Are The Stars And Jets Destined To Meet In The Playoffs Again in 2026?| DLLS Stars Podcast

Are The Stars And Jets Destined To Meet In The Playoffs Again in 2026?| DLLS Stars Podcast

Right now, I have to stop saying, man, we miss Luds. But guess what? He’ll be back on the show on Monday after his little vacation, paid time off, which he was forced to have, by the way. But that’s okay. Sam is eating and left some his beard for later. Shawn is back after not being on the show yesterday. We only get Sean a couple days a week. And we get to talk about a playoff series involving the Dallas Stars. yesterday with the Kings. Great conversation because we have that shared pain of losing to the Oilers in the playoffs. Today it is going to be the Winnipeg Jets. Andrew Hustler Patterson, last name Hustler’s going to be on and Mike McIntyre from Manitoba. I got to send him the link again because he can’t seem to find it in the emails I sent him earlier. We’ll do all that on DLS in the morning right now. Get ready, boys. It is Friday and it’s the morning which is weird for us but boy it will be perfect later when we get to get out of our studio go home and sit on the couch for the first game of the EPL season Liverpool Bournemouth. I couldn’t have timed any better. I I didn’t even realize I did it because we just needed to sign up with our guest. Uh we have two guests today. Welcome to the DLS Stars podcast. Friday the 15th of August. Sean Shapiro, Sam Nestler, depending on which way you’re looking. Owen Newkerk and Katya. Katya is here producing today and she’ll also be producing Monday. So we’re going to get a wraparound of fun. Are going to get sick of me. No, bring it on. So we’re going to talk Winnipeg Jets today. Uh Andrew Hustler Patterson will be on in just mere moments. He’s connecting I believe as we speak. And then Mike McIntyre from the Winnipeg Free Press will be here on the second half of the show. And Sean, you weren’t on yesterday. We had a great talk with Eric Stevens and Zack Douly about the LA Kings. Uh, I didn’t quite process it because it was frustrating as a outsider to watch for maybe because we were cheering against the Oilers, but watching the Kings sort of fall apart when it looked like they had that series in the first round last year completely under control and then you realize they’ve lost to the Oilers four years in a row in the first round. This time they finally had home ice advantage and this was the biggest gut punch for the Kings of this four-year run. It sounded miserable. And then of course we go, “Well, the Stars have lost in the conference finals to the Oilers twice.” Yeah. Who? I think it’s I’m trying to remember which player it is, but there’s like some absolutely bonkers stat of somebody who is from the I think it’s it might be Adrian. It might be Adrien Kempy. I’m going to attempt to look this up. Like I think his point to his career playoff point totals are ridiculous. They’re all against the exact same opponent because they’ve all played the Oilers. Yeah. They’ve only Yes. Cuz so it’s like I’m going to look this up right now while we’re um like like Adrien Kempe has Yeah. Okay. So he’s in 28 career playoff games. He’s got 29 points in 28 career playoff games, right? Credibly point-ame playoff performer Adrien Kempe all against Edmonton. That’s wild. And and in a losing fashion every single year. All right, let’s welcome on Hustler. Sam is remote today as you can see. He at least has a little bit of sunlight. So, it doesn’t look like he’s been kidnapped, which is a good thing. And uh let’s bring on our first guest. There he is. Andrew Hustler Patterson from Winnipeg Sports Talk. Hustler, you have been gracious enough to have both Sean and myself on your show, and we’ve been trying for months, but you do go live around the same time we go live. And so, it just doesn’t work. And it’s great that we could finally figure it out and make it work today. Welcome. Thanks for joining us, guys. Uh, thanks a lot for having me. It’s great. I hope you’ve all had a great summer and now we’re uh just counting down the days to getting back on the ice and dropping the puck. It seems like it’s still forever, but we’re actually only a month away from training camp reporting and starting and players like Matt Duchain uh just his kids started school like mine did, although different schools and different ages. So, he’s back in town. saw him on the ice skating uh tweet the stars put it out yesterday with captain Jamie Ben who lives here year round. But uh boy, we have a lot to get to. Um we were talking Kings yesterday with a couple of our friends from LA and that series in the first round with the Oilers and I went, “Wow, we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about Jets stars round two.” So tell me what the We’ll get back into beating the Blues the Star series and overall. What was the fallout, the reaction in Winnipeg after Dallas beat Winnipeg in the second round in the spring? You know, it was I mean, listen, obviously there was disappointment. The the way the team went down, though, Reus and I on our show, like, you know, after I don’t know, three, four days and it had passed. We we were talking about, you know, like listen, there’s only one team that wins the cup. So, 15 are going to get bounced at some point. And if you if you will, the the misery index of those 15 teams, I’d say was almost near the lowest in Winnipeg. And first off, the getting over the hump, winning that series in the first round and doing it in the fashion that they did against in game seven and the double OT, the cold prophetic goal with the second left. It created um it essentially got them past a lot of skeletons in the closet, if you will, just for the last few seasons. I mean, since they went to the conference finals in 2018. And listen, the the series against Dallas was tight. It was disappointing. They weren’t able to do anything on the road really for the entire playoffs. But guys, if you remember what happened around going into game six with the passing of Mark Shiffley’s father and the way that team the way the team stepped up and played, as disappointing as it was to lose, I think that there was a real sense of uh there was a real sense of pride, I think, around here around what this team was able to accomplish last year throughout the regular season. and uh and you know and in the playoffs despite losing to a really good Dallas Stars team. So I think once the initial pain of just being bounced, which happens to every team, it was gone. I think people looked back and really appreciated what was a pretty magical season for the Jets outside of not being able to get to the conference finals and maybe challenge for the cup. Hustler, it’s uh it’s one you knew this one was going to come early because you and I have talked about it on your show before with the the two American goalies these two franchises have. And obviously we can all agree Connor Halabuk beyond the from a regular season perspective. There’s hard to find many resumes outside of Dominic Hashik with a better resume career-wise, regular season wise than what Hlebuck’s done. Reigning MVP, everything there’s lots. There’s the ling. What’s what’s kind of the the feeling for you in Winnipeg right now coming out of a postseason where he goes toe-to-toe with Jake Goter in this playoff round and he’s got the heart trophy again and everything like that, but there’s been that question of the playoff performance. What’s kind of the feeling with with Hellbuck from your perspective right now? I mean, listen, he’s putting together a Hall of Fame resume right now with the Winnipeg Jets, but you know, at the end of the day, you really are measured by how you are in the biggest moments and uh you know, in the uh you know, against the best teams in the most high leveraged minutes. And he would be the first one to tell you, I think he wasn’t quite at max helluck, if you will. Um I think it’s just going to drive