Speaker 1: Utah Hockey Club welcomes in the La Kings tonight seven
Speaker 1: o'clock drop of the PUK down at the Delta Center
Speaker 1: here in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Our next guest
Speaker 1: joins us on a weekly basis to talk about the
Speaker 1: world of pro hockey. Little Utah Hockey Club. Neil Smith
Speaker 1: good enough to give us some time on this Thursday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Neil, Happy Thursday, sir, How are you.
Speaker 3: I'm good. I'm very good. Thanks. Coming down the stretch
Speaker 3: here of the NHL season and looking forward to seeing
Speaker 3: who matches up in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. And we'll get to some big picture
Speaker 1: of NHL stuff in a moment. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's the pressure of the wild card race essentially
Speaker 1: being over, but ever since they're not officially eliminated, but
Speaker 1: if we're honest, it's not happening. But they've won their
Speaker 1: last two games by a combined score of eight to
Speaker 1: three at Chicago and then Calgary here, and of course
Speaker 1: Calgary is one of the teams they were trying to
Speaker 1: chase in the standings. And we'll see if Calgary can
Speaker 1: catch Saint Louis, who just doesn't lose all of a
Speaker 1: sudden But do you think it's kind of just the
Speaker 1: pressure off this young team that's allowed them to win
Speaker 1: a couple of games in a pretty impressive fashion ever
Speaker 1: since it became pretty apparent that they weren't going to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs.
Speaker 3: You know, there is a lot of pressure that comes
Speaker 3: off of the players when they know one way or
Speaker 3: the other what's going to happen. And I've seen often
Speaker 3: teams that are eliminated or know they're going to be
Speaker 3: eliminated to play with a lot more ease and play
Speaker 3: a lot more relaxed, So that definitely can happen. But
Speaker 3: I just want to remind you of one thing for
Speaker 3: you and your listeners about the season, because I had
Speaker 3: said at the beginning what I thought would happen, and
Speaker 3: you have to remember that last year, the Arizona Coyotes,
Speaker 3: which is this year's TA hockey club, and Utah currently
Speaker 3: has eighty with seven games to go. So if they
Speaker 3: get five hundred in those seven games, just to throw
Speaker 3: out a number, if they can go five hundred, they'll
Speaker 3: end the season with eighty seven points. That's a ten
Speaker 3: point jump from what they did last year. And I
Speaker 3: think a pretty darn good improvement of the club from
Speaker 3: a year ago. So if there's a bright, if there's
Speaker 3: late at the end of the tunnel for this hockey team,
Speaker 3: I think that's it. That they made improvements and they're
Speaker 3: continually improving.
Speaker 2: Really good point.
Speaker 1: And also if we include in the dynamic the fact
Speaker 1: that all of these people got a phone call that
Speaker 1: said you live in Salt Lake. Now you know, and
Speaker 1: they were able to make the move and not allow
Speaker 1: that to move the program in the wrong direction. And
Speaker 1: you've been good enough to outline how the ownership complications
Speaker 1: in Arizona led to Ryan Smith being able to make
Speaker 1: this happen with the cooperation, of course, of with Gary
Speaker 1: Beman and the NHL. And you know, the commissioner Bettman
Speaker 1: joined our show and said, the first conversation he had
Speaker 1: with Ryan about this was in March, and suddenly it
Speaker 1: was the first week of May and they're here. So
Speaker 1: what does that say about the character of the organization
Speaker 1: that they didn't And I know that there were so
Speaker 1: many positives about the move. But you know, whenever we
Speaker 1: talk about this, and of course this is based off
Speaker 1: my background, I talk a lot about the personal angle
Speaker 1: here where you're moving families and you're moving children, and
Speaker 1: you're relocating, and you're selling a home and you're buying
Speaker 1: a new home. It's I know, a lot of these
Speaker 1: people make a lot of money, and so the complications
Speaker 1: might fall on deaf ears for normal folk.
Speaker 2: But it doesn't matter how much money you have.
