May 20, 2023 • 52 mins
Matinee Money, Kyle Dubas will not return as Maple Leafs GM, Nuggets-Lakers in Western Conference Finals, Dallas Stars vs Vegas Golden Knights, Carolina Hurricanes vs Florida Panthers, dump 'n chase, Conference Finals Game 1s, vote for new arena doesn't pass in Arizona, potential relocation/expansion cities
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
No, it's our turn too.Sorry for the words, but with our
balls on the table. Remember,kids, this is not how you play
hockey. It's just hugging. Ilike it, see you God, you
know what. I love my screamto go back to Canada de la blur
(00:25):
game one yea name one, Hello, and welcome into the Nuggets Show,
Colorado's biggest and best live Nuggets radioshow, right here on my high Sports.
Don't make me go home early.Oh that wasn't it. No,
the Nuggets aren't the biggest thing intown right now. Oh I don't know.
Maybe according to my Twitter feed itis. I feel like I went
(00:49):
to the Nuggets game the other nightgame too, And anytime I go to
Nuggets game, that's all I cansay. Danny, hit me with it
one more time. Yeah, Ilove it, love it, love the
Nuggets fever. You know, along time coming for this town to have
some Nuggets success, and it's feelinggood right now. So I just wanted
to start the show with that goodYeah, we're moving on. I got
(01:10):
my Nuggets jersey on, Danny's gothis Nicola Yokis T shirt on, and
here you are with a Foo Fightershot. I know you guys are pumped.
I just don't care you missed thememo. You missed the memo.
I mean I would have just thrownit away. I think, do you
even have a Nuggets any apparel anything. I used to have a Nuggets T
shirt. I think I gave itaway. Well here you can. You
can wave this towel around in theair. Whoo Nuggets. All right,
(01:32):
let's get to some hockey. Ofcourse, lots to talk about Toronto at
a lot of mess going on upthere. Of course, you got the
Coyotes debacle and still have playoff hockeyto get into, so let's get into
all of it. Of Course,we're gonna start the show as we start
every show, Mattenee money. MyMattenee money pick today is gonna be the
Florida Panthers plus one and a half, so they don't even have to win
(01:53):
if they just lose by one thathits. And I like the way they're
playing, of course, you know, you like how they're in there in
the heads of the Carolina Hurricanes.Right. You heard Rob Brindamore after the
loss, the four overtime loss,saying how painful that was for his team.
When you hear the coach say thatmessage. I'm curious how it trickles
down to the players and kind ofhow they're feeling about it. So Florida
(02:15):
plus one and a half combined withthe Nuggets plus five and a half,
right, so they just have tolose by five or do better, and
that's a plus one ninety two parlay. I love it. I love it
so much that I'm putting money onit. I still am in betting jail,
and that's mostly laziness at this point. But I said it like three
(02:36):
times during that four overtime game.They kept throwing up the live odds and
I was like, Florida plus onehundred and overtime, it's literally a coin
toss, a two for one.It's a good bet to take. I
kept saying it's a good bet totake. But instead of getting on my
phone and taking the beat, Ijust kept saying it. And then they
won and it was like, shouldhave taken that bet. You could see
(02:57):
it, you can feel it coming. We'll get into it. But watching
the shot totals kind of even outslowly over the close of course, over
time, you're like, this thisgame is turning. Yeah. I was
looking at Matt Kitchuck's over on shotsthat night. What a great night for
that to have seven periods worth.And then the Nuggets. I actually had
the Lakers plus five that night ona parlay, monstrous parlay and plus five
(03:22):
and a half. Lakers lost byfive, so it hit. But that
was boring. I don't know whyI even mentioned that. Let's get into
some hockey conversation meanwhile in Toronto.Let's start with Kyle Dubis. Yeah,
I mean, it's very interesting theway this is all unfolding. It wasn't
just your normal run of the mill. Hey, we're moving on from this
GM. See you next year witha different guy, and we'll see how
(03:42):
everything goes. It all played outvery interestingly, right, starting with Monday's
press conference with Kyle Dubis talking abouthow tough it has been on his family,
really making it sound like he didn'teven want to do the GM of
the Toronto Maple Leaves job anymore.I think a lot of that has to
do with being in the Toronto market, right. I'm sure his kids,
his kids are in school and otherkids are chirping him about how terrible his
(04:05):
dad is a GM, or youknow, whatever messages they might have so,
um, Yeah, I guess yourinitial reaction to the Kyle Dubis debacle
and how it's all unfolding. Yeah, I mean, jeez, it's real
rough being the guy in charge ofthe Toronto maple Leaf. I feel terrible
for you. But the situation isalmost too Toronto ask to be real.
(04:29):
It feels fake like apparently they offeredToronto and Brendan Shanahan offered Kyle Dubiss an
extension following the playoff exit, whichI do think he's earned. You know,
there's a lot of pressure on gettingout of the first round. They
did that. You know, they'reobviously some weaknesses, some deficiencies. Your
best players dry up, they're gone, they're not performing. We've seen what
(04:54):
Florida can do. Florida deserves alot of credit for their defeat over Toronto.
But I mean they go to thedistance, right, they're in there.
But they offer Kyle Dubis an extension. There's kind of a negotiation going
on. Brendan Shanahan and Dubis allegedlytalk. Dubis wants to have a press
(05:15):
conference, Shanahan doesn't want to doit. Dubis goes about it anyway,
says all these things. Obviously askedabout, you know, job security and
if you would see himself GMing anywhereelse, which puts him in a tough
spot, right, like, Ihaven't been fired, I'm up for renewal.
You're asking me if i'd go anywhereelse. So I think some of
that, like this season's been toughand blah blah blah blah blah comes out
(05:40):
of that kind of conversation. Butthen Brendan Shanahan doesn't really feel good about
the way that that press conference went. Apparently Dubis then countered with a significant
raise in a counter rover and BrendanShan's like, Nah, you're done,
you're out, You're fired. Andit's a weird series of events, like
you know, partly leaving the avalanchekind of weird or some fence writing.
(06:02):
Right, it sounded like one momentKyle Dubis is on board, one moment
he's rethinking it, another moment hewants to be the GM next year.
Another moment he's thinking about going elsewhere. Yeah, and so here we are
in this weird situation where the TorontoMaple Leafs, who are still very good
but are going to have a lotof roster turnover their GM's gone, you
know, the the wunderkind prodigy GMout and now Sheldon Keif is just here,
(06:30):
like, am I still the coach? Am I not the coach?
I mean the jobs are open.Everybody else in the organization essentially getting fired
right from the Marley's up to JasonSpezza, who resigned. It sounded like,
yeah, he was special assistant tothe GM. So you know,
like weird weirdness going on. Andthen Sheldon Keif, like the Rangers,
they're looking for a coach because theyabruptly fired their coach for whatever reason with
(06:55):
foolishness, and Keif is just like, so I have to wait until you
hire a new GM, and thenthey're gonna he'll decide whether I stay or
go. It's just weird all around. And like the options out there in
terms of what Brendan Shanahan mentioned inhaving they want a GM that's had GM
experience, I mean, there's nota lot of options just recycling right,
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well, unless you're poaching a guy, you know, like obviously it's not
gonna be Chris McFarland now, buttwo years ago he probably would have been
getting interviewed for the position right likewe heard he was getting interviewed in Seattle.
We heard he was up for somepositions that were open. How committed
do you feel the Avalanche are tomake Farland? I mean, we remember
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years back, what I want tosay, eight years ago now, when
the Avalanche were actually talking to KyleDubis when he was still an AGM with
Toronto and they were maybe discussing thepossible I worked for the team when that
happened, and that was a weirdone to be around, because like,
as far as I knew, Ididn't know anything happened, and then all
this news came out and it's likewhy, Like what's the benefit, what's
(08:01):
the consideration? What are you tryingto do? Like what's the angle there?
I don't know, I know.I mean Chris McFarland, you know,
succeeding Joe Sack as the GM isthe least surprising career trajectory there.
Right, either they were going tolose him or they needed to promote him,
and so they did. I thinkhe's done a good job as assistant
(08:24):
GM. I think he did it. He's done a good job as GM.
Obviously this Landiscock situation, time willtell historically on that, but it's
not like Joe Sakic was perfect either, you know, never forget this Sean
Matthias Michael Bodker trade where the Avalanchewe're not we're not in a buying position
at the trade deadline, and theybought in and it hurt the team even
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more. Like there have been somemoves where you're like, ah, I
don't know if bringing Carl Soderberg andPatrick Nemoth back was the right decision to
make, But here we are,well, And I look at Kyle dubis
in the way he was reacting duringthe playoff loss, right, I mean
we talked about it already last week, how the camera would cut to him
and he's up there freaking out right, just losing his absolute mind. And
(09:09):
you look a little bit deeper intothat, and you're like, there's more
that this guy's cheering for than justsimply the success of this team. It
seemed like he was fighting for hisjob, right, And whether that is
an actual internal story or just becamean external story, we don't know.
Not only do I see him fightingfor his job in that behavior, but
I also see him just being overlybought in, right, He's letting the
(09:33):
emotions really get to him. Ofthis game and really kind of you can
tell this is a job he takeshome with him. Right, we go
back to where where he said itwas really hard on his family. This
is why because he didn't he didn'tlet the GM job rest at the arena.
When we've seen shots that GM's cheeringin the press box, and the
other night we saw a shot aftermac Chuck scores that called you brought that
(09:56):
last week? Yeah, but Imean and more recently this game, we
see him reacting like cheering, excitedthat they won. I get that aspect
of it, but how many timesdo you see a GM yelling at fans
in the crowd or exactly like swearingand cursing so visibly upset at a miss
shot or whatever it is. Youknow, like there's it's I think it's
(10:18):
okay to be excited when the teamwins, but also, yeah, I
gotta kind of contain it when thingsgo the wrong way. You're not cussing.
It refs from the from up inthe press box, right, And
we have the fortune of a lotof times after Avalanche games riding the elevators
down with some of the coaches orsome of the front office of either the
Avalanche or the visiting team. AfterGame seven against the Seattle Kraken, I
(10:41):
was hanging out with Joe Sakick.Not hanging out, but look at this
guy riding the elevator down with JoeSakic and he only had one thing to
say. At least it was anentertaining game. You could tell he didn't
have that emotional pressure on him thatthat Kyle Dubis wears he didn't have that
ride or die by the sess ofthis team. I definitely think different circumstances
(11:01):
to them, But there seemed tobe a general level of acceptance in Avalanche
management from Bednar and his staff upwardthat getting out of the first round was
going to be potentially possible, butgetting further than that unlikely. Right,
So them losing, well, we'renot surprised by this. I just think
(11:22):
you're seeing the difference between a guywho's been around the NHL for what thirty
plus years now and a guy who'sbeen around the NHL for less than a
decade. Yeah. So I thinkthere's the Toronto job we know is a
huge job. You already brought itup. How have you feel bad for
the people who have that position?And for a guy who doesn't really know
(11:43):
how to manage the emotional side ofthe NHL, whether it's as a GM
or as a player, that's areally taxing job, both on your mental
well being and obviously the family's wellbeing. So I understand Kyle Dubiss wanting
to walk away, not jumping atmaybe a lower offer, and saying,
if I'm gonna do this job again, here's my number, you guys,
(12:05):
let me know. Here's the crazything I think about sports, right,
there's a there's a pressure of success. Unlike most jobs, maybe super competitive
sales jobs are similar, where sustainedsuccess only accounts for so much of you
maintaining your position or getting a promotionor a raise. Right, Like you
(12:26):
could you could go to the EasternConference Final, Western Conference final five times,
five years in a row. Right, But if you can't get past
that, you're probably in jeopardy.You're not gonna get a promotion, you're
not gonna get a raise, youmight get fired, right, even though
that accomplishment is exceptional. Right,So I don't I get the pressure.
