[MUSIC PLAYING] Knocks Central Friday. It's Dan Reecho, Satyarsha here in the Kintec Studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands, thousands of five-star Google reviews. So our feet, what are you waiting for? Oh, it's a beautiful day in the lower mainland. Getting hyped for this weekend, Sat. I am. I am hyped for the weekend, because the weather is lovely. Yeah. And we get to watch a little bit of hockey today, and then soccer throughout the weekend. So I'm good, man. And I have to do with some prep on the NHL draft, because it's coming up next week. I was going to say, as much as I'd like to just be all in on a summery weekend, I do have to catch up on NHL draft prep. We've got a big draft show coming next Friday. And we have a big day two draft show coming up as well. All day Saturday. We're booked in. Our final big work weekend of the 23, 24 season next week. Yeah, we'll conclude the hockey year, calendar year in style. And then we do the start of the next year with July 1st. I would complain about not being able to enjoy Canada Day weekend, like many others. But we get to talk hockey, which is fine. And two, we get most of the summer off, so. Yeah, I mean, hey, I'm not going to complain. Listen, I'm going to be gone. What is it? Six out of seven weeks after we get through the first week of July, so you're not going to see me barely. But even if we weren't doing this, what would you be doing on July 1st? Espresso's probably some prosciutto, provolone. Yeah, I mean, yeah, some of that, for sure. But like, I'd wake up in the morning and sit down and watch July 1st. I'd be watching free agent frenzy, right? I've been told the afternoon. I mean, every other year of my life I did. So that's what I will be doing if I wasn't doing this, so. Espresso's in July 1st, signing day. Let's get to it. It's a Friday, so it is the mailbag. And it could be a very busy July 1st for your Vancouver Canucks. It was last year. And I'm sure a lot of our mailbag questions a lot to do with what the off-season might entail. We bring in producer Josh Elliott-Wolf. Hello. Josh, we'll start with this one from Matt. When will the team get serious about building its practice facility? Yes, land is expensive, but it's also not going to ever get less expensive. Yeah, I mean, and what was the last thing we heard was they may not even buy something. It might just be them upgrading a current facility. There's not going to be any perfect solution. It doesn't seem like, at least something that is in the vicinity of Rogers Arena in the downtown area of Vancouver. It's a problem. It's something that they absolutely need to have as a team. Going out to UBC is not a great solution. It doesn't help when you're trying to lure free agents and things of that nature. I get all that. The texture and question is right. You have to get serious about building this. I don't think they're not serious. It's just not an easy process to go through after all of the other opportunities have slipped through their fingers through the years. Yeah, and there have been a few that were better opportunities, perhaps, in hindsight. And for whatever reason, they didn't work out. Oh, it comes down to money, usually. Yes. But it's also like, I'm not going to get into it, because sometimes we hear things. We're not there always involved in it. But people are trying to make money as well. It's not just about spending money trying to make money. That's sometimes also a big part of the equation. It's honestly rich people problems. Yes. That's really what it is. And you just hope that they'd be able to figure it out at some point to have a facility, because they're going to be the only team to not have a facility once Calgary gets their new setup going. Yeah. So it's like, you don't want to be one of the only teams not having it, right? Like, it's something you got to figure out. Yeah. Every team should have its practice facility. The Vancouver Whitecaps have a practice. The BC Lions have a practice facility. Yeah, and I mean, I know the Lions one isn't like perfect, because of like where it is always for players. Now, a lot of them will live close by or whatever. But yeah, I mean, for the Canucks, they also are kind of limited to it being within what? 15, 20 K, 15 K, 10, 15 K of where the stadium's at, right? You want it to be pretty close to Roger's arena. So, and that's easily accessible for most players. All right, what's next? Next one from Woodrow. What's the ideal development plan for Black or a Mackie next season? Develop in the AHL or make the jump to the big club? I'd say it's really up to him, but he's going to have to blow the doors off of training camp to make the team. Like, and by blow the doors off, I mean, really show up at camp, and then in preseason score a handful of goals to the point where he looks undeniably ready for the National Hockey League. So, does that seem like a tall task when I say it that way? Well, it should, because it's going to be very difficult for Jonathan, like, or a Mackie