Joel Quenneville and Beckett Sennecke Make Anaheim Ducks debut; Readressing Perry Minasian presser
[Music] What’s up everybody? Welcome to Wings on Catella brought to you by the Sporting Tribune on the TST podcast network. This is episode 22. I’m feeling I don’t feel 22. I haven’t felt 22 in a very long time. Um I am Taylor Blake, Ward, managing editor of the Sporting Tribune. And uh first things first guys, uh happy belated Lee Ericson day, Hengainga Durgen. Um we have our regular panel with us today. Uh bringing back the legend himself with a fresh haircut. Now although he left, he promised Rose and all of us that he’d never let go. So we have Mr. Jack James here with us. Covers the Anaheim Ducks and the LA Angels for the Sporting Tribune. Jack, how you doing, pal? I’m doing good. Uh we have a fall break right now for uh Arizona State, so I had a couple days off. So I came home for the weekend, got a haircut, enjoying the nice and cool 75°ree weather. Um so can’t complain. I’m going have to call you after this. We might have to we have to might have to do lunch. Uh lunch man himself, the producer on hand on site, Mr. Dr. Feelgood himself, Thomas Lee Murray, aka Tommy Lee Murray. He covers the LA Angels and Anaheim Ducks as well for TST. Thomas, hey buddy. Hey man, what’s going on? Same old, man. Same old. And last but certainly, happy Lee Ericson day. Hanging. Hanging. And last but certainly not the least, the man who does not knock on wood, uh, redwood trees, or any other kind, Zack Kavanaaugh, who is on location, the Anaheim Ducks. Uh he’s on location in San Jose covering the Anaheim Ducks. Uh second regular season game. Zach covers the Anaheim Ducks for the sporting tribute. Zack, how did you like my my my pop culture reference? You tried and I think the effort is what counts in situations like that. We we’ll get into that one. That one I think is you know Jax is lowanging fruit. You think pop culture Jack you’re like oh I already Jack’s mannequin him though. I did Jack’s mannequin for Jack. Keep Yeah, but that’s a niche reference. Yeah, but that’s what it’s supposed to be. Yeah. So, you went broad. That’s fine. Thanks, Zach. Good to see you, too, man. Everything’s doing great, guys. You guys can check out all of our work. I’m on three hours of sleep and I’m mainlining Diet Coke, man. Like, I’m trying to be here. You’re doing great, buddy. Uh, you guys can find all of our work at www.thesportingtribune.com. Uh, we’ll plug the socials a little later. Today we’re going to chat about uh Becket Senica’s NHL debut, Joel Quenville’s Anaheim Ducks debut, the Ducks season opener, give some uh predictions for the 2526 campaign, also talk some Angel stuff, uh address some things that Perry Manassian addressed in his postseason address. Uh also some instructional league notes and what the Angels need to do this winter to not only try to contend, but also uh for most people to keep their jobs in a sense. So, um we’re going to start with some Ducks chat because we do have Zach who uh just flew in from Seattle to San Jose uh like like 20 minutes ago, very recently. Um now, Zach and Thomas, you guys were cogs on the Anaheim Ducks uh YouTube pages recently. Uh but we want to talk about Becket Senica’s NHL debut. um him first off making the roster, his NHL debut, and the Ducks regular season opener, which was also Joel Quenville’s Ducks debut. For that, we’re going to go to Zack Kavanagh. Zack, what did you see last night in Seattle that that kind of maybe still sitting on your mind? Yeah, it was uh I think it was a thing where the game starts, we’re all ready to go. We’ve been, you know, waiting for regular season hockey. And as the first period’s going along like, yeah, or Seattle scores the first goal and you’re like, okay, little little down. Becca responds two minutes later and you go, okay, hey, what a magical moment. And I’m watching the game. I’m not really paying attention to the stats. I’m just sort of get trying to get a feel of things. And then the end of the period goes and I look at the scoreboard. It’s like shots 17 to five. I was like, what the hell? And then I go look at the analytical stats and 92% of the expected goals after the first period, like 80 or something% of the shot attempts in the first period. And I said, I don’t think in the entire Greg Cronin experience that we saw a single period that was played like that. They were fast. They were relentless. They were coming in waves. They were creating traffic in front of the net. They were shooting every chance they could and getting good chances off of it and working hard on the boards, working hard down low. the energy level that this team has preached is like its number one top thing that it wanted to achieve throughout the preseason in training camp completely evident in that first period and I thought all right we’re off to the races let’s go watch some top level hockey and then things sort of leveled out and peter off and mental mistakes and you go down the rest of the way the offense just doesn’t generate really anything of note in the third particularly the defensive lapses were at the worst possible time on in transition position allowing goals right in front of the net. Uh so it was a high and a low. Uh and I think the the team took a day off today when they were supposed to be practicing. And I wonder if that’s a recognition of one the travel maybe and two they worked so hard during the training camp and preseason and they blew so much energy to start off that game that they just need they ran out of gas early and they’re kind of needing to dial back on the uh fast-paced practice that they they are trying to run. So that’s kind of my thought right now. Um and obviously a huge moment for Becca Senica which I know we’ll get into. So, that’s my those are my topline thoughts. Yeah. Um, in our notebook, our our script, I just put the season starter kit kind of thing, but I think last night was was an example of what the starter kit is for the Anaheim Ducks. This is a different Ducks team. Um, whether that means that they are a playoff team or not, we’ll get into a little bit. Uh, but it’s a different Ducks team under Joe Quinnville, very evidently, uh, as opposed to Greg Cronin. Um, Jack, I don’t know if you were able to watch the game last night. I don’t know if you were traveling, but Jack, what were your thoughts? And like I said, we can’t take one game as an isolation mark of what this Ducks team is going to be, but but it did show something. So, you saw through the preseason, you seen it now. Uh Jack, what’ you think? Yeah, I was able to watch it. Um, I think the first thing I was that stood out to me was before the game even started when the lines were posted, I saw the second line of Senica McTavish and Cutter Gochce and I thought that’s going to be so much fun to watch because it’s going to be all gas and no defense. And uh, uh, defensively they weren’t I don’t even think they were that bad, but offensively, especially in that first period, you saw how dangerous they could be. They were flying up and down the ice. They were creating high dangerous scoring chances. Uh, and and like Zach said, the first period was just coming out hot right out of the gate. Um, and I think they just like Zach said, you know, burnt all their energy out in that first period because you saw the second period, they’re a little bit slower. In the third period, it looked like their their legs were kind of dragging behind them. Um, but uh, yeah, that second line, I thought that was uh, a really good line. Uh, especially in that first period. um not the best uh Dolto outing, but I can’t really put the blame on all three goals on him because I think the first, if I remember correctly, the first shot or the first goal was was through traffic and then the second one it was just defensive miscues all over the place, missed assignments, you know, left two guys wide open in front of the net. Hard to blame uh Dol from that. Just the year he had last year, it’s almost like, oh, how come he didn’t make that, you know? Uh I think those are the two things that stood out the most to me. Uh, I think as Zach agrees, you know, Joey Decord, really good goalender. So, uh, so, you know, sometimes you got to tip your cap to him, especially in that first period. I was going to mention that. I, uh, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I do have a note, the transition, Joey Dord, obviously the, uh, goalender for, um, Seattle Kraken, went to Arizona State. We have Jack and Zach who both are Kronhite Arizona State members. I just want to ask you guys, um, where does Gavin McKenna sit on on Public Enemy number what? Number one. The The come in, you don’t come into Mullet Arena and throw a a forks down in your first. It’s not the last time he’s going to be number one in something. Get out of here. I mean, I you kind of have to expect that when the entire student section’s booing him every time he touches the puck and chanting overrated the whole whole weekend. So, you know, Jack Jack Well, you know what, Jack? We can take credit for Jack for uh Gavin McKenna’s career because without that push from the Arizona State fan base. Yeah. He wouldn’t be what he’s going to be. Yeah. I I remember sending a text to my buddy cuz my buddy text me how Gavin McKenna is looking and I said, “Well, he’s a minus one, so not very good. I don’t think he’s a number one overall pick.” Yeah. Uh Public Enemy number one, draft pick number one. Jack, what give me like your your quick thoughts on Kevin McKenna? Kid’s got to be outrageously good. His vision is insane. I know I texted in in our group chat. His vision is insane. I mean, there’s passes that he makes that I I didn’t even think were going to be possible because, you know, from the press box, you have a bird’s eye view of everything. You can kind of see passes before they they happen. He made so many passes where it’s like there’s no open man here and he just on a seam right to a guy uh right on the tape. um his second assist uh on opening night. The play happened so fast I thought the guy scored on a rebound, but it was really a pass from McKenna. He McKenna was in the slot. Puck comes up to him and he didn’t even look to where he was passing. He just knew where the guy was. And that’s another thing that impressed me the most was he knew where everybody was on the ice without even looking up. Um, you see so many guys that you know that are good passers, their heads are always turning like like they’re an owl because they’re always scanning the ice. Where is everybody? He doesn’t even do that. He just knows where everybody is. Come for