- 2 days ago
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00:00It's Mike Schultz and the Bulldog, the WGR Sports Radio 550.
00:07Mike Ditka there.
00:10RIP.
00:11We're late.
00:15Everybody's dying.
00:18Ron Duguay?
00:19I mean, take it easy on everybody, but yeah.
00:22Ron Duguay?
00:23Yes.
00:24I found out about his death today from Sarah Palin.
00:29It must have been on For You or something, or somebody retweeted it for me to have seen that announcement.
00:35I didn't, they were a couple?
00:37Maybe?
00:37For You.
00:39You know how you have following, and then if you make a mistake, or sometimes maybe every once in a
00:44while it moves you to For You, and it's a bunch of people you don't follow, like why am I
00:48seeing this?
00:48Yeah, exactly.
00:50I start scrolling and go, these aren't my people.
00:54This is not, this is not, yeah, I gotta get out of here.
00:57For You.
00:57Yeah, not for me.
00:58I got a different F.
00:59Not for you.
01:01Before you.
01:02Yeah, right.
01:02Todd Benzinger.
01:0490 Reds.
01:05Yep.
01:07I think, did I read, caught the final, like made the final out for the Reds in the 90 World
01:15Series.
01:15Yes.
01:16Yeah.
01:16Is that a team you care about?
01:1890 Reds?
01:19Um, a little.
01:21I did not like the A's, so I was rooting for the Reds.
01:24I liked Eric Davis.
01:25Didn't he get hurt in that series?
01:26Yes.
01:27I remember.
01:28Good memory.
01:29Yeah.
01:30Jose Riho was the MVP.
01:32All right.
01:33Who had played for the A's.
01:34I remember him too.
01:35And the Yankees.
01:36He was a Yankee first, then he goes to Cincinnati, and they swept him.
01:40Oh, what is that team?
01:41Oliver, Benzinger, Bill Doran.
01:44I have his hat.
01:47Like a game-worn hat?
01:51Yes.
01:52How'd that happen?
01:53I don't know.
01:54Okay.
01:54But it's in my closet.
01:55All right.
01:56Good talk.
01:56Barry Larkin.
01:58Of course.
01:59Davis.
02:00Billy Hatcher.
02:02Paul O'Neill.
02:03Billy Hatcher.
02:04Paul O'Neill.
02:04Yeah.
02:05You're doing great.
02:05Who's the third?
02:07Sabo.
02:08Yes.
02:09Chris Sabo.
02:10Goggles.
02:11Goggles.
02:12Nasty Boys.
02:13Dibble.
02:15Charlton.
02:17Randy Myers.
02:19That's it.
02:20There's a third.
02:21Wild thing.
02:21There was a third Nasty Boy, and that was it.
02:25Randall K. Myers.
02:26Yep.
02:27Wow.
02:27This is a fun start.
02:2990 Reds.
02:29Let's go.
02:30We're just guys hanging out in the bar.
02:3290 Reds.
02:32Just naming some guys.
02:33Just talking about some guys.
02:34Remember that guy?
02:35Remember that guy?
02:36Rio Browning.
02:38Who threw a perfect game?
02:42Danny Jackson?
02:43Danny Jackson.
02:45I have to stop.
02:46I'm sorry.
02:47Was Danny Jackson number 24?
02:49I don't think so.
02:50Okay.
02:50Lefty starter.
02:51Yeah.
02:51I remember him.
02:5220 wins.
02:53All right.
02:54I was just trying to, like, you know, you said his name, and I thought 24.
02:58Maybe it's right.
02:58Could be.
02:58And if that's right, I'm going to feel like I need to stand down on the whole thing.
03:04I'm going to go find out.
03:04I'm not venturing out onto the ice anymore.
03:0790 Reds.
03:07Anymore.
03:08Their last good team.
03:09If I got that buttoned up.
03:1190.
03:12Danny, maybe you might be right.
03:1520.
03:16That's not his number.
03:18Nothing.
03:19All right.
03:19I don't know.
03:20It's not vital information right now.
03:22I don't know.
03:22Yeah.
