March 4, 2026 • 49 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
What up Happy Wednesday. It's nor to win for PA
nine to noon. The host returns tomorrow and we do
have actually some I mean things are getting hot nine
to do an almost prophetic Yesterday morning Talker Tuesday style
Parker Fox in studio with me by the way, hangout
out for an extra segment, a little bonus Parker at
Parker Fox two four via X Yesterday Parker during Talker Tuesday.
(00:25):
You know you asked for talkbacks Talker of the day,
and I just I placed it like this.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I said, Hey, if.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I told you that Kyler Murray was going to be
the answer at Vikings quarterback, what would you say?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Results were mixed?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
We shall say, via the iHeartRadio talkback feature. And then
yesterday afternoon you see it, Cards are going to release
him and now apparently he's a top maybe some conversations
in relation to the quarterback spot, so we have to
talk about that. Team might be interested in trading Jonathan Grenard.
Legal tampering period starts on Monday. It's all happening, all
(01:00):
happening right now. It's all happening for Anthony Edwards. How
about him dropping seven triples and getting loose to get
over the Memphis Grizzlies last night. I know, for the
last month or so you've been so focused on Milan,
and in one of the savviest moves in career building history,
you actually took a two week vacation, came back and
got promoted.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So congratulations on that. That what it goes, thanks to
the banker. Not sure how that works, but it did.
That's awesome for you.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
But jumping back into the seed of following the Wolves
as they get closer to the postseason, what did you
think about them making it maybe a little tougher than
it needed to be against the grizz But Anthony Edwards
just said, I'm tired of this, Let's go win it.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I think if you were to ask people at that
Wolves game last night to name the five starters for
the Grizzlies, they would have a tough time. I have
a tough time even looking at it right here. You know,
I know Jiji Jackson, Jamie Wells, tied, Jerome Scottie Pippen.
But you go down the list of guys coming off
the bench and you're like, who's playing for this team?
And then you look in the first half losing and
(02:00):
you're trying to find ways to qualify the fact that
you can go to Denver and beat them in a
pretty convincing style and then come back home where you're
supposed to take care of.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Business and things get a little weird.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
But nonetheless, you have Anthony Edwards, you have seven triples,
you have forty one points. You would hope that it
could be a little bit more of an even scoring
team effort, maybe even find ways to go to your
bench and get some guys that haven't gotten great minutes
like Joan Baron, Jay Jayalen Clark, but got to win
the game, and we did that, So you're not going
to look back in a couple of weeks and say
(02:33):
you barely beat them, but hey, we'll take the win.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, I thought, you know some of these names and
like kind of a half G league roster that Memphis
is putting out there, And it made me think I
have Johnny k Johnny Krazinski on around around ten o'clock
this morning and talk more detail about this. But looking
at that game last night watching it, by the way,
we lost a high scoring affair to the grizz recently too,
(02:55):
so there are no pushover or at least our team
again makes a little more difficult than it has to be.
But how fleeting you think about it? Not too far removed.
Grizzly a second seed, they got Jaron Jackson, they have
Desmond Baine at the time, a healthy and engaged John
Morant as well. You're thinking, wow, this thing's a force, right,
and it just kind of it's a good reminder. Two
(03:17):
Western Conference Finals berths in a row for the Howl.
But how fleeting these moments can be when just a
few years ago people are thinking about how do you
get past the Grizzlies, and now it's a g League roster.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah, I mean it feels like it was yesterday when
John Morant said I'm fine in the West, right, that
came back to bite them a little bit. But nonetheless, yeah,
you look at the Grizzlies team and like, this is
a team that could really find ways to figure things out.
I'm a big Brandon Clark fan. I think Park's good. Yeah,
if I were to compare my game to anybody a
similar Brandon Clark would probably be my player comp back
(03:53):
in my day. But nonetheless, I always had, you know,
appreciation for the Grizzlies and what they were doing, but
now you look at the team, they're beat up healthwise.
Zach Edy, a guy I played against, he's out now
season under. But this is a Grizzlies team, and I
know it's tough.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
In the West.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Order we talk about how tough it is in the West,
but if you're the Timbrels, you have to look at
it as you go on throughout the rest of the season. Here,
I think it's the mature approach, right, taking care of business,
finding ways to win at home against lesser opponents, and
then go stealing some on the road. And Anthony Edwards
has been vocal about the fact that he wants to
win out, like he wants to find ways to propel
(04:29):
themselves into, you know, the playoffs. And I think this
team knows that they have enough pieces. They just had
to continue to find ways to put it together and
make runs in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Now he says he wants to win out, yeah, and
I do believe him. But actions and words, you know
how the old cliches go and such.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
The consistency of this team has been something that people
We've spent segment upon segment upon segment nine to noon,
you've talked about it with us, so many other guests,
those that cover the team and report it is this
and the way I put it on Monday when I
was in for PA, it's almost after watching that Nuggets game,
it's almost like you know.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Through the five stages of grief.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
At first you're denying it, then you're angry about it,
and and then you know you're bargaining, I believe is
the third. Then they're depressed about the whole thing. Why
can't they just do this every night? And then you
kind of learn to just accept it in some ways
do you kind of have to? I mean not half
of you have to, of course, because this is this
is where we're at.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
But you know, sixty two.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Games into this thing, you kind of you're you're in
that spot maybe where you're just accepting the fact that
this is what we got and we've now seen two
years in a row how good it can be in
the postseason. So maybe fret not and just continue on
and third spot or bust in the West for this team.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
I think you would hope that you were already there
as a Minnesota sports fan, right you would understand what
it takes to be one of us to be a
Minnesota sports fan, but yeah, I don't know. I think
this is a great opportunity for the Wolves, right as
you bring in some new guys in Iotisumu and here
here comes Kyle Anderson back in the mix, in the rotation.
(06:09):
And you know, Finchy has been pretty clear about the
fact that he doesn't really want to go past eight
when it comes to a playoff depth situation rotation.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So what does that look like?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
You know, obviously, you know nas Reed's gonna find himself minutes.
Iota assume was going to find himself minutes. But is
it Bowens Hyland, is it Kyle Anderson? Is it Jalen Clark?
And I think these next twenty games allow you the
opportunity to see, oh, maybe Mike Conley can give you value,
you know, so I think you have to find ways
to take care of business early in games so that
the second half of games and second third, fourth quarters
(06:43):
can be kind of an experience in a way. And
finch has the opportunity in the leeway to say, what's
going to give me the best possibility to win a
seven game series multiple times and find your way past
the Western Conference finals?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Did you find yourself like some fans going, man, it
would have been cool if we got ties.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, I saw the news.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I think he's signing with the Nuggets and just thinking
you mentioned Conley.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, we all love Mike.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, but my goodness in terms of the precipitous downfalls
that some of the elder statesmen may endure at latter
stages of their careers.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But Tias Jones.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Was do you feel like we we missed out on
that or it would have been cool to have Tias
back here.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I thought it was gonna be a done deal.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I thought, yeah, I mean I looked at that situation
and said to myself, why would you Why would you not?
It's a it's a veteran guy that is arguably one
of the best in NBA history in taking care of
the ball. His assistant turnover numbers are you know, otherworldly,
and the veteran presence that he can bring. But I
understand the the youth in wanting a guy like Iodassumu
(07:44):
and Bones Highland to kind of be in that position.
And who knows if we even see much more of
Mike Conley, but the fact that he's been around here
for a while and those the system knows the people.
I really like where the Wolves are at, just in
terms of a unit, right in terms of a guy
like Kylelander, I think he's.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Perfect for what you want to do moving forward.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I talked about it yesterday, is you might get one
Kyle Anderson game where he gives you twenty minutes and
he's playing defense at a high level and he hits
a couple of threes, and you might get one. But
it's worth it for what the value that he can bring.
And we all remember the Kyle Anderson Rudy Gobert scuffle
and and that punch that was thrown, and the fact
that they can come back together for a common you know,
(08:25):
idea and pushing in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And this team is trying to win a championship.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
So whatever pieces we trust in Tim Conley and Chris
Finch and whatever pieces they think are most valuable, they're
going to be out on the floor.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Man, I can't wait for that slow mo three and
to be unleashed. Just the settling in. Normally you appreciate
the extra extra pass. It's going to take extra two
passes to give him the amount of time necessary to
unleash that thing.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yep, it's going to beautiful.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
He's been shooting it though he's I think that's something
that's underrated. Part of his game is is he's shooting
the ball very well right now. So I think it's
a guy that if he can give you per game,
why not let them fly?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
No, Absolutely, a couple more on the college team and
then I'll let you get on to enjoy the day.
Is Nico Medved just two more before the Big Ten Tournament?
The fourteen and fifteen Now wasn't John Wooden's Bruins, but
they did do some damage against UCLA. They get the
victory and Bobby Durkin and all those triples. But as
(09:21):
you look down at the first year of Nico Medved,
what impresses you For a team that had its struggles,
health issues abound, very very slim bench pickings, but a
team that fights and a team that there's clearly a
system with Nico that can be successful.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
He just needs more resources.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just happy for a Nico and
those guys that they get the opportunity to, you know,
put themselves in positions to win games.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I think it's a credit to Nico and his style
of offense.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I think it's a breath of fresh air for a
lot of Gopher fans watching Go for basketball.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It's hard for me to speak on it because I
was a part of it.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Oh yeah, but as a basket well pures, I'm loving
what I'm seeing from Nico.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
From the offense.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Four guys scored in that game against US, only four
players scored. That's six players played. Four players scored, so
kind of an unheard of thing. And then to beat
a team in Ucla, and then Ucla turns around they
just beat number nine Nebraska, So this wasn't like this
was some bad UCLA team. And in the Big Ten,
you never apologize for winning because it is really hard.
I think people don't understand the amount that goes into
(10:27):
to scouting and preparing and and this.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
GOP team, I think that's for Oregon.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
They're terrible because clearly there's what what whatever it is
that money funnel. Yeah, that's coming from Nike. Yeah, I
don't think a lot of it hits the hard ones.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah, Phil's not Phil is not putting it there, that's
for sure. But I think too, if you look at
the future of Gopher basketball, scouting is such an important
thing for these teams and Nico's teams are so hard
to scout because everybody's cutting, everybody's passing, everybody's shooting.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
And we talked about it this morning.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
What's the next step, Well, you got to get eyes,
you gotta get diamonds in the rough, and you got
to find ways to protect kind of your culture. But
I'm really excited about the future of Go for Basketball
and hopefully they can end on a high note at
Indiana tonight.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, at Indiana. Then they host Northwestern right Saturdays. I
like the senior bit and everything.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
So that's the last one before Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
In Chicago, and then you know what, if they win
the tournament, start dream weaving that way.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
The Ladies, by the way, are a first fire and
they're on freaking fire. That's on Friday, right, that's this week,
and the Ladies are ready to rock.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Oh my goodness, they are. And Mara Brown back and
healthy playing at an elite level. Tory McKinney's sparking at
Gray Kohoalski. I mean, this is a team, am I
A battle like, this is a team that they're really
clicking on all cylinders. And we talk about the basketball
seasons long, right, Like you don't want to peak.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
In December and in January and February. But this is
go for Weben's basketball team.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They're trending in the right direction, looking to peak, and
what a fun story that would be to watch them
in March get a couple wins, no.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Hey, thanks for spending a little bonus segment with me.
Thanks for having me, and I think we're going to
see you on Monday, you bet, and maybe even we.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Can have a special guest potentially, see if we can
make it happen.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Let's see, that's Parker Fox at Parker Fox two four.
You hear him weekly with the Power Trip Morning Show
and then also a regular here nine to noon chatting hoops.
