The Athletic Hockey Show - Dave Tippett on the Oilers adopting a playoff mindset. Making sense of the Maple Leafs collapse, Vasilevskiy the best in the world and landing spots for Seth Jones.

Episode Date: June 2, 2021

Dave Tippett, the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers joins Pierre and Scott to discuss his teams early exit from the playoffs, and how his group needs to adopt a playoff mindset moving forward. Tip also addresses his future with the Oilers and how he decompresses after a condensed season, and coming to the defence of Ethan Bear who was attacked online last week after the oilers were eliminated.Scott and Pierre look back on the Maple Leafs shocking first round loss to Montreal, the battle of Carey Price vs Connor Hellebuyck in round two, the powerhouses in Tampa Bay and Colorado, led by Vezina nominees Andrei Vasilevskiy and Philipp Grubauer.The guys also discuss the World Championships, we provide an update on Olympic participation, plus the NHL draft lottery which happens tonight and where the best fit is for Seth Jones, who wants out of Columbus.Finally, in Ask the Dorks, Burnsie and Pierre address your questions, including what the Columbus Blue Jackets do this off-season, the Vegas Golden Knights and more.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, everybody Scott Burnside back for another edition. Oh, two-man advantage, the podcast, part of the athletic hockey show network. It's a network that grows seemingly by the hour. I kind of like that. Pierre Lebrun. So, Pierre, I was a little bit surprised when I got your text and you said, all I want to talk about today is Toronto Maple Leafs. That was nothing else.

Even though we have Evanton Oilers head coach, Dave Tippett's going to join us. You were like all leaves all the time. I was a bit surprised by that. Like I didn't have enough yesterday between my TSN and athletic duties. Oh, my goodness. Living in Toronto like I do and our producer, Jeff. Oh, my gosh. What a 48 hours it's been for sure.

Well, I just, you know, there are a couple things that we need to touch on, and I thought your piece talking to some other NHL executives after, no other way to describe it, shocking outcome of Game 7 on Monday evening. I want to get to that, but you have, institutional knowledge that lots of people don't. You've been in that city for a long time. You've, in fact, Jeff and I were talking just before it started taping. Like, I covered the Leafs for a period of time when Pat Quinn was a head coach and at times the GM and that team, you know, playoffs every year. And even though there was always bitching and moaning about the

Leafs, they always, you know, they always beat Ottawa or they always, you know, there was always, that's a team that really did sort of step up come playoff time. And, and now with such a drought, you know, such a long period of time where there has been no playoff success. Where does this stand for you? You've watched this market. You live in it. What is this, what is this like compared to, you know, some of the other disappointments over the last 17 years? I think this one hurt Lee fans deeply. And I think part of it is you've had back-to-back years now. You know, it's one thing to lose the Boston the first round. The Bruins were favored. And, and, You know, but this is a team.

The playoff lessons were supposed to have been learned. I love the offseason that Calduba's had, adding all the intangible players, some veteran leadership to surround the skill. And I'm not going to back down from that. I'm not one of those guys that changes his mind because things didn't work out. I really liked how Dubis approached the off season last year. But this one, because now in back-to-back years, they lost to Columbus in the pre-playoff series, and then they lose to their rivals in really. remarkable fashion, no way to put it,

this one will sting for a long time. And because it was to the HABS, I mean, it's one of those things where, you know, to this day, Red Sox fans not only talk about finally breaking their curse in 04, but you know what they really talk about. Coming back from 3-0 down against the rival Yankees, right? I mean, that's what really makes it, you know, forever in their minds.

And I think HABs fans, for sure, will hold this over the least for a very long time, or at least until at least I have a chance to exact revenge. So that's what I think the emotional burden is for Toronto fans. And, you know, 17 years and counting now since they've won a playoff series. I mean, you know, we come up with these comparisons about, you know, the caps in Ovechka and having to wait a long time before they finally got out of the second round or the San Jose Sharks, you know, never won a cup with all those great teams. Well, here's the thing.

The Sharks played a lot of playoff games and won a lot of playoffs series and went to five conference finals over a 15-year period and a cup final. The caps went to a lot of second rounds before they finally broke through. I think what Lee fans are saying, give us a round. Give us a round, man. And so it is, it's absolutely remarkable. But I thought, you know, Arpin, Arpin Bissue made a really good point in his Havs column. I think it was published either yesterday or today.

Let's not take away from what the Havs did here. You know, calling this a only labeling this. a collapse by the Leafs is a bit unfair to what the Canadians pulled off. And, you know, I have to pat you and I on the back of it because in the, in a bunch of podcasts over the last month, you and I talked about this feeling that we had about the halves giving the Leafs all kinds of trouble in that series. We talked about it. And it was sort of this idea. And sometimes we're completely wrong Scotty. but in this one, we nailed it.

Never. That their roster, you know, and I've been on this all year, that if they can somehow get into the playoffs, the Canadians, in many ways, they barely did, that their roster was better constructed for the way playoff hockey is played than the wide open, regular season North Division hockey, which had no defense. I mean, the halves were a fish out of water in that division this year, right?

They just weren't built for going up and down the ice with Edmondon and Toronto and Winnipeg at all. but come playoff time, you know, the refs don't call as much. I know this always shocks people. People were outraged again in these playoffs. I can't wait to ask Dave Tippett whether he thought they caught enough with Connor again. But I mean, that's just the reality.

At some point you just accept the playoff hockey is different, and it doesn't mean that you have to love it. But it's different. It's a grind. There's a desperation level. And I just thought the Hads would give the Leif's a really hard time. I still thought the Leafs ultimately would prevail in seven. And I thought they'd use that adversity of getting through that grind and beating their rivals to sort of, you know, push themselves further here after getting through the first round.

