviously, there's questions as to whether this is just

kind of a heater or whether we should, I should say, expect this from him the rest of the way.

But man, like the production there and when he's filling in, like he is certainly making the most

of those minutes. And while he's maybe not the like the prototype, I would say, of the third

pairing guy that we were kind of hoping for, I would say at this point, like down the stretch.

And really what the Savers are looking for right now, right? Look, man, like they're making the,

he's making the most of his minutes. And when he's out there, they are more often controlling

play than the other team is. He is contributing on the score sheet and otherwise. And I've really

been impressed with how he's been able to step in in spots where he's not getting a ton of minutes

each night. He's not even playing necessarily every night, you know, this year, but he still has made

such an impact without being a guy that necessarily, you know, I would say was looked at at all as being

a viable option. You know, I just think back to the beginning of the year. And it's like coming into

this year, you, you're fresh off of signing Ryan Johnson to that three year extension. So you're

thinking, okay, maybe he'll get a crack at it. You bring in Zach Jones, who has been, I would say,

a fringe guy, like a really good A.H.L. player who's gotten a taste at the NHL level. And it's like,

okay, he's probably up there with Johnson in terms of priority. But Metsa, man, has been

just great. What have you made of his play? Yeah, really impressive. He's a guy, a lot of

defensemen get undervalued when they're under 510. A lot of people in general get undervalued when

they're under 510. It's wrong. But he was undrafted. He went to Quinnipiac. He left Quinnipiac when he

was like 25 years old. And generally, when you're a 25 year old college defenseman, I think

there's not a lot of NHL potential there. But clearly, the Saber saw something. They signed

them in 2023. And if you look at it, he's just, I'm sure he's been very good in Rochester in his

own zone, to some extent, because they've trusted him to come up. But more than that, he's been really

good. You mentioned his production. His production is truly something. We weren't seeing a ton

from him almost at all when he came up this year because he's a defenseman playing on a third

pairing. He's getting very few minutes, whatever. And now he's asked for your games. He scored a

couple of goals, which is nice. He has four points on the air. But in Rochester, his first year,

24 points, not bad, but then 46 and 69 games. And then earlier this year, he started in Rochester.

He was a point per game player. So he was really productive in the AHL. He's 27. So he's not a

young guy, obviously. And like I said, he's 59. He's a, he's a shorter guy. But man, like,

nothing wrong with that. This, it's not, there's nothing, you know what, there's nothing wrong with

having a guy that you can call up when you need him. And he provides you, really, sell a play or

gives you a different look or gives you a different skill set that you normally have on defense.

Just someone you can potentially rely upon because there's always injuries.

Here's my evidence that there's always injuries. Jacob Bryson has played in about 11 straight

saber seasons, even though he's basically has never been on the ice opening night.

I think, you know, maybe this is a Jacob Bryson replacement, a guy that's basically the same age as him.

But that's, that'd be fine with me. I've been impressed these last few games. And it's just,

that's also just a cool thing. Like a guy who is, I said, I said 25. He was actually 24

during his last year in college. But he played five years of college as age 20 through 24 seasons.

It's kind of crazy. Yeah. Sure is, man. Sure is. And you know what, they haven't for another year too.

27 years old, another year, that is a fine seventh offense. And I think he has certainly played

his way into that role. Obviously, you know, the, the makeup of the D core is going to be

interesting to see, you know, by the time we get through Friday. And of course,

we've been looking ahead to next season, but we don't want to get to ahead of ourselves here.

