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00:00I think I'm going to ask Paul, throw him a curve.
00:03We'll see what happens.
00:05Paul, I'm going to throw you a curveball.
00:06At least I'm telegraphing the pitch, okay?
00:08This is me telling you that something different is coming.
00:12In case you weren't listening, the last 20 minutes or so,
00:16we've talked about B. John Robinson and the Falcons last night
00:20and just how much I love watching a great running back work
00:25and how every play you really just can't see what he sees
00:30and there are big gains that he got on plays
00:34that you didn't even think that was possible.
00:37And I decided I'm making that my favorite thing to watch about football
00:42is the great running back on a given play, the handoff,
00:46and then who knows what's going to happen.
00:48Do you have a favorite thing about football to watch?
00:52You do. Good.
00:52Oh, I thought you were going to ask me my favorite running back.
00:57Like what you're talking about, and it's easy.
01:00It's O.J. Simpson.
01:02I mean, without a doubt.
01:04I mean, to me, O.J. Simpson is the best running back I've ever seen,
01:08and I always say that because I never saw Jim Brown.
01:11Other than that, I just can't see any other running back
01:15that even is in his stratosphere.
01:19I used to watch teams, like, load the box
01:24and pay no attention to Joe Ferguson at all,
01:27who threw maybe 10 to 12 passes a game,
01:29and they still couldn't stop.
01:31I mean, he'd still run for 200.
01:33It was just mind-boggling how good he was.
01:38And, yeah, so, yeah, if I was going to say the guy,
01:41the type of person you're talking about,
01:44it would be O.J. Simpson without question.
01:46Do you have a favorite thing about hockey, either to watch
01:50or just an element of the game that is, for you,
01:54like especially thrilling or interesting?
01:57Yeah.
01:58When the speed of the game shows through
02:01and it's not a clutch-and-grab affair
02:03and we can see each team be free
02:07and just, you know, see the speed of the game work its magic,
02:12you know, I certainly don't want to take hitting out of the game
02:15or anything.
02:15I do enjoy a good clean hit.
02:17I enjoy a fight now and then.
02:19I don't enjoy people having to answer for clean hits
02:22or staged fights make me sick.
02:25I can't stand the staged ones.
02:28But, you know, the ones that just happen
02:30during the course of a game I like,
02:33but it's the speed of the game that really catches my eye.
02:36Yeah, I'm with you 100% on that, Paul.
02:38When you get a game, and, you know,
02:41it happens more than you might think.
02:43Because if you watch, you know, a different game every night,
02:46you know, when the Sabres aren't playing,
02:47I'm usually watching a game, often with Owen,
02:50and you get teams trading that.
02:53Like, one team is barreling up the ice,
02:55they get a chance, maybe there's a rebound,
02:58they don't score, and the other team comes right back,
03:01and it's the same.
03:02It's just there's a quick outlet pass,
03:04and here comes a rush going the other way,
03:06and you do that for, I don't know,
03:08like two times at least each team,
03:12and that is like, that'll be a moment where I'll go,
03:15look at this game.
03:16Like, right now this is just, this is perfect.
03:20And, you know, it doesn't last, but I'm with you.
03:23Like, when teams can really skate, man, it's just,
03:26it's breathtaking.
03:27And if there's a big hit mixed in there,
03:29and the crowd is going wild, and it's just like,
03:31you can't, you know, out of the corner of your eye,
03:33you see the hit, but the play's going too fast up the other way,
03:36so you can't dwell on it.
03:37Like, that's awesome, too.
03:39The best hockey I've ever seen.
03:41I had the privilege of being able to cover some Canada Cups,
03:45and when you've got Gretzky, Lemieux, the Russian players,
03:50it was just beauty on ice to watch,
03:54to see the skill and the speed in every single game,
03:58and it goes down to the wire,
04:00and, you know, the iconic goal in Hamilton that, you know,
04:04Gretzky coming down with Murphy and Lemieux
04:07after Howarchuk wins the draw,
04:09and the three of them are coming down,
04:10and it's like, is this real life
04:13that I'm watching Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux come down,
04:17you know, and, of course, they score,
04:19and, you know, it was a very close game at the time.
