Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Tom Callahan previews Utah Mammoth's opening night, Who will be Mammoth's leading goal scorer (?), Biggest risers in the NHL this year + ...

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Tom Callahan previews Utah Mammoth's opening night, Who will be Mammoth's leading goal scorer (?), Biggest risers in the NHL this year + ... · The Sean O'Connell Show

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0:31
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell Show. Reminder for all of.
0:34
Speaker 3: You looking to go to UFC 332 at the Delta
0:37
Speaker 3: Center on Saturday night. You can head to Dave &
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Speaker 3: Buster's at the Gateway tonight or tomorrow. Anytime ahead of
0:45
Speaker 3: Friday night's raffle, they're going to raffle off a chance
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Speaker 3: to win tickets for the UFC 332 event, which, of course,
0:52
Speaker 3: will take place on Saturday.
0:54
Speaker 2: No purchase is necessary.
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Speaker 3: But if you don't win the tickets, head back down
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Speaker 3: to Dave & Buster's, watch all the fights at the gateway,
1:01
Speaker 3: play the games in between.
1:02
Speaker 2: They also have a UFC pass. You can buy it.
1:06
Speaker 3: David Buster's a UFC membership where you pay 50 bucks.
1:10
Speaker 3: You get a UFC collectible power card. That's preloaded with
1:13
Speaker 3: $ 35 for games and 50% off games and 20% off
1:19
Speaker 3: food and beverages during every UFC fight event. So get
1:22
Speaker 3: it for this one, go back for the next one
1:24
Speaker 3: and the next one and the next one, take advantage
1:26
Speaker 3: of the discounts and, Dave and Buster's at the Gateway
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Speaker 3: in downtown Salt Lake City. UFC 332, fight night done
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Speaker 3: right by your friends over at Dave and Buster's. The
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Speaker 3: raffle will happen Friday night, so get down there beforehand.
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Speaker 3: In fact, here's a good idea for you. You're coming
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Speaker 3: downtown for the Mammoth game tonight, season opener. Head over
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Speaker 3: to Dave and Buster's, put your name in the raffle,
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Speaker 3: walk back over to the Delta Center and watch the
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Speaker 3: Mammoth beat up on the Chicago Blackhawks. Joining us to
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Speaker 3: talk about that, Friend of the program, Mammoth Insider, Tom Callahan.
2:01
Speaker 3: Welcome back, Tom Callahan.
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Speaker 2: How are you?
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Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness. It has been a minute, hasn't it?
2:06
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me back.
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Speaker 3: I appreciate you giving us some time again, host of
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Speaker 3: Locked on Mammoth, and obviously a lot to talk about.
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Speaker 2: With this team.
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Speaker 3: Really interesting off-season moves, including an announcement just a couple
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Speaker 3: of days ago of the opening day roster where Daniil
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Speaker 3: Boot and Dmitry Simishev, some of the young stars that
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Speaker 3: started to make their mark last year, are going to
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Speaker 3: be with the big club for game one. I think
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Speaker 3: this was kind of anticipated and expected within the halls
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Speaker 3: of that building and with a lot of the fan base.
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Speaker 3: But I wanted to start there with those two young
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Speaker 3: guys being added.
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Speaker 2: To the mix.
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Speaker 3: What kind of impact should they have on this season,
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Speaker 3: especially in these early goings?
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Speaker 1: Boy, it's exciting right now in Mammoth Land. And I
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Speaker 1: know we'll talk about a bunch of the other stuff later,
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Speaker 1: but the evolution of both Boot and Simishev is highly anticipated.
3:02
Speaker 1: We've been waiting for this for a while. Last year,
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Speaker 1: I think there was a lot of hope that it
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Speaker 1: could be last season that they made the jump full-time
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Speaker 1: to the NHL. Never quite what worked out for either
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Speaker 1: one of them. They both played in the high twenties
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Speaker 1: as far as games, but didn't really find that full-time role.
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Speaker 1: And especially Simishev, I think they were excited to have
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Speaker 1: him on that opening day roster last year. But things just,
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Speaker 1: It didn't quite go that way. Okay. So, you know,
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Speaker 1: they get extended time in Tucson, their development continues. And
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Speaker 1: I think this year in the preseason, we really saw
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Speaker 1: that both players have made significant strides in their developments.
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Speaker 1: You know, another year of North American pro, which is
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Speaker 1: essential for guys coming over from playing in the KHL,
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Speaker 1: which they both did really, I think helped their game.
