Latest / Seattle Kraken Audio Network / KRAKEN WEEKLY: GM Jason Botterill on Bobby McMann, trade deadline, pending free agency (3/11)

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KRAKEN WEEKLY: GM Jason Botterill on Bobby McMann, trade deadline, pending free agency (3/11) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, here we are nineteen games left on March eleventh,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and the Kraken are still a playoff team, tied with
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the Kings for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: but the Kraken own that tiebreaker. And if you were
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: to be asked six months ago, would you take this
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: as far as we're the Crack and are in the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: playoffs with the answer would be yes. They are still
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: hanging around very much in the thick of this though,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: trying to get past a few bumps in the road.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Crack and Weekly once again heard once a
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: week of course, right here ninety three to three KJRFM.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Also check out the extended conversation via the iHeartRadio app.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Just find the Crack and Audio Network and you'll find
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: us right there. Mike Benton, ever it fits you, al
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Kiniski with us. Jason Botterrel, the one and only Cracking GM.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Jason Botterrel is our guest. Coming up later on we
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: will hash out more of the trade deadline. When could
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: we expect to see Bobby McMahon clear the process behind
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: that growth in Coachella Valley and potentially where he sees
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the market as far as any new additions coming up
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: for this next summer we do. We're gonna dive into
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a ton here with Jason Botterol Cracking GM coming up
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: here a little bit later on. Let's just get into
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: it right now. Ever it fits you joining us, al
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Kiniski as well myself as we're from Cracking Community ice Plex.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Everett is on the other line in the distant, far
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: away land. I think they call that planet home fits.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, little man wasn't feeling too good. Little man
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: wasn't feeling too good last couple of days.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: He's feeling now, that's he feeling.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: He's feeling great. He's actually hovering right now. He's standing
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: right here. Uh, just just chilling, wanting to be a
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: part of Cracking Weekly.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I love it here. That's what That's what the all
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: star dad does, taking care of the little guy. Give
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Wes our best, Give Wes a patt in the back
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: area on the back for him. I think West can
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: see us there, High West. You're gonna all the all
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: of a sudden now radio star here. Yeah, we'll just
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: get into it right now with a crack and come
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: off a four to two loss against Nashville last night,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Dan again, we're going to go around the horn here
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: as far as opening thoughts, and for me, there's nineteen
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: games left right now in the regular season. If you
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: were to ask me, would two and seven or would
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: two and five and seven games be the bar that
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: you want to said coming out of the Olympic break,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the answer would be an emphatic no. I don't think
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: anybody is satisfied with where this team is at right now,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: and quite frankly, unfortunately, there are still plenty of questions
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: with this roster where they're going to be as of
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: this point versus say, back in the Olympic break. The
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: good news is, I think for the Nashville game, and
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I hate to go the silver lining routes because again
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: the situation is serious. Yet let's reconsider the facts of this.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Despite the slide since the Olympic break, this team is
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: still very much alive and as Lane Lambert put it
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: the other night here, they have been caught but not overtaken.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: And I think at this time of year, whether you
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: want to go the extreme routes of I think motivation,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: that's a very treacherous grounder walking on because ultimately the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: goal isn't to send a message. But the ultimate goal
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: is put the best team on the ice, and put
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the best team on the ice here to win games
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: because we're basically in playoff mode right now where everything
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: counts as far as games, as far as points, et cetera.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: So with the cracking down three to two, we know
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: what the issues were last evening with defense in the interior.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: As Lane Lambert said, they stopped for or they stopped checking,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: and that's where it costs them originally up to nothing.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: But to see Matty Beaneers drop the gloves and fight
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Justin Barron after he hit Jared McCann into the numbers,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: that was something to me I have never seen anyone
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: or rarely seen anyone on this team do before. You
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: don't like to see your star player fighting like that.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: But to see Beniers waste absolutely positively zero time we're
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: jumping into defenders teammate, that sends a clear cut message.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Anybody else who sees this, that's the example I want
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: you to follow. That's what leadership is all about. Did
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: you get the crack in two points? Absolutely not. But
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: as Lane Lambert put this is all about building a
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: culture right now and playing the long game here with
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: this and trying to turn over, turn the page here
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: to a brand new situation, a brand new day, and
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: a brand new culture. And it's little plays like that,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: aside from the gorgeous goal that Maddy been your score
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: that just really caught my eye. This might be a
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: teaser here, I think with my three stars. So while
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: you didn't get the win against Nashville, Asben Yours put it,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: you play more like you did in period one. You
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: have that moment, that culture building moment. You're all of
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: a sudden now setting yourself up for a foundation of success.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Gots take it away.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm with you. I think silver lining
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: from that game yesterday was was was Maddie. You know,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: like Lane said, you've been caught, You've not been over.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Were taken, But I'm gonna it's interesting. You're now going
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: into game sixty four of the season, and Alan and
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: I talked about this in the pregame show. You're at
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: a point now where some of the mistakes that Seattle's making,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: some of the mistakes that Seattle's making, you can't be
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: making sixty plus games into the season. Some of the
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: breakdown some of the things that you've been working on
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: for quite some time. You can't be doing that this
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: late in the season. And also, again, you know, I'm
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: a very positive person. I think anybody who listens to
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: me and listens to this broadcast will know that I'm
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: a pretty positive person. But I also feel like the
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: goalposts are allowed to move. And answer your first question,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: if somebody said, you know, you're sixty plus games into
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: the season, you're in a playoff spot, would you take this, yes,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: the answer is yes. But I feel like this team
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: has been playing playoff hockey since October November. This team
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: has been playing good games, They've been playing well, you know,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: for the last three months. I mean, this has been
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: a playoff team for most of the season. And now
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: when you're in your most crucial stretch of games, you're
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: two and five out of the Olympic break, you were
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: playing some of the best hockey that I think we've
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: seen this team play on a consistency basis for the
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: last three seasons going into the break. So while you're
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: still excited, you're still happy that a playoff spot is
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: still theirs for now. The goal post are allowed to move,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: and I understand if you're not satisfied, if you're fans
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: or if even the locker room, you're not satisfied with
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: this recent stretch of games, because the goal was to
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: make the playoffs. But a week and a half ago
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: you were three points out of first place. So the
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: goal post switched from making the playoffs to hey, let's
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: maybe raise a banner in this building. And again, maybe
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I'm being a little bit too harsh and all of that,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: but I do think it's it's interesting. You know, this
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: is interesting. It's you're allowed to expect more, The players
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: expect more. Lane Lambert obviously expects more out of this team.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I think two and five out of the break, even
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: though the schedule, you know, wasn't necessarily the easiest schedule,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: you're allowed to call that unacceptable. And when you've got
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Colorado coming in here tomorrow, when you've got a really
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: tough road trip coming up, you know after uh, you know,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: the next three games with Vancouver on the road, that
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: should be a win. Florida that should be a win.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Tampa that's gonna be a tough one.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, out of these next.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: I was I was more talking about these next four
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: games going into your road trip. You know, eight points
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: on the line, you gotta take minimally six. But I
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: would even say, if you can find a way to
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: get to you know, get to overtime against Colorado, you
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: know that that's gonna go a very very long way,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: I think, and maybe quieting some of the narratives around
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: this team in the last.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Week or so. Okay, but he's okay, is good?
