The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Postgame Show: Hockey Show Offseason Update

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

Roy and David Dwork are back for an off-season edition of The Hockey Show! Ryan Kennedy, the editor and chief of The Hockey News, joins the show to recap some of the top events of the off-season so far. The crew goes over the NHL Draft at The Sphere in Las Vegas, which teams have won and lost the off-season so far and takes a very early look ahead to next season. Oh and just a reminder, the Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup Champions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. At Air Miles, we help you collect more moments. So instead of scrolling through photos of friends on social media, you can spend more time dinnering with them. Mmm. How's that spicy enchilada? Oh, very flavorful. Yodeling with them. Yodel-yodel-yodel-y-hoo.

Ooh, must be mating season. And hiking with them. Is that a squirrel? Ooh. Bear! Run! Collect more moments with more ways to earn. Air Mile.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is the hockey show. My name is Roy Bellamy, and that's David Druck of the Hockey News. I am back from vacation, something I direly needed. This is a, oh my God. You look refreshed. I am.

You do. I mean, very much rested. It's nice to see that you haven't shaved in a while again. I do like the facial patch hair thing that you got going on. Man, I can't even grow a beard. I know it's not a full thing, but I do kind of like that a little better. Clean shaven Royce scares me.

Yeah, does it? A little bit. Okay. A little bit, kind of like Dexter scares me. I'll keep the goatee. So yeah, we're back. We're gonna do some off season stuff. But right now, I just want to talk about the off season,

the draft and free agency. And we have a guest today. We have the big honcho from the hockey news Ryan Kennedy was the editor-in-chief over there at that very much famous publication. So before we get into the draft and free agency a bit of news happened today regarding the Stanley Cup being stuck in St. Louis Dave. What what happened? Well, supposedly there's, I never thought I'd be talking about a software issue on a hockey show or in a hockey story, but here we are.

A global software outage has caused flights to be a mess globally. And Stanley Cup was in St. Louis for like a lower day with Matthew Tkachuk and his family. And it's apparently still there. It has not traveled on to Minnesota where a Kylak Poso was supposed to have a day with the cup That's right now the last I saw was they're still hoping that it gets there

Hopefully he can have his day. They don't know I would think that they're gonna figure it out But I've never heard of something like this happening It's crazy That Kylak Poso, that should not happen to him. Right of all the people of all the guys That should not happen to him. Right? Of all the people, of all the guys, Kylak Posso, who's waited forever to have his Stanley Cup, his name on the cup, he gets his day with the cup, he gets to take it home. He was the veteran, like every Stanley Cup team's got their veteran that they rally around. Yeah. And he rented out an arena for that too. So his day's been postponed. Today has been, whatever events that have happened have been canceled.

postponed. Today has been whatever events that have happened have been canceled. So hopefully he'll have his day down the line and everybody will revel in it. Now let's get off to the off season right now. We'll start off with the draft with Ryan. You had the spear, so was David. And just go over your time there during the draft. I was super impressed and you know the the sphere was obviously a big deal especially because this was going to be the last draft under the current format we're still not really sure what they're going to do next year but we know that the teams are largely going to stay at home so it's gonna be more like the NFL draft it feels like so this kind of felt like a last hurrah. It was in Vegas, which is fun for everyone. But the show they put on, I thought was fantastic. They really used the sphere well.

The trade alerts were fun and the atmosphere was great. So just overall, and I ran into Steve Mayer who runs all the big productions for the NHL. I ran into him on the way out of the draft and I had to stop and tell him. I was like, that was fantastic. Like I thought the NHL hit it out of the park with that one. Who do you think did well during the draft? I really liked Calgary first and foremost.

Yeah. You know, Zayn Perek was their first pick, but I thought they got a lot of value throughout. Kareel Zaroubin is a goaltender that I believe could be sort of a hidden gem. Montreal did very well. The Ivan Dimidov pick I thought was great for them, but also getting Michael Hage later in the first round. That really helps their their forward depth for the future. So I

like Montreal as well. And then of course San Jose sure they had the advantage of picking first overall. We knew they were going to take Max Celebrini but then to get Sam Dickinson one of the best defensemen in the draft outside the top 10, that was just a major coup for them. Just the way that the picks went down, we saw a lot of the elite defensemen fall. Guys like Dickinson and Zeve Bouyum who went to Minnesota. And even Anton Ziliyev, who I thought could have gone top three New Jersey got him later on so San Jose Not just the celebrini pick but the Dickinson pick just if just those two work out Which they probably will San Jose would have had a smashing draft

Let's say that they do work out at least up to the next season How much of a point difference do you think is gonna be in the standings for them? Well, it's not going to be a huge bump. I mean, the Sharks are still in what I like to call the trough of the rebuild. You know, they're still accumulating assets and, you know, Will Smith turning pro, that will help. But this is going to be another learning year for the Sharks. They're still going to be very young. And it's very much going to be about getting Celebrini and Will Smith acclimated because three, four years down the line, that could be an incredible one-two punch down the middle.