To kick off a Wednesday, Wolves victorious last night the
Minnesota Wild, just throttle the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. Loving
that and that's big part of the timber Tech setlist.
See you later, Parker and TimberTech set list brought to
(12:30):
you by TimberTech dot Com.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
At ten o'clock Back to the Howl.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
With John Krasinski, I mentioned that, but at eleven o'clock
TV Vox Anthony La Panta will be in studio. We'll
chat about the Minnesota Wild. And next he was on
the radio call last evening. Alex Staylock, former goaltender Minnesota Wild,
Umd's finest, South Saint Paul's finest at the high school ranks.
He's gonna chat on the hot line. We'll talk about
(12:57):
the pro squad. We got trade deadline around the corner,
Pre's offsetting records. Robbie Fabrie, Hey, welcome to the mix.
All sorts of things to chat about with Alex Staylock. Next,
Brett Blakemore produces. I'm nordowin for PA on a Wednesday.
You're listening to the fan.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
See this one playing.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Out championship pedigree.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
You're right, a lot of guys have voice the cups,
maybe multiple on this group. And I think it's a
good meeting for these teams.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
It's a perfect time for them to be.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
Both teams coming in with two losses in their last
two games, and now you get a team rolling here.
Both teams top in their division, top in their respective conferences,
and these are the games you get up for as
these players. You talk about the big time players that
want to play in the big moments. I think You're
gonna see it tonight, and I think you're gonna see
a wild team take another step up in execution and
intensity against the Tampa team tonight.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That's the voice of former Minnesota whild goaltender Alex Staylock
on the broadcast call with Joe Donald last evening as
the Minnesota wild House the Visiting Lightning five to one,
and on the hotline right now, Connecticut Water Systems Hotline
is the aforementioned mister Staylock, How you doing, Alex?
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Good get a little bit of sleep last night? With
the late start national broadcast PLOMP is you know always
the Central times on Games Back, you get the six
o'clock start out to East and we get the lovely
eight forty eight puck drop in Saint Paul. So it's
the late bedtime, but it was well worth the wait.
We saw a record breaking moment last night on the
(14:36):
ice Recral Caprizo, and we saw a huge wild win
against the top team in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, not shabby at all last night.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I do want to dig into that game, Alex, but
you mentioned it is that's just kind of a yearly
complaint around here, right, I mean, as soon as we
get into the playoffs, it's eight thirty pm at the earliest.
It feels like that we get to watch our favorite team.
It's just not fair.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Well, our Superstars is death early for them. Our Superstars
the last few weeks have been used to the nine
to ten punt drop over in Milan. So this is
a little bit of an early put drop for those guys.
It was half the joke last night. They're used to
these late night games, but no, it is you sit
around all day, you have a later pregame skate usually
around noon. Now with the later put drop and something
(15:19):
while they're gonna have to get used to. They have
five national broadcast games this month alone, which obviously is
pretty special for a lot of those players that can showcase,
you know, their skill and you know, you see so
much of the Eastern Conference teams throughout the year, and
this team does get, you know, recognized finally the superstar
that they have on this roster, and to get five
(15:39):
games in a month is pretty special. And they come
back right back Sunday with the national broadcast in Colorado
with one o'clock Trump here in Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
How how much fun are you having doing the radio work?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Oh, it's awesome. I mean, I'm so fortunate to have
an opportunity to work with Joel. I've known Joel, I
spent time with him. Season I spent with the Iowa Wild,
it was twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, because Joe correct me
last night. I thought I was twenty fifteen, but he
was correcked. And you know, at that time, Joe's doing
(16:12):
everything for the Iowa Wild and in the American League,
that's a role that's you're most times that guy's doing radio,
he's doing travel, he's handing out per diem, he's doing flights,
he's doing hotels. I mean, you're you're doing pretty much
all the details behind the scenes. And I just knew
right away when I got to Iowa he was a
guy that I was like, I can't have fun with him,
(16:33):
and had a ton of fun. And we've always got along.
We've always kept in touch. Our kids are very similar
in ages, so not only do we run into each
other at youth hockey games in the winter, but his
boys played baseball as well, so we see each other
at a lot of tournaments. And now to be back
sitting with them in the Al Shaver press box and
calling games. It's just a ton of fun and we
(16:54):
enjoy it. We just hope there's never one of those,
you know, fifth grade deals where you just go on
a laugh attack and you can't talk. And we haven't
had that yet, which is good.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
To last week.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
You know exactly what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yes, absolutely can't even look at you.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
You can't even look at your buddy, and every time
you pick your head up, you start dying laughing. We
can't have any of goals on.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Air, no, no, please try to mitigate those. And with
last night's game, as you're watching it early on, you
get that goal from Faber and kind of survived that
first period from the lightning and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
But specifically the survival stage of it.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
It feels like like matchups can matter. And we've talked
about this before Nine to Noon, just kind of the idea,
you know, Wild, I'm trying to get my favorite team
just to get out of the first round, but certain
teams just really really the Wild matchup really well against
for instance, Edmonton historically, despite McDavid in Drysidel, Wild have
great luck against the Oil And then you can look
(17:55):
at Montreal another good example, but specifically against the lightning.
They got their cups and stuff. The Wild have kind
of handled the lightning in recent years, haven't they.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Yeah, it's so funny how that works in hockey. And
you know whatever, it is a hollow team likes to play.
And you talk about an Edmond team team that you
know they got high, high end talent up front, and
you know the Wild had the ability with the defense.
Now you've insert Jonas brodein into this lineup now and
(18:25):
they have the ability to shut down not only one
super good line, but two good line the depth they have.
You have Hughes in favor who you talk about Hughes
offensive game, Yeah, it's incredible. It's top two in the
league for defense. But he's so good defensively. He's smart
with his stick, he never reaching miss feed are so good.
He's always on the right side of the puck. You
talk about Broc Faber, you see what he does on
a nightly basis. He saw what he did at the Olympics.
(18:47):
He eliminates top lines night after night. And then you
come back with Chared Bergeon and Jonan Berdeen. Who would
be a number It would be a one to two
on eighty percent of the leagues in the league, or
eighty percent of the teams in the league. Sorry, but
it's it's a decor that you know, it's so strong.
And then currently you're five six or Jake Middleton and
Zac Pagosa. I mean, if you look at that going
(19:08):
into playoffs, you gotta be happy as long as that
group can stay healthy. It's a really good defensive court.
And you look what they did, example last night, and
they had a few chances here and there. Their power
play gets clicked, and you see what Kutarov can do
with the puck, and he's dangerous when he does have
the puck. But there wasn't a ton of great a's
on Phelipe Gustison and who out of break you know,
since the Olympics obviously didn't have the Olympics, he wanted
(19:30):
to for Team Sweden. But since coming back he's on.
He's been unbelievable for the while. And starting in Colorado,
he stopped forty four or forty five, and that huge
win in Colorado, you know, on the loss against Saint Louis,
even gives up two goals on twenty three shots, and
then again last night stops twenty four or twenty five
He's been quite the tear and you got to stick
your cap to the defensive group in front of you
that has limited Grade eight chances and kept shots for
(19:54):
the most part to the perimeter.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Hey, stupid question. The lord here Alex Brock Faber did
get that first goal night. I'm kind of curious as
you look at Brock's game kind of the combination of
playing with Hughes has the chance to of course evolve
and get better in his own right. I always think
about favor defense first. But he's got fourteen goals this year.
It's cool to see him picking his spots and finding
(20:16):
the net offensively as well. How do you parse that
out in terms of, well, he's playing with Hughes so
there will be extra chances, or is it just him
continuing to evolve and become a shining star right before
our eyes.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Oh no, that's not a dumb question at all. They're
stupid question. You you know, he's such a good player
defense first. You know, when you say that, maybe if
you look around the central and you see the Kale mccars,
you see the Miro heydskins, you see the Josh Morrissey
is the points they put up every year. Yeah, they
bring maybe a little bit more offense than Favor does,
(20:51):
but he still has that offensibility. I think he just
takes so much pride into playing a game similar and
more like to you know, a Charlie McAboy. You got
to watch what he did in the Olympics just this
past month, and I mean he plays so heavy. Even
when he gets offense, he takes it right. A guy
like Charlie mcivoy and Black Favor, but they're so good
(21:11):
with their feet and staying on the inside. And now
he's ending plays early in the defensive zone. You don't
see many extended shifts for those guys in their own
zone because they're so good at closing on guys just
when they know they have them in an area where
they can end up play. And now that allows that
line if he's you know, he's gonna be out there
with to is almost ninety nine percent of the time
(21:32):
to get up and play offense. As soon as that
group gets the puck, they want to go on attack,
and Hinds does a good job of getting his top
two lines out there with that deep hair, and the
faster they can get out of the defensive zone, the
more they can spend time in the offensive own and
where they're dangerous, they can work all their exchanges and
their scissor plays and seam players. And he saw that
last night on a few shifts. And yeah, you talk
(21:54):
about favority defense first. I don't know it'd be fun
to sit h indown and ask what he thinks. I
think he loves playing in the offensive zone. Any player
loves playing the offensive zone. I just think he's so
effective in the defensive zone and getting the puck and uh,
bringing the team into an offensive zone attack.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Well, I don't want to offend the guy, so I'm
not going to hit him with Yeah, just your defense first.
That's kind of all you can do. So it's cute
found money when you score a goal. Uh, he's terrisfic Man.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
You could have hit me with calling me an offensive
first goaltender, and I have no problem with that. I
never make a ton of saves, but I was always
thinking offense.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Just what it is you mentioned McAvoy.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Had you ever been a part of a of a
like a melee in the crease that required somebody like
a McAvoy to get behind you and try to play
big in front of a wide open net.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You ever have that happen?
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Oh yeah, I mean, believe it or not. My mouth
got me in a little bit of trouble sometimes in
the crease and there was a lot of melees around
her crease and uh, you know, but that saved macor
you know he made in the Olympic, or the Hello
Buck saved, the Malloy saved getting behind the goalie and
eliminating that shot is about to go across the goal
line being incredible. And there's been a lot of times
(23:06):
where where I had to have defenseman bailed me out
with trust me, but not on that type of stage.
I mean, at the world's greatest stage. It's it's pretty
dang cool.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Well it's it's it's a team game, there's no doubt
about that. Speaking of the team two.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
You mentioned you mentioned bro Dean coming back, So there's
the depth piece associated with it, just kind of you
not ambiguity, but just a little cloudy in terms of
when he'd find his way to the ice again as
we waded throughout the Olympic break. But awesome to have
him in the value of that depth. But I thought
he I thought he looked good last night.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Absolutely, and they had the fortune of having the Olympic
break and kind of a little built in rest time
for Jonas who you know, he's played heavy minutes playoffs
games in his career. He's played a lot of hockey,
a lot of hard hockey. And the one thing with
him is he's so underrated in this league. You know,
so many times when I talked to you know, other
(23:59):
people in the media, ex Players, when I was playing,
and I talk about Jonas verdein like, he's got to
be one of the best in the league. You know, people,
you gotta be Kidney. I'm like, I get to see
him on a daily basis. I played behind him. I
see what he does. It's just incredible. And you know
he's out for an extended period of time. It's his
first game back. He always questioned, you know, how's he
gonna feel, and he's gonna work his way into it.
It's gonna be you know, he's got feel out process.
