Latest / Chuck in the Morning / 10-1 H1: Everett Fitzhugh Joins, What's On Tap & ICYMI

Transcript

10-1 H1: Everett Fitzhugh Joins, What's On Tap & ICYMI · Chuck in the Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's go.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: Let's get the game on. Hey, welcome in to Chuck
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: in the Morning Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM. It's not
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: just your run-of-the-mill Thursday.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: It is game day.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: And it's also opening night for the Seattle Kraken as they...
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Get things started, Anders, tonight in Calgary. Beautiful Calgary.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: You keep calling it Calgary.
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: Everybody that knows anything about hockey calls it Calgary.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Okay. All right. I'll trust you on that one.
• 0:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: Let's find out. We're going to go to Calgary right now.
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: See if Everett Fitzhugh is.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Having a nice, warm Calgary breakfast to get his day started.
• 0:40
  Speaker 5: The Voice!
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Of the Kraken back for another season with us here
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: in the mornings on KJR. He'll be on the call
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: tonight and in, I'm sure, mid-season form.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Good morning. Happy hockey season.
• 0:53
  Speaker 5: Happy hockey season, everyone. As I look out at a
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: dreary Chilly Calgary morning. I've got my jeans, jean shirt,
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: jean jacket. I have a lovely cup of maple syrup
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: to go with a beautiful Tim Hortons maple bar. And
• 1:10
  Speaker 5: I've got a lovely piece of Canadian bacon sitting right
• 1:13
  Speaker 5: here with me with my toque on. And I've got
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: a couple of loonies on the nightstand.
• 1:19
  Speaker 6: Way too much Canada for me. Way too much Canada
• 1:22
  Speaker 6: for me.
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: Well, between... Between Calgary, Calgary tonight and Edmonton on Saturday,
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: we're going to get a lot of early season Canada
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: for this team.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Are you, do you have a, like a cowboy outfit
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: that you can wear to games to fit in, you know.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: With the crowd?
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: You know, I don't have the cowboy outfit. I do
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: have a cowboy hat back in, I think it's actually
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: in my childhood bedroom back in my mom's house in
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: Detroit somewhere. But, but yeah, that's all I got. But
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: I will say though, you, you talk about, you know,
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: country Canada here in Calgary. I mean, I mean, it's
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: the stampede. This place is, is the ranch. This place
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: is Texas. And they have an anthem singer. His name
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: is George Canyon. And he gets real deep in there and,
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: It's this soul-rattling, oh, it's beautiful. It is glorious. And yeah,
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: I've never heard an American anthem sound so Canadian.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: That's good.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: I like that.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Uh, yeah, that's a, that's amazing.
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: Uh, all right.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Well, uh, the season's going to get, uh, going here tonight. Um,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: let's start with the off season because. Anders and I
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: were both expecting with this Todd light wiki, we're going
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: to turn over every.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: Stone, every rock. We're going to see where we need
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: to improve.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: We were expecting like massive change to this roster in
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: the off season. And it was very minor change. Did
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: we just misinterpret Todd's message that day in that press conference,
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: or did they sort of rethink things as an organization
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: and just say, hey, we've got the pieces to win.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: Let's just stay with what we got.
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: I don't think there was any misinterpretation. I do think
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: the intent was always to have a big offseason. I've
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: said this a lot this past summer. It takes two
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: to tango. You've got the Jason Robertson deal that was
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: out there. You had the Artemi Panarin deal back before
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: the deadline in mid-February, early March. That was out there.
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: But then there were a couple of other deals that
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: potentially were on the table. But just because the Kraken
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: didn't sign other players or didn't have that prolific offseason...
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: doesn't necessarily mean they didn't try. You know, we'll go
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: back to a couple of days ago, back on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: when the Kirill Marchenko, his name was in the news,
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: and ultimately Columbus trades Marchenko to Toronto for Matthew Nyes
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: and a few other pieces. Well, it comes out that
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: the Kraken were kicking around that trade, allegedly. So, it's
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: not for lack of trying. And I think that's the
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: one thing that I want to really impress upon the
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: fan base and the people who are listening. I promise you,
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: you know, people aren't just sitting there twiddling their thumbs
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: waiting for this season to start. I mean, leaving no
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: stone unturned, you can, you can turn over every stone,
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: but you know, if the, if, if the bug you
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: find under the stone doesn't want to come with you,
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: you know, well, then you got to keep on going. So,
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: I do think that that's part of it. I also
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: think that Jason has said from day one, he believes
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: in the young core. This Kraken prospect pool consistently has
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: been ranked in the top five, seven, top ten ranks. of,
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: of young prospect pools in the NHL. He wants to
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: see what, what this team has. He wants to see
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: what they can do. So you can go out there
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: and make a move, but at what point are you
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: going to be stunting the growth of, of a Berkeley
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: cat and stunting the growth of a Ryan Winterton and
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: players like that, obviously training camp provided a really good
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: opportunity for some of the other younger guys to, to
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: make a mark. And I think they did, although a
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: lot of them did get sent back down to the
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: American league for their training camp, but I do think
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: that there is a lot of opportunity for the players
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: who aren't here yet to play this season, but I
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: also think that Jason believes in the core. He believes
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: in the players that are in the organization, and he
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: wants them to take that baton, if you will, and
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: run with it while still trying to find that missing link,
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: trying to find that missing link top six NHL piece
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: that's out there.
