Wild on 7th – Episode #124 The Minnesota Wild Acquire Quinn Hughes
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. Wild on 7th is sponsored by Cub. And if you need some snacks, they got these Belvita breakfast crackers, which is super easy to say when you’re missing your front tooth. They have uh Ritz crackers and they got the Oreo. They even have the double stuff, the gluten-free Oreos, whatever you need. For all your snacking needs, go to our local favorite, Cub, and shop happy. Well done, sir. That was tight. Yeah, well done. That was tight. And uh I’d also like to throw a bouquet here to our friends at Aquarius Home Services. Holiday season for many means a lot of stress. A lot of things you worry about. Company coming over, getting the house in order, grocery shopping, cooking, and all all the gift shopping, too. Last minute things you need to worry about or you shouldn’t have to worry about is the equipment in your home. My advice, keep Aquarius home services on speed dial. You got plumbing issues like water heater that stopped heating, call Aquarius. Light switches that seem to well not turn on and off. Yeah, call Aquarius. Faulty furnace that forgot it’s now time to heat the house. Aquarius has got you covered. Aquarius is the company I trust to take care of my home. Plus, they provide $98 off any repair and are just a click away at aquarius.com. Enjoy the worry-free home you deserve this holiday season and contact aquarius. Welcome back to Wild on 7th, your favorite wild podcast as always uh presented by our friends at Pilot Games. big tournament in White Bear Lake this weekend. It was the Muscoheen. And you better believe uh in between games, it’s actually one of the best in between games. You got the morning game, you got the afternoon game, you just stop at the local establishment, you grab some pizza, a tablet, you play some pilot games, some EABs, uh cuz one, again, you can win. Win some money, put some extra money in your pocket around Christmas time. But not only do you win, the kids win, too. The community wins. They donate the money back. So, love it. Uh, Pilot Games, thank you for the sponsorship. And with that, let’s not bury the lead. Alex Dlock is here with us today. Yes. Yes. I mean, what is there a bigger story? I don’t know that there is right now. Well, Carell got a haircut. So, I think it’s like Carell’s haircut. It’s not Carel, it’s Kid Real. He looks like he lost like, you know, 10 years or he cut off 10 years of age right now. It’s kid real. He looks young. He’s Boy Carill. Will Al be in here? Carell, anything else? Uh, well, Obie’s coming to town, too. That’s right. I think Ov’s coming to town. I don’t know how many times he’s coming back to this building. And that he’s alltime leading goal scorer. Talked about that last night with him coming to town. Krill’s got to look nice for their dinner date. And pays the bill in that. Well, I know I know who doesn’t pay the bill. Joe O’Donnell and Ryan Carter. That’s for sure. But I think and it’s going to be 40 degrees on Tuesday. I mean, so that’s kind of the big story. It’s already It’s already started the self-promotion. This is how he gets his wins. like they’re never actually on merit, but this is what he does. I love it. I I don’t know if you guys follow Wild on Seven Socials, but um John did jump on right away. Like, you know, you know the guy when you score a goal, like the guy the guy the D shoots it and somebody tips it out front. Yeah. John’s the guy that points to his back points to the back to the referee and says, “It was me that tipped it.” No, just first in the handshake line. Just right to the bench. See, he knows all the non-verbals to point himself out. Like, he knows this is what he focuses on. So, Wild on Seven Socials, he got on the text thread last night. It was instant like, “Hey, can you pull the audio and every video of my bold prediction because he wants everybody to know that he called I called it that the Wild would make a big trade. Billy Meatballs would bring in a whale.” I believe we have the audio, don’t we? We do somewhere. But, uh Oh. Oh, yeah. I called AK. It’s last week. Just listen. Big deal. Billy. Um, I like this one. Billy’s going to bring in a a famous player into our locker room. So, Billy is a he’s a marketing guy, too. And if you look at Flower, Pat Maroon, Ryan Reeves, some guy is going to join our team with his wallet that he’s been sitting on this dry powder. I don’t know when it’s going to happen. It might be at the deadline. It might be earlier like Joe said, but some name brand hockey player will be in our room that is not in the room right now. And I’m not talking about a guy I have to look up on the internet and go, “Oh, he’s good. He’s a right-handed shot.” I’m talking like somebody my son knows his name already. Like, oh, wow. The Wild added that guy. Some big a whale. You know, whales. It wasn’t a bold prediction until you said a whale. That’s a whale because saying that a playoff team is going to trade for somebody that your son knows their name is not bold. Okay, you you saved it with the final word whale. But you’re right. Let’s back it up. Let’s back it up. The Minnesota Wild trade for Quinn Hughes. That’s the lead story. Obviously, all of you know that we live in Quinnota. Um, we did give up a lot of picks and guys, a pick and and four first rounders technically, but uh, I tell you what, it was electric uh, yesterday against Boston. I had to reach out for tickets cuz I wanted to see the new uh, Ferrari in the garage and you got What do you mean reach out for tickets? What do you mean by that? I had to ask I wanted to ask for some tickets. What do you mean? Like who do you ask for tickets? Oh jeez, you’re going to mess me up. I like what do you mean? Because most people buy tickets, right? Your dentist. So, most people when they want to go to something, they buy tickets. Yeah. I I reached out to uh my broker and and I I had to, you know, transfer some money around and I I bought some tickets. Yeah. Oh, okay. See, that’s how it works. Yeah. I had to go down. Would most people go out to dinner? They probably pay for it and stuff like that. Just kind of how it works. I’m just saying. So, just reactions. Uh we should start with where were you when this happened? Because one of my favorite things about this, by the way, I’m missing my front tooth. So if I sound really weird today, it’s because uh we wanted to get in that. So uh but yeah, okay, we’ll go. No one wants to We have radio Joe joining the show to get into bold predictions, but John, we couldn’t wait until that we had to bury the tooth and all the other stories and the fact that Al’s here because we had to get to the bold prediction and that he got it right. But I do want to hear what it was like for you guys because uh when we did the Preezy Suitor deal, I think everybody was on their dock uh Fourth of July on their boat with their family at the cabin and this was this thing just went haywire. Like your phone had to have a hundred text, right? I was with a buddy having a drink and uh I just stood up and he goes he goes, “What are you what are you doing, man?” And I I was like, I I don’t I got to go. I And I don’t know where I was going. Like I was going to go sit in my car and think about it. Like I just I actually stood up out of my chair and was reading all this stuff cuz I’m like this is just awesome. Um yeah, very excited about it. And uh when did you when did you know it was real? Uh so it started going around on the text and then uh um I always do the internet check, right, with everything with the AI and you never know what’s real, right? So, I at least look online to see if I can see it. And I did see it. And uh I was just like, this is, you know what I love about it? It’s so non-M motan, right? Billy is so different than the culture here, right? He’s like, we’re going to go get it. Yeah. Why not now? Like, hey, you know, why not us? Let’s let’s you know and and even in the Minnesota culture deep inside of it is like oh my god Zeve had two points at the start of the game you know it’s just we’re such like just let yourself believe and try to like go cuz watching that game yesterday and seeing Brock Faber drop down to PP2 and you got the slippery 43 on power play one and just everybody leveling up. I mean, it’s it’s gonna be great. I I don’t see how it can’t be. Yeah. Where were you when you heard it? I was in the midst of a squirt practice, actually. I had saliva all over my mouth and all over the whistle from yelling at these kids to pass the puck, and I had a lot going on. And uh we had some parents in the stands at uh our practice rank, Lily Lake, and we’re about halfway through practice. So, they’re like yelling over the boards to you. I’m I’m I’m getting really vocal. No, I’m getting really vocal. We’re doing a drill and there was a few dads sitting in the bleachers and one came over the glass and pulled over another coach and I’m like go what did I say? What did I do wrong? What drill am I doing wrong with these kids? You think he wants his kid on the power play? Well, no, it was just can you tell him to tame it down a little bit? And um so then that coach skated over. He’s like the Wild just got Quinn Hughes and I stopped and I’m thinking I didn’t I was already standing up um but I’m still skating around the ice. I’m like how the heck how the heck did they pull that off? You know, and you’re almost like And was any part of you like, “What do you mean?” And then 10 minutes later, well, I’m trying to run the practice. And then 10 minutes later, he skates by and he that tells me it’s it’s Rossy, it’s William, it’s Ogre and a first. And then after practice, we all sat in the in the warming room and kind of decompressed, completely forgot about practice, and uh discussed if it was the right move, you know, and that’s the conversation that was led for the next what, 24 hours. Did they give up too much? Is he the right guy now? And is the Minnesota way, like you said? Yeah, scared. We’re going to scared if it’s the right move. He’s just going to leave and go with his brothers and I mean, all of it, right? We’re going to have to get into that. And I think there are good answers to all of those questions. Absolutely. Um, but I I was similar. I had two games at that Musco tournament and in between games is when, excuse me, when the news dropped. Did you hear that cough button? That was outstanding. It just was a little awkward silence. We need to get it. I got to that button so fast. So, we need a tooth button. But uh it was in between games. So I I was going from one locker room to the other because it was backtoback games with different kids, different daughters. And so I had like seven minutes, maybe less or six minutes to get to like the next bench. And somebody’s like, “We traded for Quinn Hughes as I was walking past.” And I was like, “What?” Yeah. You can’t These are like random people. You can’t just say something like that. That’s too much. I know. And I was like, “What?” Huh? And then I get down there because like I’m I’m focused on like okay we got to get to these girls and you know it was a straight bracket tournament so you have to like win your first game otherwise the whole tournament’s cooked and there’s not many of those bracket style tournaments anymore. It’s all pool play now. No but now I’m like distracted like what do you mean? So I didn’t know when it was real until like you check your phone and give Mike Russo credit if he doesn’t tweet it it’s not or exit it’s not real. So I had to be like instantly be like go to Russo’s profile and if he if he sent it out it’s it’s real. You know what that’s what I did too. You’re right. That’s what I real That’s what I He won’t post something unless it’s real, you know, and like I think writers probably take great pride in that, you know, so and and a lot of times you hear rumors and they don’t materialize and I think there’s a great desire to be first in that market, but he’s oftentimes first, but also not false, you know, like if it’s there, it happened. So that’s when I knew it was like, “Wow, it really did happen.” You