Beyond The POD: 10-25-23 (Wes Walz)

Former Minnesota Wild Center and current Wild Analyst Wes Walz joins Brandon Mileski & Pat Micheletti on this episode of Beyond The POD!

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Hey, Hello, welcome to anotherepisode of Beyond the Pod. I am
Brandon Maleski Pat mcletty, former Goldengo for great with me as always,
Hello, Pat, How are yougood? Brandon? How are you?
I'm excited today because we have oneof our favorite guests on and that'll be
been looking forward to having him onfor quite some time. Yes, Beyond

(00:29):
the Pod is brought to you byMichelob Golden Miight and we are joined by
former a Minnesota Wild Center now broadcasterfor the Wild, Wes Walls. Wes,
thank you so much for your timetoday. I appreciate it. I
know you were you were doing thebroadcast last night in that victory over Edmonton.
We are taping this on Wednesday morning, and about twenty four hours ago,
Wes, when I knew we weregonna have you on, I started
prepping some questions what I wanted totalk to you about the first thing I

(00:50):
wanted to talk to you about wasthe top line off to a slow start,
Caprice hops Zukerrello Hartman. You knowCapriece op seems to get off to
slow starts. And twenty four hourslater, I don't have to ask you
that's that question because they were reallyreally good last night. Yeah, And
I said this during the broadcast,and I guess the first probably two or

(01:10):
three games, they they just weren'tgenerating a whole lot of offense. But
I really did think that over thelast two three games, especially Carill,
I thought his game has really startedto look like it did, you know,
at the end of last year,all of last year for that matter,
And yeah, they were they werepretty much unstoppable, you know,
last night. And there's always talkabout, you know, whether they should

(01:34):
split them up whenever they go afew games, about scoring, and you
know, I just putting my coachinghat on and sitting there thinking about it.
You just you got to always bewary of that because you just you
with those three guys, you justnever know when they're going to bust out
and win a game by themselves.And that was the case last night.
They were by far our best line, and I thought Carill had his best
game of the season. And theywere taken. I mean they were.

(01:57):
They weren't even just taking pucks tothe inside. They were hanging on the
pucks on the outside. I thoughtRyan Hartman in his interview after the game
with Kevin Gorg talked about how wedid a better job, and it kind
of hit me right in the foreheadwhen he said it. He said,
we did a much better job ofwaiting to pick our spots when to strike,
as opposed to just throwing pocks outfront. And actually, Carell probably

(02:20):
does it more than anybody on thatline, probably you, guys, because
he's got the pack eighty percent ofthe game, but a lot of times
he'll try these long, you know, spinnerama passes, and when they connect,
they're great. But when you're playinggreat teams, guys, fifty sixty
percent of the time, you're backin your own zone. So against Edmonton
you can get away with those things. But no, they were awesome last
night. Keep your coaching hat on, yeah you know, I mean,

(02:44):
yes, there was taky split themup? And how much patience do you
have to have before making a decision, isn't it? I mean it's a
fine line, isn't it about?You know, do we keep together,
do we try to change it up? Do we give them time? I
mean that's kind of knowing your players, isn't it? Yeah? And feeling

(03:07):
it well, it sure is.And you got to recognize your players.
You have to understand personalities, howhow players are going to react. Every
player is different, We're all different, we all handle situations completely different.
You know, nobody understands the lockerroom better than Dean obviously, and how
guys would would react to something likethat. But you know, we're in
the business of winning guys, andeverything should be on the table at all

(03:31):
time. With any player that wearsa Wild logo. You hear Dean Everson
and Billy Garret talk about the logoand not the name on the back,
Well, that's the same situation.So as a player, you've got to
be open to it if things aren'tgoing the way they are. I think.
I think as a head as ahead coach, you got to be
really careful, especially early in theseason. You know it almost you know,

(03:53):
if you start making changes five sixgames into the season, we're still
at five hundred. It's not likewe've come out of the Gato in five
and all of a sudden, youknow, people start to question it looks
like a panic move, things likethat. So, especially with an older
team, the while have a littlebit of an older team too, and
you've got to understand personalities and whento do it, But I don't think

(04:14):
any of that should ever be offthe table. Pat, I think you're
doing yourself at disservice. And asa matter of fact, when you break
players up. We watched Drycidle andand h McDavid gets split up all the
time. Like when you spend tengames and not play together with with somebody
you love playing with, then allof a sudden you get back together with
him. There's that fire of thatspark, kind of like your old girlfriend.

