The Jason Gregor Show - September 8th, 2026 - Hour 1

0:00How are you? And welcome to the Jason Greggershow in sports 1440 sports 1440 dots. Yeah, YouTube Facebook X Instagram. Thanks as always for listening. Thanks for watching the show. It's brought to you by play Alberta dot C a your one stop shop. If you like to dip your hand in a few different things, lottery instance, library, other sports casino all in one place at play Alberta dot C a and tonight, lot of max 25 million dollars and 25 prizes of a hundred thousand dollars. Get your tickets at play Alberta dot C a I'm Jason Greggers alongside Connor Halley as we have a busy, busy program for you today. We're talking some hockey or in a talk of course some some football big weekend, the Elks one win away from a clinching a plus. Well, I didn't really not even that um depending on Hamilton loses then they are automatically in. Anyway, so the Elks are making

1:04the playoffs. That's captain obvious. It's just a matter of are they going to get a home play off date, which hasn't happened in Emmington in quite some time, but they are trending in that direction as came up with a huge win yesterday. It didn't look good. It was an ugly ugly start in Calgary. Really for both teams, the first six series of that game are awful and then slowly, you know, the game started to get a little bit better. Emmington really didn't have, you know, they had the one touchdown drive in the second quarter that made you think, okay, they're awake. They're here. They know there's a game on, but for the second straight game, their offense did nothing in the first half and really didn't do much until the final 20 minutes of the game and then they tore just tore it up and they were great. And you know, they had a huge turnover after going down by a touchdown. Then they, the, the force fumble, they get the ball back boom, they score a field goal and they score another touchdown and then they end the game after Calgary had a gamble on what the third 19 from the two yard line and they got stuffed and then the Elks punch

2:10it in on a play. I don't think I've ever seen four consecutive plays. First and goal, run the play penalty, first and goal penalty, first and goal penalty, first and goal penalty. And because the Elks ever got in, that's the thing. You would have declined the penalty if you ever actually scored on any of the first, the first four. So finally, they got in and they win and then now it's a quick turnaround. They, uh, nothing today that they'll have a late walk through tomorrow at around four o'clock. Then they'll have their only practice really full practice on Thursday, then Fridays, a walk through and then boom, it is Saturday, the rematch and hey, no reason not have a big crowd. It's Calgary. There, there's some excitement like this team they believe that they are never out of a game. That's the one thing that I take away from the green and gold right now is they believe they're in any game. They were down 25 to seven and they came back and you know what? That's huge for this team that we've seen that now two

3:12weeks in a row that they can, they can come back in games and play very well and they did so and kudos to them. Kudos to the defense, the special teams offense. I woke up when they needed to and they won the game and it was massive, massive win for the, for the green and gold and now we, we move forward to see kind of what's on tap here. You look down the stretch for the, uh, for the elks and they're schedule. They don't need like top team. Oh, Winnipeg's pretty good. But you got Saskatchewan, right? You got Calgary, then next Saturday, you're in Toronto, then the following Saturday, you're home to Hamilton, then Friday, October, ninth, you're in Hamilton. Those are the next four games. Those are, those are all very beatable teams. You run the table, suddenly you're, you know, you're 13 and three with two games left in the season. So, you know, good for the elks and we'll kind of see where they're at when they come out of the,

4:21out of the by week, right? Then you've got Winnipeg and then you've got the riders. So could they be, could they be 14 and four? Now they'd have to go five and one. That's a lot asking, but you know, 13 and five, I think is very realistic for this team right now. And if you are a football fan, and I say football because I love football. I don't, but I'm not one who's like, uh, CFL's great NFL sucks. Uh, NFL's great CFL sucks. I like them both for different reasons. It's awesome. And NFL kicks off tomorrow. Oh, Wednesday. Now admittedly, Wednesday, NFL's going to feel weird, but yes, you know what? It's a, it's a rematch of a last year Super Bowl, Seattle hosting New England. Then you have the Thursday game from, uh, from far, far away. What do they say? The longest road trip of the year, 17 hours and very interesting how the Rams and the 49ers are doing it completely different. The 49ers get in there a week early. They're going

5:21to acclimatize themselves to the times on change. Meanwhile, the, the Rams are literally flying in today. Get their play and come right back. Quick turnaround. So we'll see. That's what happened last year. The team that flew in late. They won. I don't know. I'm sure it plays a factor. Like they've had, I'll get some quotes from some sleep experts who have talked about this, but it is funny to see a Donald will not play in week one for the Rams on Thursday night. But Patrick Mahomes most likely was the quote from Andy Reed as far as him starting. So he's most likely to start for the cheese this weekend. Some other key games. The Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay could be an interesting one. Indian Baltimore. That's a, that's a game to watch. I look at green Bay Minnesota. It's always a great robbery game. Washington Philly, Casey and, uh, and Denver on Monday