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Dubius is under ear and it's beenwhatever, however many years since Toronto's won
a Stanley Cup. I mean,it's been a long time since any team
in Canada's won the Stanley Cup.But his team is good assistently, it's
just the pieces that they've needed inthe postseason haven't really come together yet.
And you still have a pretty youngcore in Mitch Marner and Austin Matthews.
And you have some considerations, WillieNilander, you have some considerations to make,
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you know, in terms of thecomposure complexion of this team moving forward.
But I mean it's tough to lookat a team that has had a
certain level of success repeatedly under thecoach and management and be like, that's
not acceptable enough. I mean,you saw it in New York too,
(13:33):
right, they let go of theircoach. It's funny when you see that.
One's a little different though, becauseapparently there is some conflict going on
behind the scenes after a game ortwo and that he's out, you know.
But I mean, now, Iwon you wonder about Gerard Gallant because
he has been canned numerous times now. It's maybe he's the guy that wears
(13:58):
on players, you know, he'skind of that, like I don't know,
Ken Hitchcock, Terrell Sutter like kindof grinding grading coach potentially, but
he gets results. So it's kindof like, what are you doing and
you just fired David quinn glock coachyour team for two years, Like now
you've got this situation where these guysare going through like the Edmonton Oilers level
(14:18):
of Buffalo Sabers level of coaches rotatingthrough yep, yep. So I guess
we'll see how this continues to unfoldbecause we're right in the middle of it.
And we've just to say, we'veseen with the Avs being patient with
Jared Bednar, the team losing inthe second round over and over again his
first year where you know, notnot really his fault, the team couldn't
perform, finished very very last inthe league. Yeah, and you know
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there will be more dominoes and moreripple effects around the league from whatever happens
and whatever decisions are made when whereverKyle Dubis goes, if he even goes
anywhere. But that'll do it forthe first portion of our show here.
We'll get back and get into thetwo playoff series, and then of course
we'll get into Arizona later in theshow. So thanks for hanging out with
us here. The Hockey Show,not the Nuggets Show. We'll be right
back to the lonely confusion looking formand all the wrong places. No five
(15:07):
girls, just ugly faces. Rightnow, it's sixteen minutes past the big
hour? Is head that right,mister scream great good stow. I think
people are getting really cranky while youcan't welcome back. It's the Hockey Show,
(15:35):
j Jurrez. Ryan Boulding of NHLdot Com, I forgot to bring
us hidden with that. You're soobsessed with the Nuggets. I was so
Yeah. Big Game two, Yeah, Big Game two two three, Big
Game three tonight in LA. Notonly are they playing the Lakers, but
(15:56):
they're also playing the refs. Ihave. I have to say, I've
seen a lot of smack talking aboutLebron James on social media lately, and
I'm like, that guy lives rentfree with so many people's heads here in
Denver. Like I get it's abig deal for the Nuggets, but like,
I don't know, sometimes I'm wonderingif we're crossing crossing boundaries here into
(16:19):
something a little more nefarious than justbrooding against him. Yeah, I mean
my timeline is pretty much hockey andif it's not hockey, it's it's a
little bit of Spanish soccer and maybesome friends I know, Right, so
I miss a lot of the conversationaround the NBA, but I just see
these people firing their shots, right. And apparently the La Lakers fans are
(16:41):
just crawling under the Nuggets fans skinright now because of all the complaining and
you know, the altitude. Excuses. Excuses is what you're hearing more about
Canadian wildfire smoke. That's just ruiningmy life mine too. I hate it,
whole stuff a stuff. I wastold there was fog yesterday, and
I got up and I was outsideand I was like, it does look
(17:03):
like fog. And then somebody mentionedsmoke, and I'm like, now that
makes a lot more sense this is. And then you like you could smell
like today, I could actually smellit and kind of taste it. You're
like, oh, it's gonna bea nice, ramy, humid weather out
there. You go out there,take a deep breath, just smoking pine
trees. Um, let's get intothe conference finals. Ryan, I'm a
(17:26):
little bit jealous, a little bitof fomo because if you remember last year,
the Conference finals is really where thingsgot amped up where the NHL came
in, they took over and thingsstarted feeling real. You're like, all
right, this is this is someserious stuff here. So yeah, I
know I was. I was lookingactually at the meet the NHL media assignments
for both conference finals, and Inoticed was that Sam Gilbert was assigned to
(17:48):
the Eastern Conference finals this year insteadof the West. And I couldn't help
but wonder if it was because ofRiff yelling at him that he was just
like, I don't want to Idon't want to be back here. Had
ever put me out on the East. But yeah, you know, you're
right, the everything raps up alittle bit. The NHL shows up,
was kind of taken over. Nowthis is this is our show, right,
(18:10):
So let's start with the Western Conferencesince that's closest to home and the
most recent. Right, we sawa game last night went to overtime,
didn't quite go four overtimes, onlywent about a minute and a half.
There. I was strapping in formaybe a late night and it ended rather
quickly off an ugly goal from JakeOttinger. But what you saw in that
game one, I think was alittle bit eyebrow raising to me at the
beginning, right that first period wasabsolutely controlled by Vegas. Oh man,
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yeah, they I mean they didan interview with Pete Pete de Boer and
and he was just like, wewent to game seven and we were worried
we wouldn't start well, and wedidn't. And then he was like,
we we found our game. Wegot to it. But yeah, one
point. Shots were like twelve toone. I think around the eight minute
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mark of the game, Dallas hadone shot. You're just like, wow,
it made me feel like I waswatching an Avalanche game though, because
they do this kind of thing allthe time. Right there, they're controlling
the first period. Avalanche are Vegasin this metaphor here, and then they
get goalie. The goalie just thisshuts the door, and then suddenly the
opposition gets some momentum, maybe evenget a goal. And that's what you
(19:17):
saw. Dallas got on the boardfirst, and you're like, all right,
maybe Jake Odinger got them out ofthis early. Weathered the storm,
weathered the storm, but no,Vegas is just an all around good team.
I'm on board. You've been tellingme this whole playoffs. You even
came into the playoffs saying this wasthe most dangerous team in the West.
Vegas is legit. I'm on board. You're right, this is gonna be
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a great series, it seems,you know. I feel like for all
of the talk about Vegas since they'veentered the league, and you know,
kind of like the disappointment they hadlast year, this year, I felt
like they really just flew under theradar in the West. You know,
there was so much talk about howthe West didn't stack up to the East.
Right, Boston was such a wagon. The West was why I'd open
(20:00):
who was gonna make it? ButVegas was just kind of hanging around,
you know, and they were justup there. I think some of the
Vegas avalanche hatred was kind of goneafter the Avs won the Stanley Cup.
You know, it didn't have thesame kind of connotations. They came here
kind of early in the year,I think, and it wasn't really as
much of a game as we thoughtit was going to be. And so
(20:21):
to me, they just floated undermy radar. And I feel like most
people in the West, they werekind of under the radar. But then
you're you start taking a closer look, and you're like, wait, who's
the goalie, Like, what whatis happening? Well, it all makes
sense. I remember sitting in thisvery chair early on in the year and
I think we were discussing Logan Thompsonand how he had a good start to
(20:41):
the season, and we're like,yeah, of course, and Bruce Cassidy's
system, that's always going to happen. And so it's no surprise that five
goalies later, they're still hanging inthere and the goalies still playing. I
don't want to call him exceptional,but beyond adequate when there's no you know,
discredit to a Hill or Laurent BROUSSIuh not Laurent Lass. I think
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they're good goalies. I do.You have to be a good goalie to
do what they've done. You haveto be a good goalie to succeed at
the NHL level, right, Imean, even a mediocre NHL goalie is
still a good goalie. There's apile of really good HL goalies out there
that could easily hang in the NHLjust having been given a shot. Yeah,
so I want to give those guyscredit. But when you're looking kind
(21:32):
of like you said, you're lookingat how far down the depth chart.
They've gone to get wins out ofgoaltenders, to get healthy goaltending. It's
incredible. And that's that's where acouple weeks ago I was like, doubt.
Golden Knights are my team Vegas.That's the word they're They're the team
that I think can go all theway because look at what they're doing,
(21:52):
like they're just playing all around exceptionallywell hockey. Well let's look back to
when they were still in new teamright and they came into the league and
made it all the way to theStanley Cup Final. Then let's look at
the Seattle Cracking from this year andwhat have we said about them? Oh,
they just play gritty. They knowthey have that physical edge to them.
I don't think Vegas ever lost thatright because they were composed of the
(22:15):
same way that the same I guessformat that Seattle Cracking were of a bunch
of third and fourth maybe a coupleof second liners, but just gritty,
hard working effort guys. They haven'tlost that identity. You add a little
bit of skill like a guy likeJack Eichel, even throwing some leadership like
Mark Stone, they have a perfectrecipe and that's what I've been saying about
Dallas too, Right, they playa complete game. That's why this is
(22:37):
such a good matchup because, inmy opinion, they're playing they're checking all
the boxes both teams, the physicalside of the game, the defensive structure,
they both have offensive weapons. Thegoaltending is where everybody is kind of
questioning. Okay, maybe i'm leaningDallas here, but Game one proved that
that's that's basically gonna be a washthroughout the rest of the series. This
is just gonna be a simple whowins, maybe even in seven, right,
(23:02):
I don't think he's yeah, youcan't really say it's a coin flip
series. You can't really say oneteam is edging out the other in any
category. Well, that's why Ifeel like it was a bit of a
feeling out game. It didn't have. I mean, yes, Vegas started
off exceptionally well and was really takingit to Dallas. I didn't feel like
Ottinger, you know, was undersiege as much as making the safety should
(23:23):
be making Dallas scores first. Butthe game is tight, right, There
was never more than a one goallead, like a toyker the whole time.
It's just a close game. Dallas. I saw the stat on television.
I didn't know this zero comeback winsin the postseason this year, and
they did not win a game back, but they did come back, and
(23:45):
it actually got me thinking, like, Okay, well, how many times
had they tied the game, youknow, and then surrendered like they're they're
coming back, They're just not gettingall the way. But what's weird is
they've lost every game one in overtimethis postseason, so it's it's almost it's
like we're not in a series untilwe're down one nothing and now we're ready
to get going and playing. Ipersonally think that both of these teams are
(24:10):
exceptional. I think that Dallas hasthe edge and net, but Vegas has
the edge in depth, and we'llsee where that falls as this series goes
on. But I didn't like,I understand what Oinger's doing at the end
of the game. I didn't likehow it unfolded for him, you know,
especially because the puck comes out frontin front from behind the net.
(24:33):
He had come out hard to challengethe initial play, so he's pretty far
at the top of his crease.It was a good play from Vegas,
though, that backdoor of chance waswide open, and he just put it
wide. It was unfortunate for Otingerbecause the puck went under his leg pad
and if he hadn't spun, it'sa save on we go right, yep.
But I'm thankful that we didn't gointo four overtimes. Overall, it's
(25:00):
interesting to see how Jamie Benn hasperformed. You know, got a big
goal at the end of the gameto tie it up for the team.
You know, everybody's looking at guyslike Jason Robertson, you know, kind
of the younger core rupe hints unreal, let's posted ye unreal? Whyatt Johnson?