know, but and then it was coach the 10-year-olds for a little bit and then come back and be like, “Okay, now what do you think about it?” And then that’s when I had a bunch of text messages. And the text messages were tough because it was like, “What do you think about the trade?” Yeah. Exactly. And you’re like, “What does it matter? What does it matter to that person asking, you know, does it really hit home with them that okay, no, it’s certified. It’s good. It’s all good. Card says it’s a great trade. We’re good.” And it was like they got Quinn Hughes. What do you think? That’s like one sentence. That’s like nine words texted and it’s like the answer to that is a complete filibuster, you know, like and that that’s funny that that’s the qu what you get. I just get let’s go, you know, USA flags, um, you know, muscle arms, uh, hearts, and but the texts came in waves. Did you notice that? So, you had like 20 right when the deal got done. And then if you put your phone away or you looked at those, when you went back, there was another 20. I mean, that thing just went crazy. I can’t imagine like Billy’s phone or Quinn’s phone. I mean, they must be It just must be full meltdown. Like, you got to take it into Best Buy and be like, “Hey, can I get a new phone?” Text overload. There was something about it being a Friday night, too, where it was like like is this like am I getting pranked here? I like it just didn’t feel like I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like trades go down Friday at like 6:00 or whatever time it was. Right. Right. At dinner time. I I know. It was like this doesn’t feel right. like, you know, it was so exciting. I just got to say it was it’s fun. And uh I tell you what, they look dominant yesterday and we’re still missing a lot of guys. That goalending, that decor um I don’t know, man. I’m really excited. I got multiple texts. I just bet on the Wild to win the cup. I got I mean, people are excited. Yeah. Um the town is excited and let’s go. And I think this kid, you know, uh I joke about Quinnota. I mean, part of what Billy’s already doing. He’s marketing. He’s like, “Hey, this kid’s from Michigan. He likes a house on a lake. Guess what we have here in Minnesota. There’s no better hockey state in the world to play hockey.” And and uh the fan base yesterday cheering for him the way they did. And kind of like I mean, he seemed to be sincere in the post game. like I knew it was a hockey place, but that was really cool, you know, and and it seems to mean a lot to him what Billy gave up to get him. And I don’t know, I I could listen to him talk all day with the the kind of monotone voice and uh it’s just great. He’s really well spoken. Oh, he’s a captain. That’s the other thing people forget about. This is a captain. Quiet, but he you know, and that was like a 15minute press, right? I know. That’s what I thought. He’s very well spoken and everything he said had a point to it, you know, and calculated. It was I thought it was pretty impressive. Speaking of impressive, our radio caller, Joe, uh, he became a meme. He’s right in this story. Not afraid to be bold either with his predictions. Brought in today to talk bold predictions because Ker did hit one out of the ballpark saying the Wilder gonna get a whip. Yes, I like the headshake. Give it to me. What do you got for me? Radio Joe is in the house. Let’s hear it. Of course, one trade gets made. Quinn Hughes, big trade. And here goes Kinger. Let’s get Joe on. Let’s Let’s revisit the predictions. I want my free dinner. You know, you got to be kidding me. You know, we You know what we were just talking about? He’s the guy that when the Dman shoots the puck and you can’t tell if it’s redirected, he comes flying out of the pile, pointing at his name and number on the back, saying, “Yeah, it touched my stick. It touched.” Let’s get his beer league teammates on the horn. And I guarantee you they will concur. I some now if they traded for McDavid Kinger that’s one thing. Okay. Maybe your white whale was out there. You know, hey the word generational. I mean second best defenseman in the league. He had 92 points a couple years ago. Won the Norris. He’s a whale. I’m aware of the stats. And by the way, you nailed it. He’s a whale. John He nailed John nailed it. Whale. He did. He didn’t nail it until it was one of his not bold bold predictions where he’s like Billy Garren’s going to use his cap space to make a trade and uh we’re going to know his name. I mean we Joe we know everybody’s name Al I think John probably knows most like if there’s 750 players in the NHL we know 700 of their names but um when he said Billy’s going to get a whale and it’s going to be a big guy that made it bold and he nailed it. And that clip goes on for me to say allstar because you want me to confirm and I actually set the timing before Christmas if you keep listening. Yeah, you said it before Christmas. So he he allstar whale. John nailed it. Bold prediction. He gets a plus one. I get it. I’m checking my bank account to see if I got room to fit him and his wife for dinner. Yeah, you can. Um you can just pay your bet. That’s fine. I just which talk to enough people that might be a common theme. Uh, but I do want to say I also, and I didn’t go back and pull the tape. I don’t need to. I also said I thought this team, if it wasn’t going well, was going to make a move. Now, it started to go well after it was not going well, but I would like some credit. Can I get a half a point credit? We’ll we’ll see. Uh, well, this is No, thanks, Hus. Producer Matt Huss, he’s got my If we’re going if we’re going based on King’s criteria, you’re allowed to give yourself any points, right? That’s how he won the supposed dinner is he he awarded himself half points whenever he felt like it. So if if we’re going based on those rules, Joe, yes, you can award yourself half even up to a full point. It’s better if it’s fractional, too, like a 75. Hey Joe, where where were you when you heard? Cuz we just went around the horn. I want to hear it was a unique moment. A couple of these guys on the ice. I just stood up at a restaurant. I didn’t know what to do. What did you do? Did you start yelling? No, I just was like I just my friend was like, “Why are you standing?” And I was like, “I I don’t know. I need to go outside.” What uh what happened? Uh where were you? So, I was uh just in your little waiting room here and I heard what Cart said and I was actually in the same boat. I was in your neck of the woods, Kinger in Still Water. Okay. At the St. Croy Recreation Center. Yep. St. Croy Valley Rec Center. Yep. There you go. Thanks, Al. Um, and our oldest son Jake plays bantam hockey and he had a game on the north rink and going on was Mameidi War Road JV game on the other rink. So I’m in the parking lot and I was actually trying to do some work for the Bruins game because of the back to back. I was just sitting there, you know, you got to drop the kid an hour early. So I wasn’t looking at my phone much. I had my laptop out like a nerd and then I go into the rink and I pull up my phone and I see like all these texts. One of them’s from Kevin Gorg and he’s like, “What did we just do?” but he doesn’t tell me what. So then I did what Cards did. I jumped on Twitter and I started trying to verify like I didn’t know who we acquired. I didn’t know who the Wild gave up. Like whatever. And then when I saw that um that sounds a little negative from Goring. Was he Gorg loves the young guys? I was like that sounds what did we just do? Did you stay in the parking lot or were you did you stop at Fiesta Cancun or Lift Bridge Brewery or Aapokco White? It’s hard to believe that. Well, it’s getting close to time. So, I went in I went in to watch Jake play. I actually watched some of the high school game which was cool. But, uh, you know, then I’m check my phone’s blowing up like, you know, crazy. And people were like, “Holy smokes, Billy G, big you know what, and what a swing.” And uh and then you know my head was spinning a little bit like processing all that they gave up and the sticker shock there and then the more I settled in later in the night I was like I can’t believe they pulled this off and what a deal. Like yes Vancouver got some really good hockey players and and I think Billy’s right when he says like he thinks it’s a fair deal and I think Vancouver believed that which is why they made the the call back to say we’ll take it what sounds like pretty quickly without without asking for more too. Yes. They didn’t come back and say they want a second as well, right? Like they were just like, damn, this is a good offer. So, I love that part of it. And I think now that like it’s settled, the dust is settled and he’s playing for the Wild. I just absolutely love the move. Like you, your Stanley Cup window is now. And you go back to the past trade deadlines and free agency summers and Billy was always like, “It’s not our time.” Well, clearly it’s the time. You don’t get a player like this if you don’t think you’re ready or trying to take the next step. So, I love it. Uh they did give up a lot, but I think ultimately to get a player like that, you have to. And I think he’s just going to do wonders for this team in so many different areas um that it’s it’s just a hell of a move. Yeah. Hey, was the purpose of it actually to go over our bold predictions or you just wanted your minute? Cuz we could go through other bold predictions or we can move on now. We can move on. I think I do think we need to get into the analysis of the trade, right? Because this thing came in stages, right? You had um you had the the Billy meatballs, you know, he’s he’s cooking meatballs with latex gloves. You had all these layers to this story. Um is he going to play on Saturday? No, he’s going to play on Sunday, right? Um but I I the thing that’s that’s also how you know he’s a whale. Yeah, I got you extra. You get extra time. Like when I was traded, it was no, take this red eyee, you’re going to play. And I was like, so I’m going to spend the night on the airplane and wake up in the morning, go to pregame skate. I don’t even get to go to the hotel. They’re like, “Yeah, yeah, they give you the dumb and dumber game skate. We’re going to teach you a couple things.” And I was like, “I’m going to be terrible.” They’re like, “You are terrible.” The dumb and dumber motor. Is it jam coming to pick me up? No. Yeah. You mean you’re not sending the plane out? Like that’s how you know. Middle seat Southwest Airlines. Southwest boarding zone 5. And then you have you had this other That’s actually true. You had this other layer. They had first class on Southwest or No, he was Spirit, weren’t you? Spirit best. I don’t think Spirit was around then. You were a jump seat on Spirit. I don’t want to hate myself that Spirit wasn’t there. You’re deadheading, but you’re It was probably It was probably standby. They took care of him. They flew his bag separate. I picture him on the Dumb and Dumber motorcycle, right? Just I didn’t forget my gear because they’re like, “We’re not paying for another bag. You have to pack your clothes in your hockey bag.” They’re like, “There’s a play it against sports right here.” Um but I keep your receipts card. You’ll get reimbursed in 6 months. Psych. Yeah. The the other layer that came that I bet you got a lot of as analysts and stuff was it was four first rounders. So people were really proud of themselves to do the math that the three players were first rounders and the pick. And so there was like a lot of this it’s a lot. You know we gave up a lot. And I mean when I process it this and tell me if you guys were the same. I was like okay Rossy the guy’s done everything we wanted him to do. almost died of COVID. Gets better every year, gets stronger every year, but it seems like Yurovv is trending into a similar type of player. So, that gave me some comfort on that one. The Zeve one hurts because he’s so charismatic. He’s so fun, such a good kid. I mean, it was kind of heartbreaking to watch him. Did you see the clip where he said, “I’m going to be number 24 on Vancouver.” And they’re like, “Why?” and