• 6:05
  Speaker 6: Yeah, Everett, that's the biggest question for me, and I'm
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: going to just ask that of you. For me, you
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: want to be either in win-now mode or in win-in-the-future mode.
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: And it feels like the Kraken have been kind of
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: caught in between two thought processes there. Where are they?
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: Where does Jason Botterill think they are right now as
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: a team? Are they trying to go make the playoffs
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: this year and go make a run this year? Do
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: they feel like they have the roster to do that?
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: Or are they in, we need to develop our young
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: players more and kind of win in the future mode?
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: You know, as much of a company answer as this
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: may sound, and I apologize for this, I do think
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: two things can be true. I think you can have both.
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: I think you can develop your young talent. I think
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: you can give them the ice time. You can give
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: them the rope. You can allow them to fail but
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: pick themselves back up and not have them worry about, well,
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: if I mess up here, I'm not going to get
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: to play again. you know, a certain amount of minutes,
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: so I'm not going to have that opportunity. I do
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: think that you can have that, but I also think that, listen,
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: this team, you go back to the playoff year, for
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: all intents and purposes, is largely unchanged. I mean, the core,
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: the McCanns, the Eberle, Beneers, Larson, Dunn, you know, those
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: guys are still on this roster. Grubauer, Decord is still here.
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: You brought in a couple of younger players that you're
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: trying to see what they have in Mackie Samuskevich. Obviously,
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: you drafted Berkley Catton. He's going to be another year older,
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: another year better this season. So I do think that
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: there is an element of Maybe this team isn't a
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: playoff team, but there's no reason to think this team
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: can't get into the playoffs, if that makes sense. You
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: look at Dallas, you look at Edmonton, you look at L.A., right?
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: Those are playoff teams. Minnesota, those teams... are playoff teams.
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: The Kraken might not be built in that same way,
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: but I think that this is a team that can
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: fit into the playoffs. I mean, if they can stay
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: healthy and you look at last season, the Kraken did
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: not have a full complement of players available to them
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: until game 55, 57, something like that. So you were
• 8:28
  Speaker 5: already three quarters pretty much through the season until you
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: had everybody healthy, everybody ready. It also doesn't help that
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: you went 5-15-2 after the All-Star or the Olympic break.
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: So if you can not do that this year, I
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: think that helps things as well. I saw, I think
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: it might have been Craig Bell or maybe it was
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: Tim Booth, somebody said that over the weekend, if the
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: Mariners had gone 15-7 in their last 22 games, they
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: win the division, they're in the playoffs. Well, the Kraken,
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: very similarly, they missed the playoffs by 11 points, They
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: went 5-15-2. You go 500. You go just under 500,
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: but not that far under 500. This Kraken team's a
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: playoff team. And you come into this season, I know
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: there wasn't a whole lot of change, but the Kraken
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: were a playoff team for... 65, 70% of the season
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: with the roster that they had. So I do think
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: that there is an element of both. We want the
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: young kids to play. We want the young kids to develop.
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: But we're not in a San Jose situation a couple
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: of years ago where we're just going to automatically say
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: we are a 25-win hockey team and we'll see you
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: in five years. That's not the message that is being
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: portrayed internally, and that is not the message that obviously
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: is being portrayed externally as well.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: I believe that was a tweet from the great Larry Stone,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: who also, by the way, Todd Laiweke overturned to see
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: if he.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: Had any hockey talent. He turned over that stone.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Every stone. Every single stone in town.
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, every stone. Larry Stone, Oliver Stone, Sky and the
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: Family Stone. Every stone was turned over. See if there's
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: something out there.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Well, is that where they found Mackie Samaskevich then? Yeah,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Stone Cold Steve Austin. Yeah, every single one of them.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Is that where they found Samaskevich? I mean, we don't
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: have a lot of new faces on this team. He's
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: one of them. Is he somebody that they're going to
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: count on for, you know, X amount of goals this year,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: X amount of assists. Is he going to be a
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: major player, a major actor in this play that's about
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: ready to unfold?
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: Well, he's going to be given the opportunity to be
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: a major play, a major actor in this play because
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: for the last two seasons, he won a Stanley Cup
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: in Florida, but he's playing behind Matthew Kachuk and Sasha
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: Barkov or Alexander Barkov, rather. and Sam Bennett, you're playing
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: behind players that, you know, are great elite-level NHL players.
