Wild on 7th – #114 Vladimir Tarasenko and Bold Predictions with Joe O’Donnell

Wild on 7th – #114 Vladimir Tarasenko and Bold Predictions with Joe O’Donnell

This is Wild on 7th, your favorite wild podcast. Did you guys see this? This is unbelievable. What is that all about? Kinger, get in here for the real thing. Like, let’s get weird. Maybe I blacked out trying to figure out what was going on. Doubt, worry, fear, cuz that’s what we’re breaking the mold on here. Welcome to Wild on 7 presented by Pilot Games. We’re here until it’s here. All right, welcome back to Wild on Seventh, your favorite Wild podcast. As always, we are presented by our friends at Pilot Games. Make sure when you’re out uh probably at the local establishment while your kids are trying out for hockey right now and you can’t go in there because nobody’s allowed in the building, you have to go someplace, you go to your your local pub, you grab a drink, grab a tablet, too, cuz when you win, your community wins, too. Yeah. Take home a couple of bucks and then the money gets donated to your kids. And hey, everybody wins, right? Uh so, hey, let’s bring in uh our buddy Radio Joe uh Kinger. Uh how we feeling after the big weekend and after, you know, Billy Garren’s wallet has officially been set on fire. I feel so safe. I feel like uh a weighted blanket is on me. I’m cozy. The TV tray is out. 97 is home. He’s one of us. He chose us. That’s how I like to think of it. He He bought in. He’s with us. We’re in the foxhole. Let’s go. I’m thrilled. I’m absolutely thrilled. Were you ever anxious it wasn’t going to get done, Joe? Me? Yeah. A little bit. A little bit. Um, but now reading up on it, you know, and talking to some people, I don’t think that the nerve should have been that high for Wild Nation, you know, just take a deep breath. It was going to get done in time. Preelf wants to win, man. And I think that was probably some of the holdup. If you read between the lines a little bit, like in in some of the comments that Craig Leopold, the wild uh majority owner, made was like at no point did Capri off bring up the money, right? That was the agent’s job. Capri off talked about trying to win a Stanley Cup. I love hearing that. I love what Kinger said that he chose to be here. Uh he could have waited to see if the grass was greener um and just elected to to to stay here to commit to here. And um I think it’s an exciting time for the organization. And the GU bus got paid, too. So, it’s a good time to be a wild player if you, you know, and the Rossy deal a few weeks back. So, um, the core is here. The core is locked up. Um, maybe a little anxious at times the last few weeks trying to see how this thing would play out, but I love the fact it’s done now. No distractions. Like, no distractions. Thursday night in St. Louis, game one of 82 and let’s roll. Yeah, I like how how all that was kind of managed, too. Like, yeah, kind of the narrative. And we’ll get into that big show today. Good show. This is when we’ve got, you know, the season preview. We’ll get into some predictions. We’ve got to talk Carrill and probably Gusb and we got a great guest at the end and uh Vlad Terasenko. So, that’s going to be a lot of fun to talk about, but I think we do probably still have to start with Carrill a little bit because I I I think you’re right. There’s so much to talk about when it comes to to Carill and him resigning. And uh we haven’t officially talked since I think the deal probably got announced like right after we recorded our last podcast. So, um, when you go back to your point, Joe, and kind of read what was said, you can almost it makes sense now, like Wild fans, don’t worry. Like, I like it here. You know, Krill would say all of these things. And the problem is sometimes those things get said by other people or other free agents and it it turns out to not be true. it it just didn’t really feel that way with Carill, you know, and I don’t think he’s the kind of guy that can fleece you. And when you go to the like the press conference from last year like, “No, I like Minnesota. I I want to be here, you know, and I enjoy playing here.” Now, you can believe all those things because he signed the ticket and and it’s done an eight-year deal. And we’ve also heard that um never once did he ask or entertain a short-term deal. It was never he didn’t want to be here. It was probably all agent stuff, so money and probably figuring out. We had Staleock on the the last episode, too, talking about that. And he made a real good point that you never know with these deals what the hangup is. It might be, you know, details within the contract and Capri Office is very bonus heavy early on and that might be something that takes time to figure out, you know. So, um, but in general, I I think you’re right. It was hard not to get and I’ll have to I have to admit I I was like yeah 85% he is resigning. This is probably like August one you know even even July one August into September it’s like 85%. And then you hear that whole 8 by6 right gets turned down. Turned down go what? And but like even going back Billy never said it got turned down. He never said no, they didn’t want this deal. Agent never said that. What they said is we don’t know where anybody’s hearing this, you know. So, it was never said yes, it was turned down or he didn’t turn it down. Um, now that kind of makes a little bit of sense, right? But when that came out, it was like, wow, things have changed. Now, I was like 6040. He signs. Just the time you spend around Capri off the last couple years, um, it just doesn’t he doesn’t feel like a highmaintenance type of guy to me. He doesn’t feel like a primadon at all. He’s very genuine. You could see the smile on his face. He’s at the rink. Let’s remember he was here 10 days before he needed to be here skating with his teammates. If he was that, you know, rattled or upset with the organization or thinking about being elsewhere, why would he come skate early with the team at the captain’s practices? Like, he could have stayed up until day one when he had to be on the ice. Um, and I just think like when you when you look at him like he’s he’s focused on hockey. He’s focused on winning. doesn’t want the distractions. He doesn’t seem like the type of guy that wanted to be asked about this every day throughout the year. I don’t think the money I mean easy for me to say, but like I think when it ultimately came down to it, like had this drug on, I could see him nudging his agent under the table to be like, “Dude, let’s get this done. I want to play hockey.” Just my read on the situation. So, it was becoming a distraction. Yeah. And he’s not that type of kid. Like, I I don’t get that sense. I don’t think he wants all that attention. The whole league was talking about it. Yes. And I don’t think and the whole hockey world went he turned down the biggest contract ever. Like what? Like I was getting texts from people like what? Yeah. And then the narrative becomes like he doesn’t want to be here, you know? So I don’t think that’s him, you know? That’s not the vibe I get. So nice to be around. So friendly, loves hockey, loves this area. I think it’s just really cool for it to work out the way that it did now and that you know he’s here. You get him for his prime. Um let’s go win a cup. You know what I love about it too? Think about it. Put yourself in his shoes for a minute, Kinger. You You’ve got 8 by6 on the table and you’re kind of like, “We’ll just wait. We’ll just wait.” Yeah. How do you do anything but think about that? And he just left that room and he’d still go out and play. Like, how do you think about that? I have so much to unpack here. Um I uh the the quote to go with what Radio Joe was saying when when he’s being interviewed in the press conference and one of the reporters says uh are you going to do anything to celebrate the deal? Are you and he says he says what what and he says like buy a boat was what the guy said and he just goes buy a boat? What? No, you you know who I am. What are you talking about? You know like I might get new laces for my skates. But but a couple things just random stuff. Um, also, uh, anybody who doesn’t like to call Minnesota mini, I’m sorry, but Carrill does it all the time. I’m pro Mini, so that’s Yeah, I am. I am. Have you been or you are now? I always am. I I think it there’s What’s the problem? I don’t know. Why don’t we get upset with this? I learned this very early on after they say people that aren’t from here call it that, but get over it. It’s cool. Carell does it also like a great pink eye moment. I mean, since Bob Kostas did the Olympics with Pink Eye, like, can you imagine? You just signed this deal and you’re just rocking Pink Eye. Was it confirmed that it was Pink Eye? I know. He called it an eye infection. Did you see that? I think it was a sty. It was pink eye, but I felt terrible for him. Okay. Sorry, Carill. I’m not putting any propaganda. He should have waited three more days to sign it just so that for the, you know, that’s the biggest media availability of his life probably. I I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t Pink Eye. Sorry. I I just I just love that. And then do you think the waiting So the reason it was so troubling for No. Uh for the Minnesota sports fan, the reason this was troubling was it wasn’t about uh it was it was Jenga, right? This is the piece that makes it all fall down. So, whatever we’ve been doing for the last four years, if you lose this piece, it just it doesn’t mean it couldn’t work or they couldn’t figure something out, but it it was about the belief. And I wonder to your point, I don’t know if it was a deal terms um details, you know, signing bonus or if there was a little bit of like let’s put their feet to the fire a little bit and make it real clear that if we do not win a cup, no one’s going to be happy here. Which Bill would say, Billy would say that just as much as Carill. But I go back to when he got the a man a few words, right? Krill just says, “I think I think we all know why we’re here.” That’s what he said in the locker room. And it’s like, but but do we, you know, like like I he does, you know, and I think that culture has shifted with Billy, you know, it’s about winning. So, I was just so happy to see that get done. I also heard the reason it didn’t get done was they went to an inn and there was no room and then they had to find a manger um a couple days later. That that could be tied to it as well. I I love when you have your random thoughts. I get very excited for them because I never know which way they’re going to go. I just think uh I just was texting everybody that day. It’s a good day in the state of hockey. You know, like it felt like a monkey was off our back and uh I’ve just felt uh from marketing to everything, ticket sales, I’m sure broadcast, it was like now everything’s like twice as fast. Not that everyone was doing nothing, but it was sort of like everyone was in purgatory and it’s just like all gas, all gas, no brakes. We talked about training camp. I want your read on training camp, too. No idea. Yeah, it’s like what was it? Didn’t even know the blur. Did it happen? Last year we talked about how hard they worked and Hines was pushing them and crushing how important to get off to a good start. And now like all of a sudden I’m like man the regular season’s here. I know there was like roster battles the young kids, right? But that that was pretty much the camp story line was What else was there? Yeah, exactly. I don’t know. Hin said it was harder than last year. I did see that. I was like, “Oh, noted.” I thought that was interesting. But um but I Yeah, I have no idea. It just felt like the Carell cloud was hanging over the camp and I don’t really know what happened. I I want this is a podcast of the people and I feel like you know you played here you played in the NHL. You have an interesting dynamic to this. You I feel like King are like the Don’t bother just just go forward. You’re like the you’re the voice of of the people. I got demons. So what was like had he not resigned or had he walked away like what what were you hearing from your peeps when that you know when the reports came out and there was sort of that 2 3 week window where like you’re not sure what’s going on had he left or not resigned like would would the fan base have crumbled like where I don’t know so it was there was emotional terrorism happening on the internet so there was a lot of like who can sign him for 9 million for a year Carolina kept popping into my feed. Why would he have been death by a million paper cuts? Yeah, there was this trade here. Just a little paper cut. Trade rumor here. Martin Martinus was gonna come to the wild. Like Gabri flashbacks from ages ago. We’re going to get nothing. Uh Minneapolis is Indianapolis fly over state. Like there was I I don’t know. Um I it would have been a significant setback for me. I would say fetal position. I probably wouldn’t have I would have they would have like cut me from this podcast because I would have been so bad. Um but I I didn’t hear like a bunch of fans saying like if this doesn’t get done I’m out. Um but there was a lot of stress and anxiety about it because it felt like that’s why I say the the feeling for the fans is he chose to be here. Yeah. He’s buying into Billy’s plan. Um, and he seems a lot more like a motan than the classic Russian portrayal of NHL stars that only believe there’s, you know, three cities in America, New York, LA, LA, and Chicago, right? So, it was sort of like this guy maybe is from Roso or what’s going on here? So, um, no, I think it was a big deal. Um, and a lot of other pieces come into place, uh, around it. Yeah. If if you’re looking at winning a Stanley Cup, it’s hard to envision the Wild winning a Stanley Cup in the next handful of years without Carrill Capri off, right? Yeah. So, no matter what you had to pay him, you h you almost have to pay him because it’s the only it’s the only viable path to a potential championship. Without him, there seems to be no path. It’s like square one. Yeah. There was no path. So, the first domino that had to fall would be Carrill. So, I mean, if they if they didn’t get him, you could understand why fans are like, “Man, this is here we go, you know, like we went through the buyout and all this other stuff here today and then all of a sudden, boom, all for nothing. The car broke down. This thing’s a junker, you know, and not that that obviously I’m talking.” No, but I mean, Bill Garren, there’s still good pieces like Baldi, Faber, Bull, there’s obviously great players, but Bill Garren said he when he was asked like, “If this didn’t get done, would it have set you guys back?” back and he he said yes. How could it not? I mean, so he’s about as honest as it gets normally from a GM standpoint. Yeah. Like, how could it not? Head of the snake had to happen or you’re really it’s complicated. You guys have eight years now to get them on the pod. That’s the way I looked at it. But let me know how that goes. Now to get he’s getting there with the media. That was his best media availability. Now granted, he had just, you know, put 136 million into his bank account over time, but he that was the best he’s done with his English, with answering questions, with staying with longer questions. Remember early on post translator, it was like keep your question very simple. If he can kind of like read your lips, he understands it better. Like slow it down, keep it simple. Now it’s like, you know, you can ask him pretty much anything and he’ll give you his best, you know, he’s not a cliche machine. No. And we have it on good authority that he says he’s ready to come on to the podcast. That’s what I thought. I heard that too walking in here today. I thought it was going to be him and then and then it was just me as just a last second flip there. Yeah, no big deal. Ratings will