(upbeat music) - Welcome to In the Booth on Sportsnet 650. We are your official home of the Canucks and we are now your official home of Canucks playoff hockey. Rended Bachelor alongside Randy P. Janda. We call the games for you here on 650 and along the network and we do this show every week as well, it is called in the booth. And with the regular season concluded and the playoffs beginning on Sunday night, Randeep, it's our chance to have the playoff preview and the series preview that we talked about last week. It will indeed be the Canucks and the Nashville Predators in game one, seven o'clock. Sunday night from Rogers Arena right here on Sportsnet 650. - Let's take a moment to savor that statement. You just made the Canucks fans, the media in this city, whoever it may be, the organization, doesn't have to pull a Jim Mora anymore, playoffs, playoffs? No, it's actually a thing now. It's a beautiful thing and we're excited to call it here on Sportsnet 650. We're excited to also talk about it in the booth. Everybody at Sportsnet 650 is gonna have the best coverage in the city. So make sure to tune in, whether it's the podcast, live radio, whatever it may be. And batch, I'm ready. This is, it's been a long time since we've been able to witness actual playoff games in front of fans in Vancouver, 2014, 2015, when the Siddines were still playing. That's how long it's been. And now you have it back, amazing. - This is our first chance to call playoff games in person here on Sportsnet 650. Of course, the 2020 bubble, we called those games, but we've had the rights here now for seven years. So this is a big opportunity and exciting time for us. And again, as Randi mentioned, we remind you, we are the official home of Canucks playoff hockey. From first thing in the morning till late at night, we have the most Canucks coverage anywhere in this city. So, Canucks wrapped up the regular season with a loss in Winnipeg on Thursday night, albeit kind of a no hitter. You know, J.T. Miller didn't play, Brock Besser didn't play, Besser's been a bit banged up here. So that made sense, Philip Hironic, Ian Cole. We're also out of the lineup. And it's not a game that we can really read too much into. The important thing was they got through the game without serious injury issues. And we know that they've got a pretty fully healthy roster going into the playoffs. And yes, some guys may be dinged up like Besser or have bumps and bruises. But no one's out, no one's been on injured reserve here late in the season. Demko got back and got into two games. Elias Lindholm's been back for a little while now though. So that seems like a best case scenario for me anyway, from a lineup perspective for this team, as we start to take a look at this first round series with the Predators and the fact that they'll have everyone that they expected to be available to them, available for game one on Sunday night. - That's very important because this is a situation with this team now that once they got Demko back, you can start to find some chemistry, you can build some chemistry in the last two games, even though the Winnipeg game was not one where you had everybody. At least, you still were able to work off of the Elias Lindholm, Dakota Joshua, Connor Garland line, another game where they ended up picking up points. And that's an important, I think, part of this where you have everybody healthy, but at the same time, you're able to set in some of those line combinations. It's a situation where you have some consistency batch. So that's really important heading into a series against a national Predators team where it's not one of 82 anymore. It's going to be game planning, game in, game out. You're trying to counteract what the opposing team and coach is doing. It's gonna be a very different mindset, something that I'm sure Rick Talkett is looking forward to. It comes with a lot more pressure, it comes with a lot more scrutiny, but the team is healthy and that's the most important thing. As a coach, you have options to work with. You're not starting off the playoffs in a situation where the cards are already against you. You've got all your options, you've got all cards on the table. And I think one of the interesting things to watch in this series, and we should sort of talk about this from a Canucks perspective before we get too deep into the weeds, looking at the Predators and the way things might match up. We do have to remember that in spite of the fact they've had a great regular season, this is a relatively inexperienced team in terms of the playoffs for the Canucks. They've got a few guys that played in the bubble. They've got a couple of guys that have experienced J.T. Miller's got some experience both with the Rangers and with the Lightning, Ian Cole, of course, is a Stanley Cup champion. Teddy Blueger is a Stanley Cup champion, but when you look at guys like Pedersen, like Hughes, the main core group, as I said, Miller is an exception to that, Brock Besser, of course, has only played in the bubble. It's going to be an interesting moment for their careers to see how they meet that different level of pressure, to see how they respond to those game-to-game adjustments, to see how they deal with the crowd changing the momentum in a building, whether it's at Rogers Arena or Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. And we're going to learn a lot about these players, and they're going to learn a lot about themselves and what it takes to have success in this first round of the playoffs, regardless of how this series goes. - They've been trained for this moment by Rick Talkett, though, what is one of the first sayings he's been talking about? Meet pressure with pressure, right? We are able to go into the locker room for the Canucks, and on that wall, as we walk in, it says, meet pressure with pressure. Internally, it's the team slogan. It's the mantra that they have. So you're right, there's a lot of players on this roster that do not have playoff experience, but the coach, since he essentially took the job, but definitely this training camp and beyond, has been coaching up his guys to say, the moment is not bigger than you. You have to meet the moment. And I started looking at the opposition, too. A similar question is posed in their direction. Yes, they have some veterans. They have, like the Vancouver Canucks have Ian Cole, they have Ryan McDonough. They've got some other veteran players. - Ryan O'Reilly. - Ryan O'Reilly. But then you start going down their lineup. There's a lot of young players in that lineup. There's a lot of players that haven't had playoff experience as well. So you have to understand that the player