GM2 Avs 2 Utah 1: Not Pretty but home opener secured – BTP w/Raj and Spring

GM2 Avs 2 Utah 1: Not Pretty but home opener secured – BTP w/Raj and Spring

The 82 and0 season is officially strong. The ABS get the big win 41 over LA on opening night away from Ball Arena. They come home on Thursday evening in front of, no, not the Utah Hockey Club, but the Utah Mammoth in a 2-1 victory as the ABS squeak one out. Scott Wedgewood was phenomenal yet again in his second straight start as Mackenzie Blackwood uh comes back from a offseason injury. Mark Springer, we welcome you guys into episode two, season 8 of Between the Piper and Altitude Sports Radio 925’s Twitter and YouTube. Um Spring, it it is such a blessing to have a goalender like Scott Wedgewood just to be able to call on at a moment’s notice. Raj, he’s the best goalender in the NHL right now. And and he has the advantage of having started two games. A lot of the league, like some teams just played their first game here tonight, but through two starts. Uh I mean, let me look up his numbers here and then I gota if you can look up look up the league goalending uh leaders right now cuz Scott Wedgewood Oh gosh, it’s not updated on ESPN.com. I hate you espn.com, but um I can tell you game one obviously got the win in LA. Uh 960 save percentage and here tonight he gets another win. He’s 2 and0. He had a 969. Very nice. A 969 save percentage. His goals against is one. The GAA is one. Uh Raj, do you have those NHL goalending leaders? I mean, I sure do considering a lot of these guys just have, you know, one game under their belt. It doesn’t matter. So on top of that, because uh Archers Celovs over in Pittsburgh had a game one shut out uh against the New York Rangers for the Penguins. Cam Talbot has stopped every shot that he’s faced, as has Philip Gustiffson uh in Minnesota. So, all three of those. Do any of those goenders have multiple starts? Um, no. That’s damn right. Scott, Scott, he’s got two under his belt. Yeah. Listen, he’s great. Raj, I’m talking. We’re talking Vzna. We’re starting the campaign here tonight. He was phenomenal. And it helps to have a backup goalender that you can simply just rely upon. Um, and it’s not just in in injury settings, right? This allows Jared Bednar to not have to run his goalenders ragged throughout the regular season. You can utilize Scott Wedgewood not for 15 games, not for 20 games. You can utilize him for 25 if you want to and keep McKenzie Blackwood completely healthy for when you need him most. Uh, when April and May and June roll around. He was great. I counted five great a scoring chances that he made saves on. Uh he had a breakaway, a short-handed opportunity, two twoon- ones that he stopped in the backside. Um and a couple of them in the third period where the ABS were I wouldn’t say they were playing with their food. I just don’t think that the ABS had their best this evening. Utah’s a good team. I picked them to make the playoffs in our preseason or our NHL season preview after game one uh against the Kings. It’s a good team. I don’t think the ABS brought their best, but Wedgewood did. Well, hey, you you know I was a little low on the King. Shout out to them last night. They go into Vegas. They come back. They win that thing in overtime. What? Six to five, I believe. Um, okay. So, I can do some math here. A 960 save percentage and a 969 save percentage um in his in each of his first two games. Add that up, divide it by two. 964 a half. Okay. Uh, Sergey Babrovski has two starts under his belt. Uh, he’s 2 and 0. He has a 923 save percentage, a 151 goals against. Scotty is a one on the goals against. He’s the best goalender in the NHL right now. He’s the best goalender in the NHL. What a trade, too. Think about the trade. Um, acquiring him from Nashville in the early portions of last season for Eustace onin and a sixthround pick. Screw that sixth round pick. that sixth round pick can go all the way to uh wherever. I want to say something bad, but I’m not going to say it. Okay. Umus. Yes. Uh Usus Oninan is backing up Jussi Sars who had a very good start for Nashville tonight as they beat Columbus 2 to1. Um and Eustace that’s a good that’s a good situation for him. uh young Finnish goalender who I liked, you liked, but he gets to play behind Jussi Sorrowos who’s a more veteran finish goalender. You got the two fins. He gets to learn, he gets to marinate, he gets to develop under a more veteran Finn. And the ABS were win now. They needed a win now goalender. Really more of a backup, a very good an excellent backup in Scott Wedgewood. But youus on couldn’t do this. I mean, because he’s not a vet like Scott Wedgewood. He’s not proven. He’s not tried. He’s not tested. He’s not true. So when a Mackenzie Blackwood is hurt, you can throw Scott Wedgewood in there and you get pretty damn good goalending. Yeah, it’s it is a it’s something that Jared Bednar and this Avalanche team have not really had since Pavl Francos was on this team was the ability to just go, “Oh, we’re going to be just fine if this guy can’t play or if he’s going through a rough stretch. You don’t have to worry about um running guys out there for 70 games.” And it’s not what it doesn’t happen in the NHL anymore. Like there’s so many more 1A1B scenarios than there are these Marty Brod guys who go out and start 72 games. Um I I think it allows you to ease Blackwood back in. Like what happens if you have the start that you did last year, right? I I you know tweeted out the the first game where they have the the eight goals let in. Yes, there was an empty netter against Vegas, but um they famously lost what four straight to start last year and all of it was because of bad goalending. What if they had the same start this year? If Wedgewood goes in for the first two games, LA pounds him for six goals, then you come back home against Utah and he lets in a couple of squeaky ones and instead of a 2-1 win where your goalender stars, it’s a 3-2 loss where you go, well, he didn’t play well, but look at those two goals that happen from below the goal line. Are you kidding me? Then you start to rush Mackenzie Blackwood in and you have to worry about, well, is this injury going to pop around in December, in January? Is this injury going to keep him away from competing for a team Canada goalending slot? Having Wedgewood here allows you to go, I don’t have to rush him back. Do I need to have him against Dallas? Dallas damn good hockey team, don’t get me wrong. Beat him against Dallas. And Wedgewood’s a former star and I