he goes, “Well, my teammate in Minnesota, Zack Begoian wore it and I love him very much.” And I was just like, “Oh, man.” You know, and but he’s in best case scenario, you want him to be Quinn Hughes someday. And you got Quinn Hughes who’s only 26, right? I It’s not like this is an old man either. Ogrren, we haven’t figured out. Um, seems like the paranoia there is someday this guy becomes Erikson. I don’t know. I didn’t see that yet, but you know, working on it and then the first. So, I think it’s more a year of they talk about Erikson then Ogrren, but Yeah. Yeah. But, so I was kind of like and then the whole brother he’s going to go to New Jersey thing. I was with you like even if we get into that movie, which we don’t want to and we maybe won’t, you can still move this guy at the deadline and get a ton of stuff back. Yeah. So, so you’re not it’s not like you’re screwed even if this isn’t the deadline that they’re going to move him at. They’ve got a full year and got a year and a half. So, and what what I think is intelligent from Billy in the camp is he set the market. So, like what was Quinn Hughes worth? Billy set the market. And yeah, you I don’t think you can control the market, but let’s say New Jersey wants Quinn next year. They know the market. It’s four first picks. It’s a it’s a top tier roster player, a good prospect, a draft pick, you know, it’s it’s those pieces. It’s four ones. Like he set the market. So now he has a window of 18 months or maybe slightly less than that, 15 months um to get the most out of Quinn Hughes. And he set the market like he knows his ask. He said it. So he’ll get those things back if Quinn Hughes doesn’t want to resign. Now where he’ll be in a predicament is if this team is good and if Quinn Hughes can help them win a cup next year. So we were in the situation and Minnesota is very close to it with Zach Perezy. Zack Pereizy was a UFA coming up and we had a good team and general manager Lou Lamarillo wasn’t going to trade Zack Pereizy because this team had a chance to win. He wasn’t going to trade him and be like, I’ve got to, to your point, Billy’s also a winner. Like, if there’s a chance to win now, he’s going to take it. Uh Lou had a chance. Thought he had a team that could win. He wasn’t going to say like, “This will this will cost me in the franchise for a decade.” It did. And that was It did cost him a decade. That was the cup final year. We went to the cup final. And we don’t get there without Zack Perezy. Yep. Similar to what happened in Toronto this last summer with Martner. Correct. Yeah. They left for free. They thought they could win with that roster and that core one more time and and you got to give it a run and he gave it a run and he ends up leaving for for Vegas. So that’s where it will be tough and that’s where it will be anal the trade will be analyzed is there’s an opportunity for them to receive some assets but that might still not be the best course of action next year around the deadline if a contract isn’t done with Quinn Hughes. Now, um the the second way I analyze this and I think about Well, hang on just real quick on the Mner thing, guys. Like that turned out to be a sign and trade. Like they got Nicholas Wah back from Vegas, right? Like they trade because you have him through you have him through June 30th. Yeah. Okay. So, you know what I mean? Like ultimately is you if you get to that, right? Say you play it out, you’re not sure what he’s going to do. You play it out, you don’t win or you don’t advance far enough and you’re like, “Oh man, we might lose him.” Well, now you ship them somewhere, they get their exclusive negotiating rights and at least you get something back. And who did who did they get back? I think they got Nick Wah. Okay. The Maple Leafs. Why are you Why are you Because he didn’t have an extra day. He didn’t have an extra day. He W didn’t have an extra day. He was on a flight that same. That’s what he’s saying. But um but here’s to this. There’s so much to unpack here too that it’s going to take time. I think we will know if Quinn Hughes will return to the wild from July 1st to September 15th because I think at September 15th, new CBA rules kick in where he no longer can get the 8-year deal frontloaded. Right. Y So that’s our period of time. So Billy will then know and have that season to say, will we be able to win this year with Quinn Hughes or do I have to recoup some assets? And um he’ll know that. That’s is why another reason I think it’s a smart move. He’ll know that by September, whatever date that is because the best deal he can give Quinn Hughes and the deal that nobody else can and it becomes, we were talking about this with Carill. Yeah. It becomes substantially smaller, right? So Billy has the best opportunity or or a or a trade happens before that September date, right? Is is that unlimited signing bonus? Is that just internet BS or is that real? I don’t know. And that’s what I mean. There’s there’s not enough time. There hasn’t been enough time for me to figure it out. If you can throw cash at a guy like that and it doesn’t hit the cap. And what that means is front-loaded. That’s incred That’s an incredible advantage. There’s there’s already restrictions in the CBA that don’t allow you to do like Well, that hits the cap. Yeah. I mean, yeah. And to to to transfer how much you have on different years and the variance from one year’s salary to the next year’s salary. there’s already restrictions in the salary cap, but still it’s just how much money they can give those guys and how much they can give him bonus and different things like that. Um, but uh there’s we got a lot of opinions here. I’ll get to this one two real quick. This is an endorsement for Denilov. This is an endorsement in the roster right now. I think it’s also a recognition that they probably think the winning window for some of the bodies based on like time in the NHL is finite when you’re a player. Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Broaddin, Marcus Felino, Matt Sucarella, these guys maybe don’t have the time to wait for William to become Quinn Hughes. And now you’re like buying into the guys that Billy has has believed in, you know, and saying you guys have the juice now. Let’s go get it. Quinn Hughes helps him get there. And then you go back to where Billy won his cups. It’s Pittsburgh. What did Pittsburgh have? They had Latang. They had Crosby. They had Melin. So now they have Hughes. They have Capri stuff. They have Baldi. And what did Pit have? They had Jordan Stall, Erikson. Like there start you start to see that there’s similar pieces. And um there’s pieces around it. like you have Jared Spurgeon, you have Broadd Dean, you have Brock Faber, you know, goending, you have goalending and Mark Andre Flurry. It it looks like it could be a Pittsburgh type situation. I’m not saying this is a carbon copy of Pittsburgh, but you have the pieces necessary to win. Now, where there’s uh there’s holes in that philosophy is that Crosby Malcin played the middle and the middle is a key position and Baldi and Capri off don’t play the middle and they traded out one of their key pieces in the middle. So now there’s there is holes and maybe holes to winning, but can those be filled now? Can they be supported? And I think the answer might be yes to that. But that’s my analysis of this trade right now. I was just surprised that the thing that I the Minnesota fan thing that the whole reason we did this podcast many years ago when news like this breaks the majority of people think how could this be bad instead of how could this be good. You look at the national media you got Paul Besonette you know in a closet somewhere talking about how we’re immediately a Stanley Cup contender and he’s basically just banging a snare drum. Meanwhile, land at 10,000 lakes. We’re over here uh you know um uh trying to to imagine a trade happening a year and a half from now. You know, like instead of saying, “How do I get to this Bruins game on Sunday? I got to see the new car.” It’s just so weird. It’s like, “Guys, enjoy it.” I mean, we that’s Billy’s job to figure out all that other stuff. As a fan, hey, this is Imagine this guy’s walking into your locker room right now. Well, how huge was it then for Quinn to score too right away in his first game. That happens to Wales. To put the critics that, you know, to put the people that are sitting at home, you know, sitting there almost hoping that it goes stretches without him scoring and then Zeve scores and gets in and says our first game. Yeah, I told you. I knew this was going to happen. So, for him to score right away just quiets that noise from the outside and makes him so much more comfortable, too. And that happens to Wales. Took me 30 games or something probably. You know, probably took me 30 days to even get in that. I would have had a goal the first game had they just let me sleep before my debut, you know, after the trade. But Joe, uh, what do you think of the trade, Joe? I mean, I love it. And, um, I I think Kanger’s right on. He always has pulse on the Minnesota fan base and and as being a guy that’s only lived here for a few years, I I see exactly what he said, right? That initial like, we gave up a lot. I don’t know. Like, what do you But Zeve, we had to give up Zeve. Well, Zeve, his comp is Quinn Hughes. And you got Quinn Hughes. You didn’t get somebody else like Quinn Hughes. You got Quinn Hughes at at 26 years old. Um, and I think he was probably at like 70% of his best yesterday against the Bruins, right? He’s only getting better. He’s only getting better. Those those Zeve talkers, too, like a month ago were saying, “We don’t know if he’s ready. Is it better for better for him to be down on the farm?” Right? Get some time in the America. The exact same guy saying, “I don’t know if he’s ready yet. Are you sure he’s ready?” Same guys. And then you lose. I think the Wild I think the Wild tell you without telling you that they know he’s not ready, right? Like that’s not a knock on Zoo. He’s 20. He just turned 20. There’s a long way to go. like he could get to that ceiling of Quinn Hughes. He could get close to it. He might just be a decent NHLer. 40 50 points, which is a great bliner, right? Like by today’s standards. So the jury’s out. Yeah. Like not a whale, but a dolphin. Maybe like a dolphin. I uh Hey, you guys both did the game, so I want to So I I guess I haven’t watched Quinn play that much, right? So I get the tickets. I’m like, I got to I want to see this. I want to see him get announced. I want to be in the building, the first game, the whole deal. And uh you know, he’s coming out uh you know, he he wipes out in the warm-up is seems like his ear pads falling out when the little kids with him during the anthem. I’m like, “Oh my god, this guy’s like he like just ran into the he’s like me the building.” But he has That’s geared in priv private. It was just on a commercial flight, so it was it was stowed away with other suitcases. I I swear he picked his earpiece up when he was holding hands with the kid during the anthem. But uh baggage guy chucked his hockey sticks and but there was a shift uh early and this dude is so slippery. It’s like pistol Pete, you know, like everything is a head fake. Um and it it was so weird to look at. Even our own guys were like, “What the hell is this?” Like what is this? Like how did this puck get here? It was always the opposite of where you thought he was going to put it and he would kind of slide it down and uh and I remember he didn’t they it didn’t work right. He made a bunch of passes that kind of blew up. The guys didn’t seem to be ready for it and then they were going over and talking to him and I’m sure they were saying like, “Hey, slow down.” Well, slow down a little bit. Yeah. Well, just like keep doing this. Give us a second to learn how to speak Quinn. But like I mean I He is slippery. I mean this is like baby oil. What did you notice, Joel? Yeah. What did you notice first that that there’s going to be a little bit of like let’s work through the kinks. I mean, Capri off gave him that puck at the bottom of the right circle. He