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KRAKEN WEEKLY: Uncovering every rock for offense (12/15) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

0:00
Speaker 1: We first opened Cracking Weekly with a pretty somber note
0:03
Speaker 1: and understanding that historic reigns have come and many folks
0:08
Speaker 1: in western Washington have found themselves flooded out of their homes.
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Speaker 1: No food, no clothing, no place to stay as well,
0:15
Speaker 1: just an absolute tough situation. So if you can help
0:18
Speaker 1: provide essentials for people who have been displaced here by
0:21
Speaker 1: the floods, please consider helping by donating to the Red Cross.
0:26
Speaker 1: Right now you can donate online through the Red Cross
0:29
Speaker 1: Northwest Region website or text the word red Cross to
0:32
Speaker 1: nine zero nine nine nine. Again, text the word Red
0:36
Speaker 1: Cross to nine zero nine nine nine, please consider it
0:40
Speaker 1: help once again that word red Cross, r ed Cross
0:47
Speaker 1: to nine zero nine nine. Let's start the show. This
0:51
Speaker 1: is Jordan Ebly, this is Vince Done, This is Jaden Schwartz,
0:54
Speaker 1: This is Jereed mccannon, this is Ryan land Gren, this
0:59
Speaker 1: is Maddie Beniar's. You're listening to Cracking Weekly with Mike Benton.
1:02
Speaker 1: Tough week. The krack and have finally put in the
1:04
Speaker 1: rearview of mirror because they've got to shift focused now
1:06
Speaker 1: to what's going to be arguably their biggest challenge of
1:10
Speaker 1: the season in the Colorado Avalanche and then after that
1:13
Speaker 1: onto the road before the holiday break. Mike Benton with
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Speaker 1: you for Cracking Weekly. Of course, each and every week.
1:18
Speaker 1: We dropped this podcast via the Crack and Audio Network
1:22
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app. Just sign up for free to
1:25
Speaker 1: get it at sports radiokjar dot com ever it fits you.
1:28
Speaker 1: Al Kaniski will be with me and you coming up
1:32
Speaker 1: in just a little bit. We're also gonna hear from
1:34
Speaker 1: Scott Laughlin, host of NHL Morning Skate on Sirius XM,
1:38
Speaker 1: NHL Network Radio. He's gonna start the show here with us.
1:41
Speaker 1: He's under some time constraints as well, so we're gonna
1:43
Speaker 1: get to Scott in just a little bit. As far
1:45
Speaker 1: as the overall scope of the Kraken competition in the
1:49
Speaker 1: Western Conference and an absolutely crazy friday we saw in
1:54
Speaker 1: the NHL Trade landscape headline by the trade of Quinn
1:58
Speaker 1: Hughes from the band Coouver Canucks to the Minnesota Wild
2:02
Speaker 1: Scott Laughlin will be with us here in just a bit.
2:05
Speaker 1: Things can change by the end of this evening, but
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Speaker 1: the Krack and as of right now, still hanging in
2:10
Speaker 1: the mix, but have some work to do to leapfrog,
2:14
Speaker 1: not just Saint Louis, not just Winnipeg, not just Chicago,
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Speaker 1: not just Utah, but also the San Jose Sharks to
2:21
Speaker 1: find their way back into a wildcard spot. One thing
2:24
Speaker 1: they have in their favor games in hand. They stand
2:27
Speaker 1: five points back of the cut line right now in
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Speaker 1: the Western Conference, and they have games in hand on
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Speaker 1: virtually everybody ahead of them. They have three games in
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Speaker 1: hand on Saint Louis, one on Winnipeg, two on Chicago,
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Speaker 1: four on Utah, and three on San Jose, which also
2:43
Speaker 1: is coming up on their schedule this Saturday, So that
2:47
Speaker 1: could be a big game, certainly as a Crack and
2:49
Speaker 1: trying to put now a stretch up just one win
2:52
Speaker 1: in the previous nine games behind them, and trying to
2:55
Speaker 1: find a u turn as well in their offensive game
2:58
Speaker 1: despite not just in injuries but also illness going throughout
3:02
Speaker 1: their entire room. We'll talk about it in just a
3:04
Speaker 1: bit here with Everett now on the schedule here for
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Speaker 1: this week again the Crack and tomorrow night and taking
3:10
Speaker 1: on the Colorado Avalanche airtime at six point thirty pug
3:14
Speaker 1: drop being a little past seven o'clock Pacific time. National
3:17
Speaker 1: TV's got the game. So again we are your only
3:19
Speaker 1: local source for broadcast coverage all across the global Credit
3:23
Speaker 1: Union Craken Audio Network, and of course on the flagship
3:27
Speaker 1: ninety three three KJARFM. Thursday at Calgary six pm, Pug
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Speaker 1: drop Saturday, game two of the trip into SAP Center
3:36
Speaker 1: in San Jose for their only visit to Northern California
3:39
Speaker 1: on the regular season schedule, airtime six thirty. Pug drops
3:43
Speaker 1: a little past seven o'clock Pacific time. As far as
3:46
Speaker 1: the highlights, here is what you may have missed before
3:49
Speaker 1: we get to Scott Laughlin of Sirius XMNHL Network Radio
3:53
Speaker 1: again left.
3:54
Speaker 2: Side, but here's in front. Try to fine everybody on
3:57
Speaker 2: the back door and that pass too far in front
3:59
Speaker 2: of them too, Oh, Lona ahead, that's done, lowers the bum.
4:04
Speaker 3: In the corner, and now we've got a melee has
4:08
Speaker 3: super yellow, got spun around fence. Done, caught him in
4:12
Speaker 3: the trains racks and has taken everybody on in a
4:16
Speaker 3: light jersey. What uh head takes the shot back to
4:22
Speaker 3: the cans back, signs Stevenson in front, emerly stoop the draw.
4:29
Speaker 2: Cop guitar wins at Edmondson around the boards. Done, saves
4:33
Speaker 2: it near corner here's tolbing it to the face offf
4:36
Speaker 2: Dot Sinnery pass.
4:42
Speaker 4: We directs the shot home on the power play the Seattle.
4:47
Speaker 2: Pecking tie the game too to Toban across done.
4:51
Speaker 5: Stone gets it done and over time three two Seattle Well.
5:06
Speaker 6: A great setup by Jordan Eberly who feeds the puck
5:09
Speaker 6: over to Toll. The toll it waits for Fitts time
5:12
Speaker 6: to get in a position for a one timer in
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Speaker 6: the high slot, slides it over to him. It's a
5:16
Speaker 6: bomb track and win three to two.
5:19
Speaker 2: Bring on the fire Jacks Marksmith on the right side,
5:23
Speaker 2: Montour to the line far side near wing circle. Marshman scoos.
5:32
Speaker 4: Mason Marshmitt's got two and the Seattle crack it tie
5:37
Speaker 4: this game at two twelve.
5:39
Speaker 6: Ten to go.
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Speaker 3: On the third well, a.
5:41
Speaker 6: Very similar shot to a power play one timer Mason
5:44
Speaker 6: Marchman's at the top of the circles. That puck goes
5:47
Speaker 6: over to Linger on the far side, but three feet
5:50
Speaker 6: ins at the blue line, he feeds it to Marchman.
5:52
Speaker 6: Marchmint with that one timer beating Vamelka low on that
5:56
Speaker 6: blocker's tide.
5:57
Speaker 1: This game's tiers Fit's done.
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Speaker 3: Left side cracking with the face off, steven said, left
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Speaker 3: circle shot.
6:10
Speaker 2: Chandler.
6:10
Speaker 4: Stevens said on the power play has put the crack
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Speaker 4: ind on the board. They trimmed that deficit in half
6:18
Speaker 4: two one seven thirty six to play in a second.
6:21
Speaker 6: Well, Matty Pinier's with a face off win. Jordan Nibley
6:24
Speaker 6: taps it back. Devin's done at the point. Done down
6:27
Speaker 6: to Stevenson with a seen ice shot from the left side,
6:30
Speaker 6: short side on alf flying two to one.
6:34
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna jump into matters right now, off
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Speaker 1: the top due to time constraints and appreciate this fellow's time.
6:40
Speaker 1: Scott Laughlin joining us from Serious Sexum NHL Network Radios.
6:45
Speaker 1: Morning Skate, Scott. Great to have you along, my friend.
6:48
Speaker 1: Thank you for doing this. Also well known metal head.
6:51
Speaker 1: I believe gotta ask you if I can give you
6:54
Speaker 1: three choices right here, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden or Motorhead.
7:00
Speaker 1: Out of the three, one's a concert, one's a car listen,
7:05
Speaker 1: and one's got to go. What's you picking?
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Speaker 7: Well, look, I mean you start off with a tough
7:09
Speaker 7: one here, Mike. I mean you know I've always said
7:11
Speaker 7: this with regards to the Priest versus Maiden, discussion. That's
7:15
Speaker 7: that's going on in some circles. I've always said this,
7:18
Speaker 7: why don't we have to choose, you know, can't we
7:20
Speaker 7: just love all the kids? Right? Yeah, Well, I think
7:22
Speaker 7: we're looking, you know, for vitamin C at this time
7:25
Speaker 7: of the year, obviously to trying to stay healthy, to
7:27
Speaker 7: strengthen the immune system. Look, I mean you have an apple,
7:30
Speaker 7: you might get some vitamin C. Yeah, you have an orange,
7:33
Speaker 7: you get your vitamin C. So I would say this
7:36
Speaker 7: if I really had to do it, even though I've
7:38
Speaker 7: probably seen Priests and Maiden the most under these three
7:41
Speaker 7: bands you mentioned, I would probably be a little bit
7:44
Speaker 7: more partial to Priest because they saw them back in
7:46
Speaker 7: nineteen eighty six and the Fuel for Life tour and
7:49
Speaker 7: I was hooked ever since. So I would go with
7:51
Speaker 7: Priest slightly over Maiden, who I've seen probably a book
7:54
Speaker 7: nine or ten times over the years. And you know,
7:57
Speaker 7: God rest Lemmy right right, Oh yeah, I would say,
8:00
Speaker 7: and Motorhead might be more of a car lesson to
8:02
Speaker 7: answer your question, Hey, just.
