I

think obviously it's been well discussed over the last few months.

I think the back end is an area that we're going to look at closely.

I think it's an area where we've got some kids that are percolating, whether they're in Milwaukee or In the NCAA, obviously, you know, we took Tommy Bly and, you know, we got Cam Reed in the draft a few years ago and guys like Rombach and Wong and, you know, Molendyke is, you know, in Milwaukee and Daniel Neiman and opened some eyes too.

But they're just, they're just none, you know, either they're, they're just in college or they're just young pros.

They're not ready, you know, just yet for, for the best league in the world, right, playing defense is hard.

I think we're in that, a little bit of that in-between stage.

What are your expectations for a young player in a very large potential role this season?

Walk us through the decisions you made on the blue line ahead of the decision.

I think obviously it's been well discussed over the last few months.

I think the back end is an area that we're going to look at closely.

I think it's an area where we've got some kids that are percolating, whether they're in Milwaukee or In the NCAA, obviously, you know, we took Tommy Bly and, you know, we got Cam Reed in the draft a few years ago and guys like Rombach and Wong and, you know, Molendyke is, you know, in Milwaukee and Daniel Neiman and opened some eyes too.

But they're just, they're just none, you know, either they're, they're just in college or they're just young pros.

They're not ready, you know, just yet for, for the best league in the world, right, playing defense is hard.

I think we're in that, a little bit of that in-between stage.

What are your expectations for a young player in a very large potential role this season?

What specifically will you and your management team be tracking most closely at the start of the season to determine that direction?

Well, I think it's simple and complicated.

I think obviously we're, our group is, we're in a very tough division first and foremost.

I think that, you know, right off the bat, I think most, most people would, you know, still expect the Dallas, Colorado, many to, you know, not only are they three linchpins in our division, but they're probably, you you know three of the top teams in the entire nhl so it's a it's a tough division right off the bat so you've got to be ready to go right right from game one and i you know i'm a big believer and i know our staff is a big believer in in the process and and you're kind of you know you are what you are what the scoreboard says you are at the end of each night and whether you do it, you know, 10 game chunks or whatever.

I know the narrative here has been a little bit of a slow start to the last few years and the division in our conference is too good.

It's hard to be playing catch up, you know, from let's just call it, you know, Thanksgiving on it's, it's, it's hard to stay in the hunt and that sort of thing.

You need lots to go right.

So as you and your team looked under the hood from an analytics standpoint, what did you find were the strengths and weaknesses of this roster?

and that her courage to believe that God is able to do something beautiful in her life might give us the courage to believe that God can do something beautiful in our lives.

Thank you.

I'm Chris McFarland.

You might have noticed my son Callum running around the sanctuary at any given moment that he's in this space.

And I thank you to those of you who stopped him from exiting this building because he is a runner.

And I'm just like, that's the village right there, keeping him from running into the street.

So I appreciate that.

And so

What was that?

Yeah, that was, uh, that was an interesting, you know, time for me.

I was, I wanted to be a scout, right.

I wanted to scout in, in professional hockey.

I really didn't know, have any clue how to do that.

Right.

Like I was, I knew, you know, from a young age, I was, you know, I played baseball, football, that stuff growing up.

Is that the fun part, though, that there's more than one way to build a championship contending roster?

Um, I'm curious for, for your take on the process of kind of h- what goes into identifying those types of players, whether it's, you know, really feeling like their range and motor or skill level are gonna fit in nicely with the star players you already have in place, or kind of what goes into identifying those guys and then feeling confident that they're gonna come in and look as good as you hoped for when you're kind of doing it all, uh, behind the scenes on paper.

I think it, I think it's, I think that's a great question, and I think first and foremost, I'll give credit to our, our coaches and, and our players.

I think it goes back, you know, seven, eight years now.

They, they've, the work they've put in on and off the ice, and I know that that's kind of a buzzword culture, you know, uh, type of thing, but I, I think Bedzy alluded to it in, in his chat with you guys earlier.

It's a, it's a, it's a serious group.

It's a dialed in group.

Um, and winning is, is important, uh, how they take care of their bodies, how they practice, and I, I think that's, that's a credit to them that they've become an extension of the coaching staff.

... what it meant and how to act accordingly?