Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Tom Callahan on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Free agents the Utah Mammoth should keep, NHL playoff bonus money + more

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Tom Callahan on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Free agents the Utah Mammoth should keep, NHL playoff bonus money + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: You were listening to the Sean O'Connell Show from the
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  Speaker 1: Murdoch Hunting Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety two
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  Speaker 1: to one a half am.
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  Speaker 2: Now, welcome, I re number two on the Shawn O'Connell's show.
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  Speaker 3: Welcome in to our friend Tom Callahan at Callahan.
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  Speaker 2: On air on the old Twitter Machine, host of Lockdown
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  Speaker 2: Mammoth as we talk some NHL playoffs and check in
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  Speaker 2: on some Mammoth prospects as well.
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  Speaker 3: Tom Callahan, welcome back to the show. How are you, sir?
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  Speaker 4: I'm doing well. Thanks for having me back. I appreciate it.
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  Speaker 5: The the Golden Knights, who of course eliminated the Utah Mammoth,
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  Speaker 5: have moved on to a really compelling series now with
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  Speaker 5: the Anaheim Ducks.
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  Speaker 2: That one is tied up to two and you've got
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  Speaker 2: another matchup tonight, Game five at T Mobile Arena in
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  Speaker 2: Las Vegas. Obviously, Game five is a crucial one in
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  Speaker 2: all of these series.
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  Speaker 3: How do you see Game five for the Knights and
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  Speaker 3: the Ducks?
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  Speaker 4: You know what, I've enjoyed this series quite a bit
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  Speaker 4: because we are seeing a lot of different kinds of
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  Speaker 4: hockey within it, and some nights it's Anaheim. Some nights
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  Speaker 4: it's Vegas. I really, I mean, I'm still kind of
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  Speaker 4: thinking Anaheim has a chance in this series to beat Vegas.
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  Speaker 4: And again, I look back at the Utah series and
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  Speaker 4: Utah showed that the Golden Knights are beatable, and I
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  Speaker 4: do believe that. And you know, it's from a standpoint
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  Speaker 4: of what do the Ducks have. They have youth, they
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  Speaker 4: have some speed, they can get pucks to the net,
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  Speaker 4: and honestly, Vegas is a little beat up. Mark Stone
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  Speaker 4: has been in and out of the lineup. It's hard
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  Speaker 4: for them when he's not in there. But Vegas is
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  Speaker 4: a little older, a little more savvy, veteran team. Some
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  Speaker 4: guys were around to win that Stanley Cup. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: this is a hockey team that doesn't rattle. They're not
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  Speaker 4: going to freak out. So you really do have to
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  Speaker 4: push the play all the time against Vegas to be
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  Speaker 4: able to beat them. But that is exactly what I
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  Speaker 4: feel like Anaheim can do. And that's why the series
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  Speaker 4: has been so compelling. It's a little bit of the
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  Speaker 4: you know, the immovable object meeting the unstoppable force, and
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  Speaker 4: it's been some very entertaining hockey. I'm still thinking the
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  Speaker 4: Ducks can pull this off.
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  Speaker 2: So we've made the point many times on the air
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  Speaker 2: that you know, there's there's quarterbacks in football, there's pitchers
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  Speaker 2: in baseball, there's goaltenders in hockey who have a just
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  Speaker 2: massively outsized influence on individual games but also on seven
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  Speaker 2: game series. And you know, correct me if I'm wrong,
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  Speaker 2: but it does not feel in this particular Stanley Cup
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  Speaker 2: playoff that any of the main storylines yet have been
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  Speaker 2: about a goaltender standing on their head and just being
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  Speaker 2: impassable and impossible to score on. Who is the hottest
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  Speaker 2: goaltender in the Stanley Cup playoffs right now?
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  Speaker 4: That's actually a good question, and you're right, I don't
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  Speaker 4: know if there is one. Maybe it's jak Abdobish with Montreal.
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  Speaker 4: He really kind of came out of nowhere this year.
