welcome back buffalo it is our time to draft number one overall so pretty much we're just gonna get straight into it there's not much really else to to show you guys we'll go through the draft class once again our picks gonna be old rich kuba leak man go on number one and an a plus league 49 games played 13 goals 15 assists he was a plus 13 amazing like a plus a plus a a plus a minus strengths puck protection goal scoring pro release no weaknesses 18 years of age 6 to power forward similar style to Owen Nolan he is NHL ready his scheme fit dump balance balance block overload he has heat seeker at three bars big tipper and bouncer are for sure wheels and shotgun all could be a thing so yeah I was thinking do we trade our first overall pick try to go for someone good I say we're gonna make this a prospect team we're gonna draft number one overall and then come free agency we do have some big contracts that we need to sign actually I was taking a look at this off a video we have a lot of contracts to be signed one being Victor Olufsen Owen power Casey middle stat Henry Yoki Haru paid in Krebs and that might be it so some big names on the list goal tenning wise UPL and Eric Armory need contracts as well so we got some homework to take care of and then once we see what our salary cap is that I think we go out and make some big moves in free agency to get this team ready for the season and ready to compete for a Stanley Cup so without further ado we're heading in to the draft we have the number one pick okay so Tori Krug is being shopped around by the Blues Connor Bedard one that okay so I just want to see what exactly we would get offered for our first overall pick no trades are found okay so no problem we're gonna take first overall like I said there's nothing really there's nothing much that I really want to do like sure it holds a lot of trade value but like there's no really big trades that I want to make so there's no wasting time pick number one will be old rich Kubelik welcome to the Buffalo Sabres franchise buddy all right so he's an elite medium we do not know his overall yet he has heat seeker at four bars bouncer at four bars big tipper at four shocking off for and wheels at four that is absolutely huge we don't know his overall rating none of that but he's NHL ready is what they were telling me that's a good draft pick okay so our next pick do we have anything else in the first round I think we have one more pick in the first round if I'm not mistaken yeah we have the 28th overall pick okay do we go out and try to get someone or do we get rid of that first overall pick so let's go look at the at the draft class one more time right let's look at everyone's rank who would we get at around 28 okay either is there anyone good right so we got Howard low not really liking what I'm seeing there Elliot not really liking what I'm seeing there this guy's a gem is what they're saying but again didn't really scout him too much but they're saying he's a gem elite medium Subaru at 35 could be something similar to Braden Hopi elite medium gold tender we could trade down and try to get the 35th overall I'm trying to see when we have a next pick like we can get him at 35th right so I think I think we are gonna make a trade for our second first round pick I don't think we're gonna really get anything so let's see what we can really get for it okay so we're gonna sim this pick Banes going to Minnesota we were looking at him as well he looks pretty good but I think our pick was better right so offer trade see if anyone is interested in this first overall pick okay from the Detroit Red Wings we got this one from so Chicago is interested in it who are they willing to give up and then a CU Bluger not really anyone that we're looking for so yeah we're gonna take a no a hard no on Chicago Detroit Joe Pavelsky two years left six point eight I've get any dad and off Verona we want someone young to come in Verona wouldn't be a bad choice but he's got a year left we got assigned him we got Fabry Jeff Skinner we don't want back okay so Detroit's probably a no-go LA Victor Arvidson he's probably got a year left we can try to go get him in free agency I don't see us trying to trade for him don't know where we're checking Minnesota they don't want much we all is interested they're not willing to give up anyone but camp Talbot we are not interested in that the Islanders Adam Pelick six years left we don't really need defensemen so that's the issue Josh Bailey is up there in age our Terry Leckinen four years of four and a half don't know how I feel about that contract and all honesty nothing there goal-tending no the San Jose sharks Ryan Ellis again not really looking for defensemen that are up there in age as well Seattle's interested Robert Hague again defensemen that we don't need Philip Grubauer not taking that contract on and other than that it doesn't look like anyone else is interested so maybe we just make that pick with our number one pick like I there's not no one that I really want to go out and get they're getting rid of Hyman he's probably got a year left you have five years left but he's 32 don't know how I feel about that yeah I think we just keep this first round pick like there's nothing that I really think would work Montreal is now willing to give up a whole lot of anything the teams that are interested in the pick don't seem to be interested like don't have anything interesting to give up we'll try to do the find the trade feature I don't think we're gonna find anything for it so I think we're just gonna pick at 28th overall alright so some options simp to pick 28 I just kind of want to see who went where Banes we had a lead medium like oh wow he looks like he could be something good a centerman who is a what's his build doesn't say am I blind I think I'm blind center though alright so no one overalls we have to fog of war so you know what for the next GM mode we are gonna turn off fog of war I'm gonna see if I could turn that off in general I don't like how we can't see the overalls just yet okay so we're gonna turn off fog of war right I'm learning with this franchise most stuff so I apologize for that boys okay so number 27 supposed to go 28 they're saying Howard low left-wing 6 to I mean he looks decent lightning doesn't look like anything too good a bunch of unknown so let's go here a lean medium we're looking at suit like this is the issue with this pic is like let me call a timeout we don't need this pic we don't we don't so you know what let's go make a trade maybe maybe we'll move down let's go to a team that's interested in this pic and we'll kind of move down right so we'll take their second overall pic they're willing to give that up we'll go down to 49 I'm good with that skaters matching the block I mean again there's just nothing that I'm really liking Craig Smith 34 year left don't know how much he's gonna want again he's up there in age as well Anthony see you 29 three years left not a fan of that contract so maybe not Chicago Detroit was a team that's interested they have a lot of players that they're trying to give up they don't want to get rid of their second so maybe give me your fourth and maybe we can get a first out of next year I don't think we maybe a now there's no way that goes through maybe a second for next year and a six for this year I don't think this goes through but we'll see okay it goes through so you know what I like that trade alright we get rid of our first we don't really need it okay we're getting a second round from Detroit so we have two second round picks next year which we're not gonna need picks it's something that we can offload at the trade deadline potentially and then we get a six round pick as well so you know what I'll take that I didn't really like who was there and I'm good with simming to our next pick because I think we're gonna get who we want let me just make sure that our goal tender that we were looking at did not go anywhere okay he did not beautiful I do want to see what we missed out on with low here okay so what did we miss out on not much man like we can't really tell I I don't think I can turn off fog of war so this kind of chalks it up but next GMO we will be turning off fog of war okay so we were looking at superf all right gold tender six four could be the gold tender of the future didn't have the greatest dots he played in an a-plus league though so I'm kind of willing to look the other way when it comes to that he's four years out other than that subev is our next guy if we look at the CS the CS ranking here Vobrov is a guy that's no one's really taken and he's supposed to be a gem now when's our next pick because I do want the subi off guy I don't think we have another second round pick unfortunately so we kind of just got to take a shot we don't really need a defenseman is the way I'm looking at it so I think we're gonna go subev alright so we're gonna take our chances with him and see what he's gonna turn into man elite medium gold tender could definitely be something alright so let's him to pick 66 we're into the third round here let's sort by here elite medium he's supposed to go 173 elite low could be something let's go back to the C the SC ranking top six forward medium bottom six forward medium a centerman didn't do too great you know let's go a rabbit we're to be rabbit and then we will go to pick 98 and that's where I'm gonna think I'm gonna go with those guys right here we were looking at elite low Alexandria of right a plus league he only played 10 games this year five years no similar style but elite low at three bars is kind of intriguing and it's someone that I'm really looking at we could can we wait to take him maybe he's supposed to go 167 we could probably wait to take him to be honest and then maybe go with a Rogers elite low a plus league or C minus league he didn't do too great in the C minus league to be fair man elite low Alexandria we were looking at him you know what let's make his day he's going super early all right simp to pick 130 anything good that's left we have any gems maybe no gems okay and elite medium Stromburg you know what a league we'll go with Stromburg supposed to go 179 we'll take them there simp to pick 132 to do no one like no one that really standing out to me right now man that's the thing there's nothing a HL top six forward C minus he did decent you know what we'll bring you on a little Canadian boy come into Buffalo just across the border we get another six round pick here leave medium just really trying to see if there's anyone that we're really missing on a HL top two there's not much left man my scouting wasn't great to be fair so you know we'll go rule off he could be a lead medium we just don't know yet simp to pick 186 my scouts obviously didn't do the greatest we'll go with bootnick why not and simp to pick 188 Matt Olson or Odelson I like I said I don't really see much left out here we don't really need the fence man I'm kind of just going in on forwards we'll take Odelson did not mean to do that that's my mistake and I'm we do not want that pick I will close my phone sim options 194 we're into the seventh round here is there any good gold centers left doesn't look like it so we're just gonna go here bottom six forward anyone with maybe two bars a HL top two you know a la voyee take a defenseman and that is our draft all right so we made big moves draft in cobalic and now we move to the offseason the red the resign stage we had a resigned coaches so let's do that our a HL head coach you know what I feel like we can get someone better Morgan Downing is in a go we can get a better associate coach you're gone and the assistant coaches here now for the time being LaBelle is our head coach I think he's gonna be a guy we only sent him to a two-year deal we were probably gonna fire him and try to get a better head coach okay so scouts we will go ahead and try to get better scouts I would like to say so we're not gonna resign those guys and now we were off to the resigning stage all right so again we know who we have to sign we have 41 million calf space to do so okay so pretty much what we're gonna do straight off the bat Kuba leak is getting a three-year entry-level deal he's gonna be up