The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Hockey Show: NHL Training Camp is Underway

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

HOCKEY IS BACK!!!...Almost. Roy and David Dwork are joined by David Pajnotta of The Fourth Period to discuss all the headlines from the first few days of NHL Training Camp including Detroit locking up Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, Jeremy Swayman's continued standoff with the Boston Bruins and tributes to Johnny Gaudreau. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Easy. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Hello, welcome to The Hockey Show. My name is Roy Bellamy.

David Drock is right there. He's from the Hockey News. David Pignota is here as well and he is live from Toronto Maple Leaf's training camp. The center. Yeah, the center of the hockey universe. It seems like gloom and doom over there. I mean, they got a new head coach and they have a what, 60 plus goal scorer in Austin Matthews that they're trying to build around and yet they lost the O's. Yeah yeah so what is going on over there

right now Dave? You know what guys it's actually pretty upbeat. I doubt that. They're practicing the rink over there. I came over here so they wouldn't yell at me. Okay. But yeah everyone's kind of lively and excited. New head coach. We just talked to Jake McCabe about the additions on the blue line with OEL and you know, bringing Chris Tanev, you sign Yanni Hockenpaugh, the addition later on in the season once he's healthy. But they seem to be pretty upbeat and pretty excited about what's coming, you know, for this season. Again, with the new system the addition later on in the season once he's healthy. But they seem to be pretty upbeat and pretty excited about what's coming for this season.

Again, with the new system being a little bit more in your face seems to be the kind of motive from the coaching staff and between the players. So wanting to play with a little bit more grit, a little more intensity and ferocity and adding to their fairly top heavy lineup with with their guys. As you mentioned, Austin Matthews, former 69 goal guy wants to once the eclipse that again, wants to hit 60 plus Mitch Marner is playing with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, wants to shut a lot of people up. He hasn't

hit 100 points yet came close the last few seasons was on pace for 101. If he played a full 82. So he's motivated to play. William Nylander is ready and itching to go. Max Pashiretti is here on a PTO, but it's pretty much a formality. He'll be a Maple Leaf this season to add secondary scoring, and he's healthy. So there's a lot of upbeat, at least in the first two, three days of camp, the vibe is pretty upbeat and positive. We'll see how that goes as the season progresses.

But at least right now to start, guys, it's a pretty solid, I don't know, kind of mood out here. He also has some sort of a, if you can't beat them still mentality right now, because they have three Florida Panthers. They got Oliver Ackman-Owson and Anthony Stolarz on the contract and they extended a professional tryout to Stephen Lorenzo. So is it is this gonna work for them? Well I mean a lot of things will need to go right for this for this team the D needs to be sound the goaltending needs to be up the snub whether it's Stolarz

or Joseph Wall and Wall seems to be the primary guy. Stolarz bringing that experience but also that you know veteranship to the group and to the crease. They're hoping for that and again hoping that their offense and their depth can can click in. You know, Lorenz was getting time pretty much on the fourth line unit kind of interchanging a little bit yesterday. He was on the fourth line unit, kind of interchanging a little bit yesterday. He was on the ice again this morning, kind of doing the same thing.

So I think they'd like to bring him in. They need some guys in the room and he's, you know, your prototypical glue guy in the room. So they'd like to be able to add that caliber player and he would fit in nicely under Craig Barube system and compliment a guy like Ryan Reeves from that perspective. So I guess, you know, you want to insulate some of your players with guys who have done it before. You don't want guys that have done it before 10 years ago.

You want guys that have done it before fairly recently and adding three guys that are just coming off a cup win, you know, doesn't hurt, you know, that mentality. So if they can come in, bring some fresh energy and bring a little bit of luck. Once you win, talk to any athlete, once you know, that mentality. So if they can come in, bring some fresh energy, and bring a little bit of like, once you win, talk to any athlete, once you win, the first thing you wanna do at the starter camp is win again.

And that's the mentality that these guys will bring, this mentality I'm sure the Panthers have. And that's the mentality that the Leafs need in order to take some of those next steps. We've seen them, Dave, kind of building, kind of somewhat like the Panthers. You saw last year when they brought in like Domi and they brought in Batruzzi, who's not there anymore, but you know, and Reeves, like you felt like they

wanted to get tougher. Now it feels like they're really building it out. And you mentioned the Panthers as like, kind of follow that mold in this division, like Toronto, Florida. There's a third team that I always think of in Tampa. And I don't know if people are sleeping on Tampa this year, but I refuse to. When I think about Tampa, Stamkos is not like, oh my God, are they going to lose?

