The Check In - 03.26.26 - Avalanche at Jets

The Jets push for the playoffs continues Thursday night when they welcome the Avalanche. Sara and Jamie look back at Mark Scheifele's big night against Vegas and look ahead to a huge Central Division matchup.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Great win, boys. That was a great team effort. We freaking killed a great job.

SPEAKER_10 2:22

Great win to keep going for it. Oh no.

SPEAKER_09 2:33

For sure this time, no.

SPEAKER_04 2:34

They missed all that. It was great.

SPEAKER_09 2:37

There was something on my shirt that Sarah caught it beforehand, so thank you. You are handy. 72 games into the season. You've become very reliable.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

Well, you know, you've got to be here for something.

SPEAKER_09 2:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

Looking forward to coming off of that game against Vegas and the big win for the Winnipeg Jets. Five points back of Nashville in that final spot. And tonight they kick off a home and home mini-series. Two games against the Colorado Avalanche, played today here at Canada Life Center, and then Saturday in Denver. So this should be a great run here.

SPEAKER_09 3:10

Well, you have as Sean Reynolds from Sportside pointed out, they play three of the next four games against the top teams in the league because you have Colorado, Colorado, Chicago, and then throw Dallas in there as well. So it was quite the challenge ahead. You've already beaten Vegas, so you've taken part of that. As you continue to push for the playoffs. But did they gain any ground after that huge one over Vegas? No.

unknown 3:30

No, they did not.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

No, unfortunately. So as we've discussed many times, it is very challenging to gain ground in the league, especially right now. And with the way that number of the team's schedules are playing out in terms of who they are playing against. But five points back, so they can make that push, though. It would be great to be able to see them get, they really need to get the two points here tonight and continue to build off of what was a very strong overall game against Vegas, though it was a little slow in terms of shots. There's a little nervous early on.

SPEAKER_09 4:02

That first TV timeout couldn't have come any faster. Yes. Because it was 9-0 in favor of Vegas. Didn't look good. And then something happened at the TV timeout. They woke up.

SPEAKER_04 4:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 4:12

We've seen it before, though. You come back from a long road trip and uh you start slow, but you don't want things to start that slow against a team like Vegas. But they did. After Vegas, outside of Vegas scoring that one power play goal, I don't think Winnipeg gave up a whole lot. Um, there was a lot to talk about, though. Morgan Barrett said the game was boring yesterday to the uh media when during his availability, but that is not how I viewed it. I don't think a lot of people have viewed it that way either, because every time you see Mark Schiffley with Ngordy How Hatrick, yes, there's nothing boring about that. Should we show the fight?

SPEAKER_04 4:44

Uh sure. Just quickly. Well, quickly, so Ken Weeb's gonna join us for the Winnipeg Free Press uh momentarily in order to help us set up the game. Are always one of our favorites, Connor McGay is going to bring the energy as he always does.

SPEAKER_09 5:00

He said, Can we do this later? Oh, no, no, no. It's part of the story.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 5:05

Dramatic pause. He said, Can we do this later? I'm like, our show ends at one. He's like, okay, never mind. But he's at lunch during when we're doing this. So I'm curious to see when where he will be located when he's we have we have seen him from restaurants before, but okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:20

So let's you mentioned though the Gordy Howe hat trick, as much as the two points, as much as the overall team game certainly stood out. Nothing was talked about more. I even heard it on Toronto Radio yesterday. There's a lot of talk over the fact that Mark Scheifley got the Gordy Howe hat trick um and had uh a decent tilt in order to get it.

SPEAKER_09 5:42

Local product, Red Howden with the hit on Kyle Connor. Mark Scheifley did not like it, and then this happened.

SPEAKER_07 5:51

That's how you build chemistry and you built your team toughness. That's it, so let's stop the whole soap, Mark Shankly.

SPEAKER_09 6:00

So you heard the conversation from Dylan DeMello when you just go so when you go on your left. I did not know Mark had that in him. No, he was asked afterwards does anybody teach him how to fight? He said no.

SPEAKER_04 6:11

Yeah, he said he's not a good fighter.

