Latest / Seattle Kraken Audio Network / KRAKEN THIS MORNING: Pre-season opener! (9/19)

Transcript

KRAKEN THIS MORNING: Pre-season opener! (9/19) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Kraken This Morning, a presentation of the Kraken
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Audio Network and Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Here's Mike Benton.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Well, getting into it right now, the Kraken are finally back.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: It is our first Kraken This Morning of the regular
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: season and the preseason as well. And for the record,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: you can catch this anytime on demand via the iHeartRadio
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: app by signing up for free at sportsradiokjr.com tonight. Kraken
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: and the Canucks at 6 p.m. Pacific from Climate Pledge Arena. Radio-wise,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of course, Sports Radio 950 KJR AM. TV is also
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: up and running on Kong and the Kraken Hockey Network
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: as we get set for one of four preseason games.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: And without further ado, the guy to help us break
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: the seal, appropriately, none other than And the legendary John Forslund,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: TV voice for the Kraken on the Kraken Hockey Network, TNT, Amazon.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Did I miss anything else, Johnny?
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: No, you have not. It's great to see you, Michael.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: And you're really getting ahead of yourself when you say
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: that we're up and running.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I hope we are tonight, but we don't know yet.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: I said up and running here, of course, as a
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: tribute to you.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: I'm awake. You're awake? Which is always good day by day,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: as you know.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Coffee in hand as well. That's extra big, extra tall,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: and they were already here before.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: That's what I need. That's only the first one.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: What have you missed about being around here for the
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: last five months?
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: Just the camaraderie of everybody, not just the players and
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: coaches and so on, but everybody, yourself included, and just
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: seeing everybody once again. I needed a really good summer,
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: and thankfully our family had maybe one of the best
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: summers we've ever had. My daughter got married in mid-July,
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: our oldest daughter.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Congratulations, by the way.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Thanks very much, and it was a wonderful time.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: We spent the whole summer at our place in Maine
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: and really enjoyed it. I finished on June the 14th.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: It was a long season. Thankfully, I was able to
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: get through about 125, 127 games, something like that. Same
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: thing this year. But I'm looking forward to it. I'm
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: really energized again, and I'm happy to be.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Back in Seattle.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I know you know, but inquiring minds and really aspiring
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: broadcasters want to know, what's the secret sauce to pushing
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: through not just with this, but planes, trains, and automobiles
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: with Amazon, TNT, and the like?
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Well, Jess, you and I have talked about this, you know,
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: going back to the first day that we worked together.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Every day is your opening performance, you know, every game.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: And I don't say that in a cliche way. I
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: will treat the preseason game tonight like that. To be
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: fair to the players who are getting an opportunity to
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: play and their families that might be listening, watching first
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: and foremost. But for the fans, every time you do
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: this job, you need to be the best you can
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: at your best. You know, we're in a business of
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: trying to be perfect in a world that's imperfect. And
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: it's really hard to have perfection, but you can strive
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: for it. And you have to have energy to get there.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: So thankfully, at my age, which is in well excess
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: of 60 years, 64.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Seemingly no older than 35.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I am energized. I feel like I did.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: This is my 42nd training camp.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: It feels like my first one.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: And God willing, it'll continue, and it'll continue here with
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: the Kraken.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Well, it's great to have you back. It's the reason
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: why I lean on, not just for your intel, but
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: your sense of humor as well, and it gets us
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: through 82, now 84 games here for this busy regular season,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: but it's going to lead up here to a bunch
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: of storylines and what feels like a very condensed camp.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Let's put it this way. Nothing is boring with a
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: four-game preseason slate and a camp that lasts what feels
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: like basically three days, and I think first off, The
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: biggest storyline is the Shane Wright situation. You've got a
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: massive game of telephone that gets distorted, maybe, in a
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: situation that we all knew would grow to maybe the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: elephant in the room on day one where he had
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: to go ahead and address this here with the media
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: for the first time. Shane quickly got after that with them.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: But what are your take on things, and what bar
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: has Shane Wright got to work for this season?
