Wild On 7th – Episode 71: Brackett, Billy, and the Boys
This is Wild on 7th your favorite wild podcast did you guys see this this is unbelievable what is that all about ker get in here for the real thing like let’s get weird maybe I blacked out trying to figure out what was going on doubt worry fear cuz that’s what we’re breaking the mold on here welcome to Wild on 7 presented by Pilot games we’re here until it’s here and welcome back to Wild done 7th your favorite podcast this is a summer edition we’ve got some sweet hats on the table ker will’ll get to those in a second uh we’ve got a lot this is what we’d call a smorgus board episode we’ve been off a while we were we had some Band-Aids on this spring and into June cuz well we didn’t have a horse in the race so uh we went into I don’t know probably healing mode and but we’re coming out after the draft Boom the excitement is back all of a sudden and speaking of the draft we’re going to have J bracket Bill Garen and the Wild’s first and second round picks with us through the course of this Marathon podcast because why not get right back into it and just throw the entire kitchen sink at the fans uh but before we do let’s take a second uh let’s make sure we we recognize the sponsors this is brought to you by Pilot games make sure when you’re out enjoying your Libations this is post 4th of July now I think it’s July 8th that we’re recording this but uh it’s it’s summer season you’re outside it’s also pole tab season and when you’re playing them try those e tabs cuz when you use pilot games products when you use them your community wins uh appreciate their support uh ker you’re looking like the Fourth of July uh and The Summer’s going well for you you’ve got a nice yeah tan going the hair is looking nice I’ve been I’ve been I’ve been doing good yeah I uh I like the sun we’re on the lake um I’m very optimistic about this year I uh there’s been a little bit of this negativity buzzing around in the kind of Kayan sort of little circles and I think everything went wrong last year that could have ever gone wrong all the injuries Sweden trip bad start go tending was a little off I don’t know man let’s just let’s have a great year let’s defy expectations let’s make 24-25 excellent I’m very excited about this Z boo that we picked up he looks like a stud that fell into our laps and this uh trenin seems terrifying in a really great way um I mean I I look forward to interviewing him at some point but uh yeah like all the the messages are right let’s be hard to play against let’s be better on the PK let’s get off to a better start yeah I like I like it let’s let’s go I think if if you’re a fan and what’s concerning a little bit is probably the like the lack of change yep you know it’s you you bring in trenin who will have an impact but it’s not one of the big names that you saw out on the market you know and but did the Wild have the money for that and I think everybody knew that was going to be the case but then there was speculation that there would be trade and other things going on and uh on most fronts it seemed rather quiet so it it seems like they picked up trenin and uh loo the the trade with Boston and uh what looked like a pretty good draft for him no question it looked like a great draft but other than that it’s it’s the same guys back it’s it’s two maybe three [Music] better Seasons U you know like if Hartman goes from 20 to 2530 if Freddy gadrow scores a few more goals and um Baldi maybe finds a little bit more consistency and uh I heard Bill Garen at one point mention that when they made the coaching change Krill had six goals and Baldi had one you know and it was a slow start goal tending obviously didn’t have its best year injuries played a huge Factor um and and we through take it listen to Billy interview too cuz there’s a lot there where he he touches on that hey we bolstered Iowa but at the same time we’ve got some injury insurance with the the guys they signed to two-way deals and those are lucrative two-way deals for those guys like they’re basically NHL players um so not a lot changed but they’re they’re hoping that the guys he’s like hey we have the talent on the roster to be a playoff team and and um you know maybe a little bit of help and changing identity and refocus on what’s important well all of a sudden they’ll be in the right spot I mean is that a fair assessment yeah and I I think um with Billy too he uh he he takes that stuff head on you know when he you know whether it’s people saying you know uh the critique that I’ve been hearing out there is we’re kind of Trapped In This middle six world are we going to have all the money we wanted at the end of next year and um I I just think get back into the playoffs um build towards the future and everything can change and I heard you earlier somewhere else maybe on a different pod you were kind of feeling like uh you know having the goal tending depth could be a good thing too with with the bus and flower and obviously the young kid pushing from Iowa is that you still feeling good about that having the three goalies yeah where where I would have concern is I I think goalies just take time and it it seems a goalie Prime is I don’t know 27 28 I think a player Prime is like 24 25 