Speaker 1: This is Neil Smith, former president and GM of the
Speaker 1: New York Rangers and the New York Islanders, join me
Speaker 1: and my co host Vic Morn for our podcast NHL
Speaker 1: Wrap Around for all the important news and views around
Speaker 1: the NHL.
Speaker 2: How about a.
Speaker 3: Little Utah Hockey Club as the Utah Hockey Club is
Speaker 3: in Saint Louis to take on the Blues, which is
Speaker 3: just hilarious for so many different reasons.
Speaker 2: Been a rough stretch for the guys.
Speaker 3: Our next guest joins us on a weekly basis, the
Speaker 3: great Neil Smith, former GM of the Rangers the Islanders.
Speaker 3: He's a hockey lifer.
Speaker 2: Neil.
Speaker 3: First of all, Happy Thursday. Second of all, how are
Speaker 3: you feeling.
Speaker 4: I'm feeling a little bit better, but my voice doesn't
Speaker 4: sound like it. But yesterday I got to tell you, Spence,
Speaker 4: was an amazing awakening when I was sitting in my computer,
Speaker 4: looking at stats, looking at things, ready for your call,
Speaker 4: and then realized I can't talk. I have no voice,
Speaker 4: so we had to delay this. But I'm feeling good.
Speaker 4: How about you.
Speaker 3: I'm well and I feel that because being in this business,
Speaker 3: like the voice is the moneymaker. So if I run
Speaker 3: into some allergies, or a cold, it changes the entire thing.
Speaker 3: You've only been in this business for a little while, Neil.
Speaker 3: Back in the day, you could lose your voice and
Speaker 3: still go build a hockey club.
Speaker 2: It's a different thing when you're talking to a mike.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yo, for sure it's and when you're on TV
Speaker 4: it's it's even more complicated. But radio, you're only a voice,
Speaker 4: that's all you are. So if you've got no voice
Speaker 4: or a Larnux trouble, stay off the radio.
Speaker 2: Yes sir, all right.
Speaker 3: After a red hot start, things have crashed pretty mightily
Speaker 3: for the Utah Hockey Club. They're two and eight in
Speaker 3: their last ten games and Connor Ingram and I'm gonna
Speaker 3: need you to help me understand this because I don't
Speaker 3: want to put it all. I understand in hockey you
Speaker 3: can't put it all on the goaltender. And Connor is
Speaker 3: a quality goalie, He's gonna be fine. But five to
Speaker 3: two and three with an eight eight one say percentage
Speaker 3: and a three point five to seven goals against average.
Speaker 3: According to stat Elites, he has a minus set having
Speaker 3: goals saved above expected, after finishing with a plus three
Speaker 3: point four goals saved above expected last year. How much
Speaker 3: of the leaky defense is on the goalie and how
Speaker 3: much of it's on the group.
Speaker 2: They just can't stop teams right now?
Speaker 4: Well, I thought, I think that there's enough to go around.
Speaker 4: I think there's some on Connor Ingram. He's not playing
Speaker 4: up to the level that he can play at in
Speaker 4: the NHL. To be a starting goaltender, you've got to
Speaker 4: be at nine hundred save percentage, which means an easy
Speaker 4: math that you're allowing one goal on every ten shots.
Speaker 4: You can't be letting more than that, and you can't
Speaker 4: have a goals against some three point five seven. Now,
Speaker 4: having said that, with Dursey out and Marino out and
Speaker 4: them trying to fill that void with other guys, you know,
Speaker 4: they're trying to get better defensively with their defenseman, but
Speaker 4: it's going to have to be a team effort. It's
Speaker 4: going to have to be everybody locking down the opposition,
Speaker 4: because when you're missing two key defensemen like that, the
Speaker 4: forwards can't take the chances that they would normally take.
Speaker 4: So they've got to be a little bit more conservative
Speaker 4: and help out.
Speaker 2: So the offense continues to be fine.
Speaker 3: It was never going to be what it was to
Speaker 3: start the year, because what it was to start the
Speaker 3: year was historic, but you know, more often than not
Speaker 3: they did get shut out.
Speaker 2: And I will get to Winnipeg in a moment.
Speaker 3: I don't know what's going on with Winnipeg, but you
Speaker 3: know the Utackey Club was able to get three against
Speaker 3: the gold Knights, four against the Sharks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it hasn't been what it was.
