Anyone else hear the JR interview on 850 this afternoon?

[folgersnyourcup]

Anyone else catch this interview? It was right at around 5 p.m. today. It was very interesting. He talked a lot about the draft, the defensive situation, etc. I'm eating dinner now but will type more about it when I get back if someone else hasn't talked about what he said by that time. They need to promote these things more! I was really surprised to turn on the radio on the way home from work and hear JR! Or perhaps I was just out of it and didn't realize he was going to be on.

[nccanes]

I only heard the last few minutes. He said that everyone was recovered and cleared to practice - even Boulerice, though he was still concerned about him and they would watch him closely at camp. He said he saw Brind'Amour this morning in his office and he looks great and it working out at the RBC daily.

I missed the prior discussion about individual players, so Folg fill us in on that. I did hear Adam Gold bring up Bayda and JRs response was that expected him in the top 9. Gold asked him about rolling 4 lines and he seemed to hedge on that and said "it's possible that Paul would experiment with that" but he said that with the focus on increasing goal scoring he wasn't sure if they'd go that direction. Folg, correct me if I've got his sentiment wrong.

Looking forward to hearing more.

[SouthernHockeyChick]

Gold asked him about rolling 4 lines and he seemed to hedge on that and said "it's possible that Paul would experiment with that" but he said that with the focus on increasing goal scoring he wasn't sure if they'd go that direction.

Well, THAT annoys me to no end.

[folgersnyourcup]

You are correct. He talked about the possibility of rolling four lanes. Discussed having Vasicek possibly playing left wing on the third lane. Towards the beginning of the interview he said the Adams' family would probably find themselves on the third lane but then suggested towards the end that they could be on the fourth line but if they were would play way more than 5 minutes (he said this jokingly referring to their playing time the season before last) and that if they were on the 4th line the lines would most likely be rolled continuously. He said it was a decision that needed to made during training camp whether to give the top two lines the overwhelming majority of the ice time or to roll all four lines.

He specifically mentioned Hereema as a player he hoped would be further along by now and said that he will see about how he does at training camp. As you said, JR said that Bayda would be in the top 9. He mentioned as he did a bit ago that there would most likely be three new defenseman on the team. When questioned about Wesley he said the same "can't talk about it until after July 1st" song and dance.

JR stressed that all players would be fully healed by training camp. He compared now to last year at this time in that last year the team was tired out and needed rest after the finals run. He said this now the team would like to start the season today if they could and were ready to go!

He mentioned he was glad to be able to sign Weekes so quickly for 2 million, that he was getting 1.6 million last year but with bonuses ended up getting 2.2 million and that both sides agreed that a 2 million dollar start was a great deal. He said he is looking forward to what Kevin can do with the number one job from the get-go.

He stressed that he was grateful for what Irbe had done for the organization and that like many players on the team had an off year. He said that he is working with Irbe's agent to cut a deal that sends him to another NHL team with JR paying part of his salary. He said Irbe deserves to retire playing in the NHL.

He discussed the draft saying that this was a very important time in the Hurricanes' future. He specifically said that Stall is being compared to Ron Francis due to his size, character, and playmaking ability. Adam Gold responded with "Hmm, being compared to Francis isn't too bad!" which got a bit of a chuckle out of JR.

I believe that's about it. I missed the beginning of the interview. I listened for about 15-20 minutes and at the end Adam said that it was a very long interview so I have no clue how much I missed.

Hope this is useful to you guys!

[folgersnyourcup]

I just saw the post about O'Neill, sorry, nothing was mentioned while I was listening about a possible Jeff O trade.

[1Irbegirlforever]

Gold asked him about rolling 4 lines and he seemed to hedge on that and said "it's possible that Paul would experiment with that" but he said that with the focus on increasing goal scoring he wasn't sure if they'd go that direction.

Well, THAT annoys me to no end.


Is ANYONE in the organization ready to take some kind of action to CHANGE our gameplay from that of "let's get by" to "let's be a strong hockey team?"

I am in a BAD mood today.... :roll:

[1Irbegirlforever]

He stressed that he was grateful for what Irbe had done for the organization and that like many players on the team had an off year. He said that he is working with Irbe's agent to cut a deal that sends him to another NHL team with JR paying part of his salary. He said Irbe deserves to retire playing in the NHL.


