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: We are your home of the Stanley Cup Finals here
Speaker 2: in Salt Lake City, Utah and the surrounding areas. We
Speaker 2: have a rematch of the Stanley Cup Final from a
Speaker 2: year ago that went seven games. Florida won the first three,
Speaker 2: Edmonton came back and nearly pulled off one of the
Speaker 2: greatest comebacks in Stanley Cup history, and then Florida was
Speaker 2: able to get it done game seven. So tonight you
Speaker 2: can hear game one on our radio station and Neil
Speaker 2: Smith stops by to talk some hockey on a Wednesday.
Speaker 3: Neil, Happy Wednesday, sir. How are you?
Speaker 4: I'm very good, Spence. How about yourself?
Speaker 2: I'm great, appreciate the time. First question, randomly, did you
Speaker 2: ever work for Jim Dolan?
Speaker 4: Oh? Yeah, you did?
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, that's what I thought. I think I thought
Speaker 3: that you did.
Speaker 2: So I as somebody who worked for the current and
Speaker 2: you know, still the guy that owns the Rangers and
Speaker 2: the Knicks. We exchanged a few texts, and I exchanged
Speaker 2: a few texts with some other people as well. And
Speaker 2: I'm biased because you know, Tom Thibodeau was Jeff's assistant
Speaker 2: and we got to know him. And oh also, by
Speaker 2: the way, he's a great coach that just did something
Speaker 2: for you that nobody's done in thirty years. And look,
Speaker 2: you handle it however you want. You know, you're a
Speaker 2: very nice guy, You're a gentleman. I'm sure not asking
Speaker 2: you to rip anybody to shreds. But what was it
Speaker 2: like working for him? She had some insight into you know,
Speaker 2: listeners that maybe don't really have a full picture. And
Speaker 2: your thoughts on him moving on from coach Tiboda.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, Jim is his own guy. I mean,
Speaker 4: he's different than all the other people that I've run
Speaker 4: into in that kind of position. He obviously inherited a
Speaker 4: good deal of his wealth from Cable Vision, who was
Speaker 4: able to buy the Madison Square Garden from Paramount and
Speaker 4: they've had it since Jim was He was a little
Speaker 4: bit unpredictable when I was there, and you really, you know,
Speaker 4: you weren't sure what you were going to get from
Speaker 4: day to day or how he was going to feel
Speaker 4: about certain things, and sometimes the view that he took
Speaker 4: of things were a view that you hadn't heard of before.
Speaker 4: So it was difficult, let me say, it was very difficult.
Speaker 2: One follow up question, we'll move away from Dolin specifically
Speaker 2: because you know, as my mother often says, if you
Speaker 2: can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
Speaker 3: Advice that I probably should hear to more.
Speaker 2: But just how and this is going to sound like
Speaker 2: a simp question, and maybe it is, but just how
Speaker 2: important is viable, balanced, consistent ownership when it comes to
Speaker 2: the success of a professional sports team.
Speaker 4: There's nothing more valuable than that. You can have all
Speaker 4: the great players, all the great coaches, all the great
Speaker 4: all the great everything. But if you have somebody at
Speaker 4: the very top who owns it and who you ultimately
Speaker 4: everybody reports to, that's unstable or that you that doesn't
Speaker 4: let the people below, who are knowledgeable and have been
Speaker 4: doing the support their whole life. If they don't let
Speaker 4: them run that business, that sports business, you've got no chance,
Speaker 4: none whatsoever. You've got to allow your people to do
Speaker 4: what they do, and if you don't, you won't get
Speaker 4: the result you want.
Speaker 2: What have been your early impressions with the Smith Entertainment
Speaker 2: Group and Ryan and Ashley and the way they've kind
Speaker 2: of been able to conduct their business to support Bill Armstrong,
Speaker 2: his staff, coach Torny, coach Torny and his staff after
Speaker 2: only one year here in Salt Lake.
Speaker 4: Well, the one thing that I can say from a
Speaker 4: long ways away is that the Smith family stays out
Speaker 4: of the limelight. They stay out of They seem to
Speaker 4: stay out of the operational part of it. You don't
Speaker 4: hear their name coming up saying that, well, you know,
Speaker 4: they wanted to do this or wanted to do that.
