The Athletic Hockey Show - Shining Stars playing perfect in Dallas, Early season struggles for Minnesota Wild, Instant Replay and virtual ads on the boards distracting to the game

Episode Date: October 18, 2022

Sean Gentille and guest co-host Joe Smith welcome Daryl Reaugh to praise the undefeated Dallas Stars who are coming off a 4-1 win over Winnipeg on Monday night, the resurgence of Tyler Seguin, the addition of Mason Marchment and the all-star play of goalie Jake Oettinger. The guys discuss hot starts from the NY Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes and early season struggles in Minnesota and Vancouver. Plus, we take a look at the distracting virtual ads on the boards and over using instant replay which are both watering down the presentation of the game.Get a 6 month subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshowSubscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3BKz27u Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show. Well, well, well. I'm Sean Jantilly. This is the Tuesday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show, The Americans, the Tuesday boys, hashtag Vizzies. Craig isn't here today. He's on the IR this week. I have traded up within the world of Michigan State University

degree holders, I guess, is... I'm Michigan, man. I mean, I'm in Michigan. I know that. That's what I'm saying. Are they both part of the same educational system? Are they both part of like the state of Michigan higher learning deal? Is that what it is?

Or is Michigan off on its own? Michigan's on its own. Michigan's, you know, what do they say? The Harvard of the Midwest, I guess they say, right? That's definitely something people who went to Michigan say. Yeah, I agree. There's definitely a robbery Michigan, Michigan State, as Craig and I know. So I will take the upper hand on that one since he's not here.

We had a major, the enemy of my enemy is my friend's situation last week. Michigan over Penn State football. Thank you very much. It was a deserved beating. That was very impressive. I was nervous for that one. But this could be the year, which is every Michigan fan. Michigan fans says it every year.

This could be the year until I watched. the Orange Bowl last year of New Year's Eve, my wife and watched Georgia, you know, score like 100 points on Michigan in the semifinal. This is the dream. We're actually just going to talk for an hour about college football. No, we're going to hit the wild hard with Joe here. He's a fresh transplant to the Twin Cities. We also got Daryl.

stars broadcaster, stalwart of the Dallas hockey community at this point, talking stars, talking Miro Haskinen, Jake Ottinger, Tyler Sagan, lots of great conversation points about Dallas this season. So stay tuned for that. It was a great chat. But we do need to start with whatever is happening with the wild. You had a front row seat to that last night. You're going to have plenty of front row seats to it.

from now until God knows when. What's the deal? And do you think you could have made that save on Miko Rin and that Philip Gussifson Biffton last night? Well, yeah, well, first of all, Minnesota Nice is real. For the first four or five days I was here, but it was really welcoming and, you know, like, hey, I'm happy to have you. We're so excited, da, da, da, da.

And then it goes 0 and 3. And there's some nice things jokes on, you know, Twitter around town. of like buy my plane ticket back to Tampa and I'm the curse and I thought your team was to try to win and all that stuff like that. And so I did not make any saves in Tampa and I didn't, I won't make any saves for the wild. So that's, um, that's going to be an issue that they have. But yeah, it's, I use the word crisis, I think, in my column today. It might be a little bit by hyperbole as far as the, the goal tank is concerned. But, you know, give it 20 goals in the first three games, uh, the most since the, uh, 89 Red Wings, which was a different era.

I don't, is that, hold on a second. Is that hyperbole? Like, I don't, I don't think it is. Yeah. I think, I think you capture it pretty well. Flurry was rough last season for, for the most part. Gustafson was whatever. We saw, we saw what happened last night.

This is a team with serious aspirations, you know, I don't, I don't think it's, I don't think it's hyperbole at all. Well, you have Flurry and he got pulled in game two. And then, you know, he's a future hall of favor. He's your number one guy, right? And then by game three, you're already going away from them, you know, against Colorado, who is a sad decision was kind of telling in that respect. Then you had Augustafson, who's still a young player in this league,

doesn't have a lot of NHL starts. And they played well enough, I thought, you could get a point or something like that in that game against the really. That would have been such a momentous victory for these guys. That would have been kind of a turning this thing around, hey, beat the abs. It's upward and upward and everything else like that. But it's kind of a depleting moment to play like that for the most part

and then have some goals just go in that, like you mentioned, the dump in and a couple of ones like Josh Manson, pulled the kale in a car, would dip into the slot and did the backhand, you know, like, there's just, you know, I know they're working hard at it, but there's definitely some frustration, I think, here in Minnesota. It's only

three games in. There's a lot of games left, but like they say, you can't win the Cup in October, but you can lose a chance, you know, hurt yourself a chance to miss the playoffs by by getting off to a rough start in this division. Like, you just talked to Darrell about the stars and the blues and the abs, so, the Preds. So it's, it's a tough one here.

And they got a day off to figure things out and try to find a way to beat the Canucks before a five-game road trip next week. I mean, Bill Garron, his first inclination in the off-season was the pair Flurry again with Kim Talbot, right? And he said at the time, you know, this is great because we have two guys that are capable of da-da-da-da-da.

They're both older. Like, it makes sense. Obviously, that's not the way it panned out for reasons really outside of Garin's control. and obviously we know why he signed Cam Talbot made sense but i think it says something that back in june he was like no we'd like to have a we'd like to have two guys that maybe could start could start 40 games right especially when one of them when one of them's 37 years old and i i think we've already seen that with the workload split but the results haven't been haven't been great

uh it's way too early for some of this right because we're talking about two whatever three games, but Mark Andre Flery, minus six goals saved above expected. That's by far the worst in the league. And then down at five is Philip Gussifson at minus 3.47. So that's an indicator, not just that they've, not just that they've given up a lot of goals, but that they've, that they've given up goals that they, you know, otherwise probably should have stopped. Yeah, and they scored like six goals in game two. You should be able to win if you score six goals, you know. No matter what. 4 3 last night and, you know, everyone was playing a lot better.

And, you know, I think it's, I know we're going to blame the goalies here and rightfully so in a lot of cases. But I think, like Matt Zucarillo put it best after game too. Sometimes they play the fucking junior team on defense, you know? There's, in this team, I think, had high expectations. I went into it watching from last year and they lost the first round of the playoffs after losing, you know, having a lead on the blues. And you're like, oh, this team is young.

They got creased off one of the best big, you know, big superstars in the league. and they have a team that maybe, hey, let's take the next step and win a round in the playoffs and go from there. So I think all the expectations and hype and I hope from the fan base to have a 0 and 3 start into, not just 0 and 3 like to lose, like you play your butt off and you lose an overtime or like that, but to lose on some of these deflating moments

where the comeback kids can't come back from everything anymore. So I think it'll be some tense times until they get that first win and try to get things going. Is there one other thing going on with that team that should maybe not concern them on the level of the goal tending? But is it, you know, we saw Marco Rossi scratch last night. You mentioned some of the defensive issues. Like, yes, the top line problem is, you know, that Flurry and Guss have been bad, but there's, you know, there's issues elsewhere, right? Is there one that's kind of stood out for you?