6:25night. Then you got a few like, you know, Tennessee and the Jets. Doesn't look like a great game. And you know, is Jacksonville. They actually good again. What we'll see. Can they do a two years or only take on the Browns? God, you'd think they'd be able to win that game. But you have two games that are like, oof, Jets, Tennessee and then Miami and Vegas. Those are, um, those are some less than desirable games. I think that's fair to say. And then of course, Connor Halley Chargers. What do you think of week one, Con man? Uh, good matchup, you know, kind of similar, maybe to college football. Are you scheduled that week or opponent and see what happens? Uh, cards has a really good talent, though. Like at the skill position. Uh, two very good receivers. One of the best tight ends. The running back to your. My love. If he's good to go, he'll be exciting. It was taken forth overall for a reason. Uh, but I do like that matchup for week one. I think Jacobi Preset might be the, uh, the weak link on that offense at the most valuable position. But this is going to be a fun week of football. The bills, Texans as well. That Texans defense nasty, Josh Allen and MVP type player. Uh, I'm really fair enough to watch that one on Sunday morning. And you're right. It's

7:29it's going to be weird with a Wednesday night for to kick off the season. I kind of feel like it's Thursday instead. You still got two more work days ahead of you. But it should be a fun one. It's said not to be a really good, really good first week in the NFL season here. Yeah. Like it is, it is wild that like that 17 hour flight to Australia for the Rams. And uh, basically leaving tomorrow to get in there. And we'll find out about it. Um, so yeah, the round and I don't know when their flights leaving, but they're landing in basically in Melbourne on Wednesday. And uh, flying out right afterwards. Meanwhile, the 49ers got in in a week in advance. Um, it's interesting. So here's what the sleep experts are saying. This is from Chris Winter, who says, um, that the, uh, athletes generally reach their physical peak in the late afternoon and early evening. So what the Rams are essentially doing is saying their players. Look, just keep being athletically awesome at 6 p.m.

8:31You're going to open your eyes one day and the sun's going to be in a weird part of the sky. But we're banking on it, taking your brain a couple days to figure out what the hell is going on. But then you'll have already beaten the 49ers and you'll be heading home. Now, you know what now, if if the Rams win, is it because of that strategy or did they play better? And you know, if the 49ers win, is it because of their strategy? Get there a week earlier. Who knows? But it is something unique that both teams are doing it very different. And because they are, and it's a 17 hour flight, like England was what six and a half. All right. So it's that's obviously very different. But, um, so we'll see because the game is being played at, uh, you know, you're looking at it. It starts at 6 30 R time, cons. So that's 5 30 or 5 20, I should say, Pacific time in Melbourne. So right in that wheelhouse, now that's what winter said there. I wonder. So he says, this is what, uh, athletes generally peak reach their physical peak in the late afternoon and early evening.

9:35So my question would be then to him. Should younger athletes, beach, should you do your workouts at that time? Right. Like if you want to reach your physical peak, don't you want to reach it in workout? I mean, I'd have to talk to him specifically just about that, right? Cause training working out is obviously different than a game. But it would be an interesting question to ask him for sure. So there you have it from the sleep expert. Also on the program today, Kevin Woodley, it's going to join us right away. Uh, we're going to hear from Dave McCarty. We'll talk lots about the, uh, the else we got around table. We'll get some stats of the day for you. We're going to go to Boston in the, uh, five o'clock hour. Man, the new contracts. It's just, you know, Fraser Minton, the Boston Bruins are like, okay, you know what? We believe in this guy. And to the tune of their pain, I'm like 7.4 million bucks. Fraser Minton has played a grand total of 107 NHL games last year. He had 17 goals, 35 points.

10:39And now he has cashed in. Now he's a young player, right? Former second rounder. He was a good player in junior, but like he was never like a dominant offensive player in junior, right? 55 points in 67 games, 67 points in 57 games and then 38 in 36 games in his last year in 2024. He went to the minors. He had 20 points in 37 games and he had 35 points in 82 games last year. Like it seems like a pretty, pretty big bet that Fraser Minton, who's never been a hugely offensive player in junior is now a $7 million player in NHL. And I know that I have to readjust because the cat's gone up. I get it. But like that's, that's a lot, right? Like that's a lot. So I just, I'm just looking at the, at the long term pedigree. He's basically being a pointy game guy. He's never been significantly more than that at junior. So he's going to become a pointy

11:40game guy in the NHL. The odds will say pretty low, pretty low. So I will, I'll be curious to see kind of where that goes from here about about him. But it seems like a reach. So we'll go out to to Boston. We got to can't take his back. Good on tater, battle through it. And he is back with the two minute warning. And we'll also, I got, I got some say, the oil report coming up at two four to talk about Zach Hyman, because I'd been reading a lot of stuff and listening to people, even someone on our station suggesting that, you know, hey, maybe they're better up in Hyman on the third line, pardon? What bizarre world the hell are we living in? Zach Hyman on the third line? No, no, not on Monday, not on Tuesday, not on Wednesday. No, I'm sorry, like I am, I don't annoying players who have never proven their first line player that suddenly they're better than a

12:41guy who was the first line player last year. Zach Hyman's was the only player in the NHL to score 30 goals playing fewer than 65 games. And he played 58. And the next closest was dry subtle in 65 games, right? He had 30 goals in his last 50 games. His first eight, he had one coming off a wrist surgery. He missed the first 19 games of the season. He's kind of playing ketchup, right? So you give him a few weeks, try to find your bearings. And after that, there was only nine, he was one of the, there was only nine guys who scored 30 goals from December 3rd on. So that was his last 50 games. And he was one of them. Conor McDavid was one of them. Him and Cole Coffee will actually have the most of 37. So the most goal scored in the league that time was 37. Hyman had 30. And now people are trying to tell, and this was coming off of a wrist injury, where he was still playing with a wrist brace. And you're telling me now over the summer, well, he got older. So suddenly he should be demoted. No, like it makes no sense. I get it's