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Yeahs's fine. But no, I think that I think that
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna sound the alarm yet. It's not a
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: flashing red light right now, but I do think, you know,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: there's some yellow caution that I feel as being is
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: being thrown around a little bit because of the performance
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: for the crack around of the break.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: Well, I think we can all agree at this point
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: this playoff run is going to be a run till
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: the likely last week of the season, maybe the last
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: game of the season.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Ian Forness said yesterday every game is a fist fight now.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and you know we talked about that in the
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: broadcast last game, that this is playoff hockey. You know,
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: he was starting. Now the games are gonna get be exciting.
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: Not only are you playing the games, but your scoreboard
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: watching a little bit. I think that you know the
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: crack and are lucky because they did not win in
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: their last game, but either did San Jose, you know,
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: either did Buffalo La got a point because they went
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: to overtime. So now you're even counting on other teams
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: to do you some favors here and there, And make
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: no mistake, they were looking at the Cracking as well,
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: going hey, they didn't win, which gives us an opportunity
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: to move up these standings as well. So there's gonna
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: be a lot of changes between where we sit today
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: and where the league ends in April, and it's going
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: to be a bit of a roller coaster. Do the
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: Cracking end up in first place in the Pacific? I
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: don't know, but you know, lots of movement coming very
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: soon before.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: We get to break here. This is our first show
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: since the trade deadline. The Crack and picked up Bobby McMahon.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Once he's cleared, I say, one seeds cleared, he will
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: be your second leading goal scorer with nineteen on the season.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: But of course context certainly matters here. We all know
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: what the ultimate goal was as far as roster building
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: this season, and it was fined the Wail for the
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: one C spot. It didn't happen by this trade deadline,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: or a left winger or a right winger who can
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: provide that same kind of scoring. Where does this now
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: put the krack in for this summer trades? Free agency?
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: Guys?
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: What do wean we make out of the trade deadline?
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the Kraken had to do something, you know,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: you want to improve, And I I'm okay with wanting
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: to remain loyal to to the vets who have who
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: have gotten you through this point essentially since day one,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: when you look at the guys who were out there
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: and available, Jayden Schwartz, Jamie Lexiak, your captain, Jordan Everley,
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: all on expiring contracts. Ellie tolven In there as well,
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: he's been here for quite some time. I'm okay with
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: you being loyal to those guys and with you saying,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: you know what you've helped us get here. You've been
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: through them and the grind of the last you know,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: couple of seasons. So now we want to reward you
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: with an opportunity to go to the playoffs. But I
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: will say this, you know, when you're talking about going
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: to get that top line player, when you're talking about
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: wanting to go get that player that is going to
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: move the needle for you when you're Seattle. I mean,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: you had a lot of picks, You had four first
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: round picks, you had a lot of assets. I'm curious,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe the Robert Thomases of the world, the
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Jordan Cayrus of the world, those guys whose names were
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: out there. Maybe that price was too high. And I
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: can also I can understand not wanting to give, you know,
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: four first round picks for a player and mortgage your
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: future for just one season. However, I will say this,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: you know, Bobby McMahon coming in now with nineteen goals
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: on the year and as your second leading goal scorer,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: you expect a lot out of him, and I think
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: maybe that puts a little bit more pressure or unfairly
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: on Bobby McMahon to maybe need to be I know,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Ian Farness loves to use the term aircraft carrier to
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: help you be that aircraft carrier that he can be.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: You know, I've always wondered when you have talented players
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: who play alongside other talented players and superstars. You know,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Bobby McMahon playing alongside you know, Tavaris and Matthews and
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Nielander and all those guys Marner for you know, a year,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: year or two. You know, now that he has an
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: opportunity to step out of their shadow, do we see
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: an extra extra, you know, level to his game showing up.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: So I'm wondering, if that nineteen goals he has right now,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: can he get ten more goals in these next twenty
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: games of the season. So I do think that there's
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: gonna be a lot of pressure put yeah, to get
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: more goals, right. I wonder if there's gonna be a
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: lot more pressure on him to say, hey, you know what,
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: maybe the Kraken didn't go out there and get that
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: bona fide top line guy, but he still is gonna
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: be a player. He makes you faster, he wants to
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: go to the net, he can shoot the puck. He
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: all the things that we talk about the Kraken maybe
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: having lacked a lot of the last couple of seasons,
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: he brings a lot of that to the table. So
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: maybe he's gonna be that guy. On paper. It wasn't
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: the massive signing that a lot of people expected, but
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: I do think this he has the potential to be
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: that player that can turn some heads. You know, now
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: that he's got an opportunity with a new a new cast.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: You know, he's now thrown into a playoff race. Toronto's
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: been out of it for a long time. He's now
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: in a playoff race. He's playing meaningful games here in
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: March going into April. So I think this pickup is
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: going to be a lot better than maybe folks.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: Will give it credit for.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know those ten goals you mentioned, they could
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: be very important goals over these last nineteen games, like
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: the difference between winning in regulation and losing a regulation,
