Lot of that at the S A P Center this year. Sharks getting started tonight, taking on the Coyotes on Phoenix as good a time as any to talk to Dan Rucinsky voice to the Sharks on these Sharks audio network. And joins us on the only guest line here in the Tolbert, Kruger and Brooks show, Dan Thank you for joining us. Happy New Year. I think it's still appropriate to say that one of the 14 days into it where you appreciate you hanging out with us. Absolutely. It's just great to be talking hockey. Ganda. Great crew guys ride. Nice to be with you, Larry. Hello. I'm talking Fantastic. Hello, Dan. So when people talk about these sharks, you know and previews or what have you? It's either you know what they could make the playoffs. You know, they got some names. I got some guys. I got some issues, but they have enough. Scoring and defense where they could do it. And then there are other people who say they've got no chance. You would think that the truth would lie somewhere in the middle, but there is no middle between making the playoffs and you got no chance on making the playoffs. Who are these guys? Because we know the names we know burns. We know. Hurdle in myrrh and and could sure But do they have enough Gold Tinning? Do they have enough depth? Who are these guys and one of the actual chances? As we know, at the very start of the regular season, everybody's gonna win the Stanley Cup from the drop of a personal fuck 5 10 games in you Got it all figured out. That's just the way it always, you know, e guess you could say the call. Call it the right of January is opposed to the rite of fall passage. Because I mean, you know, you hear the sticks on the pucks and the sounds of escapes and everything course All of that will be somewhat virtual. For us. This year is the way that the games are. We'll get to that later, but You know, I think that this is a BRI good hockey team that a bad year last year, and that's that's that's basically what we're talking about. Is it the same team that went to the conference final A couple of years ago? Order the finals in 2016? No, it's a team in somewhat of a transition, but still Thorton at age 41 leaving And with, you know the changing of the guard a little bit in the leadership with Joe Kovalski going to Dallas last year. Those were two big things, along with a variety of massive injuries that We're not exactly well time for the sake club, given the fact that they were integrating some young people into the roster, But all that's you know, beyond the team. Now they've got some experience with these kids. Mario Ferraro last year was a real revelation in terms of a young player being able to come into the NHL in tonight's on Leonard's another guy like that out of University of Massachusetts. Playing his first NHL game, and everybody is saying that this is a crafty hockey player. That's gonna help and again, a guy under the radar along with a variety of other players you've heard of in the in the Bay Area. But maybe not around the world. And so you know, I don't think anybody is looking at at the naysayers say the Sharks are gonna make the playoffs with it without a shrug of the shoulders and saying That's just good motivation for this Logan couture, let team toe move back to the playoffs and have a good bounce back. Any. Uh, I'm a huge fan of Evander Kane. Well, what? What's the story here? I mean, I I saw the bankruptcy. I see. I see that he's you know almost what $30 million in in dead. It looks like Um what? What's his status? Is that gonna affect his status for the seasons? He's not going to play this year because of the status. What can you tell us? I think that a lot of that was based on speculating by reading the legal documents that were filed because everything that we've heard is that look at is that Evander is playing. He's playing tonight. And he's gonna play the full season. So obviously some personal troubles there, But the way we look at it, he's showing up to work, and he's been actually really focused in training camp. Obviously with working harden and then actually dealing with some of the kids and being a mentor, which is something that everybody has always wanted them to be. So I think everybody is just trying to stay positive and help him where every where he may need help and and move forward. Before get to the nuts and bolts of the team and the season. I gotta ask you what's going to be late, calling the game the night and look out on the ice and for the first time in 15 years You're not going to see that big dude with the big beard out there. It's going to be strange course It's going to be strange, because if I look out on the ice at SCP Center, where I'm calling the game from tonight, all I'll see is a bunch of concrete. True. Everybody is gonna miss Joe Thornton. Everybody already does. He's one of the most influential players in the NHL in his era. Amazing that it's his 23rd season in the league, and he's going to go try and step for trouble. Patrick model doing the same thing you're this year 23 years for these two guys, mostly with the Sharks, which is just incredible. Thing, and you know, we could get to some of that later. But back to your question about Joe. He is one of the most unusual people in that heat looked at everybody that's involved with the operation. He treats them as being somebody That's really important for the success of the team. Whether it's somebody that's cleaning out the locker rooms after games, whether it's somebody that's broadcasting the game, whether it's a teammate, whether it's a rookie, and the one thing that he brings to the game is something and I have Tom is as a former top player They got to the top level of your sport. You can relate to That grind during the course of a long season can be tough. And when you basically come to work as a player of that stature and show everybody how much fun you want to have and how much you want to have the joy of playing the game and all of those things that Joe Thornton has It just works wonders for the morale of the hockey team, so we know he's going to do that in Toronto, and we know that that tradition is carrying on in San Jose is one of the great things about having guys like Joe Thornton Patrick model around For all these years, they've established a foundation that gets passed down from generation to generation..