03:23All right.
03:25Where do you find that?
03:28Usually what I will do is I'll click on, like, Google a guy like that and just click on images.
03:34And eventually I'm going to get a shot of him in a Reds jersey.
03:38Number 20.
03:39Oh, okay.
03:39Well, that's close.
03:43Was he close?
03:44803, 0550.
03:45Was Bulldog close?
03:46Oh, boy.
03:48Do we want to dive into the Sabres here?
03:52I think so.
03:53Okay.
03:53Go ahead.
03:54Yeah.
03:56Because I'm exhausted from doing it yesterday.
03:58Yeah.
03:59I feel like you should leave.
04:00I definitely don't want to, like, you know, retread over the ground.
04:05Although, I mean, it's inevitable.
04:07They didn't give up four.
04:09No.
04:09No, they didn't.
04:10But last night was so – we were together.
04:13That event was nice.
04:15All my complaining about – I had a very nice time at the Buffalo Broadcasters induction.
04:24Last night.
04:24But I wanted to leave.
04:26You didn't win.
04:26I knew we didn't win.
04:27I didn't – despite that, I still had a great time.
04:30I enjoyed hearing a lot of people's stories.
04:34Interesting, because that ruined it for me.
04:35I really like –
04:37Why did I come here?
04:38Right.
04:39I came to support my kid.
04:41He won, so that was nice.
04:42I don't have that.
04:45So, I wanted to leave – I left before Scott Levin spoke.
04:49He was the final inductee and was getting maybe the biggest – like, some special award or something.
04:55I don't remember.
04:55Just going in the Hall of Fame.
04:56Just going in the Hall of Fame.
04:57That was it.
04:57Okay.
04:58Yeah, I guess that is like a lifetime achievement award.
05:01How would I know?
05:02Right.
05:03We haven't achieved anything.
05:05So, anyway.
05:06Show him the year.
05:06Like, they're introducing him.
05:07I'm like, all right, you know, this is done.
05:09And I'm imagining getting out of there being really tedious.
05:14Because, like, the people that are still there, you're chit-chatting, pictures, whatever.
05:19It's like, all right, you know what?
05:20I know what time it is.
05:21I'm guessing the hockey game is late second.
05:23I want to get home.
05:24I want to see the third period.
05:25I have a job.
05:27I'm justifying leaving early any way I can.
05:30So, I'm going to get out of there.
05:31I hop in the truck.
05:32I'm driving home.
05:33And there's the Zucker goal late in the second.
05:36Two to one.
05:37Okay.
05:37Right?
05:37I miss all the drama with the phantom high-sticking penalty on power that put them down two men,
05:43whatever.
05:43They lived through that.
05:44It's a two-one game.
05:46Brian Koziel and Paul tell me they've been playing great, basically dominating this game
05:51so far.
05:52And, you know.
05:53So, all right, good.
05:54Third period.
05:55I can't wait to get home.
05:55Watch third period.
05:56I get home, turn the game on, and, like, that third goal goes in.
06:00And it's just like, oof, is the feeling I had.
06:07When that goal went, it was just a rancid, lousy, stinky play by Lukanen.
06:12And now it's three to one.
06:14And it felt, I don't know, I mean, I'm not talking to these guys, but it felt like every
06:18guy on the bench had the same reaction that I had when I was sitting in my litter room scrambling
06:24home to get home to watch the end.
06:25And, oh, I'm excited to see the end of this.
06:26Oh, really?
06:28With that?
06:29Oh.
06:30Thinking of last night, the late Brian Blessing.
06:33I watched a couple of games with Brian and Mike Robitaille when I worked with those guys
06:38at Adelphia.
06:40And Brian had, like, a bit how Rick Jennerette would call a goal like that.
06:47Like, oh, he winds it around.
06:49Score!
06:50Like, there's just no play.
06:52Right, right, right.
06:53Like, he kind of can't play.
06:54How did that end up in the net?
06:55What?
06:56Right.
06:56I think, I did not hear the highlight, because it was TNT, but I think Rob makes a sound.
