(upbeat music) - Canuck Central Thursday, it's Dan Reacho, Satyarsha here in the Kintek Studio. And we're joined for a Canuck Central round table, Bik Mizzare, is in as well. And back in studio. - He's alive. - He's alive. Freshly shaven and everything. You look like a new man. - Couldn't come back to the office. - You know what, the mic. - Oh, there we go. The mic was having issues, are we still having issues? - It's still having issues, yeah. - I thought we checked this before we started. - I thought we checked it. - Nothing has changed. You may have gotten sick and been gone for a few weeks, but the mic problems still do persist. - The studio still does not work entirely. - So, yeah, we're fine now. - No, we're good. - Yeah, all right. - Okay, he's there. - Can we start over again? - I felt like the tag team wrestler on the apron, and like his partner's getting beat up, waiting to lunge to the corner there. He's just like leading over, like, come on, babe. - You can't get back in. - Tag me in, tag me in. - And the father of the tag comes in and I'm back in studio. Business is about to pick up. - Well, yeah, and meanwhile, the other tag team partnership, they're cheating. - Yeah. - Bicks like the fifth receiver on the death chart, just waiting for us to go no backfield. Put me in coach for my three snaps of game. It's like, I want empty. (both laughing) - Heart round, heart round. - Bick is back, and that means he'll be back full-time on the post-game show as well. Tonight Canucks have the Winnipeg Jets in what is a very, very meaningless game. But, there's a lot to get into before that, because guess what, game 82, it's meaningless, but there will be a game 83 to come this weekend. Let's get to it, the Open. - Welcome to the Open. - Oh, that's your home. Are you too good for your home? Answer me! - So the Open, with a Canucks Central round table, we get to take a larger look, a big picture look at what's gone on with this team and also look ahead to the series with the Nashville Predators, which was confirmed with the Dallas Stars getting it to overtime last night against the St. Louis Blues, which was a very interesting game, by the way, but let's talk about that the better. It happened, and the Canucks are officially playing the Nashville Predators. But, you know, as this season went on, and I was thinking about it the last couple of days, like the Canucks, I know for the first bit of the season, everybody's like, is this a fluke? Like, what's going on with this team? But I really do think that where they are and the success they've had, the reason for me that it is no fluke and that I do believe they can have some playoff success, if you go back and you think about or you listen to the early messaging from Rutherford and Allvene with this roster, what they wanted to do, where they saw the issues with the roster and what they needed to do to get a lot better, they've accomplished a lot of that. They've accomplished a lot of what they said they were going to accomplish. They identified where the problems were on the roster and worked pretty hard, pretty mercilessly to fix them more aggressively than any other team in the Nashville Hockey League, as we know by Patrick Levine's trade record. We think back to the end of the Boudreau, or the end of that first season with Boudreau. And they said, you know, we need to be a team that doesn't rely on our gold tending and we have to be a lot better structurally. They didn't accomplish that with Boudreau, but they were forced into keeping him. They brought in Rick Talkett, they've brought in a bunch of new players and they've accomplished all of those things. They survived a moment in this season without Thatcher-Demco still clinched the division, even without Demco in their lineup for that 13-game stretch, 14-game stretch, whatever it ended up being. And they've accomplished being a better structured team as we've highlighted a top five defensive team in the league, not just by goals against, when you look at, when you sort through on NHL.com, but also if you look at some of the fancier stats and what, you know, some of the deeper analytics websites are able to really get. They've accomplished everything that they wanted to. And to that, I say, well, it's obvious this is no fluke. There was a time where they said, oh, there's no plan here, what are they doing? Well, they clearly had a plan, they've accomplished it, and here they are getting this team to the playoffs. - Well, this season in many ways has been an arrival, right? Not only by the players, the team, in terms of maybe being a real contender now year in and year out, but also having real competent management and having a type of overall structure you need to have a successful program in the National Hockey League. We talk about building programs, right? You look at some of the organizations that have done this now for the better part of a decade. And yes, ultimately you wanna win Stanley Cubs, but there are programs, like even Carolina, we know we make fun of some of the ways they do things, but every year they're a contender, they have a clear identity of what they are and how they go about their business, and they have a good head coach and everybody has bought into how to play. And every single season, that's a team, that's considered a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Haven't won a cup yet, but they're considered one of the premier organizations. Can the Canucks become that now? And ultimately win a Stanley Cup, and that pathway looks far more feasible today than it ever has over the past decade. - Well, it's kind of the point I've been making the last two days, and not that everyone really cares about division titles, that we don't reminisce about division titles. I couldn't even think about the year markers that they've done it in the 2000s, but doing it the first time, I do think matters to announce you got some staying power. And I went through a bunch of teams yesterday, whether it's in the West or across the league. Once you win the division, there's only really two teams that haven't really done anything there after winning the division