Thank you! Finally i hear it from somebody... :spin:

[SouthernHockeyChick]

Towards the beginning of the interview he said the Adams' family would probably find themselves on the third lane but then suggested towards the end that they could be on the fourth line but if they were would play way more than 5 minutes (he said this jokingly referring to their playing time the season before last) and that if they were on the 4th line the lines would most likely be rolled continuously.

Yes, YES!!! That is what I want to hear! (I think)

Thanks for posting that Folg!

[nccanes]

I know I tend to be less critical than some of the rest of you, but I think I can understand what JR is getting at with the line/ice time issue - at least with this roster.

I know there is a train of thought that he is expecting the 1st two lines to play too much (Ronnie specifically), but I can also appreciate that fact that the Canes don't necessarily have same scoring ability from the 1 thru 12 forwards.

Didn't someone do a comparison between Joe and KAdams' stats. Joe played 20 fewer games and 2 fewer points. NHL.com shows the average time on ice to be about the same. Joe with about 16 and KAdams with 14.5.

So, I guess I can understand that the law of averages has to play on the mind of the coach/GM. Much like O'Neill takes the most shots and scores the most goal, the scoring lines have more chances if they are on the ice more.

So now someone will dispute this with even more compelling reasons for rolling 4 lines, so I will probably say "nevermind" a few posts further down. ;)

[SouthernHockeyChick]

I know I tend to be less critical than some of the rest of you, but I think I can understand what JR is getting at with the line/ice time issue - at least with this roster.

I know there is a train of thought that he is expecting the 1st two lines to play too much (Ronnie specifically), but I can also appreciate that fact that the Canes don't necessarily have same scoring ability from the 1 thru 12 forwards.

Didn't someone do a comparison between Joe and KAdams' stats. Joe played 20 fewer games and 2 fewer points. NHL.com shows the average time on ice to be about the same. Joe with about 16 and KAdams with 14.5.

So, I guess I can understand that the law of averages has to play on the mind of the coach/GM. Much like O'Neill takes the most shots and scores the most goal, the scoring lines have more chances if they are on the ice more.

So now someone will dispute this with even more compelling reasons for rolling 4 lines, so I will probably say "nevermind" a few posts further down. ;)

I don't totally disagree with what you are saying, Eileen. Obviously you seem to get more scoring with your scorers on the ice longer. My thoughts are that the Adams guys proved that they could score with some more minutes.

I'm not talking about last year's minutes as the Adamses got way more minutes since they were bumped up to the third line for quite a bit of the season. Jeff Daniels ice minutes (of 8.3) might be a better gauge of what typical 4th line minutes under Mo seem to me to be.

I just don't think we need to run Ronnie and Jeff into the ground with 19+ minutes per game when we've shown that Craig and Kevyn can create offense if given the chance. And the talk that they may bump the Adamses up to 3rd and Joe down to 4th? That seems ludicrous since, while providing SOME offense they don't provide much. As far as a reward for their hard work goes I like the idea of playing them more as the 4th line than bumping them up to 3rd and sitting what may be more talented players, IMO.

But I totally get what you're saying. It's like every single opinion I seem to have lately....the other side makes perfect sense to me I'm just partial to this one. ;)

[nccanes]

I just don't think we need to run Ronnie and Jeff into the ground with 19+ minutes per game when we've shown that Craig and Kevyn can create offense if given the chance. And the talk that they may bump the Adamses up to 3rd and Joe down to 4th? That seems ludicrous since, while providing SOME offense they don't provide much. As far as a reward for their hard work goes I like the idea of playing them more as the 4th line than bumping them up to 3rd and sitting what may be more talented players, IMO.


I think the "Joe to the 4th line" was more Adam Gold than JR. I'm not sure what JR said that made Adam later suggest that, but I suppose it was the discussion about what the Adams boys had earned. JR kind of chuckled in response to the suggestion about Joe on the 4th.

Again, didn't hear the whole thing, but it almost sounded like Gold hadn't read the article where JR mentioned this whole thing - or maybe he likes to think he is drawing these pronouncements out of JR or something.

