NHL Draft Roundtable | HOUR 2 | Travis Yost says the JJ Peterka addition could put the Utah Mammo…
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welcome on back everybody happy Friday to you happy NHL draft day happy postNBA draft i’m glad to have that thing in the rear view with this whole Ace Bailey stuff oh my gosh i could go the rest of my life without hearing whether or not he’s going to show up to a press conference or not come on gosh darn it omar Cooper takes his place in Utah sports history uh who was more damaging to the reputation of uh of of their client i’m trying to think of like massive screw-ups
oh who was uh Gordon Hayward’s agent i forget i mean he was a really prominent agent or something like that well but you know what he did too though he got him paid man you could you can’t say he did his job i mean Gordon wanted to go to boss i mean he did his job
took an image hit
geez
took an image hit
the way that was handled was sloppy
well the reality is is that uh
you get a very Mark Bartlestein of priority don’t you get a very I think Lavar Ball maybe Lavar Ball and uh Omar Cooper those are the two like most meddling non-aggents in the history of uh of the NBA actually did worse for their kids and the reality was is those kids are pretty darn good you know uh
they didn’t need your help my heavens thank heavens we don’t have to deal with that with the NHL i mean I know there’s egos out there but when you’re talking about guys that are on the farm
I don’t I heard that Brady Martin’s junior hockey coach is a whack job
i heard Brady Martin is is milking cows at the draft it’s part of a demonstration all right uh
we’re making all that up
no yeah that’s not true
but apparently it was on the farm this morning all right joining us on the program right now by the way our show brought to you by G2G bars all natural ingredients and no preservatives the G2G bar is the perfect protein bar let’s kick off the hour with the cut right here and Travis Yos joins us from TSN so let’s do it it’s time for the biggest story of the day this is what made the cut with JJ and Alex on 975 the KSL Sports Zone and this portion of the show brought to you by an incredible selection of Kia Subaru Chevy Jeep Dodge or Ram it’s your Doug Smith family of dealerships now welcoming the Mitsubishi brand into American Fork nobody knows cars like Doug give him a shot travis Yos joins us right now uh I was up in Canada last week Travis and uh TSN is obviously heavily uh heavily represented of course as you every TV station that’s sports related is TSN and so I thought oh our guy our guy uh Travis Yos he’s a TSN guy but I I I was uh I was short on I was trying to scout people out in B any hockey players sadly just a bunch of us tourists up there so I didn’t do my job as a as a as a scout but welcome to the program happy NHL draft day here buddy did you just sneak in that you were in B was that I mean that that hurt because that’s one of the nicest places on earth so nicely done
and for people in Utah like we know the mountains we know like mountain lakes and and beautiful peaks and things like that it was different man i’m not saying it’s like better i’m saying it was a different version of what I’ve been used to and man I was uh I was I’ve been shorted my whole life of uh of of that place man so it was a really really cool place to go but yeah you’re right uh but now we’re all back to work especially you and this time of year is is very aggressive in terms of all the things you got to get figured out this is a this is a headscratcher of a draft for us it’s not good for us we’re already starting to learn we’re already trying to learn this uh this league year after year this is only our second draft as we covered last year for so much of it but this is one of those drafts that we can’t really wrap our head around there’s not a there’s not a generational talent like we’ve seen the last two years there’s not um the one thing that we know about this draft is one two uh seems by the way I was dying at your Ace Bailey comments um by the way short short list of as you were talking short list of players who might be in the same boat as Ace Bailey would be Otan’s agent and Fred Taylor formerly the Jaguars agent i think both of them got wrenched by their agents but uh nevertheless going to the draft
no NHL no NHL agents by the way
no no no no no uh the the the the one thing we know about this draft and where I think there’s a very interesting wrinkle for Utah is one two seems to be very heavy consensus that it’s going to go Schaefer and and Misa one two so you can effectively take those two off the board it would take a miracle for either of those two to get as far as four um but that poses a really interesting question we were talking last week a little bit about this but uh Anton Fondelle um Swedish player very um it’s easy to draw a comp to an Alex Barop type player because of the the European connection and the way they play very robust very early on as as quality two-way players um that is the name that you know Fondell is pencled in as the you know in mo in many mocks not all of them as the third likely name off the board i’d be going for the Blackhawks um but if he slips to me that like we were talking about last week like hey if JJ Perk is available you make that call this would be the version of that for Utah at the draft if Anton Fondell slips out of that three slot um that I think that Utah takes not only keeps the pick but uses it there and further entrenches their forward pool and then by the way that opens up a new question or discussion about whenever