to, I think, to make the team out of camp. For me, the best process is for him to develop in the AHL. I'm with you. It's always, the player always dictates. Yeah. If a player is so overwhelmingly good and impactful, then he should play there. I just think the best course would be for him to spend at least a couple of months. Yeah, and then go from there in the AHL. That's me, would be the ideal path, but, you know, I'm here for being surprised. I mean, it's not like, it's not like, if he dominates in the AHL, you know, like, there's a quick succession plan there for him to grow into the AHL. Think of Logan Stankov in this year with the Dallas Stars. You know, like, play well at the AHL to start the year, and you will get your chance in the AHL level. But given his lack of experience on North American Ice, for me, what's most important for Lekara Mackie to round out his whole game is to spend some time in the AHL. I don't disagree with that. The one thing I will say about Lekara Mackie, and I think we'll see this when we watch him play a bit more closely, he understands the game really well. Yeah. And I think he knows how to play a smart game as well in an effective game. So I think he could be pretty impressive in training camp and really make it hard for the Canucks, just because of how smart he is and how well he understands the game already. Next one comes from Ernest. How much was the Dorov's playoff performance flash and how much was substance? The Dorov's playoff performance was... Look, it is substance. Like, there's a player there that has so many tools that when it does all come together, you get and can get a pretty dominant player. My biggest thing with the Dorov is we haven't seen him put it all together for extended periods of time through his career. And two, it's very difficult unless you want to... Unless you're begging for an injury. Like, it's not realistic for a player to play that physical, that engaged over an 82 game regular season. I mean, we see it with Myers, right? And we saw it with Myers, even in the bubble playoffs, how much more physical he was in that scenario than he was at any point of his Canucks career prior to him playing his first playoff games. And now you saw it was the Dorov this year as well where that physicality, that size, just plays up so much more come post-season time. But I just... Given the fact that he's been in the league for 10 years and we've never seen him be able to sustain that level of play, I'm not gonna bet on that happening now that he found it for a little while in Vancouver. Yeah, and I also think this was his best playoff performance that he's had in his career. And he's played a decent amount of playoff games coming into this season, he had already played 45. So a decent amount, but at no point was he really playing the level that he played this year with the Canucks in the playoffs. It's not to say he can't do it again, it's just you have to be careful assuming that he's going to be this playoff monster every time. 'Cause this was the first time he kind of was that playoff monster. He's been good, he's been solid, he's been good to have him, obviously. And this is also something people have to keep in mind when we talk about players learning how to play into playoffs. There are certain players that don't have success in the playoffs ever, don't figure it out. But a lot of guys take some time to figure it out. They go through a few experiences before they are the players that become eventually that have playoff success. Look at Matthew Kachuk, we talked about his first three playoff appearances, like not good. And people wondered, is he a playoff performer? Is he a guy that can, can do it, you know? And now you watch and nobody doubts Matthew Kachuk, right? So I think you also have to be kind of patient with certain players when we talk about Patterson, for instance, but you also have to be careful when you see one guy have a really good playoff and assume that this is what you're always going to get. - Next one comes from Kanak's fan. Any updates on Iliya Mikayev regarding possible trades? And do you think his recent performance was confidence or injury related? It would be nice to free up the cap space for some of the pending free agents. - Well, there's no updates since Rick Dollywell mentioned that Dan Milstein, his agent, Iliya Mikayev's agent, has been given permission to seek out a trade. As I put it yesterday, if you were looking for a guarantee that Iliya Mikayev was not going to get traded, that was probably the guarantee. So for as much as I get the want to see the Kanak's be able to open up that cap space and do something else with it, right now it feels like too difficult of a situation for it to actually happen. - Yeah, I think the Kanak's obviously are open and they want to move Iliya Mikayev. It's just very similar to Garland Ambassador last year. - Yeah. - And there is bounce back there. Like I think most of his performance was related to confidence and not still being a hundred, being