Joe O’Donnell, Dave Jackson! - Bumper to Bumper 12/23/25 Hour Three

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
It's a special holiday edition of the Friday Football Feast.
You can join Pa Nordo alec Lewitz you just heard
from Buffalo. Wadwins Roseville is getting you set for a
Christmas Day battle with the Lions. Plus grade eats your
shot at prizes all morning long. Doors open at eight
am out of a nine am nine to noon broadcast.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Allow details KFA dot com. Key were Calendar.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Michael Russer from the Athletic back here on the fan,
coming to you from the Bob Kurtz Radio Center down
at Grand Casino Arena follows his lair. Happy to be
joined by the former Arrow Joe on X back when
it was Twitter. Now it's Wild Joe Radio and the
absolute best radio broadcaster in the land for hockey.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
That's a little sorry, Pa.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
I don't want to tick off Pa and Alan Hornck,
Corey provos and everything, but you are absolutely sensational, Joe O'Donnell.
You know I tell you all the time. You know,
we're happy. The way that the broadcast is done at
Grand Casino Arena. The radio broadcast booth is actually on
the bottom level of the press box where the print
media is or.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Online media as we like to say now since I'm not.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Print and so you're a couple of seats to my right,
so I get to hear your call every single night,
and I mean, not only is it a great call,
but if anybody listens to your radio broadcast, they know
how hard you prep. Because I don't know anybody that
can just throw in like stats that I've never heard
right in the middle while you're calling games. You know, One,

(01:40):
where do you find all these stats? Because I'd like
it to help my writing one of these days. And
two how do you remember it? Well, it's a combo
of a few places. Thank you for the kind words,
by the way.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
So just you know NHL dot Com, NHL media site,
the live updates that you get from the league, which
I probably don't do a good enough job in game checking.
We get the thing now called the Game Report this year,
which is from like stat Perform.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
They've got some good nuggets.

Speaker 4 (02:07):
I'm also privy to the NHL Network crew and what
they get for their on air personalities, so I've been
using that this year, and then I just track stuff
on my own that I try to update all the
time or look for trends as far as being outshot
or out shooting opponent third period goals. You know, haven't
given up an even shrink goal in this amount of time.

(02:27):
So all sorts of like just little nuggets. And then
the team notes too, right, Like some of the visiting
teams you play have great notes and they can help
build half of your prep. So it's sort of evolved
over time. It's still evolving. It's just a combo of things.
I try and do my homework to make sure I'm
ready to go, and I try to bring as much
as I can to the table for the fans. Sometimes
I wonder if it's a little bit too much, like

(02:48):
who's going to remember or find that interesting? But if
I find it interesting, I tend to throw it out
there and hopefully the listeners agree.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
I think anybody would find it interesting. And tonight's gonna
be an interesting broadcast. A very unique Jackie Blonde is
going to be joining you and Tom Reid upstairs.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
Awesome like opportunity for Jack and I know he's done
some stuff the La Kings in the past, great kid,
and wanted to get an opportunity to help out the
Wild Radio Network for a night, and so Stick tapped
Kevin faunas for making it work logistically, and I'm glad
that we were able to kind of have a three
man booth and see how it goes. And I'll just

(03:24):
try to play point guard and make sure that tr
is in his normal wheelhouse, and then Jack can contribute
and feel like he's able to bring what he wants
to bring to the table and might be a little
less play by play to work them both in, but
that's okay and looking forward to it.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Tonight Nationale Predators come to town. You can listen to
the broadcast right here on the fan at seven o'clock.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Pream show is what time fallness?

Speaker 3 (03:49):
What are you busy from six fifteen to six forty
five or like, what's going on?

Speaker 2 (03:52):
It's like barreal? He says, Well, why don't you do
a longer pregame because they don't allow me to. I'll
do an hour and a half if they asked me to.
I thought, you're the more familiar with the more me
hashtag that's hashtag new TV.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yes exactly, So six forty five here on the fan
for the pregame show. And by the way, a lot
of World Junior stuff coming up as well. We're going
to get to hear Zach Hollerson pronounce some very interesting
names from other countries that'll be fun to listen to.
So you know, what do you think he'll what do
you think his batting average will be on pronunciations when.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
You're healing USA? Yeah, that would be my guest.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
It's mostly a USA broadcast that that he's doing, and
I think that the concentration will be They've got it
or Team.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
USA and a y Z has it.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, it'll be It'll be something to be seeing Joe Man.
Exciting time to be around the Minnesota Wild From broadcaster standpoint,
you get to see a team that's winning every single night,
that's scoring a ton of goals every single night, which
is very fun for a playoff play guy. And then
they go out and they acquire the second best defenseman
in the National Hockey League and Quinn ues, what's this

(04:58):
last couple of weeks been like for you?

Speaker 2 (05:00):
And really the way this team is on.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
October thirty first, what's this last seven weeks been like
for you?

Speaker 4 (05:06):
It's been awesome and it makes my job easier. The
game called itself. There's a buzz in the arena that
wasn't there maybe the first few weeks of the season.
It's been a lot of fun, Michael at Night. I
don't take my job for granted. I love what I do,
but when the team is playing like this, when the
team is built for a potential special season, it's one
you try to cherish. And I hope the Wild fans

(05:27):
are enjoying it as well. This team is so much
fun to watch. I have so much confidence and swagger
about them. I think they're going to bounce back tonight.
It's not an easy game. You look at Nashville, you know,
hanging around five hundred, but they've played really good hockey lately.
They're nine to four to oh in their last thirteen.
They've won seven of their last ten and a smaller
sample size, they're starting to find their swagger and I
think that's good for the Wild. Like if this Predators

(05:48):
team was five six games blow five hundred last game
before the holiday break, I'd be worried about a letdown.
I think after a lost Sunday and knowing this Preds
team is on the rise, I think Minnesota for the
vibes I saw at Mornings eight like there, I think
they'll be ready to go tonight.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, and they are.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
I mean look, you look at their team. This is
not just a five hundred team. They got a ton
of talent on there. They're also coming in a little
ticked off last time they were here. They feel like
they were screwed in overtime with the with the puck
the net off the moorings.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
That that I was Joehansson.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
Johanson that that there'll be a goal that I don't know,
we'll see again for a long time.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
No, No, definitely, And coincidentally, a couple of weeks later,
the same team had had another net off the moorings,
and that one stamp Go scored. Stampcos looks like he's
taking the fountain of the youth lately. Obviously they got
Philip Fordsburg and Roman Yosi and on and on and
on and and two great coaches behind the benches we know,
and Andrew Burnett and Darby Henderson.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
So we'll see how it goes out.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Shocking tonight that for the first time all season while
they're completely healthy.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
Yeah, it's awesome. I've been talking all year that they
haven't had their opening night lineup, not once. I think
this might be it now. I mean, obviously Quinn Hughes
being a part of it. He wasn't here uh until
a few weeks ago. But other than that, like that's it.
Like they've got everybody. So it took it so Christmas
to get there. But they're there, and let's see how

(07:07):
they play now, because I think again they've got depth.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
We've seen it.

