Latest / Seattle Kraken Audio Network / KRAKEN WEEKLY: Buy or sell? Hello, Leafs with Dave McCarthy (1/28)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Into the offensive zone. So sekis a.
- 0:02Speaker 2: Backhand on what a same?
- 0:04Speaker 3: Why Phil Grubauer puck popped up and he batted it
- 0:07Speaker 3: out of the air with his stick out to neutral zone.
- 0:09Speaker 4: Yester brat bar circle everything, gets it back, but there's
- 0:13Speaker 4: stops my goodness in side cracking reset up top.
- 0:21Speaker 2: Ryan Lindron shot knocked down, but ears all the way
- 0:24Speaker 2: to Altarga's side stop.
- 0:32Speaker 5: Yes, he the pan again.
- 0:35Speaker 2: That's his second of the period. But now we're gonna
- 0:38Speaker 2: have a fight.
- 0:39Speaker 6: It'll be too Ham along with Malon said, Balon said,
- 0:43Speaker 6: gets a couple of right hands to Hay comes at
- 0:45Speaker 6: quant Balon said, will counter Jacob Allotson as him pinned,
- 0:49Speaker 6: trying to get him off balance.
- 0:50Speaker 2: To Hayn to the top of the head.
- 0:52Speaker 6: Through two strong rights down Malonson has him at arms
- 0:55Speaker 6: lake a couple of rabbit puts in with the left hand.
- 0:57Speaker 5: Now too, Ham takes taking down all right. Those highlight's
- 1:01Speaker 5: courtesy of the Global Credit Union Cracking Audio Network. Things
- 1:06Speaker 5: now are back on the winning tracks. Welcome to the
- 1:09Speaker 5: January twenty eighth edition of Crack and Weekly. Mike Benton,
- 1:12Speaker 5: ever it fits you, Alconisky. We're also going to have
- 1:15Speaker 5: Dave McCarthy of Sirius XMNHL Network Radio join us a
- 1:18Speaker 5: little bit later on how are things in Leafland? You
- 1:22Speaker 5: may ask. They're up next and they have a head
- 1:24Speaker 5: coach with a gash on his forehead at leading score
- 1:26Speaker 5: who gave the bird of the camera. What else is
- 1:30Speaker 5: going on right now that's interesting to talk about. Well,
- 1:33Speaker 5: it's going to be the next opponent here for the
- 1:35Speaker 5: Leaves and Dave McCarthy are going to be joining us
- 1:37Speaker 5: here in just a bit. But again, want to encourage
- 1:38Speaker 5: you to get your questions into us once again. Benton Underscore,
- 1:42Speaker 5: Mike my ex handle and Twitter as well. Everet's at
- 1:45Speaker 5: the Voice fits Alconisky at Alconisky Plus also hime in
- 1:48Speaker 5: for our poll question of the week. We are past
- 1:52Speaker 5: the sixty percent mark now of the regular season and
- 1:56Speaker 5: the Crack and are still in this fights within.
- 1:58Speaker 1: The deep of it.
- 1:59Speaker 5: So who's going to be the biggest challenge right now
- 2:01Speaker 5: out of the Pacific Division to clinch a wildcard spot?
- 2:06Speaker 5: Will it be the Anaheim Ducks, Will it be the
- 2:08Speaker 5: San Jose Sharks, Will it be the Los Angeles Kings?
- 2:11Speaker 5: You tell us vote right now at the Crack and
- 2:14Speaker 5: Audio Network x account at Cracking audio Net. All right,
- 2:18Speaker 5: without further ado, let's bring the guys in here for
- 2:20Speaker 5: this as we once again march right toward the finish line.
- 2:24Speaker 5: What it feels like of a month I just would
- 2:26Speaker 5: never end as far as games, But here we are,
- 2:29Speaker 5: one game left at home, two games left overall, and
- 2:33Speaker 5: then the seventeen gay Marathon of January is done, and
- 2:38Speaker 5: the crack and are making it right now. Before I
- 2:40Speaker 5: get to my opening thoughts, fellas sleep, coffee, tea, anything
- 2:46Speaker 5: else has been getting you through here.
- 2:48Speaker 2: I'll be in winning hockey.
- 2:49Speaker 3: Yeah, looking at five goals scored by the Kracking last night.
- 2:53Speaker 5: Yeah, it was hard for me to go to bed
- 2:54Speaker 5: after last night. That was fun.
- 2:56Speaker 2: It's always fun when you're winning. It's always fun when
- 2:58Speaker 2: you're scoring goals.
- 3:00Speaker 6: And this team has now won three of its last
- 3:03Speaker 6: four games, scoring what thirteen goals in that time, So
- 3:08Speaker 6: I mean, listen, it's been coming in waves. And the
- 3:13Speaker 6: wave that they're on right now, winners of three of four,
- 3:17Speaker 6: that is the wave that you're hoping to ride into
- 3:21Speaker 6: the break. And we've talked about this before, you know,
- 3:24Speaker 6: I think if Seattle can get minimally three hopefully four
- 3:29Speaker 6: wins in their next four games.
- 3:31Speaker 2: That's gonna be. That's gonna be great going into the break.
- 3:33Speaker 6: But then you're like, well, dart it now, I gotta
- 3:35Speaker 6: stop playing because we're playing so well.
- 3:37Speaker 2: Now the break's gonna hit.
- 3:38Speaker 6: But hey, if they can go into this break no
- 3:42Speaker 6: more than two points back, preferably you're in a playoff
- 3:47Speaker 6: spot obviously, but if you can be within a game
- 3:51Speaker 6: of the playoffs, I mean, that is I think, really
- 3:54Speaker 6: really strong to finish out the I guess we'll call
- 3:58Speaker 6: it the unofficial first half.
- 4:00Speaker 2: For the season.
- 4:00Speaker 5: That's going to be a good appetizer here for our thoughts,
- 4:02Speaker 5: and I want to kind of tee this up for
- 4:04Speaker 5: all of you officially on this because a Crack and
- 4:06Speaker 5: are coming out of a period where they have three
- 4:09Speaker 5: wins last four games. Now I want to get to
- 4:10Speaker 5: your thoughts as well, So I'll kind of tee this
- 4:13Speaker 5: up here for all of us, and the way that
- 4:14Speaker 5: I want to frame this here, the Crack and our
- 4:17Speaker 5: series team right now with what appears to be serious
- 4:19Speaker 5: playoff aspirations. The Matty beniirs line is cooking right now,
- 4:23Speaker 5: and he looks like a different player and a next
- 4:25Speaker 5: level player from this last month, even this last week,
- 4:29Speaker 5: goaltending has gotten back on the tracks with Joey to
- 4:31Speaker 5: Cord and Philip Grubauer Special team side. Your power play
- 4:35Speaker 5: is cooking right now since December and Lane lambert structure.
- 4:38Speaker 5: Has this team really set up well for the long haul?
- 4:41Speaker 5: I think at this point this is definitely sustainable. I
- 4:43Speaker 5: mean we're passing now the fifty game mark of an
- 4:45Speaker 5: eighty two game regular season schedule. All the talk is
- 4:48Speaker 5: this sustainable is out the window as far as I'm concerned.
- 4:51Speaker 5: Now they have an important decision for the future of
- 4:54Speaker 5: this franchise. Do you buy or do you sell? Buying
- 4:58Speaker 5: means one thing, the playoffs now, and that's not a
- 5:02Speaker 5: bad thing necessarily. I mean selling, on the other hand,
- 5:06Speaker 5: means one thing too many. The playoffs are a nice thing,
- 5:09Speaker 5: but it's not sustainable. And if you're getting more long
- 5:12Speaker 5: term fulfillment as well, because you're building a young and
- 5:15Speaker 5: hungry roster, that's going to pay off even bigger dividends
- 5:19Speaker 5: here down the road for what they want to have
- 5:21Speaker 5: eventually as a contender to get into a true contender window.
- 5:25Speaker 5: Shane Wright and Jaden Schwartz's names are reportedly on the
- 5:28Speaker 5: Athletic Trade Board writes his name as high as number five,
- 5:31Speaker 5: and we can hem and haw about how we got here,
- 5:34Speaker 5: especially with him, But overall, the Crack And need a
- 5:36Speaker 5: big splash trade target here to take that next step
- 5:39Speaker 5: if they want to go far this season with a
- 5:41Speaker 5: roster that is rich with contracts up for UFA status.
- 5:45Speaker 5: They've always lacked the forward here for the top line,
- 5:48Speaker 5: someone I mean, who can consistently produce point per game
- 5:51Speaker 5: in that superstar tier, mind you, and you could do
- 5:54Speaker 5: wonders safe for taking pressure off Matty Baniers if you
- 5:56Speaker 5: get a center or get a winger to play with
- 5:58Speaker 5: Beniers or you know someone else, like say in Channel
- 6:01Speaker 5: Stevenson's case, similar production to what he got out of
- 6:04Speaker 5: Mark Stone in Vegas. But we're past the point here
- 6:06Speaker 5: thinking that this team isn't sustainable or if they are,
- 6:09Speaker 5: because they are right now. They have goaltending, they have structure,
- 6:12Speaker 5: and they have a full body of proof that you
- 6:14Speaker 5: can win like this and by this time of the
- 6:18Speaker 5: year you go up and down the standings. Right now
- 6:21Speaker 5: you are who you are, and the Crack And are
- 6:24Speaker 5: on the verge of exciting times either way. But a
- 6:27Speaker 5: decision's got to be made after we saw some really,
- 6:31Speaker 5: really exciting hockey from this last week. Those are my
- 6:34Speaker 5: opening thoughts. Guys, take it away, I'll tie it off.
- 6:37Speaker 3: You're here for you, Yeah, Mike, A lot there to absorb.
- 6:45Speaker 7: I think that you're right. I think that the.
- 6:49Speaker 3: Question about is this sustainable has been answered. I think
- 6:52Speaker 3: that you're most of the way through this month. I
- 6:54Speaker 3: think you're heading into an Olympic break where you know
- 6:57Speaker 3: naggy injuries are going to you're going to recover from.
- 7:00Speaker 3: I think that the Lane train is chugging and the
- 7:04Speaker 3: Laniacs are feeling so get your T shirt, get your hat,
- 7:11Speaker 3: get on the train. There's not much room left. I
- 7:13Speaker 3: think people are believers starting in the locker room.
- 7:17Speaker 7: This team believes in this system.
- 7:18Speaker 3: This team believes in this structure, and Lane does a
- 7:22Speaker 3: pretty good job of holding the guys accountable when it
- 7:25Speaker 3: breaks down, regardless of who it is. And I think
- 7:26Speaker 3: that's part of it as well. So, yeah, you know
- 7:30Speaker 3: you are you sellers or buyers. I think that you
- 7:35Speaker 3: are staying near the phone. I don't know that you're
- 7:38Speaker 3: dialing for dollars. I don't know call It's like when
- 7:41Speaker 3: you go to buy a car, as soon as you
- 7:42Speaker 3: walk onto the lot, you're at a disadvantage because the
- 7:45Speaker 3: salesperson knows you're there to buy a car. You want
- 7:48Speaker 3: the salesperson calling you, And in this case, I think
- 7:51Speaker 3: that Jason Botterol is taking calls from other teams saying
- 7:56Speaker 3: what are you interested in? And if Shane Wright is
- 7:58Speaker 3: part of that conversation, what do you willing to give
- 8:00Speaker 3: up for Shane? Right, that's the best place.
- 8:02Speaker 7: You can be in.
- 8:03Speaker 3: But I don't I don't believe that any player, including
- 8:06Speaker 3: Shane Wright, is being shopped around to thirty one other teams. Yeah.
- 8:10Speaker 2: I like Shane's.
- 8:11Speaker 6: Comments he made last week about you know, no offense
- 8:14Speaker 6: to you guys in the media, but you can't really
- 8:15Speaker 6: trust what you guys in the media uh say.
- 8:19Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, man, absolutely, I love that from them.
- 8:22Speaker 6: But I you know, I'm with you, Al and Mike.
- 8:25Speaker 6: I want to go back to, you know, to your
- 8:28Speaker 6: thoughts on the playoffs and you know.
- 8:30Speaker 2: What this team needs.
