Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Craig Conroy Talks Young Stars Classic, Upcoming Season & More | FN Barn Burner

Episode Date: September 16, 2024

Boomer & Pinder sit down with Calgary Flames GM Craig Conroy!!TIMESTAMPShttps://youtu.be/H8dMudLBOtk- Young Stars Classic (0:30)- Zayne (3:00)- Honzek 5:30)- Young Goalies (7:30)- Any More Moves? (15:00)- Hunter B (16:00)- Pospisil/Zary C (20:00)- Lomberg (21:30)- Mantha (24:00)- Kuzmenko (25:30)- Pelts (29:30)- Shark (32:00)- Goalies (35:00)- Iggy (41:00)- New Rink (42:00)BARN BURNER BLONDE https://originbrewing.myshopify.comFLAMESNATION MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8INSTANT REACTIONShttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-dO2AraHTeftSpPt00evo8M&si=lY5D3nk8zVtrQgql🚨 Subscribe to @Flames_Nation on Youtube 🚨➡️ / @flames_nation 🔥 Barn Burner with Boomer, Pinder, & Rhett Warrener➡️ • Flames Nation Barn Burner 🔥 After Burner ➡️ • Flames Nation After Burner @dailyfaceoff2563 LIVE with Frank Seravalli:➡️ / @dailyfaceoff2563 💻 Website: https://flamesnation.ca🐦 Follow on Twitter: @FlamesNation @960boomer @PinderReport @Warrener44📺 Subscribe on Youtube: @Flames_Nation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I texted you the other day and you're just, I'm just so excited. I'm so excited. I was trying to think of what a comparable would be. It's like when you make your Christmas list and then all the toys show up and it's Christmas morning. I mean, you drafted a lot of these guys and now you get to put your eye, a couple games, one more to go. How have you felt about the new boys? Yeah, no, it's been good. I mean, they've worked hard.

There's been some good, some bad, some in between, you know, but overall, you know, to be able to even the first. game being down two coming back then down three to come back uh go to overtime and you know they could go either way and you know one little little mistake and then it's in the back of your net so no but overall uh you know i know we're a younger team than most and usually we we came here we might only have one player in a draft year to have eight in one year um it's exciting we were laughing because Trent call came out after the game the other night and he was well i think we were one for three in the power play then they kind of caught himself i can't believe i'm trying to go and stats for these for these games. So I wonder how much stock you obviously it's it's it's an

entertaining and you're happy to watch them. How much stock are you putting in obviously depending on age? I guess the the 18 year olds you're not as concerned as go make your mistakes. This is where you make them. Maybe the 21 and 22 year old guys it's a little bit of a different story. Yeah, you'd rather have the guys make the mistakes here. I mean in the end you know it's the first time they're playing it's older guys some guys some of these players played in the NHL that they're playing against or in the American League all year and it's a little bit of an eye opener, the size, the strength, the speed. It's just, you know, it just gives them their first taste, and then they're going to go to main camp, and it's going to get that much harder.

You know, it gets that much bigger, faster, more skill. And I think your first camp, you're a little nervous going in anyways, you know, at least I was, you know, going in, looking around, Patrick Waus, seeing all the guys, all the guys you've watched on TV for so long, just sit in the room, not saying much. And I love to talk. So this would be. I mean, evaluating it's interesting. It's probably more about getting guys ready for main camp because it's funny. Like, I've really liked Sam Morton, but he's 25.

Like, he's seven years older than St. Perig. Of course, I should like him. But then also it's like, well, how's he supposed to impress anyone here? If he's the best player on the ice, it's like, yeah, well, he's supposed to be. I mean, it's almost like evaluation of this is secondary to what's coming next week in a way. Well, it's tough because coming in, I thought Sam stronger. there's guys that have been here, Siona, they're going to be more noticeable, just because they've been here before, you know, and maybe not in Morton's case, but because he's older. And you saw what he came into the American League, what he did right away, the year he had in college previously.

So, I mean, he could score goals. And then, you know, all he can do is come and play his game. And he's been excellent. So, you know, it's what we expected. I guess I'd much rather see that than have him say, oh, oh, what's going on? you know, he's having a tough couple games. So, you know, for him and Stromgren, they've done exactly what I thought.

So it's not much of evaluation. It's just confirming what we already knew. And so this is first real hockey for some of these new toys, as Dean called them. I sort of think of Herrick Gridden and then obviously Bash as very high-end talented players, explosive, like game-changing type talents. Development camp's not really that because who are guys at

in their off-season? but here they are, game action, older men, higher level. What have you seen? And have you liked what you've seen from those three weapons? Yeah, you know, I think Zane definitely wants to do something every shift, you know, highlight Rio, make a play. I think he's just going to settle in, you know, and when he knows, like, you can see the way he sees the ice,

the way he moves with this stuff, you know, a couple times when he goes over the blue line, there's two guys on him, maybe just chippet in. He tries to make a play. You know, those are going to be things that, again, you don't want to take out of his game, but he'll see how quick and how strong guys are, and he'll kind of adjust as we go on. I mean, Gridden, I really liked his game, both, you know, even last night showed the great speed down the side in the first period, great hands.

