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Homeward Bound! World Juniors Recap · Predators Official Podcast

• 0:28
  The Predators are finally back home and the Predators official
• 0:33
  podcast is right back home with them.
• 0:36
  My name is Max hers from Predators Radio, joined as
• 0:39
  always by Kara Hammer from Predators TV as the Predators
• 0:43
  get ready to begin A5 game home stand at Bridgestone Arena this
• 0:48
  weekend starting Saturday night against the Washington Capitals
• 0:52
  January 11th. Five straight games at home,
• 0:55
  Kara. Much, much needed. 19 days in
• 1:01
  between home games. That's way too long.
• 1:03
  We need to see you guys again. I feel like I've missed you guys
• 1:07
  and I know this is a time that the players are ready to come
• 1:09
  back home. I mean, listening to Roman
• 1:11
  Yossi's interview with Lindsay Riley after the last game, Max,
• 1:15
  he said. I feel like we've been living on
• 1:16
  the road for the past few months and I think everybody in
• 1:19
  Nashville kind of feels the same.
• 1:20
  We're ready for the boys to be back on home ice back at
• 1:23
  Bridgie. I'm excited to kick off this
• 1:25
  five game home stand. Yeah, I'm excited to and, and
• 1:28
  it's 5 big games. The Capitals and the Golden
• 1:31
  Knights are the two top teams in the NHL.
• 1:34
  Those will be the first two opponents.
• 1:36
  Then the rival Blackhawks on Golden Hall induction night next
• 1:40
  Thursday. And then after that, the
• 1:42
  Minnesota Wild, who are not too crazy about the Preds right now
• 1:45
  after what went down in the last meeting between those two teams
• 1:48
  on New Year's Eve. And then the final game could be
• 1:51
  Yaroslava Skarov's first game against the Preds against the
• 1:54
  Sharks on Tuesday night, January 21st.
• 1:57
  So it's a lengthy 5 game home stand Saturday, Tuesday,
• 2:01
  Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday. The home cooking much needed but
• 2:06
  the road trip finished up strong.
• 2:07
  The Predators finished with a two and three record on the road
• 2:10
  trip after starting O and two. There have been 3 Preds game
• 2:13
  since the last time we podcasted with you guys, including two big
• 2:17
  Preds wins back-to-back over the weekend, a three nothing shut
• 2:20
  out of the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night, January 3rd with
• 2:24
  UC Soros pitching A27 save shutout, and then Saturday night
• 2:29
  in Calgary the Predators beat the Flames 4 to one with a Ryan
• 2:33
  O'Reilly hat trick leading the charge.
• 2:35
  Two big Rd. wins. Hammer.
• 2:37
  Two big Rd. wins, but Max, you're missing the greatest
• 2:40
  thing that happened on on this road trip.
• 2:43
  We have to talk about Ozzie Weisblatt's NHL debut.
• 2:48
  You were there. Tell me about what went down
• 2:49
  because there was so much hype surrounding it.
• 2:52
  I feel like we, we talk about players coming up, players
• 2:54
  making their debut, but I, I feel like checking social media,
• 2:59
  there was so much more hype surrounding him because of his
• 3:02
  story and because of, you know, what he went through to even get
• 3:06
  to this point to make the NHL. Yeah, it was.
• 3:10
  It was exceptional to see all the love he got.
• 3:12
  And it's a family story that's followed him around since he was
• 3:16
  a teenager in the Western League.
• 3:18
  Both of his parents are deaf. He's one of five siblings with
• 3:21
  awesome alliterative names. And it's a family that has had
• 3:26
  to scrap and claw for everything.
• 3:29
  And that's how Ozzy has described his career.
• 3:31
  Scrapping and clawing his way to the top was his goal in training
• 3:34
  camp. And he reached the top debuting
• 3:37
  in the NHL as a 22 year old. His first two NHL games, both
• 3:40
  Preds wins, he played on the fourth line.
• 3:42
  He showed a little bit of snarl, but it was all about the love
• 3:46
  hammer for his family. His mom Kim, in the front row of
• 3:48
  warm ups with three of his four siblings speaking in sign
• 3:52
  language through the boards to tell him how excited she was.
• 3:58
  Ozzy flips her a POC. Just incredible scenes and I
• 4:02
  think it received the big love that it deserved.
• 4:05
  Definitely. And if you missed the video, I
• 4:07
  mean, go to Chris Mason's Twitter account or excuse me on
• 4:10
  X. He posted it.
• 4:12
  I think it has over 1,000,000 views.
• 4:15
  He he said like there's some moments that transcend the game
• 4:18
  and that was one of them. I mean, it was, it was so
• 4:22
  special to witness and I'm excited.
