Paul Maurice Interview and NHL Season Look Ahead

00:00:09 Speaker 1: From UDIO in partnership with TSN. Welcome to Episode One of the Ray & Dregs Hockey podcast and Ray, just our listeners convince you. Allies here, You're in a studio in Vancouver. I'm in a studio in Toronto. We probably should've planned a pre podcast retreat. Maybe spend a little time together, piss each other off, just get the juices flowing. That kind of stuff. Yeah, but I don't need a retreat for you to tweak me, because just through text and email, I've already had it. I mean, we're not even one episode in and what I'm finding is I'm just going to say drinks. You do this, All follow along. Yeah. We've got an abundance of leaguewide stories that we're gonna discuss an episode one from the restricted free agent pool, too. The Austin Matthew's situation to maybe preseason expectation going near the regular season. That's all in the show. And I know that both of us are big fans of Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice, who has the honor the Honore of being our first guest ever on the ray and dregs hockey podcast. I'm sure it's something that he's planned for. I'm sure he wasn't more focused on Kyle Connor or Patrick Line a signing. It was all about being prepared for the taping of this segment. 00:01:23 Speaker 1: An there's also a segment we call Throat Punch. I don't want you to give this way too much, all right, because George her it's your term. It like it is my term, and I'll explain what it means. It's a bit of a Western Canadian flair, and what it means is we all have situations in our life. Maybe people individuals, if you will. They take you off and and fear radically. You want to give them the old throat punch, right? Just a toodle mop a little bit. And I grew up thinking that in doing that on occasion, frankly, but we're gonna have some fun with that segment, so I don't want you to give away. But you do have 00:01:58 Speaker 1: Week one classic Exhibit A, don't you? Well, I see. I don't think a throat punch should be there. I don't think it always has to be just one thing. Lots of times. There's tentacles that come out of one issue, and that's what happened this week, and we're not even into the season yet, right? I know. I can't wait. You know, we struggled a bit in preparation and planning with the show. How is that gonna work? Is it a little cliche is a little goofy to come up with a name segment. I think this one's gonna be a tapping on a weekly basis, but from the Ferraro family, 00:02:31 Speaker 1: I look, I love this because it's organic. It's original. I want to know about Tony Ferraro. He's your brother, has an exceptionally talented musician. And when you hear the intro music, when you hear some of the background music when you hear the music that that goes to break takes us out of a segment into a segment that's brother Tony and his collection of very talented friends. Yeah, Tony has been a musician since he's been a young kid, and, uh oh, you know, always a drummer. Um, you can imagine what our house sounded like, where I was shooting pox. In one end of the basement, Tony was playing the drums in another, the drums air, not the quietest, the quietest instrument to practice it. And so if you were trying to take a nap in that house, forget it. So Tony's gone on and he's, um you know, he works and he's got his regular work. But he's also he's toured with Kim Mitchell, the steward with Trooper. He plays with Jazz with Lester McClane right now, and he tours around in the summer, 00:03:31 Speaker 1: is unbelievably creative. And, um, he dialed up our intro in extra music and he also, uh, stuff you're here under the commercials and that that's all Tony and his buddies and thanks, tone. And, um, as always, I knew you'd do a great job. Look, I I want our Ray and dregs hockey podcast listeners to visualize this again because, as you're describing Tony just beating on the drums growing up, you know you have the patience of a scorpion, so there is no chance there weren't all kinds of 00:04:03 Speaker 1: battles going on, but it got worse drinks because my dad was a trumpet player, 00:04:09 Speaker 1: and so, like, it's like nobody played anything that was quiet. The house was like a gong show constantly and Sunday afternoons. I will have its a great memory of my father, who's passed away, but he would always practice, and so 00:04:24 Speaker 1: you know, the house would be quiet. Everybody's kind of winding down after the weekend. And then Dad would go in the dining room and you'd hear that trumpet case open up and then you'd hear pop, pop, pop, pop, pop pop. 00:04:35 Speaker 1: I'd be playing the scales over and over and I'd be like, I can't take this anymore. And then you'd hear from the basement from from thumping. Here goes, Tony, I gotta go outside and shoot box. I can't even take it anymore. 12. And I couldn't take it. That's how you woke up in Trail BC. I woke up to a rooster in Saskatchewan, so kind of the same, completely different. 00:04:57 Speaker 1: You should still be in sustaining 00:05:00 Speaker 1: and and you should have a rooster rate outside of your door. Maybe because you're not, you're not. Actually. Well, you are an early morning guys. 00:05:08 Speaker 1: It's not so bad. All right, welcome, Tony. Look, we're going to introduce our listeners to the rain dregs hockey podcast hockey pool, but you know we'll get into that later in the show, but it's easier for those listing. Just log on when you're done with a podcast to www dot ran drugs dot com. That's our website it'll explain in great detail how you can join us. There's a ton of dough that can be won over the course of the season. So I look forward to, Ah, everybody participating in you and I, my friend, may even have a side bet which we went, You know, when we get done with picking our team, so just a little added value for everyone. While it won't maybe be a side bet, there will be one for sure. And this isn't a participation medal. If you win. I mean, like, we're for the people that sign up and get into this. There's there's cash on it, right? There's monies to be one, and I think people will love it. You're inexpensive, date. I'm thinking a glass of baby duck in a hot dog. How about you? What do you think? Yeah, if that if that thing comes in, if the wine comes in a box, I'm in. 00:06:15 Speaker 1: All right. Now we're going to take a look at a number of the biggest hockey news items that have either emerged or surface during the off season, perhaps throughout training camp in the preseason, or things that we're gonna play pay close attention to as the regular season fully gets underway. We've got Paul Marie standing by Ray, and we're looking forward to that interview. A. He's, Ah, very articulate and educated man, so you can take it any direction you want with Paul. But, you know, if we just drill down on the Winnipeg Jets here for just a moment, Patrick Line a Kyle Connor signed. That's great news for all involved, and certainly for the Winnipeg Jets fan base. But, man, do you have any concerns with the amount of turnover that has occurred since his team was eliminated from the playoffs last year by the St Louis Blues? I do drugs, and I also have concerned because of the way that the season kind of imploded in Winnipeg. I did 10 Jets games last year, mostly in the second half of the season, for TSN, and it really struck me as though something wasn't quite right that you know Patrick Line and 30 goals. But he got 18 of them in November. There were lots of nights. He was really quiet. Their team didn't seemed to be as much of a machine as they were the year before. And so now you come into the offseason, and through no fault of their own, they have to deal Jacob Trouba. He goes to the New York Rangers. They have the line and corner 00:07:41 Speaker 1: contract, drawn out negotiations. You have dust and buffalo, who is moved away from the team. So you're basically evil. And Ben Sharratt? 