So with that being said, unless you have anything else on this amazing run that the state,

actually, wait, let me say this before we do ads and stuff, we should take a look at the road ahead

because huge stretch coming up here for the sabres, as we all know. So like we said, as it stands

right now, the sabres have 21 games to go and only need to win 11 of them to get to 100 points,

something that I think all of us at the beginning of the year would just be, I don't even think like

thrilled comes close to describing how exciting that would be to hear, you know, that in early March,

we were sitting in this position. But in any event, though, a huge stretch of games coming up,

starting off on Thursday, the night that, you know, tonight, as you all are listening to this,

they're away at Pittsburgh. And then they have a nice little five game home stand with

a couple of big games in here, starting off on Saturday against Nashville at home, very

winnable game. Nashville obviously is just in a downward spiral right now. They're selling off

pieces. Michael McCarran just went to Minnesota for a second. Other guys, you know, like Ryan O'Reilly,

Jonathan Marshall show are floating around in trade speculation. So it should be a very,

very winnable game for the sabres because then the next day on Sunday at home, they take on Tampa,

again, massive, massive matchup, massive implications for the playoffs. The sabres sit two points back

of them. Tampa, of course, has two games in hand, but in a head-to-head matchup like this,

picking up two points, just a massive opportunity for them. Looking into next week, even further,

on Tuesday the 10th, they play at home again, San Jose, San Jose in the playoff bubble,

in the picture, in the Western conference. But again, a team that, you know, really is not

to the level of where the sabres are at. And there's a lot of questionable goal-tending.

They've been getting some really good play as of late from Alex Nadellkovich, but still seem

to be relying on Yaroslav Askerov, you know, who I think had a really promising start to his

rookie year, but has certainly tapered off. I think he only has maybe like, I want to say like,

two of his last 10 games he's had above a 900 save percentage. I'm going to double-check that

just to make sure. But interesting there, I get it. He's your goalie of the future. You want to,

you know, give the guy the opportunity with that you made an investment in, but at the same time,

it's like playoffs on the line here in Nadellkovich. Nadellkovich has just given them some really,

really great play as of late. Double-checking, yes, that is the case. Two of his last 10 games,

he has above a 900 save percentage for Askerov. So going to be interesting to see how they handled

their goal-tending rotation down the stretch. In any event though, moving on, Thursday,

it's Sabers Play against the capitals at home before they close up this home stand on Saturday,

the 14th of March against Toronto at home. Then they go out west after that. But again,

these upcoming six games here, huge stretch. You have teams like Pittsburgh, Tampa, and Washington

who are all firmly in the playoff picture in the conference. So those are big ones that you want

to pick up wins on, of course. Nashville, Toronto, and San Jose should be a little bit easier on

paper, but we're at the point now that it's like you're playing so well. Keep the momentum going.

They are certainly not in a position where they can be taking anybody lightly. I don't care if it's

Nashville, I don't care if it's Toronto, the Rangers, whoever the bottom feeders are. Don't take

anybody lightly here. But it's a winnable stretch coming up here, Taylor. What do you want to see

from the Sabers over these next six games? Like, is it, you know, if they're playing 500 hockey,

then that's a win or do we need to keep the momentum going and maybe only lose like one or two?

Well, I would like, yeah, obviously it's best to keep the momentum going. I just also don't look

at this as a very difficult stretch. So I think it should be one of those situations where you just,

you want to see them, you know, you said six games. I'd like to see them go four and two.

It's, they have a little schedule reprieve, I would say. Obviously, playing at Pittsburgh,

that's never easy and the penguins are good, but as far as I know, still no Crosby. So that's

their best player still at this, it is advanced age. They've been very good. They've been a balance

team this year. The penguins, they've been a surprise because they missed the playoffs. I think

three years in a row coming into this and people probably thought this was a rebuild situation and

it hasn't quite been that. So that's, you know, not the easiest game in the world. That's tonight

when you're listening to this. But after that, it's like, man, Nashville kind of sucks. I,

I'm not that worried about them. The Sabers kind of pounded them earlier in the year.

