Kevin Weekes Talks Florida Panthers Opening Night, Threepeat, Barkov Injury, Sergei Bobrovsky Future

Kevin Weekes Talks Florida Panthers Opening Night, Threepeat, Barkov Injury, Sergei Bobrovsky Future

Let’s go out to the Toyota Hollywood guest line and uh we’ll talk to this man who’s gonna be on the call tonight for Panthers and Blackhawks on ESPN five o’clock. You can also of course listen to that game right here on FM1043 WQM. Kevin Weekes joining us there on the program. Kevin, how are you today? I’m good. Good morning, Soflo. What’s going on? How’s everybody doing? Good. We’re doing good. Feels like a holiday today. The cats are back. We’re excited. Um, is is is does this feel like a holiday to you that uh that that the the hockey season is finally here? It depends. I feel like a holiday when the season’s out and then I feel like a holiday when the season’s back. So, um yeah. No, this it’s an exciting time, man. I’m pumped. I’m pumped for the game. It’s great to be back down here. Uh we live up in New York, but we’ve got a place down in Miami, so uh we try to get down here as much as we can, but uh we’re really excited. Excited for the start of the season. It’s going to be massive. We have a triple header on ESPN starting of course here with the Blackhawks at the Panthers at 5:00 PM Eastern. So we’re ex we’re jazzed. We just had a production meeting downstairs and I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a great night. Kevin, have you ever had a situation that occurred between Tampa Bay and the Panthers this past week? And do you even play like hockeyy’s weird in that you play teams like that in the preseason? Yeah. Well, listen, I I can tell you, you know, I was I was drafted by the Panthers. I’m always grateful to the Panthers for giving me my opportunity, and that I played for Tampa, so I know the Battle of Sunshine State. I know what it is. It’s always been intense, but it’s never been as intense as it is now. But we just spoke about this. It’s funny, you must have been eavesdropping in our our production meeting uh for for the game on ESPN tonight. We were I just finished telling our our crew, this is the hot bed of hockey right now. Like, the Sunshine State is where it’s at. six Stanley Cup final appearances between these two teams, between the Panthers, of course, and the Lightning. So, a ton of respect because the Lightning were out ahead of the Panthers doing their thing. And the Panthers like, “Hold on a second.” Uh, I think the sun’s a little brighter. It shines a little hotter down here in South Florida. So, we’re going to do our thing. And they’ve been to three straight Stanley Cup finals. So, there’s a lot of players and coaches and even the staff of both teams that love competing against one another. over 500 penalty minutes in those two games in the preseason. I’m sure Dana White was sniffing around to see if he could get some content from those games for UFC. But uh but in saying that, no love lost between those two teams, but a lot of respect. And they’re two Stanley Cup contenders. They’re Stanley Cup winning franchises and they’re competing for attention. You know, you got to earn attention down here in Florida. You can’t There’s so many other things. You go to the beach, you can hang, go to dinner, the weather’s great. There’s a lot of different opportunities. There’s every different sport. There’s every different entertainment thing. Uh so you got to compete for attention down here and those two franchises are definitely doing that. Are the are the injuries though for the Cats? You know, we’re all we’re all excited this opportunity for them to repeat, but losing Barkoff, losing Kuck, we’ve seen him overcome some stuff, but how many blows are too many blows for them? Look, I those are huge and and speaking to Paul Maurice and different people in their group, there’s no way to offset and and to say that they’re as good a team without those guys. Those are two amazing players. Your captain and Sasha Barov is the best 200 foot two-way player in the game. And then my guy Matthew Kachchuck is power forward extraordinaire. And with those two guys out, that’s 180 points from the lineup. You can’t just find 180 points on the street. Like it just doesn’t happen. So, those are major misses for them. However, this team is still stacked. They still know how to win. They know how to manage the game. They know how to play situational, which can’t be necessarily said for the Dolphins and not throwing any shade at them. But the Panthers can manage the game. They know how, hey, listen, if we have to play a more physical style, we can do that. If we need to tone it back, we can do that. If we need to be a little bit more aggressive offensively, we could do that. If we need to kind of slow the game down a little bit, we