him more to be perfectly honest with you. I mean, he is a guy that is so I mean, listen, we all know that goalies are weird. Um, he is sort of in his own I mean, he’s the most fun guy to listen to. He doesn’t really have a filter. Um, but afterwards, I think he and this in the team took a step back and realized that they’d accomplished a lot. But, I mean, I think he’s at the front of the line of knowing that, you know, had he had a bigger performance in a game or two, maybe that series goes uh in a different way. And listen, Auter and Halleluck will always be talked about not only as rivals in the division, but we’ve got Olympic games coming up. I mean, I think that was a um that is going to be something that’s really going to motivate him going into this season. Now, in the regular season, he’s as good as any. I will say this, I think not only will the Olympics be a big carrot and he’ll look to try to earn that job and represent the United States, but come playoff time next year, um I think there’ll be maybe a little bit more of a chip on Connor Halabuk’s shoulders as opposed to just going there feeling like not only is he the best goalie, but I mean he won the heart trophy. Obviously at that point they hadn’t thrown it out. Um but it was sort of an incomplete grade on the playoffs overall. He did come up big at times. I mean, obviously had the two shut outs against Dallas. I mean, it wasn’t like he was bad in that round, but credit where credit is due, Jakeer was the better goalender in that series. And obviously, unfortunate for Stars fans, that really wasn’t the case in the next round. And uh more often than not, you look at two good teams that are relatively evenly matched up and you look at what team won in the best of seven series, more often than not, that’s the team with the better goalender. And I think in the best of seven series between Winnipeg and Dallas, I I’m not sure that we could argue that uh Jakeer was the guy that got the job done. Is there any conversation about how many games Connor plays in the regular season? Because we’ve talked about it here in Dallas is like and so like what’s kind of the thought prevailing thought there when it comes to I just looked up he played 63 regular season games. I guess it’s 65 or 66 with the four nations as well. Before that, um, we saw Jay Goter hit a bit of wall. Glenn Gooson was very open with me saying that he’s going to have to look at Jake Goter’s workload because he’s worried about what happens for goalies who play past 50 games in the regular season. What’s kind of the conversation about Connor Hellbuk’s workload and how you and is there are you creating a wall by overly playing him in the regular season? I mean, there’s a ton of conversation about that. I mean, it is, you know, when you have a player of that importance to a team like the Winnipeg Jets, I mean, everyone’s going to hit every single angle of it. And listen, the guy’s a workhorse, he wants to play every game, guys. Like, listen, if you could throw him out, if if they gave him the green light to play 82, he would do that. Um, and sometimes when you’ve got a guy that’s putting together a season like he had, it is very hard to keep him out of the net. Um, I But isn’t that hustler? Isn’t that the coach’s job? Because Jake’s the same way. I think Auter would start every game if you let him. And isn’t it Scott Arneal his coaching staff’s job to kind of pull the reigns back and say, “Look, you were the VZNA trophy winner.” Nobody argues that. But for us to have long-term playoff success, we think we need you to dial back five to 10 games. I mean, absolutely. That is their job. And if they feel that way, that’s on them to do it. Um, like See, I’m not sure. I mean, listen, it’s a very interesting conversation. I can’t really tell you whether he wasn’t as good in that series against Dallas or at times against St. Louis because he’s played so much. I think there’s a bunch of other things that could be, hey, the lights are brighter in the playoffs. Did he just react to it well? Like, it’s really hard to attribute what happened in the playoffs, maybe coming off a little bit from that hard trophy level in the regular season to playing too much or some other things. So, I mean, it’s easy for us and I mean the hot takes fly in the chat on our show every day, you know, when we kind of talk about this sort of thing and there’s some people who say he’s playing too much, he doesn’t have at the end. Like, I just don’t know how you quantify it or say that really is the case. The one thing that I’ll tell you is this team’s got a hell of a lot better chance of winning hockey games when 37 is in the net. And more often than not, coaches want to win that game. They want to go 1 and0 that night and they’re going to play the guys that give them the best chance. However, I think there will be over the course of this off season into training camp, you know, some more conversations between Arie, Wade Flareity, the Jets longtime goalending coach, and Connor about putting together a plan that maybe instead of throwing him out 63 64 times, he gets to the high 50s. I think that’s probably the the the middle on that. And listen, I think Eric Hry played well enough last year that, you know, if you can find those good spots, I mean, obviously, you’re probably not doing it in big divisional games against a Dallas or a Colorado, but if you if you can find that extra five or six starts, I certainly don’t think it would be a bad thing. I have a feeling they will try to sort of work together to get him on the same page to do that as well. But at the same time, as much as some people have that opinion, I really don’t know how we can pinpoint and say, “Yeah, that is why the case.” But, you know, if they do give him six less starts and he goes on a big run in the playoffs, we’ll say, “What the hell are we waiting so long to do this for?” Well, we have to go to a quick ad break. Don’t go anywhere because we have a lot more to get to with Hustler. We’re not going to have enough time. I can tell already because we have a lot of topics. It’s great stuff. More with DLSS in just a moment. 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It’s more than just your average budgeting app. Monarch Money is a complete financial command center, giving you everything right there in front of your face. Accounts, investments, goals, your grocery list. No, I’m just kidding. no grocery list, but everything else is there financially for you to have your goals right in front of you and make it super simple. The finance tool that people actually love. Jo, you can join over 1 million households by joining uh Wall Street Journal’s best budgeting app of 2025. 30,000 five-star reviews. Just go out and get it. Get control of your overall finances with Monarch Money. Use code DLS at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year. monarchmoney.com with code DLS. All right, let’s bring Hustler back on. And Sam, if you’ve finished a bite of the breakfast sandwich, please take the next question for our esteemed guest from Manitoba. Yes. Hi, Andrew. I’m also here. I’m part of this podcast sometimes. Uh, so I’m going to stick with Exactly. Every moment he eats on air since we were just talking about it. Um, let’s stick with Connor Hella Buck. Buckbuck. And, uh, I’m just curious. It’s a question that I thought was pretty obvious maybe earlier, but now comparing kind of the the playoff success versus the short-term success, the on the road versus home, who do you think starts in Italy for Team USA, if you were to make a guess right now and why? I mean, I it’s a great question and to be honest, I think the real answer is we’re going to find out in the first three months of the season. Um, I think that what happened in the playoffs and Jakeer beating Hellabuk certainly gave him a leg up or if he was behind him, which I guess he was based on the four nations, maybe sort of caught up. Unfortunately for Jake, he