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Speaker 1: Welcome to Kracking this morning, a presentation of the Kraken

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Speaker 1: Audio Network Ken Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.

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Speaker 1: Here's Mike Betton.

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Speaker 2: Final game of the homestand coming up Cracking Maple Leafs

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Speaker 2: second matchup seven o'clock Pacific time this evening. Mike Betton

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Speaker 2: again with you for Cracking this morning. To get you

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Speaker 2: covered here for the game on a Thursday, January twenty ninth.

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Speaker 2: We are going to hear in a little bit from

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Speaker 2: Dave McCarthy, our guest on Cracking Weekly, who was just

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Speaker 2: with us here to discuss the Leafs, plus also reaction

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Speaker 2: from Jared McCann and Matty Beniers after a convincing five

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Speaker 2: to one krack and win over the Washington Capitals back

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Speaker 2: on Tuesday, with a little bit of controversy also in

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Speaker 2: the middle and a hat trick as well. Hanging in

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Speaker 2: the balance. But the Kraken, despite going through a month

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Speaker 2: of seventeen games, are you at poised to come out

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Speaker 2: of this with a guaranteed record above five hundred for

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Speaker 2: points percentage at eighty five and two. They have two

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Speaker 2: more games coming up this month, first off, the home

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Speaker 2: finale before the Olympic break this evening and then the

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Speaker 2: beginning of a three game road trip to close out

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Speaker 2: the calendar month on Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights

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Speaker 2: at Tea Mobile Arena. Well, flashing back to two nights ago,

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Speaker 2: the Kraken left little doubts as their top line took

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Speaker 2: over against the Capitals.

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Speaker 3: Free thirty five to play in regulation. Here's Matty Veneers

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Speaker 3: by the saft spots.

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Speaker 4: Shared mcckett feathers it ahead for Maddy Vaniers in the

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Speaker 4: right circle. Got behind the Cats D five one Seattle

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Speaker 4: three thirty three left hair.

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Speaker 5: In this one.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's a transition to the neutral zone that Puckets

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Speaker 3: poofed up to mckett at the blue at the red line,

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Speaker 3: he just waits for Beneers to shoot through the middle,

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Speaker 3: puts it into open space. Vaneers gets himself a breakaway.

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Speaker 3: He beats Thompson on this one five to one.

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Speaker 2: In the wake of it, eight combined points for the

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Speaker 2: top line of Jared McCann, Matty Beaneers, and Jordan Emberley

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Speaker 2: in a five to one victory over the Washington Capitals,

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Speaker 2: enough to earn a one to one series split and

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Speaker 2: put the Cracking in position now for four wins in

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Speaker 2: this six game homestand but also the night including a

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Speaker 2: little bit of controversy. Jared McCann apparently scored a breakaway

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Speaker 2: goal in period three to complete a hat trick, until

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Speaker 2: it wasn't a hat trick. Officials would review a high

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Speaker 2: stick well behind the play. Matty Baneer's visibly clipping justin

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Speaker 2: sort of wiped out the goal and gave Baniers a

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Speaker 2: double minor for high sticking. So McCann close but not

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Speaker 2: close enough, which also included a showering of hats onto

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Speaker 2: the ice from the sold out crowd of seventeen thousand,

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Speaker 2: one point fifty one, but the krack in closing out

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Speaker 2: the game with the win after that, having a little

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Speaker 2: bit of fun with it, as Jared McCann now with

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Speaker 2: the media after the game.

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Speaker 6: Takes away your natural hat trick opportunity, stealing that one

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Speaker 6: off the post. Then Matty Vaniers apparently high sticks a

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Speaker 6: guy he George Beverly, so he didn't even know that

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Speaker 6: was an option. They could take the goal off the

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Speaker 6: board like that. Yeah, are you mad at your linemates

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Speaker 6: at all?

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Speaker 7: All those guys are the reason you know, I've I've

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Speaker 7: had success this here, so I just feel bad for

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Speaker 7: the people through their hats on the ice. To be

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Speaker 7: honest with you, Yeah, maybe every little refund or something.

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Speaker 6: Who knows what is working for the for your line.

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Speaker 6: I mean, obviously all three of you guys came up

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Speaker 6: with pretty big nights.