8:03
Speaker 1: Go ahead and round the mall up here. I mean,
8:04
Speaker 1: we tend to play this or that in this radio
8:06
Speaker 1: business here, but hey, if you can put them all
8:08
Speaker 1: right back and turn back the clock. Sign me up
8:11
Speaker 1: as well to my friend. But absolutely recently, this last Friday,
8:15
Speaker 1: I don't know if we had a day in the
8:17
Speaker 1: NHL this crazy in a while, Scott. I mean, Tristan
8:20
Speaker 1: Jarry for Stewart's skinner and the league set hold my
8:23
Speaker 1: beer and it was just getting right past the morning hour.
8:26
Speaker 1: Then Quinn Hughes gets traded, then Connor Bdard gets hurt.
8:30
Speaker 1: As far as the trades, how much do you read
8:33
Speaker 1: into the shifting of balance of power in the West
8:36
Speaker 1: starting here with the huge deal to Minnesota.
8:39
Speaker 7: Well, look, I think Minnesota is in it to winning
8:41
Speaker 7: for the next year and a half. That much we know,
8:43
Speaker 7: right And by the way, somebody tell us that that
8:45
Speaker 7: Friday was the unofficial NHL trade deadline. I mean, you're
8:48
Speaker 7: right things that it happened fast and furiously. And then
8:50
Speaker 7: obviously we can talk about the dart that did not
8:52
Speaker 7: look good at the end of the Hawks team against
8:55
Speaker 7: Saint Louis. But I think you look at what Minnesota's
8:58
Speaker 7: done here, and Minnesota is a stacked team right now,
9:02
Speaker 7: and they're going to be stacked, as we say, for
9:04
Speaker 7: at least a year and a half. The season and
9:05
Speaker 7: a half, and then I guess what Bill Garren is
9:07
Speaker 7: hoping is that he can sell Quinn Hughes on just
9:10
Speaker 7: how great a place Minnesota is, that they're going to
9:12
Speaker 7: be in it to win it each and every season,
9:14
Speaker 7: that they've got a talented team that's got some veteran
9:16
Speaker 7: guys mixed in, but for the most part, guys are
9:18
Speaker 7: in the primes of their careers. And you look at
9:20
Speaker 7: a guy like Matt Boldie, who brings it every night, obviously,
9:23
Speaker 7: and he's got his best year still in front of him.
9:25
Speaker 7: So I think what you're looking at here is Minnesota
9:28
Speaker 7: instantly getting markedly better. I think you look at Vancouver,
9:32
Speaker 7: I thought they had at great return that comes back Mike.
9:34
Speaker 7: I mean, given the circumstances, knowing that Quinn Hughes and
9:38
Speaker 7: the fault that was out there that he was not
9:40
Speaker 7: going to extend with Vancouver, and it came out there
9:43
Speaker 7: at the end of last season with Jim Rutherford admitting
9:46
Speaker 7: it was kind of bizarre and kind of strange. You're
9:48
Speaker 7: not sure why a guy in Jim's position would come
9:51
Speaker 7: out and say that this guy wants to go play
9:52
Speaker 7: with his brothers. Eventually, of course, that said the alarm
9:55
Speaker 7: bells off in Vancouver, and you know that the captain
9:59
Speaker 7: was on so borrowed time out there. Okay, and then
10:01
Speaker 7: you compound that with the fact that they've had a
10:03
Speaker 7: lot going on off the ice out there in Vancouver
10:05
Speaker 7: for the last couple of seasons. You're adjusting to a
10:08
Speaker 7: new coach. I'll be the guy that knew the system
10:10
Speaker 7: well on Adam Foot and he had it all up.
10:12
Speaker 7: And the team has been struggling right down to the
10:13
Speaker 7: bottom in the National Hockey League standing. So it got
10:15
Speaker 7: to a point where something had to give. I like
10:18
Speaker 7: the return given the circumstances, and they didn't necessarily just
10:21
Speaker 7: adhere to Quinn Hughes's wishes and say, okay, well we'll
10:24
Speaker 7: send it to New Jersey. Whatever New Jersey, I'll send
10:27
Speaker 7: us back a couple of hockey sticks in the bag
10:29
Speaker 7: of hockey pucks. Well, we'll make the deal. No, Patrick
10:32
Speaker 7: Galzen and Jim Butherford said, we'll get the best deal possible.
10:36
Speaker 7: And if it's New Jersey, great, If not, they were
10:38
Speaker 7: open for business. I like to return them to three
10:41
Speaker 7: players in the first round pick that they get back.
10:43
Speaker 7: I think that they've got some players here led by
10:45
Speaker 7: Marco Rossi, and I think Zeeve Blulliam out of the
10:48
Speaker 7: guys that they got back, is going to be the
10:49
Speaker 7: best player that they've got in the deal ultimately. But
10:52
Speaker 7: I think it's making the best of of a tough situation.
10:55
Speaker 7: And it's a situation, like I said, going back to
10:57
Speaker 7: the end of last season where Jim Butherford didn't have
11:00
Speaker 7: to come out and admit to the media that Quinn
11:02
Speaker 7: Hughes ultimately wanted to get to New Jersey. But that's
11:05
Speaker 7: the case and Jim Motherford and Patrick Galvey can get
11:07
Speaker 7: the best deal possible for the Rockey Club.
11:09
Speaker 1: Do you think Minnesota has enough to be Colorado or
11:12
Speaker 1: Dallas and seven?
11:13
Speaker 7: Boy, that's a great question, and at this point you
11:16
Speaker 7: would probably have to favorite Colorado or Dallas based upon
11:19
Speaker 7: what they've done here during the regular season. I love
11:22
Speaker 7: Minnesota's goaltending, especially Yesper Walstead, the rookie who's really stepped up.
11:27
Speaker 7: And you know, one of the things that everybody looked
11:29
Speaker 7: at last season, Mike, when Marc Andre Fleury had his
11:32
Speaker 7: curtain call and his swan song around the NHL was
11:35
Speaker 7: the fact that that allowed them to keep wall stick
11:37
Speaker 7: down in the American Hockey League for a little bit
11:39
Speaker 7: more further seasoning, and every goalie, it feels like, has
11:42
Speaker 7: to go through that seasoning process. As great as Kerry
11:45
Speaker 7: Price was, he was still the guy that was having
11:48
Speaker 7: all that called the Cup success with the Amilson Bulldogs
11:51
Speaker 7: way back when before he got his opportunity in the
11:53
Speaker 7: NHL and became one of the top goaltenders obviously in
11:56
Speaker 7: the game for a number of years running in one
11:57
Speaker 7: of the top goalies in the history of the Montrealian.
12:00
Speaker 7: So I like the goaltending with Walstead and Gustafson, certainly
12:04
Speaker 7: two guys in line for a possible Olympic conclusion for
12:06
Speaker 7: Sweden coming up in February. I think that they really
12:09
Speaker 7: have a good bloon line for sure. That gets even
12:12
Speaker 7: better obviously when you factor in a guy that won
12:15
Speaker 7: a Noris Trophy just two short years ago is now
12:18
Speaker 7: heading up the list Rock Faber. Obviously, maybe not as
12:21
Speaker 7: good this season as last seedon, but obviously for Minnesota
12:24
Speaker 7: at Key Cod as well and for Team USA and
12:27
Speaker 7: going forward. So to answer your question, do I think
12:29
Speaker 7: they're as good as Colorado and Dallas? I wouldn't say
12:32
Speaker 7: so right now. Do they have the potential to be
12:35
Speaker 7: down the road, and we know Bill Garrein's going to
12:36
Speaker 7: be in it to win it at the real trade
12:38
Speaker 7: deadline coming up in a couple of months time. I
12:40
Speaker 7: think Minnesota's got that potential. But that's the franchise, Mike,
12:43
Speaker 7: did you know that in the Western Conference? Shall we say? Okay,
12:46
Speaker 7: Minnesota is going to be in the playoffs? We know
12:48
Speaker 7: that much. The question is can Minnesota win around or
12:52
Speaker 7: two or three? Can they make a run like they
12:54
Speaker 7: did under Jacques Lamire when they first came into the
12:56
Speaker 7: National Hockey League. Right now, I think the jury's out
12:58
Speaker 7: on that franchise, the show that it does have all
13:01
Speaker 7: that metal and going forward. Pardon the pund.
13:03
Speaker 1: Scott Loafflin joining us here on Crack and weekly on
13:05
Speaker 1: the Beacon Plumbing Hotline, and Scott, I want to get
13:07
Speaker 1: into the cracking part of this. The goal was to
13:10
Speaker 1: play meaningful hockey in March, and they have been talking
13:13
Speaker 1: about becoming a playoff team that can be sustainable, and
13:17
Speaker 1: you know, we'll see what happens past the March part
13:19
Speaker 1: of this. Here they have been struggling a bit, but
13:21
Speaker 1: still hanging around the playoff picture. They're banged up right now,
13:24
Speaker 1: but still but again finding their way to hang around
13:28
Speaker 1: in this mix, Scott, what's your outlook? As far as
13:30
Speaker 1: the Kraken and the playoff picture.
13:32
Speaker 7: It's gonna be tough. I think the saving grace right
13:33
Speaker 7: now in the club struggling. Obviously, it'll be tough from
13:37
Speaker 7: the standpoint that there are so many quality teams in
13:39
Speaker 7: the Western Conference. The thing that saves them right now,
13:41
Speaker 7: I think the cracking mic is it's the fact that
13:44
Speaker 7: again it's one to be done for me lately. League.
13:47
Speaker 7: And what I mean by that is, if you have
13:48
Speaker 7: one good week or two good weeks, you zoom up
13:51
Speaker 7: the charts and you look like you're heading for number one.
13:54
Speaker 7: You know, if you have one or two subpar weeks,
13:56
Speaker 7: all of a sudden, it feels like you should be
13:57
Speaker 7: selling and starting to look dead next season already. So
14:02
Speaker 7: they've been one of those teams right now. They're fading
14:04
Speaker 7: back a little bit, but still in it to win it.