(04:34):
You broke up with, Pat andyou can get back together with her,
like three weeks later, there's thatlittle spark you get excited again.
Yeah, and you know if younever break up, there that sitement never
never leaves. So it's how Ifelt when Michaelady and I started doing these
podcasts together again. The chemistry hasbeen reignited. You know, the chemistry

(04:57):
never left you too. You talkedabout not panicking, and it's you know,
we're only six games in and Iremember the last year, you know,
the Wild got off to a reallybad start, giving up a bunch
of goals and whether it was goaltendingor defensively, I gotta tell you,
though, Wes, I know it'sonly six games in. But this blue
line without Jared Spurgeon is a littleconcerning to me. I think favor has
been great, Brodine. We knowwhat you have in Brodeen. After those

(05:19):
two, you know, I thinkthere's a kind of a drop off right
now and there's a huge void onthe blue line without Jared Spurgeon. Yeah,
yeah, we really we really misshim. And you guys know with
him going down to the preseason whatthat meant. That meant the first ten
games of the season, there's goingto be some bumpy roads. We just

(05:39):
know that that was going to bethe case coming in. And you know,
when Jared's in the lineup and youbump everybody down the slot, it
seems like our d zone exits.There's a lot more like those little ten
to fifteen foot passes out of themiddle of the rank and then all of
a sudden, now the other defenseman'sjumping up into the play as opposed to
rapping pucks around the wall. Theother guys aren't good defenders, for sure,

(06:00):
but they're not They don't have thatability to be able to escape and
just make that small, little subtleplay. And that's not a that's not
bashing them or any that's just that'sjust who they are. And you know,
the cap situation doesn't come up.We don't talk about it a whole
lot, guys, But we hadan extra fifteen million. He got Jared
Spurgeon in there, and then anotherseven million dollar defenseman with Faber and Middleton

(06:21):
and Brodin. Let's have a chatand we'll see where we're at. Yeah,
so that's a you know, wedon't talk about it a lot.
So we knew it was going tobe bumpy. The wil They've been able
to keep their head above water herewhile those guys are out. Sounds like
Matt Boley's going to be back.But yeah, Jared Spurgeon, what he
brings to the table is invaluable.And actually, you guys watched the game

(06:42):
against Columbus there the other night.Wrensky was out of the lineup all of
last year. He didn't play thefirst I think he played the first game
and got injured, and then thenext two games he didn't play. And
there was talking Columbus about their startand they can't they can't win and they
can't make plays. He plays thenext night in Calgary they want three and
I watched the game back. Hewas unbelievable and then he was the best
player on the ice in Saint Paul. Just one player can have that much

(07:06):
impact on where the puck is onthe ice and the wild missus Jared Spurgeons
just like the Columbus Blue Jackets.MS rensk. We're red Ski speaking about
a player who makes an impact everynight. Eric ton Eck. I mean
he you know, I mean,I know you love him because he plays

(07:28):
that game that is so freaking honest, and you know he just I mean
you want to tackle. I don'tknow if he's I wouldn't call him the
most valuable. I mean, hemight be the most important player on this
team. Yeah, I would agreewith that. And obviously we know we
know how important he was. Wejust lived it, you know, trying
to win playoff games with Autumn.You know. The part of his game

(07:53):
that's really impressed me, like thelast couple of years is and even the
goalie scorer last night, and youguys have seen him, you know,
and scrums around the front of thenet. His hands and footwork and everything
like that. I mean, wenever saw that at the beginning. We
saw a guy with a big,heavy shot in practice and he could shoot
it really hard. But I neversaw any small motor skills in his hands
that I that I've I've seen nowthe last couple of years. Isn't amazing.