you’re drafting inside of the top five you’re going to get an impact forward who’s probably one year or less um in some cases they already are NHL ready uh definitely a young man’s league in the modern era uh there then becomes a question of oh we now have this really promising stable of forwards uh does a trade idea manifest here to back Bill Kessle ring as part of the Turk trade i mean there’s a lot of machinations there that said if Fondell does clip there’s kind of a a Gatling gun of names whether it’s Brady Martin or Porter Martone James Hagens uh we’ve heard the Islanders are looking to cash in multiple first round picks that they just recently acquired in a Noah Dobson trade to move up there so there is going to be a flurry of activity likely starting at five maybe four i am fascinated to see if Fondell goes three though because that will ultimately dictate I think how the next few picks shake out yeah I’m looking at the athletics latest mock draft just picked one for fun and they got Schaefer Misan Fondell going and if that’s the case and and Utah’s on the board um and they’ve got to pick somebody we’re hearing like it’s been all over the place i mean who knows but this um you know Dan Dana is the guy that’s uh seems to be slotted there number four what do you know about him and and and why would that be the choice at four over some guys like James Hagens or Porter Martone so you know I I think it’s a good comp with Hagens because in his case very strong two-way his pedigree is a very strong defensive player that’s kind of what he’s building himself as um and on top of that tremendous postseason success playing in the Quebec Junior League hagens is an interesting name for two reasons number one um I think the Islanders he is a Long Island boy as is Travis Yos for that matter um but James Hagens James Haggins is a very I I don’t want to say one way because I think it diminishes it but you’re drafting him for the agility the playmaking the offensive skill and hoping you can round out the defensive play and that’s not to say he can’t or can’t but um he’s more of the highlight reel collegiate player uh he was by the way James Hagens a year ago if you go back and look 12 14 months back James Hagens was number oneish um in many of the mock drafts um kind of neck andneck with Schaefer there so the other thing too is if you let’s say Fondell does go three and let’s say Utah does see Hagens as the next best available le with let’s be honest there is a very real probability that Utah’s draft board does have Hagens as the fourth best player do they look at engineering a trade in that spot right there with the New York Islanders especially in light of the Purka deal you’ve got another forward in your group do you trade back and and maybe you acquire pick up a first and a second round pick and and you know a lower first and a second round pick and leverage some of the new draft capital further down the draft maybe to address the blue line there’s a few ways they can they can go with it let me let me say it this way though um if if Utah was in an uncomfortable position with are they going to draft Ace Bailey or not and what does this end up looking like they are in um I’m blanking on the phrase but let’s let’s call it the driver’s seat for what they can do with the draft here we’re talking about a team that was already um and I say this complimentary mediocre relative to the competition a fringe playoff contender a year ago their trajectory is upwards not downwards um based on the moves they have made going into next year it would not be crazy for them to trade down from this pick it’s kind of a luxury they’re here they are certainly not the fourth worst team in the league or they’re not even remotely close to it so is there a possibility they actually trade down i think that I think that’s on the table now in light of the moves this week
yeah I think Bill Armstrong uh you know having the cards you know that he’s he’s got the he’s got the power play to be able to make sure that he does what he wants and obviously what made that possible also during all of this was the trade that we saw of course them pull off and nobody loved to see uh Kessle Ring and Don leave but I I think that uh uh I I think that I think that being able to make the move that they did how did they improve that forward line with the trade that they made this week and what does it make this this draft look like for this team obviously it does make uh the ability to be able to move around a lot better
it it’s a huge deal i honestly I if I if I first off if I could grade that trade it’s an A um and the player they acquired is an A+ i went and let me work in reverse order here let me talk about Turk first we were talking last week um and his name was on the rumored trade block and it didn’t really sound like the Savers wanted to move him a guy who scored uh by my account 54 goals in the last two seasons those and and costcontrolled and young um with upside trajectory those are typically not players you want to trade uh but also when you’re a franchise in the midst they of a 14-year playoff drought and you’re hearing um a lot of smoke that certain guys don’t want to extend or resign there as was rumored with Purka i I think the Savers had to look around and say “Okay what can we reasonably get for this guy if we cannot extend him?” Because if we don’t extend him we know an offer sheet’s going to come uh and I’ll say this um yeah the 54 goals in over a two-year stretch for a very young player is very impressive to me the the really important part of Purka though is how he fits