Speaker 4 (07:11):
They have played above expectations of time, they've played below
expectations of time. But here they are, you know, their
second most points to this point in the season in
franchise history.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
They're ahead of last year's.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
Pace, which is crazy because you think about how last
year's team started.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
It's been a remarkable turnaround.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
Fun to see and it kind of just reinstills like
this core group, Like at the start of this year,
I was going, what's going on?

Speaker 2 (07:35):
I think the players are going, what's going on?

Speaker 4 (07:36):
Like this group when healthy last year was one of
the best teams in the league this year to start
the year, I know there was no Zucarauo, no Sterm,
but like it just felt something was missing since that time,
since November the first whatever happened that morning where that
player's only meeting, It has really been a remarkable turnaround.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Yeah, it really has been. And from your perspective from
Quinn Hughes. Watching Quinn Hughes, I mean, how fun has happened?

Speaker 4 (08:00):
It's awesome. He is a game breaker. He is so
elite to what he does. I love the fact too that,
like if he doesn't have a play, so he twists
back and he tries to shake a four checker and
then he's in a little bit of trouble. Most guys
turn a puck over. It seems like he has an
ability to just make the safe play. Like he's always
looking for offense. He's looking for that first pass, that

(08:20):
first play. But if it's not there, and he tries
to get a little creative, a little flashy, and that's
not there. I've noticed that it just seems like he'll
punt on the play and it doesn't really put the
wild in any duress, right, And like sometimes guys get
a little too fancy and then they start turning pucks over.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
That doesn't seem to the case of Quinn Us.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
We're talking with Joe a'donald while Joe Radio on X
very cocky Eagles fan, yep, feeling good now ten and five?

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Right, I think it's been a couple.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
Any Vikings fan out there, is gonna be like, shut
your mouth, because most Eagles fans are disappointing the season,
and that's coming off of Super Bowl. But that's just
how we're why we are. It's never good enough, swinning man.
We're usually negative. And ten and five feels like five
and ten with how they played at times this year.
But hopefully they're on the rise. Get a home playoff game.

(09:10):
See what the heckus, Joe? This schedule has been hilacious.
I was talking to Nico Sturm about it earlier in
the show. This is their eighth game in the last
thirteen days, seven and eleven, six and nine.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
It's crazy. How are you getting through it? Lots of lozenges,
I assume now.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
I don't really use any of that stuff, to be honest.
If I'm feeling a little under the weather, I will
try to jump out in front of it. But I
don't ever do any you know, steal PA's turned vocal maintenance,
like there's I don't do anything.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
Yeah, I don't know why. I never I never really
have either. It hasn't been fun though any game.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
I mean, I assume you don't want days off as
a playoff play.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
You'd rather go game to game to game in the game, yeah,
the games are what you you know, you live and
die for, so to speak.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
But I will say that going into Sunday's game, I
was feeling a little spent, and I don't obviously come
anywhere close to playing.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
I just talk about it.

Speaker 4 (09:59):
So I can't imagine how the guys had the energy
to get up for that game, especially an opponent like Colorado.
I think it showed, you know, they worked hard, but
you could just tell something was off. John Hines talked
about they weren't sharp, little step behind, as you called it. Hopefully,
yesterday's day off and the team holiday party got them
re energy, re energize, and they know that they get
a couple of days here afterwards. And you never want

(10:19):
to go into a break, any sort of break, all
star break, holiday break with a loss.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
So I think they're gonna come out here and play
well Tonight's what's crazy.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
About the schedule is that they are almost incapable of practicing, right.
I mean, we like Quinn Hughes might never practice with
the messot a while. It's nuts hasn't had one yet,
I remember after Flower got here.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yet I think one is ten. You're right about that.

Speaker 4 (10:39):
But listen for the fans, they're like, well, weren't they
on the ice this morning? A morning skate is way
different than a practice. To your point, like generally a
morning skate, if you're gonna work on something, you spend
maybe five minutes on it. There's no battle drills. Maybe
you need to find tu in the power place. You
put a couple of minutes into it. It's not like
an hour practice on the road or at Trea Rank
where you can really fine tune your di zone coverage

(11:02):
or work on your rush coverage things like that.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Yeah, they're not doing battle drills. It's more routes and
playing chip talk and things like that. And just to
show you how crazy this schedule is. So after the break,
the whole to have three days off, they are not
allowed to practice wild fans should know that because I
got the Dallas Stars in a lot of trouble last
night like that and got them fine to hunt your
grand when Pete de Boor admitted that they practiced on
the day that they're not supposed to, just volunteered it.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
But here's this one.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
You have a six am flight on the twenty seventh
to play in Winnipeg, then you fly after the game
to Vegas.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
You land at two am.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
So just think about that if you're if you're a
fan at home, that's twenty four hours. Because it's we're
talking that, you know, waking up at four am Central yep,
you know, getting ready, driving to the airport, going up
to Winnipeg, playing a game, and landing at two am
Pacific time, which is four am Central to twenty four hours?
So what does that mean on the twenty eighth, your first,

(11:57):
your first day that the team can practice, like John's like,
we got to can't we're not practicing. So this team
is literally not going to practice until maybe the end
of this calendar year or you know those first couple
of days in January when we're out in California.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Yeah, I think there's one scheduled, at least tentatively from
the initial team calendar right on the third.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
We know usually what's scheduled means canceled. Yeah, so we'll see.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
But hey, nineteen four and two in their last twenty
five games, they haven't needed to practice time. But I'm
sure if things get you know, a little squirrely, or
again something's not right defensive zone or the PK really
needs something to be touched up on. That's when they
get out there and they work out. I give John
Hines credit and he leans on the staff, right, the
strength and conditioning staff led by Matt Harder, the athletic

(12:42):
training staff with John Worley and his group, Like those
guys have input on how and when and sort of
what effort each practice or skate is kind of put towards.
And I don't know that a lot of coaches do that,
but John Hines values their input based on their metrics
and how they're seeing and reacting what guys are feeling.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
And I like that about this group.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah, this is how many now years for you in
this organization. Two thousand and eight was my first year
in Houston. Wow, so the eighth nine season was my
first year. So whatever whatever math that is and talk
about paying your dues. Spent many years there and then
went up and with the relocated Iowa Wild and spent
many many years there until you got your your spot here.

