Today on the show we will talk all things Oilers and specifically Evan Bouchard, preview and talk about Jays game tonight, preview the Elks game tonight, look ahead to the weekends NFL games with co-host Wanye Gretz and much more!
From Oilers to Elks, basketball to football, whatever is happening in the wide world of sports, Jason Gregor will be covering it.
With daily guests, co-hosts, and the Jason Gregor Show staple of Connor Halley this is four hours of sports talk you won’t want to miss.
0:00 Welcome to The Jason Gregor Show! 20:00 Landon Ferraro – Former NHL’er *Oil Report* 40:00 Stephen Bazan – Sherbrooke Liquor 1:00:00 Terry Ryan – Co Host 1:20:00 Jamie Campbell – Sportsnet Jays Host *Big Guest of the Day* 1:40:00 Colin Livingston – CanTorque 2:00:00 Cam Tait – Two Minute Warning 2:20:00 Cory Lavalette – Hurricanes Beat Reporter *Around the NHL* 2:40:00 5 Questions 3:00:00 Mark Spector – Rogers Sportsnet 3:20:00 Cody Fajardo *In the Room* 3:40:00 Thanks For Watching
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How are you? And welcome to the Jason Greger Show. Sports1440. Sports1440.ca, Oilers Nation, YouTube, Facebook, X, and Instagram, as well as, of course, Sports 1440. Check out our uh YouTube page, Facebook. You can say hello. Say hi to the the deck man uh in the chat room over there. Of course, Connor Hley running things here at Sports 1440. We got a loaded loaded show for you today. We have a big game tonight, baby. There’s a few of them. The Jays and the Mariners series is suddenly tied at two. How things change quickly. We’ll get to Mad Max in a second. Also, the Elks in BC tonight. That’s perfect. You can watch the Jay’s game afterwards. You got the Elks in the the night cap tonight, which is fantastic. It’s a must-win game for the Now, they’ll know a little bit beforehand because of the Saskatchewan and Winnipeg game that plays before them. And hey, they not that they need any motivation because regardless of what happens in the Winnipeg game, even if the Bombers win, the Elks can still catch Calgary. So, you want to win and then see what happens. It won’t be easy. The BC Lions are playing very well. The BC Lions are battling Calgary for for second place and even Winnipeg. So they got lots to play for. It is it’s ultra tight. Two game two games separate those four teams. That’s it. So should be a heck of a game tonight. The Lions very good offensively. The Elks defense has been really good down the stretch. Uh offensively it’s getting better, right? Obviously ranking’s great. The uh the pass protection has improved. Cody Fardo, they need a few more passing yards from your QB. It’s a passing league, right? You It’s hard to win if you have the fewest passing yards in the league. That’s just a fact in the CFL. So, we’ll see if they take a few more chances tonight. The uh the mayor of New Jersey, Kand Danico, will join us today. Also, Craig Button will be by. We got Spec LT Cam Tate, the two-minute warning. Laurianne Munzer, gold medalist. Another segment in the mind will be by. Uh we’ll talk Oilers, of course, last night. Not not a great performance by the Blue and Orange. They got an off day today. They’ll play New Jersey tomorrow and then on Sunday afternoon in Detroit. Remember, those are both afternoon games, uh 1:30 and uh 1:00. I’m getting the days mixed up. I can’t remember which one’s at 1:30 our time and which one’s at 1. But uh Conor, how do you know which one’s at 1:30 and which one’s at, uh 1:00? Uh well, I can tell you that you’re going to get the game here on uh well, which is quickly. Jay’s game playoffs will be on uh our station as well. I just want to get that one quickly in there. And then uh yeah, for the Emmonton Oilers, uh tomorrow it is 1:30. 1:30 tomorrow and Sunday is 1:00 against the D. Troy Red Wings. And have you seen Cam Talbbert? He’s on fire. John Gibson, their big offseason acquisition, played two periods, allowed five goals and 13 shots. Hasn’t played since. Yeah, I’m assuming he’s going to get into a game soon for them. But uh the Detroit Red Wings, uh they need to win. They want to win. They want to get in the playoffs and a lengthy playoff drought. And they’re home tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning. And then they got the orders on Sunday. So I would assume John Gibson’s going to play one of those uh two games. The orders last night. Hey, that was a night to uh forget for Evan Buchard. There’s no You can’t debate it. And it’s not that it doesn’t matter because it does matter. You if you make one m big mistake, okay, but you can’t just keep compounding the mistakes and having the same one. Like there was just some there’s a bad game. You got to figure out a way to to get your, you know, yourself readjusted in the game. And I I do wonder if Jake Wallman’s dressed in game. And are they giving Buchard a reset? Remember last year, funny enough, game four against the Philadelphia Flyers? Leon Drytle started the season. I think he took four or five minor penalties. Two of them came at the end of a period. Coach finally said, “Okay, enough’s enough.” He sat him down. It was only like eight minutes, but still Leon freaking dry settle sat him down for eight minutes. You don’t have to put him in the press box. You don’t have to go crazy, but I I think you can send a message. And I think if uh if you had some other right defense when dressed, they might have done it. And you could argue maybe the coach should have done it just for a reset to say hey Evan you can sit here for five six few shifts and then then we’ll give you back in because hey when Bard plays well he’s obviously a very positive player on your team but last night was a struggle for him and and sadly once again the Edmonton Oders their offensive woes continue five on five you’re not going to win many games and you only score one goal a game five on five unless you expect your power play to be 100% and score in every power play. It’s not going to work. Got to find ways to get more goals. And late in that third period, it’s three to two. The owners have had a successive shifts in the road. They’re playing well. They do a give and go off the right wall. McDavid comes right into the slot and he looks to pass, no offense, to Troy freaking Stetcher. You’re not passing it to Dry Cidle. You’re not passing time and you’re looking off in the slot. to Troy Stet. I’m sorry, but that can’t happen. McDavid’s got to shoot there. You got to get selfish and you’re in a great shooting lane. Come on now. Like they Hey, the Orders big guns have been shooting blanks five on five through four games. Do I think eventually they’ll score? Of course. But that’s that’s not a that’s not a fair assessment. Well, they’ll eventually start scoring. No, they’re not scoring right now at all. Five on five. It’s It’s not good enough. You need You can talk about your depth, guys, and sure, they need to score, but you got to have your big guns going. It’s just that simple. Leon Drytle doesn’t have a point in four games, five on five. I’d have to look back and see when was the last time that’s happened for Leon Dry. I know it’s the start of the year and people are going to say, “Oh, it’s magnified.” Yes, he has three goals. I get it. Two on the power play, one empty net. Awesome. But the majority of the game is played five on five. and he’s got nothing. So you look at here’s the guys who play the most minutes five on five for the M2 owners. They have six players who have played five or 60 plus minutes five on five through four games. So think do the math. It’s an average of over 15. It’s actually closer. Basically they’re all averaging 16 minutes or more a game five on five. Well dry settle no goals no points. Two shot oh no sorry five shots. Brett Kulak, no goals, no points. Okay, it’s Brett Kulak. Matias Echome, nothing. Evan Buchard, nothing. Darnell Nurse, nothing. Conor McDavid, one assist. So, your six guys who play the most minutes, five on five, have a combined one point. Now, people, oh, we need more from the depth guys. Okay, let’s let’s go down now forwards. Uh the the next six guys in ice time Frederick Kaepern Emerson Mjapani Nan Hopkins and Pod Coulson one point two point one point one point two points one point okay now Seavoy Henrik Tamasic Ike Howard they don’t have a point yet okay they also play the least amount of minutes but when your top six minutee eaters have no points well excuse me one That’s not good. Like, come on. And don’t give me this garbage. Oh, eventually it’s going to score. What? Like, that’s not a proper assessment and evaluation. Oh, well, eventually they’re going to score. Like, I I just think that’s such a Oh, well, luck is naturally going to turn and you just do everything and oh, it’s just magically going to go in the back of the net based on what? It’s wishful thinking. Got to get a little bit more selfish. Mix in a screen or a layered screen when you have a good shot and and doesn’t have to be from the point. You you can get bodies in front before you put the puck at the point. You can have a guy in front of the net and still put somebody in the slot and have them shoot. It’s allowed. You’re able to do it and that’s what they need to do. No question about it. Um now the Toronto Blue Jays, how many of you you watch that game? Like we talked about it yesterday, Connor, and I said, “Hey, you know what?” I said, “I’m not going to question the manager even though I was like, geez, why is he why is he playing Connor FA?” But I said, “You can’t really question the coach. Can’t question the manager. He’s made a lot of great decisions.” And so, uh, what happens? Connor Vale, what’s he do his first at bat? Gets a double. What’s he do? And then he scores. What’s he do his second at bat? Gets a single. And I’m like, and I was just laughing. I’m like, God, right now, every decision the manager is making, most of them pan out. The Jays come back, they they get Castile out. Castillo, who I think before the game would have started. If you tell me who’s going to last longer, Castile or Sherzer, I’m probably going to say Castile. Well, he lasted two and a third. Meanwhile, Mad Max Sherer, he’s over there. He’s firing his I’m okay. Oh, you got to love it. And by the way, am I the only one, and I might be cons, I had never noticed until earlier this year that Max Scherzer has the husky eyes. one’s blue and I like I never noticed that before and the guy’s been around the league a long time. I’m like am I living in like bizarro world? How do I not notice that? But it’s just like it’s like yeah, this guy’s pretty intense. But the husky eyes, you know, anybody’s had a husky dog, lots of them have like one blue eye, a little bit different. It’s great. Nothing wrong with it. It’s pretty unique. God, I wish I had husky eyes. That’d be sick. Anyway, he’s just he’s in there. He had one pitch they probably wanted back and it’s because he threw a change up too hard. Other than that, man, he was wheeling and dealing. He’s intense and it’s not like he had perfect command, right? He had a few walks in the game, but he was just a grinder and he’s just battling. It was kind of symbolic of what the Jays are this season, right? What happens for the second straight game, I could have went to play Alberta. And there was no chance you would have convinced me to bet a home run against for him. And what does he do is first at bat, third inning, exact same thing he did in game three, two-run blast. Unbelievable. Like when your number nine hitter is going consecutive games with two-run home run to get your offense started, that’s unbelievable. Like you’re loving it. And again, Connor Valea two for three. Gimenez two for three. They they were great in the bottom of the order getting on base with walks. Uh you know, sacrifice bunts. Like they played small ball when they needed. They played big ball when they had to. You know, you have uh um Guerrero Jr. hitting another home run. He’s got five now. By the way, if you’re winning the record for most home runs in one playoff season is 10. He’s got a he’s got a ways to go. Do Do you know who, by the way, owns the MLB record, Connor, for most home runs in one single year? No, I don’t. Well, he’s playing for the Mariners. Randy Rose Arena. That was just a couple years ago, wasn’t it? Yes, that’s right. And after him, it’s eight. So, he’s two ahead of anyone else in one calendar year. And if the Jays can get through to the World Series, well, obviously there’ll be at least two more games. And so if they win, that’s probably minimum six games, right? Because even if they get swept, he’s still got six games. So maybe seven depending on how long this series goes and then how long it goes. So Vlatty Guerrero, could he get to to seven or eight? Yeah. The way he’s playing, why not? It’s awesome. What about Addison Barger? The guy hasn’t played outfield in a month and he really didn’t get much practice to do it because it was a decision in the afternoon. Santoair, they had to switch him off the roster. They put him out right in right field. Here’s Barger making two really good catches and then he guns down Naylor at third base to end what could have been potentially a little bit of a late rally by the Mariners. It was fantastic. Like the Jays are beating you every way the last two games. Good pitching, timely hitting, big home runs, small ball when needed on sacrifice bunts or just, you know, hitting behind the guys when they’re on first and second. So, they move to second and third. Like, it was it was awesome. The relievers come in, they do the job. You know, Hoffman Dominguez, Hoffman comes in. Hoffman looked great in his inning. Two strikes and what he throw like 10 pitches, two strikeouts. He was awesome. The Varlin again. And by the way, am I the only one? Does Varlin and Trent Frederick not look alike? You ever notice that Cons. Look at Varlin and look at Trent Frederick. Quite similar. A little bit. I can see it. They are. So I will say Gregor one thing about the Mariners like in a series like this you know especially in the playoffs you can’t make mistakes to let your team back in it and it seems like they are like it was a great throw by Barger but maybe in the Naylor has to consider not going for third there wild pitches in key situations allowing the Jays to score like the the Jays are doing very well the Mariners don’t need to be helping them out the way they are. Yeah. So, um I look at and hey that’s but that’s the difference like playing a good game is a lot of the times the team who makes the fewest mistakes wins. Ask order fans about last night right who made more mistakes owners. That’s why they lose the game. So um it’s uh man but mad Max Scherzer was unreal. Like I and you know what I did you see the John Schneider postgame interview at the podium and he was being asked about Max Shers and he’s like man I’ve been waiting for that moment all year, right? Because he has a reputation of being pretty intense. You come off as you’re the manager like yeah you go are you okay? Yeah I’m okay. Like I loved it. I saw some people oh he shouldn’t you know he shouldn’t talk. I’m like what are you talking about? The manager had no problem with it. You want guy’s intense. I love it. Right. He comes in the stairs and I know he hit you know he kind of shoulder bumps with Pete Walker. Whatever. Like this is pro sports, right? He didn’t like run him over, but I love that altercate. Yeah, I’m okay. Like I loved it before he even got to the field. He’s like, I’m not coming out of this game, right? And that that’s what you want as a manager, right? Like you want the guys to want to be in there. Not scared of the moment. And uh Max definitely wasn’t scared of the moment. It was uh it was awesome. It was a fant like I’ll tell you right now, like I was watching the Jay’s game and I was PVR in the game cuz one’s a playoff game. I and you know I have time to watch through the orers game but I was watching the Jay’s game last night because it’s playoff game man and playoff trumps it for me for the intensity everything else and you know it’s awesome you know so my son’s at that age too you know any father or mother out there who gets to share something with their kids like my son’s big into the Jays now and so you know he’s just living and breathe kind of his first time and so he’s a he’s a very irrational young fan you know they get down and run oh my god they’re going to lose I’m like, “Son, there’s lots of time left.” You know, the Jays come back, but and then he always has a great time. And and so last night, because, you know, game’s getting a little bit later, he goes to bed. He actually was listening to it online on the radio. So, he set it up in his room. He’s just got a speaker. And so, he’s in his bed and he’s just like, “Dad, like I can like picture what they’re doing.” And it just reminded me like I loved listening to sports as a kid on the radio. It was fantastic. Rod Phillips, I used to listen to postgame with John Short. There’s just something like you got to focus more, right? And you really I think it’s better for your imagination sometimes to to hear what the guy’s saying and you got to kind of picture it yourself. I love it. Do you ever listen to games on the radio cons? Absolutely. Yeah. We we were driving around for Thanksgiving last week. So throw the Oilers on for their for uh Blue Jays. It’s the best. Yeah. No, it’s just a little bit different with that AM hu sound kind of playing in the background. Yeah. No, he loved it. It was in his room he’ never done before. He’s like, “Dad, can I do this for the next game?” I’m like 100%. Now tonight it starts early so he won’t be in bed and you know got some buddies coming over but still he was he was all over. He thought it was great. He’s like I can even play minists and just listen to the game and I’m like yeah of course right you can do some things at once. So it was awesome. I’m thinking uh the Jay’s fans people are going to be uh uh pretty fired up. Um before I go to break I would like to uh pass on uh my condolences to uh to John Sexmith’s family. Um Johnny was someone I got to obviously before I got in this business. Uh watch John. Um then I had a chance to uh to work at Global. Um used to do just some some weekend stuff and work with him briefly there. Uh but obviously we saw Johnny had some great conversations. He was extremely passionate about sports. Funny dude. I I really remember him. That’s another touchdown in the end zone for high school football because Johnny of course used to do the uh back then the Eskimo games and but anybody I think who who had an opportunity John for the last few years while battling cancer was still coaching amateur hockey and he loved it and he was so committed you know his kids weren’t on the you know obviously his son Joel was older and you know was playing university and and such but he was still coaching because he loved it and he was very good at it and uh you know the the sporting community here in Edmonton. John was a great fighter. He fought a long time. He’s been battling cancer for many, many years and you know, he always had an upbeat attitude. Uh I just saw him last month at the uh at the golf tournament for the orders at the Glendale and I had a really good chance and John was very honest. He’s like, “You know what, man? I’m battling it, but I’m not sure how much longer I have.” And my father-in-law was going uh through prostate cancer and and you do know when when kind of the end uh is there. And you know, John and I had a really good conversation about maid because my my father-in-law had had chosen to use maid or was going to at at that time. And it uh um it was it was great to see him. He always had a positive attitude despite everything that was going on. So um to to all his friends and and family of course and and co-workers. I know Kevin and John were really close and you know it’s tough day for Kev. Um you know him and Johnny worked together for a long long time in that sports department. So uh our deepest condolences to the Sexmith family. We’ll take a quick break and come back. It’s Gregor Show presented by playalberta.ca. Looking for the perfect used ride? Now’s the time. Drive away for as little as $25 bi-weekly. Go has over 7,500 used vehicles in stock. With something for everyone. 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Playalberta.ca casino sports live dealer lottery instance all in one stop. playalberta.ca or download the app. It’s even easier. Of course, uh busy night in uh sports. We got baseball, you got football, uh orders backtoback on the weekend on the road, New Jersey and Detroit. Remember, afternoon games 1:30 and 1:00. We got pregame shows starting uh before both of them. So, uh noon and noon on both days. So enjoy that. Now let’s get to our football report brought to you by Legacy Heating and cooling home with the no payments, no interest for one year on your furnace or AC. Probably think of the furnace this time of year. Stay warm all winter legacy heating.ca and we’re joined by Farhan Lodge from the CFL on TSN and a huge night Farhan. We’ll get to the CFL in a second, man. But oh, probably a t tough few days for you Mariner fans. What what’s happened? What’s going on? Yeah, the bats have certainly come alive for the Blue Jays. Um, you know, they got they got pretty quiet at the Sky Dome there for those first two games and you kind of came out of those two games feeling that look, the gap between the two teams pitching staffs is greater than the ban than the gap between their offenses. But, uh, uh, Toronto certainly changed that narrative in the last two games. So yeah, if you’re a Mariner fan from BC, it’s certainly a tough been a tough couple of days and they’re tip getting going here in about 90 minutes. So hopefully they can salvage one of these. Well, what’s interesting about the uh about this game or last two games is the Jays just took out their two best pitchers and now they’re going to need Miller to do what he did in game one. Yeah. And he’s capable, right? And and that’s how these playoff series set up and we’ll see if Woo is involved at all, you know, either here now or back in Toronto. That certainly could be a difference maker for Seattle. But um yeah, you wouldn’t expect the 41y old to do what he did on the other side last night, would you? Oh, buddy. And well, it was he’s an intense guy, man. But he was he was battling. It wasn’t like he was great in the sense of like just overwhelming them. He was struggling with his command, but last night to me just showed his ability to just keep in the battle and in the fight. And if you walk a guy, no problem. I’m going to get a double play after that. or you know, I’m just going to pitch my way out of it with a strike out or or a fly ball. And so to that, I felt was a great example of when you don’t have your best, you still got to compete. Yeah, for sure. You know, in early in these games, we’ve seen some runs and then, you know, pitchers have had to dig in and and compete, right? And it happened uh in Seattle when or sorry, in Toronto, right, when the Jays got out to an early lead in one of the games and and Seattle, you know, kind of came right back. And so that happens. And look, I I don’t know Toronto’s pitching staff well enough to have watched him all season long, but um it was certainly an impressive performance, especially when when Schneider went out to the mound and they got into it a little bit for a couple seconds here and stayed in the game and got it done. Far, now we switch over to uh the CFL and uh you know, the Elks have managed to keep themselves in the fight and and obviously they’re going to need a little bit of help and and they got to beat BC tonight, which is no easy task. The Lions are playing very well. Um I I look at the Lions and they got the best big play offense in the game. They they average the most yards uh per play offensively. I think they got like 110 fewer uh completions than Toronto, but they got the most passing yards. Like they go big. They got the leading receiver. You know, they got the you know, their third receiver has the highest um 18.7 yards per catch. Like they’re a big play offense. When teams have success slowing them down, how do they do it? Well, to be honest, like nobody really has for the last three months, right? And Toronto kind of did, but if you looked at that game, uh, a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers by Ror, they got into some penalty trouble. They made some drops. Like, it just kind of looked out of sink and it didn’t necessarily feel like it was anything Toronto did. It it just looked like BC kind of shot themselves in the foot. And honestly, like it it certainly turned itself into a big play offense, but if you really watch them play, it hasn’t necessarily been that way because one of the things that Nathan Work can do is he can go through his progressions and if he’s got to get it out of his hands early and the games dictate that he does that based on the types of looks that he’s seeing, then he’s prepared to do that. And and they’ve got guys that can that can get some yards after the catch. But, you know, you look at a Calgary offense, for example, like you can tell when Vernon Adams can’t really push the ball down the field, the underneath game becomes a bit of a struggle, right? And then you better be from playing from ahead because if you’re playing from behind and then you lose the ability to run Dedric Mills, that becomes a challenge. Whereas, I think BC has sort of found a sweet spot where they can beat you multiple ways and if they’ve got to metriculate the ball down the field, then then they can do that, right? And you know, for for the Lions, the if they’re going to take penalties and now you’re going to get the first and 15 and second and 20, that’s what’s going to derail them. And if they can stay away from that, as well as Edmonton’s defense is currently playing, and I think they’re much better than they were in the first seven games when BC played them twice. Uh I I still don’t know that Edmonson can hold BC under 30. Yeah. Well, the and I don’t know if they can either, which to me to tonight is a game where the Elks offense, they’re going to have to match him. They’re going to have to be more aggressive. Cody Fardo’s he can’t just settle for the safe pass tonight. Like the Elsk are the they got the fewest passing yards in the league. Now, Justin Rankin might be the most explosive player in the game right now. There’s no question. If you just look at his runs compared to everybody else, he’s got 12 runs at 20 plus yards. The next closest guy is seven. Like, he’s been really dynamic at it. But you got to find a way to get the ball downfield and sometimes in the middle of the field far and not be worried about, oh, this might get deflected. You got to trust yourself as a quarterback and throw into some tight spaces. Yeah. You know, and yeah, 142 yards, which is what Cody had last week, isn’t going to get it done. He’s going to have to do more. And you’re right, like Justin Rankin is, you know, as good a player as there is on that field tonight from either team. And uh if you’re BC and your Mike Benvites, your entire focus needs to be Justin Rankin. And will that open up other things? it’s going to open up other things. Just a case of whether or not Cody can see it. And one of the things with Cody is that he doesn’t necessarily go through all his progressions. And that’s not a criticism. It’s just that, you know, because of how he throws the ball, he must throw early, right? Like he just has to because in order to get the ball into this spot before somebody can close on it, he has to get the ball out of his hands earlier than most quarterbacks who might have a little more velocity can do, right? Like you you see what Nathan does and there’s times where he’s just about to get hit and he can snap it out there. Well, Cody can’t snap it out there. He’s got a much longer delivery. So, um, it it makes it tougher to find that guy is my point, right? And you and I have talked about it before that I’m not sure Edmonton necessarily has a very dynamic receiving core. So, they’re, you know, they’re going to have to they’re still going to have to play a level of ball control, but I I think BC will do everything possible to take Rankin out of the game. And I just much like I just said, I don’t think you can hold BC under 30. I don’t think you can eliminate Justin Rankin. I think one way or the other, Rankin’s going to find a way to get 100 allpurpose yards. But can they keep him close to that amount? Cuz if he gets 200, which he’s capable of doing, rushing and receiving, now you’re in trouble because then Edmonton gets to control first downs. They can continue to to get first downs and have and time of possession and and you know, then it becomes much more difficult, right? H totally. Far you joined us here on sports 1440. You you mentioned the Elks defense, Farhan, and I agree with you wholeheartedly. We had uh you know Joel Delanco on the show and and he talked openly about how you know he thinks that you know the players understand the plays now because they were pretty young defense to start and their coordinator JC shared is trusting them to say okay these guys know I’m going to call these plays in certain situations because I think their defense has improved a lot whereas the offense has you know it’s kind of been okay but I haven’t seen as much improvement offensively as I have defensively. Yeah. you know, like I think in the early stages of of Cody Fardo, we did see the improvement offensively, but look, the bar was low, right? Because Trey Ford just wasn’t producing offensively, right? So, you know, but then that’s kind of leveled out, but the defense has continued to accelerate its growth. And you’re right, like they’ve simplified a little bit. Um, and I I think it’s just been such a cool story of guys taking advantage of opportunity because, you know, if you’d have asked me at the start of the year, I would have said that Morgan and Anderson are the best linebacker tandem in the league. Well, now the Blanco and Mogensson are pretty darn good. Do you know what I mean? Like you you put these guys in different spots and then how does a team without Jake Szna get better at the defensive line spot and he’s a good player. Like there’s no criticism of him, but you’ve got other guys that have taken advantage of an opportunity. The secondary’s gotten a little better. You know, players like Ross and others that have really kind of stepped up there. So, you know, collectively they’ve done it. You know, you’ve got some rookies out there and they’ve kind of come of age and, you know, we saw what Calgary did in the early stages of the season with a young defense. I think Edmonson has found a way to do that late. Yes. No, very true. And you know, JC Sher, you just you evolve as a coach and you learn more. And I I think offensively now I saw it last week when they gambled on third and two. And I can argue that that one gamble changed the whole game. That’s when rank and rumbled for 64 yard touchdown early in the third quarter. You know, cuz the stats will tell you faran on third and two you should be gambling more. You you’ve got a really good chance. I think it’s 68% of the time according to Steve Daniels that that you make it, but teams only ever try for it 35% of the time. So, you know, teams should be going for it more and the Elks did it in that case and it got them going. They were in a must win and I would expect tonight they have to have like a go forb broke type of mentality. There’s no tomorrow for them. They have to win this game and I don’t think you can beat BC by being cautious. I just don’t think you can just because I think BC’s offense is too hard to slow down. Well, you’re a thousand% right and and that is an advantage that BC has because it forces teams to get out of their comfort zone a little bit, maybe try to do a little bit extra because you feel you need to. And and again, you know, as much as I respect what JC’s done and what that Edmonton team has done, you’re not going to shut BC down, you know, into the low 20s. It just isn’t going to happen. So, um you may need that fake on special teams because you need to steal a possession, right? you may need to go for it a couple more times on third down than you normally would because you just don’t as much as you trust your defense, you don’t want to put Nathan Rook back on the field. So, I think you’ll see that and that makes for more exciting football and I think Mark Killllum is comfortable in that world, right? That you know, generally as a special teams coordinator, you want your special teams out there, but in this case, he’s not afraid to put his defense out there like if you if you gamble and you don’t get it, he’s not necessarily afraid there, but I think he wants to he wants to find a way to steal some possessions. Farhand joins us. Before I hand off, what do you make of Elias Person start to the season for the Conucks? Um, you know, I I think it it leaves you wanting if you’re a Canucks fan for sure, right? I mean, the first three games there was just nothing there. And I’m not saying he played poorly. I’m not saying there was a lack of effort. I’m just saying there was a lack of bottom line. Now, you can say, “Look, it’s only three of 82 and it’ll get better.” Um and you know five on five against Dallas it was okay um yesterday but the fact that you got to take a guy like Connor Garland and Drew O’ Connor and put them on his line it kind in me to me what it tells me is that this is a player that currently doesn’t want to drive play. He’s not dynamic with the puck on his stick. He’s not hungry to have the puck on his stick. So what do you do? You put him with a guy like Conor Garland who wants the puck on his stick, who wants to drive play. And then you get Drew O’ Connor out there who’s a guy that forces Patterson to play with a little more pace because he can skate and he can go out and fish the puck out of tough areas and get the puck back to him. So, you know, rather than him being the facilitator, they’re trying to find others to facilitate him and build his confidence up. And if that can happen, then maybe he can go back to that role at some point down the road here. But right now, it’s been a little bit underwhelming. And again, not terrible. He’s not getting knocked off the puck as much. We we see him trying to block shots. we see him, you know, move to get into passing lanes more. There there are some things there, but he doesn’t want the puck as much and he’s also struggling in the faceoff circle, so he’s being forced to defend more. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that’s never I don’t care who you are, the more you have to defend eventually, uh, you got a better chance of getting beaten and that that’s just how it goes. Um, quickly, I know because you’re a big football guy and you cover all all of it. Uh, what do you make of the wild start that is the the NFL season? Upsets galore all over the place. Last night we had two 40-year-olds going back and forth like a heavyweight title fight and Joe Flacco, who by the way was unreal in his postgame press conference. I thought that was fantastic. But, you know, like no one thought the Bengals were going to win that game, the Giants, like we’ve had lots of big upsets. So, what do you make of this NFL season? And do you see any team that stands out? Well, look, the guy the teams that um that I’m buying, like look, I think Kansas City is going to turn around really quickly, and I think they have offensively already, right, in the NFC. I’m still I’m still a believer in Detroit. Uh I think Seattle’s going to get there. Um I’m definitely buying Tampa Bay. Like, I am totally buying Tampa Bay. But, you know, there there are some others, you know, am I there yet with the Colts, how their defense is? Not quite. Even though I really like what Daniel Jones is doing, but what it speaks to is that there’s a tremendous amount of parody. And I’ve never seen anything like this. Like I mean, you know, even Kansas City, I say I’m buying and they’re going to get it back, they’re still only three and three, right? Like they’re still playing with very small margins for error. Um, you know, and the Colts are sitting there at 5-1 at top the AFC. Who would have predicted that? So, I think the parody has been outstanding. I think the games are unpredictable. It makes it better to watch because we all think the the the NFC North is this amazing division. Well, really like or sorry, not the NFC North, the AFC North. And it just hasn’t been that this year. Yeah. But then all of a sudden, those two teams go out there and play the game that they did last night, right? I mean, that was that would turned into mustsee TV, even though you wouldn’t have expected it with two 40-year-olds. So, I I just think there’s so much unpredictability on a week-toeek basis that it’s made the NFL a lot of fun the first half dozen games of this season. You think there’s any chance if Edmonson beats BC that Toronto can find a way to beat Calgary tomorrow? I don’t know, man. with Jared Biggy in and the number of players that they’re sitting I I I think that’s a tough app. Yeah, it is. So like they they need they need a lot of help, right? And even you look at you look at Winnipeg Sask, you know, in that game and the number of players Saskatchewan sitting now. Saskatchewan is not fielding chop liver. They’re they’re playing guys including Jake Mayer that have played and won CFL football games before. U and I think they’ll probably play a better lineup when they play BC the following week. But I just um I I just think it’s a big big ask right now. A lot has to go right. Look, we’re only talking about two weeks, right? So, you just hope for Edmonton that they can just stay alive one more week and then and then uh see what comes the following week, right? Oh, yeah. All All they can do win tonight and uh you know, who knows what happens, as we’ve just seen recently, upsets happen all the time in pro sports. But, uh for the uh for the green and gold, they just got to win. It’s it’s to me it’s that simple. They just got to find a way to win. Yeah. And you know, like there is something to be said. I I know it doesn’t really happen as much in hockey, but I think in football there is something to be said for carrying momentum into the next season and and they can really begin next year with an entirely different narrative because a lot of people believe Edmonson’s the team you don’t want to play if they made the playoffs, right? Given what they’ve had to go through to get in. Oh, yeah. That’s not the team you want to play in the in the West semi. Well, they’ve beaten Calgary, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg here in their last five games. And like and they would have had to have beaten BC to advance, right? Like to get there, they’ll have had to have beaten them, too. Yeah. Like I I think if they miss the playoffs, they’re really going to regret that those back-to-back games at Hamill and Toronto where they were the better team for like 58 minutes and then just couldn’t close out the game. And so we’ll see if it it comes down to that or not. But uh there are lots of arrows. I think they’re going to regret I think they’re going to regret letting Jason Greger make their quarterback decisions for the first half of the season. Oh yeah, that wasn’t the case, buddy. Uh they uh uh Well, what’s interesting is I know everybody was all down on Trey Ford. Well, you watched the G. Their defense was abysmal for the first month. I know it was. I know it was. They’re like it didn’t like they it’s it’s amazing like how far off the ball they played the first month of the season. It was wild. Wild. But it’s also amazing and Montreal can be a testament to this how much a quarterback improves all three phases. Oh yeah. Yeah. No, that’s true. There’s no there’s no doubt about it. And it’s it they don’t make as many mistakes. I still would like to see their offense like especially those two losses. I don’t think they were aggressive enough. And even the game against Winnipeg, they could have gone for the tiebreaker, but the defense kept giving them the ball in the fourth quarter and they did nothing with it. And that’s, you know, that’s another disappointment from the offense. I I think the offense lately hasn’t been good enough. I I’ve really liked the defense of the Elks. Can consider this though, right? Like everybody was so excited when Cody Fardo came in because the bar was set so low, right? And he did everything he could. Like he’s maximized his ability and he’s maximized the ability of that offense. But next year the curve is different. Oh yeah. If he he’s gonna come back next year as the starter and now you’re not comparing him to Trey Ford anymore, right? You’re comparing him to the best quarterbacks in the CFL and that changes things because the bar gets set differently next year than it is this year. Do you think that uh that what happens to Trey Ford? Does he just ne renegotiate his contract in Edmonton? What do you think happens? There’s zero chance Trey Ford comes back next year on the same deal. Like none. no chance, right? So, they if it just depends on his willingness to renegotiate, maybe he wants a fresh start, you know, maybe the club decides to move on alto together. I, you know, I could see that happening. Um, you know, like I I I haven’t talked to people there about how, you know, the last dozen weeks have gone with him as the backup because we know previous coaching staffs have said that he hasn’t been as engaged um when he wasn’t the starter, right? So, I don’t know what it’s looked like, you know, cuz our focus has been on the defense and and Cody since the quarterback changes happened. So, I think, you know, if if the organization feels good about how he’s conducted himself the last two months, then I think there’s a window to renegotiate the deal. But if they’re not, you know, you can certainly see a scenario where they just decide to move on alto together and let let him have a fresh start. We’ll see. Far, great stuff, buddy. Um, good luck to your Mariners. It’s not looking good. The Jays got all the momentum right now. Go Mariners. These series can flip. Let’s hope I’ll see you later, buddy. There you go. That’s Farhan Liy from TSN. Huge Mariners fan. Meet a Mariners fan for a long long time. Let’s uh let’s take a quick break. Uh we’ll return and we’ll go in the mind next Gregor Show presented by play alberta.ca. At Papa John’s, our butter chicken pizza is a Canadian favorite and we think we know why. We start with a velvety, tangy, and subtly sweet sauce. Then it’s our better ingredients. 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[Music] Portions of this hour brought to you by on the rocks. The Oilers are back in action and otr is ready to be your hockey headquarters. 575 Molson Canadian 69 cent wings and play score and win every game. See more at on the rocks.com. hat-ticks, touchdowns, and home runs. Get it all with the Jason Greger Show on Sports 1440, presented by play alberta.ca, Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] [Laughter] Awesome Friday rolling through. Jason Greger, Connor Harley with you. As always, the Gregor Show presented by playalberta.ca. It’s a big Friday night. You got the Jays and the Mariners. Game five, it’s suddenly a best of three as the Jays won 82 last night. And the green and gold, so you can go backto back sporting events, boys and girls. It’s unreal. And the uh Elks in BC to take on the Lions. That’ll be an 8:30 kickoff tonight, Edmonton time. Elks need a win. Need a win. And you keep the hope alive. Obviously, they need they need a Winnipeg or Calgary loss with their win to make next week’s game more enjoyable, but either way, they’ve had a good stretch run and we’ll see if they can continue tonight. Uh, now let’s get to In the Mind brought to you by Action Electrical. One of our most diversified electrical contractors is hiring because they’re expanding. They just keep growing more opportunities. Second, third, fourth year electricians. If you’re looking to work for a fantastic company with excellent benefits, lots of opportunity to grow, send your resume [email protected]. Tell them we sent you. It’ll help it out. As we uh welcome in once again, Laurian Munzer, gold medalist, of course, a mental coach as well in the mind. Laurianne, how you doing? Doing awesome. It’s Friday. It is Friday. It’s uh it’s good. And I I wanted to kind of focus today on a little bit of, you know, because I think this relates to anybody who’s coaching or even parents for for amateur sports and obviously the main goal is fun, but you know, coaching a group whether you know, obviously a football team’s massive because you got lots of kids, but you know, maybe you’re an individual coach, but lots of team sports, you have lots of different personalities and kids are going to react different in different situations and you know, like you want them to try harder and sometimes there’s there’s things I know you’ve dealt with with kids that what kind of holds them back sometimes for maybe giving their best on any given day. Yeah. One of the biggest things I see, Jason, is that the the young athlete doesn’t want to let you down or doesn’t want to let mom or dad down because there’s been so much focus, so much attention on, you know, you got to play well, you got to win, you got to succeed. And sometimes it takes the air out of the balloon of having fun. And it’s just, okay, well, what are we dealing with here? And like you said, there’s so many personalities. I think there’s 16 different types. And then there’s the three or four different learning styles. We’ve got visual, auditory, kinesthetic, we’ve got the tactile, and then bring in attention span. By the way, kinesesthetic is like the physical movement. So if you think kinesiology, that’s movement. And some athletes are really um I’m very much kinesthetic. I’m very tactile because if I can touch it, then I can see it. I can feel it. And there’s something real about it versus something intangible. But then it’s like, okay, then you bring outside distractions in. And I think it comes down to number one, are you having fun? But are you playing for the joy of it? Are you playing for the fun of it? Or are you playing because somebody said you have to or you don’t want to let somebody down? And it could be just your coach. You know, you’ve got so much respect or you really like that person that you don’t want to let them down. And we even see that with adults, too. Well, yeah, I would think so. So, what when you’re a coach and may maybe even a parent, I guess let’s start with parents first because they should probably know their kids better. How do parents kind of find out what’s the best like how their son or daughter functions in a sporting environment? How do you learn that as an adult to kind of have a realistic expectation of what your son or daughter is capable of? I think it comes down to Jason observing because you’ve got to observe the athlete in the environment. Are they excelling? Are they kind of neutral or are they unsure of what they’re doing or where they’re going? And I’ve always found it even like when I’ve been in sports, it’s like if you know what you’re doing, if you understand, then you have a greater chance of doing much better. But if you’re not, this is where the coach, where the parent comes in of going just sit on the bench, sit on the sidelines and observe. Just like don’t say anything. Just have fun watching and see what comes out of it because number one, that will take the pressure off. And instead of trying to tell the athlete what to do or your child what to do, you can start asking better questions. And it’s those questions that lead to the insights of well, how could I be a support or cheerleader as my son or daughter prepares for their games or my partner preparing for their game and then also what to do afterwards on do we even talk about what happened, what transpired without bringing, you know, the bells, the whistles, all the videos. It’s like look, let’s have fun and let’s not make this so serious. And when you take the pressure off, that’s when the performances will will go through the roof. Yeah, it is because it’s and it’s it’s an ongoing process because I think some kids like everybody ages different. Doesn’t matter. I’m sure every parent out there has multiple children will know like you know Bobby might be mature at 14 and young Steve doesn’t mature till he’s 18. Everybody’s different mentally, physically, all those sorts of things. And you know as kids progress I think too often even in associations or coaching evaluations it’s like well Johnny was at this level last year so he’s only capable of going to this level next year. Right? And I think even during the course of a season, you sometimes we we put limitations. We we might have unrealistic expectations, but then we have limitations on where we think someone can grow. Like kids and and young athletes, like you know, hockeyy’s a late developing sport. And that like late de I’m not talking 10. I’m talking up to 20. Like lots of players are still developing after the age of 20. Yep. Absolutely. And the development like you said is going to be different with everybody. And again, it’s a matter of going and watching, observing, but then also don’t cap out. Don’t cap them out because if you put a limit on it and they see that you’ve put a limit on it, that can stall their development. Because when you’re younger, your your brain, your mind is a lot more pliable, you can actually enhance it through confidence, through support, through encouragement and visualization. Obviously, the easiest one is training for your body physically. But to be able to put all of that is easier as they’re younger versus when you’re older, like if you’re 30, 40, those athletes have a different mindset. They’re already set in their own ways. So, being able to give them a picture of going, “Oh, I could buy into that. Yeah, I could go do that.” The kids are just they’re hungry. They’re ready to go. and they’ll nine out of 10 times they’re going to do what you say until they figure out either you don’t know what you’re talking about or it didn’t work and they know a better way. So, it’s it’s about finding that balance, but also asking the kids because rarely do we ask the kids, “What do you think would make this situation better?” or “What do you think would make this play better?” Because we’re always tell tell what if we stopped telling and we started questioning. Even just, you know, put your Curious George hat on and go, “Hey, what would you do different? How could we make this better?” And then pairing, we’ve talked about this before, pairing your your your athlete up with another person because you learn quicker. You can teach each other different things that you’re really good at. If you and I were paired up, I could probably share something. You could probably share something back to me and it would just take us up to a whole new level. And it also infuses the fun, too. Right. Well, it, you know, it kind of leads me to my question of I think a lot of kids, you know what, they just naturally they want to do better, right? And so sometimes they don’t know how have because I know you deal with a lot of young athletes and and and finding that you know you’re capable of more than what you think you are. Sometimes self-doubt can be our biggest detractors, right? How do you work with kids so you know they lose not not a lot of kids have it but they’re like oh you know geez maybe I’m not that good rather than I don’t know like maybe I’m capable of more. How do you and is there a right age you found that works better for kids? Like do they have to be a little bit more mature to understand that? I don’t think so. I don’t think we give them enough credit. I think number one is find out what they’re thinking. Find out what they’re feeling because those two things are going to be the drivers for their actions. More what are they feeling? Because the thoughts are going to drive the feeling. But if it’s a feeling of doubt or fear that I can’t do this, they’re going to get paralyzed. They’re going to stop right in their spot. But then if you flip the question of, well, what if you were able to do this? Is the one time I like to play the what if game. Okay. What if you were able to maybe go another lap or do another drill or do another pass? What what would happen if that was the one that just changed and moved you to the next level where you go, “Oh, now I get it. Now I understand.” And then you can do it. Because sometimes it takes you 10 repetitions. Sometimes it takes you 20. Sometimes it’s going to take you a hundred. But if the the athlete doesn’t have the picture in their mind of what are we shooting for, no pun intended, but what are we shooting for? They really won’t know what to do and then they’re going to ask, “Well, I don’t know how to do this.” The clearer your picture is for explaining what you’re going to do the drill or well, let’s go five levels up the mountain. Let’s just get to the first base camp. You’re going to have a better return on them clicking and and putting the drill or the skill together. I know you’ve worked with lots of athletes and and even yourself that when you push through the glass and you make it to that next level, right, it’s um were there ways that you found eventually how you could push yourself harder that was in a safe way to do it? Absolutely. Just one more effort or one more rep or one more second or one more watt or one more kilometer per hour. It’s just like all I have to do is one more. That’s it. And then I can do a reset whether it’s, you know, a five minute break, a one minute break, or we’re just going to cruise along. Okay. And then we’re going to blast it again. Or there was always a thing of motor pacing. That was the one fun thing on the track is when you know, Steen, my coach, would bring out the motorcycle for motor pacing. You are literally slipstream 1 in 1 centimeter behind. You don’t always get a chance to chase the motorbike or even sit behind the motorbike. So, that was always the I guess the go-to reward of, hey, this is what all the training is for. And it brings back the fun and the excitement of going, hey, this is what we’re training for. But sometimes if you keep doing the same drills over and over again, it just gets monotonous. So, where’s the challenge? Where’s the fun? And just breaking it up every once an hour once in a while with some variety. Lori, great stuff, great advice as always. Great insight. We appreciate it. Have yourself a lovely long weekend. We’ll talk to you next uh Friday and I know you’ll be on with Caris on Monday. You bet. Take care. It’s Laurian Monzer in the mind as always brought to you by Action Electrical. Uh let’s get to the con man and a sports 1440 update brought to you by Loca Quality Markets. If you’re looking for great food, it doesn’t matter. Maybe you’re somebody’s, you know, gez got gluten. It doesn’t really work. I can’t eat pasta. Well, how come when you go to Europe you can eat that pasta? Well, they have that type. Way more clean ingredients. Check it out. Loca.ca. Two locations, Sher Park and Edmonton. This is a sports 1440 update. Week 20 of the CFL kicks off tonight. Elks in BC taking on the Lions. That gets going at 5:30 from BC Place. You also have Winnipeg taking on Saskatchewan at 6:00. Major League Baseball playoffs rolling on. Blue Jays Mariners getting going in just over an hour. Game five currently tied at two a piece. Then at 6:38 you got the Brewers taking on the Dodgers into the NHL four games this evening. Lightning in Detroit. You got the Caps hosting the Wild. 