didn’t really follow it up with a series of that same caliber against Winnipeg. So, the US is in a great spot. I mean, they’ve got some really, really good goalending. I I can tell you that we here north of the border would kill to have that sort of depth at the goalending position. I mean, Bennington was on one and made a couple crazy saves, but you know, if you look back at that tournament overall, I mean, I think we looked at that Canadian team and thought that was if there was an Achilles heel of Team Canada on a best on best tournament, it was the fact that we maybe didn’t have the the elite goalending that some of the other um did. I I think both of these guys, and this is a great thing for Dallas Stars fans and Winnipeg Jet fans, I think both of them are going to be incredibly motivated to be at the top of their game right out of the gate because the first few months of the season, guys, I think is really going to be what determines it. I mean, very difficult, I’m sure. I I don’t know what Team USA is doing. I know Team Canada is getting together and doing some things towards the end of the month. I mean, nothing in August is really going to determine who’s playing and who and who isn’t. They’re both going to be on the team and uh I really do think we’re going to have about a three three and a half month competition between two of the best in the league for the confidence of Team USA’s management for who gets that first start. I will say though that, you know, in a short tournament like that, whoever does get that first start, I mean, it’s going to be step up and show that, you know, you deserve game two because they’re going to have a heck of an option right behind whoever does get that starting job to throw in if they uh if it doesn’t go their way in the first game. I want to back up a little bit to the beginning of last season when you had to get dust off, not dust off, but acclimate to a new head coach, although he had sort of a on the job training in the year before when Rick Bonis had to step aside for some health reasons and his wife Judy. And we we’ve known Bones in Dallas for a long time. And he there isn’t a better person in hockey than Rick Bonus. Uh absolutely love the guy both on and off the ice. He’s an infectious personality and of course he knows the game. So, well, were you at all surprised how well the transition from Rick to Scott Arneal went? Even though Arneal had run things with during Bonus’ absence and obviously knew the team, but this was sort of a redemption opportunity for Arneal as a NHL head coach as well. Was the President’s Trophy even remotely on the horizon when the season started last year? I you guys I mean I’d be lying if I said oh we rolled into game number one going you know what at the end of these this 82 game grind there’s a pretty good chance the Jets will be standing looking down at every other team in the National Hockey League. I mean no that wasn’t the case and Scott O’Neal deserves a ton of credit. Um you know he came in you make a great point. I mean, he had that, you know, his first shot in Columbus, which didn’t go particularly well, although there’s a pretty long list of guys that you could say that about in Columbus, Ohio with the Blue Jackets. But, you know, guys, he um he pressed all the right buttons. I mean, the team started off 15-1. So, I mean, all of a sudden, the team’s sitting there at 8-1 and 9-1 and 10-1. I mean, they’re rattling off all these wins. And once you start off, I mean 15-1 that like that’s 20% of the season. So I mean once they got to that I think it totally recalibrated what might be possible for this team. I mean at the beginning of the year you’re hoping this team can make the playoffs. You know maybe you can get into the top three. I mean it wasn’t running away with the division in the Western Conference. Albeit not really running away. The division’s so good. I mean it still took right down to the final week of the season to sort of ice that. But um you know the the the personal redemption for Arneal wasn’t something that he would ever talk about or really that we were getting at. But I do think that there was a number of people that maybe some skeptics that needed to be shown that he was the right guy for the job. True North, I mean, the organization that owns the Jets, sometimes is criticized, fairly or unfairly, for being unwaveringly loyal to people that have been with them beforehand. And um certainly Arie, a former coach of the Moose, a former player for the Jets. I mean, he ticked off all those boxes. But because of that, I think he had to prove even more that he wasn’t a hire because he was close with the people and they knew what sort of a guy he was. He was a guy that could come out and get the best out of this team. And uh you know, you mentioned that he worked with Bones. I mean, he was a real key part of that coaching staff for the two years when the whole culture change happened with the Winnipeg Jets, moving on from Blake Wheeler and all that. Um and hard to imagine it going much better last year when he took it over. And listen guys, he passed pretty much every test with flying colors, especially in that real tough first round series against the the St. Louis Blues keeping his team in it and uh obviously advancing to uh the series that ended up ending their series against your stars and Hustler. I was in the AAC when we were expecting Scott Arneal during the playoffs to come out and talk to the press and it turned out to be Kevin Chevel Day off the GM to announce that Shiffle’s father had passed away. And I just thought like I’m not saying I didn’t have a good impression of Arneal, but the way that Chevoff handled things, the fact that Arneal didn’t go to morning skate, was back with with Shiffley. I I just added a layer of respect for how Arneal handled things, then the way he handled the press when he got to the arena later that day. Um I know that that it’s playoffs are important. There’s a lot of money on the line and but it’s just a hockey game in life. I just thought Arneal and Chevel Day off handled that really awful situation as well as you could ever expect to. Yeah, I listen I’m with you on that. I mean that was just it’s still crazy to think back of that day. You’re waking up. It’s the biggest game of the year. Can the Jets force a game seven and you find out that your number one center, a guy that’s synonymous with the franchise, you know, has lost his dad. and that, you know, added a whole another wrinkle to the way that they went out going out on their sword, playing the way that they did, having Mark in the lineup. And, um, Scott deserves a ton of credit for that. You know, guys, there’s a lot of teams in professional sports will, you know, talk a good game when it comes to we’re a tight-knit group and, you know, we are a family and all that. Um, and the Jets were one of those teams previously. I mean, 3, four years ago, you heard a lot of those things, but it didn’t really come across in a lot of other ways. I think it was sort of lip service. That was far from the case with the Winnipeg Jets, certainly last year under Scott Arneal. And there was no better example, to your point, guys, than game six in Dallas. He um they’ve put together an incredibly close, tight-knit group. Uh I think the success they had kind of built that up even more throughout the year. And then, you know, a tragedy like that brings people together. um even more in the most difficult times and um Scott was the leader of that but you know they’ll be the first one to tell you they’re professionals they’re incredibly driven but at a certain point and unfortunately we saw that in the series there are things that are bigger than the 60 minutes ahead of you and trying to get the series back. I mean it was u something that touched everyone. You saw the way that you know they um they all reacted pretty viscerally afterwards when it was over with the emotion on it. So, um, they they