Speaker 4: They're very much in the background, which is what a
Speaker 4: really smart owner does. They stay in the background. They
Speaker 4: oversee the professional people that have got a background in
Speaker 4: the sport, but they stay in the background and just
Speaker 4: have leadership skills to lead those people that know the
Speaker 4: sport really well and know how to work in the environment,
Speaker 4: but they don't interfere with the way they've got to
Speaker 4: work in the environment. And I think that the Smiths,
Speaker 4: from what I understand, have done really good, really well
Speaker 4: at that. And I'll point to one thing, you know,
Speaker 4: would have been easy for the new owner to fire
Speaker 4: everybody coming from Phoenix you'd had no success there, What
Speaker 4: makes you think they're going to have any success here.
Speaker 4: Let's get a whole new management group. But he didn't
Speaker 4: do that. He gave them all chants to prove themselves.
Speaker 4: Obviously to this point, he likes what he's seen and
Speaker 4: he's staying steadfast with Bill Armstrong and his group. And
Speaker 4: I think I really believe that's the way you lead.
Speaker 4: You make your observations, you give people enough time, you
Speaker 4: see how they work, and then you make your decision
Speaker 4: from there.
Speaker 2: Were you ever strongly encouraged or straight up forced to
Speaker 2: go see a JD in the Straight Shot Show in
Speaker 2: New York?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: Who?
Speaker 4: That never happened back then?
Speaker 2: Okay, fair enough, fair enough, all right? Macro thirty thousand
Speaker 2: foot view question. Neil's a proud Canadian. Look, you know,
Speaker 2: whether it's Edmond Tin or any other Canadian team, But
Speaker 2: what would it mean thirty two years since the Stanley
Speaker 2: Cup was won by Canadian team, which is pretty wild
Speaker 2: because y'all are the best hockey country it have been
Speaker 2: for quite some time. What would it mean to just
Speaker 2: the country of Canada for Edmonton to pull this off?
Speaker 4: You know, I think it would mean a lot only
Speaker 4: because Canada is, you know, compared to the United States,
Speaker 4: is a very small population wise compared to the US,
Speaker 4: and they've got the big elephants sitting next door being
Speaker 4: the US that seems to be good at everything and
Speaker 4: win everything, and you know, Hollywood and all the rest
Speaker 4: of it. So for a Canadian team to win the
Speaker 4: Cup after all these years, and it does mean a
Speaker 4: lot to a lot of Canadians. Now, the people in
Speaker 4: Calgary aren't cheering for Edmonton because that's their bitter rivalry.
Speaker 4: So just because you know, there wasn't a lot of
Speaker 4: Toronto Maye Leafs fans hoping that Montreal would win in
Speaker 4: ninety three against La that's the last Stanley Cup they got.
Speaker 4: But for the majority of Canadians, I do think that
Speaker 4: you know, if it's Edmonton versus Florida and you're living
Speaker 4: in Manitoba or you're living in Ontario, I think you're
Speaker 4: probably going to cheer for the Canadian based team over
Speaker 4: the American based team, only because it's in Canada. But
Speaker 4: you know what makes me laugh about the whole thing
Speaker 4: is all of the all of all of these teams
Speaker 4: in the NHL are divided up amongst many nationalities, Canadian
Speaker 4: and American being two of them, and so you might
Speaker 4: be cheering for Edmonton, but you might be cheering for
Speaker 4: a lot of American players and a lot of Russian
Speaker 4: players and and so on. So it's you know, you
Speaker 4: cheer for your city where you're from, and then I
Speaker 4: guess once your city's gone, if you're in Canada, and
Speaker 4: again I stress it, it's a smaller country, you cheer
Speaker 4: for the country.
Speaker 2: Before we get to the game tonight, excuse me and
Speaker 2: this iteration of the series. What are your memories of
Speaker 2: this seven game barn burner from last year between these two.