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Thanks for watching the show. As always, brought to you by our title sponsor, playalberta.ca. We’ll get you our Play Alberta pick of the day coming up a little bit later on, but uh you can go there right now. Guess what? Uh if you’re looking at the games tonight, Blue Jays. Actually, you know what? I’m gonna do it right now. My pick of the day. How can you go against the Jays the way they’re rolling right now? Um they are they’re actually um a little bit of a a favorite on the road today. So, um I like the Jays straight up to win tonight against Seattle. Um I just I think it’s their bats have found their life again. And if if you can get it won’t be easy by any stretch of imagination, but I I think if you can if you can get to their their two best pitchers, I think they’re going to find a way to get to Miller. Miller was unreal in game one. No debate. I think it’s tough to do it again. And right now, would anybody bet against him, the home run machine, hitting out of the number nine spot? I think so. So, I’m going to go uh Jay’s. I’m not sure it’s going to be as high scoring, though. I’d love it, but uh I’m not sure they’re going to score. They got 21 runs in the last two games, 29 hits. So, um but uh I will take the Jays. Um I guess if you want to have a little fun, I might even uh I’m going to go with uh uh Gimenez extra base hit. There you can’t get greedy and go home run again. That’d be unbelievable. But I’ll just say extra base hit. So there you have uh welcome in Wany Gretzk from uh Oilers Nation. Wana, how you doing? Happy positive Friday. Well, I said to Declan out in the outside room, “Hey Declan, you must be so pumped about the Blue Jays.” Just assuming I’m the only person who doesn’t care, assuming he’s a huge Blue Jays guy. He looks me dead in the eye and goes, “I only like the Cincinnati Reds.” Random team, Declan. Well, everybody has different teams, but it’s just the Reds. Oh, yeah. the big red machine. You know, that that was a little bit before his time, but probably Barry Larkin maybe. I don’t know. Maybe even Barry Larkin’s a little bit before his time. So, see Ellie de la Cruz. Is that Well, he’s lately. Yeah. Ellie Dela Cruz. This is Delan’s guy. Yeah. Right. Blue Jays fans. This is their golden age. This is this is wonderful to see. Well, for this generation. Yeah. 100%. No question about it. And like they’re an exciting fun team to watch. Like they they scrap and they claw and you know what? Like they’re without their their you know the guy who was leading the league in hits all year long. And and guess what? They just still find ways like him and has to go backto back jacks in two consecutive games in the in the third inning. It’s just it’s remarkable. You got a 41-year-old Max Scherzer. He’s got the husky eyes and he’s just all intense. And you know what? That was that was a hell of a game to watch last night as a casual fan when the manager came out and told uh Sherzer to leave. No. Well, no, he didn’t tell him to leave. He just was having a conversation. Oh, he wasn’t pull. No, he wasn’t going to pull him because Schneider’s actually like when he walks to the mound, that means he’s taking the guy out, but if he jogs, he’s there just for a conversation. And it and I don’t know if you saw Schneider’s postgame presser. I thought it was fantastic. Just like Joe Flacco last night. I think people should just go watch Joe Flacco. Like here’s a guy like it’s sports and I find like hockey guys postame sometimes like loosen up for God’s sakes. It’s a hockey game. Here’s Joe Flacco. He’s 41 and he’s answering questions and he’s just he’s relaxed, right? and he’s talking about how because you know even when guys win some days it’s just like oh yeah it’s another game and well like whatever Joe Joe’s 41 he’s probably like man I don’t know if I’d be in here and you know he’s running plays that he hadn’t run since he was a rookie right and he’s kind of joking about it but it was it was fantastic but Schneider’s like man I’ve been waiting for that moment because you’ve heard about Max Shers he’s really intense and he never really had one of those moments where it comes out and the guy’s all right intense and Schneider’s a pretty intense guy too so I could see why I loved it like that is, you know, it was great theater to watch in the B. Like, I don’t know if you saw uh but you saw the reaction of infielders. It’s really intense and they’re loving it. Like, how can you not like you watch their dugout when a guy like Gimenez hits another home run, the dugout’s going crazy because like they love every home run, but there’s certain guys it’s like when Tai Emerson scores a goal, people get a little bit more excited on the bench than when Leon Dryettle scores a goal because Leon Drytle scores a lot of goals. That was quite the blazer that Vlatty put on after he hit the bejeweled. Oh, yeah. That’s their playoff blazer, buddy. Yeah. Playoff blazer. Well, they No, they had the playoff home run jacket, right? And they had a regular season one, but now they got a new one for the playoffs. So, they come in from the home run, they put it on the dugout, and they wear it around. Yeah. Yeah. Classic. Oh, it’s great. Like lots of teams in baseball have different things like the Mariners. What’s that thing the Mariners have called? It’s uh I don’t even remember. Trident. The Trident, right? And so they hand the Trident off to the guy in the Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Unreal. Yeah. So, Oh, but baseball playoffs, man. Like, you’re not a baseball guy, which is fine. Baseball playoffs. So I can appreciate the magnitude of what I’m watching. It’s like watching the Olympics when you tune in this time a year, no matter who’s playing, I totally understand the magnitude of the sporting event. Yes. Oh, I think what’s great about playoffs is people who aren’t a fan of a sport all year long, all of a sudden they’re like, well, I can kind of get like the everything’s just more emotional. It’s more intense and it can draw you in to it. And I’ve like my wife’s asking lots of because my son’s really into to baseball and so you know my wife’s been watching some of the now she won’t watch a whole game but you know she’ll watch a few innings with us and stuff and has some questions and kind of figures it out and you know I think like you know tonight we have our neighborhood we have families always do a pizza thing tonight and my son’s like dad like we’re going to be able to watch the game there right? And I’m like well you’re going to have to ask him. goes, “Oh, he’s going to have the game on.” Like, it’s just it’s so and I know, of course, the guy’s going to have it on, but I think it’s I think it’s awesome. Sports sports for a short time can bring a lot of people together because you feel part of something. You don’t like think about the order playoff run. Now, our listeners are different. Our listeners are all watching the games all the time, the die hards. But even some of our listeners are casual, but you get to the playoffs and they’re all die hards. They watch every game. They’re playing in block parties. I know husbands and wives who never watch it. all of a sudden in the playoffs they’re texting their spouse who does watch it, hey, what are we doing for the game tonight? And they’re like, what kind of bizarre world am I living in? And you love it, right? Like suddenly your family’s more engaged. You got, you know, Sally or Joe at the office who normally gives two, you know, what’s about sports is they’re right into it. And I think it’s great because it just brings everybody together. And that’s like the playoffs right now for the Jays. They do that. Obviously, order fans have had the last two years right up until the final game. It was an unreal two-month stretch. It’s amazing to see all the fans standing for that long, too. That kind of clues me into what like an event it is. Like, it’s one thing to go to a fall baseball game to stand for five and a half innings. Like, man, that’s wild, buddy. It’s to me like I think it’s great. Like, I just And I’ve gotten to go to some sporting events in Europe and it’s a different ball game, man. I’m telling you. Like, their regular season games are like playoff intensity there. It’s they’re singing. They’re like I went to a game in Chelsea for soccer and I was just like, “What kind of world am I in here?” And I now some college football has it. Yeah. Right. Like college football in in North America is is like wild. And that’s like if there’s places that I look to say I want to go to. I’m like well I’d like to go to Yankee Stadium. Never been there. Um I would have liked to go to the old one but um Boston I want to go to the Green Monster, right? I got to go to the form. I got to go to Old Maple Leaf Gardens. You know, I didn’t get to go to Chicago Stadium, unfortunately, but like I want to go. There’s a few college places where I’m like, I just want to go just to see the entrance. Like they’ve made their entrances like a phenomenal, right? The whole crowd like the speakers are just shaking. The story, the speakers, the bleachers are shaking, everyone’s singing. Like, oh my god. Like like I’ve shown a few of them online to my son and we’re like no when you’re old enough we’ll go there cuz it just for the atmosphere alone like it would be I’m not a fan of that team but I could be a fan of having fun and getting caught up in the emotion of things. And it’s if you’re in a crowd too right and this is their thing like I went to an AC Milan game. I didn’t know anything about anything but the minute you’re in that stadium with people you’re like oh man this is something else. Yeah. Like you know when some like hey this means something here so let’s go. Yeah. No it’s uh it’s fantastic. So, I I look forward to it and that’s what the Jays do. And you know, and then you got Hey, it’s it’s funny to me. You watch the Jays game, it’s very different than watching the Oders regular season game last night, right? Like it wasn’t now from an execution level. Sure. Right. Like you’re watching and hey, I know Bard had a tough night. Right now, Evan Bard had a tough night. Full stop. But again, for the fourth straight game, the orders five on five. Had a tough night again. Right. like they they haven’t had a game yet where their five on-5 scoring has really done much at all, right? They don’t have a game where they have two five on five goals. Like I’m sorry, it’s not good enough. Like Booard, yeah, we can we and we’ve all talked about it until we’re blew in the face. Like Bard struggled and like what else can you say? We know he’s capable of playing better, but and he’s got to find a way to do. And here’s my thing about Bard. If you make the one play on Barzel, I’m like, “All right, you made your big error, but then you got to then it’s got to there can’t you can’t compound it and be another one and another one and and last night was I think a prime example. If Walman’s in the lineup, I really think the Bard might have sat down a bit, but without him in there, you’re like, well, he set Bard down. Now we’re playing Stetcher and Emerson all these minutes. Maybe not. And some people might not want to hear that. And someone would argue said, Gregor, the way Booar was playing, I’d still rather play Emerson and Stetcher that many more minutes. Frank. Frank, you probably could be right. It’s hard for me to argue against that based on Bushar just never seemed to get out of the funk, right? And like you can have a funk that’s, you know, a play or two. It just can’t last a It shouldn’t, Obviously, it can. It shouldn’t last a whole game. It’s got to be infuriating for the coaches, right? Because he’s capable of such a great level of play. Yes. What do they say after a game like that? Well, you heard you heard what uh Chris Nlock go say. Bushar can play better than that and we know it and you know you got to be able to get out of it like his he’s not going to bury a player post game four games into a season when Bousard’s first three games I I had no issue with right um he was wasn’t making any real like like sure you make a pass here or there it doesn’t work but wasn’t like last night like last night was and sadly it’s it’s predictable like I said I don’t think Evan Bard look this season started I didn’t think he magically was going to just eliminate those games from his repertoire. It’s still there. Now, that one was one of the worst cuz it was multiple multiple errors, right? But he’ll have another game where, you know, he’ll be the last guy back and he’ll try to make a move because it does work lots of times, but it won’t work and you’ll be like, well, you got to pick your poison on when to try it. Like, if it’s a 6-2 game, different story. And even when he did that one, it’s early enough because Edmonton did come back and we’re leading two to one, right? So, it wasn’t like it’s different than if you do that with four minutes left than if you do it with 54 minutes left, right? You have more time for your team to to make up for the error. Um, but he just kept making errors and that’s what made it that’s what made it challenging. And the orders themselves, like look how many penalties they took in the third period. Like the third period to me, too many penalties. Eventually, you’re going to get burnt, which they did. And five on five, they can’t score. So unless you’re going to rely on your power play to score two goals a game and you’re going to only score one and then you got to win every game three to two, it’s just not feasible. They got to get some scoring five on five soon. Like right away soon as in tomorrow afternoon in New Jersey soon. Camera’s off, mics off. What does the coaching staff sit down and when they review film and they’re looking at everything like what do you say to Evan Buchard at this point in his career five or six years in? Yeah, you probably have a convers like does Evan Bousard know that he he should not let like the thing was and and you teach young players if you’re going to de a guy deak away from his stick at least because then make the guy have to make a great play. He literally Barcel stick didn’t even move. He just right on his table and he just took it away. Right. If you deak the other way from the stick at least now you’re forcing the guy who’s trying to check you. He’s got to make a move. But you can’t like the you deak into a stick. you de when you try to go through players rather than around them, it rarely works. So, I’m I’m sure they’ll freshen up, but like it’s funny. I’ve talked to coaches um about like there’s certain mistakes that sometimes the coach says nothing about because like the player knows, right? Hey, you serve a pizza up the middle, coach comes back, Bob. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Like most of the time they know, right? Like I’ve talked to Strutddy and and other guys, you know, Sean Brown. There’s but then there’s certain times about if a guy because if you make it once all right then you got to show the coach the next time you don’t make it and in Booard’s case now it was different mistakes but he made a lot of big ones last night so he’s got to I don’t know what they say I don’t know Evan Bousard well enough like how does he react that’s you know we just had Laurian on the coaches will know does Buchard react better if you like take a strip off of him because some guys do or do you just say hey Evan have a calm conversation that can still include some exploitives if you need it in a calm conversation. I’m sure the coach at this point kind of knows and maybe they’re like, “We say nothing to Buchard and he’ll play better.” I don’t know what they do, but the they should know at this juncture how to approach the situation. It’s the proverbial controller unplugging on plays that drives I think a lot of Oilers fans nuts where he just go like backing on the one play last night on the goal like keep skating brother quickly. Yeah, I don’t get the lack of effort on certain plays. Well, I actually thought the one thing was on the giveaway in Barzel, Bousard was like hustling back. That one I didn’t have and and even like I I I talked to uh I I talked to a power play coach um after uh the game and I sent him the video of the goal cuz I just want to get his impression of that Islander goal where they scored where they came up the board short-handed, right? And then Horvad had busted the zone. So the power play coach tells me, he goes, “It’s rare to see a penalty killer bust the zone as quick as Horvat did when the puck was behind the net.” He goes, “So it’s obviously a set play and maybe it’s something teams have looked to say if we get possession, Edmonton’s guys are focused on they’re not thinking about the guy, you know, jailbreak because that’s essentially what that play is. It’s a jailbreak.” And it didn’t even go directly to him. It went up the boards, which was even more unique. So to me, that still looked like a little bit of a set play, right? Where Horvat is gone, right? Like you don’t see, watch, you don’t see many penalty killers have a jailbreak like that out of the zone when when the puck is that deep, but it obviously worked. And so maybe they had done some pre-couting. I’m not sure. But the power play coach told me, he goes, you know, when the puck goes around the boards, I can see why Buchart isn’t vacating the zone. His words, not mine, at that juncture because you’re thinking, well, you had two guys over on the wall, but it was a really good touch play. And so he goes, that’s why he thinks it was a set play by the penalty kill, which you don’t see a ton of when it comes to like, hey, we’re gonna have a set play on the penalty kill. Lots of teams will have set breakouts on five on five and certain breakouts that just resolve not necessarily a stretch pass for a short-handed breakaway. So I kind of have to give them credit. They executed it very well, but at the same time, you you probably need some more awareness because like Bard, you’re probably thinking, well, I just saw him go by, but man, the puck is still right here. What? Because if Edmonton knocks it down, it’s a five on three. It’s a I mean, it’s a fairly you don’t want to say a meaningless loss, but like obviously it’s early in the season. Well, it’s I I’ll say this. Yes, it is early in the season, but the Edmonton Oders have two losses to teams who have beat no one else. True. Right. The the Flames and Islanders are 0 and seven in their other games, and they’re two and0 against the Oders. So, that’s not ideal. So, how worked up do you get over this loss to the Islanders then? Well, I I think it’s disappointing because that’s when your goal as a team was to play better and have a better start and you lose to a team that’s winless with their backup goalie. Yeah, it’s not an ideal loss. So now you you got to find a way to grind out at least a split in in the next two games, right? And then hey, if you get a split the next two games and then you win in Ottawa, okay, you come back, you’re three and two. And hey, if you’re three and two, you go 600 out of on on the road all year, you’re you’re doing cartwheels. So sure, but I just I think that that was you’re up two to one, right? Like both of their lo they’ve led. They were up three nothing against Calgary lost. They were two to1 in that game lost. So that’s not ideal. We’ll take a quick break. Uh we’ll return. It’s Jason Gregor, Connor Ali. Gretz 1440. Ken Danico will find out about the New Jersey Devils next here on the Gregor Show presented by Play Alberta. Experience more at the Edmonton Expo Center. Come for Canada’s largest trade show, the biggest names in entertainment, exhilarating sporting events, and more. Stay for the experience, but it doesn’t end there. Maximize your brand exposure with Edmonton Expo Center’s new cuttingedge feature screens spanning Western Canada’s largest venue space. Captivate an annual audience of over 1 million visitors during iconic events like Pro Rodeo, Disney on Ice, Globe, Kdays, and so much more. To learn more, call 780471-7380 or visit edmonexpoenter.com today. Scott McGelry here, HGTV host and renovation expert. The one upgrade I know homeowners will love. 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At Batshaw Concrete Products, family-owned and operated for 60 years, they continue to provide the best products and service. Period. Call now for your free quote on the highest quality ready mix and gravel, a new septic tank, or an outhouse pad and tank, plus pre-cast cattle water pads, garage sumps, and more. Call 780372-3854 for prompt delivery. Bashaw concrete products 780372-3854. Bashawconrete.com portions of this hour brought to you by Japa Machinery. JAPA is digging deep on their 50-year history of supporting Alberta’s construction industry with their line of special edition blackout excavators. Visit japa machinery.com for all the details. The Jason Greger Show, the best of Edmonton sports talk and beyond. This is Sports 1440, presented by playalberta.ca, Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] 3:27 positive Friday. I can tell you right now that uh you know, we we talked about it earlier and we’ll talk about it again later on the show. Uh John Sexmith, uh good friend of mine. I knew John for 25 years in the in the business. And uh John was one of the nicest guys, really funny, uh really witty, really intense, uh loves sports. It did a lot uh for the sporting community, not just on on TV at Global and and all the stories he did and all levels of sports, but definitely, you know, John’s been battling cancer since 2012 and um you know, 13 years. and he uh you know he he did a lot of volunteer coaching here the last years. His son Joel of course plays for the Bears. He wasn’t coaching his son. He was in the WHL so he hasn’t been coaching son for a decade yet he still kept coaching lots of other kids. And you know we’ve had a lot of texts from some from parents and stuff and you know what an impact John had on their on their kids in hockey. And so for his wife Joanne and son Joel who uh my understanding is Joel’s going to lace him up tonight. And you know what his dad would be super proud of him to do that and and play tonight for the uh Golden Bears. So, uh, best of luck. Uh, be emotional night for the sex miss for sure and and all of his teammates. Losing your dad at that young of an age is is never good for anyone for sure. Now, let’s go uh around the NHL. Brought to you by McDonald’s. And it’s back, baby. Monopoly. Two chances to win. Not only when you’re at McDonald’s, you get your burger, your fries, you can peel there, but you can also go online in the app and peel again. Feel what you can uh peel like a champion. only at McDonald’s. And uh speaking of champions, h this guy knows a thing or two about hoisting the Stanley Cup. Did it multiple times as a member of the New Jersey Devils. Longtime analyst of the Devils, Ken Danico joins us. Ken, welcome back to the show, my man. How you doing? I’m doing good, Jason. How are you today? I’m excellent. Um you know, we’re into uh you know, 10 days into the season and it’s uh you know, it’s really exciting for some teams and other fans are all like, “Oh my god, the season is over.” Um, you know, the Devils fans didn’t like the start of the year, but they’re loving the last three games. I want to focus on last night’s game, specifically against Florida. What did you think of that Lundelle non-goal? Like, when I watch that replay, do you think that’s a goal the NHL should be allowing? Yeah, look, I mean, the more I look at it, the Devils probably got a break for sure. And they’ll take it because we always talk about things evening out. And fortunately, they have given themselves a cushion. Whether it would have affected the game or not, that would have just made it 3-2. Um, because it was called no goal on the ice. I think they found it hard to overturn, but I thought it was a little a little soft for sure, Jason. No question about it. So, I probably would count it a goal, but I trust trust them conversing with with the situation room in the National Hockey League. These guys look at things uh 122 different ways, different angles. Uh but it’s so there’s such a gray area in that goalender interference. I thought Lendell did a pretty darn good job of where he situated himself, got in the eyes of the goalender. And if you’re asking me uh with all honesty, I probably would have counted it, but I respect how they call these uh Devils are hoping there, but I couldn’t really tell you anymore. And I’m going to leave it up to the referees uh conversing with the situation room and make that decision. Yeah. Uh I I just think it’s one where you know what I and I agree with you and I appreciate your honesty, Ken, because you know to me nobody wants that goal called back against their team. And so if you look and say Lundell never went in the crease, that’s my whole reasoning about this. He never stepped in the crease. So if we argue about the goalie, the crease is his, then any forward or defender who’s in front of the net outside the crease, he should be able to go there with with, you know, and not worry about it. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that’s kind of what you’re taught to do, right? And every coach in the league has said not just to get in front of the goalender, in front of the goal, get in the goalender’s eyes. And Lendell did a pretty good job. Now, if you want to be picky, maybe the the skate blade was missing the blue paint for me, not enough, even if it was for a split second. Um, there was partial gra and again that’s that’s nitpicking as well. Uh, but I thought he was able to get set and I thought it was a really good shot by Reinhardt with Londell doing a pretty good job of screening in front. It is what it is and like I say, every team will take it once, but I think that should be addressed with all the general managers and what they want uh called and not called and maybe tweaked the rule a little bit. But in general, uh, respect the National Hockey League and and the referees and how they call the game. Do they miss some? Do they make the wrong call on the ice at times because of, uh, the speed of the game and and getting blocked maybe their view their sightelines once in a while? Of course they do. It happens. And again, as a team, as a a goalender, as a coach, you’re just hoping uh these things even out. I would be very angry if I’m the Florida Panthers or the fact that G that goal tied the game. Yeah. But uh like I said, sometimes go for you, go against you. I’m not saying they wouldn’t have had an opportunity. They might have, but the Devils what they’ve been doing in this early part of the season, which which for me is showing more composure, getting that insurance goal, not waiting for the other shooter drop, say, where uh a team does score late. They did get themselves a twogoal cushion and uh so we’re probably you know don’t have to scrutinize that call till the bitter end but I I agree with you Jason no question that you know I thought it was a pretty good screen and probably a goal. Yeah. Um now Ken the one thing uh from from watching part of that game uh I recorded because I was just you know Florida obviously I want to watch him and New Jersey Jack Hughes eight shots last night. Um, I thought it was a I thought it, you know, he looked great and I I read some reports, people thought it was easily his best game. I know some people just look at the stat line, they’re like, “Wow, what do you mean he had one point? It’s not great.” But, you know, eight shots, he was all over the ice and that’s what he’s capable of. Uh, was you watch every game. Was that his best game? And and maybe a little bit of a wake up for him. Yeah, I think by far, for sure. In the early going, it’s only four games in. I I I tell people he had a couple of assists in the first few games. I know everybody panics because these guys are supposed to have a point and a half a game. That includes uh the great the greatest players like McDavid and Dreddle. Well, they have a point a game in their sleep, right? And we always expect more. Jack missed a couple of months of the end of the season, missed the playoffs. So naturally, I believe it’s going to take him a little longer to get his game, his his cohesiveness, his rhythm, his skating, and everything kind of uh coming together as far as the footwork and all those things. And it was a little bit off, I thought, the first few games. I thought that was a blessing in disguise for the Devils because they can’t just rely on Jack Hughes or Brad. He he’s a guy that is going to, you know, put the team on his back at times from an offensive standpoint through the season. We know that. But they found ways to win without him uh producing offensively. But last night, you just feel when Jack Hughes is is buzzing and he’s ready to go. It was right from the opening face off, he had his feet moving. He was uh cutting on a dime. He was pulling away from defenseman. He was using that shot. That’s one of his patent shots. You see a lot of top players where the goalender gets leaning and you shoot from a sharp angle, but you still have to pick that spot. He does it as good as anybody. He’s been doing that for the last handful of years. And a lot of times he freezes a goend and they think he’s going to make a play because he’s got such a got such great playmaking ability, but his shot has really improved. And it was great to see him uh really ramp it up last night and he’s got he’s a prideful guy and he he’s not happy when things, you know, he’s not producing or putting up points. Uh but but he wants to win and the team found ways to win without him having maybe his his best games. the first stealing like I said very early but last night uh we could feel it from the from the booth. Uh Jack Hughes is gonna take this game over. He certainly wants to and he was a dominant force. Only had a goal but he had plenty of chances and should have had probably even more than he had on the score sheet. Can I watch Teimo Meyer in San Jose and big strong power forward and it just you know he’s had glimpses of it in New Jersey but the start of this season man he’s he’s looking like the guy I think they got when when they acquired him and I know it’s been a little bit up and down but man when he is on he is one of the best power forwards in the game. He is and this is the start the Devils wanted from him and again I put it in perspective. It’s only four games in, but he’s uh usually and has been from recent history slow out of the gate. Uh if you’re going to win hockey early, we know the importance of getting two points. The old saying, you can’t make the playoffs in October, but you certainly can be out of them if you don’t get accumulate points and manufacture ways to win. And a big reason why the Devils are three- one after an opening night loss to Carolina who who doesn’t seem to lose. They haven’t yet. In fact, the only team left that hasn’t lost a game in the uh so far in the early season. Um he’s been a bull in the China shop. Exactly. Expect, but the goals are going in. He’s always had opportunities early on. Just doesn’t seem to find the back of the net as often as he would like early. Uh but right now with a tip last night, just in on the floor check and when he gets that puck and turns his back on defenders, it is hard to get it back. and he brings an element that every team wants that the Devils don’t have enough of maybe. But when team Omire is going like that, he is an elite force in this game offensively and just changes the game from that physical standpoint. But it’s nice to see because these guys want to be confident. They want to get touches. They want the puck to go in the back of the net. And the longer it prolongs without you scoring, well, it seems to go on and on and and frustration sets in for a guy like team Omar. But he’s got his game going right now. Him and Dawson Mercer in particular are the two big reasons for me right now. Nico Hishu’s Nikico Hisha, he he he’s a, you know, just a great 200 foot player that impacts the game many ways, not just on on the score sheet and they need their captain going. He always is going for the most part. Coaches don’t worry about him. But Dawson Mercer, who had a real tough time last year, the last year and a half after a 27goal season a couple years ago, has played extremely well. And him and Meyer to me are the reason why the Devils are three and one right now because you’re getting production from them and they’ve got some they’ve got some swagger back in the early going of the season. Ken Danico joins us, a longtime uh player with the New Jersey Devils, longtime analyst. Oers in New Jersey tomorrow afternoon 1:30 start. Uh the Devils have had some success against Yoders. Uh no question. Um looking at the goalending, obviously they’re going to run here with Jake Allen, I would think. Uh Markstrom’s out a few weeks. Um any any concern, Ken, that few weeks, like is that two weeks? Is it four weeks? Do we know yet? Yeah, I I I trust what they say. I believe it’s two weeks. Uh give or take. Obviously, you hope it doesn’t extend to four, but apparently he tweaks something and I don’t think it’s any anything structural. So, we’re hoping sooner than later. Uh, obviously, it was unfortunate because it was at the end of the game against Columbus. He came in the third period cold and whether that affected it or not because Jake Allen was cramping, he was he was worked against the Blue Jackets. They got firepowered. He he was outstanding through 40 minutes and March uh held the fort in the third period except for the very end where where he fell awkwardly and and like I said I I think it’s a couple weeks you do you know goenders they need their their groins, their knees, their ankles, whatever it may be and we don’t hear a lot about it. Uh but they need those to be pretty well 100% where maybe some other players can get by. But a goalender uh the athleticism is everything. So, uh, hopefully it’s just a couple weeks and I I I trust, uh, what the prognosis is. Ken, another guy that New Jersey is obviously building around just happens to be Jack’s younger brother, Luke, and signed a big long-term deal for the Devils. You know, I was looking at his point totals first few games is great. I look at his minutes and like I’m a big fan of Luke Hughes, man. I I I know he’s maybe never going to be as overall dynamic as his brother Quint, but I might make the argument that I think he might be a better all-around defender because of his size and that just, you know, size matters playing that position at times. Um, how have you seen his progression from last year and kind of what’s your expectations of what he could be over the next few years for the Devils? Well, he sky’s the limit. I mean, at times it was always wait and see for me. I forget how young he is, but he is 6’2. He looks much stronger this year. He’s more confident and he’s really wants to be that that prototypical number one defenseman. I I even though he didn’t get a point last night, I thought he was dominant. The skating ability, he closes so quickly on guys, I would expect him to be out there a lot against McDavid because of because of his skating ability. one of the only defensive might be able to keep up somewhat. He uses his stick extremely well. That’s gotten better and better and uh yeah, the points will come and he started real strong. Considering he missed camp, it’s really amazing how he’s come out of the gate and he’s been a dominant force. So, I was one of those guys saying, “Okay, you know, we know we pay uh players nowadays. It’s different. It’s not what have you done, it’s what are you going to do for me and I’m potential and I’m pretty bullish that this deal is just going to be fine for the New Jersey Devils. Luke Hughes is going to be stud in this league if he’s if he isn’t already just all his attributes and he’s going to be an all allaround a real steady strong two-way defenseman. Oh god. Yeah. And I’m a I’m a big fan of his for sure. it. Will you see like which lines do you think would match up against McDavid and the dry side of lines tomorrow? Like is he sure getting McDavid? I would assume. Yeah, they could put they they put Nico Heir with all the tough assignments, but if they’re split up obviously pick your poison. The Devils are a lot deeper this year, including the addition of Connor Brown who’s who’s looked really good and fit in very well thus far. So, uh, Nico always gets gets those assignments, but they have a lot of trust and faith whoever gets out there. I think it’s more defense pairings usually with a lot of teams nowadays as far as who they match up against u the star players, star lines, and we know what McDavid and Daddle are and they’re as good as it gets. I mean, if Conor McDavid wasn’t my goat, um, he certainly is now just from what he did for Edmonton because I I still have, it’s pretty refreshing and still have a soft spot for a guy that that tells his organization, uh, I want to finish what we’ve started here. I’m going to give you a few more years and I’m going to give you a huge discount and make sure you you surround us with with what we need to get the job done after going to back-to back finals. So, not not to digress, but being a little old school. I I don’t begrudge players getting whatever they can. I respect that. But for what McDavid did, that just shows me that guy’s got a burning desire to win. And I have all the time in the world. Respect for for what he did. And yeah, the Devils have a tough time, whoever’s on on the ice against him. Well, Ken, always good to catch up with you, my man. I appreciate your time. Enjoy the game tomorrow. Yeah, you got Great being on with you, Jason. Take care, brother. There you go. That’s uh Ken Danico. Absolute beauty of a guy. Like certain guys that you would want to have a beer with, you’d put I most fans like, you know, Ken Dano is, you know, he’s a similar personality to Strutddy. He’s got a really good sense of humor. Don’t let Studdy, you know, don’t let him, you know, if he’s listening, his head will explode. But, um, you know, both rugged guys. Now, Ken obviously got to play in New Jersey, played a really good role, played tons of minutes, has great stories, but he is just a real just kind of downto-earth great guy to talk to. And I think for listeners, maybe that Ken Danico, yeah, that’s a guy I’d want to have a beer. Intimidating as all heck, too, when he played. Oh, yeah. Like in a different category of intimidating. Kenny took no guff, right? Now, hey, I remember talking to Kenny’s. He’s like, “Yeah, you know, I stepped out of my weight class a few times, probably stupidly, but yeah, he he played hard and strong and is incredibly well respected in his dress room uh amongst guys. He was a great guy, got along with everybody, would hold his he there’s certain guys in the room that just, you know, they they have a real honesty to them and they can hold superstars accountable maybe in a different way, right? like because he couldn’t sit there and say Scott Netomire do this because you know because he couldn’t lead that way but Scott Stevens needer bro if because every now and then you do need someone that has to say hey and just like on the orders I think they need someone every now and then to put McDavid and dry subtle and and Bard and others say hey that’s not good enough right because just because you’re the superstar doesn’t mean that you never can ever have some criticism and be asked by your teammates to do more and I was always told New Jersey Danico now obviously not very often that’s why they’re superstars but when the time’s Right. You say something. Uh quick break. Uh when we return, we got the uh two-minute warning with Camt. We got four five questions coming up. Craig Button, Spec, and more on a busy positive Friday edition of the Jason Greger Show presented by Playalberta.ca. Your one-stop shop for all things fun if you like it. Casino, live dealer, lottery instance, and more. Playalberta.ca or download the app. Want some good news? St. in Auburn Dodge is holding the biggest sale of the year on their ins stockck Ram 1500 sports. Every single one on the lot is discounted by a whopping $14,000. Yeah, 14 grand. And St. Albert Dodge has the best selection in Alberta. Over 90 Ram 1500 sports to choose from with great packages including the night edition and GT models. All 14,000 off the ticket price. Get down there and see how easy it is to do business at St. Albert Dodge. Mr. The routter meets a ghost. One punch, two and three. A toilet clog with a ghost. Man, I love plumbing. You’re free now. I will never find peace. The clog is fixed. Yes, but I have never trusted the sump. No problemmo. I can fix that. Now go to the light, you little scamp. Thank you, Mr. Rout. To resolve your unfinished plumbing business, trust one plumber, Mr. Routter. Well, get ready for a silly hockey fans. Your partner in power just skated onto the ice. The new e-commerce website for electrical wholesalers. Edmonton is ready for the power play 24/7 365. UL skates to where the puck will be in 5 years. Now that’s forward thinking. Hiller Selection slamming products from the best brands and legendary service. Don’t sit on the bench. Get your account today at ewell.ca and win that project. Plug in to your partner in power. Get an ewel.ca account today. Sure, your couch is comfortable, but watching the game is always better at on the rocks. With crystalclear TVs, you won’t miss a single play. And the specials are a major league win. Pregame warm-up starts with specials 30 minutes before the puck drops. Get 69 cent wings and 575 Molson Canadian and Coors Light drafts and play score and win every game for your chance to win big. Be part of the action this hockey season. to the menu online at on thererosyg.com. Edmonton’s home for sports is sports 1440. After every game this season, tune in to Andrew Walker for the postgame show. Let’s talk some hockey. Let’s talk about the game on Sports 1440. Hey sports fans, we’ve got a clear choice for you. At Crystal Glass, we provide customers with the perfect glass for any job from home to auto and even commercial installation or repairs. We’re your team. Call 310 Glass or visit crystalglass.ca. Crystal glass. The job won’t wait. Why should you? At AWS Welding Supplies and Repairs, conveniently located in Miscue, we’ve got everything you need to get it done. From product sales to servicing and calibrating machines, we’re your one-stop shop. 