across from you, maybe you're going through the same thing, it's about meeting that moment, not having the deer in headlights moment. And just as tough as it sounds to acknowledge, Batch, it's just another game. It's a game that you've been playing your whole life and you have to stick to what you've been doing well this year, which is I'm sure playing in a Canadian market, being in Vancouver where there hasn't been playoff hockey in some time, the fans are going to be thinking that. I'm sure the management team will be thinking that. But as a player, you can't be thinking that. You have a job to do, you got to get out there and do it. But for young players, it's compartmentalizing that. That might be early on anyways, a bit of a challenge, but you have to do that. And JT Miller talked about this a few weeks ago and essentially said, you don't really know how you're going to respond to it or how to deal with it until you get into that situation. So players on both teams are going to be thrown into the fire and we'll see how they respond. Now, I think the best way to try and break down this matchup is to do it in different parts. So let's look at the forward group, the defensive group, the goal tending and then maybe the special teams after that and try and see where these two teams might have an edge on one another or where the Canucks might be able to capitalize against this Predators team. So let's work from the goal tenders on out and start in net. Thatcher, Demko and UC Sorrows, both elite goal tenders in their own right. Of course, Demko has been out of the lineup, got back into the last two games in the regular season and I thought performed very well. Obviously, it wasn't as strong of an outing in Winnipeg as it was against Calgary on home. I miss, but that Winnipeg game, as we said, you know, you don't want to read too much into that. It was a strange one overall with both teams just trying to get through it without getting hurt and get to the playoffs. So, Demko, 35 wins in 51 games, a 9-18 safe percentage on the whole in the regular season this year. When you look at Demko's playoff experience, he's another one of those guys we talked about, the playoff bubble in 2020 and we talked so much about bubble Demko, it's easy to forget. He only actually got into four games that year when Jacob Markstrom was banged up in that Vegas series and they were four tremendous performances from Demko. But in terms of what we call quote unquote real playoffs, this is Demko's first chance to really get into it. Meanwhile, UC Sorrows, 35 wins from 64 games, a 9-06 safe percentage this year. So, not quite as high as Demko's, but he has the edge in playoff experience, 17 career playoff games over five different seasons. So, Sorrows understands more about what it takes to succeed in the playoffs. I'm not saying that that gives the predators the edge in goal tending, but these are the things you look at. Demko had the better year this year, is arguably the better goal tender right now, Sorrows the more experienced. - For sure, and that's a great way of looking at it. If you're talking about who's the best goal tender right now of these two, right now, Dr. Demko's the guy based on his current body of work, and yes, he's coming back from an injury, but if you're talking about an edge, I'd give that edge to the Vancouver Canucks when Dr. Demko is playing his game, and when he is healthy, it's not even when he's playing his game, when he is healthy this year, he has been one of the best goal tenders on the planet outside of Connor Hellabuck. And so, for that reason, I can be pretty comfortable saying that. UC Sorrows didn't have a great start to the year, but has settled quite a bit alongside the team playing in front of them, better in front of them. So, Sorrows is capable of stealing a series, and that's really the distinction here, is that both of these guys do have that DNA. There's not questions about whether they're good goal tender some teams, like the Colorado's of the bunch. I'm gonna throw Edmonton in there as well, with Stuart Skinner, you know, start looking at the Western Conference, with LA still has those questions. Both of these teams do not have that question, but if you have to give somebody an edge, it's Vancouver for me with Demko. When he's on his game, he's a top two goal tender in this league. - And UC Sorrows had a really great stretch in the second half when the Predators went on that long point streak. He didn't lose a game in regulation between February 17th and March 26th. But after that, 3-3-1, in his final seven appearances of the regular season. So, nothing to, you know, be upset about, but certainly not anything elite. So, he's not coming into the playoffs on a hot streak. I think it's fair to say neither is Demko, 'cause he only played the two games and he was out injured. So, you know, we can't really compare in terms of that, because it's not like Sorrows is rolling, although, you know, the Predators had that great second half, but in the last few games, maybe not quite the same level of performances. And Demko, we don't have the body of work, 'cause he missed the 14 games with the injury. - Yeah, so there is, you know, you have to look at, I think the total work throughout the season, right? And when both of these guys have played their top of their game, for me, Thatcher, maybe it's, when he was going, he was a Vessna candidate. UC Sorrows has been that in the past, previous years. Can he tap into that? Sure, when you're that level of a goaltender, like a Babrovsky shows that, if you're able to be in that discussion and you get hot at the right time, you can take over a series. But with UC Sorrows of late heading into this, and the team as a whole Nashville, has taken a bit of a step back in the last couple of weeks here as well, Batch. It's not solely on UC Sorrows. It's also the team not as hot as they were when they were going through that crazy streak, which, let's be honest, they were gonna maintain that for a very long time. Part of this is also a defensive structure. The defensive structure in front of Thatcher, Demko, is pretty close to airtight the last seven or eight games, where they've given up five high danger chances or less in five of those eight games I mentioned, which tells you the structure. And it's not solely Thatcher, of course. It was TAC to Smith prior to that. But that tells you the structure of this team is also making it much better and easier for goaltenders to play their game and see the puck and not be surrounded by screens or second chances. So that's another part of this. When we're having the goaltending discussion, I think that's one thing we have to