I know we're turning this into like, hey, let's talk about all the reasons that the Minnesota Wild are brutal, I mean, they've been brutal. Well, I mean, I think the coverage in front of the net, like the, you know, they're not being quite as physical enough. That's why a lot of deflections have gone in in that respect. But I think the one of the more polarizing or also important issue, just big picture is Marco Rossi. Like, he's surprised offensive prospect. And a couple games into his career. He was a healthy scratch. I mean, if Mason Shaw played great last night, he maybe brought more of a traditional

fourth-line appeal and it worked out okay. But a lot of teams have to go through the situation, too. you have to decide what's best developed mentally for your top prospect. Is it playing in and out of the lineup as a fourth liner in the NHL or is it playing top line minutes in the H.L. And so they'll have to decide that at some point for a guy's a very important piece of their future because it's got to be hard for a kid to come here and make his first inning shell camp and then, you know, after 21 shifts via scratch and then where do you go from there?

So overall, you know, they have some guys coming back like Greenway will be back in the lineup and Merrill's coming back from injury. So they'll have some different guys. heading in here. But I think overall the goal tendings, overall some some TV defense and some maybe penalties that they, too many men call last night when they were going to have about four on three. God, yeah. And then they had six players on the ice at that time. You know, I think that was just indicative of a team that's trying to do too much or maybe overthinking things or just, you know, trying to be able to find a way to come back too many times. They've had a lead in the

first three games of the season, so it's hard to play that way. You said they have the Canucks next? Yeah, Bruce Boudreau coming in town. It could be going for number, number six, potentially if they don't win tonight, then it'll be number 600 in his career. Yeah. Somebody's got to win that game. We saw, like, I don't, I mean, if you want to go with, gosh, there's a lot, there's a lot of struggling teams.

Vancouver already having a player's only meeting after a six, four loss to the caps. I mean, Harmon, on the, on the Canucks site here, on the Canucks page here, did a good job of, Recapping just how brutal, how brutal last night was for them. But, you know, early, it's early, but it's ugly. Lots of things going wrong at the same time. I feel like this is maybe, this is like somebody has to win this game between these two teams.

And whoever doesn't gets to wear the collar for, you know, the rest of the week. Because it's getting ugly early on. I don't know what's tougher or more depleting is not having a lead or having a lead in all three games and blowing it. You know, like it's like, I think that's where it kind of, I had to like, I had to do a double take on that. That's the first time that's happened in three consecutive games to start the season where a team has had a multi-goal lead and blown it. Like that a team has not started their season doing that three consecutive times ever in history of the league.

That's amazing. That's not just goal-tending, right? That's like whole issues of I think maybe mentally getting up in there and being like, oh, oops, this isn't happening again or whichever. Bruce alluded to that to his post-game comments, right? Yeah, whenever it's game three and you're talking about how the team is mentally weak, like something afraid to win mentally weak. Those are both direct quotes from Boudreau.

Players only meaning immediately after the game. Like this is game, this is game three. That is, that's serious, serious shit. Luke Shen was, of course, one of the guys to talk about, you know, he was one of the main media go-to guys last night after that mess. He's a guy who you've certainly had some experience in Tampa, usually talking to after wins. Was he, was he like a go-to guy for you guys in the room back then?

It seems like he's turned into that for. Yeah. Well, he was like in a different role, like a six or seven-d-d role. Right. Yeah. He's not like a team conscience guy. Yeah. For them necessarily.

He wasn't, but he's one of the best people in the sport, I think. It's just easy going, easy to talk to guy, a really good perspective because he's been in the league. forever. He was like a top pick for Toronto, played in the fishbowl there, and then moved around a lot, but he had his career on the edge, and I think in Anaheim, then found his way back, and then won a couple cups with Tampa. So he's got a lot of perspective, I think, and that probably helps some younger players on the Canucks going through something like this that, that you know, don't let this, you know, ruin your season, you know, kind of thing. So I think a guy like him is very important in that respect. And even for the while, too, if this game losing streak happened in mid-January, and they were like in the third spot in the division, all of a sudden, one person, be quite as much freak out mode it is. I mean, all you have to do on your canvas is zero zero zero points on your your record and it's a week after the season.

We gotta get you a personal win here. We can't have the continued Minnesota nice barbs because that's gonna turn from it's still passive aggressive. It hasn't switched over to just full on aggression quite yet. Not yeah. I mean, I'd like to think a lot of these things these memes on Twitter are also just kind of playful

like joking, like me walking into a burning building and like subter fires and stuff like that. Like I think it's more said so and I think it may be in jest, but I think it's more so a deflection of Burgess. I think fans just are frustrated, their passion, they want them to win and they see so much potential. And obviously I'm the only linked to the losses so far from the differences they had is me. So, um, they can't play in. They can't play in Russo.

So we'll see, we'll see what happens if they lose, if we lose the Canucks. We might, we might have, we might have a, the shift might, might, might take place. Not every team is terrible. Teams have to win. For people to lose. I know. Yeah, right.

See, that's the thing. If a team loses, that means somebody's winning. Hurricanes are 3 and 0. Rangers, I want to talk about them real quick. They, they, are a wagon, man. That's a team that could win the east, quite frankly. They really, they really are. If this is who Lafranier is,

if he really is like a true top six right wing and he's getting the chance now after you know after maybe not not quite starting the season in that mode if one of those guys can just take that step forward whether it's him or caco certainly seems like lafranier is a better a better bet to do it uh i think they get scary in a hurry like that's without that who knows right but i but people do forget when you're talking about lafranier and you know you're kind of grading on a curve because you're talking about the Rangers five-on-five production last year, which wasn't great. He was second in five-on-five goals on that team last year.

For as much as everybody sort of was, you know, wondering about his growth and about all that stuff. I mean, 18 goals second on the team, and he's still 21 years old. So, man, if he can make that step up, big, big stuff from New York. I like them. I like them more and more with you. passing day. Well, they have the goaltender, right? And they have just

reckon who's gotten some playoff experience from last year. And I think Mika's advantage that I watch him in the first three or four games. I'm like, this guy is just determined. Like, this guy is not, he could be in the heart trophy conversation by the end of the season. So, like, I mean, they're just, they beat Tampa and opening night. I mean, they beat Minnesota here. They've

kind of just kind of rolled through kind of their schedule. And their team that I think, thought they would make the final last year up to nothing on Tampa Bay Lightning. And Lightning came back and won that series. deservedly so because of how they played. They had to experience it and know how they knew how to win. But, you know, most teams have to lose to get before that over the hump

and their team that might be trying to do that this year. That's the benefit if your Mika Zabanajad is like he had that, he had that opening night like national, you know, that national stage. He just looked like the Terminator out there. He was, he was unbelievable. So everybody has been like, oh, yeah, I think I left, I think I left Mika Zabanajad off my short list for hard candidates. You see what he does on that line.