(24:20):
And I mean, if he went to that game last
night as an unassuming fan, you'd have no clue that
he just did a spent that extended amount of time
on the shelf and not playing. He's just he's so
good with his feet like his puck skills. So going
to a corner and it's one on two and somehow
he comes out of it with the puck. It's it's
just incredible to watch. And they have him back in
the lineup. I know, defensive coach Jack Capuano, when he
(24:42):
looks on at that bench and he's got twenty five
backsit in front of him, he can flip him over
the boards against any line and any opposing team in
this league.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yeah, that's sweet. Now, we didn't get to see.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
A lot of this guy last night, but Robbie Fabric
by the way, Covin and cleanup thanks to Brett Blake Moore,
I said, fabriy. I believe last segment pronunciation matters nine
to noon and fabric is the correct way to put it.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I'm sorry about that, but I remember.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Seeing him pressure earlier days of his career with the Blues.
Moves on now finds his way to the Minnesota while
getting his first shifts. Is there a period of acclamation
with a new guy in the lineup or am I
just overthinking it?
Speaker 4 (25:23):
The biggest thing is, you know so many of the systems.
I don't want to say you know the systems in
the NHL are so every team is so different what
they're playing. It's a lot of it's similar for check
neutral's own defensives don't coverage, whether you're doing a man
on man or zone or whatever it may be. But
I think the biggest thing going into the locker room
is the terminology and the way a coach uses it.
(25:44):
And you know, saying the defensives on one coach calls
it a shrink and the other coach calls it a swarm.
It's the same thing, but just getting comfortable with what
the coach is calling it and what it may be
in the confusion. And you know, he's a professional, he's
a veteran. Now he doesn't he knows he had the
ability to go up to a coach and grabd match
precic say hey, what do you mean by this? What
do you mean by this? And I think he's going
(26:06):
to gravitate and learn from this system in a hurry.
I thought he was great last night. He was effective.
He had two greatest scoring chances, one in the second
where he showed that he still does have good speed,
got around the Tampa defender and the only thing to
stop him was the eleven inches of Asilaski's left pad
if he raises that, if he raises it as an
unbelievable goal. He had a chance in the first it
(26:27):
just rolled off his stick, but you know, he had
a big hit the neutral zone.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I thought he did.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Exactly what this wild team wants him to. Give him
a spark, bring a little bit of offense with some speed,
hungary on talks, and I think he did that. He
made a play two when the defense's owned from the
wall and popped it to the middle to you know,
a simple breakout. Those are the players that Hinens is
going to gain. Trust him. He's gonna get more time,
and I think you're going to see him play in
that bottom six row. I don't think it's always going
to be a four plying spot. There's a chance he
(26:52):
gonna be on that third line, and you know, if
he keeps up the way he played last night.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Another new guy to the mix was announced yesterday and
a lot of people are like, Okay, Billy g just
made made a move with the with the Predators. Oh,
Steven stat No, Michael mccaron, you do you know where
where you scrambling to get to know him a little bit?
Seen anything from him plays it. I mean he's six six,
(27:18):
so he's a freaking goliath out there on the ice.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
But anything you know about mister mccarrn uh.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
He played in talks the right way. He plays an
honest hockey game, and I think that's what Billy Garren appreciates.
And a player like mcaren to give up a second
round pick, you know, he's gonna make a difference here.
He brings eyes. You see what he's done to some
of the wild players, not what he's done, but what
he's got into some of the wild players. Middle Penny
spot him multiple times. He got into a Poleno in
(27:45):
the past, and the clips going all over the internet
right now with Zucarello. Zucarello, you know, had like a
fired bucks and swing right at the top of his kneecaps,
And I heard Billy talked about it last night. It
was a pretty good acting job. He's not gonna win
any Oscars for how he react did it to that slash,
But no, he's going to be effective. He can get
in a circle, he can win face offs with the
(28:06):
wild looking for he's going to penalty kill. He can
bring offense. But he's a big body and come playoff time,
he's an effective player. He's played playoff games. And you know,
I think it's a great acquisition for this group. And
do I think they're done. Perhaps not. It's just gonna
be interesting what's going to fall here in the next
few days leading up to the trade deadline on Friday.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, indeed, I you know, perhaps not in what the price.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Everybody just assumes Vinnie Trocheck's going to be here by
the time the Friday deadline hits. With with mcaren though,
before moving on winning the face offs, you mentioned that
specifically de zone face offs.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I make this joke every once in a while.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
It feels like we haven't won a face off since
Koivu was still playing. I mean, just the trouble this
team has had in spots in terms of finding somebody
that can win fifty at a fifty five percent clip,
you know, and maybe McCarran helps with that.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Yeah, you know, it's not all on the centerment as well. Well,
And you know, the wingers got to help out on
draws and it's such a hard skill and you know,
you have guys in there that are just h you know,
competitors and want to puck to Hartman's ericsonaxtterms. You know
he's done on a couple of teams. You're up, who's
a young young forward, You'm center in this league trying
(29:19):
to figure out it takes time and you know, if
you're of it's it's something we will dealt with his
wild fans for so long with with Eric Sinak and
early on in his career, it was always the comparison.
We'll look at professor what he's doing in Vancouver. You know,
he'll go profess when he's putting up goals, and everybody's
be patient, Be patient, I think find the fans are realizing, Okay,
look at what Eric Sinac does on a nightly basis
(29:41):
now for this team, and you're off, he's similar, similar
in a way where's he's so intelligent? Is hockey i
Q so great? It's just going to take time for
him to figure it out. And he's going to become
stronger and stronger every year in the face off circle.
And it's just one of those things that it's not
their strength right now, but that's just as of now,
and you can always get better at that. Billy did
(30:02):
that and went and grabbed Michael mccarena and also fabric
has the ability to jump in and take face offs.
And you know, I'll veteran almost five hundred games in
this league, Robbie Favry, he can get in there and
help in the faceoff circle as well. And No, it's
just it's something that needs improvement. I'm sure it's talked about.
It's worked on every day pre and polls, practice, and
(30:23):
you hope to see it start turning the other way
and getting more a little bit more strength in the
face off circle.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
How much does this this extra day here before they
go to Vegas? How much does that rest matter? I
mean we're all kind of you know, dug into Wow,
look at Quinn Hughes jet setting across the country back
and forth to New York and then he's back in
his sweater scoring a sweet goal against the Lightning.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
The next day. Like, how much does that extra day
you think matter?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Just some extra disease, get the nap schedule back in
regular rhythm again and be ready for those golden nights
on Friday night.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Well, Quinn Hughes is different. I think he just plugs
in at night. I don't know if he sleeps or what,
but his schedule, he's been on is unbelievable and I
just can't I can't figure out he's never showed energy.
But we joked about that last night on air with
Joel Is that what would Billy like to trade for
right now? And I said, I think he'd like to
trade for a night asleep for a lot of his
(31:16):
players first and foremost, and then maybe go for for
a top top to mine center. But yeah, these two days,
obviously today being a day off for the group and
well deserved a you know, big win, and obviously not
get in the bed probably for most of them until
two am last night, but he won the row for
two tough games and rest as the weapon. That's what
(31:39):
the players always joke about when they want a day
off as the rest as weapon. But truly, this time
of year, it really is. And it seems weird to
say coming out of an Olympic brick where he just
said two and a half weeks off for most of
the guys, but it's the time of year where this
schedule is just sold dense and you're not going to
have many opportunities where you have two days off. Yeah,
so it's it's a great time for this group to
get a little rest.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Yeah, And as with any L players playing in the Olympics,
whether it's four Nations or some other bid up the
sleeve of mister Bettman. In the NHL, these sorts of
schedules are probably going to become the norm. Eighty four
regular season games too. Time for a couple more, Alex staylock.
You heard him last night last a couple of games
actually on the radio, the radio call with Joe Donald
providing some hockey analysis. I got this via the text line, Alex,
(32:22):
you know you know Pete Bursich, right, oh yeah, yeah,
the fellow analyst. Right, if it was If it was
just one, I wouldn't have said anything. But the text
lines rolling in, I thought that was Bursach trying to
talk wild for a minute smiley laughing emoji, then Mark
(32:43):
and saying, wow, sounds like Pete Bursich talking hockey today.
And then another tuned in mid segment and was wondering
why Bursch was talking hockey. Alex, sounds just like him.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
How about that?
Speaker 1 (32:54):
You sound like Pete Bursich's incredible.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
I mean, that's good to hear. The first that's all
been sent in via the top line. I didn't get
that last night on a I read hotline intermission, so
it was none of that. When Falmas brought up all
the questions, I was worried. When they do the texting questions,
I'm like thought, gosh, what could be texting, especially some
of my buddies. I can only imagine what he sees.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Well, I got to be honest the next day you do.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Now that you've given me that idea, I'm gonna be
hitting that six four six eighty six hard during the intermission.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
It's a total well, hey, extreme.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
High school, high school.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Well, actually, before I get to the high school side
of things, South Saint Paul's finest Alex Staylock on the
nine to noon show this morning, Carell capriz Off. It
didn't didn't mention that, but but you're at the arena
last night. Uh, probably getting some heck from his from
his boys because he gets number two twenty on an
empty netter, like come on, man, they're just kind of
giving it to you there. But but he passes Mary
(33:53):
and Gaberick in lightning speed, like three hundred and eighty
one ish games I believe. I think it's three eighty
one and Gabriick with the the congratulatory video and such.
What was that like with the Carill Love when when
he iced that thing last night, it was pretty cool and.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Joe had a great call on that. I think his
direct words or move over Mary, and which was you
know Mary Gabrick who when the mission first game back
to Minnesota, who was the superstar here? He was at
that time? He was so fast in the league in
the early two thousands. The game was a lot different,
but you know there's similar players. They're electrifying when they
(34:28):
get to puff. There the type of players that you know,
the crowd gets on their feet, there's a whisper in
the building.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
You just hear it.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
It sounds different when Carell gets the buck, something's gonna happen.
And you're starting to see it as well when when
Quinn Hughes gets the puck. But he's been that way
since day one, since he scored his overtime winner against
the La Kings here during the COVID shortened year. It's
just it's been so fun to watch. I mean, just
being at youth drinks. I mean every team might get
plays against, there is a ninety seven on that team.
(34:57):
It just shows that the impact he's had on this
hockey community. He loves that. He always has a smile.
He loves the game as such a good superstar and
role model for our kids to look at on a
nightly basis. And we're lucky to have him and to
get where he did already and franchise history scoring is
pretty incredible. It's gonna be fun to watch what he
(35:17):
can do with, you know, for the rest.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
Of his career.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
So impressive. Indeed to the high school ranks. High School
Hockey Attorney kicks off starting at eleven. It's here Tibbet
and Dodge County. So you you were a member of
South Saint Paul, you went to the tourney, it was
like four And what was that experience like? And are
you still locked in? It sounds like you're still locked
in on the tourney even today it is.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
Yeah, I am locked in. I mean maybe not as
great as the I know Kevin gorg is extremely locked in.
He conkered into this whole thing. I I'm gonna go
find a spot to grab some launch and try to
watch the eleven o'clock start and I just love the
kickoff to it. And I'll be you know, teachers, I
remember you know, I'm agent myself. But it's a turny time.
(36:01):
You know, it was a turny time as an elementary
student at Seal St. Paul when the when the portable
TV would come on, the four wheel cart and your
door would open. It was time to just sit around
the TV and and watch all the studs of you know,
the mid nineties of Jefferson's and it's a great time
of year. And I know our kids look forward to
going to school. They come home they talk about their
(36:22):
teacher turned the tournament on and it's like, it's so
great that that gets done. But no, it's special. I
mean any team that gets to go you're playing with
you know, your your kids who played with the UT
hockey from squirts all the way up. And when you're
a squirts, do you think you were going to make
the state tournament? No, it's just a pipe dream. You
see it on TV. You're like, there's no way possible.
