#221. Fleury is the Wild Goalie to Close the Regular Season (with Play-by-Play Joe O’Donnell)

How did Minnesota Wild radio play-by-play voice Joe O’Donnell spring Kirill Kaprizov’s hot streak a few seasons back? And which non-Wild goalie should Kirsten cheer for? We dive into those questions, and take a peek at Cawlidge Hawkey regionals all in this week’s ep.

All in this week’s episode, created by new voice studios, presented by SotaStick, brought to you by Talk North, Jim Beam, Livea, Grain Belt and Royal Credit Union this is season 5 episode 221.

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How did Minnesota Wild Radio play By Play Voice? Joe O’Donnell Spring. Kirill Kaprizov Hot streak a few seasons back in which non wild goalies should Kirsten cheer for. We dive into those questions and take a peek at college hockey regionals, all in this week’s episode. As always, represented by soda stick

Brought to you by Talk North Green Belt, Royal Credit Union, Jim Beam and Libya. This is season five Episode 221 New Drop Alert The Minnesota Wild Celebrate. Honor Marc-Andre Fleury 1,000th game and you can get in on the memorabilia action

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Paramount’s concessions and. I’m guessing a writer for NHL icon Cheese Curse and Cruel face of Minnesota wild hockey and amongst other things. We’ll get into that later. And Joe O’Donnell, The voice of Minnesota wild hockey. Now the face. We’re going to add you into the face grouping now.

Joe, welcome. It’s nice to see you. For those of us watching on the YouTube version. Thanks for having me. You know, when we can go camera on and I can get my technology in order to do this for you guys. Pleasure’s all mine.

I wasn’t going to chirp you, but now I am. Tell us what happened. That limited. Incapacitated. Did we get an operator error or was it. What was. It? It was user error. I was just EMF in the world. Failed technology, new laptop. And it turned out to just be my fault.

Yeah, but I stayed with it. Jesse. That’s the important thing. I stayed with it on this Monday morning and I was able to grind through my issues and figure it out. And he’s willing to admit his mistakes. You know what? Accountability. We got to hold ourselves accountable. You know, the Minnesota

Wild holding themselves somewhat accountable for their play. As of late this whole season, Joe, has been such a roller coaster. It’s kind of frustrating not for us to watch night in and night out because you don’t know what you’re going to get.

You do know that you’re going to get a minnesota wild squad that’s working hard. But all in all, what do you make of this year for the Minnesota Wild team? Injuries aside, but just performance wise, what do you think? Well, I think I mean,

You can’t factor in the performance without talking about the injuries. But I would say like dark cloud lingering over the team since the preseason. And it’s not that they played poorly in the preseason. If you remember, they had their usual wagon of a preseason, but when Jared SPURGEON got hurt that day

In Chicago United Center, that at the tail end, I think there’s maybe one preseason game left. You know, it doesn’t come back till middle of November and only ends up playing 16 games. Just feels like any time this team has gotten any traction, they’ve had an injury or an issue.

Any time they’ve gained ground on the teams you’re chasing during this kind of frenetic post All-Star Game push, somebody else has gone on a winning streak like they just literally they can’t get the puck to bounce their way. I mean,

I can’t think of a season where it’s been this much sort of like, I don’t wanna say distractions, but just like things that you feel like you can’t control that have sort of upended your season. So that’s been crazy. It’s been frustrating, I’m sure, for the players and the coaches give them credit.

Ten games left, 11 games left in the regular season. They’re still mathematically in it and I think they have taken accountability for some of their their issues this year, their slow start. Dean Everson getting relieved of his duties. You heard the players kind of very openly admit that they weren’t good enough.

So we’ll see where this goes from here the rest of the way. But, you know, I do give the guys credit for for battling hard right till the end here. We’ll see if they can pull off a miraculous, you know, winning streak late to get in the playoffs.

But it’s just been one of those years. It seems like nothing, nothing wants to go their way. And you mentioned you hit the nail on the head on a lot of different issues that they’ve had. One of the biggest criticisms the wild teams receive this season is that

When they have eyes on them, when they’re playing big games like must win games, most recently against the L.A. Kings and get blown out six zero. What do you make of that when you see it? That’s tough because that you know, I don’t know who else you put that on, right?

I mean, I guess you could say maybe the roster’s not as deep as you would hope to get through those injuries. And when you’re not at 100% the play with the big boys, how do you fare? But those are just excuses. At the end of the day, you go to Nashville

When you’re I think it was four back of them in the standings or six back like you were right there with a win and you get thumped. And then I think they had the first goal in that game and gave up the next six. So then you’re talking to games in Saint Louis.

They didn’t win the game in L.A. The effort was there, but just nothing again went their way. And you get beat six, nothing. So yeah, there’s been big games, you know, they’ve beaten. I give them credit, they’ve taken care of the cupcakes. That’s right.

When you look at when you look post all star break, there’s not one game against Arizona or Anaheim or San Jose at this point that they did not win. And that’s what you have to do when you’re in the spot there and you can’t have a night off against the bottom feeders.

However, when they played the big boys or teams that are currently in a playoff spot or close to a playoff spot, it hasn’t always been the result they’re looking for. So that’s disappointing. Kirsten John Hynes addressed it after the game in Nashville, said there were too many passengers.

We’ve had about a month go by now. They haven’t won those huge games. At the end of the day, you can look to a few hiccups along the way. They all stick out to me like if you’re like me, a game in November, they should have had or could have had

Or give me a game in February that really pisses you off. I can rattle them off for you because they’re that close. I mean, a couple more wins along the way any month, October, November, when they struggled, when everybody was hurt. December, January.

Find a way to win any of those games or two of them or points in two of them. And all of a sudden the last ten games feel a lot more realistic for getting into the playoffs. That’s the frustrating part because they are close.

They’re not, you know, 20 games below 500 and drafting in the top five. You know, I’ve been asking John Haynes for the past couple of games now if must win has entered the vocabulary and win that needs to enter the vocabulary for Minnesota, because obviously they’re not dumb.