04:25It's just, that was just my favorite,
04:27covering those types of tournaments.
04:30You needed it to be an all-star game like that
04:33to ever really get that, like, back and forth,
04:35that kind of pace.
04:36Now you kind of get it almost every night.
04:39Most teams are able to keep up.
04:41I mean, something comparable, anyway.
04:42Yeah, the Oilers used to do it,
04:44but there weren't many teams that could do it with them.
04:46No, like they would win 10-5 or something.
04:49All right, so last night,
04:51I'm not sure how much of this was on display last night in Detroit,
04:54having not seen the game,
04:56but what are the takeaways?
04:58Well, injuries, first of all.
05:00I mean, you know, Lion, it was kind of weird.
05:04You know, for those that didn't see it,
05:05he lunged forward on his belly to cover up a puck,
05:09got there.
05:09There really wasn't anybody around him.
05:12A skate brushed him, but I don't think the skate had to do it.
05:14Yeah, I was worried he maybe got his hand in the glove somehow with that skate,
05:18but it ended up not being that.
05:20But the way it looked, yeah.
05:21It just brushed him.
05:22I don't think.
05:22And he immediately rolled over and grabbed his shoulder and was in pain
05:26and went directly to the bench and directly to the locker room.
05:30So he knew he wasn't going to be able to continue.
05:34So Lindy Ruff said, you know, he is still being examined today,
05:38so we don't know the extent of that.
05:41Koulik was done about the middle of the second period,
05:46and Ruff said he probably could have continued,
05:50but they just wanted to err on the side of caution,
05:54and he could have skated today,
05:57but they decided to make it a maintenance day,
05:59and he said he will skate tomorrow or play tomorrow.
06:03He said probably just skate,
06:05but he said I won't close the door on him maybe playing in the game.
06:09Ostland wasn't in practice today.
06:12Ruff said he played big minutes yesterday and had a maintenance day,
06:16but maintenance day usually.
06:19There's something that needs maintaining.
06:22Yeah, there's some little, maybe minor ailment or whatever that we'll see.
06:29Did we see what happened to Koulik?
06:31Because I don't know.
06:32No, no, no, we didn't.
06:33It was just, you know, he scored,
06:35and then by the middle of the period that was that,
06:38and he wasn't around anymore and wasn't going to return.
06:41Now, good news on Zellweger.
06:43He still feels good.
06:45Lindy said he feels really good.
06:47He skated today, not with the team, but skated today.
06:51Seven days would be Tuesday, you know,
06:53if they're going to follow the seven-day protocol,
06:56and Ruff's comment was in all likelihood he'll be ready for next week.
07:01So it sounds like he should be ready for the first game.
07:04And he says Samuelson keeps coming in my office
07:06and telling me that it's going to be short-term.
07:10Keeps coming in my office.
07:11It just happened.
07:12What, does it, like, ten minutes go by and he knocks on the door again?
07:15Keeps coming in my office.
07:16He goes, you never know with that kind of stuff.
07:18He goes, we'll see.
07:19He said, but he keeps telling me that it's going to be a short-term thing.
07:24So I don't know what short-term means when we're talking week to week.
07:30But so that's what Samuelson thinks.
07:32Right.
07:32We'll see where that rolls.
07:34Well, and they – go ahead.
07:35Sorry.
07:35You know, they pick up a defenseman in Grizzlik.
07:38Right.
07:38So it can't be he's coming back tomorrow because they're not –
07:43you know, I think they look at it and looked at the depth and said,
07:46here's an NHL defenseman who's only 31 years old just sitting there.
07:50We can get him for the basic minimum, and why not?
07:54He's a left-handed shooting defenseman, which they don't have in the bottom of their –
07:58they have it in the top of their depth chart on defense, but not in the bottom.
08:02So – and that, you know, allows Gilbert to go down to Rochester.
08:06I'm sure Gilbert's not happy about it because, you know,
08:09he goes from probably number eight defenseman to number nine.
