Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Between The Pipes: Adrian Denny on the Utah Mammoth's 1st round loss to Vegas, Can they make another step towards Stanley Cup + more

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Between The Pipes: Adrian Denny on the Utah Mammoth's 1st round loss to Vegas, Can they make another step towards Stanley Cup + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: That's me and the Connors. You were listening to the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Sean O'Connell Show. It's your source for the best youth
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: football coupleage.
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  Speaker 2: Here's OC from the Murdoch Hundai Studio of ESPN seven
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  Speaker 2: hundred at ninety two to one a half am.
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  Speaker 1: H Welcome back to the Sean McConnell Show.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome in our friend Adrian Denny Utah Mammoth Insider, brought
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  Speaker 2: to you by Aladdin Industries and Valley Plumbing, Heating and Cooling.
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  Speaker 1: He joins us here in studio. It's always great to
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  Speaker 1: see you, sir.
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  Speaker 3: How are you, hey, Sean? How's it going? Man?
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  Speaker 1: I'm doing all right.
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  Speaker 2: Look, not the end that we wanted, not the timing
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  Speaker 2: we wanted to have an end for this Utah Mammoth season.
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  Speaker 1: That's been so incredible. But uh, you know, you've.
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  Speaker 2: Had a few days to process now what we saw
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  Speaker 2: against the Vegas Golden Knights and especially in that final
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  Speaker 2: game at home. Give me give me your thoughts on
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  Speaker 2: the playoffs. First, we'll get back to the whole season
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  Speaker 2: here a second.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think, uh, when it all ended
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  Speaker 4: on Friday night, you're just never ready for it, you know,
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  Speaker 4: as you said there's the big picture, there's the overhead
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  Speaker 4: view of it, but what it ends, you're just never
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  Speaker 4: quite ready. Like you walk into the arena, you're ready
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  Speaker 4: for a game, and then when you walk out of
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  Speaker 4: the arena, it's just it's over.
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  Speaker 3: It's done. Seasons, seasons, season's finished.
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  Speaker 2: Over.
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  Speaker 3: It's a weird feeling.
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  Speaker 4: And you know that's I think every series in the
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  Speaker 4: Stanley Cup playoffs outside of La and Colorado, you could
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  Speaker 4: look at and say, well, if there's a different bounds
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  Speaker 4: this way, that way, if this team closes this out,
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  Speaker 4: series could flip, which is what makes it so fun.
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  Speaker 4: So for the Mammoth, I think they look at it
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  Speaker 4: as you know, they they played played well, letting five
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  Speaker 4: of the six games, had a couple of games they
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  Speaker 4: they didn't close out. Wish wish they could have and
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  Speaker 4: could still be playing, but that's hockey. I think everybody
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  Speaker 4: that loses feels like they could have won the series,
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  Speaker 4: and they could have. It's just all about what's the
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  Speaker 4: score at the end.
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  Speaker 2: If there is an extra sting, and I think there
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  Speaker 2: probably is on some of those losses, it's that you know,
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  Speaker 2: three third period leads were squandered in this series, now again,
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  Speaker 2: it was an awesome season. They're kind of on pace
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  Speaker 2: to where I think they're supposed to be as a franchise.
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  Speaker 2: It would have been maybe a little ahead of schedule
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  Speaker 2: if they had won this series, but they certainly had
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  Speaker 2: a shot to do it. And when they're so tantalizingly close,
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  Speaker 2: I mean fifty two seconds away from going up three
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  Speaker 2: to one, which changes the entire dynamic. And we've already
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  Speaker 2: talked about that, but how much how much attention will
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  Speaker 2: be paid to that as they're evaluating what to do
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  Speaker 2: with the roster, what tweaks to make, how to practice
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  Speaker 2: next year that they squandered those leads.
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  Speaker 4: Hockey operations Chris Armstrong let off his postseason media availability
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  Speaker 4: yesterday with how disappointed we are that that we're not playing,
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  Speaker 4: and was very transparent that we wish we were still playing.