was not ready for it. He said so afterwards in the presser. Um the give and go with your off at center ice. Like if you guys follow Mike Kelly um from Sport Logic or or any of the listeners do, I think it’s Mike Kelly NHL on the Twitter machine. Like just watch the n the 60 seconds that he put out on Hughes just like shifts like clips of shifts. Um the spins, the edge work, the vision, joining the rush, like all the analytical numbers are things he can help the Wild in. All the stats are going to be awesome offensively, but just watch his first couple of highlights. Um and you see just what a special player he is. And again, I think once the chemistry gets there, once Capri off knows where he likes the puck on the power play and vice versa, and then you get healthy and you start to mix in Zukarella with him and Broaddin with him and man, it’s going to be he hasn’t even killed a penalty yet in wild sweater. We’ll see if there’s an opportunity for that. I mean, I just think the guy plays half the game. Yeah, he literally plays half the game. So, back to teams that have won before in comparison. Anaheim Ducks 2007 had Scott Nemire, Chris Pronger. Those guys played almost 30 minutes. So they had like a like a shutdown Dman on the ice the entire game. It was And right now they’re playing together. They had Hughes and Faber playing together. How happy is Brock Faber, by the way? He looked like he was free as a bird yesterday. I mean, he just looked thrilled. Yeah, exactly. But USA, who who knows if you end up splitting those guys up, but you have an entire game with a stud on the ice and and they’re used to it. Last year, last year Spurgeon and Broaddin’s numbers, like the expected goals against per 60 minutes on, they were outstanding. So if you get Spurge and Broaddin together, they’ve played obviously a bunch in their career, not a lot probably for how long they’ve been with the Wild as D partners, but they’ll figure it out together. And now you have Middleton and you’re 56, which is probably where in a perfect world you want a guy like that slotted. And I think all of a sudden you have one of the best blue lines in hockey now. You I don’t think you you might have one. You do have the best blue line in hockey. And so, all right. So, now you’re like, to your point, Cart, it’s like you get into these matchups against Vegas and Colorado and Dallas, and now it’s not, man, we’re on the road. We don’t know who we’re going to match up against, Rantin or McKinnon or or Marner and Eel. Now, it’s like we don’t care. We got two D pairs that we are so confident in can play against anybody in the world every night. And that is a good problem to have. It makes you harder to play against. And I just look like even yesterday and that’s without Broaddin. Did David Poster knock do anything? Did Morgan Geeki do anything? These two guys are near the top of the league in scoring. Geeki second in the league in goals and they didn’t have more than one or two great A’s and the Wild were playing in a backto back. Like they’re defending so well right now. They’re only going to get better. The goalenders have been locked in. I think this team can go on a if they can find any sort of health. I think they’re just a team that’s way better than they were a couple days ago and they’re going to be a handful teams are not going to want to play the Minnesota Wild because of just how stingy they have the the potential to be. Yeah. And they they’ll and you started to see it even before Quinn Hughes the frustration that other teams feel, you know, and how it how it almost uh energizes the Wild, you know, and then that’s when a guy like you you start to see Baldi and where he’s emerged is he I think you can sense the frustration from the other team. He makes his big boy play and then the puck’s in the net and it’s like we got you, you know. Yeah. And I and and everything we hear I’ve heard about Quinn Hughes from Jason King who had him in Vancouver. He’s one of the wild coaches now and I talked to him for a few minutes yesterday to you know just the national talk and he wants to win. He wants the puck. He’s a good kid. He’s a leader. He’s a competitor. Um he’s a good teammate as you guys talked about. So well spoken and good with the media. like he won’t be phased by any of this and he doesn’t have to do it all now. Like the quote we had right before the Wild played the Canucks 10 days ago or whatever in Vancouver was he he said to the media, “I’m not Superman.” He was playing 30 minutes a night. They were losing every game and everybody’s looking at him, right? Like what’s going on, Quinn? You’re the captain. Like why why is this team struggling? And he I think he just kind of grew tired of it. He doesn’t have to be he can be he will be but he doesn’t have to be the absolute alpha now. And I think that’s going to be huge for him to just relax, play hockey, um, and hopefully this team wins a lot of games. And, you know, just one more quick thing, guys, and I appreciate you having me on, but like I I had Ryan Hartman on the postgame show last night on the radio side, and I said, you know, Quinn Hughes is your teammate now. Like, he’s like, “Yeah, it’s pretty cool.” And then he said on that goal that he set up with Hughes that like he didn’t know Hughes was coming, right? like he’s he’s attacking through the slot and he just heard him and he’s like he was demanding the puck and he goes great players like that they demand the puck and I love the fact about him like he knows he’s good right like give me the puck I don’t I’ll spin out of my corner in my D zone and go 200 feet with it I’ll join the rush and scream my head off until you give it to me so I think that’s an awesome part of his game too like the confidence he knows how good he is and he wants it sorry did you get him I didn’t get him did you see me set up for that I Missed it. You waited till I finished. It was well done. That could have been all world. I missed it. Love the takes, Joe. Appreciate you stepping on or jumping on with us and uh pumping Kinger’s tires up a little bit on the bold prediction. The whale. It’s unbelievable. It’s good. That’s good. You got to take nothing else going on today other than make John King feel better. So, let’s get you on the tell smarty. Hey, but real quick, you got a greenhouse over your right shoulder. Like since co, I feel like it’s customary to judge people’s backgrounds. Are you growing tomatoes in the window sill? So, this has been asked before. Um, how do I unpack this for you? I don’t have like a really a room set up with jerseys and nice pictures like you guys do. So, I just set up wherever. But my wife loves her plants and so we have probably 40 plants in the house. Yes. Some are like it keeps the air fresh. You said yikes. No, that’s that’s eina. I said yikes. Too much. That’s eina. that that is uh you got like little shop of horrors kind of that’s your life. Well, so there’s some that are like growing like I don’t know what you where you like cut them from other plants and then there’s some that are just awesome and I love as well. I’ll tell a quick story while we got you just so you can hear it. I’m playing junior and I move into my billet house and there’s like a 16-year-old uh billet brother and I end up uh catching heat from the billet parents because they find him growing well or they find somebody growing marijuana in the egress window. So he turned like the egress window with the domes on the outside, you know, into a little grow house. I love it. That was for marijuana. And he’s like, “That’s not mine. That must be Ryan’s.” What town was this? This is threw you under the bus. Yes, he threw me under the bus. Yeah. And then as soon as the parents left, I had to beat the wheels off the kid. I was like, “Hey, my life depends on this opportunity.” And you start telling people I’m growing marijuana and your styrofoam cups and your window. I’m going to Yeah. You’re going to get beat. I love that. That is out, dude. That’s a great story, Carts. Yeah. So, you took it. You You took the So, what happened? No. I was like, “This is not mine.” So, you you ratted him out. You were like, “No, no, no.” The same thing happened. I’ll tell one more real quick with this bill, brother. Are the plants still in Green Bay? Where are they? This one’s not appropriate either, but so there was a family computer in the basement. I’ve never logged onto their family computer. I had a laptop. Yes, you guys. You guys know where this is going. It was unsavory content. And the billet mom, I come home from the ring. She’s sitting on the couch and she’s like, “We have to talk.” And I’m like, “Okay, what this is, what are we going to talk about?” And she goes, “The things you’re doing on the computer downstairs can’t be done. This is a family house and this and that.” I said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. Was this AOL by the way? Yeah. Yeah. Login. Yeah. And uh I was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. Time out. Time out. You You think this is me?” I was like, “Hold on. Just sit here for a second.” I walk into the room. She didn’t know I had a laptop. And I come out with a laptop. And I was like, “If I was going to be doing that, I would be doing it with my personal computer in the room, not in the living room, in the basement. It’s somebody else. And you’re being lied to.” And she’s like, “Okay, is this the same family? Same kid, same family. He had she had she had addressed it with him and he was like, “No, must be Ryan.” You know, fool me once. What? Fool me twice. Have we checked on what’s going on with this kid now? So he tells his mom like, “Hey, can we this must be what Ryan likes to do.” He goes, smokes a joint and he heads over to the computer and he’s sounds like a podcast guest. Did you say podcast or podcast? This is be wild on seventh to get him. We got to find this kid. What a legend. I love that he’s just like, “No, man. This is what he does, Mom.” I hope he does Let’s Play hockey. He rips a joint. He rips a joint. He goes over to the family computer and he goes deep deep. I I mean, what a what a star. I hope this makes the entire Oh, that’s a microcosm, by the way. That’s a microcosm of junior hockey. That’s junior hockey. Yeah, that’s what it’s like. Yeah. I love that you just said like, I have my own computer. Should I choose to do this, I would probably use this. I would probably I would be horizontal, not vertical. I actually have time now for one more Ryan Carter story. If you got any more of this kid, I’m I’m all in. I’m done. But we did I did throw a party there once. This time I did get in trouble. The dad had collected uh farm tractors. So imagine a basement the size of the studio with shelves like six deep and they’re all tractors. John Deere International Farmer like Billy’s basement. Yes. But all tractors and I’m talking hundreds. Okay. The other thing he collected was Harley-Davidson beers. So, he had a bunch of Harley-Davidson beers. Hopefully, they’re not full. Well, I I had just gotten there. They’re like, “You can have some friends over to get acclimated to the team.” So, I had some friends over and well, the teammates over and they ran out of beer. So, they started drinking his collector beers off of the wall. Oh my god. Did you blame the kid? No. That one was like I I didn’t I didn’t know how to control that situation. I’ve been here for like four days and these guys are chugging these beers. I didn’t know. Yeah. So, they were drinking warm Harley-Davidson collector beers. They had to be flat. Were they playing with the tractors, too? Like on the ground sitting in a circle. You had even built up any equity with the family. That’s like slapshot. They got all the tractors. Junior hockey, too. Warm beer. Yeah, that’s beautiful. But all right, that’s it. That’s junior hockey with Ryan Carter. Joe, thanks for jumping on. All right, fellas. Thank congrats on so far nothing but taking a one- nothing lead. Is this a spot brought by Southwest? This is a sponsored by Southwest having you on. We’ll get it there. When I leave, you can tell all the travel horror stories from the