Is it resonating? What do you see?

Yeah, I think it is.

I think that this is the guy that fired the rocket off last year at the end of the year and talked about the culture if he'd be back.

And, you know, it's great to have a couple or three weeks with four or five day breaks, but not the beginning of the season.

That's hard.

It's nice.

Other teams are going to get this later on.

Are some of those younger guys, do they have the ear of the rest of the team? You mean like Fantilli?

[laughs]

Right? [laughs] But for the players, I mean, you wanna run, right? You're, you're a thoroughbred that's been training to run and grind, and they're...

It's a lot of hitching their giddy up because it's start and stop, and analyze and assess.

How do I feel? What could I do better? Uh, so...

And this homestand's critical.

You look at, uh, uh, a couple weeks from now, after the homestand, it gets really gritty, and it's game every other night, and it is tough opponents.

So these guys wanna have...

... other people." But, uh, you mentioned Matthew Knies, who came over, and I know it's early, but, uh, what have been the impressions so far in, in how he has integrated with this team?

So, uh, how are you guys doing? What are you focusing on? How has your job changed? It's been my perception that, uh, you've taken on more responsibilities.

Yeah.

And, and, you know, when you look at, you know, w- the radio voice we've had for 17 years, Bob McElhughe, it gets moved along and, um, it means that we're gonna simulcast games.

So you know, our approach is to do-- we're g- we're gonna be on radio, and we try to be cognizant of that, but we're really there doing a TV broadcast.

And for us nothing has changed as far as y- you talk about the distribution o- of, uh, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Our in-house staff and crew is 99% the same.

Uh, the league has given us a lot of flexibility.

Uh, you're always working, but y- you show up a month ago, how have your thoughts on the team evolved, and what do you think of this team now, specific to after five days off, three of which were spent, uh, with some pretty brisk workouts?

Um, what did you make of the summer for Don Waddell and then kinda the work he did in the last week and a half?

Yeah, I think the, uh, the last week and a half, I mean, managing the Werenski situation, which, you know, the agents now have a lot of power in the National Hockey League, so they're, they're all business.

And they see the cap going up, so they're chasing it.

So they're trying to put their players in positions to able to, to monetize their future, and it looks like it's working for some people and s- some agents.

Uh, I think, you know, for the Blue Jackets, you got a player in Marchenko who you hear during the draft on the floor that he's not gonna resign after this season.

Uh, so then, you know, those wheels have to get in motion.

And, and Don Waddell, you gotta credit him.

Yeah.

So from a guy who's inside the organization, let's start with the post-game press conference or post-season press conference, uh, from Bones.

Yeah, I mean, it, it was, uh, the way they ended the season, the excitement of Rick Bowness and the way he came in there and, you know, I think he only lost three of his first 21 games, and then they went on tilt.

And, you know, I like the way Rick Bowness ended the season.

Uh, you know, I, I think that the organization needed it.

I think the players at the time were surprised, but, uh, you know, it's, it's one of those things that it set the tone for the summer.

And you look at any team in the East, especially the teams that just missed and, and, and they watch Pittsburgh and Philly get in and, and Philly go to the second round, I mean, you gotta be jealous about that and you gotta take the next step.

So I think the frustration with Bowness was, was r- it was just raw.

Okay.

Jody, do you get a sense that, and, and I, I'm trying to be, uh, polite about this, if the Jackets were a winner, this conversation would not have occurred?

I think so.

I think you're looking at a player, when you look at Zach Werenski, um, last May, April/May, he won the world championships for the Team USA, first time in over 90 years they'd done that.

Then he went and won the Olympic gold, um, in, in, in, uh, the Olympics in, in February.

I think when you get a taste of winning, I think it, it's something that is in your veins and in your ...

It, it, it changes you for, for wanting more.

And, you know, I've had conversations with guys that have won about this topic and, and that's exactly what they think.

Where, where do you think the culture is in Columbus?

What do you speculate comes out of this meeting that is supposed to happen between Z and Waddell?

Well, I, I just think it'll ... uh, they'll just calm everything down.

Th- that's what I think.

I think when you see Brady Tkachuk leave Ottawa, I think when you see or hear about Auston Matthews in Toronto, uh, when you hear Larkin wanting out, of course, who Zach Werenski's, uh, one of his great friends, they all won a gold medal together.

And you kinda see and you can, you can try to connect the dots and speculate, and I think that that's what's happening here, in my opinion.

I do agree that where there's smoke, there's a little bit of fire at times.

Uh, but I ...

What are your thoughts on that and Babcock pairing up with Connor McDavid?

Where do you start?

You know, uh, I like the way Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen came in last game, you know? Like, I feel like he's got something to prove.

I know Dobesh has done a lot of mental training throughout the season with his mental coach.

Hopefully that helps.

A- and boy, you look at this and, and you think Montreal at home, it's get- the way they started, but it was a bit of fool's gold, right? Because three goals after three shots and, and you really weren't playing a great game, and then just the way Tage Thompson, I thought, watching from afar, how he dialed it up, I was like, "Oh boy, this isn't gonna be a quiet, uh, quiet exit for the Buffalo Sabres." So if I feel like anybody has momen- that momentum, it might be Buffalo.

Just the fact that, um, the way that they kicked it into high gear this season, uh, the way they have a lot of veteran guys that really have proved nothing in the league as far as playoff presence, but now it seems like they're embracing it.

You know, Dahlin, to me, has got a really good playoff style, where he plays on the edge and he's, he's got a grittiness and a, and a willingness to do whatever, and I think him and Thompson have dragged pretty much everybody into the fight here for the Sabres.