And then he gets high school And for us, did
(36:44):
we have the most skilled No, but we we got
We got along so well as a group, We had
so much fun. We played every sport together and at
the end there's just no one's stopping us. And you know,
it's a group that when we get together, we still
talk about, we still be s about, and you know,
it's a ton of and I'm looking forward to the
next team, the next team that's going to surprise somebody
(37:04):
at the tournament. Uh, who's gonna have the bleach hair?
Who's gonna say what when they get out to the camera.
It's it's a great time.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Here, Absolutely it is.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
And I don't mean to put you on the spot,
but do we know when we're going to get to
hear you with Joe again? Or just still getting the
schedule put together. It's been a blast listening to you
the last couple.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Yeah, we're still putting the schedule together, Joel. Yeah. I
hope I haven't bugged Joe too much. I tried to
text him. He won't answer me, So maybe he's already
sick of meybe this veg this this Vegas trip, Vegas, Colorado.
Perhaps I'll join the group and and be with Joe
(37:44):
on air. And I was hoping to make it down
to uh some of the state tournament and bringing uh
my kid down there and check it out. But if
I go on the road, that'll be just as fun
to see. Uh. Obviously a game down in the Fortress
in Vegas and then uh, you know, a great battle
in Colorado Sunday.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
No, that's awesome, man.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Hey, thanks for giving me time after a late one
at Grand Casino last night.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
We'll catch up again soon, all right.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
I do gotta say congratulations the team services Minneso Wild
Team Services extraordinaire. Should I call him Dominic Kenning who
his wife delivered their first baby, Kelly Marie Henning yesterday.
So I was exciting news for the Wild family the
addition of one. So will mom is healthy, baby is healthy.
(38:30):
So it's all good news on that front.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Dude. That's awesome man. We should have led with you.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
Yeah, so exciting. Yeah, they were there first, and uh,
you know, it's pretty pretty special. And just before a game,
all the boys got the text that she delivered a
healthy baby. So it was awesome news.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Oh hell yeah, man, congrats you said it is Dominic,
and then it was Kelly Marie.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
Kelly Marie's the baby. Nicole is the wife. Yes, there
a six pound, twelve once baby. So member of the
Wild fan base has has arrived as of yesterday.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Get sickman on the he's got to get the baby
a onesie and do a little celebration in house.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's that's awesome. Man, Hey, thanks again, and will you
be Are you going to.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
Be at Grand Casino tonight at six oh one for
the Mankato Scarlets tilt against the delan O Tigers.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
No, I'm going to be on my couch watching that game.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Man. I mean, it's uh, it's it's it's a tough
it's a tough draw for the Scarlets. But I'm absolutely
going to watch Mankato West and Delano today.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Word is the tender of the sophomore Blake Brecky has
the ability to steal a game or two in this tournament.
So I'm excited to watch that because you know, if
a goalie gets hot this time of year, they can
go on a run.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
That's what I That's what I hear.
Speaker 5 (39:38):
Man.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
No, I I I I've read a little bit about Brecky.
I'm not going to pretend that I know their roster
up and down. It's just it's it's red and white.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
I'm in on them.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
I'm from Fankato, so I'm going to root for him.
But I have specifically heard that Brecky's kind of a
unit man that he can. He can absolutely win a
game for him today he.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
Was unbelievable in the section for him And like I said,
you get feeling it this time of year and anything
can happen. It's one game similar to the Olyptics, and yeah,
I'm excited. I'm excited. These kids just playing for an
eighteen thousand fans for the first time. Anything can happen
on on that ice. So it's a day one of Attorney.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Indeed, I'm going to hit that text line next time
you're on the radio, all right, please don't.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I'll see that's Alex stay Lock.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Whether it's the Minnesota Wild radio network, you hear him
doing some work for them, former Minnesota Wild goaltender and
of course South Saint Paul's finest as Attorney approaches today
at Grand Casino Arena. Thanks to Alex for giving me
some time this morning. We're gonna get some vikings news
around the corner. In relation, we got QBS being it's
set to be released from their favorite teams. Suddenly. Maybe
(40:45):
our favorite pass rusher is up for trade. What's that
all about? We can chat about that text line six
four six eight six Brat, Shawn Bryant, KFA and text
lines open for business. And then at ten am Johnny
Athletic John Krasinski of the Athletic will join me as
we jump back into the Howl after their win last
night over the Grizz. Brett's here, I'm Nordo. Thanks for
(41:05):
hanging out with us nine to do another fan.
Speaker 6 (41:09):
The Fan celebrates our five thousand dollars winners and the
iHeart Radios think a teacher's hired by donors Shoes. There's
still time to nominate a public school teacher making a difference.
They could be next to win five thousand dollars to
make over their classroom.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
You can do it now.
Speaker 6 (41:24):
iHeartRadio dot com slash teachers. iHeartRadio dot com slash teachers.
Do you have a favorite teacher back in the day, Brett,
I mostly blocked that stuff out at this point.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Really, you think like if you asked me to go
in my high school and list off the I would struggle.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
I mean, it doesn't it doesn't have to be like
Dead Poets Society or you know, lou Diamond Philips came
and deliver, But but you don't have any Robin Williams
from that Yeah for me, Yeah, it was, well, it's
it's tenth grade history teacher. Social studies teacher. Mister sipe
Mankato west was was one of my favorites.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
A Ms.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Linvall, an English teacher I had freshman year man. I
gave her hell Holy Cats as she a saint for
dealing with idiots like me. But she was tremendous. There's
a couple that stand out. No offense to any of
my other teachers, is I don't you know, I haven't.
I don't have any issues that would require me to
block out anything. So I mean, this is a safe space, Brett,
(42:25):
if you.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Just let me know. But thank a teacher. How about that?
Thank you teacher?
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Many many people to be thanked on a daily basis,
including those participating in the text line. Next up, Minnesota
Wild at the Golden Nights. That's a Friday night affair.
Friday night weeks done. Slide down the back of the
Dinosaur at five pm. Call it a week, Nordo, this
is John the mil carrier. You've opened a can of worms.
(42:53):
The whole station has bit undertones. Everyone will blow up
the text line the next time, Alex stay Lock, I
was thinking of that.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Uh good, terrific six four six eight six obvious.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
You know, be respectful and everything, but ask Alex some
good questions and make it lively on a Friday night,
make Kevin Falness have to weed through a title wave
of text messages, whether it be Friday night, whenever, whenever
his next bit is a side alongside, We'll do it anytime,
whether it's Tom, it's Alex. Anybody, just pump up the
(43:28):
text line and get involved with this wild team who, thankfully,
after two straight l's, just dominated the lightning last night
to Viking's News, this will be probably a larger conversation tomorrow,
certainly Friday, and then of course as the NFL season,
we've barely taken a breath post Combine or really even
(43:50):
post Super Bowl, a little bit of that lull for
about a week before everyone heads to Indy and the
steamrolling begins from an intel standpoint. But Monday is the
legal tam tampering period, right, So that's when that's when
the deals are done, and then free agency, I believe,
in ernest begins on Wednesday. The league year begins, and
all those deals that we hear about on Monday and
(44:12):
Tuesday and Wednesday morning. They can become official sometime on Wednesday,
so effectively free agency starts on Monday.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
But talker Tuesdays.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
I mentioned it in the open almost prophetic as it
was yesterday, and it's just kind of throwaway. You're a
Vikings fan. I'm a Vikings fan. I'm an adult child,
and I want my favorite team to win every single game.
And what I watched in twenty twenty five wasn't good enough.
The GM was let go, and now Rob Brazinski feels
like you should just be the GM. But we'll see
(44:43):
that work itself out over the next couple next couple
of months.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
But we's just done a talker Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Hey, if I told you Kyler Murray was being added
to the QB room of the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 4 (44:58):
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (45:00):
And we did a bunch of talkbacks on it yesterday
and a lot of jokes, you know, the call of
duty bits always in play, arm punts and all of
those things. Maybe he can join the Minnesota Twins, and
he can play for both teams, given his proclivities for
baseball and given the fact that the team, well, I
don't know if it's exactly.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
An open tryout territory down in Fort Myers.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
But things are looking grim from a health standpoint, maybe
from a salary standpoint as well, with the favorite baseball team.
But then the news comes out yesterday the Cardinals do
indeed intend to release him, and you're gonna let the
it's gonna be doom scrolling and it's going to be
hyper timeline refreshing. That's all going to begin on Wednesday,
(45:40):
when the league year begins and Kyler Murray is officially
released from the Cardinals. So there's kind of two it
feels to me on a Wednesday, a week from now,
a week in advance of free agency. Two, it's two
routes for me. It's Kyler Murray or it's Gino Smith.
(46:00):
Now I have a week, so this could change drastically.
That's the fun thing about making opinions. They're subject to change.
But as of today, on a Wednesday morning, how does
it hit you it's either Geno Smith or it's Kyler Murray.
Geno is a bridge to McCarthy. If you add Geno Smith,
(46:21):
you still are thinking about the pathway to JJ McCarthy
becoming the starter in the long term. Geno is a
bridge Kyler Murray might be different, a more interesting situation,
potentially a dilemma for the Purple with Sam Darnald in
(46:42):
twenty twenty four, him moving on. The impetus for that
really is the idea that okay, tenth overall pick injured
all of twenty twenty four. Good thing that we had
what we thought was a bridge in Sam Darnald performs
incredibly well well, sacked a ton, lose the game at
the Rams, and he moves on. The idea was JJ
(47:05):
McCarthy is the a plan, that's the plan moving forward.
That's why we are okay with wishing Sam Donald the
best of luck and hope everything works out for him
in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
Well it did, didn't it.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
It worked out at a high level for mister Donald,
and we saw what we saw from the ten games
of JJ McCarthy in twenty twenty five. Gino Smith is
that bridge in twenty twenty six. I believe where you're
adding him because you believe that certainly competition, I think
Gino wins that job. Another year of sitting, another year
(47:43):
of learning, maturation, that that puts JJ McCarthy in a
spot to start in twenty twenty seven. Adding Kyler Murray
is interesting because if Kyler Murray comes here now, first
of all, I keep seeing it. If it is truly
just veteran minimum deal, multiple teams would be interesting. It'll
(48:04):
cost you, I mean, it's not going to cost twenty million,
but maybe it costs five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
million dollars for for Kyler Murray's services. This is another
spot where I feel like he's started. Now.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
If it goes super well, that's a dilemma.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
If it's kind of disastrous, then Kyler drives the coach insane, well,
that becomes it's a bridge in its own right. But
if Kyler's good, is that the end of JJ McCarthy's
run as a starter or competing for a starter in Minnesota?
Is the is it? Is it a backup for him?
(48:45):
If it goes really well, you're not picking up the
fifth year option. If it goes really well, you're potentially
whatever the contract would look like at this stage, you're
extending a Kyler Murray and potentially trading the former tenth
overall pick to give him an opportunity at his own
reclamation project with another city.
Speaker 2 (49:03):
And that's where I look at it. A week a
week in advance.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
Gino Smith the bridge a potentially more interesting dilemma for
the Purple with Kyler Murray, but those feel like the
two front runners at this stage. We're gonna pause and
jump back into text line, have we lost our minds?
Murray gets hurt more than JJ.
Speaker 2 (49:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
Two of the last three years. Two of the last
three years have been a problem. Indeed, I don't disagree
with you there, But that's where it feels like a
week in advance of free agency, Gino.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Smith or Kyler Murray? How does that hate you?
Speaker 1 (49:37):
We're gonna pause and we're going to get to Johnny
Athletic right around the corner. But of course, the news
coming out yesterday the chefter post on X that the
Vikings are open to trading Jonathan Grenard. There's some things
to factor in and discuss in relation to that, and
we're going to get to that during the second hour here.
