Mike Harrington Dishes on Sabres Woes, Granato’s Future & Lindy Ruff

Mike Harrington Dishes on Sabres Woes, Granato’s Future & Lindy Ruff

Longtime writer in columnist at the Buffalo News Mike her joins me to talk Savers and plenty more coming up right now here on talking Buffalo welcome to talking Buffalo featuring conversations with guests from Around The World of Sports media pop culture and all things Buffalo with your host Patrick

Moran all right what is going going on everybody how you doing welcome to another episode of talking Buffalo your weekday daily driver for Buffalo sports talking more I am your host Patrick Moran thank you very much as always for locking in for watching for listening for following for subscribing appreciate

Y all very much I’m joined right now by my good old friend here Mike Harrington from the Buffalo News what’s going on Mike how you doing Pat thanks for having me as always yeah there’s really not a lot going on with the same right now I don’t know what we’re going to talk

About there’s not much really to say I really don’t want to talk about them but we’re going to of course uh I gotta say this too dude it is so what is it March here we’re taping this anyway March 5th beautiful weather outside man this is just picture perfect uh not even spring

Yet but a it’s a spring like Western New York day here you’re going to be going to the arena in a little bit here on a on a Tuesday kind of wish you could cover practice from outside yeah have have an outdoor game you know let them practice at Delaware

Park and uh you know let them play somewhere out in Orchard Park but yeah we’re still you know you’re in full hockey mode even when it’s 70 degrees in March and the thing is patto is remember you do this when you travel to places like Florida and California and Dallas

It is a little jarring at times when you get warm weather covering this team yeah for sure I need to also preface one thing too because we are a couple days from the NHL trade deadline as we record this and we’re recording this relatively early here on Tuesday morning so if by

Some chance any crazy goes down if there’s a big trade or something like that or anything involving the Buffalo Sabers just know that we have already T this show um ahead of time we we’ll get into the Sabers here specifically I kind of want to ask you man just talk about

The job a little bit like this year specifically you know does cover in a team let me ask you this does cover in a team that is going to be going on 13 years now without making the playoffs does it Harden you a little bit to everything like let me give you an

Example if I was on the dating scene if I was I’m not a single guy but if I were and I were on the dating scene and just time after time you meet someone and there’s just there’s promise there you go on a couple dates and things are

Going well for whatever reason it just never seems to work out at some point I kind of feel like I start to feel dead inside when you cover this team do you kind of feel that way a little bit at all no you really can’t Pat the job is

The job and I tell people all the time if they stink and have the number one overall pick I’m there and I’m covering them if they win the Stanley Cup I’m there and I’m covering them too sure you know it’s an 82 Game season I always

Joke my goal is to be 82 and0 and that means to write a good story to make deadlines whatever and some days you fail just like some days the players fail but uh no I’m not you know I’m not wet to wins and losses I’m wetted to

Telling the story no matter what it is and it is a bizarre story because you would think what you could lock into a playoff birth one time in 13 years right but in terms of not making the playoffs the business would be helped if they were in the playoffs the fans would be

In a better mood the readers would be in a better mood but it can’t change my mood at all all right so I get that like your mood has to remain consistent no matter what your job is the job like you say and you’re right from a fan

Perspective I’m I’m sure you can relate to it you know how how fans feel right now with this team you go to last year and God they were so close and even forget the record throw last season’s record out the window they were fun to watch it was an entertaining brand of

Hockey and then you fast forward to this year it’s not the same they’re what 62 games in and they’re literally 29 29 and four right now is as we record this they’re at an 82 Point Pace they’re nine points off of last year 10 points out of the playoffs

Just uh I I I guess I’m asking you even though it’s not part of your job to relate to fans I’m sure that you do relate to the fans and the frustration which boils over on like apps like say social media and stuff like that you see

It a lot sometimes you have fun with it sometimes people cross the line and you know really piss you off or whatever but I’m sure to some level at least I’m I’m sure you can relate to fans right now sure I I mean 13 years out of the

Playoffs it almost feels like they’re not in the league look at in these 13 years how many playoff games have the Tampa Bay Lightning played how many playoff games have the Pittsburgh Penguins are now that they stink even the Chicago Blackhawks how many playoff games have they played in these 13 years

Some of these teams and some of these reporters have covered a 100 playoff games in that span the Sabres have played zero so I understand fan frustration here people spent a lot of money on season tickets to get the playoff tickets and there have been no

Playoff tickets so I get all of that Um It’s A Hard problem because there’s no way this league wants this Market out of the playoffs for this long and they just haven’t been able to figure it out you have been covering the team and the sport for a long time so even if you

Take the 13 years out of the equation you know what it’s like to write about a team that’s actually good there’s some there’s a decent amount of journalists out there that have not been doing this for all that long and they probably don’t even know what it’s like right now

