(upbeat music) - Back in on Canucks Central, it's Dan Reacho, Satty R. Shaw, final segment. Canucks Central in the Kintec Studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet, what are you waiting for? That is a Friday, and yes, we are less than, well, we are 48 hours from Puck drop, or they're about at least. We've got a lot of questions in the mailbag, so let's get to it. It's a playoff mailbag here on threat central. Best music in the business. Producer Josh, Elliott Wolf. - Hello. - Hi. - How you feeling today? - You know what? Feeling great. Feeling fine. - I keep telling Josh, he's got to start shopping at the left Toria with Ned Flanders. - Has he revealed what's happened to me in the world? - Oh, for context. I think I put it on Twitter, but I was playing softball, slid into a base, unnecessarily, by the way. It was completely on me. Rist got caught under me, it broke. Broken wrist on the right hand. - Man, I'm right handed. - Yeah, that's tough, that's tough. I mean, the lesson is, do not slide in a slow pitch. - No, that was like the first time I've ever done it too. - Well, I was surprised. - People don't slide. - Well, I've played on slow pitch teams and leagues so that if you slide, you're automatically out. - Oh. - It's to protect yourself from yourself, so you don't hurt yourself. - Who would say, yeah, you know what? That sounds like a great rule. (laughing) - Well, Josh, we appreciate you. Anyway, thank you. - Yeah. - To start with this one from Blue Lion Bar Down. Overall, what did you guys enjoy most about the season? Mine was the emergence of the Quinn Hughes point shot. - Honestly, talking about 50 victories on the post-game show. Honestly, man, like the fact that we spent the majority of this season talking about this team being good, winning, fun hockey games, being atop the standings, players having incredible seasons, that's the best part of it for me. - It was, look, for the first time really, since I've been here, maybe outside of the 1920 season, which was teetering on the brink of going down the drain before the COVID pause happened. Like, there was a lot of really good hockey. Yeah, it's really hard to pinpoint one thing, like Besser's 40 goals or JT going over 100 points, Hughes doing this. They played as a team. They played good hockey, you know? Defensively, they were sound. Fundamentally, they were sound. We weren't seeing some of the garbage that we saw for the last couple of years. Like unprepared, going down to nothing first five minutes of a first period because the team is consistently plagued by slow starts. All of the turnovers at the offensive blue line that would turn into offensive, you know, or sorry, odd man, Russia's going back the other way. They eliminated so many of the ugly parts of their game. And I just really appreciated watching a quality hockey team for so much of this season. And they gradually got better as the year went on. I know the results weren't there towards the end, but, you know, the way they played just before the all-star break and how their game really started to come together towards the end of the year, that stretch where they swept Anaheim, LA, Vegas, and came home to start the nine-game home stand and had the five-nothing win over Winnipeg. Like, they were clicking at such a high level during that run. Like, that was some of the best hockey I'd seen, certainly out of this Canucks organization since we started the show, Canucks Central, a couple of years ago, easily. - Well, I'd also made them very easy to, you know, back as a season went on to, right? And even early on when people pointed towards the PDO stuff and the shooting percentage stuff. And, you know, you and I were very adamant also back on the post-game show that it's like, yeah, you can look at some of those things, but if you're watching these games, breaking these games down, how they're taking early leads, taking advantage of their chances, and then score effects take over. But if you look at the fundamentals of how they're playing, they're playing really good hockey. And this will turn. As the season goes on, those things will be illuminated and they have been. So, the best part about it was, yeah, they won a lot of games, but they were full value for the season that they had. It wasn't this, you know, big time, super lucky run, 'cause for all the luck they got, it kind of turned the other way a little bit towards the end of the season. They still finished very strong and all that, and had things go their way. But it wasn't like they were lucky to be where they were at the end of the season. I think that's a big part of backing a team and believing they can be something and do something, and they exhibited those things this year. - Love it, great question, next. - Next one from Taj, do you think the series is more likely to go seven games or for the Canucks to win in four? - Ooh. I