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  Speaker 4: We've got work to do to get ready for next season.
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  Speaker 4: And and Andre Turney was talking about the third period leads,
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  Speaker 4: the power play, got one goal in six games, and
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  Speaker 4: he said, you know, those those are two things that
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  Speaker 4: we'll focus on as a group as coaching staff, as players.
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  Speaker 4: It's a management team, as an analytical group, and we'll
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  Speaker 4: figure it out.
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  Speaker 3: That's what happens when we have things that we need
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  Speaker 3: to fix.
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  Speaker 4: We get together as a group and we figure it out,
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  Speaker 4: and we get it on the right track and get
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  Speaker 4: it rolling. Power play in the third period were two
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  Speaker 4: things that really came up there. At the same time,
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  Speaker 4: Chris Armstrong circled back to Vegas and said, they're they're
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  Speaker 4: a heck of a team. They're a playoff season team,
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  Speaker 4: they're high pressure. They came from behind almost fifteen times
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  Speaker 4: in the regular season in the third period to win games.
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  Speaker 4: So the opposition did have, you know, a say in
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  Speaker 4: what happened. But being fully transparent, those are a couple
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  Speaker 4: of things that they're looking at going in. I will
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  Speaker 4: always point back to in the Stanley Cup playoffs, leads
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  Speaker 4: aren't really leads. Fifty percent of the teams that score
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  Speaker 4: first win, fifty percent of the teams that fall behind win.
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  Speaker 4: But when you're that close fifty plus seconds away, it hurts.
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  Speaker 4: But that the games that they let in, they trailed
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  Speaker 4: in four of the five. So but that I think,
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  Speaker 4: you know, just just going through it and you know
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  Speaker 4: how it is when when you're on a losing team.
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  Speaker 4: I can't say that you've ever bet on a losing.
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  Speaker 1: Team, but more of those than I have been on
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  Speaker 1: winning teams.
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  Speaker 4: But when you're on a losing team and you're just
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  Speaker 4: kind of going through a losing season, it just just
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  Speaker 4: kind of happened. And then you win a game and
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  Speaker 4: it feels like, oh, we just want a game, and
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  Speaker 4: it's it's a huge celebration. But when you're on a
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  Speaker 4: winning team, you expect to win, and winning doesn't quite have,
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  Speaker 4: you know, the exhilaration as when you're on a losing team,
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  Speaker 4: because you expect to win, but losing kills you. The
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  Speaker 4: losses are harder than the wins are fun. So Utah,
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  Speaker 4: coming out of this, they're in pain and they know
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  Speaker 4: what it is and they want to get back there.
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  Speaker 4: And the other thing, oh see, you know, talking about
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  Speaker 4: goals for next year. The players there and Bill and
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  Speaker 4: Chris were all fully out in front of Yeah, well
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  Speaker 4: we made the playoffs this year and we got to
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  Speaker 4: get back there next year. That's the standard that we
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  Speaker 4: want to have. And just because we made it this year,
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  Speaker 4: that's not necessarily a given for next year.
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  Speaker 3: We got to come out. We gotta work harder.
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  Speaker 4: It's gonna be harder to get back Ten of the
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  Speaker 4: sixteen teams that made the playoffs last year made them
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  Speaker 4: this year. So really the two Stanley Cup finalists in Toronto,
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  Speaker 4: three top teams were in the playoffs this year.
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  Speaker 3: So.
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  Speaker 4: They're not jumping ahead that now we have to win around.
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  Speaker 4: It's we got to get back in there. When you're
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  Speaker 4: back in there, then you win your round.
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  Speaker 2: We've already talked about this, but there's always these cliches
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  Speaker 2: you throw. A playoff basketball is different. Tournament basketball is different.