in the NHL all right so makes sense to me now look in here let's go with our ufa's first okay let's go with our RFA's first okay so and then we will sort by overall okay so Owen power is a one guy that we for sure for sure need to bring in and I know I want him here long-term so we're gonna bring him in for eight years we're gonna try to get him for seven two I think that is a steal for a defenseman now I think he's gonna be a very very good defense before so seven two eight years rather for us installing own power now Casey middle stat 25 three-year deal of 4.3 I wouldn't mind Henry Yoki Haru 25 three-year deals at 4.5 as well paid in Krebs wants a bit more there for four years looking at our ufa's I do want to bring it back Olufsen I don't think for four years I think I do a three-year deal and maybe 4.6 so that's Olufsen Vinnie Hanna Strozza we'll get back to all these smaller guys or smaller deals later it's own power Casey middle stat I will bring back man let's see if we can do four years at 4.35 for Casey middle stat I might regret that contract but someone with that we could always move Henry Yoki Haru one of our bigger defenseman I'm okay we're bringing back now if we look at our defenseman here right we got one two three we do need Henry Yoki Haru so we're gonna bring in Henry Yoki Haru three years let's see if you'll do 4.45 okay so that's Henry Yoki Haru okay who else needs contracts we're looking at the wrong screen okay paid in Krebs I would like to get done as well 23 he's an 82 overall top six medium forward man is he worth four mil that's a that's the thing I'm gonna give him a two-year deal I'm gonna give him 4.25 and see if he accepts that see what he grows into alright just a little bit of a bridge deal we might regret that as a franchise but I want to see what he grows into okay so Owen power renewing Victor Olufsen renewing Henry Yoki Haru renewing paid in Krebs renewing Casey Middlestad as well and Kuba Leak signing his entry level okay so we have 20 million cap space to work with now Vinnie and Astrosa is he someone that we want to bring back I could do one year at 1.45 see if you'll take that love you know I will release love we will release Reeves we will release Fitzgerald we will release Malone Prisky yep we will sign you my man see what you can turn into Comron we will sign you as well and now off to the RFAs Robertson 23 we will give you a two-year deal Bryson 26 let's see if we can do one mil for a year Murray 25 don't mind you signing that Picard sure these guys were just given whatever they want really like doesn't really matter to me and you as well goal-tending needs to be done UPL let's try to sign into a three three year deal see what he could turn into I'll give you 1.85 yeah that's our rookie goal tender and then we need to sign Eric Comrie depending what he wants good by me and I will sign you as well to an entry level deal are there any other actually we'll come back and see that after okay so it's advanced today Comrie wants more money all right Vinnie and Astrosa wants to test the free agency market not a problem Bryson's back back he's back back back back back okay these guys signing their entry levels all right so who won it out it was Vinnie and Astrosa so go test your free agency buddy no hard feelings there for sure man looking here any of our rookies that are worth signing top six medium defensemen the I don't know elite medium elite low Alexandria off I want to sign get him going there elite medium Kuba leak do we not sign them already I swear we did man I swear we did well we'll make sure that he's signed up I'm not sure what that's about all right top nine forward 19 you know we'll give him a year left there advanced today Kuba leak it's an honor to join the team all right so there we go that's everyone that needs to be signed let's sim off the free agency here and we will start getting some more coaches and scouts all right so first off looking at the coaching staff we do want a better head coach eventually so let's see what's out there before we even fire him all right so higher staff all right a minus is Ben 58% with the team Dallin likes him Thompson doesn't ask when like some 58% man do we do we try to go get him maybe sign him for a two-year deal as well and let's give him 4.5 right so we're gonna bring in a new head coach all right Edmonton in Arizona are interested in them right the issue here is is if we fire our coach and this guy says no we are in troubles all right so LaBelle's got to go all right done we need a head coach for the AHL an associate coach all right so head coach for the AHL we could give it to LaBelle 51% chance 61 so you know what let's give it to this guy there no wrong guy maybe it was this guy Newberry let's give it to Newberry we're gonna give him the AHL head coach five years we're gonna give him what he wants all right we need an associate coach down there 63 for Byron let's do AHL associate coach get him paid up all right we need a goalie coach now so that would be good someone that generalizes in goalies would be nice we got Newberry come in we need a goalie coach Thompson 56% chance we'll do a HL goalie coach hopefully he takes that and those should be that done I believe now we need scouts actually higher scouts what scouts do we need that's a question here okay so assigned scouts no we're looking at coaching staff do we check our scouts from here I believe so okay so pretty much anyone that doesn't have a B we want to get rid of right so fire fire fire fire they're just these are not good scouts you're not gonna get anything done for us all right plain and simple okay oh just gonna rid all these guys all right we're good okay so we need how many scouts 16 scouts all right we got one in the O one in Russia and the rest we need to see all right so higher staff higher scouts all right we need an OHL so let's bring you in OHL we need don't need NHL Nordic we definitely do need NHL NHL HL don't need a HL USA we could bring in a USA guy for sure you're up yep all right QMJ HL why not how many is that already one two three four we've we've offered five okay we've offered five Russia six need ten more do the USA nine more need the WHL all right Nordic Russia Nordic Europe we can get more Europe European scouts for sure USA we got to Europe we got to Nordic we got to Russia let's get another Russian guy in here all right QMJ HL we could bring one in OHL we could definitely bring one more all right WHL let's bring in one more we got two more contracts to give up right we'll give it to the AHL and the HL and done all right so that's all our scouts that needed to be done there all right now before we get into free agency kind of want to see what we're looking for once we get there right so center core what is our center core looking like right now okay so it's gonna be Tage Thompson Dylan Cousins middle stat paid in crabs all right we don't need Asplan but like some of these guys are gonna play the wings right we still got Ross Colton for a year that's cool Savoy is he ready to go man he might need one more year in the minors just to see where he's at so we'll look at him left wings we got one two three okay so we can use a left winger we can use a we could probably use a right winger so left wing right wing defense one two three four all right so we can use a right wing left wing probably a second and third pair defense man and goal tending seems fine to me we probably need a backup all right so let me just jot this down real quick all right so I jotted down what we needed we need a left wing a right wing we need a second and third pairing right defense man okay and then again looking for the left wing and right wing we could use honestly dude our right wing Halton and is he gonna be no Halton is not ready to go just yet so he'll be playing in the minors again yeah he'll be playing in the minors again Halton and we'll be playing in the minors once more Alex talk will be our top line so we could use a second line right winger probably a second line rare probably a second line right winger looking at our left wings Olsen patrica yeah I mean second line left wing second line right wing pretty much I think that would look good to me where is the the guy that we drafted oh where is he oh hold on interesting I can't find him for some reason but we have our prospect as well Kubelik all right he's right here okay so he's a right wing so maybe a third line right wing and a second line left wing okay so let's see who's in free agency first off okay so Elias Pettersen hit the free agency market Copetar Aho Pettersen LeBank William Nylander Evgeny Dadanov Jeff Carter killing ten alright so first things first we were looking at a left winger who can play second line minutes right so who would fit the second line so we got table terror vine in let's make sure they are unrestricted so we got terror vine in we got run and we got angle who's at a 70 or an 87 so let's see who would fit honestly man who would fit so fits none of the lines fits none fits none okay so our coach sucks all right let's not listen to our coach but this guy can play offensive line one offensive line four three maybe we go with like a pure angle how old is he's 28 he's young 87 he wants three years I'd be okay with doing like a two-year deal so you know what pure angle can be a guy that we bring in there's a Jake DeBrosk but maybe that's a depth guy that we signed so you know what let's go with pure angle no one's interested in them so let's go two years and we'll give him a 19 mil to work with let's give him 2.45 all right so there's pure angle that's our left winger that we need done right wingers Kevin LeBank William Nylander do we bring in a William Nylander for seven years at 9.2 I don't know how I feel about that right but he is one of the younger guys that have hit free agency we got Casperi Kaepernan he could be someone that I wouldn't mind bringing in I'm right now just looking at age more or less but honestly we could use someone with a little bit of age on them do we go for William Nylander no we're looking for a second line guys Alex talk a good first-liner maybe we are looking for a first-line guy and Alex talk can maybe go and play second line now we offered pure angle it's your year the two-year deal right if we go for William Nylander which I am very tempted to go with I don't think I'd want to give him seven years five years would take him to what 29 33 I'd be okay with that now do we give him 9.275 five years we're gonna have some of our rookies to sign I don't think it's a contract we're willing to take on is he gonna be good in his later ages probably man he had a good year last year with Toronto won the cup with them and he's ready to go he fits forward line one you know what I'm taking my chances and if this contract rots on us we can always trade them right so Dallas is interested in them I'm gonna go nine four nine three five for five years William Nylander let's see where that takes us okay so that's nine mil right there that's three that's what 12 mil out of the 19 we were able to spend all right so now we need defenseman second and third pairing okay so look in here second and third pairing we need a right-handed shot so TANF being one of them at 34 we could sign him for a year at 4.5 Artem Zube at 28 you know what Artem Zube is someone that interests me right so let's do a two year deal let's say let's see if you'll take two mil flat all right and we need another defenseman to come in he'll be our second line we need a third pairing so literally anyone here Labushkin wouldn't be bad bigger guy can help kill penalties fits on that third pairing we'll offer him a two-year deal I'm willing to give up that much for Labushkin 32 is there anyone better TJ Brody but he wants around the same 34 you know what let's go with you yellow bushkin no one's interested in them I'm gonna try to go for 2.3 all right and then we need a backup goaltender here someone who can back up like as you peel our starter I guess he is our starter for now all right so we need someone to back him up we could bring back Eric comery he did okay for us last year I believe 887 Brian Elliot maybe get someone with age back there so let's go Brian Elliot I'll give him 2.2 man oh