Wild Asst GM Matt Sells, Nico Sturm, Alec Lewis! - Bumper to Bumper 12/23/25 Hour Two

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Michaelsa from the Athletic back here from the fan. I'm
coming to you from Kevin Falmas's lair where the blueberry
something candle's going blueberry sugar, I believe is what it is, right,
And your wife, Missy will call her called, and we
were making fun of her candle selection.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
She didn't appreciate it, and you mostly led the attack
and she didn't care much for that at all, but
she said it was nice to be ripped by you instead.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Of burreal for a change. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
And we're gonna be joined by Matt Sells here in
a few minutes, the Wild assistant Chaneral manager.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
We're also going to turn our attention.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
To the UH to the let's see Alec Lewis. We're
gonna be talking to him about the Vikings. We got
Nico Sturham coming on. We got Joe o'donald and Joe
Smith in studio, but also Dave Jackson, the ESPN rules analyst,
former referee book coming on. But first up straight from
the Wild headquarters over there on Washington, Matt Sells, the

(01:22):
Wild assistant Cheryl manager.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Matt, how you doing, Hey, I'm doing all right?

Speaker 4 (01:26):
You got me?

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yes, I got you, how are you? How's everything going?

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Now that you guys are gonna be healthy tonight for
the first time this season, you're not sitting there counting
cap space and trying to, you know, dance around with
the UH with Central Registry and walking around with your
handy calculator.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
It was it was. It was different because you know what,
coming into this season, after the last two seasons where
I'm literally counting every dollar every day, coming into this season,
I thought, oh, we're ponk swimming in cap space and
we'd lose a guy and I'd just call one up,
and I knew I didn't even have to look at
how much cap space we had, and and h it

(02:08):
probably got to about the fifth injury and call up
that I started to think, see, at some point, I
might run out of money here, so I better start
checking in with with the fine folks at Central Registerry
the league office, and UH. Sure enough, I was still
able to do it. But we needed to to be

(02:31):
aware of that because obviously we made we made a
fairly substantial ad and then and then eventually we did
run out of money, but arrived on the weekend, which was.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
It is crazy because I remember in Columbus when you
called David Spatchik, I started doing the math, and I
realized that, Wow, if you lost another player and nobody
was coming back, you couldn't even afford a call up.
I mean, it's really were it was started to feel
like last season.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Don't don't, don't say that, but you're right. Yeah, it was.
This spot tat that night was officially the last, the
last bit of cap space we had at the moment. Thankfully,
Thankfully I knew at that point John Worley has been
communicating with us who's had athletic therapists, that that there

(03:21):
was a light at the end of the tunnel and
a lot of these guys were starting to feel better
and and uh and really a team. That's that's a
great thing about about hockey players. Well, they all want
to play. Sometimes sometimes the therapists have to have to
step in and do what's best for them because they'll
they just instinctively put the team ahead of themselves. They

(03:43):
see it. They see us get into a situation like
this with with a lot of injuries and guys guys
want to be there for their teammates, right. It's it's
it's commendable, but they we've got to be smart long
season want we want to keep guys in the lineup
as as much as we can. And coming coming down.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
The stretch, Well, we are talking with Matt Sell's the
Wild assistant channel manager, one of a couple assistant channel
managers three in the organization. And your role has always
been You started uh with this organization seven years ago
in analytics and and then all of a sudden your
role just kept on getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
Where you are you know now one of Billy Garran's
right hand man. As we just talked about capologists. But

(04:24):
last week Bill Garon was extremely vocal in giving you
credit all over every interview that he did that you
were the first one that put it in his head
that Quinn Hughes might be somebody that the Wild should
think about and swing for the fences for.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
So how did that all come about? And and uh,
is it as quick as as Billy said, it's as quick.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
As players become available. You need to you need to
be ready for for those moments. And there's you know
before I have a lot of crazy ideas too. This one,
this one works, but usually Billy's not the starting points
for that we've got. We've got so many great people

(05:08):
in our organization, Chris Kelliher, Mike Murray, Matt Hendricks, a
bracket and then all those guys have people working underneath them.
So Quinn Hughes. I mean, I've talked to Doud Brackett
fifty times about Quinn Hughes over the years, never never
expecting him to be available, but just he's one of

(05:32):
the world's best players. So I always wanted I was
always curious about him the person, and Judd was just
brave about how serious this guy was. And then you
see he gets a cap and see in Vancouver, which
tells you what is what his teammates and the people
are not organizations thought of him. So the trade came

(05:55):
together quickly. But the concept of bringing Quinn Hughes in
here again, we can we can look through Chris Kellaher
and his cruise scouting parts and I don't think you
could find a negative a negative thing said about about
the players. So so right there, you know the scouts

(06:17):
are on board. Uh Abby IDs new analysts for US,
Danny Kaplan the baby working statistical analysis for US. Obviously,
h if anybody knows anything about about advanced stats. Quinn
Hughes is highly rated in that world. So the fact
that that we start to hear with for through through

(06:39):
the media kind of it leaks out that, you know,
maybe they're not going to be able to to sign
this player and that he would be open to a move.
It doesn't you don't have to be uh, you don't
have to be super sharp to say one of the
best players in the world available, we should trade for
this guy. Yeah, And then it's Billy that Billy that