(08:16):
What when you score twenty five goalsin a season, all of a
sudden, your hands start to feelbetter and everything starts to feel great.
But I will know, what's that, Brandon? You would you wouldn't know?
Yeah, Yeah, I'm excited forEricson. I mean, he's got
a chance to score thirty goals.There's a good chance that he'll get him

(08:37):
this year. And I think ifhe scores thirty goals, guys and the
Wild can win a playoff round.He's got a chance to win a Selki.
I think if he stays in thetwenties, he doesn't well. Bergeron
retired to so he's kind of rentedthat thing out to anybody else that wants
to win it. So it'd beinteresting to see if he gets to thirty
and starts to get some love naturally, because I don't I don't believe he
gets enough love naturally. And that'swe live in the cornfields. That will

(09:00):
we deal with here? Hey Wes, when you know you know you have
spurgeon down and you know the Dis not the same, and you know,
but there are things that you cando to offset that. And I
know one thing that probably irritated youlast night was the first two goals that
Edmonton scored were one off a faceoff, and you know they weren't one

(09:26):
they were cleanly one and and youjust can't have that. I know that
probably deep inside bothered you a littlebit because you were a centerman though you
know that was something you took pridein. What is the explain that to
me? Why they are having adifficult time winning draws in their own end?

(09:52):
Well, it's I don't know ifit's just their own end. And
the plays they were talking about,I mean, it's all over the ice
and you're in. I mean Iwas. I was a forty eight percent
face off guy in my career.I was not a great guy in the
face off circle. So I hadto really scratch and claw to try to
get close to that fifty percent.And and you know what, pad it

(10:16):
didn't matter how hard I worked andhow many tricks I tried with different centermen
and different things like that, Ifelt like that's just who I was pat
it's no different. This is whowe are. We discovered deal in the
face off circle. All right,right, you just the you're gonna lose
some face up. Listen, dryCitle on his strong side on the power
play, he's eighty percent. He'sfifty five overall because he has to take

(10:39):
draws on his weak side. Buton that power play side, it's going
back, especially against Eric Sinek becausehe's a lefty. We don't have any
right e's that can even compete onthat side. So you might as well
in the power play almost just throwit out to the defenseman and then just
tell your winger you might as wellget out there. I used to tell
Auntie locks and that all the time. I said, you might as well
just start leaving before the box,like almost like a one timer from alignment

(11:00):
up to the defenseman, so wewould get in position like right away.
But the key with a face offsituation is if you're gonna you just like
we're we're we're trying to get toforty five to forty seven percent. The
nights that we the Knights, thatwe get crushed in the face off circle
where we're sitting at twenty five tothirty five percent. Those nights are hard

(11:22):
to overcome because your your your mindsetchanges. You feel like you're on your
heels all the time, you cannotbe the aggressor. You feel like you're
always sitting back and we never have. The pocket changes your psyche a little
bit. Yeah, So for everybody, the key is not to try to
get to fifty percent, just fortyfive to fifty percent in that area and

(11:43):
then just live with the consequences.I was talking to Darby about it the
other the other morning before one ofthe morning skates, and he said,
the coaching staff actually have started tochart fifty to fifty pucks after face offs
when pucks sit in areas that isbeing charted now. And I love the
idea and the premise behind that becauseit holds players accountable. It holds wingers

(12:05):
accountable. Okay, and there area lot of pucks sitting around behind wingers,
behind centerment stuff, and you cancome up with those loose pucks,
you're gonna be able to have possessionquite a bit more. So that's an
area that they're looking to chart andget better at. So yeah, it's
just it's listen, pat, you'vegot to play after you lose the face

