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KRAKEN THIS MORNING: Beniers hits 300, McCann practice reaction, and John Forslund (1/25) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to Cracking this morning, a presentation of the krackin
0:05
Speaker 1: Audio network. Ken Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR FM.
0:10
Speaker 1: Here's Mike Benton.
0:12
Speaker 2: Quick turn around here for Cracking this morning. Mike Benton
0:14
Speaker 2: with you as we lay out the Kracking and New
0:17
Speaker 2: Jersey Devils in Mattine Noon Pacific Star Time from Climbate
0:21
Speaker 2: Pledge Arena. Hope you can join us again Cracking Devil's
0:25
Speaker 2: getting after it right before the NFC title game happens
0:29
Speaker 2: a few miles down the road at lumen Field. So
0:31
Speaker 2: sure to be a busy and for what many are hoping.
0:34
Speaker 2: A U four exports Sunday all across the Emerald City.
0:38
Speaker 2: Special pregame coverage opening up. Take note eleven am Pacific
0:42
Speaker 2: time with a special edition of Talking Cracking Network coverage
0:46
Speaker 2: opening up a course at eleven thirty pregame show is
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Speaker 2: served up by frostbrewed cors Light Choose Chill all across
0:53
Speaker 2: the global Credit Union Cracking Audio Network before the noon
0:56
Speaker 2: Pacific time puck drop Everett Now in the booth, I'll
0:59
Speaker 2: join you once again back to the course light landing
1:02
Speaker 2: and section twenty we will hear from Crack and four
1:05
Speaker 2: Jared McCann plus also Catshowup with Crack and TV play
1:09
Speaker 2: by play voice John Forestland how reaction from Friday fuels
1:13
Speaker 2: the Kraken effort on Sunday. More on Berkeley Catton, more
1:17
Speaker 2: on Jacob Alanson, and more on Matty Beanier's will play
1:21
Speaker 2: in his three hundredth career NHL game in as of
1:25
Speaker 2: this pace right now, getting closer and closer to matching
1:28
Speaker 2: his career high set back when he won the Calder
1:31
Speaker 2: Trophy in twenty twenty two twenty three as the league's
1:35
Speaker 2: top rookie. John Forestland joining us in just a bit well,
1:39
Speaker 2: plenty of frustration for the Kraken as they exited Friday
1:42
Speaker 2: with a four to two loss over the Anaheim Ducks.
1:44
Speaker 2: Jared McCann, they'll help Hi get the Kraken on the
1:46
Speaker 2: board back in period two and three. From shuffling here
1:49
Speaker 2: in the lineup, he's found himself playing back with a
1:51
Speaker 2: crake in top line himself, Matty Beneers and Jordan Eberley
1:55
Speaker 2: as well. After practice on Saturday, McCann spoke more on
2:00
Speaker 2: with the Kraken wants to clean up ending into Sunday's
2:03
Speaker 2: game to Geesst, New Jersey.
2:04
Speaker 3: Our starts. You know, we've we've talked about the last
2:06
Speaker 3: couple of days now and we just got to execute it.
2:08
Speaker 3: And it's, uh, you know, it's kind of getting it's
2:11
Speaker 3: h he's getting pretty crazy, and we gotta chase the
2:12
Speaker 3: game after the first two minutes.
2:14
Speaker 4: To that point, I mean, how we the first goal
2:17
Speaker 4: is obviously always important, but to that point of view,
2:20
Speaker 4: saying like how difficult is it when that's been kind
2:22
Speaker 4: of unfortunately a trend for you guys.
2:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, teams are still good now that like when you
2:25
Speaker 3: get up in the with the leads, you just kind of,
2:28
Speaker 3: you know, just play simple and shut it down. So
2:30
Speaker 3: you know, when when I say chasing.
2:31
Speaker 2: It like we're we're you.
2:34
Speaker 3: Know, we're trying to make plays. We're trying to make
2:36
Speaker 3: you passes through the middle of the ice and sometimes
2:37
Speaker 3: just got shipped behind them. And and yeah, at least
2:40
Speaker 3: for the first you know, ten minutes, five minutes the game,
2:42
Speaker 3: we gotta just keep it simple and and and play
2:44
Speaker 3: the way that makes its successful.
2:46
Speaker 4: Does the idea that tomorrow with it being early starting
2:49
Speaker 4: to show and go, And in a sense that kind
2:51
Speaker 4: of almost helped, like in a way, maybe jake up
2:53
Speaker 4: the routine a little bit.
2:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, maybe not think about it as much, just
2:56
Speaker 3: kind of go out there and play. And you know,
2:58
Speaker 3: we got a lot of skill guys in this room.
2:59
Speaker 3: Who who are you know, our great offense? We just
3:01
Speaker 3: gotta find it.
3:02
Speaker 5: So as you turn the page here from last night
3:04
Speaker 5: into today, how'd you view practice in the time out
3:06
Speaker 5: there as far as the necessary things to keep drilling
3:09
Speaker 5: back in here?
3:09
Speaker 1: For Assebo, yeah, I think it's good.