my god Scott Scott Wedgewood didn't have a good year uh geez man oh boy okay uh monson bowl 908 you know what do we want to give our backup goaltender that much money Kevin Lankinen had a 910 but then you go back to Brian Elliot he had a 924 who did he play with last year he played with anaheim too man all right you know what let's go with Brian Elliot we can cough up that money let's do a year oh beautiful I can do a year and I'll even give you 1.7 my friend you know I'll give you 1.8 just to make sure you come to to Buffalo all right so that's everyone we addressed everything that we needed all right real quick before we start simming we got to go to our staff and we do got to fire our coach okay oh we did we are we did already okay I don't know what I'm on about okay so let's advance and see who says yes all right incoming trade Bjork ooh second get a fourth get shum on hand don't even want shum on hand thank you though all right sim these days all right so we got our ahl head coach in New Berry so that's good uh all right we got our associate coach Byron so our ahl team's looking good um ahl goalie coach has declined okay no worries there um I'm only except your offer so we're getting our scouts coming in now scouts coming in all right so these are just our scouts accepting none of the coaches obviously just scouts that's good everyone's accepting we needed the scouts so that's good let's advance another day more scouts coming in more scouts coming in they're all scouts but they're all accepting which is good all right so that's one thing that we wanted to get out of the way it's out of the way now all right so beautiful accepting all our offers we love that keep accepting baby let's go okay cool uh Bjork for Kerfoot who's back in Colorado uh no thank you all right let's advance another day ooh head coach said no ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh okay Ilya Labushkin is coming back to Buffalo he's extremely uh happy to accept our offer welcome back Labushkin Artem Zube that is a huge signing is coming to Buffalo Brian Elliott has accepted pure Engvall has accepted but we're still willing um William you know what's funny is I'd even mean to I signed two Maple Leaf players I'd even mean to that's a funny thing okay so we gotta go hire staff is that coach still available man he is still available was this the guy that we uh offered 51% I think it was him right so you know what let's offer him everything that we have all right five years all right take five mil man I don't care we need a good coach no one wants to come coach this team for some reason all right we had the same issue last offseason signing a good head coach please all right advance a day William Nylander is going to the New York Islanders how the turn have tables eh huh all right so our big right winger is gone off to the Isles all right so we still need a right winger and there's not there's still some decent players left like Wheeler two years don't know how I feel about that Anthony Manta man dude that kind of sucks Tyler Tafoli wants four years like we have how much we have 15 million cap space man we can sign a Craig Smith for a depth scoring I won't mind that we'll give him a one-year deal at 1.35 no problem there just get some depth scoring in there Victor Arvidson 31 oh man dude that kind of sucks dad on wants two years I don't think he's gonna stay at an 88 at 35 Blake Wheeler wouldn't be a bad show maybe for like a year maybe two years I wouldn't mind doing six mil for him I don't know who else dude Bear Banoff he's up there in age all these guys up there in age Daniel Sprung I mean a depth guy two years 27 81 overall he's still young we'll give him a deal um other than that man Tafoli wanting four years you don't need a rider 86 overall does he keep it up I'll sign him at a two-year deal 2.8 all right ah man that really sucks about Neelander dude really sucks let's advance these days see what happens here Ben just still doesn't want to come here five mil and still does not want to come here I'm gonna try one more time with him I don't get why no one wants to come both coach these Buffalo Sabres man I'll give you less years and maybe a bit more money dude like I don't know what else to offer you here dude we gave you well just a bit over five mil and you still said no literally take everything dude we need a good coach here in Buffalo I feel like we needed desperately we'll give him 5.4 dude if you say no to this you're out of your damn mind buddy out of your damn mind all right so let's advance another day advance another one see what our uh free agents say oh now you want to join the team all right you just wanted a 5.4 mil but we got a good coach Brandon van welcome to the Buffalo Sabres organization uh Craig Smith has accepted you know Neetah Rider has accepted Daniel Sprong has rejected we have a full roster okay so Bjork for Bobrovsky get the hell out of here man okay now looking at our team here right I just want to see if we have enough players to ice on this team we have 50 contracts out of 50 all right so center-wise all right Thompson Cousins middle stat Savoy he all right Colton okay so we could put one of these guys in the wing left wings Engvall Olufsen Patrika Krebs okay or Asplend right wings Smith Neetah Rider Tuck Cousins Thompson not Colton he's a lefty Piccar whatever right defenseman Dallin Power Yoki Haru Labushkin Clegg uh Robertson was there not one more defenseman that we just signed I swear we signed one more defenseman am I trippin Artem Zube we don't know who's overall yet okay so that was a risky signing I guess is there a way to turn off I don't think there is let me check quickly yeah there's no way okay so it is what it is we're gonna have to deal with fog award for this franchise mode okay so I think realistically this is the team we're going with all right so listen to next season uh we are going to edit our trade block we don't want anything right now we're pretty content with our team we're gonna see how everyone turns out uh we're gonna make our team and then when we are good to go uh next episode will be us starting the sim for next season all right it's been a long episode already this off season has been a busy one for your Buffalo Sabres okay so listen to the season we don't know who the captain's gonna be yet I think we are gonna give the captaincy to Rasmus Dallin uh and then an assistant captain to Tuck um and then I'm not sure who else all right so we're gonna make sure to do all of that and the next uh video will be the start of the season so take Thompson I'm gonna uninside the captaincy I'm gonna uninsign the alternate on the signer right I want the captaincy to go to Rasmus Dallin I want the A to go to Thompson and I want the A to go to uh where is he Alex Tucker right so that's all set edit the lines here and what are we seeing here right Olson Kubelik is playing first line kind of want Craig Smith up here Kubelik there talk on the third uh cousins I want on the first line with Thompson and Craig Smith Olson crabs Kubelik uh maybe throw Engel on that first line like we wanted to throw cousins there man this is uh looking like a sneakily good team man and then I wanted uh interesting put Olson there put Nita Ryder maybe up here see what he turns into and then defense Dallin Yoki Haru maybe throw Zube ooh ooh no no no no what are we gonna do here we got a minus to her hopefully that works out uh and then our goal tending at the greatest now looking in the AHL Halton is up to a 71 we got Savoy he you know what we'll give him one more year in the AHL if he does good hey man we're fine we're calling you up right now looking at the NHL maybe we get rid of Ross Colton but I don't want to play in fourth line minutes just yet all right so that looks good to me Kubelik no gold uh X factor right now but you know what we'll do is we will sim through the regular the preseason and uh get all that done all right so again we're getting trade offers ooh interesting all right Jeremy Swamin if we wanted a gold tender got a year left 85 overall 25 starting gold tender alexandriov man and we're getting rid of two seconds that's second that we've got man you know what I will come back to boston if they're still looking to do this eventually but right now we're gonna start the season with upl in that right so I think that might be our best case scenario okay so sim the preseason which we just did uh and let me go sign the scouts real quick all right regular season is done common come and gone I just want to see everyone's ratings before we get started we did not have a good uh preseason by the way but it is what it is preseason is preseason okay so look in here edit the lines Kubelik is in 83 he's getting first line minutes he's in 83 already at 18 years of age man uh awesome all right so he'll be playing with tage thompson and pure engvall who was a horrible signing 78 overall it's a good thing we only signed into that let's throw dylan cousins up there let's get nita rider up there and let's put asplan up there right not a good great signing all right but it is what it is okay sammel craig smith knock ray let's throw olison up there all right and maybe we'll keep Kubelik so this is what the lines are going to be looking like going into the season for next episode all right cousins will be playing with tage thompson and Kubelik uh olison with payton krebs and nino nita rider krebs went up to an 85 so you know what man that two-year bridge deal might bite us in the bud we might have to pay him more come uh the two years asplan will be playing with metalstat and tuc and then smith with colton and engvall defense we got dalin with henry okiharu lubushkin with oan power and clay with artem zube now my one thing that i do need to say it's a zoop signing not looking too great two years at two mils all right lubushkin two years at what 2.3 is all right as well country deadline i can already see moves that we need to make uh being probably a third line winger and a fourth line winger defense definitely a first pairing defenseman get rid of zoob or lubushkin and then if goaltending doesn't go the way it's supposed to definitely a starting goaltender for um the season to try to get us into the playoffs and competing for a cup looking down here in the minors halted and still at a 71 uh so we'll see what he can do uh savoy he's going to be ready next year i want to say so that's going to be a center for us goaltending we got uh two pretty good goaltenders here they're both 25 so we don't know what they're going to turn into and the defensively uh not really any good prospects down here other than that who is scratched any of our prospects alexandria was one of those guys let's throw him into the lineup maybe get rid of you and put alexandria off in there get him playing some fourth line minutes there maybe a roosa lining up there okay so that looks good to me everything to set for next episode all right so if you guys have any suggestions before we start to see him in next episode leave in the comment section down below this is what the buffalo sabers are looking like going into the 2024 2025 regular season as potential playoff contenders that is it for today i will see you guys in the next one