keep in mind with the Vancouver Canucks. This is a top five team when it comes to goals against this season, consistently in that discussion. And there aren't very much in that conversation as one of the better defensive teams in the NHL. - And that transitions perfectly into comparing these two teams defensively. And you're right, Canucks consistently a top 10 at times a top five team this year in terms of their goals against per game. They finished the year averaging 2.7 goals against per game. The predators, meanwhile, middle of the pack in the NHL, just over three goals against per game each year. But it is that commitment to protecting the guts of the ice, as Rick talk, it would say, the way that they've played defensively and to your point, the way that their defensive structure compliments the way their goaltender plays that sets them up to have success. So I would give the edge in net to the Canucks. I would give the edge on the blue line and in terms of defensive play to the Canucks as well, based on the body of work this year. Now, that's the great thing about the playoffs is an 82 game sample size doesn't mean anything. If you can't do it against the same opponent in a seven game series, all of that doesn't matter. But that's all we have to go on right now. And the Canucks defended very well for most of this season. And again, it was early in the year when these two teams met in their season series. So I don't want to read too much into it because the Predators obviously really found their legs in the second half of the year. And that was what made the difference for them in terms of the fact that they're in a playoff spot and in this situation where they're facing the Vancouver Canucks. But the Canucks only conceded six goals to the Predators in those three games. So that kind of leads you to believe that their defensive structure and the way that they play in their own zone is capable at the very least of limiting Nashville's offense. They just have to go out there and do it. When we think defense, we also think of the six defensemen. But I think team defense is really important on this. And Vancouver and the way that they've been able to defend and transition this year. One of the strongest parts of their game where they are responsible defensively. They don't allow teams to gather speed through the neutral zone and hit you. And of course, you're going to score goals in transition. You're going to give those up as an opposition at some point in the season. But the Canucks have been pretty good at that this year where you're not able to take advantage of that consistently against this team. So I like the team game. And remember, Rick Talkett, his mentality has been you got to be sticky in the neutral zone. You got to chip a body. You got to make sure that you are skating forward. That's something that we've seen over the last 10 games where the team over the last month even has really become disciplined defensively. So I look at that from Vancouver's team defense. And you mentioned the goals against for Nashville is middle of the pack. They don't play the same way necessarily. Where Nashville, they're actually pretty good at making sure teams don't hem them in their own zone. They can get the puck out of their own zone. So they defended a slightly different way. But Vancouver has just done a good job of being aggressive in the neutral zone and really being better at those zone entries. I will say this about Nashville though. When we're looking at the top two pairings on both of these teams, it's pretty close. Roman Yossi and Ryan McDonough, that is a problematic pairing in the playoffs. McDonough is probably one of the more underrated defenseman, especially come April, where he's long, he's physical, he's a guy that can clear the net. And then you have the dynamic player that Roman Yossi is. It's kind of a thunder lightning approach, right? Where you've got an individual in Roman Yossi putting up the points and then who's that guy that just stays back and does his job? The block shots is bringing really the greasy element to that pairing, it's Ryan McDonough. So that is a pairing that can pose some problems because they're good defensively, especially with McDonough. And then you gotta watch out essentially for the fourth four that Roman Yossi is. - Another thing I think that will benefit the Canucks defensively, and we've talked about sort of their structure and the way they've played all year, is the fact that in spite of the fact he's had a tremendous year, in spite of the fact, he's basically guaranteed to be a Norris finalist at this point, if not win the trophy, is the Queen Hughes averaged under 25 minutes a night in the regular season. And Rick Talkett did a good job too, and this will tie into when we start talking about the offensive side of things, of limiting the minutes of a guy like J.T. Miller who in years past had played quite a lot, routinely north of 20 minutes, those sorts of things. Now you can let the reins off these guys. Now it wouldn't surprise me if we see Hughes playing 27, 28 minutes a night in a playoff game, obviously even more if they end up going to link the over times and things like that. So how much can that help you tilt the ice? Not just from a defensive perspective, but from a transitioning the puck perspective. When Queen Hughes suddenly is playing potentially three or four more minutes a night than he has in the past, and I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but in a tight playoff game that can make all the difference as opposed to, let's say Nikita Zadorovini and Cole on your third paring. - For sure, and remember when you say that three or four minutes extra, think about the end of a series when it's maybe a game five, six or seven where you've played some tough, tough games, and then you have to deal with Quinn Hughes on the opposition. That's not an easy proposition when you're probably banged up. Maybe your stamina is not necessarily there. When this guy is out there for an extra three minutes per game, that is a very, very difficult thing to deal with. So it makes a huge, huge impact the way he can transition the puck, the way he's able to walk the line offensively, you're chasing him, and nobody likes to do that. Nobody likes to play defense in any sport, especially when you've got a skilled player in front of you, so that is a game changer. Batch on top of that, I would say. And when I look at both of these backends, you've got really skilled players in Roman Yossi, Quinn Hughes. Let's take them out of the equation for one second. You know what you've also got? You've got an extremely physical bunch of defensement. Both are