OVERTIME: The no time constraints episode, plus we got John Forslund on the road (4/26)

Season wrap-up of the 2023-24 season, with extra analysis that hit the cutting room floor for Kraken Weekly with Mike Benton, Everett Fitzhugh and Al Kinisky, plus TV play by play voice John Forslund by phone.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Featuring the great stories, personalities,conversation and news in the hockey world.
Back to Ben Ears, Walks inLeft Circle sets, Classic Gay, Jay's
Gonna Shutout Part. It's the OvertimePodcast, a presentation of the Krack and

(00:20):
Audio Network and Sports Radio ninety threepoint three kJ R f M enjoy that
one time day over time. Thisis Jordan Everlief. This is Joey Decourt,
This is Matta Veniers. Is Shaneright, This is Jary mccannon.
You're listening to Overtime. Here's MikeBetton. All right, let's do this,

(00:40):
wrapping it up here as far asregular season matters. Glad you joined
us here for another episode of Overtime. You can find us by the Way
podcast to via the iHeartRadio app tosimply sign up for free to get it
at sports Radio KJR dot com.Mike Betton with you. There was a
ton that we had to get toduring the season finale of Crack and Weekly,
but we had time constraints. Thatdoesn't really exist as far as the

(01:03):
podcast space, so we have alot more that hit the cutting room floor,
but it's totally fit here for thiskind of conversation. We're gonna get
to Everett fits you, alconisky Ijoined them by the way at thirty two
Bar and Grill. By the way, big shout out, big thank you
to head chef Ken Moriarty, tohis staff, to his crew. They
were fantastic all season long. Wewere well taken care of, especially here

(01:26):
for this episode. We'll get toalso our food choices later on in case
you might have missed it. Butgo ahead and hang out with them here,
even though the hockey season's all done. For the Crack inside, check
out the menu by the way atCrack in Community iceplex dot Com. Everett's
coming along in just a bit onceagain, Al Koniski, plus the bonus
conversation with our friend, our legendon the Kraken TV side John Forestland TV

(01:49):
play by play voice. He'll bea long and just a bit. He's
been a busy man in between EastCoast and toward the western hemisphere of the
US. He's covering most recently herethe Colorado Avalanche and the Winnipeg Jets series
and bouncing back and forth right nowwith the NHL on TNT. Johnny joins
us in just a little bit onceagain. The tok Kraken matters, involving

(02:12):
coaching, involving the captaincy, andso much more. Well, we jump
back out to thirty two Bar andgriltwhere Everett Allen, myself and a chance
to dive into now this season wrappedup with the Crack and looking for greater
expectations coming up this next year.First off, I can't believe that we're
at the end of three seasons ofKrack and hockey already. It's incredible.

(02:34):
It seems like yesterday that we wereopening up at Vegas than the home opener
against Vancouver. So this phase meansgrowth and the newness in a bit has
worn off. It's about shutting skinnow and becoming something that's bigger and better.
So that's why the conversations we're havinghere for today are good. They're
healthy, and they're productive. Whatcan make this team better? You've got

(02:58):
no choice but to look basically everyone, we're here for improvements because we've learned
about one thing, the Crack.I don't want to settle for less.
They know it, their players knowit, and their fans know it as
well. Now we get along theway that that next pix up we're going
to talk about it about it rightnow ever it fits you, Al Katiski
joining us again here from thirty two, bar and grill, gentlemen. I

(03:19):
can't believe we are done with eightytwo games. It just flew by.
It feels like in a blink,I want to correct something you just said.
I'm not full. I'm still I'mstill very very second's coming. I'm
still very hungry for more hockey.I'm sitting around watching these games. I'm
a sore loser. I don't Idon't like to lose. Right, So
when I'm watching other kids outside havingfun playing hockey, and I'm like sitting

(03:45):
on my couch, I swore offthe first round. I'm not watching a
second of hockey from now. That'sSpongeBob mean with Squidward up in the up
in the house looking through Well.Then my two year old comes in,
he goes, Dad hockey hockey,and I'm like you little fine, fine,
fine. So I've been watching hockeyall weekend. So no, it

(04:06):
makes you, it makes you missit, it makes you long for that
feeling again. So I very mucham starving for some more hockey. I
think anger and resentment is what Ioften. Oh yeah, I'm watching these
games, going, oh, that'sridiculous. So that wouldn't happen if the
Kracking were in the playoffs, orthe cracking could be this team that's in

(04:27):
the playoffs, and I just feelI feel anger at this point, and
I'm gonna need a couple of weeksto get through that. Well. And
you know what's funny you say thattoo, because like, I'm watching some
of these games, and we allknow the issues that this team has had,
right, I'm watching a lot ofthese games, and the gap between
some of these teams and the SeattleKraken isn't as big as as it may

(04:50):
seem. Right, this was ateam in the Kraken where goaltending was never
the problem. Defensively, you're theonly team in the top eight or top
ten rather goals against not in theplay You've been able to limit goals.
Your goaltending has not been the issue. It's been scoring. It's been your
offense. So you're watching these teamsscoring goals, shooting the puck, all

(05:10):
things that the Kraken have had troubleswith this season, and you're like,
are you kidding me? Like wecould do this. That's the most frustrating
thing for me is watching these teamsplay who on paper, I feel like
the crack And during the regular seasonmatched up with pretty well. You swept
Boston, You played Edmonton well,although you didn't win against them, you

(05:31):
played them well. You had somegreat battles with La Co, beat Tampa
in Tampa, Nashville, you hadsome good battles a lot of these teams.
You're like, man, the Krakenwere right there, if not for
another goal and a half two goalsa game. I think we already got
to one part of this where ifwe could maybe summarize our feelings here for

(05:53):
this season in one word and expandon it. You guys touched on it
right now a plenty, but Ithink it leads me on here to this
where the season then got off therails because the Crack And missed the postseason
by seventeen points. Final record thirtyfour to thirty five and thirteen. To
me, the glaring concern was maybethat first game back out of the trade

(06:14):
deadline against Winnipeg at home, theylose three to nothing, and then you
had that Vegas game after that upor two and then losing overtime. I
think for me it was. Itwas more the Vegas game the Winnipeg game.
It's hard to beat a team twotimes in a row in this league.
Look at look at the playoffs,right, very rarely do you see
do we see sweeps anymore? Veryrarely do we see teams get up to

(06:35):
two nothing leads, or you winone, then you lose the next two.
It's hard to beat the same teamtwice. But for me, it
was the Vegas game. You wereright there in that game, a couple
of mistakes don't go your way,and, at the risk of sounding a
bit too harsh, I think thatVegas game broke this team because they go

