Speaker 1: Joining us right now in the program is Neil Smith,
Speaker 1: former GM of the New York Rangers who won a
Speaker 1: Stanley Cup, and of course he does his NHL Wrap
Speaker 1: Around podcast. Neil, Welcome to the program. I was a
Speaker 1: little nervous when I saw your name. It was giving
Speaker 1: me nightmares from my days of playing football in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I thought you were Neil Smith, who wore the breathe right,
Speaker 1: and he was a defensive lineman who tried to kill quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: So I'm so glad that it's the hockey Neil Smith.
Speaker 2: You know what's funny is that I knew about that
Speaker 2: the whole time, and it was while I was GM.
Speaker 2: He of course he was with the Chiefs, and I
Speaker 2: actually spoke to him on Twitter. I think it was
Speaker 2: somehow I got to him, and you know, I got
Speaker 2: to sort of meet him through that. But yeah, you
Speaker 2: have to if you google me, you have to put
Speaker 2: Neil Smith hockey or else. Yes, it all comes up
Speaker 2: about that, Neil Smith.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So Neil Smith and Derek Thomas were a formidable
Speaker 1: duo on the defensive line for the Kansas City Chiefs
Speaker 1: and then Neil went on for the for the Broncos.
Speaker 1: But what a great player he was in. So the
Speaker 1: trade deadline, NHL trade tread deadlines tomorrow at four pm.
Speaker 1: Anything new, anything in the in the works here with
Speaker 1: the deadline that we should be aware of here in
Speaker 1: the great state of Utah.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, if Utah made a couple of trades
Speaker 2: already or made a couple of signings, I'm sorry, not
Speaker 2: trade signings. They signed a couple of their defenseman heam
Speaker 2: Cole and Alex and then Ford Alex Kirkfoot, and so
Speaker 2: they took them off the free agent market. But there's
Speaker 2: been there's been a couple of trades, nothing major. But
Speaker 2: what's really surprising, Scott is that there was a major
Speaker 2: trade in the middle of the season when between Carolina,
Speaker 2: Carolina and Colorado, and Colorado traded Nico Ranton and who's
Speaker 2: an All Star, fifty goal scorer, great player. They traded
Speaker 2: him to Carolina and the reason probably that they did
Speaker 2: that was because he's an unrestricted free agent. At the
Speaker 2: end of the year. They got back a real good
Speaker 2: player in Martin Neckish who's playing for them on Colorado
Speaker 2: and playing really well. But now Ranton and says that
Speaker 2: he's not going to sign until, you know, after the season.
Speaker 2: So that's scary for Carolina because they put out a
Speaker 2: lot to trade for him, right and he isn't going
Speaker 2: to sign. So now the rumor is, or the thought is,
Speaker 2: will Carolina turn around and trade him again so that
Speaker 2: they don't have him walking away for nothing. So that's
Speaker 2: an interesting part of this trade deadline. Personally, being involved
Speaker 2: in this for so many years, I find it hard
Speaker 2: to believe that there'd be a taker for a guy who's,
Speaker 2: you know, is a UFA at the end of the
Speaker 2: year and is asking for a really big number. So
Speaker 2: I think he'll probably stay put in Carolina. But it's
Speaker 2: interesting anyway.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is interesting. It almost seems like why would
Speaker 1: you make that trade in the first place, if you
Speaker 1: if you were going to allow that or uh, you know,
Speaker 1: is there I guess, is there a way around it?
Speaker 1: Or could a team trade for him or uh and
Speaker 1: and signing it as part of trading for him signing
Speaker 1: to a long term contract.
Speaker 2: Well that that's the whole thing, Scott. It's the same
Speaker 2: in all the sports. If you're you know, if you're
Speaker 2: trading for a guy who's unrestricted at the end of
Speaker 2: the year, you're going to make sure you got you
Speaker 2: can get him signed, right, So you're going to talk
Speaker 2: to the agent, You're going to talk to somebody, and
Speaker 2: you're going to find out what is it going to
Speaker 2: take to get this guy signed, because I don't want
Speaker 2: I don't want to give away great assets for three months.