I thought he just had it, just miss, you know, and then he made some unbelievable passes. And Bash, you know, for missing the night before, he just to speed, the work ethic, the intensity that he brings each game. It's, I'm really happy with, I mean, I could go through the list of each guy, and, you know, you've seen some really good and then maybe, oh, some things they need to work on. But that's what this is all about. This is just about, but again, they have not played in a physical hard game all summer. And then you throw them in here and you have two right back to back and with one one practice

beforehand. So I'm happy with overall the way it's going. Sorry, I was going to say the calling card kind of seemed to be that you went with skill. That's the one thing you wanted to get was at whatever position takes highly skilled guys. And we've seen that here. It's a couple of games, and it is what it is, and we kind of keep backpedaling on it, but I, between, you know, Mews, we talked to you after the game the other night,

and Mesa, and obviously, Basha has really been impressive. There is, how it translates, we'll find out, but you guys have to be happy with that skill level, because it seems to be there. Yeah, you know, you watch them, we didn't get a lot of power plays at first night, but just to see him on the power play, zipping it around, you know, Misa over to bash it in the back of the net, like that's what you're hoping for.

But, you know, I thought for whatever reason, Mesa's line really had some chemistry yesterday. You know, and in that you're looking for, you're trying to say, okay, who out here? Do they have any chemistry? How do they feel? And I do feel like as we've gone along, we probably missed like five empty nets. I don't, you know, with all that skill, I'm like, oh, just touch it in. Oh, nope, nope, they miss.

But, I mean, they put themselves great pass backdoor, I think, to McNamara yesterday. And just, you know, you want it so bad sometimes. I think, you know, you're pressing a little bit. And I think that's what you've seen a few times in the first two games. You switched up where Sam Hansik was. In game one, I didn't see a ton of them. Saw a lot more of them in game two, which is a great development for him. But you also had him next to the two guys he talked about Morton and Stromgren,

who are older, you know, guys you'll expect to dominate here. Where he had on Sam, he's missed a lot of time with injury. And it feels like a huge year for him, given that you're probably going to have them under your umbrella with the Wranglers. Yeah, you know, the one thing was Sam, we want to be patient. I mean, he did have that year. You know, the first game, would I like to see to just pop right out right away? You know, you watch the skating's great, the size, the skill. You see it in practice.

You know, we just need that to translate into the games. And I thought he was much better. Obviously, playing with two really good players. But, you know, I noticed him last night. He finished some checks. He was in on Pucks quick. You know, he's using his speed and his size. And that's what we need.

You just need to get him, you know, it's almost like he's overthinking it out there. We just need to go out and play. and play hard and compete and that's it. But again, probably missing the whole year. He puts a little pressure on himself coming back and in the tournament again. So when you're, okay, it's his 20-year-old year. He's a late birthday when you draft him. He is eligible to go back to Vancouver where he spent the last two seasons.

He could play with the Wranglers. Is that a done deal? Would you like him to be somewhere? Do you bring him to main camp and let his plate aside? Or is there a jersey already made and a stall already labeled? Like, how do you approach that guy? Because there's a few others in that spot too. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know,

you're going to see how the whole camp goes. I mean, I guess if I was going into it this year, we'd like to see him in the American League or NHL or wherever he kind of fits in there. You know, for him to go back to junior, is that going to be enough of a challenge for him? It's hurt a lot last year. So, you know, maybe it could be.

But I think in my first mind, you know, over the summer, we all talked about it. I can see him. It's going to be pro hockey somewhere. Okay. while Terry Ignathev we got some eyeballs on him against the Oilers

I'm always I don't know how goalie scouts do it how do you translate so it's the second tier in this country how does that equate to what level is this guy playing at as it compares to Canadian junior junior hockey or high school hockey but he looks even right like it's so what

until you get him in your gear and watch him every night. You don't know, but it was a pretty impressive first look. I thought he was outstanding. I mean, I really did. He looked composed, you know, especially playing on a small rink. I remember Yoni Ordeo here one year, and Yordi was a great goaltender, but it was six goals on eight shot.

I thought, oh, boy, here we go. And we pulled them out of that game. So you just never know. And he just said it was quicker, people to traffic. It just didn't feel comfortable in the ice. So I never know what to expect coming in when he's playing on a small. all the rink, but I was, I thought he was excellent. I told Jordan, I'm like, hey, he's got

to finish that, he's got to score. Like, you know, if there's at home. Oh, yeah, I should have, yeah. Walk us through what you saw. Well, they pulled the goal, they pulled the goalie last night, and he grabbed it quickly behind the net, and he's got a really good shot. So he

fired it from, and we were right at the end where he was shooting, and everyone's like, I think that's online, and then they kind of reached up and tapped it out of the air. And we, you see it out of the air. Yeah, It was high, but it was definitely on track to go in. So, you know, I was giving Jordan a little grief. Well, you know, he should have got one.

But he was, well, I'll tell him to work on that next time. Well, I don't know if you heard his quote after the game. He said, well, they told me, this is what the goal there. He says, they told me not to go up the middle with it. But they didn't say I couldn't shoot. They didn't say I couldn't try and score. So that's what he was going for. But yeah, I was, again, really impressed for being on the small ice.

