3 Starr Quiz: PLEASE Make Sense of This Habs Decision Tonight!

0:00When life gets unpredictable, preparation matters. In medicine it's all about staying alert, ready for whatever comes through the door. On the road, it's no different. That's why Volvo designs vehicles to help anticipate risk, reduce harm and protect lives. The Volvo XC90's advanced safety systems inspire confident decisions wherever the road takes you. The Volvo XC90's for life, proud sponsor of the pit podcast. Learn more at VolvoCars.ca-safety. Okay, we are here. And yes, we did touch base with James, the correct James. He did call in and he's off to go see the Canadians in the Bruins, March 17th. Tickets all week right here on your home from Montreal, Canadians, hockey, TSM, 690, exciting stuff. Always nice to give away Canadians tickets, huh? It's a great price. It's a great price. Like I would say cash is king. You know, when we were doing those interact cash giveaways feels like a lifetime ago.

1:02You know, it's just interact. It's not. No, no, I like to interact. There's no tea on the end. I like to interact with interact. Cash is king, right? But beyond that, you know, tickets in a good section of the bell center. It's right there, right? Not all seasons are created equal to be fair. I do recall a time a few years ago when give away. Have tickets became a bit more difficult. But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a hot ticket, baby. There's Connor McKenna. I'm Sean star. Welcome to the morning show. Welcome to the quiz brought to you by Ashgrick. And this man will be on the call tonight from the bell center next to his apartment or crime Victor Finley on TSM 690. It's Montreal and Toronto. It's JP O'Connor right here on the quiz on this Tuesday. JP, welcome back sir. How's it? How's it going today? I don't know about you guys, but I love everything about springing forward except the first couple of days. I feel horrendous. How do you guys are the real witnesses? How do you guys?

2:02Yesterday, I struggled. I'm not going to lie today. I'm I feel back to normal. I struggled yesterday. I feel nothing. You feel nothing. I feel bad inside as usual. No, but seriously, I just I'm okay. That's funny. Amanda too. Yes, she was like, are you how are you doing? I'm okay. I'm like, yeah, fine. I'm good. It's Connor. How are the kids doing? They're doing great. They are sleeping in later. I don't know the boy. The boy was up at like 640 or so, which is great. We'll take that. Do they feel like they're eating still sleeping right now eating earlier? Like it's so bright outside still and it's upper time. Dinner at seven o'clock last night, which is pretty late for us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. On my dog loves it. He feels like he's getting fed a little earlier than usual, you know. It's always fun. Welcome to the quiz you guys. We got lots to get to today on a game day. It's habs and leaves the tabs and sends tomorrow. Four games for the Canadians in the next six nights, but let's start with goal-tending. As into the Montreal zone, it comes back to the line. Ronic over the huge new side back across Ronic lawn shot.

3:04That's deflected wide is Patterson tried to tuck that home side of the net between the legs. And Jakob Dobas says he often does makes timely stops in big moments and helps the Canadians stay competitive if not win the game. But surprising to me, I'll be honest. I did if I were tasked to map out the goal-tending assignments, which originally was my question before the news dropped at Martijn St. Louis. I've already mapped them out. I'm good. Don't need you star. It's Jakob Dobas tonight against Toronto Maple leaves the inferior opponent on the first leg corner of a back-to-back. Ottawa very much nipping at the heels of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Can you explain why it's Dobas tonight and not Sam Montemau, who by the way, let's also point out. Monty's got a pretty good record against the Toronto Maple leaves. What went through your brain when you saw the announcement? The way I explained it is, first of all, you're not overthinking it here and trying to pick and choose which goal he gets, which opponent. This is about getting Jakob Dobas in the goal. He has clearly solidified his number one status.

4:09And the Canadians are playing at home on a Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple leaves. It's the first game back from a road trip. You go with your starting goal tender in that situation. And that's why it's Jakob Dobas. I don't think he's thinking of opponents. He's just, he's getting his number one out there for a Tuesday night game against Toronto. JP, your perspective on the Goldening assignment. Jakob Dobas tonight, which leads you down the path that Sam Montemau will get Ottawa tomorrow in Ottawa. Well, listen, 923 versus the Kings, including 15 out of 16 first period saves. I've managed one shot of the run in the first. At some point, you know, especially when your coach says that you stepped up, you've got to get rewarded. So back in the net, you go, but I think you can't get too far ahead over your skis here. I think if you, if you, if things go sideways tonight and, and brass, don't feel like Montemau can give it to them against the sense.