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  Speaker 2: Playoff hockey is different. And you can see it. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: the urgency, the speed, the physicality of every single shift,
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  Speaker 2: and we saw in this Vegas versus Utah matchup, especially
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  Speaker 2: like the speed and sort of skillvantage that Utah had
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  Speaker 2: manifesting itself in certain scenarios, sometimes to great success. You
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  Speaker 2: also saw some of the situations at which the size
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  Speaker 2: and physicality of Vegas was maybe.
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  Speaker 1: Like you could fall into.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's maybe more necessary for playoff hockey. So looking
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  Speaker 2: at how the way this thing played out and looking
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  Speaker 2: at those things specifically, is a change needed for this
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  Speaker 2: team to not only get to the playoffs, but to
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  Speaker 2: be successful in playoff hockey? Or can they just refine
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  Speaker 2: their speed, their skill, their shot, precision, et cetera, to
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  Speaker 2: a level where even physical disadvantages don't manifest themselves the
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  Speaker 2: same way.
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  Speaker 4: Talking to Nicolchek yesterday, he felt that size is one
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  Speaker 4: thing for the Mammoth that if they could add a
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  Speaker 4: piece or to that from a from a size standpoint,
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  Speaker 4: he felt that would be big. Bill Armstrong's identified that
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  Speaker 4: from day one. As you look back at every draft
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  Speaker 4: pick that he's made since twenty twenty one, it's six
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  Speaker 4: feet tall or longer. So it's in the pipeline. It's
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  Speaker 4: coming the six first rounders that we talk about, and
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  Speaker 4: the goalie who's also a second rounder, Michael Robbell. But
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  Speaker 4: the goal he's six foot four, right, there's lots of
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  Speaker 4: size in the pipeline that's on the way Utah. Also
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  Speaker 4: being without McBain and Hayton, that's that's one thing.
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  Speaker 3: Bear. He was very.
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  Speaker 4: Navigational mentioning that yesterday, But it's one thing that stood
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  Speaker 4: out to me how much they just kind of missed
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  Speaker 4: the crash and burn of McBain and and Barrett Hayten too.
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  Speaker 4: But for me, going into the off season with this roster,
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  Speaker 4: you want everybody back. You I don't think I don't
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  Speaker 4: think you usually end the season you're like, we want
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  Speaker 4: everybody back. I think they want everybody back, But do
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  Speaker 4: you always get everybody back? No, because Utah is got
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  Speaker 4: business decisions to make. These players that are free agents
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  Speaker 4: are going to get contracts from other teams tossed Adam,
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  Speaker 4: teams that have, you know, more desperation to add pieces
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  Speaker 4: and going to throw more term in terms of years
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  Speaker 4: of length of contracts, more money, h just because they're
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  Speaker 4: they're in more desperate situations, while Utah is going to
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  Speaker 4: stay in calculated and everything that they do. And you've
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  Speaker 4: seen the free agents that they've signed, Kevin Stenlin to
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  Speaker 4: a two year contract couple years ago, Nate Schmidt three years,
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  Speaker 4: Brandon Tannev three years, you know, the Kylie Yamamoto on
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  Speaker 4: the the year to year. So Utah wants everybody back,
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  Speaker 4: but realistically, you're still looking at your your big picture
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  Speaker 4: in what you want to do in terms of tying
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  Speaker 4: up term on contracts, salary cap space. But with the
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  Speaker 4: prospects that are in the pool and coming up, that's
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  Speaker 4: not going to affect anything that they do. They're still
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  Speaker 4: going to aggressively try and sign their their free agents
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  Speaker 4: aggressively go after the market, but within that business plan,
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  Speaker 4: and if one of your six first rounders comes in
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  Speaker 4: and wins a spot, all the better.
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  Speaker 2: And listening to the player exit interviews and guys that
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: their futures up in the air being asked about it,
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  Speaker 2: all of them were like, well, I want to be here.