love the revenge games. I love any and Wedgwood’s played for several teams, Dallas being one of them. I love the revenge factor. I love when a guy can go um try to scorn one of his former teams. And I mean, the way he’s played in these first two starts and look, here’s the thing. Overall, McKenzie Blackwood has the tools. He’s in the prime of his career. Wedgie’s a little older than than McKenzie. Um Blackwood has the profile. he he can be and has shown and really going back to that final season he had with the Sharks and certainly last year with the ABS as he came into his own in those last two years that he can be a bonafide one. Um so I’m not saying that Scott Wedgewood supplants Mackenzie Blackwood by any sense, but you’re right, you don’t have to rush him back and sometimes you just go with the hot hand. And right now, Scott Wedgewood is the hot hand. And given that Blackwood is coming back from injury, there’s not a doubt in my mind. It’s an easy decision. Scott Wedgwood is starting on Saturday night against the Dallas Stars. I don’t think Black maybe Blackwood would have been ready to go. Even if he would have been, you still just go with the hot hand. He might not be. He’s probably not ready to go. No matter the scenario, he’s a former star. He’s been lights out. And I mean, lights out, excellent in his first two starts. He’s your starter on Saturday night in whatever the scenario is. And I love Mackenzie Blackwood. He’s the one. When he comes back and he’s healthy and he’s ready, this is Blackwood’s job. But Wedgewood’s starting on Saturday night no matter what. Yeah, you can convince me of that. Uh, for sure. We’ll get back into Wedgewood. We’ll hear from him uh in just a couple of seconds as we get uh his postgame interview in the locker room loaded up here. Uh, but let’s go to the first goal of the game. And it’s funny, it’s uh, it’s game two of the season, and the ABS might not score a prettier goal than they did earlier on in this one. Ross Colton, bang bang play, a gorgeous crosslay, saucer pass from Victor Olivesson. The little one-touch back from Jack Drury. It was a gorgeous zone entry. Colton doesn’t miss. Starts the abs off hot. The building absolutely erupts. It wasn’t nearly as big as the uh the applause that they gave for Gabriel Landiskog when he was introduced at player intros prior to as they do for every home opener. The uh the big fanfare of starting the season. Landiskog got the biggest cheer of the night. But holy smokes was that a cool goal. Hey uh credit to Sam Gerard for the boards pass um through the neutral zone to Victor Olivesson. What a sauce pass from Victor Olivesson. You know that’s playmaking right there. And we saw his wrist shot unleashed a little later in the game where he missed wide, hit the end boards and it man had a good sound to it. He’s got a hell of a shot to him, but what a sauce pass. And sometimes, you know what’s been one of the criticisms of Colorado? It’s been overpassing. Well, yes, sometimes they overpass, but sometimes that’s how you set yourself up for a better look is when you give that extra pass because the goalender in this case Carella is, you know, anticipating one thing. He’s anticipating, you know, he’s first of all, he’s thinking Olivesson might shoot that thing right away because he’s got the shot, but Olivesson goes sauce to Jack Drury and now he’s thinking that’s cross. Now I got to now I got to account for Drury. Now I got to move uh left to right. Okay. But Drury makes the extra pass and it creates space for Ross Colton. This is an instance where the overpassing, the extra passing. Um this is why it actually can be and and I think largely is a good thing. I know the ABS get criticized for it, but it really can create those better looks. It really does. It gets the goalender moving that extra beat. And Ross Colton, man, he had a great start last year. He had a great start last year. You know, I love that player when he came over from Tampa. loved him with his time with the Lightning. Um, great. I mean, that third line, the third line was the best line for Colorado through at least two periods. I agree. I I wonder whether or not the like if Colton doesn’t get injured, does he play better in the postseason? I know I know the injury and the postseason are so far removed from one another, right? like Colton as you mentioned goes nutso through his first 20 games of the season or first handful of games of the season when he scored nine goals. I think it was through 20 games. Um gets injured longer term injury and he just was never the same type of flashy player that we saw in October and early November until that injury happened. I I wonder if he doesn’t get injured. Is he going to score 40 goals that season? No, he’s not. But if he doesn’t get injured, does he kind of continue the consistency and then the playoffs come around and instead of nobody scoring, well, at least Ross Colton pops in a goal or two in a really big situation and you get past Dallas. Awesome goal. Was totally fine with the extra pass. Um, try and find a way to take all of the guesswork out of scoring a goal. And if that means uh you get to make one extra one touch, I’m okay with that. Now, on the power play, it can get a little bit frustrating. I think the ABS are still they’re still tinkering around. There’s still a little bit more movement um than there was last year certainly with Dave Hackall taking it over. They scored another power play goal. So I I know they’re not scoring all the time and there’s a few power plays in there where the ones don’t really get anything going spring, but two games, two power play goals, you’re running at what 20% right now. I think they’re they’re two of 10. I’m okay with it to start. Um, I just want to say one more thing about Ross Colton in particular in the third line overall. Um, look, Ross when he started with the ABS and when he was playing with Tampa as a center. He’s a center, but now he’s playing wing and that really started when they uh trade well, first of all, Ross had to play top six to start last year because they were so banged up. Um, but then they trade for Charlie Coyle. Ross is your wing on the third line and he stays on the wing now and they’ve elevated Jack Drury and that’s a that’s a savvy play from Jack Drury to understand where Ross is and to know that he can make that extra touch and Jack’s been great in the faceoff circle as well. I like Ross on the wing. I think he actually is I I think he can thrive on the wing. I think that that actually might be more