(12:26):
off too. We could probably wecould probably sign Mark Messier and Yannick Paro
and Zen and Kanopka and be seventyfive percent in the face off circle and
B zero and five? Was yourather that? So it's just it's just
the world you're living, guys.Let's let's stick. Let's stick with the
center. Marko Rossi, I thinkwe all know about his year. Last
year looks like a completely different playerto me, wels And I just saw

(12:48):
stat this morning that he leads thewild right now in five on five shots
on goal with thirteen, which isgiven some of the competition. He's up
again, so that's pretty impressive numbers. How would you evaluate the first six
games of this season for Marco Rossi? Yeah, it's been good. It's
been it's been really good. Ithought he had a really, uh a
breakout game in mon I think itwas in Montreal Brandon where I just I've

(13:13):
was watching the game and I thinkI even said in the post game when
I was working that night, itfelt like a coming out party, like
Okay, I'm here, I'm inthe National Hockey League. I belong.
He was making plays with a puckhe was, he was driving into the
paint and you know, he scored. I think he scored his first goal
that night as well too. Sohe's an important piece to the puzzle,

(13:35):
you know. And he doesn't needto be one of those guys that scores
twenty five goal goals and carries theoffense. I mean, we got other
guys that can that can do that. But he does need to chip in,
I believe, with ten fifteen goalsand you know, twenty thirty assists
playing on the second unit, andhe has enough ability to do to do
that. It is. It hasbeen fun to watch him progress. I
mean, our fans have kind ofgrown up with him now, kind of

(13:56):
like we did Eric Sinak. Wekind of grew with him and it's been
a slow process. It's a brickby brick process. And you know,
him scoring anytime you score a goalobviously gives you a lot of confidence.
And he was, you know,even after he scored, he was banking
pucks off the wall to himself andit's just incredible. I mean it's incredible
to watch. You know, howmuch power a scoring a goal in the

(14:18):
National Hockey League and what can itcan do for you it's it's really crazy.
Well I was like, one second, Pat, I just want to
follow up on it, you know, Wes. I had read from I
think Russo during the off season thatlike he was changing his skating stride,
and I was thinking to myself,Man, at you know, at twenty
one, twenty two years old,can you really change your skating stride.
It does look different, it looksit looks more powerful. You can tell
he put in a lot of workthis offseason. Well, if it looks

(14:43):
more powerful, I'm not sure ifit's because his skating stride. It might
be because he lived under his squadrack all summer and staying here in Minnesota
as opposed to training with his friendsback in Austria. And I can tell
you this. You know, anytimeyou're training with other people, I know
he stayed here and trained. Whenyou're training with your your fellow brethren,
you train way harder. I don'tcare what anyone says. I don't care

(15:03):
how hard you push yourself when you'reby yourself. So if you trained harder,
it got more explosive. I thinkthat lends itself to become a quicker
player. The skating thing Brandon Idon't know, but I'm not sure I
completely buy in. I don't knowwhen you've skated your whole life for twenty
five minutes and you're trying to changeangles and you've got different muscles in your
leg firing that have never fired before. I think in games that might be

(15:26):
great when you're out skating around withyour headphones on in public skating and you're
working on your skating stride. Butwhen I got to chase Leon dreysidtle around
on the corner, you think I'mgoing to be thinking about changing the angle
my foot and I better. Youknow, you've always go back to your
natural way that you skate. SoI know there's been a lot made of
it, you're asking me. Idon't think there's a whole lot there,
But the training part, I thinkthere's more validity there, Wes. What

(15:52):
I really liked about Rossy's goal lastnight is where he scored it from.
And you know people talk about allget to the front of the net,
give the front of the net.Well, you know a lot of people
are afraid to get to the frontof the net. I mean, I
don't care they are they you know, Yeah, I got to get harder
to the net, this, thatand the other thing. But to get
there and do it and stay andand and hit the hit the d like

(16:15):
he did. You know, hekind of pushed them away and you got
himself in a position to receive thepass. You have to have guts,
you know that, and that andI think that was a sign to me
of of maturity and guts and youknow, a big step forward for him.