5:11And the rocket are in town until Thursday afternoon, you know, jump on the bus and they'll be, and they'll be heading off for an important two games out of the road. So I would, I would say that Marty, Sam, we might say that he's got it mapped out and that, and he knows what he's going with. And that ordinarily would suggest that you kind of have the next week planned out, but I would say that at this point in the season, you're under 20 games to go. All points are super important. I would think that, that all bets are off now with the way that the gold handers have been planned, that all bets are off and that you've got to get guys in. So see how this one goes tonight. And then there might be a call up to, until the ball is released tomorrow. When life gets unpredictable, preparation matters in medicine. It's all about staying alert, ready for whatever comes through the door. On the road, it's no different. That's why Volvo designs vehicles to help anticipate risk, reduce harm and protect lives. The Volvo XC 90s advanced safety systems inspire confident decisions wherever the road takes you.

6:13The Volvo XC 90 for life. Proud sponsor of the pit podcast. Learn more at VolvoCars.ca slash safety. And he's going to be a big part of the Canadians Campbell. If L.A. didn't want to, Montreal surely does clean faceoff went forward to know over the Hudson stepping up. He's going to slide that over, but it's poach back the other way. Watch out, Pasadak and geeky. Pasadak driving the name geeky back at Pasadak. Same by Fowler. I want to save by Fowler going left to right to take the bottom of the net away perfectly timed out with your perspective on, you know, the Laval rocket schedule. And Jacob Fowler, who's recovered from the illness that had him on the shelf for quite some time lost a bunch of weight, but in his return back look pretty good. David Rhinebacker is playing the best AHL hockey we've seen him play now that he's healthy again. What about that? What about call the decisions here that that lay ahead for the Canadians calling a Fowler maybe Rhinebacker. Does it happen this month? Does that make sense or is it more likely at the end of the season when the Canadians play off spa JP is a little bit more certain than it is today?

7:15Yeah, that's a really interesting one. Listen, I would think that it would be more likely to see Fowler under the circumstances right now, but I could certainly see both being reasonable. And if the intention is to get make sure that you've got some backup there, then I think the sooner the better. You know, as the season progresses, we all notice the game only gets faster and then it goes to a breakneck pace when it reaches the playoffs. So I would think if you want to get some guys in, then get them in while you know the spotlight is it's hot, but it's not white hot. I think for Fowler, as I said, it's an easier, it's an easier ask there because things are not going well in net. I think Rhinebacker where he sits is maybe a little easier in the sense that, you know, there are two guys. There's that third pair that seems to have a question mark beside it. So might be easier for him to slide in there. The other thing I would say though, Sean, is that you know, you bring up Fowler, you bring up Rhinebacker. Well, we've seen X from 10 times this year. I think he's still a possibility and and Cockett has got 140 NHL games under his belt as well. So, you know, for as far as exciting and as important as Fowler is going to be down the road and Rhinebacker though has had numerous setbacks with injuries.

8:31You got to think that there's at least a couple of other guys there who could help out in the short term. What about that, you know, in terms of the potential of a call up? Does it make sense now the timing, whether you want to talk about Rhinebacker as an option or Jacob Fowler as an option? Is the timing this month is the timing more in your opinion, Connor skew towards the month of April when maybe the playoff spot is a little bit more confident? You know, this week feels really important when it comes to evaluating those questions, but I'd say that to my instinct when I hear that David Rhinebacker is in his best stretch of play so far as a professional in North America, the answer to me is not to call this guy up. It's let him cook. And if you get gets into a necessity type situation, maybe, but I just I like what's happening right now. That's not something that I really want to mess with. And it's interesting what JP brings up about Cackenon, you know, this guy, the bar is not high. You know, nobody's asked him to come in and put up a 920 save percentage like you could, if you can give a Canadians a 900, that is a massive upgrade on what they've gotten from Sam Montenbo, even an 890, even an 885, like an 880 would be better than what they've gotten so far.

9:49And when it comes to Fowler, I mean, I just I'm reluctant to call him up. I expect we will see him with the Canadians again between now and the end of the season, but I'd love to see him get that weight back to get some more games under his belt before that happens. It's nice that they've got some insurance policies in place. There's Conor McKenna with JP O'Connor. Welcome to the quiz on this Tuesday brought to you by Ajgrigwar Shaman and he said lots of hockey talk left on the show. We're going to touch base with Mark Dene before that Conor and I are going to get in on a helping of Habs breakfast, maybe a second helping depending on how hungry are we are today. We'll talk about the speculation around Matthew Nies and no doubt we'll touch on that later in the show with NHL.com Mike Zeissberger. He joins us in the final hour of the program. You know, we were talking yesterday, Conor and I about superstars around the Canadians and I asked them two point blank questions. Cole Coffield on pace for 49 goals this season superstar player Conor said you're going to drop close to 50 if not a 50 burger at superstar level. Nick Suzuki on pace for like 98 99 points.