14:06
Speaker 7: As far as the playoff spot's concerned, three points out
14:09
Speaker 7: do I think that they have enough. I did not
14:10
Speaker 7: pick them to make the playoffs in the Western Conference,
14:13
Speaker 7: to be quite honest with your mic, And you know,
14:15
Speaker 7: I just think and we've talked about this before too,
14:18
Speaker 7: that you do need a little bit more scoring, and
14:20
Speaker 7: it's the type of team that and I would competitive
14:23
Speaker 7: to a team like the say Louis Blues by the way, Mike, Yeah,
14:25
Speaker 7: and the fact that you know you've got a lot
14:27
Speaker 7: of good pieces in place, but ultimately, at the end
14:30
Speaker 7: of the day, do you have enough high end talent
14:33
Speaker 7: to win games four to three when you need to
14:35
Speaker 7: win games four to three? And that search for the
14:37
Speaker 7: to loose and fourth goal, you know, sometimes goes by
14:39
Speaker 7: the wayside. I don't see that right now. Obviously the
14:42
Speaker 7: injury that Jared McCann is going to hurt the Kraken.
14:46
Speaker 7: I think that over the long haul too, you're still
14:48
Speaker 7: looking for that high end, dynamic talent, the difference makers
14:51
Speaker 7: that each team has to have to be a playoff team.
14:54
Speaker 7: It really puts an awful lot of pressure and onus
14:57
Speaker 7: on your team as far as the little details are concerned,
15:00
Speaker 7: to get quality goaltending, to make sure that the power
15:02
Speaker 7: play comes up big when given the opportunities, something that
15:05
Speaker 7: certainly didn't happen against the Mammoths with a five on
15:07
Speaker 7: three situation that didn't go their way. So I think
15:10
Speaker 7: you add all that up, and I like some of
15:12
Speaker 7: the pieces, like we say, Vince Dunn, I think on
15:15
Speaker 7: the back end has been a guy who's really stepped up.
15:18
Speaker 7: But again, when you lose mccannon puts an awful lot
15:20
Speaker 7: of pressure on some other guys to produce, and I
15:22
Speaker 7: just don't know that they have it right now at
15:24
Speaker 7: the NHL level. It'll be a while before we start
15:27
Speaker 7: to see the fruits of it all with Berkeley Catt
15:29
Speaker 7: and some of these young guys stepping up into those
15:31
Speaker 7: more offensive rules. But I think that's what this team's
15:33
Speaker 7: missing right now, and that ultimately is going to cost
15:36
Speaker 7: them in their push for the playoffs, I think.
15:38
Speaker 1: And then the question bears, what do they need to
15:41
Speaker 1: go get as far as that one push over the
15:44
Speaker 1: top to get to the promise land. I mean, do
15:46
Speaker 1: you believe that they are closer with the growing prospects
15:49
Speaker 1: rout or closer here with hitting the trade market.
15:51
Speaker 7: I would say, just deals with the prospects. And it's
15:54
Speaker 7: a process, right And look, everybody talks about it, and
15:57
Speaker 7: I'm sure it's been talked about over the years, what's
15:59
Speaker 7: been going on from the expansion process, and you know,
16:01
Speaker 7: Vegas is an outlier right, it's not for the NHL,
16:04
Speaker 7: But like professional sports history, Vegas is a complete outlier
16:08
Speaker 7: as to how good they were right off the hop
16:11
Speaker 7: in their very first season, and in a lot of ways,
16:13
Speaker 7: everybody gets compared to the Vegas Golden Knights, and that's
16:16
Speaker 7: just unfair because that was just once in a blue
16:18
Speaker 7: moon type situation, unlike anything we'd ever seen before. So
16:22
Speaker 7: I would say, if you talk about what the traditional
16:25
Speaker 7: process is of an expansion franchise in building, and we
16:28
Speaker 7: saw it. You know, if we want to date ourselves
16:30
Speaker 7: a little bit, going back to the sixties into the
16:32
Speaker 7: early seventies and mid seventies with a team like Philadelphia
16:36
Speaker 7: first couple of years kind of took it on the chin.
16:38
Speaker 7: After that the pieces were in place put in place
16:41
Speaker 7: with some good, young, talented players being drafted and nurtured
16:44
Speaker 7: along the way, and I think that's the route that
16:46
Speaker 7: you have to go. You have to be patient. I
16:48
Speaker 7: know fans don't want to hear it, you know, they
16:51
Speaker 7: want to be what Vegas was. Everybody wants to be
16:53
Speaker 7: what Vegas was without the hop hasn't necessarily happened for Seattle.
16:57
Speaker 7: They've had their flashes, as we know, right, I mean,
16:59
Speaker 7: what second season inn was it, Mike? Where they were
17:01
Speaker 7: in games nine to eight, and all of a sudden
17:03
Speaker 7: you're thinking, maybe we're a little bit twurler along here
17:05
Speaker 7: in terms of high end talent and offensive capabilities. But
17:08
Speaker 7: I think the reality's kind of set in and I
17:10
Speaker 7: just think you have to be a little bit more patient.
17:12
Speaker 7: I think that they're going to be a team here
17:14
Speaker 7: as we talk about some of their prospects coming up.
17:17
Speaker 7: They're going to be a team, But you're just not
17:18
Speaker 7: quite there yet, although they are in the race, like
17:21
Speaker 7: we say, because it is a very parody type driven
17:25
Speaker 7: league right now, it's a competitive balance league right now
17:27
Speaker 7: where everybody seemingly has a chance.
17:29
Speaker 1: What did you seem to understand about this team and
17:32
Speaker 1: what surprises came along your way into others maybe from
17:35
Speaker 1: the twenty thousand foot scale about them, given the fact
17:39
Speaker 1: that I remember you mentioning this one time eighty to
17:42
Speaker 1: eighty five points, I think was uttered on the serious
17:45
Speaker 1: XM airwaves to make the playoffs. So as far as
17:48
Speaker 1: where the crack and measure up with others as well
17:51
Speaker 1: in this Western Conference, what questions were answered was surprises
17:55
Speaker 1: came along your way about them?
17:57
Speaker 7: Well, you know, it's interesting you mentioned eighty eighty five points.
17:59
Speaker 7: I mean we've often talked too about getting the load
18:03
Speaker 7: of mid nineties. But as John Cooper himself, I mean
18:06
Speaker 7: John Cooper Tampa Bay lighting right, first ballot Hall of
18:08
Speaker 7: Famer when he becomes eligible as a head coach down
18:11
Speaker 7: the road, he's saying, maybe it's eighty five eighty six
18:13
Speaker 7: points now to get in this season, and that might
18:15
Speaker 7: apply for both the East and the West. Is as
18:18
Speaker 7: tight as the standings are right now, as we've talked
18:20
Speaker 7: about here, Seattle still in it. You know, I think
18:23
Speaker 7: that you compare them to other teams, especially those in
18:26
Speaker 7: the Western Conference, and like I said, they're right there
18:29
Speaker 7: with Saint Louis. And it's interesting I mentioned Saint Louis
18:32
Speaker 7: because they're separated as of Saturday by all of one point.
18:37
Speaker 7: They're comparable to me to what the Saint Louis Blues are.
18:41
Speaker 7: You know, like we say, you build from prospects and
18:43
Speaker 7: you hope that Berkeley Caton turns out to be a
18:45
Speaker 7: star down the road and that would fast forward. You're rebuilt.
18:48
Speaker 7: But getting back to it too, I mean, Chicago's just
18:50
Speaker 7: in front as well. Chicago's got the high end guy.
18:54
Speaker 7: Right when you talk about Connor Bdard and you talk
18:56
Speaker 7: about Frank Nazar and you talk about players like that
18:59
Speaker 7: with a good young of that they've got to Spencer
19:01
Speaker 7: Night obviously solidifying things in goal. So I think that's
19:04
Speaker 7: the team that you look at in Chicago and say,
19:07
Speaker 7: you know, we should be able to at least keep
19:08
Speaker 7: up with them, and if they're going to be in
19:10
Speaker 7: the push to the playoffs, we should be as well. Utah,
19:12
Speaker 7: you can say the same thing with the young players
19:14
Speaker 7: that they've been waiting on, and look, they took the
19:16
Speaker 7: non traditional route, didn't they to get to where they
19:19
Speaker 7: are right now knocking to the door for a playoff
19:21
Speaker 7: spot as well for obvious circumstances. So look, I think
19:25
Speaker 7: this is a team that when the expansion process took place,
19:28
Speaker 7: Mike he said, Okay, we know one thing about the
19:30
Speaker 7: crack and they're going to be solid in goal. And
19:32
Speaker 7: it hasn't certainly necessarily worked out for the likes of
19:35
Speaker 7: a guy like Philip Grubauer the last couple of seasons,
19:37
Speaker 7: as we know, it's been an uphill battle. We think
19:40
Speaker 7: that they're going to be strong on the back end.
19:42
Speaker 7: Look at what they've added in terms of especially their
19:44
Speaker 7: top four coming in during their expansion season, and then
19:48
Speaker 7: you wonder where the goal scoring was going to come.
19:50
Speaker 7: And again maybe it was an aberration that one season
19:53
Speaker 7: where they had what you can tell me, Mike, like
19:54
Speaker 7: ten or eleven different guys that got into double figures
19:57
Speaker 7: in terms of goal scoring. I think big Jamie let
20:00
Speaker 7: even the big Rig had like nine goals himself for
20:02
Speaker 7: a guy who's not going to be confused with Bobby
20:04
Speaker 7: or anytime soon, you know. And I think that they
20:06
Speaker 7: had a lot of things that happened right for them.
20:08
Speaker 7: Now it's maybe settled back into to where you're a
20:11
Speaker 7: team where you are just looking for that little bit
20:14
Speaker 7: more from an offensive standpoint, Like I said before too,
20:18
Speaker 7: my community, it really puts an awful lot of pressure
20:20
Speaker 7: on you to be defensively oriented to you know, have
20:24
Speaker 7: a lot of things go right. When you're not going
20:26
Speaker 7: to outscore opponents, you've got to get done in other ways.
20:29
Speaker 7: And teams like Los Angeles going back to twenty twelve
20:31
Speaker 7: and twenty fourteen under Daryl Setter won the Stanley Cup
20:35
Speaker 7: with that process. But you could clearly tell that they
20:38
Speaker 7: had players on that team that could score just a
20:40
Speaker 7: little bit more right now than the cracket of course,
20:42
Speaker 7: have brought to the surface Scott before.