the first time. And it's Florida when they had Steven Weiss kind of leading the team, and it was the Arizona team with Shane Dohn and OEL, kind of starting to emerge where they had been to the playoffs a couple of times, and nothing happened thereafter. They went on to miss a bunch of times. Everyone else kind of has some staying power, whether it's, you know, Patrangelo Horizon St. Louis, Ovi and Washington go through it. Everyone kind of does something, and it can culminate in multiple Stanley Cups, or at least a cup final. And now that you get to the first place, and we talked about how many times what we said here is that. And like, well, they have 100 point centers. These guys tend to go to the cup finals. All these markers are kind of lining up, whether it's this year or it's in the future, you do this, that to me is the big signal that, hey, you're arrived, and this should be habit now. This is not a one and done, get punched out, and that's what everyone didn't want to see. Squeak in, get a wild card. You win the division, 50 wins. That's difficult. And to achieve that level, to me shows a certain level of sustainability that it can happen again. And more importantly, it should happen again. Maybe not 50, but being in this range, 105 points should be consistent. - Well, being a division winner usually means you are staying beyond one season. - Yeah, 100%. - It's, you know, generally we don't see huge upticks in success. Like, I know, Sat, you've mentioned the point increase. They've gone year over year from last year to this year. It's one of the great ones in franchise history. But generally, yeah, you don't see teams gain 30 points year over year, or close to 30 points year over year. Especially not a team that goes from 84 points to 111 points. Maybe a team that goes from 50 some odd points or 60 some odd points to 85, 90, but this type of uptick is more rare in the National Hockey League. And you look at all the top teams. And I think, you know, the Canucks do still have work to do to add another impact player. I'm not saying they don't, but they've talked about, and they mentioned it at the beginning of the year, they mentioned it when Alias Pedersen signed on for his big money extension. The core is here. JT Miller, Alias Pedersen, Quinn Hughes, Thatcher, Demko. They are locked in at least for the next two years after this one. And you're putting pieces around those guys. You're building your program around that group. And I think that's why you can see some staying power beyond this year. But I also think the success of this season has changed expectations a little bit. You get 50 points, you win your division, you are the second seed in the Western Conference. You can't just, you made a big trade at the deadline. You can't just be a team that says, oh, we're happy, we're happy we made the playoffs. That was ultimately our baby step goal, our first step in the rebuild of the Vancouver Canucks. - So if the Canucks lose in the first round, we would all deem it a failure, right? - I mean, I would deem it this season a failure, but that doesn't mean the progression of the franchise is a failure. - Well, and I know that's sitting on the fence there. - No, but to me, the way I would say failure, failure is too strong a word. - The way I view it would be it's a failure if this is the one and done. - If this was your best chance with this group to have success, then it's going to be a failure if you lose in the first round. - If it's not, if it's a window to a new, say, era of competitive hockey where the Canucks actually become an even better version than the current team they have and get even better than that the next few years and truly continue year in and year out, well, it's part of the progress of getting there where I could live with that result as heartbreaking as it is 'cause we've seen Tampa Bay Lightning, don't forget the best regular season ever and then gets swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in last year. - But then they went on to win two Stanley Cups and go to three straight cup finals. So it wasn't exactly a failure in the moment, but it wasn't a failure of their organization, right? - To borrow a quote from Rick Talkett, it was a learning lesson. - Yeah, it was. Now, I'm hopeful that's not the case. The way I view this year is if you get past the Preds, you can't deem the season a failure anymore. You can say, hey, you wanted to get more. You say you wanted them to go to the conference final given the trade they made. I say if they get to the conference final, the trade is a success for Lindholm, but if you get to the first round, to me it's you got to win a round. That's the way I view this season. And yeah, I want to see more than that, but if you're playing, say Vegas, we just won the cup or even Edmonton, that's who you're facing in the next round. It's not like you can say, hey, the Canucks are a favorite to win that series to say that the expectation is they have to win it. - Missed opportunity, whatever you want to call them. They changed the expectations when they traded that pick. I would have said, hey, you make playoffs, like I'd like to try to be consistent at start of the season. It said the big goals were make the playoffs and sign Alias Pedersen. Well, they did both, but to me, they changed the expectations when you traded the pick. And in the silo of this season, that to me, it's fair for everyone to judge it differently. Now, once you give up that pick 'cause you want rewards from that, you gave up potential in a player, it should be met with some rewards. - Yeah, you don't trade a first round pick in a pretty high prospect, a valued prospect for a first round exit. - No, but it's an opportunity. And this year, we look at it and say it's a wide open field. - Yeah. - Yes, there are teams you rank above Vancouver in terms of likelihood of winning the Stanley Cup, but it's not like the gap is so big that you don't take your chances. And honestly, I think the way I look at their cap situation and Vic mentioned getting Pedersen signed up a long term here too. - How often do you tell yourself 11.6? - 11.6, all the