SPEAKER_09 6:14

But for the he does, he will do it.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

This is his third Gordy Howe hat track. I spoke to him after the game.

SPEAKER_09 6:22

Mark must eat soup. I like to see this is where you guys are going with. I love this stuff.

SPEAKER_04 6:26

Yeah, 100%. A real hearty soup.

SPEAKER_09 6:30

If you eat beef and barley, you can fight. That's period.

SPEAKER_04 6:34

Um he said after the game that it was his fourth. It's his third Gordy Howe hat track that he had, which to be honest, I didn't even remember that he had had I remembered one, right? So add two with last night.

SPEAKER_09 6:47

Didn't he say Arnie told him it was four, or he's maybe I'm not sure. Someone gave bad information.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

It's only three, but not too shabby at all because um that's tied now for the franchise lead in Gordy Howe hat tricks, which the most Gordy Howe hat tricks all time belong to who? Do you know?

SPEAKER_09 7:05

No, not Gordy Howe.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

Not Gordy Howe, Rick Talkett, 18.

SPEAKER_09 7:09

Holy crap.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

It's actually a pretty interesting list that uh we should bring up at some point. Um, so today, though, they go up against Colorado. Obviously, Colorado was here a few weeks ago. It was a huge win for the Jets. That was when they played on the back-to-back games. They won against Colorado. The next day they won against St. Louis, really got some momentum going with it. You know that Colorado is going to come in here. Number one team in the league right now. They've been winning, they've won their last three games.

SPEAKER_09 7:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

A deeper team than when we saw them last because players have returned from injury as well. And you would have to think they're gonna have a B in their bonnets.

SPEAKER_09 7:45

Yeah. They'll be mad.

SPEAKER_04 7:46

They'll be mad.

SPEAKER_09 7:47

Because again, another one of those games where Winnipeg didn't give up anything.

SPEAKER_04 7:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 7:51

So, you know, Morton Bear can say it was not entertaining, but at this time of year, considering where they are in the standings, five points back, I think you would take any type, any way, uh beating a team like uh Colorado. So um it'll be curious to see how Colorado comes out. I thought Colorado had a lot of zip in the first period the last time these two teams played. Yeah, Winnipeg just shut that down afterwards, and then nothing else after that in that 3-1 win. So um, concerned the way Winnipeg is defending right now, I would not be surprised if they've managed to win this one too. For it's it's every time you're looking at them, they're going, ah, they're not gonna do this. They keep doing it.

SPEAKER_04 8:29

Yeah, yeah. And you know, even with the shot differential early on in the game against Vegas, I think it was nine-nothing. Yes, beyond 10-2 in terms of shots. But as Scott O'Neill pointed out afterwards, he felt that a lot of them were kept to the outside in terms of the shots. So he was uh he was happy with that, even though obviously it was very glaring um on the scoreboard, the fact that they were being outshot to the extent that they were. Going up against this Colorado team, though, you know that they are gonna have their hands full, and Scott O'Neill was asked about it this morning uh during his media availability.

SPEAKER_06 9:00

If you get to where you want to be, then clearly your path and the playoffs would lead through Colorado. So with these next two games, does it feel like a mini playoff series to you? No. No. Not gonna not gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

This is us against them tonight. This is the best team in the league. Just saw them, what, six games ago, seven games ago. Um, they're even more well stocked in their injuries. You got some healthy guys back. They're one of the best in the league for a reason. And again, we're just it's focusing on tonight. We got we need two points. And so um, whatever. We did a lot of good things the last time we played them. Uh, but in the in the same thing, that was, like I say, six, seven games ago. Now we gotta go do it again against them tonight.

SPEAKER_09 9:45

Uh you know, a lot of comments in here, obviously a lot of things coming in. It will be it is a challenge to beat Colorado once, to beat them twice at home and home will be something else. And and keep in mind, Colorado, Colorado's doing exactly last this season what Winnipeg was doing last year. It's just like they've led wire to wire essentially in the president's trophy uh race. They had Dallas breathing back down their neck last week. Now they've stretched the gap to seven points. Yeah, it almost feels like they're getting back their game on track too. So um un dangerous, but if they stick to that game plan they played against Vegas outside of the first eight and a half minutes, and then a lot of what the way they played them against that one, there's a there's a chance there, right? So it's there's a lot of good things that come out of it. We should take a look at the projected level.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

Let's do it before we bring in Kenny.

