Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Tom Callahan on the Utah Mammoth, Push for the playoffs, How far can they go in their first playoff appearance (?) + more
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: You were listening to Sean O'Connell show your source for
- 0:08Speaker 1: the best humans football Coupley, here's OC from the Murdoch
- 0:11Speaker 1: Hundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred that ninety two to
- 0:15Speaker 1: one a half.
- 0:15Speaker 2: Am, welcome to our number three. Welcome in, Tom Callahan,
- 0:26Speaker 2: Utah Mammoth inside our host of Locked On Mammoth.
- 0:30Speaker 3: Friend of the program, Tom, welcome back. How are you, sir?
- 0:33Speaker 4: Uh? You know what, I'm getting excited. I'm doing well.
- 0:36Speaker 4: Thanks for having me back. But man, we're creeping.
- 0:39Speaker 5: Right up on playoffs here and it's it's hard not
- 0:41Speaker 5: to have your little puppy tail wagon.
- 0:43Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an exciting time for hockey fans in Utah,
- 0:47Speaker 2: for Mammoth fans in Utah, and right now this team
- 0:51Speaker 2: is blistering hot, three games in a row, scoring at
- 0:54Speaker 2: least six goals, coming off with Clayton Keller hat trick.
- 0:59Speaker 2: Is it's cliche to say, is this the best hockey
- 1:02Speaker 2: we've seen this team play? But how close to the
- 1:05Speaker 2: best version of the Utah Mammoth have we seen in
- 1:07Speaker 2: the last three games?
- 1:09Speaker 5: Well, certainly offensively they are clicking and it's great to see.
- 1:14Speaker 4: It's very exciting.
- 1:15Speaker 5: One of the little, you know factors inside of this
- 1:18Speaker 5: has been the fact that I think the power play
- 1:20Speaker 5: has been a lot better, and that was something that
- 1:23Speaker 5: you know, we've talked about all year long about special
- 1:26Speaker 5: teams needing to be better. They really needed to pick
- 1:29Speaker 5: it up in that department. And boy, the power play
- 1:32Speaker 5: when when that's clicking, and even here's the thing. It
- 1:34Speaker 5: may not score you the deciding goal in a game,
- 1:37Speaker 5: but when it gets you a goal, when it gets
- 1:39Speaker 5: you maybe two goals, especially other teams take note because
- 1:43Speaker 5: now they have to stay out of the box. Now
- 1:45Speaker 5: they're thinking about it, and I think that that has
- 1:47Speaker 5: been a big part of the resurgence here Offensively. Scoring
- 1:51Speaker 5: on special teams is so huge and you just you
- 1:53Speaker 5: can't understate what it means right now.
- 1:57Speaker 2: Clayton Keller has been quiet at times over stretches this season.
- 2:04Speaker 2: What does a hat trick do for him and for
- 2:06Speaker 2: this team who obviously in some ways goes the way
- 2:09Speaker 2: of their captain.
- 2:11Speaker 5: You know, you look at the season he's had. It's
- 2:14Speaker 5: been an emotional roller coaster for Clayton Keller. And I
- 2:19Speaker 5: think that a lot of players dial their focus in
- 2:23Speaker 5: more and more the closer they get to the postseason.
- 2:26Speaker 5: Keep in mind this is a fairly new thing for
- 2:28Speaker 5: this franchise. Yes, they have some guys, and they brought
- 2:31Speaker 5: in that Stanley Cup winning DNA, right, They've made trades
- 2:34Speaker 5: or free agent signings with the intent of, you know,
- 2:39Speaker 5: talking about this is how we're going to win, this
- 2:41Speaker 5: is what it takes to win a championship. We want
- 2:43Speaker 5: to learn these lessons from these players. But the core
- 2:46Speaker 5: leaders are a lot of drafted and developed or long
- 2:50Speaker 5: time acquisitions who haven't had that taste of experience. And
- 2:53Speaker 5: so Clayton Keller in particular as the captain, You're right,
- 2:57Speaker 5: the franchise does feed off of him. The whole room
- 3:00Speaker 5: does the fan base can. He needs to have it
- 3:04Speaker 5: going at the right time, and I think his focus
- 3:07Speaker 5: is starting to.
- 3:08Speaker 4: Dial in right now and having that game I.
