Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Tom Callahan on the Utah Mammoth, Their red hot play, Daniil But's emergence, NHL Winter Classic next year at Rice Eccles + more
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: You were listening to The Sean O'Connell Show from the
- 0:06Speaker 1: Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety two
- 0:10Speaker 1: one f N.
- 0:25Speaker 2: Sean O'Connell Show, ESPN seven hundred and ninety two one FM.
- 0:30Speaker 2: We welcome Tom Callahan from the Lockdown Utah Mammoth podcast
- 0:33Speaker 2: Mammoth Insider to discuss a team that right now on
- 0:37Speaker 2: this homestand has become red hot. Tom, welcome back to
- 0:41Speaker 2: the show. How are you, sir?
- 0:43Speaker 1: Oh, It's fantastic to be back on and I'll tell
- 0:46Speaker 1: you what. It's a great time to be talking about
- 0:47Speaker 1: the Mammoth, isn't it.
- 0:49Speaker 2: It really is impressive so far on the homestand obviously
- 0:53Speaker 2: piling up the points. How what kind of importance do
- 0:57Speaker 2: you put on the win last night, because obviously it's
- 1:01Speaker 2: not just who you did it against, but it's how
- 1:03Speaker 2: you did it. It's hanging on at the end there
- 1:05Speaker 2: when they pulled their goalie and it's six versus five,
- 1:09Speaker 2: and that's a team that's I mean, they're the second
- 1:11Speaker 2: best team in the NHL right now. How important was
- 1:14Speaker 2: that win?
- 1:16Speaker 1: Well? Huge? The whole home stand is huge. Let's face it.
- 1:20Speaker 1: The mammoth. Coming into January, we're in a bit of
- 1:22Speaker 1: a tailspin and they were playing themselves out of playoff
- 1:27Speaker 1: contention and so if that continued, they were not going
- 1:32Speaker 1: to make the playoffs this year. So looking at January
- 1:35Speaker 1: season long seven game home stand, and I mean we
- 1:38Speaker 1: circled this one for the beginning of the month and
- 1:40Speaker 1: said this could make or break their season and they
- 1:44Speaker 1: have to respond. And you know what, Delta Center hasn't
- 1:47Speaker 1: always been the best place for them to play, but
- 1:49Speaker 1: all of a sudden this year, I think it has
- 1:51Speaker 1: really grown into much more of a wholenice advantage. You know,
- 1:55Speaker 1: maybe the new seedings got something to do with that,
- 1:57Speaker 1: but boy oh boy, it's massive. And the two biggest
- 2:01Speaker 1: games in the biggest home stand of the year were
- 2:03Speaker 1: Toronto and Dallas, and they man handled the Maple Leafs.
- 2:07Speaker 1: And you know what caught them coming on a back
- 2:09Speaker 1: to back after beating Colorado and overtime, Well that's fine,
- 2:13Speaker 1: we didn't write the schedule, so you know, you have
- 2:16Speaker 1: to do what you can to beat them, and they
- 2:18Speaker 1: beat them big time. And then Dallas, that's another team that,
- 2:22Speaker 1: as you say, second best team in the NHL right now.
- 2:25Speaker 1: The Leafs are the hottest and Dallas is the second best.
- 2:29Speaker 1: I mean, they finally finally played some full games of hockey. Really,
- 2:36Speaker 1: for two games in a row, they were consistent. They
- 2:39Speaker 1: played sixty minutes worth of hockey or a very close approximation.
- 2:43Speaker 1: They finally showed us what they can do. Because the
- 2:47Speaker 1: talent is there, We've just been waiting for them to
- 2:50Speaker 1: put it together for a full game. And Toronto and
- 2:53Speaker 1: Dallas they did it.
- 2:55Speaker 2: Saw some big moments, especially as this game was coming
- 2:58Speaker 2: to a close, from Bed and the defense in front
- 3:01Speaker 2: of him. How we'll start with Veggie. How how has
- 3:04Speaker 2: Vimelka played in your mind, not only in this home stand,
- 3:07Speaker 2: but leading up to it.
