Furness Show 12-15: Hugh Millen, Brandon Montour, Mike Sando and Jason Botterill

Hardcore Football with Hugh Millen! Hugh doesn't like any negative rhetoric around the Seahawks team right now, considering some numbers he has that proves they're a dang good football team. Might have been a lousy game, but they won and it's time to move on. He also acknowledges that the Rams have the right to be called the best team in the NFL right now. He also says it's pretty easy to spot the flaws Seattle has to fix and it starts with the offensive line. Hugh continues with us to break down Sam Darnold's performance and just how important it is to get the O-Line right before the next game.  The Daily Power Play! Brandon Montour joins Ian to give him a high-level view of the Kraken season, as they've had a rough go of late. He also discusses his time here in Seattle, how this season is different due to him having been here for longer and what the team needs to do to move forward.  Mike Sando, The Athletic takes Ian on a trip around the NFL, which includes the devastating injuries we saw with Micah Parsons and Patrick Mahomes. He goes through his playoff calculator and tells us who has the edge heading down the home stretch.  Jason Botterill, Kraken GM joins Ian to address the recent struggles the team has faced and what the team is thinking in the trade market. He also talks about the landscape of the market and what challenges the parity in the market creates. How much communication happens between teams throughout the season? Finally, an evaluation of Shane Wright and the goalies and what Berkly Catton's future holds. Finally, we walk to Softy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
No from the Star Rentals Sports to us Jordan ninety
three point three JJRFM Sports Headlines All Right.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Headlines is brought to you by Frostbrew Cours Like choose
Chill Seahawks. Yesterday Jason Myers six field goals, eighteen points.
That's what they needed to win. They get to win
over the Baltimore Sorry, God, how about that Ian? How
old are you the Baltimore Colts. He's laughing right now
while your ways sears the Indian Helpolis Colts?

Speaker 3 (00:25):
How old?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well not, I'm a little older in Philip Rivers, but
I guess not too much. They didn't get to win.
We'll get to that with Hugh in just a couple
of seconds. Crack and lost yesterday the Sabers three to one,
winless in their last whether one, nine and one in
their last eleven games. Let's see what else next up
Colorado tomorrow, seven o'clock six thirty pre game here on KJAR.
Huskies destroyed Boise State in the final ever LA Bowl

(00:49):
over the weekend, thirty eight to ten. Also on Friday,
we learned that Washington State has hired Kirby Moore, former
Prosser High school star, as well as the now not
current O c at Missouri as the new head coach
at Washington State. Big news in the NFL yesterday, a
lot of bad injuries. Pat Mahomes torn acl out for
the year, Micah Parsons Green Bay defensive end out for

(01:12):
the year with also a torn acl Bad news over
the weekend for the Mariners and their fans. Jorge Polanco
goes to the New York Mets two year deal forty million. Listen,
we all say to spend money. I think that might
have been a little bit extreme. That's just my opinion.
Monday Night Football to Night Dolphin Steelher's five o'clock Right here,
you're home for the NFL ninety three point three k TERFM,

(01:33):
hu Melon standing by Hardcore Football. Let's go.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
Your home for the twelfth Man in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Bradley Presentience Hardcore Football with Hugh Mellon, brought to you
by Hunt Services, Tato Lhorn and Cole Hunts. Now here's
Hugh with the Inverness on Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJR FM.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Hugh Millan joins us to start the show. After the
Seahawks get a win yesterday over the let me say
it Indianapolis Colts, not the Baltimore I said, as I
said in the headlines, for a second, guy, that's I'm
really dating myself there.

Speaker 5 (02:09):
Baltimore quarterback blackps Man, you're giving me a yeah, the
flat top and oh man, that's it a vivid imagery.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Oh god, that's uh. Can we flush that game and
move on to Thursday? Can we just flush that thing yesterday?

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well?

Speaker 5 (02:28):
Yeah, I mean, obviously it was a clunker of a
game offensively, but I don't know, I just I don't
get some of the tenor that I'm hearing a little bit.
Because the Seattle Seahawks are number one in the NFL
in point margin one hundred and sixty three point. There's

(02:50):
only three teams that are over one hundred ian they have.
This is how they This is their ranking since you
know they got their play. This is after Tampa Bay,
so this is over the the last nine games. I'm
not gonna say number one in all of this everything.
I'm about to say the Seahawks defense is number one

(03:10):
in the NFL since Week five. Okay, points per game,
yards per game, points per drive, yards per play, passing
yards per game, net yards per tamp, defensive VPA per
play defensive VPA per game. They are the best defense
by any measure in the NFL since from Week six,

(03:32):
six and beyond. That's not an insignificant portion of the season.
That's nine of the game. And then look, I look
at this football team. And if you go into the
facility at Rent and you know this, you've been there,
there's what they call the rooms, right, they always say
the rooms. There's a QB room, a wide receiver room,
a tight end room, a running back room, an O

(03:54):
line room, a dl D line room, linebackers dbs and
call it the specialists. So we got nine rooms. They
are they are above the median too good to you know,
near great in eight of the nine.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Rooms, yep, yep. And they're the.

Speaker 5 (04:11):
Second youngest team. Well, I just I'm trying to imagine
a player, you know, driving around and and and he's like,
are we the Jets? Like what, like, do you think
that you're you're you're gonna win every game? Is it
like you think it's it's you know, USC against Long
beat State, Like I don't know, I don't know it

(04:31):
was Alousie game. But that are pretty damn good football, Hugh.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
I I look at it this way, and by the way,
when you when you bring up point differential, people are like, well, yeah,
I mean it's it's two teams kind of separate from
everybody else. It's it's Seattle one to sixty three, the
Rams one to fifty nine. As good as the Broncos are,
they're not even above They're not even above that number.

Speaker 5 (04:49):
I mean, yeah, the Patriot. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
But I brought this up to MJ moment ago, and
I mean, I think this probably just comes from from
the years of of doing this and covering these guys
and going especially you know, a lot of times were
on the road and they'd squeak out a win and people, oh,
you know this is like during the Heyday, right, Wow,
they snuck out a win there. I'm like, guys, the
NFL is different because I think we live in the

(05:15):
world of college football. Sometimes there's no subjective committee that's
gonna sit down and say, Seahawks are really good defensively, man,
that offense, I don't know, maybe they maybe maybe we'll
put them, well, they'll be the eight seed in the
in the NFL, you know, playoff tournament. That's not how
it works. The NFL is really simple. If you win

(05:38):
you're in. If you don't, you're not. There's no subjective nature.
It's the left column wins, the right column losses. And
if you get to in today's NFL ten eleven twelve wins,
you're gonna have a chance with the super Bowl. And that, frankly,
I think that to me, that's all that matters. That's all.

Speaker 5 (05:55):
Yeah, no doubt and and the uh, there's double digit
wins by the Seahawks. There's only one team that has
more the Rams. Look, I think the Rams are a
better team. I think there's a reason why they're favored.
They're one and a half point favorite plus. You know
that really means that they think that the Vegas thinks
are about four and a half point favorites in a

(06:15):
neutral site, right, Like, the Rams deserve to be described
as a better team. They have nearly as good a
defense as Seattle, but apparently they have a lot better offense.
Guess what their coach has been there for like seven years.
Their quarterback like they they they're they're a mature program
on offense where it takes the most conceised cohesions. So
you got you're in your number one with a twenty

(06:38):
eight year old quarterback. You're you're number one with the coordinator.
In all likelihood, we're gonna eulogize you. We're gonna be
doing a show just like this after a playoff loss,
and we're gonna say, what, what do you need to
fix the offensive line?

