Latest / Predators Official Podcast / Training Camp: Countdown to Opening Night feat. Roman Josi

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Training Camp: Countdown to Opening Night feat. Roman Josi · Predators Official Podcast

0:00
Yeah, I think, I think there's a lot of focus, you know, and, and
0:03
I think guys came ready as a team.
0:05
You have a chip on the shoulder. A lot of guys have a chip on
0:07
their shoulder. You know, a lot of guys want to
0:10
have a bounce back here, here. And I think you can tell, you
0:13
know, a lot of guys are focused. Guys are working hard in camp
0:16
and I'm excited. I'm excited for for the start of
0:19
the season. But like I said, the guys guys
0:21
are definitely focused. Welcome to another episode of
0:31
the Predators Official Podcast. It's so great to see everyone
0:35
once again as we continue through training camp and the
0:37
preseason. I'm Brooks Bratton of Nashville
0:40
predators.com, pleased to be joined by my friends Max Hurst
0:44
from Preds Radio and Cara Hammer from Preds TV.
0:47
And boy, do we have a jam packed show for you.
0:50
As we said, training camp continues.
0:52
The preseason's underway. The Preds sweep a double header
0:55
against Florida, fall on a shootout against Tampa, but
0:58
there's plenty of good that has come so far.
1:00
Also our first guest, an interview with none other than
1:04
the Preds captain Roman Yossi. Coming up, Pete Weber and Terry
1:07
Crisp, the next inductees of the Predators Golden Hall and of
1:11
course, our biggie awesome person of the week friends.
1:15
We got a lot to get to Max Kara, how we feeling I'm.
1:19
Feeling good. I feel like we're going to have
1:21
to play this clip later in the show, but when I saw Ryan
1:25
O'reilly's impression of Jonathan Marshiso earlier in the
1:29
week, I feel like that just set the standard for how great this
1:33
week was going to go. Well, we've had some fun in pre
1:40
season so far and it's been good to see a lot of the young
1:42
friends make big impressions, seeing some mostly NHL lineups
1:46
on the ice for three home games this week.
1:48
So it's been amazing to be back in Smashville with tons of fans
1:51
and it just feels right to be going again.
1:54
So let's talk about it. No, it's that's a good call,
1:57
Max. It's been really good to be back
1:59
at home and to see a lot of people come out to the games and
2:02
there's always optimism at this time of year, but there's reason
2:05
for it around Nashville at the moment.
2:08
So we mentioned it at the top and we'll get going on the
2:10
doubleheader against Florida 5 nothing victory in game 1A53
2:14
final in Game 2, Eric Halla with two goals in the first game,
2:18
Matthew Wood a goal and two assists in the finale.
2:22
We'll have more on him and Brady Martin in a bit, but Eric Halla
2:26
with that new look line of Jonathan Marcia so and Michael
2:28
Bunting, they've been sticking together and Cara, they're a lot
2:31
of fun to watch in these first few games here.
2:34
They are, I feel like the trio are all the same person in one
2:38
line. They're pests.
2:39
They're, they're, they're like pests.
2:41
They're, they're pesty players. They all have a little bit of
2:44
tenacity. They all chirp a little bit.
2:46
I feel like they almost need a fourth person out there just
2:49
regulating the line. I, you know, Willie Donnick
2:52
said. Maybe like a therapist out
2:54
there, like, hey, guys, keep it under control because they're
2:57
all going to draw penalties. They're all going to get up in
2:59
your face. And I, I kind of like that it's
3:02
almost you, you know, you look at before we used to have like
3:05
that third line, third line, you'd roll them out there.
3:07
Those guys were chirping their big bodies.
3:10
But that's the line that has stood out to me so far this
3:13
season. So I don't know, Brooks, maybe
3:15
you want to take over, be the therapist on the ice and and
3:18
work these guys through all the things they're dealing with
3:20
right now. Well, Kara, it's funny you say
3:23
pests because Michael Bunting said that after Tuesday night's
3:26
game, said, you know, what do you think of playing with these
3:29
twos? Like, we're all kind of pests.
3:31
We're all doing the same thing out there.
3:32
So, yeah, it's been a lot of fun to watch those 3.
3:35
And that's a line that Andrew Burnett has been very
3:37
complimentary of over the last little bit.
3:39
So they have stuck together through two games that they've
3:42
played in the preseason. We'll see if that continues.
3:45
And we mentioned Matthew Wood and we'll get to Brady Martin
3:48
more and in just a moment because he had a heck of a
3:50
showing in Tuesday night's game. But Matthew Wood, I, I really
3:55
liked what he had to say about his confidence.
3:58
You know, he's a guy that played at the end of last season, the
4:01
final six games of the regular season, had a really good
4:04
summer, came back into rookie camp, got into the prospect
4:08
tournament in Tampa and all of a sudden he's got five points
4:12
through two preseason games. Here's what Wood had to say on
4:15
his confidence and how that's grown after the game on Sunday
4:19
that he played in. Yeah, it was good.
4:22
It was lots of fun. I was, you know, really
4:23
fortunate to be able to play with, you know, great players
4:26
and be put in a position to succeed by, you know, the
4:29
organization tonight. And, you know, I'm.
4:31
I'm happy with my effort and, you know, happy with, you know,
4:34
the team win can. Take us do the sequence that led
4:37
to that same post goal. Look like you got a a really
4:39
good kind of move on that defense defenseman there.
4:42
Yeah, I think, you know, Phil made a great play to me and I
4:44
had some speed going to the net. So I just, you know, kind of
4:47
instincts, practice, you know, work on all that stuff
4:49
throughout throughout the summer and throughout the years.
4:51
And you know, Sam had a great finish you.
4:54
Think. You feel a little bit more
4:55
confident here at this point that kind of led to a play like
4:58
that, being able to see that happen.
4:59
Yeah, I definitely have a lot more confidence than I had, you
5:01
know, at the end of last season kind of getting my feet wet.
5:04
And that's kind of, you know, been a pattern of my career.
5:06
And, you know, getting a little confidence is is really big for
5:10
me and, you know, the mental side of the game.
5:12
And it's something that I really worked on and, you know, I'm
5:15
going to try to continue to work on it.
5:17
What was the? Biggest challenge with the
5:18
mental side of the game coming into the NHL.