• 4:25
  And also, Max, how cool was it that you make your NHL debut,
• 4:28
  You're from Canada and then you play against a Canadian team.
• 4:31
  It's not like, you know, his debut came.
• 4:34
  Maybe you're you're playing in San Jose, you're playing the
• 4:36
  Sharks and you're on the road somewhere in California.
• 4:38
  Like it's pretty special when it happens in your home country.
• 4:41
  Yeah, Weisblatt was actually born in Vancouver, where he made
• 4:44
  his NHL debut, and then lived in Calgary as a teenager.
• 4:48
  And that's where he still makes his offseason home and calls
• 4:50
  home. That's where his second game was
• 4:52
  so incredible. He had lots of folks joining his
• 4:54
  immediate family for that second game in Calgary as well,
• 4:58
  including some folks from his junior days in Prince Albert, SK
• 5:01
  playing for the Prince Albert Raiders.
• 5:03
  This was wise Blatt after his first two NHL games, talking
• 5:07
  about all the love that his family's received and and their
• 5:10
  exceptional story. My mom's phone's been blowing up
• 5:14
  and she's like getting all these notifications.
• 5:16
  So it's it's hilarious and you know, we definitely appreciate
• 5:19
  all the support that we're getting and definitely means a
• 5:22
  lot I. Was going to say, I mean, a lot
• 5:24
  of new people, I think they're finding your story.
• 5:26
  Anything you'd want to say to people that are maybe hearing of
• 5:28
  you or seeing your family for the first time?
• 5:31
  Yeah, I, I mean, it's, you know, I, I think I see some really
• 5:34
  nice stuff people are saying online and stuff like that.
• 5:37
  And, you know, I think my, my family definitely appreciates
• 5:40
  it. And, you know, it's a lot of
• 5:42
  people go through tough times and, and those things, but you
• 5:45
  know, it's, it's how you get through them.
• 5:47
  And, you know, our family is just just another story of that.
• 5:51
  And I'm sure there's, you know, millions of families out there
• 5:54
  just like us. So, you know, if I can be a
• 5:57
  little bit of, you know, someone to see and and give them some,
• 6:02
  some pride that they can do the same thing.
• 6:04
  Hopefully, hopefully I can do that.
• 6:06
  That's Fred's rookie winger Ozzie Wiseblatt, who made his
• 6:08
  NHL debut this week. Kara.
• 6:10
  He at the same time is exceptionally humble about it,
• 6:14
  but certainly understands the weight of what his debut means.
• 6:18
  Yeah, it it's just such a cool moment.
• 6:21
  And also like, Congrats to the Predators content team too, for
• 6:26
  speaking with some of the veterans on on what advice
• 6:29
  they're giving Ozzy, making his debut and telling him like how
• 6:32
  much fun to have. And obviously, you know, he had
• 6:36
  a single mom and she talked about the hardship of what it
• 6:38
  was like growing up. She's deaf, she's a single mom,
• 6:42
  She has five kids. It's so just a cool story all
• 6:46
  around and and definitely a cool moment for him.
• 6:49
  And the Preds went two and O. And the games that Wiseblatt
• 6:51
  played a big shut out win over the Canucks in Vancouver on
• 6:54
  Friday night in his NHL debut. This was a pretty fun game for
• 6:59
  the Preds all across the board. They only got one goal by Kevin
• 7:03
  Lankinen in Soros versus Lankinen round two.
• 7:07
  It was a Stephen Stamkos goal, a pretty goal in the second
• 7:10
  period. And that was all they needed.
• 7:12
  They got 2 empty netters. UC Soros was stellar for his
• 7:15
  fourth shut out of the season. That is second most in the
• 7:19
  entire NHL. And we know it came on the empty
• 7:22
  net goal. Excuse me, empty net goal, but
• 7:25
  cold insistence finding the back of the net.
• 7:27
  He's been a guy that he's hasn't found the offense he's seen
• 7:31
  lately, but also a Vancouver kids.
• 7:33
  So good for him to a score in his hometown as well.
• 7:36
  Yeah, Sistens doubled his point total on the road trip this
• 7:39
  week, so pretty good for him to get that empty netter.
• 7:42
  Predators win the game 3. Nothing with a pair of empty
• 7:45
  netters. The other one from Gus Nyquist
• 7:46
  who broke a lengthy goal drought as well.
• 7:48
  Sorrow, certainly the story in that game.
• 7:51
  Then the next night in Vank in Excuse Me in Calgary on Saturday
• 7:55
  night, Ryan O'Reilly, the story, the hat trick, the Predators
• 7:59
  first hat trick of the season in a four one win over the Flames.
• 8:06
  You this just describes the leadership of Steven Stamkos.
• 8:10
  You know, you saw him at towards the end of the game.