set that up. A lot of people talk about being that family group. I’ll give the Winnipeg Jets credit. They absolutely delivered in that. We saw it in spades in that series against the Stars. It’s hard to follow up the the topic of that one because that’s obviously such a powerful emotional one. So, I’m going to try here. This team, this forward group is fascinating to me because you Nikolai’s leaves, right? And now all of a sudden you have Neomesticov who is playing who’s playing more of a second line center role last year is now going to be in a third line role center because of a guy who hasn’t played in two years in Jonathan Taves. I’m really I’m really curious from your perspective when Taves comes into this group. Where is the fair in your mind? What is fair expectation and where should we actually apply all of this? because it’s it’s such a mystery box for for me looking at this roster of what he’s going to be especially after the p missing the last two seasons. You know what, Sean, I mean I am, you know, you could go across all 32 teams in the league and I think Jonathan Taves and his performance this year and his return to the National Hockey League might be the most intriguing topic in the entire National Hockey League. I mean, there’s a pretty wide range of possibilities I think for I mean, listen, the guy is what, 37 years old. He’s been out of the league for over two years. So, at that point, you’re like, well, how much can you really expect from him? And on the other side, this is a guy that’s walking straight into the Hall of Fame the second that he is eligible. Um, has, you know, this incredible career, does not need to come back to prove anything to anyone, which is why I think it’s so interesting that he’s deciding to do this and doing it here in his hometown of Winnipeg. Um, listen, the story lines are set for the upcoming season and he will be, we were just talking yesterday about FanFest and the first day of the the the season. So much focus is going to be on Jonathan Taves, but if there’s a guy built to handle that, I think it’s someone that has the experience that he does. As far as on the ice, they’re going to give him the opportunity right out of the gate to play in in the top six on that second line. And especially with Adam Lowry out potentially for a couple months into the season after his hip surgery. Uh it’s going to be fun. There’s going to be a lot of excitement. It’ll put some asses in seats, but they need him to be a productive player right now considering the way this top six looks. Like as far as expectations, I’ll tell you what, I think reasonable expectations would be 15 to 20 goals and 45 points or so. I think that if he could get on the other side of say 55, that would be a huge huge success. But I’ll tell you what, I mean, this has been kind of the most interesting topic that we’ve had all off season as to far as what we can what you expect Jonathan Taves to do. The one thing I’ll say is that this would I’m betting on Taves basically because first of all, I know how much work he’s put into this comeback. This is dating back 9 10 months that he’s been working, gearing up for this. And uh I really don’t think that he would do it if he didn’t think that he could come back and be a big-time contributor to the Jets. Like this is not a guy that just needs to finish his story by playing six minutes on the fourth line somewhere. So he’s going to have the opportunity maybe more so than he would anywhere else. The people are going to be behind him and frankly the Winnipeg Jets need him. So hopefully in the best case scenario as opposed to what you have to acknowledge are some big ifs for a player that’s been off the ice for as long as he has. All right, Andrew. Unfortunately, last one for you here as we’re running out of time, but uh something we’ve been asking all of our guests from the outside perspective in your case Winnipeg, what do you see in the Dallas Stars going into 2025 26 and what are the expectations? Well, listen, we know we know this team very well. We see him a lot in the regular season. had uh just had uh you know six pretty fun games in the in the playoffs. Listen, I think the Dallas Stars are going to be right there at the top of the division battling for first place as they’ve been before. You know, like it’s so funny, guys, cuz this season is so so long and the minute you get to the playoffs, it’s like, “Oh, whatever. That’s done.” And you know, we focus in on two weeks that can really can go back, you know, can pivot on, you know, one play, a lucky break. can be those sort of things like the body of work for the regular season, season over season for the Dallas Stars is elite and one of the top teams in the league. Now, could there be a team that takes a jump up the way the Jets did last year and sort of surprise everyone? I mean, obviously there’s a lot of talent in this division, but I would be very surprised if the Dallas Stars, if they don’t win the division, weren’t the number two team or at minimum taking a playoff spot in that top three. And I mean, that’s basically what you do you need. I mean, it’s a chip and a chair, right? I mean, you got to be in that party at the end of the season once you eliminate half the league. I don’t think there’s any doubt that the Dallas Stars will do that. Um, but just personally seeing I’m interested to see some of the younger players, you know, if they’ll get in and start contributing a little bit more. That’s a, you know, some of a changing of the guard. I know Jamie Ben is back, but like what is his role? And obviously, you’ve got the big boys up front and now a full training camp and full season of Miko Ranton. And so, uh, for the rest of the, uh, teams in the Central Division, the Dallas Stars will still be a problem. And, uh, really looking forward to, uh, dropping the puck on the entire season, the home opener and the return to the National Hockey League of Jonathan Taves against the Dallas Stars here in the Peg on the 9th of October. Well, Andrew aka Hustler, it’s such a great thing to have you on. One of the benefits of having guests that we’ve known so far in this summer series is it’s never feels like 30 minutes. It feels like 10. I hope it’s the same for you because it flew by. We didn’t get to half of our topics, but I’m so glad we were able to finagle out some time with our two show schedules. I’d like to say let’s do it again soon, but with us being on concurrently, it may not be that easy. But I really sincerely want to thank you for coming on because it’s wonderful. We got to get to Mike next, but uh great to have you on the show today, guys. The pleasure was of mine. I always love chatting with you and appreciate you guys making time for us in Winnipeg on Winnipeg Sports Talk. So, whenever we can make it work, I am down. And hey, just on the way out, I’ll give you I heard you guys doing a couple sponsor reads earlier. Uh when I was coming into Dallas for games three and four, I was listening to the show and we heard an ad for uh the Happiest Hour, one of your sponsors. Oh, yes. And uh we we looked it up. It wasn’t too far from our hotel and put in a couple big time shifts at the happiest hour. So just trying to you know, you know what us in this digital space, you got to support the sponsors. So uh it to them we had a great time. Send it to the sponsor right there. Perfect. Hustler, you’re the best. Yes. Take care, fellas. You guys have a good one. There he goes. Andrew Hustler Patterson. Winnipeg Sports Talk. Check him out. His YouTube show is on daily and it’s wonderful. And now we got to get to Mike next. Mike McIntyre from the Winnipeg Free Press joins us next here on DLS. I, Sam Nestler, cannot wait until November 18th because that will be the day after this trip is over and I no longer have to tell you about this trip that we are not invited on. But that is not the time yet. So instead, I’m going to tell you about how we DLS, you’ve been hanging around