Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Pat Steinberg (FULL INTERVIEW)

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

Boomer, Pinder and Rhett are joined by Pat Steinberg on the Insider Hotline to talk all things Calgary Flames heading into the 2026-27 season. Pat breaks down the expectations surrounding this group, whether the Flames are still firmly in a rebuild or starting to move toward something bigger, and how Ryan Huska approaches a season where development remains a major priority. The guys also dive into the Simon Nemec situation, Mikael Backlund’s role, Calgary’s intriguing group of college prospects and some of the biggest questions facing the organization as the season gets underway. Where exactly are the Flames in this rebuild, and what would a successful season actually look like in Calgary?Video Link: https://youtu.be/4DFJSG1mo50#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #calgaryflames CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You talk about youth. We're adding some youth to the roster here as well. Also highly paid. That's the thing. Big contracts, big money. And part of our insiders this hockey season, this is get ready. I'm glad.

I hope everyone's sitting down because this is going to send shockwaves. Big money. The host of Flames Now from QR 770. Ha ha ha. Steinberg. How can we get him up this early? How do you wake? What up,

early flight? It was up early flight. Early flight. It's been to work. Look at this, Patty. I brought this in for you today. The good old days.

That's when I thought I looked cool without glasses. How'd that go for you? No, I realize it just don't look cool, period. Steinberg. So, boys. What's going on, bud? Oh, not much.

Getting the lay of the land of the new world. Yesterday was weird. It was a strange day. But good. It was fun. I enjoyed myself. And yeah, we're... This sounded great.

I had you on in the truck, Pat. You were wonderful. How did it sound? Wonderful. Absolutely amazing. Kind of like you're supposed to be there. It was weird being in a new building. and being in a new studio and looking new equipment,

but like old, yeah, it was all very odd, very odd. Same text line that we had for the longest time, but different number, just the whole thing was really cool, but really surreal. And now this, remember the old place? This wouldn't have been a lot of the old place. So now look at this, the four of us back together and maybe listen to the show on Thursday,

see if I can wrangle one of you guys up on Thursday. Yeah, yeah, I like it. I don't want to go too far down memory lane, but I believe was like Rogers the only employer you've had in your life until July. Well, like I worked, I worked for the Calgary Canons for that was my first ever job. Nice hat. But like in terms of like a real job where I wasn't clacking. Did you have to get a new email address?

Like, yeah. Hey, here's a, here's a life tip. Don't tie your entire life to your company email. Right. Yeah. It makes a little bit of that. Write that down. bit of a difference when you no longer work for that company.

Yeah, we set a confirmation code to that email. I can't. Yeah, what do you mean? Oh, yeah. Banking and I've had to, I had to cancel Disney Plus. You want to watch Disney Plus? Nope, got to cancel it because you don't. Netflix had to do the same thing. Yep, no, we got to send a year old email. No, I have a new email address. That email address doesn't exist anymore. Doesn't matter. And you'll now share that with all of us. It is. Yeah. Your personal email now is. it is

pender lover 6-9 6-9-9 got it thanks to email yeah thought our secret was safe no I said to retro before the show

when I told him that you were coming on that I saw the photo on whatever it is X or whatever of you sitting in the hot stove lounge interviewing Strom it's like yeah

well there's Pat you know time not a lot of time has passed but there's Pat right back there and retro says it's like where it's where you should be it's just what's the way it's meant to be in the hot stove lounge is there is there part of it that feels like

well maybe could have used the change jesus i'm back in this dank room again like i was here i was here for 22 next year next year it's changing well the like the the the fact that it is changing next year you think to yourself well it is it is kind of cool to be like officially part of the final year of the of the scotia bank saddle domes so that's been that's been that's been actually a pretty cool realization that when I walked in a couple days ago after the golf tournament you are like, geez, this is the last year of this place. They played that game

last night and you're like, this is the final first game of the season, the final rookie game they'll play. And like, it's actually surreal and they've got the farewell season thing on the ice and you're like, yeah, this is real. This place is closing in a year and they're playing in a new

building and they're like it's, it's the whole year is going to be really, really fascinating because of those things. So I guess because of that, it kind of felt like, no, well, probably give this place a send off. I've spent like most of my adult life in that, in that brick house. So I should probably,