his optimum self physically since his injury. And I think this will be his first off season now where he has an entire off season to train, work on his game, rest and hit training cap next season, being a tip top shape and having some confidence in himself. And if he does, I think next season Iliya Mikayev is going to probably score anywhere from 16 to 20 goals. He's going to have anywhere from 35 to 40 points, be a good PKer and he's going to make a tangible impact on any team he's on. - Yes. - It may not be Vancouver, but it's going to be the almost exact same situation as we saw with Garland and with Besser. Now, the hope would be that other teams also look at that situation and say to themselves, "Sure, we could have had Besser and Garland last time." And we didn't, we could have had him for cheap, but we decided not to and we could have perhaps done better next time around. But now, I would say I'm just not sure a team is willing to take that risk. And to people saying 16, 20 goals, LOL on Iliya Mikayev, Iliya Mikayev, his averages, his goals per game is 0.23, I believe it is, which for an entire season, over 80 games, comes out to 20 goals. For his career, goals per game, Iliya Mikayev has been nearly a 20 goals score. So you can sit here and laugh at Iliya Mikayev and talk about how bad he was and he's not a good goals score. For his career, he averages close to 20 goals per season. So you can laugh at him, you can make fun of him, you can say he's trash all you want, but you're wrong. And next year, he's going to prove a lot of people wrong and a lot of people, unfortunately, can only evaluate guys if they score goals and produce. They have a really hard time seeing what players can do that are positive and they have failed to see ways for players to bounce back. I bet you the same people texting this stuff in about Mikayev were saying Garland's cooked, saying, "Bester's never going to score 20, 30 goals again." You were wrong before, you're probably wrong again. I mean, he had 10 goals at Christmas. I don't know how many times I have to bring this up. You know, like, I know he wasn't going to continue scoring at that rate for the whole season because I understand shooting percentages and all those things, but I also didn't expect him to fall off a cliff and only score one goal for the remainder of the year. So this is a player, size, speed, four check. He brings all those things that this team covets in some of its wing players. He just lost his finish, lost his confidence. Having a full summer to put in a proper off season is going to be huge for Ilya Mikayev. I guarantee you he bounces back to being more of the player we saw prior to his ACL injury and not the one we've seen through his first two years as a Vancouver canuck. It's just, I mean, it's pretty bloody obvious that that's something that's going to happen for Ilya Mikayev. Next one from Karm. Is there a reason the Canucks have not announced anything about Artur Shilov signing yet? - It's not a huge priority, I would say, right now. And I mean, there isn't a lot of leverage. I think what the Canucks have to figure out with Shilovs is do we do a short-term deal? Or do we try to do something longer-term? But if you're trying to do something longer-term by longer-term, I mean like two or three years. I don't even mean like four or five. You kind of need clarity on how much you're spending. 'Cause if, like, I actually love the idea of signing him to a two-year deal, worth about a million. So this year or next season, and then you can figure out a contract for him or Demko, once you can have a decision to be made between those two goalies in two years, right? And they both kind of line up to be expiring at the same time, whereas he's RFA, Shilovs, so you have team control on him. And I think one million for each year is a good number. But if, for instance, they need all the cap space possible, then maybe just getting him to a one-year deal worth $900K, $850K or something, one-way deal would be the best. 'Cause as much as he played well on the playoffs, he doesn't have any real track record to demand anything above a one-way contract. Like him getting a one-way contract based on what he's done so far in his career would be a win, right? So it's not gonna be a big number for a one-year deal. - He's a restricted free agent without arbitration rights. The Canucks have other things that are higher on the priority list because there is a closer deadline to them having to make those decisions than the one they have to make on Arthur Shilovs right now. It's pretty plain and simple. - Next one from Denox. If the Canucks are able to sign Jake Genssel is the Elias Lindholm trade more of a win because they were able to get Kuzmenko's cap off the books. - I mean, not having Kuzmenko's cap carrying into next year gives them as much flexibility as they currently do have, where it's, even after signing Heronic, like they've still got a good amount of space to work with and they can do some things, add to this