of his area than 3C. So, it’s so important that Jack Drury can really assume that 3C role and so far through two games. I mean, I talk about his faceoff numbers and I mean, they’re great. And um you know, the little setup to Ross, I mean, if and if Jack can do that, then I think Ross Ross is their best bottom six player. He’s best player on that third line, therefore the best player in the bottom six. Ross Coloulton is the guy who needs to eat. I think Olivesson’s going to score goals because that’s what he does. But overall, like total skill set off offensively, Ross Colton is their best third line or their best bottom six, best third line player. Yeah, I I think you hit that spot on. Maybe if Olivesson is scoring at a clip where he’s close to 30 goals, you can make the argument for Olivesson. Colton is paid like the best player in the bottom six, but he needs to play to that clip. Um, do I love what Logan O’ Conor brings to the table? Yes, but he doesn’t have the same offensive upside that a that a Ross Colton does. Um, you brought him here for his postseason experience coming over from Tampa Bay. He just needs to stay healthy. I I thought because of that price point, I go, you have to force him into center, right? Like, if he’s going to make 4 million and only play in the bottom six, then maybe float in the middle six, like he gets a few minutes with the twos. if there’s an injury or a suspension or someone’s not playing well, I I guess I can be okay with that. Um, that’s the reason why I was like, okay, Ross Colton is the middle of your third line because you want to keep Jack Drury, Logan O’ Conor, and Parker Kelly together where you kind you kind of have two centermen there. Like Parker Kelly and Jack Drury are are the same guy. Um, if you can keep Parker Kelly as the the center of your fourth line for now, um, you kind of cross the Logan Oconor bridge when you get to it. And that’s a that’s a rich person problem for the ABS. Yeah, Jack Drury tonight won wins 15 faceoffs. He’s a freak. 15 only lost six 71.4% tonight of out of 21 faceoffs. That’s That’s elite. And the nice assist. All right, let’s talk about the power play. Let’s talk about the power play. You said it, Raj, two for 10. They, you know, Nature scored quick off a draw and I think their fourth and final power play of the Kings game there in the third period a couple nights ago. Tonight it was one of their later power plays as well. In the third period of this game, uh Nathan McKinnon scores, but but Raj, what was the difference? There was one difference on this and this was the only of their 10 power plays. This is the one. This is the one where Gabe Landiskog was out there to start the power play with PP1. PP one. Um, and who should be netfront on Nathan McKinnon’s goal to create the screen in front of ALA? Well, it’s Gabe Landiskog. Um, now they had at least one power play after that and I think it was just one. Uh, they did not put Landisk out there with power play one. I was okay with the looks on the final power play though. I I thought they moved the puck well in the final power play. I I out of the 10 power plays that they’ve had this year, they have scored on two of them. Now, one was very quick. The other one was a minute in, right? I think the McKinnon goal was was somewhere near a minute in. It was essentially a rush goal. Uh you just get into the zone. Mar is able to get out of the corner and find McKinnon dashing in there after or sorry Nas gets the zone entry. Macar’s in the corner. Um I think I think half of their power plays have looked good. Right. You’ve got goals on 20% of them. I think five of the 10 you’ve gotten decent looks at and five of the 10 you haven’t. Well, here here’s what I find so interesting about how they have constructed this power play. under Dave Hacktol. And I think it’s also due to their personnel. And and and I want to say one of the I I think the reason you you it took until I think the ninth power play of the year. And so they’re what one of eight to that point um to see Landiskog out there with power play one. And and I talked about this on the last show that you know I’d love to see him netfront on power play one. Well, I think the reason that it took until the ninth power play was that they’re easing this guy in. They’re easing him in. Let’s see. Against the Kings, Landis Gogg played, let me go back to the box score because I had the team stats up here. Landisk, it was something 11 something. He played 1112, just 11 minutes and 12 seconds against the Kings. Uh, tonight against the Mammoth, a little bit more. Uh, he had 90 seconds of power play time. Gabe Landiskog plays 14 minutes 23 seconds. So, a little bit of an increase. That’s that’s that’s what I like to see right there. Um, but granted, I want them to take it as, you know, as necessary, slow if necessary, and it seems necessary. Um, and they didn’t have him out there for their final power play be because they don’t want to gas this dude out. They don’t want to do more with him than they than they have to in games one and two. Games one and two of an 82 game season. This is a build. I do think that ultimately they need him netfront because Raj, here’s what I’m I’m noticing with their power play. Okay, it’s like a box in one. It’s a square. It’s um maybe Nas is down low left, McKinnon is upright high. Those two can switch. I’ve seen them switch. You have Macar on the high right side. You have Nelson low left side. You have Lechanin in the middle. You don’t really have they’re kind of floating nature towards the net a little bit, but Nas is a little timid in terms of being that big physical body. Allah Alandiskog or even a Nushkin who are just working working netfront pushing bodies just getting position. Lechinan can do that but he’s undersized. He’s like 5’8 510 somewhere in there. He’s much more suited to be in that bumper position. I think part of the reason we’ve seen the power play be a little stagnant is a lack of a netfront presence. I really a true netfront presence. I I’m cool with Lannis Gogg being on that top unit. I believe if you want to take Lechin out of there, you can utilize Landis Gogg and the bumper role that you that you were mentioning. If you’re looking at the power play as a box plus one, the bumpers in the middle to allow the two top players uh on the flanks to what it essentially is, it’s a safety valve. Is if what you saw out of LA and Utah tonight is when you go high hard pressure, you need to be able to relieve the puck and it just doesn’t have to go to the