- 3:12Speaker 5: Mean, you know, three goals in an assist against the
- 3:14Speaker 5: Vancouver team that quite frankly was right for the picking
- 3:17Speaker 5: and I'm glad they let him up the way they did.
- 3:20Speaker 5: I love to see his game rounding in the form
- 3:22Speaker 5: and if this is the way he plays for them
- 3:25Speaker 5: down the stretch and into the postseason, there's no reason
- 3:28Speaker 5: not to be excited. As a Mammoth fan, no matter
- 3:30Speaker 5: who your first round matchup is.
- 3:32Speaker 2: The first time I asked you this, it was still
- 3:34Speaker 2: pretty brand new, and now we're a couple more weeks
- 3:37Speaker 2: into this experiment. But the acquisition of Guiger and what
- 3:41Speaker 2: he has done for the blue line, what do you think?
- 3:47Speaker 5: I think it's probably the biggest deal they've made in
- 3:50Speaker 5: their Utah.
- 3:53Speaker 4: Residency since they've come in the state.
- 3:56Speaker 5: Look at the difference without Wiger in the lineup, without
- 4:00Speaker 5: like Sergachev out there. It's unbelievable. You don't realize how
- 4:04Speaker 5: subtle and how professional Mackenzie Wiger is and how much
- 4:08Speaker 5: he's covered until all of a sudden, he's, you know,
- 4:11Speaker 5: day to day right now.
- 4:12Speaker 4: Misses the Vancouver game.
- 4:13Speaker 5: I didn't think the Vancouver game is a very good
- 4:15Speaker 5: game for them defensively, but they survived it largely because
- 4:18Speaker 5: it was the Knucks.
- 4:19Speaker 4: But boy, oh boy, you see.
- 4:21Speaker 5: Without Wiger now, the difference he makes with Mackenzie Wiger
- 4:25Speaker 5: in the lonep is he covers a lot of those situations.
- 4:27Speaker 5: He allows Michel Sergachev to be better because Sergachev can
- 4:32Speaker 5: take more of those chances knowing that he's got a
- 4:34Speaker 5: guy back there who really has a great head for
- 4:37Speaker 5: the game, understands, reads, reacts well, McKenzie Wiger does all
- 4:40Speaker 5: of those tiny little things that you need to do
- 4:44Speaker 5: to win hockey games.
- 4:46Speaker 4: And I think that this is.
- 4:47Speaker 5: An incredibly underrated acquisition as far as the trade deadline goes.
- 4:51Speaker 5: No one's talking about it, but we saw the other
- 4:54Speaker 5: night what a huge impact he does have when he's
- 4:56Speaker 5: not in the lineup. I think it was probably the
- 4:59Speaker 5: best thing they could done for themselves as far as
- 5:01Speaker 5: bolstering the defense.
- 5:05Speaker 2: So this team is in a really nice spot right now.
- 5:08Speaker 2: Part of the reason why your puppy tail is wagon,
- 5:11Speaker 2: as you characterize it, is because this is a you know,
- 5:14Speaker 2: this is the second year of Utah mammoth existence, well,
- 5:17Speaker 2: first year of Utah mammoth, second year of pro hockey
- 5:20Speaker 2: at this level in the state of Utah, and you're
- 5:22Speaker 2: already in, you know, pretty firmly entrenched in that first
- 5:25Speaker 2: wild card spot. How critical and crucial is it to
- 5:29Speaker 2: stay exactly there because you need the best matchup you
- 5:33Speaker 2: can get in that first round.
- 5:36Speaker 6: Well, and I'm again going to be someone who let's
- 5:39Speaker 6: let's just go ahead and suppose let's suppose Colorado, does
- 5:43Speaker 6: you know finish this thing off and clinch the President's
- 5:46Speaker 6: Trophy and all that fun stuff.
- 5:47Speaker 4: They're the best team in the NHL.
- 5:50Speaker 5: That's your one eight matchup, and then your two seven
- 5:53Speaker 5: could be any of the Ducks, the Golden Knights, the Oilers.
- 5:58Speaker 5: You never like, it could be any of those three
- 6:00Speaker 5: teams if you finish there. Do I like matching up
- 6:04Speaker 5: against the Pacific better than maybe the Avalanche. Yes, except
- 6:08Speaker 5: for the Oilers because they still haven't beaten the Oilers
- 6:12Speaker 5: in a season plus in Utah. But I will say this,
- 6:16Speaker 5: I'm not afraid of Colorado. I think this team matches
- 6:19Speaker 5: up very well with Colorado. So if there's any fans
- 6:21Speaker 5: out there, you know, cut your friends off, head them
- 6:24Speaker 5: off at the pass before they get into the Wow.
