NHL All Star Week, Blue Bombers sign Chris Streveler, Winnipeg Goldeyes manager Logan Watkins

Countdown [Music] [Applause] [Music] Intro, Bombers sign Chris Streveler this is Winnipeg Sports Talk daily with Andrew Hustler Patterson and Michael Remis hey what's going on everyone welcome to Winnipeg Sports Talk daily Andrew Patterson Michael Reis with you got a very busy show today lots coming up kind of taking advantage of the off week for the Winnipeg Jets to both talks some NHL and jets at the break John Madison the score has got an interesting piece about potential NHL expansion pros and cons of that we'll get into that and his thoughts on the league at the Break um and we'll also so welcoming Brandon rwii for uh his thoughts on a number of hockey related topics and of course the upcoming Super Bowl matchup uh but we're really looking forward to bringing in the new manager of the gold eyes Logan wat Logan Watkins um you know 34 years old former major leager um we've been waiting to do this we figured this was a perfect week to get Logan on the program so we're going to have that for you and uh another visit with one of our friends from sport Manitoba with the it takes a community to play but listen how's everybody feeling today and I know people in the chat were thinking that I was maybe going to roll out the fur coat today unfortunately it was short notice my uh my fur coats are all at the cleaners right now so I couldn't pull it up but Chris strer is back in blue and gold bomber fans are fired up as they should be we'll talk about that signing the significance of it as well as the running back market right out of the gate with Michael Reis coming up right away um as I mentioned uh you know the strer news sort of top billing today on the program uh but an interesting night couple big time face plants by teams in the Wild Card race in the Western Conference going into the break we'll talk about that and more um but again four guests coming up so well we got an actionpack show great to see everybody here shout out to everybody in chat hit that thumbs up subscribe to the channel if you haven't already thanks and welcome to the new subscribers as well just uh got a few more to get us up to 10.7 creeping closer to 11,000 maybe we can do that in the next month or so before our third anniversary on the 8th of March which uh is also kind of a big day in the league as well but um listen just before we get into it today uh a huge thanks to the sponsors that make this program happen each and every day the gang at kolette Canada Princess Auto Wallis and Wallace F apparel the Winnipeg Jets Little Brown Jug Royal Sports Modern Man barber shop Manitoba battery Canadian Club whiskey Royal Sports Boston Pizza sport Manitoba Akens Lake Wilderness Lodge and of course we'll get to a why not question of the day for not autoc Corp over at Waverly and mcgilvery Michael Remis get in here how about that news from the bombers and by the way I mean when we saw the team tease the news earlier this morning with a fur coat and a cowboy hat in the bomber Locker Room everybody knew what was happening but uh the deal is done and Str theevolution is back in the peg we had heard rumors for a while us that this was happening and they put out the Tweet today let's give the bombers some props they just wrote soon at 9:59 p.m. the fur coat and the cowboy hat tweet everyone knew it's happening just didn't know how soon like what soon I'm like are we going to find out tomorrow but they didn't hold us uh waiting for much longer Darren Cameron and the bombers making it official it must have been like half hour later or something so exciting stuff and then Jeff Hamilton reporting I think it was I can't switch screens 150,000 uh sorry 120,000 plus incentives they did put in the release that they signed quarterback Chris traveler if he thought he was going to play running back or something we can talk about how he's going to be used in the offense but just you know very exciting that he's coming back we've been following him you know his journey to the NFL the last couple years and here he is back in Winnipeg and Jeff also notes and he said it on this show that the belief is he can make money off the field given his local celebrity status I don't know I'm kind of curious what kind of opportunities are here for that but uh pretty cool that he's coming uh back to Winnipeg yeah this is awesome news I mean you know the the team traded Drew Brown they knew he'd be gone Drew Brown earned a contract I'm worthy of a guy that will be challenging and potentially being a starter for the Ottawa red blacks um but to get strev back at 120 a year is such a big win on so many levels like listen first and foremost the dude is so popular in this city um it's going to be a huge hit with the fans you know what a beloved teammate he was within that group many of whom are still here from the 2019 championship team he will be welcomed back with open arms and you know who I think might be the most excited about this all re is Buck Pierce because Chris strer is such a unicorn in that he allows even in a quote unquote backup quarterback role um he has such a unique skill set that he will be able to allow the bombers to dominate on short yardage as they've done for a number of years behind that great offensive line but also put in strer packages that I'm sure will be used probably every game he'll get in for some time maybe take a little bit of a load off Zack ceros but it's also particularly important if you ask me because of the uncertainty of Brady Olivera's future and what happens to the running back position with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and you know I should pull this up because d Eric Taylor popped this up a little bit earlier on today um we all know about the uh about strer and how he is running the football um DT had okay so he said he was he's a fraction behind William stanback as the most effective runner in 2019 now uh there's a value and I'm not sure exactly how this is calculated to be honest with you these are some numbers from uh the big brains of the analytics world but in 2019 strer carried the ball 75 times had a value per Rush of7 per and was 47% above average and again that's adjusted for down and distance um with the uncertainty of the running back position I think we all have to be prepared that Brady Oliva might not be back I I think we all hope that he's back and I think that I certainly think that what we just said about strev with his ability to make some additional money uh endorsement wise appearances all of that in Winnipeg is greater than it would be Elsewhere for Brady olera I would say the exact same thing outside of maybe Saskatchewan and I don't even want to bring up the idea or the concept of Brady Olivera signing with the riters but I will tell you that opposed to the other seven markets if Brady did sign was aatan he would be welcomed as a hero in that Community kind of them getting one over on the Rival bombers um and I think there'd be plenty of endorsements for there uh for him there as well um but R what do you think this does like to the bombers situation at running back does it does it diminish their need to bring back a Brady Olivera when you have a guy like strer although technically not a running back a guy that can be so effective in the running game moving the football moving the chains and keeping it on the field and I guess the other second part of that is just a running back Market in general with Brady hoping for big bucks uh but stach carrye ulette a missing one uh all going to free agency right now and you know a surplus of top level running back Talent available on the free agent Market apparently yeah before I get into that I'll just read this tweet from Dave says would open the door for St to return to the bombers as no CFL team was willing to offer him starter money which surprise Naylor didn't shock him Naylor says he'll have a role in the offense young enough to perhaps inherit the number one job someday and I think maybe you you know we've seen running back the last couple years teams at least in the you know the NFL are oping to go cheap you know it's kind of a you know running backs have taken exception to this but it's kind of a replaceable position position where a lot of it depends on your o line and there's a lot of good running backs in there where you can plug in the backup sometimes and they can be uh just as good and you know giving your backup quarterback $120,000 um I think he's going to be a guy they use in short yardage and maybe you're looking for a different type of running back now Brady was kind of the Bruiser in between the tackles guy though he showed he was pretty good in the receiving game and and could get outside as well but maybe they look for you know an a running back to compliment St up the metal I'm I'm curious how much they will use him will they use him you know short yardage because they were the best in short yardage with brop it was automatic and I will they use him throwing like how much throwing is he going to do how much running outside of of you know short yardage and you know short yardage third down uh there's way more than in the past I'll tell you that like ba with a uh you know I love you ba but this is a terrible take uh of course has he's a backup QB who doesn't play running back he has nothing to do with RB I totally disagree when you have a Chris strer and you can put him in in a rushing in a rushing package with designed runs um with a player that can do that do what he does that we've seen before I just rolled out the effectiveness of strer running the ball when he was last here that does give you the ability to not lean on a running back as much now listen if you ask me what I want if would be a backfield that has Brady Olivera in it um and can you imagine you know the options the running options if you had strer in with Brady in the backfield um I I I think Buck Pierce is pretty excited about adding some plenty of new wrinkles into it but I mean strer is coming in as a backup quarterback yes listen when the bombers need to throw the ball Zack Kos is going to be in there um but Chris strer adds a mention to the running game that has not been there the last couple years is they've relied entirely on Brady Oliva um and I think that it is a uh put it this way if Ola doesn't come back and the bombers take a step back in the talent level of the running back I think this signing today softens the blow considerably if that happens we all hope it doesn't yeah you'd like to see Brady back but as we mentioned yesterday there's number of like pretty good running backs out there so even if you did miss out seems to be a lot of Alternatives and you know limited dollar amount for all those guys so that's when CFL free agency opens they have this legal tampering period uh coming up very soon I'm sure during that period you'll have an idea who's going to sign where that seems to be what happens but uh very interesting uh about this running back market and seems to be Alterna they did sign Johnny Augustine too H Johnny's back love the opportunity we've kind of been waiting for him to be given you know more of a role because whenever he's in there uh I think that he's excelled so I'm curious where where he fits in and they did tweet out you know he's been available he's suited up for every game I think that was that was in the press release so uh you know he yeah he's been solid too so this bomb starting to get excited hust you know they sent out CFL sent out a timeline of events here coming up they got the communication window starting February 4 February 13 free agency they got a couple combines in March including March 19 to 24 the CFL combine is here the draft April 30 and then rookie camps in May and I be honest it kind of feels like March April May outside right now here in Winnipeg so you know time to starting to get over the gray cup loss and really beginning to look at to next season season as we hit free agency yeah well he going to be a wild few weeks in the Canadian Football League hey shout out to tick J uh he said hey boys watching from Alberta thanks for all your hard work and bringing us all the best Jets news appreciate everything yall do go jets go thanks too appreciate that um Remo I'm going to send this question to you but I will also put it out to the chat and actually this might be an interesting uh poll question to throw up as well why not question of the day for not Auto Corp now with Chris strer back knowing that strer is here and what he adds to the running game if the Blue Bombers can only sign one of Brady Ola or Dalton shown and again you know if they don't sign Brady Olivera they will sign somebody else but let's think that there's a drop off of the talent of the number one running back who are you signing who is your priority if you can only have one is it Dalton shonne or is it Brady Ola um what where do you come out on that no I don't want to pick this is too this is too hard that's a that's that's a great question a great question so hard um like I don't want to dump on Brady and running backs but I'm going to go with see the same do show but they're already pretty solid you have Kenny Lawler you have Nick demp you have drew wall Atari do you need D show but he's been the best in the league the last couple years so it's a Passing League I gotta go D Dalton shown I think I got to go with go with him I'm sorry Brady's been on the show does great work with the dog rescue but it says pick one I'm going I'm going show yeah listen I mean and again I'm making this I'm making this a hypothetical this is a very difficult question to ask because I'm sing We love both of those guys they've both been huge parts of this team but the reason I bring that up is that you know as we get closer to February um and the tampering period that's going to begin on the fourth which is next Sunday or I guess whatever Sunday or Monday I mean it it we have to realize that as great as the bombers have done a job the last couple years of bringing the band back and basically keeping this team together um you know with how successful all these players have been uh the salary cap makes that probably impossible now I'm still holding out hope that both of those guys are back um but I have to admit I think I lean shown as well I mean I think that the loss of shown at wide receiver like he his ability and his connection with keros especially when Zach's out of the pocket is special um the numbers speak for themselves and I do think and again this isn't about replacing an Allstar in bradio Lea or an All-Star in Dalton shown but as we've talked about with the other running backs that are available I think the fact that players from outside of Winnipeg in the Canadian Football League looking at what the bombers have done the last number of years would love to come here and join this team I think when you break down the and cents to it I think there actually might still be some value on that running back board if Brady does sign to the highest bidder somewhere else and I think Dalton shown probably is the priority and uh as I said it's it's an impossible question for bomber fans because they love both of these guys so much um but I think today's news changes that a little bit in the fact that you know if you go a little cheaper at the running back position with Johnny Augustine and somebody else that you sign having strer who can do more than just the one and two yard sneaks I think it does add another dimension to the running game and and and maybe listen they've been working on this for a while and we knew that they've always been prioritizing dton shown and Brady Ola to try to get those guys back so I'm not saying that it it you know because of this the bombers Go a different direction but I do think that um if it comes down to it for my bet for my money it's h it's Dalton shown let's see what people have to say I knew this would be a very very split question today um let's see here we've got Brady okay so Brady Oliva is now at 62% let's get this whole thing out so Brady is 62 and Dalton shown is 37 interesting I guess that's gone sort of back and forth we've got 99 votes already in chat if you haven't voted already throw it in there um we've got yes strev holds for kicks I mean anybody can hold