December 19, 2024 • 35 mins
Mike Benton sets up the Dec. 19 matchup with a converastion including TV host Ian Furness of the Kraken Hockey Network, and Kraken VP of editorial Geoff Baker ahead of the Kraken visiting the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Cracking this morning, a presentation of the Kraken
Audio Network Ken Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Here's Mike Benton.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A ton to unpack ahead of the road trip opener today.
Welcome to Cracking this morning on a Thursday, December nineteenth,
Mike Betton with you and the Crack and taking on
the Chicago Blackhawks this evening at five to thirty pm
Pacific Time from United Center airtime at five pm all
across the Emerald Queen Casino Kraken Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
But that only begins.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
To open up the book here as far as what's
gone on for the last twenty four hours the Crack
and making a train of the New York Rangers on Wednesday,
acquiring for Coppocco from New York and exchange for defenseman
Will Borgan and two draft picks this next summer in
the third and six rounds. Plenty to dive into coming
up with Ian Furness the Krack at Hockey Network Plus
(00:55):
on these airwaves ninety three three KJARFM, twelve to three
pm weekdays. Jeff Baker also going to be along here
with us VP of Editorial for the Kraken who penned
more on this for NHL dot Com Slash Kraken. We'll
get to the conversation here with Jeff and Ian in
just a little bit well. Coming off of three to
zero loss Tuesday against Ottawa, the Kraken ended a four
(01:17):
game homestand with just one victory and already falling behind
four points out of the Western Conference cutline at the
time their heads hip pillows after Tuesday night. That made
the Kraken go into transaction mode gm Ron Francis acquiring Coppocacko,
who was a second overall pick back in the twenty
nineteen NHL Draft, right behind Jack Hughes. They got him
(01:38):
for the New York Rangers in exchange for Will Borkin
and two draft picks in twenty twenty five, the Kraken
effectively swapping near identical salaries here, but addressing a need
upfront with coppocaco who had eighteen goals two years ago
and what was perceived as a breakout year regressed to
thirteen this last season, and looking here for a change
(01:58):
of scenery after a chaotic New York Rangers season has
gone sideway to the tune of eleven losses in the
last fourteen games. Will Borgan, appending free agent on the
move to New York. A member of the team's inaugural
franchise roster, Will Borgan departing after three plus seasons in Seattle,
one that has seen him appear now in two hundred
(02:20):
and sixteen consecutive regular season games. Up ahead the scening
in the Kraken facing Chicago for the second matchup out
of three. The Kraken with no problems handling Chicago first
matchup that was a three to one victory last month
on November fourteenth. They'll face Chicago now twice at United
Center first off this seasoning final matchup with the regular
(02:42):
season coming up on March eighteenth for the Blackhawks, also
coming in with a shot of confidence, getting back to
back wins, and they're now three and three since letting
go of head coach Luke Richardson for Andrew Sorenson. The
Blackhawks record though at eleven nineteen and two with twenty
four points on this let's dive into matters right now.
Ian Furness, of course, the mayorra Maple Valley apropos. He
(03:06):
joins us here for a day where Ian it just
kind of felt like that maybe uh, your hair was
on fire. We had the Jake Dickert news and all
of a sudden, we have this going down. Did you
get in the car and just immediately slam the play
button to Billy Joels, we didn't start the fire.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I should have liked that idea. That would have been
a good call, A little bit, a really good call.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, let's digest. Coppocaco is coming to Seattle. Will Borgan
is out the door. Two draft picks are out the door.
There's a lot to unpack here to you. What do
we make about the trade?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Well, I think they had to do something. And now
time will tell whether this be not. You know what
we saw on Tuesday, it was just it was unacceptable,
I think. I mean, I know I'm harsh here, but
that is not what people pay to go see a
(04:05):
climate Pledge arena. It's not what people tune into the
Crack and Hockey Network or the Crack and Audio Network
to see. You listen and why it's there. They needed
a jump start, and you know, sometimes you just got
to make a deal. I don't want to say you
make a deal to make a deal because upside here,
but I think that's that they had to do something
(04:27):
and you.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Know what, Well, I will say this.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I ended the night last night with Curtis Crabtree on
Talking Cracking, where I use the analogy of smelling salts,
and this team needed a healthy dose of smelling salts
in some shape or formatter. Being an outscored to combine
eight to one of those losses from Tampa Bay to
the Ottawa game, and it just seemed like that there
(04:52):
was just nothing going. There was no life against Ottawa.
And so I think what you're doing right here is
that you get Coppocco and this lineup, and you're making
a bet. You're making a trade here for potential and
he's making two point four mil right now, Ian as
a potential restructed free agent coming up down the road,
and this is his last year as only year of
this deal. Something interesting I heard from Elliott Friedman as
(05:16):
this thing broke. What a surprise you to see something
long term worked out here between the team and Copocaco.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
WHOA, because he's in the last year of his deal, right, Yes,
I don't know. I think you have to wait and see,
don't you. Yeah, I mean, I mean, he's he's right
around half a point a game. Guy, right now, he's
at fourteen points and thirty games. I think you got
to wait and see what you get with this guy.
I now listen now that I say that they gave
(05:48):
up Wilborgan, they gave up two draft picks, so there
was some capital giving up. So I guess maybe that
would make sense that that would that would be something
you would do. But I don't know. Mike he had
that's that's that's interesting. I think you still want to
see something. I think you still want to see something
from him.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Eighteen goals was his career high set two years ago.
So then my next dot goes as far is where
he fits in this lineup. I'm curious where they try
him here because Matty Beneers needs something and he has
just seen a revolving door of wingers for this season,
and they could use something to jumpstart him. Chandler Stevenson
could use something. Jared McCann has gone dry. Where do
(06:31):
you like Cocko as a winger more?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
At this point?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Who who? Question? The first question is when did Yanni
come back? Right? So like, let's if Yanni comes back tomorrow.
I think he sat him back with the Nars, right.
I think that's I think that makes sense on the
left side. Oh you don't want to. I don't, even
though you did nothing last night as a team offense,
(06:56):
but I don't think you want to break up the
Shane right line, right, yeah, so he probably slots in
with he spot in with with Burakowsky and Stevenson. Now
where to Shorts go then? Right?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So well Schwartz goes I think with Matty Veneer's and
you put him with Yanni Gord as well, because then
then then you would have Jared McCann as far as
where you also fit him.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Yeah, because you added a forward today, you're getting you're
getting Let's say you get Yanni back, Beverly still out,
you bump Canna down to the fourth line, right yeah,
like I think he bumps down to the fourth line, Mitch.
I'll say this, I don't think Mitchell Stevens is coming
out of the line of any times soon. Yeah, I
mean he's he's If he's not PK one, he's p
(07:41):
K two, you know, right, So, uh, well, this gives
a let's just say this, it gives Dan Biles some
options and and it gives you some depth and maybe
I mean, do you put Yanni in them, do you
sit Okay, I'm gonna say something, Yeah, what point do
(08:02):
you sit some the sip Veneers? I mean, what, at
what point do you do that? You know, you sat
Shane right, you sat Oliver by york strand you sat
Andre Berikovski. At what point does Matti Vanier sit for
a game and watching the press box and try to reset?
Maybe tomorrow, maybe on Thursday, I should say, I think.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
At this point with Matty Evaniers's game, and this is
something that I brought up with Curtis Crabtree the other night,
you have to kind of be careful, I think in
how you read different players and how they react to
being a scratch. And I don't want to get presumptuous
here on Maddy's game, but it just leads us here
to ask there's obviously something going on with them, and
(08:47):
it looks like, right now, it's mental, that's all it is.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Well, it's assuming healthy. So that's the only other option. Okay,
let's unless he's hurt. The only other option is yeah,
so and and and it's lack of confidence whatever it is.