So now it moves, I mean, you've got one more game here, then you move back to Calgary. Everything kind of shifts for Sam Morton. Things get a little bit more, more difficult. And going through last year was kind of your first camp was what did you learn from a GM standpoint? Do you change camp at all as far as workload, gameplay, number of games, that sort of thing? Well, I think it's just, you know, you're trying to get guys into games. And to have three games in two days, we're going to be able to get a lot of guys in. It's too bad we can't watch both games, you know, all three games, but, you know, I do think having the split squad gives you an opportunity to get almost everybody at camp in the game, which is great, just to give them some experience.

Obviously, you know, camp's so short nowadays. We used to come into camp and have two weeks, and then you have a game, and you really could kind of get going. Now it's three practices. You know, it's amazing that, and then you start their games and pretty much games every other day. and, you know, we have some mandatory day off days in there that we have to get the day off in. So you're like, and you know coaches. They don't like day off days at the start of the year.

But again, probably a good thing because you don't want to overtax them. You know, I talked to Ryan just about camp. It's going to be a lot of systems early this year. I think we didn't do that last year. So he really wants to dive right into the systems and get going. So the teams, when you'll see them, they'll be a little bit, you know, skewed more. kind of NHL, AHL guys than some of the kids.

And sometimes we would like to see some of the kids right in those spots. But, you know, I understand Ryan's got to get the team ready. We got to do what's best for the team moving forward. So, you know, we're going to see those kids in some exhibition games, which will be great. But you're going to see kind of some of the more veteran guys on a couple of those teams early on.

If I may, it's been a couple of years with the Wranglers right under your nose at the saddle. along you can really lean on a lot of your staff that you used to have, well, there's some people in California to do that and there's people in Calgary that do that. How much have you seen in terms of gains organizationally of having those guys right there, whether it's staff, whether it's the ability of you to watch them, I'm sure there's all kinds of things I've even thought about, but just that efficiency of both teams under one roof. Oh, it's great. You know, it's for me just to be able to go, it's a Wrangler game the night after work, go right in and watch the game or, you know,

be able to see the guys or talk to the guys, go talk to the American League coaches, you know, when we're all there together, it's invaluable, really. And to be able to say the one day I remember getting to call, hey, Marky's not feeling well, okay, Wolfies can come up. And it's done like that, you know, where you're a little bit jammed up. When they're in Stockton or Adirondack or wherever they were, you're like, now we got to get them called up and back.

So to be able to call guys up and down, you know, sometimes they're on the road, though. so it is a little bit tricky. But, you know, I think the other thing that I really notice is how many, you know, veteran players want to come to a team that, hey, if there is a, if I do have to get sent down, my family will be in the same place. So I do think there's an opportunity there, too, to also add great veteran players that feel like, yeah, everyone wants to be in the NHL.

But if I'm not in the NHL, to be in the same city would be, would be amazing for him. Sure. Well, closely do you monitor other teams being the spot. that you're in. You've got cap space. You've got the ability to take on players. If anybody else is at a time, it's the complete role. It's kind of for the second year in a row, but you've got a lot of cap, a lot of space and all of that. How closely do you monitor other teams and what they're potentially trying to do? Maybe you're more proactive making calls instead of just sitting back and accepting. Yeah, you know, you call all the teams and obviously, you know, we all look at the

caps, see who might be up against it, who might be looking to make a move. You know, a lot of teams say, hey, we're going to see how it goes in camp here. We're going to see what we can do. We might need to, you know, free up some cap space as we move forward. I said, if you do, you know, just so you know, we're a team that's willing to do that's happening already? You know, I did it over the summer. You know, and you just, when you regularly talk to people, they're like, hey, we're not

there yet, but we know you're interested in doing some of that. Probably there's other teams just like myself doing the same thing. So, you know, that's, you just want to make sure. Because you know who's kind of jammed up and who's not. And you're trying to weaponize that just like everybody else's. So, you know, we're open to doing it hasn't happened yet. And you never know when it's going to happen. Is it going to happen at training camp?

Maybe, you know, a team that says, oh, we feel like we need to do this or someone doesn't go on LTIR or they need to have a little bit of wiggle room because they want to make a trade. Well, you know, then we're there to help. And you know, if there's any, you know, if there's any movement out there. but I think for the most part, everybody right now wants to get into camp, see what they have, and then go from there, kind of let their team start the season. So, you know, it's, and that's what happens through free agency.

It was similar to that last year, but maybe with some of the players we had that were unrestricted, I had more calls early, you know, in that regard. Yeah. You've got Tyson Berry in on a PTO. Are you still talking with agents and players about other PTOs? Are you add a number that you're comfy with? Are there a few holes you'd like to fill before I imagine, what, the next few days? Well, I think we're pretty, you know, we have pretty much the group that's coming now is here.