(07:03):
that gets the job done right. And and a big
part of it is Billy worked with with Patrick and Jim,
so he had uh, He's got a good relationship with them,
but he knows how they operate, and he knows that
while there's some teams that like to kick tires or
low ball other teams, Billy knew that Jim Rutherford was

(07:28):
going to set a price. It was going to be
a high price, but it was going to be a
fair price. He was going to set a price and
when a team that Quinn was comfortable with at this
he was going to pull the trigger. And so that
was why Billy knew, Okay, if we're doing this, if
this is if this is a mark he had that

(07:49):
we want to make. Uh, there's no time to mess around.
Let's let's go in and let's let's make them an
offer that that that they'll accept. And and you know,
I guess you could have tried to lowball them, but
now you're just running the risk of being with the
other teams that are trying to get a great player
at a at a deep discount. And if you're comfortable

(08:12):
not having them, then then I guess that's the right approach.
We we weren't. The more the more we started to
dive in on this player, the more we we we
had to have them amazing.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
You know, obviously, I think I think we've all expected
at some point maybe Rossie would be going and Oger
and probably as well when it came to Ze. How
difficult of a decision was that internally to include him,
because I think a lot of us just figured he
had to be untouchable. But the reality is is that
you're hoping that one day he could turn into Quinn Hughes.
But Quinn Hughes is Quinn Hughes. So was it never

(08:47):
a debate on whether or not to include zev or
you just knew that it had to be included in
the package or there's no way you would have gotten Quinn.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
Well, we didn't want to create any of them. Marco,
we've we had to play. We had to play thirteen
games without Marco and if and if anybody in our
organization would have said that we would have done well
in those thirteen games before it happened, they would have
been lying to you. But some other guys stepped up. Nico.

(09:19):
Nico came back and Danilla's really grown quickly in his
time over here. Leam Olgrin's twenty one years old. He
comes in every year, is one of our fittest players.
He's he's been a leader at every level he's ever
played at internationally in Sweden, and he can score goals,

(09:43):
and when he's not scoring goals, you can you can
trust him in every situation. And then there's a first
round pick we threw in there and then Ze there there.
There isn't a ceiling for Ze yet, so we gave
up a lot. I think that that Vancouver did well,
but to me, it's a it's a it's a win
win move because for a few years it's been my opinion,

(10:10):
it's it's the ability's opinion that that we've been ready
to take the next step, the financial circumstances haven't haven't
really matched up. And we've got guys like Carill and
Eric Sinatkin, Faber and Brodine and Spurgeon, and like, we
have a core here who plays the game the right

(10:33):
way that has the ability to lead us to great things.
We just needed to support them better. So it just
gets to be it gets to be tricky to develop
players in the NHL at the same time as as
these these you know, core members of our team for
for years are ready to take another step. And so

(10:58):
that's where it was just kind of more of a
timing issue than than anything else. Like Quinn Hughes is
one of the best players in the in the world
and and everyone's going to see he was unfortunately not
available with four nations. We're about to see an Olympic
tournament where if you didn't know that Quinn Hughes was
one of those players, you're going to find out pretty

(11:20):
quickly in February when a player like that's available. If
you go to another team and say, hey, you're Norris
Trophy generational talent, uh, we won't trade you certain players
then just get just get.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Off the phone exactly we're talking with.

Speaker 4 (11:42):
What's that You just can't you just can't restrict it
like you're you're asking them to the best player maybe
the franchise has ever had, and you're going to tell
them that the guys that haven't hit yet aren't aren't
available either. You're not going to get it done.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah, that makes sense. We're talking with Matt Cell's wild
assistant chair manager. And by the way, one of the
players that met mentioned Nico Sturm. He's joining us right
around the break plays the Nashville Predators tonight at seven o'clock.
You can listen to that right here on the fan. Matt,
So take me on December twelfth. It's the day of
the morning of the trade, and I want to get
to the bottom of one thing.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
I talked to Bill Garan twice that day, which is embarrassing,
and he told me that morning that nothing was going on,
and not that he would ever tell me. Hey, by
the way, we get ready, we're about to trade for
Quinn Hughes. But did he know that something was about
to happen or how did how did you find out
that we are at that point the Minnesota wild of
getting Quinn Hughes.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
Well, first of all, you you were able to help
me there by saying it was the day we traded
for Hughes. Once you get into a hockey season, the
days of the week and days of the month are
completely meaningless. If you said December twelfth, I had no
idea that that was what it was. But okay, so
if you talk to him in the morning, I can
I can vouch for Billy that he won. Was telling

(13:01):
the truth that in that moment, there wasn't something imminent.
Obviously we had Yeah, I talked to Vancouver at that point,
but we didn't and we knew we made our offer
at that point, and we knew that other teams were
going to have a difficult time matching it because it

(13:22):
was exactly what Vancouver was looking for, But we didn't
know that they were ready to uh to take that
step to to turn that page. And it was more
of a more of a lunchtime early afternoon UH time
timeline when when Jim Rutherford got back to Billy and said,

(13:45):
I think we're I think we're ready to make a deal.
There was some there was some logistics around travel because
I think Vancouver was maybe boarding a flight or on
a flight that maybe pushed the timing back into the
early evening on on Friday. But Friday morning he was