the draft content. Come for the Ducks. Stay for the draft content. Um, yeah. Thomas, uh, were you able to watch last night’s game, the Ducks? I I was not actually, but I was keeping up with Zach’s stats throughout the night and his lovely live tweets that I always appreciate. So just real quick, Zach, the Ducks skated for about seven days straight practices on and off. Seven days straight about before last night. Yeah. Well, they had the last day off they had was Sunday. So they did and the last day off they had before that was the Sunday prior. So okay, they’ve been skating, you know. So wear and tear 10 out 11 out of 14 days. Yeah, you got to get your legs back, but wear and tear is probably a part of this a little bit. So, uh, Thomas, um, based on what what you were kind of evaluating based on what Zach was saying, uh, thoughts on the Ducks, um, moving forward right now? Yeah, I mean, definitely. What was it? You said it was 17 shots, right, Zack? I mean, the first period. Yeah. I mean that’s really impressive for them just because I remember there were so many times when I was seeing them last year and it was like a period ending with like only seven shots and like you know zero puck control or just any possession of it at all and I’m like you’re not creating opportunities for yourself and you know I know my knowledge of hockey isn’t as deep as you know I didn’t play hockey or anything like that. Um but still I mean that’s just a really good sign and when you you know in any sports you control the if there’s a sport where you control the time of possession you can do that. Um that’s going to be huge for you. So it’s I would say it’s really nice to just kind of see where you’re you’re seeing the vision for the team and what what they could be and you know by the sound of what Zack Zane and Jack uh just kind of got gassed at the end right. So, you know, good on them for giving them the day off of practice today and, you know, hopefully they can get their legs back and be, you know, back at it hopefully tomorrow. Part of uh last night, we we’ve mentioned it a few times, Becca Senica making his NHL debut. Um the fact that he made the roster was maybe a 50/50. I think we all kind of slightly anticipated it slight, you know, it was a up in the air, but but kind of anticipated. uh second wing with Cutter and Mason as we mentioned in our last episode. That’s blatant spot, right? Once Ryan Stro went down, you had to move someone up into that right wing because you have to move Granlin down and Becket made the most sense. Uh scores a goal in his first NHL game. Um crashing net, put pucks on the net, crash net seems simple. Um but uh number one out of the way, family reaction, whole thing. Family got to see it, they got to see his first game, solo lap and a goal. That’s got to be pretty stinking fun. Um, Jack, thoughts on on Becca, you kind of mentioned already, but Becca Senica’s debut? Yeah, he looked pretty solid. Uh, it looked way better than uh the few preseason games I was able to watch him in. I felt like in preseason he was kind of making trying to make plays that he was getting away with in juniors and it just wasn’t happening uh in preseason. I I didn’t see really see any of that uh in the game last night. I felt like he played a pretty pretty solid pretty safe game and like I said earlier the the line with him McTavish and Cutter Goce it just looked lethal in the first period and they’re generating a lot of high danger scoring chances. So overall it’s a pretty good uh pretty good game to build off of. Um yeah and and Zach what we were talking about last episode is you can’t have liabilities on this Ducks roster right now. Um and I mentioned I said Beckett would be a liability. Um, last night it didn’t seem that way. I don’t know if you feel the same. Yeah. No, it I think beyond the the goal, I think the thing that stood out the most to me that because obviously I’m taking time to just stare at him on on a few of those shifts, he had a level of composure with the puck that I wasn’t that I don’t think I had seen really from him uh in any of the game action previous. Like Jack said, he wasn’t, you know, throwing the puck into places he shouldn’t have. He was making the smart play. He was making the safe play. And for all the gruff we’ve given about being knocked off the puck. There were a couple times when he got crumpled on the boards, but he kind of held his own and and kept the puck away from his body and was able to control it. And he was really good on the forche, I thought, too. There’s so many thing little things in his game that stood out to me beyond the goal. And the goal itself, like really the the the star of that goal is not Becket Senica, it was Mason McTavish with the forche and the the again bodying the puck and just the stellar backhand feed. But but but what Beckett did is he was in on that forche. He didn’t necessarily force the turnover, but he his pressure alone kind of makes the guy have to make a quick move. And then instead of, you know, doing a fly by, he immediately because he’s for checking behind the net, turns and gets into the smart spot back post, ready to knock something in. And he was in the right place, right time. He even said when we asked him about, he’s sort of like, I don’t really know how it developed. I just kept my stick on the ice and I scored. Uh, and that’s honestly the smartest thing. Like good goal scorers, the saying is always they go to the front of the net and the puck will find them. And that happened on that first goal for Beckett. And if he can just use that hockey IQ, which is really his best trade at this point, you gotta just let him fly. And I think the fact that he was able to play on the second line, of course, it’s a shame that it’s due to the injury, but having him there, if he can produce alongside those guys, I mean, there’s no reason for him not to stay up all year, uh, you know, and just let him, you know, continue to develop because I think he has NHL level skill. It’s just kind of building up the rest of the trades. So, very good start starting point for him. Certainly, just a thought process that came in right now is is we’ve talked about you want your fourth line to be better in everyone’s first line in the AHL, right? You want or you want your AHL first line to be better than everyone’s. I think at this point with Beckett, if he continues at this trend, your fourth line can be a fourth scoring line. You can have Nestero, you can throw uh Cedar Rob on there. I mean, you’re going to have to sacrifice playing time for Ryan Paling and Sam Kangelo and others, but that’s worth it if you have that fourth scoring line. Um, and also if Mason is playing to his capabilities as well. Um, I am going to take that. You guys move on with a little more Duck stuff. I’m just going to say real quick, uh, this schedule, it looks pretty light in the month of October. If the Ducks can find what they had going on going on in that first period, I think they could have a really good start to the season. Uh, obviously they played a team in Seattle that’s not that good and they, you know, floundered away two periods. Uh, but I mean, you look at the rest of the schedule. San Jose, not a very good team. Pittsburgh, not a very good team. Carolina’s really good. Chicago, not a very good team. Nashville, not a very good team. Boston, I don’t know what to make of them. Tampa Bay, very good. Florida, very good. Detroit, nah. So, they they have an opportunity to come out with with a winning record in October. I think if they play, they don’t have to play the like they did in the first period all 60 minutes the whole month, but if if they can play similar to that standard for a whole month, I think they’re going to be looking at a a pretty good start to the season. Yeah, I think I I don’t want to be standings watching quite yet after game one, but it is noticeable to me that the Ducks are the only team in the Pacific Division to not pick up a point yet, right? Everybody else has either gone to overtime at the very least or won. And you know, I’m not saying that they’ve thrown away their playoff chances after one game. But, uh, yeah, I think they’ve hammered on the quick start. The schedule is there for them. The the schedule after the stretch you just said is super tough. So, you definitely have to bank these points now before the the schedule gets tougher. It’s about consistency of effort. And, um, I think that’s that’s kind of the number one thing. like take that effort from the first period, figure out how to if you got to tamp it down even just like 20% or something so you can stretch it out over the course of the game. That’s the key. If the Ducks can be that hardworking team that Joel Quendville has said from day one, that was I think the first thing we asked them was, “What kind of team do you want?” And he said, “We want to be the hardest working team in the NHL.” And they were for 20, 30 minutes. And uh if they can manage to make that into a 60-minute effort, they’re going to have a chance to win more nights than not. Something I noticed, this is just watching the the LA Kings uh for two nights before this. Um the Ducks looked better than the Kings. They did. I know the Kings walked away with a point the other night or two two the other night. But uh when you’re looking at the Kings, the Canucks, the Flames, um I’m going to stick with it. The Kraken is well in that mix to some degree. Those are the games you have to take. You have to take points away from those teams because you that that’s who you’re fighting for a playoff spot with is those teams. It is wild card. You’ve got to get some luck out of St. Louis and Nashville and and the Central and and uh yeah, I think Zack, you and I were talking about Minnesota’s really good. Really good. Surprisingly good. Really good. Utah’s better. Yeah. Yeah. So, you can’t you can worry about what you can with those teams, but realistically, you’ve got to beat teams like the Kraken. You’ve got to beat the Flames. You got to beat the Canucks. You got to be the kinks, right? Um, so not pulling away a point uh last night, you’ve got to go in on this really early road trip, really early. You got to pull two points out of out of tonight. You got to beat San Jose. It’s not a good team. Um, I know that San Jose has skated well with other, you know, quality teams. They played well against uh Vegas for about 58 minutes last night. Um, we won’t get into that. About 58 minutes, they played really well against Vegas. Uh the rest was not. But you got to go out and beat them. Um want to move on from Ducks and talk a little bit about