Speaker 2: But it's it's in this case. I mean the same
Speaker 2: team Caroline Hurricanes did it last year when they traded
Speaker 2: for canseil Uh and he finished the year, finished the
Speaker 2: playoffs with them. They did respect you know, respectively, but
Speaker 2: he moved on to Tampa when the year was out.
Speaker 2: He went and signed with Tampa. So they ended up
Speaker 2: with nothing for Danseil last year, and it could be
Speaker 2: the same thing this year now with Rantman so and
Speaker 2: those are heavy duty losses to cake for a management.
Speaker 2: When you lose a player for nothing, you know, it's
Speaker 2: your job is to make sure that you maintain assets,
Speaker 2: and when you lose guys that are that valuable for nothing,
Speaker 2: it can really bite you.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Utah, I see extending several players from either
Speaker 1: one year three. I think you know, a couple for
Speaker 1: one year, a couple for three, and then the goalie
Speaker 1: for five. What is that? What is that message? What's
Speaker 1: the strategy behind the differing times of extending contracts and
Speaker 1: what is all unwrapped that for me? Tell me what
Speaker 1: that all means.
Speaker 2: Well, it usually goes by the age of the player.
Speaker 2: I mean with Vimlka, he's been he's come up to
Speaker 2: be their number one goalie this year. They did can
Speaker 2: start out that way. I don't think they expected him
Speaker 2: to be, but he's played his way into the number
Speaker 2: one role, so I'm sure they wanted to get him
Speaker 2: tied up. You know, with Ian Cole who they signed,
Speaker 2: who's a great, experienced, real veteran player, he's long in
Speaker 2: the tooth, you know, he's in his thirties, so they're
Speaker 2: going to give him a shorter contract. With Alex Kirkfoot,
Speaker 2: he's been around quite a while, but not not the
Speaker 2: age of Ian Cole, but you know, so he would
Speaker 2: get maybe a little bit more time. It's all going
Speaker 2: to go on the projection, as it is in any sport,
Speaker 2: projection of how long you've got left in your career,
Speaker 2: and don't take a chance that you know, maybe we're
Speaker 2: going to be paying you in the future when we
Speaker 2: can't use you anymore.
Speaker 1: So we live in a bubble here in Utah, we
Speaker 1: have our own sense of what's real and reality, and
Speaker 1: I think it's the high altitude that does that to
Speaker 1: us and the mountains. We're kind of secluded here. What
Speaker 1: is the rest of the world view about the Utah
Speaker 1: Hockey Club and this first year in Utah. What's been
Speaker 1: the perception of people and fans and everything in the NHL.
Speaker 2: You know, the NHL has three categories of teams. So
Speaker 2: there's the teams that are you know, when training camp
Speaker 2: comes along that these teams are in the playoffs for sure,
Speaker 2: and it's just a matter of where are they going
Speaker 2: to be in the standings. And that's one grouping, both
Speaker 2: in the East and in the West. Then you have
Speaker 2: another grouping that's sort of the bubble teams. And by
Speaker 2: that what I mean is in the West it's Vancouver, Calgary, Utah,
Speaker 2: Saint Louis, Anaheim. Those are sort of the bubble teams.
Speaker 2: They're trying to get up with that first group and
Speaker 2: break into that and be a for sure playoff team.
Speaker 2: And then you've got the third group, which is the
Speaker 2: you know, the more of the Chicago, the San Jose,
Speaker 2: the teams that are totally rebuilding and they're probably was
Speaker 2: never a thought that they were going to be in
Speaker 2: the playoffs right from the get go because they're in
Speaker 2: a total rebuild and Utah's in that bubble group. They're
Speaker 2: trying to get out of that, and this year they've
Speaker 2: shown that they're knocking on the door. For sure. They're
Speaker 2: right behind Vancouver and Calgary, who are very good teams.
