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KRAKEN WEEKLY: And off we go! (9/29) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, we would be remiss without beginning this podcast here
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: with a brief tribute here to our friend Rick Riz,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: who was stepping down from the Seattle Mariners broadcast after
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: 41 seasons. What a guy, what an icon, what a
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: hockey fan also. And I can't wait to see Rick
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: at one of these games at some point this season.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised maybe if it's with his old
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Blackhawks in town.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, folks don't know that Rick Riz grew up
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: south side of Chicago, massive hockey fan, big Blackhawks fan. Um,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: he's come up to the booth a couple of times
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: and it's been, it's been so cool to get to
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: know him and, and hear his story. But when you
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: look at the person past the broadcaster, I mean, so
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: many people love and respect Rick for the work that
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: he did, not just for on the, on the air,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: but off of it as well. His toys for kids
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: charity every year that he and a couple of former
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Mariners players started, um, giving back to kids in the community,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: being part of this community. I heard a story a
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: couple weeks ago that Rick always knew that he wanted
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: to be in Seattle. He turned down a job with
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: the Angels. He turned down his hometown, Chicago White Sox,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: his childhood team growing up to stay here in Seattle. So,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, you talk about icons in a city, you
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: talk about legends and obviously he was none better at
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: what he did, but just the person that he is,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: is on unbelievable. Uh, the, the amount of respect and
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: adoration and love that we have for Rick and He's
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: going to be missed on the air, but he ain't dead.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is not a eulogy. This is a, hey,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: congratulations on one hell of a career. Now go be
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: a granddad. He said he wants to go travel to
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Europe and do all this fun stuff. So he ain't
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: dead yet. And then I'm excited to see what this
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: next chapter brings for him.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Well, you hear that so often from people that do
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: retire is that they don't want to think about work
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: for a while.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: And I like that.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Go see the world. Go see the grandkids.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Have some fun.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: And I'm probably the person at this table that has
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: not had the fortunate opportunity to meet him personally, but
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: I feel like I know him as many, probably hundreds
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: of thousands of other people do, from listening to him.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Listening to him the way he broadcasts, the way he talks.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: When you have somebody in your ear for that amount
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: of time, for that many games every season, you just
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: get to know them personally in a way that's so unique.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: We're not doing this without paying our respects as well
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: to the great career of the great Bob Condor. Bob,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: we love you. We miss you. You have left a
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: legacy that will last a lifetime in the NHL and
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: in Seattle. I mean, my five years working with Bob
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Condor at home. on road trips as well, unlike any
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: other guy that I have come across and his work
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: top notch.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, another guy who, again, he ain't dead.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: He's finally taken some time for himself. The longtime editor-in-chief
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: of SeattleKraken.com. He's written hundreds of stories and profile pieces
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: for the organization. He has chronicled this organization and Since
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: day one, like Riz, a Chicago, not only was he
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: a Chicago native, but spent a lot of time in Chicago.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: A couple Pulitzer nominations. I mean, he is, again, so talented,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: but even a better person. And him and I, when
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I started here, Bob was kind of my work buddy.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: You know, he helped show me the ropes. And, you know,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: he was the officiant. And Austin Rotana City, one of
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: our producers here, He was the officiant in his wedding
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: that I had the honor and privilege of going to.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: So Bob means so much to everyone in this building.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: It's been kind of a tough year for him with
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: the passing of his wife not too long ago. So
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: he's finally able now to get out of the industry.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: He gets to be a full-time dad. He's got a
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: son in the Navy. His daughter, Lana Condor, is off
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: gallivanting around the world putting out best-selling movies, and he
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: gets to go be a proud dad, which he does
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: so well.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I had a good conversation with him
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: the other day, and it wasn't any different than past
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: conversations with Bob Condor, which was a very heartfelt, maybe
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: a little emotional conversation, but he's definitely not afraid to
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: share his feelings with you about what this means to him,
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: not only the time he's been here, but what it
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: means to him to now close this chapter.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: And open a new one.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Bob Condor, Rick Riz, this show is for you.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Caw-caw!
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: On with the show.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: It's Matty Beneers. Find the soft.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Spot.
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: Score!
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: Jordan Eberle!
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: Overtime! Yeah!
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: And then Pachor settles, shoots, scores!
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: This is Jordan Eberle, right wing for the Seattle Kraken.
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: This is Brandon Montour.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: This is Bobby McMahon.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: This is Matty Bernier, center for the Seattle Kraken.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: This is Berkley Catton. You're listening.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: You're listening.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: You're listening to Kraken Weekly with Mike Benton.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: That will lead us here into the beef of this.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: It is finally time to say goodbye to the offseason.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: October 1, which is Thursday, is almost here. The time
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: that you have been waiting for for so long, it
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: is almost here. We call that opening day. Then Sunday,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: it will be the home opener, which brings us here
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: to our first edition of Kraken Weekly. Glad to have
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: you along once again. Mike Benton never fits you. Al
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Koniski with you all season long. podcasted here via the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app and the Kraken Audio Network. Just sign up
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: for free to get this again at sportsradiokjr.com. Deeper into
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the season. Once again, you can join us weekly, by
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: the way, on Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM. So just
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: so many ways. We can give you the inside scoop
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: here on what's happening up to date on the Kraken side.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: And we're making this first episode a no stone unturned
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: absolute banger. Kraken GM Jason Botterill will be joining us
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: live with us. Also, we're going to get to Lane
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Lambert's comments. with the media opening the week from practice,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Mackie Samaskevich on IR, the outlook of the roster, and
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: much more, plus your mailbag questions, where you can find
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the Kraken Audio Network at krakenaudionet. I am at Benton
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: underscore Mike Everett's at The Voice Fits Al Koniski. is
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: at Alconiski. To remind you once again, Thursday, the Kraken
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: at Calgary. Everett now have the call from Scotiabank's Saddle Dome,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: which will kick off the final season, by the way,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: in Saddle Dome history. We'll also have a live road
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: watch party going down at Tom's Watch Bar. Friday, Kraken
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: at Edmonton. That game moving over to the AM dial
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: on AM 950, Sports Radio KJR 950 AM. Sunday, home
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: opener against Calgary. Full-blown one-hour pre-game and post-game show on
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: 93.3 AM. KJRFM. Without further ado, fellas, scale of 1
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: to 10, what's our number in being ready and pumped
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: here for hockey season?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: 15 billion D11. I am so fired up. Year 6
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: of Kraken hockey, Mike? We get to do this for
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: a living. We get to tell good lies to the
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: great people of Kraken Nation.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: I can't believe they call this work.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. I've never worked a day in my life.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Don't tell my boss that, though. No, I'm excited, man.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: I'm fired up. You know me. I'm the ever-optimist. And
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: I will say that, like everyone else, sometimes you can
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: find yourself down. But now that we're here, camp is done.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: You're seeing all the rosters come out. We're actually recording
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: this here at KCI right now. And it's just the
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: building is buzzing, seeing people around, getting ready for the
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: home opener on Sunday. I'm fired up.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I like the abbreviated camp this year. Remains to
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: be seen what effect it might have on the first
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: five games, but I like the abbreviated camp. I like
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: that we're getting going to doing it for real a
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: little bit faster than in past years.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: And preseason was bonkers. We're going to get into this
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: here in a little bit, but it reduced the amount
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: of time that coaches had to make maybe excessive decisions.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: You know, GMs had to make excessive decisions and going
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: over it two, three, four, five times on, does player
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: A fit up here? Does player B fit in the
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: minor leagues? But not only that, a little bit less
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: time to get, I think, a little bit too lackadaisical.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: And we saw some fireworks, not just here, but also
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: in other parts. Preseason left us with some drama that
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: could carry over here into the regular season. But this
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: is all because we're going to an 84-game schedule once
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: again this year, now for the first time since Wayne
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Gretzky left. you know, legitimately was still in his prime
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: back in the nineties, but it has reduced training camp
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: now and also reduced the preseason schedule down to four.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: So not many games that you have to get ready.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: We dive in here to our reflections on preseason where
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the Kraken finished three and one. And as Lane Lambert,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: you'll hear from this, you know, from him in a
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: little bit, the record doesn't mean much. It's more of
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: how is your team progressing with its core values? I
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: think for me, it was a tale of two preseasons.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Number one, In the first two games, you had a
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: great look at the future of this team and some
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: youth that showed us some potential. The last two games,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: more of the veterans, which come in, you get a
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: win and get oh so close in that final game
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: and things went off the tracks in period three. But
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: you walked away with a lot of questions. I think
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: for me, it begins with the penalty kill. On the
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: flip side, Matty Bonier is great. You have Brandon Montour, great.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Bobby McMahon, great. Philip Grubauer, great. The power play, also great.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: What do we make out of the preseason?
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that, you know, again, shortened preseason. So
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: you've got to look at each of the games individually
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: and each of the games individually presented different situations. The
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: very first game, it's junior hockey players.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: It's AHLers.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: The second game, you might see a couple of vets
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: start to come in. By the third game, you're seeing,
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: more and more. And then that last game, it's vets
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: versus vets. And I think, as I told Everett, in
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: each of those games, if you're not a rostered player,
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: you need to stand out. And I don't mean stand
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: out by getting an assist or scoring a goal. Every
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: single shift, you've got to have points on both sides
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: of those columns. You've got to be perfect on your
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: plus minus. You have to stand out to get an
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: opportunity to play in that second game. And then in
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: the third game, And if you stand out in all three,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: you might make it to the fourth game. As we saw,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: there was a big cut group that happened pretty quickly.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: We didn't know what to expect. It seemed like most
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: of the teams did the same thing. This might be
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: the new way of doing preseason where you've got two games,
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: maybe three before you make those big cuts. Then you
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: dial it in to just 23 to 25 people and
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: you make those final decisions.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I wonder if also, you know, moving forward, this might
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: be the last year of the massive training camp. I mean,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: there have been times when you've got 55 guys. I
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: think there was one year in recent memory, maybe it
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: was Montreal or Toronto, some team had like 70 guys
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: in camp. And I think those days.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: You could have easily fielded your entire NHL, AHL, and ECHL.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: You could have, right? And I thought that Lane Lambert
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: the other day made a really good point about... I
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: asked him, I said... what is your thought on your
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: readiness to start this season this year compared to last year?
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: And he even said that, you know, I wouldn't say
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: that we're more ready. I think we had to, we
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: had to not rush, but we had to expedite things
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: a little bit as it came to the systems. I
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: think one area that helps is the fact that this
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: is still largely an unchanged roster from last year. These
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: guys know what to expect. You know, the year two
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: of Lane Lambert, you don't have to, You get a
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: new playbook in here. You don't have to learn anything
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: drastically new, so that's good. But as far as the
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: preseason goes, it, for me, went, I think, exactly how
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: I wanted it to go. You won a couple games handedly.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: You struggled in one. You had to battle back. You
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: had to find that push. And then I thought you
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: lost a game in which you should have won. If
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: I'm being honest, that game in Vancouver, you didn't look
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: great in that game. But now you know what you
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: have to improve on. We saw some overtime. We saw
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: a shootout. So all of those things you got to
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: work on.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: And how much was the shootout a problem last year?