Like if Celebrini and Smith are your top centers in a couple of years, you're going to make some moves. Especially, you have Logan Couture as the veteran. He could very well, again, in a couple of years, just be your shut down kind of Jordan Stahl guy at that point in his career. So I like that the table's being set by GM Mike Greer, but I would still expect the Sharks to struggle most nights.

And whether Dickinson plays for the Sharks or goes back to junior hockey with the OHL's London Knights, either fit works. I think he's the rare teenage defenseman that with his size and his defensive abilities, he could jump straight to the NHL, but it's certainly not necessary. One of the cool things that we're seeing, Ryan, for I think at least people that are close to our age, we're seeing guys that we grew up watching now their kids are starting to kind of show up in the NHL. One of them was drafted TJ Agenwa. Obviously it would be tough to fill his father's footsteps as a Hall of Famer.

But what do you think the chances are that he's going to have anything close to a career like his dad? I mean, it is a high bar, right? The one thing Tiege has is he was drafted higher than his dad, so he can always hold that over Jerome, even though Jerome can show him Olympic gold medals at Hall of Fame, induction speeches and whatnot. Tisha Gidla, this is a kid that just kept ascending throughout the year. I saw him at the CHL top prospects game and he looked very good.

And then it just kept going from there, playing for Kelowna in the WHL, playing for Canada at the World Under-18s where they won gold over a heavily favored Team USA. So this is a kid that, he's got all the makings, right? And the junior team he plays for isn't the strongest. So when we see him play with more talent as we did on Team Canada, you can really see him as that top line forward. And you know, he's already pretty strong.

He's already got a great shot and he's got a great work ethic. So it's all there. It's just a matter of, you know, continuing to develop and put the pieces together. But the potential is certainly there for him to be quite a good NHLer. Will he be a Hall of Famer like Jerome? That's tough to say right now, but I mean, he's got the genes. So before we move on from the draft, I did want to just ask you one more thing about the sphere. I agree with you. I thought it was amazing. I don't see how you couldn't considering just the way that the building is.

It's so unique. But the way that everybody's raving about it. This was supposed to be the last year that it was like the centralized draft, right? Everybody's supposed to go their own separate way starting next season. Do you think that since this year went so well and everybody seems to be receiving it so well

and it was so awesome and so cool to be there, could the NHL maybe be thinking about changing their minds or are we still going to be going about the routes like the NFL has gone with everybody kind of in their own studios doing it their way? Well, I think there's a middle road there, which is they could have it at the sphere or a similarly famous building, maybe a Madison Square Garden, or maybe they do it in Toronto where obviously it's a ravenous hockey market. The fact that the scouts wouldn't be in attendance doesn't really impact the entertainment value

for fans, right? It's more for the teams themselves and the GMs getting trade on the floor and stuff like that. And we did see some of that at the Sphere. The only thing I would say though is apparently the Sphere is incredibly expensive to rent out. You don't say. You got to pick all those lights.

Yeah exactly. That might be the only consideration where maybe they don't do it at the Sphere again just because of the ticket price for the league, but maybe they continue to do it in Vegas, you know, no shortage of venues where you can get a whole bunch of fans in there and have the players go up on stage and shake hands with Gary Bettman and put the jersey on.