into this top six i mean you look at Utah’s top six forward group now and compare it around the league it’s not Edmonton or Colorado but man I mean compare them to a Vegas or a Dallas they really are not that far off at this point especially if you’re bullish on the development of guys like Gunther and Culie clayton Keller is already an all-star caliber player they are just loaded with weaponry and if you want if you want to get away from just goals there’s more to the game it’s about creating goals not just scoring goals even though Purk is a goal scorer if you look at advanced measures like goals above replacement which really measures the totality of a player’s impact offensively defensively all game states penalty uh penalty kill power play his numbers Purka’s numbers over the last two years and I put this table on on Twitter earlier in the week they compare to guys like Tim Stutzel in Ottawa Alex Barov in Florida Sam Reinhardt in Florida uh Jack Hughes in New Jersey i mean we’re talking about firstline caliber talent and now let’s talk about the acquisition cost to me Kessle Ring was a extremely promising player you saw I thought he was one of the big breakout players of the inaugural season in 2024 2025 for Utah and let let’s just be honest replacing a top four defender is not the easiest thing in the world so that there there’s a there’s some degree of a step backwards there but from a trade totality perspective and it’s not it’s not to rain on Josh Don but do we do you know how many weeks separate the age gap of Purka and Don it’s two they are two weeks apart and we we talk about Don I I think professionally and respectfully as they is still a developmental player we’re talking about Purka as this guy slots in to every second line in the league and on probably the some of the talent thinner teams maybe even a first line for that matter so to me if you’re making a one for one trade and you’re trading a second pairing defenseman for a guy who’s capable we’ve already seen of scoring 30 goals in a in a given season that’s a trade you make seven days in the week great A from Bill Armstrong well done and by the way uh a fiveyear 7.5 million uh contract extension yeah year one the cap hit might be a tiny bit rich but with the cap growing so significantly we saw this in the NBA about what four five six years ago when the new Turner deal kicked in um the cap the cap ceiling is going to rise dramatically that means you can take on way more risk from a cap hit perspective and I I contrast this we just saw and I don’t want to get into too much minutia but Edmonton signs a a fringe you know third line forward Trent Frederick uh on a on a on a cap hit that’s like it’s a $3 million cap hit they sign him for eight years and the argument is well the cap’s going up so of course his contract fund it’s like you can still take on term risk right and the point with Purka is they kind of found that sweet spot of a five-year deal he will age at and through the prime of his playing career while only making a little over $7 million a year for a guy who likely factors to score 30 goals a season that’s a bet you make seven days a week again
I thought that they would have to put a draft pick in there to make this deal happen they didn’t how did they make this deal happen and I guess basically what I’m asking is what’s wrong with the Buffalo Sabres it is I you know what it’s um Well again I’ll work in reverse order winning begets winning losing begets losing right and I I’ve made this point about the Vegas Golden Knights a thousand times over but there is a reason that players want to play in Vegas and it is not just because Nevada’s state income tax is generous and favorable to players who live there i am sure that weighs on them but people want to win title they want to play with other good players and when you have a culture of losing as the Sabres have done time and again and by the way kind of oddly um and this is coming from a Bills fan for that matter very interesting dichotomy between how the bill Bills are run and and how the team spends on them versus how the Sabres are run and how the team spends on the Sabres uh very loose in the uh very loose in the pockets versus very tight respectively and this is not the first or second player who has somewhere between explicitly said versus strongly inferred uh that you know he’s not really interested in spending a long period of time in in the Savers organization it does make me feel bad to some degree for the Savers um because it it is hard to retain talent when that is your culture um but you know that is the boon that is the tailwind that that got Utah that put Utah in the driver’s seat and I will say I I am just going to be honest maybe I’m too uh upside heavy on Purka but I one I really don’t see what the counterargument is to that and two uh this would not be the first or second or third bad trades that the Savers have made in the last couple of years and by the way let me go one step further you know the the single fleeting concern about Purka which I would say I would acknowledge even if you’re talking directionally is fair is way more of a scorer and and secondarily a playmaker the defensive game leaves a lot to be desired and you know what player I heard that about i heard that about to a tea about Jack Eel who then went on to win a Stanley Cup and now is probably known as a better defensive player than he is offensive player for the Golden Knights funny how that works travis Yos TSN that’s where you can find his by line and uh does a phenomenal job of caring uh talking to us about all this stuff