be the same. But you think about it from Carrill’s perspective too like it it is a big decision and maybe to the to the point I made earlier or what would you do if you’re staring at 8 by7? and how would it be possible to do anything but go out and think about that until it’s done, right? Maybe in his mind, like he knows he’s going to get the money and it’s not about that, which is actually super exciting. But it you think about what that is, that’s a marriage. He he married Minnesota and the Minnesota Wild through the duration of his playing life. And he’s not a kid. I know you called him a kid. He’s 28 years old. Well, that’s the X factor here. I mean, this guy, this is he said it in the press conference. Maybe there’s one more sunset deal after this, but this is his entree. This is this is it. Yeah. This is the marriage. Like the the unique part about sports is you can’t beat father time. Like your your window to work is small, right? So you have to be very careful with where you commit your time. And signing an eight-year deal, like that’s that’s a full-blown marriage throughout his professional life. Yep. This is it. this is it, right? And you’re like, I’m married to this, you know, organization, to this GM, to this spot, to this everything throughout my time. And if winning is the most important thing to me, like, and if it was to Carrill, you could see why you’re like, man, this actually becomes a really hard decision because I I won’t be able to go anywhere else, you know? Yeah. I And I give the organization full credit. I mean, it was risky if I’m being honest. last year when Craig Leopold said nobody’s going to pay him any more money. Like you’re putting it out there. We’re keeping this guy. And from a GM perspective, like we’re keeping this guy. Like we’re like now it’s on the team. The the rest of the pieces, the guys in the room, whoever comes in in the next couple years, like to continue to build this thing in the right direction. And I just again I love the fact that Capri off wants to win. And like that was a sticking point for him like like what are we doing to win? How are we going to take the next step? were close last year, but it felt like, you know, this team’s been close before to getting over that hump. There’s there’s multiple hurdles. It’s not like they went to the Stanley Cup final and lost and it’s like, “All right, well, we’re close.” Like, there are multiple hurdles still to get through. I did, but and I just hope that, you know, this this is the piece now, like the the first big domino, like now you’re like, “Okay, the goal is still that the elusive cup. We got to build to get there.” And with him being here longterm, I just think it speaks volumes on both sides, the player and the organization to say we’re committed to getting over those humps and getting where we want to be in June. And it validates Carrill signing validates Minnesota and Minnesota much like Perez and Sudtor did back in the day like those were like okay they want to win. This validates Craig Leupold as an owner that wants to win that’s willing to spend to win. Um and to your point I think that’s exciting too. But when Craig initially said that, what was your interpretation of nobody will be able to give him more nobody will give him more money than me. The only thing I can think of is you can’t take that back. Well, yeah. But I how you now you now have to offer a huge contract and you know if there were other biders like say it got to July 1 like and it feels like one of those like uh you know like an auction, right? Like oh 15 million from the Rangers. Okay, we’re at 16 million. Like you just got to keep going up, right? Essentially. And and if you don’t ultimately get it done, at least you’ve shown the fan base, I said I was going to offer them the biggest contract ever, basically, you know, paraphrasing, but they did. I I interpreted it as a KG comment, meaning we are the only team that can offer him an 8-year deal, and nobody’s going to be able to give him, you know, 2 million more on an AA, it’ have to be like 2.25 25 or 2.5 million more on an AAV level to surpass the total dollar amount that we’ll give them. Yeah, that’s what I think that’s what was meant by that and it got taken out of context and all of a sudden the AAV Speaking of what different players just so this is how it goes just so everybody knows it’s amazing. You somebody can offer a career 8 by6 and it doesn’t happen for a week and they go 8 by7 you go a full million dollars higher. There are guys where you can be at like 900 grand. You’re like, can I get 925? No, absolutely not. No, we’re actually moving. I’d be like, we just signed Ryan Carter instead. Can you get Can I get 25 more grand? They’re like 875 just to cover my agents fees. Absolutely not. We are That’s it. That’s the limit right there. So, it’s so great. Makes I mean, it makes sense. The players are worth it, but it’s like, are you kidding? 5 years ago, would you ever imagine he’d be the highest paid player in NHL history? No. 5 years ago I was like, you didn’t have to give a guy with 50 games played 5 by9 million bucks. No, I wouldn’t have thought that. I was like, you didn’t have to do that. But to the point I made before, he’s worth every dollar because without him there, I don’t think you can see a Stanley Cup coming to Minnesota. So, he’s worth every dollar. Yep. The pen. I don’t even know the story. All right. So, we What was that about? All right. So, here’s the story. We go to we have a podcast in Billy’s basement and we we want to have the pen that Carrill signs with as a piece of memorabilia for the podcast. So conjure up a little puck, drill a hole in it, and go to Office Max and buy the nicest pen you can possibly buy to put in there thinking that like if you’re going to sign for a huge sum of money, got to be a nice pen. It’s got to be a nice pen. And we get it out, we test it, everything. We hand it to Billy. Billy’s a man of the people. This is the best part about Billy, too. He didn’t understand what it was for. He didn’t understand it was for. But Billy is a man of the people. Like it doesn’t matter. Like he’s going to take care of you. You know, if you ask something of him, he’s going to respond and he’s going to he’s going to do his best to help you, right? So, sure enough, it’s the biggest day and a day I’m sure he’s been waiting for for how many months? I mean, for well, at least since July 1 when it became official, they could resign him, right? So, we’re at least 3 months of anxiety and we got to get this thing done. And I don’t know the details of where it was done yet, but I have an inclination now. So, the goal of for this puck and this pen was to be on Billy’s desk thinking that this contract is going to be signed in like the office in a setting. This is going to be documented. There’s going to be a camera. Like, there’s more to this one. So, it’ll be easy to just grab this pen and sign that deal and it will look good because it was a Minnesota wild puck, a fancy pen. like it will all come together. Well, I I’m not sure it went like that. I don’t have the details yet, but so the it gets announced like 9:00 in the morning that Carrill signs and at like 10:00 I’m in the podcast studio here and Billy walks up and I’m sitting in the chair right here and he starts hollering, “Cards, cards. Where’s cards? Cards.” And I’m like, “What? What? You’re fired.” And he walks in. We need the salary space. He walks in and he walks in with this. So this is how we You drilled the hole. I drilled the hole in the initial. So So for the listeners, it’s just a Minnesota wild puck. I drilled like a hole with like a 3/8 inch bit or something like that and stuck a pen in there at an angle so it looked kind of fancy. Humble humble brag that you went Ryan Hartman. You you you rolled gave us a drill bit size. Yeah. And it uh so it fits in there nicely. Yeah. It looks good. Yeah. And wait, that pen says high regency. Hold on. So Billy comes in. Oh no. And he goes So this is like an hour after it’s announced. He comes in. He goes, “I I I forgot the pen. I forgot the pen, but I remembered.” So he went downstairs. He grabbed a puck. He had like the assistant general manager Matt Cells drill a hole in it with run across town get the pen that Carrill signed the deal with stick it in here and he made his own version of that’s not the one you This isn’t the one that I made. Is that a tracker puck? These are expensive. That’s not the one I made. But Billy Billy remembered and cared so much that he put it all together and made on the day. That’s it. So that pen I shouldn’t have inked 136. Is that like the Stanley Cup? You’re not supposed to touch it until you win it. No, don’t put your body oils on that. I’m sorry. Well, it’s a lot like because now that we have a replica, there’s actually two going around. So if someone wanted to spend a day with it, they could have the other one or this one. Now, the thing with the podcast, it is an accurate statement to tell Carill he would not have signed his deal if it wasn’t for us cuz you know, he owes it to you guys. What do we know? Does Billy have a pen? He might not have access to any pens at all. He maybe wasn’t even thinking about it. Clearly he stayed at a high recently. Well, so that’s what I’m thinking happened. It happened like a whole sponsorship opportunity. People, let’s go. How much did your pen cost when you bought it off? 2650. No, it was like 50 bucks. Oh, you spent You got a $50 pen? Yes. That’s correct. If you’re signing for $136 million, wouldn’t you think it’s worthy of a $50 at the end of the month? Significant. This is nice. This is light. That’s insignificant. $136 million inked by that pen. And my favorite part about it all is not that we got the pen. That’s exciting. It’s that how cool Billy is for going through all those steps to make sure that he yelling for you down the hall. He has the biggest day of his professional GM life signing Carrill and he’s worried about getting wild on seventh this puck with crossing te. What a dude. Man of the people. What a dude. But now we do have the pen. It’s a great story. Now, we do have the pen. That’s a step in the right direction. And that is a pretty sweet piece of memorabilia. Like, at some point, this is going to be in the ice arena in a glass box. In the glass box, like next to the cup, like 75 years from now, wherever the Minnesota Wild are playing, right? That’s go that that’s going to be there. It’s it’s it’s a heirloom. It is. Just real quick, um record. One more random thought. Did Kevin Weekes break the news? His forehead did. Yeah, I thought I saw that just ahead of our guy Russo. And I haven’t said anything to Russo yet. He had to be rattled. Well, so Oh, no. If I’m reading Yeah, if I’m reading those tea leaves, too. Billy is a man of the people with Kevin Weekes or I don’t know how it happened, but I think they played together once upon a time and threw his buddy a bone. It’s done, right? And then Weeks got out there. Typical hilarious. So, you notice that Weeks broke it too? His forehead did. Yeah, I did. If anybody doesn’t know what I’m talking about. And then I went right to Russo’s Twitter. He’s Was he holding his phone in a bad angle? He does this. This is his bit, I think. Don’t you think this is his bit? It is. Yeah. Yeah. So, he’s just his forehead and like the tops of his eyeballs. He’s turning into a great little NHL insider. And yeah, you can just see like the tops of his eyeballs, his forehead, and then just everything else behind him. And he says, “Breaking.” Yeah. He does whatever is breaking. I think it’s a great bit. It is a great bit. I I think I saw first the wild somebody quote tweeted the wild account with the 97th street and then I immediately was like okay we would not have posted this if it wasn’t done and I texted Gorg right away to be like you know and he was like what and I’m like check out the wild Twitter and then I started like search the Russos of the world but I’m pretty sure Weeks had it first. Yeah he he was out first. There’s no question I feel bad for Michael. He puts in a lot of work. this was kind of his big fish. That’s a tough one. I haven’t busted his you know what about it yet and uh I might wait for an appropriate time to do so. That is that’s a I feel like you’re you’re kind of doing it right now. I might be. I know at some point he’s going to listen to this and he’s going to be like that. You’re you’re breaking that. I don’t have to talk to him today. You’re breaking that news right now. I’m gonna get out in front of this today. I like it. Oh, that’s good. Well, let’s uh since we’re on it, let’s talk about the next one. Gus Bus signing. This one kind of flew under the radar. It’s amazing how little was talked about like Gustoson being a pending UFA. Uh was he a UFA or RFA? I’d have to look. Um I’m not sure. Either way, I will I will give Russo credit on that one. He was the one saying for a few weeks now that this is something the two sides are working to get done quickly. Yeah. Um, and you know, you see the number and then you look at other goalies that have signed recently and it’s right there. Seems very fair for both sides. Yeah, it’s a good deal. I think it’s a good deal for both. 5 years 34 6.8 AV and 6.8 seems expensive only because other guys were signing. Not that it seems expensive, but I don’t want to say that the wrong way. Um, it’s it’s a nice raise. You know, goalies are getting paid. That was not the case even recently. I think that number is 68. I I I bet you his number is probably 55 and 13 is the cap going up. You know, right? You know, you know what I mean? You factor that in. Yeah. That’s where that’s where things are going now. Like everybody’s contract seems inflated, but every agent know the salary cap going up is going up and each deal is beyond that. But what does that say about Gusto in your opinion going forward? I mean, he’s got the keys to the kingdom. you know, the last couple years it was um it was him needing to prove himself and then it was Flurry, you know, pushing for starts and and Valstead here last year which put some I think heat on the whole goalending room because there were three goalies. Now there’s none of that. Like I fully expect and we’ll get into it a little bit later. Uh I fully expect Gossip to start 60 games this year if he’s healthy. And with that comes the responsibility of being one of the top goalies in the league. uh two of the last three years he’s done that. The year in between I’m hoping was an aberration, an anomaly. And uh when we get the Gust Bust that we’ve seen, calm and leadership back there, not vocal leadership, not flower type leadership and personality, but just steady presence every night that he’s out there, you know, you got a chance to win. What gives me comfort in that deal? Did you see the social bit where Billy must have gone into the locker room in Chicago? This is day of preseason game. That was Chicago, right? Saturday night with Chicago. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s when the deal was announced, right? So I think I think it was Saturday morning maybe. Was that when it was announced? I think so. So I I’m going to go back and look at it, but I think that it was day of game that he signed that in Chicago. And uh that’s in that’s intriguing. He goes out and plays a good game. Gus with this last deal, I think when he broke into the NHL, it’s different. like you uh Brian Burke called it fat cat syndrome where you’re fighting for a spot, you’re fighting for a spot, you finally get rewarded with something and you settle a little bit and it takes a player a little while to realize it’s like that that hunger and that edge that actually makes you good. You’ve got to refin it sometimes. It took him maybe a half a period to refine that in this preeason game. If that happened this way this time. Yeah. So he’s he’s a pro now. And I think Billy talks about that when he talks about Gustoson is that he’s taken a step where there were times where maybe he would need a break or he didn’t want the net or against a tough opponent, you know, something something squirly would happen. Well, a couple years ago when he came to camp, I think they were a little underwhelmed with, you know, his fitness and his preparation. And to your point, I feel like a lot of that has changed. I don’t hear that anymore. He’s a pro. He’s a pro. Mentally, he’s a pro. He wants the net. He wants to play against the best. He wants to prove to everybody he’s good. And I think that’s a big reason Billy’s comfortable being like, “Yeah, this is this is our guy.” And to your point, and um I was making it, too. I He’s going to see more net than he’s ever seen before. He’s ready for it. Wants it. Yeah. He’s proven it. How are you How are you feeling about the Gus Bus moving forward? I I like it. You know, it’s I just did my uh fantasy hockey draft last night and uh there’s there’s a lot of tandem still. You’re lucky if you have the 60 game guy. Um it’s a different animal. If you have your guy, you always used to say carts, if you have two goalies, you don’t have one. Um so I think having a guy, a true number one, a 60 start guy, assuming he stays stays healthy, is is worth the money. And he’s been good. I also like kind of like Carrill having a little different personality. Gus is not a normal goalie. I mean, he’s funny, he’s fun, you know, howdy boys, right? He he will come on a podcast, he’ll talk. Um, so I think he’s a good energy around the team. I think they can rally around him and I think he’ll be a good teacher for Volstead as well. How about that though? the league. It’s funny how it it’s a copycat league, but then it it goes kind of sometimes goes back to what it was before, too. Like it was a onegoalie league for a long time and then teams started to try this two goalie thing. A lot of teams did it. Now it’s back to give me my number one. You know, it’s it’s kind of come full circle, don’t you think? I mean, to your point, growing up in the ’90s, Wardor, Lango, Hosik, you know, you go right down the list, like those guys were playing every night, and you didn’t even know the names of their backups most times, right? No offense, Kevin Weekes. Um and like and and now you look at Hella Buck Shurkin Aer I think Dustin Wolf’s going to be that guy in Calgary Gusson here where you know almost every night unless it’s a backto back or somebody’s a little banged up you’re pretty much expecting that guy Bennington maybe that’s not even like I think Hoffer might push for time in St. Louis this year. So, it’ll be interesting to see how each team handles it. But I think you’re right, there’s going to be a handful of guys 55 to 60 games this year. Um, and I’d have to look back numbers recent seasons to see how often that happens. But feels like teams that have their number one. And if you’re paying a guy now 78 in Shester Sturkin’s case, what was it? 9 million. Like you’re paying these goalies big bucks. You better be getting 60 starts from them. Yeah. So when Flower was setting records and and we were talking about that last year, two years ago, I can remember saying that I don’t think any of these records will ever be touched again because goalies aren’t playing 70 games like Broaddur used to play. Like none of these records, wins, games played will ever be touched again. And that was because it was turning into a two goalie league like where they were going, you know, 45 and 40 games, you know, or 38 or, you know, maybe 50 and 32 is kind of what teams were doing. Um I think it’s it’s starting to change again, but um Ker, real quick, uh what’s new uh over with our friends at Cub Foods? Well, it’s it’s cold today. The seasons are changing. We got uh we got some bonus time on the pontoon, which was great, but we’re into fall now. If you took a step outside to let your dog out this morning, you felt it. So, head over to Cub, get the chips, get the dips, get the beans, get some stuff for the grill, get that smoke rising above your grill. And uh they do have liquor stores on some of them. They do deliver. They’re one of us just like Carell Cub Foods, your neighborhood grocery store. And how about you? I noticed that fall was rolling in, too. I was s like it’s crazy 90 degrees dude and then all of a sudden last night this morning in my car last night sitting outside at the soccer game I even put a jacket on thinking I’m it’s probably colder than I think and I was freezing cold last night so it’s officially furnace season like it went right from AC to furnace. So you’re going to want to make sure that your furnace at home is tuned up. Right now our friends at Aquarius Home Services are offering uh a furnace tuneup for only $29. You don’t want to go into winter thinking or insecure or having your furnace not be up to snuff. So whether you need some energy efficient solutions, some air purification things with your furnace, whatever it is, humidifiers, Aquarius Home Services, they do it all. They can install it all, they manage it all. Um, give them a look. Aquarius Homeervices.com. Check them out. 29 bucks for a furnace tuneup. You can’t beat that, Kinger. That’s the flurry discount. That’s the flurry discount. The snow is flying. Yeah. earning the right to be recommended. Uh now I’ll just roll into the next one. Wild construction, our buddies. Uh it again, winter is here. So uh if you had ice dams last year, you might have some inefficient roofing insulation. Uh and maybe some some airs leaking outside of there. You also maybe were in an area that had some storms this year and um there was some damage up top to whether it be your gutters or the roof itself, maybe your siding. Uh there’s still a little bit of time for somebody to get up on your roof and check that. The damage can last up to 12 months. Go to their website, wildconstruction.com. They’ve got the resources you need to find out if the storm was in your area. Uh and keep in mind though that it does take up to 12 months for the damage to show up. So if it does if the snow does fly, somebody can’t get up there, schedule an appointment. They’ll put you on the books for spring um to get you looked at. But, uh, right now they certainly can do more exterior work. So, if that’s your siding, your windows, anything that needs to be replaced, give them a call. Wildconstruction.com. Um, and that’s what we’ve got, fellas. So, nailed it. Pretty good. Nailed it. I liked how you transitioned out of fall. I would have liked to see you stick on fall with Wild Construction, but it’s something to work on. Like, have the whole thing be a motif, just, you know, like, hey, okay. Like, he set the stage on fall. What can I do with fall? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I know. But I mean just just there’s room for improvement. I like it. Should we get into uh bold predictions or like actually I I think a good place to start is going to be what we think the state of the team is right now like how how we’re feeling. So let’s do like a season primer in general right now for the Minnesota Wild. Well, I I think Carter, you were talking about momentum on special teams um heading into the season and the way the preeason finished with the power play is a handful. You know, I really enjoy watching Bu even if he falls down at the blue line, he somehow like swings the puck over his shoulder and someone gets a breakaway and uh and then getting the kills as well, right? So, I think that has been very promising. The guys that are scoring are your big guys too, right? You’re getting, you know, Baldi spinaramas and Carrill scoring goals and Felino short-handed. And it feels like I think they should be feeling really good coming into the season. Um, they get a little break here before Thursday and then Saturday. We got St. Louis on the road and then Columbus at home. So, it’s great. And then I think we can get into cuts, right? Um the Ogrren, you know, some people got sent down, put on waivers, some people are sticking. I think Hunter hate had a really nice camp. I really liked watching him play. Great hair on the young buck. But I, uh, you know, he gets sent back down to Iowa. Ogrren sticks, Yurov sticks. So, um, those are the unknowns. We’ll get into that and bold predictions, I’m sure. But Hunter, hey, yeah, he he earned himself first call up. I think I think that’s what he did. you know, he had a good training camp. Uh if if something happens up front, I think he he proved he can play the middle, can play the wing, can play the bottom six, and might be able to spot in top six. So, I think he he was able to show uh how he can be a Swiss Army knife and use a lot of spots and be productive for him. So, I think he did have a good camp. I thought he would have stayed. I was kind of surprised. I He flashed a lot. Um I’m a fan, right? So, I don’t watch the game exactly like a coach or a scout, but um I just thought I don’t know. He just seemed like putting that young guy in the locker room, there was something about him. He got 20 in Iowa last year, so I I kind of was like I don’t know, man. I thought I didn’t think he was going to be driving down 35, but hopefully he’s driving right back if we need him. Yeah, I think he’ll be right there. One of the first callups, if not the first call up, the 20 goals last year in the American League, really impressive. Um, you know, it’s my understanding the team after the final preseason game had a little team building Saturday. Um, whiffle ball or something. Whiffle ball. You know, spent some time on the lake. Had great weather for it, I’m sure. Nice big dinner yesterday, I’m guessing. Just a day of rest and recovery. Back on the ice here now today. And I just like that vibe of it all. Um, I like the way the preseason eventually shook out where you’re you’re done on a Friday, you don’t start again till Thursday. more time for Broaddin to to be on the mend. A couple good days of practice here to fine-tune some things and touch up on the system play. And uh and and the vibe I or the sense I got is that like the team like what’s including those last few cuts, they were all part of this team building. So, it’s kind of like you guys earn the right to be here this long. We keep you around for one more day with the guys cuz at some point we’re going to need you Kirstad. We’re going to need you Hunter Hate. Um, you know, those two guys were were basically some of the last guys to get sent down. So, Calvin Peterson, the the you know, quoteunquote third goalie. So, I think it’s uh I think the team’s in a good spot. Um, do you want me to go more than just the hate thing and broader picture here primer or Yeah. So, like let’s just look at it. I I’m thinking like uh the team like what are the strengths? Obviously, you’ve got your top line and and Capri off and Baldi, if they’re playing together, you’ve loaded up your top line. That’s a strength. They’re going to be good. They’re going to be a handful. Now, how are you feeling about your second line, right? And is it I think it’s up in the air still. Yeah. But let’s go through hypotheticals. Who who who do you think it is? Is it Yurov and Terasenko with Erikson? I think to start it is cuz I I liked what I saw them in the preseason. I will say going in, so like if you if we did this a month ago, I was like excited guy because of Eurovv, Ogran, Bou, Urak, and Bolstead, right? Those five young players. So, I’m like, when was the last time the Wild had five high-end picks, five really young guys like asked to not just maybe make the team, but contribute. I don’t maybe it’s more recent than I remember, but it feels like this is an exciting time. And then like as camp and the preseason was unfolding, those guys weren’t really popping much, right? Bou had a rough game. Uh Ogrren didn’t have a point. Yurob didn’t score. And I’m starting to go like, uhoh. like I I would have liked to see like more impact from them and I think I’ve settled down now realize it’s the preseason. It’s a good learning experience for these guys. Will they have to learn a little bit trial by fire? Probably. Um but I just like the core group. I like the veterans and if you remember last year to start the year, this is one of the best teams in hockey and 95% of that group is back. So, um, I think they, you know, I think I’ve kind of teetered from my excitement of the young kids to like, uh-oh, maybe they’re not ready to somewhere in between. I’m I’m I’m more anxious to see how this plays out early. Um, I think their defense is going to be really solid. I love reclaiming Damon Hunt um on waiverss. Um, I know it’s a depth piece, but I really like that kid. I think that the surface hasn’t been scratched with his potential. Um, so I think the blue line is is pretty deep. uh especially when Broaddin is healthy and ready to go. So, I like a lot about what they have and you know, I think again it’s the importance of a good start. There’s 12 games in October. The schedule isn’t easy, but we saw last year when they started 71 and two, it set the table for a really good year. Yeah. And it it’s interesting. I think I called it last year by the way in bowl predictions. I think the I think last year everybody understood how important the start was. Yeah. I I I just it is equally important this year. You think about last year’s start. They don’t make the playoffs without that start. Yeah, I mean you can hypothetical everything, you know, but uh I don’t know that there’s been as as big an emphasis on the start. So it’ll be it’ll be interesting to see how they start. But you’re rolling out if your second line is Eurovv and Terasenko. Those are those are positions that you have to rely upon. There’s pressure on those people to produce and that’s a tough spot to put a young guy in, you know, and I I don’t know how the minutes will be deployed because then what do you think the third line is? Johansson, Hartman, Ogrren? No, I think Felino will be up there. You think so? Yeah. And you don’t think it will be Felo Sturm Trenion? No, honestly, if uh you this isn’t a bold prediction, per se, but again, I’ll touch on it more later. Like I think Vinnie Henrosza plays Thursday night opening. Yeah. I just think the coaches like him. I like him. He’s always impactful. I don’t know how you can’t like him, dude. Every time he’s on the ice, he buzzes. Um I would have Henestro in their opening night. If you have to sit in Ogrren for a game or two, I I don’t again, that’s just my opinion on the situation, but I I think Vinnie Henestro is a guy that I I want out there until he proves otherwise. I I almost put Vinnie Henstro in there over a guy like you’re off in the second the second line spot. Not or do you move Jojo up, you know, with and those are things that I think are going to be fluid. So to start the season where last year I think things were a little more solid. Yep. I think it’s a lot more fluid this year and depending on how the first couple of games go um it could set the tempo for the rest of the year. So I I find the start to be uh critical for everybody and to get off to a good start so that they can just settle in and play because there are what could be a lot of potential moving pieces up front. How much pressure is on this team, do you think, start of the year now that Capri off is signed and and there are no distractions and your goalender’s locked up and it’s sort of like, okay, we keep talking about getting over the hump of the first round. Well, first you got to get in. Do you think that there’s like more pressure now to say, okay, we’ve had enough of this sort of treading water? Like meaning like you won’t give a guy five games to figure it out. you won’t, you know, if if things aren’t going well early in the season, is there a move to be made? You know, uh I I I’m of the mindset that yes, there’s going to be a shorter leash for