- 8:32Speaker 6: And as the one here that is employed by the team,
- 8:35Speaker 6: I'm gonna put my my business hat on. Hopefully I'm
- 8:39Speaker 6: allowed to do this for a second. I think that
- 8:44Speaker 6: right now you have to make the playoffs and I
- 8:47Speaker 6: and I've been reading a lot of comments around you know,
- 8:51Speaker 6: social media and all that, saying that, you know, what's
- 8:53Speaker 6: the point of doing all of this if you're you're
- 8:56Speaker 6: just gonna get swept in the first round, You're just
- 8:58Speaker 6: gonna Number one, no one knows what's gonna happen. We
- 9:03Speaker 6: were supposed to get swept by Colorado.
- 9:05Speaker 5: Excuse me, remember Colorado and three? All that garbage talk.
- 9:09Speaker 6: Yeah, abs in three a few years ago, right, and
- 9:12Speaker 6: then you're looking at Dallas, You're Jordan. Every stick is
- 9:15Speaker 6: what six inches higher off the ground with nine seconds
- 9:19Speaker 6: left in the third period, We're still playing hockey in overtime.
- 9:22Speaker 5: So I think we're going to be honest with you.
- 9:25Speaker 6: Yeah, but but I think that this team, this team
- 9:29Speaker 6: has to make the playoffs.
- 9:31Speaker 2: And I think for a variety of reasons.
- 9:33Speaker 6: Number one, you need to show that growth and show
- 9:38Speaker 6: that improvement to your fan.
- 9:40Speaker 2: Base, to you know, the organization. I think as a whole.
- 9:44Speaker 6: Obviously, hockey is a big you know, control what you
- 9:47Speaker 6: can control. We don't worry about the outside noise. Well,
- 9:51Speaker 6: the outside noise is that by the time you get
- 9:55Speaker 6: back from this three week Olympic break, there very well
- 9:57Speaker 6: could be another Super Bowl championship in this city and
- 10:01Speaker 6: their baseball team that was what five outs away from
- 10:04Speaker 6: the World Series for the first time is going to be, right,
- 10:07Speaker 6: smack dab in the middle of spring training. So you've
- 10:10Speaker 6: got two teams across town who are putting the pressure
- 10:13Speaker 6: on you in the community for those fan dollars. Right,
- 10:19Speaker 6: So you need to make the playoffs from that perspective,
- 10:23Speaker 6: But I think also more important, you need to show
- 10:26Speaker 6: that the players and the roster that you've built are
- 10:30Speaker 6: capable of getting it done.
- 10:32Speaker 2: I firmly believe that the.
- 10:34Speaker 6: Roster as constructed is capable of being a playoff team.
- 10:39Speaker 2: And again, just get in The.
- 10:41Speaker 6: Kraken were not supposed to beat Colorado three years ago, right,
- 10:45Speaker 6: The Kracking were not supposed to go to Game seven
- 10:49Speaker 6: against Dallas, Right, that's what we heard Abs in three,
- 10:52Speaker 6: Dallas in three, right, never mind game four. So that's
- 10:56Speaker 6: why this team has to make the playoffs. And I
- 10:59Speaker 6: think whatever that means at the deadline, you need to
- 11:03Speaker 6: take that approach.
- 11:04Speaker 4: Now.
- 11:05Speaker 6: I'm not gonna sit here and say you want to
- 11:07Speaker 6: sell off all of your assets and put yourself in
- 11:10Speaker 6: a disadvantage next year five years from now, But if
- 11:14Speaker 6: there are guys on this roster that you feel that
- 11:17Speaker 6: you can upgrade on right now, ideally you're gonna get
- 11:21Speaker 6: a guy with some term or an RFA that you
- 11:24Speaker 6: can resign, and I'm willing to give up a little
- 11:27Speaker 6: bit more if I can get a top three, top
- 11:31Speaker 6: six skilled winger and sign them to a long term extension,
- 11:35Speaker 6: I'm willing to give up a little bit more for
- 11:37Speaker 6: that person. But this team for a variety of reasons
- 11:41Speaker 6: right now, at coming out of game fifty three tomorrow
- 11:45Speaker 6: against Toronto, this team has to make the playoffs.
- 11:49Speaker 5: Since our last radio show, the Crack and have played
- 11:52Speaker 5: four games, three and one win over the Islanders, loss
- 11:56Speaker 5: against the Ducks, which I mean a lot of us
- 11:58Speaker 5: said it was a clunker. Win against New Jersey on
- 12:01Speaker 5: Championships Sunday, and then the win over the Capitols as
- 12:04Speaker 5: well last night. Before we get to more here, I
- 12:08Speaker 5: want to kind of round this out as far as
- 12:10Speaker 5: the theme from what you guys took away from these
- 12:12Speaker 5: last four games, and for me, the theme is five
- 12:17Speaker 5: on five, the train is rolling. I'm not sure if
- 12:19Speaker 5: many of us appointed this out here are found out,
- 12:22Speaker 5: but a little did you know, friends, the crack and
- 12:25Speaker 5: have gotten nearly one hundred and eighty minutes without giving
- 12:28Speaker 5: up a five on five goal. Last one they gave
- 12:33Speaker 5: up was at one oh two of period one in
- 12:37Speaker 5: that four to two loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Since
- 12:41Speaker 5: the Pittsburgh game January nineteenth, when they lost that one
- 12:44Speaker 5: six to three. Since that game, drum roll for this,
- 12:49Speaker 5: they have allowed a whopping one one five on five
- 12:54Speaker 5: goal in a span of two hundred and forty three
- 12:58Speaker 5: minutes and twelve seconds. Friends, you tell me if this
- 13:02Speaker 5: is sustainable. I think the answer is a resounding yes.
- 13:06Speaker 3: Well, I think that's what part of the structure that
- 13:08Speaker 3: Lane has created. When you set an idea for a
- 13:13Speaker 3: team that we are going to be hard to play against,
- 13:16Speaker 3: it's not hard to play against when we're on the
- 13:17Speaker 3: power player, on the penalty kill. It's even strength, and
- 13:20Speaker 3: the majority of the game is played that way. You
- 13:23Speaker 3: wouldn't have thought by the first period in the last game,
- 13:25Speaker 3: but the majority of the game has played even strength.
- 13:27Speaker 3: So the structure is based around that. And to your point, Mike,
- 13:31Speaker 3: that train, that Lane train is rolling and everybody seems
- 13:35Speaker 3: to be on board. So yeah, even strength is where
- 13:40Speaker 3: you win hockey games. Power plays and penalty kills are
- 13:43Speaker 3: where you add cherries on top.
- 13:46Speaker 8: Gregan have got twelve wins since the twentieth of December,
- 13:52Speaker 8: that is when they started that eight eight zero to
- 13:56Speaker 8: two run against the San Jose Sharks.
- 13:59Speaker 6: In those twelve wins, they've allowed two or fewer goals in.
- 14:05Speaker 2: Two for six. Let's see seven, eight, nine, ten.
- 14:15Speaker 6: Eleven of those eleven of those wins they've allowed two
- 14:18Speaker 6: or fewer goals in that time. So the last three
- 14:23Speaker 6: or four games for me, this last four game stretch
- 14:26Speaker 6: three one to zero for Seattle, they're getting back to
- 14:29Speaker 6: the defensive structure. They're finding ways to score goals. I mean,
- 14:33Speaker 6: they've got five, four and four in those in those
- 14:37Speaker 6: three wins. And honestly, it's kind of funny. I was
- 14:40Speaker 6: listening to excuse me, a couple of comments of La
- 14:43Speaker 6: Tolvan and a few other players after an Anaheim win
- 14:47Speaker 6: and then going into these subsequent games against Washington Jersey.
- 14:50Speaker 2: And the resounding.
- 14:54Speaker 6: Thought in attitude amongst these guys, especially Ellie Tolven, has
- 14:59Speaker 6: been like, yeah, well sucked, We're gonna move on, you
- 15:01Speaker 6: know what I mean. It was kind of like an oops,
- 15:03Speaker 6: didn't mean to do that. So I think they realize
- 15:06Speaker 6: where they went wrong in that Anaheim game, and they've
- 15:11Speaker 6: come back to remedy that situation. But I mean, we've
- 15:14Speaker 6: seen this year a lot the Krakend, they've been up
- 15:17Speaker 6: and they've been down, and it's been kind of a
- 15:20Speaker 6: roller coaster of this of a season. I think right
- 15:23Speaker 6: now the roller coaster is trending up with four big
- 15:26Speaker 6: games coming up in the next you know, say, eight day,
- 15:30Speaker 6: seven days, six days, whatever it is. So, I mean,
- 15:33Speaker 6: I think this is the kind of hockey. Like I
- 15:36Speaker 6: said before, this is the kind of hockey that they're
- 15:38Speaker 6: gonna have to play. Mike, you said, is sustainable. I
- 15:41Speaker 6: think fifty two games into the season, we're now seeing
- 15:44Speaker 6: that this type of hockey is sustainable. But what for
- 15:48Speaker 6: me is going to have to win out is for
- 15:52Speaker 6: the rest of the year. And this is a lot
- 15:54Speaker 6: of pressure. We've talked about the pressure that's been put
- 15:56Speaker 6: on goaltending and the pressure that's been put on a
- 15:58Speaker 6: lot of this team to have to play almost a
- 16:01Speaker 6: perfect game a lot of times. There can be no
- 16:04Speaker 6: more four or five game slides. There can be no
- 16:07Speaker 6: more three and one stretches, one four and one stretches, right.
- 16:12Speaker 1: I mean you need to.
- 16:13Speaker 6: Win minimally two of every three, three of every five
- 16:19Speaker 6: moving forward to keep yourselves in the playoff race. What
- 16:24Speaker 6: did I say coming into the season, right, We're a
- 16:26Speaker 6: game fifty three now coming up tomorrow.
- 16:29Speaker 2: Game sixty, game sixty five.
- 16:31Speaker 6: That has to matter. Game seventy has to matter. And
- 16:35Speaker 6: if you're going one four and OHO over a five
- 16:38Speaker 6: game stretch, or if you're going you know whatever, that
- 16:41Speaker 6: that lopsided number can be. With the way that the
- 16:45Speaker 6: NHL transforms after an Olympic slash, All Star Break, and
- 16:51Speaker 6: definitely the trade deadline, this goes from a four to
- 16:55Speaker 6: three league to a.
- 16:57Speaker 2: Three to two league almost overnight. And Seattle already.
- 17:00Speaker 6: Is a three to two team, you know, throughout the
- 17:04Speaker 6: course of the season.
- 17:04Speaker 2: So there's gonna.
- 17:06Speaker 5: Spencer Carberry basically said so yesterday in his pregame meet Mediavailability.
- 17:10Speaker 2: One hundred percent he did that.
- 17:11Speaker 6: He said that, And I think too for Seattle, like
- 17:14Speaker 6: you're already a three to two team, You're gonna have
- 17:16Speaker 6: a lot more three point games coming up. A lot
- 17:19Speaker 6: of teams now over these final thirty games, they're pushing
- 17:23Speaker 6: for overtime. They don't care. I don't need two points. Minimally,
- 17:27Speaker 6: I need one and then we'll settle it there. So
- 17:30Speaker 6: the krack And are gonna have to really start to
- 17:33Speaker 6: pull out everything they have in these final thirty games,
- 17:37Speaker 6: which after the break are gonna fly by. We're gonna
- 17:39Speaker 6: come back on February twenty whatever, twenty fourth, and then
- 17:43Speaker 6: we're gonna blink and it's gonna be April sixteenth in Colorado.
- 17:47Speaker 2: With an opportunity to go to the playoffs.
- 17:49Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, he's not gonna be pushing for overtime
- 17:51Speaker 3: or those three teams the krack and are playing on
- 17:53Speaker 3: the road next week, vic La and Anaheim. You know,
- 17:56Speaker 3: all four including Seattle are looking for regulation wins for reasons.
- 18:00Speaker 6: And you know what to those three games coming up,
- 18:03Speaker 6: I mean Vegas, I think if if you were to
- 18:07Speaker 6: let one slip away, that's probably the one that I'm
- 18:11Speaker 6: not going to be the most upset about, considering that
- 18:14Speaker 6: they're a lot farther ahead of you in the standings.