SPEAKER_09 10:33

Because I'll tell you something right now, you're not gonna change much after all that. So um Gabe Ballardi was asked a lot today, and we'll get we'll talk to Ken about this. It's incredible the job he has done with Cole Perfetti and Adam Lowry. Like there's just it's almost like a seamless transition. But as Gabe pointed out today, at home, their responsibility is usually the other team's top line. So the fact that they're producing not enough in his eyes while also defending as well as they have speaks to a lot to what they what he's had to adapt to. Um, yeah, I say, Mary Jane, that third line's great. Um, a lot of speed on both sides with Morgan Barron. And we've said it before, and I didn't say this last time, Rihanna was don't touch my third line now. That's coming back.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

It's coming back, it's great.

SPEAKER_09 11:20

Don't touch the third line, but there's what what they've got this this this turk, this lineup that they have right now is really good. And Josh Morrissey with Neil Pionk really I've always liked those two together. Um, and then Samberg Salamonson, Flurry and Demelo. You're rounding out your pairings, and of course, Connor Hellebuck in that.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

Yeah, and you know that the way that Scott O'Neill usually approaches these games is that your top six is gonna go against their top six as well, whether he alternates sometimes if it's Shifley versus uh McKinnon or Lowry's line against McKinnon's, but there's a lot to contend with now. And I was talking with one player who said, you know, it's not just about looking going, okay, well, where's Kinnon? Because they've got such active D as well, and obviously incredibly talented that you're trying to keep your eye on it on 29 all the time, but then you also have to be aware of everybody else. There's just there's a lot of moving parts with the depth that Colorado has.

SPEAKER_09 12:13

Speaking of moving parts, this guy will find anywhere, anytime to come on this show.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_09 12:20

It's Ken Weep joining us from, I believe, right outside the studio doors.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Good afternoon. There's no room between you or beside you. So I had to uh had to had to find a place where there was great lighting here.

SPEAKER_09 12:35

Yes, there you go, always key. It's like you've done this before, Ken. Feel like you've done this before.

SPEAKER_04 12:40

Hey, how about just before we get going and setting this up? Um, while he doesn't look older than when we saw him yesterday. Yeah. Um, a happy, very happy, belated birthday to you, Kenny. Um thank you. Thank you. Big birthday celebrations yesterday. It was what 30, 30 again?

SPEAKER_01 13:01

No, no. Happy to say 51. And uh we'll be thankful for everyone that we get. Uh, yes. A nice serenade from some of the Jets content team yesterday, also, Sarah. You missed it.

SPEAKER_04 13:12

Some beautiful voices that they have, yes.

SPEAKER_09 13:15

It like I felt bad for you because I'm like, my voice is terrible. Then you're throwing in four more on top of that. There's like no see, yes, say Drake says, Don't let Jamie sing. And I did, it was awful. That is one of the things when you become a parent, you become more aware of how bad your singing voice is.

SPEAKER_04 13:31

Yeah, you don't like it to be caught on video.

SPEAKER_09 13:33

And there's all videos now, of course. So I apologize, weaver. We tried to make it special for you, but we made it worse. Memorable. You made it memorable.

SPEAKER_04 13:41

I got a text from I got a text from Ken about it afterwards.

SPEAKER_09 13:44

So yeah, we care, buddy. Um yeah, I want to go, I want to go to Gabe Villardi, who is by far the most puzzling person, enjoyable person in a scrum that I've ever seen. You never know what you're gonna get with him at all when you ask a question. But how are outside of what how he feels, how effective has the Lowry Villardi perfetti line been in your eyes?