And then people say, well, if the system is that
going to hurt his confidence. I don't think he has
any to begin with right now, he's just not playing
with confidence. And we've said this on television. I'm sure
(09:13):
you guys have said on the radio, this is not,
this is not let's bash Matti Vaniers. The reality is,
though poor jeredmy Cannery reveals. The reality is is that
you can't go fifteen, now sixteen games about Matti Vaneer's scoring.
You can't have Jared mccannon have two goals one being
an empty vetter in fifteen or sixteen game stretches and
(09:35):
expect to be successful. This team has those guys must
have to produce. If they don't, you're going nowhere as
a team. You just aren't. So I think from from
that standpoint, Mikey, I think that you you just you
have to get to that point where these guys are
(09:56):
getting a jump start. If that means sitting a game.
In Veneer's case, I think you sit in the can.
You certainly don't sit in the can. He gives you more.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
But he had five shots on and Matty Beaneers on
Tuesday had none.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Right, no shots on goal, no shots.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
On even if you look at the shot quality at
five on five. I said this the other night in
Austin Matthews, John Tavares, Nathan McKinnon, Leon Dry is titled
on the chorus Connor McDavid. What do they all have
in common? They are superstars in this league. Shot quality
share a five on five. They're all north of fifty percent,
some touching sixty percent. Matty Baniers entering last night's game
(10:37):
was at forty eight percent. There were two centers better
than him entering that game, and Yonnie Gord and Shane Wright.
And again it wasn't something, as you said, to pick
on him, but something is bothering him right now and
they need him back at a rate where he was
producing two years ago. It's a different game now for him.
He can't hide anywhere. He's of course getting tough matchup.
(11:00):
Serious defense has been great for the most part, that's
a given, but he's got to embrace those tough responsibilities.
And also it expects some bumps in the road in
that regard, but for it to go this long. Ian
is concerning because when he's clearly on, he's on, he
takes over games. He drives offense, and that's what he
wants to be as a guy who drives offense. Unfortunately,
(11:20):
it's just been too few and far between.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Well, I think that's what he saw. The assist on
was that the New York tamp power player look up
right and just walked the defenseman in, just walked him,
back them up and just a beautiful play. And I
go back to the game, the Carolina game, and in
that game, from the very start, from the jump, I
(11:45):
want to say, in the first period alone, he probably
won two or three puck battles along the wall, like
just like was was just a different player. And but
we haven't seen that really since, but we have in it.
So at what point do you you know, like, Okay,
what's the next step with him? You know, they bring
(12:06):
a guy in that's that's a right winger probably that's
that's not a center iceman. But you have some versatility
with mc cann and Yannie Gord if you want to
sit Maddy Vaniers. I don't think, like I said, I
don't think like you bumped hand of down when you
know Winterton probably just goes back. Whatever. Although of that
kind of notice that line a little bit more against
Ottawa right the Linton line or the or the the
(12:31):
Mitchell Steaveson's line with car and car Ja made an
agree to the turnover. The blue line was harsh on
the first goal that was that was a tough one
that that Ty gave up. But those guys will give
you something on a fourth line, Matt, he's not going
to be a fourth liner. He's going to be a
top a top six guy. You're going to send him out.
And again, if it to me, it's not punishment, it's
(12:53):
just like, let's reaset here. I know, I know there's
people that got a little uptight when you know people
were making a big deal of oh, what's what Yorkstren's done?
Think he came back from being a healthy scratch or
you know, looks how well for a coffee plates he
was a healthy scratch? Or Shane Wright like, well, you
know it's not emp society. He's a scratch. No, he
(13:14):
was a scratch, right, Like that's reality. It's post sports,
like at some point it's post sports, big boy stuff.
And again, if they can't get Maddie going, I just
don't know where you go because you have to get
him going, and you have to get the candoing, but
you have to get him going.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah, Will Borgan's out the door here in this trade,
and I think to me it's a sign of how
much was he doe for a raise at the end
of this season and where was it going to come from?
Because it didn't look promising that it was going to
come from here from Seattle. But how are we going
to define the Will Borgan era from three seasons plus?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
See if she comes true pro could you know? I'm
mean he could play you know, in your second pair,
your third pair, to kill penalties, play with an edge,
play with with with a little bit and you know,
a little bit of grit. Just you want will you
want guys like Will Morgan on your team? Uh? You know,
(14:19):
but you can do better than Will Morgan, I guess
in a sense, or you can replace him easier than
maybe you can replace other guys in the back end
MA Heroes has been solid this year when he's played.
You know, even last night Borgan played the fewest minutes
of any defense to Hunt against Ottawa. So you know,
with with with him, it's a good player. Probably not
(14:42):
worth the money, especially maybe the money moving forward when
you have other guys coming up in the system, or
you can play that Josh Mahur in there. But I
think you know, if you're a cracking fan, you got
to get your cap as a as Furthum would say,
belligerent built. He's been, he's been. He's been a pro
s prof for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And we can't forget the playoffs from two years ago
where he just looked absolutely animal ish, physical against the
Colorado team where the crankhead needed that kind of a
jolt against Nathan McKinnon and crew.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Well, he and Alexiak were the best player in that
in that series, and they were they were at times
defensively dominant. You know, I think he I think you
probably say to say that that both those guys probably
haven't been as comfortable when they've been a part is
when they've been together with an alexiac. But yeah, Will
Borg in that series was he was special and that's
(15:33):
why he you know, that's why he gets paid and
that's why he will get paid again. So, uh, you
make a trade. You know you're you're giving up something
that you know is. You know who and what Will
Borgan is. You know how steady is he is, you
know he is, you know what Will Borgan brings. You
know who and what he is. So the other end,
(15:55):
you bring back the guy that is you know, you
don't know what you're getting in Coppo Coco, Like you
don't know, like, is he going to be a guy
that was Eventually we're talking how about this, like he
was talking about another second overall pick right when we
just spent time talking we're talking about the twenty nineteen
second overall pick. After we just finished all that time
(16:16):
talking about the twenty twenty one second overall pick. The
guys like Coco and Beniers are not getting you know,
they weren't drafted to be guys that are averaging point
four or five or play five points a game, a
half a point of game. But to get a guy
like Coco and say, okay, we're gona take a fly
on a guy that might have an upside, you have
to get something up Uh. In this case, it was
(16:36):
probably as you look around the roster, like Will Morgan
has value, especially now with Truba gone there. I mean,
he's not true, but he's not you know, not going
to kill you, let be over. But but he's at
least in the sense of, you know, he's going to
play a steady game and a hard game and an
edgy game for you. So, uh, you know, you had
to give something up, and you know, I like to
(16:59):
trade a lot. I don't mind draft picks at all.
They got plenty of draft picks and they got a
lot of guys in the system over the last three years.
That's not a big deal to me. That's a no brainer.
So I like to move.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
We'll see if this can jolt the crack in opening
up the road trip against the.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Chicago Blackhawks, because Chicago was playing some pretty confident hockey
at this point, winning back to back games and then
in comeback fashion against the Washington Capitals back on Tuesday evening. Ultimately,
here's the question as far as to keep this season
on the tracks in pursuit of a playoff spot, because
again the crack and are below the cut line and
(17:31):
they don't want.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
To fall further and further back in.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
So you have four games coming up, three before the
holiday break, Chicago, Vegas, Colorado, and then Vancouver coming out
of Christmas.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Where's the bar set?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Are you looking at at least three wins here or
if we're going to put this on the table with
eight points, at least six points?
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Well, I thought they needed at least six last or
just sit on the home stand and they ended up
with three, right, So what's you just? You just can't
keep falling further and further back. I mean, they're four
back right now with Vancouver's they're five back in Vancouver.
(18:13):
Vancouver's got three games in hand on you. Your four back Calgary.
