Mm.

Um, and, uh, it was like, I don't, I don't think anyone knew what the hell was going on, but we lived in, like, a tiny bungalow, the four of us, and, uh, my sister was teaching, like, a class, like a, she was like a, um, primary school teacher, so she was teaching in the back room on Zoom.

And then my dad had Parkinson's disease, so I was, like, caring for him with, with my mom.

So, like, there was no-

"I don't know what to do."

Yeah, exactly.

Um, so I, I didn't get, I didn't do much.

But then, but then occasionally, like, little gigs would come through and, and, and I started doing a bit more kind of, I started, I started seriously thinking about what I should do online.

And I'm like, it's in my knee.

Oh, I was quite hungover today and I'm like crying.

Oh, no. That's so sad.

I just...

This is...

I'm so...

I worry about this so much because like, you know, I keep thinking like...

There's still, there's still, fine

i am on the edge of my seat well this is a thing right now

yeah people love it and it's like kind of romance but it's also fantasy and it's basically kind of smutty kind of mills and boone but set in um fantasy lands And it's just huge.

Like, you cannot conceive of how big, like, it is in certain quarters propping up the publishing industry.

Like, it's enormous.

People love it.

A full Romantici bookshop has opened in Oxford that only sells that genre of thing.

And it's very, I think, you know, it's obviously partly it's like it's, very popular because it's like the female gaze.

There's, there's something in this.

It'll be a little bit into camp, but is there any concern about the, the health of him moving forward?

Well, it'll be more than that.

Um, uh, four months from the surgery, which was the initial timeframe, would be early to mid-November.

Um, he's established a, kind of a pattern of beating timeframes.

He's a very hard worker in his rehab and, um, I wouldn't be surprised if he beats this timeframe, but he's certainly gonna miss at least a couple weeks of the season.

Um, uh, in terms of long-term concern, I don't think there's too much of it.

Um, uh, talking to his agents last week, um, about the process to get surgery, um, it sounds like they're two coincidental, unrelated, both shoulder injuries, the one last year and the one this summer.

Mm

I mean, how important is he gonna be for, you know, the next couple of years as Artem Levshunov starts to, you know, uh, find his way at, to becoming a, a much better defender in the NHL?

NHL?Yeah, well, there's no way to deny it's a big risk by the Blackhawks.

I mean, you're, you're paying Byram to be a number one defenseman, um, something he has not yet been at this point in his career.

Um, that is in part because he was stuck behind Cale Makar in Colorado and behind Rasmus Dahlin in Buffalo and didn't really have an opportunity to assume that role.

Um, but still, it's, he's a, a relatively unproven player for that price tag, even though he's established himself as a solid top four defenseman in the NHL.

Um, so it's a gamble that, um, with his confidence and assertiveness, which are, are very, very high, um, and with his skill set, his offensive abilities, and his defensive growth, which is an area that he's, he's had to work on over the past few years, as well as his ability to stay healthy is worth mentioning.

That all those things can come together, and he can become that cornerstone defenseman.

[laughs]

Are you surprised we're here July 13th without an extension signed with Conor Bedard? Because they could have got this done last summer as well.

I don't know if I'm super surprised.

I think maybe I would have put this as kind of the rough ballpark for when I would have expected it to happen, like 50% chance of it happening by now, 50% not, if you'd asked me last year.

I think both sides kind of wanted to see how the season went.

Since his sophomore year was a little disappointing to see the step he would take, obviously ended up taking a big step and earned himself more money in the process.

And then also there's not a ton of Russ, really, this summer, especially once you get to July 1st and, okay, previous contract is up, he is an RFA officially.

At that point, it's, well, he's not arbitration eligible, so you don't have that deadline.

Do you expect Kyle Davidson to do more of this, or was that just the one flash in the pan, here we go, now we've got a solid defenseman back there to help out going forward on this slow rebuild?

Are you surprised we're here July 13th without an extension signed with Conor Bedard? Because they could have got this done last summer as well.

I don't know if I'm super surprised.

I think maybe I would have put this as kind of the rough ballpark for when I would have expected it to happen, like 50% chance of it happening by now, 50% not, if you'd asked me last year.

I think both sides kind of wanted to see how the season went since his sophomore year was a little disappointing to see the step he would take.

Obviously, he ended up taking a big step and earned himself more money in the process.

And then also, there's not a ton of Rush, really, this summer, especially once you get to July 1st and, okay, previous contract is up, he is an RFA officially.

At that point, it's, well, he's not arbitration eligible, so you don't have that deadline.

Do you expect Kyle Davidson to do more of this, or was that just the one flash in the pan, here we go, now we've got a solid defenseman back there to help out going forward on this slow rebuild?

I think we both saw it too, yeah.

Yeah, it was majority by trade.

Um, and several people sent it to me and said, "Oh, it's proof that, like you gotta win trades, you gotta trade aggressively to build a team." And, um, that is true to some extent, but I don't think anyone has ever tried to build it fully from within.

Um, like it, uh, that's just been kind of the prevailing logic, and so that's what teams do.

Um, and it probably is the right way to go, but I don't think we can take away from that that you can't build entirely from within, 'cause I just don't know if anyone's ever done as full scale a rebuild in the NHL as the Blackhawks have.

I mean, you could make the argument that the Blackhawks have not only the best prospect pool in the league right now, but of all time, because I don't know if anyone has ever done this before.

Like, I don't think of, you know, if you look back 10, 15, 20 years, the prospect pool was never, like league-wide, as concentrated in a few teams as it is now.

[laughs]

What did you see from the Belarusian this year, and is there a future D one on the way with Lyubushunov?

Yeah, Lyubushunov's a fascinating situation where [chuckles] he's a, he-- quirky personality for sure.

Definitely a one-of-a-kind guy.

His English also isn't that great, although he's learning it a little bit as he goes.

He wasn't-- He was a very raw prospect when they took him number two overall, and I think on most teams he wouldn't have been in the NHL this year.

But they felt like that was the best place for him to learn, and there were also some questions about how engaged he was when in the AHL last year, that he wanted to be in the NHL.

It was a roller coaster for sure.

But what do you think we can expect from the goalies next season? Do you think Knight can continue to impress and maybe even get some more wins next season?