time, I mean, yeah. - Some people might curse and be like, "11.6." - A lot of people are mad about it still. You should see that post-game shows, they haven't been around the last little bit. - Look, I haven't been able to talk, but I've had the text of the book. - Yeah, you've seen what people say about Pedersen still, right? But I think when you look at the long-term picture, especially with the way they've shown their draft and development improving, do they actually have something real intangible with a couple of their younger prospects? Can they turn, put colds into something? Would they just sign to a two-year deal? We'll talk about that coming up in a bit. But there are things that they've also shown that they're capable of doing that, well, it's not to say they can find another star player or two. - Yeah. - And if they do that, like this team is really going to be a year-and-a-year-out contender. So I think, yes, you give up a pick this year. Expectation is you have to have some level of a playoff success. But if this is the first year of a sustained winner, then get used to being in the post-season and get used to having your team a year-and-a-year-out being contender. And to me, no matter what happens this year, if that's what's going to be the end result of it, then you shouldn't worry about it all the time. - The bruise would heal quickly. - Yes. - If this was consistent. - But I know people will look you out and say, "Well, it's been 10 years, sat." Like they haven't even sold that. - Well, we got a text right now. It's like, seriously, if the other, we haven't seen the playoffs in nine years. - Yeah. And now I think this point is like, hey, just be happy about the playoffs. But I know some people say missed opportunity if you have to do something this year, 'cause they haven't been in the playoffs forever. But if this is actually the beginning of something sustainable long-term. - Yeah. - But they don't make the trade for Lindholm if they're just happy with being in the playoffs. - Oh no, of course. - Mm-hmm, right. - 'Cause you see the opportunity as it should. - That's a signal of, hey, we think we're more than just a happy to get into the playoffs kind of team. And they've proven that all over the course of the year that they are a team that can fly with some of the big guns. Are you going to pick them in a series over the Colorado Avalanche? Not many people would, but, you know, all of those games they played with the Colorado Avalanche were pretty close. And thin margins, fine lines to borrow another quote from a former Vancouver coach. It's what has made this team so good this year is their defensive capabilities and how they've been able to stay in a lot of these games. But they've done that all season long. They did end up the season with one of the better records against playoff teams or teams that are going to the postseason. So that's something you can bank on. And going into the series against Nashville, the fact that you get Nashville raises expectations for me as well. Because yes, this is one of the few teams that's in the postseason that I wouldn't consider a cup contender. I would consider more on the end of, we're happy to be here kind of playoff team. We didn't expect necessarily to be a playoff team this year. And it's gravy that we are. That's how I view the Nashville Predators. - Well, the fear people have of the Fred of the Preds is how they play down the stretch. - Did you try saying frauds there? I think you tried saying frauds. - The Freds. - Yeah, they came out as frags. - The frauds. Well, given what their PR responses to a simple request. - Yeah, we won't be getting Barry Trotter, Andrew Burnett on the show before the series begins. - And usually, hey, you send in a request or whatever. Somebody just says no, but it was kind of a spicy this one. I won't say too much, Josh. I know that's your job, but I don't want to be throwing you out. - They were not very nice to me. - Yeah, they were. - But it was like, I mean, he was doing his job. - They should've been like, Josh is one of the nicest guys around. I don't know why they had to be sassy about it. - And have been like, oh, I have a broken wrist. - Yeah, you should've led with that. - The soft story. - Josh, I like Wolf. - It took me 45 minutes to type this. It took me 45 minutes to type this in my left hand. I'm right handed. - I can actually tell you so long that I'm having milk, too. - You know, there's like speech to text, right? - Yeah, I started using that. - Not very yet. - No. But yeah, so maybe from that, that I respect, but the fear people will have of them is that they're a hot team heading into the playoffs and they're going to be tough to handle. - They've been one of the best teams since the All-Star break, right? - And I think that's the fear people have, is that, hey, the Canucks are meeting a buzzsaw and they're going to cut through them in the postseason, even though the Canucks are a better team, right? That's the fear people have. I don't know if it's misplaced, but I do think the Canucks should win this series. And I think the Canucks are very capable of winning this series. And I would probably be surprised if the Canucks don't win this series. - That's why I think expectations have changed, too, right? And now, you know, if you get Vegas in the first round, I think people can say, oh, Mark Stone came back and all this thing, all this happened, you had a far hard fought series with the defending Stanley Cup champions. What are you going to do? But the fact that it is Nashville opens the door and you should feel like you are the favorite. The betting odds tell you that the Canucks are a favorite in this series and should come out the victors of this series. Is that always how it works? No, but for me, it raises expectations and it would be a disappointment to not at least get to the second round with the way that this series has played out. And it's another series, it's an opponent where you say if the Canucks play their game, if they play and they show what they've done for the course of 82 games, then yeah, they should be the team that comes out on top because