Speaker 1: When you're moving around and you're kind of upsetting the
Speaker 1: apple cart with your family and you're asking people to
Speaker 1: settle into a new community, it can provide complications. So
Speaker 1: what does it say to you that even moving into
Speaker 1: a new community, the hockey club was able to continue
Speaker 1: this incremental growth that Bill Armstrong talks about all the time.
Speaker 3: No, I think I think it's great. I think it's
Speaker 3: a It says a lot of things about the ownership
Speaker 3: of the club, down to the management of the club,
Speaker 3: down to the character the players of the club, and
Speaker 3: of course the coaches. But that's a big adjustment, and
Speaker 3: you think people don't often think about it. You and
Speaker 3: I do because we've been through it together. But you know,
Speaker 3: you guy has to move if he's got kids, they
Speaker 3: got to change schools, they got to go and make
Speaker 3: all new friends. And you know how tough that is
Speaker 3: on kids that you know they got their friends at school.
Speaker 3: It's a lot of people. Their wife is from the
Speaker 3: city that they were in, they met them earlier in
Speaker 3: their career, perhaps in Phoenix or wherever, and now they've
Speaker 3: got to ask them to leave there where they've lived
Speaker 3: their whole life and go to a new place. So
Speaker 3: it's not just the hockey player that gets you know,
Speaker 3: has to make a big adjustments, but it's it's the
Speaker 3: family of the hockey players that have to make a
Speaker 3: bigger adjustment because everybody's doing what they can do to
Speaker 3: support dad in his hockey career. And it is truly
Speaker 3: a big adjustment and one that goes unnoticed by the
Speaker 3: normal fan. All they know is that, well, he used
Speaker 3: to be wearing a coyote on the front of his
Speaker 3: jersey and now he's got Utah written down his jersey,
Speaker 3: and you know that kind of thing. But it can
Speaker 3: be traumatic.
Speaker 1: So I want to put you in Bill Armstrong's seat
Speaker 1: as the roster constructor and the main decision maker. You're
Speaker 1: viewing this, I would imagine as a successful season and
Speaker 1: yet a you know, just another step in the right direction.
Speaker 1: And at what point do you kind of start looking
Speaker 1: ahead to start, you know, considering what decisions you need
Speaker 1: to make to make sure the progress continues the way
Speaker 1: you want it to go.
Speaker 3: I think he's doing it continuously. I'm sure he's doing
Speaker 3: it continuously. So he's evaluating every day and every player
Speaker 3: and who's out there, and he's meeting with pro scouts
Speaker 3: and finding out what their thoughts are about the guy
Speaker 3: as it could potentially be free agents or be gotten
Speaker 3: in a deal. That exercise never stops for the GM.
Speaker 3: They're doing that all the time now. Obviously, Bill is
Speaker 3: going to focus more in on the future now than
Speaker 3: the present because of the fact that the president is
Speaker 3: sort of decided. And I want to say one other
Speaker 3: thing about the president being decided. The only reason it's
Speaker 3: been this clearly decided is because you had a team
Speaker 3: win ten straight games, and that's the single Lois Blues.
Speaker 3: They've played Pittsburgh tonight looking for their eleventh straight. They
Speaker 3: separated themselves from the pack by doing that. And if
Speaker 3: you remember when we spoke two three four weeks ago
Speaker 3: about Utah and their chances to get in I said,
Speaker 3: if they could get on a run, they could do it.
Speaker 3: And that's what Saint Louis did so and that's what
Speaker 3: separated them from the pack. Minnesota has been pretty good
Speaker 3: all year long. Now they've had a lot of injuries,
Speaker 3: so they've slipped back a bit and they're in the
Speaker 3: wild card. But it's not just Utah that couldn't keep
Speaker 3: up with Saint Louis. The Vancouver Canucks won the Pacific
Speaker 3: Division last year and just lost out in Game seven
Speaker 3: in the first round of Edmonton, and they're going to
Speaker 3: miss the playoffs. And Calgary, who's had a remarkable season
Speaker 3: for what we expected, it looks like they're going to
Speaker 3: make miss the playoffs. So it's really hard and it
Speaker 3: would be very unfair to think that Utah Hockey Club
Speaker 3: could keep up with a ten and old record that
Speaker 3: Saint Louis went on at this critical time in the season.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you about how Saint Louis did this,
Speaker 1: because you know, as a result of my background, they're
Speaker 1: one of the teams that kind of loosely follow and
Speaker 1: for the majority of the season they were looking up
Speaker 1: at not just the Utah Hockey Club, a lot of
Speaker 1: the other the other teams.