How do you feel about William Karlsson?

Yeah

... uh, to go test the market, and I, I, I hope he does really, uh, for him personally.

But, uh, selfishly, I'd love to have Boone Jenner back in whatever role he can fit in.

But there's a open market for him.

Marchment, he's had injury issues.

Uh, he came in and filled a great role with this team at the time.

Um, you know, there's probably other teams that are willing to go, uh, higher on him.

Yeah

What have you made of where this series has gone so far, as it's now 2-2, we're all tied up heading to game five?

Oh, there's so many great factors within both of these teams.

And, uh, you look at both goaltenders for the Ducks and the Golden Knights.

You know, there's been moments in the series and throughout the first two rounds where there's, you know, you've seen maybe s- a little bit of fatigue, maybe a little bit too much pressure.

Uh, you know, Anaheim's not as young as you would think.

They've picked up some really, really good veterans there.

Uh, Carlson, Cridder, uh, you've got Killorn.

What do you make of the way these two teams match up with each other with Carolina with [laughs] plenty of rest waiting in the wings?

What was a young Jody Shelley thinking at that time? Was the National League so far away? What were you thinking playing CIS back in those days, brother?

It's a great story.

I've lived all over Canada and I ended up in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

My dad was a miner.

a mechanic of mine.

So before we got to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, I was in Newfoundland for a year because my parents are Newfies.

And it just had a great young experience.

And I was curious too, if on an Olivia, if you guys ever talk fighting or strategy, any, anything like that.

But has it been tightened up enough?

I think so.

I think that I agree with you on the bold prediction.

I'll take it a step further.

The Blue Jackets and the Sabres in the Eastern Conference final.

Wow.

I mean, that's that'd be fun.

What about you picked up from Connor Garland since he's arrived?

The team that you normally cover regularly, Jody, what's the vibe, the expectations there? the feeling on the rally mid-season with Columbus?

Well, it's under a total new direction under head coach Rick Bonas.

And he's a very vocal guy.

And there's unfinished business missing the playoffs last year by two points.

And the value of keeping a group together A group that came together last year under extreme, unthinkable circumstances with the tragedy to start the season with the Goodrell brothers.

That's a real thing with bonding with this group.

And it really brought them to a place they didn't know they could get to last season.

Can you walk me through how that happens? Yeah.

And I think that's, what's so kind of surprising about this group.

Yeah, it's not just that grittiness.

Like I talk about Branson and McCabe.

I think that you look at the teams that are doing well, like Pittsburgh, who has superstars.

They have an 18-year-old in Kendall who's just, he's amazed that he's in the National Hockey League and there's this infectious energy.

You know, I go talk to him actually when they were in Toronto and he's sitting next to Sidney Crosby.

And I look the kid in the face and I go, how good is this? And he's like, Oh, my God, I can't believe I'm here doing this.

Can he get back to that? Is it approaching 30 from what you saw on Monday? Like, are we, are we ever going to see that, that other worldly heart trophy contention, Austin Matthews again?

What's your gut on the possibilities of this team still adding as they get closer?

Well, they've already added Marchman and Heinen.

So they've made two additions.

March and was a huge help to a lot of what they need a little personality at times within their team.

And he brought that, you know, teams, he gets a lot of attention, the opposition for how he plays and gets involved.

Plus he's, he's, he's got a nice hand.

So to me, when he's out, Miles Wood is out.

what what looks different about austin matthews now than maybe uh pre-injury for you

How hard is it for a team not to feel like, man, it's just going to be one of those years, isn't it? It's

so, I mean...

They're up against it right now.

That's a real thing.

I mean, you're looking around the room.

A lot of those players cover up a lot of things within a shift, within a period, you know, and then the value of having them in the locker room.

I mean, Tana, for example, you know, and there's a supporting cast here to Austin Matthews, who is the star of this team, obviously, and they all have a role.

right.

I mean, I don't know if you – I mean, I repeatedly mentioned to our fans I was the one team I was nervous about because of the tempo and the pace that they play at the owners had a brutal night and they've had challenges against columbus the team that you cover on a day-to-day basis because of the speed that columbus comes at you with the forward ranks as well columbus has blown them out a couple times over the last three or four years yeah

now you got them tonight and thursday in columbus yeah um a couple things for me seven new players on a team that uh and with some injuries they're thin and a lot of Big parts of the game.

Namely, this defensive zone was tightened up last year.

One of the best metrics by metrics defensive zone teams five on five.

And then this year they seem to have lost it.

But they have five of the six same defenders back.

Seven new players trying to play a system that relies on forwards blocking shots, clearing plays, tightening up the middle of the ice.

Tell us about Denton Matejuk.

But when did you first see him, um, in the mix?

Couple years ago, he got called up for a few games.

You could tell, like, he was young.

He was, um, you know, a little jumpy, uh, just, uh, you know, really inexperienced.

Uh, went to the American Hockey League, and, and was their stud there.

And every time someone came up, they would talk about Jet, and how great he was, uh, as a person, how hard he worked.

And, um, you know, you'd hear reports when they were winning so many games in a row because of their goaltender, Jet, and the way they played.

Like, he's just a c- a complete Swiss army knife.

No, no, of

course.

You know, I think it's interesting.

I think it's a couple things.

Like, let's not ignore their schedule.

Austin Matthews was not at home but for 24 hours in February.

Okay? There's something to that.

This has been one of the crazier regular seasons that I think I've ever seen in my entire life.