That's fine with me. Like, they, Nashville is, they're selling too. Yeah. They're losing. So

that's a good way to have, you know, it's Saturday at 530. I love that time slot. On

ironically, love the Saturday 530 time slot. It gives you an opportunity to also, you know,

maybe you go out after, maybe you're excited to see other games. But that's, that's great. And

you know, it's just also, it's, that one's in Buffalo. So, you know, coming, everyone coming out of

the arena, it's not that cold out. I don't think it's supposed to be pretty warm this weekend. It's

like, it's not even 830 yet. It'll be dark, unfortunately. But hey, daylight savings is coming.

Everyone has a good night out. You know, it's not too late. It should be fun. Beat them, obviously.

And then Tampa, that's huge. We don't need to go into why that's huge. But the Sabers are,

as you said earlier, fighting for the division. Now, if they lose this,

it's going to look a lot less like a divisional fight, even if they win the two games coming into it.

But, you know, that, that is a, it's a huge, it's a huge game. I would say if they win,

it's a battle. If they lose, it's going to, they're going to need something else positive to

happen going forward. They'll be putting a really tough spot if they lose in regulation to Tampa.

In terms of just the division, everything else is fine. San Jose is not playing well.

They, I, I think that's your, that you're better than them. Beat them. And then,

you know, a week from today, when you listen to this next Thursday that play Washington and

Washington, it's out of the playoff fixture right now. In fact, from a points percentage

perspective, they're behind Columbus. Actually, they might be literally behind Columbus too.

Washington, they basically just, whatever everyone's expectations are, they defy them.

And this year, people thought they might be good. They said, well, not so fast, friend.

And they're not that bad either, though. They have 69.63 games. They're not terrible. But that's,

I mean, that's not good. They've, they've won less than half their games. They won the conference

last year. They won the, you know, they finished first in regular season in the conference. They were

the one seed, more or less. And this year, they're not even going to come close to last year's point

total. And like, actually, I was right. They are a point behind Columbus, despite Columbus having

three games in hand. Like, it's a real problem. Washington is looking at the last playoff spot,

which is right now, like we said, Boston. They're four points back at Boston with three games in hand.

So Washington should be desperate. But frankly, they just haven't been that good. So

no of these teams are really, or I should say four of these teams. I'm not scared of

Tampa. Still think they're very good. The divisions winable, though. So that's the game. I mean,

the Sabers just kicked their ass. So that's, that's one of the games you have to win.

Agreed. 100%. Should we hear a word from our sponsors before we get into the trade talk?

Yep. All right, folks. Well, this show, as you know, is sponsored by Mr. Goodbar. And again,

equing Taylor's comments from before. Thank you so much to everybody who came out to our trivia

night on Tuesday. It was a blast. Eight teams went at it. And it was Crabstone,

2028 who ended up coming out victorious. So congrats to those fellows. They're, they took home

a pair of tickets to this Saturday's game against the predators. And if you want to get it on the

fun, our next one's going to be coming up on March 31st. Again, upstairs at Mr. Goodbar. We're

super psyched for it. There's going to be Sabers tickets. I'm a line for the top prize. You also

can win Goodbar merch and gift cards as well. Sabers and bills merch. There's tons of great

stuff that we always have at these. So very, very excited to run it back for probably our

second or third last one. We're going to do definitely one in April, maybe one in May as well.

We'll see how things go. But in any event, they're a blast. But if you can't make it a trivia night,

if you didn't make it a trivia night, and you want to get over to Goodbar, there's so much fun.

You can get up to including this Friday. My band's low animals is playing downstairs.

Gonna be a great time if you're into some alternative indie rock, classic rock covers. Come check

it out. 10 to 1 a.m. If not, again, plenty of other great stuff going on throughout the weekend

and the coming days here, live music. They have DJs. There's comedy. There is karaoke.

Amazing food. Amazing, amazing drink selection and amazing vibes. It's a great place to catch a

game. If you're trying to go out for a Sabers game, Goodbar has it on both the first and second floor.

They have a projector screen on each floor. TV's lining both the first and second floor walls

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you always get a great crew in there. So again, check out Goodbar. You can find them online at

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Folks, we're also sponsored by DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NHL.