Speaker 2: What what what clicked there?
Speaker 1: Because as you reference ten straight wins, it is the
Speaker 1: longest winning streak in the NHL by kind of a
Speaker 1: long shot. Dallas has won six straight, but Saint Louis
Speaker 1: with ten straight.
Speaker 2: What clicked for them?
Speaker 3: Well, I think there's a number of things, but the
Speaker 3: most visible thing is Jordan Bennington. They're starting goaltender who
Speaker 3: played in the Four Nations for Canada. He was a
Speaker 3: starting goaltender for Canada in the Four Nations tournament. Canada
Speaker 3: won the tournament. Jordan Bennington was the winning goaltender of
Speaker 3: the Four Nations tournament and since then he's been eleven
Speaker 3: and one. He's won eleven and only lost one since
Speaker 3: the Four Nations. So when you've got a goaltender standing
Speaker 3: on his head like that, that's a huge part of it.
Speaker 3: Now you've got to give credit to Jordan Cairo and
Speaker 3: to Jim Montgomery, the head coach and so on, and
Speaker 3: there's a lot of other pieces there, but the most
Speaker 3: visible piece to me is the outstanding play of the goaltender,
Speaker 3: Jordan Bennington. He's playing like he did when they won
Speaker 3: the Stanley Cup a number of years ago. So to
Speaker 3: answer your question, that's what I think it is.
Speaker 2: Dallas.
Speaker 1: I referenced second in the Central and Winnipeg is still
Speaker 1: the class of that division. They're differentials plus eighty. But
Speaker 1: Dallas has turned it on too. You reference them not
Speaker 1: too long ago as a team to watch out for.
Speaker 1: What's kind of click for them over the past couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, Neil.
Speaker 3: Well, I think Oton's is a goaltend, And of course
Speaker 3: I'm always going to start with the goaltender, because without goaltending,
Speaker 3: you're not going to win, so you sort of got
Speaker 3: to go there first. But I think Ottiner has been
Speaker 3: very good for them. They're doing this too without one
Speaker 3: of their very best players, Miro Heaskin and the defenseman
Speaker 3: who's a dynamic force for them, and if they get
Speaker 3: him back for the playoffs, they're going to be even better.
Speaker 3: But I think there's been a number of things. Jason
Speaker 3: Robertson is scoring goals, why at Johnson has been quite
Speaker 3: well developed, and now is putting pucks in all the time.
Speaker 3: They've got a good combination there that are all coming
Speaker 3: together at the same time. And you know, we've said
Speaker 3: all season that Dallas is a good team. They seem
Speaker 3: to be peaking at the I like the moves that
Speaker 3: Jim Neil did it before the deadline when he got
Speaker 3: Granlin and Cci from San Jose. He moved Gurley and
Speaker 3: got those guys, and you know there's still a chance
Speaker 3: that they could catch Winnipeg. That's not out of the
Speaker 3: realm of possibility. That they're only four points behind them,
Speaker 3: and they have one more game than Winnipeg to play,
Speaker 3: so you know it's not out of the realm of
Speaker 3: possibility they can get there. It's going to be really
Speaker 3: tough for Colorado to catch Dallas. Now there's six points
Speaker 3: back of them, So it looks at this point like
Speaker 3: it'll be Dallas and Colorado in the first round. And
Speaker 3: that's sort of sad Spence because they're both Stanley Cup
Speaker 3: contenders and yet one of them is going to be
Speaker 3: gone in the first round.