Right? They see the standings, they see where they’re at. But do you feel like they’re entering with the right mindset that, you know, you have to win? Because basically at this point you do have to win out. You are still six points back from Vegas in your idol for the next four days

Before they finally get to play again. I mean, basically that is the mentality they need to have. Do you think that they have that right mindset? I mean, hopefully they get Julius back. Hopefully Jonas Brodin is going to go as well by then, so that will certainly help.

But how do you feel that they’re approaching the final push here at the end of the regular season? Well, I think you’re fair to ask the question and keep asking it, Jesse. And I think that internally the players know, the coaches know, right. They’ve set little goals for themselves.

You know, this many games, we got to get this many points. But the second you say to the guys, we have to win tonight, if you don’t, then what? Then what do you tell them the next ten games? I mean, you have to kind of keep that carried out. They’re dangling

That there’s still more hockey to be played. I think he showed it’s must win mode when he pulled the goalie in overtime against Nashville at home just a couple of weeks back. Right. If that doesn’t tell you it’s a must win mode. I don’t know what does.

But the second it coach says to the media, we have to win tonight or the second the coaches, the players, we have to win tonight and they don’t for whatever reason, bad call, you know, whatever terrible goaltending, whatever it is, something

Out of your control, then I feel like you have no cards left to play. So you know I think they’re approaching it as must win. They understand with 11 games left they probably have to win nine, maybe more like ten or as some people have posted on Twitter that cover the team.

If you go 11 and no, you have a chance to beat Vegas, you start looking at that. It gets very daunting. Let’s take a minute to talk about that upcoming stretch to win remaining games this season. Two games against Vegas, they’re playing Seattle.

How do you think that they’re going to fare in this final push? Well, the two games against Vegas are obviously must wins the game against L.A. You know, the final road game of the year. We’ll see if that one is still mathematically important for either or both teams. That’s the must win.

You got to beat San Jose when they come to town. You play San Jose there mean again at this point they’re all they’re all must wins. He said it. He said it to make. To make Jesse happen which we always try to do appreciate it but you know

The Vegas games Kirsten those are they’re just ginormous. But by the time you play Vegas on Saturday coming up, Vegas is already going to play two cup. More games are going to make up some of those games in hand. You could be eight or ten points back.

And then honestly, do those games matter as much for Vegas? Probably not right there. They’re sitting pretty at that point, unless Saint Louis is right on their heels. So take the golden Knights and Blues play tonight, if I’m not mistaken. You know, over time, we need a regulation game.

And I guess at this point, you want Saint Louis to win because you have Vegas twice. I don’t know. Or maybe you want Vegas to win because you control your own destiny against them. So but look, end of the day, I said earlier

The while to put themselves in the spot, you can make up all the excuses you want. They just weren’t consistent enough this year to to put themselves in a better spot here as we near April. I mean, that’s the frustrating part. They they’re controlling their destiny as best they can.

I give them all the credit in the world to the way that they are giving this final push at the end, making it exciting, keeping people engaged in the squad. But you need other teams to falter. And right now they’re not. I mean, they’re going to be playing their best hockey.

You had mentioned excuse me, goaltending, which I feel like it’s time for me to punch down that door. What do you make of Philip Gustafson season thus far? Obviously, he gets the contract extension this year. He had a great year last year, but coming in,

I think at least from our perspective, the expectation was Philip Gustafson is your starting goaltender. He’s going to get the lion’s share of games and Marc-Andre Fleury would be a backup and it hasn’t really played out that way, not only because of the injury to Gus early on in the year,

But Marc-Andre Fleury has performed better, especially as of late. If I’m John Hynes, heading into this final stretch, you give Fleury all the big games and Gus, you know, you toss a cupcake or two here like San Jose. But I think Fleury, to me, is the number one.

How are you breaking down the goaltending situation? So I’m actually going to disagree with you and here’s why I’m going off the I test right now. And the last couple of times Gus has been in net, he’s looked like Philip. Gus is and we saw last year. So to take your question,

It was very broad and I and I like where we’re going here. But if I’m going to look at it like the 10,000 foot view or whatever, Philip Gustafson has not had a good enough season. I expected some regression like 2.1 goals against average Vezina trophy nominee essentially last year.

Top five save percentage. I knew that there had to be somewhere in between the Ottawa Philip Gustafson and Philip Gustafson from last year. It’s been closer though, to not good enough Philip Gustafson for the wild save percentage under 90%. Like you just can’t have that if you’re going to win games.

Now the NHL again, I’m going to be long winded here, so my apologies. NHL save percentage is down one of the lowest marks in decades. Most of the teams, I think the median or the mean, whatever that is, I’m not a math guy. Whatever the whatever the middle is, that’s like

I think it’s like, gosh, 905 maybe now it’s going to drive me crazy because I looked at it the other day. My point is it’s say percentages are down across the NHL. But Philip Gustafson is way down from last year. If you had said this to me two weeks ago, Jesse,

Maybe even ten days ago, I would have agreed wholeheartedly. It’s Fleury every night to his legs fall off. The last couple times out, though, Gus in Colorado, Gus, albeit in Anaheim and Gus in relief of Fleury in L.A., has looked, as I like to say,

And the late great Stuart Scott, you says, calls the other side of the pillow. Okay. When you have calm, poised Philip Gustafson, he gives you the best chance to win. I give Flower a ton of credit. He’s played better than I thought he would this year.

This recent stretch he had, he was the better goalie. He deserved all those starts, the passion he plays with. I feel like the team really rallied around him for like a three or four week span. He’s a big reason they had that 18 point string. I don’t think he should retire.

And maybe if you’d asked me four months ago, I might have felt differently. But I think he has game left. I hope he sticks it out. Sticks around in Minnesota and gives it another year. But right now I would play Philip Gustafson Thursday against San Jose.

I’d play him again Saturday against Vegas, and I would ride him until he loses. At this point the year I’m at the mindset where if you win, then that’s yours because you have no other choice but to stay with that mantra.

