Wild on 7th – Episode #118: Faceoffs and First Timer Vinnie Hinostroza

Wild on 7th – Episode #118: Faceoffs and First Timer Vinnie Hinostroza

This is Wild on 7th, your favorite wild podcast. Did you guys see this? This is unbelievable. What is that all about? Kanger, get in here for the real thing. Like, let’s get weird. Maybe I blacked out trying to figure out what was going on. Doubt, worry, fear, cuz that’s what we’re breaking the mold on here. Welcome to Wild on 7th, presented by Pilot Games. We’re here until it’s here. And welcome back to Wild on 7th, your favorite wild podcast. I’m Ryan Carter with my man John King here. Welcome back to another episode. And as always, uh we are brought to you by our friends at Pilot Games. Make sure when you’re out having a good time and it does feel good, Kanger, because it was it was tough to find a W anywhere around Minnesota the last couple of weeks, but things have started to turn around. And so, uh, it it’s it’s maybe getting back to we’re hoping Win Minnesota, but if you’re out watching a game, grab one of their tablets, play their games, you can win a little dough, change the trajectory of your day, have a good time, and not only can you win, but your community wins when you play at Pilot Games. Thanks for the support, Kinger. Um, I I know that it was tough on you for a bit there. You know, the Wild were I think at one point five and three. They had won like one game in nine. Um, it was it wasn’t looking pretty. The Gopher football, I know you’re a big PJ Fleck fan and they went down and barely got a first down in Iowa, but now all of a sudden they bounce back and beat Michigan State. Uh, so and then the Vikings, we watch the Vikings and boom, they go to Detroit and and beat the Motor City Kitties. So, how like how are you feeling at the moment? Well, Carts, you know, I I uh I swung through a drive-thru of a coffee shop and uh I tried to order a mellow and vanilla and they said, “Sorry, that’s not on the menu. That was just for October.” Um now it’s uh that’s that’s a that’s the pumpkin spice latte. It’s Govember. Yeah. We got uh JJ McCarthy turning the Lion’s Den into the Lion’s Zen, you know, meditating for two and a half hours. Gopher football’s back. PJ’s uh crowd surfing. Was there another video of a crowd surf? Yeah, there was. There was. And uh and also uh we took care of business um against the Canucks on Saturday night. I was in the building. You know, I could feel it turning. We were in the lobby waiting to play. Gopher football beats Michigan State. You have that awkward thing where people are in the concourse watching a different sport complete and everybody was just like, “It’s a different month. Turn the page. Let’s go.” and it’s one victory. But yeah, it is funny. The psyche of uh the state of Minnesota is in a much improved condition over the last 36 hours. That was a rugged ride. Um I got this whisker ticker thing going where I’m only shaving. I’m not shaving if we get a point in the standings. And man, I’ve been shaving all the time and I don’t like it. I’m like at the health club, I’m using kind of old razors. I’m getting nicked up. But I’m happy to report that I got a couple days stubble and hopefully if we can do well against Nashville Carolina, maybe get a little beard going here, get some mojo. Yeah, it it felt like the Wild’s game was trending in the right direction. Hines talked about and on a couple of occasions that when a team isn’t playing well and they’re losing games and their game has not probably looked as though it should that it starts to turn a corner but you don’t get the results the moment you turn the corner and I think he felt that was the way with the Wild. Um I I think there were times where he liked his game against Winnipeg where he liked it against Pittsburgh but um not enough of it. And I think that even goes back to the San Jose game. I think the third period San Jose he liked Winnipeg for the most part liked and then the first period of Pittsburgh. So it was five good periods in a row and then they kind of get away from it and that’s where your mellow and vanilla kind of came from. It was the second and third period of Pittsburgh where Marcus Felina was talking about it. We know what we have to be. It’s hardwork. It’s honest. It’s straight line. It’s a little more abrasive, a little more probably physical, but we get away from it and they got away from it and they didn’t win. But it at least I it’s promising that they’re understanding and there’s another closed door meeting which I think we should probably talk about at some point um to try to write the ship. But it felt like like this is this can’t go on forever. They’re not going to like this team’s better than losing like six, seven in a row, you know, and finding ways to lose games. So Vancouver came in and on paper on paper the Wild were the better team and they should win. it was without Quinn Hughes or without Connor Garland. It’s a team that’s struggling and the Wild can feel and they did they have run into uh some bad luck when it comes to goalenders. You know, I think in terms of goals saved above expected, they had they had faced like five of the top 10 in the NHL. You know, Vamela, Demco, Jarry, um and I think you could go down the list, but um but they break through and they win a game. And what was your assessment of that game? like how did it look to you? Well, it was I I really I I went to that game just because I was like, man, at some point we got to win. And um and you know, I know Hines took exception to the word fragile in an interview, but I would say the fan base was fragile, right? The the guys got booed off the ice after the Pittsburgh game. Um, and it it that was a game where I think what we’ve seen with this group this year is it’ll just get away from them. Um, and you can really see it when you’re live in the building. So, if we’re moving and and we’re going north south and there’s tempo, I really think we’re fine. Where we really get in trouble is when it turns into half court basketball and everybody’s kind of standing around. It looks like a penalty kill. Um that’s when you’re just waiting for that, you know, for Gustiffson to look behind him because it somehow got into the net. And um the Vancouver game there was very few stretches. I think at the start of the second they pushed a little bit um for about 5 minutes where I started to go, “Oh man, no. Let’s not jackle and hide this thing.” You know, we had the good start. Let’s not have a bad second, bad third. But I think generally that game uh they played well uh for most of it if not all of it. I think what what you can say in that game is that they didn’t beat themselves. That’s right. And they even though at times Vancouver pushed I I don’t think the Wild changed. They started to for a minute. It was like two or three shifts there where it started to change a little bit, but I think they got it back on the rails. Uh probably and that was probably start of the second start of the second period. That was opened up a little bit and it was like okay like this is actually it was fun to watch changing trading chances but it just that’s not the game that gives the Wild the best chance to win but they did get it back on the rails and they found a way to win and I think it was a relieving win. Now what’s important in my opinion is we will see the mental state of the team like has it been has the pressure mounted to where a win is just relief you know like there’s there’s desperation or urgency to get a win and then a win is relief or are they going to be able to find a way to make winning the expectation because good teams winning is the expectation. You know there there isn’t a huge celebration after they win. There’s not a lot of relief. It’s just kind of all right on to business now to the next day, you know, and um with this win based on how the first 10 games had gone. This was an important win. And will they bounce back and be the team and play consistently like they did against Vancouver? And that that wasn’t a great opponent, but the good news is Nashville coming up, they don’t frighten you that much either. So, you have the ability to put six solid periods together and take two points and start to feel good about your game. But um that that remains to be seen a little bit. But I do think that that’s the challenge. If if the word fragile um upsets you a little bit, then I think you have to prove that you’re not by being resilient or show the game that you showed in Vancouver the next handful of games. Yeah, we got to spool something together. I do think coming into the rink today, the guys seemed uh it was loud. They’re playing like small area games. I don’t know what section of practice I walked by, but they were kind of hooting and hollering and uh it felt joyful in the rink. It felt the volume was high. You know, they had their Halloween party after the Saturday game. I I hope that they’re they’re starting to like playing hockey and start I think we’re hearing some dog some dog barking because they’re they’re doing a photo shoot for a calendar. So, I mean, you string some of this stuff together. You have a good win against the Canucks. You got a little team bonding Halloween party. You get your day off. You’re posing with some puppies for a calendar. You’re having a fun practice. Nashville comes to town. But you’re right, it doesn’t matter if you go over and you get zero points tomorrow night against Nashville. It’s just we’re right back in the mud, you know. And last week for me, a lot of it was about perspective, too. So, they have Weston come in and um he’s the Makea-Wish kid and it great story. He was a part of it. signs a