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  Speaker 4: Started the years, the backup didn't play a whole heck
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  Speaker 4: of ale lot by the end of the year had
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  Speaker 4: stolen the starting mantle and is leaving the Canadians in
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  Speaker 4: that series with Buffalo two to one. I think he's
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  Speaker 4: been a story. Now. That doesn't mean there aren't goaltending
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  Speaker 4: stories for Anaheim. As Lucas Dostal goes so go the
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  Speaker 4: Ducks whether he's been good or bad, and certainly they'd
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  Speaker 4: love to see him be more consistent. I think that's
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  Speaker 4: a big story for them. And then with Carolina. Carolina,
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  Speaker 4: it's crazy to realize they've swept both series. They swept Autawa,
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  Speaker 4: they swept Philadelphia, and they haven't even really had a
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  Speaker 4: test of their goaltending. So that's another one that's almost
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  Speaker 4: a little bit unknown, is what's going to happen whenever
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  Speaker 4: Carolina faces whoever happens to be out of the Buffalo
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  Speaker 4: Montreal series. And the fact that Carolina is literally going
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  Speaker 4: to be sitting around for a week, week and a half,
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  Speaker 4: that's going to be a story unto itself for them.
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  Speaker 4: I really do feel like they'll be at a big
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  Speaker 4: disadvantage for sitting. I don't like the way the schedule
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  Speaker 4: goes in this round of the playoffs. But even like
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  Speaker 4: Colorado Minnesota, you're right, I mean, goalpending is not a
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  Speaker 4: future story there. It's there really hasn't been one guy
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  Speaker 4: where we're looking at on you know, like an Andre
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  Speaker 4: Vasilevski who just oh, game seven, it's time for him
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  Speaker 4: to pitch another shutout, Like, there's not that guy this year,
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  Speaker 4: except again, maybe Dobish is the closest thing to it.
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  Speaker 2: I was wondering how important the Wild clawing one away
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  Speaker 2: from from the Avalanche was, if that was going to
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  Speaker 2: put Colorado, you know, put any doubt in their minds
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  Speaker 2: and make them start the question. And then, of course
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  Speaker 2: last night five to two in the back firmly in
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  Speaker 2: control of the series. And you know, three to one
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  Speaker 2: is not insurmountable in NHL playoff hockey, but three to
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  Speaker 2: one is a nice little controlling stake here for an
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  Speaker 2: already hot Colorado Avalanche team.
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  Speaker 3: What are the Wild need to do to try to
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  Speaker 3: stay alive in that series?
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  Speaker 4: Now, if you look at the series, in the five games,
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  Speaker 4: the Wild, even when they did score six all the
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  Speaker 4: way back in Game one, Colorado scored nine. Yeah, you know,
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  Speaker 4: it's like, wow, are you kidding me? The one game
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  Speaker 4: they won, they really controlled the ice and controlled Colorado's
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  Speaker 4: ability to handle and manage the puck. And that is
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  Speaker 4: the entire key for the wildest puck possession. It's not boy,
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  Speaker 4: this offense needs to get going, a boy this you
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  Speaker 4: know they need Look, your goaltender could steal you one.
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  Speaker 4: But that's really not the point. Of how you're going
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  Speaker 4: to beat the Avalanche, because that's only gonna get you
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  Speaker 4: one game. What they need is to play puck possession
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  Speaker 4: two hundred feet of hockey, and they need to do
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  Speaker 4: it against a team that's really good at doing that itself.
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  Speaker 4: So to me, this comes down to basically an effort
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  Speaker 4: matchup from now on for the While they have to
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  Speaker 4: win those puck battles, they have to win the face offs,
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  Speaker 4: they have to control the neutral zone, and they're gonna
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  Speaker 4: have to do it by skating their butts off, working
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  Speaker 4: harder than Colorado and making smarter and better plays, which
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  Speaker 4: is really hard to do. Colorado is well coached, they
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  Speaker 4: stick to their system. Their system works, and they have
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  Speaker 4: the horses to run it. So if the Wild they're
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  Speaker 4: going to somehow figure out a way to win three
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  Speaker 4: in a row against Colorado. It is all about playing chests,
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  Speaker 4: not checkers, and they really do have to control the puck.
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  Speaker 2: You all the puck to the face for Nathan McKinnon,
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  Speaker 2: but didn't didn't take them off the ice much. There's
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  Speaker 2: not even a question here. Tom is just even star players.
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  Speaker 2: It's not glamorous for them in the NHL playoffs Because
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  Speaker 2: he would I scored a.
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  Speaker 3: Goal after that?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah. It's it's almost like a badge of honor.