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: It was a big problem. It's been a problem the
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: last couple years, right? So you got to work on
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: a few of those things. But I think for me,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: you go 3-1 in preseason. Like whose line is it anyway?
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Everything's made up and the points don't matter. But I
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: will say the Kraken started 3-0 in preseason. Last time
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: that happened, 22-23.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: And what happened that year?
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: We went to the playoffs, my good friend. So all
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: in all, I think it was a successful preseason. I
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: thought the guys who needed, for the most part, the
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: guys who needed to look good looked pretty good. I
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: wasn't left with a ton of question marks, but I
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: was maybe... I was hoping for a little bit more
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: just overall. Preseason was enough, but I would have liked
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: to have seen just a little bit more from a
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: couple of guys. But overall, I was happy with where this,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: given everything that happened, given the short camp, given the
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: fact that it's largely the same group that you brought
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: back from last year. Overall, I was satisfied with how
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Preach's done went.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: And this comes on the heels of what was a
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: very quiet summer, not just here, but for other teams
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: as well across the board in this league, because you
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: have really an unparalleled age of player empowerment. And you
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: have players who are able to dictate where they are
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: able to go. And let's just face it, more often
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: than not right now, if you're not a contender, you've
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: got to get in line and you're way to the
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: back of the line here. So you get Mackie Samaskevich
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: by trade. You do that based on potential. You sell
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Bobby McMahon enough, which was so important here, to retain
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: a guy who, I mean, let's face it, looked great
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: at the end of last season, looked just as great
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: as well in preseason. He looks like that he's dialed in.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: So it leads us here to the question of being
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: a contender versus... being comfortable with your youth. The expectation
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: versus reality, how do we define this here? And you
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: have Jason Robertson, that was a miss. Robert Thomas, per reports,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: it was a miss. We saw Kirill Marchenko go off
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: the board just the other day. So you get high
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: marks here for effort in trying to take those swings,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: and that's not so much a bad thing. But Ultimately,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: what is reality for this team? They're near the bottom
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: of the perception ladder, and they've got to work their
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: way up. So they can do this here. But, I mean,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: time and time again, the compass, it seems to me,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: kind of gets pointed right back in the direction of
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: leaning into your youth and developing your youth internally. Chase
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Reed is a headliner in all of this. He won't
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: be ready until at least for another year, maybe, coming
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: out of Michigan State. But, you know, the most stable,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: developed contenders, what do they all do? They all develop
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: from within. So that's got to be such an important
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: thing here for this season. And, Senior, you take that
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: next step.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and Jason said as much, right, in the summertime.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: He goes, I'm not going to, number one, sign a player.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to make a move, make a trade
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: just for the sake of making a trade. It has
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: to make sense. I don't want to stifle. I don't
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: want to block the development of our younger players. I
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: went on a local radio show here in Seattle back
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: on Tuesday morning, and I I was pretty much asked
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: that same question. What's the direction? Are you leaning into
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: the youth? Are you saying that this is going to
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: be a rebuild? Or are we going to try for
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: the playoffs? What's the mindset? And I said, honestly, I
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: do think it can be a little bit of both.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: I think you can embrace your youth. I think you
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: can give your younger players an opportunity and you can
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: give them minutes. You can allow them the rope. You
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: can allow them to fail and then pick them back
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: up as to not say, hey, you screwed up, that's fine.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: I'll go back out there, learn from your mistakes. I
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: think you can do that, but I think you also
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: have a team that is capable of making the playoffs, right?
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: I look around the NHL, especially in this division, this
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: isn't the strongest division. If the Kraken don't go 5-22
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: out of the break, you're in a playoff spot. And
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: I think it was Larry Stone the other day here
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: in Seattle who wrote, For the Mariners, down the stretch,
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: they had to go 15-7 in their last 22 games
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: to make the playoffs. They didn't do that, right? 15-7
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: is not bad. That's not a great record. It's not
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: a bad record. Cracking last year, go 11-11. You're a
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: playoff team. I don't think this team is far off.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: I don't think this team is as close to the
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: bottom as.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: A lot of people. How close were they in March
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: last year?
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: They were very close in March last year. This team
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: wasn't fully healthy. Until game 57, 8-ish, right? So a
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: lot of that went in the last year. Now, obviously,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: you have to win those games. There's always excuses you
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: can make. There's always reasons you can explain away. But
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: I think at the end of the day, the Kraken
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: can do both. I think they can focus on development.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Katton can play. You know, Matty Beneers is going to
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: take another big step. You've got Winterton and Melanson. You know,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: you're probably going to see OFM up here at some point.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Ville Odovainen made the roster out of camp. You're probably
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: going to get to see him. So you can have
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: these young guys play meaningful minutes. But I also think
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: you can expect Matty Beneers and Jared McCann and Bobby
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: McMahon to score 25 or more goals for you. You
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: can expect that. you're going to get offensive production again
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: from Vince Dunn and Brandon Montour. You can expect that
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Philip Grubauer is going to continue the year that he
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: had last year, and then Joey Decord is going to
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: get back to where we want him to be. All
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: of these can be true, and I've said it before.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: The Kraken enter the year. I don't know if this
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: team is a playoff team, but I do think this
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: team is capable of getting into the playoffs.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: You used the word expect a lot there a moment ago.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: And I think that's fair. You expect a lot of things.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: And what I think about this team this year is
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: what I thought about this team last year, which is
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: this is a team that can get into the playoffs, but.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: a lot has to go right.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: And when I say a lot has to go right,
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: I go back to Everett's comments about I expect, I expect.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: Those are the things that have to go right. Shane
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: Wright's got to turn things around. Joey Decord's got to
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: come back to being a 1A or a 1B goaltender.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: The penalty kill has to get better. This team needs
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: to score more. There's a lot of things that have
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: to go right. But if this team can knock off 80%
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: of those, they're going to find themselves back in the
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: same situation they were last year before the break.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Fighting for a playoff spot.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: I want to get to later on in the show
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: about the three things that need to go right for
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: this team. We'll take our swing at this exercise as
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: we get closer here to the end of this. But
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: before I get on to the roster cuts of all
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: of this, Mackie Samaskevich and all of this, once again,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, as you mentioned, Everett, you mentioned the expectation
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: is that so many things have to line up here for.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: This to be a playoff team. They do. And I
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: also think one of the more frustrating things about last
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: season It was the fact that the Kraken, at times,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: they had to be at their best every single night, right? Edmonton, Colorado, Minnesota, Dallas.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: You know what? They can have a night off. Nathan
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: McKinnon doesn't have to score five points every night, right?
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: A bad night for the Colorado Avalanche is a 3-2
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: overtime win.
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: Yep.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: A bad night for the Dallas Stars is a 3-2
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: overtime win. The Kraken had to play at their best 99%
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: of the time in order to find success. And I
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: think we saw at times it can be a little
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: bit difficult to maintain that. We saw the injuries. We
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: saw all of that pile up. So I think with
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: now a full year and an offseason of Lane Lambert
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: under this team's belt, they went into the summer with
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: their workout plans, with their offseason regiments, if you will.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: I do think that there may be a little bit
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: more margin for error for this team on any given night.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Not saying that this team can afford to take nights off. Obviously,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: you can't. But you don't need to go at 110%
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: 84 times a year because, let's face it, physically, scientifically,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: that's not sustainable. You can't do that. So I do think, though,
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: that there may be a little bit more margin for
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: error this year. You know, we go back to the expectations. Yeah, Mike,
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: a lot has to go right. But, you know, I
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: don't think it's unfair to expect, you know, From Matty Beneers,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: Jared McCann, I'll throw Mackie Samuskevich in there, and I'll
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: throw Bobby McMahon in that category as well. I don't
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: think it's unfair to expect 90 to 100 goals, a
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: combination of 90 to 100 goals. From those four players.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: You want to throw in Vince Dunn, maybe you can
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: add 15. You want to throw in 15 for Montour,
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: that's great. But you need to find four, five, 25-plus
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: goal scores. Four 20- to 25-plus goal scores in order
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: for you to have success, I think, this season.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's going to be spread across your entire
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: lineup and come from the back end as well.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: I'll throw Jordan Eberle in there as well.
