Winnipeg Jets Prospects go 2-0, Blue Bombers lose to Hamilton

Winnipeg Jets Prospects go 2-0, Blue Bombers lose to Hamilton

[Music] [Applause] [Music] I alone. I alone. This is Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily with Andrew Hustler Patterson and Michael Reis. Hey now, welcome to another Monday edition of Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily. Michael Re is here in the host chair for Hustler who was uh away on the weekend in Kansas City taking the Chiefs loss 0 and2 start. I’m sure he’ll have lots to say about that when he comes back. Pleased to be joined in a second by Connor Rabchack who’s been doing some great work for us this weekend. and check out WST Sunday live on the channel and the Bomber Report uh which came out this morning. But plenty to get to. It’s officially hockey season training camp week. The Jets will be doing their medicals, but Wednesday on the ice Thursday we will be at Hockey for All Center Wednesday, Thursday or Thursday, Friday. And then Saturday we will do a special show from FanFest. So make sure you’re coming out and saying hi to us there. The prospects tournament um started on Saturday, ended yesterday. The Jets going two and 0 with some dramatic wins. We’ll be touching on that uh later today. The weekend did get started off with a Bombers loss. That’s three in a row, three losses in a row. They’re now at six and seven and in a real dog fight here for the playoffs with some pretty serious questions at quarterback. So, we’re going to touch on all that. The, as I said, the Jets training camp starting this week, the Prospects tournament, and the Bombers. I’m sure we’ll sprinkle in some other topics. NFL week two. Um, well, two games tonight, the double header Monday nighter, which I’m a big fan of, and baseball, you know, raceh to the end of the postseason. We’re all following the Blue Jays here as well. So, some great guests coming up. Taylor Allen was in Hamilton for the bombers loss in the dressing room after asking the hard questions, asking the questions before as well. Had the story about Kenny Lawler, which we discussed on Friday. Really looking forward to talking with Taylor Allen about that of the Winnipeg Free Press and also Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press. He had a busy morning at the golf course talking with Connor Halabuk and Josh Morrisy and and Mike’s got his uh column on the prospects camp. We’ll touch on that and you know the training camp mail. A lot of questions, a lot of storylines coming in as we can finally open the book on the Winnipeg Jets 202526 season. The 15th training camp in franchise history. sorry team in since moving to Winnipeg and they will be wiring the special commemorative logo on the jersey and at center ice this season. And if we have time, I caught up with former NHLer Drew Shore. He’s now an agent. He’s got a podcast uh just about, you know, if this time of year training camp brings back memories for him. Well, let’s get it started. A guy’s been pretty busy this weekend. Busy this morning. He too was at the golf course uh with his microphone in there hearing from Connor Hellbuk and Josh Morrisy. Connor Rabch check went at WST Sunday live W Bomber Report WT Jets reporter. Connor, what’s going on? Thanks for uh joining me today. Looking forward to chopping it up here with you over the next couple days here with Hustler Away. All week long. Yeah, me and you remote. It’s going to be a blast. Thanks for having me. And uh yeah, with this is this is like the best week. It’s training camp week. I’m so fired up. Fanfest this weekend. NFL’s fully underway. The Bombers, maybe we’ll touch on them a little bit later in terms of the the good that’s happening this week, but uh happy to be here with some hockey to talk about with the prospect showdown this past weekend. Yeah, Connor, how was the high sports highlight of your weekend? We had the Bomber game Friday. I don’t know if you’re a college football guy. Saturday we had Jets Montreal. I know full house there in Montreal which is crazy. Jets Ottawa Sunday NFL. I don’t know if you stayed up. You stay up for the boxing fight on Netflix. I was like ready to pack it in. I don’t think it ended until like 1:00 a.m. or something. So I watched I watched that as well. So there were a lot a lot of sports going on. If anything stood out uh to you. Yeah, I I do want to start I don’t know if it was the highlight of of my sports viewing weekend, but the soldout Bell Center crowd, you know, cheering every time Ivan Demidov touched the puck and the Jets kind of weathering that storm was really really cool to me. Um Domentus made 38 saves and 38 quality saves in that game. Like it was it was a barrage at times and and the Canadians were really feeding off of that energy that the Bell Center was giving them. So that was a really cool start to the weekend on Saturday night there. Um, and then obviously the NFL slate. Uh, I’m a 49ers fan, so I saw M. Jones lead my team to victory. Uh, but it was a it was an entertaining slate. I mean, that Giants Cowboys game was incredible going into overtime. The Broncos and Colts game with, you know, shades of the Saskatchewan Rough Riders with a penalty on a missed field goal and then they get another chance and the Colts end up winning that one. The Sunday nighter, I’m sure Vikings fans want to forget about that one. But yeah, it was a full weekend of sports and uh the Jets with two wins in the prospect showdown. It there was a lot to watch and I I had a good weekend taking it all in. Yeah, I feel like the traditionally the Jets prospect uh tournaments haven’t been great for them historically, but a lot of standouts. Dominic Devententis, you mentioned him on Saturday, 38 saves versus Montreal. Uh, Alex Worththington, 36 saves on 38 shots yesterday against Ottawa. He’s a player who may start in the ECHL, but certainly impressed. And Danny Jillin had a big two goals against Montreal. Kobe Barlo had a goal and assist against Montreal. Uh, what stood out to you there from the Jets, you know, two games on Saturday and Sunday? How about that goal from Chase Yodar undressing David Ryanbacher to tie the game as the Jets go bang bang to silence the Bell Center crowd. I was like, “Okay, this is getting really interesting here.” Um, yeah, it was looking rough there at the start of that Montreal game because they were feeding off the crowd. They were super physical. Kieran Walton as well, we should mention him. He left that Montreal game after taking a hard hit and didn’t return to that game and then didn’t play in the game Sunday as well. So, we’ll wait and hear an update on Kieran Walton who left the game with an upper body injury. But I think the standout for me is obviously the goalending. I mean, Devinc Centus and Worthington back-to-back Knights. Uh the Jets posted their stats, a combined 936 save percentage, 73 saves, and they got the two wins. But Danny Jillin, I mean, this is a guy that over his two seasons with the Manitoba Moose has five goals combined. Scored two on Saturday night and played incredible in the Sunday game as well. um setting up some goals too. So Danny Jooken was really really impressive to me. It was nice to see Kobe Barlo get on the score sheet after you know having a goal waved off that was very obviously should be waved off in the Saturday game. Elias Salammon was skating around looking good on the back end. Uh Braden Joerger I thought had some moments as well and Chase Yoder just out of nowhere undresses a top five pick and one of the best defensive prospects in hockey with an unbelievable tow drag and then deaks out the goalie as well. That was the highlight of the weekend for me was that Chase Yoder goal. Um undrafted player who just again undressed a player who was drafted in the top five as a right shot defense with David Rybacher. So pretty impressive weekend for the Winnipeg Jets. Uh and a lot of prospects that stood out in a good way. Yeah, Chase Yodar, Providence College, college free agent similar to I don’t know Brandon Tanv, Parker Ford. So certainly a guy if you hadn’t heard of him now his tow drag highlight reel goal you know made the made the what rounds on Saturday and that’s a guy maybe we’ll have some more eyes on him when it comes to training camp. You mentioned Joerger and Elias Salmonson didn’t stand out but were certainly steady. uh Fabian Wagner scored the OT winner yesterday against Ottawa and Kobby Barlo, you know, he’s had some battles with training camp where, you know, what was it a couple years ago where he didn’t play what he was sick and Yeah. You know, but it feels like this year he’s going to be ready to come in 100% and I’m curious to see what he’s going to be able to do uh this season. Yeah. and he’s one of those players that’s making their leap to the first pro season of their career, right? Kobe Barlo is going to be on the Manitoba Moose this year. Uh or the Winnipeg Jets if he makes it straight out of camp, but along with Ben Joerger, Jacob Julian, these are players that are making that first year pro leap. Um and going into their first full pro season, whether it be with the Manitoba Moose or the Winnipeg Jets. And we actually spoke to Braden Joerger at one of the informal skates before this this Prospect Showdown team left for Montreal. and he has a great attitude heading into training camp. He wants to make the NHL. He said he knows the situation in front of him. The Jets have a lot of great centers and a lot of great forwards, but his mindset is still to make the NHL. And I’m sure all of these players are going in with that attitude, even though it’s highly likely that they’ll be sent down to the Manitoba moves and play out a full season down in the AHL, which can be good for their development. So, um, it they their heads are in the right space, if you will, that they want to make the Winnipeg Jets right out of training camp as they prepare for their first proseason. And I’m excited to see I think the Manitoba Moose are going to be much better this year. I mean, 31st in the AHL last year, it’s it’s tough to get worse, but I do think like the free agent uh signings that they made in the offseason, the pro players that they’re getting, the prospects that they’re getting, I think the Manitoba Moose are not only going to be better this year, I think they’re also going to be a fun watch. So, uh, looking to get out to more moose games this year as well as they have some young prospects making the pro leap. Yeah, one player looking to make a leap this year, Nikita Chibov, you know, played 30 games with the Moose. He got into a couple with the Jets. He’s almost a point per game player in the NHL. Conor, four points in five career games. It was three of those and four last year. coming back from a knee injury. Said he wanted to participate in the prospects tournament in Montreal. He is only 22 years old, turning 23 in February. You see anything out of Chabberov? And was that another player who’s battling for one of those bottom roster spots on the Winnipeg Jets? I think so. I I I truly think that the door is open for him to knock down the door, if you will, and and make a make a a roster spot on this Winnipeg Jets team. And he is a player, Remis, that I was looking at uh kind of under a microscope this past weekend, even though it is a prospect showdown, but he’s coming off that major knee injury last season with the Manitoba Moose. It cut his season short. I’m sure he would have played maybe more games down the stretch with the Winnipeg Jets had he not injured his knee. So, I was looking at him to see, does he have that explosiveness? Does he have that short area burst? How is he looking in the skating department? Because he can be a player that is fearless in the corners and is going and battling for pucks and has that short area burst and can win a lot of puck battles for your team. Coming off of a major knee injury is a whole another battle. That’s a whole another hill that he had to climb this season. So, he was rehabbing it. This was his first, you know, game action coming off of that major knee injury. I thought he looked good and it’ll be interesting to see how he looks at training camp as well. Um, and I know people are excited about Nikita Chryov as they should be and like I just said, there is an opportunity for him to knock the door down and make the Winnipeg Jets, but coming off of that major knee injury, I personally wouldn’t be shocked if the Jets organization views him as a guy that’s destined for the most at at least for the start of the season as he maybe knocks off a bit of the rust with that knee injury and having gone through a rehab process in the offseason. And I don’t know what you saw at Chipperov or what you think about his chances, Remis, but that’s how I see it. Yeah, I think it’s we’ve seen historically in the past, it’s real tough for, you know, a young player like that who’s able to be sent down without waiverss, really crack the Jets roster. They would have to come in and have some kind of standout camp where you’re really turning heads. And even then, we’ve seen that, you know, the easy option is to send them down. But, you know, once you go down, you get your feet under, you get a game, you get some games in, you never know what could happen. Injuries, play, you know, any reason could bring a call up. So, I think it’s always important to be ready. I think it’s fun to talk about prospects here. We just had the prospect tournament. you want to look ahead to the future, but what we’ve seen with the Jets in the past is they’re going to go uh with veteran guys, you know, who are tougher to send down. I am interested about the defense, they seem to have so many uh defensemen. How is that going to shake out? And just looking at um you know the players from the prospects camp who are headed to main camp. We talked about the goalies David Chentis and Worthington defenseman Salammonson who’s certainly uh behind a number of veteran defenseman in camp. He’s got something to prove. Edison Engel who Danny Schulen Wagner Barlo Chibberov Jerger Julian uh Cludier Walton Kevin he who we haven’t really mentioned here usually the guy with the fastest motor out there. he’s going to look to make an impression and Owen Martin uh you know Manitoban who was just drafted by the Winnipeg Jets this past summer and you did mention Kieran Walton uh was hurt versus Ottawa. So uh that’s uh that’s you know tying the bow there on prospects tournament and now we look ahead to main camp. Any other final thoughts that we didn’t mention about the Winnipeg Jets prospect? Yeah, you mentioned Elias Salammonson there and I do want to bring him up because he to me falls under the same camp as Initi Chibberov where Jets fans should be excited for Elias Salammonson and he’s I I I think he’s going to be a big part of the future of this team, but this season the odds are so stacked against him to make the Winnipeg Jets that I just don’t see it happening. I obviously injuries throughout the season. Salammonson will likely be the first callup and be that guy that gets inserted into the lineup in a depth role, but he just played his first proseason with the Manitoba Moose. And while it was successful, they were the 31st ranked team. And I’m not pinning that on Elias Salammonson, but I’m sure the Jets and the Jets organization want him to play some meaningful AHL games and be in a winning culture before he comes up to the Winnipeg Jets. And the biggest thing for him being stacked against it this year is the just the contracts. I mean, the Jets have nine NHL defenseman under contract that aren’t eligible for for waivers. Like Billy Han, we’ve been saying on the past two WSC Sunday lives, is destined for waiverss and it just kind of feels like a ticking time bomb as to when he actually does hit the waiver wire. Um, and even then, if Elias Salammonson looks so good in camp that he pushes for a role and wins a role, then the Jets have to put another defenseman on waiverss or trade another defenseman. So, I just think the Jets are are a team that they’re going to go in with their eight defenseman that are under contract right now. They’re going to give Elias Salammonson a huge opportunity and huge role with the Moose. Um, and while I know people are excited, and they should be, don’t be shocked if Elias Salammonson starts the season and maybe even plays the full season with the Moose yet again. Yeah, I think that is, you know, looking ahead to training camp. That is one of the things uh to watch. Neil Peon, Josh Morsy, Dylan Samberg, Dylan Dlo, that’s four. Luke Shen, Colin Miller, six. Logan Stanley, Hayden Flurry, seven and eight. And then going down, just looking at the I want to say cap friendly, but no, it is it’s Puck Pedia now. the non-roster defense Alons Frey and Billy Han that is what eight and or sorry nine and 10 and then Kale Kle who they signed he’s on a two-way Tyrone Bower’s on a two-way so what you know that’s a couple more and they they have Alons Frey in there as he he wasn’t he wasn’t there at the so he’s he’s he’s a ways away so they have some serious depth here on Pakia but Yeah, going to be tough. And you know, Billy Hanel, a former first round pick. He’s 24 years old, hasn’t been able to find a regular spot in the lineup. Is it going to end the