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  Speaker 4: It's like, how ms did your face get during the playoffs? Oh? Okay,
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  Speaker 4: nice job. You know. It's you know, but in all seriousness,
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  Speaker 4: like hockey players are tough and they want to be
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  Speaker 4: out there. The stars want to be out there. Could
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  Speaker 4: they sit him in a three one series lead situation,
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  Speaker 4: sure they could, and they could probably win without him,
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  Speaker 4: but they're not going to And that is what it
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  Speaker 4: comes down to this time of year. The idea being
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  Speaker 4: we went Game five and then I'll get my rest,
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  Speaker 4: and hopefully the Ducks and Golden Knights go seven and
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  Speaker 4: then I will get my rest. And so that's just
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  Speaker 4: how they treat it this time of year. It's a
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  Speaker 4: real warrior type of mentality that they just every single
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  Speaker 4: guy will battle through as much as they can possibly
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  Speaker 4: handle and probably a little more, just to try to
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  Speaker 4: stay active in the playoffs. And you're right, it is
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  Speaker 4: the ultimate sacrific this time of year. Here's a fun
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  Speaker 4: little thing for the listeners. I don't know if people
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  Speaker 4: know this. These guys aren't getting paychecks in the playoffs.
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  Speaker 4: The NHL pays its players in the regular season, so
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  Speaker 4: that way everybody gets their money over in even whatever
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  Speaker 4: it is, twenty six weeks or something like that. But
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  Speaker 4: once the playoffs start, that's it. You're done getting paid
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  Speaker 4: for the regular season. Now the only thing they're playing
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  Speaker 4: for is a chance to win the Stanley Cup. And
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  Speaker 4: of course the further you advance, there is something called
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  Speaker 4: playoffs share, so you do get a little more money
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  Speaker 4: per player every round that you advance, But is it
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  Speaker 4: anywhere near your paycheck. No, it's not. It's nice, but
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  Speaker 4: this battle is all about the pride and the passion
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  Speaker 4: it takes to win the Stanley Cup.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think that most of our listeners knew that.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't know that, and we learned some of the
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  Speaker 2: ins and outs of this in NFL playoffs a couple
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  Speaker 2: of years ago, when our beloved Eric Weddle came out
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  Speaker 2: of retirement and ended up winning a Super Bowl with
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  Speaker 2: the Rams, and everyone was like, oh, he probably got
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  Speaker 2: a couple of million bucks to do that. No, it's
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  Speaker 2: all collectively bargained, and you know, you get twenty five
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  Speaker 2: grand for the first round and then forty grand for
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  Speaker 2: the next round or whatever. So when you say it,
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  Speaker 2: you know that Playoff share what kind of money? I mean,
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  Speaker 2: this is a pittance for these guys, or it's it's
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  Speaker 2: a nice you know, it's like you can buy a
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  Speaker 2: new car with it. What are the real figures looking
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  Speaker 2: like for playoffs share?
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  Speaker 4: Whose new car are we talking about here?
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  Speaker 3: Good question, you know, you.
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  Speaker 4: Know, it's kind of funny, and I would have to
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  Speaker 4: go into the CBA to tell you, and I don't
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  Speaker 4: off the top of my head know how much that is.
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  Speaker 4: It's but it is kind of along the lines of that.
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  Speaker 4: So I'm trying to find let's see here, just doing
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  Speaker 4: a real quick search. Okay, So it looks like the
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  Speaker 4: playoff money breaks down like this, or at least this
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  Speaker 4: is according to what I'm finding online. Is President's Trophy winner,
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  Speaker 4: meaning the team gets five hundred thousand as a bonus,
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  Speaker 4: and in the first round, the loser's got two hundred
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  Speaker 4: and fifty thousand dollars to each of the eight teams,
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  Speaker 4: So Utah got two fifty collectively, not for players. So
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  Speaker 4: now that's split what twenty three ways? So yeah, I
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  Speaker 4: mean we're breaking it. So if you're dividing by ten,
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  Speaker 4: it's like twenty five thousand. You know, if you were
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  Speaker 4: to divide it ten. So yeah, that's that's about what
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  Speaker 4: you're talking. And then it goes up. Second round gets
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  Speaker 4: five hundred thousand to the four teams, one point two
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  Speaker 4: five million to the two teams that lose, and then
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  Speaker 4: Stanley Cup Final. Even if you're the Stanley Cup champion,
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  Speaker 4: your team gets three point seventy five million, So that's
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  Speaker 4: kind of that's kind of interesting.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess you're not doing it for the paycheck
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  Speaker 2: at this point, Like you said.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you can buy Chevy so although, look, you can
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: insult me for that kind of money and that's fine.
