Winnipeg Jets Training Camp Tomorrow, Blue Bombers prepare for Redblacks

Winnipeg Jets Training Camp Tomorrow, Blue Bombers prepare for Redblacks

I want This is Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily with Andrew Hustler Patterson and Michael Reis. Hey now, welcome everyone to a wonderful Wednesday edition of Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily. Michael Reis here in the host chair for the vacationing hustler. He’ll be back tomorrow. We’ll be live at FanFest. You know, it’s not FanFest. Fanfest Saturday. He’ll be live at training camp tomorrow. Kicks off 9:30 a.m. The first group skating. Uh it feels I don’t want to say it feels like Christmas, but it feels like a very exciting day where all the talk that we’ve had throughout the summer leading up. We’re going to finally have many questions that we’ve been discussing here for months on Winnipeg Sports Talk, uh not answered, but uh maybe some little nuggets of information. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, uh they’re practicing today ahead of Saturday afternoon’s game in Ottawa. We have some clips later on from Chris Trevor and Mike O’Shea from from yesterday. Connor Rabchek, he’s going to join me in a second here. But I do want to give a shout out to the sponsors. HSC Home Lottery, Rolly’s Transfer, St. Patel Dentl, Canadian Club, Manitoba Battery, Princess Auto, Akens Lake, F App Apparel, Fans First, Little Brown Jug, Boston Pizza, Royal Sports, Breezy Band, Cineboy Downs, and Cool Bad and other content if you missed it. This week we have uh Connor’s WST Sunday live, the Blue Bombers report, reaction from the loss to Hamilton, and CFL 110 debuted after the show yesterday. It is on this podcast feed. There is a CFL 110 podcast feed. It comes out a bit earlier on there. Search for that one and subscribe. And here we got a grand Hey, we do have a great show lined up today. A number of guests coming on. Shaina Goldman of the Athletic. The Athletics got their player tiers out. They’re not exactly rankings. They didn’t rank them by number, but they put them in tiers. You got the MVP tier, the top guys, the franchise player tier, you know, superstar tier, allstar tier, and it wasn’t just putting players into a spreadsheet and spitting out a ranking. They had they did that, but then they refined that list with conversations with executives, coaches, uh, former players. So, that was a really interesting read and interesting to see where the Jets land on that tier and how that may predict what’s coming up this season. Drew Mandel of the Illegal Curve Hockey Show. Uh, they’re back 9:00 a.m. on Saturdays here on YouTube and podcast as well. We’ll be seeing them at FanFest on Saturday. kick off the season. Had to ask Drew what he thought about the upcoming training camp and also the Bombers. Uh Drew very passionate about the Blue Bombers, very knowledgeable. So I had to ask him, is it time to panic and is this a mustwin on Saturday for the blue and gold? And team Canada Rugby at the Rugby Women’s World Cup. Emily Tutosce from Surus, Manitoba is there. Canada taking on New Zealand on Friday at 100 p.m. So, Friday’s show, we will be scoreboard watching uh that game. That’s a semi-final. Canada with a chance to advance to the final, which would be Saturday, and she was named player of the match against Scotland. And Canada is just ripping through everyone in that tournament. So, I’m excited to welcome her. And a little football talk. Haven’t done much NFL. Thomas Tipple. Uh he lives in Winnipeg working for Fantasy Points. A lot of quarterbacks being ruled out with injury this week. So I’ll be talking with him about a lot of the quarterback changes and standout players over the first two weeks and if we should start panicking about some of these rookies who haven’t performed two of them we saw on Monday Night Football. But let’s bring them in. It’s the day after the birthday boy. Connor Rabchack. Connor, what’s going on? How was it? How was your evening last night? Oh, it was great. Yeah, it was a it was a nice night. Had a nice dinner. Uh was able to get home in time to catch the end of the Jay’s game as well. So, that was great. Uh and yeah, here we are. Training camp eve. All the time we spent in the offseason talking about Kyle Connor’s contract and training camp battles and all of these things. It’s finally here tomorrow. We’re going to be there at Hockey Forall Center. I can’t wait for this weekend ahead and to be to be talking Jets and actual Jets news. And Remis, I know you’re fired up for line combinations tomorrow and we’ll get the groupings today, I’m assuming. But, uh, happy training camp eve to all who celebrate. Yeah, it’s going to be great be there. The line rushes, training camps. We’re waiting on the groups. I thought the Jets were going to be sending them out uh just right at 1:00 when we started, but uh they have not they have not sent those out yet. We’ll be by be dissecting the groups uh as they are released and trying to speculate on who is going to be paired with who. We did have we did have some Jets news today. It was the broadcast schedule. Uh the Jets announcing TSN will be carrying four Jets preseason games. The other two will be available at winnipeg jets.com. similar to how the you the prospects game was and but and so four preseason 60 regular season on TSN and the remaining 22 there will be four times on Amazon Prime Monday Night Hockey 13 times on Hockey Night in Canada five times on Sports Net Wednesday Night Hockey. So you will be covered. It is Dan and Kevin. Hope to see them. They’re both arriving in Winnipeg. I don’t know was yesterday or or today and we’ll be at training camp. So, and of course CJ OB and Power 97 will have the radio broadcast with Paul Edmonds and Mitch Clinton. So, very excited to have the full broadcast schedule. I will say uh Amazon. So, if you’re not on Prime, you’re gonna want to subscribe to Prime in December because well, I mean, you have Boxing Day, but al but also uh three Jets games on Prime with the one other one uh in April. But we do have the the broadcast schedule. That was the Jets news of the day. Yes. Yes. And I do love that you gave a shout out there to the timing of those Amazon games because three of them come in December. I believe it’s the first three Mondays in December as well for the Jets in their Amazon Prime games. So yeah, 60 games hearing Dan Robertson on TSN. That’s where the majority of the games have been for the past number of years. Uh all the games are on the radio with Paul Edmonds and Mitch Clinton. Uh and then yeah, 13 times on Hockey Night in Canada. Uh that’s that’s fun. I mean, Hockey Night Canada games are always fun going up against Canadian opponents, sometimes the Leafs on Saturday night, sometimes the Canucks if it’s super late at night. Uh but Hockey Night Canada games are always the best uh to watch in my opinion on a Saturday night. Um, and then five games on Rogers Wednesday night hockey. So, an interesting broadcast schedule. I mean, no real surprises there, but definitely worth mentioning as we get into the season here. Yeah, in a world where uh, you know, you need a lot of the different streaming services, majority of them on TSN. And I think people do appreciate Dan and Kevin’s coverage and whoever whenever else they’re talking TSN. The Jets were a topic on TSN yesterday. Connor Kyle Connor’s contract. I don’t know if that’s the number one Jet story we are following, but it’s certainly on the back burner. Darren Dreger was on insider trading yesterday and they’re talking about McDavid’s status and know that the number of players Capri off making headlines for being entering this year in the final year of their contract. But here’s what Darren Dreger had to say about Kyle Connor entering the final year of his deal and if negotiations are taking place. Yeah, just a continued open line of communication. Man, talk about high level, high status players in this initial edition of insider trading and Kyle Connor deserves a spot in this conversation. I don’t think that there’s any doubt that the Winnipeg Jets have put a priority on extending Kyle Connor for as long as they can. That’s just the reality of the situation. And I don’t doubt for a second that they will extend Kal Connor because he’s been such a key piece of this organization’s past, present, and undoubtedly the future. There’s no timeline on this, but again, lines and communications are completely open as Connor goes into a final year of a seven-year almost $50 million deal. And based on years of production, I think it’s a safe assumption that Kyle Connor has earned a decent raise. There’s Darren Drager yesterday on Insider Trading saying Kyle Connor has earned a raise. lines of communication are open and he’s going to be a big part of the Winnipeg Jets past, present, and future. And we’ve said this for a while, but it does feel much different this, you know, this player entering the final year of their deal than we had with Connor Halabuk where they’re writing, oh, that ship has sailed on him resigning with the Jets. And just the state of the team at the time and Nikolai Eers, I don’t recall, you know, any open lines of comm communication there really. It seems like we’re headed uh for a contract extension at some point with the Jets and Kyle Connor. Oh, one sec. The weekend start again. Yeah. And with training camp uh starting tomorrow and heading into the weekend and all of those things, um it’s going to be really interesting to see when this contract comes. I don’t think any of us would be shocked if Kyle Connor extended long-term with the Winnipeg Jets. Everything we’ve heard and this report from Darren Dreger falls under that same umbrella. both of these teams or or the team and the player, both sides of this negotiation want a deal. Uh and I don’t think anyone should be shocked or will be shocked if that comes in the first couple of days of training camp or throughout training camp. Obviously, we’ve all listed our panic points on when to start stressing. Uh but a good sign for the Winnipeg Jets that it looks like negotiations are happening, communication lines are open, as Darren Drager said, and uh hopefully we get a deal soon here into training camp with Kyle Connor, one year away from pending UFA. Uh the news of the hockey day today Remo was Oilers fans panicking over Conor McDavid because a 32 thoughts was released this morning where Elliot Freeman and Kyle Bukosquez interviewed McDavid uh and he you know was very focused on this season and competing in 2025 26 and even had a quote in there we’ll see beyond that or something like that. So, here in Winnipeg, we aren’t nearly as stressed about Kyle Connor as Oilers fans seem to be online about Conor McDavid after his latest media outing this morning. Yeah, Conor McDavid for him, he wants to be paid like the top player in the league, but I think most importantly, he’s going to get, you know, he’s going to get that wherever he goes. He wants a chance to win. losing back-to- back Stanley Cups. One in a game seven after battling back down 3 0 one in a game six. Uh this is something that we’re going to be focused on here. The best player in the world. Could he possibly change teams? And if you’re Edmonton, I mean, he is the reason why uh they have been so successful. I know they have Didle as well who’s a, you know, an MVP franchise player of his own, but Conor McDavid, what a talent he is. And to lose him, yeah, would be devastating. I think they would be still pretty good. Uh, if they were missing him, but um, if you’re Conor McDavid, I think you would be looking at all things where do I have the best chance to win? Is it in Edmonton? They’ve gone to backtoback Stanley Cup finals. Maybe it is for this year, but there might be some concerns there about Beyond. Is there concerns about the way they’ve managed their team? I think their off season last year turned out to be, I don’t know, disa I don’t want to say disastrous, but losing Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg seemed like a big miss and signing veteran players uh like Arvidson and Skinner when they had some players there. So, I guess that’s something we’re going to be following. Maybe not as closely as people in Toronto. I think Maple Leafs fans uh feel like McDavid is destined to sign there. And when it’s, you know, free agent watch here in Winnipeg, it’s exciting. But as we know, Winnipeg not exactly the top destination on many UFA players list. Yeah, they the the Jets should be in on the Conor McDavid sweep stakes if it ever comes to that. Will Conor McDavid be in on the Winnipeg Jets? Probably not. And I think that’s uh that’s goes without saying, but the the Conor McDavid thing, excuse me, this whole time, every time he’s been asked about it, whether it’s at Team Canada orientation camp or on 32 thoughts, he starts by saying, “I’m going to take my time with this decision. I’m going to take my time. My family’s going to talk about it. This is a big decision.” On 32 thoughts this morning, he said, “I’ve worked my whole life to get this opportunity to have this option.” I mean, if I’m an Oilers fan, I’m panicking big time right now because camps open today or uh across like half the league and for the Winnipeg Jets and some Canadian markets, it opens tomorrow. How much longer is Carter McDavid going to take with this decision? You can’t can you lose a guy like Carter McDavid for nothing? I don’t think so. Um and and if he’s not resigning with the Edmonton Oilers, do the Oilers keep him through this year and just kind of let him uh you know, pitch him their best offer in the offseason kind of thing? I still think Conor McDavid ends up signing with the Edmonton Oilers. Whether whether it’s a three-year extension, even like a 2-year extension or an 8-year extension, I still think his next deal is with Edmonton. But today was the first time that I’ve listened to Conor McDavid and thought to myself, “Wow, he might actually leave. He might actually leave.” And and we’ll see. Uh again, it’s September 17th. There’s a lot of time for them and the Oilers to get things figured out and get a contract of some kind uh beyond this season. But Conor McDavid seems very very focused on this year. He’s relishing at the opportunity. You know, he doesn’t get this opportunity again in his career at at this prime age to cash in on a big contract. So, I don’t know. Edmonton is panicking and rightfully so. I think I think today was the first time that I thought to myself, “Wow, he might actually leave.” Who knows? We’ll see. Yeah. As far as trading him, I think the best you’re trying to win. The best chance for them to win is with him. So, I think if you trade him, you’re throwing in the towel. And when you just went to backto back seasons, I know you want to say, “Oh, you can’t let a guy leave.” But you’re trying to win. So, I think, yeah, you got to let it let it play out. You know, try to give her on this season and then reevaluate. Yeah. you know, maybe you’d have to listen to offers if there was something that could help you win now and uh, you know, sign another player long term, a superstar type player, but that’s something I think you’d have to listen, but I think you’d have to be okay with the fact that he’s going to leave uh for nothing. As far as the Jets and Kyle Connor, if that got to that situation, I think it would be tough for the Jets. I think that’s kind of different. You’ve already had Nicola Eers leave. I think you would have to at least listen or try very aggressively to to get this deal done with Kyle Connor would be a big loss for the Jets if he left. I know there’s people in chat saying, “Well, if you don’t know by day one of the season, then you’d have to look at trading him.” I I do think the Jets are built to win. They need him. But it would be such a blow to to lose two players. I don’t think they would be able to recover from losing a guy who was just top 10 in the league in scoring. Yeah, I I 100% agree with you, Remo. I mean, the the Oilers and Jets are in such different scenarios and McDavid and Connor are such different players, too, in terms of, you know, the Conor McDavid’s the best player in the world, and Kyle Connor isn’t. He’s a very talented winger, one of the best left wingers in the league, maybe top 10, but he’s not Conor McDavid. and the Oilers have been to back-to-back Stanley Cup finals and a game away um two years ago and all of these things. I I just don’t see that being the outcome for the Winnipeg Jets. And you bring up the loss of Nikolai Eers last year to lose Kyle Connor again uh or or to go undergo that again back-to-back seasons and lose Kyle Connor for nothing in the middle of Mark Schiffing and Connor Hellbuk’s prime years. They signed these big contracts. Kevin Shivalv promised them a competitive team year after year. uh when they sign those deals, you know, we’re going to