Angels. One last thing I noticed and I’m gonna go back like three months here. Um Thomas, you did not tell me that Roger McQueen had a a badass uh baseball swing, man. He’s got a good swing. He’s got the arm strength and he’s got the arm speed to throw, but his mechanics absolute garbage. Garbage mechanics. If we’re gonna talk, look, if we’re gonna if we’re gonna scout Gavin McKenna, I’m going back to Roger McQueen. Dude can swing it. He’s a liability on defense. Yeah. I I don’t think I recall really seeing them swing cuz after I talked to them, I like rushed up to get my story out because I think it was like pretty close to first pitch by the time they were swinging. And I think it was like it was like a Sunday afternoon. So, like everything’s kind of a little bit faster on those days. But yeah, I know. I saw the footage on social media and I was like, “Holy holy moly.” Pretty good swing. Big kid though. Big kid. Um, huge kid. Massive kid. Going to Angels. And should run for his money. Thomas, I’m going to come back to you for this one. Um, Perry Manasian did address the media uh about a week after the season ended. It was on Saturday. Uh, I was out of town. You were at UCLA. Oh, speaking of go Bruins. Heck yeah. Let’s go there. Um, that was great. There’s See, Penn State got their their due justice. We don’t have to worry about Gav McKenna. We have to worry about that clown. We got the other guys, man. The other clowns in of Pennsylvania. Um, Thomas, neither of us were there for for Perry’s comments, but we were able to to come back on it. I know that you have the whole media session um via email stuff. Uh, I think the takeaway was most people are going to call it lack of accountability. I don’t really know what Perry could have said that that would have given him accountability because he’s got to fight for his own job, right? He’s he’s got to do what he does. But um, what were your takeaways from Perry Manassian’s uh, uh, postseason uh, address? Sure. Uh, before I get into that, just want to say Drew Aller flop. Not a big fan of him. Uh, and shout out to Jerry New Heisle and Niko Lyava for what they did over the weekend. Especially Jerry. That was a really cool moment for him and just a great moment in sports in general. See him, you know, come out there as take over, play calling duties for UCLA and be card and carried off like he did 11 years ago or so against Texas. So that was really awesome to see. But um, anyway, going into baseball and Perry’s presser. Yeah. No, it was uh was a it it’s just deja vu last year. I mean, they’re looking for a left-handed bat, looking for another third baseman. Uh same issues that they’ve been having, continue to linker around this team. Um it’s just a matter of what are they going to do in the off season? Are they gonna continue, which they likely will do, is just get a band-aid, you know, to play to fill in spots on the roster and go with that. Um, it sounds like they I know he said he wants to get a center fielder in the offseason, but it also kind of sounded like they might just lean with Bryce Theodosio out there just and, you know, great elite defense. I mean, you can’t replace that, but the bat is concerning. But, I mean, it’s an interesting off season for Perry for sure, just because it’s the last year of his contract with the Angels. Ownership has not shown any signs of extending that yet. You know, I know he just got an extension the year before, but when you’re headed the way they are right now, it’s just it kind of a lot of whatifs are in the air. Um, they’re not really too sure on what the rotation’s going to look like. I mean, it sounds like it’s going to have Kikuchi, Sorano, and Reedmer is going to be back in. So, you’re still looking for those two other spots in the rotation. Um, lot of good free agent pitchers in available this free agency. Uh, Zack G, Zack Allen and Fran Valdez, two guys that come to my mind. But the thing is, I don’t know if the Angels are going to open the budget. It didn’t really sound like that they were going to be really big spenders this off season as well. So, I would I would expect a pretty similar off season to last year. And I think the one thing that really caught my attention was at the end of the presser where um I believe it was Sam Blum asking the questions, you know, how involved he’ll be in the manager search um and if the ownership trusts him to make the hire and both questions uh ended with him telling Sam that cuz Sam asked him a couple times about it and just both answers were you’re going to have to ask ownership about it. So, just really showed me that I don’t know how much Perry I think he’ll be involved in the hiring, but ultimately I think it’s going to come down to Arty and John Carpino. So, kind of interesting to see what’s going to happen. Um, but yeah, I don’t know if the Angels are going to let Perry make any big signings, especially at the last year of his deal as a GM. And that kind of takes me to to the next point. Jack, I I want your thoughts on this. This is a a job saving next three months, four months for Perry. Obviously, this goes into, you know, the next 11 months, right? But the next three months are are big job saving opportunities for Perry Manosian and his staff. He’s got a lot of people on that staff, too. I I think Thomas kind of hit on it. So, if you want to hit on the the Perry presser at all, more than welcome to, but I think we wanted to move on to what do the Angels need to do this this winter. And and it’s it’s put up or shut up time. It’s you can’t sit there and say the goal is is 500 for next year. The the goal needs to be playoffs. No matter what, under any circumstances, the goal, I’m not saying it’s going to be the reality, but the goal has to be playoffs no matter what. next year. This is year six or moving into year six for Perry. Um, and that’s what everything’s been building to. We’ve been saying it for a long time. 2026 is when the window of opportunity starts, but if you’re looking at job saving moments and other things, you have to make the playoffs next year. Absolutely 100% you have to make the playoffs. I don’t know how what they can do this winter to to get put themselves in that position, but it’s something you have to do. So Jag, I don’t know if you want to touch on the Perry part or if you want to touch on the winter part, but something has to happen pretty substantially over the next couple months here and it can’t just be something where of Zack Neto getting an extension because we we rely on him and we trust him. Yeah, it I mean you touched on it. I don’t know what they could do to turn this thing around in one off seasonason either. It’s their problems are more than just trying to get free agents to come here. It’s their problem is, you know, drafting, developing their own their own talent, uh, and having the organizational depth to handle injuries when they happen because that’s it’s what happens every year. They’re competitive the first half of the year. They’re playing just about 500 ball. As soon as the injury bug starts hitting, they’re wiped out because they don’t have the organizational depth to to make up for it. But in terms of what they can do this winter, uh, in terms of what the free agency market’s looking like, um, I don’t see how they can build a winning team unless Ardo really opens up the pockets and really wants to throw some money around, which I don’t know how likely he is to do that just because if you look at the track record, I mean, one, Perry Manazian hasn’t been able to sign a big ticket free agent in his five years here, and two, uh, I mean, you look at all the big free agent signings that they’ve had under the last I don’t know 15 years. How many of them have really panned out? You know, I I I get a sense that Arty might be reluctant to hand out the big money because he’s been burned so many times doing it. But if you look at the real quick on that, do you think that is something that is a flaw of Perry’s or do you think that’s ownership saying we’re after the Anthony thing happened? I think Anony’s the camel that broke the back, you know? Yeah, I think that’s an ownership thing, not a Perry thing. Sorry. If I were to guess, right? in the same want to go on that on that note, too. Yeah, if I were to guess it, it would be more of an ownership thing than a Perry thing. Uh, but I mean, you know, they said they want a left-handed bat. They might look at center field. You know, they’re they’re probably going to have to look for a third baseman. Uh, you know, if Cody Bellinger exercises a player option and hits the market, that would that’s a left-handed bat center fielder that they can try and look at, but he’s going to cost you a pretty penny. Uh obviously they need rotation depth and you know like Thomas said uh I think he said Ranger Suarez and uh who was the other one said? Um no I was saying Zack Gallon and Valadz options for them. R I mean Ranger Suarez too. Yeah Ranger Suarez. I think they could try and take a stab at Dylan CE. I think they can get him at a slight pay cut. Um I don’t think he’s going to hit right now the Sprak has his market value at 26 million. I’m not sure if he’s going to go for 26 million given how his year went this year. So, they might be able to take him at a slight pay cut. Um, but I mean, everything else is just kind of like, you know, what do you do to to move the needle? I don’t think there’s enough out there that really moves the needle for this team. No, that’s what I I could see them going after Mel Kelly. Yeah, that’s fine. That’s fine. I’m pulling up some uh some contracts as well on on my end. Um I’m I’m looking at the I’m looking at the free agent page right now. I just you know what this team really needs it. I mean above the pitching, right? You need Kyle Tucker. And Cody Bellinger is a fine discount Kyle Tucker, but you need Kyle Tucker. And Kyle Tucker is going to be the big ticket free agent this winter, I believe. Um but Kyle Tucker is a guy that that he he alters your offense and he alters your defense. He alters your entire lineup. And that’s where I I sit and say, “Yeah, he’s going to cost the most, but if I’m Perry, I’m begging for that money.” I’m saying, “Hey, like we you want to be a winning team again, let’s go let’s go spend like a winning team. Let’s go spend like the Mets. Let’s go beat the Dodgers. Let’s go spend like the Phillies. Let’s have a $250 million payroll. Who cares? Um if if it means we’re winning, then who cares? That’s what you need to do. You need to go win.” Um obviously they address that they do need help at third base. Um, so they, you know, read between the