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Try the classic Hawaiian Super Hawaiian or Hawaiian barbecue chicken pizzas for only $19.99 each at papa johns.ca or on the Papa John’s app. The Jason Greger Show, the best of Edmonton Sports Talk and beyond. This is Sports 1440 presented by playalberta.ca, Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website [Music] [Music] [Music] 51. Welcome back. Pause of Friday. Sports 1440. Sports1440.ca. Um, from the uh foundation uh in their honor, we’ve got some uh tickets to the Darius Rucker concert to go to tonight. Row five. Pretty sweet seats. So, uh if you uh if you’d like a pair of them, um first responders, well, we’ll let the first responders have the first chance to respond. If you would like to go to the Darius Rucker concert tonight, you can uh text in just text in Rucker with your uh your name and uh your email and uh we can send we got uh uh three pairs of uh of tickets tonight to go to the Darius Rucker concert uh row five pretty good seats. So if you want to go first responders, we’ll give you the first chance and then uh if we don’t get rid of all them then we’ll uh we’ll give them to anybody who wants to go. So stay tuned. Now, let’s get to the twominut warning brought to you by Legacy Heating and Cooling. They are hiring. If you’re looking for a fantastic opportunity to get in the workforce or just change what you want to do, get a hiring uh bonus. They have a very competitive wage, RSP matching, tuition reimbursement. Uh they’re huge sports fans. They got a great culture there. So check it out. Apply today. legacyheating.ca. Cam Tate, of course. Two-minute warning. Always brought to you by uh Tater. Tater, a longtime journalist in town. Over 45 years for the the Tate man since he’s been weaning around. And Cam, of course, born with cerebral pausy. Cam’s in a wheelchair. It’s never slowed him down. He’s always wanted to be in radio. And uh now through the wonders of technology, Cam’s words come to life in the two-minute warning. and on Fridays he asks me to read it. So here we go. Here’s Cam’s words. There’s a brotherhood of sports reporters who, truth be told, probably spend more evenings and late late nights together than with our families in press boxes across Emonson. Football, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, you name it. Tease each other. We grind each other. We laugh. We share long nights and early deadlines. We never say I love you in this business to our brothers. Maybe today the day we should. John Sexmith left us this morning, closing a remarkable 13-year battle with cancer. A fight marked by grit, humor, and that unmistakable twinkle in his eye. I first met John in the early 1990s at K97, where he ruled the sports desk with boundless energy and a pun for every play. When the order’s radio rights moved to 880 in 1995, John steered the postgame open line with wit sharp enough to cut through the open line show after games. He took calls on the blue line and the red line. Later at ITV and Global, he stood tall, a voice of reason and passion, chronically triumph and tragedy with rare authenticity. And who can forget his another football for high school football when he was working for the Edmonton Eskimos public address system. This news comes with a terrible weight, sudden unfair, and deeply human in its ache. We search for words, for meaning, for something that feels worthy of John Sexmith’s life. And then a simple powerful idea from Kevin Cerius. Tonight at Clare Drake Arena, the Golden Bears meet UBC. Number three defenseman Joel Sexmith, John’s son playing his father would wish. So let us gather quietly, gratefully together. Godspeed, Johnny. Your voice still echoes in our press boxes, in our hearts, and in the soul of the city that you so deeply blessed. And hey, Johnny, I love you. two-minute warning. Camtate Sports 1440. It’s very true. John was uh was a great man, a huge inspiration. Uh was diagnosed with cancer in in 2012. I remember interviewing John uh numerous times about his cancer and, you know, all that went through it. And anybody out there who who’s battled cancer, like you think it’s good and it’s in a remission, then it comes back and man, it is a mental roller coaster. not just for for you but uh for your whole family, right? Like think about, you know, how young Joel was when his dad gets diagnosed and then you got to tell your your young son that he’s got cancer because a lot of times when you hear cancer, you know, you think of the inevitable and and John was able to stretch that out to to 13 years. uh he chose to live his life um as a father, as a as a husband to Joanne, um as a coach to so many kids, you know, he he he was a huge advocate of uh cancer and and numerous charities around town. And uh he did an incredible amount of work to uh to help raise awareness and and raise money. And you know what, John always had a smile on his face despite being dealt not a great hand for the last 13 years. So again, our condolences. Uh beautifully written, Cam. Uh we appreciate that and uh we think of John and his family. And I can tell you the uh uh the Drake tonight will be rocking. It’ll be very emotional for for his young son Joel and all of his teammates because you think about when you know you’re a young you’re a young man 19 20 21 22. Yeah. You feel invincible but you lose a parent or you lose someone close to you and and it does it impacts you differently. Right. I can speak firsthand about it. I can tell you and and I was a little bit older but not that old of 27 when I lost my dad. my sister was only 21 and you know so I see it and that’s that is going to be a very emotional game tonight for the uh for the Golden Bears and so you know what if if you were ever somebody who who really respected John and and appreciated his his funny banter and wit way back in the radio days in K97 or when he was uh the in-house announcer at the uh at the football games or on Global and ITV for many years. uh maybe if you got some spare time, you want to head down to the Drake tonight and uh honor him uh by supporting his son Joel in what should be an emotional game. And I’m sure the Bears are going to come out fired up in that one. Uh because anything anybody knows, you know, like one of your teammates is is hurting. There’s just that natural teammate camaraderie where everybody comes together. I remember back in the day the postgame show with John Sexmith and he’d take calls and we were little kids and we’d phone in me and my little buddies and he would take all our calls just like John Short did prior to and I have them on tape and like you listen to those now with the ears of an adult. You’re like why would they ever take calls from children? This seems like a doomed operation. But I always remember him treating us very fairly, right? And talking to us like a peer. He never talked down to Oilers fans, especially little kids calling in. We always appreciated it. It was a great postgame show. Yeah. Well, uh I know Johnny did it, you know, kind of got that aid because John Shore was the first one, right? Who had kids night? Oh, yeah. It was unreal. So, um yeah, Johnny will uh will be missed. And um you know, the last time I saw John was uh was last month and John and always his honesty, you know, I ask, you know, it’s going okay. And and John was very open. He goes, you know what, man? I’m not sure how much longer I have. And you know, that’s it’s hard to hear. I always respect anyone who can can be that forthcoming about like don’t don’t shoot that was the one thing I remember Johnny when he first got diagnosed he’s like goes I don’t want to be treated different right you guys don’t want to hurt me like I have cancer doesn’t mean I don’t have a sense of humor like I remember him telling us that we’re like all right you know and uh now my thoughts to to KK of course I know they’re really close stuff and Johnny Johnny was actually I think Bob’s best man at his wedding like those two guys have been friends for a long long time so our thoughts for uh for Joanne and Joel and you know KK and St and a lot of other people who are really close to uh to John um who made a big impact in in our community. I know many of you uh people, you know, when when you watch someone for that long, you feel like you kind of know him a little bit. So, it’s always disappointing uh to see. Uh we’ll take a quick break. Uh when we come back, uh Craig Button will uh join us. But I going to have a few disagreements, I can tell you that. Uh but first, let’s get to the command. Sports 1440 update brought to you by Fountain Tire. And it’s getting chilly out. I know you don’t want to think about it, but you need some winter tires. Maybe you can’t afford it all one chunk. Well, don’t worry. You can get uh uh 0% interest for six months or up to 12 months, no interest. Find out how. fountain.com. This is a sports 1440 update. Week 20, the CFL kicking off tonight. You got eight outs out in Vancouver taking on the BC Lions. That one gets going at 8:30. Earlier on 6:00, Bombers hosting the Rough Riders. Major League Baseball Jays eight minutes away from game five out in Seattle. Currently tied at two games a piece. And then later on tonight, you got the Dodgers looking to complete the sweep over the Brewers. First pitch 638 in the NHL. Lightning taking on the Red Wings. Caps host the Wildcats in Chicago and the Mammoth host the Sharks. The Wilings are in action on the road in PAR 7:00 in the BCHL. Shur Park info Footlam taking on the Express that gets going at 8. And then in the AJ, four games including Camero taking on Canar and Deon in Bonavville. UFA action tonight. The Golden Bears hockey team taking on UBC down at the Drake. Puck drop at 7. Golden Bears football taking on the Regina Rams tomorrow at two at Footfield and at Park Stadium tomorrow at noon. It’s Panda soccer up against Mchuan. And sad news to pass along longtime Edmonton journalist and sports cer John Sesmith has passed away following an extensive battle of cancer. John began his career in Edmonton in 1990, winning a national journalist award in 2014. He was actively involved in the community as a hockey coach with organizations like Sports Central and Alberta Cancer Foundation. Coming up in hour three of the Jason Greger show, we’ll be joined by Craig Button from the NHL on TSN and ask five questions. I’m Connor Hley. This has been a sports 1440 update. Sports 1440 Stingray radio station CJR broadcasts from West Edmonton Mall and with download the free Stingray music app and listen wherever you go. Got a car you’re ready to part with? Find out what it’s worth, easy, and totally free at go auto. We’re talking top dollar tradeins. Whether it’s a little worn or still rocking that new car smell, just a few clicks and boom, you’ve got your value. Text value to 78077777 to start. That’s value to 780 all sevens. Why guess what it’s worth? Let go auto. Show you the money. Legacy Heating and Cooling is the number one furnace replacement company for zombie hunters. Those who know their old decrepit furnace passed away years ago. 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Michelle and Colette are sisters who don’t agree on much, especially when it comes to which hockey team is the best. Is the best baby. Vancouver’s number one. Even when it comes to meat snacks from Will Hawks. I love the hair. The ham sausage rules. But they will agree Willhawk beef jerky is the best. It might just be the only thing Alberta hockey fans can agree on. Others can try to imitate, but no one can duplicate Willhawk beef jerky. Only available in the Duke. Get yours today because you don’t win friends with salad. Groceries, mortgage payments, family holidays, a new car. And that’s what profit shares look like for Vision Credit Union members. Each year, we return about 75% of our profits, $35 million last year, to the people who bank with us. Because at Vision Credit Union, when you’re an owner, you get your share. Why not get yours? Learn how at what’syoushare.ca. That’s what’syoushare.ca. Hi, Mike here from Northgate Chevrolet Buick GMC. I’m super excited to tell you today that we have fed over 250 families so far with our Feed 500 families event. With that said, we are still short of our goal. We have decided to continue this on through to the end of October. With your help and your support, we can get this done. Please stop in and see us today, 1321597 Street, or visit us online at northgategm.com. [Music] Portions of this hour brought to you by Leading Edge Physio. From weekend warriors to professional athletes, kids playing soccer to grandparents in the garden. Rotator cuff tears and tendinitis to posturgical knees and hips. We fix your body. Life shouldn’t hurt. Leading edgefysio.com. The Jason Greger Show. The best of Edmonton sports talk and beyond. This is sports 1440 presented by playalberta.ca. Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Positive Friday continues on sports 1440. Sports1440.ca. CA YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. As always, brought to you by playalberta.ca. Uh, Cons, I think you got a few people you’re giving the the Rucker tickets to. So, uh, did you did you hand them out yet? Uh, I’m working my way through it. Yeah. All right. Okay. So, ticket master, you know. Oh, fun times. Fun times. Okay. Well, there you go. Uh, as always, Gregor show presented by playerboard.ca. You can get involved. You can text us to 83341440 83341440 in our Ewell inbox. Uh we got Craig Button coming up uh momentarily later on the final hour. Spec uh LT WE’s world. It’s a it’s a busy day in sports. Of course, you got game five of the Jays. You got a must-win game for the Elks later on tonight. Orders matinea tomorrow in New Jersey. Sat Sunday in Detroit against the surging Red Wings. Actually, both of those teams have won three in a row. So, uh, can the Oers find a pulse five on five? That would be uh that would be nice. It’s hard to win when you only score one five on five goal every game. So, uh, they’ve done it with some outstanding defensive efforts and a Steuart Skinner performance last night. Uh, not great. Um, little sloppy by Buchard to put it mildly and once again a lack of finish offensively. Five on five. Now, let’s get to our big guest of the day. Uh, was that 4:20? All right, we moved him. 420 then. Perfect. All right, we got a little bit of extra time. Great. So, Craig Button will come up in uh 20 minutes time. We’ll get to some texts. 83341440. 83341440. Now, guys, I understand Bard’s going to have a bad game, but there’s one mistake I can live with when it’s multiple. Is there anything the coach could do? Why do you think they don’t sit him down? Would that be the best? Is there any chance when Malman comes back that Buchard comes out? Uh well, no, he’s not going to come out of the lineup like because honestly then you’re I I think you’re punishing your whole team. Like the the first three games Bousard was more than fine. Um so no, I don’t I don’t think he’s going to come in the lineup. Like I don’t even know when Wman’s coming in. Like is Wman gonna come in and play backtoback on the weekend? Like I wouldn’t be surprised now if they wait until he plays his former team Detroit on uh on Sunday. That wouldn’t shock me to be honest. Hey Gregs, I think last year you talked about Buchard had a game like this and when his offensive confidence comes around, his defensive games improves, maybe that’s what he needs from Nick. Well, that’s Nick. It’s very true. Mo most players when you have confidence in one area of your game, it can bleed into the other areas of your game. But the thing was Bard wasn’t playing bad defensively up until yesterday. But then yesterday it was just like, you know, you’ve been in that situation like that. It was literally like he was in one of those soapbox derby races going down the hill and all of a sudden the wheels came off and it’s just a garage sale and here’s a giveaway. Now another tire flies off and oh there’s a bad read and it was I guess if you’re going to have a bad game you might as well just say well let’s just get out all the bad plays in one game. Here’s a month worth of bad plays. We’re going to do it all at once because that’s kind of how it was for uh for Buchard. It obviously wasn’t ideal I think to put it lightly but again they can’t keep overlooking it. Four games four goals five on five. Dry subtle no points five on five. I mentioned the six leaders in ice time five on five for the orders have a combined one assist one and those are Tricidle McDavidard Echome Nurse Koulak. So those guys are on the ice. Like you got to figure out a way to get some points, right? So they got to start there. And obviously, you know, your two top dogs need to be more productive five on five. Like I I I some people it just feels like you Well, you can never say McDavid has to do anymore. Yeah, you can when he’s not doing enough. He’s not like for Conor McDavid, you know, a few a few points on empty net goals and power play goals. Like I’m sorry. Like I look at that play of McDavid to pass off that chance in a 3-2 game in the low slot. Like, I’m sorry. That’s a major gaff. It’s a major gaff. It’s Troy freaking ster on the side of the net who’s not even in position to receive the puck. You got to shoot there. I’m sorry. You just do. Like, if we’re going to rip Stu Skinner on bad mistakes, you’re going to rip Pushart on bad mistakes. I’m sorry. When you’re in the slot, wide open in between the hash marks. Like any coach, you’ll draw the box. Where do you want to get shots from? That’s like part of it, baby. and and then you pass it up like in a 3-2 game. I’m sorry, he can’t do it. It’s not something that you feel good criticizing Conor McDavid because he’s done so much. But when you’re saying if we’re going to criticize other players on the team, he shouldn’t be immune to it. Yeah. But he does so much over the course of the year. He’s a hard guy to criticize in the moment. Yeah. But this is this is one game and and really it’s four games. They haven’t done enough. Five on five. I I I don’t think that’s unfair for sure. Hey guys, is it just me or is the power play very predictable and stale? I’m not sure what the numbers say, but last night it looked like McDavidle got the puck and everyone just stood and watched them from Stu Lu. Stu, I will disagree. The uh the Oders every game they’ve got a power play chance they’ve scored a goal. Their power play is 23% and keep in mind that’s somewhat misleading. That’s tied for 10th because they’ve had a few abbreviated power plays. So that makes the percentage lower. But if you actually look at at power at goals per 60 and power play time, they’re seventh best in the NHL. Like I look at the so let’s the power play scores one more goal and because they didn’t get a power play against the Rangers so they score one more goal maybe they scored one more and they had some really good looks against Vancouver they just didn’t score well now their power play is 28% it’s not even a conversation I I don’t think the power play is that stale of actually think they’ve showed lots of different looks with Tamasic right like sometimes they’re coming in on the left side now he’s sliding out he’s down in the in the in front of the net then he slides into the slot they’re trying to set up plays there so no I don’t I don’t have much of an issue with their power play at like how many power play goals? Like every game where they’ve had a power play, they’ve scored. That’s pretty damn good. And and it’s not like they’re getting five power plays a game. So I don’t I don’t have much of an issue with the power play. It’s five on five. Like if we’re talking offense, it is uh it’s five on five. And um you know, like hey, McDavid’s the best player in the world and he’s just not scoring enough goals at the end of the day. Like assists are nice and that’s all great, but you need to be a goal scorer because when you score the goal, you’re not putting it onto someone else, right? Like there’s great assists, don’t get me wrong, when you make great plays and you find guys open and and obviously and and it’s not a knock, but Conor McDavid is capable of more than four points a game when two of them are empty neters. I I I don’t think that in four games. I don’t think that is outlandish to say when he’s got one point, five on five. It’s just not right. Like Nan Hopkins has and New Jen Hopkins isn’t a big five on five productive player. He’s got two points. Kappan’s got two points. Five on five. Noah Phil’s got a goal. Tren Frederick’s got a goal. Anyone’s got a goal. So you can say, “Yeah, it’s going to get going.” Okay, sure. But how long can you say that for? It’s got to get going now. Especially when the leadership group were the ones who said, “We need a good start.” Well, defensively, the team’s had a good start. Stuart Skinner stole him a game, so he’s had a good start. got a 922 save percentage. It’s pretty damn good. But five on five where the majority of the game is played. It’s not it’s not good enough. It’s just flat out to me it’s not good enough for them top dogs. It’ll get better. I I firmly believe they’re they’re not going to go, you know, eight games. I don’t think like they’re not going to go pointless five on five in the next four games. Well, I’d be surprised. I guess it’s possible, but I I don’t think it’s it’s un it’s bad analysis to like are we only going to point out Evan Bart like he’s the only player on the ice. Yes, he made some mistakes, but when you give the puck away or you’re in the slot and you’re wide open and you refuse to shoot it, you’re you’re missing a glorious scoring chance. How is that how is that not a problem? I’m with you. Yeah. And guys, it’s ridiculous how many opportunities in slot he passes up. I don’t know what he’s thinking last night trying to pass to Stetcher who’s also on his off side. McDavid needs to be much better than that from uh soft roll. I I would agree. Hey guys, McDavid’s deferred shots in the middle of the ice all the time. This is not new from Nathan. Well, lately he has and I think that’s fair. We saw it last year and you know I think I I don’t know like it would seem like it’s a quick fix just shoot the puck but if it’s like McDavid’s not an he’s not like an Austin Matthews kind of a shoot first mentality and that’s okay like he’s become the best player in the world by being a great playmaker and then you know he’ll score not when he has to but he’ll shoot and I just think that sometime and this is where I think like I don’t know who the guy is sometimes that can get in McDavid’s face. And I think that’s healthy. I think it’s healthy to have someone in your room who can hold your best players accountable. That can’t just be the coach all the time, right? And so I know Cory Perry was someone that they had a lot of respect for, right? Before that, it was Duncan Keith. So I don’t know on that team now who’s the guy and and there’s a right way to deliver it. And trust me, anybody who’s been in a professional sports environment, you can’t have a thin skin and and be adverse to having constructive criticism from your peers. They need a kandico. Well, yeah. Right. Like like Matias Ekone could probably be that guy. Yeah. Right. I I I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t be. So, you know, and it’s not like you don’t have to yell and scream, though. I think sometimes people think the only way to get there, you got to yell and scream at them. No, but you can you can have a forthright conversation, right? Or or in filmwork, hey, sorry, you got to shoot the puck here. Like, I don’t want an excuse. I don’t want Well, no, cuz you don’t want to hear excuses from your teammates, right? So, I’m I’m sure that Hey, sometimes like that’s two backto-back games now against the Rangers and the Islanders where I don’t think the Skaters played great. Like, think about it when Steuart Skinner made some key saves to keep that one-s game. Then the orders got back. They they had a good stretch. They get up there two to one. It’s going pretty well. Islanders, I give them credit. And that’s the other thing, like it’s a short, like there’s certain goals that are just back breakers, right? And so then that second goal short-handed, you’re like, “Oh my god, it kind of took away some momentum.” And so, hey, it’s early. I get it’s early, but it can’t always just say it’s early, especially when the organization themselves from ownership coaches, they’re superstar. Like Conor McDavid said, we need a good start since September 1st, right? Like the first time he spoke at a captain’s skate, his message was we need a good start. And it’s not a bad start. Like if they win tomorrow, the 3-11, that’s decent start, right? So then you go to 10ame mark, what do you get? If you can, like I said, if you can win six out of your first 10, maybe there’s one overtime. Well, they already got an overtime loss. So, you know what? You get uh 13 points, 650 point percentage, take that all day long. That’s a good start, right? And that’s way better than most teams who lose the Stanley Cup. And that even though you can say you want a good start, I do believe there’s still that mental anguish and pain. You all come back together. Even though there’s new guys in the room, and yes, they felt it differently this year than last year. Historically, teams who lose the cup outside of the Boston Bruins in the last 11 years don’t win more than half their games. Do you think you need adversity throughout a long season to kind of create a little bit of a fire within the dressing room? Like, you can’t just come out of the gate, play 750 hockey all the way through and win the cup, right? Don’t you need have a little es and flows of morale and tension throughout the course of the year? Yeah, sure. But it just I I do believe that if you’re always playing catch-up, that’s mentally more draining. I don’t know if it’s any physically more draining, but I do believe it’s mentally more draining. And so that’s why, you know, hey, B6 3 and1 or something like that after 10 games. And I know the order say they they got, you know, it’s a road trip, but it’s like the Rangers weren’t a playoff team, the Islanders weren’t a playoff team. The New Jersey Devils at 91 points. They’re a good team, but they’re not like dominant. It’s not like they’re they’re playing Colorado, Dallas, Florida, Tampa Bay, Toronto in their first five games, right? So, and like I said, Calgary and the Islanders are 2 and 0 against the Oders and 0 and seven in their other seven games. So, they to me they kind of blown it a little bit. Not not the end of the world yet, but if we’re calling it honestly, I’m not worried about the team. I’m just making an assessment based on today that they need to be better collectively as a group. And I think it starts five on five with your two best players. Dry settle McDavid need to be the leaders offensively. That’s their job. That’s their job. Five on five. 3-1 and one though if they win the next game. Like it’s such a long season. How do these guys reset to start a new season? Like what’s the exercise you go through when you know you’re probably going to face three rounds of the playoffs after an 82 game season? Oh, other teams do it. It’s not like they’re the only one. What’s the process, though? Like Well, I I think you’re a professional. It’s no different than anybody out there who’s a good doctor. You just, hey, you know what? I’ve had I’ve had a stretch of good surgeries. Do I just suddenly not care about my surgeries? No. Like, you have personal pride. To me, it’s just they’re there. You’re wired to want to succeed. I I don’t believe team like you can have an off night here or there. Hi, Evan Bousard. You can have that, but for the most part, I don’t it can’t extend. So, when does it go? And who knows, maybe McDavid’s just a slow starter. the last two years he had 10 points in his first 10 games which by his standards is a slow start, right? Because in 2024 when he had 10 in his first 10, he he had 122 in his next 66. Like so pretty darn good, right? So we know what they’re capable of, but it starts if we’re talking about offense and it’s and the two guys who are your best offensive players aren’t producing five on five, it’s got to start there. It’s just I I can’t think of any other any other option. Quick break. Uh, we’ll return. Craig Button joins us next. Jason Gregor and W Gret. Sports1440. Sports440.ca. Presented by playalberta.ca. Hey everybody, it’s Jason Shreddley. How would you like to join me and the superstars of hockey on an exotic holiday? Join us on a seven night cruise through the Mexican Riviera leaving from Los Angeles and including Cabo, Mazitand, Porttoarda, and more. While we relax and cruise at tropical waters, you can attend an intimate meet and greet with legends like Bill Ranford, Fernando Pazani, Kelly Buckberger, Ron Lllo, Jean Principe, Jack Michaels, Louis de Brusk, and more. There’s still time to get in on every hockey fan’s dream cruise. Book now and save $500 per couple. The Edmonton Hockey Legends cruise price started at just $23.99. Part of the proceeds support the Bensteltzer Foundation and Kids with Cancer. Visit past.tours/edmonton. Tours back/edmonton. Call 18333477678. Call now to book and save $500 per cabin when you mention promo code stingray radio. That’s cast. Tours 1833477678. Carve out for a cause at the Jason Greger Pizza Pigout presented by GS Construction. Thursday, November 6th at the Canadian Ice House. Indulge in unlimited pizza from amazing local pizzeras while you help raise some dough for kids sport. Then vote for your favorite slice to help crown the people’s choice award winners. Tickets to join Edmonton’s biggest and best adult pizza party are just $30. Head to Jason Gregor pizza pigout.com for more details and to buy tickets. Smurf, connected, communitydriven. Jason Greger sets the standard for sports talk in Edmonton. Family conversation on sports 1440. Textger 83341440. Sports 1440, where Edmonton talks sports. At Papa John’s, our butter chicken pizza is a Canadian favorite. And we think we know why. We start with a velvety, tangy, and subtly sweet sauce. Then it’s our better ingredients. Fresh, never frozen original dough, juicy grilled chicken, and crunchy green peppers and onions. Sounds delicious, right? Well, wait till you try it. It’s butter chicken made better. Order your large butter chicken pizza today for only $19.99. Better ingredients, better pizza. Papa John’s. Proudly locally owned and operated. At Fountain Tire, we’re fluent in saving you money. Fluent? Yes. We’ve mastered the language of deals. 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Save money. Support Canada at cantor.com. [Music] Patricks, touchdowns, and home runs. Get it all with the Jason Greger Show on Sports 1440. Presented by playalberta.ca, Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 426 Jason Greger one Connor Hley with you on a lovely th Friday afternoon. Thursday yesterday was Thursday. Friday afternoon. Now, we have, of course, uh a little uh MLB playoff baseball going on as the uh Jays taking on uh Seattle. Vlatty Guerrero, another uh double in this game. And uh but the uh the Jays left them stranded at the uh at second base. And now the Mariners have uh looks like uh they stranded a runner of their own at second base. So, we’re uh scoreless after one inning in a pivotal game five matchup. Can the road team continue to win every game? Jays fans are hoping that uh continues today, but then ends as of course uh game six would be Sunday in Toronto. And you can hear that game right here on Sports 1440. Let’s get to our big guest of the day brought to you by Silent Ice. Hey, curling fans. Big weekend of curling. Check it out. The Silent Ice Center, the Grand Slam of Curling is in town. Elite level curling and elite level fun. Anybody who’s ever been to a curling spiel, you know it’s great. And the Silent Ice Center, fantastic place to go. So, the Grand Slam of Curling, you get your tickets for the weekend. Very few left. So, get them fast as we welcome in from TSN, a former NHL GM and scout, Stanley Cup winner, now ace analyst and scout for TSN, Craig Button joins us. But, how you doing? I’m doing good. I just want to make a comment. Anybody goes to a purring event and they can’t have fun, they should never be granted. Oh, hey, dude. I I totally agree, man. Have you ever been to the Brier Patch? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. It’s uh it’s a blast. And you know, it was very similar. It wasn’t very similar, but at the Olympics, you know, with the with the pearlers. I mean, they’re personable. They love being part of the part of the part of the I guess the joy in the fun. And it’s it’s a little more serious now because of the uh dollars that are involved for the players. It’s become more of a full-time job if not a full-time job, but it is still a blast. And the Brier Patch, you haven’t done it on your bucket list. No, it’s very good. Um Craig, we know that Evan B, we know Evan Bushard has his good games and obviously last night was the opposite. It was it wasn’t and it’s not just one play, it was multiple plays. You know, there’s lots of people wondering, you know, Chris Knobblock, and I brought up the example last year in game four, he sat dry, settled down after taking too many undisiplined penalties. Now, it was only for six or seven minutes, then he came back, he assisted on the the the game tying goal, then he scored the overtime winner against the Flyers. And you know what? I think Dry Settle, I think he had like two penalties in the next 50 games, so it clearly worked. Um, were you surprised Knoblock didn’t sit Bard last night or do you think it has to do with the fact that Walman and Regula were injured and you’re not going to play Stetcher or should that even have mattered? Shouldn’t last night being in a game where maybe you just give him a rest for five, six, seven minutes? Yeah. Well, I mean I mean we can sit back and consider, you know, Chris had done that. to Chris. I I I you know, with Leon last year, and I remember that stretch, it was more about Leon, you know, not dialing in and digging in and and you know, you got the puck as much as Evan does. He made some egregious mistakes in the game versus the New York New York Islanders and and we saw that, but but I don’t think it was one of those ones where, you know, he he’s he’s doing things that like are like taking your team out of the game. And I know that sounds contradictory because the mistakes you made led to them being taken out of a game so to speak, but at the same time I I think it’s a little bit different and I think the point is is that that’s coming back from from surgery or from from his injury. You’re you’re without Lulu, you’re without uh Roman. So what are you going to do? Start passing your your blue line. There’s lots of backtobacks. There’s lots of uh uh compacted games in a short period of time. So I I think you got to be careful with that. But I mean, every I I don’t get it honestly, Jason. I just don’t get it. And I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this on this show before, but this was years ago. Harry Shinden had Ray Bour in Austin, and there was some criticism of Ray Bour and oh my god, you know, gives he gives the puck away. He makes mistakes. And this is what Harry said. And I and I think it’s a direct quote. He said, “Yeah, you’re right. Yeah, Raymond, you know, couple times a game, maybe even three times a game, he makes a big mistake, might end up in our net sometimes. And you know, but that’s Raymond. He goes, he does 19 or 20 things every game that help us win a lot more games than we lose. And if I get focused in on the two or three and start trying to eliminate those, I also run the risk of eliminating the 19 or 20. He goes, it’s not a value tradeoff. And I think it’s the same thing with Evan Bush. Evan Bush, he Nobody has to tell Evan Buchard that he made mistakes. Nobody has to tell Evan Buchard they he he turned the puck over. But Evan Buchard his body of work. Now let’s just look at his body of work for the last five years. We’re going to get focused in on one game and we’re going to start crucifying him. Not me. Not me. You live with it. You you you you go with how how how many great things Evan Brousard does in a game. How many things he does to help a team win. And I’m not focusing in. Yeah, he could be better. Yeah, he makes mistakes. Great players make mistakes. I’m not worried about Eden Buchard one bit. The uh the Oders are 21 and1. It’s not a terrible start by any stretch of the imagination. They they’ve won games. Uh Steuart Skinner stole them a game against the Rangers. Their defense against the Conucks was unreal. They didn’t give up one high danger chance the entire game, which which doesn’t happen very often. Um you know, last night I thought was a little bit of a you know, death by a thousand cuts on on themselves more than anything else. But the one consistent thing through four games, Craig, their five on five scoring is not remotely where it needs to be. And um it’s it’s really in infected a lot, especially their top two lines. Right now, NE Hopkins did score yesterday, so that was nice on kind of a broken play. And then Emerson finds him and really great shot by Nan Hopkins. And kind of same as Andrew Mongani, you know, on a little bit of a broken play comes in, high skill play, but the orders, they’re top six guys. Like you got to get more production from your best players. Like I get it’s only four games, but when they were the ones talking about we need a good start, they kind of got to back it up with some production, do you not? Yeah. I think it’s a test right now and integrating some newer players, trying to do some different things with your line combinations. Number one, number two, and and and Mike Sullivan talked about this with his interesting, they played a really good game against the Edmonton Oilers uh when they lost. They played a really good game against the Washington Capitals and they and they lost them. They couldn’t score. And and and this is what Mike said. Mike said like there’s no way this is sustainable if we keep doing these positive things. Conor McDavid in terms of high danger chances in and is is more than per game is more than double the next player in the league. I’m not worried about Conor McDavid. I’m not worried about Leand title. I think there’s enough there in terms of process where they’re going to get their where they’re going to get productive. four games in, I’d be really concerned if they were cutting corners and cheating it and not getting. Now, the Ranger game was a different animal. They just didn’t generate a lot in that game. But in the other games, I think they’ve been very good and very, very strong in terms of what they’re trying to do. And again, to my first comment, you know, you’re trying to integrate players, Connor, Leon, RNH, they’re trying to get comfortable, new players. New players are trying to get comfortable. Chris Mobl’s trying to figure out what he has. I I I think it’s just part and parcel, but I I I don’t see I don’t see from a process point of view a team that is that is going to struggle to score because they have talent. Oh yeah. No, eventually they’ll score. I have no doubt about it. Um yes, they’re going to get some guys back here soon supposedly. Um obviously they still got some time until the big decision when Zack Heyman comes because they’re going to have to send more guys down. What What have you made of of Howard’s uh play thus far? Do you think it’s inevitable, Craig? Not that he’s played poorly, but just it comes down to like a minutes game and then how many minutes do we have for guys and you know are we going to expose guys to waiverss or not? What do you think is is Ike Howard destined to get some time in the American League? Okay, so here’s how I rewind it this way. Okay, Jason, so what do you want Ike Howard to do one top six scoring leader and and and I I think there’s no question he he’s shown that he’s he he could do that based on his productivity uh previously. He he he has the potential to do that. And I have no doubt he’s going to be able to do that. Now, you want to play in fourth line or do you want him to go down to the miners and really get those touches and really get those opportunities first power play, all the all the offensive chances, build his confidence. So, to me, Isaac Howard’s going down to Bakersfield. That’s where he’s going. I’m going to be a little bit more patient with with Mattie Seavoy because he did so well last year and, you know, give him a little bit more time. See see how he fits in when comes back. But I I don’t want I don’t want if you’re gonna if you want Isaac Howard to be a fourthline winger, play him as a fourthline winger. I don’t think they want him to Wait a sec. Let me go back. There’s They don’t want I Howard to be a fourthline winger. No, no, they Well, they shouldn’t anyway. I think we would all agree. Listen, I don’t know if I told you this. I mean, I like and and it’s an easy one. I know you and me have talked about it, but like the Ottawa Senators failed Colonel Cesar. Colonel Cesar was an elite scoring guy all the way up. He’s an elite scoring guy with the Edmonton Oil Kings. He’s an elite scoring guy. When the Ottawa Sanders drafted him in the first round and then the Ottawa Sanders said, “No, no, we’ll have you be a third fours line guy.” In his third year, they sent him to the miners and go find his offensive game. They failed. Colonel Cesar, if that’s what you want to do with Isaac Howard, keep playing him on the fourth line. Get him down to Bakersfield. And you know what I would do? I’d get him down sooner, not later. I wouldn’t wait for him to come back. Yes, I totally totally agree with you on that. Uh uh Craig, I I thought one of the one of the easiest predictions, and predictions are what they are. They’re a prediction, but I honestly thought the one easy prediction this year would be that the Calgary Flames were going to struggle to score goals and they didn’t make any like literally no changes in the offseason. Now, Huber, who actually played pretty well, he’s never going to live up to his contract, per se, but actually effort I had no problem with how he played last year. He’s out. They can’t score Craig. Like it like they didn’t hardly generate any chances against the San Jose Sharks for goodness sakes. This this might be a year where the Calgary Flames are legit contender for the draft lottery. Here’s what I would say and and I’m very clear on this. You know, they struggled to score last year. You know, they they ended up getting on the right side. They were competitive. Justin Wolf was fantastic in the net. Now, here’s the problem. They got a they got a young kid, Zayn Perk, who’s not ready for full-time duty in the NHL, and they’re going to have to live with that. That’s the decision they’ve decided. That’s what Anderson’s going to be traded. Okay, because I mean that’s a big chip. So that leaves you with weeder and ball and then you don’t have any other defense. Good luck. Now you have Rubo hurt who forget about the contract. He he he’ll perform at the level we’ve seen the last couple years and that’s acceptable possible. So now they don’t have enough options. We know that you got a lot of young players. They’re not focused in they shouldn’t be focused in on 25 26 or for that matter 26 27. The whole thing is is when the new building gets is ready to go into that your team is competitive. You’re ready to take steps forward. They’re one and four. Mike Babcock did it with the Toronto Makers. He had a team that was competitive. I think that Ryan Hust can keep his team competitive. Do I think with the Lapis scoring the poor blue line that they can win games? No. This is the year to just continue on where they’re at and give themselves the best chance against Gavin McKenna. It’s it’s exactly what they should be doing. Yeah. What about the Kings, Craig? I now I I went a little bit off of the NHL trend that uh you know there’s multiple 100 point teams who miss the playoffs the following year and so I was like I got to look at some and I look well to me it’s the Kings and I thought they got slower their back end they don’t have a lot of great puck movers on the back end at all and you know Darcy Keer was unreal last year Kevin Woodley told us about just his numbers were great not so because the defense in front of him because he played great and I’m like well that’s hard to do year after year and so I looked at the Kings, I felt, yeah, that’s my team that I think is going to take a step back. It’s ultra early, but what what do you make of the start for LA? And how concerned should Kings fans be? Well, Jason, just so you know, I’m of the same mind as you when it comes to the LA Kings, you know, I think they’re I think they’re a weaker team on the blue line. I think they’re a little bit slower. I mean, they still have speed in their lineup and whatnot, but they had 105 points last year and and let’s celebrate what they did. It was it was a really good job by Jim Heler and and they had but now you miss the playoffs. All that means is five less wins. It it’s like we we take 105 points and go, “Oh my god, how can a 100 point team miss the five less wins?” Yeah, it’s not hard. It’s five less wins is not is not hard to uh is not hard to uh come short on. So I’m of the same mindset as you with the uh uh with the uh LA Kings. And let me just say this, okay? Brian Doom and Cody Cece have been a disaster. on the blue and those were the two guys that we’re going to kind of as a unit as a pair we’re going to kind of mitigate against the loss of Gabacov. Gabricov is such a good player and to me the Rangers are playing pretty good defense and and they have to get that in order. Gabricov’s help there but I’m with you on the LA Kings and now Dar Keer’s hurt. Yeah, well that doesn’t help. I do want to stick with the Kings for a second Craig being a former GM. So you look at the T- Leaves and lots of superstars and top end guys stay with their teams. Not all but lots have. But now you’re Adrien Kempe. You know that your running mate, Mr. Kopitar is retiring at the end of the season. Drew Dowy is older. He’s got one year left on his deal and there’s tons of money in the free agent market. If you’re Adrien Kempe, Craig, now I get that there’s comfort. So maybe the Kings might have, hey, Kyle Connor got 12 million. Those guys got basically the exact same amount of goals the last three years. So I look and say, “Hey, you got 12 million. It’s probably got to start with the 12 uh maybe I would think in LA if he wants to stay there. Um but if if you don’t have a if you’re Ken Hall and you don’t have a contract with Kempe nearing the trade deadline, you probably have to trade him. Like Toronto had a good enough team around where you could say, “Okay, you know what? We got Matthews, we got Knander, we got these other guys, whatever. We’ll we’ll roll the dice.” It it didn’t go the way we wanted. Even though some thought that was pro and they had no movement claw, so it didn’t really matter. But in the case of Adrien Kempe, if you don’t have a contract, Craig, do you have to trade him at the deadline if you’re Ken Holland? Uh, I would say absolutely yes. And and I feel the same way about the New York Rangers without Kenny Caner. And I’m not even so sure that with the New York Rangers, who I don’t see as a Stanley Cup contender, like even if they’re in the mix in the playoffs at that time, I’m not so sure you don’t trade him. And and I and I think that you got to look at each situation and you know where the money is going to become available in the marketplace with the caps going up revenues have been so strong. You know when you arch Wayne was in Columbus and he had Roboski and Canaran he he they were paying free he couldn’t trade those guys because the Columbus Blue Jackets were trying to do something different. They were trying to establish themselves as a team that you know could make the playoffs. They were trying to generate some real good interest in the marketplace. So they couldn’t trade those guys. He ended up losing him for nothing, but that was a very different scenario, I think, for the LA Kings with with the LA Kings with Kempe and the New York Rangers with Paneran. Yeah, I think you have to because there’s going to be a marketplace that’s going to pay for those guys because teams are trying to get themselves over the hump and and I’ll go one place I’ll go one other place, too. And I think it’s different for for this team. If I’m Alex Tuck, I I’m not signing a B. Oh, cuz he I am I am saying to to I’m having my agent. I’m just saying we’re not signing here. We’ll talk to you like the teams. We’ll be willing to sign, but if I’m Alex Tuck, I ain’t signing in Buffalo. That’s for sure. What do you think about Kekalinan as a GM in Buffalo? Yeah. Well, I think that it’s all it’s in place for him to become the GM, isn’t it? Yeah. I think I think Garmin’s I think Garmin will be really good. I think them bringing in Yarmmo in his current role is something that they’ve been lacking in Buffalo. You know, Kevin Adams came in there with no experience and then he and then he let go of couple dozen people with experience. That’s that was a huge mistake by Kevin and and now he’s got somebody that can guide him, that’s been through it, that can understand what he’s going through. I I I think it’s too late. And I I think the mistakes that the Buffalo Sabers have made. I think Kevin’s a good person. And I think Yarmmo though when they hired him they put their I guess what I would say they have their uh uh their guy in place and I think he will be the next GM of the Buffalo Sabers. It’ll be a matter of when. But I think that Yarmmo Yarmmo did good work in in Columbus and and and Yarmmo’s sharp and he’s good. And I think that uh you know having a chance to be around the team and to see where the team is functioning and to see different players at the minor league level and the prospect system before he takes over will be really really good for him. It’ll be really good for the Buffalo Sabres. And on a second goound, I don’t have any question Normo will be really good. Greg, uh, have you caught are you a baseball guy? Are you into the Jays? Yeah, I’m into the Jay. I’m an expos fan. I’m still bitter about 95 in the strike. So, I think it’s I think it’s cool what the Jays have done. I think that I think the Jays have a fun team to watch. I think they have a team that’s uh that that plays and plays hard. They never give up. I mean, what happened yesterday with Max Scherer? How awesome was that? 41 years old and he’s got a fire burning hot in his belly. Him and Schneider, the push by the the push and pull on each other. I got this. You better have it. Oh, don’t worry. I do. Get out of here. Okay, you better take care of this. And he does. I mean, that to me is is just that’s the essence of sport. When you’re dialed in to win and you’re going to do everything you can to win, that’s what allows teams to win. And I think the Blue Jays have that. And now, hey, first now it’s a it’s a fun time. It’s a fun time for uh uh for the for for the Blue Jays, for baseball fans in Canada. Might end up being just like it was with the Raptors. Oh, that’d be crazy. Craig, great stuff. But hey, where you at tonight? What game you watching? I’m not watching anything tonight. You know, I’m taking it easy. I’m I’m going to go to uh actually I I am I’m going to tell you what I’m going to start doing at five o’clock. I’m tuning into the Boston University Michigan State game. Uh should be a big-time heavyweight uh college game. So, I’m dialing into that game and I want to see like all those guys play. Kind of get a little glimpse of what’s happening with the players that could be on the World Junior team. Tomorrow, full day of NHL hockey. Sunday I’ll see the Hitman play. And uh next week I’m in Edmonton. Thursday night I’m in Edmonton for the Montreal game. Looking forward to that. Oh, perfect. And buy me a birthday beer. I love it. Thanks. Appreciate it. Is that your birthday? I have your birthday on my calendar. So, you didn’t have to It would come up anyway, but I I’ll be happy to do that because uh you know, you’re good people. All right. All right. Well, you Yeah, you’re in town for the Havs, so love it. All right, Craig. Well, we’ll see you then, buddy. Okay, you have a great weekend. Take care. That’s Craig Button from TSN. Quick break. We’ll come back. Five questions and more. Jason Greger, wrets, Connor Hley, sports 1440 sports 1440. Whoa. Who turned off all the lights? Experience the new charcoal menu at Booster Juice. Charcoal menu. Introducing the Eclipse Smoothie, Blackout Booster Mixer, and Midnight Booster Ball. Where’s that voice coming from? Dark and delicious. Made with activated charcoal. Can we please turn the lights back on? Sorry, I’m just excited about the new charcoal menu. Wow, that is good, right? Available now only at Bookster Juice. You’ve probably heard the term supply and demand. Something is needed and someone supplies it. 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Get up to 25% off select tires, up to $125 off a set of four select Goodyear tires and $50 off $150 service until October 18th. Restrictions apply. Book today. Mountain Tire. We’re on this road together. Canada. [Music] Portions of this hour brought to you by Northwest Crane, available for all your lifting and equipment needs. Specializing in selling and servicing cranes. Get lifting at northwest crane.com. The Jason Greger Show, the best of Edmonton sports talk and beyond. This is Sports 1440, presented by playalberta.ca, CA Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] Welcome back. Jason Gregor, Connor Hley. Could it happen? Three days in a row as uh Connor Fippa opens up the third inning. Jays are down a run. Stop me if you’ve heard this story before, Jays fans. They’re trailing in the third inning. They started out, their number eight hitter gets on base and then Gimenez comes to the plate. Uh, could you imagine if he hit another like that’d be unbelievable? Even if he just gets an RBI here, it’s still magical if he’s the guy who drives in their their first round of the game for the the third day in a row and and uh gets the offense going. It would be uh it would be quite the story, man. Quite the story. So, we’ll update you on that as it goes. Now, let’s get to uh five questions brought to you by the brick as uh hey madness savings continue on right now at the brick. Hey, it’s it’s that time of year. You’re watching baseball together. You got hockey coming back on. Maybe you got the NFL. You got watch parties all the time. Well, hey, you know what? Uh you need a big screen TV. You can save up to 800 bucks right now on a big screen TV and get free delivery for any TV 50 inches or more. Check it out at the brick and brick.com. It’s time for five questions on the Jason Greger show. Question number one for you guys today. If you had to rank the Jay’s postseason MVPs, how does it look three through one? Three through one. 321. You know, I’d say Vlatty Jr. is the MVP. And after that, it kind of trails off for me. Maybe Himenez with his backto-back jacks. Who knows? Well, if I’m going number three for the Jay, we’re talking the whole playoffs, Connor. Yes, sir. Um, I’m going to go I feel bad that I leave out a pitcher, but if we’re talking the whole playoffs, like if I had to pick a pitcher, I might pick Varin. So, I’ll take Varin third, then I’m going to take Ernie Clement, and then I’ll take Vlatty. man like they’re like him and Nez the last two games has been unreal. He’s been really good but I’ll still go with Ernie Clement. Question number two for you guys. In your expert opinion, who’s the more polarizing figure amongst Oilers fans, Evan Bushard or Steuart Skinner? Oh my god. Jeez, that’s like that’s a really good question. A tough one, Connor. Who’s more polariz? We’d have to ask the fans. Text in. Who’s more polarizing to you? But you only get to pick one. Bard or Skinner? I I’d still probably say Skinner because Bousard’s Buchard’s had some unreal playoff success. Even though Skinner’s had some good games, but he’s had a few times. I guess I’ll probably say Skinner. There’s a third guy I think that deserves to be in the conversation. That’s Darnell Nurse. In terms of divisiveness among the fans, it’s crazy to me that we have back-to-back Cup appearances and yet there’s three players that are that much of lightning rods for criticism. I think it has to be Skinner. Question number three, Alex Lines. Tonight, 8:30 kickoff. What’s going to happen? Well, last week I said 3020 win over Winnipeg and everyone laughed at me than I laughed at them because they pulled it off. So, I’ll say that they’re going to beat the Lions tonight. 