You see what he does on the power play. Like that's a scary team. And if they can get something, you know, consistently figured out at five on five, it might be as simple as just having, you know, a second line. Having Lafranier kind of show up is the running mate for on that second line with with Panarin. They're going to be scary in a in a very, in a very, very real way. And Carolina's three and O2, right? Carolina's, you know, not quite as flashy as the.

the Rangers and it's like that, but they just kind of find a way to... Oh, God. Yeah. I mean, they rolled up on the, on the cracking last night. That was a, that was a boring game. Honestly, I tried, I tried watching a chunk of it. It was, you know, that was classic, classic good team over bad team. It's, it's funny to see how that, how that works out whenever, you know, the talent disparity

there is pretty serious in Carolina. took care of business unlike a certain team in Toronto against a certain team. In Arizona, the star player was born in that same state. So, the natural storyline. And we'll certainly be playing there again

in a couple years. Future former Maple Leafs Center. Austin Matthews. Austin Matthews in Mullet Arena. It has a ring to it, right? In Mullet Arena. Let's do it. Let's do it.

I hope it turns into a permanent thing. It'll be such a smashing success that they'll just play all their games forever. in Mullet Arena. I'm just totally sure that's how it'll work out. All right, we're going to get to Razor here because he was, because he was really, really good. We don't, we don't want to keep him from you guys anymore. So send it over to him and we'll be back after that. We are psyched to be joined for the first, I think this is the first member, the first stars adjacent person we've had on the show somehow, even though it feels like we talk about them all the time because of, you know,

they're in Dallas, lots of American players, whatever. First, first, first guest, best. guest were joined by Darrell Razor Ray with with by the way I think maybe the most impressive backdrop we've had on the show thus far he's got like you everybody will see this on in the Twitter tease he's got like a perfectly centered uh rat like a perfectly centered deer antler rack behind him is that dead deer is it elk damn I knew whatever I said was going to be wrong how we do a razor what's going on man very good happy to be on with you. Yes, it's just decor.

It's male decor is what it is. It's great. Yeah, it works out perfectly. We got some old time, old time hockey players in a nice one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Nine point, a nine point elk? A nine point elk, I believe. That's what it is. Yeah.

Got George Veznaz is over here. There we go. Got some old schooly Vancouver pro hockey stuff. That's great. I have my shut out against the Philadelphia Flyers. Way back in the original 21. And that was, I got to play at the Montreal Forum. Got the fuck there.

And won that one with that mighty whale. Beautiful. You got the bases covered. All right. So I kind of said this earlier. We talk about the stars a lot. That's such a, it's been an interesting team for a few years now. Only, only more so now.

Was it 4-1 win over the Jets last night? Yeah. What have the vibe has been like early on with them? I know it seems players are psyched about maybe a little bit more, a little bit more offensive opportunities and, and whatnot in the Pete DeBoer system. But what's gone right for them this year, like in the early going here versus last season?

Well, almost everything's gone right, which has been, I think, really welcoming for the coaching staff. You know, you come in and it's pretty significant paradigm shift as to how they're going to play.

Yeah. And, you know, they were probably even thinking there's going to be more bumps to this thing. than what we've seen in the opening week. But they, I mean, they didn't have a very good start last night and then overcame it.

Really, the first adversity that they had seen because they jumped out to early leads on Nashville in both games they played them. And to be honest, we did the games weren't really that close. And whenever they had broken down, Jake Ottingers looked like the same guy from the series against the flame. So they, you know, lots of contributions.

The guys obviously are excited about playing a more aggressive attacking uptempo style. But last night was a good example of how, and Pete's talked about this. Us in the media, we like to grab onto one thing and just strangle it for as long as we can. I think I know what you're going to say here. It's just offense and attacking and it's, you know, unfettered in a way they're going to go. And he's like, well, there's going to be times where we are going to have to actually dump the puck yet, like, you know, read the game a little bit.

It's not just all going to be this wild ass circus. So last night, the Jets came out and they had the pedal to the floor with their forecheck and it was difficult for the stars. And it looked like they, you know, they were able to on the fly, listen to him and it kind of combine what they used to do really well. well and what they're trying to do really well now. And with that, they, they took over the game. Were you watching the, was it weird watching the Rick Bona system in reverse?

It was, it was unfortunate that Bones wasn't here, you know, like. Yeah. And, you know, I think a lot of people, because of the success, it's been easy to just, you know, slap bones across the face on, you know, some kind of 1990s neutral zone trap Borefest. It really, it wasn't really that way. Obviously, it's a little more de-risk and more about what you're leaving, not what you're making. And, but at the same time, I mean, you know, he had one line with two guys that basically scored 40. They didn't have any problem scoring in that system.

And he wanted the defense to be aggressive and involved. But this, this takes it to another level. And I'm looking forward. they're going to play the Jets a couple times here in the next little bit, and Bones will be over COVID by then. And then you'll see it. The one thing I really want to drill down on, though, on our broadcast, as I want to split screen of Peter DeBore and Rick Bonas,

because you couldn't forget about their styles and philosophies. You could not have two more polar opposite people in behind the bench. I don't think Pete's hands ever leave his pockets. He just, you know, he stands back there. it in and yeah, it really is. And then you go over to bones. It's not bones. He's just kinetic and involved in the passion is bubbling.

He's talking to players and living every up and down. So we'll get a chance to do that, I guess, when they meet again. Well, struck me razor too. You mentioned two guys in the top line scored in 40 goals. It's like a lot more depth this year, it seems like, up front. Or there's more, you know, scoring for other lines. And I know Mason Marshall was a big pedagher for you guys. Why do you think that is?

Why I think there's maybe giving more guys being able to contribute so far and early going? Well, Joe, they're going to ask that. That's the first thing, right? And if there is a pretty major philosophical difference between how they were running things before and it looks like how they're going to do it going forward, like bones, and a lot of old school coaches

are always going to believe in a so-called checking line, right? You're going to have a unit that you can match up, but especially on home ice against the other team's best offensive line. And Pete doesn't really believe in that. He believes all five guys on the ice should be an option offensively. And he believes that all five are all four lines and all six defensemen should be asked if they get the opportunity to provide some offense. So, you know, he has this mantra of take your turn.