corners every time because if you go to the corners, you’re able to very clearly push the pressure out as a defensive unit. What the bumper allows you to do is get the puck to the middle of the ice, a dangerous part of the ice, so that the defense then has to collapse rather than pushing out and keeping the puck to cold zones. Landis God can be that guy. Um, I think the power play, what you saw tonight, they’re going to be successful when they score on rushes. They will be a rush power play team or scoring off of win the faceoff, set up a play, get Mar moving left to right, and then snapping a puck. Um, I don’t think they’re going to be the type of team that snaps pucks around. Like if you look at the Tampa Bay power play, right, when Coutur and Point are whipping pucks around with Victor Hedman, they can score from a standstill. I think Colorado has to score moving downhill. Um, and if that means that Landiskog isn’t really touching the puck, but he’s just occupying space, I’m cool with that. Throw Lean in on the second power play. No. See, here’s here’s the tricky thing to me is I like Lechanin out there. I like Lechanin in the middle bumper. He’s perfect in that role. That role is for those slot one-times. Um where McKinnon on the left wing or and I like Nelson on the right wing. I I think that’s the right move. I I talked last season about who’s going to be that left-handed shot on the right side for the one-timers. And not just one-timers, you know, for the left-handed shot on the right side or McKinnon the right-handed shot on the left side. Yeah, they can one-time towards that, but they can also push it to the middle of the ice. They can fake their one-times and push it to the middle. That’s where Lechin is so good. Hell, Ross Colton was very good in that role in the early portions last season. I like Lechanin in that role. I like Ross Colton if necessary in that role. But what the ABS had done in years past is they’d have their bumper position, whether it’s Lechin or Colton in the middle, but they’d have either Gabe or Val even deeper, just working netfront. I like Marty Nous. He brings so much to the table and he can be a floater, but I think what they’re missing right now is that big physical body who is working and I want the bumper behind him. I want two. I want a big forward close to net, close to the crease, and I want Lechin uh you know, a few feet behind him in that bumper position. I don’t need anybody else on the left side with Nathan McKinnon. Yeah, you want him to you want him to run an umbrella more than a box plus one right now. That’s essentially what you’d be running. You allow Mar to work up top. Yes. And you play pitch and catch with McKinnon with a relieve bumper up top in the middle of the circles and Landiskogg net front and then you have another release valve in the corner in Marty Nes. You want them to run an umbrella. I’m here’s my thing, man. When if if when Landiskog is ready to go, the way I see it, the way I’m envisioning what I want, and that’s just what I want, okay? That’s just what I want. I’m taking natures off of power play one. Really? Yes. I’m going McKinnon leftwing. Too good of a shot. Who? I know he does. I know he does. But as a right-handed shot, you have Nate. Like this is the pro. Like Nate’s that role. McKinnon is playing the role that if you didn’t have Nathan McKinnon, yeah, I want Marty Nate on that left wing, but you have Nate. It’s tough. Like it’s, you know. So for power play two, hell, you got in my world, you got Marty Nas in the McKinnon role. Power play two though, you’re getting you get 32 seconds. I know. I know. That’s the thing. Power play two is so overrated. It’s nothing. No, it in this system, you get Yeah, you’re lucky to get 25 30 seconds of actual power play time. And if it’s in the zone, good for you. Most of the time it is the the power play one unit has spent a minute and 15 to a minute and 30. A puck gets sent down and then you’ve got 30 seconds left and you have to go 200 feet down the other side of the ice, man. Um DMax join us here. Let’s get him live uh from Ball Arena. DMac, what’s up, brother? Darren Mcat, can you hear me? This is Hey, what’s up guys? We’re back. Hey, welcome back. We have the same technical issues we had before where I think you can see me. Darren, you look great. So, I’ll just tell you what Jared Bednar had to say and uh you can say goodbye to me. But uh uh Benzy said um God bless technology by the way. But uh Benzy said that they didn’t have the jump that that he really wanted to see. Um he said without um Wedgie, he didn’t say Wedgie, but the crowd was chanting Wedgie. uh without Wedgewood, we don’t have a chance in this one. He doesn’t want to lean too much on Wedgewood or frankly any goalie. But it was funny how he put it like we’re not paying one guy in goal $10 million, meaning like we’re splitting it up. So we expect a lot out of both dudes and good nice two performances by uh Wedgewood tonight. The Wedgie chant was alive. Wedgewood said that he’s heard it before and he likes it. He laughed at it because of all the chance to have a name, hearing wedgie, wedgie, wedgie is about as dopey as it gets. So, uh, it was a good win, but to to not have as much jump as Utah is, you know, I mean, concerning aside from it’s game two and who cares? Uh, and they got the two to one win. So, I think Betsy would have liked to seen them play a little bit better. Good to see Jack Drury in the mix and Ross Coulson was happy to be a contributor as well. Nathan McKinnon gets his first goal of the season and we’re off and running here folks. Um I don’t think this is going to be the most memorable of game one openers, but they win and that’s all that matters. So um with our lousy internet, but uh a nice spirit and jump in our step. Good news here from Avalanche Land on uh on game number two and opening night. We’ll see you back here on Saturday for Mo Ranton’s return again again again as we hearken back to that horrible third period that eliminated the Avalanche from the playoffs last year. Boys, take it easy. Demac live from Ball Arena and the horrible potato router internet that’s going on over there. Um, yeah. I agree with Bedsy, man. They were they were lackluster tonight. Again, I think Utah is a sneaky could make the playoffs team. I I definitely think they have a good enough team. I think they are scrappy enough. I think they play physical enough. I think Carol Vegela is without a doubt good enough to get them to an eight seed. Now, certain things have to bounce their