The Kevin Karius Show - Mar. 9th, 2026 - Mark Spector

0:00as we welcome in Mark Spector from Rogers Sportsnet. Good morning, spec. Boys, how are we doing out there? Good, how are you doing, big guy? How was your little... Okay, nice and early, Vegas, up with the chickens here. Up with the chickens, didn't even sleep. Barely anybody even gambling downstairs. What? 6.30 in the morning when I went for a Starbucks. Really? Did you take a couple of spins or anything or what? Yeah, no. Buddy, he didn't need, didn't need to take a spin. He already played the lottery when he got that Starbucks for 25 bucks. How much was it, spec? I got no money left to gamble, Eddie. Oh, man. So what did you think of the game last night? We've had some callers, they're the textures and, you know, some people are just talking a little about maybe less offense and a little more defense, maybe more responsible at times. When you were in the building, would you see last night's spec? Yeah, I thought that, you know, over the Olympic break, they kind of made it, they changed

1:04it up the way they defend. And you noticed last night, I thought last night was the night where I really noticed that they were fairly content to let Vegas, they don't pressure defensively as much. You notice how Vegas has the puck in their zone and threw it around the exterior and threw it around the perimeter and tried their best to get inside for a really good chance and they had a lot of possession and they had more shots in Edmonton. But, you know, I guess I'd ask you, you know, Ingram was really good, but he didn't have to make a whole bunch of stand on your head saves in that game, right? The shots that came, he could see, he could handle, you know, so that's what I noticed the most was this is the first game where I thought they played that game and it didn't result. They kind of won that game. It didn't result in Vegas had possession, but they didn't have grade A chances out of it. Yeah, and I mean, we talked about the, you know, that goal that wasn't, you know, was called back on the outside, I mean, if that has massive because at that point, you

2:06know, you had a little momentum because, you know, you had the one nothing lead and just like that and it's such a bad, bad goal, too, so I got you got to give Ingram credit because, you know, sometimes that could eat a wedge and even after the game, I think you heard him, he said he, he was no see all the case of beer because, you know, that changed the outcome and the outlook of the game a lot. Yeah, two things like you couldn't believe the goal went in. He was playing really well and it wasn't a very good goal at all. And I, once you saw the replay, was it cold as art, those off time? Yeah. He was so far offside, it wasn't close. Like, I sometimes feel like Linesman now are starting to say, ah, I didn't get a great look or I'm not sure. I'll just let it go because the video replay people cover me if it's not, you know, I'm not saying, obviously, it wasn't a good goal at all, but I mean, holy man, it wasn't even close to being onside that play. Yeah.

3:07Hey, spec, got a question for you just regarding a couple of textures of sent about Conor Mcnaven not taking any draws last night. Yeah, I noticed that Newt stuck some draws that he usually takes. Yeah, was there anything so addressed about that even after? No, I did not, I did not, unfortunately, I can't say that I would address that afterwards. Yeah. It's kind of crazy after the game here. I'm guys trying to get his work done and that's a question that didn't get asked. He did not take a face off the whole game. Right. Yeah. And had to assist. So there should be a reason for that, should be a reason I can't tell you what it is. Yeah. I mean, I'm going to say this, I could ask the coach and if Conor McDavid had a bad wrist, he's not telling me anyway. Exactly. The fact that he didn't take any tells us something's going on. What is it? I don't know. What about Walman's health, anything to it? Spec, do you think that he's just battling through something? Because it's evident he's not playing top tier up to par, I guess you could say.

4:07Yeah, I don't know that he's been heard off and on all year ready. And hasn't found his game still here. He still hasn't been great. And I don't know, it's a factor of one of two things. He's been hurt too much and hasn't played enough. And now he's struggling to catch up here when everybody else is at the top of their game. Or he is still hurt and he's still playing. I'm not sure which it is. I don't think he's, you know, if he's hurt, he's not hurt that bad. I think it's more a game related than injury related if you're asking me. Yeah. And then at home, like, you know, his, his minutes were down because there was a chance he might not even was going to play last nights back. He was sick. He was sick yesterday. So I talked to him after the game and he was, he was healthy and seemed pretty good. Had some spirit, you know, all that sort of thing. So came out and talked to me afterwards for a media thing. So if he was in terrible shape, that wouldn't happen. So I think he'll be fine. Yeah. They started to incorporate the fourth line a little more as the game went on spec. I don't know why it was there. Did you get that feeling that there was, you know, the usage was, was really down at the