(06:57):
on that six and two stretch afterthat, and then the season's behind it
after that. That's what did itfor me. Yeah, but there were
definitely signs before that, and that'sthe way I look at it from my
standpoint. Mike, you talk aboutseventeen points, fits you've gone back and
looked and found where those seventeen pointscould have come from. I'm talking about
games against Calgary when they were ona losing streak. I'm talking about games
against San Jose prior to the trade. Dan. There are a lot of

(07:20):
games along the way where you startedto go, huh, probably should have
won that game. Yeah, Andat the time you're like, well it's
two points, well, it's fourpoints. Well it turns out it was
seventeen points. And I think youcan find those points over the course of
the season. Prior to maybe thatVegas game where that slow fall off the
cliff started happening, you got sweptby Montreal this season, you lost to

(07:40):
Arvid Solderblom in Chicago, who atthe time was statistically the worst Pally in
the NHL. Later on that sameroad trip, you go into Ottawa and
you lose to Anton Forrestsburg, whoat that time was statistically the worst Coulton
in the NHL. So there's fourpoints right there. We talked about Montreal,
there's eight points right there. Yougo back to the the Jersey game,
the New Jersey Devil's game earlier inthe season, when a Karrie Schmid

(08:03):
had forty some saves. So there'sten points right there. So there's five
more wins for you, and wecan easily go back into the thirteen overtime
losses. Fourteen overtime losses. Youcut those in half, they're your seventeen
points and you and I are gettingready to talk about Game two against Dallas
or Winnipeg or whoever. And Iremember stating too at a certain point,

(08:24):
maybe not the first one, butthe first or second or third one where
a team would come into Seattle thatwas struggling, and I thought, Okay,
this is the makeup team. Yeah. First, this gets us back
on the winning on the winning road, and come to realize we might have
been that makeup team for those teamsthat were struggling. Later on on Monday,
GM Ron Francis met with the mediaand was that just about Dave Haxtall.

(08:46):
So can you conturn at this pointthat day hacked dollars coming back next
year or even can't do that yet? Well, you're going to read into
it one way or the other.But this is the process we do every
year, and that's what we're inright now, all right. So Ron
Francis stopping sort of giving Dave Hastallthe confirmation that he'll be back for this
next season. So I mean,for this conversation, guys, what got
us here and what are the mosttelling numbers? Are facts that will dictate

(09:09):
the course of this coming up.Yeah, I think that the goals four
has to be a big, bigpart of it. As we've talked about.
You know, goaltenan was fantastic,top ten in the league. Defense
as a whole, top ten.This team has to find a way to
score more goals. That's the onestatistic that has to be figured out over
the course of this summer. Youcan't go into the fall not having sorted

(09:33):
out that top line centerman, thattop line winger that can put the puck
in the net on a regular basis. Yeah, I mean that's ditto,
right. I mean, there's reallynot much more to say. I think
this was a team last year.Everything flip flopped right. Last season,
the Kraken were able to outscore theirproblems. They were top three team goals

(09:54):
four to five on five I thinkfive, sixth overall in the league overall
goals four, but defensively they werein the twenties, mid to low twenties.
But this team was able to outscoretheir problems. Look at the nine
to eight win in LA which stillstands probably my favorite game non playoff game
to call during my time here inSeattle. But it's been the offense,

(10:16):
and I think for me, it'salso the lack of wanting to shoot the
puck. And this is a teamthat I've been saying since day one,
this is a very passive team inthe literal sense of the word. They
want to make the extra pass.This team always looks for the pretty,
the fancy, rather than put thepuck onto the net. I go back

(10:37):
to one of the final games SaintLouis. I think it was when Joey
Decord was down on his stomach andI forget who scored the goal, but
he shot the puck from the corner. It goes off his skate and into
the net. How many of thoserebound How many of those fluky deflection goals
could the Cracket have gotten over eightytwo games had they have had that shoot
first mentality, And you don't alwayssee that on a consistent basis with this

(11:01):
team. Eighth lowis as far asa league in shots for this season twenty
eight point six per game. AsI even look at as well, how
this team began and how this teamfinished one four and one from the start,
Ron Francis said they have to startbetter this next season, and some
players even admitting that they didn't comeout as prepared. They've got to have
ownership on that, but again itrequires a deeper dive as so far as

(11:24):
as far as leadership here for thisteam moving forward, we look at how
they finished as well to end thisregular season from March and into April four,
eight and two and then four andsix in April as well. There
is a higher standards set, whichis the reason why that we're here and
ever I think that you touched onthe offensive part is before we get to
break and we're going to have moreof a conversation with the fans on next

(11:46):
year. The expectations we'll get tomore of this and we have some male
bank questions coming in here. Butto solve this scoring issue, back to
this part trade, free agency,how do you do it? You look
at maybe what's out there availability wiseat center, at winger, but Ron

(12:07):
Francis really hit hard on the likelihoodof trying to go after this via trade
once again. Yeah, I meanall of that has to be on the
table. If you look at thefree agency class, I mean it's not
it's not the sexiest free agency class, but there are still a lot of
big names potentially who are going tobe available. You look at a Lynn
Home, you look at a RyanHart and Florida Gensel. Actually, Carolina

(12:31):
in general has a number of playerswho are up after this season. Only
time will tell. Trade for meis the interesting one because you have to
work the problem backwards. If I'ma team you know, I'm Team X,
and I want to trade one ofmy top six wingers, one of
my top six forwards to Seattle.Who on the crack and roster am I

(12:52):
willing to part with? Now?I'm not gonna mention any names because I
don't want to get in trouble,But if you were a GM, if
you were or in management, lookat this crack and roster. I'm probably
willing to say there are maybe fewerthan five players three, three, four,
five players on this current crack androster that are worth a top six

(13:13):
winger in a trade. If I'ma GM, I would want one of
these three guys if I'm gonna giveyou a thirty goal score, if I'm
gonna give you a sixty point scoreconsistently. So you have to work that
problem backwards. So that to mesays there are some hard decisions potentially on
the horizon this summer. Yeah,I mean you can back into that equation

(13:35):
too, because we heard Ron Francistalk about the strength of this team right
now in goal on defense and theyneed to shore up the offense. Well,
if you're gonna shore up the offense, you're probably gonna have to give
up something, yep, where you'restrong. And again I'm not gonna name
names either, but it's probably notgonna be a first line forward for a
first line forward exactly. So youcan figure that out this equation and probably
what people are gonna be looking for. And I also I liked what Ron

