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00:00right away so if you don't mind our starting the conversation off with a question that maybe we
00:05would have been talking about apart from your visit what color should the end zones be what do
00:10you think what's your thoughts i have no idea let's uh let's have them green green works for
00:17me i like that bulldog just like green green grass color as the i'm not a really complicated
00:22guy so let's stick with i mean i know the bills are really got some red they got some blue
00:29they but let's stay green i gotta tell you the the fan sentiment has been very strong for nostalgia
00:36it always is with with both the teams here that we talk about regularly lindy so red people want red
00:42because of the 90s and i saw pico ellie put out a a poll and there's four choices and i
00:50like the blue
00:50one best i think the blue one looks best with the logo at midfield and so i don't know i
00:56voted blue
00:57agree to disagree you and lindy again at odds i got i gotta be honest i didn't know there was
01:03a
01:04debate about the end zone color that's lindy there's a debate about everything there's a debate about
01:08everything otherwise we'd be out of jobs i don't think we we need you to care about that so that's
01:14fine um this is so cool i mean i know the uh occasion today is that the sabers and wgr
01:22are continuing
01:23their relationship i i meant to look this up and i'm not that good at this so i didn't but
01:28it's possible that sabers games were on these airwaves when you were drafted like there's a long
01:35i know channel two then had the games with ed and pat hannigan and those guys like that's a long
01:40time
01:40ago now but there's a pretty good history between us yeah what a tremendous relationship and congrats to
01:47everybody there getting the deal done and having you guys back and uh i'm looking forward to it you guys
01:52have been uh they've been a great sports crew and it's been a great uh relationship uh let's keep
01:58it going is there a particular time you would be willing to share that we drove you crazy whether
02:04that was like most of your visits have been with the morning guys but like they must have made you
02:09mad a couple times no you know it's uh probably the uh you know the fondest memory going back was
02:16actually driving to the studio and being with bulldog i don't know boy i don't know if you can remember
02:21the year but it probably late 90s but we did that yeah i don't even know what night maybe a
02:27tuesday
02:28night or something like that i'd drive in and we'd we'd get uh get through it so um no um
02:35i got a lot
02:36of respect on you know for you guys and what the job you're trying to do and uh you know
02:42find something
02:42to talk about uh and there's controversy every day and you know whether you win or lose this
02:48but we try to make it interesting for you for sure so did you did you bug me at times
02:53damn right let's hope if we didn't i mean we should be replaced that's clear i remember you coming in
02:59like that that's you did i think a regular gig with kevin sylvester uh for a time and i probably
03:05filled
03:05in a few times because kevin and i we've been co-workers on and off yeah it's been off for
03:09a very
03:09long time now but early on we were together at ben then he was gone for a while and then
03:14we'd
03:14we were together over here but anyway yeah those were days elmwood avenue wben that old nighttime
03:19show uh we did plenty of that yeah we yeah we all we all go back man like it's one
03:25of the things
03:25lindy like it was so important that the team broke through last year like they did with you as the
03:32head
03:33coach because i i don't mind telling you i don't know if this will this will land badly but when
03:39you
03:39came back the state of the franchise had been so damaged that i didn't want it to damage how people
03:47felt about you because you you're such a beloved figure in the history of the franchise like mike
03:52said drafted played here coaching career and then on to other places and then now back here
03:58and i i for me selfishly the admiration i have for you i needed something good to happen and thankfully
04:05it
04:07did yeah and by any means it wasn't easy uh as you recall with the way we started and you
04:14know i've
04:14gone through last year and i go through early on all the the stuff that doleen dealt with and then
04:19norris getting hurt in the you know the first game versus the rangers and uh benson dealing with
04:26ankle injury and you know once we got through all that we you know the vision of what i thought
04:31the
04:32team could be really really came around and we got some tremendous play and we had a lot of players
04:37that took big steps and understanding that again we got a year coming up where everybody and
04:42in our division in our conference all they all think they're playoff teams and there's all there's
04:48teams that have really think they've improved and we know at the same time that we have to improve
04:53that guys have to take another step forward and uh it's not going to be an easy task
04:59lindy if this isn't too close to the same question just wonder how you feel about your team right now
05:06versus a year ago i mean i you always sound have sounded very optimistic that's how coaches tend to
05:13sound you know about their team like in public especially um for me this moment here leading into