Speaker 2: But it's going to take about ninety three to ninety
Speaker 2: four points to get into the playoffs. And so for
Speaker 2: Utah to get there with only fifty seven right now,
Speaker 2: you can do the math, that's twenty seven more points
Speaker 2: they need and they've only got a twenty six games remaining,
Speaker 2: so they've got to go at a heck of a
Speaker 2: clip now to be able to jump in. But the
Speaker 2: perception of them is is that they're a building team,
Speaker 2: they're a young team. They came from Arizona, and they
Speaker 2: have done a good job of staying in it the
Speaker 2: whole season and knocking on the door. And I think
Speaker 2: that that's what's important. So that with one or two
Speaker 2: good moves, with one or two great another draft pick
Speaker 2: that comes in that's real good, all of a sudden
Speaker 2: you look around at see Utah is there and in
Speaker 2: the playoffs next year.
Speaker 1: It's interesting. And you mentioned they got to play at
Speaker 1: a high clip, right now, are they capable? I mean,
Speaker 1: what would have to happen in order for this team
Speaker 1: to actually make the playoffs? Is it?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 1: You know, they got to stay healthy, They got to
Speaker 1: have people really playing at their best. You know, the
Speaker 1: goalies got to get what needs to happen for this
Speaker 1: team to make it. Aside from they got to get
Speaker 1: the points obviously, yeah, I think I.
Speaker 2: Think they got to go on a tremendous clip. But
Speaker 2: all those things you just said. The goaltender's got to
Speaker 2: stand on his head. They've got to get the goals
Speaker 2: out of the out of the goal scorers like Gunter
Speaker 2: and so on. I'll tell you the main thing that
Speaker 2: they have to do is they have five games left
Speaker 2: with other bubble teams, meaning other teams that are in
Speaker 2: the same situation. They're in two with Vancouver, two with Calgary,
Speaker 2: one with Saint Louis, and one with Annaeim. They got
Speaker 2: to make sure they win those games because they've got
Speaker 2: to take the points off the table from away from
Speaker 2: those teams so that they can start to jump. Of course,
Speaker 2: they need a winning streak everybody that's in that bubble
Speaker 2: needs a winning streat. But particularly you can't lose points
Speaker 2: to Vancouver, Calvary, Saint Lewis and Anaheim because those are
Speaker 2: the teams you have to jump over to get into
Speaker 2: that eight and final spot in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: In the West, We're We're a community that loves our sport.
Speaker 1: We really do. It's a very very passionate sports fan
Speaker 1: base here. They will show up, they will support. Uh.
Speaker 1: Folks are excited about this Utah Hockey Club and what
Speaker 1: you're a you're a former GM and you guys had
Speaker 1: success at that and one Stanley Copp and all that.
Speaker 1: And if you looked at this Utah Hockey Club, what
Speaker 1: what is the move you? What's your next move? What's
Speaker 1: your move? You talk about getting into the playoffs next
Speaker 1: year and moving up in the in the pecking order
Speaker 1: of perception. How does how do you go from a
Speaker 1: bubble team to a playoff team? And what what's the
Speaker 1: what's the one move that that you see that the
Speaker 1: the Utah I see has to do.
Speaker 2: You know, I really like Clayton Teller, who they make
Speaker 2: after this year's but he's a young guy, I think,
Speaker 2: and this is hard to do so, Scott, everything I'm
Speaker 2: saying isn't easy. This is none of this is easy.
Speaker 2: But if they could get a guy in that locker
Speaker 2: room that has some winning background to help those young
Speaker 2: guys know what it takes to get into the to
Speaker 2: get to the playoffs and have success in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: I think that could really help them. But again, it's
Speaker 2: not easy to find that guy. They don't grow on trees.
Speaker 2: And other than that, they've just got to wait for
Speaker 2: the development of these young players. They've got some great
Speaker 2: young guys and they just have to work on that development.
Speaker 2: And I think they're going to be there. I like
Speaker 2: the moves that Bill Armstrong has made, and you know what,
Speaker 2: I think they're going to get there. They're just the
Speaker 2: fans and the organization are going to have to be
Speaker 2: patient because you came in as a non playoff team.
Speaker 2: You've made some strides this season, but again, it's not
Speaker 2: easy to jump over all these teams.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm really curious about you talk about these players developing.
Speaker 1: Is it just is it just a matter of playing?