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  Speaker 2: And you'll see this in the NBA, You'll see this
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  Speaker 2: with other NHL teams. Just see this as part of
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: kind of the the exit process for professional sports, where
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  Speaker 2: inevitably someone's asked, hey, you're contracts up, what do you
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: think about your future? And you'll hear guys give like
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  Speaker 2: kind of a coach speak, like a non committal answer,
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  Speaker 2: or occasionally people are well, I love it here, I
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  Speaker 2: want to stay here. I don't remember a time when
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  Speaker 2: I heard every person that was asked that question give
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  Speaker 2: what I felt like was a genuine and definitive I
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  Speaker 2: would prefer to be here that anywhere else, effectively, not
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: in those exact words, but basically expressing that sentiment. I
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  Speaker 2: think it's a testament to the culture of the team,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: to what Smith Entertainment group is built, and I think
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: a recognition these guys are all hockey players. They know like,
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  Speaker 2: if I'm here we're gonna be winning.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, everything you just said right there, starting with inside
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  Speaker 4: the locker room, it's a good culture. The guys talked
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: about Bear in their exit interviews and how demanding he
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: is and how high his expectations are for everybody, but
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  Speaker 4: how there's the human aspect of it, the way he
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: treats him his people.
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  Speaker 3: First.
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  Speaker 4: You know that several guys brought up how he you know,
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  Speaker 4: talks to him in the morning, goes into the breakfast room, says, hey,
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: how are things going?
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  Speaker 3: And then Bear says, yeah, I do that.
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  Speaker 4: And then we go into the video room and it's
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  Speaker 4: business and I'm showing video and I'm saying you didn't
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  Speaker 4: do this, and that's your job. And our standards here
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: are what you see. We're in this facility, we're playing
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: in a full house. You see how well we're supported
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  Speaker 4: by management ownership. We have to deliver here and it's
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: not personal, but you have to do your job. And
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  Speaker 4: that's what the guys really appreciate about Bear is how
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  Speaker 4: much he cares about him as people. But when they're
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  Speaker 4: down to business, it's you got a job to do.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: And then you look at the training facility best in
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  Speaker 4: the NHL, we talked about it before. This is a
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  Speaker 4: great place to live and they the guys appreciate that,
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: and it's it's it's worked out really well.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: And we've talked.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: About how they're all scattered about into various areas of
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: town based on what fits them. That's that's another great
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  Speaker 4: thing about UH Salt Lake. For instance, the La Kings
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: all live at Manhattan Beach, right, That's that's where their
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: players have gravitated to.
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  Speaker 3: And here, you.
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  Speaker 4: Know, you you you, you have different areas of town
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  Speaker 4: in the valley that the guys gravitate to because it feels.
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  Speaker 3: Like it feels like home.
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  Speaker 4: So all that being said, making the playoffs, liking the
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  Speaker 4: job that they're coming into every day, the boss, the facility,
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  Speaker 4: and enjoying what they did this year and and wanting
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: wanting more of that.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: At the Delta Center, there was conversation kind of mid
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: season that, you know, Bear's future was maybe less than certain,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: and obviously they made the playoffs. How safe is Bear
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Turney's job.
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  Speaker 4: I think everybody's really happy with the job he did.
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  Speaker 4: And and you know, there's social media, there's everybody with
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  Speaker 4: a voice, everybody's entitled to an opinion.
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  Speaker 3: It's you know, it's a great, great thing about.
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  Speaker 2: They certainly are, but only like four of those opinions
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  Speaker 2: actually matter for his future.
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  Speaker 3: Sure, so yeah, so you get the noise.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, And and I'll be honest, the noise in the
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: last week has been from from what I've seen, like, oh,
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: I wasn't I wasn't sure about Bear maybe one way
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: or the other. But I really liked how he ran
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: things in the playoffs and handled his his post postseason media.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: And so I think, you know that the noise out there,
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: like when when the team was struggling in e vent
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: or December, is actually watched how the season played out and.
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  Speaker 3: Thought, oh, he did a did a heck of a job.
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  Speaker 3: He's a heck of a coach.
