Tony Granato on Connor Bedard Growth & Chicago Blackhawks HOT START! | CHGO Blackhawks Podcast

Tony Granato on Connor Bedard Growth & Chicago Blackhawks HOT START! | CHGO Blackhawks Podcast

Conor Madard and the Blackhawks are red hot. We’re going to break down why with Tony Granado next on the CHGO Blackhawks podcast. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Happy Wednesday. Welcome in to the CHGO Blackhawks podcast. I’m Jay Zawosi with Mario Tierbosi and Tony Granados with us in studio today. We are presented by Bet 365. Download the Bet 365 app. Use our code cho365 when you sign up whatever the moment. It’s never ordinary at Bet 365. We’ve got a ton to get to today. Before we do, do us a favor and hit that like button for us. Make sure you are subscribed to our YouTube page as well. you for catching up later on the podcast. We love you. We thank you. Make sure you’re following or subscribed on your favorite podcast app. And in celebration of the Blackhawks Red Hot Start, how about a fivestar review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? We would really appreciate that. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s welcome Tony Gado to the studio. Thanks for being here. Of course, guys. Thank you. It’s been a lot of fun the last month and a half since I’ve been in here. Well, we’re very happy to have you here, especially the timing is really good. Hawks are playing very well and uh you know Connor Badard was asked about it yesterday after the game like how much better does it feel this year in comparison. You’ve been along for this entire rebuild. How’s it feeling for you? Well, I’ll tell you what. Uh every game and that we watch and cover uh gets more exciting. Um you know, and then you become more of a believer. I think there was always hope at the start of the year. We sat in here and talked about what would a good year be and you go, “Well, you know what? Can they get to be a playoff contending team? Are there going to be meaningful games come March and April? And you’re thinking, well, maybe if things go right and and I don’t know that things have gone right, they’ve just played the way that Jeff Flashill thought they could. That’s the that’s the one thing that I will tell nobody’s Jeff Blill is not surprised. I think he was confident coming in on what he saw last year, what he realized over the summer he could do with this group. uh he implemented something that he thought would be easy for them to uh understand uh and then he gave them a little bit to get fired up for and they haven’t they haven’t nudged or or took a step back on the whole process. They’ve just straight ahead let’s let’s play every game the same way. Let’s gain confidence. Let’s play with more intensity. Let’s go out there and battle. And that’s been a consistent thing all year. So, we we’re talking in the before the game last night and we just said, “How good does it feel walking into the United Center knowing that the Blackhawks believe they’re going to win tonight rather than hope they can play well and maybe stay in the game?” And that was exactly what I felt like. And I think that’s exactly what this group right now has gotten to the point when they go into games, they believe they can win every night. And that’s a big change in the mentality of that group. What’s how we started the postgame show last night was we’re finally to a point now in the life of this company since we’ve been around where a win is not just like oh thank god they won let’s just celebrate the win. It can be, yeah, they won that game, but here are three or four things that need attention that we need to keep an eye on that if they want to keep having this success, we need to keep an eye on, right? So, interesting that you said that it didn’t surprise Jeff Lashel. What I guess how would you generalize it? How much of this is player growth, like young players just getting better, more experienced, and what percentage of it is coaching? Because it sounds like you’re sort of hinting at I want to put words in your mouth that maybe they underachieved last year. Maybe they should have been better. I wouldn’t say that. I I get how how how you would interpret that on what I said about Blash. I just think the timing was right for a coach like Blash to come in. Um you know, he you’re going to build around one player. Let’s let’s not sugar coat anything. It’s Conor Bard. But to be build around a player like Conor Bard, you have to have a goalender that can be a number one guy that can give you that stability from the net out. And Jeff Blashill, a former goalender himself, uh when he saw the roster and he saw, okay, I got that piece already in place. I don’t have to worry about that. He’s young, he’s hungry, he knows how to win. He came from the organization that’s, you know, been the the model organization uh in Florida. Uh so I think the confidence that he had um and and really the experience he’s gone through on his coaching development, you know, going and being an assistant coach under Coupe for those last three years, watching the league, learning how to deal with skilled elite players like he did in Cooerov and Headedman and he had Datsuk and Zedterberg and Crowall maybe at the end in Detroit and maybe a couple other stars. But I think when he got to Connor and you see a guy that’s just getting to that point where he needs that next little confidence to really be able to take that next big step and that’s happened. And so whether it was the first conversation in the summer that Jeff and and Connor had and he saw where Connor uh was uh different and more special than even he was hearing about. Uh, but whatever it was, Connor has taken upon himself to take this season as one that, okay, yes, I’m going to be better, but no, I’m coming in here with a whole different maturity leadership thing. Guys, follow me, man. We can do this type of attitude. And look at the guys around him. Look at Oliver Moore last night. The way he talked after the game, the way he played, and you know, Frankie Nazar, you go right down the list of young players. Colton Doc. Did anyone expect Colton Doc to step in, handle that role, and be as significant of a a piece to this puzzle in the, you know, basically the quarter season mark? I didn’t, but because of what Connor did and the other guys feeling, you know what? Hey, so what? We’re young. Doesn’t matter. That’s that’s actually a strength. Let’s just go out and play and have fun and do this. And and so, um, it’s been a combination of a lot of things for sure. How much does it play into that of like knowing the the personnel you have from from Blash’s standpoint of like he’s going to go in with, you know, the the messaging he has and and the strategy and and all that, but he’s not trying to necessarily do that where it’s just like you’re going to play a system that this team is not set up for. Like I think you you could point to Cal Davis’s drafting, which a lot of these guys kind of like fit that mold of that style of player. Um, like how much do you I I would say credit it to having the right guys around because because this team last year I would say it’s a great point. He had more NHL talent quote unquote. Jeff Blashill is a coach for younger, hungrier guys that want to learn uh and can uh you know understand uh that what he’s trying to implement is going to be hard and challenging, but they had the energy to do it. So if he had an older team with a bunch of experienced players and and and whatever, it might not have taken off in the way that it did with this team. I think it was just a great combination of Jeff Blash, Chicago Blackhawks, right time, young players, and again what Blash is I coached with Blash for one year. I know what Jeff Blill is all about. Um, if I was a player, I’d want to play for Jeff Blow because he’s very straightforward, very clear on what he’s asking of you, and you can find your role within what he’s asking of you on a team if you want to play