(upbeat music) - We're back on McDonald's Central, it's Dan Richo and Satyar Shah. It's a Friday, happy Friday. Of course, tomorrow is a game day. Game six for the Canucks and Oilers. We'll be on from three o'clock Pacific time, getting you ready for the five o'clock puck drop here on Sportsnet 650 and of course on Hockey Night in Canada as well. The Canucks have the Edmonton Oilers on the brink of elimination. So, should be a fun one tomorrow, is that? - Yeah, I mean, tomorrow could be the penultimate game of the series. - Could be, yes. I stole it from you. Hopefully it's not, hopefully it's not. - Yes, I know some people were not the most pleased with Chris Cuthbert's call last night. The Canucks will play at least one more home game at Rogers, like what? - I'm like what, why don't you just say they're, or win away Edmonton's on the brink of elimination. - Or the Canucks are a win away from the conference fund or win away from winning the series. - That too, yeah. - You could say that. I mean, listen, I think they were as shocked as anybody that the goal happened that late, right? - Apparently, anybody outside of Bangkok was shocked that the series is the way that it is right now. But, we'll get into that. I'm sure through the mailbag. Before we do that, let's hit the goalhorn. (dramatic music) Goalhorn brought to you by Rewind. Beerco find their big West Coast IPA at a liquor store near you and celebrate big plays in a big way. The Panthers dominated for long stretches of the first period, but you know what? The Bruins found their legs in Pavel Zaka scored his first of the postseason. Bruins leading one nothing as they just begin the second period. Of course, they are trying to stave off elimination and do what Florida did to them last year. And that has come back from a 3-1 series deficit tonight's game in Boston, Brad Marshon back in the lineup for the Boston Bruins. All right, it's a Friday, it's a mailbag. Let's get to it. Hit the music. Mailbag. Producer Josh Elliott Wolf. - Hello. - For the Mariners hat on today. - Yeah, I got a lot of hats and it's harder to do my hair now that I have a broken wrist. - All right. - I don't do it every day. - That's fair. - Well, you need to answer one question. When are you getting that cast taken off? - June 3rd. My hope is that the Canucks are still in the playoffs when my cast is off, which is so two and a half weeks from now, they'd either be very deep into a conference final or very early in a Stanley Cup final. - You heard it, Canucks. Do it for Josh. - They haven't lost a series. - Well, I've had a broken wrist, so. - That's so true. - Yeah. - You're gonna have to keep the cast on if they get to the Stanley Cup final. - I'm just saying that out there. - I'm not going to. - I will take the loss. - All right. - The first one we'll start with is from Hassan. What is the recipe for success in game six? The Oilers have all the pressure, but they are going to be more desperate on home arts. - Do what you did in game five. (laughs) Easier said than done, right, though, sat, right? - Of course, right, but I think the templates there, right? I thought the Canucks were pressuring a lot more. They were skating while they're getting on the forecheck, but you see how different everything looks when Elias Patterson has a good game. Like a legitimately good game. And I know people say it's still not the peak version. It needs to be better. Of course, I mean, you can still get more from him, but Blueger was fine with Joshua and Lindholm, right, more than fine. And also, JT was doing his thing. So when you get three lines really going, Edmonton doesn't have three lines going. Like at best, they got two lines going. So that's going to be your edge. So stick with the same lineup. And I just hope they can play with the same sort of get up from the beginning of puck drop. And if you can kind of weather the first few minutes and really take it to the Edmonton early, what you want to do is make Edmonton feel like they have a long way to go to have to win this series. Because if they start thinking about those things in game six, they're cooked. So put that pressure on them. - Put that pressure on them. A couple of things for the recipe. I mean, I think you keep the lines the way that they are. Of course, you want to play with the same kind of pressure, the same kind of, you know, want to be on every puck and making things difficult. Hard on the forecheck, the Canucks did. All these things in game five that they weren't really doing as well, especially on the forecheck in games two, three and four. But I also think a big part of it for as much as the Canucks PK was five for five last night. You probably don't want to take five penalties again against this Oilers power play. So don't give them like power plays. They still hit a post last night. I thought, you know, the Oilers power play lessened in effectiveness as the game went on and with each power play that they had. But maybe don't give them