I don’t think there’s many back to backs left, maybe one or two. But at this point I would go Gus and see what you have. I mean, Fleury’s had the last couple of cracks out in L.A. and St Louis, and they didn’t win either game, not blaming him,

But the reality is right now, whoever wins, I’d give them that, too. What do you think of all that, Jesse? I’m just formulating it. My thoughts appropriately. No, I think it’s Marc-Andre Fleury, isn’t it? I think he’s proven more to me. You’re right. I think the recent two outings

And sure in relief, I admittedly went to bed in that game. I didn’t watch the rest of that. It was a travesty. I was like, I don’t even care. I was getting too angry and too heated for 11:00 at night. I was just done with it. Right? Understand? No.

So I didn’t see a whole lot of him in that there. But I don’t I don’t have the trust in Filip Gustafson that I do in Marc-Andre Fleury. You know what I mean? I think putting him in, you’re right, I think unless he goes in.

But the problem with writing him as quote unquote a hot handed, if they win against San Jose, I don’t think it should be. Gustafson being the reason they win, right. They should beat San Jose pretty handily on their own. So I don’t know that.

Sure, I would come back to Gus then on Saturday, given the context of that win on Thursday. I think right now Marc-Andre Fleury is playing well and in there is there’s more of a confidence. I think that’s the struggle I have to. Filip Gustafson As you mentioned

Last year, the reason he was so successful, he was so chill. And this year you’re seeing a very different mental side of him, even when he speaks to us. Post-Game, you know, he’s kind of got a different attitude. He’s taking these losses a little bit differently than he did last year,

Which I think is obviously affecting his play. But I would say. Marc-Andre Fleury, I just I mean, I adore him. First of all, let’s get that out of the way. Right? I just he’s behind Jon Gibson. He’s my he’s my goal. He’s my guy.

I love Jon Gibson to bring him away. Why, John? I don’t know. You know what? There’s a number of reasons. I’ll be admit he’s he’s a good looking gentleman that I enjoy looking. He’s got this sultry ness to him. And I just want to guess I should have. I should have guessed.

But there’s there’s a reason. I made sure to send her some snaps from Anaheim of him in Ness. Because he never play, hasn’t played against Minnesota. It’s just very sad. I love him. I want to save him from Anaheim because I think he’s also a very good goaltender.

He’s an American goalie, which I also particularly adore, but that’s neither here nor there. We’re talking Marc, Andre. Sorry. Hang on. One. Yes, By the way, Kirsten, I see post-game. We’re like on the bus to L.A. and I see snaps you at your first wild road game. Mm. Thanks for the heads up.

Well, I was at Honda Center about this. I was at Honda Center. I know you were. You know my girl, Alexis. I saw that on the wild Instagram. Yeah, she’s awesome. Alexis Dallas. Great. I love Alexis. But, like, really, like, no, Hey, we’re we’re in the building. Little heads up.

Well, I think I’m on. This press box. I don’t know. I don’t know what you could have done. Would you have put her on air? I thought everyone knew. I didn’t stop talking about it. You know, there. See. Tom would have loved to have had you.

I mean, I’m speaking for him, of course, but of course. You know. It’s you know, I was a little rattled. This won’t be my last road trip. I’m going to say that I will find another one to go on, mainly because I need another vacation one. Well, not this year, but next year.

Okay, idea. Can you save us two seats on the charter for the next. Oh, sure. I mean, yeah, this. This past trip actually had no national. Do you have to pick a trip or national or or Bally’s doesn’t travel because the national TV games it opens up quite a few seats.

Yeah you guys can just. Just sign and we’ll just let. People know. Kevin Greg’s got a nice tan. He used his break to go to Arizona. Yeah, I know. This girl or no. Sat by a pool. Yeah, he does hope as he should and. And enjoyed himself.

Oh, we’ll find out Thursday. He’ll come in hot. He always does. Always does. That’s just. That’s one of the best things I got to say. But I know you’re derailed. My conversation about Marc-Andre Fleury is going to start the rest of the games. That’s all we’re saying. That’s all I’m saying.

I just again, I look at the I test your point about how you should beat San Jose with me and net you and that. Okay, I get it. But I was just use the eye test from the San Jose game of Gus’s Thursday and looks like Gus calm cool collected

Not a lot of big rebounds and you win for 21322 I’d start him again. Because I was I will admit this and Kirsten can attest to this the beginning of the year I, I held back my criticisms on the goaltending the goaltending struggle, but the entire team struggled

And I looked at the defense as a bigger part of the problem. I think defense was really faltering for a long stretch there. So I reserved a lot of my criticisms for goalies until probably January. And then I was like, I am so done with this.

This is just frustrating because I expected more, I think Tell me if I’m wrong, do you reevaluate the contracts that you signed Gustafson to this off season and kind of take a look, especially because, as you had mentioned, I don’t think Marc-Andre Fleury is done watching him, not only just his capabilities,

But mentally he is not ready to say, I am done playing hockey. And I do think he likes it here. Obviously, he’s got a relationship with Bill Guerin and he would be a hell of a mentor for yes, for Volstead. So I’m just I’m just thinking out loud. I’ve said it numerous times.

What are your takes, Joe, on off season? Philip Gustafson Well, I think it’s something that has to be considered. Knowing Bill Guerin He doesn’t sit pat any time, so I’d be shocked if he isn’t considering, you know, all options,

Whether it be you come back and Gus, for one more year and give Volstead an extra year in the American League, which doesn’t hurt a thing, possibly moving to help Gus in the off season. If somebody wants to give you something of value.

But I would think, you know, if it was me, I would want a draft pick and a player possibly because look, the wild need bodies hopefully on the cheap. But I don’t know. I think right now again I haven’t done enough homework on Phillip or not Yes for Volstead down Iowa

When I’ve talked to folks down there I’ve gotten the like yeah he’s been great. You know for the most part he’s been great. Gives a very average team due to depth issues. Right. They don’t have a great line up in in large part because Minnesota has taken all their players right.