5:23
I mean, besides all the, you know, everything's faster,
5:26
everything's, you know, harder to do.
5:28
I think you know, you, you have to believe in yourself.
5:32
Like at the end of the day, it's a business and you know, your
5:36
team has to do what they have to do to win.
5:37
And if you don't believe in yourself, then you can't expect
5:40
anyone else to. So just, you know, having
5:43
confidence to believe in yourself, even if you're the
5:45
last guy in the room that believes in you.
5:47
And I mean, yeah, that's, it's a hard thing to do.
5:51
And it's hard for, you know, young guys coming up to learn.
5:54
And I've dealt with, you know, lots of different, you know,
5:58
mental blocks in my game. And I'm still trying to work on
6:01
them. And that's part of the, you
6:02
know, journey of playing. And it's lots of fun.
6:05
So some really good stuff there from Matthew Wood and the mental
6:09
side of things. That's such an important part of
6:11
the game, but especially for a 20 year old kid.
6:14
You talk about feeling good about yourself.
6:17
You can see it on the ice right now, Max.
6:20
Yeah, the way he's upped every single part of his game from
6:23
that cup of coffee in the league at the end of last season.
6:27
He's playing better, he's shooting more, he's creating
6:30
more and he's so much more confident.
6:33
Speaking as we just heard in that clip, the way that he has
6:37
broken through from last guy to make his debut on the team last
6:41
year to, hey, this guy's a real part of the team and he's still
6:45
only 20 years old. He's made plays at an NHL level,
6:48
he's taken pucks away, he's set guys up, he's been at the net
6:52
front and he's done a little bit of everything.
6:54
He was on the power play in that first game against the Panthers
6:56
when he had three points, and I think Brooks said it's been more
7:01
than you could ever possibly envision early on in camp from
7:04
Wood, who's pushing to make the team out of camp the way he's
7:07
played so far. He really is.
7:10
And I tell you what Brady Martin is as well.
7:12
And and Carol, we've seen him in a couple of games already.
7:16
Brady Martin all of a sudden had two goals in Tuesday's shootout
7:20
loss to Tampa Bay. But what a showing so far from
7:23
these two. I think you were hoping for a
7:26
lot. And Carol, we have seen a lot
7:28
from both of them so far. Yeah, starting in that middle
7:32
frame, I mean, he came out, he had two goals in 5 minutes, the
7:35
second one coming on a power play.
7:37
But one of the things I saw was he was getting to the front of
7:40
the net and that's exactly what you want to see from a player
7:43
drafted that high. I mean, he was he was had some
7:47
tenacity, right? He was battling out there.
7:50
And obviously we saw the assist from Wood, that beautiful play
7:53
that the two of them were able to set up.
7:55
So I feel like this has been a big moment for Brady Martin and
7:59
you know, it's a question is he is he going to be here on
8:02
opening night? And with his rookie status,
8:04
yeah, he has the possibility to stick around.
8:06
I think, you know, as a rookie, you can come in.
8:08
They could keep them up for 9 games.
8:10
So maybe they don't throw them into the mix right away to start
8:13
the season because obviously you don't want to have a player that
8:15
you set up for failure. But if he could be around the
8:18
club, if he's a great person to keep around, especially if he's
8:22
going to come out and be be it, be a center in the in the
8:26
National Hockey League. Yeah, he showed the tools in
8:31
that two goal performance and he had a couple moments, one in the
8:35
first period, which would have been his first goal, and then
8:38
one after he got the 2A natural hat trick was pretty reasonable
8:43
for Brady Martin in that game. And the two goals he scored were
8:45
both great. Matt Wood did the work on the
8:47
first one, knocked Oliver Bjorkstrand down, took the puck
8:50
away near the crease, knew exactly where Martin would be
8:54
and Martin put himself exactly where a scoring center should be
8:58
on that play right in the slot for his guy for a four check to
9:02
take away to one timer goal immediately great shot place
9:06
high glove over Brandon Halverson for his first goal.
9:09
Then the second one, the power play second unit Matt Wood to
9:13
Michael Bunting to Brady Martin, tic tac toe, just two really
9:16
beautiful goals. And Martin, after the game,
9:18
Brooks, you were down there when he was being interviewed, said
9:21
this is the biggest crowd I've ever played in front of.
9:24
And it's so cool to see him realize that dream and cash in
9:29
on the big stage as he continues to show all the reasons why the
9:33
Predators took him fifth in the draft.
9:36
Well, yeah, you talk about the two goals, unofficially your
9:39
first two goals, but it doesn't matter if you score a couple of
9:42
goals in the driveway, like you're still going to feel good
9:44
about it, right? Like still that for Brady Martin
9:46
to be able to put the puck in the net a couple of times, it's
9:50
great for his confidence. It's great for his showing the
9:53
just making the most of the opportunities that he's getting.
9:56
And you talk about just the the hockey smarts and the
10:00
wherewithal to be in the right place at the right time.
10:03
That's something that Barry Trotz emphasized.
10:05
We talked about it on the last episode and and talking with
10:08
Trotzi in recent days as well. Again, continues to be so
10:12
impressed with the fact that Brady Martin's only 18 years old
10:16
and he not only sees the play, but he makes the right play.
10:19
He makes the right decision, offensive zone, defensive zone.
10:23
He's also not afraid of anybody on the ice.
10:26
We've seen him go into the corners, go to the net and mix
10:30
it up with some guys. And he's also not intimidated
10:32
playing with Philip Forsberg. That's the other piece of that
10:35
line with Brady Martin and Matthew Wood.
10:38
I don't know about you. If I was 18 years old and I was
10:41
playing, it's so hard to imagine because I was nowhere ever near
10:44
this level. But if if I was 18 years old
10:47
playing with a guy like Philip Forsberg, you know, I think you
10:50
might be shaking a little bit in your boots.
10:52
No, like you don't just see any of that with Brady Martin.
10:57
And I think that's been so impressive.
10:59
Well. That's one thing, Bruno said.
11:01
You talk about Forsberg, he said.
11:03
I think Phil's having fun skating with the young guys.