kind of so if Gus had a great year and I think you saw he’s capable of and then he signs a one-way deal he has some stuff happen off the ice he’s got a family and things change a little bit and sometimes you just got to give those guys time to figure it out and that’s the hard part about this game is it’s a what have you done for me lately kind of business but I think that Gus is a a great rebound um type of guy where they thought that maybe hey let’s let’s unload these guys or one of them and save three million and go get a score I think Bill touched on this too look at the guys that that went in free agency nobody’s going for that kind of money so that wasn’t going to happen I think that the wild would maybe end up having more egg on their face if they forced a trade ran somebody out um somebody like Gus because Gus seems to be the guy flurry signed late last year Wall said’s not going anywhere so Gus would be the odd man out um I I think it’s good for them to have options and good for them to have competition and I think it’s also good and I I’m I don’t know I’m not in Management’s room I wouldn’t give up on Gus he he showed what he’s capable of it’s a matter of finding that more consistently now and that that’s development that’s I mean that’s that’s what it’s about he’s still young I think he’s 24 years old like don’t give up on the guy like look at dubnick he I think he was on his fourth team when he came here then all of a sudden he was an Allstar you know and you could look across the league Jacob marrom same kind of thing there’s there’s a lot of goenda taking four three four teams because teams give up on them a little too soon but um yeah I like the goalie situation you know the one thing I didn’t ask Billy and I wanted to I we kind of I wanted to get your take on this um this team has had bad starts to the seasons to the season so the these first like 10 games and historically when I’ve looked at the schedule um we’ve we’ve we used to even call it I remember our first year doing this it was like the group of death like the first five games were against really hard team so this year we go Columbus Seattle Winnipeg St Louis Columbus Florida Tampa Philly I mean it’s like seven of those 10 teams were not in the playoffs if I’m not mistaken then Pittsburgh yeah right so that helps but how do you like I was wondering from Billy standpoint how do you check on guys like how do you make sure you have are you looking at Instagram going like hey I don’t think Bush Light peach that’s a lot of bush Light peach like how do you these guys are Pros I I don’t think that you I actually think you’d get Negative return if you were if you were micro you just let it they know what they need to do PR if they don’t show up then then you you lay the hammer down then you make life stink a little bit for them um I I don’t think that you should you probably shouldn’t babysit them in the summer uh at least guys that have have been established and they’re on their second deal or something you know do you think he’ll run a different training camp like will he play the starters in those preseason games almost like NFL teams do sometimes that’s proba they catch 22 let’s go that’s a catch 22 for for the preseason like how many games do you have you want to get your young guys in but you want the NHL Club ready what’s most important you need the the NHL to get off to a super hot start but at the same time injuries were an issue last year so do you want to throw those guys out there like I think uh Spurgeon got hurt last game of exhibition last year and then all of a sudden the season changed five preseason games Winnipeg Dallas Winnipeg Dallas Chicago man we’re going to have a little down from Seven I think it was seven the year prior it’s going to be a more serious Camp it’s going to be a more pointed camp and there’s going to be more skating it’s going to be less load management more get to work yep you know and I like that I do too I think that’s what it’s going to be but there there’s there’s give and take there it’s a long season but they’ve had a long off season and I think that um we’ll have another type of Billy moment that we had two years ago if you remember what was it uh why are we here why are we here with Jared Spurgeon it it it’ll there will be another moment like that where the conversation to kickoff Camp No More Mr Nice sets a certain tone I think I could see that as well I uh Hey I want to ask you how um how was your summer going do we have any good Carter kid stories from Athletics that you want to share have we had like a handshake line incident no have we had like uh any sort of you’re finding some chips on the shoulder you guys are keeping it clean yeah keeping it clean uh it’s been soccer so we’re running around from field to field soccer lacrosse uh it’s it’s summer hockey a little bit here and there too uh but this is we’re we we’re kind of in the midst of our own summer of yes like last year’s uh yeah you’re going on a road trip oh we were up at the lake um the girls were at Camp so uh they had stay over Camp they had Day Camp they were they’re playing sports we’re tubing skiing boating swimming now we’re going out to South Dakota we’ll go to the Dells um yeah they they’ll have