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: or the difference between, like we saw last night, trying
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: to tie a game up to get it to overtime
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: and you at least get a point in that scenario.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: So what you also hope is that you don't get
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: to Game eighty two and you missed the playoffs by
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: a point. You think, what if Bobby McMahon would have
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: been in for those two games that he missed right
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: after the trade deadline? So either outcome there. But let's
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: remember too, the conversations that were happening up until the
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: trade deadline between Jason Bottrell and other GMS. Those don't
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: necessarily die on the vine, right, you'd like to see
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: that big move you'd like to see that big player
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: come in, but a lot of those conversations are going
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: to continue into free agency this summer. So yes, you
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: would have liked to have seen that trade happen with
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: the trade deadline, but it doesn't mean it's dead.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Our chat with Jason Bottrell right around the corner here,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: But again our poll question of the week out of
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the last nineteen games, how many points do the Crack
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: and need to make the postseason? Is it thirty or more?
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Is a twenty five or more? Is a twenty or more?
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Go ahead and vote right now at Crack and audio
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: net at Twitter Emacs. Jason Bottrell's next right here on
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Cracking Weekly on ninety three to three KJRFM. All right,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Jason Botterrell right around the corner with us here on
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Cracking Weekly, Mike Everett and now with you ever taking
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: a bit of a break here, but check it in
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: here for the Firebirds Logan Morrison, Jagger Furkus. What do
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: you know two of the top scoreres now in the
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: American Hockey League as the Firebirds still hanging in right
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: now in this playoff race. Morrison six right now, bigger
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: part and tied for fifth in league scoring fifty three
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: points in fifty five games. Furcus not too far behind,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: fifty two points in fifty five games as well. With
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: the Firebirds right now trading punch for punch in a
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: tight Pacific Division race once again, top seven make it
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Coachella Valley right now, just three points ahead of six
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: place San Diego and yep, they have a bit of
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: a cushion ahead of the cut line here seven points clear.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: They are fifth place right now with sixty five points
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: on the camp. They have one back to back games
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: with a record of thirty twenty and five. Firebirds up
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: next back. Oh, I'm hosting the Ontario Rain seven o'clock
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: coming up on Friday. That's a Firebirds update. More on
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: that in a bed and without further ado, please to
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: be joined now by Krack and general manager Jason Bottl
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: here on Crack and Weekly. Sir, Hello, how.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: Are you very good? Thank you very much for having
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: me on.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Glad to have you here with us here. And I
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: want to kind of first go back and think of
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: six months ago about the canvas that this team was
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: working with and blank as it was, Lane Lambert coming in.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: What kind of picture are they painting right now? About
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the team they are becoming. Where we are right now
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: in the middle of March, this team in wildcard spot
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: number two, nineteen games left during the season.
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: Well, I think you've seen it throughout the year. It's
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: ebb and flow, winning streaks, losing streaks, and I think
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: you're seeing Lane build the culture of hey finding a
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: way to bounce back. I think when we're playing our
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: best hockey, there's a pace to our game, there's a
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: tenacity to our game. You know, it's it's something that
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: you want to have more consistency with it. But that's
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: a challenge that so many teams are dealing with and stuff.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: But no, I've loved working with Lane from a standpoint
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: of what he's expecting from the players, his directness with
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: the players, his focus not only on the systems, but
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: then the next morning, what do we have to do
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: from a development standpoint with our younger players. So it's
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: been a great partnership here and certainly look forward to
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: last month.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: We'll get to the meat of the trade deadlines soon here.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: But if you can't give us a look as far
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: as how this is done from the inside, as best
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: as you can, meaning how many calls text messages are
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: you making and how much of this is kind of
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: like on the fly thinking verse seven, to go back
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: over and over and check with your scout, check with
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the R and D team, the capologists and everything before
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: a deal is set in place.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: Well, look, there's a ton of conversations that go on.
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: I'll touch a sort of bit on that a little
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: bit here in the in the minute, But like from
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: a preparation standpoint, you know, we do most of our
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: work in January. Our scouts are continually you know, putting
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: things together. R and D staffs can put together.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: We have pro.
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: Scouting meetings in January here in Seattle going over things,
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: and we're trying to cover every scenario right there. It's
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: not just a B it's CDE and I have to
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: be going through it. And you know, you just look
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: at the league from say mid January to now, there's
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: a lot of things that different, that change, So you
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: have to be prepared for everything, and I think my
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: staff does a great job in preparing me for different outcomes.
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: This year was a little different, right, You had a
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: little bit you always have a little bit of push
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: right at the Christmas freeze or the holiday freeze. There
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: in December this year with the Olympic break and then
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: being Olympic freeze at the start of Februar. There's a
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: few more conversations that happened there. Then you get things
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: going through the Olympic break. I think a lot of
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: teams sort of did a reset or assessment on where
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: they were at at the Olympic break, and then obviously
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: sort of things sort of heat up the last week
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: to ten days and a lot of canmunication. We bring
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: in our directors and we're just gutting prosed out it.