physical teams in general. Overall, but on the back end, if you're trying to find space in front of the net, you're gonna have to deal with McDonough. McDonough allows on who leads the NHL in hits. You've also got Luke Shen, remember him? He's got up, you know, the most hits from a defensement in the history of the game. So on that side, and then we know what Vancouver has, they've totally redone their back end. And the sole purpose is to create a defensive unit that does not give up anything easy in the middle of the ice. So I think both of these backends are actually very similar in a lot of ways where they've got one guy in each pairing that is a menace to play against. So finding that middle of the ice is gonna be tough for both team. - Yeah, they were both top five in the league this year in hits as teams. The Canucks were fourth in the league with 2,179 hits. The predators were fifth with 2,149 hits. So the only other teams that are playing each other in the first round that are even close to that are the Leafs and the Bruins, and they were two and three on that list. So those are two series that we can already look at in this first round of the playoffs and say, they're going to be physical, they're going to be a war of attrition. And that's going to be interesting to see from the Canucks skilled players' perspective. And this is where we can kind of transition into talking about the offense, although I think this applies to Hughes as well. How does Quinn Hughes respond to the predators trying to hit him, trying to play physical, trying to get off his game? We've seen so much this season, how effective he is in alluding that physicality. Will he be able to continue to do that in the playoffs? What about Elias Pederson? Not the most physical guy, although he can lay the odd reverse hit. How does he manage to protect the puck? How does he do in those sort of circumstances? You know guys like JT Miller and Dakota Joshua, that's their kind of game, they're going to embrace that opportunity and actually thrive in that sort of a scenario. But who does the physicality part of this series benefit, do you think? Because I think there are arguments to be made on both sides in the sense that do both teams have some lighter forwards that aren't necessarily physical or the most physical kind of players? I think it's fair to say they both do while we've already talked about the fact that they both have bruising blue lines. Yeah, the blue line is one thing, but the Ford group is a very different conversation. You've got two of the premier power forwards in the game playing in the series, Philip Forsberg and JT Miller. Forsberg has a reputation as a goal score, score some unbelievable goals. Takes a lot of punishment and gives out punishment as well. Maybe not highlight real hits, but he's a tough player to play against. He's got a big frame and over seven games he will wear you down. JT Miller, one of the few unicorns out there right now that can put up 100 points and also over 200 hits. Like guys don't do that in today's NHL. JT Miller is one of those players. Outside of that though, Batch. National is the way that they're physically built, especially down the middle. Rhino Riley is a pain in the rear end to play against. We've seen that with Vancouver and St. Louis, even though Vancouver won that series. Remember, it was Bo Horvat at the beginning of that series who took over and then Rhino Riley responded and he was the Canucks won that series, but Rhino Riley did his best to make sure that that was a very tight series. - And that was a St. Louis team that had just won the Stanley Cup. They were in the bubble where they as up for the opportunity to play in those games as the Canucks were probably not. And I'm not trying to take anything away from the Canucks. We're just speaking about the reality of the situation. - There was the Stanley Cup hangover quite literally and figuratively, potentially, right? Like there might have been. Colton Sizzan's on that second line, another player that can play the game physical. So even though when we start looking at Vancouver's Ford Group to say JT Miller, Elias Patterson, Elias Lindholm, three all-star players, you have the edge physically if Nashville wants to play this really, really greasy style of hockey, maybe take it a bit of it to the alley or to the gutter. They do have those players in their top two lines that are capable of doing that against JT and Elias Patterson if that is the matchup. And then their third line, some of the smaller players, some of the more younger players, if this is a battle of third lines, I like the way that the Vancouver looks because Garland plays a certain style. He's not the biggest guy, but he's got a motor, Dakota Joshua, 200 plus hits. And I think Elias Lindholm has more physicality in his game. He's a bigger body. And generally what we think of is you gotta be a bone-crunching hitter in the NHL to be term physical, not necessarily. If you're good on the forecheck, if you can get there first, if you can support as the F2, that makes, you know, that's physicality to me. I think Lindholm has that in his game. - Couple things to note about the four groups and the offensive conversation. One of them is that, you know, we talked about this in relation to the playoffs before we knew who the Canucks would be playing, but I think now that we know the matchup it applies even more so than we thought. The Patterson line and whether they're able to drive play and win their match-ups could be a defining characteristic of this series with the Predators. It wouldn't surprise me all if both Miller and Lindholm are deployed in shutdown roles against the top two lines when Rick Tockett controls the match-ups at home. And in that scenario, it's the Patterson line against the third line of the Predators and that's where you try to create the mismatch, that's where you try to create the advantage. And, you know, it may be different when they go to Bridgestone Arena for games three and four and potentially six and we'll see how all of that plays out depending on how long the series goes. But the one thing is the Patterson line, I think could be a key factor for the Canucks in this series. The other thing I look at is offense for these two teams and how they've trended since the all-star break. And again, the playoffs are gonna be different. These are gonna be tight-checking games. They might be very low-scoring. So I don't wanna read too much into this. But since the all-star break, the Canucks who had been one of the better offensive teams in the league prior to that, were in the bottom 10 teams in the league. They only averaged 2.82 goals per