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Speaker 1: And now they appear to be NHL ready on a
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Speaker 1: full-time basis.
3:55
Speaker 3: Another new newcomer on this roster and a big acquisition.
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Speaker 3: Trochek comes in and it looks like he's going to
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Speaker 3: be paired. They've already figured out the lines and things
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Speaker 3: like that. Do you like where the initial vision for
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Speaker 3: Vincent Trochek and his ability to contribute seems to lie
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Speaker 3: with Coach Baer?
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Speaker 1: What's really cool about Vincent Trocek is that he has
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Speaker 1: the ability to plug in in so many different places
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Speaker 1: and make an impact up and down the lineup. And we, we,
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Speaker 1: Speculated all summer long over locked on mammoth about where
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Speaker 1: he could slot in because there were so many options.
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Speaker 1: Do you keep the top line intact from last year
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Speaker 1: or do you start moving pieces around? Do you try
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Speaker 1: him at center? Do you put them on the wing?
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Speaker 1: There are a lot of places he could go. What
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Speaker 1: were some of the other players coming in like Anders Lee?
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Speaker 1: What was his impact going to be? Staring him on
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Speaker 1: the top line, putting him in a place where he
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Speaker 1: can maybe try to establish some chemistry like he used
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Speaker 1: to have at the Rangers with Chris Kreider. Those two
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Speaker 1: were just unbelievable together. And I think that putting him
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Speaker 1: on a line with Schmaltz and Keller, at least to
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Speaker 1: start the season, you now have both Schmaltz and Trochek
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Speaker 1: who can take draws. So you can have a very
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Speaker 1: good chance of starting with the puck. Trochek was great
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Speaker 1: in the face-off circle there. which Utah has not been
5:16
Speaker 1: great in the soft circle the last couple of years,
5:18
Speaker 1: makes them better there. I really like it. I think
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Speaker 1: if you're giving your top line the chance to start
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Speaker 1: with the puck more often than not, that's amazing. And
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Speaker 1: Trochek's going to create a little more space for those guys.
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Speaker 1: Clayton Keller, I am not shy at saying he's got
5:33
Speaker 1: to crack at 100 points this year. And if this
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Speaker 1: line really comes together, that's going to be a big
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Speaker 1: reason why.
5:39
Speaker 3: Let's talk about the captain. Last year, for some very
5:43
Speaker 3: understandable reasons, there were some inconsistencies, and there's an expectation
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Speaker 3: that this whole team is going to be better this
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Speaker 3: year than they were last year, and they were pretty
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Speaker 3: good last year. Feels like it's got to start with
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Speaker 3: the captain from a sort of microcosm level. What does
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Speaker 3: he need to do better as an individual in order
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Speaker 3: to lead the charge on this team improving?
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Speaker 1: I feel like Clayton Keller is still very underrated and
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Speaker 1: really the national hockey media just really doesn't pay attention
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Speaker 1: to him or, or for that matter, Utah as much
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Speaker 1: as they should. Now, last year you talked about there
6:21
Speaker 1: were some extenuating circumstances, and he was dealing with a
6:25
Speaker 1: lot personally off the ice. So, yes, I can understand
6:30
Speaker 1: things like that can affect your level of play, and
6:34
Speaker 1: it's tough. And I would never want to guess what
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Speaker 1: he had to deal with and how he just personally
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Speaker 1: dealt with it. I think coming back in this year,
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Speaker 1: he's got a chance to be refocused, was 90 points
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Speaker 1: two years ago. And that's why I say 100 points
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Speaker 1: is not out of reach this year, especially with the
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Speaker 1: addition of Trocek onto that line. But the thing that
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Speaker 1: Clayton Keller doesn't have to do anymore, and this is
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Speaker 1: what will make the difference for him, he doesn't really
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Speaker 1: have to do it all himself. And I think at
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Speaker 1: times last year, even with Gunther and Cooley and Kraus
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Speaker 1: and those guys around him, I felt like at times
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Speaker 1: he put a lot of pressure on himself to have
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Speaker 1: to do it himself. This year, instead of Utah having
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Speaker 1: a really good top six, I believe they have a
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Speaker 1: good top nine, meaning their first three lines can all
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Speaker 1: do some damage. They are much deeper than they were.
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Speaker 1: And so that's going to take some of that pressure
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Speaker 1: off of Clayton Keller to be able to produce and,
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Speaker 1: I think, free him up to play a better brand
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Speaker 1: of hockey.