Like let’s make sure that’s very much out there. I feel bad for Brett McClain. He hasn’t got much of a fair shot in year one because the lineup they penciled in for Iowa from September hasn’t taken the ice one time all season. Like legit the lineup board.

I’ve talked to Coach Mac about this like their board their perfect scenario for opening night they literally haven’t had it one time so you got to remember that when you’re looking at the Iowa players stats and the record and those things, like it’s just it’s been a tough year for them.

So I think it’s hard to avail. Evaluate yes. For false that based on that. But every time I’ve been like, how’s he doing? I’ve gotten like a thumbs up kind of report. So he’s doing well, He’s playing well. He’s keeping that team afloat a lot of games.

I don’t know if that means he’s NHL ready. There’s some talk. Will we see him maybe the last couple of Minnesota wild games if they’re mathematically out of it, that would make some sense, right? Let’s see if that Dallas stinker where the kid was thrown to the wolves

In his NHL debut, you know, was just a blip on the radar. Give him a little bit of confidence at this level. Let him see what it’s like, you know, a few more days around the team at this level can’t hurt. And I think from that standpoint, it’ll help him understand

When he goes into the summer or maybe I need to improve this area of my game or I need to work on this. Having seen NHL shots, you know, for more than just three periods in Dallas. Jasper has the cool, calm collectivist that Gus had last year.

That’s what I’ve gotten from him, right? Like, I think that’s what also gives me a confidence that he’ll be just fine. Like even after that absolute trouncing, I mean, which wasn’t his fault. It was a shitty situation, but I also get it too, right? But I do.

I think what I can give you, I can give you the sorry to cut you out and give you the scale. Not sorry for Volstead if you want. Yes, I am sorry. Let me see if I can find this for you. Okay. This was going into his NHL debut.

I’m just going to read you a couple snippets from Richard Bachman, the Iowa wild goalie contract. I texted him, I’ll just give you some of the key words. Mature, great feel for his game starts with his calm and control demeanor, internal competitive drive. I mean, this is a lengthy text message night.

Richard Bachman loves this kid. Yeah, right. So, you know they focused on his pace of movements like things are working on like this kid is legit and when I when I see things like internal drive and calm demeanor he’s only 21. Like, there’s no need to rush. Right.

And that’s funny for me to say, because I think two years ago I was like, Let’s get this kid up here. You know. He you get. Him in North America, get him up here. But if you look, there are plenty of, you know, NHL goalies

That have spent a lot of time in the American American Hockey League. I had an NHL stat sent me a list of goalies with like at least 100 NHL games played in their career and at least like 100 NHL wins.

I think it was because I want to see like, who are some guys that really marinated down there before coming up? And there are quite a few gold. Like you say. Saros was in Milwaukee. It felt like forever because Park Arena was, you know, log jamming, national goal crease.

I remember talking to Davison about Saros countless times in the minors. He’s like, This guy’s an NHL goalie. There’s just no room for him because Rene plays 65 games a year. So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Volstead sticking it out down there. Another season.

If Fleury’s interested in returning and just run it back with Gus and. Flaherty, I’ll give you some credit. You wanted Volstead pulled up when it was Capital Callinan and Cam Talbot as a tandem, I imagine, which I wouldn’t. Know because I love Capo. Okay. All right. He’s got a soft spot.

You you talk about loving John Gibson Capos, my guy. We go way back. I feel left out now. I feel like I need to find a goalie. That idea of. Let’s think of one. Okay, so basically work on this. Anyone in the league is in the running to be my favorite, I guess.

Or actually you guys already have picked is yours. Like I have to be different. Do Lucas Dostal. Dale Dostal. Josh Lucas. Alexis has spoken very highly. Is the sweetest kid I’ve ever met. We can’t have both of you guys loving ducks. I want. This is also very true. I just.

But he’s good. Sounds like me. One. I know. I can’t even say it. I was going to say Saros would maybe be like on the I hate the horse. I can’t because of my hatred for dollars. You know how much I hate the Dallas Stars? Let’s hear.

I want to know. We could do an entire podcast. Let’s do this. Let’s let’s talk about it. Right now, though, like and it’s like a little bit of like you get like the Scaries, like Enterprise Center in Saint Louis and that that stars building down there in Dallas.

Like you go in, there is a visiting team and when you lose in a playoff series to somebody, I’m assuming this is where it stems from. I mean, I just hate Dallas in general, but like from a hockey standpoint, I’m like rattled in those buildings. Like you’ve had you’ve been scarred, right? Yeah.

Like this is coming from Eagles fan. You’re you’re just these fans get you. It’s not the fans okay it’s just that the hockey the wild have lost playoff series to the blues and the stars back to back years since trap since I’ve been with the team and it’s like scarring It’s jarring

To go to those buildings now, like you, you know the goal song The horn feels like they have the upper hand in the rivalry right now. Like I just get rattled going to those buildings. I feel too, with those businesses, there’s two groups of people.

There are the fans and there are the locals, and the locals talk the most crap. Well, Dallas, we know, talks a lot of trash there. Social media team. Oh, that was. Aggressive. They’re cutthroat. Do you see somebody show me what they did. Arizona Coyotes. Yeah, I did. Roadkill. Yeah. Picture roadkill.

Like part of me. Just like I hope the SPCA just hammers on them. I mean, they. I am, but I like what was the end game here? Like, this wasn’t going to go over well. They doubled down something. It wasn’t even a coyote. At some point, the tide will turn. Dallas.

I know. Remember cursing. The Air Force. Person? I did a man on the street thing with wild fans last year. I can’t if it was game one or Game three, something like that. But like one fan was like in their arena.

It’s sticky and it smells and it’s more like, where did that come from? I feel like we’re just trying to find things to hate. Other than Ryan Suter about the Dallas Stars Arena. Dallas They’ll be good for a long time. I think, you know, the next few years you don’t see them changing

Right between JR Robertson whatever he’s going to. But some point that time will turn and I hope the rest of the NHL remembers just how cutthroat the Dallas stars have been lately on social media. Maybe that’ll be my next road trip. Also, I’m willing to create a burner account

To do some mad chirps to maybe specifically to the Dallas Stars. I think you’d fit in down there with the cowboy boots and the cowboy hat for a game. I think so too. I’ll bring them out. I’ll bring them out. But in a wild jersey. Yeah, absolutely. I need to be someone.