07:03Like, the goal goes in and Rob, Rob maybe makes the ooh, like some semblance of that
07:08sound, right?
07:09Like, it was a bad moment, and it just sent me, I don't know about a spiral, that's a
07:16little strong, but I did, I woke up earlier than I needed to get up today, and I started
07:20thinking about the Sabres, and it was one of these days that I just couldn't stop
07:24thinking, I was like, I'm getting up, I'm awake, I just can't, I'm so frustrated.
07:30And the frustration is really, for me right now, is this, and if I need to be pulled back
07:38from the brink here, because it's only 10 games into the season, and they're not buried
07:43or anything, but, you know, they're working on it, and I just, I feel very much like future
07:53me, I'd like to talk to future me.
07:54I'd like future us to have a say in how, it's too late on some fronts, like, future
08:01us was worried about giving Alex Tuck an eight-year contract, because, you know, he's
08:0730, and eventually he'll be 31, and then eventually he'll be 36, and like, okay, that's
08:12not unreasonable, I get it.
08:16I, for one, didn't want to overreact to a scoreless second round of the playoffs, but,
08:21you know, okay, he's older, you don't want to do it.
08:25Three years from now, we'll be happy that we didn't sign Alex Tuck.
08:29Okay, great.
08:30The draft comes around, I've got the fourth overall pick.
08:34Like, Dax and Rudolph might be a really nice player in three years, and three years from
08:39now, you know, Radio's the Bulldog might be really happy watching him patrol the blue
08:43line somehow with Darlene and Power and Samuelson and Mirka and Kleber and like whoever hell else
08:51you want to add in that could be a top four defenseman for this team, but I've got 10 of
08:54them right now, so okay, great, and I just, the whole offseason seems like it was based
09:02on what is this going to look like in 2029 instead of what it's going to look like and
09:08what it can do for me in 2026 and 2027, and I'm just really frustrated by that because I
09:19think it was called for, if it ever has been called for, it was called for to act like
09:25you think you can win the Stanley freaking Cup this year.
09:29You're that close.
09:31And keep going.
09:33Build on that.
09:34Push in.
09:35And instead, they recoiled and reset and made their team actively worse, at least to start
09:45this season than they were when it ended in Game 7 against Montreal, and I just, for all
09:52the excitement about Kekalainen being like a real tomato ketchup Eddie GM, I feel like
09:58he's basically been standing here just watching the world go by.
10:01There's been very little.
10:03He actively, I think, hurt the team at the deadline last year with the moves he made, maybe
10:08anticipating he was going to play Tampa, and they ended up winning the division and didn't
10:11never see Tampa.
10:12I mean, still, it's like the oldest thing in hockey is to just go get big people.
10:20Their strength was speed and not size, and you know, you could say like, well, all right,
10:26let's fix what is...
10:26Mix a little in or something, yeah, whatever.
10:30I'm just really...
10:32And so now, here we are, like the whole Hellebuck thing has, you know, that's what got you going
10:37yesterday, halfway through our show, so it's like, what are we doing?
10:41And like, all of it, to me, just feels like there is absolutely zero urgency to build on
10:50what they accomplished last year.
10:53It feels to me like, well, we got everybody back, and let's keep going and make sure we're
10:59sustainable with all the young guys.
11:02And you know, Doan and Benson got their fancy contracts, and they've got sandwiches named
11:07after them in the arena, and between them, they've got one goal.
11:10Benson's on a line that is the best line in hockey, analytically, but he's not doing
11:16anything on the score sheet.
11:18Uh-oh.
11:18Um, nothing's happening here.
11:21I got like one line that can produce offense.
11:24You know, my D's been a little uneven.
11:27Darlene missed a bunch of games.
11:28You know, whatever.
11:29That'll get sorted out.
11:31I still kind of like their decor.
11:32I think they did a decent job of replacing Byram with Zellweger.
11:36But all the rest of it is just, to me, very sabery.
11:43It's, you know, these guys will produce.
11:46You'll be happy we have them.
11:49I guess, you know, at some point this year, that would be nice.