and you want to be part of it. And these kids are hungry to want to be part of it because they feel something special is not far out. In your experience, how do you when you can talk to young players and not just Connor but everybody and say, “Hey, you know, when I was coaching Pavle Datsuk in Detroit and when I was with Victor Hedman in Tampa, does that does that do you think that translates to to players these days or you go, “Wow, he he coached these guys.” Certainly, I can learn something from him. Does that I guess credibility count matter? Two things, you know, and I and Blash and I talked a little bit about this the other day. We did we sat did a sit down interview. You know, as coaches, you’re always looking to learn. And what better place to learn from is when you coach a guy like Cooff or guy like Cadmin or in my case, I coach Crosby and a lot of other guys. I learned as much from them as they were going to learn from me, maybe even more. And so, as you go along and you grow as a coach, your ideas and your ways of communicating with that level of a player becomes different. And again, Connor’s at that growing stage. He is so anxious to learn and find ways to get better. I mean, you can see it on how he’s applied different things uh and added different uh tools to his offensive skills this year. He wants to watch everybody. If he sees somebody do something on another rink, this is what Sydney why Sydney Crosby was so great. He could see someone do something in the game, next day in practice, guess what Sydney was practicing? What he just watched on TV. And I think Connor starting to realize that gosh, there’s so many different things. I’m really good at what I do now, but there’s so many things I can do better and add to my repertoire and uh tools. So, when I get in different situations, I’m not just a one-dimensional. I got to catch it, drag it, and shoot it. I can I can spinama. I can stop and curl up. I can slow down the play. I can go on different edges. Like, he’s done some things this year that, you know, if you look back at last year, it was pretty predictable on how when he entered the line and crossed his, you know, crossed the blue line, what he was going to do. this year. I have no idea. Neither do the defenders. Yeah. So, the defenders are, you know, watch the defenders on the PK now. They’re all messed up. They’re backing off. Then they say, “Oh, you better go.” And then, so they’re so in between. And now he’s using his players and his teammates with Barakauski and Bratusi and Nazar and whether it’s Leanoff or Renzella at the top. He’s learned how to use them because now the team that’s trying to penalty kill is overthinking like, “Oh my gosh, Connor’s over there now. He’s well, he’s going to go to Bratusi at the goal line.” No, he’s not. He’s going to come in and shoot because you backed off to try to cover Vertusi. He’s learning to outplay and outthink what the other opponents are doing. I tell this story a lot and it was a learning experience for a young hockey fan. I went and saw the Hawks play the Penguins. Uh Mario Lemieux. The Penguins were in a power play and Lemieux was just standing on the boards just kind of surveying and I’m like, “Someone go take the P. Someone go get him. Someone go stop him.” And the second a Hawk move I think it was Gary Sudter moved towards Mario Lemieux. That’s all he needed was that inch and he just put it right on the sink. Says come to papa. That was what he used to say. Come to papa. Guys that think the game at that level. You can see the intimidation on the guys defending him. And I think it was it Bard’s rookie year where he had the overtime winner against the Jets where they just kind of parted like the Red Sea. That’s the respect that he has. They know he’s got the shot. They know he’s got the skill. And now that the points are there and the performance is there and the spotlight is there for him. You can, as you’re pointing out, you can see the respect given to him now and the fear from teams defending him. Let’s go back to Gary Sudter because he was one of my all-time favorite teammates, if not favorite. So, I don’t believe that he made a mistake. I’m going to call you out on that. It wasn’t Gary Sudter. I might have been wrong. Could not have been. It could not have been. Yeah, I Him and Chelios together were just awesome. Whatever year it was where I think they were one and two in a team in scoring. Yeah, I got I got something for you on this. He has the most points uh of a retired NHL defenseman that’s not in the Hall of Fame. Gary Sudter. Nobody knows that except I do obviously. I see that now obviously was a this is not my but second fiddle in Chicago. Uh when he was in Calgary was he was with Al McKinnis. So he’s always kind of been he’s maybe the man. Correct. He’s been the guy that’s been the under, you know, whatever underappreciated because he does everything right and he allows the other guy to be great. Uh but but uh Suits was a sensational player. Yes. My favorite of the Suitor. Well, there’s many to choose from. Way better than uh the other guy. Minnesota contract. No, I know the Sutters. Oh, that’s Suitor. So, you’re talking Ryan. Better than Ryan. It’s Gary and then Ryan way down there. Gary is Ryan’s uncle. Yeah. Yeah. I that was those are my formative years as a hockey fan where the Ronic Chelio Sudter Belfor Blackhawks and Ryan Sudter has a place in history on this show. Yes, he does. Has a place where has a place in history on the show. So when we when we when we first uh you can tip me off when we’re off the air. Yeah, that’s right. If you’re a longtime listener watcher, you know uh you know the Ryan Sudter um place in history. But yeah, I mean I I I think, you know, when we’re talking about, you know, Baddard and and how he’s kind of changed some things, there was something he did last night that I think other players might start paying attention to and and and and using that he’s doing that I can’t say I’ve seen too many people do. the second goal, his wrist shot, how he drags it in and like just this the positioning of his stick is like vertical and his hands are up like by his eyes. I can’t imagine how strong you have to be in your arms and your forearms and wrists to get that kind of torque on it. like man that is that is something that I feel like is unique to him uh in the league that we saw a lot of and you know in draft coverage and and you know the wrist shot and shooting ability and now this year it’s been a lot of fun to kind of like see it where he’s getting that space because players have to kind of and he’s quicker and he’s jumping to that space more he’s more deceptive he’s selling his shot more on the outside and then you know I think in that one he pulled it inside the defender so he shot it So the goalie’s here and he’s got a defender here and the next thing you know the puck’s on the other side of the defender. So he backs up a little bit. He doesn’t see it. He drops a little bit and that’s where he went up and over the shoulder. So he’s been very deceptive on his release points. Uh and uh you know he changed his stick. I’m you know he’s been very pretty secretive on what he did over the summer. Yeah. I mean there’s some things that he did training wise that I don’t think we’re aware of. I think we’re trying to you know guess and try to you know figure out what the heck he did. Uh, but he trained with different, you know, guys over the summer. He didn’t go, if you remember, he didn’t go to world championships. And I, I’m gonna be honest with you, I was I was like, what do you mean he’s not going? Because Sydney Crosby was going and he wanted to make, you know, team Canada this year for the Olympic team. You got to go to that thing. And his mentality was, it’s not going to make me a better player going over there and playing eight games internationally. I gotta focus on things that I need to do over the summer. So when training camp hits, I’m ready to be a better player. And so I give him credit because that was a a move that that not too many young guys are going to do. If you’re asked to go to team Canada, you go. And and for him to have the understanding and and confidence that that was the right decision for him was pretty incredible for me. Let’s put a Let’s pin that because I want to we’ll continue that conversation. We got to hit the break zone. Uh, make sure you hit that like button for us. Uh, if you haven’t done it yet, we got to get the likes up there like we do for uh, postgame shows. We got 59 likes. What are we doing? Hawks are in the playoffs here. Let’s hit that like button. Back in two minutes. More with Tony Granado next on CHGO Blackhawks. It is Blackhawks and Bulls season on Chicago Sports Network, home of Tony Granado. Visit chsn.commpodcast to sign up for your 7-day free trial of their all accessess plan. That gives you over 300 live games per year. You can catch every basket and every goal from your mobile device, television, or wherever you want to watch. CHSN is your home for the Blackhawks and Bulls all season long. 