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: Bring our assistant general managers into Seattle just in case. Obviously,
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: you know, if a new name pops up, our directors
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: are interacting.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: With our staff to get feedback.
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: But for the most part, we've we've done that work
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: already and it's just, you know, my job to canvas
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: the market, find out exactly what teams are looking to
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: accomplish at the deadline, and trying to see if there's
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: a fit.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: So along those same lines, Jason, you know you can
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: continue with the peak inside of the GM's mind. Are
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: you comfortable sharing how many deals the crack and were
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: involved with. Obviously we only we closed one with Bobby
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: mccamon will talk talk about him in a second. But
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: I think people would like to understand, like how many
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: conversations were you know, were you interested in the player?
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: And you don't have to say the player, but we
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: didn't get the deal done, and and give us an
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: understanding of yeah, there were a handful of guys that
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: we were interested in.
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: Look, I'm not going to go with a number just because,
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: like I don't want to talk about until a deal
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: is actually done. You're talking and sort of fictitious situations
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: and stuff, right, And all I can say is I
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: think we were very direct and what we're trying to accomplish,
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: trying to add to our forward group leading into the deadline.
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: From that bed, I think there's there's always a ton
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: of conversations going on, like it's it's part of the job,
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: you know, Ron myself to communicate with front offices, understand
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: what what players they are looking to maybe move what
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: players they may you know, And I think it was
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: difficult for a lot of teams this year, right, you're
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: right on the fringe. A lot of teams still you know,
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: in the mix, not in the mix, you know. And
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: then I think the other thing that really. You know,
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: people are talking a lot about the new CBA rules,
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: which certainly had an impact, but I think it's also
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: too Like you look at the free agent market, there's
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: not a lot of players available. A lot of teams
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: have already, we signed a lot of players. So some
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: teams that understand maybe this isn't the year, but they
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: want to rebound quickly next year. Okay, that's fine, but
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: we need players. We need players to impact, so they're
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: less likely into draft picks and prospects. You know, they're
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: looking for more sort of hockey trades from that standpoint.
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: So but there's it's constant discussion and you have to,
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: you know, you have to have a certain trust level
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: with other organizations and throwing ideas out and trying to
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: see if there's a fit from both groups.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Some say that free agency and he kind of auded
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: here to this, it's a harder game to play right
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: now with the cap going up. I mean, do you agree,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: and do you see trades kind of being more the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: name of the game here with roster upgrades here for
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the summer?
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: Well, I think you're you're just seeing like there isn't
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: like there's players out there, but the sort of high end.
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: You're talking about top six, top four dam and there's
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: there's not a lot of players from that standpoint, and
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, it's going to be very competitive
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: to get those couple of players, certainly on the market standpoint.
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: So yeah, you're going to continue to look to see
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: from a trade perspective, and I think you're just seeing,
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: you know, teams are realizing the importance of development. You know,
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: it's something that we've talked a lot about and it's
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: such a key key point and in our organization for
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: our success moving forward. You've seen it with you know,
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: it's how we survived seventeen games in January is we
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: had young players come up and you know, add to
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: our mixing and really contribute from that standpoint. You know,
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: now it's community be continuing to We have a lot
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: of forwards down in Coachella Valley. It's not just one
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: player that we're focusing on, but it's get him to
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: the National Hockeyleague and then continue to expand their role
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: with National Hockey League too.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Cracking GM Jason Bottrell joining us here again on Cracking Weekly.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Let's get to Bobby McMahon, hopefully it's sooner than later.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: But when this all came down, how much untaped potential
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: do you think he has and how far he can
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: also help move the needle here with this offense.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: Well, look, I think his natural game right not changing
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: his game at all, just his natural game fits very
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: well into our organization and our team right now. He's
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: got size, he's good on the ford, check, gets the net,
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: and has a very good shot. He's a shooter and
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, last night was a good game
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: for us get shots the net, but it's something that
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: we have to do more of right now. So you know,
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: when he's playing his natural game, I think it's going
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: to fit in very well with our group.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: The fact that.
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: Lane knows him from last year in Toronto, I think
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: just makes the transition for Bobby easier.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: Has a relationship with him already.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: Understanding the fact that Lane knows the player, there's no
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: sort of feeling out process. You can get him in
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: there quickly here and just get things going from that bit,
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: so extact, to have him on board, obviously the immigration
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: issues something to be on our hands, and you know,
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: we want to get him in as soon as possible.
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: From that standpoint, but you know what I love about
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: Bobby's sort of history too, is just he's worked extremely
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: hard at every level, coming out of college, going to
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: the EHL, working his way up to the American Hockey League,
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: then playing a you know, a significant role with some
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: excellent players in Toronto. Like, it's great to see a
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: player continue to develop even in his late twenties.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love how you brought that up because a
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: lot of the common questions that fans have at this
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: point is the waiting game and how long do they
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: have to wait to see him play? So I know
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: there's obviously a process here behind this, with some other
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: teams getting guys in sooner than later. There are different
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: levels with how things work. But what's the most important
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: thing people have to know about what kind of work
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: goes into getting a player like that clear and the
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: process behind that kind of length.
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: Well, it's difficult this year just with the trade deadline
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: being on our Friday, right, it had a big impact
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: on just being able to get documents in on the weekend.
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: As you know, government offices aren't open on the weekend
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: from that standpoint.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: So it delays the process.
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: Obviously, workflow and government agencies aren't always at the top
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: right now. It's so it's a waiting game from that
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: that we you know, we certainly have people that we
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: try to help out with try.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: To move this process along as quickly as possible.