Speaker 1: I mean, I know in my experience with sports, it
Speaker 1: was like there was no better teacher than than game
Speaker 1: experience and Is that all it is? Is that the
Speaker 1: thing that you just they just got to get game time.
Speaker 1: They got to get got to see those you know,
Speaker 1: plays and see how you know, just get a feel
Speaker 1: for the game and just play. And is that what
Speaker 1: it takes. Are there are other things that they can
Speaker 1: be doing to develop these players, I think.
Speaker 2: I think reps and that's what you're talking about. Reps
Speaker 2: like getting more repetitions and that means more games. I
Speaker 2: think if you look at their team, they've improved from
Speaker 2: the beginning of the season till now and they've matured.
Speaker 2: In the beginning of the season, they were taking a
Speaker 2: lot of foolish penalties. You're getting caught on the penalty
Speaker 2: kill all the time, and that was losing them games.
Speaker 2: They don't do that that much anymore. I think they've
Speaker 2: got they've grown up in that respect. But they it
Speaker 2: is a matter of just being you know, playing more
Speaker 2: and more NHL games, and as you get older, of course,
Speaker 2: meaning you know, as you mature, all of a sudden
Speaker 2: you jump ahead of your competition. And so it's it's
Speaker 2: the same everywhere. It's the same with you know, musicians, right,
Speaker 2: they've got to play a lot, a lot of places
Speaker 2: before they get on the big stage, and I think
Speaker 2: it's the same with these guys, and obviously the coaching
Speaker 2: will help them, but all the players stay in great
Speaker 2: shape year round. They work out really hard, they do
Speaker 2: whatever they can, and the teams are there to support that.
Speaker 2: So it is a matter of just the maturation process.
Speaker 1: One last thing before I let you go here this
Speaker 1: Four Nations Challenge. I've loved it. I thought it was amazing.
Speaker 1: I'm so disappointed with all star games and showcase games
Speaker 1: in all these sports, and it just was exciting. And
Speaker 1: maybe it was accelerated because of the political climate that
Speaker 1: we're in right now. But is this something we should
Speaker 1: expect to see more and maybe expand it or you
Speaker 1: know what, what's your take on on what the NHL
Speaker 1: did this year?
Speaker 2: Scott. To be honest with you, when when they announced
Speaker 2: that they were going to do this thing, I thought, oh,
Speaker 2: here's another money grab. You know, the players association in
Speaker 2: the league have got together to make a pile of money.
Speaker 2: But I got to tell you, I was glued to it.
Speaker 2: I thought it was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. I
Speaker 2: thought the players played really hard, and unfortunately a few
Speaker 2: got injured, so that doesn't help their NHL teams. But
Speaker 2: I think you're going to see this every every few years,
Speaker 2: like meaning every three years or something. I haven't heard that.
Speaker 2: I just think that they'll do that, they'll take advantage
Speaker 2: of this. I I, like you, wish they would just
Speaker 2: get rid of the All Star Game. It's it isn't
Speaker 2: It isn't a game anymore. It's a you know, it's basically,
Speaker 2: you know, let's go out there and just you know,
Speaker 2: be soft on each other and just pee it up
Speaker 2: and laugh. And I just don't think it represents the
Speaker 2: game very well. So I wish they would just turn
Speaker 2: to something like the Four Nations. Try to figure out
Speaker 2: what's the next thing they can do so that they
Speaker 2: can keep that time off and keep those best players
Speaker 2: playing and showing their best rather than showing just a
Speaker 2: skills competition.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, I love it. Hey, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Spending some time with you today, it's been great, enlightening.
Speaker 1: Good luck to you and the rest of the day,
Speaker 1: and take care.
Speaker 2: Thanks a lot, Scott. Nice to be on with you too.
Speaker 2: Good luck.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you, all right? Do you have it? Neil Smith?
Speaker 1: Of course he does the NHL wrap Around podcast, former
Speaker 1: GM of the New York Rangers, Stanley Cup winners so
Speaker 1: cool stuff, and Yeah, I think our Utah HC is
Speaker 1: headed in the right direction.