13:45been a long off season, but stop the insanity. Stop the insanity. When people make claims like that, it's just like yesterday. I don't know. I didn't see it. I got it sent to me. So you have a guy. People are reporting on some guy. Well, this other reporter told me the Conor McDavid likes Toronto. What? Like seriously, and order fans are getting all up in arms. People been talking about Conor McDavid going to Toronto for 10 freaking years. It's no closer today than it was 10 years ago. I would argue it's probably farther away. Why the hell would he go to Toronto to leave? Leave Hamilton to go to Toronto. You think they're better? Come on, people. You got to be secure. You got to be proud of being an order fan if you're an order fan. Stop falling for garbage. Some other reporter told me that's not a source. What are we doing? It's a sad state. Sad state. Take a quick break. We'll come back. Woodley joins us on the Gregor Show. Presented by play. I'll burn it. Not see it. Perfect. We always have a Woodley scheduled in, but there's been a goalie signing in the NHL. So we'll have to add that to our

14:52topic of conversation with Kevin Woodley coming up here. Momentarily, it is the Gregor Show presented by play Alberta dot C a. Your one stop shop. Only place where you can get it all. Lottery instance and more play Alberta dot C a as it's time to get to our big guest today brought to you by RV wars. RV wars is back this weekend at the premium outlets. Mall by the airport. Five massive dealers clearing out all remaining in stock RVs. Visit RV wars dot C a for details. So if you're looking for an RV, you can get a pretty good deal right now. So the, the San Jose sharks. Ilya Samsonoff signing a one year two-way contract. Now he was out of the NHL last year and now he's a, well, who knows if he's back in, but you look at the sharks and they're goal-tending situation right now. He got in a jail caboch and you got

15:56a scar and you got Eric, comery like that's a pretty deep goal-tending group. Right. Eric, comery that guy has anytime he gets a place being pretty good, but you know him and Samson off down on the miners. I might be the best NHL goalie tender I can think of a long time. That would be pretty good at the NHL level. So we'll see Kevin Woodley joins us now. Woodley, he wears he? Just logging in now. Okay, do you forget what time it was, Woodley? Come on. So we'll see where he's at. Anyway, we got some text to get to 833-414-140-833-414-140. Preach at Gregor the Mitten contract concerns me. I feel like 7,000 was the old five and five would be an overpay. He has a lot to live up to. That's for sure from Jerry. Yeah. Well, hey, order fans, you could look at Matt's a voice contract. And because if you look at the orders team

16:57right now, and I'm not it's not fear mongering just when you look at Emton's they're in a pretty good situation here for the next few years until McDavid's up. Right. McDavid and Hyman each have two years remaining on their deal. Caspary Kaepernin, Matti Sian Mark, Matthew Joseph or all UFA's, Spencer Stasney, Ty Embersson, Alfredi Anderson. So nobody that you look at that of the potential UFA is that we get a massive raise. Caspary Kaepernin could get a decent raise if he has another good year. No question. But other than that, like nobody really suited for it. Josh Siamanski is in the final year. He's an RFA. Matt Savoy. Those are the two RFA's. Now Siamanski is not going to put up I wouldn't think any big numbers to get a real significant increase. We'll see. But Savoy, based on Fraser Mitten and some of these other guys, if Matt Savoy comes back and he's not supposed to miss too long from what I've been told. Let's say he plays 70 games. Well, in 70 games, let's say he gets 40 points. 70 games. It's probably going to give him at least six mil at least probably six

17:59and a half if not more. So that's just kind of the new world. We all have to adjust to it. It's hard because it's kind of being unfolded in real time. But that's where it goes. As Woodley is with us now, Woodley, how you doing, Matt? Good, Jason. How are you? I am I'm pretty good. Quickly, I know this just broke, but Ilya Samp's not. What do you think he's got left? The sharks, man, they got like four goalies now in that organization. He signs a one year two way contract. So, you know, with Askarov who wasn't great last year, I should point out, like, I don't think it's a lock that he's automatically going to be in the NHL all year long for him. I do think it's in a gelcobit. She's obviously a lock in the NHL, but you know, Eric Comrie can play a Skarov can play and who knows? Maybe Sam's an off-grid redeem himself. What do you think of this signing for the sharks? Yeah, that's that's a bit of a from honest. That's a bit of a head scratcher. They seem to be going for let's have as many options as we can and hope one of them hits. Maybe

19:00there's a pressure thing here in terms of adding some more pressure from below. I just say, maybe there's an injury update coming. We don't know about, but you know, Eric Comrie was on the ice, you know, just last week and I was watching highlights of him with with another coach that I know working out down in California. So, I don't think it's that. Maybe there's a belief that a fellow Russian can have a voice and get a Skarov to buy into some of the things that they're selling in San Jose. The thing I will say about the Ilya Samsonov is he was late to do so himself. Like, we remember sort of that that wave of Russian gold tenders coming over at the time. A Shishcherkin, Sirokin, I think a lot of people have forgotten now that Samsonov was kind of put in the same sentence as a lot of those guys. And it never really hit to the same level. Now there are some physical limitations. We've talked about this. You've heard me talk about narrow butterfly with Stewart Skinner absolutely with Ilya Samsonov. Like, when he goes east west or even when the

