Oilers Hot Start (Hour 2)

It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody for being tuned in and locked in all over North America, wherever you might be.

Thank you for being here. Thank you so much to our producer in New York City, Ryan Botcher. People listening on the free Odyssey app, your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 375, and a smart speaker if you have one.

All you gotta do is ask that speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. Man, we've already had a great show. We already had a good hour. We get started every weekday.

6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. Hey, we talked some NBA, some basketball with James Herbert from CBSSports.com. We talked about the impending arrival of Aaron Rodgers to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yeah, this man is going to show up to work. He could have waited until next month, but I guess he wants to study the playbook like a good teammate. Let's see how long it is before Aaron Rodgers turns into a bad teammate. I don't think it'll be too damn long. But anyway, we have so much more to get into.

How about this? We're going to have another guest in about another 20 minutes. David Pagnotta is going to join us. He covers all things NHL for Sirius, nhl.com. I'm going to get his thoughts on that exciting Game 1 victory that the Edmonton Oilers had over the Florida Panthers last night. Yeah, I guess the tide turned. You might remember last year. Well, Florida went up 3-0 and then the Oilers fought back. Then we ended up with seven games. Ultimately, the Florida Panthers won the championship last year.

Edmonton is looking to walk away with the Stanley Cup this year. We're about 90 minutes away from the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Game 1 of the NBA Finals. This should be a good one. We have more to discuss as well. We talked about some of the good and bad things going on in Indianapolis. Anthony Richardson, the Colts quarterback, the rookie that they drafted two years ago, is hurt again with a shoulder issue. The same shoulder that bothered him in his rookie year in 2023. Yeah, tell me things aren't going real, real bad for Anthony Richardson.

It's looking real, real bad. Looks like Daniel Jones is certainly going to get plenty of opportunities to start for that team. And then we heard and learned from Amon Ra's St. Brown, the wide receiver, star wide receiver, one of the best wide receivers in the entire NFL. Amon Ra's St. Brown had a little bit of a knee cleanup in the offseason. He told everybody today that he had surgery for a cleanup, called it a minor procedure. And I got to be honest, OK? This sounds, this is a weird question to ask our producer Ryan Botcher. Ryan, are you are you familiar with these new hip replacements that everybody's getting nowadays? No, I hope I would need to know about that right now.

It's well, one day, one day, hopefully one day you'll get older and have older friends. Like you can basically have a hip replacement and you take some time to be on the mend. But with modern medicine, man, you could have a major surgery and you could be back in action. So having a knee cleanup is not the worst thing in the world. You think there's a problem with Amon Ra's St. Brown? Are you concerned at all about that? No, not at all. There's probably you probably had a small imaging issue where it's like, oh, your cartilage is a little little off. You trim it or clip it.

You'll be fine and feel like you're healthy 24 seven. Yeah. And it's no big deal. Listen, man, they wanted to clean out my knees. Bacher when I was like, well, they didn't immediately want to do it.

But they were like, hey, in a couple of years, we're going to clean your knees. I was 13 years old, man. Thirteen. Oh, that's that's the that's that's a young age.

Yes. Thirteen. My knees feel fine. I am much older now than 13 and I never needed the knee cleanup. They say, yeah, we'll do it in a couple of years or, you know, come back maybe in your early 30s. And I've lasted quite a while past all of that. So minor procedure here. Who cares about you?

I might have my knees cleaned out for fun. Not really, but I might say they did say it will come in the future. So it doesn't mean I don't know, five years, maybe I come down the road. No, I've exceeded. No, man. I'm too. I'm way past that. You've given up if you have it.

Yeah. Listen, man, I'm not doing that. I ain't out here running marathons. I'm not trying to beat nobody in a race. I'm not trying to kick anybody's ass. I'm not playing soccer. My day's basketball are done. I just run for fitness, man. And so, hey, my knees feel better now than they did when I was 13, which is crazy to say. But hey, I don't know. I'm alive. So, hey, I'm on Ross St. Brown. He's 25.