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: But I would put Mackie Samuskevich in the same category
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: as a Bobby McMahon. He loves to skate. He's been
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: given the opportunity. He has excelled. He has bested career
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: highs and goals and points each of the last two seasons.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: So now... you're going to see Mackie Samuskevich pretty much
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: in a permanent top line, definitely top six role for
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: this team. He's going to be on the power play.
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: He's going to be able to use the speed like
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: Bobby McMahon. He loves to shoot the puck. He signed
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: his extension here. He wants to be here in Seattle.
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: So I think Mackie Samuskevich is finally going to be
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: able to um, to, to spread his wings a little bit.
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: And he's also a part of that core, that under
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: 23 forward group that Jason Botrell talked a lot about
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: this summer. He said that going in to the off season,
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: you know, potentially we could see six, seven, eight players, um,
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: in that under 23 forward group, uh, on the opening
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: day roster. Now I think that number's gone down a
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: little bit, but the players that are still here in Berkeley, Canton, Maddie, Shane, right.
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: who looks really good this preseason. I think Shane Wright
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: kind of took a lot of the, a lot of
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: the noise that he's heard a lot of the criticism
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: that he heard, um, in the off season. I think
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: he's taken that and he's kind of internalized that turned
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: it around and, has been in a bit of a,
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: you know, I don't want to say bleep you mode,
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: but he's kind of been in that realm of he's played.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: I've been in that mode for like 12 years straight.
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly. He's been in that mode, you know, I'm
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: going to go out there and I'm going to prove
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: everyone wrong. I'm going to prove Seattle right in believing me,
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: believing in me, keeping me here, not training me. So
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: I do think that the core, that under-23 group that's
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: still here, there is a lot of positives about them.
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: And I think there is a lot to be excited
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: about in that group. And also, when you don't have
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: a new coach again, it also makes things a lot easier.
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: The Kraken are going into year two of Lane Lambert.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: So now they know what to expect. They know what
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: he wants. They know how he plays. You don't have
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: to learn a new playbook. You don't have to learn
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: new systems. You can just go out there and do
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: what made you successful for the first 70 games of
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: the year last year.
• 13:27
  Speaker 6: Yeah, let's go to what I think it should be
• 13:29
  Speaker 6: viewed as one of the strengths of this roster, and
• 13:31
  Speaker 6: that is the goaltending. Are we in a 1A, 1B
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: situation with DeCord and Grubauer, or is there a defined
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: starter and backup coming into the year?
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: I think it's a start of the year, and you
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: see this a lot in the NHL, unless you have
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: an Andre Vasilevsky in Tampa, unless you have a Cotter
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: Hellebuck in Winnipeg, although Hellebuck isn't playing, unless you have
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: a Shisterkin for the Rangers. you have a kind of
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: a 1A, 1B tandem to start until somebody takes the
• 14:05
  Speaker 5: reins from you, until someone becomes that number one. And
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: it's not a bad thing. I mean, the NHL, gone
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: are the days of Patrick Waugh and Martin Brodeur and
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: Dominic Hasek playing 65-70. Grant Fuhrer one time, I think
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: he played 80 games in a season. You're not seeing
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: that anymore. I mean, I think For your number one,
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: if your number one can play 50 and your number
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: two can play 34 now, or was 32, now 34,
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's not a total even split, but if
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: you can go 60-40 while still having your backup, your
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: number two, in this case, I would assume Joey Decor
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: will get the start tonight, and then Grubauer will get
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: an opportunity here to go on Saturday. That would be
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: my opinion. But I think until one of those players...
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: through their first five, six starts of the season, appears
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: to be head and shoulders better than the rest, I
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: do think we're going into the year with a 1A, 1B.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: Philip Grubauer had a really good year last year. A
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: lot of people were ready to sell him down the river.
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: And I think that he bounced back in a big
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: way last season. He, for a lot of people's money,
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: was the team MVP. I mean, the play of Philip Grubauer, because...
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: Joey Decord had some injuries last year. He didn't have
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: the season that he wanted. Philip Grubauer was one of
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: the main reasons why this team was in a playoff
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: spot for so long. And he looks ready. He looks poised.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: I think his trip to Germany or for Germany with
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: the Olympic team last year, that really revitalized and rejuvenated
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: him as well. So I think we're going into the
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: year with a 1A, 1B. But typically, you're going to
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: have eight to ten games to say, all right, you know,
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: you each get four or five starts. who's going to
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: take that number one job? And you're hoping someone does,
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: but you're also hoping that whoever is that number two,
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: that 1B, is still ready to win on any given night.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Takes a village. It takes a village.