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And you can even enjoy more GLP1 friendly meals and new Mediterranean diet options packed with protein and the good for you fats. Eat smart at factormeals.com/chgo 50 off and use the code cho50 off to get 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for one year. Again, that’s chg50 off at factormeals.com. Uh, offer only valid for new factor customers with the code and qualifying autorenewing subscription purchase. All right, we’re back on cho Blackhawks presented by Bet 365. Uh, Mickey Sticks reminding me. Thank you very much. Uh, we have moved Pey. Petey was going to be on the second half of the show, but since Tony is in studio, we’re moving Py to Monday. So Pety Steve Peters will have full breakdown of Conor Bedard’s evolution. Actually, it’ll be nice because it gives him a couple extra days to add yesterday’s game. Yeah. Into his uh frame by frame breakdowns of what Conor Bard’s doing. So Pety will be with us Monday. It would be sooner, but we have three games in four nights here. So no, this is our only regular season or you know regular show of the week. Um so we’ll talk to PM. That’s just dawning to me though that man. Yeah. All right. So before we went to the break, you talked about Conor Bernard skipping the World Championships and how it could affect his chances on team Canada. Is there a way, look, I mean, he’s close to top of the league in scoring that in hindsight, the leadership of team Canada can say, you know what, kind of a selfless decision to go work on his game and recognize that he needs to improve to be a better player. And do you think maybe maybe in the moment it looked bad for him, but now in hindsight, could this be a decision that maybe makes team Canada think a little more highly of him? Yes, I think so. And and if you look at he was invited to their orientation camp late in the summer. Uh so there must have been some sort of conversation uh between uh the the camp uh uh the Bernard camp and and team Canada. Um, and then yes, I mean they want the best players from the standpoint that there’s a lot at stake for them at the Olympics. I mean, they are expected to win. They expect to win and they’re going to, you know, they’re going to take their best players. And when I say their best players, uh, Conor Vardard obviously, he’s could be the MVP of the league right now. Let’s not kid ourselves. Making a case. So, so you know, if you pick your team based on just the fact that we’re going to take our best players, he’s on your team right now. But John Cooper and and the staff have to decide, you know, what do we need from experience? What do we need situationally? What do we need? Because we’re going to be playing in a smaller rink. Do we need bigger players? Do we need to make play more of a grinding style of game to beat some of these European teams and and obviously the US? So, so there’s going to be a lot that goes into that decision. If the team was picked today and the Olympics started tomorrow, I think Conor’s on the team. I do. So, um, you know, there’s still, you know, a couple months that those decisions will have to be made in, but but he certainly set himself up to a position where it’s almost like how how do you not take them, right? Well, I mean, you’ve not in a NHL participation year, but you’ve been part of picking a a team USA team and um within the Olympics and what is that process like? What is that like? I can tell you from how much how much do you actually put on the like who’s hot now compared to like okay who has maybe prior experience in like big games and things like that? Lots of discussion about that. the 2014 team. I was part of that staff and part of this selection because I was an assistant coach on that team. Dan Bellman was our head coach. Uh and and you know, we would meet I would say every couple weeks uh we’d have emails that we’d go through uh and just kind of scouting uh stuff that was on uh that we were all connected with. Uh, and then we’d prepare for our meetings and we’d all place uh our our wish list of what we thought would help our team as far as uh the players that we thought would fit into what our needs were. Um, so I was I was a third assistant. We had Pete Lavlet and Todd Richards. They were running one of them was running power play. One of them was running PK. And I was trying to help those guys, you know, like, hey, the guys that I watch over here on in the Eastern Conference because I was in Pittsburgh at the time. We got to really focus. this guy might help us on the PK side of things. So, you’re trying to build your pieces of what you’ll need in that in, you know, in that game. Uh, and so, um, there’s a lot of debate and and, you know, arguments for which players should be and and shouldn’t be. Uh, but the mo ultimately here’s here’s the most important thing. So, John Cooper is going to be on the Canadian men. Mike Sullivan’s going to buy on the American bench. They have to be comfortable knowing what you’re going to give me, what you’re going to give me. So when you know there’s a five on three with two minutes to go in the game and the game’s tied, he knows and has confidence in the three or five guys that he’s putting out there. That’s the most important thing because if you go back to the World Cup or sorry the Four Nations last year, Jake Gensel and and Kyle Connor, who would you play more, Kyle Connor, Jake Gensel? I would lean towards Kyle Connor. Okay. Who would you play? I would say Connor, too. Okay. Who got more ice time? Jake Gensel. And because the coach coached him in Pittsburgh and he says, “I know what he can give me, so I’m going to put him on the ice more.” So Kyle’s sitting there playing, you know, one every seven minutes. He can’t get into the game and show the coach in a short tournament what he probably could do, right? And so you don’t want to put the coach in a position where he’s got a guy on the bench that he doesn’t know because he won’t put him on the ice to to have that opportunity. So I think that’s a lot of what goes into those decisions. That’s interesting. Sorry. Go ahead. Well, I was just going to say I I I go back, you know, you think about the Olympic teams for for all these countries, but especially USA and Canada, you know, they’re they’re all-star rosters. They’re guys that are coming from other teams where they’re the best player on their team or one of the top two, top three, and then they’re asked to play different roles. I think back of, you know, uh for Team Canada, uh I think it was 2010, like you have Rick Nash on the team, but he’s a fourthline guy. like how much do those players kind of have to also be willing to kind of take a little bit of a step back and like I’m used to being 20 minutes a night and power play one and now I’m being asked be on the PK and grind out 10 minutes because it’s a such a stack team. I’ll