To cover a team like said the Sabres were in the mid 2000s you know a really exciting team that rejuvenated this town and the enthusiasm was uh was so good I I think about that a lot somebody like Lance you’re colleague at the Buffalo News

Great writer by the way I’m big fan of Lance he hasn’t been around long enough you don’t know what it’s like to cover a team you know that is that is actually good kind of like and I’m sure fans feel this way too even like for the media when you

Hear like when you go in the locker room like you said job aside just the the mindset when when a team is losing year after year or even over the just say forget about 13 years just over the last couple years isn’t it harder is it harder to do

Your job when it when a team struggles like the Sabers seem to do every single year like the players the moods the vibe what they want to tell you what they don’t want to tell you when they’re losing does that make the job harder for

You to do I mean last year was easier because they were on an upward W playe they were getting close you know they struggled in March they had a run at the end so they were in the playoff race legitimately till game 80 last year this

Year I think there was a lot of shock value they thought they had arrived the GM thought they had arrived the coach thought they had arrived they thought they were going to go from 75 points to 91 and now from 91 to say 102 and make

The playoffs so there was a lot of shock early in the year when things weren’t going well and now I think reality has kind of set in here and I think guys are just waiting for the trade deadline to see what happens see who comes see who

Goes but yeah I did I think these guys all thought they were a playoff team this year and let’s be honest Pat most of North America picked them to make the playoffs this was not you know a team that people said well if this goes right or that goes right most people picked

Them essentially to be in the spot that Detroit is in right now so there’s a lot of shock value here and they need to re-evaluate everything in this organization going forward Kevin Adams talked to Lance over this past weekend uh I was in I was in the room for the

Same conversation all right so he says and I’m using a direct quar I want to make sure I don’t screw it up he goes we have a 500 team right now period that’s fact now let’s take the emotion out and find out why let me ask you instead of

Asking Kevin Adams a followup there in your opinion why why are the Sabers of 500 team right now well he didn’t do enough in in the rearview mirror in the off season uh I do think that you needed another forward when Jack Quinn got hurt you know Adams explanation I get he said

We knew he wasn’t going to be out the whole season he was going to be out 253 games Thompson got hurt in November and I think they thought Pat they could just tread water and get to Christmas and still be in the race and they just got

Too far out of it on the ice what really hurt them injuries hurt them but everybody has injuries but they did have a significant injury to all three guys on their Top Line the biggest factor to me really is the power play this team is

As good at five on five as it was last year it’s better in net than it was last year it’s better defensively than it was last year penalty kills certainly since January first better than it was last year what’s the difference they didn’t score enough on the power play their top

Goal scorers didn’t produce that’s the big problem with this club right now and it it cost them games over and over and over again losing on special teams and they didn’t figure it out Granado finally pulled back took more control of the power play the power play has been a

Lot better the last eight to 10 games H what’s happened the last eight to 10 games they’ve won a lot it’s really not a coincidence are you shocked at all by how inconsistent I’ll say inconsistent I’m being kind you could say how bad this team has played often at home this

Year and last year last year they missed the play playoffs by just two points they’re three games under 500 if they’re even a 500 team at home last year they’re in the playoffs this year they’re under 500 again at home like why I I know there’s not one singular reason

But like in your estimation why does this team play better on the road than they do at home and obviously a kind of a rhetorical question I guess but how much is the fact that they’re not playing well at home factor into them being on the outside looking in yet

Again sure I I mean last year they had 25 Road wins they have the most Road wins of any team that didn’t make the playoffs in the NHL since 2016 that’s how significant how good they played on the road last year and how tough the home situation is and you

Know Pat it’s two years in a row if we had an answer for it they’d figure it out but people have to understand that I’m very lucky in the job I travel a lot I go to a lot of these other ranks we have a terrible atmosphere in

Our rink our our rink is mostly dead and that’s not the fans fault that’s the fault of the organization the organization has sucked the life out of our building most of the time the game presentation has been up and down over the years but the fans are dead the fans

Are dead inside because of losing you know they are in show me mode and and you know we’ve seen it that game last week against Vegas if you give them something to cheer about that building was a lot they are they were boat racing the Stanley Cup champions they were all over

Them the place was alive it’s not alive as much now you know I could do some different tweaks to that building you know more party areas would take you know construction I could do different game presentation I would be playing less matina for one thing Pat matina aren’t

Great for hockey players they’re not great for atmosphere you shouldn’t be playing a quarter of your games in the afternoon I know you’re trying to build your fan base and attract kids and whatever and I get all that that’s not done in other cities I would stop