game after the all-star break. Predators were number two in the league. They averaged 3.71 goals per game from the all-star break onward. So nearly four goals a game. And, you know, I don't imagine they'll be able to score four goals with any regularity in this series based on Vancouver's defensive posture and the quality of Thatcher Demko as a goaltender. But that is something to sort of take into account that in recent months, the Predators have been the better offensive team and that's gonna put pressure on the Canucks top players to produce when it matters most, especially in a second half of the season where some of the things that were going in their favor in the first half, shooting percentage was high. They were getting some bounces. They were finishing very effectively. I don't wanna take that away from them either. But that was harder in the second half of the year and you know it's gonna get even harder in the playoffs. - Yeah, another aspect of that as well, especially early on in the series is power play. They're clicking at 26.1% since that point. So five on five game is one thing. But if you're able to produce on the power play, that makes you all that more dangerous. And the guy that does that really well is Ryan O'Reilly. He's able to get to that area in the bumper spot net front. He plays it extremely well. But with Nashville, yeah, they're, if you look at their stats from the all-star break, not only are there offensive numbers, good batch, but they're defensive numbers, goals against. They actually have a lower number than the Vancouver Canucks, which is also a scary proposition if this team hits that same level. Have we seen the best of the Nashville Predators or do they still have more left in the tank as the question, right? Because the overall number offensively tells us they're one of two things. They're either what we saw at the beginning of the year or what we saw at the end of the year. But the reality is they're probably somewhere in the middle. Now, what are we going to be able to see from this team in terms of goal production? 2.84 goals against is one thing. 3.17 goals against goals four is that's a high number. And as the game tightens up in the playoffs, against the team like Vancouver, who has tightened up themselves defensively, that number, I know that's a very impressive number, but I don't think they're going to be that team. I think it's going to be a much tighter series. So yes, they're most recent results. They're most recent production tells us that they have been that team. But I don't necessarily think that's, we know how difficult it is to score in the playoffs, especially when you've got a really good defensive team in Vancouver. So I think it's going to be a pretty tight series offensively. Vancouver is okay to play two, one games. They're okay to play three, one games. Question is, can Nashville maintain that? Can they put up goals against really stingy defensive teams like the Vancouver Canucks? And I think any conversation that we talk about in terms of the Canucks in the second half, and particularly the defensive side of things. And again, they've been good defensively throughout the year, but you also have to take into account that Thatcher Damco missed 14 games. And that is always going to play a factor in some of those numbers. The power play is an interesting one to talk about. I think the penalty kills, like neither of these teams have standout penalty kills one way or another, but you're right. The Predators power play has been really good in the second half and the Canucks power play trended in the wrong direction in the second half. Now, it's been coming out of that malaise towards the end of the regular season, but we know how much goals changed games. We know much how much special teams and power plays can change games. And so if we're going to say, as we've been going through this, I think it's fair to say Canucks, we're giving them the slight edge in goal. We're giving them the edge on the blue line. Maybe a soft in terms of offense. I guess it depends on whether the Canucks produce at the level they did earlier in the year, whether they struggle to generate offense and how can the Predators do. And then the special teams are really going to be a deciding factor for me. - Yeah, and going back to the offense for one second, the Canucks have the names, they have the one shot scores, they've got that. But do you have all of that coming together at the right time? Whereas Nashville the last couple of weeks, maybe they don't have the big names like Vancouver does, but they've been able to, really, their system's been working here. Andrew Brunette's done a great job. When it comes to the power play, Vancouver, they've got, as of right now, a top 11 power play in the NHL. We all understand what it could be, and we've talked about this, it should be a top five power play based on the names on the sheet, but the reality is they haven't been able to produce at that. Sometimes there's confidence issues there with Nashville, you do have one that is actually ranked lower. There's 16th in the NHL, but they're clicking at 27% since February 1st. - Yeah. - So when we're talking about heading into a playoffs, who's got more confidence when it comes to special teams? On the power play side of things, let's start there, it's Nashville. So even though Vancouver's got the 11th best, Nashville in the second half of the season has been clicking, so I want to give that edge to the Nashville Predators. In theory, the Vancouver Canucks should be better, but we're not playing this game in theory, it's on the ice, and Nashville's got that edge on the power play. - I think the one thing we can take from this conversation is that it is going to be a tight series, and even though a lot of people in Vancouver wanted the Predators as opposed to the Kings or the Golden Knights, that does not mean this is going to be an easy out, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if this is a long playoff series between these two teams. We're late for a break, we'll be back on the other side, and we'll get into the mail bag. You sent us in lots of questions about this series, so we'll break things down, answer some questions from you, and we'll do the rose ceremony before we get out of here as well. It's all still to come on in the booth on your official home of the Canucks, Sportsnet 650. (upbeat music) Welcome back to In the Booth on Sportsnet 650, your official home of the Canucks. This is our playoff preview episode, as we're getting you set for the Vancouver Canucks and the Nashville Predators, game one at seven o'clock on Sunday night, and an extended pregame show