You know, we've talked to some other players, you know, just in general, but we, nothing solid. And, you know, the one thing I said, we're going to bring in our scouts for the first three games of pro guys and then kind of get them back to their teams because is there going to be a waiver guy? Is there going to be, you know, is there someone on a PTO out there that makes sense? Christopher Steig was a guy that we went to Edmonton and he played unbelievable against us. and then we end up signing. Well, AJ Greer was great off waivers for you too last year. And people forget about them because you got hurt. But, you know, every year, even Hanley, you think about Pahall,

there's been some really good depth you've found off waivers since you've taken over. Yeah, so you're just, yeah, you're looking at all the things. I mean, you're open to, you know, anything. You know, you don't want to be close-minded. You know, right now we have a lot of guys. We have a lot of contracts. So, you know, I don't see us doing much.

But if there's something that makes sense that we want to be able to move on that. Brestevich is a guy you got last year to Lund Home Deal. I know the first rounder came, Yermot, who we've seen here in Penticton, also a third rounder that I, is it the muse picked potentially? Like, this is looking like a heck of a deal. What have you made a hunter?

And maybe take us back to when that deal happened and transpired right around the Allster break. Where were you at on Brestevich and where he at now? Like, it seems like he almost okay, great start to the year. But to finish with 92 points, I believe, as a defense in the aisle. You know, obviously,

I think he had a few injuries of his graph here. And then he kind of played the way, you know, we like the player. Seas the ice, smooth, smart. You know, even last game, I was like, oh, there may be a breakaway, but he got to stick in there to break it up. He reads, plays well as, you know, he's shifty, making plays. And, you know, I thought the first 10 minutes, like the whole team in the first game, I was like, oh, boy, this is not good.

And then I thought everyone kind of started to get more comfortable. I was, but, you know, the way he sees the ice, the way probably going to need to be a little bit quicker to get back to retrieve puck so then he can get it moving, especially as he moves up to, you know, the main camp. But overall, you know, we're excited. I mean, obviously we liked him, got to see him a lot in Kitchener, even his draft year.

And then last year, he just took off again. And is he locked in from the American League as well? He would, yeah, I mean, you want to see it. Yeah, I mean, you want to see it, but I mean, 92 points. I don't know how much more you can do or, Or, you know, we want to challenge these guys too. And we want to give them an opportunity to come and say, hey, you know what? Pro hockey is where I need to be.

You know, and when you get a chance to do that, it probably makes more sense. But again, you don't want to, you know, we talk about we don't want to put guys in a position where it sets them back. If they're in way over their head and it doesn't go and then they lose all their confidence. I don't think that's Hunter at all, though, you know, I don't think Hansig is like that either. So, you know, that's why you never want to 100%. hey, this is where he's going to be, but I would be leaning towards that. You have a lot of defensemen,

and I feel like from where we sit, we still don't really know what everyone is. There's Pahal and Miramanov, and Hanley came in and didn't play a lot, and then there's Brestevich, and you added tenority. There's a lot of guys, but there's a lot of unknown as to, if not what they are, then where they're going to fit.

I guess talk maybe just quickly about the tenority, because I don't know that anybody saw that coming. It's a lot of blue liners. Yeah, you know, I mean, and that's the thing. We have a lot of young blue liners, but we also, we felt like, okay, we need to get some guys in here. A guy like Jared Tenority, the one thing that competes there every night, you know, the work ethic to compete. And then you talk to everybody around. He's unbelievable guy.

You know, his goal is to make the NHL, but if he happens to be in the minors, you know, you have a lot of young guys in the American League, too, that need some guidance and support. And, you know, it's a tough league down there. there. I mean, the fights and everything, not that, but he'll calm a lot of that. Just a big man with his size, with his compete, you know, there's not a lot of fights, but just to know that the young guys have someone down there and also in the NHL. I mean, a guy like Martin Pospasal, you know, he plays on an edge and you're like, you know, I know Lomburg's going to be in there. And you're going to, you know, we're, they're all going to be in there. But it is nice to have a little bit of

size and protection at times. on the back end to help support. Because Ryan's not big, Lombard, but, you know, he's fearless. You know, so you know he's going to be in there and everything else. And I think Pospas got a little better at the end of the year, but, you know, it's just the way he plays. And that's what we love about him because that's what makes him so effective. He's one of those intriguing guys.

And I can't wait to see because I do think he has some more offense in his game. We talked to you right after the Lindholm trade when we were Toronto for All-Star Break. And it was like, all of a sudden, Okay, Lendhal's going on, oh, well, what's going on at Center Ice? And you had noted that when you chatted with Pospicill and Zeri, they both certainly saw themselves as centers, or at least, yeah, I can do that. Are you expecting to see a large dose of both those guys in camp down the middle?

For sure. I know, like looking at Ryan's lines the other day, definitely both them are going to get center time. They need to. We need to find out where, and it was nice to see Pospis to play center with his national team. Yeah, so, you know, you're thinking, okay, if he was a center or Zari's a center, those guys, it'll make a big difference for us because that's the one position.