20:01puck is scrambling in front of him, it's like pinball flippers out there. Like, narrow butterfly has got to kick out of things and that delays his ability to go east to west from his needs. But there are some things in his game that were fixable early on. And there was a resistance to having them fixed. Even when Mitch Corn, as far back as Mitch Corn being the director of gold tending with the Washington capitals, you know, sending him back from development camps back to Russia with some things they wanted him to work on. And then finding out later on or the organization finding out later on that when Ilya got back to Russia, he's decided he didn't really want to make those changes. Right. And so sometimes when you're a high pedigree guy, it can take a little while for coaches to get through to you that, hey, all the reasons that you are so highly regarded don't necessarily translate right into the NHL. You might have to make some adjustments. Jacob Marshall's another excellent example of it, right? Like, he didn't start to become Jacob Marshall until he came to Vancouver. Rob Talis was an an idiot in Florida. He saw what needed to

21:02change. But there was a resistance earlier in his career. Too many people were telling him he was the best bully, not in the NHL as opposed to maybe people looking at why he wasn't in the NHL or having success in the NHL because everything he did to get to that level of best outside didn't translate straight into the league. So maybe there's an element to that. Maybe there's a hope that some of the, I accept so enough by the time he got to Toronto talked about, you know, making changes too late. He literally started to buy in Washington in his final months there. So maybe there's an opportunity here to get more upside out of him. Maybe there's a little bit of message sharing that goes on between the two Russian young Russian gold tenors there. I'm not sure which it is. Maybe they're just trying to collect as many goalies in the hopes that one hits. I, again, I'm with you on a scare off. Started good last year. By the end of the year, he looked like the same guy he did before. And that included a lot of the sort of low wide locked in bad habits that make it difficult to succeed in the NHL the way the games played today. So good from his knees. But the games played from your skates now. So the skill set has changed. The skill set that made him

22:05such a highly regarded prospect is no longer as valuable as it was when he was drafted. All right. Now let's get to our essential division goalie tandem rankings. And who is number eight in the central for you this year? Yeah, you know, and it's always hard because we start at the bottom and it's tough to put somebody there and let's just do it. No more excuses. Like keep saying, this team could make me pay and and regret this. And this one absolutely could. But somebody's got to be eighth. And for me, it's the St. Louis Blues right now. Do not take that as me disregarding Joel Hofer. You won't find a bigger Joel Hofer fan than me. May have played a role in him being on team Canada at the world juniors when he won World Junior goal. So, you know, he had a really good season. He grades out at 28th and league close to plus a goal every 100 shots, better than expected. But the reality is, Bennington was almost two goals below expected for every 100 shots. And Georgie Romanov speaking of the San Jose sharks who pencils in as their number three

23:09is a reclamation project from the sharks who has not had much success at the highest level and has a bit of a limited resume. Now, the other thing there is it will crannly had success, but more time in the ECHL than the AHL the last three years. And they lost their excellent development coach to the New Jersey Devils as part of the off season sort of changes and and and hiring in Dan Stewart. So, even with Hofer already playing more than Bennington last year and finishing top 30 adjusted numbers. And even if we assume a Bennington bounce back after two straight down seasons, we saw what he's capable of at the Olympics. It's hard to grade this any higher because Bennington's drop off was just so significant last year. As I said down to two goals almost every 100 shots below league average. He would have to improve that by a full goal every 100 shots. So basically be a full goal better than he was last year every three games just to make them a league average tandem. That's how much he dragged down the good that Joel Hofer did amongst the two.

24:12Okay. Alright, so number seven. You tell me I'm another one that could bite me in the butt, Jason, but hey, when you got anybody rank this low and this is just more uncertainty. Like this is not a shot at Sebastian Kosa. I hope he you know makes them climb these ranks. They basically great out to around NHL average. Jackson Stauber is the number three has got limited NHL exposure and limited NHL success. There's just not a lot of experience behind car of a Melka. He's a work course, but that in itself is a concern. Can Kosa spell him more? The reality is Kosa only needs to replace VTech Vanacex results last year. And he was a full half a goal below expected every 100 shots. So 0.5% below expected. Not terrible, but below NHL average. The problem is this team's goal is all playing behind a below average defensive environment in terms of shot quality. And that could be a really big adjustment for Sebastian Kosa because when you talk to people and we've talked

25:15that this discussion around the American league, it feels like that was something of an insulated defensive environment with the Red Wing's American hockey league affiliate. Stauber actually like his game, but he had a down season last year in the A.H.L. Michael Rabble will be a rookie like there's this is a team. If there was ever one in this rankings that could use more depth by their off waivers are amongst the remaining UFA's. It's the mammoth. And yet I look at it and it's like is there anybody on that list of UFA's or waivers that you could say for sure is going to be better than Sebastian Kosa outside of maybe maybe Connor Ingram who obviously isn't going back to Utah for obvious reasons. I'm not sure. So like they really do look like they're set to live in Diwis Sebastian Kosa. It drops them in these rankings because there's just not a track record there where I've got numbers in front of me to evaluate. And I have some concerns about the environment he's being dropped into. But I happen to be a fan of the young man and I hope he makes me look bad for