7:32
Speaker 2: I put the poll question out today.
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Speaker 3: Who's going to be the leading goal scorer for this
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Speaker 3: Mammoth squad starting hopefully tonight? And, you know, they've got
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Speaker 3: high expectations for Cooley, for Gunther. We saw Schmaltz have
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Speaker 3: kind of a goal scoring explosion. It's always nice to
7:49
Speaker 3: see the captain get involved there, although he doesn't have
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Speaker 3: to score a ton of goals to be effective. If
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Speaker 3: I'm asking you that same question, how are you answering
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Speaker 3: the poll today?
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Speaker 1: Dylan Gunther is my goal scoring leader. Clayton Keller is
8:03
Speaker 1: my leading point getter. But I think that Gunther has
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Speaker 1: a chance to challenge for 50 goals this year. I
8:10
Speaker 1: really believe coming off as 40 last year, he's going
8:14
Speaker 1: to get more power play time. And now there's more
8:16
Speaker 1: talent to distribute pucks on that power play. I think
8:19
Speaker 1: the power play will be better this year and should
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Speaker 1: be top third of the league. It's going to need
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Speaker 1: some time to come together because there are so many
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Speaker 1: new parts and pieces to it, but I really expect
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Speaker 1: that he is going to be not only the goal
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Speaker 1: scoring leader for this team, but I think he's a
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Speaker 1: player who's got future captain written all over him. I
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Speaker 1: really like gone through the way he carries himself on
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Speaker 1: the ice, the way he inserts himself into, you know,
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Speaker 1: the little nose to nose post whistle scrums. I like
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Speaker 1: a lot about his game and I think he's going
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Speaker 1: to be the guy that, you know, really is able
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Speaker 1: to lead this team. But yeah, as far as putting
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Speaker 1: actual pucks in the net for sure, mark it down.
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Speaker 1: He's my guy.
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Speaker 3: We've talked over the last couple of years, I guess,
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Speaker 3: about the physicality, the defensive presence, the blue line, and
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Speaker 3: what they are adding or what they're not adding enough
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Speaker 3: of to this team. You talk to Bill Armstrong, you
9:18
Speaker 3: talk to Coach Baer, and they want this to be
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Speaker 3: a team that can beat you up. The philosophy and
9:26
Speaker 3: the personnel haven't always matched up, and there's There's not
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Speaker 3: a ton of fresh faces on that blue line, but
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Speaker 3: what is your expectation of the defense this year?
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Speaker 1: It will be interesting. Without Sean Dursey, we get a
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Speaker 1: first look at a full season of Mackenzie Wiegert, who
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Speaker 1: I think does fit that physical description. He's a guy
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Speaker 1: who I think can make an 84-game impact. And, you know,
9:53
Speaker 1: provided everybody stays healthy, of course, which is the caveat,
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Speaker 1: I really liked the second D pair of Schmidt and Marino.
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Speaker 1: I think those guys are just quietly go about doing
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Speaker 1: their jobs and they do their jobs very well. They
10:05
Speaker 1: shut down a lot of, you know, highly skilled forwards
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Speaker 1: on the other team. Really to me, the interesting question
10:12
Speaker 1: on this team is going to be the five, six,
10:14
Speaker 1: you Right now they're carrying seven defensemen. I think Nick
10:18
Speaker 1: DeSimone has been one of the best pickups that this
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Speaker 1: team has acquired since they moved to Utah. Simashev coming
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Speaker 1: into his own now this year is going to be
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Speaker 1: a guy who I'm looking on to make a mark.
10:29
Speaker 1: And one person we haven't talked a lot about, and
10:32
Speaker 1: we're even guilty of it on the show, but he's
10:33
Speaker 1: easy to overlook, unfortunately, is Andrew Peek. Peek comes over
10:37
Speaker 1: from Boston on a one-year, $ 1 million essentially prove-it contract
10:41
Speaker 1: with can be a bigger, more physical defenseman, has NHL experience,
10:47
Speaker 1: I think can make that impact and play those physical
10:50
Speaker 1: minutes for the Utah Mammoth on nights he does draw
10:54
Speaker 1: into the lineup. And maybe he can work his way
10:57
Speaker 1: into an everyday role, because I really do think it
10:59
Speaker 1: is that three-way battle to see who's going to be
11:02
Speaker 1: 5'6 every single night. And between DeSimone and Peake, Those
11:07
Speaker 1: two are probably the ones who rotate the most. I
11:09
Speaker 1: don't think Simishev gets a lot of nights off this year.