guys that aren’t performing. And if this isn’t up to snuff early, I think Billy G is going to pull the trigger on a move. I think that’s the case with veteran guys that they know well. I don’t think that that’s going to be the case with the young guys. Really? Yeah. So you think if you’re off and over and play their first six, eight games and haven’t done much that that’s going to just they might go to the fourth line. I don’t think it’s going to be your out of the lineup back to Iowa. I don’t think it’s going to be like a heavy hand. Uh see, I see it differently in that. I really do because I think that, you know, from everything, you know, Bill Garren said this is not like you don’t develop, you don’t want to develop guys in the NHL. You want them to be ready when they get here. And so if they prove they’re not ready early, I really think they’re gonna have they’re going to make move. I I know they don’t have a whole lot of moves to make with Zukarelloo hurt. Uh and are you bringing up Hunter hate or you bringing up Tyler Pitlick? Like I don’t have those answers, but I don’t I don’t know. I just feel like this is a year where there’s some there’s some pressure to take the next step and waiting around till Christmas as guys kind of find their way. I don’t know that’s the way to get it done and what’s a very tough division and conference again. Yeah, I agree. I I I I think there’s pressure. I think it’s different. I think Carrill signing the deal he signed buys you a little bit of time. No, I think that puts immense amount of pressure on him. You know, pressure that he’s probably never had before. I don’t think it’s going to affect him. Uh I don’t. But you think about it, you’re you’re now the highest paid player in the league. You have to produce like it. And he always has. Yeah. But now there’s that pressure. Right now, here’s where I think it’s different. I asked Hines earlier this year or in training camp if Baldi’s ready to have his line. So, it’s always Caprioff’s line. He’s always been on Caprioff’s line or X line, right? It’s never been Baldi’s line. And now he’s still I think he’s he I think he’s graduated to where it can be Baldi’s line. So now you have Carrill and Baldi’s line. Like that’s how you’re talking about it. I think at some point that’s going to have to be broken up. So Carrill is going to have to produce without Baldi and Baldi’s going to have to produce without Carrill. And I think that’s where pressure is going to start to come like are we going to be able to do this or are they going to be able to do that five on five on the power play to what you saw Kanger on awesome Friday? Yeah, that’s going to be great. Hell yeah. Can they carry that into a five on five game because their scoring last year wasn’t great and Capri off was hurt and EK was hurt, but I think they had 225. That was like 25th in the NHL. I have to look that up to be exact. They were 20th. 20th in the NHL. Yeah. So, it it could be better. And if you’re a playoff team, it needs to be better than that, right? So, I think there’s pressure on these guys to individually produce. And then with that, yes. Win. Wes Walls the other night said the same thing to me uh about, you know, separating Baldi and Capri off. It just makes you harder to check, right? You’re on the road in St. Louis on Thursday night and now you are St. Lewis is focused on checking one line, right? Whereas if they’re split up, you have you have a little bit more to think about if you’re the opposition. Maybe, you know, I know they like Ryan Hartman at center, but we saw how Hartman could play with Zukarella and Capri off uh not that long ago. Maybe like if Baldi drops down and split up Capri off and Baldi, maybe Hartman slides up on the right side there with Rossy and Capri off. You know, I don’t think that’ll happen early, but Hartman’s versatility there gives you a guy that can play that play that style, can play with top end guys, or can slide down the lineup. I dig it. So, um, before we move on to bold predictions, let’s just touch on the D. Um, Kinger, you’re obviously excited about Bouam. Uh, how do you feel about the Dor as a whole? I think our Dor is unbelievable. I think we have so much depth. Better than last year. Yes. the the only one I don’t I I’m not sure on Jurichek yet. I I think he’s a project. Um I he’s an interesting player because he’s so big, but he almost plays like he wishes he was a forward. You know, he spends a lot of time below the dots in the offensive zone. He’s got the big shot. He’s very young. Um but that’s a lot of capital we gave to get him. Um so I don’t I don’t know what he is like with Zeve. Z’s just like a half second adjustment to the NHL speed, but he has so many like four on four overtime with this team. Are you kidding me? Like popcorn, he means four on four hockey as well, though, right? Yeah. Yeah, it was four on four in that uh Chicago game. And I was just buzzing. Is there popcorn in the middle right now? Like let’s get butter in the middle and on top. Like it was unbelievable. And um with that many guys that can open their hips and skate the way we can skate. Um I also really enjoyed seeing there was a group of five with Rossi, Carrill, Baldi, and then Middleton and Faber. For whatever reason that that unit of five is really a it’s just got an interesting mix. Um I think with Bu you just got to give him some leash. You got to let him. There will be nights where he makes the best team for our best play for our team and the best play for their team probably. But I just think let the guy be who he is. He’s 19 years old. Um and you look at this league, right? Jackson Lome, Leen Hudson, Quinn Hughes, the Kale Mccard, the defensive position is completely changing. And if you can get a 60point defenseman, a 70point defenseman, it changes your whole certainly your power play on your team as well. And on an entry- level deal. Yeah. I So the only the only really wild card on D, I think, is uh how quickly Jurichek becomes what people thought he would become when he was drafted as high as he was. I think it’s also how how quick Broaddin can come back. Yep. So you’ve got Middleton Faber right now, Buiam Spurgeon, and then Be Gojian. Broaddin comes back. I I think he’s instantly in your top four. So then all of a sudden you’ve got, you know, Spurgeon, Broaddin, then you’re solid. Yeah. And and their numbers analytically last year together were some of the best in the league when they played together, Brodin and Spurgeon. I guess my only concern is they’re like Bu’s two best preseason games played uh alongside Spurgeon, right? Which isn’t a shock because Spurgeon just makes everybody better. So it’s like, okay, roads and Spurge together, I love it. Middleton and Faber, I love it. Now you’re putting Bou with either a solid vet and Mosian. It’s going to have to be kid. It’s not going to be the two. Where does Damon Hunt factor in all this? I think it’s very interesting to see how it shakes out. Yeah. I I don’t think it I don’t think we see a world where they have the two kids out there. Not especially not on the road. And now when I look at these pairs, you Middleton Faber, big guys that can skate. Spurgeon Buham, small guys that can skate. And then your third pair, you’ve got your check and Bosian, bigger guys. And um and I think your has like a little bit more offensive flare. I could see that getting split up at some point to create balance. You know, you mean size smaller? Like just Yeah, because you’re not going to be able to get the matchup you want on the road. At home, that’s great cuz you can put the D set out against the line that you want. So like if you go to play Colorado or even Vegas where you’ve got Eel, you want the big guys out there, you know, the big guys able to defend and you don’t mind having the skaters against the second line. It gives you a puck moving option. You know, when you can control the matchup, that’s great. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they they start to balance out size and skating a little bit in those top four once Brodin is back. Bogo, man, the the thing I just love about him is the puck is on net. How many times you see D miss the net, right, when they take a shot? And this guy, I don’t know, he’s just a pro. He’s been in the league a long time, right? But he he finds a way to get that shot on goal. And with our team, with E and all these other guys, if you can get it to the goalie, it’s going to that that is a huge asset. So, um, hey Joe, have you talked to Terara Senko at all? Yes. What a great dude. Yeah, I actually had him help me out with your off the other day. I want to make sure I get the names right, you know. And is it Danila? Is it Denila? And I went to Ter actually kept falling. I said, why don’t you ask one of the other Russians cuz I know if I go to your off, it’ll be tough to hear. like I I did before rookie camp and I said, “Hey, how do you pronounce your name?” And I started to phonetically write it out and he’s shaking his head, “No.” Because he’s like, “You’re spelling my my name wrong, dude.” And I was like, “Oh, I know I’m spelling it wrong. I’m trying to phonetically spell it.” And he was just like, it was lost in translation, you know? So, I kind of figured it out, but understandably, right? So, I’m like, “All right, before the regular season, I want to make sure I’ve been saying this right throughout the preseason.” So, I went to Terasenko and he was like, “What are the two options?” And I said, “Danila or Danila.” You know, a little difference, but and we worked through it together. We workshopped it. He was awesome. What is it? Denila. Like I’m kneeling. Danila. Denila. Yeah. And then you’re off. Not your off, but you’re off. You’re of Yeah. Great dude. So, we’ve got an interview with him uh that we’ll get to in a little bit here. But he’s an interesting cat. Surprising. Surprised to me. Very like familyoriented guy. Like very focused. Uh very intentional, I think, with how he lives. Yeah. Um, intriguing. I’m excited, man. It’s again, it’s one of those it’s one of those moves. It was very low risk for the Wild. It could be very high reward. Yeah, it’s uh so we’ll get to that in a bit, but before we do, let’s get to bold predictions. Kanger, how you feeling about bold predictions? I know you got his bingo card. He’s He’s a little sour over here. Well, I just wanted to read this. Uh, so there’s a word uh Welchure. It’s a noun. Tell us more. Someone who swindles you by not repaying a debt or wager. Some of the synonyms would be Welsher, uh, chiseler, defrauder, gouger, grifter, scammer, swindler. Carts is a grifter. A person who swindles you by means of deception or fraud. So hypothetically that would be even if you won bold predictions last year by a half a point and you thought there was an asterisk or some technicality and the deal terms were that you would go to Billy Sushi for a meal and enjoy yourself and have fellowship with your friends and co-podcasters. Now you were entering into a new season. I guess my question for you is how are our listeners supposed to even buy into this this franchise when they know that I still haven’t been rewarded for last year? Well, it’s funny. Did you win though? I did win. I did win. So, it’s funny. We’re all winners in our own mind, but in the NHL, there’s also this term called a uh a pot beater. When you beat the pot. So, typically what happens is you all go out to dinner and then everybody orders the entree and instead of saying, “Hey, waiter, we’re going to each give you a credit card and you pay for ourselves.” You split the pot. But what one person happens to do in that scenario is beat the pot. We have one with our traveling party, don’t we? They’re splitting it. So they’ll order like top shelf wine. They’ll order appetizer entree dessert when everybody else is just getting like a quick little appetizer and they might be like, “Can I get something to go?” That’s basically what John was during this encounter because we had the debt. We’re like, “All right, we’ll go to Billy Sush.” She goes, “By the way, I’m going to bring my wife and I think everybody else I know is going to come, too.” So we were like, “Wow, this guy’s a true pot beater.” Yeah. So, we had to choose between allowing somebody to be a potter. And we were like, it’s probably best that we’re welter today. I I never said that we were going to pay for my wife. I thought she might. A table for three is awkward, right? Well, you know, you never know. You could have brought your wife’s. I mean, let’s get personal. I think we need to have a standard set on how we determine a winner. We’ve never had a This is the other part. John said he got his right What? What? What? So, you’re saying we need an outside? You said there were going to be like Husadino jerseys in the stands. He was traded. All right. So, that’s not a win. I said Trenuan was going to have 20 goals. He didn’t have half that. That’s not a win. I might have had more losses, but I can’t remember. I can’t remember the ones that John gave himself credit for because I think he won by a half a point. He gave himself by a half a point. He gave himself the half. So, I say either the the Wild on Seventh podcast Twitter, you put out a poll or the YouTube comments. Like that’s how we decide this thing. Okay. So, we’re going to do some sort of crowd. Let the people decide who won the B of the year ends. And there needs to be a bold veto. Like Joe says the Wild are going to clinch their playoff spot on February 28th at Yeah. 700 p.m. Yeah. Then that one is legit bold. There are other ones that aren’t bold. Okay. I’ve always been bold, though. I’m saying yours were. Some of the other ones maybe not. All right. All right. So, who I’ll start because I think that you’re on one that I’m on, Joe, and I want to get to it first. Damn it. So, the Wild in their history have had two goalies start more than 60 games. Did I sniff this out? You’re on to it. So, this is what mine is. Um, uh, yeah, Doobie did it, uh, twice if I’m not mistaken. and back. He did it once and Doobie almost like three or four years apart. But I think Gusison enters that equation and he gets more than 60 starts. He sets the franchise record for starts. No, he’s not setting the franchise record back. He had 70. Oh, he did. Yeah, there’s a lot of backtobacks this year, too. He’s not. But but he will be he will get more than 60 starts. So, he’ll be top top three in the NHL in starts. What was he last year? Over 60. I think he was six maybe. He uh he had 56. So I think he was probably He was definitely top 10 in league. Yeah. So you’re saying he’s going to be what? Like over 60. So I’ll say 61. Let’s allow it. It’s borderline. We’ll We’ll allow it. It’s early. I hope he gets bolder. Okay. You’re going to get bolder, right? Sure. Okay. All right. I’ll allow it. Well Well, let’s hear about yours. Okay. Go ahead. All right. So Joe, uh you’re next. Well, I thought we all do. I thought you do your five, I do my five. No, we alternate. We do. Yeah. Vinnie Hennessros a double digit goals for the first time since the 2122 season. He’s done it twice in his career. I love Vinnie. Okay. I want a Hennessy. I was worried you guys would shoot that one down. I’m only going way up from there. I He didn’t even like Vinnie’s just My last one might be outlandish, but I’m going to go with All right. So, we got Vinnie. I got one called the Leon Leap. Okay. So I looked at the dry cidle’s numbers 51 points 77 points 70 points and then he just goes into the stratosphere 105 110 84 he was injured 110 128 106 106 Baldi 63 69 73 Okay this is counter to what you guys are saying about him having his own line I think they keep them together I think Matthew Leon Baldi not Edward uh makes the leap flirts with 100 points but gets at least to 90 which is a huge uptick from uh so now he’s telling us on how bold that is. I don’t know. It’s it’s it it says bold. It’s