26:17having them this low. There's just too much uncertainty and unproven nature in that tandem to have them a lot higher. Okay. We move off to number six. Yeah, this one this one will probably raise some eyebrows, but it's the Dallas stars. Oh, based on last season, great out right around NHL average. I like the additions they've made for depth, but it's essentially the same tandem of the NHL and Jay Gautinger in case he dismissed. And after like Jay Gautinger started really strong last year, but by the end of the season, by the numbers, by the math. And I think we see how good he can be we see when he's playing well, we see all the skills that he brings. But by the end of the season, he was basically basically in the exact same place statistically that he's been for three seasons now. Exactly on slightly below NHL average relative to the defensive environment. You add Casey to Smith taking a step back by the proprietary numbers at Closed to Analytics last season. Now it was harder to see because his environment was so good 905 expected was the

27:20highest in the NHL of any goalie that faced at least 100 shots last season. Okay, so it was a little harder to see his step back, but it was there. Remi Poie had a really good season in the American League as a depth guy. And I love the addition of Brandon Halverson, great story, experienced guy with NHL upside. But at the end of the day, this is Autumn Jure and Dismith. And this is a track record now between the two that in a pretty good goal-tending division, just grades out around average. Okay, interesting. Now we go to number five. National Predators, I've got them grading out. And what I did is I've taken a look at the numbers, the actual results of the past couple of seasons relative to environment, sort of given them a percentage of starts based on the pecking order one, two. And obviously, that could shift. I've done this for all these teams and sort of graded out where I think they're going to be relative to expect it and then added in some intangibles. And the Preds grade out around plus point four percent. And that's good enough to be fifth in his conference. Sorrow's, he seems to take a lot of heat and Nashville. Yet even in two down seasons,

28:24the last two years in signing his contract and maybe the contract is why he has so much attention on him, he's still finished above expected behind a looser than their reputation might suggest Predators defense. Last two seasons combined, he's still top third of the NHL, ahead of Jake Atenger, ahead of Lucas Stolchtall, ahead of Jeremy Swainman. Eustace Anonen was really good last year, even better than Sorrow's overall sample. But after January 1st, he really took a step plus 1.9% adjusted, say, percentage after the calendar turn. Jason, that's eighth in the entire NHL. He goes on to backstop Finland to a world championship. Yeah, Matt Murray in the American League and their depth is fine. If you get any bounce back to sort of pre-contract elite Sorrow's, it could propel them even higher in a division that I already said has a lot of really good goaltening. Eustace Anonen is a guy who has the potential to be a really you know, one of those sleeper breakout candidates this year if he gets the opportunity. His second

29:26half last year really stood out. And as we all saw, like I said, he followed up with a world championship for Finland. Okay. I like that one because he's a guy that people have kind of been waiting on for a while as Kevin Woodley joins us. We're going through our central division goalie rankings. He has St. Louis a Utah 7 Dallas 6 Nashville 5 and we get to number 4. Now, as I say this one, it's important to remember I'm grading the goal tenders, not the environment. Are the Dallas stars goal tenders going to finish with a better save per centers than a lot of the teams ranked ahead of them? Probably. But again, a lot of that is defensive environment. We're looking at how the goalies perform relative to it. And this is another group that could move up. But I've got them right now at 4 and then it will surprise some people that they're even this heights the Chicago Blackhawks. Yeah. Now, how high they could grade out? Like, I could have had them third ahead of the team that we'll talk about next. So it was really close by the math. And the uncertainty around them is, is it Drew Kamesh or is it Arbor soldier balloon

30:26in the backup spot? Because I don't have a lot of questions about the number one goal tenders Spencer night. And this might surprise some people when they hear this ranking. But Spencer night graded out as the third best starter in this entire division. And we haven't even talked about the top two guys. Like, think of all the goalies in this division. Spencer night last year was plus 1% of full full goal above expected. And so to me, the biggest question about this ranking is who plays behind them. Kamesh was impressive young prospect who played really well in his first first taste of the NHL despite it being a tiny sample. Slaughter balloon took a considerable step back last year after a good 2425. So they trend higher by the numbers if I just plug Kamesh in and assume that his small sample translates. But that's not always the case. I think Slaughter Boomb can play. I think he's better than what he did last year based on what I saw two years ago. So I just kind of accounted for something in between the two. You sort of combine what those two might be if one goes down and one comes up with that averages out to and a hold steady by night.