Playing 10 matinees a year for one thing that’s the first thing I would do um but again if you don’t score in the first period you don’t get your building going you don’t get an early lead the place is dead and I don’t know what the answer is

It’s never going to change the fans now are in proven mode until you make the playoffs they’re never going to be 100% behind this team and I get it there’s a school thought that a lot you know this being a young team a lot of the the young players just I’m not saying

Necessarily they prefer to play on the road but they do play better on the road maybe because there’s less distractions yeah personal life you know away from the rank they’re all we’re all human beings including players who play in the NHL you know they got families

They got babies they got they got wives and other things like that and when you’re a young team I mean there’s lots of young teams in the league too the they’s not the only young team in the league but do you think that factors in a little bit that maybe they’re just a

Little more locked in less distractions and more focused when they on the road and they Thrive better just in louder buildings when they’re on the road they’re way more focused they’re together as a team and Pat again some of these atmospheres in these Road buildings are just wild and they

Seem to thrive on it they seem to thrive on the noise in a place like Philly in a place like Winnipeg Boston Madison Square Garden you know they’ve won two years in a row now in in Vegas they seem to thrive in that and it’s maybe a young characteristic they don’t like the

Booing you know well you get booed I mean it happens it’s professional sports um yeah I think you know young families there’s a lot of factors here there is no one factor why the Buffalo Sabers have stunk too much at home in the last two years there are a lot of

Factors and in the last three or four minutes here we’ve gone over a bunch of them and the players certainly are a factor and to some extent head coach has to be as well during this um conversation with Kevin Adams I you were there for I want to make sure I have

This right but Kevin Adams said that he would he wants Don Granado back next year he did say that correct it’s it’s widely known you know that Granado has a contract extension that hasn’t started yet right now La fired Todd mclen with a contract extension that hasn’t started

Yet um what happened on Monday New Jersey fired Lindy Ruff with a contract extension that hasn’t started yet I don’t expect Harry Pula to pay Don Granado not the coach um having said that I think it would behoove Don Granado to continue to Win Hockey games here the next six weeks

Of the Season he’s not going anywhere if they keep playing the way they’re playing since January first you’re not firing a coach whose team is on a 95o pace um but they need to start the season better next year they need to attack training camp differently and Don

Granado is going to be on a short leash come next next year there’s going to be no more patience with him no more waiting for him because this is a league that doesn’t care about coaches players run this league these teams think coaches are disposable that’s how they

Act toward them and uh Granado’s gonna have to be on a short leash all right so I was G well I was gonna ask you if you think grenado should be on a short leash you pretty much already just answered that for me right now did you know I mean obviously you

Knew I didn’t know I had to looked this up Mike when I have you on the show when I talk to you I got to make sure I do some homework here and have some numbers in front of me so a I don’t look

Like an idiot and B you don’t call me out rightfully so for sounding like an idiot but I did not know he’s actually the sixth longest 10 year coach right now in the NHL doesn’t feel like it but he God this is a crazy League this is a

Crazy crazy League four of the six I looked it up too before we started taping here four of the six above him and won a cup so I mean you know you you win a cup or you don’t stick around as long as Dow Tado has been around with

The Sabers it it appears you know John torella was in Toronto before a Flyers game a few weeks ago talking about this how it’s ridiculous how coaches are not respected anymore these teams just think they can cycle through get the next guy and you look at it now you can run a

List of five or six names out there of guys who are available you can add Lindy Ruff to the list and Craig barui and Gerard Gant Bruce budro there’s retreads all over the place and these teams just cycle through these guys and they care um so Granado really is in a fortunate

Place here I don’t think Terry pagul is going to pay him not to coach I think Adams clearly wants him to be the coach he hasn’t lost the dressing room at all you could tell by the way they play I mean you know the New Jersey Devils were

Terrible they Lindy had kind of lost them the Devils were frustrated I think by the fact that GM didn’t get a goalie Tom Fitzgerald is as you know responsible for that problem as Lindy Ruff was but you know we haven’t seen the Sabres really put out a lot any dog

Games in a while what’s the last dog game Anaheim maybe that’s over a month ago yeah you know I mean I don’t count the Anaheim home game as a dog game when you out outshoot the team out attempt the team 70 to 29 and just don’t score sometimes that’s hockey the game in

Anaheim was terrible in January but you know Granado’s just got to keep winning they can’t fall apart here that’s all I want to preface this question by saying it does not apply to you I want to be really clear about this before I even ask you and I and you know in the

Interest of of full disclosure I have talked to you about this privately before all right so but I’m I’m gonna say this Don Granado all and plus now the team’s playing well recently okay so this is not maybe the right time to ask this question but a handful of weeks ago

A month or so ago when I ask you this type of question do you think to some extent Don Granado and the Sabers being so mediocre flies a little bit under the radar they get away with it more in a market like like Buffalo because I feel

