The Kevin Karius Show - Mar. 18th, 2026 - Emma Lingan

0:00We welcome back Emma Lincoln from the hockey news, also the wraparound podcast. Good morning, Emma. You're with Kevin Carrius once again, and the former NHL, David Schlimco. Thanks as always for jumping on sports 1440. Really appreciate it. Good morning. Of course, thanks for having me. Hey, hey, before we get to the big preds win last night because you're based at an Asheville, uh, what's the reaction down there with Venezuela beating, uh, the Americans in the world baseball classic Emma. That was, uh, that was quite a game if you have the opportunity to watch it. Um, really the whole tournament, I think, uh, little, little shell shot here, I think with, uh, USA not taking home the gold, of course, but, um, you just see what it means to a country like Venezuela, how that, you know, the entire country was just so invested in that tournament and the outcome. So, you know, you, you love to see it for them. How much talk was there, as you said, the emotion, passion, not just Venezuela, so many of the other countries that they showed compared to what the American players showed.

1:05How much play is that getting? Uh, quite a bit. I think, um, you know, I, I think a lot of it has to do with just, of course, the national pride and, and the United States is such a big country. And yes, baseball is America's past time, but it's still not even the most popular sport. In America, um, and I think that, you know, you're, you're seeing a little bit of the timing of it with it being right in the middle of spring training, how that was messing with certain guy schedules and ramp-ups for the MLB regular season getting started. So, I think it's, you know, different priorities kind of taking over for a lot of the Americans as well. Um, not necessarily a good or a bad thing, but I do think that, you know, a little bit of more what it means just not only to win for these countries like Venezuela, but to beat, you know, uh, to beat the United States to beat a big superpower like that. Um, it is just really special. Mm-hmm, absolutely. Um, well, let's jump back to the predators.

2:06Uh, huge win for them over Winnipeg last night. Um, now two points out of a playoff spot. I'm really polarizing team for me. I mean, as much as everyone is ragged on this group all year, they're, they're right there knocking on the door and pretty good veteran core. I'm not a team that I'd want to meet in the first round of the playoffs. Yeah, you know, this team is, uh, they're, they're a little annoying, honestly, because it's just, just when you got to the point where you think you can count them out. All right, it's a rebuilding year, you know, very trops is retiring after this year and we're going to sell at the deadline and just, let's just punt the next year and focus on the rebuild here. Just when you start to think that that's the, the route that they're going to take, they start winning. Um, and they, they start pulling together these scrappy wins, like the one you mentioned in Winnipeg, they had a big win over Seattle earlier in the week as well. Um, so they're still very much in that playoff picture. And I think that, you know, you mentioned the veterans, guys like Ryan O'Reilly,

3:09Steven Stamcoes and, and Jonathan Marsha, so those are guys who, if they are within sniffing distance of a playoff spot, they're not going to rest until they get it. And so I think that even if the organization might be looking more towards the future, these guys on the ice right now very much still want to win. I mean, you can't knock their work ethic, their, their drive to play winning, meaningful hockey. And I think that that's really good right now. Even if they don't end up making the playoffs, you have all of these young players who they've, you know, brought up in the wake of this sell off guys like Reed Schaefer and Matt Wood and Ozzy Wiseblatt and Fedor Sveshkoff. And those, you want those guys playing meaningful hockey games and getting that experience. And so I think it's, it's kind of a best case scenario for them right now. No, with all this recent success and winning, do you, do you think that changes anything for the, the future plan? Or are they going to stick with more of a rebuild moving forward?

4:10It's really hard to say. And I think that all hinges on who the new GM is going to be. And what route they want to take this. I think that, you know, very trough a couple of years ago was maybe, and he certainly wasn't the only one, maybe fooled into thinking that this team was a little bit closer to contention than they actually were. So he went out and made those win-now additions and obviously did not work. And, you know, instead of adding supplementary pieces to the core pieces they already had, he kind of went out and added more center pieces. Guys like Stamco and Marcia So, who, you know, again, that ended up not being the right strategy. So I would think I would hope that if Barry Trots was still going to be in the GM's chair that he would have learned from that experience, not allowed this late season push to kind of sway his thinking and would still be going more towards the rebuild.