they've shown to be that kind of team. I don't even think about the three games they played in the first half of the season where they walloped Nashville in a couple of them. It's just you're the two seed, they're a seven seed. We know who the better team is here. If you take care of your own, you should come out the victor of the series. Yeah, it's real simple when you lay it out like that. And also think of the commentary that was coming from Nashville less than a calendar year ago. Barry Trust takes over and we're talking about their draft process and they're sitting here like, we have to redo how we do things. We're gonna take shots in the draft and high upside. That's what they were thinking about, less than a year ago. They wanted to reshape who they were. They had similar rhetoric to Rutherford and Avin when they first took over too. Like we gotta change culture and do these kinds of things. But it's a year advanced. Yeah. And even Trust himself, I know he's on the Jeff Merrick show a few weeks before the deadline. He said, "Hey, we have to make smart decisions." So he does do hits. Yeah, he does, but just, you know. (laughing) But he mentioned that at the deadline we have to be serious and they were actually shopping sorrows or at least listening to real offers on sorrows at one point this season. Yeah. Like they were in that state not that long ago. A U2 concert, same for a season. Like that's what we're talking about here. Yeah. And like all the respect to them. And I really like Philip Forresburg. I've talked about it for years. Yeah. Yossi's awesome. Ryan O'Reilly, we're familiar about Ryan O'Reilly in the city here with the St. Louis series. But you should be able to overcome. Yeah. There is a drop off with their secondary scoring and their secondary threats. Well, to me, it's a lot of effort, man. Yeah. This series is gonna come down to details 'cause as much as, yes, the Canucks have the overall skill advantage, their second, third, and fourth lines are not scary. But they can all play cable hockey. Tommy Novak plays good hockey, right? He's been a good duo. He's been solid this season so far for them. And also, Colton Scissants has had a really strong season. Yeah. So the Cole Smith line with A.J. McCarron and Kiefer Sherwood, those guys have speed. They forecheck like crazy. They're tough to play against. And every single shift, they go as hard as they can, right? So the Canucks, to me, it's just like, you can't let up at all. You can't show immaturity as a team that feels like, oh, we're superior, we're gonna win. You have to fight for every single inch on the ice. If you do that, the Canucks will win this series. And if they, for any reason, have hubris or let themselves feel like they're the better team or get ahead of themselves, they'll be in trouble. That's what I'm excited to see, right? 'Cause this is, I just imagine what the mindset is for these players that management has discounted the bubble playoffs. The coaching staff has now discounted the bubble playoffs. And you had a real look at what this feels like. And I don't wanna completely dismiss bubble playoffs. I think it lives somewhere between regular season games and regular playoffs, but it's clearly a step up. It's clearly something that they're gonna have to learn in real time. And okay, this is an edge the predators do have. They do have Ryan O'Reilly. They do have Ryan McDonough. They do have Roman Yossi. Like some of these guys have gone through it. But to what you said, it's not that you have to do it because it's the predators. You have to do it because it requires it to be done in the playoffs. And how quickly do they adjust to the level? And credit to the Canucks and some of these players that every time we've questioned that, okay, what's the start gonna look like? They answered that. Okay, there's a lull. How are you gonna rebound from that? They answer that. You lost two games in a row. Are you gonna do it? They answer that. No, they eventually lose three. But every time this kind of crept up, they were able to answer it. And that to me is a big question going to the playoffs. Are you gonna answer that one? And that I think is where a lot of still guarded hearts are right now of Canucks fans as well. Of are they prepared to see that next step? And to match it, 'cause you haven't seen it in nine, 10 years. We haven't. And look, a lot of these players haven't as well. JT Miller's had some long playoff runs. Ian Cole is one of the most decorated playoff players. He's joining lists with Mike Cylinger for playing with as many playoff teams as Mike Cylinger. You know, when you've got that kind of a stat, you've been around a little bit, but he's proven to be a really good find for this team. And I think a lot of the series does come down to speed and how you deal with Nashville's quick transition offense. We, Rick Talkett has wanted to create more of that in Vancouver. They've found it at times that really like North South kind of game being very direct and vertical. Nashville found it. After the U-2 thing, they had the buy-in. And you know, you just see the way they activate Roman Yossi. They get four guys in activating on an aggressive forecheck, turning pucks over in the defensive zone and quickly turning it into offense. Like dealing with Nashville speed is gonna be one of the big keys for the series for the Vancouver Canucks, but it's not something they haven't been able to do through the course of the year. - No, obviously for a team, they have 99 points on the season. - Yeah. - They had a great run at the end. You have some real talent and edges as a team when you get to almost 100 points, right? And those are the types of things you have to limit. They also have some weaknesses you can exploit. As much as we talk about Sorrows, he's still been underwhelming on the totality of the season. What Sorrows are you getting in the playoffs? And I think that's part of it too. And the other thing too is, yes, the lack of depth they have in scoring in tighter games can be a real issue for them, especially if they play another team that matches their intensity, which I think Vancouver will