But obviously, I was wrong on that point. I just got a bunch of stuff before we get to Dave Tippett. And, but I do want to touch. I think your point is excellent on the haves because, I mean, the tendency is. And, you know, again, maybe, you know, we'll touch on this with Dave. You know, the tendency, I think, is the same with the Oilers being swept by Winnipeg, which is to focus on the failings of a talented oiler team. But I think what we're going to get in this second round series,

and let's be honest, the second round series none of us saw, or very few of us saw coming with Winnipeg and Montreal. I think it's going to be compelling hockey. And I'm so, you know, I do this prediction thing with a coach, an NHL executive and a scout. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, and every, all of them, now it took me about five days to do this one, thanks to the North Division schedule.

Thanks for taking that seven games, by the way. But it was, you know, the anticipation now of a series with Connor Hellebuck playing as well as he did against Edmonton and, of course, Kerry Price and his, you know, just such a, it was just so carried price of him in that series against the Leafs. I think this series is going to be compelling. And they're both built, I think more talent, probably certainly for the Jets up front in terms of their death.

But I'm fascinated to see if Eric Stahl and Corey Perry, you know, this is a series I think that's going to have lots of drama. And frankly, I'm all in. Can't wait to see it. Yeah. And I have to give the Jets the early edge because they're going to be more energized and just have, you know, just being rested. I think there's a huge factor.

Same way. I think it's a factor between Colorado and Vegas in the second round. But we'll see. And, you know, you mentioned Carrie Price. I shared that story on Twitter during Game 7. I know you love that story, Scotty, but of sitting near the ice in Sochi during the gold medal game. And there was a TV timeout. And I don't know why I was looking down at the Canadian net.

And I saw Carrie Price yawn during the TV timeout of the gold medal of the Olympic Games. And I've talked to Carrie about it years later. And he didn't remember that. But he just shrugged. but I think it's just you know, did you notice, did you see the clip after Cock and Yami scored an overtime in game six? They showed Carrie Price?

He didn't even react. No. He was like, oh, the game's over. So I don't think pressure is a thing for that guy, man. I think he's seen it all and done it all. And certainly, I think, the Habs fed off that as the series went on. Yeah. I want to talk just a little bit about that Colorado Vegas.

Of course, Ryan Reeves suspended for two games after running amok in that debacle that was game one. Oh my gosh, Colorado. I just could not believe how fast they were. I could not believe, you know, how good they were. But you know what was interesting for me. And there's a couple newsy elements to it, of course, you know, hats off to Mark Andre Fleury, nominated.

He's one of the President of Trophy finalists that was announced yesterday. And, you know, what a great season for one of the great guys in the game. And of course, a lot of. consternation and arched eyebrows when Pete DeBoer, head coach of the Golden Knights, decided that Robin Leonard would start game one against Colorado after Mark Andre Fleury had played all seven games against Minnesota. But I was intrigued. And again, it just shows that sometimes you have to engage your whole brain. But when I was talking to the coach and the scout and the GM, frankly, who were helping me with these predictions, they were not surprised at all. And the coach said to me,

you have to ask yourself this question. If you're Vegas, can you imagine playing and winning this series with one goaltender against Colorado coming off a seven-game set? And I think it was a – I didn't really think of it that way. And it probably would be too much to ask Mark Andre Fleur to play 14 straight games. And he said, if you're going to use Robin Lennar and get him some action, it has to be in game one. And even though it may seem like a sacrifice, that is the only way to do it. And, you know, if Vegas wins tonight, and it's a tall order, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how badly they got beat in game one. If they can somehow even this series, they will, it will be mission accomplished for the Golden Knights.

And I never thought of it that way. But were you surprised by it because obviously it was a disaster for Vegas on all fronts in game one? Yeah, I was surprised by it. And I was surprised that during the Minnesota series that they didn't find a game for Leonard because, you know, you got a grueling seven gamer. it means that you don't have to change a winning lineup when you're losing some games to Minnesota. I thought we might see Lunter for one game in that seven-game series, to be honest. I mean, the point of having two goalies you trust

is that, you know, you throw them both in there. But, and the good news is for Vegas that there was no tweet from Alan Walsh when Lerl went in for Flir. I was disappointed. Come on. I think Alan's getting soft. Yeah, no, maybe he's been. Anyway. It's awesome.

I wish every agent would, uh, Provide entertainment like Alan. I tell you what, he protects his clients, boy. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, no. I don't believe that. Zero issues that. All right.

Tonight, later today, after we're done taping this, the NHL draft lottery, I've come to so enjoy, even though I still, it hurts my head when I think about the odds and who can do what, and especially now it's changed again, I admit all that. I admit my mathematical failings with that. To me, it's become a hugely dramatic part of the NHL schedule. And I wonder, you know, right now, Buffalo with the best odds to snare the number one pick in the draft in July. But what do you, how do you feel? You know, it's really weird.

I really don't give a shit this year about the draft lottery. Yeah. I don't know why it's not grabbing me like, you know, me. I don't know. Wow. But, you know, I'll, you know, all right. Never mind then. Screw up.

No, no. It's okay. But it's kind of crept up on me. And then I was like, oh. Oh, well, we'll see what happens. I guess the one thing that would, you know, the Seattle's in the draft lottery, which is fun. With an asterisk, of course, with all the rules and everything.

But you know what I wanted to get to is back to the Vesna because you introduced it and it went away. But I was, the GM's vote on the Vesna, not the writers, which I have no problem with. But I was surprised that UCSeros didn't end up a finalist for, and I tweeted that. But, you know, I do think at the end up a finalist. the day that doesn't know will actually come down to Flurry or Faseleski is my guess,

but I would have liked to have seen Saros recognized as a finalist because I think there's, you know, there's no way Nashville makes playoffs without him performing heroic, especially in the second half. And I don't know if maybe Nashville's first half issues hurt him in voting. But and that's not, nothing else Philip Grubauer. It's just, you know, Grubauer has had his best year of his career. So he's being recognized as well. But I do think the team in front of him is a little different than the team in front of UcS.S. And so that's disappointing me. Yeah.