gets underway at five. The guys are going to go two hours, so make sure to join us here on Sportsnet 650, beginning at five o'clock on Sunday afternoon as we ramp up towards the beginning of game one from Rogers Arena. If you missed any part of this show, you want to hear the whole thing. It lives as a podcast on the Canucks Central podcast feed. Make sure to subscribe to that. You'll get every episode of Canucks Central with Satyar Shah and Dan Riccio. You'll get every post game show with Satyar Shah and Bick Nazar, and you'll get our weekly program. We call it In the Booth, so make sure to subscribe to Canucks Central, wherever you get your podcast. Okay, Randy, we talked a lot about the matchups in this series in the first segment, but now let's open the mailbag as we got in a bunch of questions from listeners with their burning questions about this series between the Canucks and the Predators. And the first one comes in from J Kog 88 on Twitter who asks, who's going to be the player that takes over the series for either team? Like, who should Canucks fans keep an eye on for the Preds and vice versa? So I think we can each pick a player. You can go first. Who's going to take over this series for the Canucks? I got to go with Quinn Hughes. This is a guy that he's picked up 92 points this year, but so dynamic. The ability to get away from four checkers, the ability to score now as well. He's, I think there's a vested interest in this game because remember, with Quinn Hughes, he's also had that, of course you want to win, but who did he highlight as the guy that he wants to shoot like? Roman Yoshi. Exactly. So you know they're probably looking at each other from across the ice to say, yeah, you're pretty good, but you're not as good as me. I think Quinn Hughes is going to be fired up for this one. So he's the guy that can take over the series, whether it's his playmaking, now his goal scoring, or just the way he can control the tempo of the game. And Roman Yoshi is that guy for the Predators too. Absolutely like they could both be finalists for the Norris Trophy. It wouldn't surprise me if that ends up being the case. Yoshi really came on in the second half too, like wasn't in that conversation, but was a big part of all the success the Predators had down the stretch. We know he shoots the puck a lot. We know he's got a heck of a shot. We know he can control the tempo of a game too. So you look at those two goal tenders. And then to me, the other way you can look at this, and you alluded to this in the opening segment is the two power forwards. So J.T. Miller for the Vancouver Canucks, who we know how effective he is physically, protecting the puck, playing that grinding game, winning 50-50 battles, but then scoring big goals at big times too. Guess who else can do that? Phillip Forsberg for the Predators. 94 points, an absolute horse of a player, 48 goals this year. And he's kind of understated. He's not exactly a loud guy. He's not a guy that's gonna launch into you, like J.T. Miller occasionally does, but he's big. He's a guy that will lean on you, and eventually it will take a toll on you. So Phillip Forsberg, is that your pick for the National Predators? 'Cause I'm going in a different direction if you're going forward. Well, I'm kind of gone away from picks and just saying, like, Hughes versus Yossi. - Okay, yeah, yeah. - Miller versus Forsberg. - Yep. - And then we already talked about it, but Demko versus Sorrows. Like of those three match-ups, the team that wins two of those three match-ups will win the series, I think. - The other guy that I'm gonna mention, and we've talked about him a little bit here, is the guy that they call Factor. Fact Daddy, Rhino Riley. That is a problem in the playoffs where, sure, he's got his points of, you know, he's got 69 points in the regular season. - Nice. - But we know what he's capable of in the playoffs. That's when he really makes his money. That's where he really is an influence in the game. And when he's on your match-up, when he's got you, there's not much room to breathe on the ice. So, couple of players to watch out for, not necessarily that they're the Conor McDavid mold, or the Nathan McKinnon mold, they're just, they're cerebral. And Rhino Riley is very, very cerebral in his defensive game, and he's a clutch performer. So, Nashville, I know a lot of people have been saying, "Hey, we want Nashville, not Channing it like they were in Toronto." But, you know, this is a tricky match-up for the Canucks, because they've got difference-makers in the lineup. - The other thing about Rhino Riley is he's good in the face-off circle. He was just shy of 54% this year. Elias Lindholm was nearly 60% since being acquired from the Calgary Flames. And face-offs aren't everything, but they can be everything in key moments in the series. If you're protecting a lead, you need a big draw win, or you're chasing a game and need a goal. You need a big draw win, or you have got to kill a big penalty. You need a big draw win, and it wouldn't surprise me if O'Reilly and Lindholm both played big factors in key moments in the series in that element of the game. And then, talking about O'Reilly, transitions into our next question from Daniel Chang, who writes in and asks, "Who would you match-up against the Pred's top line?" And he also asks, "Any thoughts on putting Lindholm back on the top power play unit?" I'll answer that one quickly. I don't expect them to do that because it's trended in the right direction since Garland's been there. So it wouldn't surprise me if Garland starts there and then maybe if the power play struggles throughout the series, do we see Lindholm back there? Absolutely, but I expect Elias Lindholm's role to be more of the matchup role, to be more of the defensive shutdown role, assuming he's gonna play on that line with Joshua and Garland. But in terms of who you would match-up against the Pred's top line, I think it has to be the JT Miller line, doesn't it? Yeah, and the larger sample size, it's been exactly that. JT has taken on that role. Rick Talk had trust him in that role. Now, do you maybe deviate from it within the series? Potentially, we'll see how it goes. But I think JT Miller has earned that right to play against the top line for the Vancouver Canucks, whether it's Ryan O'Reilly, the, you know, having that responsibility, having that game and really leveled up defensively. He's not gonna be winning the Selkie this year, but he's a lot better. And when he's your best offensive player, points-wise, look at it. That's what the stats tell us. I think you wanna allow him to go head-to-head. This guy thrives off that. So I understand Elias