do. And their defense outside of Yossi and McDonough, and they play those guys together a lot too. Like that's not some great shakes. - Yeah. - I know Luke Shen plays hard, but you can work 'em. If you talk about Lozon, he's been really physical, but you can work him as well. They have some weaknesses. Carrie A is probably their third best defense man, and even him, he's like a number four. - Yeah. - Four or five, you know? So like that defense outside of Yossi and McDonough, if the connects get on a four check, can you get a cycle going on those guys, go to the middle of the ice, they can exploit that defense. - The thing is, is like every part of Nashville you like, you can see it pairs with Vancouver, and you should be able to overcome it. - Do you even want to say like, well, they're strong down the middle. Novak and some guys, well, it's Patterson Miller, JT. - Or Lindholm. - Yeah, sorry, Lindholm. So you should be able to say, whoever O'Reilly is going against, someone's gonna have a plus matchup, and somebody should be able to win in a big way. And Lindholm should be able to win any defensive matchup in that scenario there. If he has to go against O'Reilly, if he has to go against Novak, whatever it is. And I like those players, I like Novak, I like systems, but the expectation is you better win that matchup in a big way. - Yeah, and the spine of the team with the Canucks having Miller, Patterson, Lindholm, through the middle of the ice, like that's a lot more than what Nashville can offer. - That's the edge you've paid for. - Yeah, yeah, you have so O'Reilly, JT, you take JT, Novak, Patterson, you take Patterson, Lindholm, Sizzons, you take Lindholm, Fourth Line, Cole Smith and Blueger, call that a wash if you want. - Yeah. - And if you want, you can call it even say, Blueger is a better one, but so you don't really, you're not losing any of the center battles. - No, and so the Canucks do have a big edge here on the Nashville Predators. Let's quickly get to the Canucks Central roundup before we round up the round table. Facility Pod Cole's signing a two-year extension, a $1 million average annual value set. I know you tweeted kind of along the same development path here as Nils Hoaglander was a year ago. - Yeah, it's the same contract almost identical, that one was 1.1 for Hoaglander. Now, Hoaglander, that won't drug out until the off season took awhile and he finally signed it late. This one got down a bit earlier at 1 million, so I think it's the same kind of ballpark. And having we seen a similar pathway for him so far this year, he's been far better when he's returned. He looks to be understand, he looks to understand what to do, it looks to find an identity as a player. The only question is can he find offense? And that's the same question we have about Hoaglander, and he's answered that in a big way this year. - Yeah, look, it's exactly what I would have done. It just strikes me as interesting as I said, this is sad. It's like $2 million for every point that he has this year. - It's really odd, but it's the right move to make, it just looks odd. And I know it's weird, it's like, I think we all know that there is offensive pop to his game. - There's been a lot of pop to his game since he came back. - I know there's no production. - I absolutely love what he's done since he's come back. I have no qualms with him in the lineup, and he's stable, he's sturdy, he's reliable, doesn't look like he's out of place defensively, so you're in the lineup and a million dollars is nothing. But it's like, I'd like to see chances. Like we get mad at McCain, I'm not converting chances, but he's creating chances. Yeah, I'm just like, where is this offense? He scored goals, he's clearly got it in him, but that's the bit for the future, not necessarily right now, for the future is like, where's that part? - I do, like everybody knows and makes the joke, I'm the number one fan in the Field Digisepa fan club. But I have no issues with Podkolzen being in the lineup ahead of Field Digisepa for that 12th forward spot, essentially, right? - Well, you hope he's gonna be better next year. The hope is like, the better you're making here is that through the off season, now it's an experience, next year we can take a step, just like Hogan under dead. And if he does, then you have a guy at 1 million. And I also think it's a bit of a hint towards how this team is gonna fill out a lot of their spots that are gonna be available, 'cause we're not gonna be able to bring back Blueger and everybody. I wouldn't be surprised then, I don't know, I mean, of course, Podkolzen will be there playing next season, but also that at least one of our steep bains, or even Rottu, or somebody comes in and plays. Like, I think they wanna give a couple of spots, at least, to guys like Podkolzen and the Rottu types, and even our steep bains types. I think their hope is that it's gonna be a cycle coming up through their organization, as opposed to having to sign a bunch of guys to play those roles. - Or trade for Sam Lafferty. - Yeah, sure. - During the training camp, right? - Yeah. - Again, the way they've done this, and now when you can show this is how you do it, to the rest of the players in the organization, and through Appitsford, that during the season, you can graduate. - Yeah. - Hogander, right, started low in the lineup, works his way up, but Colzen started, not even on the main roster, well, I guess technically on the day one, but works his way up, and now your mainstay, and PDG slides down to a more natural spot, but you still have value within the organization, and this is what they can do. So if Rottu and main started as 13th forward, or first call up, it's, hey, it's not about today, where we're building towards something. We'll talk to you in January, and you could have a real role on this team when it matters for us, if you take these steps over 40 games. - Brock Besser didn't travel, so he will not play against the Winnipeg Jets, we know he has been nursing, some kind of an injury, had a bunch of maintenance days, even when he scored his 40th goal, Rick Talkett mentioned after the game, and it was really