Speaker 4: Well, I had predicted Florida to win since the regular
Speaker 4: season last year, and so when they got after that
Speaker 4: three nothing lead on Edmonton didn't surprise me. But when
Speaker 4: Edmonton came roaring back and won three straight, that did
Speaker 4: surprise me. And that's set up for a Game seven
Speaker 4: that was spectacular. Florida, of course, as you mentioned in
Speaker 4: the open winning it. I think it was two to one.
Speaker 4: You know, they're both great teams, they're both a notch
Speaker 4: above everybody else, and they're deserving it being in the final.
Speaker 4: And this is a great final for the National Hockey
Speaker 4: League because you don't have a Cinderella team going in
Speaker 4: against a favorite. That happened. Sometimes some team that has
Speaker 4: a wild card spot ends up, you know, by hooker
Speaker 4: by crook, getting all the way to the final and
Speaker 4: then they face the you know, the best team from
Speaker 4: the other conference. And so this year you've got the
Speaker 4: two teams that as the playoffs went on, you could
Speaker 4: clearly see that Florida was a notch above the rest
Speaker 4: of the East and Edmonton a notch above the rest
Speaker 4: of the West. Now one could point out, well, they
Speaker 4: both ended in third place in their division. Yeah, that happens.
Speaker 4: You know, it does happen. Not everybody that wins the
Speaker 4: President's Trophy, which is first overall, which Winnipeg one, ends
Speaker 4: up in the final inside, very few do. So, you know,
Speaker 4: they've gotten healthy at the right time, They've got all
Speaker 4: their their gears in order at the right time, and
Speaker 4: I'm really excited about this series.
Speaker 2: So let's let's attack this individually before we get to
Speaker 2: the matchup, and let's start with Edmonton. You know, they
Speaker 2: just have been able to respond to adversity throughout this
Speaker 2: run in a very impressive way, comebacks left and right,
Speaker 2: like they almost pulled off last year in the Stanley
Speaker 2: Cup Final, but they lose the first two games of
Speaker 2: their first series against the Kings, they win four straight.
Speaker 2: They open game one of the second round series against
Speaker 2: the Golden Knights by giving up the first two goals
Speaker 2: before steady setting the Stanley Cup playoff record where their
Speaker 2: fifth consecutive comeback victory. And then against the Stars, the
Speaker 2: Stars scores six straight goals to take game one and
Speaker 2: then they gave up five goals total over the next
Speaker 2: four games to advance in the final. So it's this
Speaker 2: interesting thing where all of their series they don't start
Speaker 2: out all that well, but then they figure something out
Speaker 2: and then they're just ruthless. So let's start with the
Speaker 2: Oilers takeaways and then we'll get to the Panthers and
Speaker 2: we'll talk about the matchup. What stands out most about
Speaker 2: this run from Edmonton, Neil Well.
Speaker 4: The obvious is the most important thing, and that's Connor
Speaker 4: McDavid number ninety seven. I mean, he leads to the
Speaker 4: playoffs again this year and scoring and when he gets
Speaker 4: the opportunity which she won't get a lot of them
Speaker 4: against Florida, but when he gets the opportunity to dance
Speaker 4: and go at that high speed, he can go at
Speaker 4: and he is marvelous to watch and can do crazy
Speaker 4: good things for the Oilers. So you know, he plays
Speaker 4: on the line with Nugent Hopkins, who's having the best
Speaker 4: playoff of his life. And then forty year old Corey
Speaker 4: Perry is on his other side that won the MVP
Speaker 4: of the league way back when he was with the
Speaker 4: Ducks in seven or eight and and so, and that's
Speaker 4: a formidable line because Corey Perry takes no prisoners physically
Speaker 4: and and Nutent Hopkins is a first overall pick, and
Speaker 4: Connor McDavid is McDavid. There's nobody else even like him.
Speaker 4: And then on the second line, this is your second
Speaker 4: line has Drive Cidle in the middle, who's you know,
Speaker 4: leading the league and goals again this year. And you've
Speaker 4: got again a tough guy with him and Evander Kine
Speaker 4: and then Casperry cappen and on his other side. So
Speaker 4: their first two lines are really good. They've got a
Speaker 4: bomb of a shot on the point on the power play,
Speaker 4: and Evan Bouchard Mattias at coolm who plays on his
Speaker 4: left side, is is a really good defenseman, puck moving defenseman.
