[MUSIC] Canucks Central Monday. It's Dan Reicho, Satyar Shah. January has arrived, and we felt it over the weekend. >> Lots of rain. >> But now we prepare for the Stanley Cup final. >> Yes. >> In 17,000 days. >> That's what it feels like. Not having a hockey on for a whole week. >> Yeah. >> Seems kind of like cruel and unusual punishment. >> People in Vancouver, they're gonna see the sun by like what Wednesday? And it's like, what? There's hockey on? [LAUGH] Who needs this? Canada's team? No way! Not gonna happen. >> No, and you got people going saying it is not Canada's team on Twitter last night. >> It's funny how like the most trivial things end up going off like that. >> No. >> [LAUGH] >> Over 2,000 likes and 1,000 replies later. I have just every corner of Canadian hockey fan yelling at me in the mentions. >> How it is, Canada's team? >> Yeah. Well, Euler's fans are like, Solty Knucks fan, you're still mad they lost in game seven. >> Now other people are like, yeah, go Knucks go. Why should I cheer for another Canadian team? He's like, that's not my point at all. >> [LAUGH] >> If it was any Canadian team, it doesn't have to be Canada's team. You want to cheer for them? Great. It's your prerogative. But I don't know why Leon Dreyseide on Conor McDavid after they just clinched there and punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup final. They got to be like, so you guys are Canada's team now, right? >> [LAUGH] >> I don't know, sure. Is Florida America's team, I've never gotten this logic. >> It's because it's Canada's game, the Stanley Cup hasn't been in Canada since 1993. Now, when Canadian teams are winning Stanley Cups like it was going out of style back in the day, then this wasn't a topic. >> Yeah. >> When you haven't had a Stanley Cup, grace a Canadian team since 1993. >> Yeah. >> Then it changes things, I guess. >> It's been 31 years. >> Us against them. >> Yes. >> It's been a long time. >> No tax states versus Canadian taxes, I guess. >> Hard working Canadian teams versus these luxurious American teams, but they're no tax states. >> People are just really working to find narratives to make it about Canada versus the US. But maybe it just comes down to the guys on the ice plane hockey. I don't know. All right, let's get to the open. [MUSIC] >> Welcome to the open. >> That's your home, are you too good for your home? Answer me. >> Yeah, the open, the latest on the Vancouver Canucks and our take on it. And we're in a bit of a vacuum right now of Canucks news, not a lot coming around, given that the focus has been on the conference finals and the Stanley Cup finals to come and start on Saturday. But that doesn't mean we don't stop, we stop talking about the Canucks. There is still a lot about this team and how they build from here that we're still looking at. And you look at these two Stanley Cup finalists last Friday when we talked about how Matthew Kachuk was a big acquisition for Florida. Jack Eichl was a big acquisition for Vegas last year's Cup champion. Is there a name out there that the Canucks could trade for to help them get over the top? But when you just look at these two teams, sat, and one of them had to go through Vancouver to get to the Stanley Cup final. How close are the Canucks to being where these two teams are currently at? >> Well, I think with Edmonton, obviously they took them the game seven of a series. >> So pretty close. They could have won, right? So I don't think they're too far. I think they had them on the brink of elimination. >> Yeah, and I think it's going to come down to something we'll talk here in a second about. But the Canucks best players weren't their best players. And essentially that's the difference in a semi-game series, wasn't it? >> So if you look at Edmonton, the opening series dry side was unbelievable. And he was still good and against Vancouver. But I would say Evan Bouchard was their best player against Vancouver. And then this past series, Conor McDavid stepped up to be their best player. Like you think about the Canucks in 2011, right? Kessler stepped up against Nashville. You had different guys popping up at different times to make the run possible. And yeah, like the Canucks have star players, but they weren't always playing like star players during their playoff run. >> No, I mean, the guy who was consistently bringing it was JT Miller, right? And Quinn was good. It wasn't like he wasn't good. He wasn't at the level that you want to see from him at times, right? And overall, but was still very impactful. Pedersen, we all know. And then Besser was not available for you for game seven, which obviously was a big miss. And you did not have Thatcher/Dempo. So I think with Edmonton, they're pretty close to them there. The question is Florida. >> Yeah. >> And the other difference with Edmonton before we moved to Florida is just like, their high end is higher than anybody else. >> Of course, but that also means you can't have one of your best players be MIA for most of the series. >> Yeah. >> Like again, if Pedersen plays at like 90% of what he's capable of. >> Yeah, you have more of a chance. >> You probably win that series now. Hey, listen, you never know how things go, right? It's the butterfly effect. One thing changes, who knows? What else could have it would have happened? But nonetheless, you lost the seven game series by one goal in the last game. You're right there with them, right? To get past them. >> I think that series simply came down to your star players. If the connect