00:00Panthers star defenseman, Gustav Forsling, joining us there on the show.
00:04Gustav, how are you, man?
00:05Thanks for joining us.
00:07Good. How are you guys?
00:08Good, man.
00:09We're good.
00:09I have a question, man.
00:11You know, we always see you.
00:12You're laying your body on the line for these cats all the time.
00:15Thankless job of taking these blocks and saving goals.
00:18And nobody ever appreciates it like they should for you.
00:21How bad does that hurt?
00:22I don't mean it to be such a simple question.
00:24But how bad does it hurt when you're putting your body in the line for those blocks?
00:28Because it looks miserable.
00:30Yeah, it sucks, to be honest.
00:33It really hurts.
00:34I don't know if you guys have ever taken a puck to the leg or the foot or anything.
00:41But it's no fun.
00:44What is the recovery time?
00:45Like, how much at this time, all the hockey you've played, does it ever get numbing?
00:50Or like, it sucks every time?
00:52And how long does it take to shake?
00:54Yeah, I think it's actually just getting worse and worse, to be honest.
00:59Because you got bruises everywhere and bone bruises.
01:03Bone bruises can take a couple months to get rid of, to be honest.
01:07So it's not getting better.
01:09But you get used to it.
01:12Now, have you put yourself in a position where now everybody expects you to do this?
01:19And now it's just part of, oh, no, I got to do it because this is what I do.
01:26Yeah, I don't mind it.
01:27I enjoy it somehow.
01:29You know, you got to find a little enjoyment in the pain, too.
01:33But you get a couple of taps on your back when you come to the bench.
01:37So it's all for the team, though.
01:39So I'm happy to do it.
01:41It's kind of my role.
01:42So I'm fine with that.
01:45You guys obviously have the credential now of being a champion.
01:48So I don't think the fan base is worried at all about these last couple of losses on the
01:53road trip.
01:53But very uncharacteristic of you guys.
01:56You guys usually third period, two goal lead, never, ever let up.
02:00Was there any common thread you guys found at practice today as to why you thought that
02:04happened?
02:05And is there any level of concern with that over this road trip?
02:10Not really.
02:11I think we know what kind of went wrong.
02:16And we know what to do coming up here.
02:19And we're going to play a lot of teams that are hungry to make it to the playoffs.
02:24And it's going to be a couple of tough games coming up, especially the first one here at
02:28Columbus.
02:30They're really on the line to making the playoffs.
02:33So they're going to come out flying.
02:35And that's perfect for us.
02:37That's how we want to play.
02:38And we want to get ready for the playoffs and tune up here.
02:44How hard is it to get acclimated or figure out what new guys who either play on your
02:52line or move you to a different line or whatever?
02:56How long does it take to get comfortable with the new guys that come in?
03:00You know what they can do, but they haven't done it with you and what you like.
03:07Does that take a little bit of time?
03:08Or you know how these guys play, and you just kind of figure it out really quickly?
03:15Yeah, I mean, it takes for sure a little bit of time, not just for us, but for them to
03:20come into our system.
03:22It's completely different probably from what they played before.
03:25So it's going to take a little time.
03:28But I feel like the new guys has really been good for us.
03:32They come in.
03:33They work hard.
03:34And I think that's a culture thing for us to everything.
03:37Everyone really buys into the system and what the coaches and everything.
03:44So I think we're ahead of the schedule, I think.
03:49Is there anything that you have particularly liked about Seth Jones,
03:52like getting to know him or anything that you found interesting about him so far?
03:56No, just a super nice guy and relaxed, calm.
04:01You can see it on the ice, too.
04:02I feel like he's very calm with the puck.
04:04There's no stress.
04:07He's just very smooth out there and can play big, big, big minutes out there.
04:13I got to ask you about this.
04:15We were listening to your coach after one of these games where he was like,
04:19I kind of like the game, even if you guys lost sometimes.
04:21He's like, I like the game that we have.
04:23But then he brought up something known as the punitive skate, which sounds terrifying.
04:30What goes into a punitive skate?
04:32Does he have to get you up at five in the morning for a punitive skate?
04:34How long is he skating you guys to death?
04:37And have you had to deal with any of that this year?
04:40No, not really.
04:42I think we've been playing solid so far.
04:45So we haven't done anything like that.
04:48But I mean, just today was a pretty hard skate.
04:52He wanted us to be sharp and fast out there.
04:55So I think everyone really had a good practice today.
04:59And fly out and have two games in a row here.