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Real well, well, let's let's get into this.

Speaker 5 (06:56):
Are really probably not much of a mystery.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
No, it's a hardcore football human and that's why you
have you on. Let's just get right to it. And
I I don't I know that, And I say, it
feels like a broken record, probably because you and I
talk off, well, you know, I talk off. I don't
get a chance to talk to you off the air
about the offensive line. Apparently you talked to my kid
about it instead. But that's cool, which I gotta tell you. Yeough. Yeah,

(07:18):
he came downstairs afterwards. I don't know, it was middle
last week and the last week whenever it was. He
comes downstairs afterwards, and he said, Dad, I just had
a great conversation with Hugh about offensive line play and
into this and that and the fact you value his opinion.
But he came down he was I'll say this, I
think he was a little tired after college football and

(07:39):
a little not burned out, but just a little tired.
He came down just energized, wanting to talk, and I said, well,
you know, I can't talk to you. I can't talk
to you on that level, fella. But I think the
fact that you respect the offensive line and what they
do he appreciates. But so I always kind of like,
am I talking to my kid or Hugh off off
the air. So I don't want to stay it on
like a broken record, because we do talk about the
offensive line a lot. But let's go down.

Speaker 5 (07:59):
I'm gonn like, just give me twenty seconds. When I
was a head coaching youth football, there's a PA system.
You're playing in high school stadium, so if there's a
sack or defensive lineman makes a tackle, they get their
name Hurd. The offensive line are the only one who
never can get their name Hurd. So I would do
all these things.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
I would.

Speaker 5 (08:16):
I would say, who's the engine of our team? Everybody
have to say offensive line? And when we kneeled down
and say I'd say, make sure you reach out, make
sure you're touching an offensive lineman right now on the shoulder.
They would be first in line in stretching. When we
did the team greeting, the offensive line, we're always at
the front. Like I did everything to just drive home

(08:37):
that the offensive line is the core. So yeah, I
absolutely value that, and I just wish John Schnyder valued
it a little bit more.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
By the way, did did Keiffer? Did he give you
any good insight? Did he did you know what the
hell he's talking? Did you know what he's talking about?
Did he know what he's talking about when he talked
to him?

Speaker 5 (08:52):
Oh he's on it, he's on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know, he's five hundred levels. He's good.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Okay, pretty cerebral.

Speaker 5 (09:01):
Kids, So we should actually kick you to the curb
and just he Keifer and I do this second.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Well, he would probably think that'd be a good idea,
but I still have to pay until he gets a
career off the charge.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
All right, So where are we going? What did you
think yesterday?

Speaker 2 (09:14):
So what I want to just go is with this,
let's talk offensive line, and let's just let's talk in
a from a hardcore sense in this in this way
they I mean, the first half was way more abysmal now,
but real quick, they needed to drive at the end
and they executed it and they got now, all being
a fifty six yard but they got there to get
the field goal. So good on them and good on

(09:35):
the offense at the end. But on a macro level, Hugh,
we talk a lot about Anthony Bradford, although there's some
people in this town that think he's good or good
enough for what have you. And maybe PFF gave a
good grade at one point. But let's just take not
just Bradford at right guard, let's take the entire the entirety,
the all five guys. Do you see schematic issues? Do

(09:57):
you see talent issues? Do you see guys that aren't
onunderstanding what the responsibilities are and their assignments are. What?
What is it when you're looking at it from your
eyes that you see to be the issue with that
offensive line?

Speaker 5 (10:09):
Well, I see too often they don't execute their blocks,
and I think that it's it's a physical case. I
think in sundal Uh he really blows me away with
his athleticism. I mean, he can run and reach in
ways that very few centers can do. But when it
comes to anchoring down on a bullrush, you know he

(10:31):
doesn't have great strength. You know, we're we're all twitter
paid with Gray's undel uh zendel. But he is, you know,
he's he's good and I think he's going to be
really good and and I love the pick, so we're
all all systems go on on him. But you know,
he misses some blocks too. Now I think he's going

(10:53):
to be really good. So that was a good pick.
As far as Charles Cross, he'll he'll he'll uh make
the block a little bit too deep in the backfield
for me. He's a better athlete than Lucas. Lucas is
just kind of okay, and bradfordis is, in my estimation,
you know, very subpar. So I think that there's some

(11:14):
upgrading you need to do. But you know, yesterday, no
matter what you did, you tried to the ends outside
on the stretch and the pin and pool. You had
two different basic schemes. You did stretch from a handoff,
you did stretch from a toss, you did pin and
poll to the outside. Your seven carries fifteen yards, that's
two point one, okay. When you when you ran in
the middle.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
In stop, there isn't that supposed to be what this was?
I was supposed to.

Speaker 5 (11:38):
Be yep, supposed to be the deal. Yep, and and
and by the way, yeah, uh when you run in
the middle when they ran in the middle, yes, say,
nine carries twenty nine yards three point two hours, not
much better one one playoff tackle for four yards. Two backs,
there's only one play. Now you didn't have Robbie uts,
but but you had one play for negative one on

(12:03):
a rushing And for the season, a lot of talk
about two back robby hoots and everything has not materialized whatsoever.
Your for the season. Your three point one yards per
attempt when you're when you have a fullback in the game.
That's opposed to four point four yards per attempt when
you when you don't have a fullback in the game.
So all that talk about just being stomp crush killed

(12:23):
and being able to exert your physicality and go play
action with all that out of two back has not
shown itself. And then and then now what I'm about
to give you these this has not been updated from
yesterday yet, but it'll only get worse. What the numbers
I'm about to give you once you're in update the
indie game. Uh running power encounter, that's gap scheme, that's

(12:45):
blocking down to the point attack and pulling from the backside. Uh,
you're twenty fourth in the league and yards per attempt
in power, twenty ninth in count and what's called dual
that's like double team at the point, but you don't
bring a polar. There's seventeenth in the NFL. Inside zone
they're twenty fifth in the NFL that you know, So

(13:07):
outside zone they're fourteenth, middle of the pack. That's the
only one of all the different run schemes where they're
slightly above the median. But it's gonna go down, like
I said, once they racked those those cult numbers into it.
So so there's there's no alternate scheme that's gonna be
coming through the door today to rescue the running game

(13:29):
for the rest of the season.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
You know.

Speaker 5 (13:31):
It's not like I said, Okay, now we're going to
become a power and counter team.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
You know. I just I just double checked this because
I thought I heard this yesterday. I want to double
check it. Robbie Ootz was a healthy scratch yesterday. Yeah, yeah,
So that's that's that that that to me, I'm like
banging my head against the wall right now. Like what
like like when he got hurt, it was like oh god,
this is gonna hurt this team for the next few weeks.

(13:56):
And they had to put him on IR with the
with the ankle, and now he's a healthy scratch. Does
that make sense.

Speaker 5 (14:01):
If it's totally healthy. Well, it just it makes sense
if you if you think of, you know, in fourth
of July when you're lighting off firecrackers and then there's
a dut. I don't want to say Robbie Yats is
a dat. I don't want to be personal like that.
I'm saying that the whole build up and the anticipation
about what the offense would be with two backs, Yeah,

(14:21):
that that has just like like a fit, like a
firecracker that doesn't go off, just you know. So, so
I think that Clint Kubiak is exhausting everything and it's
not going to get better. They're just going to have
to manage it and you know, maybe just play with.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
A little more.

Speaker 5 (14:42):
Uh, I can say a little more for I don't know.
I really honestly don't know. Like if you're asking me
to say, what's going to fix the running game? Better players?