give you one example from last year’s Four Nations Dylan Larkin on Detroit first line center plays every power play every penalty kill in Detroit and he took a a minimal role and excelled at it. So the character of the kid uh again you know you have to understand and uh there is a lot of sacrifice to be part of a team like that. You know everybody like when Crosby goes and and all these top guys go McDavid McKinnon they’re going to take a little bit of a less of a a significant role as well but it’s not as drastic as you know some of those top guys you know like you said Lurin. So, I think that’s important, too. And again, the the most important thing in in a situation like that is that the coach would have already, so in this case, Mike Sullivan would have reached out to Larkin, hey, I’m looking for you on our Olympic team, but I have a role for you that is going to be different than you’re playing with the Red Wings. So, what do you think about this? I think he can’t go into it thinking he’s going to be on the first line, show up, and he’s playing on the fourth line, right? It has to be uh some process that’s uh been kind of discussed as the year’s gone along. And I think that that would be the plan that both Canada and the US, they’re smart guys. They they know what they’re they’re doing as they get this uh process. And I’m sure, you know, with Celibbrini and Connor having such great years, I’m sure Hockey Canada has talked to somebody either in Chicago or Connor directly or Celini directly to kind of say, “Here’s where we’re at with you. Listen, keep playing the right way. let us worry about the selections. Play that play that way and you’re in strong consideration for the we get so with the Olympics you get a 25man roster 14 8 and three. Could you foresee a scenario where the where team Canada or any of the teams really say like we’re going to take a guy who we could look at as a specialist like Bard is like a special teams guy or let’s be honest power play guy and we’re going to use him pretty much primarily in that role or cherrypick a player’s role based on opponent. So, all right, we’re playing Canada or Sweden, some of the bigger, stronger checking teams. So, maybe Baddard sits this game, but we use them against Finland and some of the teams that are a little more skilled. Like that sort of a thing, that sort of mindset. Or are they trying to go, we just got to take the guys that give us the best chance to win in any situation? I think that’s up for debate, too. I think the staff throws those ideas around and tried to decide what’s best thing. I’ll give you another example. 2014, Dustin Bufflin, an American, uh, didn’t make our Olympic roster. And we were in this type of an environment as as coaches and staff deciding, do we take Buff? And for me, I’m not going to tell you which way I thought on it, but he’s a he’s a unique player that does something different and is better than everybody else in the world at one thing. Do you take him just for that position? uh you know, power play, five on three, stick him at the net front, whatever, whatever it’s going to be. Um, but that’s the argument that you try to have and then you decide, well, is it worth a roster spot or is it worth taking a veteran player that that might be more boisterous and better in practice to keep the energy up? You know, this everybody has different specialties that they add to a team. U but but that’s a a great example of of, you know, throwing different ideas. That’s what the head coach wants. He wants people in the room to throw different ideas and scenarios up there so you can get full discussion on on what your roster will finally turn out to be. Speaking of the selection process, we’re going to be doing uh Team USA watchalongs for for the Olympics, whether or not there’s any Blackhawks on that team. But as our regular Windy City hockey brings up, Spencer Knight, the way he’s been playing this year, how do you look at the the US goalending situation? You know, you got Odder and Hell Buck kind of locked in. Do you think Spencer Knight has made a case to say, “Hey, I can be a third guy.” They’re definitely paying attention. There’s no doubt. I think more on the injury side, even though he might be the best goalie at the Olympics, uh how he’s played this year, I think the commitment that they’ve made to Halleach by playing him in the in the four nations last year. And then the other one that Swayman, the third goalie, he won last year. He won a gold medal for team USA. that hasn’t happened in world championships since 1930 and he was their goalie. So, so those three are slotted as the goalies. I said the same thing. I said Spencer’s playing as well or better than all three of them. Uh so why wouldn’t he be considered? He’s considered. I think it’s more of in case somebody gets hurt, he would be that guy. And if someone really drops off and has a bad month before something, then potentially he could be on that team. But yes, the other one I think that’s that’s quietly. Alex Vlic is a sleeping player from the standpoint he doesn’t get a lot of attention but he defensively and in an Olympic tournament you would want to shut down defenseman like him. So you know the you know you said Makavoy is hurt now. There’s always going to be injuries. There’s always going to be some adjustments to your roster based on uh some injury things as you get closer to the Olympics. So I think is kind of a sleeper to potentially find a spot that could fit on that roster. One more Team USA guy to ask you about. Not a Blackhawk. Yeah. the guy you got history with and I think is kind of on the bubble. I know you’re going where do you shoot the puck in the net a lot? He does a lot. Where do you think uh Cole Coughfield stands with with Team USA? I mean, if I again, if I’m coaching, I take him. I’m not coaching. So, again, Mike Sullivan has to be comfortable uh and understand he’s got a smaller player. The thing that I think people do not know about Kawfield is he is a very responsible defensive player. he’s small, you know, and and in those big grinding style games, if he’s lined up against Tom Wilson, you know, against team Canada in the gold medal game, I’d probably rather have a bigger player, but I I have confidence because I coached him to know that he could get the job done no matter who he’s on the ice against. Uh so that that’s your uh again um he he deserves to be on that team and how he’s played and what he does. Uh, but again, it’s got to be a comfort with the coach and I so I I say he’s gonna he’s gonna find a way in a roster spot. I hope so. I always This is really great stuff, Tony, because I think as as fans, we can look at it and say, “Well, he’s playing better than this guy.” Like Spencer Knight right now is better than Jeremy Swayman, so we should make the team. But there is so much I guess you can call it politics, but there’s history that goes into it, too. The the other thing that I point out, so all three of us and if you get so who’s the best three NHL general managers would you say in the NHL right now? Give me three big Kyle Davidson. Okay. No. Hey, Kyle Davidson should be right now with what he’s done. Okay. Well, Jim Nil is the one that everybody is. Yeah. Okay. Say Jim Nil. Say Kenny Holland and say say you get three of the best. They would all have pretty different teams if they picked their team thing. So think about there’s never going to be, oh yeah, they got the right team. Everybody’s going to pick nitpick that roster saying, “Ah, they should have take this guy or they should he’s doing better than that guy.” It doesn’t matter. You have to make hard decisions because there’s so many great players. All right, got to hit the break zone one more time, then that’s it. Let’s use that opportunity to get over aundred likes. We got to get there. Hit that like button for us. Uh, back in 2 minutes on CHTO Blackhawks. Have you been to the United Center yet? Yes. The Hawks games have been lit, as the kids say, and you want to be there and you want to be close. You want to see the speed in person, just like our friend Holly did all week. The Game Time app gives you the advantage. Back to you, the fan. It’s the hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in a few taps. Plus, fees are always included. 