Great story, Like I thought he'dbe the guy to win it for
him. It's it's a series thatis exciting, I will say, though,
(25:22):
you know they're Cao mccarr there inDallas. Mero high skinning. I
don't feel like he's quite had theplayoff impact that he should be having,
at least from a point production standpoint, which is really his strength. So
it could be because he took aslapshot to the face. Sure, sure,
but I think if Dallas is goingto succeed and come out of this
series on top, they need Merohigh skinning well now more than ever in
(25:44):
the NHL, you need everyone onthe same page, firing on all cylinders,
top to bottom in the lineup.The Apps don't win the Stanley Cup
last year, I don't think,at least not as effectively without an insane
effort from the fourth line with DarrenHell and Andrew Cogliano Logan O'Connor. I
mean, those guys killed it,and you were like it was impressive all
(26:08):
the time. You're like, wow, the speed, the physicality out of
these guys, older guys in thelineup, just going balls to the wall.
You need depth, and that's Seattle. I'll played the Avalanche in the
depth department. The Avs their depthwas, you know, walking on stilts
there at the end. So we'veseen in this playoffs so far that matter,
(26:30):
and it matters when your top guyscan't score, but your depth guys
can contribute, right, or yourdepth guys can have a couple of shifts
that get the momentum to the topguys to get them to score. Whatever
it is Toronto, I mean theirtop guys weren't scoring, right Boston,
I mean it comes all the waydown to Game seven, but the bottom
(26:52):
guys aren't really doing much. You'redepending on poster knock too much. Marshawn's
not really showing up. Like there'ssome issues there, some goalie confidence issues,
some injuries, whatever it is.I mean, we see it throughout
the playoffs. That's where this thisdepth matters. Indeed. Indeed, But
like I said, I still seethat one going seven, and that's just
an entertaining matchup all around, fromthe coaching battle, to the goalie battle
(27:15):
to everything. Everything check checks allmy boxes in that series. So I'm
looking forward to the to the waythe rest of that one plays out.
And I appreciate the style of gamethat both teams play. It's tight,
it's crisp, it's offensive oriented,it's it's puck possession oriented, which we'll
get in the next series. I'mnot enjoying as much. All Right,
Well, we'll break the Panthers andHurricanes down next stick around through the break.
(27:38):
Right here on my high Sports,this is the Hockey Show, JJ
Ryan, Coach Bailey behind the glass. Let's go Nuggets. I don't do
(27:59):
the most lot, I'm gonna makeit soas because we still laugh. What
go Colorado, shoot a shot?Welcome back the Hockey Show, Colorado biggest
best live radio. You watch alot of Instagram reels or what. No,
(28:21):
normally you're not familiar with any hiphop music. I mean, but
you were somehow familiar with this.No, he just did that, and
I wanted to try it. Ilike mimicking. All Right, it's a
special Nuggets edition of The Hockey Show. But we're done talking the Nuggets.
Let's get into the Eastern Conference FinalPanthers versus the Hurricanes. Of course,
(28:45):
the Panthers I think of the sweetheartof this playoff year. But I think
it's fun how you look at theDallas in Vegas series and you've got the
former coach of the Vegas Golden Knights, right, you got the connection there.
And then you look at the EasternConference and you've got Rob Brendermore versus
Paul Maurice, who Rob Brendamore usedto play for Paul Maurice back in the
(29:07):
day, back when the Carolina Hurricaneswon their Stanley Cup. So just funny
the connections that are on both sidesof the conference finals here. Yeah,
and I actually saw something that saidfrom Jack han he is he does a
hockey tactics book and he has anewsletter. I started following him on Twitter.
(29:27):
I follow his newsletter on the freelevel. So he does videos and
do you have to pay for those? So I don't see the videos,
but he'll break down some things andhe's pretty quick about some of the things
happening in the postseason, which isawesome. I think one of the I
think it was him that mentioned itlooks like Florida adopted some of what Carolina's
up tempo game is when they kindof retooled this year, and it maybe
(29:51):
gave them a slow start to theseason, but it's it's interesting because they're
using some of what Carolina does tobe successful. And now you've got the
two teams meeting each other. Ifind that very interesting. A taste of
your own medicine almost right, verypossessive, very dump and chase. Right.
And that's what we talked about lastweek about how aggressive and how i'd
(30:11):
say entertaining the Panthers are to watchon the foe check and when they're behind
the net in their offensive zone,they are relentless. But you could say
the same thing for the Carolina Hurricane. It's funny. I think about this
a lot as it applies also toBeer league hockey in that the dump and
chase has been a style of hockeyfor my entire life longer than that,
(30:33):
right, But it only works ifyou're willing to work for it. Yeah,
and it kills me that. InBeer league hockey, there's just a
level of like, all dump,no chase. Well, we just want
to be fancy finesse possession players,right, we want the puck on our
stick all the time. Not mebecause I have no hands whatsoever. But
generally the concept is right, butnobody is that. Generally, nobody is
(30:56):
that talented for sustained finesse zone entryhigh. So there's an element of necessary
dump and chase, but like nobodyhas the fitness level or does the desire
to work hard enough to be successfulthere. So usually you jump the pucket
and somebody's just like ah, man, Well, and you can't hit in
men's league, right, And that'sthat's just another element that's a staple of
(31:18):
a four check. And especially withthe Rob Bendimore. I mean you look
at his style, right, andyou think of the Carolina Hurricanes. He's
the face, right, it's notany of their players, really, I
mean it could be stetchn Cob,but I don't. I think when you're
first hearing Carolina Hurricanes, the firstname that pops up in your head is
Brend Moore. And that's his style, right, and that's his message.
You go in hard, you goin physical, and you know he has
(31:41):
this intimidating presence. I think he'slike a combination of Jared Bednar and then
throwing some Patrick wa who's gonna,you know, mean muggy if you do
the wrong play. Well, sokind of where I was going was,
yeah, they're a hard working team. You just jumped right in the middle
and killed all the momentum. Theresyou pause, and I thought that was
they are. They are a hardworking team. But where I mentioned in
(32:01):
the last segment that I'm not enjoyingthis series as much and I would love
to hear from Jack Hunter or anyoneabout why this is the case. But
it seems like Carolina's breakout strategy isdump the guys, dump the puck out
of the zone to two wingers whoare deep like at the other blue line,
pushing Florida's d back. But it'sto me, it's I'm twenty five
(32:25):
percent maybe successfully a puck on yourteammates stick right. Most of the time
it's a touch into the zone anda retrieval. But Florida's not giving an
inch there, so I don't I'mtrying to think tactically what the situation is.
What are you trying to do right? Are you trying to catch a
mismatch with Florida's d where maybe youhave a two on one or more when
(32:45):
you're supporting, Like, I don'tthink we saw in Game one that be
successful. Carolina didn't score five onfive, they scored two power play goals,
and for the majority of the gameand all of overtime, they were
throwing the puck away. So itwasn't really a surprise to me. At
(33:06):
the end of the game, we'refour overtimes in, there's thirteen seconds left,
we're about to go to fifth overtime. Part of you is like,
shoot me in the face. It'smidnight. I want to go to bed,
And the other part of you islike, I want to see nine
more, nine more overtime periods.But it was no surprise. Brent burn
sends the no luck puck up theboards, his teammate tries to hammer it
up. I don't know if ithits a ref but was that Bennett recovers
(33:28):
it, shoots it to Kachuck,he goes in, scores came over.
It's that play. I just don'tunderstand the strategy there. And when you're
watching Vegas and Dallas, like lightchips up the boards around guys right on
your teammates, stick at your blueline, just inside, just outside of
your blue line for possession in theneutral zone, and off you go.
(33:50):
Now, the thing that I dothink is fascinating is when Carolina has a
controlled breakout of their zone and theydo the weave. Did you see any
highlights of the weave? They havelike three guys on one side, two
guys on the other side, cometogether and weave and then split out.
It's it's fascinating to watch. ButI don't know what Carolina's strategy is there
against Florida. What they're seeing thatFlorida does that that's the strategy because Florida
(34:15):
didn't give an inch. And justto tie it back to Jack Han,
he broke down the game winning goaland he's like, this is something Florida's
done one hundred times this season.Their four check where the d pushes in
you've got the wing outside, you'vegot two forwards coming into pinch on the
pockets. It's textbook what they've doneall season to force a turnover. And
(34:35):
if you go back and watch,Eckblad is the defenseman that sends the puck
into Carolina's zone and it's a softdump into the corner that forces exactly what
they want to have happen. Andbecause Carolina is playing that that weird just
abandoned the puck breakout style, itresults in the goal. And even more
so, I don't know why BrentBurns just didn't skate around the net.
(34:58):
You got thirteen seconds left. Realizeit's four overtimes. You're tired, you're
not thinking necessarily at full capacity.But I'm a huge fan of just eating
the puck with ten fifteen seconds left. Don't give up any opportunity, don't
leave anything to chance. So thatbeing said, I mean it sounds like
you're very much on board the FloridaPanthers right now, right and going into
(35:20):
the series, would you have saidthe same. And now that they're up
one nothing, do you feel likeFlorida's in control? As the eighth seed
of this Eastern Conference Final, I'mhappy for Paul Maurice. I think he's
an exceptional coach. I've enjoyed myinteractions with him this season, my two
interactions with him this season. Iam not I'm rooting for Carolina. I
want to see them do good things. I think every year we've been like,
(35:44):
this is the year Carolina as thewagon. They're gonna go kind of
peters out. I don't think Florida. I think Florida is a foe egg
coming into this. Yeah, ofcourse they are looking more dominant, but
now we're at a point where anythinghappens like it doesn't matter, or when
you're entering the first round, it'slike, Okay, we've got to get
through this team and then maybe thisteam. You know. Now it's anybody's
(36:07):
Series for the taking, anybody's StanleyCup for the taking. It's a war
of attrition. But what Florida doesis they play frustratingly, stifling, defensively,
like they clogg the lanes in thezone, they clogged the house.
There's you're not really seeing. Imean we saw a couple, we saw
breakaway opportunity and overtime and those kindof things. I think they're pretty few
(36:29):
and far between like Grade A scoringchances in the house, you know,
mismatches, odd Man rushes, youdon't see that they're very committed well,
and both teams are playing in thatsame style, right. That's why I
think the four overtimes was no surprisebecause neither of them are giving anything to
the to the opponents. So andas much as I love overtime situations like
(36:52):
that, the level of hockey degradesmassively. Sure, but guys are tired
and nobody's taking chances, right,Like at some point you're like, Okay,
there needs to be a risk rewardhere as opposed to just stalemating throughout
well, and I think the goaltendersis a conversation we can have next because
they were amazing during that over time. They should be getting tired as well,
(37:14):
They should be letting some holes.And you saw both goaltenders playing amazingly.
And I think going into this seriesmy thought was, Okay, whoever
wins this is gonna have their goaltenderplaying the least bad, not the playing
the best, right, because Ivery much underestimated both goaltenders, but in
Game one they were both fantastic.When all the talk we've done about the
Western Conference Final and the goaltending JakeOttenerby and the best goalie remaining. What
(37:37):
Bob Rovsky has done in this postseasonis amazing. He's rewriting the book on
his legacy of being a goalie thatcan't perform in the high stress playoff Olympic
situations. Right, We've seen himnot have success in these situations before.