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  Speaker 4: I'll lose in the first round and take you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, these guys are pulling a little bit better weekly
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  Speaker 2: than you and I are on a regular basis, especially
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  Speaker 2: now that the salary cap went up again in the NHL,
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  Speaker 2: which is nice to see the you know, continued growth
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  Speaker 2: of a sport that we've gron to love.
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  Speaker 3: Here.
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  Speaker 2: Tom Callahan, by the way, is our guest here on
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  Speaker 2: the Sean O'Connell show talking the continuing Stanley Cup playoffs
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  Speaker 2: in the absence of this Utah Mammoth team that has
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  Speaker 2: to watch from home while teams like the Colorado Avalanche
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  Speaker 2: and the Carolina Hurricanes continue to pursue their Stanley Cup
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  Speaker 2: favorite odds and their respective conferences. You mentioned, you know,
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  Speaker 2: Colorado trying to get through this one get a little
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  Speaker 2: bit of rest. You also earlier mentioned that Carolina is
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  Speaker 2: maybe going to get too much rest. What is the
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  Speaker 2: goldilocks zone in your opinion in the Stanley Cup playoffs?
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  Speaker 2: Where you know, two sweeps in a row and too
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  Speaker 2: much sitting around can't be good for you, interrupts momentum,
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  Speaker 2: gets you a little bit you know, slow whatever, versus
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  Speaker 2: of course, you know, seven game series back to back
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  Speaker 2: to back becomes maybe too much of a grind. Where
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  Speaker 2: is the perfect balance.
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  Speaker 3: To me?
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  Speaker 4: It depends if you're traveling or not. But if you are,
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  Speaker 4: you aren't, it's three to four days is a good
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  Speaker 4: amount of rest because the day after a series finishes,
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: it allows you to give the team a day off.
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  Speaker 4: So if you're playing at home, you can then practice
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  Speaker 4: on day two you're not traveling, on day three, you
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  Speaker 4: can have another practice, another skate, and then you play
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: to start the series on that fourth day. If you're traveling,
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  Speaker 4: I would like four days because then you get a
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  Speaker 4: day off and then again you can do practice practice,
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  Speaker 4: travel day to your destination on that fourth day, and
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  Speaker 4: you start on day five that new series. I think
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  Speaker 4: that's enough to give guys a little bit of rest
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  Speaker 4: and recharge and keep the momentum. Whereas I've actually been
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  Speaker 4: on a team. I was in the minor leagues, but
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: I was on a team that did exactly what Carolina did.
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  Speaker 4: Swept the first and second rounds and then sat for
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  Speaker 4: nine days, and I felt like that team should have
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: won a championship, but seriously incredibly rusty performances in game
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  Speaker 4: one and two fell behind the series. It was two,
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  Speaker 4: tied it up to two, and then lost Game five
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  Speaker 4: and Game six in overtime. So you know, you wonder
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  Speaker 4: the what ifs of that scenario if you're not sitting
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  Speaker 4: for nine days. Because it took them two games to
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  Speaker 4: really get it going. The second game was closer than
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  Speaker 4: the first, but I think it was seriously detrimental. So
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  Speaker 4: I do believe the teams that tend to win a
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  Speaker 4: series in maybe six games are operating in about the optimum.
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  Speaker 2: Switching gears a little bit to talk about this Utah
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  Speaker 2: Mammoth off season. I've already picked your brain a little
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  Speaker 2: bit on this, but you know, there's the possibility of
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  Speaker 2: trying to add some pieces externally, and of course then
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: there's this really nice pipeline of recent high draft picks
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  Speaker 2: that are all progressing and some of them playing in
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  Speaker 2: Canadian leagues and some of them juniors and just kind
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  Speaker 2: of like putting it together. And we saw a couple
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  Speaker 2: of guys on the big League club earlier this year.
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  Speaker 2: When you listen to coach Behar, when you listen more
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  Speaker 2: importantly to the Armstrongs, do you think there's a hardcore
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: commitment one way or another to like, let's build with
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: what we have, or let's use some assets and maybe
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: bring in external pieces.