bolds. The Leon Leap this guy the guy’s the most points bold. He played seven he played 82 games last year and had 82 points. I got him at I got him at 90. So you’re saying that there there should be no cooked in improvement. I’m saying he’s making seven time seven. They say he’s Robin. He’s going to be Batman by the end of this year. He’s going to make the Leon leap. He’s going to become a true stud where it’s like Carell and Baldi. He’s not a sidekick. So, and how do we quantify that? That is a 1.4 increase in his points, something like that. I mean, he’s adding he’s going over 90 points from 73. Played all the games last year. He had a great summer in the gym. I talked to Matt Harter, strength coach. He got he made a huge step in the eyes of the strength coach. And uh I also branded all of mine with clever names. So the Leon leap Matthew Leon/Edward Baldi 90. Uh I’ve got uh is that in How did you know that his middle name was Edward? Cuz I I would say that you have to get to like 90 93. I know a lot of middle names cuz Are you okay with 90 the minors for these guys? 90 points. It’s fine. Okay, good. I’ll allow it. One in in the clubhouse. Carts is not happy. All right, who’s next? Can I just go to my second one because it’s based. It’s very similar to that. That’s not okay, that’s fine. Matt Baldi’s going to lead the team in scoring again. He did it last year mainly because Capri off played 41 games. I have Baldi leading the team in scoring. Is that bold enough? That’s really bold with a a $17 million stud, I think. Yeah. Okay, that’s bold. Carts, you want one? I’m feeling good so far. Seventh Street Savages are dead. Uh, I think the Wild and the era of being bad and bullies are behind us. I have the Wild finishing in the bottom five in hits. In hits. Yep. Very subjective stat. How I thought you were going to go penalty minutes. Well, we could go I don’t know that we can go penalty minutes cuz that because Felino is going to fight 10 times. No, I don’t think he is. I don’t think he’s going to fight that many times. I I just think in general like the narrative where it was the Wild were and we’ve talked about penalty minutes leading the league in penalty minutes for times. But hits are a subjective, but it’s not really. It’s just different on each building. But I just don’t think that they’ll play that style. You said bottom five in hits. Yep. There’s no way. That is bold because that’s my laptop. I know what they were last year if I that makes me feel soft and sad and and there’s no way Billy Garin. No way. Tren and FelinO were like leading the postseason in hits last year. Who else hits? Herman hits. That’s kind of bold. Who else is going to lay a hit? Uh defenseman hits. Middleton lay hits. Jarichek will hit people. Uh hopefully. I I I love that. Let him get that in cuz he’s going to get smoked on that. All I got to do is tell Billy that you bet that on Tuesday night and I’ll cover that one. Okay. All right. You want to go to your third? Yeah. Well, hold on. We could we could talk about that one, but no, you uh I love that. I would like to look up what they were last year rankwise. Let’s look that up, would you? I can look it up on my phone. All right. This one by nature has to be bold. uh if if we think that uh Matt Baldy is going to lead the team in points. Uh but I have Capri Soft finishing top three in the heart trophy. So the Minnesota Wild have never had anybody in that stratosphere. And in order to for him to be there, he’s going to have to leapfrog the McKinnon McDavid drive Mar Mar Quinn Hughes Coov and this is the year I think 8 by7 and the pressure uh all of a sudden he finds a way and is top three. So we’ll know that when NHL awards come out that he is top three. He’s a finalist for the M the league MVP. So, how does this work? Because I have I have a similar one. Um the $136 million man will be just that finishing as a heart trophy finalist top three with a full season of NHL store production. Um I called that clear heart, clear eyes, full heart spelled differently, can’t lose just cuz I thought it was more memorable. But uh is if you have one, can I not have one? I have some backups, but what’s the rule on that? I think you got to go back up. Okay, so you took that one. Okay, I’ll deal with it. That’s bold. That’s tough. It’s going to be hard. You got to be healthy. You got to be as good as you were the first half of last year. Okay, I like that. Where I think that there is a a little grace for where it maybe won’t be it’s not as bold is I think they do take into account how important you are to your team, too. So, when you win the heart, it’s not necessarily who got the most points. Yeah. like last year that he was getting the benefit of that because he was so important to the team. Yep. All right, I got to get one in here in case you guys have this. I’m calling this one new employee candy jar. You know when you’re a new guy and you get the candy jar at your desk back when people used to go to the office. So I got Terasenko, Bou and Yurov combined for 120 points we didn’t have last year. 120 points of Terasenko and Bou. Yeah, that’s bold. Yeah. So if one of them drops out, so say Eurovv has some troubles. I need more points from Vlatty. I would say I I You’re so biased on I’m not. Okay, so let’s go through it. How many points do you think Buham’s going to get? Well, say he has 40, which is an unreal rookie season. Well, Quinn had 53 as rookie year, but that’s Lane Hudson last year 60. But I think 40 points for Bam is would I will take that. I will sign up for that in a heartbeat. Yeah, but that’s not it’s a point every other game. Take it, but that’s not bold. Well, it is when you factor in that Eurovv might not even be here at times. Yeah, Terasenko had 33 last year. An anomaly we hope in Detroit. Rossi got to 40 after the American League stuff, but um I don’t know. I still think it’s a big deal. You know, you’re replacing like these Freddy. So, hold on. It’s year of Terasenko and Terasenko gives you 50. I got to get two. Say 50 and 50 for Terasenko and Buy. You still got to get 20 points from Yurov. New employee candy jar. Yeah. 10 and 10. All right. Got through. It got through. Good. You can thank me later. This is great for the listeners, by the way. This is so exciting. Um I’m still trying to find hits, team hits. This is This is bothering me. I’m going to go back to back then while you’re waiting. I got the Faber 40. Brock Faber’s offensive production returns to closer to what we saw his rookie season with over 40 points. He will most likely not be running PP1. He’s going to be getting those 30 second shifts on the back end. But I think uh I think there’s more in the tank there uh for Mr. Faber and I got the Faber 40. Okay. You okay with that one? I feel like these are over underlines that are set. It’s not bold. Like I feel like that’s his least bold so far. That’s the over like that’s the overunderline. He didn’t have it last year. He had 29 points last year. I I’ll allow favor. Yeah, but he had 20 fewer assists. So really So what do you have as a rookie season? 47, right? So, give me 50. But William’s in the mix now. Give me 45 then. Okay. 45 favor. I’ll do that. Okay. Uh, power play is top 10 this year and we’ll be 25% or higher. Now, last year, so both of those have to hit. Last year, NHL 10th in the league was Utah. They were 24.2%. So, I’m saying the Wild will go higher than that slightly. be the highest power play they’ve ever had in franchise history. They were 20.9% last year and the year before they were 22.7%. I’m gonna say it’ll be the best power play in team history essentially and be top 10 in the league. That’s bold. Whenever you put two things in there, speaking from experience, although I take a half point usually it makes it a lot harder. Um uh okay, I’ll go I’ll go the other special PK. 56 goals against last year on the PK. I have the wild at 45 this year and I’m gonna give them a six shorties. Yeah. Okay. So, their net PK percentage is going to be if they’re at some a similar rate, it’s going to be like a like 80 82% net PK. 81% net PK. Okay. Which one? 81 or 82. Let’s go 81. Okay. No, let’s go 82. Yeah, let’s go 82. Mr. Carter, I got 45 points here for favor. Let’s go 82. I I already have I’m not getting I already have qualifiers on that. Let’s go 82. Okay. So, that’s all I have to have. Is net PK above 82. Deal. All right. My number four. Yeah. Capri off breaks a franchise career goal record by the end of March. He needs 15 to break and hit 200. He’ll do that by Thanksgiving. That’ll be the third ever Wild player with 200 career goals. and he needs to get to 219 this year to break Gabrick. So he needs like 33 or 34 to break the record. He’ll do it by the end of March. So when we hit April 1, Capri off is the franchise all-time goal leader. And I think he’ll get the 200 and beat Perez’s mark by Thanksgiving. So you Okay, we’ll take that. Whenever he puts like a date on stuff, he We’re keeping it. I like I like dates and timelines and All right, I got a I got bounced on my heart pick. So, I’m going to do this one. I’m calling um Big Deal Billy. Um I like this one. Billy’s going to bring in a a famous player into our locker room. So, Billy is uh he’s a marketing guy, too. And if you look at Flower, Pat Maroon, Ryan Reeves, some guy is going to join our team with his wallet that he’s been sitting on this dry powder. I don’t know when it’s going to happen. It might be at the deadline. It might be earlier like Joe said, but some name brand hockey player will be in our room that is not in the room right now. And I’m not talking about a guy I have to look up on the internet and go, “Oh, he’s good. He’s a right-handed shot.” I’m talking like somebody my son knows his name already like oh wow the wild added that guy some big a whale you know whale’s a little strong because it’s not like people are trading McDavid or something but there’s going to be a big hitter coming into this room so this person has been an all-star yes and when is this happening by uh I’m not you I’m not putting a time stamp on it it’s going to happen during the regular season before the deadline so it can’t be a deadline pickup. It can be a deadline pickup cuz I don’t know what I think that’s that bold. That’s that bold. They got 5 million in cap space. They’re going to make a move. That’s not bold. Like if they think they can win a cup, they’re going to bring in somebody. I think it’s bold. If you say it’s going to happen by Thanksgiving, which is what I think is going to happen or even by the Olympic break. Yeah, by the Olympic break is fine cuz Billy’s going to be uh although God, he might look at players in the Olympics. Hang on. I’m telling you right now, if this doesn’t if this season starts slowly, they’re pulling the trigger on. All right, I’ll take Olympic break. I’ll take Olympic break. I think fine. I like that. All right, we we held his feet to the fire. All right, my last one, if it’s okay to go here and this is bold. I don’t even know if I believe it, but for the sake of the podcast and the people. I am a man of the people. Philip Gusson wins the Vzna. Oh Jesus. Wow. He’s walking off. Headset off. Wow. I mean, that’s tough cuz it’s it’s Connor Hellbuck’s trophy. and you got in the division and there’s 10 other all world goalenders out there. But if they’re going to lean on him and he’s going to play 60 plus games, his save percentage the last two of the last three years in goals against has been top 10 in the league. First ever Vzna Trophy winner in Wild history is Philip Gustoson. I mean what obviously it’s bull. Now by the way if he wins it like let’s just crown me the winner. Okay. I don’t know that that’s how it works. Each point is worth the same. Well, okay. Yeah, that’s bold. How about you got one left? Maybe me. Yeah. So, I’ll go this one. Oh, here he goes. My daughter’s youth hockey team will win 12. Only lose two games at the U12 level. Bunch of good defenseman. Uh I I’ll say uh Bu sets a franchise record for rookie scoring. Well, Carell must have done a big number. He won the Calder. Yeah. 50. What do you have that year? 50 some points and 50. I think he looks like you forgot Carill won the Cder. No, no. By defenseman. Uh, no, no, no, no. That’s 48 points from who? Boo. No, no. Who has the record? Uh, Faber. 47. You’re right. So, it’s it’s Faber and then it drops way off. That’s medium bold. That’s 47 Faber. Then I think the next one is Kaylin Addison with 29. We got to tick him up to 50. Let’s uh Can you and I have a sidebar? Yeah. What do you got? Let’s I think if we get them to 50, we’re in good shape. There’s a big difference in those. Cut the commercial break so Ker and I can talk. Franchise record uh for dcoring from Zeve Buham. I think you go franchise record for points, not Dcoring. I don’t know what what Carrill had. Well, take me two seconds. I’ll tell you. I think he was in the 50s in the 56 game CO shorten season. Oh, that helps you. Hey, while he’s looking this up, um I’ll do this one just because I think it’s going to break some ties. I’ll do 47. No, hang on. Ker’s going. I’ll do 47. And he’s top three in Calder. You got that guy in Montreal. He had 51 points his rookie year. Yeah, I’ll do 47, top three in Calder. I want 152. No. Minnesota franchise record. Two qual two qualifiers and Calder 50. If he puts up 47 points, he will be top three in Calder. So, no, he’s got to break Capriel’s record. I don’t actually don’t know that that’s the case. So, right now, Calder, uh, the the odds are Demidov plus 180. Yep. Favorite. He’s insane. Yeah. Howard plus,00. He might end up with David. He might end up with second. There’s that big of a gap from one to two. Yeah. Uh, yeah. I think so. Snuggy is third. Then you’ve got Misa Schaefer and then Bouam rounds it out. H What do you think, Kanger? I think we need at least one more point. Like 48. 48. Deal. All right. 