I should probably send it off, I think. It's crazy for people that have never been in that room. Right. Because you hear it and it's just, yeah. It's a bunker. You walk in and you're like, ooh. This is where the magic house. Well, that was Kerr's thing. Curz's like, oh, everything holy here in the glorious hot stove, like

glory, it's this, that. So I envisioned like, palatial. Like, like a long bar and bar stools and lighting and all that. No. Maybe chandelier, no? It is. Cinder blocks. It is.

Yeah. It's a bunker. It's four walls painted white, cinder block walls. And that's it. I was looking at that last game of the year, Patty. Like the get in price is already over 500 bucks.

That might be the most expensive game in Flames history for game. Home game 42 this year against the Canucks. Was it April 10? If you don't have plans, it's getting expensive. Yeah, that resale market is going to be crazy when it's all said and done for that final game. And like, and like we've all, you know what I could. Yeah, you got any tips. You got any pull?

You got any tickets. You can see, see what I can do. I don't know. I'm in a new place. I have, I don't know what type of pull I have now. I don't. Boom, you saw, you saw like the original place, right? Like, you saw the, the one with like the knobs and like that, that original before the flood, that hot still lounge.

lounge was even worse than it is now. It's now like it has buttons that light up and not knobs the after. Like at least we've gotten into the 20th century with it. That's true. Yeah, that is true. It's an interesting start. We're going to have you on weekly this hockey season. We're pumped to have you.

It's different because even at the start of last year, we really were unsure. What does Conroy want to do? Even if we know what he wants to do, is he going to be? be allowed to do it. We're still very much in that. Don't say the R word. We can't say rebuild.

All this bullshit that was just, it just drove us crazy. And then, of course, you know, Don Maloney comes on TV and then sends everybody over the edge. But then by the time it was all said and done, all of the moves that you really felt like should have happened.

And I put Weger almost as a bonus. Yeah. But Anderson, Caudry, young guys, everything that you felt for so many years should be the path and should be the way to do it. It finally, it feels like for the first time in our lifetime, actually took place. So the whole tone feels different this year. It's a, that's probably not going to be a good year.

You were saying, just don't win too many games. And everyone's okay with it because now they've adopted and have accepted where they're at. Does it feel different to you as well? Is it a different around the building as well? Oh, absolutely. I mean, that picture that you were referencing when I got an opportunity on, I guess it was Thursday last week and I was sitting down. I think we talked to four players kind of to pre-tape some stuff for the first week of the show. And, you know, a few of the guys were very like, hey, we understand what the expectations are.

We understand what's going on. And we want to be a part of something. So it feels like the whole messaging has changed inside the locker room. We've heard them use the R word. Like they've used the word rebuild now, which for the longest time, you just never heard that with the organization. And I don't know, it was that, that Don Maloney interview, I really think, and we talked a lot about this on on the show last year as everything was going for. I think that changed a lot. Like I think the outcry and the outrage, like people were so upset.

And it gave everybody so much to talk about for so long. and people were so upset about the way that that kind of was received and the message that was being delivered. And I think that coupled with how bad the team was through October and November. And they got to that kind of magical U.S. Thanksgiving date. And they said to themselves, you know what? Like maybe people are willing to accept that, you know, we can be bad for a little bit. And it will be good.

And it was all happening while the Zane Perak discourse is going on. Like, should he play? should he not play and he was getting healthy scratched and then he got hurt and so it all just kind of it was it was almost like a perfect storm that needed to happen because i i don't know if the the if if don't go on tv and and talk to francis and deliver those interviews and if they don't have the awful start and if the correct discourse isn't as loud as it is like if all and at the same time you've got rasmus anderson who clearly wanted to be elsewhere and nasm Cadre started to talk about being elsewhere.