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  Speaker 4: He's a good man, he's got a plan, he's you know,
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  Speaker 4: well read on what he's doing here. So that's that's
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  Speaker 4: how I've felt the public perception in the last three
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  Speaker 4: four days.
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  Speaker 3: And I think, you know, when.
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  Speaker 4: You're in the facility and you see it every day,
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  Speaker 4: I think I think he's in a good spot. He's
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: got one year left on his contract. One thing that
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: that Bear said that that he kind of evolved in
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: this year, which kind of along the same lines. Right,
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: you look down at the bench and the team's down
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: four two, and you're you're not seeing there freaking out.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: And and one thing he said this year that he
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: really focused on as an emotional guy, as a vocal guy,
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: as a passionate guy, was staying even keeled on the bench,
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: because when your boss is freaking out, if you.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Don't want your leadership losing it, it affects everything.
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  Speaker 4: That the composure of the players is affected. They're focusing
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: on other external things that you can't do anything about.
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  Speaker 4: And Bear said, as he focused on that approach, he
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: saw his leaders kind of taking over in various situations.
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: And one thing, Monday night, I'm watching that Ducks Vegas game,
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: and there was that perceived to be missed icing call
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: and Joel Quinnville, the head coach of Anaheim, and Jay Woodcroft,
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: his top assistant, just started losing their minds that the
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: play wasn't blown dead. And I thought it affected the equilibrium.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: The players on the ice could feel that they thought
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: it was icing. They saw their coaches losing it and
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: Vegas scored a goal and there's nothing you could do
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: about it. In the moment the play wasn't blown dead,
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: and I think that that is why Vegas scored because
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: of composure that started with the head coach of Anaheim
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: and his top assistant who's been a head coach in Edmonton.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: On Monday, I put a question out, Hey, who is
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: your Utah Mammoth team MVP this season? And I think
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of different guys you could build a
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: case for. We got Clayton Keller's name came in, Logan
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Krause's name came in, Veggie's name came in.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Schmaltz I think might be my favorite pick on there.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Obviously, Dylan Gunter was your leading goal scorer, so there's
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: there wasn't a consensus anywhere. But you have been closer
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: to this team than anyone. And I think I know
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: that you're gonna have a hard time daring a town
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: to one player. But who should we at least be
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: considering as the team MVP.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: Who do you think I'm gonna take?
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: Oh? See any ideas based on our last year together.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: I think you might be on the same page that
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: I'm on in that Schmaltz was such an important player
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: for this team. The case I made was that he
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: came up so big in timely, even timely regular season wins.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: He probably could have had a better playoff.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: He came up so big in some of these timely
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: regular season games against elite competition when maybe Gunther's shot
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: was off, maybe you weren't getting everything you needed out
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: of the captain. It felt like Schmaltz was the guy that,
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: in several different situations kind of pulled things along when
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: the the usual suspects were less than ideal. And that's
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: that's probably where I came out on it. But I'm
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: very curious to hear your.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Thoughts on.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: Thirty three goals, seventy four points, eighty two games. I
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: think I think the favorite moment of Utah this year
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: for the Mammoth, as as we've heard from from our
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: fans on Mammoth Daily this week, is smalt stripping the
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: puck when Philly had that open net and it's a
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: four to three game, Keller score six on five of
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: the extra attack or gun throwins the game.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: But what Schmaltz did there.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: That that uh that that was a huge point that
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: sticks in our heads.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: The hustle he showed just to poke check that pick
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: that thing away and to turn it back around was
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, it is the moment that decided the game,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: because if you get one more second to handle that puck,
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: then it goes into the open net. It goes into
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: the empty net, and that game ends and you lose
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: that right there. Even if it wasn't the most impactful
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: important regular season matchup, all points were of course pretty
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: important for this team in the playoff, in the wild
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: card race, but just the the fact that you're still
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: establishing who you are is a franchise, what your team
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: identity is, and that it was just it's a good
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: old fashioned hustle play by a guy who everyone in
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: the building would have been fine if he didn't make
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: that play.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Everyone no one would have been like, what Schmalt's doing there?