with too long, Sam with True Fan Travel for the ultimate fan experience. I do not have a timer, so somebody please tell me where I am. DLS taking over the strip for an unforgettable experience and weekend in Vegas. and you right here need to be there. Join us as the Cowboys take on the Raiders on November 17th, Monday Night Football. It’s going to be a great game. Ardell, I believe, is predicting the Raiders to win by seven. An early prediction out of Ardell there. So, uh, this all-inclusive trip includes a three-ight stay at a luxury Vegas resort, game tickets, VIP parties, exclusive events with the DLS Cowboys crew, which includes RIP John Anderson and fellow diehard fans, much, much more. This is how Dallas does Vegas. So, book now at truefan.com. It’s going to be a good time. I know that Brian Shottenheimimer, the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, is excited for that one. We also have plenty of fun gear. Look at that. Katcha has already got it up there for us. The Dallas collection. Some amazing shirts there. The barbecue one that I have, which I love. The uh really long word that Owen uses for the mascot one that I don’t know off the top of my head. The horror show that that is the uh big Are you talking about big text? No, I was talking about the mascot. Oh, the middle one. The scary one. Yeah. What’s the word you use for it? Amalgamation. Amalgamation. Amalgamation. Exactly. That’s what I said. The algorithm. Dallas versus all y’all. Nolan Nolan Ryan. They got the DLS Mavs with the hat on it. Uh plenty of cool stuff. We also have all of our star shirts from last year, including our playoff shirts. Owen’s wearing one right now. Finnish Mafia. I have four seconds to continue talking about that shirt. Or you can go to Bowling Bowling Green’s website and get Sean shirt. Check it out. Ddls.com. Man, Sam, there’s so much there that I have to say, but we got to move on because let’s welcome on our second guest today and by no means second fiddle. Here is Mike McIntyre from the Winnipeg Free Press. Mike, thrilled that you could join us today. Thank you very much. I did want to look, if you want to talk about the playoff series stars and Jets, feel free because we got lots of of hot takes on it, but we did a bunch of that with Hustlers. So, I wanted to give you a chance to pivot a bit more to the off season because Nikolai Eers was the bell of the ball in free agency and I’m curious how much that hurt for Jets fans and for the team to lose him versus at least knowing he went to the other conference and you got the Jonathan Taves signing in. How did that all play out after the playoff run was over? Hey guys, first of all, thanks for having me on. Uh love love what you guys do. And uh yeah, Winnipeg and Dallas, my goodness, uh that was that was a great playoff series. Obviously ended with a lot of emotion uh certainly on the Winnipeg side with uh with what Mark Schiffley uh was going through and kudos to the stars for uh the way they played in that series and kind of looking forward again to seeing Connor Halabuk and Jakeer going headtohead uh well side by side actually on the US Olympic team. I I I’m actually heading to Milan to cover the Winter Olympics. Sorry, that’s that’s the luds drop about Hella Buck. That was Winnipeg’s fault. They came out with that song. Walked into a trap. Yes. Uh I’ll be I’ll be covering the Olympics actually for the Winnipeg Free Press in Milan. So forward to seeing what what Halleluccer can do side by side on Team USA. Uh yeah, Nikolai Eers. I mean, there was obviously a lot of folks hoping that uh that he would resign in Winnipeg. I think the writing was on the wall when they didn’t get the extension done prior to the season or during the season. That’s kind of the way they’ve traditionally done their business. Uh you look at at I’m I’m going to say it again, Connor Halabuk and Mark Shley. Uh when those guys uh were entering the final year of their deal, they got the extensions done prior to the start of the the what would have been their final season. So the fact that Eers didn’t want to talk about it during the year and he really went out of his way to kind of not want to discuss his future that that was a pretty good sign I think that that he was going to move on. Now what do the Jets lose in Nicoers? Obviously he’s a dynamic player, brings a ton of speed. Um but he’s also a guy that gets injured a lot and you know we saw that in the playoffs again. sometimes the freakiest of injuries like running into a linesman. Um, uh, you know, just just the weirdest things. And he he he seems to always be in the middle of of uh of different things. But, you know, he’s a guy that when he’s healthy, he is an elite winger, does some things that quite frankly the Jets don’t have another player quite like him, nor do they have anyone kind of in the system ready to just take his spot that that’s now been left. So, it’s a big loss. How big? Well, we’ll we’ll see, I guess. Uh, again, this is a guy whose career high is just 64 points, which kind of speaks to the fact that he just can’t stay healthy. Like, you watch Nicola Eers, and you’re like, well, that’s a 80 to 90 point guy right there. Well, why has he never done that? Um, you know, best of luck to him in Carolina. I’m really interested to see what that looks like under Rod Bindor’s system. Nicola Eers is a guy who there’s a little bit of freelance in his game, shall we say. Um, you know, you hear co you hear coaches talk north south, right? He he’s an east west north south. He’s all over the map. Um, and I’m curious how much Rod Bindore will try to rein that in or if he’s just going to let him because quite frankly he’s the kind of player I think that Carolina has needed, you know, a potential game breaker. But he may go off script. So, that’s going to be interesting to watch. Yeah. Um, and you’re right. I mean, that for the Jets, like I I’m not so worried about what they lose offensively. This is a team they scored enough goals last year. Um, and you know, their bread and butter is defensive structure. Certainly special teams and I think the Jets may miss Nicola Aers. This is a guy who could do zone entries like really nobody else on the power play. But, you know, their defensive structure is, I think, still very sound. They have all the same defenseman coming back really the same core aside from Eers same coaches and the same you know goalender in net who’s who’s just been a force certainly during the regular season and it would appear the plan by the Jets at least for now is to try to replace Eer’s um offense by committee. Yeah. And you know you touched upon Jonathan Ta the J the Jets also signed Gustav Nyquist and you know that’s an interesting player. We’re not sure exactly what version we’re going to get of him. Is it the one that just two years ago, you know, had 70, I think it was 74 points with the Predators, or is it the guy that had just 29 last year and really seemed to take a step back? So, you know, if the Jets could get something in the middle uh between those two very extremes, then I think they, you know, they’ll be very happy offensively. And, you know, there are some young players in the system. Brad Lambert would be the closest, I guess, NHL ready player and he has Eers’s like speed. Didn’t have a great year in the AHL last year, but he’s a firstrounder that many feel is ready to kind of take that next step. So, I think that, you know, certainly you lose a guy like Eers, a homegrown star, drafted and developed, a success story. Uh, fans are feeling the sting. You know, it’s a tough loss, but I I think the Jets have the depth and, you know, the players in place to to probably overcome what they’re going to lose, at least uh uh statistically from Nicola. So, we’re not going to trap you with Connor Hellabuk drops all day, but we do have another one aside from Luds doing that drop. We have the one from the team. Go ahead, Cat. So, we’re always prepared, but we’re