for kicks you can get the punter in holding for kicks uh I would say get her done wst best daytime Sports Talk Show get her done great take that's that is definitely an approved take appreciate you waiter says Brady Sher says ooh shown I think MC stormy bro all day long Fred Schneider Shan um it's a Mayo who's all available what what running back again wst well Brady Oliva is available stanback's available ulette from the Argos is available I love that guy um kadim KY is available uh oh and of course moral as well so you got five star running backs on the table and you know if there's big money available to one or two I mean if there's a guy that has to take a little bit less and come into a Winnipeg um and allow the bombers to sign a guy like Dalton shown I'm not sure that wouldn't be the bad the one thing that would really would suck Remis I think we can all agree is the fact that Brady's a HomeTown guy has turned into such an incredible player an incredible Ambassador for the team and the city I mean if you took personalities out of it and it was just player a player B and we kind of laid out every this situation I think probably people would maybe be a little bit more on the on the shown side of things but that's not reality he is a Winnipeg kid he is from Oak Park he did come and play here and you know has been such a big part of these teams the last couple years that it is hard to say to say no but at the same time he hasn't been able to get a deal done right now with the bombers um so it it it is definitely a possibility 59% right now for Brady 41% for Dalton and I think that honestly is basically 50/50 and then there's an extra few points for the loyalty and love a HomeTown guy gets that's what makes it so hard he's you don't want to like send away the hometown guy who's so great in the community I mean especially after com you know the torch being carried from Andrew Harris to Brady and you just you know don't resign him feels wrong to do that it feels wrong and I'm seeing a comment from Dylan she said says uh receivers can be found I think you know apparently there's a not apparently there are a lot of running backs as well available so this is a tough call tough decisions for Kyle Walters to make this off season and hopefully it ends up like the Jets because we had fun debating shley or hellu we're like f Mary kill which one are you g to do and uh and they ended up keeping them both so uh you know maybe you can figure some way to manage the salary cap here and keep both of them but you know interesting when you you know I how many teams have a $120,000 backup quarterback you know their salaries aren't public but is that is that a common thing I'm pretty sure Drew Brown was making at least that last year yeah that's what it is okay I I I I'm I'm I'm pretty sure on that listen the one thing that I haven't mentioned that you know I probably should have earlier is the ratio and you know having a Canadian running back doing what Brady Olivera does does allow you um you know some luxuries in in other areas um I mean listen if it's Johnny Augustine taking over he's Canadian passport as well um and many some would say that he deserves that opportunity after sort of waiting in the wings and being pretty good when he's been in but I mean Johnny isn't Brady so you know listen it's it's an incredibly difficult difficult question I get people how they've got The Angst on the other side um but I guess you know if we look at okay what it's Brady 56 right now certainly one thing that does definitely Bode in Brady's favor if you're making that tough decision is the fact that he does have the Canadian passport never mind being a Winnipeg guy um but the big story today Chris tr's back and uh we'll look to hopefully get him on the show early next week once everything is made official tomorrow at the press conference depending on what time it's at we'll uh dig in and maybe get a little bit of audio for them but we've already talked to DC and looking forward to uh getting strev back on wst sometime very soon um listen we're going to uh bring in John matx coming up from the score in a minute and get into some uh Allstar break NHL talk um but Remo speaking of the allstar break how about the face plants last night of the St Louis Blues losing one nothing at home to the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Kraken losing to the San Jose Sharks um that that old adage about guys being checked out and already with their bags packed and one foot on the plane going into the break never been more on display than last night with those two teams desperately needing points in the Wild Card race maybe the worst night of hockey in a while two games one game the Blue Jackets win one nothing uh the other game the Sharks win two nothing so if you're on both underdogs you probably did pretty well and yeah St Louis we talked about how hot they've been but even they were commenting that on as watching a bit of the Blues game they were saying you know it seems like these two teams are ready to hop on the plane and start the All-Star break and uh I don't know the blues they've been scoring so well you can't score against the Blue Jackets who's you know one of the uh worst defensive teams in the league but hey anyone can win on any given night and you look at the standings now here they are the Blue Jackets do or sorry the blues do have that second wild card spot uh 54 points tied with the Kings although they've played a couple more games the Kraken they've played three more games than the Kings they're a bit behind their 52 points the Kings do play Nashville they're battling there for that wild cut part we talked about that yesterday that is uh that is a big game on tonight's schedule those two teams needed those wins and yeah there's the shks they're at the they're at the bottom man the Chicago could they get the top pick again this year we're we're not quite in draft lottery simulator territory absolutely could they absolutely could they're uh I would suggest that they are the favorite right now to get that number one pick but again there is The Lottery by the way shout out to Howard againin yo yoas much love from Doha ah yes Doha always remember my two weeks in Doha for the World Cup and it is if I'm not mistaken uh just about 11:00 there in uh in Doha right now um but yeah man I'm getting shut out at home I and I I think I did say you know I I'm not sure about the maturity of that Blues team you know they won five in a row they'd won three straight in OT yeah you're at home one more game before the break and you got Columbus in a game that you assume to win you have to win and they put up a zero spot uh that's tough look for kyou Thomas and the new leaders of that young Blues team there are three games tonight in the NHL Remis just mentioned that Nashville Kings game that is going to be a uh I mean it's a huge game if Nashville can win they just gain two points on La obviously the games in hand won't change um but we'll touch on that one the send coming off that big comeback win over the Predators on Monday taken on Detroit and and then uh the Sharks coming off that win last night against the Ducks I have a feeling the Ducks will definitely be checked out before this game we'll get into that on the cool bet lines a little bit later on but uh John mat's coming up in just a minute um by the way gang Winnipeg whiskey Festival is coming up we had a meeting this morning there is an event that we are going to be involved in on February 29th tomorrow on the program we're going to have details on tickets it is going to be very very exclusive I believe the John Matisz of The Score capacity for this whiskey uh whiskey event is 40 there's a game that night we're going to be watching it it is going to be really fun but if you are someone that loves or is interested in whiskey and the whiskey Festival tomorrow's show will have the link we're going to give first crack to some wsts to get the tickets that weren't already taken by the sponsor and it's going to fill up right away so mark that down February 29th tomorrow on the program we will have details and a link if you want to jump on tickets and join us at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame full details tomorrow and the link to buy tickets there is your heads up shout out to our friends at Canadian Club really looking forward to this event it's going to be a lot of fun of course all the Canadian Club favorites available right now at uh your local Manitoba Liquor Mars and of course Canadian Club the official Spirit of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who we've uh just been discussing um got to give a shout out to our friends at Manitoba battery tomorrow is the O first day of February February is a huge week for Manitoba battery as they open up a brand new second location on Dover Court in the southside of the city it's never been more easy to shop local and get the best price in town on battery because even if that's not near you Donnie and the Gang are going to deliver those batteries to you at the best price in town for free anywhere inside the perimeter for any purchase over 60 bucks it's just that easy so we'll have grand opening information and sale information when the doors are officially open on Dober court but in the meantime for all your battery needs Manitoba battery.com 204 7878 or 783 8787 and you could also visit them in person at the OG location uh at 10:26 Logan Avenue and hey uh thanks to our friends at Modern Man barber shop for their support of Winnipeg sports talk I got a nice cut last week from my guy Cordell over on Pema uh but modern man's everywhere um conveniently located throughout the city fellas with eight locations including the newest location at Pema by Bishop that's where I was or over on the east side on py road and guys modern man has you covered with everything haircuts beard shaping shaves color services and more make an appointment and book your look bya modern man barber.com at any of the eight locations while you're at it give them a follow on Instagram at modernman Barbers shops um all right John Mattis coming up we will talk Jets but speaking of the Jets we'll get Remis to give us a Allstar break update I think we've got a few more insta photos of what some of the fellas are doing but do not forget the Jets back at it next week starting it on the road for a couple games including the eighth against the Pittsburgh Penguins or sorry the sixth against the Pittsburgh Penguins and then right here hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sydney kby Crosby living legend in the year arguably should be right up there for MVP this year with the way that he's played even at his age don't miss a chance to see Sid and one of the top teams in the Western Conference the Winnipeg Jets on the 10th they've also got the Valentine's Day game great hey you can kill two birds with one stone great date night with your special someone and see the Jets take on the Sharks and then that big one against the Minnesota Wild Tuesday February 20th Winnipeg jets.com tickets while you're at it consider getting into a package for the rest of the season booking your playoff tickets or maybe get back into Seasons with some friends or for your business at a great time with the stretch of the Season still to come and of course the Stanley Cup plays it's all there at Winnipeg jets.com all right let's uh talk some pucks right now we kind of let off with some big football story in town but there still is lots to get to when it comes to the National Hockey League at the off season and uh we welcome in our guy John Mattis from the score John what's up how are you fellas fellas I'm doing well thinking about coming to Winnipeg for that whiskey event not going to lie that yes that got me excited I started uh fantasizing about uh the night that could could be um but no I'm I'm joking of course but that sounds like a great event all all things considered yeah we're going to have the game on we're going to have some uh the uh the um the experts coming in telling us about a bunch of different whiskies uh some uh some eats um and again the game and the games have been great and that's a big one for the Jets taking on the Dallas Stars that night a team they haven't had a lot of success so far um let's talk about a few of the big stories you know what listen I kind of went off last week on everything that happened with this Hockey Canada situation you know the players leaving um um you know well all taking leaves and I mean we knew what was happening I know it was made official yesterday with the the players being officially released the names um but just before we get into the the National Hockey League um I'm reading that this means like in all likelihood in Ontario Court like these guys might not even get into a courtroom until 2026 now I know most of them I believe all of them actually are rfas um are these guys careers on hold I mean potentially over depending on what happens but um how do you see this going over the course of the next year and a half or two years for these players who will not have the opportunity to have their day in court but have the clock ticking on their professional careers I mean I think what's happened with Alex feron and uh and the Ottawa Senators is a good template I mean clearly the Senators knew something or felt like they wanted to get ahead of it I don't know what I don't want to speculate but they this is going back I think two years now that's why this guy wasn't in the NHL correct yeah he's been in Switzerland and it kind of his contract talks as an RFA kind of dragged on the next thing you know he was in Europe and people connected the dots of course but there was no official charge there were no nothing official to to talk about in regards to that but you know it's pretty obvious right now so I would imagine that these other players the other four players will have an opportunity to do something similar I use opportunity and air quotes here because it's not um it's more of a punishment than anything because if you're an NHL team I I don't know how you can bring them in for the next let like like you said 2026 so that would be the next two seasons not including this one that they would be off the ice and the fact that all them are rfas they're I believe they're all 25 um I think that makes it certainly easier uh versus being under contract and that complicates everything as far as uh the union the players union getting involved agents getting involved and it being this dispute that's you know a sideshow to to the real problem uh that that night in London so it's tough I mean if you're an NHL team I think you you you just have to essentially break ties given um that they've officially been charged now this isn't this isn't rumors this isn't innuendo and sure they they they you know they haven't been um sentenced uh they still have to go through the court system but just the way these things tend to go in the hockey world and in other sports they're at that point where they will be on the outside looking you know I I have to think that all these teams knew that this that something like this was potentially coming and I guess it was somewhat of a head in the ground when it happens we'll deal with it um whether that's the way you'd want your team handling a player like that I guess can be detered by the fans I think as someone here in Winnipeg you know with the Jets I I think no matter what I mean you're just happy that you know you don't have to deal with that I mean if you're a devil's fan if you're a Flyers fan um you know you're you're probably feeling somewhat conflicted the Calgary situation though is interesting and that you know the one thing I think a lot of people and I talked about this last week on the show not not on the Monday show after we heard that Dylan dubet was taking his leave for quote unquote mental health but the second that Carter Hart took his leave I think we all saw the writing on the wall what was coming down and at that point we doubled back to see what Calgary had put out mhm and now Calgary has made a statement that said they were unaware of this I realized there is a ton of skepticism about that as to how realistic that can be um and I don't know how this works I mean if a player goes to the team and says hey