Speaker 4: And then I'll just skip the goal, and the goal
Speaker 4: is the one place where they definitely take a back
Speaker 4: seat to Florida because Stuart Skinner I'll always played really
Speaker 4: well in these playoffs, and so is Kelvin Pickard his backup,
Speaker 4: He's always going to be a question mark until he
Speaker 4: can get it done. Is is he going to be
Speaker 4: able to play to the Paprowski level that he needs
Speaker 4: to play at to be able to beat the Panthers.
Speaker 2: Now over to the Panthers, what stands out most to me,
Speaker 2: Neil is I'm kind of looking at some of these
Speaker 2: numbers here. Nineteen different players have lit the lamp this postseason,
Speaker 2: so clearly, clearly tremendous depth. They're averaging more goals per
Speaker 2: game than they were last year, they're giving up fewer
Speaker 2: goals per game than they did last year as well.
Speaker 2: Their power play has been better, and their penalty killer
Speaker 2: is the best in the playoffs. So clearly there's a
Speaker 2: lot to like and there's not a lot to nitpick
Speaker 2: about the Panthers.
Speaker 3: What should we know about them prior to Game one tonight.
Speaker 4: Well, what's really going to be interesting and may be
Speaker 4: on the first base off if the two coaches or
Speaker 4: let's say the visitors have to put their lineup in first,
Speaker 4: and if they put in Barkoff's line, Barkoff, Reinhardt and Rodriguez,
Speaker 4: maybe it's amazing as they'll go up against Connor McDavid
Speaker 4: and Nuten, Hopkins and Perry. But Barkoff won this year,
Speaker 4: for the second year in a row, the Selki Trophy,
Speaker 4: which is the best defensive forward in the league. And
Speaker 4: he's he is terrific at that, so he'll go head
Speaker 4: to head against McDavid to try to shut him down.
Speaker 4: But here's the other part. Out of the three finalists
Speaker 4: for the Selki Trophy, Sam rein Hart was the other one,
Speaker 4: and he plays on that line. And then you've got
Speaker 4: Evan Rodriguez, who did a lot of damage in last
Speaker 4: year's playoffs and can score. Their second line can score
Speaker 4: with ther Hage and Bennett and Kachuck, and of course
Speaker 4: Bennett and Kachuck are most known for irritating the living
Speaker 4: heck out of the visiting team and whoever they play against.
Speaker 4: That we haven't even mentioned Brad Marshaw yet, the former
Speaker 4: captain of the Bruins, who plays on the line with
Speaker 4: Lundell and lous Terrain and they got a terrific top
Speaker 4: three lines there, and maybe not the star studded McDavid
Speaker 4: Drice title type of name that everybody's heard of, but
Speaker 4: guys that can all put the puck in the net.
Speaker 4: And that's why you say so many different players have
Speaker 4: scored for the Panthers, and I like their defense. Aaron
Speaker 4: act Glad has been good offensively this playoff, and Foresling
Speaker 4: was great last year. But Seth Jones that they got
Speaker 4: in a trade from Chicago before the deadline has really
Speaker 4: added some great one B depth. So if Aaron Ekled
Speaker 4: is one A, Seth Jones is at least one B.
Speaker 4: And then you've got Pubrowski, who pretty much a household
Speaker 4: name now if you watch hockey, because they he won
Speaker 4: it all for them last year.
Speaker 2: All right, now that we've learned about both these teams individually,
Speaker 2: right now, the money as far as betting goes on
Speaker 2: sportsbooks going towards Edmonton pretty overwhelmingly. How do they match
Speaker 2: up and X factors for both sides, as far as
Speaker 2: how you think this thing is going to go, you.
Speaker 4: Know, they match up extremely well. I think that the
Speaker 4: Oilers are not going to get the opportunities that they
Speaker 4: got against Dallas Vegas or in the first round against
Speaker 4: the La Kings. They're not going to get those because
Speaker 4: they're going to be Florida is a very good shutdown team.