00:07:51 Speaker 1: It signed as a free agent in Montreal. You lost more than half a year defense. It's hard to get better because you're crammed up against the salary cap, and I actually, 00:08:02 Speaker 1: as you know, drinks I could care less who wins. It really doesn't matter to me. But I actually feel sorry for a team like Winnipeg and the way that it's married to the salary cap, because to me, it's not fair. They didn't make any exorbitant spending. Cher's on free agents. They drafted. They developed their paying their players, and now all of a sudden they got to start throwing guys overboard because they can't afford them anymore. There's something doesn't quite seem right about that for the Jets, but now they've got to try and meld their team back together, and we'll be really interested in particular on the blue line. Help. Paul. Maurice does that. Yeah. You know, I'm with you too. I I mean, they did everything right, and they knew that this this was coming. You know, the battle with line in the battle with Kyle Connor because that's just what the restricted free agents did during this off season. But it couldn't have been avoided. What? Maybe could have been avoided, though The dust and Buffon's situation not by the Winnipeg Jets per se, is an organization, but maybe by the player in this case. And I'm not making light of this when I tell our our fans here he's spending a lot of time fishing, and that's okay. I mean, that's what he does, right? Edie likes to fish. It relaxes him all of those things. But the Winnipeg Jets frankly need him to make a decision. He's under suspension, so they get cap relief for his contract. But how do you use that cap relief when you don't know if this guy's gonna wake up at some point soon or in a month from now, or a month and 1/2 from now and say, You know what? I feel like I could get back in shape. I could play for 2/3 of this season. I mean, almost has the organization in this case held hostage. I I actually think, um and I'll preface is by saying is a CZ, long as we're not talking about a mental health spot here, a mental health situation where he's unsure about a lot of things in his life. I I certainly hope that's not it, you know, and and I have no reason to say so. I would like to make clear, and they've said that it's not so. We're just going by what we know to be fact given from those involved with the organization 00:10:07 Speaker 1: not being sure if I want to play the team, suspend you, but they can't use the cap space because if you go get a player for three million bucks, we've just talked about the Jets have got their nose press straight up against the cap. What are they going to do if Buffalo decides to come back now you gotta throw two more players overboard. It makes no sense. I actually it looks to me from from my spot that he doesn't want to play 82 games. You know, you've mentioned that he's doing a lot of fishing good for him. Fish in the summertime because your job, which allows you the lifestyle that you can afford. And by that I mean doing the things you want to do is on the ice. Camp opens in September. It's kind of selfish what he's doing in a way that it puts the Jets in a deep, deep corner. They can't do anything about it. They can't replace the player that they need to replace, or they would love to have him back. And so you've kind of put your team in a terrible, terrible spot. And how do you How do you manage that? We'll ask Paul Maurice that, but you can't manage something that's not there. No, I agree. And I think Chevy did good work in locking up his two r F A's. I mean, he put some heat now on on Patrick Lion E with the two year bridge, and he's so that's that's good heat. Good heat because because I I think for the Jets, Sorry to interrupt Rex. It's like so the cap is gonna go up when Seattle comes in 00:11:29 Speaker 1: the hockey related revenue, which has nothing to do with the expansion fees, will grow. So because Seattle's gonna sell a bunch of stuff and the tickets are all you know, they they sold out in 13 minutes and all that stuff hockey related revenue. With the new TV deal in the States that will grow 00:11:44 Speaker 1: line, a share of the cap will go down. And in two years, if he throws 38 48 on the board, well, then he's gonna be in a great spot. And the Jets would love to have that problem. Yeah, and the fact that locked up call Connor for seven years again. You know, not to gush over the work of management in in Winnipeg, but uh huh, I think he's underrated across the NHL. He's not underrated in Winnipeg because people watch him more closely on a night in and night out basis. But to be able to get a player of that magnitude locked down for seven years, there's got to be a pretty deep sense of relief. Well, again. As I said earlier, I did of those 10 games in the last half of last year, but I also did tend the previous year, and I was really surprised he was Kyle Connors. As good as he has all right, 00:12:33 Speaker 1: like I really I didn't know that he was Maur than a fast shooter. And then I really only this guy just knows how to play as well is that And you can say, always playing with shapely and Wheeler, And that's why he scores 30 goals. No, you can't you. That's not the case. He knows how to score. He knows when to use his speed. He knows how to move the puck. He's also got a tenacity to his game. I I think he's a terrific player, all right, this is a This is a good signing for I. I couldn't agree more Before we go on. We have to be quick here. We can't leave this segment talking about the defending Stanley Cup champion St Louis Blues. Were you at all surprised that they acquired Justin Falk before re signing their captain extending their captain in Alex Pietrangelo? 