and helping us understand a little bit more uh about what goes on with this NHL draft uh if you are the Utah Mammoth and you have the the ability to be able to make a trade what do you get for a fourth for a fourth overall pick in terms of quality of talent that can make an impact now oh fascinating question um I I’ll say this um if the if Utah trades out of that pick it is likely that it is going to be not for some you know impact player coming back to their roster it is much much like orders of magnitude more likely uh you guys can clip farm this when I’m wrong by the way um but it is much more likely that uh they they trade it’s a one to many deal where they’re trading a first for a lower first and a second or something to that effect you see these tradeowns commonly in all four of the big the big leagues but you know if I look at it from Utah’s perspective and it’s like hey look if there’s any you know it’s it all depends just like the NBA right it all depends how their board shakes out if they see it the way I see it and I’m just one person right where there’s a maybe a little bit more of a clear top three and then maybe from four through nine it’s a little bit more mysterious and ambiguous and my confidence might wayne a little bit uh maybe trading down to the 15th 16th pick and getting I don’t know a pick in the 30s uh that to me is very very desirable because you know one you you’re you’re doubling up on the assets it goes without saying and two if you really have lost you know relatively speaking confidence that you’re going to be able to select a year one or year two impact player in that sweet spot fourth overall and you think it is muddied a trade down to secure more picks is just going to be a much more likely outcome that’s not to say that there aren’t names out there um that that uh that that couldn’t be traded as part of the draft day experience but fourth overall is a super valuable pick and unless you’re securing um meaningful meaningful assets um you know in terms of real impact players who are not commonly traded in this window it’s likely it’s more of a trade down and pick up a couple picks in the process in terms of guys that could uh be drafted tonight uh Travis Yoast who is also from Long Island not on the board not on the big board but uh we still love having his insights and I’ll tell you uh Travis we just love being able to chat with you and dip in and and understand a little bit more about this game and understand a little bit more about how the draft process works in the NHL man we appreciate it we’ll chat with you when the season gets a little bit closer and as everything kind of shakes out here with this draft process as well amen to that and for the record I project is an eighthrounder so when you guys see the eighth round come in look for my name all right
okay all right good luck on that way
he’s not Mr irrelevant he’s Travis Yos that’s right how dare you okay uh All right we got lots going on in the program we uh will return and we’re going to have uh our guy our Utah Mammoth insider for kslports.com Cole Bagley join us next our coverage is just going to keep ramping up here our round table will be uh filled out of course by about 5:00 we’re going to be having lots of extra voices in here kevin McCloskey of course who uh helps us out so much a former NHL draft pick himself and also the GM of the Utah Outliers is going to join us uh also Utah Puck Report host Jay Stevens is going to join us and we’re also anticipating Trevor Lewis of the Los Angeles Kings also of course did a year at Brighton as he played hockey for that for that team before he moved out to Colorado but uh Utah’s own we still claim him JJ we still claim him and if you can believe it he’s like a veteran veteran veteran of the NHL now if you can believe how long
crazy it’s been 20 years almost 20 years since he was drafted
yeah and uh we’ll get his insights as to what that draft day looked like for him and uh what the state of hockey has looked like of course is as the American team still keeps getting built out it’s one of the deepest national teams we’ve seen in a long long long time but how far that that team has come and how far hockey has come in the United States as well so Trevor is going to dip in and talk to us about his draft process and what a draft looks like uh in 2025 stay right here with us more to go 975 DKSL Sports Zone ladies and gentlemen the biggest name
you’re locked into JJ and Alex
with the insight and analysis on the teams you can’t live without presented by G2G bars this is 975 the KSL Sports Zone
all right everybody welcome back jj and Alex 975 EKSL Sports Zone thanks for being with us on the program thanks for hanging out with us on an NHL draft day we are uh of course covering all things NHL draft today we’ve got our round table coming up in just a few minutes here host of the Utah Puck Report jay Stevens going to join us trevor Lewis from the Los Angeles Kings also going to join us as well awesome time to be able to uh jump in and chat some hockey of course anytime Trevor Lewis is around always good to be able to chat with him in the meantime our Utah Mammoth insider for kslports.com he is Cole Bagley joining us on the show right now cole thanks for being with us man uh happy draft day