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Well, okay, take better players, because that's not going to
happen unless you I mean, I still understand like why
Haynes doesn't get more run as opposed to Bradford. But
if did I not see brad for pulling and missing
again yesterday?

Speaker 5 (15:02):
Yeah, that was on a power left and and now
that was with uh lot to was it? Was it
not number ninety seven for right?

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (15:12):
So that actually could have been a penalty because there
is a penalty called defense of the legal block. If
you if you go and and and throw yourself at
the knees of a blocker, you can you can get
a blocking below the waist on the defense right and
and so I think that was a borderline penalty. But

(15:33):
you know, Bradford slow, I don't know why you'd pull
the right guard on that scheme. I would I'd rather
pull Gray's Abel, who's a much better athlete, and and
run power right instead of power left. But they ran
power left and and I wouldn't want to run into
lat too, because he's their best defensive lineman.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
And so the play Is there a play call that
could mask I mean, you've you've played behind and you've coached,
I'm sure, and you've watched subpar offensive line. Is there
anything a play caller can do? You?

Speaker 5 (16:05):
Maybe you can try and do see gap power, but
that would involve you know, a great fullback. Uh that
that that's where you get a tight end if you
if you really have a good blocking tight end, you
can get down blocks and he can get the mic.
But you got to have grave Zabel. He'd have to
pull from the left guard fit up on the sam
and you'd but you'd have to have you'd have to

(16:27):
have a kickout with the fullback on the end. You know,
if you can get an overfront with a wide end,
you know, that's that's a tough block on a full back.
But here we were just talking a moment ago for
uh about how how he's not even in there. You
know most teams don't try and do that, but that
that would be one thing that you could try. The
trap that they you know occasionally on third down a

(16:49):
trap that third I mean they that power left that
they ran where Bradford just was this kind of a
grenade that was third and four along for uh down,
you know down the reds. I was like, what you know,
if you can do that, why don't you just kick
the field going third down? Like that's just a give up.
So I so at an event, I don't. I don't
think it was the best play calling day in Clint

(17:12):
Kubiak's career. You know, I thought there's a number of
times in watching the tape where I thought, you know what,
I thought the Colts just I don't even know who
their defensive coordinator. No, it's a guy from Cincinnati, uh,
Amarilla whatever. He's the guy that that what's his name?
Please help me? But he was a defense coordinator for

(17:36):
Cincinnati and when when they when they the Bengals beat
the Chiefs in the AFC Championship to get to the
Super Bowl, he was a d C. So I think,
you know, he's he's been good in the past. I
thought he was really good on Sunday. There's a number
of times I was like, whoa, they gloved that up
pretty good and uh, and I thought that they they

(17:56):
on the wide plays, uh, the perimeter attack where the
safeties in the corners were really replacing one another and
getting to the point of attack and stopping some of
those those wide runs. As I said, seven carries fifteen
yards on on the on the wide zone and the
pinn and polls stuff, so they could see all couldn't

(18:18):
get to the end. I don't know if somebody was decrying, well,
they're just keep trying to running up the middle. Well,
you know what, they had a little bit better, you know,
by a yard per carry average, they were one point
one they yards per carrier. They were better up the
middle than they were to the end. So the end
wasn't giving you anything. So it just was you're banging
your head against the all day.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Lou Anirumoo. That's it. Yeah, the uh, yeah, the whole thing.
It's frustrating because I guess what I think we're looking
at is and I there's no reason to at this
point to compare to twenty you know, thirteen fourteen to
fifty defense the defenses. But we do know this that

(18:56):
that great defense that won a Super Bowl and got
back to another Super Bull and went to the playoffs
and all the things that they did during that time.
They had a more They had a more than adequate offense.
They had a good offense. They had a great running game,
obviously with Marshawn Russ was in his prime, you know,
Doug Germaine and et cetera, Golden Tate. They had solid

(19:19):
receivers like they had, you know, and I think that's
the hard part. I gotta take a break, but I'm
gonna come back because listen, we always talk. They won
the game, that's the big thing. But I know everyone
here is concerned. I guess what would give me hope?
And you can help me out here. I just asked
you about play calling with him. It feels like the
skill players on the offense are really good, like I've

(19:41):
been encouraged. I think skill wise they're good. I'll ask
you about that and then quickly touching on a little
bit on the rams as well. What's a massive game
coming up this week? It's a hardcore football Humilan is
with us. It's a Monday. I'm at case I cracking
community ice plex. We'll continue to talk about the Seahawks
win a ninety three point three k DFM. We're back.

(20:08):
Harcour Football continues to mailing with me. Deal you with me? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (20:12):
Yeah, yeah, I got you all right?

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Good?

Speaker 5 (20:14):
Did you ever truck do that one?

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Hey? Uh? I mentioned the offense. Actually I want to
take a pit at you. I want to talk a
little defense if I can't first after yeah, d like
just an elite defense. You mentioned the point offerential this
season and what they've done and we're going to see
them on Thursday with the Rams second and go round.
They kind of held Stafford and check that last game,
which is great. What jumped out at me, Hugh is,

(20:39):
first of all, the national narrative, the forty four year
old quarterback that had a seventy three passer rating. Great.
I mean, it's a good story, I guess and all that.
And I understand the desperation you're trying not to have
a guy, you know, and Riley Leonard their rookie, come
in and throw three interceptions and lose the game for
you there. But to me, you know, the Seahawks, they
gave up the one touchdown, they gave up some yards

(21:00):
along the way, but they didn't make any big mistakes.
But the bigger thing to me was this that last drive,
Seattle takes the lead, Indianapolis gets the ball back at
two twenty seven to twenty one to go in the game,
the two minute warnings shut you know, the clock management
with using the timeouts and all that. I think the
play of the game, to me, though, Hugh, was this,

(21:22):
It's it's a third and seven at the Seattle forty six.
Seattle has to get a stop there if they want
to win the football game, they have to get a
stop there. To me, what defines a great defense are
moments and plays like that. And yeah, we could say
at Philip Rivers or whatever, they still have Jonathan Taylor,
they still got a great tight end, they got Pittman.

(21:45):
I just I thought that last drive they gave up
some yards. They gave up the sixty yard field goal,
but a sixty yard field goal in that stadium is
not easy. But getting that stop on that third and
seven was massive.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
When you're talking about that before the field goal or
the that they gave up to Alec Pierce.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah, yeah, no, before the field goal, when Jonathan Taylor
ran for four yards, that guy's easily could break time.
I mean, I just thought that's a big play. Yeah,
maybe it was a give up play by Indianapolis, but
I don't know if you really wanted your guy kicking
sixty three or sixty four. He ended up kicking sixty.
But I thought that was a big play by the
scale defense.

Speaker 5 (22:18):
Yeah, no, it really was. And and I think that
you're kind of in a little bit of desperation mode.
You're selling out. You leave yourself a little bit vulnerable
on the play action.

Speaker 6 (22:27):
And.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yeah, I.

Speaker 5 (22:32):
Am just amazed at the frequency with these sixty yarders
that we see now, But yeah, it is. But you know,
for Philip Rivers, you're talking about his performance one hundred
and twenty yards. He was on passes where the ball
went more than five yards from the line, screamage more
than five five are yards. He was two of nine

(22:55):
and he had one hundred and twenty yards. If a
quarterback did that over the course of the season and
had two thousand and forty yards, he would be half,
actually less than half of the average that quarterbacks have
when they play seventeen There was basically right at half.
There was eleven quarterbacks who now, excuse me, fourteen quarterbacks.