Speaker 1: Of course, a ton of attention on Avechkin's chase to
Speaker 1: up break Wayne Gretzky's record, and he's only three goals
Speaker 1: shy of doing that, and I think he's projected to
Speaker 1: do that April twelfth or thirteenth, according to what I
Speaker 1: was reading and earlier on the ESPN coverage. But kind
Speaker 1: of lost in Ovechkin's chase is that he's doing it
Speaker 1: during a good run for a team that has a
Speaker 1: chance to make some noise in the East. I mean, oftentimes,
Speaker 1: when a player is aging and he's chasing stats, and
Speaker 1: I'm thinking pro basketball, when Koreem broke his record and
Speaker 1: Lebron broke the scoring record during a pretty.
Speaker 2: You know, mediocre year for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes, when a player is aging chasing a record like this,
Speaker 1: he's not playing for a team that's contending. And I
Speaker 1: just kind of wonder where your thoughts are on just
Speaker 1: the fact that Ovechkin is close to breaking that record,
Speaker 1: but he's also doing it for a team that's in
Speaker 1: the midst of a run that could put them in
Speaker 1: contention to hoist the cup.
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts on that dynamic deal.
Speaker 3: I think that's a really good point. I remember when
Speaker 3: Wayne was breaking a lot of records back in his
Speaker 3: day with the La Kings. Is when he broke most
Speaker 3: of the records. That's when he got the book the
Speaker 3: Gordy hell goal scoring record, and the Kings. You know,
Speaker 3: we're not up and contending teams. So I think what
Speaker 3: you're saying, and I want to agree with wholeheartedly, is
Speaker 3: Ovechkin's doing this and they haven't taken their eye off
Speaker 3: the ball. The Capitals, they haven't said, well, let's do
Speaker 3: all this for Ov and back off on our defensive responsibilities.
Speaker 3: Let's take every chance we have to get Ov the record.
Speaker 3: They're still playing great hockey now. Last night they got
Speaker 3: creamed by Carolina because they'd played the night before and
Speaker 3: Carolina was right on their game. They lost five to one,
Speaker 3: and guess who got the one goal. Ovechkin, of course.
Speaker 3: So it is remarkable what he's doing at his age
Speaker 3: and how that is helping his team perhaps win the
Speaker 3: President's Trophy, but certainly be a dominant force in the East.
Speaker 3: And I think that they really want to have this
Speaker 3: record broken at home. I think that you may see
Speaker 3: it work out he scores that goal against Columbus on
Speaker 3: the twelfth, or maybe against the I'm sorry, I'm the
Speaker 3: thirteenth against Columbus, or that may work out that way,
Speaker 3: or if he can score against Chicago and then at
Speaker 3: the Islanders, he could do it at home against Carolina.
Speaker 3: But I think he's about four games away from doing
Speaker 3: it now, and if I'm right about that, that would
Speaker 3: put him right in line with doing it against Columbus
Speaker 3: either there they played back to back twelfth and thirteenth,
Speaker 3: so it would either be in Columbus or in Washington
Speaker 3: against Columbus, So Mrs Lincoln's, who is the goaltender for Columbus,
Speaker 3: has that to look forward to, like I'm going to
Speaker 3: be the one that's probably going to get beat for
Speaker 3: the record setting goal.
Speaker 1: Well, we've been hyper focused on the wild card race
Speaker 1: out this way in the Western Conference to see if
Speaker 1: the hockey club and get it done.
Speaker 2: They're straight chaos in the East Neo, isn't there.
Speaker 1: It looks like Ottawa is going to pull away and
Speaker 1: grab one of the spots, but they've lost a couple
Speaker 1: in a row. Montreal's differentials minus twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yet they're right there.
Speaker 1: But my guys, the Rangers, they've kind of resurrected their
Speaker 1: playoff chances and they're tied with Montreal right now. Montreal
Speaker 1: does have a game in hand. Who do you think
Speaker 1: captures that second wild card? Looks like Godawa was going
Speaker 1: to grab the first.