(13:56):
said yesterday about now this team beingin a position to potentially part ways with
some assets. Right You've got alot of draft capital. But this system
is probably I would say, oneof top five top ten farm systems in
terms of the entirety of your prospectpool in the league. So you've got
guys overseas, You've got guys whoare coming off of successful junior seasons who

(14:20):
are about to make their pro debuts. You've got guys in Coachella Valley right
now who have had good seasons.I mean, as far as I'm concerned,
you know, maybe identify one ortwo organizational untouchables and then the rest
are probably fair game if the rightoffer comes across, because we all know

(14:41):
that if the Crack can get ahigh draft pick, that could be in
play to acquire Figfish to help outas far as top six their top line
eighth lowest record in the league,which means they have a six percent chance
of getting the first overall pick.By the way, add to that,
centers who are maybe available here forthis summer, Aliislin home in the pack,
Chandler, steven Sin, Shawn Monahan. Wingers wise, we're talking about

(15:03):
Sam Ryan Harkaman off a big season, Stevens dam Koch do you want to
go there? But also Jake Genseland as far as Everett said, trade
wise, that's a big wait andsee here. We're going to get into
more of this conversation in just abit. Alec Yes, one more pointing
this topic too, because you know, we talk a lot about not enough
goals for, but we don't talkenough about why other than personnel. But
we heard Ron Francis talk yesterday aboutthe health of the team this year compared

(15:28):
to last year. I don't thinkwe put enough effort into understanding how that
might have impacted goals for. Andone of those specifically is Vince Dunn.
Yeah, when he went out ofthe lineup, the power play just plummeted,
you know, goals, even strengthplumbing. He is such a big
part of putting pucks in the netfor this team that his health became a
big issue. But it wasn't justVince don. It was every from the

(15:50):
start of the season. Tannem wasat the start. All the health issues
that happened over the course of theseason have to factor into part of the
answer as to why this team couldn'tput pucks in it. And I think
that's a big real that's a bigpiece for the I guess second season success
for Seattle. That is a veryunderrated point. That team, now two

(16:10):
years ago was unremarkably uncharacteristically healthy.You lost Andre Berukowski for the last forty
some odd games. Philip Grubauer ofcourse, was out for injury, and
I remember I think I counted,give or take ninety man games missed due
to injury, which is that that'snot a lot of games, and it

(16:33):
was primarily through two people. Soyou're right. I mean, you had
a full on healthy team going intothe playoffs. You win the first round,
you come so close in the secondround, and then you get back
to reality. Now in year three, with all the injuries, you lose
the entire four flye that gave youone hundred and one points a season ago.
So that's I think a huge piecethat a lot of folks don't really

(16:57):
bring into account, the health orlack there up because it's to fix it,
is right. You can't fix help, you can't, but it's it's
not one specific thing that does it. But you you go and get that
top line forward, but you stillhave health issues here. For nothing's gonna
be faxed exactly brief Coachelle Valley update. Playoff time for the Firebirds. They

(17:18):
get a first round by forty sixfifteen six and five. Their record points
at one hundred and three, firstin the Western Conference under Dan bielesma As
they're looking pretty good here to defendtheir Western Conference title. They'll face the
lowest seed coming out of the bestof three rounds to open the first round
up in the Calder Cup playoffs.So that now brings a question, guys
here, who's got the most onthe line here in the playoffs. Shane

(17:42):
Wright twenty two goals, Ryan Wintertontwenty two goals logan Morrison forty one points
sixty four games, or Ryker Evanswith a bulk of the year at the
NHL and back now in Coachella.I'm gonna take the lowest of lowy hanging
fruits there it is for me,it's Shane Wright. I mean, this
is his opportunity to I think,take his name out of pencil and put

(18:04):
it into penn In terms of beingon this roster, in the middle of
this roster, in the thick ofall situations. Next year for Seattle,
I mean he needs to have continuedhis success that he's seen this season.
I still think Morrison, Winterton oranother half a year up and down next

(18:25):
year and then maybe going into twentywill be five to six as as full
time NHL as. That would bemy assessment as far as Raker Evans goes.
I mean Ryker Evans, I've beensaying since day one, the second
he gets up here, he cansell that apartment down in Palm Desert and
move everything up here. I thinkthis how weird? Does that move?

(18:45):
Now he's back into like a hotelmaybe well, and I think someone else's
apartment well, And I think thisis good for him because he was in
and out of the lineup this year. I know that they want to try
to get him some more games.He still feels good, he's eligible to
get sent down, and I thinkfor a young kid, especially defenseman,
there's no such thing as too manygames. And I think for him it's

(19:07):
an opportunity to shore up a fewthings, tighten up a few things.
You know, he's got this reputationin the minors as an offensive defense,
and we didn't see a whole lotof the offense from him. Maybe he
could work on that now. ButShane Wright number one, and I think
Riker Evans as far as immediate impact, he's my number two. But I

(19:27):
think it's it's a clear one andthen a two. Yeah, And I
don't disagree with either of those points. In the case of Riker Evans.
If you're healthy at the end ofyour regular season, which I believe he
is, why wouldn't you go playwith Coachella. Why wouldn't you go help
them win a championship? Why wouldn'tyou continue to get more reps down there.
I don't think it hurts him togo from the NHL level down to

(19:49):
the HLHL level, knowing that you'recoming back in the fall to be a
full time cracking employee. I willsay this fits took the low hanging fruit
on this. You made a greatpoint as well on Riker Evans. So
I'll take the Ryan Winterton and LoganMorrison angle. The production is there.
We know what Winterton is capable ofhere on this team down the road,

(20:11):
a good depth guy penalty kill aswell, But nothing says I'm making my
spot more bright and clear to makethis team. Then I was a big
piece as well in this playoff run. That is a ton of take into
this next season. So if Iput myself in Winterton's shoes, in Morrison's
shoes, this is a big,big chance for them to once again claim
their space in a very potentially verycrowded market here for Fords who are vying

(20:37):
for a spot, especially young Fords, to make this team this for this
next season. And I think alsoit's gonna help if you can have another
long playoff run down there, ifyou can further help establish the culture,
if you can get more of thatplayoff experience. How much do we talk
about the players on this team's yourSchultzes, your Duomelin's, your Dune,
Schwartzes, Grubauer, Berakhovski, guyswho have Cup rings, Guys who have

(21:02):
played, you know, fifty sixtyone hundred plus playoff games in their career.
We talk so much about that experience. And I don't care what level.
If you're winning high school championships orif you're winning Stanley Cup championships,
you know what it's like to playin a winneror go home game. Last
season, the Firebirds were in theliteral last game of the Hockey World Game

