Hockey Blogger Bruce Curlock (3/5/26)

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1:01Step for yourself, shop Virtuo Up exclusively at Nespresso.com. All right, it's 5.35 in oil country. Do you want to mention, Rob McClain normally does the show on Thursdays, he will join us tomorrow. His appearances are brought to you by Centri Casino in the all-new Selly Sports Bar and Lounge, experience big screen energy and game day specials every day's a game day at Centri Casino. Royal pizza pizza past and so much more, pick up the new spicy vegetarian pizza. Only for a limited time, for a menu and locations visit RoyalPizza.ca with a stop for recommendation is Mediterranean chicken. Royal Pizza Edmonton owned and operated 55 plus years, everything real at Royal. All right, we head off to the River Creek Resort Casino hotline and we get to our orders now prospect report brought to you by Re face magic. Not just refacing, now offering custom complete kitchens, so we welcome back to the show. A man of international mystery and intrigue Bruce Kerlock, he's our orders now prospect report.

2:03Hello, Bruce, how you doing? I'm good, I read Bob. Good. Were you happy that you weren't traded so far this week? It's interesting to be even do a trade deadline show on trade deadline anymore. Well, we're going to do a trade deadline show tomorrow from one to two, but I can remember years in which I quarterbacked on the other station four hour trade, four or five hours trade deadline shows the orders have got, look, we will talk a bit about some prospects, but you also write about tactics you were on Thursday to do the order prospect report. You also write about, well, there's coaching tactics just your thought on the two trades that Stan Bowman made, acquiring Conor Murphy for a number two and 28, especially in light of the fact that Chicago retained on Murphy and then getting Jason Dickinson with Chicago retaining on Dickinson in Colton doc for a 27 number one that's lottery protected top 12 and oh, by the way, moving out and remodeling Japanese contract, your thoughts

3:05in those acquisitions. Yeah. So I mean, if we just start with the players and in particular, I think, you know, we're talking about Conor Murphy and Jason Dickinson, I mean, those are two players that weren't, they were in need for the oilers and absolute need. You know, you needed on the back end, somebody, right shot preferably who played a PK play hard minutes against the other teams, you know, top six or, you know, top three or group log a lot of time, you know, against, you know, the elite competition, and I mean, that's what you're going to get with Conor Murphy. And, you know, I think he's the sliding in with Jake Walman tomorrow, like, probably, that was probably, yeah, probably a stabilizing situation for Jake Walman gets to go back

4:08to his natural side, plays with a guy who's really going to be a very good stalwart back there in terms of, you know, cycle breaking, he's physical, he's hard to play against. Actually, you know, it's funny, you have always played in Chicago and you, it seems like I've seen them six times or something like that in the last couple of years and let me see him, you know, Conor Murphy out there, obviously against the top players, but more than that, what they would have used to watch a little bit was, you know, he could make an outlet pass for a guy who's reputation as defense, just make a decent outlet pass. And, you know, so that's, that's a check mark too. You know, if we move to Jason Dickinson, I mean, this, this has been a screening meet for, for me, all year, you know, a three C who just can absorb all of the heavy minutes

5:10against the other teams elite board groups, it's an absolute, it was an absolute necessity, had to be addressed. Somebody who could also play on the pk, the pk is wobbling, I just, you can't stress the importance of that acquisition. You know, the metrics around first round picks and second round picks, for sure. Those, those are going out because there's retention involved. I just think again, and you and I've talked about this before, Bob, they, when you have the best player in the game who clearly took like discounted contract, you know, starting next year as a commitment to the organization to win, you have to, you have to do everything you can to match his commitment. And if that means first pick, first round picks are going out, so what?

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7:11What are your thoughts on Doc's acquisition? Yeah, I think it's a good ad, right? Like I say, you know, as I said in the article and I said online, let's separate the raid from the player. The first round pick doesn't have anything to do with Colton Doc. You know, this, I was about salary or attention, you know, made it the second, maybe the first was a second, it doesn't matter. If we just talk about the player himself, he is still a prospect. As I wrote today, he's younger than Robbie Orventy. He's played more in the child games, obviously. Now a weaker organization, but my point in all of this is he's a prospect still, he's a young guy, the second round pick, big body guy. He was a real lightning rod player in his draft year because there's so much to like about him from a physical makeup.