• 21:16
  Speaker 7: Absolutely.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: That's another one. Yeah, so add him in that list
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Ken, you had Vince Dunn and Brandon Montour for double
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: digits also.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that'd be great. That'd be great.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I don't think we really had expectations of Mackie Samuskevich
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: landing on IR here at the end of training camp,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: but this is the reality of the NHL. I mean,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: just ask Minnesota and how they're dealing with Brock Faber.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: It has now forced a bit of a shuffle, not
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: just within the line combinations, but also in how final
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: cuts were administered. I think a few of us, going
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: back to this, we hinted at this, may be surprising
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: to see Oscar Fisker-Mulgaard sent down, but it's a matter
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: of when, not if, he'll be called back up here
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: to this team, I believe. So, Nikkei Koko, Oscar Fisker-Mulgaard
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: were the final roster cuts here on this team because
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Mackie Samaskevich is on IR. Right now, you have eight defensemen.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: And right now, you have maybe one short of a
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: forward here, but I think to me, and this goes
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: back here to the Calgary game, Al, was when Mackie
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Samaskevich took a hit that maybe I thought was also
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: clean from Chase Harrington, but Ister the Hornet's Nest. So
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: we got maybe, I think, a look at how this
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: team reacts in response to one of their guys gets
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: tuned up in a game, fairly or unfairly, because Villiota
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Vinen answered a bell, Curtis Douglas, and what you could
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: see was a crazy pair of eyes that came out
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: of his head in all that mess. also answered a bell.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: So I think maybe a bit of a hint with
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: how this team is going to continue to shape its
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: identity around the toughness category.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, this is year four for me, and
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: I can honestly say over the past three seasons, I
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: don't remember a time, multiple times in a game, where
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: you saw the other four guys coming to the rescue
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: of somebody that was involved in an altercation where, I'm
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: not saying there were five fights on the ice, but
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: everybody had somebody, everybody grabbed somebody, everybody was involved. And then,
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: like you mentioned with Curtis Douglas, that wires cross mentality. Now,
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: you can't have that every game, but I guarantee you
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: opposing teams, opposing players, knowing that he might be in
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: the lineup, will rethink what they may or may not do,
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: knowing that he's a factor of that.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: It's like maybe a Jeff Delorier or a Jeff Mollat situation,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: or a Nick Delorier, beg your pardon.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it is. And I think, too, Al and I,
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: we've talked so much about team toughness, about trying to
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: find guys– to answer the bell, you know, and I
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: think part of it started last year. Berkeley cat and
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: goes into it. Was it, uh, was it cat and
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: in Buffalo that gotten into the fight last year? Um,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: standing up for Maddie, Maddie stood up for Maddie or
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: I think it was Everly. Um, you know, so I
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: think it's, it started then, but when you, when you
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: know that Curtis Douglas or Billy out of Biden or
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Jacob Melanson are going to be there to, to keep
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: watch and, and to protect, but also, uh, We saw
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: Bobby McMahon. We saw Matty Beneers. We saw Berkley Catton
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: in the preseason. All of the– Mackie Samaskevich also got
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: mixed up a little bit. When you have the potential
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: to have multiple players on your lineup, not necessarily have
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: to fight and drop the gloves and beat everybody up,
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: but a guy that can stand up for himself, can
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: defend himself, is not going to take anything, but is
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: also going to look out for my teammate and say,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: absolutely not. I honestly have no problem with what Ville
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: Odoviden did in that game against Calgary. I think maybe
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: how he did it probably wasn't the best, but I'm
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: okay with you. You know, you got your pound of
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: flesh the night before. Nothing came of it, so you
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: know what? I'm going to nip this in the bud
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: right here. I got my shot. I got hit against
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: the boards.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: All right, this is it.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: I'm going to take it. He got a couple good
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: shots in. Yeah, he was down. He got fined. You know,
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: you can't take advantage of a defenseless player, if you will,
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: but Again, it was, I think, within the realm of
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: good hockey taste. It was borderline, on the line, I think.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: But when you can have multiple guys on your roster
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: standing up for each other and doing that, I think
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: that ultimately, overall, that makes you a better team. And
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: I think that's going to bring this group a little
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: bit closer, knowing that, hey, genuinely, we have each other's back.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: And I'm not going to mention any names, but there
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: have been many times before last year Certain players got
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: liberties taken against them. They got hit. No one came
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: to defend. No one came to stand up. I don't
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: think we're there anymore. I think we've gone past that.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: The new era is in, and I like what I've
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: seen from the protection standpoint latter half of last year
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: and now into preseason.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: Everett, you defined team toughness perfectly. I am going to
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: stand up for myself, and I'm going to stand up
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: for my teammates. And what makes you do that? Obviously,
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: for yourself, it has to be a personal mentality. But
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: to stand up for your teammates, it's got to be,
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: I respect those guys. I respect them like my brothers.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to let somebody take shots at them.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: And when you respect the other 19 guys on the bench,
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: there's nobody that you're going to go, well, that guy's
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: a bit of a jerk. I'm not going to stand
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: up for him. When you respect everybody on there, then
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: that's where you really get that team toughness.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: This takes you back to a conversation me and JT had.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: I think you were on the bus when we were
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: talking about this, too. So JT Brown, he was a
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: third-line grinder. He was a fighter. He was a mucker.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: He was a hitter. Like, that was the role that
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: he played. You and I, Al, would talk all the time.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Not every big hit needs a response. Nope. Right? Not
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: every big hit needs a response. Well, JT's advice was,
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: you're not going to hit me and get away with it. Yeah, sure,
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: this hit is within the realm of the game, but
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: you know what? I didn't like it. I'm going to
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: take advantage or I'm going to take issue with that.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: I felt this year was the first time that I
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: finally understood the preseason, what he was talking about there.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Because you look at the Calgary games, all those hits were,
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: for the most part, pretty clean. I had no issue
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: with the hits that were doled out onto Seattle by Calgary,
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: but listen, you're not going to hit Mackie Samuskevich and
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: get away with it. You're not going to hit Berkley Catton.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: You're not going to hit Shane Wright. You're not going
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: to hit any of these guys and think that it's
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: just going to be open season again. So sure, that
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: was a legal hit. Sure, that was a hit that
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: anybody in this league is going to throw, but I
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: take issue with you hitting my guy that hard.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: It's also preseason.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: It's preseason, exactly.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: So you can respond maybe a little more aggressively than
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: you might respond.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: And I said this too, and taking nothing away from–
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: from the Flames on that particular Thursday night. But the
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Kraken had two players in their lineup that probably weren't
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: going to make the opening roster. And Calgary had two
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: players in that lineup that were going to make the
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: opening roster. So it was kind of like the seniors
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: stuffing the freshmen in the lockers. So, you know, you're right.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: I'm wondering what this is going to be like Saturday
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: in Edmonton, right? Or Tuesday. When the points count. When
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: the points count and the opposition isn't the AHL Wranglers
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: or the Abbotsford Canucks.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, are you willing to put your team at a
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: disadvantage of, you know, killing a penalty because you instigated
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: a fight right then and there.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: You've got to pick your spots. And coaches, a lot
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: of coaches, Al, don't necessarily have a problem with that, right?
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: How many times have you heard Lane say, you know what,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: I don't mind that penalty because he was standing up
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: for a guy. Even going back to Hack, going back
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: to Dan. We've all worked for different coaches across multiple
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: levels of hockey, and they've all have said, I don't
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: mind that hit. I don't mind that penalty because you
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: were standing up for your team.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Well, as a penalty killer, you want to go out
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: and kill that penalty because you appreciate and respect that
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: guy even more than just stood up for his teammates. So, yeah,
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: any coach should be saying, I'm okay with that. If
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: it happens three or four times a game, you give
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: up a couple power play goals, 77% of games are
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: one goal games, you start ending up on the wrong
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: side of that.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Are you going to let that hit go April in
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Vegas rather than September in Vegas? Like, you know, you're
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: two or three points out. You need this game. You know,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: Al Kaniski, I get stapled against the boards. We're tied.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: Are you going to let that one go if we
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: need the points? It's easier to do that in October,
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: but if we're in March, April, playoffs are coming up.
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: No, you're not wrong.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: Two points back of St.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Louis.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: We're playing St.
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: Louis.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: I need to be in this game. I wonder where
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: that line is, though.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: This will bring so much importance here on the penalty kills.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: When liberties are taken, you can take care of business
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: and wipe the slate clean, and then effectively your message
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: is sent. That's going to be a teaser for us
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: later on as we wrap up this show. The three
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: things from our own corner that have to go right
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: here for the Kraken to be successful and to be
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: in the mix. We'll get to that in a bit here,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: but I want to open the door here for the
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: poll question. And again, find Kraken Audio Network at Kraken
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Audio Net. The most important player to you on the
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: Kraken this season will be who? Is it either A,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Matty Beneers, B, goaltending collectively, C, Bobby McMahon, or D,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Brandon Montour? We'll get you caught up here. The poll
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: question open right now. The way Kraken Audio Network on
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: X at Kraken Audio Net. A check-in with Coachella Valley.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Lane Lambert opening practice this week. And our conversation with
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Jason Botterall all right around the corner right here on
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Kraken Weekly. This is Jordan Everly, now back to Kraken
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Weekly with Mike Bennett. You better believe it, this show
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: would not be complete without a little Firebirds check-in. Coachella
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Valley falling 2-1 to the Ontario Reign two nights ago
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: at Accresher Arena. It is their only preseason game, and
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: for good measure, these players who have reported to AHL
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: camps have already gone through the rigors of NHL camps,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: so no need to wear them down with Three or
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: four preseason games, so to speak. Just one, enough to
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: get them going. And they'll play for keeps beginning Friday
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: when they take on the Ontario Reign. 7 p.m. at
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Accresure Arena. Also the Firebirds' home opener after, again, Coachella
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Valley falling 2-1 to Ontario Sunday in their only preseason game.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: That happening in a shootout. Tyson Jugnov. The only Firebird's
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: goal in 9.36 of period two. And after last season,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: better keep your eye on him in case the Kraken
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: needs some reinforcements on defense. Of course, depending upon how
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: he plays and develops on that blue line. But we
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: already saw through one season, Tyson Jugnot handling the transition
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: to the professional ranks. Seamlessly, he'll certainly be a guy
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: to keep an eye on. Season premiere of Kraken Weekly again.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: We're at Kraken Community Iceplex. Myself, Mike Benton, Everett Fitzhugh,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Al Koniski with me. We're going to have Jason Botterill
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: join us here in just a bit. But now it
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: is T-minus two days and counting. Until the regular season,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: the Kraken looking like they will start this thing with
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Mackie Samaskewicz on IR. Upper body injury he suffered. last
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Thursday against Calgary. So what do the Kraken have going
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: on their top line now with Capo Caco skating with
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Matty Beneers and Jared McCann, plus the outlook of Mackie
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Samaskevich and the reactions from preseason? Here's Kraken head coach
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Lane Lambert meeting with the media after practice on Monday. Lane,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: first off, we saw that Mackie placed on IR on Sunday.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: How fair is it, do you think, to say that
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: he could be ready to sit potentially by the.
• 32:32
  Speaker 5: End of the week, let's say, for Sunday to home over?
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: We'll see.
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: Really, at this point, we don't have any further update.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Out of the preseason, the 3-1, where's your mind at
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: with where this team is headed right now, just in
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: a generality from 5-on-5, power play, penalty kill as well?
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: Well, I think I don't take too much stock. Obviously,
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: you want to win every game you play. I don't
• 32:56
  Speaker 5: take too much stock in preseason, obviously, with different lineups
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: and things like that. But I think we're still building.
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: I think we're building some of the adjustments that we've made.
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: I think we like some of them, but I think
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: we have to get better at them. Again, it's a
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: short training camp. If we had another 10 days, we would,
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: but I think some of that stuff is going to
• 33:19
  Speaker 5: be a work in progress as we move forward. As
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: I anticipate, other teams are going to be similar in
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: that situation as well. Five on five wise, I think
• 33:29
  Speaker 5: we're doing some good things. Offensively, I think we're doing
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: some good things. Power play, obviously we took advantage of
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: our opportunities. Penalty kill was pretty good up until the
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: other night. We just continue to build and continue to
• 33:49
  Speaker 5: grow here this week heading into Calgary. Like I say,
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: with the lineups being so different on a game-to-game basis
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: and not really having the veteran guys in there very
• 34:00
  Speaker 5: much until the very end, we still got work to do.
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: How much is good?
• 34:06
  Speaker 5: How much does having so many of the same guys
• 34:08
  Speaker 5: from last year's team on this year's roster mean help
• 34:10
  Speaker 5: as far as the preparation goes and not having to
• 34:13
  Speaker 5: learn your systems? Yeah, I think there's certainly an expectation
• 34:18
  Speaker 5: and an understanding of certain areas that we've built in.