(21:26):
seven between them and Hershey, thatwas the last game of the Hockey World
last year. So to get thatexperience to continue playing well into the summertime,
playing in those high intensity, highpressure situations, it can only do
you good well if you just thinkabout it from the word development, if
you want to develop these guys togo to the next level. The NHL

(21:48):
season has done for the Kraken.All that's left is the Firebirds playoff run
and if they go deep and ifthey win the whole thing. What better
way to develop these guys that tohave them in the lineup playing regularly.
So yeah, I want them allthere. I want them all playing regular
shifts, getting ready for training camp. All right, you better believe it,
Shane right, looking forward to abig playoff run here, Logan Morrison,

(22:08):
Ryan Winterton, Riiker Evans back aswell as Coachella Valley looking to defend
their Western Conference title under head coachDan Bylsma, earning top record in the
Western Conference and also a first roundby as well, before we get right
back to Everett. Now with ourfinal thoughts here for this season in extended
form, here's our conversation as wehad a chance to dive into matters involving

(22:33):
Matty Benier's where he fits, AndreBerakowski, where he fits the power of
adding top line scoring. How wegot here with the coaching matters Dave Axtell
not yet confronted a return for afourth season. Additionally, who is going
to wear the sea as captain?The new captain for the Kraken this next
year, had a chance here tocatch up once again with our friend and

(22:55):
our legend from the Kraken television side. Well, we couldn't put all this
here together without collecting thoughts of alegend and a friend of ours. Here,
John Foresland Crake and TV play byplay voice he joins us here,
Hey, Johnny you're still here,right, You're still here, I believe
so as of right now. Yeah, yeah, it's great to hear from

(23:17):
you. We know you're doing somegreat things right now in the playoffs with
the TV side, and looking forwardto more of this TNT and everything else.
Where are you going to move tothis week? Okay? So I'm
shipping off to Denver for Friday nightGame three, and then I'll be in
Vegas on Saturday night Game three ofthat Dallas series, and then on Sunday
afternoon. It's a quick turnaround,but we'll be back in Denver for Game

(23:41):
four, and then ESPN will takeover Mike for the next few days,
and then we'll be back on Gamesix of the Winnipeg Colorado series if needed,
and I'm sure it's going to beneeded. Looking forward to it here
in a few series that could potentiallygo deep in this one. What'd you
take away from calling the Carolina Islandergame. It was a good game.
It was a game in which Ithink the Islanders, based on our conversations

(24:06):
with Patrick Wall before the game,we're ready for. They were hot.
They had a plan, but youneed perfection to execute your plan against a
team like Carolina. So the Islanderswere not perfect. Carolina was able to
take over the third period of thatgame when the game and then make a
miraculous comeback as we know in gametwo, you know, and the series

(24:29):
should be short. I expect itto be short. Man for man,
I don't think the Islanders can compareit all to Carolina. I think that's
pretty obvious. Disparity, especially inthe Metro Division is great, you know,
between the Rangers and the Hurricanes andeverybody else. So that's I think
what we'll see in round two.But you just never know. There's a

(24:52):
two day break before they get toGame three on Long Island, and if
the Islanders have any hope, that'spretty obvious too. Need the third game
and go from there. Well,it's great to have you once again,
my man, and great to seeyou and the crew ready here to do
this again. For the TV side, you know, we love working alongside
you. So this whole new thing, I mean King five Kong as well.

(25:14):
Amazon Prime. I bet you're pumpBut how pumped are you? Oh?
Very over the moon with this,Mike, Because you know, first
of all, let's just say,for the three years of television has been
part of the root experience for mehas been wonderful. They're ultra professional.
They did a great job with it. I think the proofs in the pudding.

(25:36):
And unfortunately the cable industry is changing, It's been stretched out, and
the hardest thing about it today isreaching all of your fans. And because
that was becoming increasingly more difficult,great to see the crack and moved quickly
and got to a deal here withthis partnership with Tegna and with Amazon Prime

(25:57):
and Prime Video, and moving forwardin the way that we can get cracking
hockey out there to as many peopleas possible or as little as possible.
And that's the one thing I thinkthat's resonated with our fans since I've been
in Seattle. It's hard to getthe games. It's expensive to get the
games, and you don't want roadblocks, not when you're still brand new,

(26:19):
not when you have a great product, not when you have a right future.
So it's very important that this dayhas come. We'll move on,
we'll get to a new horizon withthis, and I'm very happy to be
part of it. Well before wedive into more cracking material sad news going
down here and We're still emotionally processingthis Thursday morning, Bob Cole passing away

(26:45):
at the age of ninety, Johnny, I think to describe the word pioneer
for him doesn't do enough justice.Maybe legend doesn't do enough justice. You've
been around this game a long longtime, crossing pass him as well.
What did he mean here to thisgame? Well, Bob Cole was among
the king of kings in terms ofwhat we do. I remember the first

(27:08):
time I heard Bob was in thelate eighties and we were traveling to Newmarket,
Ontario with the minor league team Iwas working for, and one of
the players had me over his house, his mom and dad's house for dinner.
And it was Saturday night and theLeafs for playing and Hockey Night Canada
was on. And I was familiarwith Danny Gallivan and Dick Irvin because we

(27:29):
did get a little bit of HockeyNight in Canada during the playoffs where I
grew up in New England. ButI've never heard of Bob Cole and obviously
never heard his work. So wesat down and we watched the game and
I heard this voice and I waslike, Wow, who is this?
And they said it was Bob Cole, so I started following him closely.
You know, in our in ourprofession, it's important to have your own

(27:55):
style. It's hard to emulate people. You got to carve out your own
style as broadcaster. But I wouldput him in a group of people that
I looked at as influences, There'sno question because of the cadence of his
call. Hockey's a beautiful game,as you know, Mike, and the
cadence of play by play. We'revery lucky because we get to bounce off

(28:15):
what we see and that's how wetransmit the energy of the game to the
fans. Bob Cole did that aswell, if not better than anybody,
and he did it for a longtime. And he would had the ability
to lay out and let the momenttake over, the ability to stamp it
with just a few words that werereally meaningful, not a lot of words,

(28:37):
not a lot of stuff that's overthe top, just at the right
time. Timing is so important.You don't want to be contrived or carved
out, and he wasn't. Andthen I got to meet him and I
got to understand maybe it's somewhat ofa contemporary. Although he always kind of
kept me at arm's length due toour generational differences. But he was very
good to me and I got tospend time with him, especially you know,