31:29And hey, listen, that's not a guarantee. But I really like what I saw and how he progressed to get to that stage. So if night hold steady, this should be a really good trio, even if there are questions about what's playing in front of them. Okay. So that leaves us three teams who gets the bronze in the central. The Minnesota wild. And like I said, there are some questions about how the depth chart plays out. How long Gustafson's going to be out kind of similar to the Kamesh. Oh versus Slaughter balloon question that could flip these two. But Jesper Walsett at plus 1.2%. When I said there were only a couple goalies better than Spencer night last year relative to their environment, Jesper Walsett was one of them. Now he started out great, faded a little bit down the stretch. It was just isn't uncommon in your first full NHL season. You had the Olympics, you had the schedule like it was just a unique year. And there was a lot on this young man. But at the end of the day in the playoffs, he showed what he's capable of. Gustafson is interesting because even in a down season last year, and this is what he tends to do,

32:30he finishes right around league averaging his down years. And then he alternates to a great year. And his bounce back is elite. The question now is does that bounce book look the same? And when does it start based on having off season hip surgery? I don't have a timeline on him. So that's to me, that's an interesting one. Calvin Pickard, when I look at his numbers last year, like he almost erases Walsett's numbers. Walsett's plus 1.2% Pickard's minus 1.2%. But I think Pickard's actually a perfect insurance guy, well, Gustafson recovers behind a team that gives its goal tenders a really predictable environment. More akin to what Pickard would have had in Edmonton two seasons ago, than the crap shoot he played behind last year. So you know, some might argue that even gives them trade protection of Walsett excels early and Gustafson becomes expendable. But behind those three is also first year pro chase Whiskey and Riley Mercer, a second year pro spent more time in the ECHL than the AHL last season. So I kind of look at them and I say, I think Pickard ends up in the American Hockey League when Gustafson is back. I don't know that they have the depth to necessarily

33:32make a trade. But when Gustafson returns and you stack them 1, 2, 3, this is probably a trio that deserves to be even higher than the third rank in the have right now. It's young certainty around Gustafson that drops them behind our top two spots. Okay. So we're down to the final two. Who do you have at number two? Well, speaking of uncertainty, all I can do is grade them out worth with the trio or the tandem. And I say trio because I do think depth matters in today's NHL, rarely do you get through a season with just two. But I had to grade them out based on who's there right now. And right now, even though none of us expected to be that way when the season starts or for longer in the season, right now corner Halibut is at the top of the depth, depth chart with the big guts. And I know last year was a down year, he finished right around league average relative to his defensive environment. But up until the late November knee surgery for the first two months of the season, he was vintage corner Halibut. He was plus 1.8% up near the top of the league. And we

34:33obviously all saw what he was capable of when the structure is in place in front of him at the Olympics, backstopping USA to gold. So even though his numbers were down last season, I still grade this tandem up based on Halibut's history rather than his most recent results. Skinner, same thing, history, but his most recent results are below average. Now it's two straight years in a row where he finished below his environment underplayed his environment by just a little bit, not much. I still think it's easy to see how the style in Winnipeg, if they can get back to it defensively, will really fit Stewart's game. And I could see him having a nice bounce back there. Will it be high enough to maintain a number two ranking if Halibut is traded and Skinner's the one instead of the two? You know, probably not. Not without somebody else coming back with him because Millage struggled in his brief financial stint last year. First taste of it to be expected. And Diven Chentis doesn't have a lot of experience either. So obviously it's tough to rank this one other than what we have in front of us because when if and when they trade Halibut, we assume someone else is coming back that can stop Pucks as well. But it's really sort of hard given what's

35:38in front of me to place them any lower than to assuming you get vintage counter Halibut as part of a tandem with Stewart Skinner. Do you sound a side note? Do you think he shows up at camp? I genuinely don't know. And to be honest with you Jason, I say that a little sheepishly because it's probably a question I should have asked some of the people that are close to it and I have it. I don't not sure they tell me anyways. I know I've seen a lot of speculation. There's a lot of buzz out there that he won't. I have heard some, you know, I've have heard the fact this is dragged on and I think you see that in in them releasing a statement or him releasing a statement through his agent. You know that they felt like maybe a deal could have been done sooner and should have been done sooner given what he let them know of his mindset. Is that enough to just completely no show camp? I don't see it. As awkward as it would be for everyone if he's there, I still have have trouble in today's it. We just haven't seen a pure hold up, right? Like and it's probably a

36:40question that can also be asked of Dylan Larkin in Detroit. Like they're it's not just him. But obviously given given how important he is to that team, he'll be in the spotlight and I still doubt it, but you know, like you, we've probably both heard the same thing that's certainly something that's out there in NHL circles as a possibility. All right, so that leaves us with Colorado at number one. Why are they there? Because Scott Wentchwood was that good last year because Mackenzie Blackwood, even through the injuries still played really well. Like they're the only, they're outside of, sorry, outside of Saros and Anonen, they're the only two sort of tandem in the central division, number one and two who were both above expected. And Blackwood was you know, plus 0.6%, which was 30th in the league and Wedgewood was plus 1.9, which was, you know, top 10 in the league. Like he was outstanding. Trent Miner is there number three,