20:44
Speaker 1: We get out the crack and have Colorado Calgary San
20:47
Speaker 1: Jose coming up on this next week's schedule. I mean,
20:50
Speaker 1: we know that Calgary is in a different place right now.
20:53
Speaker 1: But as far as the Avalanche and the Sharks, two
20:57
Speaker 1: things all addressed with you, and you can volley right
21:00
Speaker 1: back as far as your thoughts here on this, I
21:02
Speaker 1: mean the Avalanche, of there's any flaw on this team,
21:05
Speaker 1: what is it to you and does it even exist?
21:08
Speaker 1: And as far as San Jose, how close do you
21:10
Speaker 1: think they are to their true contention window.
21:13
Speaker 7: Well, I'll start with Santose first. You know, Mike, I've
21:17
Speaker 7: had my analytics buddies tell me that Santose does not
21:21
Speaker 7: do very well when it comes to analytical stats in
21:23
Speaker 7: terms of expected shots and things of that nature. Now,
21:26
Speaker 7: I hope delve too far into that. I'm a little
21:28
Speaker 7: bit old school when it comes to that. Analytics can
21:30
Speaker 7: be used obviously as a bit of a tool, but
21:32
Speaker 7: to me, it's not the ultimate determination as to what
21:35
Speaker 7: you are as a hockey club. But the numbers are
21:37
Speaker 7: not great for Santjose. Despite the fact that they're in
21:39
Speaker 7: a playoffs pot as of Saturday. I've really liked a
21:42
Speaker 7: lot of what they've done there, and again this gets
21:44
Speaker 7: back to building, and for Santose, they really stripped it
21:47
Speaker 7: right down for a team that for a couple of
21:49
Speaker 7: decades running always seemed to be a playoff team and
21:51
Speaker 7: made the Stanley Cup Final that one year against Crosby
21:54
Speaker 7: and the Pittsburgh Penguin. So when you've got the high
21:56
Speaker 7: end guys like maclan cellabrine, and you've got Wilson, and
22:00
Speaker 7: you've got a number of other young players that you
22:02
Speaker 7: can build around, I think that's a great start. Askarov
22:06
Speaker 7: has really solidified their goaltending to a certain extent and
22:08
Speaker 7: projects to be their goalie the future. I think chandals
22:11
Speaker 7: A is a team that just misses the playoffs as well.
22:13
Speaker 7: I think they're battling with the likes of the Kraken
22:15
Speaker 7: when it's all said and done, but they certainly are
22:17
Speaker 7: well on their way as we know, led by Celebride.
22:21
Speaker 7: I think the Avalanche, you're trying to figure out what
22:23
Speaker 7: their weakness is right now, Mike, and the weakness of
22:25
Speaker 7: course in the last couple of years that's really held
22:27
Speaker 7: Colorado back. I think, aside from playing a team like
22:30
Speaker 7: Dallas in the playoffs, for the Avalanche's in that second
22:34
Speaker 7: line center position, and you wondered who would be Nazam
22:37
Speaker 7: cadri I mean, when they won the Stanley Cup. Cadriy
22:39
Speaker 7: was that ideal second line center playing behind Nate McKinnon,
22:43
Speaker 7: and they had all the pieces in place. Now, whether
22:46
Speaker 7: it's some combination of Brock Nelson or some other guys
22:49
Speaker 7: up front that can fill that role in a consistent basis,
22:51
Speaker 7: we'll have to wait and see if there's a bugaboo
22:53
Speaker 7: mini that ris a Dudley Head for them. At some point,
22:56
Speaker 7: it just might be that second line center position, third
22:59
Speaker 7: line center position, in depth down the middle. Right now,
23:01
Speaker 7: they've got enough production coming out of those spots to
23:04
Speaker 7: be a team that's lost what two games in regulation
23:07
Speaker 7: time all season long in their first thirty one somewhat
23:10
Speaker 7: remarkable what the record is. I think defense, obviously, when
23:13
Speaker 7: you've got cal mccarr is a great place to start
23:16
Speaker 7: with a guy who very well could go on to
23:18
Speaker 7: another Norris Trophy at the end of it all. And
23:21
Speaker 7: I think we saw last season too much with Colorado
23:23
Speaker 7: right that they weren't afraid to shake things up. They
23:27
Speaker 7: did not like their goaltending, so instead of just trading
23:29
Speaker 7: away one goalie, they traded away both goalies. That was
23:33
Speaker 7: something we had never ever witnessed an extra hockey league history,
23:37
Speaker 7: where two guys went out and two guys came back.
23:39
Speaker 7: They're a better team with the two guys that they
23:41
Speaker 7: got back, right, So they've committed to Mackenzie Blackwood, and
23:44
Speaker 7: although he's had a history of injury in his career,
23:46
Speaker 7: all of a sudden comes a thirty three year old
23:48
Speaker 7: journeyman boltender at Scott Wedgwood who's having the season of
23:52
Speaker 7: his life, so much so that some are kicking around
23:54
Speaker 7: his name as possibly the third goalie for Team Canada
23:57
Speaker 7: at the Olympics in February. That's how good he's been
24:00
Speaker 7: for the Avalanche. So, to answer your question, goaltending has
24:03
Speaker 7: more than upheld the end of the bargain. When you've
24:05
Speaker 7: got m Cale mccarr to start on the fence, that's
24:08
Speaker 7: a great place to begin. And then when you've got
24:10
Speaker 7: to argue with the best player on the planet right
24:12
Speaker 7: now and Nathan McKinnon surrounded by a bunch of great
24:14
Speaker 7: offensive players, Yeah, you've got the depth as well, that
24:18
Speaker 7: we think is a pre record to win another Stanley
24:20
Speaker 7: Cup championship. Biggest question for me, like I said Mike,
24:23
Speaker 7: getting back to it all would be second and third
24:25
Speaker 7: line center. Is there were enough depth down the middle?
24:27
Speaker 7: And if there's not, how aggressive of Chris McFarlane and
24:30
Speaker 7: Joe Sacka could have become the trade deadline.
24:32
Speaker 1: This was great, Scott, Hey, thank you very much. I've
24:34
Speaker 1: got two words for you, rock on if we can
24:38
Speaker 1: get it ever gets the music clearance, I mean bringing
24:40
Speaker 1: back with the Judas Priest soundtrack as well. Thanks so much,
24:43
Speaker 1: my friend.
24:44
Speaker 7: Yeah, anytime, Mike here. I look forward to my first
24:46
Speaker 7: visit out there to the Seatt at Washington. My first
24:48
Speaker 7: thing that they'll do when I get off the plane
24:49
Speaker 7: is head for the Chris Cornell statue. Yes, I'll reap
24:52
Speaker 7: the benefits of all the great history of music out
24:54
Speaker 7: there for sure.
24:54
Speaker 1: All right, big thank you again to Scott Laughlin for
24:56
Speaker 1: joining us. We got to get him off the top
24:58
Speaker 1: here as he's at a pretty crunch schedule. Well, Al
25:00
Speaker 1: Kaniski Everett fits you were doing this roundtable once again
25:03
Speaker 1: for Cracking Weekly. All right, guys, Alan, I kind of
25:09
Speaker 1: let an air out after Sunday Nights after a three
25:13
Speaker 1: to one lost to Buffalo, and there were some thoughts
25:17
Speaker 1: because I think a lot of the frustrations that we
25:19
Speaker 1: shared were also echoed from guys like Brandon Montour who
25:24
Speaker 1: said there just wasn't enough emotion and enough energy, and
25:27
Speaker 1: then Lane Lambert basically going back to reiterate the same
25:31
Speaker 1: issues again and why the cracking got there in that
25:33
Speaker 1: it just wasn't good enough. So after last week lost
25:37
Speaker 1: in Minnesota and you snashed victory from the jaws of
25:40
Speaker 1: defeat against the Kings, you keep it close in Utah
25:44
Speaker 1: and fall after a power play Golden Dylan Gunther into
25:47
Speaker 1: empty netters and then Buffalo from Sunday night and that
25:51
Speaker 1: three to one lost. Guys, where are we at right
25:53
Speaker 1: now with the state of matters?
25:55
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I think I echo a lot of
25:57
Speaker 6: the things we talked about last night, Mike, as well
25:59
Speaker 6: as Lane's comments and the Brandon Montour's comments that a
26:04
Speaker 6: lot of frustration now with the result this team's getting.
26:07
Speaker 6: And you know, Lane mentioned perfection and his post came
26:11
Speaker 6: scrum I like to think about it now, and ever,
26:15
Speaker 6: it wasn't there when I mentioned, so I'll repeat it
26:17
Speaker 6: again I like to think about from the standpoint of
26:19
Speaker 6: you always want to strive for perfection, and everybody goes, well,
26:22
Speaker 6: you can't. No one's perfect, no one's perfect, true, but
26:25
Speaker 6: if you strive for it, then you achieve excellence. Like
26:28
Speaker 6: you're right there at perfection, right at the edge, bumping
26:30
Speaker 6: up against perfection. And I think that's the way this
26:33
Speaker 6: team has to operate every single game to be in
26:37
Speaker 6: it and give themselves a chance to win.
26:40
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I think for me, we use the
26:42
Speaker 2: word frustrating a lot just because of the state of
26:47
Speaker 2: where this team is. And I mean, if I'm being honest,
26:50
Speaker 2: I'm going to go further than frustrated. It's just annoying.
26:56
Speaker 2: And I don't mean this for you know, the players
27:01
Speaker 2: are trying their hardest, and the players that there's nothing
27:05
Speaker 2: more left to give, at least from a two hundred
27:08
Speaker 2: foot press box view, right, you see that these teams,
27:11
Speaker 2: the team every single night is playing well enough to
27:14
Speaker 2: minimally deserve points. And outside of the oiler games, outside
27:20
Speaker 2: of you know, the San Jos a game about a
27:25
Speaker 2: month or so ago, the Utah Games, a five to
27:28
Speaker 2: three game that's all window dressing because of the two
27:30
Speaker 2: empty net goals the three to one game against Buffalo,
27:33
Speaker 2: it was a one one two one game until the
27:36
Speaker 2: empty net goal. Annoying comes to mind because this team,
27:42
Speaker 2: they are trying and the frustration is there, but it's
27:45
Speaker 2: annoying that they have to be perfect every single night.