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of responsible gaming resources, CDKNG.co slash audio limited time offer copyright 2026 NHL all rights

reserved. All right, Brendan, we're back. And I just wanted to say regarding that trivia,

the two rounds that I did, a lot of people, two of the three that I had, people really struggled with,

I, on one hand, I want to apologize. I feel like Super Bowl losing quarterbacks is around.

I looked through it again and I was like, that's harder than I thought. That's just a weird thing.

I know every Super Bowl quarterback matchup. I underestimated how many people would not know like

Vince Ferragamo and Chris Chandler. However, the other round about guy's name, Jack,

give me another sports history a little bit better. That's right. You a little more well-rounded.

Jack Dempsey is incredibly famous. Jack Dempsey is one of the most famous athletes. I gave you his

first name. Yeah. Didn't I? And then Jack Johnson, Brendan was nice enough to know the names of

like 11 Jack Johnson songs and luckily it was like five easy. Yeah, vegan cookies. So

that one fine. I will say, if you're listening, no more about Jacks and I'm sorry about the Super

Bowl quarterback round. It turns out that was very hard. It's all right. But I will say on an

exciting note though, we are going to try a new format for March 31st, which I think if it goes well,

we haven't like formally talked about this, but I think if it goes well, I think we should switch

to this format, which is going to be, we're going to do, we normally do six rounds. We'll do two

sabres rounds, two bills rounds and two general sports rounds, which I think are that's a lot of

fun. It gives us some flexibility and switches it up a little bit. Oh, we forgot the best part,

though. The teams don't get their answers at on time. We have a guy there. It's our friend Joe

Farini. He's going to hit him with a cattle prod. Wow. Get up there turning your answers. He's

still working on it. I mean, yesterday was just a trial run of that and there was only what,

two injuries. Yeah, not bad at all. That's good numbers. Yeah. We're not paying Joe for this,

by the way. He volunteered kind of insisted for the love of the game. Yeah. It should be interesting.

All right. Let's get into this trade talk here, Taylor. In insane 24 hours here to be a sabres fan

and there is a decent chance that Darren Dregor might become Buffalo Public Enemy Number One.

So as I mentioned in the intro, a ton of chatter going around the league right now regarding

the sabres and the blues. It started on Tuesday where Darren Dregor had said that talks were

intensifying between the sabres and the blues for Robert Thomas. This gets corroborated by a

couple of different folks. Chris Johnson, I think, actually maybe had the initial kind of note

about it. And then it kind of blew up a little bit more with Dregor, Pierre Lebrun, through an Imo

jean here. You had a few different insiders who were saying there's legs of this. Alley Friedman

eventually chimes in and says that it's real. Then the kind of, you know,

which I say urgency around it, I think kind of cooled off this morning. And it seemed like,

okay, maybe it didn't get there. Like they got pretty far into the discussions, but Robert Thomas

was not ever asked to wave his no trade clause that he has. There's also reports though going

around that sources close to him said that the sabres were one of the few teams that he actually

would have waved it for. So now we get into today, as we're recording this Wednesday, where we're

kind of in this like holding pattern of uncertainty, where a few hours ago, it's okay, the sabres are

now zeroing in potentially on a defenseman from St. Louis. And we didn't know if that necessarily

meant without Robert Thomas, or if it meant with as part of a bigger package that was kind of

alluded to on Tuesday a little bit, but the names that were thrown around were Colton Perico

and Justin Falk. Obviously a pretty big discrepancy, I would say, between the returns that would

go in either direction between those guys with Perico just having more value being the better player,

being a little bit younger, even though he's in his early 30s. And then Darren Drager comes along.