compete every year. That was part of the the sales pitch to Shley and Hellbuck to sign those matching deals. To let Kyle Connor walk for nothing when he’s at a prime age coming off of a 90 plus point season with 40 plus goals would be a devastating blow for the Jets. So, I we don’t need to have that talk until we get to that point where we’re maybe a week into the season and Kyle Connor is still unsigned where you’d have to look at potentially trading him to recoup some of those assets because I agree with you, you can’t have another Nikolai Eer situation here where Kyle Connor reaches UFA and uh you’re kind of left holding the bag as he goes elsewhere. It’s kind of funny, there’s a comment here from B. Henderson saying McDavid’s best chance to win a cup is here in Winnipeg. Again, you think, well, what has been the Oilers problem in the playoffs the last couple years? Uh, goalending. Which team has the best goalie? Uh, goalie. Winnipeg. Winnipeg does fit in nicely at center. Yeah, it could fit in nicely at center. Maybe some other pieces could fit in. You bring in McDavid and other players would want to come. Easy to attract other players. One can dream. It’s fun to dream, but I’m sure every fan base would be salivating at the idea of being bringing in McDavid, but a lot of teams are up against the cap. I know it’s going up, but it would be tough to bring in, you know, what’s his cap hit going to be 16 if Caprosov is turning down 16 million AV. I imagine McDavid would be close to 20, but team would have to do some major, you know, accounting to try and figure out how to fit it. And I think that’s something that is also a factor. I mean, looking at cap space, Vegas, and according to Puck Pedia, minus 7.64 million in cap space, the Panthers minus 4.5, Dallas 405K. So, these are all the usual suspect teams. Uh, Lightning 1.1 in cap space, Avalanche 1.3. So, they’ll I’m sure they’ll be able to figure make it work, but I think it’s easier to make it work on, you know, a 78 $8 million player than a guy who’s going to make 16 million for next season or, you know, more or or Yeah. or beyond, right? I I love this comment from boring Shawn Monahan. So, when the Jets sign McDavid, they solve the 2C problem with Shifley. Finally, McDavid is the the 2C the Jets have been looking for all this time. No, but uh yeah, like I I wonder the Golden Knights. I know Alex Petrangelo is going to start on LTIR and that contract. So, that’ll get them uh a little bit closer to that projected uh the cap hit under the cap. The Panthers are in a tough spot, too. Uh but yeah, the Oilers have $200,000 in cap space and they’re a team that’s already paid big money to Leon Dry and they just Evan Buchard a big contract for a bit shorter term this off season as well. Um and you scroll down and the Jets are all the way at 4 million. Uh, we know that Jonathan Taves is due some performance bonuses, but how teams manage the cap across the league is going to be really interesting in this rising cap environment because with more money to spend, teams are going to be more willing to spend. And when they’re more willing to spend, you’ll see some crazy contracts just to even get to the cap floor. Like you scroll all the way down, the Anaheim Ducks are $20 million under the cap. Uh, the Blackhawks are 18 million under the cap. Like, and then the cap’s going to jump even more next year. So, uh, like a team like Chicago would have no problem trading for and paying Carl Capri off whatever he wants because cap is such a non-issue for them over the next couple of years as it rises and they have a ton of space. So, could we see a team kind of at the bottom of the league with a ton of cap space make an aggressive move and pay a big ticket for a Carell Capriov, which I think Blackhawks fans would be happy with. Would the Wild trade him in the division? Probably not. Um, but again, we could see a team make an aggressive move and pay a massive contract because of where the cap is going over the next number of years. Well, that’s uh NHL, the training camps open. We’re already hearing some players and coaches speak to the media. The Jets will be having their first availability tomorrow at the first gate 9:30 and Kyle Connor will hear from him about his contract situation. Maybe he didn’t want to speak the other day. Maybe we’re waiting for an announce for an announcement or something. We’ll have to wait and see. We’ll have to wait and see. Um, the Bombers practicing day two. Derek Taylor writing on X. Another day of limited action for Zack Calleris. Actually playing safety for the simulated Red Blacks defense. Michael Griffin, defensive back, out for his second day. He injured his knee in the Thaiats game. Uh Cam Eckles, what who Derek Nen Cam Eckles, who they resigned as a receiver a couple weeks ago, made a nice uh catch. So not much here from the Bombers, seems like we’re training towards another Chris Dreler start in Ottawa. Yeah, I mean the first day of Zack Ceros being at practice in gear and not practicing, being limited, kind of working as the quarterback three, if you will, that you could have taken with a grain of salt. now a second day of this and him not, you know, running with the first team. I think that’s a little bit more substantial when it comes to his status for this weekend. And it’s a Saturday game, 2 p.m. against the Ottawa Red Blacks. Chris Trevor taking the first two days of first team reps here at practice. I think we are trending towards a Chris Trevor start. Um and and it’s interesting because Zacharos is clearly, you know, feeling good enough to practice in some capacity, but clearly not good enough to run with the first team, practice in full and play a game this Saturday. There’s still time for him to get in um you know, past the steps and play on Saturday, but him not taking the first team reps and back-to-back days here, I don’t think is a good sign for his status on Saturday. So Connor with the Bombers at six and seven heading on the road to Ottawa. Is Saturday’s game are we in must-win territory here for the blue and gold? Uh I don’t know. I mean, I don’t like using must-win when a team season isn’t on the line, but you could argue that a loss to Ottawa would, you know, really mudd things up in the CFL’s West Division and potentially, you know, we could look back at it weeks from now and that could be the difference in the Bombers making the playoffs and not. So, given the circumstances, I’m calling Saturday’s game a must-win. Uh Ottawa has the worst record in the CFL. They’re 4-9. Whether it’s Chris Streller or Zack Calleros, I still think the Bombers should be able to win this football game. Uh, last I looked they were onepoint underdogs on the road over at Kbet. Um, I think regardless they should be able to win this game and the defense should be able to, you know, force some turnovers or something along those lines. Brady Olivera can have a big game. Um, and where the Bombers are at three and seven in their last 10, three straight losses going up against the worst team in the CFL by record. Uh, I’m comfortable calling this one a must-win for the Bombers to keep their playoff spot in the West and not give a team like Edmonton the chance to leave Frog. They do get some help on the schedule. The Bombers are playing the 4 and9 Red Blacks. So, this might be more can’t lose territory than must win. BC, they’ve got a tough one. They’re going into Calgary. Calgary’s coming off a buy and Edmonton going into Hamilton. So they could be getting some help here from the schedule and or it could be a great opportunity for them to put more distance between BC and Edmonton. They are tied with BC at six and seven, but do hold the tiebreaker because of playing them earlier in the season when you know Nathan Ror missed a game and uh really wasn’t looking like the player that he did on Saturday where he carved up uh those same Red Blacks that we’ll be seeing on Saturday. Uh Chris Dreer spoke. Ye yesterday after practice, a lot of concern about how he’s feeling. You know, tried to take it into the end zone at the end of the game. Uh took a pretty big hit and remained on the ground. Derek Taylor asked him how he’s feeling at the start of yesterday’s practice. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after the game. How are you feeling? That was that last play. Oh, physically I’m good. Physically, I’m good. Um yeah, was just not happy with the outcome, but uh I’m good physically. Okay. It felt like one of those car crash moments that you signed up for as a football player. That’s how it felt. That’s how it felt. Um, but I’m feeling okay now. So, thank goodness. Yeah. Yeah. Your overall impression of that game? You know, just can’t turn the ball over, man. And, uh, we’ve just been doing that too much this year. We moved the ball. Uh, we did. And, um, you know, we didn’t finish in the end zone enough, but we moved the ball. And, um, you know, the one positive I did like is is guys didn’t stop fighting till the end. um put together a couple drives there and uh you know just our team didn’t show any quit so that’s the stuff that you can build on and obviously you know I have to and we have to take better care of the football. What did you make of Brady’s performance? I guess the run game’s performance is a better way to say that. Yeah, I mean we’ve talked about it so much just how fun it is to be out there with Brady and the way that he runs and you know when guys feel that type of physicality and that type of um enthusiasm, it energizes the team and that’s what he brings. That’s what I try to bring. I mean I hand it off to him. I’m trying to get blocks and I’m running. He’s knocking two people on the ground, man. Like, so it’s fun to be out there running the ball and being physical with him and uh the way that he plays energizes our team. There’s Chris Shreveler after practice yesterday and he was asked a lot of talk yesterday about turnovers. The Bombers turn the ball over more than any other team. And you look at interceptions, him and Zack Calleris among the league leaders, top three, two quarterbacks from the same team. seems uh like a rare feat, but here’s Trevor asked about turnovers. You know, before the half that that’s tough, man. It’s a tough, you know, momentum thing where you give them points and then they get the ball coming out of half, right? So, that’s tough, but we were in the game. You know, we just didn’t finish in the end zone. Um, but again, you know, we’re just put we we put our defense in tough positions there and um, you know, I thought our defense played a really really good game, but when you give them short fields like that, it’s it’s hard on them. So, um, I got to do a better job. We all got to do a better job of just continuing to make that a point of emphasis and carry it over to game day. Picks can be anything from a bad read to bad throw to a defensive pressure to receiver route. Can you take us through those two as to what what happened on them? Yeah, I mean, well, the first one uh was a screen. Um, and you know, the the corner made a nice play, got underneath our block and uh was able to jump in front of the route and make a pick. Um, just good play by him. Uh, and then the next one uh we’re rolling out. Uh we had man coverage um and uh you know def defenders just sitting there in man and uh was able to undercut um you know undercut the throw. Uh probably could have put in a better location or just made a different decision there. So um you know both good plays by the defender but um you know again it’s just I want to be smart with the ball in my hands and we all want to take care of the football. Um and that’s just going to be continue to be a point of emphasis even more so as we move deeper in the season here. lack of reps a factor in that you think as far as your your lack of starting experience? No. Uh I’ve started plenty of football games and um I’ve played a lot of football and I understand how important it is to take care of the ball. So um ultimately I’m the quarterback and uh you know when we turn the ball over or interception happens, I got to take good care of the football and I’m going to own own that every time. So um it’s on me. It starts with me and uh I got to keep doing better job. There’s Chris Stra yesterday says he has to keep doing a better job. I mentioned the stat about turnovers, interceptions, him and Zach Claris among the league leaders. Uh he was asked about that yesterday by Taylor Allen of the Winnipeg Free Press uh who was on with me actually on Monday. So here’s uh Shreveler addressing more uh on the turnovers. Yes. Uh it’s it’s not ideal, right? I mean you don’t want to be turning the ball over. You don’t want to be throwing picks. It’s not ideal. We obviously wish it wasn’t that way, but it is that way. So, what can we do? We can focus on making it into more of a point of emphasis and and just try to hyperfocus on taking care of the football. Um, and and that’s that’s what we can do moving forward. It’s obviously not ideal, but um, we’re going to keep focusing on that and getting better. People calling for Terry Wilson that he should have ended the game or whatever. Does that put a chip on your shoulder or do you just block out that kind of that noise from people? I don’t I don’t know who people in general are. I don’t pay attention to that. I’m worried about doing my job. Um, we put two good drives together at the end of the game. Um, so whoever people are, um, that’s their opinion. They’re entitled to their opinion. I’m going to focus on what I can do, coming in here, working my tail off every single day. Um, and and getting better. There’s Chris Trevor. He’s going to focus on what he can do every day to get better. Connor not focused on what people out there, whoever the generic people, whoever those may be. They put together two good drives at the end and he’s looking forward to keeping it going against Ottawa, assuming he’s named the starter. Yeah, for sure. And it it is good and refreshing to hear that it’s such a point of emphasis for them as well. We can sit here and and be those people and talk about how Terry Wilson should start or the Bombers can’t turn the ball over as much, but they’re clearly aware that this is what’s costing them football games. You could argue that that’s what cost them the game against Hamilton because Chris Trevor said they moved the ball well. They ran for almost 200 yards at over seven yards a carry between Striveler and Brady Olivea. Ontario Wilson led the team in receiving for a second straight game with 74 yards. They moved the ball well. They outgainained Hamilton. Uh it was the true turnovers that put Hamilton in in really good spots for them to score that really changed that game. So it’s it’s refreshing to hear it from them and hopefully it’s a point of emphasis and something that they can limit uh this Saturday against Ottawa. Yeah, a lot of talk about Zack Collaris, his health. Streller talked yesterday about seeing him out there, not taking first team reps, but uh being on the field and spectating. It seems like he’s doing good. Um you know, I me and Zach are close friends and I’ve talked about that a lot. And so I always keep good tabs on him. Um you know, I love him as a as a person, you know, more than a football player. So, um, just just to see him starting to feel better and out here practice throwing around with us, man. It’s it’s good from a team standpoint. It’s also just good to see him progressing the right way. And it gives us energy, man. Like, that’s our guy. So, you know, we we love to see him out here and he brings energy and um he brings obviously a lot to this team when he’s on the field, even if he’s not taking all the snaps. So, great to see him. You probably heard what Milt had to say about longterm and stuff, whether he should be playing or not. Is that a conversation players ever have with with teammates? They’re they’re your friends, too. And the long-term effects potentially of repeated head injuries. Is that something you guys ever? Like I said, I care about him as more than a football player. You know, I love him as a person. So, you know, our private conversations, you know, we we have private conversations and I just check in with him as a person, man. Um, so I just leave it at that, man. And that’s, you know, everyone’s got things to say about different things. So, um, I love Zack. There’s Chris Stler says he loves Zack. But Connor, I think it’s been encouraging that, you know, he’s been at practice, that he’s been traveling to Hamilton. Doesn’t seem like he’s on track to be starting. You know, maybe he practices tomorrow and the coach comes out and says, “Ah, Zach, he’s he’s a pro. He doesn’t need practice, which but it seems like, you know, they’re on the same page there.” And nice to hear that he’s doing all right. Yes, for sure. I mean, ever since Zach got hit in the Banjo Bowl, the the thing that we’ve been saying the most is his health and and just concern for who for him as a person and and the the concussion, the head injury. That’s one of the scariest things in football. So, to hear that Zack I mean to see him travel with the team to Hamilton was a very good sign in terms of just his overall well-being. But he’s practicing, he’s moving around, he’s limited in practice. And while he might not start this Saturday, couldn’t agree more, Remis, definitely a good sign to see uh and hear from Chris Trevor that Zach is doing well. And we’ll see if he returns, you know, maybe next week if he’s already limited in practice this week. I also wouldn’t be shocked uh like you said, if Zack Claros is one of those veterans where Mike O’Shea could say, “Oh, he doesn’t need to practice.” Just like Stanley Bryant and Willie Jefferson, these guys don’t need to practice. They know what to do. uh and and can go out there on game day and execute. So, I wouldn’t be shocked to see that either, even though we are trending towards a Chris Trevor start. Ultimately, good to see that Zach is doing well back at practice and his overall well-being is in a good spot. Well, there it is. Uh Chris Trevor yesterday at Braomemer’s practice. Uh Connor, thanks for hopping on here in the start. Uh, you’ve got a great conversation coming up about the upcoming season. But first, here’s Hustler. We are so excited to be partnering up with the Health Sciences Center Foundation for the HSC Millionaire Lottery, folks. And tickets are now on sale. Of course, this is how you can help save lives at Manitoba’s Hospital, the Health Sciences Center, and become a millionaire. And tickets are on sale now at hscmillionaire.com. You can become Manitoba’s newest millionaire with the grand prize draw. Win the all Canadian dream, a luxury home in Manitoba or Oceanfront in be BC worth $1.5 million or take 1.5 $1.25 million in taxfree cash. Now, there’s more early winners than ever before this year, which means get your tickets now. Um, there’s $340,000 in early draws, including the brand new Grey Cup bonus. 