30-20 and keep the wagon rolling. Well, I think if they’re going to win, they’re going to have to score more points because um the Lions the Lions offense is pretty good. So, um the dream, you know what? Hey, why I don’t I don’t want to root for uh to to to pick them to lose at this stage of the season. And I know that their odds of making the playoffs are slim, but I will say the I will say they they have a miracle win 3331. You know what I found on YouTube, Connor, is that the CFL is now putting out like day after games that are 12 minutes long. Oh yeah, they’re unreal. They’re unreal. If you haven’t watched an Elks game or you haven’t been to one in a while, go to YouTube, just watch last week’s highlights of the Elks game and tell me that wasn’t a very entertaining hockey game. Well, I would tell you that because it was an entertaining football game. Okay. Watching a baseball game. You know what I mean? It wasn’t very entertaining. You were so good. It was I had three sports going simultaneously in my brain. It’s too much. Question number four. Earlier this week, the Utah Mammoth introduced their mascot, Tusky. So, let me ask you, who are your top three NHL mascots? See, when it comes to mascots, right, so my son, he’s like, “Dad, did you see Tusky?” Unreal. He loved him. So, he was all over Tusky. So, his kids like cuz to me, like, I’m sorry, M. I’m not an adult. I’m not going to a mascot. So, to me, I look at what the kids like. You got Gritty in Philadelphia. No question he’s there. Tusky’s coming right up there. And the Seattle guy, cuz he looks like a I don’t know if he’s like a mixture of a troll doll to something else, but those would probably be my top three. But I’m telling you, like the boys, they were loving Tusky. 11-year-old boy thought Tusky was unreal cuz he’s a huge mascot. I didn’t necessarily like Hunter the first time I saw him. Then I saw him with my nephew who was four at the time and he thought Hunter was amazing. When I showed Wany Jr. who’s now five, he he thinks Hunter is the greatest thing ever. We go to the games, where’s Hunter? Wants to see Hunter. When I showed him Gritty, he literally fell to the ground laughing at Gritty’s eyes. Oh yeah, that’s brilliant marketing. Oh no. And you’re right. It’s not for us. It’s not for adults. People have to forget. Like when I hear adults, oh yeah. I’m like, dude, like you’re a grown adult. Why would the mascot be for you? What are we What are we doing? Of course it’s for the kids. I also like Whoopier. What was this guy’s name? The expose guy. Yoopi. Yoopi. Yeah, he was all right, buddy. He was great. What about You know what? Hey, the Mariner Moose, legendary. Remember when he broke his ankle when he ran when he rode into the wall? But dude, like a mascot is a no joke job, right? Like there’s a guy in the NBA. I think he makes like 350K or something. Like it’s like those guys there’s some really athletic mascots. They’re doing triple flips. Well, not maybe not a triple flip on some of them. Off those trampolines, slam dunking. Like, it’s pretty sick. But the Mariner Moose, I still remember him crashing into the wall. Cons knows exactly which one I’m talking about. Right. And he had the roller blades and he was getting pulled by something. Yeah. I remember one time Nanuk doing a bit at an Elks game and he jumped off a little diving board into a swimming pool and they started struggling all around and no one in the crowd really understood. They popped his helmet off. All this water poured out. Poor guy was drowning on his feet. Well, I remember the Safeway Seal. That’s the mascot. I thought the Safeway Seal guy was unbelievable on the sidelines of the Elks. And I remember when he used to bring that like stuffed um horse and he would just like elbow drop it or the or the gopher for Saskatchewan. Like the seal was unreal. He was like I as a kid I thought the seal was pretty darn good. Absolutely. Yeah. Final question for you guys today. Mike Judge, creator of King of the Hill and Beas and Butad, celebrates his 63rd birthday. People know I’m a big King of the Hill fan, but I don’t like Beas and Buttthead. So, let me ask you guys, who are your top three most disliked cartoon characters? I think I know Gregor’s number one. Yeah, 100%. Like, this isn’t even a question, but go ahead. Go ahead. Who’s your number one? Uh, okay. All right. Well, I I don’t really like King of the Hill and I don’t really like Beas and Buttad. I like uh Simpsons and I like Family Guy and I like South Park, but that’s about it. But I don’t really have any beef with anybody per se. Like I don’t have disliked cartoon. Not really. No. Who’s your uh Axe to grind guy? Oh, I don’t even know if I can mention his name on the show because it’s like a Well, you’re I’m pretty sure your son never wrote his book. Not wrote it, of course, but uh uh read his book. But uh I I’m going to go if I have to go with my if I have to find it’s hard for me to find three, but um actually I do have three. Coming in third place, Caillou. Terrible. Coming in second place, Caillou. Even worse. Coming in first place, Caillou. And I would give a fourth place to his whiny sister, too. I don’t even know her name, but God, that show like I watched one episode and I was like to my wife, we’re never watching that show. It is awful. It was just whining, like nasely whining all the time. Caillou, without question, the worst of the worst. That’s a heck of a rant. You really don’t like Caillou. No, dude. You’ve never seen it. I guarantee if you watched it once, you’d be like, “How how was this ever on the air? It was awful. It’s awful.” No, like it just like kids. I I want them where it’s upbeat and fun. And and speaking of it, they uh they had on SNL um you know the there was a skit they had on SNL and they were playing the guitars like oh I wish it was Christmas and they had Kermit the Frog and Fozy Bear and Kermit’s going absolute just as dancing and I was watching today and I was dying and I’m like see Kermit legendary legendary guy. Now, I know he’s not an animator. He’s a muppet, but still. Um I have a Caillou. No chance. And there’s lots of like I love the animated guys like um Zootopia’s coming out, but my son because when I went to watch Zootopia with my son, I was like, “God, I really like the show.” And Zootopia 2 is coming out. My son saw the preview. He’s like, “Dad, guess what’s coming out?” I had no idea. I was like, “Wow, I don’t know.” He’s like, “Zootopia.” I was like, “What? Can’t wait.” So, are you pro or anti- Minion? Love the Minions. Love the Minions. The Minions are unbelievable. The minions are great and Gru is so classic. He’s like a villain but not really a villain. It’s hilarious. Oh yeah. No, the minions and their voice like how can you not like who who’s how can you be anti-minion? Like there they never really do anything negative. They’re just funny. I’ve seen some people that think that they’re stupid, but I just that’s a that’s a they do some stuff for sure. But that makes it funny. See it through the eyes of a kid again, right? Wa Junior cracks up at minions like you wouldn’t believe it. Dude, through an eye of an adult. I think the minions are awesome. So no, like Caillou is the one guy like it just trust I I dare you to watch an episode. That’ll be before next Friday. You have to watch an episode of Caillou. A full episode. That’s your That’s your homework for the week. You’re watching not without Guany Jr. You’re going to watch it yourself and you’re going to see why. What if I watch it with one Junior? He gets hooked on it. Now I got to watch Ka watch it with him. You want me to watch it on my own? Yeah, you’re going to watch it on your own to realize why you should never show it to your child. All right. It should come with a parental warning so parents can be like, “Yeah, this is terrible.” I don’t know if you would have done well in the Coco Melon era of parenting. I don’t even know who that is. Well, it’s a kid show, but it’s pretty high-pitched and kind of whiny, too. Hey, Gregor, Rosie is a sister of Caillou. Thank you, NBA fan. 26. Rosie. Hey guys, HAB fans act like Caillou. You know what? That’s actually a really good burn. I think I might have to start using that now. Oh, that is a great burn. Oddball. I love it. Absolutely awful. If you want to know what you know, funny. We got a lot of texts coming in. Coco Melon was brutal from Andrew, uh, Sarah, uh, Mark, and Pete. A tough one. I’m just reading that now. So, uh, there you go. Let’s take a quick break. We’ll come back. Uh, Spec will join us as we get to sports 1440 update brought to you by Loca. Dinner solved in minutes. Loca gourmet meals are made fresh, never born in, always chefinsspired. two locations, Edmonton and Short Parker. See what they have to offer at loca.ca. This is a sports 1440 update. Week 20 in the CFL as the Elks out in Vancouver set to take on the BC Lions. That one gets going at 8:30. Earlier on, you’ll have a Bombers and Ruff Riders kickoff 6:00. Major League Baseball playoffs rolling on. Third inning, Jays right now trail the Mariners one- nothing. Two outs. Later on tonight, you got the Dodgers with a chance to wrap up their series against the Brewers. gets going at 6:38 Mountain time. And in the NHL, Red Wings taking on the Lightning Caps host the Wild Conucks in Chicago and the Mammoth taking on the Sharks. The Oil Kings on the road tonight in PA taking on the Raiders that’ll get going at 7:00 in the BCHL at 8. Short Park in Coquitlam. And then in the AJ four games tonight, including Camero taking on Canmore, Devon and Bonnville and Port Mack hosting Grand Prairie, University of Alberta, Golden Bears hockey taking on UBC tonight down to the Drake Puck drop at 7. Football tomorrow against the Regina Rams Footfield 2:00. You also have Panda soccer at Clark at taking on Mchuan at noon. And sad news today, longtime Edmonton journalist and sports caster John Smmith has passed away following an extensive battle with cancer. John began his career in Edmonton in 1990, winning a national journalist award in 2014. He was actively involved in the community as a hockey coach and with organiz organizations like Sports Central and the Alberta Cancer Foundation. Coming up in hour four of the Jason Greger show, we’ll discuss John’s legacy with Kevin Caras. We’ll hear from Mark Spectre of Rogers Sports and be joined by the host of the lowdown bow tide, Alan Mitchell. I’m Connor Howie. This has been a sports 1440 update. 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From the first face off to the final. Sports 1440 is your home for hockey talk with live coverage, expert analysis, and pre and postgame shows. We bring you closer to the game. Tune in 24/7 only on Sports 1440. Edmonton Sports Station. [Music] Forces of this hour brought to you by Crystal Glass. Your clear choice for residential windows. Locally manufactured and installed, Crystal Glass provides a beautiful product and incredible customer services for all of your residential needs. Call 310 Glass or visit crystalglass.ca for a quote. The Jason Greger Show, the best of Edmonton Sports Talk and beyond. This is Sports 1440, presented by playalberta.ca, Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. Pause of Friday. We roll through. Hope you’re having a lovely day. Hey, Jason Gregory Gretz Connor Hally is always brought to you by playalberta.ca where you can get in the game any day. Anytime you want to make a $50 donation, use the promo code gregor 50 and guess what? They’ll match. So you deposit 50 bucks. Use the promo code gregor 50, you’ll get another 50. Two for one, baby. Or just play two games this weekend. Maybe I want to go 50 on H. Good luck at playalberta.ca. Time now for the spec report brought to you by GS Construction. your underground infrastructure specialists who are hiring. If you want to work for a fantastic company who loves to promote from within and start not just a job but a career, go to gsconstruction.ca and look up careers as Mark Spectre joins us uh on the road. um the uh Oilers losing last night in Long Island Spec and uh you know I I don’t want to start with Captain Obvious because we’ve talked about it a lot but um at what point does the five on five scoring become an issue to you? Yeah, it’s it’s probably starting soon here. You know, Conor McDavid has said he wanted to shoot more and score more and he’s not shooting more and he ain’t scoring at all. Um you know, he’s still got that that I always Jay I always pause when I find myself trying to instruct Conor McDavid how to play hockey. Like, who the hell am I to say that? But he did say, “I’d like to shoot more and score more goals this year.” And we’ve not seen evidence of that. I think it kind of starts with him. So, uh, Bouch is another guy. Bard is a guy that, you know, I always say if I had that shot, man, I’ I’d have six shots a game, but he kind of meets it out like it’s a precious metal. So, they got to fire more pucks to start with. Uh, I think they’re trying to make the perfect play. Is that how it looks on TV? That’s how it looks in the rink. Yeah, I I think at times, well, like I just look at the, you know, the the play when it’s three to two late in the third period and, you know, you’re you’re in the slot and I know the puck was rolling on edge, but I don’t care. You just got to shoot it. You got to shoot it there. Then try like, no offense, it’s Troy freaking Stetcher. I don’t know how many career goals he has spec, but it but it ain’t many. And like you’re Conor Mc you’re Conor McDavid. That’s where you should be like, I’m shooting the puck. Troy Stetcher is probably like, “What the hell are you passing to me for?” Not expecting the pass. I mean, I recall a particular game in uh in Boston where Conor McDavid got the puck in overtime, shot it in the for the for uh for nation face off and it was a pretty good shot. So, yes, Connor, you know what? Like again, his goals are going to come, his game’s going to come, but I think this is a team that’s starting to go to that. We talked about going to the net yesterday. Uh, we’d like to see more of that. And we I think I’d like to see I’m not I I don’t love the term volume shooting, but I sure would love to see them give a goalie a chance to give up a bad rebound once in a while because they just they just they wait for the perfect play and when the perfect play doesn’t come, there’s no shot at all. So, that’s probably something Chris Knoblock’s talking about too, I would say. Yeah. Um the Evan Bousard obviously you can’t talk about the game without Evan Bousard’s game and obviously it’s one like hey you know mistakes are going to happen in the course of a game I understand it but no no but when you make one you can’t just make you like you got to stop at one that to me was the issue last night okay you know what I made one big error okay whatever that’s going to happen at some point in the season but it just can’t it kept compounding and compounding that was the concern for me well it’s the kind of mistake and that’s what Nlock said after the game and and if People out there should go back through their memory and find when they try to remember a time when Chris Knobblock basically called out a player and criticized him as a guy that’s in every one of those scrums. It never happened. No. Okay. No. Chris Knobblock ne he is not, you know, John Tordella or John Broofphy or Glenn Saither or someone who tell tell you how bad a player was tonight, but he did last night with Bushard. It’s the type of mistake Jake Bushard’s got the puck all the time. He plays 25 minutes a night, you’re not going to be perfect. Chris Pronger made mistakes. But standing at center ice getting stripped by Barzel, that’s not a mistake that’s acceptable. You know, standing there with a complete lack of awareness while Horvath gets behind you for the PK breakaway. That that’s so easily fixed and it’s a it’s a rookie play. Like I don’t see Mars. He plays Morton Buchard. I don’t see Quinn Hughes making those plays. I don’t see I didn’t see Sa Sch Schaefer making those plays last night and he’s a rookie. Like he’s not making pressure mistakes. He’s making lack of awareness, lack of focus, lack of concentration mistakes. You can fix those. And I would say in Evan Bushard’s career, it’s time to fix those. It’s time to get past this. There’s times in a game, How old’s Bushard now? 26. Yeah. Um, yeah. Yeah, I think so. He’s 26. He still looks like he’s 19 sometimes, you know, and it’s time make a mistake, man. You play all the time. You got the puck all the time. I’ve got a huge window for Evan Bashard to make mistakes, but not the kind he made last night. It’s time to grow up, right? Is that fair? Is it time to grow up for Evan Bousard? I would say it is. Yeah, I think that’s fair. Like you you have to reduce them so it’s it’s it’s not multiples in one game like that. Like if you’re going to make one big error, okay, it’s going to happen at some point in 82 game season for someone who holds on to the puck that often. I can that I can live with and probably going to happen a few times, but um to me it’s uh it just last night it just kept getting like there was no there was no reprieve, right? There’s there was no reprieve and so it kept coming. It kept coming. I mean there was two that cost you goals. There was two more that should have cost you goals. I mean it’s you’re right. Well, last night was was a train wreck. And you know what? I just I’m going to tell you like any you know any chance that anyone thought of him trying to make an Olympic team like forget it right that player it doesn’t matter if he gets a 100 points this year he’s not making the Olympic team as long as he keeps having games like that they won’t put him on the ice in Olympic game they won’t put him in Olympic uniform I’m sorry to tell you and that’s just a fact. Yeah. Although he’s got a pretty good track record of big games not really doing that. So I don’t know if that will make up for but that’s true too. That’s true too. But but the truth is about the human brain for all of us. Recency bias and what you see recently will impact your decision more than what you see. Even though you can go back and show all the tapes of the playoffs like you know somebody who is a Bushard booster could show them all the playoff games say here’s this guy look what he did in the playoffs. You don’t have guys who’ve done this in the playoffs where it matters most with all the pressures there and he does it year like he’s done it three years in a row. So it’s not like it’s a fluke, right? Like he knows how to play at the key times. But the truth of the matter is they’re going to be looking and saying, “Well, in November, December, January, we’re still seeing that. So guess what? They’ll go the safe route.” And I think that’ll work against them for sure. Whose job is he gonna take? Which guy on which guy that’s on the team now makes those mistakes? It’s true, but which one of them when when they’re at their best is better, right? Like is Drew Dowy still there? Like I’m not sold like spec I I’m not sold on that. I’m not sold on that, right? Like I think I think there’s going to be if I look at that roster, I won’t be stunned if there’s like 70 uh there’s 25% new faces on the Olympic team compared to the Four Nations team. Yeah, that’s fair. There will and there there’s always going to be injury, so you’re going to lose a guy a couple guys there. And I’m totally fine with that. like I don’t you know uh Drew Dowy has to earn a spot on that team but I’m just you know you can call a recency bias you can call whatever you want uh it’s it we all know that players get ice time in hockey when the coach trusts them and the coach has to trust the player whether it’s you know a regular season game or team Canada and Milan and Evan Bashard is not fostering a trust from a coaching staff for team Canada right now. And if they don’t trust him, they don’t want them. No, that’s uh it’s totally the Jays had bases loaded, none outs in the fourth. Var struck out and then uh Clement hit literally a ball the foul that hit an inch. Uh the catcher touched play through and out. They went uh they got no runs in. Unreal. Brutal. Brutal. But they they’ve left a lot of guys on base here so far. They just can’t cash them in. So that’s uh it’s not a great start, but the Jays are still in it. We’ll see what happens. Um what about goalending spec? Who do you think’s going tomorrow in New Jersey and uh in Detroit? Any idea? I don’t have an idea because they did not skate today, so there’s been no clues. Uh I haven’t been around no block. He didn’t say so after the game last night. He wasn’t tipping his hand. So I would be lying if I said I knew. I’m going to tell you one of them starting one, one starting the other. Uh I don’t know which one it will be, my friend. I I want to say I’ve really thought Skinner had a good start to his season. I thought Skinners was very good last night, you know, uh, made a ton of good saves. When that game when it was 3-2 with five minutes to play, I looked down and I thought, man, this game should be about five or six to two here. So, no, I agree with you. Very happy with Skinner’s game so far this season. Yeah, he made a bad play against Calgary. Big deal. Uh, he’s been excellent. And Pickard has one game and I believe he did he have a shut out? No, he let it. That’s not bad either. It wasn’t bad. They didn’t face any high danger chances. That was their defensive juggernaut game against Vancouver. But hey, it’s not the goalie’s fault. You got to make the save. Got to stop the ones that uh that you see. Uh quickly, the Jays, what did you make of that game last night, my man? Like uh and what about old Mad Max? I don’t love that. I was thinking of you today. So, I don’t love that. I don’t I didn’t love the fact that he basically kind of embarrassed his manager out there. I thought John Schneider handled it really well. He deferred. He was the bigger man. He didn’t come out and, you know, he didn’t have a look in his face like he was upset. But I would ask you this question, Jason. If if your son, and I know you coach your son in hockey, let’s say you’re coaching him in baseball, and let’s say your son’s a pitcher and he’s 14 years old, and let’s say the manager comes out, wants to take him out, and he gives him that much attitude. Would you, how would that car ride home be? Would you be proud of your son? Well, first would you think? Well, I never compare my I never compare minor to to pro sports. Number one. Number two, um I I don’t think it was disrespectful because John Schneider has even said when I when I jog to the mound, I’m not usually I’m just there to talk. I’m not taking guys out, right? That’s what Buck Martinez was explaining when he walks, not jogs. And he joged once he crossed the line. So that it was like he was out there just to check on him and that’s what Schneider said. I don’t think he was taking him out. I think he was just saying, “Hey, where are you at here? We can come out.” And I didn’t mind because he just said because Schneider even said, “Are you ready?” “Yeah, I’m ready.” And I I think Schneider’s a pretty intense guy. So I didn’t I didn’t have much of I didn’t have much of a And like I I don’t know if you saw his postgame presser. Like I loved it. Schneider just like, man, I’ve been waiting for that moment. I’ve heard about it like to be in that moment to see a guy who so badly wants to win. That’s what you want, I think, as a manager in pro sports. I I don’t think it was disrespectful at all because like it’s you don’t take it personal there. When Schzer’s pitching his his he flips the switch. That’s just who he is. and anybody to think, well, he shouldn’t be that. That’s who he is. He’s honest. He’s been that way his entire career. And I I don’t think he showed him up at all. I had no problem with it. I thought it was good. I didn’t love it. But I hear what you’re saying. I mean, if that’s his thing, I guess my my parting words would be, “You better deliver.” Yeah. And he did. If you’re going to be that guy, you better deliver. Last night, he delivered. He hadn’t been delivering for about two months here. So, good for him. The Jays might have a guy back here in their rotation that they haven’t had for the last while. Uh, if I’m not mistaken, was he even in the lineup in the first series? I’m not sure he was. No, he wasn’t. That’s what it’s his first It’s his first He hasn’t pitched in 22 days and he pitched that well. That was pretty impressive in a game they needed. Good for the Jays. And let’s hope that this guy continues to pitch that way. Uh, you know what? This I think this falls under the category of you better walk the walk, buddy, if you’re going to be that guy. And he walked the walk yesterday. No one can say he didn’t. No. Very true. Spec, enjoy uh enjoy the trip. We’ll talk to you on Monday. All right. Thanks, Jay. That’s the spec report brought to you by GS Construction. We got uh low tide coming up next. Man, it has been a game so far of just close but no cigar. The Jays have left I think six runners on base already. I thought you made an interesting point with Spec. Would you trust Evan Bard in an Olympic game knowing how deep he’s gone in the playoffs? I I wouldn’t have much of an issue with it really. Yeah. Like I don’t think the Olympics are bigger than the Stanley Cup final. I don’t think they’re going to be in that moment. I don’t think it’s gonna be any different. And playoff Bard’s earned your trust. Oh, it’s because it’s three years in a row and last year there was no Echol because if you want to feel like, hey, Ekhol is a security blanket. I I could have seen that argument in 2024. Say, well, yeah, he’s playing with Echome. Okay, great. Well, Echol wasn’t there last year and then what happened? He was still great. So, no, I wouldn’t have an issue. But I also understand why now it’s different because the guys you’re that you’re choosing with him are also very good. It’s not like Thomas Harley’s a dud or Colton Pico is a dud. Like Colton Prao is a pretty good player too. So that’s where I think I can see why. Now in Edmonton, like it’s not like you have a bunch of other guys who are pushing to give Evan Bushard ice time, right? Like you got your top four guys, okay, and Bard plays the most, but your third pair in Edmonton is not like a third pair in the Olympics. It’s just different. So, you know, it’s a competitive thing. But I also would say one game like if Evan Bousard for the rest of now until the Olympics plays very well and and I’m not expecting to play like the playoffs because nobody plays like they do in the playoffs year round. But if if he has limited errors and is moving the puck like he normally does and because his defensive game up until last night was pretty good. So for the majority of the time it’s good. I’m not going to say like yeah but on November on October 16th that game in New York I can’t pick him because of that game. Well then that’s terrible analysis. That’s what I would say. Let’s get to uh LT next on the Gregor Show presented by play alberta.ca. Whoa, who turned off all the lights? Experience the new charcoal menu at Booster Juice. Charcoal menu. Introducing the Eclipse Smoothie Blackout Booster Mixer and Midnight Booster Ball. Where’s that voice coming from? Dark and delicious. Made with activated charcoal. Can we please turn the lights back on? Sorry, I’m just excited about the new charcoal menu. Wow, that is good. Right. Available now only at Lipster Juice. Sure, your couch is comfortable, but watching the game is always better at On the Rocks. With Crystal Clear TVs, you won’t miss a single play, and the specials are a major league win. Pregame warm-up starts with specials 30 minutes before the puck drops. 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Call 780372-3854 for prompt delivery. Bashaw Concrete Products 780372-3854. mashon concrete.com. Portions of this hour brought to you by Papa John’s. Get the Greor special. Enjoy 20% off any regularpriced order when you enter promo code Greor at papa johns.ca or on the Papa John’s app. The Jason Greger Show, the best of Edmonton Sports Talk and beyond. This is Sports 1440, presented by playalberta.ca, CA Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] 528 we return. Positive Friday. Sports fans, what a great weekend. Like kids sports are going on all the time right now. It’s awesome. You got NFL, you got CFL, you got NHL, you got MLB playoffs, NBA starting up right around the corner. God, there’s lots going on. Uh F1 fans, it’s back on the track. So, it’s fired up. I love it. Let’s get to the oil report now. brought to you by Go Auto. And hey, you know what? We were just talking about all the choices you have in sports. Well, you have all the choice you need at Goa Auto as they have over 15,000 vehicles, 28 new vehicle brands, and 69 locations to choose from. Find your ride at goauto.ca. Is the host of the lowdown joins us every Friday, Alan Mitchell. All, you watch a lot of baseball. Have you seen a hit that Ernie Clement just had? Like, I can’t He could have swung in that ball a hundred other times. I don’t think he’d ever hit it straight down like he did there. That’s It’s got to be one of the most unlucky plays I can see with the bases loaded. Well, I I was so mad. I mean, you’re looking all you want to do is get a ball you can drive. And I mean, he probably felt he could, but that that’s such an unsatisfactory outcome for a like that. I said I said when Baro was up, I said, “This is the ball game.” And then they, you know, he goes out and then a pitily, you know, stupid, stupid, you know, right out in front of the plate. Perfect play for Raleigh. I mean, the easiest double play in the history of the world. Highly frustrating. Uh, but I still the Jays are getting on base every inning here and they get the leadoff guy a lot. So, there’s still hope. Yeah. Well, hey, they the Jays, you know what? Hey, they got the uh they got the starting pitcher out of the game again and they’ve been able to get to the bullpen here the last few times. So, we’ll see if they can do it again. It’s been entertaining now. I can say the Jay’s game was much more entertaining than the Oders game was last night. Oh god. I you know they just every once in a while they do this thing and I’m sure it’s like you know anybody else you go to work and not every day is a great one but I knew early when they were doing the ridiculous back passing and nobody could you know everybody was taking dangerous chances and you’re like boy you know you’re you’re have you looked at your shot suppression stats and and you’re doing so well here this isn’t how to continue it but I mean I I think that that it’s a kind of a reminder and and you know they’re well coached are highly talented team. I know everybody on planet earth who’s an Oilers fan is mad at Evan Bousard, but I I mean I stand by the guy. He is a great great player. Uh and he look he had a terrible game, but he wasn’t the only one and they’ll come back and I suspect they’ll they’ll play really well on the weekend here. LT, would you trust Evan Buchard on the Olympic team? I would but I think that the when we understand that Canada’s uh construction of Olympic teams has one of those puck movers and it’s Kale Mar uh then then it won’t be Bard. But I like I I think that you you know you when when you’re looking at winning when you’re looking at winning against another nation it’s okay to have two puck movers. It just is right. Uh but the the the way the team Canada is built it doesn’t allow for that. So it won’t happen. But I’d put Booard on the team. Yeah, he he’ll be in tough. No question. Like there’s lots of options, man. Like I I know the kid’s young, but the way Matthew Schaefer is playing now. Drew Dowy made the Olympic team in 2010. It was only 20 years of age. Like it’s not it’s not crazy to think that there might be a chance here for Schaefer the way he started his end. Like if he keeps playing like this for another 50 60 games, he might push his way onto that roster. No, I’m not saying he’ll play, but he might be like the seventh or eighth guy. Well, and also you that’s an investment in the future. I mean I if you’ve got at that age if he can even like as you say if he can hang with the team what a great experience for him right and then you you know four years from now then he’s more mature he’s got that experience and he’s that much farther ahead. I think that’d be a wise investment if he play like his minutes are crazy right now. Yeah. No. Um, what do you make of the uh five on five woes scoring that is of the orders? Well, I I saw you I heard you talking about I was driving around today aimlessly and I heard you talking about it and I I I thought, you know, like I said just before you said I said, “Well, you know, give it time.” But then you said, “Well, you say give it time, but you’re four games in and and the expectation is that this is a much better uh team at five on five than than you know, they’ve shown scoring wise.” And you know, you’re right. McDavid needs to be, you know, putting up points five on five and empty net goals and power play goals aren’t good enough. The, you know, they they talk about getting off to a fast start. I’m I’m exactly doing what you said two hours ago, but it’s all true, you know, and and I I understand not getting all head up when you’re, you know, just this many games in. And let’s face it, they’re 2-1 and one, and that’s fine. Uh but again the example you you gave which was shoot the puck and don’t pass it to Stcher. Well that’s just good business because Stchcher wasn’t prepared for it and he’s not as good a goalcorer. So that you know you you put yourself in this grand position and you’re the captain you got to put the puck on the net and I feel terrible being that critical of McDavid but it is true. Yeah. Like I’m not even sure Stetcher was prepared at that point. Like if you watch that replay, he was not in a position to receive a pass to to score. And um you know like I I think we all know is McDavid going to score more? Of course he is. It’s just it’s just I don’t I don’t think it’s a fair analysis to just say well it’s going to come w with McDavid and dry settle and you never say it about anybody else. Like at some point like they they got to get producing that’s all. Yeah. And and it’s like I know it’s early in the year and and like it would be easy for me to say like I like Tamasic but he’s got 11 high danger chances including power play and even strength and he doesn’t have any goals. So everybody’s snake bit but you know you you know there’s a chance they’re going to finish in second place two points behind Vegas. Well they took two points off their own you know record last night by playing really loose and they didn’t need to. Uh I I think that they you know they had that game in well in hand. They were playing terribly but they they were covering off enough to be able to make it happen and then it just went in the dumper. But I I you know the Oilers lost 4-2 including an empty net goal. I I think three goals should be the expectation and and a couple of five on five and they’re just not they’re just they are not scoring five on five goals right now. And it’s only four games, but it is four games. And you know, most five most games have like 45 to 50 minutes of five on five. So that is as many as 200 five on five minutes. That’s a lot. Yeah. Well, I was looking online. The top six ice guys in five on five for the orders, which is McDavid, Dry Settle, Boo Shard, Nurse, and Koulak have combined for one assist in in the first four games five on five. And then the next six guys all have at least one point and two points for Kapp and Newton Hopkins. So technically seven to 12, they’re doing all right, but your top six guys, now I know Nurse and Kulak aren’t top six guys offensively, but they’re on the ice a lot. So at some point, you know, you you got to get some production from there. I’m sure it’s going to come eventually from dry and and McDavid, but uh you know, probably sooner than later would be nice. Yeah. Yeah. And they, you know, they did start the season with the two big guns together and that makes them easier to defend, you know, and they split them up when JT Miller’s line was doing great work. And maybe that’s part of it, too. But, uh, you know, I mean, I think they’re they’re fortunate to be 2-1 and one. Uh, but it would have been nice to win that game last night and go 30 and one into this weekend. Yeah. Well, especially you’re 0 and2 against the teams that are 0 and seven against everybody else. That’s early, but that’s not a great number uh by any stretch of the imagination. Al, uh there’s of course Toronto just tied it up, boys and girls. Uh there you go. Springer double to score a barger from second base and it’s tied. But the uh the Elks coming up tonight 8:30. A must-win game for them. They’re taking on the BC Lions whose offense is very very good. Uh what what chances you give the Elks tonight? Well, I I think I because I I I’ve been kind of pushing this this idea that they’ll get into the, you know, the final week with a chance. And I think I I just think that this is a game where where you’ve worked so hard all year. I know some of these guys were were looking at professional extinction early in the year when they were not doing well. So, this is a night to push by and I do know that BC’s like they can light it up, but it’s uh it’s late game obviously and and I think that this is a game Elks have to have and I do think they’ll leak it out. I think it’ll be highscoring like 3331, but I think the Elks win it. All right. What about the Jays, Al? They going to win this. Are they going to win four straight? Well, I don’t I think it might go to seven, but I and I picked the Mariners to win and then to win the World Series, but I have a feeling about this Jay’s team. They are the bats are alive and and you know like Gimenez is like hammering the damn ball when you get seven eight and nine production like you’re getting from these guys uh for the Jays. Uh and Mariners aren’t getting anything. Uh I think that could be the difference. I think the Jays could win this thing. But tonight’s a huge game. Huge game. Yeah, it is massive. Uh awesome LT. Have yourself a great day, buddy. Have a good weekend. All right, boys. Be good. There you go. That is uh Alan Mel Kao Todd. When we return uh we’re going to pay homage to a guy who did a ton for the sporting community, John Sexmith. We’ll talk to a guy who uh knew him very well next on the Gregor Show presented by Play Alberta. I’m Jean Prince Bay for Legacy Heating and Ghouling. 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And uh earlier today uh some sad news in the sporting community as John Sexmith after a courageous battle for over 13 years uh with cancer uh passed away at the age of uh 63. our deepest condolences to his wife Joanne and son Joel who is going to play tonight in honor of his father as a member of the University Golden Bears and co-orker of John’s for many many years really good friend of his of course our our morning show host Kevin Caris joins us now and uh Kev obviously you know what I know I changed text message but uh I know you and Johnny were really tight for a long long time and um this is this is definitely a tough day hope you’re doing well. Yeah, you know, uh, you know, thanks a lot, Gregs. I mean, and I mean, what a a day where it’s it’s so sad, but I mean, all the great memories just being flooding in and all the guys that have been texting and calls and um really remarkable and that just shows you just how much um that John meant to to our city. And I mean, and I I mean that in in a real real sincere way because uh uh like even at the last 20 minutes of our show this morning, Dave Jameson came on and and Dave hired Johnny. He was the first guy that Johnny was hired by by David Ched and and Dave said, you know, Johnny almost led like three or four lives because he was so into so many things even to the very end. like but even if you go back the last time that we saw him I think uh it was the same it was at the Kates Memorial right? Yeah. And I said well okay we’ll sit around have a little you know discussion after dinner and you know that round table and everything. He goes well no I got to go to Calgary because I’m coaching the kids. Yeah. You know that just I was like oh man oh man Johnny. So he was so selfless and he just loved hockey and sports and being a part of everything uh in the sense that he he gave so much of himself. He never cared one little iota about himself and he he he showed that to Joel and obviously everyone else. And um I’m going to be that’s why I said to you I got to get out of here by like 5 to 6 because I’m going to the game tonight and uh you know I I can’t wait to see see that and be be supportive of uh of Joel playing tonight as you said off the top. Yeah. And you know Johnny was a lot of things but like he was pretty funny. Kev like what what is some of like as a coworker? What was like one of your funny memories that stands out for Johnny? Well I told this story with Dave a couple of times now. Uh, so I got here in 1998 and John had been at ITB at the time for a few years. He was the third person I met when I came into the building. First guy was Mark Jan who technically hired me. Tim Spely was sort of the second guy that hired me. Yeah. And John was the third guy. And you know, actually we hit it off right right away. Um, but we had this thing called the Wick Cup back. Yeah. Oh yeah. So what it was was ITV, we had Red Deer TV, we had Ched, we had um Calgary TV and then the the uh TV station out of Vancouver. Everyone would come together. Uh we had 10 guys on our team at the time and and Johnny said and Johnny was a really good hockey player. A lot of people Johnny went to Notre Dame. He was a hell of a hockey player. Yeah. And he goes he goes listen and this is Johnny’s coach coming out. He said this is how it’s going to work. They got 10 guys. You’re going to be on the ice at all times or I’m going to be on the ice at all times. Five and five. You’re going to be on, I’m going to be on. I said, “Perfect. Sounds good to me, Johnny. I mean, I’m 2, three months in here.” And then he goes, “Uh,” and I didn’t really know about his intensity of coaching in hockey. And about two games into this tournament, about four guys say to me, “You got to talk to Johnny. You got to talk to him.” I go, “What do you mean?” “Well, he’s flipping out on us. He’s going bananas. But I was on the ice. Johnny’s on the bench giving it to all the guys that he was on the ice with. And then we came into the room and he goes, “You got any stick wax?” Like, you know, tape, you know, wax or stick? I go, “Yeah, yeah.” And I thought, I don’t know what. He closes the door. He slams the door and he makes a rink on the back of the old rinks back. Oh, we’re talking 25, 27 years ago. And he draws a rink and he starts chirping at all these guys going, “You got to do this, you got to do that.” And we got three or four editors that can barely skate and they’re looking at me and going, “What are we doing here?” And Johnny’s just like he was so he wanted to just like he loved talking hockey and expressing everything else that he knew about and just I mean it was unreal. Those are memories and that’s 26 27 years ago. Yeah. No, he was uh it was always intense. Uh no question. He always had a good line. And he loved his puns. He was like the pun guy before Jean came. And those two would get together and it was like, “Oh my god.” Like, “Yeah, Hueie and Dewey on the puns with those two.” He was the best writer uh in sports that I’ve ever seen or read or whatever else you want to say it. He could write copy like no one else. Yeah. Uh he used to give me um crap and say if you’re doing the six o’clock copy, you got to change it for 11. A lot of people would always say, “Well, just we’ll just rerun it.” Run. And that’s where TV is now. And and I’ll I’ll say one thing and and so many guys have reached out uh in the business uh including Jay Durant. You remember Jay? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Um, when when I got here in ’98, Jay was here and Johnny was here. And I I’m I I’m not I I’ll go to the grave saying this. The three of us had a department that rivaled because Sportsnet at the time was just getting going. Yeah. But we are our our halfhour show at night because of Jay and Johnny and Johnny’s stories, the way he told stories, no one has told stories like that in broadcasting for video. uh they might tell it uh and we’ve had you know you talk about Ruben, you talk about all these guys, but when you got to put the pictures to it, Johnny put pictures to words together that we haven’t seen before. Yeah. And I don’t know if we’ve seen since because it doesn’t work like that anymore. No. And he would do it, Kev, not just for the pros. He would do it at the, you know, for uh for high school football and for for UFA and Nate and and he could tell, he could any story he treated every didn’t matter if it was, you know, amateur sports or pro sports. How he did his stories I felt was always at the exact same level. He loved those stories more because as you know, as you know, those stories are better because people are willing to open up a little bit more. Yeah. The pro guy, the pro guys are like they’re a little closed off when you get those other stories. And John, you know, I could go through a hundred stories um that he did. And the other one thing that the one thing I want to mention, and this is before I even got here, he did a thing with Louis de Bruskin. Uh and this would have been uh I’m thinking 95ish, 96, and it was around Halloween, and Louie came on and they did all the spookiest, scariest Halloween movies and things like that. And I’m going to talk to Louis about it here in the next few days, but this is a a must-see video and I’m I don’t know if uh Global would release it or whatever, but Louie was on there. John had everything to do with that. It was unreal. Really. Well, hopefully they do. I’ll have to uh talk to them. They should bring it out if it’s that good. I’d love uh I’d love to see it. So, uh I know you got to get going, Kev. I really appreciate you coming on sharing some thoughts about uh John and Obi. Emotional night uh for Joel, his wife Joanne tonight. uh you know at the game, his first game without his dad there. He’ll be there in spirit. His dad loved hockey. And I love the fact that Joel is playing because knowing Johnny he’d have been like, “What do you mean you’re not playing? You’re playing.” So he’ll be in there tonight and he’ll be very proud of his son. It It’s funny how you say that. Like I had hockey today at noon and I was thinking, “Wow, should I go?” And I was Johnny would have kicked my ass if I wouldn’t went. Yeah, exactly. So that’s what he would like. 100%. Uh thanks Dick. Have a good one, my man. Thanks for having me on, Grids. You betcha. That’s Kevin Carris, of course, host of the Kevin Caris show here on the mornings from 7 till 11. And yeah, people going to the game tonight. It’ll be a little bit more emotional for sure as uh Joel and his teammates going to play in honor of John Sexmith who did, you know, wrote and broadcast so many stories of local sports and professional sports for man over 30 years in Edmonton. It was amazing. The fitting tribute to your to his dad to be able to play tonight, too, right? Oh, well it’s you know what it’s and for those he’s not be thinking about his dad that often during the game maybe intermission and stuff but you know when the game’s on like he’ll probably be thinking of all the you know the experiences and conversations he’s had with dad and he’ll be like okay you know what tonight like man I’m guessing he is going to be flying in that game tonight like just because you know what you got so much emotion to want to make your father proud he’s going to be proud regardless but you just feel like man I got a little extra to give tonight and I’m sure that that will be a the Drake will be rocking so you might want to uh check it out if you’re looking for some hockey to uh watch tonight. Uh quick update, Jays and the uh Mariners, as we kind of thought, uh lower scoring game tonight. It’s uh 1-1 heading to the top of the six. Gosman is still in the game. The the Mariners have gone to their bullpen and you know, we’ll see that that’s part of it for sure. And you know, Gosman’s pitching very well. I think he’s got like 76 72. So he’s he’s got some time here. the way he’s going. I think, hey, the deeper you go, there’s no reason to pull him out unless he starts to get suddenly get in trouble. But he’s shown no signs of of haltering thus far. So, it’s a it’s a good start for him. And, you know, the Jays, hey, that that base is loaded. No outs one. Maybe it comes back. We’ll see. But now the game’s 1-1. They got to move forward. Elks coming up tonight. Can watch it on TSN. 8:30 is when they start big game. Looking forward to that to watch it. Oilers tomorrow. We got the pregame show here on Sports 14:40. Then we got the pregame show again and postgame show Saturday. Pregame show on Sunday. Then we’ll have the Jay’s game six Sunday. Listen to it live on sports 1440. On behalf of one Gretz Connor Hley as well as Declan Krueger. Thanks everybody for the week. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching on YouTube, Facebook and X and listening at sports 1440. Please don’t drink and drive. Don’t weed and drive. Get home safe. Enjoy all the sports. Have loads of fun. Let’s get to the con man and a sports 1440 update brought to you by Northgate, Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC in the month of October. They continue to help feed families. For every truck sold, they will feed a family of four. So check it out, northgategm.com or stop in in person and go for a test drive. Good night. This is a sports 1440 update. Week going the CFL gets going tonight. Els out in BC taking on the Lions. That’ll start at 8:30. Coming up in about 10 minutes time, you got Bombers and Sask from Winnipeg in the majors right now. Top of the sixth, tied at one a piece. Alejandro Kirk leading off the inning with a stand up double. Later on tonight, you got Dodgers from Los Angeles. The Dodgers can wrap it up with a win in the NHL after 20 minutes. Red Wings lead the Lightning 1- nothing and the Cavs up on the Wild one- nothing as well. Later on, Blackhawks host the Canucks and the Sharks in Utah. The Oil Kings on the road in PA take on the Raiders that gets going at 7. BCHL got Sher Park in Kquitland taking on the Express just after 8. And in the AJ four games tonight, including Cameron taking on Canmore, Devon and Bonavville and Fort M hosting GP. Golden Bears hockey this evening. They’ll take on UBC down at the Drake tomorrow as well. Both games at 7:00. As far as football goes, the Regina Rams in town tomorrow 2:00 at Footfield. Also, Panda soccer taking on Mchuan down at Clark Stadium tomorrow at noon. And sad news to pass along longtime Edmonton journalist and sport caster John Smeck has passed away after an extensive battle with cancer. John began his career in Edmonton in 1990, winning a national journalist award in 2014. He was actively involved in the community as a hockey coach with organizations like Sports Central and the Alberta Cancer Foundation. That’s going to do it for us here on the Jason Greger Show. Coming up next, it’s Fox Sports Radio. All night long, live local coverage resumes tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. with a Saturday sports setup. I’m Connor Hi. This has been a Sports 1440 update. This is Sports 1440, a Stingray radio station broadcasting on Treaty6 territory. Download the free iHeart Radio app and listen to CKJR wherever
Today on the show we will talk all things Oilers and specifically Evan Bouchard, preview and talk about Jays game tonight, preview the Elks game tonight, look ahead to the weekends NFL games with co-host Wanye Gretz and much more!