not going to play it every time you say his name. So feel free to speak at freely there. Okay, Sean, it’s up to you. Yeah, it’s it’s first off, it’s really interesting when you bring up Eer’s going to Carolina because we’ve tal we’ve spoken to Miko Ranton and one of the reasons that Miko Ranton kind of didn’t want to stay in Carolina was there’s only North. It’s not that Miko Ranton wanted to freelance a bit more. So it’s a fascinating thing to think about Eers going there because uh um but I want it’s we talked about Taves before. One of the fascinating stories that you’re going to it probably feels you probably get five Twitter mentions a day from this already is Kyle Connor, right? Because it happens every time with a with a prime Winnipeg Jets player who’s going in and Eelers leaving is not going to help that. But it’s so where do when you look at the Kyle Connor situation in the Jets, is that something that like Eers where we everything’s pushed off to the end of the year? Is it something that gets done during the year? Where do you kind of look at that? because I’m sure I’m one of 70,000 people that have bothered you with that question and you’ll get the question on a random Tuesday morning next week from a fan on Twitter as well about it. Yeah. And and uh you know Frank Cavelli threw a little gasoline on the situation the other day when he mentioned uh the Detroit Red Wings as a potential landing play should Kyle Connor get to free agency. To be clear, he wasn’t reporting that that’s where Kyle Connor wants to go play or anything like that. He was just speculating and I would have speculated the same thing. I mean, of course, uh, his hometown team um, would be a natural landing spot should he get there. I I’m on record and I’ll repeat it with you guys. I don’t believe Kyle Connor is is in the same situation as Nikolai. I also don’t think he gets to unrestricted free agency. And in fact, I’ll be surprised if there isn’t an extension in place for Kyle Connor by the time the Dallas Stars are at Canada Life Center for opening night. Like, I I think it gets done. Um, I really do. And and not just Kyle Connor, Adam Lowry, obviously a very different player, but the captain of the team, Adam Lowry, is also going to be entering the final year of his contract. And guys, I could see, not unlike what we saw with Helabuk and Shifley a few years ago with their uh extensions being signed on the same day at the same time, I could see a situation where Lowry and Connor are both re-uped uh with extensions. Now, to be clear, Shifeline Hellbuck got the exact same term and and salary. Kyle Connor and Adam Lowry will not be making the same amount of money. I I can assure you of that. Adam Lowry is probably going to be in the four to5 million range and Kyle Connor, I suspect his number is is double digits. It’s starting with a 10, maybe an 11. Um, but I do think there’s a willingness on both sides, Kyle Connors and the Jets, to to keep him longterm. And so, yeah, I mean, if if we get to opening night and he has not extended, uh, it’s going to there’s going to be collective PTSD in this market because of what just happened with Eers. Like, there will be a large segment of fans going, “Oh my god, here we go again.” And, you know, one of the things last year with Eers that there was probably at least a segment of fans that thought, “Well, if the Jets aren’t signing them, they got to move them. They got to get something for them. I can’t lose him for nothing. Well, how do you do that when you’re leading the NHL? When you’re the number one team in the regular season, you’re not selling. So, you know, you’re essentially treating him as your own rental. Uh I don’t think the Jets can afford to do that a second time. Like, they can’t. They’re just not in the position. It’s well documented, guys. The Jets are not a prime landing spot for free agents. There is difficulty at times getting players, you know, to wave no trades, that sort of thing. When you have drafted and developed stars like Nikolaiers, like Kyle Connor, um you can’t afford to just let those guys leave and and get nothing to kind of fill the cupboards and return. So, yeah, I mean, I don’t think that’s something the Jets are really entertaining at this point because I I think they don’t believe it’s going to get to that stage. But if we do get to October 9th, the the the whole conversation could potentially change if Kyle Connor and his camp decide, you know what, I want to take a wait andsee approach. I I want to see what the market looks like. If that’s the case, uh the Jets are going to be in quite the bind. And the thing is, you they don’t have a whole lot of power in that situation. Uh right, you’re you’re kind of at the mercy of the players. So, I know the hope is to get this resolved over the next whatever 2 months, 7 weeks or so. And uh but the clock is starting to tick a little bit on that. There was a lot of business this summer that Kevin Shovel have had to attend to, you know, specifically his own restricted free agents. That’s all done now. I got to think now the focus is on Kyle Connor and to a lesser degree Adam Lowry and getting those guys reuped. All right. Lot more with Mike McIntyre. We talk Jets and stars here on DLS next. Thought for a second we had the quick wipe. It went little double so while Sam sings because he is obsessed with that song and if when that song plays he’s like a parrot. He has to repeat it. He can’t leave it alone. Let’s talk about what’s going on right now. Even though the Cowboys are breaking training camp in Oxnard, it’s not training camp overtime. They’ve got two more preseason games. They’ve got work at the star before the season begins. And we still have our annual dieh hard sale up right now. As you can see, more than 70 or more than 50% off the regular annual rate, $36 as Sam tries to hawk down his food and probably gets choked or just be be safe, Sam. We know your your hospital history. If you scan that QR code and go to alldls.comintro, you will get a huge discount off the regular rate. And in addition to that, you will get coverage for the top level of all the writing that Sam and Shawn do for the entire hockey season and for Clarence for the entire Cowboys season and for Tim Ko for the entire Mav season and Jeff Wilson for I don’t know if the Rangers are going to make the playoffs now. They’ve stumbled a little bit. It’s not out of the question, but it’s going it didn’t but they still have a chance. So, and you get all of almost, you know, playoffs and next year for for the MLB season. So, when you sign up to be a diehard, you get a free t-shirt of your choice. The one that I think is one of the best is this one right here. Finish Mafia. Fantastic. How about that one? Then you don’t have to see me try to wiggle around the microphone. Unbelievable shirt. But we have so many to choose from. The Dallas collection came out a couple weeks ago. There’s the Otter shirt right there. You’ve got the Wyatt Johnson Jamie Ben. I like this one. The Cooper flag captured. Very creative shirt. There’s the Dallas collection. Uh, of course, Cat and I have the Nolan Ryan giving it the business to Robin Ventura because obviously great. Although I saw Kavanagh wearing the Dallas versus all y’all out in Oxnard talking to Shotti. All right. I’m not going to go to dls.com. Sign up to be a diehard today. I’m not going to make fun of Sam again for not knowing who the new Cowboys head coach was in Dallas two days ago. Like, how do you avoid that? But yeah, Mike, he’s never watched Seinfeld and he grew up in New Jersey. I And anyway, besides that. All right, Sam, the floor is now yours after all of that carving for anything. I can do whatever I want with it. Well, I mean, I Our guest is here, so you might take advantage of him. Yes, I will. What’s going on, Mike? I uh I’m curious. Uh we talked to Andrew a little bit about uh he kind of just mentioned the Rick Bonus, the Blake Wheeler captaincy and all