(29:00):
near the end of his run withHockey Night, and just sponge off
of him and listen to his stories. And he just loved the game.
And that's like all of us andall the fans. So it's a sad
day that he's passed, but he'smoving on with his cigarette holder and his

(29:22):
opportunity to bellow a call out upstairs. I'm sure that's what all exactly.
They must have Hockey Night in Canadaand heaven. Yeah, and that's where
he'll be. But from a greatplace too, from the Maritimes, or
great people in the Maritimes. Andhe was assault of the earth yep,
certainly iconic, and I think youhave to have a love for this game

(29:44):
to the point where you get tothe NHL. You cannot fake it and
be successful, as some great peopleare, like yourself, Bob Cole as
well. Bob Cole passing away atthe age of ninety, very very sad.
Here is John Foresland joining us hereto wrap this whole thing up here
for the season. I think beginningon the the local matters here, Johnny,
give me a word to describe thisseason to you and also why,

(30:04):
Well, the word would be frustrating, And the reason for the frustration is
just inconsistency. So you know,there's inconsistency across the board here, whether
it be their play which there's noquestion that was evident, the injuries that
plagued the roster at different times andbrought some of their guys that they were

(30:26):
relying on, like Andre Berkowski.You know, there's a lot a lot
of hope attached to that player basedon his injury the previous season and the
fact they're able to get to theplayoffs without him, go two rounds without
him, but by bringing him back, and he was the leading score at
the time of his injury two seasonsago, you expect him to put a
lot of points on the board andhe couldn't stay injury free, and watching

(30:49):
all this was frustrating. I knowit's frustrating for the fans. They took
us on a roller coaster ride.They got off to that horrible start.
It was a tough schedule. There'sa lot of things. You know,
you get Colorado three times in thefirst month of the season Carolina twice.
But they did okay with the Carolinasegment by getting three out of four points.

(31:10):
But it's just those other games wherethey could have and should have and
didn't, and that kind of thingplayed out for too long. And then
there was the Tea's in the middleof the season where you know, there's
nine wins in a row and there'sall the point streak and Joey Decord and
the Winner Classic, and now we'reback and the fans are back and everybody's
believing that the Kraken can do thisin the second half, and then there's

(31:34):
a letdown again. So it's frustrating, right, But I think it's part
of a process that you got toget through to realize. And I'm hoping
the silver lining here is that therealization is present for management to look at
what it is, make the properadjustments in the off season, and recognize
that the transition will be happening verysoon. In terms of the newer players,

(31:57):
the younger players, franchise has toget to it. You still have
to give some of those guys sometime, and they're all individuals. They'll
all need more time and some willtake less to matriculate and make the National
Hockey League. But that's what's goingto happen, and that's going to be
fun to watch the Dave Hackstall development. Ron wouldn't confirm a fourth season during

(32:19):
exit interview period. Of course,Johnny in your eyes, how do we
get here? Well, I youknow, Ronnie said it himself, right,
You guys can read into this asmuch as you want. Well,
that's what we're doing. And youknow, if you're complete and if you're
completely sure, you say it thatday of his media availability. So there's
there's some doubt, and it doesn'tmean that there will be a change.

(32:43):
What it means is there has tobe a deeper dive into what went on
here. So that leads us backto the top of the interview with that
word frustration. If we're frustrated asfans, can you imagine how the management
the ownership of the team is rightbecause everyone was expecting a little bit more
in this third season, and alittle bit more just puts you at the

(33:04):
playoff line. And they were closeenough to get there, that's the thing.
They were close enough to make itright to the end of the season,
and they fell short. So yougot to, you know, take
a dive into that and ask somequestions as to why, and those answers
may come from the players. Theconversations that Ron has with each individual player,
and certainly the veteran players will carrymore weight, and you ask them

(33:27):
what they think, and you askthem to be honest, and then you
take a look around the organization ofpeople you rely on, you get their
opinions. At the end of it, Ron has to trust his own opinion.
He knows, he knows more thanall of us. You know,
where he's at, where he wantsto go, where this plan is,
and who needs to direct this team. So Dave's done a very good job.
You know, Dave's done a greatjob at laying a foundation in terms

(33:51):
of how he wants the team toplay. There's no question we know what
the identity of the Seattle Kraken andwhat that identity is. The key and
the trick here is getting to iton a consistent basis, which was a
problem in the third season. Sowe'll see where it goes. I mean,
he's a very capable coach and maybehe can tweak a couple of things

(34:13):
to make it better for himself.If he's back. But I think it's
fair to say that because we haven'tbeen given any other reason to believe that.
It's kind of a fifty to fiftyscenario right now. At least we
can read into it that way andsee what happens, what makes a bigger
impact on this team next season toget this thing turned around internally? Are

(34:34):
you more in the camp of AndreBerokovski's health and production, Matty Baniers's next
level physique, or Shane writes breakthrough. They got to add a real top
player, however they do it,if they get creative through a trade,
if they go to free agency,whatever the case is. That's what has
to happen. For me. Thereneeds to be another player added to this

(34:54):
roster that's going to be a lockin terms of offensive production. If he
can be a center, that's good. You never plan for something you don't
know about. So no disrespect toShane and wherever Shane Wright is in terms
of his development, but I don'tthink you plan for that. You hope
for that, and if it happens, you're happier than a lark. And

(35:17):
if it doesn't happen, you understandthat he's going to be twenty one in
January, and you live with it. But I don't think you want to
pencil it in and put some numbersnext to his name in terms of what
you're expecting, because to be fair, he's still a developing player that is
unproven at the NHL level. Sowhat needs to happen. Sure, Andre
Burakowsky has to come back, hehas to have a great summer. He's

(35:39):
got to put himself in the bestphysical condition possible and come back here and
make good on his contract. Thathas to happen. And the other players
who had subpar seasons or need todo better and come back that way,
they're getting older. But those arethe players that you lock into, you
hope, and you can expect,and you can pencil in some numbers for

(36:00):
Maddy Benier's that's fair. You knowhe's going to enter his third season.
He had a brilliant year, thenhe had a bad year or challenging year,
because again I still view him asa developing player, so I'll call
it challenging. Then you get tothe third season, but you can expect
a certain level of points. It'sjust where is he going to slot?