He gets paid to get hit and to run. So a little bit of a cleanup. No concern. Anthony Richardson, on the other hand, to that guy's body. Good luck. Good luck. I feel like this guy will bust out his shoulder just trying to pour a cup of cereal in the morning.

So good luck to him. Anthony Richardson couldn't last in the NHL. I'll tell you that much. What a game that was last night.

Botcher. I was watching that game and I was like, oh, my God, they're going to go into another overtime. I was like, oh, my God, I'm going to be up for another. Forget 20 minutes. It's going to take me another 10 minutes afterwards just to go to sleep.

I was anticipating extending my night for another 30 minutes. We were sitting right here on the air and the Panthers, they had a 3-1 lead in the second period. And then Edmondson was able to kind of bounce back. Dreissado hit the game winner with 31 seconds left. And let me tell you, out of everybody in Edmondson that was happy, I was happy, too, because it gave me an opportunity to go to sleep. I want you to listen to this game winning goal. There's like 31 seconds left in the first overtime.

Thank God there wasn't another one. This is courtesy of Oilers radio. It's Jack Michaels. Nugent Hopkins on the left.

Tap boards under pressure. Turns and gives it up. Beautiful pass. McDavid in front. What time is it?

Score! Leon Dreissado 4-3. Edmondson in overtime.

And at that point in time I said, I wasn't as enthusiastic as Jack Michaels was, but I said, thank God I'm going to sleep. Because you get these good games and I don't care what game it is or what match or what sport. This is the Stanley Cup Finals. There's nothing, forget all the shootout stuff. Give me all of the overtimes. I mean, these dudes went to seven games last year. They were tired as hell. They went to overtime last night. I'm like, damn it, these dudes are going to be tired as hell in the next game.

Game two, which is tomorrow. And Connor McDavid, he went up and set him up for that game winning goal. Connor McDavid also went out and set up the game tying goal.

And Connor McDavid, after the game, pretty much said, man, this guy Dreissado? Oh, he's a beast. He's been killing it the whole postseason.

You can't put a number on it. He's invaluable. Does so many good things. Clutch. Faceoffs. You name it, he does it. Listen, this sounds like a loser there. Maybe he was tired.

OK, that's the other thing. If they played another overtime, by the time they went back to Wayne Gretzky in the studio, a good old great one would have been fast asleep. Nobody hates an overtime game more than Wayne Gretzky. It's like, hey, you only pay me by the hour.

I'm not getting paid by the minute and the second. I'm just going to sleep. Wayne Gretzky was awake, by the way.

I saw him and then I went to bed. All right. This is a team. I told you the Panthers are up three one.

You would think that that be some some easy skating towards a victory. And last night it wasn't. Paul Maurice. The coach for the Panthers, he was asked whether or not they they got too conservative. They were playing the defense a little lighter. They were not as aggressive.

And this was his response. I think three to three one. We're driving play at that point where we're good with it.

I'd like it. That'll go back to not in terms of defensive positioning or our play without the puck. I thought we were a little safe with the puck. Well, you say, yeah, but not not three one. But when we got to three two. OK. Makes us some great hockey.

Makes for a great watch. You know, I mean, damn it, if you're looking for a competitive series in anything, I don't mean you may get some exciting dunks and some crazy runs. But I'm talking about the NBA Finals game tonight. But when it comes to actually having a competitive series, I think the Stanley Cup finals is is where it's at.

Even though Paul Maurice lost last night, he pretty much told everybody, I mean, based on what you saw tonight, last night, the rest of this series, I mean, you can't expect it to be like last year, but it's going to be a close one. This is what he said. It's potential. Just a spectacular seven gamer right up and down the ice.

It's still fast. There's not any casualness and there's no B.S. in either team's game. The pucks go deep that are supposed to go deep. I mean, I think we had one all night. We didn't like maybe two all night that we didn't like our decision at the line.

They didn't fool around with it either. It was honest. It was hard. It was fast. And and it was tight. It was an overtime game.

Hey, listen, I like it. Everybody in a hockey press conference, everybody talking to the media after the game. You couldn't tell who won or lost strictly business.