05:03It'll be a perfect bounce back for us.
05:05Gustav, you smiled.
05:07So you absolutely 100% know what a punitive skate is.
05:12Is it just sprints on the ice?
05:18Is it just you have to practice your ass off?
05:21What goes into punitive skate?
05:23No, it's just like, I feel like we set the tone early on in the training camp.
05:28I feel like we do a lot of battle drills one-on-one.
05:31And then you end up skating for 45 seconds.
05:35So it's very hard.
05:38But I feel like we start our season there.
05:40And we want to be the hardest working team in the league.
05:45And it starts early in practice and training camp.
05:51Now, you recently welcomed one of your fellow countrymen to the game,
05:56who plays for the Heat, Pella Larsson.
05:58What was that experience like?
06:00Yeah, it was nice.
06:01He was watching one of the games.
06:03I can't remember which one it was.
06:05But he was there.
06:07And I saw him after the game.
06:10Even his dad was there with a couple of friends.
06:12So it was nice to talk some Swedish.
06:15He was super nice.
06:18To be honest, I don't watch too much basketball.
06:20But I'm for sure going to tune in a little bit more now.
06:25That was an interesting thing.
06:26They were talking about this in the Four Nations a lot when you guys are playing.
06:28Like the idea that you guys get to talk in your own language throughout the games.
06:33Was that a relaxing thing when you guys got to be around each other and play for something
06:38as cool as that was?
06:39Yeah.
06:40I mean, it was super cool just to meet the guys there that you play against for so long.
06:46And I never really got to know them, to be honest.
06:50And it was fun.
06:52As you said, we talk a lot of Swedish.
06:54But it's kind of a little weird, too, at the same time.
06:57I'm so used to English now.
06:59So even on the ice, I'm talking English, right?
07:02Because that's what I'm used to.
07:03So it's a little weird.
07:05I remember seeing that.
07:06No, that happened.
07:07I remember in Euros one time, the Heat had a point guard named Goran Dragic.
07:11And he was captain of Team Slovenia.
07:13And he just starts yelling at his team.
07:15But he's yelling at him in English.
07:16And I was like, huh, I wonder if they got all that.
07:20Yeah.
07:20No, it is kind of weird, to be honest.
07:23But do you guys really hate Finland?
07:25They kept saying that the Swedish-Finland rivalry.
07:28Because we saw, obviously, what happened with USA and Canada.
07:31They're throwing down.
07:32But is that a real tenacious beef there between Sweden and Finland?
07:37I think they hate us more than we hate them.
07:39I think they're a little jealous of us.
07:41But no.
07:43But it's a culture thing.
07:45I think we've always, growing up, we've been watching the Finns and the Swedes go at it.
07:52And we've played, even as a junior, I played Finland a lot.
07:59So it's something we're grown up with, to be honest.
08:04Can we get your thoughts on Matthew Kachuk celebrating St. Patrick's Day?
08:08What do we think of Kachuk in Chucky's leprechaun costume?
08:13I haven't seen those pictures.
08:15That's hilarious.
08:20He's got some funny outfits, for sure.
08:23He has a table at the Elbow Room, yes?
08:24There's got to be one that's just simply reserved for him at this point.
08:27It feels like he's...
08:28Absolutely.
08:29Yeah, 100%.
08:30I want to ask you about injuries, because I see guys get hit, and it's not like...
08:39You get hurt on the ice, they don't call a timeout and stop, and somebody comes out in
08:46a Garni or something and get you.
08:51Is the hardest skate in the world trying to get to the bench while being injured?
08:57Because it looks like it hurts so bad for everybody who gets hurt on the ice.
09:03Yeah.
09:04I mean, I had one a couple of games ago, I got a puck on the heel, and it's just bones.
09:12Down on your heel, it's just bones, and I got the puck right on there, and
09:18kind of the whole leg shuts off.
09:20It's incredible.
09:22And then you have to try to survive on the ice and not get scored on and then get to
09:26the bench.
09:27So for people who never got a puck on the foot, I mean, it's so painful.
09:34Sometimes it hits nerves and stuff, so you can't really move your foot at all, but then
09:3910 minutes later or five minutes later, you're completely fine.
09:42You're just going to have bone bruise, obviously, but you're going to be fine skating for that
09:46game.
09:47It's incredible how effective a puck on the foot can be.
09:53Oh, my God.
09:54It looks like you got shot with a gun.
09:56Yeah, it's brutal.
10:00Leroy, what did we see the other day?
