The Kevin Karius Show - Mar. 20th, 2026 - Ladi Smid

0:00As we walk him in, Latislav Schmid. Good morning, Laddie. You're with Kevin Kerrius and Eddie Steele this morning. How are you doing? Big guy. Good morning. Can you hear me right? Yeah, you're perfect. Good shape. Well, I guess I duked it something right before. Haha. Come in and bang, bang, bang. What's your line, Laddie? What's your line, Laddie? What's your line, Laddie? Uh, uh, uh, you have one job to do. Haha. Well, he didn't screw it up this time. Figured it out this time. Yeah. Hey, so glad you made some time with us this morning here in the afternoon over there. Tell our listeners where you are and what you're doing here for the next month or so. I'm currently at my parents' house, which is awesome. And it's great to see them, but yeah, it's, uh, it's pretty busy here. My sister is visiting, uh, you know, so it's not a huge house, but, uh, you know, it will do for next, next few weeks.

1:00Uh, yeah, I'm here for a U18 world juniors, which is going to happen in, uh, later in, in April. But I'm here, you know, 10 days prior, prior to our first camp, uh, visiting with my family, I, uh, going to watch some of the playoff games in, uh, in Check Top League, which is happening right now, um, going tomorrow and, uh, to watch my hometown team and then Sunday, uh, going to watch, uh, Sparta Prague, which, uh, which is the team I'm going to be coaching with, uh, next, next season. So, uh, you know, excited to see all the, all the people, uh, you know, it's going to be, uh, you know, before, before the Sunday's game, I'm going to meet with the head coach, uh, head coach of this, uh, you know, Sparta Prague, uh, that I'm going to be coaching with, which is very exciting. We're going to talk, uh, some, some more about our team, how, uh, you know, how it's going to look, what it's going to look like next year. And yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm very excited. Still, uh, adjusting to time change, which is not, uh, not easy rough nights,

2:05but, uh, it's a lot of fun. It's, it's always great to see my family. Laddy, you said that you're going to be going to some playoff games out here for the top league. Uh, I would imagine playoffs get pretty crazy out there from the fan point of view. How, how many people are in the buildings usually at those types of games? Uh, so my, my hometown arena can hold, I think, around 7500. So it's going to be pretty much sold out. I'm kind of curious, uh, to see, but those games like when I played it, it got pretty, pretty crazy, uh, a lot of fun. You know, it's not, obviously, NHL stage, but the hockey is still, still really good and the defense get after it. Uh, and then, uh, arena in Prague, usually they played, uh, they, they usually play in the arena where the World Cup is going to be at. But, uh, uh, due to the World Championship, it's figure skating that's currently being held there. They have to go to their, uh, kind of backup training facility,

3:06which still holds, I think like 12,000, half thousand people, which is going to be probably, yeah, it's going to, there's going to be probably over 10,000, maybe 11,000 people. I, I'm not sure if it's going to get sold out. But, but the main arena, the O2 arena can hold, I think, 60 and a half, 17,000 people. And that's, uh, that's a really nice, a really nice facility. But like I mentioned, it's, uh, you know, it's being used by the figure skaters. Mm-hmm. A lot of Slavspeed with his, at his parents' house. And is it Lieber Ricci? No, Friedrich? Lieber Ricci? Perfect. Lieber Ricci. Uh, Lieber Ricci closed. Oh, yeah. It's like, it's, it's Lieber Ricci. What, what do you talk about? Are you in Spain or something? He is going butcher in the A.A. What's going on? Come on now, you guys. Don't be like, I, I know Lieber Ricci matches the shirt from last week. It's okay. He's Lieber Ricci. Yeah, it's Lieber Ricci. Roughly around 100,000 people.

4:08It's not very, it's not very big, but, uh, it's, it's, it's a nice city. It's surrounded by mountains. Are you out there solo or you bring the family? Well, I brought, uh, my oldest son stayed in Canada because he's get spring hockey happening, but my daughter and my, uh, younger son, uh, are here with my wife. So, uh, yeah, uh, first night was very rough. Yes. And it gets adjusting to time changes, uh, very challenging. But, uh, it, it, it is a lot of, it is a lot of fun for them. I all see in here than their grandparents and their auntie, all that, uh, it's always, always fun. But, uh, yeah, it's a lot of work for the adults. You have to entertain them. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. When you woke up this morning, Laddie, did you watch some Oilers highlights from the game against Florida? Uh, I watched a little bit. I talked to my son because he went to the game and he told me it was for nothing, uh, kind of, it was a very good performance.