But they've still got Kuturov, they still got Point, they brought in Gensel, they've got Victor Hedman. Like they may not have the depth that they once had, but I will not sleep on Tampa this year as a possible divisional playoff team. Do you agree? Yeah, a hundred percent. Um, I think the team that is probably going to dip a little bit and they obviously need to get their goalie signed as Boston. Um, I still think it's the two Florida base clubs and Toronto that'll kind of push in terms of the top three for this, for this season's, um, division crown.

And I agree with you and I can't remember the defenseman. But Tampa brought in another D this offseason, not not not Ryan McDonough, they brought back there's there's somebody else that they brought in who I think can take his game to the next level with with Tampa. And yeah, I think Stammer, you know, not having him is going to affect them to a certain extent, but only in the only in the beginning. And then you just kind of get into a flow of him not being there. And from an offensive perspective, you're taking out Stammer's offense, but you're bringing

in Jake Ansel. Yeah. So, you know, and they added Cam to right. Right. And you add some you add some veteran, a veteran presence and Cam Atkinson as well for the bottom six. And he's also motivated to prove a lot of his doubters wrong that he still has a lot left in the tank.

So there's been some very interesting adjustments by the Tampa Bay Lightning. But when you've got, you mentioned, when you've got Kucherov, Headman, Vasilevsky, Point, you can't count them out. I think- Yeah, very. And I think he's probably, or they're probably going to be the way things are shaping up at least to start, probably the third team out of the three and then have Toronto and Florida battling for the top division title.

But you know, I don't think Boston's going to be far off. I just think they're going to be a little bit below them. I think there'll be a playoff team, but most likely a wild card seed. You mentioned Swainman not being under contract. He's not holding out. He's not under contract. Correct. It was such a low ball offer the Bruins made to him. Like, do you think they're going to come to terms or is there going to be a division there? There is. There's a big one. Unless they woke up this morning, the Bruins didn't said, fine, we'll give you 9 million. Now the reported deal of the four years at 6.2 per, that was, I believe, in the beginning of the discussions

at the beginning of the summer. I think it's evolved since then, but there is and has been, at least going into this week, a sizable gap. Now, whether that's been bridged a little bit after Sweeney's comments the other day, you know, Swainman spent most of his summer in Boston. He was training with the guys there and some of the locals from the mass area.

He wants to be there, obviously. He showed that commitment. Now it's a matter of can the team commit to him and from a reciprocatory perspective. I understand the hesitation from Boston's perspective because there is a small sample size of him being a number one and putting up these types to great numbers that he has. But I mean, we had a fairly small sample size of some of the RFA's, the other RFA's that have signed

and he got Mo Sider three years in, he cashes in on a 7 times 8.55. His teammate Lucas Raymond, three years, he cashes in on 8 times just over 8. Sometimes if you believe that the talent is there and the level of talent will continue on an incline, what are you waiting for? I understand. Look, I also understand it's a business. You're going to try to keep things as monetarily sound as you can. But from Boston's perspective, it's a dangerous game you're playing. Because if this does pro well, let's say he gets signed a month from now, that means you missed the start of the season. You're going to need at least two weeks to get into game prep mode. So then you're looking at November before he's ready to go.

Do you want to risk that first month of the season, maybe even mid November? Do you want to risk the first four to six weeks of the season, not having your primary goalie at the top of his level? Those are important points. If you're competing, the points in October are just as important as the points in April. You can't afford to let them go. And they traded their primary goaltender and they're still in this situation where they can't sign the now primary goaltender. That doesn't make any sense to me, Dave. They've backed themselves into a weird corner here.

Yeah, and I want to also clarify, I know there's been a few different things. I spoke to his camp at the time of his, before his trade, after his trade, well, when everything was going down. Um, I think there's some misinformation out there, which is accidental because it is a little confusing. He did have a no trade list. He has a new one. Um, Ottawa was originally on it, but Ottawa was a team he was willing to wave to.