(16:40):
Yeah, I agree, and youknow he was. They were cycling
the puck around, they had thefive man blender going and it's and I
mentioned this during the broadcast, ifyou get the blender going against the oilers
like you're going to need a save. You're going to need a save.
Yeah, And whether you get itor not, that's to be determined here
in the next twenty twenty five seconds. But when Mark did get inside position
on the player that he had andhe and he had him in his pocket

(17:03):
and he knew he could do nothingabout he just stuck his big butt out
and it was over. And RyanHartman made a great play. But the
other interesting thing too is I don'tknow if you guys saw the play when
Marcus Felina was going to that Ithink it was in the third period someone
dumped him and he went flying intothe post and Marco Rossi come flying over,
yes, and started face rubbing andlike getting into it, and I'm
like, yes, that's what I'mtalking about. And I'm sure Marco was
given to give him on the benchand thanks for jumping in there for me.

(17:26):
But those those are the small typeof things when you go back to
the bench and you're joking around aboutthe bench because you know, Moose is
going to stand up for Marco.No one's going to be able to touch
Marco, and so those are thetype of things that I that I look
at that I know guys who goback to the bench and joke around about
it, but it matters, andyou can see he's got a lot of
confidence. Six games in, youknow, most of the most of the

(17:48):
team coming back we had, youknow, basically one new player in Pat
Maroon would have been your early impressionsof a Maroon Yeah, uh, you
know what, just watching him intraining camp and some of the practices when
they were doing three on three downlow and just even small through the neutral
zone, you know, entries andthings like that. Sweethends like really,

(18:08):
you know, Obviously he's not ablazer. He doesn't have great speed.
He's thirty five, you know,he's a big, big man. But
when he gets the puck on hisstick, he makes place. He just
just does. He makes plays andhe and he's very, very efficient with
the pocket, like he puts pucksinto areas where his teammates are going to
get them, and he makes alot of small plays and he got I

(18:29):
think he he's got four assists nowin his last three games. Obviously he's
playing with with you know, playingup the line a little bit, so
he's playing with better players. Sowhen you're making place to those type of
guys, a better chance you're goingto get an assist. But it's been
it's been really really good. It'sbeen it's been good. Like will he
end up there as the season goeson, Obviously with Matt Boldi coming back
soon, he's probably going to goback down on the fourth line, But

(18:52):
getting fourth line production is going tobe important in the big picture here for
the Minnesota whild and having Pat Maroonplay with those two speedsters. Do we
one and two? Do we two? You know, Ryan Reeves serves a
purpose. We all know that,but he ain't gonna make those two guys
better playing five on five. PatonMaroon can make plays and if he can
put pucks into space, and allof a sudden, these speedsters can get

(19:14):
onto loose pucks, we're gonna bespending some more time in the offensive zone
than we would otherwise. So there'ssomething. There's definitely something there. The
guy knows how to win. Youcan't argue with his success. And he's
got three Stanley Cups. So it'sa huge upgrade from Ryan Reeves. Huge
wells. Thanks for your time asalways, really appreciate it. We'll talk
to you the best. Yeah,thanks, Pat, Thanks Brandon. I

(19:36):
always enjoy it with you guys.All right, thank you wild West Walls,
former Minnesota wild great and now ananalyst for a Ballet Sports North.
Before I chat with you, Pat, how about you tell us about our
sponsor, which would be michel obGolden Light. Hi Will, are you
a Beer League hockey? Are youon a Beer League Hockey team? Check
out our contest page at kfe indot com for a chance to get yourself

(20:00):
sponsored by michelob Golden Light. Excellent, Pats, I want to talk a
little college hockey with you you're almamater, the Minnesota Golden Gophers. They
split with North Dakota last weekend.Tough, tough schedule. Still moving on
forward here as I've got Wisconsin andthen Michigan move and then a lot of
the Big Ten schedule movement ahead here. But currently ranked the number one team