- 18:17Speaker 6: Excuse me, but I think, Anah, I'm in La, you
- 18:20Speaker 6: gotta win them both, and those are must win games
- 18:23Speaker 6: on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
- 18:26Speaker 5: We're gonna get to a little bit more here and
- 18:27Speaker 5: I do want to get to one more topic before
- 18:30Speaker 5: we go ahead and go to break and get Dave
- 18:32Speaker 5: McCarthy here, And I want to go back to what
- 18:34Speaker 5: was hat trick gate last night, and seventeen thousand souls
- 18:40Speaker 5: were out of their seats and a good chunk of
- 18:42Speaker 5: them said let the hats fly. After Jared mccannon and
- 18:46Speaker 5: Fantically Bury to break away for a hat trick and
- 18:49Speaker 5: then record scratch Matt Eveniers double minor high sticking penalty,
- 18:55Speaker 5: which was about nearly a minute right behind the play.
- 18:59Speaker 5: They went a review. They went and reviewed unreal but
- 19:03Speaker 5: within the rules as well. They reviewed it and unfortunately
- 19:06Speaker 5: goal taken away and here's been here's and his reaction
- 19:09Speaker 5: after the game.
- 19:09Speaker 9: I know I was crappy, but yeah, just crappy.
- 19:15Speaker 1: Didn't mean to hit him.
- 19:17Speaker 9: Happened like two minutes before the goal even happened, So
- 19:20Speaker 9: I didn't even didn't know what they were looking at.
- 19:22Speaker 1: And then they.
- 19:23Speaker 5: Told me so Jared mccannon, Good Sports to the media
- 19:27Speaker 5: say I'm not gonna hold it the kNs and it's
- 19:28Speaker 5: just one of those unfortunate things. But I mean, it's
- 19:32Speaker 5: it's it was, guys. I'll be honest. I've been working
- 19:35Speaker 5: in this game since or for about twenty years now.
- 19:39Speaker 5: I can maybe count on one hand and maybe two
- 19:43Speaker 5: fingers tops of how many times I've seen a goal
- 19:47Speaker 5: taken away in that nature and then for a hat trick,
- 19:50Speaker 5: I would say basically never. But I thought ESPN rules
- 19:54Speaker 5: analyst Dave Jackson, the former referee, did such a great
- 19:57Speaker 5: job of laying all this out on Twitter last night.
- 20:00Speaker 5: Unfortunately after we got off the air, but al you
- 20:03Speaker 5: and I kind of helped explain this a little bit,
- 20:04Speaker 5: and also Lane Lambert gave a pretty clear indication that
- 20:08Speaker 5: it was within the rules, and you know, unfortunate things
- 20:10Speaker 5: are unfortunate things. But Dave Jackson basically summarizing this saying,
- 20:13Speaker 5: the referee didn't see it. The linesman can only stop
- 20:16Speaker 5: play when he's sure there's an injury to the face,
- 20:20Speaker 5: and in this case is justin sort of player was
- 20:23Speaker 5: on the far side, away from the bench, so by
- 20:25Speaker 5: the time that he got to the bench and the
- 20:26Speaker 5: linesman could confirm the injury, McCann already scored the goal,
- 20:31Speaker 5: so he had the linesman had to basically go ahead
- 20:34Speaker 5: and tell the referee so you don't risk up the
- 20:36Speaker 5: clock as well. On penalties that was also another big question.
- 20:39Speaker 5: So I mean, unfortunately, it would have been such a
- 20:43Speaker 5: great night to tie things up in and eventually did,
- 20:47Speaker 5: and you kind of feel for Jair McCann in that case.
- 20:50Speaker 5: But one of those rare plays, I think that that
- 20:53Speaker 5: that you see in this game sometimes where unfortunately it
- 20:56Speaker 5: can reverse chorus from cracking history. But I think in
- 20:58Speaker 5: the overall scope of this, and I said so last
- 21:00Speaker 5: night on the air, when that goal was taken away
- 21:03Speaker 5: and it could have made it for nothing, and the
- 21:06Speaker 5: Capitals come right back with a double mind or power
- 21:08Speaker 5: play and a guy that we didn't hear a peep
- 21:11Speaker 5: from just again, right place, right time, Johnny on the spot,
- 21:14Speaker 5: the all time leading goals scorer Alex Ovechkin then gets one.
- 21:18Speaker 5: Then you're thinking, oh no, what if they get another one?
- 21:23Speaker 5: It would be a cruel way to endure a plot twist,
- 21:26Speaker 5: and we'll see where this game goes. But the most
- 21:28Speaker 5: important thing I thought, the cracking came right back foot
- 21:31Speaker 5: to gas and put that game to bed not too
- 21:33Speaker 5: long after that.
- 21:34Speaker 6: Yeah, I gotta I gotta have some words with referee
- 21:38Speaker 6: George Sandals, so.
- 21:44Speaker 2: Him and I we're gonna.
- 21:45Speaker 5: Where's my name? Drop bell and I can't find it yet.
- 21:48Speaker 5: I'll find it. Word bowling green.
- 21:53Speaker 7: I don't see it. That's all you needed to say.
- 21:55Speaker 7: Don't don't it. I don't see it.
- 21:57Speaker 6: No, I listen, I'm with you. I go back, I
- 22:02Speaker 6: go back to the call, and I'm and I'm confused.
- 22:05Speaker 2: I love I love Al's So does that mean the
- 22:09Speaker 2: goal comes off the board? Like you know at the
- 22:13Speaker 2: at the end of the day. Was it the right call?
- 22:15Speaker 7: Yeah?
- 22:16Speaker 2: Do I have to like it?
- 22:17Speaker 5: No one? No one did. Personally it was an emotional
- 22:21Speaker 5: hat trick.
- 22:22Speaker 2: Yeah, personally for me.
- 22:24Speaker 6: There there's two. There's there's three things that's that that
- 22:27Speaker 6: I'm going to take away from that goal. Number one,
- 22:30Speaker 6: I mess I wasted a pretty good hat trick call.
- 22:33Speaker 6: I was pretty proud of my goal call on that one.
- 22:36Speaker 6: It was selfishly number one. Number two. Five hundred people
- 22:41Speaker 6: tossed their hats and now you know, all for not
- 22:44Speaker 6: and and I feel bad for those folks who pitched
- 22:47Speaker 6: their hats on the ice and uh and weren't able
- 22:50Speaker 6: to get them back.
- 22:51Speaker 2: But hey, you were part of of of a weird,
- 22:54Speaker 2: weird moment in hockey.
- 22:56Speaker 6: So listen, it was for the cost and number three
- 22:59Speaker 6: and what but actually could have been Alex Ovechkin's final
- 23:02Speaker 6: game in Seattle.
- 23:03Speaker 2: I got an ave goal call on the highlight reel.
- 23:06Speaker 6: So.
- 23:09Speaker 1: Go ahead, fish no, a little bit of up, a
- 23:11Speaker 1: lot of bit of down.
- 23:12Speaker 6: But selfishly for those reasons, I'm going to make this
- 23:16Speaker 6: about me and be like, let's it ended up?
- 23:18Speaker 2: Okay?
- 23:19Speaker 3: I can I add a fourth that didn't happen that
- 23:22Speaker 3: I was really hoping it was going to happen, And
- 23:24Speaker 3: that was McCanns still getting the hat trick call and
- 23:27Speaker 3: looking to see what five hundred people that didn't have
- 23:29Speaker 3: hats anymore through on the ice like shoes?
- 23:32Speaker 7: What was coming off next?
- 23:35Speaker 2: It's a shoe trick.
- 23:38Speaker 5: Do you imagine the first ever shoe trick in the
- 23:41Speaker 5: in the whole and the whole ice is littered.
- 23:44Speaker 2: You know, it's funny too, So I looked.
- 23:47Speaker 4: I was.
- 23:48Speaker 2: When he scored the goal.
- 23:49Speaker 5: Someone get Brooks on that thing, by the way, you're right, yeah.
- 23:52Speaker 2: That is a perfect Brooks running shoes partnership. There idea.
- 23:56Speaker 2: When he scored the.
- 23:57Speaker 6: Goal and all the hats were being flung on under
- 24:00Speaker 6: the ice, I actually took a second to look around
- 24:03Speaker 6: the rink and I was I was watching to see
- 24:05Speaker 6: if anybody was gonna go uh to the Team store,
- 24:09Speaker 6: if anyone was leaving their seats to.
- 24:11Speaker 2: Go to the store.
- 24:12Speaker 6: So while they're cleaning up all the hats, and even
- 24:15Speaker 6: during the penalty explanation, I was watching around, and then
- 24:19Speaker 6: I saw a handful of people start to get up
- 24:22Speaker 6: and walk up the aisle.
- 24:24Speaker 2: So I'm curious if they were going to the Team store, because.
- 24:27Speaker 6: Al I was hoping he was going to actually get
- 24:30Speaker 6: it again. And then I'm like, well, I mean, CPA.
- 24:34Speaker 6: And then the Kraken just made a bunch of money
- 24:37Speaker 6: because they tossed their hats on the ice. People went
- 24:40Speaker 6: to go get a new hat and then toss are
- 24:44Speaker 6: you going to toss the new one?
- 24:46Speaker 2: I mean, geez, we're running out of inventory down there.
- 24:48Speaker 6: So again, that was a human experiment, a human social
- 24:52Speaker 6: experiment that I was very much looking forward to watching.
- 24:55Speaker 5: All right, then this one in the bed and a
- 24:58Speaker 5: moment that we won't forget it. Hey, maybe that hat
- 25:00Speaker 5: trick is coming here for Jared McCann. He is lighting
- 25:04Speaker 5: the score sheet up that much here at this point
- 25:06Speaker 5: and as of right now, virtually on for a forty
- 25:09Speaker 5: goal season type of pace. We're gonna take a break,
- 25:11Speaker 5: Dave McCarthy right after this here on Cracking Weekly on
- 25:14Speaker 5: ninety three three KJRFM. Well, where there is Yen, there
- 25:18Speaker 5: must be yang, right. We're talking about the schedule here,
- 25:20Speaker 5: Mike Benton again with you back here for Cracking Weekly,
- 25:23Speaker 5: with seventeen games here for the month of January. The
- 25:25Speaker 5: Firebirds going through a break where they haven't played since
- 25:28Speaker 5: last Friday, but they're gonna get right back to action
- 25:30Speaker 5: coming up tonight without take on the Colorado Eagles, and
- 25:34Speaker 5: the Firebirds right now still very much in contention as
- 25:38Speaker 5: this season continues to get closer and closer to crunch time.
- 25:41Speaker 5: They are heading into Game forty with a record of
- 25:44Speaker 5: twenty two to twelve and five forty nine points, putting
- 25:48Speaker 5: them forth right now in the Pacific Division. Keep in mind,
- 25:51Speaker 5: top seven in that division will make the Calder Cup playoffs.
- 25:55Speaker 5: Right now, Jagger Fergus leaves the Firebirds with thirty eight
- 25:58Speaker 5: points in thirty nine. James Tyson Jugnat, keep your eye
- 26:02Speaker 5: on him. Evan Pivnik gave us a great conversation on
- 26:04Speaker 5: last week's show about his game defensively on the back end.
- 26:07Speaker 5: Twenty nine points in thirty nine games, and he is
- 26:11Speaker 5: a rookie defenseman doing all of this. Oscar Fisco Mulgard
- 26:15Speaker 5: also keep your eye on him twenty one points in
- 26:17Speaker 5: thirty five games. Just some great talent right now that
- 26:19Speaker 5: is brewing in the pipeline here for the Kraken in
- 26:22Speaker 5: Coach Shell La Valley again, they're back in action tonight
- 26:25Speaker 5: taking on the Colorado Eagles. What don't we make out
- 26:28Speaker 5: of potential names available here? As trade deadline time gets
- 26:31Speaker 5: closer and closer. Well, one instance, the New York Rangers
- 26:35Speaker 5: may have seen the last of our Timmy panerin reports
- 26:37Speaker 5: coming out earlier this afternoon. The Rangers are sitting him
- 26:40Speaker 5: out for roster management purposes. So could there be dominoes
- 26:45Speaker 5: falling pretty soon in the trade market. The Crack and
- 26:48Speaker 5: of course reportedly are out there looking for potential upgrades
- 26:52Speaker 5: on their side that will take us now to the
- 26:54Speaker 5: Beacon Plumbing hotline and joining us now on Crack and Weekly.
- 26:58Speaker 5: Dave McCarthy of NHL Network radio host of the Sunday Brunch.
- 27:04Speaker 5: Also you can see is handiwork via NHL dot com. Dave, Hi,
- 27:08Speaker 5: how are you? And I had to ask you first
- 27:11Speaker 5: off with this crazy season that we are going through
- 27:15Speaker 5: a lot of teams kind of taking the ups and
- 27:17Speaker 5: downs and flipping roles here over the last few years.