training camp with him being put on waiverss? Uh something something to see. Connor, you were at the golf course today talking to a couple Jets, Josh Morrisy, Connor Hellbeck. I’ll go in more in depth more with Mike McIntyre later, but anything you could take away from, you know, from that from talking to the players. Yeah, it was the first time for me personally hearing from Josh Morsey since he went to that team Canada orientation camp. And I thought Marada Tesh from The Athletic, who will be on the program this week, I thought he asked him a great question. How, you know, Josh Morsy made team Canada, but yet he’s in kind of a unique position where he’s still hungry to make it again because he wasn’t playing in that final game because he got sick the day of the game, which is just an unbelievable bad break for such a talented player. Um, so to hear from him on that and hear how motivated he is to get back to that level, make team Canada again and represent his country at the Olympics, he looks like and and sounds like he’s very very motivated heading into this year’s training camp. Connor Halabuk fresh off the media tour. Um, answered a lot of questions in Vegas and answered a lot of questions in the in our scrum as well. But you could tell, I mean, he spent his whole weekend answering questions about his MVP and the the shortcomings in the playoffs and going into this season and all of those things. So, not much to take away from Connor Hellbuck’s availability. He’s excited for camp. He’s excited. He he likes the depth of the roster as well. But the biggest thing for me to take away was Josh Morsy talking about how motivated he is at the start of the season to make team Canada. Uh, once again, yeah, Josh Moresy’s really elevated himself to a top five defenseman in the NHL. made team Canada, but still hungry. And it is, of course, the Olympics, a real international hockey tournament, a real one with more than four with more than four countries. So, the hockey was so exciting at uh the four nations. But, uh I’m very pumped up for Olympic hockey to be back, and that’s something we’re going to be counting down to and probably talking about all year because you look at the schedule and it is crazy, uh the number of games in there, especially that March schedule. They do have the break in February and again it’s going to come up all year looking ahead who’s going to make the team who’s not. I know Mark Shley a name under consideration as well. You mentioned Connor Halabuk. Uh he discussed his experience at the media tour in Vegas. Uh honestly those were long days. It was a lot it was a lot of media and it was a lot of questions and a lot of similar questions over and over again. But uh you know I had fun. I I made it as good as I could. Forgive me for going to a similar route, but I think one of the things you’ve been asked about a lot is lessons coming out of that playoff setting into the season repeating on heart trophy forum. What if if you could distill it at this point, you’ve answered it a bunch. What are you focusing on to help take your game to that next level? At this point, I’m not overthinking anything. Uh I know I know the stuff that I want to work on and I’m not in any rush to get there. Um you put one piece together at a time and you put your best foot forward every single day and you continue to build something something magical. So, um, I’m going to wipe all expectations of what happened last year and and just go in with an open mind and continue to build my game the way I want to build it. There’s Connor Hellbach. I don’t know if it’s possible to build on and improve on what he did last year in an MVP heart trophy season, a VZNA trophy winner. But he’s certainly going to try Connor. Yeah, and that’s it’s so funny to to hear about how Connor Hellbuck’s, you know, building in the offseason and trying to get better at all these things. Like he just won the MVP. I don’t I’m with you on that. I don’t know where the there’s really room for improvement for Connor Hellbuck obviously in the playoffs. I mean, that’s that’s where it starts and ends with the Connor Hellabuk discourse. Um but as for the regular season, he just is coming off the MVP back-to-back Vznes, the third VZNA of his career. Um Connor Hallellabuck is as sure of a thing to repeat and be another elite goalender going into this season. And then the playoffs is a big thing. I mean the first round against St. Louis obviously wasn’t his best hockey was in the middle 800s in terms of save percentage. Better against Dallas, but something that’ll definitely be a talking point once we get closer to the postseason if the Jets are going to make it. Yeah. One other thing for the Jets that’s uh tough going into this training camp, you know, you’re coming off a season where you’re the President’s Trophy winner, you know, franchise records, such a great season, but now you’re starting fresh, starting from zero, and they kind of did this in the past where you had that great 2018 where you went to the Western Car Final, then have to start over again. Connor Halbuck was asked about the experience they have and you know being able you know just going into training camp and having that fresh start going into a new season after having such a great year last year. Yeah, experience play is everything really. Uh my uh my path from now to to getting in season ready is you know just laid out ahead of me. I know exactly what I need to do and how to get there and you know just the stress on the mind that’s what the experience kind of takes away. Uh, I’m very I’m less stressed now and I’m very uh focused and motivated for what I’ve already done before. So, I just got to continue to fall back into that line and um keep putting my best foot forward really. Few guys left, a few new faces, but what’s your take on, I guess, the the state of your hockey team going into this new season? I’m excited. You know, we got some new faces and um some guys that are ready to build on what we did last year. So, uh, I’m really looking forward to the future here and, um, one day at a time. Really, one day at a time. One day at a time. There it is from Connor Hellbuck and the Winnipeg Jets. Looking forward to seeing them on the ice Thursday at Hockey for All Center. But Connor, we haven’t touched on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers losing on Friday to the Hamilton Taiats. That is three straight losses. And we talked so much going in about protecting the ball, not turning it over. And I think the defense has really kept them in. The last three games played so well, but when you you’re throwing interceptions, giving the opposition short fields, they’re going to make you pay. And that was the story again on Friday. Chris Trevor uh two interceptions, almost had a third, struggled moving the ball downfield. And you know, they gave Bo Levi Shortfields and Greg Greg Bell ran all over them for 137 yards. So, uh, there they are, six and seven. And now it is a battle for the West playoffs, uh, with Edmonton at 5-8, but BC with a statement win against Ottawa at 6-7. And there’s Winnipeg at 6 and seven. Yeah, the the West division standings are really tightening up for the Bombers and it’s good that they won the tiebreaker over BC all the way back in week three because that’s definitely coming into play right now. And Remis, it was so interesting to me because uh Schniti and I did the WST Bombers report last night, came out this morning. Go check it out if you haven’t already. And what I said on that was if you told me the Bombers going into this game, even starting with Chris Trevor, would run for 198 yards, 7.6 6 yards per carry as a team and give up zero explosion plays. And I mean against the Hamilton Tiger Cats, Bullvi Mitchell and Kenny Lawler, no passes over 30 yards. I would have thought I mean at least it would be a very close game, let alone maybe the Bombers even winning that game because they ran for 200 yards and there were no explosion plays defensively and they only lost the turnover battle by one, two to one. Well, you look at how those turnovers, you know, how that Hamilton built off of those turnovers, especially the first one on a screen pass that just never had a chance. I mean, was basically a pick six because Hamilton got it inside the 5yd line, scored on their very next play. And then the one that’s a killer for me was the second one. And that was at the end of the first half. It’s 13 to 10 Hamilton. The Bombers are running the ball. They’re within striking distance. And Chris Treller’s rolling right. He has Chris Ike wide open in the flat and forces a ball to Nick Demsky as the DB is driving on it and Hamilton then gets that turnover, gets that interception and scores a touchdown to go into half up 20-10. So that was something that really really hurt the Bombers and even though there was a full half of football left at 20 to 10 it felt like the dagger. Um and for them to only turn the ball over twice is honestly a win for this team because they’ve turned over the ball a lot this season. They have the top two quarterbacks in the CFL in interceptions in Zack Calleros and Chris Striveler uh in the entire league. But it was just puzzling to me to look at the stats after the game and see 200 rushing yards effectively at 7.6 yards per carry with no explosion plays for Hamilton and think the the game played out how it did where it felt like the Bombers never really had a chance. Remote. Yeah. 36 turnovers for the blue and gold in 13 games. Uh that’s not going to get it done. Yeah, and you mentioned Callaris and Streler top three interceptions. Streler did have uh you know some garbage time where they almost covered uh the spread there, but it did never really seem close as you said after that uh you know missed opportunity there at the end of the first half and Chris Trevor last 110 passes you know nine interceptions and three touchdowns. the touchdown interception ratio or differential certainly not good enough and I think there were questions after the game saying hey you know Terry Wilson he’s been on this roster for a while we haven’t really seen him is it time to give him a shot as it really as you mentioned the Bombers didn’t have much of a chance there were some positives as you said Brad Olivera carrying the ball 15 times for 116 yards on Wilson has looked very good is returning from the NFL uh five catches on 74 yards. And the defense, as you said, the explosion play has been a problem all year for them. Didn’t allow any in the last game on Friday and held both Levi Mitchell to 230 yards. And they held Trevor Harris. They did pretty good. The defense putting them in position to win, but when they keep turning the ball over, making it hard, and you like to think that’s a correctable thing, and they’re hoping that Zack Claris can be healthy and come back. I haven’t seen any updates today. I’ll ask Taylor Allen uh shortly coming up. But here’s Mike O’Shea after the game if the difference between winning and losing was as simple as them losing their turnover battle. I mean, that’s the easy one until we look at it and see what exactly happened. But yeah, they got 14 points off that, but you know, once again, it’s it’s too easy to fingerpoint at one thing, right? I mean, I you’d like a better three-phase game where, you know, if we if we happen to give a ball away that we hold them to a field goal or no points, take the ball back, right? Hold them to a single, whatever it is. But it didn’t work out that way, right? We uh you know, we got to do a better job taking care of the football and we got to do a better job when we come on the field after after a mistake happens, right? We got to do a better job of coming on and fixing it for our teammates, right? So, we weren’t really in phase all three phases this week. this this game weren’t in all three phases and what was the last time Straler started and they won where they had the two kick you know the two return touchdowns you had a defensive touch and you felt like they want were going to put up some big points they needed help in that areas and shout out to waiters in chat asking about Kenny Lawler’s numbers revenge game for Kenny Lawler he had 707 catches for 97 yards yards. So, and that’s I don’t know an average game for Kenny this season. Wasn’t anything wasn’t anything too crazy. Uh here’s Mike O’Shea is asked about the two first half turnovers. The one one looked like a really damn good play by the DB. So, other than I’ll have to take a closer look. Was there any thought of giving Terry a look? Was there any thought of giving a Terry a look at any point? Should win us won us a bunch of games. Yeah, give him the opportunity to win his games. He’s really still not out of it, right? Those situations. Still got a chance. I can read to take anything from the fact that Zach was here and throwing around in the in the warm-up that that that increases his chances for next week. Yeah, I don’t I don’t know. Once again, I I think he looks good. We’ll see what happens, but we’ll always put the player first. There’s Mike O’Shea after the game. You heard Taylor Allen there asking the first questions. He’s in the on deck circle ready to come up. But here’s Taylor asking Chris Streller just what the difference was in the game on Friday. Turnovers. Um you know I I can’t throw two interceptions and uh just got to help our defense out. Man, I thought our defense played pretty well tonight, but when you give them short field twice and they capitalize with points like that, it’s hard to win games. And it’s just Yeah. Sorry, man. uh take us through the the two uh picks in the first but they were both uh the first play was a screen pass and uh you know corner shot he made a good play. Next play was a roll out um you know Dempsey had a hook and man-to-man coverage and and again DB made a good play. So I just got to make better decisions and uh got to put us in better positions and uh you know but I am proud of the way we fought till the end. Um says a lot about our team and um you know although we are frustrated and we’re not playing our best football we’re we’re not going to give up. is Chris Stone in the locker room after the game. Shout out to the Blue Bombers YouTube channel for that video and shout out to the Winnipeg Jets website for the Connor Habibuk video as well. We’ll get more into the Bombers loss against Hamilton with Taylor Allen of the Winnipeg Free Press. But first, here’s Hus. We are so excited to be partnering up with the Health Sciences Center Foundation for the HSC Millionaire Lottery, folks. And tickets are now on sale. Of course, this is how you can help save lives at Manitoba’s hospital, the Health Sciences Center, and become a millionaire. And tickets are on sale now at hscmillionaire.com. You can become Manitoba’s newest millionaire with the grand prize draw. Win the all Canadian dream, a luxury home in Manitoba or Oceanfront in be BC worth $1.5 million or take 1.5 $1.25 million in taxfree cash. Now there’s more early winners than ever before this year, which means get your tickets now. Um, there’s $340,000 in early draws, including the brand new Grey Cup bonus. 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But click on that request an estimate in the top right corner and put in the promo code WST for a special discount on moving services and moving supplies for Winnipeg Sports Talk listeners. And then let them know when you’re planning on moving, where you’re going to, and what you will be moving. And the friendly staff at Rowies will turn it around real quick and get you locked in for the white glove treatment that they are famous for now into their seventh decade. For all your moving needs, lean on the gang at Roies. the most trusted name in moving in Manitoba. Find out more. Request an estimate today over at rolies.com. Well, the kids are back at school. We’re moving into fall. But have you forgot to see the dentist lately? Hey, listen. If you or your family need a new spot to go in to take care of all your dental needs, head on down to our friends at St. Vetel Dental Center. 