birthdays it’s I’m I’m going to Blink and The Summer’s going to be over like this is uh this summer might be the most epic that my kids have that’s great one of the things when when we had the little kids is we would ask them after the trip what the best part of the trip was and and sometimes they would say being in the car together you know cuz you’re I mean it can be a family fun house don’t get me wrong it can go sideways on you but just being together you know uh not looking at your phone um Drive in maybe and make a playlist for that part of the country or whatever I I miss that we would pick a spot every summer and just go whether it was down to Florida to Boston out west and yeah man enjoy get some good beef jerky Bob seer’s pretty good on the road uh Zack Brown is pretty good on the road um you got to you got to work through the the music it’s a long drive yeah no it is uh it’s going to be a long drive out there I’ve uh I’ve done the the South Dakota tour before too I don’t remember how far it is from spot to spot but you feel like they’re in close proximity but they’re actually a couple hours apart if you’re going from place to place so uh we’ll see we’ll we’ll see how this goes I will say this Cosmos have you heard of this no okay so there’s a a a Roadside Attraction called the cosmos and it’s in a Vortex and I you’re going to think this is BS but I’ve been there twice I went there as a kid I would be the same age as your kids now and I went back as a parent thinking it was going to be obvious to me what they were doing in the cosmos your kids will stand on a plank and they’ll switch being taller than each other you could throw a tennis ball it’ll curve even though you’re not trying to the it’s like a fun house inside there and I went back as an adult thinking this whole thing would be obvious like it’s built on the side of a hill or what no idea it’s the weirdest place on Earth all the trees are like growing in a circle almost it’s worth doing it it’s right on the road you’ll see the sign Cosmos I promise you take the kids to the cosmos it’ll it’s so bizarre mind it’s really good I uh hey did you watch the schedule release videos from some of the teams no you saw um Faber and Middleton went on I didn’t know you know that I guess Middleton’s super scared of uh like all that kind of stuff but he drives a motorcycle everywhere is that weird he’s like scared of uh roller coasters but just he’s like on a trip with his dad right now driving motorcycles that does that doesn’t add up right I don’t know maybe he had a bad time in the county fair with those rides Carney maybe a Carney experience we can dig into but that was a great video with the hockey day Minnesota coming to Valley Fair but um did there was a couple more of this uh the Devils did a great one with um uh I forget who the they had this guy acting and then uh uh one of the teams did they had a field trip with like seven-year-olds coming in doing the schedule release it’s amazing that that’s turned into like a creative contest for teams the uh do you notice anything about the schedule are you excited to go to Utah or anything jumping out at you yeah no uh I I looked at it um it it looks like uh the schedule’s laid out pretty well I think in terms of workload too um the four nations tournament is in there so there’s a break and stuff too for that um no I think the schedule looks great but I think we’re Utah twice yeah get to go there twice the B Vegas only once and it’s on the second of a back toback so that’s going to stink for uh the traveling crew because usually Vegas is a decent spot to hang on um but the other bomber is I think it’s Florida early in the year yeah like you like Florida in I wonder if this is a road game this uh this Florida I think it is I think I think Florida’s right out of the gate like maybe October even like it’s yeah at Florida October 22nd you’re right it does look like the kind of you can maybe get a running start at a schedule I sure hope so I don’t want to be holding our breath chasing it like we have been are you optimistic I um I it seems like there’s low like the expectations are kind of like well it’s the same guys yeah and we didn’t make the playoffs last year so what do we expect to be different so I I really do think if we could get back into the playoffs and have some success I think people will really enjoy it well it’s a lot like Blackjack though you’re you’re you’re about to double down you know and you’re doubling down on the same guys and you get one card this group is going to get one card flip up you could hit 21 I mean you could be you could be right where you want to be and everything is great you could flip a three and then all of a sudden boom you’re toast or something you know or um I think that’s kind of what it is for them right now is management said we have faith in you guys and this is the group and that’s it they’ve got to go out and play they’ve accepted that last year was an anomaly and that the excuses were probably reasons more so then excuses um and they’ve they’re given them a chance uh am I optimistic yeah I think that the team has talent I think it’s it’s shown that they can win I do think that they’re going to need more from everybody now are they capable of