Calgary's got one game in hand on you, and Colorado,
Utah and Saint Louis faul ahead of you. I think,
I mean, I think you can live with over this
four game stretch? What would you be? Was it? How
was it? Four game stretch? Are you giving me right?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, yeah, four game stretch, so three before Christmas and
one coming out of the holiday break.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Two one and one you could live with probably, Yeah,
five pointer, Okay, I think if you if you did that,
I think you'd be pretty happy and lose one fifteen
seventeen win two seventeen seventeen, they come out, then you're in.
You're five hundred right at that point, and you got
to get a lot better than that. But at least
you're at five hundred.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Well, nothing short here to talk about. And this at
least was not a boring Wednesday. So the cracking and
made the trade and they're looking to get a jolt
here short term as far as this road trip long
term to stay in the hunt here for the playoff mix,
Mayor thank you so much for your insight, my man.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Keep up the great work. By the way, on the
Crack and Hockey Network side.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Thanks Mikey talking all right.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Without further ado.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Our conversation continues around this trade going down heading into
the road trip opener against Chicago. Jeff Baker joining us
now VP of editorial for the Seattle Cracking is handy works.
Sing the chorus on NHL dot com slash Cracking Jeff,
how was your work day on Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Has the smoke kind of cleared off the keyboard now?
Speaker 4 (19:35):
I don't know, because the keyboard. I think the keyboard's broken,
so I don't think it's capable. I don't think it's
capable of smoking anymore. It was a long day to day,
very long day to day. But you know, you know,
it's anytime you can try to change the dynamic of
your team. I think it's it's an interesting day. I mean,
we'll see how interesting as we go forward, but yeah,
(19:56):
we certainly weren't lacking for excitement.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Well, let's talk about this copp of cock trade and
I did want to get onto, you know, more of
the fun and the long term feature piece that you
wrote on Vinston, which was I think an incredible read here.
But as far as present current events, we had some
miss of reaction with Ian Fernessier on this drop and
the Cracking get a guy who was a second overall
pick behind Jack Hughes but was fighting to find his
(20:19):
next level in New York. The Crack can move on
from will borgon after three solid years as a physical defenseman.
So to me, Jeff, it's classic low risk, high reward.
What did you make out of the deal?
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I think it's exactly the way you put it, lower risk,
high reward. I mean you just mentioned him in the
same breath as Jack Hughes. Obviously he's got taken number
one in Vancouver back in twenty nineteen, and look at
what he's doing now with the New Jersey Devils. I mean,
he's become a bonified star in this league. And then
the guy taking right after him is the guy to
Cracking just now got. He's only twenty three years old.
(20:51):
He's still a restricted free agent even next year, so
you know the club's got some control over him, and
you know let's just say I was sorry to Ron
Francis about this today, and you know I asked him
that question because you know, a lot of times a
change of scenery can help a player, and I think,
especially especially in this case, you look at he as
(21:14):
a situation where the guy that got drafted right in
front of him is a star right across the river
in New Jersey, and you know that that adds a
different kind of pressure. He's already playing in the New
York media market, which isn't easy, a little different from
Seattle and a little more intense. And I do it
so well right now, by the way, the Rangers and
so anyway, you know, you know, so that situation at
(21:36):
age twenty three, it's not the easiest thing to handle.
Plenty of people before him that have succumbed to that.
And I think, you know, moving him to a lower
pressure market such as this one, you know, there's no
pressure to perform here. Fans are just a roll over
and let you do whatever you want. But you know,
I think you'll maybe give him a chance to breathe
a little, come in here and certainly see what it
(21:57):
is he can do. I mean, he's not you know,
You're not talking about a team with guys the level
of let's say an Artevy Paneren. You know, some of
the other players, the high powered forwards that they have
playing for that Rangers team. I think, you know, there'll
be a little more room for this guy to kind
of breathe a little show what he can do, maybe,
you know, look look good and boost this team right away.
(22:19):
You know, Jordan Everley's out for another two months most likely,
and so they need a right way that that can
help them. You know, they thought Andre Burikowski was going
to be that guy. We're still waiting to see whether
he can be. But for now, you know, you have
a guy that also has that capability, and he is
I can't keep saying it enough. He's only twenty three
years old. So it's a big difference, you know, from
(22:41):
from some other guys. Will Morgan, who you just mentioned,
a lot of people think of him as young, and
you know, for me, anybody under forty is young. But
Will Borgan's twenty seven, Will Borges's twenty seven, there's four
years of difference between the two. Will Morgan was a
third pairing defender at this point on the team. You know,
his contract was about to expire. You know that he's
probably not going to be here after this season, so
you're gonna have to flip them at the deadline anyway,
(23:03):
And you know, rather than go for prospects as that
Ron francis trying to obviously botht of the team right now. Well,
while it's still in this thing, you know, the season's
not over. There's still still quite a lot of season
to go.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I'll get to Will Borgan here in a bit, but
where Coco fits in this lineup as a matter of
time before we find out, Jeff and I think to me,
there is a Scouts reaction that I came across in
a text message, uh not too long ago here where
I was told why not try Coco on Chandler Stevenson's
line with Jared McCann. He's got the physical brand that
(23:35):
he plays, but also there's some untapped potential maybe as
far as a dynamic type of game that he can play.
Then you have the Ellie tolven In connection between Coco
and him from Finland where the two know each other.
But I don't know if Dan Bilsman goes and breaks
up what he's got with Tolven and Shane Wright and
Oliver b.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
York Strand, where does your mind go with this?
Speaker 4 (23:57):
There's no reason to break up the Tolban end line
other than the fact they both have birth certificates from Finland.
I mean, I think the first thing that you said,
you know, putting him on the Chandler of Stevenson line,
that that's the first thing that came to my mind.
I mean, I think, you know, right now, you've got
to treat Cocko as if he's a top six winger,
and so you know, for me, you put him on
either of the you know, basically either of the what
(24:19):
are basically the top two lines of the team right now,
put him on either of those lines. I think I
think he'll be well suited for it. I think we saw,
you know, we saw some interesting dynamic with the team
when Yanni Gord was put out on the wing, you know,
before he got before he got hurt the other night,
and uh, you know, I think we started to see
(24:39):
some more interesting offense coming out of the team from there.
So I mean, they definitely need a little more, they
definitely need a little more performance out on the wing
than than they've gotten of late from from from Trios
other than that that line and by way having the
right wing positions. So yeah, you know, I don't think
you can go necessarily wrong with that. I like the
(24:59):
thing pysical dimension he brings. You know, certainly when you
look at Stevenson McCann, then you've got three fairly big
body guys out there, you know. But I don't know
that you necessarily want McCann to be the one going
head first into the corners digging out talks, even though
he's fully capable of doing that. He can handle himself.
But I think having a guy like Lacca who can
(25:21):
go not only into the corners but go out to
the net front, they got to have somebody other than
you know, we have to have somebody other than then
Jayden Schwartz who does that on a regular basis. So
I'd like to see if we can get a few
more guys to the net.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
To me, we'll remember Will Borgan not just as an
original member of this team from the expansion season, but
for the level of physicality he brought year two, especially
in that seven game first round series against Caldelado, and
at points just gave Nathan McKinnon fits.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
He's moved on.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Now you mentioned Borgan earlier about the dynamics of this
trade war. Does this say Jeff about the future of
the cracking offense in that Borgan got moved, but you
got prospects who might be ready very soon in Coachella Valley.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Yeah, I mean, don't forget. You still have Kale Fleury,
although he's had a couple of cracks now at the NHL.
But I think the one that really that that you know,
really bears spars watching for now is Ville Hotevinen, who
obviously had a really good you know, speaking again of Finland,
you know, he had hit a very good training camp
and the consensus was that he'll be in the NHL,
(26:31):
you know, either later this year, you know, for a
cup of coffee or you know, maybe a more regular
basis starting next season. And so if you know that
that's going to happen, you know, he's a right handed shot,
and you know, you just signed Random on tour for
seven years, and you just signed Adam Larson to a
five year extension you know, obviously sorry to a four
year extension after this one. Obviously, you know, there's not
(26:53):
much room there for Morgan to get ice time other
than as a third pairing d Man, and once that happened,
and you know, it's, uh, I think his value goes
down significantly if you can't get him the ice time.