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: You do see some teams having some Canadians already playing,
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: but you know they've had a history of playing in
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: the United States, so they have their green card or
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: permanent residence card, or you know, they have a citizenship already.
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: So this was a unique scenario having a Canadian who
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: hasn't worked in.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: The States at all before. So you have to go
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: through the process.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: And as much as we're in as hard as n
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: it's it's a little bit outverhands.
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: So trade deadline done, twenty five percent of the regular
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: season left. Obviously there's a lot of focus on you
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: and your role leading up to that trade deadline. Tell
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: the fans a little bit about what your role looks
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: like between now and the end of the season. What's
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: your focus right now? Now that that trade deadline, it's
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: like tax days now done on your account. Where's your
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: focus now is to remainder the season?
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: Well, obviously the main focus is our team and then
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: in this battle right now, and I think you you're
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: feeling it a little bit right now over even this
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: homestand right you win a game against Carolina and everything's great,
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: you feel like, Okay, two in a row. Now at home,
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: we're going in the right direction. You lose a couple
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: now and it's like, oh.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: My goodness, what are we going to do?
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: Like it's but it's also the beauty of it, right,
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: This is the excitement that we wanted this group to
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: be a part of. It's what we It's why we
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: didn't move some of our free agents or UFAs at
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: the trade DeLand because we felt this group.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Earned the right to continue to move forward. We're in
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: a playoff spot.
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: We're continuing to be in a playoff spot now is
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: a challenge to you know, find a way to get
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: into the playoffs. So that's the main focus of working
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: with our coaching staff, working with our players to make
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: sure that you know, from game to game there's little
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: things that we can see from above that consider hopefully
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: help out there.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: Our coaches, help other players and go from there.
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: The second part about it is just you know, we're
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: evaluating a lot of our kids that we've drafted. Last
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: couple of years. Hey, are they going to be ready
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: to turn pro? Is it something that we have to
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: maybe another year junior, another year in college. You know,
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: there's college free agents that you're continuing to to look at.
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: You know, we were able to sign right and Evers
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: out of Penticton as a free agent. That are that
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: are amateur staff gone on and there quickly, So that's good.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: Next week I have.
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: General manager meetings, so it's good just interacting with our
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: gms and hey, what are their plans in the summer.
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: Sort of going from that, Most of those discussions will
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: come more in say May or June, but just getting
• 26:56
  Speaker 5: a head start from that standpoint.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: So no exciting times.
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: But the focus is obviously our team here and our
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: team at Coachella Valley, both trying to get them into
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: the playoffs.
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: So you talked about evaluating the kids. One of those
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: kids is Berkeley Cat. Yep, you can say it. I
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: can say it's hard for me to believe that forty
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: seven games into his NHL career is where you expected
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: him to be at this point he is regardless, doesn't matter.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: How have you liked his development over those forty seven
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: games so far? And what are you looking for between
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: now and the end of the year.
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: Well, I think you're just realizing he having this experience.
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: You know, you look at it whether it's last night
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: or the game against Ottawa and that you know, the
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: pace that they played with and stuff. It's great that
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: he's a part of these games. It's not just you know,
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: two teams who aren't in the playoffs just sort of
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: going through the motions. That there's an intensity, there's a strength,
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: there's a passion out there and stuff. And what we've
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: loved with Berkeley is, look, you know, he he learns
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: so much. His hockey mind is hockey IQ is exceptional.
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: When he makes mistakes out there, he doesn't usually do
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: it the second time. He's learning from that bit. I
• 27:58
  Speaker 5: think what you've seen from two like, I don't care
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: what his stature is. He's strong on pucks and he's
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: sticking his nose into battles and one on one battles.
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: Continue to build off it. I know he he wants
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: to contribute to our team more offensively. I know it's
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: gonna come too. Like you just look at his work
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: ethic in games, in practices. You know what we we
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: we we focused a lot on throughout the entire year
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: with him is is building him, helping him and making
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: sure they didn't take away from our team that that
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: this is still how he can help out our team.
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: But you know, having him with our group to develop
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: him in for the next year, that he's going to
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: be further along, you know, next October, next November. And
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: I think he's clearly done that, and that's what I
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: love form him. When things haven't gone well from him,
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: there's not a disappointment, I should say, there's not a frustration.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: Level, right.
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: He he understands quickly what he has to do differently
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: from that bit and you know you still so now
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: you see him making plays out there.
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: You see him learning so much from those situations.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: I recall when I was torn years of age. I
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: was trying to get through my studies in college WHL
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: players a twenty, trying to make it and here here's
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Berkeley kat And at age twenty sticking his nose in there,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: as you said, and one on one against Philip Forsburg.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: That is not an easy job. And he's one of
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: the great testimonies series. Jason Botterral joins us, and I
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: think it's a great point where you mentioned of the
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: transition for this team. Trade deadline's done and now the
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: focus is on playoffs. And one of my favorite acronyms
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: I learned in this game was wi N which is
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: what's important next. People are often thinking about the roster
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: and the big picture. Jordan Eberley fits in his extension
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: getting Bobby mcmahnon here as well, But how far along
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: has this group taken and look here for the summer
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: with how they shape the roster from one to look
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: at offensive upgrades, grit other areas or where the un
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: players also.
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: Oh, look, it's no secret we want to continue to
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: develop our forwards right and continue to it's the area
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: where you know we can still from net you know
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: league numbers we can still improve a lot. Is that
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: there's a there's a big incremental improvement that we can
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: do from an offensive standpoint, and what we have to
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: be guard against is making sure that we don't sacrifice too.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: Much of our defense.