00:13:19 Speaker 1: I am and 00:13:21 Speaker 1: because I think if you're comparing the players, but Tran Djalo is a better player than Justin folk, and so the money that they committed to Falk. Could that have gone toe to Tran? Gia will. Now. Maybe it's still can, because if you look at the Blues defense, Jay Bouwmeester comes off the cap next year. So that's another $3 million. I believe he's at 3.3 that they would be able to, ah, lot somewhere else. But it gets crowded in a hurry on the right side of that defense and the commitment that Doug Armstrong has made the Falcons seven years. So you have Colton Parayko. He's not going anywhere. You've got Justin Falk. He's not going anywhere. And now you've got your captain, who is an unrestricted free agent. The challenges ey're great for every team around the league to keep the band together when you want to keep it together, This seems like it would be a real pebble in a trance yellow shoe that Falk was signed after being acquired, and he's now in the last year of his contract. You imagine Petro as a free agent come next summer, Woo. Well, we're gonna break and look forward to Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice. He's coming up right after the break down a little bit later, we're gonna zero in on throat punch. You don't want to miss that segment. And more details on the rate and dregs fantasy hockey pool. It is the rain drinks hockey podcast. 00:14:52 Speaker 1: Well, I feel like we need more than just the intro music to this segment. I don't know what we need. Like alarm bells. Something to just recognize the significance of the guests joining us now from Winnipeg, it is the launch of the ray and dregs hockey podcasts, and we're proud. Toe, welcome in to the show. Paul Marie's the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets. Mo. How you doing? 00:15:18 Speaker 2: I'm good drugs. As you know, anything's up. One would be appropriate. 00:15:21 Speaker 1: Oh, yes. And we're going on, Lee because you brought that up. We're going to get to it later in the show because I'm still surprised. And I thought I'd done a good enough job of telling the thousands of people that are really your fans. Ah, big of the Led Zeppelin fan you are. But we'll get to that in a moment. You know, it was it was a bit of a summer of uncertainty for you. 00:15:42 Speaker 1: Is there just a natural intensity that shifts when you get through training cap and you get to the pre season and the regular season obviously takes over. 00:15:51 Speaker 2: You don't want e. I'll go back. So I would say Absolutely, That's the way this thing works. We had a really unusual camp and I don't know what the driver, the catalyst of it all. But we had lots going on. I've got it was, had a lot of departures from last year. We had. The two gets unsigned. We had dust and not being a training camp and then car accidents and all kinds of stuff going on around her team are massage therapy was so therapist. I'm sorry was a really important part of our group, was diagnosed with cancer for the second time, went through a surgery, went very, very well. So we just had an awful lot 00:16:26 Speaker 2: and then we get on the ice and the work level was incredible to the point that and some of it had to be. We actually did not have a junior player as afford. So you know, I put most of the veteran guys of one group in a younger group. 00:16:39 Speaker 2: They were going so hard by day two or watching they would, they won't be able to do it again. They won't be able to push that hard again. They did so we had a We had a great camp, like with all the stuff that was going on when we hit the ice, the guys were focused, but they were having fun. Some of the personalities that we brought in the total Bork and will attest to really good prose but didn't mind laugh in German practice of enjoy the campus, much as anyone that we've had in terms of how hard the guys have worked and how good and easy it's been to work with him. It's been a great training camp, 00:17:07 Speaker 1: Paul. I'm I'm sure you're much happier this week than last week, and this time you got Kyle Connor and Patrick Line A in there. What can you expect from them immediately? 00:17:18 Speaker 2: Well, today was the very first day in the last three works. We worked on her power place that went a whole hell of a lot better. Um, 00:17:25 Speaker 2: and in talking with both and Patrick's very confident and where he's out because he felt that he went an hour and 1/2 just about every day with a pro team and he's ready and and he looks like he got he got through practice up on down real quick, Kyle said. You know, he's not quite sure what to expect because he wasn't in that kind of intense environment. But what's great Volkow is he tests really well every year training camp. So he got an extra month of May be left a little, but more. He's kind of a slight guy, so he looks strong. He looks powerful, and then it's just gonna be You mean they're not rookies? But there is a change here, so it's just gonna be we're playing ball from, and I'm not gonna monitor their minutes until I think I have to. We put him pretty similarly in roles they were in last year, and then we'll just go from there 00:18:10 Speaker 1: now. You briefly talked about dust and Buffalo. Paul, Um, I mean, just probably not much of an update, and and if there is, we love to hear it. But do you stay involved in this, or do you just leave this to Chevy Nana? Manage. Moving forward? 00:18:23 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I met with Dustin early on in training camp. Everybody here has, and then I've just left it because now you get so busy. And he certainly understands that Chevy in and Dust and have a really close relationship. Unusual, probably between player and GM, but it goes back to his Chicago days. So we've got the right guy, uh, interact with Dustin whenever we need to communicate with him. And Chevy is taking the hell there 00:18:47 Speaker 1: when you have a year that ended, like last year for you, and it seemed like the year before you guys were a machine. It just looked like it was all rolling forward. And then something came apart a bit last year. Then you have all this stuff to deal with this summer. How do you get it back on track? The way that people viewed the Jets can can that be done quickly? Or is that a process for you? 00:19:11 Speaker 2: Well, I think the first thing is you assess the year bond. I think it's the thing I enjoyed the most. Actually, at the end was going back and watching the playoffs because we did it. Times play some of our best hockey. And as you saw, we got beat by a pretty good team. 00:19:25 Speaker 2: Then we had Ray. You know what we had almost, you know, it was good that we ended up having the changeover that we did like, you know, we lost five important guys from from our roster that are back and looks completely different right now, especially with us. You know, our entire right side has gone from last year along with Ben Sharratt, 00:19:43 Speaker 2: but it's enough movement that you are. You're able to change the team's