- 3:09Speaker 1: He's another guy that's turned it around in January. Coming
- 3:12Speaker 1: into January, he was not having the best run. He
- 3:15Speaker 1: was struggling, you know, letting in some soft goals here
- 3:18Speaker 1: and there. And I think you get the first to
- 3:19Speaker 1: tell you that he wanted more. And I think defensively
- 3:24Speaker 1: as a team, this whole organization wanted more. His January
- 3:30Speaker 1: has been fantastic. His say percentage is through the roof.
- 3:34Speaker 1: You know, he's just been outstanding. I would not be
- 3:36Speaker 1: surprised if he's Goaltender of the Month for January, Like
- 3:38Speaker 1: he's been that good, that effective and they need him
- 3:41Speaker 1: to be. And you know what the other thing is too,
- 3:43Speaker 1: We've been talking about as players selected to their respective
- 3:45Speaker 1: Olympic teams, you get a natural little boost, right your
- 3:48Speaker 1: confidence goes up, you feel better about yourself. I think
- 3:52Speaker 1: we've seen it with Clayton Keller. He's experienced a little
- 3:54Speaker 1: bit of a playoff or part of me an Olympic boost.
- 3:57Speaker 1: I think Veg has really ridden his Olympic boost here
- 4:03Speaker 1: in January at being selected to that checkist squad has
- 4:07Speaker 1: been massive for him. I love the way he's playing
- 4:11Speaker 1: right now. And this is the guy they signed him
- 4:13Speaker 1: to be, so yeah, I mean he is the guy
- 4:16Speaker 1: who has to lead the way for them and give
- 4:17Speaker 1: him the big season they need it, and right now
- 4:19Speaker 1: in January, he is that guy.
- 4:22Speaker 2: You already alluded to it. Keller is going to be
- 4:24Speaker 2: on the US Olympic team. And man, what a what
- 4:27Speaker 2: a roller coaster he's experienced this year. I mean, the
- 4:30Speaker 2: tragedy of his father passing and deciding to play through
- 4:33Speaker 2: it and hopefully now being able to put that, you know,
- 4:36Speaker 2: appropriately in the rear view. If that's even possible while
- 4:39Speaker 2: you're just, you know, in the middle of an NHL season.
- 4:42Speaker 2: How has his elevated play been a benefit to this team?
- 4:45Speaker 2: How significant.
- 4:48Speaker 1: Clayton Keller. I mean, first of all, it's hard enough
- 4:52Speaker 1: to deal with that at any point in your life,
- 4:54Speaker 1: let alone when you're trying to have your best season
- 4:57Speaker 1: as an NHL player. And nobody can say what each
- 5:02Speaker 1: individual needs to mourn and to heal the passing of
- 5:06Speaker 1: a parent. Everybody's different. Some players, in the case of
- 5:10Speaker 1: a hockey team or even you know, football team, basketball team,
- 5:13Speaker 1: some players find solace in the locker room, of being
- 5:16Speaker 1: around their team, of being out on the ice, around
- 5:19Speaker 1: the court. Some players get in their own head when
- 5:22Speaker 1: they're not around anyone. So, you know, whatever Keller's path
- 5:25Speaker 1: has been here, I feel like, yeah, it affected him
- 5:29Speaker 1: for a while, you know, and I think we saw
- 5:32Speaker 1: that in his play. I think now he's he's begun
- 5:36Speaker 1: to really refocus on hockey and his career and as
- 5:40Speaker 1: far as I mean how important he is, especially with
- 5:42Speaker 1: Logan Coolly out, Keller needs to be the guy. He's
- 5:47Speaker 1: not going to get that from ninety points like he
- 5:49Speaker 1: did the year before. I mean that ninety point year
- 5:51Speaker 1: that he had was something special, and he could have
- 5:55Speaker 1: done it again this year, I think with a full
- 5:57Speaker 1: on normal season and not you know, dealing with everything
- 6:00Speaker 1: he's had to deal with. But I do think they
- 6:03Speaker 1: need him to be that leading scorer guy, lead by example,
- 6:06Speaker 1: lead in the room, lead on the bench. You know,
- 6:09Speaker 1: he wears that stee for a reason, and I think
- 6:11Speaker 1: they really do need him to be that guy as
- 6:13Speaker 1: much as he can for them. So as long as
- 6:15Speaker 1: he is able to keep that going, yeah, absolutely, he's
- 6:20Speaker 1: the guy who's leading this team to the victories right now,
- 6:23Speaker 1: unfortunately kind of dragging everybody else along with him.