I've got something going on I need a mental health break I guess the team maybe knowing what it was about just said okay fine and went with that but how do you see this like this a new Management Group in Calgary um is this going to be something that I'm not necessarily saying they pay the price for but how big of a deal is that um because the mental health is a big thing right now you want to support people as much but let's face it that that message that they put out knowing what we know now 10 days later has left a real bad taste in a lot of people's mouth mouths and I don't think has made has painted the the organization a very good light even with the denial yesterday whether it's the fault of their own or not yeah I mean the the Optics are pretty bad because I mean the guy in charge there Craig Conroy has been with the team for a number of years he didn't just walk right into this this new job he has right he's been around the team he's been around Dubay he would have certainly heard that there was a possibility duay was GNA get wrapped up in this and that he was one of the players that would be going to court so I don't know if it's one of those things where Dubay tried to play off as as a mental health absence and they maybe didn't quite you know merge the timelines of of what was going to happen with these charges with his the timing of his request um so I don't know if that's just you know PR fumbling the ball is that Craig Conroy himself fumbling the ball but there's certainly a disconnect there and it only took what 24 hours for that leave to not be a Bel mental health like it's not like he's been gone for two weeks and then it's like oh he also has this other thing going on it's it's pretty obvious that he had one thing going on um so it's it's it's tough I mean I wouldn't say that's like a fireable offense but if you're trying to build uh you know your reputation in in the fan base trying to convince them of even if even just convince them of hockey moves I mean you're losing a bit of that Faith because they go what were you doing here in the in with this with this leave and with this statement and you know supporting this guy for a quote unquote mental health issue when there was much more going on be behind the scenes that the team absolutely should have at least known parts of you know they should have been suspicious at least so it's strange I find it very odd because they were the only team that did that right every other team kept it really plain really simple personal reasons some sort of leave of absence but they didn't attach any um sympathetic language to it uh but Flame the Flames did it's unfortunate you make a really good point because Patrick l a few days ago takes this absence that to do with mental health that's very important I think 99% of the people out there in the world go good for you Patrick you know get your yourself together and then you come back when you're when you're okay okay I think people generally have have really come around to appreciating that these guys are humans and it's just unfortunate that places like the player assistance program which I think has done a lot of good gets kind of lumped in with with something that dub did um whether it's sort of on purpose or not you sort of associate them them both with other it does it it does everything that I think the league the PA people working together are trying to do to promote the well-being and mental health of their players it does it such a great disservice if this is used as some sort of a shield for something so reprehensible as what these guys are being charged with um and obviously this is something that over the course of the year next couple years um will be uh will be a topic and I'm not sure whether these guys ever play again to be honest I mean I think all of us should be more concerned about the victim here um and how this plays out um but I will tell you I mean it is it I mean it's someone that hasn't you know been dragged to court for anything it was sort of stunning when you hear that this is January of 2024 and it's in all likelihood two years from now that this is actually going to be heard in a court of law and um it's a somewhat unique situation when you talk about um individuals charge that are in Pro professions with such a tight timeline on when you're actually there to uh to do it but I don't think there's many people feeling sorry for anybody of those uh that had their name called to court and has been officially charged with that John Let's uh kind of pivot over to uh one of your latest pieces in the uh at the score.com on potential expansion and you know it was what it was the the day that uh we heard all of these five players and within about 5 minutes there was a release and that kind of set me off to be honest last last week I mean I thought that it was speaking of distasteful um you want to talk about the uh the you know the slight of hand done by the league and then frankly the water carrying carrying by a lot of guys that knew what the big story was but all of a sudden they're talking about this team in Utah um under the guise of expansion and I've been pretty clear I don't think this is about expansion at all I think this is about the coyotes and the coy and listen we here in Winnipeg know about it more than anyone because of the stealth way that true north and the Chipman group worked behind the scenes to get all of their ducks in a row so when the opportunity was provided they were ready to go when I read that press release the one thing that stood out to me was simply we are ready to host a team right now and to me that was a shot at Arizona I know the NHL loves the Arizona Market why wouldn't they I think there still is a lot of potential for hockey to succeed in the desert like it's done in a bunch of other places but it wasn't doing it out in Glendale it's certainly not doing it in the mullet Arena right now and it's costing the league and the players a lot of money right now are you sort of with me that this is a power play on the coyotes and I would bet right now that the coyotes will be in Utah next year and then at that point then they can start talking about massive numbers for expansion franchises in the future and an expansion franch that could potentially in 2 3 4 years if they ever get their [ __ ] together and get an arena in a proper spot that will work Arizona I would imagine would probably be at the top of the list to be honest yeah that's the thing is Arizona on paper is a really just top drawer Market as far as you know you've got this huge population you've got affluent people you've got a guy like Austin Matthews as a spokesperson um there's real promise there and they've been there for 25 years it's wild that they've had such controversy around you know their ownership around their their buildings and the NHL hasn't given up yet but to Circle back on on your entry into this topic I think that the Salt Lake statement that was put out there and let's put aside the whole timing of it for for this discussion right now in terms of you know it coming out right around the world junior news but the fact that it came out at all the fact that they released a statement told me the NHL is on board with this and not necessarily that like Hey we're going to move there next year or hey we're going to move there in two years but you do not put out a statement like that without Gary bman giving you the thumbs up like that's we learned it for Jim ball silly I was just so to say this isn't ball silly trying to make his power play this is the everyone who has ever tried to buy a franchise in the NHL has learned from Jim ball he di he died for the for them um in that sense and so bman signing off on this this publicity that that Salt Lake is is uh is drumming up and you know that their owner apparently is is a very well respected deep pocketed and you mentioned that that story that I did on expansion from about a month ago and one thing that uh I I can't remember exactly who it was I talked about 15 people for the story I think it was an academic I think it was an economics professor he said one thing you need to consider with expanding or bringing in new owners is sure like they got to have the money uh to join the League they got to have the the the rank in place but also the owner himself like is he bringing value in non hockey ways so is he a tech entrepreneur who can potentially help you do X Y and Z in the future um I don't know does he have a concessions business and all of a sudden he's working with every team in the league to to make a great a greater profit uh with with your popcorn stuff like that like it what's this guy bringing to the table and by all accounts Ryan Smith the guy in in Salt Lake um he comes from a tech background he can bring plenty to the table so I think that's pretty interesting uh sort of the the fact that they're coming out and and saying we're ready like let's let's bring a team here and the NHL's in a real sweet spot here like as far as uh you know the their revenues are through the roof uh they were bragging last month about how theyve they're on Pace to exceed six billion uh in revenues this year you know a new new franchise would command an expansion Fe of at least 1 billion maybe two and B's job at its core is to serve it his owners and what does that mean that means increasing franchise values over time well guess what from 2022 to 2023 franchise values across the league on average went up 29% according to Forbes and sportico like two very reputable uh media organization so that alone sets them up really well and also Vegas and Seattle are tremendous advertisements for for not only prospective owners getting excited but also for for the league getting excited I mean Vegas and and Seattle forget their on Ice success for a second off ice they've been massive drivers of Revenue um I heard that that Seattle like to get a box there uh for a season you know they're they're charging you know close to a million so that's just a random thing to throw out there but like both of those cities have really Embrace their team so there's pros and cons to all this whether it's uh SE Salt Lake moving uh sorry uh getting uh the Arizona team and then you're keeping it at a 32 and moving on with your life as a as a league and there's also pros and cons to expanding to 33 or 34 teams um I don't know if you want to run through those or not um if we want to go down that Avenue but well for sure I mean I guess I would ask is there enough talent to add like let's just say add two more teams I mean I don't think you'd want to have an odd number so if you're going with one eventually you're probably getting two yes I'm sure there's some markets I was in Kansas City a couple weeks ago they got the beautiful Sprint Center people talk about Quebec it doesn't seem like the NHL has any interest need even entertaining that right now there's Houston we've heard Atlanta again if the coyotes move Arizona would be certainly a market that they could do their due diligence get an arena and then start it I mean what are the pros and cons but starting off is there enough talent to make a 34 Team league or God forbid down the road 36 teams realistic the the real answer is is we don't know and I know that's like unsatisfying but when you go from say 30 teams to 32 like we did with Vegas and Seattle there was a risk there that this the on Ice product would get diluted that it would be significantly worse I would say big picture it's maybe gotten slightly worse like if you're watching watching a Tuesday game between the 25th and 29th team of the league it's not great hockey but I wouldn't say it's to a point where you're throwing your hands up and going this league really screwed up by bringing in two more teams but when you go to 33 and 34 teams as you mentioned you're bringing 23 new jobs on that 33rd team and then if you double that so then it' be 46 if you're bringing in two new teams so 46 players that areen in the NHL right now would would have a chance to get regular NHL action that kind of scares me like on paper but again we don't know like maybe you expand to 34 and it's fine and it's actually 35 when things really drop off so there's a great unknown there and in talking to some people you know there there were kind of two ways to look at it one was you know the the explosion of hockey in the US over the last couple of decades has created all these different Pockets where some Talent is coming from so I don't know Pittsburgh Arizona uh you know Anaheim these places where before all the best athletes were going to other sports now you know there's X nhlers who are training these guys and there's there's players coming out of St Louis all the time when that just wasn't a thing 20 years ago so you know there's sort of like a especially in the US and you see with the US national development program who just churns out first rounder after first rounder there's certainly like a the talent pool is deepening I think worldwide in general but has it deepened enough have we given it enough time to of percolate to bring on those 4 46 new jobs that that's the debatable part um and also from sort of a fan perspective you know right now I bet you if you ask like an average fan across the NHL who isn't in Columbus name more than three Columbus Blue Jackets I bet you most people would be stumped and I bring that up because yeah sure if you're in your own Market you know your team pretty well you you know what's going on with your team that's not that hard but I think there's a lot of value in knowing the rest of the league and if you add team after team after team you start losing that connection to the rest of the league and you start going oh my team's playing Columbus tonight I don't know anything about this team um whereas if you go back to the original six you knew everyone you know when you had 21 teams you knew most of these players 30 okay that was tolerable 32 it can be difficult sometimes and then if you grow that even more so hockey is a regional sport already and adding more teams might actually make it even more Regional which again you know there's pros and cons to this is there more Revenue coming in that's a plus um are fans disconnecting with the rest of the league that's a negative you know um you know someone made a good point um in you know in the chat that you know the difference between the 750th best player in the world and the 850th player best player in the world is basically nil sure um you know it's a really fine line between we see it all the time with guys getting called up from the American League I mean your top American Leaguers can they play you know fourth line in the National Hockey League the answer is yes to me the question John is is there enough star power I mean and and I think that's what we're getting at to kind of to put these teams on the map other than being you know Workman like it's an NHL Franchise as they're guys that can that can draw fans can draw attention to to those markets that I think is um Up For Debate yeah and that's fair and sort of on the same point or same train of thought the the the flip side of saying oh the talent pool is going to be duded you know the hockey isn't going to be as good is that maybe the superstars the mcdavid's the Matthews maybe they Feast on this inferior competition even more and we start seeing McDavid you know challenge for Gretzky's points record I mean that's crazy to say but like I'm just throwing something out there where maybe it you know it becomes a little even more high scoring and like like maybe the the talent Gap from the best player in the league and the worst player ends up actually Rising lifting up these Superstars and they become you know Global names they become these star attractions so again there's all these like different angles into this and different ways to look at it you can spin it positive or negative pretty much um on any topic related to expansion but I thought that was an interesting one that someone brought up to me when I did this story where it's like everyone thinks that bringing in worse players inferior players is going to hurt the product which is possible but also you might be helping these best players look better you might be seeing more highlights from Nathan McKinnon and kale marar Etc so