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As a reward, we’re going to throw you a die hard special right now. This has not been going on for several weeks. We just did this right now because of your likes. $36 for the whole year. Stephen spent the whole break making this graphic. Thank you, Stephen. Just in time. Just in time. Scan that QR code or go to allgo.com/join. Use our code hawks. $36 for the year. And yes, it includes the free t-shirt. Yes, it includes 20% off all merch beyond that. Yes, it includes the 20% off all of our events, takeovers, watch parties, etc. Still some tickets left for the season finale against the San Jose Sharks, the playoff tuneup, which suddenly has playoff implications. Yes, Hawks might be resting their starters that day, so we’ll see. Uh, but jump on that. That’s the only takeover we have left. And that one includes a postgame come back to the studio, watch us do the show live, so that’s going to be awesome. So, uh, for 20%. You never know. Yeah, it’s going to be a good time. You guys have been big fans for a long time. The celebration, uh, the centennial celebration with all the events that have gone on so far and all the ones that are upcoming. What has been your favorite part of what’s happened so far? or not, I’ll tell you mine. Well, I have to tell you, one of my all-time favorite Hawks, aside from Gary Sudter, is another guy who unfortunately it feels like time is kind of forgotten because he played in the worst era of Hawks hockey, Tony Amani. I am a huge Tony Amani fan and to see him at the opening day was very cool for me. Also, Joselyn Tibo. That’s so that period is when I had expendable income for the first time in my life. And Hawks tickets were $8. Wow. With my student ID that I kept well after graduation. Uh but I went to every game. So Ammani and Tibo and Jamnov and those teams, as bad as they were, have a special place in my heart. So for me, getting to see Tony Ammani, not only with the team, but in the alumni jacket, being honored, being announced, being cheered for was very cool. Uh for me so far, the the coolest experience has been um what they did to close the uh the originals chapter, which was two games ago, the the Tony Espazito night. Um bringing out the old Stam Makita and and Bobby Hall, the original curve sticks, which would be super illegal uh today. I don’t think there’s a limit now. I’m pretty sure there’s no limit. They get rid of the limit. I remember measuring was a yogger stick. They had somebody had Murley. Yeah. Oh yes, I was part of that game. So yeah, by the way, I was going to say this. You are Hockeyy’s Forest Gump. Every time I watch a historic moment from a hockey game, there’s Tony Granada one way, shape, or form. Really? Oh, that’s when scored as 802. And I I hate to bring it up, but I saw Well, just just But it was the Steve Moore incident. Yeah. And I saw you trying to climb over the glass to get to Mark Crawford. I I didn’t try to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Um anyway, I had Rick Tocket behind me though, so I was good support. Anyway, but I just I noticed that every time like, “Oh, here’s a historic hockey moment from the last 20 25 years.” Like, “Oh, there’s Tony. There he is front and center all the time.” Sorry. Yeah. No, I I just The centennial year is special because what it did for both you guys, it’s the same for me. I grew up with the Makita Hall, Espazito, Magnus, Coral, you know, that era. And just to have that be brought back to center stage, so to speak, at different events, have them in the building, give them jackets, and a lot of our heroes aren’t alone no longer with us, but Jane Makita being in there, one of Holly’s kids was there, Glenn Hall’s son was there as well for that night a couple week ago. Pat Foley being back in the building and being the one that’s introducing the alumni. Patrick Sharp coming back and giving a great speech. Like, that’s cool. That’s really cool because, you know, let’s not kid ourselves. The game of hockey has grown to where it is today. And we have shows now that we wouldn’t have had 30 years ago unless those guys did what they did to make our game so special and and get appreciated in a different way. So, we have a lot to be grateful for on what they did for us. So, the memories and and the excitement that they gave for $8, you got pretty good deal. I didn’t get an $8 deal when I used to come to the game. That’s pretty great. But, um, pretty great. I think the Blackhawks are doing a great job. So the celebrations of like the the the dolls coming you said Babble Had sorry not dolls but Chelios one’s coming up you said Savy’s got one coming I’m assuming y u there’s a lot of special more events coming up and you know what’s great this year you don’t have to beg people to come to the games anymore if they want to see great hockey and potential playoff you know uh type of games come see them because I have not had a a game at the end of the game this year 19 games so far right I haven’t had a game at where I said at the end of the game, man, that game was just a dud. It just disappointed me tonight. Their effort and their excitement and their enthusiasm and and the and the skill set that we’ve watched, every game has been fun. I mean, even the losses like aside from the Jets game on the road trip wasn’t that bad. At the end of the game, the six at the scoreboard and I’m going played way better than that. It wasn’t it wasn’t as reflective as as what that would say, but like each game they’ve been in um you know, they’ve gone to overtime. They’ve you know, sure they lose 3-1, but one of them’s an empty net. Like they’re they’re in in those games that that even they’ve lost and they’ve won games where they haven’t looked great, but they find ways to win. Like it it is a more exciting um season. And I think, you know, we’ve kind of seen attendance as the season has started, you know, tickets were bought before the year or whatever, all that stuff, but now I think we’ve seen attendance at home games start to to increase. Um, I mean, the Leafs game was just the best atmosphere in years, right? Yeah. I hope it gets back to that as as a more regular occurrence as this team and these young players, they become more exciting. Like, you know, people, we just had a meeting today about, you know, how our downloads and views and all that stuff have been. Like, people are paying way more attention to the Hawks now. Um, it helps that the Bears are doing well. Like the the the mood in Chicago around sports is is picking up and and the Hawks have been a big part of it. It’s it makes it so much more fun um to to go to the rink and and talk about the team. can’t imagine how much fun it is for those guys to when they’re playing like this to to go to the rink and be excited to play. For us as analysts, I’m with Kaylee and Pat most nights. And you know, there were games last year as we’re watching the games going, “Okay, how are we going to get 45 minutes post game out of this game?” Same. And this year, we’re like, we could go for hours now. We could talk about these guys. And like, you know, at the end of the thing, gosh, we didn’t talk about uh Colton Doc tonight or hey, we didn’t read, we didn’t Spencer Knight had 32 saves. We didn’t mention his name in the post game because there’s so many things that are going on. Um and so yeah, this is uh this has been a lot of fun and if you’re not on the train yet, get on it, man, cuz this is this is there’s a special place that this group is going and I don’t know when that when that’s going to be if it’s going to, you know, but it’s it’s happening. Uh so yeah, that’s been fun. Uh you