way. Like Minnesota has to have a bad year. There only have to be three teams out of Pacific that make the playoffs this season. Like, they have to have bounces go their way. So, I don’t think like like beating Utah 2-1 at home and looking not your best is not the same as beating the Arizona Coyotes like three years ago. In the same fashion, this is a better team. They’ve spent money. They are veteran. I think Clayton Keller’s taken the next spot. I love Dylan Gther as well. Um, this is a good scrappy hockey team. This is not a a seller dweller team that is expecting to draft Gavin McKenna in next year’s entry draft. Yeah. Yeah. Added Male Sergeev from the Lightning. Good big defenseman uh a couple years ago. They did that with intention knowing that they had a group that uh was on the verge of competing, probably not winning a cup, but competing and and that and that would be a win for them if they could if they could make the playoffs. And they absolutely could. They absolutely could get one of those wild card spots. Put me back on the screen. I I something popped up on the screen. I hit it. I don’t know. I’m I’m trying to figure out how to get my video clips up on here. It’s gone away now that I’m working on my iPad right now instead of my like my work computer is actually back at altitude and it’s not here at home because people need some of the stuff that I utilize. So, I’m working on my iPad and I can’t use all of the videos that are on my iPad right now of like Scott Wedgewood speaking to the media because it’s not an MP4. Um, that’s the reason why I’m having some technical uh issues there. But once I get my work computer back, we will be in business. Hell, I cannot wait. Once once I once I’m off of maternity or paternity, parental leave, we’re we’re in business. Paternity. Um, that’s a word. You gave birth. You gave birth to a baby, Raj. I did not give birth. I didn’t I didn’t do a damn thing, man. I sat back and had a damn thing. Um, hold on. I didn’t I didn’t talk about this. We haven’t talked about my Taco Bell 50K. We don’t have to talk about You guys didn’t know about this. Mark Springer, tell the people what you did last weekend because in my opinion, it’s the most impressive athletic feat that anyone employed by Altitude Sports, radio or television, has pulled off. I include Tyler Columbus winning Super Bowl 50. I include the 1984 gold medal that Chris Marlo got in beach volleyball. I include now Eric Johnson was on. Yeah, I was going to say Eric Johnson and dude, okay, we had Eric Johnson on We had him on earlier this week. He’s done a couple interviews, but he was in like player Eric Johnson mode. He was great. Like his interviews are so good, but he made his debut as a color commentator tonight and he was in I I could tell he was in color commentator mode all day. I can tell this because um and I’m sure he had some nerves because this is a different beast, Raj being in the media talking into these microphones. This is a different beast. Welcome to the life, Eric. Um, but I asked Connor, Connor McGee, I was like, “Hey, dude. Can you come on with Nate and Andy, final segment of the show?” And he was like, “Hey, yeah, uh, Eric Johnson’s with us.” And I had seen that, but I kind of forgot for some reason. And he was like, “Uh, yeah, EJ can come on, too.” I was like, “Great. Awesome.” So, Connor and Eric come on, dude. Eric was hilarious. Yeah, I I’m not shocked at all. This is He’s so built for He’s built to be on television, man. Like he is he is the TNT NHL crew cut from a cloth. Like if they want another dude to cut it up on that NHL on TNT show, Eric Johnson should be the guy. He’s so good. Yeah, he could do NHL on TNT. He could be right next to In fact, he would be a star. Like an absolute like you see like Henrik Lungquist who’s good. Anson Carter. We’ve had Anen on our show. He’s good. I’m not trying to throw salt on these guys. Eric Johnson is witty as dude. He is hilarious. Some of the liners he threw out there was like, godamn Turner still kicking. If I’m Ted Turner, I’m hiring that guy tomorrow. Um, so yes, and I’ll I’ll throw Eric Johnson into the mix. His Stanley Cup championship with the Avalanche. None of those come close to what Mark Springer did last weekend. Yeah, I ran well it was a 30 just over 30 mile ultramarathon. An 50k um ultra marathon and I I’ll be honest, I ran I I mean at least 20 miles. It wasn’t the full 30. I did have to walk some of it, but that was a beast, dude. I was an absolute Hold on. I didn’t know I didn’t know this about you. Are you like an avid long-distance runner? No. I mean, I run, but I’m not avid. And that’s So, so take away take away the ultramarathon. What is the What’s the longest stretch of mileage that you would do just on a on a random Thursday? Longest would be five to six miles. Okay. At at the most. And you’re not you’re not humming. You’re there’s there’s a few miles in there where you’re moving like you’re not buzzing the whole time. I’m not in sprinting this thing. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So, you without training ran an ultramarathon in which you have to guzzle down chalupas the whole time. Yeah, I sure did. I sure did. Um, it sucked. But athletic feat that anyone has done at altitude and you can’t come close to it. Yeah. I mean, I essentially got off my couch and did it. Um, not I mean I work out and exercise but not I did not train how you should have trained. I’ll put I’ll put it to you that way. Um um yeah it dude I was dead. I was dead but I feel great now. And it’s like in retrospect it was fun. It was fun as hell in retrospect but back half of that thing like I didn’t want to be there. Well back half. What the what back half are you talking about? I’m sure both of them weren’t doing so great. Um, okay. Put that out there. We’ll get back to the ABS, Gabe. I again, I had to put it out there. Unbelievable that you just ran an ultramarathon and you’re checking Twitter. Like, I threw it out there. I wanted you to eat a Doritos Locos Fiery Taco and you did it the next stop. I a man of the people, Mark Springer. I am I am so proud of you. I almost want to do it with you next year, dude. You should. You should. You can do it. I mean, it would suck, but you you’re you’re an athlete. You could absolutely do it. I run, but I don’t run ultramarathons. But no, nor do I. But you know, you got 11 hours to complete it. That’s the key. Dang, man. Dang. It’s too good. All right. But, you know, the reason I was able to, you know, check and see you suggested Doritos