that's interesting too and the expansion draft would have to be favorable I think you can't go back to what it used to be for the Predators and the Blue Jackets and the wild like you have to give them very favorable conditions one because they're paying a billion dollars and two because you want this team these teams to survive and and really Thrive like Vegas and Seattle have so far no doubt about it you taking in the All-Star festivities in the weekend I am yeah so I'm yeah I'm based in Hamilton so not far from Toronto so I'll be heading there uh Thursday Friday Saturday yeah I I mean whatever about the three Onre games I am looking forward to this new skills competition uh I think it's going to be uh I think it'll be very well received and it should be a lot of fun especially when you look at the names that are up there John have a great weekend enjoy and uh maybe we'll touch base in the next little bits check about the allstar experience and get back to the games on this push to the playoffs in both the East and the West absolutely as usual thanks for having me on guys cheers good stuff there's John Mattis at thescore.com check out all of his work covering the National Hockey League we're going to get Brandon awiki and focus a little bit more on the Jets although I am looking forward to seeing what he has to say about that skills competition we can get in on that a little bit more of course uh we spent a Brandon Rewucki of Skates & Plates lot of time talking bombers right off the bat with the news of Chris strer signing of course Chris strer will be playing at Princess Auto Stadium as Princess Auto is the now title sponsor of the home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers a huge supporter of all of our local sports teams as well as Winnipeg Sports Talk and of course Princess Auto is the place where you'll find the best deals on the most unique assortment of tools and equipment around everything you need to complete the projects on your list or start something news at Princess Auto pop by and see him Panet Road Portage Avenue West locations or check them out online and shop 247365 at princess auto.com a thanks to our friends at Wallace and Wallace we're into the deep freeze of the winter and Wallace and Wallace right now busy helping winnipeggers and manitobans make sure their garage door is getting up and down as as possible listen the winter is nice as it is right now this is when the most stress goes on your garage door and Wallace and Wallace can help you get it up and down with of course the uh the the best in Maintenance and Service the right time to prevent downtime this winter is now so give them a call for your inspection and maintenance service call today for residential and Commercial Overhead Door Sales and Service there's only one name or two you need to know Wallace and Wallace the fencing and Overhead Door experts in Winnipeg since 1946 and got a shout out our friends at F apparel guys we're now into the new year spring is around the corner wedding season will be here before you know it how's your Men's Wear looking uh if you're a guy that looks into the closet realizing you need to step it up the best place you can do it at the best price is f apparel at 190 Smith Street downtown with custom suits beginning at 400 bucks along with chinos golf pants Uh custom shirts both tucked and untucked styles and an incredible selection of men's wear accessories if you are getting married this year or in a wedding party make sure to talk to the staff at fap perel about a 15% discount when the fellas go down together to get their suits for the big day from F apparel um make an appointment or find out more online at F that's eapp apparel.com and they are located at 190 Smith Street downtown all right let's get rui in here he getting ready for a busy few days on the home front uh moving nothing like it hey buddy how how excited are you for the next little bit oh it's awesome I love it yeah give me more give me more no this I think this is we've officially realized that this is the first and the last move um for the rowiki clan so yeah I'm I'm I'm ready I'm ready to push us behind this year but a big a surprisingly big sports day today man like with the strevy news and the allar coming up Chelsea Liverpool which I'm sure all your listeners are absolutely jacked up and Geared for in a couple minutes I got the the blue kid ready to go in the back so this is a this a pretty big day for me I'm putting the the moving down on like fourth on the pecking order right now well I can tell you I'm sure your wife will love that um I'm sure the uh I mean listen people fired up about strer coming back I mean a great bit of news still some uncertainty as to some of the other players from last year's bomber team that may or may not be back but um you know listen with the uncertainty of Brady Oliva whoever is playing running back that running game gets a big big boost of with Chris strer and uh uh we can already just start moving the chains on Third and two and third and one right now because you know that strer is going to get there um but listen I I want to ask you about uh we'll talk jets in just a quick second um I I'm really excited about the skills competition and I'm normally like in the past it's been whatever it's fun oh who's going to be the fastest skater who's even in it or any of the guys going to participate but I mean like the names that we've got they're playing for a million dollars each player is going to go in four of the first six events then the final eight move on to a one-on-one shootout competition and then the final six in on a double point obstacle course round I guess to make it happen but Pastak McKinnon Mar dyle McDavid barzal kucherov Matthews neander Quinn Hughes and I think JT Miller I mean credit to the league for getting the Stars to be in on this and uh I'm really hoping that this is the start of a format that can carry on for a long time and if they if it works and they use it well you know we could be talking about years and years in advance doing the same format to see who was winning the skills competition I think it'll carry a hell of a lot more cache than anything that's happen on All-Star Weekend in the last decade yeah I I think this might be the in terms of creative and and marketing I think it might be the best thing the NHL's done since the initial uh Winter Classic like I I think it's an absolute Grand Slam I don't know how any hockey fan honestly can't be excited um it might be a little bumpy in terms of execution like I just hope that if it doesn't go completely flawlessly that they scrap the whole project because it might be one of those things that you you might need to kind of Workshop it for a year or two but this is this is everything that the NHL should be doing at all times which is marketing exclusively marketing their stars and giving them an opportunity to shine on on the brightest stage POS possible and so I I I think they've absolutely nailed it I love it I hope it goes well I think there might be a few bumps or two but I I just don't get how any hockey fan isn't tuning in to see how things go out and I think you know with the money prize that's being put down on it you're not going to get Allstar level effort you know the the Hope here is that you know the players kind of understand and maybe the league nudges them that look guys we we need we need everything from you here and then we're asking for a bit of a favor and there's a pretty juicy reward for it if it ends up going well for you tonight so I'm I'm really really excited I hope they also adopt my allstar game format idea but this is an excellent first step in improving the actual on Ice All-Star festivities what refresh us uh what what is your what is your idea to make the All-Star Game better so and I'm glad you asked I kind of LED you into asking you did I'm intrigued I'm always here for interesting ideas for that sort of thing so and and to me like the main issue with All-Star games in any sport is realistically just the lack of effort put out there and I I totally understand players not wanting to go 110% so it's how can you manufacture some level of at the very least regular season intensity as opposed to playoff intensity which is probably unrealistic and for me the way to do that is let's Leng or let's shorten the plane surface and eliminate the number of players that are out there so my my dream NHL All-Star format I think it will work better in basketball honestly hus than hockey but my dream NHL All-Star format is essentially a March Madness style bracket and you have teams of two and you go up against another team of two it's one half of the ice first goal sudden death wins you move on to the tournament lose see you later and we keep doing this until we get to the final matchup but we can I'm I'm open to ideas I'm open to workshopping it but we're essentially doing like NHL Mortal Kombat and I think that's gonna be the best way the best way to and I think you'll get buying from the players on this because you're making it really competitive and it's something new and different and I I don't know you can't tell me that if the final wasn't mckinon McDavid versus Crosby marar that even old man Crosby wouldn't be out there busting his ass trying to get the W you know what I mean like I I think I think how about this every team sends their two guys in their goalie oh yeah I mean you want to talk about March Madness there's 64 teams you just star in the round of 32 and it and it goes over it goes over say three days interesting I I I like that my other my other potential idea just because they done this before is you can have and depending on the teams and players and stuff like that is you could also have like say 16 captains and they pick who they want to go with and that's how you create your all-star teams that way like if you wanted to keep it just all stars you could do it that way but I'd be down too with the 32 teams like going toe to to that's like NHL hits back in the day where you just have your best three in the goalie it is right now every team needs to be represented I'd far rather rather roll with your concept of it where the all stars are the best players from each team go together and you inevitably get the best players probably moving on playing for something well it is uh let's think about that where we're watching the three on three go through the motions uh for the signature event of it although as I said the skills competition with these 12 stars all participating in multiple events with a significant prize I think is going to be great um Brandon we're just over a month from the trade deadline and we've talked a lot about the Jets need for a second line Center which was uh well as the goals have dried up with Mark shley on the Shelf eminently obvious we've talked about I mean the names that have been kicked around Elias Lindholm kind of a step down Monahan Adam Henrik um like are there some other guys out there that have haven't been named that are intriguing to you that and again let's face it Chevy's pulled off a couple wild ones in the past Paul Stasney in particular I mean this is Sports Talk we can have crazy ideas hell Hamilton started pitching Sydney Crosby a month ago which is still an unbelievable idea if it ever got to any semblance of reality um but let's go down that road I mean guys that can play center guys that could fit in the top six is there a name or two that intrigues you that might not be so ridiculous that it's at least worth discussing I love Hammer's hit in the dispensary I love it I don't know if I'd go that far you know I there were a couple names that that did intrigue me my my initial dream one was Brock Nelson but that was back when the aisles were scuffling and and before um Patty wall was brought back into the fold so that pretty much dashed that one um almost immediately but one name that I like and I think also has the potential to be available a team in that bubble spot just outside the playoff picture right now that you could buy Lan is Yanni gourd out in Seattle and I I wonder if the fit here wouldn't be pretty damn excellent as well you know like to me that's almost you're getting like a supercharged vlat dnov like they they kind of play similar styles obviously Gore I mean look everybody knows what Gore did he was kind of the unson hero for the Lightnings back-to-back cup runs like he he was the engine on that third line that was one of the better third lines we've seen on a cup winning team in in years and years and years and he checks off a lot of the boxes too like he's not super big but I mean does everything else for you he's been there he's he's won everything he can offs he can skate like the wind he kills penalties as well got a little more offensive pop than than NES nikov does and I could see him fitting really really well with with the Nikki eers beside him um so that's one of the guys I I'll see if I can pull up my list too quickly because there was somebody else that that I liked but yeah you pull that up in a minute I'll just I'll I'll just add on gourd um as I pull up cap friendly I mean 32 right now um he's got one more year on on the deal and and I've sort of been a proponent of more rentals this year for the Jets because of the way way that their roster is set up with everybody signed for next year with the exception of col Peretti who will be in RFA and you know we'll presumably get whether it's a short or a long-term deal done with the Jets if you're starting to bring guys on with significant cap hits that you can maybe handle this year it does complicate things for the summer and that's why a lindol does make sense that's why a guy like TANF coming in I mean you you you don't it doesn't complicate things it doesn't block your younger players because I think the Jets with where they're at are going to need a couple guys on elc's a a grity potentially a Lambert and Elias salmonson um but I think that's manageable and only having the one more year on the deal I think there's enough that you know an NHL general manager should be able to figure out a way to make that work if the deal makes sense for the uh for the present tents yeah and and gourd's contract isn't terrible either I think he's got one more year after this one more at 516 that's kind of The Sweet Spot in my opinion to go after guys at the deadline and obviously the jet I mean the Jets wouldn't even need Seattle to retain which is massive for for any team but I think the Kraken would like that especially you he doesn't get a ton of minutes out there not not that they don't you know underappreciate him or anything but you know it's not like they're moving a a Shane Wright or or a matty bener like a guy that's playing 19 minutes a night for them I I I feel like that one could be the classic Chevy under the radar move the other guy that I that I was thinking about that i' I've started to see people mention as well so it's not necessarily a totally new name um but Circle it around the trash sheep that is Columbus you know you wonder what the price would look like on a guy like Boon Jenner oh we've talked about him for sure couple more years he's like 3.5 like he's got a great deal which would probably cost you a little bit more to get a player like that and I believe he's a couple years younger I think he's 30 years old like that's a guy that would come in and be a big part of your team he is the captain there but I mean I think everything's on the table with Columbus right now and like you wonder I I don't think they'll do it but I mean imagine if yarmo gets Cann well or do they trust yarmo to make that Trade Fair exactly yeah so yeah I mean there that that's to me that's why it's a little bit more of a pipe dream because you're dealing your captain I mean he's kind of like Mr blue jacket right now he's he's been there for over a decade at this point might be a little bit unrealistic but again that's one of your under the radar nobody's talking about him Chevy type moves I wonder I wonder like if if you'd rather Boon Jenner or or Yanni gourd like who would be the the preferred candidate there I'm I'm a big gourd fan I kind of I I don't know I I like him a lot um you know I I wonder what the cost would be with Seattle 2o like I think it would be less than Boon Jenner as well and