Lindholm, Dakota, Joshua, and Garland, give you a certain advantage at some point in a lineup. Maybe it's the second line. If you can match them up against the Colton Sizzins line, do you feel good about that? It's nice to have that in your back pocket if a matchup doesn't work, but I think JT Miller and his line will definitely start off against Ryan O'Reilly. And maybe the Lindholm line allows that to be a softer matchup as opposed to like a hard match. Those guys are over the boards every time Forsberg's over the boards because you feel comfortable about that Lindholm line in those scenarios too. And if you can trust that Lindholm line to at least do part of that matchup role, then that frees up Miller for offensive minutes away from Forsberg and that potentially could be a factor in the series too. One thing we never talk about with line matchups too is defensive pairings and getting certain pairings out there against lines like that. And as much as Hughes and Haronek have been very good. And look, they're gonna play their minutes against the top line of the Predators. I think we've seen in recent weeks, especially late in games, the target values, the big bodies and the physical presence when trying to close out a win, say, or trying to limit the offensive opportunities for another team's top line. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's not a hard matchup with the defensive pairings either. And we see Hughes and Haronek get a lot of those minutes, but I think Susie and Myers could get a lot of those minutes too. - And the physique of both of those guys, big, tall, Susie doing a great job of denying the blue line, which is gonna be so important in the playoffs. We often think of defense in the defensive zone and really denying the middle of the ice. Denying the blue line is so vital and it also launches counter attacks the other way. And Carson Susie has been excellent at that where if Phillip Forsberg is coming down the left-hand side, you're in a position to stay with them. You can skate with them. You can have a really good gap on them as well, use your stick. So I agree with that. And Tyler Myers does play a much meaner game in the playoffs. Carson Susie does have much more of a meaner game in his back pocket as well. He's got that as a part of who he is. That's what you want in the playoffs. So even though Quinn Hughes and Haronek are still gonna probably see upwards of nearly maybe 30 minutes of game batch. Yeah, Myers and Susie, probably gonna be playing around 20 minutes. They're votes. - And we know Zadorov has that physicality in his game and Ian Cole is a cagey veteran who understands what you have to do in the playoffs as well. Another question coming in from @BubbleKarm on Twitter. And they write in and ask, "What are your thoughts on the multiple too many men "on the ice calls against the Jets on Thursday? "Is this something we need to be worried about happening "in the playoffs?" And my initial answer to your question is no. But it's only because of the way you phrased your question, which is the multiple too many men on the ice calls in the game against the Jets. I'm not worried about that because as I said, I don't want you to read too much into that last game of the regular season. But the Canucks have had a trend of taking too many men on the ice penalties this year. I think it was about halfway through the year when they'd taken their fifth penalty at that point that Rick Talkett said, "All right, we've hit our quota." And they've taken a few more since then, including a couple in the Winnipeg game. And this ties back to what we were talking about in the first segment about the pressure in these games and the intensity and the atmosphere and how that could affect players. I think that is something that you could be concerned about is with a team that has struggled with some of those penalties this year, if you're in a loud building where the intensity is ratcheted up. It's a close game. Is it possible we see the Canucks take a penalty like that? I think it is based on the track record. - Yeah, the track record is not a good one. And I'm gonna zoom out even more and just say too many men is one thing, but just clean changes. In the game against Winnipeg, Pod Colzen can't get the puck deep. Carson Sousy's changing at that point and hits back in transition, Tyler Myers is all by himself where you gotta make sure that you get the puck deep on all of those plays in order to just play a cleaner brand of hockey. And that goes back to too many men on the ice penalty as well where you just gotta have that communication. You gotta have to have that recognition. And I think that's a huge thing because you don't wanna be giving anybody any team. I don't care who you are, as long as they're in the playoffs, but you can't give them any freebies. And the power play that's clicking at 27% heading into the playoffs, you cannot be doing that. Referees are more likely to let stuff later on in the playoffs go clutching and grabbing, maybe a hook here. But if there's six players on the ice, at some point they're gonna call that. - There are certain penalties they have to call. That is one of them, puck over the glass is another one where there's no gray area, either they're calling it or they're not. And you're right, those are freebie, right? Like maybe there'll be a trip that goes for you, goes against you or a hold or a hook or something like that. That's all part of the game. It's the penalties that are irrefutable that you cannot afford to take. - Yeah, there's no game management for too many men on the ice for referees. Like they have to call it when they see it. So you have to be careful with that. And I can understand, even against Winnipeg, I'm sure Rick Talkett maybe didn't care too much about the game, just saying, "Hey guys, get out there, get your minutes." - Stay healthy. - Stay healthy, win, loss, whatever it is, jump back on the plane. But the couple of things that maybe stuck out were, all right, those details on those changes, I didn't like those. And knowing Rick Talkett, remember, when he got to Vancouver, one of the first things he talked about was, changes are not clean. I'm not liking the changes. That was when he took the job in Vancouver last year. And there's still been some issues there. So they have to clean that up. If you are in the playoffs, you're not going to run into 31st or 32nd ranked power plays in the NHL. It's going to be at worst, like Nashville, probably one that's around the 20th range. Maybe there's somebody's a little bit lower like Winnipeg, but they've all got weapons that will make you pay. You can't give 'em free opportunity. So it's not