Like it finally kind of just all came together and something that the team had flirted with, the organization had flirted with forever. And they said, let's lean in and do this. And I think, look, there's some people who don't want it, but I think there's a pretty overwhelming group of people that do that see how you build teams in 2026 and you do it by drafting high, getting core players. And they're actually doing it. And I feel like if they finish 30th of 30.

31st, 32nd this year, it's going to feel a whole lot different internally. And certainly the way we're talking about it, is going to feel a whole lot different too? Is this the first time in franchise history they've chosen to rebuild? Because there's being inept and just hanging on to old guys too long. Oh, we sucked, shoot. But to actually choose this path, can you recall it happening before where it's a decision, not a reality that they were just given? Well, you guys check me if I'm wrong.

The only other time I can remember recovering the team was, like 20 when they when they when they they kind of they kind of were forced into moving jerome because jerome had requested a trade but when they moved jerome in 2012 or whatever it was and and then also traded kippersopp and boeaster sorry i didn't trade kippersop but kipper uh kipper decided to leave and they traded j bomeister like a week later um like when when they decided to do that i felt like under j feaster they drafted monahan sixth i i felt like they made maybe we're actively trying to do that then, but then they had that 2014-15 season. And I know for a fact, in 1415, when they had the year they did and they get to round

two of the playoffs, like, I know for a fact that internally, they pivoted. Like it wasn't like, oh, well, this is great, but this was always the plan. It was like, oh, no, we were planning to rebuild. And now we think we're ahead of schedule. So we're going to go acquire Dougie Hamilton and we're going to make other moves. We're going to sign Troy Brower and so on and so forth. I think that for the first time that I can ever remember, they actually are committing to it. And I think that they committed to it, you know, 13 years ago, but they got away from it way too quickly.

And that's one thing Craig Conroy's been adamant about is that he's got a plan and he's not going to deviate from it. And I give him a lot of credit. Even two seasons ago, he didn't he didn't lean in at the trade deadline when they were right there for a playoff spot. They exceeded everybody's expectations. And that was one of the messages was like, hey, this is good. We're going to let it play out. we're not going to deviate from the plan. And he carried that through into last offseason

when they literally didn't acquire anybody. So I think in terms of like actually sticking to a vision, it's the first time I can remember them honestly doing it. You know, the one guy, I guess the group that I think of, because his fans are observing you sit and so, yeah, get young. Don't even care if you win. That's just whatever. And Conroy and everybody, then there's Ryan Huska.

who is judged by how many wins does the team get. It's great. We're young and we're not good and everybody wants high draft picks. But if I, because even last year, he can't, this is not the right coach to develop these players and what are these lines and why are these guys playing? The one guy who doesn't really get off the hot seat in a way, even with a rebuild, is the coach. I want to just Huska's approach this year. Coleman, all those veteran guys, it's going to be a very different room.

I think he wants to win. I think he's still going to put together lineups that he believes he'll give him the best chance to win. But I also think even there, there's been a little bit of a shift because there's kind of, like, there's kind of no choice with no disrespect to the veterans they have. We don't know what Jonathan Hubertow is going to look like whenever he returns. Michael Backland turns 38 in March. You know, Ryan Strom at a great finish of the season.

And Zach White Cloud's a great ambassador and a Jake Middleton. I think is going to be a fan favorite, all those types of things. But like the best players on this team are young. And the way Zane Perrek finished the season, if he can carry that over, he's going to be one of their best players. And, you know, Matt Coronado is probably their best goal scoring threat. And so the players that you need to count on the most, Dustin Wolf is your, if he bounces back, like, that's a young goaltender. And he's probably your best player. And when Carson Carls possibly probably comes out of college in the spring and,

Cole Reschney, so on and so forth. All of a sudden, like, your best players are young. So if you want to win games and if you want to ice the best possible lineup, because of what's happened, because Cadry's gone and McKenzie's gone and Rasmus is gone, and now Coleman's gone, like the best possible lineup is probably going to include these young guys. So it kind of feels like almost by default, he's going to be in that mindset too. It's a huge shift, right? That's so many impactful guys.