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They’ve got a special Blue Bomber bottle that is on shelves now at your local Manitoba liquor marts. While supplies last. And while you’re there, make sure to keep your eye out for the Canadian Club Pack because we’ve got a little bit of more summer weather. Why not get the best drinks from the summer? the Canadian Club and Ginger Rail, the Citrus Smash, the Half and Half, all available in the Canadian Club Club pack along with the special edition bomber bottle of Canadian Club at your local Manitoba liquor marts. So, this regular season about uh just around the corner, training camp start tomorrow. Time to come up with all of our rankings, our lists, our predictions, and The Athletic has put together a really comprehensive tears list. ranking 150 players, not just your standard type of list that’s a spreadsheet, but they talk to GM or executives. They talk to coaches, they talk to players to put this together. Pleased to be joined right now by Shaina Goldman from the Athletic. You can follow her on X at Shaina Goldman, who was part of the team uh with Dom Lucian and Shawn Gentilly that put this thing together. Shaya, how’s it going? Thanks so much for taking the time to join me today. Yeah, thanks for having me. These player tiers, uh, pretty comprehensive, uh, not quite ranking, but listing the 150 players in the NHL into into tiers. What went into this, uh, comprehensive piece at available now at the athletic, a little bit of everything. Um, it’s it’s a process. We spend like a good month on this really. Um, so we start with Dom’s model as our jumping off point that projects where players are going to be for the next season and you know Sean and Dom and I each make our own list to start. So, we make our top 150 within the tiers and then we go through them, debate, and as we’re debating, we come up with questions along the way of people that maybe we’re the most stuck on that we know we want to ask. And then we kind of break out into our own groups and start talking to as many team people as will talk to us and, you know, all different insiders from different points around the league. And then we’ll circle back and like look at the notes that we’ve collected from them and debate them again. So then we rerank and maybe then we’ll go for a final round of takes from different insiders with new questions that we formed from, you know, our check-in point basically and go from there. 50 players ranked within tiers and you mentioned Dom has this model at the athletic where you use use pretty much in everything. But it’s not just the analytics. You’re talking with GMs, front office people, even former players. I mean, it seemed like the you got tier one, the MVP tier. Seemed like that might have been the easiest tier to place. McDavid, Dre Cidle, McKinnon, Marov, Cutrov, Quinn, Hughes, Matthews, Capriov, and Pastor. It seemed like that one was pretty straightforward. And then go from there. Um, yeah, it was mostly straightforward. We know. So, we’ve done this a couple ways with Connor David. We’ve had it that he’s been tier a uh 1A all to himself and then this year I think is the same as last year where he leads the way in 1A. It’s the one time we’re going to like break from there’s no ranks within the tiers and say he leads that group. Um I think we were pretty okay with the dry settles McKinnons of the world. car and and Hughes were was one interesting discussion point we had in tier one and it was you know how far apart are they where do they belong? We originally went with Macar in 1B and Quinn Hughes in 1C and we got a lot of push back from the insiders saying both should be up a subtier but you know the one thing that was very clear was that there is some separation and then otherwise in tier one I would say the one that we did talk about a bunch was Jack Hughes I think we originally had in 1 C we put him down to 2A and Nikita Coutroof and whether he belonged in 1A or 1B and it’s really tough because it’s something that’s kind of out of his control like a winger’s value is never going to compare to a center value which is why he is where he is but you know in that placement and how he has that separation from Capriov and Poshnock it’s clear he’s a little bit above the rest he is the best winger in the league I think Jets fans might take some exception you have the tier one the MVP tier but it doesn’t include the league MVP Connor Halabuk heart trophy and Vzna trophy winner how tough was it to keep him out of tier one and was it just playoff performance uh the only factor there. Yeah, pretty much. Uh last year when we did this, which was the first time we included goalies, he was the second goalie on the list. I think he was 2B behind Eora Starken. And this year, it was clear he was going to be the number one goalender on our list, but we went back and forth. Originally, we had him in 2A, then we contemplated maybe a goalie should be that 11th player in tier one to kind of round out the group and show that he’s, you know, ahead above the rest. but the playoffs if he was league average, if he was just okay against the Blues because he was better against the Stars, right? Like granted the Stars didn’t generate as much offense. So, that’s one consideration, but you you know, if he could have been average against the Blues, I think it would have been fine and he probably would have gotten that 1C nod, but it’s a problem that year after year keeps coming up. So, until he proves otherwise, it’s going to be a knock on him. And we we talked to a lot of different people about this, how to navigate this one. We got split decisions on whether a goalie should have been an MVP, but it just felt like no one truly deserved it. Yeah. Well, that’s certainly been a question here, you know, that maybe I was in denial about, but after this year’s series against the Blues, it definitely uh became a major talking point. It certainly rebounded against the Stars. But you do wonder if that series doesn’t go, you know, seven games and it’s not this war, were they would they be able to get get past the stars in round two, which was a very close series. Uh the other jet that you have in the franchise tier is Josh Morrisy. And I mean, what’s put him, you know, jumping tier over tier the last couple years this season to uh one of the premier defenseman in the NHL? I think he’s gotten a lot of hype in years past and sometimes it was because of the scoring and I think he’s always been, you know, a very good top pair defenseman. I think last year was um very clear that he’s not just a top pair defenseman but a true all-around number one. You know, we talk a lot about the Jets and how good they are and the defensive structure is a big reason why like that was a huge jumping off point I think for them this year to give Halbucka a lot more support than they have in years past. I think he’s the key cog that gets that all going. So we we looked at him in that group of defensemen and you know it was who would you rather have a Forsling a Morrisy or Slavven I think was the question we were posing and we were getting different viewpoints on that but Morrisy is someone that was always you know he’s someone I think every team would be happy to have as your number one. He’s not going to be as electrifying as you know a Queen Hughes or a camel car and who among us is but he is a very very good number one to have. Yeah, Josh Morsy, you guys have him projected for 64 points. That’s 13 goals, 54 assists. Uh the next player, Jets player on your list, Kyle Connor, he finished top 10 in scoring, but he’s still in tier three. Uh what prevented him from going up to the franchise tier? And hey, all-star tier, top 60 player, pretty good. But this was a guy who was top 10 in the league in points last year. But what held Kyle Connor back from advancing on this list? See, I would look at it the other way. I would say it’s the fact that he did advance because um you know that’s it’s a second straight year I think in 3B after you know we’ve had him in tier four before for the two years before that. And it’s that he’s showing more substance, right? We know he’s a great goal scorer and he can put up 40 goals and I think he can score in all different ways and that’s a great thing to have. But I think the fact that he was very good as a playmaker this year, as someone who had to go up against some tough competition, him and Shy Flee didn’t have the easiest of minutes. And we saw they both looked a lot better defensively in their time. And whether or not that’s an individual improvement or, you know, just because the team was so better structurally, I think it’s a little bit of both because, you know, in years past, we’ve seen them be really, really awful defensively. So, I would say it’s that he he’s jumping up the ranks and he’s holding firm in his position versus he’s not stacking up to the rest because the some of the other wingers there, we talked a lot about him like those some of the players, you know, like a Matt Bully, he’s doing it, he’s a little bit younger, so that’s going to work in his favor. Seth Jarvis is someone who legitimately has one of the best defensive ratings of any forward. So, that’s where that separation comes in. But if Kyle Connor can just keep doing what he’s doing and sprinkle in a little bit more, you know, tier three is a very good place to be. Yeah, Kyle Connor, 28 years old, entering the final year of his deal and we’re staying tuned to any morsel of reporting on the possible next contract and you mentioned the defensive play. I think there were concerns here about that, you know, him and Mark Schaefley together, but it was certainly improved throughout the season and it seemed like your group had a bit of difficulty ranking Mark Schaefley. He’s in the tier 4 star. He had a great season last year. What made it so challenging to rank Mark Schaefley on this list? Yeah. Um he’s someone that as a 1C, you know, he’s not in the same category as some of the guys you’re going to see in tier three and tier 4. And it it, you know, there’s going to be like a natural ranking within each position, right? And that this year when we were going through the list, we not only were looking at it as the top 15, but we did a lot of breakdowns by position, which helps you kind of find those comparable rankings of where someone, you know, belongs. So he’s a good first line center, but you know on a really strong team if there’s a Nathan McKinnon David like he already is sliding down the lineup. I think I think you factor in the age and where we project him to go from here and the fact that there are some flaws to his game, right? Like I I think it all kind of comes together as he’s not the perfect play driving firstline center. He’s very good at it, but I think having two wingers is what got him up to this level. So that is what’s going to hold him back compared to some of the other guys who do it all themselves. Yeah, Mark Shley projected 83 points, 36 goals, 47 assists. A bit of a step back from uh last season’s totals, but still uh still very good as you mentioned. And then down in tier five, seemed like Dylan Samberg, he’s starting to get noticed by a lot of people around the league. What stood out for you about Dylan Samberg and and also Gabriel Ardi who’s there in tier five? For Valardi, you know, I think we all know he has the skill to go higher. It’s just doing this over a longer stretch of time. We’re going to see it’s it’ll be interesting year for him and Mark Shley both because their shooting percentages were both a little too high. So, if they come back down to earth, what are they going to do to make up for it? But I think for Valardi, the other key for him to move up on this list is going to be the durability factor and staying in the lineup. And obviously that’s something that’s out of a player’s control, but at the end of the day, when we’re talking about the best players in the league, we have to nitpick somewhere in the fact that he isn’t always an 82 game player is going to be a factor. For Samberg, he wasn’t on the list originally, actually. Uh I think I believe I had him on. I don’t think I don’t think Sean and Dom did because we were nitpicking at that bottom of who fit where, but he was someone that got a lot of support from our insiders, too. It’s that shutdown game. He’s really emerged as such a good shutdown player and he’s someone that goes up against top competition consistently. So, he’s taking those minutes. So, the burden doesn’t have to be just on Josh Morris and I think that’s what’s really helping the Jets take their game up a notch. So, he’s someone that everybody that we spoke to had something good to say about him, which is a very good starting point. Yeah, defensive defenseman not really uh you know, they don’t really get a lot of fanfare, not putting up those big point totals, but he’s a player you can match him up against another team’s top line. I mean, huge projection here for Gabriel Valardi. I’m assuming this I’m guessing this assumes he plays 82 games, 33 goals, 35 assists, and 68 points. That would be a career season for him. Uh, one, you know, just one Jets player didn’t make the cut. I imagine he might be there in the future. Uh, Cole Perfetti, how close was he? And, you know, do you see a breakout season for him coming with more opportunity after the departure of Nikolai Eers? Yeah, I think that a lot of the guys had just missed the cut and maybe it was a different a different like path for us from years past. A lot of times we’ve looked at veterans who have the track record of could they be the fringe players, but I think this year we were all kind of like swaying towards the young guns, right? The Will Smiths of the world, how are they going to make it? The Leo Carlson’s and the Fanties who, you know, got the jump in there at the end. So a player like Cole Perfetti I think is going to be on the fringes of that and it’ll be a big year for him because I think individually he’s shown that he’s taken a lot of steps and can be more of an impact player than he’s been trusted to be in the past. I think his playoffs he was really strong for the Jazz came up in clutch moments which is you know it’s it’s a big stepping stone, right? So that’s going to help him. It’s just how is he going to look without Eers and without a true replacement, right? because I think there’s some question marks in Winnipeg about what the supporting cast is going to look like, who’s going to step up in his absence, what the center depth is going to look like with Namaskov and Taves and whether either one can kind of make up for what was lost on the wing. So, I think a lot of that pressure and responsibility is going to pull fall on Perfetti. If he does thrive and I think that he’s going to take a step big step forward