• 34:23
  Speaker 5: I do think that we made a couple of tweaks
• 34:25
  Speaker 5: and a couple of adjustments. I think we're doing pretty
• 34:30
  Speaker 5: good on it, but I'm not you know, I'm not
• 34:33
  Speaker 5: sold that we're, like, 100% dialed in on that yet.
• 34:36
  Speaker 5: We have to continue to work.
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: Is that what we saw today? It seemed like there
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: was a lot more stopping and almost, like, finer details.
• 34:44
  Speaker 6: Is that, like, a good way to describe what was
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: happening the last day of practice?
• 34:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, we are always about, you know, we're
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: always about the finer details. You know, that has to
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: be in our DNA, you know, is our structure and
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: our detail.
• 35:01
  Speaker 6: And.
• 35:02
  Speaker 5: So certainly that's what practice is for in terms of
• 35:07
  Speaker 5: making sure that we're in the right spots, right areas.
• 35:11
  Speaker 5: But I do think that we have also allowed our
• 35:15
  Speaker 5: players this training camp because we're playing in such a
• 35:19
  Speaker 5: short period of time to play a lot more sort
• 35:25
  Speaker 5: of five-on-five hockey. and play in a lot more offensive
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: situations as well. So we need to dial that in
• 35:31
  Speaker 5: and give them an opportunity to come out of the
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: gates flying here on Thursday.
• 35:35
  Speaker 6: With a short training camp, where do you see this
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: team readiness compared to after camp last year going in?
• 35:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think probably maybe not quite as ready necessarily
• 35:48
  Speaker 5: in some areas, but again, I think everybody's in that situation.
• 35:53
  Speaker 5: I think that.
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: The number of exhibition games that guys can play make
• 35:59
  Speaker 5: it a little bit harder for them to get into
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: a rhythm, and that's where we have to continue to
• 36:06
  Speaker 5: grind it out here in practice and try and make
• 36:08
  Speaker 5: it as game-like as possible like we've done right from
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: the start of training camp because they don't get a
• 36:13
  Speaker 5: lot of, I guess, what you call game reps heading
• 36:16
  Speaker 5: into the first game of the regular season.
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: You kept Osweinen and Douglas around. Where do you see
• 36:20
  Speaker 6: those two fitting in at the end?
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: Well, you know, we liked Billy's training camp. We thought,
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: you know, he's a big body guy, you know, that
• 36:34
  Speaker 5: uses his size and reach well to defend. We want
• 36:38
  Speaker 5: him to continue, you know, practicing and growing with this
• 36:42
  Speaker 5: group for sure. You know, and as far as Douglas
• 36:45
  Speaker 5: is concerned, you know, there's obviously, you know, a necessity
• 36:49
  Speaker 5: at times for, you know, his game, but we need
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: him to continue growing as a player and being in
• 36:54
  Speaker 5: the right spots.
• 36:55
  Speaker 6: And similar question for, you know, Mulvary goes down. You've
• 37:01
  Speaker 6: all said such good things about his game. What's the
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: decision there?
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: With Oscar, I think for me, he's very, very close.
• 37:12
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, getting him into Coachella Valley and
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: getting him into a role where he's playing, you know, 20,
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: 20 plus minutes a night is going to benefit him
• 37:22
  Speaker 5: here right off the bat. So certainly I thought he
• 37:25
  Speaker 5: had a great training camp. He's a very trustworthy player,
• 37:28
  Speaker 5: and he's a great option for us, that's for sure.
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: We need depth.
• 37:33
  Speaker 6: Are there others that you see as right there, ready to.
• 37:37
  Speaker 5: Call up if needed, or close to it? Well, yeah,
• 37:39
  Speaker 5: I think obviously Yanni spent a good portion of time
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: here at times last year. I thought Ferkus had a
• 37:47
  Speaker 5: good training camp. I thought Ty Nelson had a good
• 37:49
  Speaker 5: training camp. These are just some of the guys off
• 37:51
  Speaker 5: the top of my head, but I thought there was
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: a number of guys that could come up here and
• 37:59
  Speaker 5: give us games for sure.
• 38:00
  Speaker 6: I probably should have asked this a week ago, but
• 38:02
  Speaker 6: Yanni was up here for quite a few games last
• 38:05
  Speaker 6: year and made the team out of camp.
• 38:06
  Speaker 5: What does he have to do.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: In Coachella Valley to maybe further that or get back
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: to a situation.
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: Where he can play here? Yeah, I think for me
• 38:15
  Speaker 5: last year, Yanni, it was, you know, it was a
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: situation where the understanding, I think he's done a really
• 38:22
  Speaker 5: good job over the summer of, you know, getting a
• 38:25
  Speaker 5: clearer understanding of how the game is played without the puck.
• 38:30
  Speaker 5: And I thought he did a pretty good job in
• 38:33
  Speaker 5: training camp. So, That was really one of the biggest
• 38:37
  Speaker 5: areas for him, and he'll continue to grow in that area. Well,
• 38:48
  Speaker 5: you know, he's obviously going to be a face-off guy
• 38:51
  Speaker 5: for us. He's going to be a penalty killer. He's
• 38:53
  Speaker 5: going to be a guy that plays in those types
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: of situations, and we want him to continue growing offensively.
• 38:59
  Speaker 5: So it's a good opportunity for him when he goes
• 39:02
  Speaker 5: down there.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: Depending upon how long Mackey is at, how different do
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: you see Matty's line operating with Kakko moving up now
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: on the wing and say versus.
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: Mackey when he was there?
• 39:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, obviously, you know, Mackey, we love his speed. And,
• 39:19
  Speaker 5: you know, Kapo's a little bit of a different element
• 39:22
  Speaker 5: there with, you know, down low puck possession and things
• 39:24
  Speaker 5: like that. So there's a little bit of a different
• 39:28
  Speaker 5: sort of mix to that. line with, I guess, in
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: just being quite frank with a little less speed.
• 39:37
  Speaker 6: How much were you involved in the conversation to keep
• 39:39
  Speaker 6: Bobby McMahon around this year? And I guess, what can
• 39:43
  Speaker 6: you share from that, from your side, just how that
• 39:46
  Speaker 6: all played out to actually.
• 39:47
  Speaker 5: Keep him there? Well, I think I was very involved
• 39:51
  Speaker 5: with Bobby. I had had him in Toronto, and he
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: came in here, and he liked what was going on. Obviously,
• 40:01
  Speaker 5: we didn't have the successes that we wanted to have,
• 40:04
  Speaker 5: but certainly with the plan and the plans that are
• 40:07
  Speaker 5: in place and the development area, he's a guy who
• 40:10
  Speaker 5: continuously wants to develop his game. He's worked his way
• 40:13
  Speaker 5: up from ground zero. You know, attended a couple of
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: development camps, one in Calgary and one in Toronto, and
• 40:19
  Speaker 5: that's how he kind of got his way in. And
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: he wants to continue to grow his game. And certainly,
• 40:26
  Speaker 5: I think from our perspective as an organization, as a
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: coaching staff, you know, it's a real prime focus of
• 40:37
  Speaker 5: ours to, you know, get players better, get players better
• 40:41
  Speaker 5: on a team basis and get players better on an
• 40:43
  Speaker 5: individual basis. I think he liked that. I think there
• 40:45
  Speaker 5: was things that we were doing here that he hadn't
• 40:47
  Speaker 5: seen before. And, you know, it's probably a good portion of,
• 40:53
  Speaker 5: you know, why he wanted to remain here. You know,
• 40:57
  Speaker 5: he was comfortable here. The team got good teammates, you know. So,
• 41:03
  Speaker 5: you know, I think that you'd have to ask him,
• 41:05
  Speaker 5: but I would say that, you know, He's going to
• 41:07
  Speaker 5: get an opportunity to play here. He's played for me
• 41:09
  Speaker 5: before and I think he trusts that.
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: Berkeley, you've put on some 10 pounds, traveled the country,
• 41:16
  Speaker 4: worked with Justin Reib at the summer. Have you seen
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: the fruits of his labor yet in training camp compared
• 41:21
  Speaker 4: to his first camp?
• 41:23
  Speaker 5: Yeah, clearly, like I've said here all training camp, we
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: kept him here last year so that he could be
• 41:30
  Speaker 5: better and more physically ready. this year in training camp
• 41:34
  Speaker 5: and we think he is and we think he has been.
• 41:39
  Speaker 5: We threw another wrinkle into him and thrown him into
• 41:41
  Speaker 5: the middle on a full-time basis here right now. He's,
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: in my opinion, still adapting to that situation even though
• 41:49
  Speaker 5: he's played center all his life. It's another animal at
• 41:54
  Speaker 5: the National Hockey League level so he continues to grow
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: and build in that way.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: All right, those comments from Lane Lambert to get us
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: going here into the week. And now the moment has arrived.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: Without further ado, joining us, the esteemed GM of the
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: Seattle Kraken, Jason Botterill, for our initial episode of Kraken Weekly. Jason,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: thank you very much here for a few moments with us.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: I asked Everett now this question. Scale of 1 to 10,
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: you being ready for the NHL season, what's your number? Oh,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: you got to go right at 10.
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: Let's go.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: Let's get the puck dropped. Let's roll up there.
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: But.
• 42:25
  Speaker 7: It's been a very quick training camp with it being
• 42:28
  Speaker 7: shorter here with only four games this year. I think
• 42:32
  Speaker 7: we've loved the mentality of our players. So many of
• 42:34
  Speaker 7: them came back to Pacific Northwest early, getting situated here,
• 42:38
  Speaker 7: working with our strength and conditioning staff. And I think
• 42:42
  Speaker 7: Lane has mentioned it in some of his media. I
• 42:45
  Speaker 7: think he's been really impressed with the compete level and
• 42:47
  Speaker 7: battle level we've had in practice throughout the training camp.
• 42:50
  Speaker 7: But We all want to play games. We want to
• 42:52
  Speaker 7: be a part of it. So excited to get things going.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: And you mentioned culture as a word at the end
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: of last year, which has got a lot of meaning.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: So what does it look like here for the veterans
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: in this room, the kind of coach you have, and
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: the kind of core values that they need to really
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: drive this bus here from the outset?
• 43:07
  Speaker 7: Well, I think Lane has touched on it, right? It's
• 43:09
  Speaker 7: what our players like about Lane. There's a directness with Lane.
• 43:12
  Speaker 7: He's very competitive. He's open to different ideas. But when
• 43:16
  Speaker 7: he talks to players, it's very truthful. And I think
• 43:19
  Speaker 7: what we're excited about the group is in our conversations
• 43:22
  Speaker 7: with them over the summer, different ways from interacting with
• 43:26
  Speaker 7: our leadership group, different things we've done with them to
• 43:28
  Speaker 7: improving that group there. They've been open to trying to improve.