05:20training camp is very different than last year because last year it was all kind of just like all right
05:25you got to show me first and now you had last year and expectations are higher like maybe you felt
05:32that optimistic last year that you might get to i mean 109 points in first place i don't know but
05:39the season you had versus now i mean is it how is the job or your outlook on things different
05:45if it
05:45is at all from a year ago i don't think the outlook has changed uh that much just just knowing
05:53that
05:54uh there's a lot of work to do that uh we've got some some players that uh stepped into our
06:00lineup and
06:01and played extremely well and i think they're just scratching the surface and uh you know i can go to
06:07players like uh you know samuson and quinn and then you can go to austin a guy that was missing
06:14that
06:14i had a long conversation with yesterday that is in town he looks great he's been skating
06:19his cool league um you know and then helenis uh uh stepped in in the playoffs and and he was
06:29a real
06:29good player for us so you know i'm excited about where we got to uh knowing that you know everybody's
06:37got to take another step that you know shortened uh summer which is always a good thing uh less time
06:43to train uh most of the guys are are back in town right now and i'm excited uh you know
06:49for the
06:49most part all the players uh are anxious and and ready to go how uh how are you feeling about
06:56the
06:56veterans that you did lose uh because it it feels like you know significant guys talk an assistant
07:03captain by room somebody who really helped make you guys go back there um and it seems like you're
07:09maybe going to be counting on as it stands younger guys to fill all that in and there's some pretty
07:14big shoes to fill there yeah for sure i i think when you look around the league uh the good
07:21teams
07:22the teams that you know have a great year there's always one or two players that have to move on
07:28uh and make room for for a younger player i think carolina is probably the greatest example that a lot
07:34of
07:34good players have come in a lot of good players have left and they remain consistent and they
07:38believe in in the players they have um the players you mentioned tuck and and bo uh great players for
07:46us uh we're a big part of our regular season big part of the playoffs uh i still think that
07:53our defense
07:53is is the strength of ours uh our top four um you know that you look at right now and
08:00we got a guy
08:01like zell wigger who's stepping in we got crevy and another big guy that will be stepping in
08:07uh i i feel that is still going to be our strength uh are we going to miss them we
08:12are going to miss
08:12them um but it's another opportunity i think that owen power took a big step uh is ready to you
08:18know
08:18step in and uh and be a huge factor and and in the way we play and in all assets
08:25of our game whether
08:26it's penalty killing power play um i thought where he got his game to the end of the regular season
08:32and playoffs was fantastic and and when i when i talk about tuck i have a lot of admiration for
08:38you know what he's done for the franchise what he's done for the team uh but feeling that you know
08:44a guy like doan can can play more benson can play more that we've got quinn helenius austin we've got
08:51a list of players that are ready to take that next step and assume a greater leadership role
08:58and a playing role a lot of different situations with lindy ruff mike shope and the bulldog here on
09:05wgr on the occasion of the station and the team jointly announcing a continuing partnership and
09:11the games will be on wgr and you're you're nice by the way lindy to take questions that are not
09:15about
09:15us uh so we appreciate that um so i've never played high level sports need i say so but i've
09:25met
09:25hundreds of people that have and most of my experience with athletes is they don't want to
09:33look back you know like there there's not that much value in it necessarily i wonder though
09:39respectfully about yourself i mean you've been in the game for almost 50 years professionally
09:44and you know you're coming up on the top names in the history of the sport in terms of wins
09:50and
09:50games coached do you think about that ever like can you find time is it even in your interest or
09:57is it something that you have an instinct for to be reflective or do you sort of fend that off
10:03and just think about the next day or the next season how how do you go about that
10:09well i think the one thing is uh i've been humbled by the opportunity i've been given in many places
10:16uh
10:16uh my first opportunity here playing and then coaching and now this second opportunity to come
10:23back and coach uh and not many guys get that opportunity so i've been blessed in that regard
10:29i think i was blessed to play the game for 12 years in nhl and then a year in american
10:35league a year in
10:35the international league and uh and stay healthy enough through that to you know to play the game so
10:41every day i'm thankful for you know the path i've taken um i don't look at while you're you're
10:49here in your career you're with this guy and whatever guy did what uh i get a lot of satisfaction
10:57of
10:57seeing players grow and develop and and become really good players and i think when i i step up this
11:05year
11:07i look at some of the names that i mentioned previously i i want to see those players again