5:12However, now, you know, you have the ownership, primary owner, and Bill Haslam. And he's now got to go find this new GM. And it appears that Haslam is open to continuing down the rebuild path. But I think that whoever the new GM is going to definitely play a big role in that. I'm Alingan from the hockey news and the wraparound podcaster guest on the Kevin Kerr issue with David Schlemko here in sports, 1440 AM radio. Hey, you mentioned Aussie Wiseblatt. A lot of other fans are hoping to buy this guy a beer after what happened here on Sunday. Can you help facilitate that? Yeah, I immediately thought, I immediately thought, oh, no, oh, Aussie. Now, I'll tell you what, though, I think that he could take it. He could take it. If, you know, whatever you want to dish his way, he could certainly take it. But yeah, I think I do think it's perfectly poetic, perfectly fitting, though,

6:12that he's still, that dry side will still scored on the predators in that game, because that's just a given. That has to happen. So even before he got injured, he managed to get a goal in there. But yeah, brutal, brutal news for the oilers and for their playoff chances, too. Yeah, I think that was the 28th goal in his last 20 games against the predators. Not too bad, not too bad. Very hot. Yeah. Hey, you also mentioned Reed Schaefer here. And that was the local product in the Matias Ekholm trade. What have you seen from him starting to be, you know, like an NHL regular here? I really like what I've seen from Reed Schaefer. You know, I think we in Nashville, in the Nashville media, it had kind of become a running joke where every time, very trot, every time he would give a press conference and talk about the young players in the pipeline, he would always mention Reed Schaefer. It's like, oh, we got Reed Schaefer coming and we would kind of say, all right, we'll stop talking about him unless you're actually going to call him up,

7:14because we're tired of hearing about him, we want to see what he can do. And I think that, you know, from the moment he arrived, he, the moment hasn't looked too big for him. He's been very physical. He's been using his size. He hasn't really looked like a rookie out there. I think that he has been very comfortable, you know, using his size, using his physicality, but he's been smart about it. He's making smart plays, knowing where, knowing where guys are on the ice. And, you know, I think that he has fortunately proven very right in that, you know, this is the guy that we should be excited about. Yeah, good young player. Yeah. Let's move out East for a minute. Lots to be excited about in Montreal. Cool coffee. First to score 40. Since Dan Foost did it in the 90s. I just wrote that down shlummer. Wow. Very impressive. Anyways, as good as things are, it's tight. It is tight in the East. There, no guarantee to make the playoffs.

8:15I guess how important is it for them, you know, at this point in their rebuild that they do get into the playoffs? Well, when it comes to Montreal, you know, I think I don't think I'm alone in this and saying that, you know, the main focus that I look at is the goal tending situation. I do still worry a little bit about the goal tending situation there. But, you know, overall, I think that for this organization, you have to look at, you know, last year, proving that last year was not a fluke that you have to keep building on that. You have to keep building on what you did. I would honestly kind of put Ottawa in that same category, maybe not to the same extent. Yeah. It just feels like, I don't know, Montreal. They have so many good young pieces, but I worry about the goal tending and I worry about their scoring depth specifically down the middle.

9:19I think that they, that top line, that Suzuki line is electric and they're, you know, one of the best in the league. But after that, it kind of falls off. And I think you had been looking at Kirby Doc to kind of fill a larger role than he has ended up having in Montreal and a lot of the way that that roster has been constructed is a lot of betting that everything will go right or that everything will go well. And obviously that's not going to be a strategy that's going to bring you lots of success long term. But I do think that, you know, they're a team that they need to stay hot. And they, I think they need to prove something after last year. Mm-hmm. Emma Lingen with us from the hockey news on the Kevin Caries show with David Slempko in sports 1440. Is the biggest, the neatest, the greatest story in the East Columbus Blue Jackets here? Emma, since Rick bonus has come in here and they were at the bottom of the Western Eastern Conference part of me.

10:19They're one point out of it after they're win over Caroline last night. If they were to make the playoffs, how big of an impact, how big of a story would this be? Well, I think it would be huge. I mean, they almost made it last year. And I thought that would have been huge. Of course, last year, the whole overarching, the storyline with the tragedy, the could draw family and everything that that organization had been through, you know, just would have been kind of a storybook ending to that. But I think that this year, you know, what they've managed to do, this whole season, I think Columbus is a perfect example of just the scheduling course of this entire season and how, you know, a lot of teams have had seasons that have been very lopsided because of the Olympic break. And it's almost like you had two separate trade deadlines. And with the condemned schedule, how much the momentum can shift for a team in such a short period of time.