• 8:12
  He had he had the puck, he easily could have taken that
• 8:15
  empty net goal himself, but he was looking for the fat daddy.
• 8:17
  He knew he was there. He knew he had to get right in
• 8:20
  the puck and he did it and hat trick in Calgary and I was Terry
• 8:24
  Crisp in the building. What was he at home?
• 8:27
  I think he was in Nashville, but it was Sheila Crisp's birthday.
• 8:32
  A hat trick for Sheila? Chris, right?
• 8:35
  He, he, he knew it, right? Did he plan this?
• 8:37
  I feel like he did. So Ryan O'Reilly gets his sixth
• 8:41
  NHL hat trick. He is one of just four players
• 8:44
  to have a hat trick in each of the last three seasons.
• 8:48
  First two goals came on the power play in tight to much
• 8:51
  needed power play goals for the Preds.
• 8:53
  Then the empty netter. The other goal came from Fedor
• 8:56
  Svechkov, who had his first career multi point game in the
• 9:01
  NHL with a nice goal off of a face off that he said was
• 9:04
  inspired by Alex Ovechkin's goal earlier in the day for the
• 9:08
  Capitals. And they did look pretty Dang
• 9:11
  similar. They did and have you Have you
• 9:14
  followed any of his interviews? If not, you need to check out
• 9:17
  Lindsay Raleigh's interview with Fedora where she's asking him
• 9:21
  and he's calling his players. He called crazy guy.
• 9:23
  I think he's called Stamp Coast old.
• 9:26
  Like how much fun is he and exciting for him to pick one up
• 9:29
  there? Yeah, Smetch has been great this
• 9:31
  past week. You'll hear from him again in
• 9:33
  our interview of the week at the end of the show today as well.
• 9:37
  But he's making a name for himself here.
• 9:39
  He's starting to find his game a little bit more.
• 9:41
  And the reason he called Marcia so a crazy guy is because
• 9:45
  Jonathan Marcia so had just his third NHL fight in 10 years in
• 9:52
  the NHL. In this game, he had a hit on
• 9:55
  Michael Backlund. Flames were not too happy about
• 9:57
  it. Rookie Matt Coronado wanted to
• 10:00
  go after Marcia so and Marcia so said who me?
• 10:03
  My gloves are coming off and Coronado was about to skate away
• 10:06
  and Marsha so pulled the veterans privilege and pulled
• 10:10
  Coronado into it and certainly won the fight.
• 10:13
  And then Svechkov's goal came three seconds later on the
• 10:16
  ensuing face off. That Marsha so tilt, I mean that
• 10:20
  had me fired up Max when he dropped the gloves.
• 10:23
  Like you kind of know that Marsha so has a little that
• 10:26
  crazy guy in him. I think we were all just kind of
• 10:28
  waiting, when is this going to come out?
• 10:29
  And then that's the moment that we saw it.
• 10:32
  Yeah, yeah, that was a lot of fun.
• 10:34
  He certainly won the fight too. His his two previous NHL fights.
• 10:38
  The more recent one was in 2021, Four Seasons ago against Logan
• 10:43
  Couture, part of the ongoing Sharks Knights rivalry that was
• 10:47
  going during that time, mostly in the playoffs, but some in the
• 10:49
  regular season as well. And then his first one, way back
• 10:55
  in 2016, in his first full NHL season playing for the Tampa Bay
• 10:59
  Lightning, he fought a player named Darren Geetz, who I have
• 11:04
  to admit I'd never heard of, who played 13 NHL games for the
• 11:07
  Canadians. But both of those fights came
• 11:09
  off a net front scrums. This one I don't know.
• 11:13
  Jonathan Marsheso may be the Preds new fighter.
• 11:19
  I don't know, I feel like let's leave that up to like McCarron,
• 11:22
  Luke Shen. I I feel like, let's leave it up
• 11:25
  to some of the heavier guys. All right, Kara doesn't want to
• 11:27
  have any fun, but I, you know, Marshy will be fired up this
• 11:30
  week. It'll be his first time playing
• 11:31
  against the Vegas Golden Knights since they let him go and free
• 11:34
  agency this summer. That will be the second game of
• 11:37
  the five game homestand on Tuesday night at Bridgestone
• 11:39
  Arena. And by the way, that win in
• 11:42
  Calgary on Saturday was the Predators 900 and 99th all time
• 11:49
  franchise win. So the Pred's next win will be
• 11:52
  the one thousandth regular season win in Pred's history.
• 11:57
  And the next game will be game #2020 in Pred's history.
• 12:03
  So. Big numbers.
• 12:04
  Can I call this for Saturday night?
• 12:06
  Can we have This would be like an amazing Saturday night in
• 12:08
  Smashville. Win #1000.
• 12:11
  All right, Cara Hammer's calling it.