- 6:26Speaker 5: We can't play Colorado. We wouldn't have a chance. Oh
- 6:28Speaker 5: you absolutely would. They play Colorado very well, They play
- 6:31Speaker 5: them very close. It's one goal games. Anything can happen
- 6:36Speaker 5: in the playoffs. I'm not afraid of a Colorado series.
- 6:39Speaker 5: I would expect Colorado to win it, but I would
- 6:41Speaker 5: expect Utah to.
- 6:42Speaker 4: Give them everything.
- 6:43Speaker 5: However, matching up against the Ducks, which is a giant
- 6:46Speaker 5: rivalry for this team, the Vegas Golden Knights, who are
- 6:49Speaker 5: up and down even Edmonton. I mean, you know what,
- 6:53Speaker 5: in the playoffs, all bets are off. I actually think
- 6:57Speaker 5: Utah being in the first one card spot is favorable
- 7:02Speaker 5: to them if they fall the two.
- 7:04Speaker 4: I'm not I'm not worried. I'm not losing sleep. But
- 7:07Speaker 4: that said, yes, I.
- 7:08Speaker 5: Think that, you know, if Anaheim comes out on top
- 7:10Speaker 5: of Vegas, especially that matchup, bodes well for them.
- 7:16Speaker 2: We saw at the tail end of last season it
- 7:18Speaker 2: was the Blues I think, that were on this epic
- 7:21Speaker 2: run and you know, ended up being part of the
- 7:23Speaker 2: reason why Utah didn't make it into the playoffs. What
- 7:27Speaker 2: eight regular season games? Six regular season games left, and
- 7:31Speaker 2: you know there's points to be had or not. So
- 7:36Speaker 2: who underneath this Utah Mammoth team are you paying closest
- 7:40Speaker 2: attention to and maybe thinking that they could be the
- 7:43Speaker 2: surprise team that in the final few stacks up a
- 7:46Speaker 2: bunch of points.
- 7:48Speaker 5: This is the fun part because Nashville kind of controls
- 7:52Speaker 5: not only its own destiny but almost everybody around them
- 7:55Speaker 5: because they played the Kings again yet and they just
- 7:58Speaker 5: played the Kings.
- 7:58Speaker 4: They have the Sharks in there as well.
- 8:01Speaker 5: Nashville whether you're rooting for or against, the Predators can
- 8:05Speaker 5: in many ways be the king maker.
- 8:07Speaker 4: If teams beat.
- 8:08Speaker 5: Them, they can push them right on out of the conversation.
- 8:11Speaker 5: If Nashville beats those teams had to head, Nashville puts
- 8:15Speaker 5: itself comfortably ahead in that wildcard to position. So really,
- 8:20Speaker 5: that group of three Nashville, LA and San Jose, the
- 8:23Speaker 5: Blues and the Jets are there. I just don't know
- 8:28Speaker 5: if being at this point is of you know, us
- 8:31Speaker 5: talking today three points out and still having to jump
- 8:33Speaker 5: three teams each.
- 8:35Speaker 4: I don't see Saint Lewis or Winnipeg pulling it off.
- 8:37Speaker 5: So Nashville, La, San Jose, that that's your group.
- 8:43Speaker 2: Tom callahaner guests here on the Sean O'Connell Show talking
- 8:45Speaker 2: All Things Utah, Mammoth, All Things NHL Hockey. We talk
- 8:53Speaker 2: about the fact that you know, you still haven't shaken
- 8:55Speaker 2: the Edmonton monkey off your back, and big picture, it
- 8:58Speaker 2: probably only matters when as you get to the playoffs,
- 9:00Speaker 2: but you have an opportunity to beat them tomorrow night
- 9:04Speaker 2: in one of your final home games of the season.
- 9:06Speaker 3: What does that matchup look like?
- 9:10Speaker 5: Five the last six coming into Helta Center is big
- 9:12Speaker 5: for Utah and it starts, you know.
- 9:14Speaker 4: With this Edvonton game.