(23:16):
Last year, Ian let me start over. Fourteen quarterbacks played
seventeen games. The minimum was thirty five hundred and forty
one yards. The average was four thousand and fifty eight.
And so the pace that Rivers would have if he
did that for a season would be ungodly, you know, inefficient,

(23:39):
and the Colts would have the number one picking the
draft and they'd be taking a quarterback if a quarterback
did that. So Philip Rivers, all he did was impress
this because he's forty four. But if you talk about
the performance by the quarterback, it was nothing.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
He was the tallest short person, is what it is.
I mean something like that that doesn't make you Yeah,
I like it.

Speaker 5 (24:00):
I like him, And you know, had he not been
playing the Seahawks, I'd be rooting for the old guy,
you know, you know, Jack Nicholas in eighty six the Masters.
I mean, who doesn't want to root for the oldest
guy out there?

Speaker 2 (24:11):
But and the story was good and all that. I
just you know, listen, it's hardcore football. But there's also
a science to football that you studied for years, you know,
when you were working for Bodden right making, you know,
helping make footballs and things like that. I want to
ask you this because I think this is something that
I just I still am amazed by. In baseball, the
only reason they have spring training for a month and

(24:32):
a half in baseball is because they need to get
guys pitchers, specifically their arms amped up and ready to go, right, Like,
you got to build up that arm strength. Yeah, you've
thrown more footballs in your life than anybody listening combined has,
so you know about the science of throwing a football.
You throw in the fact that guy's got kind of
an or unorthodox throwing motion everything else. How realistic is

(24:55):
it to expect a guy to come in without having
a throw in an NFL pass with NFL velocity against
Devin Witherspoon and other NFL defensive backs. How realistic is
it for anybody expect to do that with two days
of practice in the NFL?

Speaker 5 (25:11):
It isn't. That's why he didn't throw the ball down
the field. And I don't think he's gonna do it
on Monday night either. He may complete balls down the field,
but it's gonna be because of anticipation, and there's gonna
be arc on the ball. I mean, there's just not
gonna be paced, don't. I don't think he can do it.

Speaker 4 (25:25):
Now.

Speaker 5 (25:26):
How fast you spin a ball, it's not Spirals aren't
just pretty. You don't put us. I've had footballs and
wind tunnels. The faster you spin, you know, if you
can get up seven and twenty RPMs or more, you
start to cut down the aerodynamic wake. It's not unlike
when you drag an in or two behind a boat.
You know, like there's wake, and it's very similar in
aerodynamics than it is in hydraulics and so all other

(25:50):
factors being equal, you spin that ball faster and it
cuts through the air and it has more velocity, so
that you know, you know, he could probably spin it
the same, but all the other parts of the kinetic chain,
he's just older and he's just not gonna develop the velocity.
I mean, it's kind of like Peyton Manning that last year.
You know, he couldn't throw much more in thirty five
or forty yards down the field. He just had to

(26:12):
do it with gyle in a great defense. And so
so as I said, he completed two of nine passes
when the ball was five or more yards from the
lion skimmage and when you know, try and if you
throw again. I would I would play more zone against
him because defenders they can react and they have longer
to react. Whereas man to man you don't have to

(26:34):
have great velocity. On a lot of man and man plays,
you just kind of floated out there and let the
receiver go get it. But you can't float it against zone.
I would. I would want to have as many eyeballs
breaking on the ball as I could. So we'll see
how teams play against him. But there's a big time
drop off in what his velocity was and what it
is today.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
That's what I thought, and I just want I want
to get your thoughts on that, because I think it's people, Oh,
you know he could do that. No, there's still a
there's still an element of physical you know, nature to
throw in the football. Final thing. I got about three
or four minutes here, Hugh, and I just want to
get this. What is number one? When you're watching tape
on Friday or late Thursday night and you're watching the

(27:16):
coaches tape? What what do you think the first thing
you're gonna go look at will be after the rams
Sehawks game.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
Well, first of all, can the defense be that dominant?
They held Matthew Stafford to one hundred and thirty yards passing.
I don't expect him to be that off his game,
but you can you can still beat them if he
throws for two thirty. It just depends on you know
how the two thirty is right. But you know, I

(27:46):
don't know. I don't think he can beat him if
he throws for three thirty. But but okay, can the
defense be dominant? Obviously the turnover battle? I mean yesterday
there was there was no turnovers in the game. There's
been four hundred forty six games in the NFL this year,
only thirty six of them have had zero turnovers. Every

(28:06):
single possession by both the Seahawks and the Colts started
off the foot of the opposing kicker or punter, and
so can Seattle get a short field somehow, some way
get a turnover and avoid the turnovers, And then the
offensive line is the biggest pieces. That is the most

(28:28):
important thing because if you look at at Sam Donald's
four interceptions, three of the four had to do with
major pressure early in the down on Donald, and his
response to the pressure was poor. But because he threw picks.
The fourth one, he had enough time and he misread

(28:49):
the coverage, he had a chance to get Jason over
on a sale route over to his left. He ends
up going to the check down late. But then there
was pressure involved in that. But we'll say three of
the four interceptions, the pressure from the the ram defenders
defensive line was central and key to the breakdown of
the quarterback. And so, uh, you know, I'm just crossing

(29:12):
my fingers and open that the Seahawks can rise up
and have their best game on the offensive line they
do that got the inside track to the NFC number
one seed.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Jess that whole answer clipped that I'm gonna play it
again on Thursday day of the game.

Speaker 4 (29:26):
That sounds like a good one.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Can I do that? Because I won't. I won't have
access to you on Thursday, others will, but I want
that for Thursday and then Jess is going to talk
to you off the here. We got bowl games and
times off, so I want to try to get you
on Friday if I can you. But yes, the Albrety
schedule works out. Do a little hardcore. I just got
a text from Keifer. He says, I'll host the show
with you.

Speaker 5 (29:47):
My man's dad, right Keith.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
He said you said some nice things about his basketball
career too, so I don't know whatever.

Speaker 5 (29:56):
Yeah, yeah, he was the original joker. Man he was.
He was joker and dominating a team. My kids going
home with sober Okay, Yeah, we'll go get some ice cream. Yeah,
after the little junior joker just handed you your ass,
we better joker.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
I like that. Yeah, he's got the same elevation game.

Speaker 5 (30:17):
Don't take a DNA test. I know he didn't get
it from Pop. Just let let it be you.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
Let it be this guy. All right, hey, you're the best.
I'll talk to him. Thank you, okay, thank you. That
is Hugh Miller. Great stuff as always. Will take a break,
come back, Brandon on tour will join us. We'll have
a daily power play interview with a Crack and the Frenchman.
Things aren't going well out here right now. We'll find
out why from them on tour. Coming up next here

(30:44):
come to Cracking good now, umbers.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
This is the data power play on your home for
the Kracking Sports Radio ninety three point three.

Speaker 4 (31:09):
kJ r f M.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
The Daily power Play is brought to you by he said,
just inventory of Kamota equipment in Kane County. No, your
daily look at the National Hockey League and the Seattle
Kraken with the Infernets.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
All right, Daily power Play, welcome back in thirty two
bar Grilly Internets with you. Join now by Cracking Defenseman.
This is a this is a first. I don't think
we've done a player interview during the Daily power Play,
our daily Cracking segment every day at one forty five.
Brandon mon tours here. How are you? I'm good? Thanks
for having me. I appreciate bottom the first, well, don't
tell anybody that body. I wanted to get you up here. Honestly,

(31:53):
we great start of the season. We all know what's
going on lately. Let's just hear from from you. I
mean we we saw you with Piper last night on
a post games showing the Track and Hockey Network. We
talked about it frustrating times. Yeah, it feels like it's
a better team than then. Maybe you show in the
last ten games or so, what would you what would
you kind of put your finger on.