And this is absolutely not towards any one specific person it’s kind of like generally speaking and not you I want to be real clear about that again but I feel that there’s some media at least anyway that’s kind of go soft on this team you know 13 years without making

The Playoffs being hugely disappointed again this season after the promise of last season and time after time I read at least some tweets or some blurs even a couple posts here and there whether it’s mainstream whether it’s alternative media you know oh golly G the Sabers lost again but you know they played

Pretty well they should have won blah blah blah blah blah it’s like where’s the hammer you dropped the H I’m again I’m gonna give you some props for that I’ve always done that but I just feel like overall this Market or this media that covers this team goes a little too soft

At times on this hockey team right now my take well I I think there was a feeling I mean my feeling is if you were going to fire him you had to fire them in November you know or maybe December if you wanted to save the season sure I

Think there’s an element of when you’re covering the sabes there is not the veteran group of people in general covering the sabes that used to cover the sabes there isn’t the you know Adam bonini type around the Sabers really from the television side asking hard questions there’s really no one on the

Road except for us and Paul um the numbers the sheer numbers of media are less than it was uh we don’t have the numbers coming from Canada there was a lot of Southern Ontario media used to cover the Sabers or come regularly you know that number has dwindled

Dramatically and frankly they spend most of their time now covering the Leafs they used to come here because the Sabers were good and interesting and the Leafs are terrible so you don’t see those people nearly as much anymore so there’s a lot of factors in the media

Market um they spend all their time covering the bills the Sabers really can fly under the radar until about January there’s not many people around them um I’ve gone on road trips this season where I have literally been the only Independent Media person in the locker

Room wow the only one for an NHL team you know the only other people in the locker room are the team reporters so um it is an unusual time in media I do think they fly under the radar a lot in this market during football season um and I do think there

Was a certain expectation this year even if they started the year slowly well they’re going to fix it they’re good we know they’re good they’re in a little slide they’ll fix it and it just never happened early enough for them to get back in the race and all of a sudden

You’re looking up and it’s December like what’s going on here you know and they didn’t have a coaching change on their radar who are they gonna name as the coach Pat they hadn’t even thought of it they weren’t GNA promote Seth Apert in December um so there was a lot going on

In terms of I just think everything was too La Fair they thought they had arrived and they didn’t arrive and they didn’t really know what to do at that point and that was a real problem all right I’m gonna take a real quick break plenty more coming back right after the

Break with Mike kingon from the Buffalo News all right I am back with Mike Harrington from the Buffalo News I gotta ask you this tooo do you the momentum it seems in terms of players maybe wanting to start to come to Buffalo um how much does this season kind of put a black eye on that you know

Veterans yeah good veterans potential good veterans might want to come to Buffalo I saw again reading the Buffalo News Lance had um up bluring his report that that said that after the Sabres could not land Pac they tried to sign him he went to Detroit Detroit um that

They Kevin Adam was trying to trade for a couple players but these guys had no trades and none of them wanted to come here so you look at a season like this how much does it set him back not just in the standings but also in terms of

You know a guy that normally maybe Kevin Adams would be able to trade for something like that with a no trade that doesn’t want to come here right now sure and you look at what happened in the offseason Eric Johnson and Conor Clifton came in free agency they chose to be

Here they had talked to other players you know had seen with his own eyes in Boston Eric Johnson was very close with Kyle ooso they chose to be here people aren’t going to choose choose to be here again the drought has continued and like you said now you’re at the trade

Deadline and people say trade for this guy trade for that guy it’s not that easy tremendous number of no trade Clauses in the NHL now too many in my opinion and guys are going to have buffalo on their list I’m not going there Adams already told us there were a

Bunch of guys he tried I we believe one of them was Chris Tanner of the defenseman of Calgary who played a year at RIT he wasn’t coming to Buffalo he went to Dallas because he can win a Stanley Cup in Dallas what’s he gonna do here um

I think one of their plans absolutely going into the season especially with Quinn out was they were gonna sign Patrick Kane and they were on a zoom with Patrick Kane less than a week before he signed they were right to the end where did Patrick Kane go now that’s

A little bit different one of the reasons he went a big reason he went was Alex De Brink plays for the Red Wings that’s a guy he was tight with from Chicago but if the Red Wings were in the hole in the Atlantic division and the Sabers were flying like we thought they

Could be probably Patrick Kane thinks longer about dealing with all the sideshow of Buffalo and coming here now they’re back like you said who’s coming here who’s coming here on a no trade clause waving it for Buffalo who’s coming here this summer in free agency Kevin Adams is in a rough spot he’s