11:06
We talked about this like you just mentioned Brooks on the
11:09
last podcast, but there's just there's a fresh air surrounding
11:13
the team right now. The guys seem like they're out
11:15
there, they're playing fun. And it was a big deal to have a
11:19
lot of our veterans play in that Tampa Bay game.
11:21
I mean, you looked at who the Lightning brought in to play.
11:24
A lot of their players had zero games played in the National
11:27
Hockey League, but yet the press had the vets out there because
11:31
they want to get things started even in these preseason games.
11:34
So I feel like it's a good opportunity for everybody to
11:37
come out and try, try and, you know, showcase their abilities
11:40
before things really get rolling. 100% there's no time
11:44
like the present to start building chemistry on the
11:46
forward lines, on the defensive pairs.
11:48
And as we really pump the tires of Matthew Wood and Brady
11:51
Martin, and rightfully so, I think it's important to mention,
11:54
hey, it is still pre season. There's still a lot of work to
11:58
be done. However, they are going to make
12:01
some decisions. Really tough on the Predators
12:03
coaching staff and management. Andrew Brunette said as much on
12:06
Tuesday after the game. Hey, what about Brady Martin
12:09
scoring two goals? How's he looking?
12:11
Brunette said. He's going to make some tough
12:13
decisions on us and that's exactly what you want, Max, from
12:16
your younger guys, you want them to push and not only Martin and
12:20
Wood, but again, we've talked about guys like Yoakim Camel and
12:24
Reed Shaffer and Cole O'Hara and Tanner Mullen.
12:26
Dyke is back in the mix now. You want your young guys to push
12:30
for those spots and the future looks bright.
12:34
There's reason for optimism, especially because of what we've
12:37
seen over the last week. Yeah.
12:39
And the spots they've left open line up well with the guys who
12:43
they knew were going to make the push and the guys who they
12:45
thought were going to make the pushes are the guys who have
12:47
made the pushes. So spots are open for one of
12:50
these guys, two of these guys, maybe even three of these guys
12:54
depending what the opening night lineup and everybody's health
12:56
and status looks like. So the room is there for all
13:00
these guys who have never made the opening night roster before
13:03
and none of them have played double digit NHL games.
13:06
The opportunity is there for these guys to either make their
13:09
NHL debuts or make that first opening night roster, or both.
13:14
Well, Max, you talk about the health and status of folks and
13:18
it's not all sunshine and butterflies, unfortunately, as
13:21
we record this on Wednesday, September 24th.
13:23
We heard today that defenseman Nick Hague, who left Sunday's
13:27
game in the doubleheader against Florida and did not return, is
13:31
going to miss four to six weeks with an upper body injury.
13:34
Not ideal. One of your big offseason
13:36
acquisitions playing on the top pair with Roman, Yossi and Kara.
13:40
All of a sudden you've got to find someone to replace that
13:44
spot for Hague, at least for now.
13:46
But the Predators certainly have options.
13:48
They do, you know, we've seen Willsby being paired up with
13:51
with Yos and Bruno has said more than one time that he's been the
13:55
best player on the ice right now.
13:57
So this is a big opportunity for him.
13:59
I mean, what stands out to you about having having Yosi paired
14:03
with Willsby at this point? Willsby's so good.
14:08
He's so fast. He's just flying around out
14:10
there. Like I asked Barry Trotz the
14:12
other day, what do you think of Willsby?
14:14
And he's like, he's so good. He's really good.
14:17
Like we, we knew that last season, we saw spurts of that
14:20
last season when he was able to come in as a rookie, get some
14:23
games, unfortunately was injured for the rest of the way there.
14:27
But boy, does Adam Willsby look even better than he was last
14:31
season. And there's a lot of excitement
14:34
for the way that he's played here in the early going.
14:36
So yeah, it's it's a good problem to have, boy.
14:39
Nick Head goes down. Let's just slide Adam Willsby
14:42
right up there with Roman Yossi. The pairing of Brady Shea and
14:45
Nick Kerbix continues to look good together.
14:48
And then you've got options on that third defense pair.
14:51
Max, there's a lot of guys here who played solid minutes for the
14:55
Predators last season. You think of 345 guys right off
14:59
the top of your head that could easily be on that third pair.
15:02
Yeah, you, you really feel for Nick Hague knowing he's not
15:05
going to be able to make the opening night roster now and
15:07
miss most or not all of October with an injury, but should be
15:11
back by early November, which feels like a long way away, but
15:16
still the early point of the season, I guess you glad to have
15:20
him back at that point. But yeah, it opens up spots for
15:22
guys to make the team on D, guys who would have to go through
15:25
waivers to get to Milwaukee, some combination of Spencer
15:28
Stassney or Nick Blankenberg and Andreas Anglin, Jordan Osterley
15:32
and now Tanner Molindyke is back in camp and back, hopefully
15:36
getting close to full health and ready to compete for a roster
15:39
spot. So it's opened up a spot on the
15:41
top pair that Adam Wilsby looks like he'll have the first shot
15:43
at. But if he's healthy, I wouldn't
15:46
be too surprised to see Tanner Molendike play with the OC some
15:48
too along the way in practice or preseason.
15:51
And then Spencer Stassney is going to have that first shot
15:54
based on what we saw in the preseason game on Tuesday night
15:57
to lock down that new third pair spot next to Justin Baron.
16:01
As Andrew Brunette said after Tuesday's game, these final two
16:05
weeks of training camp should be fun and interesting in regard to
16:09
the lineup decisions. There are certainly plenty to
16:12
make as we continue along here. We do know a few guys, though,
16:15
who are will no longer be here and that's not a surprise in
16:19
regard to a move that was made on Monday.
16:22
But assigning forwards Hiroki Go Go Sick and Victor Norringer,
16:26
defenseman Alex Wong and goaltender Jacob Miloto back to
16:29
their respective junior clubs. And then the Predators releasing
16:32
forwards Alex Kostov and defenceman Hayden Barch from
16:36
their amateur tryout agreement. So the first roster moves there
16:40
from Nashville and certainly more to come as we move along
16:44
and training camp. But we mentioned Roman Yosi and
16:47
perhaps we'll have to ask him about this.
16:49
But coming up, Max, we're going to have a conversation with
16:53
someone that Smashville knows well.
16:56
Yeah, nowhere better to have our first guest of the year than the
16:59
captain, who we're so glad is back healthy.