contract, scores on, you know, Gustoson Volstead in practice. He gets to have a good days pulling pranks with Mark Andre Flurry. And I think that that in some ways put some perspective into the players eyes, too. You have a 10-year-old kid who’s um here just wanting to be with the players and in their environment and how lucky they are to be able to play and to be in that spot. And I think the message to the team on Sunday too was, you know what, just play hockey, work hard, and have fun. like like this is supposed to be fun and or Saturday I I should say it’s supposed to be fun and they won a game and I think it was fun. Then they have a Halloween party and it is fun. It’s a reminder that it’s still a game and it you should still enjoy it and I think the energy on the ice and I do think we have to give Hines credit here like he he’s done a good job not like panicking. He’s he’s been able to control some of the pressure by saying like it’s not that bad. Like the game isn’t that bad. We should be able to come out of this and believing in the players. Um and even after the the Pittsburgh loss, they came out and played small area games. He liked the energy. The morning skate, he’s liked the energy and he’ll mention that. Um so I think he’s done a good job not making it panic mode around the rank. um despite the fact that guys feel the pressure but I think perspective has changed a little bit that it is supposed to be fun. I think the Halloween party helps. Yeah. And even that connects game if you look at it right Capri doesn’t have a point. We win five to2 right we’re getting Terasenko with three. Broaddin puts a couple points on the board. E our guest today uh Vinnie Hinestroa with a breakaway goal. Right. So that’s not your likely cast of characters all the time. and and they put up five five goals, right? Well, if if there was a bet to be made where you said the Wild are going to they’re going to beat Vancouver five-2 and have a decisive win and you’re not going to get major offensive contributions from 97 12 14 you’d be like wow. Yeah. I mean, what are the odds that? Yeah. And I I mean it so that’s a that’s a a promising one. I think um this week four games, right? It’s it’s another the the games are really loaded up with the Olympic break. So you you go Nashville at home, you got a back-to back Carolina redhot, the Islanders kind of in the youth movement and then the Flames back at home on Sunday. So u we’re trying to get back to 500. We talked about that, right? You got to string together two more two-point wins just to do that um at the moment. So I think this Nashville game is just like the Vancouver game. Can you go in there and play consistent hockey and and get your two points? Um, not one, not none. Try to get two. Yeah. And start getting start getting rolling a little bit. They they and they’ll talk about it. The most important thing is is not the week ahead, it’s the game ahead. They came they had a six-game home stand and they came off a tough road trip and it was all right, we’re going to write the ship at home. This is going to be great. And now at best their opportunities go two and two, you know. So I think that but that’s important to be able to salvage that. If all of a sudden it’s it’s one three and two that’s a that’s a terrible home stand. Yes. If you go two two and two you’re like not great but like trending. Yes. Starting starting to figure it out. It seems like a big game just for that. Um I mean it really does. But uh let’s talk about some other things around the league or or I should say some other things around the rink too. So the offense has sputtered. I don’t think it’s been consistent. The lines have been kind of mashed up. We saw them in the Vancouver game and it led to a goal four. Put Capri off Baldi and Erikson E together. I think you can do that at home because you can control matchups. But the irony is that line went and had a good shift and then it was Rossi who was with Terasenko and Johansson goes out and scores the following shift. Um, but I think Hines is looking for ways to create offense with the guys he has on the roster right now. Uh, you like them putting the top line or loading up that top line? I really do. I I know that everyone’s trying to have this, you know, can we have them both drive a line 97 and 12? And you you do see some things. I mean, there’s there’s there’s some connection to the fact that Johansson has 10 points that he’s playing with 97, right? There’s there’s some things happening here, but I just think you put Ek and Capriov and Baldi together, it is a handful. And if we can get our team playing wild hockey where we’re not necessarily giving up four goals and it’s a race to three, I just think you have a really good shot of getting three if you put those guys together. And I don’t I don’t know. I Now, when Zuki comes back, that might change everything. you give uh Carrill’s got his blanket there. Um and and that’s a hold. I think the dangerous part about everybody waiting for Zuki to come back and everything being fixed is then that that requires you to be healthy and stay healthy. Yes. You know, and what Zuki points out and he does have a unique skill set and uh and it’s one that’s not easy to replace, but one injury changed things in a big way for him. And now you have to make sure that you stay healthy or find a way to stay healthy despite the fact that you’re playing like desperate urgent hockey, you know, like um they they need Zuki back and then they need to be healthy for a bit. Yeah, cuz you’ve had Beoian out, you’ve had Sturm and Zuki, right? So this faceoff specialist we picked up over the summer. Begoian’s a vet puts pucks on net warrior. Um and then Zuki out. So I I just like them together. I um I don’t know. I don’t think we need to be, you know, taking a a a glass and trying to spread it out. You try to split the G on the Guinness and just have, you know, both of them uh driving a line. It’s like, what do we No, put those three guys together. No one has an answer for it. Um and if there, you know, and I I do think you’ll get some power play, you’ll get some things happening, but I like them together. They did it the one shift and it jumped off the page on Saturday night. So even if they did kind of how Pittsburgh used to, they always had this Malcol and Crosby together thing they could do when they wanted to do it. And they would just occasionally It’s McDavid dry. Yeah. just it’s like I think you need to when you’re chasing the game a little bit uh you need to know that you’ve got the the turbo boost the hypers speed and it’s like the NS you need to be able to push that you know let’s go Ludicrous mode let’s have 12 and 19 got the NS you just can’t be on it all the time I don’t know I I just let’s not make this harder than it needs to be does Matt Baldy need to get a merit badge for driving a line in 25 26 I don’t really care. Well, he if No, I agree. It’s like let them play together and no one has any answer for it. Yeah, I I agree. But then the counterargument to that is what happens if that line doesn’t score? Well, they’re going to score. Yeah. What happens if they don’t? Other guys need They’re not going to score every night. Other guys need Let’s say you Let’s say you run into a great matchup team. Let’s say you get Winnipeg with Adam Lowry and that line’s just getting shut down or something. Well, you know our team, right? That’s the fear. it is is that now all of a sudden you’re relying on the other guys that that you know it’s not their calling card. So it becomes challenging. That’s why I think there’s a desire to separate them. So you get offensive drivers and playmakers on different lines and it’s a season of 82. It’s not a season of 10. Like if it’s 10 games, yeah, absolutely go for it, you know, but um I’m I mean I’m with you. I I think that you can do it. But I do think it’s like the nitrous. You’ve got it in your car. It helps you, you know, get going. top speed, little boost, but you can’t be on it all the time. It’s not an either or probably. It’s It’s a, you know, but it’s there. It’s there if you need it. Hey, I want to ask you, uh, did you now you mentioned watching had one eye on the Wild game, one eye on the Gopher football game? Did you see that the the Jays were in the World Series? And I think it’s playing it was playing on the stadium in stadium like over live play. McDavid was like, “What is this?” I don’t think I mean, everyone was supporting the Blue Jays in Canada, but I think those players were like, “This is a very strange game ops call that you’re just running the baseball game right live.” Yeah, they they What did he say? It was uh it was interesting or something. You could tell he was like and and distracting. Yeah, we’re a pro sport. Like, we probably shouldn’t run on the And people paid to come watch the game. Yeah. You know, you bought a ticket to a hockey game and now you have a giant television with a baseball game on it. But because there’s no audio going like there I didn’t see it or watch it live. I don’t think there was audio going through the stadium. No, but the cheering would have been off, right? So like you could be, you know, you just coughed up a puck in your own end, but Vlad Guerrero, you know, hit a double and everybody’s cheering. It had to be weird. But let’s say let’s say the Vikings are in a Super Bowl and the Wild have a game at the exact same time, you know, and and Grand Casino Arena’s sold out. Would you want it on? I think I’d want it on as a fan. I think it’s up to the individual. You just got that hip pocket on your phone. You You’re a hockey team. You got to commit to the bit. You can’t throw it on the jumbotron. Everyone