(36:21):
Is he going to be your onec again, or your two C.
If they can get a one C, that would be great. If it's
a winger who can score and asa premiere, game breaking type of player,
that'll be great. They can beefup a little bit, that would
be good too. I think they'resolid in goal, they're solid on defense,
and then you're going to have guyswho are going to come back and

(36:44):
add to what they've already done here, which is all well and good because
that's really the foundation of the teamand you still have that level in terms
of the roster left over from thevery beginning of the franchise. So that's
where I think it is, andhopefully they're successful in doing that. John
the captaincy talk picking up here forthis summer. Who's made the biggest impression

(37:07):
or what qualities are really standing outto you the most As far as what
is need to hear for this teamthis next season, Well, I think
Jordan Everley will be the captain.I believe that. I would have to
think that some of those conversations werein play when he decided to extend and
get a new deal and for gogoing to the market and be a traded

(37:29):
player that could either come back orsign elsewhere and they could run for the
Stanley Cup. So when he decidedthat he would take the deal, which
is fair on both sides, andcome back to me, I think they
probably already have an eye on that. The thing about every is this,
most of the things that he doesthat are really beneficial to the team,
we don't see or hear, right, because he's very subtle in terms of

(37:51):
how he portrays himself in the media. His play in the ice is excellent,
although it's subtle too. It's kindof like the way he is.
But just talking with the coaching staffand some of the other players, and
certainly in my conversations with Ron,there's another level that we'll never get to
see that's very important terms how theteam operates inside the room. The one

(38:12):
guy that's outwardly out there that weall see and can feed off his energy
is Yanni Gord And you know,Yanni, I thought down the stretch,
was absolutely brilliant with some of thethings that he said that were really striking
chords as far as I was concerned, you know, watching the team finish
the year and how they needed towhether he was bitterly disappointed in an effort

(38:32):
that he just was part of,or if he was happy at the end
of the season with how they wentout. And I know it's a meaningless
game at the end of the season, but to be fair to those guys,
they played hard, they blocked aton of shots, they won the
game in Minnesota, and it's onlyimportant to them at that time. Now
that's long gone, but that's stillimportant in terms of your identity and how

(38:53):
you want to play as a group. You know, everybody else, Schwartz,
Larson, you know, you lookat that level in terms of leadership.
They're all part of it. Mccan's a big part of it.
But I really believe that's where it'sheaded. Will it ever get to Matt
eveaneir someday it will, but certainlyhave to bridge to that point, and

(39:15):
or maybe it's somebody else. Maybeit is Shane right down the road,
or somebody we're not even talking aboutin terms of a captaincy that's going to
be in play here for maybe adecade. That's the next step for the
franchise. Right now, it's atransitional step, and to be fair to
Jordan, he has a two yeardeal and we'll see where it goes after
that maybe there's one year deals afterthat and you can still play if he

(39:37):
is the captain. Maybe that isthe case. But anyway, I think
that's where it is. But Ithink it's needed. I think they got
to put a c on somebody nextyear and get to that place. Well,
it's important to talk about the issuesof the very healthy questions here as
far as what's next. But let'sput a happy ball on this here,
my friend. And well, asideform the Winter Classic, you had that
call on to the national radio side, all right, give it to me

(40:00):
here, favorite win of the yearto call for you as what oh the
winner Classic without question? Yeah,you know, I wish it was,
you know, on our local television, but it wasn't. And you know,
even though it was a national call, it was just it was so

(40:20):
great to be on the field atthe ice, along the boards, to
feel the game, to look around, feel the energy from the crowd.
You were down there too, Iknow, you know exactly what I'm talking
about. Yeah, and then whenthat game ended, to hear the way
they were channing for Joey and recognizing. And I've been to a few of

(40:43):
these. I've been lucky enough tocover a few of these. It was
predominantly a cracking crowd. There werepeople a Golden Knights fans sprinkled among the
group, but forty seven thousand plus, and you know, it wasn't generic.
I've been at a few where it'skind of a generic feel. This
was. This was like you're you'reyou're going to Climate Pledge Arena, you

(41:07):
know, on speed. You know, this was This was to another This
was to another level, you know, And it felt that way. And
then fans are quite a distance awayfrom the playing surface, but you could
still feel it. There was athunder, you know, there was a
thunder. So I remember driving homethat night and feeling feeling really good about
where we're at, about the city, about our fans, about where this

(41:31):
is going. And I told alot of people at the end of the
year, Mike, you know,this is just the completion of year number
three, you know. I knowthere's a lot of concern and worry and
pressure maybe for season ticket renewals andall these different things. But I think
when people take a long look atthis, they might be frustrated with what

(41:52):
happened this past season. They mightwant to see some changes in a variety
of different ways. That's part ofbeing a fan. But when there's always
next year, which is the beautyof being a fan in any sport and
following any team, there's always aboutnext season. You know, we'll get
them next year. We're just startingthat feeling, and we've already experienced the

(42:13):
Stanley Cup playoffs not one, buttwo rounds in seven game series. It's
a franchise, expansion franchise that knockedoff the defending Stanley Cup champions in their
second year of existence, and soit's just getting started. It's wonderful to
be part of this. And Ithink if I were a fan of the
Krack and I would be completely jackedfor the next season and really excited to

(42:38):
look at this offseason what they're goingto do, and keep a close eye
in the American League team and seewhat they do in the playoffs, because
again, it will be unprecedented ifyou get an American League team to get
back to the finals two years ina row, and that's an important facet
of the organization. And if theyare able to win the championship with a

(42:58):
younger team than they had last season, that just tells us that the future
is bright. And then we gotall these kids that are just coming out
of junior hockey and the upcoming draftand all of this, so we're at
the infancy stages. We've got somegreat moments, we've got some frustration,
and we've got to burn in themarket, which is good because you want
to get back to success and Ithink that's on the horizon. So that's

(43:21):
gonna be that's going to be greatto be part of. I can't wait
for it for sure. My friendalready, Hey, let's do launch and
know that you're a busy man.But when you're back in CEL and that's
looking forward to it, and let'ssay good abye soon. Thanks Johnny.
Well, Mike, that's if Icome back. I'm just kidding. That's
a joke, Mike, that's ajoke. The court, we'll knock it
down, rims it around the board, superrello. It's a play right corner,

(43:45):
five to go to the blue line, buldy shot, turn aside,
getting it back up, rais offleft circle, blast blocked on the way
and the fucking go into the offseason and the win column. It's a
four to three win in the seasonfinale. Here in Saint Paul, Big
shout out once again, big thankyou thirty two Bar and Grill for hosting

(44:06):
us our main man, Ken Mouryalready had chef taking care of us once
again. Friends and hey, becausehockey season's over, here for the crack
inside, don't hide, don't runaway, Come on down here, enjoy
some incredible food. I had theclub sandwich, ever it had the fish
tacos. I believe Al took careof the burger. You you knocked down
the burger once again on brand AlKoniski. This man has never met a