Well, and I made the point somewhere on the athletic yesterday that, again, it's quibbling because you're talking about the best of the best. And I agree with you on U.S. If I'm not mistaken, I had him at number five on my heart trophy ballot. So that's how important I felt he was to the Predators and what was a dramatic surge to the playoffs. And I thought Mike Smith could have also been in the main. mix, you know, and especially given his numbers for an oilers team and really carrying the ball. Again, for a team that, you know, sometimes, as you pointed out, in the North Division,

if you're a goaltender in the North Division, you're seeing a lot of pucks and you're seeing a lot of quality chances. And Mike Smith was outstanding for the Oilers. And again, not quibbling. I think it's Andre Vasselowski. I'll be surprised if it's not a landslide. And oh my gosh, has he been good in the first two games against Carolina? Unreal. A wall. He's a wall right now. He's the best goal in the world, I think.

I mean, listen, obviously, Carey Price has just delivered a vintage carry price performance, but I don't think there's any argument that Andre Vasselisky right now is the best goal in the world. Back to your draft lottery there, since you care so much about it. I don't actually. I just want to double check the, so Seattle has the exact same rules that Vegas did, which is the third best odds, 10.3%.

Right. and they can't pick any lower than five in the first round. So that's how the crack can kind of fit their way in here. Yeah. So I know. Now, Arizona, of course, forfeited its first round pick because of the draft shenanigans with the testing last year, but they are actually part of the lottery for the mathematical purposes. if they win either lottery drawing, then there's a redrawing.

Interesting. I didn't know. See, you do care. You do care. You do care. Of course, Owen Power, top rank prospect, as we know, playing for Canada right now at the Men's World Championship, which is kind of a neat experience. Didn't Canada lose the first 10 games of the tournament and now they're in the quarterfinals?

Gordon Miller had an amazing tweet today. So they started O and three and then needed about 17,000 things to happen, and they all did. It was a great tweet in Gorgbiller. Yeah, they're in the quarters, although they got their hands full with Russia. Oh, my God. And the quarters on Thursday. All I'll say about that is that tweet is better than the entire World Championship tournament. That's all.

Oh, come on. All right. I love the world. I know. So I'm going to divert. When was the last time you covered a world? Do you remember? Was it during them?

Are you kidding me? They were my favorite. I know you love it. That's non-Olympic, I guess, other than the Olympics. But yeah, I covered the worlds for six consecutive springs, 2000 through 2005. And it was fun. So 05 was the 0-405 lockout year.

So the entire hockey world joined me almost in Austria. So we were mostly in Innsbruck. Just an amazing picture-pictureque place. You're staring at mountains. And when you're walking outside. oh my gosh it was so good and then i and we worked too there was some work and uh and then we ended up in yenna for the for the melro canada lost in the gold medal game to uh to the check republic and the checks back then as you remember were international powerhouses they uh i think they

want two or three of the six men's worlds that i covered they were just always in that mix course they they won the olympic goal of 98 nagano and kind of fed off that really great generation of players. But Canada won the 03 men's whirls, Anson Carter in overtime against Sweden. And then they also won in the Czech Republic. They won in 2004. Both Niedermeier brothers playing on that team. Mike Babcock as head coach. Is it true that the city of Innsbruck had a civic holiday the day all the hockey writers left after that world championship? Oh my gosh. That was just so much fun. It really is one of the greatest events in my career

because so many NHL riders came over and a lot of them had never covered the world's before and of course there's no NHL and a lot of NHL players showed up for that event. Lots of great off-day meals and laughs and stories. Yeah, it was awesome. It was awesome.

You know, probably my favorite world's moment though. Now you got me going down memory lane. I can see our listenership draining away. No, it was when Slovakia. Slovakia won. World's in 02 in Gothenburg. In fact, they knocked out Canada in the quarterfinals.

And they won the Worlds, and I'll just never forget Peter Stashney, who was ahead of the team and just in complete tears. You know, because after the breakup of Czechoslovakia, Slovakia had to really work its way up in terms of its independent program and work its way up the rankings. and that was unbelievable. Murosatan was on that Slovak team. And just, you know, there are moments that happen over there that, you know, I know a lot of North American hockey fans don't pay attention to. But just a lot of fond memories. Good.

I'm going to keep coming back to this. Rabbit hole. You got me down to Rabbit Hall, buddy. No, it's all good. I want to go back to the draft lottery just briefly. We know the odds are the odds and so the numbers are there. In your heart, you look at those teams, you think, geez, you know, this team could use a break or this team could use, is there a team that you're like,

geez, you know, quietly maybe rooting for or you think, geez, maybe a little draft lottery luck for this team. Is there one? I mean, I think I want Detroit to do well. Because they've had such great luck at the draft lottery. Well, yeah. So, you know, I just think that, and you know, I have discussed some. million times. I don't know what the right recipe is with the lottery, but I, like Detroit's undergoing an organic, honest rebuild after years of being in the playoffs. And they should be rewarded, not

penalized when it comes to the draft, you know? So that's my point on that. Yep. So given that Buffalo, no chance to get the number one pick. Is that what you're saying? So I'm fine if they do. They have great fans in Buffalo. Yeah, I know. I know. You know what, here's, because you didn't ask me, I'll tell you. Anyway, if it's not Detroit and I'm with you, they probably deserve a little lottery luck. I would love to see Columbus, or at least see Columbus have some lottery luck. It's a tough road for the Columbus Blue Jackets. So I'm in my heart, that would be okay.

All right. What else? Before we get to Dave Tippett, floor is yours. Are there things that you think about? You touch on the world championships, but it also sounds like there's positive news vis-a-vis an agreement. with the NHL and NHLPA and the IOC and the double IHF vis-a-vis the return of NHL hockey to Beijing in the winter of 2022. So that's good. I despaired a little bit that it was taking a long time, but it does seem like they're on the right track.