That's it. Jobs not done after game one of the Stanley Cup finals. The Edmonton Oilers, they flipped the script from last year, not completely. But this time they don't wait until they're down three games. Oh, three before they pick up a victory. So the Oilers pick up game one against the Panthers. And I mean, yeah, we can expect the Panthers to hit back. They had a lead.

They blew a 3-1 lead. This one should be close. You know what?

How about this? In about 10 minutes, we'll have a chat with David Pagnotta, who covers the NHL, and we'll get his thoughts on where this series will go from here. I told you the game that's going to start in about 80 minutes from now. I don't know how close this series is going to be. The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. Thunder won 68 games. Pacers had the second best record once we flipped the script, once we turned the calendar from 2024 to 2025. Who would have thought the Pacers would be here in the NBA Finals? David Pagnotta, did you think they'd be in the Finals? No, I had the Celtics all the way, but of course injuries and whatnot took care of them. Yeah, I was looking right at the Boston Celtics, looking right at the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Celtics were healthy, if Chris Stepps Porzingis could stay on the court for more than five minutes, if Jason Tatum obviously didn't blow out his Achilles, if Brown wasn't dealing with a knee issue, I thought the Celtics would be right back here in the Finals, taking on the Thunder, and I think that would have been an amazing matchup. I think that would have been a more even matchup than what we're about to see. I'm not saying this is a bloodbath.

I'm not going to say this is a bludgeoning. I want to say the worst Finals that I remember watching were the San Antonio Spurs, just giving the New York Knicks, just toying with them. The Knicks didn't have a chance to beat Tim Duncan. Yeah, just give Tim Duncan the ball, let him go to work. Everybody on the Knicks is six foot nothing.

And Tim Duncan just went through them, and Tim Duncan was like five years old at the time. I'm not expecting that. Pacers aren't going to roll over. They're not going to give up. They're going to go up and down and up and down the court, and they're going to make it competitive.

How about this? Jalen Williams, the all-star Jalen Williams, not the big man. Santa Clara, Jalen Williams. Jalen Williams said, listen man, we're similar teams.

This is going to be a good one. If you look at both teams, you look at Indiana and you do a closer look on them, they're like us. You can see the team chemistry they have. You can see that they love playing with each other, and they enjoy being in these moments together. Okay?

They just get up and down. Y'all play better defense. Man, y'all got two seven-footers that can go out there and play.

Alright? I mean, you look at Miles Turner, he's one of them. Y'all got two. And one of them, he still looks like a baby deer. Yeah, he hasn't even filled out.

I don't think he'll ever fill out. His name is Chet Holmgren. What does he know about the NBA Finals?

Nothing. And he just showed up, I don't even know, they just showed him on television. I do not know what the hell outfit he had on. Is he a fashion... Batra, is he a fashionista? Did you see his outfit? I did not see it. I'm going to Google it now, but he's in that State Farm commercial where they wear the blue fashion, so he seems like he's into it.

He had on... I don't even know. You know Chris Cross? Uh, off the head, my thought? No.

Okay, alright. It looked like he was... Chris Cross was a group, they wore their pants backwards, they were very baggy. He was wearing these baggy pants that looked like they were low past his waist.

I don't know how that works for somebody 7'1", 7'2". And he had on these... these... I don't know. Oh, I see it.

Yeah, it's not pleasing. Yeah, he just... what do you have on? A hoodie with it? It was a hood... a black hoodie with white pants sagging with black shades like it's the 90's.

Yeah, I don't... I mean, you could only be an NBA player and get away with this. If you walk down the street in the outfit that this man had on today, people will look at you like, what are you stupid dumbass? What are you wearing outside?

He's wearing Tims too, so he's wearing boots. Well, you know, he paid some fancy stylists, and God bless the stylists, okay? Imagine being able to dress people like clowns and get paid for it. Congratulate that lot.

Geez, waste of money. Well, look, I know some stylists, man. Sometimes I'm like, you get paid to do what now? I can do this, I think.

Actually do some work there, but anyway. Chet Holmgren, when he actually plays basketball, he's pretty good. He said that this NBA Finals, it's a chess match. Seeing the same team for two weeks rather than playing a new team every single night, so you're really able to take a deep dive, get into things, and really try to... It's really like a puzzle, you know? You gotta take the time to figure it out.