a concern, but there's a danger there heading into the playoffs. - It's something to watch out for, for sure. We got time for one more question here. And @babagav writes in and says, "How many Scott Road Sellies in how many games?" So a couple of things here. I think this is the opportunity for us to make our predictions for this series, because of course, Scott Road Sellies postgame, we know how big those can get. So we'll do that in a minute, but first of all, this is a chance for you to plug the new T-shirt that you've got out the Scott Road Sellies T-shirt from Dots own. - That's right. The Scott Road Sellies been going on a long time, but in the bubble, started a hashtag Scott Road Sellies, started getting tagged and everything, and it was kind of a cool moment online. So I decided, why don't we carry that on into a t-shirt dots own that d-u-d-h so that s-o-d-a dot-c-a. New design out there, a local artist worked on it. So if you like it, scoop one up, extra large and double Excel sold all it already. So thank you very much for the support. And how many Scott Road Sellies are we gonna see, Batch? We talking around one, or are we talking about one? - So the question is, "How many Scott Road Sellies in how many games?" So let's keep it to round one for now. So the question is, "How many games are the Canucks gonna win in the series?" And how many games are they going to play in the series? So do you want me to go first? Do you wanna make your prediction? What do you wanna do here? - I'll go first here. - All right. - I'm gonna say that there's gonna be four celebrations in six games, Vancouver in six. I think this finishes on the road. - I'm gonna agree there's going to be four Scott Road Sellies, but they're going to be in seven games. There's Predator's team. I'm not gonna sleep on them. You know what, if I'm wrong, you can write into the show, you can say you doubted the Canucks, you thought it would take seven games. Guess what, it only took five or six, like Randeep said, or whatever it might be. I just, I can't in good conscience after the way this Nashville team has played, especially in the second half, say that this is going to be a short series. I think it goes the distance. I believe in the Canucks to win the series. I believe there's a possibility that's a shorter series than that, but my pick is the Canucks in seven. - The more you look at the stats and the recent play of this Nashville team, it's gonna be a tight series. Even if it's in six, it's not gonna be an easy six games. It's a physical brand hockey. They have offense, but all right. I say six, you say seven. In the end, we're predicting some Scott Roadsellies. That's the most important thing. And make sure to tag me in them. If it happens, #ScottRoadsellies as well. - Yes, we wanna see your videos. We wanna see you out celebrating, whether it's on Scott Road or wherever you are. - Wherever. - Around the lower mainland tag us in your videos and your photos and around the province and around the world too. And this is an opportunity here for us as we get to the end of the show. To thank all our listeners, not just of this show, but of the broadcasts that we hear from around the world on a nightly basis throughout the season. And we know you'll be with us heading into the playoffs as well. - Whether it's Australia, I've had people actually mention from India as well. We've got some great listeners in the UK and Europe. - All over the United States. So, and it doesn't matter if you're in Merritt. I don't care if you're in Port Coquitlam, if you're in Vancouver, everywhere, we value and thank you very much for spending your time with us. - Now, before we get out of here, it is time for the Rose ceremony, Randy. So, the regular season's done. And let's make this a regular season rose ceremony rather than just looking at the past week as you look at the end of the year, who do you wanna give your rose to? And I'm gonna give mine to Queen Hughes and he's gonna get a lot of roses from everyone else. - The pile in front of him right now. - The reason I'm giving it to him is because the fans didn't. JT Miller was voted the MVP of the team and I'm not trying to take anything away from Miller's season. 100 points, he's clearly a fan favorite. They're chanting his name inside Rogers Arena. But let's be serious here. Queen Hughes is a huge difference maker for this team. He's my personal MVP, even if he wasn't voted as the MVP by the fans. And I'm giving him my rose and making him my MVP for the season, for the Canucks this year. - Okay, kind of along the same lines, I'm giving my rose to Connor Garland for the year because he wasn't the unsung hero. People expected him to do things 'cause he's making a pretty decent amount of change. But he's not also up the lineup and he's not the most exciting player of the MVP. He's a guy that, as of right now, when we talk about having that DNA of wanting to play a certain style, there's no quit in this game. That's Connor Garland, the way he plays. He's kinda like that energizer bunny that just keeps on going and going and going. And even though the first half of the season wasn't great for him up until about Christmas, the second half has been unbelievable. In a lot of ways, his personality also matches the personality of this team. So my rose goes to Connor Garland who's been a revelation here in the second half of the season, 2024. And I think he's really shown that he is worth, being in the city, I remember there's conversations about trades and all of that. But this is a guy that keeps on producing and did most recently against the Winnipeg Jets as well. - So there you go. - That is our playoff preview show. Again, you can get the podcast if you missed any part of the program. And we're gonna talk to you next on Sunday night. Seven o'clock face off, game number one, the Vancouver Canucks and the Nashville Predators live from Rogers Arena. Make sure to join us for the pregame show beginning at five o'clock. We'll have coverage all day Sunday and throughout the weekend, and leading up to the opening face off in this series, Sportsnet 650 is the place to be for the most extensive Canucks coverage in the city, whether it's Halford and Bruff, whether it's Canucks Talk, whether it's the People's Show, whether it's Canucks Central, in the booth, the pregame show, the postgame show, former NHLers contributing to the Intermissions. We'll have the call of the games. You gotta be with us on Sportsnet 650, and we're looking forward to bringing you the best coverage in the city. And Randy and I will speak to you ahead of game one on Sunday night right here on your official home of the Canucks Sportsnet 650.