focus easier if that makes any sense. We look, we got a really young back, and right now we got an 18 year old back there. We've got three guys that didn't play regular in the NHL. Everybody assesses that. We worked on a lot of defensive concepts, so that focus was brought to the important points because of the change over. It's gonna be a challenge. There's no doubt I don't know that we want to look 00:20:09 Speaker 2: exactly like the Jets did last year. Two years ago, we were a better defensive team who were last year. That was the frustrating part of our season. We, even in our exhibition games and I'm I wouldn't say I'm a huge analytics guy, but I do pay attention. All our numbers are back to where we thought that we should have been last year, very consistent. Where were we two years ago? The one number that's down, obviously, is our goal scoring. But jeez, I think before those two kids signed, we were off about 100 and 30 goals from our year prior in terms of player personnel missing. So we're gonna look a little different this year. But that by no means doesn't mean we necessarily won't be is good. We can be a better team game. We probably don't have the paper lineup that we did. 00:20:51 Speaker 1: All right, well, let's get to the fun stuff now, Paul. And now the broadcasting side. I mean, you could do that in your sleep. If you're not coaching beyond coaching, what's next for Paul? Maurice? Is it Inaki outside hockey, or are you gonna coach until you're 95? 00:21:07 Speaker 2: Um, probably all three girls. I'm gonna coach until every league in the world says no more. 00:21:13 Speaker 1: Um, 00:21:14 Speaker 1: because 00:21:15 Speaker 2: I've the only thing I've done since I've been 19 years old. It's the only thing I'm truly qualified for short of that Alaskan bush pilot. 00:21:24 Speaker 2: If if I had sight in both my eyes, that's that would be like number two if that goes south on me. So I'll tell you something. Drink that you don't know. I never sent you a text on this. My son Jake is now the voice of the Winnipeg Blues in the Met in the Junior Hockey League here. So he has become a play by play guy. 00:21:44 Speaker 1: That's awesome. 00:21:45 Speaker 2: Oh, and you know my son. So, 00:21:46 Speaker 1: you know, 00:21:47 Speaker 2: all great. That was a big day for our family. He loves it. It's what he wants to do. So I may be just become a sidekick for the for the radio guy for a junior team, for the rest of my career I can carry is Mike 00:21:58 Speaker 1: and do stuff 00:21:58 Speaker 2: like that. 00:21:59 Speaker 1: Now, you started in the NHL when you were 28. 00:22:02 Speaker 2: Yeah, 00:22:03 Speaker 1: And you had players much older than you that you were coaching and I'm playing. And I'm older than you, right? As I'm looking at the bench like 00:22:14 Speaker 1: we're looking at you like What the hell is he doing here? Like 00:22:17 Speaker 2: me 00:22:18 Speaker 1: to 00:22:19 Speaker 1: say, How did that work? Man, 00:22:21 Speaker 2: you're thinking I'm 00:22:22 Speaker 1: thinking it, too. 00:22:23 Speaker 1: Like, how did it work? 00:22:25 Speaker 2: Uh, you don't want the veteran guys were the easiest guys to deal with. So Brad McCrimmon was on my team, his first year pro. I was in grade seven 00:22:32 Speaker 2: to give you an 00:22:33 Speaker 1: idea what that 00:22:34 Speaker 2: was like when I walked into that room. 00:22:36 Speaker 2: But those guys were always the easiest guys, and I remember Brad coming into my office early on, he says, Look, you just tell me where you want me to go. I'll do it. If it doesn't work, you'll feel it. You know, you, that's your job. That's what you do is a coach, the older guys, and that includes Paul Coffey and Tom Brosseau, who's a friend now. But he was a little crust you're to deal with. But you know Ron Francis, I was lucky because almost every one of those veteran guys had a really good men and they'd walk down and tell you what they thought and that 00:23:07 Speaker 2: one of the most important lessons early on, because I just don't lie to the players, whatever you do, most of these guys at that time were smarter than me, knew the game better than I did. You just don't lie to him. So I got a lot of incredibly important lessons early on that I took with me. 00:23:23 Speaker 2: It forced me. I knew that I was. I was in over my head as an assistant 00:23:28 Speaker 1: coach. I didn't wantto head coach turned the job 00:23:30 Speaker 2: down three times. You know, I had just finished going to Memorial Cup in Junior, had just gotten married. I was set to stay in Junior for another 10 years and then you don't like three months later on the head coach of the Hartford Rose. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, 00:23:44 Speaker 2: but that was a It was a good catalyst. Then you watch video and you become a guy that learns the game of love is the game, and that's what was a very difficult situation, for I didn't enjoy my first 00:23:55 Speaker 1: two years at all 00:23:56 Speaker 2: because I knew that I was in way over my head. 00:23:59 Speaker 1: Well, we tease it off the top, and we can't let you go without at least acknowledging or explaining your love of Led Zeppelin. Not a huge fan. That's an understatement. Do you have a favorite song? And if you sing in the shower, um, which I don't think anybody wants to visualize. 00:24:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, so nobody needs to have that in their head. Driving the work or having their lunch list looks clear, 00:24:21 Speaker 1: but But if you do 00:24:23 Speaker 2: just so it changes the fake great thing for his leads up. One for me is when I started, my older brother kind of introduced it to me, and it's it's changed over the years, but now it's part of my youth and part of my I'm not even middle aged anymore. Uh, since I've been loving you, it would be would be the one song that I would think is the one that I enjoy the most now, but clearly the obvious ones. Cashmere. 10 years gone, All in my time of dying. We could do the list. 00:24:50 Speaker 2: I just I think there's something there for everybody, 00:24:52 Speaker 1: and and 00:24:53 Speaker 2: my dad didn't like it, So there's there's 00:24:56 Speaker 2: when you're 7 15 That's probably all you're looking for. 00:24:59 Speaker 1: Well, look, man, you are incredibly busy this time of year. We we want to thank you for joining us on Episode one of the ray and dregs hockey podcast. 00:25:10 Speaker 1: I wish you the best over the course of the season. 00:25:12 Speaker 2: You know what? Thanks for having me, guys. And good luck with the show, 00:25:25 Speaker 1: Ray. We're gonna have some fun with this segment we call bro Punch. It might be a challenge on a weekly basis or not Toe identify either 00:25:33 Speaker 1: an individual. 