From Oilers to Elks, basketball to football, whatever is happening in the wide world of sports, Jason Gregor will be covering it.
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How are you? And welcome to the Jason Greger Show. Sports1440. Sports1440.ca, Oilers Nation, YouTube, Facebook, X, and Instagram, as well as, of course, Sports 1440. Check out our uh YouTube page, Facebook. You can say hello. Say hi to the the deck man uh in the chat room over there. Of course, Connor Hley running things here at Sports 1440. We got a loaded loaded show for you today. We have a big game tonight, baby. There’s a few of them. The Jays and the Mariners series is suddenly tied at two. How things change quickly. We’ll get to Mad Max in a second. Also, the Elks in BC tonight. That’s perfect. You can watch the Jay’s game afterwards. You got the Elks in the the night cap tonight, which is fantastic. It’s a must-win game for the Now, they’ll know a little bit beforehand because of the Saskatchewan and Winnipeg game that plays before them. And hey, they not that they need any motivation because regardless of what happens in the Winnipeg game, even if the Bombers win, the Elks can still catch Calgary. So, you want to win and then see what happens. It won’t be easy. The BC Lions are playing very well. The BC Lions are battling Calgary for for second place and even Winnipeg. So they got lots to play for. It is it’s ultra tight. Two game two games separate those four teams. That’s it. So should be a heck of a game tonight. The Lions very good offensively. The Elks defense has been really good down the stretch. Uh offensively it’s getting better, right? Obviously ranking’s great. The uh the pass protection has improved. Cody Fardo, they need a few more passing yards from your QB. It’s a passing league, right? You It’s hard to win if you have the fewest passing yards in the league. That’s just a fact in the CFL. So, we’ll see if they take a few more chances tonight. The uh the mayor of New Jersey, Kand Danico, will join us today. Also, Craig Button will be by. We got Spec LT Cam Tate, the two-minute warning. Laurianne Munzer, gold medalist. Another segment in the mind will be by. Uh we’ll talk Oilers, of course, last night. Not not a great performance by the Blue and Orange. They got an off day today. They’ll play New Jersey tomorrow and then on Sunday afternoon in Detroit. Remember, those are both afternoon games, uh 1:30 and uh 1:00. I’m getting the days mixed up. I can’t remember which one’s at 1:30 our time and which one’s at 1. But uh Conor, how do you know which one’s at 1:30 and which one’s at, uh 1:00? Uh well, I can tell you that you’re going to get the game here on uh well, which is quickly. Jay’s game playoffs will be on uh our station as well. I just want to get that one quickly in there. And then uh yeah, for the Emmonton Oilers, uh tomorrow it is 1:30. 1:30 tomorrow and Sunday is 1:00 against the D. Troy Red Wings. And have you seen Cam Talbbert? He’s on fire. John Gibson, their big offseason acquisition, played two periods, allowed five goals and 13 shots. Hasn’t played since. Yeah, I’m assuming he’s going to get into a game soon for them. But uh the Detroit Red Wings, uh they need to win. They want to win. They want to get in the playoffs and a lengthy playoff drought. And they’re home tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning. And then they got the orders on Sunday. So I would assume John Gibson’s going to play one of those uh two games. The orders last night. Hey, that was a night to uh forget for Evan Buchard. There’s no You can’t debate it. And it’s not that it doesn’t matter because it does matter. You if you make one m big mistake, okay, but you can’t just keep compounding the mistakes and having the same one. Like there was just some there’s a bad game. You got to figure out a way to to get your, you know, yourself readjusted in the game. And I I do wonder if Jake Wallman’s dressed in game. And are they giving Buchard a reset? Remember last year, funny enough, game four against the Philadelphia Flyers? Leon Drytle started the season. I think he took four or five minor penalties. Two of them came at the end of a period. Coach finally said, “Okay, enough’s enough.” He sat him down. It was only like eight minutes, but still Leon freaking dry settle sat him down for eight minutes. You don’t have to put him in the press box. You don’t have to go crazy, but I I think you can send a message. And I think if uh if you had some other right defense when dressed, they might have done it. And you could argue maybe the coach should have done it just for a reset to say hey Evan you can sit here for five six few shifts and then then we’ll give you back in because hey when Bard plays well he’s obviously a very positive player on your team but last night was a struggle for him and and sadly once again the Edmonton Oders their offensive woes continue five on five you’re not going to win many games and you only score one goal a game five on five unless you expect your power play to be 100% and score in every power play. It’s not going to work. Got to find ways to get more goals. And late in that third period, it’s three to two. The owners have had a successive shifts in the road. They’re playing well. They do a give and go off the right wall. McDavid comes right into the slot and he looks to pass, no offense, to Troy freaking Stetcher. You’re not passing it to Dry Cidle. You’re not passing time and you’re looking off in the slot. to Troy Stet. I’m sorry, but that can’t happen. McDavid’s got to shoot there. You got to get selfish and you’re in a great shooting lane. Come on now. Like they Hey, the Orders big guns have been shooting blanks five on five through four games. Do I think eventually they’ll score? Of course. But that’s that’s not a that’s not a fair assessment. Well, they’ll eventually start scoring. No, they’re not scoring right now at all. Five on five. It’s It’s not good enough. You need You can talk about your depth, guys, and sure, they need to score, but you got to have your big guns going. It’s just that simple. Leon Drytle doesn’t have a point in four games, five on five. I’d have to look back and see when was the last time that’s happened for Leon Dry. I know it’s the start of the year and people are going to say, “Oh, it’s magnified.” Yes, he has three goals. I get it. Two on the power play, one empty net. Awesome. But the majority of the game is played five on five. and he’s got nothing. So you look at here’s the guys who play the most minutes five on five for the M2 owners. They have six players who have played five or 60 plus minutes five on five through four games. So think do the math. It’s an average of over 15. It’s actually closer. Basically they’re all averaging 16 minutes or more a game five on five. Well dry settle no goals no points. Two shot oh no sorry five shots. Brett Kulak, no goals, no points. Okay, it’s Brett Kulak. Matias Echome, nothing. Evan Buchard, nothing. Darnell Nurse, nothing. Conor McDavid, one assist. So, your six guys who play the most minutes, five on five, have a combined one point. Now, people, oh, we need more from the depth guys. Okay, let’s let’s go down now forwards. Uh the the next six guys in ice time Frederick Kaepern Emerson Mjapani Nan Hopkins and Pod Coulson one point two point one point one point two points one point okay now Seavoy Henrik Tamasic Ike Howard they don’t have a point yet okay they also play the least amount of minutes but when your top six minutee eaters have no points well excuse me one That’s not good. Like, come on. And don’t give me this garbage. Oh, eventually it’s going to score. What? Like, that’s not a proper assessment and evaluation. Oh, well, eventually they’re going to score. Like, I I just think that’s such a Oh, well, luck is naturally going to turn and you just do everything and oh, it’s just magically going to go in the back of the net based on what? It’s wishful thinking. Got to get a little bit more selfish. Mix in a screen or a layered screen when you have a good shot and and doesn’t have to be from the point. You you can get bodies in front before you put the puck at the point. You can have a guy in front of the net and still put somebody in the slot and have them shoot. It’s allowed. You’re able to do it and that’s what they need to do. No question about it. Um now the Toronto Blue Jays, how many of you you watch that game? Like we talked about it yesterday, Connor, and I said, “Hey, you know what?” I said, “I’m not going to question the manager even though I was like, geez, why is he why is he playing Connor FA?” But I said, “You can’t really question the coach. Can’t question the manager. He’s made a lot of great decisions.” And so, uh, what happens? Connor Vale, what’s he do his first at bat? Gets a double. What’s he do? And then he scores. What’s he do his second at bat? Gets a single. And I’m like, and I was just laughing. I’m like, God, right now, every decision the manager is making, most of them pan out. The Jays come back, they they get Castile out. Castillo, who I think before the game would have started. If you tell me who’s going to last longer, Castile or Sherzer, I’m probably going to say Castile. Well, he lasted two and a third. Meanwhile, Mad Max Sherer, he’s over there. He’s firing his I’m okay. Oh, you got to love it. And by the way, am I the only one, and I might be cons, I had never noticed until earlier this year that Max Scherzer has the husky eyes. one’s blue and I like I never noticed that before and the guy’s been around the league a long time. I’m like am I living in like bizarro world? How do I not notice that? But it’s just like it’s like yeah, this guy’s pretty intense. But the husky eyes, you know, anybody’s had a husky dog, lots of them have like one blue eye, a little bit different. It’s great. Nothing wrong with it. It’s pretty unique. God, I wish I had husky eyes. That’d be sick. Anyway, he’s just he’s in there. He had one pitch they probably wanted back and it’s because he threw a change up too hard. Other than that, man, he was wheeling and dealing. He’s intense and it’s not like he had perfect command, right? He had a few walks in the game, but he was just a grinder and he’s just battling. It was kind of symbolic of what the Jays are this season, right? What happens for the second straight game, I could have went to play Alberta. And there was no chance you would have convinced me to bet a home run against for him. And what does he do is first at bat, third inning, exact same thing he did in game three, two-run blast. Unbelievable. Like when your number nine hitter is going consecutive games with two-run home run to get your offense started, that’s unbelievable. Like you’re loving it. And again, Connor Valea two for three. Gimenez two for three. They they were great in the bottom of the order getting on base with walks. Uh you know, sacrifice bunts. Like they played small ball when they needed. They played big ball when they had to. You know, you have uh um Guerrero Jr. hitting another home run. He’s got five now. By the way, if you’re winning the record for most home runs in one playoff season is 10. He’s got a he’s got a ways to go. Do Do you know who, by the way, owns the MLB record, Connor, for most home runs in one single year? No, I don’t. Well, he’s playing for the Mariners. Randy Rose Arena. That was just a couple years ago, wasn’t it? Yes, that’s right. And after him, it’s eight. So, he’s two ahead of anyone else in one calendar year. And if the Jays can get through to the World Series, well, obviously there’ll be at least two more games. And so if they win, that’s probably minimum six games, right? Because even if they get swept, he’s still got six games. So maybe seven depending on how long this series goes and then how long it goes. So Vlatty Guerrero, could he get to to seven or eight? Yeah. The way he’s playing, why not? It’s awesome. What about Addison Barger? The guy hasn’t played outfield in a month and he really didn’t get much practice to do it because it was a decision in the afternoon. Santoair, they had to switch him off the roster. They put him out right in right field. Here’s Barger making two really good catches and then he guns down Naylor at third base to end what could have been potentially a little bit of a late rally by the Mariners. It was fantastic. Like the Jays are beating you every way the last two games. Good pitching, timely hitting, big home runs, small ball when needed on sacrifice bunts or just, you know, hitting behind the guys when they’re on first and second. So, they move to second and third. Like, it was it was awesome. The relievers come in, they do the job. You know, Hoffman Dominguez, Hoffman comes in. Hoffman looked great in his inning. Two strikes and what he throw like 10 pitches, two strikeouts. He was awesome. The Varlin again. And by the way, am I the only one? Does Varlin and Trent Frederick not look alike? You ever notice that Cons. Look at Varlin and look at Trent Frederick. Quite similar. A little bit. I can see it. They are. So I will say Gregor one thing about the Mariners like in a series like this you know especially in the playoffs you can’t make mistakes to let your team back in it and it seems like they are like it was a great throw by Barger but maybe in the Naylor has to consider not going for third there wild pitches in key situations allowing the Jays to score like the the Jays are doing very well the Mariners don’t need to be helping them out the way they are. Yeah. So, um I look at and hey that’s but that’s the difference like playing a good game is a lot of the times the team who makes the fewest mistakes wins. Ask order fans about last night right who made more mistakes owners. That’s why they lose the game. So um it’s uh man but mad Max Scherzer was unreal. Like I and you know what I did you see the John Schneider postgame interview at the podium and he was being asked about Max Shers and he’s like man I’ve been waiting for that moment all year, right? Because he has a reputation of being pretty intense. You come off as you’re the manager like yeah you go are you okay? Yeah I’m okay. Like I loved it. I saw some people oh he shouldn’t you know he shouldn’t talk. I’m like what are you talking about? The manager had no problem with it. You want guy’s intense. I love it. Right. He comes in the stairs and I know he hit you know he kind of shoulder bumps with Pete Walker. Whatever. Like this is pro sports, right? He didn’t like run him over, but I love that altercate. Yeah, I’m okay. Like I loved it before he even got to the field. He’s like, I’m not coming out of this game, right? And that that’s what you want as a manager, right? Like you want the guys to want to be in there. Not scared of the moment. And uh Max definitely wasn’t scared of the moment. It was uh it was awesome. It was a fant like I’ll tell you right now, like I was watching the Jay’s game and I was PVR in the game cuz one’s a playoff game. I and you know I have time to watch through the orers game but I was watching the Jay’s game last night because it’s playoff game man and playoff trumps it for me for the intensity everything else and you know it’s awesome you know so my son’s at that age too you know any father or mother out there who gets to share something with their kids like my son’s big into the Jays now and so you know he’s just living and breathe kind of his first time and so he’s a he’s a very irrational young fan you know they get down and run oh my god they’re going to lose I’m like, “Son, there’s lots of time left.” You know, the Jays come back, but and then he always has a great time. And and so last night, because, you know, game’s getting a little bit later, he goes to bed. He actually was listening to it online on the radio. So, he set it up in his room. He’s just got a speaker. And so, he’s in his bed and he’s just like, “Dad, like I can like picture what they’re doing.” And it just reminded me like I loved listening to sports as a kid on the radio. It was fantastic. Rod Phillips, I used to listen to postgame with John Short. There’s just something like you got to focus more, right? And you really I think it’s better for your imagination sometimes to to hear what the guy’s saying and you got to kind of picture it yourself. I love it. Do you ever listen to games on the radio cons? Absolutely. Yeah. We we were driving around for Thanksgiving last week. So throw the Oilers on for their for uh Blue Jays. It’s the best. Yeah. No, it’s just a little bit different with that AM hu sound kind of playing in the background. Yeah. No, he loved it. It was in his room he’ never done before. He’s like, “Dad, can I do this for the next game?” I’m like 100%. Now tonight it starts early so he won’t be in bed and you know got some buddies coming over but still he was he was all over. He thought it was great. He’s like I can even play minists and just listen to the game and I’m like yeah of course right you can do some things at once. So it was awesome. I’m thinking uh the Jay’s fans people are going to be uh uh pretty fired up. Um before I go to break I would like to uh pass on uh my condolences to uh to John Sexmith’s family. Um Johnny was someone I got to obviously before I got in this business. Uh watch John. Um then I had a chance to uh to work at Global. Um used to do just some some weekend stuff and work with him briefly there. Uh but obviously we saw Johnny had some great conversations. He was extremely passionate about sports. Funny dude. I I really remember him. That’s another touchdown in the end zone for high school football because Johnny of course used to do the uh back then the Eskimo games and but anybody I think who who had an opportunity John for the last few years while battling cancer was still coaching amateur hockey and he loved it and he was so committed you know his kids weren’t on the you know obviously his son Joel was older and you know was playing university and and such but he was still coaching because he loved it and he was very good at it and uh you know the the sporting community here in Edmonton. John was a great fighter. He fought a long time. He’s been battling cancer for many, many years and you know, he always had an upbeat attitude. Uh I just saw him last month at the uh at the golf tournament for the orders at the Glendale and I had a really good chance and John was very honest. He’s like, “You know what, man? I’m battling it, but I’m not sure how much longer I have.” And my father-in-law was going uh through prostate cancer and and you do know when when kind of the end uh is there. And you know, John and I had a really good conversation about maid because my my father-in-law had had chosen to use maid or was going to at at that time. And it uh um it was it was great to see him. He always had a positive attitude despite everything that was going on. So um to to all his friends and and family of course and and co-workers. I know Kevin and John were really close and you know it’s tough day for Kev. Um you know him and Johnny worked together for a long long time in that sports department. So uh our deepest condolences to the Sexmith family. We’ll take a quick break and come back. It’s Gregor Show presented by playalberta.ca. Looking for the perfect used ride? Now’s the time. Drive away for as little as $25 bi-weekly. Go has over 7,500 used vehicles in stock. With something for everyone. 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Playalberta.ca casino sports live dealer lottery instance all in one stop. playalberta.ca or download the app. It’s even easier. Of course, uh busy night in uh sports. We got baseball, you got football, uh orders backtoback on the weekend on the road, New Jersey and Detroit. Remember, afternoon games 1:30 and 1:00. We got pregame shows starting uh before both of them. So, uh noon and noon on both days. So enjoy that. Now let’s get to our football report brought to you by Legacy Heating and cooling home with the no payments, no interest for one year on your furnace or AC. Probably think of the furnace this time of year. Stay warm all winter legacy heating.ca and we’re joined by Farhan Lodge from the CFL on TSN and a huge night Farhan. We’ll get to the CFL in a second, man. But oh, probably a t tough few days for you Mariner fans. What what’s happened? What’s going on? Yeah, the bats have certainly come alive for the Blue Jays. Um, you know, they got they got pretty quiet at the Sky Dome there for those first two games and you kind of came out of those two games feeling that look, the gap between the two teams pitching staffs is greater than the ban than the gap between their offenses. But, uh, uh, Toronto certainly changed that narrative in the last two games. So yeah, if you’re a Mariner fan from BC, it’s certainly a tough been a tough couple of days and they’re tip getting going here in about 90 minutes. So hopefully they can salvage one of these. Well, what’s interesting about the uh about this game or last two games is the Jays just took out their two best pitchers and now they’re going to need Miller to do what he did in game one. Yeah. And he’s capable, right? And and that’s how these playoff series set up and we’ll see if Woo is involved at all, you know, either here now or back in Toronto. That certainly could be a difference maker for Seattle. But um yeah, you wouldn’t expect the 41y old to do what he did on the other side last night, would you? Oh, buddy. And well, it was he’s an intense guy, man. But he was he was battling. It wasn’t like he was great in the sense of like just overwhelming them. He was struggling with his command, but last night to me just showed his ability to just keep in the battle and in the fight. And if you walk a guy, no problem. I’m going to get a double play after that. or you know, I’m just going to pitch my way out of it with a strike out or or a fly ball. And so to that, I felt was a great example of when you don’t have your best, you still got to compete. Yeah, for sure. You know, in early in these games, we’ve seen some runs and then, you know, pitchers have had to dig in and and compete, right? And it happened uh in Seattle when or sorry, in Toronto, right, when the Jays got out to an early lead in one of the games and and Seattle, you know, kind of came right back. And so that happens. And look, I I don’t know Toronto’s pitching staff well enough to have watched him all season long, but um it was certainly an impressive performance, especially when when Schneider went out to the mound and they got into it a little bit for a couple seconds here and stayed in the game and got it done. Far, now we switch over to uh the CFL and uh you know, the Elks have managed to keep themselves in the fight and and obviously they’re going to need a little bit of help and and they got to beat BC tonight, which is no easy task. The Lions are playing very well. Um I I look at the Lions and they got the best big play offense in the game. They they average the most yards uh per play offensively. I think they got like 110 fewer uh completions than Toronto, but they got the most passing yards. Like they go big. They got the leading receiver. You know, they got the you know, their third receiver has the highest um 18.7 yards per catch. Like they’re a big play offense. When teams have success slowing them down, how do they do it? Well, to be honest, like nobody really has for the last three months, right? And Toronto kind of did, but if you looked at that game, uh, a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers by Ror, they got into some penalty trouble. They made some drops. Like, it just kind of looked out of sink and it didn’t necessarily feel like it was anything Toronto did. It it just looked like BC kind of shot themselves in the foot. And honestly, like it it certainly turned itself into a big play offense, but if you really watch them play, it hasn’t necessarily been that way because one of the things that Nathan Work can do is he can go through his progressions and if he’s got to get it out of his hands early and the games dictate that he does that based on the types of looks that he’s seeing, then he’s prepared to do that. And and they’ve got guys that can that can get some yards after the catch. But, you know, you look at a Calgary offense, for example, like you can tell when Vernon Adams can’t really push the ball down the field, the underneath game becomes a bit of a struggle, right? And then you better be from playing from ahead because if you’re playing from behind and then you lose the ability to run Dedric Mills, that becomes a challenge. Whereas, I think BC has sort of found a sweet spot where they can beat you multiple ways and if they’ve got to metriculate the ball down the field, then then they can do that, right? And you know, for for the Lions, the if they’re going to take penalties and now you’re going to get the first and 15 and second and 20, that’s what’s going to derail them. And if they can stay away from that, as well as Edmonton’s defense is currently playing, and I think they’re much better than they were in the first seven games when BC played them twice. Uh I I still don’t know that Edmonson can hold BC under 30. Yeah. Well, the and I don’t know if they can either, which to me to tonight is a game where the Elks offense, they’re going to have to match him. They’re going to have to be more aggressive. Cody Fardo’s he can’t just settle for the safe pass tonight. Like the Elsk are the they got the fewest passing yards in the league. Now, Justin Rankin might be the most explosive player in the game right now. There’s no question. If you just look at his runs compared to everybody else, he’s got 12 runs at 20 plus yards. The next closest guy is seven. Like, he’s been really dynamic at it. But you got to find a way to get the ball downfield and sometimes in the middle of the field far and not be worried about, oh, this might get deflected. You got to trust yourself as a quarterback and throw into some tight spaces. Yeah. You know, and yeah, 142 yards, which is what Cody had last week, isn’t going to get it done. He’s going to have to do more. And you’re right, like Justin Rankin is, you know, as good a player as there is on that field tonight from either team. And uh if you’re BC and your Mike Benvites, your entire focus needs to be Justin Rankin. And will that open up other things? it’s going to open up other things. Just a case of whether or not Cody can see it. And one of the things with Cody is that he doesn’t necessarily go through all his progressions. And that’s not a criticism. It’s just that, you know, because of how he throws the ball, he must throw early, right? Like he just has to because in order to get the ball into this spot before somebody can close on it, he has to get the ball out of his hands earlier than most quarterbacks who might have a little more velocity can do, right? Like you you see what Nathan does and there’s times where he’s just about to get hit and he can snap it out there. Well, Cody can’t snap it out there. He’s got a much longer delivery. So, um, it it makes it tougher to find that guy is my point, right? And you and I have talked about it before that I’m not sure Edmonton necessarily has a very dynamic receiving core. So, they’re, you know, they’re going to have to they’re still going to have to play a level of ball control, but I I think BC will do everything possible to take Rankin out of the game. And I just much like I just said, I don’t think you can hold BC under 30. I don’t think you can eliminate Justin Rankin. I think one way or the other, Rankin’s going to find a way to get 100 allpurpose yards. But can they keep him close to that amount? Cuz if he gets 200, which he’s capable of doing, rushing and receiving, now you’re in trouble because then Edmonton gets to control first downs. They can continue to to get first downs and have and time of possession and and you know, then it becomes much more difficult, right? H totally. Far you joined us here on sports 1440. You you mentioned the Elks defense, Farhan, and I agree with you wholeheartedly. We had uh you know Joel Delanco on the show and and he talked openly about how you know he thinks that you know the players understand the plays now because they were pretty young defense to start and their coordinator JC shared is trusting them to say okay these guys know I’m going to call these plays in certain situations because I think their defense has improved a lot whereas the offense has you know it’s kind of been okay but I haven’t seen as much improvement offensively as I have defensively. Yeah. you know, like I think in the early stages of of Cody Fardo, we did see the improvement offensively, but look, the bar was low, right? Because Trey Ford just wasn’t producing offensively, right? So, you know, but then that’s kind of leveled out, but the defense has continued to accelerate its growth. And you’re right, like they’ve simplified a little bit. Um, and I I think it’s just been such a cool story of guys taking advantage of opportunity because, you know, if you’d have asked me at the start of the year, I would have said that Morgan and Anderson are the best linebacker tandem in the league. Well, now the Blanco and Mogensson are pretty darn good. Do you know what I mean? Like you you put these guys in different spots and then how does a team without Jake Szna get better at the defensive line spot and he’s a good player. Like there’s no criticism of him, but you’ve got other guys that have taken advantage of an opportunity. The secondary’s gotten a little better. You know, players like Ross and others that have really kind of stepped up there. So, you know, collectively they’ve done it. You know, you’ve got some rookies out there and they’ve kind of come of age and, you know, we saw what Calgary did in the early stages of the season with a young defense. I think Edmonson has found a way to do that late. Yes. No, very true. And you know, JC Sher, you just you evolve as a coach and you learn more. And I I think offensively now I saw it last week when they gambled on third and two. And I can argue that that one gamble changed the whole game. That’s when rank and rumbled for 64 yard touchdown early in the third quarter. You know, cuz the stats will tell you faran on third and two you should be gambling more. You you’ve got a really good chance. I think it’s 68% of the time according to Steve Daniels that that you make it, but teams only ever try for it 35% of the time. So, you know, teams should be going for it more and the Elks did it in that case and it got them going. They were in a must win and I would expect tonight they have to have like a go forb broke type of mentality. There’s no tomorrow for them. They have to win this game and I don’t think you can beat BC by being cautious. I just don’t think you can just because I think BC’s offense is too hard to slow down. Well, you’re a thousand% right and and that is an advantage that BC has because it forces teams to get out of their comfort zone a little bit, maybe try to do a little bit extra because you feel you need to. And and again, you know, as much as I respect what JC’s done and what that Edmonton team has done, you’re not going to shut BC down, you know, into the low 20s. It just isn’t going to happen. So, um you may need that fake on special teams because you need to steal a possession, right? you may need to go for it a couple more times on third down than you normally would because you just don’t as much as you trust your defense, you don’t want to put Nathan Rook back on the field. So, I think you’ll see that and that makes for more exciting football and I think Mark Killllum is comfortable in that world, right? That you know, generally as a special teams coordinator, you want your special teams out there, but in this case, he’s not afraid to put his defense out there like if you if you gamble and you don’t get it, he’s not necessarily afraid there, but I think he wants to he wants to find a way to steal some possessions. Farhand joins us. Before I hand off, what do you make of Elias Person start to the season for the Conucks? Um, you know, I I think it it leaves you wanting if you’re a Canucks fan for sure, right? I mean, the first three games there was just nothing there. And I’m not saying he played poorly. I’m not saying there was a lack of effort. I’m just saying there was a lack of bottom line. Now, you can say, “Look, it’s only three of 82 and it’ll get better.” Um and you know five on five against Dallas it was okay um yesterday but the fact that you got to take a guy like Connor Garland and Drew O’ Connor and put them on his line it kind in me to me what it tells me is that this is a player that currently doesn’t want to drive play. He’s not dynamic with the puck on his stick. He’s not hungry to have the puck on his stick. So what do you do? You put him with a guy like Conor Garland who wants the puck on his stick, who wants to drive play. And then you get Drew O’ Connor out there who’s a guy that forces Patterson to play with a little more pace because he can skate and he can go out and fish the puck out of tough areas and get the puck back to him. So, you know, rather than him being the facilitator, they’re trying to find others to facilitate him and build his confidence up. And if that can happen, then maybe he can go back to that role at some point down the road here. But right now, it’s been a little bit underwhelming. And again, not terrible. He’s not getting knocked off the puck as much. We we see him trying to block shots. we see him, you know, move to get into passing lanes more. There there are some things there, but he doesn’t want the puck as much and he’s also struggling in the faceoff circle, so he’s being forced to defend more. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that’s never I don’t care who you are, the more you have to defend eventually, uh, you got a better chance of getting beaten and that that’s just how it goes. Um, quickly, I know because you’re a big football guy and you cover all all of it. Uh, what do you make of the wild start that is the the NFL season? Upsets galore all over the place. Last night we had two 40-year-olds going back and forth like a heavyweight title fight and Joe Flacco, who by the way was unreal in his postgame press conference. I thought that was fantastic. But, you know, like no one thought the Bengals were going to win that game, the Giants, like we’ve had lots of big upsets. So, what do you make of this NFL season? And do you see any team that stands out? Well, look, the guy the teams that um that I’m buying, like look, I think Kansas City is going to turn around really quickly, and I think they have offensively already, right, in the NFC. I’m still I’m still a believer in Detroit. Uh I think Seattle’s going to get there. Um I’m definitely buying Tampa Bay. Like, I am totally buying Tampa Bay. But, you know, there there are some others, you know, am I there yet with the Colts, how their defense is? Not quite. Even though I really like what Daniel Jones is doing, but what it speaks to is that there’s a tremendous amount of parody. And I’ve never seen anything like this. Like I mean, you know, even Kansas City, I say I’m buying and they’re going to get it back, they’re still only three and three, right? Like they’re still playing with very small margins for error. Um, you know, and the Colts are sitting there at 5-1 at top the AFC. Who would have predicted that? So, I think the parody has been outstanding. I think the games are unpredictable. It makes it better to watch because we all think the the the NFC North is this amazing division. Well, really like or sorry, not the NFC North, the AFC North. And it just hasn’t been that this year. Yeah. But then all of a sudden, those two teams go out there and play the game that they did last night, right? I mean, that was that would turned into mustsee TV, even though you wouldn’t have expected it with two 40-year-olds. So, I I just think there’s so much unpredictability on a week-toeek basis that it’s made the NFL a lot of fun the first half dozen games of this season. You think there’s any chance if Edmonson beats BC that Toronto can find a way to beat Calgary tomorrow? I don’t know, man. with Jared Biggy in and the number of players that they’re sitting I I I think that’s a tough app. Yeah, it is. So like they they need they need a lot of help, right? And even you look at you look at Winnipeg Sask, you know, in that game and the number of players Saskatchewan sitting now. Saskatchewan is not fielding chop liver. They’re they’re playing guys including Jake Mayer that have played and won CFL football games before. U and I think they’ll probably play a better lineup when they play BC the following week. But I just um I I just think it’s a big big ask right now. A lot has to go right. Look, we’re only talking about two weeks, right? So, you just hope for Edmonton that they can just stay alive one more week and then and then uh see what comes the following week, right? Oh, yeah. All All they can do win tonight and uh you know, who knows what happens, as we’ve just seen recently, upsets happen all the time in pro sports. But, uh for the uh for the green and gold, they just got to win. It’s it’s to me it’s that simple. They just got to find a way to win. Yeah. And you know, like there is something to be said. I I know it doesn’t really happen as much in hockey, but I think in football there is something to be said for carrying momentum into the next season and and they can really begin next year with an entirely different narrative because a lot of people believe Edmonson’s the team you don’t want to play if they made the playoffs, right? Given what they’ve had to go through to get in. Oh, yeah. That’s not the team you want to play in the in the West semi. Well, they’ve beaten Calgary, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg here in their last five games. And like and they would have had to have beaten BC to advance, right? Like to get there, they’ll have had to have beaten them, too. Yeah. Like I I think if they miss the playoffs, they’re really going to regret that those back-to-back games at Hamill and Toronto where they were the better team for like 58 minutes and then just couldn’t close out the game. And so we’ll see if it it comes down to that or not. But uh there are lots of arrows. I think they’re going to regret I think they’re going to regret letting Jason Greger make their quarterback decisions for the first half of the season. Oh yeah, that wasn’t the case, buddy. Uh they uh uh Well, what’s interesting is I know everybody was all down on Trey Ford. Well, you watched the G. Their defense was abysmal for the first month. I know it was. I know it was. They’re like it didn’t like they it’s it’s amazing like how far off the ball they played the first month of the season. It was wild. Wild. But it’s also amazing and Montreal can be a testament to this how much a quarterback improves all three phases. Oh yeah. Yeah. No, that’s true. There’s no there’s no doubt about it. And it’s it they don’t make as many mistakes. I still would like to see their offense like especially those two losses. I don’t think they were aggressive enough. And even the game against Winnipeg, they could have gone for the tiebreaker, but the defense kept giving them the ball in the fourth quarter and they did nothing with it. And that’s, you know, that’s another disappointment from the offense. I I think the offense lately hasn’t been good enough. I I’ve really liked the defense of the Elks. Can consider this though, right? Like everybody was so excited when Cody Fardo came in because the bar was set so low, right? And he did everything he could. Like he’s maximized his ability and he’s maximized the ability of that offense. But next year the curve is different. Oh yeah. If he he’s gonna come back next year as the starter and now you’re not comparing him to Trey Ford anymore, right? You’re comparing him to the best quarterbacks in the CFL and that changes things because the bar gets set differently next year than it is this year. Do you think that uh that what happens to Trey Ford? Does he just ne renegotiate his contract in Edmonton? What do you think happens? There’s zero chance Trey Ford comes back next year on the same deal. Like none. no chance, right? So, they if it just depends on his willingness to renegotiate, maybe he wants a fresh start, you know, maybe the club decides to move on alto together. I, you know, I could see that happening. Um, you know, like I I I haven’t talked to people there about how, you know, the last dozen weeks have gone with him as the backup because we know previous coaching staffs have said that he hasn’t been as engaged um when he wasn’t the starter, right? So, I don’t know what it’s looked like, you know, cuz our focus has been on the defense and and Cody since the quarterback changes happened. So, I think, you know, if if the organization feels good about how he’s conducted himself the last two months, then I think there’s a window to renegotiate the deal. But if they’re not, you know, you can certainly see a scenario where they just decide to move on alto together and let let him have a fresh start. We’ll see. Far, great stuff, buddy. Um, good luck to your Mariners. It’s not looking good. The Jays got all the momentum right now. Go Mariners. These series can flip. Let’s hope I’ll see you later, buddy. There you go. That’s Farhan Liy from TSN. Huge Mariners fan. Meet a Mariners fan for a long long time. Let’s uh let’s take a quick break. Uh we’ll return and we’ll go in the mind next Gregor Show presented by play alberta.ca. At Papa John’s, our butter chicken pizza is a Canadian favorite and we think we know why. We start with a velvety, tangy, and subtly sweet sauce. Then it’s our better ingredients. Fresh, never frozen original dough, juicy grilled chicken, and crunchy green peppers and onions. Sounds delicious, right? Well, wait till you try it. It’s butter chicken made better. Order your large butter chicken pizza today for only $19.99. Better ingredients, better pizza. Papa John’s. Proudly locally owned and operated. And here comes Action Electrical Service Team sprinting onto the scene. These are your first responders for any electrical emergency. That’s right. With their fleet of service vans and specialized gear, they assess, they service, and maintain electrical, lighting, and automation systems. They’re all about rapid response, quick diagnostics, and repairs to restore power and safety fast. Hire the Action Electrical team to bring home a win for your project. Visit action electrical.net. I’m Colin Livingston, president of Cantor. Since 2016, we’ve been at the forefront of hydraulic torque wrenches in Canada. 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[Music] Portions of this hour brought to you by on the rocks. The Oilers are back in action and otr is ready to be your hockey headquarters. 575 Molson Canadian 69 cent wings and play score and win every game. See more at on the rocks.com. hat-ticks, touchdowns, and home runs. Get it all with the Jason Greger Show on Sports 1440, presented by play alberta.ca, Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] [Laughter] Awesome Friday rolling through. Jason Greger, Connor Harley with you. As always, the Gregor Show presented by playalberta.ca. It’s a big Friday night. You got the Jays and the Mariners. Game five, it’s suddenly a best of three as the Jays won 82 last night. And the green and gold, so you can go backto back sporting events, boys and girls. It’s unreal. And the uh Elks in BC to take on the Lions. That’ll be an 8:30 kickoff tonight, Edmonton time. Elks need a win. Need a win. And you keep the hope alive. Obviously, they need they need a Winnipeg or Calgary loss with their win to make next week’s game more enjoyable, but either way, they’ve had a good stretch run and we’ll see if they can continue tonight. Uh, now let’s get to In the Mind brought to you by Action Electrical. One of our most diversified electrical contractors is hiring because they’re expanding. They just keep growing more opportunities. Second, third, fourth year electricians. If you’re looking to work for a fantastic company with excellent benefits, lots of opportunity to grow, send your resume [email protected]. Tell them we sent you. It’ll help it out. As we uh welcome in once again, Laurian Munzer, gold medalist, of course, a mental coach as well in the mind. Laurianne, how you doing? Doing awesome. It’s Friday. It is Friday. It’s uh it’s good. And I I wanted to kind of focus today on a little bit of, you know, because I think this relates to anybody who’s coaching or even parents for for amateur sports and obviously the main goal is fun, but you know, coaching a group whether you know, obviously a football team’s massive because you got lots of kids, but you know, maybe you’re an individual coach, but lots of team sports, you have lots of different personalities and kids are going to react different in different situations and you know, like you want them to try harder and sometimes there’s there’s things I know you’ve dealt with with kids that what kind of holds them back sometimes for maybe giving their best on any given day. Yeah. One of the biggest things I see, Jason, is that the the young athlete doesn’t want to let you down or doesn’t want to let mom or dad down because there’s been so much focus, so much attention on, you know, you got to play well, you got to win, you got to succeed. And sometimes it takes the air out of the balloon of having fun. And it’s just, okay, well, what are we dealing with here? And like you said, there’s so many personalities. I think there’s 16 different types. And then there’s the three or four different learning styles. We’ve got visual, auditory, kinesthetic, we’ve got the tactile, and then bring in attention span. By the way, kinesesthetic is like the physical movement. So if you think kinesiology, that’s movement. And some athletes are really um I’m very much kinesthetic. I’m very tactile because if I can touch it, then I can see it. I can feel it. And there’s something real about it versus something intangible. But then it’s like, okay, then you bring outside distractions in. And I think it comes down to number one, are you having fun? But are you playing for the joy of it? Are you playing for the fun of it? Or are you playing because somebody said you have to or you don’t want to let somebody down? And it could be just your coach. You know, you’ve got so much respect or you really like that person that you don’t want to let them down. And we even see that with adults, too. Well, yeah, I would think so. So, what when you’re a coach and may maybe even a parent, I guess let’s start with parents first because they should probably know their kids better. How do parents kind of find out what’s the best like how their son or daughter functions in a sporting environment? How do you learn that as an adult to kind of have a realistic expectation of what your son or daughter is capable of? I think it comes down to Jason observing because you’ve got to observe the athlete in the environment. Are they excelling? Are they kind of neutral or are they unsure of what they’re doing or where they’re going? And I’ve always found it even like when I’ve been in sports, it’s like if you know what you’re doing, if you understand, then you have a greater chance of doing much better. But if you’re not, this is where the coach, where the parent comes in of going just sit on the bench, sit on the sidelines and observe. Just like don’t say anything. Just have fun watching and see what comes out of it because number one, that will take the pressure off. And instead of trying to tell the athlete what to do or your child what to do, you can start asking better questions. And it’s those questions that lead to the insights of well, how could I be a support or cheerleader as my son or daughter prepares for their games or my partner preparing for their game and then also what to do afterwards on do we even talk about what happened, what transpired without bringing, you know, the bells, the whistles, all the videos. It’s like look, let’s have fun and let’s not make this so serious. And when you take the pressure off, that’s when the performances will will go through the roof. Yeah, it is because it’s and it’s it’s an ongoing process because I think some kids like everybody ages different. Doesn’t matter. I’m sure every parent out there has multiple children will know like you know Bobby might be mature at 14 and young Steve doesn’t mature till he’s 18. Everybody’s different mentally, physically, all those sorts of things. And you know as kids progress I think too often even in associations or coaching evaluations it’s like well Johnny was at this level last year so he’s only capable of going to this level next year. Right? And I think even during the course of a season, you sometimes we we put limitations. We we might have unrealistic expectations, but then we have limitations on where we think someone can grow. Like kids and and young athletes, like you know, hockeyy’s a late developing sport. And that like late de I’m not talking 10. I’m talking up to 20. Like lots of players are still developing after the age of 20. Yep. Absolutely. And the development like you said is going to be different with everybody. And again, it’s a matter of going and watching, observing, but then also don’t cap out. Don’t cap them out because if you put a limit on it and they see that you’ve put a limit on it, that can stall their development. Because when you’re younger, your your brain, your mind is a lot more pliable, you can actually enhance it through confidence, through support, through encouragement and visualization. Obviously, the easiest one is training for your body physically. But to be able to put all of that is easier as they’re younger versus when you’re older, like if you’re 30, 40, those athletes have a different mindset. They’re already set in their own ways. So, being able to give them a picture of going, “Oh, I could buy into that. Yeah, I could go do that.” The kids are just they’re hungry. They’re ready to go. and they’ll nine out of 10 times they’re going to do what you say until they figure out either you don’t know what you’re talking about or it didn’t work and they know a better way. So, it’s it’s about finding that balance, but also asking the kids because rarely do we ask the kids, “What do you think would make this situation better?” or “What do you think would make this play better?” Because we’re always tell tell what if we stopped telling and we started questioning. Even just, you know, put your Curious George hat on and go, “Hey, what would you do different? How could we make this better?” And then pairing, we’ve talked about this before, pairing your your your athlete up with another person because you learn quicker. You can teach each other different things that you’re really good at. If you and I were paired up, I could probably share something. You could probably share something back to me and it would just take us up to a whole new level. And it also infuses the fun, too. Right. Well, it, you know, it kind of leads me to my question of I think a lot of kids, you know what, they just naturally they want to do better, right? And so sometimes they don’t know how have because I know you deal with a lot of young athletes and and and finding that you know you’re capable of more than what you think you are. Sometimes self-doubt can be our biggest detractors, right? How do you work with kids so you know they lose not not a lot of kids have it but they’re like oh you know geez maybe I’m not that good rather than I don’t know like maybe I’m capable of more. How do you and is there a right age you found that works better for kids? Like do they have to be a little bit more mature to understand that? I don’t think so. I don’t think we give them enough credit. I think number one is find out what they’re thinking. Find out what they’re feeling because those two things are going to be the drivers for their actions. More what are they feeling? Because the thoughts are going to drive the feeling. But if it’s a feeling of doubt or fear that I can’t do this, they’re going to get paralyzed. They’re going to stop right in their spot. But then if you flip the question of, well, what if you were able to do this? Is the one time I like to play the what if game. Okay. What if you were able to maybe go another lap or do another drill or do another pass? What what would happen if that was the one that just changed and moved you to the next level where you go, “Oh, now I get it. Now I understand.” And then you can do it. Because sometimes it takes you 10 repetitions. Sometimes it takes you 20. Sometimes it’s going to take you a hundred. But if the the athlete doesn’t have the picture in their mind of what are we shooting for, no pun intended, but what are we shooting for? They really won’t know what to do and then they’re going to ask, “Well, I don’t know how to do this.” The clearer your picture is for explaining what you’re going to do the drill or well, let’s go five levels up the mountain. Let’s just get to the first base camp. You’re going to have a better return on them clicking and and putting the drill or the skill together. I know you’ve worked with lots of athletes and and even yourself that when you push through the glass and you make it to that next level, right, it’s um were there ways that you found eventually how you could push yourself harder that was in a safe way to do it? Absolutely. Just one more effort or one more rep or one more second or one more watt or one more kilometer per hour. It’s just like all I have to do is one more. That’s it. And then I can do a reset whether it’s, you know, a five minute break, a one minute break, or we’re just going to cruise along. Okay. And then we’re going to blast it again. Or there was always a thing of motor pacing. That was the one fun thing on the track is when you know, Steen, my coach, would bring out the motorcycle for motor pacing. You are literally slipstream 1 in 1 centimeter behind. You don’t always get a chance to chase the motorbike or even sit behind the motorbike. So, that was always the I guess the go-to reward of, hey, this is what all the training is for. And it brings back the fun and the excitement of going, hey, this is what we’re training for. But sometimes if you keep doing the same drills over and over again, it just gets monotonous. So, where’s the challenge? Where’s the fun? And just breaking it up every once an hour once in a while with some variety. Lori, great stuff, great advice as always. Great insight. We appreciate it. Have yourself a lovely long weekend. We’ll talk to you next uh Friday and I know you’ll be on with Caris on Monday. You bet. Take care. It’s Laurian Monzer in the mind as always brought to you by Action Electrical. Uh let’s get to the con man and a sports 1440 update brought to you by Loca Quality Markets. If you’re looking for great food, it doesn’t matter. Maybe you’re somebody’s, you know, gez got gluten. It doesn’t really work. I can’t eat pasta. Well, how come when you go to Europe you can eat that pasta? Well, they have that type. Way more clean ingredients. Check it out. Loca.ca. Two locations, Sher Park and Edmonton. This is a sports 1440 update. Week 20 of the CFL kicks off tonight. Elks in BC taking on the Lions. That gets going at 5:30 from BC Place. You also have Winnipeg taking on Saskatchewan at 6:00. Major League Baseball playoffs rolling on. Blue Jays Mariners getting going in just over an hour. Game five currently tied at two a piece. Then at 6:38 you got the Brewers taking on the Dodgers into the NHL four games this evening. Lightning in Detroit. You got the Caps hosting the Wild. 