five power plays again. And some of that is completely up to the officials whistle because I don't think the Canucks, you know, deserved maybe to get five penalties last night. You still have to find a way to not end up in the box as often as that. - The next one comes from Ernest. Why do other teams coaches and players never seem to want to give credit to the Canucks when they win? We have seen it with Andrew Brudnet in the first round and Leon Drey's title here in the second round. - Well, I think the Canucks have had a similar mentality where when they've struggled against Nashville, what did Rick Talkett say? It's on us. And even in this series, when the Canucks struggled through games two, three and four, Rick Talkett kept saying this is about execution where there's plays out there for us to make and we're not making them. We have passengers, we've got to figure this out. - It wasn't more like, they're doing stuff that we can't figure out. And part of that is from like a coaching or a player's mindset, if like if you give in to that idea that, oh man, they're just way better than us, there's nothing we can do to counteract that, then you've pretty much already lost. That's kind of a loser mentality in my eyes. - Yeah, I'm kind of there as well. I think the other part too is the Canucks just haven't built up enough credibility over the years yet and people have looked at the Canucks and the reputation wasn't good the last few years. How often do we hear from people that covered other teams? But also we've talked, if you knew some guys from different teams that were players or managers or some coaches and you talk and kind of get their sense of, "Hey, what do you guys think of Vancouver?" And it was kind of like a soft team. If you lean on them, you're probably win a team that doesn't have its stuff in order, right? They don't have great details. A team that nobody really feared going into the building to play. And usually it takes more than one good season to people that kind of changed their outlook on it. So I think there are a lot of people in the league, dry settle maybe one 'cause they've been owning the Canucks over the past few years, right? They're always kind of using, "Well, we're better than these guys. "We're gonna take care of them." But it's like, these are not the same Canucks, right? And sometimes it takes you getting slapped across the face for you to realize that and that's kind of what's going on right now. - The next one comes from Karm. Do you think it will be possible for the Canucks to sign a Lysolintolm, sign Dakota Joshua and sign Nikita Zadorov this off season? - There's no philiparonic in the answer question, right? - There is no philiparonic in the question. - So without philiparonic, I think that's possible. I just don't know if it's likely. - I find it to be unlikely as well. Like even if you ballpark Linholm Joshua Zadorov, like what are we ballparking them at, $15 million? - So I would always, this is one thing I would caution everybody with, especially on the talk around Zadorov. And I know we've been talking about it as well that it's somebody out there at GM looking at him and saying, "I'll give him six times six." But this always happens when we talk about a player in a contract he's going to get and we overestimate what it's going to be. And then fridge, he comes, he's like, "Well, it wasn't that bad." Like it happens without fail pretty much, right? There's been a few instances like Boog got more than we thought he would and everybody was a bit shocked that he got eight and a half times eight. But generally speaking, it's kind of a bit lower than what people assume. So I don't know if Zadorov is necessarily gonna be six million per year. I think you can make it work with five. I think Dakota Joshua with the three figures. So I think something that could work. The big one to me is Linholm. If Linholm feels like you can get eight, nine million plus on the open market, the Canucks can't compete with that. And I think if he loves it here and if he wants to stay and he doesn't think you can get a ton more, then maybe in the seven range, maybe they can make it work here. But it just comes down to what is his market gonna look like. And that's a big question for me for Linholm. With no centers and we've spoken about this, Boston needs one, Utah needs one, Columbus needs one. He's a righty center, good defensively. Those guys get overpaid, right? And there aren't many available and teams are looking for center depth, especially with 32 teams. The challenge for him may just be, he might be priced out of anchor's market. - I'm gonna answer the question with a simple no, just because I don't think all three of those players are going to be Canucks next year. - That's kind of the thing. - Yeah. - It's a lot of a lot has to go right, I think. - Well, I mean, at the end of the day, like as much as Linholm has been brilliant in these playoffs, we talk about the numbers and that's sort of the