(13:24):
Like during that entire time, did you look at it
as like it is still the greatest job in the world,
be being a play by play person or you at
one point like all right, enough I want to go
to the NHL.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, I'd be lying to you if I didn't tell you.

Speaker 4 (13:36):
There were several bus rides when you're getting off at
four or five in the morning, where you're going what
am I doing with myself at that point?

Speaker 3 (13:41):
Especially went at that role in the Miners right, because
you're doing everything. You're not just the play by play guy,
your pr your tails, the mascot.

Speaker 4 (13:49):
So there was a little bit of that, to be honest, Russo.
But I love calling games. I love the big moments
in a game. I love the big games, the playoff games.
I just love the sport. So to bring that, you know,
passion to the listeners, whether it was you know, Boise, Idaho, Houston, Texas,
Des Moines, Iowa, are now here in the great state

(14:09):
of Hockey. Like I've always always loved my job and
realized how fortunate I am. But yes, there are definitely
times when you call a thousand games in the Miners,
where you're going, is this going to pay off? Am
I going to get where I want to get? And
if not, like, am I comfortable living here the rest
of my life? And how long am I going to
do this? The other thing is I don't know what
I was going to fall back on, right, and I'm
gonna start selling cars like I don't you know. I

(14:31):
had some sports radio like talk radio experience, but if
you're going to switch professions, usually you're gonna start bottom
of the totem pole. So that was always kind of
a scary thing, Like if I don't get to the NHL.
You know how long we loved Des Moines, Iowa, about
a house there. Our youngest son was born there, Like
we would have stayed a while. I just don't know
what point do you start to make a shift in
what you're doing.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, and Boise, Idaho.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
I remember you were there in twenty twelve because that's
the year that the Wild were supposed to play an
exhibition game, right and it was canceled.

Speaker 4 (14:59):
So Boise has always been a spot where you know,
they've had like an NHL exhibition game, or they've talked
about getting an American League team. It's just a great city,
great organization. They're so well run. They've done unbelievable building
seats just over five thousand. So it's uh, it has been.
It's it's always been a spot that's been near and
dear to me. Because it's where I got my first

(15:19):
taste of pro hockey. And that's why it's kind of
crazy how this whole EHL potential players strike, Like, I
wonder what's going on there, because there are so many
good markets in the EHL. You just hope that the
players in the and the PHPA can figure it out
so they can keep playing.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, it is absolutely ugly right now.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
I mean you just see it all over the internet
and players chiming in about unfair labor practices and being
forced to to you know, play herd and and.

Speaker 2 (15:45):
All that type of stuff.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
And the wild are dealing with that right now because
they're trying to figure out if they go on strike
after the if the ECHL goes on strike after the
Christmas break, what do they do with their NHL contracted
Iowa contracted players. Do they bring them that didn't have
a taxi squad or whatever? You know, I know this
isn't your wheelhouse anymore, but both fans ask me all

(16:07):
the time, why is there not sustained success in Iowa?
I mean, how tough is it for you that has
such a love for that organization that that we you know,
we see the players come up here and add immediate impact.
I mean, this team this year inundated with injuries. Call
up the pitt Licks and the Ube Cabels and the
Joneses and the Curesteads and and all these players, and
they've done incredibly well here and fit in like a glove,

(16:29):
but down there they can't have sustained success. How tough
is that for you to see as somebody that really
respects that organization, and how much do you think it
weighs on the people down there that have to be
around there?

Speaker 4 (16:40):
Yeah, it's having been in Iowa for a couple of
seasons that were rough, like the twenty fourteen twenty fifteen season,
I don't know if the team won ten games at home.
John Torchetti took over middle of that year after Kirk
Klein and Doors was fired. That was a two to
ten and zero start. Torch came in, tried establish things,
got a little bump from the coaching change, and ultimately,

(17:01):
like if I'm being quite blunt, there wasn't enough talent.
Like the one thing I found about the American League
spending so much time there, your vets they better be
good guys, they better help the young guys, but they
better be able to point produce because I saw early
years in Iowa where Tyson Strachan was a VET. Okay,
great guy, He's not a point producer. You know, Brett
Sutter love him. The death PK leader, goes to war

(17:24):
with you. By that point in his career, wasn't really
a twenty goal guy regularly. You like the Calo Riley's
of the world, like Ryan's brother will see him tonight
with the Preds. Cal's a guy that Jerry Mayhew now
down there, like those are guys that if you're gonna
have a VET, you better set the right example. But
he'd better fill up the score sheet because if you're
relying on young guys to fill up the net. The

(17:47):
American League is hard, hard league. It's a hard league,
three and three bus travel, so your rookies are going
to go up and down, like Riley Heights scoring twenty
excuse me, Hunter hates scoring twenty goals. There, Liam Ogrin
having a good year last year, like, those aren't easy seasons.
You better have your vets contribute offensively. That's kind of
the way I as as I spent more time there

(18:07):
and witnessed it firsthand, Like if your vets aren't contributing
a lot offensively, It can be really hard.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah you uh, you know.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
One of my favorite memories of you down there was
when I was down there and used to get to
watch you interview Tim Army.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Oh you know and and.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
You know Timmy, you as you could ask one question,
Timmy'll talk for five minutes and I just used to
love find how like how at some point in that
interview you would just subtly change positions like change the
mic into your left hand.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
You're right, because try.