3:11
Speaker 3: You know, we we went out there and worked tired,
3:13
Speaker 3: everybody was skating, you know, we uh, we know it's
3:16
Speaker 3: more is a huge one for us, right so you know,
3:18
Speaker 3: we gotta we gotta be focused on.
3:20
Speaker 5: Some view leadership as far as effectiveness in the spoken
3:22
Speaker 5: world others, you know, by action. Where have you seen
3:24
Speaker 5: this team respond the most when they are challenged as
3:27
Speaker 5: a group?
3:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, for.
3:28
Speaker 3: Us, I think it's more action. You know, it's not
3:30
Speaker 3: we don't really have kind of the vocal type in here,
3:33
Speaker 3: but you know, we're just trying to, uh to go
3:37
Speaker 3: out there compete every single night. And you know, we've
3:39
Speaker 3: we've had times where we do do that for consistent
3:42
Speaker 3: sixteen minutes and then we've obviously, like last night, we
3:45
Speaker 3: didn't have it, so you know, you got to bring
3:47
Speaker 3: the consistency back.
3:48
Speaker 5: I know the line have been shot from here for
3:49
Speaker 5: a little bit, but you find yourself back on Maddie's line.
3:51
Speaker 5: I mean, just kind of the overall scope of this.
3:54
Speaker 5: How have you seen this game as a centerment taking
3:56
Speaker 5: a jump as compared.
3:56
Speaker 6: His rookie season.
3:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, Maddie's awesome. He's been been a huge part of
3:59
Speaker 3: this organ station from the get go. Obviously, you know
4:02
Speaker 3: he's a guy who you know, who's put on h
4:05
Speaker 3: He's been put a lot of pressure on him, and
4:07
Speaker 3: you know it's it's on guys like Mediev's and you
4:10
Speaker 3: know some of the older guys to U to kind
4:11
Speaker 3: of take that off them and be better, you know,
4:14
Speaker 3: wherever we can.
4:15
Speaker 4: To that point, it seems like the points have been
4:17
Speaker 4: coming easy for him of late, especially if you guys
4:20
Speaker 4: noticed anything like it's another step forward in him on
4:22
Speaker 4: that end of things in his game.
4:24
Speaker 3: No, No, I think he's been consistent all year.
4:26
Speaker 5: You know.
4:26
Speaker 3: Obviously there's you know, one or two games where it's
4:28
Speaker 3: you know, things aren't gonna go your way, right, and
4:31
Speaker 3: you know we've had but overall, I think he's been
4:34
Speaker 3: a very consistent player for us, and you know, points
4:37
Speaker 3: are points. You know you're gonna have times where it's
4:39
Speaker 3: they're gonna go in for you, and sometimes when they're
4:41
Speaker 3: not right, you know, it's kind of a streaky game
4:43
Speaker 3: when it comes to that. But you know he's been uh,
4:45
Speaker 3: he's been great, especially defensively.
4:46
Speaker 2: All right, here we go, twelve pm face off. It's
4:49
Speaker 2: good time cracking New Jersey. Devil's coming up here for Sunday.
4:52
Speaker 2: And guess who joins the party once again, our friend
4:54
Speaker 2: John foresln TV play by a play voice on the
4:58
Speaker 2: Crack and Hockey Network and on Prime NHL T and
5:01
Speaker 2: T as well. Johnny, Hello, happy Sunday, Good morning to you,
5:05
Speaker 2: I should say before the opening face off, and I
5:08
Speaker 2: just want to kind of throw a hypothetical question out
5:10
Speaker 2: there to you if you if the NHL were to
5:14
Speaker 2: see more morning games, like just I think, just for
5:18
Speaker 2: the sake of getting this out of the way, because
5:20
Speaker 2: we do a lot of noon face offs, what's your
5:23
Speaker 2: instant reaction here to, you know, say, the occasional eleven
5:27
Speaker 2: am face off here and there.
5:30
Speaker 6: I don't know if we're going to play at twelve
5:32
Speaker 6: I guess eleven's okay?
5:33
Speaker 2: Yeah?
5:34
Speaker 6: For ten am, eleven this morning. Eleven this morning might
5:37
Speaker 6: make more sense, you know, give people an opportunity to
5:40
Speaker 6: have a little bit of a gap between the hockey
5:44
Speaker 6: game and those that are coming to the game today
5:46
Speaker 6: and those that want to get home or get to
5:48
Speaker 6: the football game. I don't know how you can get
5:50
Speaker 6: to both events. I bet you're there's some people are
5:52
Speaker 6: going to try and do that. But anyway, I don't know, Mike.
5:57
Speaker 6: I just look at it selfishly, and any odd start
6:01
Speaker 6: time for me is an adjustment in terms of what
6:04
Speaker 6: I need to do to get ready to do the game.
6:06
Speaker 6: And so when you're going at twelve and it's supposed
6:09
Speaker 6: to be seven, do the math on that. Yeah, that
6:12
Speaker 6: means I don't know what time I got up this morning,
6:15
Speaker 6: but it was.