star players were better, you may win that series. >> Yes. There's no doubt about that. >> And that's where the, there's going to be some questions about this year, no matter what happens from this point on, because Edmonton beat Dallas 10 years from now, 7 years from now, especially if the connection went astoundly cup, you're going to be talking about, well, remember in 2024, the connect had a chance. They took Edmonton the game 7, they could have gone to the cup final. Maybe they beat Florida. Do you know what I mean? >> Yes. >> This is always going to be a year. You're going to think to yourself and say, what if, right? >> Yep. You could always look at it that way. And unfortunately, the circle back always ends up circling back on number 40, Elias Patterson, what could have been? But when it comes to Florida, Florida's got so many guys. And they've also got a team identity that I kind of love watching from afar. But I'm sure, you know, if you're playing up against them in a playoff series, you'd absolutely hate it. But you go from Barkov, Reinhardt, all they've got on D, the way they play, they are, I mean, there's a reason why they were the best team in the East. There's a reason why, you know, we talked about them through the middle of the season. It was like, man, it looks like Florida's the class of the East and they're in the Stanley Cup for a reason. >> Yeah, I think you're right about that. Like, they don't have a weakness, really. We said the same thing about the Dallas Stars, but then they just, I mean, give Edmonton credit. I'm not taking anything away from Edmonton, how they beat Dallas, right? But Florida truly looks like a team that's been now through three rounds and doesn't look to have any real flaws. >> Yeah. They don't. I mean, you watch the way they play. The way they carried play against the New York Rangers and, you know, that's a president's trophy winning team, sure, Adam Fox got hurt and he was banged up less than 100%. There's factors here, but like, there were times in that series where New York couldn't even touch the puck. >> Yeah. And I think that's one of the things that we saw that with Vancouver against Edmonton at times. >> Yeah. >> Where they couldn't touch the puck. Now, they showed a lot of guile and resilience seen a lot of those games, right? They played well defensively, right? I mean, they got some saves, they got some timely goals, and you don't apologize for any of it. Like, hang on for dear life when they even had dry subtler out there. And you know, they did good on the PK two at times, right? Like, and they got through it. But it's like, you had a chance against them. And I think the Canucks would have had a chance against Florida, but Florida is a cut above. >> Yes. >> But I think what it shows you this year is obviously the Canucks can't come back with the same team. And if they do, it's probably not going to be enough. But they're coming back with the same team. You probably take a step back. >> Right. But the gap you have to bridge, I don't think is truly as big as sometimes we let it lead ourselves to believe. It'd be like, well, it's not like the Canucks only need one guy, they need like three other guys. You know what I mean? And I'm not saying they don't need to raise a ceiling. Like, they need another start. If we compare the Canucks roster to Florida's roster, you go through the players and you're like, yeah, they kind of need the Verhagi. >> Yeah. >> You kind of need that guy. You know what I mean? On the back. And you can't need a guy like Forzling. In addition to Montour and addition to Ecplat. They have three guys that are really high yet. Not to mention some other guys who are decent, but those three guys are like like three top pair of defenseman when they're playing at their best. So the Canucks are using one more defensive and one more forward. But if you get, if you kind of find that balance, I do think it's one of those years where as frustrating as it was for you to lose against these teams, I think it's the year where you look at yourself and say, if we make the right moves here, like we can be there. Like it's, we're not sitting here and having the conversation we had last year when it's like, well, the Canucks have to make like, you know, three leaps to get there. >> Yeah. So the conversation we had Friday is Matthew Kachuk was an acquisition for this Panthers team. Really put them over the top. But even guys like Sam Bennett and Carter for Hagee were also trade acquisitions. Now, Sam Bennett didn't, wasn't cheap, right? What'd he cost? Two seconds at the time that they got him? >> Yeah. I mean, it's kind of like the Devon Taves, but for Forzling, they give up two seconds. Colorado did to get him and look what he became. >> He really just started to come on with Calgary. Not 18-year-old Sam Bennett anymore, but you know, 18, 18-year-old Sam Bennett looked great against the Canucks. And he kind of went through a lull in his career and people were wondering what he was going to be. And then he started to come on again towards the end of his time in Calgary. And then well, he's soon to be 28-year-old Sam Bennett and that player is far more formidable. >> We're 10 years on and now Sam Bennett is a core player for this Panthers team. And but you know, like that kind of a move would extend the Canucks core and help them build out a more formidable top six, you know, getting that star player that they were missing in these playoffs may just be Alias Pedersen regaining star-level form, true star-level form, but they still need to add another horse next to this guy. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to. You know, like Edmonton's got Hyman, they've got Newge as ancillary pieces to supportive pieces to Leon Dreyseidel and Conor McDavid, the Canucks, they were just missing that one other forward. And it's so obvious, but it's also very difficult to find and to add that player. But I think they got a lot of the sort of pillars that we've seen Edmonton and Florida sort of flourish on. And that is a team identity, star-level talent, play to your strengths, play good defensively, all those kinds of things, the Canucks did well. They just, you know, you saw their talent gap start to show as the series went on against Edmonton. Absolutely, but also like the main lesson, like the two things you need to have success in the playoffs, I mean, really you need multiple things. But if you really want to want to narrow it down to two main factors, no team wins a Stanley Cup without your team having full buy-in and commitment to playing the right way. Yeah. It just doesn't happen. And getting to the Cup final, nor are you winning it unless there's a full commitment to playing a real team game. The Canucks exhibited that and then something this year, right? Like they had it in the playoffs. Now they had some moments, no team's going to be perfect through a seven game series, right? You are going to have some bad games, bad moments. Those things will happen. There will be ebbs and flows. But there was a true commitment. And even when things got really hairy for the Canucks, they still, for the most part, held the fort well. They showed resiliency with how they played. And I think those are the types of things that you need to have. The other one is your star players have to be your best, your star players. Edmonton is not here without McDavid, Dry Saddle, Bouchard playing their best. But it's that commitment to playing the right way that Edmonton has finally figured out. Yeah. And that's where you have to give Chris Knopke a lot of credit, but also how they rally around their goalies. Like, Stuart Skinner, you know, I'm almost talking about how good he was, and he was really good. But he'd have to go post to post a ton. No. You know, a lot of stuff's like stationary. He's facing it. And that's Edmonton... Oh, even when they were showing the highlight pack of his biggest saves, it's not like... He's there for waiting for it. He's not like making the saves she loves that to make at times against Edmonton. Yeah. And that's not to take anything away from. Because you know what? Like, he held up. And for all the doubts we had about Stuart Skinner, he showed us, man. He didn't fall apart. Well, yeah. I mean, there wasn't any bad goals. No, there weren't. You know, as the Oilers closed out the series. Yeah, and they won in six games. Yeah. Only let in one goal in a critical game six, right? So it's like... But he's going to get tested a lot more. A hundred percent, but still give the man his flowers. He got to become final, right? You know what I mean? Like... And we threw a lot of doubt at him. He gave him his credit. But we talked about how the Canucks only let their goalies play half the net. Yeah. That's what Skinner was doing. Well, I feel like Edmonton found this midway through the Canucks series. You know, early on, the Canucks... Not that they were generating a ton, but they were generating some really good looks. And then when it got to 3-2, and Edmonton won game six and seven, it was a lot harder for the Canucks to generate some of those looks. I know they displayed it during the course of the season with Noblock, they really started to show this level of defensive hockey that maybe they hadn't shown in prior years. But it felt like they found it again in the series against the Vancouver Canucks when they had their backs up against the walls. Yeah. Well, a hundred percent. And I think the difference with Vancouver was against Edmonton at the very least, especially because, I mean, as Kane, he played fine, but Kane wasn't playing at the level you've seen him be able to play. It was essentially down to their three best players. Yeah. Oh, and Zach Hyman gives Hyman a lot of credit as well, and with Evan Bouchard, those guys came through. For the Canucks, JT played well, Besser played well, Hughes did a little bit of something, Pedersen obviously wasn't quite where it needed to be. Lindholm was good, right? But not at that level. So it's clear the Canucks, if they're able to retain a Lindholm or add somebody like Lindholm and add somebody else, and they play the right way, then you've got a team. You do. And I don't think you're that far from him. You know what I mean? The main lesson is your star players have to be your best players, and if they're not, but you also have to have the commitment to play in the right way. And Edmonton showed both those things, and I think the Canucks were close to it, but just couldn't get the part of their star players being at their absolute best thing in Edmonton. It's one of those things where, like, you almost see it with every single team, right? And I know, like, as Stanley Cup playoffs go along, we can really hone in on a great story of a fourth line guy, maybe scoring a couple, like Barkley Goudreau with the Rangers. Yeah. Right? How many goals did he score in these playoffs? He scored a couple of short-handed goals. He was shooting, like, over 40 percent. Basically, every other shot went in that he got on