Personal finance practice problem using Excel. Estimated future dividends and earnings per share. Prepare to get financially fit by practicing personal finance. Here we are in our Excel worksheet if you don't have access to it, that's okay because we'll basically build this from a blank sheet. But if you do have access, three tabs down below. Example, practice blank, example, in essence, answer key. Let's look at it now. Information on the left. Calculations on the right. We're looking at common stock, trying to predict what's gonna happen in the future from trends in the past, possibly to help us out with investing types of decisions. The second tab, practice tab, will have some pre-formatted sales so you could work the practice problem with less Excel formatting. The third tab, the blank tab, we will be dealing with the Excel formatting. If you don't have anything, you could just open up a blank sheet. I would select the entire sheet by selecting the triangle possibly. If you had a blank sheet, right click on the selected area format so you can lay down the baseline formatting which I usually go with the currency and then the brackets and red for negative numbers, no dollar sign and no decimal. I'm not gonna hit okay because I already have this. I'm just gonna X out up top. Then you can add your data on the left-hand side adding information as needed, formatting sales as needed. For example, putting decimals here and a percentization there and then we're good to go. So the information on the left, we've got the earnings per share and we're looking at past data for which it's gonna say X1, X2, X3, X4 and so on that we have calculated in past data to try to help us out with what we think is gonna be the trend going forward. We got the earnings per share, a constant rate of growth assumed to continue, meaning when we're trying to figure out what's gonna happen in the future, we have to make some assumptions, note that we can make similar assumptions to other investments, but it's easier with things like fixed income type things like bonds because if we're trying to value bonds, we can think about what's gonna be the future income of the bonds and that will typically be defined of course in the terms of the bonds in formal interest payments, typically semi-annual for example and a maturity payment with the stocks. The value that we're gonna be receiving will be possibly an increase in the valuation of the stock itself and the dividends that might be paid out to us in the future so those are the things that we can try to predict what's gonna happen in the future to try to value the stocks at this point in time. So the dividend percent of earnings we're gonna say is 30%. Now note that the dividend policy of a corporation could differ depending on the corporation. The dividend policy represents the company taking the earnings they have and distributing it to the owners which are the shareholders. The shareholders cannot just take draws as they do for like a partnership for example because all the shares have to represent the same amount that's being distributed therefore the dividend policy will be determined by the board of directors and the management. So they might determine that dividend policy typically they're gonna want dividends to go up and not typically go down or at least not go down without any knowing happen because that could be a bad sign to the market. So they might have a policy however that they tie the dividends to the earnings and that could be a typical kind of strategy because then you can have the dividends going up and down in relation to the earnings. So we'll make an assumption here that we're gonna say the dividend percent of earnings is the 30%. So given that we might look at past data and try to get some idea about the valuation of the stock by looking at trends and the earnings per share after calculating the earnings per share we might then try to say well let's take the difference how much is the earnings per share going up by and see if we can extend that trend into the future. So for example in 2022 I can say this is gonna be the 1380 minus the 12. This is a typical running balance type of calculation. I'm gonna add a couple of decimals home tab, number group add a couple of decimals do it again. We're gonna say okay 2000 X3 the 1580 sevens where we are now minus where we were before and we could of course copy this down. I'm gonna add some decimals which I'll do in a second but just to see the trend clearly and X4 we've got 1825 minus the 1587 add some decimals and then of course in X5 we've got the 2099 that we're at minus the 1825 adding some decimals there it is. Now this is a really useful kind of running balance analysis we see this often in Excel and the easiest way to do that is you could do the first calculation I'm gonna delete this to show it and then you can just copy that down by putting your cursor on the fill handle dragging down and it'll do that running balance calculation. So there is that so we could see this difference that is applying out here and that's useful and then we can also say okay what is the percentage increase that is happening here? So now we can say okay if it went from 12 to 1380 we got a 1.8% increase but possibly I wanna look at the percent increase because that could be something I can use for example to compare to other stocks to see what their percentage increase is even if they have a different earnings per share. To do that we're gonna take the difference divided by the prior balance so remember it's the prior balance. So this is gonna be the 1.8 divided by the 12. So I'm gonna add some decimal or percentize it home tab font group we need to recognize by percentifies add some decimals possibly but it's even. So then we're gonna do that same thing here this equals the change that happened from X2 to X3 divided by the prior period this is the percentage increase very again a very common kind of metric when you're trying to think about the increase in things in things like job performance for example if you were to measure baseball players increases and so on you would use a similar kind of calculation so it's really useful to have and be able to calculate with and so we've got the same percent increase it's gonna come out nice and even because that's how we set it up. We got the 2.38 divided by the prior period 1587 and once again that comes out nice and even and then one more time we got the change from X4 to X5 the 2.74 divided by the 1825 on X4 and percentifies and decimals it. Okay now we can copy that down it's a little bit more tricky so let's do that the easy way I'm gonna delete these what you're gonna delete yeah I'm gonna delete it but then we'll do it the easy way double click on here and so now when we copy this down we want this cell in C5 to move down and we want this cell over here to move down so that's an easy formula we should just be able to copy that down like so and double click I thought we needed an absolute reference but no we're good all the way down so there's a 15% change all the way down now that's a very consistent earnings trend that we can then assume is gonna happen as we go out into the future it might not be that consistent we might have to basically try to see what the data points are basically with this trend and then see what the most likely data point would be try to draw a line through the dot pattern to see what the most likely pattern would be if we were to draw a straight line through it for example so that's what we'll do here so now let's take about the earnings per share calculation the estimated earnings per share calculation for the following year the next year and we could do a quick calculation let's put let's make our E a skinny column I'm gonna skinner skinny up E and then we're gonna say this is the estimated earnings per share and we'll do it with like a table kind of format so we'll open this up and let's say this is for X let's say this is for X six X six what do we expect to happen? Let's make this black and white I'm gonna select from F one H one make that our header home tab font group drop down on the bucket black and the lettering is white so we've got the earnings per share so let's take the earnings per share for X five which I'm gonna put in the outer column here I'm gonna say that was equal to the 20 99 that's where we left off and we'll make that a decimalized number adding some decimals and then we'll make the subcategory which will be the increase so the increase percent let's call it brackets it's gonna be the earnings per share estimated growth rate let's say I'm gonna make this a little bit larger I'm gonna put this in the inner column this is of course gonna be that 15% that we're estimating that's exact here but again even if it wasn't exact we could try to draw a trend line which is what we think is the most likely outcome and then home tab number percentifies that and we're gonna add one to it plus one plus one to get it to 115% so I'm gonna underline that and then we're gonna say that this is going to be the earnings per share the estimated earnings per share for X six say X six I'm sorry this is gonna be the increase percent which is gonna be equal to the sum of the 15 plus the one or 115 the one could be a 100 number let's make that a percent so 115 or 1.15 and we're gonna underline that and then we've got this will be the estimated earnings per share X six it's a little X, X six and that's gonna be equal to the 20.99 outer column times the 115 so that's gonna be 24 adding some decimals home tab font group couple decimals 24, 14 or in other words you could do it this way right you could say it would be the 20.99 adding some decimals times 0.15 making that a percent that means the increase would be this times this that would be the three adding some decimals 0.15 and then add the original number so this plus this would be the 24 so you can calculate the increase hold on you can calculate the increase that way and then get to that or you could say it's gonna be 15% plus the original 100% or one and that gives you 115% which is a little bit faster of a calculation there I'm going to undo let's format paint over all this to get the sales back let's do some formatting here I'm gonna select let's select these three and indent them home tab number alignment indent and then indent again hold on indent again and then I'm gonna make this all blue I'll select the whole thing home tab font group bucket drop down that's the blue I want I'm gonna find it in the more colors standard and there's the blue right there okay and then font group brackets and then we'll choose these items too let's make that bracketed and blue because we entered data there and so there we have it now if we've got the earnings per share going forward we can of course also calculate the dividends so estimated dividends for X6 let's make this blue and or black and white we'll hit the bucket black and white so we've got the earnings per share calculation gonna make this a little bit larger so we can see it that's the 2414 we'll make that numbers and decimals and then we said the dividend dividend percent of earnings per share is 30% and again, we're gonna assume that's the case because it might be actually the policy of the company to do something like that to try to tie their dividends to the earnings per share we might see a similar trend in how they're calculating their dividends as the earnings go up they possibly are have a trend of increasing their dividends to the estimated as estimated dividends then is the 2414 times the 30% adding some decimals and we can go then home tab, add a couple decimals there we have it let's make this blue and bordered so we'll make this border blue and so there we have it now you also might try to do this in like a trend so you can see not just x6 but going forward so if I make like a skinny let's make a skinny eye selecting this and go into the skinny eye so we might have like a running type of balance where we're gonna say that we have let's say we have like the period and then we've got the earnings per share and then this would be estimated earnings per share and then the dividends dividends and so the period I'm gonna say is we've got x6, x7, right x8, x9 and we can continue out as far as we wanna go based on these assumptions let's make this black and white font group and make this black and white and so we can make this j a little bit thinner let's make these centered too alignment and center them so in x6 the earnings per share we could say okay the earnings per share is simply going to be the prior earnings per share I'll pull that from here the 20.99 times what we determined to be the one plus what we determined the change to be that we're gonna go for so brackets one plus the 15% and so brackets and enter so we get the 24 let's go up top and then say add some decibels so we get the 24.14 so we just basically did this calculation again and from there going forward we could say okay it's gonna go up by 15% again so we're gonna take the prior number x6 if we assume this trend is gonna keep going forward and we can multiply it times I'm gonna pick up the 15% over here plus one I gotta put that in brackets though brackets hold on a second well I know I know xo 15 plus one because of order of operation so I'm gonna take that times 15% plus the original or times 115% I wanna make that 15% absolute so I can copy it down and it doesn't move down I want this one not to be absolute because I do want it to move down as we pull it down so I'm gonna say F1 the keyboard for this one out here dd8 and you only need a mixed reference but an absolute one works enter and I'm gonna go home tab add some decibels put my cursor on the fill handle and drag that down so now you've got you know you can get like a trend analysis going forward and we said the dividends are always just gonna be 30% of whatever the earnings per share is that's our predictions so I could take the earnings per share times the dividend let's pull it from our data over here and take F4 and the keyboard because this is outside my data set I don't want it to move down I do want cave two to move down so all you need is a mixed reference but an absolute one works I'm gonna hit okay put my cursor back on it home tab I'm sorry numbers add some decimals there's the 724 then I'm gonna put my cursor on the fill handle double click and that'll just drag it on down so you can see a trend going forward let's center these let's go to the home tab alignment and center those so and we can obviously extend that trend down as far as we think would be applicable for our usefulness and as far as we think the trend might be applicable to think about going forward so I'm gonna go to the brackets and make that blue let's do a quick review of the spelling looks good


