[MUSIC] Canucks Central Wednesday at Stan Reacho and Satyar Shah. Here in the Kintek Studio. [MUSIC] Canucks Central is for enzyme-specific Vancouver's Premier Chrysler, Dodge Ram and Jeep Superstore on Second Avenue between Canby and Maine, or at enzyme-specific Chrysler.ca. We couldn't keep him on the shelf any longer. He's been chomping at the bit to get back at it. He's the one and only Satyar Shah returning to the show off of LTIR. >> What's up? >> Finally, what's going on, man? So excited to be here, funny off LTIR. I actually went into protocol for the first time in my life. That was quite the experience. >> So like COVID protocol? >> It's 2024, Sat. >> Yeah, yeah, I just got through and not even 100% through as you can hear. My voice isn't even 100% back. But yeah, that was my first bout with COVID after four years. So since 2020, I've had been sick before, I've had the flu or something, but never tested positive. So here we are, and that's why I had to be away for legitimately five days. Let me tell you, COVID, one out of ten, do not recommend. I can also, I could agree with that from the couple of times that I've gone through it over the years. But I will say, Austin Langley, many of our listeners, very, very excited to have you back. They just, they couldn't stand back any longer. >> No, it's good to be back. In good hands, I tried to listen in whenever I was like coherent enough, and you guys did a great job holding it down like you always do. So, you know, shows that in Mississippi, we're all good. >> We might need some Netflix recommendations by the end of the show. >> Well, I did watch a three-body, what is it called, the three-body whatever problem? >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've watched all episodes of that, as you would imagine, I would. >> Binge it. >> We'll talk about that later. >> Yeah. >> Science sat all in on the sci-fi show on Netflix. Love to see it. >> As you would, as you would, maybe I'll save the review for Overrated Undertale. >> All right, let's get to it. It is The Open. [MUSIC] >> Welcome to The Open. >> That's your home. Are you too good for your home? Answer me. >> Yes, the Open, where we bring you the latest on the Vancouver Canucks. And bring our take on the situation as well. So, the Canucks did practice today, still no Elias Lindholm. But Dakota Joshua is on the men, not confirmed that he'll be in the lineup against Dallas tomorrow, but it seems, I would say unlikely that he wouldn't be after practicing with J.T. Miller and Brock Besser on the Canucks top line today at practice over at UBC. And, you know, I've really been harping on it a little bit the last couple of days sat, it's really felt, and going back a couple of weeks how the Canucks offense feels a little bit more muted than it did early in the season. It doesn't just feel that way, it is that way. They aren't scoring as much as they were early on. It has finally hit the regression and sort of found maybe more of a true talent level. I guess is the wording for it of what this team is. And there's still a little bit above average at five on five in their goal scoring. And we could see a little bit more out of their power play for sure. But with Lindholm out and even Joshua out, I think you really started to, at least I certainly really started to feel the injuries to this lineup, and there aren't that many of them. So it makes me wonder how equipped are the Canucks to handle injuries in their lineup? I do think they may be better equipped to handle it than perhaps, you know, what we talk about. Yeah, they haven't had any real major injuries, but so far they've had them go miss some time and dismissed, stepped in and for the most part outside of maybe, you know, coughing up that rebound against the Kings has been generally pretty good, right? So, I mean, I think he's done a pretty good job. And anytime they missed Souter or Blueger, they've been able to get through it. Anytime they miss Sousi, you've missed him, but they've done a good job of figuring out how to get around it. So I do think anytime they've had one or two of these types of injuries, overall, they've done a good job of handling it. The thing I do like about the roster, and I think we're kind of seeing this now, and I know they end up in the result against the Kings. And I know you guys talked about that game quite a bit, but that game was there for the taking. To me, it wasn't like, you know, the Canucks went in and had no business even being in that game or anything like that. And I think a lot of it comes down to the personal, the positional versatility a lot of players on this team have, especially guys like Souter, right? They can play on your top line if need be on the wing and then hold down his role more than well enough playing center as he has throughout the course of the season. So I do think, and even guys like JT and Patterson could do different things for you. So I do think as much as yes, we all would love to see them add another, you know, player at the deadline and some more depth. But I do think they're probably better equipped to handle it than I think we may give them credit for. The obvious thing is, well, how would they be able to handle an injury to one of their top guys? Like if Miller or