mentioned not having to force people to come to games. Another old man corner moment for me is uh this was the I can’t remember what year it was maybe 05 or ‘ 04 they had Blackhawks players at Union Station with ticket vouchers. I remember and people were like it was like getting a Jehovah’s Witness pamphlet at the airport. People would just take and be like no and just you couldn’t you could shout across the arena to your friends. I remember excuse me Sebrook right? Um, no was well it was Brian. Yeah, Cbrook was one of those guys, too. But there was a Hawks game there getting killed and someone yelled, “Fire Sutter about Brian Sutter from the 300 level and Brian Sutter looked up like right at the like it was that empty where Brian Sutter heard him hear his name get shouted and looked up like directly at the section it came from. It was that empty. So to see it back where it’s going and just to kind of circle back to the uh Centennial thing, I when they brought out Sharp and Crawford and Sharp took the mic, I was like, why is Patrick Sharp talking? I love the message he delivered of absolutely without these guys, we are not here. And I I think they they’ve handled this whole thing uh curtain snafu aside, um they’ve handled it perfectly. And what I like about it is it’s been unpredictable. I think there’s a million ways that you could have gotten together in one afternoon and planned a centennial season and celebrations and ah we’ll have some legends come out and wave and we’ll show some cool videos. the way they’ve imagined this in the chapters and everything and like just the originals was not I thought was about the old guys, right? The first Blackhawks, but no, it’s about innovation, the gold horn, the hattick, the curved stick, the butterfly save, all the things that the Blackhawks have innovated spread out through time. I love that. I think they’ve done a really good job with this. And I, as a Hawks fan of I’m 47, I’ve been a really big Hawks fan for 32 years. Um, I am learning something new at every game, new with every video. Uh, they’ve done a a tremendous job of it. So, kudos to them. And I know, uh, the next chapter will be revealed soon. So, well, we know it’s the Mad House, but the video will be coming out soon for everybody to watch. Mad House. Yeah, that’ll be fun. No, you saw a lot of games there. Please. I think I saw maybe about a half dozen. Okay. You got you got uh we got this. Sure change. Old stadium seats over here. Uh I got my tip of my finger cut off by one of those after Hawks goal got smashed in there. I was with my uncle. He’s like, “Do you want to leave?” I was just gushing blood. He’s like, “Do you want to leave?” I’m like, “Hell no.” He’s like, “Let’s go.” So maybe that was the moment where uh hockey sunk its teeth into me was when I was bleeding at a Hawks game. But yeah, the stadium there’s nothing like it. And I hope they can do maybe they can have you like they have the interactive displays with the curved sticks. Maybe you sometimes you go to the museum and you could like smell what things smelled like. Oh, sure. Maybe they could duplicate the sweat cigarette uh smell smoke in the in the corridors, the faint smell of urine. The stairs for sure. The stairs walking up from a player standpoint. Your locker room was small and dreary and kind of it wasn’t state-of-the-art locker room facilities, but it was so cool as a visitor to be down there. And when you were downstairs, you’re in the basement, you could start to hear the roar of the crowd before the anthem, sorry, before the players came out. You could start to hear it pick up. And then as you’re going up the stairs, you know, the Hawks were coming up their stairs and the other side the like you seriously you get to the top of those stairs and that just peek out and just see the crowd standing up and the noise and the organ going. There is no better experience as an athlete than that moment. And as an opponent, how does that feel? Is it is it intimidating? Is it exciting? Like what’s the grew up in it? I was one of those goofball section JS whatever I was in doing all that screaming and hollering. So for me, my first game was there. I was I didn’t like it wasn’t fair that that for a Chicago kid to have to play their first game as a as a visitor. So I came in as a Ranger my rookie year October 6th, 1988. uh first game is New York Rangers at Chicago Blackhawk. So when I was doing well in training camp, you know, I looked at the schedule and I go, “Oh my gosh, my first game might be at Chicago Stadium.” So I didn’t sleep for the entire time and when I learned that until that game and I got on that ice, I was flying a million miles an hour. I you know, all this motion going through you and uh my first shift on the ice, uh I got a major for boarding. I boarded Steve Lmer. Uh, so Steve wasn’t real happy with me or LMS wasn’t real happy with me, but I had so much energy in there and I was flying and I was I was playing with Gilaf Flleur and Marcel Deion. Those were my line and and welcome to the league, kid. Right. Right. I jumped on the ice and I ran as fast as I was on the ice for three seconds before I got a fiveminute major. And uh I ran Larmms over pretty good. Got jumped by Trent Yanni and he jumped on top of me. Kind of beat the you know pounded me pretty good. So, I’m sitting in the penalty box looking up at that old scoreboard and uh five minutes for major and uh got through that penalty kill. We didn’t get scored on. Played a few more shifts. I had a big black eye because I got another fight after that because of me running Lmer. Uh and that’s how I that’s how I remember Chicago Stadium or at least my first game at Chicago. That is so cool. That’s a great story. I just to explain the experience of going there. I’d obviously never played, but as a fan, it was just uh all your senses were elevated because back then the area was rough. So, even going from your car to the building was a was a bit of an adventure challenge, right? For a suburban kid like me, that was a culture shock a little bit, like just like, oh my god, it’s kind of scary around here. So, that’s step one. Then, you walk in and it’s full of smoke. probably 30% of the people are drunk. There’s fights breaking out in this in the crowd. It was just electrifying and there was no cooler place to to see a sporting event. Uh especially a Hawks game than a Chicago stadium. It was just you left almost feeling like you played the game. It was exhausting in a good way. It would just d you put all your energy into it just attending this game and it was man to I I hope they I’m sure they will do a good job of capturing that atmosphere and I know the people who made the last Kamisky documentary are working on uh a Madhouse documentary too trying to gather people’s like VHS footage they got a decent amount. I I it’s almost impossible to recreate that experience but there’s nothing like you recreated it for me cuz you described it beautifully there. I’ll bet you every person that walked into that building as a sports fan, even if you even if you weren’t a sports fan, you walked in that building and you saw what was happening and like you said, all your senses, the noise and the smell and just the uh I can still smell it. It was overwhelming. That might just be me as as a fan to be in that. And you didn’t wind down for days after going to a Blackhawk game. You’d be so wound up on the way home and then the next day in school and you couldn’t wait to get to that next one. It was it was a grace. I think that’s why I’m so uh partial to the white jerseys. Mhm. I I’ve always preferred the whites to the reds uh jersey- wise just cuz I that’s what I grew up on and that was that was a stadium and everything had this like kind of golden tint to it. It’s very it’s very hard to describe but uh those of you that were there uh remember it well and it was it’s a place you’ll never forget. Um wow man it’s kind of like reminiscing time. It does make me miss that I miss or uh wish you were older feel that I miss being old does have some advantage. Yeah, you know feel that I I missed out on it. Um but yeah, I mean it’s I I’m I’m very interested to see how the Hawks are going to present all all that coming up in the in the Centennial celebration. I I like the idea that again Wendy City Hockey says like use the graphics on the scoreboard that they did for the Chelios night where it’s kind of just that black black and yellow like the light bulb look like that would be really cool. Um yeah, I I I’m I see all the old footage and um it just I I I do love the way that the team has been presenting it. I hope that they do, you know, a great job. And it’s it’s awesome hearing, you know, stories like you and Greg that have shared and and hearing from someone who’s played in there. Like it’s it it is really cool and it’s um yeah, I just I as someone who really like I I like to like attach and resonate like with 90s stuff. Um I feel like I just missed out on it, but oh well. That’s all right. Good. That’s what we get. It’s just the benefits of being old. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was told. Do you know the song Hey Jealousy by the Gin Blossoms? Sing it for me. No. No. No one wants it. How much can we sing before we get demon? I’m sure you know. Well, yeah. Yeah, we can. We’ll get sued. I do the bear show. We do plenty of singing. Yeah, right. You call it singing. But we played that uh big hit from 1992 for our uh producers last night, Chloe and Sarah, who are combined 50 years old. They’re Yeah, combined younger than me. But uh I said, “Does this sound like old music to you?” “Yeah, it sounds like it’s from like the early 2000s.” I was like, “Oh, yeah. That’s recent music.” Okay. 20 20 years old is 2005. All right, that’s enough of that. All right, let’s uh let’s get back to the old uh to the old hockey pucks cuz uh I’m going to get upset. All this reminiscing is just making me feel very old. Um I want to talk about Sam Renzo and Ardum Lefchov. And as you mentioned with the postgame show, I was like, “Oh god, we haven’t even mentioned these guys yet. Two of the most important Blackhawks.” Uh, I really like Renzel’s bounceback game last night. Sort of lost in the counter Bard hat-tick madness is that pass he made to set up the first goal, the little tap in that Bard had past Wolf where he sort of airmailed it over the defense and into the zone. Uh, that’s what you want to see from a guy bouncing back from a benching, but or scratch is probably more fair. Um, what did you see from him and what have you seen from him this year that uh, how do you feel about his game? Yeah. Well, last year what he did when he got here was like, oh my goodness, he handled that so smoothly. You know, coming from college and at the end of the year, they were meaningless games, but they weren’t. They were an opportunity for him to come and show, I’m ready for the NHL. And, you know, when he played his first couple games, you’re like, “This guy doesn’t need any seasoning. He’s an NHL player right now.” Lots of guys come out of college, even though how hyped they are, you’re thinking, you know, he’s probably going to need some time, especially a defenseman down in the minors, especially a guy that’s still slight. He’s he’s, you know, he’s still skinny for a big kid. You thought maybe he would. And he he had me believing the first time he stepped on the ice as a Blackhawk. So, um, did he perform the first 17 games before he had his night out to the level I thought or as consistent level as I thought? Probably not. But he’s a young kid, so there’s no hard things for me thinking, ah, he’s a disappointment. I think he’s been outstanding. The ability for Blash to have played 7D all along and Louis crevier stepping up and handling his role, uh, um, I gave him the luxury of saying, you know what, we can we can do this. We can have Sam sit out tonight. It’s not going to hurt our team, and it’s going to give what Blash says, a reset. Take a time out. Go watch tonight. relax, get your mind back on track, and get ready for the next game. And I thought he was good. He made a little mistake before he got that puck that he flipped out. He he put it up the wall. Uh the player last night, uh Ken Calgary, picked it off and then went to pass it back and instead of panicking, he went back to coverage, went to a great a great spot, intercepted that next pass, and that’s when he flipped it. And that flip pass, why it’s so important is I think a lot of times he’s caught it, started to skate and wanted to make plays. And when you recognize that the offensive team is in and trying to keep pressure on you, and you pick up a puck and you’re not sure what to do with it, that flip pass over their D to the way the Blackhawks are skating is always a good option. It’s always and it’s a safe option. And that’s what I thought was really impressive on that moment. Intercepted the pass. didn’t think about skating and trying to make plays. All I need to do is get it up and over those D and let our guys skate into it. Worst case scenario, it’s a for check for the Blackhawks. It turned out to be an exceptional play cuz we don’t what what you guys uh what I thought was really remarkable on this. Their goalender Wolf thinks that the Calgary D is going to get it. He was three or four strides ahead of Connor and then out of nowhere Connor’s burst blew by him and then he says, “Oh my gosh, my D’s not getting it. I got to come out of my net.” So that puck was only three feet in front of his net and he waited thinking the D was coming in. Connor’s speed made that goalie panic. So when he went out there, he’s like, I shouldn’t be here and he swung and missed with the stick or swiped at it and then Conor. But that was all created by Connor speed because he thought the goalender thought that was an easy one for his D. So like you said, great play by Renzel. We’re talking about Renzel, not Connor again. And I know we want to keep talking about uh Connor, but but uh Renzel is going to be a star in this league and uh great kid, fits in really well and uh real happy that he got back on track right now. I really like that Blashel said, I think it was pregame yesterday at the morning skate, he has been a great player in this league already. Yeah, he’s already acknowledged that Sam Renzel has already been great and has already played great. So that and I’m sure Renzel hears that. Can I That’s what is the most important thing. That’s where Blash is brilliant. Every one of those players feel valuable. And as a coach, sometimes that’s really hard to do. It is. It’s hard to to make every player think that they’re important piece and what they’re trying to do. But, you know, you look at Oliver Moore. Oliver Moore went down to the miners. They told him, “Hey, you know, you I remember Kyle Davidson actually said, “Hey, go down there, do something so I have to get you back here.” That’s basically was the message he did. Yeah. He was on fire scornwise. Yeah. And and uh they needed to call up. He flies to Seattle. I was on that road trip. He flies to Seattle. Gets in really late. He’s going to play the next game. I think he had 18 minutes that first game as a you know, as a basically a fourth line left winner. And so Blash told him, “Hey, listen. Do your thing tonight. I’m going to play the crap out of you.” And he did. And since then, what’s Oliver Moore done? Yeah. What? Five points and seven. I’m not even worried about points. the the the effect he has on the other team with how hard he pursues pucks, he drives their Dean nuts. And now he’s, you know, gaining confidence, he’s fitting in, he’s making plays. He made the play to Donado on that first goal that Donado, you know, took the shot, rebound, came out. And think about this that play as well. So I would say, you know, an a team that’s not confident. There’s no way Louis creier is up that far up the ice and when that rebound came out, he jumped on it. Most