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They’ve got a special Blue Bomber bottle that is on shelves now at your local Manitoba liquor marts. While supplies last. And while you’re there, make sure to keep your eye out for the Canadian Club Pack because we’ve got a little bit of more summer weather. Why not get the best drinks from the summer? The Canadian Club and Ginger Rail, the Citrus Smash, the Half and Half. All available in the Canadian Club Club pack along with the special edition Bomber Bottle of Canadian Club at your local Manitoba Liquor Marts. There’s us back Thursday when we’re at Hockey for All Center from Jets Training Camp, but pleased to be joined right now by Taylor Allen, the Winnipeg Free Press. He was in Hamilton covering the Bombers loss to the Tai Cats. Taylor, how’s it going? How are you feeling? It’s going great. Had a had a nice time in in the Hammer, but uh yeah, happy to be home and happy to be on Winnipeg Sports Talk. Yeah, nice talking to you, Taylor. I do have to say we didn’t really touch on it today, but it was a big topic on Friday. just was supposed to be, you know, the team or was the team Ted game for Ted Govia and have the shocking news uh come out that morning that he had passed in advance of the game to honor him. I’m sure it had a bit of a different feel in the pregame and they had a very nice tribute during the game and on the broadcast. Uh I mean was your reaction about the the news and uh being at the game for uh the tribute? How was it received in the stadium? Yeah, the I mean the Thai cast did an incredible job honoring Ted. They played a really nice tribute video that people from, you know, all all over the years from his career, you know, talking about just like Ted’s impact on Canadian football, not even just the CFL, just Canadian football in uh in general. So, it’s a beautiful tribute. They gave everyone in the crowd a team Ted uh towel and this big team Ted flag that they, you know, had on the field in the stands and stuff. So, yeah, it it was a really nice tribute and really well done. But yeah, it’s just goes without saying obviously, but just such a heartbreaking story. I mean, here’s a guy who was only 55 years old, uh, born in Burlington, like the Thai Cats. That was his hometown team. And, you know, he he paid his dues, worked worked his way up the ranks, uh, spent 10 years with the Bombers as an assistant GM. And finally last winter, he gets his his dream job for his hometown, you know, Thaiats, uh, to be the head general manager. And despite only getting a chance to do the job for less than a year, I mean, look at the Thaiats now. Last year, they missed the playoffs and now they’re I know there’s been a lot of kind of things going on in the East with the quarterbacks, injuries and whatnot, but I mean, the Taiats have taken advantage and they’re in first place and they’re a legit Grey Cup contender and there’s a good chance we’re going to see them in Winnipeg um in November. So, and Ted’s fingerprints are obviously all over that. So, um yeah, the tribute was really well done. Um, terrible, super sad story obviously. And unfortunately, I only got to meet Ted once. But, uh, he was seriously one of the funny, even in just a five minute interaction, I’m not even exaggerating, he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. I think he made me laugh like half a dozen times. Um, and it was just evident how much he just loved football and how passionate about it he was and just how much of a people person he was as well. So, um, yeah, condolences of course to everyone that knew Ted. Yeah, 100%. as you said, 55 years old, okay, your dream job, GM of the Thaiats, and to have that type of uh diagnosis uh just terrible on all accounts, you know, great football mind, part of the Bombers championship runs, huge part of that. And had some great conversations about Ted, uh, you know, on what Friday with Jeff Hamilton and Marshall Ferguson. But on to the Bombers now, Taylor, in a tough spot here. here. I mean, how shocking is it that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are at 6 and seven here, fighting for their playoff lives against uh BC and possibly even Edmonton. Well, at this time last year, they had a similar record, but obviously this feels totally different because at this time last year, the team was kind of surging, right? They had that rough start and they were, you know, they’re and even in that rough start, there were some signs that they weren’t as bad as their record indicated, but then they were starting to find their footing at this time of year. Then the rest is history. they went on their big run where now this year obviously was a different story. You know, starting out uh great and then since that 3 and 0 start, it just hasn’t been consistent uh football by by the Bombers. So, um yeah, they’ve lost three in a row now and the story is keeps being the turnovers. They keep shooting themselves in the foot. I mean, this is a team that you look at these past five years or whatever it’s been, they’ve been so good at keeping care of the football, right? They, you know, they were never the team to beat themselves. they would always get maybe be outplayed or something, but they were not a team that would be making so many mistakes and shooting themselves in the foot. But this year, it’s totally different. I mean, look at the look at the interception leaders in the CFL. The Bombers have two quarterbacks in the top three. Zack at number two and Chris at number three. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that at any level of football. Um, never mind the pros in in the CFL. So, yeah, you know, these past couple years, basically the Bombers making the playoffs was never even a conversation. the the basically the conversation was okay well what week are these guys going to clinch the top spot in the west and who are they going to play in the west final at home but this year like you actually have to have the conversation that there’s no guarantee that this team makes the playoffs thankfully for them they they played BC early on so they clinched the the tiebreaker against the Lions um but there’s still five games left and it’s not like they have an easy schedule either so yeah they’re going to have to turn things around pretty quickly here otherwise you know this could come down uh to the wire. You know, one area the team has improved the last couple of weeks, I think, is the defense giving them a chance to win. You know, holding Trevor Harris to what season low passing yards in the Labor Day Classic. B Levi Mitchell wasn’t a crazy day, although Greg Bell did the heavy lifting on Friday. But it is the offense. It’s turnovers. Whether it’s Zack Claris or um or Chris Treer in as you mentioned leading the league in turnovers. This something that they can they can clean up or if it continues this way, you know, maybe we do, you know, see not maybe not a playoff appearance this year. I mean, does Zach and Chris need to be playing better? I mean, absolutely. goes without saying, but at the end of the day though, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that both these guys are in the top three in interceptions. And I think a big reason for it is the growing pains of a firstear offensive coordinator in Jason Hogan. And I mean, this is a guy who the team was really high on, right? He’s been the running back’s coach these past couple years, helped Brady become an MP uh player. And Brady, you know, gave so much praise to Jason Hogan, how much he helped him, you know, get get his his confidence and whatnot. Because if you look back at Brady’s the very start of his career, you know, he he didn’t start out too hot, right? And he and he believes Jason’s a big reason why he was able to to turn it around and be, you know, one of the faces of the league. Um, but you just watch this offense week in and week out. And they either just look predictable or they just look like they’re doing something that’s just a real head scratcher that even a football, you know, novice, a football rookie would be like, like, what are you doing? Like, why why what are you doing that over there? um or what kind of play call was that I should say. Um and the two interceptions that Chris threw and honestly should have been three. Uh but the two that he did throw in the first half were obviously back breakers, right? But on both those picks though, it looked like Hamilton knew exactly uh what was coming. So that’s not excusing Chris. Obviously that was a tough outing by him and yeah, he turned it on late, but I mean that was way too late obviously. But yeah, I I think this offense is just a dysfunctional mess. And honestly, I kind of feel like it doesn’t even matter when Zach uh gets back, and that could be as early as as this week. Uh we’ll find out more tomorrow when they return to practice. But it just feels like Jason Hogan is kind of in over his head a little bit. And and the ironic thing is um you know this is a an individual who hasn’t been a full-time OC at any level uh until u or sorry the last time he was a full-time OC at any level was back in 2014 uh I believe at this uh a college level in out of laval not you sports a tier below that I believe. Um and yet the bombers have Jarius Jackson an individual who played uh 12 plus years of of pro football most of that in the CFL obviously and he’s been an OC. He’s a guy who’s called plays in the CFL with at least three different teams and and yet, you know, he’s sitting there not calling the plays, right? I’m sure he has some input obviously, but it’s just I don’t know. Michael Shay is so loyal that I don’t see him ever making a change like this in season, but I think for this Bombers offense, the best, if you ask me, what’s the best thing they could do to get, you know, stop turning the ball over and be more efficient on offense and get back to playing Blue Bombers, you know, offensive football, it’d be giving the headset to Jarius Jackson. But again, I I don’t see them doing that. So, Zach Lar, you mentioned it seemed if they want to have a chance to win, they would need him in the lineup, got injured in the Banjo Bowl. You figure, you know, when do you think we’ll see him? I know they didn’t practice today. We can only speculate, but it has to be good news that we saw him on the sideline in Hamilton uh throwing. Yeah, absolutely. He made the trip to Hamilton, so that alone is a good sign. And he was warming up uh before the game doing uh doing some throwing and whatnot. and and after the dangible where the game he did get hit, I mean, let’s not forget he did jog off the field. He was in the locker room right after the game, you know, talking to the guys and whatever. And I did see him in the weight room, you know, that week um as well. So, we’re all kind of speculating obviously, but um you know, Zach, if it is a concussion or head or whatever type of head injury, I don’t know what else it could be if it’s a head injury and it’s not a concussion. But, um his other games that he did miss this year, they were not concussions. He was on the injury report with a with a neck injury and you know the bombers say no those were not concussions. That was a legit a neck uh neck issue. So if it is a concussion, this is his first one of the year. Obviously we all know it’s not the wouldn’t be the first of his career. But um yeah, obviously anytime this guy gets an injury anywhere above the shoulders, it’s going to lead to a lot of dialogue and you know Miltsteagle’s been at the forefront of that. But um yeah, Zach’s I can tell you Zach’s season is not over. He’s itching to get back in there. And again, I would not be surprised if it’s as early as this week. And we’ll find out a lot more uh tomorrow as to, you know, what he’s doing or whatnot. But yeah, I I I at this point I’d be surprised if he if he wasn’t playing against Ottawa. All right, we’re on Zack Watch for tomorrow and you were at uh at the game on Friday and Hamilton. You asked Mike OSHA after the game if he considered putting in Terry Wilson based on how it had gone. Were you surprised that his answer was not at all? No, definitely not surprised. This is Mike O’Shea. He again, he’s the most loyal guy in in pro football, it seems. I I was talking to someone in the press box. I said, “What do you think actually would have to happen tonight for Mike to pull the cord on Chris?” Honestly, I think it would have been like four or five interceptions. I He said he didn’t even, you know, think think about it for a split second to put Terry Wilson in. And I know Curiosity is Curiosity is getting the best of everyone. Everyone is itching to see what Terry Wilson could do. I mean, not not by choice, but just because Chris Striveler hasn’t looked very good. Obviously, since that week 2 game out since then, it’s been uh way downhill uh to put it kind of kind of lightly. But honestly, no, I’m not surprised that they didn’t consider Terry uh Terry Wilson. And you know, part of me at the same time, um I kind of get why. I mean, we’ve seen Terry in practice for for two years now, and he does throw a nice ball. I’ll give him credit for that. Um, and actually, here’s a perfect example. Uh, earlier la last week there, he had he got a few reps. Um, and he threw this beautiful like 40 to 50 yard dime uh to the middle of the field to Joey Corkran, a Canadian rookie receiver with two defenders on him. He just put like dropped in the bucket. Just a beautiful throw. And you’re like, “Holy smokes.” like where did that come from? And then the very next play, very next play, he throws a pick right to Evan Holm. And I’m not exaggerating whatsoever. There was no receiver insight anywhere. Yeah, that’s that’s one instance. I’m, you know, it’s just two plays obviously, but seriously, it feels every time he gets reps in practice, it’s kind of a similar story where he’ll make a throw that’s like, “Holy smokes, that was amazing.” And then he’ll do something really boneheaded after. So, um I know people their their patience with Chris Dreler is uh is wearing thin, but honestly, I don’t know if Terry Wilson uh would would have been any better. But again, until we actually see him on the field, I mean, no, no one really knows, right? And at this point, you’ve been on the roster for a couple years. You’re wondering, well, if he’s not going to go in in this type of situation, you know, how come he’s still on the roster? And you go back to the Gay Cup. They did play Zack ClariS with a, you know, missing finger, badly injured finger ahead of him. So, I think if, you know, they want to have any success, they’ll need Zack ClariS in there. But you’re you’re saying that it’s more about the play calling have an effect than the quarterback that’s executing the plays. Yeah, I mean, that’s my theory, honestly. And again, like I said, Zack and Chris need to be better, but I just don’t think this offense has really looked all that creative. um you know that that week 2 game, their first game of the year, Chris Shreddler throws three three touchdowns. It looks awesome. But since then, feels like there hasn’t really been like a full complete uh performance um by the offense. And and another issue too is they keep putting themselves in a hole um you know going into halftime and then when that happens um you can’t rely on Brady Olive that much when you’re playing catchup especially Friday in Hamilton. So Brady had 110 yards rushing at halftime. You’re like, “Oh, okay. Here we go. He’s going to run for over 200.” Then he finished with six uh six more yards in the second half because again, they they had to play catchup. They dug themselves this this uh this big hole and the defense did the best as they could to kind of keep them in it and whatnot. And honestly, the score is very um it’s very generous. 32 to 21 looks like, you know, pretty uh you know, even game, but like it really wasn’t. Hamilton, you know, kind of kick kicked them uh pretty good. So, yeah. Uh I I think Jason Hogan I I know people were kind of they were kind of over the Buck Pierce era and I feel you know Buck did a lot of good for the Bombers obviously but that last Gay Cup especially you know people were really Bomber fans uh I mean were really itching for a change and uh they got one and you know this is kind of what happens sometimes when you have an inexperienced grow uh play caller you see in the NFL right and now we’re seeing it in the CFL obviously. So, um, again, I I would be surprised if Jason Hogan was the OC next year, but early on in earlier in this year, Michael Sheay did say in an interview that he would never fire a coordinator during the season. Um, so don’t expect again, don’t expect any changes this year. Yeah, we’ll see how it plays out upcoming game against Ottawa. Uh, how are the players taking? This is a team that can’t be used to losing like this at all. Six and seven. But you quoted Red Hat Cran saying, “Oh, he’s sick of it. What was the mood like in the locker room?” And how are the players reacting to the state of the team right now? Well, for weeks, you know, you talk to one of these guys after a loss and they kind of say the same thing over and over again. It’s where, you know, we just got to look ourselves in the mirror and, you know, get back to work and, you know, do all the small things and and uh we we’ll get back in the winning column and blah blah blah. But finally, Rea Cranby, thank thank God for him. He he was refreshing after the Hamilton game and he said, “I’m sick of talking, man. We keep saying the same thing over and over again. We just got to start playing better and winning games.” Um, and then, you know, I was talking to Willie Jefferson about like, “Hey, man. like since you’ve been to Winnipeg, I mean, you guys have been killing it obviously and now this is the actual first year where you’re heading into the the back half of the year and making the playoffs is isn’t a guarantee. Just kind of take me through where you’re at right now. And he said, “Honestly, I’m not worried about the standings. I’m really not. You know, we just got to keep doing what we’re doing. We’re we’re going to figure this out. It’s going to be okay.” And, you know, I talked to a couple guys about just their confidence in Chris Treler moving forward if he does have to keep playing. And Brady and and Nick both went to bat for him. And and I get it like what are they going to say? Are they really going to say no Taylor? Yeah, Chris Chris stinks. Uh we need Zach back uh as soon as