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Speaker 1: So I really think he could be the dark horse
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Speaker 1: to impress and help them be even more physical.
11:19
Speaker 3: With some of the off-season acquisitions, some of the new names,
11:22
Speaker 3: are special teams going to change at all in your mind?
11:25
Speaker 1: Power play definitely will. Power play, you're adding a Trocek,
11:31
Speaker 1: you're adding a Lee. Anders Lee is another guy who...
11:34
Speaker 1: could easily slot in on a second unit. He does
11:37
Speaker 1: not mind going to the front of the net and
11:39
Speaker 1: just being an absolute pain. He's even going to get
11:42
Speaker 1: the second-line minutes along with Gunther and Cooley five-on-five that
11:46
Speaker 1: I think is going to give those guys, speaking of which,
11:48
Speaker 1: more space, just like Trocek will generate space on his unit.
11:52
Speaker 1: And that's with Lawson Kraus now sliding down to the
11:54
Speaker 1: third line. And Kraus is a tough cookie, too. And
11:57
Speaker 1: he's a guy who can do that. So, yeah, it's
11:59
Speaker 1: going to take a little while to gel, but those
12:01
Speaker 1: new forwards on the power play is very exciting, plus
12:03
Speaker 1: Daniil Booth. if he can kind of get it going
12:07
Speaker 1: and find some scoring touch, he will earn more and
12:09
Speaker 1: more power play time as well. So I think that
12:12
Speaker 1: that's going to be absolutely huge. And then as far
12:14
Speaker 1: as the penalty kill goes, I expect, again, those bottom
12:17
Speaker 1: three D we talked about, they're going to try to
12:19
Speaker 1: eat some PK minutes. Obviously they're going to run Schmidt
12:22
Speaker 1: and Marino out there a lot for that situation as well. So,
12:25
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know that it's going to change
12:28
Speaker 1: on the PK so much as it's, you know, just
12:30
Speaker 1: going to be, hey, we have to not only keep
12:32
Speaker 1: up the hard work, but improve the way we're doing
12:35
Speaker 1: things and limit the breakdowns that last year could be
12:37
Speaker 1: a little frustrating.
12:40
Speaker 3: Tom Callahan, Mammoth Insiders, our guest here on the Sean
12:43
Speaker 3: O'Connell Show. You've probably already heard a lot of Tom
12:46
Speaker 3: as the host of Mammoth Daily.
12:49
Speaker 2: We're locked on Mammoth, excuse me.
12:52
Speaker 3: We're looking at a season now where the expectations are
12:55
Speaker 3: incredibly high. Because of what happened last year and because
12:59
Speaker 3: of our just kind of like newfound optimism as an
13:04
Speaker 3: NHL fan base that it's still very fresh for, there's
13:08
Speaker 3: been an upward trajectory since this team became part of
13:11
Speaker 3: our sports community. And the expectation is that that trajectory
13:14
Speaker 3: is going to continue. But coaches and players will tell you, look,
13:18
Speaker 3: getting there is hard. Staying there is even harder. getting
13:21
Speaker 3: further and further into these playoffs is even harder. Last
13:24
Speaker 3: year's it was, it was playoffs or bust. They checked
13:26
Speaker 3: that box. It felt like you're playing with house money
13:29
Speaker 3: and you know, you're out after the first round. What's,
13:32
Speaker 3: what's the best way to lay out expectations this year, Tom?
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Speaker 1: I think this year, the, the continuation of the evolution
13:40
Speaker 1: is winning a series and making an impact in the
13:44
Speaker 1: next series. It's time for this team. Regular season benchmark
13:49
Speaker 1: is to not be the wild card. It is to
13:51
Speaker 1: be one of the top three teams in the central division.
13:55
Speaker 1: It is doable. Is Colorado a powerhouse again? Yeah, but
13:59
Speaker 1: Utah has played Colorado well and they play them close.
14:02
Speaker 1: And if they can continue to do that and now
14:04
Speaker 1: do it with a better roster, I think they can
14:06
Speaker 1: steal some points from that series. we have a lot
14:09
Speaker 1: of question marks in the central Chicago, St. Louis, Winnipeg,
14:14
Speaker 1: all question marks. Dallas to me is still a bit
14:16
Speaker 1: of a question mark as well, because the stars had
14:19
Speaker 1: some off season turbulence and, And I'm not quite sure why,
14:24
Speaker 1: because we haven't heard a lot externally about it, but
14:27
Speaker 1: there were a few players who wanted to leave. Not
14:29
Speaker 1: all of them did, but to me, I kind of
14:31
Speaker 1: wonder what the undercurrent is there that we're not hearing.