touch and go, if Brock was even going to play tonight, so he has been dealing with something, Canucks elected to not even have Besser travel for this final game of the season. Miller, Cole, and Heronic will also sit out the final game, but I think the interesting part of this is, Miller, Besser, Heronic, Hughes, and Pedersen all played 81 plus games this year. - Yeah. - That's pretty remarkable. Like the amount of health that they had at the top of their roster is incredibly remarkable. - Yeah, the worst injuries they had were obviously to Demko, and then Carca Susie missing half the season. - Yeah, beyond that, it was like Pew Souter and Blooger being out for a little bit of a time to go to Joshua, obviously, but there's been a lot more health in Vancouver than we're used to. - Huge credit, 'cause they made changes, right? Training staffs and strength conditioning staffs, so huge credit to them. Whatever worked, and if there's elements of luck to it, of course, with injuries, but-- - Of course there is luck, right? - It worked. - But I do think they put themselves in a better position, also with how much better prepared they were, physically coming into a training camp. The coach talked about we want guys being better conditioned. I mean, nothing gets you more injured than playing through fatigue. - Yes. - And I always think about former Blue J's GM now World Series winning GM, Alex Santhopolis. - Just had to twist the knife, but he always used to say, like, staying healthy is a skill. - Yeah. - And for a friendly-- - Availability is a skill, so Canucks have done a really good job with that this year. Predators have restricted ticket sales for home games to residents of the Nashville Predators viewing area, so if you're a Canucks fan looking to go down for Nashville for games three and four maybe, you might have to be looking at the secondary ticket market. - Yeah, I think that's what you have to do. There are still ways around it, and this is nothing new, like Nashville is always-- - A lot of these American teams have done this when they go up against Canadian teams. - My only comment on this is that every sports fan base and every continent, sports fans are tribal. - Yes. - In North America, sports fans are tribal and really stupid ways. Like stuff like this, you know what I mean? Whereas in Europe, they'll have supporter sections that can use the stuff. - They've been for the way, yeah. - It's fantastic. The away crowd, they have a designated area for them, creates this great buzz in the buildings and the rivalries get heated, but everyone loves the fact that you can do that. That doesn't exist really in North American sports, and I think it's too bad, 'cause I think if you have real supporter sections for away teams, even at away games, you're traveling fans and stuff like that, especially if that was a big thing that teams would do, then I think it would create a better atmosphere. - I mean, even the light caps do it for when they play the sounders and the timbers and stuff like that, so it's like, I don't know. I agree with you on that one. Kind of funny with the Nashville Predators and just how sassy they've been around Vancouver rights lately. Vic, we appreciate it. We'll hear you on post-game tonight. - Love you in back, boys. - Yup, sounding good too. We like that. - Thank you. - Your voice does exist still. - You sound like a mix of Fergie and Jesus. It is Canucks Central, more on Canucks Jets and the playoffs to come. Next, on Sports at 650. - Miss any part of Halford and Bruv in the morning? Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcast and don't miss an episode. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Back in on Canucks Central. Dan Reachow, Satya Arshah, here in the Kintec Studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soarfeet, what are you waiting for? Canucks Central is for Enzyme Pacific Vancouver's Premier Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep Superstore on 2nd Avenue between Canby and Maine or at EnzymePacificChrysler.ca. It is the Canucks and the Winnipeg Jets. Go on tonight in Winnipeg, game 82, which has zero on the line for both teams. - Yeah, none. Zero is not a, doesn't matter. And even the coach was like, you know how to talk, it doesn't like to look ahead. And his thing on, and during his availability today was, yeah, we just wanna get through this game and get back home and prepare for Nashville. - Like, he never talks about getting ahead. He's like, we just wanna get on the plane and get back home and prepare for Nashville. - Well, they know it's a preseason game, essentially. It's, I wouldn't even say it's a final tune up because you don't, guys don't wanna get hurt, right? Like tonight, the biggest thing is like, do not get hurt. Like, no extra curriculars. - Please don't get injured. - Yes, that's going to be the big thing. Elias Patterson and Quinn Hughes will both be in the lineup. They will have 82 games for the season, both of them. So, what's gonna happen? Tomorrow, we're gonna have a lot going on. We're gonna have Yana Kansen, but more importantly, we're gonna team up and tee up the full series, give you the big tail of the tape between the Canucks and the Nashville Predators and also get ready for the rest of the Stanley Cup playoffs as well. But that's now where the focus lies for this team. And, you know, it's been such a good season for the Vancouver Canucks set. You think about all the things that have gone right. You think about Jim Rutherford saying, if everything goes right for us, we should have success this year. A lot has gone right. But it goes back to something, you know, we've talked about so much, and I guess the Canucks have talked about too. Like, if you're prepared, you should have success. And they came into the season much more prepared, and here they are finishing first in the Pacific Division. - Yeah, I mean, so many things have turned around, but maybe the simplest thing sometimes goes the longest way. And it's preparation hard work. It's very simple, but it pretty much comes down to that. Of course, the talent infusion has been massive, and they wouldn't be