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: It takes a village. Yeah, yeah.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: The voice of the Seattle Kraken getting ready for tonight's
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: season opener in Calgary. Let's talk a little bit about Calgary.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Number one. What is the person that pronounces it Calgary?
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: You can't even say Canadians do it. Is it just
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: people that mispronounce it? I know that there's a faction
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: of people that pronounce it Calgary, and I want to
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: be one of them. I'm determined to be one of them.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: But I'm wondering, is it like a specific region of
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Canada that says Calgary? What do Calgarians say? How do
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: they pronounce it on the actual soil of Calgary?
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: So in Calgary, it is just pronounced Calgary.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: So C-A-L-G-R-E-E. Calgary. Calgary. Got it. Capital Cal, lowercase Cree.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Calgary.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Got it.
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: Good.
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: But there is that faction. And from what I've understood
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: and from what I've witnessed, It's a lot of older,
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: older than you, Chuck. We're talking 60s, 70s, you know,
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: our grandparents. It's that older generation that says, oh, back
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: in the day when I was at Calgary, I saw Donald.
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: It was one of those back in my day. I
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: think that the back in my day crew calls it Calgary. Um,
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: probably folks out in the Maritimes. Again, I've never been
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: in the Maritimes, but they've got their own language out
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: in Nova Scotia and PEI and Newfoundland and all that. So,
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: you know, there, there, there may be a bit of
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: a regional accent, uh, out there, but. If you go
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: to Calgary, when you come here to Calgary, it's just Calgary.
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: Good to know.
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: That's really good information.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: I like Calgary.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I like saying it.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: I'm going to keep doing it, but if I do
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: ever get to make this trip to Calgary, I will
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: pronounce it like the locals because I want.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: To fit in.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: I want them to buy me beers and stuff.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: Calgary.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Calgary it is. All right, so I'll practice. What kind
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: of an opponent is Calgary tonight? This is not going
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: to be one of the better teams in the NHL, correct?
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: No, this is a very young and a very hungry team.
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: When the Kraken played them at home on Thursday, when
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: they won that game in the shootout, I was talking
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: to their broadcaster, Derek Wills, and he told me that
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: there were probably two or three players in that lineup
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: on Thursday that we're going to be in the opening
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: lineup tonight. So they are in a full rebuild mode, which,
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: you know, as a hockey fan, you kind of feel
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: bad for them because it's the last year of one
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: of the great buildings in the NHL with the Saddle Dome.
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: They're moving into a brand new, beautiful building next season
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: across the street. So, you know, it's the farewell season
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: of the Dome. And you know, a lot of people
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: have this team out of it by Christmas. Definitely, you know,
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: by February when we go on the All-Star break. So
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: I think Calgary is a dangerous team because the expectations
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: are so low, because they have no choice but to
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: play all of their kids. They do have some good
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: vets on their team, but I don't expect, and a
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: lot of the hockey world doesn't expect them to be
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: higher than probably even sixth or seventh. I think the
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: Kraken have been picked as sixth and Calgary seventh and
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: Vancouver's eighth, but those are the most dangerous teams. And
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: this has been a pretty good rivalry between Seattle and Calgary.
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: the last couple of years, because the preseason games back
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: to a couple of years ago, Martin Pospisil and Vince Dunn,
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: those two have had their, their differences. And then this
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: year with Yanni or the Ville out of Iden in
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: the last couple of preseason games with them, I do
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: think that there is a little bit of preseason bad
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: blood for what it's worth, but it's the home opener.
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: It's an emotional game for Calgary tonight. Again, last home
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: opener in that building for Seattle. You can't waltz into
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: this game. You have to treat this game, and Al
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: and I were talking about it too. rather than maybe
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: game one of the new season, maybe you treat this
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: as game 83. The roster is largely the same. You
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: know who each other is. You don't have to break
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: in a lot of new players. Calgary has to break
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: in a lot of new players. So I think for Seattle,
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: that's where your advantage lies. But the young teams, the
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: teams that don't have a ton of expectations, those are
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: oftentimes the dangerous teams. And I think tonight, Even though
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: Calgary is expected to finish low, this could still potentially
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: be a dangerous game for Seattle.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Well, I am so excited. I think Anders is as
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: well for the Everett and Al show again this year.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: 84 games of the Everett and Al show this year.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: So extremely excited. Happy for you. Did you pick out
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: a new suit for the opener?
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: Are you saving that for the home opener?
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: So this past summer, I decided to revamp my closet.
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: And my wife and I were going through, oh, this
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: blazer looks nice. This blazer looks cool. This suit looks great. Just,
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: you know, kind of, eh, we'll do it. I ended
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: up with like seven new blazers and one new suit.
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: So I have a lot. I have a lot going on.