(14:06):
I would I would I would if I was his Uh,
if I was his attorney, I would have. I would
have no issues with him saying that there was nothing
going on Friday makes sense.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
And so when you found out it was afternoon that
this thing might happen, what was your reaction when Billy
called you in the middle of his meatball preparation at
a We're about to do this.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
I had to regain a little composure and and uh
and jump on a trade call with the league. So uh, yeah,
it was it was pretty I don't know, I don't
know what it was. Let me like, when you're my
heart rates increasing just just remembering back to that to

(14:49):
that night and how how exciting it was. It looked
the big swings. Yeah, let me.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Ask you for somebody that have never has never been
on a trade call with Central Registry, they get they
get a ton of them. Yeah, when you're on that call,
you and and whoever is the representative from Vancouver and
whoever's answering the following at Central Registry, are they even
like what you know, Like, did they have a reaction
a little more abnormal than a normal Hey, by the way,
we're training for a fourth liner for a fifth round pick.

Speaker 4 (15:19):
Yeah, yeah, that was so. So what you end up
doing first is one of the one of the team's emails. Uh,
the lead guys over at Central ed Street email email
on the cloud and say here's here's the transaction, and
then the other party will confirm that, and then the
league starts to do some background work to make sure

(15:40):
that everybody's cap compliance. Uh, there's there's no issues with
trade protections or number of contracts and all sorts of
things that they do their checks and then they say, okay,
we'll call you when we're ready to go through the details.
So I would assume that at that point there was
some some jodder amongst the folks over at the league

(16:03):
that wow, look at did get a load of this trade.
And then when they call you, they're like, that's unexpected,
that's big, And then you get down to the details.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
That's awesome. We're talking in That'sulls Wild assistant general manager.
I met before we go. I wanted to talk to
you about your Roles. Back in the day with Hockey
Canada you were part of. First of all, yeah, I
see that you coached Penticton, did you? Was that back
in the day when Mikey Riley was there?

Speaker 4 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah, that was that was I was in Penticton
for two years and Mikey Connor and Ryan Riley came
my second year with Mario Lucia and Stephen Fogerty. We
brought they all five of those guys showed up at
once and we went. Fred Harbinson was the head coach.

(16:51):
He's he's still the head coach out there now that
they're in the Western Hockey League. But we finished out,
We finished out regular season. I think we had a
forty two game winning streak and then we won We
won the national championship that year. So a lot of
fond memories from my time in Penticton.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, amazing And looking at your career with Hockey Canada,
A bunch of gold medals, a bunch of silver medals,
part of two Olympics was actually in South Korea, right
with Hockey Canada. You know, what was that whole experience like?
And you know, at this point with the Olympics coming
and the World Juniors here in town. It's got to
be a lot of fond memories looking back at your
career with Hockey Canada.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yeah, that year, so twenty eighteen, when I was actually
boots on the ground at the Olympics, that was that
was a non NHL year and or a non NHL Games.
And we actually didn't know that it was that there
would be no NHL participation until probably twelve to fourteen

(17:52):
months before it actually happened. So we had had a
system that had worked for the twenty ten and twenty
fourteen Olympics when when Canada won golden both of those,
so we would have just run that playbook again, but
it was it was something completely different. So we ended
up being in a lot of different tournaments over in

(18:13):
Europe throughout that year. Uh, some scouting trips over there,
and yeah, it was. It was very unique. A lot
of fond memories, a lot of great a lot of
great people that I spent time with on on the
national team there, and uh, the Olympic Games is just

(18:33):
it's so I just whenever, whenever it becomes an important
piece of players in CBA negotiations. Having been to an Olympics,
I get it.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
It's Yeah, it's.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
Just so unique. You're in you're in a village. Uh
you know, apartment building we had, we had big, big
high rise apartment buildings that that you're in. You're in
with a bunch of other athletes and trains and support
staff from from other sports. And and there's there's a

(19:06):
massive cafeteria that you're just you can kind of sit down.
You don't have to sit with with just your your
people from your sport. You could pull up a chair
next to the curling team from the US or I
remember seeing, uh seeing Krill a lot. I didn't didn't
know at that time. I knew him. Every everybody in

(19:27):
hockey knew that this was was a future star. But
it was just funny seeing him in the in the
in the village and and in the cafeteria. Uh. Unfortunately
we didn't make it the gold medal game, but he
did and uh the.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
Bank YEP scored the golden goal against Germany. Right, So, uh,
let me ask you last question, Matt. We know that
you got that maple leaf tattoo right on your Uh
I assume uh you know, uh forearm or whatever. Uh
when when Billy Garrett and Chris Keller. Have those moments
where they're talking USA Hockey Olympic team.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Do they say, Matt, time for you to leave.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
There's a lot of a lot of conversations stop when
I when I enter room, the lattops get folded down
and uh yeah, this topic change is in a hurry day.
They're keeping they're keeping all it on things. And no
they know they know whether my allegiances is to the
Minnesota Wild and uh yeah, a lot of fond memories

(20:28):
with the with the team Canada, the crew, but haven't
haven't had too many discussions with them. They're coming into
the World Junior Tournament right away. The only only thing
Hockey Canada's hit me up for recently is uh recommendations.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
Okay, I thought you were gonna say Wild tickets right now.
It's a hard ticket to get with Quinn Hughes here,
much to your input and and help and making that happen.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Uh hey, Matt, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Uh hopefully fans really enjoyed this conversation and getting the
background on how such a blockbuster can come about.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
Thank you so much, happy to be here, yeap.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
That is on met Cell's Wild. Assistant general manager A huge,
huge piece in in in in reason why Quinn Hughes
landed in Minnesota, and in helping Bill Gear and Chris
Kellher and Mike Murray and the entire crew get that done.
When we come back, Nico Sterm will be joining here
on the fan. Welcome back to the fans. Michael Russo
filling in for Burrow. Really happy to be joined on

(21:27):
a game day by Nico Sturm and Nico first of all,
welcome back.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
How was the holiday party? It was great.