ballpark of what it's going to cost to keep Linholm. You need, you're going to have to either keep some of your defensemen or rebuild the defense completely. And so if you don't include Philip Oronik as maybe one of the higher ticket items that you're going to keep around of your pending unrestricted free agents or your pending free agents, I should say, then that money's got to go somewhere else and it's still got to go on the back end. So that's why it becomes hard for me to see where the money or how the money's going to work for Linholm here, especially if you're not re-signing Philip Oronik. - Next one comes from, we'll put two together here, Austin and Langley and Jay. First one from Austin is McCay of Louis Erickson 2.0 and the next one from Jay. - True or false? McCay of will have the same type of rebound next year as Besser and Garland had this year. - Woo, shout out to Austin and Langley. I stopped by the booth last night at Roger's Arena for a little hello. And we always appreciate that, Austin. A long time listener, loyal listener and always interacting with the show we do appreciate that. Same for Jay, always appreciating your commentary. I don't think it like false. McCay of will not have the same type of rebound next year as Besser and Garland, just because the rebounds those two have had has been pretty good. But I can see McCay of bouncing back to being what he's always been, that's kind of like a 15, 20-ish goal scorer and providing on the PK and doing some of those things. So that's what I see McCay of as. - I know Marcus and Gibson's had a similar question in the mailbag about knowing how long his ACL injuries take. And I know Doywall mentioned today the knee may be feeling not great right now. That's part of the reason, or whatever, right? But I do think he's going to bounce back next season. The bigger question is, will that be in Vancouver or elsewhere, right? And I think that's the bigger question here. 'Cause I do think McCay of is far better than what he's shown. He showed at his first year despite having a bum knee and tearing his ACL and being an effective player. It just has it come to fruition, especially the second half of the year. He had a good, remember when he first came back? He had a good start. He had a good first, 20 games. And then it really tailed off, right? Like his game hasn't been where it needs to be. I don't, like, I don't, we spoke with a buy out thing. 'Cause people wondered about it. I don't see that. I see that as a non-starter. But I don't think he has a type of like the negative trade value people think. I'm not saying you're getting a ton for him, but I think it is a movable contract. So that's the question for Vancouver. Do they feel like they can move off that money and do other things? Or are they banking on him having a resurgence? I know organizationally, they've liked McCay of a lot. They think what we're seeing now is not his best version. They think there's a lot more there. They understand what he's been going through knee-wise and the fact that he didn't have a proper off-season or train, it was just about rehabbing. And it hasn't gone his way. They feel like he can bounce back. But I think the bigger question is, does something happen where they move him this off-season? And I think he is gonna have a bounce-back season, but he's not gonna be a 25-30 goal guy. That's never what he's going to be, right? But I see him being close to 20 goals, being close to 40 points, being a two-way, effective two-way player with size and speed. And again, that's a rare combination in the league. He just hasn't been able to put those combinations together for anything really sustainable for Vancouver this season. - McCay have, again, just to reference that stat that I had during the first part of the show, Hoglander, Patterson McCay have one of the best expected goal marks of the playoffs. Just didn't really convert on anything. And most of that was Ilia McCay have not converting. And I know he could be frustrating. He talked to people in Toronto, it was similar. He'd get a lot of chances, not finish a lot of them. But, you know, he still can do a job for a team. It's going to be a question of whether you want to see he figures it out next year. Or do you let it be somebody else's problem and try to recoup some of the cap space that's currently tied into that deal? That's ultimately the decision of the summer. - Next one from Princess Rika. By the time he retires, do you think J.T. Miller has the potential to be one of the top 10 Canucks of all time? Are there any players, any other players, on this current team that may make the list? - Well, Patterson and Hughes are likely to be top 10 Canucks of all time. Hughes is already the best defenseman in the Canucks history. Hughes might already be there. This is sort of like a, for a franchise that's been around as long as the Canucks have. And I try not to mean a ton of disrespect to Canucks alumni. Like, there's been some really