27:48
Speaker 2: It's annoying that you need to have a perfect effort
27:54
Speaker 2: just to it seems, get a one goal win or
27:57
Speaker 2: to force overtime. And and you know when when you
28:00
Speaker 2: see players like Jacob Malonsi who gets called up and
28:03
Speaker 2: he's hitting everything that moves and he almost had a
28:05
Speaker 2: goal the other night last night, When you see guys
28:08
Speaker 2: like Chandler Stevenson constantly being sent out there against the
28:12
Speaker 2: top players on every team, he's getting the toughest assignments.
28:16
Speaker 2: When you see Matty Beniers becoming one of the best
28:20
Speaker 2: two way centermen, if not in the Pacific Division, definitely
28:24
Speaker 2: in the or not in the conference, definitely in the
28:26
Speaker 2: Pacific Division. You're seeing all of these guys working so
28:29
Speaker 2: hard and it's just annoying that if they're not getting
28:33
Speaker 2: rewarded for that hard work, and then you're asking yourself
28:37
Speaker 2: what else left is there to do? And and you
28:40
Speaker 2: heard Chandler Stevenson say, you know, it's kind of it's
28:43
Speaker 2: it sucks at rock bottom. It's hard down here looking up.
28:47
Speaker 2: And I think the saving grace I guess of all
28:51
Speaker 2: of this is that you're only five points back in
28:54
Speaker 2: a very bunched up league, in a very bunched up conference.
28:59
Speaker 2: So a couple of whims here, a few losses above
29:02
Speaker 2: you there, you're right back in it. But I mean,
29:05
Speaker 2: one seven and one in your last nine like that,
29:08
Speaker 2: that is not a recipe for success. Clearly.
29:11
Speaker 1: I had somebody comment to me on Twitter and X
29:15
Speaker 1: and trust me, it was I think one of the
29:17
Speaker 1: longer comment threads I have seen in my career since
29:23
Speaker 1: year one of this franchise. And there were a lot
29:26
Speaker 1: of thoughts as well from the fans side, and there
29:29
Speaker 1: was a lot of frustration. Part of it had to
29:31
Speaker 1: do with Ty Cartier and the hit he took late
29:34
Speaker 1: in the third period, and I had to ask, once again,
29:39
Speaker 1: when you bring up a guy like Jacob Alanson, who
29:42
Speaker 1: is earning the praise of your head coach after just
29:45
Speaker 1: one game for laying in seven hits, seven hits and
29:50
Speaker 1: in just two shifts, two minutes and over about roughly
29:54
Speaker 1: thirty seconds of ice teime. He's got four hits. You
29:57
Speaker 1: would hope, you would hope that is an infectious carrying
30:02
Speaker 1: all the way into what's going to be the most
30:04
Speaker 1: challenging game of the year in the Colorado Avalanche. And
30:08
Speaker 1: I think for me, that's just part of where the
30:09
Speaker 1: frustration came from, with a whole lot of guys saying, yeah,
30:12
Speaker 1: you know what, there's a lot of illness going here
30:14
Speaker 1: through this room, and it's easy for us to say
30:15
Speaker 1: as well, but guess what the league is experienced in
30:18
Speaker 1: this over and over and over. Buffalo played ill last
30:22
Speaker 1: night and they found a way to get three goals
30:23
Speaker 1: out of the operation.
30:25
Speaker 6: So again, yeah, when they came to town, they still won.
30:31
Speaker 1: And again this has to be the mantra to get
30:34
Speaker 1: to your point, Everett. When we can use the words frustration,
30:37
Speaker 1: we can use the words annoying. But you're looking to
30:40
Speaker 1: find a collective effort where you have everyone pulling together
30:44
Speaker 1: and all the excuses are wiped out of the room.
30:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know the you know the hitt on cards.
30:51
Speaker 2: I mean that was I've watched it a few times
30:55
Speaker 2: and that was as boarding of a call as you're
30:59
Speaker 2: going to gat. I mean it wasn't predatory, it wasn't
31:01
Speaker 2: dirty or dangerous. He wasn't out to hit him. I'm
31:04
Speaker 2: not going to go that far to hurt him. I'm
31:06
Speaker 2: not going to go that far. But when you see
31:09
Speaker 2: a hit like that, whether the hit was clean or not.
31:11
Speaker 2: And JT and I we talked about this all the time.
31:13
Speaker 2: He's a fourth line guy. He made his money in
31:15
Speaker 2: the bottom six. He hit everything that moved. He fought
31:18
Speaker 2: and punched above his weight class. He was that guy
31:22
Speaker 2: who had to to to bring the energy. And I've
31:25
Speaker 2: always said to him, I said, you know what, not
31:27
Speaker 2: every big hit needs a response, right, Sometimes it's a
31:31
Speaker 2: big hit and and it's okay. I look at the
31:33
Speaker 2: the Vince Done hit on on who did he hit
31:37
Speaker 2: a couple of a couple of games ago. Was that?
31:42
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Zukarell in Minnesota. I look at the Vince
31:44
Speaker 2: Done it massive that that was that was a hit
31:49
Speaker 2: that needed a response. You know, the hit against car
31:52
Speaker 2: say against the boards, back to the play, no, somewhat
31:57
Speaker 2: on that Ice should have went after h I should
32:00
Speaker 2: have went after him and and and listen, whether you
32:03
Speaker 2: don't want to fight, whether you don't find it work,
32:07
Speaker 2: I don't know. What the cause is. But this is
32:10
Speaker 2: now the third time that I've seen there have been
32:13
Speaker 2: pretty bad hits that no one has had to answer
32:17
Speaker 2: the bell for, and I think that's an issue. I
32:19
Speaker 2: think that's a problem. We've talked about team toughness a
32:23
Speaker 2: lot over the last four seasons with this group, largely
32:26
Speaker 2: the same group, and and you know, not calling anyone
32:30
Speaker 2: out in particular, because I think there is a team
32:32
Speaker 2: need for toughness. And if if I see one of
32:35
Speaker 2: my guys getting buried in the back, whether it's clean
32:37
Speaker 2: or dirty or not, you're gonna know that that's not okay.
32:40
Speaker 1: And also there's the one thing about you know, everybody ropes,
32:42
Speaker 1: everybody rides, and this is why Brandon Montour didn't want
32:45
Speaker 1: to go out and throw guys under the bus here.
32:46
Speaker 1: But he said, yeah, not enough emotion, not enough urgency.
32:50
Speaker 2: Well, and Jordan Eberlee even said a couple of games ago,
32:52
Speaker 2: he goes, we need more will, we need more passion.
32:56
Speaker 2: I mean, this is your captain saying that you need
32:59
Speaker 2: more will and you need more passion. So your your
33:03
Speaker 2: coach has challenged you, your captain has challenged you. I
33:08
Speaker 2: know players don't like to listen to the fans. The
33:11
Speaker 2: fans have challenged you, what more do you need? What
33:14
Speaker 2: more of a challenge do you need?
33:16
Speaker 6: Yeah, And to circle it back to a positive because
33:18
Speaker 6: it's it's it sounds very negative that we're talking about.
33:20
Speaker 6: The positive is is you had a guy in the
33:22
Speaker 6: lineup in that in that in that game against Buffalo
33:25
Speaker 6: that probably could be that person that was Jacob Mallonson.
33:29
Speaker 1: Getting everything that moved.
33:30
Speaker 6: Now and as much as I like that and it's
33:33
Speaker 6: great to have that on your team, you can't be
33:36
Speaker 6: a one dimensional player. So that you know, he's got
33:39
Speaker 6: to show that he's got more than that in his
33:41
Speaker 6: tool case, Like, don't put that away, keep doing that,
33:43
Speaker 6: but go get a greasy goal, you know, go go
33:47
Speaker 6: go on a back check and stop somebody turn a
33:50
Speaker 6: two on two, two on one and two on two, whatever.
33:52
Speaker 6: But show that you've got that two hundred foot game
33:55
Speaker 6: and that you're not going to hurt the team when
33:56
Speaker 6: you're on the ice. And he didn't in that game.
33:59
Speaker 6: But all I'm saying is that if he develops his
34:02
Speaker 6: game where he builds that trust by Leiane Lambert to
34:05
Speaker 6: play the defensive side, he'll work himself off the fourth
34:08
Speaker 6: line and onto the third line. As he continues to
34:10
Speaker 6: play that way, and the higher he goes up playing
34:12
Speaker 6: that way, the more space he's going to create for
34:14
Speaker 6: his linemates, the more team toughness goes up. And you
34:17
Speaker 6: need more than just one guy playing that way. When
34:20
Speaker 6: I say playing that way, I don't mean seven hits
34:22
Speaker 6: in a game, but I mean playing tough, standing up
34:26
Speaker 6: for each other, not putting up with situations like the
34:29
Speaker 6: carts hit and other hits we've seen Berkeley Catton throughout,
34:31
Speaker 6: you know, throughout the season, just not putting up with it,
34:34
Speaker 6: whether you're on the bench or on the ice. If
34:35
Speaker 6: you're on the bench, you lean over and say something.
34:38
Speaker 6: When the media of time what happens, You say something,
34:40
Speaker 6: and if the bell needs to be answered, you answer it.
34:43
Speaker 6: And it affects how teams play. When they play the
34:47
Speaker 6: Seattle Kraken, they think about what's going to happen when
34:50
Speaker 6: I when.
34:51
Speaker 2: I bored somebody into into the corners.
34:53
Speaker 6: They think about what's going to happen if I plaster
34:56
Speaker 6: Berkeley Catten into the into.
34:57
Speaker 2: The wall in the corner.
34:58
Speaker 6: They think about it, and oftentimes they don't do it.
35:01
Speaker 6: And that's where that's where you gain that space.
35:03
Speaker 2: I remember when when when we talked to Freddy Gadrou
35:06
Speaker 2: during training camp, you know, we asked him what he
35:10
Speaker 2: recalls about playing Seattle and and his answer was one
35:16
Speaker 2: that we've heard from a lot of teams over the
35:18
Speaker 2: last four years. It's like, you know, every night when
35:22
Speaker 2: you played Seattle. Yeah, they may not have been the
35:24
Speaker 2: most offensive team there. They may not they might not
35:27
Speaker 2: have had the superstar, but you know that every time
35:30
Speaker 2: you played Seattle, you're in one. You know what's gonna hurt,
35:33
Speaker 2: You're gonna wake up with bruises, You're gonna that's gonna
35:36
Speaker 2: be a hard fought win. And there were a lot
35:38
Speaker 2: of times during those first three seasons when the results
35:42
Speaker 2: weren't where you wanted them to be. But the Kraken
35:45
Speaker 2: were the hardest, one of the hardest teams to play against.