6:15
Speaker 2: Too Really that same here, we're just trying to get
6:18
Speaker 2: things all prepping ready to go, just like twelve pm
6:21
Speaker 2: equals seven pm. We'll just kind of deal with the
6:23
Speaker 2: whole adjustmente once we all get home here and this
6:26
Speaker 2: town's going football crazy once again here for this evening.
6:29
Speaker 2: But we'll get to that later on. I got a
6:30
Speaker 2: little surprise question for you on that end here. But
6:34
Speaker 2: out of the state of matters here from two nights ago.
6:36
Speaker 2: I mean, we've seen this team when reaching full potential
6:40
Speaker 2: so far, Johnny, and mentally, they were far from it
6:45
Speaker 2: against Anaheim. What did you take away from the four
6:49
Speaker 2: to two loss and the reaction after.
6:51
Speaker 6: Well, I was as disappointed, I think as anybody. I
6:55
Speaker 6: verbalized that on the air Friday night. You know, after
6:59
Speaker 6: the first period, I couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't
7:02
Speaker 6: believe that this was, you know, a team that was
7:06
Speaker 6: working on better starts and working on establishing their game
7:09
Speaker 6: and dictating the terms of the game and all these
7:12
Speaker 6: things they keep talking about, and when it comes to
7:15
Speaker 6: the point of execution, they can't get it done. So
7:19
Speaker 6: I don't know. I'm waiting today to see exactly what
7:22
Speaker 6: it is it to show me situation. They've done enough
7:24
Speaker 6: talking about this. They've done enough, you know, meeting, they've
7:28
Speaker 6: they've they've they've practiced, they they've taken days off, they've
7:33
Speaker 6: tried everything. The coaches have tried every possible mechanism to
7:38
Speaker 6: get this straight. The bottom line is, these players, to
7:43
Speaker 6: a man, have to look themselves in the mirror and say,
7:46
Speaker 6: am I absolutely doing everything possible to win a hockey game?
7:52
Speaker 6: Am I doing everything possible to leave it all out
7:55
Speaker 6: there and then worry about my rest the next day.
7:58
Speaker 6: In this situation, if you're playing it, if you don't
8:01
Speaker 6: empty the tank completely and give everything you have like
8:05
Speaker 6: it's the seventh game of a playoff series, because basically
8:08
Speaker 6: that's the kind of desperate effort in my opinion, they
8:11
Speaker 6: need today. If they don't do that with the opportunity
8:14
Speaker 6: to play Tuesday night, you know, what are what are
8:18
Speaker 6: they talking about? So I really believe, you know, the
8:21
Speaker 6: players should recognize this. I hate to say, I'll believe
8:26
Speaker 6: it when I see it, but I feel like we're
8:28
Speaker 6: all we've all been led down this path. So from
8:32
Speaker 6: the leaders of the team, you know, I think that
8:35
Speaker 6: the key here, Michael, is that for the last few weeks,
8:38
Speaker 6: the prime headline, the prime narrative that everybody in this
8:43
Speaker 6: market has talked about, is the fourth line. And that's
8:46
Speaker 6: good because whoever's you know, comprise the fourth line has
8:51
Speaker 6: earned the praise they played that well. But when you're
8:54
Speaker 6: talking daily about a team's fourth line and you're not
8:57
Speaker 6: talking about the other guys who are supposed to be
9:00
Speaker 6: your leaders and your best players on a consistent basis,
9:05
Speaker 6: there's your problem. So today against the Devils, that's what
9:09
Speaker 6: has to happen. And starting with the captain of the
9:13
Speaker 6: team and going right on through the ranks, that's kind
9:16
Speaker 6: of effort for me that they need to put on
9:19
Speaker 6: for the fans today and kind of open up this
9:22
Speaker 6: what could be a spectacular day here in Seattle. Open
9:25
Speaker 6: it up with that kind of a win against a
9:27
Speaker 6: team that's kind of found themselves again on this road trip.
9:30
Speaker 6: New Jersey's playing well. So we'll see what goes down
9:33
Speaker 6: from the very beginning of the game, you know, and
9:36
Speaker 6: we'll see. And that means you know, need the first goal,
9:40
Speaker 6: sure you do, but you also just need to play
9:42
Speaker 6: with some zip. You need to win battles in the
9:45
Speaker 6: corners for loose pucks. You need to hit the other
9:47
Speaker 6: team more than once. You need to know, you know,
9:51
Speaker 6: let them know they're in for a game. You know,
9:53
Speaker 6: be the team that is that proverbial start on time.
9:57
Speaker 6: You know that that's up to them, and we'll see
10:00
Speaker 6: where it goes.
10:01
Speaker 2: And I think to your point as well, there's plenty
10:04
Speaker 2: of chances here to empty said tank, because this is
10:07
Speaker 2: not as if you're demanding them to get up and
10:10
Speaker 2: down like you know today's at Minton oilers or the
10:13
Speaker 2: pace of your average McKinnon shift. This all goes right
10:17
Speaker 2: back down to the structure in which they play correct.
