How important was it to you that the Jets got these records and amalgamated Jets 1.0 and 2.0 together? Now we just talk about them as the Winnipeg Jets.

Well, I just think it's the way it should be, right? Like, I remember after the Jets left, and that was a difficult period for a lot of us of my vintage or around there.

I went to a game in Arizona and saw the Phoenix Coyotes play, and then on what would be the ribbon screen inside America West Arena back then, they were displaying all the records, and you were seeing all these names, uh, of all of these winnipeg jets that spent so many years here that are synonymous with 1.0 and and not just the big names like howard chuck or you know arneal or or um carlisle um or salani there was other names like doug smale like when you look at doug smale the number of shorthanded goals he has career i mean it's just it's really impressive and it just didn't seem right that the that these records were transferred down to Arizona.

So getting them back, I think everybody knew that it was going to come at some point.

It was just working their way through it and the legalities, I guess, of doing that.

But once the precedent was set with Utah leaving Arizona and then just starting fresh, that allowed then the Winnipeg Jets to go back in and and as an organization, seize the records from 1.0.

So it's all come together.

What are you expecting from the captain this year, Paul, with his health being in a good place?

Yeah.

"This is a goalie." They have a unique circumstance around them, and that's why maybe it's been a little tougher to, to consummate some sort of a deal with any suitor that might be out there, uh, because it is a goalie.

And, and what's really the value? You got a guy that's 33, gonna turn 34 in the new year.

Yeah, he's tied to a five-year contract that's really team-friendly with all the individual awards that he's won, but you don't know what he's going to be like.

This is the other point, too.

If you start to kick this can down the road and Connor Hellebuyck isn't playing hockey, how valuable is he going to be certainly in November, December, you get into the new year? I mean, he hasn't played for months.

I, I don't know that somebody's gonna take a chance and just hope that, you know, he finds his, his, uh, regular season game where he's been so good for all of these years in, in a couple short weeks.

Um, what do you think realistically are his chances? The Jets have historically been an organization that does not rush young players.

Yeah.

"This is a goalie.

They have a unique circumstance around them, and that's why maybe it's been a little tougher to, to consummate some sort of a deal with any suitor that might be out there, uh, because it is a goalie.

And, and what's really the value? You got a guy that's 33, gonna turn 34 in the new year.

Yeah, he's tied to a five-year contract that's really team friendly with all the individual awards that he's won, but you don't know what he's going to be like.

This is the other point too If you start to kick this can down the road and Connor Hellebuyck isn't playing hockey, how valuable is he going to be certainly in November, December, you get into the new year? I mean, he hasn't played for months.

I, I don't know that somebody's gonna take a chance and just hope that, you know, he finds his, his, uh, regular season game where he's been so good for all of these years in, in a couple of short weeks.

acast.com.

But what was your initial reaction, Paul, A, when it first came out about their interest in Mike Babcock, and now, B, now, knowing now that it is reality?

Well, initially I thought, "Are they really going to go down this road?" And then when it became painfully apparent that they were, then you realized, "Okay, why?" And then the attitude was, okay, it was a requirement that they had to have something different than they've had before.

So maybe Mike is that.

I mean, he's a proven winner.

Uh, he has a lot of warts, there's no question.

He has some baggage.

There's no question about that.

Yeah.