17:02
We're going to talk to him about the time he missed last year,
17:05
his diagnosis with POTS and in detail about all the things that
17:09
he had to change about not only his hockey routine, but his
17:12
lifestyle and healthcare routine to adjust to a diagnosis that he
17:17
hopes will fully take care of something that had bothered him
17:20
long before he missed time last season.
17:25
Absolutely. So Coming up next, we will chat
17:28
with the captain #59 Roman Yosi. You were listening to the
17:31
Predators official podcast on ESPN 102.5, The game and
17:35
YouTube. Welcome back to the Predators
17:40
Official Podcast, our second episode of the season here on
17:44
Fred's YouTube and your favorite podcast platform.
17:47
And time now for our first interview of the season, Max
17:51
Hers and Brooks Bratton, joined now by the captain, Fred's
17:54
defenceman, Roman Yossi. Roman, thanks for being our
17:57
first guest of the season. So great to have you, and so
18:00
great to have you back on the ice.
18:02
Thank you. Appreciate it.
18:03
Good to be on. Our fans hadn't seen you for a
18:05
long time and it's been so great having you back in training camp
18:08
and preseason. What has it been like for you
18:11
personally just to be back on the ice and doing your thing the
18:13
way you should be here these last few weeks?
18:16
It's been good. It's been a lot of fun just just
18:18
getting back, getting back with the guys.
18:21
Obviously we've been skating for quite a bit here even before
18:24
camp, but yeah, it was a long time since, you know, since I
18:28
played my last game. So it was nice to get back out
18:31
there and play some games and then just training camp, you
18:33
know, it's just the intensity of training camp being back at it
18:37
is, is it's really exciting. And I think, you know, it
18:40
doesn't really matter if it's year one or year 14 or 15 and
18:44
it's, it's always exciting. You always get those butterflies
18:47
before camp. We'll get more on camp and and
18:52
what you've dealt with to get back in just a minute, but I
18:54
want to ask before we get too far ahead.
18:57
We're not too far removed from the summer.
18:59
How was it for you? Any travel, anything fun
19:02
happened in the summertime for you it.
19:04
Was good, yeah. I mean, I went back to
19:07
Switzerland for like 2 months, which was nice, spending a lot
19:10
of time there, seeing some family and friends for a decent
19:15
time. And we went to, me and my wife
19:18
went to Italy for a couple days, which was really nice.
19:22
That was a fun trip. But other than that, yeah, we
19:25
kind of spend a lot of time in Switzerland seeing my family,
19:28
seeing friends and obviously the kids.
19:31
The kids love it over there, which is, which is really cool.
19:33
And yeah, it was. It was really fun.
19:36
What's it like being a dad for you in the summer, getting that
19:39
time with the kids and being able to share both sides of the
19:43
world with them? Yeah, it's fun.
19:46
You know, they, they're kind of old enough now to understand
19:49
that Switzerland is, is, is our second home too.
19:53
And that's kind of where we go in the summers and they're
19:55
always excited to go there. Obviously they get get spoiled
19:58
over there and seeing all my family and my family who doesn't
20:02
see them as much. So yeah, it's it's nice for me.
20:05
You know, you get, you get to, you get to beat home a lot.
20:08
You get to spend a lot of time with the kids.
20:10
And I kind of do things that you maybe not always able to do
20:13
during the season. So I definitely enjoyed that.
20:16
OK, so you touched on it on the top.
20:18
Obviously we're back here in training camp.
20:20
What has it been like being back on the ice for you?
20:22
How are you feeling as we're over a weekend now we got some
20:25
pre season games under the belt. What is kind of your assessment
20:29
now that we're a little ways into camp here?
20:31
I'm. Good, Yeah, I'm feeling good.
20:34
I think, you know, it's it's been, it's been a hard camp like
20:38
it always is. I think the first first week,
20:40
week, week and 1/2 is just a lot of place in practice.
20:43
Practice are hard. You're playing some games and I
20:47
think it's it's an adjustment for everyone and it happens
20:49
every year. You kind of got to get back to
20:52
up to speed and get back to that, playing games and
20:55
everything. And yeah, it's been, it's been
20:57
really good. I think we're all, we're all
20:59
feeling good. We're all, we're all a little
21:01
tired, which which is rightfully so that's how it should be,
21:05
right? And but yeah, it's been, it's
21:07
been a really good camp. Over the summer of the team and
21:10
you announced your diagnosis with POTS and we heard from you
21:14
last week in your first press conference of the season about
21:17
the timeline of these are issues that have been bothering you for
21:20
a while, fatigue, dizziness, things like that, and the injury
21:24
last year was a reason for you to get them checked out and
21:26
taken care of. What was the timeline with what
21:29
you were experiencing and how have you managed it now that you
21:32
know what the issue at hand is? Yeah, it's been, it's been
21:37
bothering me for a little bit. And I think you kind of, you
21:43
know, I think as a player, you kind of self diagnosing a little
21:47
bit and you kind of trying to battle through things a little
21:49
bit. And and yeah, you don't
21:52
necessarily know what's going on.
21:54
And obviously as a as a player, you play so many games and you
21:58
kind of think, you know, well, everybody, you know, everybody's
22:01
tired, everybody's is fighting, fighting through something.
22:04
And, and it's just kind of, you know, got to a point last year
22:08
where it got where it's gotten worse and worse.
22:10
And yeah. And then that happened in
22:13
against Florida. And that was kind of point where
22:15
I was like, I need to figure out what's going on and figure this
22:18
whole thing out. And that's when, when I got the
22:21
diagnosis, which was, you know, was a big relief for me, to be
22:25
honest, just to know, to know what's going on and, and just
22:28
having a plan going forward, being able, being able to treat
22:31
it and did some, you know, big recovery program right after
22:36
and, and just kind of, you know, tried to change some things this
22:41
summer. There's a lot of, yeah, little
22:44
things that I'm doing a little bit different.
22:46
And yeah, it's been good. I'm feeling good.
22:50
And like I said, just just knowing, knowing what's going on
22:53
and knowing how to manage it was huge for me.
22:56
Roman, with those changes in your lifestyle, it's not as if
22:59
you, you know, weren't already taking care of yourself.