yeah same to you this is uh this is exciting you know uh here at the uh draft festivities for the Utah Mammoth just across the street from Delta Center and uh you know we’re just about 25 minutes away from getting this thing going and probably 35 40 away from seeing what Utah’s going to do with that fourth overall pick yeah just set the scene for us real quick uh what are your thoughts as they go into this i know the draft board’s all over the place nobody knows who’s going to be taken after one and two well yeah i think um you know if Utah does stay where they’re at um you know I think names to keep an eye on are definitely Porter Martone or Caleb Denoier um two very um talented forwards with with good size and I think that they would be a good fit if Utah does stay put but I also uh you know don’t be surprised if Utah uh is is moving um don’t be surprised if some means up or down um there’s definitely some reports starting to surface here that Utah’s a a team to keep an eye on in terms of whether or not that fourth pick might be staying at home
what’s the What would be that uh like swing for the fences would it be to trade that pick away or is that number four spot just too valuable swinging for the fences uh would definitely include moving up and potentially moving up to you know two or three um there’s definitely Yeah I think one and two are potential generational talents and then when you get to three through seven those are very good players and so are you comfortable with just staying at four and getting a very good player or do you think that you can pull something off and jump up a few spots to get you know potential generational talent in a guy like Schaefer or Misa uh you looking at what the league’s doing like you got the Islanders that are doing some things how crazy do you think things could get tonight what are the possibilities of multiple trades or transactions with a lot of the stuff that you’re hearing
well according to Elliot Freriedman the craziness has only just begun you know there’s already been a few trades here and there there’s been some extensions sam Bennett actually just moments ago signed in signed an extension with the Florida Panthers which is not shocking so you know he’s going to stay in Florida for a long time uh which I’m sure disappoints a lot of teams that were hoping to get a crack out of him in free agency uh but no I I think this is a this is a draft where you know I think there’s a lot of teams in a position to play and whether that means trying to move up trying to move down or trying to you know uh consolidate assets and and move into a much higher draft pick or move out of a draft pick to see if they can get some win now players i think we’re going to see uh a lot of movement here tonight
uh as you watch some of these uh the available players that are out there what’s the premium in in an NHL draft like this for guys is it when you look at the talent level of these guys because there’s not a generational name like a Min Cabrini or a uh or a Connor Bdard like we’ve seen in other years past what is the possibility that you get a guy that you get a steal of a guy in those in those in that front end and how long until these prospects uh really come into a program do you actually see them start to uh make an impact of a team like this some of these names that you see like when we had Tigla that we saw drafted early for this team last year they moved up to get him when you see that and you wait and you kind of have to have those prospects get better how long until you hear the names tonight that are in this draft start to hit the ice for NHL teams across the league yeah I think uh you know I think guys like Schaefer and Misa are players that that could play right away depending on where they land you know if if those guys do in fact go number one and number two regardless of the team that’s picking them I think those are guys that are going to play right away or or maybe at most or a year a year out from from making their NHL debuts then you get into you know pick three through seven three through 10 those are probably guys that are two or three years away it just depends on you know how quickly do they acclimate to the NHL you know how quickly do they transform their bodies and get stronger and get bigger to a way that they can handle you know the not only the the speed of the game uh but as well the physicality of the game you know that’s generally the biggest thing because these guys are 17 18 years old you know they’re they’re they’re 170 pounds soaking wet that’s not that’s not a body that’s ready to go and and uh you know battle in the trenches uh you know with guys like Sam Bennett or the Kachchuck brothers so you know if if you’re selecting at one or two in this draft I think you’re getting a guy that’s that’s probably ready to go um but if you’re you know if you’re beyond that it’s probably two or three seasons
what’s Everyone says best player available i believe that they’re going to look for the best player available but Utah also has positions of need what are those needs based and not just for the the the the Utah Mammoth but in their organization utah needs a a true two second line center um you know as good as Barrett Hayden was this last year he he’s just not quite the level of a centerman that you want on your second line i believe he would flourish more as a third line center and that the team itself would would uh be much better off if they had Barry Hayden on the third line and then if you can find more of a true 2C um you know that’s just enhancing your offensive abilities that’s creating a lot more depth um and a lot of it is you know they just need some more size um you know you even even after the PURA trade you know if you look at Utah’s top two lines they’re not that big you know it’s Clayton Keller it’s Logan Culie it’s Dylan Gunther Nick Schmaltz Barrett Hayden um and then whoever you know you know and then Purka of course most of those guys are all under six feet tall and so you need a two seat and you need some size and there’s a lot of centers in this draft and there’s a lot of size in this draft all right Cole Bagley he’s our Utah Mammoth insider for kslports.com he’s covering the draft of course anything that is movement uh for this team across the draft all evening long uh hit up Cole on uh on X and uh and follow his uh stories as well he’s going to have all the best insight we appreciate it Cole have fun with the draft and we’ll we’ll dip in of course as things start to develop