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: I do have a brand-new blazer combo for tonight. I've
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: got a brand-new blazer combo Saturday in Edmonton. I don't
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: know what I'm going to wear for the home opener
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: on Sunday against Calgary. But, no, your boy's going to
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: be styling and or profiling for definitely the first month
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: of the season. Then we've got Finland. I may have
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: to get a whole new Finnish wardrobe when I go
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: out there.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a trip I'll take with you guys. Just
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: put me in the overhead compartment, and I'll fly out
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: there with you.
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: You can be Mike Benton's keeper. He's so excited.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, he needs one.
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: He needs one.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: He needs a keeper. Yeah, exactly. You've got to put
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: him in one of those Hannibal Lecter masks. Keep him
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: from biting people. He's so excited about the season.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: Chomping at the bit.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:28
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Well, you are the man.
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: He's chomped through the bit. There's no more bit left.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: True.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: That is true.
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: He's chomped through the bit.
• 22:34
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Yes. Well, I'm so excited about having you on every
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: week again this year. So excited about listening to you
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: call games again. So have a blast tonight and let's
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: have a great year.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: What do you say?
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: Oh, I'm excited. Again, I think this team will surprise
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: a lot of people. I don't think this team is
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: going to be as bad as a lot of the
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: quote-unquote experts say the Kraken will be. I have a
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: very good feeling about this year, and I think this
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: is going to be a good season of Kraken hockey.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: I genuinely, firmly believe that.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: Well, thank you. Say hi to Al for us this morning,
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: and we'll talk to you next week.
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: All right, I'm going to go fill up my maple
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: syrup cup. See you guys later. Thanks, Everett.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, finish that maple bar. Everett Fitzhugh, the voice of
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: the Kraken. We're back with more in a moment. Sports
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Radio 93.3 KJR FM. May I have your attention, please?
• 23:30
  Speaker 7: This is What's On Tap, brought to you by Emerald
• 23:32
  Speaker 7: Queen Casino, bringing you the best in live music, entertainment, dining,
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: and gaming. Emerald Queen Casino, always entertaining.
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: For more info, visit EmeraldQueen.com.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Ah yes, good morning to you all. And yeah, you're
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: probably sitting there wondering like, oh, this isn't the normal schedule.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: You're not wrong.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we did.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: An interview with Everett Fitzhugh to start the show today,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: but that doesn't mean we're not going to tell you
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: what's on tap. And this gives us a chance here
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: to kind of, you know, spread our wings a little bit,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: go through the headlines, because there's a lot to react to.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: When I say us, I mean Christopher Kidd, the new
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: producer of The Morning Show.
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: Here at KJR. That's right, people.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: He's back.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: He's back.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: Anders Hurst is here as well.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Fixture now on the morning show. My name is Chuck Powell,
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: and you're sick of me. They only like new things.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: You're the only constant. People like new things.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: We're in the world of radio. Everyone likes their routines.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: I'm an old battleship. They want their speedboats. You never go,
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: you know, it was wedding crashers. They didn't say, I'm
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: going to old battleship you.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: Did your speedboat.
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: That's what they said.
• 24:42
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: Well, let's get to our headlines here. And obviously, I mean,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: we've got a lot of ground to cover here today,
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: but we can't have a section of the show today
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: that doesn't focus on the Kraken season starting tonight.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: Of course.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: They'll take on the Calgary Flames. I have to consider
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: calling it Calgary.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you do.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: Because I do have a rule that I pronounce the
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: city like the locals pronounce the city. It's New Orleans.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: It's Louisville, whether you like that or not. And if
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: they say Calgary... I might have to change it to Calgary.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: That's what Everett told us.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: But I do like Calgary.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Six o'clock start time there, and it'll be the Everett
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: and Al show for you. Mike Benton on the pregame,
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: so very excited about that. We will have our season
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: preview as we do it. We're going to draft today
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: at seven o'clock. So be listening because you might be
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: able to get involved in that. We'll tell you more
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: about that later on in the hour. Sounders are also
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: in action. They don't normally play on a Thursday. I
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: guess they decided just to make our lives more difficult.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: So they're playing tonight at home, Lumen Field, 6.30 start
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: time against Sporting KC, who's not any good anymore, right?
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: No, not really. They're kind of in the middling slash
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: not even really middling.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: They were really good for a while.
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: They were.
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: They were a kind of fixture at the playoffs, but
• 26:00
  Speaker 6: they really have kind of fallen off.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: Coaching changes, all that stuff.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Sounders are suddenly a team that can't lose. They've tied
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: a lot, and now they've won two straight. So let's
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: see if the mad scientist can keep it going, Brian Schmetzer,
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: as they start tonight at 630.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: That's what everyone calls him, by the way. The mad scientist.
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: Do they?
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: That's what I call him.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: Did anybody pick that up?
• 26:26
  Speaker 6: No, no, I was playing into the joke, but I
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: didn't realize that was something you... No, I've been calling
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: him that for 10 years.