14:34
Speaker 1: And then Minnesota, of course, is going to be very good,
14:36
Speaker 1: but Utah's in a spot where, yeah, finishing in the
14:39
Speaker 1: top three of the central regular season would be a
14:43
Speaker 1: nice bar. I will absolutely put it there. And then
14:46
Speaker 1: winning that first round playoff series, making an impact in
14:49
Speaker 1: the second one. Hey, remember, They were a couple of
14:52
Speaker 1: double overtime coin flips away from eliminating an eventual Stanley
14:56
Speaker 1: cup finalist. It was closer than people seem to remember
15:00
Speaker 1: through the lens of time, just because Vegas made the final,
15:03
Speaker 1: but Utah gave them a really good run for their money.
15:05
Speaker 2: They absolutely did.
15:06
Speaker 3: I mean, a couple of things go differently, an extra
15:09
Speaker 3: 90 seconds, or you play better for an extra 90
15:11
Speaker 3: seconds and you're up three one. I mean, there's, there's
15:13
Speaker 3: a lot of things that could have gone differently in
15:15
Speaker 3: that series, but I think we accept those as kind
15:17
Speaker 3: of growing pains of a young franchise and whatnot and
15:21
Speaker 3: and look there's the front office is sort of made
15:26
Speaker 3: their statements and said all right bears our guy an
15:29
Speaker 3: extension that goes with that they've given contracts and which
15:34
Speaker 3: are now very team-friendly contracts to what I think we
15:37
Speaker 3: can consider the core of this team and it feels
15:41
Speaker 3: like the vision is coming into shape pretty nicely maybe
15:45
Speaker 3: even a little bit ahead of schedule and To stay
15:47
Speaker 3: on that schedule, you needed to actually figure out something
15:50
Speaker 3: in the backup goaltending space. Did they address that in
15:54
Speaker 3: a way that makes sense to you, Tom?
15:57
Speaker 1: I think bringing in Sebastian Kosa, it's interesting talking to my,
16:00
Speaker 1: my friends that I know in and around the Detroit
16:02
Speaker 1: market and that team, they, they were kind of a
16:06
Speaker 1: mixed bag on the reviews. Some of them are real,
16:08
Speaker 1: real high on them. Couldn't understand why Detroit suddenly kind
16:12
Speaker 1: of just really gave up on them. Literally after really
16:16
Speaker 1: one and three quarter good seasons, he had an abysmal
16:20
Speaker 1: March in the American hockey league and just never got
16:24
Speaker 1: his net back. So that happened. And there's other reasons
16:30
Speaker 1: probably internally that Detroit said, all right, well, we have
16:33
Speaker 1: yet another young goaltender. Maybe it's time we move on.
16:35
Speaker 1: And so they did. He ends up in Utah. He's
16:38
Speaker 1: very motivated in Utah to prove that he is an
16:41
Speaker 1: NHL goaltender. This being his first real kick at the can.
16:45
Speaker 1: I expect there'll be a little bit of inconsistency in
16:47
Speaker 1: his game, but I really like what I saw in
16:49
Speaker 1: the preseason. I think he's very motivated to do well.
16:53
Speaker 1: I think so far he's, he's handled the workload that
16:56
Speaker 1: he's been given and look poised, look pretty solid positionally.
17:00
Speaker 1: And I think he really is going to challenge veg
17:03
Speaker 1: for that number one role in as the season goes on.
17:06
Speaker 1: The only question of course, and we talk about this
17:08
Speaker 1: every year is how much is Andre tourney gonna run
17:13
Speaker 1: his number one goaltender. And, you know, I'm not the
17:16
Speaker 1: only one saying this, even the national guys kind of
17:18
Speaker 1: are like, Hey, it'd be nice if, you know, veg
17:21
Speaker 1: didn't play quite so many games. He might be a
17:24
Speaker 1: little fresher down the stretch and into the playoffs, but
17:26
Speaker 1: that's just not been the MO. So I don't know if,
17:31
Speaker 1: And I can't explain to you why, but I would
17:32
Speaker 1: really like to see Kosa be able to help manage
17:35
Speaker 1: that workload and change that equation a little bit because
17:38
Speaker 1: I think that will lead them to more playoff success.