Patterson or Hughes were to go down, they wouldn't be able to handle that. And to which I say, how many teams can really afford that kind of an injury? You want to say Vegas can handle that type of an injury? Well, they haven't been very good since Mark Stone went out of the lineup, right? They haven't been very good for a couple of months, and they've dealt with quite a few injuries. You know, Jack Eichl was out for a time and Mark Stone. So it really affected their ability to show what they really are as a team. Colorado, I guess, has been able to manage the little amount of time that Kill McCar is out of the lineup. But if they were to lose Nathan McKinnon, that's a huge hole. Same thing for Edmonton. If any team loses one of their top, top players, especially these high-end teams, contending teams, I'm not sure any of them could really deal with it in a way that you would absolutely love, right? It's kind of a season killer. If you lose one of your top guys, you see the riding on the wall at that point. Yeah, and 100%. The one thing, though, is the hope had been when they acquired Lindholm that, yes, he's not Pedersen. He's not really JT Miller, but when he's at his best, he's a difference-making star-level type of player. So if you're adding him in, now you do have a little bit of leeway if one of those guys misses a few games or something. I think it can help you. Now, if JT or Pedersen or Hughes, any of them are out for the rest of the playoffs, I mean, yeah, that's going to be tough to overcome. But that's where that addition, that the deadline, the player they did add, which is or was considered to be a bonafide top six player, that's the one we're still looking at and saying, can he get healthy and can he get to a level where he can provide the type of play that if you miss one of your other guys, you can live because Lindholm can give you 20 minutes a game and give you a few points and help you along the way. And so far, we just haven't seen that from him. It's been pretty disappointing from a Lise Lindholm, right? From, I would say, shortly after the two-goal game that he had to start his Canucks career against the Carolina Hurricanes, you haven't really seen much of that high-end offensive talent from a Lise Lindholm. Maybe he's lost that gear. Maybe that 40-goal season he had a couple of years ago was more a product of him playing with Matthew Kuchuck and Johnny Goudreau than anything else. But it's hard to say that when, you know, he's had multiple really strong seasons in his career. He's always shown a pensions to score goals that at least sort of a 20-ish goal clip through most of his career. So I would say compared to even what, like, nobody expected 40 goal Lindholm, but they still expected a 60-70-point-type player. And you haven't even gotten that. No, and that hasn't happened yet. Now, again, we've got kind of maintained throughout this entire process here with Lindholm. Let him get healthy, hopefully, or at least close to healthy. And let's see what he can provide in the postseason when I think the player of his ability will come through for you, right? And that's kind of what I'm still banking on and waiting to see from him, because the game and the playoffs is going to be, you know, two-one hockey for the most part are very close, tight-checking type of hockey. And he excels in those types of games. And I do think when the game goes up a notch in intensity, you're going to see a better version of him. And those things will matter so much more. And I think that's going to come through in the postseason, or at least I'm hoping it comes through, because not only would that help him, but also obviously the team have success in the postseason. But I do think overall, in terms of how they handle injuries, even on the back end, right? Noah Julesen, he's shown that if somebody is out, he can step in and you can at least survive or do more than survive, right? So I do think this team, as much as they've got through this year without any major injuries, which has been very positive, I do think any small thing that hit along the way, they've shown that they have the depth to overcome. And I do think that could be something, I wouldn't say it is an advantage to them, but I don't think they're a team that we should look at and say, "Hey, if they miss one or two guys, the bottom's going to fall out." There's still a lot of, I guess a shroud of mystery, a cloud of mystery. Did I get the saying wrong? I don't know. There is a cloud of mystery, a little bit over Elizlyn Holmes' actual injury. Rick Talkett asked about it today and said, "I'm not really concerned. I think it's just, it's something that's a little nagging that is getting better every day. That's the way you got to look at it." Is what Rick Talkett said when asked his level of concern on Lynn Holmes' injury. Now that doesn't provide a ton of insight as to a timeline. They haven't given a timeline. They haven't given an idea at least officially of whether it's UBI or LBI, lower body, upper body. I do believe it is upper body. And it's, you know, it's obviously unfortunate. But I'm not sure what you can do about it at this point. Like, this is the world you live in in the National Hockey League. It's like, yeah, you went out, you