you're not locked in not that Jenner's contract is onerous or anything right but like it's only an extra year commitment you get him for two playoff runs and then at that point you probably hope that maybe an internal solution pops up at second line Center well and and just to your to your point to add on to that uh as we pull up cus um Boon Jenner has yeah two years left at 3.75 he's 30 years old right now so he's a couple years younger as well one thing that certainly I mean if you if this is important to you playoff experience obviously gourd has that got the Rings been with with those incredible Tampa teams so he certainly does bring that but I actually also think that there's a level when we're talking about a Jenner or an Adam Henrik for instance of guys that have been on these garbage teams for a long time that haven't had a chance to play on good teams that are even more highly motivated to go in to make an impact and to make the most of that opportunity that they really haven't had before exactly and I you know hempest lolm is a great example of that hus where people were a lot of people were clowning on Boston when they made the deal like this guy's done and signed him and signed him too like what are we doing here and then he ends up like what was he top 10 noris voting last year right like there there is something would be said to hey we'll give you the old post season jolt and watch a guy explode on a new team thing yeah I I I totally buy that it kind of makes me one or two this would be so much more complicated though but again I I saw someone just kind of float out there you know I wonder what Tomas hurdle's future is like in San Jose with him knowing that there's no hope of a postseason birth anytime soon that's kind of the double whammy hus he's been to a cup final but you're also getting a guy that's been on an awful team for a few years so there'd be a big jolt of energy for him in in kind of escaping that situation I don't know if that's going to work or not in this like hurdle right now would be an awesome addition uh the fact of the matter is he signed it over 8 million until 2030 and right you know once you add in like the Jets have that contract already with Mark shley um like even if you're able to do that do you want two players on that sort of same career path that will be that you'll be paying big money for the back nine of their career um I think it makes sense for one especially a player like shley with where he's at and his level of importance but I listen if I'm Chev day off I'm looking at some of the other options like as I say and sometimes they'll say hey you got a window you got to make the move right now but taking on an8 plus million dollar contract for a guy that's going to run till these 37 is is significant and it is a big big risk to take that's the uh scared money don't make no money type of trade right where you're you you know there's a lot of risk coming in but it's like you know banners don't fly until just 2030 they'll uh they'll be up in the Raptors forever so that's I mean that's that's the the risk reward that you have to weigh right like obviously I mean a rental you know there there's no long-term commitment a guy like Gord is maybe The Sweet Spot there but I mean hurdle's by far the biggest impact guy you could add that that's seemingly available right so I I don't know if I would give that the stamp of approval hus but I'd think about it I i' I'd be like okay M career like what are we what are we talking here can we retain a little bit as well like what's what are our options on that I would like to hear my options out on on a potential hurdle deal at least Hey listen he certainly would be a Major Impact player and uh that would be a guy that I don't think a lot of people have been talking about or thinking um but probably because of the contract as much as anything I can guarantee you if he had an expiring dealer one year left being out there on San Jose his name would be at the top of of pretty much every list Brandon ri's with us B got to ask you this this is not a great topic to get to but uh you're very tied in with the Philadelphia Flyers uh I know you're you know paying close attention to uh like where the fans at right now with what's happened with Carter Hart um and I mean what does this mean I mean listen we've talked a lot about the main concern is the victims these guys are screwed probably for the next couple years minimum whether they can get a conviction or not I think what what we've learned about the incident from the investigations is going to make these guys incredibly radioactive to any teams um but like in Philly with that market of a player that was thought to be a Cornerstone of the franchise now that it's public and he is one of the five that is going to be going to court probably in 2026 um where's the fan base at and and where do this or where does the organization go with the uncertainty or maybe the certainty that he's just done as a flyer well that I think that's kind of what everybody's wondering slash almost confirming is like do we see Carter har play his last game as a flyer um it's it's a very valid question I mean yeah I I don't know where it goes right because like you said I mean if a trial is potentially two years away I don't know what the discipline would be like right like how yeah there's just I mean there's so many question marks it does to me at least kind of feel like the the end of Hearts chapter in Philly um you know a lot of people are excited about Sam ersen before this all came down and now the Reigns are kind of being handed to him but it's just an you know he was seen as the a franchise Cornerstone hus but he was like I mean we all know Philly's goal tending graveyard that it's been since as I mean hexall and and and py Lindberg briefly right but like since birdie pan essentially like he was like kind of seen as the Savior for the franchise and for it to potentially end like this is just it's something nobody could have possibly seen coming so like I don't know there's an elit of shock really that you know this is probably How It Ends for him um where yeah it's tough to say where it goes from here because I mean we know things can change pretty quickly in terms of like the judicial system and courts and all that sort of stuff but it's it's pretty tough has to Envision him wearing the orange and black again where his career goes after that not so sure well and and and here's the thing I mean and again not to be cynical here but we've seen this sort of thing happen before in multiple Pro Sports um you know Hart is by far the best player of these five I mean if you had to bet on some team kind of holding their nose and at some point taking a chance on a guy um you know he would be the guy but I just think about such a massive story this is in hockey I mean this isn't something that happened like unrelated to hockey I mean it is a hockey story it is the quote unquote hockey culture um that continues to you know hopefully change but I mean this was 2018 and I listen if anything if these if any of these guys are playing I'd be willing to put a pretty large wager it's in the KHL at some point and I don't even know what it means for them like for the next couple years whether they'll be able to do that while they're waiting to Proclaim their innocence in a court of law the other part of it is that they're all rfas and I would presume they'll probably be some you know League mandate that these guys are just on the on the Commissioners list or whatever like right now they're going to get paid for the rest of this year but at the end of those years they're not getting more contracts like no one's signing these guys next year uh I would have a feeling that maybe those teams would retain their rights beyond the normal period of time um but in a way I mean I think it's it's pretty clear I think if you read the tea Le from what Philadelphia has and saying going forward that they realize that 's their guy right now Carter Hart's probably not coming back um and if that's the case you know Calgary will be working the same way New Jersey will be working the same way with two players on that list and uh and going forth but uh I mean listen you know sometimes you get into the minutia what this means for teams but you know the like they loved Hart there and he was like a big big part and I mean there is a uh I mean that fan base has really taken a hit and it's sort of been a much quieter one usually Philly fans are loud and boisterous and us against the world but um you know just from what I've been paying attention to this is something that while there were Whispers and rumors people knew he was on that team there was a very strange bit from his lawyer a couple a year ago I guess while everything's normal people can sort of put that away but now that this is out there it sort of seems like uh I think for all of those guys um they're probably going to be even if and we heard before that you know the possibility of a conviction is going to be very difficult in this case but I really do Wonder because of such a public sport I mean this isn't just going and getting a random Anonymous job somewhere there's a lot that goes with that player and especially a team like Philly that has had you know some ups and downs in that area beforehand I mean at some point they kind of go off but I do wonder whether it's just an NHL league wide that this is such a dark story for hockey regardless of you know if these guys are able to get off once everything is public and once we learn officially what's happened in addition to what's been reported it's going to be pretty tough for these guys to resume their careers yeah I would imagine so um and it just I guess it depends how how quick that that process takes place um but I I think even to just like from a Philly perspective where you're I mean year one of your announced rebuild and you want to stay away from you want to stay from any kind of drama controversy negativity all that you know even even if it did get you know settled or whatever it is I I I just don't really see a way that he he's welcome back with the team so again yeah just wild that this is how How It Ends there but I think from if if if the Flyers are G to go that row with a guy like Carter Hart I would imagine the other teams go out with those players as well about it and I mean just quickly on Philly um I mean it seems to have completely derailed their season as well I mean you know I mean like they've lost five in a row since that has happened and I think they're still positive on ersen and the break's probably coming at a good time for them right now um but they were really um taking on water there at the end and and I can understand it yeah well I mean it was it was similar to the Jets I think too like they they might be the two teams in biggest need of that break um because I mean both both were dealing with injuries and scheduling I mean the schedule was just insane um you know you kind of Wonder is is the NHL bye worth it if you're going to cram so many games in there that guys are getting hurt all over the place and the product isn't very good like that it's a different discussion there but yeah I mean you're just getting hit with everything all at once if you're Philadelphia and I yeah it's fair to wonder if it's like okay you know the clock hit midnight here and it's back to being a pumpkin with with Philadelphia but you know it their started was just kind of like found money this year right like there was no intention of of competing for a playoff spot right if it happened it happened great if anything it it you know in a in a weird way it might be the best possible thing long term for the team where it's like okay you know what what whatever they were thinking before that it's like a splash of reality let's make sure we get some some assets for you know guys that might be heading to free agency whatever it might be and the dose of reality is we're nowhere near being where we need to be and so it's no doubt seller time as opposed to before where there might have been a little bit of for a team for a team in in that in the Flyers position I mean you wouldn't want to you know add somebody or not trade a few guys make a big run and then finish just short and be picking 16th or 15th in the draft not a great spot to be in uh listen I'll get let you get back to the footy and the boxes uh good luck over the next few days by Bud we'll talk to you next week when we're back at it sounds good have a good one guys we'll talk soon there's Brandon or Wiki subscribe to skates and plates wherever you get your favorite podcasts for the latest on the Jets and more from Brandon and Tyson oroi all right this is going to be fun hooking up with the man I'm excited for baseball season hooking up with the new manager of the Winnipeg gold eyes and I'll tell you what uh we've been enjoying Little Brown Jug at the arena this year now at the stadium as well but I will say this of all our sports venues there's nowhere that a generic logger or a 1919 tastes better than the ballpark and the gold eyes are coming back next season with the new manager we'll talk to him in a minute um but of course um at all venues now little brown Jug's an official partner with all the teams uh when we're back at the rink next week for the Penguins game you can check out Goldeyes manager Logan Watkins craftbeer Corner upstairs in 310 downstairs in 126 six and get both Little Brown Jug Flagship Brands 1919 and generic logger and right now at your favorite local beer store generic logger on sale $1 19.99 for eight packs right now pick it up my personal favorite great light refreshing closest thing if you're a domestic Beer Drinker that you'll find in the craft type and it's 100% local from our friends at Little Brown Jug find out more online at little local delivery options as well Andy a big shout out to our friends at Royal Sports as well Super Bowl coming up a week Sunday I know there'll be a run on uh everything remaining ners and Chiefs in time for the big game and whoever wins you know who I'm pulling for Super Bowl championship gear shortly there afterwards at Royal Sports because they are the number one sports Superstore in town whether you're looking for jets bombers NFL Raptors in NBA Major League Baseball with the season just around the corner they've got it all for you there the best hockey section in town skates to hit the odr or the river as well some lesser expensive more casual or beginner skates snowboards boots bindings it's all there at Royal Sports pop down and see him 750 Pema Highway and follow them on Instagram at Royal Sports Pema we're going to uh check in with our friends at sport Manitoba in a few minutes but right now let's welcome in Logan kins new manager of the fish on wst Logan congratulations on uh coming to the Peg and being the new Skipper of the fish how are you yeah I appreciate it I'm excited to get there um I'm doing really well it's been it's been a fun offseason trying to uh kind of get this roster kind of rebuilt and hopefully give the fans a team they're excited about watching you know it's uh it's going to be a real exciting I mean fans are already excited I mean a big big addition to the ballpark with the brand new scoreboard which I think is going to just um completely revolutionize the the game day experience there and um some great additions to the ballpark but uh again it's about the squad it was a down year for the gold eyes and uh a great new beginning with you as the manager um you're a young man just 34 years old I think people seen you for the first time would be like gez that's uh that's young for a manager but you've basically been baseball uh in baseball your entire life and it seems like you didn't take very much time moving on from an extended minor league and Major League career getting right into a managerial role yeah I uh I guess I am pretty young I don't feel young uh still kind of wake up with a sore back that might be from playing baseball I still get carded sometimes when I buy some beer somewhere or something so that's that's uh I guess some somewhat of a compliment but yeah as far as baseball goes I've been in pro ball since I was 18 years old so that I guess that is what 16 years now 17 years something like that so um both as a player