It might be, might not be your turn tonight. night, but the next time it might be your turn. And so you look at, you know, last night, it's a one-one game. And then Yanni Hockenpao scored four goals last year scores. And then Yowel Kibirontas scores two minutes later. He scored one goal last year. You know, that is essentially what they would like to produce in this system and this belief.

And so far, it's worked out that way. Is there a guy on that middle six? I know you mentioned Kiva Ranta, but is there, are there any particular guys who you're expecting a pop from, given given the system change and given that kind of, you know, paradigm shift? It's an interesting group. I think they're still trying to figure out basically everything underneath the hints line. That sounds familiar. But, you know, Tyler scored his first goal in the season last night. And I think, there's a big belief that Sagan is going to bounce back into, you know, 35 goal territory again and be a, an every game producer offensively. You know, Mason Marchman's come in here and been a glove fit. They really needed a guy.

You know, Corey Perry was that for for a short period of time. But outside of Jamie Ben, there haven't been a lot of, you know, sort of physical, somewhat nasty power forward guys. is they can play anywhere in your lineup, up and down and play top six, bottom six doesn't matter. And he's certainly come in and done that man. The other side knows when he's out there. And he seems to relish that role of kicking people off and producing. He's got really good skills, so it's fit that way. And, you know, you look at, I like Michael Raffle.

I thought he had a great playoff against the flames. But he looked like a guy that needed 25 breakaways. to score one. And Radulov had faded, so that offense was gone. So, you know, you bring in a guy like Mason Marchman who already has three goals to replace that. And that has really helped. The rest of it, you know, whether the kid, Wyatt Johnston is going to be able to do

this in the long haul against men, you can, I mean, his head and his hands and, you know, hockey IQ, which is an overuse phrase. he has all those things. But you get into some of these really heavy games, especially within the division against the Jets. And it's going to be like that against St. Louis, a little bit against Nashville. There's a strength.

There's a difference with 19-year-olds as opposed to 29-year-olds. So that'll be interesting. You know, Radic Fox did they need a little more offense out of him? There's a lot of guys. that probably need to just pump it up a little bit. And then if the top line can sort of maintain what they've done, and then you add the group on defense and how free range they're going to be, you know, you're going to, my hope, I guess, desires are wrong word,

my hope for them is that they turn into what I really thought they were going to turn into this over the last few years, too, that they turned back. into a club that is, you know, top 10ish in goals against and top 10ish in, in offense. I mean, you've got to go back a long way to find that because they were either wildly exotic offensively under Lindy, but they were, you know, 27th in goals against at that time. And then they spun it back around the other way and they were top five in goals against, but they couldn't score. They were in the bottom third.

So hopefully they get themselves back into that top ten-ish area on both sides. If they do that, they're going to be a tough team to beat no matter what time of year it is. As a former goalie, I was curious. I covered some elite players in Vasselowski and Bishop in Tampa. But, you know, Ottinger, like, what makes him unique in your mind from watching him, you know, from a positional standpoint? And I was mentioning all the top ten in goals against and goals four. When you have a number one goal like that, it's going to get you a lot of places, too. Like what makes him unique when you watch him day in and day out?

Yeah, I'm jealous you got to watch Vasi day in and day out down there. What a talent. That guy is at all. My. Well, Jake, you know, a young American, so he looks at a guy like Ben Bishop. And that was that was a guy that he took a lot from. As much as it was a mess with goaltending here last year with so many guys. I mean, I started with four.

Holpey, Bishop, Hidobin, and Otter. By having Braden Holpey around, you know, he played great in some games and then his body just gave up on him. But it was nice to have him there as counsel, really, for Jake. And then Ben Bishop was around, so he had that to lean on. I see a lot of Bish in the way Jake plays now, especially. Like, he, he can read when the game needs to just stop and control rebounds that way.

Bishop was great at it. His puck handling is, is improving. You know, the target would be to get to where Bishop was. He was fantastic, those bishops. It's a high bar.

Yeah. Top of the league there. He was the standard, I guess, or one of the standards. Yeah, I mean, well, you got two here now,

or you did. With Bishop around, and he had Marty Turko, who is still in the organization, you know, changed the position completely, changed the way goaltenders hang on to their stick. It doesn't get enough credit for that. They all switched to the way he does it with his glove hand over. So he, when you watch Jake now, and obviously that playoff series was a massive confidence boost. He was telling me the other day, he's never ever. dominated like he did in that series.

But he's never done it at any level. I was like, really? Like even when you were a kid and in college and he said, he was like, nope, that was it. And he worked out this summer like he wasn't very good in that series. You know what I mean? So that's the type of guy that you have on the mental side where it wasn't like, okay, come with your anointing oil

and slather me all summer. He put the work in, and it's showing now. Like, he just looks like he's absolutely in command. He's been beaten on two deflections and a screenshot in three games, and that's it. The other thing I'd mentioned with Jake is his idol growing up was Henrik Lundquist. So, you know, if you look back at how Hank went about his business, there was always there was always a presence and a bit of a swagger to Lundquist in there. Like you knew when he was in that, whether it was for Sweden or for the Rangers.

Yeah. Like it was like you're going to have to. It was going to be his night. Yeah. Yeah. You're going to have to fire some waxed bebees to get it past him here tonight. And so Jake, you know, take a piece here and a piece there. And the two big influences that I see are probably Bishop and Lundquist.

Yeah, we talked to him preseason on the media tour thing. Oh, he's such a good kid, too. Man, he really is. He's a stud across the board. But you were just talking about some of the dietary changes he made over the summer and just new things that he added to his flexibility routine and all that. I mean, he's a guy who he's leveled up, I think, in terms of, in terms of the dedication, you know, in terms of the offseason stuff, which it would have been easy for him to,

I mean, you kind of said this. It would have been easy for him to coast based on how unreal he was against Calgary, but it seemed like he doubled down. The results suggested, too. He's been fantastic. Yeah, he's a guy that looks like he prepares to be great all the time. Like, his preparation is, I'm going to be great tonight and every night and going forward. And he's just such a mature, confident young guy.

But he's not, he's not cocky. You can see how confident he is on the ice, and he's an incredible athlete. But when you talk to him, Matt, he's like one of the nicest guys on earth. There's no real cocky aspect to him whatsoever. He's a special one. You can see why Jim Nill traded up to get him. I was just about to say, like, all right, this, you can imagine talking to that kid and being like, all right, he's, he's the target. He's, he's.