possible. I get that. But I mean they were they kind of looked at me like I was almost kind of crazy for even asking whether whether they’re still confident in Chris Striveler or not. So um yeah, no one no one’s pressing the panic button. But I mean even just watching the game on TV, you can see the frustration in some of these guys’ faces. I mean, Nick Demsky after that pick that was thrown in his direction, um, you can see how pissed off he looked. Brady Olivera, there was an incident, I think, in the first half, you can just see how annoyed that he looked and um, on the sideline as well. And yeah, in the locker room, you can definitely kind of feel that tension and it is it is starting to rise uh, after all these losses. But again though, like no one is pressing the panic button. Michael Shay, he’s not um, his approach is very interesting. Like lots of coaches after three three losses in a row, they’re not necessarily throwing guys under the bus, but they’re, you know, they’re a bit more open with the media, a little harsher about, you know, the perform performance of their team and some aspects of their team and whatnot, but but Mike still hasn’t done that. He’s still, you know, just keeps saying the same thing. We just got to keep working hard and we’re going to figure this out. So, um, if they are pressing the panic button, uh, they’re hiding it very well. Yeah, I just think it’s the turnovers the last couple games, you know, they’ve cleaned up the big plays allowed. But I’ve said that a couple times today. I’m curious how they turn if they can clean up this stuff on offense. Uh, you know, maybe they could make a run. Just got to get in the playoffs. You never know uh what could happen here. And before the game, Taylor, you chatted with former Bomber Kenny Lawler and made some headlines there with his statements about Winnipeg. What was your takeaway from your conversation with Kenny? You said he felt disrespected by the Blue Bombers when they offered Dylan Mitchell a contract ahead of him. And as we said on Friday, he shouldn’t have felt that way based on uh how the season has played out for both players this year. Well, I didn’t really chat with him. We just sat down on a couch and off to the races he went. He uh I think I asked him like two questions and he just kind of was unloaded on me just how he felt uh how disrespected that he felt by by the Bombers and whatnot. And I mean, we all know there’s two sides to every story and we all know how patient the Bombers have been with Kenya Lawler in recent years. I mean, let’s not forget this is a guy who did have a a DUI or DWI when he was with the the Bombers and they, you know, they they didn’t get rid of him. They they they stood by him and whatever. And, you know, he he left for the big payday in AM or uh excuse me, Edmonton a few years back and, you know, the Bombers, you know, welcomed him back with open arms and and whatnot. So, um yeah, there are two sides to every story. But, I mean, at the end of the day though, this is a guy who’s arguably the best receiver in the league. He was living in Winnipeg year round. love the city, love the local football uh scene, and you know, is active with Recruit Ready, a local program that um you know, helps younger football players develop and and with camps and and whatnot. And um yeah, I mean the salary cap is a thing, but also too like I wonder if the Bombers just kind of a little tired of of Kenny’s maybe. Who knows? But but I mean, yeah, when he when he left Edmonton though, he he kind of bashed them pretty good and now he’s left the Bombers the second time and he’s obviously bashed them pretty good. Um yeah, so it’s kind of unfortunate. Obviously Kenny was a fan favorite and a hell of a player and you look at this Bombers roster today, you’re like, man, they could really use a guy like Kenny Lawler. But um yeah, I mean to his credit though, he he backed up uh he backed up the talk. He was the best receiver on the field on Friday. Led the led all all receivers in uh in receiving. And look at his numbers. because he’s already has career numbers and the season’s not even not even over yet. Ken in the league in receiving yards behind Keon Hatcher. Him and Bo Levi have been quite the connection this year. Taylor was great talking to you today on the show. I’m looking forward to reading what you got in the free press this weekend. We’ll be all eyes on practice tomorrow when the Blue Bombers return at who’s taking first team reps at quarterback. Uh Taylor, thanks again uh for joining me here today on Winnipeg Sports Talk. You bet. Thanks guys. Take care. There he is. Taylor Allen. Follow him on X. What? Taylor Allen 31. That’s 31 for Reggie Miller, I believe. Big Pacers, Ben. Taylor Allen. So, Bombers 6 and seven. They’ll be back in action uh on is it Friday against auto? Sorry. Saturday afternoon in Ottawa. Jeff Hamilton will be there and he’ll join Hustler later this week to tee that one up. Uh from the Bombers to the Jets, Mike McIntyre, he’s getting ready for the start of the season. He’s going to join me in a second, but first, here’s Hustler. As always, we’d like to thank Princess Auto for their great support of Winnipeg Sports Talk. Of course, Princess Auto founded and headquartered right here in Winnipeg. And now, Coast to Coast is the home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers home, the Princess Auto Stadium. Uh but we’ve got Princess Autos Coast to Coast, including three in Manitoba. Panet Road, Portage Avenue West, and of course out in Brandon for our friends in Westman. Princess Auto is where you’ll find the best deals on the most unique assortment of tools and equipment around. 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Chinos, golf pants, custom shirts, both tucked and untucked styles, and the best selection of men’s wear accessories in town. If you are getting married or in a wedding party, make sure to talk to the guys at F about a special discount for the wedding party when you get your suits for the big day. For all your men’s wear needs, make it F apparel. You can find out more online and make an appointment to come in for a fitting at f. That’s epapparel.com and visit them in their showroom at 190 Smith Street downtown. There’s us. He’ll be back Thursday. He’s in Casey taking in a Chiefs loss. I’m sure many people in chat very happy that he went or that they lost. I don’t know that he went for a loss, but I think people are ready to move on from the Chiefs as their dynasty ending as well. Anyways, uh let’s bring in Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg Free Press. Mike, it’s finally here. Winnipeg Jets on the ice. How’s it going? Uh thanks for coming on today. Uh always good to be here, Remo. Uh question. Who’s more disappointed today? Hustler who drove all the way to Kansas City to watch a loss or uh my partner in crime, my teammate Ken Weeb, who drove not nearly as long of a drive. He only went to the Twin Cities, but he drove and he’s he drove yesterday and he’s on his way back today. So like 16-hour round trip to see two field goals for his beloved Minnesota Vikings. At least the Chiefs gave it a a good effort. It was an entertaining game. Penny saw a bit of a clunker in uh in the Twin Cities. Um a lot of sad Vikings fans, I guess, in this neck of the woods today. Vikings and Chiefs. To be fair to Hustler, he did fly. He didn’t drive. That’s any consolation. And I think he’s taking in a Royals game as well this week. Probably eating some good barbecue. That That’s a quick in and out for Ken to not see a touchdown. And I did just get an alert on my app. JJ McCarthy is going to be out a couple weeks with a sprained ankle. I can’t bring it. I don’t know where it was. One of the apps alerted me. So, that’s a tough one. Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz time. Yeah, Carson Wentz. That’s a tough one for Ken. That’s a That’s quick drive. I’m glad you mentioned I might have to scramble to grab Carson Wentz in in my fantasy leagues because uh I unfortunately in one of my leagues, not the not our media league, my other league uh I have Joe Burrow who initially I saw he had turf toe and I’m like turf toe like so he stubbed his toe, he should be fine. Then I see that turf toe is actually it’s a pretty significant injury and Joe Burrow may be out for a while. So, I suddenly need a quarterback. So, maybe Carson Wentz. The Vikings have a lot of great receivers. Uh, and JJ McCarthy, he had that one good quarter last week in in the comeback win, but he’s kind of struggled in the other seven quarters. So, maybe Carson Wentz can work a little magic. Uh, and maybe I’ll grab him for my fantasy team. Thanks. Thanks for that heads up, Remo. Yeah, Connor who uh doing the show, he’s got uh Joe Burrow in the media league and I’m playing against him this week. We’ll touch on that at the end of the show, but it seems I want to get too deep into the Vikings before we get to the Jets, but it seems like whoever they put in uh throws, you know, puts up some yards, so maybe they can revive Carson Wentz’s career, but on to the Jets. You were watching the development camp or sorry, the prospect camp showdown Montreal win Saturday win Ottawa. Uh biggest takeaway from what you saw from the prospects? Uh Danny Zilken. Uh he’s ready. He’s ready to go. Um you know, it’s kind of funny like Saturday’s game you had 20,000 people at the Bell Center in Montreal. What a what a turnout. First of all, I’m seeing highlights of you know, all all NHL teams do some form of of these prospects tournaments now with their kids. Although I think there’s two I think there’s just two NHL teams. Someone was telling me the other the other day that there’s just two teams that don’t do it. I think the Islanders are one and can’t recall who the other team is. But anyways, most teams do this, but seeing some of the video like they’re playing in empty barns like friends and family in attendance and that’s about it. 20,000 people were there on Saturday night. What an experience for, you know, these Jets kids to be in that environment and a hostile environment because the fans were of course there to cheer for the Montreal prospects. Uh especially Mr. Demidov who um you know was was a force. He had two goals. First goal was an absolute beauty. Uh but it was another Russian although Danny Zilkin’s Russian kind of only in in uh birth certificate. He was primarily raised in Canada. um you listen to him speak, he does not sound like a Russian hockey player at all. Um he’s basically Canadian. But Danny Zilken um had a big night on Saturday, two goals, had a big night last night, two assists, including the overtime winner. Scored the over or scored the winner uh with 25 seconds left on Saturday. Uh four points. Nice haul for him. And this is a guy who, you know, he’s still a Jets prospect and a center prospect, which can never have too many of those. But, um, he hasn’t had the greatest start to his pro career. a couple of tough years with the Moose, injuryplagued years, but my goodness, he uh he was the best player of the non-goalender variety because the two goalenders, Dom Devincetus and Alex Worththington were uh were were terrific in both games. But yeah, Danny Jillin was uh you know, he looks ready to go and that could be a big boon for the Moose. And who knows, you know, get off to a great start with the Moose, play to his potential, and all of a sudden he might be working himself into the conversation for a potential callup for the Jets. You know, a lot of eyes, of course, on the big prospect names, Elias Solommanson, uh Braden Jagger. I I thought both guys were fine. I mean, they didn’t jump off the page. Elias Solommanson’s biggest contribution was flying in to drop the gloves with a 6 foot7 giant, a fellow Swede actually, who had just crushed Nikita Chibberov from behind with a dirty hit. Uh I know the hit was all over social media last night. Fortunately, Chibberov was okay. Uh but good on Salammonson for getting in. There was a very short scrap. They kind of just wrestled to the ice defending his teammate, but um Chipperov was fine. Uh he got up and he actually set up the power play goal on the ensuing power play. Nice shot that Jacob Julian chipped uh tipped. So yeah, I mean the guys like Jagger, Salammonson, Cherov um they they were all good. Uh Jillin was the one who really stood out to me. And then, you know, a guy that maybe didn’t know much about coming into this weekend, uh, Chase Yodar. What a what a cool story. The Jets have this pipeline, it seems, with Providence College, uh, of undrafted, unsigned free agents, uh, Brandon Tanv, uh, Parker Ford, and now perhaps Chase Yoger. He’s the third guy they’ve signed out of Providence. and kind of like Tanv and Parker Ford, a bit undized, but a motor that doesn’t quit. Scored a a beauty highlight reel goal the other day on Saturday. Uh ended up with three points for the weekend. And he’s on an AHL deal with the Moose. But uh I’ll tell you this, Remis, the Moose are going to be a lot of fun to watch this year. Not only because they’ve got guys like Kobe Barlo, who was really good in Saturday’s game by the way, had a goal and an assist. could have had another one. Uh his uh he had a goal taken away for a high stick. Hit a post yesterday as well. You got Kobby Barlo, Braden Jagger, and Jacob Julian all turning pro, you know, all prominent draft picks of the Jets. They’ll be making their pro debuts with the Moose. And then they’ve they’ve signed a bunch of guys um you know, some established AHL vets to surround the kids. And then you’ve got guys like Chase Yoder and Danny Jillin. Like the Moose are going to be a lot of fun. They had a rough year last year. Mark Morrison should have a real good group to work with and there should be some good hockey being played by the Moose, I suspect. Yeah, it’s fun to get excited about prospects, but I imagine, you know, they’re all going to have a immediate impact in the AHL rather than the NHL level. the the NHL roster see seems like we have a pretty good idea uh who’s going to be going, you know, going to be starting the season on there heading into training camp. Yeah, it’s interesting. You know, so today the Winnipeg Jets were holding their annual golf tournament down at at St. Charles and uh uh we media were down there to chat with a few players before they teed off this morning. Uh, so we we talked to Connor Halabuk and Josh Moresy. And it was interesting. Josh Morrisy told me I I’d asked him a question just about, you know, the the roster, what what he what he likes, what he thinks about the group around him heading into this new season. And he said something really interesting to me, Remo. He said that he thinks this might be the deepest the Winnipeg Jets have ever been organizationally. And it’s hard to argue with that. Like they were pretty deep last year and you know certainly headlines about what they lost this summer specifically Nikolai Eers. Obviously they lost um you know a core piece in Eers um Mason Appleton and Brandon Tan have also moved on in free agency. Rasmus Kapari signed overseas. Uh but you know they’ve added Jonathan Ta obviously a multi-up winner decorated champion uh Gustav Nyquist Tanner Pearson Cole Kepky and you know some of these guys now turning pro like these young kids that’ll push for work in guys like Jagger and Barlo Salammonson um then you’ve got guys like Chibberov and Brad Lambert. So, you know, it was interesting to hear Josh Morrisy say we might be deeper than we’ve ever been. Now, you could make an argument, I suppose, that maybe they’re not as topheavy uh with the loss of an Eers, that they don’t have an immediate guy to jump in and and just replace him, you know, in one fell swoop. But, I’ve got time for the argument that the Jets are deeper than ever. And you know, just look at the blue line where they’ve got nine guys on one-way deals and there’s a log jam on the blue line. That’s that’s going to be one of the storylines in training camp here to see how that alleviates itself. Are there injuries that create openings and and mean that guys don’t have to go on waiverss? Is there a trade or two that happen during camp or near the end of camp? um or do the Jets risk losing uh Billy Han, Logan Stanley, uh Colin Miller, whoever it might be uh on waiverss and you know that that’s a situation obviously to monitor. Um but yeah, I I think when you look at the Jets roster as a whole, like there’s not a ton of jobs up for grabs. There’ll be some competition for, you know, the bottom six, especially with Adam Lowry being out. you know, there may be some things in flux there. Lowry’s injury is going to create an opening that wouldn’t otherwise exist if he was healthy. And, you know, guys are just fighting for, I guess, their spot on the pecking order. And it’s going to be more about, you know, where guys are in terms of potential call-ups, things like that. But, yeah, not a lot of drama, um, you know, or huge question marks surrounding the roster and even line combinations. Like I think we have a pretty good idea of who’s going to be playing with who. Uh so that’s a bit different, but it’s what you’d expect when you have a team that was the best regular season team in the league a year ago and is returning most of the same roster. You know, last week