Yeah, it's like a puzzle. Yeah, well, he knows a lot, right? This is his second time in the postseason.

Good for him. Let's see what Chet Holmgren does. A big series, as America watches, will certainly elevate him into another space. A lot of conversations about Chet and Benyama, and Chet Holmgren has a chance, based on the team that he's on, to do some damage and play on the biggest stage. So, good luck to the Indiana Pacers.

I think they are certainly going to need it when they tip off in about an hour and a half. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast-to-coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We are going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk some more NHL.

We'll get back to some basketball. We're going to have a conversation with David Pagnotta. Covers all things NHL for nhl.com and SiriusXM. We'll get his thoughts on what we saw last night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. You're locked in to the JR Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief.

It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast-to-coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're about an hour away from the start of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but last night the NHL got us all set up. We had a thriller out in Edmonton. We saw these Oilers bounce back, beat the Panthers 4-3 in overtime.

A little bit different than what we saw last year. Edmonton picking up a game, a victory here and not waiting until they were in a massive deficit. To talk about what we saw last night and what we can expect the rest of the way for this series is someone who covers all things NHL for SiriusXM.

NHL Radio, NHL Network. He's the editor-in-chief of the Fourth Period. Joining us right now is David Pagnotta. David, thank you for taking the time and joining us. Absolutely.

Thanks for having me. No, I mean, given what we saw last night. Panthers taking a 3-1 lead, Edmonton bouncing back. What are your thoughts on the strategy that the Panthers employed? Did they take their foot off of the gas last night? They did. They absolutely did.

And Matthew Kuchuk and some of the other boys acknowledged that as well when they spoke with us earlier today. They shifted. Once the Third Period rolled around, they shifted to a much more defensive structure. Which meant they weren't as aggressive offensively as they had been throughout the first 40 minutes of that game. They focused more on the defensive aspect, which worked for about the first six minutes of that period. And then Edmonton regained life because they were the aggressors. And because of the foot speed that they have and the depth that they possessed, it allowed them to tie things up, send it to OT. And then ultimately, they got the winner on a bit of a rough situation for Florida side of things. Getting that penalty, suck over glass, delay a game. You can't give either of these teams, you can't give them the opportunity to gain a little bit of steam and to regain a little bit of life in a game.

Because they will bite you. And from Florida's perspective, they thought they would have handled things a little bit differently. Contained the offense of the Oilers.

But again, the depth kicked in, the foot speed kicked in. It allowed them to take an early 1-0 lead in this one because, as you mentioned earlier, this is a different situation, a different tone than last year in the Stanley Cup Final, where the Florida Panthers ended up being up 3-0 going into this one, which led to a seven game series. Bit of a different shift here from Edmonton's perspective in their plan of attack. Well, David, even with some of the roster changes and adjustments from last year to this year, this Cup Finals is expected to be a close one as well, given for what we saw last night. When we get to Game 2 tomorrow, what approach, what differences should we look out for?

What can we expect to be different? I think we're going to see a lot more aggression right out of the gate from Florida's side of things. And that's something that Chuck and a few other guys acknowledged, or Hagee and a few others acknowledged earlier today, was their foot speed needs to be a little bit better. They need to be a little bit more aggressive on the forecheck and just create more havoc in front of Edmonton's goalie and Stewart Skinner. They can do that. They can potentially get a lead and just keep their foot on the gas.

They don't have to take it off completely, but even if they want to levy it a little bit, fair enough. But they have to still continue to have that type of offensive, aggressive approach. And it sounds like that's what they're going to bring into Game 2 tomorrow night here in Edmonton.

The Oilers obviously are aware of that. They're going to have to kind of rebound. And their defense has been solid so far throughout these playoffs, so they're going to rely a lot on that. But more so than anything, Florida's plan of attack is to be aggressive, aggressive, aggressive right from puck drop. And if they can do that and get a lead and add to it, just continue to pounce as opposed to what they had in Game 1. This is a learning process for both of these clubs, going back to last year's Stanley Cup final. So this is learning on the fly now for both teams from Florida's side of things. All right, we can't give Edmonton any type of opportunity to gain some life.