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: Why did It wouldn't have been considered a massive mistake
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: for missing that opportunity, But the fact that he he
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: demanded that effort from himself in that situation is a
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: big reason why I think he's so important to what
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: they're doing this year and of course moving forward.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: That was a signature moment him just stripping the puck
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: away from Quinn Hughes right after the Olympic break, when
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: the Mammoth got that big win against Minnesota. He was
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: he was just there for everything that Utah was involved in.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: He's got the eight year contract that starts next year.
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: Mammoth weren't gonna let him get to free agency, but
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: really impressed with him. And I thought, I thought, man
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: after the two playoff games where Keller, Schmalton, Krause didn't
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: have any goals in games three, four, five, and six,
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: they really played the best that I've ever seen them before.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: And they were a top ten line in the NHL
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: during the regular season, but there was there was just
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: kind of that playoff jam, just kind of that look
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: in their eyes. And I couldn't have been more impressed
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: with Schmaltz, Keller, and Krause in the first round. I
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: think it's a great sign of things to come for
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: the Mammoth that those three guys who had never played
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: playoff hockey in front of fans before. Well, Schmalts had
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: four games as rookie season, but we're up to the moment,
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: and as the series went on and as things got harder,
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: they adjusted to it and made sure they were still factors.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Looking at the rest of the league now, where you
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: obviously don't get to root for the hometown team anymore.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: The Mammoth are out. But lots of stuff going on
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: around the NHL. You've got playoffs where the Colorado Avalanche,
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: they've won nine games straight now and they're undefeated so
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: far in these playoffs. I don't know if anyone is
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: going to be able to slow them down. But as
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: you're evaluating these second round series, what do you like
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: in what are you questioning?
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: What do you think?
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: First of all, I'm totally wrong about what I thought
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: was gonna happen in the AVS Wild Series. I thought
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: Minnesota would at least get a split. The way that
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: they took care of Dallas, I thought, oh boy, this
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: team's this team's going straight to the Stanley Cup Final.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: And I don't usually get that feeling after a round
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: of playoff hockey. And I guess we know why, because
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: the Abs came out and controlled a couple of games,
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: and now Colorado looks like they're the fast track team.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: I really thought Minnesota with with Quinn Hughes and they
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: made some big additions and they allowed one to five
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: on five goal to Dallas in six games. I was
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: was really impressed with that series. And then Colorado, the
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: team with the best record all year, comes out and
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: jumps up two.
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: Oh.
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: To me, that series looks like it's in pretty good control.
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: Vegas Anaheim. I thought Vegas would win that series because
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: of why they beat Utah, just just kind of that experience,
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: and they said they really didn't like their game the
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: other night when they beat beat Anaheim in Game one,
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: but the Ducks kind of hung tough there. I still
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: think that's a Vegas series for the same reason that
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: I just said they beat Utah. Buffalo Montreal seems like
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: it could be crazy Like Montreal Tampa Bay just played
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: a seven game series, all seven games decided by a goal,
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: Four of them went to overtime. To me, that feels
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: like a series like that coming up. And then our
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: default sweep Carolina Philly probably ends in five.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: What method does the NHL use to manipulate their draft
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: lottery to give it the first overall pick to Toronto?
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Is it freezing the ping pong ball? Is it making
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: it a slightly less dense ping pong ball? Obviously I
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: say that's somewhat tongue in cheek, but that was big
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: news yesterday last night at the NHL draft lotteries. We
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: await an NBA Draft lottery here in the state of Utah.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: NHL Draft lottery. You got Toronto with the number one
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: overall pick. The last two times they missed the playoffs.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: I know you know this.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: The last two times they missed the playoffs, they've won
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: the draft lottery. Last time it was Austin Matthews and
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: now he's threatening to leave. So oh hey, look things
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: are getting better for you here, Austin. I don't know, man,
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: I'm a conspiracy guy on this.