(20:22):
in the country. Yeah, youknow, I think they made big strides
from the previous week against a veryvery good Saint Thomas team, which we
discussed last week. You know,they got themselves in penalty trouble on Saturday
night, I think, which hurtthem. Played very very well on Friday
and four nothing win. But theirdepth is is starting to show. Their

(20:47):
d are starting to get more involvedand more active. And you know,
I thought they had a good weekend. Any you know in North Dakota's vastly
vastly improved. I think they're numberfive in the country right now, four
or five, and and they're areally good team. And it was a
fun series to watch, and JustinClose was named the Big Ten Conference First

(21:08):
Star of the Week. UH alittle leaky against Saint Thomas in that first
game of that series, but thatwas good. The next night and UH
had a pretty good series against theFighting Hawks. Well, you know,
you need a goaltender and they've gotone in him. I thought he was
really really good all weekend. Youknow, his ability just to calm everything.
He never is on a position,he never panics in the net,

(21:33):
and I think that's a real calmingfactor for for his decorps, which you
know, quite frankly, a lotof those guys back there, even though
you know Chesley Middlestead played a lotlast year, but they were behind Lacombe
Johnson in favor and now they're gettingthe you know, the majority of the
minutes, and and you know,I think he's done a real good job

(21:55):
of calling that decorp and the borderbattle the I w allready back at it
again this weekend as the other goferstake on Wisconsin with a familiar face behind
the bench. Pat Yeah, mycasting's you know, they're off to a
great start one loss, and Itell you what, this is so good
for college hockey to have Wisconsin back, you know, at least on their

(22:18):
way back. You know, it'sgoing to be a fun series. It's
always it's always a great series whenyou're playing Wisconsin. But to have Wisconsin
be be good, really good andpotentially contending again. Is UH is great
for college hockey across the nation.Minnesota Duloof they swept but Midgie last weekend,

(22:41):
they've got They're at Cornell, theyget to travel this weekend. What
do you think about Standlin this teamso far? Yeah, I was texting
texting with Scott yesterday and and youknow they they've gotten off to a good
start too. They swept Northern Michigan, they swept me and I think they
had a time in a win againstMichigan Tech UH to to start the season.

(23:03):
But they lost one of their bestplayers in Dominics James out for the
season, which is really really unfortunate, really good player, and you know,
uh, you know they're gonna haveto find somebody to replace him.
But but you know, they didn'thave a good year last year. They
had leaky goaltending, they weren't greatdefensively, and that's one of the trademarks

(23:27):
of Scott's teams, and and andI know he's putting an emphasis on that.
Plus they're scoring goals now, sotheir key their team to keep an
eye on. They face the Gophersnext weekend. That'll be a fun series.
You mentioned Mike Hastings in Wisconsin.That means Mankato has a new coaching
staff. They were swept last weekendby Massachusetts, and they have to host

(23:51):
that North Dakota team that you talkedabout this weekend. So it's a tough
schedule to start for Mankato with obviouslya brand new coaching staff, a new
place. Yeah, brand new coachingstaff. But you know what, Yeah,
they had a little hiccup last weekend, but the weekend before, they
swept Saint Cloud at home, whichgave them, you know, some confidence.