11:20But I think that like you mentioned, with Rick bonus coming in, you know, they start winning. And I think the concern was, well, after the Olympic break, how is that going to go? Or are they going to lose all their momentum? And they really haven't. And I think that, you know, it would be really remarkable. It would be great to see them make the playoffs. I think they've got, you know, a perennial Norris candidate in Zach Rensky. I think they've got a really talented group. Good young gold tender and Jack Reeves. So I think that, you know, it would be nice to see them make some noise in the playoffs. Well, I'm to get your opinion on the hearing a lot about this, probably just because it's at a Toronto and Austin Matthews. But I'm a lot of talk about the goodest suspension, maybe being a little too lenient. Do you have any opinion on that? I don't know. Why do I feel like this is a trap? It's always like, oh, no, we got to tread lightly here. But, you know, I do think that maybe a little bit lenient, I think, an in-person hearing

12:25was probably would have been the way to go. Especially, you know, when you lose a guy for the season in the fashion that it happens. You know, I watched the hit. I saw the play not in real time, but I watched it afterwards. And it does feel a little lenient to me. You know, I'll refrain from commenting on anything with regard to Department of Player Safety or George Paros or anything like that. But I do think that, you know, it probably could have stood to take another look. Now, that being said, I think the player and the market that it happened to certainly plays into this. I do question, you know, if maybe if it was, I don't know, Aussie Wiseblatt, who got, you know, who got taken out for the season, would it be getting the same amount of attention? Probably not. But, you know, I do think that when you have a platform like that in a market like Toronto and a player like Matthews, who has had a very recent history of injuries, especially,

13:26it's, you know, it could be worth taking a look at. One last one for you, Emma, just regarding the Western Conference playoff race for that last wild card where Seattle occupies it. The Kings are right there. The Sharks are right there after Nashville's outcome in Winnipeg last night. The Predators are there and the Jets are kind of in the conversation too still. How do you think things shake down here down the stretch? I just think, I don't know if this is going to happen, but I think it would be so exciting because we have a scenario where you could have the Sharks, the Ducks, and the Kings all in the playoffs. And I think that that is, that would be exciting, at least for the state of California, if nothing else. But I think that, you know, especially now with, sorry to bring it up again, but with Edmonton's chances here taking a hit with the loss of dry cider, you know, I think that that could really make things interesting down the stretch here.

14:28I really don't know. I would personally, I would love to see San Jose make the playoffs. I think that they're a really fun, exciting young team. I don't know that they're going to make it far in the playoffs. That's okay. I don't think they have to. This year, but I think that that roster, you know, could use sort of what I was talking about earlier. That meaningful hockey experience and playing in that playoff environment. I think it would be really good for them. I would like to see it happen with Anaheim as well. I think that that's a young team that's a little further along in their rebuild. You'd like to see some kind of gaining some traction there. But, you know, even then, it's a lot of that is hinging on how things go for them. Does everything pan out? I mean, a guy like Mason McTavish has been struggling here lately. That's the guy you really need to be going on all cylinders if you're Anaheim and you want to make a playoff run. I think it's going to be definitely very interesting down the stretch. I would love to see a scenario where both of those teams made it in.

15:28Emma, as always, thanks so much for your time. Hey, one last quick one. Do you think it's at all getting close to where Nashville gets a major league baseball franchise? Because it's such a great baseball town. How many years do you think it's possible? What are we looking at here? All I will say is that I moved to Nashville about four years ago. And even when I moved here, people were saying, oh, any time now, it's going to happen. Any time now, it could be right away we're going to get a baseball team. And it's been four years, and that still hasn't happened. So, I think there's definitely a desire. I think Nashville, it's an entertainment town. They love anything that's going to bring more eyes and more people to the city. I'm not sure exactly where they would play. That would be my biggest question. The Tennessee Titans are opening their new stadium in East Nashville

16:28on the other side of the river here. So, I'm not quite sure where the real estate would be for a major league stadium, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it does end up happening because they've been wanting it for a long time. Well, good stuff. Thanks, Emma. As always, really appreciate it. Enjoy the stretch run of the NHL and then the playoffs. I'm sure we'll talk soon. Thanks a lot for coming on. Thank you.