This is the goalie I think everyonealways thought he would be. I think
(37:59):
a lot of that comes back tothat, that really stifling way they play
in their own zone. Florida doeslike it. I mean when I talk
about the lack of urgency from Torontoin that their matchup, I mean it
just there was no opportunity. Andwatching this Carolina game, so many shots
are blocked, tipped, redirected.You know, there's guys are almost never
(38:20):
getting a clean shot off. Andthat's a lot of credit to Florida,
right, And then it feels like, you know, maybe some of this
is just I don't know, notconfidence in the goalie. Maybe it's thinking
the ice is tilting. But itfeels like when a team is shooting on
the Panthers, it's a really lowquality puck that gets to pop Rovsky generally
(38:42):
right, it's always deflected, it'sthrough traffic, it's it's it's locked,
it's slowed down, you know,to a degree. It's not like a
clean shot that's tipped cleanly. It'skind of what I'm getting at. It
feels like Florida does a very goodjob of having more dangerous chances when they're
shooting, you know, and that'sI think something that's brought them success.
And on the other hand, Ithought Freddy Anderson did more work in the
(39:07):
overtimes my own dangerous shots and lookedincredible. If I'm not mistaken, heading
into the overtimes, Florida would significantlyoutshot. By the end of the game,
and the end of the four overtimesit was pretty even. I was
looking at a point where I waslike, we're not far away from Carolina
doubling up Florida on shots. Andas overtime went on, you were just
(39:29):
watching the Florida shot count tick upand Carolina has kind of stayed the same,
you know. At one point Ithink it finished around like sixty two
to fifty two something in there.But like I said, at one point,
it was almost doubled up on shots. It's what Florida's doing is it's
frustrating hockey. It's not like trapera hockey, but it limits a lot
(39:50):
of exciting chances and exciting hockey intheir zone. I started the show during
the Mountaine Money. You're talking aboutthe mindset of the team and Rob Brendamore
and how he seemed pretty discouraged afteran overtime loss like that. So that
being said, game two tonight,do you think Carolina bounces back mentally or
are they in a bit of ahole in Florida, maybe puts their foot
on their throat and heads back toFlorida to nothing. I don't think any
(40:14):
team at this point is like,oh no, here we go again,
or oh no, we're down right. Like I said, Dallas par for
the course losing Game one in overtimethis postseason. I mean, Carolina,
they've been kind of through the washof the postseason multiple times now, so
I don't think there's any surprise there. They've got veteran guys, they get
(40:35):
guys like to votre vining back,you know who, they didn't think they
were going to have. You getsome boosts there. Probably take him a
little bit to start having an impact. But I mean you mentioned Rob Brendimore
being a work hard guy, aworkout guy, the phase of the franchise.
Dude is yoked, he's ripped,he's a bit came out and talked
to the media yesterday at the mediaavailability, and he's like, first thing
(40:57):
I did was got up and workedout this morning, and the rest of
the day follows from there. Right, his philosophy and it's no surprise,
work hard, get the results right. We've even heard guys on the Avalanche
talk about puck luck and you haveto earn puck luck, right. Hard
work earns you good bounces. That'sthe ethos of this Carolina team. So
(41:19):
I don't think they're worried, butyou know, you don't want I think
success for Florida is coming out ofCarolina one and one, and at this
point, success for Carolina is comingleaving home one and one, right,
it's building on these little successes onthe chessboard to the Stanley Cup Final.
(41:42):
So I don't think any team isnecessarily in danger, but Florida feels like
they're in the driver's seat. Yep, we'll see how tonight goes. Saturday
Night action always I feel like hasa little bit of extra energy in the
building when it's a Saturday night game, no matter what building it is.
So looking forward to that one.Of course, that one's going to be
going at six o'clock. Null getsstarted at six thirty, so make sure
you've got two screens ready so youdon't miss any of the action on either
(42:05):
game. And I think I'm excitedfor both of these these series. I
think now that we've got the feelingout game out of the way, I
think they're going to open up alittle bit, right But I mean,
at this time of year, thisposition every mistake and typically when the home
game loses game one, they comeinto game two and really makes some noise.
So you know, all all oursports book listeners out there, maybe
(42:27):
think about that for tonight. Butwe'll be right back. One final segment
for you before we head out forthe weekend. And h yeah, so
thanks for hanging out with us thisfar. JJJ is Ryan Bowling, vinhil
dot Com and Coach Bailey behind theglasses is the Hockey Show. Will be
all right back play hockey and Iforty Kate because it is the two most
(43:04):
fun things in cold weather. Welcomeback, Colorado s picks the best live
hockey radio show. This is theHockey Show. It's the mixed bag escape
portion. We did not get todiscuss the Arizona Coyotes situation in the first
segment like we had planned. KyleDubis just took over, much like the
(43:25):
national media. It took all ofour attention. Right, Sometimes you're like,
who cares about Kyle Dubis as muchas yesterday as I'm watching NHL Network
getting ready for Game one of Dallasin Vegas, and they won't stop talking
about Kyle Dubis. But it affectsthe hockey world, it affects the Hockey
show. So let's get into Arizona. We all know what happened. The
vote for a new building did notpass. Why does the NHL want to
(43:51):
keep Arizona a thing? Right?It doesn't. I don't even know if
that's the question. Really, itdoesn't feel like it feels like that will
no longer be the case. Doyou really think the NHL will admit defeat
there and move the team after nextyear or do you think they're going to
spend the entirety of this next calendaryear trying to figure out how to keep
(44:13):
Arizona. In Arizona, I thinklanguage is important, and when you're in
the business of pr language is important. When you're in the business of writing,
language is important, right. Ithink that when Chris McFarland was talking
about Gabriel Landiskog's knee was asked aboutValarian Natushkin him saying I can't comment beyond
what has been said. Can't isthe operative word, and that is intrigued,
(44:37):
right, not won't can't. Ithink that of all the times that
there have been arena issues and ownershipissues and bankrupts, the issues with the
Coyotes, the NHL has iterated theirstance on keeping Arizona there very quickly.
(44:58):
That was not the case this timethis. I immediately tweeted, I'm stunned.
And somebody's like, why are youstunned, like all of these things,
blah blah blah, and I'm like, I'm stunned because this feels like
the beginning of the end of thedesert dogs. I don't know where they
go from here, you know,word on the street as maybe Salt Lake
City. I find that massively intriguingas a destination I had never considered.
(45:22):
Yeah, they have the capabilities.They're also bidding for the winner Olympics.
Makes sense again, Houston is obviouslyan easy one because the owner of the
Rockets has been pretty outspoken about it. I gets. I heard over the
week though, Jeff Marrick and ElliottFriedman discuss how Houston the NHL had a
(45:44):
conversation with Houston. Houston didn't seemto express quite the interest that the NHL
hoped. Yeah, I've seen alot of conversations about why give a city
a team at a relocation versus gettingthat expansion scrilla that everybody else is forking
over. That's another factor into this, I think. So eventually, you
(46:07):
know, things kind of spiral inthe league and the team come out and
say the Coyotes will be playing atMulat Arena next year. Right, and
they've got a deal in place withASU. So I'd be kind of surprised
if they try and avoid that whatever. But we've seen, you know,
potential ownership changes tossed out, We'veseen these different cities. You know,
could a team end up back inAtlanta. It's a possibility. Some guys,
(46:30):
Kevin Weeks among them, have beentalking about, right, Quebec city
always pops up in these situations.But it was stunning because it just finally
felt like where whatever else is thereto go here? And the way it
unfolded, you know, I thinkthere was a lot of confidence in this
being done early on when it wasproposed, And that's the other reason why
(46:53):
it was so stunning to me wasthat it seemed like a no brainer for
the city of tim It seemed likethey wanted it, seemed like perfect fit
for the team, and then allof a sudden, a resounding no there.
And you know, I mean,I've I've been to. I was
at the playoff game I don't evenremember now, twenty twelve ish, maybe
(47:16):
when Arizona knocked Nashville out of theplayoffs down there. I was at that
game with my dad. Wild atmospheredown there. It was so cool to
see all the support. Like Iknow, as much as people love to
dump on the Coyotes in Arizona andyou don't have any real fans and all
that stuff, they do have aloyal contingent and that's hard. And they're
(47:37):
hoping to expand their fan base inthe city into the Tempee market, right,
So it's it's tough because there arepotential fans there that you can't ask
for support yet because they haven't experiencedthe team well. And it's just tough
because the team's always been a joke. I mean the first round victory that
(47:57):
you're bringing up literally is the highlightof that entire organization's existence, right,
and the way they treat that,the way the rest of the league treats
that team as just the garbage dumpof the league, right. I mean
you look at the Dots who becausethe hostas that, you know, all
the contracts that they've swallowed just toyeah, Chris, just to relieve other
(48:20):
teams of their cap relief, andhave never put a competitive team on the
ice. I mean, and Imean never, there's it's it's it's they
were in the playoffs in the bubble, but that that's not you're looking at.
I think I've raised questions about youknow, they're sending out of talent
like Connor Garland, guys like that, you know, getting rid of talented
(48:40):
guys. I think they're doing therebuild the slow way. What fifteen years
worth? I mean, look atlook at teams like Edmonton. It seems
like every three years they get closeto being out of a rebuild and they
have to start a rebuild all overyou. They've had weird situations too,
like John Chika coming in as theGM, doing some weird things, trying
(49:02):
to set up like another job situationwith an NFL team getting fired, ownership
changes, Like obviously things haven't beengoing well. It sounds like an incompetent
organization to me. Yeah, butit's hard to say just that because there
have been so many changes at somany different levels. You know, like
it's some thing's happened, the ownerleaves, management leaves, whatever, a
(49:23):
new one comes in. Like they'rea lot of stumbles in that organization for
sure, through the years. Butdoes that improve in a different city,
I don't know. Part of theproblem is that this team has always been
at odds with the city of Glendaleand that building. And when they are
finally like, forget it, we'llfigure something else out. It seemed pretty
(49:46):
legitimate, right, And apparently alot of money was spent in opposition,
Apparently a lot of misinformation was putout in opposition, and essentially the city
of Tempe voted to keep a landfillinstead of having a multimillion dollar sport complex,
and you know, shopping facility andstuff. It's very baffling. Situation
(50:07):
also goes hand in hand with mymetaphor, right, the Coyotes are such
a garbage dumped at the city ofGlendale would rather have a garbage dump.
I mean, the joke writes itself, Wow, garbage. I feel for
the fans in Arizona. I feelfor the Coyotes fans. I feel for
the hockey fans. I feel forthe players too, but I feel for
(50:27):
the general hockey fans in that state. I mean, there are Avalanche fans
there that go see the Avalanche playfor cheap every time they're in town.
You know, there are fans,just like anywhere. There's transplant fans there
that now risk losing the NHL alltogether, and that's unfortunate. Even if
you're not a Coyotes fan, youcould still be a hockey fan going to
games down there and seeing your teamor seeing the NHL. A lot of
(50:52):
people down there too. It's ahuge city. It'd be unfortunate too.
I guess call it quits there,but I'd be all on board for Salt
Lake City and another their Mountain timezone team. When it's it seems ridiculous
to recall now because it's been solong, but there was a time here
in Denver where there was not anMLB team or an NHL team I remember.
(51:13):
I mean people here were fans ofthe Cardinals or the Cubs because you
could get WGN anywhere, the onlyteam we had in town to Denver.
Nugget. That'll do it for today'sshow, Today's Nuggets edition of the show.
Don't forget to watch both games tonight, Danny, get me out of
here. Eastern Conference Game two,Denver Nuggets Western Conference Game three. What
(51:37):
a night we're about to have.Enjoy your Saturday people. Thanks for hanging
out with us here this week onthe Hockey Show. Next week Memorial Day,
we will be off, so we'llsee you in two weeks, probably
talking some Stanley Cup final at thatpoint, so potentially we're we're getting closer
to the end here. Um.Thanks everybody if you made it this far
in the show. Plus that prettylittle heart of yours peace Seila, So
(52:00):
you know you put that in yourpipe, you smoke it. I know
want to I have not hurt,I not I not want to take me
your home, take me closing time, Time for you to go out.