10:01Was it Gajevic who was out there?
10:03He was in a fight, and then he started manicuring his own fingers because there was skin coming
10:09off of a fight.
10:10Like, is this...
10:11You hockey players, Gustav, I mean, a different breed.
10:15What went through your mind when you saw that with Gajevic?
10:19Yeah, I think he's such a tough guy, man.
10:22He's incredible.
10:24I mean, we got a lot of them, but he's something else.
10:28He fights every other game, and I don't know how he does it, but he's the super nice guy
10:37outside of the ice.
10:39You wouldn't believe he was fighting for a living, but he's just a super nice guy.
10:46So it's funny how that works.
10:48I'm curious about this because we love Sergei Bobrovsky.
10:52Bob is almost like he's got such a routine and things like that, but they say you don't
10:57talk to him on game day, right?
10:59Like, you don't mess with goalies, but you work with him so closely in games and things
11:04like that.
11:05Is it different for you?
11:06Like, do you have different rules with Bob, or you still don't bother him on game day?
11:11I mean, to be honest, I don't talk that much to myself just before a game.
11:18But I think most of it, you just let Bobby do his thing.
11:25You know it's working for him, so you just leave him alone.
11:28And then if it's some issue on the ice or you have a situation, there's no problem.
11:34He's fine talking.
11:35He's not that weird.
11:37But I mean, most of the time, you just let him be in his zone, so to speak.
11:45How is he during a game, though?
11:46Like, do you guys talk to each other during a game?
11:48Like, is there game communication between defenseman and goalie?
11:51Like, what is that dynamic like?
11:53Yeah, absolutely.
11:54I think we probably talk the most.
11:56That's like, especially my D partner, for sure.
12:00But on the ice, you know, going back for the puck, you always want your goalie.
12:05You've got to talk with your goalie, and the goalie is going to talk with you.
12:08It makes it so much easier.
12:11It's such a fast sport.
12:12So when you come back there and you've got your back against the play, you want to have
12:18someone just give you the time or up strong side or weak side.
12:24Just something.
12:25You want to hear something when you go back there.
12:28Before we get you out of here, Grzop, what's it been like having Brad Marsh hand around?
12:33Have you guys gotten used to it?
12:35Yeah, it was a little weird early on, to be honest, just seeing him in a panther gear
12:41and everything.
12:41But, you know, we had some battles throughout the years.
12:45But he's super nice, to be honest.
12:49He's fitting in perfectly.
12:52He's such a nice guy.
12:54I think even his game on the ice is going to be perfect for us.
12:59He's got that skating ability to just stay on the demons, and he's going to be perfect
13:06for our forecheck and super skilled, obviously, and can make some plays and score some big
13:12goals for us.
13:14I can't wait to see Kachuk and him healthy.
13:19That is going to be just bonkers.
13:22It's going to be crazy.
13:23How physical are you guys going to be when those two guys are back?
13:27Yeah, and then you add Sam Bennett and their line to that.
13:31I wouldn't want to play those guys.
13:34It's going to be the most hated line in hockey, is what it's going to be, Grzop.
13:38You know this.
13:40Get ready, because there's going to be a lot of scrums come in the playoffs.
13:42Not that you guys aren't used to that.
13:44We're used to it, but it's going to be fun.
13:48Hey, thanks for having some fun with us, man.
13:49We appreciate you.
13:51It's always outstanding watching you play, and it was great having you on the show.
13:55Appreciate you.
13:56There you go.
13:57Gustav Forsling.
13:58Check out the Cats are back in action tomorrow against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
14:02Listen, as a guy who's had a bunch of surgeries and played a physical game,
14:09I, for the life of me, have the utmost respect for a guy that is willing to jump on the ground
14:18to block a shot puck.
14:21Like, at no point in time, as physical as the game I played,
14:28did I ever think that I was putting myself in harm's way like that.
14:34Crazy, dude.
14:34And here he is saying the worst pain is when you get hit on the foot,
14:38which they try to kick the puck all the time.
14:42Yep.
14:43Yep, just sticking it out.
14:44Right.
14:45Just like, oh my goodness.
14:48Oh my goodness.
14:51And they're always so, like, calm.
14:54You know, he's calm.
14:58What a nice guy.
14:59I'm like, the last time I saw him, he was throwing flying, jumping fists.
15:05That's right.
15:06They're calm until you see them on the ice.
15:08Right.
15:09I love that.
15:10Yep.
15:12Thanks again to Gustav Forsling for stopping by.
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