Going to have to make trades for guys who have no trade protection but that’s dicey we saw what happened with Colin Miller when they acquired him from Vegas he did his first media phone conference it was like somebody had stolen his dog you know I got traded from Vegas to

Buffalo really you know I mean they have a problem now in recruiting again and we thought that was over I’d be remiss you mentioned him earlier I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least ask you I would get a lot of from people who watch the

Show I didn’t at least ask you about Lindy Ruff I know you’re gonna I know what you’re gonna say I’m G ask you anyway is there any chance that Terry bagula would consider you know maybe after the season if let’s just say the Sabers are playing bad and they finish

Bad and Don Granado does get fired which could be possible if they struggle really bad down the stretch at least possible was would do you think it might be feasible for somebody like Wendy Ru to return to Buffalo sure I mean Hitchcock returned places uh CLA

Julian’s done it Lindy wanted the job in in 2019 when bodell hired Krueger bodell didn’t give him a sniff of the job Lindy was interested then after he have fired in Dallas I think Lindy would be interested now um are they gonna do it you know first of all again Terry

Pula is tired of paying people not to work Granado has a contract extension Terry Pula people say well he’s Rich L and that he’s done it before he’s paid a lot of people not to work he hasn’t been building a football stadium before Pat he hasn’t been watching his money more

Because he’s building a football stadium and everything it overruns is out of his pocket that’s a factor that other NHL owners don’t have right now um if he fires Granado who knows who he’s gonna hire I mean Ruff would be a candidate I mean if Carolina can’t figure it out Rod

Brandemore doesn’t he become a candidate didn’t Kevin Adams play on Rod brind Moore’s team you know there there’s guys out there but again who wants to come coach the Buffalo Sabers and deal with this drought some guys might say I’m going there I’ll be the hero to solve it and some guys like

I don’t want to deal with all that excess garbage so yeah I think ruff’s a candidate but again I think the plan here is for Granado to come back but for a team that’s going nowhere as we sit here on March 5th the games from March 5th to April 15th are

Going to be important they may be more important probably for the coach than any individual player all right so Mike there’s young people who might be watching or listening to this podcast today who probably weren’t even watching the Sabers maybe they weren’t even old enough to follow the Sabers back when

Lindy Ruff was the coach before so they might not know the old fun story between Mike Harrington and Lindy Ro that you no I kind of want you for the young people who wouldn’t know because we’re we’re just talking about Lindy Ru gotta tell him that story how how things went down

With you and Lindy that day all right it was a nationally televised game in NBC in Chicago okay and the Savers were playing poorly and they were making mistakes and I’m trying to remember what happened it was a a bad pass by vly Lano and Lindy didn’t sit the guy out he

Didn’t sit any shifts out it turned into a breakaway goal it got beat six to2 and so after the game you know we talked to him and I simply said to him you know why would you not sit a guy out for making a veteran player for making that kind of

Mistake and he said well we had guys out we had guys sick you know I said but no no shifts didn’t miss anything he puts the puck up the middle you know and and Pierre McGuire was calling the game that night was just killing the Sabers

Um I said how can he not do that he said and he gave another answer and then okay granted a third time I went back to it again and he said that’s it and he walks away and he leaves where we’re talking to him starts going toward the office to

The door so I click my tape recorder off Paul Hamilton clicks his tape recorder off so it’s lost to the ethers it’s there’s no recording of he turns around he looks at me he said Mike you coach and he goes in the office and slams the

Door so the next day the Sabres are in Winnipeg we go to Winnipeg and I forever regret I should have gone to a sporting goods store and bought whistle and shown up at the at the pregame or the next day because we go in the next day and he’s

Got this big grin on his face and I finally look at him and I said to him what he’s like laughing him like what he said are we still fighting or we are we friends I said we’re always friends we just disagree I said you should have sat him out of shift you

Know so we’re fine I’m a big I’m a big Lindy Ruff supporter he should have been fired when he was fired his shelf life had expired in Buffalo um it was no knock on the fact he had coached 17 years on all he had accomplished they want to hire him back

Go ahead you know I mean I don’t think it’s gonna happen I still think Adams is committed to Granado but yeah if if they fir Granado on you know Thursday April 10th at 10:00 a.m. you know my first thought is going to be they’re going to hire Ruff may not happen but yeah

And and again here’s the only thing Pat what are they selling next season they’ve always had something to sell they’ve had a player the number one pick eel darene Owen power now this year they were going to make the playoffs what in the world are you selling next year you’re not going to

Get any great new players you most of your core is signed long term I don’t know there could be some marketing concerns there might be able to put Lindy Ruff on a few posters and get people to buy some tickets I mean I I’m just talking out loud here at this point

I was going to say that if from a marketing or selling standpoint you’re asking how are they going to sell this team I think whether it’s Lindy Ruff or whether it’s somebody else a new coach a new coach is going to be the guy who’s