I'd be like, I'm in. I wanted to go back and ask again about Tyler, Sagan. That's great to hear that folks in the orgics are, you know, they're thinking he can be a 30-goal guy, a 35-goal guy again. That's given where he was last year, you know, a couple years before. That's good news. But is there anything in particular that has them thinking that? Is it just as simple as having another year out from all the leg rehab?

have like it just proceeded well enough for them to say like, all right, we're happy with where he's at. Yes. It's likely a little confluence of things. Like, he's, he's fully healthy now. Like he got to have an offseason. He's bigger too. Like he put on a little bit of muscle for the first time that I remember in his decade that he's been here. So there's that, there's, there's likely a.

chip on his shoulder after being, you know, look, he could say, I don't read stuff and I hadn't heard that or whatever. He's got enough buddies in that, but he knows the noise out there about the contract and what hasn't happened. So there's that motivation. There's this system. I did, I ran what I have coined, and don't you guys steal the song, I've coined Razor Liddix, where I went deep inside the numbers on Tyler. And here's how easy it can be for Sagan to get back to, you know, mid-30s, 40, where he was under Hitchcock prior to this big massive contract. And then he got hurt right away after that.

He had a decent year of the year after, and then he's just been injured the whole time. But, you know, he was down. His shots per game were down by about a shot, shot and a half a game. Over, you know, he hadn't had as few shots on goal per game since his rookie year with Boston. He just never got, he never got chances for whatever reason. Some of it was on him not getting to spots or maybe passing up opportunities because he wasn't scoring. but if you if you just not you know Tyler get one more shot a game average about three seven to four two in shots because if you remember back when when he was scoring quite a bit and regularly he was

he would usually show up with ovechkin and all those guys at the top of the NHL in shots on goal and you work in an 11% shooting percentage which wasn't bad last year just didn't have very many shots But even that goes up by a half a percent to a percent. And then you just push those two numbers together. He's a 36 goal score. It's not that difficult to figure out how we can get there again. And how he's going to be utilized by DeBore. You know, he's going to play on the power play

and obviously utilize that shot, not as much of the one-timer, which is dying in our league. Yeah. But he's got such a quick release. right? And he's going to play on a scoring line, probably going to kill penalties a little bit, too. So, yeah, it sets up for Sagan, I think, to have a pretty big bounce back. And he's got an example, like a guy, well, within the division, a guy like Matt Duchin would be a perfect example. Like, they were saying a lot of the same things about Duchin. And then he was 40 plus last year. Absolutely. The other guy. Shocker. I wanted to talk to you about Miro Haskinen.

I, look, I know it's been said so much over the last month or two months or however long that it's, you know, kind of lost its meaning. But it does seem like he's primed for to level up there. All those things we see when we watch him play, all those tools that everybody love, this skating ability and the brain and all this stuff. He's getting power play time. Like the stars are aligned for him to have, you know. a blow-up season. So what do you see from him on a day-to-day basis, maybe, from the skill set that sort of, you know,

that supports supports all that. Because everyone loves Miro for good, good reason. Yeah. Right. I mean, he's a phenomenal player. It's stunning, though, that his ceiling for points so far in the league with McCar going nuts, he's been in the mid-30s. Is it just, is it seriously just that simple?

like, because to me it seems that way where it's like you throw, you throw this guy in the power play, you get him some extra time, you maybe put him in a system that takes, that has him, that gives them a little bit more free reign, the points are going to be there like that. And then, and then he's going to level up in terms of like wider public perception. Because it's unfair, but with DEMN, it can be that simple. You're like, oh, this guy has 57 points versus versus 41. Like, it can be that drastic of a change. Or in the case. Or in the case. of a guy like Roman Yossi, who he's quite a bit. Lighthead 96, like insane.

Unreal. Yeah. Well, John Klingberg not being here and not having that option opens up a swath of those minutes, especially on the power play for Miro. So there's going to be a bump just with that. I would watch him. And, you know, I don't know that it was as much about. the system as it was of the mentality because he would he he would do a lot of the things

that he's going to do here but then he would he would end up deferring the puck and he's going to be encouraged to go that extra 20% like in the red zone if you want to call it that when you get into these scoring areas you do it you you make it happen like like stay in it and absorb a little more risk maybe in your attack. And we'll cover. And your skating can get you back to help out going the other direction. Because he's, when you watch him on a game by game basis,

like he's not as, again, I think I said exotic earlier, but he's not as exotic as Kail McCar. Like, kale just jumps out at you because there's a lot of, that's fine. There's a lot of,

lot of, there's a lot of fast twitch going on with the car, right? Whereas it's more, it's more syrupy with, with, uh, our boy here. And, you know, his defensive game is so good. It's so subtle, you know, because he's not a great big hammer guy defender, right? But like last night, Kyle Connor, I think is fabulous. And he's, he's one on one in space with Mero. And he can be a tricky guy and he can find a way to get a shot off. And Meryl uses his stick so, but like, he was almost like a cutting horse with a stick. Like you just, you want to go that way?

No, you don't. You want to go that way? No, you don't. And then he just took the puck off of him and ended it. And he does that every single shift, it feels like. He's going to play. He's going to play an awful lot too, not that he didn't before, but he's going to, he's going to play with everybody. I said it last night after the game. I remember when Pronger was in

Edmonton. We walked into the dressing room. And you know, on the whiteboard, you'd have the lineups, right? So you'd have the four lines and then you'd have the three sets of B. And they're paired up. And I went in there and it was like, they had a 44 and then they had all the other defensemen drawn around them in a circle. And I was like, what is this all about? He goes, well, he's going to play with every one of these guys. There are no pair. It's going to be prongs in him and and prongs in him and prongs and him. There's going to be a lot more of that, I would think, with Mero this season. Fraser, I'm up in Minnesota now.

I cover the wild guy you know pretty well in Dean Eveson. I pitched an idea to do a story going golfing with him, but I know he does let everybody else go golfing with him all the time. And I was curious if you have any favorite stories of his obsession with the sport of golf. Well, he better get obsessed with defensive hockey here real quick. Yes, segue. Let's go. Want to come out of retirement play from goal or what?

No. Man. Anyway, when we were in Hartford together, and I'm not kidding you, like, I would stay at his house in, and this will date, both of us, I'd stay at his house in training camp and pre-training camp. And in his closet, he had clothes in his master closet. But I would say 60% of the closet was VHS tapes. VHS tapes. No laser disc too, maybe. And it wasn't anything nefarious or anything going on in there on those tapes.

It was golf tournaments. He had, I mean, he had a closet full of golf in there. He was just massively addicted to, and, And it shows why he's such a fantastic coach. Like he taped it like a coach would and went over those tapes and broke them down and improved his game with that. And just, I mean, it's a, he's, he's not as addicted as like Brendan Morrow here. I've never seen a guy get more addicted to the sport than, than he has. And he's, he's fantastic at it too.

but man, Peewee, Dean Eveson was majorly addicted to getting better and watching it. And it was on VHS. I mean, what can you pick up off of VHS? Sit sitting there like adult like a doublehead BCR and like, oh yeah. Forward, reverse, pause, and then there's all these little lines across it. Oh, yeah. What's it like in the golf course? Is he very animated or is he one of those stone cold kind of assassin's down there?

