Wild on 7th- Episode #116: Carts and King, Trivia, and PJ Fleck’s Leap

Wild on 7th- Episode #116: Carts and King, Trivia, and PJ Fleck’s Leap

This is Wild on 7th, your favorite wild podcast. Did you guys see this? This is unbelievable. What is that all about? Kanger, get in here for the real thing. Like, let’s get weird. Maybe I blacked out trying to figure out what was going on. Doubt, worry, fear, cuz that’s what we’re breaking the mold on here. Welcome to Wild on 7th, presented by Pilot Games. We’re here until it’s here. All right, welcome back to Wild on 7th, your favorite wild podcast presented by our friends at Pilot Games. I think trouts are probably mostly over right now. But if you’re still in the midst of that that stressful hour or two where live barn is blacked out and you’ve got no place to go but the the local pub or pizza joint and pull some pull tabs and uh wait for your kid to come out and ask them how they did for tryyouts, grab one of those tablets, those pilot games tablets because uh not only do you have a chance to win, your community does, too. You can go home with a couple of bucks in the pocket and your kids can have a better experience while at the rink. So, uh pilot games. Yeah. Appreciate your support there, Kanger. Uh the Wild look like they need maybe a little bit of emotional support right now to to your eye. Uh are you concerned with how the season has started? Are you okay with it? Um are you excited for some reason? Well, I have I didn’t shave because we got one point. So, I’m kind of happy that I got a little Listen to that. That’s just barely enough. That’s one point. That’s one point against Philly. I hope I have a little beard by the time we’re done with San Jose on Sunday or Saturday, whatever it is. But, um, I guess the word I would use is uncharacteristic. I’m watching the Wild and it doesn’t look like the Wild. So, I guess that could either be alarming or reassuring because I I think that they can get back to their style of hockey. I also think it’s early. Um, I will say by the end of this week, so we’re recording this before they play the Rangers on Monday night. Um, so between uh Rangers, Devils, Utah, San Jose, when you’re staring at uh, you know, the end of the week and you’re at 10 games. Um, I think there’s a little body of work now cuz cuz right now it’s still weird cards, right? We got Chicago in the wild card, but they have eight points in seven games. That does not get you into the playoffs. That is not a scintillating start. Yeah. I mean, but you look at it and St. Louis is in the second wild card. Six points in five games. That’s basically the Ericson Ek open net against Philly, right? So we if if we were sitting in that second wild card, Faber with the gift wrap pass in overtime and we get that goal, maybe we think everything’s fine, you know. But um yeah, it’s been it’s I’m a little uh I feel a little vacant, you know. Remember last year, you know, choose your hard hard chain. We talked about it like camp felt like it came and went and we I just like camp itself didn’t have an identity. I know. So I I I feel a little bit identityless. Um we saw Zukarella skating out here on the way in. Um, that made me feel good listening to some techno rifling pucks into the net. Nico Sturm has not joined us yet. So, it’s a little like we’re kind of in a false start. Um, but we need to get going here and I think we need to get going uh this week. Yeah, I think it’s a little early to be looking at the standings and not not that it’s too early, but you can’t panic about it. like when you see Chicago in the first wild card spot to your point they have a game in hand but I mean again with it not looking like wild hockey and it’s not the start they got off to last year and we we’ve we talked to Hines and we’ve talked to people about you know how do you emphasize the importance of a start again cuz they put so much into the start last year coming out of training camp everything was in preparation to be prepared for game won and you rewind two years ago, they felt the start is kind of what killed him. Yeah, it was brutal. They were chasing it all year. Yeah, it cost him the Dean Evson’s job and it killed him. Flurry stood on his head in Boston or somewhere to kind of write the ship. But yeah, it’s uh and if if you look at last year, the start saved him. They made it on a on a what what was it? Erikson Eckle game 82 82 right but they had banked all those points you know you had a heart trophy candidate Capriovv at the New Year’s Eve you had the first place everything was rolling and then the narrative this year is okay well they were able to get off to a great start with what looks like a very similar roster to this year’s team and as long as you can get a you know a healthy Ericson Ek Capri off Broaddin Spurgeon and things that you didn’t have last year. It will look different, feel different, and be better. But this year, I think that they’ve struggled to find the urgency at the start of the season that they had. And now, some of this is I’ll go back to the very first game of the year. And Hines, if you listen to Hines’s uh postgame presser, he didn’t love his top groups first period. You’re talking the St. Louis 59. Yeah. And and their start to their game because their first shift on the ice was power play. And the power play ended up and has been on fire since number one in the league. Yeah. But what they haven’t had is like great five on five play and it it they haven’t had the urgency right out of the gate. So that that St. Louis game was well our first shift was power play and and I’m not saying that this is the reason why but it’s just the the urgency wasn’t there. It’s feel it out get the puck going you know and and power play ends up having itself a good night. power play then goes on a complete heater and now they’re just like relying on the power play and five on five hockeyy’s not there and they haven’t been able to manufacture like the hunger and the desire needed to have like the start that they had last year. Yeah. And I think even it’s interesting so the Philly game, the most recent game, they did it they did play better. They did play harder. Um they could have won that game in overtime, but it’s interesting. You look at the you look at the tail of the tape, right? You’re outsh shot 21-6. You’re out hit 32 to 19. You’re 0 for three on a power play that’s clipping at about 40%. You do kill both of your penalty kills. Um but then you’re you’re losing in the dot 48 to 51. So I mean even though it they deserved better, I think was the quote uh from one of the players. But yeah, real quick. Where’s the other percent go? Uh, well, I think it was a rounding thing. Uh, it but I I I actually, it’s funny when I was looking at that on my phone. I was like, how should I write this down? But, uh, we lost the dot. Uh, regardless, but I um, yeah, it’s it’s uh I mean, you’re going to get the Rangers here, right? They they’ve got seven points. The Devils got eight. Utah’s in third place in the Central. And then the Sharks, which we’ll talk about an all-time quote from their coach, uh, Warsovski. But, um, yeah, we got to