this year, I can’t see him not making the cut next year. I always look at his fantasy rankings. is going into every year. I think you had Adam like 57 uh points. I have I’ll have to double check. I don’t have it open right now. But when you when you put this whole list together, was there something that stood out to you that made you go, “Hm, that’s uh interesting.” Um I would say the tier 2 defenseman were the most interesting to look at and and the takes. I am fascinated by how much foreign nations has been factored into things. um right, wrong or sideways because you know that’s just a microcosm of the season of the playoffs of this really intense environment and it’s not real hockey at the end of the day. You’re not going to have four lines that look like say team Canada’s four lines. So it’s tough to gauge how much we should or shouldn’t trust that. But a lot of names were talked about in there and it was um Mir Heskin. he was getting a ton of support to move up and it knocked him up at subtier from where we originally had him and someone like Rasm Stallene got a lot of support this year despite the team around him but guys like Buchard and Fox on the other hand you know there’s a lot of criticisms around their game and I always find that one interesting because you know you look at someone like Buchard he’s basically the polar opposite of Jacob Slavven right Slavven is as defensively sound and dependable as possible and Bousard when he makes a mistake It’s so glaring and because of the Oilers goalending situation, it usually ends up being a goal against and you know, I think public models might unders like underrate just how bad some of the mistakes are in when it comes to expected goals, but then you have someone like Fox who he doesn’t have that electric skill set like a Bousard, like a Quinn Hughes, like a Kale Macar, and uh that that definitely hurts him because he plays a more methodical approach to things. But pair that with what he did at Four Nations and there’s there was a lot of criticism to move him down and we started with him in 2A and eventually landed with him in 2C and it was a rating that I think we all kind of pushed back on. But I just think it’s fascinating how everybody views defenseman. Defenseman, you know, tough tough to rank as you mentioned. You want to look at something like points, but you can have a guy like Mikey Anderson or Dylan Samberg in there that make an impact in their own way. Jacob Slavven as well. You mentioned Four Nations. seemed like every player there was a blurb on how they fit in. I saw Mark Shaley said, “Oh, he should have been on the team or Kyle Connor’s blurb is I didn’t like him at the Four Nations, but in the NHL, he’s unbelievable.” A coach said, “Who’s better at scoring goals than that guy?” I have to ask, you’re in the US. Does Kyle Connor make the US team? And is some of his performance overblown compared to some of the other uh players? I don’t see anyone giving Jack Hughes black for his foreign nations performance. Yeah, I think that uh I think everything with Four Nations has just been overblown and it’s just like being a dead horse at this point. I think someone like Kyle Connor is good to have on team USA um because at the end of the day they needed more goal scoring. So I personally would have more goal scorers if I were building the team tomorrow. I would also have bigger roles for players like Dylan Larkin who I think you know he’s much better than a bottom six deployment there. I think he’s such a spark plug to have. Um, yeah. I I think I think a big thing too here is it’s one thing to talk about guys who have issues with their playoff pedigree and I think the Jets get associated with that a lot and you know rightfully so to an extent because Eers was someone who had that issue up until this year. Perfetti had to have his moment in the playoffs this year and obviously there’s the Connor Hobbuck of it all but I think Kyle Connor has shown he can handle playing in that environment. So I think it’ll be just fine for team USA. Yeah, no doubt Kyle Connor has scored some uh pretty big goals here. And you know, one thing I did looking through the tears saw which teams, you know, had the most players. I don’t think I was too surprised that Florida, I think they had eight players on the list, but I was very surprised to see, you know, Carolina, who many would say is a Stanley Cup favorite to have uh they only had five uh players on on the list. Um, you know, was there any surprises for you in terms of teams and the number of players they had in the top 150? Yeah, the Panthers, uh, maybe we drank the Panthers Kool-Aid a little bit much, but I think the thing is their biggest weapon is their depth, right, up front and on the back end. And on any other team, you would see these guys slotted a lot differently. To have Seth Jones be your three or four and have Aaron Ablad not be a number one, like that’s that’s pretty huge, right? were going down the list and Sam Bennett and Brad Marshand are what the fourth and fifth best forwards in Florida and they’re still making the cut. But then again, you know, the reverse is true, too. Like if Sam Bennett did sign somewhere else, would he be here or in the conversation? I’m not so sure. I think he’s I think the Panthers get the best version out of him. And I also think um he’s exactly what that team needs. So, you have to take that into consideration. But yeah, a team like the Canes, their star power has always been a conversation and I think it shows that it’s only one defenseman on the list. I think that’s pretty pretty huge for them because you look at years past and we all thought of them for their blue line, right? With Brett Peshy playing alongside Slavven and just having the depth behind them and it looks so different now. They’ve interchanged it a bunch. So, I’m I’m intrigued to see if this looks a little bit different next year. You know, they added a player like Kendra Miller who I think is so perfect for them and maybe he could be the guy that jumps up because I think they can maximize his skill set a lot. In the West, I wanted to see how the Jets stacked up. I think they had five. Dallas, they’ve got quite a bit at at eight here. Colorado, not as many. You see Dallas as the favorite to overtake Edmonton as the Western Conference representative in the Cup final. Um, it’s possible. It’s definitely possible. I mean, it’s kind of funny when you look at Dallas and everyone talks about how Peter Dvore was like the Mr. game seven of all coaches, but then again, you look at it like they still had their limitations. So, um I I do think a change of coaching is going to go a long way for them because they have a very good roster and I think you look at the Oilers and you can still see some flaws, but I think it’s just going to come down to the two of them, you know, year after year in the Western Conference final to figure it out. And it will be it’ll be interesting to see especially with the Gulson factor, right? Like now you have a coach who’s played on both who’s coached on both sides of it too. Does he bring a different perspective. Does it hurt the Oilers power play at all which obviously is a big strength of theirs. Um I’m I’m going to say it’s going to be really tight between those two teams again. We’ll be you know all the previews, the prognostications. Uh Athletic a spot for that. You’ve put together this player tier list. very comprehensive, a great read. Jana, thanks so much for uh joining the time, joining me here on Winnipeg Sports Talk. Want to let everyone know anything else you want to promote uh as well where we can see your work? Yeah. Uh just follow along at The Athletic. We’re going to have season previews rolling out very soon. I think they start rolling next week from, you know, worst to the best. And along the way, you can find things like uh fantasy hockey draft kits, stuff like that that I’m definitely working on to get that going for her season start as well. There’s Shaya Goldman of the Athletic. Great conversation with her. And check out their list. Some great writeups and skying reports on the top 150 players. We’re going to head back to with Drew Mandel for some more Winnipeg Jets discussion. Uh, but first, here’s us. As always, we’d like to thank Princess Auto for their great support of Winnipeg Sports Talk. Of course, Princess Auto founded and headquartered right here in Winnipeg. And now, Coast to Coast is the home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers home, the Princess Auto Stadium. Uh, but we’ve got Princess Autos Coast to Coast, including three in Manitoba, Panet Road, Portage Avenue West, and of course out in Brandon for our friends in Westman. Princess Auto is where you’ll find the best deals on the most unique assortment of tools and equipment around. Everything you need to complete the projects on your list or start something new is at Princess Auto. So, pop by and see them in store or shop online today 247 365 and get those ideas and plans working as we get into fall. Um, hey, speaking of fall, it won’t be too long before we’re worrying about uh making sure the cars and the trucks are starting in the morning. Uh, Donnie and Manitoba battery have you covered for that, as they have all summer long for batteries for boats and campers and ATVs, you name it. Sled season not too far away as well. 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Pleased to be joined by the host of the Legal Curve Hockey Show Saturdays at 9 on YouTube and podcast after Drew Mandel. Drew, thanks so much for taking the time to join. It’s the night or the day before training camp. Finally, it’s here. Feels good, right? Oh, it feels great. The story lines have been bandied about uh adnauseium. We all know what they are. It’s now time to uh let the rubber hit the road as the cliche goes and actually see these uh athletes perform on the ice and then we can uh you know sort of see where the Winnipeg Jets go from there. But no, always exciting this time of year. Hope springs eternal even if the calendar says September and not so much April. in the 15th Winnipeg Jets training camp, the 15th anniversary season. And the highlight, I think, Drew, of training camp, the one everyone’s eyes will be on the player, Jonathan Taves. I I mean, very exciting, legendary player, Stanley Cups, gold medals. But how realistic is it for Jonathan Taves who’s in his upper 30s, hasn’t played in a couple years to handle, you know, middle six minutes right away. Um, I mean, I think that it’s it’s reasonable to think that he’s going to be a positive influence and that he’s going to be a positive addition. Is he going to be a panacea? Is he going to be uh you know some sort of overwhelming difference maker? I think that would be unreasonable to expect, but I don’t think anybody necessarily expects that. I think people want to see Jonathan Taves perform, you know, do you know contribute positively on the ice. The Jets still have a very good team around him. He’s not coming in. Nobody’s expecting, nobody’s asking him to be the solution because the solution already exists. The solution is Connor Halbach. The solution is Josh Moresy. The solution is Shiffley and Valardi and Connor and an improved Cole Perfetti and etc, etc. We all know the names. I don’t need to go through it all in excruciating detail, but Jonathan Taves is just another asset to add to the uh to the cupboard of the Winnipeg Jets. and you know hopefully he is able to perform in a reasonable level uh commensurate to what we remember him in his prime not that he’s going to be prime Jonathan Taves but that there’s going to be glimpses thereof and I think the Winnipeg Jets would be fine with that the other note not note heading into training camp Kyle Connor heading into this season in the final year of his contract although it doesn’t seem like this is as big of a cloud head hangover training campaign maybe as it was a couple years ago with uh Hellabuk and Shley or last year with Nikolai Eers. Uh how should fans be feeling here heading into this training camp with Kyle Connor in the last year of his deal? Well, I think, you know, they should be optimistic that there’s going to be a deal done, but that optimism, you know, can quickly dissipate if it doesn’t get done, you know, in September, in October, in November, in December. Then all of a sudden, the questions get louder and the alarm bells get ringing. But you know I I was watching you know insider trading last night uh and the you know insiders were all speaking very positively about it and they expect this shouldn’t be a particularly contentious negotiation. I mean talk is cheap. We remember those same insiders said that there was no chance of Hellbeck and Shley resigning in Winnipeg a couple of years ago. So, you know, as you can see by that example, we all know that they say things and they never have to be accountable for the nonsense they spew out sometimes. But that said, from a Jets perspective, I think that Kyle Connor is happy here. The organization is, of course, thrilled with him. So, you would hope that that would mean a deal would get done sooner rather than later. The Jets have a history of getting long-term contracts signed, you know, throughout training camp or towards the tail end of training camps. And certainly the Winnipeg Jets fan base would hope that that’s going to be similar. We remember, I think it was October what 9th, I might be off on a couple days, when Shley and Hellbuck signed when, you know, Blake Wheeler back in the day signed his latest contract extension with the Jets. So there’s a if past uh if past actions predict future actions, you know, Jets fans would hope that Kyle Connor is going to be the next to add to that list. Yes, it was Thanksgiving Monday. The Shaley and Halabuk announcement came out. The Jets will be playing on Thanksgiving Monday in uh against the New York Islanders. So maybe it comes before. Do you have a a panic button that you will be hitting if there’s on a certain date if Kyle Connor hasn’t signed it? Do you have that date in mind? I don’t have a date in mind immediately. I mean, I think as you get closer to unrestricted free agency, then you know the the the temptation to see what the market holds grows. Um, that said, I mean, it’s going to be a story if it doesn’t get done, especially, you know, you can’t afford to have people walk out the door without recouping some sort of assets that many times in a row. Elers’s last year felt different. We know all about the usage uh questions with regard to Nikolai Elers, so it sort of felt as though he was going to explore what the market had to bear. I don’t necessarily get that same impression from Kyle Connor. I mean, he gets all the minutes and playing time that he could ever hope for and ask for and he’s such an important con contributor to the Winnipeg Jets. Um, you know, look, the it’s a matter of just is there going to be a dollar figure that they land upon where they can come to it or is Kyle Connor going to maybe wait and see what Kel Capriovv ends up doing, what Conor McDavid ends up doing and then sort of find his number at that point or is he going to be uh the first horse out of the barn who signs that long-term deal for more than 10, 11, 12 million a year? Time will tell on that front. Certainly is the case. Yeah. Very fascinating what’s going to happen with all these top players entering the final year of their contracts. And you mentioned Nikolai Eers. How tough is it going to be for the Winnipeg Jets to replace everything that he brought to the team over the last what 10 10 years uh Nolers was here? Well, they don’t have a builtin they don’t have somebody who’s automatically going to step in and fill that role. And that’s certainly an issue for the Winnipeg Jets. Are they too topheavy when it comes to their scoring? I mean, I think that’s a valid question that people would have. The Jets are obviously doing it going to succeed with their depth and that’s been their sort of MO for the last number of years is that they have a very solid, you know, forward group 1 through 12. So to expect somebody to immediately step in and be Nikolai Eeler’s light is unlikely going to be the case. But if they can spread out that offense throughout, you know, with a Gus Nyquist, if they can spread it out with maybe Morgan Baron taking on a big a bit of a bigger role, if they can just spread out the contributions uh throughout three or four different players during the early parts of the regular season, then the Jets will be fine doing that. And again, remember, you know, this is a team that’s not afraid to make uh additions around the trade deadline. So, if the Jets can sort of affirm themselves as a solid playoff team in the early parts of the season in the October, November, and Decembers, I would not be surprised to see Kevin Chevel Day off try and upgrade that top six uh