00:25:35 Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be hockey related. Maybe doesn't have to be sport related. I mean, if we focused on politicians, we could do 1000 of these things, but I promise we're not going to do that. What it means is something over the course of the past seven days has caught our attention. Not necessarily in a positive light, you know, and I'm not gonna dwell on this, but the couple who got married during halftime of the Bills game with the Bills defensive player officiating the wedding. I mean, that's prime Prime throat punch territory for me. But I think because this is Episode one and we're launching the rain dregs hockey podcast, we are going to keep it within the arena of the sport. And there's a lot about the Vander Cane scenario. The issues that went along that game against the Vegas Golden Knights that perturbed you. Is that fair? It is now. Okay, so the throat punch, you know, means right, You're throwing a punch. I like to say I was in 14 fights in my 00:26:35 Speaker 1: in my life and I think I won one. 00:26:38 Speaker 1: I lost a bunch and I think I tied a couple which were basically wrestling matches. The worst one, Which guys have bugged me a boat for years. And Garry Galley was Gary and I got in a fight in Buffalo. 00:26:52 Speaker 1: It was one of the worst efforts on either his or my part. They only gave us roughing penalties because it was so bad and they said it was the worst fight ever. So I'm not real good at throwing out the punches. But I have, as you know, a little bit of a few. So I'm watching Evander Kane and Derek, England. They're tied up in the game against Vegas and sandals. It's the last game of the preseason, and these teams already have. Ah ah, fantastic rivalry. There is. They do not like each other, and certainly it goes back to last year. Um, you know, It's the way Game seven plate Odin in San Jose. 00:27:27 Speaker 1: However, 00:27:29 Speaker 1: here's where my throw punches. It's for everyone involved in that scuffle with Cane, England and the linesman. They all get one. First of all, it's the preseason. 00:27:39 Speaker 1: Why are you so pissed off? It's not two rookies trying to make the team. It's Evander Kane and Derek, England. Relax, fellas. If you really want to punch somebody in the face, do it next. Do it This week, when they play the first game of the season, that's number one. Number two is the linesman. I understand from the league's perspective that officials can never be touched. And I'm no advocate for more fighting. I mean, I'm, Ah, 180 degrees from that, but what the hell's the line's been doing there? You got both guys that are big guys. That air squared up there looking at each other. Nobody is at a physical disadvantage. Nobody's at the disadvantage of they don't know what's coming, which, oftentimes the officials do an amazing job at keeping everybody safe, and now he jumps in there and gets his hands on cane. So now 00:28:28 Speaker 1: everyone is expecting cane to go from 100 miles an hour of anger and frustration. Zero. 00:28:35 Speaker 1: I don't think it works now. He got three games. They could appeal it if they wanted to, I guess. But there's no way that's gonna ever be changed. No. And so how many times? Drinks. There's a team missed the playoffs by one point, or two points or three points. San Jose, who's had a lot of upheaval toe their line up. They're gonna be without Evander Kane for three games. What if it's one of these six points that they need by the end of the year? It was the preseason, man. Stop it. Well, you know, what I love about this is if we were selling throat punch hats or T shirts, and we probably will in the near future, everyone gets a throat punch out or T shirt Here. Evander gets a throat punch T shirt. The ref gets a throat parts T shirt. Peter bore. You wanna hat? You get a throat punch hat. We could have some fun with this one. This this one is called spray in the infield right here. Everybody gets You are okay with a slash. I mean, there were someone took who had an issue with the slash before it because it almost looked like it to clip the linesman. So there were a couple of incidents here for Evander Kane. Well, it's amazing, isn't it? Drinks because, you know, like there's so much that can be scrutinized Now there's the cameras, will catch everything. There was a time I had a breakaway and I missed, and shockingly, I was pissed off and I missed. That went to my backhand and I shot it and the goalie stops. It's white, kind of bumped up against the boards and the guy on the other team. I don't even remember who it was. He came to 00:30:05 Speaker 1: finishes check on me, and as he got close, I don't even know if he was gonna hit me, and I just kind of jabbed in my spirit. Him and he went down. It was a dirty chicken crap play by me. It was a bad play. 00:30:17 Speaker 1: Anyway. 00:30:18 Speaker 1: I get a call from Brian Burke, who is the 00:30:21 Speaker 1: disciplinarian at the time for the league, and he says, 00:30:24 Speaker 1: I know you spirit him. We don't have any cameras that caught it. Don't do it again. You're fined $5000. Wow. But in back down five K was a lot of nose. And but the thing is, just think of that. I can't see it. I know what you did. I didn't Even I didn't even have a defense to Burkey. I'm like a Yeah, you're right. I gotta tell you, back in my early days, when I was a host, that wasn't an insider. I usedto love that, You know, back in the late nineties when a manager would call me and say, Look, we're going to send the tape in because so and so did this, eh? So you might want to call the league, You know, now, I mean, I'm sending 15 texts tonight because, you know, I see what could be, Ah, infraction something George Perils and hockey operations or the discipline committee might look at man. Those were the good old days when maybe the tape got lost. Right happened more than once. It got it got it would disappear. I only had one other call fromthe league, and somehow the league, in their wisdom, had scheduled The Thrashers are Atlanta Thrashers and Washington Capitals. Three straight games in the regular season, which was ridiculous and so 00:31:39 Speaker 1: predictably at that time, the game got out of hand and the 3rd 1 did. And I got into a little bit of a verbal war with Ron Wilson and it spilled into the papers and 00:31:52 Speaker 1: it became kind of Ah, you know, we both should have probably stop that. And so one day I get ah, Dawn would l was now the general manager in Ah, Carolina. He calls me into his office and said she got a phone call and it was Gary Bettman 00:32:07 Speaker 1: basic, basically, that 00:32:10 Speaker 1: he wasn't calling to see how practice was going. 