Speaker 3: I think because on strength of schedule, you've got to
Speaker 3: go with Montreal only because they only have three more
Speaker 3: games left against teams that are currently in the playoffs,
Speaker 3: and they have five games left against non playoff teams.
Speaker 3: So and if you look at the Rangers schedule, they
Speaker 3: have five against playoff teams and only two against non
Speaker 3: playoff teams, and those two come back to back. So
Speaker 3: and I don't like the way the Rangers are playing.
Speaker 3: When I look at them, I think, with the talent
Speaker 3: they've got on the team, they should be a lot
Speaker 3: better than they are, But their structure doesn't seem to
Speaker 3: be there, and every night something goes wrong for them.
Speaker 3: And even with a stirk and in net, you know,
Speaker 3: they squeak out wins like they did last night over Minnesota,
Speaker 3: but Minnesota got a point there. So I really do
Speaker 3: think that the Montreal Canadians are on a mission to
Speaker 3: make it. I would have if my heart dictated who
Speaker 3: would make it, Spence, I would have had Columbus Blue
Speaker 3: Jackets make it because of what they've been through preseason
Speaker 3: and during the season for that franchise, losing Johnny Gidrou
Speaker 3: and his brother Matthew. But your heart doesn't set the standings.
Speaker 3: But I think it looks to me like the halves
Speaker 3: the Montreal Canadians are going to make that last spot.
Speaker 1: We always talk about this time of year, when the
Speaker 1: playoffs are right around the corner, about teams that find
Speaker 1: their form at the right time. So I want to
Speaker 1: go back to the Western Conference, and of course in
Speaker 1: Winnipeg has been the class all year. We talked Dallas,
Speaker 1: in Colorado, there, Vegas, the Kings are in town tonight.
Speaker 1: But based off of what the Blues have done, do
Speaker 1: you change the way that you kind of look at
Speaker 1: them heading into the postseason since they have seen to
Speaker 1: capture the right form at the right time of year.
Speaker 3: You know, they're at plus eighteen, they've really turned their
Speaker 3: season around. I mean that Ken and O will end
Speaker 3: at some point because they always do no matter who
Speaker 3: the team is. But yeah, could they be a team
Speaker 3: that goes into the playoffs now with nothing to lose
Speaker 3: because nobody expected them to make it? Could they do
Speaker 3: what they did back in twenty nineteen and come in
Speaker 3: and start surprising people? Sure, I don't expect that, but
Speaker 3: I think they could do that. I still think that
Speaker 3: the heavyweights are in Winnipeg, Dallas, Colorado and Vegas. I
Speaker 3: think then after that, you've got Edmonton in LA who
Speaker 3: looks like they're ready to play a fifth straight first
Speaker 3: round against each other if you can believe it, La
Speaker 3: and Edmonton. But it'll it'll all be interesting which way
Speaker 3: it goes. And and again out there. You've got those
Speaker 3: five really dynamic teams that that have all got a
Speaker 3: shot in the In the East, you've got one division,
Speaker 3: the Atlantic Division, that's got three Stanley Cup contenders, Toronto, Tampa, Florida.
Speaker 3: And then you've got in the Metro you've got Washington
Speaker 3: and Carolina. So you've got five in the East, five
Speaker 3: in the West. It's it's not a it's I can't
Speaker 3: say and be honest with you that it's it's anybody's game,
Speaker 3: like it's anybody's Cup. I think there's still favorites out
Speaker 3: of those ten teams I just mentioned, But it's going
Speaker 3: to be a hell of a series, a hell of
Speaker 3: a playoff.
Speaker 1: And you know, I mean, that's one of the great
Speaker 1: things about this format. And I'm not sure why, and
Speaker 1: we'll wait into this area for a moment. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure or what breeds upsets in the Stanley Cup playoffs
Speaker 1: in a way that the NBA doesn't see, but we
Speaker 1: do oftentimes see upsets, and oftentimes home ice advantage doesn't
Speaker 1: mean the same that home court advantage means. Any any
Speaker 1: thoughts on that for you a new hockey market out here,
Speaker 1: Why the Stanley Cup playoffs and professional hockey seem to
Speaker 1: breed upsets more often than pro basketball does.