would say seven. - Can you ask me to repeat the question again? - So, if you had to choose one of the two outcomes, is it more likely that the Canucks and Preds series go seven games or that the Canucks sweep the predators? - Ooh. - If somebody who picked them in five games, is it gonna sound weird if I say seven? - No. - I'll say seven. I think... - Sweeping is hard. - I'm going sweet. - It's very hard. - Nashville still had, what, 99 points on the season? - Yeah, pretty good. - Pretty good in a couple of games. It's not impossible. Things can happen and you win two or three games. It's like, that can't happen. I mean, look at the Canucks when they beat the Vegas Golden Knights and the playoffs three games. I mean, it was really because Thatcher-Demple stood on his head for at least two of them. - Yeah. - They had no business being either one of those games. - It's a sweet, it's fine. Next one from Jeffro is the JT Miller line winning their match up against the O'Reilly line, the key to the series for the Canucks. - Yeah, I do think, I mean, is there a way for the national predators, like a legitimate pathway for them to win this series? If that rhino-Riley Philip Forsberg duo goes quiet. Like, I don't think they're gonna win this series if that duo is quiet. - Well, the thing is like, if O'Reilly nullifies Miller to a certain extent, don't the Canucks still have the advantage beyond that though? - Well, that's kinda how I view it. That's like, if those guys are just taking out, say, the JT line, but that also means they don't produce a ton. Like, I don't think there's a big pathway for them to win. Like, that's two responsibilities. It's, hey, beat, win your matchup, keep the other team off the scoreboard, but also crush as a line. - Yeah, that's where, you know, Pedersen comes in and how he's playing. And if Lynn Holm can keep the good vibes going with the way that he's played in these last few games since returning from his injury, then I think the Canucks, you know, that's where the depth plays a huge factor in this series because the Canucks have the advantage across the lineup. And if you say the top lines nullify each other, well, I'm picking the Canucks, you know, next six forwards or next two lines every day of the week to be able to win out over the course of a seven game series. - Sorry, I'm struggling to click things right now. - One second, one second. - He has to reach so far across his body. - It's hard when you're right handed and you only have a left hand to work with. - Yeah, it's unfortunate anyway. - I was joking about it in the bullpen today. It's like when people hold their cell phone across their body to their opposite ear. Like if you have your cell phone in your right hand, I call it like the 50 plus male way to hold a cell phone during a phone call. 'Cause I don't know why, it always just seems like somebody who's older is doing it this way. - And it's usually legs cross elbow on the one knee while you're doing it. You don't hunt you over at the same time. - Why are you going right hand to your left ear while on a phone call? It seems so inefficient. It bothers me. - There's like generations of people who don't know the pain of having the old phone. Remember back in the day before we had earbuds and all that sort of stuff in speakerphone? - We used to hold the phones against our shoulder. Remember you'd be on phone calls and you'd have your ear to your shoulder holding the phone walking around? Yeah, and you couldn't move for like a week after this. - You're like trying to do two things at once so you couldn't hold the phone at the same time. - Yeah. - And you had to hold it next to your ear. - And especially if you didn't have wireless phones, you had like a, you know, like a cord one and that would get wrapped around things or wrapped around you or whatever while you're doing it. It'd be an absolute nightmare. - What are you talking about? - Yeah. - We're dating ourselves. - I found the question. - Okay. - Arpan, what's the injury situation like for the Canucks? Elliot Friedman talked about their injuries on 32 thoughts and it would appear that there are at least indicators that Pedersen, Lindholm and Besser are playing through some things right now. Is the injury list limited to them and which of these injuries could be the most serious? - That mean Besser won because he didn't play, right? Like he didn't even fly to win an effect. So I'd say he probably ranks as the most serious out of them. I think Ronik of course too, who's there. That's him, he's dealing with Lindholm. You know, it's not a hundred percent. The thing I wonder about with Pedersen is if whatever was ailing him or is ailing him was that bad, why would he even play that last game? - Yeah. - So I'm not sure whatever is ailing him is that bad and hey, maybe I'm wrong on that but I'd say Besser, Ronik, Lindholm are the