5:10I, I just watched for a couple of goals, uh, yeah, um, not great. And, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's still kind of tight race. Like, it's not like for sure. Lock for Edmonton to be in a playoffs and, and missing dry saddle is, uh, that's a big hole to fill. I don't think you can fill the hole, but now it's going to show us like what the Oilers are about, you know, is it about just few players? Or can they, can they actually, you know, play as a team four lines, six defense men, you know, you're going to need a gold ending, you know, so we'll, we'll see what they're made out of and I, I hope they're going to prove us that they're, they're the team we think they are. Uh, I think that one of the biggest disappointments would be, you know, it's Florida, you know, the Florida is completely out of it. They're going to be coming in with all this energy. They were treating this as their Stanley Cup game seven, uh, in terms of, they got what 15 games left max and this is going to be the one that they

6:11show up for and Edmonton didn't meet that level. Do you have any rhyme or reason why emotionally, like they just don't show up sometimes in these moments? I, I don't get it, man. Like, uh, I was actually, when you look at a calendar before the season, that's the game you should be circling, right? I don't want to like overhide this, but this is the, like, this is their, like rival, I'd say these days, right? Like you have to get up and like kind of, I know it's, there's no easy games and you don't want to say, like run them out of the building. But if there's a one game that you want to circle in a calendar and run somebody out of the building, that's the team. And so like, I have a really like, like I said, I didn't watch like that much because it's pretty scheduler here, but when you look at the score for nothing, I can't, I can't imagine it was a really good game. And so like, I, I have a tough time understanding why, like this, this is the game, like, and on top of everything, you're still finding for a playoff stop,

7:12a playoff spot, right? Like, I think, I think we are very lucky this year that the Pacific division is not what it usually is, right? Like, and we are, like, we are in the playoffs right now, but any other season, if LA is playing the way they're usually playing Vegas, and you know, now you have an NHM in a picture, you know, all these teams, then we would be probably like scrambling for a, for like a last wild car spot. So really, really tough, tough to understand why this happened. Because like I mentioned, like that if there is a one, if there is a one team, you want to for sure beat and when you want to show them that, hey, like this, this time around, you are not going to be in a, you're not in a playoffs and we are the better team. I don't get it, man, like I don't get it. It's, it's too many up and downs for me this this year. And like I don't want to ride them off, but like I said, I mentioned it before,

8:16like I don't believe this is the season for us. Unfortunately, I think we, we're going to make a playoffs, but I don't know how far we can make it to be honest. And I'm, I'm with you too in terms of, like it just doesn't make sense to me, Laddie, when you have a rival and I've been on some bad teams, you've been on some bad teams here, but when you have that rival circled on the calendar, you're going to get up for them. There's a saying here and we all know what well in Edmonton, ABC, anybody but Calgary, especially in the football world, you, you had to show up to play the stamps and you hated the stamps, even if you were having a bad season, I wanted to see if there was a rival, a specific player or a team throughout your career that you really had to get up for that you just built up this big rivalry against. Man, obviously, Calgary, but for me, all those years in Edmonton, it was Vancouver, like seeing Ryan Kessler in that, in that Jersey or burrows or BXA, you know,

9:18like I, I don't get me wrong. I respect those players, but the way they acted back then, you know, they were, the team was better than us and they, they would like to tell us that and show us that every, every single game. So I hated Vancouver connects. I still do, you know, especially what's been happening there, you know, but I don't wish back to anyone, but like if there was a one team, it was always Vancouver connects for me. Like I would get up for those games gladly. Obviously they had sedans and they would cost me some nightmares, you know, with their cycle and ozone, but it was what it was, but like those guys I just mentioned, especially Ryan Kessler, it would be like, okay, let's go, buddy. I would get up for that easily at 2 a.m. in the morning. But like I said, I respect those players, but that would be the team. Like I would circle those days and people like pull any of games against them.

10:20Latislav Smed with his dialogue in from his parents' basement in Lieberetsch Czech, Kevin Kerry, a city steel with a here on sports 1440. Getting back to that, when you would get up for a rival or whatever, did you remember when a higher level player went down on your team and went, was injured like a Leon Bryce settle, and you remember how everyone sort of pulled together a bit more, Ladi, and that's what the others have to do here too. They have to, usually it brings you closer together, right? Like that's a big hole. Like I said, you cannot, like, who can replace them with, you know? And I don't want to talk shit about, you know, our other players, they're still really good quality players. But let's be honest, Leon Bryce settle is what, top three, top three in the league, probably past 10 years, like you're not replacing him. Others have to step up, but it's going to take a team effort, you know, sometimes if you have a less skill, you have to bring something else.

11:22And that's the thing that I'm worried that we don't have this year. We don't have that much toughness or like, high energy. The team is, you know, like I don't want to criticize it too much, but let's be honest, we lost some size, some grade, and it's, and it's, it might show a little bit more than usual, because you're missing that player, like you're missing guy who can single handlate when you're a game, right? Like he's that good. So even the injury, when it happened, man, like come on, somebody just go and cross ship the guy in a face. Like I watched it and like, I know there was some kind of response, but like I watch Frederick there and it's like a gloves on. No, the gloves are off and you're ragdolling his ass from one corner to the other and you're trying to like punch a hole in his face. That should be the response. Can you imagine like somebody would like touch, like let's say,

12:23I don't know, Kucherov and Tampa, or Florida when they were, when they were last couple of years away again, and somebody would touch bark of like that. Can you imagine the mayhem that would, they would cause? Like it would, honestly, they would probably have to stop the game and like go to the locker room because there would be five guys on top of the one guy. And I just, I just thought it wasn't as bad as Matthew's what Toronto did, which was like, I still can't wrap my head around that. But it wasn't like, it wasn't the response that I was looking for. And I know there was some like guys were like cross checking him here and there. This is the time to send the clear message. Nobody messes with their top blurps. And like I honestly don't care if you take a one or two game suspension. I know it sucks, like you're not going to get paid. But let's be honest, you're making enough money to make up for it. And I'm sure guys will chip in to whatever, you know, like, to make up for it. But it's a clear message.