• 43:32
  Speaker 7: They try to improve their game on the ice. They
• 43:34
  Speaker 7: try to improve themselves off the ice. The organization worked,
• 43:38
  Speaker 7: I think, put a lot of things in place through
• 43:40
  Speaker 7: our sports performance department, our medical department, player development department,
• 43:46
  Speaker 7: And to our credit, to our players, they utilize those tools.
• 43:49
  Speaker 7: And they've come back stronger, wanting to make sure that
• 43:53
  Speaker 7: they learn from the mistakes from last year, the disappointment
• 43:56
  Speaker 7: of last year, and come and improve our organization, improve
• 43:59
  Speaker 7: our team. And the fact that, like I touched on,
• 44:02
  Speaker 7: we had some young players in Seattle at the start
• 44:04
  Speaker 7: of August. We had a lot of veteran players, middle
• 44:07
  Speaker 7: of August, late August, coming in there. And with the
• 44:09
  Speaker 7: shorter camp, that cohesiveness, that drive, I think just shows
• 44:14
  Speaker 7: their dedication to the organization.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: Jason, you talked a lot about this summer, the core
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: under 23 forward group. And I think that goes into
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: that culture, you know, trying to drive that bus. And
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: you mentioned it. We could potentially see six or seven,
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: seven or eight of those guys here on the roster.
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: We got a good look at some of those guys
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: in camp. Where do you feel this team is with
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: that under 23 forward group? Few guys who are still here.
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: A couple of guys who I think, at least in
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: my opinion, you're the expert. Obviously, it's your team. maybe
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: earned themselves that first call-up out of the minors this season.
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: Where do you feel you are with that group?
• 44:51
  Speaker 7: Well, I think it was one of the exciting parts
• 44:53
  Speaker 7: of training camp was just watching the first two preseason games,
• 44:56
  Speaker 7: seeing so many of our young players perform well in
• 44:59
  Speaker 7: the National Hockey League, albeit in a preseason game, and
• 45:02
  Speaker 7: just implementing some of the things that we wanted to
• 45:05
  Speaker 7: go out there. A young player like Ty Nelson on
• 45:08
  Speaker 7: the back end, Tyson Jugnaus has made huge strides in
• 45:12
  Speaker 7: his game. Up front, there's so many players. And that's
• 45:15
  Speaker 7: what gets us excited is that we're not just focused
• 45:17
  Speaker 7: in on one player. But you saw Logan Morrison really
• 45:20
  Speaker 7: put himself in a position for a call-up. Obviously, Yanni
• 45:24
  Speaker 7: Newman and Jagger Furkus have played huge roles in Coachella
• 45:27
  Speaker 7: Valley and their success the last couple of years. And
• 45:29
  Speaker 7: Oscar Morgard was one of our last cuts coming out
• 45:33
  Speaker 7: of training camp. So that depth gets us very excited.
• 45:36
  Speaker 7: And we know all those players. And it's over an
• 45:38
  Speaker 7: 84-game schedule with a trip to Europe. You know, we're
• 45:42
  Speaker 7: going to need that depth there for sure. And at
• 45:44
  Speaker 7: the National Hockey League level, it's been great to see
• 45:47
  Speaker 7: just the comfort level of a Jacob Melanson or Ryan
• 45:50
  Speaker 7: Winterton and Berkeley Catton. These players last year were figuring
• 45:54
  Speaker 7: out the National Hockey League, trying to figure out where
• 45:56
  Speaker 7: they fit, what was their role, what was expected of them.
• 45:59
  Speaker 7: I think they've come in and taken a leadership role
• 46:03
  Speaker 7: in just their work ethic and their drive. And they've
• 46:05
  Speaker 7: been great since day one of practice. And I thought
• 46:07
  Speaker 7: both their preseason games were excellent.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: For the young guys that didn't make that initial roster,
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: obviously every player is different and individual players need individual things.
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: But is there something overall that you can point to
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: for the Jugnoffs, the Ferkuses, the Nelsons that you can say,
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: if you just do this one or two things, you're
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: going to be here? Is there something that you felt...
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: is right there, just a little bit missing from those pieces?
• 46:32
  Speaker 7: Well, look, we're asking them and we're telling them and
• 46:35
  Speaker 7: giving them feedback all the time. And that's not just
• 46:37
  Speaker 7: our players in Coachella Valley. That's our players in the
• 46:39
  Speaker 7: National Hockey League. We've touched on it before. Jordan Eberle's
• 46:43
  Speaker 7: a great captain because he's continually looking to improve his
• 46:46
  Speaker 7: game and he's looking for that feedback from our coaches
• 46:48
  Speaker 7: and management. And so we're always giving these players things
• 46:52
  Speaker 7: to search or to work on when they go to
• 46:54
  Speaker 7: Coachella Valley. But I would also say it's a 23-man roster,
• 46:58
  Speaker 7: and it was a quick camp. A lot of these
• 47:00
  Speaker 7: guys did some very positive things. It's not always negative.
• 47:03
  Speaker 7: You want to really reinforce the positives that they're doing.
• 47:07
  Speaker 7: And I think sometimes we get so focused on who
• 47:09
  Speaker 7: made the team out of training camp. It's a situation
• 47:12
  Speaker 7: where you look at over the course of 84 games,
• 47:14
  Speaker 7: we're going to need a lot of these players. And
• 47:16
  Speaker 7: the biggest thing that we tell these young players, hey,
• 47:18
  Speaker 7: when we reflect back on the year in April, hopefully
• 47:21
  Speaker 7: more May, June, you can look at all these NHL
• 47:23
  Speaker 7: games and how you really performed as a player.
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: Jason, you talked about improving this team, and over the summer,
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: a couple of the big wins, bringing in Mackie Samaskevich,
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: but also re-signing Bobby McMahon. What was it about Seattle,
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: the Seattle Kraken, that made Bobby want to stay here
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: for six more years?
• 47:40
  Speaker 7: No, that was a priority for us, and we were
• 47:41
  Speaker 7: ecstatic to get him signed on board here, and I
• 47:44
  Speaker 7: think just he was impressed with his time here in Seattle,
• 47:48
  Speaker 7: the focus on player development. I think Bobby's someone who
• 47:51
  Speaker 7: has developed at a late age, but continues to look
• 47:54
  Speaker 7: to find different ways on the ice and off the
• 47:56
  Speaker 7: ice where he can become a better player. And that
• 47:59
  Speaker 7: impressed us, and I think we impressed him, just our
• 48:02
  Speaker 7: strength staff, our coaching staff, our medical staff, the resources
• 48:07
  Speaker 7: that we had here. I think, too, just interaction with
• 48:10
  Speaker 7: our own players, the fact that after the season went
• 48:12
  Speaker 7: on a trip with the guys, got to see Seattle
• 48:15
  Speaker 7: a little bit more. I think you saw some pictures
• 48:18
  Speaker 7: on social media of him and Lake Union there and everything, too.
• 48:21
  Speaker 7: So A lot was inferred by those posts, for sure.
• 48:26
  Speaker 7: And I think it goes back to, too, just his
• 48:27
  Speaker 7: relationship with Lane from working together with him in Toronto.
• 48:30
  Speaker 7: And again, Lane and myself had a lot of conversations
• 48:34
  Speaker 7: with Bobby, but especially Lane. I think there was a
• 48:37
  Speaker 7: real comfort level and a directness there, and I think
• 48:39
  Speaker 7: that gave Bobby comfort in where our team's going and
• 48:43
  Speaker 7: the role that he'd have with our group here. And
• 48:46
  Speaker 7: like I said, we were ecstatic to get him signed up.
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: One of the other ads you had in the offseason
• 48:50
  Speaker 3: was actually in your area, which is Patrick Alvin in
• 48:52
  Speaker 3: the front office and part of your group now.
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: What does he add to your organization?
• 48:57
  Speaker 7: Yeah, we're excited to bring Patrick on. The year before,
• 49:00
  Speaker 7: I brought in Ryan Jankowski as an assistant general manager,
• 49:04
  Speaker 7: working a lot very closely with our amateur scouting staff
• 49:08
  Speaker 7: and our player development staff.
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: Wanted to bring Patrick Alvin on.
• 49:12
  Speaker 7: Just his experience of being a general manager, has done
• 49:16
  Speaker 7: a great job at evaluating players through his entire career,
• 49:19
  Speaker 7: had worked with him at Pittsburgh, so I knew what
• 49:21
  Speaker 7: he was about from there, but then had a ton
• 49:23
  Speaker 7: of experiences in Pittsburgh after I left there and then
• 49:26
  Speaker 7: obviously in Vancouver there too. And to me, his Rolodex
• 49:29
  Speaker 7: of interacting with agents, talking to other general managers can
• 49:32
  Speaker 7: really help me out from that bit. And also to
• 49:35
  Speaker 7: just bring in a different viewpoint to the organization. After
• 49:38
  Speaker 7: five years of you reflect back on things that you're
• 49:41
  Speaker 7: proud of the organization, things that you've done well, but
• 49:43
  Speaker 7: areas that we can continue to improve on. And just
• 49:45
  Speaker 7: bringing new ideas to the mix, I think, makes us
• 49:48
  Speaker 7: a stronger organization.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: Jason Botterill joining us right now here on Kraken Weekly.
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: And as we get into the season, of course, it
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: just seems like the talks as far as, you know,
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: who's wheeling, who's dealing really don't change. So from your perspective,
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: where are you at right now with the shape of
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: this roster and its needs?
• 50:03
  Speaker 7: Well, we're excited about Start of the season. We're excited
• 50:06
  Speaker 7: about seeing how it's going to mix. We think we
• 50:08
  Speaker 7: have a lot of internal competition here for roles, especially
• 50:11
  Speaker 7: at forward. We feel we have two goalies that we're
• 50:14
  Speaker 7: going to have to utilize. We touched on going over
• 50:17
  Speaker 7: to Finland. Connect schedule at the start of the season.
• 50:20
  Speaker 7: I think we play seven of our first nine on
• 50:22
  Speaker 7: the road. So you're going to have to use both
• 50:24
  Speaker 7: goaltenders there. I think with a short camp in the
• 50:27
  Speaker 7: first couple weeks of the season, there's going to be
• 50:29
  Speaker 7: a lot of change in different lines. But I also
• 50:32
  Speaker 7: like sort of their bottom of the lineup, whether it's
• 50:35
  Speaker 7: a Jacob Melanson, a Ryan Winterton, a Douglas, a Goudreau
• 50:40
  Speaker 7: or Myers, like they all bring a different element, whether
• 50:42
  Speaker 7: it's a PK element, a physicality element, you know, a
• 50:45
  Speaker 7: face-off element. That versatility, I think, makes us a stronger team.