48. This one I had to do. I was going to maybe shift out of it. This is going to be very in the face on on Radio Joe. I’m calling it the Wall-E bounceback. Um hang on a second. covers.com has Boo’s second best odds at plus 950. Well, I went FanDuel because we’re on their air. So, what is I just Googled Calder Trophy odds. Dem it up plus 135. Boo plus 950. Snugaroo 1050 and it goes from there. By the way, Ryan Leonard sneaky good pick there for the Caps, but I’ll let it go. 49. Okay, I’m going to do the Wall-E bounce back. Um, just like how goalies throw balls against the wall, after a tough season, Wallstead will emerge as a solid number two, winning 15 games. Okay, so Flower won 17 and uh and 14 um Hall of Famer first ballot. There’s a lot of backto backs. That’s the only reason I feel and our decor is really good. But I I think he’s a real serious dude. He was meant to be the franchise. You see kids like Spencer Knight kind of figuring it out. So I got 15 wins for Jesper Volstead in his all black outfit. That’s going to be hard because if Gus is doing what you think he’s going to do, he has to win like 75% of his starts. So I thought that one was okay. I mean if if Gus wins 35 and V said wins 15, there’s 50 wins. You’re in the playoffs. Yeah. And I think Gus will win more than 35. So, is it bold? What were your other ones? That’s all I had. That was my backup. I had I would say you you’re good at setting like the over underline. Like you’re right there. Well, I’m fine going to like 16. So, Flurry 14 and 17. First battle Hall of Famer. Pretty good goalie. That’s what Yes. But not at a point in his career where he was, you know, he he had his moments the last couple years. He wasn’t a slouch. Jesper had a rugged ride in Iowa last year. He did. I’m going 16. It’s in. All right. It’s fine. 16. Again, he it doesn’t matter because he’ll just say he got it anyway. It’ll be April. Last game of the year. Volstead’s playing. He’s at 15 wins. And I’m rooting like hell in the press box for a while to lose the game because it doesn’t matter the standings. Oh man. I I have a I have a bunch of other shenanigans. You want to do like a little five minute. What do you guys got that you want to cover that we haven’t pretty solid pod whenever Joe comes? I appreciate you guys. Yeah. The only other thing is I’d like to go through the central because I think it’s going to be I think it’s going to be a tough year. Yeah. You you know last year I think Nashville caught everybody by surprise just giving games away for being red rotten. Yeah. That that was crazy. Yeah. The West has all of a sudden turned into a complete gauntlet. Mhm. Chicago looks better. They do, but I Dude, do you ever look at I know you do. You look at some of those analytical sites like the point pro projections that the Athletical do and like they sell Chicago at like 70 points. I’m like with all that talent up front now, like the young kids, how are they going to be that bad again? You know, like the eye test to me says they should be way better and then you look at the 10,000 simulations and they’re they’re expected to be dead last again. They’re still going to be bad. And maybe those simulations are imperfect too because they just go based on like a kid’s history, not and they can’t bake in project the the improvement. Yeah. You know, but but yeah, Nashville can’t be as bad. Nashville won’t be as bad. St. Louis is going to be better. Yep. Utah going to be better. Be a problem. Yeah, they have better goending. Uh Dallas, I actually I actually think Dallas is going the other direction a little bit. I feel that way about Winnipeg. Winnipeg’s going the other direction. They had 116 points last year. So I was looking at the other day I’m like how much worse to what they now are 100 point team. Like they’re not I don’t think they’re going to go from 116 to 90. Now they have some injuries. They just lost Cole Perfetti week to week and Lowry is going to start the season hurt but they have the reigning MVP in net. So Colorado is going to be awesome. I think it’s the ABS year to they’re going to be a handful. Yeah, the Central’s a beast. Dallas with their new coach and Glenn Golson. and I know he’s been there before and I know he’s had a camp in a preseason now like you know they might start a little bit slower as they adjust. Um but I don’t see them going anywhere. So where do we think the Wild finish in the Central I think four I think it’s fourth in a wild card spot again is what you got to you got to stay ahead of Utah and you got to out if you if you out finish ahead of St. Louis and Utah are going to make a playoff spot. Like those are the two teams because again if you look at Vegas, LA, Edmonton, right? Just let’s just say they’re in. And Winnipeg, Dallas, Colorado, let’s just say they’re in in some fashion. Again, it’s two spots for five teams, six teams. What this year, I think, is going to come down to is winning the games that you should. Like, and and it’s going to be even harder than it was last year. So, you have to beat Anaheim, and that’s going to be tougher to do. you’re going to have to beat San Jose. It’s going to be harder to do, you know, and all like in the in the West, we’re an easy game right now. The Wild have done the last couple years a really good job at that, by the way. They have owned the Ducks. They’ve owned the Sharks. They’ve won the season series against the Blackhawks every year the last three years. Like to your point, you have to do that again. And you’re right, it’s going to be harder. And where are the easy games in the West? There’s going to be a team that surprises like Nashville that turns out to just struggle and stink, right? like maybe you know but Vancouver is an unknown. Calgary might be bad. Vancouver might be bad. Calgary might be bad but Dustin Wolf can win you a game like that. And Calgary after the deadline last year was like one of the best teams in the NHL. It’s unbelievable. I know. I looked at their roster though and I was like I don’t even know what I would want to watch here. Calgary. Yeah. Yeah. Chicago. Uh I still think they’re a ways away. That’s the easiest game in the West. Bard is not Bard’s not Celbrini. Um Renzel has to learn how to run that power play. He’s really good, but I don’t know that he’s going to figure it out the first year. I love that Nazar kid is awesome, but I don’t know. It seems like they they’re going to scare you, but then you beat him. That’s what I’m hoping is we got to run the table on Chicago. But those are the ones that you can’t you can’t take off like you have or you have to be way better. Come down to it. You have to win. If you blink, they’ll beat you. They got enough skill. But so two years ago when the Wild missed the playoffs, what were they like 0 and 10 against Dallas, Winnipeg, Colorado, right? like couple overtime shoot all and we it was heavily publicized for lack of a better term because it was the difference in getting in or not. Last year they got a little bit better, right? Took a game against Dallas. They took a game like if you’re going to falter against a Anaheim, right? And you’re not going to go 4-0 against them or 3-0. If if that’s the case, you better go two- one, you know, against the Colorado or three and one against or pick up points in all four games against Winnipeg. like and those are those are battles. Yeah. So, yeah, I’m with you. Central’s tough. Tough. Really tough. And the West is tough period now. And the Olympic break is condensing games and we’re going to have a bunch of guys playing in the Olympics. Factor in Germany now with Sturm. Is Austria in? I don’t even know to be honest. I don’t know either. So, you know who’s not playing the Olympics? 97. He’s going to be uh in Cabo just getting his mind right for the season ending push. But I I think Colorado trends up, Dallas trends up, Nashville trends up, but I I don’t know what happens with Winnipeg, and I think some of these teams are going to come back down to earth. And I’m I’m hoping wild card one for the Wild. A comfortable one, not last minute 20 seconds. No, Erikson by the, you know, by the hair. No, I want I want to just be relaxed. All right. What else you got on the bingo card? Um, I got uh what did I have here? Um, we have season preview live tomorrow night, maybe the day this comes out, 5:00 at Grand Casino. So, if you’re a fan of the podcast or a fan of the wild, come check us out. And then I um I want to do this thing carts. I I’ve been thinking about this. So, people consume this would be my last thing. People consume the podcast on television, on YouTube. They listen. And I was trying to think of a way to have momentum during the year. So anytime the wild don’t get a point, I’m going to shave clean. But if they’re getting points, whether it’s just an overtime point or a two-pointer, I’m going to let the beard grow. And it’s going to be called the whisker ticker. It’s going to be like CNBC. So if you’re watching FanDuel and I have a 5:00 shadow, you know things are going well with the hockey team. If you see me up there like a baby face, that’s a problem. So, I want I want to have a little mo. I want to carry it on my face. I couldn’t name it forever. And then I was like, you know, this is like a stock market. This is the whisker ticker. So, uh, that’s something, you know, that I’m bringing that to the party. We’ll see what Billy thinks about that tomorrow night. But, and then the only other thing is listen to this Vlatty interview. This guy is such an old soul, deep as a river, uh, raised by his grandparents. The way he answers are like the slowest rapid fire in the history of the podcast. It had to be though. I mean, he is so cool. And uh I think the closest we’ve had to a guest like this is probably Freddy Gudro in terms of the depth and the thoughtfulness to his responses. Um and so I I hope people enjoy that as well. The best part was he walks in for the first time and he didn’t know that it was a podcast. He just agreed to talk to some people. He goes, he goes, “What? This is a podcast?” I said, “No, I’m not doing it.” And what? I don’t do podcasts. I’ve told everybody no and I got to stick with no see you later. And then we’re like, “Okay, it’s not a podcast. It was a TV show. Yeah, eventually we got him to stay, but um Yeah, good dude. That’s awesome. Yeah. All right, Vladimir Terasenko. Here you go. All right, we got a killer guest today. Awesome. This is sponsored by Duke Cannon. If you want to get your hair looking amazing, if you want the body washes, the shampoos, earn your clean, walk into a Target, look for a giant display of Duke Cannon. We got a stud coming in here today. over 800 games in the NHL, 662 points, threetime all-star. He’s a firstrounder. He’s won a World Junior Gold medal. He’s got a couple Stanley Cups. He’s been a wild killer for years. Uh, and my favorite quote from his Wikipedia where I do all my research. Described by scouts as strong and mobile with no glaring weaknesses. Vladimir Terasenko, welcome to the podcast, brother. Welcome to Minnesota, too. Thank you very much. I got to start with the uh this I was looking because I had this memory of hat-ticks in the playoffs against us. I think I had blocked it out mostly, but um between the Winter Classic with your Hawaiian shirts, you got a hat-tick against uh Dubnick, you got another one in uh 15. I mean, this is a place you like to play, I would assume, against Minnesota. And uh what uh what was your perception of Minnesota before coming here and now that you’re in the room living here? First of all, yeah, we play a lot of games against obviously because I was playing in St. Louis and uh anywhere we play at home or away against Wild, it’s always going to be a competitive game like we always know it’s not going to be easy walk and uh um I heard that it’s a very tight group of guys. Uh it’s a group of guys who support each other and um not willing to sacrifice for success and uh so far I’m very happy to be here. It’s really nice guys. They help me a lot uh moving in and uh it’s nice to be in the locker room every day. Who were were the Wild uh like a rival of St. Louis? I know they’re the Central Division back in the day, but uh you know I I feel like Wild fans kind of associate uh St. Louis with kind of a rivalry. Was it the same in St. Louis? Was it like, “Oh man, we got to get through Minnesota cuz when you were younger, Minnesota with Pereizy, Sudter, that era, like they were a good team. I wasn’t Chicago, but um you know, and then kind of 16, 17, St. Louis was on the rise and obviously you were a big part of that.” But was Minnesota rival to you guys or was it just like that’s a tough team, we got to play? I feel like um biggest rival there was Chicago games but like I said many years we played I think we played three playoff series maybe and I think it’s just become a rival also. Yeah because of that but also um in a central division at that time it was um Nashville was very good uh Minnesota Chicago like almost every team was very good and uh you kind of treat them as rivals also. Yeah, no doubt. Uh let’s go back to that 19 year uh and the playoffs. What was special about that group? I think we had some experience before. A lot of guys uh went to the conference finals in 2016 where we lost to San Jose and we had that experience in playoffs where you know what it takes to get deeper uh past a few rounds and reach it to the conference finals. And also when uh chief came in just treat everybody fair and u make guys work for each other, make guys like each other and uh everybody just bought in for one goal and we started winning more games. We changed our mindset from uh you know we win the game and we lucky to like we’re supposed to win if we play well. Yeah. Almost like the expectation changed. Yeah. And then um we go game by game and made it to the playoffs and figure out that um as soon as you make it to the playoffs everything can happen and go game by game again and just never give up. You think you have to go on a deep run to understand what is required to go on a deep run. You know I think you need to make a playoffs first. I think it’s enough to be in the playoffs for multiple years and go through through different scenarios because playoffs is not always the same. It’s um a lot of ups up ups and downs and I think when everything good a lot of teams can play but when things don’t go right how team react on it I think it’s defines the teams who like going for a cup run. I was going to ask you, you know, we we have a lot of Swedish players on the team. I think they adopt Zukarelloo as an honorary Swede sometimes, but now we have a lot of Russian players with yourself 97, Yurov, Trenan. Um, uh, you know, is that a is that nice to have a group? Um, you know, work we are we speaking Russian in the locker room a little bit or is that a you’re on the plane together playing cards or is Zukarella an honorary Russian as well? Maybe he is. I don’t know. He’s um he’s a very nice guy and I know they’re very tight with Kil, but um if you have a guys from your um from your country or the guys who speak your language, you will speak with them. Doesn’t matter how many years you spend in the States, it’s still different experience. And um those Russian guys are very nice. We speak a lot every day in Russian, of course. But uh actually have a dinner today. So, that’s good. I uh and I know you love St. Louis when you live there. I saw the nice note you wrote to fans. That was great. When you left and um have you have you been here long enough to pick up the Minnesota vibe? I would think they’re similar. I’ve spent a little time in St. Louis, not that much, but what do you what do you make of the lifestyle and you know, you got kids and everything. What do you What do you think of Minnesota so far? Yeah, my kids is and my wife not here yet. They’ll come soon. But um I think it’s pretty similar like you live um in the suburbs away from a rink. It’s a different lifestyle than the part the rink in. And um feel like it’s very family oriented. Everything is very close. You don’t spend much time driving around. You know, even if your kids play hockey or go to school, it’s short drives and it’s pretty similar. A lot of trees. Um, but like I mentioned before, a lot of stuff coming from a rink, too. Like if you like to be at the rink, like every city feels better. Yeah, that’s a good point. Yeah, good rink, good practice rink, good food. You like to be at the rink. No, I’m talking I’m talking about guys. I’m not talking about Oh, just the guys. I’m not talking about how good is your rink or food. It’s It’s fixable things. It’s uh if you have a good group you enjoy coming to every day to the rink, like I can live anywhere. I like it. Who’s uh let’s get to the Ox Court eventually, but uh I am curious about this. The song Gloria in the 2019 run like uh there was a lot that was talked about that, right? Um did that bring you guys together a little bit and and like how big of a deal is that? I don’t know. And I I wasn’t at the bar where all this happened. I don’t really know the story to be honest, but uh I think it was part of the things. We have um few things going on around the team but uh I think most stuff bring the guys together was new coach and understanding that like we can do it you know like it’s song is fine it’s fun and it is was kind of what we treat when we win the game you know you can hear it and um have some positive emotions but I feel like at that playoff run like nobody really cares how much you play or what do you do and I think we have a perfect example in the finals with uh our like can say four flying play the most minutes few nights and we won some games and everybody happy but um every year after you making the playoffs and I was fortunate that we made the playoffs many years in St. Louis. Yeah. You think like it’s never going to go away and then one year you miss the playoffs and you’re like, “Okay, I don’t