Adam Lowry, seen him skating at Hockey for All Center by himself, addressed the media. Seems like he might be back sooner than we thought. um how do you see you know who’s going to be filling in in his slot at three center in his absence and you know when do you anticipate he’ll finally be returning and I guess you know we can tie him and Kyle Connor together you know we’re speculating a lot about Kyle Connor’s next deal as he’s entering the final but Adam Lowry too is entering we think that’s going to get done he’s the captain but that’s another thing that’s hanging over the team yeah I mean that’s one of the question marks certainly heading into training camp is are we going to see Adam Lowry andor Kyle Connor contract extensions uh by the end of camp and if we don’t how much discussion how much of a distraction potentially is that going to be uh you know spilling into the season. So Adam Lowry of course he addressed his contract situation last week said he’s not at all worried that it hasn’t got done yet. Uh, I don’t think there’s any reason to worry. And, you know, he joked that he knows he’s not the top priority here. A not so subtle reference to Kyle Connor. Interesting. Remo. Um, Kyle Connor, he he just got in town this past weekend. He’d been training, of course, in uh in Michigan, his offseason home. But, uh, so we we were hoping to talk to him today at the golf tournament. Now, just to be crystal clear, players are under no obligation to speak with media prior to the official start of training camp, which will be Thursday. They’re doing medicals and testing on Wednesday, but the first actual day of on ice is Thursday, and that’s when under the CBA players, you know, who are requested, they do have to talk. Uh, but Kyle Connor wanted to wait until Thursday. He didn’t want to talk today. I won’t read anything into that. I’ll let folks, you know, they want to try and find a reason for that. Is it because he’s hopeful that something happens in the next few days? Um, is it because he’s frustrated? Again, read into what you will, but Kyle Connor didn’t talk today. He will talk on Thursday. We we’ll we’ll get him at the start of camp. And will he be talking about a new deal or will he be talking about ongoing discussions? Um, you know, we’ll have to wait and see. Uh but yeah, I mean like I think the the Jets um would love to get both those guys locked up, not have it be uh a distraction. Uh and you know, coming off the Nikolai situation last year, inevitably it’s going to get asked about if if contract uh new contracts aren’t reached by the start of the season. Now Larry’s a bit of a different story because he’s going to be kind of out of sight and maybe out of mind a little bit at least to start training camp. He he told us last week uh Remo that he will continue to be in solitary confinement. That’s what he called uh the fact he’s been skating on his own like he can’t take contact. And you know, you’ve seen the the way they they do these drills early in training camp. There’s some intense battles that happen. And obviously they don’t want to risk anything by having him participate in that. So Adam Lowry won’t be taking part in main camp off the hop. But I will say he sure looks good for a guy who could still be potentially a couple months away from playing. Like he’s moving well around the ice. And originally the timeline for his return was sometime between late October and late November. Uh now Larry was asked last week and he said that he’s hoping for the earliest which would be late October or at the worst early November. And then he did kind of throw in that, you know, in his mind he probably could return even earlier than that, but they don’t want to push it. But it will be interesting to see a guy who whose work ethic can never be questioned in Lowry, nor can his toughness. It’ll be interesting to see if if he does force that timeline to be moved up. Um, but as he said, and I think the Jets are well aware of this, the last thing they want is for him to come back too soon. Um, and a hip issue flares up again and, you know, becomes something that plagues him throughout the year, like he wants to come back and then be back for good. Uh, but it was interesting to hear him kind of talk about this injury that the fact he’s been dealing with it for years now and you know he said the injections he was getting for it for the pain had kind of worn off. They weren’t having the desired effect anymore and and it really began to affect his everyday life. Like he said walking upstairs watching TV he would feel the pain. So that’s not great. and you know, just forget about hockey playing for a second. Just quality of life, you want to get that cleaned up. So, he says he feels great. He’s looking pretty good out there. And, you know, again, don’t expect him to be with the main group when camp starts on Thursday. How quickly could he work his way into that group? Uh, that’s that’s another story line we’ll obviously be following as camp goes on here. Is this other than well the Kyle contra Kyle Connor contract might be the biggest one if he starts unsigned but it’s really starting to you know come clear I mean this Jonathan Taves returning signing with his hometown team that’s a leaguewide yes you know story you saw Sarah did the interview with him the views one of their higher viewed uh videos I really wonder you know they we’re going to see what he can bring after not playing for so long and how it’s going to work out. Is he going to be the second line center and what are you expecting to see from Jonathan Taves here and what have you seen from him as he spoke to the media last week? Yeah, well, I do expect he’s going to be the second line center to start the season anyways. Um, and you know, playing with Cole Perfetti and probably Gustaf Nyquist, that to me is the most likely starting point for him. That doesn’t mean that’s the the end point. Um, you know, I think TA has looked really good uh for a guy who has been out of the league for two years. Like to be clear, nobody is going full speed in these captain skates. Um, the they’re very informal. I mean, guys have pride in all that, of course, so they’re trying, but these are not uh drills that are being done under coach supervision with the idea of going as hard as possible. So, I’ll defer any judgment on on how Ta looks until we we see him start to do some drills in camp. And then, you know, the next big test after that will of course be preseason games. And I asked Jonathan Ta last week, you know, how many do you want to play? And he said, “The more the better.” He didn’t put a number on it. The Jets do have six preseason games. I got to think, Remo, he’s probably going to play at least three, maybe four, like that, you know, and and normally a veteran a veteran might only play like one or two. um if he if he was just a regular kind of veteran and and you know all things being equal, but I do wonder with Ta if they don’t try to get him in a little bit more just so he can be a bit more closer to to up and running when the season starts. Um so, you know, we we’ll see Scott O’Rneal will also talk on Thursday and we’ll see if he has an outline for what the plan for TA is. But I do expect we’ll see him, you know, probably with Profetti and Nyquist to start on the second line. And, you know, that would keep the Shley, Connor, uh, Valardi line intact. And we’ll see what the third line for now looks like. Obviously, no. Adam Lowry. I I got to think probably Vlad Nomesticov is is in the middle there with Nonita Ryder. And who’s on that wing? Is it Alex Afallow? Is it Morgan Baron? I mean, Baron is probably the fourthline center right now, but you could move him to the wing. Got Dave Augustus, obviously, who can play center on the fourth line. Uh, and then you got guys like Cole Keepky, Tanner Pearson, um, you know, in the mix. So, yeah, it’s again, not a ton of of intrigue or drama about the Jets lineup. I mean, could a Chibov or a Lambert push their way into the opening night lineup, especially with Lowry being on the sideline right now? You know, even if it’s as the 13th forward to start perhaps. Um, we’ll see what Scott Arneal plans. And then, you know, I’m also curious to see like is he going to keep 23 right out of camp? Uh, or, you know, which would mean maybe eight defensemen. Does he want to just start with seven in which case two hard decisions would have to be made? And and that’s not even giving any thought to a guy like Elias Solomon, you know, forcing his way into the mix. Um I got to think Solommonson’s probably going to start with the Moose just because of the numbers game. Uh but I also think he plays some NHL games this year. Um, you know, without question, and I would say I think Lambert and Chimberov all play NHL games this year. I just don’t know how many at this point. A lot’s going to be determined, you know, by two things. Health and success or lack thereof. And if things are going well with a big club and everybody’s healthy, uh, those guys are probably on the moose for for an extended period. Yeah, especially on defense. Not a lot of room there. They’ve got eight, you know, NHL are signed plus Billy Han plus Elias Salammonson. Yeah, Kale Kle, if there’s enough injuries, he could he’s on a two-way, he could get called up as well. Do we see Tyrell Bower again? That’s way way down the line, but something to watch for. Uh Mike, we’ll wrap up wrap it up here as last week the Frank Sar Valley broke the news that Gil Caprazovv turned down the 8-year 128 million contract. That’s a 16 million AAV. You know, we’re on the Kyle Connor contract watch here. I think Connor and who else is in there? McDate, Conor McDavid, Kabers off, Jack Eel. There’s so many players here entering the final year of their deal. Are they just waiting for the first one to set the market? And what do you think? You know, we’re talking about 11 million AAV for Kyle Connor. Think that’s a bit of a low estimate if Capzov is turning down 16 here. Yeah, I mean I think like everybody covers the league. I I did a bit of a double take when I saw the the the the thrill news. Um, and and you know, I’m not I’m not totally sure what that’s all about. Like, does he just want out of Minnesota? Is it just the term? I mean, clearly the money can’t be the issue. Like, that that’s insane. And if it is the issue, he’s delusional. Like, does he think he should make more than Conor McDavid? That being said, if you’re the agent for Kyle Connor, I mean, why wouldn’t you want to hit pause and potentially wait and see how that plays out? You know, it it does feed into something that I think I’ve said on this show before, Remo, and just openly wondering if something shorter term might not be in the wheelhouse for Kyle Connor, with the idea of leaving the door open for one more big contract cash in whether that’s in say three or four years from now. Like if he signed, he’s obviously under contract for one more year. Uh but if he signed a three or fouryear extension, let’s say three on top of the year, like that brings him to what 32. And you know, in four years from now, the cap, there’s some predictions the cap is just going to absolutely explode, especially if there’s more expansion um you know, between now and then. And if Kyle Connor continues to be one of the elite snipers in the league, um why why not look at that? And if you’re the Jets, might make some sense, too, right? You you line him up with some of your other core players. Um, you can evaluate where things are at down the road. So, I I do wonder if it’s more about term and even a guy like Capriov, like again 16, we look at 16 and say, well, he’s a fool to turn that down, but does he think he could get 20 in a few years from now? So he doesn’t want to take he doesn’t want to take 16 for eight cuz he thinks there’s bigger number there ahead like that that seems that seems really far-fetched but I don’t know I mean some of these predictions about the cap are really out there. So yeah I do wonder if that is not playing at least a small factor in Kyle Connor’s contract negotiations and potentially holding things up. Why not? I mean, the problem is if if everybody’s waiting for the other guy to to kind of go first, then nobody actually goes first. Like, it’s a it’s a game of chicken. At some point here, you know, again, I I think the Jets will have to present their best offer to Kyle Connor. Do they have to present multiple offers? You know, here’s here’s and here’s what eight years we we would be willing to go, but here’s something shorter term as well. um perhaps. But yeah, it’s uh it’ll be interesting to watch. And by the way, we will hear on uh Thursday is going to be a busy day because not only is Kyle Connor speaking, Scott Arneil speaking, Kevin Shovel Day off will also be speaking on Thursday. So we uh will no doubt have a lot of questions for the GM that day as well. Uh the pan the panic meter for Kyle Connor. What date? If he’s not signed, are you going to begin to panic? Uh, opening day or is it beyond that? October October 8th at midnight. What’s opening day is what? October 9th. So, I’d say Octo Yeah, October 8th is when it goes from a mild concern into a major worry. That would be that’s the day it flips for me. Mild concern to major worry. October 9th puck drop is when uh that’s when I would set it up for sure. Okay, that is the home opener against Dallas. So yes, you know, we had the the big Thanksgiving announcement with Shley and Halabuk. Thanksgiving is the first Monday of the regular season. There’s actually what the the noon game against the Islanders. Yes. That day. So, we won’t have we won’t have Thanksgiving again this year. Oh, maybe it could be on maybe it is that morning. Who knows? But, uh, so that’s your date home opener. Ken was saying March you would start to worry. We did see what the Bufflin contract Yeah. was signed uh in Mar I think in February of that year when he was sent to become a free agent. I’m not saying full-blown panic if it’s not done by opening day, but I would be concerned more than just a little bit concerned if it’s not done by opening day. Yeah. I mean, if it’s not done by March, then that’s like five alarm fire. Uh, for sure. But, uh, no, I I think it’s more than just Yeah, it would be a reason to be start to get worried if it’s not done by opening day. Perfect. Mike, thanks so much for coming on. Looking forward to seeing you at the rink. We’ll be out there Thursday and Friday and Saturday uh for Fanatfest and reading your latest the Winnipeg Free Press as well. Great mailbag with you and Ken discussing some of the hottest questions leading up to the training camp and regular season. Thanks, Remo. Have a great week. Thanks. There he is. Mike McIntyre. Read him in the free press. He’s on social media at mike McIntyre Wpg. We got more coming up, but first, here’s us. Hockey season is here, and before you drop the puck on the new year, you got to head down to Winnipeg’s number one hockey supertore for over 50 years, Royal Sports, where you’ll have the best selection, best deals, and the best customer service from hockey players who play the game to get you the right fit on all the equipment and needs for the upcoming season. It’s only at Royal Sports. In addition to the best selection of sticks and equipment and skates and goalie gear, fans are getting ready for the season at Royal Sports. All the latest Jets merchandise, your Jonathan Taves jerseys, and more available. And NFL fans, new NFL gear coming in by the week. So, uh, as your team sets out another season, get geared up at Royal Sports, Winnipeg’s number one sports supertore for over 50 years. Give them a follow on Instagram at Royal Sports Winnipeg for the latest merchandise drops and sale in information. Um, man, this is a great time of year. The NFL is back. We’ve got prime time games. The CFL stretch of the playoffs continues. We got pennet races in baseball. When you’re heading out to get together with your gang for the big game, make it Boston pizza, ice cold schooners, world famous BP wings, gourmet pizzas, and more. Great prizes to be won on all NFL prime time nights, and of course, the summer menu still kicking around with those uh delicious cherry cola beef sliders and more. Uh no better place to get together with your gang for the big game than Boston Pizza. And if you are staying at home, you can always get the great taste of BP by ordering online at boston pizza.com. Uh the RDER Cup countdown is on right now, a couple weeks away from Beth Paige Black. Looking forward to having some more Breezy Ben Golf reports coming up heading into the event. But in the meantime, as we finish up a beautiful golf season, it’s time to think about 2026. And if Breezy Bend or one of Winnipeg’s top private courses in is in your future, uh, I’d suggest you get on that now. Holler at Cory Johnson at the clubhouse 8957205 or find out more on membership for the 2026 season today online at breezybend.ca. All right, as we continue the show, first things first. Let’s give a big cheers to our friends at Winnipeg and Manitoba’s favorite local brewery, our friends at Little Brown Jug. You train day in and day out, learning new techniques, approaching new concepts, and living out the thrill of achieving your goals. Building a craft beer is no different. While you spend your hours on the ice, we spend ours here, brewing our trademark beer. Again, again, and again, here’s to pushing the status quo and challenging ourselves to build something memorable. 