• 12:14
  I'm calling it. I felt like the team had had a
• 12:17
  little bit of game going for them in Winnipeg.
• 12:19
  That would have been an amazing place to get it, but there was
• 12:23
  just some missed opportunities against The Jets and so so I'm
• 12:28
  calling this for Saturday night now.
• 12:29
  All right, Kara's calling against the Caps Caps will be on
• 12:32
  the back end of a back-to-back, by the way, in that game.
• 12:35
  So that one does bode in the Predator's favor in that regard.
• 12:38
  Saturday night, Predators and Capitals 7:00 at Bridgestone
• 12:42
  Arena. Looking forward to seeing you
• 12:44
  guys there. And we also do have some big
• 12:47
  news here on the POP new Penn Station first goal of the game
• 12:51
  prize for 2025. It is now buy one get one Subs
• 12:56
  at Penn Station the day after the preds score first home games
• 13:00
  Rd. games no matter where you are.
• 13:01
  If you're in Middle Tennessee, you don't even have to have been
• 13:03
  at the game. You get a buy one get one sub
• 13:06
  with the discount code preds bogo preds bogo.
• 13:11
  If the preds score the first goal buy one get one Subs.
• 13:14
  The preds again will remind you if you forget all.
• 13:19
  Right. I love it.
• 13:20
  We could go together, Max. You buy one, I'll get one.
• 13:23
  Or you buy 1 and I get one. I think you make more money.
• 13:27
  Than I do. Well, Remy's got to eat
• 13:29
  somewhere, so maybe Remy will buy one and then we can both get
• 13:34
  one. Deal, deal.
• 13:36
  We do have these. We do need to talk about Remy,
• 13:40
  your lovely daughter chirping. How Gill this week please please
• 13:45
  give us the details because I saw the chirp.
• 13:47
  I Has Remy invented a new chirp here?
• 13:51
  Well, I feel like this chirp came from Willie Donnick of
• 13:56
  starting to call Hal Gill a caveman.
• 13:58
  I don't know how it started Skills.
• 14:00
  He just sometimes off the cuffs, makes makes jokes, make makes
• 14:04
  comments. And Willie started calling him a
• 14:06
  caveman. So do you know the Denver
• 14:08
  Broncos were playing on Sunday, where we clinched a playoff spot
• 14:11
  for the first time since the Broncos won the Super Bowl in
• 14:14
  2015? But for some reason, Skillzy
• 14:18
  decided he just wanted to chirp us about Bo Nix.
• 14:21
  So I got Remy on camera to say, Skillzy, you're a caveman.
• 14:25
  But the S was coming out a little bit not not so much
• 14:29
  Skillzy. So she was calling him
• 14:31
  originally, she was calling him Kelsey.
• 14:35
  So I got over the Kelsey and I didn't.
• 14:38
  I didn't want him to think he was on any level of Jason or
• 14:41
  Travis, so I got it more lean towards a A kill Z.
• 14:47
  You're a caveman because you're a caveman.
• 14:50
  So caveman is the new chirp, courtesy of two year old Remy.
• 14:55
  Courtesy of Remy. All right, great job, Remy.
• 14:57
  We'll keep it coming. Also want to give a shout out to
• 14:59
  Spencer Stassney. It was so great to have him back
• 15:01
  with the Preds this week. Played in those three games this
• 15:04
  week after missing the beginning of the season due to personal
• 15:06
  reasons. Played 10 games in the AHL.
• 15:09
  He is back in the NHL looking pretty much like his full self
• 15:13
  and you guys will get to see him and welcome Stasney back with
• 15:16
  what I hope will be a big round of applause the first time his
• 15:19
  name gets announced at Bridgestone Arena during this
• 15:22
  five game homestand. Another milestone to watch.
• 15:25
  You won't hit at this homestand, but Roman Yossi is now just 10
• 15:29
  games behind David Legwand for most games in Pred's history.
• 15:35
  Legwan played in 956 with the Preds.
• 15:39
  Yossi has now played in 946. So he is about to catch Legwand
• 15:45
  and is within arm's reach of next season, becoming the first
• 15:49
  player to play 1000 games as a Nashville Predator.
• 15:55
  The cap is coming for you, Leggy.
• 15:57
  It's coming. We do have some unfortunate
• 15:59
  injury news to report. Luke Evangelista took a knock,
• 16:02
  took a hit from Neil Piank in that game against The Jets on
• 16:05
  Tuesday night to end the road trip.
• 16:07
  He attempted to come back into the game.
• 16:09
  He came back on the ice to test it out, but never took a shift
• 16:13
  in the game after taking the hit.
• 16:16
  Evangelista will be out four weeks with an injury.