- 6:26Speaker 2: So I'm Callahan as our guest here talking a little
- 6:28Speaker 2: Utah Mammoth on the Sean O'Connell show. We haven't had
- 6:31Speaker 2: Yawn since Daniel Boot came up and started to contribute
- 6:35Speaker 2: to Look we saw early in the year simashev had
- 6:39Speaker 2: a pretty big impact. An he kind of plateaued and
- 6:41Speaker 2: maybe even regressed a little, and they send him back
- 6:43Speaker 2: down for some more development. I think he'll be a
- 6:45Speaker 2: part of this Mammoth future, but for now it's a
- 6:50Speaker 2: swapout and daneil Boot comes up and he's got the
- 6:54Speaker 2: size that they've been looking for and talking about as
- 6:56Speaker 2: something they want to establish as part of this mammoth culture.
- 6:59Speaker 1: And what not.
- 7:00Speaker 2: What have you made of his short runs so far
- 7:03Speaker 2: in the NHL.
- 7:05Speaker 1: You know what, I really like Boot. I think it's
- 7:08Speaker 1: not only what he does with the puck, and I
- 7:10Speaker 1: think he's starting to get a little more comfortable and
- 7:12Speaker 1: the new line combinations have actually been pretty fantastic. It's
- 7:17Speaker 1: been fun to watch. But what I will say about
- 7:19Speaker 1: Boot is Number One, you can't teach size, you know,
- 7:22Speaker 1: I mean any sport you cannot teach size. So he's
- 7:25Speaker 1: a big guy, He's got a big reach. He is
- 7:29Speaker 1: still growing into his body. I mean that's the other
- 7:31Speaker 1: thing you got to remember. He's still pretty young. But man,
- 7:35Speaker 1: I just love his hockey IQ. He sees the game
- 7:39Speaker 1: so well. He understands where things are in and around
- 7:44Speaker 1: the ice, he sees openings, he really and he thinks
- 7:48Speaker 1: the game at an NHL level, and that, more than anything,
- 7:50Speaker 1: is what's going to set him apart, especially as his
- 7:53Speaker 1: career continues on and he gets used to the pace,
- 7:56Speaker 1: used to the grind. This is the best league in
- 7:59Speaker 1: the world, right, Not that the KHL is not good.
- 8:02Speaker 1: But the first two lines of the KHL are good
- 8:04Speaker 1: and then the bottom two lines are not well. In
- 8:06Speaker 1: the National Hockey League, all four lines are good. Everybody
- 8:08Speaker 1: belongs to everybody can play, and so that depth taxes
- 8:12Speaker 1: you more and it makes you work harder, and it
- 8:14Speaker 1: makes you have to be better. I think Daniel Boot
- 8:17Speaker 1: has done a very good job keeping himself now, not
- 8:22Speaker 1: only in the lineup, but as an effective player, finding
- 8:24Speaker 1: some chemistry here and inserting himself into positions to make
- 8:32Speaker 1: an impact. Even if it's not necessarily directly leading to
- 8:36Speaker 1: a goal, Even if he's not directly scoring the goal,
- 8:39Speaker 1: he's generating chances. He's helping the team that way, and
- 8:43Speaker 1: I think he's done an exceptional job being a rookie.
- 8:47Speaker 1: He's actually a lot further along than I thought he
- 8:50Speaker 1: might be. I kind of wondered about it, but I
- 8:52Speaker 1: really like his game and his development.