get this week, uh, you know, we got a couple more games on this road trip. You can still save the road trip and then you come home. The backtoback thing is crazy, man. I I don’t know if it’s an Olympic thing or what’s going on, but the fact that every like so many backs back to backs, um, which is crazy. Um, even when they come home, it’s back to back. So, I’m surprised they didn’t just go Monday, Tuesday, Jersey Rangers just to I know. And uh but I I’m sure that’s a new element for this team and everyone in the league. Yeah, that’s to be factored in a little bit. Uh I think fatigue to some degree, but again, where this team I thought was good and what differentiates them probably from some of the others is the ability to be good when they need to be good. And that’s the second of backto-backs. That’s when they’re not off to the start that they want to. And if you just look at the Philly game alone, I think you’re right in that Philly is a team that can be had. Meaning that like if if the Wild play their game the way they want to, that they should just beat Philly. Yes. And even if they don’t beat him on the scoreboard, it should be one of those games where you walk away saying like it it wasn’t our night on the scoreboard, but we liked the way we played. Instead, it was a we kind of liked the way we played, but we didn’t get the result. Those are for me are the most dangerous games there are because you’re starting to accept like something that’s mediocre and expectation maybe isn’t as high as it as it as it should be. But early on in the season, you don’t want to just be piling on with negativity being it’s not good enough, it’s not good enough, it’s not good enough, you know, and I think you look around the league right now, that’s happening in some places, you know, like there are teams that are struggling. LA is struggling. Um, Wild aren’t in a bad spot, but statistically, let’s look at what happened in the Philly game. They got outshot, right? What was that? Ended up being 16 to 21. So, you give up 21 shots. You’re stoked. Yeah. But you only register 16. And this has been a thing. I mean, I found myself in that Washington game. It’s never a good sign when you’re searching what’s the least amount of shots the Wild have ever had in franchise history. And it was 12. And we were hanging around 12 late in the third. Yeah. And that’s not I don’t want I think through two periods they had set the record for few. I I do not want that. That is not a good Google search at all. I don’t want that in my phone. Right. So slot shots on net. Good indicator of quality of shots. The Wild got out attempted there 16-7. Um high danger scoring chances now where it felt like it looked good. They got almost 2 to1 out chance 14-7. Ballstead was good and that was probably the silver linings, but I think the Wilder are struggling to find what they’re going to be good at five on five. And Hines is mixing up the lines now all of a sudden, too, trying to to spark something and and probably find what he has for sure. I think what we’re realizing is how important Zuki is going to be to this group and and just how much his ability is going to give depth to the group. But uh scoring chances off the rush 3 to 10 like they’re not they’re just not generating off the rush which is I think what that that top line and that third line. So when Trenion what was it Trenion Hartman and Johansson were together that was all rush they were dynamite off the rush and because the other two lines weren’t great they had to move Johansson around to try to create some speed and give speed to some of the other lines. But now I I think across the board they’re just not generating rush plays, you know, and they’re not generating enough cycle plays. They’re doing a good job drawing penalties though, like power plays, they do a good job drawing them. Um, and at some point, I feel like this is like I’m overly negative on the group right now, but at some point you had to understand this power play is not going to go at a 60s something 70% clip that things will regress to the mean. Like a good power play is what 25 to 30%. I mean I should say a great power play and a bad one’s what 20%. Yeah they’re at 38.5. That was the difference in Philly though. Those 0 for two on the power play. Um that was a game you’re watching it with the eye test. I’m like we win this game. Carell gets a goal late we win. No one remembers how hard it was. Um when Faber went up the wall doing his, you know, his his helmet was up on his head, his visor was up in his hairline, he gives the pass to E. I’m like, this is it. Three on three. We have a huge advantage here. You know, they got Mitchkoff and Zegris and some of these guys. And then just the most Minnesota part of it all. Of course, it’s Noah Kates scores, right? like the every bar in the state is either going to be Bobby Brink or Noah Kates or somehow like Sammy Walker is going to end up on Philadelphia and score the winning goal against us. It was just the worst. Just like, you know, it was like that was an instant turn off the TV, right? Like just click, you know, no postgame, no nothing. Just, you know, cuz it just it was just right there, you know. And I mean, obviously stuff happens. You hit the post on the shot. Um, but you know, I think regroup. Um, a thing I’m banking on is this. I really haven’t seen us play wild hockey. It’s exactly what you said. The the first game, even though we won five to nothing, was a complete bizarre game. Robert Thomas could have had nine goals in that game. Like, like it was just a bizarre game. Then we win the the ugly one against LA. The Columbus home opener is a hot mess. Um, the Washington game is the worst. We are bullied all over the ice. We’re not covering the back post. Uh they just look big and strong and it just was almost like uh little brother. I mean that was the worst one uh against the Caps. Philly we start to get our uh our dander up a little bit. Play hard. I will say on silver liningstead looks like uh I mean it’s like he is just dialed. I mean, the way just he’s like uh he looks like a terrier uh in net, you know? He’s just so focused, hyperfocused on the puck, it’s like aderall, you know? I mean, he really is in a is locked in and that’s been fun to watch. Um he looks like a guy that has something to prove. Yeah, he was on the podcast a while ago. I remember talking about it being like like he he knows what he wants and what he wants to be. I don’t think that uh let’s see that he knew how how to connect those dots, right? And I think from the sounds of it, I it seems like maybe he want he just wanted the things that have always been said he was going to get, you know, first round pick. It’s going to be his net in a couple years. Like, and last year seemed like it maybe was humbling for him and he doesn’t want to talk about it, put it behind him, but he learned what he needed to learn. And this year like desire kind of matches probably his his skill set, right? And he he does look determined uh like when he’s playing, doesn’t he? And he’s impatient to get there. He wants to get what he thinks is the path and he’s in a hurry to