American League you’d like. That’s right. All right. The two of you can sue me in the job I did. All right. Thank you, Joel. Oh gosh, that was funny. Um, so let’s just keep the funny rolling. John, you got no tooth. Tell me about it. Like you’re lisping over there. Like what’s up? Uh, so I have a crown on my very front tooth um, since I was young and it usually stays in for extended periods. So the last time it fell out, it was like years ago. I got a flipper made. I went in, I got the mold, I got the little plastic retainer case with the flipper. I was so excited to have a flipper. I’m like, this is as close to being an NHLer as I’ll ever get. I got a flipper. And but it did it stayed in for like three years. And so I was looking at myself in the mirror and I was like, “God, my my teeth are really bad. That front tooth is really a lot longer than the other ones.” And the next day I’m in the bathroom and it just fell out of my mouth onto the onto the floor. And uh and then I was like, “Oh no.” I had to film some stuff uh for a a hockey thing. And so I went to CVS and got the the little cement. Um, but when you fill in the hole in the crown, I jabbed it in my mouth, but the tooth was like a half an inch longer than my other tooth. So, it actually looked worse, but I couldn’t get it out. It was stuck. It was like rubber cement. Um, finally got it out. But, yeah, I’m going to go to the dentist today at 2:00. And he did tell me last time though, he said, “Your nub, like what you’re attaching it to, I don’t think I have enough left to ever put this thing back on.” So, I might be like, like the tic tac has worn down. Yes. I don’t He doesn’t have anything to adhere it to anymore. So, you might need a full post. The flipper doesn’t fit because it’s been so long since I got it made. So, I’m hoping he can like warm that up. Or do either of you have a flipper? I did, but now my teeth So, are they supposed to be really hard to put in? Cuz I had it and I’m like, it started to feel like my other teeth were going to break off if I jammed it out. Your teeth move. Okay. So, I just my teeth moved in the last couple years. But yeah, I don’t know where we’re going. Big smile. Let’s see. All the way. All the way. And but then you see the nub and it’s really what we want to see. Hide it with the top gum and that’s tough, right? No, that can’t like the little black thing in there. That’s fine. We still got to drill. That’s what happened. So I lost mine all in a week. Like it I’d played nine years and my teeth were still mine. And then in one week it was need rider hit the far post on a practice drill, took out two teeth. uh PK drill. Sudter had shot one and I it was my own stick that I went to like block it with my stick and ramped it into my mouth and knocked it off. And then the next one was again the own teammate cleanering it in the Dzone off a stansion. Boom. Right in my mouth. Front four teeth gone one week. And I went you have a bridge. Yeah. So all four of those are fake. Yes. It looks great. I got to get better stuff. My stuff looks terrible. I think you you just have to be all in. Like it didn’t look great. How long did it take to get it though? Is it like a year process? Well, if you need a br if you need it like the post, it takes a year. It stinks. It’s awful. It’s awful. But once you get it, you’re good. I will say though, this uh uh my neighbors Tyler Pitick, this is how Minnesota this guy is. He came over to the house to deliver frozen pizzas that we had bought from his youth hockey team for his daughter. My tooth fell out. He does not have a front tooth. Scored the next day. I said, “Hey, man.” And then I see him out on the lake flooding his lake at night after the game. I’m like, “This guy is the most motan wild player in history, delivering frozen pizzas.” And I sent him the photo. I’m like, “This is an omen, man. I can’t get my tooth back in.” And you’re play you’re on a heater. He’s he’s playing really uh I think he’s been playing really good. And uh that goal was great to see him get that, too. So maybe there’s some karma on 19. Yeah, we didn’t get it. Like how did the tooth fall out, though? It’s horrible. It’s such a bad story. It just is so embarrassing. I uh I got it knocked out by a Frisbee when I was a kid. We were playing pickle in the middle with my two brothers and my middle brother just whipped it in my face when I was the pickle in the middle and knocked out my tooth, which is such a bad story. And uh I wish it was hockey. Like I’m not a real hockey player. I didn’t really play growing up. But um it would be so much cooler if it was hockey. I did get a lot of heat yesterday. A guy was a guy who knew I was running Dinus like, “Did a teacup hit you in the mouth when you were a kid?” I had to give him that. I was like, “That is funny.” Like uh I was having a tea party and when I reached up the uh the little mug, it knocked my tooth out. But um marble cake for everyone. But uh yeah, it’s tough. I can’t talk very well and uh I don’t know if they can fix it. So 2:00. You also had some facial issues here this week, right? Did you take a puck at coaching? Oh gosh, no. Oh, we talked about this earlier. No, it was uh I was I was doing I’m thinking, god, what did I do? Talking about practicing saliva flying everywhere. This was different. This was postgame with Gorg on Saturday and uh it’s cold. It’s cold up it’s cold up in the booth sometimes in the ranks and it’s been cold out here outside and so you’re constantly wiping your nose and we had a se Yeah, we had we had a segment where we were going for like two minutes and I wiped my nose before but it kept on running. I could feel that. So, you had like snot coming out of your nose on live TV on TV. Did you Did you get a shot of it? I didn’t I haven’t seen it at all. And I’m still talking and when it broke over, I was paused for a sec. I was like, “Oh god, do I wipe it? I don’t know if I can wipe it. Is that you know?” So, I just kept going and I’m talking to KG with a straight face. I got snot on one of my nostrils. Thank god they popped up like a billboard with like 10 seconds after it’s on my nose and I didn’t really have to square up too much. I was trying to That’s awesome. Talked to Kevin and as soon as that went to uh stats or whatever we showed, I had to wipe it off and after we get done, we get off Mike. I’m like, “Did you see that?” He goes, “Oh yeah, that was a complete L. You had sweat going down your face.” I was like, “That wasn’t sweat. That was snot.” Deep cut on Gorg. Uh when he did the double goalie interview, did he cut himself shaving? Yeah. That was amazing, too. Like Yeah. Right here or whatever. Yeah. They’re like, “This is this is Kevin Gorg’s moment to do like a goalie documentary with both of our star goalies.” And all I could look at is I’m like, “What happened?” Like, he must have just murdered himself with a razor. He got so excited for the day. He had to be so pissed. One of the Bicks from the locker room, like a oneb blade razor, the ones that they reusable. We got to find video of this. King, I don’t think you were here. Um, this will be my final story, then we’ll talk to Wild again. But uh whenever we go to Canada like and we were playing Edmonton, national media wants to talk about it. It’s Minnesota Edmonton 9797. Who’s going to win this one? So I get a call late in the day or a text message. Can you come on NHL Network? It’s at like 4:00. That’s usually when we have to go to the ring. And so I’m like, yeah, it’s tight timing, but I think I can make it work. So 4:00 I probably have to be on the bus by 4:30. So I have to pack all my stuff before. showered, buttoned up, and I’m getting ready to do the interview. And I’ve done one in the past with my cell phone cuz you need to have it and have your face framed and everything like that. And it’s hard in a hotel room to like get anything. And there’s no place to like set your phone high enough to have the frame capture you, right? And I’ve done one in the past where I’ve held my phone. This is going to be great. And try to keep it steady. And they just kept tagging with more and more and more questions and by the end of the interview, my hand was shaking cuz it was so tired. So, I knew that I couldn’t I couldn’t hold the phone. So, I brought out my tablet um and I like the new tablet and the new tablet has this function on it where like it autofocuses. Have you seen this at all? Like and puts you in the frame. You can like turn I see it on one of my kids. They’ll they’ll have it set up and they’ll be on the phone with like uh my mom just talking to them and the kids get up away from their iPod and they walk around and the camera like follows them. It follows you cuz their kids never sit still. So, they’re like walking around. So, like you’re always in frame and like if I move my head a little bit like the frame moves and they’re like as soon as they call cuz this is how it works. NHL Network calls you and then you’re now live on FaceTime and they’re like, “We’re ready to go in like 3 minutes. You good? Audio is good, good, good.” And they’re like, “Hey, your your thing’s moving. Can you turn that function off?” And I was like, “I don’t know.” So, now I’m panicking a little bit. So, I’m like, “I I I think.” So, I figure out how to turn it off. They’re like, “Okay.” Well, unfortunately then the zoom on it was so wide that you could see my entire room. So the bed was in disarray. Like everything was just a disaster. And they’re like, “We can’t have this on TV. You’ve got to change.” And I was like, “I I I don’t know. There’s nothing I could do.” So I make the bed really quick. I was like, “How’s this look?” They’re like, “No, we got to switch it up.” So I go over to like the bar area cuz it’s like a high top. And the camera had to get higher. And they’re like, “That’s still not high enough. We can still see stuff behind you.” So I had to get it higher. put like on my suitcase on the bar and then standing up. Yeah. And I’m running around. I’m in a full suit. I had just showered. Like I packed my stuff. I’ve got to get to the bus. And then as soon as they’re like, “You good?” I was like, “Yeah, all right. Good. I did this. I’m good.” It was boom, full sweat. Like I was dripping. I was dripping. As soon as they’re like, “So, hey, welcome in, Ryan Carter.” It was like I had just stepped out of the shower sweating. Dripping sweat furnace face. And this whole interview was just like Al where I was waiting for there to be a full page and their producers knew it. I’d love to talk to these guys. Yeah. And be like, they knew it. They’d be like, “He’s here.” He is. He’s leaking. It’s dripping. We got to go to a full page. So that I could like wipe my face off. And they had to go 5 minutes straight out of the gaze. Yeah. I get out of there and I’m like I I I had to text him. I was like, “I’m so sorry for the furnace face and the faucet.” Like somehow they both got turned on, man. But I was like panicking like trying to get my hotel room like set and this and that. And worse. Sure enough, like in the interview, Robert was like, “I always pegged you for a bed making guy.” I was like, “Yeah, yeah, I I always make my bed because I didn’t know what to say other it wasn’t. It was in complete disarray, but I had to fix it.” Um, but if we can get video of that, this is probably This will be This was the last time I’ll ever be on NHL Network. That’s how bad it was. So, you’ve never been back? Oh, no. And I mean, it’s been a week. It’s only been a week. But I love I love that they cut to your room and it’s just like you got like the mini bars empty. You got all the snacks on the bed. Door Dash bags are by the hotel door full. Hey Ryan, no. No. We’re going to No, we’re going to need to pull it back. Another frame. Pull it back. You got a little fort you built. If you can imagine full sweat. That’s how I did that interview. Full sweat. Yeah. I was like I was even thinking like how can I be sweating this much? And then it like when I would kind of look cuz like you can’t look at yourself. You have to look at the camera. So, I was kind of sideeye looking at myself trying to see like