• 50:49
  Speaker 7: What'd you make out of the physicality in preseason? Look,
• 50:52
  Speaker 7: I thought it was great. We've talked a lot about culture.
• 50:54
  Speaker 7: You talk a lot about bringing the group together. For
• 50:57
  Speaker 7: preseason games, maybe just because there was less of them,
• 51:00
  Speaker 7: I thought there was good intensity. And it was great
• 51:03
  Speaker 7: seeing our team, you know, support each other out there.
• 51:05
  Speaker 7: It's one thing to talk about it. It's one thing
• 51:07
  Speaker 7: to actually show action with it. And they certainly showed action.
• 51:10
  Speaker 7: And for preseason game, there was a lot of it,
• 51:13
  Speaker 7: especially that home preseason game against Calgary, a lot of
• 51:16
  Speaker 7: action going on.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: Made the rounds on social media.
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: When you look at the core group you guys have,
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: that veteran group, you know, your McCanns, your Eberleys, your Beneers,
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: obviously Matty Beneers with. The comments over the summer, I
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: won't rehash those, but I loved it. I'm 10 toes
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: down on Matty Beneers. How much have you, Lane, the
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: rest of the front office, challenged that group to say, hey, listen,
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: this is your team. You are our leaders in the room,
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: on the ice. What type of response have you seen
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: from Matty and Jared and Jordan about stepping into now
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: this next chapter of Kraken Hockey?
• 51:53
  Speaker 7: Well, being direct, I don't think there's a huge challenge.
• 51:55
  Speaker 7: They have it internally. There's an internal drive. It starts
• 51:59
  Speaker 7: with our coach and it goes through our players. I
• 52:02
  Speaker 7: think you saw it in all their comments in April.
• 52:03
  Speaker 7: They were disappointed how the season ended. They were so
• 52:06
  Speaker 7: proud of, I think, the steps that we had taken
• 52:10
  Speaker 7: at the Olympic break to get to the spot in
• 52:12
  Speaker 7: a playoff spot. And then to lose that in the
• 52:14
  Speaker 7: last couple of months was very frustrating. But I think
• 52:17
  Speaker 7: what we've touched on already, like the fact that so
• 52:19
  Speaker 7: many of these guys have come back, that they're interacting.
• 52:22
  Speaker 7: Whenever we have a conversation about leadership, they want to
• 52:25
  Speaker 7: know more. They're looking for new ideas from our nutritionists
• 52:30
  Speaker 7: or from our strength staff on what can make them
• 52:33
  Speaker 7: better hockey players. Seeing these players with that internal drive,
• 52:37
  Speaker 7: that shows that they care about our organization and want
• 52:40
  Speaker 7: to continue to improve. You just look at the combination
• 52:44
  Speaker 7: of who some of our players are living with outside
• 52:47
  Speaker 7: of the game. We have a young player in Jake
• 52:50
  Speaker 7: O'Brien now living with different people. The fact that our
• 52:52
  Speaker 7: veterans are stepping up and helping our players not only
• 52:55
  Speaker 7: on the ice in certain situations, but off the ice,
• 52:58
  Speaker 7: it's great to see.
• 52:59
  Speaker 3: So a couple of the youngsters you mentioned, Jake O'Brien
• 53:01
  Speaker 3: and obviously Chase Reed, the most recent draft pick, first-round
• 53:03
  Speaker 3: draft pick for the Kraken. What did you think about
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: their camps and preseason so far? What are you looking
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: for them to develop as they head back to their
• 53:11
  Speaker 3: respective teams?
• 53:12
  Speaker 7: So with Chase Reed, I thought coming in here in
• 53:17
  Speaker 7: the summer, it was great to see him there. He's
• 53:19
  Speaker 7: a player that we saw at the U.S. World Junior
• 53:23
  Speaker 7: Summer Showcase. Had a huge role there. It pains me
• 53:27
  Speaker 7: to say this, but hey, going to Michigan State, it's
• 53:29
  Speaker 7: a great program.
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: They've done a great job.
• 53:31
  Speaker 7: They've done a great job in recent years of developing
• 53:33
  Speaker 7: players there.
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: Was there ever a thought like, I don't want you
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: to You know what, we're going to keep you here.
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: How do you like the color green, my friend?
• 53:41
  Speaker 7: But it's, you know, and you look at their team
• 53:43
  Speaker 7: this year, I think they're going to be a great team.
• 53:45
  Speaker 7: Like you look at the talent in college hockey right now,
• 53:49
  Speaker 7: we know Chase is in a great spot. And we
• 53:51
  Speaker 7: were ecstatic to have him on board a part of
• 53:53
  Speaker 7: our group, and we know he's going to continue to
• 53:56
  Speaker 7: develop there for sure. With Jake, look, he's a motivated
• 53:59
  Speaker 7: young player, great hockey sense, great skill. You saw him
• 54:02
  Speaker 7: in the one game. I think you saw him more physical,
• 54:06
  Speaker 7: winning a lot of one-on-battles. Pucks just sort of follow him,
• 54:09
  Speaker 7: and he has this ability to make little plays there.
• 54:12
  Speaker 7: It's our job, our responsibility to work with him to
• 54:14
  Speaker 7: get him stronger. He's dealing with a little bit of
• 54:16
  Speaker 7: an injury here right now. We don't think it's going
• 54:18
  Speaker 7: to be long-term at all, but with a young player
• 54:20
  Speaker 7: at 19 who's making that stride to adapt to pro
• 54:25
  Speaker 7: hockey already, we want to make sure he's 100% before
• 54:28
  Speaker 7: getting back out there. But No, I think what you
• 54:30
  Speaker 7: see with both players gets us really excited is an
• 54:32
  Speaker 7: internal drive, but also that hockey-sense skill that can be
• 54:37
  Speaker 7: so impactful on a team.
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, two really great prospects.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: Lane Lambert once said this would be a hard training camp,
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: and it has a situation where you have a lot
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: of guys taking in a lot of information for a
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: short period of time, and He said that he's still building,
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: and many argue that in that same boat, his work
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: would make a major impact on getting these guys ready
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: here for the playoff mix, and we saw that happen
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: last year. What kind of coach do you have in
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: Lane Lambert for your second season with them?
• 55:00
  Speaker 7: Well, I think what's exciting for us is we're not
• 55:03
  Speaker 7: starting from ground zero. A year ago, you're implementing your
• 55:06
  Speaker 7: entire system. The fact that we are making tweaks now
• 55:10
  Speaker 7: and building off of it and our players understand where
• 55:13
  Speaker 7: they need to be, I think just puts us in
• 55:15
  Speaker 7: a better spot to get off to a great start here.
• 55:18
  Speaker 7: With Lane, it's been a great partner. I've enjoyed the
• 55:21
  Speaker 7: conversation with him. You've seen the intensity. You've seen the directness.
• 55:25
  Speaker 7: I've also focused in and talked about it even when
• 55:28
  Speaker 7: we were struggling in December there with our losing streak.
• 55:32
  Speaker 7: He had that mindset of each next morning, what have
• 55:35
  Speaker 7: we got to do to get back on track? What
• 55:37
  Speaker 7: is the development thought process? What is this team lacking
• 55:40
  Speaker 7: right now? I think that's why we went from a
• 55:42
  Speaker 7: 10-game losing streak right into a 12-game winning streak. is
• 55:45
  Speaker 7: that he always had the attention of the players, and
• 55:47
  Speaker 7: there was always a focus on development.
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: And I.
• 55:51
  Speaker 7: Love that communication element of it. I enjoy working with
• 55:54
  Speaker 7: him every day, and I'm looking forward to a strong start.
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: I got one more for you, non-Kraken related, but as
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: you sit out here, you're watching camp. You're watching preseason,
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: you yourself, a former NHLer. Do you miss it? Do
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: you miss the grind? Obviously, back in your day, you
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: had a six-month training camp and not a six-day training camp,
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: it seems like. But do you ever miss it? Do
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: you ever look down there and you're like, man, I
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: wish I was back out there again?
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: Oh, you certainly miss it. You certainly miss the games.
• 56:20
  Speaker 7: You certainly miss the rush of the crowd, the energy
• 56:24
  Speaker 7: out there. What I don't miss is all the work
• 56:26
  Speaker 7: that these guys put in behind the scenes in the
• 56:28
  Speaker 7: weight room and these hard practices. I don't miss that element.
• 56:32
  Speaker 7: Fitness testing and all that. So you miss that element,
• 56:36
  Speaker 7: but just as a fan, you talked to me when
• 56:38
  Speaker 7: we started off, you're just ecstatic that the season gets
• 56:41
  Speaker 7: going again here, right? We had a great year last
• 56:44
  Speaker 7: year with the Olympics and the Stanley Cup. It's fun
• 56:47
  Speaker 7: to get things going here.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: Finally, we can say hockey season has arrived. Jason, appreciate you.
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: Looking forward to more of these conversations here.
• 56:54
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 56:54
  Speaker 7: Thank you.
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: Awesome. Great stuff, Jason. We can't thank you enough for
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: joining us. And again, looking forward to having more of
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: these conversations down the road. Jason Botterill joining us here
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: on the season premiere of Kraken Weekly. Myself, Everett Al,
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: we'll be right back with our look at our poll
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: question update, your mailbag questions, and also the three things
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: that have to go right for the Kraken to be
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: in the mix for the postseason. All that coming up
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: in a bit right here on Kraken Weekly.
• 57:27
  Speaker 2: Here's Dunn again, 2.15 to go. Dunn, Montour, scores!
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: This is Brandon Montour, back to Kraken Weekly with Mike Benton.
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: All right, our table is set here for the regular season.
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: Massive thank you once again to Kraken General Manager Jason
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: Botterill and sharing his insights. Also, Lane Lambert, you heard
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: from him. And his remarks to open up this week
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: in camp or the status of Mackie Samaskevich is still
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: up in the air as of this point, at least
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: as far as how he can look to get in
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: by Sunday for the home opener. That has shuffled the
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: lines here a little bit, but there are still plenty
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: of factors that we'll talk about beginning on night number
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: one when the Kraken take on Calgary for the season
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: opener at Scotiabank Saddledome. The most important player on the
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: Kraken this season, that's our poll question. Right now, 51%
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: of you say it is going to be Matty Beneers. Again,
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: the most important player on the Kraken this season. 51%
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: of you say Matty Beneers. You can choose between him.
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: goaltending Bobby McMahon or Brandon Montour, go and vote right
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: now at X at Kraken Audio Net. Leading us here back,
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: Mike Everett, Al with you. For Matty Beneers, are we
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: talking about setting a bar maybe 20 goals, 25 goals,
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: maybe even 30 goals as well?