Speaker 4 (18:40):
And holding your arm out straight for six minutes straight
like you think it's nothing.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
It it gets soret no matter how much exercise.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
Do you think that when we go to Anaheim on
January second that you should interview time?

Speaker 2 (18:50):
Think I'm good on that.

Speaker 4 (18:51):
I did an interview with them one time at Stockton, California. Okay,
so the Iowa while we're getting ready to play with
Stockton Heat, and uh it was my fault. I asked
brutal question to start our little pregame show that I'd
air back and I'd usually trim it down because Tim
would get long winded. Is to your point, And I
said like something about you know, coach tough stretch whatever, whatever.

(19:11):
Kyle Row left with an injury last game. Blah blah blah.
Like I went long winded on the question and just
kind of served it up to him like a general
state of the team. Eight minutes he talked for eight minutes.
He finished talking. I said, okay, thanks.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
Coach for your time.

Speaker 4 (19:26):
Good luck tonight against the Heat, and I hit stop
on the recorder.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
He said, what that's it? I go, Tim, that was
eight minutes. I couldn't even run.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
All eight minutes pre game show is not that long.
So yeah, look, Tim, Rmy and I we got along great.
I have a lot of respect for what he's accomplished
in the coaching industry. He's been around the block coach
at every level. It's had a lot of success. But
he can talk, and sometimes it can be a little
bit much when you're trying to get to the point
get get an interview clip for radio purposes.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
I remember when I did that old podcast Straight from
the Source and we were there playing the Sharks the Wild,
and I texted you that happened to be that the
Barracuda were out there at the same time against the IOWA.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Was right before COVID.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah, right, before that was the game that I think
Cackening broke his hand or something. Anyway, but I texted
you and I said, Hey, any chance I can sit
down with Tim Army for a podcast? And it was
a game day and You're like, yeah, I'll get it done.
And I come over to your team hotel on a
game day, I interview him and then they lost, and
Tim right away told you never again, never doing a
podcast on a game day.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Ever. Yeah, he liked it, you know, Listen.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
He was good for the exposure and growing the game
and like he got all that. But you know, coaches
are creatures a habit and if there was one loss,
you know, and he had walked on the right side
of the street that night, he wasn't walking on the
right side of the street again. He was very much
a superstitious creature of habit.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Well, Joe, I'll let you go.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
I know you got a coaches meeting to get to
with John Hines. But you could listen to Joe tonight
with Jack Ciablonski and Tom Reed right here on the
fan starting six forty five with the pregame show. If
you're in the building, you get to see Joe's face
now on the jump of dron before every game give
him a cheer. Last game, he asked people to like
make some noise and you're like one person said.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, well face for radio. I guess you're tired of
me already.

Speaker 4 (21:10):
Everybody, have a great Christmas out there, appreciate all the listeners.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
And hopefully get a w tonight.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
Joe O'Donnell Kaffan, What is it? What are we calling it?
The Wild Radio Network? Fondness?

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yeah, for like twenty five years. What are we calling it?
Is what we're calling it. We'll just call it that today.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yeah, all right, Wild Radio Network, by the way, and
it's about the apparently it's on the fan Wild Joe
Radio and X used to be Ara Joe. When we
come back, Joe Smith is coming in my partner in
crime at the Athletic. Also, at some point we believe
Dave Jackson from ESPN former referee, will be joining in
studio because tonight's game, which everybody listening is only going

(21:50):
to be listening to, not watching, that is on ESPN
Plus and Hulu.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
We'll be back on the fan.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Teachers, go above and beyond. Well, now's your turn. You
can nominate your favorite. Thank you teacher powered by donors Shoes.
They could win five thousand dollars for classroom supplies.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
iHeartRadio dot Com slash teachers.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
Michael Russa from the Athletic back here on the fan.
Joe Smith, my colleague from the Athletic, is also here
from the fan. In surprise, surprise, Dave Jackson from ESPN
has just walked in. Dave, one of the great referees
that I've covered in this league, number eight. Every time
I see Francis Sharon, I think of you. They should

(22:57):
have retired your number, Dave.

Speaker 5 (23:00):
Well, I tell you what, if they retire my number,
there's about a two dozen in front of me that
should have gone first.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
Like first of all, And by the way, if you
want to follow Dave on Twitter or X, it's ESPN, NHL,
ESPN ref NHL, ESPN ref NHL. And Dave, you did
this job for a long long time. You've done playoff
games galore, well over one thousand regular season games, but
this is your first time in Grand Casino Arena as

(23:27):
a broadcaster the rules analyst on the ESPN. You've been
here many many eons for everything from regular season games
to playoff games, and now you're here as a broadcaster.

Speaker 5 (23:37):
Yeah, And I got to say, someone was just asking
me it is a different walking in as not being
the referee. I said, yeah, because most buildings, you come
in the loading dock, you walk to your room, and
then you leave the same way, and you really don't
get to experience an arena. And I was fortunate in
my post referee core I did it is supervision development.
I was up in the press box as a supervisor

(23:59):
on one K. But it's a beautiful building, beautiful press box,
and I just love coming here.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
There's no way that you're going to remember this.

Speaker 3 (24:06):
But the first time I actually met you face to
face was actually in the referee room in Tampa during
the All Star Game when I went in there to
talk to Brian Mock, who's the linesman for the All
Star Game, and kind of do a story there. And
you know, you've like when you get those type of honors,
to do things like that. An All Star game is
very different. You're not calling probably any penalties. What is

(24:27):
that like when you get that call? Well, to do
an All Star game?

Speaker 5 (24:30):
I was fortunately I got to do two All Star games,
one in LA in two thousand and two and the
one in my final season, so about two months before
I retired in twenty eighteen. And it's for your family,
that's the greatest part. You bring your wife, you bring
your kids, and the.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Kids get you know, backstage passes.

Speaker 5 (24:45):
And when they were really young, my boys were you know,
like nine and ten, and they were running through locker
rooms with Mary Lemus gloves on, Patrick WA's mask on.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
It was.

Speaker 5 (24:54):
It was really cool back in their two thousands. They've
tightened up the rules a bit, but my kids were
older as well. In twenty eighteen. I used to they
sacrificed so much here on the road twenty days a
month when you're refereeing, so to be able to bring
your family enjoy three four days in sunshine and you know,
you get down in the bowels of the arena, it's
just a pretty cool experience.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
Yeah, it's so funny they said that because one of
my memories of an Allstar Game, I think it was
either in Atlanta or Denver or something. I get on
the media bus and there's Steve Cazero with his entire family,
like the referee Joe.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
I was just.