if how bad it looked. That’s so good. I think it was a little pixelated. So, if the internet in in Edmonton was bad, there are gods. Like there is like if they couldn’t see it clear as day. But I hope so. Hust we got to find that clip. That’s easy. Reach out to NHL Network. It’s in the last week. It was last week. It was day of the day of the Edmonton game. We’ll find that for sure. This is so bad. But God, you had just outstanding stories today. I feel like I’m on spin chicklets. Now, I I do want to ask you because back to more stories, there’s just a lot of stuff like you were able to go to the USA uh hockey hall of fame induction with Perez and Pavvelski Gomez and company. How was that? It was great. Yeah, it was a ton of fun. Yeah. Uh Levy came in and spoke and um yeah, they did a great job and just hearing the stories and you know what they’ve accomplished in their career, you get to witness just pieces of their career. you know, just, you know, brief years that I spent with Zach and uh uh Joe and, you know, to see the whole thing and go back to Wisconsin and, you know, it’s just incredible. And the amount of people that showed up, it it was it was super cool. Yeah. And Zach and those guys and like just how important and how much of an impact they actually did have on not just their teams, but the game Olympic guys and even Gomez. Yeah. Gomez, like the first Alaskanborn player in the NHL, you know, like in um at least I read that. That didn’t seem right to me, but like that’s what I read. You know, they read all that stuff off and some of the stuff you’re like, is that true? And it has to. I mean, he’s not going to go up there and make that stuff up. And no, well, I mean, now he’s a head coach in the US. He’s moved up, but I mean, he’s only been coaching for a few years and he’s already a head down in uh Chicago and the USHL. He’s he’s going to be an NHL head coach. He’s on a fast track and he was only I believe it was a BCHL for like two years. Yeah. I was bummed. Uh I wish we would have gone. We had come back from that eight game road trip and like our schedule’s busy so had to spend some time with the family and stuff. But it would have been cool to be there to see Zack. There’s Well, there’s a lot of your former ex- teammates there. There’s a lot of Jersey guys there. Yeah. On behalf of Zack. Yeah. Having two and two Jersey guys, Gomez. Gomez. Yeah. Around the same era. So, there was a lot of New Jersey Devils that were in attendance. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. Uh great great week around Minnesota when it comes to hockey. It’s just It was awesome. Awesome. And uh you know what I saw at the game last night? I hadn’t seen they have a wall of St. Paul drink at the game. Have you seen this? Really? It comes in a goalie helmet. It’s like a cocktail that comes in a goalie helmet called like the St. Paul wall. I was like, man, this is We’re starting to like feel ourselves. It better be like What is it? What’s that tea one where it’s all booze? I hope it’s not zero proof. That that that’d be good. That’d be good. Just Is it the Long Island? I feel like it if it’s called the Wall of St. Paul, it needs to be something. You know what? I think it needs to when you sip it. Yeah. You’re going to be holding up a wall later in the day or a wall is going to be holding you up. Yeah. I actually think it’s I think it’s a cranberry vodka. Is that weird? I think that’s what the drink is. That seems odd. Maybe it’s lingberry. There. The wall is St. Paul is Swedish, so it could be like lingberry or something. Maybe it is. Maybe it is. Just a splash of lingenberry. I saw that. And uh Do we want to go back through the rest of the week? Do we want to talk? I mean, we went on a heater, right? We had uh we beat Dallas, who we never ever beat. Uh we beat Ottawa. We had that crazy Seattle game where they uh Zuki got uh bounced off the ice. I mean, it was a it was a wild week of wild hockey. And then the trade, right? Um and the backtobacks with Ottawa and Boston. But I mean I mean Gus Gus was great yesterday. He was great in that Dallas game. I mean, I think he seems to thrive having the the other goalie. He seems like he’s totally cool with that and he’s just doing his job and he’s been great, too. But, I mean, with as many players as we’re missing to keep stringing this thing together like that, um, I mean, it’s it was just a great week. You just you just watch a wild game and they win and then you go on to the next one. I mean, it’s been it was a great week for the team. I I I mean, I I couldn’t agree more. the there’s still the concern that the wild and things changed now. Now the team is totally reset too with Quinn Hughes. It’s it’s like almost like before Quinn Hughes and after Quinn Hughes, you know, it’s it’s not like this is the same team. It it’s it’s entirely different now, you know, but uh before Quinn Hughes, the concern was you play to the level of competition. You can beat Colorado, you can beat Dallas, but you can also lose to Calgary and Vancouver, who are the worst two teams in the league. It’s like Buffalo. Yeah. It’s like, how come they can’t just find their game and play it consistently? That was the Wild’s issue. And we’ll see post Quinn Hughes and something tells me things do change. And you’re you’re right too, Billy. I think Billy understands like like moxy, you know, like swag and getting a guy like Quinn Hughes gave the team swagger. Ryan Hartman looked the best last game that he’s looked since the first week of the season, right? And it’s just flat out swagger. Faber being ear to ear swagger. like getting that guy brought swagger to the room and the value of swagger I think sometimes is underrated and I think Billy doesn’t underrate that. He understands that and he he brought that with you touched on this too with flurry with some of these big moves. It’s Ryan Reeves my team doesn’t necessarily just need a bump from a player. It needs some swagger and he brought swagger with the trade. And now I think we’ll start to see the Wild be able to to win the games that they should. And this is what playoffs teams or playoff teams do. Win the games that they should and then be five to 600 against the the top end teams of your playoff teams and they’ll be right there 100 104 points or something like that and then in the playoffs it’s okay now who we who we got to play kind of thing. But um that was the issue and it even materialized last week like can you beat Seattle? like you’ve got to stop the bleeding and that was a tight game and it was I kept calling it an ice bag game where the guys had to sacrifice a lot to win that game but um the resolve was there to get it and maybe they don’t always want to have to put that effort forward but I think they learned like this is what we got to do you know and the fact that they were all beat up after that game I think coaches go into that locker room like yes this is what the room needs to look like I need you guys going to the training room for an ice bag because I know that all of a sudden we’re good, that we can win, that um we put our best foot forward and I think that’s what happened. I think we’ll see more of that now going forward. That was a 7D game, right? Seattle where they cut to the bench and it was like six guys. I’m like, “Oh my god, that and uh and the response from Yurov and I mean Carill was playing like he was possessed after his buddy went down.” And um you like that rink? I I I think I’m I’m quickly disliking Seattle. Like their uniforms, they’re so dark. They have the black seats in the ring. So when you’re watching it on TV, it was like, is this in Eastern Europe or where am I? And then Vince Dunn, I mean, throw him on the list, too. I I just was I’m like, nah, I’m not I’m not buying into the Seattle thing. Vince Dunn’s a wild killer. You can go back to in the minors. Remember that one? Other guys. Oh, yeah. Curtis Gabriel. Yeah. You remember Curtis? Caught him out in the tunnel. Zamboni tunnel. Yeah, the Zamboni tunnel on skates on cement. God, Vince Dunn. One and done is his name. One and done. I just came up with that. But I’m pretty proud of myself. That video is actually great. It is good. It’s almost like WWE. Yeah, we were we were on the ice. The fight happened on the ice. So, you probably had the best view right down the No, but then they were they put it on the the big screen in the arena. So both teams were like leaning against while they were fighting in the tunnel. It was arena. The arena cam was on the jumbo trunk. So both teams are like all players are at the bench and you’re just kind of grabbing water and talking or whatever. And then all a sudden you see them go off the tunnel. They’re still yapping. And in this rink it’s I think it’s All State Arena in Chicago where the Wolves play. Both teams go down out the same exit door. You’re just separated by like there’s carpet going down one side of the tunnel and carpet. It’s almost like when you know when soccer teams in like Europe come out, they’re standing right next to each other and walk out at the same time. So that’s how it is. They’re both walking down the tunnel. They’re yapping back and forth and the whole time it’s on the jumbotron. Yeah. And finally Don comes across and he’s just skates on cement. Yeah. Gets in Gabriel’s face and literally knocks him out with one punch. You’d be able to find it online. Like Gabriel was a big boy. He was tough as Yeah. So he one punched him. Yeah. Yeah. It looks that way. I think it looks a lot worse for Gabriel than it actually was too just cuz they were on concrete. But it does look like it’s it’s a a jab jab from Gabriel as he came across the concrete and then it’s just you just see one big hay maker from Dunn and then the party goes to the ground like it it’s it’s worth watching. Yeah, I watch it. But D that’s how Dunn got his start. He was a uh I think Dunn started in St. Louis. Y So I think he’s a St. Louis prospect playing for the Chicago Wolves and yeah now ended up he maybe got taken. They might have been loaning guys. They might not have had American League teams for the time before Springfield because I think Bennington was there for a little bit and yeah, they they had uh they had Chicago was mixed for a little bit there. Had them spread everywhere or St. Louis was mixed for a while. St. Louis. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. How did he not get a penalty on that? I mean, to me, it’s the exact same play as the Pitlick hit. Exactly. And that’s the argument. I actually don’t I actually don’t think that Dun should have gotten a penalty. Well, then Pitlick shouldn’t have either. Exactly. That’s what I would say because I’m looking at this and I’m like, this seems disrespectful even to Zukarillo. I mean, this is like a a longtime player in the league, a vet. Um, they don’t even he doesn’t even get a penalty uh for I mean, the guy’s head’s bouncing off the ice. There was a play earlier in the game that done Did he get a penalty earlier in the game? Yeah, he was really upset. He was really like pissed off at the call early. You could tell he was frustrated. There was a play that hit happened later. You can almost see it in his eyes. He was looking to do something. Well, and the what I would say about that hit is I don’t think that it was a penalty. I think the referees handled it right where they assess a major so then they can go review it and then they they rescended it. I don’t think Don left his feet. I don’t think he chickenwinged. Um I do think that Zukarella cut into the middle like they look at this like put himself in a more vulnerable situation. Like it wasn’t Dunn that changed his path. It was Zukarelloo that changed his path, you know? So, um in some ways it’s on Zukarelloo a little bit there. It’s not on him, but they’re not gonna punish Dunn for that, if that makes sense. But what I think entirely about the hit is they want backside pressure hits kind of out of the game because players cut east and west. It’s how offense is made. So even if it wasn’t a penalty, I think that they should assess a major like just just get the hit out of the game then, you know, instead of looking at details where it’s like, okay, he didn’t leave his feet, he didn’t kick him, he didn’t this, it was a clean hit. If it’s the style of hit you want out of the game, get the hit out, give him a major, you know, and I think that that’s what the Pitlick one was. Like there’s certain kind of hits we just don’t want. Even if it was like legal, like you can change there. Dun did everything right within the bounds of the game. Like I I don’t think that it was like a penalty is obviously close and borderline, but if you want the hit out, give him the major. It will get the hit out of the game. Um because with the way this game’s going with the Trevor Zegresses, the Hughes brothers, the East and West, the Dangling, that kind of Jacob Trouba, Scott Stevens, just waiting for that moment to knock a guy out. I mean, I I mean, I’ve always it’s part of hockey, but I if the league really wants this skill to continue to go the way it is, I I agree with you. You just kind of take it out. Yeah. You know, maybe playoffs are different. Um, but uh I don’t like seeing Zuki’s head. No, I mean he was he was having a lot of trouble getting off the ice and u it just and he’s such a big deal. Is concussion protocol is that about 10 days that it’ll take him? I don’t think that there is a protocoliz when they’re ready. Yeah. Uh hey, he Karen mentioned something and I was talking to goender coach Freddy Shabbat. This is in Calgary, but uh black seats in a building and if the building’s not sold out, is that harder for a goalender? That is especially in I mean pregame skates it’s so different. And it’s usually darker in there, but the seats LA the Staple Center and now it’s what? Crypto.com. They had black seats and it was really tough. Especially when the puck gets above the boards, it looks horrible. Anytime it goes above the boards, it’s really hard to pick up even when um the fans are in there. Some of those arenas are so dark off the ice. Yeah. You know, you get lost, especially like a black ceiling if the puck is flipped in the air. But dark seats, it is it it is tough. It does make it tough to I see a lot of teams going to dark seats. Vancouver just got new seats. You know, Vancouver used to have red seats kind of. It’s all black. Where was I that just uh Seattle’s all black? It I don’t think it looks good on TV. It looks like they should be Philadelphia’s all black. Yeah. And I don’t think they were before. Like they had all brand new seats and they were just all black. And maybe it’s maybe it is something for TV or Well, both goalies got to play in it. I suppose sound like it’s a competitive advantage, right? Well, on TV the thing it does I don’t think there were that many people at that Seattle game. There was a lot of empty seats. But when you watch it, you can’t tell. You can’t tell who’s in a seat and who’s not. It’s just all kind of dark. Yeah. It’s almost like a video game where they just fill in the crowd. Um so I think that’s probably why they do it. But it um Yeah. I’m just I’m not a crafter. I got a t-shirt of like the old civic center or Met Center where it has it shows like the seats and the seats were all different colors. Yeah. The arenas used to be like that. You know what I mean? Where like it would Cedar Rapids was like that new SHL. You remember they had like purple and white and black building. Yeah. You’d almost look like there’s more people there just cuz it was different. Yeah. I think I think the Met Center even was green, yellow, white. That’s the one. Yeah, it’s awesome. Awesome. What else do we want to cover? Uh I think did we did we hash out enough about this huge trade? Uh I don’t know that we heard what you think about it. Like like um I gave you my my thoughts on it that it’s an endorsement in the group they have now. And it’s a recognition of the age that some of these players are. Yeah. I think it gives them excite like a ton of excitement. you know, being in the position in the past where, you know, you’re a playoff team and you add more to it and this group now it’s like for real, like holy cow, like we have this piece and we’ve added this guy and for him to be bought in and even this, you talk about his postgame press conference, what he said after the game and how impressed he was just in the first game that he’s played with this group and the skill level and uh you don’t really fully understand what players can do until you see them on a consistent basis. you know, how many times is he playing against Minnesota? He doesn’t get to see what Eric does on a nightly basis and what a Ryan Hartman does on a on a regular basis. And now to be able to play with them. He he sees the skill and like Joel talked about that that pass Capri off came back to him. He wasn’t even ready for it. You know, where he was maybe it’s a play he’s not going to get back and it was right on his tape and he had an empty net and um the excitement in that locker room to finally add what you call a whale of a defenseman. Um, you know, obviously is exciting for that core, but I think the exciting part too is when he mentioned how much this meant to him, what Billy did, you know, when you talk about bringing him back and if that’s where he wants to be long term and how much what Billy gave up, he’ll always remember that and hits home and means a lot to him, which I think is a good sign if it’s a long-term. Billy has always been good at that. That’s why he doesn’t pinch pennies on on the deals. He wants every guy happy with the deal that they got. He’s smart. The angles. Yeah. Billy’s not like And part of that I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if he wanted to put the best and biggest package for Quinn Hughes. Not just to get Quinn Hughes, just to send a message to Quinn Hughes. Like this is what you’re worth. You know, just like Carell Capri off. I don’t care. Yeah, if 17 makes you happy, you’re 17. I want you happy, you know. Do I think I could get you for 16? Maybe. Maybe he thought that. But he like he understands like how important that is to the player. For Billy to just move, you know, the goal post a little in player direction and he gets a lot from the guys for that. Like Billy’s savvy when it comes to a lot of those things, right? No, I I agree. And it would have been fun to be fly on the wall and that playing just what was discussed in those conversations cuz you know there was conversations about you know where how you feeling right now. It’d also be fun to be a player that played for Billy cuz if he likes you you get a good deal. It’s it’s not like grinding for these deals, you know, like you get a good one. But I So I was just looking real quick. Spurgeon, you know, Erikson back to Bull. If Bullam’s your guy and he’s he’s gonna be the Quinn Hughes, how many years is it going to take? Actually, I’ll go on a filibuster about Bull real quick. Um, how long is it going to take? Four years, right? Maybe. Probably two. Yeah. 2002. Best case scenario. Yeah. Erikson at 28. That put him in 32. Still going to be a good player. Well, you look at Quinn Hughes career like look at his Quinn Hughes career track record. And that’s where I was going to go with that eventually. You go right down his And now I’m going to go Lane Hudson right after that. Yeah, cuz Lane Hudson and and Zu are cut from the same cloth, too. Yeah. Uh Spurgeon, he’s 36 right now. Broaddin’s like mid30s. What? Uh sorry, this is taking a little bit, but Carell’s 28. Yeah. Broaddin’s 32. Like these guys are four years. That puts Spurgeon at 40. Broaddin at 36. Marcus Feno’s 34. That put him at 38. And I’m not saying Bu had to be the guy that gets them to a cup. It’s not it. But if you need like certain pieces to win, they just didn’t have the time to wait for these pieces to mature 100%. So it’s it’s these guys are here like this is it. They have a chance. We have the youth. We have Capri off prime. We have EC prime. Let’s not waste the prime. We have Baldi early prime. You know, let’s not waste it. I also think that this is best for Zeve Buouham because the way that Zeve Buham was being brought along. I was talking to a scout in the stands about this at one point in time because the Wild were with Jared Spurgeon at the start of the year and they were eating minuses. They were it’s fact. Check it. And they move him to third pair and his minutes go down and it’s less, right? But he has less impact on the game. He has less time to learn. And the scout was like, “Yeah, you’ve got to know that he’s going to eat minuses early.” But look at what happens. Quinn Hughes, you had that guy early on in his career. He was minus 10 or 15 his first year, minus 24 his second year. Then it’s plus 30, plus 35, like best in the league, point per game. Like, you have to live with the hard parts in order for that kid to be the best player that he can be. And Vancouver did that with Quinn Hughes. Lane Hudson was a minus machine to start last year. But you’ve got Marty St. Louisie coaching saying, “Let’s stick with it. The offense is there. This will come. We can teach defense.” Like give be patient. Lane Hudson wins a Calder. Those guys have to learn like that. I don’t think Buham was going to get that opportunity here. No, he’s on the power play. He’s off the power play. Being developed differently. It wasn’t a hey, like it’s okay. Like I know you’re gonna make that mistake. Like it’s okay. If you make it again, so be it. Like we’re gonna survive this. Can you imagine right now in Vancouver? They’re just like, “Hey, have fun out there.” And they’ve done Vancouver’s done it before. They they developed Quinn Hughes. This guy has more freedom than I mean, he’s just going to this could be the best possible thing for Z. He’s going to have all the time in the world to figure out what he wants to be out in Vancouver. And we love him. I mean, he’s a great kid. I wish him nothing but the best. But yeah, I think there Yeah, interesting stuff. Yeah. Any Canadian media will be on him in a hurry? Yeah, probably. But um well the other thing he’s got going for him there is Vancouver’s in like they’re nowhere near winning anytime soon like this just launched a full flight like yeah no the message is sent for them as well for that room trading trading Hughes is now confirmation it is they are starting San Jose three years ago you know right um is Billy done? No. Yeah, I don’t think so either. And I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I feel the same way. Well, you just got to make a call. I don’t think he’s done. Um I don’t know what it is. I don’t know how you do it. Um but uh I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s not a little more wiggle to this roster before. I don’t know. I don’t know what you would do. Uh I don’t know what he can give up. Um well, but it seems like he would want some help down the middle to your point about Pittsburgh. What’s exciting uh to me is you you got something you can’t get. So you’ll hear GM say all the time, “Yeah, yeah, I need a number one sentiment.” You want to know what? They’re never available. You cannot get them. Yeah. So Billy was able to get something you cannot get. Quinn Hughes, right? So now all of a sudden that’s different and maybe changes the plan a little bit, but the other pieces he needs now he might be able to get. Yeah. You’re saying the Brad Marshant kind of rental thing where somebody’s like, “Hey, actually or or I need a centerman that can supplement like I don’t need a centerman to drive. I need a centerman that can supplement.” You can get that. You need depth players that can give you points. Yeah. Three or four playoff goals. You can get that. You know, he got the thing you can’t get. M now there are things that he might need to fill out the roster, but those are things you can get with third round picks, you know, with certain prospects and um that that’s I think what’s exciting and should be exciting for the group, too. Whatever they’re missing is now attainable. But another filibuster. Sorry about that. No, that’s great. Hey, what do you think of the hair flip from Quinn Hughes, you know, in the line? I thought he did a double