get there and he looks at I I think he’s been playing great and that’s not Gus has been in worse games. Like the team has played worse in front of Gus. I’m not putting it all on him, but I’m just looking for silver linings here. I mean, he he’s he’s he’s been uh when you got this many backto backs to have the kid uh playing well has been a really nice bonus. I think it’s also good just the way he’s responded. So Gus comes into the season uh with a year left on his deal and Volstead’s got two years on his deal that he’s on right now and he could make a case mentally where it’s like all right like if I have a good year you know if I have a good couple years this could be my net you know and then all of a sudden before the season starts and before V said really has a chance Gus inks a 5year deal. So now it’s Gus’s net for six years if he wants it. But Valsa didn’t let that derail him where I think it that’s what happened last year. Three goalie rotation. Sorry right now you’re the odd guy out. See you later. It derailed him. He didn’t let it or he hasn’t let it this year. And I don’t know what it is but you can see a determination a desire in the young guy. He looks good in the net. Whenever you get a fist pump in a shootout and he was as animated I say he looked like Optimus Prime. Like that was like Optimus’ prime story like he’s going to transform into something right there. But well, he’s twitchy and he’s on the puck. I mean, he uh if you had a little uh laser pointer like you play with your kittens or something, it’s like he is just on the puck. It’s like his eyes could be red like some of the wild pregame stuff. So, he’s been dialed. It’ be interesting to see how they handle this Devils Rangers, right? cuz you know I think you’re going to see obviously Gus tonight, but it starts to get interesting if if Volstead plays against the Devils and then gets the backto back split at home. Now you’re starting to you’re starting to give him a little more workload um because you like what you see from the kid. I’m not saying they’ll do that, nor do I care necessarily, but um he’s he’s been a bright spot. Um the power play obviously uh five on five has really been the struggle and and depth scoring right. Um you know we need to get uh Moose going. Uh Hartman had the couple goals in the first game but has been quiet since. Right. Um getting more points from the back end you know getting getting Faber on the scoreboard getting more more points from Jake uh Spurge. Um, it’s just it’s we’re we’re a little like uh this is the time of year you take the boat out of the water and you got to put that sea foam in there. We look a little uh muddy in the tank. Um, and I I guess I’m holding out hope that I don’t know that we’ve seen them play wild hockey yet. Um, and we need to start seeing it real quick. And and I think we’re seeing guys kind of do some uncharacteristic things, too. Um, you know, Washington game was I’ve never seen more guys standing in front of our goal unmarked back post all night long. I mean, it was unbelievable. D getting beat with wide speed that never get beat with wide speed. Chances uh developing that don’t normally develop. Um, you I don’t think turnovers have been like an issue. It’s just more and some of it I do think is where in the past everybody knew where they fell. Like look at let’s just go through the D like you you knew where guys were going to fall and what it was going to look like on the back end. Guys knew who their partners were and and how they were going to play. It’s move it’s changing every day right now. So guys are trying to figure each other out. And with that I think communication’s down a little bit and certain things aren’t clicking on all cylinders like we’ve seen in the past. And that’s probably true up front, too. And Hines, give him credit. He’s trying to figure some things out offensively. Five on five. Think think about the different line combinations he’s throwed out there now, too. You know, so he’s moved AC up with Baldi and Capri off. I think he split those guys up, too. And he’s he’s tried a bunch of different things. and he’s been able to to pop like one guy or two guys, but any move he’s made hasn’t it hasn’t had ripple effects to two, three, or even four lines. You know what I mean? And when it works for him, that that is what happens. He makes a switch and two, three lines start to look better instantly. It hasn’t happened. It’s just been like one line pops, you know? Yeah. I think I think Eurovv’s been interesting. Um, I’ve liked his game. Uh, he he’s very smart. Um, he’s not, you know, we’ve talked about this. When a player comes over from the KHL and you don’t have eyes on him the same way, he’s really he really plays a 200 foot game. He’s very smart. Um, reminds me a lot of Rossi. I know that’s maybe a weird uh comparison, but I This is a guy I think could get going, you know, and could become part of the offense. He’s He’s He feels like he’s right. he’s right there. Um, that would really help us if Yurov can start, you know, trending towards, you know, a 20 30 point guy. That’s a gamecher for us. Now, he’s got not getting a ton of ice right now, but um he’s been kind of uh, you know, glass half full when I’m watching. Um, I think we don’t have a lot of uh there’s bone and muscle when you lose Zuki, you lose Sturm, you know, it’s it’s a little lean and uh the five on five story is really what has to change. Yeah, they’ve they just got to score more and find some confidence and um but we’ll see. Now, the Rangers aren’t without their struggles, too. The team that they play tonight, um the Rangers have been getting good goalending. I I’ll look it up quick, but the their scoring hasn’t been great. I think Paneran just broke out, but they can’t score at home is an interesting dynamic. I think they’ve been like losing games one to nothing at home. Um, and the fan base has not been happy about this. So, Madison Square Garden has been a little bit haunted to start the season. I hope that remains the case tonight when we get to roll in there. But um but again, I mean, these are this is, you know, on paper a better team than Philly. Um as are the Devils uh two nights later. Yeah. So the Rangers right now through seven games have 15 goals for and I think at home they’re they’re getting like what a goal a game kind of. It’s brutal at home. Yeah. So like not even a goal a game. Yeah. They’re they’re like 2.15 goals per game right now. The Rangers are. And Shurken’s playing dynamite. So, I think they feel like they’ve got some missed opportunities there. But Rangers are one of those teams, too, where like you look at it up front like it should be frightening. You’ve got JT Miller, Paneran, Zabanagad, I mean, uh, Adam Fox on D. I mean, there’s a lot there. Pair, you know, they do have what looks like a really good for sure top six, but um, they’re not scoring. Tough goalender again. So, we’ll have to we’ll have to find a way. I uh do you want to go around the league a little bit on a couple things? This uh so we play San Jose at the end of this stretch here and um they’ve got two points and this is an alltime quote. This