there has Everyone there has a phone just for Maybe you just do a good job with highlights. Like you wait for the TV timeout and you show the highlights. Yeah. or it’s in the concourse. Sure. I mean, the Gopher game was on the concourse before the wild game started, but it gave you I really honestly was like, November, November, this is I that was the worst October in Wild history, right? Yeah. I mean, so I was just like, new month, new day, no one can stop us. Um, you know, I I felt good to just have something different. Which sport parties the hardest after they win? Uh, like a championship. Yeah. Uh we we follow hockey and we see it like from Ovuchkin in the fountain to TJ Oshi beers through a shirt. I mean you could go down the list every year it seems to be one uped, right? Well to the elbow room. It seems like it’s hockey. But did you see the Dodgers partying? They’re doing like beer slip and slot in the locker room right now with with with ski goggles on. But the difference is the NHL party is like a month long. So well so are the playoffs. So, I mean, the playoffs are like, how long is the baseball playoff? It’s 1 month. Yeah. So, you got to It’s October. Yeah, it’s what ended in November, maybe the first. So, yeah, it’s it’s uh it’s like four weeks. Yeah. Um that’s two rounds out. I do like how they’ve incorporated goggles and and I also like this whole plastic sheath in the room like a like you’re a serial killer or something. They got everything walled off for maximum champagne spray. like that whole thing’s a good vibe and the the ski goggles kind of popped on the scene like 10 years ago, but no one can compete with hockey because it really I think started with the Ovetchkin uh Capitals Cup with Oce and and uh the fountain and the shirt and all that like you said, but now it’s like I mean the the Panthers were like running through Dairy Queens and maybe took a trip to the Bahamas and I mean it’s a it’s a fortnight, you know, it’s full two weeks of shenanigans if you win a Stanley Cup. I got to tip my cap to baseball because they do they do I think they do it right and they do it after every round. Yeah, they get after it and they do it when they make the playoffs, too. Yeah. Yeah. There’s a lot of ski goggles. Yes. Also, playoff baseball, the only two sports that go from checkers to chess in the postseason. Baseball and hockey. Playoff hockey is not regular season hockey. Playoff baseball is not regular season baseball. They are works of art. They are to be enjoyed, savored. Chew slowly, taste your food. Football’s great, but playoff football is a lot like football. Playoff basketball is a lot like basketball. Those two sports, man, uh even if you’re not a baseball fan, like that, just watching that whole thing and the drama and the home plate and the ball getting stuck in the wall, it’s awesome. Same as hockey. I I really think those two sports just elevate. How much could how much did Minnesota sports fans or how much could they relate? That’s Gary Anderson missing the field goal. The ball getting caught under the wall. It’s unbelievable. And like just terrible things happening at the worst possible time and the foot raising up the catcher’s foot. Yes. And then going back down. That was that was Minnesota. That was like a curse. Yeah. I mean Louis Vland’s on the Blue Jays North St. Paul zone. So yeah, it’s it’s tough. Uh, I wanted to see the Jays win because I think Canada would have brought the the hockey party to baseball and even if not the Jays, I think the town of Toronto would, you know. Well, there’s this whole kind of corridor of losing here with this kind of I mean, Canada like Great Lakes, you’re saying there’s just some there’s some darkness. We just had daylight savings time. Like that’s why man when we get some good news you know I don’t know if JJ McCarthy is is you know Tom Brady but he was pretty good yesterday. I don’t know if the Wild are going to beat Nashville but they beat Vancouver on Saturday. You know take the good where you can and it would it would just be transformative for somebody to break the mold and break through here. You mentioned chewing your food slowly and tasting it. What does Cub have right now that you’d like to chew slowly and taste? Well, the holidays are approaching and I I don’t know if you’re hosting or not. My brother’s going to be hosting, but I hope he goes over to Cub. All of the Thanksgiving treats are there. I know we got a few weeks before this, but if you’re making a green bean casserole, hot dish, you need gravy and lots of gravy. Uh you need the white meat and the dark meat, it’s all there. They do have liquor stores, some of them. They do deliver. They’re one of us. They’re high value. They’re Cub. If you’re constructing the perfect November for the wild, who would you trust to get the job done to? Uh, well, I’ I’d trust a couple different people. First, I’d trust my friends at Aquarius Home Services because you mentioned it’s holiday season, so that’s hot cocoa, twinkling lights, you know, cold winter taps, and that means it’s furnace season and old man winter, he wants to get in. So, Aquarius Home Services has you covered with a furnace tuneup for just $29. So, you can keep old man Winter outside where he belongs. Aqui warm house starts with Aquarius. Schedule your $29 furnace tuneup today at aquarius homeservices.com. Aquarius earning the right to be recommended. And if I was going to go through all the trouble to make sure that my furnace and even though it’s not much trouble with Aquarius Home Services, but if I was going to do it and I’d want my house to be energy efficient, keep that heat inside, I’d call my friends at Wild Construction because uh they’re experts at all things exterior. So whether you have ice dams or you have in the past at your house, that means your insulation is probably faulty and not doing its job. If you’re within an area that’s had a storm and you think there’s damage and things might be leaking in, give them a shout. If you have window problems and there’s frost on the bottom and air is getting in or your siding has issues. Wild Construction, uh, give them a call. They’ll send somebody out. Any problem you have, they’ll fix it. They’ll make sure they make it happen. Wildconstruction.com. That’s where you’ll find them. What do you think like a pass to myself? I got the primary assist. Yeah, you would get you would get an assist probably like back door and primary. So, that’s pretty solid. That is good. I uh Hey, when you look at kind of what the Wild need to do, what do you see macro trend? Let’s talk power play. Let’s talk power play and uh penalty kill. I um I have like a I’ve been having like a little soft spot for the second unit of the power play. I don’t know why. I’m just They only get like 20 seconds or 30 seconds. Sometimes Carell stays out, but there there’s something about it that with Faber and Zeve and the double D uh defenseman and um I I’m just I feel like we there’s still some bolts to tighten and and some things to figure out on special teams. I wanted to hear see what you’re seeing. Yeah. And I mean, I like the second unit, but that first unit is just so darn good. uh that you almost have to keep him out there for two minutes. Yep. It’ll be interesting to see when Zuki comes back if he just jumps right on that top unit and that would be Terasenko would move down. Yeah. And then what that looks like and there’s only one puck five guys. They all want it, but I think they share it well. Like they all know their job, the assignment, they do it and do it well, you know, and then is Bu going to be on that top one? I think that’s the the power play thing that’s changed right now. It’s Jared Spurgeon’s on the top unit. Z Williams off the top unit. And some of that I think is just motivation and not it’s I think I I think that there’s a mindfulness to bringing Zeve Boo along and and developing a hunger. This Matthew Schaefer on the island is is probably similar where these guys aren’t minor league players and they’re not going to go cut their teeth in the American League. They’re NHL guys. But I think that you want to make sure that it’s not just given to them that they have to earn it and that you know that that means that you’ve got to be good in all facets of your game and sometimes the power play is the bonus you know and and that’s the icing on the cake like you got to be good everywhere and so I think that some of William not being on that top unit is just simply that and just trying to find a way to generate and create hunger within a player and a young player and have them strive have to be good in all areas of the game and get rewarded with it with ice time. And so I think that that’s certainly a part of that. Um, and the power play is good. It’s going to be good. Where I think it can improve is is ramping up its intensity in big spots. And that doesn’t make sense because you you want to say like the power play should be good every time they go out. But I think that that it could do a better job understanding game script and and just bringing a higher level of intensity there. And on the broadcast, we’ve talked about this a couple of times. The Wild look different when they’re trailing by two goals. It’s like instantly boom, the switch flips. And they look like the Wild from last year and the team that’s going to win a hockey game. It’s like they wake up. Yeah. It’s they wake up or the urgencyy’s there. If the the power play has something similar, it’s like when they wake up, boom. And it’s not that they’re sleeping, but just when they want it, like when the stars align, it’s they’re not going to be denied. And I think that they have