• 16:19
  So tough absence for the Preds and crazy to think about this
• 16:23
  Kara Evangelista has played well over 100 NHL games.
• 16:29
  This will be the first time he has missed a game due to injury
• 16:32
  in two plus seasons. Wow, that's crazy.
• 16:35
  And you think about how how much now Bruno has to start shuffling
• 16:41
  again with van drought. I mean, against The Jets, they
• 16:43
  were down to 10 forwards. We saw Samcos leave that game.
• 16:46
  But we don't have anything to report yet on Samcos, do we?
• 16:50
  Nothing yet. We record here on Thursday.
• 16:53
  Many of you will hear this on game day on Saturday when there
• 16:56
  may be more definitive information.
• 16:57
  But Stampcos did not practice on Thursday, but that was deemed a
• 17:01
  maintenance day officially. So we will wait and see if
• 17:04
  Stampcos is well enough to play to begin the five game
• 17:07
  homestand, but he is one of five Preds remaining who has played
• 17:10
  in every game this year. So they would have, they would
• 17:13
  like to have Stamkos in there obviously.
• 17:15
  And he has not yet missed a game in his Preds tenure as we are
• 17:18
  halfway through this season, 41 games in.
• 17:23
  Well, hopefully I it's good news for Stamp Coast and we we hope
• 17:27
  the best for for vans that the four week recovery is, is quick.
• 17:31
  We'll take a break and come back with more.
• 17:33
  We're going to talk about the World Juniors.
• 17:35
  Team USA gets it done and a Preds prospect scores the walk
• 17:39
  off golden goal for Team USA in overtime.
• 17:43
  She is Kara Hammer from Predators TV.
• 17:45
  I'm Max hers from Preds radio. This is the Predators official
• 17:49
  podcast here on your exclusive radio home for Preds Hockey,
• 17:52
  ESPN one O 2 five and one O 6 three the game.
• 18:11
  Welcome back to the Predators official podcast here on ESPN.
• 18:14
  One O 2 five and one O 6 three the game.
• 18:18
  We are proud Americans this week, and not just because we
• 18:21
  finally got Chris Mason his citizenship, but because Team
• 18:24
  USA won the World Juniors for the second year in a row up in
• 18:28
  Ottawa this past weekend. An awesome moment.
• 18:32
  Team USA runs the table and gets it done.
• 18:36
  I shouldn't say they ran the table.
• 18:37
  They did lose a game in the prelims, but they won in
• 18:40
  overtime in the finals against Finland and Preds Drafte.
• 18:46
  Teddy Stiga, who was selected in the second round of the NHL
• 18:50
  Draft this past summer, is currently a freshman at Boston
• 18:53
  College. Scored the golden goal on his
• 18:56
  only shot on goal of the entire tournament on an overtime
• 19:00
  breakaway in the gold medal game.
• 19:02
  Kara. That was amazing.
• 19:04
  I've seen so many people post about it.
• 19:06
  Everybody is so hyped and how cool is it that he's a a Preds
• 19:10
  prospect. But Max, did you see the video
• 19:13
  of them post game in the locker room, the chant that Team USA
• 19:17
  had going on? I felt like I'm like, these guys
• 19:20
  have it, these guys got it going on.
• 19:23
  It's become a tradition. Hey Mama, don't you cry?
• 19:27
  USA Hockey's do or die, and they are a whole lot more do than die
• 19:31
  these last two years. Getting it done, Second straight
• 19:34
  World junior gold medal. And that locker room they're in,
• 19:36
  by the way, that's the visiting room for the Senators.
• 19:39
  So we were just in there a couple weeks ago.
• 19:41
  So maybe we left a good little American mojo behind for those
• 19:44
  guys. I I would think so.
• 19:47
  Chris Mason, he's like, I'm American now.
• 19:49
  He was just rubbing it all over there.
• 19:50
  We were. We were watching in Where the
• 19:54
  heck were we? We were in Calgary.
• 19:55
  It's been quite a road trip, but it's awesome being in Canada for
• 19:58
  the World Juniors because the games are all on TV.
• 20:01
  It's a big deal and it makes it much easier to watch than if you
• 20:05
  were in the United States. It's on everywhere.
• 20:07
  In public, everybody's talking about it and it was really cool
• 20:10
  to to consume it all first hand in that way.
• 20:13
  But see Mace and Skillzy, AKA Killzy, we're both wearing their
• 20:17
  USA socks and going nuts for the USA.
• 20:20
  So yeah, it was. It was awesome.
• 20:23
  Stiga and Joey Willis, the two BREADS prospects on Team USA,
• 20:27
  both get the gold medals and Stiga gets the glory.
• 20:31
  I mean, he he was not a star for them the whole tournament.