10:21
Speaker 6: Yes, because the structure of how they play and that
10:24
Speaker 6: should be the foundational piece of everything they do. And
10:28
Speaker 6: so you know, if you're gonna take penalties, that means
10:33
Speaker 6: your structure's not good. If you're going to allow teams
10:36
Speaker 6: to you know, freewheel and gain speed through the middle
10:40
Speaker 6: of the ice. When this team was on point, those
10:43
Speaker 6: things were not happening. You look at the first goal
10:47
Speaker 6: that Anaheim scored on Friday night. You know, yes, Veneers
10:51
Speaker 6: gets a scoring chance right off the hop. It's a
10:53
Speaker 6: great triangular play, boom, great save by Dostall, and then
10:57
Speaker 6: all of a sudden, you know, here's a stretch Pats
11:01
Speaker 6: and you're asleep, and you're asleep through the middle of
11:03
Speaker 6: the ice, and yeah, the kid can really scape Goatcha's
11:07
Speaker 6: got tremendous speed and he's a goal scorer. He's got
11:10
Speaker 6: twenty three goals. Now, okay, but you're you know, two
11:13
Speaker 6: minutes into the game, when you're allowing a scoring chance
11:16
Speaker 6: like that, that means you're not ready to play and
11:19
Speaker 6: even if Klubauer made the save, you're not ready to play.
11:23
Speaker 2: I know, speculation over the Shane Wright situation and talks
11:27
Speaker 2: you know, Johnny Woods have reached his stall and Lane
11:30
Speaker 2: Lambert's podium Friday really aren't so much here in your department.
11:34
Speaker 2: But I think just back here to the player. What
11:36
Speaker 2: are you making out of his game right now? In
11:39
Speaker 2: his usage?
11:40
Speaker 6: Well? Listening you know Lane after practice yesterday, I mean,
11:44
Speaker 6: you know, it was some interesting insight as to where
11:48
Speaker 6: the player is and what the coaching staff is trying
11:50
Speaker 6: to help him with in terms of, you know, continuing
11:54
Speaker 6: a development curve at the NHL level. Now you would think,
11:57
Speaker 6: you know, at twenty two, he's still young, but he's
12:00
Speaker 6: not that young, and he's had a couple of years
12:03
Speaker 6: to get his feet wet in the National Hockey League.
12:05
Speaker 6: And we all felt and I think you and I
12:07
Speaker 6: talked about it in the summer, We talked about it
12:10
Speaker 6: in training camp, and that the season kicked off and
12:13
Speaker 6: it was in my opinion that the wild card this
12:15
Speaker 6: year would be Shane Wright. That for him to take
12:18
Speaker 6: a big step, for him to build on a nineteen
12:20
Speaker 6: goal season last year and become a consistent point producer
12:25
Speaker 6: was vital. I mean based on the slot that he
12:27
Speaker 6: needs to fill, his draft position, his age, where the
12:31
Speaker 6: team's going to go in the future. You know, rests
12:34
Speaker 6: on the shoulders have been years and right, and then
12:36
Speaker 6: you get to Catin and O'Brien. You know, if you're
12:39
Speaker 6: looking at the summer Ris position. So you know, Shane
12:43
Speaker 6: season for me has been indifferent. Yeah, there have been
12:46
Speaker 6: some nice moments and there have been other moments where
12:49
Speaker 6: you know, I don't think the trust has been there.
12:52
Speaker 6: You look at his face off acumen, it's not very good,
12:56
Speaker 6: and I think that hurts him. You know, they've tried
12:58
Speaker 6: him on the wing a little bit for few games,
13:00
Speaker 6: but you know, he is a centerm and there's no
13:02
Speaker 6: question about that. But for him to you know, gain
13:05
Speaker 6: trust and get starts in each zone that are meaningful
13:10
Speaker 6: defensive zone starts, offensive zone starts. You know, you got
13:13
Speaker 6: to win the puck, you got to win the face
13:15
Speaker 6: off and and the crack and as a group are
13:16
Speaker 6: not very good in the face out circle. So he
13:19
Speaker 6: just adds to it. So that's that's step number one. Now,
13:22
Speaker 6: Layne Lambert did talk about him improving defensively. You know,
13:26
Speaker 6: after practice on Saturday, and they're working on a few
13:29
Speaker 6: things to improve him that way. And that's all well
13:31
Speaker 6: and good, and yes, he does have to fit a
13:34
Speaker 6: team metric. He does have to become a player that
13:37
Speaker 6: fits the mold so they all play alike. I get it.
13:39
Speaker 6: That's the beauty of what Lambert's trying to accomplish here.
13:42
Speaker 6: And he's right about all of that. But with Shane,
13:46
Speaker 6: you know, at some point he's going to have to
13:49
Speaker 6: get confidence from being a reliable player so that his
13:52
Speaker 6: skill set shows up more. Now, he did make a
13:55
Speaker 6: beautiful pass to Jane Schwartz, you know, on Friday night.
13:58
Speaker 6: That's a good thing. But as a centerman, you know,
14:02
Speaker 6: to me, just lacks the confidence to control the game.