(24:11):
So I think they feel pretty goodabout themselves. But let's hey,
listen, let's let's give them time. New coach, probably new system.
They lost some some players. Ithink they have thirteen or fourteen new players
from a year ago. So butthey've gotten off to a good start.
And listen, they don't like thefact that they were picked to finish sixth

(24:34):
in the conference. And and youknow, they're they're they have a little
chip on their shoulder and and sokeep an eye on them. Saint Claude
State off this weekend. They splitwith Alaska last week, And what do
you think of the Husky so far? Well, I think they're trying to
find out what they are. Youknow, they they they're not real strong

(24:55):
up the middle. They lost,you know, a couple of centermen that
that I think hurt them a littlebit. But you know, they they
have a couple of really good defensemenand Ann Horn and uh and Jack Peartt
who's a wild draftee, and andand Dominic Bassie is their goaltender who is
who's been okay, but they needhim to play better. You know,

(25:15):
they always have a good power playthat faltered for them last Saturday in a
split against the Alaska fair Banks.So uh, I know, I know
Larson's probably not real happy with thisteam right now. And trust me,
he's one of the best coaches incollege hockey. Uh. You know,
I think they'll rebound the following weekoff. This weekend, Yeah, Saint

(25:38):
Thomas had a tie in a winover Lyndon Wood last week Uh, and
they're up at BA Midgee, soa little ccha interstate to battle this weekend.
What do you expect between the Tommy'sand the Beavers. Well, here's
what I think. I think theyanswered a question, how would they react
after facing the number one team?And then facing ending Wood the following weekend.

(26:02):
And you know they they played prettywell last weekend, got two wins.
And you know they listen, theythey're team that is you know,
we talked about it. They youknow, they're they're a really really good
team. And and uh, they'regonna face with a Midgie team that's kind
of real and they but Midgie hasn'twon yet. They're still looking for their
first win. And and Tom SarahTorri, you know, would certainly like

(26:26):
to get one in conference play.This weekend Hockey Day in Minnesota. They
announced within the last day or twoit's gonna be a Valley Fair and Shockapy
and you know, Pat, youknow, They've been doing this for a
while now. I've been going differentlocations around the stat keep trying to find
new ways to reinvent themselves. Idon't know any of the matchups yet,
but I kind of like the Idon't know where Valley. I don't know

(26:47):
if they're just gonna be in theparking lot with with with the roller coasters
as the background. I'm not surethere's actually a spot inside a Valet fair,
which I don't know if there'd beenough space for that but uh,
I you know, I kind oflike the out of the box idea.
Guys love it and you know it'llit'll it'll be festive, right, The
scenery will be great, you know, like you said, with the roller
coasters and everything else they have thereand listen that you know, they've they've

(27:11):
knocked it out of the park partpretty much every year, and uh,
you know, I think this willbe another good, good venue for him.
All right. A couple minutes agohere, Pat, let's let's chat.
Let's get your opinion on the Minnesotawhile as as I mentioned with Wes,
great to see that Caprice offline finallybreak out last night because they had
been struggling early on here, Istill a defensively I look at that blue

(27:33):
line. I say they're in troubleright now. And when Jared Spurgeon comes
back, I think that will havea huge impact. You know. I
think even though Middleton had three assistslast night, I think he misses Jared
Spurgeon as a partner badly. Youknow, Merrill and Addison and when Glagowski
was in earlier, it's looked alittle rough back there, and I think

(27:53):
the goaltending has been a little bitexposed compared to what they've been used to
with with the players in front ofthem. Well, I'll agree, and
and you know you just uh youtook the d I'll take the forwards.
Uh. That line is not goingto be great every night. Okay,
they were great last night, andyou see what happens. But what's what

(28:15):
concerns me is the secondary and thethird you know, wave of scoring.
I you know, if that lineis not going uh it, you know
there they can be. You candefend them, and what and if you
defend them, who's gonna step up? And you know, it was great
to see Rossi get on the boardlast night. I think that's going to

(28:37):
give him a lot of confidence.But man, oh man, if if
they get any injuries up front,I that that that is really going to
be a concern because quite frankly,I love Pat Maroon as a player.
I don't think he can and youknow, obviously he'll move when Boldie gets
back, but you know he can'tplay ten fifteen games in a row.
Effics no, and and and sothat's that's kind of what you run into.

