BLACKHAWKS POSTGAME: Chicago's First Line BUZZING Isn't Enough to Overcome CBJ | CHGO Blackhawks

0:00Welcome into the CHCO Blackhawks post game podcast presented by Bet365. Download the Bet365 app, use our code CHCO365 when you sign up whatever the moment. It's never ordinary, it bet365. I just want to change up the way I say it. I feel like I say it the same way every show. I didn't like it. All right, well, go back to the other one. I'm just going to leave. Greg Boyson is here rocking. And I love that shirt, dude. That's one of my favorite shirts. It's like the Darth Vader country in Western shirt. It's really good. Just don't put the helmet on like Patrick. And we'll be fine. I have integrity. What is the, what is the opposite of a bum slayer?

1:00The opposite of like when you are slayed by bumps. You, you're bum slayed. Bum slay. You're the bum slay. Yes, this seems to be, we talked about last night how, you know, the Sydney Crosby doesn't have that much success against the Hawks. And that's true. Right, why he doesn't have to do anything just in Brazil and just in Brazil. I counter do it. Yeah, against the Hawks and no disrespect to the great Charlie Coil. Mr. Innocent by Charlie Coil. Come on. All 72 years old of Charlie. I will never forget nor forgive Charlie Coil for that nonsense he did way back in a different era when he played for the Minnesota wild. Um, why I call him the innocent bystander because you remember that play in that playoff series with Duncan Keith. Oh, yeah, yes. And I think you got suspended for a game. Yeah. But like they always like, oh my God, what a vicious slash. But when you see the replay, he coils slash Keith like five times going up the ice.

2:00He finally turned around and had enough of his crap. Charlie Coil is such a perfect Minnesota wild player. It's insane and Boston. That's why he played for both of them. And Blue Jacket apparently. I guess so. The first hat trick. Of the month of January. That's more than one a day NHL record. They broke it last night. Uh, the NHL did. Taj Thompson had it last night. And I think it's also. Not only the um. Thirty first. Hat trick in the NHL this month. I believe they've also had the most hat tricks by the fence men in a month. I think they've had like six. Defensive and that's great things like two of them. Orlers had hat tricks from defense when I'm back to back nights. Um, when we started in Chicago, get one of those. Can they get three goals as a team? I'm a greedy. I'll settle for three goals. That would be one. A team hat trick.

3:00That's something she forgot. That would be outstanding. Look, sarcasm and jokes aside. Uh, this was another frustrating game because it took the Hawks. I would say 35 minutes to wake up and start playing. And yes, they travel from Pittsburgh yesterday. And I don't understand, right? But I think I want to hear it. I would have expected. You have one of your worst games of the season last night. From top to bottom, especially in terms of effort. You would think that this team would be chomping at the bit to get back on the ice and correct that. Especially when your coach basically calls you out. Yes. And says, yeah, they sucked. And rightfully so. He was pretty didn't sugarcoat anything. He was just like, yeah, did they even compete? You would think you would have come out in that first period and just start running over people. And instead, they were getting run over. They were tentative. They were slow. They had no answer for the vaunted Columbus Bluejack. It's forecheck. They were all over them.

4:01They have not made life difficult in the defensive zone for anybody in weeks. They just sit there and take it. They don't do anything to get the puck out of the zone. And then when they get down to the other end, when they finally do get the puck, it's one and done because they can't complete a pass or they can't do the forecheck. I mean, they should know what a good forecheck looks like. They saw it all might against them. They don't do the same thing. Yeah. And I think part of this is because the team is playing as poorly as they're playing, you're seeing a lot of tentativeness from guys. And a lot of guys worried to make mistakes. And that is death. That is death. Because, look, it's guys who, a lot of guys who have played pretty well throughout the year that are making these tentative plays. Like I saw it from Louis Crevier. I saw it from William McCayev tonight, where he was could have, even in a third period, there's an opportunity for him to put his damn head down, protect the puck and drive the net. And he's just going to peel back, drop it to the point. And it ends up getting turned over.

5:03This team is lacking in confidence right now. And they need some sort of one of those games where everything goes in for them. They got the sharks on Monday. You know what I mean? I'm already dreading. I'm having nightmares of it. Right. It's toasting chat after that. Yeah. Six nothing lost. But they need to do something to get themselves out of the end. It's up to no one but them. Right. Yes. There were a handful of guys tonight. I saw trying to do that. I think Counter-Badard was absolutely on fire today trying to do everything he could to make something happen for this team. He had two points obviously. Didn't have a ton of shot at times, but he was distributing a lot, creating really good chances. Had an opportunity to tie the game late and just put it over the net. Tough shot. Of course. But you want to start teaming him, convert on some of these things. He's going to be in a really good shape. I like to see Frank Nayser finish the opportunity calmly.

6:04Pull. You know, takes the puck, handles it, puts it up top shelf. He ended the game with four shots on goal and seven shot attempts. That's with the goal. That's the kind of game you want to see from Frank Nayser. I think that top line was really good. And I really like Sam Renzell's game. Returning to the lineup after being called up from Rockford today. He led defensive in an ice time with 20 to 18 had three shots on goal, four shot attempts and had four block shots. Sam Renzell was involved in this game. He looked confident with the puck. Aside from that. I think slaggered made some nice plays. He played eight minutes. Right? Like he wasn't an aggressive checker. But other than that, man, I just I see a team that just looks defeated right now. Well, this is a team that. Is in dire need of the Olympic break to get here. But unfortunately, they've gone on the Olympic break about a week too early. You know, they still got two more games to go after tonight before they can check out and get the cancun for a few days and work on their son tans.