Ryan Worovski who was I believe he he led the US to the World Championship goal, did he not? He was the coach. Um he’s he’s being quoted after a game. He says, “I’d give one of my kids for an effing win.” Oh. And so I I spent my morning checking if Ryan Orsovski has children. Yes, he does have one child. And his wife is already tangled up in the algorithm for AI responses to this interview. Can you imagine coming home from work carts and you’re like, “Hey, uh before you see it, honey, I just want you to know I might have said that I would sacrifice one of our children. I know we only have one to get a victory for my hockey team. You know, my day job at work. I might have said I’d trade and like the little kids in the background like making lunchables, listening like can you even that’s just a tough one to come back from at on the home front. I mean and it’s I mean it’s amazing. I It’s the most hockey thing ever, right? I’d give one of my children I only have one um for a win. So that’s going to be awkward if they do win like tonight or tomorrow and then you know just like Simba with a baby or you know what I’m talking about Lion King where they they hold Simba up in the air he just leaves the kid on the ice at the end of the game and heads home. Um I yeah that was tough. Um I uh we’ve had a couple moments um you know the Oh the other one I was going to give you this guy on Washington this gigantic forward. Um I have never seen a hockey player like this. Um Otis. Yes. I It’s So I was an offensive lineman. Uh I I mean it’s just awesome. The guy is like uh I know there’s been big guys like RePe and and all this, but this guy is like uh you know the helmet doesn’t fit on his head. Um he scores a lot. Uh he’s it’s remember the old um uh the ice hockey video game where it was like you could have the skinny guy or the medium guy or the big guy. I mean this is a whole new thing. This this player I I find him fascinating just the size of him. He’s good too. And he’s really good. I know. I think he plays penalty kill. I think he was out there on the penalty. I’m like what am I watching here? This is like seeing an offensive lineman playing hockey and being highly skilled. And so I don’t know where they found him, but damn. I I that’s a special He’s got a brother, too. I I don’t know what uh organization his brother’s playing with, but well, I whatever country he’s from, maybe let’s get the scouts there cuz they are eating well and uh and they they are playing good. So, I’ve been intrigued. The the other Did you see the Dooh uh before the game? Uh you know, Oie, we know they didn’t want you. They didn’t want you, you know, but you know what? We love you. When they start singing to do and they’re shoving them and pushing them, money on the board, I’m sure, and misfits and all this. And uh that’s what I’m looking for from the wild. I’m looking for the moments. Um I thought the Middleton hit on Duchain gave us some of that. I mean, Dallas is a hated team here. And when he, you know, he just killed him at center ice, then he had to fight because that’s the modern NHL apparently. That was a moment I thought Moose Tap and U Deloreier might be a thing, but it didn’t seem to do. Yeah, guys are trying. Yeah, it’s just like something in their spark. Just give me give me a spark. Give me a God. that that EK play in Philly, it had all of the looks of it. Like it was like I could already see that highlight loaded into the Grand Casino stat pack, you know, the highlight pack and it just ping just the post the margin. It’s so thin carts. It’s so thin and uh even with the start last year, we end up making it by one point. So these are the little things to get there. What What So I were you How close were you watching? I was watching every Philly game minute. Okay. So, what sparked the Deloreier fight with Felino? Well, I thought so in the paper it says that uh Felino asked him to fight because he wanted to get going, which they thought that was fascinating, but when I watched it on TV, it looked to me like Deloreier initiated it. Um because I turned to Felo looked like he said maybe later or something like that. I turned to my buddy and I’m like that’s a tough that’s a tough one. when this guy that looks like Gritty, the mascot, is asking you to fight, I think you take a minute and say, “Let’s just see how this plays out.” But then Felino tapped him with his stick. So, I think Deloreier said, “If you want to dance, I’d like to dance.” And then Moose Moose was the one that I think when he talked to him, he was like, “Ah, let’s see what’s Let’s see what happens here for a hot second.” But then like minutes later, he gives him the tap with the his stick. Uh, Felino does. and then they dance and uh those are some big boys throwing them. Uh and uh yeah, but so I it’s just like we’re just not quite we’re not quite Superman punching, throwing helmets, uh goose sliding into the close people. That Middleton hit was awesome. I mean Dallas was a perfect hit. Dallas is our nemesis between this whole Jakeer, he’s Minnesota. It’s like the Philadelphia Eagles with the Vikings. like if you want to just have teams that you can legitimately hate every day of your life, sign me up for the Dallas Stars. Sign me up for the Philadelphia Eagles. And uh seeing him really get a guy was pretty awesome. And then the team responded. They start scoring goals. I’m like, we’re going to come back and win this game. This is how you get some mojo going in, but not not quite. So, digging into the stats on the the Rangers game tonight, the Rangers do have zero goals for at home, right? At home. Yeah. They’ve never scored a goal. They haven’t scored a goal at home. Yeah. Don’t would I don’t know now. How you feeling about that? I wish you didn’t say that. I wish you didn’t say that at all. I was walking into Herby’s for the uh Laney Wilson concert and I turned to my buddy and I said, “I don’t want to say this, but Volstead’s been playing good.” And as I said it, the puck went off of his skate from behind the net and went into the net as I’m walking up the stairs into Herby’s on the park. And it’s just crazy when that stuff happens. Yeah, let’s stay icy. Stay icy cold. There’s no lines in the pull tab box at Madison Square Garden. Please keep it that way and let’s beat these guys. So, back to margins being razor thin. This is an interesting stat. Razor thin. Razor thin. So, you almost have potentially your moment in the Philly game. Oh, it was there, man. I I mean, since the post, all of it. The Faber high visor look. Is he always looking at the scoreboard? He passes it across. E yawning net. Pink. Guess who leads the leagues? Leads the league in posts and crossbars hit. The Wild. The Wild. Okay. Okay. You’re giving me something. Yeah. So, they’ve got 12. That’s the most. Eight posts, four crossarss. So, it’s coming. It’s coming. And then if you look at some of the fancy stats, expected goals for the Wild are lower um 26, but they they’re they’re generating more and better chances. Uh so then they’re getting credit for if that makes sense. Well, scoring isn’t our problem yet. Five on five scoring huge problem. And that’s