I do think we felt like we were a little bit thin on defense and you saw all the moves we made and we brought in a bunch of defense. And probably the one area that we felt weren't able to touch it or really help at the time was center. So if one of these guys could do it, that would make life a lot easier for me and our staff. You brought up Longberg and I don't know that we've talked since since that. It's kind of almost ancient

history, but you guys are very aggressive. You, I don't know if there was a bidding war, but you went and you got the guy. He was not one that I would have had on my bingo card or radar that you would have been targeting on a July 1. What was it about him? Is it still stemming back to his days

with the team, fond memories? Or what does he need to do and do well to be a good signing? you know, the one thing about him, I think just his whole attitude. Like, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he's the best guy in shape guy in camp. He's just won a cup. He loved his time in Calgary. We loved him.

I mean, when he left, it hurt. It did. We're like, you know, understand. You got to do it. Now he's won a cup. But, you know, I always thought if we could at some point, that's the type of guy you need. You know, you need a guy with that energy, fearless, team first, everything. And, you know, I know, I know he'd be the first.

first one sitting here. He wants to show, I got more offense. I got, I got more to give, but with the speed, you know, the way he plays, the type of teammate he is, I think having, you know, Uighur and Hubert O here and how excited they were when we got him too. You know, and I think, you know, when you look at what we might need, hey, he's a guy that's going to bring a lot of energy and he wants to play higher up in the lineup. You know, that's the one thing. And it's about starting to, because you, there's a lot of players that maybe didn't want to be in Calgary. Now here's a guy that clearly does. It's kind of like as you rebuild the roster, you're rebuilding the culture of the team as well and feels like he's a part of that.

Yeah, you want guys that want to sign and come to Calgary. And I think that's where everybody who brought in, Jake Bean, 100% watts, probably took less money to come back to Calgary, which, you know, means a lot to me. It says a lot about him and how much he wanted to come back. Anthony Mantha, I'm coming, you know, like that's the one thing. All these guys had different opportunities. So for them to come here and say, I'm going to show you guys, you know, I think this could be a good fit. I think there's going to be a good opportunity for me here. And now we're going to, you know, find out, you know, and everyone knows kind of what happened last year. So I think this year, just talking to backs going in, everyone's, it's a whole different, even at the golf the other day, I thought, it's just a different, you know,

it's a good feeling. It really felt good for the first time in a couple of years. And I don't know why two years ago, maybe it was tense or hard. It just felt like, oh, here we go. Like, it was a lot. I don't know if it was just pressure was there or we just, you know, I don't know what it was, but it felt like that was a tough camp. And then last year, it really started with everything happened like all just the media and, you know, the players aren't going to resign.

And it was a lot. It was a lot. So now this year, you know, we're going in and I feel like there's just a real good atmosphere around the team right now. You want to develop on Matha? Yeah. Go there right now. Well, and I guess just kind of thinking about that.

You go back two years ago, you're coming off of some playoff success, and then Daryl's kind of got things tight, and then Huska comes in looking for the fresh start, but you've got all these UFAs that you're going to have to deal with. So, yeah, it is a bit of a fresh start. Again, we were sitting there. I don't see the flames doing a whole lot. We're spending time talking about how is Coronado, how are these guys, we've got to make room for these forwards, and then in comes Anthony Manta.

It's like, okay, well, maybe is this an addition? play him up the lineup, give him power play time, spin him into an asset at the deadline, or because he's a big body that doesn't really play big, but there is skill, and he has scored in the league. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think given an opportunity,

you know, when you watch him, especially when he was in Detroit, we got to see him more, it felt like, but he had a good year last year, too. And then for whatever reason, it didn't quite work out when he got to Vegas. I thought it would. Yeah, I thought it was going to be, you know,

but that happens, you know. So I think for us, on a one-year deal, bring him in and see if there's chemistry there. You know, if he does have chemistry with Hubert O, or, you know, if there's another line that he has chemistry with, you know, you watch him in junior, is all he does is score, and he's got a great shot. And if we can give him some confidence and put him in situations to score, you know, power play, different, different, you know, key situations, six on five goalie pull.

You know, those are what we have to do. And we feel like, you know, we feel like he can be a big part of this team. And then those are the decisions you have to kind of wait as the season goes along to see how it all plays out. And hopefully you see chemistry and everyone's like, wow, that really works. I mean, I think probably if you asked anybody when I got to Calgary, if I was going to play with Jerome, probably not. You know, and it just happened. We had some chemistry for whatever reason. And we had some success.

We were chatting the other day just outside the rank and you were giving us. So what's the Kuzmanko update? You said you were watching him on the ice. the other day. He's such a unique character. We've, we've kind of joked about, you know, dresses his own way, marches to the beat of his own drum, obviously highly skilled. He's a unique dude. And what was he, uh, how's he looking? Great person, you know, he's got a great personality. He's like, he's full of life. Like, he's having fun. And, you know, I think sometimes when you, you, you think they're going to stick together. He's just, he's at whatever

table. He's walking out with cadre. He's walking out with whoever. And you're like, Just a real nice personality, and he's having fun. You know, you guys see the interviews. And, you know, I don't talk to him as much as the guys, but he's always having fun and his work ethic. You know, that's the one thing. He's the last guy in the ice shooting puck, shooting pucks all year long. So I thought, you know, it's going to be interested to see.