17:43
Speaker 3: I just alluded to the team-friendly nature of some of
17:45
Speaker 3: these contracts. And as we've looked at some of the
17:48
Speaker 3: other guys around the league getting extended, some of the
17:50
Speaker 3: other young rising stars getting extended for, I mean, quite frankly,
17:55
Speaker 3: just a higher price point. What kind of grade should
17:59
Speaker 3: we be giving the front office for the Utah Mammoth
18:02
Speaker 3: and for Bill Armstrong getting guys like Schmaltz done and
18:06
Speaker 3: Cooley especially and Gunther especially, some of the young core
18:10
Speaker 3: at a team-friendly value?
18:13
Speaker 1: It almost looks like they had a crystal hockey puck
18:15
Speaker 1: in some cases. I mean, they looked into the future,
18:19
Speaker 1: knew that there was going to be a lot of
18:20
Speaker 1: money available. The cap would rise. And, I mean, we
18:25
Speaker 1: just heard projections for a couple seasons down the road
18:28
Speaker 1: of the cap going up yet again by another $ 10
18:30
Speaker 1: million or so. It's kind of crazy. It's almost monopoly
18:34
Speaker 1: money at this point. So the fact that GM Bill
18:37
Speaker 1: Armstrong was able to get– What at the time you're like, okay, well,
18:41
Speaker 1: this is probably manageable to spread the wealth among these players,
18:45
Speaker 1: the way he's doing it. But you hope it doesn't
18:48
Speaker 1: bite you when they were able to unload JJ Paterka's
18:51
Speaker 1: contract and move him. That money became available. Then they
18:55
Speaker 1: were able to kind of really set themselves up for
18:59
Speaker 1: the next couple of seasons. I really like where this
19:01
Speaker 1: team's at. I think he's done a great job managing
19:04
Speaker 1: the payroll and, you know, seeing and believing in, look,
19:09
Speaker 1: when you draft and develop a guy, everybody likes their
19:11
Speaker 1: own draft picks, but they've come to fruition. That's the
19:15
Speaker 1: other reason why when you invest in your own players
19:18
Speaker 1: and you say, Hey, we're going to commit to you.
19:20
Speaker 1: We want you to commit to us. Here's the dollars.
19:23
Speaker 1: Here's the years. And then it pans out and it's
19:26
Speaker 1: panned out now three or four different times and You
19:29
Speaker 1: look really smart. And that's what Utah has been able
19:32
Speaker 1: to do is draft and develop well, turn those entry-level
19:35
Speaker 1: contracts into very nice paydays for those players. But thankfully,
19:40
Speaker 1: I would see all of this before this incredible zaniness
19:44
Speaker 1: we're seeing now, 16 and $ 20 million. This is crazy.
19:50
Speaker 1: The next time all this comes around, I mean, Clayton
19:53
Speaker 1: Keller has got to be licking his chops right now
19:55
Speaker 1: because when he comes due, oh my goodness.
19:59
Speaker 3: Yes, that is one of the things that's so funny
20:02
Speaker 3: about contracts in sports.
20:04
Speaker 2: It's great if you're the guy right now.
20:06
Speaker 3: It's even better if you're the guy a year from
20:08
Speaker 3: now or two years from now, because those numbers are
20:11
Speaker 3: going to get bigger.
20:12
Speaker 2: It's pretty crazy to see. Yes.
20:15
Speaker 3: Were you surprised to see, uh, again, uh, Dan Oye,
20:19
Speaker 3: any of the young cats that impressed, uh, with their development,
20:23
Speaker 3: not make the roster, not make the opening night roster.
20:28
Speaker 1: Uh, I was pulling for TJ again, let it make it.
20:30
Speaker 1: I really was. I would have loved to see him
20:34
Speaker 1: in a mammoth uniform for opening night, but I also
20:36
Speaker 1: understand why he's not. And, you know, one of the
20:40
Speaker 1: players we haven't talked about was Chris Tana getting waved.
20:44
Speaker 1: I think this is the message for the, the Utah
20:48
Speaker 1: fan base is that your team got a lot better
20:52
Speaker 1: this summer and you're going to see it on the ice.