And this is where things kind of started to get crazy, where he tweets out about 430 and says it's

believed that Perico to Buffalo is going to happen, things are being finalized, player needs to

approve, etc. Naturally, everybody jumps all over that. He kind of takes it a step further,

seven minutes later saying, sounds like redeem Murtka and a first will be part of it. So when you

get into that stage of it, where you're talking about a return and saying it sounds like this is

what's going to be part of the deal, which again, we're going to get back to that because that was

kind of my initial, one of the initial things I zeroed in on. But that really leads to you thinking,

okay, like this is, this is going down. It's happening. Well, it appears that that maybe was a

little bit premature because then he goes dark and we have not heard anything. So now as I mentioned,

that was about 430 that that's happening. We're recording this episode at 646 and Darren Drager has

not tweeted since, but we then have Andy Strickland going on sports, and he says, quote,

this reporting is a little premature. I'm not suggesting it's not happening, but he has a no

trade clause, and I'd imagine that's a big part of it. Taking it further, he says, quote, I would

be a little bit surprised if he were to wave for Buffalo. So now we don't know. We don't know

whether this is real, whether this is a negotiation tactic that's being used to, you know,

get a little bit more urgency from Buffalo side. If there's another piece to add, which again,

we'll get to that. I think that would be kind of crazy, though. If you were to go beyond that,

there's a lot of question marks about this. Like, for one, you have, I mean, the clear strength of

this team has been at top four, and you have a lot of money invested into that defensive group.

Baracko is making 6.5 million a year. So you would think with a package that's centered around

a first-round pick and Murtka, and again, going off of Dregor's language, which maybe I'm reading

into it, but I don't think you just say that, but he says Murtka in a first being part of the deal,

suggesting that maybe more is involved, kind of insane to me, but you would think with how much

Baracko is making, and that he has four more years to go that there's got to be retention involved.

So maybe that helps you stomach the, you know, the conversation a little bit.

So, or maybe who knows? Maybe the real thing that's happening right now, and this is purely speculative.

You know, Taylor and I were hearing some stuff yesterday from some of the people we chat with,

who are maybe a little in the know-and-know folks. The Thomas stuff is very real, as has been

confirmed. We had heard that the, you know, talk about adding a defenseman in, also real.

But maybe, again, purely speculating on our part, not anything that we've heard.

You know, who knows? What if this is something about trying to do the larger deal with Thomas

and Perico being involved in that? St. Louis is just trying to push Buffalo,

getting this out there, getting the, you know, people around the league kind of talking about it,

and maybe it's a pressure point kind of thing. I don't know. We don't know what's happening right now.

What I will say is this, though, Taylor.

Thomas, I think, is a slam-dunk move, and I would say judging by what was being said yesterday,

Chad G. Dominicus, saying that the talks on that deal were centered around futures,

and there wasn't a significant roster player being involved. Jordan Schmaltz, or whoever the

hell's name is, was throwing out Owen Powers' name, and everybody I think pretty quickly was like,

yeah, that's not real. But when it comes to Thomas, if it is a futures package, and you're talking

about guys that aren't significant contributors to the team right now, you would have a really hard

time giving me a package that I would feel like, ah, that's a little bit of an overpay.

You're talking about a selky level, a guy who gets selky votes, two-way forward who is a play

driver who has term-lapped four years left after this year, or five years, I should say, is only

26 years old, firmly on the prime of his career, and who would just be such an amazing upgrade

to this top six forward group, especially when you take into consideration the likelihood

that we will not bring back Alex Tuck. And when you also consider the fact that Josh Norris,

as great as he's been when he's been healthy this year, as we talked about last week or two

weeks ago, whenever it was, simply is not reliable. You're good for 50 games on average from him

a year. If he was healthy and was able to play 70 plus games a year, then it's like, yeah, of course,

that's, that's a guy you want to rely on, but you just don't have that reliability when he does

not have the availability that you want. So Robert Thomas, again, whether you're talking about

Haleinius, Murtka, multiple firsts, whatever it may be, sign me up. Perico, I think, is a little bit

different. Now, I don't want to say that, you know, my apprehension here comes from not liking the

player because I do think Perico is good. I do. He's a good defensive defenseman who I think would be

a great addition to any team. However, you can't just look at it on the surface, in my opinion,

from the guy that you're getting. There's, there's much more to it. And I fully admit, I had tweeted

it out initially when the original Dragon Tweet went out about Murtka and the first being part of it.