But Johnny Athletic John Krazinski joins me next
What up Happy Wednesday. It's nor to win for PA
nine to noon. The host returns tomorrow and we do
have actually some I mean things are getting hot nine
to do an almost prophetic Yesterday morning Talker Tuesday style
Parker Fox in studio with me by the way, hangout
out for an extra segment, a little bonus Parker at
Parker Fox two four via X Yesterday Parker during Talker Tuesday.
(00:25):
You know you asked for talkbacks Talker of the day,
and I just I placed it like this.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I said, Hey, if.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I told you that Kyler Murray was going to be
the answer at Vikings quarterback, what would you say?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Results were mixed?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
We shall say, via the iHeartRadio talkback feature. And then
yesterday afternoon you see it, Cards are going to release
him and now apparently he's a top maybe some conversations
in relation to the quarterback spot, so we have to
talk about that. Team might be interested in trading Jonathan Grenard.
Legal tampering period starts on Monday. It's all happening, all
(01:00):
happening right now. It's all happening for Anthony Edwards. How
about him dropping seven triples and getting loose to get
over the Memphis Grizzlies last night. I know, for the
last month or so you've been so focused on Milan,
and in one of the savviest moves in career building history,
you actually took a two week vacation, came back and
got promoted.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So congratulations on that. That what it goes, thanks to
the banker. Not sure how that works, but it did.
That's awesome for you.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
But jumping back into the seed of following the Wolves
as they get closer to the postseason, what did you
think about them making it maybe a little tougher than
it needed to be against the grizz But Anthony Edwards
just said, I'm tired of this, Let's go win it.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I think if you were to ask people at that
Wolves game last night to name the five starters for
the Grizzlies, they would have a tough time. I have
a tough time even looking at it right here. You know,
I know Jiji Jackson, Jamie Wells, tied, Jerome Scottie Pippen.
But you go down the list of guys coming off
the bench and you're like, who's playing for this team?
And then you look in the first half losing and
(02:00):
you're trying to find ways to qualify the fact that
you can go to Denver and beat them in a
pretty convincing style and then come back home where you're
supposed to take care of.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Business and things get a little weird.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
But nonetheless, you have Anthony Edwards, you have seven triples,
you have forty one points. You would hope that it
could be a little bit more of an even scoring
team effort, maybe even find ways to go to your
bench and get some guys that haven't gotten great minutes
like Joan Baron, Jay Jayalen Clark, but got to win
the game, and we did that, So you're not going
to look back in a couple of weeks and say
(02:33):
you barely beat them, but hey, we'll take the win.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah, I thought, you know some of these names and
like kind of a half G league roster that Memphis
is putting out there, And it made me think I
have Johnny k Johnny Krazinski on around around ten o'clock
this morning and talk more detail about this. But looking
at that game last night watching it, by the way,
we lost a high scoring affair to the grizz recently too,
(02:55):
so there are no pushover or at least our team
again makes a little more difficult than it has to be.
But how fleeting you think about it? Not too far removed.
Grizzly a second seed, they got Jaron Jackson, they have
Desmond Baine at the time, a healthy and engaged John
Morant as well. You're thinking, wow, this thing's a force, right,
and it just kind of it's a good reminder. Two
(03:17):
Western Conference Finals berths in a row for the Howl.
But how fleeting these moments can be when just a
few years ago people are thinking about how do you
get past the Grizzlies, and now it's a g League roster.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah, I mean it feels like it was yesterday when
John Morant said I'm fine in the West, right, that
came back to bite them a little bit. But nonetheless, yeah,
you look at the Grizzlies team and like, this is
a team that could really find ways to figure things out.
I'm a big Brandon Clark fan. I think Park's good. Yeah,
if I were to compare my game to anybody a
similar Brandon Clark would probably be my player comp back
(03:53):
in my day. But nonetheless, I always had, you know,
appreciation for the Grizzlies and what they were doing, but
now you look at the team, they're beat up healthwise.
Zach Edy, a guy I played against, he's out now
season under. But this is a Grizzlies team, and I
know it's tough.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
In the West.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Order we talk about how tough it is in the West,
but if you're the Timbrels, you have to look at
it as you go on throughout the rest of the season. Here,
I think it's the mature approach, right, taking care of business,
finding ways to win at home against lesser opponents, and
then go stealing some on the road. And Anthony Edwards
has been vocal about the fact that he wants to
win out, like he wants to find ways to propel
(04:29):
themselves into, you know, the playoffs. And I think this
team knows that they have enough pieces. They just had
to continue to find ways to put it together and
make runs in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Now he says he wants to win out, yeah, and
I do believe him. But actions and words, you know
how the old cliches go and such.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
The consistency of this team has been something that people
We've spent segment upon segment upon segment nine to noon,
you've talked about it with us, so many other guests,
those that cover the team and report it is this
and the way I put it on Monday when I
was in for PA, it's almost after watching that Nuggets game,
it's almost like you know.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Through the five stages of grief.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
At first you're denying it, then you're angry about it,
and and then you know you're bargaining, I believe is
the third. Then they're depressed about the whole thing. Why
can't they just do this every night? And then you
kind of learn to just accept it in some ways
do you kind of have to? I mean not half
of you have to, of course, because this is this
is where we're at.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
But you know, sixty two.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Games into this thing, you kind of you're you're in
that spot maybe where you're just accepting the fact that
this is what we got and we've now seen two
years in a row how good it can be in
the postseason. So maybe fret not and just continue on
and third spot or bust in the West for this team.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
I think you would hope that you were already there
as a Minnesota sports fan, right you would understand what
it takes to be one of us to be a
Minnesota sports fan, but yeah, I don't know. I think
this is a great opportunity for the Wolves, right as
you bring in some new guys in Iotisumu and here
here comes Kyle Anderson back in the mix, in the rotation.
(06:09):
And you know, Finchy has been pretty clear about the
fact that he doesn't really want to go past eight
when it comes to a playoff depth situation rotation.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So what does that look like?
Speaker 3 (06:21):
You know, obviously, you know nas Reed's gonna find himself minutes.
Iota assume was going to find himself minutes. But is
it Bowens Hyland, is it Kyle Anderson? Is it Jalen Clark?
And I think these next twenty games allow you the
opportunity to see, oh, maybe Mike Conley can give you value,
you know, so I think you have to find ways
to take care of business early in games so that
the second half of games and second third, fourth quarters
(06:43):
can be kind of an experience in a way. And
finch has the opportunity in the leeway to say, what's
going to give me the best possibility to win a
seven game series multiple times and find your way past
the Western Conference finals?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Did you find yourself like some fans going, man, it
would have been cool if we got ties.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, I saw the news.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I think he's signing with the Nuggets and just thinking
you mentioned Conley.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, we all love Mike.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, but my goodness in terms of the precipitous downfalls
that some of the elder statesmen may endure at latter
stages of their careers.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
But Tias Jones.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Was do you feel like we we missed out on
that or it would have been cool to have Tias
back here.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I thought it was gonna be a done deal.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I thought, yeah, I mean I looked at that situation
and said to myself, why would you Why would you not?
It's a it's a veteran guy that is arguably one
of the best in NBA history in taking care of
the ball. His assistant turnover numbers are you know, otherworldly,
and the veteran presence that he can bring. But I
understand the the youth in wanting a guy like Iodassumu
(07:44):
and Bones Highland to kind of be in that position.
And who knows if we even see much more of
Mike Conley, but the fact that he's been around here
for a while and those the system knows the people.
I really like where the Wolves are at, just in
terms of a unit, right in terms of a guy
like Kylelander, I think he's.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Perfect for what you want to do moving forward.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I talked about it yesterday, is you might get one
Kyle Anderson game where he gives you twenty minutes and
he's playing defense at a high level and he hits
a couple of threes, and you might get one. But
it's worth it for what the value that he can bring.
And we all remember the Kyle Anderson Rudy Gobert scuffle
and and that punch that was thrown, and the fact
that they can come back together for a common you know,
(08:25):
idea and pushing in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And this team is trying to win a championship.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
So whatever pieces we trust in Tim Conley and Chris
Finch and whatever pieces they think are most valuable, they're
going to be out on the floor.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Man, I can't wait for that slow mo three and
to be unleashed. Just the settling in. Normally you appreciate
the extra extra pass. It's going to take extra two
passes to give him the amount of time necessary to
unleash that thing.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yep, it's going to beautiful.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
He's been shooting it though he's I think that's something
that's underrated. Part of his game is is he's shooting
the ball very well right now. So I think it's
a guy that if he can give you per game,
why not let them fly?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
No, Absolutely, a couple more on the college team and
then I'll let you get on to enjoy the day.
Is Nico Medved just two more before the Big Ten Tournament?
The fourteen and fifteen Now wasn't John Wooden's Bruins, but
they did do some damage against UCLA. They get the
victory and Bobby Durkin and all those triples. But as
(09:21):
you look down at the first year of Nico Medved,
what impresses you For a team that had its struggles,
health issues abound, very very slim bench pickings, but a
team that fights and a team that there's clearly a
system with Nico that can be successful.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
He just needs more resources.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just happy for a Nico and
those guys that they get the opportunity to, you know,
put themselves in positions to win games.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I think it's a credit to Nico and his style
of offense.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I think it's a breath of fresh air for a
lot of Gopher fans watching Go for basketball.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It's hard for me to speak on it because I
was a part of it.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Oh yeah, but as a basket well pures, I'm loving
what I'm seeing from Nico.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
From the offense.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Four guys scored in that game against US, only four
players scored. That's six players played. Four players scored, so
kind of an unheard of thing. And then to beat
a team in Ucla, and then Ucla turns around they
just beat number nine Nebraska, So this wasn't like this
was some bad UCLA team. And in the Big Ten,
you never apologize for winning because it is really hard.
I think people don't understand the amount that goes into
(10:27):
to scouting and preparing and and this.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
GOP team, I think that's for Oregon.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
They're terrible because clearly there's what what whatever it is
that money funnel. Yeah, that's coming from Nike. Yeah, I
don't think a lot of it hits the hard ones.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah, Phil's not Phil is not putting it there, that's
for sure. But I think too, if you look at
the future of Gopher basketball, scouting is such an important
thing for these teams and Nico's teams are so hard
to scout because everybody's cutting, everybody's passing, everybody's shooting.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
And we talked about it this morning.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
What's the next step, Well, you got to get eyes,
you gotta get diamonds in the rough, and you got
to find ways to protect kind of your culture. But
I'm really excited about the future of Go for Basketball
and hopefully they can end on a high note at
Indiana tonight.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, at Indiana. Then they host Northwestern right Saturdays. I
like the senior bit and everything.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
So that's the last one before Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
In Chicago, and then you know what, if they win
the tournament, start dream weaving that way.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
The Ladies, by the way, are a first fire and
they're on freaking fire. That's on Friday, right, that's this week,
and the Ladies are ready to rock.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Oh my goodness, they are. And Mara Brown back and
healthy playing at an elite level. Tory McKinney's sparking at
Gray Kohoalski. I mean, this is a team, am I
A battle like, this is a team that they're really
clicking on all cylinders. And we talk about the basketball
seasons long, right, Like you don't want to peak.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
In December and in January and February. But this is
go for Weben's basketball team.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They're trending in the right direction, looking to peak, and
what a fun story that would be to watch them
in March get a couple wins, no.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Hey, thanks for spending a little bonus segment with me.
Thanks for having me, and I think we're going to
see you on Monday, you bet, and maybe even we.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Can have a special guest potentially, see if we can
make it happen.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Let's see, that's Parker Fox at Parker Fox two four.
You hear him weekly with the Power Trip Morning Show
and then also a regular here nine to noon chatting hoops.