- 8:54Speaker 2: Tom If we zoom out a little bit and we
- 8:56Speaker 2: look at the league as a whole, and I guess
- 8:58Speaker 2: more importantly the Western Conference, because that's the playoff picture.
- 9:02Speaker 2: Utah's trying to insert themselves firmly into and stay there.
- 9:06Speaker 2: We saw last year toward the end the Blues with
- 9:09Speaker 2: their crazy run resurgence, and you know they they ended
- 9:13Speaker 2: up making the playoffs after being like I think it
- 9:16Speaker 2: was two weeks before the end of the season, they
- 9:19Speaker 2: looked like they were firmly out and ended up being in.
- 9:22Speaker 2: It would take a massive collapse for somebody like the
- 9:26Speaker 2: Colorado Avalanche to be anything Button number one in my opinion.
- 9:29Speaker 2: But when we look at where the Mammoth are positioned
- 9:32Speaker 2: with their fifty two points sandwich between Edmonton right now
- 9:35Speaker 2: and Seattle. San Jose's tied with Seattle as well, who
- 9:39Speaker 2: are you looking at that's lower in the standings. He's like,
- 9:42Speaker 2: all right, you gotta gotta keep pace or stay ahead
- 9:45Speaker 2: of their pace. And maybe who's above the Mammoth that
- 9:48Speaker 2: you could see them leap frogging before it's all said
- 9:50Speaker 2: and done.
- 9:53Speaker 1: The answer is yes, all of them. Sure. I mean,
- 9:57Speaker 1: it's crazy, right because the specific divisi this year, to
- 10:01Speaker 1: talk about the other guys for a minute, is full
- 10:04Speaker 1: of surprises. Quite frankly, I did not see the Sharks
- 10:08Speaker 1: being where they are, and I don't think a lot
- 10:09Speaker 1: of people did. The Flames have absolutely dropped off a cliff.
- 10:13Speaker 1: The Canucks have dropped off a cliff. Those are all surprises.
- 10:16Speaker 1: The Ducks for a while, we're up there, but I
- 10:17Speaker 1: think they're regressing to where their mean is and they're
- 10:20Speaker 1: not really a playoff team. But the Kings are surprisingly
- 10:25Speaker 1: kind of on the outside looking in and kind of
- 10:26Speaker 1: hanging out on the border. Like I said, the Sharks
- 10:29Speaker 1: are definitely a surprise. We knew Edmonton would be there,
- 10:32Speaker 1: but boy, that division is is kind of crazy and
- 10:36Speaker 1: could yield five teams making it in in the central.
- 10:41Speaker 1: Winnipeg went through an absolutely horrible stretch. They lost eleven
- 10:45Speaker 1: in a row. They looked terrible and that's a shock.
- 10:48Speaker 1: But now they're starting to put it together again. I
- 10:50Speaker 1: think they've won either three or four in a row,
- 10:52Speaker 1: but they have a long climb, but they're not out
- 10:55Speaker 1: of it. And Saint Louis, in consistent two months ago,
- 11:00Speaker 1: looked like sellers, then kind of played their way back
- 11:02Speaker 1: into contention. Chicago is starting to fall back a little
- 11:06Speaker 1: bit now. My expectation is Winnipeg plays their way back
- 11:09Speaker 1: in Chicago falls out. Saint Louis hovers around this playoff
- 11:12Speaker 1: cut line along with the Mammoth, who have a chance
- 11:15Speaker 1: to separate themselves. Right now, the only team I see
- 11:18Speaker 1: coming back to the pack from the top three might
- 11:20Speaker 1: be Minnesota just because they have a little bit more
- 11:25Speaker 1: difficult road, and I think that that's a team that
- 11:28Speaker 1: is built where they've had some great success so far.
- 11:31Speaker 1: I don't know how much of it BI can sustain,
- 11:33Speaker 1: but Dallas is built at a long haul of Colorado.
- 11:36Speaker 1: I agree with you, is not going anywhere but number one.
- 11:39Speaker 1: So that's where the Mammoth have to be in Nashville.