I don’t know where you go from there, though. There’s not really another close. You couldn’t, like, piggyback to another city very easily. Oh, that’s a good point to make. You could do the NHL tour, though, and go see a game in Cedar Park, Texas. An easy charm there, isn’t there?

Like some NHL squads, right? There’s like a thousand Central League teams down there, I think. Yeah. See, back in the good old days, we had Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Oklahoma City. Rampage. And you could do the old, you know, bounce around. Yeah. Three games in three days. No big deal. It’s awful.

Yeah, it was terrible. Yeah, pretty terrible. Eight hour bus ride. Oklahoma City. No, no, thank you. Not fun. Yeah, I did that from. Ages. For college. I just derailed the whole question segment again. I’m good at this, huh? Yeah. It’s taken you guys off your. Train, but that’s what we like.

We don’t really usually like to get too serious Sometimes, you know, sometimes it’s kind of fun. I can’t do serious stuff. Yeah, no, we can’t. Well, in. There’s too much of that. You know what? We want to get in the weeds. You can go listen a result, whatever you want to do.

We’re just here to have some fun, talk some hockey. And we know. Wait, so this brings up a question I need to ask. I need your take. I, I okay. Who you like? Are you going to ask me Who on the team do you think is the best at making spaghetti?

Well, better be LA Terry or Luchini. Luchini sounds. Like Lucci. And he said No. I have inside information. Yeah, we via Paul Fletcher, who sent a. Text hold on. Hold on, Let me. In. Luciani confirmed that I think. I don’t know. Who is it? Allegedly, I thought it was Matt Zuccarello.

Oh, apparently he’s second best. He’s up there. Marcus Foligno allegedly. Apparently he’s also Italian. I had no tell. You this Italian. His wife is. So I feel like she’s the the the chef. He makes his own pasta. Apparently. Wow, That’s impressive. Coming from the words via text to Paul Fletcher himself.

Marcus, you know, says he’s the best. So you know what I’m doing on Thursday morning? You can help me personally. I think that could be a little bit of moose. Just being moose, which is like an alpha male love the guy to death, but it could be him. Like, obviously I’m the best.

You know. I see that. Spaghetti has to be his flaw. I don’t know, man. Moose seems like a pretty buttoned up dude, but I feel like, you know, I feel like he’s the type of guy that would never admit that he’s second place in anything to. So I feel like he’s probably,

Regardless of the correct answer, Moose is like, I’m the guy. I don’t agree with it. I don’t. He throws Michael his name in the ring. He did. And that I could see. Okay. So I Yeah, but he’s probably being honest about that. Right. Right.

You know, I mean, like he’s he’s giving you a real answer, but then he’s also like, at the end of the day, it’s me. Yeah, there’s food conversations. Opens up a great transition for me. Are you ready, Joe? What did you do to Kirill Kaprizov?

Once upon a time that actually sprung him into some hot takes. And it has to do with food. Please share with our audience, if you don’t mind. I do mind. I should have never told this story in the first place. First, you told it in confidence, but then you went on.

Why would you have told everybody so now it’s here to share. Speaking of Dallas, Yeah, we were in Dallas. It was pregame meal, like breakfast before you go to morning skate. And they have like an egg station, right?

You place your order, you wait a few minutes, you go grab it from the guy. They’re great. I think I usually I almost always go like, scrambled, whatever. I don’t do an omelet. I just like a couple eggs, scrambled cheese, whatever. So I order my scrambled eggs.

I wait a few minutes, I go back and the guy, as I’m walking up, hands me a plate, me get my hands up here, hands me a plate. And they’re like, you know, over medium or over easy or whatever, but I’m not going to their eggs.

So I take them, I go back and I set them down on the plate. And then I think I go to like a catch out, which I’ve been told is gross for whatever awful, Like I’m ready to be destroyed. And as I’m like

Walking back, I don’t know, to or from the ketchup area or whatever the press off’s like essentially, like, did you take my eggs? Like, are those my eggs? Are those your eggs? I forget a phrase that I blacked out and I was like, Oh, God. And then I think he was like, What?

You know, he’s trying to be like, What did you order get? Not that he didn’t say that, but it just it was a blur and. You just sweating profusely like, Oh my God. Yeah. And then I realize obviously, when the guy handed me the wrong eggs,

I should have known they were somebody else’s, not just taken them and said, I’ll eat them. They’re eggs. So Caprice, I’ve had no eggs. Hmm. How dare the. Bosses coming in like 10 minutes? Right. And this is a second boss. First boss already gone. Like I’m a late breakfast eater.

If I go eat breakfast. And I think he tends to be. There’s a couple of guys you get the regiment’s like, you know, they’re second boss guys first boss guys. They eat early, they eat late. Like Fleury’s always one of the last ones on the boss. Like, that’s just this thing.

So Kaprizov needs to go order new eggs now. And I’m like, praying that this guy I want to go up to and be like, Buddy, I’ll give you 20 bucks. Six best you’ve ever made them, you know, like it was such a I was so rattled.

Anyway, I don’t know that he necessarily scored that night or the wild one, but I bet if you go look at that span of hockey, he went on a tear offensively like zero points in seven of eight six game points. You’re like, he lit it up afterwards.

And I was like, All right, at least like the last minute eggs didn’t rattle him to the point into where he couldn’t play a hockey game. But in the exchange I legit was like, Oh, sorry, Bubba, I thought they were mine. Or like, I’m forgetting like, like I just

I was as flustered as you could get. And again, like, his English is still very this is his second season, I think. Yeah. So it’s been like at least two years ago, but it was post-COVID. We were traveling first year.