11:12continue to grow and and make this a really good hockey team a really good my goal is to have
11:18this
11:18be a really good consistent hockey team that we're right there year after year so i don't want to look
11:25back at last year i don't want to look back at you know my coaching career or my playing career
11:30i just
11:30want to look forward to this year coming up and and make sure that with this opportunity we can
11:37become that team that consistently a lot like the bills are now uh playoff team every year now for
11:43for years uh that's what we need to become lindy this might be a similarly themed question to the
11:49one that mike just asked you but i'm curious if if this maybe is in a little bit of a
11:54different lane
11:54do you ever sit back maybe this would be something that would happen when you talk with uh people you
12:01maybe no longer work with or even played with in the past just how much the game has evolved from
12:08the point where you entered in the in the in the late 70s or 80s and to where it is
12:15now um i mean
12:17it's been there's a lot there's been a lot of different iterations i feel like of the league and i've
12:22been fond of since i don't know the last five six seven years maybe a little longer feeling like
12:28year over year i feel like the league has never been a better watch because of the skill and talent
12:33that there is now uh that i think it's more opportunity than it ever has i was curious for
12:40your kind of overall it's a very much a 30 000 foot view and i don't know how ready you
12:44are to
12:44talk about but there's there's been a lot you've been you've been around i mean i'm sorry to say you've
12:48been you've been through a lot yeah i've been i wholeheartedly agree with you where the game is
12:55has come from to where the game is at now uh the the talent the training uh the skill in
13:03the game
13:04uh some of the changes that have been made in the game you know you remember when you came we
13:09came
13:09out of lockout in 0405 or 0506 whatever it was uh and they said no more hooking no more holding
13:17and we had an unbelievable team we we went through camp knowing that if you know we could play these
13:23four lines and the likes of a finnegan off and you name it all the we had high skill we
13:27had derrick
13:27roy we had all kinds of players for all kinds of skill and i i think that one of the
13:32first play
13:32regular season games we had like 12 power plays uh but just to change that to to allow the the
13:42skill
13:44uh to perform at uh at their utmost has made a big difference in the game i'll just say right
13:49now i
13:49probably wouldn't be able to play in today's game because i was really good at hooking and holding
13:56and latching on to guys and slowing them down and you know you cover your defense when you stick your
14:01stick through his legs and you hang on to him and that was never ever called um so today's talent
14:07the
14:07way they train the the number of hours they spend in the summer like it's a 12 month game now
14:11where
14:12the game where i came from in the 70s was you finished the season took a little bit of time
14:16off
14:17you got ready uh but i think that's almost every sport uh you know has developed along the way our
14:23sport with with the speed of the players you know when you look at i look at last year beck
14:29melanchine
14:30being the fastest guy in the league and he's primarily playing on our you know our fourth line
14:36that tells you a lot about the game right there uh you know a guy that can skate like that
14:42and can end up with a 24 point some mile an hour skate inside of a game uh the game
14:49is fast the game is
14:50skilled uh and it has changed a lot from no red line to you know moving the line out from
14:57from the end
14:58boards to get more room to operate below the goal line so there's been a lot of changes no red
15:04line
15:04was an idea if i remember correctly that you championed back 20 years ago the off the you know
15:11not right lindy is that correct for correct yeah i uh i actually was for a while was a proponent
15:17of
15:18of trying to make the nets a little bigger or and i think the alternative that was what the league
15:24has done with the goaltenders and cutting down their pads cutting down the blocker
15:27uh you know having having a mechanism in place to make sure that goaltenders aren't
15:34overcooking their equipment from the size of their pants to to everything everything is monitored now
15:40which in reality has made the net bigger and it has made it you know where all of a sudden
15:46scoring
15:47is back in the game and and the skill is operating at a high level because there for a while
15:52the scoring
15:52was it was getting pretty tight it was uh and i'm i'm gonna say this honestly i thought it was
15:58a
15:58little bit for a while while i was coaching a little bit of a boring game uh until they loosened
16:04everything up well yes i mean bulldogs question runs deep i mean it's been very different over like
16:12waves of changes since the 70s and the 80s and then even since you know 2006 but um i never
16:20thought it
16:20was going to be possible i thought if they don't make the nets bigger there's just no hope for this
16:25because everybody's too good the goalies bulldogs kid lady i don't know if you know him he works here
16:30now like just like a top player and like what do you do against this guy you sort of sit
16:35down to watch
16:35a game and here's a six seven goalie who takes up the whole net like i don't know what to