I was mid dog walk. I saw it. We were texting in our group chat with, with some of our friends,

and I didn't like it one bit when you, when you hear that, that it's Perico for Murtka in a first

and there's no talk of retention. There's no talk of the other pieces and there's this suggestion

that there's going to be more required for you to get Perico beyond a first round pick. And the guy

that was taken eighth overall last year. Okay. So again, Perico is good, but I think that there's

more that needs to go into it. He's making $6.5 million a year. He's 32 years old and he's got four

more years left after this year. Okay. I am all about the thought processes. You and I have

talked about at length for the past like three years that the Sabers are firmly in the place right now

where giving up a lot to get your guy is worthwhile. You got to give up something to get it.

And I'm okay with an overpay if it means you're getting a guy that is going to significantly

contribute, especially when you are in the position that the Sabers are in right now,

where we're talking about a deal where it's adding guys that are not on the roster right now and

helping in this playoff run. So I think the logic is there. But again, I go back to one part of it.

That scares me because if Moore is going that way, that I just think is not meeting the value of

the player to he is good. Perico, but you have the strength of this team this year has been it's

top four defenseman and adding six point five million dollars potentially. And again,

we don't know about retention. So I'm just going off of that. Let's just say like even like five

plus million dollars to a group where you already have something like what is it? 35. Somebody had

a good tweet on this laying this out before Sabers. Sabers talk V2 aka Lindy Ruf's burner had it laid

out in a great tweet that I retweeted if you want to see it go to our Twitter page where

you have 11 million and tied up in Dalline, 8.35 in power, 4.285 in Samuel Sin, 6.25 in Byram,

who also has been great this year, but is going to need an extension at some point here.

Castle Ring, he's been a bit of a mess this year. So he's at 1.4. He's going to need to get a new deal,

but if they keep him, but again, that's not going to break the bank. And then Perico at 6.5,

that is a lot of money, over 30 million dollars to have tied up in your defensive group.

And you're bringing in Perico who would of course take some of the the weight off of Dalline and

Samuel Sin and Power and Byram move them getting these heavy minutes, but is it worth using those

assets to target a guy like that as compared to what my thought process is, which would be using

that to invest those two assets plus others to invest in a significant upgrade to the top six.

And then knowing that you have such strength in your top four targeting a more supplemental piece

on the blue line, rather than putting heavy investments into having five really good

defensemen. Now don't get me wrong, the Sabers I think would have far and away the best defensive

group in the NHL, but it's just about where the assets and the money are getting invested

both in terms of the assets going out and the money and players on the roster right now.

Like where is the focus going? And I just think that's a lot of money on a blue line

when you have Alex Tuck going out the door and there are those question marks about Josh Norris.

I know I took a while there to lay everything out there. I threw a lot out there.

So give me your thoughts first and foremost on the Perico situation. Do you agree with kind of the

thought process I laid out or is it like let's get this guy in now and worry about the long-term

ramifications come the off season? I would say this. It's not exactly either of those things.

And I'll say this also first. I'm going to guess by the time people listen to this,

he might not even have made a decision yet. You know, what we'll see. Hopefully this is

very fluid situation. So on the other hand, this could be moot by the time people listen to this

if he doesn't wave his no trade clause. But the fact I would take at this trade does go through is

I don't mind having Perico here necessarily, but it depends on some of the details and the details

we know. I think it's a it's a it's a it's a good move to bring him in and it's an overpay.

And I I wonder about this. I look at it this way. Bringing in Perico is in the problem.

Bringing in Perico for four more years after this at six and a half million a year. Yeah.