Speaker 2: Any thoughts on that, Yeah, My thoughts are that.
Speaker 3: There is a lot of pressure playing at home, and
Speaker 3: so it has turned from not being that much of
Speaker 3: an advantage anymore to play at home. I think because
Speaker 3: of the pressure. When you're on the road, it's you
Speaker 3: against the world. There's a traveling party of thirty people
Speaker 3: and it's thirty and twenty thousand others cheering for the
Speaker 3: other side. I do think that there can be a
Speaker 3: lot of pressure when the expectations are high for your team,
Speaker 3: and certainly the teams that I just mentioned, they've all
Speaker 3: got very high expectations on them. If you take a
Speaker 3: look at Toronto for example, Lenith and you know this Spence,
Speaker 3: they haven't won the Stanley Cup since nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 3: So the Leaf fans are just propping at the mouth
Speaker 3: to get them to do well in the playoffs and
Speaker 3: their whole season will be judged by the playoffs. And
Speaker 3: the Florida Panthers want to repeat the Washington fans are
Speaker 3: going to think that they've got a Stanley Cup team
Speaker 3: because they're way up in the standings and we've already
Speaker 3: talked about these teams in the West, where you know
Speaker 3: Edmonton oiler fans think, well, why shouldn't we win with
Speaker 3: Connor McDavid and Leon Drysidle. But to get to your
Speaker 3: point about upsets, I think that it's a pressure things.
Speaker 3: Sometimes when those expectations are that high, it can make
Speaker 3: you squeeze your stick a lot tighter and not play
Speaker 3: as loose as you should. So Winnipeg, for example, hasn't
Speaker 3: been successful in the playoffs. They've been successful in the
Speaker 3: regular season, and there's they're going to be judged by
Speaker 3: their fans based upon what happens in the playoffs, and
Speaker 3: if they lose in the first round, well that six
Speaker 3: or seven months of regular season hockey will be out
Speaker 3: the window.
Speaker 1: So the Utah Hockey Club has announced that after their
Speaker 1: final regular season home game, which will be April tenth,
Speaker 1: first Nashville, they're going to hand out their postseason awards.
Speaker 1: Fans can vote on it right now, so check that out.
Speaker 1: If they asked you, Neil Smith, the MVP of the
Speaker 1: Utah Hockey Club this season, who would you go with
Speaker 1: Clayton Keller is they're leading He leads them in points.
Speaker 2: Kind of by a long shot.
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people close to the club
Speaker 1: would tell you Serga chef should be an option. And
Speaker 1: when you look at the unsure nature of the goalie situation,
Speaker 1: because Connor Ingram has not had a great year, maybe
Speaker 1: Vimelka is in the mix as well. Who do you
Speaker 1: think the Utah Hockey Club MVP is this year?
Speaker 3: Neil, You know, I'm going to go back where I
Speaker 3: was at the beginning of the year because I like
Speaker 3: this kid, Clayton Keller, that Saint Louis, and I mean
Speaker 3: he's been the captain, He's had a fantastic year. But
Speaker 3: you've got so much growth going on there. I mean
Speaker 3: you've mentioned it. You've got Bimelka, who wasn't who was
Speaker 3: on a contract that was going to expire, gets a
Speaker 3: new contract and has played really well for them and
Speaker 3: has proven that he can handle the reins. This kid
Speaker 3: Dylan Gunk, what a player he is and what a
Speaker 3: shot he's got and able to score goals. He's got
Speaker 3: a fantastic future in front of him. So I guess
Speaker 3: I would go with the captain and say that if
Speaker 3: I had to vote or had to say somebody who
Speaker 3: was their m VP, it would be Clayton Kellan because
Speaker 3: he's done a good job in both his roles there.