(52:30):
To the places you will be wrong,
No, it's our turn too.Sorry for the words, but with our
balls on the table. Remember,kids, this is not how you play
hockey. It's just hugging. Ilike it, see you God, you
know what. I love my screamto go back to Canada de la blur
(00:25):
game one yea name one, Hello, and welcome into the Nuggets Show,
Colorado's biggest and best live Nuggets radioshow, right here on my high Sports.
Don't make me go home early.Oh that wasn't it. No,
the Nuggets aren't the biggest thing intown right now. Oh I don't know.
Maybe according to my Twitter feed itis. I feel like I went
(00:49):
to the Nuggets game the other nightgame too, And anytime I go to
Nuggets game, that's all I cansay. Danny, hit me with it
one more time. Yeah, Ilove it, love it, love the
Nuggets fever. You know, along time coming for this town to have
some Nuggets success, and it's feelinggood right now. So I just wanted
to start the show with that goodYeah, we're moving on. I got
(01:10):
my Nuggets jersey on, Danny's gothis Nicola Yokis T shirt on, and
here you are with a Foo Fightershot. I know you guys are pumped.
I just don't care you missed thememo. You missed the memo.
I mean I would have just thrownit away. I think, do you
even have a Nuggets any apparel anything. I used to have a Nuggets T
shirt. I think I gave itaway. Well here you can. You
can wave this towel around in theair. Whoo Nuggets. All right,
(01:32):
let's get to some hockey. Ofcourse, lots to talk about Toronto at
a lot of mess going on upthere. Of course, you got the
Coyotes debacle and still have playoff hockeyto get into, so let's get into
all of it. Of Course,we're gonna start the show as we start
every show, Mattenee money. MyMattenee money pick today is gonna be the
Florida Panthers plus one and a half, so they don't even have to win
(01:53):
if they just lose by one thathits. And I like the way they're
playing, of course, you know, you like how they're in there in
the heads of the Carolina Hurricanes.Right. You heard Rob Brindamore after the
loss, the four overtime loss,saying how painful that was for his team.
When you hear the coach say thatmessage. I'm curious how it trickles
down to the players and kind ofhow they're feeling about it. So Florida
(02:15):
plus one and a half combined withthe Nuggets plus five and a half,
right, so they just have tolose by five or do better, and
that's a plus one ninety two parlay. I love it. I love it
so much that I'm putting money onit. I still am in betting jail,
and that's mostly laziness at this point. But I said it like three
(02:36):
times during that four overtime game.They kept throwing up the live odds and
I was like, Florida plus onehundred and overtime, it's literally a coin
toss, a two for one.It's a good bet to take. I
kept saying it's a good bet totake. But instead of getting on my
phone and taking the beat, Ijust kept saying it. And then they
won and it was like, shouldhave taken that bet. You could see
(02:57):
it, you can feel it coming. We'll get into it. But watching
the shot totals kind of even outslowly over the close of course, over
time, you're like, this thisgame is turning. Yeah. I was
looking at Matt Kitchuck's over on shotsthat night. What a great night for
that to have seven periods worth.And then the Nuggets. I actually had
the Lakers plus five that night ona parlay, monstrous parlay and plus five
(03:22):
and a half. Lakers lost byfive, so it hit. But that
was boring. I don't know whyI even mentioned that. Let's get into
some hockey conversation meanwhile in Toronto.Let's start with Kyle Dubis. Yeah,
I mean, it's very interesting theway this is all unfolding. It wasn't
just your normal run of the mill. Hey, we're moving on from this
GM. See you next year witha different guy, and we'll see how
(03:42):
everything goes. It all played outvery interestingly, right, starting with Monday's
press conference with Kyle Dubis talking abouthow tough it has been on his family,
really making it sound like he didn'teven want to do the GM of
the Toronto Maple Leaves job anymore.I think a lot of that has to
do with being in the Toronto market, right. I'm sure his kids,
his kids are in school and otherkids are chirping him about how terrible his
(04:05):
dad is a GM, or youknow, whatever messages they might have so,
um, Yeah, I guess yourinitial reaction to the Kyle Dubis debacle
and how it's all unfolding. Yeah, I mean, jeez, it's real
rough being the guy in charge ofthe Toronto maple Leaf. I feel terrible
for you. But the situation isalmost too Toronto ask to be real.
(04:29):
It feels fake like apparently they offeredToronto and Brendan Shanahan offered Kyle Dubiss an
extension following the playoff exit, whichI do think he's earned. You know,
there's a lot of pressure on gettingout of the first round. They
did that. You know, they'reobviously some weaknesses, some deficiencies. Your
best players dry up, they're gone, they're not performing. We've seen what
(04:54):
Florida can do. Florida deserves alot of credit for their defeat over Toronto.
But I mean they go to thedistance, right, they're in there.
But they offer Kyle Dubis an extension. There's kind of a negotiation going
on. Brendan Shanahan and Dubis allegedlytalk. Dubis wants to have a press
(05:15):
conference, Shanahan doesn't want to doit. Dubis goes about it anyway,
says all these things. Obviously askedabout, you know, job security and
if you would see himself GMing anywhereelse, which puts him in a tough
spot, right, like, Ihaven't been fired, I'm up for renewal.
You're asking me if i'd go anywhereelse. So I think some of
that, like this season's been toughand blah blah blah blah blah comes out
(05:40):
of that kind of conversation. Butthen Brendan Shanahan doesn't really feel good about
the way that that press conference went. Apparently Dubis then countered with a significant
raise in a counter rover and BrendanShan's like, Nah, you're done,
you're out, You're fired. Andit's a weird series of events, like
you know, partly leaving the avalanchekind of weird or some fence writing.
(06:02):
Right, it sounded like one momentKyle Dubis is on board, one moment
he's rethinking it, another moment hewants to be the GM next year.
Another moment he's thinking about going elsewhere. Yeah, and so here we are
in this weird situation where the TorontoMaple Leafs, who are still very good
but are going to have a lotof roster turnover their GM's gone, you
know, the the wunderkind prodigy GMout and now Sheldon Keif is just here,
(06:30):
like, am I still the coach? Am I not the coach?
I mean the jobs are open.Everybody else in the organization essentially getting fired
right from the Marley's up to JasonSpezza, who resigned. It sounded like,
yeah, he was special assistant tothe GM. So you know,
like weird weirdness going on. Andthen Sheldon Keif, like the Rangers,
they're looking for a coach because theyabruptly fired their coach for whatever reason with
(06:55):
foolishness, and Keif is just like, so I have to wait until you
hire a new GM, and thenthey're gonna he'll decide whether I stay or
go. It's just weird all around. And like the options out there in
terms of what Brendan Shanahan mentioned inhaving they want a GM that's had GM
experience, I mean, there's nota lot of options just recycling right,
(07:18):
well, unless you're poaching a guy, you know, like obviously it's not
gonna be Chris McFarland now, buttwo years ago he probably would have been
getting interviewed for the position right likewe heard he was getting interviewed in Seattle.
We heard he was up for somepositions that were open. How committed
do you feel the Avalanche are tomake Farland? I mean, we remember
(07:40):
years back, what I want tosay, eight years ago now, when
the Avalanche were actually talking to KyleDubis when he was still an AGM with
Toronto and they were maybe discussing thepossible I worked for the team when that
happened, and that was a weirdone to be around, because like,
as far as I knew, Ididn't know anything happened, and then all
this news came out and it's likewhy, Like what's the benefit, what's
(08:01):
the consideration? What are you tryingto do? Like what's the angle there?
I don't know, I know.I mean Chris McFarland, you know,
succeeding Joe Sack as the GM isthe least surprising career trajectory there.
Right, either they were going tolose him or they needed to promote him,
and so they did. I thinkhe's done a good job as assistant
(08:24):
GM. I think he did it. He's done a good job as GM.
Obviously this Landiscock situation, time willtell historically on that, but it's
not like Joe Sakic was perfect either, you know, never forget this Sean
Matthias Michael Bodker trade where the Avalanchewe're not we're not in a buying position
at the trade deadline, and theybought in and it hurt the team even
(08:45):
more. Like there have been somemoves where you're like, ah, I
don't know if bringing Carl Soderberg andPatrick Nemoth back was the right decision to
make, But here we are,well, And I look at Kyle dubis
in the way he was reacting duringthe playoff loss, right, I mean
we talked about it already last week, how the camera would cut to him
and he's up there freaking out right, just losing his absolute mind. And
(09:09):
you look a little bit deeper intothat, and you're like, there's more
that this guy's cheering for than justsimply the success of this team. It
seemed like he was fighting for hisjob, right, And whether that is
an actual internal story or just becamean external story, we don't know.
Not only do I see him fightingfor his job in that behavior, but
I also see him just being overlybought in, right, He's letting the
(09:33):
emotions really get to him. Ofthis game and really kind of you can
tell this is a job he takeshome with him. Right, we go
back to where where he said itwas really hard on his family. This
is why because he didn't he didn'tlet the GM job rest at the arena.
When we've seen shots that GM's cheeringin the press box, and the
other night we saw a shot aftermac Chuck scores that called you brought that
(09:56):
last week? Yeah, but Imean and more recently this game, we
see him reacting like cheering, excitedthat they won. I get that aspect
of it, but how many timesdo you see a GM yelling at fans
in the crowd or exactly like swearingand cursing so visibly upset at a miss
shot or whatever it is. Youknow, like there's it's I think it's
(10:18):
okay to be excited when the teamwins, but also, yeah, I
gotta kind of contain it when thingsgo the wrong way. You're not cussing.
It refs from the from up inthe press box, right, And
we have the fortune of a lotof times after Avalanche games riding the elevators
down with some of the coaches orsome of the front office of either the
Avalanche or the visiting team. AfterGame seven against the Seattle Kraken, I
(10:41):
was hanging out with Joe Sakick.Not hanging out, but look at this
guy riding the elevator down with JoeSakic and he only had one thing to
say. At least it was anentertaining game. You could tell he didn't
have that emotional pressure on him thatthat Kyle Dubis wears he didn't have that
ride or die by the sess ofthis team. I definitely think different circumstances
(11:01):
to them, But there seemed tobe a general level of acceptance in Avalanche
management from Bednar and his staff upwardthat getting out of the first round was
going to be potentially possible, butgetting further than that unlikely. Right,
So them losing, well, we'renot surprised by this. I just think
(11:22):
you're seeing the difference between a guywho's been around the NHL for what thirty
plus years now and a guy who'sbeen around the NHL for less than a
decade. Yeah. So I thinkthere's the Toronto job we know is a
huge job. You already brought itup. How have you feel bad for
the people who have that position?And for a guy who doesn't really know
(11:43):
how to manage the emotional side ofthe NHL, whether it's as a GM
or as a player, that's areally taxing job, both on your mental
well being and obviously the family's wellbeing. So I understand Kyle Dubiss wanting
to walk away, not jumping atmaybe a lower offer, and saying,
if I'm gonna do this job again, here's my number, you guys,
(12:05):
let me know. Here's the crazything I think about sports, right,
there's a there's a pressure of success. Unlike most jobs, maybe super competitive
sales jobs are similar, where sustainedsuccess only accounts for so much of you
maintaining your position or getting a promotionor a raise. Right, Like you
(12:26):
could you could go to the EasternConference Final, Western Conference final five times,
five years in a row. Right, But if you can't get past
that, you're probably in jeopardy.You're not gonna get a promotion, you're
not gonna get a raise, youmight get fired, right, even though
that accomplishment is exceptional. Right,So I don't I get the pressure.