From Florida's side of things, you harness that and you continue the pressure. And David Pagnotta is joining us, host and analyst on SiriusXM, NHL Radio, as well as for the NHL Network. When you had mentioned Skinner, this man had 29 stops last night. I think in most cases we hear more about Bobrovsky. For people like myself who pop in, especially now during the finals, what should we know about Skinner? He had to pretty much hold down the fort, didn't start hot, but then late he pretty much put the kibosh on him.

He really did. And Edmonton outshot Florida significantly from the third period till the end of the game. And with Stuart Skinner, like even actually here, I'll preface it this way.

You go back to the Stanley Cup final last year. Stuart Skinner's numbers were better than Sergei Bobrovsky's numbers in last year's Stanley Cup final. And Bob shut out the Oilers in Game 1 last year. And he still, Stuart Skinner still had a better goals against average and a better save percentage in that seven game series. He's an underrated goaltender. He gets a lot of flack because of certain situations. He's still relatively young. He's a local product here in Alberta.

This is a guy that is relatively calm. He can keep his composure and he can keep his team in it. And what we've noticed in the National Hockey League over the last few years, it's great to have a superstar goalie like Bobrovsky. But if you have a guy who can hold the fort down the net like a Stuart Skinner who's not necessarily at that superstar level, but is entering star stratosphere, that's enough to push you over the top when you've got other assets that you can exploit in the right way. And of course, with Edmondson, you've got Connor McDavid and Leon Dryside leading the charge. But Skinner's ability to remain calm, you know, they didn't crash the net. The Panthers didn't as much as I anticipated or thought they would have. I think that will change in Game 2. But even the few times that he did, and Berhage kind of knocked him over a little bit in one sequence in the middle of the game. Sam Bennett, a couple love taps over to Stu Skinner. But he continued to keep his composure and kept his team in it. And that's all the Oilers need. Enough to hold the fort down and let their offensive game take over. Stuart Skinner's a very good goalie.

He doesn't get the credit for it. But we're going to start to see, as this series progresses, that battle in net between him and Bobrovsky. Well, David, I don't want to hit the fast-forward button too much, but I will. You mentioned Connor McDavid and Leon Dryseidel and now the youth of Skinner. There's a lot of focus on whether or not the Panthers are going to repeat. Given the talent that the Oilers have and that they were here last year and they almost bounced back, and here they are again, how set are they for the future with this core? The Oilers?

Yes. The Oilers and the Panthers. Their cores are locked in. And minus a few cosmetic changes that may need to happen, go back to both of these teams. Fifteen players were on their roster last season that aren't on them this year. Thirteen players that played in Game 7 for both of these clubs are not part of the Stanley Cup Final this year.

They're not part of their officers. They made cosmetic changes, both of these clubs did. But the cores of their clubs are locked in. Minus Sam Bennett right now with Florida. He's a pending unrestricted free agent. I think he stays. Every indication is that they've got an extension in place there. So we'll see kind of how that unfolds after the Stanley Cup Final wraps.

But from Edmonton's perspective, they're locked in. Connor has one more year left on his contract after this season. He's eligible to sign an extension July 1st, like every other player on during the final year of their deal. All signs point to an eight-year extension, which is the max to be locked in. Leon Drysettles signed for a lengthy period. Evan Bouchard also needs a new contract, but he's a restricted free agent.

He's controllable. The core of this Oilers group and the core of the Florida Panthers are pretty much tied in for the foreseeable future. And both of these teams are going to remain the cream of the crop at their conferences for the next several years.

David Pagnotta joining us here on the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast. Knowing that the Oilers bounce back to take Game 1. They have home ice advantage. How do you think this looks for them the rest of this series?

Would you give them the edge to win it all? I don't want to discount the former champs because they've been through this process before. They were down 2-0 to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round. And they almost lost Game 3 before they rebounded and then took over the rest of that series. They understand what it takes to take their game and elevate their game to the next level. So I'm definitely not counting them out by any stretch. The Oilers were slight favorites in this series once the Stanley Cup final began yesterday. They should remain in that realm.