made a big play for this player that you felt fit really well into your roster and your setup and had the types of things that you were really looking for. Could add some goal scoring punch, added on the defensive end of the puck, could help your PK, could be a right shot guy that wins a lot of face-offs. And it hasn't worked out on every level. And now you have an injury. It's sort of, you know, it's part of doing business in the National Hockey League. Like, these are the potential outcomes when you make a trade for a player or when you go through a season. Injuries are a part of the equation. Yeah. And these things are going to happen, right? And if you're looking at if you are going to have anybody get injured and players will get injured, would you rather have Lynn home get hurt or Patterson or JT, right? So I mean, and we'll see. And hopefully, you know, none of those guys do kind of get hurt in that type of way, right? Like, I don't want to see any of these guys kind of go down. But obviously, injuries will still happen to some degree. You mentioned, you know, Dakota Joshua being back at practice today and he's skated with JT Miller and Brock Besser. Like, in terms of the postseason, because we're looking ahead to it. I know the coach, obviously today was was kind of barking on his guys to focus or whatever. We got 10 games to go, boys. Stay focused. You got to figure it out. And, you know, to that whole versatility point, we saw Souter go from the wing to go play down the middle, and I like him down the middle better. But it's clear that he did have some success playing with JT Miller and Brock Besser. And if Lynn home is going to be out for the next little while, it does make it intriguing about what type of combinations they may try out. And ultimately, what may or may not work in the postseason, because I do think in the playoffs, like the game's going to look so different that I'm not sure like any of these all these combinations outside of the duos that we know are necessarily going to work there. Yeah, playoffs, a different ballgame. I will get into that when we get to the round up here in in just a moment. But I wanted to ask you this question. Sat, is Quinn Hughes still the heavy favorite for the Norris trophy? I mean, he's probably the favorite. I wouldn't say heavy favorite. Can you say heavy favorite when you have a couple of guys nipping at his heels the way they are? A couple of weeks ago, I would have said Quinn Hughes is a slam dunk. I did say it on the show. I think Quinn Hughes is the slam dunk going to win the Norris. I still feel that way about Rick Tockett winning the Jack Adams. But as far as Hughes winning the Norris, if it were up to me, I'm voting Quinn Hughes. I don't have a vote. I'm not in the PHWA. I don't get that vote, but McCar and Yossi, if I'm looking, trying to look at this objectively and trying to think about how this vote is going to go, McCar and Yossi have closed the gap a little bit to say the least on Quinn Hughes. And maybe Yossi more than even McCar, because McCar is just hummed along doing what he does. He's now more than a point, like he's got a better point per game average than than Quinn Hughes does. But as far as Yossi goes, the predator since the All-Star break are 17, two and two, right? They're on this insane run where they, since they bailed on that U2 concert, where they haven't lost in regulation in the last 18 games, it dates back to mid February, since their last regulation lost. It's wild. And Yossi, since the All-Star break, 17 points at five on five compared to Quinn Hughes's eight. Yossi, 28 points in all situations, versus 19 for Hughes. And I know there's been some speculation of Yossi getting love for the heart trophy. And that might happen given the way that he's played and how Nashville has, you know, cemented themselves into the playoff picture in the Western Conference with the way that they've played and on Yossi's back. But I wonder if that sort of thing that always happens with defenseman is, well, I'm not going to vote for a defenseman for the heart. I'm just going to, I'm going to add them on to my Norris ballot. And Yossi gets the late season narrative vote in the Norris category. I don't know if it's going to be enough to put him over Hughes, because Hughes has had such a big gap most of this season and deserves so much praise for all that he's done. But I'm curious, this is going to be a tighter race than I thought it was going to be three weeks ago. Well, to me, how the Canucks finish now matters a little bit. So for the rest of the season now, the Canucks have done a fantastic job. Like, you know, even though they lost against LA, they still sit in a really good spot, right? Even against Edmonton, their numbers are favorable. But it's still not a massive gap. You still have 10 games to go here. And it's not the easiest opponents. Dallas coming up. That's not going to be easy. So the Canucks really can't afford to stub their toe the rest of the way. Because I think if if Hughes kind of goes quiet and the Canucks don't finish first, you know, in the in the conference and they kind of have a bad finish to see some some teams kind of catch them. And you know how Reasonsy bias works for a lot of voters to look at Yoshi, look