I’m traveling with the team and like, you know, six weeks into the season or whatever, I take the $9 million player’s eggs sort of on and stop laughing. It’s just like all rattle. It’s like. Oh, I imagine the. Same eggs. Like, I don’t know. We don’t I didn’t know what I ordered.

I don’t even like these. I know he ruined it. Anyway, I’m sorry. No, no, no. Maginn of Krill didn’t get to eat that day because, Joe. I. Can’t imagine that just. Gets hurt out of a job. He doesn’t have enough motivation to quit. I would have quit before They could have guessed.

Oh, my gosh. I would have done the same. That’s the only option at that point. Also, speaking of krill, I realized yesterday because I was talking to some people about it, he’s been exhibiting just a bunch of green flags lately. Like we already knew he loved babies because his uncle Krill was zookeeper.

But also he loves dogs like apparently when on National Puppy Day they did the whole walk in with Haddie, apparently Krill, as he’s like in his little accent. He’s like, Who is this? And they’re like, Haddie. And then he gives Haddie the water bottle, his water bottle to put in her mouth.

He goes, Come on, Haddie. It’s like walking. And I was like, That is the cutest thing. But apparently he loves dogs. Who would. Do that? Well, I know he likes walking. Like he walks around wherever he walks at his apartment area, because I did an interview with them.

First ever radio interview with him. It was 10 minutes humblebrag. Yeah. You were awesome. I can I share that experience when he came out of that room? Because that was a game day and he was just it was the most elated I have ever seen.

Joe It was it was endearing and I was so happy for you. I just kept talking because he was cool with it. Did you bring up the eggs and. This is that. No question. Being so scared. This is the first time he’s ever done

A radio interview, and I don’t even think he knew it was a radio interview. I think PR was just like, Joe wants to talk to you. And he was probably like, Who’s Joe? Until he got in the room? And then the. Eggs.

Were not that like, I just assume he doesn’t know me, like he knows me. If he sees me at the grocery store, I’m sure he’d be like, I recognize that guy. Dude, this stole his. Eggs for the organization. Right? Well, he probably knows me exactly. And that’s not a knock on him.

That’s just like he goes about his business. I try and stay out of his way. We interact when needed, but he’s definitely warming up and becoming more of like, a conversational guy that if you see him in passing, you can get more than just like that. Sheepish. Hi, how you doing?

Like, I think he’s way more comfortable now. I think it’s great. But when I was doing that interview with him, I asked him how he spent his off day. Except to have an off day, I figured it’d just be like an icebreaker, rather like what’s up with the power?

And he just said he just, like, walked around, He took a nap, he went, had dinner, but he, like, literally went down the itinerary of his day and he said he enjoys walking around. The weather’s nice because I was like, Oh yeah, it’s been nice weather.

And he thought, maybe it’s the Mississippi River. I didn’t know what to tell him. But yeah, maybe if you’re in the Mississippi River area of the Twin Cities, you see Christophe strolling around from time to time, and I’m sure he says hello to random dogs and probably like,

You know, he’s just happy out there, I’d imagine. Oh, just like. I just see him, like, buzzing around, like having a walk three in the afternoon. Like today’s a day off. I bet you he’s out there walking, right? It’s probably not going to give. This man his own dog.

So he has a buddy to go walk around with. What’s he do on the road? Then he can hire a puppy sitter. He’s got some money. Or they could. I could imagine, you know, if he wanted to bring his dog on the bus, no one would. Have any complaints.

Imagine Kirsten would take on the ability to babysit for a dog sitter. Can you imagine? My my title would change to Kirsten Krull Co Real Caprice Office Dog handler. Dane Partington. Dane. Honestly, my jury. Are our mutual friend Dave Mizutani did that for who was it?

Nick Bewkes to know what kind of a boogie somebody came? Maybe. Maybe Rosa? No, it was a golfer. Former golfer. So they sort. They’re about the same age. Sounds good. I like that. No, I do love Caryl is like much, much easier to speak with now.

He intimidates the hell out of me. I don’t know what it is. I think it’s because I tried to ask him about Alex Ovechkin one time and I was just shut down. It was me and Kevin Gorg, the two nicest people in that room, and we were just completely blasted for it.

And everybody’s watching us do it like they’re going to do it. They’re going to go talk to him. And it was the worst experience of my life. And so then I had to talk to him about Murat, who’s the dinosaur.

And I was terrified. And I was like, I’m just going to go do it. But he was very friendly and banter and it was so it’s so fun to see because it is I think he’s got a great personality. Yeah. And he’s never been cold shoulder.

Yeah. Even when you kind of got shut down, it was probably just. Because you were in the peanut gallery. What language barrier part. Yeah, he just, he, I don’t think he was isn’t as comfortable as he is now with the language with just being a face of the team.

I think he understands that role now. It’s important for him to, to be at the forefront, to answer the tough questions. Sometimes he seems to be doing a good job with it, and I think in the future, next couple of years, you’re just going to see a rise in the,

You know, the face time of kaprizov. And I think it’s great for the whole team. It’s great for the league, too. Let’s get the stars out. There is English is getting way better. And I think he understands that it’s part of the gig and not that he ever shied away from it.

I just think his comfort level has really increased, though. Well, I think I loved how excited he was for Marat, too, because his here, he called my memory. He’s like, Well, remember my debut? It was covered. So we didn’t have fans. And he’s like, I’m so excited that he gets to do this

In front of fans because he’s like, It makes a difference. It’s a great place to play because of that. So he does appreciate that facet. The other thing about Chris off, Joe, a question for you then. Is John Hynes going to break him if he continues to double shift him game after game?

I have a I have a love hate relationship with it. Right. We saw this on Saturday against the Saint Louis Blues. Again, a situation where it’s must win. But you’re seeing Kirill Kaprizov out there shift after shift. And I mean, he’s a guy that has shown he can

He could do it, but is that the right move? What what’s your take on Haynes’s approach there? I love it. I mean, you you talked about must win if you’re going to if you have to win, who else do you want out there? The wild haven’t got enough secondary scoring specialists.