It's that time of year again. We students are back in school, working on projects, writing papers, and with exams just around the corner. Nothing is more relatable than stress. I am stressed. You are stressed. We all are in some way. And it's actually okay to be stressed. In fact, stress is our response to changes in our environment, giving us a signal to adapt the changes in our lives. Our bodies release hormones that prepare us to deal with these changes. Or in some situations, run away from the problem. As university students, it is important for us to realize that we are here to learn and grow. And with that comes various challenges. And no challenge comes without stress. We can define stress as a positive or negative element to our mental health. But if we recognize stress as a positive and adaptive signal to our mental health, stress can be used to our benefit, promoting growth, success, and prosperity. How stress affects our mental health, excluding extreme or special circumstances, is generally within our power. Identifying the cause of the stress and adapting to it in a healthy and effective manner will not only improve our mental state, but also give you a new sense of appreciation of your body's stress response. In addition, every time we are presented with a daily stressor and are forced to adapt to it, our mental state is fortified and ready to adapt to potential stressors. Having said that, while some stress can be beneficial for our growth and success, when we have too much stress for an extended period of time without allowing ourselves time to recharge, that is when stress begins to take a toll on our overall health. Recharging is a healthy action and encourages sustainability of our crazy busy student lives. Listening to music, chatting with people you care about, disconnecting from social media, these are just some of the ways that you can recharge in a healthy manner, guilt-free. You need to be accountable for your health and forgive yourself if you feel you are not performing to your best ability due to multiple stressful events going on in your life. As much as our bodies like and require social interaction, we may also need some time to ourselves to focus and re-establish a clear mindset. This doesn't have to be sending yourself to solitary confinement. You can spend time with friends, you could go outside to spend time in nature, or you could do something creative, such as going to a painting class. The most important part is to do anything that helps ground you and prepare you for your goals. As we mentioned earlier, most everyday stress is normal and is a signal to adapt to something in our lives. It helps us get through obstacles in our lives, but it can be unhealthy when we have too much over a long period and neglect the basics. Sleep, nutrition, exercise, and connecting with others. Adapting to stress leads to a more and more resilient mind and improved coping skills. Everyone's stressors and reactions to stress are very different. It may take some time to learn what works for you, but keep trying and try not to stress about it. So, what is stressing you or are you stressing about today? What would you do differently to combat your stress? This project was made possible by UBC's Social Impact Lab and its partners. For more details, check the video description.


Good morning everyone. It is 8 a.m. I'm about to head off to orange theory Orange theory you have to wear shirts, which honestly is annoying I like working on my sports bra so much better, but I just have a black t-shirt on and then My Adidas jacket that I got from Urban Forever girl that was like really overpriced So today is Wednesday My hair looks horrible. Today is Wednesday.  Oh, yeah filming a room tour. I'm filming actually a good amount of videos today I forgot about that as we'll see but um, yeah, I'm going orange theory first to start off my day Um, I this is my fifth class everyone in like a week. So I'm really liking it All right, my house is so ignore that so clean watch yesterday's vlog. I do clean to everything I also need to run an errand and return this Oh my gosh, I'm freezing my hands are so cold. Um, I'm out orange theory I'm not gonna vlog in there. So I'm just filming my camera in the car But I'm gonna go work out. It's an hour long workout If you guys want me to do a video on orange theory like once I've done it for like how a month is long enough I don't know Let me know. I've already done five classes. So I'm clearly a pro just kidding. But um Yeah, if you guys want to see that Let me know because I'll be down to do that. I think I don't know if enough of you guys wanted it Then I would be oh my gosh. I'm so cold. Oh Okay, I just got out of orange theory. It was a really good class I'm going into exchange this rug right now because you guys saw in yesterday's vlog it had a tear in it so Just fun stuff guys, but I feel so much better now that I worked out. Okay guys, so I returned one rug and then I Bought three more. Well one of them. I mean it was technically an exchange but I got all of these because these were $15 each and they're like really big and they're cool So I don't know where the top one's gonna go with the black ones There's two of them are gonna go in my kitchen. Here's an update on the kitchen This rug is like too small for this So I'll eventually get a new one, but these are just so like versatile I can put them pretty much anywhere and it doesn't really matter and I hate these chairs. Oh wait Thing wait, just kidding. These are actually the wrong chairs. Hold on So the white chairs are the ones for this. I still don't like love these chairs I mean, they're fine for this. I definitely'm gonna need to get a different rug. I think Um, but yeah over here Well right here, maybe when joe gets home, we can do this. I'm gonna move that print That's colorful and the breakfast look here And then I want to get a few prints right here and then a neon sign Which I think would be really cute maybe from dorm fly or something Um, I wish this was magnetic because we could like put polaroids up and stuff I might just start taping them. So like there's something and it's cuter Um, but like here guys How do I make this cuter? Like what do I do? You know, this is hard So I moved the rug that was under this Into the breakfast nook area. These chairs are just placeholders. I'm probably gonna add a few pillows and like a book up there Let's make it look cute But it's coming together. This looks better in person than it does on camera, honestly But this is going to be replaced into a different um kitchen table and stuff So ignore that and then that is the piece that's going to go into the kitchen But I'm getting the huge huge huge rug for in here So that is what this area looks like this right now I just love all of these pillows in my office. So I don't want to move them But I wish that I had more of these cow pillows. They're from Ikea Um for in there, but since we're replacing it, I guess I probably shouldn't do that I'm gonna see it behind here. I have any books that would like Look good. Who knows? Okay, so I just got these for my bookshelf I'm gonna like get something and make a like little Whatever, it'll be cute.  Okay. Well, this is my update for the day and last year when I get a big rug today I don't know if we're gonna have time though Um, but I'm so happy.  I'm doing my 2018 like fast video. Um, I yeah, I'm excited Guys look how cute it looks Okay, I just made some eggs really quickly. I'm not super hungry, but yeah, let's make some eggs First time sitting in the kitchen. Oh my gosh I don't know if I mentioned this. Oh, yeah, I did my hair and my makeup ready for the day But my heater in my house isn't working and it is freezing cold So I'm literally gonna have to wear this jacket just like around the house guys like this is ridiculous But I know I just made breakfast, but I'm hungry So I think I'm gonna make some lunch and then I'm gonna film I thought I was gonna film and then do that but No, so this is a really simple outfit This is my outfit for the day though watching Brianna's video And making some tomato soup with toast. Oh no, I I just went there yesterday Whatever, but I saw some toast my tomato soup Smells so good And finishing this video Also guys something that I've been thinking lately is that I really want to start cooking I don't know where this came from if you would have known me Basically any day besides before the past like four days It's shocking, but I really want to get into cooking. I feel like I feel good You know, people get like a maternal Instinct like that just comes in. I feel like that was cooking. I sent that to my mom earlier Yeah, I think I'm gonna start cooking this year if you guys have any tips Let me know, but I only know like three recipes Um, but I'm like into it. I think maybe it's because I like my kitchen now I hated it, but now I'm starting to like it. So maybe that's it. I don't know But I really do want to start cooking. All right guys. I got this Trader Joe's coffee cup celebration Basically festive cake cups and I got it last year too and it was horrible then but I forgot and then I got it again And I don't like them, but it's the only coffee I have So I'm gonna try I the french vanilla, I guess I don't know guys I drink my coffee black and then if anything just get a festive creamer. Oh, yeah, I'll use this month that I haven't used yet So cute right? Also an espresso drinker is this has been sitting here. Well, I've used it But I just need to know which pods you guys get. I really like it I just have not taken the time to like figure out which pods I get and that's why I have not been using it So comment down below if you guys are in espresso drinkers and let me know, please Let's taste test this Oh, it's gonna be too hot. Just kidding. I'll do it soon though Guys it is so cold in this house Joe just came home and apparently the heater hasn't been working since I like left for taxes and Yeah, so it's freezing. I just finished filming my favorites video I talked to Joe for a while and now I'm gonna import it I need to leave in like an hour and a half to go to dinner and church on my cousin So this video has to go tomorrow and then I have stuff to do in the morning So hopefully I get a lot of the editing done If not, I'm gonna have a lot to do when I get home tonight Which I don't really like doing a normal way to like like getting home reading and going to bed So We will we'll see Oh my god, it's so cold It's so bad. It's so so bad guys. I just Did a lot of editing. I'm almost done editing that video Guys, I'm literally shaking because it's so Cold in this house.  I like the coldest In this too. Okay. I need to leave.  