(44:29):
piece of red and meat. Hedoesn't like our cracking weekly poll question,
what is your minimum expectation for nextseason and right now? Forty four percent
of you say, just make theplayoffs get right back into the dance.
Forty four percent of you say that. Our pull question on going by the
Way on Twitter and next at KrakenAudio Nets. Let's make our pixel before

(44:52):
we get into our mailbag segment ofone player who's got the most to prove
on this current roster for this nextseason. I'll go with Andre Berikowski and
the hell health very unfair, butthat's the name of the game in pro
sports. Sometimes health is going tobe out of your control. But he'll
be entering year three of a fiveyear deal. He came in already as
a proven twenty goals score and thisyear rhythm just is timing seemed to be

(45:14):
off all the way until maybe,like I would say, the last couple
of weeks here of this season.But that's the guy they had to get
right back into full gear a kinto being your point per game like they
had last year before the groin injuryhit him. Yeah, No, I
think I think Andre, I meanthat was he was my he's my number
two for all of those reasons.I think you got him to be that

(45:35):
dynamic power forward. You got himto create plays in the generated offense,
and that that's you know, you'repaying him to do that, right,
and you want to see him anddo that for me. The guy that
I think has got the most pressureand and he's he's it's mad Eveneers,
it's got any mad Eveneers, becausethe year was down for him, number
of factors, right, It's alwaysgoing to be difficult going into your second

(45:59):
season. I understand that, butyou're now at RFA, You're going into
negotiations this summer. Ron's pretty confidentthat he'll be able to sign them and
keep him here long term. Sohopefully that's the case, you know,
And but for me, Matty Beineersneeds to get back to thirty goals forty
goals consistently. He's got to getback to to playing that style we saw

(46:22):
in his first season. Yeah,I guess I would answer the question,
and I don't disagree with either thenames you threw out, but I would
answer the question this way in termsof who's ready, who needs to make
that next step? Fits you?And I talked about ty Karcha and the
role that he can play next year, and what he did this year is
a power forward. I also,I'm not to throw out the name Joey
to Cord as well. Yeah's goJoey is in a position where he has

(46:45):
the opportunity to prove that maybe he'sthe number one goaltender next year. So
when you talk about something to provegoing in the next season, does he
want that role or do we continueforward with a fifty to fifty split of
one A one B. I thinknext to Shade right, that is probably
my favorite most anticipated storyline going intoSeptember next year is the goalie battle because

(47:07):
I do think that that we havethis organization has a legit one A one
A based on how they've played.So who is going to be the starter
come October whatever? When the seasonbegins, you assume too healthy gold,
You assume too of the gold nowalso too. That's very interesting because this
is the first year the krack andhave had going into the season, you

(47:29):
know, healthy goaltenders. But stillSeattle in East of their three years,
they have not had two healthy goaliesgoing all season long. I remember the
first season the Athletic had Joey orPhilip Grubauer and Chris Drieger ranked as the
number three tandem in the NHL goinginto our inaugural season. Of course,

(47:49):
Gruby gets injured, Drieger has aboutwith COVID. Then we go back to
last season. Drieger gets hurt inthe in the gold medal game of the
World Championships. Grubauer gets injured.Comes Martin Jones. Now this season you're
thinking, all right, we're gonnahave We're gonna have one guy uh back
to to to full health. Wellwhat happens, unfortunately group he gets injured
again. To Cord comes in.He holds a fourth down as he walks

(48:13):
right by me, that this isthe beauty of being at thirty two Bar
and grill, and literally, it'sall community. It's all community, your
life, Joey last, but but, but but now? Are we gonna
be now in year four, finallyhaving two healthy goaltenders for the entire eighty
two game season. I hope so. Yeah, Shad Mcomber here to begin

(48:36):
our mail bags segment. What positiondo the crank and need to upgrade most
in the offseason? Is it atop line center? Is a winger?
Is it a defenseman or other?He thinks, first line center here to
move Maddy ben here to two center, Shane Wright, number three, Yanni
Gord, fourth line guy as well. Al, you got burning thoughts right
now. Yeah, I'd love tosee that that top line center come into

(48:59):
the organization and I would make thoseadjustments just as he outlined there with Shane
Wright, Shane right, Maddy andJoanni Gordon those positions as well. I
think that with a top line center, it also gives you the ability to
slide Jared mccannon back over to yeswhere I think everybody believes this is his
strongest spot, which is on thewing. Yeah, I think top line

(49:20):
center can be so hard because whenyou look at number one centers in the
NHL, you've got a Nathan McKinnon, You've got a Sidney Crosby, you
have a Connor McDavid, you havean andj Colepatar. Those players aren't oftentimes
in free agency. I'm gonna maybenot go that pointed with it, but
maybe I'm going to say a bonafide top six winger. And when I

(49:42):
say a top six winger, I'mlooking for a consistent twenty to twenty five
goals and a consistent forty to fiftyassists every single season. I want a
guy that on twenty five other teamsin the NHL, you can without question
say Al Kadisky, You're going rightinto our top six group. Doesn't matter

(50:04):
who they doesn't matter who they playwith. You are a top forty scorer
in the NHL. So I wouldlove to get a top line center,
but those are so few and farbetween. So I'm just gonna say,
give me a top forty, consistenttop forty score, minimum twenty twenty five
goals every year, minimum thirty fortyplus assists every single season. He can

(50:24):
kill penalties or power play for you. That's the type of player that you
need on this roster. I thoughtI was a wish list. I didn't
know I had to be pragmatic.I would begin a little. I would
look at a guy like say EliasLenholm. I'm curious how that situation plays
out in Vancouver, and he's beenvery behind a ton of depth in that
organization right now, but we've seenthe production proven from him, especially in

(50:49):
Calgary. There's Carolina Tis of coursefor Wan Francis was previously I love potentially
where he fits. One from PaulCronin asking about the development part of the
draft and development strategy. Why isthe roster old? Why is there a
slow process with adding younger players?Is there an expectation to be fully formed
when they hit the NHL level soit justifies keeping veterans on the roster as

(51:13):
well? I think a great questionhere to bring up, but I would
say that you're still looking at theorganization at a three years out of the
box. You had to find playersto fill spots here and the development part
of this. Unless your name isCarter Meer, David a Rossa, Matthews,
you're not playing in the NHL atage eighteen, Shane Wright got a
bit of a taste of it,but yet he was not ready to hit
that level. Yeah, this isone of my favorite topic, especially being

(51:35):
here in Seattle with a brand newmarket. You're trying to educate fans on
the on the intricacies of the NHLwhen you're looking at a hockey team compared
to football. Right, College footballessentially is the minor league NFL. Right,
you can go to Alabama for fouryears, go to Oregon, go
to these schools, Michigan for forthree four years, coming twenty two years