could do that. There’s something to going on these deep Stanley Cup runs where you learn how to play the game and different games within the game, game management, as I like to say, and the Panthers have that. So, I think that’ll be very helpful to them. Also, what I would say, too, and to the listeners is they’ve got other studs on the team, too. Look for Mackie Samoskegish to have a breakout year. that young kid. I can kind of go around the horn if Rod Rodriguez is healthy. To me, he’s a top six skilled forward. So, look out for him to take the next step. I think they’re going to be able to find ways to play around it just based on all the things I just told you. What do you think like a full year of Brad Marshan means for them too? Like he comes in I mean so many so many great moments in the postseason, but now like he has the comfort of it. Like what do you think that does? that that line with him and Lindell and Lester Rainan, I mean they they were magic last year. They were they were magic last year. They were a mismatch against the opposition every shift, especially in the postseason and deeper into the postseason. Those guys controlled play. They dictated play. They made plays. Um yeah, they just tilted the ice heavily in their favor every time they were on the ice. But Brad Marshian is a baller and I love the fact that he’s found a way because people don’t recognize when he came in the league in Boston. He was hardly getting any five on five minutes. He was a penalty killer. That’s how he kind of got in. And then listen very carefully because I’m going to annunciate. He became a shift with an F. Shift disturber every shift just to do something disruptive. So the coaches are like, “Ah, we got to keep this guy.” You know, he he’s making things happen. That’s before he got to the skill part of what we’ve seen in what’s already a Hall of Fame career. So I think he’s uh he’s he’s acclimated very well here down in South Florida and speaking to people with the group off the ice on the ice. You could see that as you guys pointed out. And uh here’s here’s his ultimate. I love the fact that he’s left some of the shenanigans behind and he’s matured and evolved. And here’s the thing, Brad Marshian’s a future Hall of Famer, so you could lock that here, first of all. And secondly, whenever they play internationally, you know who wants him on his line? Sydney Crosby. Sydney Crosby. Every year for team Canada wants him on his line whenever it’s an international competition. So, you can’t get a better endorsement than that. I mean, that’s the ultimate stamp right there. He’s, you know, he he’s minted just based on that alone. And that says a lot. Well, I’m getting ready to get in trouble again for asking because I ask hockey questions because ask him. My question is is now that you have these frontline guys hurt, everybody moves up a shift. Y right. Does that put more pressure on the guys that you know for the last couple of years that shift with Marian has been dominant, but that’s like the third shift. True. True. if they move up to the second or some those guys move up into the first shift with those frontliners, does that put more pressure on like Samus and those guys? Because now that was an advantage that this team had that they may not have going into the future. That’s not a crazy question. That’s a great question. And with that, no, no, that that that’s a that’s a certified great question because the first segment. Maybe this Hey, listen. Maybe this is his redemption segment. Who knows? Maybe this a redemp that’s what we like to say, a redemption segment. Um, but no, I I would I would say this. You know what it is. Certain players thrive in certain roles. Sometimes you try to give them a little more, they might not be able to handle it. Sometimes you give them a little less, they might not be able to handle it. But until you see what they’re like in this new role, you can’t necessarily know how how they’re going to perform. So with that, I would say something that’s very important to this Panther team is they have a lot of interchangeability. There’s a lot of interchangeable parts. Guys that could play different roles, guys that could play a different role within a game, within a shift. But to your question, they’ll have to do that for an extended point of time. Now, um, and with that being said, I think only time can determine it. But if I had to hedge, I still think I just said this and you’ll hear me say this on the air when we come on in ESPN at 5:00 pm. I think the Florida Panthers with those injuries and of course both those players will return at some point this season at some point. I believe with the injuries for me they’re still the team to beat. That’s how bullish I am. That’s how bullish I am on the Panthers. us excited. Kevin