• 20:33
  He was a supporting player. He actually started the
• 20:35
  tournament as the extra forward, had to work his way first into
• 20:39
  the lineup and then onto a line. But he gets a shift in tet in
• 20:43
  three on three overtime and gets the golden goal and gets the
• 20:47
  glory. It was unbelievable and it was a
• 20:49
  clinical finish too. And you know, Barry Trotz has to
• 20:52
  be excited about that. Yeah, yeah, So big win for Team
• 20:56
  USA. Other Predators in the
• 20:58
  tournament. The Preds had two players on
• 21:02
  Team Sweden. David Edstrom, who was the big
• 21:06
  piece in the Yaroslav Ascarov trade, had a big tournament for
• 21:11
  Team Sweden. He had six points in seven
• 21:14
  games, four goals and two assists, including both Sweden
• 21:17
  goals in the bronze medal game, which they lost in a very
• 21:21
  lengthy 15 round shootout to Chekia.
• 21:24
  But Edstrom, a big center, was their first line center.
• 21:27
  He was an alternate captain for Team Sweden, and I read
• 21:31
  something before the tournament that that struck with me about
• 21:33
  Edstrom, who was picked in the first round by the Vegas Golden
• 21:36
  Knights in 2023. Then he was traded as part of
• 21:42
  the Tomas Hurdle trade from the Golden Knights to the Sharks at
• 21:45
  the deadline last season. Then he was traded again from
• 21:48
  the Sharks to the Preds this summer for Yaroslav Eskarov.
• 21:52
  The sentiment from this prospect report I read going into the
• 21:56
  tournament, do not let the fact that David Edstrom has been
• 22:00
  traded twice as an amateur, don't let that dissuade you from
• 22:04
  the fact that he is not still a huge prospect and he performed
• 22:07
  incredibly well. We finally got to see him.
• 22:09
  He was not at training camp. The European players were not at
• 22:12
  training camp for the Preds this year unless they were staying in
• 22:15
  North America. So we we haven't seen Edstrom as
• 22:18
  a Pred yet. So that World Juniors was the
• 22:20
  first real look we got at him. And Barry Trotz said on One O 25
• 22:23
  the game this week, he was getting calls about people
• 22:26
  trying to trade for heads from the moment the tournament ended.
• 22:29
  That's how good he was. So maybe people want him traded
• 22:32
  a third time. But Barry Trotz says no thank
• 22:34
  you. Wow.
• 22:36
  That's good, that's good. You have go out and have a good
• 22:38
  showcase and I I don't know, Max did does this world junior in
• 22:42
  USA winning? I mean, does this did now get
• 22:44
  you hype for the for the Four Nations face off?
• 22:47
  Like I was I. Was called propelled Team USA,
• 22:50
  the the juniors got it done. Now we need to go out there and
• 22:53
  get it done. Well, there has been talk that
• 22:55
  Free Bird is now the perennial Team USA goal song for all
• 22:59
  levels because it hits so hard in Ottawa for the junior team.
• 23:04
  It's a great song. It's I, you know, you asked me
• 23:08
  what American song should we start with?
• 23:09
  And I picked Born in the USA. But maybe we need to close out
• 23:12
  this segment with a little free bird.
• 23:14
  Yeah, I think you'll hear some Free Bird maybe next segment
• 23:16
  here on the show. There were two other Swedes who
• 23:18
  were Prez prospects. Felix Nielsen, who was selected
• 23:21
  two years ago in the draft, played in every game at six
• 23:24
  points in seven games for Team Sweden as a forward and
• 23:27
  defenceman. Vigo Gustafsson, who was
• 23:29
  selected in the third round in 2024, played in every game on
• 23:33
  the blue line for Sweden, had three assists in seven games.
• 23:36
  We also want to give a shout out to Jakob Meloda who was in
• 23:40
  Pred's training camp this year, an 18 year old goalie who plays
• 23:43
  in the Quebec league but is checking in.
• 23:46
  And he was the 3rd goalie for the Czech team that upset Canada
• 23:51
  and ended up winning the bronze medal in that lengthy shootout
• 23:55
  over Sweden. So shout out to Yakim Maloda, he
• 23:58
  is in line to be their number one in the World Juniors
• 24:00
  potentially next year. Did not get into a game but got
• 24:04
  himself a nice bronze medal. So he's got bragging rights over
• 24:08
  the Canadian prospects with that massive upset and Preds top D
• 24:12
  pair showed well for Team Canada despite a disappointing
• 24:15
  tournament for them. Tanner Molendike, future of the
• 24:18
  Preds blue line, likely to make his NHL debut next season or
• 24:21
  potentially even at the end of this season depending on how
• 24:24
  things time out and how the Preds feel about him.