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Thanks for watching the show. As always, brought to you by our title sponsor, playalberta.ca. We’ll get you our Play Alberta pick of the day coming up a little bit later on, but uh you can go there right now. Guess what? Uh if you’re looking at the games tonight, Blue Jays. Actually, you know what? I’m gonna do it right now. My pick of the day. How can you go against the Jays the way they’re rolling right now? Um they are they’re actually um a little bit of a a favorite on the road today. So, um I like the Jays straight up to win tonight against Seattle. Um I just I think it’s their bats have found their life again. And if if you can get it won’t be easy by any stretch of imagination, but I I think if you can if you can get to their their two best pitchers, I think they’re going to find a way to get to Miller. Miller was unreal in game one. No debate. I think it’s tough to do it again. And right now, would anybody bet against him, the home run machine, hitting out of the number nine spot? I think so. So, I’m going to go uh Jay’s. I’m not sure it’s going to be as high scoring, though. I’d love it, but uh I’m not sure they’re going to score. They got 21 runs in the last two games, 29 hits. So, um but uh I will take the Jays. Um I guess if you want to have a little fun, I might even uh I’m going to go with uh uh Gimenez extra base hit. There you can’t get greedy and go home run again. That’d be unbelievable. But I’ll just say extra base hit. So there you have uh welcome in Wany Gretzk from uh Oilers Nation. Wana, how you doing? Happy positive Friday. Well, I said to Declan out in the outside room, “Hey Declan, you must be so pumped about the Blue Jays.” Just assuming I’m the only person who doesn’t care, assuming he’s a huge Blue Jays guy. He looks me dead in the eye and goes, “I only like the Cincinnati Reds.” Random team, Declan. Well, everybody has different teams, but it’s just the Reds. Oh, yeah. the big red machine. You know, that that was a little bit before his time, but probably Barry Larkin maybe. I don’t know. Maybe even Barry Larkin’s a little bit before his time. So, see Ellie de la Cruz. Is that Well, he’s lately. Yeah. Ellie Dela Cruz. This is Delan’s guy. Yeah. Right. Blue Jays fans. This is their golden age. This is this is wonderful to see. Well, for this generation. Yeah. 100%. No question about it. And like they’re an exciting fun team to watch. Like they they scrap and they claw and you know what? Like they’re without their their you know the guy who was leading the league in hits all year long. And and guess what? They just still find ways like him and has to go backto back jacks in two consecutive games in the in the third inning. It’s just it’s remarkable. You got a 41-year-old Max Scherzer. He’s got the husky eyes and he’s just all intense. And you know what? That was that was a hell of a game to watch last night as a casual fan when the manager came out and told uh Sherzer to leave. No. Well, no, he didn’t tell him to leave. He just was having a conversation. Oh, he wasn’t pull. No, he wasn’t going to pull him because Schneider’s actually like when he walks to the mound, that means he’s taking the guy out, but if he jogs, he’s there just for a conversation. And it and I don’t know if you saw Schneider’s postgame presser. I thought it was fantastic. Just like Joe Flacco last night. I think people should just go watch Joe Flacco. Like here’s a guy like it’s sports and I find like hockey guys postame sometimes like loosen up for God’s sakes. It’s a hockey game. Here’s Joe Flacco. He’s 41 and he’s answering questions and he’s just he’s relaxed, right? and he’s talking about how because you know even when guys win some days it’s just like oh yeah it’s another game and well like whatever Joe Joe’s 41 he’s probably like man I don’t know if I’d be in here and you know he’s running plays that he hadn’t run since he was a rookie right and he’s kind of joking about it but it was it was fantastic but Schneider’s like man I’ve been waiting for that moment because you’ve heard about Max Shers he’s really intense and he never really had one of those moments where it comes out and the guy’s all right intense and Schneider’s a pretty intense guy too so I could see why I loved it like that is, you know, it was great theater to watch in the B. Like, I don’t know if you saw uh but you saw the reaction of infielders. It’s really intense and they’re loving it. Like, how can you not like you watch their dugout when a guy like Gimenez hits another home run, the dugout’s going crazy because like they love every home run, but there’s certain guys it’s like when Tai Emerson scores a goal, people get a little bit more excited on the bench than when Leon Dryettle scores a goal because Leon Drytle scores a lot of goals. That was quite the blazer that Vlatty put on after he hit the bejeweled. Oh, yeah. That’s their playoff blazer, buddy. Yeah. Playoff blazer. Well, they No, they had the playoff home run jacket, right? And they had a regular season one, but now they got a new one for the playoffs. So, they come in from the home run, they put it on the dugout, and they wear it around. Yeah. Yeah. Classic. Oh, it’s great. Like lots of teams in baseball have different things like the Mariners. What’s that thing the Mariners have called? It’s uh I don’t even remember. Trident. The Trident, right? And so they hand the Trident off to the guy in the Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Unreal. Yeah. So, Oh, but baseball playoffs, man. Like, you’re not a baseball guy, which is fine. Baseball playoffs. So I can appreciate the magnitude of what I’m watching. It’s like watching the Olympics when you tune in this time a year, no matter who’s playing, I totally understand the magnitude of the sporting event. Yes. Oh, I think what’s great about playoffs is people who aren’t a fan of a sport all year long, all of a sudden they’re like, well, I can kind of get like the everything’s just more emotional. It’s more intense and it can draw you in to it. And I’ve like my wife’s asking lots of because my son’s really into to baseball and so you know my wife’s been watching some of the now she won’t watch a whole game but you know she’ll watch a few innings with us and stuff and has some questions and kind of figures it out and you know I think like you know tonight we have our neighborhood we have families always do a pizza thing tonight and my son’s like dad like we’re going to be able to watch the game there right? And I’m like well you’re going to have to ask him. goes, “Oh, he’s going to have the game on.” Like, it’s just it’s so and I know, of course, the guy’s going to have it on, but I think it’s I think it’s awesome. Sports sports for a short time can bring a lot of people together because you feel part of something. You don’t like think about the order playoff run. Now, our listeners are different. Our listeners are all watching the games all the time, the die hards. But even some of our listeners are casual, but you get to the playoffs and they’re all die hards. They watch every game. They’re playing in block parties. I know husbands and wives who never watch it. all of a sudden in the playoffs they’re texting their spouse who does watch it, hey, what are we doing for the game tonight? And they’re like, what kind of bizarre world am I living in? And you love it, right? Like suddenly your family’s more engaged. You got, you know, Sally or Joe at the office who normally gives two, you know, what’s about sports is they’re right into it. And I think it’s great because it just brings everybody together. And that’s like the playoffs right now for the Jays. They do that. Obviously, order fans have had the last two years right up until the final game. It was an unreal two-month stretch. It’s amazing to see all the fans standing for that long, too. That kind of clues me into what like an event it is. Like, it’s one thing to go to a fall baseball game to stand for five and a half innings. Like, man, that’s wild, buddy. It’s to me like I think it’s great. Like, I just And I’ve gotten to go to some sporting events in Europe and it’s a different ball game, man. I’m telling you. Like, their regular season games are like playoff intensity there. It’s they’re singing. They’re like I went to a game in Chelsea for soccer and I was just like, “What kind of world am I in here?” And I now some college football has it. Yeah. Right. Like college football in in North America is is like wild. And that’s like if there’s places that I look to say I want to go to. I’m like well I’d like to go to Yankee Stadium. Never been there. Um I would have liked to go to the old one but um Boston I want to go to the Green Monster, right? I got to go to the form. I got to go to Old Maple Leaf Gardens. You know, I didn’t get to go to Chicago Stadium, unfortunately, but like I want to go. There’s a few college places where I’m like, I just want to go just to see the entrance. Like they’ve made their entrances like a phenomenal, right? The whole crowd like the speakers are just shaking. The story, the speakers, the bleachers are shaking, everyone’s singing. Like, oh my god. Like like I’ve shown a few of them online to my son and we’re like no when you’re old enough we’ll go there cuz it just for the atmosphere alone like it would be I’m not a fan of that team but I could be a fan of having fun and getting caught up in the emotion of things. And it’s if you’re in a crowd too right and this is their thing like I went to an AC Milan game. I didn’t know anything about anything but the minute you’re in that stadium with people you’re like oh man this is something else. Yeah. Like you know when some like hey this means something here so let’s go. Yeah. No it’s uh it’s fantastic. So, I I look forward to it and that’s what the Jays do. And you know, and then you got Hey, it’s it’s funny to me. You watch the Jays game, it’s very different than watching the Oders regular season game last night, right? Like it wasn’t now from an execution level. Sure. Right. Like you’re watching and hey, I know Bard had a tough night. Right now, Evan Bard had a tough night. Full stop. But again, for the fourth straight game, the orders five on five. Had a tough night again. Right. like they they haven’t had a game yet where their five on-5 scoring has really done much at all, right? They don’t have a game where they have two five on five goals. Like I’m sorry, it’s not good enough. Like Booard, yeah, we can we and we’ve all talked about it until we’re blew in the face. Like Bard struggled and like what else can you say? We know he’s capable of playing better, but and he’s got to find a way to do. And here’s my thing about Bard. If you make the one play on Barzel, I’m like, “All right, you made your big error, but then you got to then it’s got to there can’t you can’t compound it and be another one and another one and and last night was I think a prime example. If Walman’s in the lineup, I really think the Bard might have sat down a bit, but without him in there, you’re like, well, he set Bard down. Now we’re playing Stetcher and Emerson all these minutes. Maybe not. And some people might not want to hear that. And someone would argue said, Gregor, the way Booar was playing, I’d still rather play Emerson and Stetcher that many more minutes. Frank. Frank, you probably could be right. It’s hard for me to argue against that based on Bushar just never seemed to get out of the funk, right? And like you can have a funk that’s, you know, a play or two. It just can’t last a It shouldn’t, Obviously, it can. It shouldn’t last a whole game. It’s got to be infuriating for the coaches, right? Because he’s capable of such a great level of play. Yes. What do they say after a game like that? Well, you heard you heard what uh Chris Nlock go say. Bushar can play better than that and we know it and you know you got to be able to get out of it like his he’s not going to bury a player post game four games into a season when Bousard’s first three games I I had no issue with right um he was wasn’t making any real like like sure you make a pass here or there it doesn’t work but wasn’t like last night like last night was and sadly it’s it’s predictable like I said I don’t think Evan Bard look this season started I didn’t think he magically was going to just eliminate those games from his repertoire. It’s still there. Now, that one was one of the worst cuz it was multiple multiple errors, right? But he’ll have another game where, you know, he’ll be the last guy back and he’ll try to make a move because it does work lots of times, but it won’t work and you’ll be like, well, you got to pick your poison on when to try it. Like, if it’s a 6-2 game, different story. And even when he did that one, it’s early enough because Edmonton did come back and we’re leading two to one, right? So, it wasn’t like it’s different than if you do that with four minutes left than if you do it with 54 minutes left, right? You have more time for your team to to make up for the error. Um, but he just kept making errors and that’s what made it that’s what made it challenging. And the orders themselves, like look how many penalties they took in the third period. Like the third period to me, too many penalties. Eventually, you’re going to get burnt, which they did. And five on five, they can’t score. So unless you’re going to rely on your power play to score two goals a game and you’re going to only score one and then you got to win every game three to two, it’s just not feasible. They got to get some scoring five on five soon. Like right away soon as in tomorrow afternoon in New Jersey soon. Camera’s off, mics off. What does the coaching staff sit down and when they review film and they’re looking at everything like what do you say to Evan Buchard at this point in his career five or six years in? Yeah, you probably have a convers like does Evan Bousard know that he he should not let like the thing was and and you teach young players if you’re going to de a guy deak away from his stick at least because then make the guy have to make a great play. He literally Barcel stick didn’t even move. He just right on his table and he just took it away. Right. If you deak the other way from the stick at least now you’re forcing the guy who’s trying to check you. He’s got to make a move. But you can’t like the you deak into a stick. you de when you try to go through players rather than around them, it rarely works. So, I’m I’m sure they’ll freshen up, but like it’s funny. I’ve talked to coaches um about like there’s certain mistakes that sometimes the coach says nothing about because like the player knows, right? Hey, you serve a pizza up the middle, coach comes back, Bob. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Like most of the time they know, right? Like I’ve talked to Strutddy and and other guys, you know, Sean Brown. There’s but then there’s certain times about if a guy because if you make it once all right then you got to show the coach the next time you don’t make it and in Booard’s case now it was different mistakes but he made a lot of big ones last night so he’s got to I don’t know what they say I don’t know Evan Bousard well enough like how does he react that’s you know we just had Laurian on the coaches will know does Buchard react better if you like take a strip off of him because some guys do or do you just say hey Evan have a calm conversation that can still include some exploitives if you need it in a calm conversation. I’m sure the coach at this point kind of knows and maybe they’re like, “We say nothing to Buchard and he’ll play better.” I don’t know what they do, but the they should know at this juncture how to approach the situation. It’s the proverbial controller unplugging on plays that drives I think a lot of Oilers fans nuts where he just go like backing on the one play last night on the goal like keep skating brother quickly. Yeah, I don’t get the lack of effort on certain plays. Well, I actually thought the one thing was on the giveaway in Barzel, Bousard was like hustling back. That one I didn’t have and and even like I I I talked to uh I I talked to a power play coach um after uh the game and I sent him the video of the goal cuz I just want to get his impression of that Islander goal where they scored where they came up the board short-handed, right? And then Horvad had busted the zone. So the power play coach tells me, he goes, “It’s rare to see a penalty killer bust the zone as quick as Horvat did when the puck was behind the net.” He goes, “So it’s obviously a set play and maybe it’s something teams have looked to say if we get possession, Edmonton’s guys are focused on they’re not thinking about the guy, you know, jailbreak because that’s essentially what that play is. It’s a jailbreak.” And it didn’t even go directly to him. It went up the boards, which was even more unique. So to me, that still looked like a little bit of a set play, right? Where Horvat is gone, right? Like you don’t see, watch, you don’t see many penalty killers have a jailbreak like that out of the zone when when the puck is that deep, but it obviously worked. And so maybe they had done some pre-couting. I’m not sure. But the power play coach told me, he goes, you know, when the puck goes around the boards, I can see why Buchart isn’t vacating the zone. His words, not mine, at that juncture because you’re thinking, well, you had two guys over on the wall, but it was a really good touch play. And so he goes, that’s why he thinks it was a set play by the penalty kill, which you don’t see a ton of when it comes to like, hey, we’re gonna have a set play on the penalty kill. Lots of teams will have set breakouts on five on five and certain breakouts that just resolve not necessarily a stretch pass for a short-handed breakaway. So I kind of have to give them credit. They executed it very well, but at the same time, you you probably need some more awareness because like Bard, you’re probably thinking, well, I just saw him go by, but man, the puck is still right here. What? Because if Edmonton knocks it down, it’s a five on three. It’s a I mean, it’s a fairly you don’t want to say a meaningless loss, but like obviously it’s early in the season. Well, it’s I I’ll say this. Yes, it is early in the season, but the Edmonton Oders have two losses to teams who have beat no one else. True. Right. The the Flames and Islanders are 0 and seven in their other games, and they’re two and0 against the Oders. So, that’s not ideal. So, how worked up do you get over this loss to the Islanders then? Well, I I think it’s disappointing because that’s when your goal as a team was to play better and have a better start and you lose to a team that’s winless with their backup goalie. Yeah, it’s not an ideal loss. So now you you got to find a way to grind out at least a split in in the next two games, right? And then hey, if you get a split the next two games and then you win in Ottawa, okay, you come back, you’re three and two. And hey, if you’re three and two, you go 600 out of on on the road all year, you’re you’re doing cartwheels. So sure, but I just I think that that was you’re up two to one, right? Like both of their lo they’ve led. They were up three nothing against Calgary lost. They were two to1 in that game lost. So that’s not ideal. We’ll take a quick break. Uh we’ll return. It’s Jason Gregor, Connor Ali. Gretz 1440. Ken Danico will find out about the New Jersey Devils next here on the Gregor Show presented by Play Alberta. Experience more at the Edmonton Expo Center. Come for Canada’s largest trade show, the biggest names in entertainment, exhilarating sporting events, and more. Stay for the experience, but it doesn’t end there. Maximize your brand exposure with Edmonton Expo Center’s new cuttingedge feature screens spanning Western Canada’s largest venue space. Captivate an annual audience of over 1 million visitors during iconic events like Pro Rodeo, Disney on Ice, Globe, Kdays, and so much more. To learn more, call 780471-7380 or visit edmonexpoenter.com today. Scott McGelry here, HGTV host and renovation expert. The one upgrade I know homeowners will love. 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Uh John Sexmith, uh good friend of mine. I knew John for 25 years in the in the business. And uh John was one of the nicest guys, really funny, uh really witty, really intense, uh loves sports. It did a lot uh for the sporting community, not just on on TV at Global and and all the stories he did and all levels of sports, but definitely, you know, John’s been battling cancer since 2012 and um you know, 13 years. and he uh you know he he did a lot of volunteer coaching here the last years. His son Joel of course plays for the Bears. He wasn’t coaching his son. He was in the WHL so he hasn’t been coaching son for a decade yet he still kept coaching lots of other kids. And you know we’ve had a lot of texts from some from parents and stuff and you know what an impact John had on their on their kids in hockey. And so for his wife Joanne and son Joel who uh my understanding is Joel’s going to lace him up tonight. And you know what his dad would be super proud of him to do that and and play tonight for the uh Golden Bears. So, uh, best of luck. Uh, be emotional night for the sex miss for sure and and all of his teammates. Losing your dad at that young of an age is is never good for anyone for sure. Now, let’s go uh around the NHL. Brought to you by McDonald’s. And it’s back, baby. Monopoly. Two chances to win. Not only when you’re at McDonald’s, you get your burger, your fries, you can peel there, but you can also go online in the app and peel again. Feel what you can uh peel like a champion. only at McDonald’s. And uh speaking of champions, h this guy knows a thing or two about hoisting the Stanley Cup. Did it multiple times as a member of the New Jersey Devils. Longtime analyst of the Devils, Ken Danico joins us. Ken, welcome back to the show, my man. How you doing? I’m doing good, Jason. How are you today? I’m excellent. Um you know, we’re into uh you know, 10 days into the season and it’s uh you know, it’s really exciting for some teams and other fans are all like, “Oh my god, the season is over.” Um, you know, the Devils fans didn’t like the start of the year, but they’re loving the last three games. I want to focus on last night’s game, specifically against Florida. What did you think of that Lundelle non-goal? Like, when I watch that replay, do you think that’s a goal the NHL should be allowing? Yeah, look, I mean, the more I look at it, the Devils probably got a break for sure. And they’ll take it because we always talk about things evening out. And fortunately, they have given themselves a cushion. Whether it would have affected the game or not, that would have just made it 3-2. Um, because it was called no goal on the ice. I think they found it hard to overturn, but I thought it was a little a little soft for sure, Jason. No question about it. So, I probably would count it a goal, but I trust trust them conversing with with the situation room in the National Hockey League. These guys look at things uh 122 different ways, different angles. Uh but it’s so there’s such a gray area in that goalender interference. I thought Lendell did a pretty darn good job of where he situated himself, got in the eyes of the goalender. And if you’re asking me uh with all honesty, I probably would have counted it, but I respect how they call these uh Devils are hoping there, but I couldn’t really tell you anymore. And I’m going to leave it up to the referees uh conversing with the situation room and make that decision. Yeah. Uh I I just think it’s one where you know what I and I agree with you and I appreciate your honesty, Ken, because you know to me nobody wants that goal called back against their team. And so if you look and say Lundell never went in the crease, that’s my whole reasoning about this. He never stepped in the crease. So if we argue about the goalie, the crease is his, then any forward or defender who’s in front of the net outside the crease, he should be able to go there with with, you know, and not worry about it. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that’s kind of what you’re taught to do, right? And every coach in the league has said not just to get in front of the goalender, in front of the goal, get in the goalender’s eyes. And Lendell did a pretty good job. Now, if you want to be picky, maybe the the skate blade was missing the blue paint for me, not enough, even if it was for a split second. Um, there was partial gra and again that’s that’s nitpicking as well. Uh, but I thought he was able to get set and I thought it was a really good shot by Reinhardt with Londell doing a pretty good job of screening in front. It is what it is and like I say, every team will take it once, but I think that should be addressed with all the general managers and what they want uh called and not called and maybe tweaked the rule a little bit. But in general, uh, respect the National Hockey League and and the referees and how they call the game. Do they miss some? Do they make the wrong call on the ice at times because of, uh, the speed of the game and and getting blocked maybe their view their sightelines once in a while? Of course they do. It happens. And again, as a team, as a a goalender, as a coach, you’re just hoping uh these things even out. I would be very angry if I’m the Florida Panthers or the fact that G that goal tied the game. Yeah. But uh like I said, sometimes go for you, go against you. I’m not saying they wouldn’t have had an opportunity. They might have, but the Devils what they’ve been doing in this early part of the season, which which for me is showing more composure, getting that insurance goal, not waiting for the other shooter drop, say, where uh a team does score late. They did get themselves a twogoal cushion and uh so we’re probably you know don’t have to scrutinize that call till the bitter end but I I agree with you Jason no question that you know I thought it was a pretty good screen and probably a goal. Yeah. Um now Ken the one thing uh from from watching part of that game uh I recorded because I was just you know Florida obviously I want to watch him and New Jersey Jack Hughes eight shots last night. Um, I thought it was a I thought it, you know, he looked great and I I read some reports, people thought it was easily his best game. I know some people just look at the stat line, they’re like, “Wow, what do you mean he had one point? It’s not great.” But, you know, eight shots, he was all over the ice and that’s what he’s capable of. Uh, was you watch every game. Was that his best game? And and maybe a little bit of a wake up for him. Yeah, I think by far, for sure. In the early going, it’s only four games in. I I I tell people he had a couple of assists in the first few games. I know everybody panics because these guys are supposed to have a point and a half a game. That includes uh the great the greatest players like McDavid and Dreddle. Well, they have a point a game in their sleep, right? And we always expect more. Jack missed a couple of months of the end of the season, missed the playoffs. So naturally, I believe it’s going to take him a little longer to get his game, his his cohesiveness, his rhythm, his skating, and everything kind of uh coming together as far as the footwork and all those things. And it was a little bit off, I thought, the first few games. I thought that was a blessing in disguise for the Devils because they can’t just rely on Jack Hughes or Brad. He he’s a guy that is going to, you know, put the team on his back at times from an offensive standpoint through the season. We know that. But they found ways to win without him uh producing offensively. But last night, you just feel when Jack Hughes is is buzzing and he’s ready to go. It was right from the opening face off, he had his feet moving. He was uh cutting on a dime. He was pulling away from defenseman. He was using that shot. That’s one of his patent shots. You see a lot of top players where the goalender gets leaning and you shoot from a sharp angle, but you still have to pick that spot. He does it as good as anybody. He’s been doing that for the last handful of years. And a lot of times he freezes a goend and they think he’s going to make a play because he’s got such a got such great playmaking ability, but his shot has really improved. And it was great to see him uh really ramp it up last night and he’s got he’s a prideful guy and he he’s not happy when things, you know, he’s not producing or putting up points. Uh but but he wants to win and the team found ways to win without him having maybe his his best games. the first stealing like I said very early but last night uh we could feel it from the from the booth. Uh Jack Hughes is gonna take this game over. He certainly wants to and he was a dominant force. Only had a goal but he had plenty of chances and should have had probably even more than he had on the score sheet. Can I watch Teimo Meyer in San Jose and big strong power forward and it just you know he’s had glimpses of it in New Jersey but the start of this season man he’s he’s looking like the guy I think they got when when they acquired him and I know it’s been a little bit up and down but man when he is on he is one of the best power forwards in the game. He is and this is the start the Devils wanted from him and again I put it in perspective. It’s only four games in, but he’s uh usually and has been from recent history slow out of the gate. Uh if you’re going to win hockey early, we know the importance of getting two points. The old saying, you can’t make the playoffs in October, but you certainly can be out of them if you don’t get accumulate points and manufacture ways to win. And a big reason why the Devils are three- one after an opening night loss to Carolina who who doesn’t seem to lose. They haven’t yet. In fact, the only team left that hasn’t lost a game in the uh so far in the early season. Um he’s been a bull in the China shop. Exactly. Expect, but the goals are going in. He’s always had opportunities early on. Just doesn’t seem to find the back of the net as often as he would like early. Uh but right now with a tip last night, just in on the floor check and when he gets that puck and turns his back on defenders, it is hard to get it back. and he brings an element that every team wants that the Devils don’t have enough of maybe. But when team Omire is going like that, he is an elite force in this game offensively and just changes the game from that physical standpoint. But it’s nice to see because these guys want to be confident. They want to get touches. They want the puck to go in the back of the net. And the longer it prolongs without you scoring, well, it seems to go on and on and and frustration sets in for a guy like team Omar. But he’s got his game going right now. Him and Dawson Mercer in particular are the two big reasons for me right now. Nico Hishu’s Nikico Hisha, he he he’s a, you know, just a great 200 foot player that impacts the game many ways, not just on on the score sheet and they need their captain going. He always is going for the most part. Coaches don’t worry about him. But Dawson Mercer, who had a real tough time last year, the last year and a half after a 27goal season a couple years ago, has played extremely well. And him and Meyer to me are the reason why the Devils are three and one right now because you’re getting production from them and they’ve got some they’ve got some swagger back in the early going of the season. Ken Danico joins us, a longtime uh player with the New Jersey Devils, longtime analyst. Oers in New Jersey tomorrow afternoon 1:30 start. Uh the Devils have had some success against Yoders. Uh no question. Um looking at the goalending, obviously they’re going to run here with Jake Allen, I would think. Uh Markstrom’s out a few weeks. Um any any concern, Ken, that few weeks, like is that two weeks? Is it four weeks? Do we know yet? Yeah, I I I trust what they say. I believe it’s two weeks. Uh give or take. Obviously, you hope it doesn’t extend to four, but apparently he tweaks something and I don’t think it’s any anything structural. So, we’re hoping sooner than later. Uh, obviously, it was unfortunate because it was at the end of the game against Columbus. He came in the third period cold and whether that affected it or not because Jake Allen was cramping, he was he was worked against the Blue Jackets. They got firepowered. He he was outstanding through 40 minutes and March uh held the fort in the third period except for the very end where where he fell awkwardly and and like I said I I think it’s a couple weeks you do you know goenders they need their their groins, their knees, their ankles, whatever it may be and we don’t hear a lot about it. Uh but they need those to be pretty well 100% where maybe some other players can get by. But a goalender uh the athleticism is everything. So, uh, hopefully it’s just a couple weeks and I I I trust, uh, what the prognosis is. Ken, another guy that New Jersey is obviously building around just happens to be Jack’s younger brother, Luke, and signed a big long-term deal for the Devils. You know, I was looking at his point totals first few games is great. I look at his minutes and like I’m a big fan of Luke Hughes, man. I I I know he’s maybe never going to be as overall dynamic as his brother Quint, but I might make the argument that I think he might be a better all-around defender because of his size and that just, you know, size matters playing that position at times. Um, how have you seen his progression from last year and kind of what’s your expectations of what he could be over the next few years for the Devils? Well, he sky’s the limit. I mean, at times it was always wait and see for me. I forget how young he is, but he is 6’2. He looks much stronger this year. He’s more confident and he’s really wants to be that that prototypical number one defenseman. I I even though he didn’t get a point last night, I thought he was dominant. The skating ability, he closes so quickly on guys, I would expect him to be out there a lot against McDavid because of because of his skating ability. one of the only defensive might be able to keep up somewhat. He uses his stick extremely well. That’s gotten better and better and uh yeah, the points will come and he started real strong. Considering he missed camp, it’s really amazing how he’s come out of the gate and he’s been a dominant force. So, I was one of those guys saying, “Okay, you know, we know we pay uh players nowadays. It’s different. It’s not what have you done, it’s what are you going to do for me and I’m potential and I’m pretty bullish that this deal is just going to be fine for the New Jersey Devils. Luke Hughes is going to be stud in this league if he’s if he isn’t already just all his attributes and he’s going to be an all allaround a real steady strong two-way defenseman. Oh god. Yeah. And I’m a I’m a big fan of his for sure. it. Will you see like which lines do you think would match up against McDavid and the dry side of lines tomorrow? Like is he sure getting McDavid? I would assume. Yeah, they could put they they put Nico Heir with all the tough assignments, but if they’re split up obviously pick your poison. The Devils are a lot deeper this year, including the addition of Connor Brown who’s who’s looked really good and fit in very well thus far. So, uh, Nico always gets gets those assignments, but they have a lot of trust and faith whoever gets out there. I think it’s more defense pairings usually with a lot of teams nowadays as far as who they match up against u the star players, star lines, and we know what McDavid and Daddle are and they’re as good as it gets. I mean, if Conor McDavid wasn’t my goat, um, he certainly is now just from what he did for Edmonton because I I still have, it’s pretty refreshing and still have a soft spot for a guy that that tells his organization, uh, I want to finish what we’ve started here. I’m going to give you a few more years and I’m going to give you a huge discount and make sure you you surround us with with what we need to get the job done after going to back-to back finals. So, not not to digress, but being a little old school. I I don’t begrudge players getting whatever they can. I respect that. But for what McDavid did, that just shows me that guy’s got a burning desire to win. And I have all the time in the world. Respect for for what he did. And yeah, the Devils have a tough time, whoever’s on on the ice against him. Well, Ken, always good to catch up with you, my man. I appreciate your time. Enjoy the game tomorrow. Yeah, you got Great being on with you, Jason. Take care, brother. There you go. That’s uh Ken Danico. Absolute beauty of a guy. Like certain guys that you would want to have a beer with, you’d put I most fans like, you know, Ken Dano is, you know, he’s a similar personality to Strutddy. He’s got a really good sense of humor. Don’t let Studdy, you know, don’t let him, you know, if he’s listening, his head will explode. But, um, you know, both rugged guys. Now, Ken obviously got to play in New Jersey, played a really good role, played tons of minutes, has great stories, but he is just a real just kind of downto-earth great guy to talk to. And I think for listeners, maybe that Ken Danico, yeah, that’s a guy I’d want to have a beer. Intimidating as all heck, too, when he played. Oh, yeah. Like in a different category of intimidating. Kenny took no guff, right? Now, hey, I remember talking to Kenny’s. He’s like, “Yeah, you know, I stepped out of my weight class a few times, probably stupidly, but yeah, he he played hard and strong and is incredibly well respected in his dress room uh amongst guys. He was a great guy, got along with everybody, would hold his he there’s certain guys in the room that just, you know, they they have a real honesty to them and they can hold superstars accountable maybe in a different way, right? like because he couldn’t sit there and say Scott Netomire do this because you know because he couldn’t lead that way but Scott Stevens needer bro if because every now and then you do need someone that has to say hey and just like on the orders I think they need someone every now and then to put McDavid and dry subtle and and Bard and others say hey that’s not good enough right because just because you’re the superstar doesn’t mean that you never can ever have some criticism and be asked by your teammates to do more and I was always told New Jersey Danico now obviously not very often that’s why they’re superstars but when the time’s Right. You say something. Uh quick break. Uh when we return, we got the uh two-minute warning with Camt. 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Try the classic Hawaiian Super Hawaiian or Hawaiian barbecue chicken pizzas for only $19.99 each at papa johns.ca or on the Papa John’s app. The Jason Greger Show, the best of Edmonton Sports Talk and beyond. This is Sports 1440 presented by playalberta.ca, Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website [Music] [Music] [Music] 51. Welcome back. Pause of Friday. Sports 1440. Sports1440.ca. Um, from the uh foundation uh in their honor, we’ve got some uh tickets to the Darius Rucker concert to go to tonight. Row five. Pretty sweet seats. So, uh if you uh if you’d like a pair of them, um first responders, well, we’ll let the first responders have the first chance to respond. If you would like to go to the Darius Rucker concert tonight, you can uh text in just text in Rucker with your uh your name and uh your email and uh we can send we got uh uh three pairs of uh of tickets tonight to go to the Darius Rucker concert uh row five pretty good seats. So if you want to go first responders, we’ll give you the first chance and then uh if we don’t get rid of all them then we’ll uh we’ll give them to anybody who wants to go. So stay tuned. Now, let’s get to the twominut warning brought to you by Legacy Heating and Cooling. They are hiring. If you’re looking for a fantastic opportunity to get in the workforce or just change what you want to do, get a hiring uh bonus. They have a very competitive wage, RSP matching, tuition reimbursement. Uh they’re huge sports fans. They got a great culture there. So check it out. Apply today. legacyheating.ca. Cam Tate, of course. Two-minute warning. Always brought to you by uh Tater. Tater, a longtime journalist in town. Over 45 years for the the Tate man since he’s been weaning around. And Cam, of course, born with cerebral pausy. Cam’s in a wheelchair. It’s never slowed him down. He’s always wanted to be in radio. And uh now through the wonders of technology, Cam’s words come to life in the two-minute warning. and on Fridays he asks me to read it. So here we go. Here’s Cam’s words. There’s a brotherhood of sports reporters who, truth be told, probably spend more evenings and late late nights together than with our families in press boxes across Emonson. Football, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, you name it. Tease each other. We grind each other. We laugh. We share long nights and early deadlines. We never say I love you in this business to our brothers. Maybe today the day we should. John Sexmith left us this morning, closing a remarkable 13-year battle with cancer. A fight marked by grit, humor, and that unmistakable twinkle in his eye. I first met John in the early 1990s at K97, where he ruled the sports desk with boundless energy and a pun for every play. When the order’s radio rights moved to 880 in 1995, John steered the postgame open line with wit sharp enough to cut through the open line show after games. He took calls on the blue line and the red line. Later at ITV and Global, he stood tall, a voice of reason and passion, chronically triumph and tragedy with rare authenticity. And who can forget his another football for high school football when he was working for the Edmonton Eskimos public address system. This news comes with a terrible weight, sudden unfair, and deeply human in its ache. We search for words, for meaning, for something that feels worthy of John Sexmith’s life. And then a simple powerful idea from Kevin Cerius. Tonight at Clare Drake Arena, the Golden Bears meet UBC. Number three defenseman Joel Sexmith, John’s son playing his father would wish. So let us gather quietly, gratefully together. Godspeed, Johnny. Your voice still echoes in our press boxes, in our hearts, and in the soul of the city that you so deeply blessed. And hey, Johnny, I love you. two-minute warning. Camtate Sports 1440. It’s very true. John was uh was a great man, a huge inspiration. Uh was diagnosed with cancer in in 2012. I remember interviewing John uh numerous times about his cancer and, you know, all that went through it. And anybody out there who who’s battled cancer, like you think it’s good and it’s in a remission, then it comes back and man, it is a mental roller coaster. not just for for you but uh for your whole family, right? Like think about, you know, how young Joel was when his dad gets diagnosed and then you got to tell your your young son that he’s got cancer because a lot of times when you hear cancer, you know, you think of the inevitable and and John was able to stretch that out to to 13 years. uh he chose to live his life um as a father, as a as a husband to Joanne, um as a coach to so many kids, you know, he he he was a huge advocate of uh cancer and and numerous charities around town. And uh he did an incredible amount of work to uh to help raise awareness and and raise money. And you know what, John always had a smile on his face despite being dealt not a great hand for the last 13 years. So again, our condolences. Uh beautifully written, Cam. Uh we appreciate that and uh we think of John and his family. And I can tell you the uh uh the Drake tonight will be rocking. It’ll be very emotional for for his young son Joel and all of his teammates because you think about when you know you’re a young you’re a young man 19 20 21 22. Yeah. You feel invincible but you lose a parent or you lose someone close to you and and it does it impacts you differently. Right. I can speak firsthand about it. I can tell you and and I was a little bit older but not that old of 27 when I lost my dad. my sister was only 21 and you know so I see it and that’s that is going to be a very emotional game tonight for the uh for the Golden Bears and so you know what if if you were ever somebody who who really respected John and and appreciated his his funny banter and wit way back in the radio days in K97 or when he was uh the in-house announcer at the uh at the football games or on Global and ITV for many years. uh maybe if you got some spare time, you want to head down to the Drake tonight and uh honor him uh by supporting his son Joel in what should be an emotional game. And I’m sure the Bears are going to come out fired up in that one. Uh because anything anybody knows, you know, like one of your teammates is is hurting. There’s just that natural teammate camaraderie where everybody comes together. I remember back in the day the postgame show with John Sexmith and he’d take calls and we were little kids and we’d phone in me and my little buddies and he would take all our calls just like John Short did prior to and I have them on tape and like you listen to those now with the ears of an adult. You’re like why would they ever take calls from children? This seems like a doomed operation. But I always remember him treating us very fairly, right? And talking to us like a peer. He never talked down to Oilers fans, especially little kids calling in. We always appreciated it. It was a great postgame show. Yeah. Well, uh I know Johnny did it, you know, kind of got that aid because John Shore was the first one, right? Who had kids night? Oh, yeah. It was unreal. So, um yeah, Johnny will uh will be missed. And um you know, the last time I saw John was uh was last month and John and always his honesty, you know, I ask, you know, it’s going okay. And and John was very open. He goes, you know what, man? I’m not sure how much longer I have. And you know, that’s it’s hard to hear. I always respect anyone who can can be that forthcoming about like don’t don’t shoot that was the one thing I remember Johnny when he first got diagnosed he’s like goes I don’t want to be treated different right you guys don’t want to hurt me like I have cancer doesn’t mean I don’t have a sense of humor like I remember him telling us that we’re like all right you know and uh now my thoughts to to KK of course I know they’re really close stuff and Johnny Johnny was actually I think Bob’s best man at his wedding like those two guys have been friends for a long long time so our thoughts for uh for Joanne and Joel and you know KK and St and a lot of other people who are really close to uh to John um who made a big impact in in our community. I know many of you uh people, you know, when when you watch someone for that long, you feel like you kind of know him a little bit. So, it’s always disappointing uh to see. Uh we’ll take a quick break. Uh when we come back, uh Craig Button will uh join us. But I going to have a few disagreements, I can tell you that. Uh but first, let’s get to the command. Sports 1440 update brought to you by Fountain Tire. And it’s getting chilly out. I know you don’t want to think about it, but you need some winter tires. Maybe you can’t afford it all one chunk. Well, don’t worry. You can get uh uh 0% interest for six months or up to 12 months, no interest. Find out how. fountain.com. This is a sports 1440 update. Week 20, the CFL kicking off tonight. You got eight outs out in Vancouver taking on the BC Lions. That one gets going at 8:30. Earlier on 6:00, Bombers hosting the Rough Riders. Major League Baseball Jays eight minutes away from game five out in Seattle. Currently tied at two games a piece. And then later on tonight, you got the Dodgers looking to complete the sweep over the Brewers. First pitch 638 in the NHL. Lightning taking on the Red Wings. Caps host the Wildcats in Chicago and the Mammoth host the Sharks. The Wilings are in action on the road in PAR 7:00 in the BCHL. Shur Park info Footlam taking on the Express that gets going at 8. And then in the AJ, four games including Camero taking on Canar and Deon in Bonavville. UFA action tonight. The Golden Bears hockey team taking on UBC down at the Drake. Puck drop at 7. Golden Bears football taking on the Regina Rams tomorrow at two at Footfield and at Park Stadium tomorrow at noon. It’s Panda soccer up against Mchuan. And sad news to pass along longtime Edmonton journalist and sports cer John Sesmith has passed away following an extensive battle of cancer. John began his career in Edmonton in 1990, winning a national journalist award in 2014. He was actively involved in the community as a hockey coach with organizations like Sports Central and Alberta Cancer Foundation. Coming up in hour three of the Jason Greger show, we’ll be joined by Craig Button from the NHL on TSN and ask five questions. I’m Connor Hley. This has been a sports 1440 update. Sports 1440 Stingray radio station CJR broadcasts from West Edmonton Mall and with download the free Stingray music app and listen wherever you go. Got a car you’re ready to part with? Find out what it’s worth, easy, and totally free at go auto. We’re talking top dollar tradeins. Whether it’s a little worn or still rocking that new car smell, just a few clicks and boom, you’ve got your value. Text value to 78077777 to start. That’s value to 780 all sevens. Why guess what it’s worth? Let go auto. Show you the money. Legacy Heating and Cooling is the number one furnace replacement company for zombie hunters. Those who know their old decrepit furnace passed away years ago. 