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Speaker 7: And yeah, I just I feel like we've had chances

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Speaker 7: in the past couple of games here that haven't really

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Speaker 7: gone for us. You know, we've had We've had some

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Speaker 7: good opportunities, especially coming out of DS one. We're playing

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Speaker 7: good defensively, getting breaking up a lot of plays and

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Speaker 7: going the other way, and that's what makes us successful

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Speaker 7: as we get you know, I'm playing with two guys

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Speaker 7: who can create off and nothing, and you know, I'm

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Speaker 7: definitely lucky to play with those guys.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely take the third one off the board for you.

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Speaker 8: But and even though allowing one on the penalty kill,

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Speaker 8: how do you feel about the guys you know, pushing back?

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Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, the mindset on the bench was positive,

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Speaker 7: kept going, We kept pushing, you know, that was that

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Speaker 7: was the plan. Just stay level headed and keep going.

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Speaker 5: Jared, what happened after the Amaheid game did because that

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Speaker 5: was one of the poorest performances the team had all

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Speaker 5: season since then, you guys have been playing lights out?

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Speaker 5: Was that a direct response?

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Speaker 7: Yeah, it was a little bit of a kick in

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Speaker 7: the butt, you know, especially in video the next day,

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Speaker 7: it was something I feel like, that's that's something that

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Speaker 7: you know, Lane doesn't shy away from and holding guys accountable.

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Speaker 7: You know, I feel like that's what makes a team better.

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Speaker 7: So we would watch a video, we learned from it,

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Speaker 7: and you know, we're gonna obviously have games like that

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Speaker 7: every once in a while, but it's gotta be uh,

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Speaker 7: it's gotta be one in a million.

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Speaker 6: How your goals happened tonight?

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Speaker 8: Uh?

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Speaker 7: The first one, Ebbs, found me through a slot there.

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Speaker 7: You know, I just tried to get it on net

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Speaker 7: as quick as possible and kind of you know, I

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Speaker 7: didn't get all of it, but it was a good

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Speaker 7: place shot, I guess. And the second one there, just

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Speaker 7: tried to battle my way to the net and you know,

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Speaker 7: it kind of kicked off the pad there right to

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Speaker 7: me back door.

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Speaker 2: But hey, as far as fans that were there for

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Speaker 2: the game, not all was lost. Reportedly, the krack and

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Speaker 2: offering season ticket members a chance to get a free

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Speaker 2: hat as well. Courtesy of American Express reform that was shared.

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Speaker 2: So in essence, celebrate a hat trick, throw your hat

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Speaker 2: on the ice if you were at the game, lose

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Speaker 2: your hat because of an overturned goal, and eventually you

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Speaker 2: get one back as well. Not too shabby. Aside from that,

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Speaker 2: another multi point nine for Matty Vaniers. He is up

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Speaker 2: to eighteen points now in nineteen games since the middle

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Speaker 2: of December and showing more and more why he is

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Speaker 2: elevating his game to a true top six center right now,

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Speaker 2: tie for the Crack and lead in scoring with thirty

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Speaker 2: six points in fifty two games, a pace now that

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Speaker 2: would put him one point shy of his career high

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Speaker 2: at fifty seven, set back when he won the Calder

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Speaker 2: Trophy three years ago. But of course there was also

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Speaker 2: some fun within the disallowed goal because of Vanier's high stick,

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Speaker 2: and he talked more about that and the Krack and

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Speaker 2: win after Tuesday night.

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Speaker 3: How good is it Jared shot just back in the

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Speaker 3: lineup overall in general for you guys.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, it's great. He's got a hell of a shot,

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Speaker 8: and you know you saw it tonight with the first

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Speaker 8: one that was a bomb, even on Ebbs' goal. You

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Speaker 8: know he beats the goal, he hits the post and

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Speaker 8: then he scores, so you know, he's he's awesome out there.

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Speaker 8: He's got an elite shot.

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Speaker 6: So he said, he's not holding it against you.

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Speaker 8: The Yeah, I know, I was crappy, but yeah, just

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Speaker 8: just crappy. Didn't mean to hit him. Happened like two

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Speaker 8: minutes before the goal even happened, so I didn't even

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Speaker 8: didn't know what they were looking at. And then and

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Speaker 8: then they told me.

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Speaker 6: So, what's working for your line? All the three of

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Speaker 6: you guys had multiple points tonight.

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Speaker 7: I think we're just playing together, well, you know, our

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Speaker 7: you know, playing as a three man union on the

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Speaker 7: four check, honestly a five man union.