5:12start. And then maybe the way that the game script dictated how, how that fourth line was used last night. Well, I'd say in the coaches' defense, he hasn't had much of a fourth line all year. Yeah. And all of a sudden last night, I mean, they'd scored a goal, which is a fourth line goal that this team doesn't get many of those. And I was the same as you and Jim Maths, it was text to me, he says, how come they, the guys scored a goal and they barely play? Yeah. You know, it's kind of funny in this town. Here we are talking about how Trent Fredericks should get more ice time now. Right? Yeah. He was at 11. Yeah. He was at 11, which is, you know, that's probably fourth line of time. You could say, though, that Trent Fredericks deserves more ice time with his play, though. You get what you earned. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's absolutely it. And that's a, listen, if that line starts to churn a little bit and, and, you know, hangs one in, I thought the, the shift that they scored on, Colton, doc made a couple of nice and plays. Yeah. And the reputation is that he's pretty good along the walls and in the corners and he

6:15was on that shift. And he kept the play alive. The puck gets to bootshard. He makes a play in front and there's Frederick, a big guy that's hard to move out of there. So that's kind of the formula. You know, that's the formula and it, I'll tell you why, if, if those guys could put together a fourth line and Henry didn't play last night, he'd normally be their center. Um, um, that you're a better team if you can give, if you get 11 and 12 dependable minutes and a goal every couple of games from your fourth line, man, that makes you a way better team. Uh, hub of that goal by put Colton, just like he was shut out of a cannon spec. Oh, yeah, I'm not sure I knew he had that speed. It just, I mean, you look at Rasmus Anderson and I mean, maybe he's lost a step or something, but I mean, he looked like he was just standing still. Yeah, I, if I'm Vegas, I didn't like that play much, you know, he put, I mean, it's right off of face off, neither of your defensemen are really on their toes there. They're both like you got it.

7:15I'll take it and then all of a sudden, here he comes. Now he's going up the middle and everyone's like, I hope you have him because I don't think I got him and he's gone, yeah, you know, and he's gone. So I didn't, if, if, if that happens to the Oilers, we're probably, well, he could not be parallel. Absolutely. Somebody's got to get in pod calls and his way, right? And they miss the moment to get in his way and what a burst of speed he had like 15 goals now for pod calls. And then career high. Well, next year, what's he making next year? Three million bucks. Yeah. Yeah. That's, I mean, I don't like, we always talk with young players, you guys, oh, how good can he be? And is he going to be a second line guys, he's going to be a third line guy was I still though, no, where the ceiling is with pod calls and then when he hits it, like he just improves a little bit every year, he's only 24 and he can play with Leon and he can play wherever. That's the thing. Oh, and he's a heavy, hard player, like that play, the theater made last night where

8:16he digs in so that, you know, every defenseman makes that play because he doesn't want to get wallpaper. And usually, theodore can hold up the four checker with that move that he may wait, you know, dug in the skates and put the brakes on and pod calls and skated right over him like he couldn't hold pod calls and up too big, too strong sticks up for his teammates. It's easily safe to say he's one of the toughest oilers, like there's no denying it. Yeah. Yeah, no, and hey, listen, big strong and fast, like you want that in your team every day. I'll take about seven of those guys at least, yeah, just a few Eddie steals out there. Yeah. So fast on ankle skaters, you know, I expect Eddie came up with another one on his intro, all decades, second team for use sports, like how low down the list are we going to go here? Respect.

9:17I used to have a buddy. Remember Dave Schultz? He worked for the, yeah. Yeah. Global mail. When he was the young reporter in Calgary, he won the Southern Alberta swim writer of the year. He was, he was, he was dining out on that when he was 60 years old. That's funny. That's funny. That's funny. Um, I want to talk about Matt Savoy for a second here because he really is turning into quite a player, isn't he? Yeah. He's really, you know, it's funny because whatever it was, we were on the road, I think. So it was that California ship coming out of the Olympics and he had three good games and the orders didn't have three good games. But he did and we thought, okay, you know what, then you come home and then you play some home games and then you go back and it's hard to kind of keep those things going and you know, he's really, he's kept his level up at where it was like he's, it's like he took a step somehow coming out of the Olympic break and he hasn't, you know, lots of guys

10:20take a step for three games and then they go back to where they were and he hasn't. So that's awesome. You know, no points last night, but a good solid hockey game. He's really, you know, these are the little parts like, you know, all the things you have. You got McDavid and dry saddle and Bouchard and all your best guys. We know what they do and they're good and they're, as they're probably not getting better. But how do you get better, right? You get better because you put together a fourth line. And all of a sudden, there's some chemistry there with, with Doc and Frederick and then you get putt coals it and you know what, he's taking a step here. He's getting better. Well, now my team's getting better and then you get a kid like Savoy and his games go in North, you know, so this is good. This is really good for the all to have other guys who are starting to become impactful. What about Jason Dickinson, would you think of his play most notably last night on Friday was I think tougher for everyone just kind of getting, yeah, acclimatized with everything. So yeah, I think, you know, the other guy of Murphy was an awesome last night too, much