at his team, look how the Canucks trended and all of a sudden they'll just, you know, throw a votes his way or throw a quick kill him a car more votes. I'm with you. I think Hughes should win it. But I do think like this is the final stretch of the season here. And you hear the coach barking at the guys like this is not a time for you to lose focus, not only for the team, but also these individuals. If you want to come away home, come away with hardware, make sure the team finish the strong here. And that that five on five number was a little bit staggering to me to see Hughes with just eight five on five points since the all-star break. You know, that's we're talking about a 20 plus game sample. It's 22 23 type games. And that's a lower number than I would have expected for Quinn Hughes. It was way down like 33rd on the list among defenseman in that timeframe. So like a lot of Canucks, their points have tailed off with the offense that's tailed off as the season has gone on here. All right, let's get to the Canucks central roundup. So as mentioned, Dakota Joshua, back at practice, could get top line duty here with JT Miller and Besser wasn't confirmed that he would be back in the lineup tomorrow against the Dallas stars. But if he's practicing with Miller and Besser, I'd say it's more likely than not that Dakota Joshua is playing tomorrow night for the Vancouver Canucks. I would imagine so. And if they've been so patient with him and waited so long, he's had a few skates with the team now too. And if he's fully healthy, I don't know what the point is to wait one more day, unless you just want to reduce the amount of games he's exposed to before the postseason. And you look at and say, Hey, let's just give him nine games instead of 10, like whatever, right? Like, if that's going to be something that they do. But I do find it interesting that that's the first spot they're thinking of putting him and not necessarily reuniting him with Teddy Blueger, for instance. Now, no, Garland's has success. I did find it interesting because talking himself has also mentioned a few times that anytime they tried talking, I mean, tried Joshua there, it hasn't really worked. Now we said the same thing about Garland and now he's up with Patterson and it is working. We did at least work for a couple of games and we'll see how it goes the rest of the way. But I was a bit surprised to see him put him there right away, right out of the gate, to be honest. Chris and Duncan, what is Blueger thinking today, Carly, up with Petey, Dack up with Miller, and he's where two's company threes a crowd. That's from Chris and Duncan. You know, I'm here for there's 10 games left. This guy's coming back from an injury. You've tried some different things that have had a little bit of success lately. But I do wonder if, over these next few games, if we end up seeing something like what we saw before the Lindholm injury and when Andrei Kuzmenko was just sort of, uh, punted down to the fourth line or whatever, and the Canucks sort of just rolled with, um, suitor, Miller, Besser, Patterson, Hogelander, McKayev, and then Blueger, Joshua Garland. I, I, I, I bet that we see that again before the season ends, here in the next couple, couple of games that yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. I think they'll try a few things out and not that they're going to, you know, play mad scientists the rest of the way here, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do try a few different things. And to be honest, as much as I was surprised to see Dakota Joshua with Miller and, and Besser, but ahead of the postseason, I'm not sure I necessarily mind that being a trio because I know the numbers have been good with suitor playing there. Yeah. When Lindholm is healthy, I'm just not sold that, that in the postseason. There's enough space on the wings for that to truly work and enough good for checking you on the wings for that to truly work. And I think Joshua brings that at least, uh, suitor with Miller and Besser, 14 goals, just three against at five on five in the, uh, 170 plus minutes they've played together. Dakota Joshua, when he's played with JT Miller, it's not a huge sample in his two years with the Canucks, but they have not scored a goal on the ice at five on five in less than 100 minutes played together just to give you some context. Canucks retroactively placed Thatcher Demko on LTIR today and made sure to mention in the tweet that it is a roster management move. They also recalled our steep beans from the AHL and given that there's still a cloud or shroud of mystery over a, uh, Elias Lindholm, I think there was some speculation of maybe this is about that, but realistically they had enough forwards with Dakota coming back. They have enough forwards to manage that. And so, uh, this just feels like, Hey, we want to give, uh, Bain some more practice time now that the, the roster rules are not as tight here towards the end of the season. Yeah. And I mean, they only have a certain amount of recalls anyways, the rest of the way here. So, knowing they use another one here on beans, but I think they'd have two left now. They have two because they use, uh, put Colson up right after the deadline and they brought him up now. So