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Michelle and Colette are sisters who don’t agree on much, especially when it comes to which hockey team is the best. Is the best baby. Vancouver’s number one. Even when it comes to meat snacks from Will Hawks. I love the hair. The ham sausage rules. But they will agree Willhawk beef jerky is the best. It might just be the only thing Alberta hockey fans can agree on. Others can try to imitate, but no one can duplicate Willhawk beef jerky. Only available in the Duke. Get yours today because you don’t win friends with salad. Groceries, mortgage payments, family holidays, a new car. And that’s what profit shares look like for Vision Credit Union members. Each year, we return about 75% of our profits, $35 million last year, to the people who bank with us. Because at Vision Credit Union, when you’re an owner, you get your share. Why not get yours? Learn how at what’syoushare.ca. That’s what’syoushare.ca. Hi, Mike here from Northgate Chevrolet Buick GMC. I’m super excited to tell you today that we have fed over 250 families so far with our Feed 500 families event. With that said, we are still short of our goal. We have decided to continue this on through to the end of October. With your help and your support, we can get this done. Please stop in and see us today, 1321597 Street, or visit us online at northgategm.com. [Music] Portions of this hour brought to you by Leading Edge Physio. From weekend warriors to professional athletes, kids playing soccer to grandparents in the garden. Rotator cuff tears and tendinitis to posturgical knees and hips. We fix your body. Life shouldn’t hurt. Leading edgefysio.com. The Jason Greger Show. The best of Edmonton sports talk and beyond. This is sports 1440 presented by playalberta.ca. Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Positive Friday continues on sports 1440. Sports1440.ca. CA YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. As always, brought to you by playalberta.ca. Uh, Cons, I think you got a few people you’re giving the the Rucker tickets to. So, uh, did you did you hand them out yet? Uh, I’m working my way through it. Yeah. All right. Okay. So, ticket master, you know. Oh, fun times. Fun times. Okay. Well, there you go. Uh, as always, Gregor show presented by playerboard.ca. You can get involved. You can text us to 83341440 83341440 in our Ewell inbox. Uh we got Craig Button coming up uh momentarily later on the final hour. Spec uh LT WE’s world. It’s a it’s a busy day in sports. Of course, you got game five of the Jays. You got a must-win game for the Elks later on tonight. Orders matinea tomorrow in New Jersey. Sat Sunday in Detroit against the surging Red Wings. Actually, both of those teams have won three in a row. So, uh, can the Oers find a pulse five on five? That would be uh that would be nice. It’s hard to win when you only score one five on five goal every game. So, uh, they’ve done it with some outstanding defensive efforts and a Steuart Skinner performance last night. Uh, not great. Um, little sloppy by Buchard to put it mildly and once again a lack of finish offensively. Five on five. Now, let’s get to our big guest of the day. Uh, was that 4:20? All right, we moved him. 420 then. Perfect. All right, we got a little bit of extra time. Great. So, Craig Button will come up in uh 20 minutes time. We’ll get to some texts. 83341440. 83341440. Now, guys, I understand Bard’s going to have a bad game, but there’s one mistake I can live with when it’s multiple. Is there anything the coach could do? Why do you think they don’t sit him down? Would that be the best? Is there any chance when Malman comes back that Buchard comes out? Uh well, no, he’s not going to come out of the lineup like because honestly then you’re I I think you’re punishing your whole team. Like the the first three games Bousard was more than fine. Um so no, I don’t I don’t think he’s going to come in the lineup. Like I don’t even know when Wman’s coming in. Like is Wman gonna come in and play backtoback on the weekend? Like I wouldn’t be surprised now if they wait until he plays his former team Detroit on uh on Sunday. That wouldn’t shock me to be honest. Hey Gregs, I think last year you talked about Buchard had a game like this and when his offensive confidence comes around, his defensive games improves, maybe that’s what he needs from Nick. Well, that’s Nick. It’s very true. Mo most players when you have confidence in one area of your game, it can bleed into the other areas of your game. But the thing was Bard wasn’t playing bad defensively up until yesterday. But then yesterday it was just like, you know, you’ve been in that situation like that. It was literally like he was in one of those soapbox derby races going down the hill and all of a sudden the wheels came off and it’s just a garage sale and here’s a giveaway. Now another tire flies off and oh there’s a bad read and it was I guess if you’re going to have a bad game you might as well just say well let’s just get out all the bad plays in one game. Here’s a month worth of bad plays. We’re going to do it all at once because that’s kind of how it was for uh for Buchard. It obviously wasn’t ideal I think to put it lightly but again they can’t keep overlooking it. Four games four goals five on five. Dry subtle no points five on five. I mentioned the six leaders in ice time five on five for the orders have a combined one assist one and those are Tricidle McDavidard Echome Nurse Koulak. So those guys are on the ice. Like you got to figure out a way to get some points, right? So they got to start there. And obviously, you know, your two top dogs need to be more productive five on five. Like I I I some people it just feels like you Well, you can never say McDavid has to do anymore. Yeah, you can when he’s not doing enough. He’s not like for Conor McDavid, you know, a few a few points on empty net goals and power play goals. Like I’m sorry. Like I look at that play of McDavid to pass off that chance in a 3-2 game in the low slot. Like, I’m sorry. That’s a major gaff. It’s a major gaff. It’s Troy freaking ster on the side of the net who’s not even in position to receive the puck. You got to shoot there. I’m sorry. You just do. Like, if we’re going to rip Stu Skinner on bad mistakes, you’re going to rip Pushart on bad mistakes. I’m sorry. When you’re in the slot, wide open in between the hash marks. Like any coach, you’ll draw the box. Where do you want to get shots from? That’s like part of it, baby. and and then you pass it up like in a 3-2 game. I’m sorry, he can’t do it. It’s not something that you feel good criticizing Conor McDavid because he’s done so much. But when you’re saying if we’re going to criticize other players on the team, he shouldn’t be immune to it. Yeah. But he does so much over the course of the year. He’s a hard guy to criticize in the moment. Yeah. But this is this is one game and and really it’s four games. They haven’t done enough. Five on five. I I I don’t think that’s unfair for sure. Hey guys, is it just me or is the power play very predictable and stale? I’m not sure what the numbers say, but last night it looked like McDavidle got the puck and everyone just stood and watched them from Stu Lu. Stu, I will disagree. The uh the Oders every game they’ve got a power play chance they’ve scored a goal. Their power play is 23% and keep in mind that’s somewhat misleading. That’s tied for 10th because they’ve had a few abbreviated power plays. So that makes the percentage lower. But if you actually look at at power at goals per 60 and power play time, they’re seventh best in the NHL. Like I look at the so let’s the power play scores one more goal and because they didn’t get a power play against the Rangers so they score one more goal maybe they scored one more and they had some really good looks against Vancouver they just didn’t score well now their power play is 28% it’s not even a conversation I I don’t think the power play is that stale of actually think they’ve showed lots of different looks with Tamasic right like sometimes they’re coming in on the left side now he’s sliding out he’s down in the in the in front of the net then he slides into the slot they’re trying to set up plays there so no I don’t I don’t have much of an issue with their power play at like how many power play goals? Like every game where they’ve had a power play, they’ve scored. That’s pretty damn good. And and it’s not like they’re getting five power plays a game. So I don’t I don’t have much of an issue with the power play. It’s five on five. Like if we’re talking offense, it is uh it’s five on five. And um you know, like hey, McDavid’s the best player in the world and he’s just not scoring enough goals at the end of the day. Like assists are nice and that’s all great, but you need to be a goal scorer because when you score the goal, you’re not putting it onto someone else, right? Like there’s great assists, don’t get me wrong, when you make great plays and you find guys open and and obviously and and it’s not a knock, but Conor McDavid is capable of more than four points a game when two of them are empty neters. I I I don’t think that in four games. I don’t think that is outlandish to say when he’s got one point, five on five. It’s just not right. Like Nan Hopkins has and New Jen Hopkins isn’t a big five on five productive player. He’s got two points. Kappan’s got two points. Five on five. Noah Phil’s got a goal. Tren Frederick’s got a goal. Anyone’s got a goal. So you can say, “Yeah, it’s going to get going.” Okay, sure. But how long can you say that for? It’s got to get going now. Especially when the leadership group were the ones who said, “We need a good start.” Well, defensively, the team’s had a good start. Stuart Skinner stole him a game, so he’s had a good start. got a 922 save percentage. It’s pretty damn good. But five on five where the majority of the game is played. It’s not it’s not good enough. It’s just flat out to me it’s not good enough for them top dogs. It’ll get better. I I firmly believe they’re they’re not going to go, you know, eight games. I don’t think like they’re not going to go pointless five on five in the next four games. Well, I’d be surprised. I guess it’s possible, but I I don’t think it’s it’s un it’s bad analysis to like are we only going to point out Evan Bart like he’s the only player on the ice. Yes, he made some mistakes, but when you give the puck away or you’re in the slot and you’re wide open and you refuse to shoot it, you’re you’re missing a glorious scoring chance. How is that how is that not a problem? I’m with you. Yeah. And guys, it’s ridiculous how many opportunities in slot he passes up. I don’t know what he’s thinking last night trying to pass to Stetcher who’s also on his off side. McDavid needs to be much better than that from uh soft roll. I I would agree. Hey guys, McDavid’s deferred shots in the middle of the ice all the time. This is not new from Nathan. Well, lately he has and I think that’s fair. We saw it last year and you know I think I I don’t know like it would seem like it’s a quick fix just shoot the puck but if it’s like McDavid’s not an he’s not like an Austin Matthews kind of a shoot first mentality and that’s okay like he’s become the best player in the world by being a great playmaker and then you know he’ll score not when he has to but he’ll shoot and I just think that sometime and this is where I think like I don’t know who the guy is sometimes that can get in McDavid’s face. And I think that’s healthy. I think it’s healthy to have someone in your room who can hold your best players accountable. That can’t just be the coach all the time, right? And so I know Cory Perry was someone that they had a lot of respect for, right? Before that, it was Duncan Keith. So I don’t know on that team now who’s the guy and and there’s a right way to deliver it. And trust me, anybody who’s been in a professional sports environment, you can’t have a thin skin and and be adverse to having constructive criticism from your peers. They need a kandico. Well, yeah. Right. Like like Matias Ekone could probably be that guy. Yeah. Right. I I I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t be. So, you know, and it’s not like you don’t have to yell and scream, though. I think sometimes people think the only way to get there, you got to yell and scream at them. No, but you can you can have a forthright conversation, right? Or or in filmwork, hey, sorry, you got to shoot the puck here. Like, I don’t want an excuse. I don’t want Well, no, cuz you don’t want to hear excuses from your teammates, right? So, I’m I’m sure that Hey, sometimes like that’s two backto-back games now against the Rangers and the Islanders where I don’t think the Skaters played great. Like, think about it when Steuart Skinner made some key saves to keep that one-s game. Then the orders got back. They they had a good stretch. They get up there two to one. It’s going pretty well. Islanders, I give them credit. And that’s the other thing, like it’s a short, like there’s certain goals that are just back breakers, right? And so then that second goal short-handed, you’re like, “Oh my god, it kind of took away some momentum.” And so, hey, it’s early. I get it’s early, but it can’t always just say it’s early, especially when the organization themselves from ownership coaches, they’re superstar. Like Conor McDavid said, we need a good start since September 1st, right? Like the first time he spoke at a captain’s skate, his message was we need a good start. And it’s not a bad start. Like if they win tomorrow, the 3-11, that’s decent start, right? So then you go to 10ame mark, what do you get? If you can, like I said, if you can win six out of your first 10, maybe there’s one overtime. Well, they already got an overtime loss. So, you know what? You get uh 13 points, 650 point percentage, take that all day long. That’s a good start, right? And that’s way better than most teams who lose the Stanley Cup. And that even though you can say you want a good start, I do believe there’s still that mental anguish and pain. You all come back together. Even though there’s new guys in the room, and yes, they felt it differently this year than last year. Historically, teams who lose the cup outside of the Boston Bruins in the last 11 years don’t win more than half their games. Do you think you need adversity throughout a long season to kind of create a little bit of a fire within the dressing room? Like, you can’t just come out of the gate, play 750 hockey all the way through and win the cup, right? Don’t you need have a little es and flows of morale and tension throughout the course of the year? Yeah, sure. But it just I I do believe that if you’re always playing catch-up, that’s mentally more draining. I don’t know if it’s any physically more draining, but I do believe it’s mentally more draining. And so that’s why, you know, hey, B6 3 and1 or something like that after 10 games. And I know the order say they they got, you know, it’s a road trip, but it’s like the Rangers weren’t a playoff team, the Islanders weren’t a playoff team. The New Jersey Devils at 91 points. They’re a good team, but they’re not like dominant. It’s not like they’re they’re playing Colorado, Dallas, Florida, Tampa Bay, Toronto in their first five games, right? So, and like I said, Calgary and the Islanders are 2 and 0 against the Oders and 0 and seven in their other seven games. So, they to me they kind of blown it a little bit. Not not the end of the world yet, but if we’re calling it honestly, I’m not worried about the team. I’m just making an assessment based on today that they need to be better collectively as a group. And I think it starts five on five with your two best players. Dry settle McDavid need to be the leaders offensively. That’s their job. That’s their job. Five on five. 3-1 and one though if they win the next game. Like it’s such a long season. How do these guys reset to start a new season? Like what’s the exercise you go through when you know you’re probably going to face three rounds of the playoffs after an 82 game season? Oh, other teams do it. It’s not like they’re the only one. What’s the process, though? Like Well, I I think you’re a professional. It’s no different than anybody out there who’s a good doctor. You just, hey, you know what? I’ve had I’ve had a stretch of good surgeries. Do I just suddenly not care about my surgeries? No. Like, you have personal pride. To me, it’s just they’re there. You’re wired to want to succeed. I I don’t believe team like you can have an off night here or there. Hi, Evan Bousard. You can have that, but for the most part, I don’t it can’t extend. So, when does it go? And who knows, maybe McDavid’s just a slow starter. the last two years he had 10 points in his first 10 games which by his standards is a slow start, right? Because in 2024 when he had 10 in his first 10, he he had 122 in his next 66. Like so pretty darn good, right? So we know what they’re capable of, but it starts if we’re talking about offense and it’s and the two guys who are your best offensive players aren’t producing five on five, it’s got to start there. It’s just I I can’t think of any other any other option. Quick break. Uh, we’ll return. Craig Button joins us next. Jason Gregor and W Gret. Sports1440. Sports440.ca. Presented by playalberta.ca. Hey everybody, it’s Jason Shreddley. How would you like to join me and the superstars of hockey on an exotic holiday? Join us on a seven night cruise through the Mexican Riviera leaving from Los Angeles and including Cabo, Mazitand, Porttoarda, and more. 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Save money. Support Canada at cantor.com. [Music] Patricks, touchdowns, and home runs. Get it all with the Jason Greger Show on Sports 1440. Presented by playalberta.ca, Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 426 Jason Greger one Connor Hley with you on a lovely th Friday afternoon. Thursday yesterday was Thursday. Friday afternoon. Now, we have, of course, uh a little uh MLB playoff baseball going on as the uh Jays taking on uh Seattle. Vlatty Guerrero, another uh double in this game. And uh but the uh the Jays left them stranded at the uh at second base. And now the Mariners have uh looks like uh they stranded a runner of their own at second base. So, we’re uh scoreless after one inning in a pivotal game five matchup. Can the road team continue to win every game? Jays fans are hoping that uh continues today, but then ends as of course uh game six would be Sunday in Toronto. And you can hear that game right here on Sports 1440. Let’s get to our big guest of the day brought to you by Silent Ice. Hey, curling fans. Big weekend of curling. Check it out. The Silent Ice Center, the Grand Slam of Curling is in town. Elite level curling and elite level fun. Anybody who’s ever been to a curling spiel, you know it’s great. And the Silent Ice Center, fantastic place to go. So, the Grand Slam of Curling, you get your tickets for the weekend. Very few left. So, get them fast as we welcome in from TSN, a former NHL GM and scout, Stanley Cup winner, now ace analyst and scout for TSN, Craig Button joins us. But, how you doing? I’m doing good. I just want to make a comment. Anybody goes to a purring event and they can’t have fun, they should never be granted. Oh, hey, dude. I I totally agree, man. Have you ever been to the Brier Patch? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. It’s uh it’s a blast. And you know, it was very similar. It wasn’t very similar, but at the Olympics, you know, with the with the pearlers. I mean, they’re personable. They love being part of the part of the part of the I guess the joy in the fun. And it’s it’s a little more serious now because of the uh dollars that are involved for the players. It’s become more of a full-time job if not a full-time job, but it is still a blast. And the Brier Patch, you haven’t done it on your bucket list. No, it’s very good. Um Craig, we know that Evan B, we know Evan Bushard has his good games and obviously last night was the opposite. It was it wasn’t and it’s not just one play, it was multiple plays. You know, there’s lots of people wondering, you know, Chris Knobblock, and I brought up the example last year in game four, he sat dry, settled down after taking too many undisiplined penalties. Now, it was only for six or seven minutes, then he came back, he assisted on the the the game tying goal, then he scored the overtime winner against the Flyers. And you know what? I think Dry Settle, I think he had like two penalties in the next 50 games, so it clearly worked. Um, were you surprised Knoblock didn’t sit Bard last night or do you think it has to do with the fact that Walman and Regula were injured and you’re not going to play Stetcher or should that even have mattered? Shouldn’t last night being in a game where maybe you just give him a rest for five, six, seven minutes? Yeah. Well, I mean I mean we can sit back and consider, you know, Chris had done that. to Chris. I I I you know, with Leon last year, and I remember that stretch, it was more about Leon, you know, not dialing in and digging in and and you know, you got the puck as much as Evan does. He made some egregious mistakes in the game versus the New York New York Islanders and and we saw that, but but I don’t think it was one of those ones where, you know, he he’s he’s doing things that like are like taking your team out of the game. And I know that sounds contradictory because the mistakes you made led to them being taken out of a game so to speak, but at the same time I I think it’s a little bit different and I think the point is is that that’s coming back from from surgery or from from his injury. You’re you’re without Lulu, you’re without uh Roman. So what are you going to do? Start passing your your blue line. There’s lots of backtobacks. There’s lots of uh uh compacted games in a short period of time. So I I think you got to be careful with that. But I mean, every I I don’t get it honestly, Jason. I just don’t get it. And I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this on this show before, but this was years ago. Harry Shinden had Ray Bour in Austin, and there was some criticism of Ray Bour and oh my god, you know, gives he gives the puck away. He makes mistakes. And this is what Harry said. And I and I think it’s a direct quote. He said, “Yeah, you’re right. Yeah, Raymond, you know, couple times a game, maybe even three times a game, he makes a big mistake, might end up in our net sometimes. And you know, but that’s Raymond. He goes, he does 19 or 20 things every game that help us win a lot more games than we lose. And if I get focused in on the two or three and start trying to eliminate those, I also run the risk of eliminating the 19 or 20. He goes, it’s not a value tradeoff. And I think it’s the same thing with Evan Bush. Evan Bush, he Nobody has to tell Evan Buchard that he made mistakes. Nobody has to tell Evan Buchard they he he turned the puck over. But Evan Buchard his body of work. Now let’s just look at his body of work for the last five years. We’re going to get focused in on one game and we’re going to start crucifying him. Not me. Not me. You live with it. You you you you go with how how how many great things Evan Brousard does in a game. How many things he does to help a team win. And I’m not focusing in. Yeah, he could be better. Yeah, he makes mistakes. Great players make mistakes. I’m not worried about Eden Buchard one bit. The uh the Oders are 21 and1. It’s not a terrible start by any stretch of the imagination. They they’ve won games. Uh Steuart Skinner stole them a game against the Rangers. Their defense against the Conucks was unreal. They didn’t give up one high danger chance the entire game, which which doesn’t happen very often. Um you know, last night I thought was a little bit of a you know, death by a thousand cuts on on themselves more than anything else. But the one consistent thing through four games, Craig, their five on five scoring is not remotely where it needs to be. And um it’s it’s really in infected a lot, especially their top two lines. Right now, NE Hopkins did score yesterday, so that was nice on kind of a broken play. And then Emerson finds him and really great shot by Nan Hopkins. And kind of same as Andrew Mongani, you know, on a little bit of a broken play comes in, high skill play, but the orders, they’re top six guys. Like you got to get more production from your best players. Like I get it’s only four games, but when they were the ones talking about we need a good start, they kind of got to back it up with some production, do you not? Yeah. I think it’s a test right now and integrating some newer players, trying to do some different things with your line combinations. Number one, number two, and and and Mike Sullivan talked about this with his interesting, they played a really good game against the Edmonton Oilers uh when they lost. They played a really good game against the Washington Capitals and they and they lost them. They couldn’t score. And and and this is what Mike said. Mike said like there’s no way this is sustainable if we keep doing these positive things. Conor McDavid in terms of high danger chances in and is is more than per game is more than double the next player in the league. I’m not worried about Conor McDavid. I’m not worried about Leand title. I think there’s enough there in terms of process where they’re going to get their where they’re going to get productive. four games in, I’d be really concerned if they were cutting corners and cheating it and not getting. Now, the Ranger game was a different animal. They just didn’t generate a lot in that game. But in the other games, I think they’ve been very good and very, very strong in terms of what they’re trying to do. And again, to my first comment, you know, you’re trying to integrate players, Connor, Leon, RNH, they’re trying to get comfortable, new players. New players are trying to get comfortable. Chris Mobl’s trying to figure out what he has. I I I think it’s just part and parcel, but I I I don’t see I don’t see from a process point of view a team that is that is going to struggle to score because they have talent. Oh yeah. No, eventually they’ll score. I have no doubt about it. Um yes, they’re going to get some guys back here soon supposedly. Um obviously they still got some time until the big decision when Zack Heyman comes because they’re going to have to send more guys down. What What have you made of of Howard’s uh play thus far? Do you think it’s inevitable, Craig? Not that he’s played poorly, but just it comes down to like a minutes game and then how many minutes do we have for guys and you know are we going to expose guys to waiverss or not? What do you think is is Ike Howard destined to get some time in the American League? Okay, so here’s how I rewind it this way. Okay, Jason, so what do you want Ike Howard to do one top six scoring leader and and and I I think there’s no question he he’s shown that he’s he he could do that based on his productivity uh previously. He he he has the potential to do that. And I have no doubt he’s going to be able to do that. Now, you want to play in fourth line or do you want him to go down to the miners and really get those touches and really get those opportunities first power play, all the all the offensive chances, build his confidence. So, to me, Isaac Howard’s going down to Bakersfield. That’s where he’s going. I’m going to be a little bit more patient with with Mattie Seavoy because he did so well last year and, you know, give him a little bit more time. See see how he fits in when comes back. But I I don’t want I don’t want if you’re gonna if you want Isaac Howard to be a fourthline winger, play him as a fourthline winger. I don’t think they want him to Wait a sec. Let me go back. There’s They don’t want I Howard to be a fourthline winger. No, no, they Well, they shouldn’t anyway. I think we would all agree. Listen, I don’t know if I told you this. I mean, I like and and it’s an easy one. I know you and me have talked about it, but like the Ottawa Senators failed Colonel Cesar. Colonel Cesar was an elite scoring guy all the way up. He’s an elite scoring guy with the Edmonton Oil Kings. He’s an elite scoring guy. When the Ottawa Sanders drafted him in the first round and then the Ottawa Sanders said, “No, no, we’ll have you be a third fours line guy.” In his third year, they sent him to the miners and go find his offensive game. They failed. Colonel Cesar, if that’s what you want to do with Isaac Howard, keep playing him on the fourth line. Get him down to Bakersfield. And you know what I would do? I’d get him down sooner, not later. I wouldn’t wait for him to come back. Yes, I totally totally agree with you on that. Uh uh Craig, I I thought one of the one of the easiest predictions, and predictions are what they are. They’re a prediction, but I honestly thought the one easy prediction this year would be that the Calgary Flames were going to struggle to score goals and they didn’t make any like literally no changes in the offseason. Now, Huber, who actually played pretty well, he’s never going to live up to his contract, per se, but actually effort I had no problem with how he played last year. He’s out. They can’t score Craig. Like it like they didn’t hardly generate any chances against the San Jose Sharks for goodness sakes. This this might be a year where the Calgary Flames are legit contender for the draft lottery. Here’s what I would say and and I’m very clear on this. You know, they struggled to score last year. You know, they they ended up getting on the right side. They were competitive. Justin Wolf was fantastic in the net. Now, here’s the problem. They got a they got a young kid, Zayn Perk, who’s not ready for full-time duty in the NHL, and they’re going to have to live with that. That’s the decision they’ve decided. That’s what Anderson’s going to be traded. Okay, because I mean that’s a big chip. So that leaves you with weeder and ball and then you don’t have any other defense. Good luck. Now you have Rubo hurt who forget about the contract. He he he’ll perform at the level we’ve seen the last couple years and that’s acceptable possible. So now they don’t have enough options. We know that you got a lot of young players. They’re not focused in they shouldn’t be focused in on 25 26 or for that matter 26 27. The whole thing is is when the new building gets is ready to go into that your team is competitive. You’re ready to take steps forward. They’re one and four. Mike Babcock did it with the Toronto Makers. He had a team that was competitive. I think that Ryan Hust can keep his team competitive. Do I think with the Lapis scoring the poor blue line that they can win games? No. This is the year to just continue on where they’re at and give themselves the best chance against Gavin McKenna. It’s it’s exactly what they should be doing. Yeah. What about the Kings, Craig? I now I I went a little bit off of the NHL trend that uh you know there’s multiple 100 point teams who miss the playoffs the following year and so I was like I got to look at some and I look well to me it’s the Kings and I thought they got slower their back end they don’t have a lot of great puck movers on the back end at all and you know Darcy Keer was unreal last year Kevin Woodley told us about just his numbers were great not so because the defense in front of him because he played great and I’m like well that’s hard to do year after year and so I looked at the Kings, I felt, yeah, that’s my team that I think is going to take a step back. It’s ultra early, but what what do you make of the start for LA? And how concerned should Kings fans be? Well, Jason, just so you know, I’m of the same mind as you when it comes to the LA Kings, you know, I think they’re I think they’re a weaker team on the blue line. I think they’re a little bit slower. I mean, they still have speed in their lineup and whatnot, but they had 105 points last year and and let’s celebrate what they did. It was it was a really good job by Jim Heler and and they had but now you miss the playoffs. All that means is five less wins. It it’s like we we take 105 points and go, “Oh my god, how can a 100 point team miss the five less wins?” Yeah, it’s not hard. It’s five less wins is not is not hard to uh is not hard to uh come short on. So I’m of the same mindset as you with the uh uh with the uh LA Kings. And let me just say this, okay? Brian Doom and Cody Cece have been a disaster. on the blue and those were the two guys that we’re going to kind of as a unit as a pair we’re going to kind of mitigate against the loss of Gabacov. Gabricov is such a good player and to me the Rangers are playing pretty good defense and and they have to get that in order. Gabricov’s help there but I’m with you on the LA Kings and now Dar Keer’s hurt. Yeah, well that doesn’t help. I do want to stick with the Kings for a second Craig being a former GM. So you look at the T- Leaves and lots of superstars and top end guys stay with their teams. Not all but lots have. But now you’re Adrien Kempe. You know that your running mate, Mr. Kopitar is retiring at the end of the season. Drew Dowy is older. He’s got one year left on his deal and there’s tons of money in the free agent market. If you’re Adrien Kempe, Craig, now I get that there’s comfort. So maybe the Kings might have, hey, Kyle Connor got 12 million. Those guys got basically the exact same amount of goals the last three years. So I look and say, “Hey, you got 12 million. It’s probably got to start with the 12 uh maybe I would think in LA if he wants to stay there. Um but if if you don’t have a if you’re Ken Hall and you don’t have a contract with Kempe nearing the trade deadline, you probably have to trade him. Like Toronto had a good enough team around where you could say, “Okay, you know what? We got Matthews, we got Knander, we got these other guys, whatever. We’ll we’ll roll the dice.” It it didn’t go the way we wanted. Even though some thought that was pro and they had no movement claw, so it didn’t really matter. But in the case of Adrien Kempe, if you don’t have a contract, Craig, do you have to trade him at the deadline if you’re Ken Holland? Uh, I would say absolutely yes. And and I feel the same way about the New York Rangers without Kenny Caner. And I’m not even so sure that with the New York Rangers, who I don’t see as a Stanley Cup contender, like even if they’re in the mix in the playoffs at that time, I’m not so sure you don’t trade him. And and I and I think that you got to look at each situation and you know where the money is going to become available in the marketplace with the caps going up revenues have been so strong. You know when you arch Wayne was in Columbus and he had Roboski and Canaran he he they were paying free he couldn’t trade those guys because the Columbus Blue Jackets were trying to do something different. They were trying to establish themselves as a team that you know could make the playoffs. They were trying to generate some real good interest in the marketplace. So they couldn’t trade those guys. He ended up losing him for nothing, but that was a very different scenario, I think, for the LA Kings with with the LA Kings with Kempe and the New York Rangers with Paneran. Yeah, I think you have to because there’s going to be a marketplace that’s going to pay for those guys because teams are trying to get themselves over the hump and and I’ll go one place I’ll go one other place, too. And I think it’s different for for this team. If I’m Alex Tuck, I I’m not signing a B. Oh, cuz he I am I am saying to to I’m having my agent. I’m just saying we’re not signing here. We’ll talk to you like the teams. We’ll be willing to sign, but if I’m Alex Tuck, I ain’t signing in Buffalo. That’s for sure. What do you think about Kekalinan as a GM in Buffalo? Yeah. Well, I think that it’s all it’s in place for him to become the GM, isn’t it? Yeah. I think I think Garmin’s I think Garmin will be really good. I think them bringing in Yarmmo in his current role is something that they’ve been lacking in Buffalo. You know, Kevin Adams came in there with no experience and then he and then he let go of couple dozen people with experience. That’s that was a huge mistake by Kevin and and now he’s got somebody that can guide him, that’s been through it, that can understand what he’s going through. I I I think it’s too late. And I I think the mistakes that the Buffalo Sabers have made. I think Kevin’s a good person. And I think Yarmmo though when they hired him they put their I guess what I would say they have their uh uh their guy in place and I think he will be the next GM of the Buffalo Sabers. It’ll be a matter of when. But I think that Yarmmo Yarmmo did good work in in Columbus and and and Yarmmo’s sharp and he’s good. And I think that uh you know having a chance to be around the team and to see where the team is functioning and to see different players at the minor league level and the prospect system before he takes over will be really really good for him. It’ll be really good for the Buffalo Sabres. And on a second goound, I don’t have any question Normo will be really good. Greg, uh, have you caught are you a baseball guy? Are you into the Jays? Yeah, I’m into the Jay. I’m an expos fan. I’m still bitter about 95 in the strike. So, I think it’s I think it’s cool what the Jays have done. I think that I think the Jays have a fun team to watch. I think they have a team that’s uh that that plays and plays hard. They never give up. I mean, what happened yesterday with Max Scherer? How awesome was that? 41 years old and he’s got a fire burning hot in his belly. Him and Schneider, the push by the the push and pull on each other. I got this. You better have it. Oh, don’t worry. I do. Get out of here. Okay, you better take care of this. And he does. I mean, that to me is is just that’s the essence of sport. When you’re dialed in to win and you’re going to do everything you can to win, that’s what allows teams to win. And I think the Blue Jays have that. And now, hey, first now it’s a it’s a fun time. It’s a fun time for uh uh for the for for the Blue Jays, for baseball fans in Canada. Might end up being just like it was with the Raptors. Oh, that’d be crazy. Craig, great stuff. But hey, where you at tonight? What game you watching? I’m not watching anything tonight. You know, I’m taking it easy. I’m I’m going to go to uh actually I I am I’m going to tell you what I’m going to start doing at five o’clock. I’m tuning into the Boston University Michigan State game. Uh should be a big-time heavyweight uh college game. So, I’m dialing into that game and I want to see like all those guys play. Kind of get a little glimpse of what’s happening with the players that could be on the World Junior team. Tomorrow, full day of NHL hockey. Sunday I’ll see the Hitman play. And uh next week I’m in Edmonton. Thursday night I’m in Edmonton for the Montreal game. Looking forward to that. Oh, perfect. And buy me a birthday beer. I love it. Thanks. Appreciate it. Is that your birthday? I have your birthday on my calendar. So, you didn’t have to It would come up anyway, but I I’ll be happy to do that because uh you know, you’re good people. All right. All right. Well, you Yeah, you’re in town for the Havs, so love it. All right, Craig. Well, we’ll see you then, buddy. Okay, you have a great weekend. Take care. That’s Craig Button from TSN. Quick break. We’ll come back. Five questions and more. Jason Greger, wrets, Connor Hley, sports 1440 sports 1440. Whoa. Who turned off all the lights? Experience the new charcoal menu at Booster Juice. Charcoal menu. Introducing the Eclipse Smoothie, Blackout Booster Mixer, and Midnight Booster Ball. Where’s that voice coming from? Dark and delicious. Made with activated charcoal. Can we please turn the lights back on? Sorry, I’m just excited about the new charcoal menu. Wow, that is good, right? Available now only at Bookster Juice. You’ve probably heard the term supply and demand. Something is needed and someone supplies it. 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Get up to 25% off select tires, up to $125 off a set of four select Goodyear tires and $50 off $150 service until October 18th. Restrictions apply. Book today. Mountain Tire. We’re on this road together. Canada. [Music] Portions of this hour brought to you by Northwest Crane, available for all your lifting and equipment needs. Specializing in selling and servicing cranes. Get lifting at northwest crane.com. The Jason Greger Show, the best of Edmonton sports talk and beyond. This is Sports 1440, presented by playalberta.ca, CA Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] Welcome back. Jason Gregor, Connor Hley. Could it happen? Three days in a row as uh Connor Fippa opens up the third inning. Jays are down a run. Stop me if you’ve heard this story before, Jays fans. They’re trailing in the third inning. They started out, their number eight hitter gets on base and then Gimenez comes to the plate. Uh, could you imagine if he hit another like that’d be unbelievable? Even if he just gets an RBI here, it’s still magical if he’s the guy who drives in their their first round of the game for the the third day in a row and and uh gets the offense going. It would be uh it would be quite the story, man. Quite the story. So, we’ll update you on that as it goes. Now, let’s get to uh five questions brought to you by the brick as uh hey madness savings continue on right now at the brick. Hey, it’s it’s that time of year. You’re watching baseball together. You got hockey coming back on. Maybe you got the NFL. You got watch parties all the time. Well, hey, you know what? Uh you need a big screen TV. You can save up to 800 bucks right now on a big screen TV and get free delivery for any TV 50 inches or more. Check it out at the brick and brick.com. It’s time for five questions on the Jason Greger show. Question number one for you guys today. If you had to rank the Jay’s postseason MVPs, how does it look three through one? Three through one. 321. You know, I’d say Vlatty Jr. is the MVP. And after that, it kind of trails off for me. Maybe Himenez with his backto-back jacks. Who knows? Well, if I’m going number three for the Jay, we’re talking the whole playoffs, Connor. Yes, sir. Um, I’m going to go I feel bad that I leave out a pitcher, but if we’re talking the whole playoffs, like if I had to pick a pitcher, I might pick Varin. So, I’ll take Varin third, then I’m going to take Ernie Clement, and then I’ll take Vlatty. man like they’re like him and Nez the last two games has been unreal. He’s been really good but I’ll still go with Ernie Clement. Question number two for you guys. In your expert opinion, who’s the more polarizing figure amongst Oilers fans, Evan Bushard or Steuart Skinner? Oh my god. Jeez, that’s like that’s a really good question. A tough one, Connor. Who’s more polariz? We’d have to ask the fans. Text in. Who’s more polarizing to you? But you only get to pick one. Bard or Skinner? I I’d still probably say Skinner because Bousard’s Buchard’s had some unreal playoff success. Even though Skinner’s had some good games, but he’s had a few times. I guess I’ll probably say Skinner. There’s a third guy I think that deserves to be in the conversation. That’s Darnell Nurse. In terms of divisiveness among the fans, it’s crazy to me that we have back-to-back Cup appearances and yet there’s three players that are that much of lightning rods for criticism. I think it has to be Skinner. Question number three, Alex Lines. Tonight, 8:30 kickoff. What’s going to happen? Well, last week I said 3020 win over Winnipeg and everyone laughed at me than I laughed at them because they pulled it off. So, I’ll say that they’re going to beat the Lions tonight. 30-20 and keep the wagon rolling. Well, I think if they’re going to win, they’re going to have to score more points because um the Lions the Lions offense is pretty good. So, um the dream, you know what? Hey, why I don’t I don’t want to root for uh to to to pick them to lose at this stage of the season. And I know that their odds of making the playoffs are slim, but I will say the I will say they they have a miracle win 3331. You know what I found on YouTube, Connor, is that the CFL is now putting out like day after games that are 12 minutes long. Oh yeah, they’re unreal. They’re unreal. If you haven’t watched an Elks game or you haven’t been to one in a while, go to YouTube, just watch last week’s highlights of the Elks game and tell me that wasn’t a very entertaining hockey game. Well, I would tell you that because it was an entertaining football game. Okay. Watching a baseball game. You know what I mean? It wasn’t very entertaining. You were so good. It was I had three sports going simultaneously in my brain. It’s too much. Question number four. Earlier this week, the Utah Mammoth introduced their mascot, Tusky. So, let me ask you, who are your top three NHL mascots? See, when it comes to mascots, right, so my son, he’s like, “Dad, did you see Tusky?” Unreal. He loved him. So, he was all over Tusky. So, his kids like cuz to me, like, I’m sorry, M. I’m not an adult. I’m not going to a mascot. So, to me, I look at what the kids like. You got Gritty in Philadelphia. No question he’s there. Tusky’s coming right up there. And the Seattle guy, cuz he looks like a I don’t know if he’s like a mixture of a troll doll to something else, but those would probably be my top three. But I’m telling you, like the boys, they were loving Tusky. 