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Yeah, it's been uh excellent. And although Gabe was not particularly happy about the conversion of the chances that have been generated by the trio, uh, I think it's been, you know, it's been one of their best lines, quite frankly. And it's been a very consistent line, uh, which is something that we've talked about all year. The uh the the necessity of having that second line, like the Jets did last year. Again, we hate to keep going back to last year, but when they had the Nemestikov Braffetti Ealers line going for the bulk of it, that allowed them to take some of the pressure off the uh Scheifley Connor Vellardi line that you know has you know had to carry the Jets for the majority of this season, but they hadn't had enough secondary or complementary scoring. And now that line has really done an X exceptional job of providing some of that offense, and even when it doesn't generate goals or as many goals as they would like, given the amount of iron that Cole Perfetti has been wringing in the last week or so, they're still allowing the Jets to have more of those handoff shifts that we saw last year. And Jamie, you talked about the third line. That it was often that third line creating the momentum in the offensive zone and doing the handing off to the top six. So uh, although Lowry's role has changed to a degree, I mean that the ability of that line of getting things going has been uh incredibly important for the Jets so they tried to stay involved in this race. And Jamie, the other part of that is that the Morgan Barron line has elevated uh after the inject. I mean, yes, he had been playing with Lambert previously, but the the additional uh injection of youth with Isak Rosean coming onto that line. Uh we're seeing uh you know a step forward and a progression. I think Morgan Barron has been one of the most consistent forwards the Jets have had this year, and he's taken his game to another level. And you know, quite frankly, Brad Lambert has done a nice job of adding that offensive element that hadn't been quite as prevalent. We know the the minutes have not been there, guys, but yeah uh he's this is a simple and small play, but his willingness to cut to the middle on a defenseman like Jeremy Lozon, who is a very physical guy. That if you cut inside on him, the chances are pretty good you're either going to be running into the end boards or being run into the goaltender. That's a that's an important piece of Brad Lambert's game that he needs to add on a frequent basis if he wants to nail down a job in the you know middle six on this team next season.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

Uh when you look at this game tonight against Colorado, obviously they had success, Kenny, when they uh when Colorado came into town the other week. How do they duplicate that? Because we were saying beforehand, and I know that some of the players were talking about it as well, that you know that this is going to be a Colorado team that feels that not only are they wanting to get their game fine-tuned for the postseason that's coming up, but they're gonna feel as if you know they need a little bit of uh redemption after the way that the last game ended.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Yeah, no doubt, sir. I mean the the template is there for them. I just don't think it'll be quite as easy to you know invoke the template or put it into action, I guess, if you will. Uh Jared Bednar, a master motivator. Uh, this is a guy who you know he knows what it's like to get to the top of the mountain. Uh this team doesn't like to lose to anybody, let alone lose to people within their own division. Just came out of the avalanche room and Bednar, quite frankly and openly said, I mean, this back-to-back home and home, they're sort of treating it like using a playoff mentality where you knew you want to implement some things and and they're not happy about how they played last time. And they didn't want to use the excuse of being stuck on the tarmac for eight or nine hours in Seattle, but it was a factor. I mean, the Jets know this, I think it was last year where they got stuck in LA forever. Uh they did not have the same level of energy, but they're gonna have energy tonight. And although, you know, Jamie, as you mentioned, in the president's trophy uh situation trying to go wire to wire, uh, the one thing Jared Bednar just told me, I mean, they're still playing meaningful games because the the groupings behind them, yes, they've got some separation now, but Dallas, much like last year with Dallas and the Jets, Dallas had pulled within three points at one point. So uh they're still playing meaningful games, which means you're probably gonna get the A plus version from the Avalanche in this game, which which means that the Jets are gonna have to be incredibly sharp. And to your point, Jamie, you you can you want to implement the system, Sarah, but you cannot have an eight if you have an eight-minute delay out of the gate where you're sort of sluggish, it might be three-nothing. Uh, you know, unless Connor Hillibuck is an otherworldly here. So uh Jets are gonna have to be sharp. I mean, they they've they've played very well coming out of the break. We know this, but we also know that the margin for error continues to be incredibly slim. Uh although some of the teams uh have dipped. Uh the Nashville Predators playing really good hockey, so Jets are gonna have to be uh very crisp and manage the puck incredibly well because this is a team that can really feast in transition, given the likes of you know Kale McCarr and uh you know Nathan McKinnon, who is involved in a race of his own, both for the Hart Trophy and the Art Ross right now.