I think in the last 13 games, we had the best power play. And I think a big reason was him. You know, I thought he brought a lot. We moved players around, and it felt like Sharon Govich kind of. you know, up on this flank and then Hubert on the other side. It just seemed to work with Weager. So I'm looking to, you know, and then people will say, well, it's down the stretch. Games didn't mean anything.

But for me, still, you have to do it. And to be able to see that kind of go well, I can't wait to see kind of camp and see if we can continue that into the year. Because it's fascinating. We talk with Lindholm-Diel. I didn't even mention him. So you get the first. You get Brestevich.

You get Yermot. You get a pick. And you've got a guy that scored 39 goals when he comes. came to the NHL as a much older rookie, but in his first ever time in the best league of the world. Like that's undeniable talent. And then after the pickup to the end, he's kind of around that 40-goal pace again.

So to me, you know, a pending UFA, how do you sort of come to that decision of like, look, this, we've struck gold here and bought low on this guy that potentially is a 40-gold guy versus, my God, this Lindholm trade tree could set up the organization for a decade if we could spend this guy

as it's, and I know there's an agent in prices in there, but I mean, you dealt with five of these last year. This is a high profile one this year. Yeah, I mean, I think you're going in to see how it starts again. You know, I think when he first came in, he had a little bit of an injury. So it was tough to see, you know, he was kind of playing through something.

Then we kind of, once he got that taken care of, and it wasn't bad. It was just a little nagging injury that he had. But then literally from the, time he's like I feel 100% good to the end I'm like it was two two three points every game I thought in there too didn't he yeah or yeah I think you know he said he had a bad virus like I didn't know what you know Kent's like he does have something viral going on so you know so he's not feeling well nagging injury and when he kind of got over all that I was like well this guy is on fire like he just and he brought a lot

of life to the room. I mean, and, you know, it's, it's hard down the stretch when, you know, you're not coming to playoffs and things aren't going well, but he brought life, you know, and I think that's kind of, you think when Jacob Peltier, he brings that kind of to the room, you know, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that starts the beginning of the year with the new guys we have. And then, you know, all, like, Backland, I haven't seen Backland this excited in a long time about starting the season, which is, which is positive for me. And then you hear what Weeger's comments are. I mean, Weeger wants to, be here, turn this thing around, and let's get going in the right direction.

And that's what you didn't hear maybe last year from some of the guys. But this year, all the guys are on board. And that, that's why now I'm so excited to see how this team kind of starts the season. Yeah. Belcher you mentioned needs waivers this year. You hope that's not something that even crosses your mind. We also talked about there's a lot of wingers. You're trying to fit in Matt Coronado as well, who had an excellent HL campaign last year.

and maybe we saw some strides in the NHL level. Walk us through what you saw from Jacob last year because it was a tough year for him and then what you think he could be this year. You know, I felt like last year, you know, first period, the shoulder injury, four months off, came back, played really, really well in Boston. I don't know if you remember that game.

I thought, oh, wow, this is good. Then fast forward a couple games, gets hit by Truba. Again, another setback. And then even when we sent him out of the minors, I could tell, you know, that personality that he has, I think he was not in a good space as far as where his game was at. And he'd probably tell you it didn't play the way he would have loved down the stretch. You know, he still had 13 points in 18 games, but not the way Jacob would say, that's my game. So the one thing talking to him, I mean, he's hungry.

He knows last year we put that behind us. You know, he's like, I got to show everybody. And the one thing, I love the attitude. Like, he's like, I haven't shown I'm a regular NHL player yet. I am going to. So he brings energy, juice, you know, that skill set. And he's skating. I mean, you know, that was the one thing I was so excited.

Even last year before he got hurt, it was the best I saw him skating in a long time. I thought, ooh, he's really taken a step into skating. So it'll be interested to see at camp, how his skating has hopefully has improved again. And they seemed to going back, there was a bit of a connection between he and Hubert. Oh, now it's maybe too easy, the French-Canadian guys, but it was pretty clear the way they would behave with each other on the bench. There was a real connection between those two. You'd love to see that come to fruition, right? Even on social media, I think yesterday, he was like, go, son.

Yeah, yeah. They're leaning into it. Oh, yeah. I mean, they love, you know, it is. It's like a father-son relationship there. But I think, you know, and when you have that and you have that fun, it's fun to go to the rink when you have the rink when you have that connection with players. And I think that's, you know, that's what it's all about.

We want to have some fun this year. I think the other thing is, hey, people, we look to see where everybody thinks we're going to be. Like, hey, great, no problem. I remember Bob Harley, I think it was the 13, 14th season or right in there where, uh, the findaway season. Yeah, he said, 1450. Yeah, sorry, so 1450.

Yeah, he's like, you know, we have to believe in here. We have to do this as a team. We don't have one person that's going to win the games every night. We're going to have to, it's, it's win by committee. who's going to step up on every given night, but we got to do it together, you know, and that was kind of our, you know, our mantra back then, and I feel like that's

probably going to be very similar to this year that, hey, we believe, no one else believes, but we believe, you know, and then you got to do it for each other. And I think that brings a team really closer together. Another piece that's, you go back to last year, so many guys are going to be on their way out. I don't know if quiet isn't the right word, but Igor Sharon Govich signs on long,

term with this team. Rookies might come in and out. We don't know, but he is going to be a part of this. Maybe he's a centerman. Maybe he's not. But what was that contract negotiation like with him? Because it was pretty quick his fitting in as a flame and he had a hell of a season. Well, I think the one thing, at the end of the year when, you know, the locker clean out day or whatever, it felt like I know he must have said something that thought people were, you know, that Well, we're great at reading it. Yeah, unless you're gushing. Yeah, maybe it wasn't like, you know, but that was not actually true.