37:42you know, slightly below expected, but you're not expecting much from him because even if one of the other two guys gets hurt, the other ones care capable of carrying the male for a longer period of time. Ilya and Abokov comes in as a prospect with lots of upside, but they've just got such good structure there that there's zero need to rush him up their depth chart into the NHL. So one of the things that I had heard that sort of makes me think we might see more and better on a Blackwood. Now we talked about injuries. That's sort of the long question mark around this guy at this point in his career. Can he stay healthy? I'd heard from somebody who'd been on the ice with him that he's changed some of his training in the off season and dropped a significant amount away. Like he is, he's a big dude. And I don't mean that like in an unhealthy way. Like he's clearly fit, but he's just so big and we've talked about this before. We talked about it with Freddie Anderson, an Edmondsitt. Like a guy who when he broke into the NHL was closer to 275. Every time you drop in in the butterfly, it's two times your body weight, amount of pressure being applied on your knees and through that lower body chain. So when you're like, and I've had other guys that play

38:44with Blackwood, compare him to an NFL linebacker. Like they think physically that's the type of beast he is. It's just a ton of pressure on your lower body. And so it sounds like he's dropped some weight with an eye towards putting less strain on his lower body. And that should improve the odds of him making it through a season healthy, which frankly was the only real question mark around him. I know a lot of people say, oh, Scott Whitewood, like it was one year. But outside of when he was in, like he's such a student of a game, he started strong in Dallas. There are other signs along his career path that he was capable of this. Maybe not to the elite level he hit last year. I mean, should have probably been a Vesna, at least top five in voting. But there's enough progression here that I don't think last year was a complete fluke, not at all. And he's such a passionate goalie guy. And I know their goalie coach, their UC Parkilla, like he would just lean right into the stuff that UC's teaching. And so I see him as a guy who gets better with age as opposed to the chance for him to be a one hit wonder. Does he, does he hit top five, top six in the league again

39:47this year? Yeah, maybe not. But I don't think the drop off is going to be significant, which makes it easier to rank this 10 of tops in the central division. Kevin has always buddy great stuff. Next week, we'll do the Pacific division and then boom, we'll be in the training camp and preseason and we'll have some games to watch. So it should be a lot of fun. Appreciate your time. My pleasure, Jason. Thanks. There you go. That is Kevin Woodley from Ingo magazine and NHL.com. Quick break will come back. We'll talk about that. We got lots of text coming in the orders and more. It's a Gregor Show presenter by play Alberta dot C.A. Yeah, don't go anywhere. Stay right here. It is the Gregor Show presented by play Alberta dot C.A. when you're there, of course, to check out the Jason Gregor Show. Uh, uh, blue specials for you. Of course, we got the rematch already up, uh, Elks. See if they can get the sweep and clinch a playoff spot with the win. Also got a little, uh, Jays action and some early NFL on the, uh, the season opener tomorrow.

40:48Seattle, New England. Like, come on, Seattle's Seattle's winning again, aren't they? Like is, if you had to give me a team in the NFL that I believe is most ripe for, uh, a reduction in wins from last year, I think New England is at the top of my list. They were for it. I think we kind of, they were 14 and three last year. 14 and three. The bills are 12 and five. Jags are 13 and four. Texans 12 and five in the Broncos. Like Broncos of the past, both 14 and three, which team wins fewer games this year? Patriots or the Broncos, Connor, how? Well, I mean, I was being that, Jerome, as much as anyone last year that they were inflated into their fourth place schedule. The one thing I will say about, you know, they've gotten better. Obviously, uh, bringing in Romeo and Dobbs and AJ Brown at the receiver position. I think that's a big upgrade. The Broncos schedule is tough. Like, you kick things off against achieves. We'll see how that

41:50goes, but they've got the jags, the Rams, the Niners, the Chargers, the Seahawks chiefs again. It lightens up a little bit down the stretch, but then they still have the bills and they'll get the Patriots as well. So I'm going to lean Patriots to lose more games this year, but it's not going to be an easy schedule. Like if the Broncos get through this one top spot and kind of retain that win total, uh, they'll be very battle tested as well. Yeah. Okay. Hmm. But it isn't. That's an interesting one for me, even the jags of 13 and four, right? Because they won their final eight games the year last year. Right. The Texans won their last nine games. How many of the Colts lose? That seven seven and a row. Yeah. Like the Colts at one point were eight and two. God, if you're a Colts fan, you're like, don't remind me. You know, because wow, that was, oh, what a fall from grace. Forgot about that. Like they were leading their division. No problem. Their offense was unbelievable last year. Until Daniel Jones got the injury. Yeah. I know who would have thought. Okay. Yeah. Who would have thought the dad that all

42:51the, uh, the doose was, uh, was going to be that good. So we'll see. Now let's get to the oil report brought to you by go auto. You looking for vehicles. Stop in at go auto dot C8. They have over 17,000 available 31 new vehicle brands and 73 locations. Find your ride at go auto dot C8. So the Amazon orders are captain skates, um, officially begun today. And a lot of the big faces were there. Those some other guys will trickle in later this week. The rookies get on the ice on Friday and the veterans will take physicals next Tuesday. And then they'll be on the ice under Mike Babcock on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of next week. And then of course, the preseason game is on Saturday. So it is, uh, it's quick. It's coming. And in shall, uh, Hey, guess what? worth three weeks away from opening night in the national hockey league, which is, uh,