That could be a problem. And doing that, uh, making the trade by giving up Murtka and a first

kind of feels crazy to me. And I he, Murtka was recently the ninth overall pick.

And I think people will need to people in the negative side need to understand that

Perico is good. The sabers have a window to be good. 100%. People on the positive side need

to understand that Perico is already not the so he's gone back and forth. I should say he was a

unbelievable player like six years ago. He definitely had a a weird regression younger than he

should have. And now he's kind of had a bounce back and is looking to bounce back even further

potential on a good team. Like underlying numbers almost always look bad when your team sucks.

Right. And the blues have been abysmal this year. Uh, but I think just generally I don't see

uh, why he couldn't get better on this team. Sure. But that's going to be short lived. He's a physical

six six defenseman. This is age 32 season. Yep. And the four seasons after this will be his age

33 through 36 seasons. And I would just recommend anyone look at if you could find a list of who

the best defenseman in the NHL are this year. I don't know how you would do that. But just look

at it. Just look at any team. Look at all the contenders. See how many of them are playing

six six or just let's say big physical defenseman that are 33 years or older. This is a young man's

lead. This is what I was saying with Tuck before too a couple days ago or I think it was last week's

pod. They are way, way more people that just crap out of the league at 33. Guys were really good at

one point. Then there are guys who are still good when they're like 36. So that's I'm not saying

that's a don't trade for paraco thing. That's a the blues should be looking at that, especially

considering the rebuilding and saying, yeah, let's get a first plus that plus can't be Murtka.

Murtka is the more valuable person in this move. Like the Sabers first, it'll be in the 20s

and I'll likelihood. If it was a first and a second, yes, it was a first and even like, I don't

know, I'm trying to think who else like first in like three other prospects who are in his high

level. First plus Hellenius even potentially that'd be better than the Murtka move. I don't know,

I maybe I'm higher on Murtka than some of these guys. And I don't usually like that. That's not

a prospect guy, but I just think that's a lot. I'm very excited theoretically to see what he would

look like here. And we talk about all the money that are committed to defensemen. It's true. And

I guess there's two things with that as well. I always say there's two things with that. One

retention could be interesting here. Retention could make this a great deal. If they're retaining

half, it's an unbelievable deal. If they're retaining 25%, pretty good deal. Whatever they're

retaining, that's relevant. The other thing is bone by room is not signed for like 10 years.

You know, this theoretically could make by room trade bait and something else going the other way.

I just look at this. I don't know if there's an answer for this, but the counter Murphy was traded

yesterday for a second. You know, I wonder, you know, about that. So let me ask you this on the

retention front because I have questions on that. I think naturally with the level of the hall going

back that there would be. And I agree with you that Murdoch is the more valuable piece. And I

don't think that you're wrong necessarily in your evaluation of him. But where I'm getting held

up a little bit though is that he does have four more years to go on his contract. And if we're

talking about a significant retention, like let's say it is 50%. You know, if it's 50%, then yeah,

like you said, that's that's not bad. If you're going to have Colton Parico for, you know, what would

it be? Uh, three point three point two five two five. I mean, hell yeah. But it's saying Lewis

going to want to eat three point two five on Parico for the next four seasons as they're trying

to work their way through a rebuild. I don't know. If it's one thing, if it's like he's got two or

three years left, but four years is a not insignificant amount of time. So I burn it. I would also say

Elliott Friedman also, if you want to look at this, he just did a two minute update.