(12:48):
Dubius is under ear and it's beenwhatever, however many years since Toronto's won
a Stanley Cup. I mean,it's been a long time since any team
in Canada's won the Stanley Cup.But his team is good assistently, it's
just the pieces that they've needed inthe postseason haven't really come together yet.
And you still have a pretty youngcore in Mitch Marner and Austin Matthews.
And you have some considerations, WillieNilander, you have some considerations to make,
(13:13):
you know, in terms of thecomposure complexion of this team moving forward.
But I mean it's tough to lookat a team that has had a
certain level of success repeatedly under thecoach and management and be like, that's
not acceptable enough. I mean,you saw it in New York too,
(13:33):
right, they let go of theircoach. It's funny when you see that.
One's a little different though, becauseapparently there is some conflict going on
behind the scenes after a game ortwo and that he's out, you know.
But I mean, now, Iwon you wonder about Gerard Gallant because
he has been canned numerous times now. It's maybe he's the guy that wears
(13:58):
on players, you know, he'skind of that, like I don't know,
Ken Hitchcock, Terrell Sutter like kindof grinding grading coach potentially, but
he gets results. So it's kindof like, what are you doing and
you just fired David quinn glock coachyour team for two years, Like now
you've got this situation where these guysare going through like the Edmonton Oilers level
(14:18):
of Buffalo Sabers level of coaches rotatingthrough yep, yep. So I guess
we'll see how this continues to unfoldbecause we're right in the middle of it.
And we've just to say, we'veseen with the Avs being patient with
Jared Bednar, the team losing inthe second round over and over again his
first year where you know, notnot really his fault, the team couldn't
perform, finished very very last inthe league. Yeah, and you know
(14:43):
there will be more dominoes and moreripple effects around the league from whatever happens
and whatever decisions are made when whereverKyle Dubis goes, if he even goes
anywhere. But that'll do it forthe first portion of our show here.
We'll get back and get into thetwo playoff series, and then of course
we'll get into Arizona later in theshow. So thanks for hanging out with
us here. The Hockey Show,not the Nuggets Show. We'll be right
back to the lonely confusion looking formand all the wrong places. No five
(15:07):
girls, just ugly faces. Rightnow, it's sixteen minutes past the big
hour? Is head that right,mister scream great good stow. I think
people are getting really cranky while youcan't welcome back. It's the Hockey Show,
(15:35):
j Jurrez. Ryan Boulding of NHLdot Com, I forgot to bring
us hidden with that. You're soobsessed with the Nuggets. I was so
Yeah. Big Game two, Yeah, Big Game two two three, Big
Game three tonight in LA. Notonly are they playing the Lakers, but
(15:56):
they're also playing the refs. Ihave. I have to say, I've
seen a lot of smack talking aboutLebron James on social media lately, and
I'm like, that guy lives rentfree with so many people's heads here in
Denver. Like I get it's abig deal for the Nuggets, but like,
I don't know, sometimes I'm wonderingif we're crossing crossing boundaries here into
(16:19):
something a little more nefarious than justbrooding against him. Yeah, I mean
my timeline is pretty much hockey andif it's not hockey, it's it's a
little bit of Spanish soccer and maybesome friends I know, Right, so
I miss a lot of the conversationaround the NBA, but I just see
these people firing their shots, right. And apparently the La Lakers fans are
(16:41):
just crawling under the Nuggets fans skinright now because of all the complaining and
you know, the altitude. Excuses. Excuses is what you're hearing more about
Canadian wildfire smoke. That's just ruiningmy life mine too. I hate it,
whole stuff a stuff. I wastold there was fog yesterday, and
I got up and I was outsideand I was like, it does look
(17:03):
like fog. And then somebody mentionedsmoke, and I'm like, now that
makes a lot more sense this is. And then you like you could smell
like today, I could actually smellit and kind of taste it. You're
like, oh, it's gonna bea nice, ramy, humid weather out
there. You go out there,take a deep breath, just smoking pine
trees. Um, let's get intothe conference finals. Ryan, I'm a
(17:26):
little bit jealous, a little bitof fomo because if you remember last year,
the Conference finals is really where thingsgot amped up where the NHL came
in, they took over and thingsstarted feeling real. You're like, all
right, this is this is someserious stuff here. So yeah, I
know I was. I was lookingactually at the meet the NHL media assignments
for both conference finals, and Inoticed was that Sam Gilbert was assigned to
(17:48):
the Eastern Conference finals this year insteadof the West. And I couldn't help
but wonder if it was because ofRiff yelling at him that he was just
like, I don't want to Idon't want to be back here. Had
ever put me out on the East. But yeah, you know, you're
right, the everything raps up alittle bit. The NHL shows up,
was kind of taken over. Nowthis is this is our show, right,
(18:10):
So let's start with the Western Conferencesince that's closest to home and the
most recent. Right, we sawa game last night went to overtime,
didn't quite go four overtimes, onlywent about a minute and a half.
There. I was strapping in formaybe a late night and it ended rather
quickly off an ugly goal from JakeOttinger. But what you saw in that
game one, I think was alittle bit eyebrow raising to me at the
beginning, right that first period wasabsolutely controlled by Vegas. Oh man,
(18:36):
yeah, they I mean they didan interview with Pete Pete de Boer and
and he was just like, wewent to game seven and we were worried
we wouldn't start well, and wedidn't. And then he was like,
we we found our game. Wegot to it. But yeah, one
point. Shots were like twelve toone. I think around the eight minute
(18:56):
mark of the game, Dallas hadone shot. You're just like, wow,
it made me feel like I waswatching an Avalanche game though, because
they do this kind of thing allthe time. Right there, they're controlling
the first period. Avalanche are Vegasin this metaphor here, and then they
get goalie. The goalie just thisshuts the door, and then suddenly the
opposition gets some momentum, maybe evenget a goal. And that's what you
(19:17):
saw. Dallas got on the boardfirst, and you're like, all right,
maybe Jake Odinger got them out ofthis early. Weathered the storm,
weathered the storm, but no,Vegas is just an all around good team.
I'm on board. You've been tellingme this whole playoffs. You even
came into the playoffs saying this wasthe most dangerous team in the West.
Vegas is legit. I'm on board. You're right, this is gonna be
(19:37):
a great series, it seems,you know. I feel like for all
of the talk about Vegas since they'veentered the league, and you know,
kind of like the disappointment they hadlast year, this year, I felt
like they really just flew under theradar in the West. You know,
there was so much talk about howthe West didn't stack up to the East.
Right, Boston was such a wagon. The West was why I'd open
(20:00):
who was gonna make it? ButVegas was just kind of hanging around,
you know, and they were justup there. I think some of the
Vegas avalanche hatred was kind of goneafter the Avs won the Stanley Cup.
You know, it didn't have thesame kind of connotations. They came here
kind of early in the year,I think, and it wasn't really as
much of a game as we thoughtit was going to be. And so
(20:21):
to me, they just floated undermy radar. And I feel like most
people in the West, they werekind of under the radar. But then
you're you start taking a closer look, and you're like, wait, who's
the goalie, Like, what whatis happening? Well, it all makes
sense. I remember sitting in thisvery chair early on in the year and
I think we were discussing Logan Thompsonand how he had a good start to
(20:41):
the season, and we're like,yeah, of course, and Bruce Cassidy's
system, that's always going to happen. And so it's no surprise that five
goalies later, they're still hanging inthere and the goalies still playing. I
don't want to call him exceptional,but beyond adequate when there's no you know,
discredit to a Hill or Laurent BROUSSIuh not Laurent Lass. I think
(21:07):
they're good goalies. I do.You have to be a good goalie to
do what they've done. You haveto be a good goalie to succeed at
the NHL level, right, Imean, even a mediocre NHL goalie is
still a good goalie. There's apile of really good HL goalies out there
that could easily hang in the NHLjust having been given a shot. Yeah,
so I want to give those guyscredit. But when you're looking kind
(21:32):
of like you said, you're lookingat how far down the depth chart.
They've gone to get wins out ofgoaltenders, to get healthy goaltending. It's
incredible. And that's that's where acouple weeks ago I was like, doubt.
Golden Knights are my team Vegas.That's the word they're They're the team
that I think can go all theway because look at what they're doing,
(21:52):
like they're just playing all around exceptionallywell hockey. Well let's look back to
when they were still in new teamright and they came into the league and
made it all the way to theStanley Cup Final. Then let's look at
the Seattle Cracking from this year andwhat have we said about them? Oh,
they just play gritty. They knowthey have that physical edge to them.
I don't think Vegas ever lost thatright because they were composed of the
(22:15):
same way that the same I guessformat that Seattle Cracking were of a bunch
of third and fourth maybe a coupleof second liners, but just gritty,
hard working effort guys. They haven'tlost that identity. You add a little
bit of skill like a guy likeJack Eichel, even throwing some leadership like
Mark Stone, they have a perfectrecipe and that's what I've been saying about
Dallas too, Right, they playa complete game. That's why this is
(22:37):
such a good matchup because, inmy opinion, they're playing they're checking all
the boxes both teams, the physicalside of the game, the defensive structure,
they both have offensive weapons. Thegoaltending is where everybody is kind of
questioning. Okay, maybe i'm leaningDallas here, but Game one proved that
that's that's basically gonna be a washthroughout the rest of the series. This
is just gonna be a simple whowins, maybe even in seven, right,
(23:02):
I don't think he's yeah, youcan't really say it's a coin flip
series. You can't really say oneteam is edging out the other in any
category. Well, that's why Ifeel like it was a bit of a
feeling out game. It didn't have. I mean, yes, Vegas started
off exceptionally well and was really takingit to Dallas. I didn't feel like
Ottinger, you know, was undersiege as much as making the safety should
(23:23):
be making Dallas scores first. Butthe game is tight, right, There
was never more than a one goallead, like a toyker the whole time.
It's just a close game. Dallas. I saw the stat on television.
I didn't know this zero comeback winsin the postseason this year, and
they did not win a game back, but they did come back, and
(23:45):
it actually got me thinking, like, Okay, well, how many times
had they tied the game, youknow, and then surrendered like they're they're
coming back, They're just not gettingall the way. But what's weird is
they've lost every game one in overtimethis postseason, so it's it's almost it's
like we're not in a series untilwe're down one nothing and now we're ready
to get going and playing. Ipersonally think that both of these teams are
(24:10):
exceptional. I think that Dallas hasthe edge and net, but Vegas has
the edge in depth, and we'llsee where that falls as this series goes
on. But I didn't like,I understand what Oinger's doing at the end
of the game. I didn't likehow it unfolded for him, you know,
especially because the puck comes out frontin front from behind the net.
(24:33):
He had come out hard to challengethe initial play, so he's pretty far
at the top of his crease.It was a good play from Vegas,
though, that backdoor of chance waswide open, and he just put it
wide. It was unfortunate for Otingerbecause the puck went under his leg pad
and if he hadn't spun, it'sa save on we go right, yep.
But I'm thankful that we didn't gointo four overtimes. Overall, it's
(25:00):
interesting to see how Jamie Benn hasperformed. You know, got a big
goal at the end of the gameto tie it up for the team.
You know, everybody's looking at guyslike Jason Robertson, you know, kind
of the younger core rupe hints unreal, let's posted ye unreal? Whyatt Johnson?
