Kraken take out defending Stanley Cup champs.

No better time of the year than right now. We are now into round two of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Round one finally wrapped up with, what was it, the fourth, seventh, third game seven of the first round. Man, we only had one series and only went five.

Everything else went at least six. We had three game sevens and the Devils took care of the Rangers last night. So we know the matchup it's Carolina and New Jersey, the Seattle Kraken over the weekend did the thing.

They went to Colorado, went to Denver at ball arena and beat the defending champion Colorado avalanche in a two one thriller. John Forslund is the voice of the Seattle Kraken. You may recall he had spent some time here and he joins us on the Adam gold show.

I don't know why, why am I thrilled for you that the Kraken beat the avalanche? I appreciate it. It means a lot to me. I'm not sure it means much to anybody else, but that's good, Adam. I really do.

I really do appreciate that. There's a tremendous story here with this team all season. The two years in Seattle have been absolutely incredible. Even the first year where they had their challenges and were below expectation, launching a franchise and being part of what they're doing has been a real big step for me in my career. So game seven in Denver Sunday night was spectacular.

They did it as a team like they've had to do all year and now they march on to the next step. And that's the guy that Ron Francis paid a lot of money for, the Philip Grubauer that showed up in game seven. That was the guy that Ronnie thought that this is the guy we can invest some money in because now we have to now we have a number one goaltender. Man, he looked every bit the part. Yeah.

Yeah. And his old stomping grounds right against the old team and the team that kind of, you know, I'm not going to say kick them to the curb, but they did. He took a lot of blame in his last season for the playoffs that year contract was up. He was a Vesna finalist and they didn't, they didn't want to keep them around. So Grubauer hit the market, landed the big contract with the Kraken for the first time in his career.

A lot of money, a lot of term. And in the first season had a tough time living up to it and dealt with the pressure that was attached to it and took a lot of blame for the Seattle woes. And season number one, season number two, he got off to a good start. He was injured and had a hard time gaining traction after that injury. And Martin Jones resurrected his career and carried the water for most of the year through the middle portion of it. But the last two or three months of the year, Grubauer started to dial in as a different goalie. And then the key was, you know, in this beginning of this series, was he going to be the guy that knew the other side or did the other side know him too well? Well, he went out and he basically put game seven on his shoulders and won the game there.

Now he takes a big step against Jake Artinger in the second round, but Grubauer has delivered the way he's supposed to. Yeah, it's funny. I've watched a lot of crack in hockey. I have a rooting interest there because you're there. And it's an interesting team. There's really only one, I mean, I think, bona fide future offensive star in Matty Beneers. There are some other very good players, but I mean, essentially the lines kind of look the same to me. There's an element of grit. There's talent, but maybe a lot of second line and third line offensive players.

But there is depth. There is so many good players, whether it's Jordan Eberle or, you know, my personal favorite. I love Oliver Bjorkstman, who scored two goals and probably could have had five in the in the closeout game. I mean, it's just an interesting team to watch. Well, it is, and I think it's a payoff for Ron and his staff and what they tried to do with the initial expansion roster. The league had woken up a little bit to what was out there for Vegas, right? Made it more difficult, but they believed in the roster.

They had the first season and were disappointed because they thought a lot more was coming from it. So he made some trades at the end of the first season, a crew draft choices made, made some key free agent acquisitions, you know, the second tier free agents, not, not the big, big names, but, but good enough to supplement the scoring. And then you get to this year and everything you just said about the crack and the balance, the scoring balance is really second to none with all the teams. When you look at all the teams around the league, the cracking were the highest scoring five on five team in the league. This season, not a lot of people know that they had 46 wins.

They had a hundred points. Most of the, a lot of those wins were on the road. They were a top five road record team in the NHL. And, and that's how they go about their business because their defense pairings really haven't changed much from the beginning of camp forward lines haven't changed too much. Every line can score. They got a, they got a, a 21 goal score on the fourth line, Daniel sprung, uh, who plays about 10 minutes a game.

Uh, so, you know, this is, this is how they do it. Uh, they don't have to adjust much when they get to the playoffs. They didn't have to, uh, in the first round, uh, Colorado's not the same as they were when they won the cup the season before, but the Kraken were able to get terrific goaltending in game seven and ride out the storm.

See what happens next. This is a big step now against Dallas, but, uh, the Kraken have been an unbelievable story in their second season. I love Dallas too.

I love the makeup of that team as well. Here's the thing I was watching, um, Scott van Pelt sports center last night, and he was going on and on about, man, if a team had set the record for wins and points in a season, they lose in the first round, the defending champions lose in the first round. And I'm thinking, where did that happen five, five years ago, when Tampa lost in Columbus and Carolina went to Washington in a game seven in double overtime and winning there. So there are similarities between the two. So this is something that happens a lot. You're not surprised that Florida surprised Boston.

Uh, I am a little bit. I mean, the thing about this is where we lose sight of everything is when Boston's hunting down a historic record, like they, they, like, like they were, um, you know, they're, they're basically becomes the focus and, and they're grinding to get those, those marks, those benchmarks at the end of the season. And they're playing teams who are either already know their fate or done.

And you know, it's, it's silly season in April before the season ends, right? So, you know, how they go into the playoffs is a, is a different story. They were injured, uh, older players, Bergeron, Crachey, and so on. Uh, the goaltender had an injury and he's going to win the Vesna trophy. Um, and then you have hockey, right?

And that's what you're driving at here. There's a randomness attached to this sport that doesn't exist in others. And there's parody that exists. And no matter how much we put great teams up on a pedestal, the teams that are below them are not too far off. And so anything is possible.