08:13So, you know, he was waived, as a bunch of others were, to go down to Rochester.
08:17The cut to Rochester was today.
08:21And, you know, and that doesn't – and that means, you know,
08:24until Samuelson comes back, they don't have to address two righties
08:27to play on the third pair, but they don't ever play together
08:31because you don't want them out there together.
08:33So you're putting Darlene with one of them.
08:36Then you're putting Zelweger with one of them.
08:37Then you're putting Power with one of them.
08:39And if Samuelson's playing, you're putting him with one of them
08:41because they've got two righties.
08:42So they really won't have to do that even when Samuelson misses.
08:47You would think Grislyk will play with Timmons.
08:50My guess is Crebier, just because I've seen it in two practices now,
08:53might play with Darlene.
08:55And Zelweger would come back and continue with Power,
08:58which gives you two lefties on that one.
09:01But that's the way they were planning on it anyway.
09:04Matt Grislyk.
09:06I don't know if this would be on his bio,
09:08but a 10-way tie for 71st in the Lady Bing vote two years ago.
09:14And there was a goalie, by the way, also who got a vote.
09:17I didn't know goalies could get votes for the Lady Bing.
09:20And was teammates with Jack Eichel at BU.
09:23Okay.
09:24Well, it says right here on his hockey reference page
09:26that one of his nicknames is the Mayor of Boston.
09:29So Jack might take issue.
09:32What else is there to know about him?
09:34Just to, you know, he'll get his nose in there.
09:39I mean, he's not the biggest thing in the world.
09:41But he also is not afraid to compete.
09:44He's not afraid to protect a teammate.
09:46He's not afraid to, you know, do the dirty work that needs to be done.
09:50I think he's a pretty good passer out of his zone,
09:52as I recall thinking of him.
09:54You know, with the Bruins, you get to see him a lot.
09:57He only played one year.
09:58Two years, his whole career was with Boston except for two years.
10:03Last year was Chicago and the year before.
10:07So, you know, we got to see a lot of him as a Bruin.
10:10And as I recall, that first pass out of the zone was always a good one.
10:14You didn't have to worry about him.
10:15He could move the puck and get it up ice quickly.
10:18There was a time when he first got there that I thought he was going to be, like,
10:21a staple in their top four.
10:23And I obviously missed on that.
10:25He did not establish himself to that level and is available at this late date
10:29for the veteran minimum.
10:30So, you know, his career did.
10:32He spent eight years in the organization, one year in the minors,
10:34seven years with the Bruins.
10:36Right.
10:36You know, had a pretty good career with them.
10:38But you're right.
10:38He wasn't, like, their best guy.
10:40He was just a guy that they would have out there,
10:44probably with their third pair most of the time.
10:46Right.
10:47You know, I don't see all the Bruin games,
10:49but I would guess that's probably fairly accurate.
10:52And, you know, it's just a guy you're not going to have to worry about.
10:55I mean, they've upgraded.
10:56You know, I think he's a better defenseman than Gilbert,
10:59and Gilbert tries his best.
11:01I mean, Gilbert gives you everything he's got and the rest of it.
11:04But I just think you've upgraded in that position.
11:06I don't know how well, if at all, you know Les Kuntar,
11:11but cheers to him at happy hour tonight for the kid getting a goal
11:14and a fight last night.
11:15I mean, he's among these players that's been waived
11:18and is obviously ticketed for Rochester, Trevor Kuntar.
11:21But nice to see him get on the board and get on the sheet twice.
11:25And the way he plays, got him a game last year.
11:27He got his first NHL game.
11:29So every time they talk about him, they love him.
11:33I mean, just because of his compete.
11:35And Lindy said, I think it was yesterday, that he goes,
11:39guys do not want to do compete drills against him.
11:42They, like, get out of line or something because they don't want to do drills with him
11:46because he is 1,000 miles an hour, head-on, competing in every drill
11:51and everything that he does.
11:53And you're in for it if you're going to compete with him.
11:58Paul, thanks.
11:59Enjoy your weekend.
12:00You too, guys.
12:01Take care.
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