What did you make of Jonathan Toews’ Jets debut?

What did you make of Jonathan Toews’ Jets debut?

That music means it’s time for me to walk across the studio, the walk over we call it, to the other side of the expanse of Studio 9 and hang out with my friend Craig Button. Craig told us the other way other day he was done going sockless. As it turns out, that’s not true. However, Craig, I will say I think you’re bringing hope and encouragement to millions of Canadians by just dressing for warmer weather even though our weather’s getting colder. I have a saying. I don’t give up on summer ever. So, like, you know what? So, if I can bring hope to the masses, I’m happy to do that. I like that, Greg. I like that attitude. Uh, so the Jets dropped their season opener to their division rivals in Dallas. Let’s focus on the positives. Kyle Connor hattick after signing the eight-year deal. That’s a good thing, isn’t it? On on Wednesday evening, we chatted about Kyle Connor signing his long-term deal, eight years at 12 million per and Jack Eel at his big deal. And I said in two years time, they’re going to be underpaid. Connor with a hat-tick in in his first game. Ekeel with four points. Are they already underpaid? It might be. It might be the case. Kyle Connor is a differencemaker. We know that. He was the first team all-star left winger last year in the National Hockey League. There’s just no question that a player of his ilk, of his skills, is is somebody that’s incredibly important to any team he’s on. And the fact that he talks about loving it in Winnipeg, not even thinking about going anywhere else, that there’s no center he’d rather play with than Mark Shley. I mean, that’s just got to be music to to the Winnipeg Jets fans and to the organization. But we’re talking about a superb player. They’re down 5-1. Kyle Connor gets him right back into the game with just everything. You talk about doing everything you can to help your team win. That that’s Cal Connor to a tea. He did it with a short-handed goal. Got them within one. They just fell a little bit short. I think a lot of eyes obviously were on Jonathan Taves making his hometown debut for the Jets. High hopes for Kevin Shovel off in company. They want this guy to be the number two center. How did he look to you in his debut for Winnipeg? So, what I was looking for with Jonathan is, you know, a player that hasn’t played in over two years is what is he doing with respect to being comfortable doing the things that made him so good. I saw a player that looked really comfortable, a player comfortable holding the puck, a player comfortable in traffic, making plays, and understanding that this is my game. This is the essence of my game. He’s only going to get better as he gets his timing down and everything that goes with it. But when you watch him play and you understand how smart he is and how he makes everybody around him better, that’s what I saw from Jonathan Ta. He had some chances in the game. And I just think that comfort level is just going to grow and grow and grow. He before the game, he talked about being a little bit nervous. Can you imagine three Stanley Cups, all all the winning he has done, he says, “I’m a little bit nervous.” Which which I think is normal. And and and he’s excited to play in his hometown. And I think the Winnipeg Jets should be really excited about having him because I I think he’s going to be a a really important player for that team and in many different ways that might not all be reflected with with individual scoring stats, but his impact on others and ultimately on the team. You saw his mom and dad there. You know, that’ll make you nervous. You know, Madame Taves is watching you. You got to play well. So, uh, let’s move on to Montreal. They lose 5-2 to the Leafs in their opener Wednesday. They bounce right back and chase John Gibson out of the net in Detroit. 12 different players scoring points for the Habs. I assume uh I assume you’re happy about that. Is that how you feel this team needs to approach things? Scoring by committee, everybody eats, so to speak. Well, I I think what’s important to to just talk in a general sense is taking pressure off that top line of Suzuki, Coughfield, and Slavoski. So, if you can get scoring deeper down your lineup, I mean, Demidov’s going to be able to do it, but let’s just talk about like Oliver Kappa coming into the lineup. So Oliver Kappan in back-to-back games finds a way to score. He scores a short-handed goal has and now you know Kirby Dock who who they’re looking at with his skill level and his skill set to be able to take hold of that. Oliver Kaepernin has unseated Kirby Doc as the second line center. I think that’s superb for the Montreal Canadians. And when you think about those types of things that’s important Jakob Dovish back-to-back games, you know, you you got to find a way to win a game. You got to find a way to help your team be successful. The Montreal Canadiens do not make the playoffs last year without Yakob Dovish. Then we we we just talked about uh Kaepernick. How how about Zachary Boulder? Yeah. Like the the trade they made in the off season, you know, uh St. Louis looking for a a defenseman, a right shot defenseman. Logan Maya goes over, Zack Bald comes over. He’s got three goals now. And so you talk about scoring and the pressure coming off of that top line. captain with two, Balduk with with three. That’s where you get become a better team. That’s where you become a stronger team. You don’t become a one-trick pony. That spreads it out. That makes Montreal even that much more dangerous. I am I I have a feeling you and I are going to be talking about the Bulldog Mayu trade for like years to come. Just as we follow these two players and as they develop in their careers, I’m really looking forward to that. Um Senators overcome a two-1 deficit to win in Tampa. What a what a performance. I loved what Brady Kachchuck said afterward. What did he say? He said, “Maturity like that’s right. You we’ve been waiting for this team for years to get to this point and you come back against a great team like Tampa in Tampa.” The word he used is maturity. I thought that was a pretty good good word. Yeah. And and and we we want to speed maturity up. Like there there’s a natural progression of maturity, not just individually, but collectively as a team. And I think for the Ottawa Senators, they took big steps last year with respect to making the playoffs, understanding what the challenges were. Brady Kachchuck is their unquestioned leader. He’s the heartbeat of their team. And to me, he he played hurt at at different points last year. And you would the way he plays, the way he approaches the game, there’s never going to be uh an excuse from M from Brady Kachchuck. He’s he’s digging in to do it. So what happens here? We’re on the road. Game one. We’re up against a really good team in our division. No. No, no, no. We’re we’re mature and we’re going after it. Brady Kachchuck embodies what every team wants. Somebody that’s not only uh got the plays for for the team and has it emlazed in his heart, but on the ice, he’s relentless. He he’s passionate. He’s competitive. He’s got fire in the belly. And I think for Brady Kachchuck and the Ottawa Centers, a healthy Brady Kachchuck, that’s going to be scary because he’s not an easy guy to deter. And a healthy Brady Kachchuck is even that much more difficult to deter. And how about Shane Pinto? What a performance. Yeah. Well, and again, depth down the depth down the lineup. You have Shane Pinto. They made the trade for Dylan Cousin. Tim Stutz is really good. You know, there’s no Drake Bath in this game. So, a little bit of offense, you know, out of the lineup. Shane Pinto is a really good strong player. So, when you start to look at it though, but the heartbeat of the team is Brady Kachchuck. Thanks for this, buddy. Oh, you’re very welcome. I look forward to talking about this more, too. Absolutely.

TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joins SC with Jay Onrait to discuss Kyle Connor’s hat trick in his first game after the extension, what he made of Jonathan Toews’ Jets debut, what Canadiens player stood out to him vs. the Red Wings, how important Brady Tkachuk is to the Senators’ success this season, and much more.