So when we first were able to start talking, we're like, hey, would, you know, would he have any interest in coming back or sign a long term? It was yes. And then we just got going. And then Dan Milstein, it was quick. It really was. It didn't take long. And, you know, we felt like it was a great deal for us.

And he felt like he was happy with the numbers. So it's nice when it works that way. And he wanted to be back. He really did. but so I never did see what he said but people were saying well does Sharon Govich really want to be here I'm thinking I think he likes it like but you know he really he really does so you know that's always a thing too when you have a guy that's only been here a year wanting to stay wanting to resign I think that sets the tone for the team moving forward it's it's a great sign and he had a great year 30 goals and he had

you know it was a little bit of a slow start where to kind of fit him in yeah yeah it was you know and again that's the thing who do you have chemistry of who do you, you know, and that's even on the D pairing. I'm like, I kind of have an idea who I would think, but, you know, you're, let's see who kind of has chemistry here during a training camp and, and then go from there. I like that you get a deal done with Dan Milstein because that's about a 30-year roster, I think, is also dead missing clients. So you get those done.

No friction there. It is quite something. You've got a lot Eastern Europeans, Bell Russians, Russians, and that seems to be Milstein's portfolio. I mean, keeps him plus. It is correct, too, of course. I recall seeing that. So, I mean, yeah, you know, it's weird how it works out. You know, everybody's like, you might have too many of one.

But Dan's, hey, Dan does a good job. Jan works hard for his guys and he gets deals done. So that was, yeah, definitely have a lot of his guys, though. I'm like, he's like, can I come sit in the office with you? I'm like, well, maybe get a group rate or something like that. Yeah, I'm like, if we do that. Discount, yep, team discount. last one on the team for me you've got three goalies you've you've talked you're excited to see what happens

fans have been waiting patiently for dust and wolf as he piles up accolades goal of year goal of year goal of the year goal of the year goalie of the year a hlvp i mean very excited but i know your staff also likes devon kooley and dan vladar we've seen flashes of a great goalie and i'm sure he sees this as a massive opportunity as well all three do all three i mean they're coming into camp that probably the thing I'm most interested to see how it works and see who kind of rises and takes that. Is it going to be a starting role where a guy plays 70? I don't think that's really the NHL anymore. You know, is it more 50, 30? Is it 40, 30, 10? I don't know how it's going to go. I mean, that's the one thing. These guys are going to kind of dictate how this is going to go. And talking to Jordan,

he feels very good with all three guys. And then just talking to Dan at the golf the other day. And I was watching videos. He was nice enough. I got to. some videos when he just got back from the surgery, how well he was moving. You know, he said, hey, my conditioning, my wind's a little down. That was in the summer. But now he's back. He's like, I wish I might have done this earlier only because every time he went down and up pain. Every time down, he says, the one thing I love now is I go down, I get up, no pain. You know, he's like, I should have done it earlier. But again, you know, when you're a younger guy, you don't want to give up that spot to, you know, you'll fight through the pain. But now that he feels,

pain free. I'm looking to forward to see how he does. So it was a trying I think we talked to you right after the end of the season between the team, you miss the playoffs, you have to trade a bunch of guys away and it's nobody wants to be a that whole thing and then you get into the offseason

you get all these draft picks and I guess how do you feel if you were to give yourself a report card or how do you, because I know it was stressful for you. Everybody's watching to see what the new guy is going to do and I think in a lot of ways you did a hell of a job. How do you kind of give yourself a letter grade or how do you feel it went you know i i feel like i learned a lot i made

some mistakes along the way that i won't make again that you know i'm it's yeah i mean nothing i mean it's always it's just when you're negotiating with other gms and you know when to pull the trigger on deals when not to you know how hard do you push you know tough probably the hardest part is when there's no moves and there's teams that people won't go to When you like deals, you know, how do you get them to do it? No, I still don't know that. That's, you know, that might be the hardest part is, you know, there's just so many things behind the scenes that, you know,

through my first year, but to have Don Maloney there, to have Dave known us, Brad Pascall and Jerome, just to be able to kind of throw out ideas and, you know, when's the right time, you know, because we really, you know, we did try, you know, with Hannafin, I thought it was getting very close to a deal. I thought it was, I think, game two, it was going to be done. And, you know, we lost in Pittsburgh.