He made that clear. So the notion that if he was traded after July 1, could things have changed? I don't get that sense because he was willing to go to Ottawa regardless. So why they rush that type? I get to a certain extent because you don't want Ottawa going after other options and then all of a sudden you're done and you can't trade Linus Almark there because they've got another goalie. So from that, I think that's the more accurate sense

of why Boston moved into that type of arrangement before getting Swain and locked into a deal. At the same time, probably should have figured out if you were closer, ridiculously far apart, well in advance of moving your other goalie. But I mean, here we are right now. The other thing too is Cam Neely, their president, has said, ah, we expect them to get locked in. We're not too worried about it. We'll figure it out. Yeah. Ah.

It's- Camp started a little while ago. May want to start worrying. I don't get it, dude. Honestly, from the time they traded Olmark and then the contract impasse between them, unless you're comfortable with Corpi as your goalie, which I don't think anybody at this point would be comfortable with Corpi as their starter. No knock on, well, I love Corpi, but. Sounds like a knock to me.

Well, no, like. That was a bit of a knock, which I think it was a justifiable one. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, we may be just kind of spinning our wheels here. I just don't get what Sweeney was thinking. Like, you put yourself into this position where Swainman's your guy. You've made it

quite clear to everybody who's paying attention. So give him his due. And also he was arguably the best goalie in the first two rounds of the playoffs last year. Let's not forget that. Yeah. And look, I do understand to a certain extent, especially in August, where and why extent, especially in August, where and why talks kind of pushed a little bit. Jeremy Swainman's agent is Lewis Gross, who's the same, who also represents Tonoplyers, including Willie Nylander here in Toronto. But he also represented the Godreux brothers. And after that situation, unfortunate, ridiculously horrible situation took place. They wanted to give him a little bit of space as well to grieve. Now, obviously, there's a timing thing.

But I think that respectfully, both sides understood that it was we'll give you a bit of a buffer here so you can grieve and do whatever you need to do and be there for their family. And then we'll get back to negotiations once September rolls around. We're at camp now. I understand why they they did that. And I give them full kudos to the Boston Bruins for that. But you got to get to work here. The camp again, camp started. We're here. So you got to figure something out. You don't want to push this off too much. Dawson Mercer got signed last night

or agreed to a deal last night. He signed in the papers today. I think Cole Perfetti will be next in line. I think they were waiting for Mercer's deal. So you'll probably see Cole Perfetti lock into a two or three year deal relatively soon. Nikita Alexandrov with St. Louis, he was here all summer. He actually, he came to our golf tournament.

He was prepping ready for the season. I think there's a deal in place with St. Louis. He was here all summer. He actually came to our golf tournament. He was prepping, ready for the season. I think there's a deal in place with St. Louis. They just have to clear out some roster space in order to accommodate his contract. So it really comes down to Swainman. You know, you gotta have some of these golf tournaments down here. I mean, come on. We gotta get you guys up to the tournament here. You know, I gotta hold on Roy there. Like. I think I'd rather play golf in July and August up where Dave is than down where we are. Okay, you got the point. Well, I will say this. I think it was 102 the day of the tournament. 102 up there is probably better than 98 down here.

Yeah, the humidity is a killer. Come to Toronto and listen, the humidity here is disgusting as well. There's lake humidity though, as opposed to ocean? It's different. Sounds like he doesn't want us to come. I've been in your backyard how long in the last few years here because of everything going on, especially in June. But I get it. But hey, look, we've had Matt Luff is a regular. He's at Panthers camp on a PTO. Former Panther Owen Tippett.

He's a regular every year at the tournament as well. So yeah, we got to get you July 25th next year boys. Get up here. All right, we'll keep that date in the calendar, July 25th. Media day for the Florida Panthers was Wednesday and the media got to talk to Matthew Kachuck. And Matthew Kachuk was teammates with Johnny Goudreau in Calgary, and he has some good words to say about Johnny as we all remember him as he passed away a month ago from a DUI crash while he was on his bike. A sad, sad situation, and he has some nice words to say about Johnny. Go to it and that's just the last thing that's ever,

just even more important than ever, and there are a lot of circumstances that you just don't want to try on yourself. So I guess, you know, it's kind of a TV show that we're playing on, but it's really, really easy, easy, but it's certainly quite fun, and it helps with the difficulty you need to get in, It's easy, but it's not quite fun.