(51:59):
old when you them out. Butlike Mike said, you're not gonna be
eighteen years old playing in the NHLunless you're a mc dated or the NFL.
Right, So, I think itdoes take time. And also too,
the NHL is such a fast game. This league is so fast,
it is so skilled. It isa heavy league. It tires you out.
So you see all these players whoare racking up one hundred and thirty

(52:21):
points in junior hockey, they cometo the NHL and they're sealing as thirty
points a season, right, Soit takes time. It's like baseball.
You're never gonna see a player inthe Major League draft start for the Mariners
on day one of their nineteen yearold year. Right, it's just not
gonna happen. So there is alot of patience, which can be frustrating

(52:42):
because we are in a market wherewe've never had to exercise patients. When
you've had the Seahawks, when you'vehad the Sonics, those guys can come
in right away and add to yourroster, whereas you're waiting. Except for
the case like at Matti Vaniers,you're waiting two, three, four years,
sometimes even longer if you're a goalie. Goalies don't make the lead till
five years after they're drafted, andthen all of a sudden, now you're

(53:05):
looking at a guy who's going tolead you to a Stanley Cup. Those
are the That's why it takes solong. Yeah, And I think obviously
you're anxious because you want to win, and you see that as part of
the winning formula aka Shane, Right. But the physical development of these players,
especially boys, I have two ofthem, it really doesn't happen until
they're eighteen to twenty two. Soyou've got to let them develop physically so

(53:28):
their bodies are ready for the NHLschedule. Time for one last thought,
time before we get out of herefor the summer. I'm already missing hockey
season. I can't wait for trainingcamp already in September. That's just how
we're built. That's just how I'mbuilt here. But I'll put the tea
up here for you. Fits.If there's one takeaway from this season and

(53:50):
what you're looking forward to the mostfor next year, go ahead. I
think the takeaway is the core thatwe have and the organization is still very
strong. I look at Schwartz,I look at every I look at Don
Larsen, Gord McCann for all ofhis struggles, Maddie goaltending is strong.

(54:12):
This core is here. This isn'ta situation where man, we're we're two
years away from years away. You'renot wiping the slate clean. I do
genuinely believe this is an organization thatis literally one piece, two pieces away
from getting back to the playoffs,from having success in the playoffs. So
I do think that while it mightseem like the sky is falling right now,

(54:36):
the core that Ron Frances put inplace is good. Now you need
to add to that core to bringin an ancillary piece. I think you
need to bring in a star piece. You know, you need to like,
hey, guys, you need tobring in to Michael Jackson. We're
You're Jackson five right, bring ina Gladys Night. The Pips are already
here. We need we need Gladysright. So that is that is what

(55:01):
I think the outlook is for me. I agree with the poll question voters.
Minimally, you need to get tothe playoffs. That is that is
your low bar, the bars onthe floor. You gotta get to the
playoffs. You have to be oneof the top sixteen teams in the league
next year. Otherwise I think wecan look at maybe deeper issues within the

(55:22):
organization, but I think playoffs.For me, that has to be the
bare minimum. Yeah. I thinkfrom a from a personal standpoint, this
organization got to the playoffs last year. They didn't this year. This is
the end of my first year.I'm a little jealous that I didn't get
a chance to go to that point. Maybe it's you tell it, maybe
that means something. But I thinkfrom an organizational standpoint, what I'm looking

(55:45):
forward to is your right fits.The core looks fantastic if they get that
one piece that that top line piece. That's a part I'm looking forward to.
And we talk about it a lot, but I'm gonna say it again.
The kids that are coming up,I look forward to you get those
three pieces coming together. Man,sky's a limit. It feels great,
I think, finally to have ateam like this in the twenty twenties of

(56:07):
a decade like this, because twentythirty years ago, you try expansion,
forget it, You're not getting acontender within about five to six maybe even
ask Columbus, roughly ten years orso. To have a franchise already in
this position is a privilege. Wesaw, we got a taste of what
Stanley Cup playoffs felt like, andwhat this fan base and what this city

(56:28):
can be proud of is having importantpeople at the controls who have a passion
to make this a winner each andevery season. Important questions are being asked
internally, Important questions are being askedright now about the roster. And that's
important because it tells you upgrades arecoming, changes coming, Next level is
coming as well. I can't waitfor it. I can't wait for us

(56:52):
to see who that rockstar is goingto be. To grab the mic in
front of the whole band ever it. As you mentioned, I can't wait
to see the young kids that wehave and talking about that we have been
watching in the WHL the Oahl OverseasCollege to now make a long term footprint
here on this roster and take thisteam to places many could only have dreamt

(57:15):
of five years ago, ten yearsago, fifteen years ago. Who want
a team to win the Stanley Cup. That's what makes this so exciting here,
gentlemen, we're out of time.I'm grateful for you, Everett al
all of you are listeners as well. I can't wait to see what's going
to happen next in season four.Is it October yet? Yeah? Where's

(57:38):
that wall? I'm running right onthrough it right now. That's hey man,
Mike as always a pleasure. Thanksfor all your hard work this year.
Well you too, your treat posts, intermission cracking weekly, all the
other ancillary duties as assigned that you'retasked with. Man, we wouldn't this
would not happen without you, sothanks for all that you do for us.
Man. Thanks Mike, for sure. We always underplay the importance of

(58:01):
your role. It's it connects everythingtogether. It's the glue. It's what
gives us the freedom to have suchgreat calls on the radio. So I
owe them. I owe them.They are friends, they are gems,
they are professionals. Big thanks onceagain to Evera fits You and al Kiniski
and my friends as well. Wecan't thank you enough here for being with

(58:23):
us all season long. Crack andWeekly is efficiently put away into the mothballs
until this next season, but we'regonna keep the conversation rolling along once again
via the Crack and Audio Network andthe iHeartRadio app. Plus more programming on
any three to three kjar as.We have the draft coming up as well.
We have development can coming up aswell, and something pretty important called

(58:47):
the Hot Stove season free agency trademarket. We're gonna get to a ton
of discussions, so be sure tostay with us no matter what time of
the year. Podcasted via the Crackand Audio Network and the Hearts Radio app
that we'll do it here for overtime. Friends, once again, enjoy the
Stanley Cup playoffs. I think thingsonce again, it ever fits you,

(59:07):
Alkiniski to John Forestland as well.We'll talk to you soon. I'm Mike
Benton, and thanks for pushing play. You're home for the Kraken. Sports
Radio ninety three point three k jR FM