The Instigator Podcast

Kevin Woodley joins the show this week to share his goaltending expertise and talk about the outlook for the Sabres in net for the coming season. We talk at length about Eric Comrie's strengths and weaknesses and his ability to take on a larger workload. Kevin also shares his thoughts on Craig Anderson and how both he and Comrie can work in tandem this season. We touch on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and,...

The Sabres, at long last, have announced they will be bringing back their red and black uniforms as an alternate jersey for the 2022-23 season. The team made the announcement on Wednesday, stating that they will wear the jersey 12 times during the year beginning with a November face-off with the St. Louis Blues. We talk about the excitement surrounding the decision and the nostalgia this brings as...

Pete Jensen of NHL.com joins the show to offer up a fantasy hockey outlook for the coming season. Pete lends his expertise to discuss which players are candidates to climb up draft boards, players poised for a breakout year in fantasy and which Sabres will carry the most fantasy value this season. We also talk about which rookies will be worth targeting in your drafts and some big picture fantasy...

Noah Ennis, goal mask artist and owner of Shell Shock Paint joins the show for an expansive conversation about goalie mask art and the pro clients Noah works with. New Sabres goalie Eric Comrie is among the roster of pro clients Ennis works with in addition to the Anaheim Ducks' Lukas Dostal, John Gibson and Anthony Stolarz, Laurent Brossoit of the Vegas Golden Knights and many other NHL and AHL n...

As we continue through August, it seemed like a good time to field a few more listener questions. This week's episode tackles a bunch of different topics including the Sabres Reverse Retro sweaters, shoulder patches, goaltending plans, special teams alignments and trade targets. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions for this week's Q&A.

Chad and Anthony from Expected Buffalo join the show for another roundtable discussion. This time we talk about when the Sabres will be ready to take the next big step in their rebuild and when the right time for it will be. We talk about how this summer has helped shape the next step in their rebuild and look ahead to whether or not next summer will be the time that Kevyn Adams starts making big...

It's a busy show as we spend a little time talking through Buffalo's draft class before diving into free agency. We discuss the signings of Eric Comrie and Ilya Lyubushkin and how they address the two biggest needs the Sabres had in free agency. We look into how Buffalo's roster makes it more difficult to freely add additional bodies despite having an apparent need to get further clear of the sala...

It's a big draft episode as we look ahead to Thursday's first round and the three picks the Sabres hold. We spend time talking about Ivann Fedotov's situation in Russia and how it could affect teams considering Russians in the first round of the draft. Specifically, Danila Yurov and the smoke surrounding him and the Sabres. We also talk about potential fits at the ninth pick, 28 and even pick 41....

Chris Peters of DailyFaceoff.com joins the show to offer up a preview of this week's NHL draft. We talk about the wide variance of opinions on virtually every facet of this year's first round. From the first pick through 32, we touch on how wide the range of rankings can be for numerous players. We also touch on Buffalo's trio of first round picks and the players Chris sees as ideal fits at each o...

This week we tackle the 2022 Stanley Cup Final and offer up our thoughts on the postseason. We move on to discuss Alexander Mogilny missing out on induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame once again and whether his resume is enough to get into the Hall in the future. We wrap up with listener questions which go heavy on Buffalo's options in net this offseason.

For some lighter offseason content we decided to dig into who we deem to be the best draft pick in Sabres history. We considered a few permutations for our discussion as Gilbert Perreault is an obvious and easy answer to lead with. Our conversation meanders through a number of fan favorites and franchise legends as we assess various picks from a number of angles. The show kicks off with a quick di...

The newest Sabres beat writer joins the show as we welcome Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic to discuss a host of Sabres offseason topics. Matthew offers his thoughts on where the Sabres stand with regard to their rebuild and what moves he expects to see made this summer. We spend some time talking about the key vacancies in net and offer up a few potential targets that the Sabres could pursue. Mat...