Speaker 6 (32:09):
Yeah, I think you said there. I think Lane came in. Obviously,
great leadership. We kind of the mentality shifted a little bit. Again,
I missed training camp, so I wasn't really around for that.
But the guys seem energized a lot of close games
early on. But we were able to finish, you know
and get that extra point a lot of overtimes, which
you know in the end early on, you know, it's

(32:31):
nice to kind of experience and get you know, you
know that those close games, you know, being involved in
those and coming up on top a handful of them,
probably you know, we could have won in regulation just
you know, scored late. You know, those teams scoring late
but again, you know, it's a long season. You're gonna
go through ups and downs. Obviously we're in a down

(32:54):
time right now. We're trying to get out of it.
We're playing tough teams every night, you know, such a
you know, a quick schedule where we're playing every every
other day. So he kind of got to forget about
it and move on and try to find the things
that we're working and try to stick to them, you know.
And again, the schedules, the standings are so close. Yeah,

(33:16):
we're you know, we're at the top for you know,
a bit there and now we're at the bottom. But
you know, a couple of wins in a row, we're
right back into it. So it's a matter of kind
of getting out of this as quickly as you kind
of Obviously it's been a tough sled here soon or lately.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
But we got a good group and we got to
figure it out. Run them on tour with hiss infness
here at the thirty two Bar and grill cracking, community
ice plex, cracking tomorrow night, taking on Colorado. They're decent
in hockey, I guess these days some pretty good team.
It's two regulation losses good, I mean my god, what
is wrong with those Guy's a wagon? The the Lane
Lambert world that you're in right now, and you've been

(33:49):
here for a couple of years now and two coaches
in two years. We know that they're not going to
make a change there. They're not gonna do the NHL.
That's the NHL, like they change coaches like we all
changeos every day. That's not gonna happen. He's here. Uh,
They're not going to make that move. So that probably
helps a little bit, doesn't it. Like there's a lot
of teams looking over their shoulders. Help Buffalo just fired
their GM after beating you guys last night. There's there's

(34:10):
teams looking over their shoulders. You know, Lane's the guy,
and you know he's gonna be here. What's he like
and take us into that room a little bit? Yeah, No,
I I believe in Lane.

Speaker 6 (34:18):
Lane is you know, a great person, but a great
coach especially, and he's not accepting losing. You know, he
obviously hates losing, and he's obviously not happy with.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
What position we're in.

Speaker 6 (34:30):
He's not going to accept you know, if we're playing
like like you know we have been or you know,
he's always trying to fix things. He's trying to make
sure we're good to go. He believes in our group.
And as you can see, these tight games and and
we're playing more structured, more aggressive, and Lane's a big
part of that. You know. He preaches you know, all
of that, the mentality working hard and if we're not

(34:52):
working hard, he's gonna call you out, you know. So
it's positive on both sides. As a coach and as
you know a person.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
I'll wrap it up this, how are you here? How
do you like it? You're your year plus here now?
I mean you've kind of settled in a little bit,
you and the family. How's Seattle treat you? No, we
love it, you know. Obviously this has been a year
and a half. Last year was hectic, I tell everyone.
Last year just moving to a new house.

Speaker 6 (35:13):
We you know, had a baby, new team, new surroundings,
new city, everything, new neighborhood. This year came around, you know,
we're used to evering. Now everything kind of smooth. We
already moved in. We just head right home. The kids
are a little older. We got another one coming at
the end of the year. Congratulation, thank you. So that'll
be hectic. You know, but everything's else is more comfortable.

(35:36):
The only thing now is we got to start winning
some more hockey games.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
ME ask you real quick, this place, the facility here,
the organization here. You come from the Stanley Cup champion
in Florida, You've been around the league and other teams.
Is this a place that in the future you can
see other free agents like yourself coming. Is this a
place that has that drawn No.

Speaker 4 (35:54):
For sure.

Speaker 6 (35:55):
And I think for me again, my experience of being
in Seattle, I didn't know much of it. You know,
My me coming here was more just having conversations with
you know, ownership management and some players and just the
experience of being at Climate Pledge and players playing against
you know, in the playoffs and stuff like that. So
I didn't really get the feel or see what Seattle

(36:17):
had to offer, what you know, the east side of
like Carocline Bellevue, that that area had to offer, or
you know, just driving to the rink on the highway
and seeing the mountains most days and being on the water.
You know, we would just be kind of middle of
the winter, stuck downtown straight to Climate Pledge flight out,
you know, so and so the grass and just kind

(36:38):
of Everything that Seattle and this area has, you know,
the Northwest has to offer, has been really good. I mean,
I'm kind of a West coast. My wife's West coast,
so she wanted to be West coast and a big thing. Actually,
you know, I heard after that Quinn Hughes Trade their
GM kind of said, you know, the hockey is kind
of you know, no matter where you are, the hockey's

(36:59):
got to be good, you know, and and and that's true.
You know, at one point when I would go to Florida,
we were the same thing. We were in and out.
You know, there's five thousand fans there. They weren't a
good team. Collect your points and get out, you know,
and you start winning hockey games. The whole thing changes,
the whole culture changes. It's a place where players.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Want to be.

Speaker 6 (37:20):
So know, the more interest, the more wins we can collect,
the more heat we can get, the more noise. There's
gonna be a big reason why we can collect players.
And you know, for me, the excitement of just a
new organization, a new brand, a new team coming in.
You could you could feel the noise just from the
outskirts being so far away. That was something I wanted

(37:41):
to be a part of. And you know, like I said,
the more wins we can collect, the more success we
can have. That the easier players are going to want
to come play.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
Well, I appreciate your time. Let's we'll do this again
when things are on the uptick too, after Christmas break.
Absolutely all right, that's brandam Montore. We'll take a break.
Mike Sandal talking all things NFL coming up next. All right,

(38:09):
welcome back in. We're the cracking community Ice Fleck today
you internesce with you, Casey I thirty two bar grill.
Let me recommend the soup and sandwich, the tomato bisk
with the grilled cheese. Sensational, fantastic. H Jason Boberol joins
us right now, tracking general manager. He is here sitting
down with me despite his you know, he said no,
I don't want to do it. My man Chris Brummell

(38:31):
brought him over here anyway, So I appreciate you coming by.
I know the last thing you want to do is
talk to me today, but I appreciate you coming.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
I always like talking and all good, no problem at all.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Well, let's get to it. Your evaluation. Great start. A
little bit of skid lately there's some injuries, there's some
illness and things like that, but kind of eighty two games,
you're gonna have it ups and downs, and right now
in the middle of a little bit of a down
or what's your read on.

Speaker 7 (38:49):
It, You know, I think you're you're dead on over
eight two games. You're gonna have ebbs and flows with
your team right now. We have to find a way
to find solutions to get back to the wing winning record. Here.
You look at the last four or five games that
I think in if you look at the last ten games,
outside of the two Mpton games that were certainly blowouts,
you know, the last four or five games are all

(39:11):
been games that are one goal in the.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Third period or tied in the third period.