7:06Yeah, it will make me care about there. David needs some work. They've checked out like they're just they're they're ready for that Olympic break. And it just seems that these last two games has been, you know, a team that just can't wait. To get to that break. And it's not just the rookies. It's not just the kids. We're seeing it from the veterans. I do want to add to the players that had good games. I thought Ryan Denado played real well tonight. Yeah, I would say Denado has but I think he's been better the last couple games. Yeah, he made that real nice play. To get the breakaway and then. Yeah, just missed it. Beat him on glove side, but just hit the post. I thought he was effective tonight. Here's one thing. I'm tired of seeing. And that's Andre Berkowski playing top six minutes. I'm done. I'm done. There was no excuse for that play tonight. None. If that's a if that's a rookie in his first year, I'm still upset at that play. That's a play you shouldn't make in in might hockey.

8:07Like it's awful. I've got it right here. If we want to talk about it. Chloe, can you pull the iPad up? Are we equipped to do that? Here's a thing. Why is it bad? Why is Andre Berkowski getting top six minutes? Well, all over more is centering land and slaggered and Sam Wafferty. That is ridiculous. I think that is that is. Flashal wanting him to play center. Fine. He thinks all the more. However, more center. The second line would green and terrifying and what Andre Berkowski on the moon. Oh, but. I'm down for that. All right. Let's take a look at this play. This is kind of an unofficial breakdown. We can kind of talk about as we go here. Here's Berkowski right here. See him. All right. He's going to get the puck. And this was very clean. Is this before after he's already made a turnover? No, this is the first time. Okay. All right. So he gets the puck. It's a little bit behind him. But you see in front of him, he's got nothing but nothing but ice. But he tries to get cute.

9:08He gives a pass here to Ryan Green, who is covered. See this guy right here. He is covering Ryan Green. He's going to poke the puck away. All right. Nothing much comes of that. Connor Murphy goes and gets it. Come on Murphy. He's got it behind the net right here. There's Murphy. Here's Berkowski. Murphy's going to swing it over here to Berkowski, which is a smart play. There he is. Look. Here comes Mack Rizlik. He's going to supply some puck support here. Right there looking. I'll do the Madden Vision cone again. I love the Madden cone. There's Grizzlyk. Real easy play, right? Nice outlet pass. Get the puck going the other way. Completely misses. Mack Rizlik stick. Way out of reach. And there he is. The vaunted. Yarmere coil. He's got. He's got. Charlie Nealey. And he is going to score right there. And the puck is somewhere in this area here. Two turnovers in the...

10:08Let's see. I'm going to go back to the first frame. So 1838. That first one. In 10 seconds. Two turnovers in 10 seconds. For Monterey Berkowski. And didn't miss a shift. I would have stable his ass to the bench after that play. Well, look. This is... This is something that... Look. And we talked about it at length last night. You were in here. But we talked about it at length. That... Hey. It's probably time for Artem Lefcianov to either go to Rockford, or sit. We said it very clearly, very distinctly last night. It's obvious. So I'm not doing the comparison game. But the only players on this team that seem to have and suffer a consequence are the young players. Right? Sure. Ryan Tennato has gone from first to fourth line. Berkowski has finally moved down. But he got right back up to the second line tonight. Move down for one game. Colton Doc. Didn't have a great game last night. But he's immediately out of the line up. If you want to start sending the message of...

11:10Expectations for everyone. The same rules apply to everyone. He's got to sit a game. I'm sorry. And maybe he needs it. I am... Like, I am trying to... Give him some grace. He's got a month old baby. He's coming off a concussion. All the stuff is true. It is. But it doesn't mean... But enough is enough. I know you should be able to... But here's what I'm saying. The point being is... If you are just overwhelmed. The things at home are too crazy. You're not sleeping. Your wife's sick or unhappy or whatever it might be. Tell the coach, hey, I need to take like a couple days here. Let's make up an injury. Let's make up a scratch. I don't even care. Just healthy scratch me. I need to take a breather here. Because I don't have it. He does not have it right now. He's a liability. Everything... Nothing he's doing is working. That play illustrates it perfectly where Matt Grizzlyk, a veteran NHL defenseman, sees a guy, counter Murphy makes a nice play, fights off a check,

12:12from Berkowski's first turnover, gets it back to him along the boards. He is unguarded. And Grizzlyk is right there to bail him out and say, hey, I'm heading up. Just put it right on my tape. No. Put the three feet in front of him. Grizzlyk almost has to dive for it, and Charlie Coil scores a second later. Like, it's just... There's too much evidence right now of Andre Berkowski not having it. And he's got a set. You can't have different consequences for different players. That's not fair. And players start to feel that. And I would rather see Oliver Moore get those minutes because he matters. He's going to be here when this team is good. And Andre Berkowski isn't. So, I don't care if he gets... His feelings hurt that he's not playing. It doesn't matter. He's not part of the future of this organization. So, I'm done. Move on. You know, spend the Olympic break trying to find a team that wants them. Eat half his contract. I know he's got another year in his contract.

13:13If he had just this year, it'd probably be a lot of user removal guy like that. Yeah. Figure out a way. Eat half of it. Throw in, you know, a pick for someone to take it. It's not working. Play 10-47 today. That's 10-2-7 too much. I'm not... I'm not there yet with him. I'm... I'm not ready. Because I think... If you were to do that right now, if you were just like, take him for whatever, we're eating half a salary, I think you are... That is bad asset management. He is still your third leading scorer. He has had a period of the season where he's looked really good and it's had good chemistry with Conor Bedard. He's one of the few guys that can carry the puck into the zone on the power play. We've seen it. He hasn't been lately. Join the club. So I don't think it would be great... I don't know. I think it would be kind of... It's not Kyle Davidson's style to do that. Sure, but... But if someone comes calling... I don't know what's calling. And you know...