8:13And then, you know, he had some struggles with his skating and a little bit on the decision making side, but really a lot of it was his skating. His skating is drastically better than his draft year to the point where I would say it's not NHL plus, but it's NHL above average. And so you get a big guy who's going to hit everything that moves who, you know, right now, you know, he's a four-flying left-winger, but he can shoot the puck. He's got an idea of what to do in the offensive zone. The key with him is less is more is what I would say, you know, and whether it's the player getting pressure, being a second-round pick or whether that messaging was getting to him that he had to carry the puck, make plays with the puck on the attack. He needs to do less of that. If there's a weakness or an area of opportunity to improve, it's probably with his puck skills,

9:17but for now, that's the part of the game that gets him in trouble in the NHL, what he does well, obviously, as he finishes checks, separates the puck from players, and he just has, and he does have a good offensive of a sense of where to go off of the puck. And so if you just tell him, you know, go get the puck, give it to somebody who has a better ability to carry it, and go find an open spot, and they'll get it back to you. And with his size, and he's got a quick release of a shot, you know, there is a chance there's a little bit more there than just a, you know, bottom-six left-winger, but start with the simple things. Less is more. Just go out there, go up and down your wing, make people play, separate pucks, go find an opening, take some shots. All right, Bruce Kerlock, joining us with our Prospect Report for Reface Magic, Josh

10:17Shamancki, who I think could be sent back down at Bakersfield tomorrow, obviously, they got to get Doc and Dickinson into town. Isaac Howard and Shamancki both had their rookie bonuses captured so that they can come up and down your love for recalls after tomorrow, by the way, just your thoughts on those two prospects and how they're tracking. Well, I mean, let's start with all we haven't seen much of lately in Managed Hell, which is Isaac Howard. You know, I think he's fine where he is in Bakersfield. He is doing what you would hope he would do, which is he scores, and he's scoring well, he shoots a puck, a ton, he's had a couple of goals this week that were just excellent goals and had a real pretty shoot out goal. You know, again, with him, I think it's just more about, you know, understanding how

11:18to play off the puck, mostly on the defensive side, and then also understanding when to take risk and when not to take risk. And, you know, I would say there has been some improvement there, but, you know, this is a player that could stand finishing the year down there, and, you know, I would expect he will compete very hard for a roster spot in Edmonton next year, Josh Samansky, you know, I agree with you, he probably is going down, and Jason Dickinson, I think, is the reason he's going down. I don't think for any other reason, because it's limited minutes, and I understand the coach is going to have some heartburn trusting him in big games as we come down the stretch. But I mean, he tells the ice brothers came as a three-seat, like he's defensively reliable, he, he supports his offense down low so well, a big body, and he skates really well, right?

12:22Like that's the, that's I think the thing that, you know, you hear that from, you know, coaching staff, like how well he skates relative to what the expectation was, and, you know, so he never hurts you in the defense of zone or moving up the ice, and on the next step for him is really the offensive side of the game, and, you know, that just takes time and reps, and so, to your point, maybe it's better he goes back down, keeps working on that. Do they need to find a way to get Robi Urventay a game here, Bruce Kerlock? Yes, they do, yes, they do. Robi Urventay is, golden dock is more physical than Robi Urventay, but Robi Urventay is a guy who doesn't scary the puck up the ice at the NHL level. That, that I am relatively certain on, so you might have two players competing for one stop, here, which isn't a bad thing, but I think the lawyers really do need to find out what they have

13:22in this player. I don't know that there's much else he can do in the NHL, the, the prove himself, I guess he can score a bit more, but, you know, he influences the game almost on every shift now, and he is really playing while they add him up on the first line now, because he just pushed his weight to the first line, you know, really at the expense of Quinn Hudson, but, um, yeah, I think, I think he needs to come up for a game or two, just so they can understand what they have. I'm not mistaken, he's an RFA this year, so, you know, you need to know what he is, right? Absolutely. Bruce, how do people follow your work? As you mentioned, I write every Thursday on a sub-stack at that V Kerlock, and, um, around the exit at V Kerlock, getting in fights with people, so you can always find me there. All right, awesome. Thank you very much for joining us, and there's now Bruce. That will be a good night, Bob. I'm picking you to win those fights, by the way. We'll take a quick time out, and wrap up, we'll do a crossover with Brendan Escott and Get to Listine Order's History for New