(29:03):
And you know, we can talkall we want about doing him and
do We're and you know, guyslike that, and and you know,
of course they're not going to getYou can't expect him to get ten to
fifteen goals, right because of wherethey are and the time that they play,
you know, the minutes that theyplay. But those are the type

(29:25):
of guys that I feel are goingto have to chip in when that top
line is not going, and sothat that'll be something I'm going to keep
an eye on. Yeah, withBoldie out and the top line struggle and
the one the one good part ofthe team. So far as I think
Marko Rossi has been has been prettyduring good and you know, he's still
playing with line mates that I don'tknow if you can get your peak you're

(29:47):
styling out of. You know,Freddie Gudreau has not had a good year.
I think Felino has been all right. I think he's been solid.
I am curious if at some point, I know they kind of wanted to
ease Rossi in here and kind ofmake him earn it a little bit when
Boldie comes back. Him and himand Rossi have had a history together in
the minor leagues and no death together. You and I have talked about how

(30:07):
Eric's and next seems to get thebest out of Fillino. I do wonder
at some point here in the futureand maybe it'll be another twenty games away
if hey, we try to reuniteRossi and Boldie together, and try to
reunite ERICSONEK and Felino together, becauseI think they were waiting on Rossie to
show that he could do it.And we're only six games in, but
to me, it looks like hecan do it. Yeah, and and
and we also might run into asituation, Brandon where you know, you

(30:32):
know, you've brought up Gudro andyou know he's off to not a great
start, but what if he doesn'tget into that rhythm where you know he's
he starts to play better, whatdo you do? You can't do anything
because of the cap situation. Uh. You know, Let's say if Anylitary

(30:55):
gets a chance and he and heplays well, well, they may have
no choice but to send send himback down or you know, so he
gets in a situation where this iswhat we have. We have to make
the best of it. And youknow, and and unfortunately they just don't
have the maneuverability to maybe put theirbest lineup in there. You know,

(31:18):
they still have Gudro in her contractfor four more years after Yeah, they
send him to a Fighter deal andat the time, I'm like, I
don't know if I want him committedthat long. You know what his biggest
value that he brings to the team, pat is the shootout. Yeah,
and they haven't had any shootouts yet, so it's one of those years.
You know. Last year they hada bunch of overtime shootout type games and

(31:40):
he thrived in those roles. That'swhere he can bring you extra points and
really have some value. I thinkif they're not getting overtime, which they
haven't, you know, other thanthe one game, I don't know if
he brings a whole lot to theteam. I get it. He's versatile.
He can go from line to line. He can kill penalties for you.
You know, he can fill inon a top six roll in short

(32:00):
spurts. Uh, He's still youknow, you brought up a good point
about maybe at some point putting Rossieand Boldie together. Well, it's all
about to me, you know,slotting guys where they need to be.
And if you know, if youlook at it, you know, if
they do put Rossi and Bouldie together, you know, find him a left

(32:21):
winger, whoever that left winger wouldbe. Maybe it's Felino because you know
him, and Rossi. You knowRossi Boldie, you know, and then
you get EQ with you know,maybe maybe ech Is you know, I
don't care if you name it.Second line, third line, listen,
X gotta get his minutes and andand every you know, and and and

(32:42):
you you get a with the rightguys and and and you know, maybe
that then then you can say,hop, Okay, now we know our
one, we know our two,we know our three. We get in
a rhythm. This is how we'regoing to play, and this is how
we're going to win and beacon asistentnight in and night out, instead of
well let's move him here because wehave to move him here because of an

(33:07):
injury. And maybe they're not thebest fit, but let's try it.
And then you lose games, soyou know, let's see when Boldie gets
back all this all plays out.Pat, great talking to you as always.
We'll text you and talk to younext week. I'm beyond the pod
the same, Brandon, and thankyou. He's Pat mcletty. I'm Brandon
Mleski. This has been another episodeof Beyond the Pod. You can listen

(33:27):
to Beyond the Pod on the iHeartRadioapp or wherever you get your podcast.
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next week. Bye,