Speaker 7 (39:14):
And earlier in the year, you go to thinking about
Saint Louis Winnipeg, like, we found ways to win games
in the third period. Right now we're not finding ways
to get that extra goal or protect that lead, and hey,
it's hurting us.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
One of the most incredible stats I've seen in a
long time. We use it on our broadcast last night
on TV, and eighty percent of the time that the
cracking had been on the ice this season eighty percent,
it's either been a one goal game or a tie game.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
So that tells me if you want to go, let's
go glass half full. You're close, Like you're really close,
And like you just said, it's the margin of victory
loss is really raise or thin. So how do you
change that?

Speaker 7 (39:52):
Well, I think you look at the start of the
year when we had success, we were still winning a
lot of those games in overtime or finding ways in
the third period. Here and now it's a situation of, hey,
we have a couple of players like Jared mccannon and
Schwartz out of the lineup right now, so it gives
other guys opportunities to step into those roles and they're
going to have to help find ways to capitalize a
little bit offensively. I think our team in general has

(40:15):
kept their identity, kept their work ethic, kept the strong,
solid defensive play. Now it's a matter of getting to
the net a little bit more and finding ways to
get nut, you know, five or six more goals. But hey,
a situation of finding that extra goal or two a game.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Well, just go trade for a fifty goal score. Can't
you do that? Very simple?

Speaker 3 (40:31):
From that standpoint, but we all love that.

Speaker 7 (40:34):
And it's the situation, as we were talking about before,
just you know, teams are resigning their players a lot.
The free agent market's fairly thin from that standpoint already
looking in the summer. That's what the importance is from
a standpoint of continue to develop your players with them
within your own organization. And that's what I've really enjoyed
with this coaching staff right now. It's disappointing, you know,
our results, but you watch practice today, there was an enthusiasm.

(40:56):
There was a focus on individual skill development, getting these
guys feeling a little bit better about holding on the pucks,
creating things offensively. And I like that enthusiasm from our staff.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
I feel like the culture and the vibe is good.
And when you're you know, one nine and one in
that kind of stretch and have seen the you know
the nice cushion being about five hundred, get down to
a five hundred squad, you can see a lot of
different things in sports, right You see a lot of
teams and you've been there. You can't go up and
down the ebbs and the flows. Just watching like you said,
practice today, like I didn't see guys pouting. I didn't

(41:27):
see lower lips drag and I didn't see that stuff.
I didn't see a coaching staff undressing guys, which I
guess does speak to what Lane's doing right now. I mean,
there's gonna be these times. That's probably one of the
reasons you hired this guy because he's going to know
how to handle some diversity well.

Speaker 7 (41:40):
He knows how to head adversity, knows what it looks
like to to have success, and I think that's the
key element here is that we did have some success
at the start of the year. Our players understand what
they have to do to have success out on the
ice there, and you know, I think it starts with
with Jordan Eberley. He's been a great sort of veteran
vocal label leader for us and that locker room. We
have a lot of players who have one before have

(42:02):
to go through the process to have success. That's what
we have to continue to rely on.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Jason Bodrell joining us, crack and GM. Let's I joked
about the fifty goal scorer. But you know your office
down there, I'm assuming that you're on the phone every day.
What would you tell fans about what you want to
do with this team this year, like would you want
to add you want to add something? It's number three.
I think I haven't looked at today's numbers, but what

(42:27):
two or three or four in terms of goals against
the league and one of the best of preventing goals
obviously scoring, it's at the other end of the spectrum.
So are you actively trying to get somebody in here
to add to that top six forward group?

Speaker 7 (42:38):
Oh, it's something that we've talked about a lot around here.
Is just continuing to trying to add to our group.
From a forward perspective, We've said to it, We've we're
going to continue to develop our forwards. We've been gone
very heavy in the draft on forwards. That's going to
be a key element for us. But no, you're always
continuing to look at You've seen around the league a
few more trades are happening here and there from that perspective,

(42:58):
so we are certainly ope. You can never close yourself
off and always believe like, oh, we're looking at futures
or we're looking at down the road. You're always looking
to find different ways to improve your team.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
Right now, how hard is it to make a trade
in today's NHL Hey.

Speaker 7 (43:11):
It can be done right. It's a challenging right now
because there's so much parody in the league, and that's
what makes it the game so exciting, and it's so
so challenging when you don't get a game with points,
when you when you're losing regulation, it really hurts there's
that much parody from that standpoint. But hey, I think
you know you've you've saw a few things last weekend
or over the weekend from from a trade perspective, they

(43:32):
certainly happen out there, and that's why you have to
continue to be active.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Did this surprise you the moves that were made? I mean,
Evidton makes a huge move, Minnesotavanko will make a huge move.
Would did those catches felt like a lot of the
this is weird, you're gonna find this strange. Some of
the media caught off guard by a couple of those
moves that which rarely happens. But sometimes those are the
moves that are made right, the ones you don't hear
the rumors about.

Speaker 7 (43:50):
Look, yeah, there was discussions I think through most of
the league for some of those players, but the timing
of it, whenever it's going to happen now or closer
to March. That's always the wild card and those type
of things there. But no, I think again, just as
we talked about the parody in the league, whenever you
have big moves like that, I think it draws a
lot of attention to our sport and it's great for
the entire industry.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
With you and trying to if you try to get
that guy when you're trying to add a top six guy,
what do teams want? When you're talking to somebody, you're
talking to, here's our guy, Chris Brumwell, let's say Chris
is a GM of team you know, Team B out
there and you call them, are people wanting your young guys,
draft picks players on your roster? How does that like
when you hear go?

Speaker 7 (44:28):
It varies all across the league From that standpoint, that's
why you're communicating with the other general matches to get
a clear sort of vision on what they're where they're
at with their team right now and what they could
be looking for. And you're trying to find that match.
And at the end of the day, you're not going
to have a match with all thirty one other teams,
So you're trying to narrow one on the teams that
hey might be looking for a player that we have,

(44:49):
or hey, some of our futures that may work and stuff.
So that's why you're communicating so much by other teams,
is just to sort of see where they are in
their cycle.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
Are you in a better situation now in year five
than you were the previous four years in the sense
that before there wasn't much of a talent pool. Now
you've got the full fifty man, you got all that
you got Coachella Valley. Is this a stronger position to
come from if you do want to do something because
you do have young guys in the system, whether they're
in Coachella or they're still in juniors or Europe wherever
it might be.

Speaker 7 (45:15):
Oh, it's it's why you know, you've always seen a
player like Oscar Moulguard. We see a player like Malwson
come up, a player like Winterton who has been our team.
Like these young players are no longer just in junior
in college. They're in our in Coachella Valley, ready to
help our our team in Seattle here now whenever sort
of called upon. So just having them that further along

(45:36):
in there, uh sort of growth period is certainly very helpful,
and it takes time, right you look, you know, Ryan
Winterton was in our first draft, so it takes time
for these players to get up from here. But you know,
you look at the prospect pool, we have the future
draft picks that we have in place through from different trades.
When we feel we're we're poised to do something down
the road.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Here Shane Wright, it feels like we had saw a
really strong end of the year last year and he
struggled offensively this year. There's no way to sugarcoat he
struggled offensively. In other parts of his game, maybe not
as much, but he has struggled offensively. What can Shane do?
What does he need to do to take that next step?

Speaker 7 (46:12):
Well, I think what you saw last night was an
indicative of a little bit of a season, right you saw.
I thought he skated extremely well out there was good
on the for check, good stick, especially at then the
first period. I believe it was a great rebound opportunity.
Most of the times those go in for someone like Shane.
But what I liked about that situation was he was
in and around the net, you know, creating chances there.