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: Oh, okay.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: I almost could call him the professor, but that's John Clayton.
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: Of course.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: So I always have to hesitate a little bit. But no,
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: I call him the math scientist and have for a decade. Good.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Pittsburgh at Cleveland is tonight. Five o'clock is your start
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: time there for Thursday Night Football. Steelers taking on the Browns,
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: who are off to a 2-1 start, by the way,
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: this year. Steelers made news overnight. They did trade Joey
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Porter Jr. to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: second-round pick and a sixth-rounder.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: A little caveat to that.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: The sixth-rounder is this year's pick, and then in 2028,
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: they'll get the second-round pick. So Joey Porter, I'm assuming
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: the Steelers— That Porter and his agent came to the
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Steelers and said, we saw what Witherspoon and Gonzalez made,
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: and that's the type of player Porter is. And the
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Steelers are like, nope, he's not that kind of player.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: And so they balked at the heavy price tag. There's
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: no promise, by the way, that Porter's going to take
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: the field for the Dallas Cowboys. He might want his money.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: So Jerry Jones has gambled a future second and a
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: sixth on a guy that might arrive in Dallas and
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: continue his holdout for more money.
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: So there's no promise given here. Very strange deal.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: But the Steelers will not have Joey Porter tonight, that's
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: It screams Dallas Cowboys deal.
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: It does.
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: Because it's like, yeah, let's take the risk here. Why
• 27:58
  Speaker 6: don't we do that? He'd be so happy to be
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: a Cowboy. He won't care about money. But, I mean,
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: it does kind of go along the lines of the
• 28:06
  Speaker 6: Cowboys revamping that defense. A lot of people were excited
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: about their drafts, a couple signings here and there, and
• 28:11
  Speaker 6: then you add Joey Porter to that, and I think
• 28:14
  Speaker 6: it would be a force to be reckoned with.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: I mean, he's a really good player.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: Very good player.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: And the Cowboys, if they can talk him into playing,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: have just added a really good player.
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Um for a pick that they're not going to have
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: to surrender for a couple of years uh seahawks of
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: course will host the chargers this sunday at 125 it
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: is a thursday so we will round table today but
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: we won't have greg bell there's always like an attachment
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: to everything i'm talking about yeah like yeah we won't
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: have greg bell today so uh dick fane's gonna fill
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: in on the uh round table so hugh and dick
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: will be joining us today from eight to nine on
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: the radio program. Okay. Seahawks injury news. Since we're not
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: going to have Greg Bell today, he'd tell you about
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Anthony Bradford being placed on the IR. And all of
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: a sudden, we're worried about not having Anthony Bradford.
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: I never thought I'd see the day.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Nick Emanwari, also not 100%, but a lot of talk
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: about how his role will expand to an Emanwari level
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: this week. And of course, we cannot wait to see 100%
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: Nick Emanwari out on the football field college football huskies
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: at usc saturday at 4 30 they keep calling it
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: the night game that's not a night game a night
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: game is what we played against the gophers.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: Eight o'clock pacific time starts yeah that's.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: A night this is called a prime time game yes
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: it is So Huskies at USC 430. Softee will join
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: us today for his Thursday segment. Thursdays with Softee at
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: 725 here this morning and Major League Baseball playoffs. I
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: kind of zipped through everything. So, Anders, we'd have a
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: little bit of time to talk about this because this
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: is the story of America right now. The New York
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: Yankees eliminated the Boston Red Sox last night, and the
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: series was a lot closer than the final scores indicated.
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: Of course.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: They were tightly fought through like six innings, and then
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: Boston's bullpen blew up, and the Yankees ran away with
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: both games. And so the Yankees will advance. Sorry, Yankees.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: I probably did underestimate you.
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: I did too.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: You have really good starting pitching. but they are supposed
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: to be very susceptible to left-handed pitching, and the Red
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Sox have more good left-handed pitching than anyone in the sport,
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: and yet they hammered the Red Sox left-handed pitching.
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: They hit.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: 500. The lefties for the Yankees hit. 500 against the
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: lefty pitchers for the Boston Red Sox in this series,
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: and that was the difference.
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah, the Yankees didn't use analytics. Because they didn't pinch
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: hit those left-handed hitters.
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: It's a joke.
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: Well, that's the big story.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Is that Sonny Gray was removed from the game.