where this was, but we’re 17th in goals four. I would say last year we were much lower than that. goals against is the shocking part. We’re 27th out of 32. This is a team that’s built from the back end. We got 10 defenseman that are good. And again, if if the one that’s concerning is you’ve got LA at home down 3-0 going into the third and you win that game, but it it’s also possible that by winning that game in the shootout, it masks the problem a little bit, right? you should be able to close a team out up three in the third, right? And at home, I think some sometimes games like that, they they stick with you for a while, you know, and um but yeah, we haven’t had a clean victory yet. We haven’t had like remember the Carolina game a couple like when you’re looking for Mortal Kombat kind of. You just look at it and you go that is just that’s just a game we every we win every time. That’s wild hockey. We won. We were better. There’s no question marks. Nothing is in italics. Like our goalie was better. Our D were better. Nothing is in pencil. That’s just a straight up W. We haven’t had that yet. No. Let’s hope. But it’s only six games. Let’s just relax. Let’s just settle down. But it is only six games. But we are also nearing Thanksgiving. What are we a month out from Thanksgiving right now? A little over. Yeah. Oh, believe me, by the end of this week, 10 games. That’s a lot different than six games. It’s a lot different. So, hey, I’m already like, don’t worry. I if you need panic, I am looking at the standings. I’m looking at the standings every all the time cuz I know how hard it is, right? You do not want to be carrying a 45 lb sewer cap with you the entire season, right? Because you got a slow start. You just don’t want that. It’s too hard to tread water. You need to start making some deposits in the bank. Twopoint deposits. Yeah. And you’re going to probably want to uh take some deposits. Well, I should say invest in your own home right now. Uh winter is coming, the cold is coming. Make sure your furnace is working appropriately. Don’t wait until snow flies and all of a sudden it’s below zero and you’re like, “Oh no, I’ve got to get my furnace tuned up.” Schedule your $29 furnace tuneup today at aquariusomeservices.com. Aquarius earning the right to be recommended. Yeah. You know, and if I was gonna um I’m gonna have a get together coming up here in November, having some people over to the house. And as I pregame for that little 5K run, I think I’m going to go over to Cub. I’m going to get some snacks. I’m going to get some some chips, some dips, all the things you need for kind of that late fall pre-Thanksgiving setup. I’m going to head to a Cub with a liquor store so I can get some libations, as Mr. Carter likes to say. I’ll probably get some stuff for the grill. Uh, I’m going to be all set up. This is a brand that’s one of us. They love it. They sponsor our pod. They’re on PJ Flex headset. By the way, him, you see that video of him running into the locker room after they beat Nebraska? This guy goes full speed, jumps, and he went flying on the top of the players for like 100 yards. It’s awesome. I mean, PJ Fleck. PJ Fleck. Yeah. This is This Have I told you about this? This is crazy. I love it. I hate it. I love it. I hate it. We’ll come back to this. and but they’re on his headset. They do the Homer Hanes when the Twins aren’t trading all their players. Uh Cub, they’re one of us. They love it. Uh and if you were going to construct like the perfect uh afternoon for yourself, how would you do it? Well, I would first off make sure that I have a cozy place to sleep and rest should u anything happen throughout the day. Terrible transition. But uh I would make sure though uh that I check with my friends at Wild Construction to make sure that my roof is sound, that my siding will keep the cold out, that my windows are airtight so that I’m not wasting any energy. Uh again, they do specialize in roofs. There’s probably not enough time for them to get a new roof on right now, but uh they can get somebody up on the roof until snow flies to get you checked out. Sometimes it does take a handful of months up to 12 for some of the damage from storms to show up. So, uh, again, wildconstruction.com, they’ve got the resources on their website to see if you were within an area that had a storm. Uh, and they’ll know the dates. They’ll get up there, assess the damage, and get you taken care of. Uh, and in the meantime, if if you’ve had and you know you have ice damning issues, window is issues, siding issues, uh, they’ve got you covered. wild construction.com. Let’s get back to our boy PJ Fleck. I didn’t see this and it’s a good thing for me though. It’s one of the It’s It’s Would you like to see it while we’re here? Yeah. The speed and uh the comp here’s what I like about it. Two things. First of all, this guy could have severely injured himself. The the type of This is not This is all gas, no brakes running into the locker room. And I just all you can say about PJ is the the guys have to love him. You can’t tell me there’s a college player that doesn’t love having PJ Fleck be his coach. Really? I think they love him. He’s he’s he’s like them. He’s young and fun and trying stuff. And this week’s Captain American week and next week’s going to be, you know, Iron Man week and here’s your I interpret it differently. Oh, what do you what do you not like? And I’ve said this before. Forgive me if I’ve I’ve said this before, but what he makes the he made that win about him. He didn’t He didn’t play a Okay, just take this at face value, though. Watch the video. He doesn’t play a snap, right? He I I feel a coach’s job is to get people prepared. A coach should never like take the credit for what occurred on the field. You We had We just had Jacqu Lamair on the podcast. Do you think Jacqu Lamir would ever run into the room and crowds surf with the group? No. Totally different era. How How about Paul How about Paul Maurice? He didn’t He doesn’t He doesn’t address the team with the Stanley Cup. He didn’t go in there. He said this is their time. They earned this. He’s a He’s a human quote machine, though. Paul Maurice, just watch. Just give Just do the physical. Just give me a note on I don’t know. I have to open it in the app store. I don’t know. You got to You got to open it. Hold on. But so where where I’m going with this is he he somehow I think the players probably like the energy, but he somehow takes their accomplishments away from them. He diminishes what they’ve done and make it about him. Like you didn’t talk about Gopher football. You didn’t bring Gopher football beating Nebraska up. You brought up PJ Fleck crowd surfing. That’s the difference. That’s what I don’t like about it is it’s about PJ Fleck. It’s not about any It’s not about the team. And I understand college football like you have those guys for what five years and and from a marketing standpoint, you’re a marketing guy. The coach is the most marketable asset that those programs h have because he has great staying power, right? I still just don’t like it. I I don’t think that a coach should make it about him. And