thanks guys
there you go cole Bangley everybody
all right let’s take a break good scene setter
we’ll come back it’s exciting man and and you know we had Mike Folton on earlier going “Hey yeah oh here come the here come the brass everybody walking around in their in their matching suits.” Ryan Smith’s not wearing a suit though right
no chance
absolutely not i can’t have I can’t have him start wearing suits
maybe a blazer but probably not
i can’t have him start wearing suits now come on we got to have We got to have the owner of the of the of the uh of the Mammoth repping like he always does hoodie and a hat
come on we’ll take a break here we’ll come back uh we’ll dip in with Cole of course uh as the night goes on here as well more to go around the corner we’ve got with us the host of the Utah Park Report Jay Stevens and Trevor Lewis of the Los Angeles Kings stay right here with us more to go 975 the ESL Sports Zone your home for the best coverage of the Jazz Utes and Cougars is right here on The Zone this is JJ and Alex presented by G2G Bars on 975 the KSL Sports Zone welcome back everybody happy Friday to you thanks for being with us here on the program jj and Alex 975 the KSL Sports Zone awesome day for us right here in the great state of Utah the Mammoth of course on the board at number four are they going to keep that pick we don’t know what we know is that a lot of young men’s lives are going to get changed over the next uh over the next few hours that’s a really fun prospect i love the idea of just all the work finally culminating in a pick in the into the NHL and to a team um and finding yourself into a franchise that that likes you that loves you one of those people who went through that same process of course is uh Los Angeles Kings Trevor Lewis formerly of Utah but of course during the offseason Trevor lives in Utah as well trevor thanks for being with us on the program
yeah thanks thanks for having me guys well at this point in in uh we JJ and I were both both just talking about how crazy it is because we both worked in this building for about 20 years uh which has been about the length of your NHL career imagine being where you are now to where you were as a kid who was trying to find his way into the NHL what was that draft day process like for you as you waited for your name to be called on draft night
yeah it was um it was actually pretty nerve-wracking you know you you kind of don’t really um know what’s going to happen and you see other guys slide a little bit and um you know you just don’t want to be the guy that goes and goes to the draft and you know doesn’t get taken till later in the in the fifth or sixth round or something but um you know it’s it’s a long day uh it’s a fun process but um it can be a long day and um you know you kind of have everything going through your mind until your name um finally gets called and then it’s you know it’s it’s everything that you’ve ever dreamed of of since you you know are a kid playing knee hockey or roller hockey or whatever and and acting like you’re in the NHL so um it’s a it’s a pretty long process it’s a pretty um emotional process but you know once your name finally gets called it’s uh a dream come true
i can’t believe it’s been 19 years since you were drafted uh working in TV I ran the video of you walking up and getting the jersey and shaking the commissioner’s hand and everything like that and it was an amazing moment and been around when you brought the cup back to Utah twice and here you are now it’s just crazy how everything comes full circle but now we have the NHL in Utah how cool has it been for you to see the uh the league land here in your hometown
oh it’s been awesome i mean I didn’t think um certainly that I’d have a chance to to play in uh you know in in Utah an NHL game and um certainly not while I was still playing so um it’s been amazing i think just to you know I I I wasn’t here during the season but just to hear from family and everyone and see how much support they got and um it was uh it’s pretty special and then to actually be able to come back and play was um and have so many family and friends at the game was was uh pretty cool
we always just I mean in the last few years we’re always like “Okay you got the Kings coming into town for the preseason game.” That was as good as it got for us we never imagined that it would be uh that it would turn into a franchise here in town but uh we were talking about this too USA hockey and just kind of where the hockey stands in the states right now we were talking about how all the expansion franchises and all the cities that are out there not one Canadian city is is mentioned in the in the expansion process all the cities that are vying for a team are all American teams i mean places like New Orleans and Austin and Houston places that
Yeah you go there’s no way but you know now with Florida champions like every other year now it seems pretty wild what’s the state of hockey now in the US compared to what with what it was when you were coming up as a junior