• 24:26
  Molindyke, a first round pick in 2023 at the draft in Nashville,
• 24:31
  and Andrew Gibson, who was selected by the Red Wings in
• 24:33
  that same draft but traded for by the Preds this summer.
• 24:37
  They played together in rookie camp, they played together in
• 24:39
  Preds training camp and they were Team Canada's number 1D
• 24:42
  pair. And despite a disappointing
• 24:44
  tournament for Canada, I think those guys represented
• 24:47
  themselves well and Molindyke was named one of their three top
• 24:51
  players for the tournament and got himself a nice watch.
• 24:56
  So this is a good outing for for Pred's prospects.
• 24:58
  I think that's our conclusion at the end of the day.
• 25:01
  Yeah, big showing. Pred's had eight guys in World
• 25:03
  Juniors. That was tied for the second
• 25:05
  most of any NHL team behind the Blues, who had 9.
• 25:08
  The Kraken also had eight. But yeah, these these guys made
• 25:12
  their names known to be sure. So awesome tournament.
• 25:15
  Really cool to be in Canada to witness it all.
• 25:17
  Hopefully everyone got to watch it on the NHL Network in the US
• 25:20
  and Team USA gets the gold. So that was fun to be a part of.
• 25:26
  We'll take a break and come back with our interview of the week
• 25:29
  here on the Predators official podcast.
• 25:31
  She's scary hammer from Preds TV.
• 25:33
  I'm Max hers from Preds radio. You are listening to The POP on
• 25:36
  ESPN One O 2 five and one O 6 three the game.
• 25:55
  Those I can't change. Oh, help me, I can't change.
• 26:10
  Those I can't change. What you.
• 26:13
  Find I breathe early. There's your free bird for USA
• 26:33
  Hockey. Maybe the new anthem of America.
• 26:39
  Who knows. My name is Max Hurst from Preds
• 26:41
  Radio. This is the Predators official
• 26:44
  podcast along with Cara Hammer from Preds TVI don't know
• 26:49
  Hammer. I think these these hockey
• 26:51
  playing teenagers have changed the course of American history.
• 26:55
  This has me thinking now Max, I need to go have a sit down with
• 26:59
  Philip Forsberg and Gus Nyquist and UC Sorrows and have them
• 27:04
  present to me their hype song for their native countries and I
• 27:09
  need to see how this compares to what the USA is bringing with
• 27:14
  Free Bird. Pressure's on, pressure's on
• 27:16
  Europe. I'm not like I'm curious what
• 27:19
  what's their hype song? I this, we're, I'm going to
• 27:22
  investigate this and I will report back by our next podcast.
• 27:25
  All right, good. Yeah, we got a lot of time at
• 27:27
  home to do it here this week. Predators starting A5 game
• 27:30
  homestand on Saturday night against the Capitals.
• 27:33
  Capitals Saturday night, Golden nights Tuesday night Blackhawks
• 27:37
  on Thursday night for Golden Hall induction night on Thursday
• 27:40
  January 16th at Bridgestone Arena, then the Wild on Saturday
• 27:44
  night, January 18th next Saturday for Keith Urban Bobble
• 27:48
  head day and then they'll finish the home stand up on the back
• 27:51
  end of MLK weekend Tuesday January 21st against the San
• 27:57
  Jose Sharks. So big 5 game homestand 5 games
• 28:00
  that all independently have a lot of intrigue.
• 28:02
  I think so a lot that I'm looking forward to about this
• 28:04
  homestand, but really being back at Bridgestone Arena and being
• 28:09
  the final NHL team to have their first home game of the new year
• 28:13
  on January 11th, like, come on guys, it's been too long.
• 28:16
  It's been since before Christmas since we've been on home ice.
• 28:21
  It's been so long. Like I mentioned when we
• 28:23
  started, I think the guys feel like they've been living on the
• 28:26
  road. You've been traveling with the
• 28:27
  team. Do you feel that way, Max?
• 28:29
  Like, Are you ready to come home and unpack your suitcase and
• 28:31
  settle in for a little bit? Yes, I never want to do anything
• 28:34
  ever again the rest of my life other than go to home games.
• 28:39
  You've spent too much time on the road.
• 28:41
  Yeah, that was the Predators final game in Canada this
• 28:44
  season, right at the halfway point.
• 28:46
  So the Preds will not go to Canada again for another game,
• 28:50
  except for the Four Nations guys.
• 28:51
  They'll be in Montreal getting ready to go up there.
• 28:54
  We there was one more thing about the World Juniors that I
• 28:57
  did want to say that I didn't get a chance to.
• 29:00
  So there there is apparently an every year a Michael McCarron
• 29:03
  and Roman Yossi bet on the World Juniors on the USA Switzerland
• 29:08
  game. So it started last year and
• 29:11
  Mccarran gave Yossi five goals, A5 goal spread and the USA
• 29:18
  covered the spread and crushed Switzerland last year.