To kick off a Wednesday, Wolves victorious last night the
Minnesota Wild, just throttle the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. Loving
that and that's big part of the timber Tech setlist.
See you later, Parker and TimberTech set list brought to
(12:30):
you by TimberTech dot Com.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
At ten o'clock Back to the Howl.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
With John Krasinski, I mentioned that, but at eleven o'clock
TV Vox Anthony La Panta will be in studio. We'll
chat about the Minnesota Wild. And next he was on
the radio call last evening. Alex Staylock, former goaltender Minnesota Wild,
Umd's finest, South Saint Paul's finest at the high school ranks.
He's gonna chat on the hot line. We'll talk about
(12:57):
the pro squad. We got trade deadline around the corner,
Pre's offsetting records. Robbie Fabrie, Hey, welcome to the mix.
All sorts of things to chat about with Alex Staylock. Next,
Brett Blakemore produces. I'm nordowin for PA on a Wednesday.
You're listening to the fan.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
See this one playing.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Out championship pedigree.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
You're right, a lot of guys have voice the cups,
maybe multiple on this group. And I think it's a
good meeting for these teams.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
It's a perfect time for them to be.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
Both teams coming in with two losses in their last
two games, and now you get a team rolling here.
Both teams top in their division, top in their respective conferences,
and these are the games you get up for as
these players. You talk about the big time players that
want to play in the big moments. I think You're
gonna see it tonight, and I think you're gonna see
a wild team take another step up in execution and
intensity against the Tampa team tonight.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That's the voice of former Minnesota whild goaltender Alex Staylock
on the broadcast call with Joe Donald last evening as
the Minnesota wild House the Visiting Lightning five to one,
and on the hotline right now, Connecticut Water Systems Hotline
is the aforementioned mister Staylock, How you doing, Alex?
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Good get a little bit of sleep last night? With
the late start national broadcast PLOMP is you know always
the Central times on Games Back, you get the six
o'clock start out to East and we get the lovely
eight forty eight puck drop in Saint Paul. So it's
the late bedtime, but it was well worth the wait.
We saw a record breaking moment last night on the
(14:36):
ice Recral Caprizo, and we saw a huge wild win
against the top team in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, not shabby at all last night.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I do want to dig into that game, Alex, but
you mentioned it is that's just kind of a yearly
complaint around here, right, I mean, as soon as we
get into the playoffs, it's eight thirty pm at the earliest.
It feels like that we get to watch our favorite team.
It's just not fair.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Well, our Superstars is death early for them. Our Superstars
the last few weeks have been used to the nine
to ten punt drop over in Milan. So this is
a little bit of an early put drop for those guys.
It was half the joke last night. They're used to
these late night games, but no, it is you sit
around all day, you have a later pregame skate usually
around noon. Now with the later put drop and something
(15:19):
while they're gonna have to get used to. They have
five national broadcast games this month alone, which obviously is
pretty special for a lot of those players that can showcase,
you know, their skill and you know, you see so
much of the Eastern Conference teams throughout the year, and
this team does get, you know, recognized finally the superstar
that they have on this roster, and to get five
(15:39):
games in a month is pretty special. And they come
back right back Sunday with the national broadcast in Colorado
with one o'clock Trump here in Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
How how much fun are you having doing the radio work?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Oh, it's awesome. I mean, I'm so fortunate to have
an opportunity to work with Joel. I've known Joel, I
spent time with him. Season I spent with the Iowa Wild,
it was twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, because Joe correct me
last night. I thought I was twenty fifteen, but he
was correcked. And you know, at that time, Joe's doing
(16:12):
everything for the Iowa Wild and in the American League,
that's a role that's you're most times that guy's doing radio,
he's doing travel, he's handing out per diem, he's doing flights,
he's doing hotels. I mean, you're you're doing pretty much
all the details behind the scenes. And I just knew
right away when I got to Iowa he was a
guy that I was like, I can't have fun with him,
(16:33):
and had a ton of fun. And we've always got along.
We've always kept in touch. Our kids are very similar
in ages, so not only do we run into each
other at youth hockey games in the winter, but his
boys played baseball as well, so we see each other
at a lot of tournaments. And now to be back
sitting with them in the Al Shaver press box and
calling games. It's just a ton of fun and we
(16:54):
enjoy it. We just hope there's never one of those,
you know, fifth grade deals where you just go on
a laugh attack and you can't talk. And we haven't
had that yet, which is good.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
To last week.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
You know exactly what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yes, absolutely can't even look at you.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
You can't even look at your buddy, and every time
you pick your head up, you start dying laughing. We
can't have any of goals on.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Air, no, no, please try to mitigate those. And with
last night's game, as you're watching it early on, you
get that goal from Faber and kind of survived that
first period from the lightning and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
But specifically the survival stage of it.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
It feels like like matchups can matter. And we've talked
about this before Nine to Noon, just kind of the idea,
you know, Wild, I'm trying to get my favorite team
just to get out of the first round, but certain
teams just really really the Wild matchup really well against
for instance, Edmonton historically, despite McDavid in Drysidel, Wild have
great luck against the Oil And then you can look
(17:55):
at Montreal another good example, but specifically against the lightning.
They got their cups and stuff. The Wild have kind
of handled the lightning in recent years, haven't they.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Yeah, it's so funny how that works in hockey. And
you know whatever, it is a hollow team likes to play.
And you talk about an Edmond team team that you
know they got high, high end talent up front, and
you know the Wild had the ability with the defense.
Now you've insert Jonas brodein into this lineup now and
(18:25):
they have the ability to shut down not only one
super good line, but two good line the depth they have.
You have Hughes in favor who you talk about Hughes
offensive game, Yeah, it's incredible. It's top two in the
league for defense. But he's so good defensively. He's smart
with his stick, he never reaching miss feed are so good.
He's always on the right side of the puck. You
talk about Broc Faber, you see what he does on
a nightly basis. He saw what he did at the Olympics.
(18:47):
He eliminates top lines night after night. And then you
come back with Chared Bergeon and Jonan Berdeen. Who would
be a number It would be a one to two
on eighty percent of the leagues in the league, or
eighty percent of the teams in the league. Sorry, but
it's it's a decor that you know, it's so strong.
And then currently you're five six or Jake Middleton and
Zac Pagosa. I mean, if you look at that going
(19:08):
into playoffs, you gotta be happy as long as that
group can stay healthy. It's a really good defensive court.
And you look what they did, example last night, and
they had a few chances here and there. Their power
play gets clicked, and you see what Kutarov can do
with the puck, and he's dangerous when he does have
the puck. But there wasn't a ton of great a's
on Phelipe Gustison and who out of break you know,
since the Olympics obviously didn't have the Olympics, he wanted
(19:30):
to for Team Sweden. But since coming back he's on.
He's been unbelievable for the while. And starting in Colorado,
he stopped forty four or forty five, and that huge
win in Colorado, you know, on the loss against Saint Louis,
even gives up two goals on twenty three shots, and
then again last night stops twenty four or twenty five
He's been quite the tear and you got to stick
your cap to the defensive group in front of you
that has limited Grade eight chances and kept shots for
(19:54):
the most part to the perimeter.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Hey, stupid question. The lord here Alex Brock Faber did
get that first goal night. I'm kind of curious as
you look at Brock's game kind of the combination of
playing with Hughes has the chance to of course evolve
and get better in his own right. I always think
about favor defense first. But he's got fourteen goals this year.
It's cool to see him picking his spots and finding
(20:16):
the net offensively as well. How do you parse that
out in terms of, well, he's playing with Hughes so
there will be extra chances, or is it just him
continuing to evolve and become a shining star right before
our eyes.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Oh no, that's not a dumb question at all. They're
stupid question. You you know, he's such a good player
defense first. You know, when you say that, maybe if
you look around the central and you see the Kale mccars,
you see the Miro heydskins, you see the Josh Morrissey
is the points they put up every year. Yeah, they
bring maybe a little bit more offense than Favor does,
(20:51):
but he still has that offensibility. I think he just
takes so much pride into playing a game similar and
more like to you know, a Charlie McAboy. You got
to watch what he did in the Olympics just this
past month, and I mean he plays so heavy. Even
when he gets offense, he takes it right. A guy
like Charlie mcivoy and Black Favor, but they're so good
(21:11):
with their feet and staying on the inside. And now
he's ending plays early in the defensive zone. You don't
see many extended shifts for those guys in their own
zone because they're so good at closing on guys just
when they know they have them in an area where
they can end up play. And now that allows that
line if he's you know, he's gonna be out there
with to is almost ninety nine percent of the time
(21:32):
to get up and play offense. As soon as that
group gets the puck, they want to go on attack,
and Hinds does a good job of getting his top
two lines out there with that deep hair, and the
faster they can get out of the defensive zone, the
more they can spend time in the offensive own and
where they're dangerous, they can work all their exchanges and
their scissor plays and seam players. And he saw that
last night on a few shifts. And yeah, you talk
(21:54):
about favority defense first. I don't know it'd be fun
to sit h indown and ask what he thinks. I
think he loves playing in the offensive zone. Any player
loves playing the offensive zone. I just think he's so
effective in the defensive zone and getting the puck and uh,
bringing the team into an offensive zone attack.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Well, I don't want to offend the guy, so I'm
not going to hit him with Yeah, just your defense first.
That's kind of all you can do. So it's cute
found money when you score a goal. Uh, he's terrisfic Man.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
You could have hit me with calling me an offensive
first goaltender, and I have no problem with that. I
never make a ton of saves, but I was always
thinking offense.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Just what it is you mentioned McAvoy.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Had you ever been a part of a of a
like a melee in the crease that required somebody like
a McAvoy to get behind you and try to play
big in front of a wide open net.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You ever have that happen?
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Oh yeah, I mean, believe it or not. My mouth
got me in a little bit of trouble sometimes in
the crease and there was a lot of melees around
her crease and uh, you know, but that saved macor
you know he made in the Olympic, or the Hello
Buck saved, the Malloy saved getting behind the goalie and
eliminating that shot is about to go across the goal
line being incredible. And there's been a lot of times
(23:06):
where where I had to have defenseman bailed me out
with trust me, but not on that type of stage.
I mean, at the world's greatest stage. It's it's pretty
dang cool.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Well it's it's it's a team game, there's no doubt
about that. Speaking of the team two.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
You mentioned you mentioned bro Dean coming back, So there's
the depth piece associated with it, just kind of you
not ambiguity, but just a little cloudy in terms of
when he'd find his way to the ice again as
we waded throughout the Olympic break. But awesome to have
him in the value of that depth. But I thought
he I thought he looked good last night.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Absolutely, and they had the fortune of having the Olympic
break and kind of a little built in rest time
for Jonas who you know, he's played heavy minutes playoffs
games in his career. He's played a lot of hockey,
a lot of hard hockey. And the one thing with
him is he's so underrated in this league. You know,
so many times when I talked to you know, other
(23:59):
people in the media, ex Players, when I was playing,
and I talk about Jonas verdein like, he's got to
be one of the best in the league. You know, people,
you gotta be Kidney. I'm like, I get to see
him on a daily basis. I played behind him. I
see what he does. It's just incredible. And you know
he's out for an extended period of time. It's his
first game back. He always questioned, you know, how's he
gonna feel, and he's gonna work his way into it.
It's gonna be you know, he's got feel out process.