23:02
Obviously you're a professional athlete and you've got your
23:04
routine and you know what to do in that regard.
23:07
Was it, I don't know if easy is the right word, but was it maybe
23:10
enjoyable or kind of eye opening to to make some of those
23:14
lifestyle changes and say this is this is maybe the new normal
23:17
and and what I'm having to deal with now?
23:20
Yeah, it wasn't. Yeah, it wasn't too hard.
23:22
I mean, like you said, I think, you know, I was living pretty
23:25
healthy before that too. And I think it's that's one of
23:29
the ways you can manage it, right.
23:30
And I think I was not knowing, probably managing, managing it a
23:34
little bit too. And and yeah, the changes I made
23:38
are they're not drastic changes. There's some little things like
23:40
like I said, I'm diet and little stuff like that.
23:44
And yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't too hard.
23:47
Like it's because yeah, like I said, I was, I was trying to
23:50
obviously live pretty healthy before and maybe just to little
23:54
more detailed now and just a couple little things that have
23:57
changed. Preds captain Roman Yossi is our
24:00
guest here on The POP. We've also seen you this week,
24:03
Roman, wearing the Q collar for injury prevention, which I've
24:06
seen a lot of NFL players wear before on the back of their
24:09
necks. I don't know if I've seen an NHL
24:11
player wear it before. Can you tell us about that?
24:13
And do you know if you're the only person in the NHL who has
24:16
one of those? Yeah, it might be right now.
24:21
Yeah, I started wearing. So we got some our trainers got
24:25
some this year and I think they had a meeting with them as well
24:29
and they were talk to me about it and they were like, hey, this
24:32
would be great for you. So I kind of looked into it,
24:34
talked to some doctors about about just, you know, the Q
24:37
College of Science behind it. And you know, they they were
24:40
like pretty like they felt pretty really good about it.
24:43
And they said the science behind is legit.
24:45
It's it's, it's really good for, for, yeah, brain health and
24:49
especially when you have those little impacts.
24:52
And so I was like, you know what, I'm going to try it out
24:55
and try it out in practice. And, you know, it feels pretty
24:57
good. You noticed it a bit, a little
24:59
bit, a little bit in the beginning, but you kind of get
25:01
used to it pretty quick. So yeah, just, you know, just
25:05
talking to doctors and and hearing about the science, how
25:08
good the science plan it is, kind of yeah, made me want to
25:11
try it. Roman, we know obviously your
25:15
your family's incredibly important to you, your wife Ali
25:17
and your son and your daughter. How do they help you through a
25:20
time like this and, and just dealing what you've had to deal
25:23
with this summer and you know what, what kind of impact have
25:27
they had on you through this process?
25:31
You know, they were great. I mean, honestly, my kids didn't
25:34
change anything. They didn't care really.
25:39
But no, I, I mean, Ali's been, Ali's been awesome.
25:42
You know, she's, she's been supporting me like, I mean, for
25:46
the past 1010 years or more. And, and just, you know, I think
25:51
as a, as a player, you, you, you have a pretty stressful life
25:55
sometimes, especially during the season.
25:56
And, and you know, she's always there.
25:58
She's kind of my rock at home and taking care of everything
26:01
and just, and just being there. So it's the same thing with
26:04
this, you know, she's been really supportive and, and just
26:07
helping me do whatever I need to do to, to feel my best.
26:11
And I'm definitely really grateful for that.
26:13
Then like I said, the kiss, the kiss just want to play.
26:16
They want to run around, they want to, they want to play with
26:18
me, which is which is great. So I'm glad it's that way.
26:22
But it was a lot of a lot of fun this summer.
26:24
Well put, everybody in that group of happy to have Roman
26:27
Yossi back at 100% and leading the Preds this year.
26:30
It's about two weeks into camp now.
26:32
It's been an intense camp, as you've said.
26:34
We've seen you in two preseason games as well.
26:37
What do you think about the atmosphere, the environment, the
26:40
way the team has approached camp after a disappointing season
26:42
last year? Yeah, I think, I think there's a
26:46
lot of focus, you know, and, and I think guys came ready, came
26:49
ready to to play and, and, and get into camp.
26:52
And I think, you know, you can tell a lot of guys as a team,
26:56
you have a chip on the shoulder. A lot of guys have a chip on
26:58
their shoulder. You know, a lot of guys want to
27:01
have a bounce back here here. And I think you can tell, you
27:04
know, a lot of guys are focused, guys are working hard on camp.
27:07
And yeah, like I said before, it's been, it's been a really
27:10
good camp. It's been intense.
27:11
And, and that's the way it should be.
27:13
And yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited for for the start of
27:17
the season. But like I said, the guys guys
27:20
are definitely focused. So on day one it was Nick Hague
27:24
that you were with in training camp.
27:26
Unfortunately, we know that he'll be out four to six weeks
27:29
though with an upper body injury.
27:31
It seems like it's kind of a good problem that I have though.
27:33
There's a lot of options that can slide up with you.
27:35
We've seen Adam Wills be there. What have you thought about just
27:39
kind of the dynamic on the back end?
27:41
I know you're looking forward to playing with Nick Hague and some
27:43
regular season games at one at some point, but Adam Willsby
27:46
doesn't seem like a bad second option there.
27:48
How do you kind of view the dynamic on the back end right
27:50
now? Yeah, it, it seems like there's,
27:53
like you said, there's so many options.
27:55
You know, we have we have, I feel like we're very deep on the
27:57
back end. There's a lot of guys, you know,
28:00
who can who can play anywhere. And obviously too bad with Hex.
28:05
What happened? You know, I was really looking
28:08
forward to playing with him and we were saying it was a lot of
28:11
fun playing together for for one period.
28:13
And unfortunately that happened. But you know, hopefully he'll be
28:17
back soon and you can tell how how good of a player he is.
28:20
He's a great guy. You know, he fits right into our
28:23
team and we're definitely, definitely looking forward to
28:26
having back. But yeah, I mean, Willie
28:28
Willie's a great player. He showed it last year,
28:30
unfortunately got hurt last year, but when he played, he was
28:33
unbelievable. Such a great skater.
28:35
So yeah, I enjoy playing with him as well.
28:38
And like you said, there's a lot of a lot of different options.