(46:32):
And I think that's just sort of a common theme
with our team continuing to get to net to try
to create chances there.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
You've had a hell of a run by the guy's
and goal so far this season. I mean we sat here,
I think training camp, and you said, Joey's our number one.
No doubt, Joey's are number one. Phil Grubauer, though, has
had a bounce back season. I'll let you riff on
him a little bit because I mean, it's been fun
to see. I know it was a struggle for him
last year. Big struggle for him last year, maybe the
last couple of years. But watching Phil Grubauer this year
and we'll see if he gets a start against his

(46:59):
former team tomorrow. Boy, what a bounce back year he's had.
And it's that's got to be great to see.

Speaker 7 (47:03):
What we've talked about before. Three goalies is not the
easiest thing to handle, and I think our coaching staff
has done a good job. Managamal and I give our
goalies a lot of credit for staying ready. It can
be a manager like myself or a coach can say, hey,
always be ready. They've been really dialed in, working extremely
hard in practice, even when they haven't been getting a
lot of starts, and no, I feel in most nights

(47:25):
are our Goaltenate has given us an opportunity, given us
a chance to win, the same thing as last night's
disappointed is not getting the victory. You know, Joey gave
us a chance to win, and now it's up to
us to find a way to get a couple more
goals there.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
Yeah, that's that's about it along the way? Is there
competition there? I mean, like in a lot of sports,
you'll see, hey, like, we're gonna open You're to open
it up for competition, and sometimes coaches say that and
you're like, okay, right, it doesn't you're saying that, But
there is no competition? Is there kind of a competition?
And Matt's almost back I seem skating out there again today?
Is is there a competition among those three guys? Is
Lane say, hey, whoever's the hot hand? We might start

(47:59):
going with a little bit.

Speaker 7 (48:00):
Well, I think it's a situation where look, we've always
said that Joey's are number one, and for the most
part this year, he's done a great job. From that standpoint,
we also know, you just look at our schedule leading
up to Christmas here and then seventeen games in January.
Just like it happened with Matt, the injuries, unfortunately, are
going to present itself. So we understand that we're going
to utilize all three goalies. So when you talk about competition, yeah,

(48:21):
we're just gonna have to utilize them. There's just no
way you can just rely on one player to sort
of carry the entire load this year and then the
condemed schedule. So it's something that there's competition because we
know we have to utilize all and make sure we
get these guys sharp for for every game.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
Yeah, there's a few teams you use already four or
five guys in goal, which is which is crazy. Jason
Bodwil joining us before we let you go talk about
some of the young guys for a second. Let's get
to some of the young guys. And you know, I
know again fans want to see goals, they want to
we all want to see that happen. But there are
some good young players and we're going to see some
of those guys in the World Junior Championships. And though still
new to hockey, I know a lot of the If

(48:56):
you're a Silver Tip fan or a t bird fan listening.
You know what World Juniors are your best players, leave
you for a couple of weeks and then go play.
It's the under twenty tournament for hockey worldwide. It's a
huge deal, especially in Canada and now becoming more and
more so in the States and in Europe as well.
It's in Minnesota, believe this year.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
And and you've got a bunch of guys in your system,
drafted players playing in that right.

Speaker 7 (49:16):
No, it's a we have a couple of fins going
this year. We have Fiddler our defense been playing for
Team USA, O'Brien, j O'Brien playing for Team Canada. Uh
Lok our Swedish seventh round pick from pat last years
with the team and stuff too. They're still all going
through sort of the the tryout phase right now. Some

(49:37):
of these teams still have to make a couple different
cuts here, so we'll see how it all transpires the
next ten days here and so. But no, it's an
exciting tournament. It's an elite competition. Obviously a lot of
you know, pride representing your nation, but just the pace
of play, the energy in a short tournament, it's it's
fun to watch the best on best for sure.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
What does that do for young guy too, like in
terms of preparing them for this level.

Speaker 7 (50:00):
Look, you you want players to have success. You want
players to come from one winning environment. It's what we've
especially you look at a guy like Julius Manton and
up in Everett right now, they're having a great season.
You want these players to be a part of winning environments.
Jacobrian's with Brantford. They're one of the top teams in
the HL this year and stuff too. You want these
kids to you know, have success and know what it
takes to you know, you know, win close games, win championships,

(50:23):
and to be in a world junior situation here playing
against top players, you know, a faster pace, maybe playing
a little bit.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
Of different role.

Speaker 7 (50:31):
It's it's the closest it can sort of mimic to
being in pro hockey and stuff. So it's a great
evaluation for our players.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
But the thought all along, I think for many of us,
was that Berkeley Catton was going to be playing for
Team Canada. And I'm sure Team Canada thought Berkeley Catton
was going to be playing for him them as well,
and not just playing for them, probably on the top line.
H he makes your roster and has it seems like
before he got hurt, every game was getting better and
better and better, getting top six minutes. I'm assuming at

(50:59):
some point that is decision was made before the injury. Hey,
you're a Seattle cracking right now. I mean you had
your chance at the World Juniors last year. He's here, right,
I mean healthy or not, this kid's here. No.

Speaker 7 (51:08):
And We've continued to look at Berkeley week by week
just from an evaluation standpoint to see what's best for
his development. And I've loved his tenacity. I love I've
loved his work ethic. You look at him out there,
like he hasn't shown any hesitation out there. He's gone
into battles, he's won a lot of battles. When he's
gotten knocked down, he's got up right away again there.
And to me, he's such a sponge with our coaching staff,
learning things, interacting with our veteran players. You know, I'm

(51:32):
surprised he still hasn't scored an HL goal, especially seen
as you know it took him what one shift to
get his first NHL point, which was amazing. Like it's
just it is coming though, and we love seeing the
development here.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
What it happens. Do you think that'll take a little
weight off his shoulders?

Speaker 7 (51:46):
It always does, right, no matter how confident you are
and how much improvement you see. Hey, you want to
get that first one sort of out of the way
and go on from there. But no, to me, he's
put himself in the right position. He's getting the opportunities
from that standpoint. And the biggest thing is just his
hockey mind. He is a great hockey mind. He sees
things on the ice.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
He's such a.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
Quick learner and doesn't make that same mistake twice.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
And I do believe he got hurt blocking a shot,
which a lot of times highly skilled guys like that.
I'm not sure how many shots he was blocking in
Spokane in the Western League, but I mean, he knows
he's paying the price. Lane's got him playing the right way.
He did that. Hopefully we'll see him back in the
line pettle soon and I'll just wrap it up with that.
Jane Schwartz is maybe the most underrated player this NHL

(52:28):
has right now. I mean, and his importance to your
team is we see it every night now without him
out there. Yep. Jared mccannon as well, huge huge absences
right now with those two guys specifically, how close are
they to coming back? And when I ask you about
all these things about can you add top six guys
and all that, how much of it is just kind
of like making sure you kind of stay steady where
you are because when you get those guys back, that's

(52:49):
like two massive roster editions as well.

Speaker 7 (52:52):
There are two massive roster editions, and there's still gonna
be a little bit of time before coming back from
that standpoint, but you know, they just they add so
much depth, areization and to our team. You know, whenever
you have those two guys in the lineup, they create
so much out there. They both in play, power play,
penalty killing, even strength. You know, Jaden's a you know,
we're a team that needs to improve on our NetFront presence.

(53:12):
He's one of our best there. He's always in and
around the crease, creating havoc out there. You know, McCann's
a player that you saw it in the game before
last week against LA before he left with an injury,
like he can beat it goalie cleanly. He's got that
hard of a shot from that standpoint, So we certainly
miss it, but put other people in those opportunities, and
we need some of our younger players and our other

(53:33):
players to step up. And you know, when we get
those players back, they'll certainly help us outtle lot.