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: We talked earlier in the show about expectations, and I
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: think now for Matty Beneers going into his fifth full
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: season in the NHL. He's not a rookie anymore, right?
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: He's not a young guy anymore. He is a veteran
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: of the National Hockey League. And I think now that
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: he's crossed over into that realm, the expectations get higher.
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: I think for a guy like Matty Beneers, 30 goals
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: has to be the bar. 70 points has to be
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: the bar. If you're Jared McCann, same thing. 30-30, that's
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: got to be the bar. Jordan Eberle, I know father
• 59:19
  Speaker 2: time always wins. He had a great year last year,
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: and by all accounts, he's feeling good. I need 40 points,
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: 50 points, 60 points out of him. Chandler Stevenson has
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: been nipping at 50 points for each of the last
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: three years. You know what I mean? The expectation is
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: that the players that you have need to get to
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: that next level. Shane Wright needs to take the next step.
• 59:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: Berkley Catton, 2020. Is that out of the realm of
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: possibility for him in his second season, right? The expectations,
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: I think, have to be high. There's nothing wrong with...
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: with high expectations. But I think a 70-point year for
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: Matty Beneers, that should be his bar. However he gets there, 30-40, 25-45, 20-50.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 2: See how I'm doing that, Alan? Nice round numbers. But
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: however Matty Beneers gets to 70 points, I think he's
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 2: got to get to 70 points with at least 25 goals. Yeah,
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: I think that.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 3: I've got to go a different direction with it because
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 3: I think about Lane Lambert's structure, his style, his defense-first mentality.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 3: If this team can't play solid defense, it doesn't matter
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 3: how many goals they score at the other end, they're
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 3: going to lose hockey games. Yes, I want to see
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 3: Matty take that next step, take that defensive part of
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 3: his game he added last year and add back in
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 3: more offense while retaining the defense. But I think that
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 3: Joey Decord and Philip Grubauer need to lead this team
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 3: from the goal out in that they are playing– better
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 3: Lane Lambert-style defense this year to allow them to win
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 3: more games 3-1, 4-2, and not get outscored.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: We'll get to our expectations as far as things that
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: need to go right here by the end of the show.
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: Usually it's our three stars, but we have no games
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: to bank on here at this point, so we're going
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: to get to that. But first off, our mailbag segment
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: once again. I'm at Benton underscore Mike at X. Everett's
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: at The Voice fits. Al Koniski is at Al Koniski.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: For the handle, WHarrison51, could the Kraken bolster their blue
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: line by trading for Simon Edmondson since Detroit doesn't seem
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: to want to pay him? What would we have to
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: give up in a trade, and what kind of deal
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: would we have to offer Edmondson? I think for me
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: the question is where do you put him since he's
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: a left shot D? You've got to move Vince Dunn.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: You've got to move Riker Evans. You've got to move
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: Ryan Lindgren at some point. Usually, more often than not,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: left shot D can't play the right side, or coaches
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: prefer not to play those kind of guys on the
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: right side. There's the upswing, and there's massive upswing here
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: for a guy like Edmondson. But then you get here
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: to the money part of this. Reports are that he
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: wants maybe, as an RFA, $ 9 million? $ 10 million maybe
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: from his camp. And there's some cap space in this
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: Kraken roster. But it goes right back here, I think,
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: for us out to the priorities. Where do you want
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: to spend your money? And as of right now, there
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: is still potentially a big piece that, from what we've
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: seen and from what we've heard, the Kraken want to
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: add preferably more up front.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think defensively, I mean, the defense of this
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: team has never been the issue. I think if you
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: go back to year one, right? Dunn and Larson have
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: been together since time immemorial. You know, you've seen good
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: things from Brandon Montour. You've seen good things from Jamie Oleksiak.
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: Now that he's gone, but, you know, Lindgren's performed admirably.
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: I would like to see Riker Evans take another step
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 2: offensively this year, but I think defensively he's fine. The
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: defense has never been the issue. He's fine. I don't
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: mean that in a negative way. He is an NHL
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: defenseman who does good things for this team. He is
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: not going to put your team at a disadvantage He's
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: no Kale McCarr. Sorry, Riker. He's not going to carry
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 2: the team on his back either. I love you, Riker.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: He's not Kale McCarr, but he's also not going to
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: be a black hole for you out there. So he's fine.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: He's good. Sorry. And hold on a minute. I mean
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: with all due respect. Simon Edmondson is, I like the
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: way he plays the game, but I don't know if
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 2: I'm paying $ 10 million for a kid who is largely
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: unproven at this level yet. I do think there is
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: all the upside in the world. The Kraken do have
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: $ 17 million in cap space as we sit here right now.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 2: going into game one.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: But if you want a big fish, how much is
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: that going to cost?
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: What Leo Carlson commanded.
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but also, too, I mean, I was reading earlier
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: today that the cap next year, the league is expecting
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 2: $ 8 billion coming in this year. So I think our
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 2: salary cap is going to go up to like 108,
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: I thought I saw next year, 108. And then 127. So,
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, listen, that $ 7 or that $ 10 million, that's
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 2: going to be a pretty good deal in two years.
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: I'll lump in Espelman253' s take here. Why don't you go
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: after Nikitian? Same thing as well. He's got a lot
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: of potential, but maybe $ 9 million. And that's a bridge contract.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: He may want a bigger contract after that.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: That's a good point. That's a good point.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 3: And, you know, I struggle with this so much because
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 3: I accept that we may have to overpay for players.
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 3: But I read a fun stat today that will obviously
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 3: get disproven at some point, but no team has ever
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 3: won a Stanley Cup with a player with an AAV
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 3: of over 10 million. There have been players that are
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 3: at 10 million, but not over 10 million. So we've
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 3: talked about Robo. We've talked about Panera. We've talked about
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 3: all these players. They'd all be above $ 10 million. Now, eventually,
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 3: with the cap going up, that's going to go away.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: I wonder, what does that– you're the business guy. You're
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 2: the math guy. What does that translate to in a
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 2: 110 cap, right? Let me check my phone.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 3: Let me text Connor McDavid right now. If you take
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 3: too much of the pot, there isn't enough of a
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 3: pot left over to field.
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: A good team. And when you've got McDavid and Dreisaitl
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: taking up 40% of that pot– I mean, I referenced.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 3: McDavid because he did take a discount on his contractor.
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 3: I said he makes more than he does. But my
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 3: point is that if you have teams with too many
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 3: $ 10- plus million guys, it just doesn't leave a lot left
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 3: over to strengthen the rest of your team.
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: From the handle CrayLux, about the Kraken, and are they
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: truly serious about being a contender? The answer from management
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: post-audit maybe doesn't give me a good impression that they are. Also,
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: it seems in the past few years post-holiday break, the
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: team fell apart significantly. Will the Kraken address this issue?
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: That from the handle of Cray Lux. A few thoughts
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: I have on that kind of go back to what
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: we said over and over and over. They want to
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: be a contender. And I mean, this is where I
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: kind of share my opinion on this. You know, you, me, Al,
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: we're technically insiders here for the dressing room. How they're
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: going to address the issue from, I think, this last
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: season goes down, I think, first off, if they're in contention.
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: They got to make a move to bolster the offense
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: once again. Number two, largely, largely dependent on health. Number three, goaltending.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: Number four, by the way, since March 1, final 22 games,
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: you had six wins, period, last year. Twelve times you
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: allowed four goals or more in a game, which went
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: way off the tracks of what this team wanted to
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: be from its identity. That can't happen.
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't speak so much to the what management
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 3: did or didn't do or said or didn't say post-audit.
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 3: There wasn't a lot put out about it. But I'll
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 3: speak to the comment around post-holiday break. I think actually
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 3: Kralux means probably post-Olympic break, post-All-Star break. Because up until
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 3: the Olympic break last year, the Kraken were tied for second.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they were going into the All-Star, going into that
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 2: Olympic break. The Kraken were one point back of third
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 2: and three points. I'm sorry, one point back of second.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 2: and three points back of first going into the break
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: after that game in LA.
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 3: So I'll assume he means after the Olympic break or
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 3: this year, the All-Star break. So the reason why that is, hey,
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 3: you could talk about a lot of things. You can
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 3: say there was too much time off at the Olympic break.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 3: Every team had that amount of time off. You could
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 3: say injuries. Every team's got injuries. I don't think you
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 3: can put it on one thing, but it's hard for us,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 3: the three of us sitting here right now, and it's
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 3: hard for a lot of people to understand how you
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 3: could play so well and put yourself in such a
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 3: perfect position and then fall off like that after the
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 3: Olympic break.
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: Again, I mean, we've seen this time and time again.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: This is an organization that is serious about being a contender.
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: But the theme of this is how much the youth
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: is going to be a part of this because it
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: is a long-term play. And again, I said this earlier,
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: the one thing that stable contenders have in common, they
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: are able to develop from within.
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: And those key players are now 25, they're now 30,
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: and they've been with this organization ever since their dawn
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: of time. And the Kraken had to basically get started
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: once again with guys like Chase Free, guys like Berkley Catton, etc.
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 3: I'll add one more thing, too, because I hate submitting
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 3: a question and not getting an answer. Word salad, if
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 3: you're listening to my answer. Craig Lux is looking for
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 3: a reason why. I'll put it on this structure that
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 3: this team plays is very difficult. It's a very difficult system.
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 3: You have to be disciplined. You have to be healthy.
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 3: And I thought the Kraken did a good job playing
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 3: that structure through the first two-thirds of the season last year.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 3: And I think it fell off after the Olympic break.
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 3: Why did it fall off? Because it's difficult. Because you
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 3: have to be healthy. You have to block shots. You
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 3: can't outscore your opponents. So I think that's part of
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 3: the reason. I don't think it's 100% of the reason.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 2: And I think going full circle now back to that point, Al,
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 2: that's why I think it's not unfair to put offensive
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 2: expectations on the likes of a Matty Beneers Jeremy McCann.
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 2: It takes the pressure off that defensive part of the game. Because,
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 2: you know, I have to go back into my notes,
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 2: but if the Kraken scored four or more goals 20
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 2: times last year, I would be shocked, right? It would
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 2: be nice to not have to win and play every
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 2: game 2-1, 3-2, It would be nice to have a
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 2: couple of 4-3s, 4-2s, 5-2s in there. So I do
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 2: think defensively is your number one responsibility. But if I'm
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 2: getting four and five guys who can chip in 25,
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 2: a couple guys with 30, maybe someone gets back to 40.