Speaker 4: Florida's going to have to capitalize on a few chances
Speaker 4: they get. And again, I think it goes back expence
Speaker 4: to Stuart Skinner versus Serge Brabrovski. If one of them
Speaker 4: let's in a bad goal, it's going to be huge.
Speaker 4: And when I say a bad goal, it doesn't mean
Speaker 4: they should score from center. It just means a shot
Speaker 4: that they should have had that they somehow didn't get
Speaker 4: and the other team takes the lead. So I would
Speaker 4: expect tonight that Edmonton would start out slow. They seem
Speaker 4: to always do that at home for some reason, and Florida.
Speaker 4: Florida's ready for them. I mean they've had more rest.
Speaker 4: Both teams are very well rested. The other thing I
Speaker 4: should mention is that Zach Hyman dislocated his wrist against
Speaker 4: Mason Marchmont on the Dallas Stars in that series, and
Speaker 4: he's a huge part of the Edmonton Oilers. If he
Speaker 4: was playing, he would have been one of the names
Speaker 4: I would have brought up when we talked about Edmonton,
Speaker 4: but he's out of the lineup. That's a bit of
Speaker 4: a blow.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: If you asked me to pick a pick a winner,
Speaker 4: and we do it on our podcast all the time,
Speaker 4: I don't know where which way to go. I've been
Speaker 4: calling Florida for a lot of long time now, so
Speaker 4: I would stick with that. But nothing would surprise me
Speaker 4: in this series. Absolutely nothing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to ask you because based off
Speaker 2: of everything that I've been reading and watching, I've heard
Speaker 2: a lot of people straight up say this is a
Speaker 2: pick them and it could go one way or the other.
Speaker 2: Are you surprised that the majority of the public money
Speaker 2: is going the way of the Edmonton Oilers.
Speaker 4: I am, and I think that they might. You know
Speaker 4: that they might just be in love with the Connor
Speaker 4: McDavid factor and the Leon Dreisidles and the new guys
Speaker 4: on the block. And this is a revenge Cup and
Speaker 4: that has favored the team that didn't win the year
Speaker 4: before in a lot of times. I can tell you
Speaker 4: that for sure, Florida is not as sexy as Edmonton
Speaker 4: because they don't have Connor McDavid and Leon dry sidele
Speaker 4: on these guys so they're not as sexy, but they're boy,
Speaker 4: they're a hard working team. You should compare to two
Speaker 4: great coaches. Chris knob Block for the Edmonton Oilers has
Speaker 4: done a fantastic job. He came in part way through
Speaker 4: last season, led them to the final, and now he's
Speaker 4: leading them to the final again. And then of course
Speaker 4: Paul Marie, who's in his fourth year with the Florida
Speaker 4: Panthers and and has done a terrific job there. Their
Speaker 4: first year, the upset the record breaking Boston Bruins in
Speaker 4: the first round, and then last year we know what
Speaker 4: they did and now here they are again this year.
Speaker 4: So they're they're terrific, well prepared teams. The coaches are
Speaker 4: going to have them really going hard. And again I
Speaker 4: think it is a pick'm thing. I don't know why
Speaker 4: all the money would be going towards Edmonton other than
Speaker 4: if people, just as I said, just think, well, it's
Speaker 4: their turn, so I'm going with them.
Speaker 2: Fourteen of the twenty three quote unquote experts audespn dot
Speaker 2: COM's hockey page has Edmonton winning the series. Tell me
Speaker 2: about these two coaches, Neil and then attendant to that question. Oftentimes,
Speaker 2: when you get this late into the season and you're
Speaker 2: playing for a trophy. Yeah, you do make adjustments here
Speaker 2: there game to game, but more often than not, you
Speaker 2: kind of are who you are this late in the season,
Speaker 2: and we're just going to do what we do. But
Speaker 2: tell me about these two coaches and what sort of
Speaker 2: adjustments you think will be necessary for one or the
Speaker 2: other to come out on top.