Speaker 5 (21:34):
I think they you know, credit to Taylor and Dom
and whoever organizes all this stuff or I mean, I
don't have kids yet, so but I could tell that
they had all the guys that had kids. They had
a blast, and they put a lot of work and
had a lot of effort, and you know, goes to
show that the stuff that we do here.

Speaker 6 (21:51):
Obviously the hockey.

Speaker 5 (21:52):
Part is is the most important part, but there's there's
more of it than that, and you want to be
able to connect with the people in the organization outside
of the occupied itself, and that's been been really nice.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
So last night was great and could you guys played
Nashville tonight ninth game in thirteen days. You just finished
seven and eleven, six and nine. Have you ever been
through a stretch like this?

Speaker 5 (22:14):
Yeah, I can't quite remember because we obviously I don't
think we had asking DNS to schedule as it is
this year, so it's been I mean, I'm trying to
think back right now, since I came back, I might
have only had, like obviously, besides all the morning skates,
one actual practice or maybe two. So that kind of
just goes to show that, hey, it's all just playing

(22:35):
games and try to recover as much as you can
it between.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yep, and actually it's the eighth and thirteenth. But this
is why.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
I mean, like we saw your big block shot the
other night on Bouchard. I mean, this is this is
why injuries are rampant around the league. I mean it
feels like every team's got five, six, seven injuries.

Speaker 4 (22:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (22:50):
Usually when at least you get a day in between,
and let's say you play three or four a.

Speaker 6 (22:54):
Week without a back to back, guys can usually.

Speaker 5 (22:57):
Handle the game day off, game day off, game day
off schedule. That's usually pretty solid because then you can
manage for guys.

Speaker 6 (23:05):
You can say, Okay, this guy had a lot like a.

Speaker 5 (23:07):
Big load yesterday, or he blocked a shot, or he's
kind of heard he's going to skip practice today. The
guys that hit lower minutes, they're going to practice and
go out and do stuff, and then you can have
everybody you know and determine who's going to pregam skate.

Speaker 6 (23:18):
So but now it's just kind of you kind of honestly,
you kind of just go on a day by day basis.

Speaker 5 (23:24):
I think the you know, the athletic trainers, they're probably
in constant contact with with Heinsey and the coaching staff
and telling them, hey, this guy probably you're not going
to get any benefit of this guy pregam skating today
or having a practice or an optional skate.

Speaker 6 (23:38):
So it's it's really it just been.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
Day by day.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah, it really is tremendous. The schedule right now, Nico.
I mean even just I know you're looking forward to
this three day break and then you come back. You
have a six am flight to Winnipeg that ends that
night with you guys landing in Vegas at two am,
which is why again on December twenty eighth, you're not
even going to be able to practice even after a
three day break. You're not it just gets more hectic

(24:02):
and more hectic.

Speaker 5 (24:02):
Yeah, I think I'm going to try to enjoy these,
you know, seventy two hours without hockey as much as
I can. And then it's I mean, it's pretty much
a sprint all the way to the break, and even
after you come back. I think after you come back
from the break, the schedule looks a little bit better,
but the hockey is going to be more intense.

Speaker 6 (24:22):
So it's kind of like, Okay.

Speaker 5 (24:24):
This I don't expect at any point in this season
for things to get lighter on the body.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
Yeah, seven day or seven game road trip coming up
after the break because of the World Juniors, and then
you're going to the Olympics. We'll talk about that in
a second. This this is your second stint with the
Minnesota Wild. You left here, just won a couple cups,
no big deal, then come back on the on the
two year deal, and then you hurt you back in
training camp. How disappointing was that it happened on the
first practice and you missed the first six weeks of

(24:53):
the season.

Speaker 5 (24:53):
Yeah, it was about timing, you know, it happened to
be on the first day of training camp, But honestly,
it could have happened a week before for in captain skater,
or two weeks into the season. It was just I
think it was just the abuse from you know, using
the especially for me as I'm a bigger, taller guy
and I get quite low on face offs and stuff,
so it's not not ideal for the back. I don't

(25:16):
think the human bodies made to do that repetitively over
the years, and so it was just the addition of
abuse over the years on the back and it just
happened to be on that first day of training camp.

Speaker 6 (25:26):
So yeah, the timing was bad. But after we did the.

Speaker 5 (25:29):
Surgery and and and what the surgeon said, he said
it would have had no chance of getting better without it,
So there wasn't really an option. And I knew at
the time, being honest with myself, there was no chance
at all to get through the season.

Speaker 6 (25:40):
Yeah, so I had to get it done.