28:42
We can look ahead to this season, but we're going to pick
28:44
a point right in the middle, which is NHL players returning
28:46
to the Olympics. You were on the sidelines for
28:49
the Four Nations because you're not one from one of the Four
28:52
Nations. So you had to watch that one and
28:54
watch the intensity. How much are you just licking
28:56
your chops ready to go for Team Switzerland in Italy this year
28:59
in February? Yeah, it's exciting.
29:02
I think, I mean all the players, you know, we, we've been really
29:05
looking forward to playing in Olympics again.
29:07
That's kind of one thing we I think we fought for, for a long
29:10
time now to, to get back there. And I've, I've played in
29:14
Olympics in, in Sochi, which was in really cool experience.
29:17
And I think just for Switzerland, you know, the, the
29:21
team we have now, I think we, we, you know, I don't know if
29:26
you ever went to Olympics with that many players that play in
29:28
the NHL and have a big role in the NHL.
29:30
So it's definitely exciting for Swiss hockey.
29:34
I think just coming in with the momentum 2 of 2 silver medals
29:37
and at the world's and just, you know, having that confidence as
29:42
a team is, is pretty cool. So everyone in Switzerland, and
29:45
I think not just Switzerland, you know, everybody in the child
29:48
is looking forward to to go play in the Olympics.
29:50
And we don't know for sure. Yeah, we expect you to be the
29:52
captain of that team. And this is your 9th year as the
29:56
captain as the Preds. It's unbelievable how time
29:58
flies. You were already the longest
30:00
tenured captain in Preds history.
30:02
You're now one of the longest tenured captains in the NHL.
30:05
What is that like for you to just think about and look back
30:08
on where you started as a leader of this team at the peak of the
30:11
franchise and lead them now into this new era with so many
30:14
exciting young guys joining the guys that you've come up with
30:17
with Phil and Juice? Yeah, I mean, that's, yeah,
30:20
that's crazy hearing you say that.
30:22
Nine years. I mean, I, I mean, I remember
30:25
the day I was named captain. It, it does feel like yesterday,
30:28
you know, and even just coming into the league feels like
30:30
yesterday time really, time really does fly.
30:33
And you know, it's obviously nine years.
30:36
A lot of a lot of things happen. I think I, I grew a lot as a
30:40
person, as a, as a player and I think the team obviously changed
30:43
a lot. So, you know, it's been, yeah,
30:47
it's been such a such an honour being able to be the capital of
30:50
this team for for that long. And, you know, like I said,
30:53
every year I think I, I try to learn things.
30:55
I try to get better and, and, and, you know, do a better job
30:58
every year. And yeah, I definitely,
31:02
definitely learned a lot in those nine years.
31:03
But it's been, you know, it's been a blast and it's been, it's
31:06
been a huge honor. Roman, we'll end on this, and I
31:10
asked Phil a similar question on day one of camp.
31:12
And not to make you feel old again, but you've been here
31:14
longer than any player on the roster.
31:16
It's been almost 20 years since you were drafted in 2008.
31:20
What is your sense of pride now playing for this team and this
31:25
city? And how has that grown over time
31:27
here? It's definitely grown a lot, you
31:31
know, I mean, you know, I feel like we just we have that a
31:36
special bond here with the fans, you know, in Nashville.
31:38
And I think for me personally, being here for so long, it's
31:43
it's you know, it's really it's really grown so much and you
31:47
know, this this has become a home for me.
31:49
You know, there's like, obviously the hockey part, which
31:52
is huge, but I started my family here.
31:54
So like, and you know, the, the community of Nashville, like
31:58
people couldn't be, couldn't be nicer than they are in
32:00
Nashville. And just right away when he came
32:02
and then it just starts growing and growing and, and like I
32:05
said, this is such a wonderful place to to raise a family and,
32:09
and be able to play hockey here. I mean, like I said, the fans
32:12
are amazing. I feel like we have this special
32:14
bond with the, with the fans as an organization and the
32:18
community. And, you know, it's, it's, it's
32:22
definitely, it's a special, I think it's a special city with a
32:25
special organization. And like I said, it's, it's a
32:28
huge honor. And I'm, I'm really proud that I
32:29
was able, you know, been here for so long and hopefully stay
32:33
for a lot longer. So yeah, it's been, it's been so
32:37
much fun. And I think that's why it flew
32:38
by so, so quick. We're ready to see you back out
32:41
there on opening night. Roman, thanks so much for
32:43
joining us. All right.
32:44
Thank you guys. Appreciate it.
32:46
Back after this on the Predators official podcast.
33:07
Well, I told you that was going to be the best video you've seen
33:10
all week. That was Ryan O'reilly's
33:12
impression of Jonathan Marsh's. So probably chirping somebody on
33:15
the ice, one of the linesmen. Welcome back.
33:18
Emailed it. The Predators Official Podcast
33:21
Rex, we know you're all about the referees.
33:24
You love to talk to them. You know everything about them.
33:28
Have you ever asked them about Marchie chirping them on the
33:31
ice? No, but you can see it from up
33:36
where we sit and down where you are.
33:37
Kara, you know what happens? No, it's it's always fun to see
33:42
those interactions. And yeah, I don't, I don't know
33:44
about you guys, but I watched that 5/10/15 times.
33:49
I couldn't get enough of it. It was so great.
33:51
But then the On the contrary, right before that in the video,
33:55
it's Jonathan Marshall giving Roman Yossi a hug.
33:57
So wholesome. The the two sides of the
34:02
Jonathan Marshall experience personified great job by Fred's
34:06
social media making that beautiful piece of film happened
34:11
Tory book Walter was the one who pulled it off from the Fred's
34:14
social media team. And she said that actually after
34:17
Ryan O'Reilly filmed the video, he returned to her and said can
34:21
I watch it to make sure I did it justice.
34:24
So Mr. Factor takes a lot of pride in his work and he nailed
34:28
it on Take One. Jonathan Marshaseo.
34:31
Just French Canadian noises, as the caption said.
34:36
Well, nobody takes more pride in their work than two legends here
34:41
in Smashville, Pete Weber and Terry Chris, both nominated into
34:47
the Prez Golden Hall. Brooks, you had a chance to
34:49
speak with them. Take us through the induction
34:53
that happened last week at Gladiators.