Speaker 6 (25:25):
Wondering, when you go through this as a transition into broadcasting,
like do you watch other ones that do it?

Speaker 2 (25:31):
Like my prayer with a.

Speaker 6 (25:32):
Box for NFL, Like, how do you kind of prepare
for that kind of role when you do that?

Speaker 5 (25:37):
Well, you know what, I never My wife used to
say when I was during COVID, So you know, I retired.
I supervised for two years COVID happened. I kind of
took took a break, and I was planning going back.
But ESPN came along, and my wife used to say,
because we'd watch hockey and I'd sit in the couch
and just say, no, that's not the rule, like you're
getting it wrong. It should be this, And she goes, well,

(25:58):
you know, you'd be cut out for a job like that.
And the job came away well perfect. And then I
realized that I've got to say what I want to
say in about twenty seconds. And I'm frankly, I'm jealous
of the football guys because they get four minutes sometimes
that's going on, and you know, they watched multiple replays
and they get to maybe change their mind on their
initial opinion.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
For me, it's a quick hit. Try and be concise
and try.

Speaker 5 (26:19):
And not leave the viewer with more questions than they
had to begin with. So it's something I'm getting better at,
and I can always be better.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
When it comes to goal reviews and things like that.
I've been in the situation room and all of a sudden,
I hear Dave Jackson chiming in and talking to Bill
mccreer or something like that, and I never knew that
that was going on. That you're able to sort of
listen in to what they're saying. They kind of explain
everything to you, and then when you're able to go
on the air. I remember the game in Anaim a
couple of years ago, Remember that weird offsides play. You

(26:48):
were able to come on there and absolutely explain with
authority what they were looking at, how they came their
decision right.

Speaker 5 (26:54):
And that's a very good example because in real time,
it's tough to use the situation because they're preoccupy, they're
busy making that call.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
I'm not privy to the conversations they have with the
on ice officials.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
I can ask questions after the facts, So a lot
of times I come on, I'll state my own opinion.
This is what I see this if I see from
the replays, this is what I think will happen, and
if the call ends up being what I said, then
you know it's over. If it's different from what I
said and we're trying to scratch our heads and say.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
How did they come to that?

Speaker 5 (27:21):
Then I have the the the privilege of being able
to talk to them directly and they explained to me
what they saw, which I might not have seen on
the replays I was watching.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
So it's it's a great, you know, fail safe type deal.

Speaker 6 (27:33):
I mean, I know everybody wants to get the call
right live all the time. Right, it's a human error
thing all the time. But like, like, how has review
changed the game? And is this the right amount of
a review that we have right now in the league
versus like should they be more?

Speaker 2 (27:45):
Like people can do everything more than that. I wouldn't
want to see anymore.

Speaker 5 (27:48):
And I think we have it to a pretty good
place to without, you know, very slippery slope if we
went with any more we started assessing minor penalties on
view on replay, where would you draw the line? I mean,
was it an inference? Was it was it a hook?
It's just I mean, there's too many variables. I think
we've covered. We've got covered major penalties, double minors for
high stick, and we got offside goal interference. We have

(28:10):
misstoppages that lead to a goal. I wouldn't want to
see any more replays, but I guess I'm a little
jealous of the ability guys now have to get a
wrong call right, because you know, people talk to players
and they go, what do you know your greatest games?
They talk about game winning goals or scoring hat tricks.
I think for most officials, the games stand out to
most of them is the you know, the real monumental

(28:31):
screw ups. I remember back, you know, ten years ago
in that building. Oh boy, did I blow a call there?
And those are kind of things that haunt you as
an official, and a lot of those could have been
rectified by video replay.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Yeah, deve im, we're talking about Dave Jackson, former NHL
referee and now current rules analysts on ESPN. He'll be
doing the game tonight with Bobu, Shujin and aj Molesco
on ESPN Plus and Hulu Deve the like. That's where
I feel like the NBA has become really hard to watch.
I have never It's just amazing the number of reviews

(29:02):
they're on fouls and and things like that. And it
just feels like if you open that can of worms
in the NHL, like, I mean, where it does as
you mentioned, where does it stop.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
You don't want this every second to be up. We're
gonna review this plan only, this non call, this whatever.

Speaker 5 (29:17):
Yeah, and there's people that you know they're adamant there
should be another set of eyes in the in the
press box that could alert the referee for a minor penalty.
But my question would be, even if you're up in
the press box and you see what you think is
a minor penalty, you're not gonna blow that horn right away.
You're gonna watch two or three place to make sure
you've got it right. So we're gonna start assessing penalties
by video. What fifteen seconds after it happens, or what

(29:38):
if it's a call it's made that you know shouldn't
be made.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
So then we're going to overturn a call in the ICE.
I mean I think we do a good job of
that now.

Speaker 5 (29:44):
Stephen Walkam has has empowered these officials, all four guys,
to use common sense and if something is not right,
if a guy blatantly toe picks with no stick near him,
and for whatever reason, you're blocked out and a referee
calls a trip. The other three guys can talk have
that discussion on the ice with old video review and say, listen,
you can do what you want. It's your call. But
if you're asking for help, there was no stick near

(30:06):
it bag. You clearly top bit and you see that happen.
You see it happen maybe once a month where a
minor penalty gets taken down. But that's the crew on
the ice. It just gets the call right then, and
I support that one hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
When we come back, Dave, I didn't we wanted to
talk to you about what I want to talk to
you about the Olympics because it's the last time the
NHLers were in the Olympics. You had the honor of
going over to Sochi, so I want to talk to
you about that. But I also want to talk to
you about just you know, the one thing that I
think that bothers a lot of fans, and that's when
they feel like NHL, like NHL refs are just watching
a play happen, or mugging in front of the net