SPEAKER_09 18:54

When you when you look at what the Jets are doing, Weaver, I guess the most important part is they're playing they're still playing games that matter. That's really what you want to do at this time of year. A lot of teams would kill for that opportunity. It's just really hard to make sense of what's going on here because it's just every time you think they're dead in the water, they come back to life. It's the Undertaker every time coming off the mat.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Yeah, it's uh Undertaker at WrestleMania style. Every time you think yeah, exactly, coming coming out of the coffin here. Uh yeah, I mean, we we know this. I mean, it's been uh an interesting stretch. I mean, the there were times where you know there were some missed opportunities, obviously, with extra points available, and you know that silly as it sounds. I mean, if the Jets had been able to put that game against Nashville away in regulation instead of losing in extra time, I mean, now that gap is two instead of five, right? Or three and three instead of five. Or so uh again, my math, I'm gonna defer on the math side to Sarah here, but uh yeah, I mean, but they they've they've done a good job of staying in it. Uh, but uh this now this is the again, we keep it seems like we've said this every going into every week, both of you. Yeah, this is the week we're gonna find out that's right which side of the ledger it's going to be on. I mean, the Jets have two games with Colorado and a game against Dallas, and then a game against Rick Bonus's Columbus Blue Jackets, who just so happened to be the hottest team in the NHL since he took over. So, yes, there's a game with Chicago in here, and I'm not looking past Chicago. Uh, Jets have already lost once to Chicago this this season, I believe. So, but when you have that level of opponent, you're going to either show that you can hang with those opponents as you want to keep your hopes alive, however slim they may be, or you're gonna find out that you know it's an even taller task. And again, it's a tough enough task at five. Jets can't afford to let this get to seven or nine uh before that end of that stretch, or or else that's going to be uh the margin the the slim becomes almost impossible uh by that point. But again, they they deserve a lot of credit for staying in the race uh and finding an ability to improve some of the areas that had been plaguing them early on. We talked about the secondary scoring, but to me it comes down to structure. There they've been much more sound structurally, you know. As you know, Jamie pointed out Gabe Villardi. Gabe Villardi also you know pointed out very eloquently that structure wasn't there against Anaheim or Boston.

SPEAKER_09 21:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

But for the most part, they've managed the puck better, they've been better structurally, there aren't as many breakdowns. Now, again, this is a team that you know occasionally has exposed the jets in front of the net with those tip shots from the point and getting traffic in front of Halibuck. So that's going to be an area to kind of key in on. We always talk about the warp speed that the Avalanche play at. They're also willing to go to those hard areas, and they will also get uh Arturi Lekinen back today, according to Jared Bednar. So uh he's sort of the uh you know, he is their jack of all trades. Uh, you know, plug and play, you put him with anybody, can play with the skilled players, can play with the worker bees. And you know, we we know because he scored uh important goals against the Jets in the playoffs before, uh before he even got to Colorado. So uh we'll have to keep an eye on that uh situation. And this is always a fun game, uh, both of you for Josh Morrissey and Kale McCarr, right? Their bodies, they're they're Olympians. Um, you know, this year the Norris trophy race is kind of convoluted. There's a lot of people involved in it, but uh, you know, there's that internal competition uh between some of the elite players in the game as well. That uh, you know, it's just a real treat to be able to watch uh when those guys go head to head as well.

SPEAKER_04 22:25

I wanted to ask you really about the you'd mentioned that uh Nathan McKinnon, obviously, in the hunt for heart trophy and his name being out there. So uh much like the Norris could be a little bit convoluted, number of different players that could be considered for it. I think the same scenario is out there right now for the heart. Yeah, who is it that stands out for you? I mean, is this one can you ignore what Kuchov's been doing? Can you like is it McKinnon? What for you is or how are you viewing this picture right now?