where they are without the infusion of talent that they've had. But a lot of it just comes down to the simple things, right? And that's been the most, I think, stark contrast that last year, where you watched them play games, you wondered, do these guys even understand how to play proper hockey? - Yeah. - Which seemed like an absurd question about NHL players on NHL games. - Early on in Tockets 10 year, they're doing stop and start drills. Like, puck goes here, we go there, puck goes there, we go here. - Yeah, it was very much like P-We. It was very condescending in many ways, right? - It was 14 months ago. - Yeah, it was very pedantic, I'd say, in terms of teaching players what to do, but they kind of needed that. It shows you how lost the entire group was, and it wasn't just because of the players themselves. It was the overall environment in the organization. The Boudro thing was a massive part of it. And now, before that, it was the management team hasn't hadn't changed. Now, that changed over. So, all of these things have to get cleaned out organizationally, and as it did, now, they look completely different. It's a complete 180 on how they played with their habits last year, beginning of the season, versus where they are this year with their habits. They've been one of the best teams in the NHL, playing proper clean hockey for the most part, and that's why oftentimes you would hear this past season, coaches from other teams really sing the praises of how the Canucks buy in and play the way, and play the right way most nights. - It's been a remarkable turnaround. The culture of the team, as I said in the opening segment during the round table, the stick-to-itiveness. But the plan of, here's what we have to do, and going out and accomplishing a lot of those things has been part of maybe the biggest reason for their success. We always knew that the value of Miller, Pedersen, Hughes, Demko was pretty high, and at least those four players could give you a shot at being a pretty decent hockey team. It was everything around them that was often holding the team back, and those guys leveled up, not just from a point scoring and that kind of perspective, but I think as leaders, they all leveled up, and really started to set a new standard for the Vancouver Canucks as cliche as that sounds, but the proof is in the pudding. This is how the Canucks went about having success this year, and a lot of it comes down to that core, and the way that things have worked out beyond them. Was there somebody on the team that surprised you the most during the course of this season? - Yeah, for Hoaglander, I'd say. But that's the guy for me, right? I think I wasn't sure he would be able to hold on to a regular spot on the lineup this season, let alone be in the top six, and here he is doing both. - He dominated as a fourth line guy, had a few cameos and top six appearances, it never lasted long in the early parts of the season, and then eventually, Rick Tock, it was like, "I can't hold this guy back anymore." He's my best option next to Elias Pedersen. - 24 goals on the campaign. - Yeah. - Did not see that coming. - You know, so that's the guy that probably surprised me the most. - Yeah, I think it's beyond Hoaglander, as much and as crazy as it sounds like. I don't know if I was, I am overly surprised with Dakota Joshua's breakout season. Like, he still had double digit goals last year. You know, he saw a little bit of an uptick, and I think his overall game took a step playing with Connor Garland. But as far as like, where, I didn't know how much of a factor Hoaglander was going to be at the start of the season, and he ends up being a top six player. Like, that's a huge gap to overcome, whereas Joshua went more from like fourth line forward to third line top nine forward for this team. - Yeah, and you know what? Like, he's a great candidate too, 'cause you're right. I mean, he scored 11 goals last year, 23 points, but it pales in comparison to 18, 32 in 62 games versus 79 games last season. If he didn't get injured, he probably gets 20 goals on the year. - Yeah, which is a massive number to hit, right? And it's a surprise because of where he was right after training camp. He was one of the players the coach called out initially for not coming into camp within as good a shape as they wanted. Didn't say he came into batch. They didn't say he came, showed up in bad shape, but they were demanding excellence, and he didn't meet the standard. - And she overcame that. - He did. - Overcame an early healthy scratch. - Healthy scratch, and he looked kind of out of place for much of the preseason early in the season too, but he kind of played himself in the shape. He worked himself in the shape, and he really took a big step, so I think he's a great candidate too, 'cause early this season, you were kind of wondering, is he gonna be in the dog house here? - It certainly looked that way, you know? You get called out from not showing up in great shape after a decent season. - Well, we were talking at the end of training camps, like, man, this guy's an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. He's got the size, the tools. He's got everything to be able to work into a pretty nice raise for next season, and he seems to be dropping the ball, and obviously that didn't turn out to be the case. The chemistry with Connor Garland has been unbelievable. You know, they were great when they first put them together with Pew Souter, and then it continued when Souter went down and Blueger took over that spot, and obviously now, I mean, it's kind of the running joke that just Joshua and Garland are the most sure bet on this team amongst other things. - Yeah, it's just, it's incredibly massive, and I mean, I've come around in a big way, and I'd still be somewhat leery of a big number. You know, I wouldn't touch 4 million, obviously, like, some people have mentioned, somewhere around three or something, okay, three years, okay, I can get behind something along those lines, but if he's looking for something bigger and greater than it may end up being elsewhere, but, yeah, like, I wasn't, I was with you. I was