- 9:16Speaker 5: By the way, Connor Ingram has worked his way into
- 9:19Speaker 5: the number one spot in Edmonton, which is a tremendous
- 9:22Speaker 5: feel good story. I love that for him. Just a
- 9:26Speaker 5: great guy who's had his struggles and man, I hope
- 9:29Speaker 5: he continues to succeed. Maybe not, you know, against the Mammoth.
- 9:34Speaker 5: But what does beating them do right now? If they
- 9:38Speaker 5: beat them and it puts this little kernel of doubt
- 9:41Speaker 5: in there, Edmonton suddenly says, Hey, Utah is not the
- 9:46Speaker 5: pipsqueak we've been running over this whole time. But really,
- 9:49Speaker 5: what I need to see against Utah is not so
- 9:51Speaker 5: much the offenses.
- 9:51Speaker 4: We've talked about.
- 9:52Speaker 5: The offense has been going great, special teams, the power
- 9:55Speaker 5: plays look good. What I need to see, especially if
- 9:58Speaker 5: it were a first round playoff preview, is the containment
- 10:02Speaker 5: of the Mammoth defense against this crazy Edmonton offense.
- 10:06Speaker 4: About first, capability, The.
- 10:08Speaker 5: Oilers are a quick strike team, They're a very talented team.
- 10:11Speaker 5: They've got arguably the two best players in the world.
- 10:15Speaker 5: But I mean, any team that has Connor McDavid not
- 10:18Speaker 5: missing a limb really has a chance to beat you
- 10:21Speaker 5: in a series, and that's why they're so scary, whether
- 10:25Speaker 5: they have Boltang or not, whether they're playing defense or not,
- 10:27Speaker 5: because the Oilers are one of the very few teams
- 10:29Speaker 5: in the NHL that can outscore you even when you're scoring.
- 10:33Speaker 4: So that, to me is what the matchup is all about.
- 10:35Speaker 5: Is about the defensive containment and how they're able to
- 10:39Speaker 5: counteract what Edmonton does offensively.
- 10:43Speaker 2: ESPN did a fun little piece about the players who
- 10:47Speaker 2: could potentially win a Gold Medal and a Stanley Cup
- 10:51Speaker 2: in the same cycle in the same year. Do you
- 10:54Speaker 2: have any favorites on who you think is most likely
- 10:56Speaker 2: to pull that off?
- 10:58Speaker 5: We wouldn't you love to to say the Utah Mamma connection,
- 11:03Speaker 5: Right man, that's a fantastic.
- 11:06Speaker 4: Piece to think about. Boy, who would you like to
- 11:09Speaker 4: see winning that? You know? I don't know. I suppose.
- 11:18Speaker 5: Kind of looking and I'm looking at the article now.
- 11:20Speaker 4: Out of everybody that's on here for I can.
- 11:22Speaker 5: Say I love the Tampa Bay Lightning and the way
- 11:23Speaker 5: they're playing, and so Jake Denzil has a chance to
- 11:26Speaker 5: be that guy. I love Dallas as well, and I
- 11:31Speaker 5: think the Stars are probably the most complete team besides
- 11:35Speaker 5: the Avalanche, which is why I think it's a shame
- 11:38Speaker 5: that the Wild play the Avalanche in the first round.
- 11:40Speaker 5: So Jake Ottinger on the Dallas Stars has that chance.
- 11:43Speaker 4: Carolina.
- 11:44Speaker 5: Every year I want to pick against the Carolina Hurricanes.
- 11:47Speaker 5: They always surprise me. I always think, boy, shouldn't their
- 11:51Speaker 5: window not be as good? And maybe they're going to
- 11:53Speaker 5: start a rookie in the playoffs this year and goal
- 11:55Speaker 5: and Brandon Bussy, But you know they've got a chance.
- 11:58Speaker 5: And so that's Jacob Slaven and me being from Buffalo,
- 12:01Speaker 5: New York. You know, Tage Thompson on the Buffalo Sabers,
- 12:05Speaker 5: You'd never know.
- 12:06Speaker 4: But honestly, I think if I'm picking a team out
- 12:09Speaker 4: of the East.
- 12:09Speaker 5: It's probably Tampa Bay and either brock Nelson on the Avalanche,
- 12:12Speaker 5: Jacott and Dream the Stars out of the West.