Speaker 5 (25:43):
And I'm glad I'm without nerve pain right now and
it's it's been great and I've been getting better.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
How you know, you, as I mentioned, you win the
Cup with with Colorado. I remember covering that series. You
win the Cup with Florida. When you look at the
makeups of those teams. Obviously we know the superstars they
have on those teams, but we look now at this
group here, what are the similarities, what are the contrasts
that that that lead to a championship.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
You can kind of.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
Look at all three positions goaltending. I think in Colorado
maybe we didn't have like a like a star goalie
like we had in Florida with Bob, But Darcy played
kind of like Camp's just played great.

Speaker 6 (26:22):
He had just a great playoff run.

Speaker 5 (26:25):
And that's what you need throughout the you know, a
ten week playoff stretch. You just need a goalie that
gets hot, feels good at the right time.

Speaker 6 (26:33):
So that's one thing.

Speaker 5 (26:34):
And then you need difference makers on the team that
can that can win you a game when maybe you
didn't have any business winning a game.

Speaker 6 (26:42):
We had that in Colorado.

Speaker 5 (26:43):
Obviously with Kale, or with uh with Nate, and in
Florida we had, you know, guys like Ryano or Sasha
Barkoff that can, you know, kind of take the game
into their hands and take the responsibility at the right time.
Special teams are important, both PK and p P. You
have to win your game at some point in a series.
So I've been glad that we've been able to you know,

(27:06):
write the ship on the p K and we can
still get better.

Speaker 6 (27:08):
There still things we can do better.

Speaker 5 (27:10):
Pp has been kind of off and on a little bit,
but really solid. Now obviously with with with QB in
here we have that guy that quarterbacks, the power play,
and then the biggest thing on the team is depth.

Speaker 6 (27:22):
Guys are going to get hurt, especially this year.

Speaker 5 (27:25):
We just talked about it, and anytime, both in Colorado
and Florida, whenever guy would would go out or would
you know, with an injury, it was never a sense
of panic, even if it was an important guy in Colorado,
and you know, and asam Cador got hurt, he had
the surgery kind of on his finger.

Speaker 6 (27:40):
I think mid mid.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
Playerffront in Florida. I think Sam Ryder got hurt in
the in the Carolina series. So there's never there's never
a panic or or doubt about who's gonna fill whose role.
Whenever somebody's got injured, you know, we know that there's
a guy.

Speaker 6 (27:58):
Who can fill that role. One D and and yeah,
that's also kind of the main aspects.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
You just mentioned. Q.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
You've played with Cal mccarr in in uh in Colorado.
What are the differences in in their games and and uh,
you know the same thing.

Speaker 5 (28:15):
Similarities, Yeah, I think very very similar players.

Speaker 6 (28:19):
Just the the way they skate. It looks very easy.

Speaker 5 (28:22):
They make it look very natural, like effortless, almost elusive.
As a forward, when they have the puck on the point,
on on the bull line, you you're a little more
hesitant to come out because you don't want them to
embarrass you because they're so good on their edges and
their their head fakes and their deceptiveness that you're a
little more careful than any other defenseman.

Speaker 6 (28:44):
You can say, you can already tell how much you know,
how much Q helps us.

Speaker 5 (28:48):
With breakouts because he's able to lose that first four
checker and do a cutback.

Speaker 6 (28:52):
And then they joined the rush too.

Speaker 5 (28:54):
A lot of demons, you know, they make the first
play and then it's kind of like the forwards going attack.
But they they want to have the howking, the stick,
they want to join the roster. They're very very similar.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
What was your reaction when the trade came across here
Twitter feed?

Speaker 5 (29:06):
That was actually one of the first trades in my
career where I was kind of like Taylor told me,
I was just cooking dinner and she was like, you
guys got huges and I was like, yeah, I was
like that was at the first trade I think that
I've been, you know, a part of that team where
I was like, yeah, this burner account or a joke
or something.

Speaker 6 (29:23):
So I that was the one that really really surprised me.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Taylor, your fiance, your college sweetheart, best athlete in the
family too, right, Yeah, Yeah, we're talking with decosterm final
couple ones for your Nico.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
We just talked about the Olympics.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
I'll be in there there with you in Milan to
cover you. We see Germany all the time, play unbelievable
in these Internet national tournaments. Be sort of a one
of those teams that could upset anybody on every any
single day. Just how how much are you looking forward
to this opportunity and and also the fact that you
had the honor of already being one of the six

(29:58):
players from Germany already named to the roster.

Speaker 5 (30:00):
Yeah, very exciting obviously, Knoo's a lot of hockey to
play till then, and want to stay healthy. It's kind
of one of the you know, last big things on
my bucket list that I everybody wants to achieve in there,
regardless of what sport you're in, you know, being an
olympianist probably the non plus ultra that you can achieve.

Speaker 6 (30:17):
In your career.

Speaker 5 (30:19):
And then playing against the best players in the world,
best and best hockey, Like we haven't seen it in
a long time, so I think it comes at the
right point in my career. You know, I'm gonna turn
thirty one in May, so it's kind of this is
kind of feeling like, okay, that's probably the peak for
me age wise.

Speaker 6 (30:37):
Two and being.

Speaker 5 (30:39):
Able to play with with great players too, like I
haven't played with with Leon, Timmy and.

Speaker 6 (30:45):
In a while.