Alyssa. We're going to gross this modre Which is a really good restaurant in LA if you guys weren't aware But I'm wearing this jacket. Honestly, I have no idea where it's from. I've never worn it I'm like really silvered out today my rebeck and minkoff bag H&M privilege 21 scrunchy jeans from urban sneakers And that is my look. Oh my god. I'm so cold. Okay, we're leaving. This is crazy So we are at grossest modre. I'm with my cousin Alyssa. It's unfocused again I got some lemonade. We ordered some chicks in gua And then from the starting menu, I got the mini chimichanga, which if this is many like I have no idea You know what the chimichangas remind me of my mom and me casino And then I don't know I don't remember this is called it something with like black bean Meatballs or something. I don't know it looks amazing Just got a coffee because I'm so tired Oh my gosh, okay, so dinner was good. Um, we went to grossest modre It was really good. You guys the starter was literally seven dollars and we got a few And the mini chimichanga Was so filling. I cannot imagine a bigger one like what you would possibly eat And yeah, it was just really good. So and they have lemonade. I love lemonade I actually normally don't drink anything besides water and coffee But um, yeah, I got lemonade treat yourself, you know I used to like rate restaurants by their lemonade like a good lemonade. That's how I knew I liked it But I'm also like the least picky eater ever. So I would always like it So anyways, I'm waiting for Alyssa because we had to drive our cars separately But we are at church and then we're gonna go and head in but Just wanted to stop in say hello That's pretty much it. Oh, there's Alyssa. I see your car. All right. Bye guys Okay, we we're freezing we're walking church. It is what is it like? It's probably like Is it 50? 50 degrees out Look, it looks like I'm literally going to like ski like snowboard on a mountain right now 54 50 50, okay. It is really cold It wasn't that cold in texas over winter break. It was like 70 on christmas. It was it gets cold be prepared She's going like next week. No, it does get cold. It'll get to like 20 Like it was in the tens for a while at one point It happens, but I like the 70s Sun all the time. I love gloom, but just from this 150 degree day I realized that maybe I don't like the cold as much as I thought But I like gloomy weather, you know, it's because I'm not dressed for it maybe but we're on our way to church I just drink a coffee. I'm gonna be up all night. I'm not going to bed. I'm not going to bed. No I just got home and I came home to a new box from loving tan loving tan is my favorite south tanner I actually literally just talked about them in my favorites video today Oh, they are so cute Guys, these are all my favorite products Um, this is my favorite. Oh, they have ultra dark. I don't think I normally use ultra dark. Dang. Wait, that's really dark Normally, I just do the dark that like really scares me experience centers only Um, but I like the deluxe bronzing mousse. I normally really like the express stuff. This is awesome Oh my gosh. Thank god. This is the best part of the packages I was sad for a second because I didn't know if they were here or not Tim tams guys.  I love their stuff if you guys want like a full video on self tanning Let me know


The U.S. Institute of Peace is pleased to welcome you to this important conversation with two leading champions for peace and economic development in Africa. We're honored to welcome His Excellency, President Felix Tishikating, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chair of the African Union. We're honored to welcome Congresswoman Karen Bass, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Global Human Rights. The incredible progress and promise of Africa is an inspiration for all of us. The African Continental Free Trade Area is the largest new free trade community in the world. The continent, as we all know, has enormous natural resources and ecosystems. Africa's youth population is one of the most vibrant in the world and across many countries, the middle class is growing and prospering. Major leaps in health, education, technology, climate mitigation, communications, food security, and migration are within the grasp of Africa's 54 countries. It's deeply worrying that these gains, as incredible as they are, may be at risk because of the chaos and the misery that's been created by the COVID pandemic. I think all of us worry that it may take many years to recover from the loss of livelihoods. Parts of the Northeast and West Africa continue to be threatened by violent extremism and drought flooding, food insecurity, and mass migration, much of it linked to climate change, continue to impact a number of countries which are struggling to get on the right path and to continue to progress. His Excellency, President Tishikating, has set an ambitious agenda as the chair of the African Union, focused on tackling the pandemic, fostering peace and security, accelerating trade, combating climate change, promoting Africa's culture, and empowering women and youth. Chairwoman Bass, who has worked tirelessly to promote peace building through her leadership of the House Born Affairs Africa subcommittee, is one of the most powerful and persuasive voices and advocates for the Africa-US partnership. We are honored, President Tishikating, Congresswoman Bass, that you can join us this morning to reflect on the challenges facing Africa and how to promote peace, stability, and economic development throughout the continent. We invite everyone to follow the conversation on Twitter with hashtag AfricaUSIP. With your permission, we will now turn to the Vice President of USIP's Africa Center, Dr. Joseph Sonny, who will introduce our panelists to moderate this morning's discussion. Thank you, Liz, and welcome to our audience. The Africa Union is an ever more important institution embodying African hopes for greater cooperation around key issues of development, peace, and security across the continent, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo sits at the heart of this important continent. The US Congress has long played a leading role in setting US-Africa policy. So that means the stage is set for what promises to be an important discussion of how to deepen US engagement to promote peace, stability, and development throughout Africa. I will now introduce our distinguished panelists. President Phyllis Tishikating has served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since January of 2019, winning office through democratic elections held the previous December. The first peaceful transition of power since the country became independent from Belgium in 1960. President Tishikating leads the Union for Democracy and Social Progress Party, and earlier this year was distinguished by being selected to chair the African Union. Representative Karen Bass has served in the US House of Representatives since 2011, representing California's Los Angeles County. Since entering Congress, Representative Bass has been a leader on United States-Africa relations, serving on the Africa subcommittee which she now chairs. Chairwoman Bass is his home believer in personal diplomacy. Travelling often throughout Africa, including my own country of birth, Cameroon, where she has highly admired, respected for the incredible job she has done, and she continues to do. She is an innovative thinker on US-Africa policy. President Tishikating, Chairwoman Bass, thank you for being with us, and now let's start the conversation. But before, some housekeeping rules. So, dear members of the audience, I would like to bring you into the conversation, so I encourage you to submit your question as the conversation evolves. This will allow me to feed your question into the flow of the conversation and save us some time. So, let me begin with the President. President Tishikating, you set an ambitious agenda when you were selected chairperson of the African Union. What are your major priorities that require support from the international community? I know you have laid out nine priorities, but which one requires support from the international community? Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President, for giving me the floor, and Ms. President, Karen Bass, thank you very much for honoring me and inviting me to this morning's session. This round table is important. I would like to greet the representative, Karen Bass, who is a prominent militant of the African cause, and who I would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart for joining us this morning to speak about Africa, and more particularly of Congo. As you said very clearly, Dr. Joseph Sonny, since February, since last February, I was of course raised to the rank of President of the African Union for a year of being doing this, and I think I will represent my continent during this, and I will have the opportunity to defend its own interest during international forums. And here I am here to answer directly your question, sir. One of the major objectives of the African Union is to of course silence the arms. It was an objective that was set up as a priority and in 2020 with of course all what happened in 2020 with the pandemic. This was not possible, but it is always among our priorities and we are looking forward to absolutely bring, reinforce or peace and security in Africa. You asked what support could be given from the international community, and I believe that this should be supported by initiatives of peace that were reinforced and in this regard I would like to say between parenthesis I would like to congratulate the role of the United States in the question of the great dam of Ethiopia. I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this initiative. I would like to, if I want to speak about the Congo, the example of the Congo, recently we've known especially in the east the country is undergoing some violent, some violence, some extreme violence is going on in the west and it's illustrated by a group, by an armed group. I know there are so many armed groups but there is one that is particularly, particularly, important here because it has an Islamist extremist ideology and without any reason because we have seen things happening and it has affected our populations. This requires, ladies and gentlemen, a great capability of our forces of security, of defence and training has to be put in place to, of course, to have some capacity building. We need trainings to be able to fight this violent extremism. We need training for our intelligence corp in order to fight this phenomenon. We have done a great, we have done a lot and we have tried to fight this phenomenon. Recently we have isolated these groups but I think these groups have reconstituted themselves in small groups and it affects our population, especially in small villages where there is not enough protection because we can't, we can't spread our army everywhere. The Congo is a big country, you know. So we need, we have to be endowed with additional means in order to continue our fight. We have to be involved in this initiative and we need to continue this war and to fight this phenomenon, violent extremism. So this is regarding peace. In addition to that we have a great big challenge in Africa. You have spoken about that in the past while you were also introducing this morning and while you were speaking this morning, you have spoken of the free zone, free trade agreement zone and it is not today that we will finish the process. We will not be able to complete the process today but we have decided to compile our energies and our forces in order to continue and have like a free trade agreement zone that will help Africans to exert a commerce with Africa and trade and to enhance trade in Africa. One of the biggest activities in trade are done outside Africa as you know but within our initiative we have, we have tried to examine ways whereby to see, whereby Africans could be, could do the trade, could reinforce trade among themselves and try to have like a five billion dollars as a to encourage profit of five billion dollars. It's a challenge that we, that we, that has to include