good players and some Hall of Famers that have played for this team. Three in recent memory. Sidine's in, of course, Roberto Longo. But it's, like, correct me if I'm wrong, this might not be the hardest list to crack. And with the way that J.T. Miller's played and the length of his contract currently, I mean, he's going to have the numbers to be a top 10 Canucks of all time. - Absolutely. I think he's going to have the numbers. I think some people will never view J.T. as being that good. So I think some will always keep them out and make arguments for other players in the top 10. But it also depends on playoff success, right? And if the Canucks get to a Western Conference final, it's, you know, it's, we talk about the West Coast Express era a lot. Like, never got past the second round, you know? And the playoff success may be, there's a some extent, obviously, if you want to stand, look up, it changes everything. But I think he's going to be a top 10 player arguably. If this team has the ultimate playoff success, he may go down to the top five Canucks of all time. - Yeah, I mean, J.T., the way that he has played as a Canucks, the way that he played this past year, getting over 100 points, how he's playing in these playoffs. I mean, he's built himself a pretty damn good resume already. You know, by next year, he's going to be in the top 10 scorers of this franchise's history. He's only 18 points shy of catching Bo Horvat for number 10 on that list. So, you know, like points aren't everything. I understand that, but for the position that he plays and the impact that he's had, he's already pretty close to being in this conversation. - Yeah, he's not that far off, right? And again, like I think he can look at it as overall impact and say that a guy like that you'd like somebody, for instance, better. I just don't know if you can really make the argument to me that he's not going to be as good as, you know, a Bo Horvat or even Tony Tanti, no matter how good he was and how good a run he had with the Vancouver Canucks, right? So I think when you start, you know, piling those numbers together and looking at what he's done, he's going to be in that discussion as a top 10 player. And if he has playoff success, it may go up even higher. - Also like using Pedersen, it's happening, you know? - Yeah, it's happening. - For as much as people are out on Pedersen, like it's still happening. - Sorry, folks. - Woodrow, is Jeremy Colatin a candidate to take one of the vacant NHL head coaching jobs? - Well, one of those is off the list already with the Maple Leafs. They hired Craig Berube today. - Could you imagine they had hired Jeremy Colton. The outrage in Toronto would have been nuts. - Yeah, it would have been pretty surprising. Look, it doesn't, I'm going to say no, because I think we would have heard his name tied to one of those positions. Not that he hasn't been interviewed. I mean, I don't know any of those specifics on something like that. But I feel like the name would have come out at some point if he was one of the front runners for a position like that. - He's done a really good job in Abbotsford. I think he's more likely to be a part of an NHL coaching staff, but maybe not the head guy if it's not an NHL coach with the Abbotsford Canucks. - Yeah, I'd say it's more likely for him to be an assistant or associate coach than being a head coach in the NHL. And I think, and again, I don't know what the reasons are for him turning down the two-year extension as Murph reported yesterday. The Canucks offered him to remain with Abbotsford. But yeah, it could be something to do with him wanting to get back into the National Hockey League on the main stage, even if it's not as a head coach. - Next one from basketball fill is the Cola Yokech on the Mount Rushmore of NBA players yet. What about the center position? It was getting heated in the producer studio here. - I'm talking about this. - Well, you've got a biased opinion on this, don't you? - I was trying to make the case that he could fit in the center one. Ben kind of talked me out of it. Mainly because, like for general players, I don't think there's any way that he's on the Mount Rushmore. For centers, it's like Wilt, Bill Russell, Kareem, and then Shaq. - Yeah. - It's hard for Yokech to be there yet. - Yeah, I can't put him on the Mount Rushmore. I don't know if I can put him in the Mount Rushmore. But man, he's incredible. I think he's underrated. So I think people scoff at him winning the MVP. It's like, I'm a Shaq Gilgus Alexander guy. I'd love to see him win the MVP. I love the way he plays. But I mean, Jokers is ridiculous, man. Like, what are we talking about here? - He's a freak. Like, honestly, it's so funny. Like, there's the meme videos where he's like partying all summer and while other guys are working, they're bagged off to get ready for the season. And Yokech is just like, yeah, whatever. 