(24:20):
And I mean, if he went to that game last
night as an unassuming fan, you'd have no clue that
he just did a spent that extended amount of time
on the shelf and not playing. He's just he's so
good with his feet like his puck skills. So going
to a corner and it's one on two and somehow
he comes out of it with the puck. It's it's
just incredible to watch. And they have him back in
the lineup. I know, defensive coach Jack Capuano, when he
(24:42):
looks on at that bench and he's got twenty five
backsit in front of him, he can flip him over
the boards against any line and any opposing team in
this league.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yeah, that's sweet. Now, we didn't get to see.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
A lot of this guy last night, but Robbie Fabric
by the way, Covin and cleanup thanks to Brett Blake Moore,
I said, fabriy. I believe last segment pronunciation matters nine
to noon and fabric is the correct way to put it.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I'm sorry about that, but I remember.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Seeing him pressure earlier days of his career with the Blues.
Moves on now finds his way to the Minnesota while
getting his first shifts. Is there a period of acclamation
with a new guy in the lineup or am I
just overthinking it?
Speaker 4 (25:23):
The biggest thing is, you know so many of the systems.
I don't want to say you know the systems in
the NHL are so every team is so different what
they're playing. It's a lot of it's similar for check
neutral's own defensives don't coverage, whether you're doing a man
on man or zone or whatever it may be. But
I think the biggest thing going into the locker room
is the terminology and the way a coach uses it.
(25:44):
And you know, saying the defensives on one coach calls
it a shrink and the other coach calls it a swarm.
It's the same thing, but just getting comfortable with what
the coach is calling it and what it may be
in the confusion. And you know, he's a professional, he's
a veteran. Now he doesn't he knows he had the
ability to go up to a coach and grabd match
precic say hey, what do you mean by this? What
do you mean by this? And I think he's going
(26:06):
to gravitate and learn from this system in a hurry.
I thought he was great last night. He was effective.
He had two greatest scoring chances, one in the second
where he showed that he still does have good speed,
got around the Tampa defender and the only thing to
stop him was the eleven inches of Asilaski's left pad
if he raises that, if he raises it as an
unbelievable goal. He had a chance in the first it
(26:27):
just rolled off his stick, but you know, he had
a big hit the neutral zone.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I thought he did.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Exactly what this wild team wants him to. Give him
a spark, bring a little bit of offense with some speed,
hungary on talks, and I think he did that. He
made a play two when the defense's owned from the
wall and popped it to the middle to you know,
a simple breakout. Those are the players that Hinens is
going to gain. Trust him. He's gonna get more time,
and I think you're going to see him play in
that bottom six row. I don't think it's always going
to be a four plying spot. There's a chance he
(26:52):
gonna be on that third line, and you know, if
he keeps up the way he played last night.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Another new guy to the mix was announced yesterday and
a lot of people are like, Okay, Billy g just
made made a move with the with the Predators. Oh,
Steven stat No, Michael mccaron, you do you know where
where you scrambling to get to know him a little bit?
Seen anything from him plays it. I mean he's six six,
(27:18):
so he's a freaking goliath out there on the ice.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
But anything you know about mister mccarrn uh.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
He played in talks the right way. He plays an
honest hockey game, and I think that's what Billy Garren appreciates.
And a player like mcaren to give up a second
round pick, you know, he's gonna make a difference here.
He brings eyes. You see what he's done to some
of the wild players, not what he's done, but what
he's got into some of the wild players. Middle Penny
spot him multiple times. He got into a Poleno in
(27:45):
the past, and the clips going all over the internet
right now with Zucarello. Zucarello, you know, had like a
fired bucks and swing right at the top of his kneecaps,
And I heard Billy talked about it last night. It
was a pretty good acting job. He's not gonna win
any Oscars for how he react did it to that slash,
But no, he's going to be effective. He can get
in a circle, he can win face offs with the
(28:06):
wild looking for he's going to penalty kill. He can
bring offense. But he's a big body and come playoff time,
he's an effective player. He's played playoff games. And you know,
I think it's a great acquisition for this group. And
do I think they're done. Perhaps not. It's just gonna
be interesting what's going to fall here in the next
few days leading up to the trade deadline on Friday.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, indeed, I you know, perhaps not in what the price.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Everybody just assumes Vinnie Trocheck's going to be here by
the time the Friday deadline hits. With with mcaren though,
before moving on winning the face offs, you mentioned that
specifically de zone face offs.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I make this joke every once in a while.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
It feels like we haven't won a face off since
Koivu was still playing. I mean, just the trouble this
team has had in spots in terms of finding somebody
that can win fifty at a fifty five percent clip,
you know, and maybe McCarran helps with that.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Yeah, you know, it's not all on the centerment as well. Well,
And you know, the wingers got to help out on
draws and it's such a hard skill and you know,
you have guys in there that are just h you know,
competitors and want to puck to Hartman's ericsonaxtterms. You know
he's done on a couple of teams. You're up, who's
a young young forward, You'm center in this league trying
(29:19):
to figure out it takes time and you know, if
you're of it's it's something we will dealt with his
wild fans for so long with with Eric Sinak and
early on in his career, it was always the comparison.
We'll look at professor what he's doing in Vancouver. You know,
he'll go profess when he's putting up goals, and everybody's
be patient, Be patient, I think find the fans are realizing, Okay,
look at what Eric Sinac does on a nightly basis
(29:41):
now for this team, and you're off, he's similar, similar
in a way where's he's so intelligent? Is hockey i
Q so great? It's just going to take time for
him to figure it out. And he's going to become
stronger and stronger every year in the face off circle.
And it's just one of those things that it's not
their strength right now, but that's just as of now,
and you can always get better at that. Billy did
(30:02):
that and went and grabbed Michael mccarena and also fabric
has the ability to jump in and take face offs.
And you know, I'll veteran almost five hundred games in
this league, Robbie Favry, he can get in there and
help in the faceoff circle as well. And No, it's
just it's something that needs improvement. I'm sure it's talked about.
It's worked on every day pre and polls, practice, and
(30:23):
you hope to see it start turning the other way
and getting more a little bit more strength in the
face off circle.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
How much does this this extra day here before they
go to Vegas? How much does that rest matter? I
mean we're all kind of you know, dug into Wow,
look at Quinn Hughes jet setting across the country back
and forth to New York and then he's back in
his sweater scoring a sweet goal against the Lightning.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
The next day. Like, how much does that extra day
you think matter?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Just some extra disease, get the nap schedule back in
regular rhythm again and be ready for those golden nights
on Friday night.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Well, Quinn Hughes is different. I think he just plugs
in at night. I don't know if he sleeps or what,
but his schedule, he's been on is unbelievable and I
just can't I can't figure out he's never showed energy.
But we joked about that last night on air with
Joel Is that what would Billy like to trade for
right now? And I said, I think he'd like to
trade for a night asleep for a lot of his
(31:16):
players first and foremost, and then maybe go for for
a top top to mine center. But yeah, these two days,
obviously today being a day off for the group and
well deserved a you know, big win, and obviously not
get in the bed probably for most of them until
two am last night, but he won the row for
two tough games and rest as the weapon. That's what
(31:39):
the players always joke about when they want a day
off as the rest as weapon. But truly, this time
of year, it really is. And it seems weird to
say coming out of an Olympic brick where he just
said two and a half weeks off for most of
the guys, but it's the time of year where this
schedule is just sold dense and you're not going to
have many opportunities where you have two days off. Yeah,
so it's it's a great time for this group to
get a little rest.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Yeah, And as with any L players playing in the Olympics,
whether it's four Nations or some other bid up the
sleeve of mister Bettman. In the NHL, these sorts of
schedules are probably going to become the norm. Eighty four
regular season games too. Time for a couple more, Alex staylock.
You heard him last night last a couple of games
actually on the radio, the radio call with Joe Donald
providing some hockey analysis. I got this via the text line, Alex,
(32:22):
you know you know Pete Bursich, right, oh yeah, yeah,
the fellow analyst. Right, if it was If it was
just one, I wouldn't have said anything. But the text
lines rolling in, I thought that was Bursach trying to
talk wild for a minute smiley laughing emoji, then Mark
(32:43):
and saying, wow, sounds like Pete Bursich talking hockey today.
And then another tuned in mid segment and was wondering
why Bursch was talking hockey. Alex, sounds just like him.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
How about that?
Speaker 1 (32:54):
You sound like Pete Bursich's incredible.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
I mean, that's good to hear. The first that's all
been sent in via the top line. I didn't get
that last night on a I read hotline intermission, so
it was none of that. When Falmas brought up all
the questions, I was worried. When they do the texting questions,
I'm like thought, gosh, what could be texting, especially some
of my buddies. I can only imagine what he sees.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Well, I got to be honest the next day you do.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Now that you've given me that idea, I'm gonna be
hitting that six four six eighty six hard during the intermission.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
It's a total well, hey, extreme.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
High school, high school.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Well, actually, before I get to the high school side
of things, South Saint Paul's finest Alex Staylock on the
nine to noon show this morning, Carell capriz Off. It
didn't didn't mention that, but but you're at the arena
last night. Uh, probably getting some heck from his from
his boys because he gets number two twenty on an
empty netter, like come on, man, they're just kind of
giving it to you there. But but he passes Mary
(33:53):
and Gaberick in lightning speed, like three hundred and eighty
one ish games I believe. I think it's three eighty
one and Gabriick with the the congratulatory video and such.
What was that like with the Carill Love when when
he iced that thing last night, it was pretty cool and.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Joe had a great call on that. I think his
direct words or move over Mary, and which was you
know Mary Gabrick who when the mission first game back
to Minnesota, who was the superstar here? He was at
that time? He was so fast in the league in
the early two thousands. The game was a lot different,
but you know there's similar players. They're electrifying when they
(34:28):
get to puff. There the type of players that you know,
the crowd gets on their feet, there's a whisper in
the building.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
You just hear it.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
It sounds different when Carell gets the buck, something's gonna happen.
And you're starting to see it as well when when
Quinn Hughes gets the puck. But he's been that way
since day one, since he scored his overtime winner against
the La Kings here during the COVID shortened year. It's
just it's been so fun to watch. I mean, just
being at youth drinks. I mean every team might get
plays against, there is a ninety seven on that team.
(34:57):
It just shows that the impact he's had on this
hockey community. He loves that. He always has a smile.
He loves the game as such a good superstar and
role model for our kids to look at on a
nightly basis. And we're lucky to have him and to
get where he did already and franchise history scoring is
pretty incredible. It's gonna be fun to watch what he
(35:17):
can do with, you know, for the rest.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
Of his career.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
So impressive. Indeed to the high school ranks. High School
Hockey Attorney kicks off starting at eleven. It's here Tibbet
and Dodge County. So you you were a member of
South Saint Paul, you went to the tourney, it was
like four And what was that experience like? And are
you still locked in? It sounds like you're still locked
in on the tourney even today it is.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
Yeah, I am locked in. I mean maybe not as
great as the I know Kevin gorg is extremely locked in.
He conkered into this whole thing. I I'm gonna go
find a spot to grab some launch and try to
watch the eleven o'clock start and I just love the
kickoff to it. And I'll be you know, teachers, I
remember you know, I'm agent myself. But it's a turny time.
(36:01):
You know, it was a turny time as an elementary
student at Seal St. Paul when the when the portable
TV would come on, the four wheel cart and your
door would open. It was time to just sit around
the TV and and watch all the studs of you know,
the mid nineties of Jefferson's and it's a great time
of year. And I know our kids look forward to
going to school. They come home they talk about their
(36:22):
teacher turned the tournament on and it's like, it's so
great that that gets done. But no, it's special. I
mean any team that gets to go you're playing with
you know, your your kids who played with the UT
hockey from squirts all the way up. And when you're
a squirts, do you think you were going to make
the state tournament? No, it's just a pipe dream. You
see it on TV. You're like, there's no way possible.