14:05
Speaker 6: The puck is on and off his stick. He's got
14:08
Speaker 6: to be able to handle it more. He's got to
14:11
Speaker 6: be able to hit holes with passes, you know, make
14:14
Speaker 6: his wingers better. It can't be the other way around.
14:16
Speaker 6: So those are the things that he's going through right now.
14:19
Speaker 6: Only he knows if any of this talk, which he
14:22
Speaker 6: kind of brushed off on Friday night after the game.
14:26
Speaker 6: That's a tough spot to be in. Your team didn't
14:28
Speaker 6: play well, they're put you in front of the media.
14:30
Speaker 6: You're talking about trade rumors. You're twenty two years of age.
14:33
Speaker 6: That's disappointing for me to see and often go through.
14:38
Speaker 6: But it did and he dealt with it, and you know,
14:40
Speaker 6: I don't know if that's bugging him or not, but
14:43
Speaker 6: there's one way out of it. I mean, you just
14:45
Speaker 6: need to be a little bit better consistently and then
14:48
Speaker 6: you know, maybe your your confidence will show when you're
14:53
Speaker 6: on the power play. You know, right now appears he's
14:55
Speaker 6: on the second unit, so we'll see, you know, if
14:58
Speaker 6: you know how much power play time he would get.
15:00
Speaker 6: But those are things that are going to help him
15:02
Speaker 6: become more of a score and get to his shot
15:05
Speaker 6: and utilize you know, all those things. But losing pucks,
15:09
Speaker 6: losing battles, turnovers in top situations, you know, just inside
15:15
Speaker 6: the blue lining, things like that. Those things for me
15:18
Speaker 6: have been at the forefront of his game way too
15:21
Speaker 6: much this year and the other stuff. And I think
15:23
Speaker 6: that's the challenge and that's the type of situation the
15:27
Speaker 6: coaches are trying to deal with.
15:28
Speaker 2: John Forsland joining us right now, and Johnny, you mentioned
15:31
Speaker 2: Matty Beniers here, another big piece of this and at
15:33
Speaker 2: the pace he's playing right now, he is creeping closer
15:37
Speaker 2: and closer to matching his career high he's set back
15:40
Speaker 2: in his Calder Trophy rookie campaign. Jared mccannon talked about
15:44
Speaker 2: a new dimension for him that he's reaching in his game,
15:47
Speaker 2: as Maddie is also approaching three hundred career NHL games
15:51
Speaker 2: Here for today, I mean, where have you seen his
15:53
Speaker 2: game move since? I think from a bigger picture scale
15:58
Speaker 2: of this year one of his career and from the
16:01
Speaker 2: smaller scope of it day one of the season.
16:03
Speaker 6: Well, you know, I think he's had a great year.
16:06
Speaker 6: I really do. I think he's you know, it's unfortunate
16:10
Speaker 6: that it's kind of hiding behind a curtain here because
16:13
Speaker 6: the way the team has played recently, you know, and
16:16
Speaker 6: he's just a byproduct of that. And he's made his mistakes, sure,
16:21
Speaker 6: but so so many other players when they're not going well.
16:24
Speaker 6: When they are going well, he's at the head of
16:27
Speaker 6: the ship. You know. His compete level is really high
16:31
Speaker 6: right now for me, and I think that's that's something
16:34
Speaker 6: that has grown. I think it was there, but I
16:37
Speaker 6: think it's it's the ability to bring it all over
16:41
Speaker 6: and over and over again, you know, he's maturing physically,
16:44
Speaker 6: so he's getting stronger, so he has more of that
16:47
Speaker 6: and you know, kind of a slight guy. So for
16:50
Speaker 6: that's some of the things we saw on his first
16:52
Speaker 6: go around was his leg strength. You know, with that improved,
16:56
Speaker 6: it has a little bit. He's worked on a lot
16:58
Speaker 6: of things. It's my understanding that he's worked with the
17:02
Speaker 6: skills coaches at different aspects of his game that have
17:07
Speaker 6: helped him improve his skill set. So I think he's committed.
17:11
Speaker 6: I think he's shown a lot of leadership this year.
17:15
Speaker 6: It's a really good step. You know, is he is
17:18
Speaker 6: he the you know, the Austin Matthews type player, No,
17:23
Speaker 6: but he is. He is a really solid number two
17:27
Speaker 6: center on a great team. You can win with him.
17:31
Speaker 6: He's only going to get better as he moves along
17:34
Speaker 6: because he's smart and he's recognizing the situations he's in
17:38
Speaker 6: and he's always up against good players. You know, Stevenson
17:41
Speaker 6: gets a lot of strong matchups in terms of the
17:44
Speaker 6: eight plus player on the other side, but Veneers will
17:47
Speaker 6: get the next one or sometimes it's best on best
17:50
Speaker 6: and he's got to handle that too, and he has
17:52
Speaker 6: improved that way for me too. I think that's something
17:56
Speaker 6: that he's been able to handle, you know, each and
17:58
Speaker 6: every game, not just a game a week, but two
18:02
Speaker 6: games a week, you know, when they have four. You know,
18:04
Speaker 6: this has been basically pretty consistent in terms of him
18:07
Speaker 6: needing the challenge, regardless of the opponent.
18:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I couldn't help but even notice in the game
18:13
Speaker 2: against Pittsburgh. I know that you were away on other
18:15
Speaker 2: duties as well, but just the times he was out
18:18
Speaker 2: there on the ice the same time with one of
18:21
Speaker 2: the greatest players of all time in Sydney Crosby, who
18:23
Speaker 2: we call fourth line grinder, I mean, Beneers was saying
18:25
Speaker 2: him pace for pace, push for push as well. I
18:29
Speaker 2: mean that's something that I don't think that was that
18:31
Speaker 2: much noticeable, I believe about say two maybe even three
18:35
Speaker 2: years ago, but certainly a step. You're in the right direction.
18:38
Speaker 2: As John Forcelynn joins us here, I mean, I think
18:40
Speaker 2: he knows where guys like Jacob Alanson and Berkeley Katon are.
18:44
Speaker 2: He once was a rookie here. They are now trying
18:47
Speaker 2: to find their place, and I couldn't help but notice
18:49
Speaker 2: them after practice one day ago, which was I think
18:53
Speaker 2: built more for efficiency than length. I mean, twenty five
18:56
Speaker 2: minutes in Boom all done, line rushes, special teams, drills,
19:00
Speaker 2: not much room for much else. But I think there's
19:01
Speaker 2: a certain type of energy I saw out of Caton
19:04
Speaker 2: and Malanson Carrie at the end of it, they've they've
19:07
Speaker 2: kind of hit an emotional reset pretty quick. I think
19:10
Speaker 2: after Friday Night, where are you at with Carton's game
19:14
Speaker 2: right now? And Malanson as well, now that he's back.
19:18
Speaker 6: Up, Well, we'll take Berkeley first. I mean, I think
19:23
Speaker 6: his offensive instincts are really impressive. He has ability to
19:29
Speaker 6: create plays, he has the ability to see situations use
19:34
Speaker 6: his skills to make them better. He's a great pocket passer.
19:39
Speaker 6: He's got an acceleration that can get him to the
19:42
Speaker 6: net quickly, excellent hands, looks like he has a decent shot,
19:48
Speaker 6: and that's only going to get better as he gets
19:49
Speaker 6: stronger and matures more physically. And what's happened in the
19:55
Speaker 6: last month maybe is I see a player that still
20:00
Speaker 6: makes mistakes because he's a rookie. There's still going to
20:03
Speaker 6: be He gets caught in the wrong side of the puck,
20:06
Speaker 6: takes a penalty, he gets caught in the wrong side
20:09
Speaker 6: of the puck, he's not strong enough, takes a penalty,
20:12
Speaker 6: he gets up against a bigger guy in a puck
20:14
Speaker 6: battle that he needs to win, you know, just inside
20:16
Speaker 6: the defensive blue line. He loses the battle and it
20:19
Speaker 6: doesn't go well, and the other team will in the
20:21
Speaker 6: crack and deeper in the zone and get into an
20:23
Speaker 6: offensive sequence that happens. He's guilty of turning the puck over,
20:27
Speaker 6: but so are some of the veteran guys. So you know,
20:30
Speaker 6: those are things that happen every game. But the great plays, now,
20:36
Speaker 6: the great plays that he makes within each and every game,
20:40
Speaker 6: there's at least one, if not two or three every
20:43
Speaker 6: game that you're like, wow, So that's starting to outweigh
20:49
Speaker 6: the negative stuff, which means he's developing and eventually he's
20:54
Speaker 6: going to clean that stuff up, the negatives, and he's
20:57
Speaker 6: going to continue to grow into his skill set. So
21:00
Speaker 6: I'm very, very excited about it, and I wasn't as excited,
21:04
Speaker 6: if I'm being honest with myself and everybody else, at
21:07
Speaker 6: the start of the season. Based on camp, he just
21:10
Speaker 6: looked like, Okay, he's going to make the team based
21:12
Speaker 6: on who he is. He's going to make the team
21:14
Speaker 6: because of an injury or two. He's going to stick
21:17
Speaker 6: around for a while, then they're going to make a decision.
21:19
Speaker 6: And then they went past the benchmark and now he's here.
21:23
Speaker 6: And then there was the World Junior conversation. Some people
21:26
Speaker 6: said he probably should have gone played in that tournament.
21:28
Speaker 6: I think it was a good idea to keep him around.
21:30
Speaker 6: They needed to keep him around. The Krack and need
21:33
Speaker 6: a player like this because they're not offensively gifted as
21:36
Speaker 6: a team, and he has that. So I'm looking forward
21:40
Speaker 6: to see what he does now in the games that remained,
21:43
Speaker 6: because there's steady improvement. So that's that's good, and he's
21:46
Speaker 6: looking more and more comfortable. I know he's well liked.
21:50
Speaker 6: I know the veteran guys love him. They should. He's
21:52
Speaker 6: a great kid. So this is a beacon of light
21:56
Speaker 6: for the fans. You you should be excited about this player.