'Cause he kind of looks like that sometimes on the ice. Like, everything just looks so nonchalant for him. - Yeah. - And it's brilliant. I love it. But, you know, he's one of the greatest players in the game. He's among the obvious best players in the NBA right now. I think he's still got a ways to go to be considered like that, that good. And maybe a few rings to be considered that, that good as well, right? Like, that's a, that's a pretty high bar to reach. Even for the center position with the names that you mentioned, Josh, but he's definitely on track. He's not too far away from getting there either, especially if he keeps with the run that he's recently had three MVPs in the last four years. I mean, not many guys can have a claim like that. - It's pretty good. - Pretty, pretty good. - Nice. - He does it all, it's really wild for a big guy. - Justin and his fan, how would you rate Rick Tockett's spaghetti recipe? (laughing) - Dallas. - I mean, we've seen this before, too, as somebody's shown it to us in the past, but now it's obviously connects around the playoffs and Tockett and everything. And it's really taking off or whatever, but I will see the floor to reach, 'cause I think everything Tockett did made reach like. - It's a zero. - Like, I don't even know, it's a zero, you know? Oh man, it's just like, every mistake you could possibly, the reference I made today to somebody that was asking me about it, it's like one of those videos on TikTok where people are trying, literally it's like a parody video where somebody's trying to upset Italian culture by making all of the cardinal sins, pulling all of the cardinal sins off in one video. And Rick Tockett does all of those things. The oil in the water and then cracking the spaghetti in half. Like, you may as well break my heart, Rick. You haven't made one bad step all season long and then I'm watching this. It's like, ah, you're breaking my heart, Rick. You're breaking. - I mean, do you get your Italian cart revoked if you break the pasta? - You pretty much do, you pretty much do. - Can I ask a question? - Yeah. - What does breaking the pasta do? - Like, you're not supposed to break the spaghetti. If you want a smaller pasta, like buy a smaller pasta. - Oh, so it's just that? - Don't break the spaghetti. Does it impact the flavor or, like, the experience? - I guess the experience. - It definitely impacts the experience. - Like, I don't do it. I just, just question why. - You don't split the spaghetti in half. You just don't, okay? - I mean, like, what's the reason you don't? Like, is it actually, does it actually taste worse? - Because certain types of pastas are for certain types of sauces. - But what if I don't have that pasta? - If you don't have spaghetti, then have a different kind of pasta. - But, like, I don't want to go out to the store. I have spaghetti at home. - So then just eat the spaghetti as spaghetti. - Well, I want it to be smaller, though. (laughing) - This isn't, this isn't how it works. - It just doesn't roll, this isn't how it works. - This is not how it works. - See, I've yet to hear a good reason why it doesn't work, but, like, I, I win. - If it was a taste thing, honestly, like, here's the other part. Is, would it not boil more evenly if it was all in the pod at the same time and not sticking out? - Well, you know, I think we've all made pasta before with, like, parts of it is, like, still a little bit raw. The other parts kind of cooked, right? So, like, you mix it together. And the other no-no is putting olive oil in the hot water, apparently. - Yes, you definitely don't do that. It's like some myth somebody came up with. Like, oh yeah, you put the olive oil in the boiling water so that it doesn't stick together. It's like, no, you just, you know, you don't just, like, set it and forget it. You gotta, like, twirl the pasta through the water so that it doesn't stick together. The other part with the spaghetti, okay? Like, there is spaghetti is supposed to be eaten. Like, you're supposed to twirl it around with your fork. You gather up the sauce. And then if it doesn't, like, if you're not doing that, then there's no point in actually having spaghetti. - Wow, right. - Doesn't work the same way. You don't gather the sauce in the same fashion. - I'll just use a fork a knife, it's fine. - Yeah, Cameron and Vancouver says, "Part of the reason you don't break spaghetti "is that once it becomes smaller, "you can't get enough rotations to coil around your fork." - Yes. - And it falls off much easier. That's Cameron. - That's like, how do you eat it? And you might as well eat it with a spoon. - That sounds way easier, actually. - It sounds dumb to me. It's not the way it's meant to be eaten. - Yeah, this text is great. You mean, "talk it tortellini." And spaghetti is so much better when you break it in half. So you're getting trolled hard on the text unbox reach. - We got two more questions. Gonna move on, I'm sorry. Chandler, would you rather fight one Zidorov-sized Connor Garland or two Connor Garland-sized Nikita Zidorovs? - Wait, wait, sit