And so, you know, I think he's a good defender.
I've always I've always liked his physical play. I always
said he had a bit of a means streak to him.
(27:14):
I always thought he was probably, pound for pound, maybe
the best fighter on this team. And I don't, you know,
mean to glorify the violence in hockey, but I mean
when the situation called for it, you know, somebody effort
took him on. He was not an easy out, as
they would say in baseball. Uh you know, and I'll
remember that about it.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
And you did.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
You did need that in that series with Colorado though
for Elsa, you know, you had Carson Sussi out there.
I mean that that was a yeah, you know, for
for third pairing d Man, you're looking at pretty uh,
pretty pretty physical presence that the crack and were able
to put out there night after night in the playoffs.
And that's what you're gonna need going forward. Certainly, Oda
Vinen's got that when he comes up here, and you know,
(27:55):
and he's bigger than Bordon quite a bit bigger, and
so I think, you know, you do the math, and
just the numbers weren't there for Willboard and then it
was time to move on.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, I think keyword for Otto Vinen is when and
certainly maybe matter of time when he shows up here
in Seattle for his NHL debut on the road trip
Chicago game first one coming up here, second of two matchups.
Also Cracking won the first one, and you got four
games away now to try to keep this run here
for the playoffs on the tracks. At this point of
(28:23):
the season, Jeff Chicago comes in back to back wins.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
They made they they made their coaching change.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
But what comes to mind as far as how this
team is going to react maybe in this second game
of the regular season series and to open the road trip.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Well, I think the thing we didn't mention about the
trade is that, you know, one send the message to
that that that that dressing him, that that people are
paying attention to what's going on here, that you know
we're not going to wait till the summertime to sort
everything out. It's it's the expectations are following a little
bit below where they should be right now. I don't
(28:56):
think anybody wants this to be a point per game
team that's going to finish with eighty two points and
missed the playoffs by fifteen. I think they want the
bar race significantly higher. I think the players, to a
man will tell you it should be higher, and like, yeah,
they don't have Conor McDavid out there scoring goals for them,
they don't have that level of talent on their forward
lines just yet. But I mean collectively, I think that
(29:19):
the sense is that this team could be doing a
lot more. In fact, it was that you don't have
to guess at it, it was doing a lot more
on the last road trip. In the first two games
of the Homestead, you know, they took three out of
four from Boston in Florida. That was you know, that
was no easy task coming off the road. And what
they did on the road, winning three or four on
the East Coast, you know, they showed where the bar
(29:40):
should be as a baseline, and that was it. They
did five straight games. It wasn't a one off, and
then you know, inexplicably, you go into Tampa and they
kind of took the night off a little. They kept
it close, but it wasn't The effort wasn't there. They
had one shot in almost a period of hockey in
that game, and so that that's unacceptable. And then you
go into the game last night. They got a lot
of shots the game on sorry, on Tuesday night, they
(30:02):
got a lot of shots. They got a lot of
shots on goal with the hottest netminder on the hottest
netminder in the league. But there wasn't a lot of
guys going on the net front to disrupt his vision.
And if you just if you're just doing that all
the time, I mean, Linus Olmark's gonna whip that glove
out and then pick the pucks off like like you're
playing catch, it's not it's not that difficult. The degree
(30:24):
of difficulty really wasn't there for him. He had to
make like two big stops out of the fifteen in
the first period and then they barely shot the proc
after that until the final two minutes with the goalie pols.
And so that the effort level, not only the effort level,
the execution level I think has to be rated. It
has to be better. I think the players know that
it's one thing to talk about going there and disrupting
the goalie's vision, it's another thing to go out and
(30:46):
do it. And so that's that's that's a focus on
the mission at hand, and I think they have to
be a little more tuned and focused to what they
have to accomplish. And like they were saying after the
Tampa game, they also have to work not just hard,
they have to work smart. You know, their positioning has
to be better. They have to they have to be
in sync when they're breaking out of their zone. They
have to be careful when they're throwing the puck around
(31:09):
and not you know, just make blind passes up the sideboards.
And so you know, you know, all of that has
to change going into the game in Chicago, I fully
expected too. I mean, this is the team you want
to be playing. You know, there's no easy games necessarily
inn NHL. But if you want a team that's going
to be a slumpbuster that's going to help you perfect
(31:29):
some of the things that maybe maybe not make you
pay for every single mistake you make, it's the Chicago
Blackhawks that'll do that because they're they're you know, they've
disrupted their team in order to get some draft picks.
They've broken the team down and they haven't been built
back up yet, so there's a lot of margin for
error that the Crack and have. That said, they can't
just show up and expect to collective points. They expect
to see them go out and earn it.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Hey, Jet, before we cutch you loose here.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Originally you and I were going to talk ahead of
the game here, also surrounding a great feature that you
wrote on the Cracking website on Vince done in his
background for cooking as well, wonderful piece which begins with
his grandmother Judy, late grandfather Chris as well, and how
much this more or less, you know, influence Vince Dunn
(32:11):
off the ice with different matters outside of hockey. But
bottom line, I'm already hungry right now. Where did you
find the most joy in penning this piece?
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Well? I like food and wine as well myself, especially
the wine part. So we've we've been talking about it
for quite a long time. And the thing though, I
like whenever I write preachure, I like to learn something
about people, and I like to learn something about the players.
And that's what I hope that fans do. That's why
we write these things, that they learn a thing or
two about the players beyond the fact that they can
shoot pucks and stop pucks. You know, there's more to
(32:44):
life than that. And so what I took away is
that he cares deeply about things that are important, like
human relationships. Relationships you know, with his family, relationships with
people that were there to support him loyally, his billet family,
he's growing up. He spent three years living on a
vineyard in Niagara, in Ontario while he's playing for the
(33:06):
Niagara Ice Box. And you know, so he got to
learn the winemaking experience firsthand from the owner who was
his billet father. And he still keeps in touch with
all those people today. He still goes back there in
the season. He still talks to them on the phone regularly.
And so that shows me a guy who believes in loyalty,
a guy who's got his moral compass adjusted straight. And
(33:27):
I think those are the kind of people you want
on your team. You want to have. When people talk
about character, that's what they mean character. You know you
have a moral compass. You know that I'm wrong, You
know you know what loyalty is about. You know how
to reward it, and you know how to be kind
to people. And I think that stuff matters, and so
I learned that from doing this. And I also learned
he likes a good drink of wine and he looks
(33:49):
eating some good pasta every now and then, and so
you know, it's pretty hard to argue with that.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Adam Larson's the big connoisseur of it as well, and
he told me before he just loves what done can
help cook cup. But anyway, NHL dot com slash crack
in the place to read that, plus more Jeff's story
here on the Coppocaco trade for will Borgan for.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Now, time to get a nap in.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Jeff, thank you so much, my friend, keep up.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
The great work. Appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Thanks Mike, always a thrill to be on. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
All right, Jeff, thank you very much. Great to have
you in along as well earlier. Certainly appreciate him as that.
We'll set the scene once again for this evening and
the evolving roster coming out the trade here for for Coppocaco,
who will speak with the media later on today, and
we'll have more coverage here on this coming up beginning
a five pm Pacific time for the Frostprewed Course live
(34:37):
pregame show shoes chill ever it fits you. Al Koniski
in Chicago. I'll join you from Network Central with the
opening face off from United Center a little past five
to thirty pm Pacific time, all across the Emeral Queen
Casino Kraken Audio Network as a crack and looking to
get back on the winning path after dropping four of
their last six games. Record right now fifteen sixteen and
(35:00):
two for thirty two points. Big thanks once again to
Ian Furnessandra, Jeff Baker and for kracking this morning. I'm
Mike Benton, Happy Thursday.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
You're home for the cracking Sports Radio ninety three point
three k j R FM
Welcome to Cracking this morning, a presentation of the Kraken
Audio Network Ken Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Here's Mike Benton.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A ton to unpack ahead of the road trip opener today.