to do a better job understanding what that looks like in game script and and delivering when it matters. The penalty kill to me, it’s the same problem that they’ve had for a couple years. What’s the identity of it? I don’t know. And I don’t know that anybody knows. And I think it’s to a point where there’s so many little things and weaknesses in it that they’re they’re everybody’s overthinking and they’re trying to do too many things. And on some level, I think the PK would do better if they just threw four guys out there and said, “Run around and ice the puck when you touch it, you know, play free, just go, you know, like there has to be some structure, but for the most part, like no structure. Just play and play hard.” It would I think it would be performing better than it is right now. Oh, it has to be right. Where are we at? We’re We’re close to the bottom. I think I think it is like 50% maybe 40. You could try something. But yeah, I mean it’s comical and it is going to get better. It is going to get better. Um but yeah, right now it’s a problem and it’s a problem more so in the fact that the PK is just bad. It’s taking the wind out of the team’s sail. They look deflated right after they score a goal. And with that, the the problems are compounding. So you give up a PK goal and now it’s like within two minutes they give up another one just because they’re like they’re down and they get away from the game or an intensity for just a couple of minutes then they go down two and it’s like oh shoot we we better get going. You know the second someone gets a penalty the whole crowd is just like oh no here we go. What’s amazing is they’ve done such a good job staying out of the box. Yeah they have. Are they the least least least penalized team now? They I think time short is different than penalties in minutes, but they’re one and two in those categories. By the way, is there anybody better at drawing penalties than Ryan Hartman right now? Just this guy. It’s unbelievable. The little, you know, clench the elbow down on the stick. The And it’s Carell’s getting good at it, too, actually. Yeah, Carell does the little the little hop step. Well, he drew the one on Crosby. I mean, it’s it’s an art. It is so valuable to be able to do that. And it’s not embellishment. It’s like it’s not the full snap the head back like some of these guys you’re seeing. Um it’s just it’s crafty. I mean it’s well with Hartman it’s crafty. So crafty. We we I think we talked on the last podcast how when Hartman goes down he like wins his but he’s like got one eye open looking at the referee see if he’s going to win a little longer. So great. But I’m going to I’m going to dig in and look at who’s drawn the most power plays. He has to be up there in the whole league. But um and I I’m going to go around a little bit. I I want to I want to do Zeve a little bit more. So So you like this kind of um bring him along slow. I don’t I don’t necessarily like it, but in the long run I like it. Jordan Love behind Aaron Rogers. Think of JJ McCarthy right now. They’re And I I maybe I’m the only one that thinks this. I think JJ McCarthy has been healthy enough to play a lot of the games that they’re saying he’s not able to play. He’s hurt. You know, I’ve got no ground to stand on there. It just seems that way. And he seems to be chomping at the bit, but they’re like bringing him along slowly. I think they understand that, you know, they don’t want to burn the guy with interceptions or tough play, you know, win now type of team. So, they’ve protected him. Like they they rolled out a you know, Carson Wentz two weeks ago, whatever it was, that could barely stand up. You know, he’s stitched together and they didn’t want McCarthy to be out there. and now one week later he looks like Superman. I think that they’re protecting him a little bit. So I don’t think that this is something that’s just occurring in hockey. I think in general when it comes to young guys and and potential like franchise players, you have to there’s there’s an element of being careful not to wreck them because they they could eventually be that important. And I think Zeve falls into that category. Yeah, I agree. So the the Zeve thing is interesting though. So I think he’s like a minus 10 right now or something. So, and I know that stats a little bit weird sometimes, but um well, but everybody on the team is minus a minus 12 goal differential for the team. Yeah. So, the plus minus is a weird stat. The only thing that matters are the outliers. And he’s not an outlier. There’s other guys right in that same realm. And it’s not just D, it’s forwards, it’s everybody. So, you can’t just look at him and say he’s minus 10. He’s not an outlier. Like, you look at the outliers the other way. Like the couple guys that are plus players, you look at Begoian and be like that’s an outlier. you know, he’s he’s doing something right. Yeah. You know, well, so my thing with Zeve is um and this is more of a Minnesota sports fan take like this guy was drafted because he can has the potential to be a different type of defenseman. Okay, 60 point guy, 80 point guy. This is a different, you know, this is in that uh I’m not calling him Quinn Hughes today, but he’s in that kind of new breed. Lane Hudson, uh Quinn Hughes, you know, PP1, Walk the Line, Shimmy Shake. He’s in that tier. He’s in that tier. And what I I He’s in that talent tier. He’s not in that player tier. Yeah. He’s in that tier. I I want him to play the hell out of this kid. and and make it happen faster because it’s funny when when we saw Zeve at the state fair. I remember saying, you know, I hope you make us more like you. And and I’m talking about Minnesota overall versus Minnesota making you more like us cuz I don’t want this kid second-guessing himself. I don’t want him to have those um almost like you were talking about with the penalty kill. I don’t want him having this narrative in his head of all that, you know, I can’t do that, I can’t do that. They hate it when I when I trip at the line and like I do not want to damage him. You know, he’s been a winner at every level. I would just I would just run the hell out of this. Well, that’s the argument. So, you look at Lane Hudson, I I would play Hudson won the Calder last year and he might have been minus 20 at Christmas and Montreal’s on fire now. They got all these young stuff. Work for him, but you have to be careful. Not everybody’s the same. I know. And I don’t I get your point, but they rolled him out and they’re like, “Yes, we’ll go. We’ll go. We’ll go. The offensive upside is worth it. We’ll go.” And he ate minuses. And the guy eventually has started to figure out and defensively he’s improved. Like he’s learned. My gut on Zeve and there’s a small sample size is even when he makes a bonehead play, he’s going to do something special in the same game. I I still think you’re a net some even. I don’t know. I would play the hell out of the kid. Um, that’s just a different because it’s it’s very un motan too, right? Like we’ve been waiting for youth. We’ve been waiting for change. Um, we have good defenseman. You know, Spurgeon’s a good defenseman, Jake, uh, Brock, but but Zeve’s meant to be special and different. Uh, let’s race to find, let’s race to get there. Um, so that’s just a different take on that. I um I just think let the let the kid play. He’s going to make some mistakes. We should be a good enough team to deal with that. Plus, he might get his mistakes back. All right. Should we go through Lane Hudson’s game logs early on? I bet it’s amazing. Well, so he was plus three through the first three games. Then he goes -4 in one game. -2. This is last year. Yeah. Awesome. -4 + 2 -2 + 1 -1 -1 -2 0 + 1 -2 -3 -1 + 3 + 2 -3 -1 -2 -2 couple evens mixed in there and then towards the end of the year all of a sudden it starts to look a little bit better. He does have one monster game where he was dash five but it looks a little better and then at the end he finished minus two. I would that’s to me that’s the best argument to just like let this guy find 66 points minus two. Let water find its level. We know what Z’s upside is. Let him play. Let him get there as fast as he can. I just am not interested in this whole like I don’t want him having the yips. I don’t want Zeve turning into a Minnesota product where he’s he’s thinking of the six things he can do wrong on PP1 because he got taken off of it and then put back on it and then taken off of it. You know, there’s there’s the boy run. There’s two massive differences though. Z Williams a first round pick which shouldn’t matter but it does. Lane Hudson was uh not I mean second rounder 62 overall so a little less pressure like if he works out that’s great. Like you’re super stoked. Both college studs though, very high-profile, NCAA tournament, that whole deal. And Hudson’s a little older now, 21. Zeve’s still young. What’s he 19? You know, like two years matters. Yeah, it does. You know, it matters. So, I don’t mind caution. I I I really don’t for the long term. Um, you know, and and things aren’t going well. So, I I see both. I see I see both. And now we understand what the value in player development. Like the guys that make these decisions and when it when it pans out, good for them. I uh I did want to throw a bone to Marco Rossi, too. I It’s so interesting when he uh when we were the contract wasn’t done, and I just was I found it so interesting how much the fan base really loved this kid, right? Like they he does everything he’s supposed to do. He gets better every year. Um he’s a hard worker. You know, he seems like a a very uh good, kind guy. This guy’s so consistent and just like, you know, I I he