Locos Taco. You know, thank God for the breaks. Like the taco like, yeah, I had to eat a copious amount of Taco Bell, but they it gave me breaks when I would stop at the Taco Bell. I was like, “Thank God, a break so I could check my phone and also just breathe.” Um, yeah, we’ve talked Wedgie, we’ve talked power play, uh, we’ve talked to McKinnon, we’ve talked to Mar who I still think Mar’s fighting the puck a touch right now. Um, Wedgewood obviously phenomenal game. Scott Wedgewood won them this game. He did and that’s what DMac told us, you know, that Jared Bedar said and of course, spot on. Um, yeah, man. Okay. Top six was not the same as game one. It was a little sleepier. Maybe we can kind of try to guess or assess why that was the case. I will say this as the I thought and I’m going to talk so much about Gabe Landiskog to start this season as as as the as the season goes on. First of all, I’m just fascinated with his comeback story. Um, I mean, it’s an amazing story and I just think he’s so there’s a reason they missed him. They won a cup since he’s been out and it’s like this isn’t just some random guy. This is their captain and a great player when he’s right. And I thought as this game went on, he drew two penalties, two trips. He forced a turnover around the neutral zone around the defensive zone blue line. He forced a turnover, blocked a shot with his skate late in this game and was netfront when they gave him his first crack on PP1. I thought everyone else in the top six was just kind of there, but I thought that Gabe got better as this game went on and showed me something. I believe you’re getting 70 games out of him, man. I think you’re getting 70 full. I think he’s going to wear the C for Sweden when they take the ice in Italy for the Winter Olympics. Now, there’s a lot of dudes who could wear that C. Like a lot of dudes on Sweden that are uh entrenched veterans. Victor Hedman can certainly wear a captain’s C. Mik Zenad maybe could have something like that, but I think that they’re going to give it to Gabe. Dude, he’s going to I I think he’s going to stay healthy. They’re going to slowly ease him back in. He’s going to play the same type of hockey that he’s always played. Do I think he’s going to score 65 points this year? No. I think he’s going to be in the 45 to 55 range and that’s going to be more than enough because he’s going to do all the little things right that you just mentioned. He’s going to draw penalties. He’s going to he’s going to factor in on a bunch of goals because he’s netfront and he’s a screen and he’s not going to show up on that score sheet, right? You’re going to have the type of goal that Nathan McKinnon scored today where it is assisted by Kale Mar and Martin Nas, but Gabe doesn’t show up on the stat sheet there. He’ll have a ton of those goals, which is why I think his plus minus will end up being pretty good. Um, I’d like to see the second line start to click a little bit more offensively, though. I think part of that is, you know, Gabe played under 12 minutes, 11 to 12 minutes in in game one and and, you know, as as they’re managing. So, as Gabe goes, that second line goes. And, um, I think another thing, too, now I want to talk about the top line because it’s very good in game one. Well, Marty Nas had a great game. And here tonight, look, Nas had a play in the early portions, earlier first half of this game. He was on a power play where he went for the wraparound. Big head of steam down the right hand side, went for the wraparound tuck, kind of lost his edge a little bit. And honestly, good play by Ian Cole, former ABS defenseman to kind of get into that crease and help out who was I think just a tick late. I thought it was there for NASA if maybe he keeps his edge just a little more, but I do think Cole kind of closed that thing off. Um, look, Nate just has the speed is a good play. Other than that, that was the only and that was on the power play. That was the only topline play that even stood out to me at all in this game. It wasn’t a big Nathan. I mean, Nathan McKinnon scores the game-winning goal on the power play, but in terms of five on five and, you know, that head of steam, Nate, like here comes the Bulldog. It wasn’t there tonight. I don’t know. I this and part of this Raj I think that this there is also a conversation here about the Marty N’s contract extension and you said you said let’s see what Kyle Connor gets. We just found out today he got eight years $96 million from the Winnipeg Jets. Uh it’s the Miko He got the Miko Rantinon deal. He’s going to get 12 per. Um, look man, how close to $12 million do you want to give Marty Nes? Because the closer to 12 you’re giving him, and I really like Marty Nes. I liked the return they got from Mo. I think Nes is a good player, but the closer to 12 you pay him, it really kind of does become Why don’t you just keep Mo? Well, you couldn’t have. Miko Rantin turned down those offers. He did not. You’re right. He got He got less than he was. Rantin had to sign. People forget about this. Rantin had to be told no by three teams. Not one, not two, three teams. He had to be told, “We’re not giving you the contract. Colorado, we’re not trading for you because we know that you don’t want the contract.” Toronto and Carolina didn’t want to pay it for him. three. There were three teams that told him, “We’re not paying you the money that you and your agent think you are worth.” And then when he finally got traded back to Dallas, he realized, “My market value isn’t as high as I think it was.” That that’s the reason why that’s the reason why the Ranson thing is happening right now. He’s an amazing player. He had two points tonight. Or maybe he had more. Dallas ended up winning. I know he scored the opening goal for Dallas tonight. Kyle Connor fresh off of his 12 12 million per deal hattick tonight in a losing effort 5-4. Dallas tried to blow a five one lead this evening in the third period. They didn’t. They hold on 5-4. They end up winning that game against Winnipeg. Um 12 feels like you lost because that’s what Mo ended up getting. Is Mo 12 or is he 12 and a half in Dallas? I think he’s 12 flat. But let me uh con confirm this. It it would make me feel as though you ended up losing that situation. Yeah. Yeah. 12. It’s the both Kyle Connor and Mo Ranson and signed the exact same deal. Eight years, 96 million. I’d like to put him at 1175. But I don’t I I think it’s going to be 12. It’s just the way that the cap is exploding right now. It is. That’s another part of this crazy