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Yeah, I mean, it's been interesting. And uh I no, I don't maybe I'm not supposed to say it's secret ballot, but uh Greg was uh I'm one of the voters in Greg Wyshinski's uh monthly poll at ESPN. So I've had McKinnon at the top for the majority of the race, best player on the best team, putting up the best numbers, but uh my vote has been you know shifting towards Kucharoff the last month or month and a half here. And uh I do think that he is the guy that would, you know, if the season ended today, uh which it doesn't, I would be voting Kucharoff one. Uh and McKinnon a very close second. And you know, McDavid, you can't ignore what he has done for the Oilers, obviously. But the and then the for me, I'm just gonna, you know, for folks who aren't aware, Macklin Clabrini, if the Sharks would be in the playoffs, has to be could leapfrog all of them with with the 50-point difference between he and Will Smith. But I'm one of those voters, and some people don't like it. For me, you have to be a playoff team in order to be at the top of my ballot or be on my ballot at all. Because, you know, no offense, but you know, you might be the best player on your team. But if you're 30th, I'm sorry. That that that just doesn't that doesn't warrant a vote in the top five. Uh, you know, Zach Berenski's a guy who's done incredible things for the Columbus Blue Jackets. You know, people have been talking about Matthew uh Matthew Schaefer as well, not just for the Calder, but if if if the Islanders can get in. So, I mean, this is one of the years where there's probably it won't be it'll be difficult getting to the fifth spot because there's probably five guys worthy of being in that slot. So uh right now I have Celebrini on the outside looking in. Uh I do think right now it's Kucharov, but again, McKinnon is the kind of guy that could pop off, you know, if they have 10 games left or 11, he could he could put up another 20 more points, and all of a sudden there's a huge gap. I think it's a great question, sir, because last year, uh, you know, Hellebuck, I think, was getting pushed by Leon Dreisidel, and then all of a sudden was out of the lineup and almost kind of refused himself, not from the race entirely, but from the number one slot. I I just don't think it was is gonna be right as a voter to say, well, uh, you know, well, he he would have got an extra 20 points if he had played those games. Well, guess what? He didn't play the game. So yeah, uh these things can change, uh change quickly. But yeah, right now that's my long-winded way of saying uh Kucharov. Uh right now, Kucharov, McKinnon, and I think it's McDavid for third, but again, Werensky definitely has has uh you know strong armed his way into the conversation. And and again, there's it's just such a great example of how many great players are having, like not just really good seasons, but exceptional seasons in a lot of markets. And the fact that so many young players, I mean, we saw what Celebrini did to the Olympics. If they hadn't dropped off here in the last month, I mean, I think there's a lot of voters around the league, and I am one of those voters that would have had Celebrini at the top of the table. But you again, you can't do that if you're you know, whether you're 20th overall or 30th overall, for me, you gotta be a playoff team to get a vote for the Norris, or sorry, for the for the uh for the heart. Norris can be a little bit different, though. I I don't think you necessarily I know some people don't feel the same, but I think you can be the top defenseman even if your player your team is not in the playoffs. But heart trophy, you gotta be a playoff team for me.

SPEAKER_09 26:15

Hey, buddy, nobody votes better than you, nobody relocates better than you.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Thanks, man. Appreciate your time. Thanks for having me in and uh enjoy the game here this evening.

SPEAKER_04 26:23

You too. I'll talk to you in a bit. Thanks so much, Ken. Can always uh you can read all of Ken's work, Winnipeg Free Press, of course. Uh, but then you can also listen to Kenny and Rennie post-game shows, so you don't want to miss out on that.

SPEAKER_09 26:35

Uh so our next guest. All right, never know where he's gonna come from.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

Where is it today? Jump.

SPEAKER_09 26:42

Oh my gosh. CD guess. CD guess where I am now. Hmm.

SPEAKER_05 26:53

I like saying all the numbers. I'm sorry. I'm trying to sneak you guys in as much as possible. So we're about to enjoy a ginger beef bowl, which I will not eat on your show.

SPEAKER_09 27:04

Okay, we'll go over too. Somebody already told us somebody's at Shark Club. Look at this. Look at that. Right. I hear great mustache, great mustache.

SPEAKER_04 27:16

Hey, here's a quick question for you. We were just talking with Ken Weeds about her trophy uh voting, just who he has leading his right now. For you, is there any doubt that it should be Nathan McKinnon?