Going to get this team over to hump he’s going to get this team to be more consistent at home he’s going to get the power play to play better from game one instead of you know late in the season you know we’ve mentioned Terry boul a couple times throughout this episode

Here how frustrating is it as from a professional standpoint to to have an owner who who rarely like literally rarely ever speaks about anything about the team and is it like that see you would know this and I wouldn’t because you you know you follow the league as

Well is it like that in other markets with other owners on other teams that they rarely ever speak Terry Pula hasn’t spoken in the media about the sabes since the day they fired modal in 2020 now as I look here we’re at May of 2024 Terry pagul is going almost on four

Years without speaking to the media about the Buffalo Sabers that’s you know that’s that’s how he chooses to run his business it’s and I say to people all the time oh he should have a president of hockey this and that yeah he probably should it’s his team he can do what he

Wants you know I can disagree um at some point it’d be nice for Terry Pula to just sit in front of microphones and say I’m upset I understand the fans are upset and answer some questions he’s not going to do it pat he’s just not you know um I don’t

Think he wants to take any questions on the stadium and public money and all this other stuff and because he owns the bills you’re gonna always gonna have football questions if he talks to the NFL owners meetings like he did a couple years ago he’s gonna get hammered with

Hockey questions and he just chooses not to do it and I can jump up and down like a four-year-old and hold my breath if I want he’s not doing it now I haven’t even seen him this year you know he’s had every Bills game we see him on TV we

See him in the Clips in the locker room you know Kevin talks to him regularly I I haven’t seen Terry pagul at a Sabers game this year it’s not to say he hasn’t been at one I haven’t seen him at one um does he care about the Sabers absolutely

They’re costing him a lot of money so he cares about what’s going on with the Savers believe me they’re losing a lot of money um but that would be a story if he wasn’t an NFL owner but he makes so much money owning an NFL team that you know losing

His 30 million or whatever it is on the Sabers isn’t a big deal but yeah you know I wish the owner was more accountable he’s not what am I gonna do is isn’t in a fair perception though that there’s a lot of saber fans out there that aren’t Sabers and Bills fans

Or saber guys or saber girls more than football some of them don’t even care about football the football side of things they’re Just Hockey people isn’t it fair for them to to conclude whether it’s right or wrong that the owner doesn’t just he don’t care about this

Team he’s always you said it you always see him at a Bills game you always see him in the locker room Clips he you know he he does on occasion speak of the bills never you know ghost to when it comes to the Sabers if you’re a hardcore

Sabers fan isn’t it fair to conclude that hey we got an order that doesn’t give a about our about us about this team um that a conclusion that’s a logical one to take I don’t agree with it but but it’s the sometimes Pat as you know the perception is more important

Than the reality that’s not the reality that can be construed as the perception um that’s why I wish he was a little more visible that’s why I wish he would you know give his angry owner speech to the media once in a while um it’s a strange it’s always been

Strange around the Sab since he bought the team 13 years ago and it’s going to continue to be strange and you know again i’ like I’d like to talk to them all the time what am what am I supposed to do if the man doesn’t talk to us what

Are we supposed to do I’ve known you long enough to know that you rarely kind of get like dumbfounded and it feels like you’re a little bit dumbfounded I’m just why the owner won’t talk at all through these years it’s like puzzling to you I I can tell remember the famous

Press conference with Darcy rer and Ted black where I lost my mind yeah I mean that was 11 years ago Pat that wasn’t last week that was 11 years ago I was having that nutty about why won’t the owner speak and Ted black is saying I represent him and he’s available and I’m

Like he’s never available and don’t sit there and lie to me that was 11 years ago and we’re still having this wow yeah well you know one more Sabers thing here with so much negative stuff and it’s hard to have a conversation with somebody who covers the team and

Not turn it into a negative conversation about the team because of where they are but if you would have told me before the season started the strength of the Sabers this year would be goaling I would like I would have been like all right cool man Devon Levi really stepped

Up we saw a nice sample size at the end of last season I’m like God they got they got their next Ryan Miller they got their next Young Star he’s here he’s arrived but it’s UPL UPL has played really well I old enough to remember because I said it myself during the

Preseason uninformed that I hated the Sabers keeping three goalies I’m like put you on waivers if somebody picks him up whatever not that big of a deal man we he would be right now we’re not for UPL I guess what I want to ask you is do

You think the way he’s playing right now is this a is this a nice story for for this season or is this a guy that you think um you know Kevin Adams should have a lot of confidence into to be the starter for the foreseeable future Beyond this season yeah I mean