Yeah, I mean, most of the time that I've played with them, he hasn't been very serious. Again, the cart was full of liquids. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to beverage services, of course, yes. Yeah. But he, you know, when it's time to address the ball,

like he's all business. Like, he's watched his VHS tape. He knows what he has to do. I think he's probably upgraded to digital by now. I would hope so anyway. When we asked coaches, if they did go to the tape, he actually did go to the tape.

You know, the question goes to ask, like, he watched the tape the next day, you know, like he actually did watch tape. Yes, and lots of it.

That's great. Razor, thanks for the time, man. I know you got some, you got a candidate, you got a candidate trip coming up here for the rest of the week.

Is that right? I've got Maple Leafs, Canadians, senators, then you can, then you guys head to Boston. That's a nice, that's a nice old poke.

Yeah, we'll know a lot more about how ingrained everything is with these stars in the early season, I think after, after this trip. But, um, and they have a lot of road games here in the, in the early season. They talked a lot about needing a faster start than they've had in past.

Because they, you know, everybody's trying to do it. Just try to get out of that bubble race, right? Get, your in your positioning later in the season. It's been a while since the stars have been there. And at 3 and 0, they're certainly off to the races here to pursue that. Perfect.

Going to be going to be a fun season, man. They're always, they're always a blast of watch. How about the coverage up in Minnesota now with, with Russo and Joe? Holy hell. Wow. I'm like, I feel, I feel left out. They should just send, they should just send like two or three or four or four more of us there. Just like have everybody working out of the Twin Cities. I will tell you, though, that people are, you know, if O and three start, they want me to go back to Tampa. So they're offering to buy me tickets. They're offering to, you know, drive me back myself, me, my dog, or drop me back.

So it's the, you know, it's a little different. So they're not happy to see me anymore, I don't think. No. The Michael Russo army is fickle. They welcome Joe with open arms, but it's been a rough start. I've loved and paraphrased your stuff and Russo stuff forever. So keep doing it. Look forward to seeing you down the road.

I'll have Sod pick up his game down here. Saad! Young dudes who are leveling up, he's been great. He's the Miro Hayskin of the staff at the athletic. Let's go. Oh, God. I'll tell them that. Perfect.

Razor, thanks for the time. Yeah, my pleasure. Yep, bye-bye. Great stuff from Daryl. Like I said, the fact that he is the first star-centric guest we've had is shocking, because I feel like we talk about them every single week. They're a fascinating team. They were interesting last year, and they're even more interesting now.

So the best backdrop to presume I've ever seen. I need some elk up here to get in my background, just to question things up. Yeah. You guys are having those shipped up from Tampa, right? Those are on the truck, I assume. Those are prevalent. They're more prevalent up in Minnesota, I think. Or northern Michigan, it's like that.

They would be in Tampa, Florida. But, yeah, definitely need some more decor, I think, to live up. Yeah, I just imagine, I just imagine you looking out into your yard and seeing an eight-point buck of your own and being able to be like Daryl Ray and get your own, get your own lovely Zoom backdrop. I'll get Russell on that, I think, you know. He's got connections in the area. I hear, I hear he's a man who knows how to find. I thought of the fine thing. It's a mayor up here, man.

I swear to God, like, you know, owners of every restaurant and people are not up to them, and I'm just, like, kind of slide in the background. Just like, nothing to see here, folks. It's fine. Don't ask, don't ask any questions about the men, about the men in the background there. Yeah.

But yeah, thanks again. Thanks again to Daryl. Got a quick break, and then we'll bring it back. Slight tweak from normal weeks. It will still be the best segment on the show. This is the only good segment on the show. It's a little bit different this week. No, Craig, we don't want to subject Joe to all the weird in-joke.

Can't, like, lower references about tipsy mixed aggers and whatever else in the comments. But that does not mean that I am not asking you to go back and leave more after this episode. We'll go back through two episodes worth of comments whenever Craig is back. I'm sure that's, I'm sure that'll make him feel much, much better. That'll be the first thing he wants to see whenever, whenever he's back from his little sojourn, is 60 comments from you from you maniacs who managed to find the comment page on this podcast on this podcast on the athletic app which as you said uh should get you a gold star or a fruit basket or some kind of gift certificate or whatever congratulations you're very impressive

please leave more for next week or sign behind the bench uh book baby would be a signed book for that i don't even i don't do you have one of those no i don't know i didn't want signed one but I have the book, but nothing signed. I guess. I have a copy. And what I do is every time Craig makes me mad, I tear out another page of it. And so by the end, by the end, I'm just going to quit. That's going to, that's going to be my signal that our time together has come and gone.

And I will leave the podcast whenever I'm out, whenever I've torn out my 285th page or whatever it is. Bye bye, Mike Sullivan. Bye, bye, bye, by your brother. Sorry, but yeah. Goodbye, gentlemen. You've been very good to me professionally, but it hurts to do this. But Craig, Craig's the blame, as he so often is. Dude, we talked about this at the, we sort of alluded to this at the end of the first segment there before we got into Razor. The hand pass. We need to discuss this because it happened last night in the Leaf's coyotes. these game, it's, some would say it decided the game. I'm not sure. I'm not sure I would, I would quite go that far. Morgan Riley, gloved a puck, dropped it in front of him, you know, clearly was trying to play it, got tied up with Clayton Keller, you know, one thing led to another. The puck bounced to Mitch Marner, who sent it to Alex Kerfoot.

Goal, you would think, tie game, you would think, not what happened. And the reason, it was waved off and the reason that Arizona ended up adding an empty netter ended up winning the game four two is because of one of our favorite topics video review instant replay I and I hate saying this because you know part of the shtick here is that I complain about the lifts all the time it's not really a shtick but this this is example A of not just the problem the problem with replaying hockey, but the problem with replaying sports, again, like, what are we, when have you ever seen that on, on a, on a, that call on a, on a, on a goal of that of that magnitude at this point of the season, like, what, what are we, what are we doing here? Have you, have you,

have you, how about this? You have covered as many games in person over the last 10 years as anybody on the planet. Have you, can you recall seeing a video replay call for a, for a glove puck ever in the last, for as long as replay's been around? I can't imagine. I remember,

I know there was a controversial hand pass. I think it was a couple years ago, St. Louis, Dallas, I think in the playoffs, like, yeah. I can remember how much that was reviewed or not. But like that's,

that, but that's one of those ones. That's one of, do you have these, like, these kind of things from those, stuff like that from like past post seasons where it's like I know that was a huge deal for a while I remember people were mad about it but the specifics are just like they're just out of my brain

like people are people are pissed about that but that's it's the playoffs it's not a regular season game on October 17 yeah and this one I think for me on all these things is about what the rules are intended for or like I think sometimes there's a blatant hand pass that you absolutely have to call in this case it was a situation where he went to get the puck to keep it down to himself and he tried to play it and then he Keller touched it or maybe I'm supposed to touch it and then did it impact the

what the play of what happened after that and I don't know if that would have really that wasn't the reason they scored that goal that wasn't the reason like obviously he kept it in and he wasn't blatantly passing it over and throwing it to the guy so sometimes replay makes the referees like look for

a reason to call it wrong call it right versus the actual correct the issue what's going on this is the exact sort of thing that I didn't think was going to happen whenever they introduced, you know, expanded replay in hockey, right?