20:55
Speaker 1: But the other way, you know, is that yes, you
20:58
Speaker 1: had to essentially rookies graduating, not technical rookies, but Sima
21:03
Speaker 1: Shev and boot. graduate to the NHL now on what
21:06
Speaker 1: we hope is a full-time basis. The fact that all
21:08
Speaker 1: of those young prospects are in Tucson and we'll be
21:11
Speaker 1: playing in the American hockey league. That's how good and
21:14
Speaker 1: how deep this franchise has become. So yeah, I was
21:18
Speaker 1: rooting for him. I wanted to see him make it,
21:20
Speaker 1: but I understand why he didn't. And I think that
21:23
Speaker 1: that core now being able to grow together and improve
21:28
Speaker 1: together in the American hockey league. And quite frankly, I
21:31
Speaker 1: expect that team to be really darn good this year.
21:34
Speaker 1: That now extends the window because the window opens really
21:38
Speaker 1: fully this year for Utah to become a Stanley Cup contender. Now,
21:43
Speaker 1: instead of the window being open for three years or
21:45
Speaker 1: four years, if those players learn to win together and
21:49
Speaker 1: they come up together, the window becomes five and six
21:52
Speaker 1: and seven years because that is now your second core
21:56
Speaker 1: that is going to follow the one that's here now.
22:01
Speaker 2: Who are this year's biggest risers in the NHL?
22:07
Speaker 1: Well, that's a good one. It's kind of funny because
22:11
Speaker 1: you think about a lot of the teams that aren't
22:13
Speaker 1: coming up or the ones that might struggle or, you know,
22:16
Speaker 1: not do so well. I think Florida is going to
22:18
Speaker 1: be right back in front of everybody this year. They
22:20
Speaker 1: ended up with a, you know, a goaltending loss. switch
22:24
Speaker 1: that ended with Jacob Markstrom and they did get better.
22:27
Speaker 1: They dealt with a lot of injuries last year. I
22:28
Speaker 1: think Florida is right back in the Stanley cup contention
22:31
Speaker 1: this year. That's going to be a big one. I'm
22:35
Speaker 1: kind of curious and maybe a little, I'm not sure
22:39
Speaker 1: how I feel about the Toronto Maple Leafs, but they
22:41
Speaker 1: have a chance to do some damage in the East,
22:44
Speaker 1: in the West. It's interesting to say that you think
22:48
Speaker 1: Colorado is going to be a riser, but I think
22:49
Speaker 1: Colorado was so embarrassed by the way their season ended
22:52
Speaker 1: in the playoffs last year. They just fell apart. And
22:56
Speaker 1: I think that Colorado is actually going to be even
22:59
Speaker 1: more driven to be better. Minnesota is going to be better.
23:03
Speaker 1: And quite frankly, Utah, Utah is probably going to be
23:06
Speaker 1: the actual biggest riser in the West. I am extremely
23:09
Speaker 1: high on the mammoth this year coming into this season.
23:12
Speaker 1: I have very high expectations for them. So, I mean,
23:15
Speaker 1: I know it's the hometown team, but I'm telling you this,
23:19
Speaker 1: this is a great looking team heading into the year.
23:22
Speaker 3: If you had to look into your crystal hockey puck,
23:25
Speaker 3: how does the Winnipeg Connor Hellebuck impasse get resolved?
23:30
Speaker 1: Oh, boy. You know what? Kevin Shevelday off the GM
23:35
Speaker 1: of the Jets has shown in the past he's not
23:37
Speaker 1: in a hurry to do anything. I think he is
23:40
Speaker 1: more than happy to let Hellebuck start missing paychecks and
23:44
Speaker 1: get a little antsy about it. I don't think Hellebuck
23:48
Speaker 1: plays for the Jets again. I just don't think he does.
23:50
Speaker 1: The problem is it came out not too long ago
23:54
Speaker 1: that it was offered before Florida was picked up Markstrom.
24:00
Speaker 1: They offered two roster players, one of whom was Evan
24:03
Speaker 1: Rodriguez and two first round picks to Winnipeg for Hellebuck.
24:07
Speaker 1: And the jets said, no. So the jets are looking
24:12
Speaker 1: for three, maybe four roster players, and they're not going
24:16
Speaker 1: to get that. And so this is where it depends.
24:19
Speaker 1: Who's going to be more stubborn at some point. Yes.
24:23
Speaker 1: Hellebuck's going to lose money. But the more he sits out,
24:27
Speaker 1: the lower that value gets to the rest of the league.
24:30
Speaker 1: But the Jets, if they're really dug in on three
24:32
Speaker 1: roster players, I don't see anybody giving them that for
24:35
Speaker 1: Connor Hellebach. I really don't. And so maybe this one's
24:39
Speaker 1: going to sit in faster for months.