might he’s trending for like a point a game season. All of a sudden, he’s got 80 points instead of 60 points. I mean, he is he’s a luxury. Um really uh we have some streaky players, you know. I think Matt Baldy can be a streaky player. He can be white hot buns and burner, you know, careful, and then he can go kind of quiet. Marco Rossi just chips away brick by brick by brick and I think it’s an absolute he never flashes like it’s a luxury and but he’s always like he scores put him with good players he can hang he doesn’t like flash but then at the end of the day you look at the score the score sheet and he’s got like one and one yard plays every game seems to get a point most games um I don’t know I think you know he he may not be the guy on every marquee or you know every advertisement but he is just a he is a key piece to making this thing go. Yeah, I I agree. Two more things I want to talk about. Uh, one, faceoffs. Hines, after the Pittsburgh game, we you could make a montage of it how many times he just referenced faceoffs. Faceoffs. Faceoffs. Faceoffs. I’m telling you, we need a cheater code. Yeah. But I think I think it I don’t know if it was strategic, but on some levels I think it was like on a faceoff like you you’ve got to be prepared to play and you’re you’ve got to be ready when the puck drops and mentally you have to be prepared, physically you have to be prepared and then it’s comes down to like battle wanting it more and there’s some strategy and skill to it. There certainly is. And I think he he found an area of the game that he could just totally call out and and just get everybody’s attention. Like look at this is the number one. This is our problem right now is we’re just not paying attention to detail consistently enough to be good. Like guys that are good at it beat us. Sydney Crosby wins a faceoff on a power play late and boom, the puck ends up in the back of the net like Yeah. Like the guys are scoring on these faceoffs. So there was an attention to detail in faceoffs in the Vancouver game. there’s a response and Rossy’s line gets one on a faceoff which was uh I think very important and um the Wild have we’ve been searching for your 52 53% 54% guy the guy where you can roll out and say like yes he might not win this one but he’s not losing this one he’s going to give the Wings a chance you know and um I think Sturm being out of the lineup has had a bigger impact to the start to the season than anybody probably would have anticipated ated on faceoffs alone on the PK. We literally got a guy because he was good at faceoffs and he hasn’t played. Right. So that sucks. Um I So you’re saying it you’ve said this several times in the pod and it’s intriguing to me. It it’s the whole unit that wins a faceoff. Yes. It’s the wings tying up. It’s it’s all of that stuff. And and you think Hines was able to say here’s an example of where your effort is not where it needs to be and we’re not connected enough as as five. Yeah. It’s not just this guy, right, that’s at 48%. Right. It’s it’s all of you have to do your job. And if you do, we can get that number inching higher. Let me think let me try to illustrate how I think about a faceoff and why it’s important. Okay, so let’s let’s consider there’s three circles on a faceoff. You’ve got the red dot or the blue dot that the referees drop the puck in. That’s the first circle and it’s the center’s job to try to win that that one. And then you draw a circle inside the circle. Now, that’s the wing’s job. If the puck is now inside that area, that’s the wing’s job to help out or the D, you know, depending on where it is. And then you’ve got the third circle. Once the puck gets outside that, you’ve got a job to do, right? And you have to know and do all of those things. And when Hines talks about it being the whole unit, it’s like the circle inside the circle like that. You got to win that. If you can win 60% of those pucks that are inside there where the centerman does some of his job where it goes straight sideways or it’s bouncing around and you win more of those you that’s that’s the winger’s job and the center and this where it falls on the center. It’s the center’s responsibility to tell everybody and make sure everybody knows like hey I’m struggling with this guy and this side be ready. Hey right winger be ready to jump because if I lose this it’s going to be soft right here you know and and give them a give them a heads up you know you know what’s going on. You know who you’re going against. You know how your night’s going. you know, let them know. Little communication goes a long way. But I think Hines is right. The whole unit can be better there. And when the whole unit clicks, you know, uh, it starts to help. And I think that’s just, as Hines likes this word, indicative of the rest of their game. So there’s that. Last thing before we get to Henrosa, players only meeting. It’s, it seems to have worked. Spurgeon Spurgeon communicating with coaches and team to get everybody together like texting the coach at night, something like that. We’ve heard closed door meetings in the past and those usually happen and those are those are never positive, you know, like and I bet you, the way I look at those is you have like one or two a year that that might have a meaningful impact like a cards in your deck. Let’s say that that’s a trump card. You don’t have an unlimited amount of trump cards. So, if you’re using that right now, it it better work like or it’s important that it’s effective. It’s the boy who called Wolf. Like, you cannot do that. You can only kick the garbage can so many times. Exactly. You know, before the garbage can is where they’re like, “Oh, he’s kicking the garbage can again. He’s the garbage can kicking guy, right?” Yeah. No, it worked. I think it worked. So, Spurgeon, he knew communicated it and I think it was we’re at a moment in the season where leadership needed to needed to show up because I do think that the team was struggling to find like an identity that was working for them. When was that meeting? Was that on Friday or Sunday day or when did they do it? I I don’t know. Um I I don’t know when it when it occurred. Yeah, cuz I knew Billy called the captains. I saw the closed door meeting. I saw the Spurgeon texting Hines. All of which are not really good signs that things are going great. Yeah, those are cards that are leaving the deck. Yeah, those are like you’d like to keep them in your If we’re having a closed door if we’re having a closed door meeting about the podcast, it’s that’s pretty serious, I think. But but it seems to have worked and I what what’s encouraging is there’s there looked like an identifiable hockey from the wild and I think that’s what the the closed door meeting was in search of like we know what we are now we just have to continue to do it and it got away from him for a bit but kudos to Spurgeon because he doesn’t get credit for being like front row center rah rah captain kind of you know Jonathan Taves But he he’s doing it and it might be behind the scenes, but when he speaks, people listen and they came out, they played a better game. Now, if consistency shows up, boy, that closed door meeting is going to be important or or or it’s going to be one that I think we’re going to have to reference at some point. And and his job isn’t necessarily to figure it all out, but he’s to get all those guys in the room talking. Hey, what’s going on here? Yeah. You know, how do we fix this? How are you feeling? You know, I think whatever they said in that room has been key for sure. So, let’s get to Hennis Rosa, but uh one last thing before we do, let’s get our uh because I love this bit. Let’s get our our trivia going. Just I’d like to see John squerm again with every question you ask. Uh Hus. Yeah. Hopefully this is Can we Can we do calc I need a whiteboard behind me over here so we can keep the score on it just so that John knows every time he walks in here what the score is. I mean, you could you could be by You usually have this in in the locker room where it’s like the standings so you know every day you walk in. This is how it was by the end of the season in the playoffs or out of the playoffs and it was just like ah this could be like 50 to three by the end of the year. But let’s try it. Maybe I get lucky. Yeah, you you’re you’re better than you think. One thing I will let you know is I’ve been honestly I’ve been trying to cheat at this. So, I get here earlier than you and these guys and these guys are talking about the trivia and uh King just sits silent and I literally am listening and then um I’ll hear him. I’ll get like one piece of information like he was on Edmonton. I thought he was on Edmonton before the while and I’m on my phone looking and to try to figure out if I can get an edge. So, I am already cheating. I don’t have anything for today, but if I get an opportunity, if I could get into, you know, their hard drive and see, I would completely cheat, just so you know. All right, let’s go. Here we go. Here we go. All right, this player was fluent in four languages. Russian and French are two of them. This player was considered A national hero 2002 2003 wore the A. I think this is the one I tried to cheat on. Maybe uh I will guess I don’t even know if this is close to right. I don’t even know if this guy like I don’t know. Zol talk. Yeah. Yeah, I heard them talking about this. I did. I And I don’t care. I don’t care. It’s like Ryan Hartman. Vinnie’s on the show today. Hey, if you’re not try cheating, you’re not trying cuz they reference Edmonton. I think you played for Yes. I literally cheated and won that one. I don’t feel bad. I don’t Oh, producers be