that um that’ll be the question like they’re going to they’re still going to need more from Baldi they might still need somehow need more from cill um and at the same time everybody’s a year older so in a in a team that’s uh not not long in the tooth but they’re not the oldest group but they’re not the youngest group and an extra year we’ll see um we’ll see how it works but I’m optimistic I think I I think they’re a playoff team uh uh yeah absolutely I think it’s nerve wck when you look at some of the moves the other teams in the central made a little bit Nashville yeah Nashville went out yeah went Bonkers Nashville had the credit card off Dallas is going to be good I actually think I could see Colorado maybe come back down to earth a little bit they like they’re having issues the Central’s nasty I mean it’s going to be it’s this start does matter you know we don’t play a lot of division foes it looks like right out of the gate there’s some East Coast stuff there if we can get rolling uh get Carill going faster let’s Also let’s also celebrate I think Dylan has moved to the east so he’s no longer in Winnipeg so kill God Carill might be healthy for the year yeah knock on yeah we don’t like that he’s he’s good at sitting on people and Stanley that’s the other guy right they have a couple guys no I’m optimistic it’s uh it’s going to be good I’m also optimistic though ker that uh my house is going to be in good shape when I get back after these road trips why it’s been a rainy year it really has been wet yeah so there’s I’m always nervous when you leave for a while there’s going to be issues or water issues but I I’m not this year because I had the roof replaced by wild construction oh you did yeah gutters and and everything so now I know it doesn’t matter whatever Mother Nature throws at the house it’ll taken care of so um if you ever want that same peace of mind you should reach out to Wild construction I know there’s been some storms that have ripped through maybe less the Metro more up north uh Brooklyn our our podcast helper here she’s uh she’s from Cross Lake I know that area was ripped uh ripped up through with a storm tons of hail wild construction uh they’ve got people up there uh boots on the ground so if you’ve got a a primary home a secondary home in that location look them up man they’ll they’ll take care of you um they’ve got the research tool right on their website you see if you’re in the area if storm has been populated if there’s hail and give them a shout they’ll come take care of you so that when you go on your road trip you’ll have a little piece of Mind wild construction mn.com you know we just built our house it’s only a year old but uh Jimmy’s klaw gives me that same piece of mind at times um it’s got this classic Supper Club taste that’s how they describe it uh you may not know this but in the latest iri data um Jimmy is the bestselling klaa in the state of hockey uh second oh wait what’s that Jimmy’s pineapple second yeah that’s right they’re they’re one and two kind of like Z and uh and R right that’s kind of what they are in terms of klaw if we if Jud bracket were to draft him so check out Jimmy’s K slaws and dips don’t you be messing with my dress God midseason form I like that one two Jud bracket draft like I don’t know if I need to talk to his agency about like did I just do ads with them in it that was talk to sikman about it it’s fine that was magic uh and maybe maybe great too because of the segue that it it allows us like let’s let’s let’s bring Jud in but before we do um yeah so this interview along with all the interviews on the Wild on 7th podcast are presented by Duke Canon Duke Canon makes hardworking grooming products for hardworking dudes if your hair is a weapon or you wish it was check out Duke Canon great colog great big bricks of soap you can find them at the hardware store you can find them at Target Minnesota company Duke Cannon here’s Jud bracket Jud is a scout where do you draw the limits on scouting uh do you ever look at Men’s leagues looking for some hidden talent out there we haven’t got around to that yet but we I’ve talked to Billy we that’s definitely an apartment we got to we got to extend to yeah s untapped Market seven and seven8 size head that’s problem we don’t have we don’t have helmet for that you can’t teach that you can’t teach that yeah so uh ker uh real quick let’s get into the Fourth of July though because we’re coming off that I think today’s what July 7th or 8th and uh yeah how was it how was the holiday it was great I uh I liked it being on a Thursday you get kind of extra time you get I I think that’s about as good as it can be that’s as long as it can be maybe if it was on a Wednesday he could fudge the Thursday and the Friday and end up with a five dayer but uh other than that I thought it was great I Fourth of July itself uh was a little rainy so they kicked it one day forward but no problem watched it from Shore scared of the lake on the fourth to watch what from Shore the fireworks fireworks yeah I don’t like to be on the no the day after they did it on the 5th and uh I don’t like being on the water on the 4th of July why just too many just too many goons out there oh I thought I thought this was like a you were