The years moved along. That’s not breaking news. 97 is a guy. So as long as you keep tapping him on the shoulder and he keeps jumping over those boards, I’d play the you know what out of them. I honestly. You can curse it changes don’t encourage it but you may. Well you know.

I encourage it Fred. Doesn’t it. This is true. Wait you to Fred have to bleep them out. Yeah, he does. He doesn’t have to, but he chooses to. Maybe I should have given him a good one. Yeah, like a very elongate it curse word so that he has. Just a tirade. You know.

Make sure he’s paying attention. That’s all we’re doing. Yeah. That, you know, like the a just a snap show. Mm hmm. Like I’m throwing sticks over the boards type of thing. Just a bunch of F-bombs. Yeah. Exactly. No, because then Fred would be like that first time he sees me in person

Or the next time you guys want to have me on. Hope he’ll shut me down. I don’t wanna make his life more difficult. I don’t know. Joe’s assuming we’re going to have him on again after we found out he spoke up for yourself. Eggs. Wow. To shame.

I don’t want to be too assuming full. Oh, yeah. I just keep playing him, Jesse. I mean, why wouldn’t you? What do you have to lose? I mean, yeah, I agree. I don’t. I don’t hate it. I thought it was great he was playing well. Like, certainly.

What’s your take on where Marat, who’s heading off, is at in his career? Do you think he’s getting enough time? Because then when you are double shifting him, you’re missing out on playing some of that third or fourth line squads, right. Who again, haven’t been great as of late,

But they’re still going to be integral moving down the stretch here. Let me ask you a question. On Thursday, when you play the Sharks and Eriksson, EK returns, you said, Who’s standing off? Know who. You said? I said Adam Beckman. I think I mean, just based on and unfortunately it’s not

Seniority is not the right term. Right. But it’s also marat’s your guy. You need you’re expecting him to have this large role heading into next year. Right? Those are the expectations. Sure. And Adam Beckman doesn’t have that. So I would say actually, no.

You want to who I would sit and I’m going to be frank and honest with this. I’m sitting Marcus Johansen. Okay. No. Not I’m not going to argue with that right now. Okay, that’s fair. But you would rather know who you with. Yeah. I don’t know who you sit.

I guess I would just, you know, I. I would need to talk to the coach to say How good has Player A been player B been? Then you make your decision, right? Like, who’s the guy that hasn’t held up his end of the bargain the last couple of games?

You put Eriksson EK back in, you take that player out. I’m just posing that question because I find an interesting one because to your point, he’s second round pick. I don’t know if he’s analytically been great or not great. I don’t know what you know.

I know I’ve talked to John Hynes about his game, but not over the last 72 hours about how he’s played. So it’s you don’t want to hurt his confidence, obviously. But if he’s not giving you enough and we’re talking about hockey games,

You have to win, then I guess you have to sit him. So I don’t know what the answer is When Eriksson EK comes back in. I just posted you because I think it’s interesting that he’s probably in consideration. Right?

We all saw he his ice time was limited right the other day against the blues. They were sitting him in double shifting Caprice off. And if that’s the case, you know that maybe he’s a guy that just needs a night in the press box to watch.

Yeah. It’s not the worst thing in the world. I could see both sides of the coin, not my decision to make, but I just think it’s an interesting one. But to answer your question, I think he’s going to be a great player. I really do. I think I kind of see him.

I know we haven’t seen a lot of offense. Right. Just a couple of shots on goal the one assist. But I see like those instincts, I see the tenaciousness on pucks, the ability to win face offs, which his team desperately needs. You know, we hear he can kill penalties.

He has only gotten I think one look maybe on a peak so far. You know, he’s got some power play experience. He’s played a little bit of power play to time for the wild. So I like what I see. I really do. I think this offseason will be huge for him.

He’ll feel way more comfortable coming in next year and I think if he slots as your third line center in the next handful of years, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Again, if there’s offensive upside there, great.

If not, you got a kid that can skate that thinks the game that’s defensively responsible with some skill to go along with it through a handful of games. I have really liked what I’ve seen. It’ll be interesting to see what the analytics say and what the coaches say

As a next dozen games or whatever wind down. And I’m not opposed to having him sit because I think Adam Beckman has that chemistry with Sean Luchini Right. That’s the Iowa line. It’s guys that have played together before down in Iowa that are comfortable with each other and they look good.

We’re going to have to get Jake Luchini on each week, he said, because he scores after he comes on with us. So we really love that. For him, it’s the it’s bump. Hey, guys. Jesse Pierce here for Olivia. Weight control Centers, who is ready to spring into the warm weather.

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Let them know Jessie Pearce And the part on the recent. Yes. What’s up? We’re back. Shout out to Joe for joining us as always. I would have a panic. I would find a car and drive it off a cliff if I stole growth. Present sex or any of the players.

I don’t care who it is. I could have a meltdown. I can’t imagine. I’d be mortified. Yeah, I get mortified just thinking I’m in their way if I’m ever, like, standing like or downstairs by the locker rooms pre-game. So let alone, like, stealing somebody’s food. I just. I literally. I don’t know.

I don’t know. Classic. I’m with him on, though. I pretend that none of them know who I am. Like, I’ll introduce myself for the past seven years like, Hi, I’m Jesse with NHL dot com they’re like we know like you’re here all the freakin time. We get it like you’re here.

So and I just. Yeah I’m just a little fly on the wall. Yeah I’m excited to join on the next road trip though. Sounds like you guys have plans to have a whole lot of fun, and I think I should be a part of that. So I had a. Great time in Anaheim.

Yeah, I mean, why not San Jose? Thank you. Go. Me? You don’t want to go to New York? Maybe not going to San Jose. Okay, that’s fine. Whatever will work, we’ll make it work. We’re going to wrap up this week’s episode real quick. First, let’s finish off with the Minnesota Wild again.

They start a five game homestand starting Thursday against the San Jose Sharks and they host the Vegas nights Saturday, Ottawa, Tuesday, Colorado, Thursday, Winnipeg, Saturday, tons of hockey going on. Let’s preview and take our picks, Kirsten for the next three games

Which is the sharks on Thursday Vegas Saturday Ottawa Tuesday what you got. Two and three and I say that begrudgingly I’m not. You said two and three for the whole thing. Yes. But I think three games. Okay, that’s fine.