Speaker 2 (53:39):
Big stretch coming up before Christmas break. Nice thing the
NHL does, though, They do shut down during the Christmas break,
which is kind of good for a few days. So
they do do that. But how important are these next
five games?

Speaker 7 (53:48):
Well, look, it's gonna be a it's gonna be a
real challenge against Colorado. Obviously, they're the best team in
the league right now by a long shot. And you
talk about parody, they're the one exception stuff for sure,
So it will be a challenge there. And then look,
we have to I think in our first road trip
out east. You know, Lane brought a road warrior mentality.
That's what we'll have to do for the four game

(54:09):
road trip as we go up to Calgary and then
down to California there. So it's going to be imperative
that we find ways to continue to improve our special teams,
continue to find in a little extra goal out there,
and to have success.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
You're leading to Christmas, Appreciate the time go back and
make that deal for one of those fifty goal guys
that seems to be out there on the market.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
I think they're all there, right exactly. Happy holidays.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
There you go. That's Jason Watroll. We will take a break,
come back and check it with Softy next. Already then already, then,

(54:54):
how was La? How'd you like so far?

Speaker 4 (54:56):
That place is huge?

Speaker 2 (54:58):
It's amazing huge. I think it's yeah, it is, it's huge.

Speaker 4 (55:01):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 8 (55:02):
When you first pull up to it, I know you've
been there a couple of times, right, Yeah, when you
first pull up to it, yeah, uh, it looks like
something that is planning on taking over the world, Like
what is that?

Speaker 3 (55:14):
Like?

Speaker 8 (55:14):
Something out of Independence Day? Honestly, it's like did that
thing come from the heavens?

Speaker 4 (55:19):
For God's sake?

Speaker 2 (55:20):
It is so massive? Oh we Uh. The first time
I was in it was for the you'll remember this,
remember the infamous Tuesday night football game?

Speaker 4 (55:34):
Yeah? I do.

Speaker 2 (55:35):
That was it. That was it. They played the Rams
in the seauxity, which was thinking back, how garbage that was,
by the way, because then they moved that game because
the Rams had a few guys that were sick. Uh,
put all you know whatever. But we go there for
Tuesday and it's like Climate plays for people haven't been there.
You walk in the main.

Speaker 4 (55:53):
Entrance, yeah, and it goes down.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
You look up and you're like, wait, the roofs what?

Speaker 8 (55:58):
Yeah, it's the it's the grain of NFL stadiums that
I actually was thinking the same thing as we're sitting
there in our broadcast booth before the game. It was like,
you know what, I'm gonna look up how deep this
thing is, and I'm going to compare it to CPA.
So I found out that when they when they dug
out CPA, they went about fifty three feet lower than
they had been before when they dug out so far,
it's almost one hundred feet.

Speaker 4 (56:19):
So you're literally looking.

Speaker 8 (56:21):
At twice the hole that you look at when you're
looking up or down from like Everett's booth, that Climate
Pledge Arena or your your booth or whatever your spot
for TV's it's it's twice as.

Speaker 4 (56:33):
Big a hole. Unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
Man, It's insane.

Speaker 8 (56:36):
But I'm pretty damn well convinced they were pumping in
crowd noise by the way, for that game on Saturday night,
because I was on the sideline for the entire game,
and the amount of crowd noise in that stadium was
not reflective of the attendance at all.

Speaker 4 (56:46):
Was it not at all?

Speaker 8 (56:48):
I don't even know what it was they announced twenty
change whatever, but I mean, you got you probably could
have taken everybody in that building and put the entire
crowd in the lower bowl and had room left over.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
Man, when people say, like, which stadiums in the NFL,
you know, would you recommend somebody to go to, and
Bramble obviously is number one. I think Jerry's World is
worth going to.

Speaker 4 (57:07):
See as well.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
In Dallas. That's awesome. Uh, I honestly, I think and
I heard Petro was just kill the place. I think
Soul fly when it's full for an NFL game, Yep,
it's pretty it's pretty cool.

Speaker 8 (57:18):
Well I've never I've never seen it full, so I
can't confirm or deny, but uh again, uh, it's it's
pretty impressive as far as the architecture and how big
the damn thing is. And then you go outside and
you see the forum sitting there.

Speaker 4 (57:31):
Yeah, that thing.

Speaker 8 (57:32):
That thing looks like a freaking pimple on a cow's ass. Man,
it's unbelievable. How small that thing is. True, just so fine.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
So that place was the mecca. I was there, Mecca.

Speaker 8 (57:43):
I was there for a Lakers playoff series way back
in the day. Yeah, man, so.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
Talk about the history of that building.

Speaker 8 (57:49):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, Well they still have they still
have shows and concerts and all kinds of stuff there.
But anyway, yeah, it was fun to be there, funner
to get back home, to be honest with you, funner
after yesterday. No, I was exhausted. I got home at
five in the morning yesterday.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
Well, probably were thanking yourself all day long after that game.

Speaker 8 (58:09):
Well, you know, look, I mean I think I think
two things. I think you're right number one and number two.
It would have been fun to see grandpa actually play football.
I'm trying to think of the last grandfather, maybe George
Blanda back in the day. I don't have any idea,
but that would have been cool to see that guy
play in person. But you know what, look, man, I mean,
good for him, Good for him, get a freaking win.

Speaker 4 (58:31):
I don't give a damn what you look like. At
this point of the year.

Speaker 8 (58:33):
The Hawks probably are what they are, you know, are
they as good as their offensive scoring average says they
are probably not.

Speaker 4 (58:40):
But I think we've all learned one thing.

Speaker 8 (58:42):
Man, this football team is going to go as far
as their defense takes them, period, end of story.

Speaker 2 (58:46):
Well, like I'm assuming Heugh was coming on with you, yes.

Speaker 4 (58:49):
Four o'clock a little more four right.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
Like we were talking earlier, It's like, it's not college football.
It doesn't matter if you win with style points or not.
They just tek one thing, right, what does the win say? Yeah,
get the hell out of there, even if it's eighteen
points from Jason Myersers that's right, you know, and that's
the way you go.

Speaker 8 (59:05):
And let's face it, I mean, the the problems they
have running the ball that have been there all year long,
they're probably gonna be there in the playoffs too.

Speaker 4 (59:12):
They gotta find a way to overcome it. Right, So
we'll see.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
There might have been a little looking ahead. I mean, hell,
look at the Rams rounds were down to the Lions. Mon.

Speaker 8 (59:19):
Yeah, but the Lions. The Lions are I think the
Lions are pretty damn good football.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
They're a little better than Indianapolis and Grandpa, there's no doubt.

Speaker 8 (59:25):
All right, coming up, let's see here, will join us,
of course, at four o'clock, Little fun with Autio with
three forty five, and then a classic eighties matchup of
the Dolphins in Pittsburgh coming up on Monday night Football
Tonight where it's currently sixteen degrees in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by
the way, so looking forward to.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
If they were wise, what they should have done for
that game is in tribute to Philip Rivers had had
to make it. Bradshaw against this greasy still with us?
It's probably not.

Speaker 4 (59:50):
Any I think Bob's no longer with us.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
Yeah, how about how about Roethlisberger versus Marino?

Speaker 4 (59:55):
There you go, that works for me? Yeah, David David Woodley?
Why not?

Speaker 8 (01:00:00):
What the hell im for the mild mannered and marginally
objectionable e Inverness.

Speaker 4 (01:00:07):
This is Paddled Day saying so long everyone