Speaker 5 (30:46):
So, and we always have a great like you mentioned,
great identity that we form. We've always been a good
tournament team because we have a good core of guys
that obviously we don't have only NHLs there. You have
a lot of guys to play in our domestic league Germany,
and those guys form the core of our team. So
we have an identity that's kind of consistent. They have,

(31:06):
you know, their meetings throughout the year, the tournaments throughout
the year, and so they have their guys we know
how we want to play in those tournaments, especially against
the bigger name teams, and that never changes regardless of
whether it's the Olympics or the World Championship.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
I still remember doing that story on you when we
were in Arizona once about you and your in Taylor
and your Billet family.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
Which are the turnquists.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
What are some of the traditions in Christmas for the
for your family? And do you have family here from
Germany for I have the holiday.

Speaker 5 (31:36):
Yeah, you have my younger brother Timo and his girlfriend
here and we usually do church and then gifts on
the twenty fourth. That's probably the biggest difference is where
you know most films, I think he'll do it Christmas
morning to twenty fifth, right, So I think this year
we're going to do kind of the German tradition on
the twenty fourth, and then on the twenty fifth, we're

(31:57):
gonna go and celebrate with Taylor family.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
Awesome, Sid, my best to both Taylor and Timu. I
still remember Timo as a young pup being so proud
of you and you had your NHL debut against the
Boston Bruins and your parents as well, so really happy
that you joined. Good luck tonight against Nashville Predators. Have
a happy and merry Christmas.

Speaker 6 (32:15):
Thank you thanks for having me out.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
That is Nico Sturm. We will be right back here
on the fan.

Speaker 7 (32:23):
Make your season bright with today's talk back Tuesday on
the Fan, open KFA on the iHeart radio app, hit
the microphone icon and in thirty seconds.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
Or last tell ups which.

Speaker 7 (32:32):
Viking say that five times fast has been the biggest
gift to the team this year. Winners will be selected
all day. There's Vikings tickets on the line. Kill details
kfan dot com. He we're contesting.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
Mike Russo from the Athletic Back here on the fan, Bright.
I don't know how you didn't lose your concentration there
with Kevin Ellison your eye.

Speaker 7 (32:56):
I don't know why he does that to me in
the middle of my reads, but it's just crazy.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
When I was doing a FanDuel one s I guess
back when it was Fox Sports, Norah Chounstrow, the producer
would do that in my ear. I'm like, I am
not a pro, don't you don't just randomly start yelling
in my ear as I'm.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
Talking And he knows it throws me off, But he
still does it. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
Speaking of pros, one of our great great writers at
the Athletic. I was just actually watching the Alec Lewis
Show on YouTube and this guy is a pro.

Speaker 4 (33:23):
You know.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
First of all, Alec from the Athletic, how are you doing?
Because I am shocked that you just did a fifty
minute video podcast without any guess nothing.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
You're just a total natural.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Well, first of all, Michael, thank you for having me.
And I've said it plenty of times, but when you
work alongside someone like you, there is a standard that
you must reach every day and that is a part
of it. But no, I hosted PA show like last year,
I was like, Man, I'm green at this, so how
can I improve? So I'm gonna talk into a camera

(33:58):
twice a week for way too long than anybody wants
to listen to me. And that's part of it.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
Okay, it's as happy Holidays to everybody.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
But the season has been a long one, you know that. Yeah?

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, And I was honored to join the Aleca Lewis
Show the other day when I was in Columbus and
we got to talk not just about the while, but
about the vikings and As you mentioned, it's been a tough,
tough year in many regards, But the big news today
is obviously JJ's hand injury.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
What's the latest.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, So Kevin O'Connell met with reporters this afternoon and
explained that after some further imaging, I believe there was
there actually done after the game that were initially negative
and then there was an MRI taken and that didn't
show much, and there was some further imaging that did
in fact show that JAJ McCarthy had what Kevin O'Connell

(34:50):
described as quote a very very small hairline fracture and
in his right hand is throwing hands. So JAJ McCarty
will miss thursday's game. MaTx Brosmer, the undrafted free agent,
will start the game and then JJ McCarthy for Week
eighteen against the Packers at home is up in the air,

(35:11):
so we'll see about that. I did see Jay McCarty
have practice today, obviously wasn't doing much. Was over on
the side. But you said it, it's it's tough. It's brutal,
especially because the last two and a half games he
started to show the growth and the promise that you know,
everyone in this town has hoped that he would show

(35:32):
since they drafted him with the number ten pick in
twenty twenty four. So it's just tough for that to
happen this late in the season, coming off you know,
those two games against the Commanders and the Cowboys. And
so we'll see if this does indeed mean that he
has done for the season, and that would obviously lead
to some really interesting questions this offseason that are probably

(35:53):
going to exist regardless.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
And let's yeah, exactly, and let's let's talk a little
bit about that. I mean, you know, obviously this is
somebody that that everybody expected would be the franchise quarterback.
And look, well, you know we've seen it with the
Minnesota Wild. You know, they could, you could sustain injuries,
but when all of a sudden you lose a Coroll
Caprisa or a jewel Erik Sinak, it changes everything. And
so all of a sudden, you have a quarterback that's had,

(36:15):
you know, the knee injury last year and three injuries
that have caused him to miss time this year. People
start to wonder, are you just injury prone?

Speaker 4 (36:22):
What?

