All of us Buffalonian’s have been listening to Paul Hamilton spout his “wisdom” and expertise on WGR and on Sabres broadcasts for years. Many of you have been blocked from his twitter feed because you either disagreed with him or criticized him. His “blocked” are probably close to his “followers” on twitter. Last week he actually told someone on twitter to “watch your language” because the guy referred to the Sabres as a “shitshow”. For years I’ve been calling him “softball Paul” for the manner in which he interviews players and coaches. Give them the easy question to give them the out. Never criticize face to face…only criticize after they’ve left the room. This morning on my ride into work I had the “opportunity” to listen to 15 minutes of his “expertise” on WGR (1270 the Fan and Jerry Sullivan doesn’t start until 9:00). That 15 minutes (of which I will never get back) has forced me into this, my most recent mcgoosportsrant.
In 15 minutes this hockey expert actually said the following:
He criticized the O’Reilly trade because Botterill believed he was getting a solid two way second line center in Patrik Berglund. As per Paul “Berglund was a fourth line guy and that’s exactly what they got”. Paul never let’s facts get in the way of his opinion. Berglund had scored 40 goals in the prior two years in St. Louis playing a second line position and NOT playing power plays. A 20 goal scorer who is good on the draw and plays both ends of the ice and who didn’t get PP minutes is a Fourth liner? My God. Berglund didn’t work out here- no shit. But to play Monday morning QB and claim the Sabres were wrong to think he was a 2nd line center is just not correct. Everything pointed to him being a guy that could school Mittelstadt and take over the 2nd line until Casey was ready. To claim otherwise (which, obviously he did not when the trade was made) softball Paul attempts to make the listener believe this was his position when the trade was made.
When talking about the call-ups of Pilut, Olloffson and Nylander and the fact that two of the three were done well after the Sabres had fallen out of contention, Softball Paul defended the Sabres and actually said that had they been brought up earlier “It wouldn’t have worked” because they “needed that time in Rochester” no matter “what the analytics guys might say”. That opinion says it all. First he says it “wouldn’t have worked” not it probably wouldn’t have worked as if he had some type of crystal ball. No one knows whether it ould have worked. No one knows how the three would have done starting out in Buffalo, or in the least, being brought up mid season when the Sabres started their nose dive. And then to throw in the “no matter what the analytics guys say” just shows how ignorant and what a dinosaur this guy really is, Paul is still in the “eyesight test” rather than the “stats” set of mind. Analytics aren’t everything but they clearly aren’t nothing as Paul seems to think. These kind of statements give more and more credence to this guy being a 60 year old dinosaur who played D2 hockey in college and still thinks that wingers need to be big and tough.
When talking about Risto, Paul actually said if he goes to Tampa he’d probably be a good “THIRD PAIR” defenseman. Third Pair??? Yes Risto has problems. Yes Risto had a bad year. Yes Risto may need to be traded for a change of scenery but nowhere is he a third pair guy. This kid has been here for 5 full seasons. In those five seasons the Sabres have finished last or second last in three and have the worst record in the NHL. Think about what Ryan O’Reilly said last year about losing his love of the game. Year in and year out this kid comes to the rink KNOWING that the team will be out of the playoffs and will be battling for a lottery pick. Year in and year out he knows no matter what he does he’s not going to help this team do anything but stink. Look at the Sabres 10 game winning streak earlier this year he had a2G and 6A. Over the next 14 games he had 12 points. It wasn’t until the end of December when everyone knew this team wasn’t good enough that his season started to slide. Maybe when Botterill refused to make any changes to a line up that was losing games badly over the previous month the kid’s head was no longer in the game (we saw a similar drop in production from everyone). Maybe Risto has just seen so much losing that it gets tough to go out and lay your body on the line night in and night out. Maybe he is a 1st line pair on a WINNING team. To say he’s a third pair guy is just ignorant.
When asked about Jeff Skinner he reiterated his belief that Skinner is waiting to see who the Sabres coach is next year before signing. This is the same guy who told us all year that negotiations were going smoothly…no need to worry…they’ll get this done… On February 16th I wrote in this blog that if the Sabres don’t sign Skinner by the trade deadline that they MUST trade him because they can’t let an asset like him walk without compensation. Well it surely looks like this kid will walk and we’ll get nothing for him (compare what Ottawa got for Stone, Duchene and Drzingle). Softball Paul has never said a word about this: cant’s criticize the GM because next time he interviews him he may not take his questions.
Last but not least, Paul gave us a clue of just how clueless he really is. When Howard Simon asked him about who the defensemen will be next year assuming Risto gets traded, Paul mentioned some of the regulars, made note that Scandella wasn’t “as bad as most people think” and then, for his coup de gras actually said that if the Sabres won the lottery and got Jack Hughes that he’d clearly be in the mix on defense next year. I had to rewind this when I got to work. He actually referred to JACK HUGHES, the CENTER for the USDT, the CENTER on the World Juniors team, the CENTER who has 21G and 33A in 27 games for the USGT as a DEFENSEMAN. This kid is the by far consensus #1 pick of this year’s draft and Softball Paul thinks he plays defense??? As I said previously, his ignorance astounds me. It’s time for GR to find a younger, smarter guy who actually knows how hockey is played today, who knows what analytics show about a player, who knows how to ask tough questions and give opinions, not based upon hindsight, but upon foresight. Someone who isn’t a dinosaur thinking hockey is played like it was in the 70s. Until then I’ll listen the Jerry Sullivan at 1270 the Fan.