But you can't discount Florida for what they've got and the talent that they've got. I think this one is going to be a lengthy series. This is a shot for shot type of series. Back and forth action.

Which is obviously great to see. But from Edmonton's perspective, you're up 1-0. So you want to be able to build off that confidence and take your game to that next level. I think they're going to be a little bit more. They've got that 1-0 lead. I think they're going to be a little bit more collected in Game 2. Because I think they understand how aggressive Florida is going to come out of the gate. And we'll see how this goes. But again, this isn't a game by game, shot by shot type of scenario.

This is period by period. And that's how tight these games are. And both coaches earlier today, Chris Knoblock of the Oilers and Paul Maurice of the Panthers.

They both recognize, admitted and acknowledge how tight these games are actually going to be. And it's going to be from start to finish in every single one of them. Hey David, sign me up. I mean, what I got last night, I'm here for seven more games.

Sign me up. I was almost disappointed last year. And I'm happy what we got so far. Yeah, look, we had seven games last year and Florida pulled it off. We got one game so far. Eight games total of these two teams in the Stanley Cup final.

Each team's won four times. So that shows you how tight this is. And that shows you how exciting these games are really going to be. This has all the making of another seven game series here in this Stanley Cup final because of the talent that they possess.

They're deep. And yes, Edmonton doesn't have Zach Hyman because of his dislocated wrist that he suffered last round and tore a couple ligaments. So he might not even be ready for the start of next season. But they have other assets that can really step up.

Vander Kain was fantastic in game one with not only his offensive capabilities but physicality. Both sides possess so many different assets that can bite you. And yeah, I mean, yeah, 100%. Sign me up for all of us. Yeah, I think I'm going to start getting some travel arrangements set for next June between Edmonton and Sunrise.

I'm going to get ahead of things on that one, David. Hey, thank you so much for the time. Please tell everybody where they can find, listen and catch all of your musings and shows.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, fourthperiod.com. We're providing regular reports throughout the duration. Video reports as well throughout the duration of the Stanley Cup final. Myself and Dennis Bernstein put on the pregame show Face Off Live on Sirius XM Channel 91 on NHL Network Radio ahead of every game. So you'll catch us between 7 to 8 Eastern leading into the game tomorrow night ahead of game two.

Then off to Florida for the rest of it. And then for all the fun off Stanley Cup action that's going on. The Philly season is starting. Draft is coming up.

Reagents is coming up. There's going to be a lot of activity around the league. You can check me out on NHL Network Television for some of the insights surrounding the rest of the NHL. Hey David, I really appreciate the time and your expertise and what I always find to be the most exciting time of the year. Thank you so much. We'll catch you down the line. Sounds good. Thank you.

Absolutely. That David Pagnotta covers all things NHL. NHL expert and analyst for TV, for radio, everywhere.

Thank you, David. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. The phone lines are open if you want to give me a holler. It's 888-710-4ISN.

That's 888-710-4ISN. Yeah, I'm waiting for tomorrow. Give me more Oilers. Give me more Panthers. We're going to take a break. We've talked about some NFL.

Aaron Rodgers, Anthony Richardson. We talked some NBA. Game one of the finals are tomorrow. Man, we've talked some NHL.

The Stanley Cup Finals game one was spectacular last night. When we come back on the other side of the break, I'm going to tell you about some baseball. Because we've got a miserable team in Chicago that might have new ownership.

And then I have an unfortunate miserable situation if you're a fan of the New York Mets. I'm going to tell you what's going on on the other side of the break. But right now on the Infinity Sports Network, it is time for a news flash.

Here he is. It's Rich Ackerman. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Brief show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Hey, thank you so much to David Paknota for joining us in the last break to talk about everything that we witnessed last night in game one of the Stanley Cup Finals. I saw Edmonton bounce back against the Panthers to win 4-3 in overtime. Game two is going to take place tomorrow once again in Edmonton.