that whole situation. So, kind of a two-parter here for you. Can you just take people that aren’t aware of that situation? Can you just kind of take us through how that went down? And then on the other side of it, how are Rick Bonis’s fingerprints still on this franchise? Oh, that’s a great question and uh one that I’m sure you know fans in your market are are eager to hear about because Rick of course uh you know made a impression I imagine in Dallas as well. He makes an impression wherever he goes. He’s just that kind of person and you know guys his fingerprints are absolutely all over this Jets team. He he completely changed the culture. he fixed a lot of things that were broken uh specifically in that in that dressing room. And you know, it’s interesting. A lot of the a lot of the damage that had been done can actually be traced back to a guy that’s now a pretty successful coach in the NHL. Oh, that’d be two-time Stanley Cup champion Paul Maurice. Um, but you know, guys, like I you’ve heard it said before, right? Every coach has a shelf life. eventually you get to a point where even the best coaches have to move on and and that was Paul Maurice that was you know he’s the one that actually decided to step down uh because he saw what was happening around him like the players weren’t listening there was divide within the room um and you know a lot of a lot of bad things were happening that he did not feel this team was going in the right direction so he steps aside kind of leaves a big mess and the mess didn’t get cleaned up right away when they made Adam Lowry’s dad the interimm head coach, which only made things even more awkward. Like, there is no situation, guys, where the father of a player should be a head coach in a in a professional sporting environment. It’s just a recipe for dysfunction. It really is. And I’ve actually had great chats with Dave Lowry and Adam Lowry kind of after the fact and they they admitted this was this was a bad decision. It it there was a divide between in within the Lowry family. There was a divide in the room. So Rick Bonis walks in, you know, thinks he’s going to cruise into retirement after leaving the Stars and he’s got a big mess on his hands. And credit to him, like this is a guy who he’s obviously a lifer in the NHL. He’s pretty much seen and done everything. He comes in with the fire extinguisher and there’s a lot of fires to put out. And you know, the the big one was right off the hop. And you’ve heard the expression, you know, you walk you you go to prison, you walk up to the biggest guy in the yard and like punch him punch him right between the eyes. In a slightly more subtle way, less violent way. That’s what Rick Bonis did with Blake Wheeler. you know, he he realized that this team with Wheeler at the helm and where Wheeler was at in his career, uh, this was not the direction they had to go. So, he ripped the band-aid off. And that first year with Wheeler, uh, no longer being part of the leadership group, I think that led to what happened after Rick’s first year, which was they bought Blake Wheeler out. they realized just his presence alone was still an issue and you know we heard it in exit meetings like where players were still talking about Wheeler as the captain even though he wasn’t like it just was not a great situation and so this was all Rick Bonis is doing like he went to ownership he went to management with his ideas and when they brought him in the idea was Rick Boness had the floor like he they wanted his opinion they didn’t want him to be a yes man and just go along with the status quo. So, you know, he he he changes the the leadership group. It opens up all kinds of additional channels of communication with this team. And you start to see this bond form that quite frankly just was not there. And the Jets became a very tight-knit group over the co course of a few years. Starting with what Rick Bonis did and then of course he’s got his health issues, his wife has health issues. Ultimately, he makes the decision to step away, but he’s brought in Scott Arneal almost as sort of succession planning and now you can make the transition to Arneal who can carry on a lot of the things Rick Bonis had already started. And a big one was the defensive structure. The Jets were a team that played reckless in their own end. And and quite frankly, they were selfish at times. You had offensive stars who did not want to play defense. They wanted to cheat for their offense. Rick Bon has taught them that you can have it both ways. You can still get your points, get your cookies, but you can also be a responsible defensive player. And he instilled that in this group. And you know, they’ve now won two straight William Jennings trophies as the best defensive group in in the in the league. Obviously, the first one was under Bonis in his last year last year under Scott O’Neal. But that’s Rick Bonis’s impact on this team. He brought this group together. He taught this group some valuable lessons about playing defense. And I’ll go on to say that, you know, if the Jets if the Jets can win a Stanley Cup in the next few years, I I know they probably couldn’t do this. But there would be a case to be made to have Rick Bonis’s name etched on that trophy as well. That’s how big of a an impact he had. Mike with I wanted to go back to the Lowry thing real quick and not necessarily one of the things about Stars history and it’s Luds isn’t on the show today to verify this but I can tell in Dallas Stars history when they won the cup in 99 one of the big things was the Sergey Zubof trade but the trade was Kevin Hatcher for Sergey Zubof they traded away Darien’s the captain’s brother and afterwards Darien became a better captain after his brother was out of the fold and there’s lots of guys of that team have talked about that. I’m curious. You talked about Adam and his dad being working with his dad as a as as a head coach and now Adam’s the captain. What is your read kind of been on Adam since then and now into this leader into the the full-blown captaincy role since since that? Oh, it’s a great great point and a great comparison and and I would agree wholeheartedly. It opened Adam Lowry up to be the player that he probably couldn’t be in that room certainly with with what was in place. even just having his dad as an assistant, which he was at the time under Paul Maurice and then obviously made the interim head coach. Like even that felt like an awkward decision, you know, and Dave Lowry, great human by all accounts a pretty good good coach, but I mean there’s lots of great coaches out there. like the decision to bring him in in the first place just felt like it put Adam Lowry in a tough spot and you know especially with the dynamics of that room where there was clearly some friction maybe between what guys like Paul Maurice and maybe some players were trying to accomplish and what other guys felt like like should be happening. So yeah, it it really opened Adam Lowry up. And this is a guy who he has he oozes leadership, but he wasn’t even part of the leadership group with his dad in the room. You know, he wasn’t an an alternate captain. And so he’s able to now step up essentially find his voice. And that’s what that’s how Dave Lowry put it to me. Like me getting out of there allowed Adam to find his voice. And not only did he find his voice, he also found his game. he unlocked parts of his game which you for a for a guy now, you know, he’s now over 30. You usually aren’t talking about a player um finding, you know, setting career highs, things like that, especially a defensive specialist like Lowry. Uh but he’s done that. The last two years have been his two best career years offensively. And, you know, he’s added, of course, so much more. and he’s become he’s become the face and the voice of the Winnipeg Jets for all his stuff he does on the ice and in the room. He he’s he does even more in the community. Um you know, he is he is the Winnipeg Jets