afraid of fire or something no I think that would be a safe spot that’s what I thought I could probably roll off the Pontoon at that point but um no I just uh too many just I don’t know yahoos out there like to be on land how about you yeah where do you take it in Jud uh I was on Cape Cod so obviously uh have the restaurants out there too it’s a great week for us uh I didn’t see anybody on the cape who had any trouble rolling Wednesday through Sunday but they all took a five day we had great weather um big weekend for the for the for the restaurants too so you’re I mean you’re you’re traveling all over the place it’s Vegas Cape back here to Minnesota uh what’s the Fourth of July on the cape like uh quintessential you get the you get the parade which is great um and then it’s you know everyone’s on boats golfing in the restaurants at night so small town community but fireworks at night it’s a it’s a it’s a it’s a real good take what’s your restaurant yeah I didn’t know you’re a restaurant tour oh yeah my uh my brother and I have uh two restaurants uh in Harwich where we grew up uh the port and Ember um they’re probably about 300 yards apart right on the Main Street which is great uh music at both uh one’s a cold fire pizza and one’s more of a you know an upscale um you know Steak Seafood Martini but then turns into pretty pretty Lively at night really yeah geez how did you get into that uh parents had a restaurant in the same town so we grew up uh working in them and and got the bug so you grew up in the restaurant business so you’re familiar with it then how the heck did you get into hockey well it cap God seasonal so I had Winters you know after playing and then a lot of time off in the winter wanted to get into coaching and it sort of evolved into scouting and it’s uh it’s been a great parlay so like the Cap’s population doubles in the summer then it gets pretty quiet in the winter yeah it gets real quiet in the winter yeah some like Northern Minnesota yeah I was just in the cape I was in Mash p and cont to it can it how close is that to your uh World Headquarters out there should should be about 30 minutes but in the summer you’re that’s a good that’s a good poke it’s it’s good out there man a lot of people doing a whole lot of nothing yeah American Flags we bought a hat for my dog when we were there cuz that’s the kind of stuff you get in the cape he’s been wearing it no big deal but uh no it’s uh it’s great so you’re you’re a renaissance man you can see the future with draft picks two restaurants just came out of the sphere in Las Vegas man you’re cool let’s get let’s get into the draft a little bit um so the sphere how was that I mean it looked awesome it was incredible what a what a venue I mean obviously the you know the audio visual effects were incredible I thought they did a really good job too in terms of the stage was Central so everyone you know all the teams were sort of around the stage with a chance to get up and see the players there um but I it was a really good take I thought they did a great job you know just seeing the collage of all the all the players faces and then the highlights I thought they did an incredible job yeah so centralized draft but it’s the NHL’s last or maybe not the last but they’re changing the way that they’re going to do it and they kind of go out on top I think because the venue looked great I don’t know that they could have done a better job but now everybody it looks like next year the drafts are going to be more remote where everybody’s in their own War Room call it in the cities well could be any City I suppose but then the draft will be some other place like how’s that going to work it’ll it’ll probably be a little bit like it was during Co right where you you set up the War Room conference room with with your scouting staff and and call in the picks um not sure how they’re going to do it with the players right you’re going to want some sort of central Hub so maybe like what the NFL does where they’re they’re in a venue where they still get on stage and get their jerseys I would assume yeah um but uh details are haven’t come out yet sure they even a little bit of Buzz that maybe it was so good in Vegas that there’s some second thoughts about oh is that right yeah we’ve heard that I don’t know any truth I mean I believe that it looked great and it worked now there’s like there’s deals that get done and things that get worked out like on the draft floor too because everybody’s there for the whole week and you know all of a sudden there will be a void probably there and how is that filled is that more phone calls or whatever so but um in your role does that kind of St factor in you know being in close proximity to the other 31 teams 100% I mean it’s a it’s a week of information so it’s fact finding you hear about who’s interviewing a player we’re we’re doing the same you know we’re bringing players in to talk to them um one more time uh but you hear what other teams are doing too and there’s agents around the players are around so it’s just and and it’s great to just have you know a week together with our staff right we’re you know we’re spread out from west coast East Coast over to Europe so for us to get a week together um you know put our