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  Speaker 3: What is more likely for the Utah Mammathisoft season in
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  Speaker 3: your mind?
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  Speaker 4: I think for Utah, especially defensively, they like what they have.
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  Speaker 4: I think they really are enamored with their blue line
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  Speaker 4: and their pipeline to the blue line. So I don't
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: think there's going to be a whole lot of movement there.
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  Speaker 4: I do think that they'll have a decision to make
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  Speaker 4: and a guy like I don't know if there's a
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  Speaker 4: room for him next year, especially if the possibility of
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: maybe the graduation of someone like a Simashev or a
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: Lamarou to the blue line does happen. And the Nick
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: d Simone signing has been just, I mean amazing. It
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: picked him up on waivers and the guy's been nothing
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: but phenomenal. He's given them depth and the confidence to
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: let the younger players develop. I think it very happy. Defensively,
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: they really do like burther at upfront. Every team will
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: go through shuffling in the summer. I think there's a
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: little bit more shuffling to be done upfront and decisions
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: to be made with this Mammoth team. Barrett Hayton being
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: an RFA, I don't think really is going to be
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: an earth shaking decision for them. I expect he's going
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: to be back no problem. Maybe the real and we
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: actually just talked about this on our last show, is
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: you know what kind of contract does hate and end
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: up getting? Is it a little shorter term, a little
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: longer term. I think that the Mammoth really like what
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: they have in the pipeline for the young kids up front,
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: and I think that they're very excited about that. But
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: they are further away most In most cases, they are
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: further away from NHL impact than the defense, So up
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  Speaker 4: front that might be where you see the opportunity to
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: try to sign someone short things up a little bit
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: in the free agency. I think they like their top six,
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: and I think they would like to see JJ Peterka
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  Speaker 4: push himself back into the conversation for the top six.
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  Speaker 4: If anything. For the Mammoth, they're kind of shooting for
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  Speaker 4: the middle. They don't need a game breaker, at least
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  Speaker 4: as far as they're concerned. I am curious to see
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  Speaker 4: when Bill Armstrong talks about building a team that is physical,
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  Speaker 4: that's big and can lean on you and handle that
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  Speaker 4: kind of weight. I felt like that was one of
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: the shortcomings from the Mammoth in the playoffs. I felt
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  Speaker 4: they weren't physical enough. But Vegas, I'd like to see
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  Speaker 4: if that's going to be addressed in the free agency.
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: But to me, that's really I think the direction of
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  Speaker 4: the team as we might see a little more movement
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: up front. I think they really like the defense. And
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: then I mean, Vegg isn't going anywhere. I don't know
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: if they're going to bring Banichick back or not. I
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: think personally for Banachick could be better for him to leave. Professionally,
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: I would like to see him back because I like him.
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: I'm one of the few people who's really a fan
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: of b type Banichick, but I think he's a very
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: good goaltender. He just didn't play enough. No backup goaltender
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: for Utah really plays enough to be good to be effective.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: So that's a hard spot to be in and to
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: want to get a guy to come in and accept, Hey,
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: you might only play ten fifteen games.
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  Speaker 2: So what's the chicken in the egg on that Veggie
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: just likes to play that much. Bear likes to keep
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: this guy out there or was there a lack of
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: trust with Vanichick and so they kept Veggie out there
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: more than would be ideal because they know there.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: Was not a lot of wiggle room, there was not
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: a margin for error in the standings.
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: No, it's more of a Bear likes to run his
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: number one. We talk about it one and a one
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: B with a lot of teams the NHL for goaltenders,
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: and it's like a sixty forty split, maybe sixty five
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: thirty five. That is not how Andre Tourney seems to
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: do things. The numbers bear out that he likes to
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: pick a starter and run with that guy. Now, it
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: doesn't mean his starter won't change because We did see
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: that between Vege and Connor Ingram in previous seasons that
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: who was the starter did go back and forth a
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: couple of times based on how they're playing. But it's
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: not going to be a situation where every third or
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: every fourth game the backup knows they're going to get
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: enough playing time to be consistent. And I do think
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: that hinders any goaltender in a backup situation. It is
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: almost impossible to be good when you play so little
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: so and the other thing is too And we've talked
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: about this several times ourselves on the show, is that
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: Vege seems to play better when he's pushed, when there
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: is competition, when he feels that, and I think that
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: drives any player to know that there is that competition.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: And so I would actually like to see that inspire
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: a one A one B.