34:58
Well, what a perfect way to pull it off.
35:00
So it was the the shtick was that they were gonna record some
35:04
liners for Pete and Terry's, which of course we know.
35:07
At the sober entrance of Bridgestone Arena, the lovely
35:11
watering hole pregame postgame spot.
35:13
Love to be there with the guys. It's always kind of fun too, if
35:16
one or both of them are there and their faces are literally on
35:19
the wall. I don't know, it's always kind
35:20
of surreal. But.
35:22
But yeah, the jig was the Bob Cole, who we all know and love,
35:26
Fred's senior director of broadcasting, is posing to Pete
35:29
and Terry, hey, we're going to record these liners about your
35:31
bar. They're going to be fun.
35:32
They're going to be for social media.
35:34
So they're doing that. Little do they know that
35:37
Pecorine is behind the wall with his Fred's Golden Hall jacket
35:41
on, comes out surprised at the two of them and says, hey, do
35:45
you guys like my jacket? And of course then says, well,
35:48
you're about to get your own. And, and no more to fitting
35:52
folks than Pete and Terry to be included in this group.
35:56
And you know, of course, they're they're very honored.
35:59
And and we'll look forward to talking them more as we get
36:02
closer to the induction on November 1st, by the way, as the
36:05
Preds host the Calgary Flames. But what a tremendous honor.
36:09
And this is a moment where I I often will tell people, I wish
36:14
that I had grown up in Nashville and had been around the
36:17
franchise since the beginning to really appreciate a lot of what
36:21
things were like in the early days.
36:23
And if you talk to anyone who has been here since day one,
36:25
like Pete and Terry have boy Max, you know, you know as well
36:30
as anybody that they helped make hockey what it is in Nashville.
36:34
They were kind of the first introduction to the game that
36:37
people could relate to and meet with and talk to.
36:40
They taught a lot of Nashville about the game of hockey and you
36:44
see what it's become today. I don't know that that happens
36:47
without Pete and Terry. Well, last year the Golden Hall
36:50
opens with the inaugural class of the three most important
36:54
hockey people who assembled the teams and played for the teams
36:58
in Prince history with Shay Weber, Pecorina and David Poyle
37:01
going in. And now we lead off this year's
37:03
class with the two most important off the ice people who
37:08
taught the game of hockey to Nashville, to Smashville, to
37:12
Tennessee, to the South. So Pete and Terry going in
37:15
together is oh, so perfect. And yeah, pack back and nailed a
37:18
surprise. It was well done, no?
37:20
100% you did. And Max, what I'm, I'm curious,
37:23
Max and Cara, for both of you as broadcasters to be around Pete
37:29
and Terry, a couple of legends and the word legend gets thrown
37:32
around a little too much these days, but I think it's totally
37:35
fair when you're talking about these guys, Kara, start with
37:38
you. What has it been like to just
37:40
work with them and be around them, learn from them and to see
37:44
their passion for what they do? I think if I talked about crispy
37:47
too much, I mean, my cheeks hurt because that's what I think
37:50
about sitting in the morning meetings with him as we're
37:53
putting together our broadcast show for the upcoming game that
37:56
night. I mean, we would just, we would
37:58
cackle. He would always come.
38:00
He'd always have jokes. Sometimes he would like write
38:03
little jokes or, or little notes and slide them across the table.
38:06
And guys, I would read the note and I would look and it would
38:10
literally be from a hotel. And I'd be like, where did this
38:13
come from? It was like where the team was
38:14
playing on the road trip. He would hear a joke and Crispy
38:18
would want to remember it. So he would write it down on a
38:20
hotel notepad, stick it in his pocket and then bring it into
38:24
the morning meetings and slide it across the table.
38:26
So that's kind of who he is off the ice.
38:30
Also, just, you know, you see him around the building if
38:34
you're listening to this right now.
38:36
And if you have had Crispy hold your child and take a photo,
38:40
tweet those at us because we know infinite fans in the, in
38:45
the years that he has been in Smashville have had kids take
38:49
pictures with Crispy. I, myself included.
38:52
But just learning the game from him, I mean, he's so
38:55
knowledgeable and we'll have to chirp him a little bit because
38:58
we know it's probably a good thing social media wasn't around
39:01
when Crispy was on the bench back in his days.
39:07
Oh my God, yeah. Two absolute legends and forever
39:11
a dynamic duo. Pete's been one of my amazing
39:14
mentors and so supportive of my career as him and I have split
39:19
the play by play duties here on Prince Radio.
39:21
And being able to be with him two years ago when he was going
39:25
through a pretty serious health scare when he ended up having
39:28
brain surgery, was just just honored that he allowed me to
39:32
fill in for him during that time.
39:34
And the support I've received from Pete and Terry and both of
39:37
their wives, Claudia Weber and Sheila Crisp, and both of their
39:40
extended families. And Crispy's son Tony has been
39:44
in the house this week and sitting next to Crispy in the
39:47
press box. And I've been sitting next to
39:49
both of them and it's like sitting next to two Crispies
39:52
watching the hockey game, which is an unbelievable experience.
39:56
So just two absolute hockey lifers who we are so beyond
40:01
blessed to have had in Smashville at all, let alone in
40:04
Smashville for good. And they are as good as gold.
40:08
So it's incredible that they're going in and incredible that
40:11
we're all going to be there for it on Saturday, November 1st
40:14
against, as Crispy would say, the Calgary Flames.
40:18
Calgary for Crispy. It's perfect and we will look
40:20
forward to honoring them then and again, we'll have to get
40:24
them on because we know they can talk and what better place to
40:27
talk than a podcast do? You think they have time for us,
40:30
Brooks? I don't.
40:30
Know that might be hard to talk. I don't know.
40:32
They're kind of busy these days that will surely our people can
40:35
get a hold of their people and we'll figure something out.
40:38
But yes, congratulations to those two gentlemen and we can't
40:40
wait to talk to them more about it.
40:42
Coming up next, we'll be back to wrap things up on this episode,
40:46
our biggie awesome person of the week.
40:48
You won't want to miss that you were listening and watching the
40:51
pres official podcast. Welcome back to the Predators
40:56
official podcast. Final segment of our second
40:59
episode here in Week 2 of Preds Training Camp.