the United States and great nations and Europeans could work together and could help us, could help us to put in place. It's also in their best interest because they want Africa to prosper and to thrive and I think it's, it will be a great opportunity to encourage investment in Africa. It is a great project, it is a challenge and we invite our partners to work with you hand in hand and to support us to least but not, last but not least Africa of course has this, we would like to work to enhance our heritage and our culture. You know that the history of our country is rich and there are values that we would like to preserve. There is a culture that we would like to enhance and promote and we would like to give our continent to provide our continent with a prosperous situation and to a culture between quotes our country. We are searching for our, for our heritage, for our history and I know that there is a lot to do to enhance our heritage or culture and there are so many people that have done great jobs in Africa and there is a lot to do. It's a challenge that we have to transcend. We need to retrieve our identity, we need it in order to build our future, in order to solidify and reinforce our continent. We need to see Africa as a future, as the future. I believe that Africa is the future, it is, it has a youth population, it has women who are really inspired, it has potential, it has natural resources that need to be enhanced and I think that this Africa can prosper and I think we can rebuild Africa to make of it a prosperous and a successful Africa. It is, there is a lot to do in order to enhance our culture. Thank you very much for, I'm sorry I was a little bit long but I hope I summarized and I answered your question. Thank you very much. Thank you. Would you like to share your thoughts on President Cicicady's EU agenda and how does this agenda fit with the goals of your subcommittee on Africa? Please. Well first of all thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you today. I have utmost respect for the US Institute for Peace and your programs there and I look forward to the next time being, instead of being virtual, being in person and it's wonderful to see you again Mr. President. I certainly remember hosting you here on the hill shortly after your election to the presidency of the DRC. First of all it is just very nice. I want everybody to understand that when it comes to the question of Africa, Africa is a very bipartisan issue and I know throughout the world people watch what is happening in Washington and they know that we have had our challenges over the last few years but I can assure you that many of those challenges have been resolved with a new administration that understands the continent of Africa, places Africa very high on the agenda and when I listened to the president speak and he talked about his chairmanship of the AU and also his presidency of the DRC, the question of security is utmost in our minds as well when it goes to the DRC and when it also comes to many countries on the continent of Africa. But first and foremost here on the hill we are concerned about the spread of COVID and want to do everything we can to make sure that the countries on the continent are able to address COVID one in terms of testing treatment and now of course vaccines and getting vaccines to the continent as quickly as possible but also ensuring that the continent can produce its own vaccines. So obviously getting them there now is critically important but making sure that the continent can build its own develop its own infrastructure for addressing and manufacturing and producing vaccines. We're always concerned here on the hill on democracy and human rights and making sure that we assist African countries in addressing extremism just as the president described and peace and stability because you really can't have an economy in a prosperous future. You certainly can't have investment without peace and stability and so enhancing our economic partnerships through expanded investment and trade is critical addressing COVID strengthening democracy and peace and stability are prerequisites for that investment. So thank you very much and I look forward to our dialogue. Thank you chairwoman. President Tissa Keddi we mentioned and you mentioned the democratic gains and the democratic election and the need for democracy and chairwoman also mentioned as a priority so I will let me turn back to that question of democracy and human rights. Mr. President what can be done to strengthen democracy and improve human rights in Africa and particularly in Congo. I'm sure my Congolese brothers and sisters are looking at 2023 and wondering will the president make sure that these elections are free fair and what will the president do to ensure that we have an increasingly civic space and respect for human rights in D.R.C. and as the AU chair in Africa. What can the AU do and what will you do? Yes. Thank you doctor. So the first thing that I would like to say here about democracy is that it's about a culture of democracy. In Africa our countries have gone through colonization first of all or rather most of our countries at least and many of our states have also gone through dictatorial regimes and as a Congolese person I got involved in a political party that fought against that radically fought against the dictatorial system that had taken hold in our country and we fought against all forms of dictatorship. So our communities know this issue well and I have the opportunity now to realize that now I am in power I am a leader here now and often we have had to decry instances of violations of human rights within our own regimes, within our own teams. Sometimes there are arbitrary arrests that take place, sometimes there are instances of brutality, there are all these types of instances that show that we are not always up to par so the best way to help us is to understand that and by the way I am often in contact with our ambassador and the ambassador understands this very well and he says it very often and I am also encouraging him to keep us up to date with all the information that he may be able to obtain from the embassy and from the various departments of the embassy that may involve our relationship. We want the embassy to intervene and maybe ultimately to sanction those who are guilty of violating human rights so it's a long process but the main thing here is to guarantee rights and liberties for all people even though in reality there may be issues we have to say it out loud we have to repeat it often and out loud we have to hammer that point home that will affect people's behavior and that's something I have observed too ever since I've come into my office as you can imagine I came into the administration that was left behind by my predecessor and when we I took over from my predecessor I took over the security council and I gave out instructions I said it clearly I want us to close all the little gaps I want us to get rid of these little connections between the police and the political powers I don't want to see any more arbitrary arrests I want protests not to be repressed I just want them to be structured and when protesters arrive at their destination I want them to be dispersed peacefully no violence there and that worked that has worked that has had an impact obviously it's not perfect because people still have certain instincts that go back for decades decades and decades I mean we're talking about the same police that has been around forever the same army that I that I took over that was already working in the past that and has already in the past violated human rights so these are the instincts that they have so it's a daily it's daily work it is not easy but the goal here truly is to encourage us and not to to cry scandal each and every time there's an issue surrounding human rights so I think that's one thing then there's the issue of education and training education and training for security forces for for order keeping forces and even for members of the civil administration because the civil administration is the vector of justice and sometimes they do not know all the information about certain rights and liberties because rights and liberties are not just about violence or arbitrary arrests rights and liberties are also about convictions that are incorrect or or judgments that are incorrect or unjust people who are unfairly punished by the justice system all of this requires training so we really want that support and by the way right at the beginning of my term I really appreciated when the United States came to speak with our commission against human trafficking they offered us a training the United States offered to train the representatives of our agency and our agency members were even able to go to the United States to take a seminar so I think that that type of initiative will be able to help strengthen our capacities to fight against violations of human rights but believe me this really is one of our priorities and we do need to manage to it we did need to achieve rule of law and we need to ensure rights and liberties for all our citizens yes even that we have championed human rights and democracy in the continent for several years so what can the congress do to support these democratic aspirations and the vision that the president has just laid out what can the congress do under your chairmanship particularly of the subcommittee particularly what I'm sorry particularly as we chair the subcommittee on Africa and human rights what can the congress do well first of all the congress can continue doing what we have done for many many years I do think we can improve upon it and that is supporting efforts supporting civil society in various african countries with USAID funding we have billions of dollars that go to the continent to to support this supporting african countries developing their institutions just as the president said when he came into the presidency he was offered different trainings we offered trainings for the security sector trainings for civil society trainings for government leaders and then one program that I'm particularly supportive of and have been excited about over the last many years that started under president obama is the yali initiative young african leaders initiative and we actually are passing and working on legislation now on the hill to make it permanent so it's not just an initiative of one president but actually putting it into law where we invite young leaders from every country on the continent to come to the united states for a few weeks they also go uh well they come to washington but they go to other cities and states with universities they intern with universities with the business sector with civil society and um and I think that that is a very specific contribution so continuing our assistance now I do think that we need to promote more programs like feed the future and power africa where it's not the us NGOs going over to the continent but actually supporting efforts on the ground helping with building capacity I happen to think that we need to pay more attention to the infrastructure whether that's the infrastructure of education health or basic infrastructure roads bridges etc I think we can do all all of those things because it's important not to look at any issue on the continent in isolation we need to look at it within its historical context and we also need to look at it as to how it impacts the society any particular country as a whole and not an isolated uh program but the greater context in which the issue exists thank you chairwoman I think I'm glad you mentioned the yali the yali program and that allows me to talk about the youth purge in africa uh president security we at least mentioned in the opening statement that we have african experience in the kind of youth purge with a vibrant youth population i would put it that way uh this is a blessing for africa but at the same time president what can the african union do uh to really leverage and take advantage of this vibrancy of this youth population yes okay well first of all I would like to thank you and I want to say that I absolutely agree with you I believe that our demographics are