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: That was probably analytics-driven. It was analytics-driven. Yes.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: But it also wasn't analytics-driven. Because Sonny Gray's numbers, third
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: time through the lineup, are the best in the entire sport.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: And they decided to take him out when the game
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: was still close... They were still trailing, but the game
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: was close, and they brought in lefty Eric Miller to
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: face the Yankees lefties, and Eric Miller couldn't get anybody
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: out in this series. Now, statistically, against lefties, he's got
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: a 195 batting average against, 260 on base, and a
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: 276 slug. That's really effective against lefties. As good as
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Sonny Gray is, 228, 287, 366. So by the numbers,
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: you were going to the better option in a crucial
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: situation there. But, as we just discussed yesterday, a manager
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: does have to have the ability to say, Sonny Gray's
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: got more grit to him. Sonny Gray is our ace.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: Do I take Sonny Gray out for a left-handed pitcher
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: who just got mopped the night before because analytics tell
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: me that Eric Miller has a better chance of getting
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: Cody Bellinger out than Sonny Gray? And what happens? Miller
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: gets burned.
• 32:13
  Speaker 6: Yeah, there has to be some sort of thought of,
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: and I thought about this with the third time through
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: the order, leaving your starter in, all that stuff. The
• 32:20
  Speaker 6: Yankees did it with Schlittler the night before, right?
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: You watch your mouth! Okay.
• 32:27
  Speaker 6: Schlittler. I mean, very much emphasized the pronunciation there. You
• 32:33
  Speaker 6: got it that time. But, like, that's your best pitcher
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: in that situation. Sometimes, yes, the numbers will suggest that
• 32:42
  Speaker 6: He falls off a little bit the third time through
• 32:45
  Speaker 6: the lineup. More often, when a hitter sees someone, more
• 32:50
  Speaker 6: often they have more success. But what is the difference
• 32:54
  Speaker 6: between that and your bullpen guy, right? So to me,
• 32:58
  Speaker 6: I like the idea, unless there's a massive gap between
• 33:03
  Speaker 6: what he is the first couple times through the order
• 33:05
  Speaker 6: and then the third time through the order, stick with
• 33:07
  Speaker 6: your best pitcher, period. Unless there is a very much
• 33:11
  Speaker 6: obvious situation. When the numbers are pretty comparable, like you
• 33:15
  Speaker 6: were mentioning there, I would have stuck with Sonny Gray.
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: I would have too.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: And to me, this is it. We talked about it yesterday. That, yes,
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: analytics are good, but if you are not using them,
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: you're a fool. If you're using them wrong. exclusively blindly
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: you're a fool a manager has to have the ability
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: to take that information and apply it to his decisions
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: and yet not be hamstrung by it you have to
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: have the feeling of you know what sonny gray's just
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: one tough son of a gun yeah and i'm not
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: sure eric miller is and then let's talk about You're desperate.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: You didn't use your best reliever in that situation because
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: he's left-handed, too. Or oldest Chapman didn't even pitch in
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: this series.
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: That's the really tough part for me.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: And then they went to Garrett Crochet, who hadn't pitched
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: in four months. They didn't know how he was going
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: to respond to it. So I thought a lot of
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: mistakes by the Red Sox manager.
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: But they.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Good news, Red Sox fans. They locked him up long-term.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, he did guide you into the playoffs. He
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: did turn the season around. But the entire internet is
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: filled with Red Sox fans hating on Chad Tracy and
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: Craig Breslow this morning for being too tied to analytics.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: I would like to point out, though, in what little
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: time we have remaining, you... Wilson Contreras did a lot
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: of talking last night about this very thing and was
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: angry about being too tied to analytics. Wilson Contreras did
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: not cover first base in time twice last night. Just
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: pure laziness in a playoff game, in an elimination game
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: against the Yankees, against the heated rival. I don't want
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: to hear Wilson Contreras talk. He didn't get to the
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: front of the bag and Adley Rutschman underestimated the speed
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: of Spencer Jones on a strike three that got away
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: from him. Both of them made a mistake, but Rutschman
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: was waiting for Contreras to get to the bag twice
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: in a playoff game. So Wilson Contreras also is taking
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: some major heat. And then the last thing we have
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: to say, gosh, I wish we had more time. There's
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: no time to do anything.
• 35:35
  Speaker 5: There's no time.
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: There's a theory out there that Sonny Gray, and it
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: looked very obvious that he had a sticky substance on
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: the back of his neck, and that one of the
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: reasons that Chad Tracy went out to get him is
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: because if he walked off the field, the umpires would
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: check to see if he had sticky substance on his hands.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: But Gray had made it so obvious that he was
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: using an illegal substance, and they check at random.
• 36:03
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: You've seen it happen to Logan and George.
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: All the time.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: All the time. If he would have come off the
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: field at the end of an inning, he might have
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: been hit. And then you would have lost him going forward.
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: So there's a theory out there that Tracy and the
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: coaching staff saw what Gray was doing and went out
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: there to rescue him. From getting nabbed by the umpires
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: for using an illegal substance.
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: He was definitely using an illegal substance.
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: There is no question.
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: And he wasn't even hiding it.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: But it's been so long since we've seen somebody do it,
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: try to get away from it, get away with it,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: that it was like, wow.