because like who are you in a vacuum? Who Who are you taking? Miko Rantin or Kyle Connor? Rantin. I’m taking Ranton in. And I know, like you said, Kyle Connor had a very good one, one of his one of his hat-tick goals tonight was a short-handed goal. He’s a he’s a great player. Um, Mo’s better, but I think Connor gets eight by n. He gets Connor gets the same deal that Mo got because of market inflation just a few months later. And I think Kira Capriovv kind of set that tone. And I think that there there is this idea of the cap number going up. Although Raj, it’s not going up that much, right? I mean, it’s going up, but it’s not like skyrocketing. And I know it’s going to go up year-over-year, but still not by this um crazy margin that, you know, warrants me giving Carol Capri off $17 million per year, whatever. But I think that that kind of sets the tone of now everyone wants a little more. And so I’m with you. I’m taking Mo over Kyle Connor. But they get the same deal because Connor signs just a few months later when the market just went a little crazy. And we could see this same thing with Marty Nous to the point where he’s going to get some money where, you know, I like the Mo deal overall when you look at everything. But if you’re paying and I understand what you said like that’s this is one of those weird like catch 22s like Mo wanted 14, couldn’t get it, had to settle for 12, right? Turns out that like maybe it would have been the deal. Like they could have just done it here. They would have done it here. Now you wouldn’t have had Jack Drury here, which and and man, we talked about his faceoff numbers and the the primary assist. Great point. You would not have had the ability to bring in Brock Nelson and then extend him in the off season, right? you would have had to have hoped that he got to market and then essentially probably overpaid a little bit more for him at market. Now, those things would have happened, but what we heralded during the trade was they will now save money so they can go out and get more players. If he signs the same contract, you can’t I and I know the I know the environment is now different. The ecosystem around the salary cap is now different from when Miko was traded and it’s continuing to rise exponentially. We live in, you know, 105 110 cap world now as we expand this out into the future. You I don’t think you get to make that argument anymore in terms of like, hey, you won the trade, right? If you signed to the same exact deal, that goes off the table and then it just becomes about who produces. Of course, of course, of course. But now just in terms of I think that the ABS have to be careful with the number they give Nisp by 11. I’d sign it today. 8 by 11 right now. Right now I do it right now. He’s going to score 100 points this year. He’s going to lead the ABS in goals and he’s going to score 100 points. If you lead a cup contender in goals and you score 100 points, you’re worth that money. I know he scored two goals in game one and I really like him. He’s got three points in two games. And remember remember Raj, it was a it was a bold prediction of yours. Bold that he would get to 100. And look, can he do it? Yes, he can. Man, I’d love 10. I’d love to max out at 10. I don’t think we’re anywhere I don’t think you’re any anywhere near 10. I think if you bring 10 to Nas’ camp, they spit on it. I this is tricky. I want to be there with you, but I I can’t say that’s going to happen. I mean, there’s obviously a reason he hasn’t signed the deal yet. Um he’s betting he’s betting on himself. And hey, game one was and this is the unfortunate thing like like man, there’s a business to this, right? Um and the cap is so important. These margins are so thin. What they’re going to Raj, what they’re going to have to pay Kale Mar in two years. Yeah. Whatever he wants. Does he want 20? Sure. be my guest. You can have 20. Does he McDavid this thing in any sort of way? See, now the different the difference between him and McDavid is this. Kale’s got K smithy in a Stanley Cup. McDavid I took 126 because he’s going he he looked at Edmonton and went fix this over the next three years, right? This year and the two years of the extension or I’m leaving. I’m doing my part to make sure that you can’t. But he could have just left. He could have just left at the end of the season. Why would you leave? Right. But why? What he what he’s doing is he’s saying I am doing my part just to say that because everyone says that Edmonton doesn’t have the team around them and that is the reason why they haven’t won. You don’t have the goalending. You don’t have the depth. McDavid is going fix this. This is your last chance or I’m leaving two years from now because I’ve given you the the cap leeway. The reason why he’s doing that is because he wants to win a cup already. But but if he view because look again, yes, do the Oilers have flaws? Yes. But they’ve made two straight cup finals. That’s nothing to sneeze at by any means. In true business theory, McDavid should not have signed that little two-year bridge extension when Kier Capri off just got $17 million. Conor McDavid should have looked at that. Now, okay, what team was going to give him 18, 19, 20? I would give it any team in the league. But yes, and business-wise, he should have done that. Well, also, three years from now, Conor McDavid will get whatever dollar amount he wants, but it will still it’ll be But he’s sacrificed two. Those were two years of he just sacrificed like $14 million. Yeah. To try and win. Yes, he did. Um, no, you’re right. He will get his, but it will never be as much as it could have been like over time. Yeah. Yeah. I I don’t think he cares about the time thing. like they they the McDavid camp knows that three years from now when it’s time to sell his prized cow, everybody in the county will come bearing gifts and frankincense and myrr and housing. Like it it’s going to happen. But so but so what Conor McDavid did though is e even though Edmonton’s imperfect again, they made two straight cup finals and he knows because we talked about the teams that like may I don’t even know. I haven’t even really looked, but it would be something like a Detroit. Maybe not Detroit, but something in that ballpark. Okay. Um, yeah, you don’t have dryidle next to you. You don’t have some of the other good skaters. You know, there’s a goalending issue with Edmonton. Sure, Edmonton gives him the best chance to win. And also he knows that if he’s going to charge Edmonton or a team where he wants to win