Locked On Sabres - Daily Podcast On The Buffalo Sabres

Sneaky Joe picked the Ottawa Senators to win the Atlantic Division last year. They did not. However, they showed to be an elite level team, that just happened to have historically bad goaltending at the same time. The result was Ottawa squeaking into the playoffs and getting swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champions. The thing that did Ottawa in, was the first truly bad season of Linus Ullmark's career. You'd think this season all Ottawa needs is to get a better Ullmark and they'll challenge for the division. But with Brady Tkachuk demanding out this offseason, the Senators core group has a big test ahead without their emotional leader, and one of their best players.

Without Tkachuk, who steps up for the Sens? The forward group has a bunch of really really good players, and the blueline is one of the deepest in the Eastern Conference. Will the Senators break or improve on last season?

Plus, how the Sabres matchup with Ottawa, after Buffalo took last year's season series.

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The Boston Bruins fell to the Buffalo Sabres in the playoffs last season, showing they were not a great team, getting run over in most of the six games of the series. The Bruins defense core could not handle the pressure from the Sabres forwards, and the depth could not go four lines with the Sabres. Their answer? Add three former Sabres. JJ Peterka, Will Borgen, and Connor Clifton. None of which seem to help the Bruins with the things they struggled with against the Sabres. Sneaky Joe believes the Bruins will be closer to the bottom feeder team they were two years ago, than the 100 point team they were last year.

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The Buffalo Sabres and Montréal Canadiens might be the best two teams in the league for signing their best players before the salary cap jumped way up, meaning both are set up to be really good for a long time. The Canadiens might not have been a team worthy of the Conference Finals last season, but that doesn't mean their season overall was a fluke. Led by Lane Hutson, Nick Suzuki, and Cole Caufield the Habs have a core of incredible young players.

Were the Sabres the better team when the two teams met in the second round of the playoffs? Games 6 and 7 would say the Sabres were better, but just couldn't finish the job. The Canadiens offseason has been super quiet, but there are smoke signals that they're ready to make a move for a big name forward if one gets moved. And what will their goaltending situation look like going forward? Keep an eye on Jacob Fowler.

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The Buffalo Sabres finished ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division last season by three points, and went one round further. A huge reason for this was the Lightning being the most undisciplined team in the NHL led by their fraud of a head coach Jon Cooper. Will the Lightning improve on this next season? They will need to to finish first in the Atlantic. The Lightning did lose their top defenseman this offseason in Darren Raddysh to Toronto. Is adding 36-year old John Carlson enough to replace him? The Lightning still look like a slow blueline that can be taken advantage of by young fast teams.

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Winnipeg Jets star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has gone public with his trade request after months of not seeing a deal get done, as training camp gets closer! Hellebuyck pushing the Jets to get a deal done comes as excellent news to any hockey fan hoping their team acquires him, including Buffalo Sabres fans! The Sabres reportedly came the closest to acquiring him at the NHL Draft, but a deal did not get done. Now that Hellebuyck is making it clear he will not stay in Winnipeg, the price should come down, making a deal more likely.

The problem is a deal is now harder for the Sabres with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen having the ability to say no to a trade. Despite that, Sneaky Joe believes there are trades that make sense for Buffalo where Hellebuyck and UPL would co-exist in the same net. Could Ryan McLeod still be a center-piece to a trade?

Plus, which other teams make sense to deal for Hellebuyck, and which teams the Sabres could try to send UPL to if they don't want to carry $13M worth of goalies at the same time.

Odoo

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The Buffalo Sabres have a couple years to think about what they will want to do in the next round of NHL expansion drafts, as it seems to be almost a certainty the league will add a second team in Texas and a team in Atlanta. When that does happen, the Sabres will likely have six easy decisions to make at forward, but the seventh forward to be protected could be really debatable. Jack Quinn, Peyton Krebs, Josh Norris, and Ryan McLeod could all be options to be protected, but multiple will be exposed. Plus, why the Olen Zelleweger experiment could just be a three-year experiment because of the expansion rules. If Mattias Samuelsson does not regress as a player, it seems unlikely the Sabres will protect Zelleweger.

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The Anaheim Ducks are the most vulnerable team in the NHL right now, with just over $9M in salary cap space, and a star forward in Cutter Gauthier turning down contracts worth $13M per season. Are the Ducks going to have to make multiple trades to create room to pay him? Or will they trade Gauthier away? If the latter ends up being possible, the Buffalo Sabres should be VERY AGGRESSIVE sending offers to Pat Verbeek.

Would Daxon Rudolph, Jack Quinn, and a 1st round pick be enough to tempt the Ducks? If possible, Gauthier would provide the Sabres with an upgrade over Alex Tuch, who is 8 years younger. It would make the offseason a total win for the Sabres. If the Ducks take the more likely option of trading other guys on their team to make room, would any be of interest to the Sabres? Chris Kreider and Alex Killorn are decent players, but likely to old and expensive to interest Buffalo.

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Sabres twitter is besides itself at Zach Benson being ranked 124th among NHL players drafted, many not even in the league yet by one prospects analyst, which is an insane ranking that you have to question a person's motivation after seeing. No Benson is nowhere near that amongst players of his age, but where does he rank on a list of Sabres young guys? Sneaky Joe ranks his top-seven Sabres under-23, including Konsta Helenius, Radim Mrtka, and more. The ceilings for Benson and Helenius are much higher than they've already showed and should be considered the elites of the Sabres young core. Will Daxon Rudolph join them on that tier? Plus, what we're hoping to see from the Sabres alternate uniform in the NHL's Hometown Remix series, and what it likely will be.

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Colten "Chaos" Ellis was claimed on waivers to be the Buffalo Sabres third goaltender last fall, and did very well playing a very inconsistent schedule. His wild, athletic style was effective, and chaotic at times, but with more work on his composure and technique, the Sabres could have a very solid young goalie on their hands. With just 14 starts under his belt, the time is this season to see Ellis become a more regular piece of the goalie picture, rather than just the guy who plays when one of the top two guys are injured. At 25-years old, coming off strong AHL success, and a good rookie NHL season, there's no reason to rule out Ellis become a regular NHL goaltender. How good could he be? Even if he's not going to be a #1 goalie, there's a good chance he settles in as a strong #2 behind say... a Connor Hellebuyck.

How many games will Ellis play in 2026-27 if UPL and Alex Lyon are in front of him? What if it's Hellebuyck in front of him?

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Lindy Ruff utilized a goalie rotation last season that got his team to the playoffs and into Round 2. Despite even regular seasons from Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, previous seasons and the playoffs show that Lyon is the best goalie on the Sabres roster. Even if he isn't treated like it. Lyon has been an NHL regular now for four years and his numbers blow UPL's out of the water. Lyon's playoffs were solid in totality, but the lasting image many fans have of him is giving up three consecutive goals to the Canadiens in Game 6, a game the Sabres needed to win to keep their season alive. Will Lyon see a depleted workload in 2026-27?

Plus, why Lyon is the perfect partner for Connor Hellebuyck, should the Sabres finish off the mega-trade. Lyon would allow Hellebuyck to play fewer games in the regular season, keeping him fresher for the postseason.

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