And I think that would be really good news. So while you were talking, I double checked and make sure my memory was right. Slovak could beat Russia 4-3 in the gold medal game of the 2002 World Championships. I was in the building in Gothenburg, Sweden, and it was pretty awesome. Okay. All right. That's enough. What were you asking me?

The Olympics. Sounds like we're out. Oh, yeah, I've heard of those. Yeah, they keep working away at it. You know, and that's the positive thing, is that forever there was really nothing going on. But over the last couple weeks, there have finally been back and forth between the IOC, H-HF, HLPA, and the NHL, and they keep hammering away at it. So hopefully they come up with an agreement.

What else is on your mind here just before we get to Dave Kippet? You know, we talked a little bit about Seth Jones and what may happen with him as we had toward the direct. Yeah. Oh, did we? Was I ignoring you again when you were doing that? I don't know. I think you email me and said we should talk about it, but then we haven't talked about it. Well, that's okay.

Yeah, so, you know, and this is something I introduced about a month ago on insider trading. You know, let's see what happens with Seth Jones. And then I think it was Elliott Freeman or the weekend who advanced it. Yeah, and so it's not surprising. I suspect that this is where it would go. And that's tough blow for Columbus for sure. So he's got a year left on his deal. Teams are going to be lining up.

I mean, it's going to be so fascinating to see how this works out. Such a wonderful player, great dude. There's just nothing not to like about Seth Jones. So that would be a huge off-season story for sure. And, you know, I think it'd be easier to name the teams that don't make sense as opposed to the teams where it would make sense in this case. But I think the flyers come to mind for me for sure. Yeah.

On that right side. I'm curious, you know, this is, I mean, it's fascinating for Yarmot Kecalan, who, of course, has been a guest on Two Man Advantage and very, you know, I love about Yarmou is so powerful. passionate about that franchise in that community in the city. And, you know, this is a kick in the shins for him. There's no doubt about it. And on top of that, now, you know, what is the domino effect or potential domino effect

for Zach Werenski who could be an RFA at the end of next season? So not as dire a situation, but, you know, again, a potential problem for him in terms of locking up a critical part. But do you think it's more important for Yarmel Kekyllis? Lane, and the actual return on a player like Seth Jones, does that override? I would rather trade Seth Jones to the LA Kings or somewhere out west. You mentioned Philly, which is a perfect fit, but it's also much closer to home than maybe you would want. Do you think those things factor into it or is it, I need to get the absolute best return and I don't care whether that team is around the corner on the far coast. It doesn't matter. I think you got to make the best trade, not worry about where it ends up. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's an old school thing to worry about your division and stuff like that. You make the best trade. You get the best assets in return. You don't worry about the rest.

Yeah. All right. Yeah. Because otherwise, you know, 32 teams now in this league. You can't worry about, you know, am I going to face this team in the playoffs. That stuff is just, you know, it's not realistic anymore. I mean, you have to manage assets in a modern hockey world. That's what you got to do when you make this trade. Are you saying I'm behind the times or old school? No, it's a good question, but I'm just saying when I talk to other executives, you know, I'm hearing that less and less is what I'm saying. I mean, I mean, I think it's short-sighted to worry about that in my mind.

All right. All right, the last thing I'm going to leave you with. I was so jealous when I heard that you actually had to, you had connection with some of our colleagues and our good friends. Now things opening up a little bit in Ontario. You had Arbon Basso, as you mentioned, our fine Montreal writer who was in town for Game 7 and Chris Johnson. You actually got to sit in your backyard. I was, what was it like to get ready for Game 7 and actually have, you know, friends and colleagues that you could sort of share some space with before the big game? It was nice.

It's been a long time. since I, and we did it outside, socially distant. Of course. But, uh, yeah,

it's been a long time since we got to socialize and catch up and we're all good pals, of course. And I was on the eve of game seven. So lots to chatter about. And, uh, yeah,

it's, uh, it, you know, it feels that we're a little behind you guys in the States. Although as I predicted to you, we have a higher vaccination right now in Canada. So I warn you that was going to happen.

Yeah. That's good that you bring in the fancy stats, but it doesn't really count. And I have to ask because, I mean, this is, it's about the fans and it's about the connection and relationships with fans and teams. And in your home, you had some conflict. How did things go? Were there some upset hurt feelings in the LeBron House? Oh, boy. Yes.

My oldest, she's a diehard Leaves fan. Yeah. Her room full of Leafs stuff. my son's a Habs fan. I'm happy the series is over for reasons of my household going back to normal. And, you know what? It was, as a father, you know, once the game was over, I've got one kid jumping up and down and the other one, frankly, in tears. And it's hard.

And I went to comfort to my daughter instead of going right to my son. I have to make a decision in real time. Yeah. But, yeah. I don't know. She felt like a lot of leaf fans. You know, that's like, and she's, you know, she's too young to actually know what 1967 means and all that. But she feels she's already gotten a taste of it because she became, you know, she really got into the Leafs when Austin Matthews was drafted and now she's gone through five years of O'Fords, right?

Yeah. So, yeah, she, she struggled with that like a lot of leaf fans did. But on the flip side, it was interesting to see my son's reaction because he generally never thought the abs could win the series. So that young persons, one of the, you know, the whole pro sports reaction on young fans and the look on his face of amazement, right? And he was really good. He came over and hugged my daughter. Oh, that's a good. You know what? It's been, my whole life has been, you know, when I grew up, like, as I've told you, my mom was all leaf sweater every Saturday night. My dad was abs. Oh, that's good. I'm a lot. I'm It's been conflict in my household from the day I was born.

I got to tell you, it's, you know, again, sometimes it's good to remember these things, and it's because it's at the fabric of the game and why we care so much. And, you know, in my house, growing up the same, my dad was a huge Leaf fan, my maternal grandparents, and every time the Leafs lost, especially to Montreal, completely the referees fault, and they would listen to games on the radio. They were huge Peterborough Pete fans as well. And, you know, that was a real part of the fabric growing up. And I became a half fan, I'm sure, in part to torment my dad, right?