- 27:20Speaker 5: So I think just from the least perspective of things,
- 27:23Speaker 5: you know from the team that you see out there routinely,
- 27:26Speaker 5: I mean, what's the empty narrative and what is reality
- 27:29Speaker 5: here with the Leaves right now in the post Mitch
- 27:31Speaker 5: Marner era.
- 27:33Speaker 9: Yeah, it's a disappointment this season, to be sure, because
- 27:37Speaker 9: this was a group Mike that in September was talking
- 27:41Speaker 9: about contending for the Stanley Cup and they're in a
- 27:44Speaker 9: position right now where they're nowhere near the playoffs, let
- 27:47Speaker 9: alone contending for the Cup eight points out, you know,
- 27:50Speaker 9: potentially as they come into action on Thursdays. So this
- 27:53Speaker 9: is not a year where they went into the year thinking, yeah,
- 27:56Speaker 9: you know what, it might not.
- 27:57Speaker 1: Be our year, it might retool a year.
- 28:01Speaker 9: No, this was a year they intended to contend and
- 28:04Speaker 9: it's not happening. So it's at the point now where
- 28:08Speaker 9: I think the Leaves have to really have a serious
- 28:11Speaker 9: discussion about where this season is going. Given that they're
- 28:15Speaker 9: eight points out. Is this season still salvageable? I don't
- 28:22Speaker 9: think that it is, And If that's the decision that
- 28:26Speaker 9: you come to, then you need to have some difficult
- 28:29Speaker 9: discussions about what you're going to do with certain guys
- 28:33Speaker 9: on the roster, impending free agents, Guys like a Bobby
- 28:39Speaker 9: McMahon who is a free agent at the end of
- 28:41Speaker 9: the year.
- 28:41Speaker 1: Guys like a Scott Lawton who is a free agent
- 28:43Speaker 1: at the end of the year.
- 28:44Speaker 9: Guys like a Troy Stetcher who have come in and
- 28:48Speaker 9: played pretty well. Simon ben Wall has got a year
- 28:50Speaker 9: left at just over a million bucks. Oliver Ekman Larson
- 28:54Speaker 9: is two years left. He's a guy that probably you
- 28:57Speaker 9: could never sell higher on then you could right now
- 29:00Speaker 9: because I think he would have some interest around the
- 29:04Speaker 9: league given how he has played this year.
- 29:07Speaker 1: You know, you look at Morgan Riley, does a change
- 29:10Speaker 1: need to occur there?
- 29:12Speaker 9: I think you have to look if you're the Leafs
- 29:15Speaker 9: right now and say, is it time to start trying
- 29:19Speaker 9: to accumulate future assets. For some of the players on
- 29:23Speaker 9: the team right now that either will not be resigned
- 29:27Speaker 9: in the off season, it makes sense to sell based
- 29:31Speaker 9: on their value right now, or guys that might just
- 29:35Speaker 9: have to be in a position.
- 29:37Speaker 1: Where it's time for a change.
- 29:39Speaker 9: I do think they still have a good skeleton in place.
- 29:43Speaker 9: I don't think it has to be an absolute tear down,
- 29:46Speaker 9: but I do think they need to make some savvy
- 29:49Speaker 9: moves to try to recoup some assets and put into
- 29:53Speaker 9: what is essentially a bear coveroard so that they can
- 29:57Speaker 9: try in the off season to utilize some of those
- 30:00Speaker 9: future assets that they would accumulate to translate back into
- 30:05Speaker 9: players that will help them as soon as next year.
- 30:08Speaker 5: Yeah. I think it's so fascinating because, I mean the
- 30:11Speaker 5: attention that they grab in that market. I mean it's
- 30:13Speaker 5: kind of like a byproduct year of a team that
- 30:15Speaker 5: has covered so much, akin of the Dallas Cowboys, a
- 30:18Speaker 5: kind of the New York Yankees. I mean, everything is
- 30:20Speaker 5: under a microscope. And so I think just kind of
- 30:22Speaker 5: getting past the whole Craig Beruby, Jim Mishap, William Nielander
- 30:26Speaker 5: and his camera Mishap and then Austin Matthews, the conversation
- 30:30Speaker 5: of Willie talk or not talk here to the media
- 30:32Speaker 5: game after game, I think we kind of understand a
- 30:36Speaker 5: bit further of where this could be headed and maybe
- 30:38Speaker 5: not so much a full blown tear down, because you
- 30:41Speaker 5: got Austin Matthews and his contract, William Nilander and his contract.
- 30:44Speaker 5: Matthew Knights was just signed to a brand spanking new deal.
- 30:47Speaker 5: But how closer do you think that we might be
- 30:50Speaker 5: seen to I wouldn't say doubling down, but a summer
- 30:55Speaker 5: where they're they're they're trying to volley themselves right back
- 30:58Speaker 5: into contention status again.
- 31:01Speaker 9: Well, without question, if Austin Matthews is in the is
- 31:04Speaker 9: on the roster, if William Mielander is on the roster,
- 31:08Speaker 9: you you have to.
- 31:09Speaker 1: Try to contend. Otherwise what are you doing right now?
- 31:13Speaker 9: I mean, Matthews has got two years left after this year,
- 31:17Speaker 9: so what do you want to do waste next year
- 31:20Speaker 9: and then go into the final year of his deal
- 31:23Speaker 9: as an impending unrestricted free agent. No, you got to
- 31:26Speaker 9: try to contend. So that's that's what they will try
- 31:29Speaker 9: to do.
- 31:30Speaker 1: You know.
- 31:31Speaker 9: The attention, I just really don't buy that as something
- 31:37Speaker 9: that is an element of adversity for this team. You know,
- 31:43Speaker 9: when they were playing good for most of the last
- 31:46Speaker 9: nine years and it was never really in doubt that
- 31:51Speaker 9: they were going to make the playoffs, there really weren't
- 31:54Speaker 9: many little side issues that turned into big circuses winning tears.
- 32:02Speaker 1: A lot of that.
- 32:04Speaker 9: But what what's happened now is that a lot of
- 32:06Speaker 9: these little side issues that crop up like you just referred,
- 32:10Speaker 9: remind me a lot of where this team was at
- 32:13Speaker 9: prior to twenty fourteen, when Brandon Shanahan came on board,
- 32:17Speaker 9: where it was salute gate and it was.
- 32:20Speaker 2: You know this, you know or you.
- 32:22Speaker 9: Know that guy, whatever it might have been, But it
- 32:25Speaker 9: always seemed like there was something, you know, Nasen Cadri saying,
- 32:29Speaker 9: oh yeah, Jeffrey Loopels, right, and then you know, Jeffrey
- 32:31Speaker 9: Loopel's ever.
- 32:32Speaker 1: Seend from me. Whatever it was that seemed to go away.
- 32:36Speaker 9: Over the last ten years, but it's back, and now
- 32:39Speaker 9: it's a case where, you know, seemingly on a daily basis,
- 32:43Speaker 9: something else is becoming the main topic on Twitter, where
- 32:48Speaker 9: everybody runs.
- 32:49Speaker 2: Wild with it.
- 32:50Speaker 9: So, look, they have not had a good year at all.
- 32:53Speaker 9: It has not gone the way they wanted it to go. Nobody,
- 32:57Speaker 9: quite frankly, has played particularly well. It's a very short
- 33:02Speaker 9: list of guys who have played two expectations, let alone
- 33:05Speaker 9: exceeded expectations. But in saying that you've got Matthews, you've
- 33:09Speaker 9: got Nilander, you got Nice, you've got John Tavares, you've got,
- 33:14Speaker 9: you know, Jake McCabe. We'll see what the future holds
- 33:16Speaker 9: for Chris Tanev and his availability. You've got three goalies
- 33:22Speaker 9: that you theoretically like in Wall and Stollers and Dennis
- 33:26Speaker 9: Hill to be probably have to make a move on
- 33:28Speaker 9: one of them because Dennis Hill to be more clear
- 33:30Speaker 9: waivers next year. So you've got some pieces of value
- 33:35Speaker 9: that you can move, But you also have a spine
- 33:37Speaker 9: of a team that if you have a good off season,
- 33:42Speaker 9: you can build around, I think, and put them back
- 33:45Speaker 9: in a position where they're capable of contending at least
- 33:47Speaker 9: for a playoff spot.
- 33:48Speaker 5: Least they are going to be home or on the road.
- 33:50Speaker 5: Bigger pardon for now six in a row won't see
- 33:53Speaker 5: home until after the Olympic break. This game coming up
- 33:56Speaker 5: here for tomorrow, game one of their trip can Flames Oilers,
- 34:01Speaker 5: and then the Olympic break and they picked right things
- 34:02Speaker 5: back up with Tampa Bay and with Florida. Is Dave
- 34:05Speaker 5: McCarthy joining us right now on Cracking Weekly. Let's talk
- 34:08Speaker 5: Cracking here for a minute. Dave, I think it's reasonable
- 34:11Speaker 5: to say, I mean, four months ago, you know you're
- 34:14Speaker 5: you're looking into reasons that this team can maybe enjoy
- 34:17Speaker 5: a one month sugar rush and then kind of come
- 34:19Speaker 5: right back down to reality. But now we're two thirds
- 34:22Speaker 5: of the way through the season and they're still tied
- 34:24Speaker 5: for a final wildcard spot in the Western Conference. Where's
- 34:29Speaker 5: your read on where they're at? And even to that point,
- 34:32Speaker 5: buying versus selling with the trade deadline getting closer and closer.
- 34:37Speaker 9: Yeah, Look, I liked what I saw of the Crack
- 34:41Speaker 9: and when they came into town early in the season,
- 34:43Speaker 9: I thought they had good structure. I thought they were
- 34:46Speaker 9: a team that worked relentlessly. They were good on their details.
- 34:52Speaker 9: They hounded pucks, and if you have a team that's
- 34:56Speaker 9: willing to do that, that's hard to do every every day.
- 34:59Speaker 9: But if you have a team that's willing to do that,
- 35:02Speaker 9: I think that can account for an absence of elite talent,
- 35:08Speaker 9: which I also think the Crack can suffer from. And
- 35:13Speaker 9: they've got some good players on the team, but they're
- 35:16Speaker 9: not a team that has a lot of, you know,
- 35:19Speaker 9: guys capable of breaking games open every time they go
- 35:22Speaker 9: on the ice. They need to play a strong team
- 35:24Speaker 9: game keep the puck out of their net, which they've
- 35:28Speaker 9: done really well. They're in the top ten and goals
- 35:30Speaker 9: against the fewest goals allowed. And when you can do that,
- 35:34Speaker 9: you keep you play a lot of low scoring games
- 35:37Speaker 9: and then you have a chance for a bounce to
- 35:40Speaker 9: go your way or or somebody to make a play
- 35:43Speaker 9: and get you on the right side of the ledger
- 35:45Speaker 9: and you win a close scoring game. And I think
- 35:47Speaker 9: I think that's what's happened with Seattle this year. You know,
- 35:51Speaker 9: have they have they blown the doors off offensively?
- 35:55Speaker 1: No, absolutely not.
- 35:57Speaker 9: But but they've been able to piece it together by
- 35:59Speaker 9: committee by keeping themselves in games, keeping the.
- 36:02Speaker 1: Score low, so that you know, a.
- 36:05Speaker 9: Guy like a Jordan Eberle or a Jared McCann or
- 36:08Speaker 9: an Ellie Toldenan or whoever it is Jaden Schwartz, when
- 36:12Speaker 9: he's available, can chip in and and and put themselves
- 36:17Speaker 9: in a position to.
- 36:19Speaker 1: Win the game.
- 36:19Speaker 9: So I've been impressed. Do I think they're a Stanley
- 36:23Speaker 9: Cup contender? Absolutely not. If they if they sneak into
- 36:27Speaker 9: the playoffs, you know, I don't know. I hate to
- 36:30Speaker 9: quote Darryl sutt Well, I don't hate to quote Daryl Sutter.
- 36:33Speaker 5: The famous quote from four years ago.
- 36:36Speaker 1: You know where I'm going.
- 36:36Speaker 9: Yeah, And I think it was I think it was
- 36:38Speaker 9: Colorado that here too, it might be a waste of
- 36:41Speaker 9: eight days because I let's be honest here, I know
- 36:45Speaker 9: I'm on in Seattle, but I don't see the crack
- 36:48Speaker 9: in as much of a hurdle for this this Avalanche team,
- 36:52Speaker 9: which is a serious, serious group this year. But in
- 36:55Speaker 9: saying that, it means something to make the playoffs in Seattle,
- 36:58Speaker 9: right like, you're still trying to establish the team.