14:13You're gonna have to... Oh yeah, sure. You can make some calls. In terms of like, give me a six-round pick and will you have a salary? I don't think that's... I mean... I don't think that's why... If you want Conor Murphy, you can make a hundred perckoski too. Um... I don't know. I'm just... To me, it's... Just not... There's no future here for him. He's not a part of... He's a placeholder. And I'm done with the placeholders. I know. I heard that. And like... Yeah, sure. Did he have a nice run to start the season? Yeah. Did he benefit a lot from Conor Bedard playing like an MVP for six weeks? Yes, he did. Of course. Has he not been the same player since he got hit in the head against Seattle? No, he hasn't. And that's understandable. But... Enough is enough. Like... There's no sign of him returning to that player we saw early in the year. And until he at least has a sign that he's going to be that guy, I don't want him playing on the top six. Put him on the fourth line. Fine. It would not show us... He shouldn't have swapped Oliver Moore

15:15and Andre Burkowski after that play. You could have put more down the middle and put green back on the wing. He could play both. And then you got two guys that could take face-offs on that line. And you put more and green with table. That would have been a nice little line. But instead, Oliver Moore's got to play eight minutes with Sam Laffrey and Landon Slagger. What the hell is he going to do on that? Yeah. I don't know. And Oliver Moore is a first-round pick looking to be like a top-9 fixture for this team going forward. He needs to be playing with better players. I don't care about Andre Burkowski's time. I don't care about any of that, because he doesn't matter. He does not matter to the future of this team. I agree with you. I just think it'd be dumb asset management to just dump him when he's playing his worst. Look, I sit... I don't think it's going to be better. Sit him until the Olympic break is over. If he's truly dealing with concussion symptoms or whatever's happening at home or whatever it might be, fine. And then if he comes back and he's asked

16:15as soon as the season resumes or he looks bad at practice, then you start talking about it at the trade deadline and start taking calls and maybe you got to eat half of it. But I also feel like he's probably got more trade value at the draft in the off season. Or you may be after-freed and see when teams are saying, there's no one available. We need scoring. How about Andre Burkowski? He's relatively affordable. He's only got one near your left on his deal. I think he becomes a more... It's not Kyle Davidson's style to say, if this veteran he's gone, he'll never do that. But I do want to say... Do you remember TJ Brody last year? That's... TJ Brody's different. TJ Brody never showed anything on this team. At all. Andre Burkowski, the first two-thirds of the season was effective. I don't know about two-thirds, but he was effective. Sure, he was more effective than Brody was, but he's done this. He's told the veteran to stay home and then buy him out. Brody was still around.

17:15He was still at practice. It's time to break. We got to hit the break. So I didn't start the clock. I'm in poor discipline. Hey, do us a favor. Hit that like button for us. Make sure you are subscribed to our YouTube page as well. We're going to be back in two minutes. We're going to finish up some thoughts on the game. We've got to get to Art. I'm left and off too. Before we hear from Mario, we have a video from Conor Bedard, a video from San Lorenzo. We're going to get to all of it. But we've got to do our game day Men's Health Game at Puck and nominees. I think these are pretty obvious. My thoughts Greg and feel free to disagree. We're Conor Bedard, Frank Nazar and San Lorenzo. Yeah, cool. All right. There's our three nominees. Better Father, Better Husband, Better Man. Go to Game Day Men's Health. Visit Game Day CHGO to find locations closest to you. Here's the break, starring me out of breath from running here from the United Center. What if you can have reliable and intelligent Wi-Fi? And what if you could keep it at the same price for five years? That is the Xfinity five-year

18:16price guarantee. Imagine Wi-Fi that makes everything in your home work together. It finds and fixes problems before you even know they exist. Like super intelligent Wi-Fi with a sixth sense. And that lets you stream the game. Even when the whole family is online, all of your devices are working in perfect harmony for five whole years. And the best part is, there's no annual contracts. There's no hidden fees. And you get Xfinity's best equipment included. Take it from me. A lot can change in five years. But your Wi-Fi should stay reliable and the price should stay put. So do yourself a favor. Lock in your price and unlock the possibilities with Xfinity. You can learn more about the Xfinity five-year price guarantee at Xfinity.com. Xfinity. Imagine that. This is available on select plans only and limitations apply. And whether it's on the field or in your financial life, the best teams win by delivering excellence at every level at Old National Bank. They believe every play matters

19:16from everyday checking to long-term planning. And commercial banking. Their team is here to build momentum and help you move the ball forward. It all starts with the plan tailored for you by professionals you trust. From simple tasks to bigger financial moments, you can count on them to coordinate your needs with steady, knowledgeable guidance that brings clarity and confidence to every step. It's a partnership designed to help you feel supported. Not just today, but well into the future as well. So whether you're celebrating a win, rebuilding after a tough loss or gearing up for whatever comes next, Old National has your back with tools, insights, and an expert crew that's always in your corner. I can speak from experience. I am an Old National customer. Old National Bank. Member FDIC were relationships and results matter. All right, we're back on CH-Shield Blackhawks. Let's hear from Conor Bedard, who spoke very briefly after the game. Here he is, starring Tab of Bamford

20:16with his recorder. A bit of a broken record for you. How do you get out of it? Uh, yeah, just kind of clean things up a bit. Um, you know, it's, uh, hard week. So, uh, it's fair always. So, thank you, Frank, and Tyler had pretty good chemistry tonight. Did it feel like you guys kind of had that right from the jump? Yeah, I think, uh, it's a game, uh, we got better and better. Um, you know, we see a couple goals and visual energy and, um, confidence. So, uh, probably got some luck. Um, but we'll also hope we build up that. It was a better effort than last night. Uh, yeah, definitely, but better especially after the first. Um, we didn't have that kind of period that we did last night. We're going to give up, uh, four or five, but out of the day, uh, results are the same. You feel nice for Frank to get away after all he's been through. Yeah? Yeah, it's always nice to score. So, uh, obviously, I'm going to get, the first one, come back in the dream, um,

21:16get that off your back, and it's nice. Are you feeling better than you did when you came back? Uh, yeah. Yeah. Uh, the end of the game, I guess. Yeah. What's the feeling with the power plant that's been a while since you guys scored? Uh, what do you expect, uh, frustrating? So, uh, is that a chance to open that towards the end still? Okay, that ended oddly. Would like to hear that response, but that's okay. Um, that's kind of bit hard. Thanks to Mario for sending in. He'll join us for an united center, uh, in a little bit. Obviously quite frustrated, and I think he feels probably responsible for this loss because of missing that shot, uh, late in the third period, he was one of the few Hawks doing anything right to the entire night. So, I'm not really, uh, mad counterpart. Here's a look at the, uh, the miss shot. Um, and it is right there, circled in red, uh, boy. He's the best hand-drawn circle I've seen in a long time. That's pretty good.