43:55it's right upon us. And I wrote an article today because, you know, I just, I've seen it all on I'm kind of outlined like the Zach Kym and talk. I'm just, I'm kind of surprised by it to be honest. I like Zach Kym and is still an elite goal scoring today's NHL. Get 30 goals in the last 50 games of the season last year. There's only nine guys in NHL who had 30 goals in that same span. Right. And Conor gave it was one. So the order said two of the nine. Hey, Zach Kym and smart player relent. Like the one thing about Hyman for anybody, like he might be the one player that I'd have to rate over the last five years in Eminton. Cause this is entering year number six for him that we might have had the least complaints about when you think about his game. Like now there's not a ton for dry Selurman David, but there'd be a few every now and then they didn't like a back check here. He'd defense the play there. Sure. I get it. But Zach Kym and probably at the bottom of the list,

44:57if we're doing like a ranking of complaints by listeners, he doesn't get much because Zach like no one ever complains about his work ethic. I think we're all not in our head. Yeah. Hyman shows up. He gives you everything he has most nights. I can't recall so and say, geez, Hyman looked like he wasn't working. Right. Like it's kind of his bread and butter. He doesn't make a lot of agree. Just say, or she'll make some of course, but not many. Right. He's very good on the wall. He wins battles. Right. He'll fight the odd time, which endears and almost anybody because most people don't want to fight. Let's be honest. And I can understand it. Like even guys who do fight aren't like, oh, this is awesome. Right. Like most people don't love it. There's a small percentage of people that do. I used to work with a few in premium oil field inspection. Like literally, they're like, hey, what are you doing this for? I'm going home for beer. It's probably going to need a fight. And I'm like, what? Like just kind of how it was. So there's a few people out there that are like that. But the majority of people like, man, if I can avoid it or you know, unless I have to,

46:00I'm not going to do it. So when Hyman does that, people like it. Good skater, relentless forechecker, good on the boards. But most importantly, scores goals. And even if Matt Savoy was healthy, I'm not taking Zach Hyman out of the top six. Like no chance. I like Kessberry Captain. I like Matt Savoy, but they're not Hyman today. I'm not sure they'll ever be Hyman. Well, especially in the style of play, obviously Savoy doesn't have a size completely different players. But I think when you dig into Zach Hyman's numbers, you'll look and see the importance of Zach Hyman. And why I wouldn't be so quick to want to, uh, to want to, to mode him because you like a night coward or a Savoy or some, oh, you know, you got to spread out your offense. Spreading out your offense, honestly, I think it's like the worst idea. Because third line, so I don't score that much. So if you take, like, and Zach Hyman

47:01isn't necessarily a driver for his stock, because there's very few drivers in my books. Very few of them. Orders just happen to have two of them in McDavid and dry. But the list of drivers might be 10, maybe 15, maybe 15. And even then, I'm not, I'm not sold on, on 15 drivers, because it is hard to be a guy that can just everything runs through him. And he makes it all slow. It's difficult to do. You're in it. You might do it for 40 games. I'm talking year after year. There's very few of those guys. But Hyman relentlessly. So if you see anybody, I would just call me ask him, can you help me understand why you think it would be wise to move Zach Hyman anywhere else? Like Zach Hyman fits with McDavid. Now if you want to play McDavid and dry subtle some games at home, okay. And then Hyman is anchoring your second line. It's just what he is. And he's good on the power plate. But he's still very effective at five on five, which is

48:09the orders. You know, scoring goals has never been a big issue. Limiting goals has to be their their biggest focal point heading into this season. No question in my mind, right? And we'll go for that. Like Zach Hyman had 10 of his 31 goals in the power play. New chat 11 of 20. Dry subtle had 16 of 35. And David had 13 of 48. So Hyman had like what the second best rank out of those guys. Far as percentage goes. He's not a guy who relies a ton of the power play. Obviously, he's going to when you're on the best power play in the league, they all have double digits. The forwards, right? The four forwards all had double digits in power play goals last year. So, you know, and when you look around the league, how many four words in the NHL had double digits in power play goals? Keep in mind the orders had four. Do you know how many just off the top of your head? How many in the NHL? Were there 38 amongst 32 teams and the orders had four of them.

49:11Okay. Like their power play is that good. So of course, Hyman's going to get some of his goals in the man advantage. It's a no brainer. So, and you go from there, but I would when the season begins, like if there was something that I am locked in on at Zach Hyman, being predictable and reliable and his head coach coach number four, Hyman's been like, you don't think that matters too. Of course, it does. The coach wants to get off to a good start and you're natural. Any business anywhere, people you trust, people you know, you're going to go with them. You're going to, you know what, if I'm going to go down swinging, I'm going down with my homies, my group. That's just how it is. So I look at at Zach Hyman and all his numbers. I won't be surprised at all. Like Zach Hyman again is a 30 plus goal score. And if he doesn't miss a quarter of the season,

50:12I won't be shocked to be against the 40. Not at all. That is our or report brought to you by go auto. Coming up, we're going to get some CFL talk. The Elks well deserved day off today as they get set for the rematch against the SNS. Well, have a little labor day. Just how difficult it is to win on Labor Day, both games. But first, let's get to the comments. Sports 1440 update brought to you by evolve wheels and tires built on nearly two decades of wheel industry and professional motor sports experience. These guys know fitment from custom wheels and tires to suspension performance successories. Get your setup right with evolve wheels. Edmunds premium wheel entire specialist.