you could go other places. I don’t follow college football that closely, but I I can’t imagine there are too many others at, you know, SEC schools crowd surfing. Yeah. Well, I think for for me it’s like they’re uh you know, I don’t even know if that’s from an entertainment perspective. I think it’s great. I mean, it’s and think I just think it puts a ceiling on what your team’s capable of. Well, I think we’re in the we’re in no man’s land with golf for football, right? We’re right in that we’re right in the middle. And to have a guy like him trying to claw us up in into that top 25 in an NIL era where it is about marketing. It is about knowing who your coach is. Yeah. It is about having something. Oh, do you would you like to play for the golfers? And you’re just thinking as a player, what are the golfers? Well, all you know is uh all you know is it’s um it’s PJ Fleck and row the boat and you’ve got a couple things in your brain. I think it helps us. It gives us a few ornaments. It has great energy. It looks good. It looks like the guys enjoy it from a raw execution standpoint. I just to run that fast and jump and hope that you’re 6’6 linemen don’t miss you or throw you into a wall or you don’t break your neck. I mean, it’s the dude. He’s not faking it. No, I’ll give you I mean I I’ll I’ll give it that. That was real. They held them up. They were excited. He for sure remember in Revenge of the Nerds when they go to pick up the guys for school and they’re already wearing their clothes. Like PJ Fleck wakes up in the morning and he’s wearing the PJ Fleck costume and he’s got the headset on and he just gets up and he pours himself in an orange juice and his wife’s like, “How are you doing?” He’s like, “Elite.” And he plugs in his headset and he drives in his car to work. I mean, it’s real. It’s what he he is. He is the cartoon and so I give him credit for that. I think it’s fun and in a in a town where we can be a flyover state. Uh I like that he’s punching uh the sky, you know, for golfer football. I think I could be talked into it being fun and knowing that you have to do something different to attract players and to to build your program differently. I actually can get on board with that and buy into that. I also I I just We’ll see. We’ll see if if it’s successful over time. I I just don’t know. Hey, I got two things just I know we’re going to wrap up here, but the uh well, a couple things. First of all, I think Terasenko has been interesting. He’s he’s getting a little pod bump, right? He made a hell of a play catching that puck, setting it down, uh getting it back and and scoring. He’s he’s kind of in the mix on secondary scoring. He’s in that five, six point range, which not that many guys are on the team. But I wanted to ask you as an analyst, what’s going on with shots on goal? Why am I watching these games and having so much anxiety watching periods end when it says three? I almost wish they didn’t put the shots on goal on the screen because it just gives me the the L on my forehead feeling um watching games and then faceoffs. Okay. Why Why can’t someone figure out a tush push way to win every faceoff or do better at faceoffs in a world of skill when guys are doing lacrosse moves and and all this crazy stuff? You’re telling me there’s not a hack like Tik Tok can’t figure out? They can figure out how to make a can of Sprite explode with an Altoid and a banana. They can’t figure out how we can win 51% of faceoffs. Like, this isn’t a thing. Like, there’s not a cheat code. 51%. Give me a cheat code. Like, why? Why? It’s such a big deal. Think of three on three overtime. If you don’t win that first face off, you’re like, “Oh, I got three minutes of watching guys go in and out of the zone and we’re not even going to touch the puck.” Like, faceoffs are I used to kind of get frustrated when Wes Walls would talk about it all the time on the broadcast, but it is it’s so important. So, what’s going on with faceoffs and what’s going on with SOGS with this team? Well, I I think there’s a couple things. I think at times there are there are critical faceoffs, which are your four dots in in the end zones. Absolutely. Then you have five other dots where I think guys take off. I think good teams good teams care about those dots, too, and understand the value. Like three on three, that one’s a center ice dot. Um, you can I think you can go from 48 to 51 somehow. Uh, and just the middleized dots just by caring more, you know, just by wanting it more. And the the end dots are tough there. I don’t think that there’s like a a way to hack it now. And there has to be. There there’s there’s so much nuance to all of it. Let’s say you’re out there and you’re a lefty and you’re on your strong side. Now they bring a righty out. That’s a much different face off than if they bring a lefty out. If they bring a lefty out and you’re on your strong side and they’re on their weak side, you’re like, “Woohoo! This is great.” Like, you know, you’re you’re probably 70% on that that face off. But that’s exactly what I’m saying. Like, should some guy have a straight stick? You’ve got a straight stick on the wall for face off. Okay. So then the I’m literally saying like what is you think of that Ovetchkin goal right now? I don’t even know if we could have done anything besides win the faceoff. I don’t look at Zeve or whoever was trying to get out to him. They didn’t have time to get out to him. By the time you won the faceoff, it was in the back of the net. Um those like back breakers though when you also that’s outrageous though. You have like as a center though in that spot you have one job. I don’t remember if that was off of an ice so the center didn’t have an opportunity. Right. It was uh it was in our zone, right? Yeah, it was in our zone. The left dot looking out from our net. Yeah. I don’t remember if it was off of ice. Um but your job and you should be able to execute this as your job. You can’t do one thing. What is it? Lose the face off to him right there. Well, we did. This has to feel so bad. That does feel terrible. Like you’re like and any guy that’s been in the dot has done that before like and and it happens. But that that’s the one place you can’t lose the draw. It’s like that’s the only way that puck ends up in your net that fast, you know? And I was watching the replay and I’m looking at the guys trying to get out to him and it just there just was no chance. No. Perfect shot. That’s why you can’t lose it that clean. Yeah. So you could just have some way to say like I might lose his face off but not to not to him. 100%. Yeah. that that you should be able to find a way to do that. Yeah. And that’s where there’s no like tush push singular hack to it. Like you have to be it’s a it’s a skill and it’s a mental skill and it’s a physical skill. You have to understand and read and have a good feel for what the other team’s trying to do in that moment. Right. And I’ve heard you say it before. It’s five guys, not one. Yeah. It’s a unit. But I’m telling you, like MIT, uh, TED Talks, um, Tik Tok, if somebody can figure this out, you’d have to have AI in your helmet. Yes. And you’d