Great story, Like I thought he'dbe the guy to win it for
him. It's it's a series thatis exciting, I will say, though,
(25:22):
you know they're Cao mccarr there inDallas. Mero high skinning. I
don't feel like he's quite had theplayoff impact that he should be having,
at least from a point production standpoint, which is really his strength. So
it could be because he took aslapshot to the face. Sure, sure,
but I think if Dallas is goingto succeed and come out of this
series on top, they need Merohigh skinning well now more than ever in
(25:44):
the NHL, you need everyone onthe same page, firing on all cylinders,
top to bottom in the lineup.The Apps don't win the Stanley Cup
last year, I don't think,at least not as effectively without an insane
effort from the fourth line with DarrenHell and Andrew Cogliano Logan O'Connor. I
mean, those guys killed it,and you were like it was impressive all
(26:08):
the time. You're like, wow, the speed, the physicality out of
these guys, older guys in thelineup, just going balls to the wall.
You need depth, and that's Seattle. I'll played the Avalanche in the
depth department. The Avs their depthwas, you know, walking on stilts
there at the end. So we'veseen in this playoffs so far that matter,
(26:30):
and it matters when your top guyscan't score, but your depth guys
can contribute, right, or yourdepth guys can have a couple of shifts
that get the momentum to the topguys to get them to score. Whatever
it is Toronto, I mean theirtop guys weren't scoring, right Boston,
I mean it comes all the waydown to Game seven, but the bottom
(26:52):
guys aren't really doing much. You'redepending on poster knock too much. Marshawn's
not really showing up. Like there'ssome issues there, some goalie confidence issues,
some injuries, whatever it is.I mean, we see it throughout
the playoffs. That's where this thisdepth matters. Indeed. Indeed, But
like I said, I still seethat one going seven, and that's just
an entertaining matchup all around, fromthe coaching battle, to the goalie battle
(27:15):
to everything. Everything check checks allmy boxes in that series. So I'm
looking forward to the to the waythe rest of that one plays out.
And I appreciate the style of gamethat both teams play. It's tight,
it's crisp, it's offensive oriented,it's it's puck possession oriented, which we'll
get in the next series. I'mnot enjoying as much. All Right,
Well, we'll break the Panthers andHurricanes down next stick around through the break.
(27:38):
Right here on my high Sports,this is the Hockey Show, JJ
Ryan, Coach Bailey behind the glass. Let's go Nuggets. I don't do
(27:59):
the most lot, I'm gonna makeit soas because we still laugh. What
go Colorado, shoot a shot?Welcome back the Hockey Show, Colorado biggest
best live radio. You watch alot of Instagram reels or what. No,
(28:21):
normally you're not familiar with any hiphop music. I mean, but
you were somehow familiar with this.No, he just did that, and
I wanted to try it. Ilike mimicking. All Right, it's a
special Nuggets edition of The Hockey Show. But we're done talking the Nuggets.
Let's get into the Eastern Conference FinalPanthers versus the Hurricanes. Of course,
(28:45):
the Panthers I think of the sweetheartof this playoff year. But I think
it's fun how you look at theDallas in Vegas series and you've got the
former coach of the Vegas Golden Knights, right, you got the connection there.
And then you look at the EasternConference and you've got Rob Brendermore versus
Paul Maurice, who Rob Brendamore usedto play for Paul Maurice back in the
(29:07):
day, back when the Carolina Hurricaneswon their Stanley Cup. So just funny
the connections that are on both sidesof the conference finals here. Yeah,
and I actually saw something that saidfrom Jack han he is he does a
hockey tactics book and he has anewsletter. I started following him on Twitter.
(29:27):
I follow his newsletter on the freelevel. So he does videos and
do you have to pay for those? So I don't see the videos,
but he'll break down some things andhe's pretty quick about some of the things
happening in the postseason, which isawesome. I think one of the I
think it was him that mentioned itlooks like Florida adopted some of what Carolina's
up tempo game is when they kindof retooled this year, and it maybe
(29:51):
gave them a slow start to theseason, but it's it's interesting because they're
using some of what Carolina does tobe successful. And now you've got the
two teams meeting each other. Ifind that very interesting. A taste of
your own medicine almost right, verypossessive, very dump and chase. Right.
And that's what we talked about lastweek about how aggressive and how i'd
(30:11):
say entertaining the Panthers are to watchon the foe check and when they're behind
the net in their offensive zone,they are relentless. But you could say
the same thing for the Carolina Hurricane. It's funny. I think about this
a lot as it applies also toBeer league hockey in that the dump and
chase has been a style of hockeyfor my entire life longer than that,
(30:33):
right, But it only works ifyou're willing to work for it. Yeah,
and it kills me that. InBeer league hockey, there's just a
level of like, all dump,no chase. Well, we just want
to be fancy finesse possession players,right, we want the puck on our
stick all the time. Not mebecause I have no hands whatsoever. But
generally the concept is right, butnobody is that. Generally, nobody is
(30:56):
that talented for sustained finesse zone entryhigh. So there's an element of necessary
dump and chase, but like nobodyhas the fitness level or does the desire
to work hard enough to be successfulthere. So usually you jump the pucket
and somebody's just like ah, man, Well, and you can't hit in
men's league, right, And that'sthat's just another element that's a staple of
(31:18):
a four check. And especially withthe Rob Bendimore. I mean you look
at his style, right, andyou think of the Carolina Hurricanes. He's
the face, right, it's notany of their players, really, I
mean it could be stetchn Cob,but I don't. I think when you're
first hearing Carolina Hurricanes, the firstname that pops up in your head is
Brend Moore. And that's his style, right, and that's his message.
You go in hard, you goin physical, and you know he has
(31:41):
this intimidating presence. I think he'slike a combination of Jared Bednar and then
throwing some Patrick wa who's gonna,you know, mean muggy if you do
the wrong play. Well, sokind of where I was going was,
yeah, they're a hard working team. You just jumped right in the middle
and killed all the momentum. Theresyou pause, and I thought that was
they are. They are a hardworking team. But where I mentioned in
(32:01):
the last segment that I'm not enjoyingthis series as much and I would love
to hear from Jack Hunter or anyoneabout why this is the case. But
it seems like Carolina's breakout strategy isdump the guys, dump the puck out
of the zone to two wingers whoare deep like at the other blue line,
pushing Florida's d back. But it'sto me, it's I'm twenty five
(32:25):
percent maybe successfully a puck on yourteammates stick right. Most of the time
it's a touch into the zone anda retrieval. But Florida's not giving an
inch there, so I don't I'mtrying to think tactically what the situation is.
What are you trying to do right? Are you trying to catch a
mismatch with Florida's d where maybe youhave a two on one or more when
(32:45):
you're supporting, Like, I don'tthink we saw in Game one that be
successful. Carolina didn't score five onfive, they scored two power play goals,
and for the majority of the gameand all of overtime, they were
throwing the puck away. So itwasn't really a surprise to me. At
(33:06):
the end of the game, we'refour overtimes in, there's thirteen seconds left,
we're about to go to fifth overtime. Part of you is like,
shoot me in the face. It'smidnight. I want to go to bed,
And the other part of you islike, I want to see nine
more, nine more overtime periods.But it was no surprise. Brent burn
sends the no luck puck up theboards, his teammate tries to hammer it
up. I don't know if ithits a ref but was that Bennett recovers
(33:28):
it, shoots it to Kachuck,he goes in, scores came over.
It's that play. I just don'tunderstand the strategy there. And when you're
watching Vegas and Dallas, like lightchips up the boards around guys right on
your teammates, stick at your blueline, just inside, just outside of
your blue line for possession in theneutral zone, and off you go.
(33:50):
Now, the thing that I dothink is fascinating is when Carolina has a
controlled breakout of their zone and theydo the weave. Did you see any
highlights of the weave? They havelike three guys on one side, two
guys on the other side, cometogether and weave and then split out.
It's it's fascinating to watch. ButI don't know what Carolina's strategy is there
against Florida. What they're seeing thatFlorida does that that's the strategy because Florida
(34:15):
didn't give an inch. And justto tie it back to Jack Han,
he broke down the game winning goaland he's like, this is something Florida's
done one hundred times this season.Their four check where the d pushes in
you've got the wing outside, you'vegot two forwards coming into pinch on the
pockets. It's textbook what they've doneall season to force a turnover. And
(34:35):
if you go back and watch,Eckblad is the defenseman that sends the puck
into Carolina's zone and it's a softdump into the corner that forces exactly what
they want to have happen. Andbecause Carolina is playing that that weird just
abandoned the puck breakout style, itresults in the goal. And even more
so, I don't know why BrentBurns just didn't skate around the net.
(34:58):
You got thirteen seconds left. Realizeit's four overtimes. You're tired, you're
not thinking necessarily at full capacity.But I'm a huge fan of just eating
the puck with ten fifteen seconds left. Don't give up any opportunity, don't
leave anything to chance. So thatbeing said, I mean it sounds like
you're very much on board the FloridaPanthers right now, right and going into
(35:20):
the series, would you have saidthe same. And now that they're up
one nothing, do you feel likeFlorida's in control? As the eighth seed
of this Eastern Conference Final, I'mhappy for Paul Maurice. I think he's
an exceptional coach. I've enjoyed myinteractions with him this season, my two
interactions with him this season. Iam not I'm rooting for Carolina. I
want to see them do good things. I think every year we've been like,
(35:44):
this is the year Carolina as thewagon. They're gonna go kind of
peters out. I don't think Florida. I think Florida is a foe egg
coming into this. Yeah, ofcourse they are looking more dominant, but
now we're at a point where anythinghappens like it doesn't matter, or when
you're entering the first round, it'slike, Okay, we've got to get
through this team and then maybe thisteam. You know. Now it's anybody's
(36:07):
Series for the taking, anybody's StanleyCup for the taking. It's a war
of attrition. But what Florida doesis they play frustratingly, stifling, defensively,
like they clogg the lanes in thezone, they clogged the house.
There's you're not really seeing. Imean we saw a couple, we saw
breakaway opportunity and overtime and those kindof things. I think they're pretty few
(36:29):
and far between like Grade A scoringchances in the house, you know,
mismatches, odd Man rushes, youdon't see that they're very committed well,
and both teams are playing in thatsame style, right. That's why I
think the four overtimes was no surprisebecause neither of them are giving anything to
the to the opponents. So andas much as I love overtime situations like
(36:52):
that, the level of hockey degradesmassively. Sure, but guys are tired
and nobody's taking chances, right,Like at some point you're like, Okay,
there needs to be a risk rewardhere as opposed to just stalemating throughout
well, and I think the goaltendersis a conversation we can have next because
they were amazing during that over time. They should be getting tired as well,
(37:14):
They should be letting some holes.And you saw both goaltenders playing amazingly.
And I think going into this seriesmy thought was, Okay, whoever
wins this is gonna have their goaltenderplaying the least bad, not the playing
the best, right, because Ivery much underestimated both goaltenders, but in
Game one they were both fantastic.When all the talk we've done about the
Western Conference Final and the goaltending JakeOttenerby and the best goalie remaining. What
(37:37):
Bob Rovsky has done in this postseasonis amazing. He's rewriting the book on
his legacy of being a goalie thatcan't perform in the high stress playoff Olympic
situations. Right, We've seen himnot have success in these situations before.
This is the goalie I think everyonealways thought he would be. I think
(37:59):
a lot of that comes back tothat, that really stifling way they play
in their own zone. Florida doeslike it. I mean when I talk
about the lack of urgency from Torontoin that their matchup, I mean it
just there was no opportunity. Andwatching this Carolina game, so many shots
are blocked, tipped, redirected.You know, there's guys are almost never
(38:20):
getting a clean shot off. Andthat's a lot of credit to Florida,
right, And then it feels like, you know, maybe some of this
is just I don't know, notconfidence in the goalie. Maybe it's thinking
the ice is tilting. But itfeels like when a team is shooting on
the Panthers, it's a really lowquality puck that gets to pop Rovsky generally
(38:42):
right, it's always deflected, it'sthrough traffic, it's it's it's locked,
it's slowed down, you know,to a degree. It's not like a
clean shot that's tipped cleanly. It'skind of what I'm getting at. It
feels like Florida does a very goodjob of having more dangerous chances when they're
shooting, you know, and that'sI think something that's brought them success.