as you get closer to the nitty-gritty time of the season. Yeah, Cole Perfetti, is he going to be the player that gets counted on? Do we see a leap from him? 50 points last year, full season, 18 goals, uh 32 assists. You will he surpass that this season? I I mean, there’s no reason to think that he won’t. Health obviously is the factor, but that’s true with every player in the league. Um there’s no reason to think that his trajectory isn’t still an upward trajectory. Same with a guy like Gabe Valardi, for that matter. there’s no reason to think that he has hit his ceiling when it comes to his contributions to the Winnipeg Jets. So, if you know, Valardi continues to improve, if Perfetti continues to improve, that’s going to go a long way in uh alleviating the impact of the loss of a Nikolai. So, again, these guys aren’t all at their peaks. Some of, you know, is Shaley at his peak? Well, you know, maybe. He’s probably pretty close to it. Is Connor at his peak? Maybe. He’s probably pretty close to it, but there’s still no reason to think that Valardi and Perfetti and some of the other guys might not have more to give, which will certainly help the Winnipeg Jets uh you know, as the season moves on. Looking at the center position, the team will be without Adam Lowry as he recovers from hip surgery. How will this change the team’s look down the middle for you? Well, I mean, Adam Lowry does so much for this Winnipeg Deets team. He’s the de facto number two center. That’s the kind of minutes he was playing. Even if he’s not a typical number two center offensive, uh, you know, a number two offensive center, you know, there’s no discounting the loss of Adam Lowry and his absence will be felt uh until he’s back and fully healthy in the Winnipeg Jets lineup. That said, I do think that there are options that can uh, you know, weather the storm of his absence until he’s back and ready to go, be it late October, early November. Uh, so I don’t think that it’s, you know, panic central by any stretch of the imagination. But, you know, we’ve seen other players step up when given an opportunity or when the team reply relies on them. Morgan Baron if he gets some minutes up the middle. He was very uh I would describe him as an intriguing option up the middle particularly towards the end of last year. Jonathan Taves aformentioned if Taves can come in and give you you know 70% of what Adam Lowry does uh while Lowry is out of the lineup. The Jets will be very happy with that in way there. Vladimikov, you know, always being replaced in his role for the Winnipeg Jets, but uh just a knowledgeable veteran who does his job and will, you know, be able to, you know, contribute for the Winnipeg Jets. Again, look, anytime you’re without an Adam Lowry in your lineup, you’re going to feel it to some extent, but I don’t think that it’s going to be the downfall of the Winnipeg Jets early this season. We haven’t spent a lot of time on the forwards here. Haven’t touched at all on the defense. Seems like it’s pretty set in stone at the top with Dlo Morsy, Pian Samberg. But there’s a lot of players signed here who could be on the third pair. Luke Shen, Colin Miller, Hayden Flurry, Logan Stanley. You also have uh Billy Han who who’s going to require waiverss this year. Elias Salammonson, who we just saw at the prospects uh challenge there in Montreal. What do you make of how things are going to shake out on defense with that bottom pair and beyond? Look, it’s internal competition. I mean, I think every team wants real internal competition and that’s what the Jets have as it pertains to their bottom pair defense. They have a lot of different options that they can choose from. So if Hayden Flurry is looking good off the start, you know, maybe he gets a first shot. But then if there’s any slippage in his game or in the game of anybody that in that’s in that mix, there’s somebody else who’s going to have to come who’s who’s going to get a chance to come in. I think with the iron sharpens iron, I believe that’s, you know, an expression. The Jets are probably relying on that to some extent that they’re always going to have to be sharp. whomever is in that bottom six or the bottom pair role on the Jets defense is going to need to contribute. They’re going to need to perform because if they don’t, there’s going to be somebody right behind them who is going to, you know, take that opportunity or want that opportunity or be an option for Scott Arneal to come in and, you know, show that yes, I can do better than the the option you had beforehand. I think that’s a good thing. I don’t think that’s a bad thing for the Winnipeg Jets that you have nine 10 defensemen who conceivably can be considered NHL caliber defenseman. I mean that is most teams would probably uh appreciate having that option available to them. They would appreciate having that sort of depth. We saw last year that there were times where the Jets had some injury bugs on the back end. We remember Dylan Samberg getting hurt in Nashville. Obviously, the Jets don’t want that to happen again. They don’t want to replicate that. But there is an element of comfort in knowing that they have defensemen who have played NHL minutes, you know, significant NHL minutes that they can rely on in a pitch. Not what the not the ideal situation by any stretch of the imagination, but better than having to rely on an untested option to step in and play against NHL caliber talent. Now, training camp starts up fresh late for everyone. And we just had, as I said, the prospects, you know, in Montreal playing a lot of hype about young players, excitement. But is there any and was there real chance any of these guys, either Lambert, Chibberov, Kobe, Barlo, Braden Joerger, any of them, any chance that one of them would force their way onto a roster out of training camp? It would be it would be a surprise. I don’t think that anybody’s necessarily expecting them to step in, but you know what? I think the Jets have always been an open-minded organization, and I don’t think they’re going to say to somebody, you know, yes, you want a job, but sorry, we’re still going to have to start you at the AHL level because of contractual situations. I think if you win a job, you know, at training camp, you’re going to get the chance to demonstrate that at the NHL level. You know, I would be surprised if it happens. I mean, I think we know who the obvious most likely candidates would be. You know, Lambert, a Chibberov, guys who played at the NHL level before, you know, I never say never, I would say. I mean, that’s why these guys train in the off season. That’s why they, you know, stay in game shape. It’s so that they can hit the ice flying instead of the ground running as I’m torturing this now. so that they hit the they hit the ice for the start of training camp and there’s a wow factor maybe associated with their game. That’s why they that’s the mindset. That’s what the mindset has to be is that I’m not going to let the the organization make a different decision because I’m going to stand out so well. I’m going to stand out so strong. I’m going to be so impressive in my opportunities. Well, good for them if they do so. I wouldn’t necessarily hold my breath to that extent, but I wouldn’t be shocked at the same at the same time. Go ahead and win a job. You know, again, that’s a good problem for any organization to have is for your young players to break through the glass ceiling when you’re not suspecting it to occur. Well, it all gets started tomorrow, 9:30 at Hockey for All Center. Uh, three groups, 9:30, 11:45, and 1:30. Drew, switching over to the Bombers. I know you follow them closely. How how concerned uh should the Bombers be? Should fans be? Should we be talking right now about their playoff chances here after a third straight loss and now sitting at six and seven? Uh, well, as somebody who’s got tickets to the Grey Cup, I’m concerned that they about it. I can tell you that for sure. Um, look, they are Chris Streller is not a starting quarterback. Um, I think that’s pretty clear. You can’t the offense is too limited. It’s just, you know, and they’re not really to, you know, beyond that, they’re not also structuring the offense to take advantage of his skill set, which of course is running the ball. You know, that is where he excels. He’s not a drop back passer. Uh I don’t know anybody who can watch his performances over the last couple of years and say yes, letting him sit in the pocket and go through his reads as a quarterback is uh a strength of his simply not. So unless, you know, the package, the offensive package is different for him this week in Ottawa, I’m not sure why the results are going to be any different than they were last week in Hamilton or throughout the second half of the Banjo Bowl a couple weeks ago. Uh there’s an element of stubbornness to the Bombers organization and to Mike O’Shea that I think you are seeing uh be played out right now. The Bombers, you know, for a team that we expect to always be in the Gay Cup or have been for the last 5 years are in a real area of concern. Edmonton with Cody Vardardo, probably mispronouncing that, I apologize. Uh is certainly a threat. BC is certainly a threat. The crossover into the east is not a guarantee anymore. The bombers need to uh find a way to get their offense back on track. And I’m not entirely confident that the solution to that is anybody other than the name of Zack Collaros. Now, if I can continue on with my comment here, Remo, uh, Terry Wilson is somebody I’m quite familiar with. Now, you’re saying, Drew, why are you familiar with the Bombers third string quarterback? And that’s a question. The reason I am is because Terry Wilson played a lot of his college career at my University of Kentucky. So, I’ve seen Terry Wilson succeed in the biggest stages uh in some significant games at the University of Kentucky. He went into the University of Florida. He went into the swamp in Florida and won as the quarterback of the University of Kentucky. He won a bowl game against Penn State the I’m trying to think how many years ago now that would be four or five years ago when Kentucky had their first 10- win season in like 35 years. Terry Wilson has won some big football games. The problem with Terry Wilson is he has happy feet in the pocket. He if his first read is open, he will be able to hit that first read. He throws a good deep ball. Where he struggles is going through his progressions standing in the pocket and going from receiver one to receiver two to receiver three to receiver four. That is not a strength of his. He will get the happy feet. He will try and break the pocket and use his legs before he goes through all of his reads. That can work at the college level. It does not necessarily work at the pro level. So that would be for everybody who’s clamoring for Terry Wilson who’s never seen him play quarterback before. That is what you can sort of expect from him based on his path performances both at the college level and briefly in his time with the Bombers. be interesting to see how it shakes out. Streller taking first team reps again. Today they are playing Saturday and Ottawa. They had were playing backup Dustin Crumb. Last couple games Drew Brown was a full participant yesterday. Is Saturday’s game are we in must-win territory here for the Bombers on Saturday? I don’t think you’re in mustwin territory. Um it’s, you know, it seems apparent that it’s not going to be Zack Collaros in the lineup. is not taking reps yet today being Wednesday. I guess he could take reps on Thursday. Doesn’t like it’s not like he needs a ton of them. He’s so familiar with the offense, but you know, if I’m if I’m putting on my prognostication hat, I would guess it’s probably going to be Streler behind center, at least to start in Ottawa. Um, I don’t think it’s a mustwin, but you better start winning some games real soon after this week. can’t continue this and then expect that you’re all of a sudden going to a somehow still qualify for the playoffs and b flip a switch and be uh you know a great cup contender you know once the playoffs begin. So uh it’s getting late early for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is what I would say. Uh let me put it this way. I’m a lot closer to the Bombers panic button than I am anything to do with a panic button and the Winnipeg Jets. Well said Drew. It’s always great having you on the show. Love hearing your opinions. Uh, thank you so much. I thought we were we’re not going to discuss the fact that we’re playing against each other in the fantasy baseball championship this week. That’s not part of the interview. I don’t know if people care, but yes, you and I are going head-to-head in the fantasy baseball championship. I think it’s going to go down to the wire. I do think it’s going to go down to the wire as well. And if I happen to lose and you show up on air with a broken arm or something, that’s strictly a coincidence. I promise you that. I had nothing to do with that. For the authorities, if you’re tuning in, I am innocent and I had nothing at all to do with any bodily harm coming the way of Michael Rivas. Well, I’m sure we’ll be in touch uh over the weekend. Yes, big fantasy baseball match up between Drew and I look forward to seeing you guys at FanFest on Saturday, 9:00 a.m. with the Illegal Curve Hockey Show. Right. We will be there 9:00 am on Saturday. Anybody that’s coming out to FanFest, and we hope you all are, come check us out. We’ll be broadcasting live for two hours on Saturday morning. Hockey season is here. And before you drop the puck on the new year, you got to head down to Winnipeg’s number one hockey supertore for over 50 years. Royal Sports, where you’ll have the best selection, best deals, and the best customer service from hockey players who play the game to get you the right fit on all the equipment and needs for the upcoming season. It’s only at Royal Sports. In addition to the best selection of sticks and equipment and skates and goalie gear, fans are getting ready for the season at Royal Sports. All the latest Jets merchandise, your Jonathan Taves jerseys and more available. And NFL fans, new NFL gear coming in by the week. So, uh, as your team sets out another season, get geared up at Royal Sports, Winnipeg’s number one sports supertore for over 50 years. Give them a follow on Instagram at Royal Sports Winnipeg for the latest merchandise drops and sale in information. Um, man, this is a great time of year. The NFL is back. We’ve got prime time games. The CFL stretch of the playoffs continues. We got pennet races in baseball. When you’re heading out to get together with your gang for the big game, make it Boston pizza, ice cold schooners, world famous BP wings, gourmet pizzas, and more. Great prizes to be won on all NFL prime time nights, and of course, the summer menu still kicking around with those uh delicious cherry cola beef sliders and more. Uh no better place to get together with your gang for the big game than Boston Pizza. And if you are staying at home, you can always get the great taste of BP by ordering online at boston pizza.com. Uh the RDER Cup countdown is on right now, a couple weeks away from Beth Paige Black. Looking forward to having some more Breezy Ben Golf reports coming up heading into the event. But in the meantime, as we finish up a beautiful golf season, it’s time to think about 2026. And if Breezy Bend or one of Winnipeg’s top private courses in is in your future, uh, I’d suggest you get on that now. Holler at Cory Johnson at the clubhouse 8957205 or find out more on membership for the 2026 season today online at breezybend.ca. All right, as we continue the show, first things first, let’s give a big cheers to our friends at Winnipeg and Manitoba’s favorite local brewery, our friends at Little Brown Jug. You train day in and day out, learning new techniques, approaching new concepts, and living out the thrill of achieving your goals. Building a craft beer is no different. While you spend your hours on the ice, we spend ours here brewing our trademark beer again, again and again. Here’s the pushing the status quo and challenging ourselves to build something memorable. 