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Speaker 8: And I think the d have done a really good

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Speaker 8: job getting up in the play and helping us on

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Speaker 8: our four checks and and you know, getting pucks to

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Speaker 8: us quick so we can transition teams and I'll let

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Speaker 8: them get in our structure and then you know, our

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Speaker 8: skills just taken over. So we've obviously all played together

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Speaker 8: before a bunch of times, and yeah, we're just just

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Speaker 8: meshing well right now.

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Speaker 9: Would be simply to say that the Anaheim game was

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Speaker 9: good for the team, But you guys have sure adhered

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Speaker 9: to your system and gotten results since then.

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Speaker 5: So did something good come out of that?

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Speaker 8: Yeah, it was definitely a little bit of a wake

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Speaker 8: up call. Like you know, these games are absolutely huge.

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Speaker 8: You know, I think there's two or three games after

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Speaker 8: break before the deadline, so uh, these are these are

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Speaker 8: big games for everyone that's kind of in the hunt.

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Speaker 8: And and I think that gave us a little bit

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Speaker 8: a bit of a wake up call for for us

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Speaker 8: to start kicking it into gear a little bit.

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Speaker 6: What did you think of the start tonight? I know

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Speaker 6: it's been a little bit of a challenge. Heare over

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Speaker 6: the last I don't know how many games, So what'd

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Speaker 6: you think of it?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 8: I thought it was great. I thought, honestly the last

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Speaker 8: two games was great. You know, we didn't score the

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Speaker 8: first goal last game. You know, you give up a

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Speaker 8: power play. But I thought we've really been on our toes.

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Speaker 8: We've been skating really hard, working together as a five

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Speaker 8: man unit and you know, getting pucks in, getting on

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Speaker 8: our four check, just establishing play down in their zone.

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Speaker 8: It's huge for us many.

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Speaker 7: I think you're nearly a pointing game for the month.

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Speaker 8: Your goals at Carmel a little.

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Speaker 3: Bit quicker here.

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Speaker 2: What's kind of working fire and so good for you

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Speaker 2: here at.

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Speaker 8: The moment with your game. Yeah, I mean, I mean,

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Speaker 8: I think the team's playing well. So you know, when

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Speaker 8: the team plays well, individuals get success. And that's that's

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Speaker 8: I think that's what's happening.

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Speaker 2: It's pretty apparent after a seven to four loss to

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Speaker 2: the Buffalo Sabers, the Toronto Maple Leafs have more than

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Speaker 2: their fair share of issues here to handle right before

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Speaker 2: the Olympic break. After all, they trade to Mention Marner

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Speaker 2: this last offseason, and still as of this point, are

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Speaker 2: waiting in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, leaving them eight

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Speaker 2: points out of the cut line in the Western Conference,

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Speaker 2: a record of twenty four to twenty nine fifty seven points,

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Speaker 2: and they own just three wins in their previous ten games. Defensively,

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Speaker 2: it has been quite the wild ride for them season.

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Speaker 2: They have allowed three point four goals per game, that's

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Speaker 2: standing thirtieth in the NHL. They have allowed an average

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Speaker 2: of five goals over the last five games, all during

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Speaker 2: an zero four and one homestand and now it doesn't

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Speaker 2: get much easier. They will be on the road until

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Speaker 2: after the Olympic break. Four games heading into the break

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Speaker 2: in Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, and then coming right

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Speaker 2: out of it will visit Tampa Bay and the Florida Panthers. Nonetheless,

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Speaker 2: the Leafs still very much a squad capable of doing

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Speaker 2: damage offensively, led by William Nilander's forty eight points, Auston

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Speaker 2: Matthews carrying them right now with twenty six goals in

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Speaker 2: forty seven games. Matthews tied with John Tavares for second

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Speaker 2: points wise at forty five, and then he had the

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Speaker 2: big Matthew Nyes right behind them with forty four points

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Speaker 2: in fifty games. Nonetheless, the stories have continued to circulate

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Speaker 2: all around the Leaves. From William Nilander's inappropriate gesture tour

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Speaker 2: to television camera, he earned a five thousand dollars fine

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Speaker 2: from the NHL as a result, Craig Barubi also suffering

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Speaker 2: an injury right at the top of his head from

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Speaker 2: what was quote unquote a Jim mishap, and a team

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Speaker 2: facing critical decisions as one of the more older squads

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Speaker 2: in the NHL. We broke down the game ahead here

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Speaker 2: as far as a view from the Toronto side with

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Speaker 2: Dave McCarthy of Sirius XM NHL Network Radio joining us

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Speaker 2: on Cracking Weekly, and here's a sample of our conversation.