He’s 24 now he’s played a bunch of games you know as a pro counting Cincinnati counting Rochester um he’s physically better in the wake of his hip surgery a couple years ago uh his game is different he’s not flopping around he’s much calmer in the crease I could see a

UPL Levi pattern here going and keep in mind Pat the game has changed you’re never going to have another Ryan Miller you’re not gonna have a guy who’s going to play 65 games a year anymore that’s really not done except for about how many guys are like that in League now

Five or six you know most teams are going to go toward the Boston model with swayan and allmark sharing the duties so what’s wrong with going to a Lucan and Levi tandem where one guy plays 50 games and one guy plays 32 that’s really where the league is trending right now anyway

So the sabes are developing two really good prospects that’s what they want to do and you’re right I mean there’s no question now heading into next year who the goal tender is here it’s number one he’s the guy he’s the starting goalie it’s just a question of does Levi make

The team next year as the number two which I think is what they their plan is or do they bring in someone else for a year and keep Levi and Rochester again but really that like you say the two outgrows of this season UPL is Far and

Away number one and number two is I do think the second half of the year we’ve seen a tremendous step up from Rasmus Dalene who was not good enough for the first half of the year who was I think feeling the weight of expectations the weight of his contract starting next

Year and I think we saw this two years ago as well when Rasmus Dalene goes to the All-Star Game it changes him it changes him as a player I think it changes him a little as a person I think he gets a sense a belief again reinvigoration to himself

To understand how good he can be and he comes back a different player and I think the allstar game has positively impacted him again for the second time in his career and he has really taken off here in the second half of this season that I think he needs to keep

That momentum going and I think those two things are your big takeaways from the positive side of this season uh baseball season’s getting ready to start cover to bison some Blue Jays as well is it how nice is it when he to be this time of year especially the grind of the

SWOG of another playoff list Sabers season to be able to get to the ballpark and the nicer weather and just baseball I know you’re a big baseball guy people you’ve been covered hockey forever so people I think most people would associate you with hockey for that reason but but I’ve been covering

Baseball far longer actually yeah I’ve been covering baseball far longer since 1993 with the Bison but yeah this is actually historic year Pat this is the first time the are going to play game in March the season opener is March 29th against Scranton wilbury at Salen field

And the Major League start on the 28th not counting the Dodger Padre games in Korea the week before the major start in the 28th so yeah opening day in Buffalo March 29th that could be a little dicey and the thing I joke with people people say oh they’re opening in March 29th oh

By the way it’s a three- game series they’re playing in March 30th and 31st as well so yeah you could have weather like this week though could be 65 degrees and sunny we could have snow who knows but yeah I joked when the calendar hit March we’re four weeks away from

Opening day at sa and field and the funny part too is the Savers have a game that night against the New Jersey Devils I’ll probably be at the Bison game that day now that it looks like the Sabers are out of things but uh hockey season

Will still be in full swing when the Bison throw the first pitch on March 29th to 205 how nice is it though just to get that change you know what I mean you cover hockey for for all these months to be able to go to the ball Park

And start covering baseball as well it’s got to be a nice change up yeah I you know I don’t mind the 12 month season going from one to the other I get my time off but yeah baseball has a different feel a different pace you know triaa baseball especially is a lot less

Intense in the major leagues a lot less intense in the NHL um there’s a different pace and a different Cadence to it and like I say I’ve been covering the Bison since the ballpark open in 1988 and you know on a regular basis since 1993 so

Um it’s always nice to get back there and you see the Sun and you’re outside yeah it is definitely a little different than uh the hockey arenas of North America even though you don’t cover them professionally how locked in do you stay with the Buffalo Bills like everything

That’s going on with the team how closely do you follow the team even if it’s just from a personal you know I follow it you have to you’re in Buffalo and I mean I talked to some of our people who cover it um I used to cover

It a little bit in the mid 2000s we had some internet projects so there was two seasons where I was out there most every home game um it’s tough covering the NFL is tough there’s a lot of national people there when you have a guy like Josh Allen there’s a lot of attention

From a lot of national Outlets um and you know and you look at it there’s frustration with the fan base there because the Sabers you’re just trying to make the playoffs the bills people are like hey why aren’t we a Super Bowl team Jim Kelly went to the Super Bowl four

Times and you look at it it’s tough Josh Allen’s been to one AFC champ I ship game in his career and you’re really starting to think they’re underachieving in the postseason but they have that that block you know what do they do about beating Patrick Mahomes they

Haven’t figured it out even in the postseason when it really matters so it’s it’s a fascinating Dynamic to watch because they should be in it every year they’re gonna but you know but are they here here’s my hockey analogy Pat I think the bills could be like the

Washington Capitals when they had Alex oetkin they were in it for about 15 years years in a row and every year they were a playoff failure they lose in the first round lose in the second round they got one they got over the top in 2018 they had the year the magic run