1919 by Little Brown Jug. Pleased to be joined right now by Emily Tutosi from Sirus, Manitoba. You may remember we caught up with her a month ago. She’s playing for team Can at the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Uh since the tournament began, she’s had a huge impact being named player of the match against Scotland. And now Canada has advanced to the semifinal. It’s taking place Friday at 100 p.m. on TSN after a dominant win over Australia. And Emily joins me now. Emily, it’s been about a month since we last spoke to you on this show. How has the last uh month been here at the World Cup? Yeah, thanks for having me. It’s uh it’s been very good. We came out top of our pool after winning all three games and just this last weekend had beat Australia in a quarterfinal. So, we’re off to the semis on Friday against New Zealand. Yeah, pretty incredible run here. Outscoring opponents 193 uh to 31 uh Canada. Dom, what does that say about the way Canada’s been playing here at the tournament? Yeah, I hope what it’s saying is that our attack is exciting and unpredictable. Um, and obviously proving a bit of a challenge to defend and as the tournaments went on, our defense has also become pretty formidable. So hopefully we can show that on Friday. Yeah, dominant win in the quarterfinal over Australia. What stood out to you about Canada’s performance in that match? Yeah, I think one of the big things for us in that match was just like starting quick. Sometimes we take a minute or two to get into games. Um but uh yeah, I think we started quick on attack. Um we let them have one early and then we knew we needed to kill the game. Um and that’s what we did from there. We knew that we needed to get up early. It downpour in the second half, but at that point thankfully we were just managing a game instead of chasing it. And for you personally, huge game against Scotland, scoring twice, named player of the match. Uh, how special was that for you? I believe that was in your home stadium where you play in Europe as well. Yeah, that was very exciting. I uh I love playing at Sandy Park. I’ve been super privileged to play in the Premiership for years now. So, to have a quote unquote home game and be able to score a couple times um and help us top our pool was a match to remember. And being from Surus, Manitoba, what’s it been like uh overall representing your hometown and Canada and one of the biggest stages in the world for rugby? Yeah, it’s um it’s always a privilege and actually at that Sandy Park game, we had some other Manitobans in the crowd which was super special and now some of my family’s here in the tournament. But you know, I do I I take it very seriously that I get to represent our town. Um because I think there was some athletes before me that I saw play some age grade or provincial or age grade national and they were kind of the first steps of oh rugby can go further than just school. Um so now to get to be on the world stage uh is a real privilege but I do hope that people can see that uh it can be possible. You mentioned you got some family coming in now the semifinal on Friday at 1:00 p.m. Central time on TSN. What’s the support been like overall in the tournament for Canada throughout all your matches? The support’s been incredible. We um we feel it from online. We feel it from people’s friends and family that have come here. A lot of us have some friends over here now from playing in the Premiership, which is special to have them be at the games. And it’s also been cool even just in the streets, people will see us and be like, “Oh, we’re actually Canadian. We’ve lived over here a while.” So, um the Canadian connection and support is everywhere. And it it really does push you through a long tournament like this. And again, big match, semifinal, final trip to the finals on the line, but big opponent against New Zealand. How are you guys approaching this upcoming match with, you know, big final birth on the line? Yeah, I think we are approaching it similar to all the other matches, trying to focus on us and not necessarily what the match means. We all know it’s do or die um to get to that final, but we also know that we play the best rugby when we’re just being us and not focusing on what’s at stake necessarily. Um and I think a lot of us have been to the like some World Cups before and we understood the heartbreak of last World’s Cup semi-finals. So, I think we all are probably also a little more prepared in terms of what being at a World’s Cup is like, and I’m hoping that we take that like maturity and that experience in our squad to also put us on a positive um foot going into the semi this weekend. Yeah. How much more confidence can you have against a tough opponent like that knowing that you’ve been had success against them before winning earlier 229 just last year? Yeah, and I think that’s huge. It’s kind of funny sometimes this tournament we’ve seen online some people calling us um like the dark horse or the the maybe and now dark horse is crossed out and we’re contenders but we know that we’ve been ranked second for a couple years now. We know that we’ve beat this team. Uh last time we played them we tied against them. So it’s not it’s not out of the cards that we um we deserve to be where we are in this tournament. And I think we’ve all taken a lot of confidence in that. We’ve built a lot of evidence that we should be in the game that we’re in. And what what can you say about some of your teammates? Big milestones being hit. Karen Pacwin 50th uh cap in the semi. Daca Menon moving up the alltime list as well. How inspiring is it for you to share the feel of players achieving such great milestones? Yeah, it’s absolutely incredible. Earlier in the tournament, we celebrated um Tyson Bukaboom becoming the most cap Canadian rugby player of all time and Karen Pickin is an absolute legend in sevens and 15. So to see her getting 50 after she had stepped back for um a bit of time away is absolutely incredible. Delica Menon like an absolute stalwart in the front row um takes on the tight head prop with such um such grace and grit and to see her become second of all time is also pretty incredible. I um I started playing with Telica back in university so this is I’ve seen all the work that goes into the players she has on the pitch. So to celebrate milestones and and play alongside is uh is special because they don’t come along all the time. When we’re at a tournament like this that you know we’ve been away for a month now. What’s you know what’s the schedule been like for you as far as training? U how much recovery is involved in between matches as well? Yeah. And the World’s Cup’s been a month, but this group’s actually been together closer to kind of that six six and a half week mark. um just in the leadup as well, just the way geography works, once you’re together, it’s easier to stay together. But n schedule kind of remains the same. We um we’ll have kind of two big training days each week and then we have our captain’s run and like other kind of walking sessions on other days alongside that. But recovery is almost just as important um to be putting your body on on the line against uh against world class teams week in week out. So, I think um our staff does a great job of a laying the schedule out for us. Um because I think it’s also recovering physically, but also managing people’s different mental energies as well. It can be a lot to be with the same group of people for so long, moving place to place. And I think people are managing um managing really well and everyone’s in good head space going into a big week. Yeah. any time for uh personal entertainment, sightseeing when you’re uh in London or is it all work, work work here? Um we typically will get one full day off. Our other day off is kind of been a travel day this tournament. Um but even that like people just have to know know their body and what they need and if you shouldn’t be on feet necessarily. Maybe people are taking a more conservative approach to our days off but no it’s good. We um have seen some stuff in the cities we’re in. Um, a lot of coffee girls on this team, so trying different coffees, different treats, like seeing kind of different city centers. Um, and we also are good at internally just having having a laugh, like playing games, different skits, different stuff like that. So, yeah, unfortunately maybe you don’t get to see as much as you want at those cities, but um we all know what we’re here for, and that’s to try and win a World’s Cup. Yeah. Would uh you know, would the win be a highlight for you in your career? a win, you know, advancing to the World Cup final. Yeah, I think so. I think the 2014 team that made it to the final and unfortunately lost in the final, um, that is that was huge for Canadian women’s rugby or Canadian rugby in general. And then the Olympics in 2016 was another like boom when they got bronze. And I think making it to that final um would just be another big stamp on why Canadians rugby and especially Canadian women’s rugby is a a powerhouse globally for sevens and 15s. So yeah, winning this match would mean would mean a lot. Uh especially as I mentioned before after the disappointment of last World’s Cup uh coming so close um and falling short. I think we’ve all kind of taken that chip on our shoulder with us this whole last cycle. Yeah, absolutely. Dominant performance for Canada leading up to Friday’s semifinal. What uh I think the finals Saturday, is it Saturday? Back to back back to potential backto back. So, make sure you check your TV listings there. TS for TSN. Uh you mentioned inspiring a young woman you know in Manitoba for playing uh you know some people might see you playing at the you know on this world stage. What would you say to them about giving rugby a try? I’d say what’s the worst that can happen? I um I’ve seen firsthand uh I do a lot of coaching as well as playing and I’ve seen firsthand um girls and women and moms and friends and whoever else pick up a rugby ball and absolutely love it. You don’t have to want to be at a World’s Cup for rugby to have a really huge and special part in your life. Um, so yeah, I guess the big thing I’d say is just just say yes, give it a try. What’s the absolute worst that can happen? It seems like more and more this team uh turning heads either as you mentioned sevens or the full squad and more people taking notice about what a powerhouse Canada is at rugby. Yeah, and to me that’s huge. I think we’ve known that there’s been uh talent and potential and especially you can see the youport pathway providing a lot of athletes and trying to build up our domestic play interprovinincially and I think that and the choices some girls have made to go and play overseas to try and keep up in this time where maybe some countries have contracts and others don’t. I think all of this just leads to how adaptable and versatile Canadian women and Canadian rugby is. Um, and that’s also in part to our staff that help us see the game in such a dynamic way. But yeah, I hope that people see also when they look at our squad that there’s not only one way to get there and there’s not only one way to stay there. Um, you can live the life you want to live and be a rugby player at the same time. Awesome. Well, Emily, thank you so much for taking the time to join me today here on Winnipeg Sports Talk. It’s been awesome chatting with you. I can’t wait until Friday, uh, 100 pm. We’ll be following along on TSN. And do you have any message to, uh, fans who might be watching and cheering you guys on? Uh, no, just thanks very much. We hear you. We see you. Um, we love you and we hope to do you proud. Perfect. Thank you so much, Emily. Best of luck in the semi-final on Friday. Thank you very kindly. That was a great conversation with Emily Chosi. Team Canada uh Rugby World Cup Friday 100 p.m. big match against New Zealand. Hopefully they can play in the final Saturday backto back there. So we will be watching. Appreciate uh Braden and the team at Team Canada Rugby setting that one up for us. We haven’t touched on a lot of NFL today, but uh pleased to be joined right now by Thomas Temple of Fantasy Points. As we’ve seen, this is a lot of injuries this week. He’s hopping in to break it all down. Follow him on X at L Nor Nostra Thomas. Thomas, what’s going on? Thanks so much for uh taking the time to hop in with me here today. Of course. Happy to be here as always every week. Wouldn’t miss it. Well, Thomas, uh, injury bug hitting the quarterback position, Joe Burrow down, Justin Fields down, JJ McCarthy down. Which team you think is going to be hurt the most here by having to go to the backup, and which team will be able to weather the storm? Uh, man, this is where real football and fantasy football kind of cross paths because I don’t pay as much attention to the real NFL uh, in terms of who’s weathering the storm. I can tell you, however, who’s going to weather the storm for fantasy football purposes. And I like the Bengals to be able to do that with Jake Browning. He was pretty good for them in 2023 when he was playing and that’s pretty important. The points per game in that period of time, seven full games of that stretch in full games, not games where he had just come in, etc., or had to leave himself. Joe Mixon at the time had 18.1 fantasy points per game on an 18 expected. Jamar Chase had 13.4 fantasy points per game, 11 12 expected. T. Higgins actually outscored Jamar Chase at the time with 15.7 fantasy points per game, but only on 11.7 expected. That means touchdowns were a thing. Keeping in mind, same play caller obviously with Zack Taylor, but the offense was still at a 3.1 pass rate over expected. Uh passing the ball more than league average in situations that the league is running the ball. So, this offense is just explosive. What this does signal to me, however, is the tight end usage might drop here in Cincinnati. 27% of their targets have been to the tight end. I expect a lot more of that to Chase Brown. Backup quarterback dump offs at 12% for Chase Brown. I think he can really excel. And then, of course, I I not panic selling on Jamar Chase, but if you get some offers out there for T. Higgins. Uh, I I would be accepting. Well, there’s one. Well, one team that I find interesting is Minnesota. It seems like over the last couple years, whoever they’ve brought in, uh, you know, Nick Mullins and oh man, who was it before going to the playoffs? You know, they’re able to put up yardage. What do you expect from Carson Wentz throwing to a guy like Justin Jefferson and TJ Hawinson? Well, the funny thing is about the Vikings and this offense with JJ McCarthy. Uh I I think he’ll be fine. I mean, it’s still Carson Wentz. Like, we know what Carson Wentz is, but he is an NFL veteran. He fits the the KOC kind of system with the, you know, middle of the field intermediate routes. a lot of inb breakers, but the offense just looked out of sync in week one with Chicago with JJ McCarthy until that second half where where just big game JJ took over, but I think the offensive line is in trouble in Minnesota. Now, they did invest quite a bit into that offensive line, but the Falcons had a pass rate better than they had had in six years. I think they have six sacks. This is the best pass rush the Falcons have had in well probably since their their Super Bowl run and they they just swarmed the Vikings. So I am still concerned with Carson Wentz running this offense. Now he did hyperarget tight ends in his time in Philly and the Vikings are targeting tight ends 21% of the time through two games. 