The Kevin Karius Show - Mar. 2nd, 2026 - Jason Smith

0:00The hustle doesn't have to hurt. If performance pressure is making it hard to breathe, growth therapy helps you navigate stress, set boundaries, and actually feel like yourself again. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th, grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability, and get started in as little as two days. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments, you just pay per session. Grow helps you find therapy on your time. Whatever challenges you're facing, growth therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans, including Medicaid in some states. Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. Visit growththerapy.com-startnow to get started. That's growtherapy.com-startnow. Growtherapy.com-startnow. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

1:00How do you cash back with Chase Freedom Unlimited? Four decks of cards, three pairs of dice, and two very different friend groups. Cash back on game night. From 3% cash back at drug stores, with Chase Freedom Unlimited. Resturchers and limitations apply cards are issued by J.P. Morgan Chase, like NA member FDIC. Let's see if we've got Jason on the line now. Can you hear us, Jason? Yeah, I can hear you now. Perfect. Perfect. Good stuff. You were with Kevin. Come on. Yeah, not much. Gator, get to have you on as always. Maybe just touch on the weekend here where you had the three games, three days, three wins. Got to be pretty happy with the outcomes here. Yeah, I know. It was a good weekend. I mean, anytime. It was weekends where you're playing games in almost two and a half days. I want to get off to a good start and get results and got through those games and got points in one out. Great. And now we got a little bit of downtime this week to have some practice

2:01and work on the finishing stretch here. Yeah, so the shutouts to start the weekend off against Red Deer and Lethbridge. How impressed were you with your defensive play in those two games? Yeah, no. I mean, we kind of got into a stretch where we may be giving up too many chances and a little bit loose in our style of play. And to get back to back shutouts was definitely an improvement in our play. And the guys really were detailed in their defensive play and their structure, which was great. I think, you know, as you kind of find to it and get ready for the playoffs, you want to make sure you're defensively sound and do things the right way and not giving up a lot of great scoring chances and we did that. Yeah, it was something said after because, you know, the game before was the wild one with the hat where I think these scored six goals in the third

3:02period. Did you have maybe like a little meeting with the guys and say, man, we got to tighten up here after that one. Yeah, I mean, you know, the the meta for the hat game was a, you know, a real weird game. We did lots of good things in the game, but then we also, you know, we made too many mistakes with the puck and didn't quite defend as hard as well as you'd like. And when you give up that many goals in the third period, you know, you kind of need a little reset and we worked at some things in practice and mostly just structural stuff, you know, our rivals in D zone, making sure we had, you know, good sticks and our details were good and just making sure we're like closing and killing and killing plays when we have an opportunity. I think we've got a little bit stagnant and sometimes when you get when you get on your heels a little bit and you're not as quick to react and put pressure on guys as quick as you want. That can happen in a hurry.

4:04In the way the game is so fast, right? Yeah. Edmonton oil kings had coach Jason Smith with this and you got medicine had come in here. As you said for a weekend game and then the Raiders, this is a this is a hell of a weekend. You got coming up here, Gator. Yeah, it's, you know, great tune up leaving into the playoffs and it's a great opportunity for us to, you know, close the gap on those teams. I think that they both have busy weekends coming into our our building and, you know, we've got an opportunity to gain some ground and also, like I said, kind of get ourselves in that situation where we're preparing for the playoffs and getting ready to that stretch. Yeah. How are you health wise heading down the stretcher? I know what I think as a group right now, we've got Max turn. He's pretty much basically, you know, done for for an extended time, but we'll get Peterson back on the back end sometime soon

5:10in the next couple of weeks, kind of leaving into playoffs and other than that, everybody's healthy right now. So it's it's it's good. I mean, obviously, Max is a big big part of our forward group up front, but he's he's out, but that's you know, that's talking. There's a lot of teams that are dealing with injuries and, you know, it's about how you can kind of adjust your lineup and manufacture your situation to move forward. Is there a chance that Max couldn't be back for for playoffs, Gator? It's pretty much going to be done for for the remainder of this day. Based on the medical side of it, and you know, that's, you know, you lose air, it's an opportunity for for somebody to step up and, you know, kind of grow their game and earn some more ice time. Yeah. How's Gavin Haudenette looks and says return, and he was out a fair bit of time with injury as well? Yeah, no, you know, he's he's a really good player. He's a really good leader for our group.