21:59
Speaker 6: I think that's a good thing. Jacob just needs to
22:04
Speaker 6: make the grade, you know, like he just needs to
22:06
Speaker 6: continue to do what he does, which is pretty obvious.
22:09
Speaker 6: You know, he's a he's a grinder and he's going
22:11
Speaker 6: to play that role and he's going to have to
22:14
Speaker 6: continue to play that role and also understand that, you know,
22:18
Speaker 6: how do you play with energy without getting caught out
22:21
Speaker 6: of position? How do you play with energy to make
22:24
Speaker 6: a difference, you know, how do you how do you
22:27
Speaker 6: do those things so that you're trusted And that'll be
22:31
Speaker 6: the step for him, you know, And I think as
22:33
Speaker 6: a player that looks like at this level, it's it's
22:37
Speaker 6: a it's a limited skill set to be fair to him,
22:39
Speaker 6: at least now, but he it's a it's a dimension
22:44
Speaker 6: that the team needs because buy and large the krack
22:48
Speaker 6: and don't have that. So if you're good, hard nosed,
22:51
Speaker 6: physical player like he is, bring it and and I
22:55
Speaker 6: think he belongs in the lineup. I'd like to see,
22:59
Speaker 6: you know, more of that. I'd like to see Cartie
23:01
Speaker 6: get another chance and get in there because I think
23:05
Speaker 6: they need some banging, they need some physicality. I'm not
23:10
Speaker 6: hundred percent sure they're going to do it the other
23:11
Speaker 6: way around. So there's there's a spot for Jacob Balonson
23:15
Speaker 6: and that's a big thing.
23:17
Speaker 2: Rounding this out. The Devils, they just come off and
23:20
Speaker 2: win over the Canucks largely this season. They've got finishing issues,
23:24
Speaker 2: Dougie Hamilton issues and now Luke Hughes health issues. Where
23:29
Speaker 2: do you measure them up versus the rest of the
23:31
Speaker 2: East Johnny.
23:33
Speaker 6: Well, the way Luke Hughes was playing, they might be
23:35
Speaker 6: better off without him right now. You know, they've had
23:39
Speaker 6: issues with his play inconsistency all year and based on
23:43
Speaker 6: his name and his statue with the team and his contract.
23:46
Speaker 6: It's hard being around the Devils as I was last
23:48
Speaker 6: week and knowing a few the people and talking with
23:51
Speaker 6: them throughout the course of the CCE. You know, he's
23:53
Speaker 6: a player they's hard to pull out of their lineup.
23:55
Speaker 6: But there are occasions over the course of the year,
23:58
Speaker 6: according to some of these people that that know really
24:00
Speaker 6: what's going on with the Devils, that he could have
24:02
Speaker 6: taken a step out of the lineup and didn't. So,
24:06
Speaker 6: you know, it's unfortunate. The injury had Monday night in Calgary.
24:10
Speaker 6: Eddy and I had the game Tuesday night for TNT
24:14
Speaker 6: in Edmonton and the Devil's put together to a man
24:18
Speaker 6: effort that was very impressive. And they've continued now for
24:21
Speaker 6: three straight games to do the same thing. Now they
24:25
Speaker 6: play with structure. This is the thing Sheldon Keith has
24:29
Speaker 6: tried to drill into their heads. Goaltending has got to
24:33
Speaker 6: get better. Jake Allen has been the better of the
24:36
Speaker 6: two Hamilton is. You know, I know him very well.
24:42
Speaker 6: He was with our team when I was in Carolina.
24:46
Speaker 6: He's a player that has an unbelievable offensive ceiling. His
24:50
Speaker 6: play can be indifferent. I'm not sure they're going to
24:53
Speaker 6: move him, although there's a lot of rumors attached to
24:56
Speaker 6: him based on the huge injury. So that'll be interesting
24:59
Speaker 6: to see where that goes. But they have some balance
25:02
Speaker 6: now that's underrated. You know. It's not just what Jasper
25:05
Speaker 6: Bratt and Jack Hughes do and all that. Sure, they
25:09
Speaker 6: need to be you know who they are, but you
25:12
Speaker 6: look at the way Cody Glass is played over the
25:15
Speaker 6: last two weeks and other players in their lineup, you
25:18
Speaker 6: know they have some balance now, which will make them
25:22
Speaker 6: a difficult opponent. I mean, it really will. And they're quick.
25:25
Speaker 6: They're very fast. You know a lot of these Eastern
25:28
Speaker 6: teams move, and so that'll be a challenge for the
25:32
Speaker 6: Kraken to have the energy that you know they're fighting
25:36
Speaker 6: right now with this schedule, that find the energy to
25:39
Speaker 6: combat that.
25:40
Speaker 2: Hey, before we go, I know that a lot of
25:42
Speaker 2: us are looking forward to a happy Sunday across the
25:44
Speaker 2: board in Seattle. I means so Johnny, for the football side.
25:46
Speaker 2: Once we're all done, Seahawks rams, give me a.
25:49
Speaker 6: Quick prediction, sixty three to nothing Seattle.