21% to the running backs but Aaron Jones on IR that could uptick the tight ends in Minnesota. But TJ Hawinson, uh, I call him TJ Blockinson just because every time I’m watching this team, I always find him blocking more than he is producing for my fantasy football teams. I avoided Hawinson at all costs this year. But I think the guys like Jefferson uh, could still be fine. I just think his upside might be capped. I mean, if you’re in a reddraft league, it might benefit you to start shopping Justin Jefferson around or the Drake London’s of the world, the Roma Dunes with a little bit of a plus on top. Um, there are just some other ways that I would go. The upside may not be there for a while. And again, I don’t even think this is a JJ McCarthy high ankle sprain. I think this is a JJ McCarthy sit down and settle down and we’ll come back to you type situation. So, uh, he had a baby on Thursday Night Football. Not on Thursday Night Football, just before he did. I don’t know why coaches do this in the NFL, but they do not play their guys in the preseason. I don’t know when this started, but it is a catastrophe. And please change this. J.J. McCarthy needed to play more in the preseason, and it’s it’s affected them. So, I am concerned about the Vikings. Very excited for somebody like Jordan Mason getting all of the work, especially with them wanting to establish that run a little bit more. Hopefully the offensive line can get there. Same thing kind of deal with Washington. I’m very much concerned Daniels now he’s hurt likely to miss this week. There is like we have some injury folks on our staff and there is some risk with playing through this and how it can end up hurting them or hurting it farther I should say. So there is definitely some risk all around the league. I will say do not panic. Play Garrett Wilson uh with the Jets. I think that he’ll be okay. I think he’ll be just fine even though Justin Fields is out with a concussion. We speaking of quarterbacks, we saw in Monday Night Football the second game Justin Herbert has he taken he and the Chargers taken a step forward to be one of the elite offensive teams and seems like they’re able to support uh the production for the three receivers there. Quinton Johnson, he learned how to catch the football. Lad McConi looking like a stud again. And Keenan Allen just a veteran catching everything that’s thrown to him. The Chargers look like they could overtake the Chiefs who’ve really struggled here uh starting 0 and2. Yeah, I’ve I’ve had the Chargers over the Chiefs this year. I have them winning the division. Uh this is year three of Harbaugh and anyone that has followed Jim’s career knows by year three his teams are turned around. Year one was a bit rough. Uh last year big strides. Uh, I believe they’re at least plus four in the win category. And I think he’s going to I think they’re they’re likely going to be the two seed in the AFC behind Buffalo. And I don’t know if Quinton Johnson has learned how to catch. I think that would be a stretch because that dude has hands meant for a brick layer. But he definitely is in a right spot with Greg Roman. Now, one thing that is interesting with Greg Roman and his history as an offensive coordinator, I watched him, trust me, I feel like I am an expert on Greg Roman with what he did in Baltimore. The tight end usage with the Chargers is staggering at only 7% use of the tight ends and an only 12% target uh distribution to running backs. It is all consolidated in the wide receivers. Like you said, Quinton Johnson is kind of playing that tight end role in the red zone, running the onplay action routes where he is running the underneaths into the coverage of the wide open where you would have seen the Isaiah likely running last season. I really like this offense in general. Keenan Allen was not bad last year. I know everyone said so it was a Bears issue. He rated very well in every single individual route metric that we had, yards per route run, targets per route run. He’s definitely able to sustain this. The way Jim Harbaugh talks about um Justin Herbert is every day he says he wakes up and about not getting Justin Herbert to the Hall of Fame. So, I I’m I’m kind of all in on this Chargers. I was down on Justin Herbert and their pass rate over expected from last year. Every time a running back got hurt, their pass rate went up. Now, they’re also not running the ball yet. And again, I’ve said this on the Dynasty Points podcast last night. I said it on the the two Dynasty Points podcast last week, uh my weekly podcast. I I said the offensive line play has been woeful in the NFL as of late, and it still terrible. So, there’s there’s some of that in play. Same with the Vikings. Darasaw not not playing is absolutely killing them. Ryan Kelly might miss again. It’s going to really hurt them. So, I’m I’m in on these Chargers. I think the Lad Mani ceiling is going to be a little bit limited with Keenan Allen around. Something that we should have probably taken a little bit more seriously in the offseason with his ADP and his his draft spot. But I’m not selling. I’m not worried. I’m not panicked. I think this is going to be a high-powered offense. and they’ve got a little bit of a head start here now on Kansas City being one game up on them in a head-to-head 2 and 0 in the division. They look like a lock uh to me right now, but again, they just lost Khalil Mack. This is still the Chargers. Uh the phrase Chargers go to Chargers exists for a reason and this is uh a team that I think has all the pieces, but we will we’ll see how it goes. I mean, Navaro Bowman is uh their linebacker’s coach if I’m not mistaken, and boy, do they fly around on defense. Obviously, Bowman played with Harbaugh in San Francisco in those Kaepernick seasons. So, I I’m excited. I’m I’m here. I’m I’m generally a Greg Roman hater to the to the tenth degree, but I’ll say he is the last two games are the best two games I have ever seen Greg Roman call a passing uh attack since I’ve I’ve been watching him since he was in San Francisco even with Tyrod Taylor. Tom, tomorrow night, Thursday night football kicks off week three, the Bills at Miami. Uh Miami looks like a total uh train wreck this season. Are they the team this year? When you see you have a fantasy player going up against them, you’re just salivating at all the points uh that they’re going to put put up. I’m looking at the odds right now. Buffalo favored by what 12 and a half. This could be look be pretty ugly here tomorrow night. The problem with the Miami Dolphins is that they played the New England Patriots and that’s what made their offense look good. Like I’m amazed that the New England Patriots defense might be the only defense in the NFL worse than Miami’s. It’s terrible. Um obviously Tyreek Hill finally produced here and so did Wadd, but I think it is a little bit fraudulent. Tyreek Hill had just his fourth 100yard game since the start of the last season. The start of last season. Uh three of those games have come over his last seven. However, the peripheral usage not good. In week two, he didn’t spend any time in the blue medical tent. That’s that’s pretty good. Every time I look at that tent, it’s it’s one of the Dolphins wide receivers. But he saw just a 19.4% target share and a 21 uh 21.9% target share over the first two games. That’s compared to a 31.1% in 2023 where he averaged 23.6 fantasy points per game or 20.2% when he averaged just 14.4 in 2024. He’s been out targeted by Devon Achan 14-13. Uh who is also who has almost run as many almost as many yards after the catch as Hill does in total yards. So the offense just isn’t what people remember when Mike McDaniel first got there. And I I think I’m on my way out with two uh Waddle and Tyreek in this offense. I’m fading Miami completely. Everyone but Devon for the most part every single week. And if somehow I’m wrong on this, I will rest my head easily. Uh knowing that I made the right process play here. I don’t want a piece of the Dolphins. Granted to a miss, Tyreek wide open on the game-winning drive. that would have maybe changed his narrative a little bit. But the the fact of the matter is the Tua is one hit away from dinner at the Lindross house. And I don’t want to watch or rely on a quarterback that’s been in, you know, pre-death rig Mortise on prime time television multiple times. And this offensive line terrible. Uh I think the head coach is out of his depth. Um, I’m full fading this team completely. We’ll have to see uh tomorrow night if uh it continues. Uh Thomas uh some you know Tom comes to us from Fantasy Points when we need fantasy or betting advice. We’re choosing Fantasy Points with the Fantasy Points data suite. They have the best research tool in the world. Use code WST10 to sign up and dominate your league. Uh Thomas, what can we find out there uh this Wednesday as we’re gearing up for week three? Well, I can tell you that Quinn Sean Judkins looked phenomenal in the backfield with a 50% carry share. Uh he totaled a 6.1 yard per carry. Uh he also had three receptions. He was one of my favorite backs. Um I I love Quinn Judkins. I’m definitely looking forward to him in week three. I just want to address some rookie stuff here in week two on a Wednesday, Michael, if you’ll let me. Sure. We have this thing on Dynasty Points uh that my co-host Jacob Sanderson, also a Winnipeger himself, uh we actually met through a slow pitch team at Little Mountain and here we are, him with underdog fantasy, myself with fantasy points. Um, we like to say that you shouldn’t start panicking about a rookies until you start craving a pumpkin spice latte. And and what that means is unless you’re an absolute sicko like he said last night where you are craving those in early September, let’s let Halloween set in first off. But if you’re rolling up into your Starbucks and you are craving a pumpkin spice latte and your favorite rookie has been struggling and looks like dog water, then maybe it’s time to start panicking. But early in the season, it takes a long time for a lot of, you know, old chromogyny coaches to get out of the these rookies got to earn it and eventually they start playing their elite players. Now, obviously the top of the top, the Tet McMillan’s, the Amechas, um, uh, the Gents, all these guys are playing an extreme amount. And last year it was Bowowers right out of the gates. But remember, it took Lad a little bit of time. It took Brian Thomas Jr. a little bit of time. I mean, we’re still waiting on Marvin Harrison Jr., but that’s a whole other story. These guys can take time. It is the National Football League. This is not easy. Even Cam Ward himself, like really struggled in week one, showed some stuff in week two. It takes time. Relax. Take a breath. Do not uh uh look to sell. Do not um give up on these guys in week two because it’s been proven that these young guys, these rookies, they are league winners at the end of the year. Not all of them are going to hit, but the ones that do, those are the ones that end up helping you win leagues. looking at the chat. T Well, you know better. Do not drop Hampton in obviously. But let’s let’s just remember that these are players coming from college into one of the most complex sports that you can be playing at a national level. It is difficult. And of course, we are again dealing with boomeresque coaches. Like look at Shawn Peyton. How long are we going to have to wait for the clearly most explosive player on the Denver Broncos and RJ Harvey to finally start getting the proper usage that we know of when he was being drafted? Shawn Peyton liked him to people like Alvin Chimera. Alvin Chimera yes only had one touch I believe in his second game and he never really had more not one touch but one uh carry. But his receptions were insane. It was like five, six, seven, a 10 in the first four or five games. When are we going to get that usage? When Shawn Peyton’s boomerism finally washes off and goes, “Oh, we need to win games now.” I’m more inclined to buy these rookies more than to sell them because again, they have the biggest game impact when finally some of these dusty veterans kind of get put out to pasture by week seven or eight when their hamstrings finally fall off the bone. Rookies, you got to seem have more of an impact, but sometimes it takes a while. Thomas, great having you on. Appreciate all your insight. Catch him on X. One of the best handles. It took me a while to understand when you said it out loud. I was like, “Oh, that’s what it is.” At L Nor Nostra Thomas. I didn’t get that just reading it, but when you came on here and said, I was like, “Oh, I’m a I’m dumb.” I I earned it uh in a Discord that I was in, which you can get into the Fantasies Points Discord where I live. That is where I am at 247 answering fantasy questions. You can get at me pretty much 24/7. I’m around all the time. Uh I got it because people were arguing about Jameson Williams at one point. I said, “Guys, why buy him in the fifth round? You’re going to get him cheaper later.” And the next day, uh he was suspended. And he ended up dropping into the eighth and ninth round, thus coining, uh El Nostra. And so I took that and I ran. So just, you know, having having some fun on this on this nightmare that is social media in in 2025. if we have to have a little bit of fun out there and you can win yourself some money. Don’t sleep on fantasypoints.com. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, please DM me. I am telling you I will get back to you no matter what. Uh so find me. Yeah, E L N O S to uh R A Thomas Lostra Thomas. All social media. Thanks for having me. There he is. Thomas Temple, Winnipegger, working with Fantasy Point. I’m learning all about all these other Winnipegers in the fantasy football uh industry. So, uh great for him to take the time to hop on. Let’s bring in Connor Rabch check. Uh Connor, we’re waiting on the Jets the Jets groupings for the training camp and uh they’re going to make us wait more. I’m anticipating right after I hit stop, they will be they will be on. Isn’t that right, Connor? That’s the That’s the time we we always know it. That’s when the big news will drop. No, but I do have a question for for Thomas and we’ll have to ask him next week. What if you’re the type of person that starts craving pumpkin drinks in like late August, early September, like then I’m already panicking on rookies cuz I’m that type of person. I got a pumpkin drink yesterday, my free drink from Starbucks. Man, I love pumpkin stuff. So, I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s sound advice for someone like me who will be panicking in week one by the time I’m craving a pumpkin drink, which is very early in the season. There there you go. Uh Connor, we did have the Bombers putting out their injury report as we’re on quarterback watch here. And here it is. Micah Vanderpool uh practiced in full is injury not injury related. What? Logan in full, not injury related. Zachary head injury limited practice one and practice two. They still have a third practice and then they’ll let you know the game status. Jareth Sterns shoulder limited yesterday and today. Jamal Parker, he was limited yesterday, practiced in full today. And Michael Griffin with a knee injury did not practice yesterday or today. I guess with ClariS being limited, you know, maybe there’s still a chance there could be a full practice and they toss him in. I guess we’ll have to wait and see tomorrow. Yeah. And I think a storyline that I brought up yesterday that I think is going to fly under the radar because of the quarterback situation is Jamal Parker. He moved he started the season at safety and struggled in that spot. The Bombers were giving up a ton of explosive plays. He played a game at corner, the game he got hurt in, and that was probably his best game of the season. So, when he’s healthy and ready to go, is it going to be Deario Houston and Jamal Parker at the corners with Nicholls and Holm at halfback and then Cam Allen at safety? How did the Bombers kind of shift around their secondary when Jamal Parker is back because he played safety and albeit struggling for for certain games in that stint when he moved to corner kind of his more natural position, he looked a lot better. So, it’s going to be interesting to see with a full practice, it looks like he’s trending to play. Is he going to take over for Dexter Lawson opposite Dearia Houston? Is he going to be just worked in on on obvious passing downs? Where is he going to play in the secondary? That’s a story line that I’m watching for and again, I think it’s going to fly under the radar because of the obvious quarterback uh injury problems and turnovers and all of those things. So, we’ll still be on practice watch uh tomorrow. Wondering if anything changes ahead of Saturday’s game in Ottawa. Conor, NHL training camp starting up this week. The Jets on the ice tomorrow at 9:30 and two other skates. We’ll hear from the GM. We’ll hear from Kyle Connor around the league. A lot of other players speaking to the media. Did you see this quote from Brad Marshand about his contract negotiations? The Panthers returning. a lot of players keeping him. Marshand, Aaron, Eblad, and sorry, who was the There was one other big one? Was it Reinhardt? Did he get the big or Well, yeah, Bennett. It was It was Sam Bennett. Yeah, Sam Bennett. Retaining all their guys that you thought, “Oh, how are they going to retain all of them?” This is what Brad Marshand had to say. Call it a spade a spade. If we were in a non-tax state, it wouldn’t have worked out probably for two guys. That’s him, Bennett and Ekbad. Two guys probably would have been leaving in that situation. So, it’s a benefit that this team has. We were able to utilize and make work. Is Brad Marshan just being the ultimate? Yes. Troll here. Or is or is he on to something? He’s trolling, right? I I got to see this clip and see what his like body language and tone is because just reading that quote and you tell me it’s Brad Marshon, I think he’s joking. Like I think he’s just call a spade a spade, it’s because we’re in a tax-free state. Like he’s playing into it. I think Brad Mar has become become pretty funny. I think he really changed his image. Used to hate him, think he was a rat for all of the slooh footing. But yeah, I thought he had his personality had a bit of a coming out party in the last year. Maybe he’s always been that way. Maybe there’s more of a spotlight cuz he was on team Canada, because he was on a team that won the Stanley Cup. Um, that’s kind of funny from uh from Brad Marsh. I know there’s people in chat who harp on that all the time. Every team has their own advantages and disadvantages about signing there that you’re going to have to work around. I did see a note um you know from the I guess injur injur player injuries. There’s already some this earlier in the se this early in training camp and