and now a coach uh so yeah I guess you can say I've been around a little bit I've um I've started to realize especially like trying to find players for this team um how important my experience is just as far as knowing other coaches know another players somewhere so if you find a player you can kind of look at where they've been and who they've played with and you can kind of form connections seeing their former teammates than guys that I know and so that's how we found quite a few guys just kind of going through other coaches and other players and it's uh it's starting to pay off slowly but surely this team's starting to get put together you know I would imagine um you know especially and you know people talk about today's athletes and I'm sure they've been always saying that you know as people change over decades and generations but I would imagine there's a unique opportunity for you being a younger manager one that you know finished playing not too long ago to connect with younger players but also you know being involved with you know some great through your playing career with a bit of an old school background and give you know a combination of the two which uh will hopefully be great U you know for the club yeah I mean I think I'm probably I'm probably one of those people that kind of went through the era of old school baseball into the analytics world like I came up with the Cubs organization and uh I think maybe my sixth year there uh Theo Epstein took over as the general manager and brought a completely different approach that Boston was using that's more analytic based and you know stuff like that so then I got to play a few years in that kind of mindset of that of the organization transitioning to that mindset so I've kind of seen both and then um I think I more so just value just the relationships you build with people and I think that um that goes a long ways as far as when you manage you know 25 men in a clubhouse feeling like you know you have a relationship with each one individually or you've built some sort of uh respect for each other I think that is ultimately how you know a clubhouse performs its best and the vibe is good and everyone wants to come to work every day and I think those teams that have that I think are the ones that end up being pretty successful you know it's like any job I mean if you're having fun going to work I mean it makes that day better but at the end of the day in professional sports winning is what makes it fun and uh you got to find that right mix to uh to get the wins how would you descri Des cribe your baseball philosophy if you will um you know I think my Approach when it comes to at least managing this team it's more so get your work done right now so I I've been I don't take days off from this I'm trying to find the right players I mean there's plenty of guys that are willing to sign to play with Winnipeg but the uh the hard part is kind of filtering through and finding the guys that make sense for us and that um you know have a good blend of experience uh have a good you know blend of um still hungry to play the game and not maybe on their last year with one foot out the door because I mean it's independent balls is a lot of fun but it can be a grind too because our road trips from Winnipeg aren't uh aren't the easiest all the time so if you have a guy that's only kind of halfway committed it can be easy for that kind of guy to check out on you so um kind of just like I said kind of filtering through all the players that have either I've come across or have reached out to us and finding those right guys and then and then at the end of the day once the season starts just get out of their way and let them play um I'm not someone that tries to over manage a game uh I I feel like um a lot of these guys are here because I wanted them to be here and I I know what kind of players they are and I wanted them to just be free to be a be able to be those players so um I would say as far as baseball goes just kind of being hands off once the season starts with more aggressive approach right now yeah I I mean you know it's funny because during the season we'll be talking about the the the ins and outs of the day-to-day grind and the games but this part of the calendar probably is as important as uh the season when you're putting this team together what's that been like for you it's it's really fun so this is the this is probably the part of the job I love the most is is searching for players and um and then you know the the most humbling part of it is you find a player you get really excited about you reach out to them and they say yeah man sorry I'm not interested in independent baseball and so then oh man that's a little deflating and back to okay who's next um but kind of that Thrill of the Hunt is what is a lot of fun for me kind of roster construction and then obviously you find a player that wants to play for you and then it's managing your salary cap and negotiating salary with them so there's a lot that goes into building The rosters I mean we could if if there was no salary cap restriction we could get a bunch of you know good veteran experience players on a team but I mean everyone knows especially in this league there's a rookie requirement you have to have a certain number of rookies on your team and then you can only have a certain number of veterans on your team so kind of filling in that that Gap in between um is difficult but it's it's a lot of fun and uh you know I've I spend more time on baseball reference than you know any other site you know I'm I'm constantly someone someone tells me any hey I got a picture for you what's his name I'll look him up and I'll have a pretty good idea of what he is and how he plays uh pretty quick so that's been a good modern luxury for me but um and then our coaching staff does a pretty good job as far as you know they know people as well so if we hear a name hey do you know this and this he played in the Dodgers organization yeah I know someone over there I can ask about them so um it's a collaborative effort and we're we're doing uh we're doing our best to make sure we have a good team by the time the opening day comes you've been involved in the league for a few years as a player and then a coach how would you describe where the league is at right now because it certainly seems like you know on a year-by-year basis the talent level even if the rookies is getting better yeah I think you find um it's kind of a Fallout from Affiliated baseball so after covid you know there's fewer teams in Affiliated baseball so there's less jobs so those guys that typically occupy those jobs need a place to play and they're kind of finding their way to independent baseball at the same time Mexico this year who everyone knows um pays more than what we do in independent baseball uh but everyone knows that that's the place to go if you want to make money so I think you're going to find that we're getting a lot of probably better younger guys kind of filter into our league but some of the older guys that have kind of been Staples in our league and been here for two or three years and kind of know that you know my window to get back to the big leagues is pretty much shut they're probably going to find their way moving down to Mexico to make a little bit more money before they decide to hang them up so it's going to be kind of interesting inter to see uh how roster construction gets done throughout the League this year but in terms of the last few years I think the league has been as competitive as as it's ever been there wasn't I mean even Winnipeg last year being towards the bottom of the standings uh I know we played them I think we maybe split with them when we came to Winnipeg but um that's still not just a we show up in Winnipeg and we win every game of that series it's every every game is a is a fight and I think that's why you saw most teams records last year kind of right around 500 nobody really ran away and nobody really fell off uh new gold eyes manager Logan Watkins with us here on Winnipeg Sports Talk um you mentioned coming here before I mean you spent three years in clber as the manager you played here as a Witchita wing nut um what do you remember about Winnipeg and how did that maybe influence you um being interested in the job and tell us about getting it um actually I had a I had a funny experience in Winnipeg um and just as a player and nobody would remember this but me but I remember we we beat the gold eyes when I was with witch it must have been like 15 to one and I hit lead off that year and uh I think I was like 0 for six and everybody else in the Dugout just having a hell of a time where everyone's scoring runs hitting home runs getting hits and uh I I didn't I wasn't a part of the party but we won the game so I was happy but the next day I came back and was like five for six so I I evened it out but I I remember kind of riding that roller coaster a little bit and that was in Winnipeg but um as far as an opposing manager I I I love coming to Winnipeg obviously being down in curn I'm I'm coming from Texas so that's that's a good 20 plus hour bus trip so that part wasn't something I was looking forward to but uh finally getting to Winnipeg uh the team Hotel the downtown rison's awesome kind of walk into the park when the weather's nice enough is is great there's a a lot of good restaurants and everything on the way there and on the way back if you want to stop been to get something to eat and then The Fan Experience has always been great I don't think I've been to Winnipeg or been there for a game where uh the stadium wasn't pretty full and the fans were really engaged in the game so um and then obviously a beautiful Stadium uh back drop is awesome uh it's really it's really if you're going to play independent baseball it should be one of the Premier locations you're looking to play at yeah we've certainly heard that you know from players and people that have been here as well as visitors how much they enjoy the trip to Winnipeg and I'm sure that um is uh a positive when it comes to uh recruiting players um Logan I I have to ask you about um you know cracking into the bigs you mentioned you spent the majority of your time in the Cubs organization got into 58 games what was it like getting that call up and getting your first major league game in a bat uh yeah I mean I was actually one of those kids that grew up I played every sport so it wasn't like my childhood dream to play in the major leagues but um once I got drafted that became my dream and it was the best part of it was I got drafted by the Cubs and I knew um I knew that my Scout that had pushed to get me drafted um I think I I remember him saying like yeah I we're rolling the dice on you and I I got paid a decent amount of money to come out of high school but I don't think maybe everybody was thinking I was going to be in the big league so to finally get there especially with that organization and kind of prove him him right and maybe a few people wrong uh meant a lot to me and that's probably what motivated me to you know just push every day to try to get there and then um yeah I mean my I got called up uh on a Saturday night in or Saturday evening in Tacoma Washington flew to Chicago and played in a Sunday Day game at Wrigley Field for my debut so um I think when you write it up it doesn't get much better than that um how you know now that you're a manager and you know drafted coming out of high High School making that long climb cracking a major league roster playing there for a couple years but then also playing in independent baseball and now managing for a few years how how has all of that helped you um to hopefully move forward with a long successful career as a manager um beginning well with this season in particular right here when your first year with Winnipeg yeah I mean I think my my life experience has been um has has taught me a lot and I think that's what kind of lets me to relate to other players because a lot of times guys find themselves in independent baseball because maybe they're you know they had one bad year that they got released and it just you know they they kind of dug a hole they couldn't get out of or they got hurt which I did uh in 2015 I tore my achilles and missed the whole year um went back to Triple A in 2016 so which is the year the Cubs won the World Series so I just missed the World Series with the Cubs uh which is kind of hard to wrap my mind around sometimes just barely missing that but um but my life experiences I feel like have kind of prepared me and led me to where I am and I'm fortunate to be here at a young age uh obviously like we mentioned 34 years old I think I'm the youngest manager in the league by quite a bit um but again I've been my my professional baseball experience regardless of what my age is my professional baseball experience can't be you know overlooked I I've been I've been around you know I've played with the Chris Bryants and the bayz is of the world I've been around great players I've seen what greatness looks like I've seen what you know guys that have unbelievable work ethics what that can what that can lead into um you know just kind of I I've been around it I've seen it all I've been around great coaches so uh I bring a I bring a lot I feel like as far as being able to help guys at least um you know obviously the young guys that come play independent baseball are super excited to be there and they're hoping they get a chance maybe to get to Affiliated baseball um and then there's those guys that are coming to Affiliated or coming from Affiliated baseball that maybe feel a little dejected because they feel like they're going in the wrong direction and I've been there too so um it's just kind of relating to both those guys and being able to help them get to where they want to get to Logan tell us about um the connection with Winnipeg I presumably with Andrew and Sam um how it all came together that you got the offer and um your mindset in uh saying yeah I want to be the manager here in Winnipeg with the gold eyes yeah so being with the last three years the owner that was with clber sold the team to new ownership and the new ownership obviously wanted to bring in their uh their own people their own coaching staff front office guys so it kind of left me looking for a job and um the previous owner with curn I think maybe thought they were going to keep me around in curn I think he was disappointed to hear that they didn't retain me uh and so he knew maybe a few teams in our league that were going to be possibly looking for managers and so he made the call for me Sam called me and uh I guess you would say the rest is history I I had a couple phone calls with Sam I think he he understood that you know the situation in curn maybe left me with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder because we' just been to the playoffs three years in a row and I felt like you know I was building kind of a younger team that I was going to have come back and uh I think maybe he could tell that that fire was kind of lit in me and that maybe that's may I guess maybe that's what he was looking looking forward to bring to Winnipeg well I have a feeling he was considering I mean it was a down year for the gold eyes based on their standards I mean this team has been competitive year in and year out after the uh the long run of Rick forny and uh looking forward to starting a uh a new gold eyes chapter with you as the skipper going forward um how much more prepared do you think you are as a manager knowing now what you probably didn't know three years ago having had the experience in the league and the success that you had with the ra roers um yeah I mean I've learned a lot these last three years the biggest thing for me when I took over was managing a pitching staff because being a position player as a player that was never anything I kind of really even paid attention to um but once I kind of got the hang of that but I I I feel like I'm pretty good at at delegating responsibilities to my assistant coaches and trusting that you know we we hired them to do their job let them do their job and if they're not doing their job that's fairly easy for me to see and we can address that but um you know very very rarely will you see me down the line working