Welcome to Cracking this morning on a Thursday, December nineteenth,
Mike Betton with you and the Crack and taking on
the Chicago Blackhawks this evening at five to thirty pm
Pacific Time from United Center airtime at five pm all
across the Emerald Queen Casino Kraken Audio Network.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
But that only begins.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
To open up the book here as far as what's
gone on for the last twenty four hours the Crack
and making a train of the New York Rangers on Wednesday,
acquiring for Coppocco from New York and exchange for defenseman
Will Borgan and two draft picks this next summer in
the third and six rounds. Plenty to dive into coming
up with Ian Furness the Krack at Hockey Network Plus
(00:55):
on these airwaves ninety three three KJARFM, twelve to three
pm weekdays. Jeff Baker also going to be along here
with us VP of Editorial for the Kraken who penned
more on this for NHL dot Com Slash Kraken. We'll
get to the conversation here with Jeff and Ian in
just a little bit well. Coming off of three to
zero loss Tuesday against Ottawa, the Kraken ended a four
(01:17):
game homestand with just one victory and already falling behind
four points out of the Western Conference cutline at the
time their heads hip pillows after Tuesday night. That made
the Kraken go into transaction mode gm Ron Francis acquiring Coppocacko,
who was a second overall pick back in the twenty
nineteen NHL Draft, right behind Jack Hughes. They got him
(01:38):
for the New York Rangers in exchange for Will Borkin
and two draft picks in twenty twenty five, the Kraken
effectively swapping near identical salaries here, but addressing a need
upfront with coppocaco who had eighteen goals two years ago
and what was perceived as a breakout year regressed to
thirteen this last season, and looking here for a change
(01:58):
of scenery after a chaotic New York Rangers season has
gone sideway to the tune of eleven losses in the
last fourteen games. Will Borgan, appending free agent on the
move to New York. A member of the team's inaugural
franchise roster, Will Borgan departing after three plus seasons in Seattle,
one that has seen him appear now in two hundred
(02:20):
and sixteen consecutive regular season games. Up ahead the scening
in the Kraken facing Chicago for the second matchup out
of three. The Kraken with no problems handling Chicago first
matchup that was a three to one victory last month
on November fourteenth. They'll face Chicago now twice at United
Center first off this seasoning final matchup with the regular
(02:42):
season coming up on March eighteenth for the Blackhawks, also
coming in with a shot of confidence, getting back to
back wins, and they're now three and three since letting
go of head coach Luke Richardson for Andrew Sorenson. The
Blackhawks record though at eleven nineteen and two with twenty
four points on this let's dive into matters right now.
Ian Furness, of course, the mayorra Maple Valley apropos. He
(03:06):
joins us here for a day where Ian it just
kind of felt like that maybe uh, your hair was
on fire. We had the Jake Dickert news and all
of a sudden, we have this going down. Did you
get in the car and just immediately slam the play
button to Billy Joels, we didn't start the fire.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
I should have liked that idea. That would have been
a good call, A little bit, a really good call.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, let's digest. Coppocaco is coming to Seattle. Will Borgan
is out the door. Two draft picks are out the door.
There's a lot to unpack here to you. What do
we make about the trade?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Well, I think they had to do something. And now
time will tell whether this be not. You know what
we saw on Tuesday, it was just it was unacceptable,
I think. I mean, I know I'm harsh here, but
that is not what people pay to go see a
(04:05):
climate Pledge arena. It's not what people tune into the
Crack and Hockey Network or the Crack and Audio Network
to see. You listen and why it's there. They needed
a jump start, and you know, sometimes you just got
to make a deal. I don't want to say you
make a deal to make a deal because upside here,
but I think that's that they had to do something
(04:27):
and you.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Know what, Well, I will say this.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I ended the night last night with Curtis Crabtree on
Talking Cracking, where I use the analogy of smelling salts,
and this team needed a healthy dose of smelling salts
in some shape or formatter. Being an outscored to combine
eight to one of those losses from Tampa Bay to
the Ottawa game, and it just seemed like that there
(04:52):
was just nothing going. There was no life against Ottawa.
And so I think what you're doing right here is
that you get Coppocco and this lineup, and you're making
a bet. You're making a trade here for potential and
he's making two point four mil right now, Ian as
a potential restructed free agent coming up down the road,
and this is his last year as only year of
this deal. Something interesting I heard from Elliott Friedman as
(05:16):
this thing broke. What a surprise you to see something
long term worked out here between the team and Copocaco.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
WHOA, because he's in the last year of his deal, right, Yes,
I don't know. I think you have to wait and see,
don't you. Yeah, I mean, I mean, he's he's right
around half a point a game. Guy, right now, he's
at fourteen points and thirty games. I think you got
to wait and see what you get with this guy.
I now listen now that I say that they gave
(05:48):
up Wilborgan, they gave up two draft picks, so there
was some capital giving up. So I guess maybe that
would make sense that that would that would be something
you would do. But I don't know. Mike he had
that's that's that's interesting. I think you still want to
see something. I think you still want to see something
from him.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Eighteen goals was his career high set two years ago.
So then my next dot goes as far is where
he fits in this lineup. I'm curious where they try
him here because Matty Beneers needs something and he has
just seen a revolving door of wingers for this season,
and they could use something to jumpstart him. Chandler Stevenson
could use something. Jared McCann has gone dry. Where do
(06:31):
you like Cocko as a winger more?
Speaker 3 (06:33):
At this point?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Who who? Question? The first question is when did Yanni
come back? Right? So like, let's if Yanni comes back tomorrow.
I think he sat him back with the Nars, right.
I think that's I think that makes sense on the
left side. Oh you don't want to. I don't, even
though you did nothing last night as a team offense,
(06:56):
but I don't think you want to break up the
Shane right line, right, yeah, so he probably slots in
with he spot in with with Burakowsky and Stevenson. Now
where to Shorts go then? Right?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So well Schwartz goes I think with Matty Veneer's and
you put him with Yanni Gord as well, because then
then then you would have Jared McCann as far as
where you also fit him.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Yeah, because you added a forward today, you're getting you're
getting Let's say you get Yanni back, Beverly still out,
you bump Canna down to the fourth line, right yeah,
like I think he bumps down to the fourth line, Mitch.
I'll say this, I don't think Mitchell Stevens is coming
out of the line of any times soon. Yeah, I
mean he's he's If he's not PK one, he's p
(07:41):
K two, you know, right, So, uh, well, this gives
a let's just say this, it gives Dan Biles some
options and and it gives you some depth and maybe
I mean, do you put Yanni in them, do you
sit Okay, I'm gonna say something, Yeah, what point do
(08:02):
you sit some the sip Veneers? I mean, what, at
what point do you do that? You know, you sat
Shane right, you sat Oliver by york strand you sat
Andre Berikovski. At what point does Matti Vanier sit for
a game and watching the press box and try to reset?
Maybe tomorrow, maybe on Thursday, I should say, I think.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
At this point with Matty Evaniers's game, and this is
something that I brought up with Curtis Crabtree the other night,
you have to kind of be careful, I think in
how you read different players and how they react to
being a scratch. And I don't want to get presumptuous
here on Maddy's game, but it just leads us here
to ask there's obviously something going on with them, and
(08:47):
it looks like, right now, it's mental, that's all it is.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Well, it's assuming healthy. So that's the only other option. Okay,
let's unless he's hurt. The only other option is yeah,
so and and and it's lack of confidence whatever it is.