down again. - So you're fighting, you either have to fight one Zidorov-sized Connor Garland or two Connor Garland-sized Nikita Zidorov. So basically, either one really big Connor Garland or two really, not really small, sorry, two shorter Nikita Zidorovs. - So what makes Zidorov intimidating if he's not big? And I'm not trying to crap on the guy. We all like Zidorov. I'm just asking, like, what is it about Zidorov? If he wasn't like six foot seven, I would terrify you. - Oh. Yeah, I mean-- - Like he's tough, but he's not a nasty mean player all the time, right? He'll hold the zone, he's tough, and everything like that, right? - So I think it's this. - Yeah. - It's also like his thickness. - Yes. - He's just so large. (laughing) - Says pardon? - It's not even just the height. It's just like how large he is. - Yeah, no, fair enough. - Well, compare, compare, I know what Josh is getting at, and I get it, it's funny, yes. - Wording, phrasing. - It's thick, boy. - Myers is taller than Zidorov. - Yeah, yeah. - And yet Zidorov is still way more intimidating because of the overall size. - It's a size, like it uses his size too. - He does. So I've-- - 150 pounds. - What Garland's like, see how annoying Garland is, right? Like he gets in people's grills and stuff like that. He annoys players all the time. Could you imagine he was that annoying and also big? - Yeah, it would be funny to watch actually. Like, would he still have the same agility? - Probably not. I just think there's no way, there's no way a body is capable of being that agile, while also being that large. (laughing) To answer the question though, I don't think, I don't think you win either fight, 'cause like a Connor Garland size, Zidorov is still just gonna crush you. Or sorry, as the Dorov size Connor Garland is still gonna crush you. And two Connor Garland size Zidorovs, like you're fighting two dudes. - Yeah. - Yeah. - That's tough. - Two crafty dudes. - Yeah. - Just like weasel in their way around you. - Always finding leverage. - Center of ass. (laughing) - Well, end with this one. - I would say, I would say the, I would take on the one Connor Garland sized Zidorov. What? - Zidorov sized Garland. - Zidorov sized Connor Garland. Just 'cause like, rather take on one person than two. - And I mean, considering how much he's been pushed around, 'cause he's small, you know he's taking, he's exacting every measure of revenge possible. If he's six, seven, going like 250 bills. - Oh my. (laughing) - Wow, this is so much easier. - Oh man. - Well, end with this one from Dom. Have you ever been arrested? - No. I have not. I need to be a hesitation about that, but I have not been arrested. No, thankfully. - I have a fun story. - Oh no, Josh. - I don't think I've ever said it on air. I wasn't arrested, but I was brought in for police questioning. And the reason is, I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about it, but I'm gonna talk about it. - All right, let's go. - I was at BCIT doing my radio school. And on the last week, one of my classmates and I, my best man in my wedding actually, we were like, what's a stupid prank we could do that's super harmless, not gonna do anything, 'cause we were the only two in the building at the time. We turned a bunch of chairs and signs, and basically anything that was movable, we turned it upside down. And then we rode on the board, it was so stupid. We rode on the board upside down. We rode upside down bandits, and then we left. No harm. And then-- - I guess really clever, like the home alone guys. - Yeah, exactly. - We were the sticky bandits. - Exactly. And then anyway, on the same day, in the same building, on the other side of the building, where I don't know what program is there, but it's another media program, they had recently installed a bunch of new Mac computers. And on the same day, they were all smashed. - Oh no. - So, we were brought in, I was brought in, and I was like, oh no, they're gonna think that we did this, and we definitely didn't do it by the way. And they had camera footage, but they didn't tell me that they had camera footage. So they were like, you guys were the only ones in the building that they were completely leading me on, that they thought I had done this, and I was super stressed out, and then they were like, okay, you can go. And then later, they bring my friend in, and they tell him everything. They're like, yeah, we got camera footage, you guys are good. But meanwhile, for a whole day, I was stressed out that I was gonna be on the hook for all this debt, and I was gonna have to do something, and I was so worried. So anyway, that's the only time I've had any police issues. - That's terrific. - That's amazing. - That's fantastic. - Look at the time, we gotta go. - Yeah. (laughing) - All right, it's Dad Reacho, Satyoshah. It's the mailbag on Canucks Central. - Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drans. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. (chimes)