I mean, that's, you know, table hockey. I was always a Canadian. I would never play with the Leafs on our table hockey. Never, would never do it. And that's, you know, it's a, my dad went, my dad went to bed before the end of the game the other night. He was so disgusted. So there you go. Something's never changed.

So that's good. All right. As promised, Dave Tippett joining us, head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. Dave, I was just looking at calendar. It feels like a million years since your series against the Winnipeg Jets ended, but it's really been eight days. It was Monday. We could go Monday.

So maybe it's nine days now. I just wonder what that period of time has been like for you, you know, how you process it, how you decompress. What's the last week been like for you after the end of the oiler season? Well, it certainly ended too quick, quicker than we anticipated. But so we, you know, we gathered staff for a day and then met with the players for a day. And then pretty much everybody exited as quick as you can. We've been, you know, Edmonton is still kind of in lockdown.

And so players were heading out of there pretty quick. I know our staff was the same thing. I was there a couple days. then headed back to Arizona. I hadn't seen my wife since early January. So that was kind of a priority to get back there. And my wife and both my daughters were in Arizona. So I spent a couple days with them.

And now we're kind of just kind of getting arranged. And we'll get through. Kenning was finishing up some meetings. We're going to talk the next couple days here to see where things are at and see where we move forward. Yeah, I was going to ask you that. It's a good time to ask you now, but the personal side of all this this year, you know, the lockdown in our country here in Canada,

and, you know, I knew that you're on your own in Emmington. You know, we talk a lot about how hard it is and a lot of the players who weren't with their families, but it was the same for you, Dave. You know, what was that like for you? Well, I mean, it's obviously difficult. You're just, you know, I think for the coach, you're so, you know, immersed every day.

You could do 24. hours a day if you wanted so you keep busy but i felt bad you know we had some players uh stay lock we picked up on waivers he had a young family and he's he's up there his family was in the u.s uh josh archibald's family was on there's guys that hadn't seen their family since since basically christmas when you have young kids it's uh that can be really taxing on you know it's you know it's great to have uh face time and stuff like that so you can keep up with it But there is challenges with it. Hopefully we get back to normal and then everything is back up and going like it should be in the fall.

But there certainly is challenges, the mental side of it for players and coaches alike. Does that go into it, Dave? Like when you and Ken Holland and the rest of your coaching staff and you dissect and pull apart what happened in the season and maybe specifically in that series against Winnipeg, Do you have to factor in some of the circumstances of the last year and a half, you know, going back even to the bubble a year ago in the playoffs? Or do you have to, do you have to separate some of that out? I'm just curious how that plays into how you really assess, you know,

what happened and what you need to do moving forward. Yeah, I don't know if that becomes a factor. And it probably should be, but it's, you dig into more, you know, the hockey part of it and who you know what you did as an organization what you did as a team you know who played well who didn't play well

and maybe when you get down to some individual stuff and individual meetings you can you can tell that there's some guys that were were it was certainly hard on them being away from their families and that so you understand maybe that affects some of their how they play, but for the most part, we dissect a lot of hockey,

a lot of, you know, just a lot of internal organization stuff, how we're going to move forward. And you recognize what happened, you recognize where we are, and how are we going to move this forward. That's been, you know, Ken and I have talked about that for two years now. We've got to keep this going, go in the right direction. And the first step was to make sure we're a playoff team every year. And, you know, two years in a row, we've been, well, I don't know if you call the bubble,

but we were in good shape to be a playoff team last year. We're a playoff team this year, and we've got to keep that mindset. You've got to give yourself a chance. Now, that being said, you've got to take steps forward. And that's, we're in that critical area right now. Dave, I talked with Scotty early in the show here about Montreal and this idea that we had talked about all year because they really struggle to get in the playoffs, but we had this feeling about them looking at their roster construct that they were better built for the playoffs and they were for, you know, the regular season.

I know it sounds strange to say, but, you know, what's your thought on this idea that this narrative about playoff style hockey? You know, and I think of the Coyote's team that you brought to the Western Conference final, you know, back in 2012 that way. and, you know, the idea of getting more skill teams like your team in Edmonton, obviously, to sort of, you know, adopt, adapt to playoff hockey and where there are fewer penalties call them. I mean, we could have a whole other conversation about that, but it is different, right? There is some difference. See, I look at, so you look at a team like Montreal who they play, you know, they don't have the, say, high, high-end skill that the strong have

or our team, the top end, but the strong team game, they have a very strong defense, physical defense, and they have excellent goal-tending. And if you look at I look at, you know, Montreal and Winnipeg.

Winnipeg played as more of a skill game during the year, but the last two weeks of the year, they changed their whole game to play a solid, solid defending style, and they have an excellent goaltender, and the goaltender makes a difference. So Montreal and Winnipeg, I look at both those teams played the same

in both series where you play just tight, tight defense. You rely on your goaltender, which is one of the strengths of your team, and you find enough goals to win. And it frustrates a skill team that they feel like they should, be doing better, scoring more. And in the end, if like in that Montreal game,

Kerry Price is excellent in game seven and Montreal finds a way to win. And that could be, you know, that's what you describe as a playoff team. They play to their strength. Which is the goaltending. They defend well. And they find enough to win. And the other team gets frustrated. I think we often talk about teams having to learn hard lessons in the playoff. and maybe it sounds, maybe it sounds like a throwaway line, but you stood on that bench and watched your team.

And I wonder what kind of lessons you either hope that that that team in Edmonton learned or you expect that they will have learned from what happened against Winnipeg. Are there things that, you know, you can put your finger on to say, okay, this is, we will get better because of this disappointment. Well, there's certainly things that poise, poise underpies, under pressure, the thinking part of it, thinking you have to score, when in actual fact, you have to stay, stay with the game, stay within the game and stay with, you know, what the game's given you.