roster. It's what, upwards of 16, 17 million on the cap that they still have to spend. So when you look at it that way, getting Kuzmenko off the books was probably the biggest win of the Lindholm deal. And look, it's gonna be tough to swallow the Lindholm asset spent for a guy who ended up being a rental. It's a different world if Elias Pedersen is playing more to his potential when we now know what Lindholm was bringing in the playoffs, a very valuable player for this team. But that's just another world that you know, you can live in regrets for your whole life to live in that. Like to me, it's a win. You got to the second round, you played seven games, you took Edmund to the brink, lost by one goal. You don't get there without Elias Lindholm in the playoffs. I know a lot of people think it's championship or bust in the world that we live in now, but I'm not of the same mindset. So to me, getting the experience and showing what this team could do and having a liftoff point from here, I think it was worth it to go after Lindholm and give this core a chance to really go on a run for playoffs. - It was worth it because they got to the second round. It would have been a huge win if they got to the conference final. Moving Mikus Manko's money was a big win because of the flexibility he gave them, right? So overall, the trade was, I'd say you can chalk the trade up as a win because of the flexibility the Canucks had and the relative success they had, right? So I don't really see much of an issue with the trade. - Next one comes from AEM. Based on performance, does Jake Genssel deserve to be paid more than JT Miller? - Well, I guess, look, this is a hard question to answer because it's more about when your contract comes up for expiry and when you're negotiating your current deal that makes you worth what you're worth. And Genssel finds himself in a good spot where the cap is finally going up and he's been pretty much a top 10 left winger in the league for much of his career. As for JT Miller, when his contract came up, he was off his first point per game, well, I shouldn't say first point per game season, but his first real big season, it was the 99 point year that he had. And so while he had a lot of negotiating power, it was a flat cap and it could have been viewed as a year where, not a one off, but this might be his best ever season. - Yeah, Genssel has a better high end track record than JT has. So I think merit wise, when he's hitting the market for this contract compared to where JT hit the market, so you can't add this year for JT. You have to remove this year, right? And if you had, even include last year, which was an up and down year, but finished it strong, right, had 80 points. - Still had over 80 points, right. - But those were like the three years in van. He had the one down year in the work division year, but his first year had 70 points, right? And then he had the two years where 99, 82. So he had three years on record where he was a high end producer. JT Genssel, I think he has what, six, seven seasons? - Yeah. - Six, seven seasons where he's been like 30 plus goal score, point per game and stuff. And the other factors you mentioned. And the reality is when you're USA. - And a player performer. - And also the reality is when you're bidding on guys in free agency, it changes the market a little bit. And as much as there are certain guys you can't over, you can't pay more than JT, right? Like for instance, Besser, I don't think you can give Besser a bigger AAV than JT perhaps when you're figuring that out. But if you're trying to add a player in free agency, what do you think Miller is gonna say don't sign a guy and pay more than me? I don't want the team to be better. - I also think that the Canucks are in a situation where most of their top guys are locked up already where it's not, like you remember when the Leafs signed John Tavares, right? They signed John Tavares in unrestricted free agency for 11 million bucks. And now you have to go to the negotiating table with Austin Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner. And they're all like, well, I'd do more than that guy. Why would I take less? So Matthews gets more. Marner gets just a shade under Tavares at the time. It kind of screwed the Leafs a little bit to be quite honest. Canucks aren't in that situation. Pedersen's already been paid, Miller's already been paid, Hughes has already been paid. Genssel's factor here I think is a lot different. It's more viewed as this is a guy that's helping us put over the top, not setting our internal cap number around this guy now that he's coming into the picture. - Got a few more here. This one from Kevin. Two players you haven't talked about. Matt Dumba, Dumba, and Nikolai Eelers. - We've talked about Eelers, 'cause we've been asking about him quite a bit. Yeah, last year in his contract. Okay, so Winnipeg probably wants the first round pick for Nick Eelers. That's what they can get from at the deadline if they are sellers at the