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We head to the playoffs. I
thought that the season, the last stretch

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of the season for the As wasn't
as strong as they wanted it to be.

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But you know, overall, I
think the playoffs and succeeding in the

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playoffs by getting hot at the right
time. What are our chances? What

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are the ass chances of getting back
to the Cup this year? Yeah,

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you know the I think the chances
would be a lot higher if they weren't

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going up against the best goaltender in
the NHL. So it's really a series

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of strength on strength as Colorado's the
highest scoring offense in the league against the

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best goal prevention team in the league
and the number one goaltender who's going to

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win the Vesna Trophy this year.
So I think if they're able to get

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through this, you have to really
like their chances to move forward and then

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make a deep run. But this
was really this was really kind of the

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worst matchup they could have drawn.
Well, AJ, Even in games like

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this, there are always some players
who emerge as being those outliers. Now

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who currently on the AB squad do
you think could have a great series against

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the Jets that we're not talking about? Well, I think one of the

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guys that they got at the deadline. You know, obviously Casey Middlestatt needs

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to do well here, but I
think Sean Walker has a chance to really

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be an impact player in the series, especially with the uncertain status of Sam

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Gerard. The way that the way
that Walker jumps up into the play and

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activates offensively, the way that Colorado
has a team attacks from the blue line

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forward is one of the reasons that
they are so difficult to handle and why

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they score the way that they do. And I think with the way that

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Seawan Walker plays, you know,
he's so aggressive and he's such a good

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skater that he's going to draw weaker
matchups from the Jets depths guys, and

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if he can get involved in the
play a little more often, he can

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create offense where he can. He
can help Colorado's bottom sick really really find

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a little more offense along the way, which you give Nathan McKinnon an opportunity

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like that you had you had offense
from your bottom six, and I think

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you're really really hard to beat.
So Sean Walker is one of the guys

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that I'm really looking at for this
series. I want to go back to

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what you're talking about going up against
the number one goalie in hockey, and

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obviously you know Winnipeg is the best
in terms of defense. It's it's interesting

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because these teams seem evenly matched,
even if they are opposites. You know,

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Colorado the number one scoring teams three
or two goals four. You look

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at Winnipeg, who's number one against
goals against, and then you go goals

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against, They're both middle of the
road. On the other statistic. Yeah,

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it is a little bit better on
the power play, but a little

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bit worse on on penalty minutes.
In other sports, like for instance,

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basketball, football, the more matchups
you get against somebody, typically a series

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trends to the defense. Is it
the same way in hockey, or you

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know, can the offense sort of
figure you out? Yeah? I think

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it's it kind of is the same
way in hockey, But I think it

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more trends towards the coaching staff and
which coaching staff is paying attention to where

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they're succeeding and where they're not succeeding. And that's an area where I have

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trust in Jared Bedner to beat Ritt
Bonus in their head to head In terms

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of how they adjust which matchups are
doing well and using the home ice when

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they each have it in order to
go hunt preferable matchups. You know,

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putting out Nathan McKinnon against Mark Scheifeley
is something they should want to do because

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that they're bad defensively, and try
and stay away from Adam Lowry, who's

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one of the league's best third line
centers and is an excellent shutdown center.

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And so I think I think it's
going to come down to more than anything

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code the coaching staffs and how they
adjust their avenues of success as the series

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gets deeper, Because you are right, they the screws get tightened a little

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bit more in the best of seven. But it's about which coaching staff is

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able to break down the film and
figure out where they can put their team

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in a better position to succeed.
Hey day, every coach, no matter

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what professional league, they always look
back at previous matchups and say, okay,

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well we didn't play this well against
this team. Now we're facing them.

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As the Aves are facing the Jets, could Jared Bennark find some kind

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of motivation or what could that motivation
be? Knowing as though they faced the

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Jets team before, but it hasn't
ended up well for the Abs. Yeah,

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I think the I think the motivation
is more going to be about the

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end of the road than it is
anything about what happened in the regular season.

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If there's one team that's gonna make
too much of the regular season,

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it's a team that's not comfortable that
in this situation, which is Winnipeg.

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You know, the way that the
seasons have kind of gone. You know,

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the obviously have expectations internally, and
I think the external expectations of lowered

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because they were a disappointment at the
end of the year, and the Jets

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are trending up and they're they're a
very favorable pick in a lot of statistical

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models and in in you know,
on on the internet right now, and

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I that's an organization that historically has
not handled expectations well. So Uh.

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I think I think they will win
the entire regular season matchups. They're almost

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entirely irrelevant. Uh. And I
think where Jared Bedner and his organization are

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going to find the motivation, it's
that they want to go and try to

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repeat some recent history, and the
Jets are desperate to avoid recent history.

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But if you were if you're a
leegering Man, how much would you say?

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What would you say? The percentages? Already Avalanche can pull this series

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out. What would you have their
percentages that win in the Cup, well,

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win in the win in the Cup. Gosh, it's I guess I

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would say like ten percent, but
that just because it's really hard to do

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a lot of things have to go
right for you, and even that number

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is probably high. Winning this series, I would say I give them like

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a forty sixty shot. I think
Winnipeg is They're They're just the perfect They're

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they're the They're the perfect counterbalance to
what the Avalanche do at their best,

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and I'm iffy on Colorado's ability to
overcome that. They have not been a

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team that has shown as much resiliency
this year as they have in past years,

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and in games, their emotional maturity
hasn't been at the same level.

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They have let one bad thing turn
into three bad things a little more frequently

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than I'm comfortable with. So I
think that the percentages would I would say

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forty sixty in favor I guess sixty
forty in favor of the Jets. I

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don't feel great about this matchup is
Nathan McKinny MVP for my money, yes,

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but this is also a historic MVP
race. I will understand if he

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doesn't get there, I will be
frustrated. I do think he ultimately wins

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it, though, Okay, I'm
just you know, it was one of

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those things where how much like yokichen
Bet a couple of years ago, you

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know, you understand if the other
guy wins it, but you still kind

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of feel like you guys should.
Yeah, of course, you know the

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way that Kucharov has been this year, he is the primary reason that the

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Tampa Bay Lightning are where they are. But that's also true for Nathan McKinnon.

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And I don't know why we have
to pretend otherwise, just because Miko

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Ranton and had a hundred points,
the Breton point centered Nikita Kucharov all year

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and almost had a fifty goal season, and we're supposed to act like Kucharov

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was elevating scrubs, like give me
a break. So I do think that

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McKinnon, he's my guy. The
consistency, the multipoint games, the dominance

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at even strength, the historical dominance
at han home ice, all of those

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things kind of trend towards him being
the more valuable player to me, but

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it was an incredible race to witness. Absolutely well, AJ, we really

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appreciate it. AJ. Hey with
you from the MV are talking to the

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labs with us here on Broncos Country, and I appreciate it. Thank you.

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I appreciate it, absolutely