Do you have any idea, like, what he wants? Is it he needs Guerin to show him that he has the team that can be competitive for the next however many years? Um, like, what, what is it? Like, what is it that as, when Guerin references he may want different things, what are those things?

Yeah, that's, that's hard to extrapolate.

I mean, I think obviously I've only been around him a short period of time since he came to Minnesota, so I don't wanna pretend as to be inside of his head.

But, uh, I do just from the time I've been around him or talking to people from former coaches to, to teammates and like that is like he's an intense competitor.

He wants to win.

Like, the gold medal, you know, for Team USA was just the whole tip of the iceberg for what could be in his career.

And so, like, he's very passionate about the game, um, and he has, um, encyclopedic knowledge of the league, and he knows...

Like what are they doing with this?

What say you, friends?

I'll say just quickly that it was never named specifically about progressive Christians growing up because I don't know that that was... actually a term that was, you know, widely used or anything.

And it was never said that God was a Republican, but it was made very clear that Christians vote Republican because those align with God's values.

So, so for the longest time, like I, I mean, I remember when Oh, I hate to say this out loud.

I'm so sorry.

But like I voted for McCain instead of Obama.

And then I voted for Mitt Romney instead of Obama.

And I'd love for people to hear from you guys about this.

Well, that is

something that I personally struggled with, you know, coming out of things, because if this thing is not there, then what am I even doing? Like, what's the point? And this is where I landed.

All right.

So maybe this is different from everybody else.

Um, because when I, during my deconstruction, I, I blew the house up.

I wired it with C4 and spooled out a bunch of wire and stood there and, and then I watched it burn.

And have you seen that little meme where that little girl is like looking in the house is on fire behind her? That's, that was me.

That's who Jesus would be telling us to love because Jesus is always telling us to love the people that we struggle to love.

But, uh, uh, what's your take on his improvement in this roster?

Yeah, it's, it's kinda like, it's nothing incomplete, but they, you know, it's kind of been a quiet off-season.

They, they did make some changes that were notable because of guys that they let go.

You know, like Mats Zuccarello was allowed to walk and sign with the, with the LA Kings, and Johan松sson signed in Sweden, and Tarasenko is a free agent.

They lost, you know, 50 goals, 150 points, um, from their roster, and Jake Middleton, a part of their core, was traded.

And the, the big move they made this off-season was trading Jake Middleton, um, getting Blake Coleman and, you know, the Ole-Maatta defenseman there.

So, you know, they, their, the roster hasn't made a lot of significant upgrades.

You and Mike Russo have reported extensively on the Wild's interest in him, and where do you kinda see that situation today?

... what you've learned as a United fan watching, watching the Reds in preseason.

Yeah, I mean, obviously most of it you, you can see watching it on MUTV or following it, you know, from, from wherever.

But there are those sort of small details that you notice and that you see, you pick up.

For instance, yesterday at the game, it was lovely to see Michael Carrick.

There was a moment, um, before JJ Gabriel came on, obviously the young lad, um, and he went over and spoke to him and he, and he chatted to him in the dugout and really sort of got next to him and was patting him on the shoulder, talking through.

It turned out, it, before he came on, I guess, it was what he wanted him to do in the game, but then sort of sent him out, him and Jim Keown to sort of train after he'd made the first sort of round of subs.

But it was good the way Carrick was interacting with him.

Uh, Joe, of the youngsters that we've seen in preseason, which have impressed you the most?

Uh, what, what would you tell Mr. Guerin?

Well, it's a loaded question, but it's a, a lot of things.

I think, you know, um, I think what I like about Bill is h- he's a big swinger.

Like, he's gonna do it.

He's gonna go for it.

Um, and he knows, like, like Julian BriseBois was in Tampa.

Like, he would make those big deals at the deadline, give his team the best chance to win.

I know fans can go read this at The Athletic, and I encourage them to do that, but just give us a sneak peek with, uh, the, the Judd Brackett news.

Eh what, what would you tell Mr. Guerin?

Well, it's a loaded question but it's a, a lot of things.

I think, you know, um, I think what I like about Bill is he's a big swinger.

Like he's gonna do it; he's gonna go for it.

Um, and he knows li-like Julien BriseBois was in Tampa, like he would make those big deals at the deadline give his team the best chance to win.

He 'cause you're damned if you do you're damned if you don't at the deadlines You rather be damned if you do.

Um tha-that's what I wa-- he would always tell us.

But just give us a sneak peek with, uh, the, the Judd Brackett news.

Um, just to start this off, how, how did the Wild feel about their performance against the Colorado Avalanche, losing in, in five games?

Well, I, I mean, I think, obviously, any time you lose a series in five games, you're very disappointed and-- but they, they did feel like their best was good enough against Colorado.