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15:40New West Ravel, your local travel experts. Here's Young Gun, Aiden Gannem. Well, on this day, in 1983, Yari Curry scored his fifth career hat trick to give him 100 career goals, and Wang Retski had two goals and three assists as the Oilers win six to three on the road in Toronto. All right, there we go. Bob, very excited for the changes in the order's new reinstated potential physical presence during regular play-thumbs up there. And thankfully, Bob, that song of yours about the Broadway trade seems to have eventually melted into the ozone. A very good thing for lead listeners in your own mental well-being. Daily listener for your show, Mr. Statistics Guy. Well, there you go. Much appreciated. You can criticize many time you want. Bob, hear me out, straight trade across the bow. How about Darnel Nurse for Elias Patterson? Would never happen, but it could be needed fresh start for two underperforming defensemen. Oh, he's referring to the defensemen, Elias Patterson. Like what? He's not got Marcus Patterson

16:44or Elias Patterson. I don't know. Again, you can Texas. Again, you can Texas 780. 458800. Bob, the orders need to get Bennington for Jari and a pick. I would, that would surprise me. That would really surprise me. Tomorrow, a full pre-well. First of all, tomorrow, we'll have an NHL draft deadline show, which, no, trade deadline show courtesy of our friends at GCL Diesel. What time is it show on? You help me out here? We're one to two. All right, there we go. I just don't. Sometimes I'll be in told like before the actual that you know what I'm saying? It's all good. Oh, that's brutal. You like that? Just a little. We had a great time with Jason, so thanks for that. Okay. Well, that's good. I'm glad you had a good time with him. All right. One to two courtesy of our friends at GCL Diesel. We'll have a trade day coverage. Guests will include Brian Lotton, John Shannon. Brennan Escot will be a part of that show.

17:48Cam, Moon will help out in that show. Aiden will help out in that show as well. All right. If you missed any of today's show, make sure to download and subscribe to the orders now. Podcasts available in Apple Podcasts by the fine anywhere you get your streaming audio tomorrow during orders now. Preview the orders in the hurricanes. Rod McLean, Brian Burke, for ultra shine, Ryan Rashog and Jason Smith, the gator of the head coach, the Amazon oil kings with the oil kings report. We have Brennan Escot. You got Connor. You got Connor Murphy today. Nice fellow. Yeah. Oh, wow. Is he ever a nice guy? That was a bang up interview, but you know, shaking your hand, asking your name, that kind of thing that not every player does. So nine years in Chicago, Stan Bowman was criticized when that for trade first happened. And he was along to serving Black Hawk when he got traded. What do you have besides an interview with Connor Murphy coming up tonight on Inside Sports? Yeah, we will get to that. We're going to leave the phone lines open to 635 and just kind of let it the night happenings take conversation. Yeah. The hockey news is Ryan Henkel. We'll join us talking

18:54Carolina Hurricanes at 705 and then at 735 TSN's Matthew Shenetti with some Canadian soccer talk in the lead up to the World Cup. It's all fun. Davey is going to be ready to play for Canada. It sounds like he is, but they're going to take it pretty slow with the sound string injury. Wow, not good. All right, Brennan. Have a great show tonight. We will have an 880 news weather traffic update followed by Inside Sports. Brennan has got thanks to Aden Gannum and Derek Scott, Amin Hashem. And we will rejoin you tomorrow, one until two with GCL diesels. Trade light deadline date covered so long, everybody from orders now. My name is Mickey Fox. Friday, February 27th on a global. I'm Sheriff of Edgewater. For her, keeping the peace, cartels moving in, needs every investigation. People are getting threats. It's close to home. At the end of the day, I'm responsible for this town. Secrets, loyalties and small town justice collide in a new hit drama. I'm a damn good sheriff.

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