lines on what that means. Anthony Renone is not expected to be a productive player for this team next year or a player for this team next year if if you’re being real honest about it. Um, we don’t know. He might show up to Tempe. He might return. Who knows? Anthony Rendone going out there next year hitting 300 with 100 RBI’s. Could happen, right? Probably won’t. 95 percentile he won’t. And and good chance he I don’t even know if he’s going to show up in Tempe next spring. I have no idea, but there is that probability. They’re not going to take the chances on that probability of having anything when it comes to Anthony. They’re looking for help at third base. Um, Yueno Suarez is a name I think would would fit. Um, I I don’t see anything internally. A lot of people are talking about moving Logan Hoppy over to third. Uh, but I think he’s going to catch. He’s going to catch. It’s it’s him and Travis. That’s the platoon. And then after that, if you you know, catching death is a little easier because you just need someone to catch some baseballs back there. And with the ABS system, literally, you just need someone that has an arm and arm and a glove. That’s about it. Um, the third base market’s really thin, too. They’re incredibly. Suarez is like the top and then it’s done. Because Bregman has an opt out, and we still don’t know yet if he’s going to opt out or not. So, if he doesn’t opt out, your options are Yoan Moncata, Yanio Suarez, Isaiah Connor, Falefa, Justin Turner, Jose Glaciius, Miguel and Duhar, Paul de Young, and Chris Taylor. Chris Taylor. That’s fun. He’s listed as a third baseman. I can He’s listed as a short stop, second baseman, center fielder, left fieldielder. The only thing he can’t do is catch. That’s about it. So, there’s your lack of catching depth is not getting Chris Taylor. Zack, um, obviously you view things a little differently than we do on this stuff, which is fine. It’s that’s what we need on this. So, when it comes to people are calling for the more accountability from Perry, right? They they are. I don’t know what Perry could have said that. You get it. You get it because you’re it’s a political system. He has to give political responses, right? He has to. That’s part of his job. Sure. He’s got to make ownership look pretty. He’s got to make himself look pretty. He’s got to be gave no response though, Taylor. That’s But that’s an answer to a question. It was, “Hey, what do you think you need to do better at?” No, we’re going to move forward. You don’t want to use any introspection at all to like diagnose what’s going wrong to know what you need to do to fix things. just say now we’re going to move forward. But what would you if you’re in Perry’s shoes, what do you say? You say, “Yeah, we haven’t done a good enough job and we need to be better.” Just I think that’s pretty simple. End note there. Like, no, that’s what I’m saying though is like he’s got to be on job protection, too. So, your thoughts on on Perry’s uh conference and also what what do you think the Angels need to do this this winter? It And I’m being extreme. I’m being extreme here. I’m saying the Angels have to make the playoffs. I don’t think they make the playoffs with this roster next year without dramatic overhaul. So, what is what is the dramatic overhaul that’s necessary for next year? And the other thing about it is it’s not like getting rid of Perry and bringing in a new GM is going to change that for next year. It’s not going to change that under any circumstances. No. Bringing in Albert or Tory Hunter or whoever for manager isn’t going to change the circumstances. No, re real quick before Zach goes, I’m just going to point out in the last decade where they have not made the playoffs or had a winning record, they’ve gone through six managers and three GMs and it’s resulted in the same results every year. Yeah, that’s all I’m going to say. That’s and that’s exactly kind of where I’m coming from with this too, right? Yeah, cuz so I I read Sam Blum’s piece which was scathing and you know as as it can be but that the the line in there that stood out to me was exactly what Jack just pointed out the managerial changes. Like this is why I said this is why my my take on it is you can’t there’s no introspection at least publicly being done here. Like obviously just oh we got to go get another left-handed bat. we got to improve the starting pitching. Okay, you needed to do that for a decade and that and none of that is getting fixed. And rather than just and rather than address that and kind of be upfront and say, “Yeah, we’ve messed up here and we’re going to effort to do better.” You just say, “Oh, we’re moving forward and don’t worry about it. I can’t judge my own job performance. I’m just going to keep swinging.” Like it’s to to people that have watched this team fail over and over and over again in the same way for a decade plus. It’s tired. It’s really tired. And there needs to be some difference in the messaging that this that they are actually going to do something to fix it. Like honestly, Taylor, if they came out and said, “No, like yeah, we’re not here for improvement. Our goal is to make the playoffs.” And then they back that up by making some big swings for things. I would I would respect that audacity a little bit. But they don’t do that. Well, they did say that. We need to have four years forward because that’s been their comment for at the end of the season is for four years is next year we’re we’re shooting to be a playoff team. We’re shooting to win the World Series. And it’s that same copout crap that everyone uses. Now sometimes it works, but for the Angels it hasn’t worked for 11 years. Exactly. It’s hollow and there needs to be some difference to the approach and whether it’s like an actual difference of the approach because I don’t know how much it can change with already at the top of it, but some sort of public messaging change of we’re not going to do the same thing that we’ve done for as long as everybody else has watched because you talk to any Angels fan or observer just it’s it’s the number one thing is it’s tired. And I I I’ve spoken to plenty of people that have just said like hearing them address this season in the way that they did, they’re starting to finally turn off of like I can’t like go through this madness again. Uh and you know the the thing that’s a little that I was going to make a post about this and and kind of held back on it because I didn’t have my thought fully formed, but I I went and looked at the attendance figures and the Angels still finished 13th in attendance. They finished ahead of teams like Seattle and Detroit. And yeah, I know there’s stadium size differences, but you know, I will credit the Angles marketing department. They do a good job with promotions to get people in the ballpark. Well, that’s what I think people need to stop showing up to the ballpark for better weather. Better weather, bigger market, etc. But on that on that note, okay, cheaper tickets, talk about guys that are in way different positions here. AJ Prell with the San Diego Padres’s, right? They are playoff contenders every year. World Series contenders every year for the last what four or five years closely or another first round knockout. Didn’t make it to the World Series. Didn’t make it to the championship series. If AJ P. But the thing I keep coming back to is I ask people in San Diego. I say, “Look, I know that AJ’s doing his job. I know that he’s putting the team in this position, but at some point you got to switch gears, right?” And I’m talking total bipolar opposites of Perry and AJ where they are at this stage, right? But then the answer is, well, there was $3.5 million or 3.5 million people at Petco this year. AJ put people in the seats. AJ saved his job because there’s 3.5 million people sitting at Petco every year. And that’s a it’s a new record every year for amount of people going attending Padres’s games. That’s a thing that ownership looks at. ownership’s going to sit there as for as much as we sit there and say, you know, hey, the Angels need to make the playoffs and the Padres’s need to make the World Series. It’s 3.5 million people and Angel Stadium, I’m assuming I didn’t look at the final figures, but I’m going to assume 2.7 2.8 million people. I don’t I don’t think they cracked three million this year, but I can I can whatever it is, right? It’s a it’s over two and a half million 2.6. Yeah. Over two and a half million people attended. And I’ I’ve always like that’s the thing. People come to me and they’re like, “Oh, being an Angels fan sucks.” And I’m like, “Well, I’m not an Angels fan. I just cover the team. I’ve been doing this for 12 year or 13 years now. Like it’s just my job, right? And I said, but I was a Green Bay Packers fan. I grew up a Green Bay Packers fan. Then I started getting pissed off at the Green Bay Packers. You know what I did? I stopped watching. And now I’m a like, yeah, I jumped on the bandwagon with the Rams when they came to LA, but like it doesn’t matter. I’m happy. I enjoy watching the Packers. I enjoy watching the Rams. And it has nothing to do with if they win or lose. I enjoy it. I have fun. So realistically, if you are an Angels fan that is tired of the product and and done with the product, just take a break. Just stop being an Angels fan for a minute. It’s it’s not like you’re a bad fan because you decide to take a break. You’re if it’s if it makes you mad, if it makes you tired, if it makes you frustrated, just stop. Just stop for a minute. I don’t I don’t think about people like that as fair weather. I think I think they’re maybe more passionate because it’s like this like there are people where it ruins their day like their actual dayact when the Angels do badly. So just stop watching as somebody that has just sort of stopped watching the team myself for the most part cuz you have been so enjoyable. Full transparency you grew up an Angels. Well, full transparency you grew up an Angels fan, right? So like like Jack Thomas, I’m not going to talk talk about your fan fandom when it comes to baseball or anything like that because we cover the team and we have to be, you know, unbiased neutral and everything like that. But Zach, you you’ve covered the team once. Like you can come out as the fan of the team and say this, but I went there one time and Ron Washington nearly died. Well, whoa. So come on. You know that one that I know you didn’t swear I know you didn’t swear, but that one goes in the swear jar. Like he’s fine now. We need a We need an out-of- pocket jar. Yeah, that’s Well, yeah. Taylor Taylor and Zach are going to fill