with the pitcher on his curveball I mean I let my pitching coach do that and then hitting wise I think we have a really good uh hitting coach this year and Adam Don who's going to do a great job and that's obviously where I guess you would say my expertise probably would be um but again there's a fine line of jumping in there and trying to correct your hitting coach's work I I want him to feel like he's he's you know doing his job with every player we have and then when I'm needed I'll be there my job is to make this roster as strong as it possibly can um don't take days off from from finding players like even during the season because uh guys get injured guys get picked up guys go to Mexico all the time and if you've completely cut off communication with some good players that might be available then all of a sudden you're scrambling and you're picking up guys that you don't really want to have on your team but there's nobody else so uh I think that's kind of what I've learned more is just kind of always be prepared for the worst when it comes comes to like your roster uh construction and then keeping the clubhouse happy because that's ultimately how uh how good teams win is when The Vibes are good new gold eyes manager Logan Watkins with us here on Winnipeg sports talk so when are we going to see up here in the peg it's gorgeous outside right now which I not usually the case in late January yeah I got to get out there I uh obviously I've been there my wife wants to come out and see um see you know where I'm going to be living she's going to come visit a few times this year I'm sure we have a four-year-old and a two-year-old so travel is not always the easiest yeah so uh we'll probably get up there in the next month or two just to I can show her everything and I'll probably bring up some some luggage and stuff that I'll probably leave there just be waiting for me when we get there for the season um but I'm excited I I I really feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be right now I feel like we've done a we've we've left no stone unturned as far as finding players and slowly but surely it's starting to piece together to what we want it to look like and um I I am extremely motivated to not only for myself to win this year but I know the fans and the organization in Winnipeg you know last year has got them maybe as motivated as they've ever been to get back to where they know they should be and that's you know competing for a champ chionship oh no it's a a really exciting hire and an exciting new chapter of gold eyes baseball and in addition with everything that's happened at the Ballpark over the off season uh cannot wait to get out there and see you and the Fellas do their thing when uh the season begins again go to gold eyes.com for more information on the upcoming season um obviously the new scoreboard ticket packages uh the new patio all there um but we will look forward to uh talking to again I'm sure multiple times throughout the season Logan and uh welcoming you to Winnipeg and wishing you luck in your new chapter with the Winnipeg gold eyes thanks for doing this and can't wait to see you in the peg as we get closer to baseball season yeah absolutely give me a shout out anytime ah great stuff with Logan cannot wait for gold eyes season I'll have to check in with the Cashman Andrew Collier coming up in the next uh few weeks to look ahead to the season as well and obviously when they start announcing players as we'll get Logan back on to talk about the squad and hey speaking of things getting warmer although it is freaking gorgeous out right now um summer involves baseball and will also involve getting out on the water and I am already fired up to get back to Ain Lake Wilderness Lodge if you are thinking about a worldclass flying fishing getaway with friends and family fishing Pals or maybe as part of a corporate retreat there is nowhere better than aen you can be on the water in less than 2 hours from the city of Winnipeg and as incredible as the fishing is the hospitality of the teren and the Akens team is even better go to Akens lake.com to connect with them on availability for the 2024 fishing season and if you want to find out more in addition to the website check out everything they've got going on on Instagram and X at aens Lake and uh he one last night for for hockey tonight we'll get to the lines and the cool lines at the end of the program but uh three games on the tube tonight might be a good time to pop by your local Boston Pizza to get your uh Rob Vanstone on Brave Face hockey fix before the league goes dark for the allstar festivities on the weekend uh not that you really need to have your arm Twisted to go to BP to enjoy ice cold Schooners world famous BP Wings guret pizzas and more make it a BP night and hey if you're staying at home you can always get the Great Taste to Boston Pizza by ordering online at Boston pizza.com now I did screw up the dates today folks I don't know why I haven't known what day it has been all week long I mentioned we were going to be doing our sport Manitoba segment that's in fact on Thursday but right now we've got an uh uh this is going to be really fun because a great friend of the program 37 years at the Regina Leader Post now following the footsteps of our great friend Ed Tate in his similar role with the Riders but just could not get the writing out of the system he's got a new book called Brave face wild Tales of hockey genders in the era before masks it's great to welcome in from Regina Rob vanstone and look at this beautiful backdrop you've got there for us Rob today what's up yeah I figured with his face I better make sure I counteract that with a nice backdrop and uh I love the setting here well every day but especially when I consider that the Winnipeg Jets my beloved Winnipeg Jets are and may forever be undefeated at this very facility having Edge the Calgary Flames two to Wi an overtime in the Heritage Classic on October 26th 2019 thank you Brian Brian little for the overtime goal so this is and the Jets were the home team that night so this is H welcome to the home of the Winnipeg Jets and this isay it's funny you bring up that Heritage Classic just for a second um obviously Brian little I mean and all-time great jet a fa a favorite that we'll always remember with one of the most memorable goals certainly in regular season history um you know what's funny from a football side of things that was such a such a great weekend with Calgary and Winnipeg fans meeting in the middle in Regina for that game and I will always remember the night before when we were in town was the bombers Calgary game Zack his first game as a bomber the start going into the playoffs and if you recall that was that bananas play at the end where he ran around and hit Darin Adams in the back of the end zone yeah the back right of the end zone yeah and I mean it's it's a highlight that still gets played I don't think people remember the fact that that was his first game and at that point we were I mean the acquisition of keros at the time was sort of like a a little bit of an insurance and all of a sudden holy smokes like and of course magic happened ever since then so um certainly great memories for a lot of Jet fans and even bomber fans that were there uh that week but let's talk hockey right now and I know you are as you mentioned a devoted Winnipeg Jets fan there's some really neat Jets content in this book which we'll get to in a minute but just first off tell us about writing a book about maskless goalies um you know it is amazing like I didn't even realize that there were some goalies playing without a mask in Pro Hockey in my lifetime but it's actually later than a lot of people think but tell us how the idea came about and uh and the project well even remember it's happened accidentally Conor Muk got his mask knocked off not too long ago ended up surrendering a goal maskless uh but it has to happen in accidental fashion now uh whereas once upon a time it was just common place up until the late 1950s for every goalie not to wear a mask and I started following hockey Sports in general in the early 70s and I remember it was Hockey Night in Canada and Boston was playing and they zoomed in on Jerry chevers the first hockey game I'd ever watched they zoomed in on his Stitch's mask and I was as a seven-year-old I was fascinated by his mask with the stitches painted on not long after that they showed a game with the Minnesota northstars and there was Gump warley without a mask and I could not believe that somebody would not wear a mask playing professional hockey and suddenly I realized Hey Joe Dy doesn't have a mask and I just as a kid I could not believe that this could happen especially when there's people like Bobby Hull and Dennis Hall running around Mickey Redmond uh blasting shots at these at these goalies and so what happened years and years and years later was during the pandemic I was at the Regina Leader Post and there's no Sports and I'm a sports writer talk about Obsolete and our editors at the time said look if there's ever something you've always wanted to write there's a bucket list item that you'd love to do Now's the Time you're a sports writer without Sports come up with something so I decided to do kind of a weekend takeout on maskless goalies and about two or three interviews into the project uh it was like oh this is so cool I wanted I wanted to try and kind of turn it into a book so I contact the amazing people at Triumph books in Chicago and uh pitched it to them and they've were great have been great ever since and I just went absolutely hate why writing about Asus goalies and scratching this itch that I'd had for more than more than 50 years at the time I could Babble on forever about it as you've probably gathered by now you mentioned uh heli uh our guy uh seven more years and hopefully another VZ the trophy that he really wants to get the Stanley Cup um but you know you mentioned that hellu story in the prologue of the uh of the book it's actually funny I had the book written pretty much done and then that happened and I thought I gotta get this in so I contacted Michelle Bruton at at Triumph books in Chicago and said uh Michelle this is too good can I re can I say can I revise the prologue so it originally didn't begin with that but just in time uh there was that fateful shot against heli and uh and I had to I had to squeeze it in and and thank you Michelle again for being so accommodating especially now that I get to talk about it to a Jets audience you know one of the other things and you know this is in the forward but also in a chapter devoted to him um like I I remember as a as as a as a young kid I mean I really didn't sort of get to understand like I guess I'd heard of the Jets when I was really really young but I was too young to appreciate the the wh championships um but you know as you get older and the Jets are in the NHL you start learning more about Jet's history you're seeing pictures and you know about the great go Joe Dy and now people visit him at the card shop over in St fatel along with uh with his family but I had no idea that Joe Dy played as a masus goal tender um you know he is one of the featured goal attenders in this but Phyllis in a little bit on uh on goalie Joe and uh and wearing the mask or not wearing the mask and then as as someone like me would remember him from The Glory Days of the wh WI a peg Jets eventually putting one on yeah you know I remember getting a Joe da hockey card in in 1971 with uh I think it was they airbrushed a Detroit Red Wings uniform on him because he' just gone from Buffalo to Detroit so they had kind of a fake Red Wings and let long before Photoshop and uh uh he was one of the first goalies that really stood out because I suddenly okay Gump wary doesn't wear mask Joe Dy doesn't wear a mask and then hard to believe in the early 70s even though mask the trajectory as far as mask was go was basically they're decreasing um they uh the the number of Mascus goalies increased because Andy Brown was called up by the Red Wings from the Fort Worth Red Wings from the Fort Worth Wings suddenly there were three maskless goalies in the NHL as opposed to two Joe daily being one of the last holdouts and he uh ended up becoming an original Winnipeg jet uh so did a longtime NHL go tender named Ernie wakeley and it was actually Ernie was in his early 30s then it was actually at Ernie's behest or urging that Joe Joe daily decided to wear a mask Joe told me that you know Ernie realized he was getting older he didn't have it up to have it in him to play 60 or 70 games he said look I'm gonna need a breather if you're going to be the other guy I want you to play I don't you want I don't want you to get hurt because you're not wearing a mask and get hit in the head so it was Ernie wakeley who had been a maskus goalie himself at one point who said to Joe Daly uh wear a mask the one of the funny stories that Joe to Joe told me one of the many I've got to go to that store next time I'm in Winnipeg um was that he said he'd never lost any teeth he'd been B pretty much unscathed as a Mascus goalie but then he goes back to wurn he played for the wer Red Wings of the of the old Saskatchewan ji or the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League before ascending to the pros he went back to wer for like an alumni game or an exhibition game or some kind of fun game and got hit in the mouth and lost some teeth in a in a fun game where as he's facing you know Bobby Hall and he still has that perfect smile like what do odds right you know we we and even to this day we still talk about how goalies are generally weird um but I mean back then it just seems like we're Flatout psychos I mean putting themselves on the line without those masks a big part of it is the invention of the Mask how it happened and I mean all of this uh I mean basically comes down to some hard rubber right in the grill that U made a lot of guys guys think otherwise about going out unprotected yeah you know and gradually though it didn't exactly happen right away Eddie Johnston I love talking to Eddie Johnston and he said I asked him about you know why he didn't wear a mask and he said well I wore number one and that was also my IQ and uh you know but I mean it was like nobody wore helmets back then you know football players didn't have face guards until the late 40s early 50s there were leather helmets everything evolved and as the game evolved the curv sticks arrived the better stick technology arrived um um the Boomers started coming boom boom Jeffrey on Andy Bathgate could really fire the puck you got Bobby Hall in the late 50s Etc so as as the pucks became more dangerous and the shots became more dangerous hence the need for masks but you know jock plant got plunked in the head by Andy Bathgate uh intentionally as it turned out on on November 1st 1959 at at Madison Square Garden jacqu had to go to the training room for stitches refused to reenter the game without a mask eventually tol Blake realized especially in the day before backup goalies uh it's either Jac plant or the trainer that ends up playing goal so Jac went back into net finished the game Canadians won continued to go on what turned out to be a 13 game unbeaten streak and and once it was established that you know a goalie could play without a masy it wasn't going to impede his vision it wasn't going to make make him tougher to see pucks At His Feet I think that old myth started to disappear but only gradually uh I mean by you still had goalies like Eddie jockin and Les Binkley not wearing masks until actually October 1st 1970 they both wore masks for the first time that night Glenn Hall in was until wasn't until 1968 and we've talked about you know Joe Daly early 70s we've talked about Gump warley until the 7374 season Andy Brown never did right through 1976 there was a great minor leag goalie named gay [ __ ] chapter 16 he's awesome um who didn't wear a mask for a decade in in the miners Etc and uh but for for a while it was just kind of like all they knew they didn't know how to play the game any differently it's tougher to put the mask on when you haven't had one than it is when you've just gone right through minor hockey uh not wearing one and job security wasn't that was pretty precarious back