three and I'm not quite sure on anybody else in terms of actual injuries. I'm sure there were guys that are bit banged up. Joshua came back from his injury. Dampu just came back from his injury. You can view those guys as, you know, just coming off injuries, having been banged up and maybe not up to 100% of their capabilities and maybe that factors it. - Besser for me is the one that is, I don't know if concerning is the word but it's the one that seems to be lingering most, right? When he scored his 40th goal, one of the things Rick Tockett said after that game was we weren't sure Brock was gonna play tonight and since then he's had to take maintenance days, Tockett pulled him off the ice for that during that one practice pulled him off early and just said get out of here and take the maintenance day. - To me, Besser is kind of a bit of a concern as to how deep his injury is but it's obviously something that he has been able to play through for these last couple of weeks but something they're clearly trying to manage as they go into the playoffs. - Yeah and I would say the fact he didn't fly, I don't know what Gavin White Rock says, Besser was seen walking his dog while my friend on the morning of the Jets came and looked completely fly from ice sides to probably just maintenance and not to say he's dealing with anything debilitating, he's not 'cause even the coach mentioned a few games ago, he had something he still played through it, it's not like he can't play but if you're not flying, it's more than just maintenance. If it's just maintenance, hey, you need the rest, you fly with your teammates, spend the night with the guys and come back, the fact they don't want him to get on a plane, I think tells you it's best to not travel and that means he's dealing with something. Sometimes you can have something and you look okay walking around, a big difference between loading that up, skating hard, going into battle, there's a big difference between that and just walking around. - They're clearly doing things in between game days to manage whatever injury it is. - Next one from Riles, they have Ilya Mikayev in the top six to start the playoffs, how concerned are you about depth scoring? - Well, what is it, one goal in 50 games to finish the season for Ilya Mikayev? - Not great, not great, it's not great. - What, they also had nearly two 20 goal scorers on their third line? - Yeah. - So it's what you've wanted to see the Canucks build for a long time. They've got a top nine, not just a top six. - Yes, and I think that's like a big point to make here about all this about, yes, the Canucks perhaps you'd love to have somebody better than Souter play with JT and Miller, with JT investor on the top line. You of course would like somebody better than Mikayev play with Hoaglander and Pedersen, right? But yeah, you have Hoaglander and Garland, and Joshua playing with Linholm. And then that fourth line, Lafferty has 13 goals. Put goals and has a score yet, that's a bit of an issue. Bluegrill almost has 30 points on the season, right? So it's not like that fourth line has no off as a contribution. So if they get a little bit of offense from that line, can they score one or two goals in a series perhaps, right? I think there is enough goal scoring throughout the lineup. The question is more, the depth scoring is okay, is your high end scoring going to be there? That's the bigger question to me, that can Pedersen get going and do you still need another winger in that top six really truck teams? - Next one from RJ, which Canucks player is facing the most pressure to perform in the playoffs? Elias Pedersen, Elias Lindholm, Thatcher Demko, or other? - Pressure. Well, for Linholm, you know, pressure, immediate pressure is the summer and his contract. I've said it a bunch of times, I still think he's going to get paid pretty well in the off season, but certainly a good showing in the playoffs would alleviate some of that pressure and maybe some of that worry in his own minds, as far as what his next contract might look like and how much interest there is for him on the open market. But from team success standpoint, I think it does lie with Elias Pedersen. - It has to be Pedersen, you know, I mean, in terms of public pressure, we see it in our post game shows, right? We see it during our shows, even when the Canucks win and he has a point, it's like, is he playing like a $12 million player? Is he playing well enough? And all these questions come up. So like, I think clearly in this market, he's the player facing the most pressure 'cause hey, he might be one and done for Lindholm. Pedersen has signed up here for eight years and there's a lot more consternation around his situation and status than anybody else on the team right now. - Next one, or did you have more? - Nope, okay, Justin and his van. Will the Canucks wear their alternate jerseys