It's proven. And I don't know why we're shocked by any of this. We shouldn't be, uh, you know, for him to go on and on like that just shows a lack of awareness that, you know, this has happened before, uh, this happened back in 2002 when Ron Francis and, and Roddy and everybody, you know, led those, that, that generation of hurricane against the Detroit red wings of the Stanley cup final. Uh, so, you know, how many years ago was that? Right?

So this is not a shock. That's the beauty of the sport. That's why the playoffs in hockey are so great because you cannot predict what's going to happen next.

I have so many things I want to ask you, but we don't have a lot of time. And John Forslund is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. So canes play the devils. And I know of late in the rod Brindemore era canes in Boston have been the series because we've had three of them in the last four years in the playoffs, but canes devils is really the first one for Carolina. You've got the back in 2001 when Scott Stevens knocked Ron Francis out of the series, 2002, uh, Kevin weeks on John Madden, 2006 and 2009, the shock at the rock.

Um, just to ask you to reminisce a little bit, what is it about? What were your favorite moments from that matchup in the post season? All of those match-ups with New Jersey were always about the mighty devils, right? It was the mighty New Jersey devils, even in oh nine. It was the end of that era, but they still had Marty Brodure and he still had Brendan Shanahan, who they had picked up and, you know, he was playing for them then. And they had some new players like a young, uh, Zach Parise and so on. So, um, but it was always about them and it was always about the hurricanes, you know, overcoming that. And it started in old one when they lost their first ever playoff series at, uh, the old entertainment and sports arena. And it was a standing ovation at the end of that series in third period, I believe they were losing five to one and the, and the, the, the infant stages of the caniacs were on their feet and, and going crazy. And then, oh, two, and then you get onto the, uh, the oh six run where the devils had gone on in this unbelievable run of a bleep, 14 consecutive wins until the second round and were ousted in five by, by lobby elects hurricanes. And then you get to oh nine and the shock at the rock and all of that. The difference here is that you have an established Carolina team now in a Stanley cup window, who's been pressing for this now for, for years, uh, trying to get this group to the next spot, trying to get this group to the third round. It started in 19, but it's kind of stopped. Uh, and now they have to get beyond this step and, and, and take it as far as they can.

That's what they're supposed to do. And I know they have injuries and so on, and that's part of the narrative. This devil's team is brand new. This devil's team has a totally different dimension than those older devil's teams. Those Lou Lamarrillo teams were defensive minded, great goaltending and, and hard to play against physically. This devil's team is about as fast as you're going to see. And they defend better than people give them credit for. I was amazed at how well they defended the Rangers last night through the middle and in the defensive zone.

There's always five players in the, in the screen and that's a good sign. So, um, this will be at a high pace. This will be a real good test in this era of, of the NHL to see, uh, who's going to outskill who here. Uh, but New Jersey has put together a remarkable season and, uh, it's the return of Dougie Hamilton.

So that's going to lend a lot to this thing too. It's the return of Eric Holla, John Forsman. Yes.

I forgot about Eric. Yes. Yes.

I am looking forward to that. Every time Holla steps on the ice public enemy, number one, number one, uh, the, uh, the devils are the favorite in this series, even without home ice advantage, the betting market has the devils as a slight favorite Carolina's at plus money, which is to me, not a surprise if it's, if it's about skill, I don't think the hurricanes can win this series. I think it has to be about more than that.

Yeah. Well, it's going to be limiting the, the, the transitional speed of the devils and, and, and for the canes again, like they they've shown so, so often throughout the season for me, they're the best, uh, lead team in the national hockey league. You know, they have to get the lead. It's almost imperative that the hurricane score first. It's almost imperative that they play the lion's share of games with the lead so they can get to a checking game so they can, they can get in position and, and, and play as well coached as they are.

Right. So that's, that's the hidden thing with the hurricanes. Uh, the devils will force you out of that comfort zone. They'll force you into rush chances.

They'll force you into, um, a lot of different things. And then what they've been able to do in the Rangers series is overcome an arch rival who has a lot of, uh, reputation attached to them. A lot of focus on the Rangers, a lot of trades that were made, you know, and now this group of devils always disrespected in that market was able to get through it with a second goalie who was a remarkable story too. So if, if Schmid can continue at the level he's at with the two shutouts and the calmness that he's playing with him, remember he overcame adversity for the first time in his young career too, by getting pulled and not playing well in the swing game of the series.

And then he came back in and played even better than he was playing before. That's a pretty good maturation process for a young goalie and the hurricanes are going to have to figure out who it is. Uh, I know we'll know at puck drop who the goalie is for the hurricanes and, uh, and then go from there. But at some point that position is going to be key in the series and whoever it is, is going to have to go attend to the other guy. I mean, I think it's the same. I have me rod rod can just pick it out of a hat. I really doesn't at times. I don't think it matters. Uh, before I let you go, I know, uh, what, what are you doing in round two?

Where can we see John Forslund? Um, um, uh, TNT will take over, uh, the second round series that ESPN has the first, uh, games one and four, the first four. And we have games two and three. So I'm going out to Vegas for Vegas and Edmonton, uh, game two, then off to Edmonton game three. I'm also doing NHL radio. Um, and it looks like I'll have the Eastern conference final, uh, an NHL radio. So, um, at least that's the way it's stacking up right now. And then as we get into fives and sixes and sevens, there's a share between ESPN, ABC and Turner. And we'll see how that shakes out the longer, all the series go, the better that I may get a game six or seven or something like that in the second round. So that's what's on the horizon. All right. Eastern conference finals. So we'll, uh, we'll see you then John Forslund.

There's a chance. I appreciate your time. Uh, thrilled, uh, that Seattle is still fighting and I appreciate it. We'll talk again soon. Great Adam. Thanks for having me. He is the best. The one and only John Forslund.