net. How often is that going to happen? Like, yeah, it was a good story. It helps you win games. It helps you get there. But ultimately, it's not going to help you win a conference final. It's not going to put you over the top in a conference final. Why did Florida beat the New York Rangers? Well, their star players were better than New York star players. Our Temi Panerin scoring dried up, Mika's advantage had scoring dried up. The only guy going for them was really Alexis Laffernier. And it started to show as that series went on, whereas Matthew Kachuk, you couldn't get the puck off when he was on the ice. All those things started to happen. And yes, I love to romanticize the bottom six player that's having a day. The Fernando Passanis of the world, shout out. Fernando Passani, a strong member of the Italian community, I think. Last time, Emmetson went to the Stanley Cup final in loss. He was a big piece of that team. He was. But those guys, it's more like they're having a hot streak at the end of the day. You still need your guys to be your guys. 100%. And to me, as we'd spoken about quite a bit since the season has ended, what the Canucks need more of is more of those high end players. Yeah. And yes, you need depth. But I think you can find some depth throughout the season. You can add a Yakov trend in via trade for mid-round picking. You can find a bevelier types for a mid-round pick or whatever. I think you can fill out some guys to give you credible minutes at the trade deadline. What's really hard to find is that high end player. Yeah. And that's what it comes down to again here for the Canucks in their off-season pursuit to being a better hockey team. It's, can they find one more stud? Yeah. Yeah. And as much as I like Dakota Joshua, and I think it would be wise of the Canucks to get him back on a deal that makes sense for both player and team, at the end of the day, Dakota Joshua, bringing back Dakota Joshua isn't putting this team over the top. Well, it depends on how much he's getting. Like, if you can get him signed to 3 million or less, sure. But if that also helps you go out and get a star on top of Dakota Joshua. Yeah. And somebody willing to give Dakota Joshua a 4 plus million free agency. All it takes is 1. Yeah. We can sit here and be like skeptical about it, but all it takes is 1 team loving them. And if 1 team does, then it's over. My point is, it just, you can't just have that guy. No. You need, you need, you have to be able to bring some of that back, but also add a piece from outside that helps you get over the top because that's what you were missing. You can't expect Dakota Joshua after he's taken this step this year to take another step and be an even better player than, than he was. It would be foolish to do something like that. So it's really just about going out and finding that next level as a team, finding that next level player. And it's fairly obvious what the Canucks need to do here. I will say the idea that another tax free state team is going to the Stanley Cup final is always something that I chuckle at and hey, people who've listened to us, I always bring this up like if you're smart enough about it, you can find ways around it. You can get some registered chartered accountants that can help you mitigate the tax differences from basically anywhere in Canada to where they're at in Florida or Vegas or any of these teams that have had success over recent years. I think there's an obvious advantage that those teams have when it comes to where they play, playing in warm weather climates, desirable for a lot of players, and why is it desirable for a lot of players? I think there's just a lot of Canadian players that don't really want to play in Canada and that contributes to them being able to attract talent at lower prices maybe more than anything else. We don't have to make up this whole tax free state thing just because it sounds fun and it's easy to point to. So when generally speaking, and I can't speak to everybody because everybody's different and I'm sure if right now I ask you to name your idea of living in paradise, your idea of living in Paris, for some of you may be in the Yukon or something, maybe you want the four seasons, but a lot of you living in somewhere on the sea to sky highway, easy to get to the top of the mountain and be able to snowboard or ski. And honestly, that might be my ideal. I love living out. I'd love to retire one day somewhere quaint and quiet where nobody around. In the woods. 500%. That would be me. That's going to be me. You're living off the land. But that's for a few years. That's a lot of ways down the road. Throw it as own magic mushrooms. Well, I don't know about that. But I think when you think of it, it's most people, a lot of people think somewhere nice warm. Yeah. A nice beach, right? Nice temperature. And if you got money and if you're playing the National Hockey League, you have money, believe it or not, and you live in Tampa, you live in Miami, you live in Phoenix, live in LA, for instance, San Jose, it's really good lifestyle, you know, and. And you can go up for dinner. Nobody's going to bother you. Yes. You are as anonymous as the next guy. So for all this tax stuff, I just look at it that way. Like, think of cities you'd like to go visit. Yes. Black people would like to live in a place like that. Yes. That, to me, is the biggest draw. And the fact, to your point, the anonymity that comes with it alongside of being able to live somewhere as beautiful and warm as one of