And on the other hand, Ithought Freddy Anderson did more work in the
(39:07):
overtimes my own dangerous shots and lookedincredible. If I'm not mistaken, heading
into the overtimes, Florida would significantlyoutshot. By the end of the game,
and the end of the four overtimesit was pretty even. I was
looking at a point where I waslike, we're not far away from Carolina
doubling up Florida on shots. Andas overtime went on, you were just
(39:29):
watching the Florida shot count tick upand Carolina has kind of stayed the same,
you know. At one point Ithink it finished around like sixty two
to fifty two something in there.But like I said, at one point,
it was almost doubled up on shots. It's what Florida's doing is it's
frustrating hockey. It's not like trapera hockey, but it limits a lot
(39:50):
of exciting chances and exciting hockey intheir zone. I started the show during
the Mountaine Money. You're talking aboutthe mindset of the team and Rob Brendamore
and how he seemed pretty discouraged afteran overtime loss like that. So that
being said, game two tonight,do you think Carolina bounces back mentally or
are they in a bit of ahole in Florida, maybe puts their foot
on their throat and heads back toFlorida to nothing. I don't think any
(40:14):
team at this point is like,oh no, here we go again,
or oh no, we're down right. Like I said, Dallas par for
the course losing Game one in overtimethis postseason. I mean, Carolina,
they've been kind of through the washof the postseason multiple times now, so
I don't think there's any surprise there. They've got veteran guys, they get
(40:35):
guys like to votre vining back,you know who, they didn't think they
were going to have. You getsome boosts there. Probably take him a
little bit to start having an impact. But I mean you mentioned Rob Brendimore
being a work hard guy, aworkout guy, the phase of the franchise.
Dude is yoked, he's ripped,he's a bit came out and talked
to the media yesterday at the mediaavailability, and he's like, first thing
(40:57):
I did was got up and workedout this morning, and the rest of
the day follows from there. Right, his philosophy and it's no surprise,
work hard, get the results right. We've even heard guys on the Avalanche
talk about puck luck and you haveto earn puck luck, right. Hard
work earns you good bounces. That'sthe ethos of this Carolina team. So
(41:19):
I don't think they're worried, butyou know, you don't want I think
success for Florida is coming out ofCarolina one and one, and at this
point, success for Carolina is comingleaving home one and one, right,
it's building on these little successes onthe chessboard to the Stanley Cup Final.
(41:42):
So I don't think any team isnecessarily in danger, but Florida feels like
they're in the driver's seat. Yep, we'll see how tonight goes. Saturday
Night action always I feel like hasa little bit of extra energy in the
building when it's a Saturday night game, no matter what building it is.
So looking forward to that one.Of course, that one's going to be
going at six o'clock. Null getsstarted at six thirty, so make sure
you've got two screens ready so youdon't miss any of the action on either
(42:05):
game. And I think I'm excitedfor both of these these series. I
think now that we've got the feelingout game out of the way, I
think they're going to open up alittle bit, right But I mean,
at this time of year, thisposition every mistake and typically when the home
game loses game one, they comeinto game two and really makes some noise.
So you know, all all oursports book listeners out there, maybe
(42:27):
think about that for tonight. Butwe'll be right back. One final segment
for you before we head out forthe weekend. And h yeah, so
thanks for hanging out with us thisfar. JJJ is Ryan Bowling, vinhil
dot Com and Coach Bailey behind theglasses is the Hockey Show. Will be
all right back play hockey and Iforty Kate because it is the two most
(43:04):
fun things in cold weather. Welcomeback, Colorado s picks the best live
hockey radio show. This is theHockey Show. It's the mixed bag escape
portion. We did not get todiscuss the Arizona Coyotes situation in the first
segment like we had planned. KyleDubis just took over, much like the
(43:25):
national media. It took all ofour attention. Right, Sometimes you're like,
who cares about Kyle Dubis as muchas yesterday as I'm watching NHL Network
getting ready for Game one of Dallasin Vegas, and they won't stop talking
about Kyle Dubis. But it affectsthe hockey world, it affects the Hockey
show. So let's get into Arizona. We all know what happened. The
vote for a new building did notpass. Why does the NHL want to
(43:51):
keep Arizona a thing? Right?It doesn't. I don't even know if
that's the question. Really, itdoesn't feel like it feels like that will
no longer be the case. Doyou really think the NHL will admit defeat
there and move the team after nextyear or do you think they're going to
spend the entirety of this next calendaryear trying to figure out how to keep
(44:13):
Arizona. In Arizona, I thinklanguage is important, and when you're in
the business of pr language is important. When you're in the business of writing,
language is important, right. Ithink that when Chris McFarland was talking
about Gabriel Landiskog's knee was asked aboutValarian Natushkin him saying I can't comment beyond
what has been said. Can't isthe operative word, and that is intrigued,
(44:37):
right, not won't can't. Ithink that of all the times that
there have been arena issues and ownershipissues and bankrupts, the issues with the
Coyotes, the NHL has iterated theirstance on keeping Arizona there very quickly.
(44:58):
That was not the case this timethis. I immediately tweeted, I'm stunned.
And somebody's like, why are youstunned, like all of these things,
blah blah blah, and I'm like, I'm stunned because this feels like
the beginning of the end of thedesert dogs. I don't know where they
go from here, you know,word on the street as maybe Salt Lake
City. I find that massively intriguingas a destination I had never considered.
(45:22):
Yeah, they have the capabilities.They're also bidding for the winner Olympics.
Makes sense again, Houston is obviouslyan easy one because the owner of the
Rockets has been pretty outspoken about it. I gets. I heard over the
week though, Jeff Marrick and ElliottFriedman discuss how Houston the NHL had a
(45:44):
conversation with Houston. Houston didn't seemto express quite the interest that the NHL
hoped. Yeah, I've seen alot of conversations about why give a city
a team at a relocation versus gettingthat expansion scrilla that everybody else is forking
over. That's another factor into this, I think. So eventually, you
(46:07):
know, things kind of spiral inthe league and the team come out and
say the Coyotes will be playing atMulat Arena next year. Right, and
they've got a deal in place withASU. So I'd be kind of surprised
if they try and avoid that whatever. But we've seen, you know,
potential ownership changes tossed out, We'veseen these different cities. You know,
could a team end up back inAtlanta. It's a possibility. Some guys,
(46:30):
Kevin Weeks among them, have beentalking about, right, Quebec city
always pops up in these situations.But it was stunning because it just finally
felt like where whatever else is thereto go here? And the way it
unfolded, you know, I thinkthere was a lot of confidence in this
being done early on when it wasproposed, And that's the other reason why
(46:53):
it was so stunning to me wasthat it seemed like a no brainer for
the city of tim It seemed likethey wanted it, seemed like perfect fit
for the team, and then allof a sudden, a resounding no there.
And you know, I mean,I've I've been to. I was
at the playoff game I don't evenremember now, twenty twelve ish, maybe
(47:16):
when Arizona knocked Nashville out of theplayoffs down there. I was at that
game with my dad. Wild atmospheredown there. It was so cool to
see all the support. Like Iknow, as much as people love to
dump on the Coyotes in Arizona andyou don't have any real fans and all
that stuff, they do have aloyal contingent and that's hard. And they're
(47:37):
hoping to expand their fan base inthe city into the Tempee market, right,
So it's it's tough because there arepotential fans there that you can't ask
for support yet because they haven't experiencedthe team well. And it's just tough
because the team's always been a joke. I mean the first round victory that
(47:57):
you're bringing up literally is the highlightof that entire organization's existence, right,
and the way they treat that,the way the rest of the league treats
that team as just the garbage dumpof the league, right. I mean
you look at the Dots who becausethe hostas that, you know, all
the contracts that they've swallowed just toyeah, Chris, just to relieve other
(48:20):
teams of their cap relief, andhave never put a competitive team on the
ice. I mean, and Imean never, there's it's it's it's they
were in the playoffs in the bubble, but that that's not you're looking at.
I think I've raised questions about youknow, they're sending out of talent
like Connor Garland, guys like that, you know, getting rid of talented
(48:40):
guys. I think they're doing therebuild the slow way. What fifteen years
worth? I mean, look atlook at teams like Edmonton. It seems
like every three years they get closeto being out of a rebuild and they
have to start a rebuild all overyou. They've had weird situations too,
like John Chika coming in as theGM, doing some weird things, trying
(49:02):
to set up like another job situationwith an NFL team getting fired, ownership
changes, Like obviously things haven't beengoing well. It sounds like an incompetent
organization to me. Yeah, butit's hard to say just that because there
have been so many changes at somany different levels. You know, like
it's some thing's happened, the ownerleaves, management leaves, whatever, a
(49:23):
new one comes in. Like they'rea lot of stumbles in that organization for
sure, through the years. Butdoes that improve in a different city,
I don't know. Part of theproblem is that this team has always been
at odds with the city of Glendaleand that building. And when they are
finally like, forget it, we'llfigure something else out. It seemed pretty
(49:46):
legitimate, right, And apparently alot of money was spent in opposition,
Apparently a lot of misinformation was putout in opposition, and essentially the city
of Tempe voted to keep a landfillinstead of having a multimillion dollar sport complex,
and you know, shopping facility andstuff. It's very baffling. Situation
(50:07):
also goes hand in hand with mymetaphor, right, the Coyotes are such
a garbage dumped at the city ofGlendale would rather have a garbage dump.
I mean, the joke writes itself, Wow, garbage. I feel for
the fans in Arizona. I feelfor the Coyotes fans. I feel for
the hockey fans. I feel forthe players too, but I feel for
(50:27):
the general hockey fans in that state. I mean, there are Avalanche fans
there that go see the Avalanche playfor cheap every time they're in town.
You know, there are fans,just like anywhere. There's transplant fans there
that now risk losing the NHL alltogether, and that's unfortunate. Even if
you're not a Coyotes fan, youcould still be a hockey fan going to
games down there and seeing your teamor seeing the NHL. A lot of
(50:52):
people down there too. It's ahuge city. It'd be unfortunate too.
I guess call it quits there,but I'd be all on board for Salt
Lake City and another their Mountain timezone team. When it's it seems ridiculous
to recall now because it's been solong, but there was a time here
in Denver where there was not anMLB team or an NHL team I remember.
(51:13):
I mean people here were fans ofthe Cardinals or the Cubs because you
could get WGN anywhere, the onlyteam we had in town to Denver.
Nugget. That'll do it for today'sshow, Today's Nuggets edition of the show.
Don't forget to watch both games tonight, Danny, get me out of
here. Eastern Conference Game two,Denver Nuggets Western Conference Game three. What
(51:37):
a night we're about to have.Enjoy your Saturday people. Thanks for hanging
out with us here this week onthe Hockey Show. Next week Memorial Day,
we will be off, so we'llsee you in two weeks, probably
talking some Stanley Cup final at thatpoint, so potentially we're we're getting closer
to the end here. Um.Thanks everybody if you made it this far
in the show. Plus that prettylittle heart of yours peace Seila, So
(52:00):
you know you put that in yourpipe, you smoke it. I know
want to I have not hurt,I not I not want to take me
your home, take me closing time, Time for you to go out.
(52:30):
To the places you will be wrong,
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