00:32:13 Speaker 1: It was it was basically I've just got off the phone with Ron Wilson, and that is enough of that because I was on I I I was on full attack mode. I mean, I was given it to the schedule maker. I was give hell. We won 12 games, right? I was like this socks. Why are they schedule? That's three times. And these guy odd and I was out of commission. I don't know why when you talk about Gary Bettman automatically, and I just look, we both know Bettman well. We talked about him, but instantly what comes to mind. We have a trade to announce. Well, because 00:32:50 Speaker 1: bloody O'Neill, Jeff O'Neill, he jumped on that thing and you can't you can't e. I can't think of it any other way. 00:33:00 Speaker 1: Oh, Dog will be a guest at some point, but I'm sure he wants to be compensated, and we'll have to work that out because he's high rent district for us. Yeah, he doesn't walk across the street with voice. 00:33:12 Speaker 1: We've spent some time talking about 00:33:14 Speaker 1: at least one or two of the Canadian teams, obviously, the Winnipeg Jets, with head coach Paul Maurice joining us on the radio and dregs hockey podcast. But let's let's go around Canada here, ray between the benches and focus in on the Toronto Maple Leafs a little bit more. We know that Mike Babcock has a tremendous amount of pressure early on in this regular season, there are some who believe that he's vulnerable. But when you look at the Maple Leafs by design going into the regular season, is there anything about the makeup of this team that might concern you? Maur If you compared to last year? 00:33:48 Speaker 1: Well, I think there's a couple of things drinks for a team that has to be considered in the in the top half dozen or so in the NHL. When do they have this kind of turnover of the roster? And, you know, you start with their defense, which is completely revamped. That is a concern. They said that they wanted to have Freddy Anderson play under around 60 games last year. Just eight goalies in the league played 60 games or more. Anderson was one of them. 00:34:16 Speaker 1: Do they really trust Michael Hutchison to play 25 or 27 games, or is there somebody else? It's gonna play some. Like who knows? The depth of their lineup up top 00:34:27 Speaker 1: is frightening. That, you know the top end of their lineup is is crazy. Good. What concerns me is what are they going to get past that? Because you can say, although muddle through. But look at the teams that got all the way to the finals last year. The depth of goals that they got and production they got all the way through their lineup. It's tough to beat with just two lines, so those are some of the things that concern me with the lease. Well, when I look at rookie's tow watch, Rasmus sanding on that Toronto blue line is one that I'm paying close attention to did. That is part of, you know, our Calder Trophy search, a CZ part of the TSN preview show. But I want to skip over to Vancouver and let's take a closer look. Rafe, we can't the Hughes brothers. I'm starting with Quinn because you've watched this kid play a fair bit. I mean, the poise, the confidence that he plays with on that back end, there's no doubt in my mind he's gonna quarterback that power player, at least be given an opportunity. So take us through the expectation, if you could, of what you see in Quinn use and then flip it over to his younger brother, Jack, who's about to play his first regular season game in the National Hockey League. Well, first off, they're they're both really phenomenal kids. I mean, they're they're confident. They're not cocky. They're sure of themselves. They're engaging. They're both really pretty special people. As for on the ice, the expectations for Quinn and Vancouver are from me, and from the fans are two different things from the fans. I think there's a good many that think he's gonna get 70 points, will win the colder trophy. And, uh, somebody asked me in Ah, on Twitter if I thought he could win a Norris Trophy and I said, I'd like to see him play 10 games first. Sure, right. Like the the expectations air through the charts are through the roof for him. 00:36:11 Speaker 1: The Canucks haven't had a power play quarterback on the blue line in forever. Their best defenseman in their history now they came in in 1970 is probably Alec Sadler. I mean, he'll be rate up at the very top. 00:36:25 Speaker 1: Quinn Hughes, 00:36:27 Speaker 1: the dynamic play that Hughes will perform with eyes, something they've never really had. 00:36:34 Speaker 1: The last reel offensive guy they've had in Vancouver is your key Lumi 00:36:38 Speaker 1: Quinn Hughes. I think the biggest question is, Will he be able to defend? And will he be ableto handle the bigger forwards? I've had multiple coaches talk to me, drinks a vote, 00:36:50 Speaker 1: not Quinn. Skating is not his greatest asset. His greatest asset is his ability to see the game and to think the game. His skating puts him into a position to defend in a way that other guys can't, and he knows that he can't run over anybody. So he has to 00:37:06 Speaker 1: defend in a certain way. Watch him attack the forwards. Watch him go forwards Maur than he goes backwards. Compared to most defensemen, he's gotten real good. Active stick. I think he's gonna have an excellent year. So the Luxor thrill. Do you put him on power, play one or protect him a little bit and put him on the second unit? Now I say I'm the days of protecting guys because there weren't ready emotionally or or with physical skill for a lot of these young guys, those days are past eso your power play you've got. 00:37:36 Speaker 1: I want Quinn Hughes feeding the puck to Leah's Patterson. I don't want him feeding it to whoever's on the second power play like I want my best guys, my most creative guys on the first power play. So that's Patterson and Besser. J T. Miller will be in front of the net and I want Hughes quarterbacking the pock up the ice. So if I'm Travis Green, I'm throwing him right into the deep end and if I've got If I've gotta back off, I've got a certain 00:38:02 Speaker 1: comfort in Alec Sadler. Now, when I when I look at the Canucks, the biggest thing that they have to do is they've got to score 40 to 50 more goals this year than they did last year. Last year was anemic. You can't win like that. And so Hughes is gonna be a big part of trying to create those extra goals from the blue line. That's where it'll start for Vancouver. Now. We'll switch over to Jersey because we're talking about Jack. That kid's got style. He's got flair, man. I watched him at the world championships and there wasn't really a place for him. So he didn't play very much for Jeff Blackwell in the United States. And at times he looked a little overmatched. And to make things worse, Kapo Kokko, who went number two to the Rangers, was just He just blew the doors off the tournament at the start. Then, as the tournament went on, cackles started to look closer to 18 years old. You know the growing pains that go with that? Um, I think in Jersey they've done a couple of really good things. They've insulated Hughes with some or offensive talent. Of course, the health of Taylor Hall is paramount. But they got Nikita Goose it from Vegas. I think he was. Will do