expect it to go this way, right?” And then u you stop taking it for granted. Like you work harder and when you have a feeling that you know it’s your chance, you can let it go. How was it breaking into the NHL? Actually, a couple questions on this with Ken Hitchcock as your coach. You know, I mean, that had to be tough coming from, you know, KHL to Ken Hitchcock kind of hockey. No, I have a lot of credit to Hitch and I’m very thankful I met him on my life puff and hockey puff. He’s a very strict but also very smart. It’s um we always enjoy talk about hockey and he taught me like a lot of things uh which helped me till this day and uh it was a little bit more towards defense but but also but also little bit the thing I like that he goes hard on you but if you do it right you get rewarded like you would play more if you do things right. Yeah. And like he’s honest he tells you something you do it then you play more. Of course, there was some moments where I don’t really understand like what they want from me because I just came to the league. But, uh, like I said during the time working with him during those years, we getting to know each other better and u, like I said, I’m very thankful that I had the chance to work with I would say one of the greatest coaches ever coached. No doubt. Good perspective there. So now my next question with that is you’ve got a guy like Yurov and Capri off’s been over here playing for a while now, but it challenging for a guy like that to jump over to the United States, change everything he’s ever known kind of language, lifestyle, and come to the rink and just say, “Yeah, I’m I’m going to play and be the player that I was six months ago.” I think it’s hard to go in a new place in general, but when you come from Russia, you there’s a different hockey there, different um different atmosphere, let’s say, uh with the NHL. And he’s kind of fortunate that he have us that we can explain stuff and u tell him if he don’t understand something. But it’s one of the biggest parts is you’re really shy to ask too cuz you feel like you ask once twice and then you not sure should I ask again because they might think that I I have no idea what’s going on. Yeah. You don’t get it. Yeah. And that’s what we’re trying to say that you can ask as many questions as you want. So until you understand and everybody knows it’s a new environment for you and you know you don’t know what coach expects from you too. But I feel like uh they’re doing a great job explaining him. If he don’t understand something, he jump and ask us. And he’s a very well-raised young guy who is very fun to be around. And uh hopefully he feel like we’re helping him a lot. Should we uh should we do rapid fire with Let’s get to know let’s get to know him a little bit. You’re going to like this. So this is like a bunch of questions and it’s like a one-timer basically. Just answer fast. If you don’t have an answer, just say pass. Um because you’re a first time guest, so this is just a way for people to get to know you a little better. Carter and I kind of go back and back and forth. Um and it’s just kind of there. A lot of them are easy. Some of them are a little So nickname, what do you like to be called? I think most people call me Vlatty. Vlatty is such a good nickname, by the way. It is a good one. Uh who do you text the most? Now I know you’re married. And you’ve got older kids now, too. But who who do you text the most? My wife. By by by a lot. By a lot. The son doesn’t even It’s not even close. Yeah. All right. Uh um what do you listen to in the car? I call my wife in the car. No, I’m listening. I have a variations of music. Like it can be 80s, 90s music. It can be, I don’t know, some rap, some Lincoln Park, some I don’t really have one strict. Were you in St. Louis long enough to pick up country music? I listen some Morgan Woolen. Okay. All right. I feel you. Sometimes. Is uh English music better? You like Russian music or I listen to Russian music also? It depends. I was u more strict before and then the more I grew up I was more like if I want to listen something I don’t need to pretend like I only listen this part or this part I just listen whatever I want. Uh you know what a pet peeve is? No. Like something that just like bothers you. Like for me my pet peeve is having too many things in my pockets because it annoys me. Okay. Any you have any pet peeves? Like anything like that annoy you like when your kids leave their shoes in the entryway? Things in my pocket and kids shoes don’t annoy me for sure. I slow drivers. No. If you get if you get angry on the road like what you can expect from you if things don’t go right in your life like you one guy told me one very good lesson long time ago and he said never judge people before you know the story. So I’m always if somebody not driving well I’m always thinking that maybe he’s in rush like some emergency happen. So I try to not um be mad on him but things would bother me. I think when something don’t go right in hockey I think about it a lot. Anything else I’m I’m fine on my kids or like some clothes on the floor don’t really like you can you can fix it you know. How about you get a green light? So, you’ve just had a victory. Your coach says, “Have a night, boys.” Any NHL city, where would you want to be? Florida, I think. Yeah, the elbow room, maybe. I actually never been there. It’s good. It’s It’s actually Oh, I was there one time. We had um We had the I think Rocky party one time with St. Louis and we started in there. But I didn’t know at that time that this is like some legendary place or something. I I don’t know. It’s a relic for sure. I think it would survive any hurricanes cuz um places in Russia is a little bit different than places here and I just came. It looks like a bar and everybody was very happy to be there. So I’m pretended like I’m happy too. But I don’t really know. I don’t really know the history of the place before. Like now I know. It’s like a boiler room. What else are we going to do here? A boiler room. Um, I got uh this is now I know you’ve always been a hockey player and but have you had like a a real job you know like growing up let’s say you’re 14 15 16 years old do you have any other like real jobs things you had to work at like work at the farm or you know shoveling driveways delivering mail paper route I mean farm my um I grew up with my grandparents until I was 10 or 11 years old and parents of my grandpa had a house with a big uh garden on the back. So, we worked there, but I wasn’t paid for it. You weren’t paid for it. You were paid in vegetables. I worked I worked for Yeah. I paid I paid in food and advice how to harvest, right? So, paid in gourds. Yes. Um, perfect weekend. What are you doing? You got a weekend. You’re just going to have a time. What would be your perfect weekend? I’ll spend time with my wife and my kids. maybe leave the kids home with a with an older son, go with my wife somewhere or send the kids outside and stay with my wife in the house or but I I think for me the most uh relaxing thing like I want to be with my family and I was raised like this by again my grandpa, my dad, they always told me like the family is the most important part in your life and um I was fortunate to you know met my wife and having a good family now where like I want to go home and like I don’t really want to go away and do something by myself like I think when you have kids most perfect weekend is sometimes to just take a sleep and stay home and don’t go anywhere in the morning. Yeah. Station. How about Oh, go ahead. Yeah. So, you’re uh dynamite on social media. Do you have uh a favorite social follow? Like uh somebody that you like to follow like their content’s good? Uh, I don’t really I try to not spend much time on Instagram to be honest. I watch some YouTube some YouTube guys who like travel around the world and I like cooking. I watch some cooking stuff. I like gaming. I watch some gaming. I have couple of friends who is big gamers like YouTubers back home. But uh feel like every time you go on Instagram, you spend too much time there like just scrolling and dungeon. I really like go there to see like what my friends doing, like what they post because you know you get older, you don’t call your friends like every single day. You just kind of call once in a while. And um I don’t I don’t have a favorite follower or somebody. How about who plays you in the movie? You get an actor. There’s a movie. It’s called Vlatty. There’s going to be Vlatty 2, Vlatty 3. It’s like Rocky. I was going to say who who do you have play you? You get to pick an actor. It doesn’t have to look like you. It could. Or you could just pick someone you would like to play. You doesn’t have to look like me. Up to you. You. Who would you like to play you in the movie? I mean, if you say my favorite actor, my favorite movie is Gladiator. So like Russell Crow from that movie or Tom Hardy. Yeah, like Tom Hardy as well. Those are some strong picks. you uh have a your first car. So, uh to preface it, my first car was like a terrible Volkswagen Jetta where the windows wouldn’t go down. They were automatic, but they had like rusted out, so we never had the windows down. It was a just a a sauna in there all the time. Muffler was broken. Loud. Terrible car. But first car. My first car. What was your first car? My first car, I think in R in Russia, you can have a driving license at 18. And I wouldn’t do mine until I was almost 19. And my father would always stress me. I was like, you have to you have to go do it. And I in KHL in my hometown, we have a locker room. And above the locker room, there was a like hotel where team stays. So when you reach the first team, the KHL team, you have your bed there. So I was like, okay, I can live there. Like I don’t want to leave home. I can live there by myself every day. And you have I need a car. You have a free meals. You have a free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You have a locker room. You can always go. You can be in a pool or sauna. And I was imagining it’s my house, so I’m just go like take a sauna in the evening, go eat. And I don’t really need the car. But then um uh my dad told me, “You have to buy something like older to learn how to drive.” And I didn’t listen. And I did it without him knowing like I bought a BMW 5 series. Um just like a sedan. Yeah. Um nice first car. I went I went to see it in Moscow and they had they had a car. It was in blue and I’m like I wanted black but they have no black cars. They say like it’s another office. And I said okay. Can I have this car but just in in black? They say yeah. Okay. So I never actually see the car before it come. and I went to the um I went to the dealership in my hometown and pick up a car and I almost don’t have a driving experience before. So, and I pretend like I did. So, you drive out, you’re nervous like this a nice car. I didn’t know how to start it. I was looking I was looking for a key. But, uh yeah, it’s um believe it or not, we sold that car to our friends last summer. Oh, cool. I use it till like every summer and every time I use it when I come home like I never buy anything else in Russia. Yeah. That car never get broken. Still feel like brand new. So it was a good investment. Yeah. Good for you. If you were having a birthday dinner any place in the United States, you’ve played a lot of different places. A dinner you’d just be super excited about. What restaurant are you going to? Mhm. We actually went to one place this summer with my wife in New York, like Italian restaurant right by the Central Park, I think, right there. I I don’t know how to pronounce the name, but um we’ll search it up. That’s perfect. That’s perfect. Yeah, I can I can tell you after, but it was it was amazing. Uh, since we’re on the topic of food, do you have any weird food combos? Like ketchup on your eggs? Like anything that’s like When I were younger, I used to eat uh My grandma never saw me do it, but I used to if I eat chicken, I would dip a chicken in a condensed milk. Oh, wow. That tastes nice for me. I bet it does. So instead of barbecue sauce, you’d use condensed milk. when my grandpa don’t see you. I don’t want What are you doing over there, Blatty? And my wife didn’t really like this, so I don’t really do this anymore. Funny. No milk for you. We should have brought some for That’s like a Seinfeld. No milk for you. No, condensed milk is a big thing back home where um I think every grandma cook uh it’s called blin, like a Russian pancakes. It’s a thinner ones. You can roll them up. So, you put condensed milk and you roll it and just Oh, that’s good. It’s almost like a It’s sweet creps. It’s like creeps. Yeah, we made We made those bellini. It’s bellini. Yeah, we made those here. We got to go back. There was an old posted up episode where we made borched and I think balini. Now, will you put will there be different ones? Like you’ll have salmon bellini. It’s not like you can put whatever you can put um bellini is the same but you can put cavar inside or people put different stuff. Actually St. Paul have good Russian restaurant. Yeah. Moscow on the Hill. Something like not too far away from here. We went with the St. Louis guys a few times. Yeah. Yeah. Borch. Is that good though? Borch is good. We We’ll have to talk to the cooks downstairs cuz they did make borsch a couple years ago and it was good. No, it does sound good. I just a couple more. Um let’s go. Uh what’s the last thing you binged watched or that show you watched or a movie something on TV or movies that you watched maybe with your wife? Whatever. Yeah, I Oh, she watching the Turkish TV shows like I think I get into a couple. We watched them. It’s a lot of episodes. But last movie I watched was um I watched the Netflix series about the Florida Gators. Oh yeah, the SEC or no, The Swamp. The Swamp. And I also watched the Gladiator 2 on a plane to get the movie. Yeah, the movie. How is the second one? It’s not bad. Like I mean I’m It’s not the first one. I watched the No, I watched the first one maybe I don’t know like 15 20 times. The first one’s so good. I might I think I watched Gladiator once a year like at some point where I get bored on the road or somewhere. I just watched the movie. But uh I like the second one too. Yeah. Um, since uh we were talking about Russia a little bit there, I want to ask like how important it is or is it as like a Russian to play for the national team and at the World Junior at the Olympics at World Championships like I feel like it’s a really big deal and I don’t know that like North American players really understand or people do like how important it is. Um, you talk on that a little bit like how how much pride there is in in playing for the country. I mean it’s sometimes um sometimes I don’t really understand when I hear that people get surprised that Russian players are honored to play for Russia. Like if you go through the nations and you ask any other nation like would you want to play for your national team? Would you be proud? Everybody would say yes. So we raised the same way where we watched like older players compete in the Olympics, compete in the World Cups. um you grow up like your grandpa tell you stories about like Russian five and of course you want to represent your country and the first step in a way it’s usually U8 championship where I was fortunate to make it and since then it was U20 and world championships Olympics and this is you you cannot compare it with the Stanley Cup it’s different like you can’t put them in this or that you know this you play for your club for your team um for the boys you like every day with and there you have your friends you grow up with you know people for a long time you represent all your country all your parents you know the place what is your motherland and I think everybody growing up have two things in mind in Russia make it