that up. Switching. Like I said, we’re going to rename the episode to switching gears. Um, guys, I I want to move off of this. I I think we’ve just hit on it. Zack, what what do the Angels need to do this winter? And I’m Be Extreme. What do they need to do to be a playoff team next year? Be extreme. Sell the team. I don’t know what. Jesus Christ. Trade for Vlad Jr. Like, get Show back. like well I guess that didn’t that didn’t matter when he was here anyway. Um I don’t know man. I really don’t know. There needs to be some sort of culture shift because I I think honestly there are enough dudes on this roster to sort of make something out of it. But they just don’t have whatever it is and that needs to change. But I don’t know how they can do that. You mentioned something. I’m gonna totally shoot foot and mouth right now. A massive foot and mouth and swear jar and everything like that. Um, you mentioned Vlad Vlad Jr. Vlad Guo Jr. Uh, there was a video that came out of uh fans at Yankee Stadium throwing water bottles at Vlad Jr’s family. Um, I just want to mention this and I’ I’ve said it before, the New York Yankees are the most professional organization across sports. They are impeccable, amazing, incredible organization. Yankee Stadium is a cesspool of the worst people on the planet. Yankee Stadium and Yankees fans are disgusting and gross and they need to all grow up and go home. Like Yankee Stadium should just be like empty because the people that attend Yankees games and Thomas, I know you were just there and you could I you don’t have to say anything about it, but Yankees fans and Yankee Stadium is a disgusting place. Disgusting people and I’m sick of it. I’m sick of the crap, dude. Like Vlad Junior’s family should not have to worry about defending themselves at Yankee Stadium during a playoff game. So screw screw it. I I No, screw him, dude. Yankees, New York Yankees, great organization. Fan base sucks. Outright sucks. Sorry. Had to get that out of my chest. It pissed me off when I saw it. No, you’re good. Pissed me off to no end. I’ve never seen a tweet I’ve ever seen a tweet that said the best crowded Yankee Stadium ever was the CO season. Yeah. Well, that’s what in the World Series last year, the the guy that wrestled the ball out of Muki’s hand, right? Yep. UAV grad, Zack, so it checks out. Exactly. Yeah, there’s something in that Tucson water. We’re going to have Matt Burch on this podcast just to rip you two. Um, Switching gears, new name of the show. Switching gears. Um, switching gears, let’s go back to the Anaheim Ducks a little bit. Uh, in our script I wrote NHL season predictions. Um, let’s just do it. NHL season predictions, guys. I I put my I haven’t written down. I put my division winners. I put my wild cards. I think I did I tweet it to you guys or did I I texted you guys? I can’t remember. I have the picture of it. You tweeted you tweeted. So, I I’ll let you guys go ahead. Um, because mine is public. Mine is fully public. Uh, mine has not changed over the span of two games under any circumstance for any team. Um, so give me your division winners, your wild card, I division winners, divisions two, three, and wild card for each and then uh we’ll talk playoffs. So we’ll start with uh Thomas, you look like you have a notebook. So I’m going to go to you, Thomas. I actually don’t. I’m actually going to take a look at the All right, Jack. Jack James right now. Jack James, never let go, Jack. Yeah, never let go. So, the division winners, like the top three seeds in each division, or uh go with the actual the four division winners themselves. Okay. Four division winners themselves. Uh [Music] probably go Vegas in the Pacific. Uh the Central’s tough because I never want to count out Colorado, but I really feel like Minnesota could be dangerous. I’ll go Colorado. I’ll stay chalk. Atlantic. That one’s also tough. Yeah, Florida’s injuries. I know because Florida’s so beat up. They’re going to have a slow start to the year, I think. Well, they’re two, so maybe not. Well, yeah, but Yeah. Yeah. Uh I get you. I get you. Tampa. I’ll go Tampa. As you can tell, I didn’t do these before this show, so we’re we’re figuring this out live. Metro, we’ll go Carolina. All right. All right. Now, give me your uh two three for each each spot. For the Pacific, I will go Edmonton and LA. I still think LA’s a good team. Even if they didn’t have a good offseason, I just don’t think they got any better. Um, in the Central, I’ll go Minnesota and Dallas. Yeah, Minnesota. Dallas. Whoa. Okay. Um, Atlantic, I’ll go I said Tampa Bay. I’ll go Toronto, Florida. And then the Metro. Yeah, there’s not a lot of great teams that separate each other in the Metro. No, the Metro sucks. Yeah, they’re bad. Metro is bad. That is bad division. Jesus. I think I’ll go Washington and I don’t believe in any of these teams. I’ll go Rangers, I guess. Yeah, that’s what I had to do. Same thing. Yeah. Um, so save that. Keep that in mind. Write it down so you have it for the Oh, who are you two wild uh four wild cards? Four wild cards. And then save it. We go playoffs. Wild cards. I’ll go Utah. Whoa. and Winnipeg. No, no. Okay. I think they can be better, but I I don’t I’m not seeing playoffs. Um and then the two wild cards in the East, I’ll go I don’t think it’s going to be any Metro teams. No, no Jersey. No dogs. I have Ottawa. I’ll go Ottawa. Um you know what? This is the year. Give me Buffalo. Whoa, what a stud. I think I think they I think they squeak in. What a stud. I mean, you take out their 13game losing streak, they do pretty damn good last year. Yeah. No, you just you just move the Ducks up one rung on the longest playoff drought chart if Buffalo gets in. Yeah. Go from two to three to two. Thomas Murray, have you got your your predictions? Yeah, I do. All right. All right. Um, Pacific, I’m going to go Vegas. I feel like that’s obvious. Um, sort of the Central, I’m going to I’m going to stick with the Avalanche. I don’t think you can ever count them out. They’re too damn good. Um, Atlantic. I like I like the Panther. Or no, you know what? I’m gonna go Maple Leaves. Going Maple Leaves on that. And then for the wild card division metro, uh I’m going to follow Jack and go. Or you know what? Yeah. Yeah. I’m going to stick with the Hurricanes. Okay. And uh your two threes. Yeah. Two threes. Let’s go. Edmonton for sure makes it. And give me the Ducks as a as a three or a two. As a three. Three. Three. Wow. Give me the Ducks at three. I think we’re going to see improvement and I think I I really think LA is going to be in their own I think I think LA is really going to be in their own head this year. Viewership. I think they’re messed up from the playoffs. All right, man. Uh shoot out to the or shoot what else you got on the two threes. Uh let’s see. Central. Yeah, I’m gonna put I don’t I don’t know what order for this one, but I’m gonna put Dallas in there. And I’m gonna put I’m gonna give it to Minnesota. Okay. And then we’ll do Florida for the Atlantic. Uh, and Tampa Bay. And who are your four wild cards? You still the Metro, right? Yeah. I was like, I still have to go to the Metro. So tough. They’re going to give me give me give me the devils in caps. There you go. And that’s partially cuz I’m rooting for OB. There you go. And who you got on a wild card? I’ll put the Kings in for Pacific. Um and then let’s go with Utah and shoot out to the the cheese toast east coast. You don’t know that one, Thomas? You don’t know cheese toast. I think I’ve heard it. # cheesetoast, baby. Just gave me just gave me a good chuckle. Uh jeez. Oh man. Um let’s go Detroit. Why not? I can jump on that. You got Gibson. One more. Mean the charge. One more. Johnny Johnny Gibson got pulled last night in his debut. Yeah. Yeah. I heard Johnny five goals. My my friend’s a Red Wings fan, but he said like three of those goals weren’t his fault. So, I’m like, “All right, it’s the John’s Gibson story. It’s usually not his fault.” Yeah. Um, damn. Give the Tim Allen grunt. Give me Red Wings. Give me Alabama. Screw it. Give me the Flyers. Oh no. Let’s make Why not? Wow. The Flyers. Okay. I I’m thinking Gavin McKenna is going to be closer to being a Flyer, but that’s fine. He’s a Philly boy. Did you find You’re an Eagles fan, right? I am an Eagles. Give me three songs. And I’m going to do this till you give me three damn songs. I can’t. I’m going to go on Spotify and just give me I’m telling you right now, I’m gonna do this every episode till you give me three songs. Mr. Eagles fan. Fly Eagles fly. Woo. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah, they’re not flying right now. That’s one song. Fly Eagles Fly. Yeah, sure. Oh, they did. They did make Take It Easy. Okay. They did make it easy. Life in the Fast Lane. That’s their best song. I I didn’t even It’s up there. It just kind of didn’t click. You know, you know, when you like older band and you’re like, “Oh, yeah. They made that song, huh?” I’m a huge I actually do like the Eagles. So, Mhm. No. My grandparents had the Eagles greatest hits CD and that was the only thing they played in the car. That and the soundtrack to Cats. Nice. Uh, Zack, playoff predictions. Give me your div or give me your uh division winners. Just to prove that I did these before they were on a post at home. Yeah. So, we can go full extent. Like I I did this before any of the games were played. I wrote like as I was doing my Ducks in Deep season preview video, I was like, “Oh I got to write these down.” Oh, are you finally going to get a response? By the way, you didn’t put a duck season prediction in your season preview and then on your on Ducks uh Ducks and Deep the podcast that Zack host. He said maybe. I give people big old maybe. So, what do you got? Let’s Let’s find out right now. No. No. All right. We’ll go through We’ll go through it. All right. All right. All right. Hold on. All right. Uh Pacific Division. I I think we we’re going a lot of chalk with some of these. Pacific Vegas. Uh, Central Colorado, uh, Atlantic Tampa Bay. Okay. And Metro Carolina. I mean, Carolina is far and away the best team that close. Two threes. Uh, in the Pacific, Edmonton and the Los Angeles Kings. Uh, despite how bad that defense looks right now. Yeah. Horrible. uh in the central uh Dallas and Winter Peg uh what is that? The Atlantic, Toronto and Florida in the metro, the New Jersey Devils and the Washington Capitals. And wild card, your wild cards in the West, Minnesota and Utah. Damn. No wild cards from the Pacific. No Vancouver, no California, and no Anaheim Ducks. Oh my. I just think because St. Louis is in that group, too, the West is just so damn