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.

Follow Mike Harrington on Twitter @ByMHarrington and of course support local journalism, which needs your support now more than ever by subscribing to The Buffalo News.

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