Crazy when you wrap your head around it. Well, Coleman, too, is almost an afterthought because it was like, oh, yeah, they did the big trades, three of them last. You're like, oh, yeah, and Coleman too. Geez. What are your thoughts, right? Yeah, because I just, you feel like, well, who's going to, that's the media question.

Who's going to step up and be a leader? It just has to be kind of organic. Well, you don't anoint a leader. A leader grows into it and earns it. It's not, oh, well, we have to give to this. Here's a piece of fabric. You're now. Especially on this roster, right?

And you've got a captain, you've got leaders still. It's not, it won't be hard to find. I think that Huska, the key to it is, I think the guys like playing for him. And yeah,

he'll be judged on wins and losses, but not, like Pat said about the general public and the fans of this team, they're a knowledgeable base. Nobody's going to call for Huska's head if they don't, right? Like,

the effort. Are they playing hard for him? Perfect. Thank you. Structure. Carry on. And you always talk about it too. It's like, don't, don't crush these guys. Don't, after a bad performance, but I just, you know, let them go out and have some fun on the road. Don't crush these guys. Don't keep overpush it. Fun, fun, fun.

Let them grow together as kids. I don't know if it was inadvertent or not, but when they had Johnny and Monty and Benet left. Those are a group of kids that were having fun playing hockey. Do that. Do that. What do you expect from Simone Nemich or Simon Nemich or however we're saying his name?

Like this is a huge sweet from the Craig with the assets that you spend, but also a guy that went second overall. He needs a nickname. We're on nickname for him, best. Nemo is exactly where it ends up. Dory. Dory. See, Dory's bet, but that's not hockey enough.

It'll be Neal. Bill dumb that down, yeah. Or NEMI. So it'll be something like that. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, he's going to get way more playing time than he got in New Jersey. Like he's going to get top four minutes for sure.

But I don't know. Like that's a former second overall pick. That's a guy that, you know, people had high hopes for. I remember when, because that was the Montreal draft. So it was the Slovakian guys who went one to that year when Slipkowski went one to Montreal. And then Nemich went number two to New Jersey. And I remember people saying like at the time, like, oh, New Jersey got a really

good player. Like watch out for this guy, but it never really worked out there. And whether it was coaching or whether he didn't develop. Jeff, right. Dusty. I mean,

it is weird. You think about somebody who's second overall. Yeah. And maybe it's because it's New Jersey. We're out here. But it's just, well, what is he?

Well, to not really have a vibe or a take on a second overall guy is kind of. Can I raise my hands? Yeah. It's much like when they brought Hamilton in here, play the absolute piss out of this kid. I do not.

care if he can't handle it yet let him figure it out go yeah give they're going to like i think i think him and per rec are going to get the wheels played off them this year power play all situations all that type of stuff hands up yes i'm again right i've got it you figure it out captain there it is captain nemo captain captain captain captain that's his nickname yeah i thought you just made him the captain i was Confluent. Backlin might have a... No, no, no. Just beat it, Backl.

You old bastard. Captain Nemo, Captain! Just put a C on his practice jersey. It's on the captain. Oh, Captain Nemo. It's my nickname. O'clock. O'Reck.

Yeah, you're right. Don't have fun, Backlund. Take the fun out of the room. He's serious. God, we've been talking about Michael Backland, I think, for about 30 years. Well, we don't have to continue because... No, but it's...

I still love... I still love going back in that stupid old shitty place we were at Northeast. Oh my God. And Dean's, he had a pinky injury and we were losing. This guy. Get him out of his. He's on his way back to Europe.

Yeah. This was the longest shot ever to be a durable plates L. 38 guy. Somehow he's here. It's miraculous. If he's, he's going to be the all-time games played leader. Like this season.

It's crazy. It's insane. Yeah, because he couldn't stay healthy and then broke his pinky on a check in front of the bench. It's like, okay. It's enough. So, aside from having a job, what are you looking forward to this year? Like, is there something exciting? Is there anything circled?