And there's all factors like that. There's discipline. I'm sure Josh Archibald is going to be, he'll remember that penalty he took in game three. Yeah. Long time, you know. And so there's, there's things like that that go through that. that, you know, we always talk about, I was saying every play counts. And if you look at the, you know, we lost three games in overtime.

And you could narrow that down to a single play that, you know, was the catalyst to lose those games. So those are plays that we didn't execute as well as we could have, and it cost us games. So there's things like that that we continue to talk about. and how you hope your group grabs it and you continue adding players that maybe have experience

that can drag other people along like that, that you continue to improve your team. But it's a mindset of how you have to play in the playoffs. And, you know, it's different than a regular season game. Yeah. And Dave, I know what your season-ending press conference, you were asked about your future, I think. I was looking at some of the coverage.

And, you know, I think you have another year left in your deal. And you seem, you know, pretty comfortable about it all in terms of not being locked into long-term decisions. Is that just, you know, you've been around a long time. And let's not forget, before you came back to coaching, you were on the business management side in Seattle, getting that franchise ready to go. So is that just, you know, it sounds like you're comfortable just seeing this through for now and then seeing where it is. Is that fair? That's exactly what. I'm just taking a year by year now. There's, you know, I'm doing it to try to chase winning. I'm not chasing money. I'm not chasing anything. I love the people I'm working with up there. But it's, it's, I think there's still upside on that team. And when you have, you know, players like with David, dry-sitle nurse, there are core pieces that you can you can build around. And both Ken and I talk about all the time.

I think we both went there for the, we thought there was a chance to win, and we're going to keep pushing that way. So I'm just going to take it year by year. And that's my goal right now. I'd like to try to find a way to get deep into the playoffs and give myself a chance to win. So we'll take it year by year.

What's the decompression like for you? I mean, we often talk about players who, you know, will need to go and, you know, reflect or look at how they performed and how they could get better. And I wonder what your offseason will be like because, you know, you'll be chatting with Ken Holland leading up to the expansion draft and leading up to the draft and free agency and all those kinds of things. But how do you, how do you decompress? How do you sort of step back and assess your own sort of role in how to get this oil or team where, where you guys feel it should be? You know what? I do a lot of those stats during the year, a lot of video. So I'll step back and just see I take some time to go through everything,

go through the different segments of the year, go through our personnel, you know, obviously our coaching staff, you kind of go through the roles of everybody there and make sure that everything's in place for moving forward. It's kind of a quick turnaround after the expansion. in the draft, so you'll start to plan training camp and hopefully, like we're, we're, knock on wood, hopefully we're getting back to a normal situation where you're going in with a normal camp in your exhibition games and you can get up and going, you know. So there's a review process. There's a review of, you know, what we did as a coaching staff,

the review of the players. And then there's, you know, the prep for next year, the holes that we might want to fill the roles on the team. that we want to see if we can expand and add to with new personnel. And then, like you say, you have expansion, you have the draft, you have a lot of other elements that I'm not involved in a lot, but then there's planning a training camp and the planning of the regular seasons. Lots to do, lots to do, but a little bit of decompressed before I start digging into it too much. Dave, we're going to let you go.

I wanted to ask you about Ethan Bear, and Scotty and I talked about it last week, but we were so upset at what Ethan Bear was subjected to online in terms of racist attacks from some fans. I don't know how they call themselves fans when they do that, but I know from all accounts a wonderful young man, just your thoughts on Ethan and, you know,

his courage talking about it and obviously you guys supporting him. You know, he's an outstanding. And when I first went to Edmonton last year, I didn't know Ethan at all. The first practice, we went on training camp. He did a great summer of training. And, you know, I had an idea of the personnel and first practice. He's flying around him up there and he's smiling and laughing. And I remember saying the Glenn Gullock said, who's this kid?

He's on. Right? And just a fun, fun guy to be around. And every drill he's dug right into and he's playing fast. And so I love him. And he's, he really cares. He cares about doing well. He wants to help our team.

So he's an outstanding young player and a really, really good person, really good person. It's really disappointing to see it's too bad that these people that do this, there's not a way to expose them. Right. It's the one way it's going to stop because this is, it's easy to hide behind a computer or a phone and make your little message and giggle to yourself. But it's embarrassing.

If we could ever expose these people for these things that they're doing, I think that would be a step forward. You know, it's too bad that it happens. Like you say, it's hard to call people like that fans, but that's the world we live in right now. Well, it's true, and I thought it was really important and that everyone sort of rallied around Ethan as quickly as they did.

And to me, that's the, you know, to me that's the encouraging part is that it is such a small, small minority. And I'm with you, Dave. It would be great if you could, you know, somehow shine a light on those people and find a name and let their bosses and parents know the kind of stuff that they're saying. But I thought it was impressive the way that the oilers and hockey fans around the world,

I thought, responded very quickly to what it happened. And the way he responded was talk much. I just, that's something that a lot of us you never experienced. And so you can't really understand truly. what the feelings are, but the way Ethan responded was unbelievable, shows the kind of person he is. Yeah. No doubt. All right.

Well, Dave, it's always great to catch up with you. And I know we say this when we, when we chat, that someday we will catch up in person over a coffee and then a rink somewhere down the road. And here's to that happening next fall somewhere. But enjoy your offseason. And thanks for coming to hang out with Pierre and I. It's always great to catch up. My pleasure. I was good.

Good to catch up with you guys and enjoy the rest of the playoffs. All right. Okay. Thanks, Dave. All the best of us. Take care. Bye now. It's always good to catch up with Dave Tippett.

And I'm glad you brought up the Ethan Bear stuff here. I think it's important. As you know, we were both quite angry a week ago. And I thought Dave put it very nicely. And so glad you brought that up. And what a tough off season ahead for the Oilers, because there's certainly some interesting decisions there in terms of, you know, what that lineup is going to look like. I will say this, and whether it's Stockholm syndrome or not, which you have accused me of having in the past.