11:25more soul than against Carolina. So you got to give these guys a little time. I think that one of the things with Dickinson that we see here is if you notice last night at five on five dry saddle and McDavid played 22 seconds together, you know, and that's a spin off of having Dickinson in the fold and using them the way you use a third line center. You know, the coach, listen, the coach got a fourth line here going a little bit. We like that. Now you got your third line centerman that you like and you know, let's his, his line was, you know, this line was okay, but they were deployed in a defensive fashion. Now you got a bit of a more of a proper hockey team Kevin, right? And you don't have to panic and go to Leon and Connor together right away all the time here. I mean, that's the plan anyway. Let's see if that, if the coach can, you know, hold off the addiction a little bit here. Do you think on that fourth line, basically, it's just going to be, you know, Henry going

12:27in for Samansky or what do you think in there? Oh, spec, spec, can you hear us, big guy throws, spec is frozen in time. Well, I hear you hear me, yeah, we got you now, spec, go ahead, so maybe just start over, start over, yeah, I would say that Samansky, I mean, Samansky is your 13th forward here, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. For sure. So, you know, he's a pretty, you know, cadding. Come in and center your fourth line. You can play on the wing if you need him to. He's, he's a young guy, he's going to get some experience. I don't, you know, I, I, the only, the only question mark here is if everyone gets healthy and that really hasn't happened, if everyone gets healthy and he's sitting in the press box, now we say, okay, what are we doing here with a young guy like Samansky sitting around not playing it? Mm-hmm. If he gets parachuted in to cover off a wing spot, cover off a sentiment spot, I'm happy to have him as your 13th guy. What's your schedule like here, Spek, you head to Denver today?

13:27Yeah, going to Denver, I think I got a 940 or something, oilers are having a very optional practice today in Denver that I don't think I'll make it to. Yeah. And the look that you're doing in Denver on a Monday night, guys, what are you doing there? You got lots to do, Spek. Do you? Oh, really? Well, I quite tell. Absolutely. Tell us, tell us. Maybe go to a nuggets game. Maybe they're playing Spek. Ooh. Yeah, that's a thought. I'd go to a nuggets game. They're not. I mean, Monday is your tough one. They're not. I really, really go to like a college game. They're in OKC tonight, so you can go watch that game somewhere. That'll be a popular. That'll be a game. Yeah, that'll be something in the bar conference matchup. Go get some wings, Spek. It's Denver. Aren't you supposed to eat like, would they do it in Denver? Would do you eat in Denver? You should know. You travel, you're well traveled. I've been to Denver lots. Denver always reminds me of Calgary, actually, and I'm not staying in the bad way. Like Calgary and I like Denver. Yeah. Yeah. I see that parallel.

14:27OK. So what's your opinion on the Denver airport? Cool place. Is it a weird place? That's a killer airport. Like the airport itself is, I've flown through it a trillion times. It's awesome. It works great. But when you're actually going to Denver, you know, I'd say to people, think of how far we are, airport is Edmonton and add 20 minutes. Like it is. Whoa. Is it far out there? Yeah. Again, it makes Edmonton look like a, like a little commuter city center airport. It's far away, man. Have you been through there? I didn't. No, haven't. Just heard. It's unique. You got your Uber at the Denver airport and she's, she's 45 minutes downtown all day long. It's not more. Oh. Well, that's right. Another second team all Canadian for all decade, you know, you got no, well, it wasn't all decade. You got it. It wasn't all time. No. No. It just, it would have been 29, 2009 slash 10.

15:29That season. Uh, spec gets up as always, uh, safe travels and we'll, uh, talk you, talk to you tomorrow morning. They give you a ring for something like that or at least a coffee. Oh, nice plaque. A nice plaque. Come on. That's the ISU sport. Wood grain plaque as well. Is that what it is? Something that you could come up with and make probably Kevin. I'm working on your little, uh, Sharkootary board here. You've been working for about a month at that. Oh, I got some, I got some problems that I, I got some problems just going on here. So, uh, we can honor any of the accomplishment with this, uh, I should, that's what I should write on there. All decade, you sports, I'll get the you sports logo, burn it in on there, 2006 graduate kelp and hay school. All right. All right. Talk to you tomorrow. All right. Talk to you tomorrow.