hair flip getting ready. Yeah, he’s got the flow. He get that going on. Yeah. And the photo that was everywhere of him, which is he starts on Star Wars night, this is literally Anakin Skywalker. He looks just miserable. He’s got the long flow. He’s just staring at the camera like he’s been he’s been in jail for 10 years. Like almost like this game’s so boring. Yeah. And he’s just staring. Is that better? And everywhere around the world, they’re just putting different jerseys on them. Wild jerseys. They’re putting that photo everywhere. And I’m I’m like this is so funny. this world of trades where I mean Sunday felt like yesterday felt almost like you’re on a first date, you know, it was a little awkward. It was exciting. The crowd, you know, it was just but it was it was also like pressure like especially when it would be a power play. It was like, okay, here we go. Hey, hey, you’re going to want to watch this. This is the Broadway show that we power play, too. Go out and score in 15 seconds. But, uh, no, I I think it’s I’m really excited. Um, I guess we got Oie coming to town here uh tomorrow. Um, and uh I mean I think I Quinn said it well in his press conference. He said once we get rolling, we’re going to be hard to beat. Is it four or five or six games? I I don’t know. I mean, I think he said something. I do think it takes a I mean, even some of the long passes he was doing last night, he whipped that one. I don’t even know. It might have been Baldi and it just went off the stick cuz guys are kind of like, “Okay, I got to figure out how to play with this guy.” Yeah. This is the other thing is like temper expectations early on just a little bit. Yeah. Because like the power play it it it’s possible it’s going to be great starting, you know, Tuesday against Washington. It’s possible. But the if you’re playing devil’s advocate and every good team has had to deal with this. There’s only one puck and Carrill wants it. Baldi wants it. Hughes wants it. You know, like if Zuki comes back, he’s on the power play. He wants it. Like there’s only one puck. Four guys are going to want it. So, it’s going to take a little bit of time for them to figure out how to like distribute it enough to where everybody feels value and confident in production. Um, it it is possible that they fire on all cylinders right away, but I I think it’s equally as likely that it takes a little bit for them to figure out how to use all the pieces and keep everybody happy. But they want to make so I mean they want to make so many plays. Who’s going to shoot it? Yeah, cuz they actually puck seven different here too. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that puck is seems so fast. Excuse me. Someone shoot. Especially when Zuki’s back. I mean, you’ll have three wizards just passing it around. Um, yeah, I think uh I think Baldi will be in his spot just with his stick in the air waiting to finally shoot when it comes through. But yeah, I mean, it’s going to be fun to watch. Uh, credit to Billy Garren. Uh, Billy Meatballs. Yeah. The GM, the marketer, the Yeah. the when you have a podcast and Billy Garren’s your GM, it sure isn’t boring. Um, got to give him credit for that. And but also it would be nice if they spread out some of this love. Like that was a huge week. Lots to talk about. There are times where we’re like I know what’s next. Yeah, just Billy, keep it up, okay? Like just spread it out. You know, spread it out. Circle this twoame backto back. By the way, coming up here, Colorado, Edmonton, I think it’s the 19th and the 20th. If you think of kind of the what do we got, a week here to get settled in or, you know, five days. I mean, that’s pretty interesting. Uh, yeah, Edmonton got their guy, too. Hidden under all this is Edmonton. The team that has gone to the West final each of the last two years, has always felt they’ve been without one piece, and I think that’s a goalender that’s going to steal him a game or two. Picked up Jarry. Don’t know if Jar’s the answer, but they made a move and uh they got a guy Jarry, I think his career numbers are above 910 kind of, you know, and um maybe in Edmonton that can go to a different level playing in front of McDavid and Dry Cidle or something like that. But um Edmonton in the West got a little bit better too, you know. So um that one kind of flew right under the radar cuz that was like a early Friday trade. It’s his hometown too, which you know it gives a little lift to him as well, I think. And was he Pittsburgh’s one? He was his the one then kind of lost his job. He was in the American League last year. Okay. Yeah. Lost his job and came back this year and has been good but Vancouver traded Sheil to Pittsburgh and Sheilovs is a good goalender best in the American League like the last two years. So Pittsburgh was going straight rotation. Jarry was good and Pittsburgh wasn’t going to give up Sheilovs the young guy but they’re willing to give up Jarry with term. So Edmonton I think took him. I mean that’s just a quick they have that mirror chev in uh Pittsburgh as well that they they’re like comparing him to flower a young flower. Yeah. So they got a they had they had an abundance there. But hey uh while we’re here let’s get into some trivia. Hus and we’ve got Allan here. So Al the way this works is Hus gives us like five six questions. It’s about a wild alumni and and you’re on my team. I got to get it right. You’re on my team. No he’s his own guy. You’re on my team. You’re an ebug. You get points for this. You’re an ebug. We do. I almost had to ebug last week. Really? Seriously? Really? Yeah. I was in Philly and the Ask Rob was sick and the trainer’s like, “Hey, do you want to put the gear on tonight?” I’m like, “No, I do not.” Are you serious? Yeah. And they put they dress an ebug. Yeah. You’re like, “I make more in the booth than I would going on the ice.” I was just like, “I don’t even want to go on the gear.” I see the guys shoot the puck. I’m like, “I don’t get like 500 bucks.” You’re like, “No, I don’t even want to go in the net.” This isn’t a good story. Oh, I’m good. So, you’re playing for yourself. Okay. So he’s he’s going for himself. Oh, I’ll be on your team. I think I can help you. I I can throw some initials at you. That Thank you. Well, you could ring in. Yeah, he’s with me. I’m still way down. Okay. All right. We got Nick Gills on the trivia today. Making a debut. Hey. All right. Uh we’re going to start off today with uh a fun stat. Yesterday, the Wild, Timberwolves, and Vikings all won on the same day. The last time that happened, this player was on the Wild. Wow, that’s a great one. That’s funny. That’s like the solstice, the the Minnesota solstice. Okay. I don’t I don’t know when that was. I heard something on KFM this morning. They read that. I don’t remember what year it was, though. Okay. Can’t remember what year they said. All right. Next clue. This player was drafted by a team that was later relocated. Oh, well, this could be our friend. This could be the Yeah. What are you saying? There’s some whispering going on right now. Uh, we already had him, so it’s not him. Oh, really? Oh, wow. I think Al has to ring in. Okay. Okay. Okay. Table talk. Table talk. Should we get just Not a legit poker game. Should we just get aggressive and just go for it? Yeah. All right. Uh Danny Healey. Incorrect. Oh, that was a good one though. I just was like, you know what? Let’s just go. Let’s go with the Heater cuz he was drafted by Atlanta, right? Yeah. And they moved. Did they technically move? Yeah. They didn’t get discontinued. They moved. They became what? The Winnipeg. Okay. Okay. So, Okay. So, I’m dead. You can maybe still play for us, though. Next clue. This player finished 19th place for the Calder in the 99 2000 season. Oh wow. Okay. So he’s on the team the first year of the Wild and he’s a rookie. It’s called that year. He was drafted by a team that’s been relocated. Is that what it was? Yep. Oh, so he wasn’t on the Wild in 99 2000. He just was 19th. Read the question one more time. This is a good one. This player finished 19th place for the Calder in the 99200 season. Okay, so this can narrow it down. Which teams have been relocated since 2000? Atlanta, Arizona. Yeah. And I’m curious if it’s the Nordics cuz he could have been drafted by Nordics. Calder could have been up to three years later. When was the last year of the Nordics? That was way before that. Way before 99. Well, uh, no 94 had Quebec in Sega 94. Well, because what 96? Did Colorado won the won the cup in 96? Yeah. So, point is I don’t think that somebody would have, but keep going. Let’s go to the next question. We’re going to keep breadcrumbming. This player’s tenure ended in Minnesota because he felt quote unquote unloved according to the Pioneer Press. Jeez, these are good. These are good clues. I bet there are people at home like they know who this is. Unloved. Is that a word? Yes, it is. Oh. Ah. I’m going to ring in. This is terrible. I don’t think it’s right. I want to ring out, but I’m going to say it. Is it uh GM Latin dress? Incorrect. Okay. So, since both of you guessed, can both of you We’re back in. Okay, we’re back in. We’re making the rules up as we go or Al can win this for on his own. One more. All right. Um, so now we’re getting into the nitty-gritty. Known for a wide unorthodox stance but quick reflexes. Oh, it’s a goalender. Manny Fernandez. Hey, correct. He couldn’t have said married. Goalies aren’t actually players, are they? Who was he drafted by? in 94. So I was right. Yeah, it was either 94 or 95. Oh, I should have thought about that. Sega 94. Goies take a while. Quebec. No, Colorado in that game. Dude, there was clues. There was clues. I botched that. He was married to J La Mer’s daughter. His nephew. That was the next uh that one would I would have zeroed in. I think I remember something about Latch and Dress not like feeling loved or something like that. Now I got to search that up. If there’s any fans listening to this, hit us up on the socials. Carter’s back. Let’s undress. Let’s undress. That’s how they said his name, right? That’s such a good name. My name is Guom. Let’s undress. It’s a good opener. It’s good stuff. Good work. All right. Good job, Gayy. Thank you, buddy. All right. Cool. All right. Well, I appreciate you coming in, man. Thanks for Thank you, guys. Yeah, it was good stuff. Uh, John, congrats on the whale call. That That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. Good work. You got Moby. You don’t have to be such a D about it, but you got the moi. So that’s that’s good. That’s good.
Quinn Hughes. Quinn Hughes. Quinn Hughes. If you say it three times, does he just arrive like a genie? Try it. The Minnesota Wild have acquired Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks. It’s a fact that many hockey fans are still digesting, but it’s real, and it’s quite amazing when you really break it down. To break it down for you, Alex Stalock joins Wild on 7th in-studio this week, John King lands his whale of a bold prediction, Wild Radio Joe O’Donnell talks botany among other things, and Ryan Carter maintains his swagger among all the chaos. Stalock and O’Donnell were both on the call for Quinn’s first game with the Wild, and both provide their unique insight on the historic night. Carter gives an amazing assessment of Billy Guerin’s rationale surrounding the trade, and also chimes in with some amazing stories from his days playing juniors. Quinn Hughes. Quinn Hughes. Quinn Hughes. Poof….here’s the best pod of the season so far.
8 comments
I'm so excited for what the future holds for our wild!
Pretty exciting couple of weeks. Can’t wait to see what’s next
Why did John shave? We won!!!
Welcome to menopause! 🤣
Billy Meatballs. 😅😅
Minn Hughes
That part i dont get is if he wants to go to new jersey why would they give up a huge package for a guy for half a season that could just sign in there the offseason and be there for 6 to 8 years i dont see a team giving up we did to have him for a half year rental knowing he is going to jersey
Hughes talk aside, can Al join as a permanent third member? He brings a great extra kick to the pod