35:49
Speaker 2: And we saw that a little bit earlier this season
35:52
Speaker 2: with the defensive structure. I go back to the game
35:55
Speaker 2: in Winnipeg. I go back to the the the game
35:58
Speaker 2: right after against the Oilers at home, where they won
36:01
Speaker 2: three to two. You beat Vegas two to one in
36:03
Speaker 2: your second game of the season in overtime. You played Dallas.
36:08
Speaker 2: Two really strong games against Dallas. So it's there, they
36:13
Speaker 2: have it, and I think, you know, getting back to
36:16
Speaker 2: being a team that's hard to play against, that's going
36:19
Speaker 2: to be important. And there was. The efforts been there.
36:23
Speaker 2: No one is questioning this team's effort, No one is
36:26
Speaker 2: questioning the team's ability. But it goes back to what
36:30
Speaker 2: Lane said, you know, it's almost like we have to
36:32
Speaker 2: be perfect most nights.
36:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is the reason why, because and I
36:36
Speaker 1: think there are two ways to go about the word perfection.
36:39
Speaker 1: And now you brought up the athlete mentality part of this, yere,
36:42
Speaker 1: but I thought what's really important was also to illustrate
36:44
Speaker 1: the fact that there's no Jaden Schwartz right now, there's
36:47
Speaker 1: no Jared McCann right now, and so you are missing
36:51
Speaker 1: a significant chunk of your offense in this lineup right now.
36:56
Speaker 1: To the point where he mentioned you have to play
36:59
Speaker 1: the perfect game, it means you have got to play
37:02
Speaker 1: as mistake free, mistake free as it gets to give
37:09
Speaker 1: yourself a chance to win. Case in point, the Buffalo game,
37:13
Speaker 1: two biggest mistakes in the night back of their own
37:16
Speaker 1: net odd Man rush. And we heard this from Lane
37:19
Speaker 1: Lambert in pregame. You can't give up odd man rushes
37:22
Speaker 1: to Buffalo and guess what happens in the first period
37:25
Speaker 1: Oscelin won nothing and then the Vin's Done turnover back
37:29
Speaker 1: in period two. That one stung too. On Oh Taje
37:33
Speaker 1: Thompson makes it to nothing.
37:34
Speaker 2: I mean that he was trying to clear it up
37:36
Speaker 2: the boards and it was it went off of Tuck's
37:39
Speaker 2: skate and then it stayed in the zone and Buffalo
37:42
Speaker 2: had those two guys back. I mean, yeah, again, maybe.
37:48
Speaker 6: There's some puck luck in there.
37:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, there absolutely was, absolutely was.
37:52
Speaker 6: I too felt bad for Vince Done because in addition
37:55
Speaker 6: to the clear there was some puck luck that Buffalo
37:57
Speaker 6: got on that play. But to Mike's point, ended up
38:00
Speaker 6: being an odd man rush and get both goals were
38:03
Speaker 6: odd man rushes. Exactly what you don't want with this
38:05
Speaker 6: Buffalo team.
38:06
Speaker 1: Special teams. Where are we at right now? I mean,
38:09
Speaker 1: the penalty kills made a structure change, and I talked
38:11
Speaker 1: with Ryan Lindgren and there's I think a little more
38:15
Speaker 1: understanding as far as you know fords and how they switch,
38:18
Speaker 1: and it's a dynamic thing with where the pucket is going.
38:21
Speaker 1: But defenseman stay put. And I thought, if you want
38:24
Speaker 1: to look at something that is turned to the corner.
38:26
Speaker 1: That really I think shows some promise here for this
38:31
Speaker 1: group is that in the two power plays that Buffalo
38:34
Speaker 1: had and this team was coming in on an absolute heater.
38:38
Speaker 1: Second kill was absolutely huge because it came on the
38:41
Speaker 1: heels of the Chandler Stevenson goal to make it to one.
38:44
Speaker 1: They go up three to one. That's devastating. But yet
38:47
Speaker 1: I thought, for allowing Buffalo to get just three shots
38:51
Speaker 1: on net rare, did you find a pass that made
38:56
Speaker 1: it all the way across the middle? And one thing
38:59
Speaker 1: that Ryan Lynn Grinn told me, the more that you're
39:02
Speaker 1: keeping things towards the outside, and this is again for
39:04
Speaker 1: the fans who are still you know, getting their feet
39:06
Speaker 1: wet here in this game at the NHL level, the
39:08
Speaker 1: more you can keep pucks out of the middle, the
39:11
Speaker 1: better off you were going to be in the penalty kill.
39:13
Speaker 1: I thought virtually ate that exam last night.
39:17
Speaker 6: Yeah, there were a couple of broken sticks, there were
39:19
Speaker 6: a couple of missed opportunities, but you know, missed opportunities
39:22
Speaker 6: are puck luck as well. But you're right, Mike, a
39:25
Speaker 6: lot a lot of the opportunities did come from the
39:26
Speaker 6: perimeter on the power play, and that's not mistake that
39:29
Speaker 6: that's penalty killers working their butts off to make sure
39:33
Speaker 6: puck stated the outside, make sure that passes aren't getting through,
39:37
Speaker 6: and I thought they did a good job with it
39:39
Speaker 6: last night. Unfortunately, it was even strength that ended up
39:42
Speaker 6: winning the game for Buffalo.
39:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, you and I al are a bit surprised that
39:46
Speaker 2: that game was decided at even strength. But you go
39:49
Speaker 2: back to the whole week three games. Last week, you're
39:51
Speaker 2: seven of nine on the PK. You go four of
39:56
Speaker 2: fourteen on the power play. I mean, I your make strides.
40:00
Speaker 2: You're starting to turn the proverbial corner. I've always been
40:05
Speaker 2: a big believer of I'd rather have a strong penalty
40:09
Speaker 2: kill overf had to pick one, I'll go zero for
40:12
Speaker 2: forty on the power play. If I go forty to
40:14
Speaker 2: forty on the PK. You know, I think that getting
40:19
Speaker 2: a strong penalty kill and not having four or five, six, seven,
40:24
Speaker 2: eight games in a role of the power play goal
40:26
Speaker 2: allowed I think, to me that's more important. You know,
40:31
Speaker 2: we talk a lot about five on five offense anyway,
40:33
Speaker 2: but I think the PK is going in the right direction.
40:36
Speaker 2: The power play as is, with a lot of teams,
40:39
Speaker 2: it comes and goes, it's hot, it's cold. But recently
40:42
Speaker 2: again last week four power play goals, four and two
40:46
Speaker 2: power play goals against special teams. Wise, I would say
40:49
Speaker 2: this is probably one of the better weeks of the season.
40:51
Speaker 1: For the krackend And you had to I think also
40:53
Speaker 1: factor in Shop volume two, and I can't help to
40:55
Speaker 1: think of the Chandler Stevenson goal, which is exhibit a
40:58
Speaker 1: of that. You win the face off, you get Jordan
41:00
Speaker 1: Eberley or anybody else going right toward the front of
41:03
Speaker 1: the net, and all Chandler Stevenson has to do is
41:07
Speaker 1: shoot the puck because if goalie can't stop with the
41:09
Speaker 1: goalie can see and every give him credit set a
41:12
Speaker 1: great screen.
41:13
Speaker 2: And lanth And Lane said O good and Lane said
41:15
Speaker 2: it like Lane said it a couple couple weeks ago
41:18
Speaker 2: in his comments and to the media, he wants the
41:21
Speaker 2: guys to shoot more. He wants the guys to be
41:23
Speaker 2: a little bit more selfish in that regard. So back
41:28
Speaker 2: in the five to three loss to Utah, the crack
41:31
Speaker 2: And had thirty seven shots, thirty three in the win
41:34
Speaker 2: against the La Kings twenty four last night, you go
41:38
Speaker 2: back three their last six games they've had thirty or
41:42
Speaker 2: more shots, and they've had twenty five or more shots
41:46
Speaker 2: in two, four, six, seven of the last eight. So
41:49
Speaker 2: I mean they're they're getting they're getting the volume there.
41:55
Speaker 2: They also have some really good goaltending performances against uh
41:59
Speaker 2: in the last handful nights as well. How it's lying yesterday,
42:02
Speaker 2: I mean, that was one of the better performances I
42:05
Speaker 2: think we've seen in the last couple of weeks here
42:08
Speaker 2: against Seattle Gold.
42:09
Speaker 1: Anywise, looking ahead here, and this is where it gets busy,
42:13
Speaker 1: and we mentioned last night this is kind of getting
42:15
Speaker 1: into treacherous danger zone territory in that you've got five
42:19
Speaker 1: games coming up which will end a week from Tuesday,
42:24
Speaker 1: and you had and we'll we'll cover more of this
42:26
Speaker 1: here on the next Crack and Weekly heading into what
42:30
Speaker 1: we'll be back to back with Anaheim and the Kings
42:33
Speaker 1: as well. But tomorrow night, guys, it just doesn't get
42:36
Speaker 1: much tougher. Colorado's a wagon and then you have that
42:39
Speaker 1: four game road trip opening up against Calgary and they've
42:42
Speaker 1: caught up to the Kraken, and then you have San
42:44
Speaker 1: Jose who is feeling so good about themselves, maybe unlike
42:49
Speaker 1: any other year, going all the way back to prime
42:52
Speaker 1: Thornton and Marlowe years after Macklin, Celebrini, will Smith and
42:56
Speaker 1: company pulled off that massive comeback against Pittsburgh. So I
43:00
Speaker 1: think depending upon how health shakes out, assuming folks, everyone
43:04
Speaker 1: everyone is healthy here A, do you expect any lineup
43:08
Speaker 1: changes even with Mason Marshman back in practice and Jacob
43:12
Speaker 1: Allanson still here? And then b You've got right now
43:17
Speaker 1: six points on the table. Next three games is four
43:20
Speaker 1: points enough?