11-year-old boy thought Tusky was unreal cuz he’s a huge mascot. I didn’t necessarily like Hunter the first time I saw him. Then I saw him with my nephew who was four at the time and he thought Hunter was amazing. When I showed Wany Jr. who’s now five, he he thinks Hunter is the greatest thing ever. We go to the games, where’s Hunter? Wants to see Hunter. When I showed him Gritty, he literally fell to the ground laughing at Gritty’s eyes. Oh yeah, that’s brilliant marketing. Oh no. And you’re right. It’s not for us. It’s not for adults. People have to forget. Like when I hear adults, oh yeah. I’m like, dude, like you’re a grown adult. Why would the mascot be for you? What are we What are we doing? Of course it’s for the kids. I also like Whoopier. What was this guy’s name? The expose guy. Yoopi. Yoopi. Yeah, he was all right, buddy. He was great. What about You know what? Hey, the Mariner Moose, legendary. Remember when he broke his ankle when he ran when he rode into the wall? But dude, like a mascot is a no joke job, right? Like there’s a guy in the NBA. I think he makes like 350K or something. Like it’s like those guys there’s some really athletic mascots. They’re doing triple flips. Well, not maybe not a triple flip on some of them. Off those trampolines, slam dunking. Like, it’s pretty sick. But the Mariner Moose, I still remember him crashing into the wall. Cons knows exactly which one I’m talking about. Right. And he had the roller blades and he was getting pulled by something. Yeah. I remember one time Nanuk doing a bit at an Elks game and he jumped off a little diving board into a swimming pool and they started struggling all around and no one in the crowd really understood. They popped his helmet off. All this water poured out. Poor guy was drowning on his feet. Well, I remember the Safeway Seal. That’s the mascot. I thought the Safeway Seal guy was unbelievable on the sidelines of the Elks. And I remember when he used to bring that like stuffed um horse and he would just like elbow drop it or the or the gopher for Saskatchewan. Like the seal was unreal. He was like I as a kid I thought the seal was pretty darn good. Absolutely. Yeah. Final question for you guys today. Mike Judge, creator of King of the Hill and Beas and Butad, celebrates his 63rd birthday. People know I’m a big King of the Hill fan, but I don’t like Beas and Buttthead. So, let me ask you guys, who are your top three most disliked cartoon characters? I think I know Gregor’s number one. Yeah, 100%. Like, this isn’t even a question, but go ahead. Go ahead. Who’s your number one? Uh, okay. All right. Well, I I don’t really like King of the Hill and I don’t really like Beas and Buttad. I like uh Simpsons and I like Family Guy and I like South Park, but that’s about it. But I don’t really have any beef with anybody per se. Like I don’t have disliked cartoon. Not really. No. Who’s your uh Axe to grind guy? Oh, I don’t even know if I can mention his name on the show because it’s like a Well, you’re I’m pretty sure your son never wrote his book. Not wrote it, of course, but uh uh read his book. But uh I I’m going to go if I have to go with my if I have to find it’s hard for me to find three, but um actually I do have three. Coming in third place, Caillou. Terrible. Coming in second place, Caillou. Even worse. Coming in first place, Caillou. And I would give a fourth place to his whiny sister, too. I don’t even know her name, but God, that show like I watched one episode and I was like to my wife, we’re never watching that show. It is awful. It was just whining, like nasely whining all the time. Caillou, without question, the worst of the worst. That’s a heck of a rant. You really don’t like Caillou. No, dude. You’ve never seen it. I guarantee if you watched it once, you’d be like, “How how was this ever on the air? It was awful. It’s awful.” No, like it just like kids. I I want them where it’s upbeat and fun. And and speaking of it, they uh they had on SNL um you know the there was a skit they had on SNL and they were playing the guitars like oh I wish it was Christmas and they had Kermit the Frog and Fozy Bear and Kermit’s going absolute just as dancing and I was watching today and I was dying and I’m like see Kermit legendary legendary guy. Now, I know he’s not an animator. He’s a muppet, but still. Um I have a Caillou. No chance. And there’s lots of like I love the animated guys like um Zootopia’s coming out, but my son because when I went to watch Zootopia with my son, I was like, “God, I really like the show.” And Zootopia 2 is coming out. My son saw the preview. He’s like, “Dad, guess what’s coming out?” I had no idea. I was like, “Wow, I don’t know.” He’s like, “Zootopia.” I was like, “What? Can’t wait.” So, are you pro or anti- Minion? Love the Minions. Love the Minions. The Minions are unbelievable. The minions are great and Gru is so classic. He’s like a villain but not really a villain. It’s hilarious. Oh yeah. No, the minions and their voice like how can you not like who who’s how can you be anti-minion? Like there they never really do anything negative. They’re just funny. I’ve seen some people that think that they’re stupid, but I just that’s a that’s a they do some stuff for sure. But that makes it funny. See it through the eyes of a kid again, right? Wa Junior cracks up at minions like you wouldn’t believe it. Dude, through an eye of an adult. I think the minions are awesome. So no, like Caillou is the one guy like it just trust I I dare you to watch an episode. That’ll be before next Friday. You have to watch an episode of Caillou. A full episode. That’s your That’s your homework for the week. You’re watching not without Guany Jr. You’re going to watch it yourself and you’re going to see why. What if I watch it with one Junior? He gets hooked on it. Now I got to watch Ka watch it with him. You want me to watch it on my own? Yeah, you’re going to watch it on your own to realize why you should never show it to your child. All right. It should come with a parental warning so parents can be like, “Yeah, this is terrible.” I don’t know if you would have done well in the Coco Melon era of parenting. I don’t even know who that is. Well, it’s a kid show, but it’s pretty high-pitched and kind of whiny, too. Hey, Gregor, Rosie is a sister of Caillou. Thank you, NBA fan. 26. Rosie. Hey guys, HAB fans act like Caillou. You know what? That’s actually a really good burn. I think I might have to start using that now. Oh, that is a great burn. Oddball. I love it. Absolutely awful. If you want to know what you know, funny. We got a lot of texts coming in. Coco Melon was brutal from Andrew, uh, Sarah, uh, Mark, and Pete. A tough one. I’m just reading that now. So, uh, there you go. Let’s take a quick break. We’ll come back. Uh, Spec will join us as we get to sports 1440 update brought to you by Loca. Dinner solved in minutes. Loca gourmet meals are made fresh, never born in, always chefinsspired. two locations, Edmonton and Short Parker. See what they have to offer at loca.ca. This is a sports 1440 update. Week 20 in the CFL as the Elks out in Vancouver set to take on the BC Lions. That one gets going at 8:30. Earlier on, you’ll have a Bombers and Ruff Riders kickoff 6:00. Major League Baseball playoffs rolling on. Third inning, Jays right now trail the Mariners one- nothing. Two outs. Later on tonight, you got the Dodgers with a chance to wrap up their series against the Brewers. gets going at 6:38 Mountain time. And in the NHL, Red Wings taking on the Lightning Caps host the Wild Conucks in Chicago and the Mammoth taking on the Sharks. The Oil Kings on the road tonight in PA taking on the Raiders that’ll get going at 7:00 in the BCHL at 8. Short Park in Coquitlam. And then in the AJ four games tonight, including Camero taking on Canmore, Devon and Bonnville and Port Mack hosting Grand Prairie, University of Alberta, Golden Bears hockey taking on UBC tonight down to the Drake Puck drop at 7. Football tomorrow against the Regina Rams Footfield 2:00. You also have Panda soccer at Clark at taking on Mchuan at noon. And sad news today, longtime Edmonton journalist and sports caster John Smmith has passed away following an extensive battle with cancer. John began his career in Edmonton in 1990, winning a national journalist award in 2014. He was actively involved in the community as a hockey coach and with organiz organizations like Sports Central and the Alberta Cancer Foundation. Coming up in hour four of the Jason Greger show, we’ll discuss John’s legacy with Kevin Caras. We’ll hear from Mark Spectre of Rogers Sports and be joined by the host of the lowdown bow tide, Alan Mitchell. I’m Connor Howie. This has been a sports 1440 update. Sports 1440 in West Edmonton Mall and Watasco. CKJR is a Stingray radio station. Download the free radio player app and listen wherever you go. At Fountain Tire, get up to 25% off select tires, up to $125 off a set of Bour Select Goodyear tires, and $50 off $150 service until October 18. Book today. Fountain. What? We’re on this road together. Canada. Top quality flooring, locally owned, and Canadian products from Bullyu. Yeah, that’s CFI. CFI what? No. CFI. Custom Floors Inc. From free estimate to professional installation. Contact Custom Floors Inc. at customfloorsinc.ca. Monopoly Double Play is back at McDonald’s. So, let’s practice winning. You just won 25 grand and go. Yes. I said 25 grand. That’s what I’m talking about. Yeah, much better. Okay, now you just won a brand new Chevrolet Corvette. I think she just fainted. Impressive. Peel like a winner. On pack and in app. Monopoly double play is back. While supplies last, one in five chances to win game piece prizes at outset. 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From the first face off to the final. Sports 1440 is your home for hockey talk with live coverage, expert analysis, and pre and postgame shows. We bring you closer to the game. Tune in 24/7 only on Sports 1440. Edmonton Sports Station. [Music] Forces of this hour brought to you by Crystal Glass. Your clear choice for residential windows. Locally manufactured and installed, Crystal Glass provides a beautiful product and incredible customer services for all of your residential needs. Call 310 Glass or visit crystalglass.ca for a quote. The Jason Greger Show, the best of Edmonton Sports Talk and beyond. This is Sports 1440, presented by playalberta.ca, Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. Pause of Friday. We roll through. Hope you’re having a lovely day. Hey, Jason Gregory Gretz Connor Hally is always brought to you by playalberta.ca where you can get in the game any day. Anytime you want to make a $50 donation, use the promo code gregor 50 and guess what? They’ll match. So you deposit 50 bucks. Use the promo code gregor 50, you’ll get another 50. Two for one, baby. Or just play two games this weekend. Maybe I want to go 50 on H. Good luck at playalberta.ca. Time now for the spec report brought to you by GS Construction. your underground infrastructure specialists who are hiring. If you want to work for a fantastic company who loves to promote from within and start not just a job but a career, go to gsconstruction.ca and look up careers as Mark Spectre joins us uh on the road. um the uh Oilers losing last night in Long Island Spec and uh you know I I don’t want to start with Captain Obvious because we’ve talked about it a lot but um at what point does the five on five scoring become an issue to you? Yeah, it’s it’s probably starting soon here. You know, Conor McDavid has said he wanted to shoot more and score more and he’s not shooting more and he ain’t scoring at all. Um you know, he’s still got that that I always Jay I always pause when I find myself trying to instruct Conor McDavid how to play hockey. Like, who the hell am I to say that? But he did say, “I’d like to shoot more and score more goals this year.” And we’ve not seen evidence of that. I think it kind of starts with him. So, uh, Bouch is another guy. Bard is a guy that, you know, I always say if I had that shot, man, I’ I’d have six shots a game, but he kind of meets it out like it’s a precious metal. So, they got to fire more pucks to start with. Uh, I think they’re trying to make the perfect play. Is that how it looks on TV? That’s how it looks in the rink. Yeah, I I think at times, well, like I just look at the, you know, the the play when it’s three to two late in the third period and, you know, you’re you’re in the slot and I know the puck was rolling on edge, but I don’t care. You just got to shoot it. You got to shoot it there. Then try like, no offense, it’s Troy freaking Stetcher. I don’t know how many career goals he has spec, but it but it ain’t many. And like you’re Conor Mc you’re Conor McDavid. That’s where you should be like, I’m shooting the puck. Troy Stetcher is probably like, “What the hell are you passing to me for?” Not expecting the pass. I mean, I recall a particular game in uh in Boston where Conor McDavid got the puck in overtime, shot it in the for the for uh for nation face off and it was a pretty good shot. So, yes, Connor, you know what? Like again, his goals are going to come, his game’s going to come, but I think this is a team that’s starting to go to that. We talked about going to the net yesterday. Uh, we’d like to see more of that. And we I think I’d like to see I’m not I I don’t love the term volume shooting, but I sure would love to see them give a goalie a chance to give up a bad rebound once in a while because they just they just they wait for the perfect play and when the perfect play doesn’t come, there’s no shot at all. So, that’s probably something Chris Knoblock’s talking about too, I would say. Yeah. Um the Evan Bousard obviously you can’t talk about the game without Evan Bousard’s game and obviously it’s one like hey you know mistakes are going to happen in the course of a game I understand it but no no but when you make one you can’t just make you like you got to stop at one that to me was the issue last night okay you know what I made one big error okay whatever that’s going to happen at some point in the season but it just can’t it kept compounding and compounding that was the concern for me well it’s the kind of mistake and that’s what Nlock said after the game and and if People out there should go back through their memory and find when they try to remember a time when Chris Knobblock basically called out a player and criticized him as a guy that’s in every one of those scrums. It never happened. No. Okay. No. Chris Knobblock ne he is not, you know, John Tordella or John Broofphy or Glenn Saither or someone who tell tell you how bad a player was tonight, but he did last night with Bushard. It’s the type of mistake Jake Bushard’s got the puck all the time. He plays 25 minutes a night, you’re not going to be perfect. Chris Pronger made mistakes. But standing at center ice getting stripped by Barzel, that’s not a mistake that’s acceptable. You know, standing there with a complete lack of awareness while Horvath gets behind you for the PK breakaway. That that’s so easily fixed and it’s a it’s a rookie play. Like I don’t see Mars. He plays Morton Buchard. I don’t see Quinn Hughes making those plays. I don’t see I didn’t see Sa Sch Schaefer making those plays last night and he’s a rookie. Like he’s not making pressure mistakes. He’s making lack of awareness, lack of focus, lack of concentration mistakes. You can fix those. And I would say in Evan Bushard’s career, it’s time to fix those. It’s time to get past this. There’s times in a game, How old’s Bushard now? 26. Yeah. Um, yeah. Yeah, I think so. He’s 26. He still looks like he’s 19 sometimes, you know, and it’s time make a mistake, man. You play all the time. You got the puck all the time. I’ve got a huge window for Evan Bashard to make mistakes, but not the kind he made last night. It’s time to grow up, right? Is that fair? Is it time to grow up for Evan Bousard? I would say it is. Yeah, I think that’s fair. Like you you have to reduce them so it’s it’s it’s not multiples in one game like that. Like if you’re going to make one big error, okay, it’s going to happen at some point in 82 game season for someone who holds on to the puck that often. I can that I can live with and probably going to happen a few times, but um to me it’s uh it just last night it just kept getting like there was no there was no reprieve, right? There’s there was no reprieve and so it kept coming. It kept coming. I mean there was two that cost you goals. There was two more that should have cost you goals. I mean it’s you’re right. Well, last night was was a train wreck. And you know what? I just I’m going to tell you like any you know any chance that anyone thought of him trying to make an Olympic team like forget it right that player it doesn’t matter if he gets a 100 points this year he’s not making the Olympic team as long as he keeps having games like that they won’t put him on the ice in Olympic game they won’t put him in Olympic uniform I’m sorry to tell you and that’s just a fact. Yeah. Although he’s got a pretty good track record of big games not really doing that. So I don’t know if that will make up for but that’s true too. That’s true too. But but the truth is about the human brain for all of us. Recency bias and what you see recently will impact your decision more than what you see. Even though you can go back and show all the tapes of the playoffs like you know somebody who is a Bushard booster could show them all the playoff games say here’s this guy look what he did in the playoffs. You don’t have guys who’ve done this in the playoffs where it matters most with all the pressures there and he does it year like he’s done it three years in a row. So it’s not like it’s a fluke, right? Like he knows how to play at the key times. But the truth of the matter is they’re going to be looking and saying, “Well, in November, December, January, we’re still seeing that. So guess what? They’ll go the safe route.” And I think that’ll work against them for sure. Whose job is he gonna take? Which guy on which guy that’s on the team now makes those mistakes? It’s true, but which one of them when when they’re at their best is better, right? Like is Drew Dowy still there? Like I’m not sold like spec I I’m not sold on that. I’m not sold on that, right? Like I think I think there’s going to be if I look at that roster, I won’t be stunned if there’s like 70 uh there’s 25% new faces on the Olympic team compared to the Four Nations team. Yeah, that’s fair. There will and there there’s always going to be injury, so you’re going to lose a guy a couple guys there. And I’m totally fine with that. like I don’t you know uh Drew Dowy has to earn a spot on that team but I’m just you know you can call a recency bias you can call whatever you want uh it’s it we all know that players get ice time in hockey when the coach trusts them and the coach has to trust the player whether it’s you know a regular season game or team Canada and Milan and Evan Bashard is not fostering a trust from a coaching staff for team Canada right now. And if they don’t trust him, they don’t want them. No, that’s uh it’s totally the Jays had bases loaded, none outs in the fourth. Var struck out and then uh Clement hit literally a ball the foul that hit an inch. Uh the catcher touched play through and out. They went uh they got no runs in. Unreal. Brutal. Brutal. But they they’ve left a lot of guys on base here so far. They just can’t cash them in. So that’s uh it’s not a great start, but the Jays are still in it. We’ll see what happens. Um what about goalending spec? Who do you think’s going tomorrow in New Jersey and uh in Detroit? Any idea? I don’t have an idea because they did not skate today, so there’s been no clues. Uh I haven’t been around no block. He didn’t say so after the game last night. He wasn’t tipping his hand. So I would be lying if I said I knew. I’m going to tell you one of them starting one, one starting the other. Uh I don’t know which one it will be, my friend. I I want to say I’ve really thought Skinner had a good start to his season. I thought Skinners was very good last night, you know, uh, made a ton of good saves. When that game when it was 3-2 with five minutes to play, I looked down and I thought, man, this game should be about five or six to two here. So, no, I agree with you. Very happy with Skinner’s game so far this season. Yeah, he made a bad play against Calgary. Big deal. Uh, he’s been excellent. And Pickard has one game and I believe he did he have a shut out? No, he let it. That’s not bad either. It wasn’t bad. They didn’t face any high danger chances. That was their defensive juggernaut game against Vancouver. But hey, it’s not the goalie’s fault. You got to make the save. Got to stop the ones that uh that you see. Uh quickly, the Jays, what did you make of that game last night, my man? Like uh and what about old Mad Max? I don’t love that. I was thinking of you today. So, I don’t love that. I don’t I didn’t love the fact that he basically kind of embarrassed his manager out there. I thought John Schneider handled it really well. He deferred. He was the bigger man. He didn’t come out and, you know, he didn’t have a look in his face like he was upset. But I would ask you this question, Jason. If if your son, and I know you coach your son in hockey, let’s say you’re coaching him in baseball, and let’s say your son’s a pitcher and he’s 14 years old, and let’s say the manager comes out, wants to take him out, and he gives him that much attitude. Would you, how would that car ride home be? Would you be proud of your son? Well, first would you think? Well, I never compare my I never compare minor to to pro sports. Number one. Number two, um I I don’t think it was disrespectful because John Schneider has even said when I when I jog to the mound, I’m not usually I’m just there to talk. I’m not taking guys out, right? That’s what Buck Martinez was explaining when he walks, not jogs. And he joged once he crossed the line. So that it was like he was out there just to check on him and that’s what Schneider said. I don’t think he was taking him out. I think he was just saying, “Hey, where are you at here? We can come out.” And I didn’t mind because he just said because Schneider even said, “Are you ready?” “Yeah, I’m ready.” And I I think Schneider’s a pretty intense guy. So I didn’t I didn’t have much of I didn’t have much of a And like I I don’t know if you saw his postgame presser. Like I loved it. Schneider just like, man, I’ve been waiting for that moment. I’ve heard about it like to be in that moment to see a guy who so badly wants to win. That’s what you want, I think, as a manager in pro sports. I I don’t think it was disrespectful at all because like it’s you don’t take it personal there. When Schzer’s pitching his his he flips the switch. That’s just who he is. and anybody to think, well, he shouldn’t be that. That’s who he is. He’s honest. He’s been that way his entire career. And I I don’t think he showed him up at all. I had no problem with it. I thought it was good. I didn’t love it. But I hear what you’re saying. I mean, if that’s his thing, I guess my my parting words would be, “You better deliver.” Yeah. And he did. If you’re going to be that guy, you better deliver. Last night, he delivered. He hadn’t been delivering for about two months here. So, good for him. The Jays might have a guy back here in their rotation that they haven’t had for the last while. Uh, if I’m not mistaken, was he even in the lineup in the first series? I’m not sure he was. No, he wasn’t. That’s what it’s his first It’s his first He hasn’t pitched in 22 days and he pitched that well. That was pretty impressive in a game they needed. Good for the Jays. And let’s hope that this guy continues to pitch that way. Uh, you know what? This I think this falls under the category of you better walk the walk, buddy, if you’re going to be that guy. And he walked the walk yesterday. No one can say he didn’t. No. Very true. Spec, enjoy uh enjoy the trip. We’ll talk to you on Monday. All right. Thanks, Jay. That’s the spec report brought to you by GS Construction. We got uh low tide coming up next. Man, it has been a game so far of just close but no cigar. The Jays have left I think six runners on base already. I thought you made an interesting point with Spec. Would you trust Evan Bard in an Olympic game knowing how deep he’s gone in the playoffs? I I wouldn’t have much of an issue with it really. Yeah. Like I don’t think the Olympics are bigger than the Stanley Cup final. I don’t think they’re going to be in that moment. I don’t think it’s gonna be any different. And playoff Bard’s earned your trust. Oh, it’s because it’s three years in a row and last year there was no Echol because if you want to feel like, hey, Ekhol is a security blanket. I I could have seen that argument in 2024. Say, well, yeah, he’s playing with Echome. Okay, great. Well, Echol wasn’t there last year and then what happened? He was still great. So, no, I wouldn’t have an issue. But I also understand why now it’s different because the guys you’re that you’re choosing with him are also very good. It’s not like Thomas Harley’s a dud or Colton Pico is a dud. Like Colton Prao is a pretty good player too. So that’s where I think I can see why. Now in Edmonton, like it’s not like you have a bunch of other guys who are pushing to give Evan Bushard ice time, right? Like you got your top four guys, okay, and Bard plays the most, but your third pair in Edmonton is not like a third pair in the Olympics. It’s just different. So, you know, it’s a competitive thing. But I also would say one game like if Evan Bousard for the rest of now until the Olympics plays very well and and I’m not expecting to play like the playoffs because nobody plays like they do in the playoffs year round. But if if he has limited errors and is moving the puck like he normally does and because his defensive game up until last night was pretty good. So for the majority of the time it’s good. I’m not going to say like yeah but on November on October 16th that game in New York I can’t pick him because of that game. Well then that’s terrible analysis. That’s what I would say. Let’s get to uh LT next on the Gregor Show presented by play alberta.ca. Whoa, who turned off all the lights? Experience the new charcoal menu at Booster Juice. Charcoal menu. Introducing the Eclipse Smoothie Blackout Booster Mixer and Midnight Booster Ball. Where’s that voice coming from? Dark and delicious. Made with activated charcoal. Can we please turn the lights back on? Sorry, I’m just excited about the new charcoal menu. Wow, that is good. Right. Available now only at Lipster Juice. Sure, your couch is comfortable, but watching the game is always better at On the Rocks. With Crystal Clear TVs, you won’t miss a single play, and the specials are a major league win. Pregame warm-up starts with specials 30 minutes before the puck drops. 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Call 780372-3854 for prompt delivery. Bashaw Concrete Products 780372-3854. mashon concrete.com. Portions of this hour brought to you by Papa John’s. Get the Greor special. Enjoy 20% off any regularpriced order when you enter promo code Greor at papa johns.ca or on the Papa John’s app. The Jason Greger Show, the best of Edmonton Sports Talk and beyond. This is Sports 1440, presented by playalberta.ca, CA Alberta’s only regulated online gambling website. [Music] 528 we return. Positive Friday. Sports fans, what a great weekend. Like kids sports are going on all the time right now. It’s awesome. You got NFL, you got CFL, you got NHL, you got MLB playoffs, NBA starting up right around the corner. God, there’s lots going on. Uh F1 fans, it’s back on the track. So, it’s fired up. I love it. Let’s get to the oil report now. brought to you by Go Auto. And hey, you know what? We were just talking about all the choices you have in sports. Well, you have all the choice you need at Goa Auto as they have over 15,000 vehicles, 28 new vehicle brands, and 69 locations to choose from. Find your ride at goauto.ca. Is the host of the lowdown joins us every Friday, Alan Mitchell. All, you watch a lot of baseball. Have you seen a hit that Ernie Clement just had? Like, I can’t He could have swung in that ball a hundred other times. I don’t think he’d ever hit it straight down like he did there. That’s It’s got to be one of the most unlucky plays I can see with the bases loaded. Well, I I was so mad. I mean, you’re looking all you want to do is get a ball you can drive. And I mean, he probably felt he could, but that that’s such an unsatisfactory outcome for a like that. I said I said when Baro was up, I said, “This is the ball game.” And then they, you know, he goes out and then a pitily, you know, stupid, stupid, you know, right out in front of the plate. Perfect play for Raleigh. I mean, the easiest double play in the history of the world. Highly frustrating. Uh, but I still the Jays are getting on base every inning here and they get the leadoff guy a lot. So, there’s still hope. Yeah. Well, hey, they the Jays, you know what? Hey, they got the uh they got the starting pitcher out of the game again and they’ve been able to get to the bullpen here the last few times. So, we’ll see if they can do it again. It’s been entertaining now. I can say the Jay’s game was much more entertaining than the Oders game was last night. Oh god. I you know they just every once in a while they do this thing and I’m sure it’s like you know anybody else you go to work and not every day is a great one but I knew early when they were doing the ridiculous back passing and nobody could you know everybody was taking dangerous chances and you’re like boy you know you’re you’re have you looked at your shot suppression stats and and you’re doing so well here this isn’t how to continue it but I mean I I think that that it’s a kind of a reminder and and you know they’re well coached are highly talented team. I know everybody on planet earth who’s an Oilers fan is mad at Evan Bousard, but I I mean I stand by the guy. He is a great great player. Uh and he look he had a terrible game, but he wasn’t the only one and they’ll come back and I suspect they’ll they’ll play really well on the weekend here. LT, would you trust Evan Buchard on the Olympic team? I would but I think that the when we understand that Canada’s uh construction of Olympic teams has one of those puck movers and it’s Kale Mar uh then then it won’t be Bard. But I like I I think that you you know you when when you’re looking at winning when you’re looking at winning against another nation it’s okay to have two puck movers. It just is right. Uh but the the the way the team Canada is built it doesn’t allow for that. So it won’t happen. But I’d put Booard on the team. Yeah, he he’ll be in tough. No question. Like there’s lots of options, man. Like I I know the kid’s young, but the way Matthew Schaefer is playing now. Drew Dowy made the Olympic team in 2010. It was only 20 years of age. Like it’s not it’s not crazy to think that there might be a chance here for Schaefer the way he started his end. Like if he keeps playing like this for another 50 60 games, he might push his way onto that roster. No, I’m not saying he’ll play, but he might be like the seventh or eighth guy. Well, and also you that’s an investment in the future. I mean I if you’ve got at that age if he can even like as you say if he can hang with the team what a great experience for him right and then you you know four years from now then he’s more mature he’s got that experience and he’s that much farther ahead. I think that’d be a wise investment if he play like his minutes are crazy right now. Yeah. No. Um, what do you make of the uh five on five woes scoring that is of the orders? Well, I I saw you I heard you talking about I was driving around today aimlessly and I heard you talking about it and I I I thought, you know, like I said just before you said I said, “Well, you know, give it time.” But then you said, “Well, you say give it time, but you’re four games in and and the expectation is that this is a much better uh team at five on five than than you know, they’ve shown scoring wise.” And you know, you’re right. McDavid needs to be, you know, putting up points five on five and empty net goals and power play goals aren’t good enough. The, you know, they they talk about getting off to a fast start. I’m I’m exactly doing what you said two hours ago, but it’s all true, you know, and and I I understand not getting all head up when you’re, you know, just this many games in. And let’s face it, they’re 2-1 and one, and that’s fine. Uh but again the example you you gave which was shoot the puck and don’t pass it to Stcher. Well that’s just good business because Stchcher wasn’t prepared for it and he’s not as good a goalcorer. So that you know you you put yourself in this grand position and you’re the captain you got to put the puck on the net and I feel terrible being that critical of McDavid but it is true. Yeah. Like I’m not even sure Stetcher was prepared at that point. Like if you watch that replay, he was not in a position to receive a pass to to score. And um you know like I I think we all know is McDavid going to score more? Of course he is. It’s just it’s just I don’t I don’t think it’s a fair analysis to just say well it’s going to come w with McDavid and dry settle and you never say it about anybody else. Like at some point like they they got to get producing that’s all. Yeah. And and it’s like I know it’s early in the year and and like it would be easy for me to say like I like Tamasic but he’s got 11 high danger chances including power play and even strength and he doesn’t have any goals. So everybody’s snake bit but you know you you know there’s a chance they’re going to finish in second place two points behind Vegas. Well they took two points off their own you know record last night by playing really loose and they didn’t need to. Uh I I think that they you know they had that game in well in hand. They were playing terribly but they they were covering off enough to be able to make it happen and then it just went in the dumper. But I I you know the Oilers lost 4-2 including an empty net goal. I I think three goals should be the expectation and and a couple of five on five and they’re just not they’re just they are not scoring five on five goals right now. And it’s only four games, but it is four games. And you know, most five most games have like 45 to 50 minutes of five on five. So that is as many as 200 five on five minutes. That’s a lot. Yeah. Well, I was looking online. The top six ice guys in five on five for the orders, which is McDavid, Dry Settle, Boo Shard, Nurse, and Koulak have combined for one assist in in the first four games five on five. And then the next six guys all have at least one point and two points for Kapp and Newton Hopkins. So technically seven to 12, they’re doing all right, but your top six guys, now I know Nurse and Kulak aren’t top six guys offensively, but they’re on the ice a lot. So at some point, you know, you you got to get some production from there. I’m sure it’s going to come eventually from dry and and McDavid, but uh you know, probably sooner than later would be nice. Yeah. Yeah. And they, you know, they did start the season with the two big guns together and that makes them easier to defend, you know, and they split them up when JT Miller’s line was doing great work. And maybe that’s part of it, too. But, uh, you know, I mean, I think they’re they’re fortunate to be 2-1 and one. Uh, but it would have been nice to win that game last night and go 30 and one into this weekend. Yeah. Well, especially you’re 0 and2 against the teams that are 0 and seven against everybody else. That’s early, but that’s not a great number uh by any stretch of the imagination. Al, uh there’s of course Toronto just tied it up, boys and girls. Uh there you go. Springer double to score a barger from second base and it’s tied. But the uh the Elks coming up tonight 8:30. A must-win game for them. They’re taking on the BC Lions whose offense is very very good. Uh what what chances you give the Elks tonight? Well, I I think I because I I I’ve been kind of pushing this this idea that they’ll get into the, you know, the final week with a chance. And I think I I just think that this is a game where where you’ve worked so hard all year. I know some of these guys were were looking at professional extinction early in the year when they were not doing well. So, this is a night to push by and I do know that BC’s like they can light it up, but it’s uh it’s late game obviously and and I think that this is a game Elks have to have and I do think they’ll leak it out. I think it’ll be highscoring like 3331, but I think the Elks win it. All right. What about the Jays, Al? They going to win this. Are they going to win four straight? Well, I don’t I think it might go to seven, but I and I picked the Mariners to win and then to win the World Series, but I have a feeling about this Jay’s team. They are the bats are alive and and you know like Gimenez is like hammering the damn ball when you get seven eight and nine production like you’re getting from these guys uh for the Jays. Uh and Mariners aren’t getting anything. Uh I think that could be the difference. I think the Jays could win this thing. But tonight’s a huge game. Huge game. Yeah, it is massive. Uh awesome LT. Have yourself a great day, buddy. Have a good weekend. All right, boys. Be good. There you go. That is uh Alan Mel Kao Todd. When we return uh we’re going to pay homage to a guy who did a ton for the sporting community, John Sexmith. We’ll talk to a guy who uh knew him very well next on the Gregor Show presented by Play Alberta. I’m Jean Prince Bay for Legacy Heating and Ghouling. 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And uh earlier today uh some sad news in the sporting community as John Sexmith after a courageous battle for over 13 years uh with cancer uh passed away at the age of uh 63. our deepest condolences to his wife Joanne and son Joel who is going to play tonight in honor of his father as a member of the University Golden Bears and co-orker of John’s for many many years really good friend of his of course our our morning show host Kevin Caris joins us now and uh Kev obviously you know what I know I changed text message but uh I know you and Johnny were really tight for a long long time and um this is this is definitely a tough day hope you’re doing well. Yeah, you know, uh, you know, thanks a lot, Gregs. I mean, and I mean, what a a day where it’s it’s so sad, but I mean, all the great memories just being flooding in and all the guys that have been texting and calls and um really remarkable and that just shows you just how much um that John meant to to our city. And I mean, and I I mean that in in a real real sincere way because uh uh like even at the last 20 minutes of our show this morning, Dave Jameson came on and and Dave hired Johnny. He was the first guy that Johnny was hired by by David Ched and and Dave said, you know, Johnny almost led like three or four lives because he was so into so many things even to the very end. like but even if you go back the last time that we saw him I think uh it was the same it was at the Kates Memorial right? Yeah. And I said well okay we’ll sit around have a little you know discussion after dinner and you know that round table and everything. He goes well no I got to go to Calgary because I’m coaching the kids. Yeah. You know that just I was like oh man oh man Johnny. So he was so selfless and he just loved hockey and sports and being a part of everything uh in the sense that he he gave so much of himself. He never cared one little iota about himself and he he he showed that to Joel and obviously everyone else. And um I’m going to be that’s why I said to you I got to get out of here by like 5 to 6 because I’m going to the game tonight and uh you know I I can’t wait to see see that and be be supportive of uh of Joel playing tonight as you said off the top. Yeah. And you know Johnny was a lot of things but like he was pretty funny. Kev like what what is some of like as a coworker? What was like one of your funny memories that stands out for Johnny? Well I told this story with Dave a couple of times now. Uh, so I got here in 1998 and John had been at ITB at the time for a few years. He was the third person I met when I came into the building. First guy was Mark Jan who technically hired me. Tim Spely was sort of the second guy that hired me. Yeah. And John was the third guy. And you know, actually we hit it off right right away. Um, but we had this thing called the Wick Cup back. Yeah. Oh yeah. So what it was was ITV, we had Red Deer TV, we had Ched, we had um Calgary TV and then the the uh TV station out of Vancouver. Everyone would come together. Uh we had 10 guys on our team at the time and and Johnny said and Johnny was a really good hockey player. A lot of people Johnny went to Notre Dame. He was a hell of a hockey player. Yeah. And he goes he goes listen and this is Johnny’s coach coming out. He said this is how it’s going to work. They got 10 guys. You’re going to be on the ice at all times or I’m going to be on the ice at all times. Five and five. You’re going to be on, I’m going to be on. I said, “Perfect. Sounds good to me, Johnny. I mean, I’m 2, three months in here.” And then he goes, “Uh,” and I didn’t really know about his intensity of coaching in hockey. And about two games into this tournament, about four guys say to me, “You got to talk to Johnny. You got to talk to him.” I go, “What do you mean?” “Well, he’s flipping out on us. He’s going bananas. But I was on the ice. Johnny’s on the bench giving it to all the guys that he was on the ice with. And then we came into the room and he goes, “You got any stick wax?” Like, you know, tape, you know, wax or stick? I go, “Yeah, yeah.” And I thought, I don’t know what. He closes the door. He slams the door and he makes a rink on the back of the old rinks back. Oh, we’re talking 25, 27 years ago. And he draws a rink and he starts chirping at all these guys going, “You got to do this, you got to do that.” And we got three or four editors that can barely skate and they’re looking at me and going, “What are we doing here?” And Johnny’s just like he was so he wanted to just like he loved talking hockey and expressing everything else that he knew about and just I mean it was unreal. Those are memories and that’s 26 27 years ago. Yeah. No, he was uh it was always intense. Uh no question. He always had a good line. And he loved his puns. He was like the pun guy before Jean came. And those two would get together and it was like, “Oh my god.” Like, “Yeah, Hueie and Dewey on the puns with those two.” He was the best writer uh in sports that I’ve ever seen or read or whatever else you want to say it. He could write copy like no one else. Yeah. Uh he used to give me um crap and say if you’re doing the six o’clock copy, you got to change it for 11. A lot of people would always say, “Well, just we’ll just rerun it.” Run. And that’s where TV is now. And and I’ll I’ll say one thing and and so many guys have reached out uh in the business uh including Jay Durant. You remember Jay? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Um, when when I got here in ’98, Jay was here and Johnny was here. And I I’m I I’m not I I’ll go to the grave saying this. The three of us had a department that rivaled because Sportsnet at the time was just getting going. Yeah. But we are our our halfhour show at night because of Jay and Johnny and Johnny’s stories, the way he told stories, no one has told stories like that in broadcasting for video. uh they might tell it uh and we’ve had you know you talk about Ruben, you talk about all these guys, but when you got to put the pictures to it, Johnny put pictures to words together that we haven’t seen before. Yeah. And I don’t know if we’ve seen since because it doesn’t work like that anymore. No. And he would do it, Kev, not just for the pros. He would do it at the, you know, for uh for high school football and for for UFA and Nate and and he could tell, he could any story he treated every didn’t matter if it was, you know, amateur sports or pro sports. How he did his stories I felt was always at the exact same level. He loved those stories more because as you know, as you know, those stories are better because people are willing to open up a little bit more. Yeah. The pro guy, the pro guys are like they’re a little closed off when you get those other stories. And John, you know, I could go through a hundred stories um that he did. And the other one thing that the one thing I want to mention, and this is before I even got here, he did a thing with Louis de Bruskin. Uh and this would have been uh I’m thinking 95ish, 96, and it was around Halloween, and Louie came on and they did all the spookiest, scariest Halloween movies and things like that. And I’m going to talk to Louis about it here in the next few days, but this is a a must-see video and I’m I don’t know if uh Global would release it or whatever, but Louie was on there. John had everything to do with that. It was unreal. Really. Well, hopefully they do. I’ll have to uh talk to them. They should bring it out if it’s that good. I’d love uh I’d love to see it. So, uh I know you got to get going, Kev. I really appreciate you coming on sharing some thoughts about uh John and Obi. Emotional night uh for Joel, his wife Joanne tonight. uh you know at the game, his first game without his dad there. He’ll be there in spirit. His dad loved hockey. And I love the fact that Joel is playing because knowing Johnny he’d have been like, “What do you mean you’re not playing? You’re playing.” So he’ll be in there tonight and he’ll be very proud of his son. It It’s funny how you say that. Like I had hockey today at noon and I was thinking, “Wow, should I go?” And I was Johnny would have kicked my ass if I wouldn’t went. Yeah, exactly. So that’s what he would like. 100%. Uh thanks Dick. Have a good one, my man. Thanks for having me on, Grids. You betcha. That’s Kevin Carris, of course, host of the Kevin Caris show here on the mornings from 7 till 11. And yeah, people going to the game tonight. It’ll be a little bit more emotional for sure as uh Joel and his teammates going to play in honor of John Sexmith who did, you know, wrote and broadcast so many stories of local sports and professional sports for man over 30 years in Edmonton. It was amazing. The fitting tribute to your to his dad to be able to play tonight, too, right? Oh, well it’s you know what it’s and for those he’s not be thinking about his dad that often during the game maybe intermission and stuff but you know when the game’s on like he’ll probably be thinking of all the you know the experiences and conversations he’s had with dad and he’ll be like okay you know what tonight like man I’m guessing he is going to be flying in that game tonight like just because you know what you got so much emotion to want to make your father proud he’s going to be proud regardless but you just feel like man I got a little extra to give tonight and I’m sure that that will be a the Drake will be rocking so you might want to uh check it out if you’re looking for some hockey to uh watch tonight. Uh quick update, Jays and the uh Mariners, as we kind of thought, uh lower scoring game tonight. It’s uh 1-1 heading to the top of the six. Gosman is still in the game. The the Mariners have gone to their bullpen and you know, we’ll see that that’s part of it for sure. And you know, Gosman’s pitching very well. I think he’s got like 76 72. So he’s he’s got some time here. the way he’s going. I think, hey, the deeper you go, there’s no reason to pull him out unless he starts to get suddenly get in trouble. But he’s shown no signs of of haltering thus far. So, it’s a it’s a good start for him. And, you know, the Jays, hey, that that base is loaded. No outs one. Maybe it comes back. We’ll see. But now the game’s 1-1. They got to move forward. Elks coming up tonight. Can watch it on TSN. 8:30 is when they start big game. Looking forward to that to watch it. Oilers tomorrow. We got the pregame show here on Sports 14:40. Then we got the pregame show again and postgame show Saturday. Pregame show on Sunday. Then we’ll have the Jay’s game six Sunday. Listen to it live on sports 1440. On behalf of one Gretz Connor Hley as well as Declan Krueger. Thanks everybody for the week. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching on YouTube, Facebook and X and listening at sports 1440. Please don’t drink and drive. Don’t weed and drive. Get home safe. Enjoy all the sports. Have loads of fun. Let’s get to the con man and a sports 1440 update brought to you by Northgate, Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC in the month of October. They continue to help feed families. For every truck sold, they will feed a family of four. So check it out, northgategm.com or stop in in person and go for a test drive. Good night. This is a sports 1440 update. Week going the CFL gets going tonight. Els out in BC taking on the Lions. That’ll start at 8:30. Coming up in about 10 minutes time, you got Bombers and Sask from Winnipeg in the majors right now. Top of the sixth, tied at one a piece. Alejandro Kirk leading off the inning with a stand up double. Later on tonight, you got Dodgers from Los Angeles. The Dodgers can wrap it up with a win in the NHL after 20 minutes. Red Wings lead the Lightning 1- nothing and the Cavs up on the Wild one- nothing as well. Later on, Blackhawks host the Canucks and the Sharks in Utah. The Oil Kings on the road in PA take on the Raiders that gets going at 7. BCHL got Sher Park in Kquitland taking on the Express just after 8. And in the AJ four games tonight, including Cameron taking on Canmore, Devon and Bonavville and Fort M hosting GP. Golden Bears hockey this evening. They’ll take on UBC down at the Drake tomorrow as well. Both games at 7:00. As far as football goes, the Regina Rams in town tomorrow 2:00 at Footfield. Also, Panda soccer taking on Mchuan down at Clark Stadium tomorrow at noon. And sad news to pass along longtime Edmonton journalist and sport caster John Smeck has passed away after an extensive battle with cancer. John began his career in Edmonton in 1990, winning a national journalist award in 2014. He was actively involved in the community as a hockey coach with organizations like Sports Central and the Alberta Cancer Foundation. That’s going to do it for us here on the Jason Greger Show. Coming up next, it’s Fox Sports Radio. All night long, live local coverage resumes tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. with a Saturday sports setup. I’m Connor Hi. This has been a Sports 1440 update. This is Sports 1440, a Stingray radio station broadcasting on Treaty6 territory. Download the free iHeart Radio app and listen to CKJR wherever
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