Speaker 4: Well, Chris Knoblock with the Oilers has to get that
Speaker 4: power play going. Their power play hasn't been nearly what
Speaker 4: it was last year, and they're penalty killing either, but
Speaker 4: especially their power play. He's got to get when the
Speaker 4: Panthers take up that penalty or take a penalty, they've
Speaker 4: got to be able to threaten to take advantage of
Speaker 4: that because one of the things about the Panthers is
Speaker 4: they play that dirty, grimy game where they want to
Speaker 4: get in your face all the time. On the other side,
Speaker 4: you know they're going to have to lock down McDavid
Speaker 4: and dry Sidle and that's a hard job. But they've
Speaker 4: got two of the best guys for that in Barkoff
Speaker 4: and Ryan Hard and as I said, backed up by
Speaker 4: two guys with Bennett and Kutchuk. But Paul Maurice has
Speaker 4: been around for a long, long long time, a really
Speaker 4: good coach, and I don't think they'll be a better
Speaker 4: prepared team than the Florida Panthers. But Chris Knoblock, who's
Speaker 4: assistant that, by the way, is Paul Coffee, the great
Speaker 4: Paul Coffee. He runs a defense for them, and he's
Speaker 4: won a few Stanley Cuffs, so they're going to be
Speaker 4: well prepared too. It's hard to you might hear it
Speaker 4: in my voice. I can't give the to anybody. They're
Speaker 4: both great and they're both deserving.
Speaker 2: Is there kind of a mini rivalry budding here? I mean,
Speaker 2: you reference Bennett and Kachuk, who are just irritants no
Speaker 2: matter what. But and maybe it's because Mick David is
Speaker 2: Canadian and you you're nicer than we are. But I
Speaker 2: listened to interview with him and he didn't indicate there
Speaker 2: was very much bad blood. But these two teams saw
Speaker 2: each other year ago in a seven game series. Does
Speaker 2: it feel like there's an underlying dislike sports hatred kind
Speaker 2: of brewing. Here are these two teams that are maybe
Speaker 2: not necessarily in a space where they have bad feelings
Speaker 2: for one another, even though this is the second straight
Speaker 2: Stanley Cup final.
Speaker 3: They'll be battling for.
Speaker 4: I think if they don't have bad feelings for each other,
Speaker 4: they will have about ten minutes into the game, because
Speaker 4: that's how intense this thing will be. Yeah, and they do,
Speaker 4: they do have negative feelings. I mean, one team walked
Speaker 4: off with the cup. The other team walked off in tears.
Speaker 4: And so Connor McDavid wants to cement his legacy by
Speaker 4: winning a Stanley Cup. It's one thing to be the
Speaker 4: greatest player in the league. That's all good and well,
Speaker 4: but you've got to win a cup to really cement
Speaker 4: how good you are, and that's what Connor McDavid really
Speaker 4: wants to do. At the other end, they're going to
Speaker 4: try to stop them from They want to win their
Speaker 4: second in a row, as their cross state rival that
Speaker 4: Tampa Bay Lightning did just not too long ago. So
Speaker 4: it's again it's going to be a battle. And you know,
Speaker 4: I think that Dry Sidle and McDavid are going to
Speaker 4: want the one thing they have never had and that
Speaker 4: is a Stanley Cup. And we'll see, I mean, you'll
Speaker 4: know some stuff. Five to ten minutes into the game,
Speaker 4: you're already going to see some thing's happening. And as
Speaker 4: I said, you sit down right from the opening pace.
Speaker 4: I don't miss a minute of this one.
Speaker 2: So before I do have one more Utah mamm a
Speaker 2: question for you before I set you loose. But it
Speaker 2: sounds like, based off of the way you've been breaking
Speaker 2: down the potential of this series and everything I kind
Speaker 2: of reading and watching, you know there's nothing better than
Speaker 2: a Game seven and the Stanley Cup playoffs and we
Speaker 2: didn't get one of the conference finals. Does it feel
Speaker 2: like this has a good chance to go the distance?