16:40do here
16:40i'm just gonna have to try to lob it over his head i don't even know well it's um it's
16:46great to see
16:47it's great to see and it's great to see the sabers line up with you know much like 20 years
16:52ago with
16:53your team speed and yeah you know all that said lindy it did it you know i i didn't i
16:59was talking
16:59for a long time when i posed that question so i had to shut it down at some point it's
17:03a it's a
17:04problem i have sometimes but the other piece of that is i feel like a team like florida the last
17:10few
17:10years um tampa i think had a mind to try to push you guys around a little bit that famous
17:16eight
17:16seven game late in the season felt like them sort of like all right you young hot shot punks we're
17:23going to show you what's what i feel like it's sort of swung there's still a ton of speed and
17:28skill
17:28but i feel like the physical part of the game has sort of i don't know if they've broken down
17:33the door
17:34entirely but it feels like they've gotten it's coming back into the game it feels like yeah you
17:41know i think there's there's an element of physicality that you need with your team and i
17:47and you still need it i think what i mean that was really you just mentioned a game that i
17:53i think was
17:54one of my favorite games of the year we know we jumped off to the big lead for one we
17:59give up that
18:00lead um you know there's lots of chaos fighting inside the game and uh and and all of a sudden
18:07all of a sudden you're looking at a game that's tied and then we get a power play and we
18:12go ahead
18:13in the game and the game ends up being eight seven uh but tampa does have a little reputation for
18:18you
18:18know trying to bully and you know i think our guys answered the bell which uh was was great to
18:24see and
18:25uh you know i think it was a question that was always asked i know we we had a couple
18:29issues
18:29the year before but i think uh you know our leadership on our team came to the forefront
18:35and i think we answered almost every you know every question we needed to answer this year
18:41and and we really grew as a group which you know that's all you want to see as a coach
18:46before we let you go lindy so this has been something that's sort of like been in the back of
18:51my mind
18:52for many years uh often you would do our morning show and we would talk to darcy regeer in the
18:59afternoon like once a week bulldog pretty much at the arena on a friday night we talked darcy would
19:03come by and i've known him since i got to buffalo back to buffalo 26 years ago and finally lindy
19:11after
19:12many years i mustered the strength to ask him for his phone number so i could you know if i
19:17needed to
19:18know something maybe he trusted me and he would tell me so he gives me a number and then some
19:24other
19:25period of time goes by because i'm still sort of bashful and i call it and i'm on maple road
19:30just
19:31about to pull into this facility and a different voice answers the phone and i'm like hi darcy and
19:38the other person says i think you have the wrong number i think it was you mike gilbert said to
19:44me
19:44once that you that was like a prank where you guys would give each other's number to people is
19:50that true can i find out finally after all these years i i don't i don't i don't believe that's
19:57true
19:57okay uh i find it but our numbers were so close that i could easily see that happening
20:04uh honest mistake is that going to be your story honest mistake
20:09yeah that's my story i'm sticking to it i mean it's a great bet if it were the idea it
20:15was it's a
20:16great bet i've never thought to ask mike if you know you dialed correctly like yeah you i imagine
20:21you that happened checked right i mean i mean i might have typed it in wrong i don't know who
20:25i
20:25was talking i thought i was talking to you but i mean i am now i'll give darcy a lot
20:30of credit
20:30and he gave you my number i find that pretty funny i told bulldog right before we came on with
20:36you
20:36i wrote it down so now i have it i can see it right here i want you to i
20:42want you to try to
20:42call it because i've got the same number let me see if i have that number in my phone i
20:49actually look
20:50i probably deleted it i might have deleted all my contacts in that moment i was so
20:54you know nervous the level of sleuthing that is happening here is unprecedented all right well
21:00lindy i hope everything goes well uh continued you know best of luck and try not to be freaked
21:07out if my 24 soon to be 25 year old kid starts asking you questions on the morning show it's
21:12still
21:12very weird for me that he works here and i don't know it's time it does go by he's uh
21:19following in
21:20some great footsteps so good for him and i'll look forward to talking to him thank you lindy uh look
21:25forward to the season can't wait thanks for your time you got it gentlemen you're welcome bye now
21:30bye
21:32seven one six um yeah don't do that no that's i was gonna say my number
21:39but then he hung up so he doesn't need it pretty sure he knows how to reach you
21:45he should he can pull rank anytime he wants figure that out all right so the sabers will be back
21:52on the
21:52station this year and uh that's exciting and i'm so i mean i'm happy for everyone but especially
21:59brian and paul uh like those that's their that's their primary job here and brian
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