a blessing yes I do not at all agree with the opposite opinions that tend to say that this is dangerous that it threatens democracy that is not true and in africa if africa is the content content of the future which it is that is thanks to our youth now that youth can be both an advantage and also at the same time a kind of bomb we have to structure we have to frame that youth we have to take care of our youth if we do not then then it really will be a disaster and the tragedy that we're seeing now in africa is that things are really we're really losing control it's big people are thinking that we can find an eldorado in this demographic issue but that's not really the case and one of the the main things that supports africa is our youth but our youth we cannot think of our youth as being powerless I mean our youth are taking the risk crossing the Mediterranean they're fleeing they're leaving their lives behind without any prospects so in DRC when I when I entered office immediately I put forward the idea of making education free and the first year that allowed us to bring four million children who are to get back into school and the consequence of that was that uh was that we were able to help um classes that had been overcrowded we were able to provide well we we did have overcrowded classrooms but at least we were able to educate these children we were able to get them into activities that were interesting to them and to support them we do need to strengthen that effort now and that is what I'm currently doing I am trying to mobilize this effort more and mobilize resources and once again I would like to thank the various organizations the IMF and the world bank that have helped us to do this we want to educate as many children as possible I believe well if you want to know what I think we need to do I would say that education is the main thing that we have to do and then after education we have to think about jobs we have to make sure that Africa can create jobs and in this area we are a continent that is expanding yes we are developing we are we are developing area but gradually we will be able to stabilize our institutions and add credibility to our administrations and at that point we will be in a better position to create jobs and also therefore keep our young people in Africa rather than to lose them as is happening today so that is my focus I want to put the focus on education and jobs and this will help us educate our young people and to keep them in Africa the audience that I'm trying to feed in the questions from the audience as well and we are trying to book them so thank you keep keep sending your questions so I will pivot on issues of peace and security Chairwoman Bass to say the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month had a hearing focused on the deadly conflict in Ethiopia children problems I think what are your thoughts on the role of the US and others in stopping the killing and getting on the road to peace in Ethiopia I will answer your question I do want to just say how much I I support what the president was saying about the view of youth we should never ever ever view our youth any other way other than an asset and never a liability and and one of the things that I have found about my time in Congress working on African issues it reminds me so much of issues in the inner city in the United States and so there are been many time periods when black youth were looked at as dangers as a problem as a liability and I don't believe that about inner city youth in the United States nor do I believe that about youth in Africa I think it's an absolute opportunity and responsibility for the world to make sure that they have an economy to participate in and I also believe that education is key in terms of the conflict of Ethiopia is just an absolute heartbreak I celebrated in a big way when Prime Minister Abbey won the Nobel Peace Prize and was so excited with his leadership and now the way things have deteriorated is of a major concern to us here in the United States and major concern that the situation that exists now could get even worse and so we are definitely focusing on humanitarian aid at this point and wanting to make sure that the routes to deliver that aid are okay can be opened up and aid can be delivered without humanitarian workers being killed and you know that that has already happened we certainly think that Eritrea needs to withdraw its troops we need we believe that peace and negotiations need to begin immediately we have stopped some assistance especially military assistance I am certainly hoping that we don't move in the direction of sanctions but that is very possible in addition to the humanitarian relief we are worried about parts of Ethiopia facing famine and so it is a major major topic in the United States and next week we will be voting on a resolution around Ethiopia the crisis and what is going on there but you know when there are various crises like this on the continent I always look to the African Union and this is if it's appropriate you know a question that I would like to ask the president what can the United States do to help the African Union increase its capacity and ability to intervene because I don't think it is a positive thing that European countries or the United States intervene in the conflicts in Africa but we all know that many times there is no alternative and so what can and should the United States be doing to increase the support capacity of the African Union how can we help President the floor is yours thank you first of all I would like to say that what is happening in Ethiopia right now is truly awful and I feel particularly close to that country because of my role in the African Union and I've had the opportunity to learn more about the situation in that country and I do think it is urgent so Madam Karen Bass when you ask this question about what the United States can do the first thing I would say would be to share information with the African Union you know very often and I said this before I've been in touch with the the American ambassador in Kinshasa quite regularly and often he he reports to us how could I put this he brings us information about about the United States demands or requests about the situation in Ethiopia and very often he puts the focus on the humanitarian on the humanitarian question but we don't receive a lot of information about that so you know the African Union Charter the Charter trap blocks us in a certain way it blocks certain efforts that the African Union can make in terms of intervening in Ethiopia because quite simply that Charter I think it's article four that Charter proclaims the sovereignty of member states of the African Union and it also imposes non-interference amongst interior states and the current conflict in Ethiopia is considered to be an internal affair so that means that the African Union all the African Union can do and we have done so is to send the Human Rights Commission which has gone out into the fields and has made reports and then we can also discuss with the legitimate powers the legitimate government in the country and so we just have to see what that can bring us what that effort can bring us and so that is why I'm asking for information it would be better if we could get even more detailed information from countries like the United States that information would help us be able to apply pressure for example if we actually have proof that that human rights are being violated if we have that proof then we can actually go show solidarity pan-African solidarity and that will help our Ethiopian brothers in their own situation so that's what I would say and I would just say we just don't have enough information and we have a lot of questions so we're a bit trapped as an institution the African Union cannot go in I would like to respond if that's okay Mr President okay thank you so much yes I would I was taking notes while you were speaking and I will follow up with our ambassador especially on the information the information request but you know I and I understand the charter and also especially back when it was the OAU the origins and the liberation movements that were going on at that time to fight against colonialism understand why the charter would say that then but I guess I just wonder if there's any opportunity to reevaluate that because what I found you know especially in the Sahel you know going to Mali to have the former colonial powers have to go in to be called in I mean I can only imagine to the people of Mali how difficult that must have been and so maybe it's time to take a second look at that and I wonder if there's any discussions around the way because to call on the European countries or the Americans and the diaspora asked us that all the time I was meeting with Ethiopian diaspora on Saturday and they wanted to know why the US didn't send in its military to resolve the situation in Ethiopia and I was telling them self-determination that was the call of the time period you know that it just seems inappropriate to me that the US would send its military you know to I don't want to see that happen um but I remember being in Mali when when they had to call on the French to help them so that's why I just wonder if there's any discussion about that charter and and again ways for us to be supportive I will absolutely follow up uh with you on the issue of information though from our our embassy thank you chairman I think Mr. President as we can see you are talking with the right person uh having that the right conversation here unfortunately this is the time we have uh any final thoughts chair one bus just just I just want to thank you for the opportunity to to speak today uh as I said before it's great to see the president I congratulate him for his leadership of the DRC and now of the African Union and I do plan on coming your way soon so hopefully I will see you in Addis thank you you would be most welcome most welcome please come is your closing remarks not particularly I just want to thank you and I want to encourage you to keep going with this type of initiative this really was a wonderful opportunity to speak because currently there are experts there are investors who are listening to us and so I really do encourage this type of initiative that allows us to talk about Africa and that allows us to break down certain stereotypes that exist about Africa Africa is not a a horrifying situation it is not a continent defined by poverty misery and violence our continent is also defined by opportunities there are good people there are brave people there are men and women doing the right thing who are have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and who want to collaborate effectively there are natural potentials here right now the the Congo basin and the forest area is is the the second largest rainforest in the world after the amazon and that resource of the forest helps us absorb carbon it helps us limit greenhouse the effects of greenhouse gases so we have solutions we have solutions for humankind we need to pay more attention to Africa and we can do that by building our capacities for resilience faced with the pandemic in particular today but also in light of all the other types of challenges that we are facing for example insecurity and I do think that that if Africans have been able to rid themselves of all of these difficulties that are not natural difficulties then I think that Africa if Africa can get rid of these difficulties Africa will be able to speak for itself in the world and Africa can provide its own solutions so thank you very much for this honor that you've given me thank you for the honor of speaking with you today thank you president this has been an excellent discussion we are honored the new the newly established africa center usip is really honored to play a part in this conversation and we hope to have many more dialogues of this type in closing I would like to thank our distinguished guest president Feliz Chisakedi chairwoman Bass and also I would like to thank you the audience for being part of this usip africa center program I hope you find it rewarding and please enjoy the rest of your day thank you so much thank you