at home in the playoffs, the black skate? - Ooh, I don't, I would be surprised. I could see them doing it to maybe switch something up if they're down in the series or something, right? Or they've had some struggles and they want to change things up and have a different vibe or whatever I can see it happen. But yeah, teams don't often go to their third jerseys in the playoffs. - No, I would imagine Blue and Green. - I also feel like they would have, all their marketing stuff has been very blue and green forward. I imagine that if they had plans to go to the skate, they would have put more skate graphics and stuff out there. - Yeah, I don't think they're going to the skate in the playoffs. - What about the, we got a couple of questions on this, the song they come out to, "Abroger's Arena"? - Okay. - You too. - I believe it's going to be you two. - Where the streets have no names? - I believe it's going to be you two. It may not be traditional and everything they've done in the past, but I do believe it's going to be you two, maybe with a bit of a twist, that's my guess. So my guess is they would do you two, but to not make it just like the old one, they add a little something to it, or do something different slightly. - So that would be my guess. - Like the you two thing is just funny because it's like Nashville's the opponent, right? - Yes, yeah, it's great, troll them with it. - It's like, it's just like the most perfect scenario possible. Like figure out a you two song. - That's everybody happy and you also troll Nashville. - Yes, yeah, perfect. - I do like, I think it should be a new song. You know, new era of the Canucks, but I know not everybody's going to agree with me on that one, but I think because it's Nashville, keep it a you two song of some kind. Next one from Ernest, we'll go through a few more here. - Great ice cream, by the way. - Ernest? - Yeah. - Somebody's craving ice cream. - Yeah, it was a hot day today. - It was. - It's like an immediate reaction. - Nice out, I want ice cream. - By the way, so Dom and I had this argument one time. Is a milkshake something that like on a hot summer day, you want to go get. Like you're like, oh, this is going to refresh me on a hot summer day. - No, not really. It's too heavy. - That's what I was saying. And he's like, no, it's like ice cream. And it's ice cream is different. I don't know why. - Ice cream is very different. Not like a huge ice cream, but like, you know, you get like a little scoop and a cup and you're good to go. - Yeah, you're a cup guy, not a cone guy. - Oh, I'm definitely a cup guy. - I was, no, I might have to be a cone guy. I don't have two hands anymore. - Yeah, you gotta be cool. Honestly, I think cones are underrated. Like cones are great, though, especially if you can make a nice-- - Is that a cone guy? Oh, no. - No, I mean, hey, generally I end up going and waffle cones are delicious, man. Like, if somebody makes a good waffle cone and you put ice cream in, it's a great combination. - It's quite nice. - You know what I think it is? I think that there are a lot of guys who feel awkward eating out of a cone and they just don't feel like, you know, they feel like, I can't be an alpha if I'm eating out of a cone. It's like, I can't care now. But now he's worried about being an alpha. You see those classes, people have to become alpha males or whatever. Like, I'm like, what's wrong with people, man? - That's actually where I broke my wrist. - This is essentially how Andrew Tate became a thing. - Pretty much, more or less, right? - For me, it's just-- - Just praying on insecure men. - It's about the dripage for me. I don't like the dripage on a cone. - It can be quite messy. - It can be quite messy. - Too much of the drip. - Well, how long are you taking to eat your ice cream? - I'm like, dude, if it's hot outside. - Yeah, it's like, yeah. - Especially out there and-- - Go find some shade, sit down and eat it. - Especially out there in Surrey. You got more inland and it's just very hot. - Or I could just have a cup. - And it's all okay. Anyway, Ernest, is the Andrew Brunette style of offense translatable to playoff hockey? - Well, it wasn't with Florida. - It worked out brutally for Florida against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Anyone remember that for nothing sweeping that got Andrew Brunette fired, essentially? - Yeah, wasn't great, wasn't great. I mean, I just jest, but I do think one of the questions I have is are they gonna be able to create as much in transition? I don't know if the game changes in the playoffs. If you're predicating a lot of your game off to Russian and playing the way they've played, I think a lot of those opportunities will dry up. - Canucks, I think the Canucks discipline does them favors here and they've shown that they're not gonna get caught up into some kind of a pond hockey game, but their ability