deep, like even if the Ducks improve, like as I said in the video, if they even if they do everything right, I just don’t think that there’s enough spots for them to break into. There’s too many too many strong teams at the top. So, who you got in the East? I think that unquestioned improvement for the Ducks, but not not quite a a playoff team. In the East, uh, the Ottawa Senators and the New York Hockey Rangers. There you go. There you go. Montreal and Detroit. Just on the outside. So, division winners, I did not agree with you guys. I went with Florida. Uh, Carolina, obviously, I think Dallas is the Stanley Cup favorite at the moment. And I also had Vegas in the Pacific. my two threes. I had uh I had Toronto as a two, Tampa as a three. I had um the New Jersey Devils as a two, the New York Rangers as the three. I had the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets. And I regrettably, at this point, after watching one game, this is the one thing I wish I could could have changed. Uh, I have the Kings as a two seed and Edmonton as a three seed. I would actually have neither of those teams anywhere near that at this point. Um, my wild card teams would be the Capitals, Senators, Canucks, which I also am a little questionable on, and uh the Minnesota Wild. So, uh, on that note, does everybody remember what they had? Everybody remembers? Yeah. I didn’t do the full playoff bracket like you did in your tweet because I just We’re gonna Then let’s just make it real easy. Um I I went I went to the conference finalists though. I have that. Let’s just make it easy. Uh player predictions. I’ve got uh basically my only surprise I think is uh the Kings over the Oilers. It’s the only thing I have that’s surprising in the first round. I’ve got Carolina over the Rangers. Statistically impossible. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve got Carolina over the Rangers in the semis. Florida over Toronto in the semiis. Colorado over Dallas. Uh Dallas even though I said Stanley Cup favorite at the moment. Had them out in the semis. And I had Vegas over the Kings uh conference finals. I had the Canes over the Panthers. I had Colorado over Vegas Gold Knights. And I really dug in deep here, guys. Stretch here. Uh I have the Hurricanes beating the Avalanche in seven in the Stanley Cup. I like you said, just it’s B it’s bold of you to assume that the Carolina Hurricanes would win an Eastern Conference Finals game. They’re going to do it. They’re sending it. So do you guys have any uh playoff odds you guys you going for? anything, Jack? Like I said, I created my list uh as I was saying it. So, um I have I have mine written down if you if you need time. Go for it, man. I all I’m going to say is a sleeper team’s going to be Utah. I think their goalending is decent. I think they have some weapons. If they get hot, I think they can make a deep playoff run. I don’t think they’re going to win the Stanley Cup, but I think they can make a they can surprise teams and make a deep playoff run. So, who’s your who’s Let’s go with that, too. So, we’ll do a quick playoffs, but who’s your sleeper team? So, Jack, you think the Utah uh Mammoth are the sleeper team? Sleeper team. Okay, Thomas, you got your playoff predictions there? Um, I mean, off the top of my head, but if you want my sleeper team, it’s I’m going still ride with Ducks cuz I mean, I put them up so high. I thought you was going to say the Flyers. Yeah, Flyers. Flyers. Super sleepers. Ducks. Ducks versus Flyers final. Oh, hell yeah. There would be dead bodies. Trevor Zrism got the bodies con the Twitter sphere would literally launch a war against each other. Awful. Ducks fans and Flyers fans are at opposite ends right now. Cutter versus the Flyers, Trevor the Ducks. Like what was that line in Hustle? Philadelphia is known for their uh sensible sports fans. Yeah. Yeah. Um threw batteries at Santa Claus, right? You got you got any playoff stuff, Thomas? Anything? Uh, I got the I think the Golden Knights are going to win it. The whole thing. Oh, who’s who’s coming out of the East? I don’t know. Flyers. I Yeah, I got He’s going with the Flyers. Yeah, Jack seven because I’m exact. Do you want my chalk answer? What’s that? Do you want my chalk answer now? Yeah, let’s just go chalk. I’ll go uh Vegas over Tampa. Okay. Wow. Tampa. Okay. Easy. Uh Zack, sleeper team and your your rough playoff stuff. Yeah, now that I think about it, I it’ll be hard for the the Flyers to win the Stanley Cup or make the final if for a team that doesn’t employ a goalender as far as I know. Um my uh semi-finalist because I’ll the sleeper is one of my conference finalists. So, in the west I’ll have Vegas over Dallas. In the east, I will have the siest team is the New Jersey Devils. Whoa. Losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Whoa. In the conference final. And in the Mitch Marner Cup. Oh god. Toronto over Vegas. No, that’s cruel. You call me crazy for saying the Kings are going to be Edmonton and you have Toronto even winning a round. Patrick Ewing theory, man. Mitch Martner’s gone. They can free up they’ll play free and lose and then they’ll win they’ll win the cup once he’s gone. Um, super sleeper team. Well, not super sleeper. Sleeper team that I I’ve got my eye on and we were talking about already is the Minnesota Wild. They’re they’re a very very interesting team. Uh, Minnesota is going to be very interesting this year. Uh, and I already mentioned my thrill. Um, yeah, already mentioned mine. $17 million a year. Yeah, it’s all good. I’m excited to see Zoom for 82 games. Yeah. Yeah. Other one. I got someone right here outside my window. I have to tell them go other side. Other side. So, um All right, guys. Uh that was NHL season predictions kind of thing stuff. Uh I like I think we’ve said it. Anaheim uh Thomas, you believe in Anaheim as a playoff team. The other three of us I think I think we all agree though it’s going to be an interesting Anaheim team that could make the playoffs and actually be like it’s not it’s not a knock against the Ducks. No, for me to say that that they’re not going to make the playoffs. It’s just that the West is too strong. There’s legitimately I genuinely teams that can be playoff teams. They would handle Edmonton better in the Kingswood. So, if they do make a three and Edmonson’s a two or something like that, I think the Ducks could like be a threat. Like, I think they’re fun. If if the Ducks play the same style they did as that first period, like if that if that first period is legitimately what this team can be, then yeah, they can get in a track meet with Edmonton. See what happens. No, they’re going to be fun. And they they’ll have the better goalending. So yeah, that’s Well, Edmonton doesn’t have anything. They’re a garbage team, dude. Come on. You know that. We all know that. Garbage plays. Garbage team. Real quick, super quick. How many points or Angels? How many points the Ducks get this year? I’ll go 87. Yeah, because they were at 80 last year. I I’ll go 89. Thomas, I’ll go 92. Nice. Uh, I’m believing. I had a big fat 84 on my head, which I I I regret now because I’m the low man and I thought I was the high man on the Ducks. So, I I almost went 85. I thought they were better than I They are who we thought they were. Nope. Um, well, that’s right. You know, it’s you got to remember that they took a 21point jump last season. Uh, and that was mostly based on, you know, smok and mirrors and goalending. Um, so I think playing a more uh, real style of hockey that’s compatible to what they do, it will it will make them improve, but again, the the West is tough. And, uh, the really the only like games that you should be taking points from every time is Seattle or San Jose and Chicago. Uh, and both of those teams have obviously game-breaking players in Celibbrini and Bedard. So, you may not even win those. So, it’s just it’s a dog fight in in the West. So, uh, to improve and become a playoff team, you may only need five or six more points depending who wins the Gavin McKenna sweep stakes. Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh is gonna be pretty pretty bad because of the whole Pennsylvania thing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. It’s a combination of they’re going to be really bad and I don’t trust the NHL to not uh cook the books and and let the Penguins retire Sydney Crosby only to get Kevin Gavin Petta. So, I’m going to go uh Boston. That’s my That’s my conspiracy. Boston wins the sweep stakes. Boston, they win the lottery. They’re going to win the lottery. That’s the way I look at I was going to say like a Islanders type thing. No, not that far down. I think Boston’s going to be a bottom 16. Yeah. So, h Boston’s got goending though is the the thing that might, you know, ruin that. Mr. Alaskan from Alaska. Yeah. Yeah. Uh Jack, I will be I will be in Boston. I’ll I’ll I’ll Do you have anything you want me to share with them? We’ll get on that when I go next next week, two weeks. We’ll we’ll go with that. I’ll tell in a minute. Thomas, who do you think is going win the sweep stakes here? Who’s the worst team in the NHL? Or or you going to go my my maneuver? Uh yeah, I don’t think it’ll come. I think it’s going to be kind of similar to what you were saying, uh going down with the lottery, but I’m going still ride with what Zach was saying. I I think it’ll be Pittsburgh. Fair enough. Yeah. as as Jack said it too like if San Jose is still bad and if San Jose wins the lottery and gets Gavin McKenna with Mlin Celibbrini dope just write it off we shouldn’t we shouldn’t compete the league should just shut down for a few years and just give a couple titles to San Jose that’s not true Zach only like a year Mlin celebrating is going to be Vancouver Kuck like as soon as he’s an RFA um any last Quinn Hughes is definitely staying too I’ve got I’ve got plenty of things to Yeah, that’s going to happen, too. He’s not going to New Jersey. Um, any last uh hockey thoughts, guys? Hockey thoughts? I just haven’t given my prediction on the Gavin McKenna sweep. Six. Yeah. Uh, do I go chalk? No, I’ll get creative. I’ll go creative. Philadelphia’s playoff making Philadelphia Flyers. My Stanley Cup winning. Oh, yeah. That’s right. I was right. Forgot about that. Forgot about that against the Ducks. Um, yeah, you can’t forget about that. Uh, any closing? If if that legitimately happens, I I feel for Trevor Zagris in such a horrible way. I don’t He’s going to be Stanley Cup winner gets his name on the cup, dude. Well, I mean, if if it goes the other if it goes Jack’s way. Yeah. Where it’s like if he if he leaves and sees the Ducks make the