22:16At least 10 minutes. That's because I didn't hand-drawn it. Oh, I stole it. I'm trying to punch the tires over. I should have taken credit for it. I don't know why I didn't. Thank you. Yeah. Last time I tried to help you. Yeah. He's, he's just not, you know, it can't. I hope that he's not wearing the weight of all of this. And look, have there been some games since he came back where he should have been better? Yes. But more often than not, he is the best player on the ice for the Hawks. Yeah. He was great, uh, in the Minnesota game. Um, that line looked real dangerous when they had table up there with Nazar. Uh, they just couldn't get one buried and then, uh, you know, everybody looked, like, cheeks last night to steal your term. Um, tonight, they were a sloppy cheeks. Um, tonight, they, uh, it took them to about midway through the second period to the,

23:16and then they took over it. Honestly, I think the Black Hawks got momentum after that lousy challenge by Jeff Blaschell for the goal of the interference of the ball. Once they killed that penalty, they started playing better. Yeah. Um, so, you know, that, you know, I still don't understand why they challenge that. I guess when you have the number one PK unit in the league, you can be a little more, uh, lenient with your challenges. But there was no goalie interference. I don't know what goalie interference is. No, that was, is anymore. But I know there was hint in there. Yeah, I mean, they're usually, the Hawks video team is usually pretty good to play. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was talking about it on Twitter. And someone responded to me and I thought, it's not a zero percent chance that Jeff Blaschell said, we are really on our heels. Let's go do the one thing we do well and kill a penalty. It's going to get some momentum. It's like 40 chess. When you have the

24:16number one PK, I mean, Granity, like a goal in the first period, but so was their first goal they've gone up in like six or seven games. They played better after killing that penalty. The last seven or eight minutes of the second period, they looked a lot better mainly because the Bedard line took over. And they got the goal towards the end of the period. And they just, but the third period they, you know, they had that line produced a couple of rushes early, but it was just that line. Nobody else was really doing anything. And you've got to have more than just counterpart in Frank Nasar's line producing chances. Yes. So when you look at the, when you look at the numbers from, from natural stat trick, that was the only line that, that really did anything. But their overall numbers weren't very good because they were getting hemmed in their own zone a lot in the first half of the game. Right. And they finished, you know, they finished with 17 shot attempts while the rest of the team had 20. Yeah. That's not good enough

25:18for the rest of the team. The Diggins line was over 50%. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you're right. It's 17 to 20 versus the entire team. That's not going to get it done. You're going to lose most games when, when half of your shot attempts come from one line. Yeah. I had six scoring chances. The rest of the team had five. That's not good enough. Well, we're dead. Mario was standing by. We're going to get to him in a little bit. But Jeff Flashle spoke before the game and shared his thoughts on Arnold Love Show. I know we're going to get into this conversation with Mario. Next, we want you guys to hear this if you missed it. Just a couple minutes here. Just under three minutes. Jeff Flashle explaining the decision to rest to Arnold Love Show and call up Sam Renzo. With the Renzo call up, what was the thought process there? Honestly, I probably had more to do. Kind of given already a break here. I'm going to kind of focus on some specific things within his game.

26:18We've, you know, worked with Brian Kane and Anders Ornson. Kind of some different specific areas that we want that work on. You know, rather than send him down and just play more games, I don't think that's really what he needs. I think what he needs is just a chance to kind of reset some foundational things. It's a very, really hard league. And he's going to be a really good player. And he's done lots of good stuff for us. But we just felt like he was kind of a time where you need a little bit of a break. You could really focus on those things. And so that opened up an opportunity for Sam to come up with. Does it do you foresee him playing again before the Olympics? Well, well, you know, this is a day by day league. So I don't want to comment too much on that. We'll see how that goes. Things change fast in this league. But right now that was our plan and he had a great session today. I think I'll have another couple sessions here and then we'll go from there. What's encouraging you over this? I guess 50 games with him and just that he can be the defense when you guys envision. There's no doubt. And, you know, he's not showing.

27:18He's gotten better at things 100%. And he's a really, really, you know, he's almost like a freak out in terms of how strong he is. You know, he's just, he's got a lot to learn. It's just the process. And it's going to, that's not, you know, that's true of all of the young players. But I think him in specifics. You know, he's probably, he's an instinct player that's got to kind of learn how to play within that structure. And, but he's doing it. It's, he's definitely, when we've talked to him, well, things he's gotten better at it. That's a reality of it. So, you know, I, I think, you know, you just want to continue to see progress. And I've seen that progress. And certainly those are going to be moments to step back. You know, one of the things that him and I talked about was kind of attacking the game offensively. And he's probably, you know, that's probably teetered too far. You know, and now he's given up some things defensively that now we got to kind of refocus it and make sure that we're super sound offensively and learn how to produce that offense with that balance. But that balance isn't easy. And that balance takes guys a long time. And, you know, we'll continue to work with it. For life's enough. What are some of the