that's two. And you do want to hold on to a spare or something in case something happens. And I do think emergency situations are also available. So we'll see ultimately what they decide to do. I'm not surprised Bain's came up, but one thing I was wondering was they gave him a bit of a look already, right? And gave him a little bit of a taste where they going to do that with somebody else that may have to lean on ahead of the postseason. And, and maybe ought, maybe ought to rot who was just so hot and because he's been on a tear recently, they just want to let him do his thing. But I wondered if they bring one or two of those guys up before the season ends to give them a little bit of a taste because who knows come postseason. If you're lucky enough to go long, far enough, you may have to lean on one of these players. Yeah, I think there's kind of a, right now a battle for the 12th forward spot on this, uh, on the playoff roster, maybe, uh, you know, with Nils Oman, Phil Dubezeppe and, uh, you can throw a facility pod Colson into that conversation for me. He'd probably be leading it with the way that he's played and sort of the, the power that he's played with in his game that I've really liked. But, uh, maybe you can add in R. C. Baines to that conversation as well. We'll have to see how this plays out. Hughes and Ronik were back at practice together. So, uh, the galaxy braining of moving, moving Ronik away from Hughes, uh, maybe, maybe finished with that. Yeah. Uh, I thought Ronik really struggled away from Hughes. He did, to be honest. And not like an eight million dollar defenseman away from Quinn Hughes. I'll say that. No, and, and also looking at the numbers, for instance, if he does, if he doesn't hit 50 points by the end of the season, like what's all the fuss about? Yeah. Like we were talking about this guy might hit 60 points. And if he gets 60 points, like, hey, how are you gonna, you know, but if we're talking 45, like this, like the season he may end up with is very much in line with the contract we talked about before, Mackenzie Wieger and Dana Seaver. Slightly more production, but not so much more that you look at and say this guy deserves an extra million and a half per year. Yeah. And it might be around seven just because of inflation with the salary cap, but that would be the only reason, uh, in my estimation for that. Uh, playoff race, Nashville beating Vegas and OT yesterday. Great comeback for them. They look pretty dangerous right now. Dallas took top spot in the West by beating the San Jose sharks. They're now on 99 points. Though some will tell you that the Canucks still are ahead by point percentage. And that will be decided tomorrow when the Canucks host the Dallas stars at Rogers Arena for game eight of the nine game home stand. This playoff race, it's, uh, it's pretty much settled after, after Vegas, uh, beat St. Louis, the other night sat, uh, it's pretty much, it's really hard to imagine anybody other than the eight that are currently in the playoffs, not making the playoffs, right? Yeah. I think it's done. That game between the blues and the nights was the blues last last chance. Have they won that game in regulation? Have they won that game in regulation? They would have been sitting there with 82 points in Vegas with 84 and it would have been interesting, right? They were 81 and 84. It went in three points off. It would have been very interesting about, you know, where they were. But I think that puts a, puts a nail on them at this point. They have another game coming up against Vegas, but I think the blues, what are their chances of making the playoffs? Like maybe, like if you're being kind, 10%, yeah, I'm not even. It's, uh, it's, it's done. It's over ladies and gentlemen. It's over. Um, I was kind of hoping the blues would sneak away, sneak in just because of further chaos. But well, the Canucks are essentially playing Nashville or Vegas, right? Nashville, uh, or the second wildcard. Yeah. And Vegas, uh, it's, it's still pretty tight with, with the LA Kings. Um, as far as, as that race goes between third and the Pacific and the other wildcard spot, but LA obviously slightly ahead and Vegas, not all that inspiring. And to be honest, the way I'm looking at it now, Sat, I'd, I'd almost prefer, um, Vegas or LA as a first round opponent than the Nashville Predators. Yeah. I don't know. I, I, I, I think it's, everything is going to be difficult. And I still think as, as hot as Nashville is, once you get into the postseason, it's, it's still a different animal. And I think the Canucks match up better against them. I just think they do as much as, you know, yes, hot streak and everything like that. I think they match up better against them. But it's not going to be easy regardless. And I do think with the way Vegas has looked, I don't think they've been as bad as they've seen place recently, but I don't think they have the same advantages. They once had over Vancouver in terms of overall style of play. So I do think that may have been to be a bit closer regardless, even if Vegas does get a few guys healthy for the postseason. Coming up, we're going to have, uh, Kevin Woodley, join us in goal magazine and NHL.com, our goalie guru, Kevin Woodley is next on Canucks Central.