And then people say, well, if the system is that
going to hurt his confidence. I don't think he has
any to begin with right now, he's just not playing
with confidence. And we've said this on television. I'm sure
(09:13):
you guys have said on the radio, this is not,
this is not let's bash Matti Vaniers. The reality is,
though poor jeredmy Cannery reveals. The reality is is that
you can't go fifteen, now sixteen games about Matti Vaneer's scoring.
You can't have Jared mccannon have two goals one being
an empty vetter in fifteen or sixteen game stretches and
(09:35):
expect to be successful. This team has those guys must
have to produce. If they don't, you're going nowhere as
a team. You just aren't. So I think from from
that standpoint, Mikey, I think that you you just you
have to get to that point where these guys are
(09:56):
getting a jump start. If that means sitting a game.
In Veneer's case, I think you sit in the can.
You certainly don't sit in the can. He gives you more.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
But he had five shots on and Matty Beaneers on
Tuesday had none.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Right, no shots on goal, no shots.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
On even if you look at the shot quality at
five on five. I said this the other night in
Austin Matthews, John Tavares, Nathan McKinnon, Leon Dry is titled
on the chorus Connor McDavid. What do they all have
in common? They are superstars in this league. Shot quality
share a five on five. They're all north of fifty percent,
some touching sixty percent. Matty Baniers entering last night's game
(10:37):
was at forty eight percent. There were two centers better
than him entering that game, and Yonnie Gord and Shane Wright.
And again it wasn't something, as you said, to pick
on him, but something is bothering him right now and
they need him back at a rate where he was
producing two years ago. It's a different game now for him.
He can't hide anywhere. He's of course getting tough matchup.
(11:00):
Serious defense has been great for the most part, that's
a given, but he's got to embrace those tough responsibilities.
And also it expects some bumps in the road in
that regard, but for it to go this long. Ian
is concerning because when he's clearly on, he's on, he
takes over games. He drives offense, and that's what he
wants to be as a guy who drives offense. Unfortunately,
(11:20):
it's just been too few and far between.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Well, I think that's what he saw. The assist on
was that the New York tamp power player look up
right and just walked the defenseman in, just walked him,
back them up and just a beautiful play. And I
go back to the game, the Carolina game, and in
that game, from the very start, from the jump, I
(11:45):
want to say, in the first period alone, he probably
won two or three puck battles along the wall, like
just like was was just a different player. And but
we haven't seen that really since, but we have in it.
So at what point do you you know, like, Okay,
what's the next step with him? You know, they bring
(12:06):
a guy in that's that's a right winger probably that's
that's not a center iceman. But you have some versatility
with mc cann and Yannie Gord if you want to
sit Maddy Vaniers. I don't think, like I said, I
don't think like you bumped hand of down when you
know Winterton probably just goes back. Whatever. Although of that
kind of notice that line a little bit more against
Ottawa right the Linton line or the or the the
(12:31):
Mitchell Steaveson's line with car and car Ja made an
agree to the turnover. The blue line was harsh on
the first goal that was that was a tough one
that that Ty gave up. But those guys will give
you something on a fourth line, Matt, he's not going
to be a fourth liner. He's going to be a
top a top six guy. You're going to send him out.
And again, if it to me, it's not punishment, it's
(12:53):
just like, let's reaset here. I know, I know there's
people that got a little uptight when you know people
were making a big deal of oh, what's what Yorkstren's done?
Think he came back from being a healthy scratch or
you know, looks how well for a coffee plates he
was a healthy scratch? Or Shane Wright like, well, you
know it's not emp society. He's a scratch. No, he
(13:14):
was a scratch, right, Like that's reality. It's post sports,
like at some point it's post sports, big boy stuff.
And again, if they can't get Maddie going, I just
don't know where you go because you have to get
him going, and you have to get the candoing, but
you have to get him going.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah, Will Borgan's out the door here in this trade,
and I think to me it's a sign of how
much was he doe for a raise at the end
of this season and where was it going to come from?
Because it didn't look promising that it was going to
come from here from Seattle. But how are we going
to define the Will Borgan era from three seasons plus?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
See if she comes true pro could you know? I'm
mean he could play you know, in your second pair,
your third pair, to kill penalties, play with an edge,
play with with with a little bit and you know,
a little bit of grit. Just you want will you
want guys like Will Morgan on your team? Uh? You know,
(14:19):
but you can do better than Will Morgan, I guess
in a sense, or you can replace him easier than
maybe you can replace other guys in the back end
MA Heroes has been solid this year when he's played.
You know, even last night Borgan played the fewest minutes
of any defense to Hunt against Ottawa. So you know,
with with with him, it's a good player. Probably not
(14:42):
worth the money, especially maybe the money moving forward when
you have other guys coming up in the system, or
you can play that Josh Mahur in there. But I
think you know, if you're a cracking fan, you got
to get your cap as a as Furthum would say,
belligerent built. He's been, he's been. He's been a pro
s prof for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And we can't forget the playoffs from two years ago
where he just looked absolutely animal ish, physical against the
Colorado team where the crankhead needed that kind of a
jolt against Nathan McKinnon and crew.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Well, he and Alexiak were the best player in that
in that series, and they were they were at times
defensively dominant. You know, I think he I think you
probably say to say that that both those guys probably
haven't been as comfortable when they've been a part is
when they've been together with an alexiac. But yeah, Will
Borg in that series was he was special and that's
(15:33):
why he you know, that's why he gets paid and
that's why he will get paid again. So, uh, you
make a trade. You know you're you're giving up something
that you know is. You know who and what Will
Borgan is. You know how steady is he is, you
know he is, you know what Will Borgan brings. You
know who and what he is. So the other end,
(15:55):
you bring back the guy that is you know, you
don't know what you're getting in Coppo Coco, Like you
don't know, like, is he going to be a guy
that was Eventually we're talking how about this, like he
was talking about another second overall pick right when we
just spent time talking we're talking about the twenty nineteen
second overall pick. After we just finished all that time
(16:16):
talking about the twenty twenty one second overall pick. The
guys like Coco and Beniers are not getting you know,
they weren't drafted to be guys that are averaging point
four or five or play five points a game, a
half a point of game. But to get a guy
like Coco and say, okay, we're gona take a fly
on a guy that might have an upside, you have
to get something up Uh. In this case, it was
(16:36):
probably as you look around the roster, like Will Morgan
has value, especially now with Truba gone there. I mean,
he's not true, but he's not you know, not going
to kill you, let be over. But but he's at
least in the sense of, you know, he's going to
play a steady game and a hard game and an
edgy game for you. So, uh, you know, you had
to give something up, and you know, I like to
(16:59):
trade a lot. I don't mind draft picks at all.
They got plenty of draft picks and they got a
lot of guys in the system over the last three years.
That's not a big deal to me. That's a no brainer.
So I like to move.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
We'll see if this can jolt the crack in opening
up the road trip against the.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Chicago Blackhawks, because Chicago was playing some pretty confident hockey
at this point, winning back to back games and then
in comeback fashion against the Washington Capitals back on Tuesday evening. Ultimately,
here's the question as far as to keep this season
on the tracks in pursuit of a playoff spot, because
again the crack and are below the cut line and
(17:31):
they don't want.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
To fall further and further back in.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
So you have four games coming up, three before the
holiday break, Chicago, Vegas, Colorado, and then Vancouver coming out
of Christmas.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Where's the bar set?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Are you looking at at least three wins here or
if we're going to put this on the table with
eight points, at least six points?
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Well, I thought they needed at least six last or
just sit on the home stand and they ended up
with three, right, So what's you just? You just can't
keep falling further and further back. I mean, they're four
back right now with Vancouver's they're five back in Vancouver.
(18:13):
Vancouver's got three games in hand on you. Your four back Calgary.
Calgary's got one game in hand on you, and Colorado,
Utah and Saint Louis faul ahead of you. I think,
I mean, I think you can live with over this
four game stretch? What would you be? Was it? How
was it? Four game stretch? Are you giving me right?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, yeah, four game stretch, so three before Christmas and
one coming out of the holiday break.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Two one and one you could live with probably, Yeah,
five pointer, Okay, I think if you if you did that,
I think you'd be pretty happy and lose one fifteen
seventeen win two seventeen seventeen, they come out, then you're in.
