Zawaski on Bedard extension with Blackhawks, why Kane reunion makes sense

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Rahimi & Grote Show 14 min 4 speakers 6 chapters transcribed 2 months ago

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Marshall Harris 0:00

As they say in hockey, let's do that hockey.

Conor Bedard 0:03

You know, of course, you want both sides to be happy with the term, like you said. And, you know, I think, you know, it came to that pretty quick. And, you know, I think both of us feel pretty good about the length of it. And, you know, I think you've kind of seen that more with, you know, maybe the five-year deal coming out of the first one. So I think we were both comfortable with it. And, you know, I'm happy where it ended up, of course.

Vinny Rotino 0:30

That is Conor Bedard talking about his five-year, $75 million contract extension, $15 million annual AAV running through the 2030-31 season. That said, we are happy to bring on longtime friend of the show, former producer here on the Midday Shift, now the host of the CHGO Blackhawks podcast and the I'm Fat podcast, Jay Zawoski, at Jay Zawoski on Twitter, and he joins us on our hotline and on Twitch, twitch.tv slash TheScoreChicago. Jay, you're very clean-shaven, and I love to see it, but someday I would like you to bring back the mustache. It's still in emote on our Twitch chat. Did you know that?

Jay Zawoski 1:09

I did not know that. My wife threatened me. I did this for a fundraiser we did at CHGO for Big Brothers Big Sisters. And she said, if you come home with a mustache, just don't come home. Wow.

Vinny Rotino 1:22

I normally agree with Hope on everything. This is the thing we don't agree on.

Jay Zawoski 1:27

Is it that serious for her? She thinks it looks like I would not be allowed around a Chuck E. Cheese, if you know what I'm saying, if I've got a mustache. So, look, I prefer to stay married. I don't know what my prospects would be at age 48 beyond my current situation. Not that I'm searching or looking anyway. I'm very, very happy. So I want to keep it that way.

Vinny Rotino 1:49

I think they would be good, but I also think hope is great. So yeah, I could see where that would be an issue. A lot of people on our Twitch chat are now posting the emote of you with the mustache in case you want to be reminded.

What was Conor Bedard’s contract extension and what did he say about the term?

Jay Zawoski 2:03

Oh, I have it handy for when we have some disagreements and I would like to pour a little gasoline on the fire. I can I can always pull the mustache picture out and send it to my wife just as a reminder of this could come home someday. That is dirty.

Marshall Harris 2:17

That is dirty work out of you.

Vinny Rotino 2:19

I left town and when I came back, he had a mustache and I was like, who are you?

Marshall Harris 2:24

You know what? Sometimes you need a change. Jay, I feel you on that. Sometimes I might grow my hair back out. You know what I'm saying? No, no. He's not.

Who is Jay Zawoski and why is he joining the show to talk Blackhawks?

Marshall Harris 2:32

That's a lie. I'm not. I'm not. Look, the Blackhawks, we would like to see them grow in the right direction. Because hockey was a thing here. And it feels like even with a guy of Conor Bedard's status... It just hasn't been a thing. What has to change this season, especially knowing that Conor Bedard is now going to miss the start of the season after surgery?

Jay Zawoski 2:58

Yeah, well, it's taking more patience than I think people were ready to give the Blackhawks. And I think... I know the vast majority of people listening are probably not diehard Blackhawks fans, so just for some context, the real rebuild, when Kyle Davidson took this thing over, burned it to the ground, and started from zero, started in... 2022 that's not that long ago but they haven't made the playoffs in almost a decade now so it feels a lot longer it feels a lot more painful and it is and it has been a long time i think this year you should start to see some significant growth from the young players that the blackhawks have drafted and developed beyond conor bedard right like you have anton frondell finished the season with the hawks

Jay Zawoski 3:48

Last year, played 12 games, had nine points, hit the post a few times, looked really, really good. They're bringing over Roman Kantarov, who's a draft pick, who led the KHL in scoring in Russia. So they've got these young players ready to take this next step in their careers. And it's just a matter of them getting the opportunity in the NHL and growing. And I know it's taken a long time, but they are right there, right? Like this year, it had been healthy.