Speaker 3: So if we moved to the other side of the
Speaker 3: equation and leave the defense behind, and I'm sure they're
Speaker 3: all intertwined, why do you think the offense has not
Speaker 3: been able to keep up with the pace it's set
Speaker 3: to start the year, which again was very very good.
Speaker 4: Well, remember who you're playing too. I mean you got
Speaker 4: to give those teams credit. I mean they're playing against
Speaker 4: two really good teams. For playing Winnipeg, they're playing Vegas.
Speaker 4: I mean, those are good teams. But the other thing is,
Speaker 4: I think Spence, I'll go back to what I said before,
Speaker 4: and that is when you're back on your heels because
Speaker 4: you're not sure if you make a mistake. You don't
Speaker 4: have the defenders back there that you used to have,
Speaker 4: and you also your goalies a little bit leaky, like
Speaker 4: the Milka and Ingram have binn. Then you're not taking
Speaker 4: those offensive chances to score goals the way you do
Speaker 4: when you're very confident and when the group is confident,
Speaker 4: so it you know, it all goes hand in hand.
Speaker 4: And especially if you think when you're out on the ice,
Speaker 4: if you turn the puck over it could very easily
Speaker 4: be in our net. You're going to be very conservative
Speaker 4: with what you do.
Speaker 3: So tonight it is the Saint Louis Blues and ultimately
Speaker 3: they've lost Robert Thomas to a fractured ankle. But two
Speaker 3: point sixty nine goals per game in the blues first
Speaker 3: thirteen games, twenty fourth in the NHL. But they're really
Speaker 3: stout when it comes to their goalies, and they've got too.
Speaker 3: It's Jordan Bennington and Joel Hoffer, so very good defensive team,
Speaker 3: but they don't score a lot of goals. Prieve you,
Speaker 3: the game for us tonight is the Blues take on
Speaker 3: the Utah Hockey Club.
Speaker 4: Well, they're playing Joel hofferin net tonight according to the
Speaker 4: sources that I have, but his save percentage is three
Speaker 4: point thirty nine, so there's some holes there. They allow
Speaker 4: a lot of shots, but so does you. Ta Utah
Speaker 4: allows almost thirty just under thirty shots a game, so
Speaker 4: they're going to have to tighten that up. But interesting
Speaker 4: guys to look for tonight. Cairo is their best offensive player.
Speaker 4: He's got eleven points in thirteen games. Broberg that they
Speaker 4: signed from the Edmonton Oilers on an off for sheets,
Speaker 4: having a good start to his season. And he's a defenseman.
Speaker 4: And Pareko is also a defenseman. Two out of their
Speaker 4: three top scorers on their team or defenseman. But they'll they'll,
Speaker 4: they'll play hard for sure, and they all they always do,
Speaker 4: the Blues always do. But Hofer will be in that tonight.
Speaker 3: All right, Let's get back to a couple of the
Speaker 3: teams that I referenced, and you know, we we were
Speaker 3: discussed seeing the hot start for Winnipeg a couple of
Speaker 3: weeks ago. But it's one thing to have a hot start,
Speaker 3: but eight straight wins to start the season that side
Speaker 3: for the third longest streak in NHL history through twelve games,
Speaker 3: fifty nine goals. That's the highest total in their first
Speaker 3: twelve games since the nineteen ninety five ninety six Penguins
Speaker 3: scored sixty three times. That's Mario Lemieux, Jarmar Yager, Ron Francis,
Speaker 3: Sergey Zubov, a phenomenal team to play NHL on the PlayStation.
Speaker 2: With which I did back in the day.
Speaker 3: So what what stands out most about what really is
Speaker 3: a historic start from Winnipeg.
Speaker 4: Well, Kyle Connor stands out to me as playing out
Speaker 4: of his mind this year. Is as a forward, as
Speaker 4: an offensive player, and Connor Hellibuck, who won the Visita
Speaker 4: last year, is playing Don't Atrophy hockey again. So you know,
Speaker 4: those are the two guys that are really standing out
Speaker 4: and above everybody. But to have a record like they
Speaker 4: have at twelve and one on you've got to have
Speaker 4: everybody you know on all play on all cylinders. And
Speaker 4: everything for them is going good. I mean, their their
Speaker 4: power play is at forty four percent. Their penalty killing
Speaker 4: has been you know, middle of the pack, but it's
Speaker 4: that's still pretty good. So they're you know, they're goals
Speaker 4: for or four point seven, they lead the league with that.