And then he gets high school And for us, did
(36:44):
we have the most skilled No, but we we got
We got along so well as a group, We had
so much fun. We played every sport together and at
the end there's just no one's stopping us. And you know,
it's a group that when we get together, we still
talk about, we still be s about, and you know,
it's a ton of and I'm looking forward to the
next team, the next team that's going to surprise somebody
(37:04):
at the tournament. Uh, who's gonna have the bleach hair?
Who's gonna say what when they get out to the camera.
It's it's a great time.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Here, Absolutely it is.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
And I don't mean to put you on the spot,
but do we know when we're going to get to
hear you with Joe again? Or just still getting the
schedule put together. It's been a blast listening to you
the last couple.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Yeah, we're still putting the schedule together, Joel. Yeah. I
hope I haven't bugged Joe too much. I tried to
text him. He won't answer me, So maybe he's already
sick of meybe this veg this this Vegas trip, Vegas, Colorado.
Perhaps I'll join the group and and be with Joe
(37:44):
on air. And I was hoping to make it down
to uh some of the state tournament and bringing uh
my kid down there and check it out. But if
I go on the road, that'll be just as fun
to see. Uh. Obviously a game down in the Fortress
in Vegas and then uh, you know, a great battle
in Colorado Sunday.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
No, that's awesome, man.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Hey, thanks for giving me time after a late one
at Grand Casino last night.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
We'll catch up again soon, all right.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
I do gotta say congratulations the team services Minneso Wild
Team Services extraordinaire. Should I call him Dominic Kenning who
his wife delivered their first baby, Kelly Marie Henning yesterday.
So I was exciting news for the Wild family the
addition of one. So will mom is healthy, baby is healthy.
(38:30):
So it's all good news on that front.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Dude. That's awesome man. We should have led with you.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
Yeah, so exciting. Yeah, they were there first, and uh,
you know, it's pretty pretty special. And just before a game,
all the boys got the text that she delivered a
healthy baby. So it was awesome news.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Oh hell yeah, man, congrats you said it is Dominic,
and then it was Kelly Marie.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
Kelly Marie's the baby. Nicole is the wife. Yes, there
a six pound, twelve once baby. So member of the
Wild fan base has has arrived as of yesterday.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Get sickman on the he's got to get the baby
a onesie and do a little celebration in house.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's that's awesome. Man, Hey, thanks again, and will you
be Are you going to.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
Be at Grand Casino tonight at six oh one for
the Mankato Scarlets tilt against the delan O Tigers.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
No, I'm going to be on my couch watching that game.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Man. I mean, it's uh, it's it's it's a tough
it's a tough draw for the Scarlets. But I'm absolutely
going to watch Mankato West and Delano today.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Word is the tender of the sophomore Blake Brecky has
the ability to steal a game or two in this tournament.
So I'm excited to watch that because you know, if
a goalie gets hot this time of year, they can
go on a run.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
That's what I That's what I hear.
Speaker 5 (39:38):
Man.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
No, I I I I've read a little bit about Brecky.
I'm not going to pretend that I know their roster
up and down. It's just it's it's red and white.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
I'm in on them.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
I'm from Fankato, so I'm going to root for him.
But I have specifically heard that Brecky's kind of a
unit man that he can. He can absolutely win a
game for him today he.
Speaker 4 (39:54):
Was unbelievable in the section for him And like I said,
you get feeling it this time of year and anything
can happen. It's one game similar to the Olyptics, and yeah,
I'm excited. I'm excited. These kids just playing for an
eighteen thousand fans for the first time. Anything can happen
on on that ice. So it's a day one of Attorney.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Indeed, I'm going to hit that text line next time
you're on the radio, all right, please don't.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I'll see that's Alex stay Lock.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
Whether it's the Minnesota Wild radio network, you hear him
doing some work for them, former Minnesota Wild goaltender and
of course South Saint Paul's finest as Attorney approaches today
at Grand Casino Arena. Thanks to Alex for giving me
some time this morning. We're gonna get some vikings news
around the corner. In relation, we got QBS being it's
set to be released from their favorite teams. Suddenly. Maybe
(40:45):
our favorite pass rusher is up for trade. What's that
all about? We can chat about that text line six
four six eight six Brat, Shawn Bryant, KFA and text
lines open for business. And then at ten am Johnny
Athletic John Krasinski of the Athletic will join me as
we jump back into the Howl after their win last
night over the Grizz. Brett's here, I'm Nordo. Thanks for
(41:05):
hanging out with us nine to do another fan.
Speaker 6 (41:09):
The Fan celebrates our five thousand dollars winners and the
iHeart Radios think a teacher's hired by donors Shoes. There's
still time to nominate a public school teacher making a difference.
They could be next to win five thousand dollars to
make over their classroom.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
You can do it now.
Speaker 6 (41:24):
iHeartRadio dot com slash teachers. iHeartRadio dot com slash teachers.
Do you have a favorite teacher back in the day, Brett,
I mostly blocked that stuff out at this point.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Really, you think like if you asked me to go
in my high school and list off the I would struggle.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
I mean, it doesn't it doesn't have to be like
Dead Poets Society or you know, lou Diamond Philips came
and deliver, But but you don't have any Robin Williams
from that Yeah for me, Yeah, it was, well, it's
it's tenth grade history teacher. Social studies teacher. Mister sipe
Mankato west was was one of my favorites.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
A Ms.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Linvall, an English teacher I had freshman year man. I
gave her hell Holy Cats as she a saint for
dealing with idiots like me. But she was tremendous. There's
a couple that stand out. No offense to any of
my other teachers, is I don't you know, I haven't.
I don't have any issues that would require me to
block out anything. So I mean, this is a safe space, Brett,
(42:25):
if you.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Just let me know. But thank a teacher. How about that?
Thank you teacher?
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Many many people to be thanked on a daily basis,
including those participating in the text line. Next up, Minnesota
Wild at the Golden Nights. That's a Friday night affair.
Friday night weeks done. Slide down the back of the
Dinosaur at five pm. Call it a week, Nordo, this
is John the mil carrier. You've opened a can of worms.
(42:53):
The whole station has bit undertones. Everyone will blow up
the text line the next time, Alex stay Lock, I
was thinking of that.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Uh good, terrific six four six eight six obvious.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
You know, be respectful and everything, but ask Alex some
good questions and make it lively on a Friday night,
make Kevin Falness have to weed through a title wave
of text messages, whether it be Friday night, whenever, whenever
his next bit is a side alongside, We'll do it anytime,
whether it's Tom, it's Alex. Anybody, just pump up the
(43:28):
text line and get involved with this wild team who, thankfully,
after two straight l's, just dominated the lightning last night
to Viking's News, this will be probably a larger conversation tomorrow,
certainly Friday, and then of course as the NFL season,
we've barely taken a breath post Combine or really even
(43:50):
post Super Bowl, a little bit of that lull for
about a week before everyone heads to Indy and the
steamrolling begins from an intel standpoint. But Monday is the
legal tam tampering period, right, So that's when that's when
the deals are done, and then free agency, I believe,
in ernest begins on Wednesday. The league year begins, and
all those deals that we hear about on Monday and
(44:12):
Tuesday and Wednesday morning. They can become official sometime on Wednesday,
so effectively free agency starts on Monday.
Speaker 2 (44:21):
But talker Tuesdays.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
I mentioned it in the open almost prophetic as it
was yesterday, and it's just kind of throwaway. You're a
Vikings fan. I'm a Vikings fan. I'm an adult child,
and I want my favorite team to win every single game.
And what I watched in twenty twenty five wasn't good enough.
The GM was let go, and now Rob Brazinski feels
like you should just be the GM. But we'll see
(44:43):
that work itself out over the next couple next couple
of months.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
But we's just done a talker Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Hey, if I told you Kyler Murray was being added
to the QB room of the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 4 (44:58):
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (45:00):
And we did a bunch of talkbacks on it yesterday
and a lot of jokes, you know, the call of
duty bits always in play, arm punts and all of
those things. Maybe he can join the Minnesota Twins, and
he can play for both teams, given his proclivities for
baseball and given the fact that the team, well, I
don't know if it's exactly.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
An open tryout territory down in Fort Myers.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
But things are looking grim from a health standpoint, maybe
from a salary standpoint as well, with the favorite baseball team.
But then the news comes out yesterday the Cardinals do
indeed intend to release him, and you're gonna let the
it's gonna be doom scrolling and it's going to be
hyper timeline refreshing. That's all going to begin on Wednesday,
(45:40):
when the league year begins and Kyler Murray is officially
released from the Cardinals. So there's kind of two it
feels to me on a Wednesday, a week from now,
a week in advance of free agency. Two, it's two
routes for me. It's Kyler Murray or it's Gino Smith.
(46:00):
Now I have a week, so this could change drastically.
That's the fun thing about making opinions. They're subject to change.
But as of today, on a Wednesday morning, how does
it hit you it's either Geno Smith or it's Kyler Murray.
Geno is a bridge to McCarthy. If you add Geno Smith,
(46:21):
you still are thinking about the pathway to JJ McCarthy
becoming the starter in the long term. Geno is a
bridge Kyler Murray might be different, a more interesting situation,
potentially a dilemma for the Purple with Sam Darnald in
(46:42):
twenty twenty four, him moving on. The impetus for that
really is the idea that okay, tenth overall pick injured
all of twenty twenty four. Good thing that we had
what we thought was a bridge in Sam Darnald performs
incredibly well well, sacked a ton, lose the game at
the Rams, and he moves on. The idea was JJ
(47:05):
McCarthy is the a plan, that's the plan moving forward.
That's why we are okay with wishing Sam Donald the
best of luck and hope everything works out for him
in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
Well it did, didn't it.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
It worked out at a high level for mister Donald,
and we saw what we saw from the ten games
of JJ McCarthy in twenty twenty five. Gino Smith is
that bridge in twenty twenty six. I believe where you're
adding him because you believe that certainly competition, I think
Gino wins that job. Another year of sitting, another year
(47:43):
of learning, maturation, that that puts JJ McCarthy in a
spot to start in twenty twenty seven. Adding Kyler Murray
is interesting because if Kyler Murray comes here now, first
of all, I keep seeing it. If it is truly
just veteran minimum deal, multiple teams would be interesting. It'll
(48:04):
cost you, I mean, it's not going to cost twenty million,
but maybe it costs five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
million dollars for for Kyler Murray's services. This is another
spot where I feel like he's started. Now.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
If it goes super well, that's a dilemma.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
If it's kind of disastrous, then Kyler drives the coach insane, well,
that becomes it's a bridge in its own right. But
if Kyler's good, is that the end of JJ McCarthy's
run as a starter or competing for a starter in Minnesota?
Is the is it? Is it a backup for him?
(48:45):
If it goes really well, you're not picking up the
fifth year option. If it goes really well, you're potentially
whatever the contract would look like at this stage, you're
extending a Kyler Murray and potentially trading the former tenth
overall pick to give him an opportunity at his own
reclamation project with another city.
Speaker 2 (49:03):
And that's where I look at it. A week a
week in advance.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
Gino Smith the bridge a potentially more interesting dilemma for
the Purple with Kyler Murray, but those feel like the
two front runners at this stage. We're gonna pause and
jump back into text line, have we lost our minds?
Murray gets hurt more than JJ.
Speaker 2 (49:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
Two of the last three years. Two of the last
three years have been a problem. Indeed, I don't disagree
with you there, But that's where it feels like a
week in advance of free agency, Gino.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Smith or Kyler Murray? How does that hate you?
Speaker 1 (49:37):
We're gonna pause and we're going to get to Johnny
Athletic right around the corner. But of course, the news
coming out yesterday the chefter post on X that the
Vikings are open to trading Jonathan Grenard. There's some things
to factor in and discuss in relation to that, and
we're going to get to that during the second hour here.
But Johnny Athletic John Krazinski joins me next
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