Speaker 1 (36:24):
You know, what's your sense on I feel for JJ,
I mean, his mind's got to be just going and
doing gymnastics. What's your sense on how they're going to
handle that going into the offseason, because even just because
of performance, it feels like you've got to go into
next season with a better plan, whether it's Jj and
somebody else with an incredible experience, or you've got to
figure out what you're going to do to not hold

(36:45):
the entire organization back based on one player.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Yeah, and I mean it's it's really fascinating because you
really you have two dynamics at play. One. It's just
JJ McCarthy and he's twenty two years old, and he
hasn't obviously ton because of these injuries, and he was
always going to need a certain amount of developmental time
given his lack of experience in college. So you have
like his situation, and you're balancing that with a team

(37:12):
that has not won a playoff game in six years
and a current regime GM and head coach that haven't
won a playoff game and this is their fourth season
at the Helm. So how do you like marry those
two worlds up. From a timing perspective, it does lead
you down the road of expecting, at the bare minimum
the vikings to bring somebody who is reliable in who

(37:34):
in you know, in a shorter sample size, could start
for them and could definitely you'd have confidence that they'd
win games Like that would be the baseline level of
quarterback insurance that they'd be looking at. And then there,
you know, you could increase from theyre of seeking a
young talented player potentially with upside kind of the Sam

(37:54):
darnoldil from a year ago. But part of the like
the complexity of it as well, is you're dealing with
you said, like you know that you have the injury
prone conversation, and that's definitely there. The part, the difficult
part to parce is all of the injuries have been
very different and they've all surfaced in very kind of

(38:16):
confounding ways. I mean, the tormaniscus didn't show up until
the day after the preseason game, The high ankle sprain
didn't show up until the day after the Week two
Falcons game, the concussion didn't show up until after the
Week twelve Packers game.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
And then this one.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
Obviously, you know, the Vikings didn't know about the pain
within the hand until you know, after the fumble at
the end of the first half. So there's just so
so many different dynamics at play that the Vikings are
gonna have to sift through, and it is you do
feel for Jaj McCarthy because of what he had started

(38:54):
to show. And again he's just a young twenty two
year old kid who's competitiveness obviously is all display every
time he's out there. So yeah, it's gonna make for
really interesting discussions and evaluations of quarterbacks that will start
to probably surface as this spring kind of unfolds.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Yeah, like, I mean, what's your Obviously, as you said,
there's gonna be a ton of reporting in the off
season on what their choices that they've got to make
and the off season are. But if you had a guess,
you know, as I mentioned, it's not fair to anybody
in the organization to just sort of go into next
season and with just a wing and a prairie and
hoping that JJ just becomes the franchise quarterback. So how
do you think that they handle this to not you know,

(39:36):
maybe have another last season?

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's going to be a
very very detailed evaluation of the quarterbacks on the market,
and they're going to you know, try to find somebody
who if they were to, you know, win a camp competition,
this team would be able to rely upon to win

(39:59):
them enough games to make them playoffs, you know, caliber
and viable in the playoffs. And so whether that is
I mean you wait into certain conversation. I mean, this
is not a spectacular free agent class. I'd be really
hard pressed to imagine the Vikings trying to draft someone
up high this quickly and go that route because of

(40:20):
the risk that you're taking within that route. So you're
really looking at a free agent class that will have
a bunch of older veterans like you'r Aaron Rodgers of
the world, you're Kirk Cousins of the world, or you're
lesser experienced type of options like a Malik Willis who's
younger and as stepped in for Jordan Love in Green
Bay and done a pretty admirable job. Like those are

(40:43):
the two worlds you're probably living in. And then it's
just going to be incumbent upon Kevin O'Connell and the
personnel staff in place to evaluate the type of player
that they feel like Fit's their offense, which wants to
target the middle of the field, which wants to push
the ball vertically, and finding guys that you can trust,

(41:03):
you know, to be willing to do that. There's just
gonna be probably you're talking about select candidate group this offseason.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
We're talking with Alec Lewis, the athletic Alec Underscore Lewis
on X by the Way and a singular host of
the Alec Lewis Show.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
You can watch that on YouTube as well.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
Very much unlike me that cheats and has a part
podcast partner in Lapanton just lets him talk and talk
and talk. So Alec much appreciated there. Let's talk about
the other side of the football. The defense has been
great of late, and what do you think are the
biggest reasons for that.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
Yeah, it's been I mean spectacular. Really. They haven't given
up a passing touchdown in six games. And it's not
like they haven't faced offenses that have been successful. I mean,
the Cowboys offense has been one of the most dynamic
in the league. You know, whether you're talking about Philadelphia
or you're talking about Seattle, Chicago and what they've shown

(42:02):
that they can do offensively, it's been really impressive. You ask,
you know, how they've been able to do it. Part
of it is just Brian Flores and his ability to
continue to get this defensive these defensive players and this
staff growing in the same direction and really hungry enough
to go out and perform on a weekly basis, that

(42:23):
the hat tip goes to both him and that staff.
But then I just also feel like these players of jail.
You've had Blake Cashman at linebacker healthy, You've had Eric
Wilson who's been one of the revelations this season, Jalen
Redman on the defensive line, and then I really feel
like Harrison Smith has been as healthy these last couple

(42:45):
of weeks as at any point in the season, and
he started to look like the you know, electrifying line
of scrimmage kind of operator self that we've all you know,
people listening to this and me covering him and you
guys want watch that we've all come to expect him
to be. You know, obviously he had the slow start

(43:05):
to the season with the personal health issue, came back
pretty quickly in Week three against Cincy, but it really
feels like he's now orchestrating things at the line of scrimmage.
And I would be remiss if I didn't say that
that has played a major role in what they've been.