They win the Stanley Cup in Vegas they haven’t won a playoff series since I think um maybe the bills someday get one and there’s a lot of people in this town who just always say get me one before I die I feel the same way that’s I think

My whole mindset as a fan would completely change if either the Buffalo Sabers or the bills just won one Championship W I think I would be I think I would be able to accept the failures that would come after that for sure you’ve been around here forever can

You imagine what the city would be like if either the bills won the Super Bowl or the Sabers won a Stanley Cup the Savers win a Stanley Cup would be crazy because you’re talking a parade in June in good weather that would be insane the Bills win a Super Bowl that

Would be insane too you just hope there’s not a foot of snow on the day you’re trying to throw a parade um but no I can’t imagine that and a Super Bowl we’ve lived the Super Bowl Pat we’ve lived four of them we have never lived a

Day and I do this when I cover the Stanley Cup think about this what’s the day like Pat the Sabers are playing in the Stanley Cup Final and they have three wins okay and the game is tonight they could win the Stanley Cup tonight they’ve never been there they’ve been to

The final twice only had two wins the bills four times could win the Super Bowl today we’ve lived that the sabes could win the Stanley Cup tonight to me that would be the most interesting day in the history of Buffalo sports we’ve never lived it we don’t know what that

Feeling would be and I can’t even imagine how you’d survive that entire day until 810 when they dropped the puck you know it well you and I have lived Buffalo Bills Super Bowls there’s a lot of uh fans out there that have not lived any Buffalo Super Bowls one last Point

Too my son is 21 years old and only and he’s a he’s a football guy but over the last maybe two two or so years he started watching more and more hockey it started out because he would play the video game the NHL video game and it

Kind of got him interested and now he actually watches the game and it’s tough because again last couple years understandably so but dead buildings you know just not that same Vibe and you covered the team you go back to those mid 2000s the jury briers and the electricity in that Arena every night

And the the in the plazas and and stuff like that like forget about winning the championship honest to God if this Sabers you’re talking about the puck drop and you’re man you are 100% right but at this point just being game one of the first round of the playoffs that p

Drop at 810 if the Sabers got three wins in the first round I think would be absolutely bananas here in this town as well it’s just uh it’s nuts man but all right I’m I’m going to let you go here I appreciate your time very much and know

You got to get to the arena again we take this early Tuesday so if something happens before this drops Tuesday night on the YouTube side Wednesday morning on the podcast side uh you know why make sure you follow Mike on Twitter at M or by mington and of course check out the

Buffalo News man him and Lance you guys really do crush it I’m not just saying it because you’re on the show I I say it all the time I I really do man you you Lance you cover this team exceptionally well I appreciate that Pat it is you

Know it’s something we do we have a lot of passion for it you know you’re blessed that the management believes in it because we travel and that’s not the case and most markets now a lot of places don’t travel fully so it’s you know it’s something we do and uh we’ll

Just keep following it day by day and maybe someday we’ll cover a playoff game by the way last time I had Mike on too we we hooked up at ammer Ale House and had some really good Wings this time we did this remote next time I hook up

With you I’ll make sure it’s at a wing spot and we’ll catch some wings and some beer but anyway thank you again Mike thank you Mike Harrington and I will be back with a brand new show tomorrow talk to you guys In

On this episode of Talking Buffalo, Patrick Moran is joined by Mike Harrington, longtime writer and columnist for The Buffalo News to partake in a candid discussion about the state of the team he primarily covers, the Buffalo Sabres.

After showing so much promise and missing the postseason by just two points last season, Buffalo has went backwards in a lot of areas, including the standings are now a lock to miss the playoffs for a 13th consecutive season. Mike assesses several reasons why this happened with a woeful power play being one of the biggest. He also talks about how the home game environment inside the arena lacks compared to many other teams around the league, with an emphasis on the Sabres dull game day experiences not being the fault of fans. He also surmises that Buffalo should cut down on their afternoon matinee games in effort to improve the atmosphere.

In the wake of New Jersey just firing former Sabres long-time coach Lindy Ruff, Mike has opinions on if he thinks Ruff reuniting with Buffalo could be a possibility if Terry Pegula does fire Don Granato after the season, citing that Ruff had interest in the Buffalo job in 2019 before then-general manager Jason Botterill chose Ralph Krueger for the job.

The guys also talk about the pleasant surprise UPL has been in net and spend a little time imaging what the city of Buffalo would feel like if they finally won either a Super Bowl or Stanley Cup. That and plenty more. #bluewirevideo

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00:00 Intro/Banter
05:46 Sabres Talk
10:20 Home Woes
14:01 Sabres Talk
38:00 Buffalo Talk