So just the difficulty, you never know. But if you get some interesting messages, you have a friend who can tell you, make it to a great place, it's interesting and it's helpful for you. You always have time. You just don't know what's going to happen. You just rush. And the other is, the number is changing with each of the rest.

And I think this is kind of a clear up that we're seeing. And the other is the number is changing. The other is also the number is, you know, that was a lucky one. I remember when we were in the summer, we were actually in the winter, so that's a number that's the most important thing. That's the technical and the emotional part.

Just remember these things are not asked ever. They're just taken away. See, the most important thing is to understand that they're not ever asked. You don't have to understand just how important they are to you. And I'm just going to say it's a shame to have a family that's here. I'm glad to see that it's here. It's a tough life to make, but I'm really happy that we're here. I'm really excited to be here. I'm excited to keep it in touch with you guys.

I'm excited to be here. I'm happy to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here. The league lost a brother in arms with Johnny and a potential up-and-coming coach in Matthew, Johnny's brother, in that crash, unfortunately. Why don't you talk about the impact of this loss, David? Huge. You know, it was confirmed on a Friday morning.

I had found out Thursday evening from a number of different players and other people in hockey that had heard the whispers of that possibility. The outpour that ensued afterwards from the NHL community, the hockey community, globally, the fan base, it really illustrated the type of impact both of these guys had on the game. And just, not just from a talent perspective, just from a personality perspective, these guys were awesome. I met Matty once, I knew Johnny decently.

He came to a number of our events as well. We had him in the magazine. We host a players gifting suite every year at All-Star weekend. And we have a celebrity stylist that comes in and kind of cleans up the guys, cuts their hair and whatnot. The year of the All-Star game in San Jose, he came in and asked for a mohawk. His parents were not happy about it, but he was excited about it. He wanted to kind of show off a little bit of personality. So he kind of shaved the side and had this Mohawk thing going on. He was he thought it was hilarious. He just loved to have fun. He loved to just put a smile on

everybody's face. And was just a personable kind of guy and a tremendous talent, obviously. To see the reactions in Columbus, in Calgary, and just across the sports world, because this wasn't, this didn't just impact the hockey community. You saw other sports pay their respects and offer tributes to the Goudreau family

and to the hockey community because of just how great these guys were. It's a tough loss, it still is for everybody and this is going to be something that's going to be felt for probably the full season. The Blue Jackets are doing some things this year. I think instead of a big ceremony at the start of the regular season, their home game, they're doing a tribute to the Dros. Calgary is doing some stuff as well and everything that was donated and put there, they were donating those products and they're making all the sticks that were left, they're making benches for that, they're going to donate those as well to different charities.

Again, this just again shows the impact that both of these guys had in the sports world. It's certainly romantic to see but they will without question, they're going to be missed for a long time, certainly, and honored for a very long time. So switching gears to players who are no longer in the league because they retired this year, Dave. Quite a few big names on that list. Joe Bielski's won, Chris Weidman, Jordy Ben, Andrew Cagliano joining the Avalanche front office.

But a couple that really jumped off the page to me, one Kyle Ocposo, who was with the Panthers last year, we got to know him a little bit. And guy not in the NHL right now, but Yara Mirjager, the ageless wonder at what is it, 56 or 52. He's one hundred ninety eight years old. He's got his AARP card. But he's still going strong. Dave. Yeah.

Yara Marriott. How ridiculous. Just expound, please. I don't know how to phrase the question other than what the hell there was. There was. I was playing in Pittsburgh. I don't remember what year it was, but it was I think the game was on CBC up here in Canada.

And I think it was a Canadian broadcast and he just, something along the lines, he'd deke everybody out except the usher. This guy's hands were ridiculous. His shot was tremendous. His vision was incredible and he was a big guy. He is a big guy. He wasn't afraid to toss the body either.

So he was like an unofficial power forward he only used his power and his size when he absolutely needed to it was a skill that just made him so much better than almost everybody else and and complimenting his game was that of Mario Lemieux and then eventually it just took off and he crushed it in other markets as well with the Rangers and the Vampires and the Flames and so on and so on. Capitals for a bit.

Like this guy is ridiculous and while he did hang him up at the NHL level, everything that he's been doing in Chechia has been, I think, tremendous for that base. Like a lot of, as we know, a lot of European players come overseas and the fans that are there only get to see them at select times because of the time change. Like, yeah, you can watch the games on the internet, you can see the highlights and stuff like that.