better. Hey, you got be quiet. You got to be quiet. Can you guys just do some work before? Okay. Just prep for the show. I’m so happy right now. This is like in beer league when you you know the other guy’s name on the other team and you yell and he passes the puck to you by accident. Borderline move. Not proud of it. But hey, you know, if it gets the job done, it does. I’m back, boys. It’s Govember. I’m just glad you you didn’t. Last week after it was written down on my page last week, I wrote Zolto in the corner like I think that’s who they’re talking about. Oh, yes. They they kept it in. All right. All right. Vinnie Hosa. Bye. All right. This interview, like all of our player interviews, sponsored by Duke Cannon, they even have the body wash in the wild locker room. If you want to have your hair be a weapon, if you want to smell good with their cologne, earn your clean with Duke Cannon. Available at Target, online, any place you get your grooming products. Hey, I’m so excited about today’s guest. I wanted this guy last year, too. I He He gives me Dino Ciserelli feels sometimes. Uh uh we he had a big goal the other night on a breakaway. Uh, number 18 in your program, number one in your heart, Vincent Enrique Hinestroa. Pretty good intro. Yeah. Yeah. Really good. Yeah. So, I Go ahead. What? I was going to say, is Enrique uh grandfather’s name? Did I Enrique is my dad’s name and his dad’s name? So, from Ecuador? Ecuador. Yep. Yeah. Interesting. You ever been? I’ve never been. He ended up marrying a white lady, my mother, and um they never ended up teaching us Spanish. He was uh got Americanized as a young kid. He was kind of embarrassed to speak in Spanish. So um he never really got to teaching us. And has your like your family’s all from Chicago now? Like the Yeah. And that’s where your grandfather moved to and everything else? Yes. Okay, cool. Yeah, that’s where I want to start. I I got to know about uh I want to know about the Chicago Mission. I want to know about uh Young Hartman, Nick Schmaltz. Like I picture you guys with like cigarettes rolled up in your sleeve like greasers like running the town. What side of the tracks you Yeah. Like you you guys were I mean we know we know all the high jinks hearts he likes to play. So like take us back to the prequel. What was this like growing up playing hockey in Chicago? Are the personalities all the same um now as they were then? Yeah, it’s uh I don’t even know where to start with Artsy, but um my first memory of him is probably I was on the Chicago Blues, a DA team. He was on the Crystal Lake Leafs and we were probably eight years old. Um played each other in a state championship. Um he ended up winning and then blueooted you probably after he scored on the way. Yeah. And then uh we both went to the mission shortly after that and I think we won eight or nine whatever it was state championships in a row. Um, we never won nationals, but um, we had a a great group of guys that was give or take one or two guys a year. It was the same group every year. And, um, we never got to win nationals. We won all the states. Um, but we got really close. Uh, heartsy. That’s a lot of travel then together, right? Like like you’re going all over. Yeah. And my dad was pretty strict cuz we would get kicked out of hotels all the time. Um, by we you mean you and Ryan or like Chicago? uh you know, some guys that weren’t uh being watched all the time would go recap in the hotel and we’d have to uh move hotels sometimes. We got to the the room and I usually had to stay in there which was probably good looking back. What were you getting kicked out of hotels for you? Like breaking the crane game or like playing mini sticks in the hallway or elevator? Maybe an elevator down. What would be significant? Yeah, baby. I’m trying to think. Um I can remember one of them. Um just the pools closed after a game. Um I believe I remember like the manager, she was a woman and she was just crying trying to get these guys and they’re like, “We’re not leaving the pool. They’re going down the slide, running from her, like just wreaking havoc.” Mini sticks in the hallway. Then you just switch floors. Yeah. Run up to like the 10th floor. Guys would call with the phone by the elevator and say like, “Come up here. There’s uh kids messing around.” Then they’d go to floor seven, do the same thing. And it was uh it was crazy. And then um you know, we’d always play really well, but um now when you see all those those guys you that were insane and and having a lot of fun, now they all have kids and um we’re all kind of getting it shoved back in our face now. They’re pay the kids are paying for it back. It’s so great. Uh how did you get started in hockey? Um, my older cousin played, my my dad uh started playing men’s league with my mom’s brothers and then my two older cousins played and I just wanted to be just like them. So, uh, started skating when I was three and then joined a team at four and then just went from there. I just loved it. Um, joined a team at four. That’s just that’s we should hang on that for a minute. What What team is at four years old? Um, baby mission. No, I was like the Bington hockey club or something like that. It was uh I was the falling on the off off the bench, jumping on for my first shift. My parents were fighting. I was too young to be on my first team playing. My mom said, “No shot. He’s ready.” And my dad’s like, I mean, if I could I see my son now, he’s crazy. He’s got so much energy. So, I’m sure they had to throw me in something and just uh let me go. So, to wear you out. Yeah. Should we do rapid fire with him just to get him? We can we got a couple more Chicago questions, but let’s do rapid fire. Yeah, we we got to go deep on Chicago. So, this is just quick answers. Carts and I will go back and forth. Um, if you don’t know, just say pass. You know, the only people that are slow at this are goalies. Okay. You’re you’re a high pace and yeah, Terenko goes deep. He’s deep as a river. But we’ve seen how you play. You move. So, all right. Nickname? Ho. Pet peeve. Loud yawns. Oh my god. I like What do you listen to in the car? Morgan Wallen. Not Lil Baby. Uh I mean I go through stages right now. It’s like the kids love Morgan Wallen. So uh that’s kind of all we listen to, but I don’t think Lil Baby is appropriate for them, but I do like my rap. First job? Uh it was at Alexium Brothers Hospital. My aunt got me a job just inputting stuff in a computer. If you could have a green light in any NHL city, where are you going? Chicago. What was your first car? A Jeep. When I was 21, signed my first contract. Bought a Jeep. Yeah, I like that. Pregame meal. Chicken, pasta, uh, salad. You still on your parents Netflix account or you have your own now? I have my own. Your go-to drink at the bar? A Guinness. You got any weird food combos like ketchup on the eggs? No, I’m American, so I’m pretty normal, but seeing some of the Europeans, but uh ketchup on their pasta and stuff like that is uh it’s weird. Perfect weekend. What are you doing? Uh Sunday off watching football. Uh fall weather. It’s kind of chilly. We’re in uh something comfy and uh watching football. Going on a nice walk. What’s You have any postgame rituals? Postgame rituals? I don’t think so. Um, no. I I feel like nowadays we get out of the game so late. It’s like get home and one of the kids might be waking up, help my wife put him back to sleep, and then I mean, we can’t fall asleep forever, so throw on a show or something. Hidden talent. Um, I don’t think I have one. Who plays you in the movie? Uh, like a actor. Yeah. Would it be? Um, uh, the guy from Why Him? I don’t I can’t think of his name, but All right. Uh, what was the first concert you went to? Drake. Last thing you binge watched, a show, movie, something you went deep on? Uh, Terminal List. Uh, Dark Wolf with Riggins. Gift card from any store. Um, that’s a hard one. Best Buy maybe. And who do you text the most? That’s a going does this one. So besides your wife or whatever, your kids like who are you who are you texting the most? Uh I got one buddy from home. We talk pretty much every day. He goes back to that mission team. Um my my good buddy Maddie. So he’s got a family now. So we’re always keeping in touch. You guys got a fancy football league together and stuff too. Uh he’s so bad at that stuff. So he’s not uh in any any of those. But I got a pretty serious one with my buddies back home. How’s it going this year? It’s good. I’m in uh first place. Um, the last place guy has to get the winner’s name tattooed somewhere on him. No way. Yeah, it’s insane. It’s my buddy’s from high school. So that’s aggressive. Wait, so the loser has to get the first place person’s name tattooed on them? Yeah, somewhere on their body. Oh, dude. Is he in this? No, he’s not in that one. Okay. So, I won last year, so I’m tattooed Hinno Papa on somebody’s ankle. Yikes. Are you a Bears fan then growing up in Chicago? Like did you watch this crazy Bengal game and you’re all about Chicago Bears or No, I used to love the beer the Bears and now it’s kind of like the Bears. Yeah. Um it’s been tough. I mean I remember 05 Devin Hesser ran back the first opening kickoff in the Super Bowl and we’re like holy we’re going to win the Super Bowl and then uh it’s been kind of a nightmare ever since. But um I’m kind of getting back on the wagon. They’re uh building a new new field uh closer to the suburbs that’s going to be amazing and I think it’s going to be cool for like families and nice epicenter for people to go to. So, I think it’ll be good to get back into. I did some research. Uh what do you think of like what is it? DeAndre Swift maybe? Um because you were