43:21
Speaker 6: Listen, there's still an ace in the pocket for Seattle.
43:24
Speaker 6: But if they if they don't play it correctly, they're
43:28
Speaker 6: going to bust. And that's the games in hand. At
43:31
Speaker 6: thirty games played, all the teams above them have games
43:35
Speaker 6: ahead of them, and I would say they're probably going
43:38
Speaker 6: to make those up in January, and they've got seventeen games,
43:41
Speaker 6: but that's the eight in the pocket. They've got to
43:44
Speaker 6: take advantage of that to go chase chase the teams
43:47
Speaker 6: above them. Yeah, Calgary is at thirty points now as well.
43:49
Speaker 6: They've moved up. I'm less concerned about the people below
43:53
Speaker 6: them and more concerned about the people above them that
43:55
Speaker 6: they take advantage with those games in hand and the
43:58
Speaker 6: games coming up on this road trip, and obviously the
44:01
Speaker 6: game against Colorado, they've got to play perfect to to
44:04
Speaker 6: Lane's point in Colorado to give themselves a chance. And
44:07
Speaker 6: by perfect, I mean defensively perfect, right, Like, if they
44:11
Speaker 6: take this game, like the Islander game, to zero zero
44:13
Speaker 6: after sixty minutes and win or losing overtime, that's a
44:17
Speaker 6: win in in my book against this Colorado team right now.
44:20
Speaker 6: So they've got to play a perfect game against Colorado.
44:23
Speaker 6: But all the other ones, they are games that if
44:25
Speaker 6: they play above average, if they play an eight out
44:29
Speaker 6: of ten, they'll put themselves in a position to get
44:32
Speaker 6: points and or win games.
44:34
Speaker 2: You know, everyone talks about Colorado. They've struggled as of late.
44:37
Speaker 2: They're only seven to one and two in their last
44:39
Speaker 2: ten games.
44:40
Speaker 1: I'll break up the Avalanche, now break them up?
44:42
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, I mean listen, is what eight points this week?
44:49
Speaker 2: I mean six points on the table?
44:52
Speaker 1: He ever? Is there a way to slip up?
44:56
Speaker 6: Yeah?
44:56
Speaker 1: I mean that's my scientific question here of the day.
44:59
Speaker 1: Is possible to slip up?
45:01
Speaker 2: Yeah? Why not?
45:03
Speaker 1: Right?
45:04
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, the Kraken I'm gonna, I'm gonna the
45:09
Speaker 2: Avalanche game is gonna be tarp is gonna be hard.
45:11
Speaker 2: That's gonna be a tough game. The Avalanche have a
45:14
Speaker 2: plus fifty four goal differential. They are ten two and
45:17
Speaker 2: five on the road, They've won their last two, They've
45:20
Speaker 2: got points in nine of their last ten, twenty three
45:22
Speaker 2: to two and seven overall. I mean, they're on their
45:26
Speaker 2: way to a President's Trophy and had a long playoff run.
45:30
Speaker 2: But it's Calgary and it's San Jose that the Kraken
45:33
Speaker 2: needs to be focused on. Not only are they in division,
45:37
Speaker 2: San Jose's five points ahead of them Calgary right now
45:40
Speaker 2: with them at thirty points, They've got the three games
45:42
Speaker 2: in hand on Calgary, they've got three games in hand
45:46
Speaker 2: on San Jose as well. So you win this game,
45:49
Speaker 2: you're putting yourself in a really good position to have success.
45:53
Speaker 2: But I will say this too, like six points on
45:57
Speaker 2: the table, give me five, give me four. Calgary and Santjose.
46:01
Speaker 2: You have to win those games and if you can
46:03
Speaker 2: get back to that defensive structure that we've seen so
46:06
Speaker 2: much this season. You know, again the Winnipeg game in Winnipeg,
46:11
Speaker 2: that first Edmonton game here at home, both Dallas games
46:14
Speaker 2: as well. You've played really good teams this season. Tough defensively,
46:19
Speaker 2: and there's no reason why you can't do that again
46:22
Speaker 2: here tomorrow night with the Avalanche. It doesn't need to
46:25
Speaker 2: be a five to four game. Tomorrow is one of
46:27
Speaker 2: those games where if it's a two to one game,
46:30
Speaker 2: you're happy with that. If you lose an overtime, or
46:33
Speaker 2: if you win tomorrow night, it doesn't need to be,
46:36
Speaker 2: you know, a five to six to seven goal game.
46:39
Speaker 2: This can be a two to three goal game total
46:42
Speaker 2: and you're happy. So I think for Seattle you got
46:45
Speaker 2: to keep it simple. For tomorrow against the Aps, you
46:48
Speaker 2: got to keep it simple. You know they're gonna push.
46:51
Speaker 2: You know they're gonna try and run the score up.
46:55
Speaker 2: It's what we've seen them do all year long. They're
46:56
Speaker 2: an offensive wagon and you can't get sucked in.
47:00
Speaker 1: Shall we get to our three stars? Al you want
47:03
Speaker 1: to go first?
47:03
Speaker 6: Yeah, let me rotchet them off. My third star, Maddy Bee.
47:07
Speaker 6: The tying goal in the LA game was huge. I
47:09
Speaker 6: thought that was awesome. You had five shots on goal
47:11
Speaker 6: in that game as well. My second star and given
47:14
Speaker 6: to Vince Done. He had three points as well in
47:17
Speaker 6: that game, one goal to assists. And then my first
47:20
Speaker 6: star and then probably going to be on other other
47:22
Speaker 6: lists as well. Channer Stevenson points in five straight in
47:26
Speaker 6: that Buffalo loss. He had the power play goal, sixty
47:29
Speaker 6: two shots on goal, and two hits that stood out.
47:31
Speaker 6: These weren't like bump into you hits, as were put
47:34
Speaker 6: guys on their back hits. It really impressed me. So
47:36
Speaker 6: he's my number one star.
47:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, those are all good. I think my third star,
47:40
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go Jacob Altson. You know, I know he
47:43
Speaker 2: only played the one game, but he was hitting everything
47:46
Speaker 2: that moved. He brought some energy to the lineup against
47:51
Speaker 2: you know, a very good Buffalo team the other night,
47:54
Speaker 2: had a couple of good scoring chances. I felt maybe
47:57
Speaker 2: should have had his first NHL goal. Yeah, yes, today.
48:00
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna go with Malonson as my third star.
48:03
Speaker 2: Number two was.
48:04
Speaker 1: Hard for me.
48:06
Speaker 2: It was a toss up, and I think I'm gonna
48:07
Speaker 2: cheat here. I'm gonna go Maddie and Jordan, Maddy and
48:11
Speaker 2: every For for my second star combined, just because again
48:15
Speaker 2: leading by example, you know, Jordan every With with three
48:19
Speaker 2: points on the week or two points in the week
48:23
Speaker 2: rather but again just keeping keeping everything cool, calm and keel.
48:28
Speaker 2: I like Vince Dunn's game as well. But I'm gonna
48:30
Speaker 2: go Ebbs in Maddie and then my number one star
48:31
Speaker 2: Chandler Stevenson. Five game point Street continues to be your
48:35
Speaker 2: top face off man continues to you know, skate well
48:40
Speaker 2: and do everything right. He draws every team's toughest matchups.
48:45
Speaker 2: Chandler Stevenson. I've got his minutes numbers right here. So
48:48
Speaker 2: against Buffalo nineteen twenty six, he played twenty two to
48:51
Speaker 2: fifteen against Utah twenty one, twenty two against the La Kings.
48:57
Speaker 2: You know that every time McKinnon and McCay are are
49:00
Speaker 2: on the ice tomorrow night, number nine is not going
49:03
Speaker 2: to be far behind. So he's he's gearing up for
49:06
Speaker 2: a tough night as well. So I'm gonna give him
49:08
Speaker 2: a number one Star of the week.
49:10
Speaker 1: My three stars don't differentiate much, and I'm not trying
49:13
Speaker 1: to copy off your guys' homework here on this, but
49:15
Speaker 1: I think just kind of, you know, it's more or
49:18
Speaker 1: less wresify.
49:22
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm all shifty eye, Mike Benton.
49:26
Speaker 1: They pay no attention. I'm only looking toward the opposite
49:28
Speaker 1: wall here. My third star will be Jacob Alanson and
49:32
Speaker 1: granted It's only been one game, but I echo a
49:35
Speaker 1: lot as far as what you said fits and what
49:37
Speaker 1: Al said earlier as well. He just plays with a
49:41
Speaker 1: mean streak. He plays with abrasiveness, and he plays with
49:44
Speaker 1: no fear. And ultimately, I think for me coming in
49:48
Speaker 1: for a game like he had on Sunday and for
49:51
Speaker 1: a team partially that was dragged down with natural causes,
49:55
Speaker 1: with with with with energy, others dragged down with illness,
50:00
Speaker 1: this was a jolt of energy and a jolt of
50:03
Speaker 1: life that they desperately needed. Seven hits in seven minutes
50:08
Speaker 1: and forty seven seconds of ice time. That ratio, my goodness. Now,
50:13
Speaker 1: you're not gonna ask him to get Chandler Stevenson numbers
50:17
Speaker 1: Maddy Benier's numbers here with ice time. He's a role player.
50:20
Speaker 1: But when you have a guy playing on your fourth
50:24
Speaker 1: line and a young guy coming up who is going
50:27
Speaker 1: out with just one simple mindset and it is attack,
50:32
Speaker 1: an attack with physicality. Teams that can manufacture that kind
50:38
Speaker 1: of energy and that kind of insertion and have that
50:43
Speaker 1: and see has spread within a very very infectious level,
50:47
Speaker 1: those are teams that will go next tier. And you
50:50
Speaker 1: only hope from a game like that where He is
50:53
Speaker 1: coming in and playing the body with reckless abandon to
50:57
Speaker 1: the point where he's not taking penalties here. But he's
51:00
Speaker 1: doing this to set a tone that is so invaluable
51:03
Speaker 1: right now, in my goodness, if we have just begun
51:06
Speaker 1: to scratch the surface of what Jacob Allanson can be
51:08
Speaker 1: for an NHL team, Seattle is in for retreat. I mean, folks,
51:12
Speaker 1: you all love legion of boom back in the Pete
51:15
Speaker 1: Carroll era. You like what Mike McDonald's you're doing with
51:18
Speaker 1: the Seahawks offense. Right now, Jacob Allanson plays the high
51:22
Speaker 1: level of boom and that is an incredible ingredient that
51:27
Speaker 1: can make a difference here on this team, and the
51:30
Speaker 1: more and more that guys can follow, that's got transformation ability.