D would be standing at the blue line going, “Okay, I don’t want the other team to get the puck. I’m not, you know, because they’re becoming at Instead, they’re on their toes. They’re they’re that’s why their team right now is gaining confidence and becoming more unpredictable offensively and harder for teams to defend because they are just coming in waves at you. We should mention Krevier, too. And 102 miles hour, an hour, second hardest shot of the year, they said last night.” And if you watch it and slow it down, he stepped into that son of a gun. And McKay made a great play. Yeah, he laid it right on the ladies te’s for him. Come flying in and man oh man the go you look at the goalie he didn’t have a I mean you could tell that that thing was coming coming coming in hot. That’s uh he has have you noticed a I guess you say like a change in attributes. Does he seem faster? Does he seem uh like he’s added like we see Connor has very clearly added a dimension of speed. I haven’t noticed anything that glaring like skill setwise from Krevier aside from he like you’re saying I think last year he was just content to just sit at the blue line be the safe guy be the seventh defenseman that plays every now and again. He’s playing with a ton of confidence. If if anything now I see him like maybe don’t shoot it there like maybe I’ve seen him be a little too aggressive at times like cuz sometimes a bad shot can kill a play like if he shoots it wide circles around it kills a it kills a shift I’ve seen that a couple times but I would never in a million years guess that I’d have that criticism for Louis crevier right that’s a kid playing is he leading the is he tied with Lechina for most points as defensive uh yeah right now so who would have who would have thought that after 19 games nobody seventh round pick nobody would thought Well, and that sorry, that goes back too to like what you’re talking about the with the uh national teams. Is there some pressure like, well, he’s a seventh round pick, so we’re just going to keep him back here and do maybe are sometimes coaches blinded to the fact that a guy’s playing better than his draft status? Cuz I feel like that might have been because Krevy was good last year, too. Not like this, but there was never a point last year where I looked at Krevy and said, “Oh, god, this guy’s a disaster. He they can only play him every now and again.” and whenever he was in, he did the job. So, we’ll go back to that confidence thing again because again, I’m a confident player. If you guys are confident, too. If you guys don’t have any confidence when we go on the ice and you’re not sure what to do because you don’t have your confidence and you’re going to be on your heels because you don’t trust whatever either our system or each other, it’s going to be hard to play. It is. But what we’ve seen throughout the season is a growth in the units of five going on in the ice. And the the uniqueness of it is because of the injuries, because of the 11 forwards and 7D, it isn’t a consistent line and pair all the time. They’re all interchangeable. And when they get on the ice together, you could tell they have confidence in one another. And what they’re supposed to do, I trust. And so last night, there was a play that they ended up scoring on that another guy we haven’t talked about, Ryan Green. What a insane pass. What an insane pass. But the play was a it was off of a change. It’s a neutral zone thing. They went D to D. They went right up to Bareric on the wall. Barowski drew the defender up. Chipped it behind him. Green went flying through. Beat his check to the puck. Drove deep. Drove the depth of the of the rush deep enough that he could curl up. And then Connor speed. You watch Connor’s route. Okay. He comes to the middle and recognizes I don’t need to go to the middle. I’m going wide. Steps outside and became available. Green snaps that puck over there. Connor goes in and score. The trust that they had in one another to know where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to do on the entries in the neutral zone transition, on the wall play, on the support was what we’re talking about when we talk about Louis Creier and who Renzel and whatever. The confidence that they have knowing that we’re all doing the same thing makes the game a heck of a lot easier. Yeah. And and and that’s pretty evident on on how they’ve been able to perform. Sure. I think within the defenseman, you’ve seen how that rotation benefits them cuz one when if you were, you know, held to a four lines, three pairs, this is who you’re with 100% of the time defensively. And if that player is struggling, you’re you’re tied to it. With the defenseman though, like because they’re interchanging so much, if one guy is feeling confident and and and going, that rubs off on the next guy. And I think that we’re seeing that with how for the most part we’ve seen the 11 and seven lineup go because as Blash’s done it like whoever’s in the forwards group having a good game they get extra shifts and you might see you know Bedard or Nazar or Oliver Moore whoever it is play with Slagert and Laferdy like and and and then those guys get going and like I think it’s it’s just kind of it’s something I would never have expected to be like oh they’re going go untraditional and it’s going to work out across the board. It’s and I and I think that is part of what’s made this team feel more of like this is who they are rather than oh they’re just running a hot streak. Great point. Great point. Greg Greslick, we haven’t talked about him either. The influence he’s had on the back end came on a PTO. Um and as I was watching training camp, I’m going man, oh man, he can help. This kid had a great year in pit last year. I talked to a couple players in pit about him and they said, “Oh my god, great teammate. You know, we wish he was still here. He’s he can help who can help whoever.” And I’m watching him. I’m thinking, “Okay, is he going to be odd man out because of numbers and we’re worried about was Kchinsky going to, you know, make the team or not?” And I’m like, “Man, oh man, he might be this the settling piece, you know, along with Murphy, the other older guy at the back end, but a different way.” Murf’s the the hard-nosed, right? You know, physical, intense guy, and he’s over there, the calm guy, nice and relaxed, simple guy. And so that combination of having those two both back there, I think has really calmed that group down back there. And uh he’s been a great great mentor for those young. I feel like, as you mentioned, we could probably do six hours and still have stuff to talk about. Um but we got to wrap up. Tony, thank you for being here. I know we’ve got a bunch more of these on the horizon. We’ll get that schedule out as we can. And again, if you were here, cuz I know we promoted last night, the PD would be here. We’ll have PD on on Monday’s show at 2:30. So, don’t miss that. He’ll talk better. But we got post games tomorrow, Friday, Sunday. So, don’t miss it. Make sure you’re here with us. Lots of games. Let’s go. I I’m I tell you, I’m I’m depressed on non-game days. Like, let’s go. I I don’t want to just talk about it. I want to watch it. Yeah. So, we’ll be back uh tomorrow. We’ll talk to you then on the postgame show right here on the CHDL Blackhawks podcast presented by Bet 365. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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Tony Granato joins the CHGO Blackhawks Podcast to break down Connor Bedard’s growth and the Chicago Blackhawks’ hot start this season. They share insights on Bedard’s development, rising confidence, and impact within head coach Jeff Blashill’s system. The hosts also analyze Chicago’s early-season momentum, standout performers, and what it could mean for the rest of the season. Join Jay Zawaski and Mario Tirabassi for expert Blackhawks analysis, highlights, and reactions.

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