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: Type of setup, because you get the benefit of your
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: goaltenders being fresher, and then you also get the benefit
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: of both of them playing basically to try to top
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: one another, you know, And I think that would actually
• 19:19
  Speaker 6: be super beneficial.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: For the Utah MANNAP. I just don't think it's on
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: the cards. Tom.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Before I let you go, there has anything happened in
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: these Stanley Cup playoffs that.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: Change your pick for who's going to win the Cup.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: Have you been surprised enough by either Carolina or somebody
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: against Colorado or whatever that has changed your opinion one
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: way or another? And who you think is going to
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: end up state skating around with Lord Stanley's Cup when
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: it's all said and done.
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: I always thought the color Otto was going to be good.
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: I am a little shocked at how easy it's been
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: for Carolina, but I also think Ottawa and Philadelphia, like
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: whoever came out of the Pittsburgh Tilly matchup, I didn't
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: think it was going to trouble Carolina. The fact that
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: they haven't lost the game yet is a little surprising.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: Montreal has been a surprise. I actually, just for nostalgia's sake.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: I picked Buffalo to be Dallas this year, and that
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: was more of a, you know, a just desserts kind
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: of thing for me.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: But I mean, I've.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: Always thought Colorado was the powerhouse in the West, and
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: nothing has changed my mind on that. I'm really curious
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: to see who gets out of the East because any
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: one of Buffalo, Montreal, or Carolina could easily be in
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: the Stanley Cup Final at this point, again, it may
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: come down to if Colorado goes through their Western Conference
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: finals through Vegas, here, through Anaheim, wherever they face, and
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: it's not a long series and they're not heavily taxed,
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: if they're sitting around, how do they react once they
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: get to a Stanley Cup Final. So I know, I look,
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: I know to play the series, upsets happen. I get that,
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: but I really do feel like it's going to take
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: a lot to beat Colorado.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: I have one more question for you.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: I do this thing where I look at, you know,
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: the get in price in certain cities, and like with
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: the World Cup coming in, I'm looking at how cheap
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: can you get into a game? And when you're talking
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: about playoff hockey, playoff basketball, playoff baseball, whatever. To me,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: it's an indication of, you know, just how passionate a
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: fan base is in certain places.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: If those prices go crazy.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: Right now, you know, it's three times as expensive to
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: get into a Canadians game that it is to like
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: any other place around the around the league. Right now,
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: and we at at the Delta Center. You know, this
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: fan base wants to pride itself on being like the
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: most hardcore, passionate, loud fan base in the NHL sooner
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: than later. Who are the contenders that you have to overcome.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Who are the legendary fan bases and buildings in the
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: NHL that we're going to have to surpass to have
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: that reputation in hockey.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: I'll look back at my former employer, the National Predators.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: I always thought that was an intimidating place to play,
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: to come into for a road team, especially when the
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: crowd was loud and they were into it. Chicago used
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: to be and I think once that team starts winning again,
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: they will be again. That is a very difficult building
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: to go into in a difficult fan base. A lot
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: of the old school fan bases. I mean, you have
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: to talk about Philadelphia. It is hard to go into
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: Philly and do anything and even be Santa Claus in Philadelphia.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: And if for Van you don't know what I'm talking about,
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: they booed Santa in Philadelphia. So that's a hard place. Montreal,
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: their fan bases is epic, and you hear them right
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: now Toronto when they're going they are to Boston can
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: be a hard place to play, you know. So those
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: are some of the ones that I think you would
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: you would absolutely look at as oh if you want
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: to be in the upper echelon of NHL fan bases,
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: those are the ones that are really really good, solid
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: fan bases. And I will give a shout out to
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: the Winnipeg Jets fans, especially in the playoffs when they're
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: doing the white out that place, and they have one
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: of the smallest arenas in the league, but because of
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: that they pack it. It's loud. The energy there is crazy,
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: So playoff Winnipeg is also a really good one.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: Tom, appreciate you giving us your time and your insight.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: Yet again, my friend, thank you so much, appreciate you.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: Absolutely look forward to talking again.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Tom Callahan, Best in the business at Callahan on Air,
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: NHL Playoff Inside and now that the Mammoth are out,
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: of course, he also hosts a Lockdown Mammoth podcast