51:35
Speaker 1: My second star is Matty Beniers And for me, I
51:40
Speaker 1: think what capped this off was the game tying goal
51:43
Speaker 1: against the Kings. It was leadership stuff. But again, he's
51:47
Speaker 1: coming in with a game that has really evolved on
51:50
Speaker 1: a two way scale. He was great last night against
51:53
Speaker 1: Buffalo with a face off circle. He didn't score, but
51:56
Speaker 1: had three shots on it, and I think, to me,
51:58
Speaker 1: that SHOT's going to come, And I think I thought
52:00
Speaker 1: there was some times of practice, and granted it was
52:02
Speaker 1: practiced earlier today on Monday, but you can really begin
52:06
Speaker 1: to see I think more assertiveness and I think more
52:09
Speaker 1: zip on that shot, which is going to be a
52:11
Speaker 1: useful weapon of five on five and additionally on the
52:13
Speaker 1: power play. But ultimately, of course, we know his role
52:16
Speaker 1: as a center is to distribute the puck and I
52:19
Speaker 1: think again for the kind of shift that the crack
52:22
Speaker 1: had needed to snatch victory from jaws of the feet
52:26
Speaker 1: against the Kings. Matt Ebaneers made the on brand play
52:30
Speaker 1: with how this team has got a manufacture offense, putting
52:33
Speaker 1: a body right in the shot lane, right toward the
52:36
Speaker 1: front of the net. Words that we have uttered ad
52:40
Speaker 1: nausea over and over and over on the broadcast and
52:44
Speaker 1: this podcast, but Matti Beaneers did it. That's why he
52:47
Speaker 1: wears an a on his jersey. That's what leadership does
52:51
Speaker 1: to get things done to make a comeback possible. My
52:55
Speaker 1: first star is Chandler Stephenson, and you can see his
52:58
Speaker 1: game begin to really turn a owner here and go
53:00
Speaker 1: next level. The five game point street fits as you mentioned,
53:04
Speaker 1: getting top end guys over and over and over, and
53:07
Speaker 1: I think that matchup with Nathan McKinnon is going to
53:10
Speaker 1: be one of the top story lines I think for
53:12
Speaker 1: Tomorrow night and the face offs. He was a rock
53:15
Speaker 1: star at the dot again against Buffalo ten wins in
53:19
Speaker 1: eighteen draws that he took as well. But for me also,
53:22
Speaker 1: the power play goal is something I would love to
53:25
Speaker 1: see more from him. It's simple play driving ability. We
53:29
Speaker 1: all know that he can distribute, but his shot is
53:32
Speaker 1: very effective. Think of it there. Think of it when
53:35
Speaker 1: the crack and beat Saint Louis last year nearly at
53:39
Speaker 1: the buzzer, when Stevenson scored that goal as well. That
53:43
Speaker 1: is a very effective shot he possesses and I think
53:46
Speaker 1: again potentially a key that can help unlock more of
53:50
Speaker 1: the door for power play production on this team. He
53:53
Speaker 1: plays the flank, that shot is a useful weapon and
53:57
Speaker 1: that's something I think we're seeing out of Stevenson's game game,
54:00
Speaker 1: besides the other attributes, which I think put him to
54:03
Speaker 1: the forefront this week and is going to make him
54:06
Speaker 1: a very critical piece of getting this thing record wise.
54:09
Speaker 1: You turn and what's going to be a very very
54:13
Speaker 1: very important week coming up tomorrow night and then to
54:17
Speaker 1: launch the four game road trip.
54:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're gonna need You're gonna need everybody. And and listen,
54:24
Speaker 2: I think the compact, the compact schedule can be a
54:28
Speaker 2: blessing or it can be a curse. I think when
54:30
Speaker 2: you're winning, you want to keep the momentum going, you
54:33
Speaker 2: want to keep the good vibes going. But when you're losing,
54:37
Speaker 2: when you're when you're struggling and you're slumping, it can
54:40
Speaker 2: be kind of a man when we just need a break,
54:43
Speaker 2: we need to to fix something. We don't have enough
54:45
Speaker 2: time to do this. That and the third But also
54:48
Speaker 2: I think it could be a third thing. And I
54:49
Speaker 2: think it can also just be you know what, we're
54:51
Speaker 2: going to force this through. And and Laye Lambert has
54:54
Speaker 2: said multiple times, you know, guys, got a man up.
54:57
Speaker 2: We have to do more. We need more from everybody.
54:59
Speaker 1: This is pull up your Bootstrafts territory now, man.
55:02
Speaker 7: Yeah.
55:03
Speaker 2: No, And then and like we're not saying anything that
55:06
Speaker 2: the players haven't said. We're not saying anything that the
55:09
Speaker 2: coaching staff hasn't said. This isn't us throwing shade and
55:12
Speaker 2: talking smack like we're we're taking their words. So you know,
55:16
Speaker 2: don't come at us. But you know, there there, there
55:20
Speaker 2: is more that that they can give. There is more
55:24
Speaker 2: that they need to give. I go back to the
55:27
Speaker 2: hit on Vince Done. I go back to Malonson's great
55:30
Speaker 2: game the other night. I mean, if if you come
55:34
Speaker 2: out hitting tomorrow, good teams, elite level teams hate being disrupted.
55:41
Speaker 2: They hate being hit, they hate being thrown off their game.
55:45
Speaker 2: Right now, Nathan McKinnon is a tough superstar, right, I mean,
55:49
Speaker 2: Cale mccarr is a tough superstar. But you need to
55:53
Speaker 2: be in their kitchen all night long. It's it's gonna
55:57
Speaker 2: be a hard game. It's gonna be a painful game.
55:59
Speaker 2: And they're there's a lot of illness and sickness and
56:02
Speaker 2: injury going around the room. But we've said it before
56:05
Speaker 2: a lot of other teams that are dealing with it.
56:06
Speaker 2: Two Connor bdard Uh for Chicago. They just announced that
56:09
Speaker 2: he's gonna be out till at least January, you know,
56:12
Speaker 2: so there, they're there. Every team is going through it
56:15
Speaker 2: right now. Every team, especially this year, will continue to
56:18
Speaker 2: go through it. But but you're gonna need everyone. And
56:22
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go back to another phrase that we say
56:24
Speaker 2: all the time in hockey. Your best players need to
56:28
Speaker 2: be your best players. Right, every Stevenson Benier's uh tolding done,
56:37
Speaker 2: Larsen montor uh Shane Wright like those guys need to
56:43
Speaker 2: be those guys, and and that is how this team's
56:47
Speaker 2: gonna have success this week.
56:49
Speaker 1: Hanging in there right now, no illness got the night,
56:51
Speaker 1: will load it up just in case.
56:53
Speaker 2: Brother, listen, man, I I'm in a good little uh
56:58
Speaker 2: knock on wood here, I'm gonna say here, a good little,
57:01
Speaker 2: good little run. I had a little bit of a.
57:04
Speaker 1: Scratchy hanging out my home home studio right now. I'm
57:08
Speaker 1: just knocking on right now.
57:10
Speaker 2: I had, I had a little bit of a dry mouth,
57:13
Speaker 2: dry voice when I woke up on Friday in Utah.
57:16
Speaker 2: That mountain air got to me. But uh, you know,
57:20
Speaker 2: other other than an extra cup of tea and some
57:24
Speaker 2: extra cough drops, we're we're doing pretty good. We're doing
57:26
Speaker 2: pretty good. So again, knock on wood, thankfully. And my
57:30
Speaker 2: wife is ten feet away from me, so I can't
57:32
Speaker 2: say this too loud. Thankfully. I was out of town,
57:37
Speaker 2: so I didn't catch that. But we're doing okay over
57:42
Speaker 2: this way.
57:43
Speaker 1: By the way, I think you have trash duty also,
57:45
Speaker 1: is that right.
57:45
Speaker 2: Oh buddy?
57:46
Speaker 7: Yeah?
57:46
Speaker 2: Uh huh, yep. I absolutely.
57:49
Speaker 1: Not in agreements so much where that that's nod was
57:53
Speaker 1: so hard it might have cause a draft in the room.
57:56
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what, brother, there are times when I'll
57:59
Speaker 2: get well at home. So our trash day is Thursday.
58:02
Speaker 2: We'll get home from a road trip two o'clock in
58:04
Speaker 2: the morning and there's the trash can sitting outside. Can
58:08
Speaker 2: you hear me just rolling it up? Or the other
58:12
Speaker 2: week I come take the trash out. My neighbor across
58:14
Speaker 2: the street was like, thank goodness, my wife would have
58:17
Speaker 2: been all over me if I hadn't taken out my
58:19
Speaker 2: trash this week because he heard me bringing my hands
58:22
Speaker 2: up and I was like, who do you think reminded me?
58:24
Speaker 2: So thanks to the missus for that one.
58:27
Speaker 1: Thank you to the better has because again I know,
58:29
Speaker 1: after I've been gone for X amount of days, I hear,
58:32
Speaker 1: of course from the beautiful missus, mama needs a break. Holiay,
58:36
Speaker 1: break's coming. We're looking forward to this here. That's all
58:39
Speaker 1: the time we have, though. Big thank you again to
58:41
Speaker 1: Scott Laughlin for joining us, Everett al myself. We can't
58:44
Speaker 1: appreciate these guys en up here for the conversation and
58:47
Speaker 1: certainly yours as well on talking cracking each night, looking
58:51
Speaker 1: forward Tomorrow night, can the Cracking pull together here against
58:54
Speaker 1: the top team in the NHL six point thirty airtime,
58:57
Speaker 1: seven o'clock drop of the puck. After that, Thursday at Calgary,
59:01
Speaker 1: Saturday at San Jose. We'll talk to you soon once again,
59:04
Speaker 1: for ever written, Al, I might see you. You're home
59:07
Speaker 1: for the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point three k
59:10
Speaker 1: j R FM