- 37:01Speaker 1: Done really good job on that front.
- 37:03Speaker 9: But but it helps when the team is competitive and
- 37:07Speaker 9: has the feel of competitiveness, especially when you're trying to
- 37:11Speaker 9: establish a team a new market in the first five
- 37:14Speaker 9: years or so. So you know, you look at what
- 37:16Speaker 9: they have on their roster right now. A Jaden Schwartz,
- 37:19Speaker 9: a Jordan Eberley, an Ellie tolven and are unrestricted free
- 37:23Speaker 9: agents at the end of the year. Jamie alexiak as well.
- 37:27Speaker 9: I mean real those guys would have some value. I
- 37:30Speaker 9: can tell you that there would be contending teams that
- 37:33Speaker 9: would love to add an Alexiac, would love to add
- 37:37Speaker 9: a guy like a Jordan Eberley as as a depth piece.
- 37:41Speaker 9: But you know, do you do you sacrifice those guys
- 37:47Speaker 9: at the at the expense of this season, or do
- 37:49Speaker 9: you try to hold on to them and maybe squeeze in.
- 37:53Speaker 9: I mean, the probably the prudent play would be to
- 37:56Speaker 9: try to extract some value from some of those guys.
- 38:00Speaker 9: But I also understand the importance of making the playoffs
- 38:06Speaker 9: and being a competitive team in a newer marketplace. So
- 38:10Speaker 9: that's it's a tough it's a tough position that they
- 38:14Speaker 9: find themselves in right now in Seattle. To be sure,
- 38:18Speaker 9: you know, the good news is is that there's still
- 38:21Speaker 9: a few more games left here before we get to
- 38:24Speaker 9: the Olympic break, and given where we're at at that point,
- 38:29Speaker 9: then you know, the answer might become a little bit
- 38:32Speaker 9: more clear when you're tied for a playoff spot.
- 38:34Speaker 1: As they are right now.
- 38:35Speaker 9: That's that's a tough look in the market to come
- 38:38Speaker 9: out and say, hey, we're we're selling on this guy
- 38:40Speaker 9: removing that guy. But if you're four or five points
- 38:45Speaker 9: out a week prior to the deadline, then I think
- 38:49Speaker 9: it's an easier sell where you've got smart fans in Seattle,
- 38:52Speaker 9: and I think if you come out with a well
- 38:56Speaker 9: articulated message and say, look, we're four or five points out,
- 39:00Speaker 9: maybe we squeeze in the odds are against us, we
- 39:03Speaker 9: end up against Colorado, it could be four and out.
- 39:06Speaker 9: That's not what we want to be. What we want
- 39:08Speaker 9: to be as a team that contends for the Cup,
- 39:10Speaker 9: and in doing so, we got to make a tough decision.
- 39:13Speaker 9: Now that'll would buy that, But if there are four
- 39:16Speaker 9: or five points out, it becomes a little bit easier
- 39:18Speaker 9: to sell that message than if you're sitting tied for
- 39:22Speaker 9: a playoff spot, where I think a lot of people
- 39:24Speaker 9: would say, well, why are you selling off right there, Dave?
- 39:27Speaker 5: What's your read into the Shane right situation?
- 39:30Speaker 1: Well, I think Shane is a guy that.
- 39:34Speaker 9: Look, he came into his draft eligibility as a really
- 39:44Speaker 9: highly touted draft pick.
- 39:47Speaker 1: His development, maybe more so than any.
- 39:49Speaker 9: Prospect in National Hockey League history, of the pedigree that
- 39:54Speaker 9: he had as a sixteen seventeen year old, was stunted
- 39:58Speaker 9: as a result of the pandemic, Like he lost a
- 40:01Speaker 9: year and a half of really important formative developmental years
- 40:08Speaker 9: as a young player prior to his draft. That that
- 40:12Speaker 9: hurt him a little bit. And so you know, I
- 40:16Speaker 9: think you know now it comes in, you got Maddy Beaniers.
- 40:22Speaker 9: He went out and they signed Chandler Stevenson, So where
- 40:26Speaker 9: where is the role for him? Is he going to
- 40:28Speaker 9: play higher up in the lineup? Well, probably not when
- 40:31Speaker 9: you got those two guys in those spots. Look, you know,
- 40:38Speaker 9: Matty Beniers hasn't blown the doors off either offensively the
- 40:42Speaker 9: way Seattle had hoped. I look at Matty Beaniers as
- 40:46Speaker 9: a really quality two center. I look at Chandler Stevenson
- 40:50Speaker 9: as a really quality two center, and I probably look
- 40:53Speaker 9: at Shane Wright if he got a little bit more
- 40:57Speaker 9: a few more minutes, as a quality two center at
- 41:00Speaker 9: some point in this league. So what I'm saying there
- 41:02Speaker 9: is that you've got three guys for one role.
- 41:07Speaker 1: You don't have a number one.
- 41:08Speaker 9: Center, and then you've got a guy who's playing lower
- 41:11Speaker 9: in the lineup than he probably wants to and thus
- 41:14Speaker 9: isn't as thrilled as he is with the position that
- 41:17Speaker 9: he is in Shane right. So I think that's where
- 41:21Speaker 9: they're at right now, and I think that's why they're
- 41:24Speaker 9: having the trouble scoring as often as they would like,
- 41:28Speaker 9: which would put them in a better position.
- 41:30Speaker 1: Is because.
- 41:32Speaker 9: Personnel wise, they're not slotted properly like I think you need.
- 41:36Speaker 9: You need one of those three guys that I just
- 41:38Speaker 9: mentioned you need a guy who is better than those
- 41:44Speaker 9: guys to be your number one center, and then if
- 41:47Speaker 9: that's the case, then everybody slots in a little bit better,
- 41:51Speaker 9: the lineup is better, and it just works a little
- 41:55Speaker 9: bit better.
- 41:55Speaker 1: So I think they've got I think they've got a
- 41:59Speaker 1: lot of guys to play the same role. And yet
- 42:02Speaker 1: Shane Wright, at.
- 42:03Speaker 9: The position he's at in his career, his age, I
- 42:06Speaker 9: still think he would hold some value to go to
- 42:09Speaker 9: a team that might have some more opportunity for him
- 42:13Speaker 9: to play higher in the lineup. I think teams would
- 42:16Speaker 9: would be interested in acquiring him. I think you could
- 42:19Speaker 9: get something back for him, and then you know, you
- 42:22Speaker 9: put a guy in a better position to succeed, and
- 42:24Speaker 9: then you can go out and try to use maybe
- 42:26Speaker 9: some of the futures or the recoup that you get
- 42:30Speaker 9: from Shane Wright to to try to find a center
- 42:35Speaker 9: who is better than Matt even here is not easy
- 42:38Speaker 9: to do, but I think that's the issue because if
- 42:41Speaker 9: if Maddie's your number one center and Chandler's your number two,
- 42:46Speaker 9: I don't think that's going to win you much. I
- 42:48Speaker 9: think either one of those guys is great as a
- 42:50Speaker 9: two center. But you need someone better than both of
- 42:53Speaker 9: those guys to be in the one center rule.
- 42:55Speaker 5: We've heard names like Robert Thomas, Jordan Cayrou, Jason Robertson,
- 43:00Speaker 5: Alexi Lafrenier, Nozam Kadri, et cetera thrown out there reportedly
- 43:04Speaker 5: as the trade deadline gets closer and closer, anyone out
- 43:08Speaker 5: of that mix or anybody else you think is likely
- 43:10Speaker 5: at Dave to get moved in the kind of prices
- 43:12Speaker 5: that they would command.
- 43:15Speaker 9: Well, Jason Robertson, I know I spoke to Jim Nill
- 43:18Speaker 9: toward the end of the offseason last year and he
- 43:20Speaker 9: said at that time it's every intention of ours to
- 43:23Speaker 9: get him signed. I think they would like to get
- 43:26Speaker 9: him signed. The question is it takes two to make
- 43:29Speaker 9: a deal. And does Jason Robertson see himself as a
- 43:33Speaker 9: Dallas star long term or does he see himself in
- 43:37Speaker 9: a different position. So that'll be an interesting one to watch.
- 43:41Speaker 9: You know, I'm not sure that Calgary wants to move
- 43:46Speaker 9: on on Nozmkadri.
- 43:48Speaker 1: I know they are.
- 43:49Speaker 9: They've slipped back down the standings. The season is probably
- 43:53Speaker 9: over for Calgary, let's be honest, But I think Calgary
- 43:58Speaker 9: is a team that wants to be good sooner rather
- 44:04Speaker 9: than later. And I still think they see Nazem Kadri
- 44:06Speaker 9: as a guy who is productive and has enough of
- 44:09Speaker 9: a veteran pedigree that you want to keep him around,
- 44:14Speaker 9: just simply because when you turn the team over entirely
- 44:18Speaker 9: to youngsters, it generally is not a good recipe for success.
- 44:22Speaker 9: So I'm not necessarily convinced that he gets moved. And
- 44:31Speaker 9: and so you know that that's that's one guy. Who
- 44:36Speaker 9: are some of the other guys that you mentioned there,
- 44:38Speaker 9: Micro Robert Thomas and Jordan Cairo. Yeah, I could see
- 44:44Speaker 9: one of those guys getting moved, just because there has
- 44:48Speaker 9: been a lot of smoke around both of them in
- 44:51Speaker 9: Saint Louis, especially Jordan Cairo for a little while now.
- 44:55Speaker 9: And and I think very similar to what I talked
- 44:58Speaker 9: about with Seattle. You look at where they're at with
- 45:02Speaker 9: those two guys in Saint Louis. You know, I'm I'm
- 45:08Speaker 9: not convinced that if they are going to be your
- 45:12Speaker 9: two premier players, that's going to be able to get
- 45:16Speaker 9: you to where you want to go. So I could
- 45:19Speaker 9: see one of those guys getting moved. I look at
- 45:22Speaker 9: Saint Louis right now, and I just see a lot
- 45:24Speaker 9: of middle six forwards. You know, some good players, but
- 45:28Speaker 9: nobody that really excites me all that much. Guys that
- 45:31Speaker 9: are probably playing too high in the lineup, like Jimmy Snugaru,
- 45:35Speaker 9: like Jonathan Bergrean right now, they're not first line players,
- 45:38Speaker 9: let's be honest here. And and so you know, that's
- 45:43Speaker 9: where I think you could see change, because there'd be
- 45:47Speaker 9: value there for a Thomas Rakaira if you're slot in
- 45:51Speaker 9: on a contending team in the right position, they could
- 45:53Speaker 9: absolutely help a team. But on their own, I just
- 45:55Speaker 9: don't think there's enough there in Saint Louis to get
- 45:58Speaker 9: to where they want to be. And this is kind
- 46:00Speaker 9: of yet another year where Saint Louis is, you know,
- 46:03Speaker 9: in that mushy, mushy middle, and in this case not
- 46:06Speaker 9: even really the middle, toward the bottom of the league.
- 46:08Speaker 9: So I think I think a change probably needs to
- 46:11Speaker 9: happen in Saint Louis, otherwise you come back again with
- 46:14Speaker 9: the same group. I just don't really see much of
- 46:17Speaker 9: an opportunity to improve all that much, especially in a
- 46:21Speaker 9: division that includes Colorado and that includes Minnesota, who I
- 46:25Speaker 9: think is going to continue to be good for a
- 46:26Speaker 9: lot of time.
- 46:27Speaker 1: In Dallas, who is going to continue to be good?
- 46:30Speaker 9: And Utah, who has I think turned a corner at
- 46:34Speaker 9: this point.
- 46:35Speaker 1: I mean, if you're Saint Louis, you got to look
- 46:36Speaker 1: and say, like, who are who are we? Who are
- 46:39Speaker 1: we going to beat next year?
- 46:41Speaker 9: At this point, I think they have to look at
- 46:44Speaker 9: where they're at and say, man, our roster just probably
- 46:47Speaker 9: isn't quite strong enough.
- 46:49Speaker 5: NHL trade freeze again happening starting February fourth through the
- 46:52Speaker 5: twenty second and then the trade deadline coming up in March,
- 46:56Speaker 5: which will be on the six at New Pacific time.