If you missed that conversation with David, you can go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. And we've talked a lot of football. We talked a lot of, obviously, basketball with game one of the NBA Finals scheduled to start in about an hour from now. But before we move on, I do have to get some baseball news in here. For all my fans and friends in both New York and then also, well, in Chicago.

I think people in Chicago might actually be rejoicing. But before I get there, I do want to let you know that this portion of the show is sponsored by Hyundai. The all-new, all-electric Hyundai IONIQ 9. Space for up to 7. Range 4 miles. And before we do that as well, let's go ahead and hit the phone lines. 888-710-4ISN.

That's 888-710-4ISN. Let's go to Mark. He is calling from Nova Scotia. Hey, Mark, you're on the JR Sportbree show.

What's up? Hey, thanks for taking my call, JR. So, I just wanted to talk about the Stanley Cup Final. First of all, I thought that was an excellent analysis from your guest.

I take no issue with anything that he said. Obviously, I'm a little biased. Being an Oilers fan, but sometimes that means I'm sort of harder on my own team. I have been saying from the beginning, I think this is going to go 6. It could go 7. I do think the Oilers are going to win.

I do. Winning that first game was huge. If they had have lost, I would have flipped and said probably the Panthers are going to take it. You're basing this on what we saw last night. Coming into the series before last night, why did you think that the Panthers were going to come out here and repeat?

Oh, no, no, no. Sorry. I was speaking a little too quickly. I was saying if the Oilers had have lost last night, I would have said that probably the Panthers would win. No, I was thinking Oilers in 6 or 7 all along.

Part of it is them being tested last year, going through it as a young team. I'm not old enough to remember this. I might be kind of old, but I know the history about losing to the Islanders in 83. Then the Oilers winning their first cup in 84. I know the Penguins. I witnessed the Penguins losing to the Red Wings.

Sidney Crosby, the best player in the league at the time. There's precedence. I want to say one more thing. I know it's a little bit different. From a basketball standpoint, I started watching basketball in the 80s and Michael Jordan playing against the Pistons. They were beating the hell out of them. He was the best player. It's a bit different.

I had to look it up. I thought they played two years in a row. They played three years in a row. I'm just saying I don't believe in destiny, but I'm saying that Connor McDavid is the best player. I just really, truly believe in my heart that the Oilers are going to win. Okay, alright. Let's go Oilers.

Just one more thing. Let's go Thunder. Let's go SGA representing Canada.

And also Thunder in 6. Okay, alright. Mark from Nova Scotia with the intel. Thank you, Mark.

We'll catch you later, okay? Appreciate it, man. No doubt about it. Shout-outs to Mark calling from Nova Scotia. Much love to all of our listeners calling from all over Canada.

I really appreciate that. Man, I don't sit here enough throughout the course of the year and tell you who the hell I think is going to win. Botcher, what are your thoughts on what we're going to see the rest of the series? I got a seven-game series, of course, but I think the Panthers got it. Adding Marshon and Seth Jones is just too much talent, even though the Oilers do have the best player in hockey.

I also think Brabovsky is better long-term than Stuart Skinner, despite what Pagnotta said. So we're looking at another repeat as far as you're concerned. I'm feeling a repeat.

Okay, alright. Are you giving us a trip to Sunrise? If it happens, can we get a little vacation? Nah. Florida? Too hot. Too hot and the parade's probably going to be like half empty. There's not that many Panthers fans.

Oh my God. Are you calling everybody in South Florida fraudulent fans? Yes. Or just Panthers fans? Fans in general in South Florida? Well, where have the Miami Heat fans gone since LeBron left? Oh, I don't know. Being angry at Pat Riley?

I have no idea. They're almost as bad as Brooklyn. They don't exist. Brooklyn? Yeah, we have no fans.

What are you advocating for the Brooklyn Nets? It's going to take a generation. It's been, what is it, 15 years now? Almost?

12? That's basically a generation, you know? It's going to take a generation who sees winning.

The Brooklyn Nets have always been kind of hot shot. Like, hey, we've got Prokhorov trying to do something fast and then Josiah had to pick up the scraps and then he had to blow that up with Durant and Kyrie. So we're looking at two failed generations. A decade bookended. It's going to take another, give them another five years, right?