But I do think there's so much to like about that team. And obviously, you know, it starts needless to say with Connor McDavid and Leon Dreis Idol. But there are so many interesting pieces on that blue line, you know, whether it's Ethan Bear or Caleb Jones, Bouchard. I think there's a lot to like there. And it's going to be curious to see how Kenny Holland, you know, how he massages things to get them to a point where they can take advantage of the best player in the world or two of the top three or four players in the world because, you know, they haven't done it so far. Yeah.

And I know that, you know, people are getting, I think, in Emmington sort of energized by the fact that there's, There's a lot of cap room that's opening up this off season. But the reality is a lot of that cap room is going to probably be used to retain some of their players. I mean, Nugent Hopkins is up. Tyson-Berry is up. Adam Larson is up. I don't know that they can keep all three, but I think they'll at least end up with two of those three. They've got to re-sign Mike Smith, who's not going to come back for $1.5 million.

Going to have to get a little bump from that. You know, what happens with Oscar Kleffbaum? Is he healthy enough to come back? We sure hope so. but, you know, that takes up room on the cap. So there's a lot to do internally before you think you got all this cap room to play with externally, I guess is my point for the Oilers. But I do think that Ken Holland, you know, I think secondary scoring is probably the area where, you know,

Zach Hyman, for example, of the least, the least you can do all they can to resign him. And he's a, you know, he's a Toronto guy. He'll want to stay. But, you know, if they can't make it work, he's a type of guy in free agency. I think the Oilers should target, you know, like, Colin is up in Tampa and the lightning keep, but that kind of sort of grindy, you know,

secondary scoring type that is different from what they have. I think that would be a great fit for Emmington. But the real thing is it's more what they just talked about during her interview here. It's just learning how to play play playoff hockey or continuing to learn. It's not like they're not learning, but, you know,

I thought it was fascinating to hear him talk about Montreal and Winfink in the way he did. Yeah. And about how the way he did. Yeah. teams, particularly probably more Winnipeg, because I think the haves are playing more to their strength, whereas I think what Tippett is, what Dave was saying to us is that he feels the Jets, you know, sort of had a metamorphosis from the regular season to the playoffs and how they

defended. And that's what teams like the Leafs and the Oilers truly have to learn as time goes on. And so to me, that was a really fascinating part of her exchange with Dave Tippett today, is him talking about Montreal and Winnipeg that way. Good point. All right, my friend. I've got some good questions here today. Some little thought-provoking one. This one from Brett Siddoric.

I am Twiggy. It's a question about Columbus, and we talked a little bit about Seth Jones, but I sort of beyond that, his question about whether Patrick Liny is likely to stay. He's a restricted free agent, of course. And it ties in nicely, I think, with our conversation with Dave Tippett

and what happens in Edmonton, possibly in terms of their roster construct, but what does Columbus do with their two goaltenders, Elvis Merslickens and Eunice Corpus Sallo, the sense is that Yarmal Kekelanian would like to move one of them, likely before the draft, and there are teams. Well, I don't know about before the draft. Do you think so? Because Merslikens is exempt from the expansion draft. Wouldn't you want to use that and then make the trade after?

After the expansion draft. I met before the draft draft draft. Oh, the NHL draft. I got you. Right around the draft weekend. But your point is a good one. Anyway, I just, it's not just Seth Jones that Yarmokek-Elan has to deal with. No, it's a huge off-season for sure.

You know, we had Yarmou on earlier on the podcast, right? Last month, I think. And I thought he was terrific in that interview. There's a lot to get through. for them. They will certainly have Cap room, which a lot of teams don't have as a weapon. They got drop picks. So, yeah, they're going to be one of the movers and the shakers for sure. I do think they will trade a goalie. Number one, I think they end up trading Seth Jones this offseason, which will be gigantic. And it'll be part of this whole reset, I think. But, you know,

they're not interested in rebuilding there. So what will be interesting is the teams that get on Seth Jones who can actually provide immediate help as opposed to a futures deal. I think that'll be big to me. Yeah. Do you see Patrick Liney? Is that something, you know, again, as a restrictive region? I think he'll be back there. I think, you know, I mean, he's RFA, so it's not like he can go anywhere, although he forced his way out of Winnipeg. But, but I think with, you know, you know, you got a, you're going to have a new head coach. It'll be a sort of a reset moment there for Linyy. I think Yarmou Kay Kalan has had a lot of good conversations with Lina is my understanding. So I think they're going to try and make that work.

Yeah, I'm fascinated to see what Yarmal Kekelanan does. And obviously with John Davidson now back in the senior executive role there after his tenure cut short abruptly in New York. I'm curious to see the head coaching decision there. And after John Tortorella was such a strong personality, very distinct man. of coaching and all that came with that. I think this is going to be really, I think that, I think there is a lot of possibility for Columbus because there are some interesting young players and there's, I'm with you, this is not a scorched earth thing.

This is, okay, let's reset and take advantage of what we have. But I think the coaching is going to be a huge part of that moving forward. Agree, disagree? No, of course, big time. And I think it's, you know, I mean, we know something. candidates that they've talked to. They talk to Gergerleland. They've talked to Rick Tockett. We know Brad Larson's a real candidate in the

house, right? Yep. This is an interesting question from Jack Manning, NHL Jack Manning. Are the 2021 Vegas Golden Knights the most dislike team amongst NHL fans since the 2011 Canucks? I think that's interesting.