11:52You know, in two years, maybe they'll be the best players they have.
11:57But it's not doing anything for me right now.
12:00And I just, it's just, there's no, I can't go back in time and, and, and fix the Alex
12:06Tuck thing for them the way that, you know, I would have preferred the, the outcome to
12:11be.
12:11And I just, um, you would have wanted to sign them.
12:14Yeah.
12:15Yeah.
12:16I'll, I'll, I'll live with 2029 when 2029 comes.
12:20The cap's going to be $250 million by then.
12:23Whatever.
12:23I'll be fine.
12:25It's just, it just feels very much.
12:29Like the eras that preceded last season to me.
12:35And this is where I want to say, like, do I need to be pulled back from the brink here
12:39because it's only 10 games?
12:41Um, I just, no, my answer is yes or no.
12:44I just don't think they behaved like a team that had the season they had last year.
12:51And I think we were calling that all through the process.
12:54This is not like hindsight.
12:56It was like, where's the, where's the thing?
12:59Where's the thing?
13:00Where's the cranberry sauce?
13:02And where's the pumpkin pie?
13:04So you still have, you know, and wrapped up in all of this are the shortcomings that
13:09exist within their goaltending to start this year.
13:13Lukanen, every game there's a goal that you're, and the fan base is totally wound up.
13:18I don't know that the team isn't totally wound up about Lukanen and his place in the Hellebuck
13:23thing or whatever.
13:24It's just, it feels very uncomfortable right now to me.
13:31And I can't imagine what the players all sort of feel like, because if, if to a man, or even
13:39if just only a half a dozen of them are still riding around in their cars when they leave
13:44practice, wondering like, why, why didn't we do blank?
13:47Why didn't we do this?
13:49Why didn't we do that?
13:50Why didn't we do something?
13:51Are we a serious team?
13:52Are we trying to win while I'm still under contract?
13:56Thought Taige Thompson, maybe.
13:59All right.
13:59Like, what are we doing?
14:01What are we here for?
14:03Are we here to give away beer sabers?
14:05Cause everybody loves us again.
14:07Or are we here to go get players that can give us something to really continue to be invested
14:12in is, I just don't agree with their pathway here since, uh, since last season ended really.
14:20And it's not like I've just been waiting for this.
14:22I, I, I, you know, would love it much more if they were, you know, I don't know, six,
14:28two and two instead of four, four and two, four and six, um, right.
14:33Two regulation wins, by the way.
14:35Yeah.
14:36Um, not a great pace.
14:38No.
14:39And the games, their wins are all games.
14:41They've had to scramble to win.
14:43Like they're behind by two goals all night.
14:45Like it's just not all night, but like, you know, third periods are going into third period.
14:48They're going to come good for you.
14:50You came back twice in Montreal.
14:52All in Toronto against Florida against every night.
14:58So I'm just, um, I'm just, I'm really annoyed, um, with the inaction.
15:04I think action was called for and they have chosen, you know, I don't know what prices
15:12they're being asked to pay for any of these ideas.
15:15I have an idea of what they needed to pay for talk, um, after what he ended up signing
15:19for.
15:19So you can kind of ballpark that, but I don't know what Winnipeg wants, but the Sabres should
15:27want to do something to upgrade their team.
15:32And they haven't really done anything at best.
15:37They, they, they, they, they, they, they made a lateral, it's not even, you can't even, you're
15:40going to hope it's a lateral move for Zellweger to replace Byram.
15:43You hope it is.
15:44And so far, I think the returns are encouraging on that front, but that's it.
15:48No, that's not an upgrade.
15:52No, it can't be called an upgrade.
15:55No, until it might've been smart, but it's not, it's not an upgrade teams that are close
16:02to the top usually make moves in the other direction.
16:09There's a lot going on here.
16:11And the big one is deciding whether Sabres history, their past should matter in the equation
16:22should exist in the equation because to you and I, it does like this frustration is born
16:29from their history of just sitting still and not spending money and, you know, not winning.
16:37And so here comes a season after a great season and we're restless because we're kind of like,
16:43this is very familiar that they didn't go get the big guy or one of the big guys that available
16:49in a trade or free agency.