well it’s crazy i mean you see world championships here that US wins gold and um you know it’s just uh it’s amazing how much it’s grown and um funny story is I took my my son’s doing learn to play hockey here and I took him to Murray Ice Rink the other day and I I couldn’t imagine all the the kids out there and how many kids and then it’s amazing what an NHL team does to um you know a city and and how much hockey it bring um it’s it was uh it was really amazing to see how many kids were out there and you know how many kids wanted to learn and I think that’s just a credit to you know you know Ryan Smith bringing a a team here and um you know doing everything you can to to help out the comm community you were the 17th overall pick in the 2006 draft and you know you have a lot of young kids now in the draft tonight that are hoping to get picked early but you looking back on it could you have been put in a better situation um how important was it for you to go to the the right organization instead of you know being the number one overall pick or being a top five pick or anything like that
yeah it was it was amazing for me i mean um you know the the Kings organization has been so good to me and I think just being just being picked there i wasn’t ready for you know to step into NHL right away i needed a few years and um you know the organization and the development they have there was was huge for me and you know if if I would have went somewhere else that that didn’t have that I don’t know if I would have had the the career I’ve had and um you know I can’t thank the the Kings organization enough for you know believing in me and um giving me that much support so it’s it’s been an amazing ride
you talked about your kids coming up in the game and trying to uh you know learn learn it and uh and figure it out and are there going to be other Lewises whose names are going to be called one day in the NHL draft we’re we’re gonna try i don’t know we’re we’re uh we’re just getting into it so um but it’s been fun just to see him want to go out there and you know and learn and skate and um he’s been skating for a little while but he just started to to do it with a stick and puck and um you know it just brings back so many memories of of going to the rink with my dad and um you know doing the same thing so um we’ll see what happens but hopefully there’ll be another Lewis in the NHL we’d love to see it trevor hey i I just want to ask you I know I’ve kind of asked you before but in that preseason game this year against Utah you got to take the the overtime penalty shot that you know that how they finished the overtime and you got booed
did they
yeah I think it was a Was it a L or a boo probably was a L it had to be a There’s no way we’re going to boo you here
you know let’s go with that don’t put it past Utah fans though i mean come on i wasn’t quite I wasn’t quite sure either but my dad was trying to tell me to lose so I don’t know anything to keep the love alive
no no no they love you they love you here
well were you kind of surprised by that though like I was surprised and I was with your dad when it was happening so I thought it was pretty entertaining to see it happen and you knew it was in justest right
yeah no it was awesome i mean just how loud the building was even in in preseason how excited they were was uh I still get chills you know thinking about it so um it’s just special to to see how excited everyone was and then obviously the the year they had and and the support they got was um was awesome to see
trevor Lewis always love having you on the program always love being able to chat hockey with you especially on a draft day as we get going here uh but we appreciate all the insights here from you and uh we’ll let you get back to it our understanding is is you’re on uh 100% parenting duty right now you’re doing
I’m I’m solo dad to three right now so it’s it’s a bit of chaos but
dude you’re in the trenches man
hey here
this whole room can understand that all right this is uh we’ve been there man but we love it we appreciate you taking some time and we’ll chat with you again
all right thanks guys thanks for having me on
love you thanks buddy
trevor Lewis
Mr hockey in Utah you know what’s crazy is is like you think about the path that he had to take was you know he’s he’s got hockey in the blood obviously two Canadian parents and then he and then they’re like “Hey we’re going to figure this thing out we’re going to get right and we’re going to get you playing man and let’s get it going.” And he goes and he plays and the opportunities here just weren’t enough and I don’t think you’ll be able to say that ever again for the way that uh for the way that things are going right now i hope players don’t have to leave the state to develop and get creative had to go to Colorado to de to develop the rest of the way at 14 years old
after one year at Brighton and then they go look the opportunities are better there and and I just think that there’s no such thing now going forward you’re going to have to the opportunities now and I think you’re going to start to see in the next 15 years guys built out where they were that uh by the way uh host of Utah Puck Report Jay Stevens is going to join us the rest of the way here out as well draft day to you it’s a Friday we’ve got tons to get to as well stay here 975 the EKSL Sports Zone
Hour 2 of JJ & Alex with Jeremiah Jensen and Alex Kirry.
• Travis Yost, NHL writer for TSN
• Cole Bagley, Utah Mammoth Insider for KSL Sports
• Trevor Lewis, Center for the Los Angeles Kings