a you were a halfback back in the day, right? Yeah. Did you play for the Bloomington Bloomingdale Bears? The Bloomingdale Bears and you were a halfback and you had a pretty good lead blocker to my understanding. Right. Yeah. Hartsy, if we uh needed just a few yards, he was my fullback. Yes. No way. Yeah. And our Soy was a fullback and you’re the halfback. Just a little more speed than Ryan or what? Yeah, just a little bit. No, at that time I think I had a lot more. I was pretty quick, but um Oh my, our quarterback was on our hockey team as well and we all played defense. Harts was a kicker, punter. He used to pick out a guy, me and uh Jimmy, the quarterback. Um, we’d go up to Hartzy and be like, “All right, kick to this guy.” It’d be like an unathletic guy, like not all the way back on the kickoff and Herz be like, “I’m gonna kick to that guy.” Just be a floater like this and me and the other kid would just go and just time it perfectly and just kill him. But we we played on like the the B team cuz we missed so much because of hockey. So, it was like we probably could have played on the A team. So, we we just had it was I mean that was some of the most fun times I’ve had is is playing football with those guys. I uh so my vision when I when I go back to you guys being like little kids in Chicago like your personalities are exactly the same. Was was Heartsy crafty back then? Is he like is he holding a guy’s stick and falling down when you were playing like youth hockey? Did he did he know how to do all these things, these special heartsy things, or is that something he gained over time? No, I think he was born like that. He’s always been sneaky. It’s not just on the ice, it’s off the ice, too. little little jokes and little ways at getting that guy. So, I think he’s he’s always played with an edge and um obviously that’s part of his game and something that makes him so special. So, um obviously it’s evolutionized into something probably a little more controlled than um full all-around game, but uh yeah, he’s uh I feel like we’re all pretty much the the same guys we were as kids. Yeah, I picture you like brothers. Like I just it’s like when you first came on the scene I was like this what the this is like Hartman’s brother like where did this guy and then it went the background checked out I’m like man it’s like they’re uh brothers from another mother. The best the best too is that I mean who knows but maybe you don’t end up here if he doesn’t get suspended right because the Wild were down a forward hearty because you suspended they need somebody and then you got claimed right at that same time right like it’s funny how it works like that and I don’t know if he had like a text or something or you had to buy him dinner for that he’s like because I think that was a pretty expensive suspension for him but yeah right yeah I mean I think that was it all kind of lined up where a few guys were hurt and then hearty got suspended And um I think they had 11 forwards at the time and I went on waiverss and they picked me up and um you know they gave me a great opportunity here and I I I love it here. But uh yeah I think Heartsy taking that suspension. Um probably a big part of why I’m here and it is crazy how it works out. Watching you play though like there’s a hunger to your game. is is some of that like you know and you’ve been you’ve been around what 10 years you know 400 and some change uh games like but there there there seems to be a hunger to your game right now maybe something to prove too and I don’t know you know this the last year of the deal but the Wild give you an opportunity and you seem to be making the most of it. Yeah, I just think um throughout your career, you’re gonna have so many up and downs. Like uh I just think back of some of my best years, you’re just having fun playing. And I think um you know, the last few years, it’s whether it’s not getting opportunities or waiting for opportunities or um you know, being put in positions where you go in a game and and you play four minutes and how much can you do then? And you know, I came here and immediately they I think they put me in spots that I could use my strength and um you know, really made me feel trusted and part of the team right away. I feel like this team is one of the closest teams I’ve ever been in. I mean, I saw that at Heartsy’s wedding. I’m like, “All right, these guys are kind of weird all dancing with their shirts off on the dance floor. They’re either the the closest team to I’ve ever seen or something weird’s going on.” And obviously, uh coming here last year, walking in the locker room, you could see how tight it is. And you know that that just makes for a guy like me walking in, you know, you’re able to just be yourself and and focus cuz I mean sometimes when you get called up when uh you know what you can do, but these guys, you don’t know if they’re looking at you like what’s this guy doing here and stuff, but you know, they made me feel welcome and and comfortable. And I think that’s a big part of just being able to um compete and and play to your strengths. So after the mission, uh, like and you and Hartman are tight. Not that you guys were ever just going to be on the exact same path, but he goes and plays like major, junior, something, you college. Why was college a route for you? Yeah, so we went to 40 camp, the US Development. Uh, he made the team. I didn’t. Um, I went to Waterl, Iowa, played in the USHL. Um, and then I went to Notre Dame. He went to Plymouth. Um, we played World Juniors together when I was at Notre Dame and he was in Plymouth. So, that was cool. We got to play together again. Um, both got drafted by the Hawks. I went to school for two years. Um, he was in Rockford. I went my first year there in Rockford and we played together. Um, that was super cool. And then we kind of made the step to the NHL together. Uh, lived together at home on the road. Um, kind of went our separate ways. He went to Nashville. I went to Arizona. And you know that was kind of it. Obviously in the summers we skate together, work out, hang out, but we never thought, you know, like why would we play on the same team again one day? And you know, looking back now, it’s it’s insane. Like 10, 11 years go past and now we got our own kids and we’re able to play together and enjoy our families and it’s really come full circle and um it’s definitely uh thankful for that. Yeah, it’s amazing. Now, how was Notre Dame? It was really hard. Um school was tough. You hear about some of these guys that go to not going to name them, but some other schools and they’re taking walking classes, bowling classes, and Notre Dame was tough. I think um you didn’t get any leeway from the teachers. Um sometimes they probably viewed you as someone that may not be going to the school if you didn’t play a sport. So, um they didn’t make anything easier easier for you, which was great for me. But, um yeah, it was definitely hard. Um a lot of time management. I’m thankful I went there um cuz when I turned pro, I was able to, you know, ma manage my time and um really know what I needed to focus on in a day-by-day routine. How are the football games there? Like like how was life on campus at Notre Dame? Like it just seems like it’d be awesome there. On campus was fun, but the the football games were incredible. We would uh so the seniors lived off campus. Um we had to live on campus till our senior year. So, we were in dorms, but uh every Saturday in the preseason, so before our season started, um we’d have the hardest workout ever at like 5:00 a.m. on Saturday. The last workout, you’re outside on the side of the hockey stadium doing wall sits, passing 45 lb plates down the whole line of the whole team and everyone’s walking a tailgate and you’re singing the alma mater and and the songs and all the fans are going crazy. And then you run in the showers, get dressed, and go out to the parking lot where somebody had like a truck with a tarp with a bunch of beers filled up. And the tailgating was was incredible. Um, we got to sit behind the end zone for one year and then I think a guy fell on the field so they had to move us back. But, uh, the tailgating was amazing and, uh, that campus just it feels so special every time you’re on it. I was going to ask you, you know, you’ve uh you you had 76 points in two years in college, which is a very high output. You had 39 and 72 on the yachts a few years back. Obviously, your minutes change, right, as a forward in your position. Sometimes you said you might be playing four, sometimes you might be playing a lot more. What is Vinnie Henestro at his like peak? Like when you feel the best as a hockey player, how would you describe your game? What are you what are you contributing and chipping in? Yeah, I think I, you know, right now I really like where my game’s at. I think um you know um really fast, playing fast, getting pucks behind the D. Um not trying to force plays. If a play comes, you make it. But um just being reliable defensively, getting the puck through the neutral zone fast and then uh playing the offensive zone. I think um you know, just trying to do whatever the team needs you to do. I think um as I’ve gotten older, you realize one game you might do this, the next game you might might do this, and you can’t take your shot every time you get the puck. You got to play simple. And um I’ve I’ve just been trying to do that. Walk us through your goal the other night, too, cuz he’s fast to the neutral zone. You just kind of gain some speed and catch Tyler Myers like flatfooted like and that’s a scary guy to have step up on you a little bit right there, but he made it look easy. Yeah. I