So I can see that. Well, maybe not in a place where it's a hundred and ten degrees out during the draft. Maybe not. Just a suggestion. Just an AC situation. It's hot outside. That's where all the money's going to as well. You got to cool things down in the in the sphere. Let's move on to the free agency. We'll start with the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. So they did what they had to do. They got Sam Reinhardt extended eight years, $69 million. They also got Anton Lindell and they kept Dmitry Kulikov, but they also added Nate Smith. They got the Bo Kress and they lost Brandon Montour. They lost

OEL. They lost Kevin Stirling and Ryan Lomborg. And but it seems like the Panthers still have enough to make themselves a good team in the playoffs. They're going to have a long run. Do you agree? I do agree. You know, they're not as good. Obviously, they lost a lot of depth, but they still know how to win. And I mean, I guess the only thing you could caution against is they have now gone to the

final game of the NHL season twice in a row, right? Lost the final, then won the final. That's a lot of extra hockey. And we saw it with the rival Tampa Bay Lightning where they made a few runs in a row and all of a sudden, you know, the wheels kind of fell off. And it's understandable, you know, that's a lot of games to play. I still think Florida will have a very good regular season and I could certainly see them

go a couple of rounds again in the playoffs. It's just a matter of, you know, will they remain healthy? Right? Like that's a big reason why Vegas ran over them in the final two years ago. And conversely, it's a big reason they beat Edmonton is the Panthers were remarkably healthy throughout their Stanley Cup championship. Can you do that twice in a row? It's tough.

The Western Conference champion, Edmonton, always also made some moves. They kept some of their guys and got some free agents as well. How do you grade them? I think they did very well. And it's an interesting situation at Edmonton where the president, Jeff Jackson,

was kind of in charge of things because obviously Ken Holland wasn't returning and they hadn't named a new GM yet. I know a lot of Oilers fans are like, just give the job to Jeff Jackson was kind of in charge of things because obviously Ken Holland wasn't returning and they hadn't named a new GM yet. I know a lot of Oilers fans are like, just give the job to Jeff Jackson. He seems to be doing great, you know, getting Matt Savoy, the highly acclaimed Buffalo Sabres prospect in exchange for Ryan McCloud. I thought that was a really cool deal for both teams. You know, the Sabres desperately need to make the playoffs this year and the cloud can help them there. And Matt Savoy, I don't know if he makes the Oilers this year because I think you probably want him getting a substantial

role and I don't know if they have that for him right now. You could put him in the bottom six but he's a skilled guy. I would almost rather see him dominate the American Hockey League for a year. But when you look at the Oilers, I mean, they're pretty much ready to run it back. They're gonna, I think they might start slow, you know, just looking at McDavid and Drysidle's injuries and maybe they'll be ready. McDavid, it sounds like maybe he won't be ready for the beginning of the season, but who knows? I mean, we we thought the same about Matthew Kachuk, he was there after breaking his entire body.

So who knows? But I think, you know, the Oilers are in a spot where it's going to be tough because Dallas and Colorado are still in the West and both those teams are going to want revenge for falling short in the Western Conference this past year. Having said that, there's not a lot the Oilers need, right? I mean, we saw how good they were in the final. I think Evan Bouchard is going to be even better on the back end than he was this year. So yeah, beware Edmonton. They're not going anywhere soon. So another team out west that I thought had a pretty good summer, and they were already pretty good,

is Nashville. I mean, when you add Stamkos, Marchesot, Brady Shea, you've already got Philip Forsberg, who had a great year last year. You've got Roman Yossi. They extended UC Saros, which could make things fun with the Askarov. But we saved that for

another time. But in terms of Nashville, are they now potentially right up there with Edmonton as a cup contending, potentially favorite type team out of the West? I think they're in the mix, especially because Philip Forsberg basically hasn't played with anyone his whole career. Like nobody to the caliber of Stephen Stamkos at center. I guess Ryan Johansson came close at one point, but you know, like Stephen Stamkos,

we're looking at a future Hall of Famer. We're looking at a number one center. And yeah, he's got a lot of miles on the odometer, but he's so smart and he's so driven that I think he'll be reborn in Nashville. I think he'll have that chip on his shoulder that hockey players love to have. No one believed in me.

Tampa let me go. And he's a super nice guy. So I am very excited to see what Nashville can do because Stamkast will be that number one center. Jonathan Marcheseau gives them another threat offensively. And again, another guy who probably is thinking I'm going to make Vegas pay, you know, like they decided that I wasn't, you know, in the, in their future plans because of the salary

cap I'm going to, I'm going to get my revenge and show them what I can do. And also, you know, you mentioned Brady Shea. I mean, that's an underrated signing where, you know, he's not the sexiest defenseman, but he's very effective. And for a Nashville blue line that already has Roman Yossi and traditionally has been very strong, I think, you know, this is finally the year where we might see Nashville, you know, win around. They haven't had a good run since they went to the final against Pittsburgh and that was a while ago.