deadline, right? Vancouver's not trading at first for Eelers for one year. - Shelby Bayov is among the best negotiators in the league for trades. I think so. - Yeah, and I would bet that Eelers does not get traded this summer. - Unless it's like for another player, like one for one type of deal, where they're getting another veteran perhaps or something, right? - If they're moving Eelers in summer, they're probably looking for something that's going to help them now, much like they did with what they prioritized in the Pierre-Luc de Boix trade and look how well that worked out for them, right? So is Eelers gonna fetch them that much of a haul? Probably not, but I just think the trade price, the trade cost is going to be exorbitant to a point that it's hard for the Canucks to do given their lack of trade assets. - Yeah, Matt Dumba, we haven't really talked about Matt Dumba a ton. I don't know if he really fits the profile for defenders, the Canucks are after. - Right. - I actually like Matt Dumba and I think there is some upside there to him and I like how he played when he went to Tampa, the deadline, but he doesn't quite fit the profile of the players the Canucks want. They want size, good defensively. He does move the puck fairly well and he can play the right side. I just don't know if it lines up with what Vancouver is trying to do. Now that they have Heronic and Hughes, both signed long-term, it's clear they kind of value size, peak ability and being good at defending in zone. - Kind of feels like a Myers type where his contract was just too big for what he could actually provide. He had that one big season right way back when, just hasn't been able to live up to it. But now if he's on more of a discounted tight deal, which is where he's been trending the last couple of years, I'd be interested in Matt Dumba. I just, I'm not sure the Canucks are necessarily looking at that right now, given their situation with Zadorov and Myers and what else they might want to do up front. - Yeah, and I'm not to say Dumba's not a smart defender. But they also value some guys with more IQ. So the guys I've been linked to right now, it's been Carrier, Hawkenpaw, who has size and Joel Edmondson, another guy who has size, plus Brendan Dillon, another guy who has size. So it's very clear. - As it's in place hard. - Yeah. - You know, like these guys play hard. And I thought Dumba did when he got to Tampa. - Yeah. - But. - I like Matt Dumba. - Yeah, it would be an interesting name to say the least. - Well, end with this one from Austin in Langley, inspired by Jake Genssel's big tour of the Lower Mainland that you could see all over Twitter. Not actually big tour, by the way. He was not here. What would you show people in town if you were doing a Lower Mainland tour? - Not the steam clock. - No. - And not the capillano suspension bridge. - So it depends on what time of year. Like if you're here, say, during the fall or something, and they got the lights set up at a capillano at night or something, or Halloween or anything, I think those, that can be cool. - It's cool, but also a little pricey. - Yeah, I mean, yeah. - Yeah, I mean. - Anything amazing. - I mean, it's very cool. What do you want to do? If you don't want to spend money, stay home. - Yeah, very well. - I'm sorry. - That's kind of what it is, right? Like everything costs money nowadays. That's a place. - Steam clock is so overrated. - Last night I was at Birdaby Mountain Park, watching the sunset. Beautiful. - Yeah. Birdaby Mountain Park's good. - That wasn't expensive. - I think you gotta go to a beach of some kind. - For sure, yeah. The thing is you don't want, I would say probably go to Kit's beach or head out towards Spanish banks 'cause I think it's a little easier. English bays are zoo during the summertime. You don't want to go down there and get stuck. Although walking around a sea wall, I think, you know, for us, it's like so normal, but people that come and walk around a sea wall for the first time are like amazed. I think that's a good idea. - That'd be pretty sick, yeah. - Stanley Park is almost as able to. - And Queen Elizabeth, very underrated. Queen Elizabeth Park. - QE Park. - Got some great views there. - Incredible views and walking through the garden. And honestly, like-- - Haven't tried the pigeon putt, but it's another day. - And then I would say go to Crescent Beach, too. - Crescent Beach? - Yeah. - It's like you show a different side of Vancouver and it's like kind of more quaint, more quiet, right? And, you know, you don't have the big-- - That area, even though the white rock, is pretty nice, too. - Yeah, that little strip. - Yeah. - Go to Moby Dicks. - Yeah, cool. - Hey, haven't got the right place. - I'm proud of you. (laughing) - Stan Reicho, Satyoshah, it's Canucks Central, Yannick Hanson joins us next on Sports at 650. - Hey, it's Mike Alford and Jason Bruff. Join us for Alford and Bruff in the morning, weekdays for 6 to 9 a.m. on Sports then 650. - Or on demand anytime through your favorite podcast app.