Despite their Western Conference ouster, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl put on one of the most memorable playoff performances of recent memory. We discuss whether or not their play would be strong enough to garner attention for the Connn Smythe despite not reaching the Cup Finals. We also touch on the waves rocking the boat in Boston as Bruce Cassidy was fired earlier this week, three key veter...

We run down both the Eastern Conference Finals and Western Conference Finals now that the NHL's second round is complete. We touch on the no speed limit Western Conference Final and the goaltending battle that looms in the east. We also discuss the signing of Isak Rosen and how the Sabres might manage his development in Rochester or Sweden during the 2022-23 season.

With the first round of the NHL Playoffs complete, we look at which teams could be looking to make adjustments this offseason and whether or not the Sabres can capitalize on any such moves. We also touch on the signing of Alexander Kisakov and the latest on the Arizona Coyotes arena saga.

The Sabres didn't see their picks move in the NHL Draft Lottery and they will draft ninth and 16th in this year's draft. The only first round pick to be determined is that of the Florida Panthers, which will fall between 28th and 32nd depending on their finish. On this week's show we talk about the lottery results and who the Sabres could be looking at with their top two picks. We also talk about...

Another season is in the books and we look back at the way the Sabres played over the course of 2022-23 and what it means for them going forward. While we don't assign grades to any individual, we break down each of the team's position groups to see where the bright spots were and where the Sabres need to improve most. We wrap up the show with a brief conversation on the NHL playoffs and which ear...

Matt Keeler and Nick Ciavarella of JustDishin join the show to discuss SkateSkins and the product's introduction into the NHL. They also offer some tremendous insight into the intersection of hockey and fashion and how that evolution has the ability to move the sport forward on a number of levels. This wide ranging conversation touches on a number of intriguing topics, including SkateSkins, a prod...

It's another Ask Instigator version of the podcast as we answer a number of listener questions on everything from trading their first round picks and what a lottery win would mean for the Sabres to which player from 2005-06 or 06-07 would we pick up and place on the current iteration of the Sabres roster. We also touch on Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka's All-Rookie Team nomination in the AHL and discus...

Owen Power's NHL career is a week old and we spend some time reflecting on his strong play through the first four games he's appeared in. We also touch on how he and Rasmus Dahlin are rounding out a formidable top-four for the Sabres. Also on the show is a discussion over Devon Levi and Erik Portillo each returning to school and how that affects Buffalo's decisions in net for the offseason. We wra...

Jason Moser of PuckLuck.com joined the show this week to discuss the way he applies advanced analytics to betting NHL games and how his model can help give bettors an edge in winning hockey bets. We discuss how he developed the model using common analytics such as expected goals and how those models are applied to determine which NHL games offer the best opportunity for betting wins on a night-to-...

The Sabres celebrated Rick Jeanneret on Friday night and they put on quite a show in the process. We talk about the whirlwind evening and many of the highlights of the team's impressive pregame ceremony, decisive win over the Predators and touching post-game tribute. We also touch on prospect Devon Levi and the news that he will be returning to Northeastern for his junior season after finishing 20...

The Sabres pushed their point streak to six games and improved to 8-3-2 in the month of March. We discuss how the continued success of the team could potentially cloud the longer term needs when it comes to making sure the Sabres take the next step in their rebuild. Namely, we discuss the discourse around Craig Anderson and where the team would be had he been healthy for the entire year. Also on t...

Kevyn Adams stood pat at this year's trade deadline, only moving out Robert Hagg on Sunday. We talk about what the lack of action means for the team as they prepare for the stretch run, how they might fit key youngsters into the lineup and whether or not Adams made the right call by not making additional moves. We also touch on moves from around the league. Who we felt were the big winners of this...

We are bathing in the good vibes surrounding the Sabres this week as we discuss how things have seemingly started to gel for the team and its young core. We discuss the impressive win over the Maple Leafs in the Heritage Classic, touch on the impressive impact that the likes of Alex Tuch and Jeff Skinner have on the club and look ahead to next week's deadline. Our deadline discussion focuses on pl...