Weeks, you’re going to hear him on the call today or watch him on the call today on ESPN. Panthers and Blackhawks. Fascinating goalie match up here. Of course, we all have a lot of love for Spencer Knight. The Panthers made that big trade for Seth Jones last year, which was really, it felt like Kevin, Seth was great, but it also felt like a big endorsement. Hey, we feel like Sergey Babroki can keep this going even at 37. How long can he keep this going? I mean, he works like a maniac. uh we’re all too familiar with that. But at what point do you do you can I what what kind of taxing is this position on on on a person of his age? It’s taxing on anybody of any age. But for him, he’s he has the fountain of youth. Uh truth be told, we have the same agent. I was talking to our agent last yesterday here. Actually, we was talking to him and he said Bob’s not done. So uh for for as hard as he works and and the way in which he lives, it’s almost pardon me. I’m going to say this in a complimentary way. He lives his life and his approach to the craft and training and recovery and all those things almost in a monk like way. He’s kind of like a monk. And that’s hyperdisciplined, hyper committed to all of everything he has to do from stretching to working out to lifting to recovery to practice to everything. He he he’s gotten to a point he was like that in Columbus and he’s even dialed that up even more since coming down here to Southport. And then I would also say too being down here, it’s regenerative, man. It’s restorative. You know, you regenerate when you’re down here if you play it right, just based on the climate, just based on, you know, how warm it is. You have the ocean to go and take sea baths. There’s a lot of different things you can do. And I can tell you, you know, I’ve got I have Caribbean parents, man. My parents are, you know, from two hours, two and a half hours south of here in beautiful Barbados. So, um, I know the difference when you’re in a tropical climate and how your body feels. And throughout the course of a year, I played here and I played, you know, in Tampa. I I know the way the body feels when you’re living in Florida. It’s very different than the way in which your body feels when you’re living in say Winnipeg or Minnesota or what have you. It’s a big advantage. And that’s not a slight. My wife my wife’s family is from Alberta, man. She’s from Calgary, so that’s not a slight, but it is a huge advantage when you when you’re focused and you’re living and playing in a place like this. And that’s been the case for Babski so far. So, I don’t see any let up for him. And hey, if you’re Spencer Knight, just to be fair, the Panthers drafted you. This is a great opportunity to come back and play against a team that gave you a chance and and believed in you and helped you become an NHLer. So, uh there’s big opportunity for Spencer Knight tonight as well. Did your agent have any uh interesting tidbits on Bob’s extension? None that I can report at this time. Uh it’s none that I can report at this time. That all seems uh to be quiet at this point. But listen, for the continuity, you know, there’s certain things you don’t mess with. And they’ve been they’ve been very successful, the Panthers, at resigning a lot of their players, which I respect. That’s a that says a lot to me about the commitment of Mr. and Mrs. Biola to to the program. And you guys know this. We have all the different sports down here in South Florida. Sometimes you see a player and then you’re like, “Hey, what happened? Ah, the team didn’t ah we didn’t want ah da too much term, too much this.” You need that continuity. I mean, that’s what the Heat have had for the longest time when they’ve been at their best with the Godfather. You know, when they’re having those runs on their teams, you know, Allonzo Morning was a part of the equation. You know, you know, Bam is a part of the equation. You know, UD was a part, you know what I mean? I can kind of go up and down. And some players came and went, but the identity, a lot of the identity stayed the same because you had those people. Coach Spo, I can kind of go on and on. Uh, and that’s what we’re seeing here with the Panthers. So, if I if I were them at some point, I think and both sides can hopefully they can find an agreement because he’s been a great fit down here. He’s future Hall of Famer, too. Absolutely. Kevin Weeks, thanks so much for uh joining us. We appreciate it. Go catch him out on the ESPN broadcast today. Got a triple header coming up starting at five o’clock. Panthers and Blackhawks. We appreciate the time. Thank you so much. All right. No problem. Thanks for having me on. Thank you. All right, everybody. Thank you.

ESPN NHL Analyst Kevin Weekes joins Tobin and Leroy to talk Florida Panthers Opening Night