1919 by Little Brown Jug. There’s us. I’ll be back Thursday. So, we talked uh Jets with Mike McIntyre. Bombers, Taylor Allen, Connor and I talked as well. Bit of switching it up here for this segment. Pleased to be joined by Drew Shore, former NHL forward, played over a decade of professional hockey. Uh he left University of Denver to sign with the Panthers. He played with the Flames, Conucks, multiple teams in Europe and the KHL before retiring in 2021. Since uh retiring, he’s become a player agent and launched a podcast, Betting the Limit, where he speaks with athletes about the challenges of transitioning out of pro sports. And he’s been a great follow on Twitter/X, sharing smart takes on contracts, player development, and the state of today’s NHL. Uh caught up with him earlier today uh with training camps uh coming up and about NHL and development. Here’s my conversation from earlier with Drew Shore. Thanks for doing this. Uh, training camps getting underway this week. Uh, this time of year bring back any memories for you? Yeah, a little bit. I was actually laughing the other day. Uh, it’s funny because all these teams have like normally pretty short like conditioning or skating test and you always used to get a little bit of anxiety. you’d have anxiety for about a week before getting it done. Even though the test was only a couple minutes, but it would stress you out for about a week. But no, it’s uh you know, it’s one of the few things about summer coming to an end is sports are starting to get rolling here, which is awesome. And uh yeah, I definitely miss playing always at this time of the year when guys are kind of heading off and getting ready to go for the season. Yeah. What do you remember your summers like as a player? And you know, would that change compared to players today? Yeah, a little bit. Um, I definitely think overall as a trend guys are taking less time off the ice than they used to. Like I think back kind of to 2011, 2012, like a lot of guys would take probably two, three months off the ice and then really ramp it up kind of in July or August before camp. And now most guys are taking maybe like two weeks off the ice back on it. And I think that’s one of the reasons why the game is better or been from a skill and entertainment perspective. So I think that’s definitely changed. Yeah. Going back to 2009, you were drafted 44th overall by Florida. What do you remember about being selected? Well, that’s what is that 16 years ago now. Yeah. Honestly, for people who don’t know, normally with the NHL draft, the first round was Friday night and rounds two through seven or Saturday morning. And um I was kind of slated by everyone to be a mid- first round pick. So, I remember a lot of disappointment on that Friday night. And then obviously I was super excited to be selected by the Panthers um the next morning. And then you didn’t jump to the NHL right away. You played a couple years at Denver and then left college uh you know before your final year of eligibility. You know, how difficult was weighing the decision to jump to the NHL and stay in college and uh what ultimately made you sign? I think one of the hardest things was I’m one of four boys and one of the highlights of my career was playing with my brother Nick at different points and if I stayed for my senior year I could have played with my brother Nick and my third brother Quinton would have been a freshman when I was a senior. So I think I was really ready to leave for a ton of reasons but the one thing that would have kept me back was being able to play with both of them. And it’s something I look back on now that I’m like, man, I could have that would have been a pretty cool experience, especially for everyone in my family. Yeah. Then jumping to pro, first year was in San Antonio in the AHL, 30 points in 41 games, made the All-Star game. How important was that first season the in the AHL uh for your development? So, that was a very unique year in the American Hockey League because the NHL was locked out. And so for people who don’t know, a lot of teams, so we play a lot of the same teams every year in the American League. So for example, that year we played against Oklahoma City, who was Edmonton’s affiliate, probably 15 times in the first 45 games. And so on their roster that year, they had Taylor Hall, who I think had played two years in the NHL, Jordan Everly, uh, Ned Hopkins, Justin Schultz, the best hockey the American League has ever had. And same thing with Texas. We were in San Antonio, so we played Texas all the time. They had a ton of guys who had played in the NHL uh in the years prior. So, the hockey was awesome and it was a great experience. And looking back on my career from an enjoyment standpoint, like there was no NHL at that point because the NHL was locked out. So, you were really only focused on not necessarily getting called up every day or what the NHL team was thinking. You were kind of just playing hockey. So, that was a blast. And San Antonio is a really fun city. And it’s uh actually too bad they don’t have a team there cuz guys love playing there. And then finally getting called up to the NHL. Was there a a welcome to the NHL moment where you realize, hey uh I’m finally here. This is pretty cool. Yeah. I mean the first game I played was in Montreal um which is one of the coolest places to play a hockey game. And uh luckily my parents were able they had a ton of crazy because I didn’t know if I was going to play or not but they ended up getting there. And I remember just kind of giving my parents a hug after the game and they spent a lot of I mean so many hours helping me try and live out my dreams and that was a pretty cool moment. We lost the game but I just remember walking up to them and feeling pretty proud. I know Florida was in the Southeast Division with the Winnipeg Jets here. It was one of the first couple years. Any recollection of some of those first years in Winnipeg where you know we’re sold out every game and very excited crowd. Yeah, I mean that’s the first thing that jumps off the page to me is just how loud the building is and how passionate the fans are and it’s one of the smallest. It might be the smallest building in the NHL from a capacity standpoint, but it almost makes it feel like it’s one of like like the atmosphere is just insane cuz the fans are right on top of you and they’ve had a great team for a long time and I remember back in the day when they had guys like Bufflin running around, it was a tough building to play in and always felt like you didn’t have a lot of time and space out there. Is that a guy when you’re on the ice buffalo, you’re always aware of where he is? Certainly. I mean, there’s not too many guys on like, but he was definitely one of them. Uh, especially when he was playing and playing really well during those points of his career, um, that, you know, when he’s out there. And then, you know, you made the jump college to AHL from the NHL. What would you say was the biggest adjustment for you uh, moving from, you know, up the ladder? So, I think everyone always says like the speed of the game and for non-traditional hockey fans, they think that means like guys are skating faster, but your fastest skaters in college can pretty much skate as fast as the guys in the NHL at that point. But the rate at which you just have to be able to make decisions and the rate that guys make plays and your ability to think with very limited time and space, I think really changes every level you go up. Um, and I think that like that’s what like some of these guys at the NHL level, like you look at Conor McDavid, obviously he’s a guy who skates better than everyone else, but he’s also able to read the play and make decisions at that pace as well, and that’s something that many guys can’t do. Yeah, I’d certainly certainly agree with that. And um, you know, looking at I was going through your tweets, Drew, you’re pretty outspoken about hockey on there. And uh you wrote, “Spend the money to hire one of the world’s best coaches like Adam Oats or Joey Hean. I learned more from these guys in three years than my other 100 coaches combined.” Uh and what can someone learn from a guy like Adam Oats and why is he so highly regarded? Well, if you look at I mean I know you got a lot of Winnipeg listeners here. I mean one of the biggest Adam Oats fans in the world is Mark Shiffley. And you just kind of see the growth and development of his game over the years. But yeah, I mean that’s a tweet that I stand by like right like I was a suitcase during most of my career so I guess I got exposed to a ton of different coaches but none of these guys are just I mean I think Adam Joey Hishen and there might be another guy or two but these guys are just the way they think about the game the way that they’re able to break down plays and explain it to you. Like I think there’s a lot of people who have very high hockey IQs but maybe can’t teach it as well as those guys do if that makes sense. and the ability to not only understand it but then also be able to communicate and teach it at that level is super unique and allows those guys to kind of have the businesses that they have. And I mean you ask so many players around the league like almost every player on every team’s working with one of those guys and I think that um I mean I I just feel so fortunate that I got to work with them when I did. I probably worked with them a little too late in my career. My career was pretty much on the tail end when I started working with them. But uh from like an enjoyment standpoint and just learning the game, I just learned so much from them and I’m super grateful for it. You know, I always hear players say, “Oh, I’m just working on the little details in my game.” But no one really ever expands on those details. There’s something that you could point to uh that they showed you maybe something like, you know, tipping pucks or, you know, body positioning or, you know, putting, you know, grabbing pucks off the wall or or anything in particular. Yeah, I would say grabbing pucks off the wall is a great example of that. I mean, if you look at a lot of Adam’s clients, whether it’s Shley or Cucherov or some of these guys, like the puck is rimmed around the wall so many times throughout an NHL game, but their ability to pick it up cleanly with their head up and then make a decision right away after that is um super apparent and I think it’s one of the reasons that those guys are able to have success primarily on the power play, but just also five on five and in all areas their game. So, I think that’s a little bit of a cliche comment that like players make because it can mean a lot of different things, but I think that um the high-end players are really working on I mean, you got guys the best players in the game are working on picking up the puck like hard rims on their backhand and making plays um pretty much every day of the offseason. I always hear guys say like working on little details. We play, you know, scrum clips every every day. I always feel like they just maybe don’t want to say what they’re working on, so they want to debut it in a in a game. But, uh, I figured ask you to get some insight having worked with a guy like Adam Oats. But, you know, after the NHL, you played in Europe, KHL. What was the experience like for you and how different was it compared to North American hockey? Yeah, it’s a big jump. Uh, a lot of the rinks over there, especially when I was playing, the KHL’s changed a lot of their ranks since, but were Olympic size ice services, which I didn’t necessarily love. I mean, there’s definitely things that are nice about them, right? Like you have a ton of time and space, but it’s also I mean, you can play a full game and you feel like you’re nowhere even close to the net. So, it’s like scoring chances are a lot fewer because I mean, it’s not like you can just throw puck on net from the wall there. It’s much more of a possession-like game. But, both of my experiences were awesome. My first daughter was born in Zurich, Switzerland. Uh I stayed there for all my whole career, but decided to make the jump to Russia, which was from a hockey perspective a pretty good experience. I mean, I know people come on and say a lot of different things, but I was probably at a bad time in my life with a young daughter and a wife was we were expecting another one during that time. So, that made it very difficult. But I’m grateful for the experience because there’s so many things that you see on a day-to-day basis that unless someone’s kind of lived over there and lived through it, they uh can’t fully understand. Yeah, it’s certainly uh must be a pretty cool experience. And know Drew, you’re pretty got a lot of opinions on the current NHL and I know not noticed you wrote about that the gap between stars and role players is wider than ever. How do you see that uh shaping the league here uh with the rising salary cap? Yeah. So, what I meant when I said that is I’m just going to throw out these numbers. I mean, there’s no Matt to this, but I felt like when I entered the league in 201 like 12, the Sydney Crosby’s and the guys who are at the top of the game were maybe 15 to 25% better than most of the role players, but I think the top end guys now that numbers probably increased to 25 to 40%. So, I think that the gap between the games players is is greater than it’s ever been. And um yeah, we talk about the salary cap. the salary cap’s going up, but I actually think that’s going to benefit kind of your I would call them if those guys are A+ players, kind of your A minus players the most. Like I think your typical 30 goal scorer who is signing the 6×6 contract will now be signing 6 by8. Uh, I know that his cap is going up and but a lot of those star players really want to win and I think that that’s something that a lot of people don’t necessarily take into consideration is that those guys know that there’s almost so much money to go around and a lot of those guys have made so much money the most important thing to them is whether they believe they have a true chance to win the Stanley Cup. And just going going through, you know, the Winnipeg Jets made big news this off season signing Jonathan Taves, bringing him home and you were advocating that every team should be calling him back in May. Uh why do you think every team should be after him and what know what do you think he could bring after taking a couple years off and returning at, you know, in his late 30s here? So I just thought it was a pretty lowrisk move for any team who really has a chance to win. And I mean, he was a guy when I was growing up who I tried to idol or like emulate his game just cuz he was kind of the ultimate two-way centerman. A guy who could run your first power play, but could also be the guy out there when you’re defend at the end of the game. And I just knew kind of after taking so much time off that he wasn’t going to be expecting a huge salary and his AAV was going to be pretty low. So I thought a guy like him who hasn’t played in so long, worst case is he doesn’t find his offensive game. He’s a super reliable shutdown center who can help you play against the other team’s top lines and if best case he finds his offensive game and then he kind of returns to somewhat of the version that he used to be. So I love the signing. Think it’s super cool that he’s returning to his hometown. And like I said, I was advocating any team with a chance to win should have been calling him. Yeah, I know you watched the playoffs pretty closely last year. The Jets big series win, dramatic win against St. Lewis ultimately losing to Dallas. But what did you see from uh the Jets last season? Yeah, I mean like that comeback that comeback was crazy. It was one of the wilder games during all of the playoffs, but I mean they’re a team who’s been right there a lot of times. And I mean kind of similar in a sense, not necessarily from a roster standpoint or how they play to the Dallas Stars who I mean I think that they get into the playoffs, but I mean it’s it’s a tough to win and I think that’s what makes hockey playoffs so great. And I think that um I mean their goalender, they have one of the best goalies in the world. He’s had some struggles late in the season during the playoffs. And for him, for them to really have a chance, I think they got to add a couple pieces and then have him on the top of his game. But I think that the addition of Jonathan Taz was a great start. Yeah, training camp starting up. We just had development camp or sorry, prospects camps. You know, a lot of these players are starting the AHL before going to the NHL. um you know h how beneficial can it be for a player to start in the AHL before uh getting ready to move up a level? I think it’s super important and I think it’s super important for maybe reasons that others don’t. I think it’s just I mean you see it with a guy like Frank Nazar. He started and played half the year in the American League and I think it gives you just a better taste of how good you have it when you