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Speaker 2: I mean, what's the empty narrative and what is reality

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Speaker 2: here with the Leaves right now in the post Mitch

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Speaker 2: Marner era.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a disappointment this season, to be sure, because

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Speaker 4: this was a group Mike that in September was talking

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Speaker 4: about contending for the Stanley cop and they're in a

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Speaker 4: position right now where they're nowhere near the playoffs, let

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Speaker 4: alone contending for the Cup eight points out, you know,

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Speaker 4: potentially as they come into action on Thursdays. So this

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Speaker 4: is not a year where they went into the year thinking, yeah,

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Speaker 4: you know what, it might not be our year, it

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Speaker 4: might be a retool a year. No, this was a

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Speaker 4: year they intended to ten and it's not happening. So

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Speaker 4: it's at the point now where I think the Leafs

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Speaker 4: have to really have a serious discussion about where this

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Speaker 4: season is going. Given that they're eight points out. Is

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Speaker 4: this season still salvageable? I don't think that it is.

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Speaker 4: And if that's the decision that you come to, then

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Speaker 4: you need to have some difficult discussions about what you're

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Speaker 4: going to do with certain guys on the roster, impending

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Speaker 4: free agents, Guys like a Bobby McMahon who is a

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Speaker 4: free agent at the end of the year. Guys like

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Speaker 4: a Scott Lawton who is a free agent at the

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Speaker 4: end of the year. Guys like a Troy Stetcher who

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Speaker 4: have come in and played pretty well. Simon ben Wall

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Speaker 4: has got a year left at just over a million bucks.

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Speaker 4: Oliver Ekman Larsen is two years left. He's a guy

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Speaker 4: that probably you could never sell higher on than you

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Speaker 4: could right now, because I think he would have interest

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Speaker 4: around the league given how he has played this year.

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Speaker 4: You know, you look at Morgan Riley, does a change

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Speaker 4: need to occur there? I think you have to look

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Speaker 4: if you're the Leafs right now and say, is it

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Speaker 4: time to start trying to accumulate future assets. For some

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Speaker 4: of the players on the team right now that either

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Speaker 4: will not be resigned in the off season it makes

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Speaker 4: sense to sell based on their value right now, or

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Speaker 4: guys that might just have to be in a position

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Speaker 4: where it's time for a change. I do think they

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Speaker 4: still have a good skeleton in place. I don't think

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Speaker 4: it has to be an absolute tear down, but I

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Speaker 4: do think they need to make some savvy moves to

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Speaker 4: try to recoup some assets and put into what is

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Speaker 4: essentially a bear cupboard so that they can try in

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Speaker 4: the off season to utilize some of those future assets

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Speaker 4: that they would accumulate to translate back into players that

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Speaker 4: will help them as soon as next year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I think it's so fascinating because, I mean the

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Speaker 2: attention that they grab in that market. I mean it's

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Speaker 2: kind of like a byproduct year of a team that

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Speaker 2: has covered so much, akin of the Dallas Cowboys, a

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Speaker 2: kind of the New York Yankees. I mean, everything is

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Speaker 2: under a microscope. And so I think just kind of

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Speaker 2: getting past the whole Craig Beruby, Jim Mishap, William Nielander

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Speaker 2: and his camera Mishap and then Austin Matthews, the conversation

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Speaker 2: of Willie Talker not talk here to the media game

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Speaker 2: after game, I think we kind of understand a bit

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Speaker 2: further of where this could be headed and maybe not

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Speaker 2: so much a full blown tear down, because you got

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Speaker 2: Austin Matthews and his contract, William Neilander and his contract,

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Speaker 2: Matthew Knights was assigned to a brand spanking new deal.

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Speaker 2: But how closer do you think that we might be

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Speaker 2: seen to I wouldn't say doubling down, but a summer

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Speaker 2: where they're they're they're trying to volley themselves right back

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Speaker 2: into contention status again.