28:18foundational things you want to understand? Like for me, you know, it's it's, it's a puck play. Just again, he's a guy who is really, really, really strong. So just learning how to absorb contact and take that extra split second to make the right play. You know, when you, when you've got that kind of strength, I think the puck should always be delivered in the right spot. That right spot might just be a punt, but still never out of panic. And then just need a learning to continue to move his feet with the puck and do that. I think some just defensive kind of fundamentals with footwork and body position and then continue to work on that shooting technique. So we're trying to narrow the focus to three different three areas that are fairly specific and we'll go to work at them. It's interesting that they didn't just send them down. But I appreciate the fact that they have a very specific few things they really want to focus on with him. They talked last week about, excuse me, the making a

29:18shot more deceptive and working on the, I guess the technique of the shot, you know, the mechanics of the shot. Look, we knew when he was drafted that he was a raw player that he was going to take some development. But, you know, we, again, we said yesterday, it's clearly time for him to take a breather. And with three games left before the Olympic break, I guess there's just let them sit those three and let them reset during a break. Take a breath, take a breather and get him ready to go when the breaks over. So I don't know. We'll see. I hope when they come back and they've got all this time to practice while the Olympics are happening because they do that they can get a lot of these young guys squared away getting kind of back focused. Yeah, I like what he said. And I agree with, you know, your guys' assessment last night that last night was

30:18rock bottom for for already. It was time. It was just one of those nights where, you know, the snowball just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger was rolling down hill and there was just no saving him. Disaster was finding him around every corner. So I like how he said, like, eh, playing more games isn't his problem. He needs to kind of watch. He needs to get in the video room. He needs to have some one-on-one time. And, you know, undersourcing is you know, he's worked really well with young defensemen. A lot of these young defensemen that have come up through the system have worked with him. So he's the right guy for the job. You know, he's a he's a more of a skills coach, you know, then a head coach. So I like what he said. I think it's the right call. I wouldn't be surprised if we get, you know, back to the 7-11 here, especially for me. Yeah. I mean, we don't know how long Felino's going to be out. It doesn't sound super serious. But I'd be surprised if he plays before the break.

31:18There's no point. So, you know, you know, maybe go back to 7-11. So you get Grinzel and Lebschenoff out there and you can pick and choose your spots to, you know, build up Lebschenoff's confidence. And he said it. They wanted him to be more aggressive offensively. And then they're like, yeah, enough that aggressive. Yeah. But that's again, a young player, especially defense man. He's got to go through those growing pains. And you see the talent there. You see the skill. And, you know, even as Blasio said, he's going to be a really good player in this. But this is the time where you. You know, tug on the leash a little bit to sit him down and retrain him. If you miss the pad. So to speak, I'm putting, I'm potty training a puppy at the end of the season. I see that. Yeah. Good job. So, yeah, it's, you know, the Olympic break will do this team well. I'm not a big fan. I'm sure most teams aren't big fans of stopping for three weeks in the middle of the

32:18season. But with this team full of so many guys who have not played a full NHL season. And this season has been really weird and grindy with all especially lately with all these. Top on a young team, especially with all these back to back and three and four they've had recently. So this three week break is, is going to be big for them. A positive for sure. And, but you got two more games before you hit the break. So finish sharp. Yeah. Good opportunity Monday with the sharks coming in. All right. We are going to hit the break zone. Mario was standing by. We'll talk to you in two minutes on. See it's shield black box. Can you believe we're already a month into 2026? That doesn't mean you should stop trying to hit your protein goals. Heal is your solution for high protein routine. Support. Take advantage. The black edition ready to drink. It is a meal in a bottle. You miss breakfast. Take it with you. Post workout. Pound one of these things. You're too busy for a full meal. There's where you go.

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34:18is here for. And for the big game, how about the field goal party pack? 20 traditional wings. 20 bonus wings. Two orders of fries or tots and four ranch or bread. What's everybody else going to eat? Cheer on your favorite teams from any of their 11 Chicago land Hooters location. I am. I love the Oklahoma one because that's where I'm from. Or one park. Melrose Park. O'Hare. Schomburg. Well Street. Joliet. Downers Grove. Countryside. Aurora. Wherever you are, there is Hooters. Check them out at originalhooters.com. All right. We are back on CHCO Blackhawks and Mario is standing by at Hooters. He was in there in the locker room and he was there when Jeff that was spoke after the game. Before we get to today's game, I want to just give you the floor a little bit for the left shot situation. Greg and I got to talk about it a little bit. So I want to give you a chance to do that too. Say that again. You were garbled. Talk about lotion of. Oh,

35:19item lotion of. It was a cold day in Belarus when he was born back in the game. Yeah. I think we all saw the the writing on the wall in last game that it was, I mean, it was obviously time for some sort of change to his routine. And I think it makes sense that this isn't a assignment to back to Rockford for for left and off because of Blackhawks. Jeff Blaschle seems very he leans into the trial by fire. Assessment of some of these young guys. And I think with love Shinov like he, he think that I believe he thinks that's the best course of action. So sending him down kind of just throws him down into Rockford and just says, oh, play your way out of it. But I think the way he's assessing it is that if you stay in Chicago and you stay with these coaches and you guys had mentioned, you know the work you've been doing with.

36:19The skills coach Brian Keane to kind of work on his shot. Like they have a plan for him. So they want to stick to the plan that they have for him to work things out here in Chicago. And it's not necessarily play your way out of it through playing 25 minutes a night down at Rockford. It's kind of getting back to better habits, better fundamentals. And I think that those things were, I think, you know, you watch last couple of games from Lebshin off those things that were starting to slip. So it makes sense to give him some time to do a reset and, you know, you also get Sam Brinzelbeck up here who, you know, he hasn't been lighting up Rockford, but he had been doing the things that they had asked him to do to work on his game and kind of clean up some of the things that we were seeing go wrong in Chicago and towards the end of his tent here and, you know, tonight, first game back. It was pretty good.