- 11:41Speaker 1: Nashville is finally starting to figure it out in year
- 11:44Speaker 1: two of this four year deal with Steven Stamcost, He's
- 11:47Speaker 1: starting to look better. You can't look past Nashville. So
- 11:51Speaker 1: tough division, but that's why this home stand is so
- 11:53Speaker 1: important because and the Olympic break coming up in the
- 11:57Speaker 1: early part of next month is going to reset everybody
- 12:00Speaker 1: for three weeks. It's almost like you're going to have
- 12:02Speaker 1: to go through camp again. That is going to be
- 12:05Speaker 1: a crusher for a lot of teams carrying momentum, and
- 12:07Speaker 1: Utah has to set themselves up and spot the standings
- 12:10Speaker 1: where it does not crush them. And that's that's going
- 12:13Speaker 1: to be an important part of it too. So yeah,
- 12:15Speaker 1: this this division is difficult. Every two points, every single
- 12:18Speaker 1: night is going to be massive all the way to April.
- 12:23Speaker 2: In a perfect world and from a strictly NHL playoff standpoint,
- 12:28Speaker 2: do you want your team to have a lot of
- 12:31Speaker 2: Olympians or do you want your guys to have rest
- 12:34Speaker 2: during that Olympic break?
- 12:37Speaker 1: Me personally, I mean, I know the grind of an
- 12:40Speaker 1: NHL season up close and personal. I think I'd prefer rest.
- 12:46Speaker 1: If you have a bunch of Olympians, it means you
- 12:47Speaker 1: have a lot of good, individually skilled, in talented players,
- 12:50Speaker 1: and that's awesome. I think the Mammoth have a nice mix.
- 12:53Speaker 1: They have guys who could have made it, Like what
- 12:55Speaker 1: would cool you have done with a full healthy season?
- 12:57Speaker 1: Would have made it? Would he have been a fringe guy?
- 12:59Speaker 1: I think he might have been a fine guy. Don't
- 13:01Speaker 1: know if he had made it because of his youth,
- 13:04Speaker 1: but could have if v tech Manichek had better numbers
- 13:08Speaker 1: this year, because I think he's played well but had
- 13:10Speaker 1: better numbers. He could have also been on an Olympic
- 13:13Speaker 1: roster as a goaltender as well. I think he could
- 13:15Speaker 1: have been on the check team, but Dan Ladar and
- 13:18Speaker 1: Philly kind of put that to bed. He's really played
- 13:21Speaker 1: his way into that. That's that the rest is super important.
- 13:25Speaker 1: The recuperation is super important for a lot of these
- 13:27Speaker 1: guys who are nursing these bumps, these bruises. Does that
- 13:30Speaker 1: get Kerfoot back in the lineup? Does that get Cooley
- 13:32Speaker 1: back in the lineup? I think for the Mammoth, for
- 13:35Speaker 1: the Gauntlet they have March and April, I would much
- 13:38Speaker 1: rather have them rested and healed.
- 13:42Speaker 2: We have not had you on since the big announcement.
- 13:45Speaker 2: Gary Bettman in Town a couple of weeks ago. I
- 13:48Speaker 2: lose my track of time to let us all know
- 13:51Speaker 2: that twenty twenty seven Winter Classic, outside of the Olympics,
- 13:55Speaker 2: outside of the Stanley Cup finals themselves, this is the
- 13:59Speaker 2: showcase opportunity for the NHL and it's coming to Rice
- 14:02Speaker 2: Cycles Stadium. How excited are you for this? How big
- 14:06Speaker 2: of a deal? Should we all view this as?
- 14:09Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, this is awesome. I'm very excited for it,
- 14:13Speaker 1: and everybody should be. This is I mean, if you
- 14:17Speaker 1: even if you haven't been to a hockey game and
- 14:19Speaker 1: you're like, maybe i'll check it out, this is the
- 14:21Speaker 1: one you're going to want to go to. This is
- 14:24Speaker 1: going to be massive. It's something you will likely not
- 14:28Speaker 1: see again for many years, and even if you do,
- 14:30Speaker 1: the Mammoth might be the roadent team that's involved. But
- 14:34Speaker 1: they have it in your own backyard. Such a beautiful,
- 14:37Speaker 1: you know setting, and I mean just things are happening
- 14:40Speaker 1: right now for the city, for the state, for this
- 14:43Speaker 1: hockey team, and it is a marquee event, it really is.