SPEAKER_05 27:33

Boy, I mean, I have this, I was having this argument in regards to the Vesma, to be honest, and now Scott Wedswood is not getting the love that he should with goals against average, same percentage leader, people calling me archaic, and saying that well, he he plays and if behind that team, of course he's gonna win. Well, so Jared Bednar can't win the Jack Adams because he has Nathan McKinnon and Kale McCarr and that team, but Nathan McKinnon has you know Marty Natches and Kale McCar, so he can't win the Hart Trophy. At what point do you give players credit for doing what they have done in the season? Um the recency bias for Kucharov, who's been unbelievable, Natchez second most points to Kucharov since the you know the the uh the players have come back from Milan. Look, I player who's most valuable to his team, if you want to go the language route, like Nathan McKinnon is is is elite, and you have so many good candidates, and it it it comes down to a couple look, whether it's East Coast, whether it's not. I mean, for me, I watch McKinnon every single night. Uh, I think he's definitely uh a top two heart candidate trophy candidate. It would be his second. Um, but we'll see. I if you again, if you take Nathan McKinnon out of the equation for the Colorado Avalanche, where are you? And that should give you your answer, who should win the heart trophy.

SPEAKER_09 28:56

Dallas is breathing down your guys' neck recently, right? For first for the president's trophy.

SPEAKER_07 29:02

Can you, if you were yes, what would be the biggest change in the organization since we last saw you here in Winnipeg in terms of style of life?

SPEAKER_05 29:12

Boy, um, that's a good question. Uh, thank you for your patience, by the way. Um I think that's the only I forget my headphones too, right? Like I'm in one. I am absolutely in one. Um I think the biggest change since we last played, what seems like 48 hours ago, would be um defensive responsibility. That's been a huge emphasis for this team. You know, they gave up seven the game after they played here to the Pittsburgh Ten was at home. They got embarrassed. Uh they sort of did that the game before, uh, two games before versus the Edmonton Northern. So I think they've been better defensively. Goaltending has been better, and it's it's funny how far and how you know much those two go hand in hand. But there's been more focus on how to defend in your own end, not turn the puck over, and and keep the house, keep your house clean, which is what you need to do, Thomas. Keep your house.

SPEAKER_08 30:08

I'm terrible at that. Hey, tell uh we we appreciate your time, buddy. I know you gotta eat. Uh tell Rycroft is a hell of an actor. Hopefully he wins all those awards you guys recently had on your show, and uh look forward to seeing you a little bit later tonight.

SPEAKER_05 30:20

You better come say hi, otherwise we'll be very upset very much. And last time. But if you both don't, then I'm gonna be very mad and sad, and it's gonna be your fault. See you, man. Enjoy the soup. I will. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

I like the ears on the ground journalism from Connor.

SPEAKER_08 30:39

Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_04 30:40

You always have great lines, and I like that.

SPEAKER_08 30:43

You're you are sharp, way sharper than I am.

SPEAKER_04 30:46

Um so one of the things just before uh we get going here and we wrap things up, things that is important for when going up against Colorado. Not to say that it is the one-on-one. No, it's fine. Okay, the be-all and end all uh for everything is that Colorado when leading after one, 27, 0 and 4.

SPEAKER_09 31:07

That's really disgusting. When leading after two, yeah, 37-0 and a perfect like no no blips on the radar.

SPEAKER_04 31:17

Nope. 37 for 37. Uh, scoring first 36, 2, and 5. So this is definitely a team that you do not want to um come out slow against because they can if they can take advantage of it. And if they do, it is very difficult to get it back. The Jets 7-3-3 this month. It is their best record in a month so far since October when they started. So that's a real positive thing. Uh, but they did do a great job against Vegas of closing down Vegas' rush game. There is no better team off the rush than Colorado. So the challenge now, of course, is to try to do that again for the second game in a row.

SPEAKER_09 31:57

Well, I feel when Colorado came here, it was the same thing as they were all everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 32:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 32:01

And then they the Jets woke up. So, as Kenny said, I don't think you can play that style of game to start with the avalanche this time around. No. Don't want to do that twice.