playoffs, I can’t imagine how he was talking about a seasonal depression in that ESPN article. That would only exacerbate that. I think that’ be rough. Um any any last uh hockey thoughts here, guys? Closing out. I’m happy I’m happy to be going to games that matter. Yeah, I I will be. It would it’s like so noticeable the difference between the last preseason game and the first regular season game of just like how much more this all matters compared to, you know, a week ago. Uh exciting. Kind of closing uh baseball thoughts. Uh, Angels had instructional league play at Angel Stadium uh, this last week. Uh, it ends actually like the last game starts right now. Um, so by the time Can you explain what this is to me? I saw I saw a picture of this and I I don’t I don’t understand what it is. Instructional league is just training camp. Simple as that. It’s like, hey, Trey Gregory Alfred, we want you to improve your change up. So go out there, throw a game. There’s no outs. There’s we’re going to put a random runner on second. There’s no rules. It’s a no rules practice, but in games prospects. Yeah, it’s only it’s only kids. So, and it’s only like game situations that Yeah. Like I think Garrett Garrett Richards went one year when he after the ACL tear thing just to get some like, you know, live abs kind of stuff against guys, but like it’s just random game scenario. So, these games at Angel Stadium are just Angels prospects versus Angels prospects. Um the MVP from what I’ve been told so far is Gabriel Davalo who is a uh kid who was playing the Dominican this last year. Um he is a big-bodied catcher is the way we would put it. Bigbodied uh this is the nicest way of putting it and he has moved from catching to third base for the time being. They’re going to split some time uh catcher third base and there will be an article on Baseball America about that in the near future. But uh yeah, Angels just closing out Instructs here. Uh the games were at Angel Stadium this week. Uh Chris Cortez is a big name, second rounder from Texas&M two years ago. Uh big time. Famously got into it with Christian Moore in the college. He did. Yes. There was some foul language, swear jar language between Christian Moore and Chris Cortez, but they are good now. Good now. So, um just quick closing baseball thoughts, guys. uh the by-week in playoff baseball. Uh the the Phillies went through it, the Blue Jays, you know, if you’re the one two seed, the by-week, it’s stupid. Uh Jack, you know, this hitters timing is off. It It’s so dumb to give these guys a by-week. I think it’s atrocious. Um I mean, the Blue Jays looked perfectly fine. They did. Well, something I I I wanted to mention, uh last night’s Dodgers game, O Orion Kirkling. Um that sucks. It it sucks, man. So, Jack, I wanted to go to you for this because I was talking to Jared Tims about it, you know, my buddy Jared Tims, and I said, “Every single one of us has been in that same position, but we’ve never been in it during an elimination game in the eliminating moment, right?” Like, you’ve been in that position where like you’re just like, “Oh, oh no, oh no, oh no.” Right? It’s that sucks. I hate it. I hate it for O’Ran Kirkley. Uh he handled it very professionally, very well. Obviously insanely high emotions. So I just want to give an adab boy to Orion. Um look, you got to do your job. It’s professional baseball. You’re paid to do your job and that was not doing your job. But there human aspect here, guys. Human aspect. This sucks. That guy’s got to live with that forever. And like we said, sensible Philly audience. Come on. He’s never living that down. So I Great for you, Orion, for handling it the way you did. Uh I feel awful for that kid. Like I said, we’ve all been there, so best wishes to him. Um, and don’t go to Yankee Stadium. That place sucks. So, uh, Jack Thomas, Zack, thoughts, playoffs, anything. Uh, anything. Uh, who was the the catcher that you said? It’s coming out on Baseball America. Kind of sounds like the MVP. Uh, Gabriel Davalo. When you first said his name, my the first thing that popped in my head was Mr. Dalina. Mr. Bob Davalina, the song from the 90s. Yeah. So, I just I’ve had that song stuck in my head for the last about two minutes. Oh, shoot. Sorry, man. So, that’s my final thought. Gabriel Davalia was the the big bonus baby uh last year for the Angels. So, uh Thomas, Zack, baseball thoughts? Anything else? Anything to end? Yeah. Uh I mean, yeah, that sucks the way that Dodgers game ended last night. And I honestly I thought it was going to end in a walk kind of scenario because that’s kind of how that’s how they scored their first run. I was like, “Wow, they’re really going to win this game without actually driving in a run. They’re going to win this game two runs from walks.” But then it it ended in the worst way possible. And that that just completely sucked. And I feel really bad for him. He could have bought that run home and it would have been better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it it’s tough too cuz I know there’s the picture out where there’s real Mu pointing to first base telling him to go there, but he had his head down when it all happened. There’s just so much like what if we’ve all been there. It’s so heat of the moment, you know. No, we’ve we’ve all been in that situation. T-ball, it doesn’t matter where you are, we’ve all been in that exact situation. It just we’ve never been in at that moment in time. Yeah. Yeah. Even if you’re even if you’re a hockey player, like you’ve been in that situation playing hockey or something like that. It’s a Bill Buckner. It’s a Buckner thing. Yeah. Yeah. 100% is. Um, also I just want to add, surprisingly when I was at Yankee Stadium, the Yankee fans were better than the Metife fans at the Giants game, but it’s the same fan base. Well, it’s a different state. Technically, but they all hop on the same go across the river. You can see one from the other. It’s It’s barely. I know I call the Angels the Anaheim Angels because they play in Anaheim, but realistically it’s the New Jersey Giants and the New Jersey Jets. Yeah, but it’s all right there. The tri-state area Giants. I think I think Metife is to New York than Anaheim is to Los Angeles. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself at Yankee Stadium. But yeah, I’m I’m going to still stand with what you said on that. Just surprisingly disgusting a place uh weekend went. So, if anything, they they’re both kind of whack. Maybe it has something to do with the city. Oh, no. Uh, Zack, any I’ve I’ve enjoyed Yankee Stadium, and I love New York City. Oh, good. I just don’t like I don’t like the Yankees. I don’t care for Yankee fans, but I I like the stadium. Good. Decent food. Yankees the Yankees organization, though. Give Give the Yankees organization their due credit. They are the most like most incredible organization any sports. I don’t need to give them anything. They have enough. That’s fine. just your money that day. They had They used to have enough. Now they need something. It they It was uh Yankees Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball and the the Red Sox won. So that was that doesn’t narrow it down at all. I don’t know what game you’re talking about. It was It was No, you know what? I I can narrow it down even further. It was the day that LeBron signed with the Lakers. I remember that. Okay. Cuz I I got the notification in the stands and I was wearing a Quebec Nordique shirt to really stand out at Stadium. Um, speaking of, it looks like the Avalanche are going to wear some Nordique’s throwbacks this season, which I did see that. Nice. Can jump on that. Well, it Nate Nate McKinnon matched Joe Sackic’s Avalanche record, which just shows how insane. It wasn’t the Nordics, it was the Avalanche record for Joe Sackic on like points or assists or something. And it’s like that’s just how absurdly good Joe Sack was compared to. So, um, all right. the whole reason everyone came. You You come for the sports talk, you stay for the album reviews. Let’s go. Um, so Zach, I got two for you. Uh, I have not thrown, you know, the 20 to 80 grade system, right? 200 grade. No. All right, Jack. 200 grade. It’s a It’s a scouting system for baseball. 80 is the best, 20 is the worst. I almost threw my first 80. Makes no sense, but Okay. Okay. Well, I almost threw my first 80 grade on an album. Uh, it was a debut album by Old 60. So, if you get a chance, go listen to Old 60s album. But the reason we’re here is because Zack Kavanaaugh wants to talk about Megan Moron’s live album, uh, the Am I Okay tour. So, Zack, tell us all about Megan because I liked that album a lot. That is a good tour. Um, great shows. I think the live album really expressed uh how good Megan Moroni was in the live show uh without having to look at her because obviously that’s why most guys go to her show is so they can look at her instead of hear and I think she’s better vocally than or audio-wise than visual. So there you go. I don’t know who that is. You don’t know. Okay, I would understand if that was like a slap, but I actually know that you don’t know who Megan is. She is I have no idea who that is. If Morgan Wallen wasn’t alive, she’d be the voice of the SEC. Sure. Okay. She’s She’s country Barbie, but like not like Carrie Underwood Barbie. Like legit like out of the box kind of Barbie. Like more Barbie than than Margot Robbie. More power to her, I guess. Uh, Zach, what’ you think of uh I’m sorry that’s a dead end for you. It’s fine. It’s all right. Uh, I already made my uh we we make fun of Thomas for listening to bands that that sing about fornicating with dogs. Uh, I’m going to make fun of you for the two songs that I He Blink 182, Jack. Blink 182. Okay. Yeah. Um, connect the dots. Uh, I’m going to make fun of you because your favorite I I’ve heard two songs from that album, the TS12, right? Uh, Showgirl album. Taylor Swift is singing about erections now. Like, dude, come on, man. Like, if we’re going to go into reviews here, she’s singing about Travis Kelce’s erection. It’s as simple as that. It’s a song about Travis Kelsey. It’s simple as that. Is that’s not a swear jar. I could go even worse. What’s it called, Zach? What is that song called? It’s called Wood. And the lyric you’re referring to is Redwood Tree Ain’t Hard to See. His love was the key that opened my thighs. Yeah. So, uh, what did you think of the There’s also another line in that song about being being cured by his magic wand. Wait, the song about Travis Kelce’s erection. Well, here’s the thing. The the thing that’s so funny about this, right, is you you ask when when Tyler’s been asked