41:03
Thanks to Roman Yossi for joining us.
41:05
What an awesome episode it's been and time for our second
41:09
weekly or every episode edition of our big award here on The
41:13
POP. The Big E in memory of Erin
41:16
Donnick, our friend, our favorite Willie Donnick's wife,
41:20
who passed away from lung cancer this summer and would ask
41:23
everybody in the world, even if it was someone she saw every day
41:26
or someone she had never met and would never see again.
41:30
Why are you so awesome? You rock.
41:34
So this week's winner of The Big E, it is Preds defenseman
41:38
Spencer Stasney. Let's listen to Tuesday night's
41:41
preseason interview on Preds Radio.
41:44
End of 1 preseason period here at Bridgestone Arena.
41:47
Predators Nothing. Tampa Bay Lightning, Nothing
41:49
here in Music City. My name is Max hers.
41:52
Preds outshot the Lightning 87 in the first period.
41:55
Six of those 7 Tampa shots came on a pair of Lightning power
41:58
plays. UC Soros had six power play
42:01
saves in that first period, joined now by Preds defenseman
42:03
Spencer Stasney. Playing well tonight.
42:05
Fighting to make the team here. Spencer, how do you feel like
42:08
camp and preseason have gone for you so far?
42:09
Yeah, I think it's going well. I think I think there's a lot of
42:12
competition this year and that's good for everyone involved.
42:14
But yeah, I think we're we're in for a good game tonight.
42:18
And for me personally, I think I'm going to try to keep going
42:19
and move my feet. What are your goals for camp as
42:22
a whole, outside of of course, making the roster?
42:24
Yeah, that'd be nice, But no, just enjoying it, just making
42:27
the most of it and just. Competing hard.
42:29
You got so much love from the hockey world this summer as you
42:32
opened up. What does it mean for you to be
42:34
in camp after you weren't here at this time last year and just
42:37
be back doing your thing in Nashville?
42:39
Yeah, it's it's been incredible seeing the support from the guys
42:42
in the locker room, guys with management, coaches, but also
42:45
like fans and people are all around the world and this
42:48
country mostly that would reach out and really went there to
42:52
another way to support me. So it's been incredible and I'm
42:54
just happy to be back. Amazing.
42:56
Will add us to the list of people who are happier here.
42:58
Thanks, Spencer. Thank you.
42:59
Well, Max, we had to pick Spencer Sassney as our Big E Why
43:04
are you so awesome? Spencer Sassney, as we all know
43:08
and you guys just touched on it in the interview, he was not
43:10
around this time last season when training camp was underway
43:14
to start the season. He obviously was was dealing
43:18
with some personal issues, but then I think it's awesome that
43:21
now he is open about them, he's talking about them.
43:26
And so kudos to Spencer Sassney for using your platform to to
43:31
help others who may be struggling with the same sort of
43:34
things that he's been dealing with.
43:37
So Spencer Stasney, you rock. You are the second winner of the
43:40
Big E here on The POP, and if you haven't listened to it, go
43:45
back this summer. The episode I believe was in
43:48
early August on the 32 Thoughts podcast with Elliot Friedman and
43:53
Kyle Bukowskis hosting, talking to Spencer Stasney about his
43:57
battles with depression and anxiety and how he literally had
44:01
turned in and signed his NHL retirement papers.
44:05
But he's decided to come back and he is back in camp.
44:08
He's here on time after not reporting to camp and having no
44:11
desire to do so last year, and now he is fighting for a roster
44:14
spot to make the opening night roster for the Preds.
44:19
And I asked Andrew Brunette a few days ago, how nice is it to
44:23
see Spencer Stasty not only back, but playing at the level
44:27
that he is and Bruno, and it's very true.
44:29
But Bruno said it's it's always nice to see Spencer smile
44:32
because he's got a great smile and he's been doing that a lot
44:35
at camp already. So well said for both of you.
44:39
Just great to see Stas back in camp and look to see if he makes
44:43
the opening night roster. As we talked about, there's
44:45
there's some opportunities there.
44:47
So we'll see if he is indeed one of those guys who is on the ice
44:51
October 9th against Columbus and Smashville.
44:54
So we mentioned it in our first episode and we want to bring it
44:58
back, of course #preds podcast. It's something that we used in
45:02
the olden days when it was myself and Thomas Willis on the
45:05
call. Now the three of us, we want to
45:07
get you back involved in the show again.
45:09
So use #preds Podcast on X, or you can comment on the episodes
45:15
on YouTube. Use the comment section, drop
45:17
your thoughts, your questions, and we can get to some different
45:20
things in the episodes. And also, as Kara mentioned
45:23
earlier, use #preds podcast. If you've got photos of your
45:27
children with Terry Crisp, we'd love to see those.
45:30
And maybe because we're on video now, I don't know, maybe we can
45:33
flash a few of those up on the screen if you're willing to
45:35
share. So anything and everything
45:37
#preds podcast, we would love to see or hear from you.
45:42
And it doesn't just have to be crispy.
45:43
I mean, if you've taken a family photo with Pete and Terry, we
45:46
know that they were, they were more famous than the players
45:49
back in the day. So if you have a family photo
45:52
with Pete and Terry, post it, send us our way.
45:55
We'll put it up. I'm Kara Hammer, thanks so much
45:58
for joining us. And I'll let Max take us out.
46:01
Thanks, Kara. Make sure to follow us on
46:03
Twitter. I am at Max Hurs talks Brooksy.
46:07
I'm Brooks Bratton. You can follow me at Brooks
46:09
Bratton on X and Brooks Bytes on Instagram.
46:13
I'll be posting. You don't have to.
46:14
You don't have to follow. Brooks bytes One of these days
46:17
Max is going to not required. To no behind the You don't have
46:20
to, and you don't have to either, but Brooks has great
46:23
information on his normal account.
46:25
But normal account, Yeah, but I'm private, so I won't, I won't
46:28
allow you there. But on Twitter, go right ahead.
46:31
And on that note, thanks for listening to episode 2 of the
46:34
POP20252026 season. We'll be back this week as the
46:39
Preds make their cuts. AHL camp begins and by the time
46:42
we talk to you next, there will be just one pre season game to
46:46
go. Thanks for listening to the
46:48
Predators official podcast.