I mean, the Dome's final season, but is there any young guys that you have a little more knowledge of that we should be paying attention to? Well, I mean, like, it's nice to have a job. Like, that's so, that's fun. I'm really curious about those college guys that come out of the NCAA, like, whenever their season's done, like you got the two guys at North Dakota in Reschney and, and Carl's, like, I think Wittenbach is going to come out of college. If he can, if he can do the same thing as a freshman this year as a sophomore, like people are going to be buzzing big time about him.

so he went back to Quinepiac for another year. Potter? What's that? Potter? Potter's the other one. Yeah, and he transferred to Michigan State, so he's playing at a much more high-end school after playing at Arizona State for a couple of years.

So, like, you've got four guys that probably come out of college. They're keeping contract room for them. And, like, the guy for me, honestly, like, Carl's is the sixth overall pick, and Wittenbach's got all the, you know, fanfare. But, like, Reshney's the most fast. fascinating one for me because like you talk to people. I had I had scouts like not just with the flames, but I had scouts talking about how, hey, like everybody was buzzing about Caleb Malhotra on this past year's draft. It was like, well, like Reschney's as good, if not better than Malhotra.

I heard that from from multiple people. And so look, different players, different profiles, all that type of stuff. But like, do I think Reschney's going to be the one C that this team has been craven for decades? Probably not. But do I think Ryan O'Reilly? Ryan O'Reilly. Sean Monaghan. He can be a really, really good player. And I'm, he's the guy I'm most excited to see because I think I know what Carl's is. And I think the other two are a little bit more of kind of long-term projects. But like, can Reshny come in and pop as early as like training camp next season?

Especially if you can get a couple games under his belt in the springtime. That's one I'm watching for. And they came that close to winning a national championship last year. So there's a little like unfinished business in that mix as well. So for those that aren't totally familiar, I think maybe if they're watching this show, but I do see it's like, so who is this guy to see the, because we do have some people that. Oh, whoa. So we, again, under the old regime, you couldn't talk, you couldn't say, and we couldn't have guests from Rogers or Sportsnet or whatever.

So who's not everybody follows it as closely as we do. It was our life. We worked at both places. So sports at 960 is shut down the radio. rights for the flames. They're a free agent. Chorus broadcast chorus company steps up. QR 77, the longtime voice of the stampeters. And back in the day, the flames were there. Peter Marr used to call games on QR. They get the rights. And then there's a bit of a courting period. They get Derek Wills. And then we find out that Megan Mickelson is in and Pat Steinberg is in. So walk us through what you're doing because there is, it's not like 960. It's not wall to wall sports talk. But it's everyday Flames talk with Pat Steiberg and people are pumped.

Same time. We're on at 4 o'clock, 4 till 6. It's like got to wrap your head around a news talk format, which is, that's an adjustment. You got news and traffic and commercials and all that type of stuff. And then we're doing a 90 minute pregame for Flames games most nights and still taking calls post games. So yeah, 770. We're doing a podcast. It's still surreal to think. Like I never thought I would be working under those letters. And yet here we are. It's been it's been fun so far.

So yeah, four to six weekdays, pre and post game, every Flames game, 84 of them plus four on the preseason. So Sunday, Sunday we get going with our first pregame show and we'll see how she goes. Poor Pat. Two more games. It's so funny. The other thing, Grant says to me, so Steinberg has a chance. What's he going to do?

He's a free agent. He's going to go out there. He's going to QR 70. Oh, what's it going to do? Well, pre-game and an afternoon show, and then intermissions and post-game and call-in show. Okay, so he's going to go back to working 100 hours a week. Stubbing the hot tub of him on Saturdays.

You need an agent, Pat. Or a life. No, you're living your passion, Pat. You're one of the lucky ones. Rhett wants that call-in number for the post game, so send that to us and he'll be happy to jump in and let it unright don't call the 240-44 on that one

that won't go anywhere and your email if you can send that to read as well yeah and you heard it before very nice boys love you buddy good to have you talk soon see you boys