And I think there is a you know, some of it's Ryan Reeves and, you know, I think there's a lot of, you know, the fans look at the Golden Knights and they're like you know expansion team they go to final they don't have to pay the fee they don't have to be in the expansion draft

for Seattle I kind of like that Vegas is sort of it's already they're out there like okay you know come at us if you want we're okay with that I didn't even know they were disliked so I see that was news to me I guess I'm not spending enough time on social media I didn't even know that was a thing

and by the way I like Ryan Reeves I don't like what he did to Ryan Graves No. I like it. Yeah, I didn't like what Graves did to Diasianmark, so, you know, there you go. Yeah, it's hard for me to answer that question because I had no idea that they were disliked other than by, I guess, Colorado fans right now. But, you know, is there a sentiment out there that, you know, against expansion team shouldn't have been this good this quick? I guess that could be part of it. Yeah, maybe. I think there's a little resentment. Oh, you know, they've got.

They've had it all, and they've had it right from the get-go. So, anyway, okay. I didn't really know that either, but... I think it's always hard to answer to that. Like, dislike, I think, is in the eye to be older, let's be honest. I know, but you live in Canada, so that's stock and trade in the NHL, right? Everyone hates the leaves, or everyone hates Vancouver or whatever. So, all right.

Good answer, though, by you. I like this as a Canadian in Ukraine, Brian Blair 18. Thanks for dropping a question and listening. Since 1990, who is the best team, in your opinion, to not win the Cup? And his suggestion, he likes the 93 Penguins, of course, upset by the Islanders, allowed the Canadians in Patrick Hua to win the last Canadian-based Stanley Cup championship. But 93 Penguins were a good team that didn't get it done. That's a great thing about the playoffs now, is that there are lots of good teams that, you know,

that didn't quite get over the hump. Is there one that comes to mind for you? Yeah, there's a bunch. 2011 Canucks, they were just mentioned. I was sure they were going to win the cup that year. They had it all. So that was an unbelievable team that didn't win a cup. I would say the 62 win lightning of a couple of years ago

that got swept in the first round by Columbus. Of course, they came back to win the cup last year. So, you know, the 62 win Redwood. team that didn't win, right? Yep. That would be another one. And I would also say either the 06 or the 07 senators. Now, the 07 senators actually went to the cup final, but in some ways the 06 senators still

had Chera, so maybe a deeper team. But just that whole, the error of that senators team that kept knocking at the door with a ton of talent in every one a cup. So I threw them in there as well. I was going to mention them. And you know, the team I'll mention is the 0506 Buffalo Sabres. and, you know, a team. Who beat Ottawa?

Yeah, and lost in the conference final to Carolina. But if you recall, I think they had like two defensemen left by the end of that series against Carolina. You know, completely decimated on the back end and still fought to the very end. Remember off the top of my head, they go to game seven or was it done in six? But I think it was game seven. But regardless, a saber scene that was very, very good, led by Chris Drury. Daniel Breyer, Ryan Miller, right? In goal?

I would, and I would throw in any number of sharks teams. Yes. I mean, the 09 sharks, I think won the President's trophy, lost in the first round, and I, and then, I don't know. I mean, the sharks knocked at the door so many times with some excellent, excellent teams, and they would certainly be in that conversation, I think. Okay. All right, and finally, another, and we've been, you know, we've had a couple sweeps already.

we talked about Edmonton being swept by Winnipeg, of course, Colorado sweeping the St. Louis Blues. This is from Mike Little. What's the closest four-game sweep that you can remember? And I was, it's funny, this topic came up. I was describing this to my son the other day. I covered a Detroit Red Wings might have been 97, so the first of their back-to-back cup wins. I'm pretty sure it was 97.

And they played Anaheim in the first round, and I think all four games went to overtime. A couple went to multiple overtimes. Wings won four straight, but at the end of it, I felt like I'd watched seven games. And the ducks were, you know, they were, they were, you know, they were not quite good enough, but, man, did they give it every single night? And it was a sweep. And in fact, I remember my lead. I was a columnist at the Windsor Star, and it was like, history will record this as a sweep,

but it was anything but or something along those lines. Oh, wow, look, look you. Remembering a lead? I don't know if I could do that. I'm trying to think the 2012 L.A. Kings that, of course, won the Stanley Cup. Yes. They were just crushing people left and right in those playoffs. And did they sweep Vancouver in the first round, or was that a five-game series?

Oh, I think they did sweep them because didn't they, didn't they? yeah they go like 12 and 1 through the first 3 round well they're up 3 nothing every single round every single round because I covered a lot of their games

yeah well they beat Arizona in 5 but I think they did sweep Vancouver no so I just found so it was 4-1 I was gonna say that series though because I know from talking to Dean Lombardi over the years that series was

a real tough one for them even though they won in 5 because of course of the Canucks had just gone to the Cup final year before, and it was eight against one, and the Kings were trying to believe themselves, and Mike Richards really took over that series. But my point is, it was five, but every game was, was, you know,

really closely contested, especially given the, you know, sort of the mental part of it. But yeah, they swept St. Louis in the second round for nothing. Then they meet Dave Tippett's Coyotes in five in the conference finals. And then they meet the Devils and six.

As you remember, they were up 3-0 in that series as well, and the Devils 1-2 Street to push it to 6. Do you remember that well, my friend? And before we go, the athletic hockey show has expanded or is expanding to five days a week. You believe that? We're like taking over the world, the athletic hockey show. I like that.

Monday with Ian Mendez and Haley Salvean. Tuesday with Craig Custin and Sean Gentilly. Wednesday. That's us. You and me right in the middle. Thursday, Ian Mendez and down goes brown. I love that. And then Friday, the prospect series with Max, Boltman and Corey Prawn. And yeah, you should give that a listen. That's excellent. That'll be neat. Yeah, good stuff. Yeah, I'm excited by that. You should check out our comments section for each podcast episode at the athletic app and rate and subscribe to the athletic Hockey Show on Apple.

If you aren't already a subscriber, go to theathletic.com slash Hockey Show and receive a subscription for just $3.99 per month. Buddy, great work by you. That was excellent.

Lots to talk about. Imagine how different the playoff picture will look again a week from today, my friend. Chat then.