Adrien Data reporting for Colorado McKenzie Blackwood. He is week to week with a lower body injury. Being ready for the season opener in question and that was a player that they traded for last year and signed him to an extension right away. That’ certainly be a blow for Colorado. But I think that we’ve learned that well, you know, missing the regular the start of the season is okay, but it’s really important to be 100% healthy in the playoffs. Yeah. A player who’s week to week to start training camp, maybe starting next season, that would be a concern for their, you know, opening night status. the preseason and camp are so long under this current CBA that uh I don’t think Mackenzie Blackwood uh if he’s being labeled as week to week is under any threat to miss significant time once the regular season gets going because we are weeks away from the actual start of the regular season. So, I know the Colorado Avalanche, they play opening night of the NHL season, uh, on the road against the LA Kings. And the LA Kings are another team that’s gone under, you know, a bit of a injury bug, at least before camp, uh, as they tweeted out the other day that Cory Perry got injured during a skate, just a training skate on Friday, September 12th, underwent knee surgery, and is out 6 to8 weeks. So, one of the players that the Kings went and got in free agency, Cory Perry, 6 to8 weeks, he’ll definitely uh be missing actual game action in the regular season, but we’re still a ways away from the actual start of the regular season. So, hearing players, you know, come in maybe not 100% healthy with a little bit of an injury. The teams are going to be very, very cautious through this lengthy preseason and training camp. Yeah, one player to keep an eye on, we haven’t talked a lot about him in Colorado, Marty Nas. They traded Miko Ranton for him. He’s entering the final year of his deal. Uh couldn’t sign long-term in Carolina. We’ll figure out how to make it work in Colorado. We did have a signing today. Uh you know, wasn’t the big one like that we’ve talking about with uh with Conor McDavid or or Kyle Connor, Muel Backland, two-year extension, the captain of Calgary, AAV, 3.25 25 million at 32 points last year in 76 games, 15 goals, 70 to 17 assists, age 36, a bit older, but kind of a heart and soul player similar to how you know Adam Lowry uh is viewed here. I wonder if if that would be although this is kind of a different player, different age, but interesting signing there uh around the league with Calgary locking up their captain. I think it was no surprise uh for anyone in Calgary. Yeah, no surprise there. And I don’t think it’s a it’s a direct comparison in terms of if you’re looking at he is a defensive center, a veteran, a captain. He’s 36, so a little bit older. Um I’ve like long thought that this next Adam Lowry contract is going to come in at around 4×4, maybe 4.5 million in the AAV, somewhere in that range. So, I think Adam Lowry’s contract, if you’re looking to compare it, is going to come in a little bit higher than this one, but definitely not a surprise. The market is not set for Carl Capri off and Conor McDavid and Kyle Connor after this signing of male Backland. Uh, but still an interesting signing and a good one for Calgary getting their captain for a couple more years. Yeah, that’s actually interestingly enough, Adam Lowry’s current AAV at 3.25 million. I imagine he’ll be getting a raise here on his next deal. I don’t want to talk here about the Lowry contract. Kind of just waiting for him to get back on the ice. We’ve seen him skating on his own in solitary confinement. Yes, honor as uh as he put it. So, uh we’ll see where he is tomorrow when training camps open. Uh time to look at the lines here. Cool. Bet place where we’re going to look at those. as I bring in. Let me turn my uh my camera on here on this screen. Anyway, uh but here we have CFL, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. They are Oh, has the line move? They’re 2 and a half point underdogs in Ottawa as maybe the quarterback situation comes a bit more clear. Hamilton 5 and a half point favorites hosting Edmonton. How about Calgary? Five point favorites against BC. that get bigger and Montreal a seven-point favorite going into Toronto. Uh I guess questions about Toronto’s quarterback situation starting Jared Dy. What do you think of the latest on the CFL lines? So the Montreal Toronto game since Jeff Hamilton and I did CFL 110 yesterday has moved three points. I believe it was Montreal minus 3 and a half as a road favorite and it was confirmed that Jared Dye was going to be getting the start for the Argonauts. So you saw some major line movement there as Mloud Bethl Thompson is coming off his hot performance against Saskatchewan. They’re 7-point road favorites. That’s really interesting. The BC Calgary game hasn’t moved uh or has moved half a point. Calgary was four and a half point favorites. Now it’s five. The Winnipeg one obviously the other way uh with Ottawa becoming a bigger favorite and then Hamilton uh that that one’s still the same. But as for my read on these games, uh I don’t mind Toronto, uh not to win, but to cover a seven-point spread even with Jared Dye. I think Ryan Diddwy is going to have his team playing desperate and ready to go. Uh Calgary has been dynamite off a buy. I think them minus five against BC and that spotty defense is a is a good spot. I said it earlier in the show, I’ll say it again. I think whether it’s Chris Trevor or Zack Ceros, I think the Bombers can and should win this game against Ottawa. So, uh plus two and a half, not bad there. And then uh Hamilton minus five and a half against Edmonton. I I do think the Edmonton Elks cover that spread. What do you think, Remo? Uh I don’t know. Edmonton can be up in the air. I think Vardo’s kept it close. That’s the biggest total, so they’re expecting a lot of points. I have to put my final picks in. I think I’d probably lean lean Hamilton here. West team going east. But Edmonton, they’ve really impressed and they’re trying to push uh towards the playoffs if they can make it. The futures, the Bombers, the lowest they’ve been all year, plus 2,000. If you think they’ve got a shot, maybe they can figure out this turnover issue. You just got to get one. Got to get hot in the playoffs. Certainly capable of that. Saskatchewan the Grey Cup favorite plus 275. Uh baseball Blue Jays, uh they’re in action this or tonight. Gausman on the hill minus 130 favorites. They’re looking towards clinching. We’re already seeing teams clinch a playoff birth. Chicago Cubs for the first time since 2020 did just that with their win over the Pirates. Uh I don’t know in the last hour or so. The hockey odds Connor the Futures out time. Oh my god. They got Oh, these are game one. I thought they were preseason game one lines. They will have those. I think game lines. Well, I mean the Kings, you mentioned that Kings Colorado game. The Kings are minus 105 favorites. Who knows if McKenzie Blackwood will suit up for Colorado. But the futures as the day before training camp here at the Winnipeg Jets plus 2,000 to win the cup. That’s 20 to1. And if you think they’re gonna make the playoffs, yes or no, the Winnipeg Jets, hey, the oddsmakers pretty seem to be sure the Jets will be in there minus 286 to make the playoffs. That’s pretty good. And you’re looking at winning the division. The Central Dallas the favorite plus 200, Colorado plus 210. Uh the Jets just behind plus 600. I think, you know, in a couple years when you look back on last season, everything seemed to go uh perfect for them. Winning the President’s Trophy, winning the division. What a historic season it was. But hey, starting fresh, starting tomorrow. Yeah, it’s uh it’s like you said it off the top, it’s like a Christmas feeling. It’s training camp eve. Uh we’re still waiting on the groups here to see who’s skating tomorrow in which group. Uh the first group is 9:30 and then I believe it’s 11:30 and then 1:30. Uh roughly those are the times that the three different groups will be skating. So I’m super pumped to get out to hockey for all center. Winnipeg Jets hockey line combinations. I’m fired up. Remo. Yeah. Line combinations groups. Uh we went through some of the awards. We’re going to go through you know player points throughout uh you know through leading up to the start of the season. I do enjoy looking at these. Useful for fantasy drafts. You have Josh Morsy over under 65 and a half points. And then here we talk. A lot of talk in chat about Nikolai Eers. And here, let me get to uh fan feedback brought to you by fans first. Uh your best option for buying and selling tickets with no fees. What you see is what you pay. Certainly the best place if you have a pair of tickets you’re looking to get rid of them. I can tell you as someone who’s had to buy or sell tickets on there. It’s utilizing fans for so userfriendly. The customer service great and you’re getting paid the next day right after the game. They’ve been people have been buying and selling bomber tickets as every game’s been sold out this year. But I know with Jets preseason starting up on Sunday, they’ll be busy on there. And here was the I forget who had this comment, but a lot of talk about replacing Nikolai Eer’s production. And here was the comment. Perfetti, Vlad, and Eers had 151 combined points last season. It’s not unreasonable to assume that Perfetti, Taves, and Nyquis can put together 50 points each to match the production. Keith Lily says, “Eler speed will be the hardest thing to replace, but there will be less uh turnovers. A lot of that being discussed in chat.” And Blake here says, “The good news is that Eers was underutilized, so replacing him is a bit easier.” And PDJNYC saying Eers hasn’t created a hole in the lineup that can’t be overcome by mar by marginally better team play. and internal growth. So, everyone that seems to be a player, Connor, you bring them up. Everyone has got an opinion and we will officially turn the page on the Eera tomorrow and see who steps in. And as fan feedback brought to you by Fans First, your number one spot for buying and selling tickets by fans or fans with no fees. And we still have the gold eyes contest running for double feature movie night. Final chance to get in. Winnipeg sports talk.com/contest. They’re showing two movies on Saturday. Princess Bride and uh what was the other one? Princess Bride. I have it here. And Raiders of the Lost Dark on their giant HD video board. The gates open at 5:30. Bring blankets, lawn chairs. You can relax on the field or watch from the stands. They’ll have yard games, trivia, and prize raffles to keep the fun going between films. They’ll have popcorn, candy, burgers, hot dogs, soft drinks, of course, adult beverages. Tickets just $10 and can be purchased at gold eyes.com/mov. We have do have a fourack on our website, winnipegsportstoalk.com/contest. Connor, it is time for Cineaboad Downs picks. I had a bit I had a big winner yesterday. I’m catching up catching up to Hus. I had a $1 trifecta on race 7356. My $1 bet. So, six ways my $1 bet. Yes. Which was $6 total because each combination uh won. It was a big hit for me. Not the biggest of the year, but up there 8345 on my $6 total bet. Hustler said that he won uh I think he lost $4, so he won 36. So he was minus four. He bet double for missing on Monday. He’s going to put his picks in. So here are my selections for tonight. I’m very uh very excited for the race night. I was pretty down cuz I thought I lost, but I did not look at race seven. Here we go, Connor. As Hustler and I battle, I’m on race two. I got 235, Trifecta Box, Shanka, Doppelus, Cool or Cole Boy, and Big Walk. I got race seven, horse five to win. It’s a fluke. What? That is Hey, that’s the AI smart pick. It’s a fluke. Had to go with that one. Uh, race six, I got one, two, three, trifecta box XL, Falsely Accused, and Lands Down. And race five, I have a 25 Exacto box mini, Glazed Donut, and Skyler’s Fire. Hustler’s got Crusher Royale on race three uh to win on race three to win. Uh he’s got race four tipsy at the bar to win and he’s also got a 456 uh trifecta box destined to dance bossu and yes tipsy at the bar. How much does he have here? He’s got race six exacto box 37. Who’s who’s on that one? Hustler’s got three uh burn Jakey Burn or sorry lands down I had that one and Rohdasia and race seven he’s got one horse one to win over oh the long shot 30 to1 so Hustler trying to hit the hit the lottery there with that 30 to1 winner on race seven Connor big plans for tonight here uh you know Thursday night football tomorrow Friday night football the Blue Jays are in action Uh what’s got your eye here tonight on a Wednesday? Yeah, I’ll be watching the Jays. Uh Gosman through the complete game shutout his last time out. So going up against the Rays, that should be a good one. Um hoping for no spotty fan interference calls and reviews like there was last night in the Jays game. But I’ll be watching that. Tomorrow’s training camp. Tomorrow’s Thursday night football and we’ve got training camp all weekend. Fanfest Saturday. a Winnipeg Jets game preseason Sunday at 4 o’clock here in Winnipeg at Canada Life Center. Um, this is the quiet night before the chaos begins over the next four days. Remo. So, I’m going to sit back, relax, watch some Blue Jays baseball, and uh get ready for the weekend coming up here. What about you? Yeah, everyone’s got their final what? Dentist appointments lined up, golf games, haircut, everything happening before training camp and the real I don’t say real work, but uh the real season gets underway. I can’t wait. Fantasy drafts just around the corner. Preseason hockey line combinations, all that. Yeah. Tonight, well, we’re going to be we’re going to be live tomorrow at Hockey for All Center set up doing the show. So, I will be organizing everything meticulously. I’ve got it all in bags, not not labeled. Nice. Um, loading up my cars, so I can just get down there quick and be there. I don’t know if I’ll be there for 9:30 when the first group gets on the ice. I imagine there will be some fans in attendance taking it all in. a good day to go and yeah, I’ll be getting all my stuff together and maybe pouring over my fantasy football lineup. Were you up at uh 2:30 a.m. today making some free agent picks? Was that only last week? No, I Okay, so I put a hefty fab number on Jake Browning because in the media league I lost Joe Burrow. Uh but I got outbid by Taylor Allen. I think I put in somewhere in the mid70s in like fab budget and Taylor put $88. I we are in a super flex so it makes sense. Like looking back on it, I should have put 100red on Jake Browning because now I don’t have a third quarterback. I should have, you know, just just because. Um but whatever. I’m 2 and 0, first and points four in the league. And Joe Burrow didn’t help me the first two weeks anyways in terms of fantasy football. So um yeah, 2 and 0, first in the league, first and points four. Feeling good in the media league, but uh job’s not done, Remo. Job’s not done. You have Herbert and Stafford, but I will come around. Yeah, I guess you have Aaron Jones. Also, you could throw in Debo. I guess bye-week’s come and it screws everything up. I was starting like Aiden O’Connell last year at quarterback in this league. I was starting such bottom of the barrel quarterback. So, yeah, injuries happen to everyone. Bye-weeks happen. It throws chaos into all of it. Well, what a show. It’s been what a couple days it’s been for me hosting. Uh, thank you Connor for participating. Thank you everyone who’s tuned in. This has been so much fun. Thank you to our guests, Jana Goldman, Drew Mandel, Emily Tutosce, Thomas Tipple, and shout out to the sponsors making this happen. HSC Home Lottery, Rolly’s Transfer, St. Patel Dental, Canadian Club, Manitoba Battery, Princess Auto, Akens Lake F apparel, Fans First, Little Brown Jug, Boston Pizza, Royal Sports, Breezy Bend, Cine Boyd Downs, and of course, Cool Bets. So for Connor Rabchack, for Hustler, I’m Michael Remis. Can’t wait to be at the rink tomorrow. Make sure you’re tuning in for all the line rushes, all the groups discussion, and bomber updates as well. Uh, thank you again, everyone. I’ll send you over to Edmonton Sports Talk where they’re freaking out over Connor McDavid. Bye-bye. Oh my god. Shut it down. Let’s go. Thanks for tuning in to Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube and your favorite podcast feed at winnipegportsalk.com. Heat. Heat.

Michael Remis hosts Winnipeg Sports Talk with Connor Hrabchak. They count down to the start of Winnipeg Jets Training Camp and discuss the Winnipeg Blue Bombers return to practice. Guests: Shayna Goldman of The Athletic, Drew Mindell of the Illegal Curve Hockey Show, Emily Tuttosi of Team Canada Rugby and Thomas Tipple of Fantsy Points.

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