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: Our goaltending has been great throughout the year. When we're
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: playing well, we're strong defensively, not spending a lot of
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: time in our d zone, and that's continuing to more
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: offensive chances from that bit. So it's not just hey,
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: let's just go play offense and figet about the defense
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: and how do we continue to be a four line
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: team and developing these players. We've talked a little bit about, Okay,
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: these young players are now making that HL let's now
• 30:30
  Speaker 5: take them into more of a power play role or
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: more of a top six role. That's the next step
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: for some of these young players. But no, we've you know,
• 30:37
  Speaker 5: you continue to have a plan, you know, but it's
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: an idea of what you want to do in the summer,
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: but it's also a situation. That's what we're looking for.
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: Like we're obviously watching Coachella very closely as down the
• 30:48
  Speaker 5: stretch here. You know, as much as we're excited about
• 30:51
  Speaker 5: some young players, are they going to be ready to
• 30:53
  Speaker 5: really have an impact on our team next to October November?
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: How they perform in the American oct League get in
• 30:58
  Speaker 5: a playoff stretch is really important. Same thing at the
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: National Coche League level, you know how you know, I'd
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: love to sit here and tell you, oh, we're one
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: hundred percent making the playoffs. You know, everyone wants to
• 31:08
  Speaker 5: have that. But anyway, it's a challenge, like it's going
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: to be a battle right to the in my mind
• 31:12
  Speaker 5: right to the very end of April, and hey, it's
• 31:15
  Speaker 5: going to be this. This team's deserve the opportunity to
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: stay together. We want to add something. We added it
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: with mcmaon, with Bobby and McMahon. Uh, it's going to
• 31:24
  Speaker 5: be a challenge right down on the r end, but
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: I think that's gonna be a great experience for a group.
• 31:28
  Speaker 5: And to me, it's you know, I still think there's
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: a level that our team can get to that we
• 31:34
  Speaker 5: had going at the end of January, right and I
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: think there's still just that intensity level. We saw it
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: in the first period about Nashville, but we have to
• 31:39
  Speaker 5: have it more consistently over over sixty minutes. But as
• 31:42
  Speaker 5: much as I sort of glorify the in of January,
• 31:45
  Speaker 5: the middle of January weren't playing that well and stuff
• 31:47
  Speaker 5: from there. So there's it's just it's the constant ebbs
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: and flows of the season. And it's what I've liked
• 31:52
  Speaker 5: about our leadership group and also our coaches is just
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: like when we've been through struggling, like there's still a
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: what are a solution based sort of thought process. When
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: we were going through one nine and one in December,
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: it wasn't you know, banging sticks frustrating type of thing.
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: It's like, okay, what are we doing to get out
• 32:09
  Speaker 5: of it? And then that led into obviously a winning
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: streak and that's the mindset we have to have here right.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: Now in Coachella Valley. What's your latest read Jagger Furcus,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Logan Morris and Tyson Jugnat Yanni Newman.
• 32:20
  Speaker 5: To me, it's it's been great from their standpoint. We're
• 32:22
  Speaker 5: such a young team down there. It's the evolution that
• 32:24
  Speaker 5: we've been in Coachella Valley since our first couple of years.
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: And to have these young players.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: Have such a big role.
• 32:30
  Speaker 5: Like you look at Logan Morrison and Jagger Furcus, like
• 32:34
  Speaker 5: their names are circled on every coaches board. You know,
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: we got to stop these these two players, right, And
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: that's different right even from their first you know, their
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: first year, last year for Jagger and last first two
• 32:46
  Speaker 5: years for Logan, Like you know, this is something new
• 32:48
  Speaker 5: being the go to guys and they've stepped up from
• 32:51
  Speaker 5: that standpoint, and you know that the fact that they
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: can be in big roles and still have success. And
• 32:57
  Speaker 5: then to me, the back end is something very special
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: that many young players playing big minutes and playing, you know,
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: deep partners with another young player. It's not as if
• 33:08
  Speaker 5: we have a ton of veterans down there to help
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: them out and they're still coming through it. It's it's
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: fun to watch and it's fun to watch the their
• 33:14
  Speaker 5: their growth, their their frustration. They're disappointing some losses, but
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: then their response and and putting themselves in a playoff spot.
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: Last one for me, simple question, maybe not a simple answer.
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: What's keeping you awake at night right now?
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: There's always things that you go through and just out.
• 33:31
  Speaker 5: You know, about injuries, about different things. From that standpoint,
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: and you know, it's it's the beauty of the game
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: from a fan perspective, Like every game player teams are
• 33:43
  Speaker 5: going into you have an opportunity to win. Right There's
• 33:45
  Speaker 5: so much parody in this league right now, play and
• 33:48
  Speaker 5: and that's also what makes it so stressful for coaches
• 33:51
  Speaker 5: and managers because the difference is just hey, you look
• 33:54
  Speaker 5: at a game last night. What's different if it's a
• 33:56
  Speaker 5: three nothing lead after.
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: The first right?
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: Uh, you know when the posts out goes posting in.
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: But hey, it's a learning experience for our group that
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: you get a two goal lead. We got to clamp
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: down and find a way to get that third, but
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: certainly not give up those opportunities and stuff from that standpoint,
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: But it's also the fact that it's the beauty of
• 34:14
  Speaker 5: that we're in the battle, right, It's that we're in
• 34:17
  Speaker 5: the race versus you know, you know, subtracting from a
• 34:21
  Speaker 5: group at a trade deadline, being able to keep the
• 34:23
  Speaker 5: group and adding a player that was exciting for our
• 34:25
  Speaker 5: group and just being a part of this mix right now,
• 34:27
  Speaker 5: that's what's that's what's.
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: Exciting and coming to the ranking stage of trying and improve.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: The last question here from me, what's your secret here
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: to regulating yourself at the time of year. Is it
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: more of just rest, work out anything else?