16:51Cause that never happens.
16:52And so like, what, what is it?
16:54So I think that's important to factor into the analysis is like whether Yarmul Kekalainen
17:01should care about that.
17:03I think you should care about that.
17:05I don't think it should be the tiebreaker vote on whatever it is.
17:09They do like, Oh, well, this team has this history.
17:12So I'm just going to do this reckless thing because you know, everybody will be glad for
17:17it.
17:17Uh, it shouldn't be the most important thing.
17:20I think it should matter.
17:22I think it matters to us.
17:23And I think it's, it should be important to the Sabres that the fans state of mind is
17:29relevant.
17:30I think it should be known to them.
17:32If it isn't, that's a terrible oversight by them.
17:35That's just arrogance.
17:36If they, if they don't know how the fans feel, not that every fan feels the same way.
17:40Correct.
17:40Right.
17:41But that's just, you know, blind arrogance on their part, if that's the case and that
17:46should not be allowed.
17:50I also think not to contradict all of that, if you go 10 games into a hockey season and
17:58want to see what you've got, that that's not unreasonable to do.
18:02Like you, you, you should be allowed to do that and they haven't been bad.
18:07So I think we don't know, like they won't put it to us, but if you had Kekalainen at the
18:14party last night and just asked them, you know, man to man, what, what are you thinking?
18:19He's like, well, I want to, I wanted to go a dozen games into the season and see what
18:22it is.
18:23Now you can't sign anybody now and I don't know who you could have traded for that you
18:29can't trade for now, whether what, maybe Hellebuck, whatever that is.
18:33But I mean, when this is really, it almost sounds like an excuse, but when was it last
18:39year that they woke up?
18:40It was like seven weeks from now.
18:44So, you know, and, and they finished first, nobody even cared about first, just get in
18:51one of these years and they finished first, Tampa, Florida, Toronto, Boston.
18:57So I, I kind of think there might be a school of thought here that's respectable that let's
19:03see what it looks like and then act.
19:08And that, that starts with the net.
19:10Yes.
19:11And, and that's where the, the, our history makes it hard.
19:17I think for us out here, me, you, uh, anyone else that feels likewise to give them that
19:28leeway to the, I don't want to get it 10, 12, let's get a quarter even whatever, you know,
19:34you're not talking about 20 games, but still let's get into the season.
19:38And let's see what we are.
19:39But the past history tells me that this organization has normally just, they, they will do that
19:51and never do anything else.
19:53They're just, well, you know, this is our team now.
19:56Now prices are too high.
19:58I can't make a trade.
19:59I can't find whatever it is.
20:00There's always some reason nothing happens.
20:03We went through the, the pocket of the calendar where things happen and they actively chose
20:11to pass on every possibility.
20:15And I don't know if it's too late.
20:16I mean, Hellebuck has still not been traded.
20:19So hopefully it's not too late.
20:21They, they keep trotting Lukan in out here every game.
20:25And there's, there's maybe there's a couple of possibilities for why that is.
20:30They've completely lost faith in Colton Ellis after the two goals he gave up in the first
20:35period against Florida.
20:36I mean, that seems rash, but maybe that would be absurd.
20:40Maybe that, maybe that's right.
20:42He can't get, he can't, he can't get a game here looking in.
20:45And they're either trying to get him up and running because they recognize he's, he's
20:51our, especially with lying out, he's our, he's our most talented guy.
20:54He's our most pedigreed guys.
20:55The guy we're paying, let's get that going.
20:58And that'll, that'll work for us.
21:00So I got to keep rolling them out there or I got to keep rolling them out there because
21:05teams that we might want to spin him off to in a Hellebuck trade, want to see him keep
21:09playing.
21:10Well, that can work either way, right?
21:11It can.
21:12Yeah.
21:12Right.
21:13Maybe that helps you.
21:14Maybe it doesn't.
21:15Yeah.
21:15It's a double-edged sword for sure.
21:17Lukanen's career save percentage is now below 900.