Speaker 3: But and and you mentioned chev and Sergachev has been
Speaker 3: has been really a great acquisition by Bill Armstrong. And
Speaker 3: when I got to be honest with you, when I
Speaker 3: when they acquired him, I thought, I wondering if, if,
Speaker 3: if they're getting damaged goods because you know'd had those
Speaker 3: injuries in Tampa, and boy, he has played great for
Speaker 3: them for Utah and has I think set you know,
Speaker 3: given them an element that they didn't have in playing
Speaker 3: tough and playing also good offensively. So you know, I
Speaker 3: think any one of those guys would be deserving.
Speaker 2: Before I say you loose Neil, genuinely curious.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a debate around the NBA right now,
Speaker 1: and it's prevalent here in Salt Lake because the worst
Speaker 1: team in the NBA is the Utah Jazz, and they're
Speaker 1: not alone in their approach. There's about ten teams. If
Speaker 1: I'm being generous, I would say six or seven teams.
Speaker 1: But if I'm being honest, I would say about ten
Speaker 1: teams in the NBA have stopped trying. Players have been
Speaker 1: shut down, They're not playing the rest of the year.
Speaker 1: And the Jazz were in Houston last night. They got
Speaker 1: smoked by nearly forty And that's kind of status quo.
Speaker 1: How prevalent, if at all, is tanking in the world
Speaker 1: of pro hockey.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, we have the lottery, and so therefore,
Speaker 3: even if you do tank, it doesn't mean that you're
Speaker 3: necessarily going to end up with not only not the
Speaker 3: first pick, but not even be in the top three.
Speaker 3: I do think I don't think there's anybody in the
Speaker 3: league that tanks here because I think the rebuilders are obvious.
Speaker 3: I think that you know, for example San Jose and
Speaker 3: Chicago or in the middle of a massive rebuild. I
Speaker 3: think that the Ducks are a little bit ahead of
Speaker 3: them in that. And you know they're over in the East.
Speaker 3: You got the Philadelphia Flyers that are in a rebuilding
Speaker 3: stage that they're not. Nobody's going to try to lose
Speaker 3: to get the first pick. It's not like when the
Speaker 3: old days, when Mario lemu is going to become available.
Speaker 3: In New Jersey and Pittsburgh were the two candidates to
Speaker 3: be last, and New Jersey tried to win their games
Speaker 3: and Pittsburgh tried to lose theirs and guess who Marriyo.
Speaker 3: You became iconic with this is the Pittsburgh Penguins, so
Speaker 3: it doesn't happen as much in the NHL. I don't
Speaker 3: think it would do them any good to do that
Speaker 3: because they wouldn't accomplish a lot. I think what you
Speaker 3: have in the league is you have teams that are
Speaker 3: rebuilding and know they're not going to win that season,
Speaker 3: so they're just trying to do whatever they can to
Speaker 3: build for the future.
Speaker 1: All right, Neil, where can everybody go find a podcast?
Speaker 3: It's on every podcast platform and it's NHL Wrap Around
Speaker 3: and we've been having a lot of fun with it
Speaker 3: and it's going to get even more fun in coming
Speaker 3: up in the future. So you get it on Apple
Speaker 3: or Spotify or YouTube or anywhere where you get your
Speaker 3: podcasts called NHL Wrapround. Please subscribe, Please give us a hit.
Speaker 3: We need all the numbers we can get and we
Speaker 3: need the word to get spread. But we do have
Speaker 3: listeners in Salt Lake City. I've been looking at that.
Speaker 3: There we go, so this show, this show is helping
Speaker 3: us get listeners in Salt Lake City. So I must
Speaker 3: be saying something light.
Speaker 1: Well, we appreciate your presence every week You've been good
Speaker 1: enough to help us understand this sport. We're all trying
Speaker 1: to get used to, Neil, so anything we can do
Speaker 1: for you, we're happy to do that because you do
Speaker 1: so much for us.
Speaker 2: So thank you for the time and have a great weekend.
Speaker 3: Okay, you two, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Neil Smith stops bat today courtesy reference at IFA Country Stores.
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