don’t know if he was tired or what, but uh Broads had a big block and I was kind of just in the slot and got it and I saw their forward kind of didn’t have much speed, so I tried to go wide on him and I think Myers might have thought he was going to angle me better and um saw ice in the middle. It’s something we’ve worked on is taking the ice in the middle and uh just kind of open up for me and then Treny was flying down the backside to hold that D there and I was just able to uh get to the slot and shoot it. Yeah. And it was the beginning of the end of that glove for Thatcher Demco because then I think Broaddin got one shortly after and then Demco’s like, “Hey, time for a new glove cuz he caught a piece of it with the glove and goes in.” But yeah, um see see you later that glove. But I also want to talk about your first uh your first NHL goal. So um with Chicago, you break through. I’m curious what that’s like, too. We’ll get to that in a minute. But you score on Marstrom and then what you have like a three-point game monster game. You guys are down three. Tell us about that. Yeah, I remember uh took me forever to score. It was like almost 20 games in maybe and I’m just gripping my stick and um we’re playing in Vancouver. Um I know Richard Panic got an assist on it. I think Heartsy might have too. We were line mates. Um but just kind of went wide and and shot it, got my own rebound and buried it. And that’s a feeling you you’re never going to forget. like you always say how you’re going to si on your first goal, but then when it happens, you’re like, what did I just do for a sully? Like I kind of blacked out. Um but yeah, that’s that was a special one. And obviously um playing in Vancouver, it’s an awesome place. And um we ended up winning that game in overtime, I remember. So yeah, Hosa scores or something. Hosa scored in overtime. Yeah, I remember it. Cut to the middle, shot it from like the top of the circles and just right past the goalie. Yeah. And then eventually you guys got traded together. He wasn’t playing though when you guys were traded, right? That was No, it was like me, uh, Jordan Osterly, and Hosa’s contract to Arizona. Yeah. You guys had the big win on on Saturday night and then the Halloween party. The NHL sort of wrapped its heart around Halloween as a holiday. Uh, who did you have? Who’s on the podium? Top three costumes from the Halloween party in your opinion. Who were the winners? Best in show. There was a lot of good ones. It was funny to see probably two of our toughest guys in Midsy and Bogo wearing makeup cuz they were Captain Jack Sparrow from the Caribbean. So, they had like the dark eyeshadow and some makeup on and they they did a really good job. Midsy’s wife uh made her own costume. She was like that octopus Davy Jones uh the bad guy from the movie. So, those were some cool ones. Yeah. Good. And what were you? I was just uh Alfredo Linguini from Ratatouille. My wife was the mouse. Nice. Yeah, I saw that. I I wanted to talk to you’ve you’ve you’re a vet. Uh you’re a pro. You’ve seen ups, you’ve seen downs. Um what’s the mood of the nation? Uh you know, great win Saturday. Um team Hines seems to have done a good job of kind of like let’s just let’s just relax, but like how would you explain the the mood of the nation in the room? You had the closed door meeting and all that, but like how’s it feeling right now for the group? I think it feels really good, especially to get that win. Um, you know, two two days off without a game is rare and then we got uh Nashville tomorrow, so obviously we just got to keep it rolling. Um, yeah, I think even when we’re going through the bad times, it was never like, what’s going on here? This is devastating. You you go through it on other teams and sometimes it’s like, I got to go to the rink today like it’s going to be miserable. Like I don’t think guys were ever feeling that. Um, we know how special our team is. Um, you know, from when I came here, you see how tight it is and and there’s so many great pieces in that room, whether it’s a highly skilled guy or a penalty killer, like we really have it all in this locker room and we just have to put it together and play a full 60 and I think, um, we got pretty close to doing that the other night. There’s still some stuff to fix, but um, just taking steps in the right direction. I think, like I said, every team you’re on goes through this and this just happened to be right at the beginning of the season. Um, so you know, we’re not out of it, but we could easily turn it around. I like that thought. And I mean, you broke in with Chicago in Chicago’s heyday with Kane and Taves and Cabbrook and Keith and the whole crew, right? And um, are there some similarities to the locker room now? Like you got you got stars and guys and those teams went through struggles at the same time, too, right? Like similarities to to those guys and those teams to what’s downstairs? Yeah, I’d say it’s it’s very similar. I think um when you look around, you got you got some of the most skilled guys in the world um in the locker room and then uh you got great vets that have won before. Um that’s kind of how it was there. I think the only thing that’s different is um we were scared to talk for like two three years and now it’s uh you know the rookies are have their own voice right away and it’s it’s cool to see. But obviously it was uh it was an intense locker room to walk into and a little bit overwhelming especially being from Chicago. Um but yeah, it’s uh that was a great team and I think you know um very very comparable to what what we have. Chicago always plays on the big stage too like they get the winter classic stadium series games. I think you played Did you play in the the stadium series game here? Yeah, I played at the one at the University of Minnesota. Yeah, the TCF. Yeah. Yeah. And how was that? I think we got smoked like 8 to1. Yeah, I played in that one. That was just Wasn’t it like 81 or something? It was like 72 or 73. Um that was sweet. But but there’s something about playing in those big games and having those big moments that helps translate into meaningful like games and playoff runs later. I mean, would you agree with that? Yeah, I think so. But I also played an outdoor game in Buffalo and uh we weren’t even close. So, um I think it’s just battling through these times, you know, that when the times aren’t good, it’s being able to get through this stuff that more so helps you along the the stretch. And obviously those games are are special and super fun, but uh I think it’s just better for the game overall to see those games. But yeah, I think uh just getting through these times together are what makes a team uh stronger. You’ve played on uh a bunch of different teams in different places. What do you make of Minnesota so far? I’ve always thought Chicago and Minnesota had a similar vibe myself growing up here, but I’m curious what uh what’s been your take with your young family being in Minnesota. How do you like it? I love it. We love it. I think um everywhere you look there’s a lake. My son’s really getting into fishing right now. So through training camp and the start of the season before it was getting a little chilly. We were we were fishing a few times a week just uh that Lake Harriet there. And I mean there’s we go fishing at home and it’s like you catch a couple bluegill and it’s it’s fine. But here there’s there’s some big fish and like uh they’re biting pretty good. And a lot of parks you see all the outdoor ranks going up. So I’m excited for that. It seems like every park has one. So, um, yeah, my family loves it. So, it’s it’s been a great place. You ever ice fish before? Never. You going to try it this winter? Hard to tell me stories about him bogo and, uh, going out and doing it. So, I would love to try it. Yeah. It’s fun. It’s different than open water. If you have one of those, uh, like huts, right? Like a shack. Yeah. Yeah. You get a shack or something. Yeah. It’s way better. Yeah. But you can go you can go pop around holes on the lake with open air, too. But Yeah. No, you’re in a shack. I’d love to do that. Yeah, that’d be a great ice house. You, Bogo, and Artsy listening to some NFL cuz isn’t ice fishing. You’re just drinking, but you have a hole. Yes. You’re monitoring occasionally in this in a tiny house. Yeah. Which is a great way. It’s like I’m going to be in this box with somebody’s drinking like three hours and we might catch a fish. We may not even know if we caught a fish until we look. But yeah, that’s that would be an all-star crew for sure. I’m I’m good unless you have anything else. No, I’m good, man. I know. Appreciate your time and uh it’s fun to watch you play and watch you compete and uh good luck the rest of the way. Thank you guys. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for being here. Have a great finish to the season. Thank you. [Music] Heat.

Following a “relief” of a win against the Vancouver Canucks, the Minnesota Wild will try to maintain composure over the next 4 games in only 6 days. Ryan Carter and John King connect for this weeks show with a little glimmer of a win in their eyes, after a tough stretch for Minnesota sports fans, let alone a struggling Wild team. The guys break it down, talk about the “players only” meeting spearheaded by Jared Spurgeon, and touch on what it’s going to take to maintain a winning level of play. First time guest, Vinnie Hinostroza joins the pod for some amazing stories from both his youth, and his experienced NHL career, both oddly enough, right alongside Ryan Hartman for a lot of it. Can you imagine what those two got into at out of town hockey tournaments as kids?