6:13You know, I think he's been snakebitten around the net a little bit, but he's he's getting opportunities and and, you know, he competes and leads our group and, you know, just just an all around, you know, an all around tight talented player. He can play in the power of play, he kills penalties and he brings, brings energy and brings life to our group and, you know, he's going to continue to get opportunities and create opportunities and I just hope he can capitalize a little bit more around the net because he's opportunities every game. Yeah, and he's such a, how would you describe his leadership abilities? What kind of leader is he, Gator? The hustle doesn't have to hurt. If performance pressure is making it hard to breathe, growth therapy helps you navigate stress, set boundaries, and actually feel like yourself again. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th, grow makes it easier to find a therapist

7:14who fits you, not the other way around. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability, and get started in as little as two days. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session. Grow helps you find therapy on your time. Whatever challenges you're facing, grow therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans, including Medicaid in some states. Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. Visit growththerapy.com-startnow to get started. That's growtharapy.com-startnow-growtherapy.com-startnow-availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA's heating up, March Bannises here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with

8:14the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I could follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. You know, I mean, obviously, having played and ended around the rink, I think there's different type of leaders. There's guys that are very vocal and loud, and then there's guys that are global kind of about their business and don't have to say a lot. I think he's kind of a mix of both. He's a little bit of a hybrid type guy. He plays and competes and brings out on a daily basis, but I think when something needs to be said, he says it, and he's obviously a big part of our group, and he's going to be a big part of us having success. Jason Smith with us, head coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Kevin Carichou in sports, 1440. When you picked up Carter Sutheran at the trade deadline from Portland,

9:18is he everything you thought he would be since he's been added to the team and then some? Yeah, no, I mean, he's definitely contributed and brought a lot to our group in moving the puck and creating offense and being a stable guy in the back end. He's obviously experienced, and I think one of the biggest things he's going to bring to our group is going into the playoffs. He's played a lot of playoff games in the league. He understands what it takes to have success in the playoffs, and he's going to be a big part of it. He eats up minutes on our back end, and he moves the puck and transports it from our end to the oil fence of his own, is very effective in the offense of his own. Have you had him partnered up with Ethan McKenzie for the most part, Gator? We've been mixing it in action a little bit on the back end, just based on injuries and guys we've tried to find, as we look at it, we want to try and find

10:26somebody that is to be able to work with them to defend and help transport the puck, but we also want to have our deepest group as we can on the back end. If you can have three pairs that can all play and all go out and defend as well as transport the puck and move the puck, we want to be the deepest team we can, and we're trying to find that mix in the match of who will easily think of work and try and see where it'll lead us. You're always trying to find the right balance at such a critical part when you've got what you're hoping for a long playoff run. What have you noticed from Ethan McKenzie since returning from the world juniors? Is he even more confident? Is this game the same? What do you see in there? He's a great kid for one and he's very competitive and his game is a complete game for what we want.

11:32He moves the puck, he can defend, he's physical, he brings what we need on a nightly basis, pretty much every shift he's on the ice. When you go to the world juniors and you go through that tournament, sometimes your game may have some ups and downs when you come back and I think that's pretty common in junior hockey. Very similar, I think you'll see some of the guys that are coming back from the Olympics right now. You go to big event, there's extra pressure and extra stress and you just want to try and find that happy medium and find your true game and he's been really good for us since he's been back and he's going to continue to grow his game and obviously his game will be a big part of our success going into the playoffs. What have you liked about your

12:33goal-tending situation? Is it like a 1A, 1B with Simko and Stell? How are you looking at that on the stretcher? Yeah, I mean, we're just trying to find the right formula. I think both of them have had real good stretches through the year. We'll see where it leads us and I think by the time where we get to where we're going to be fine-tuning and getting that last little stretch of the season here, we'll know who's going to be the guy that's going to be playing game 1 in the playoffs and I'm sure he's going to have confidence and be playing in a good spot with his game. And then we'll go from there. When you look at the Eastern Conference and again, your yourselves as well as the Raiders and the Tigers, the top three teams, there's not a whole lot between all these top teams in the league and even, you know, you had a little look at

13:37Everett and Penticton as well. Those are the top two teams in the West. Do you think it's certain like is it the parody at the top? What do you see and when you see these other teams here, Gator? There's definitely good teams and you know, it's going to be a team that's got the best game and playing the best at that time as you go through the playoffs. I mean, at all levels of hockey, once you get to the playoffs, it's competitive battle every game and you've got to be playing it your best and you need gold tending to be good, you need your power play to be good, you need your penalty killing to be good and you need your five on five game. You need to be that, you know, kind of. Generally, the team that has the best complete package at that time will have success. Hey Gator, as always, thanks for coming on. Really appreciate it. Good luck this weekend. It should be a couple of really, really solid games at Rodgers Place. Continued success and we'll talk

14:39we'll talk soon. Thanks. Yeah, thanks, Gator. That's Jason Smith. In an epic global gaming league video game showdown, four rounds, multiple games, one winner, plus a halftime performance by multi platinum artist, Travis McCoy. Watch all the action and see who wins and advances to the championship match against Neo right now at globalgaming league.com. That's globalgaming league.com everybody games.