They just didn't show it enough in that series.

Like, game three was a prime example of if they play their game plan and execute, they can, they can beat anybody, and they sh- they showed that.

They just had a trouble with consistency throughout the course of the series and, you know, a lot was made of the tough turnaround between the emotional first playoff series win in a decade against Dallas, and then 48 hours later for game one, um, which wasn't their best game.

But, um, the Avs deserved that series win.

They were the better team over the course of it.

Massive cap hit, obviously, and it makes me wonder, what is Quinn Hughes gonna ask for in negotiations with the Wild?

What do you make about the Blackwood, uh, change and maybe how, uh, they might attack him differently than Walstad?

Well, even mine too, like, like Blackwood was kind of the number one maybe going into the year, right? Wedgewood just played himself in that conversation and earned that start t- start the playoffs, and so he's kind of like the Gustafsson for the Wild, right? Um, and I, I think you give the Colorado credit for maybe pulling Wedgewood last game early.

So you got Blackwood into a game, like a period and a half last game to see how he played and how he looked versusI think the Wild threw in Gustafsson into the fire after not playing for three weeks, and he kind of showed his first period there in game, in game two.

So, um, it feels like Lockwood and Wedgewood have been pretty equal this season, so maybe this gives them a spark.

Maybe he makes a couple more saves than Wedgwood did, 'cause Wedgwood's definitely been beaten by the Wild the first three games.

So maybe that gives a different dynamic on a team that was outplayed, uh, in game three.

But is there an element of the Wild's game that you think is a must-have for them to be successful tonight and win?

Well, I think the special teams.

Right

... and also kind of deal, rather than, like, black or, black and white.

Um, so that's kind of the whole idea behind it.

Um, and you know, we, I pastored another church, and I've been friends with these guys.

And then coming into, uh, this new Trump administration, and we knew how awful it was gonna be, especially for certain communities in our country, and we decided collectively as two different groups, what would it look like if we did this together so that it, it would strengthen things, um, rather than just trying to keep doing it on our separate, uh, separate selves.

And so that's what we did.

We went through that together, and, um, and we, we, the church that I led, we, um, dissolved our church, uh, 'cause it's just so much easier, like, the, the, the legality-

Oh, yeah.

So, uh, what have you seen from him?

[clears throat] Well, yeah, it's, uh, it's been a, a what a, what a bounce back year for him.

A year ago, uh, this time, like he had just c- come off a really rough season at AHL Iowa and was wondering what was going on and doing some soul searching and, uh, just kinda find a way to just, you know, make it to the NHL team.

Uh, or at least he, he was gonna make the team, but just more so of what role would he have.

And he really had a great mindset and came in great shape, and he really forced his way into a rotation with Phil Gustavsson, their number one goalie, uh, in, in the season because of how well he played.

Um, so they traded off most of the year.

Gustavsson had more starts, but, uh, Wallstedt earned a chance to get a game one start of the playoff because of how good he was down the stretch.

I mean, where was kind of the momentum shift where, where Dallas started to, to piddle off a little bit?

Yeah.

I ain't gonna lie.

It was a ugly game.

But what the, the defense that Michigan played, man, they, they, they, they score easy buckets off of, you know, uh, the defense thriving and, and, and getting out in transition, getting easy baskets.

And, uh, they got guys who done been there.

I think this is, this is a, a great win for Michigan, considering the fact that I think all these guy- all of the starting five come out the transfer portal, Unc and Ojo.

I guess if you're a basketball purist, especially a college basketball purist, this is a game that you could enjoy.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, Ali Boom Bayate.

Man, what? Hey, hey, our coach, uh, Larry Drew, he played that, uh, right before a playoff series one day.

Uh, as a matter of fact, it was the playoff series when, uh, when I was playing for the Hawks and we played against the Celtics, who was a one seed and we was a eight seed.

He, we, we, we watched that whole thing, bro.

Mm-hmm.

You hear me? That's why you gotta stay locked in, bro.

Like, I, I, I try to ...

You know, especially young cats who coming into being a professional, you have to understand, yep, it's a lot that comes with that.

But this guy's had his second chance, and I think it doesn't seem like he's doing better in his second chance.

Well, from his standpoint, he's doing better because he is accelerating the rush of the federal government to an authoritarian rather than a democratically elected form of government.

And I'd like to just mention...

Lots of news about the corruption, the corruption of his administration.

One beautiful example yesterday, which isn't getting a lot of news, but in my mind is just representative of how bad they are.

Michael Flynn, who was convicted of a federal crime because he pled guilty to it.

Then Trump pardoned him, and then he sued the government, alleging wrongful prosecution.

Another issue