(30:38):
and just letting him play and letting him play and
letting him play and not calling anything I want to
talk to you about, just sort of mindset that referee
maybe is thinking during that entire sequence. Because even me
as a longtime writer thirty one years that stuff, I'm
always amazed at the letting him play standpoint of officiating.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
We'll be back with Dave Jackson. By the way, I
just dawned me.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
I think I said, Francis Cheron, it's Francois sam Moron
that where's your old I don't know. I didn't want
to correct. I know that was nice, as Sharon Wearst said,
your show. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I We'll be back with
Dave Jackson when we're back here on the fan.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
This talk back Tuesday, we're delivering holiday year and Vikings
tickets Open Kfan on the iHeartRadio app, hit the microphone icon,
and thirty seconds or last tell us which Viking has
been the biggest gift to the team this year. Winner
selected all day long, get details, kfan dot Com keyword Contest.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
Michael Rusa from the Athletic back here on the fan.
Joe Smith from the Athletic back here on the fan
as well. We're really happy to be joined by Jave Jackson,
a longtime NHL referee. You could see him tonight on
the ESPN Plus and Hulu as the rules analyst with
Bobu Shujin and aj milesco and Man Dave. Your first
NHL game December twenty second, nineteen ninety at the Quebec

(31:58):
Nordix played New Jersey Devils.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
What do you remember about about that game?

Speaker 5 (32:03):
I didn't realize you bring it up right now. It's
almost an anniversary. It was yesterday as a long time ago.
I can remember thirty five years ago, Yeah, being extremely nervous,
and then before the game, and then being surprisingly very
calm as I skated out in the ice. I'm not
sure why. I surprised myself. And then I saw Guila
Flur on the starting lineup, who was playing for the

(32:25):
nord Deeks at the time. And I'd grown up, you know,
in Montreal, and every kid in Montreal worshiped Gila Flur
out of the street hockey, playing on the pond, playing hockey.
So there was Gee on the ice and he whizzed
by me with his hair blowing in and I got
nervous all again.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
But it was it was quite an experience and fifteen
hundred plus games later.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Your final NHL game March twenty ninth, twenty eighteen at
LA against the Phoenix Coyotes at the time. And the
cool thing about when it's your last game as an
official is you get to pick your partners.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Who'd you pick and why?

Speaker 5 (32:55):
So I picked Mark jo Inett and Pierre Rasuco, who I've.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
Told you before or to my like. Roscoe and I
were as tight as candid.

Speaker 5 (33:03):
Yeah. So they're both just a couple of years younger
than me, and we came up together literally doing pee
wee band to my midget hockey together.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
And the three of us.

Speaker 5 (33:11):
Pierre Shampouh as well, who left for an injury retired
many years ago, but the four of us, it was
pretty cool. Four guys from one small little association all
making NHL at the same time.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
Pretty much so just our roots on our history.

Speaker 5 (33:23):
I picked those two guys, and then I picked Jannie
Cameron from British Columbia. It was just always one of
my close buddies during my careers.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
So Pierre Rosco number sixty five, back when I was
in covering the Panthers in for ten years, I became
really tight with him and Stefan Provo, who sadly passed
away in a motorcycle accident, turned the four five lockout
and the ritual that the referees do on the ice
now is a large reason because of Stefan's passing.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
It's a brotherhood. It's a brotherhood. We lost two officials value.

Speaker 5 (33:55):
We lost John John Demico Pastaway who was a supervisor
at the time, and we lost Stephan Provo, and we
did two different things and it morphed into the one
where we touched our arm, and that the significance of
that was we wore a patch on our arm with
Provo's number, so I was touching the arm and then
touching our chest and hitting each other and leaving the ice.
And Pierre Rascialmark, Joe and Ed have done a tremendous

(34:17):
job of holding a charity plunker tournament at our training
camp every year with all the proceeds going to Stephan's
children for their scholarship and stuff. So they've kept that
memory alive. And there's guys on staff now. I'd said
the majority of guys on staff never met step On Provo. Yeah,
still do the same thing as ritual center ice and
we're still raising money for good causes. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
And I'll tell you a really emotional story that I
wrote that you could actually find on the Scouting the
Ref's website and if you google it at the Athletic
is the story that I did with Pierre Rossigo about
how that all started about five or six years ago.
I did it and Steph was such a funny, hilarious dude,
And that was back in the day. They pretty much

(35:01):
were a tag team. They flew everywhere together. I remember
being on us air flights with them flying up to Raleigh,
and man, was he a great guy. And during that
four or five lockout, I sat down with the two
of them and did a faces of the lockout story
and it was two of them doing odd jobs because
they needed to afford to live with their young families.

Speaker 6 (35:18):
Joe Bill Garrin gim Here took a few penalties in
his day as the player. I talked about how like
it was such a relationship building thing with players and refs,
like you get to know each other pretty well over
the course of your career. Did that change over time
or the younger players and got quite into the same
thing that maybe the older school players, and like who's
the best player you had to deal with and like
maybe one of the topper ones I guess to communicate

(35:39):
with and have that kind.

Speaker 5 (35:40):
Of well I think, I mean, I broke in in
the one referee system. So not that these guys have
it easy today because there's way more cameras, way more
slow mo and they're expected to call penalties where we
had a much looser standard when I broke in. But
having said that, there was nobody out there that had
the linesman. You looked at the linesman for the report.
You usually put a young referee with senior linesmen and

(36:01):
they had the report with the players.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
I didn't know how these guys.

Speaker 5 (36:03):
I mean I was out there in the ice dealing
with Gretzky Lemieux and they were, you know, mid to
tail end of their career when I was starting, and
you know, they'd never met me. And they're going to
test you, and and they test you, and not just that,
I mean everybody tests you. And I think it's just
a matter of being firm and being respectful, even treating
disrespect with respect. People are there to see the players,

(36:25):
they're not there to see you. You might win the battle,
but you're not going to win the war if you
go to war with the players, So it's just not
worth it. So I think I was at the tack
that we might have a heated conversation, but on a
commercial stoppage, I might slay over to the bench and
I might just talk with that player and try and
try and you know, try and rectify things or tell
me listen, I might have said something I shouldn't know,

(36:46):
and the usually a player really appreciates that, and that's
how you build report by treating players with respect.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
Yeah, we're talking with Dave Jackson, form NHL referee and
ESPN rule analysts. I was talking to you before the
break about you know, one of the things I think
that annoy fans, the casual fans are games where you're watching,
you know, a mugging in front of the net or
cross a slew of cross checks or whatever, and the
referee is just staring at it, not doing anything. Why

(37:11):
does that happen? Like, what is the thought process there?
I know everything's different, but it just feels like sometimes
those are the ones that part of the job of
a referee is to also protect the player.