Five years turns to six years and it turns to whatever LeBron said, not five, not six, not seven. So you think Brooklyn, when it comes to terrible fan bases, you'd say everybody in South Florida and then Brooklyn? Well, just like lack of fans, South Florida has nobody. You look at the Rays, they don't have a home stadium. Well, they had a hurricane.

But even before that, they had no fans. Damn. Yeah, well. It's a trend.

I don't know. Do people in Tampa want to go watch the, I mean, when they were winning, nobody get, well, didn't they have empty seats when they were winning, right? Yeah, they're not going to sell out. But football still works down there. The Buccaneers get fans. Yeah, Buccaneers are good. While we're at it, Bachar, tell me about some other miserable sports fans in cities.

Go ahead. Ah, okay. Oh, the Sacramento A's now? Oh, that doesn't count, man. The A's stopping in Sacramento is like somebody sleeping on their friend's couch for a couple of years.

That doesn't count. Okay, you can't really blame, they were still bad in Oakland before they ended. Yeah, but leave Sacramento alone. They were bad because their owner, Fisher, is a piece of crap. That is true.

He's still there. But on top of that, you have the L.A. teams. You have the Rams and Chargers home stadium being invaded by other fans.

Irrelevant, yeah. You said L.A. fans or L.A. football fans are relevant? L.A. football fans. Well, the Rams have won, too, so they're not as bad as the Chargers. Yeah, but do people in St. Louis give a damn about this team anymore?

I think not. No, they're a little close to the Chiefs, so they'll probably claim that. Yeah, I don't think they're switching over, though. I just think you've got a generation of Rams fans who just don't care at all. Like, they're not going to root for the Los Angeles Rams or, I mean, they've won a Super Bowl since they've left. So, we've had callers who've hit us up from St. Louis and they're like, man, I'm not rooting for no L.A. Rams. You can forget about it.

Not happening. Also, the White Sox. They're pretty, yeah. Oh, my God.

Yeah. The White Sox, but the White Sox, they don't have, they have fans. People aren't showing up for the White Sox because of, well, they've been, they've been bad. We know last year they went on a historic stretch. They had one of the worst stretches ever. Damn it, they had the worst record in modern Major League Baseball history, a record of 41 and 121. And you know what? The White Sox, they're in the process, process of being sold.

I want you to listen to this clip. This is courtesy of the Chicago Sports Network. Jerry Ronsdorf might be selling the team, slowly.

Twenty minutes before we took the air here. Big news from the White Sox involving the ownership of the White Sox. They've announced that Jerry Ronsdorf and Justin Ishbia have reached a long term investment agreement that establishes a framework for Ishbia to obtain a future controlling interest of the White Sox.

Now, there's a lot to digest here, but I will give you the bullet points of all of it. Here are some of the details from 2029 to 2023, Ronsdorf will have the option to sell the controlling interest of the White Sox to Ishbia. After the 2034 season, Ishbia will have the option to acquire that controlling interest.

Justin and his brother Matt and his father, Jeff, will be significant investors. There is no assurance that any future transaction will take place. If it does, it will not happen before 2029. Could you imagine slowly but surely buying bits and pieces of a franchise ultimately to be told I ain't selling?

Like, come on. The White Sox were awful last year. Forty-one wins, 121 losses. The year before that, 61 and 101.

This year, the White Sox have a record of 1943. And then we might look at 2029 as the first year that Jerry Ronsdorf might let them off. Jerry Ronsdorf ain't no spring chicken. I mean, we just saw what took place in Minnesota as Taylor didn't want to ultimately sell the team to Laurie and Alex Rodriguez. He decided to pull the rug out from under them at the last minute. They had to go to court, had to go to arbitration just to get the team moved.

Jerry Ronsdorf is 89 years old. Bruh. Sell the team. Keep it moving.

Why do we got to wait another, I don't know, three and four years? Are you still going to be here? I'm not being disrespectful. I'm just being honest. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Speaking of deals, we're going to talk about another quarterback who might sign a deal sooner than later. It's the JR Sport Reshow. Don't move.