• 34:37
  Speaker 5: You know, excuse me, it's just being supportive of the group, right, Like,
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: like that's what you have to be. You have to
• 34:43
  Speaker 5: try to be even cool, you have to continue to
• 34:45
  Speaker 5: like look, it's it's all hands on deck on trying
• 34:48
  Speaker 5: to help out with ideas and and supporting our coaching
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: staff and our players. And the great thing is it's
• 34:55
  Speaker 5: why you keep the dialogue going with our development staff, right,
• 34:58
  Speaker 5: they've seen some of these players and working with these
• 35:00
  Speaker 5: players for years, so maybe there's something that Hey, Berkeley
• 35:03
  Speaker 5: Clatton last year in his WHL you know, playoff streak, like, hey,
• 35:06
  Speaker 5: that that really was in tune. So bring that up
• 35:09
  Speaker 5: and remind him about that. Remind Shane right about, Hey,
• 35:12
  Speaker 5: you know he was the best player in a Coller
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: Cup finals type of thing, and how he's stepped up
• 35:16
  Speaker 5: in those roles.
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: So you're reminding some of these.
• 35:18
  Speaker 5: Players, you know, they get so focused on the game
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: last game, they don't remember, Hey, I had good history,
• 35:24
  Speaker 5: I've had success in the past. We have a lot
• 35:26
  Speaker 5: of players on our team that maybe they haven't been
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: in a playoff race the last couple of years, but they
• 35:30
  Speaker 5: have Stanley Cups to the name. They've been a part
• 35:32
  Speaker 5: of things before. Remind them of those experiences and stuff too.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: They are in the playoff mix and the barrel here
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: from the holiday Carol. It's the most wonderful time of
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: the year. Jason, thank you for doing this. I appreciate you.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: I appreciate it.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Have a great day, Jason Botrell joining us our mail
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: bag our three Stars also right up next year on
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: ninety three to three KJRFM. All right, as of right now,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: fifty percent of you say twenty five points or more
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: need to hear out of the last nineteen games to
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: make the postseason. That pull question on going right now
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: at crack and audio net via Twitter, and next once
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: again fifty percent of you that is the leader right
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: now for your votes where twenty five points or more
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: will be needed here for the Kraken to make the
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: postseason once again Mike Everett and now big thank you
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: once again to GM Jason Botterral and we're just gonna
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: jump into the mail bag here with a small amount
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: of time that we have right now, and we get
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: one here from Ron saying, I feel other than Vancouver,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: where can points possibly come from in the next eight games?
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: Colorado is going to be a challenge and a half.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: Then you have Vancouver, of course where they are right
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: now front runners potentially here for Gavin McKenna. Then you
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: have the Florida teams. This can be such a wildcard
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: here for me at least on the Panthers because for
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: the tough season they have, they just have so many
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: dudes that just scare me so much ever it. Then
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: you have Tampa Bay in that mix. They're a buzz
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: saw right now. Nashville they prove that you can't take
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: them lightly. And you're in Nashville as well, Columbus at
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: Florida and Tapa Bay at Buffalo at Edmonton. I mean, listen,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: I think for the next eight games, if you're looking
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: at maybe I would say roughly ten points maybe out
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: of sixteen, you're gonna be pretty happy with trying to
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: keep pace ahead of those right now in this type
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: playoff race.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna I'm gonna amend his question
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: a little bit. He said, what games can the cracking
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: get points in? I mean what games? I mean the cracking.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: It's not can, it's it's you better, You must.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: You needs. Philosophy is there's always a way to win
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: a hockey.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: Game one hundred percent. And you know you said the
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: next eight games. I'll add too, you include Colorado coming up.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: You've got ten games the rest of the month. I mean,
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: so twenty points on the board for Seattle. Do I
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: get greedy and say sixteen of twenty points? I mean, listen,
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: if you're gonna be a playoff team, if you want
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: to go into the playoffs, you know, period, full stop,
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: if you want to go into the playoffs, but also
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: if you want to have some momentum and prove that hey,
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: this is gonna be more than just a you know,
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: hey we're here. Okay, see you later. You're gonna have
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: to start winning some teams. And I mean definitely the
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: teams in the West, whether it's so you've got Colorado, Vancouver, Nashville, Edmonton,
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: all right, those are three of those four teams are
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: not gonna be easy. So I mean Colorado you'd like
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: to get a point, Edmonton you'd like to get to
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: especially in Edmonton. You've not had hardly any success historically
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: in Edmonton in cracking history. So I mean that game
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: at the end of the month, that's gonna be a
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: game in which Seattle you're gonna need both points on that.
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: But I think with ten points or twenty games, no
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: stop it again. I think with ten games left here
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: in this month of March, and you've got twenty points
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: on the plate, minimum minimum fifteen, but I'm gonna go
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: up and say sixteen seventeen points, and you have to
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: try to go on a run here going into April.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: So you can almost use these last few games in
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: the season as a runway for you, as an on
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: ramp to ramp up in the playoffs rather than just
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: limping into the playoffs. That's gonna be where the cracket
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: need to have their focus and their mindset on to.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Our three stars here in this one we go here
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: to wrap up the show, I'll take it away.
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I gotta go with Jacob Malansen as my third
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: star of the week. He had a goal he had
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: won off the post the other night. Along with his
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: continued physical presence. I think he's making an impact every
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: game and dare I even say he might be on
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: a path to a key for surewood level of hockey career.
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: But a lot of time between now and then, but
• 39:59
  Speaker 4: I like the direction he's heading. Second star for me
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: goes to Coppocaco, big first goal of the game the
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: other night, setting up his line mates and Freddie Gudreau
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: for a couple of great opportunities, and Channer Stevenson as well.