13:25I like, I, and you know what? You don't even have to win the fight. Just send the message and just be all over it. Like I, I, yeah, it's for me, it was a lack of response to, to that. And I know it wasn't like a dirty hit. It was just a hard hit, but it's still, it's an old school rules. And I know people are like, oh, if you, if you have a clean head, you, you shouldn't be have to fight. Well, don't hit our best player or, you know, like right beside Khan, make that with your best player. So don't, don't do that. He was, he was literally just looking for it. And he was running around the whole game, you know, so send him a message. You know, just I am not promoting, heard him badly, but like, try to at least, you know, send him the message so we will never even look at your top players. Or go after your, or go after their top players and do the same thing. You mentioned Frederick didn't play the third period last night, which is too bad injured.

14:27And this was just when he started to get it going again to here. What happened? Sorry. Well, no one, no one really said anything. He didn't come out for the third period. So he never played the third again, which is unfortunate, because after being here for almost a year since the Olympic break, he's been really good. He has. And that's a, that's another thing. That's like, you're losing more size, you're losing more grit. And like, it might be a problem. Like, honestly, it might be a problem, like heading towards the playoffs and in the playoffs. Like, it's, I'd say, it's less about the skill and more about that grit and more about that energy. So you need these players. It's going to be interesting to see this play. I'm more in the camp of Ladi when I just don't think this is the year to do it. I think you recharge, you reset and rest. I think this team is due for some rest. The core players will see how they show up.

15:27One positive about the Leon injury, though, that I don't know how many people think of it from this perspective is when he got injured, it's not like he just went right down the tunnel. He went and he tried to feel that thing out. He took a shift. So the fact that he was willing to do that and I know the adrenaline's flowing and, you know, you're not feeling the pain totally. I don't even know in a game like that, probably not shooting them up with toward all. That's for sure. That's not an important of a game regular season. But that's a positive sign. The fact that he was able to do that. So I don't think it's going to be a season ending injury. He'll be back and I think be able to be good to go for the playoffs. I feel the same, you know, like Leon played through some bad injuries, right? Like we all know that in a playoffs. I think if it would be in a playoffs, he'd probably miss just a couple of games. But like this year, and again, I don't want to say like this is not the year.

16:30Anything can happen in the playoffs. But honestly, like I don't feel this is the year. So why risk it? You know, let's see how it's going to play out. But I wouldn't force anything. And like he said, like the rest is very important. They went to the back-to-back finals. And it's not just the physical stress. It's the emotional stress of losing those two finals, you know? Maybe they're due to, you know, like have a shorter season. And I get it. Oilers fans, you want the fun, you want the cup. But they're also human beings. They're in the locker room. They've like shitload of hockey. So they need to recharge. And maybe this might be not the year. And like I am not a quitter. Don't get me wrong. Like I, you know, I would battle all the time. But sometimes, you know, the fate will decide it for you. And maybe this is the year then. Not a bright-up. But you know, just play it out. If it's not going to happen, it's not the end of the world. You know, I know there's some pressure from

17:31Conor McDavid's contract, right? Like we don't want to be wasted that much time. But you're still going to have a good off-season. Guys can recharge. Get healthy. And it's time to add some pieces. And like attack the next season. Laddie, as we wrap it up here, I just want to know how many pounds you put on since you've been eating your mom's home cook in the last few days. I haven't checked. I haven't checked it yet. Do you know what that means? It is crazy, man. Are you able to grind? Get your sweat still? Well, my mom said down yesterday and she showed me the schedule of the meals. And it is crazy. It's like heavy after heavy, dumplings, meat, sauces, desserts, cakes. And guys, it is crazy. And it's thank God. Thank God Duke is not here because you would never get laid again. I said, he would probably like, he comes in,

18:34in the exits. Fire and Duke up. We're new guys. He didn't even mix in the work and he's in the middle of it anyways. Hey, laddy, thanks for coming on big guy. I know you got to get rolling here this afternoon. What's on the go tonight? You know what? I'm actually taking my kids to this pool. So as soon as I'm done here, I'm going to grab them. And I promised my daughter to have a play David, one of my best buddies, daughters. So I'm going to bring all the kids by myself. Obviously, my body's still looking really good. So I have to use it at the beginning of this trip, not at the end when I'm probably like 10 pounds heavier. Okay, pal, thanks for coming on. Have a great weekend. We'll talk soon. You do, guys. Thanks for having me. I enjoy it. You bet. Good luck. Duke, it's another weekend then shouldn't be wasted in your love life. So try to go out there, throw yourself out there,

19:35be confident, buddy. I believe in you. Thanks, laddy. No problem, buddy. I have your back. I have your back as I'm pushing it into the train tracks. I still feel like that. All right, thanks. Have a good one. Thanks, laddy.