Speaker 4: Absolutely? Absolutely. And I've always said, and you could hear
Speaker 4: me say this on the podcast. Sometimes when I'm picking
Speaker 4: projecting who's going to win the series, I say I
Speaker 4: go full chicken, meaning I go game seven, because I
Speaker 4: feel that's the Chicken Chickens way out is to say
Speaker 4: it'll go seven. You're really hedging your bets. But in
Speaker 4: this one, just from watching them last year, just from
Speaker 4: watching how great they are this year, just terms knowing
Speaker 4: the type of you know, thirst and hunger that these
Speaker 4: two teams have to win the cup. They know they
Speaker 4: are four wins away from, you know, the great trophy
Speaker 4: of the Stanley Cups. So I would not at all
Speaker 4: be surprised if it didn't go seven. And as fact,
Speaker 4: if you made me name how many games is going
Speaker 4: to go, that's the only one I would say is seven.
Speaker 2: Let's move over to a couple of off season initiatives
Speaker 2: and potentials for the Utah Mammoth dads and pieces, and
Speaker 2: we'll start with the draft where the Utah Mammoth jumped
Speaker 2: from fourteen to four. Here's my question, It's just more
Speaker 2: of a big picture, general type question, because I've seen
Speaker 2: a bunch of mock drafts. I think a lot of
Speaker 2: people believe the Mammoth need dad to the defensive portion
Speaker 2: of their team. But for according to what I've read,
Speaker 2: feels like a stretch for even the best defensive players
Speaker 2: in this draft. How often, and look, there are always unicorns,
Speaker 2: and there are always opportunities that sometimes we don't see,
Speaker 2: But how often are these young kids.
Speaker 3: Ready to play right away? When you're drafting at four
Speaker 3: that's very high?
Speaker 2: Is it realistic for Bill Armstrong and his staff to
Speaker 2: bring an instant help to the hockey club? Or will
Speaker 2: be a situation where they draft a young prospect and
Speaker 2: watch them grow internationally or and juniors and such?
Speaker 4: It will probably be a case of drafting a young
Speaker 4: player and watching him get better in junior. Right now,
Speaker 4: Jcobrien has rated number four in the draft, who's a
Speaker 4: six to two center playing in Branford, Ontario. And right
Speaker 4: behind him is Raddick mrca, who's a six foot five
Speaker 4: defenseman playing in Seattle. So you know, I don't know
Speaker 4: how close those two guys are on the mammoths rating
Speaker 4: of their scouts, but you know you probably fall in
Speaker 4: around there, and who knows, maybe they could play defenseman
Speaker 4: usually don't play it the first year because defense is
Speaker 4: a much harder position to learn because one mistake and
Speaker 4: it could be in your net. So a defenseman is
Speaker 4: it takes more time than a forward. But it's possible
Speaker 4: the kid could play this year. More than likely they'll
Speaker 4: put him back to give him more time to develop.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you about your former club, the New
Speaker 2: York Islanders, as the lottery delivered a franchise altering opportunity
Speaker 2: to them with the number one overall pick, and it
Speaker 2: seems like people debate the Matthew Shaefer kid against the
Speaker 2: Michael Mesa kid. I'm not going to sit here, Neil
Speaker 2: tell you I've been grinding tape on either of these
Speaker 2: two players. I don't know anything about them. Do you
Speaker 2: have a preference? And who do you think the Islanders
Speaker 2: land on?
Speaker 3: And why?
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, there's a kid from Long Island
Speaker 4: in this draft, rated third I think James Haygenes and
Speaker 4: plays at Boston College, and so it'll be interesting to
Speaker 4: see if the Islanders are swayed at all by the
Speaker 4: fact that he's from Long Island that they would go
Speaker 4: that direction. But you know, I just Shafer and Mesa
Speaker 4: are not that far apart, I guess. I mean, I
Speaker 4: would think that usually the guy that was ranked number
Speaker 4: one in the middle of the season was Matthew Shaffer,
Speaker 4: and he's still ranked number one at the end of
Speaker 4: the season. That tells me that he's probably were going
Speaker 4: to be number one. But again, I haven't been grinding
Speaker 4: tape either. Spend a few how he's playing, all right?