- 47:00Speaker 5: Only Dave. With everything just bunched up right now on
- 47:03Speaker 5: the Western Conference, the Kraken entering to day Tide for
- 47:06Speaker 5: the final wildcard spot in the West with the Sharks
- 47:09Speaker 5: the Kings. Then you have Anaheim looming only two points
- 47:12Speaker 5: ahead right now third place in their division. Whether it's King,
- 47:16Speaker 5: Sharks or Ducks. Out of that group, who's the biggest
- 47:19Speaker 5: threat you think for a wildcard spot to the crack
- 47:22Speaker 5: inside of things, Oh, I'd.
- 47:24Speaker 1: Say the Sharks.
- 47:25Speaker 9: I think they have been really impressive this year and
- 47:30Speaker 9: they're led by a dynamic, dynamic player in Macklan Celebrini.
- 47:35Speaker 1: You know, I think what we've seen out.
- 47:37Speaker 9: To him this year, he has been I think way
- 47:41Speaker 9: better than a lot of people anticipated quite this quickly.
- 47:45Speaker 9: But it's not it's not just Macklan Celebrini that's that's rolling.
- 47:50Speaker 9: Will Smith, when he's been healthy, has been really good.
- 47:56Speaker 1: You know.
- 47:56Speaker 9: They they're getting good goal attending, and I think there's
- 47:59Speaker 9: a good feeling with their group right now where they
- 48:03Speaker 9: believe in themselves and and they've got something where I
- 48:06Speaker 9: think they can see the finish line and they're only
- 48:11Speaker 9: continuing to get better here down the stretch. I look
- 48:15Speaker 9: at the Los Angeles Kings.
- 48:20Speaker 1: I'm they've been.
- 48:23Speaker 9: I guess they've been an enigmatic team in this sense,
- 48:27Speaker 9: which is to say they've they've kept the puck out
- 48:29Speaker 9: of their net. But again, kind of much like Seattle,
- 48:31Speaker 9: they really struggle to score. And you know, I think
- 48:36Speaker 9: there's a bit more dynamic talent with Anaheim that I
- 48:41Speaker 9: see them maybe edging where the Kings are going to be.
- 48:45Speaker 9: I question whether the Kings are going to be able
- 48:47Speaker 9: to score enough here down the stretch. So I think,
- 48:51Speaker 9: you know, I could see San Jose catching Anaheim. To
- 48:55Speaker 9: be honest with you, and I think if you're Seattle,
- 48:58Speaker 9: you got to look at trying to trying to be
- 49:00Speaker 9: better than the Kings and the Ducks. I think there's
- 49:03Speaker 9: a chance for him to do that. Remember Leo Carlson's
- 49:05Speaker 9: out quite some time in Anaheim. Now that's a huge
- 49:08Speaker 9: loss for that lineup, so there's some vulnerability there. I
- 49:12Speaker 9: think you look at Anaheim and LA if you're Seattle
- 49:17Speaker 9: and say, those are the teams that we got to beat,
- 49:19Speaker 9: and it's really a simple task. That's all they got
- 49:21Speaker 9: to do is just you know, they're essentially in the
- 49:24Speaker 9: same spot right now. They got a game in hand
- 49:27Speaker 9: on Anaheim and they're two points back, so you know
- 49:29Speaker 9: they win that they're tied right there, essentially the same spot.
- 49:34Speaker 1: You got call it thirty games.
- 49:36Speaker 9: Let's just be better than Anaheim and LA over the
- 49:38Speaker 9: next thirty games we're in the playoffs.
- 49:39Speaker 1: I think it's as simple as that.
- 49:40Speaker 5: It's gonna be a lot of fun to keep an
- 49:42Speaker 5: eye on this, and that means again next week, the
- 49:44Speaker 5: cracking at the Ducks next Tuesday, at the King's next Wednesday,
- 49:48Speaker 5: that is going to be a collision. Dave, appreciate you,
- 49:52Speaker 5: Thank you again for doing this. Tell the folks here
- 49:54Speaker 5: where we can find you on the Twitter and next
- 49:55Speaker 5: machine and also on the radio side.
- 49:58Speaker 2: Yeah at Dave A.
- 50:00Speaker 9: McCarthy on Twitter and Instagram, and we've got Sunday Brunch
- 50:04Speaker 9: every Sunday, wild that it's on that day since it's
- 50:08Speaker 9: in the show, but it's Sunday eleven am Eastern on
- 50:12Speaker 9: NHL Network Radio Series XM channel to anyone.
- 50:15Speaker 5: Always a great appointment listening, Dave, thanks so much, appreciate
- 50:18Speaker 5: you man. Thanks Mike, that's davidccarthy joining us Dave again,
- 50:22Speaker 5: big thanks once more after this look at our poll
- 50:25Speaker 5: question mail bags segment and also our three Stars ever
- 50:29Speaker 5: now back with me and you in just a bit
- 50:32Speaker 5: on ninety three three KJRFM. All right, it's a close one,
- 50:36Speaker 5: but as of right now, forty six percent of you
- 50:39Speaker 5: say the Anaheim Ducks will be positioned to be the
- 50:42Speaker 5: biggest challenge within the division for the crack and to
- 50:45Speaker 5: clinch a wildcard spot. Forty six percent of you say
- 50:49Speaker 5: the Anaheim Ducks. The boll continues right now. Vote for
- 50:52Speaker 5: that right now at Twitter and x at Kraken Audio
- 50:56Speaker 5: net s bring the guys back in first topic. Thank
- 50:59Speaker 5: you to Dave McCarthy for joining us up being set
- 51:02Speaker 5: up tomorrow and Ian where the Leaves stand right now
- 51:04Speaker 5: in this mix and doesn't matter what year it is.
- 51:08Speaker 5: There's plenty of talk about the Leaves and what they're
- 51:10Speaker 5: doing and where they're going as well. But I'm going
- 51:13Speaker 5: to get back here to our poll question, fellas, who's
- 51:15Speaker 5: position to be the biggest challenge in the division for
- 51:17Speaker 5: the crack in the clinch a wildcard spot? Is it Sharks,
- 51:21Speaker 5: Kings or Ducks all? First off, begin with my initial
- 51:25Speaker 5: thoughts on this. I'm gonna go with the Kings because
- 51:29Speaker 5: they had defensive structure under Jim Hiller, and they play
- 51:32Speaker 5: a similar type of game that you have to sustain
- 51:34Speaker 5: yourself in a heavy schedule, especially coming out of the
- 51:36Speaker 5: Olympic break. They've got leadership again still with Drew Dowdy
- 51:40Speaker 5: and I Jacob Patar, and they're still a little bit
- 51:42Speaker 5: of shine from their two Stanley cuffs that they won.
- 51:45Speaker 5: Where As effectively for the most part, San Hosea's at
- 51:48Speaker 5: the reset button on their roster and Anaheim yet you
- 51:51Speaker 5: got guys like Chris Kreider in there who have won
- 51:53Speaker 5: a lot, but effectively it's a reset once again for them,
- 51:57Speaker 5: And then I get to the goaltending picture of this,
- 52:01Speaker 5: because Anton Forrestburg was great last night against the Red Wings,
- 52:05Speaker 5: who didn't get a goal against him or the Kings
- 52:07Speaker 5: until late in period three. And as of right now,
- 52:11Speaker 5: the Kings are neck and neck right now with the
- 52:13Speaker 5: Kraken As far as the upper echelon teams in say
- 52:17Speaker 5: percentage San Jose and Anaheim, you gotta go way further
- 52:22Speaker 5: down the list. So the heavier this schedule gets, the
- 52:26Speaker 5: more it favors the grinding style we've talked about this,
- 52:29Speaker 5: which I think again leads me to me to say
- 52:32Speaker 5: the Kings are the biggest hazard right now to get
- 52:35Speaker 5: over for a wildcard spot. I would love to see
- 52:37Speaker 5: where the Ducks go because of the whole goaltending thing.
- 52:40Speaker 5: And yet you have your young superstar players. They are
- 52:43Speaker 5: also missing Leo Carlson, I'll admit that here. But the
- 52:46Speaker 5: more that you have to play in trade chances back
- 52:49Speaker 5: and forth, and me, where is that going to lead
- 52:50Speaker 5: you when the schedule gets heavy, especially coming out of
- 52:53Speaker 5: the Olympic break as well. But I just I just
- 52:56Speaker 5: really see, you know, how the Kings are picking up
- 52:58Speaker 5: points that right there is going to be the biggest
- 53:00Speaker 5: challenge here for the Kracking to get a wildcard spot.
- 53:02Speaker 6: I think Anaheim they've been up after they were pretty down.
- 53:07Speaker 2: For a while. I don't.
- 53:08Speaker 6: I still don't know if I trust their goaltending fully,
- 53:12Speaker 6: that's just me.
- 53:14Speaker 2: San Jose, same thing. They have all the skill in
- 53:17Speaker 2: the world.
- 53:17Speaker 6: I don't think they realize that they're not supposed to
- 53:20Speaker 6: be doing this this year, so I think that's also
- 53:23Speaker 6: pretty scary.
- 53:24Speaker 2: The krackn have.
- 53:25Speaker 6: Won two of their three games against them, and I
- 53:28Speaker 6: also think too, because the Krakens still have two maybe
- 53:34Speaker 6: three games, I think they got three games against the
- 53:37Speaker 6: Kings still this season, you have an opportunity to pick
- 53:41Speaker 6: up six points, whereas with San Jose you're done with
- 53:44Speaker 6: that season series. So I think minimally the La Kings,
- 53:49Speaker 6: you control your own destiny a little bit. So that's
- 53:53Speaker 6: why I think that might be a little bit more
- 53:55Speaker 6: challenging to overcome for Seattle. But the Kraken and Kings history,
- 54:00Speaker 6: that has been a really close series. No team has
- 54:04Speaker 6: gotten the upper hand, and now four and a half
- 54:07Speaker 6: seasons of this rivalry, so I think it's gonna.
- 54:11Speaker 7: Come down to one.
- 54:12Speaker 6: But also too, I'm not ready to rule out the
- 54:16Speaker 6: crack and getting into the top three. Because right now
- 54:18Speaker 6: you've got Anaheim at fifty nine, San Jose, LA, and
- 54:21Speaker 6: Seattle at.
- 54:22Speaker 2: Fifty seven, and then Calgary at forty eight.
- 54:25Speaker 6: So it's gonna be one of us four, it's gonna
- 54:28Speaker 6: be one of the three California teams, and Seattle for
- 54:31Speaker 6: either the third in the division and then that probably
- 54:36Speaker 6: second wildcard spot. So two of the four teams are
- 54:40Speaker 6: gonna make the playoffs. And you've got three games left
- 54:42Speaker 6: against LA and two left against Anaheim. Yeah, well, I
- 54:46Speaker 6: guess one left against Anaheim.
- 54:48Speaker 3: If I'm gonna go in division, then I'm gonna I'm
- 54:49Speaker 3: gonna I'm gonna focus on Anaheim as well. I think
- 54:52Speaker 3: that lukash Dostaal has been He's shown us enough that
- 54:58Speaker 3: he could lead this team into the playoff with the
- 55:00Speaker 3: way he plays. Obviously, the youth on that team go
- 55:04Speaker 3: to Carlson Seneca like San Jose's got the youth as well.
- 55:10Speaker 3: I just think they might be one more year away.
- 55:12Speaker 2: From tearing it up.
- 55:15Speaker 7: Next season, San Jose could be crazy good.
- 55:18Speaker 2: I can see next year San Jose being a top
- 55:20Speaker 2: three like.
- 55:21Speaker 6: That, We're not talking about wildcard for San Jose, we're
- 55:24Speaker 6: talking about the two seed in the division. I think
- 55:26Speaker 6: they're gonna skip that wildcard step next year.
- 55:29Speaker 5: They are well set up in the long term, aren't they.
- 55:32Speaker 5: Let's get to our mailbag segment here once again. You
- 55:35Speaker 5: can find me at ex Benton Underscore, Mike Everett's at
- 55:37Speaker 5: the Voice fits al is at al KINISKI. Question from Pierre,
- 55:41Speaker 5: is there any concern within Krack and management that sending
- 55:44Speaker 5: Philip Grubauer to the Olympics could result in a situation
- 55:47Speaker 5: similar to Dominic Kashik and the Ottawa Senators back in
- 55:51Speaker 5: the day. That from Pierre, I think what he's referencing
- 55:54Speaker 5: is back in five six when Ottawa was a rising
- 55:56Speaker 5: contender and eventually a year later we'd get to the
- 55:59Speaker 5: Cup against the Anaheim Ducks. The hashit got hurt in
- 56:03Speaker 5: the Olympics and that kind of derailed their long term
- 56:06Speaker 5: plans as far as contending for a Cup that season,
- 56:09Speaker 5: leaving out of the fans to basically consider what if.