Is, at the time, I was like, this is just bullshit, like slippery slope arguments where you think, you're saying, talking about open the floodgates because you're reviewing off sides and that's going to lead to this and that's going to lead to that.

Like, when it happened, I was like, yeah, okay, like they can, they can limit this. They can,

you know, kind of, um, contain it. to what they, to where they, where they wanted. It's not, it's not what happened. Like, this is the actual, this is an instance where, like, the worst case, you know, the worst case scenario has come to pass, right?

Where it is this thing where it's like, what are we, how did we get here? Like, six years ago, we were, you know, Matt Duchyne went off sides in a, in a, in a playoff game or whatever. And then this domino effect was led to, you know, crazy, crazy stuff like, crazy stuff. last night. I mean, everybody wants, I mean, everybody, the coaches, players, fans want the calls to be done right, right? Every call, everyone wants their call for against their team the right way. But I think there's also a human element to this game. We can't, you know, forget about this human element on the ice with players and goaltenders and there's human element with the

officials referees. So it's been that way for 100 years. So I think people have to be kind of careful how much you, you know, kind of micromanage the reins and replay and every little thing, the game's going to be four hours long, like baseball, then no one's going to want to watch it. Is it that simple? Are we just like, this shit's taken too long? Like these games, these games are taken too long now. Like, I don't, is that, I feel like that is a big part of why I have like, pivoted personally, like over the last little bit.

I just want to, I just want to go to sleep. I don't want to watch, I don't want to watch a five hour and 15 minute baseball game. Yeah. And that's my thing for baseball. I think hockey's at such a great point in its arc where so many young, talented players in this league and the playoffs are, but I'm a little to watch and you just don't want it to get too over-legislated by sometimes too much replay. You know, there's a lot of calls that people wish would have gone back.

Like the cadre goal against Tampa, you know, game three last year in the cup final where they wanted to, you know, they wanted to call back. But like, yeah, every team's going to have a call against it at some point. But I think too much over-analyzing the replay, too much could be not ideal for the game. It's classic, it's classic NHL officiating shit, too, where it's like, Yeah, we saw that called last night. Does that mean we're going to see something similar called in a week? Like, almost certainly not.

Like, there's just, there's a level of consistency that I think breaks people's, level of inconsistency that just breaks people's brains. Like, like, you, because it is, like, everybody has access to this stuff. Everybody, everybody on some level is going to know what happened last night,

you know, moving forward. So whenever there's a hand pass that next time that happens, you know, I'm sure they'll handle it different. and it's going to just be another kind of tick mark on the list of, you know, league and competencies. It's great.

Hockey's back because we're, you know, complaining about, about video replay and officiating. And I think that, I think we need to get through one of these, you know, cycles before, before the season officially begins. I think the only way it could have been better, honestly, is if when Morgan Riley dropped the puck, is if it happened directly in front of the boards and then there was an advertising change behind it? They could just combine the two things that are annoying everybody into one sequence.

That's not actually out one time though. No, it didn't go down that way. But like you said, speaking of complaining the dash report things, which are digital and changing all the time, which the NHL and teams like because of the revenue that adds to the portfolio and, you know, getting back into it.

But it can be distracting for, viewer. You know, if you're a fan watching at home and, like, all of a sudden, you know, goes from, you know, Verizon, the Kallahan auto parts to whatever it also. It could be, you know, uh, Geico or whatever. Zelinsky, Zillinsky Motors. Yeah. Yeah.

I'd rather have that. I'd like you more entertained if they actually had fake fictitious, you know, names of companies that. Yeah. Not just, not just, you know, whatever, like local. Dunder Mifflin, whatever, Dunder Mifflin. Dunder Mifflin. Fine.

Not like local, you know. know, internet marketing firms or whatever, whatever half of these things are. The DASHAR ads are terrible. They're bad. And in my general stance on all this stuff is like, do I think that it should be celebrated? Like, no. Do I almost get sick whenever I see teams send out shit where it's like, congratulations to our inaugural presenting helmet sponsor and it's, you know, whatever. That's disgusting, right? Like fans should not be excited about that. These ads on Jersey, and helmets and whatever else, they are something to be endured.

They are not something to be celebrated by people who consume it, right? It's an unfortunate thing that people have to deal with, but you can at least kind of count on that just kind of fading into the background because there's stickers on helmets and patches on jerseys and they don't flicker and change like whenever the camera zooms in on a player. The dasherboard shit sucks. The technology is bad. It flickers. It breaks. The timing on it is ridiculous.

If I, if one more time, if I see an ad change on the far boards whenever the puck is up against it, like, because that's it. Like you, you're trying to watch the puck. You're trying to track stuff. And that's more than enough to just make you, make you lose it. These, this, this shit is not ready. And anybody who said that it wasn't going to bother, bother viewers, was lying. That's my, that's my general stance. on it. Yeah. Well, one of the most important things you can have as a league is your TV product, right? Like the reason the reason that, you know, the league is being so much more successful and making

billions of dollars is because of their revenue from their TV contracts, which is a boom to the league like TNT, ESPN, and it's great to have that national element to it. I'm just curious, like, how much is the revenue gain for having the, the, the bit, the dashboard, instead of moving versus the actual, just the ones that they've had their little Caesar pizza at Dolors Arena's all the time and it, you know, made a crap of money. And like, and like opportunity cost also exists, right? There's some kind of,

there's some kind of, intangible cost that you run into whenever you are subjecting viewers to this bullshit on a night, on a night to night basis. Like that's, and I think that's what's most frustrating for people, honestly, is like, you know, it's not just,

it's not just that these ads exist. It's that they're done in such a way that, like, clearly, you know, everybody tried to make it seem like that the tech was going to be seamless and that they were going to be done in a tasteful way and that's just not, that's just not what happened. There's a level of, and this is true with so much stuff that the NHL does from the highest levels imaginable on down, there's like a level of contempt for the fans and viewers, just like with the basic existence of this shit, let alone the fact that, again, the tech's not ready and there's and there's glitches and stuff. It really is frustrating and people