You're five hundred right at that point, and you got
to get a lot better than that. But at least
you're at five hundred.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Well, nothing short here to talk about. And this at
least was not a boring Wednesday. So the cracking and
made the trade and they're looking to get a jolt
here short term as far as this road trip long
term to stay in the hunt here for the playoff mix,
Mayor thank you so much for your insight, my man.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Keep up the great work. By the way, on the
Crack and Hockey Network side.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Thanks Mikey talking all right.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Without further ado.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Our conversation continues around this trade going down heading into
the road trip opener against Chicago. Jeff Baker joining us
now VP of editorial for the Seattle Cracking is handy works.
Sing the chorus on NHL dot com slash Cracking Jeff,
how was your work day on Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Has the smoke kind of cleared off the keyboard now?
Speaker 4 (19:35):
I don't know, because the keyboard. I think the keyboard's broken,
so I don't think it's capable. I don't think it's
capable of smoking anymore. It was a long day to day,
very long day to day. But you know, you know,
it's anytime you can try to change the dynamic of
your team. I think it's it's an interesting day. I mean,
we'll see how interesting as we go forward, but yeah,
(19:56):
we certainly weren't lacking for excitement.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Well, let's talk about this copp of cock trade and
I did want to get onto, you know, more of
the fun and the long term feature piece that you
wrote on Vinston, which was I think an incredible read here.
But as far as present current events, we had some
miss of reaction with Ian Fernessier on this drop and
the Cracking get a guy who was a second overall
pick behind Jack Hughes but was fighting to find his
(20:19):
next level in New York. The Crack can move on
from will borgon after three solid years as a physical defenseman.
So to me, Jeff, it's classic low risk, high reward.
What did you make out of the deal?
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I think it's exactly the way you put it, lower risk,
high reward. I mean you just mentioned him in the
same breath as Jack Hughes. Obviously he's got taken number
one in Vancouver back in twenty nineteen, and look at
what he's doing now with the New Jersey Devils. I mean,
he's become a bonified star in this league. And then
the guy taking right after him is the guy to
Cracking just now got. He's only twenty three years old.
(20:51):
He's still a restricted free agent even next year, so
you know the club's got some control over him, and
you know let's just say I was sorry to Ron
Francis about this today, and you know I asked him
that question because you know, a lot of times a
change of scenery can help a player, and I think,
especially especially in this case, you look at he as
(21:14):
a situation where the guy that got drafted right in
front of him is a star right across the river
in New Jersey, and you know that that adds a
different kind of pressure. He's already playing in the New
York media market, which isn't easy, a little different from
Seattle and a little more intense. And I do it
so well right now, by the way, the Rangers and
so anyway, you know, you know, so that situation at
(21:36):
age twenty three, it's not the easiest thing to handle.
Plenty of people before him that have succumbed to that.
And I think, you know, moving him to a lower
pressure market such as this one, you know, there's no
pressure to perform here. Fans are just a roll over
and let you do whatever you want. But you know,
I think you'll maybe give him a chance to breathe
a little, come in here and certainly see what it
(21:57):
is he can do. I mean, he's not you know,
You're not talking about a team with guys the level
of let's say an Artevy Paneren. You know, some of
the other players, the high powered forwards that they have
playing for that Rangers team. I think, you know, there'll
be a little more room for this guy to kind
of breathe a little show what he can do, maybe,
you know, look look good and boost this team right away.
(22:19):
You know, Jordan Everley's out for another two months most likely,
and so they need a right way that that can
help them. You know, they thought Andre Burikowski was going
to be that guy. We're still waiting to see whether
he can be. But for now, you know, you have
a guy that also has that capability, and he is
I can't keep saying it enough. He's only twenty three
years old. So it's a big difference, you know, from
(22:41):
from some other guys. Will Morgan, who you just mentioned,
a lot of people think of him as young, and
you know, for me, anybody under forty is young. But
Will Borgan's twenty seven, Will Borges's twenty seven, there's four
years of difference between the two. Will Morgan was a
third pairing defender at this point on the team. You know,
his contract was about to expire. You know that he's
probably not going to be here after this season, so
you're gonna have to flip them at the deadline anyway,
(23:03):
And you know, rather than go for prospects as that
Ron francis trying to obviously botht of the team right now. Well,
while it's still in this thing, you know, the season's
not over. There's still still quite a lot of season
to go.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I'll get to Will Borgan here in a bit, but
where Coco fits in this lineup as a matter of
time before we find out, Jeff and I think to me,
there is a Scouts reaction that I came across in
a text message, uh not too long ago here where
I was told why not try Coco on Chandler Stevenson's
line with Jared McCann. He's got the physical brand that
(23:35):
he plays, but also there's some untapped potential maybe as
far as a dynamic type of game that he can play.
Then you have the Ellie tolven In connection between Coco
and him from Finland where the two know each other.
But I don't know if Dan Bilsman goes and breaks
up what he's got with Tolven and Shane Wright and
Oliver b.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
York Strand, where does your mind go with this?
Speaker 4 (23:57):
There's no reason to break up the Tolban end line
other than the fact they both have birth certificates from Finland.
I mean, I think the first thing that you said,
you know, putting him on the Chandler of Stevenson line,
that that's the first thing that came to my mind.
I mean, I think, you know, right now, you've got
to treat Cocko as if he's a top six winger,
and so you know, for me, you put him on
either of the you know, basically either of the what
(24:19):
are basically the top two lines of the team right now,
put him on either of those lines. I think I
think he'll be well suited for it. I think we saw,
you know, we saw some interesting dynamic with the team
when Yanni Gord was put out on the wing, you know,
before he got before he got hurt the other night,
and uh, you know, I think we started to see
(24:39):
some more interesting offense coming out of the team from there.
So I mean, they definitely need a little more, they
definitely need a little more performance out on the wing
than than they've gotten of late from from from Trios
other than that that line and by way having the
right wing positions. So yeah, you know, I don't think
you can go necessarily wrong with that. I like the
(24:59):
thing pysical dimension he brings. You know, certainly when you
look at Stevenson McCann, then you've got three fairly big
body guys out there, you know. But I don't know
that you necessarily want McCann to be the one going
head first into the corners digging out talks, even though
he's fully capable of doing that. He can handle himself.
But I think having a guy like Lacca who can
(25:21):
go not only into the corners but go out to
the net front, they got to have somebody other than
you know, we have to have somebody other than then
Jayden Schwartz who does that on a regular basis. So
I'd like to see if we can get a few
more guys to the net.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
To me, we'll remember Will Borgan not just as an
original member of this team from the expansion season, but
for the level of physicality he brought year two, especially
in that seven game first round series against Caldelado, and
at points just gave Nathan McKinnon fits.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
He's moved on.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Now you mentioned Borgan earlier about the dynamics of this
trade war. Does this say Jeff about the future of
the cracking offense in that Borgan got moved, but you
got prospects who might be ready very soon in Coachella Valley.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Yeah, I mean, don't forget. You still have Kale Fleury,
although he's had a couple of cracks now at the NHL.
But I think the one that really that that you know,
really bears spars watching for now is Ville Hotevinen, who
obviously had a really good you know, speaking again of Finland,
you know, he had hit a very good training camp
and the consensus was that he'll be in the NHL,
(26:31):
you know, either later this year, you know, for a
cup of coffee or you know, maybe a more regular
basis starting next season. And so if you know that
that's going to happen, you know, he's a right handed shot,
and you know, you just signed Random on tour for
seven years, and you just signed Adam Larson to a
five year extension you know, obviously sorry to a four
year extension after this one. Obviously, you know, there's not
(26:53):
much room there for Morgan to get ice time other
than as a third pairing d Man, and once that happened,
and you know, it's, uh, I think his value goes
down significantly if you can't get him the ice time.