10:51Again, superstar potential. You drop 100. You drop that type of number in the season. We're staring down the barrel of another superstar on the Montreal Canadians. What about this guy? The meat off over on the right side, left handed shot and goes to the front of that center point. Hudson. Over to Sevkowski shoots and scores. One timer from the top of the circles. It's three three. What do you see in this big man? What do you see here, Conor? I mean, you guys got 23 goals. Power forward move Saturday night against the L.A. Kings. Reunited top top line dominance again. He's got seven points now since he returned from an outstanding Olympic contribution for his national team. I mean, what do we see when you watch him play in the player he's turning into? What are you seeing here? I mean, I think I see the same thing that everyone sees and that is superstar potential. And if he can get consistent, then the sky's the limit. Yeah. Not there yet. It's it's a lot like we talked about Nick Suzuki three, four years ago. It's a wow. I mean, look what this guy can do when he's on.

11:54And if he can do it consistently, if he can find that consistency, that's the difference between good players and great players is the ability to do it every night. The ability to not disappear for sometimes two, three games at a time, which we still I think sometimes see it's a bit harsh to say disappear, but to be less of a factor to be less noticeable in a positive way. When you find that consistency, that's that's what defines the great ones. He's only 21 years old, Sean. He's only 21 years old. He's got a wealth of experience under his belt. It appears that the Canadians did a phenomenal job of picking this guy, of bringing this guy along the way that they did. Very difficult to second guess really anything that's happened. Yeah, all he's got to do is get a little bit more consistent and who knows what this guy could be capable of. I remember Mitch Gallow was on the show with Campbell yesterday talking about Slavkowski. And he was right to point out it was what four, five, six months ago, we were talking about Logan Cooley. Look at Logan Cooley. Look what he's doing. You know in the hypothetical conversation of the redraft, right?

12:55With Yorislavkowski going one overall, JP, I mean, you watch this guy on the regular. When you watch Yorislavkowski in the season that he's having is he continues to build year after year. Are you watching a dominant star in the making? Well, you know, I don't want to get into semantics with you here. But you know, you talk about, you talk about superstars and stars and things like that. You know, I think there's certain players, certain guys that we all know were reserved to that superstar class. So I don't know if Slavkowski is there nor will he ever be there. But what I do see is I see a physically dominant player in the making. And let me turn it back on you guys. If I were to say Brady could chuck, is he a star in your books? Yes. Yes. For both of you. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't say superstar. No, star player. But he's a star. Yeah. I think I agree with you guys. Like I think if you're dominant, I think if you can be a dominant player, for me, I put that in the star category. Right? How can you be dominant and not be a star? Sure. Fair enough. So at 21, Brady could chuck hit 30 goals for the first time and he hasn't looked back.

13:59And as this team's gotten better, he's taken on more of a roll. You know, he's stretched his wings a little bit. His evolution, I think, has been really impressive. Now, I don't think that Slavkowski is nearly as brazen as Kachuck is. And I don't think the Habs needed me. But let's not forget that Kachuck is who Slavkowski has recently as four nations last year when they came back, told everybody that he, you know, he wanted to kind of model his game after not exactly like it, not a carbon copy, but like it. And if that guy is a star, then I think that what we've seen from Slavkowski suggests that at, you know, on pace for 29, on pace for 30 right now, that he's very much at that point where he could take yet another step forward and become a star. There's JP O'Connor with us on the three star quiz with Connor McKenna. I'm Sean star. Don't forget Mark the need just after eat 30 this morning. As we get set and dive deeper on a game day, it's Habs and Leafs at seven Montreal right back at it in our nation's capital tomorrow night. The dreaded seven 30 puck drop on Wednesday, wrapping up the three star quiz this way.