25:55
Speaker 2: So you are all in favor of a quick and
25:58
Speaker 2: painless victory.
26:00
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, let's go to the super Bowl. Let's get
26:03
Speaker 6: this thing over with and uh, let's write a great story.
26:07
Speaker 6: The city deserves it, this team deserves it. The new
26:10
Speaker 6: coach deserves it. Even though he's had a couple of
26:13
Speaker 6: runs here. I you know, I know that. But he's
26:15
Speaker 6: a young guy. You know. It's it's a great story.
26:19
Speaker 6: So yeah, so I'm not I'm not going to wow
26:22
Speaker 6: you with a lot of football, know how, because most
26:25
Speaker 6: Sundays I'm watching hockey and I love football. But I
26:29
Speaker 6: think sixty three nothing would be a great final score.
26:32
Speaker 2: People wax a lot of about your record too. Yeah,
26:35
Speaker 2: I think it would. I think it would definitely, definitely
26:38
Speaker 2: would blow the Super Bowl out of the water. From
26:41
Speaker 2: last second when they beat den Verbin. People wax a
26:43
Speaker 2: lot of poetic about just how much fourth quarter games
26:46
Speaker 2: for the Seahawks or torture. Who knows it's going to
26:49
Speaker 2: go down to that, But I think a lotful Well.
26:51
Speaker 6: Remember I'm the guy, I'm the guy in uh in
26:53
Speaker 6: Philadelphia three years ago or I don't know what it was.
26:56
Speaker 6: It was with Eddie and JT and the Super Bowl
26:59
Speaker 6: Sunday after new with the Eagles and the Chiefs, right yeah,
27:02
Speaker 6: and we're in Philadelphia and they did their predictions and
27:06
Speaker 6: the team to me last and I said three two
27:08
Speaker 6: Pansas City and Eddie still is angry. That was my prediction.
27:12
Speaker 6: And it was a ridiculous prediction because I said three
27:15
Speaker 6: to two.
27:16
Speaker 2: Field goal and safety. It is probable actually.
27:19
Speaker 6: So anyway, so I'm going to go with I'm going
27:23
Speaker 6: with sixty three nothing. That's my prediction.
27:26
Speaker 2: If you can, if you can be a prognosticator, you're
27:29
Speaker 2: making a lot of people happier. Johnny, thank you, have
27:31
Speaker 2: a great call. Appreciate you man.
27:33
Speaker 6: Okay, thank you, Michael, take care.
27:35
Speaker 2: All right, Johnny, thank you very much. John Forsland joining us,
27:38
Speaker 2: wishing you a good call once again here for the
27:40
Speaker 2: TV side as a crack and aiming for a split
27:43
Speaker 2: in the head to head series. They last lost to
27:46
Speaker 2: New Jersey in Game one of this matchup on the
27:49
Speaker 2: previous Eastern Conference road trip, three to two in overtime.
27:53
Speaker 2: You recall a course Nicohesher had a pair of goals
27:56
Speaker 2: in that game, including the game winning overtime goal as well.
28:00
Speaker 2: He sure leads the Devils with thirty nine points in
28:03
Speaker 2: fifty one games. Jack Hues, though he's gone through a
28:06
Speaker 2: bit of an injury speed bump this season, though performing
28:09
Speaker 2: at near point per game levels with thirty two points
28:12
Speaker 2: in thirty three games. And speaking of Dougie Hamilton, he's
28:16
Speaker 2: got a six game point streak, all coming on assists.
28:19
Speaker 2: He's got seven in total. Cody Glass, by the way,
28:22
Speaker 2: has goals in back to back games on the New
28:25
Speaker 2: Jersey side, Cracking right now being helped out offensively with
28:28
Speaker 2: Jayden Schwartz in the three game point streak. Veniers, by
28:31
Speaker 2: the way has taken over the Cracking scoring lead with
28:33
Speaker 2: thirty three points in fifty games. He's also got four
28:37
Speaker 2: points over the course of the last four games. Looking
28:40
Speaker 2: forward to having you here as a Crack and trying
28:42
Speaker 2: to get back on the winning track and even up
28:44
Speaker 2: their home stand right now with stands at one and
28:47
Speaker 2: two heading into game four of the six game stretch
28:51
Speaker 2: at home and also earn a split in this head
28:54
Speaker 2: to head series with New Jersey. Hope you can join
28:57
Speaker 2: us once again special on airtime Open up at eleven
29:00
Speaker 2: AM with a pregame edition of Talking Cracking Network coverage
29:04
Speaker 2: opening at eleven thirty pot drops little past New Pacific time.
29:09
Speaker 2: Right back, I climb the pledge arena certainly hope that
29:12
Speaker 2: you can join us all across the global Credit Union
29:14
Speaker 2: Cracking Audio Network. Thank you to jer McCann and in
29:18
Speaker 2: John Foresland and for cracking this morning. I'm Mike Benton.
29:22
Speaker 2: Enjoy your sports Sunday and talk with you soon.
29:24
Speaker 1: You're home for the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point
29:27
Speaker 1: three KJR FM