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 2: Fingers crossed. We can only hope. it does alleviate some
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 2: of that pressure off the defensive side of the game.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: Question here from ThatJohnnyD. Greetings from the UK.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 5: Hi, Johnny.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in from across the globe. I'm
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: puzzled with how Yanni Newman wasn't given a place given
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: the crack and lack of offensive pop. What do you
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: think the reason was for his omission and being sent
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: back to the American Hockey League? Thank you. Appreciate the question. And,
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, to be honest, numbers-wise, not that bad for
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: Yanni Newman. You know, a goal, two points, two preseason games.
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: It is preseason. But he's the guy to me who
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: needs top six minutes.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 2: He does.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: And based on what the Kraken have right now in
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: their lineup, will he play above Jared McCann?
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 6: No.
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: Will he play above Bobby McMahon?
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 5: No.
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: Eventually, if he turns 25, pushes late 20s with this
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: kind of development and exposure here to this game, could
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: he produce similar numbers? Maybe even better. Absolutely. But with
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: where you're playing him right now, potentially in the American
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: League and what he has right now with you know,
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: the bottom six and what those guys have and their responsibilities.
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: You know, I think just a combination of that, how
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: much he's working on his defense, his foot speed as well.
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: You're not trying to rush the guy. He's going to
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: be good, but he's not a guy that's going to
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: be busting through like Macklin Celebrini, 18, 19, 20 years
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: of age and producing. He'll be effective, but there is
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: still more time needed.
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: And I think with younger players, too, you want them
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 2: playing as meaningful of minutes, regardless of where they're playing.
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 2: You want them to be playing meaningful minutes. He's going
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 2: to get more out of playing top-line minutes in Coachella
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 2: Valley on the power play, extra attacker, last minute of
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 2: the game. He's going to get more out of playing
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 2: those situations than he will be playing third, fourth line
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: here in Seattle. That's just a matter of fact it is, right?
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 2: The NHL is another beast, and there's nothing wrong with
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 2: saying you know what, Yanni Newman might not be ready
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 2: for top six NHL minutes. And that's fine. Your job
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 2: as an organization, developmentally, is to get your players ready.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 2: And I think for Yanni Newman, he's right there. Last year,
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 2: I know it was a very disappointing year for what
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 2: we saw from him. I thought he took everything he
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 2: was told and he was deputized with and challenged with
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 2: in the summer. I thought he took it to heart.
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 2: I thought he looked really good in camp. But him
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 2: going back down, I think he and Oscar Fisker-Mulgaard are
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 2: going to be in that same conversation. First call-ups out
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 2: of the AHL. A potential, if someone gets hurt, hopefully not,
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 2: but a potential to stick and stay for longer than
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 2: just a game or two.
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: If one of your top nine fours goes down, then maybe.
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 2: But you need to be ready to contribute at this level,
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 2: at a high level, in your role. We see him
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 2: as a top six guy. He's got to be able
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 2: to play top six minutes here in the NHL.
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this kid's 22 years old.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 2: He's young. He's young.
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 3: He played 12 games with Seattle in the 24-25 season.
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 3: He played 28 last year. So more than doubled his games,
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 3: if my math is correct, last season.
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 2: Good job. Thank you.
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 3: But what stands out to me is in those cracking games,
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 3: both years, dash three the first year and dash five
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 3: the following year. So what part of Yanni's game does
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 3: he need to work on? It might be his defensive
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 3: side of the puck. But I think I agree with you, Everett,
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 3: and probably Mike as well. I think he took a
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 3: step forward in camp this year. Last year when we
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 3: saw him, he still seemed very one-dimensional. Yeah, put him
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 3: out there on the power play, get him that shot,
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 3: give him time to get it off, and he's going
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 3: to bury a few of those. I think we saw
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 3: this year in camp he still got that shot. That
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 3: hasn't gone anywhere. Hopefully he's shortened that amount of time
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 3: it takes to get him off. But then he started
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 3: to round out the rest of his game. He got
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 3: more physical. He's battling for pucks. He's winning 50-50 pucks more.
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 3: His skating looks a little bit better. So yeah, he's developing.
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 3: He's 22. I look forward to seeing him more this season.
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: The three things that need to go right for this
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: team to be in the mix. It's about that time.
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: I'll begin with this exercise, and we'll just kind of
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: go around the horn. I think for me, number one
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: is health. Because with Jared McCann and him being out,
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: that takes away a big chunk of your offense. And
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: we saw what happened last year. Even with a guy
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: like Jordan Eberle, a couple of years ago, that freak
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: injury he had where he had to basically get a
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: brand new hip, that was also big. He had to
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: bounce back last year offensively. You get then to your
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: top pair, Vince Dunn, Adam Larson, especially them getting a
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: little bit longer in the tooth, that's going to be
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: a very important thing. Brandon Montour, the games he missed
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 1: last year, that was a massive loss for your top
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: four D as well. We haven't gotten to the goaltending
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: yet as well, and you're hoping that Joey Decord and
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: Phillip Grubauer can also stay healthy, but for me, health is,
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: I think, the first and foremost biggest thing that's got
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: to go right. Secondly, it's goaltending. We saw with the
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: system that Lane Lambert brought in, We saw with the
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: new approach that Philip Grubauer worked with, it took some
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: heat off of Joey Decord, and at times last year,
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: Grubauer was the better of the two goaltenders numbers-wise, but
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: they've got to play in a consistent 1A and 1B
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: cycle for this team to be successful. There can't be
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: any kind of off nights, or where can they have
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: an off night, and the defense allows them to be
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: at their best. Goal tending, though, for me is going
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: to be so important for this team because without them, really,
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: nothing else matters here as far as the scope of
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: this team. Finally, the penalty kill. And do we have
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: to go back to the final preseason game? We've already
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: waxed enough poetic about how much this is going to
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: be important, at least from that side. But I went
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: back further, and there were 11 games last year the
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: Kraken lost where if you take away one to two
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: power play goals allowed, they win that game. March 26th,
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: 4-3 OT loss against Tampa Bay. January 14th, 3-2 OT
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: loss against New Jersey. October 28th, 3-2 overtime loss against Montreal.
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: October 16th, 4-3 shootout loss at Ottawa. The Columbus loss
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: in November, lost 2-1 in the shootout. Lost to the
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: Red Wings December.
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 6: 6th, 4-3.
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: March 28th, lost to Buffalo, 3-2 shootout. April 6th, 6-2
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: loss at Winnipeg. That game we know got away, but
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: the Kraken allowed three power play goals. You could have
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: maybe at least forced overtime perhaps in that game realistically.
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: So that's eight points you make up right there. They
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: miss the playoffs by 11. You add eight points right back,
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: that puts you right in the mix.
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I agree with all of that. I'd
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 3: actually written some of this stuff down. My question was
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 3: how did the Seattle Kraken make the playoffs? So what
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 3: needs to go right for them to make the playoffs?
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 3: And here are my three things. Number one, disciplined defensive
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 3: hockey wins. starting with Joey Decord and Philip Gruauer, like
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 3: I said. They've got to be good, but going out
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 3: from there, they've got to have a strong blue line, Lindgren, Dunn, Montour, Larson,
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 3: et cetera, all providing that leadership experience. I would also
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 3: add in there, it doesn't really fit into discipline and
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 3: defensive hockey, but because that defensive hockey starts in the
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 3: blue line, those guys are also going to provide offense
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 3: as well, going back to Everett's point with more goals for. Secondly,
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 3: the Mackie Semiskevich impact. He's been the only acquisition this
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 3: summer He's out on IR right now, okay? I'd rather
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 3: have him out on IR right now rather than November
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 3: or December. So get healthy, kid. This team needs you.
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 3: But he's got to have an impact. He won a
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 3: cup with the Panthers. He probably wasn't getting the minutes
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 3: that maybe he deserved or maybe he'll get on this
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 3: Kraken team. If he gets those minutes, and I think
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 3: he will, what will the result be? So there could
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 3: be a big impact there. And then third, bigger contributions
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 3: from Shane Wright, Berkley Catton, Bobby McMahon, I'm not going
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 3: to go through all the numbers. You know the names.
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 3: You know what's going on with all three of them.
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 3: You've got one that's trying to figure something out. You've
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 3: got another one that's young and growing. And then you've
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 3: got Bobby McMahon, who we're all wondering, can he carry
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 3: that fire he brought over from his previous team to
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 3: the Seattle Kraken that we saw when he played last year?
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 2: Into a full 84 games.
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: He looks so good in preseason. Fitz, go ahead.
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, ditto. I think we're all the line here.
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 2: Number one for me is health. You didn't have a full,
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 2: you did not have your full compliment of players until
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 2: game 55, whatever I, whatever it was last year, right?
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 2: You can't play 60% of your season with, with a
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 2: short lineup. So you got to stay healthy. Number two,
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 2: your special teams. You were 20th on the power play.
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 2: You were 31st on the penalty kill. You need to
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 2: improve your special teams across the board. Definitely your PK.
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 2: We've talked about it before. I would rather have a
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 2: bottom power play and a top PK. I'd rather kill
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 2: off the penalties. And if I don't score all power plays,
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 2: whatever it is, but I want to take that momentum back.
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 2: So your PK cannot be 31st again. And the offense.
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 2: I understand that Lane is a defensive first coach, but
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 2: you have to score goals. Help ain't coming. And Robertson's
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 2: not coming. McDavid's not coming. McKinnon's not coming.
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 2: But the players who are in that dressing room right now,
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 2: they've all had good offensive seasons at various levels. Jared McCann,
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 2: three years removed from 40. These guys have scored.
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 6: 30.
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 2: These guys have scored 35, 20, 25 goals a season.
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 2: Matty Beneers, Jordan Eberle, Bobby McMahon, and Jared McCann. And
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 2: I will even throw in Mackie Samuskevich. So those five players,
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 2: I would like to see a combined– 100 plus goals.
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 2: And I don't think asking for 25 from each of
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 2: those players is a bridge too far. And if Berkeley
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 2: Caton can give you a 2020 season and really have
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 2: a breakout year, if Shane Wright can give you 15
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 2: or 20, I mean, you're going to set yourself up.
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 2: But your best players this year have to be your
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 2: best players.
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: Off we go out of the driveway. That officially gets
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: us going for hockey season. So once again, tune in Thursday.
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: It's Kraken at Calgary, 6 p.m. Pacific, puck drop. We're
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: on air 530, and we'll get you all the way,
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: all 84 games via the Global Credit Union Kraken Audio Network.
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: Everett now in the booth Thursday night. I'll join you
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: once again from Tom's Watch Bar. Home opener coming up
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: Sunday against the Flames at 5 p.m. Pacific time from
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: Climate Pledge Arena. Certainly hope that you can join us.
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: Big thank you again to Jason Botterill and for Lane
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: Lambert's remarks as well. For Everett Now, I'm Mike. See ya.
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: Your home for the Kraken. Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.