to limit rush chances all season long was one of the biggest reasons they were as consistent as they were and ended up with 50 wins. It's why they still maintain the winning records with subpar goal tending between K.C. to Smith and Arthur Shilov's. There's a lot about the Canucks team defense that is a major reason into why they had team success this year in the regular season. And I think it plays well against a uber aggressive, try to create extra aggressive chances like the Nashville Predators do. I think it plays well against them. - The next one comes from Chef Swagger. After a 40 plus goal season, 100 assists season, where does Nikita Kutra bring as far as Russian NHL Grades go? - That's a fantastic question. - I mean, I still wanna say, like, so Pavel Brey is my all time favorite player. Like there's absolutely no question about it. But that is a major game. - But that's the greatest Russian player of all time. - All right, so to me, the three greatest that I've seen, I'd say four will be Ovechkin, Malkin, Fedorov and Batsuk. - Yeah. - That I've seen, and that's not to say obviously, there was generations before us too. I mean, Brey is very high up on that list too, but I think overall impact, like, I think Ovechkin, Malkin, Fedorov, even Datsuk, might be, like, I think a two-way value Datsukad, one of the best two-way players of all time. And Brey would be top five, right? So Malkin, Ovechkin, Fedorov, Datsuk, and Brey to near the top five. - Kutraov is like, he's a top 10 Russian scorer of all time, so it's pretty impressive. But Ovi and Malkin have been, they've just got a little bit more longevity than Kutraov, so I still put them both ahead of Kutraov and Malkin's peak. I mean, well, Kutraov is pretty damn good too. But Malkin's peak, he was just like such a dominant player. That 2009 playoff run, he was essentially unplayable and was the easiest consomite trophy I think they had in all of the Pittsburgh cups. And Fedorov was a two-way savant. Like, he's, I think Kutraov is a top five Russian player all time for me, but I have him in the same category as you. It's tough for me to put him over any of the names that you mentioned, Datsuk, Fedorov, Malkin, and Ovi. That last question? - It is, and I see one of Ice Cream or Gelato. - Oh, Gelato, every time. - Yeah, Michael Gelato as well. Although I do like Ice Cream. - It's just lighter. - I can't. But like proper Gelato, like too many places say they're selling Gelato and they don't, they just sell Ice Cream. - Oh, I got one question before we get out, it's for Josh. - Oh, awesome, yeah, shoot. - Did you shop at the left or him? No, sorry, that wasn't the question. - That's not the question, that's not the question. Drake or Kendrick Lamar? - Oh, Kendrick, all the way. - Oh, I got Drake, man. - Drake crushed him and pushed up, man. Come on. - But he hasn't responded yet. - Yeah, cause he's a coward. - He's not a coward. We'll see what the response is. - If he doesn't recognize, then yes, he's a coward. - Oh, I can say he's dropped. - Just by seeing he has small feet. - Yeah, well, he does have small feet. Josh, drop and give me 50. - I can't. - See? - Just like Kendrick can't do it. - Just like Kendrick can't do it. - Josh's gonna learn how to do one arm push-ups, that he's just gonna be a jacked left hand and left arm. - I'll show you. - I like, for the record, I like Kendrick and I like Drake. I just thought that Drake, this was pretty good. He got Kendrick pretty good. - He has no idea what's going on. - Yeah, no, I just want to clarify for those asking on the text inbox. Yes, the overunder on my son runtime is an hour and I'm hoping for the under. So, I'm just gonna really really be slow along the way but try to figure out how to get under an hour. And that's the plan. Just throwin' that out there. I just want it to be on public record. - Yeah, I think you can do it. I believe in you. - No, you don't. - Why do you do it? (laughing) That was genuine. Wow. - All right. So I shouldn't go full kit wanker for this. All right. - Listen, do you feel better if you do? Like, do you feel like-- - I run faster, yes. - You do? You're gonna make you faster. - Why would you run faster? The power of the event just flows through me. - Yeah, yeah. 'Cause that power has been so fantastic and serious all this year. Oh, man, they lost today too. It was brutal. - They tied it. - Oh, they tied it? Man, I cut it off after two-nothing. It took an 87th-minute-owned gold kit. - Couldn't take it. Couldn't take it. - So good. - It's Dan Reicho, Satyarsha, producers Vic and Josh. We'll talk to you on Sunday. Game one, five o'clock pregame here on your home of the Canucks. Sports net 650. - Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drantz. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sports net 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. [MUSIC PLAYING]