Speaker 4: They've just had a terrific start. But if you want
Speaker 4: me to pick out a couple of players that also
Speaker 4: on Morrissey on defense has been great for them. But
Speaker 4: Kyle Connor and Hellibuck and Morrissey. They've all been really good.
Speaker 3: Let me ask you about a story before I set
Speaker 3: you loose. Egork In the goalie for the Rangers. We've
Speaker 3: been waiting for news on this potential extension. It sounds
Speaker 3: you're teasing it, Neil, Do you have any any meat
Speaker 3: on the bone you can share?
Speaker 4: Not really, I mean, other than I'm just you know,
Speaker 4: you hear things, and you hear that things are you know,
Speaker 4: heating up. What that means who knows. But you would
Speaker 4: think that the Rangers would be anxious to get them
Speaker 4: signed and not let them get near free agency. So
Speaker 4: I would imagine that there's something going on in the
Speaker 4: background between the agent, Krshcha Stirkin and Chris Drury.
Speaker 2: All Right, Neil, got a lot of new hockey fans
Speaker 2: in the market.
Speaker 3: Where can they go find your podcast that you that
Speaker 3: you guys release often during the week.
Speaker 4: Yeah. We had Bill Darn the GM of Minnesota on
Speaker 4: this week and it's on every platform, NHL wrap Around,
Speaker 4: you can find it on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, anywhere that
Speaker 4: you can find podcasts, you'll find it. And it's been
Speaker 4: a lot of fun and we're doing it three times
Speaker 4: a week. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and give it a listen.
Speaker 3: Neil, thank you, sir. I always appreciate the time. Get
Speaker 3: that voice ready to roll and we'll get you back
Speaker 3: on next week. All right, week, there you go, There
Speaker 3: you go. The great Neil Smith built a juggernaut of
Speaker 3: a New York Ranger hockey team that want a Stanley
Speaker 3: Cup in the nineties. Also general manager of the Islanders.
Speaker 3: He was the head scout for the Red Wings when
Speaker 3: they were kind of at their heyday.
Speaker 2: He's on Twitter.
Speaker 3: You can find the links to his work at NYC.
Speaker 3: Neil Smith is where you find him. You can follow
Speaker 3: the podcast at NHL wrap Around is where you get that.
Speaker 3: All right, I want to tell you about my friends
Speaker 3: at Overtime Cards and Collectibles. It's the best spot for
Speaker 3: all your football, basketball, hockey, MMA and even Pokemon card collecting.
Speaker 3: Buy all your favorites there and even take your cards in.
Speaker 3: Maybe you have some rare cards in your collection you
Speaker 3: do not even know about. So that's what I did.
Speaker 3: My buddy Chris James, who owns the spot over there.
Speaker 3: His wife is really the brains behind the whole thing.
Speaker 3: But Chris is a sweet dude. When I heard he
Speaker 3: was getting in the business. I've had boxes of basketball, baseball,
Speaker 3: football cards in my possession for years. I just should
Speaker 3: have thrown most of them away. I would just move
Speaker 3: them wherever I would go.
Speaker 2: And so I called.
Speaker 3: I said, can you look at my collection, see if
Speaker 3: there's anything of value. He said, yeah, bring it in.
Speaker 3: I had a Kobe Bryant Fleer rookie card I did
Speaker 3: not know I had. It's now sitting on my mantle.
Speaker 3: He's got a bunch of stories like that. So, like me,
Speaker 3: if you're my age, you probably collected cards. At one point.
Speaker 3: You're listening to sports stock radio, so you're a sportsman.
Speaker 3: Grab the collection, go to your parents' house, get it
Speaker 3: out of the basement or wherever it is. Take it
Speaker 3: over Time Cards. They'll go through it for you and
Speaker 3: they'll let you know if you have anything you know
Speaker 3: that's worth holding on to. So check them out online
Speaker 3: at Overtimecards and Collectibles dot Com, where you can buy
Speaker 3: and trade