better than I would have thought Jack use then I would have thought last year. I've got a sense that 00:39:17 Speaker 1: his agility, his head, his skill will allow him to be. 00:39:22 Speaker 1: I hate putting points on, but I don't see why. He's not a 50 plus point guy. He's gonna get all kinds of power play time. Um, he's gonna be with Taylor whole to start. You've got Kyle Palmeri, you've got Goose. If they've got some weapons there offensively, their power play will have Suban on the point. Then Jack will be a big part of that. He's also he's the type of kid that will embrace 00:39:46 Speaker 1: any notoriety. Like Quinn is a little more quiet. Yeah, and and Jack is Jack's all in, like if you've seen him in any of the PR stuff the Devils have done, Jack's right into that. A couple of things we need to talk about. We want a thought on the Montreal Canadians and then real quickly talk about Austin Matthews and that situation that he put himself in. I think the Montreal Canadians are wild card team in the East now. They've gotta prove that. But there seems to be a reset button that's been punched there and you've got Nick Suzuki. You've got Kale. Fleur, you've got these young guys potion along with Cary Price, of course. Shea Weber, Brendan Gallagher. What do you see in Montreal? While they missed the playoffs by two points last year and in 16 of the last 18 games of the season, Jonathan Drew and did not have one point. 00:40:34 Speaker 1: So if Dr gets five points, they probably have two more points and they're and they're in the playoffs. I think they're a playoff team this year. I, uh the one guy that's blown me away over the last couple of years with his growth and development is Philip. Then, oh, I didn't think he could be a top two line center, but he and Domi are their top two centers. They've got depth, they don't have that stand out score. But I think they've got enough that through the lineup they've got price and goal and now they've They've added Keith Kincaid. I think the Canadians air playoff team, 00:41:06 Speaker 1: the Toronto Maple Leafs, Austin Matthews, everyone waiting for the legal outcome of what may or may not happen. We know he's been charged. That's been much publicized. He has not been convicted yet. What a bizarre story with so many mysterious layers dating back to the incident in late May. The summons that he was provided in July. The fact that he took ownership, tried to clean up this mess himself, but but didn't tell his team. Didn't tell his coach didn't tell the organization. Is that baffling to you? Stunning to me. Now I understand why once the the stupidity of May was over that he didn't say anything to anybody because he hadn't heard until July. And so maybe they think that, you know, they being 00:41:52 Speaker 1: you know, his agent and his and his parents that, hey, maybe nothing's gonna come of this while July shows up, someone's comes. You get a lawyer, Um, your your agents involved Your parents are involved. I think the team needs to know on July 24th. Yeah, I don't I don't think that's ah, that's something else that'll weaken. Just wait and we'll figure it out as it goes along. The team should not have found out the way they did. Kyle Dubious was put in a terrible spot. Mike Babcock was put in a terrible spot and yeah, Matthews is, you know, is trying to say the right things now. But I thought when they were talking about the captaincy dregs that 00:42:29 Speaker 1: if Matthews was your captain before this incident, it was embarrassing and stupid and idiotic. And he should still be your captain. The fact that there was such a lapse of judgment than not tell the team to me I wouldn't make him the captain. 00:42:42 Speaker 1: We want to thank our friends in India, Chino for supporting the ray and dregs hockey podcast. Ray, I haven't had the opportunity yet to get to Mendocino here in Toronto. But I can't wait, because based on what I've heard from you, the experience is second to none. Well, drinks. I went in last week to get measured up. It is awesome. It was unbelievably simple. I walk in the store in Vancouver, I hook up with Cole, who was gonna help me through the measurements and and kind of steer me towards what kind of styles I described to him that I like. And I couldn't believe how simple it was, how straightforward it was. Look, they make suits, the shirt, the outer wear. Anything that you really want is there. You get the exact measurement. You personalize whatever details you want your lapels. I think I got a couple of cool linings in there and monogrammed it up. Chose the fabric and here's the best part. The packages delivered straight to you. I have an email on my phone in a week. It's already been made, and it's on the way. It will show up at my house. Could it be any easier than that? Not. It's perfect, and I can't wait to see how they Taylor to my muscular frame. So, my gosh, 00:43:47 Speaker 1: start your style. Upgrade now with $30 off your total purchase of $399 or more at India chino dot com. When entering Ray at checkout plus, shipping is free. That's India chino dot com promo code R A. I ray for $30 off your total purchase of $399 or more. Incredible deal for made to measure clothing you Really? I have no excuse anymore. Toe wear clothing that doesn't fit 00:44:21 Speaker 1: every week on the podcast. We're going to set aside some time to answer your questions. We're calling it. Ask gray and drinks kind of catchy so you can send your questions to us on Social media. Raise at at Ray Ferraro, TSN and I'm at Darren Dreger. Or you can send us an email by going to W w dot ray and dregs dot com. Ray. First question for you comes from Ian, and he wants to know if you remember any particular moments playing against or with Noodles or the O Dog while hotels this story. I don't remember it. So he might be making it up, but probably not. 00:44:58 Speaker 1: So he's 18 years old and we're playing in Los Angeles and there's a scrum. And so somewhere we're both in the scrum, and I guess we came kind of face to face and always got kind of that chubby face, and I've never met him before. I don't even really know who he is at this point, so I just puffed out my cheeks like he was a bit of a fatty. Of course, 00:45:18 Speaker 1: and I just skated away and oh said he was so divorce. 00:45:23 Speaker 1: But I don't even know who he was. Now Noodles. I won't say playing with him. Noodles. You know, he's a backup goalie, but he was unbelievable because he was one of those guys. He's there forever. You work hard, but he was the most particular guy that I've ever played with. 00:45:40 Speaker 1: And so he used to put his pads in front of him and stare at him when he was playing so they would be back to back. And every once in a while, you know, you'd look at him and you're like, Man, he's just staring at those pads, like 00:45:53 Speaker 1: for an hour, like go do something else. So every once in a while, you get up to go to the bathroom, and once I clued into this, I sat across the room. I go over and move his pads a couple inches. 