and I just can’t imagine if any of that could have really happened uh with Dave Lowry still in the room. So yeah, it unlocked the best version of him and it also made family dinners a little less awkward. Let’s put it that way. All right, we have one more question for Mike because we’re running out of time, but I have to do a quick offboarding here. So, we want to thank to everyone who joined us today on our television platforms. Make sure to like and subscribe here on the pod and check out all dllls.com. Mike, before we say goodbye, because it’s gone by way too fast, uh the a quick follow up on the Lowry thing. I was the Texas Stars play-by-play announcer when we beat the St. John’s Ice Caps in St. John’s to win the Calder Cup in 2014 with Adam Lowry on that team and others. It was uh it was a great series, two good teams. It there’s been a lot of connection between the Stars and Lowry as opponents going back to the AHL days and then to the NHL. But speaking of the Stars, we’ve asked every guest on this summer series, and you will be no exception. We not just looking for fluff, but if you want to say nice things about the Stars, you’re certainly welcome to. What’s your take, your unvarnished take of what this Dallas Stars team is going into this coming season? Oh, they’re my they’re my Central Division favorite. They’re my Western Conference favorite, guys. I mean, when I we do we do previews and predictions in the free press and uh I’ll have them number one in the central. Like I think the Jets the Jets aren’t winning the President’s Trophy again next year. I I don’t think the Jets are even winning their division next year. I think the Jets are still going to be a very good hockey team. Uh but the Jets don’t need to do all that. We just saw what the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers did. Like it’s it’s not about your regular season. The the Jets need to learn how to win in the playoffs. And you know, I’m not saying they could take their foot off the gas and cruise through the regular season. They can’t. But they got to pace themselves. And it’s more about the playoffs. I think Dallas up and down, you know, I know it’s been a quiet off season for Dallas, but it didn’t have to be noisy. Like the the pieces are in place. I I love I love what what Jim Nil has been doing with that that organization. I mean, just some great trades and I I think another, you know, a full camp with Rantin and, you know, we started to really see in the playoffs like what what he can do and the impact he can make. Obviously, Mirro Heiskin in healthy. Um, you know, I I just think Dallas is the team like they are the the pace setter in the Central and, you know, I I see maybe a couple teams like the Jets taking a bit of a step back. So, yeah, I I I think Dallas is going to be the team to beat in the Central in the West. Uh, they’ll absolutely be in the mix, of course, come playoff time. And it would not surprise me if we get uh Stars Jets round two uh perhaps next spring sometime. And that’d be a lot of fun. We always get excited at my house when the character in the movie says the name of the movie and Mike just said the title of the show today, so we have to go. Hey, but before we let you go, if you could pluck one player off this Dallas Stars roster and drop him into the Jets lineup, no salary cap issues here, who would you take and why? That’s a great question. Uh I So I love Jason Robertson. I really do. Like I I he’s a guy that Rick Bonis used to and I remember having a bunch of talks with Rick about him and Rick talked about some of the tough love like you talk about his fingerprints. I’d say his fingerprints are also on Jason Roberts and other stars players too. But I remember Rick talking about some of the tough love he had to employ with Jason Robertson early in his career to kind of get him to play the way he wanted to. And you know, I I think we talk about Nikolai Eers and his absence like Jason Robertson would be uh would be a heck of a a fit in the in the Jets uh room, but yeah, I mean Dallas, they got a a bevy of uh of great young talent for sure. And uh I mean I’m you’re probably surprised I didn’t say Ratantin. And in fact there was a time when Ratin was on the market like there was there were some people in Winnipeg wondering like man that well at least saying he would be a great fit which he would be wondering if there could be a fit there and I don’t think that would have worked out in the end. Uh we we don’t have the same luxuries necessarily as Dallas to uh to offer Mr. Ranton. Uh, so I think he’s found a nice home there and uh, but yeah, Jason Robertson, he’d be the answer to uh, to your question. Wow, Mike, you’ve been fantastic. I expected no less, but we’ll have to do this again soon because it was really a pleasure to have you on. Thank you for carving out some time on a Friday in the morning to do it and uh, can’t wait. First game of the year, Stars and Jets up in in Winnipeg. Should be a lot of fun. It’ll be here in no time, guys. Enjoy the rest of summer and yeah, we’ll touch base down the road. There he goes. Mike McIntyre from the Winnipeg Free Press. Boys, any final thoughts here in overtime before we say goodbye today? I I think uh Sam should sing us out. Sam should sing us out. Okay, Sam, before you sing, let me then say Yeah, hold on. Before he does it, a quick reminder on the show. Monday, we’re at 2:15. Oh, boy. He showed the laundry. 2:15 Central time. Monday’s show, CAD is producing a double show. Rangers and then stars. So, she needs a little buffer so she doesn’t We got to We got to do one show to the next. Matt Defrans, our good friend, former Dallas Morning News stars beat writer, now of course for multiple years as the St. Louis Blues beat writer for the St. Louis Dispatch, will be our guest. He’ll be on for the full hour, so we won’t have to wedge him into just two segments. So, Matt Defrans will be here on Monday. Then, we’re going to do I think the Ottawa Senators Tuesday and onward and onward. We’ve got lots to go. We haven’t even reached the halfway point of the other 31, but it has been great so far. Sean, we don’t know your schedule yet for next week, but appreciate you joining us on a Friday and uh happy start to the EPL season, sir. Yes. Uh I wish the best of luck to you in 36 of the 38 games. All right, Sam, if you haven’t left other than showing Here we go. We all silly like the mayor.

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Our summer series “The Other 31” heads back to the Central Division and this time it’s a recent playoff opponent – the Winnipeg Jets – with special guests Andrew “Hustler” Paterson, host of Winnipeg Sports Talk, and Mike McIntyre, Jets beat writer for the Winnipeg Free Press. We will get the Manitoba view of the Stars-Jets second round playoff series – which Dallas won in six games, featuring hat tricks from Mikko Rantanen (Game 1) and Mikael Granlund (Game 4), two shutouts from Connor Hellebuyck (Games 2 & 5) and a series-clinching OT goal from Thomas Harley. How do the Jets regroup from losing that series? How much will the return to hockey of Jonathan Toews help soften the blow of losing Nikolaj Ehlers to free agency? Plus, Jake Oettinger and Connor Hellebuyck will probably be the top two goalies on Team USA for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, but who will be the starter?

00:00 Intro
04:00 Andrew “Hustler” Paterson joins the show
5:30 Reaction in Winnipeg after Stars knocked them out of playoffs
8:30 Connor Hellebuyck performance vs Oettinger and Stars
17:00 Who starts for Team USA in Italy?
19:45 Transition from Rick Bowness to Scott Arniel
25:30 What to expect from Jonathan Toews’ return?
27:00 Thoughts on Dallas Stars
35:00 Mike McIntyre joins the show
36:40 Nikolaj Ehlers
41:45 Kyle Connor
49:00 How does Rickbowness still affect the Jets?
55:00 Adam Lowry as captain
58:45 Thoughts on Dallas Stars

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