• 29:20
  So Mccarran won that one, and Yossi comes back with double or
• 29:24
  nothing for this year's game. And USA was up huge, up 7/1
• 29:29
  after two. It was a boat race we were
• 29:31
  watching in the locker room after practice in Vancouver last
• 29:34
  week. They were up six.
• 29:36
  Surely they'd win by 5. They'd probably win by 7:00 or
• 29:38
  8:00. But the only goal of the third
• 29:40
  period went to the Swiss. So it was 7 two and it was a
• 29:44
  push, A push on double or nothing for Roman Yossi.
• 29:49
  Do we know what the what the wager was?
• 29:53
  No, I don't, but apparently we're gonna have to wait another
• 29:55
  year for it to be paid out, whatever it was.
• 30:00
  Huh. Triple or nothing?
• 30:02
  Here we go. Yeah, yeah.
• 30:04
  So it just gets kicked down. But yeah, World Juniors is
• 30:08
  awesome. It's good to have everybody in
• 30:09
  the locker room represented and split and going at each other.
• 30:13
  So that's what the World Juniors is all about.
• 30:16
  And next year it actually is in the US Next year's tournament it
• 30:19
  is in Minnesota. So the Wilds Arena will be the
• 30:23
  main site and the University of Minnesota Arena will be the
• 30:26
  secondary site. So it's going to be fun to have
• 30:28
  it in the US and hopefully that's a big opportunity for
• 30:30
  everyone across the US to get more into it and for the US to
• 30:34
  win what would be their third straight gold medal on home ice.
• 30:39
  That'd be pretty awesome, that. Would be cool.
• 30:41
  Time for our interview of the week.
• 30:43
  As Kara mentioned earlier in the show, the Preds made a TikTok
• 30:47
  video of everybody in the locker room's advice for Ozzy Wisblatt
• 30:53
  going into his NHL debut, and there was some serious sage
• 30:57
  advice. But there was also a
• 30:59
  motivational speech from fellow rookie Fedor Svechkov to Ozzy
• 31:04
  Wisblatt. Enjoy some Svech.
• 31:06
  Ozzy, it's a big day for you. I hope you're going to be great
• 31:11
  tonight. You're the best player I've ever
• 31:14
  seen. Ozzy, I love you.
• 31:16
  I love you. I love you.
• 31:19
  Ready to skate through a wall after that inspiration from
• 31:21
  Fedor Svechkov, who is just beyond hilarious.
• 31:27
  I feel, I feel like Fedora's one of those guys that they're not
• 31:30
  always intentionally funny, but sometimes it just comes out that
• 31:33
  way. Yeah, well, his English has come
• 31:35
  so far too. He does have quite a sense of
• 31:37
  humor in it now, so I think he knows, but I I think he was
• 31:40
  ready to give him a big speech. And then later in the weeks,
• 31:43
  Fetchkov was sitting next to Wiseblatt in the room after
• 31:48
  practice and Brooks Bratton was interviewing Ozzy and asked him
• 31:53
  a question about his fellow Rook.
• 31:55
  What do you think of fetching these last two?
• 31:59
  Fetch is like he's the best player I've ever seen and I love
• 32:02
  him. I think this is never going to
• 32:07
  end. You're all the best player I've
• 32:08
  ever seen and I love you all. Well, and as we know, Ozzy came
• 32:13
  up in the Preds 1-2 game. So maybe a little bit of
• 32:15
  superstition, maybe a little luck happening here.
• 32:18
  Maybe they need to make some more of these videos and and
• 32:21
  keep telling each other they're the best players.
• 32:23
  You're the best player I've ever seen.
• 32:25
  I dropped a couple of those on Skillzy.
• 32:26
  Skillzy, you're the best player I've ever seen and I love you.
• 32:32
  Killzy air caveman. And it all rolls into one.
• 32:37
  That's all the time we got for our show today.
• 32:39
  We'll see you guys for A5 game home stand at Bridgestone Arena
• 32:43
  starting on Saturday against the Washington Capitals.
• 32:47
  Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday, five games on
• 32:51
  home ice. We hope to see you there at
• 32:54
  Bridgestone Arena. We'll have a podcast for you
• 32:56
  early next week before Golden Hall Week.
• 32:59
  Wednesday afternoon, the luncheon in downtown.
• 33:01
  Go to nashvillepredators.com/golden
• 33:04
  Hall lunch to get in on that fun with the Pretz Foundation to
• 33:08
  meet Shea Weber, Peck Arena and David Poyle.
• 33:11
  Then the induction on Thursday, January 16th at the game for
• 33:15
  Kara Hammer. I'm Max hers.
• 33:16
  This is the POP.