🎥 SOUND: Cassidy

🎥 SOUND: Cassidy

I know you said you probably wouldn’t have an idea about Aiden until Thursday, but do you have anything new on him? Uh, we’re right now he’s going to be week to week, so um he’ll not travel and we’ll go from there. Lindbomb was called up. He practiced today, so he’ll be uh I anticipate he’ll start one of the games this weekend uh with the backto-back setup. So, I don’t know which one yet, but we’ll go through that. So, what’s the excitement level of getting Carl into one of those games? Well, listen, we think he’s a legitimate prospect. He had a really good second half in Henderson. Um, you know, is he ready for this? He was good in exhibition. We’ll see, right? That’s the hand we’re dealt and hopefully he’s up for the challenge. I know he’s a great kid. He works hard. He’s going to do everything to prepare himself. We’ll find out if how it goes. But I I’ve said this many times, we’re not going to judge on one game, right? like Philly out ends up being an extended period of time, he’ll he’ll probably get a few starts along the way there and that probably be a better assessment of where he’s at. Um, you never know with young goalenders what’s the right path, how soon, but this, as I said, this he’s a guy that deserves to be up and with Hilly out um and our schedule the way it’s going to be, he’s going to get some at least one probably a few starts. So, see how it goes. Hi, coach. Hi there. Uh, how pleased have you been seeing this next man up mentality come to light? Well, it’s great when that when that happens. It shows you got good depth. Other guys are ready to accept the extra responsibility. I think that’s a good thing to have in the room. I’ve always said the best teams have internal competition. This is a bit of a form of that with guys being out. They get to prove that, hey, if I’m given the responsibility, I can take care of business. So that whenever one is healthy, you get a good push from each other. Um, I think that’s very healthy for the group. Uh, we’ve done that a lot here. So, that it’s a good sign that the guys can respond. The guys that are going in, but also the guys that are in know that, hey, maybe, you know, I got to do a little bit more while certain guys are out. Um, to make sure we keep kind of the ship afloat and going in the the right direction. So, there’s a little bit of that mentality in the room as well. Uh, I think it’s both sides of it. talked about Carl, but on Akira’s front, is there any adjustment that you have to make or how do you approach him now being the guy for week to week? Well, he’s going to play more. That’s the adjustment he has to to get used to and be leaned on a little more. And probably an example what I just said, right? He’s a guy that is in a more of a support role now. He’s he knows that he’s going to be in there a little more often. And if you ask him, I’m sure he’d say that’s what he wants probably. Uh he should should be the answer. Hey, I I want to be a number one in this league, so I’m going to get treated like one as long as Hilly’s out type of thing. And where Carl’s looking at, okay, I’m the support guy, but hey, I got a chance to be in the net, too, if I play well. So, that’s they’re pushing each other. Um, we won’t change the message to Akira. Maybe Berky has to look at how he approaches his workload if he’s playing more, adjust the days in between, etc. That’ll be up to Shawn and and uh the goalies to to handle that part of it. Um he’s played well for us. So I don’t think it’s going to change our mindset in terms of how we’re going to play. Um I don’t think the guys will change the way they, you know, they play. They they’ll trust that he’ll give us solid outings and he has. Bruce, u you went through this a couple of years ago being the defending champs. Uh Florida now with two in a row. What’s that challenge like that next year when you take on a team that’s you you lived it a couple of years back after winning it? Yeah, they’ve done it. They know what the they can do it right. We didn’t repeat. They did. So they they have that’s the one thing they’re thinking right now. Hey, we’ve been through this and come out as the best team in the end. So, uh the challenge is getting up for a game every night in October, November after you’ve been through those Aprils and Mays and June. Uh their challenge has increased this year because they’ve lost some key guys to injuries. But like us, they’re hoping they’ll plug a guy in, give give them more opportunity. Cuz when you’re a Stanley Cup team, you go, you probably have guys in your lineup that feel they can do more, right? But they’re behind good players. That’s usually how you win. You got good a lot of good players. So for them, I think that’s uh the good the positive for their situation. Um but you’re also getting the opposition’s best most every night. That that’s probably the biggest thing when you’re the defending champs. You’re become a measuring stick. You don’t get a lot of easy nights. Um, so that that’s that’s going to be their challenge every night to be at their best. Um, and they’re going through it now and it’s early, but uh, I think I as I said earlier, they they know the drill. I think they’ll be just fine in the long run. I know they they’ve got some key people out and you do, too, but are you still curious to see where you how you guys stack up? You guys are off to a real good start. They’ve won backto-back cups. Yeah, you’re always looking at certain, you know, Carolina is a good team, you know, the way they play. So, it was a good game for us to see where we’re at and I thought we responded well. We started well. I was real concerned and I was a big message like this team jumps on you and then all a sudden the game’s halfway over and you’re like, “Oh yeah, they’re pressing us. We don’t have a lot of time and space and you’re down two goals. It’s a tough animal with them.” So, I I like that we were ready to go. All right. We might not have won the first five minutes, but