have to be able to analyze every situation, the way they shoot, how this team wins faceoffs, and then say, “This is what this face off, what they’re trying to accomplish here. Take it away.” Well, if that’s what Amazon Web Services does, like I sign us up. You know what the first thing I would do is I would make every player take not saying that I would do this like I feel like they should do this. That’s not what I’m saying. But if I would make every player take a face off, not just the centerman. And that requires them all to know the responsibilities and routes. This another thing with the centerman is he has responsibilities, right? So it’s to stay decide. If they go wing over the top, he’s got to release his center. Then he’s got to go to the wing. like the center has the most complex job of anybody in that situation and he has to win the draw. So, he has to be a thinker. Has to be good. Um and and that’s challenging for sure. But now I forgot where shots on goal was the other one. I I just don’t know. Um I hear you on on faceoffs. It doesn’t appear to be a Oh, no. I would have everybody take a face off. So, you’re saying in practice? Just in general, I would in games. Yeah. I would make sure that I always have a good strong side option, you know. So, if I I’d have to go back and look and I don’t remember who was on the draw on that side. So, it was one by a lefty to Oie on his one-time side. Bang. Yes. Maybe it wasn’t a lefty. If it wasn’t a lefty, that’s even more egregious. But I don’t remember. I just know. I know. Z point is you always have somebody on your strong side. So, like if you unless your lines all And we’re getting we’re at a disadvantage because we got too many guys right-handed or too many guys left-handed and only one guy takes a draw and there’s not enough people with that club in their bag. Teams that are really good. Like if you go to the Rangers, I think they’re a good faceoff team. Like JT Miller and Savanad will take faceoffs. Yeah. And they have two guys every time based on their strong side. So not only can you cheat, which helps a lot. You got backup. You’ve got a strong backup. And I’ve always felt this. This is a sneaky trick on faceoffs is if you purposely, and I would do this when I was playing from time to time, send in a guy that you’re going to get kicked out of get kicked out. So, that guy takes a log off the fire, he relaxes a little bit, and I go in there with extreme intensity and he’s not ready for it. I’m telling you, this is an area we need to nerd out on. It matters so much. So, that was a great answer. You did a good job. Shots on goal. What’s going on? Why are there always three shots on goal? I mean, if I I only coached at like, you know, U14 and youth hockey, but I would sure as hell be telling you, you see the damn goalie and you’re in the zone, shoot right now, we got to get going, boys. You know, we’re six games into the season. If if you can see Eigor and you’re in the zone, fire it. You know, I mean, I and I know that’s not how the NHL works, but what’s going on? Statistically, they’re not struggling that bad. Okay. So, I think they’re 16th with a little over 28 shots per game. They come late. So, this team, the shots are really slow. I don’t know if you can see that stat, but it feels like the first and second, first half of the second period, we are just always at a deficit and then we kind of catch up. Yeah, I think it takes a little time, too. So early on, I feel teams that focus on volume probably understand that they don’t have like the skill to make plays. So, it’s obviously a balancing act between quantity over quality, you know, and some of the teams that have quantity um lack quality or maybe the quality skill there to to make the play that will put the puck into the back of the net. Now, you can change your your playing philosophy and say, “All right, I just want volume and I want people at the net, right? And I’m going to score ugly goals.” And that that could work, but that’s a hard way to play for 82 games, especially if you have talent, you know? Yeah. I don’t want I know the players wouldn’t like that either. I’m not asking them to turn into Penn State in college where it’s just, you know, but if you look at shots on goal right now, teams that are good, Carolina every year, every year and 5-0. Yeah, every year like they shoot the puck. But some of this might be just Carolina counts everything that goes thrown towards that. Okay. So they got a generous It’s been that way in the past. Anaheim was that way too. Now, ironically, Anaheim is number three on this list, you know. So it’s Carolina, Colorado, Anaheim, Washington, Columbus, Vegas, Islanders, Ottawa, Kings. So now like most of those teams in the top 10 you have half teams are top of the standings too. Some are on the top, some are on the bottom. Yeah, a lot of them are on top though. LA, Ottawa, and New York. Yeah, but you got Vegas, you got Colorado in there, you got Carolina in there. Um, but yeah, I don’t know. I just I It’s more of a mental thing. I don’t think it affects the players that much, but as a fan, just seeing that shot thing. I think it’s not necessarily volume. You just want to win that battle. Like you you want like if Philly’s got 20, you just want 25. If they’ve got 15, you’ll take 20. And you don’t want 10. No. You know, it’s just it’s it’s almost like remember it’s it’s every it’s there’s a loser mentality in that too. You remember leaving the rink and you lost the game and well, we outshot them 35 to 10. Their goalie stood on, you know. But uh yeah, I just it’s just interesting. I feel like we’re a little uh jammed up um getting pucks to the net as well. All right, couple more things. Let’s just have a a quick sixgame check-in on your bold predictions. How are you feeling about him right now? Uh well, I love the Leon Baldi. Uh he’s he’s been great. They got nine points each, Carell and him. So, he’s definitely What’s he got to get to? 90. Yeah, I think you you like ratcheted me up all over the board. But I I think Baldi’s been playing great. Um 90 is just not I I got a little uh issue on the you also cranked me up on Faber to 45 points and he has none so far. So that’s not starting great. Um well that was me. You you made me go up on Boo. Yeah. Well, you made me go up on Brock as well. Um I think uh I think the Terasenko Bourov remains to be seen. Um, we’re getting some out of Zeve and some out of Terasenko. Uh, I like how Yurov’s been playing, but he hasn’t been really chipping in offensively, so that’s going to be a tough get at 150. Um, so I It’s a mixed bag so far. Yeah. What are yours? How are you feeling? You had low hits. Where are they at on hits? They’re somewhere around the middle of the pack. And I think that probably has some to do with the fact that they’re struggling. I do feel like if they were off there’s some frustration if there if they were off to a better start the hit numbers would be lower and full disclosure the lower hit numbers I think is a positive thing for the group and did you have a Volstead pick too right like something lowest save percentage that was last year okay what are anything