21:22That is not going to work.
21:25He's dug a hole this year where I think his numbers almost are unrecoverable for this year.
21:33Like, I mean, he's, he's just had such a tough start to the year that even if he gets
21:37hot, he's just got a long way to go to dig out, save percentage wise anyway.
21:43Yeah.
21:45But yeah, I, I just, I'm just trying to figure out what they're, what they're doing with
21:50that.
21:51Like, you know, we thought, Oh, maybe they'll just start alternating.
21:54Nope.
21:55Ellis doesn't exist anymore.
21:57Lyon, you know, we still don't know when, when he might be back unless there was some
22:01news on that today that I've missed.
22:03No way to find out.
22:03Um, so it's too important to be specific about his injury.
22:10And they've let, like, I read yesterday that Kekalainen, I don't know if he, he had done
22:16this when he talked to the guys the other day, he was on the morning show, I think Tuesday.
22:19Um, but I know I saw one report that said like Kekalainen talked to Lucanen in the locker
22:26room the other day to like sort of quell his, look, don't worry.
22:29You're not getting moved.
22:31Nothing's happening.
22:32And I'm like, okay, great.
22:34Well, that's interesting.
22:35That was one thing that I didn't get to yesterday with you.
22:38I did bring it up to my wife.
22:41How I liked, we, we, we had a Kekalainen clip and I liked how he sounded about being honest
22:49with players.
22:49Like, I don't want to have my, I don't want to pretend like everything is just made up.
22:54You know, sometimes it's not.
22:55You want to talk to players and be real with them.
22:58That's important.
22:59I like that.
22:59I agree with that.
23:00If it's Lucanen and he is trying to make a move, does he tell him that?
23:05Right.
23:06Is that being honest with players?
23:07Does he actually tell Lucanen, listen, I'm trying to get you out of here?
23:11No, that doesn't help batters.
23:13I don't think so.
23:13So you can say you want to be honest with players.
23:17And I think of course, in general, that's a good thing, but there's a line drawn and it
23:23would be in front of, look, we're trying to get you to New York because you don't want
23:27your starting goalie to think, to know that he's going to be traded.
23:31Like you wouldn't.
23:32Right.
23:32That's not being frank with players.
23:34So I don't know.
23:35Maybe he doesn't want to trade him.
23:37I can't tell you that I, that that's not true.
23:39Right.
23:40Uh, and, and meanwhile, the Lucanen, like you can get, you get mad, get as mad at him
23:47as, as you need to be or want to be about this goal or that goal.
23:52And there that, look, I'm, I've been defending him mostly because I feel like the fan base
23:58is so on edge about him that it happened last night.
24:03I didn't even see the goal until I got home, but we're sitting at that table and I don't
24:08know, if a few of us at once, even like, Oh, two, nothing first period.
24:12And sneaky Joe says, Twitter seems like it's in flames about the first goal.
24:17And I watched the first goal.
24:18I'm like, I mean, it's, it's a rebound.
24:23Maybe he could have done a better job with the rebound, but like, it's not a bad goal.
24:27I don't think the second goal is not a bad goal.
24:29It's a puck that's in midair.
24:31A guy, but I think the fan base is so wound about him and Hellebuck that I don't think
24:40the kid can win.
24:41I, he'd have to be the best goalie in the league from here to the end to get fans back
24:46behind him because all this is lingering and it feels to me like that's a very almost
24:51untenable position.
24:53I can sympathize with him.
24:54It's almost 200 games and his save percentage is below 900.
24:59I mean, that's not NHL quality.
25:02No, no matter what else we're talking about here, that's just not good enough.
25:07So I don't know.
25:08I can sympathize with him to a point, but the Sabres should want better.
25:13And I don't know if they're going to do anything about it with the Sabres.
25:16You tend to think they'd never do anything about anything.
25:18Right.
25:19Let's take a break.
25:20803-0550 for your calls today.
25:23Tyler Dunn and Chad Diedeminesis coming up, but not until four.
25:29Is Tyler on?
25:30Mike Schoep and the Bulldog here, WGR.