37:19It was a little bit more conservative, but it was less mistakes than we were seeing from Brinzel when he was last here in Chicago. So that's positive stuff for it, at least for his first game back. Yeah, let all defensemen in ice time today, Sam Brinzelbeck. But I think it should be highlighted and you said it that the nice thing about him staying here, Lev Shnov, is that he gets to work with the NHL coaching staff. Nothing against the guys in Rockford, but they've got their development. Their top development guy is working with him closely. And I do think part of it too is there's only two games left before the break. So what's the point? Let him reset a little bit. But anyway, all right. Well, we heard from Connor and no, he was clearly in no mood to speak today. And I think this, I hope that he was more pissed about the team effort than his own because I think he was outstanding today. And yeah, he missed that shot late, but joined a club of

38:19guys who have missed shots late. Frank Nazar had an open net that he missed or a lot of those today. I think Bidard, despite missing that game time goal was the best hawk by a significant margin. Yeah, I mean, he was creating a ton. The setup for the Nazar goal was awesome. You saw it. Late in the first period, the game tying goal. It's kind of Bidard in a making a play that he doesn't usually make where he's going to the front of the net, just looking for a rebound and he's there at the right spot. So, yeah, I mean, he was he was great tonight. But I think, you know, it's obvious like he's a super competitive person. So even if he has a great game, he's not going to be happy with that because he wants to win. Like that's the end goal. And that's what we've heard from Jeff Blaschal about a lot of the guys on this team is that there's really no one that has that, you know, well, I had a good game kind of mentality. Like all of the guys care

39:20more that the team gets positive results and wins than they do individual accolades. And I think that that's commendable. That's what you want. You want your you want your guys to focus on winning and have them mentality of like, I'm going to do what it takes. Whatever is asked of me to get wins. Some guys, I think, are definitely dialed into that and I think some players on this team need a reset in that mentality. But the dart is obviously not a guy that I think is, you know, satisfied with a two point night and, you know, scoring a goal and and all that, but you lose. Like he's he wants to win. He wants to be on the other end of four two games. And I think, you know, it's obvious, obvious frustrations when, you know, the power plays on the streak that it's on. And the team's not, you know, getting the results that you want. You see some games slip away and you see, you know,

40:20the wild game. A three nothing lead slips away. And then, you know, you see the last game where you're first on the board and then they score five straight. And it's just like, you know, you get off to a good start and then it's gone immediately. And then tonight, you know, you're half of the game is good, but it's the back half and you're chasing the game. So clearly frustrated, understandably so. I think for him individually, the Olympic break is going to be probably good for him, because not only does he physically get to rest, but he and the rest of this group outside of table turbine, they get a little bit of a mental rest, which I think will be beneficial for them. Well, speaking of a good second half, the second half of that late power play was good. It took him a minute five to get set up. But without for going with going over to tonight on the power play, the Hawks are no 0 for the last 26. I'm wondering if Jeff Flashlight any insight on the Hawks

41:20floundering a power play? Yeah, he was asked about it after the game. And this is what he said. And listen carefully at the end, there's a little nugget of information that perked my ears up. So here's what Flashlight is saying. So excited. I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say that. I would say we have the components to be good. You know, power plays are for fickle. Like you get confidence and you start really going and ready to know what doesn't have confidence, obviously. You know, I mean, if there was a big kind of bearing less than the reality is when you lose a special sense balance really hard to win. We lost a special sense of confidence about it. You know, will I take some of the chances we got? Yes. Certainly the chance from Betsy to Frankie is an unbelievable save by all this like non-real traffic and 60, but that's going to happen sometimes. So we just got to continue to find ways for this group to gain chemistry. Certainly, I think our breakouts

42:21have not been good enough. That's probably the drop breakout is an area that you get to switch the breakout or be better at the drop. One of the two. Switch the breakout? Is that what I heard? Guys, I'm so happy. I think the drop pass might be going away. I'm here for it, man. Look, it's... I know it's frustrating, but it's not the system either. It's the freaking execution. Most teams use it. And this team, for whatever reason, can't figure it out. And when you've got a lot of people, I know people were down on table, Tera Vine in this year, but he's a very smart player. He knows how to play. He is a very dependable and predictable player. Even he is turning it over to the blue line. It's just wonky. It's just broken. But the player's got to execute. But if it takes changing the system, fine. Because something has to change. Over 26 is not good enough.

43:21But they get set up. And it was awesome. The last 57 seconds of that power play was incredible. They just can't get set up. So you're cutting your power play in half of that. Imagine if time I would have been able to start that set up right off the bat and got that for full two minutes. They probably score there. But instead they waste the first half of the power play. I'm in favor of getting rid of this link shot from numerous reasons. But I also kind of want to see it go away. Because if the zone entry still suck, we could be like, okay, it's not the sling shot. It's a big man. I'm not a fan of it. I don't like how my biggest criticism of it is the when you do it, you have the other four guys standing still at the blue line. And I always think it should be everybody should be moving forward. You're much more difficult to defend when you're moving. When you're standing still, you're easy to defend. So that's just my amateur take of that.