- 12:17Speaker 2: Some reports out there saying that there was an idea
- 12:21Speaker 2: floated around that maybe, if you know, the Utah Mammoth
- 12:24Speaker 2: didn't end up returning to form and playing the way
- 12:27Speaker 2: that they have down the stretch here, that maybe it
- 12:31Speaker 2: was going to be, you know, time to make a
- 12:33Speaker 2: change on the bench, and Pete de Boor's name was
- 12:36Speaker 2: floated out there coach Bear, I think is you know,
- 12:39Speaker 2: in a good spot right now because of the way
- 12:41Speaker 2: this team is playing. But how much credence should we
- 12:45Speaker 2: be giving to those rumors.
- 12:46Speaker 3: In your mind?
- 12:48Speaker 5: Well, I have been shocked at the last couple of
- 12:51Speaker 5: weeks the coaching changes both Vegas and the Islanders, two
- 12:55Speaker 5: teams in the playoffs with in Vegas's case, and I
- 13:00Speaker 5: think the Islander six games left, fired their coaches. That
- 13:05Speaker 5: is shocking and stunning, like that does not happen. But
- 13:10Speaker 5: maybe we're entering a new NHL now. So I said
- 13:14Speaker 5: on our show, actually that came out today. I said,
- 13:17Speaker 5: I don't know that any NHL coach can get comfortable
- 13:19Speaker 5: because short of winning a Stanley Cups. That's nuts to
- 13:23Speaker 5: me to fire your coach on the eve of the
- 13:25Speaker 5: playoffs while your team's in the playoffs.
- 13:28Speaker 4: So I mean, man, I don't know.
- 13:32Speaker 5: I'm still not one hundred percent sold that Andrey Tourney
- 13:34Speaker 5: is the guy to get Utah to win a Stanley Cup.
- 13:37Speaker 4: And you know, Vegas let go of a Stanley Cup
- 13:40Speaker 4: winning coach.
- 13:41Speaker 5: To bring someone else in. I've never been a big
- 13:43Speaker 5: piet to Board fan. I covered the Vegas Golden Knights
- 13:45Speaker 5: while he was in Vegas.
- 13:47Speaker 4: Pizza.
- 13:48Speaker 5: A great guy, He's very good with the media, but
- 13:50Speaker 5: I just didn't like the way he was kind of
- 13:52Speaker 5: running things in Vegas, especially with concern with the goaltenders.
- 13:56Speaker 5: So to see him in the Islands, I'm kind of
- 13:58Speaker 5: glad that choice is off the table. And if they
- 14:00Speaker 5: do go looking for a coach in the offseason and
- 14:03Speaker 5: right now the landscape is telling me a lot of
- 14:05Speaker 5: teams feel emboldened by these changes, and even if they
- 14:09Speaker 5: went around may go looking for a coach. I just
- 14:12Speaker 5: don't think the Boar would have been the answer.
- 14:14Speaker 4: I would not have been a big fan of that.
- 14:16Speaker 2: What do you think of towards John Tortorella taking over Vegas?
- 14:20Speaker 2: Like you said right on the eve of the playoffs.
- 14:22Speaker 4: I love Tortorella. I know people love him or hate him.
- 14:26Speaker 4: I think he is refreshingly honest. Can he be a
- 14:30Speaker 4: jerky Yes.
- 14:31Speaker 5: He may not give you the answer you want, but
- 14:33Speaker 5: I think he knows who he is, and he knows
- 14:37Speaker 5: who he is as a coach, and he is going
- 14:39Speaker 5: to get down and what he does works in the
- 14:42Speaker 5: short term. Everywhere he's gone, he's been able to make
- 14:45Speaker 5: it work in the short term. Honestly, if you wanted
- 14:48Speaker 5: to jump start Vegas, he's the guy, which is a
- 14:50Speaker 5: little frightening for them heading into the playoffs if they
- 14:53Speaker 5: do find their momentum and their mojo, but I think
- 14:56Speaker 5: it gives all of us in the West another storyline
- 14:59Speaker 5: heading in the playoffs and short term success. Yeah, this
- 15:03Speaker 5: could work out real well for them. I don't know
- 15:05Speaker 5: if Corderella is in Vegas longer than two or three years,
- 15:07Speaker 5: especially at his age, but man, it's going to be
- 15:09Speaker 5: fun in the meantime to just keep an eye on
- 15:11Speaker 5: what he says every day of morning skate.