- 56:13Speaker 5: I can't say for sure. I know if there is
- 56:15Speaker 5: concern within Krack and management. They've been pretty quiet here
- 56:18Speaker 5: about this my opinion from what I've heard at least,
- 56:20Speaker 5: but I think with Philip Grubauer, what you want to
- 56:22Speaker 5: do is support your goaltender who wants to go play.
- 56:25Speaker 5: At the same time, I think across the league there
- 56:28Speaker 5: is obvious concern with health, with injuries and what that
- 56:32Speaker 5: could do once you come back from the Olympic break,
- 56:34Speaker 5: and that intensifies depending upon the amount of players that
- 56:38Speaker 5: you send here to the Olympics. But I think it
- 56:40Speaker 5: also goes back here to the point part of the
- 56:42Speaker 5: reason why they're carrying three goaltenders, not just here for
- 56:45Speaker 5: the injury part of this, but also for the internal competition.
- 56:48Speaker 5: We haven't seen Matt Murray here for a while. He's
- 56:51Speaker 5: going to get a break. Joey Decord, we saw a
- 56:53Speaker 5: great game from him last time out. He is going
- 56:56Speaker 5: to also get a break here. So how far Grubauer go,
- 57:00Speaker 5: Who knows? I mean, the obvious contenders here are Team USA, Canada,
- 57:04Speaker 5: You've got Sweden up there, You've got Finland as well.
- 57:07Speaker 5: But I think in this case, what you want to
- 57:11Speaker 5: do is monitor this situation as close as possible, and
- 57:15Speaker 5: then I think you go back to what you have
- 57:17Speaker 5: been doing here, which has been the platoon system for
- 57:20Speaker 5: this last month. Because we've seen that this has been
- 57:23Speaker 5: sustainable with Grubauer being locked in and the Cord recently
- 57:27Speaker 5: finding his game once again after a bit of a
- 57:29Speaker 5: slide coming out of the holiday break.
- 57:32Speaker 6: Yeah, I think Phil's going to be fine. I mean,
- 57:35Speaker 6: and you're right, Mike L Kraken. Have got three on
- 57:38Speaker 6: the roster, you include Fisker, Molegard, You've got four in
- 57:42Speaker 6: the system. Vegas has got nine, right, Colorado's got eight,
- 57:46Speaker 6: you know what I mean. There's a lot of teams
- 57:48Speaker 6: that are worried about injury to.
- 57:51Speaker 2: Their star players.
- 57:51Speaker 6: I think at the end of the day, this I mean,
- 57:55Speaker 6: you never say never, but this will probably be Grubauer's
- 57:58Speaker 6: last Olympics. He's thirty five years old, so you know
- 58:01Speaker 6: this is more than like this his last opportunity to
- 58:06Speaker 6: represent his country on the global stage. He's excited, he's
- 58:10Speaker 6: fired up, as he should be. It's a huge honor.
- 58:14Speaker 6: I think Grubauer understands the responsibility that he has to
- 58:20Speaker 6: Seattle and to this organization. But I also understand and
- 58:24Speaker 6: and and know that Grubauer wants to represent and where
- 58:28Speaker 6: his country and where his country's colors. So I think
- 58:31Speaker 6: he'll be fine. These guys are pros. These guys have
- 58:33Speaker 6: been doing this for a long time. Grubauer's played World championships,
- 58:36Speaker 6: he's played World juniors, He's done this, that and the third.
- 58:39Speaker 2: He he will be fine. I'm not worried about him.
- 58:43Speaker 6: I'm no more worried about Grubauer than I am about
- 58:46Speaker 6: Tolbnen and Gobologato and oscar Fish and Mulguard, because hey,
- 58:50Speaker 6: any one of those guys also could find themselves, you know,
- 58:53Speaker 6: dealing with something, you know, knocking on the wood.
- 58:56Speaker 2: You hope not, but you know, the Olympics are weird.
- 58:59Speaker 2: Someone's gonna hurt.
- 59:00Speaker 6: Hopefully it's not your guy, but I promise you over
- 59:03Speaker 6: this next month, someone's gonna get hurt, and it's gonna
- 59:07Speaker 6: send ripples throughout the league.
- 59:08Speaker 3: Yeah, there will be injuries during the Olympics. You just
- 59:11Speaker 3: hope it's not your guys. And I think that as
- 59:14Speaker 3: a player, you have a you know, a not on
- 59:21Speaker 3: paper agreement with management to say, if I play seventy
- 59:26Speaker 3: percent of the season and I give you everything I've
- 59:28Speaker 3: got and I've earned the right to play for my country,
- 59:32Speaker 3: you got to support that for me. And I think
- 59:34Speaker 3: that that's the case.
- 59:35Speaker 7: Right.
- 59:35Speaker 3: Yes, there's a risk of injury, but you know, in
- 59:38Speaker 3: the case of Grubauer, he's been playing lights out this season.
- 59:42Speaker 3: You got totally in with thirty points, Cocko pushing twenty points.
- 59:45Speaker 3: That these guys have contributed to the success of this
- 59:48Speaker 3: team this year individually, You've got to reward that by
- 59:51Speaker 3: saying I support you. Going to play for your country.
- 59:54Speaker 2: And don't think for a second, these guys are.
- 59:57Speaker 6: Going to mail it in, right like the NHL player
- 1:00:00Speaker 6: have been begging for Best on Best, Yeah, fifteen years, right,
- 1:00:05Speaker 6: Like it's been a long time coming since we've had
- 1:00:09Speaker 6: best on Best. This will be the first time that
- 1:00:12Speaker 6: we're gonna see in this arena McDavid with McKinnon, with
- 1:00:17Speaker 6: Crosby against the Kachucks. And say what you want about
- 1:00:21Speaker 6: the Four Nations, I get it, But this is an
- 1:00:23Speaker 6: official global tournament, right So this is not going to
- 1:00:29Speaker 6: be an All Star game. This is not going to
- 1:00:31Speaker 6: be an All Star tournament de beauty league from summertime
- 1:00:35Speaker 6: in Minnesota. This is going to be arguably some of
- 1:00:39Speaker 6: the best hockey that we have ever seen in the
- 1:00:43Speaker 6: last decade, and I'm excited for it.
- 1:00:44Speaker 3: It'll be interesting to see how it compares to the
- 1:00:46Speaker 3: Four Nations tournament because you've got to see a repeat
- 1:00:49Speaker 3: of that intensity.
- 1:00:50Speaker 7: I don't know that you'll see that, but I still.
- 1:00:52Speaker 3: Agree that that to your point fits. The players are
- 1:00:55Speaker 3: going to win. They want to win gold. They're gonna
- 1:00:57Speaker 3: do whatever it takes, despite you know what Phil Grubauer
- 1:01:00Speaker 3: said last night in the postgame playing on short ice?
- 1:01:05Speaker 5: Is a building done yet? Also? Is the building done yet?
- 1:01:08Speaker 6: Oh my goodness, I listen how much time you got
- 1:01:11Speaker 6: my I've got thoughts and opinions, But I'm I'm gonna
- 1:01:15Speaker 6: I'm gonna let that one go for now.
- 1:01:16Speaker 3: You're gonna be a lot of talk about goals that
- 1:01:18Speaker 3: go in because of angles that are different in that building.
- 1:01:22Speaker 6: Well, and I don't know if this is I don't
- 1:01:24Speaker 6: know if this is still the case. But I was
- 1:01:25Speaker 6: reading about a month ago that they were talking about
- 1:01:30Speaker 6: the construction of the arena, and I think they said
- 1:01:33Speaker 6: the first women's game of the Olympic Tournament is February fifth.
- 1:01:39Speaker 2: Something like that.
- 1:01:41Speaker 6: They weren't going to be able to get on the
- 1:01:43Speaker 6: ice until February third. So I mean, again, I don't
- 1:01:48Speaker 6: know if that at that timeline has changed. I read this,
- 1:01:51Speaker 6: like I said a few weeks back, but they're talking
- 1:01:53Speaker 6: about forty eight hours before the first game is when
- 1:01:58Speaker 6: these teams are going to be a get on the ass. Now,
- 1:02:00Speaker 6: they did have the the Italian League little tune up ice,
- 1:02:05Speaker 6: tune up games or whatever a couple of weeks ago there.
- 1:02:08Speaker 6: You know, go look up Chris Johnson on Twitter. He
- 1:02:10Speaker 6: has a lot of really cool pictures from that. And
- 1:02:13Speaker 6: you know a few of the hockey media pundits went
- 1:02:16Speaker 6: over there to inspect and report on that. So there
- 1:02:19Speaker 6: were some issues with the ice. You're hoping those are
- 1:02:22Speaker 6: going to be fixed in the next week and a half.
- 1:02:24Speaker 6: But man, if you're talking about February fifth, your first game,
- 1:02:27Speaker 6: and then these teams are not even gonna skate until
- 1:02:30Speaker 6: February second or third, my goodness.
- 1:02:32Speaker 5: I love one reaction I saw earlier online where it
- 1:02:34Speaker 5: suggested that the rink in Milan is finally complete and
- 1:02:37Speaker 5: instead of installing a jumbo tron, they opted for an
- 1:02:40Speaker 5: iPad Olympics and about a couple of weeks here, all right,
- 1:02:44Speaker 5: let's get to our three stars before we get out
- 1:02:46Speaker 5: of here, and I'll begin, and I think this is
- 1:02:48Speaker 5: where you have a good problem to have, because you've
- 1:02:51Speaker 5: got players who are playing so well up and down
- 1:02:54Speaker 5: the board all across the board here. It was just
- 1:02:56Speaker 5: way too tough to narrow it down. And maybe I
- 1:02:58Speaker 5: think that it doesn't some justice, but I think, you know,
- 1:03:02Speaker 5: credit certainly is due for those who couldn't get into this.
- 1:03:06Speaker 5: And I'll first off begin First off, my third star
- 1:03:09Speaker 5: with Ryan Lindgren, who had ten blocked shots over this
- 1:03:13Speaker 5: last week, led the Kraken in those three of four wins,
- 1:03:18Speaker 5: or those three wins in four games that they had
- 1:03:21Speaker 5: lit up Andre Pallott on Sunday, could have been a
- 1:03:23Speaker 5: penalty for inner interference maybe, but I thought it was
- 1:03:26Speaker 5: a bit of a chain reaction after the Dougie Hamilton
- 1:03:29Speaker 5: goal that helped turn the tide a little bit. Plays
- 1:03:33Speaker 5: like that have been few and far between on this
- 1:03:36Speaker 5: team previously. This is what the Ryan Lindgren factor does
- 1:03:40Speaker 5: for you. He's kind of a throwback and it's fun
- 1:03:43Speaker 5: to watch. He's gritty, he's nasty, he's abrasive. He plays
- 1:03:46Speaker 5: great stay at home defense. But and he can chip
- 1:03:48Speaker 5: in offensively, just like last night when Jared McCann got
- 1:03:52Speaker 5: his second goal to make it to nothing, he gets
- 1:03:54Speaker 5: a shot right through a screen. He can find way.
- 1:03:57Speaker 5: He's here to contribute, but again he also had a
- 1:03:59Speaker 5: big hit last and against the Capitols. Is a physical
- 1:04:02Speaker 5: eBrace of play and his key decision making that are
- 1:04:06Speaker 5: making a big impact right now. And I think for
- 1:04:09Speaker 5: his ability to sell out put his body on the line.
- 1:04:12Speaker 5: Those again, those ten block shots to me mean a lot.
- 1:04:15Speaker 5: That to me, Garner's third star status here for Ryan Lindren.