00:46:04 Speaker 1: They still look the same, but they'd be a couple inches over. Sure enough, he'd come back and move them back 00:46:10 Speaker 1: like he knew they were in a different place. We were dying on our side of the room. Me and Healy and then it was Hextall, and then it was flatly and we're like, Oh my God, he He knows exactly where those pads are. I would have had a field day with noodles. One more question from Adam Is the game over coach now, from minor hockey to pro? Does having strict structure eliminate creativity? We'll start in minor hockey, 100%. It's over. Coached 00:46:39 Speaker 1: kids should not be learning systems systems. You can learn on a piece of paper. The game should be about fun first, then it should be about skill development. It should be about being able to make those skills work as quickly as possible. Teaching a system is pointless to a kid. All it does is waste ice time in the NHL. I think these guys at times over think things so much. It's not football where you can make the play or you can manipulate the play with such detail. We know that there's randomness and there's lock in hockey. I think you coach your players and then you turn them free. They have to understand a structure and pearls conduce that, but they've got to play with 00:47:20 Speaker 1: the comfort that they can make a mistake because somebody's gonna cover for them. When they When you get players that are trying to be perfect, man kneels guys, they're no good. They tried their trying to be perfect and they're thinking before they're reacting and that doesn't work. 00:47:34 Speaker 1: First ever Rain drinks Fantasy hockey pool is here. Get to w w dot rain dregs dot com to join up before the deadline of Saturday, October 5th at 7 p.m. Eastern. Full rules and regulations are there. Here's the deal. It's easy to play with, AH, box pool set up. It doesn't get easier. No, it really is simple. You'll go on toe ran Drake's dot com. You'll see the setup all there for you, and you just you're going to select one player out of each box. So what you're going to try and do are not trying to. What you have to do is you select four left wingers, four centers for right wingers, six defensemen, two goalies for a total of 20 players. All right, well, here's how it breaks down one point for a goal or assist for your forwards and defensemen. One point for a win for a goalie, two points for a shutout and goal and assist. Points count, too, if accumulated by goalie. But you're not gonna have all 20 guys count. The top 15 players will count in the standings. Nine forwards, five defensemen in your top goalie. If one of your top guys gets injured or their production drops, your highest replacement player comes off the bench. It starts counting in the standings automatically. You don't have to do anything the rosters managed for you and and really, we have two halves to the season from a prizing standpoint, So we're going to recognize out with one awesome prize for whomever is in first place overall at the Winter Classic Game played on January 1st 2020 with a 25 $100 prepaid credit card. Then, after the last game of the regular season is done, and that's on April the 4th 2020 will be awarding the top three finishers for the overall season. First place gets $5000 prepaid credit card. Second place is a $2000 prepaid credit card, and third place gets a $500 prepaid credit card. Don't forget, it doesn't cost you anything to sign up either. And you and I do have the side bet. You know, it's a bottle of red. It's a nice dinner. Maybe it's in Switzerland at the World Championship. It is okay, it is for sure, because that'll bug you because it's expensive. There will be adding more stuff is we go along and we'll get a playoff pool going as well. When we get to April with more great prizes and, of course, side bets between us, we're gonna have lots of fun. Get to Ray and Greg's dotcom get registered before the deadline. October 5th. 00:49:50 Speaker 1: Well, that pretty much puts a wrap on Episode one of the ray and Dregs hockey podcast, but we're looking forward to Episode two. We have Stanley Cup champion Con Smyth winner Ryan O'Reily essentially in the bag and Ray, we're going to do it differently because we're going to be on site in Toronto and we're going to do it live and in person, not the show. But the interview. I think it'll be fun now. We'll be fun, and it's kind of nice you to get out of the studio and come down to the rink world. You know where the game's actually have to brush my teeth for the occasion. And Oh, well, that'll be. That'll be a pleasure for everyone involved. 00:50:25 Speaker 1: When when you listen to the podcast, raid it and then share it so others can find it and get to know about it. Obviously, that was the first episode. And yeah, uh, you know what? We'd like to hear what you've got to say. Yeah, we need the feedback. You're right on the podcast. You know what people want to hear? More of less of on your social channels will accept that. And we'll invite people to follow the podcast. You know, throughout our own Twitter Channel at Ray and Dregs for the latest news and updates on the show contest, Everything moving forward, some of the things we got planned for a little further down the road is both rain, rain. Drakes. Podcast will be live and will record them where listeners are going to be able to join us on location. We'll have some details to come, but I think that should be pretty fun, too. And look, if you're interested in sponsoring the podcast, go to Ray in dregs dot com. But we've got to thank sure health and into Chino for supporting the podcast out of the gate and, uh, support them to these air. Good people with great service is links to both sure health and into Chino. In the end, a Chino discount code are all at Ray and dregs dot com. We also got a nd dot c A. A mattress company is going to provide us with mattresses. They should be at the host rather shortly, and we're looking forward to our first sleep on it and drags. I assume yours will be a little bigger than mine, but 00:51:43 Speaker 1: we'll have a code for the podcast listeners to get to your own Andy in future episodes, and we'll let you know what we think about it, too. But we're excited to have them on board as well. Well, we wore out our old mattress, but that's a story for another podcast, so we'll worry about that. Another You got £150 great Dane. He sleeps on the thing. That's why it's warned. You know, Justus, important is all of this. Shut out all the thousands upon thousands of fans who have already subscribed before episode one and even come to fruition. We want to sincerely thank all of those who have listened all the way through this first episode and look forward to more to come. It is the ray and drags hockey podcast. Thanks, everybody.