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: As our old friend Steve Klouke used to say, never
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: a dull moment. They had the most bizarre press conference
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: I've ever seed in my entire life on Monday when
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: they named John Shaika general manager.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: And then I.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: Didn't see the lottery because we were doing some Mammoth
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: Daily stuff. And I get a text and I said,
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: they did not win it, did they?
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: And they won it? As the world turns in Toronto.
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: So gosh, some teams just have it, man, like San
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: Jose picking second overall for the second straight year.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: More problematic for the Mammock.
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: Good night, man, and that sucks.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: They've already got acclin Sealabrini first overall, Will Smith third overall,
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: Michael Misa second overall from last year. Now they're going
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: to get another one. That's the one that really ah,
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: that really u.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: That one hurts because that was it. They had a
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: five chance of getting the second overall pick. Did the
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: San Jose Sharks.
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: And that being said, gotta remember Utah one lottery last year,
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: jumped up ten spots Caleb Dnoye, which is a huge piece,
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: huge piece to have. So it's I guess it's pretty similar.
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: One of the first teams out San Jose jumps up
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: wins the lottery.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: That's why they call it gambling.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: I guess Dan Oya he scored a couple of goals
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: for Monk ten, Was that right?
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: He had a goal and two assists in their game
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: seven win yesterday. And another prospect for Utah, Gabe Smith,
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: a fourth overall pick, is popping in some goals too.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: He's a big kid, size size, size, six foot four.
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: He fought in the preseason. But both those guys, I
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: think you could expect to be in camp and be
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: a be a factor and if not, start their their
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: pro careers in the AHL.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: So it's an exciting time, even though it's a little
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: melancholy for this team to be out of the playoffs. Now,
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: from a realism perspective, is this now a staple playoff team?
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: I know we already talked about. It's not just you
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: can't assume you're going to be there. They have to
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: plug some holes. I think they need a new backup goaltender,
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: et cetera. But is this now that they know what
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: it feels like the franchise has been here before. Is
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: this something that we should be expecting for the foreseeable future?
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: Should be expecting it. Yeah, doesn't mean they're going to
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: make the playoffs ten straight years.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: Tampa Bay had.
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: A year in the middle of all of this where
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: they just didn't make the playoffs. They had a decent
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: year and just didn't make the playoffs. It's I don't
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: want to draw a comparison to the NFL, but it's it's, uh,
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: you know, you don't have the same teams every year,
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: as they said ten to sixteen.
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: But that's that's the goal. That's the expectation.
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: And that's why I think it was really, you know,
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: really smart of you know, Bill and the plays keeping
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: the expectation of yet we want to get get in
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: the playoffs next year, versus saying we want to win
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: a playoff round next year because they know how hard
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: it is going to be to get back in it.
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: Because you're gonna have San Jose with a second overall
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: pick that could potentially be be there. You've got a
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: team like Winnipeg who had the best record in the
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: NHL last year and didn't make the playoffs. They're they're
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: going to try and make a make a bush to
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: get back into it.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I don't see a lot. I mean, you
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: just don't know.
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: I don't see a lot of there's more Eastern Conference
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: pieces out of the playoffs this year that you can
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: see getting back in. In the West you don't see as many,
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: if any, But there's always somebody that comes out of
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: nowhere and gets rolling. And San Jose is a team,
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: oh see. That's gonna be a huge, huge test for
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: them next year to try and maintain that consistency they
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: had for most of this year when they were in
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: a playoff spot for most of the year and then
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: tailed off late.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: That is Adrian Denny.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: You tell Mammoth Insider, Alatin Industries and Valley plumbing, heating
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: and cooling. Give you our conversation between the pipes with
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: Adrian Denny every single week.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Uh, we got to keep doing.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: This through the Stanley Cup playoffs, right heck yeah, yeah,
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: I'll be here.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: We're not gonna let them get out of here yet.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, as long as they're playing hockey, baby, Yeah, I'll
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: be here.