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: I thought Coppocco's game, just despite the outcome last game,
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: was one of his best since coming back from the
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: Olympic Rake. And you know, how can you not go
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: with Maddie Beneer's as your number one star, you know,
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: not just you know the goal he had the snipe
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: short side right by the ear of UC sorrows, but
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: the fight standing up for Jared McCann, he was attacking
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: the puck all over the ice in that in that
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: Nashville game. I love his game right now and he's
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: my number one star.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: I'll go my three stars here, Fitz. I'll let you
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: wrap this one up here for us. So my third
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: star is going to go to Kale Flurry And for
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: the illness the cracket had to endure over this last
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: recent stretch just been, you know, a plug and play
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: situation here with Lane Lambert and his lineup on top
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: of that, but every time Kale steps in, there's just
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: seems to be something that he does so well where
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: he plays with more abrasion, he plays with more assertiveness,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: and he's finding a way to lay the body in.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: I know the Ottawa game was a clunker, seven to
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: four crack and loss. That game, Fluria was one of
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: my bright spots for that game. He had an assist
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: but also had three block shots and six hits as well.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: That to me sends a very important message once again
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: for internal competition in the cracking lineup about this time
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: of year, Kale Flury is my third star, the second
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: star for me goes to Jacob Malanson. I mean, what
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: else can you say with his physical play, how that
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: line four checks got a very important first goal against
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: Ottawa again a clunker game. You don't want to have
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: that line set the spark for everyone. You want to
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: have him follow soup. But again Jacob Alanson finding a
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: way to play with energy that was so important for me.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: Once again, he had four hits in that game against Ottawa.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Also against Saint Louis. We should also point out Milansa
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: had eight shot attempts as well in that contest. In
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: the Nashville game, three more hits as well on the board,
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Jacob Allan, since my first star, I'm gonna echo al
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Koniski Matty Beniers is my first start, and I just
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: go right back to last night and from what I
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: set off the top here in this show. As a leader,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: you're looking for him to light a fuse as a score.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: You don't want him to fight all the time, but
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: that's a nuance where the situation certainly called for it.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: His linemate got hit right into the numbers. And how
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: many times have we seen players become hesitant with stepping
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: in and sending a message Beneer's wasted no time doing this.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Lane Lambert mentioned the change of culture that to me
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: send two messages also all back this up here from
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: the top of the show, where one the message was
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: being sent. I did this. I expect more guys to follow.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: And then again number two. He is finding a way
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: to assert himself as a leader and be a front
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: man here for this change of culture. Maddy Beniers also
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: with a delicious goal last night should have been served
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: with a side of ice cream. My goodness, it was
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: that sweet. He is my first star of the week ever.
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: Go ahead, I love it.
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: Uh yeah, you know this was This is a difficult
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: one for me. I got a couple of I had
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: a couple of honorable mentions. I was trying to figure
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: out how I wanted to do this. But I'm gonna
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: go the entire fourth line for my number three start,
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: you know again, continuing to bring the energy, Lane Lambert
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: after the Ottawa game the morning of the Nashville game,
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: saying that he needs more from that top nine forward group.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: He needs more from, you know, the players that you're
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: expecting to bring the offense, and that fourth line has
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: been as consistent as consistency can be. So you know
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: Malanson and Myers in particular, but whoever you've slotted in
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: on that line as well. You've had Gadrow on that line,
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: You've had Winterton on that line. I think that the
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: combination of those four, especially since the break, but in
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: the last handful of games, I really have liked how
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: they've played. So I'm gonna go them collectively the fourth
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: line for my number three star, my number two star.
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna go Vince Done a Goalden, three assists in
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: his last three games. And I was talking to Al
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: yesterday off the air, and obviously we're you know, we're
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: dialed in, we know our team better than most. But
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: I'm looking down at the score sheet. I'm like, man,
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: vince Don is quietly approaching forty points. He's got thirty
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: nine points on the season, so again, might not be
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: the best year plus minus wise four vince Done this
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: season right now, currently coming in at a minus twenty two.
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: I know he would like to have that number, you know,
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: a lot better, but I mean, you're coming up on
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: forty points in sixty two games. I think he's got
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: an outshite outside shot. At fifty points this season, I mean,
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: he's got nineteen games, twenty games left to do it.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: So I'm thinking he's got he's got an outside shot
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: to get eleven points in his next twenty games. I
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: got vinced done for my number two star, and then
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna go Matt eveniers. I mean goals in back
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: to back games, one hundred percent goals in back to
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: back games, this first NHL fight. We we talk about
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: how he's been progressing so much this season as a
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: responsible two way player. I think a lot of people
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: feel that he's going to be the next captain of
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: this team win Jordan Eberle, you know, after this two
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: year deal, if he retires, if he moves on, whatever
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: the case may be. You know, a lot of people
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: feel that he's gonna be the captain. And he is
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: the captain in waiting for the crack in, and he's
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: doing a lot of captain like things this season. But
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: the fight, the goals in back to back games, I mean,
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: the the goal that he scored last night in a
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: losing effort against Nashville. That's the type of goal that
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: I think a lot of folks are expecting or looking
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: for out of him. I still think that Matti Beanieers
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: is more than capable of being a consistent sixty seventy
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: point player in this league. I think he can kiss
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: eighty points in this league. I think he's got a
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: forty goal season in him at some point throughout his career,
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: if not too so. You know this, This is the
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: Matti Vaniers this season. This is the Matti Vaniers. And
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: a lot of folks knew we were gonna get when
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: he was drafted. So Mattivanier's consensus number one for me.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: All right, folks got a run here tomorrow night, Cracking
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: Avalanche once again on air six thirty Puck drops his
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: seven right here on ninety three to three KJRFM. Think
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: thank you again to Crack and GM, Jason Botterol for
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: joining us for Everett. Now I might see a