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: Well, he's at a spot now that it's completely up
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: to him. So throughout his career, and to be fair,
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: this is probably one of the most confounding situations for
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: a young player, whether he put it on himself or
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: others on the outside noise.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: As he likes to call it, have.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: I'm going back to his draft year when he was
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: supposed to be first overall.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: He slips to four, the crack can take him.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: We know the history. We know the developmental curve for
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: this player was slow. He had to find the right
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: place to play. They couldn't even do that right out
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: of the chute.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: That was unfair.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: And you have all this media pressure surrounding him and
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: it's never gone away. But the difference now, Mike, is this.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Nobody cares anymore. Like, okay, maybe there's some trade rumors
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: surrounding this player, whatever. That's up to the crack in
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: management to determine what they do with the player.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: But it's up to the player now to play.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: He's had his seasoning. He's gotten his feet wet. He
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: had 19 goals two years ago. He took a step
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: back last year in many ways. And I think, by
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: and large, the coach... lost a little trust in the
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: player last season. And he has to earn that back now.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: He has to earn everything. If it's another destination, it's
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: not a phone call that has to be made. He
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: has to earn the opportunity to play somewhere else and
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: the Kraken.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Will make a deal if they so choose.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: If the best case scenario works out, he becomes the
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: player everybody thinks he's supposed to be. He's part of
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: the young process here.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: He is the future.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: And as I've told you in the past, the goal
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: for me this season is just to see what the
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: future is. and a straight line path for our fans
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: so that as the season goes along, we're drawing conclusions.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: That are real.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: There's not a lot of hope attached to what happens here.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to talk about whether they make the
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: playoffs or not. I'm just talking about that. That has
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: been hard to get to. That will help their culture
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: that they're trying to build, just having an organized path
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: of what it looks like moving forward. And Shane Wright
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: is a big part of that, whether he's here or not.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: I did mention the word opportunity and how much it
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: can really be a defining key term for this camp
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: because he's still in that very much young group that
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: are vying for certain spots. Now, given for what it's
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: worth here, he was on the line with Capo Caco
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: and Berkley Catton for day one of the camp. I
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: get to Matty Beniers who was skating with Jared McCann
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: and Mackie Samaskevich, the latter who is rooming with Matty
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: now heading into this regular season. Funny enough, two Michigan guys,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: what do you know, bunkering up all of a sudden
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: now to get comfortable here together. He's a storyline. We
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: talked about this already on the Greg Bell Show, and
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: I filled in for him. You joined me over the
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: phone as well about his remarks and what it means
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: as far as him finding his voice as a leader
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: here in Seattle. He now, by his fifth year in
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: the NHL, is an ace at puck retrievals. Some say
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: he is growing into a Bergeron mold. Funny enough, that
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: was his guy growing up in Boston. But where do
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: you put the bar for Matty Beneers?
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Well, it's another step, and it could be a big
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: step for him.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: I just hope, I know he has some drive to
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: score more, which is good, and I know he feels
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: he can. I just hope he doesn't curtail some of
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: the other aspects of his game, like the defensive acumen
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: that's very, very important. So I hope he doesn't lose
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: any of that along the way because in this system,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: in any system that wins, including the Stanley Cup champions,
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: you defend the score. It's never changed in hockey. The
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: players have changed. The dynamics of the game have changed.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: The financials of the game have changed, but hockey has
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: always been that way. So in other words, in order
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: to do that, it starts in your defensive zone and
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: then it goes out. So for Matty Beneers to continue
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: those strong principles, great. I see him taking steps off
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: the ice as a young leader. I think that's really good.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: I like some of the things that he's been saying
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: about the situation here.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: I find that refreshing.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: But I also believe that, you know, here's a guy
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: that along with his running mate from Michigan, and I'm
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: glad they survived week one of their college football season
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: because that was dicey.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: You want to go back to do that all over again?
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: No, don't want to do that again. We're good for
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: the Wolverines.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: But I'm interested to see because now Sam Eskevich is
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: just slightly behind him in terms of, you know, development
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: at this level.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: But he's ready to break through too, and that's the hope.
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: He's going to continue growing. I think that Burke is,
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: you know, there was a decision made last year to
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: keep him, and I thought he looked fantastic today. He's
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: dialed in. I think that he had a great summer,
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: and he's one of our players that can make plays,
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: plain and simple. So, you know, there's a lot of
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: opportunity for him.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: What about Berkeley Caton?
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: He told me he gained five pounds this offseason. He
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: looks sharp on day one now. It is day one,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: but what do you make out of him so far?
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: Without question, in my opinion, and I know it's been
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: echoed by others, but we talked about it before the
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: microphones were turned on in the afternoon on day one.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: He was the best player on the ice for both groups,
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: in my opinion. And it's only because he's playing his
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: natural position.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: He feels at home.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: It looks like if you can be comfortable in your
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: own skin at the age of 20, he is. Physically,
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: that's normal, right? You're going to grow as 19, 20,
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: and beyond. But he's also put in the work to
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: make sure that he's stronger. But he's authoritative, and he
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: has the talent to.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Back it up.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: So if you just have the talent, that's your baseline.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: Not every player is gifted like Berkeley is. But then
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: if you have a little authority in your game because
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: your confidence level is high, that's what I see. I
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: can't wait to see him in the preseason. I really
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: hope that he's the three-seed. because I think he can
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: feast on matchups as the 3C. There will always be
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: the T's to play him higher in the order, but
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: with Stevenson and Beneers, you've got your 1-2.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: They're facing some big boys in those matchups.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Just start the year that way.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: Let Chandler carry the defensive water, which he doesn't get
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: enough credit for. Let Matty do what he has to do,
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: and then you have Berkeley right there. And then you
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: also have Katton as an option on either power play unit,
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: which at times last year it was hard for him
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: to get to. But to be fair to Lane, Lane's
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: trying to win. Every coach is trying to win at
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: this level. You need players that are ready to help you,
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: not the hope that they can help you.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: John Forslund joining us for Kraken this morning ahead of
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: the Kraken and the Canucks tonight to open the preseason
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: at Climate Pledge Arena. I want to touch on the
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: defense here for just a little bit. We know what's
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: there already, of course. Vince Dunn, Adam Larson as a pair,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: it feels like, until the end of time. Brandon Montour
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: is going to be here for a while. Deservedly so
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: earned that A that he'll wear now on his jersey.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Ryan Lindgren's accumulated enough experience here to know what you're
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: going to get as far as a defensive stalwart back
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: in his own zone when his game is at top notch.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: You've got Riker Evans in the mix, Cale Fleury in
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the mix, and then the question bears, could Tyson Jugnot
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: be there? Could Ty Nelson be there? Could Billy Odovinan
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: be there? What do you make out of this defensive
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: core as we get deeper and deeper into the weeds
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: of training camp and what could be brewing as far
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: as a battle?