about this in her little interviews that she’s done over the weekend. And most of the song is actually about like superstitions. Like it’s called wood because like knock on wood and something like there the opening lines are something about a lucky penny and things like that. Thomas when I when I introduced it’s about when I introduced Zach I said the guy that doesn’t knock on wood even redwood trees that that that was a reference. I still prefer Wood by Allison Chains. Yeah Alison Chains has my favorite wood my review of the album. It is not her best work certainly. Um, and it took it took me probably well the first time I listened through it, I’m I was like sort of takenback by what it was cuz I had some expectations for what it was supposed to be. Um, and then once once I got the expectations out of the way and I listened to it the second time, the instant I I pressed play on the second listen, the first song like clicked in. I was like, “Oh, okay. Now I know what I’m expecting.” Um, lyrically not her best work. I think a couple of the songs on her might be the worst lyrics she’s written in 12 albums. Um, but musically, like sonically, there’s so much that I like about this. Like, there are some certified bops on here that I really enjoy listening to. Um, it’s not it’s not a top five album for uh but uh it’s it’s better than the initial hate uh Cloud would would let you believe. There are certainly some bops. I enjoy it. Uh, and uh, more looking forward to her next album. But there’s there’s some there’s some good stuff here for sure. Uh, if you if you want my recommendations for my favorite songs, uh, Opelite is is a bop. Wood is actually very good. It It’s a shame that it’s only the it’s the shortest song of the album, but it, you know, it’s it’s a good listen. uh also a fan of uh Life of Ailia, the title, the the lead track, and then uh Elizabeth Taylor is probably the other banger for me. I think I think you and Heidi have the same I think you and Heidi have the same uh thought process on the album. So, um let’s call it a wrap, guys. We went off the rails plenty. Um insanely quick. Insanely quickly. Uh Cody Beller expected op out of uh out of contract and become a free agent. So, nice. There you go. There’s your left-handed center fielder right there. Um, Taylor. Yes, sir. I have a question for you. I’m going to I’m going to test your age. I have an Oh, God. Thanks, man. Yeah. We’re gonna If you’re going to come after Zack, I’m going to come bail him out. Fair enough. All right. What What is this? Do you know what this is? No. I feel like Zach would know. It’s creepy. It’s What it is is creepy. It’s Sunny Angel. Who you guys not know? Sunny Angels? No. Oh, damn. It’s like a thing. It’s like a thing a lot of young people are buying. What? What about this? You know what this is? Oh, yeah. Like a colle’s like a collection of those things, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, both of them you buy a mystery box. I don’t know what it I don’t know what it is, but I know that’s like a thing. No. Are Well, Taylor, are you confusing these with Laboos? Yes, I am. These are% These are not labuboos. That’s what I thought it was. These are not laboo. No, I have a whole lot of laboo right now after last weekend, but hey, none of my lab boooos got kissed. So, I’m very sore. All right. Yeah, that’s how old I am. I have I have different laboo. So, when it comes to being old, this is my my last thing that we can do and we can finally, you know, wrap this thing. Uh, I I have to uh call out Patrick Present from the hockey news for uh just making all of us feel ancient. Sorry. Oh, I know what you’re talking about. I know what you’re talking about. So, Matthew Schaefer, number one overall pick uh from last year’s NHL draft, made his debut with the Islanders the other day. And by playing, he is the first player in the NHL that was born after the Anaheim Ducks won a Stanley Cup. That’s right. Which Ouch. Yeah. It all goes downhill from here. Ouch. Uh what was the one Erica West and I were talking about? I can’t remember. It was uh I can’t remember if it was um Nelson Rada, Angel’s Top Prospect is is like 20 years old. And I can’t remember what it was, but it was something like American Idiot by Green Day came out the same week that Nelson Rada was born and Erica and I were like, “Oh god, like this is awful.” So, um yeah. All right, let’s end this freaking thing, man. Uh Jack, you won an award. Uh, you’re a Wall-E winner for Kunkai News. Congratulations. Um, oh, last thing for Jack. Uh, how hard did you throw? Like the hardest baseball you ever threw? It’s tough to say. Uh, cuz the last time I was like actually clocked on a mound, I was still in high school. Um, counts. It’s fine. I would I would like to say once I got into college, uh, I could probably touch 84, 85. Okay. I broke a 90 off. I broke a 90 off. It’s like 19. Um, Striker Pence is a sophomore at Santiago High School in Corona. He is a sophomore, 16-year-old, the nephew of Hunter Pence. He threw 101 multiple times yesterday. And I cannot for the life of me think of any 16-year-old on the planet in the past uh that has done that. I was thinking Lucas Gelo I think hit 100 as a sophomore. I think. And that’s about endgame. So, uh, if you are in the local Corona, Riverside, North Orange County region, uh, Southland Empire, North Orange County region, there is a 16-year-old throwing 101. Go be part of the myth. Go support Santiago uh, high school baseball. He’s got quite the hair, too. He’s stud. He can also hit a ball like 500 feet. I mean, he’s he’s not a two-way, but he’s, you know, he’s obscene. Um, weekend plans. Uh, Thomas Murray. Oh. Uh, I’m not done with this episode. I had another one for you. I got a repeat. Another one of the the three bands. You got to eliminate one of You got to eliminate two, keep one. Uh, Simple Plan, Boys Like Girls, or Good Charlotte. Thomas, who you got? Who am I eliminating? Who you keeping? Oh, uh, I’ll I’ll go with Good Charlotte. Their early stuff was good, but Simple Plan kind of annoys me. and boy like boys like girls as like two songs. Is that Kevin? What you got, man? Yeah, I think I go with the same logic as Thomas. Like I I like Simple Plan a lot, but they are uh certainly as they’ve gotten older, they’re leaning into like the Scooby-Doo song that they did and the Disney covers, which I enjoy, but like, you know, artistically it’s not exactly Mozart. Jack, who you got, man? I’m going to keep Simple Plan just for the sole reason of I know their stuff more than the other two bands. So, it’s just based on familiarity. I think you guys are all psychos. Boys like girls are freaking awesome. Awesome. Uh, let’s call it weekend plans. What do you got, Thomas? What’s going on? Yeah, I’m going to a concert at the parking lot at the observatory because it was I guess too big for the inside the actual observatory in Santa Ana. So, I’m doing that. And then it’s my girlfriend’s mom’s birthday today. So, happy birthday to her. And I think we’re going to go somewhere on Sunday. I don’t know where. Maybe Santa Barbara or San Diego. So, that’s what I got going on. Good. Zach Kavanaaugh, what do you got? Uh, well, I’ve got a free day tonight in San Jose. I I’ve been told that I should go check out the San Pedro Square Market. That’s probably where I’ll end up this evening. No NHL games on the first Friday of the season. I feel like is a misstep, but everybody’s playing tomorrow, so you couldn’t get one game today. Whatever. Um, but yeah, then I’ll obviously here in San Jose, so I’ll be uh tomorrow at Duck Sharks morning skate and at Duck Sharks game in the evening and flying home on Sunday where I get to teach my grandparents about how the Anaheim Ducks new parking lots work. So, that’ll be fun. You’re going to have to teach me because I’m going to come see you on Tuesday. Um, you and I will be there. It’s easy for us. For for everybody else, there’s a little bit of hang-ups. Gotcha. You and I will be there on Tuesday. Uh, Jack James, what do you got going on this weekend, dude? I just want to point put an emphasis on what Zach hit on. No games first Friday of the NHL season. No football tonight. Only one uh MLB playoff game. And you have zero games on this lake today. I feel like you could have You had what? 14 games last night. I think they had 14 games last night, 15 or 15 or 16 tomorrow. Yeah, I feel like you could have had the no games yesterday. Then the age I think so, but that’s maybe. But that’s not a reason to not play games. Either way, that just grinds my gears. Anyway, I’ll I’ll make a little plug for you. Come out to South Pasadena High School and come to a high school football game. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, sure, man. Cool. Yeah, great. Yeah, but uh grinds my ears and shirt man cool. All right, ears. What do you got, Jack? Uh weekend plans. Uh various birthdays. I got a cousin’s birthday tomorrow. I got mine and my cousin’s birthday Sunday, even though both of our birthdays already passed. We’re just celebrating because we’re both in town. Um and then I head back to Arizona Tuesday morning for the second half of the semester. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Good to have you back on the show. Um, I am going to go fishing per usual. Uh, and I am also going to teach myself how to throw left-handed baseball left-handed because I wrecked myself last week. So, that was fun. Um, on that note, uh, let’s call it a day. You guys can follow Thomas Murray on socials at Tommy uh, no, Thomas_l Murray. You guys can follow Zack Kavanagh at Zack Cav Zac at the end of that. And you can follow Jack James at Jacks_. or you can follow me at Taylor Ward. And let’s get out of here. Go home. Get out of here. Let’s go. Come on. Good time. Get the weekend. Have fun. [Music]
In this week’s episode, Taylor, Thomas, Jack and Zach discuss the Ducks debut of Joel Quenneville and Beckett Sennecke and give their NHL early season predicitons. On the baseball side of things, the guys talk about Angels general manager Perry Minasian’s end of season press conference and what it means for the Angels moving forward. Taylor and Zach end the episode discussing Taylor Swift’s recent album, “The life of a showgirl”.
Follow the guys on socials
@ TaylorBlakeWard
@ Thomas_L_Murray
@ JackJanes_
@ Zach Cav
Episode Timeline
3:12 – Joel Quenneville Ducks Debut
12:39 – Beckett Sennecke NHL Debut
20:30 – Perry Minasian end-of-season press conference
43:45 – NHL Season Predictions
Closing Thoughts
1:08:14 – Dodgers and Phillies Finale
1:13:00 Taylor and Zach music debate – again
1:21:00 – Congratulations to Jack