44:21No, there's no doubt about it. I did actually after the show I signed, we did a video about it. And that was the first power play they had in the game. They had two really good entries. One was a carry in. One was a dump in. And on both of those, all the black hawks were moving forward. And then later in the game, they had two really bad power plays with a bunch of bad entries. And again, it was exactly what you're saying is there's hawks looking back toward the goal, their own goal tender as the puck carrier is coming up the ice. You're not heading into the zone. So I think the biggest issue on the power play is the timing of it. You've got to get everyone kind of in flow. It's got to be like the annexation of Puerto Rico and little giants. You've got to get everything going in the direction. Yes, bust out the flying B. Yes, do it. But that's what it is. That's why I said, like it's execution. So if they're going to try a whole new system, they're going to break the whole new power play. That's fine and good. But is that going to create even more confusion? You know what I mean? It's at some point the

45:22players just have to do what they're coached to do. We know Mike Volucci knows how to coach. The guy has been in NHL coach or ever. He didn't forget when he left Pittsburgh got a coach a power play. These are professional hockey players. They know how to enter the zone. Yes, do it. You would think so. Just do it. It's not going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. It's going to work. You know, we were talking about how everybody feels like they have a speech impediment when they say heated rivalry. Oh, yeah, that's what I was Roger, Rudker, Magority, Greg Germer. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a mental. It is a mental block for these guys. It's a confidence issue that this power play

46:28just is has flashes of confidence, but overall, they're just flashes of confidence was a really good train. Now, it wasn't, I don't think so. Um, for that, for there's again, once they're in the zone, and they're set up, the power plays really good. It gives a lot of chances, but it just you waste almost all of it just trying to get in. Yeah, I think it's, it's a move to simplify things. And when execution is the problem, you've got to go back to a more basic style. And then you can, if you want to go back to, you know, what you feel like is more, um, you know, fancy and can give you a little bit more of an advantage. Fine, but you got to execute the basics first. Well, Sam Renzel led, uh, Allhawk's defenseman in minutes. He was the number one, uh, power play quarterback today. Um, now with Lev Shinovov wondering if, uh, would Blashley have to say about him?

47:29Yeah, um, like I said, like it was a, a more, um, conservative with the puck effort tonight from Renzel, but that's, that's a good thing. And Blashley was asked about, uh, Sam's performance. And here's what he had to say about his first game back. I thought, I thought Sam put good, you know, I thought he put good, I thought he had an impact skating, moving the puck, and, uh, with, with, you know, less kind of big errors than, than maybe when he left. And I think that's something we talked about just being making sure that, uh, you know, at the end of the day, you got to, you got to judge the pauses versus the biases. And it's really hard if you have a whole bunch of biases. And I thought today, outside of maybe one decision, not a kind of a lead kind of step in the zone. Um, I thought he put well. Yeah, I, that's pretty much every, every player you want to have be a net positive, whether it's, you know, you have two positive plays in one negative play or it's 13 positive plays in 12 negative plays, like a guy that kind of dark can get away with that because he has the amount of talent to outway that and those 13 plays are going to lead to something, um, but for guy like Renzel, like coming back up here, you want him to, uh,

48:46just come out as a net positive. And that's, that's what, you know, with, with young defenseman, we say it all the time, like quiet games are, are good. Like you don't want to be noticeable for the wrong things too often. And I think that's what we were seeing with Renzel at the end of his time up here at, to begin the season. So a good first step for him back in the NHL, wonder how long it's going to be. Um, I know you guys touched on it a little bit, potentially, you know, if, if, if Lino's considered day to day, but, you know, maybe they want to get left and off back in and don't want to take Renzel out. So maybe that means then Sam Lafferty is scratched and you go to 11 and 7, like, I'm not going to lose sleep over that decision if that's what they want to do. But I think if you want to get left and off back in before the Olympic break, um, I wouldn't take out Sam Renzel to do it. You brought him up here. He had a good first game. Give him another look. Um, so we'll, uh, we'll see how that plays out, but I, I would be surprised if Renzel only gets a game or two, um, and then goes back to Rockford without really much to say about it.

50:00Uh, D Paris says why is Renzel getting top minutes already. Didn't the coaches realize they put you much on his plate too soon. The first time around. Keep in mind, he played 255 on the power play. So that's going to pump those numbers on the third period, probably that that unit was out there for the whole two minutes. So yeah, that, that gives him more. And, you know, Blaschel's a guy that always, you know, he doesn't go into a game saying this guy is going to be my top minute defenseman. He lets the game dictate itself on who gets the minute. And he was him and Kaiser were the best pairing. So they should have got the most minutes. Did, um, Blaschel mentioned the challenge. Um, he mentioned the challenge, um, but he didn't, uh, it wasn't explained, um, the thought process, uh, about why he challenged, but it was more that he felt comfortable risking maybe getting a call going. Um, their way with the fact that they feel so confident about their penalty kill. Um, so it was sounded like more or less, it was a, I'm going to take this risk to maybe get something that goes our way knowing that the penalty kill is, is likely to go out there, but they've been doing so well with it that they felt confident that you'd be able to get out of it.

51:23So, well, if it's the truth that he intentionally went shorthanded to give the Hawks a momentum, you know what that would be. That would be an original take brought you by Hooters. Oh, please cheer on your favorite teams from any of the 11 Chicago and Hooters locations or check them out at original Hooters dot com. Someone said that to me on Twitter. Maybe just want the penalty kill to go out there because they're good at it. They're gained confidence and it worked. That's when the game played better after that. He should absolutely Jeff, if you're listening, next time you speak, challenge every credit, just say like, honestly, guys, we felt it was up against us. We wanted to have our best unit out there to get some momentum back in a totally freaking worked. We didn't win the game, but we started playing our best hockey after that challenge every goal. That's it. Just get the penalty kill out there. You're not going to score in a power play. They didn't get a power play. Well, tonight though, it's clumbasted. Sure, congrats to them. Yeah, this is, I mean, but they have Charlie Coil. I mean, yeah, I mean, you could, you could only contain him for sure.

52:23You can't stop Charlie Coil. You're going to hope to contain him. All right. Any other news or notes before you let you go, Mario? No, that was pretty much it. I don't know if you guys played Renzel from the locker room, but he was short, but some good things to hear from him. Getting back up there. But yeah, that was basically it. Hawks are back at it on Monday, right? Yeah, Monday. Monday versus the shark against the sharks right back here. Hopefully less snow than there is right now. Oh, yeah, we have this craped the cars off. So look forward to that. For the new genels. All right. Thanks, Mario. That is Mario to your bossy from the United Center. It is very strange that the black Hawks don't have a game on Saturday or Sunday. Most of the last time that's happened, they're ever in ever. They don't have a Sunday game. It's they have Monday instead. It's strange, but it is what it is. As Chloe is slowly dying over there. Yeah. Speaking of that, by the way, last night, someone in the chat offered to bring us ribs. Did that ever come to fruition?