those destinations, right? The tax stuff, you're right. You can always figure some of it out. But it is work. Yes. Like, for you to figure out the tax stuff means you got to hire the right people. You got to go through the hoops and everything and make sure you have your, you know, teas, cross and your eyes dotted because if you don't, then there are issues. So there, there is some baggage that comes with it. But to your point, it's all doable. It is all doable. And, you know, you don't have to go further than Ryan O'Reilly making quotes about it last year, even, you know, to a lesser extent, Radko Goudis said the same thing. But Ryan O'Reilly was like, yeah, if, if I'm going to stay in a Canadian city, you're going to have to pay me X amount of dollars. If not, I'm going to go live happily somewhere where I'm not as well known. I'm not in a fishbowl. I don't have to, you know, you still have to answer to the media, but not to the same extent as you would in Toronto or Vancouver or any other teams, any of the other teams that may have been interested in keeping Ryan O'Reilly around. Speaking of free agents, Chris Tana of season is done. Does Chris Tana get to free agency? My guess is yes, because as much as Dallas would love to keep them, I'm sure they also have like that. They have some tough decisions to make. They're going to have to start paying some of these young guys that are having success, right? Yeah. And it's not like they have infinite cap space. They have about 15 million in cap space, but they have some pretty sizable players that they have to bring back still. And they have to figure out if Pivelsky is not coming back, right? And if Duchain is not coming back, those are pretty big players that they have to replace. Duchain was great for them this year. He was absolutely fantastic for them, right? And on the back end, Thomas Harley's probably going to get paid quite a bit. Yeah. So I just wonder like it's, they will love to bring him back, but they, I don't think they can outbid other teams on, on Chris Tana. So I think you'll be available in free agency, but if Dallas can't bring him back, what does that kind of tell you about what Vancouver's chances would be to land Chris Tana? Yeah. It's, it's feeling like it's going to get kind of like we talk about with Nikita Zadora. There's the idea that maybe a silly number might be out there for this player. You know, Ottawa has been heavily linked to Chris Tana, wanting him. Is there a reuniting with Travis Green? It's, it's very possible. But, you know, there is going to be quite the market for Chris Tana and like a lot of their own free agents. I think, you know, Tana, if he wants to go to a certain place, he might have to take less money than what's out there and available for him. I don't mean just Vancouver, but I think there could be, he could be in one of those situations where teams are trying to lure him and depending on where he wants to play, he might end up taking less. But we'll see what happens with Chris Tana quickly on the Canucks Central Roundup before we get to Don Taylor. Frank Sarah Valley said he wouldn't be surprised if Martin Nietzsche has traded before game one. Of the Stanley. Of the Stanley's. Did I say Nietzsche's? Yes, he did. So we worked on this so hard. Can we reset? No, we're live. We can't take this one back. Martin Nietzsche could be traded before game one of the Stanley Cup final. I mean, sure. I mean, anybody can be traded at this point, right? Yeah. So, so yes. I hope so because I'd be giving something to talk about this week, right? I'm like something outside of speculation or rumors and stuff that's kind of out there right now. I'm not going to doubt what Frank says, but it's a pretty sizable move. How often do we see that level of the trade get completed while the Stanley Cup playoffs are still going on? Yes. I think that's part of it. And also, like, is the pressure point quite there? You know what I mean? It seems like an odd time for that trade to go down. But at the same time, we saw that the draft pick swap between Chicago and The Islanders happen, which usually is something that happens closer to the draft anyways. So, I mean, maybe there's things happening behind the scenes that are creating some pressure points. By the time the Cup final rolls around or the end of the Cup final rolls around, the draft will be just around the corner. Yeah. So, things are going to happen quickly as we get closer to the end of the playoffs here. Canucks prospect Josh Bloom scored the winning goal as Saginaw won the Memorial Cup with a 4-3 win over the London Knights of Shout to Saginaw in Shout to Josh Bloom, who's had a wild season. Well, you know, ECHL, HL, then back to junior. Well, it started off traded. You know what? And remembering camp, he looked like he was-- he had a couple of really nice hits in camp, just skated hard the first couple of days. Looked like, hey, this kid is ready to show something and then kind of fell off the side of a cliff. Yeah. You never saw him anymore. Went to the ECHL. It looked like he really struggled. And for him to go to the OHL, then get traded on top of everything. But then for him to have a big playoff and him to win at the end, like a great cap to what had been a really toughened up and down season for him. So we'll see what happens with Josh Bloom as the year goes on, but sheds to him and Saginaw on their Mem Cup win. All right. Here we get to Don Taylor, Donnie and Dolly Tenderoon on Check TV. That's next on Canucks Central.