And so, you know, I think he's a good defender.
I've always I've always liked his physical play. I always
said he had a bit of a means streak to him.
(27:14):
I always thought he was probably, pound for pound, maybe
the best fighter on this team. And I don't, you know,
mean to glorify the violence in hockey, but I mean
when the situation called for it, you know, somebody effort
took him on. He was not an easy out, as
they would say in baseball. Uh you know, and I'll
remember that about it.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
And you did.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
You did need that in that series with Colorado though
for Elsa, you know, you had Carson Sussi out there.
I mean that that was a yeah, you know, for
for third pairing d Man, you're looking at pretty uh,
pretty pretty physical presence that the crack and were able
to put out there night after night in the playoffs.
And that's what you're gonna need going forward. Certainly, Oda
Vinen's got that when he comes up here, and you know,
(27:55):
and he's bigger than Bordon quite a bit bigger, and
so I think, you know, you do the math, and
just the numbers weren't there for Willboard and then it
was time to move on.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, I think keyword for Otto Vinen is when and
certainly maybe matter of time when he shows up here
in Seattle for his NHL debut on the road trip
Chicago game first one coming up here, second of two matchups.
Also Cracking won the first one, and you got four
games away now to try to keep this run here
for the playoffs on the tracks. At this point of
(28:23):
the season, Jeff Chicago comes in back to back wins.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
They made they they made their coaching change.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
But what comes to mind as far as how this
team is going to react maybe in this second game
of the regular season series and to open the road trip.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Well, I think the thing we didn't mention about the
trade is that, you know, one send the message to
that that that that dressing him, that that people are
paying attention to what's going on here, that you know
we're not going to wait till the summertime to sort
everything out. It's it's the expectations are following a little
bit below where they should be right now. I don't
(28:56):
think anybody wants this to be a point per game
team that's going to finish with eighty two points and
missed the playoffs by fifteen. I think they want the
bar race significantly higher. I think the players, to a
man will tell you it should be higher, and like, yeah,
they don't have Conor McDavid out there scoring goals for them,
they don't have that level of talent on their forward
lines just yet. But I mean collectively, I think that
(29:19):
the sense is that this team could be doing a
lot more. In fact, it was that you don't have
to guess at it, it was doing a lot more
on the last road trip. In the first two games
of the Homestead, you know, they took three out of
four from Boston in Florida. That was you know, that
was no easy task coming off the road. And what
they did on the road, winning three or four on
the East Coast, you know, they showed where the bar
(29:40):
should be as a baseline, and that was it. They
did five straight games. It wasn't a one off, and
then you know, inexplicably, you go into Tampa and they
kind of took the night off a little. They kept
it close, but it wasn't The effort wasn't there. They
had one shot in almost a period of hockey in
that game, and so that that's unacceptable. And then you
go into the game last night. They got a lot
of shots the game on sorry, on Tuesday night, they
(30:02):
got a lot of shots. They got a lot of
shots on goal with the hottest netminder on the hottest
netminder in the league. But there wasn't a lot of
guys going on the net front to disrupt his vision.
And if you just if you're just doing that all
the time, I mean, Linus Olmark's gonna whip that glove
out and then pick the pucks off like like you're
playing catch, it's not it's not that difficult. The degree
(30:24):
of difficulty really wasn't there for him. He had to
make like two big stops out of the fifteen in
the first period and then they barely shot the proc
after that until the final two minutes with the goalie pols.
And so that the effort level, not only the effort level,
the execution level I think has to be rated. It
has to be better. I think the players know that
it's one thing to talk about going there and disrupting
the goalie's vision, it's another thing to go out and
(30:46):
do it. And so that's that's that's a focus on
the mission at hand, and I think they have to
be a little more tuned and focused to what they
have to accomplish. And like they were saying after the
Tampa game, they also have to work not just hard,
they have to work smart. You know, their positioning has
to be better. They have to they have to be
in sync when they're breaking out of their zone. They
have to be careful when they're throwing the puck around
(31:09):
and not you know, just make blind passes up the sideboards.
And so you know, you know, all of that has
to change going into the game in Chicago, I fully
expected too. I mean, this is the team you want
to be playing. You know, there's no easy games necessarily
inn NHL. But if you want a team that's going
to be a slumpbuster that's going to help you perfect
(31:29):
some of the things that maybe maybe not make you
pay for every single mistake you make, it's the Chicago
Blackhawks that'll do that because they're they're you know, they've
disrupted their team in order to get some draft picks.
They've broken the team down and they haven't been built
back up yet, so there's a lot of margin for
error that the Crack and have. That said, they can't
just show up and expect to collective points. They expect
to see them go out and earn it.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Hey, Jet, before we cutch you loose here.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Originally you and I were going to talk ahead of
the game here, also surrounding a great feature that you
wrote on the Cracking website on Vince done in his
background for cooking as well, wonderful piece which begins with
his grandmother Judy, late grandfather Chris as well, and how
much this more or less, you know, influence Vince Dunn
(32:11):
off the ice with different matters outside of hockey. But
bottom line, I'm already hungry right now. Where did you
find the most joy in penning this piece?
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Well? I like food and wine as well myself, especially
the wine part. So we've we've been talking about it
for quite a long time. And the thing though, I
like whenever I write preachure, I like to learn something
about people, and I like to learn something about the players.
And that's what I hope that fans do. That's why
we write these things, that they learn a thing or
two about the players beyond the fact that they can
shoot pucks and stop pucks. You know, there's more to
(32:44):
life than that. And so what I took away is
that he cares deeply about things that are important, like
human relationships. Relationships you know, with his family, relationships with
people that were there to support him loyally, his billet family,
he's growing up. He spent three years living on a
vineyard in Niagara, in Ontario while he's playing for the
(33:06):
Niagara Ice Box. And you know, so he got to
learn the winemaking experience firsthand from the owner who was
his billet father. And he still keeps in touch with
all those people today. He still goes back there in
the season. He still talks to them on the phone regularly.
And so that shows me a guy who believes in loyalty,
a guy who's got his moral compass adjusted straight. And
(33:27):
I think those are the kind of people you want
on your team. You want to have. When people talk
about character, that's what they mean character. You know you
have a moral compass. You know that I'm wrong, You
know you know what loyalty is about. You know how
to reward it, and you know how to be kind
to people. And I think that stuff matters, and so
I learned that from doing this. And I also learned
he likes a good drink of wine and he looks
(33:49):
eating some good pasta every now and then, and so
you know, it's pretty hard to argue with that.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Adam Larson's the big connoisseur of it as well, and
he told me before he just loves what done can
help cook cup. But anyway, NHL dot com slash crack
in the place to read that, plus more Jeff's story
here on the Coppocaco trade for will Borgan for.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Now, time to get a nap in.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Jeff, thank you so much, my friend, keep up.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
The great work. Appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Thanks Mike, always a thrill to be on. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
All right, Jeff, thank you very much. Great to have
you in along as well earlier. Certainly appreciate him as that.
We'll set the scene once again for this evening and
the evolving roster coming out the trade here for for Coppocaco,
who will speak with the media later on today, and
we'll have more coverage here on this coming up beginning
a five pm Pacific time for the Frostprewed Course live
(34:37):
pregame show shoes chill ever it fits you. Al Koniski
in Chicago. I'll join you from Network Central with the
opening face off from United Center a little past five
to thirty pm Pacific time, all across the Emeral Queen
Casino Kraken Audio Network as a crack and looking to
get back on the winning path after dropping four of
their last six games. Record right now fifteen sixteen and
(35:00):
two for thirty two points. Big thanks once again to
Ian Furnessandra, Jeff Baker and for kracking this morning. I'm
Mike Benton, Happy Thursday.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
You're home for the cracking Sports Radio ninety three point
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