brains together and have have uh you know a chance to collaborate collaborate together and and gather some information and run mock drafts it’s it’s a it’s a really important week but there’s also the other side of it too we get you know the the you know we get a runner to get gets to go I mean that’s a huge part my boys and my and my daughter have all got a chance to do it you know Hendrick’s guy did it this year so that’s a really special part that you lose out on yeah that would be cool so what is that the runner like runs the pick someplace or something they get they are at the table with us uh get to go up on stage usually carry the jersey and the hat up there um and sit with us all you know the whole the whole draft so when we need coffee we need that’s why it’s the the Run yeah we coffee chips whatever they’re the ones so we don’t have to leave the table um but pretty awesome experience for them too yeah so kinger you’re pretty excited about the first pick yeah I mean they couldn’t announce it they were done announcing it before my phone was blowing up with excitement well I didn’t think we had a chance to get him to be honest I mean he played so well in the Frozen Four he wrecked it for my Boston College Eagles but uh plus just being able to yell like boo when he scores and stuff the Z I don’t know I I just think he seems like a stud and and what we’re already doing with Faber and then adding another um good American Boy uh to the Blue Line what can you tell us about zeve like you certainly not who uh who we expected to see there you know we envisioned him top five maybe yeah when and and there was there was talk you know of him going in that in that range we sat there sort of with baited breath watching and all right he’s going to go here uh it’s going to be this pick so with every pick that went by you know we had to start thinking about you know where’s the point where’s the breaking point where we can where we can get up and you know there were still um a couple defenseman there when San Jose was going um so we thought you know this is the first time maybe there’s a chance here and as soon as uh that pick was in we were we were on the phone to to try to get up one spot we just couldn’t wait so he yeah so he was the guy that you’re like you see that he’s he’s still available and that like you thought he was Untouchable so then all of a sudden your list is changing a little bit cuz he’s at the top of it thinking like he maybe wasn’t even on your list to begin with thinking like he’s not going to be available yeah we ran a lot of mocks and and scenarios you know we do some historical trends that try give us some suggestion on what might be there and very very rarely was he was he the end result for us you know and now what was he like maybe the six dman pick so there was a bunch I mean and that was what Pick 12 yeah so the the draft must have been heavy on defenseman yes and especially early and and rightfully so you had you had guys not just z z had a historically incredible year in terms of production as a freshman in in college hockey plus he does nothing but win right he wins a world championship last April with the u8 team wins the world juniors wins a national title but on top of that you had you know two defenseman that had 30 plus goals in the CHL you know one’s a 6′ three right shot with 100 100 penalty minutes on top of it you’ve got um you know you’ve got a a 6 foot7 defenseman playing the KHL playing 24 minutes already so it was a it was a really incredible group of defenseman um and you know maybe that’s what helps yeah and so and and is some of that because I was trying to figure out like how a guy with that kind of talent Falls and you looked at some of the teams that were selecting dmen you know Pick 10 and above and they might already have like their PP quarterback like a Vancouver or somebody like that that has a Quinn Hughes and I don’t know where Van picked off the top of my head but just something like that where they they they had a piece that would be like Z so then they went maybe a different direction wanted a 6′ s kind of Tyler Meers type of dman or something because that helps complement what they have or something no doubt and we and we that was part of our forecasting too looking at teams looking at what they have for depth you know I think uh I think Philly mentioned even afterwards you know they have you know they have uh tale and Andre and um I think they got like a cam York a young guy so they you know they’ve circled the market a little bit so you know was it you know they make their own decision but uh you know that we we tried to exploit some of that looking at teams and who Mike you know se’s a six-footer so could there be teams with
Summer is in full swing but hockey is always on our mind at Wild on 7th, so we’re bringing you a marathon of a pod this week! Director of Amateur Scouting, Judd Brackett sits down with Carts and King to discuss the draft, the process, and the Sphere! Billy G swings by to talk all things Wild, Wawa and 4 Nations; and a couple of this years draft highlights, first-rounder Zeev Buium and second-rounder Ryder Ritchie sit in for a taste of show business in the NHL.
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