- 14:48Speaker 1: And it's going to bring a carnival with it to
- 14:50Speaker 1: town when it comes. I've been around these before. I mean,
- 14:54Speaker 1: it is a week long. It is not just we
- 14:56Speaker 1: show up and play the game. There's going to be
- 14:59Speaker 1: so much for the commune unity to do. They're gonna,
- 15:02Speaker 1: you know, try to I guarantee you things will happen,
- 15:04Speaker 1: like they'll try to get a college game out there
- 15:07Speaker 1: or too. They may do some public skates out there.
- 15:10Speaker 1: They may try to, you know, like they're gonna try
- 15:12Speaker 1: to really get everybody involved, and it's just gonna be
- 15:17Speaker 1: so much fun. And this is this is gonna be huge.
- 15:21Speaker 1: It's for the organization, but it's even bigger for the community.
- 15:24Speaker 1: And I could not be more thrilled to see that
- 15:26Speaker 1: it's coming next year.
- 15:28Speaker 2: Can we get somebody besides the Avalanche? I mean, I
- 15:31Speaker 2: guess maybe I guess maybe they'll have a bad year
- 15:34Speaker 2: next year.
- 15:35Speaker 1: I shouldn't.
- 15:36Speaker 2: I shouldn't assume that they're going to be great again,
- 15:38Speaker 2: but I want it to be a man with win.
- 15:40Speaker 2: And that's that's a tough out against the Avalanche.
- 15:44Speaker 1: It is. But you know what's great oc is they
- 15:47Speaker 1: have played the tough teams tough and they've beaten them.
- 15:51Speaker 1: And for whatever reason, Utah elevates its play against Colorado,
- 15:56Speaker 1: against Dallas, against Toronto, against the difficult teams they play
- 15:59Speaker 1: this here, the teams leading their divisions, they show up
- 16:03Speaker 1: and they play well. So I would go so far
- 16:08Speaker 1: as to suggest I think Utah will beat the Avalanche
- 16:11Speaker 1: next year because they play them so hard, and they
- 16:14Speaker 1: will have another year of these players who are growing
- 16:18Speaker 1: into their roles. Man, And that's what right. This is
- 16:22Speaker 1: the stubborn part of sports that gives us hope. When
- 16:25Speaker 1: you see your team play well against the other best
- 16:27Speaker 1: teams in the league and sometimes you beat them, you're like, well,
- 16:29Speaker 1: we could be that good. We are that good. Look,
- 16:31Speaker 1: we just did it. And that's how I feel about
- 16:33Speaker 1: this Mammoth team. And that's quite frankly, I think why
- 16:36Speaker 1: we all get so frustrated when they don't play well,
- 16:40Speaker 1: because we know they're capable, we know they have the talent,
- 16:43Speaker 1: and you just want to see them succeed. So I
- 16:45Speaker 1: wouldn't worry too much about the apps. It's going to
- 16:47Speaker 1: be a good game.
- 16:48Speaker 2: That's what I needed to hear, Tom. I love that.
- 16:53Speaker 1: I'm feeling. No, it's great.
- 16:54Speaker 2: Hey. Before then, we'll have plenty of hockey to watch,
- 16:58Speaker 2: including this weekend, and of course Tom Callahan and the
- 17:01Speaker 2: Lockdown Utah Mammoth podcast will be giving you all the
- 17:04Speaker 2: perspective you need. Tom. Appreciate your time today. Let's talk
- 17:08Speaker 2: again soon.
- 17:09Speaker 1: Sounds good. I appreciate you guys having me.
- 17:11Speaker 2: On Tom Callahan Mammoth Insider. That's the raw rye. I
- 17:16Speaker 2: need it, Okay,