Speaker 2: Before I say you lose, you know, last week we
Speaker 2: went over the free agent list. We will not do
Speaker 2: that again this week. I'll just ask you this for
Speaker 2: set you lose. The projected cap space for the Utah
Speaker 2: Mammoth is about twenty one mili. They have all their
Speaker 2: picks and so they have optionality is that's the new
Speaker 2: buzzword in roster construction and pro sports these days. Prior
Speaker 2: to the start of the season, what would you say
Speaker 2: to the fan base about what you'd like to see
Speaker 2: Bill and a staff do, just generally speaking, whether it
Speaker 2: is a continued brick by brick build or maybe expedite
Speaker 2: the growth of the young players with some veteran pieces.
Speaker 2: What do you think the boxes that need to be
Speaker 2: checked for this hockey team next year to take that
Speaker 2: proverbial next step and maybe even make the playoffs.
Speaker 4: Well, two things I'd really like to see them get
Speaker 4: a player that has a lot of experience, maybe a
Speaker 4: little bit longer in the tooth than the people that
Speaker 4: they've got there right now, but can bring some pedigree
Speaker 4: that had been winning. Not a forty year old, but
Speaker 4: I mean certainly somebody that has been around is one
Speaker 4: and that can help younger players. Addie and Cole there
Speaker 4: for that very reason already. So I'd love to see
Speaker 4: it if they could do that. And then if if
Speaker 4: if they could, and if it fits with their program,
Speaker 4: and I know they have the money to get one
Speaker 4: of these top guys, if you know, if they can
Speaker 4: a Marner a Besser Nikolai Eelers that played in Winnipeg.
Speaker 4: Those three seem to be the top three names. I
Speaker 4: mean that would give some star power also to the
Speaker 4: Mammoth and perhaps raise them up another notch in the
Speaker 4: you know, another notch up in the standings and be
Speaker 4: able to get into the playoffs next year.
Speaker 2: Is there like a cool Neil Smith Stanley Cup Final
Speaker 2: watch party that I'd get invited to? How are you
Speaker 2: going to be watching the game?
Speaker 4: Now? I'm going to be swelled. The watch party is
Speaker 4: going to be me. My eight month old yellow lab
Speaker 4: Sammy will be sitting on one side of me, and
Speaker 4: my twelve year old chocolate lab aj will be sitting
Speaker 4: on the other side of me. We'll be staring at
Speaker 4: an eighty six inch screen that I have above my mantle,
Speaker 4: and we might even have a few beverages together. I'll
Speaker 4: bring out their bowl and pour some bud light in
Speaker 4: their bowl.
Speaker 2: Dogs Welcome people tolerated. Neil is my personal philosophy that
Speaker 2: sounds like a good time. Hey, before I say you
Speaker 2: those to our listeners where they can go get that
Speaker 2: podcast to yours well.
Speaker 4: Apple Podcasts platform is great. You can get it on Spotify,
Speaker 4: you can watch us on YouTube. It's on every platform
Speaker 4: you can think of. So whatever platform you use for podcasts,
Speaker 4: we're on there at NHL Wrap Around, And as I've
Speaker 4: said every week, I think that anybody that listens or
Speaker 4: watches will learn something. We've always got entertaining guess and
Speaker 4: we have a lot of fun doing it.
Speaker 3: Neil, thank you, my friend. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Excited to get going tonight, so enjoy it with the
Speaker 2: doggos and we'll chat soon.
Speaker 4: Okay, Hey, did you tell your dad I was on
Speaker 4: last week? Remember he was in town. I think when
Speaker 4: I talked to you I did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I let him know and I sent him
Speaker 2: the link to listening to the interview, so hopefully he did.
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna let you check in with him on
Speaker 2: that because he'll lie to me and says he listens
Speaker 2: every day, So that's gonna.
Speaker 4: Be up to you, all right, stake here, Thank you, Neil.
Speaker 2: Neil Smith, the great Neil Smith, helping us learn about
Speaker 2: this pro sport that we now have in this market.
Speaker 3: Always appreciate his time.
Speaker 2: Stops by today courtesy of our friends at IFA Country Stores,
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Speaker 3: At IFA and if a dot co off.
Speaker 2: Game one of the Stanley Cup Final between Edmonton and
Speaker 2: Florida is tonight, coming up at six o'clock Mountain time,
Speaker 2: so right when we say good night at six here
Speaker 2: on the show,