Let's talk about winners and losers throughout the entire league. Let's go over the entire landscape of the National Hockey League and find out who the winners and losers are in free agency. Yeah, I mean, one loser that comes to mind for me is Ottawa, because I'm just really not sure what the plan is. And I'll toss Detroit in there as well. Yeah, they got Vladimir Teresenko and they re-signed Patrick Kane. But you know, those two teams playing in that Atlantic division with Florida, with Boston,

with Toronto, you know, Tampa Bay, I think, you know, they're not as good as they were, but they're still gonna be pretty good. I just, I don't see the path for you know, like Ottawa Training away Jacob Chickering, you know, but they have but then they bring it David from yeah Yeah, it's like they're going two different directions at the same time So I don't really understand the plan there and with Detroit They came very close last year. Dylan Larkin didn't get hurt down the stretch, the Red Wings probably make the playoffs. Agreed.

So now you run it back, you're slightly different, no David Perron, but now you bring Teresenko in. Are they good enough? I look at that defense core in Detroit and I really wonder, it feels like they are thinking that Simon Edvinson is going to be an impact rookie, like a guy that plays substantial minutes because they got more at cider and he already plays

way too many tough minutes. And I'm not, they'll probably shelter Simon Edvinson, but at least he can take some of the slack there. So those are two teams that I'm a little hesitant about because I'm not really sure of the plan. In terms of winners, you know, I think Utah had a great summer so far, whether it's free agency or trades, you know,

getting Mikhail Sergeyevv, getting John Marino. I mean, we were kind of joking at the draft at one point. It's like, who was playing on their defense core? We were trying to name guys and it was difficult. The final Arizona Coyotes blue line, other than JJ Moser, who was traded. Josh Brown, I think maybe. Yeah, and we were like, oh, Matt Dumbo was there, right?

Yeah, I kind of remember that. But now when you look at their blue line, it's like, okay, they got some guys. And you figure you get some growth from Logan Cooley up front and all of a sudden Clayton Keller, who's been remarkably consistent, he's got some guys to play with. So I liked Utah and I liked New Jersey as well. I think New Jersey got some

of the pieces they needed. Brett Pesci on the back end is going to be big for them. Jacob Markstrom, you know, they needed a goaltender, like in the worst way. They've got him now. You know, Markstrom has had his struggles, sure, but I think with that New Jersey team and a healthy Jack Hughes up front, they should be like one of the better teams in the Metro Division. So, the last thing I wanted to ask you before we call it a day is over your right shoulder, there is a jersey with what looks like a rhinoceros. Now, I don't know if that's, was it Bebop or Rocksteady?

That was the rhino from Ninja Turtles. I think it was Bebop. I don't know if that's Bebop or if it's- It could have been Rocksteady because it makes sense. I mean, it was Rhino. No, you're right, it was Rocksteady because Bebop was the pig one. The warthog.

You see, Ryan knows, thank you. Man, I'm getting old. All right, so if that's not a Rocksteady, then I just gotta know what is it. That is the El Paso Rhinos. The El Paso? The NHL. I love it.

Yes. Wow. That is a good jersey. I like that. It's very intimidating. Yeah, you know what? I think they were switching leagues. They were going up.

They were in another junior league, so they had a big flash sale, and a a bunch of us at the hockey is like, oh, we got to jump on that. I need to know Placido's jersey. So, yeah, that was a happy purchase. All right. Before we get out of here, let me just ask, did Bill Zito get screwed in the Jim Gregory Award? It's tough. I mean, do you know, do you just always give it to the Stanley Cup winner? No, no, no, no. I mean, it's not, it's not even that. It's three out of four years that he's been nominated and all he's done is take the Panthers franchise from, you know,

Exactly. at the time when he took over in 2020, maybe the best situation they had been in and he's done nothing but take it better and better and better since then. I think that he absolutely deserves it. I don't think he cares, especially now that he won the Stanley Cup. I think he cares now. Now that he's won the Stanley Cup. Now give me my recognition. Right, right. Yeah, it'd be kind of funny if he won it next year. It would be hilarious. That would kind of fit, actually, why I'm annoyed about it to this point. So, yeah. It just doesn't make any sense.

All right. Well, Ryan Kennedy, thank you for joining. I'm angry again. Thanks, Ryan. Thank you. Thank you. Good to see you, buddy. Definitely.

Thanks for having me, guys.