are mad and they and they should be. Like I said, I'm not, I'm enough of a pragmatist when it comes to this stuff where like I don't, I look at the Canadian's jersey. I see an RBC logo. I'm like, okay, whatever. That's a cost of doing business. It's something we can ignore. But the dash or shit is not in that, is not in that, is not in that group. So way to go. Another, another big win for the league. Three games in, already getting shone up in arms, you know. And I know, like, I'm just going to, I'm going to run out of gas on this too. It's going to be like, it'll be like, thanks. You know, it'll be like, oh, who cares? Who cares? It's over. I'm used to it now. I'm going to move on. That's what you're going to bed to me. I got to find, like, just a new thing to be mad at. Just like, increase the level of, you know, I'm just, yeah, I'm addicted to it. No, I, I think the. I think the dashboard stuff is going to stick. I can't imagine a world where I watch these games.

I'm like, oh, sweet. Like, it's broken again. And the other really frustrating thing about this, I don't know if you've seen this. Do the boards look, do the boards look sharper? Like, the board ads look sharper than the players to you? I swear to God, I swear to God,

those are in like 8,00040, you know, quadruple XD resolution versus, versus the players. It's really, really distracting. Can you imagine like EA sport, NHL that like the boards look sharper than that, like the graphics of the players? Yeah, it might. It might. I don't know. Like, those games are, those games are brutal. I'm sure, I'm sure if they are,

we're going to hear about it because there's nothing people. The only thing people like more than complaining about NHL broadcast is complaining about, uh, crappy, minimal, annoying adjustments made to, uh, the NHL game. So I'm psyched. That's coming out in a week or so.

But we are excited the season started. We are excited to get back to recovery games. No, I'm mad. Craig's like, I'm not tell Craig, I'm like, man, Sean was cranky as hell. What the hell, man? No. Must be so much. But I'm just trying to, no, I'm just trying to, I just need to work myself up.

That's it. Just get me rolling. I'm just trying to feel something on a Tuesday morning show. Yeah. No, I get it. That's really all it is. I hear you. Just distract you from the Penn State loss and everything like that.

No, I love, that's what I'm saying. I love the Penn State loss. I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I grew up a pit football fan and now, of course, I'm a charter, a, I, I'm an alumni of one of the ultimate Big Ten schools, University of Maryland. So I, I, I'm, I root against Penn State. I root against Penn State even more. Well, now USC is a Big Ten team, so you can, you know, UCLA, USC, the traditional members of the Big Ten. What are the next two going to be? Because they're not, they're not, they're not going to stop here. Again, this is the big 10 football hour of the athletic hockey show. Why should we get App State in? I want to travel to Boone. Oh, dude.

All right, there we go. I like to get Carolina in there. Like, expand the footprint, man. Just keep on going down. That's great. You and Corey and Brady McCullough and all those guys who go on those trips. Yeah, the DARTOS Road Trip. You're going to Boone, baby.

I love it, man. This year is Auburn, Alabama this year. So that's our next stop. on the dart toss door. Dart ties. Okay, that's suspicious. Somebody rigged that one. Holy cow.

I think it was actually Tuskegee, I think it was, or Tuskegee, whatever. It was somewhere around there. Close enough. Close enough. Where are you headed next? Where are the wild taking next? They play host Vancouver on Thursday.

And then they go on a five-game trip to Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Detroit and Chicago. So the first long trip of the season, Mike Russo will be on that one while as I try to move into my new apartment. Hopefully my stuff shows up if wild fans have been intercepted my truck, the moving truck in the country and turned it around and gone back. But yeah, so I'll be moving in my stuff into the apartment with my wife. And Mike will be covering the wild on that long five-day road trip through Canada and the Midwest.

So let's get you a win so they can get back to delivering Casserol dishes and whatever whatever else Hot dish, hot dish with the with the tater tots and stuff. Yeah, absolutely. We got it. Okay, let's let's get a win. Beat the Canucks. That should, that should happen.

Just so we can get you some, a nice, a nice hot meal from the, from the fine people of the upper Midwest. Yeah. It's a long season. Everything will be fine, guys. Everything will be fine. There you go. That's a good, that's a good note to leave on. Joe, thank you, buddy. Good luck. Good luck living in Casa del Russo and whatever. Whatever comes next to that mess of a hockey team. Second day I was here at Snowd. So it was mid-October. Good welcome, Walthy of Minnesota, baby. So here you are. This is where you live now.

Cliffs and shorts have gone for the waist. I don't need to put those on anymore. But it was 80, yeah, 80 my first day here. And then it was snow. only three days later, so. You'll be like the little brother and Christmas story before you know it, buddy. Yeah. Can't wait. We do have the Wednesday show coming up. We got Rob Pizzo. We got Rousseau there.

The guy does a podcast? I had no idea. Pizzo, Rousseau, Jesse Granger on the roundtable. They're welcoming Trip Tracy from the Carolina Hurricanes broadcast team tomorrow. So check that out. Trips always a good listen. Always good talking about the Carolina Hurricanes too. And don't forget to rate the show.

Go to Apple Podcasts. Go to Spotify Podcasts. Rate, subscribe. Rate my Zoom background according to Jeff. Producer Jeff, drop that landmine there for me. Do not rate my background. Do not talk about it. But you can still follow us.

Follow us on your favorite platform. And subscribe to the Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcasts. So you get all the bonus content from our entire network. You can start with a 30-day free trial. and then it's just 99 cents a month after that. Joe, can you believe that that offer still stands? Annual subscriptions to the athletic for just a dollar a month for six months? That's like, you know, you can do five subscriptions for the price that Rousseau

spends for coffee every morning. So, you know, it's a great deal. Or I just get a Diet Coke refills here, you know, like, so it's. Can he just get, can he just get a machine? Can he just get like, can he just buy like whatever, whatever machine Starbucks uses? Well, you didn't see that the new deal this week, right? that you get Starbucks, you get Delta miles for every Starbucks dollar you spend.

Is that true? Is that true? Yeah, like, so that's a better new. So Delta is going to go out of business, I think. That's it. You just got to find someone to roll in Marriott points and, you know, the Russo triple play. There's all this collusion going on with the biggest companies in the world. Like Starbucks and Delta need more money, right?

So it's going to work out with it. No, it's definitely fine that five corporations own everything, right? Anyways, annual subscription to the Athletic for just a dollar a month for six months. Theathletic.com slash hockey show. This has been the Tuesday boys, hashtag Tuesday boys, 3Zs with our buddy Joe Smith. Craig will be back next week. Until then, have a good few days, folks.