14:59You know, we're talking a lot about, you know, whether JP brings up Brady Kachuck. We're talking about your ice, Slavkowski talking about Nick Suzuki. And what are all these guys have in common? They were all a respective members of their country's national team at the recent Winter Olympic Games in Milano. And now as we look forward, the Canadians have 20 games left before they reach and hopefully reach the playoffs. And I think they will. JP, can the Stanley Cup playoffs be better than the Olympic tournament? Ooh, the answer there is for me is easy. It's no, but it's conditional for a couple of reasons. So you're playing for country and not playing for city. So everybody's included. And you've got to wait like Tom Petty said it best, right? And waiting is the hardest part. You've got to wait an eternity for the Olympics to get there. So everybody's wrapped up when it does get there. But when it comes around, it's compressed. So in blink of an eye, you miss it. And I think with the Olympics, there's those transcendent moments.

16:01You know, we still talk about late plus and we still talk about Salt Lake City. Vancouver or even Milan for our, you know, for our pals to the south. But the condition, of course, is that you're asking a Canadian. So, you know, or you got to have somebody from Minnesota or from Helsinki or from Stockholm. If you're from Latvia or Denmark and you're getting waxed every game, then I think the Stanley Cup playoffs could absolutely be a better option for you. Connor, how do you feel about that? The national tournament representing the pride of your country, hopefully having a medal draped around your neck when it's all said and done. Can the Stanley Cup playoffs be better than the Olympic tournament? I, you know, I'd say if you're a Colorado avalanche fan, your Dallas Stars fan, expectations. Tampa Bay Lightning fan, Buffalo Sabers fan this year. Yeah. It would be an interesting question to ask to the, to a Sabers fan to compare. If the Sabers go on a run, compare that feeling to what it was like to watch the Americans go win the gold medal.

17:04But I think, I like what J.P. is saying there about the, the time, the anticipation. In this case, the Olympics remember how long it had been since NHL players had participated in the Olympics. So it was like, it was particularly accentuated this time. Yeah. But the other part of it is just the Stanley Cup playoffs going on for as long as they do. You know, I mean, two weeks versus two months. And that can be both a good thing and a bad thing. I mean, you got to, you got so much good hockey in such a short period of time. Stanley Cup playoffs much more drawn out, but I don't know, man, watching the Canadians win playoff rounds, go on a run. Yeah. The feeling in the city, all of that stuff, it's, it's, and it's weird because the last time we really saw it was in the pandemic. And so it was watered down with no, no fans or few fans in the building. And life was just kind of watered down in general then. So, but man, I think back to beating the capitals, beating the penguins and going to the conference finals,

18:04going to the conference final that year against the, the Rangers and the heartbreak there, the buzz in the city. It's just, they're just different. I don't know if it's fighting. I don't know if it's apples and oranges, but it's different. Yeah. They're both great though. They are. I know. Because the height is great around Canada's metal games and obviously the Sunday morning gold medal showdown against the United States. One good thing about the Stanley Cup playoffs, you don't have to watch games at 8 a.m. No, no. And nice to see the NHL saying. I mean, the numbers are saying the league got a nice little bump post Olympics more people tuning in, whether they stay to be determined, right? But no doubt they got a nice little bump from that. So if they watched that Tampa Buffalo game on Sunday. Hey, now I made some fans for life there. I got a feeling JP like that one, huh? Oh, my goodness. What a tilt that was. Oh boy, oh boy. Can't wait. Can't wait. JP, thanks so much for pinch hitting today. We appreciate it, brother. You got it. Appreciate it, guys. I'm good. Always great to check in with JP O'Connor. Coming up next here on the morning show. What's Alec Breggman's secret talent?

19:04Don't say cheating. No, another secret talent. It's not a secret. The cheating's not a secret, right? Right. The more on that, coming up during you got to hear it next on the morning show. Thank you, Connor. Ash Gregor, Ash Shombard and Esan, proud sponsor of the three star quiz each and every Tuesday. You can be a superstar by taking your business to Ash Gregor, Ash Shombard and Esan. They are Quebec's number one Esan dealership. And they've got ongoing specials that change every month. You can browse their inventory, new or used at Shombard and Esan.com where you can get pre-qualified. So you can get that hassle out of the way. So you know exactly when you walk through the front door at 4299 out of 440 Western Laval and you begin the process of buying your next dream, Ash Gregor, Shombard and Esan. You know exactly what your budget is. How much of a vehicle you're willing to get into. And no one's going to pressure you to go above that. You know, like when you're buying a house, sometimes they give you the price point. But they show you one that's maybe a little bit more expensive than when you were willing to maybe look at. Not the case at Ash Gregor, Shombard and Esan with... And I know it feels and it has felt like spring.

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