It was tweeted out via sports net. So that Friedman update that you're talking about, Taylor,

he just went through and essentially said that the deal is in place. It essentially is just on

Parico. Uh, if he wants to to waver not and he had also said a couple of other interesting little

tidbits, one that Doug Armstrong went to the Blues players, the locker room seemingly today. He

made it seem like he didn't say specifically. He said in the last little while and said changes

are going to be made and those of you who have trade protection, there's a possibility we're

going to ask you to weigh that so prepare yourself for that. The other piece of it that I thought

was interesting too is that he said and he didn't say who specifically what their role was, but he

said he got a call that between the Parico deal and the Mackenzie Weeger deal that is currently

kind of in a similar place where Weeger has trade protection, uh, potentially a deal in place to

Utah that somebody called him within the legal league source of some kind and said, you know,

what's going on with their supporting? Why are these deals getting pushed out like this when

they're the guys in question haven't agreed one way or the other. It puts an unfair pressure on

them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So a couple of interesting tidbits from that, but anyways to carry on there,

anything else on on the Parico front? No, that's pretty much it. If he's on the team, I'll have more to

say. Yeah, exactly. And I think it's the Thomas thing like I said, I mean, that's really where in my

mind, I would like for the the priority to be like that is just a guy that yes, the Sabers are scoring

very well. They're finishing numbers are great. Don't get me wrong, but again, looking ahead

to both the future and the immediate kind of present, Thomas is the kind of guy that it's like if a

player like this becomes available at 26 years old, you go do that. Like you make it happen,

Alex talked potentially out the door, Nora's question marks for this injury. Go and get it done.

So we'll see what happens and what's even more interesting, not that it's going to necessarily

matter to as folks are listening to this, but now it's about seven o'clock here. The Blues play at

10 o'clock tonight. So we're going to be very interesting to see who ends up in the lineup. And if

we get something concrete on this before the game. So a lot of very exciting things happening here,

Taylor, the trade deadline is on Friday. We're going to be active on social media. So again,

follow us on Instagram, Blue Sky, and Twitter. Those three are the main three. We're on Facebook

too, but those three Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram are going to be the ones we'll be really active on,

sharing our thoughts, you know, putting stuff out there as we see it. And it's going to be a really,

really exciting next day and a half here. Any other thoughts you want to share on the trade deadline

before we sign off? Yeah, I mean, the perico thing we basically covered that. We'll see what happens

with it. But regardless of that, I'm interested to see what happens with Thomas, whether it's with

the Sabers or someone else, because it going through everything, including the perico trade,

it doesn't really make sense to me why they would want. Why would they want to move Thomas?

Because the whole thing with the hang up being we'd like a good NHL player coming back.

Then don't do that. Then keep the good one you have. Right. So unless there's something we're missing

here, and this is a situation like JT Miller or Elias Patterson last year, I think I shouldn't

be saying this being a Sabers fan, but this should just keep Thomas. Doug Armstrong, if you're

listening, ignore that part. Yeah, or you know what, Doug Armstrong, do a rebuild. It's fun. Yeah,

exactly. He's retiring anyway, right? Is he? Don't they have a succession plan in place?

Maybe I honestly can't say for sure one way or the other. I want to say for sure it's happening.

Alex Steen's going to be the GM. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Start off with the rebuild. Could be fun,

gives you buys you a lot of time. We'll give you a couple of think of it this way. You know,

couple firsts, Merca, Hellenius, Isaac Roseanne, Jack Quinn, and then just for the small price of

Robert Thomas and Colton Pryko, we'll take him off your hands. Yeah. All right. Well, I guess we'll

talk to everyone after on the other side of the deadline. Yeah, yeah. We'll be back early next week.

Like we said, we've been kind of alluding to it. We're still trying to shake it out, but at some

point or another here as we're kind of moving further and further into the playoff run, you'll be

hearing from us more often than our once a week cadence, which we're excited to get back into it.

I think we both agreed ahead of the year that when we made this switch, it's like, all right,

we'll go back if things really start to transpire and a playoff run is real and that's very much

the case now. So it's an exciting time to be a Sabers fan for the first time. It's genuinely a

prolonged exciting time to be host of this podcast. So really good things on the horizon here for

Sabers fans and podcasters alike, Taylor. Absolutely. All right, everybody. Well, thank you so

much for tuning into this episode of Straight Up Sabers presented by the hockey podcast network.

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This has been Straight Up Sabers.