Speaker 3 (43:20):
Able to do.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
Yeah, they seem so well coached back there. I've had
a chance to meet guys like Deante Jones and Brian
Flores in the past, and two very impressive individuals. And Brian,
as we know, has been you know, trying to get
back in the helm of a head coaching job for
the last number of years.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
What do you think his future is right now?

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Yeah, it's a really interesting question because the job he's
done as a defensive coordinator through three years, it's been
pretty astounding because, like you know, this RUSSA, but their
draft success or lack thereof, has played a major role
in what they've had to do from a personel perspective,

(43:59):
and a lot of the free agent signings that they've
made over the last couple of years who have really
helped this defense get to this place. A lot of
the evaluation has come from Brian Flores, and so the
fact that he wasn't extended last offseason and that his
contract runs out at the end of the season creates
a very interesting conversation amid an off season that is

(44:22):
going to have plenty of them. So what I expect is,
you know, the Vikings will finish this season, Brian Flores
will seek head coaching opportunities. Whether that's going to be
possible given his legal situation within the NFL or not,
we will see.

Speaker 4 (44:38):
And then I.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
Wouldn't be surprised if there are plenty of other teams
across the league seeking coordinator help on defense that potentially
pony up for Brian Flores. So what from a monetary standpoint,
how far the Viking is going to be willing to go,
It's going to be pretty interesting to watch. And again,
just to reiterate, like if you throw needing a new
defensive coordinator into the concoction of questions that already exist

(45:05):
for this Vikings off season, you know it's it's it's
a head spinning kind of situation.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
Yeah, covering the NFL, you don't get any off season.
It sends like you're definitely not getting any off season
final questions.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
No, not to cut you off like I don't complain
about it. I mean this is you're grateful to have
this job, especially in a place where the fans care
as much as they do. It's like I said this
on the podcast.

Speaker 4 (45:30):
Someone asked me about the job and I.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Was just like, you don't take for granted when people
care as much as they do getting to work on.

Speaker 4 (45:36):
It on a daily basis, so without explain about.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
It, Yeah, well, well said final question for you. You
know how much respect I have for Harrison Smith as well?
You know, next stop will be the Hall of Fame.
What do you think his future is? It was it
was pretty telling obviously that that when he, you know,
a couple of weeks ago after a game, uh, you know,
started well up talking about just the privilege of it

(45:59):
is to to play as long as he has and
in this great organization.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Yeah. I mean, if you'd asked me about it five
weeks ago, I would have probably said, I don't think
there's any chance that this is not it for Harrison Smith.
But seeing what he's done the last couple of weeks,
and there has to be for him internally, like some conversations
lay in his own mind of if I can still
play it like this on Sundays, you know, if the

(46:25):
team were to be playoff super Bowl caliber, could I
convince myself? I guarantee those conversations are going and that
discussion in his own mind is going to exist. But
the nature of the practice, daily practices, the grind that
it is to keep your body right. It's hard for
me to fathom that this probably isn't getting to the

(46:46):
end of the road. I'll never say never, because I
know how much he does love what it's like to
be in the fight on Sundays, and if this is
in fact it for him, Like I can't say enough
about just what he been as a guy to cover
and just how special of a player in person he
is behind the scenes, like you almost forget, he's never

(47:07):
on the injure report, and from a guy who navigated
the personal health situation he did at the beginning this year,
to not be at the injury report at his age
this late in the season is wildly impressive. And yeah,
he's been a joy to cover and a joy to watch.
So we shall see how it plays out, and replacing

(47:28):
him will be impossible given the type of just cognitively
advanced player he is on the field. Special special player,
special dude.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Yeah yeah, absolutely well said, and hopefully, you know, hopefully
this isn't it, because this shouldn't be the way that
his career ends.

Speaker 3 (47:45):
That is for sure. Alec really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
You can read Alex's work in the Athletic and you
can follow him on ex at Alec Underscore Lewis and
you could watch the Alex Lewis Show.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
Really appreciate Alec. Take care of yourself.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Anytime, Michael enjoy the Wild against Nick Saban's new hockey team,
the National Predators. I'll be tuned in.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
Absolutely, happy holidays, buddy. That is Alex Lewis from The Athletic.
When we come back open for him here in the
final hour, hour and fifteen minutes of the show. Joe
Smith from The Athletic has just walked in the studio.
Joe O'Donnell from Wild Radio has just walked in the studio,
already busy at work.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
You know how hard he preps.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
If you listen to any of his games that he
calls on the fan makes up for fallness in the
other end. And then and then oh sorry, I didn't
mean that. I didn't realize that we were still here,
and the and then lastly, Dave Jackson from ESPN the
Rules Analysts, former longtime NHL rough great, great guy, great
analysts that will be joining in studio at some point

(48:49):
after he's done talking with John Hines and Andrew Brunette.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
We will be right back here on the fan