Speaker 5 (37:21):
Well, you know what, when I used to leave on
long road trips and we had a young daughter at home.
I tell my wife, I go, remember the stuff you
like go in the first period's gonna bitch in the
button the third period. She's never too young to be told.
You know, this is the way it's going to be.
And I think it's the same for refereeing. You need
to start out strong with a strong standard, not calling
cheap penalties, because the first penalty you call, you want

(37:42):
to make sure you can maintain that standard. You don't
want to call something you go, that's that's kind of soft,
but you want to make sure if it's a penalty early,
you have to grab that penalty. And I think as
long as you keep grabbing those penalties early, you're not
going to see the muggings late in the game because
the players are aware they're gonna call it. If if
you have a looser standard to start, things start to snowball,

(38:03):
and then human nature is a referee nothing. Sometimes nothing
ends up looking that bad, and I just it goes incrementally.
It doesn't go from zero sixty one second. You know,
it's just a little bit over the line each time.
So it's a terrible feeling when stuff's happening in the
ice and you're trying to decide when am I going
to put the hammer down? Because it's getting out of hand.
And I've been there, believe me, many nights and it's

(38:25):
not fun. So I think you have to tell yourself
start from when the drop of the pot can be
prepared and start calling penalties.

Speaker 6 (38:31):
The rule I have an issue with our question about
is the off side one where like a goal could
be scored but then it's ruled off because thirty five
seconds ago in the zone entry guy's millmeter offside, right, Like,
I'm surely there's gotta be a balance there where it's
like you know, I don't know what the balance is,
but like I know, off sides, off sides, but like
with there should be a limit of like how many
seconds pass between the off sides and a play. You

(38:51):
just have to play the game at that point, right,
he's able to a zone contry all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Like, I mean, so one thing I believe it was
mister Betman has said it.

Speaker 5 (38:57):
He goes, if we're going to do video rep be
careful what you wish for because the genie's out.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Of the bottle. I mean, you can't if you're going
to have video reoplay.

Speaker 5 (39:06):
To get things right. You have to get everything right.
You can't just say we're going to get some things right.
So I understand why we have to do that, and
that's I don't I don't know what the answer is.
But when the off side rule was brought in long
before any of us were born, that was not it
was not designed to be held to those tolerances that were.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Now trying to hold it to.

Speaker 5 (39:24):
It was to prevent a team from getting an advantage,
a market advantage over the defender. So I guess there's
ways you could fit. I mean you could you could
put a shot clock.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Type thing on it.

Speaker 5 (39:35):
You could say, did the defensive team gain possession of control?

Speaker 2 (39:38):
If they did, then all bets are off. I mean,
there's ways to do it.

Speaker 5 (39:42):
I'm not sure there's appetite for that, and you know
it's way above my pay grade.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
YEP.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Final one for you, Davin, will let you get on
the air. Twenty fourteen. You were in the last Olympics
as a referee in Sochi when NHL players were there.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
They have not been there since.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
They're going there this this this upcoming February. What kind
of an honor was it? To get to get that
call that you were going. And you know, when you
look at that experience, what was it like for you?

Speaker 5 (40:12):
Well, that fall that summer we had a change of
regime and Stephen Walkom took over. Going into that that fall,
I kind of in my head, I never thought I
would be selected or I was going. So as we got,
you know, into like November, my wife booked a cruise
for that. I said, that's the nail on the coffine
right there, Honey, you booked a cruise.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
I'm probably going to the Olympics.

Speaker 5 (40:33):
And sure enough, about a week later, Steven Walkom in
for me that I was going to the Olympics. So
it was I wouldn't say bittersweet. Is it honored of
a lifetime to go? But you know, I was just joking.
My family had to go on the cruise without me.
But going to Russia, you never think, especially as gifting Canada,
you're ever going to go to Russia. And I spent
eighteen days there. It was It was just being there,

(40:54):
being with all the athletes, with all the all the spectators,
some all different countries, all the languages being boken.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
It was much bigger than hockey.

Speaker 5 (41:02):
It was it was being in a foreign land with
all these people coming together for the love of sports,
and it was it was just phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
Was it tough to adjust to different rules?

Speaker 3 (41:12):
I mean, because it's like, I know, hockey's hockey, but
it is not NHL rules technically, right.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
HF rules. Hockey is hockey.

Speaker 5 (41:19):
There's some housekeeping rules, you know, a game misconduct versus
you know, a five minute major. You can't keep guys
in the game as much. But I mean the rules
are still basically just saying. The biggest adjustment was it
was played on a big ice surface, whereas now this year,
I believe they're playing NHL size surfer, maybe even a
foot or too smaller. But on the big ice surface,
it's a different game. Yeah, your angles are different and
that was the biggest adjustment for me.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
One thing we will not see is Kachuck fight Sam
Bennett and Kachuck fight Brandon Hegel. And as we saw
on the Four Nations, Dave absolutely Pleasure is always talking
to you. One of the great refs that I've covered
in the game and just awesome on TV. You know,
I always say I wish T and T had one too,
because I just think you had such value to an

(42:01):
ESPN broadcast.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
So thanks.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
That's Dave Jackson, uh, ESPN ref, NHL on X or
ESPN NHL ref.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
What we Okay? There we go?

Speaker 5 (42:10):
I think.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
I'm busy fing with people on one of the cool
things trust me, you know I feud with people. One
of the cool things about you is though that you
do right back and and if you have a question
about a call, all of a sudden, you can you
can message that Dave and who will talk to you
as well?

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Answer anyone? Ass I respectful.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
When we come back, we'll have a quickie final segment
of the show with Joe Smith and myself. We'll be
back here on the fan the final segment of the show,
Michael Russo from The Athletic could joined by my partner
in crime at the Athletic, Joe Smith, Joe Smith NHL
on X and Joe Man. Have we had a busy

(42:50):
couple of weeks, A fun couple of weeks. I think
all Wild fans would agree with that. We've been churning
out Quinn Hughes story after Quinn Hughes story. What was
your reaction right after the trade and how fun has
it been just putting together these articles.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Yeah, I mean I think everybody else I was. I
was pretty surprised.