[Shell]

They have the interview posted now:

http://850thebuzz.com/rams/gold-rutherford61603.ram Real Audio

http://850thebuzz.com/sound/gold-rutherford61603.wma Window's Media Player

[olivia1299]

I can't wait for Sat., that is the beginning of 03'-04' as far as I 'm concerned.
JR said all the right things and really seems to have grasp of how important this off season is to this franchise. Let's get it on!!! :cool:

[Shell]

There was another special front office access today. He talked about Markov and is very confident that we'll sign him. He said we would go about contract talks differently than Phoenix did, and offer him more money than they did and things would be fine. He went on to say that if it is so great to play in Russia, then why aren't 10 or 12 guys going to play there? everyone wants to play in the NHL. Adam asked him if he was going to offer a front loaded one year contract with the looming lock-out. JR said he was approaching it like he did with everyone else. He said he wasn't going to do that and I believe he said he would commit to 3 years. Adam asked if they had any recourse if he did decide to go back to Russia with Phoenix and JR said no, that Markov was our property now. He also said that he didn't think that Phoenix knew what the situation was ( :roll: ). Adam asked about Markov's history of never making it through the season without injuries and missing games. JR said he understood that but that it is OK because Markov gets injured playing so hard and just putting everything into it. He said having him in for 71 games would have equaled 71 better games. When he's injured it will give someone a chance to step up for a while and get some experience. They discussed Tanabe and JR said he was really disappointed in him and that he started off well last season but quit half way through. He mentioned Igor was still 2 years away from being in the NHL and we need someone now, and that someone isn't potential but a really good player.

Adam asked JR if he was going to do some trades or buy some free agents, especially to bolster the blue lines. JR said probably not since Markov is more expensive than Tanabe. They are talking with Markov's agent tomorrow and will know by the end of the week what's going on there. If somehow we didn't get Markhov than he would put the money into a free agent. Not an issue because he's going to sign Markov.

Adam said he thought people were going to be thrilled to have Murray here, and that everyone will love him. Mentioned the game against us where Murray got two goals and JR laughed and said he always played his best against us. Adam then asked about having an A line.. but not like New Jersey's A line, but an Annoying line which would be Murray and the Adams'. JR laughed and said that would be a deadly combination and he thought it would work out well. He said he isn't sure where he'll play yet, especially since he is so versatile and can play left wing and right wing well even though he is a natural center. Mentioned him playing with Brindy perhaps. All that will be worked out at camp.

Adam asked how the D lines would be and assumed that Hill and Hedi would play with each other. Who would be next with Markov? JR said Hedi and Hill won't necessarily be on the same line as each other and they had a ton of options for Markov because he can play left or right. Said it was possible he could play with Bruno. Adam asked about Malec and would he make it, and if so would he be on defense? JR laughed and said, first of all, the only reason he was playing forward was to get some experience while so many guys were out. We're not going to use him as a forward, he will be defense. Then he said he was only 20 when he was playing with us and that he doesn't want to push him into the pressure cooker too quickly. Adam asked if that is what he did wrong with Tanabe (LOL). Jr laughed and said Maybe.

Then they talked a little bit about Richmond, who we got as the first player selected in round 2. JR said he was a mean nasty d-man who played dirty and that you need one or two people like that on your team. (hope I misunderstood him there, I like mean and nasty OK, but not dirty).

well, that's all that I remember and I was paraphrasing everything. Hope I got it all right.

[hyena]

great recap, shell. i heard the interview as well and couldn't think of anything that you left out.

also, adam gold interviewed marty murray a few minutes before the JR interview. marty sounds like a nice guy, and he sounded genuinely happy about coming here. adam asked what position he would play and marty said just where he would fit in the best, that he was more natural at center but could play either wing almost as well. he agreed with adam referring to him as an 'energy player' that would fit in well with the adams family. nice interview.

[Turbulence]

Good write-up, Shell. I'm certainly happy to hear that we have a good chance with Markov...
Everything else JR said was pretty much what we had thought up in the past week or so...so I'm glad to hear that we know what we're talking about!
Murray with Brindy would be an interesting line...Murray-Brindy-Cole would certainly be an energy-filled line. I can't wait until camp!