you’re are you way off on anything um I don’t know I think the hits one is probably Boo I had um he’s chipping in offensively. What else is there? Hus, let’s see. We’ll have to edit some of this out, but my computer died. Yeah. So, Gus will start 60 games. Boom will score 45 plus 48 plus and be top three in Calder. Yeah. Yep. Capri off will finish top three in heart. Wild will have 82% net penalty kill. Wild will finish bottom five in hits. And what were mine? Uh Kinger Baldi will score 90 plus points. Terasenko Buyoff will combine 150 120. Oh, okay. That helps. Favor will score 45 points. Yeah. Uh, by Olympic break, Garen will trade for a whale. Yeah, I like that. Walstead will win 15 plus games. Huh. Okay. I forgot I had the little Wall-E snuck in my bag there. Uh, that helps. That helps. I’m like I’m happy it’s 120, not 150. This is good because Wall-E Wall-E having a good start I think bodess really well. Helps me on one and helps hurts you on yours, right? That hurts Gus. Now there’s a lot of backtobacks and V that’s why I picked him. I think it’s two games in and Vstead has earned confidence there or like the confidence in the staff. He’s a 0.909 2.35. He’s in the leaders. He hasn’t played that much, but yeah. Uh Bu I think is in a pretty good spot. Like what’s he sitting at? I love watching Bu play. I think he’s he’s getting better every year. I’m fine with any of the nerves or the oh he lost the puck at the blue line or whatever. He’s 19 years old. He’s he’s he’s extremely talented. Yeah. And he’s he’s getting more confident each like shift, don’t you? Oneman breakout, by the way. Yeah. You don’t need a ladder play. Put your ladder in the garage. This guy can skate it up. It’s like Jojo. Both those guys. One man breakout. What a luxury. I think what’s exciting about him is you can see his hands and his his head. Even though he’s a good skater, it can process faster than he can kind of get there. and he’ll blow a tire from time to time trying to like catch up with his hands and his brain, but once they’re all on the same page, watch out. He’s going to be dynamite, you know. Yeah, he’s he’s a he’s a good player and and I’m down with, you know, taking a little pain. He’s Yeah, he’s got five points right now. Yeah. How about Caprice off top three in the heart? I think that that you have to make a playoff that helps you because this is a group based on early. It’s very early, but if we’re gonna get there, if we’re gonna have a good season, he’s gonna have to be He’s gonna have to be great. Yeah. He’s gonna have to be the $136 million man. That That’s That’s almost the same as saying the Wild are going to make the playoffs. Like, if they make if they make the playoffs, he’ll probably be for sure top five heart. He has to. I mean, he So, if he won’t, he won’t. If you have a bad year, um that you know, I mean, so I think you’re you’re almost betting on the team when you bet on him. Um, but yeah, I think it’s all uh it’s all out there. Even, you know, Faber should have had assists the other night, right? Good play. Uh, it we’ll see. I I really think it’s so crazy, but the difference between six games and the next time we talk to you on Monday, and we’ve now seen 10. We’ve seen a couple more on the road against a little bit better teams. We’ve seen one you got to have against San Jose and Utah, somebody in the central that’s an upandcomer. I mean, we’re going to know a lot more uh next Monday. Let’s uh do we have our trivia bit prepared, locked and loaded? Let’s Let’s get that in here. This I love this. You love this because you hate it, but it’s good. I don’t know anything. It’s good. And then now we just have to be prepared for I’m a New Testament wild guy. Like like I think when uh when Carrill was born uh I’m so much better post Carrill, what would that be? Uh AK uh after Carrill than I am early years. All right, let it rip. All right, here we go. Uh before joining the Wild, he had already won a Stanley Cup. Okay, hold on. Give us a second. Um, can the player be on the current team or is this all alumni? Can I answer that? I’m not I don’t think you can answer that. Okay. We haven’t established those rules. All right, keep going. I mean, it’s 25th anniversary. You can probably assume it’s okay. Alumni. So, he answered it. That helps. Okay. Doesn’t mean I’m going to get it. Uh, he served as the team’s alternate captain in his time with the Wild. Uh, Eric Stall. [Music] Now you get three freebies. Okay, let’s keep going. Like you’ve rushed it. Uh, played three seasons for the Wild. It’s not Eric Stall. This is amazing. One a cup or an A. Just get over yourself. Keep going. I’m just going to take all the guessed it right there. Give me all the clues. What does it matter? Keep going. Gilz’s better be right by the way. Uh he played over 1,200 NHL games recording over 300 goals in his career. Okay. Still just this a good player that played for us briefly and won a cup before he was with us. But the captain thing is interesting. Uh okay. Give me the last one. He scored four short-handed goals for the Wild in one season and it was a franchise record at the time. Oh god. Um I hope that Brian Rston bingo. Yes, I’m back. Oh my god, you just got destroyed already getting on the last one with a straight guess. You got destroyed. you. This is a thing you thought you were good at and I just took it from you. We should look We should look how much of those rushed it. You were so That’s just careless. You were just like, you could have had me all day. Um I think it’s different. I I think it’s different. Yeah. If you get one wrong, but Eric Stall was like boom. There’s not enough what I would call uh John King clues in here. Like this is a guy who was famous for doing a slapshot on a on a shootout. Yeah. Brian Rston. Like I would have had known that too, you know. I know. But that’s just we need to like let’s just sell out. What if they said this guy likes to skate with his tongues out? Who was a tongue out guy? I don’t even know. Brian Rollston. Oh, did he did he skate with his tongue out? I didn’t know that. Wait. Um, wait. I did not know that. His tongues. Tongues. He has more than Oh, skates. Yeah. Oh, so he didn’t lace him up very well. He was a big Achilles guy. I thought he was like Michael Jordan like rolling around with the the big uh the big one hanging out. I think that’s a good way to end. Uh hey, we’re here. Let’s hope we’re a little happier next week. Let’s hope the beard’s a little bit longer. The whisker ticker. We’re here till it’s here. [Music]

The Minnesota Wild are kicking off the season with their first long road trip, and they head into Madison Square Garden tonight with high hopes.  Ryan Carter and John King bring you another installment of your favorite hockey podcast. While King is rocking his new shirt from the Lainey Wilson show the other night, Carts gives flowers to Jesper Wallstedt, the guys discuss Daniel Yurov’s recent contributions, and King’s love of Dallas.  Stick around for some fun with another 25th anniversary trivia segment, and even a college football check-in for the guys to discuss coaching, and PJ Fleck’s recent jump for joy.