And for whatever reason, it just didn't, it just stalled a little bit. And then it was on and off again. But it's interesting, you know, moving forward, just if, you know, kind of with Sharon Govich, we like Sharon Govich. We're locking Sharon Govich up. Yeah, little things like that that, you know, I probably, you know, dealing with agents, dealing with other teams. you really kind of get a sense of you're learning the people you don't really know the people you don't know how they deal in negotiations and you know so that's you're feeling them out they're feeling you out you know the one thing i think you know when i had a deal i liked i did it you know

i think sidore off a little bit you know we did that early um obviously he went public with what felt like a distraction yeah it became more of you know should i you know maybe it was that one where if I waited until the deadline, could I got a second? Maybe, maybe. But, you know, you're trying to do what you think is best for the team and taking away that. So, you know, as much as we love the door off, you know, that was one, was it early? Was it not? Those are the little things in my mind.

And the whole group talks about it, you know, moving forward, you know, was that something we should have done or not? But, you know, we felt the time that was the right thing to do. So we made a decision. Let's do it and move on. And, you know, obviously, you know, it is what is. And because there's no, you know, that's the other thing. You don't know, what if there was an injury? And then you don't get anything.

You know, so that's all is. We kept tapping the tables. Like, it's a Tenev thing. Down the tunnel. Down the tunnel. When he hits the, it was in Rangers, when he went flying into the goal, the goalpost, I thought, oh, oh, I didn't. didn't know if he was going to get up or not. And it is nerve-wracking. You know, it is,

that's a thing. It's, it's a fine line. But I do think, you know, now I feel a little bit more comfortable, you know, even going to the meetings. The one nice thing is, I know a lot of the guys and I know they're all super competitive. No one's going to help me. I'm not going to help them. You know, we know that, but they're good people, you know, and they will, you know, I guess if you have other questions about team staffing. You know, everybody kind of helps everybody. But when actually comes to trades and stuff,

you know, you're not getting any help from anybody. Does Jerome get an office? Does he, what's... Yeah, what's the Jerome What's the Jerome plan here? You know, he's going to come and go again. Yeah, that's a thing with the boys, especially Teesian Colona. He'll be there. And then now Joe in Edmonton

and then his daughter's a brown, jade. So yeah, he's busy. But you know, he's going to be around more this year, which will be nice. You know, I'd like him to take a road trip with the guys, see what it's all about, being a little bit more when he can. He's here right now. He's going to come back for main camp. And then, you know, he's really just starting to, the one thing about Jerome, he's got a ton

of ideas. He really knows the players, especially last year's draft class in the next three years. He's played against him. He's coached against him. He knows the kid. Like, he actually just, he knows him way better than us, the person. So, you know, it's fun to kind of get his perspective a little unbiased. Hey, what do you think of this player?

Can you watch this? He watches a ton of video. You know, I know I'm like, he's like, have you seen this? Oh, yeah, I watched him. I watch him. I watch him. So being out in the West, he'll be able to catch a lot of the players, especially as I go through kind of Colonna. And then we'll get him in for sure.

But he's, he's nice to have because he's just hungry and excited about being part of it. He learned that for Rort Warner, right? All that hard work. That's right. That kind of drive and intensity. You guys. I read. Where is Red guys?

That's right. That's right. Final one for me, I mean, it's fun to get out here. Personally, I used to work for this organization, working this rink. And I know how excited this city was when this rink came. You're now three years away from getting a new rink. And this is maybe just jumping the gun on the obligatory locker room jokes are going to see.

But you got to be excited. Oh, I'm so excited. You know what? I mean, because you have lots of meetings. and we're kind of fitting the space out to know we're going to have a practice rink there, to know, you know, we're going to have that designated area with all the stuff that you should have in today's NHL. I mean, if, you know, if you want to compete, you've got to have the best of the best and we're going to be state of the art, everything. And even, I didn't see the kind of

the rendering until the day it came out. Looks great. The outside, I'm like, they don't even show me. They show me the locker room area, parking, you know, all the little things people don't think about we're working through it right now. And it's, so I actually go up on top of the park, the parking garage and look down. And I'm like, oh, this is exciting. You know what? I never knew it was actually going to have, but now it feels like, okay, we're starting. And I think it's going to be great for the city.

And I do think it's going to help, you know, as you, as we're moving forward, getting to where we want to be, free agents, people. It's a great city. And I think the more and more. more people that play in Calgary, you know, and that's like with Ryan Lombard coming back, he's excited. I mean, he's excited to come back and we're excited to have him back. So, you know, he knows what the city's all about.

And now it's a hockey market, you know, it was one of those things when I was watching the finals. I was in Florida for game five. And, you know, I'm like, oh, I got to get down. We're going to get something to watch the game. I got a hurry to get down there. And we went down like an hour and a half before. Nobody.

And I thought, and the game started and there was a couple of teams, you know, and then I saw what was going on in Edmonton, and I know what it would be like in Calgary. And so I definitely was, you know, it's weird how in my, you just think it's like that everywhere. But, you know, they for sure were watching. They were watching, but it wasn't the way it would be in a Canadian market. Thanks. Maybe we'll catch up after cap and before game one. Well, you guys coming.

You got to get them down to some of the practices. But you guys do the show at the wrong time. I know. It's terrible. You want a twin? I can give you a kid if you missed the young ones. I am empty nester now. Maybe I need to, yeah, one.

Then I'll be like, okay. Awesome. Thanks, Greg. Thanks for having me, guys.