24:43
Speaker 3: How serious do you think the Mammoth were in those
24:45
Speaker 3: conversations when they did happen?
24:48
Speaker 1: Pretty serious. I think they were absolutely in on it
24:51
Speaker 1: because the Mammoth knew that... And I still feel like
24:55
Speaker 1: if they brought in Connor Hellebuck as their number one
24:57
Speaker 1: goaltender right now, these guys catapult into probably our top
25:03
Speaker 1: six or eight Stanley Cup favorites. Not that they don't
25:07
Speaker 1: have good goaltending, but I think... if they had an
25:12
Speaker 1: absolute bonafide stud Vezina trophy winner, that you have to
25:16
Speaker 1: put them into the Stanley Cup conversation immediately. So if
25:21
Speaker 1: that were the case, and I think they know that,
25:25
Speaker 1: the Mammoth know that, if they were able to do
25:27
Speaker 1: that and make that move, they would. But at the
25:30
Speaker 1: end of the day, again, if the asking price was,
25:33
Speaker 1: you know, let's say not only a goaltender coming back
25:36
Speaker 1: and like veg or somebody like that. And then also
25:39
Speaker 1: they're asking for another two or three, you know, Forge
25:41
Speaker 1: defensemen who are NHL players right now. I can't justify
25:46
Speaker 1: that for the mammoth. I cannot take apart that much
25:49
Speaker 1: of the roster just to bring in Connor Hellebuck.
25:55
Speaker 3: Are you a believer that Connor Hellebuck will return to
25:58
Speaker 3: close to Vesna form if he's happier in a new situation?
26:03
Speaker 1: I think so. You know, one thing about Hellebuck that
26:06
Speaker 1: a lot of people didn't really realize and didn't recognize
26:10
Speaker 1: was that until last season, and a lot went wrong
26:13
Speaker 1: with the Jets last season, but two and three and
26:17
Speaker 1: four years before that, The jets were among the best,
26:20
Speaker 1: if not the best defensive teams in a lot of
26:23
Speaker 1: metrics in the entire NHL, as far as shots against
26:26
Speaker 1: high danger chances, all of these things that matter as
26:30
Speaker 1: far as letting the other team have good scoring opportunities,
26:33
Speaker 1: the jets shut those scoring opportunities down completely. And did
26:37
Speaker 1: a real nice job of taking care of Hellebuck. And
26:40
Speaker 1: then Hellebuck gave them the saves they needed. That's why
26:43
Speaker 1: the Jets were competitive. And so I think if Hellebuck
26:45
Speaker 1: ends up on a team that knows how to play
26:48
Speaker 1: defense and can take care of, you know, the second
26:51
Speaker 1: or third chance opportunities, he's going to give you the
26:54
Speaker 1: first save. And that is really what you need out
26:56
Speaker 1: of your goaltender. And occasionally he's going to give you
26:59
Speaker 1: something spectacular, which I think you need to go deep
27:02
Speaker 1: into the playoffs. He's confident now that he's won a
27:05
Speaker 1: gold medal. He even feels like he's kind of shrugged
27:08
Speaker 1: that off of him where the old, oh, well, he
27:11
Speaker 1: can't win in a pressure situation. He just proved that.
27:14
Speaker 1: you know, on a world stage, he took team USA
27:17
Speaker 1: to a gold medal. So I really think that the
27:20
Speaker 1: yoke is off as far as that goes. If he's
27:22
Speaker 1: on a really, really good defensive team. I mean, you
27:26
Speaker 1: have to consider that even an average defensive team, but
27:28
Speaker 1: the jets were very good defensively last year. They were not,
27:32
Speaker 1: everything kind of went to, to hack on them all
27:35
Speaker 1: at the same time.
27:37
Speaker 3: Tom, I appreciate you joining us again today. I look
27:40
Speaker 3: forward to many, many more of these conversations because.
27:43
Speaker 2: We, Hockey is back, baby. The long wait is over.
27:48
Speaker 1: Oh, we're so excited, OC. I appreciate it. Yeah, man,
27:50
Speaker 1: can't wait to drop the puck.
27:53
Speaker 3: We'll do that tonight at 7.30 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
27:58
Speaker 2: Big thanks to Tom.
27:59
Speaker 3: He'll be part of our hockey coverage right here on
28:02
Speaker 3: ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.