I would say in the next five games, you’re talking about a five game homestand and you’re like, what is your prediction? And so I’m like two and three, but. Two and three. Oh, I know. But yeah, the way it was worded was unclear. Faces unclear. Yeah.

So let’s not go to stuff like I’m a child, two and three begrudgingly. Who do you think they beat? Ottawa and San Jose. That’s a Rodino. Not knowing for sure when EK is definitely going to be back in the lineup. Their struggles. I’m not convinced. They’re going to be close.

Losses to Vegas, Colorado Winnipeggers are going to be kind. Of I don’t think Vegas and Colorado are going to be close. Okay, bro, It’s okay. I like it. I’m going to go with 1 to 3, one and one because I’m insane and I’m a new answer. I’m an optimist.

So they’re going to beat San Jose, Ottawa and Winnipeg, and they’re going to lose to Vegas and get a point out of Colorado. Interesting. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s just the vibes that I’m feeling. You know what? Why not? They need to beat Winnipeg ones.

I need them to beat Winnipeg this year at least once. Why not make it that Saturday? Which that Saturday for journalists. I will be a panelist on the Sports Midwest Journalism Conference next Saturday, so I will be rolling in hot off of that panel into Winnipeg.

You really have to know the name of the conference. You’re speaking literally. I know I. I don’t even know what I’m. What am I what am I doing? I think it’s mostly broadcast people, which I’m not really a broadcast person, but person. But here we are.

It should be fun. Go check that out. Speaking of fun, college hockey tourney time, it’s here. Regionals kick off on Thursday. Your Minnesota Gophers facing Omaha in Sioux Falls. Omaha, the home team for that regional game, Minnesota Kirsten only team from the state of hockey

To make the NCAA tournament first time in six years. Minnesota State and Saint Cloud had their run come to an end. They had the tourney from 2018 through 2023, UMD second year in a row that they have missed.

They had been consecutive years 2015 to 2022 and Bemidji State last made it in 21. Saint Thomas yet to break that threshold, but they’re still newbies on the D1 scene. How are you feeling about this year’s tournament? Boise gets the number one seed, BYU

Number two, Denver three and Michigan State four in general. What do you think of the rankings and teams that made the cut? I’m very happy for Omaha. I’m going to say that they were a team that kind of surprised me that they snuck their way into the tournament

Because from my understanding, they needed to win the NCAA championship game, which By the way, they made it to the frozen face off for the very first time ever in program history and made their way into the championship game against a really, really, really good Denver.

And they put up a fight so I would not count Omaha out. They are a good team and that program is on the rise. But otherwise too, I don’t know. I think it’s going to be interesting. I’m interested to see

After the season North Dakota’s had how they’re going to fare in the tournament. They’re without their best goaltender, Ludwig Pearson. So they have a freshman goaltender now. They did not look great in the frozen face off semifinal game the other night. So overall, those are

Just two of the biggest points that I have heading into the tournament. But I always love post-season college hockey. Denver beat Omaha in the finals in the NCAA, and I know you were working that this weekend. Amongst everything else you had going, I had a Denver look.

Do they earn that three seed, you think? Absolutely. They’re a good team. Yeah. They’re going to be hard to beat. Tough to beat. How do you think the Gophers are going to do? Because I know that’s who are cheering for.

Even though you mentioned Omaha is good and don’t count them out, but go golfs. No. Okay, well, that’s just better. It’s a better husky right there. I’m excited. Admittedly, I haven’t seen a heck of a whole lot of these squads. I’m surprised. Am I wrong? Wasn’t Michigan off

To another really good strong year or am I just confusing it with last year? They were solid last year. They’re not the same team this year. But I believe I’m I hope I don’t say his name. They have Big Ten Player of the year. I forget who exactly it was.

I’m going to go with like Rutger McCurdy. But don’t come for me. That’s not. Right. I only know that name from Team USA Gold medal winning World Juniors. But it might be here. It could be. There’s no more huge left. Right. Is there another Hughes down there? No. Okay. They’re all done.

No more Hughes, no. More Hughes, Michigan. And then obviously Mack and celebrate the big name with ABC. B.U. also having another fantastic season. So it should be a good tournament. I know there are people that are much more educated in college hockey than us.

We will try to get them on as we start to round out the regions. I’m probably only going to talk about it if Minnesota advances because then I give up. If they lose to Omaha, then I’m But whatever. It’s fine. No sad day for me, right? Sure. I’ll sit on the sidelines.

I’m only invest you. We all cheer for the Minnesota team, especially if it’s in Saint Paul. I need the Gophers to make the frozen four in Saint Paul. Right. It just. There’s that. Yeah. What? Wow. Really? You know, just a little bit. Really? No, brother. Not for hockey. I don’t.

Would you rather North Dakota makes it? They’re not going to make it. I’m not even worried. Wow. Darts thrown. I’m excited. We’ll find out. This is going to be fun. We’re going to keep this rolling. This will be good. We’ll do more college hockey next week as the regionals play out

And we get into some semis and quarters and of course, the frozen four happening here in April in a couple of weeks. So that’s it for this week’s episode. As always, great Subscribe like love, Share as you will. We appreciate every single one of you guys have absolutely been crushing it

On our downloads and views. Couldn’t be more grateful. I’m glad that you guys are engaging and enjoying our content because we certainly love putting it together with you, especially now when it’s crazy time, crazy season. It’s a small little outlet of joy, at least for me.

So as always, I’m Jesse here. She’s Kirsten Crawley. You can catch us at Minnesota while home games shout out producer Fred for putting this together. Don’t screw it up, Fred. Thank you very much. We appreciate you. And yeah, until next week, thank you to our partners so to stick Greenbelt Jim Beam Libya

Royal credit union and of course talk north will catch you next week by bearing in or near the new new.