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Well, the battle is for the number six position. And
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: I know right now it looks like Cale Fleury has it.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: And if you're going to write down a depth chart
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: and then you have Josh Maher right behind him or alongside,
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: but you know, can a, can, can a young player
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: like Jugnoff, you know, make an, make an impression. I
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: know he had a really good year in the American league.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: They're very high on them. Maybe all rookie team at
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: the American league level, but he's an undersized guy, which
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: we see around the league.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: He has elite puck skills. We'll see how that transforms. Um, Otto.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: Weinen is a guy that's been waiting on for a while.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure he's an NHL player in my own
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: opinion if I want to.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Be fair about this.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: And then you have situations where you have Riker Evans
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: right in the middle of the group of six. He
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: might be the wild card. He might be vitally, vitally
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: important to what they do. If you're going to play
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: him in the top four, I thought he took a
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: step back last year and struggled at times.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: That's got to be good.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: So Yeah, the defense is solid, but I think there's
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: some questions that have to be answered, to be fair here,
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: before you get to the goalies.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: So I think those are the things. Unless they go
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: out and get a guy off the way.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Also, none of this matters here unless Joey Decord and
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Philip Grubauer are healthy and playing top notch.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: No, they're going to have to.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: And they're going to have to each earn their opportunities.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: I think last year, if we roll the time machine back,
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: Decord was basically ordained the number one starter The way
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Grubauer played last year, his international experience and everything else,
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: this is his last kick at the can contractually.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Who knows?
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: I have him side by each here as the season starts.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: I might be the only one.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: You could say DeCord's your number one goalie, that's fine,
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: but I think Grubauer can push him a little bit,
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: almost has to, and I think unless Joey really, really
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: has a breakthrough, I don't know if there's a goalie
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: in the league, aside from the elite ones, that need
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: to play all the time, and that's only a handful
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: of goalies now.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Finally, once upon a time, we played a preseason that
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: was about roughly four weeks long, had countless games as well,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: and you're finally aching by early October to say, let's
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: get after it. And way back then, 84 games was
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: when you were with the Hartford Whalers. What do you
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: make out of getting back now to 84 and reducing
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: the preseason schedule?
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Well, 84 is when we tried what they call neutral
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: site games to get to the next wave of expansion.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: We played in Peoria, Illinois, we being the Whalers. We
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: had games in Birmingham, Alabama, Saskatoon. You know, that's what
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: they did.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: It's a great building also.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: It really is.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: And there's a restaurant there called Seafood Sam's. Brian Burke
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: and I had lunch there. Legendary place. And we sent
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: them a poster.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: If any of you want to have lunch with Brian Burke,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: imagine spending an hour with that guy. My goodness, you
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: know him.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: We're lucky to get out of there when we did.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: It was a day of the game, I think, so
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: everything was good. Anyway, we had a good time doing that.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: But this is different, you know, because it's, again, bargained
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: in by the players. Take away a couple of preseason games. Okay, owners,
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: we'll give you two more regular season games.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: We'll see how it goes.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: The schedule is still pretty compressed. The schedule is demanding.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: So there's no relief, really, because there's no Olympics. And
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: the Kraken will have a great trip, but a challenging
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: experience in the middle of November when they go to Finland.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Going to be a fun one here coming up, especially
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: for the preseason opener. Johnny, for the coffee, and also
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: the calls, Bottoms.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: Great to see you, Mike, and let's go Kraken, and
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: I can't wait to see all of our great fans
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: over the course of the season.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Go side, my friend. That's John Forslund joining us once again.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: He's got the TV call for tonight, the Kraken against
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the Canucks at Climate Pledge Arena, 6 p.m. on Kong
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: and Kraken Hockey Network. Also, radio coverage, myself, Everett Fitzhugh,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Al Koniski on Sports Radio. 950 KJR. We'll talk to
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: you at 6. Big thank you to John Forslund. I'm
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Mike Benton. Enjoy the game.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Your home for the Kraken. Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.