SPEAKER_04 32:10

No, uh, let's take a quick look at the projected lines again. No changes from the last game. The new version uh now of Jamie's Don't Touch My Third Line uh continues to be together and uh productive as well. You went through all of it. I like what we've seen from everybody. The Jets have played well at home, 18, 13, and 6 is their home record. You know, Shifley, how does he follow up his big game as well? He is playing in game 951 tonight, which is the most in Jets the most games ever in a Winnipeg Jets jersey.

SPEAKER_09 32:46

Okay. That's big.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

1.0 and 2.0. He passes Thomas Steen.

SPEAKER_09 32:50

Great Thomas Steen. Yeah, that's this is these are the numbers that Mark's been trying to get to, right? He wants to catch Dale Hower Chuck.

SPEAKER_04 32:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 32:59

So this is just the start.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

Well, and one of the things that I was listening to on TSN that they've done recently, and they're doing it with baseball, which you must have been pretty happy. That opening day today.

SPEAKER_09 33:09

Yeah. Well, there's opening it last night on Netflix, yes.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

So, which we could talk about the Netflix broadcast later at another time. But one of the things that TSN's doing is looking at face of the franchises, and I think they might have done that with hockey as well. But I think it'd be interesting to see, and maybe we'll look at doing this on Saturday or in one of these games, getting comments from everybody that's watching, because we love being able to um hear your input on things. Is who do you view if they go top five? Well, you could go top three. When you think of face of the franchise, in the 15 years that we have seen this Winnipeg Jets 2.0 team, who are who do you view as being the faces of the franchise?

SPEAKER_09 33:52

Kelly.

SPEAKER_04 33:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 33:54

Chef.

SPEAKER_04 33:54

Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_09 33:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:58

I don't know. Well, I that's why I said Saturday. So we'll start. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, maybe we'll do Jets 1.0 and 2.0 just to make you think about something. Okay.

SPEAKER_09 34:06

There you go. All right, that's fair.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

So I've given all of you fair warning that also warning about different time for the show. Oh, yes, on Saturday.

SPEAKER_09 34:15

Yeah, but I'm like, I know that's so tough. And it's it's great. Buff is, of course, thrown in there. You guys are right. So keep all this.

SPEAKER_04 34:22

We're gonna talk about it more. We're gonna talk about it on Saturday.

SPEAKER_09 34:25

Start time 11:30 on Saturday. It's a six o'clock game. 11:30 check-in, just an hour earlier than usual.

SPEAKER_04 34:32

Subscribe, set your notifications.

SPEAKER_09 34:34

Yeah, punch the like button, all that stuff like that. That's right. And be ready to tell us your three players face the franchise.

SPEAKER_04 34:42

Jets 1.0 and 2.0 or jets jets just 2.0. Okay, just 2.0. Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_09 34:47

So hold those. I love all. I love where you guys are going right now. Just save that for Saturday.

SPEAKER_04 34:50

Okay, another early Saturday morning. It's 11:30. It's not eight. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 34:56

I know. Rihanna, if you're not up at 11:30, I don't know. I don't know what you are doing.

SPEAKER_04 35:01

Oh, yeah. But you know what? You guys, uh, you guys are great. We love to see so many of you in the chat as always. You're the best. Looking forward to this game tonight, kicking off home and home. As we talked about early on, this is an important stretch, obviously, for the Jets, just 11 games remaining, but three out of the next four games against top two teams, two games in a row against the city.

SPEAKER_09 35:21

Nashville plays New Jersey tonight.

SPEAKER_04 35:23

Then they play in Chicago and then Dallas as well. So it is we'll have, I think, a much better sense of what the Jets' future could hold.

SPEAKER_09 35:31

We say like Ked said, I know start of every week. We said this is when we're this is the week. This is the week.

SPEAKER_04 35:36

No, you know what? Uh they're up to it that's listed at 8.8% chance on Money Puck, but I will say that is creeping its way up more than what it was before. So good on them for the first time.

SPEAKER_09 35:47

What was it for Money Puck today?

SPEAKER_04 35:49

8.8.

SPEAKER_09 35:49

Okay. So going up.

SPEAKER_04 35:51

Right. We hope all of you have a fantastic day. Always appreciate you taking the time to check in.