- 1:04:18Speaker 5: My second star is Jared McCann without question, offense seven
- 1:04:23Speaker 5: points to lead this entire team. A big reason why
- 1:04:26Speaker 5: that there right now back in this race because they
- 1:04:29Speaker 5: got to get their top line going. But it's pretty
- 1:04:31Speaker 5: clear that he's finding something now with Bunye Beniers and
- 1:04:34Speaker 5: Jordan Eberley, and he's on pace now to hit basically
- 1:04:37Speaker 5: a forty goal pace. He won't get there, of course
- 1:04:40Speaker 5: because of the injuries here, but for what he is doing,
- 1:04:43Speaker 5: I mean, my goodness, he's already up to fourteen goals
- 1:04:46Speaker 5: now on the season through just twenty eight games, twenty
- 1:04:50Speaker 5: six points as well in that span. Those fourteen goals
- 1:04:54Speaker 5: already are second on the entire team. And he's played
- 1:04:58Speaker 5: twenty eight game versus Jordan Neverli who's got nineteen in fifties,
- 1:05:02Speaker 5: so it's pretty apparent. I mean Jared McCann could have
- 1:05:06Speaker 5: been a backbreaker for this team, but they get him
- 1:05:08Speaker 5: right back into the mix and he's paying off in
- 1:05:10Speaker 5: dividends right now. Jared McCann's my second start. My first
- 1:05:13Speaker 5: start is Matty Beaneer's because he's making that top line
- 1:05:16Speaker 5: go and where this line goes, this team will follow.
- 1:05:20Speaker 5: The play under the hood, I think has been fantastic.
- 1:05:22Speaker 5: The backhand goal that he delivered against New Jersey, my goodness,
- 1:05:27Speaker 5: hang it in the museum like a wall of art,
- 1:05:30Speaker 5: and it's apparent that the work he's putting in here
- 1:05:32Speaker 5: with the krakend their skills coaches as well. He mentioned
- 1:05:35Speaker 5: Chris Taylor also a big part of this. We're seeing
- 1:05:38Speaker 5: a new level and a new dimension here to Matty Beaniers' game,
- 1:05:42Speaker 5: and I think it's going to be very, very exciting
- 1:05:45Speaker 5: here based on his competitive nature to see what kind
- 1:05:48Speaker 5: of results that he can help deliver after he gets
- 1:05:52Speaker 5: a well deserved two week break, comes back fresh, and
- 1:05:55Speaker 5: maybe he doesn't make Team USA this year, but perhaps
- 1:05:58Speaker 5: it's one of those blessing in the sky that give
- 1:06:01Speaker 5: the Kraken a fresh Veneer's here for what's going to
- 1:06:03Speaker 5: be a very very busy March. He's had now eight
- 1:06:07Speaker 5: goals in this last month, most for him in one
- 1:06:10Speaker 5: month for his career. Matty Benier's absolutely fantastic last four
- 1:06:14Speaker 5: games as well. He's my first star of the week.
- 1:06:18Speaker 3: Yeah, Mikey, I'm going to give two of the same
- 1:06:21Speaker 3: different orders and one different One. Third star for me
- 1:06:24Speaker 3: was Matty Benier's three goals to assist five points over
- 1:06:28Speaker 3: his last five games. He's looking as good as I've
- 1:06:34Speaker 3: ever seen him.
- 1:06:35Speaker 9: Now.
- 1:06:35Speaker 3: I wasn't part of the organization for the playoff here,
- 1:06:39Speaker 3: but it sounds like he's on pace for a similar
- 1:06:41Speaker 3: kind of year if he continues out.
- 1:06:43Speaker 7: But certainly over the last week he's been good enough
- 1:06:46Speaker 7: for my third star.
- 1:06:48Speaker 3: Second star. I originally wrote down goaltending. I was going
- 1:06:51Speaker 3: to give it to the duo, but when I started
- 1:06:53Speaker 3: looking at the stats over the last three games decord
- 1:06:56Speaker 3: eight eight to zero, say percentage one two and over
- 1:06:58Speaker 3: his last three three point three goals against average, I
- 1:07:02Speaker 3: thought that's not good enough for me. Joey needs to
- 1:07:05Speaker 3: be better. So my second star is going to Grubauer
- 1:07:07Speaker 3: this week nine three six, save percentage two to two
- 1:07:10Speaker 3: and zero over over his last five one six to
- 1:07:13Speaker 3: six goals against average. He's playing lights out right now.
- 1:07:17Speaker 3: Even in the last three. He played in two of
- 1:07:19Speaker 3: those last three. The game he lost, you know, he
- 1:07:23Speaker 3: kept it to three or three or less. The Cracker
- 1:07:25Speaker 3: just couldn't put pucks.
- 1:07:26Speaker 7: In the net.
- 1:07:27Speaker 3: I think it was that that Anaheim game. So he's
- 1:07:30Speaker 3: my He's my second star and the first start. Jared McCann.
- 1:07:34Speaker 3: It's got to be Jared mccannon for me. Over his
- 1:07:36Speaker 3: last five four to three, seven points plus three, even
- 1:07:41Speaker 3: since he came back from his injury, eighteen points in
- 1:07:44Speaker 3: seventeen games.
- 1:07:46Speaker 7: He's got the highest.
- 1:07:47Speaker 3: Shooting percentage on the team right now at twenty point three,
- 1:07:51Speaker 3: and as we saw last night, it would have been
- 1:07:52Speaker 3: a little higher had that goal not to not been
- 1:07:55Speaker 3: called off. So Jared McCann is my number one star
- 1:07:58Speaker 3: for this past week.
- 1:08:00Speaker 6: Yeah, I think we're kind of all on the same
- 1:08:01Speaker 6: page here. I'm gonna go Jordan Ebi is my third star.
- 1:08:04Speaker 6: Points in three straight, continuing to show that age ain't
- 1:08:09Speaker 6: nothing but a number, and I mean he he is
- 1:08:12Speaker 6: really having a great season. And I think this the
- 1:08:18Speaker 6: leading by example, goalsen back to back games, assists in
- 1:08:21Speaker 6: three straight games, and he's doing this, you know, around
- 1:08:24Speaker 6: seventeen minutes and a half minutes the night.
- 1:08:27Speaker 2: He had fifteen oh seven last night, which was a
- 1:08:29Speaker 2: low for his last five games.
- 1:08:31Speaker 6: So, you know, I think his economy on the ice
- 1:08:34Speaker 6: has been has been really good in recent games. Number two,
- 1:08:38Speaker 6: I'm gonna go Maddy Beniers again. Four game point streak,
- 1:08:41Speaker 6: goals in back to back in three of those four games,
- 1:08:44Speaker 6: and I think also to just I love that his
- 1:08:49Speaker 6: willingness and his ability to continue to grow his game,
- 1:08:54Speaker 6: whether that's defensively, whether that's offensively.
- 1:08:57Speaker 2: You know, he had the four minute double minor.
- 1:08:59Speaker 6: For high sticking the other night, and I think, you know,
- 1:09:02Speaker 6: some physicality shown as well. I think he's doing a
- 1:09:05Speaker 6: really good job of showing us that complete player. And
- 1:09:07Speaker 6: you're right, Bal, he's going back to what we saw
- 1:09:11Speaker 6: a couple of years ago and that rookie year of
- 1:09:13Speaker 6: his and then number one Jared McCann. Now, aside from
- 1:09:16Speaker 6: the four point night last night, he adds you know,
- 1:09:19Speaker 6: four goals his last four games, three assists in that
- 1:09:21Speaker 6: time as well, a plus rating in three of his
- 1:09:23Speaker 6: last four games, and continuing to find ways to get
- 1:09:26Speaker 6: shots off once again, like everly, he had fourteen minutes.
- 1:09:30Speaker 6: Last night he had sixteen against Anaheim with the goal.
- 1:09:32Speaker 6: He had fifteen and a half against the Islanders, a
- 1:09:34Speaker 6: goal in assist. You know, his high watermark seventeen to
- 1:09:38Speaker 6: twenty five against the Devils, held off the score sheets.
- 1:09:40Speaker 6: So maybe you should play him fifteen or fewer minutes.
- 1:09:43Speaker 6: Put the urgency in Jared McCann and he'll get some
- 1:09:46Speaker 6: more points. So those are my three stars of the night.
- 1:09:48Speaker 3: Can I guess give one honorable mention though? Breaker Evans
- 1:09:51Speaker 3: goals in back to back games, playing very physical right now,
- 1:09:55Speaker 3: just looking at his last five plus seven on the
- 1:09:58Speaker 3: plus minus chart over his last I'm playing some very
- 1:10:01Speaker 3: solid hockey right now.
- 1:10:02Speaker 7: Honorable mention the record.
- 1:10:03Speaker 5: Yeah, showing that he's also benefiting playing here with Ryan
- 1:10:05Speaker 5: len grin Andy, I got to throw him in there.
- 1:10:07Speaker 5: I had honorable mentions also for Philip Grubauer. You guys
- 1:10:10Speaker 5: mentioned him, Jordan Eberley, you guys mentioned him, and even
- 1:10:12Speaker 5: Berkeley Catton for again his play, his game and then
- 1:10:15Speaker 5: just going right at the front of the net and
- 1:10:17Speaker 5: finding a goal that was effectively the dagger against New
- 1:10:21Speaker 5: Jersey back on Sunday.
- 1:10:23Speaker 6: And you know what we talked. We talked to Berkeley
- 1:10:25Speaker 6: about that before the Washington game last night. I went
- 1:10:31Speaker 6: up to him in morning skate and Al brought up
- 1:10:33Speaker 6: this comment in the broadcast. He said, twenty games ago,
- 1:10:36Speaker 6: you know he's not making that play. He's going behind
- 1:10:39Speaker 6: the net. He's trying to reset, look for his options
- 1:10:43Speaker 6: and go from there. So I brought that up with
- 1:10:45Speaker 6: Berkeley Katton and he bang on. He's agreed with what
- 1:10:49Speaker 6: that assessment. He goes, scoring in itself is a skill
- 1:10:52Speaker 6: and I'm finding, you know, my confidence is growing. I'm
- 1:10:55Speaker 6: getting a lot better there. But you're absolutely right, five
- 1:10:58Speaker 6: ten games ago, I'm not doing that, but I because
- 1:11:00Speaker 6: I've scored some more goals. And I'm paraphrasing here a
- 1:11:02Speaker 6: little bit to clean it up a bit. But you
- 1:11:05Speaker 6: know now that I'm scoring more, that I'm finding my
- 1:11:07Speaker 6: offensive stride. You know, you're seeing that confidence in me
- 1:11:10Speaker 6: growing a bit more so to hear him say that,
- 1:11:14Speaker 6: and he was very honest and very matter of fact,
- 1:11:17Speaker 6: and it wasn't you know.
- 1:11:19Speaker 2: The typical Chippucks in Chippucks.
- 1:11:21Speaker 6: Out hockey response. It was a really good one to one.
- 1:11:24Speaker 6: It was almost like he was talking to his buddy,
- 1:11:26Speaker 6: you're talking to his parents. You know it was a
- 1:11:28Speaker 6: really cool inside.
- 1:11:31Speaker 5: Look all right, that's all the time we have here
- 1:11:33Speaker 5: once again, one more home game to go till the Olympic,
- 1:11:35Speaker 5: breaking them three on the road Vegas, Anaheim, the Kings
- 1:11:39Speaker 5: as well. We're all gonna be out there by the
- 1:11:41Speaker 5: end of it. Looking forward to having you seven o'clock
- 1:11:43Speaker 5: star times across the board. And keep in mind the
- 1:11:45Speaker 5: game at Vegas this Saturday, live watch party going down
- 1:11:49Speaker 5: at Tom's Watch Bars six point thirty on air for
- 1:11:52Speaker 5: that one plus all the rest. Additionally home for tomorrow
- 1:11:56Speaker 5: night against the Leafs. Also the Anaheim game next Tuesday,
- 1:12:00Speaker 5: and the Kings game on the road as well next Wednesday,
- 1:12:02Speaker 5: and then the break. Oh keep in mind, by the way,
- 1:12:04Speaker 5: the Leafs game tomorrow night and the Anaheim game next Tuesday.
- 1:12:08Speaker 5: National TV covers, so we are your only local source
- 1:12:12Speaker 5: for broadcast coverage once again here all right here on
- 1:12:15Speaker 5: ninety three to three KJRFM and the Global Credit Union
- 1:12:18Speaker 5: Cracking Audio Network. All right, we're gonna get out of
- 1:12:20Speaker 5: here big thanks once again to Dave McCarthy and also
- 1:12:23Speaker 5: to Everett. Now talk with you tomorrow for broadcast coverage.
- 1:12:27Speaker 5: Shan again, I'm Mike Benton for cracking weekly on ninety
- 1:12:29Speaker 5: three to three KJRFM.