Speaker 6 (43:07):
Like I think the whole hockey world was, in a
sense of the timing of it, like the win versus
even more so than the team, right. I think people
thought he'd be traded maybe closer towards the deadline in Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
Wasn't on the radar for any of us.

Speaker 6 (43:19):
I think at that particular point Bill Garran called four
or five days before that to Jim Rutherford. But it's
exciting time for fans, right. I think you know, if
you're a wild fan, when of the last time you've
had two three of the top twenty players in the
world on your team with Boldie and Caprice Off and Hughes.
But and for us as journalists, I think it's just
a lot of fun to have a big story and
try to own that moment, right, like and like try

(43:39):
to collaborate with you. You're at Edmonton, come to the
rivalry series. We're doing stuff over the phone and the
Google doc trying to figure out a way to do
this and both writing the same profile and Quinn Hughes
and calling people all left and right, and so it's
gonna be exhausting time, which after an day road trip
than another homestand but a fun time as journalists when
when your beat or your team is the one that's

(44:00):
in the biggest part of the news cycle and you're like, Okay,
how can we own the moment?

Speaker 2 (44:05):
How can we put the best coverage out there?

Speaker 6 (44:06):
How can we get fans to know the new superstar
in Quinn Hughes And I hope we did that at
least so far.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
It'll be a thousand articles to come. I know that. Yeah,
absolutely a while.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
Play the Nashville Predators tonight six forty five pregame show
here on the Fan and seven o'clock the game starts
seven o eight Punk Drop. You can listen to it
here with Joe O'Donnell, Jack Jablonski and Tom Reid have
the call. I look back to some of our coverage
at the end of October. I want to scrub it
off the website if we could. I mean, both you

(44:38):
and I never thought that this turnaround would happen.

Speaker 6 (44:40):
I mean the way we wrote it, of course. I
mean I guess the way we wrote it was.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
Yeah, she kind of predicted, like it's like we did say,
now is the time that these Vets gotta like.

Speaker 6 (44:50):
I guess up it up And then the day later
Spurgeon called the team meeting and then the rest is history. Right,
So took a little advice there, I guess, But no,
I think I think we both read the moment right
where it. It was a pretty desperate time, even for
late October, for this team, and then we've seen teams
go off to slow starts and it can really come
out to cost him. But I think what struck me
more than the fact that they turned it around was

(45:10):
how they did it, Like they lose such a different team,
like the Vibes, the confidence those players that were struggling
so much in the first once of the season, all
of a sudden. The goaltending was a big part of it,
right with wallstet being a revelation as far as how
well he played shoutouts he's had so I.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Remember their saved percentages in October, it was crazy.

Speaker 6 (45:29):
And then part of that was how they were playing
in front of him, front of them, including Gustov said
after the opening night shut out, with Gusta said, think
you dnxed everything with the contract column that you.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
Wrote off from Saint Louis.

Speaker 3 (45:39):
This is why they gave it to him, was my story.
And then he couldn't stop a puck for a month.

Speaker 6 (45:43):
So but I think I don't think a lot of
us saw this coming in terms of like, how like
eighteen three and two in the next stretch, but especially
when they are all the injuries that they've had in
that same time. Was like they were healthy during this
whole stretch when they were winning games too.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
So I mean that's the biggest difference between this year
and last was that last year they fell apart when
they were in the other thing is last year they
couldn't beat a good team and they just munched on
the bad teams.

Speaker 6 (46:05):
This year, they're beaten all the good teams. That's gonna
be the most encouraging part. I think if if you're
a Wild fan, not that the REGUS season means the
same as playoffs, but when going into playoffs last couple
of years, people wondered, could they beat Winnipeg, could they
beat dllas in a seven games degrees? And I think
if you watch some of the games this year, home
games against Dallas, home games against Colorado, last game, obviously
Colorado showed how good they were and wild We're pretty

(46:27):
tired at that particular point. But but yeah, I think
they've shown that they can compete with these teams. Question
what they can win a seven game series against them,
but I think with the Quinn Hughes acquisition, with the
depth they have their lineup now and Chnion's playing strictly well,
ches Sanko's finding his game. You know, you're seeing now
the full lineup, I think for the first time, right,
we put goshin back tonight, so pretty much this is
the line with that they envisioned or hoped and so

(46:50):
now there's no more guys on the on the on
the injury bust there. So I think it'll be interesting
to see if they can kind of coexist and mesh
and had that kind of chemistry.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
The road trip will probably help that by.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
Yeah, seven game road trip coming up after the break,
but this is the final home game until January eleventh
or twelfth. Joe, you know, the one thing I still
think is that they're a center away. When you trade
Marko Rossi, that's one area where I think you got
to make a move. There are centers out there, whether
it's bradon Chin or Nick Schmaltz or the one that

(47:20):
I think that they're going to be targeting.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Ryan O'Reilly, who we're going to see tonight. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (47:24):
I mean, obviously a consummate pro, you know, a guy
who's been a captain, a guy who's made for playoff hockey,
and so I think he would fit the bill here.
I don't know if he would be I expending what
the deadline prices would be, but I don't think he
would be as expensive as some of the bigger name guys.
But he was a wild number for about twenty minutes.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Was he Yeah, he was.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
It would be a reacquisition if they get him. Joe
really appreciate you coming in. That's Joe Smith from the Athletic,
my partner. We double team the team and hopefully everybody
enjoys our coverage. Joe O'Donnell, the wild playback play guy,
Nico Sturm, thank you for joining as well. Alex Lewis
from the Athletic Matt Sell's awesome interview. Really cool that
he was able to join and give us really the

(48:04):
inside baseball of how this deal got done.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Harmon Diele from the Athletic.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
Ore Canucks beat writer and John Van Beisbrook as well
as Dave Jackson came in, Brett blakemore back at the studio,
and I've got to think and be nice to Kevin Faalness.
This guy, he comes down to the treea this morning
to help me do the Nico Stern pre tape and
then coming down here all day from three to six
thirty when he really doesn't have to off to get

(48:29):
him a gift card or something to thank him.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
Thanks everybody.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
This is Michael Russo from the Athletic. Until next time,
Merry Christmas, everybody.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Holidays