- 15:14Speaker 2: You and I haven't spoken since the Florida Panthers were
- 15:18Speaker 2: eliminated from playoff contention, and I remember some earlier conversations
- 15:22Speaker 2: and I had him with a lot of hockey people
- 15:24Speaker 2: just like, oh, yeah, they're probably going to get it
- 15:26Speaker 2: figured out. Oh, they'll get it figured out. And ultimately
- 15:29Speaker 2: they didn't get it figured out. Do you have a why?
- 15:33Speaker 4: Injuries huge reason.
- 15:37Speaker 5: Their captain and arguably their best player in Barkoff, never
- 15:42Speaker 5: really played this year, was hurt the whole year.
- 15:45Speaker 4: That didn't help.
- 15:47Speaker 5: They just never found a way to keep pucks out
- 15:51Speaker 5: of the net.
- 15:51Speaker 4: Sergei. Bobrowski's thirty eight years.
- 15:53Speaker 5: Old now, and you know, he's not getting any younger,
- 15:57Speaker 5: and he does have an extra set of dials when
- 15:59Speaker 5: it's to turning it up in the playoffs. But in
- 16:02Speaker 5: the regular season he was supremely average. And they also
- 16:05Speaker 5: battled some other injuries. You know, Kachuck was in and
- 16:08Speaker 5: out of the lineup, and it's just they never were
- 16:11Speaker 5: one hundred percent healthy.
- 16:12Speaker 4: They never got consistent play this.
- 16:14Speaker 5: Year, and I think they did get older, significantly older,
- 16:19Speaker 5: and that I think this year was a very down
- 16:20Speaker 5: year for Bob and this.
- 16:22Speaker 4: Might be it for him. There's a lot of reasons why.
- 16:25Speaker 5: But the health of that club was never ever good,
- 16:28Speaker 5: never gave him a chance right from the beginning.
- 16:31Speaker 2: Uh, this has been a basketball market a lot longer
- 16:34Speaker 2: than has been a hockey market. And in NBA basketball
- 16:39Speaker 2: right now, there's this really kind of funny dynamic, interesting
- 16:43Speaker 2: dynamic where there's not a lot of belief that it's
- 16:45Speaker 2: going to be a team from the East that does anything.
- 16:48Speaker 2: When you get down to the you know, Larry O'Brien Trophy,
- 16:53Speaker 2: how big a disparity is there right now between East
- 16:55Speaker 2: and West when it comes to the hunt for the
- 16:57Speaker 2: Stanley Cup.
- 17:00Speaker 5: I think people in both conferences are going to make
- 17:02Speaker 5: their cases for East is better, West is better. Now,
- 17:07Speaker 5: I can say, probably ten years ago you can make
- 17:10Speaker 5: a very real case the West was head and shoulders
- 17:12Speaker 5: above the East, and for a long time it was,
- 17:15Speaker 5: and then Tampa Bay swung that pendulum back the other way,
- 17:17Speaker 5: Tampa Bay and Florida. Now I feel like it's pretty
- 17:21Speaker 5: close to the middle. There are a lot of very
- 17:24Speaker 5: good teams in the East, and of course a lot
- 17:25Speaker 5: of the Eastern pundits are pointing at their point totals
- 17:28Speaker 5: and saying, well, look at how much better the East
- 17:30Speaker 5: is than the West. To me, what that's telling me
- 17:34Speaker 5: is there's just still a ton of parody on both sides.
- 17:37Speaker 5: Look it out close to wildcard races are look at
- 17:40Speaker 5: how close.
- 17:40Speaker 4: The difference is in the West. I would say the
- 17:42Speaker 4: bottom feeters are a little further out.
- 17:44Speaker 5: But I honestly believe that despite the point totals being
- 17:49Speaker 5: fairly elevated in the East, I think that there's parody
- 17:52Speaker 5: all across the league and it's pretty close to the middle.
- 17:55Speaker 5: But no, you're right, and look, I'm a Lakers guy,
- 17:58Speaker 5: so yes, I really do believe the West is far
- 18:01Speaker 5: superior to the East in the NBA.
- 18:04Speaker 2: Do you think Lebron can carry it through in the
- 18:07Speaker 2: playoffs if he has to without Austin Reeves and without Luca.
- 18:13Speaker 5: I would have said maybe without Reeves, but not without Luca.
- 18:16Speaker 4: I don't think so.