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Speaker 4: Well, without question, if aus and Matthews is in the

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Speaker 4: is on the roster, if William Miehlander is on the roster,

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Speaker 4: you you have to try to contend. Otherwise what are

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Speaker 4: you doing right now? I mean, Matthews has got two

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Speaker 4: years left after this year, So what do you want

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Speaker 4: to do wate next year and then go into the

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Speaker 4: final year of his deal as an impending unrestricted free agent. No,

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Speaker 4: you got to try to contend. So that's that's what

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Speaker 4: they will try to do. You know, the attention, I

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Speaker 4: just really don't buy that as something that is an

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Speaker 4: element of adversity for this team. You know, when they

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Speaker 4: were playing good for most of the last nine years

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Speaker 4: and it was never really in doubt that they were

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Speaker 4: going to make the playoffs, there really weren't many little

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Speaker 4: side issues that turned into big circuses winning cures a

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Speaker 4: lot that. But what what's happened now is that a

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Speaker 4: lot of these little side issues that crop up like

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Speaker 4: you just referred, remind me a lot of where this

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Speaker 4: team was at prior to twenty fourteen when Brandon Shanahan

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Speaker 4: came on board, where it was salute gate and it

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Speaker 4: was you know this you know or you know that guy,

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Speaker 4: whatever it might have been, but it always seemed like

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Speaker 4: there was something, you know, Nasen Kadri saying, oh yeah,

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Speaker 4: Jeffrey Loopels, right, and then you know, Jeffrey Loopel's ever

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Speaker 4: seend from me. Whatever it was that seemed to go

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Speaker 4: away over the last ten years, but it's back, and

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Speaker 4: now it's a case where, you know, seemingly on a

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Speaker 4: daily basis, something else is becoming the main topic on

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Speaker 4: Twitter where everybody runs wild with it. So look, they

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Speaker 4: have not had a good year at all. It has

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Speaker 4: not gone the way they wanted it to go. Nobody,

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Speaker 4: quite frankly, has played particularly well. It's a very short

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Speaker 4: list of guys who have played two expectations, let alone

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Speaker 4: exceeded expectations. But in saying that, you've got Matthews, You've

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Speaker 4: got Nilander, you got Nice, you got John Tavares, You've

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Speaker 4: got you know, Jake McCabe. We'll see what the future

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Speaker 4: holds for Chris Tanev and his availability. You've got three

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Speaker 4: goalies that you theoretically like in Wall and Stollers and

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Speaker 4: Dennis Hill to be probably have to make a move

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Speaker 4: on one of them because Dennis Hill to be more

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Speaker 4: clear waivers next year. So you've got some pieces of

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Speaker 4: value that you can move, but you also have a

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Speaker 4: spine of a team that if you have a good

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Speaker 4: off season, you can build around, I think and put

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Speaker 4: them back in a position where they're capable of contending

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Speaker 4: at least for a playoff spot.

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Speaker 2: All right, big thank you to Dave McCarthy for joining

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Speaker 2: us as far as a milestone watch here for this game.

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Speaker 2: Keep an eye out for Stratford hometown guy Jared McCann.

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Speaker 2: He is just two goals shy of two hundred in

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Speaker 2: his NHL career. Adam Larson also hitting three as is

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Speaker 2: shy of two hundred for his NHL career as well.

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Speaker 2: Second and final matchup coming up here for this evening

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Speaker 2: the crack and looking to run the table against some

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Speaker 2: aple leafs and close out the homestand four and two

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Speaker 2: and their final home game before the Olympic break with

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Speaker 2: a victory. Take note, National TV's got the game this evening,

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Speaker 2: so we are your only local source for broadcasts coverage

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Speaker 2: face off is a little past seven o'clock Pacific time,

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Speaker 2: airtime six thirty pregame shows served up by Frostbrewed cors

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Speaker 2: Light Choose Chill Ever ritten now in the booth. I'll

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Speaker 2: join you back by the corps light landing in section

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Speaker 2: twenty and are searcht and myself will join you as

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Speaker 2: well postgame live from Tom's watch bar right across from

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Speaker 2: Climate Pledge Arena. Big thanks once again too, Dave McCarthy

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Speaker 2: for joining us. By the way, cash more of Crack

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Speaker 2: and weekly podcasted on demand via the Crack and Audio

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Speaker 2: Network on the iHeartRadio app. For Cracking this morning, I'm

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Speaker 2: Mike Benton. Enjoy the game.

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Speaker 1: Your home for the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point

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Speaker 1: three k j R f M