on se north of $17 million going with Capri off as the baseline that that kills your cap and now you can’t really win. So what Conor McDavid did it was a move based on winning. That’s what he did. Yeah, it was a big dick move. It was an awesome winning mentality move. I tweeted out. It’s one of my favorite things that any player in the NHL has ever. It is. It’s the most Cydney Crosby move that has ever been made in the league. Not by Sydney Crosby. Sure, it is. And dude, and do do we only see this in the NHL? I don’t see this in any other sport. I don’t see this in any other sport where a player would do something like this. Dude, there’s not there’s not many taking those cuts, dude. Um, now what it does to get back to Kale, what it does is it kind of throws down a flag of I’m the best player in the world, if not one of the top three between Nate and Kale and Conor McDavid. McDavid throws down his flag and he goes, I’m willing to give up money. Now, it kind of opens up the door for you to look at your superstars and go, if he can do it, so can you. That’s kind of exactly where I was getting at with Kale Mar because look, in theory, Kale and I, let me just say this. I wouldn’t begrudge whatever decision he wants to make. He’s earned it. Okay, I could see him making the cut though. He’s that type of guy. If there was anyone with that makeup, that personality makeup, that winning mentality, Kale fits that bill. Um because yeah, Kale could go if Capri off just got 17. Even as a defenseman, Kale could go get at least 17. Every team in the league would pay him 20 a year if he was on market right now. Yes. Um, so I’m just saying let’s allow for the possibility that Kale doesn’t pull a Conor McDavid and he tries to get his and the Avalanche say, “Well, we’re we cannot let you leave because you’re a first ballot hall of famer, one of the faces, two faces of our franchise. We let Mo walk with the idea that we cannot lose. like this team has to have Nathan McKinnon and Kale Mar and let’s say again Kale does not do what Connor did and Kale wants his and now the ABS have to pay him $20 million. Now all of a sudden paying Marty Nius $11 million is rougher. This is the game. There’s a game of chicken going on here and it’s fascinating and I don’t quite know the answer. I’ll be honest. That’s it’s going to be a wild off season as we wrap this thing up with Marty Nishious. The question is if you don’t sign him, what do you do? Because now you’re back in the Mico Rantin thing, right? You’re you’re back in the do you have to trade this guy? And guess who’s not going to bring in the type of return that you got last year. Marty Nate just doesn’t bring in the same type of Gabland or of Miko Ranson in return. So, you are kind of against a hard place where you go, well, we kind of already played our hand. We’ve done this before and now teams will be waiting and just saying test us like you you want that huge package that you got from Carolina. We’re not going to do it this time. So, it’s either you sign the guy or you try and trade him again or you try and sign a free agent and you let him walk. Like, who’s what? Look at the free agency crop. If you let him walk, who are you going to spend that money on? No. Spend that money on our Timmy Paneran. See, and is there there there’s a game of chicken? Kempe, there’s a game of chicken within the game of chicken. Here’s what’s going on with Nous and the ABS right now. Nas is betting on himself and he scores two goals and his agent is probably like, “Hell yeah. We’re we’re doing it. Here’s 40 goals. The ABS are they want Marty Nes to play well. But here’s Dude, this is going to sound terrible. But I speak my mind. Okay. The ABS want Nas to play well. They don’t want him to play too well. You know what I’m saying? Play well. Don’t They want him to play well. They don’t want him to produce. They want him to play at a $10 million clip. They don’t want him to play at an 11 million clip. And let’s be comp like here’s the thing. I think that that’s what Nes Nes is a very good player. I want him on this team. He fits, man. The business side is insane. It’s insane. You know where this gets fixed is if Kale does take a discount and he doesn’t just go, I want my huge contract. I want to break the bank. And he does I’m not saying he does McDavid stuff, right? Because like McDavid kind of left like seven million on the table per year. Per year. Yeah. um for the next two years. I’m not saying Kale’s going to leave seven on the table, but let’s say Kale takes a deal that’s worth 15 a year, that’s worth 16 a year. It opens up the door to letting Naturius at 12 be edible. People forget, man, like Sid wasn’t the highest paid player on the Penguins almost every single year. You know who was? Aghetti Malcin. The Rooskis don’t take pay cuts. And I know that Marty Nus isn’t Russian. I know he’s check. He’s not taking a pay cut. No, he’s not. No, he’s not. Um, but you know what? If he if if he needs to make his money and Kale’s like, I’ll be I’ll be Conor McDavid. I’ll be Nathan McKinnon because look at Nate. Nate’s kind of taking a pay cut as well over the next eight years. I’ll be Sydney Crosby. If it means that Marty stays here and he gets his money and we don’t have to deal with the that we dealt with Mo, I will take a little bit less so that we can win in the long term. It it might come down to Kale Mar being the best human on planet Earth. I think the ABS are going to be patient with this. Um, I think they’re going to let the sample size of Nas’s season of his 2025 2026 campaign kind of play out a little bit and let the numbers um go in a direction that that they think is more what his market should be. Now, one X factor of that and and look, hey, he scores the two goals and there’s some people saying pay him right now. pay him right now because and I know Raj, you got lofty expectations for NASA and you might be right because maybe you should pay him right now. Maybe he does go beyond what maybe he actually is because he’s playing with Nathan McKinnon. All right, spring. I think that’s about it for game two. Um two-1 win. Game three is gonna You thought games one and two were fun. We’re going to have a hell of a BTP after game three. We’ll see you guys on Saturday if the ABS take on Miko Rantin and the Dallas Stars for Mark Springer. I’m Alex Ryan Emmy. We’ll talk to you guys over the weekend. ABS win 2-1. See you.

Raj and Springer react to the 2-1 W over Utah in Colorado’s 2025-2026 Home Opener

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