then too there's only six teams in the NHL no backup goalie so there's six jobs in the entire world of that description so you don't want to lose your job so uh you think well if I lose even one 100th of an edge by putting a mask on I might not I might be in the miners next year and good luck in Tidewater interesting way of way of putting it um you know the one line that just cracked me up coming about this is from the the gump Worsley chapter my face is my mask it's the uh it's the title of it and uh it just goes to show the the mindset of some of these guys of know we talk a lot about how tough hockey players are there's not much tougher than putting your face in front of a vulcanized rubber shot of a professional hockey player no you're I mean you're basically a paid Javelin catcher I mean it's it's such a you know gum was afraid of flying and you know statistically what is more probable uh you know getting injured or killed in a plane crash or getting injured by a flying Puck when you're playing goal without a mask the more dangerous thing would be to play goal without a mask but he didn't even blink at not where at the thought of uh uh wearing a ma or not wearing a mask but he was terrified to go on planes and here it's interesting he was taught into wearing a mask by Caesar Manago who was his teammate with the Minnesota northstars and and uh Caesar had started wearing a mask into the mid 60s kind of here and there and for a while when he started wearing a mask he would only wear it against Chicago because the whole Brothers Stan Makita Kenny warm Etc so he would only wear the mask against Chicago and then he started wearing it against everybody else needed it yeah exactly like there's so many goofy things like that I could prattle on forever about them um what uh fill people in on where they can find the book how they pick it up uh Triumph books website Triumph books.com uh my favorite publisher to deal with of all time they're amazing it's also on Amazon it's a Indigo all good book sellers and there's a few in my trunk if you happen to run into me so uh yeah I'd love uh I'd be thrilled if anybody were to pick it up it's it's it was such a joy to write something that fascinated me as a kid and suddenly I'm on the phone talking to Bernie pant Glenn Hall Jerry chers you know Eddie Johnston and the the the funnest as fun as anything was talking about the Talking Joe Daly talking to the goalies that really haven't been as well known gay [ __ ] uh Russ gillow uh Ian young uh Wayne rutage Uh his his wife Sharon was was amazing uh some of the less Bob Perell some of the Lesser known goalies had really interesting stories to tell and and they were fresher stories because they really hadn't been told in any depth before and and that was one of the really cool Parts about the book too if uh if nothing else go to chapter 16 and read M gay kulie he's a book in himself what a great guy uh Chico R does the forward there's prologue involving Connor heluk chapter on Joe Daly from Winnipeg Jets history uh it's Brave face wild Tales of hockey golender in the era before mass pick that up hey Rob before we go of course you're there it Mosaic uh big news today with the bombers Chris drers coming back to the blue and gold everyone fired up about that um what do you expect how crazy could free agency be in a couple weeks when uh things get going it's you know ever since the one year contracts became inv Vogue it just became crazy I mean so people make so much about the NHL trade deadline and the NHL free agent frenzy but that's generally a lot of be listers moving from place to place uh you're getting Marquee players and if you look in at your Market you're talking about Brady Ola Dalton shown and you know Jackson Jeff coat I mean honestly that that is going to be so intriguing to see where some of the Frontline bombers players go and uh it's going to be and and now with the bombers signing Chris strer I presume that wasn't inexpensive so how does that affect their negotiations with players they want to reup or how does that affect the cash salary cap room they're going to have once the free agency uh uh window opens so the bombers are such an intriguing team and and obviously the ref writers here are intriguing to everybody across the country it seems and and I'm as curious as anybody about how that is going to go and you know what uh because everybody in the west has been chasing Winnipeg for a number of years now and we're starting to see the signs that maybe the bombers have some assets that might end up elsewhere so where do those bombers go that is a fascinating one of many fascinating aspects to free agency coming up the window opens on Sunday at 11:00 am our time and your time yeah needless to say uh we'll be all over that and uh there some nervous bomber fans to see many of these guys from uh just this incredible run of four straight Western divion championships involving two gray Cup wins uh as to whether they'll be able to keep some of these guys that were a big part of last year's team Rob great stuff we'll need to do this again maybe talk a little bit more CFL but in the meantime congratulations on the book I'm just getting into it I've really enjoyed what I've read so far and gang if you're into oldtime hockey as they say and the oldtime hockey stories um Brave face is something I think you'll really really enjoy Rob thanks for doing this oh thanks so much H hus it's an honor to be on your show and uh look forward to doing it again soon take care all the best there's a Rob vanstone out in Regina this is uh is a really really fun read gang um I'm getting into it I made a point jumping straight to the Joe daily but uh there's a lot of neat stuff a lot of great stories and Rob an incredible writer so highly highly recommend it um all right we're getting into kolette lines before the end of the show um I did mention every everybody that this event we're having with the Coolbet Lines and Wrap Up Winnipeg whiskey festival at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame is going to be going out uh that we'll announce it tomorrow well I've just I've gotten the link um so tonight we will send something out on the uh with to everyone that signed up for the newsletter so if you if you haven't already this is a great time go to Winnipeg what do they do they go to Winnipeg sports.com Remis and sign up there Winnipeg sports talk.com uh scroll down to the bottom and it'll there's a you know form that you can just put your email there's a there's a link there now this event it's going to be a special whiskey tasting we'll have details in the in the event but um with the uh Canadian Club Ambassador Tish who's been there since uh for I believe 36 years so we're going to learn a lot about it uh we'll try a number of different of the uh of the whiskies there it's going to be um the night of the Jets Dallas game on February 29th so what we're going to be doing is we're going to be starting around 6 o'clock uh we'll be doing tastings beforehand we'll have the game on a massive screen uh we'll do more tastings at the intermission uh I believe they're putting together your ticket includes a little personal Sherie uh put together by the folk at ducas but the bottom line on this is there's going to be less than 40 tickets available uh it's 50 bucks all in including everything there we'll be there hosting we'll watch the game um you know we'll probably be done the whiskey part of it by about the second period but everyone's more than welcome to stick around and not watch it so if you do if you are interested in whiskey and want to throw a jersey on come out at an incredible venue the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame um get in there look for the announcement today I guess we can probably put the link out right now because we do have a live link um that we've got for the event um that we can uh we can throw out there I'll just grab it and I'll throw it in the chat but the bottom line is don't wait on these tickets because all of these Winnipeg whiskey whiskey club events uh end up selling out very very quickly they've given us because we're kind of doing it in conjunction with wst and Winnipeg Sport and uh obviously our friends at Canadian club we wanted to do it so I'm going to throw this in the chat right now if you want to be the first one to jump on tickets before they're gone here you go so there's the link right now we'll send it out to the newsletter tonight we'll mention it to everybody on the show tomorrow and I think in a very very quick period of time these are going to be Gonzo so hope to see you there we've had a is a little bit different than some of our other or bigger events it'll be a smaller more intimate group um but we can't wait should be a heck of a lot of fun and again it's on Thursday February 29th at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame details right in there jump on it and uh we'll look forward to hanging out with you and see you there but get your tickets before they are Gonzo um all right let's get to these cool bet lines for tonight let's see what do we got here we got three games in the NHL and then that's it until the All-Star Game and break Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings going at it in Detroit Ottawa had a nice big comeback win at home against Nashville on the weekend um Detroit Detroit could really use these two points heading into the break I do I think I am leaning Detroit and then Reas I don't even know what to think about this game La a very very slight Road favorite why I have no idea they haven't beenen beating anybody lately against the Nashville Predators Kings minus 111 PR's minus 105 this is an absolutely massive game for both teams Todd mcclelen might be coaching for his job and the PRS being there at that spot with tied with LA but having played three more games definitely could use a nice regulation win to move up two points on the Kings this to me is the big one tonight on the schedule yeah the other two games pretty mad I mean sharks Ducks it's two bottom teams the sanitors Red Wings the line intrigues me money Puck has the Senators as a slight favorite 53.3% but the line here is towards the Red Wings U minus 112 um so if you believe money Puck there maybe there's some value betting on the centers but I don't really trust their gold still taking Detroit yeah I'm taking Detroit as well um I I don't PR Corel they give up a ton of goals I would go with the home teams here on the last game before the break I mean the Ducks playing the sharks who played last night with a two- nothing win I would certainly lean the Ducks there this Kings PRS I don't know what's going to go happen here in this one um monik Puck again has it as a coin flip it's basically a pick him on the line uh I think this is this must-win territory for the Kings I'm not sure but they're holding on to the wild card they want to go into the break on a positive and I would lean here they're going with big save Dave and goal maybe that causes you to go Nashville but that's certainly B baked into the line I'm curious what we're going to see from the kings that game's at 630 uh 6:30 central time so that's we'll have our eye on that one tonight as one of three games 607 I like the Wings Over the sends I think I might make that the play of the day for cool bet uh I like Nashville over the Kings or sorry the Wings Over the s i should say minus 112 Nashville over the Kings minus 111 and I think I'm going to roll with the sharks coming off their big win last night I don't care about the fact that it's backto back I care about home teams like St Louis completely mailing it in heading into the break and I think you know what San Jose did last night is going to kind of boost them to really finish strong I don't trust Anaheim at all in this game so if you're looking for a nice long shot tonight one plus 157 on the Sharks but I will direct you we did put together a little partner parlay for the lock shop today taking the Red Wings on the money line to win in any fashion the Predators to beat the kings in any fashion and we're going to take the Sharks on the puck line so sharks plus one and a half um so essentially if the Sharks lose by one that's also a winner when we put it in it was plus 49 the guys have generously boosted it to plus 545 so that's there for you for the lock shop partner parlay and as I said I'm not forgetting about the Sharks I am going to do a smaller amount on Wings Nashville and sharks all to win that one you can get a plus 850 um we did the uh Pebble Beach picks today in the lock shop Patty's got some uh Pebble Beach PR specials as well there so uh you can get on that but make sure you get your picks in today because they well te off early although it's on the west coast um never good to go oh I want to get my picks in and down the tournament's already started so it's all there cool bet quick update on the Super Bowl line uh great time to get in on the Chiefs if you want them money Line's up to plus 111 for Kansas City San Francisco the favorite at minus 125 Kansas City and Underdog again plus 111 point spread is two and the total points for the game is 47 and a half they actually even have some Pro Bowl who will win the DodgeBall semifinal the what yeah dodgeball the grid iron gauntlet the move the chains winner tug of war closest to the pin basically just even money or minus 115 on both sides for AFC and NFC C but there is there you can bet on the individuals in the highest Precision passing competition score Tua and CJ Stout are 4 to one Jaylen Herz plus 425 Gino Smith plus 450 Baker Mayfield and Gardener muu at 5 to one so that's all there at Kolb as well we'll touch on tomorrow's going to be a big day all of the NHL Futures will be out once these games are over for tonight so we'll let you know what the justed win pck Jets odds are and we'll spend a little bit more time doing that tomorrow and Friday in the cool bet lines and again use the promo code wst if you haven't played a cool bet before and uh you get a 100% bonus up to 200 bucks on your first deposit uh good stuff today people fired up about stvy ream and um some nice hockey convos great to talk to the new coach of the uh gold eyes and it was a fun visit with uh with Rob vanstone about his uh book about about the masal goalies that was a cool book Brave face I'm sure a lot of uh great stories in there and yeah shout out to the bombers for putting out the treler news on a Wednesday during the Jets week off uh well done so got some good discussion on that and they're going to introduce him to the media and hopefully we can get him on here we've been I texted Darren with the bombers and hopefully the timing works out that is the plan tomorrow on the show Ken's gonna join us from uh the beaches of Mexico bik's going to jump on on Friday Dennis beak and Mara Tesh it should be great and huge day tomorrow for local Hoops bison's Westman Duckworth challenge our buddy Joey Slattery who will be involved in the call of both games going to be jumping on with us and of course a matchup of of course Simon hilderbrand who was the rookie star of the seab Bears last last year and one of our favorites Shawn Moran who's the go-to guy for the ufw Westman so we'll have slats come on as well and we will touch base with sport Manitoba Suzanne dandino should be a great guest coming up on the program as well um thanks for being with us everybody don't forget get those whiskey Festival tickets if you haven't already I'm going to put it in one more time into the link there it is for you we'll send out the information in the newsletter tonight uh but don't wait on those because uh we've only got just under 40 tickets to go or actually more so like 30 tickets after some sponsor stuff is taken care of so uh let's see out there should be a real fun night with our friends at Canadian club and the Winnipeg whiskey festival at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame on February 29th that's going to do it for us thanks for being with us we'll see you tomorrow on Winnipeg Sports Talk have a great night everybody get outside it's beautiful out there oh my God shut it down let's go home thanks for tuning in to Winnipeg Sports Talk daily make sure to subscribe on YouTube and your favorite podcast feed at Winnipeg sports [Music] talk.com