like, you know what? What an opportunity missed for this guy. - Yeah. - You know, 'cause the NHL is drooling for players like this. If you show any level of competence, you're going to get a contract. If you show decent play, you're getting paid, and if you show a spectacular play, I mean, you know, look at what Tom Wilson's getting paid for instance, right? So the fact that he sees it, I think, has been massive for him individually, too. I'm happy for him. He's a guy who's, up until last year, only played like 30 games at a time or 40 games a year before, and really only has had tastes in NHL for two years. Like, not at all on anybody's radar. Hasn't made any real money in terms of NHL caliber money, and now he's able to set himself up for life. - And underrated defensive acumen, too, as a player. - PK, especially. On the PK is pretty good, and obviously starting to work. What could be the shutdown line for the Canucks with the Lyslynholm, Joshua, and Garland here in the playoffs, but also trusted in late game situations. He scored the empty netter the other night against the Edmonton Oilers to really seal that game. So, you know, we've seen a lot of progression out of Dakota, Joshua, this year. I think the other obvious candidate is Brock Besser. There was a lot of hope for Brock Besser. I know a lot of people have a strong connection to Besser and his story and his growth here in Vancouver after being drafted, and following along with his story last year, the trade request that was then rescinded, he put in the work last summer and showed up, I know it's cliche, best shape of his life for the start of this season, but it paid off in spades, and he ends up as a 40 goal scorer. You know, the first year of Brock Besser's career, that rookie season when he finishes his Calder finalist, he's the Brock star, he shows up, there's not a lot of other exciting things going on, and you're like, man, this guy's gonna score 40 goals in the league. What an incredible find in late in the first round for the Canucks, Brock Besser, unbelievable. And then it really started to fade, and he only scored 18 goals last year. That's a 22 goal increase year over year for Brock Besser. Is it a surprise to see him as a 40 goal scorer? I would say, yeah, I really had doubts after Besser's season last year that we would see this player come close to a 40 goal campaign, but he put it all together this year. Yeah, no he did, and the consistency in which he played. Yeah, more than anything else. Got two harder areas of the ice. Yeah. Essentially that's a lot of what it came down to. It's not like Brock was sniping goals. Like the lasting memory I have of Brock, or one of the lasting memories of Brock's rookie season is like him staring down Carey Price and beating him glove hand, and you're like, this guy's shot is incredible. He's gonna score on goalies all the time. That shot, he still has it, but it's not his main way of scoring goals. He's developed into a net front guy, a guy who's scoring goals around the crease, getting into dirty areas, and that's if you're gonna consistently score 40 goals in the league or 30 plus goals in the league, you have to play in those areas 'cause there's just not a lot of guys that score often from distance in the national hockey league. No, and the question with him is how sustainable is this year for Brock Besser? Is he a guy that you feel comfortable now giving a long-term contract to, that he can live up to this? I think that's a bigger question. Now we have Brock Besser because he's put himself into a position much like Dakota Joshua, but at a far greater scale, that he's getting paid and getting paid a lot of money. So I think that's something for him. He's done a fantastic job in ensuring too with the season he's had. Patty and Van, Myers, Souter, and Blueger were all nice surprises for Patty and Van. I am a little bit floored to hear Myers even mentioned by somebody in a positive light on the 650, 650 Dunbar Lumber text messaging box. Well, would you, I mean, like he looked at his overall numbers. This is the best year he's had as a Vancouver Connect in terms of his overall production, 29 points on the season, which puts him in the top 23 in scoring for right-handed defensemen in NHL. And I know I'm like, you know, specifying right-handed defensemen, but 23rd in terms of right-handed defensemen scoring is not a bad thing to have in a league that does not have enough productive righty defensemen to begin with. - The, since I started the show with this comment, a lot of the things that Rutherford and Alveen said turned out to be true and they were able to accomplish a lot of those things. One thing they said, a lot of the players we have here would play better in a more structured environment. Myers is maybe the best example of that. You know, you finally, is he a $6 million defenseman? No, but they got him to a place where he's a valued part of the defense core, even if he's not living up to the $6 million price tag next to his name, but he's still been, he's had his best year as a Connect and still been a valued member of this Decor this season. Another text coming in, Zadorov. After the trade in the first few games, I thought he was, I thought it was a bad trade. He's looked great and has added toughness to the backend. I think he'll be a great playoff D man. Zadorov, he hits all ends of the spectrum because when he has great games, man, he jumps off the page and then there's other games where you're like, what are you doing? - Yeah, and that's why ultimately, if he's looking at four or five million, it's kind of tough, but he has a lot of positive trades to him, right? But it's a consistency with him too. Like he can have two or three games where it's like a nine out of 10 and then he'll have like a four. - Yeah. - You know, and the floor can be low. And not, I mean, I wouldn't say it's quite as dramatic as Myers has been at times in the past, but it's kind of somewhere along those lines. - Dan Rachel and Satyarsha coming up, the pregame for game 82, the finale, Canucks, and Winnipeg Jets, that's coming up next on the Sportsnet Radio Network. [MUSIC PLAYING]