53:30I haven't looked outside, but maybe there are definitely no ribs outside price of frozen ribs. I think the rat guy last couple nights. I've driven down the alley. Yeah. Downer and Zell East. I thought it was like a hunk of snow that fell off like a bumper. Yeah. And then it moved winter rat. What? Big ass rat. I have never seen so many rats. Yeah, there's a lot of this neighborhood. What's funny though is they say this is like the biggest red city in America. And I always see like maybe half dozen a year. That's a lot. We saw the one the other day crossing Madison heading into a formerly beloved breakfast joint. Yes. It burned down a couple of years ago. You know, he was probably like I used to be able to eat like a king here. What's going on? That wasn't a rat. That was a bear cub. I thought my car was going to get dented. Yeah, the CTA can use that for a bus. Yeah. All right. I don't know what happened with the ribs. Probably Bragg's item.

54:40Yeah, they probably gave me the bear's guys wrote them on his knees. That's what bears guys get everything. Black Hawks Hall says no. Effing way. There's a call about more rats in New York. I can't imagine that. I mean, we don't have a pizza rat. Because New York rat hole. Well, the other thing too is like New York and Boston or garbage is like on the street. Yeah. New alleys and we have New York's like put their bags out of the street like invent garbage cans in New York last year. Yeah. Greatest seed in the world. My ass. Yeah. I don't see him as often as I as people seem to think, but maybe it's just where I'm at. But when you're near water, you're going to get that. It's going to happen. All right. Well, Monday. How are you feeling? Oh, I am, I am dreading. It's so bad. I cannot wait. Just want to remind people for the Black Hawks to lose that game to watch. McLean Celebrini have four points and read the people in the chat. Just lose their minds. I mean, we're still spending half a post game show

55:51arguing about drafting Lebschinoff would get the F over it already for crying out. I'm so freaking tired. We all agree with you. We all want to dem it off. But it didn't happen. So I'm not going to spend the next 15 years like crying about it. You got to get over it. You got to stop watching what Ivan demidoff does every day because that doesn't even matter. He's not here. You need. Artim Lebschinoff to be a number one defenseman in order for this rebuild the work. That's it. That's what you should be concerned about. You should not care about what that guy is doing in Montreal. It only affects the Black Hawks two times a year. Right. The other eight games. Who cares? Yeah. Get over it. Yeah. And like I get the I get the Celebrini Baudard rivalry. I like it. You know, it's all you come over here and talk for an hour. If you can stop coughing without. You're going to call it every mits for an investigation we have. At least we know how to turn a microphone on the first time I called it out. Oh, wait. The second time. Yeah, actually the third.

56:55Because you got me during my reads too. That's not my fault. Once again, she's derailing everything. When pucks and per cycle comes back, you can we'll see it. She's you make any mistakes. Wow. You know what? That's nice of you to even remember the name. Yeah. Were you a fan? I'm not going to make mistakes. I bet. I don't even remember what I said. No, you're talking about stop crying about love. It's over. And we all want to dump it off. It's a derr. You can go back and listen to 50,000 episodes. We all said that. We all wanted it. And it didn't happen. So move on. I'm going to call it let it go. Ooh, it's going to be a big hit. Once again, the microphone is helpful. But in celebrity was not on the board of the Hawks picked right. That's the thing where like I get the rivalry rivalry. See now it's in my head. I can't enter the zone with that word.

57:58I understand the competitive head to head amongst fans because they're both very good players are both number one player. But like the way. Some people have it was like the black hawks had a chance to draft celebrity, but they took a darn instead. No, there wasn't the case. By the way, had that been the case, 32 of 32 GMs would have done the same thing. Yeah, probably. Yeah. So yeah, maybe Pat for me. Yeah, he would have taken some guy nobody heard of. Oh, I mean, listen to me. Listen to some people. We I criticized Pat for being for the for taking Carlson number two. That's worked out pretty well for him. Everybody was like, what the hell is he doing with Seneca? That's worked out pretty well for him. And good. So I'm not going to criticize when he reaches again because he's he's hit on those guys. So yeah, let's let's move on from all that stuff. That there was two years ago and the Hawks are six points behind the show and the right ones, Pacific. So Monday should be a fun game. I'm looking forward to seeing.

59:07Bedard and Celebrini. They're good buddies. They trained all summer. I'm looking forward to seeing them go head to head. You know, they're going to want to want up each other. You know, they're going to be on the ice against each other all night long. Back should be a lot of fun. That's appointment television. Regardless of, you know, what the results are, you know, it's going to be a lot of fun to watch that game. I just hope, you know, the Black Hawks can can figure out whatever this is that that's mental blocks or whatever is going on with them. These last few games where they just not everything seems so tentative and so disjointed and, you know, I'm sure they're going to practice on Sunday. So, you know, get in a good practice and, you know, go out there and beat the shark. They're a beautiful team. Yeah, they have more points than the Black Hawks do. But, you know, as you said, they play in a garbage division. And they win a lot of games seven to six. So hold them to five goals. You're the chance to get a power play goal.

1:00:10No. We're going to wrap up the show. We will be back. What? This is game. Yes. You almost got mad at me for that. It is kind of a dark. Kind of a dark one are game day men's health game. If you want to go to game day men's health, you absolutely should. Because I don't know who you are. Don't care who you are. You're getting older. It's a science. Better father. Better husband. Better man. It's made me older. Go to game day men's health as a game day CHGO.com to find locations closest to you. We will talk to everybody on Monday after hawks and sharks on the CHGO Black Hawks podcast.