get to the NHL. So if I was running a team, I mean obviously I’m not sending a first overall pick to the American Hockey League, but even really good prospects, even if it’s for the first two, three weeks, just so when you do call them up, they truly appreciate how good the lifestyle and everything else is in the NHL. And I think that those guys who have a little bit of taste of it, like I said, I don’t think it has to be very long. I think appreciate the NHL more and it helps them uh long term in their career. Yeah. Frank Nazar signing a massive contract this off seasonason 7-year 46.13 million after you know like what two years in in the league uh you know Drew I think I think less than that but yeah I think it’s less like less than two full it was uh story played three games in 23 24 and 53 uh uh last year so uh pretty wild stuff there and you know Drew looking at your career retiring at age 30 in 2021. Was there a moment for you uh when you knew it was time? It was more of a family decision for me. Um I spent a lot of time away from my wife and two kids. Uh I felt like I definitely could have kept playing from a hockey standpoint. I certainly was kind of getting tired of signing one-year deals and moving all over the world to play the game. And it was just something that I felt like I had a lot of unique advantages from my experience to kind of start my next business career. So, I felt like it was time more from a family perspective than a hockey perspective. But, uh, the last game I played, I actually played for Carolina against Nashville in one of the last games of the season. And I knew it was going to be probably my last game ever. So, it was probably one of the only few NHL games I played where I just went out there and played completely carefree and actually had one of my best games. So, it was something that uh that was a little weird to sit with because I think like looking back if I would have played a little more carefree, I think it could have benefited me and been so uptight about the game. How difficult is it? You called yourself a suitcase for a player, you know, going and signing one-year deals and jumping uh from place to place maybe something that you know people watching the game may not realize. Yeah, I think the hard hardest thing about in your life, especially when guys are doing it who have families and young kids, um you start your kids start to develop friends places, they start to get comfortable in their schooling and then all of a sudden you got to uproot them. And I think that that was kind of one of the reasons I stopped playing is just because it’s like what are you willing to sacrifice kind of everyone else’s happiness for your career? And I did it for a long time, but eventually just got to a point where I wasn’t willing to do that anymore. So, I mean, if you’re young and single, it’s not that big of a deal, but when you start involving other people and making them make sacrifices as well, it can be difficult. And moving on from hockey, um, you know, you’d mentioned business. Uh, what made it so easy for you to walk away? And, uh, what was your next step after retiring from hockey? So, I always thought I wanted to be a GM or a president of a team. So, I called a good friend of mine who’s probably the best agent in hockey now, uh, Jud Mulaver, who is running the hockey division at Wasserman. and they represent a lot of the best players in the NHL today. Uh Kyle Connor, I’m pretty sure is a client of theirs, but anyone Conor McDavid to Austin Matthews and uh just worked with him for the first couple years, which was amazing because he had been at it for 20 or 25 years and the way he thinks about the business side of hockey from a player contract standpoint and even a team standpoint was super beneficial to me to learn from him and like I said, I just like couldn’t have had a better introduction into the business side of the game than working with him for three years. Yeah. And you’ve also started a podcast, Betting the Limit, which focuses, you know, why did you decide to focus on athlete transitions? I just think cuz the more guys I talked to, the more guys struggled with it. I actually built a company around this probably a year and a half ago as well. It’s called Amalfi. Join them.com. But it’s just like so many guys you talk to, like I was super miserable when I retired and I thought that my retirement struggles were unique to me because I didn’t have the career that I wanted to have and I always thought I was going to play till I was 40. made 200 million, win a bunch of Stanley Cups, and that doesn’t happen. So, I thought I was miserable because of my career. But the more guys I talked to, whether you played in the NBA and you made 300 million and or you played division 3 football in college and then couldn’t play again, like guys really struggled with that transition. And I thought there had to be something done about it that instead of guys struggling for five to seven years, how could we shorten that time to maybe a year or two years? And I think that helping guys kind of find their next passion because your whole life you’re committed to working the same way towards your goal that I don’t think you’re really ever going to be happy till you find what else you’re passionate about. So my advice to guys all the time is like what do you like to do and kind of attack that with the same mentality as you attacked your career. Whether that’s finance, real estate, coaching, whatever it is, you need to find something that gets you out of bed every day and you can kind of apply that athletic mindset to Yeah. Is that how you were able to work through some of that uh bitterness by finding uh the next thing? Yeah, I tried to just be grateful for my career. And it’s weird as an athlete, right? Because you when I’m seven years old and watching the Denver Pioneers play, I would have done anything to play one game of collegiate hockey. And then I end up making the NHL and playing all over the world and having some success, but like never had the success that I ultimately wanted to have. Like I said, I thought I was going to be a guy who played in the NHL for 20 years and won multiple Stanley Cups, and that doesn’t happen. So, when you retire, I would view my career as a failure, but you try and look at it like I was grateful for the experiences that I had. And then I was able to start my next career at 30, whereas if I was still playing hockey, I probably wouldn’t have done that till I was 40 or 45. So, tried to just kind of use that time to jump start what I was going to do next and want to be more successful um in business now than I was during my hockey career. Yeah. Do you have any momentos or or anything that you’ve saved over your pro hockey career? Yeah, I had I had one really good game and I actually have a puck of it um behind me here. I actually don’t think it’s in the screen, but uh one of the games I was playing for Florida. We went into Pittsburgh when they were kind of at their peak of their careers and ended up having two goals and an assist and I think we won the game 52 or 5-3 against some of the world’s best players. So for me in my career, that was probably a night where it got as good as it ever was going to get. Uh, and it was something I’ll remember forever. And Drew, before we wrap up, you know, again, training camp starting this week, you could give advice to a young player going into their first training camp, what would it be? I would I mean, this is a little bit cliche to say, but I would just say like you need to do whatever you can to make an impression on the people making decisions there. Like you’re probably a lot of people don’t realize that most of these teams are pretty much set before training camp starts, but you want to be a guy that when they do send you to the American League, you’re on their one of their first few call-ups. And you need to kind of just do whatever you can to leave that impression. And I think that what a lot of guys don’t realize is you need to do whatever you can to break into the NHL and become a regular and then from there you can expand your game. I think a lot of guys kind of view themselves as like, “Oh, I have to be a power play guy.” And if you’re a power play guy and the Winnipeg Jets need a fourth line center, you should do everything you can to be that fourth line center because at some point during their year, someone’s going to get hurt and you’re going to get that opportunity to be on the power play. But if you’re not on the roster, that opportunity is probably not going to come. So I think that’s something players should think about. And then like I said, that’s it’s training camp’s shorter than ever now, too. It’s kind of like I don’t even know how many I think they have two or three practice days before they kind of get into preseason games, which I think is great. Players love that. a lot of too many days of the practice and inner squad games are a little bit weird because you want to play hard and leave an impression, but you also are playing against your teammates. So, I love the idea of kind of shortening camp and getting right into exhibition games. Great stuff there from Drew Shore. Really appreciate him taking the time to join us today. Uh very fascinating to hear uh from him about training camp, playing in the NHL, and transitioning out of his game. Want to hear more? Check out his podcast betting the limit and give him a follow on Twitterxdrew22shore. Big thanks uh to him for joining us and sharing his experience. Uh it’s time now fans first. Fans feedback. Uh fans feedback brought to you by fans first. Your best option for buying and selling tickets in Winnipeg with no fees. is what you see is what you pay. Certainly the best place if you have a pair of seats uh to get rid of them. I can tell you as someone who’s had to buy or sell tickets on on occasion utilizing fans for so userfriendly the customer service is so great and you’re selling tickets you’re getting paid the next day right after the game all summer. You know the Bombers games are are sold out. So Fans first a great place for that. You know they’re going to be busy for Jet season coming up. the first preseason game. What is it? Sunday already. Here’s some fan feedback talking about Kyle Connor and his next contract. Chris Lev says in chat, “If KC signs for four years, that lines up with Gabe Schaeley and Halabuk to UFA. I think that’s what we see. It’s going to be interesting with the cap rising with these guys entering the final year of their contract sign for how many years does McDavid do the the eightyear or the four-year term. Capri Capriovv as well. Eel, uh, who’s the other? Kee, some big names up there. And yours truly says, “Unpopular opinion. You should trade Casey if not signed by the start of the season talking about dates when we should panic.” And uh, I think it was Ken Weeb who threw out March. He’s unsigned in March. That’s the panic date. Milner says March. That’s insanity. If he isn’t signed by opening night, he’s leaving. Milner saw what happened with Eers doesn’t want to go through that will they won’t they dance again and BA split says in chat is the sky falling and camp isn’t even open yet seems so for some let’s watch hey we can still speculate I don’t think anyone is saying the sky is falling just talking about scenarios of what will may or may not play out so fan feedback brought to you by fans first your number one spot for buying and selling tickets Five fans, four fans with no fees. Connor Abjack, he’s back. Connor, what’s going on here? Uh what’s your panic meter here for uh for Kyle Connor? What’s what’s your panic date at as we enter training camp? I’m sure it’s going to be a big topic uh coming up when they hit the ice on Thursday. Yeah, and and Mike mentioned there that uh Kyle Connor didn’t speak today, but he’s going to be speaking Thursday, or at least that’s what we expect uh as training camp gets underway, and he’ll surely be requested from us in the media to to speak to him. Um I I’m with Mike uh midnight before opening night. That’s my panic date for Kyle Connor. uh if he doesn’t have a contract by then or if there isn’t clarity by then, I should say, on you know, a contract or uh him not wanting to be here or anything along those lines. If there isn’t clarity by opening night, I think that is that’s a reasonable time. Again, it’s not it’s not over if Kyle Connor’s not signed by the the beginning of the regular season, but I would mark that as kind of a panic point for me. something to watch uh going forward here. Many storylines for Winnipeg Jets training camp. As I said, we’ll be there Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Connor, we haven’t really touched on NFL week two. Uh biggest takeaway from the weekend. What did you learn uh from the games? Uh that M. Jones is the future of the 49ers franchise. No, I’m kidding. I mean, good for him to get a win, but uh I will say uh that the New York Jets were maybe a mirage week one. You know, they they played against the Pittsburgh Steelers and played them tight and the Pittsburgh Steelers lost this weekend as well against the Seahawks, but the Jets looked absolutely terrible to nobody’s surprise against the Buffalo Bills. Uh the Dolphins losing again. Joe Burrow going down for the Bengals, that’s a really tough one. Um, I don’t know. It It wasn’t a very shocking weekend for me in terms of how the games played out. There wasn’t one team that really surprised me one way or the other. Um, the Giants, I will say, keeping up in a shootout with the Dallas Cowboys and their offense um was was a really fun game to watch. I’ll put it that way for sure. Uh, and yeah, I again, the NerS I obviously watching them closely. They win despite a ton of injuries. The Colts, I think, is is a team they’re a team that didn’t have any real high expectations coming into the season. They’re now two and 0. Uh with Daniel Jones at the helm, if you have Daniel Jones in fantasy, you’re thinking of playing him at this point because he’s just putting up such good numbers. Um and then maybe the the Minnesota Vikings as a team that really disappointed over the weekend at home. JJ McCarthy’s first start against the Falcons, another team that’s looking to be a playoff team in the NFC. And uh only two field goals. That’s uh that’s a tough home opener for the Vikings. But we’ve got two more games tonight. Bucks, Texans, and Chargers Raiders. What stood out to you, Remo, from from Sunday? Yeah, quarterback injuries. Uh the story of this past week, just finding out JJ McCarthy out two to four weeks with a high ankle sprain. Justin Fields goes down for the Jets. Brock Perie already injured for San Francisco. Joe Burrow with this toe injury, he’s going to be out for a while. So, quarterback injuries, uh, the story there for me, we did have that exciting Broncos, uh, Colts finish, Daniel Jones, is he this year’s what, Sam Darnold, the veteran quarterback who goes to a new team, you know, is a former high draft picks and has resurgence now that he has a good team in front of him. The Jacksonville Jaguars really blowing it uh to the Bengals. Uh Trevor Lawrence, he was a high draft pick, but he seems to be a middling quarterback and Baltimore had that really, you know, blown game against Buffalo in week one. To no one’s surprise, came back and hammered the Browns here in week two. You mentioned not a lot of surprises in my survivor pool. Everyone got their pick right. Can’t say the same about last week, last year in week two where I think I got I got my first strike. And how about the Detroit Lions? There’s a lot of talk about Ben Johnson uh coming in against his former team. Detroit had a tough showing in week one against Green Bay. Put up a 50 burger against Chicago in week two. Jared Goff looking pretty strong. Jameson Williams uh catching the big bomb. So, uh exciting week one. I do like the Monday night double header. I’ll be tuned in uh tonight. We’ll see. The Chargers, Justin Herbert, can they keep it rolling against the Raiders? And as you mentioned, Bucks, Texans, CFL, I got to say that we didn’t touch on the other games. Friday night, Nathan Ror, man, this guy put on an absolute show against uh against Ottawa. I don’t think they punted till very late in the game. We’re going to see Ottawa here against the Bombers on Saturday. Will Dustin Crumb start? He’s been pretty amazing for fantasy. Threw for 300 yards and a touchdown and ran for another 50, but that doesn’t win you games. And BC, they’re charging. And the Bombers were pretty lucky to face them at the beginning of the season when Ror was hurt and finding his footing. Toronto with a crazy comeback win there against Edmonton. Do we have a quarterback controversy? Uh it was Arbuckle got hurt and got removed when Chad Kelly says he’s ready but uh the Argos don’t think so. And was Montreal with a big win against Sask and Sask has many what DBs hurt and was Mloud Benthal Thompson passing up passing over them putting up 48 points. I know you and Jeff will be doing CFL 110 tomorrow. Lots to talk about in the CFL. Yeah, looking forward to jumping in and uh and uh pinch hitting for Hus on CFL 110. That’ll be an absolute blast. Me and Jeff will chop things up from last week in the CFL and look ahead to this upcoming weekend where the standings are just so tight across the league in the West and in the East that there’s a lot to be desired uh in the last couple weeks of the season here. So, obviously here Winnipeg Sports Stack, we’re focused on the Bombers, but some good games coming up. BC traveling to Calgary this week, Friday night game. That’ll be that that’ll be I think the game of the week, the one I’m looking forward to the most. Um but yeah, Montreal putting up 48 on Saskatchewan uh on the road. That’s a really impressive win. The Argonauts, I know Remis, you probably saw Ryan Denwy’s uh antics, let’s put it after their win. Um so I’m sure that’s a topic that’ll come up on CFL 110 and I I’m interested to hear what Jeff’s thoughts are because I think I have thoughts. But yeah, it’s funny. I did I took uh Nick Arbuckle in one of my lineups in fantasy and he threw what do you have like how many interceptions was it? Let me just refresh the number. I was uh four. It was four interceptions, I think. So, couldn’t he have done that in the Gray Cup? I took him. He’s been having this year where he’s leading the league in yards, having such a great year. He I think he got hurt and tried to play through it. But four interceptions for Grey Cup MVP Nick Arbuckle and they put in Jared what Dy in there and led them to the win with another last minute field goal. And so that’s a big game for them in the East against Montreal. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. And let me just say what a heartbreaker on the other side of it for Edmonton. The turnover differential in this game was 6 to1. Toronto turned the ball over six times to Edmonton’s one and Edmonton lost by a point. That’s uh with with where Edmonton’s at in the standings and really all the good things they’ve done to put themselves in a position to maybe be a playoff team, which is a massive compliment to them of what they’ve done over the past number of years to even be in this position. to lose a game like that at this point in the season against a backup quarterback coming in and beating you with a turnover d uh differential six to one. That’s just an absolute stinger for the Elks. So, uh tough one for Edmonton and uh yeah, Ryan did what he definitely let the Elks sideline hear about it after the win. Yeah, we’ll be looking forward to that. We didn’t get Jeff’s weigh in on what the MLS partnership with uh with the Bills. So, lots to get to, a lot of league news to get to on CFL 110. Uh, one other So, let me give a shout out to Cine Boya Downs, Connor. Live racing tonight. Uh, continuing here in September. Uh downs open every day with VLTS, great dining options, free admission, free parking, and if you’re planning on attending the races, uh make a reservation in the clubhouse dining room and enjoy the world famous prime rib buffet. And don’t forget to check them out on YouTube during live racing. Kurt Stretch giving you their picks. Hustler and I doing our duel at the downs. He’s got the lead on me. Uh so stay tuned and uh check out the live racing tonight. I do have my picks Connor here before we’ll get to that later. I’ll just give one we’ll do do the cool bet lines first then we’ll get to the picks. And I do want to let everyone know about a great event happening this weekend. The Gold Eyes hosting double feature movie night. They’re hosting one-of-a-kind movie night at Blue Cross Park Saturday, September 20, showing two classic movies. The Princess Bride at 6:15 p.m. and Raiders of the Lost Ark at 8:45 on the ballpark’s giant HD video board. Gates open 5:30. You can bring blankets or lawn chairs to relax on the field or capture the view from the stands. Also feature yard games, trivia, prize raffles. Keep the fun going between films. You’ll be able to get popcorn, candy, burgers, hot dogs, and soft drinks available, and of course, adult beverages. Tickets are $10. It can be purchased now at Gold Eyes.com/mov. We’re giving away a fourpack of tickets to that. You’ve subscribed to our newsletter. Uh link in the description of this. You already knew about it, but winnipegsports.com/contest and enter to win a fourack of tickets to Gold Eyes Moving Night. It’s still pretty nice out there, Connor. I’m still I’m putting on shorts. It was It was a hot one there on Saturday. So, uh, two movies outside. But here, let’s check out the uh Cool Bet Lines here. Two NFL games and we can check I don’t know if CFL is out as well. Uh just futures, just futures for CFL, but just futures. Okay, so we got uh the B man Texans home favorites against the Bucks minus 2 and a half. Interesting. And the Chargers minus three and a half road favorites against the Las Vegas Raiders. Uh thoughts on tonight’s NFL games? Yeah, I like the Bucks. Uh, I was really uninspired by the Houston Texans offense last week. I know they were going up against the Rams, but it seemed like CJ Strad was dropping back to pass and Nico Collins is their really only dynamic target and he was being, you know, double triple covered at times. And then their offensive line, which is easily the weak point of their entire roster, just couldn’t really hold up. So, I know it’s a prime time game in their home opener. They’re going to be fired up, but I do like the Bucks. And then the the second game is weird to me because I think the Chargers should win and you see that represented in the in the Vegas line them being three and a half point road favorites, but there’s just something about Pete Carol and a home opener in prime time for the Raiders coming off a win in week one as well. Like I think there’s going to be a lot of juice there uh for the Raiders in that crowd. So I I wouldn’t mind uh the plus 166 for the Raiders tonight. Uh, which means I I I like both underdogs if if I’m taking the Raiders, but I think the night game will be a really good one. Um, and the Chargers beat the Chiefs last week. A lot of people just assume, oh, so they’ll beat the Raiders. I think the Raiders are better than people think. So, I think that’s going to be a good one. Hey, the Chargers, they’ve had some time off. They’re going to be ready. Justin Herbert looks pretty good with Harbaugh as coach. They’ve got a running game now. I’m I’m interested to see how this game plays out. I do love the 900 PM Monday Night Football. used to have what some crazy uh power commentary teams and I used to always zip out during that one to go buy the latest edition of EA Sports NHL but it just comes out what digitally now you don’t have to go to the store to buy it. Conor, you fire up the new game. Oh yeah, I’ve got the new game fired up. Playing a lot of hockey Ultimate Team. Um yeah, I I am the kind I I’ve said this on the show before. I’m the kind I’m the type to buy the NHL games every single year. I know people dog on them and hate them and think it’s the same game. I’m a big fan of the NHL games. Uh and I play it uh quite a bit. So yeah, I’ve been fired up at NHL26 and I like it so far. I don’t know. I don’t know. I got Yeah, I got the 10-hour trial. I played one game as the Jets. Had a pretty good time with their top line. The rest of the lines. I was missing I was missing Eers out there. It’s taking some time to get used to without that speed. This is for the game purposes. So, uh I’ll have to I’ll have to I think I just need some more practice. I’m pretty washed up when it comes to uh EA Sports NHL series. Uh CFL futures. Uh this is the lowest the Bombers odds have been all season. Plus 2,000 to win the Gray Cup. That’s the third lowest odds. Conor, the Elks are moving up plus 3500. It’s f I think they were plus 5,000 for a while. Red Blacks plus 10,000. Ref Riders still a favor plus 275. Tieats plus 300. Stamps plus 315. ALS plus 450. You know, if the Lions had a defense, you’d like this uh plus,400 number. And the Argos, man, maybe they get some quarterback out plus 1400. I feel like if you’re in the East, you you’ve got a shot here at least making it to the game. Yeah, I think that’s why you see it represented in in the odds there with the the Bombers being a bit of a longer shot. I mean, they if they stayed where they are right now, they’d have to go on the road to Calgary on the road to Saskatchewan just to get to the Gay Cup and then beat whoever’s in the Gay Cup waiting for them if if the standings held the way they are now. So, I think that’s why you see maybe BC being higher as a potential crossover team. Um maybe being the first ever crossover team to make the Gay Cup. I I don’t know if we see that this year. I feel like every year we feel like this is going to be the year that a crossover team crosses over and actually has some success, but this year you have maybe a better argument than you’ve ever had with the East looking as as kind of open as it has been. So, uh, really interesting odds there to see the Bombers that low, but I think there’s risk baked in there with Calleros, the the unknown of his health, the Bombers, you know, being three and seven in their last 10, and as it currently stands, having really the hardest path in the CFL to the Gay Cup if the season ended today. Yeah, I see Schnitzy in chat. He says, “Get B on the Bombers plus 2,000. They still have a chance with Callaris. The season isn’t over yet. If he’s in, they’ve got a chance. you worry about him, you know, taking a hit behind that O line. He’s going to be able to get back up and continue playing. He’s already left three games in the middle this season. We’ll see him. We’ll see if he’s on the field at practice tomorrow. Uh MLB pen races continue. Blue Jays, they are traveling to Tampa to take on the Rays minus 130. So, they’re favored there. and a number of games on uh cool bed your spot uh for betting and check out the exclusives. I’m sure there’s got a lot of great stuff cooked up here for the NFL tonight. Blue Jays NFL daily exclusives. I know Hustler wants to hit this field goal prop field goals in both Monday night games. Uh what is it? Eight plus is at minus 118. 9 plus plus 175. That’s that’s his thing. Uh betting on the field goals. Now, let’s check out uh the horse picks going. I got some some picks tonight. Trying to catch up to Hus. He’s going to have to uh add in some additional wagers when he gets back. As I uh bring up the I bring up the screen with with the uh the pick. hbibet.com here. Oh, that’s not that’s not one. That’s that’s this. Here we go. Uh, I got race three, four, six, seven. Race three, I am on four. Uh, diamond conerto as I switch off Woodbine. Race three, $4 on Diamond Concerto to win. That’s a bit of a longer shot. I think that’s paying 8 to1. We’ll see. It’s a longer shot. Uh, race four, $2 exact to box two five be soul and Lieutenant Norm. Lieutenant Norm, that’s the favorite there. Uh, race six, I got a $3 exact box 67 Colonel Clank and Orcadian Storm. And race seven, a $1 trifecta box. Four, two, five. Sharp likeness, math mystery, and Berea. Connor, as we wind it down, we got to do some uh jersey. We do with jersey reviews here. A couple jerseys announced today. Everyone getting ready for the regular season, announcing their new looks. The Washington Capitals coming out with uh this one. There you go. This is This is their new jersey, the Screaming Eagle. The original one was what? Blue and white. They had it on the black. Now they’re putting on their traditional red Capitals colors. I like this jersey. I think this is a win. Uh I don’t know about you. Yeah, I’m with you on that. Uh Screaming Eagle, bright red Capitals. Like I I think a jersey like this is eventually going to be their primary. I think you know like I think they’re they’re kind of soft launching this eventually being their main home jersey. The only thing I I love this jersey. The only issue I have with it is right on the forearm when it is navy. I just feel like it it should be red, you know? Like the main color of everything is red and I’d like to see just the red continue through the navy and just have the stripes on the arms and then have it red as it is everywhere else. like the bottom stripe in the torso area is red. I don’t know why the why it ends with navy in the in the forearm area, but I like the jersey otherwise. Good looking jersey here. Yeah, I think this is a win for uh for the Capitals and uh the Detroit Red Wings. These are celebrating their 100th anniversary. Schnitzy in the chat asking if we’re we’re on drugs for liking that one, but they announced or you sent it to me on DM. The Centennial jersey. Uh I think this is a winner. Red absolutely white stripes. You pointed out this center or sorry, the captain patch is like a old school like leather patch. I don’t really care about this, but on the inside of the collar it says hockey town and every year they won the cup. like that’s not a selling factor for me when I’m wearing the jersey. What’s written on the inside, but it’s a it’s a nice detail. Sure. Uh they’ve got what the stadium series, what heritage classic uh know number font on this. This jersey looks very nice. Certainly a winner. Detail on the crest. Uh I think this is a big win for the Redwing. Now, now people in chat are disagreeing with us, but I think this is awesome. I love this jersey. I I could see like maybe you don’t like the stripes and like the the too many stripes, but the leather captain’s patch. They’re going to be wearing leather gloves. It’s supposed to be like a retro vintage throwback 100th season jersey. The changes to the logo making it a little bit more sparkly. I love it’s simple. It’s, you know, they’re not re It’s their 100th season. They’re not coming out with some brand new jersey. Uh it it pays homage to the the jerseys that they’ve worn over many many years. That hasn’t really changed much either. I love it. Uh I think it’s sick. I think they’re going to be they’re they announced that they’re wearing it in their home opener, their opening night, and I think it looks amazing. So, I’m I’m a big fan of these jerseys, even though people in chat are disagreeing. They uh they they’re not uh well, there’s not a consensus, I don’t think. I’m surprised that’s what the red That’s what the regular Red Wings jersey is. Red and white. It’s simple. It’s timeless. Exactly. I They haven’t changed it forever. So, I like the I liked it. Uh I’m here to critique jerseys. Um fun thing to do at the end of the show. Uh Connor, thanks for coming on. Great talking with you. Talk a lot about NFL, CFL, of course, Bombers and Jets. As always, we’ll be back tomorrow reacting to the Bombers practice. We’ll have some big burning questions leading into Jets training camp. Jamie Thomas, we’ll hop on. He was just at development camp. Brandon Ruiki makes his return and looking ahead to uh yes, big week here. Hockey, it’s back, Connor. So, thank you so much for coming. Of course, you’ll be hosting CFL 110 with Jeff after the main show. Yes, CFL 110 tomorrow. Main show tomorrow. I’ll be on WSD Bombers Report came out this morning. WSD Sunday live came out Sunday morning. Training camp this week. Uh it’s it’s an awesome time and Winnipeg Sports Talk, we’re going to have you covered with everything here. So, um we’ll we’ll even have to maybe make a WST ESHL team or something. Uh Remis for NHL 26. We got a lot of we’re we’re we’re uh in chat a lot of people are asking about Ultimate Team and ESHL. So, we’ll maybe have to get that going. But lots of stuff happening here at WST. Yeah, I’ve never played with you. Maybe one night we’ll uh we’ll fire it up. So, if you are here, you’ve enjoyed the show, lasted this long, help us out. Hit the thumbs up button. Subscribe to our channel. We just hit uh 13,500 on YouTube. We hit 7,500. On Instagram, all the links to all of our social medias. You can keep up to date below in the description on YouTube or on the podcast. There’s a description on the podcast as well. And if you haven’t yet, sign up for the mailing list. Lot of info. We the ticket pack. It’s coming. Uh we’re gonna announce that hopefully very soon. Poker night’s around the corner and uh first run a contest and we do send out the newsletter uh detailing all the great segments to come out. I know people can’t listen every day. Maybe there’s something you missed. We will let you know. So for Connor Rabchek, uh I’m Michael Reist and Hustler who’s away. He’ll be back later this week. This has been another edition of Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily. Uh, thank you so much for tuning in. Bye-bye. Oh my god. Shut it down. Let’s go home. Thanks for tuning in to Winnipeg Sports Talk Daily. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube and your favorite podcast feed at winnipeg sports talk.com. [Music]

Michael Remis hosts Winnipeg Sports Talk with Connor Hrabchak. They discuss the Winnipeg Jets prospects at the tournament in Montreal, the Blue Bombers loss to the Hamilton Ti-Cats and NFL Week 2. Guests: Taylor Allen of the Winnipeg Free Press, Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press and former NHLer Drew Shore of the Betting the Limit podcast.

Topics:
Countdown (0:00)
Intro, Jets prospects, Bombers lose (0:40)
Taylor Allen of the Winnipeg Free Press (32:07)
Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press (56:50)
Former NHLer Drew Shore (1:30:03)
Coolbet Lines Assiniboia Downs Picks & Wrap up (1:56:35)

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