- 18:18Speaker 5: And look, I'm and I'm not a Lebron guy. I've
- 18:21Speaker 5: never been a Lebron guy. I was actually kind of
- 18:23Speaker 5: annoyed when the Lakers picked up Lebron James because I'm like,
- 18:27Speaker 5: you make up your mind, are you a coach, a
- 18:28Speaker 5: GM or a player.
- 18:29Speaker 4: Pick one? Stick with it.
- 18:31Speaker 5: So at a Lakers fan, I was not happy. But
- 18:35Speaker 5: you know, there's a title in there with Lebron's name
- 18:37Speaker 5: on it. I just I think Luka Doncic missing him
- 18:41Speaker 5: is huge for that team, unfortunately.
- 18:44Speaker 4: And I don't know. I guess I'm just gonna have
- 18:48Speaker 4: to stick to the Stanley Cup this fall because you know, hey.
- 18:51Speaker 5: If they want to go on a run, that'd be
- 18:52Speaker 5: great and I'll be excited, but I'm not holding my.
- 18:55Speaker 4: Bro all right.
- 18:56Speaker 2: The last thing before I let you go, people, you
- 18:59Speaker 2: tell me Ama fans especially, they're probably sick of hearing
- 19:01Speaker 2: me talk about this kid, but a teenager in maclan
- 19:05Speaker 2: Celebrini scoring one hundred points in that shark sweater and
- 19:10Speaker 2: the future being so incredibly bright for him. I think
- 19:14Speaker 2: the team being a little bit ahead of schedule because
- 19:16Speaker 2: he's on it, and him being one of only what
- 19:20Speaker 2: six teenagers to ever do it in the NHL score
- 19:24Speaker 2: one hundred points or more. Just help me, help me
- 19:28Speaker 2: characterize this accomplishment for the hockey newcomers out.
- 19:32Speaker 5: There, I think we're, oh, see, we live in a
- 19:36Speaker 5: world where everybody's very quick to label somebody a generational talent, right, oh,
- 19:41Speaker 5: this generational quarterback, generational.
- 19:44Speaker 4: Point guard, general. What we're seeing here is probably.
- 19:49Speaker 5: In hindsight what will be viewed as the best player
- 19:52Speaker 5: of his generation. And his accomplishment is like, in to
- 19:57Speaker 5: one hundred points so quickly is phenomenal. And it's so
- 20:01Speaker 5: hard to do because it's not like when I was
- 20:06Speaker 5: growing up at the NHL the eighties and nineties, where
- 20:08Speaker 5: they were just handing out one hundred point seasons. Now,
- 20:12Speaker 5: in today's game, it is harder to score, it is
- 20:15Speaker 5: harder to manufacture points.
- 20:17Speaker 4: To be able to do that is just.
- 20:19Speaker 5: Phenomenal, And I think, yes, if you are a fan
- 20:22Speaker 5: of Western Conference hockey and you paid any even remote
- 20:26Speaker 5: attention to the Sharks and Celebrini. What he has done
- 20:29Speaker 5: this year is nothing short of phenomenal. It is a
- 20:31Speaker 5: superstar effort. And this kid, if he continues this pace,
- 20:36Speaker 5: this is hall of fame credential pace, and you might
- 20:41Speaker 5: get a chance here early on. You know, if you're
- 20:43Speaker 5: a man, a fan, or a fan of any other
- 20:45Speaker 5: team and you're listening to this show, I mean pay
- 20:47Speaker 5: attention to the Sharks or at least Macklin Celebrini because
- 20:50Speaker 5: what he's doing I can hang a generational talent tag
- 20:55Speaker 5: on him, confidently.
- 21:00Speaker 2: Tom Callahan at Callahan on Air. If you're not already following,
- 21:04Speaker 2: that'd be a mistake. You should also check out Locked
- 21:07Speaker 2: on Mammoth, stay dialed in on everything that this Utah
- 21:10Speaker 2: team is doing as they approach a playoff picture where
- 21:14Speaker 2: it looks like they're going to be at least in
- 21:17Speaker 2: that first wild card spot.
- 21:18Speaker 3: Tom. I always appreciate your time and your insight.
- 21:21Speaker 4: Thank you very much, thanks for having me on.
- 21:24Speaker 6: I look forward to talking playoff hockey.
- 21:25Speaker 4: With you very soon.
- 21:27Speaker 3: Let's go, baby, the Mammoth are going to be in
- 21:29Speaker 3: the playoffs. That's Tom Callahan,