to the NHL win the Stanley Cup and be Olympic the Russian five uh now you’re talking the Detroit Russian five back in the day with like and and that is that who you grew up kind of idolizing. No, I idolized my dad. My dad used to play and I looked at that time in late 90s and early 2000s. It wasn’t too much information you can find online. We never had computers so I can can look up any highlights or something. And I always watch my dad play and I would watch some other players but u like I want to be like my dad in in the life and in hockey. And you know his dad Russian league scoring champion was in the 94 Olympics so obviously somebody great to look up to. Um I was going to ask you you had a unique experience being recruited to Minnesota. I, as I understand it, Carrill called you. Coach Hines came and visited with you, had dinner with you. That had to be pretty great. What were they telling you about Minnesota or why to come? What was that like when um they were kind of courting you? We figured out after last season like we don’t want to stay in Detroit and we have the same agent with the u with Kel and I speak to him first and I talk to Billy and they explain um what kind of guys are here, what kind of group, what what organization trying to achieve. And I called Kuriel, let’s talk with Kuriel and I think he called me back. We talked a couple more times and we made a decision and when decision was made, John said he wants to come over and meet my family which is we are really thankful for opportunity to you know not only for him to see what kind of guy I am at the rink but just see what what’s our family is all about and we kind of time it that all the kids will be home and he have a full look on our family and we talk a lot not only about hockey but about life and I do think that u good relationship starts not on the ice and you get to know each other and same goes for a successful teams if you want your team to be successful like you have to build it outside of the ring not not the ring outside of the ice in the locker room. Yeah. No, completely agree. Um, I was going to ask, um, when they talk to you about the team, uh, whether it’s Carell or Billy, how do they, how do they describe the group? Like, what’s the language they’re using? Are they it like because obviously it appealed to you? It sounded good. What what how would they talk about the while, what they were doing? It’s not only them. It’s guys who used to play here before. I talked to the few other guys and everybody say the same thing, but it’s a hardworking group. It’s no dividing in a locker room. Everybody together, guys who need get help at some certain moments get help. It’s uh unselfish, hardworking group, which is I think every player wants to end up in this situation where when you work together, you know, the guy next to you will do the same thing you do. Uh I think you’re probably known for your shot, you know, goal scoring. Is that something you worked on? like just naturally you have a good shot. Um it’s kind of like a sneaky kind of hidden release a little bit too. Uh like is that something that you’ve crafted over years or you just gifted with it? My father show it to me that I even remember the day like any young player. I started playing in KHL I think six 16 years old and my first season with like the men’s was when I was 15. I played in the lower league in Russia and he was a coach in the team and he would tell me uh when you get a puck don’t stick handle just like keep it in front try to move your body and like shoot you shoot faster like this and until this day I have a nets at home like I’m shooting pucks almost every day uh at home like I like doing shooting also to be able to get a shot you need to find a good timing to get open or create a space for yourself. But if you talk about shots, yeah, I was train in a specific way and I do it till this day. I like doing it and it also take more um like prescalies play different and during the years there’s a different trends in the league and I don’t know what else to say figure that out and get the shot to go for it. Do you ever you ever mess around with like your stick and your curve or has that always been the same? Always the same. The only bad part is two years ago they stopped making mistakes. I used for like 10 years the ones Crosby used trigger free I think. Yeah, I guess they just don’t want to use um older graphics so they can sell more with the new graphics but I miss those sticks a lot. But I never change never change any flex or curve like I have a standard saki curve since I was a kid. Yeah. And I only figure out two years ago there is a kick point in the stick because I never I never changed my stick. So I don’t really I don’t really know what is it. And I have to have to dig in online to figure out what what is a kick point. And because I remember I have some new sticks I like and they look nice and I get it and when you shoot the bottom part of the stick like helps you shoot. Like what is that? and never know it’s possible. And I don’t like it. I like when I think it’s higher where you just shoot with with the power with your power. And I went to talk to the guy and I’m like, “What’s wrong with the stick?” And he like, “It’s a different kick point.” I’m like, “What is a kick point?” And he like, “What do you know, man? How would I know? I never changed my stick for like 10 years.” He’s got 300 goals. No big deal. I was going to ask on power. I mean, you’re you’re a unit. You’re you’re got the Quadzilla quads and uh what are you a gym guy? Like are you you just go crazy in the gym cuz you’re you’re a strong gentleman. What’s your program in the offseason? I never worked out to get bigger or like doing crazy stuff. I believe to work out like with a purpose and I also was raised like if I work out I will work out hard and doesn’t matter if I don’t feel right or something like I’ll go do the job done and usually I work uh like nowadays it’s the preparation shifted than like 10 days ago 10 10 years ago where you just grind like now it’s more you grind but also you need to do mobility in stretching and stuff like this. We have a place in Florida. We trained for the last four or five years I think with the guys. Um there’s a Russian guys come there and we just train as a group. My older son training with us Mark also just having fun but it’s hard but it’s fun when you’re with the other Russian guys. And your oldest is a goalie. Is that right? Now how did this happen? I mean you got you got he likes practice and shooting. You got 662 points and you got a goalie. Now, did this slip through the cracks or what? How did this happen? He started late skating and he played one year as a forward and it’s obviously need some time to catch up and just asked one time, can I try to be a goalie? And I asked this my dad. My dad said no. Yeah, that’s what most people say. So, I want to be I played both. If I played soccer, you call football in Russia and hockey. I want to be goalie in both. The both no. So I was forward in both. And he said, I want to be a goalie. Okay, you can go and try. He went on try like it. So I thought, okay, little guys get little older, he get a shot in the head, he’ll quit. And he didn’t quit. And then he kept playing. I’m like, okay, maybe like, you know, 12, 13 years old, more shots. He quit. Don’t quit. And then eventually I feel like couple years ago I think 3 years ago I brought him in with us for summer camp. So he see that when he say I work very hard it doesn’t mean like what is really hard you know how we work and a lot of credit to him he done well he was that ter but done well and like it and I feel like he shift his mindset to like taking a pride what he’s doing he’s really enjoying it right now I’m have no regrets he trying to be a goalie it’s stressful to watch games terrible way way more stressful than uh when it’s a forward because you always look at him. But um he’ll play in Dallas this year and hopefully everything will be fine. It’s almost way more stressful too when you’re watching your kid play versus when you’re playing. Like you play Stanley Cup finals, you’re like I’m not nervous, but you watch your kid play. Oh, you are you are nervous. Whoever tell you like he’s not nervous. It’s all not I’m get nervous before some regular season game sometimes. I think it’s a I think it’s a nature of the human body where when something big happening you have doubts in your head like sometimes and just go out and do it but when I watch the kids I’m dead tired after like I can if you I’m at the rink and I watch the kids game I I feel like I played like three games. It’s like leaving the dentist. You’re full flex for the the entire hour. Just I feel like it’s u I rather have physical be tired physically than be tired mentally because like I get used to working out and training and work hard. And I rather have the worst practice of my life than worst mental stress of my life. And then um when you watch the kids, you always you not only want them to succeed, you want them to be safe and there’s a lot of stuff going on. So watching kids definitely more stressful than Yeah. I was going to I was going to ask you, you know, we’re part of our podcast is we really want to break the mold and bring a Stanley Cup to the state of hockey. You’ve done it twice. I just I just figured out your head. Hey, I like it. Turns out I like bars. Um but uh so the first day with the cup and then you got the second day with the cup. I’m just curious like what did you do? Did you change it the second time? And when you win another one, what would you do? You’re a family guy. Maybe you just go to your house and sit with it with your family. But how how did you organize your day with the cup? What did you do? The couple of them. The first one at that time we could bring it back home. Okay. Second one, the league said that the Russian players cannot leave states with the cup. Got it. So, we have to be inside the states. So, the first one we brought back actually I don’t know who I should thanks to the Blues or the league. We had it for cuz my my city was like a last uh destination in Russia like before it came back over to the United States I think. I think so. But it was in Moscow day before and they flew over and because it’s 4-hour flight, we were managed to like we take care of the cup guys and we would have it for a little bit in the evening and the next day. So we had a little um dinner with my wife’s family and my family just just a family with a cup just a dinner with and send the guys uh sleep and next morning we went to the ring and I was at the ring for like I don’t know 6 hours maybe all the people like more than 10,000 people came to see the cup. That’s great. I was taking like pictures and there was managed to bring like fire department, army guys, like medical guy like everybody was at the rink. So first it was like a groups and then just the fans go through and then we went home for a couple hours. Uh and then we had a party like we hired the singer and it was pretty big party. And then after we figure out that I think the most best time of the day was when we were with the cup just us in the at house. Yeah. So we’re like okay if we are fortunate to win one more we’ll do it different way. And me and my wife believe that if you achieve something you have to give it away. like you have to give away to people too because it’s not only your achievement. There is a lot of people involved and if you have something what other people don’t have and if you have a chance to share it with them like you should do this and we plan it at the second time we would go for photo photo shoot on the beach in early morning just us the family then we come back home eat breakfast and then we have a events scheduled where we go to see kids in the hospital. Mhm. like bring it to the hospital for workers, see the kids in the hospital. Then we would go to fire department which um they they put it together with the police department. told everybody was there uh first responders and then we went to school I think u I forgot the name but it’s not like a families and needs but um there are the kids also so we brought it there uh what I forget something yeah you just boys and girls club it looks like yeah boys and boys and girls club and then um in the hospital We walk around, we see they let us go on a roof like we took a picture in front of like Fort Lauderdale. you can see um the ocean and uh then we went home just stay at home for another maybe 3 four hours and then we have a way smaller party at night at the DJ but we bring up the closest guys we know just stay there and uh that’s awesome that just all makes that just if my life if I will be fortunate to be let’s do this let’s go come on we’ll give away to the community of course But uh we’ll probably have even smaller parties. So we’re not invited. Some most important thing is like you feel nice when you spend time with it and you know give it to people but we make sure that we will have enough time to be just us. Yeah. Like your family then like podcasts you’ve been on and then that would be a I mean it’s very small. There’s only like three of them. And then like the cook and then the cook. cook. And then the cook. I uh we got that. I know. I do got one thing. Your Instagram is outstanding. I got your your wife just does everything, right? Does she do your Instagram? Oh, no. That’s you. You got like Niagara Falls, you got Coldplay, you’re at the soccer. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That that one she helped me too. She organized the post. So, I just need to I need to share. Well, you got some you got some skills on the social. No, it’s not. You don’t need to be that too smart to have a skills there. But uh she always told me you have to post more and I’m more like a not a shy but private private guy and I know I’ve like I have a stretch I think there if you look I only post like my kids or a dog and then she told me like people don’t sign up to look in the kids or dog post yourself and I’m like okay I’ll I’ll try to do it once in a while but uh I’m I try to don’t spend much time there. Yeah. But those three polls she make, I was like, “Yeah, she’s all I need to do is just say agree and then I have three new I did. I got to click on I looked at hers and then I’m like, okay, I see what’s happening here. We got a little a little duo that are working together.” But I think I had um in this three posts I have my average for last five years on Instagram amount of pictures. So I don’t really think I might need to start posting something soon. Well, hey man, we’re so happy you’re here. What a I mean this was a really uh you’re clearly a deep uh guy and um just I mean a lot of the things you were saying were just really awesome how you look at the world. So thank you for uh being here in Minnesota joining us and and spending time on the pod with us. Welcome. Thank you very much. You guys don’t lie to me. You are friendly. The guys over there always smiling to me make me smile too. Yeah. No damage. We we did it. Welcome Vlad. Yeah. Appreciate the time my man. Thank you very much. Appreciate. Thank you. [Music]

Wild radio play by play Joe O’Donnell stops by the pod for another season opening edition of BOLD PREDICTIONS. Carts and King keep the banter light, the accusations fresh and the competition fierce as they outline their predictions for what is sure to be an exciting season. Kirill Kaprizov signed his deal, GusBus signed his deal, but now who is buying dinner at Billy’s Sushi? Strap in for a long one, because after all the fun and games, a first time guest of the pod, Vladimir Tarasenko stops by for some amazing conversation. Hear what he has to say about life, winning Cups, and what he likes on his chicken, just don’t ask him about the science behind kick points. If you make it to the end of this pod, you can do anything!