we were we were in it and going and um got the lead and and played well with the lead. So, um I’m sure we’ll see that out of Florida, Tampa, Carolina again, Colorado. So, we got four games against teams that, you know, going into the season were picked as, you know, certainly Stanley Stanley Cup contenders, if not favorites. So, it’ll, you know, I think our guys are they’re smart guys. They they know what they’re going to see this week and what the challenges will be and it’ be a good test for us. Uh Bruce, you call up Jacob Magna. Same day he’s announced as a Silver Knights captain, he gets the call up to come up here. So just what do you you know as he joins your group, just what you want to get out of him and just as he joins you guys? Well, right now he’s our seventh guy. Um the challenge for us was we’re going on the road and if you look at Henderson, they’ve had a number of D playing well. So good on Maggs to get to get the call. Certainly deserved it. You know, I know Cogland’s played well. Cormier’s rebounded from an injury doing some good things. So, you know, let’s see uh if in fact we need him, right? You you hope you don’t, but if we do, then you know, where does he best fit, etc. And we’ll answer those questions as we go. The good thing about him is he’s played both sides, left and right. So, when you go on a road trip without knowing like if he’s going to play, that means a D got hurt, but I don’t know which one’s getting hurt, right? This isn’t like we know already and could plug him in. So, that’s that’s the challenge for us when you’re thinking of bringing a guy on the road. Um, and you know, we thought it through. We we always consult with Kger down there and Tim Speltz, and this was a recommendation. We thought it would be a good fit for us, uh, going down there. He’s played there before, too. So, it’s a nice reward for him, too. Do you expect Hannifan to travel? Uh, I don’t I don’t. Howie is definitely I would believe Howie will play on Saturday. He’s responded well the last two days, so let’s make sure we get there he’s good. But he’s probably the only one of the other three that will be traveling. Um, in terms of you kind of mentioned with Mark with the Olympics and it being an Olympic year, I’m curious and I know it’s way down the road, but are you get are you relaying feedback to everybody over for Team Canada as far as if Mark comes back or it’s kind of close to the roster deadline? Do you have any say? They’ll there’ll be meetings. Um, we actually had one yesterday with the coaches, but it was more about uh our wasn’t about player driven. It was our, you know, tidying up our kind of tech package that we got to get out to the players eventually and our kind of timelines for stuff. So, and the GMs are doing the same. I I don’t know what the date is. There was an article the other day, I think, in about their timeline. And I think they’re getting together in maybe around early November, late October and going to probably start sorting through their So I may get a call then like how’s Mark doing? Um they may do that specific to our players, you know what I mean? And and try to get like Hilly. I’m sure I’ll hear from the goalie coach like what’s going you know. So uh those things do happen, but no, we don’t there’s not a lot that we do. There’s a I think five GMs on that committee that picked the team and they’ll go through it and if they need specific information or more detail then we’ll get a phone call and and because Mark was on it and Hilly were on it last time then I assume at some point there will be that question whether it goes through Crim or myself but um that’ll probably come up. World Series starts on Friday. It does. We’ve got some big Toronto Blue Jays Canadian. Yeah. Where where where you leaning? What are you thinking? Well, I got to go with the uh the Jays. uh being a Canadian uh not that I don’t know if they have a Canadian on their team to be honest, but they’re a Canadian city that uh supports their team and why not, right? It’d be good for the country. Uh and that’s nothing to do with the Dodgers. I don’t dislike the Dodgers. I’m a big Mookie Betts fan. He was a Red Sox. Cole loved him. He was a great I thought a great guy in Boston in the community. Always seemed to have a smile on his face doing something positive for them. So, but uh yeah, that’s where I lie. Hopefully, it’s a good series, right? I guess that’s what I’m hoping more than anything. You know, last night was an emotional night in Boston as Brad Marshian made his return there. I didn’t know if had a chance to see any of that or just I saw him balling his eyes out there on TV. I thought it was great. He’s such a smack talker. He’s going to hear about that on Saturday. But yes, I imagine it was very emotional for him. It should be. He was there a long time. Um, you know, had a family there. Uh, it’d be a tough one for him. I I can’t speak to him, but I don’t imagine he wanted to leave there. He he landed in a great spot, so it worked out. But, um, yeah, a big piece of him is still in Boston. I was there when he was a young guy in Providence. I coached him there for a long time. Um, great person. He’s become almost I was talking this morning on a with with Gary and Gosh about like he’s in a Hall of Fame conversation now from a guy that was a fourthline player that started the Miners. I mean, that’s quite a growth. And most of that happened, well, pretty much all of it happened in New England. So, I imagine it hit home real hard for him. And like I said, he’s one of the best chirpers, so I brought that up for that. But, uh, I felt good for him. Got a great cuz there’s always that when you go back like, oh, how the fans going to react? But, you know, I knew they’d give him a, you know, a great, uh, great ovation because he deserves it. Did a lot for that franchise.

Head Coach Bruce Cassidy speaks to the media following Wednesday’s practice at City National Arena.

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