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: Wow, the ball's on this guy.
• 36:44
  Speaker 5: Holy cow. I know.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: I'd keep him in the game just.
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: For having balls that big. See if you can get
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: one more guy.
• 36:51
  Speaker 5: Out, right?
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: All right, coming up next, we do have our Kraken
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: opening night preview that we're doing here this morning for
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: you on Sports Radio 93.3 KJRFM. Alright, a lot to
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: do in a little, very short period of time. Do
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: want to let you know, Hugh Millen, Dick Fane will
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: be joining us for the 12th Man Roundtable today from
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: 8 to 9.
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: That's right, Dick Fane.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: Greg Bell is absent today, so Dick Fane will be
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: filling in, so.
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: That'll be fun.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: We've got a nice little 12th Man Roundtable.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll be chopping it up from 8 to 9 today.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Also want to let you know that that Chalk Talk
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: with Hugh Millen, it's going to happen Thursday, October 8th, if.
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: You're hearing about it for the very first time.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: Listen up, 5 o'clock next Thursday, Hugh Millen will be
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: out at Tulalip Resort Casino with myself, Anders Hurst, and others,
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: and he's going to be doing a Chalk Talk session
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: for everyone. If you've heard Hugh Millen's analysis over the
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: last 25 years, Um, just imagine how good it will
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: be when he actually has visuals to present.
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: And so that's the idea behind it.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: I know a lot of people have told me off
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: the air, a lot of listeners that they would love
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: the chance to be in a film session with Hugh Millen.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: And so if you would like to be a part
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: of it, it doesn't cost a thing. Um, but seats
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: are going to be limited for this. So 49451, it's
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: not a contest. Just let us know that we can
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: reserve a seat for you or two. for the event
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: that is coming up next Thursday at Tulalip Resort Casino
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: at 5 o'clock. So 49451, let us know if you're
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: interested in reserving a seat, but make sure that you can.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: Don't take a reserved seat from someone else. So 49451.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: If you're interested in that, Tulalip Resort Casino, when all
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: you want is everything. Tonight, Kraken taking on the Calgary
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: Flames in Calgary. And it will be the, of course,
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: season opener for our hockey franchise. Jordan Eberle, the captain,
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: was on with us yesterday. The entire talk in the
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: offseason was about how much things are going to change
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: around here. And then with the roster, pretty much nothing changed.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: I asked Jordan Eberle if he was actually relieved. that
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: they kept most of the roster intact?
• 39:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no question.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: I think anytime this season doesn't go well, the management
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: and the organization is going to do an audit just
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: to figure out what they can do better. As a player,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: you let them do their things, but I'm extremely confident
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: in the group that we have. It's nice having the
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: same coaching staff and a lot of familiarity within the
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: group and moving forward. I think that's going to help
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: us for sure. I think we have a lot of
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: young players who obviously are going to take huge steps
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: this year i think we have older players who are
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: continuing to grow and trying to mentor them but also
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: bring their a game like i said the way that
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: camp went and the way that this team is united
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: right now and i'm extremely confident and excited about what's
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: ahead of us.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: Our points leader a year ago at age 35, the
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: gap-toothed captain, Jordan Eberle, joining us yesterday on our show.
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: If you want to hear the entire conversation, do so
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: at our podcast, 933kjar. com. I'm going to use that text
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: line again, 49451, because this year.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: We don't do a green jacket draft anymore. That was
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: so yesteryear.
• 40:05
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: So passe. And so we now do a showdown draft
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: to preview major sporting events like a hockey season getting underway. Well,
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: every year we do a Kraken fantasy draft on our show.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: It's only three rounds long. And then we leave a
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: spot open for an in-season pickup on this draft. But
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: we do things a little differently now. We don't do
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: it at 9 o'clock every time we do one of
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: these previews. We're actually going to start doing them all
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: over the show going forward. And we also have a
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: listener participant that is part of our draft.
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: If you're a.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: Kraken fan, you think we want to show off your
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: Kraken knowledge, you want to test your skills against Christopher, Anders,
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: and myself, four, nine, four, five, one. Send me a
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: text right now, letting us know that you want to
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: draft with us, but I'm going to warn you, we're
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: doing it next. So you've got like five minutes to
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: prepare for this sucker. We are going to have, it's
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: the only gap I have in the show to do this.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: We have our showdown draft, Kraken preview, which is coming
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: up next. And I need a drafter. And what you're
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: going to draft are Kraken players. Two points for a goal,
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: one point for an assist. That's how the scoring goes.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: You will end up with three players on your roster
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: with the opportunity of picking someone up off the Kraken
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: roster at some point during the year. So 49451, if
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: anybody's interested in doing our showdown draft, we're going to
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: do it next.
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: Sports Radio 93.3 KJRFM.