But when you get an opportunity to see one of your icons in person on a regular basis, that just, it feels a little bit different. And for some of these kids growing up, to see a legend like Jarmer Jagger, who dominated at the NHL level and came home to enhance hockey in your own country, in your own towns, that just elevates the motivation for a lot of these fans

and a lot of these kids that want to become hockey players. You know, we'll probably see the next five to 10 ten years a bit of an influx of Czech-born players that are going to be making their way to our side. Jagger has just been, I don't know, he's a phenomenal personality. Like when he was playing in the KHL, I went over in 20, what was it, nine, 10, and 11, I think three years in a row to do some stuff over with the KHL. And the All-Star games that were there, he was a part of it, he was as outgoing and charismatic as he normally is, and he was just, he's just a fan favorite wherever he goes. And I guess it's his last season, allegedly, he claims, so we'll see if that is the case. And then in three

years, he'll be a, I mean, he's already a first-dollar Hall of Famer. He just has to wait a bit. It took 17 years for Carl Iacopozo to win a Stanley Cup, but he finally did it. Three teams, Allenders, Sabres, and finally the Florida Panthers. His very limited time in Florida

kind of netted him a big prize. So why don't you touch on his career for a little bit? Well, this is another guy that I mean just a salt of the earth human being Great individual he had some health challenges and health scares over parts of his career but but managed to get past those and continue playing and you know he set himself up In a specific way last season with his contract.

He wanted to motivate himself and push himself into pursuing a Stanley Cup. And that's how we kind of worded his contract. That's how he structured the ball, this is as part of it, to give him an extra motivating piece to say, yeah, I can still play and I can still be a contributor for a contender. Obviously he was

With Florida and this is a guy that loves the game Has always loved the game always wants to be part of the game He actually spent part of the offseason in a managerial class that Fanatics actually put on a number of pro athletes were part of this I'm trying to remember some of the other NHL guys Jacob Trubo was part of this as well There were a few others but it took place in New York and in Philadelphia where they got to meet with some of the you know C-level managerial figures and along with with Michael Rubin to kind of learn the business side of things. He wants to be part of the game. He still wants to be involved in it.

I think he'll give himself a little bit of a break here. But he was, this just shows the commitment that he has to his craft on and off the ice. He's always learning, always willing to learn, always wanting to learn, and just a great dude in general. Somebody that everybody always got along with, he was always respectful with the media. You know, I had my hats off to him on a great career

and nothing wrong with going out on top. So his next stop is front office. I could see him definitely being in management somewhere. Maybe not immediately, but I think I could definitely see him in that type of a role. And even if he shifts away from the NHL per se, just being involved in sports in some capacity, be it a company like Fanatics or another apparel brand or something to that

effect tied to hockey, I definitely see him sticking around the game in some way. All right, so around the league, and we'll go out on this, are there any young players that you are looking at right now? Any kids from the minor leagues, any recently drafted prospects or anybody coming up from the minors that you see will make a big impact in the league? There's a couple. I mean, the obvious suspects for me are Macklin, Celebrini and Will Smith in San Jose. I think they're going to, I think the fans are going to have fun with it. I think it's going to be a rough year in San're gonna, I think the fans are gonna have fun with it. I think it's gonna be a rough year in San Jose, but I think the fans are gonna have a lot of fun

with the talent that's coming up there. I think he's, both of those guys are gonna make impacts in their first NHL season. So I'm excited to see what the Sharks can do this year with their young kids. I'm looking forward to seeing what Lane Hudson can do in Montreal. He's already making a bit of a mark. He did it

rookie camp. He's apparently doing pretty well in the first couple days of camp in Montreal. He's a guy that's expected to make the big club right out of the gate. Small kid, small frame, but ridiculous skill, very agile, great vision. He is a top tier power play specialist from a defensive perspective but also a guy that's gonna be a menace five on five. He's got good foot speed as well. That's a player that I'm looking at from for the for the Habs. I want to see how he develops this season. I think that's gonna be a kid that's gonna have a hell of an NHL career. David Pignola is in Toronto live from Maple Leafs training

camp. If they don't win the first preseason game the city might catch on fire so be careful out there. They're already going nuts here because they put William Nylander back at center and they want to try this out for a little bit. The city's already going bananas. I bet they are. Natural position. Thanks Dave. See you boys.