This is Neil Smith, former president and GM of the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders. Join me and my co host Vic Morn for our podcast NHL Wrap Around for all the important news and views around the NHL.
Round two of the NBA Draft Tonight. We covered Round one for you from start to finish last night, which means you boy got home at about ten o'clock, a nice little eight hour radio shift yesterday.
We'll see what tonight brings.
I believe it's only four minutes between picks tonight four Round two. However, we do have the NHL Draft coming up tomorrow and the Utah Mammoth will draft fourth overall after receiving a little lottery luck, and the Utah Mammoth also made a trade, so we'll talk about that and a bunch more NHL offseason stuff with our next guest, the Great Neil Smith. Back on the Drive on a Thursday. Neil, Happy Thursday, sir, How are you?
I'm real good? Thank you. That was quite a trade for the for the Mammoth.
So let's start there. Let's start there.
You know, ultimately Josh down, Michael kesserline two players that a lot of people around here liked an awful lot.
But let's get to know this new player.
It looked like the Sabers were going to part ways restricted free agent JJ.
I think it's peterca Is how you say the name? Neil? Tell us about this young man and what do you think of the trade?
Well, he's a German from Munich, Germany, and I think it's a great trade for Utah. If you go strictly on getting the best player. They definitely got the best player. Peterca's got twenty seven goals last year, sixty eight points is a threat. He's a definite upgrade for the hockey club. When I say hockey club, you still called the team's hockey clubs. I'm not saying that as the old name. Sure, yeah, but I like Michael Kesslering. He's a big kid, and
you know it brings some real size. But when you get a chance to get a guy like Patca, you've got to part with a couple of guys. And Josh Done is only twenty three, but that's the same age as Paturka. So that's great for the for the Utah Mammoth because they're getting a young guy. And as we've talked about so many times, this is like their free agent that he's not a free agent. He's it was a trade, but it's like, you know, free agency coming early for this team.
Twenty seven goals, forty one assists last year for Paterka, sixty eight points overall. So let's dig in a little bit deeper. He's a right winger. You mentioned he's German. I mean, I mean, I've got some stuff in front of me right now. He looks like a big, sturdy kid. So for our Utah Mammoth fans out here, let's dig a little bit deeper. Exactly what type of player is he? Where do you think he fits the top six Ford? Do you think he's on the front line? How do you think it plays out?
I think he could. He could end up on the first line. He certainly end up on the power play. You know, he said he's an offensive threat all the time. He played seventy seven games and got sixty eight points. So you're almost at a point of game on Buffalo Sabers who didn't make the playoffs and didn't have a
great season. And if I want to be sarcastic, I could say that Utah might be headed for the Stanley Cup because they have Buffalo has traded away so many guys that have ended up winning the Stanley Cup, like Sam Ryan Hart and just to mention one and a number of others, that maybe luck will have it with Utah this time and Peterca will end up in a Utah jersey winning the Stanley Cup.
Love It, Love It five year contract extension. Average annual value is about seven point seven mil. What are your thoughts on the deal that Bill Armstrong gave Peterca.
You know, it's the money, of course, is to normal everyday folks is crazy money, but it's where the player would be because of the production he's getting it and the production that he will get going forward. And I'm sure that Bill and his staff have analyzed Paterka a lot better than me and see that a real bright future in front of him. And again I'll emphasize, he's only twenty three years old by the time the contract's over. He's still in his prime at twenty eight, so he's
going to have to live up to those numbers. That's a lot of money for a kid that scored twenty seven goals. But I would imagine that they see in him you know, him getting better and better as time goes on, and that's why they were willing to do that contract.
Do you think this trade and this acquisition changes the approach for tomorrow night's draft.
Not at all, Not at all. They'll take the Well, if I were them, when the first three guys get picked, whoever's the best player, no matter what position, no matter what country he comes from, no matter anything, that's who you take. You don't draft based on position or anything like that. At that high pick, get the best player you can possibly get and figure it out later. If you've got you know, if it's a center that's available
and you've already got centers, don't worry about it. And if it's a defense when you've already got defense, and don't worry about So I think they'll get a real good player at number four. Probably won't play in Salt Lake, you know, this coming season, but they'll definitely get a good player.
So before we.
Get to the specifics of what tomorrow could bring, just take us behind the scenes of a NHL front office the night before the NHL Draft. What's going on with Bill and his staff right now is they prepare to make the selections tomorrow.
You know, they're just having more meetings and there it is not up in the air who they're going to pick for them right now. They already know who the top four players are in the draft, according to their staff, and they're well prepared. They're probably talking a lot about
their second pick. I don't have it in front of me where their second pick is in the draft, but I would think they're spending more of their time trying to figure out who the fourth guy would be, because they know who they've got as the top four guys, and whoever's the best of those top four would be the guy that they'll take at number four.
So let's move over now to what tomorrow and I could bring. And you know, obviously it depends on what happens in front of them, does it. You know, once upon a time it felt like number one was being debated. But everything I'm reading today, Neil is that it will be Matthew Shaeffer to the Islanders.
Is that you're understanding.
That's my understanding that he is. He is pretty clear cut the best player there. You know, there's some there's always some talk because the Islanders have our long island and Hagen's who played it in Hockey East this year is from Long Island and he grew up in Long Island, So you know, wouldn't you try to get the hometown kid. But you can't do that when you're running an NHL team. You've got to you've got to take the best player
and buy everybody's accounts. Matthew Schaffer is the best player and he's a big defenseman, and I would imagine that's where the Islanders will go.
So if it's Shafer a one, I've got a mock draft in front of me. Do you feel like it's the Michael Misa kid at two for San Jose.
That's what I'm hearing that. That's what I'm hearing. Michael Misa would go number two. A lot of people don't have Haggins three. They got other somebody else. But you know, once you get past I'm very high guys there, it doesn't always go in any predictable manner because what's you know, what's one person's taste in that player is not another person, so you can always depend on that. But so I don't think it's clear cut that these are the definitely
the top three. But from what I'm hearing, Mesa and Schaeffer are the top two, and you know Mesa could go number one. He had a remarkable season. He got thirty more points than anybody else in the OHL, and that's remarkable. He got sixty two goals in sixty five games. But they're hard to get a franchise defenseman, and if Matthew Schaeffer's a lot of as a franchise defenseman, they're probably going to go there.
OHL. Ontario Hockey League. It seems like a lot of these young prospects are playing up there. Tell our listeners about this and what sort of league it is, and AU prepares these young men to play in the NHL.
Well, And then that's a good question, Spence, because you know your listeners are mostly used to players being drafted out of college. Guess that's where the NBA players come from. And a lot of NHL players come out of college too, But they also come out of the three Canadian major junior leagues what they're called. And going from west to east, that's the Western Hockey League, which has all the teams
west of Ontario. You have the Ontario Hockey League which has you know, most of their team are in Ontario. They do have Erie in you know, Erie Pennsylvanias in Thataly and then you have the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Memorial Cup is the tournament at the end of the season between the three leagues to see who's going to win the big trophy for all of junior hockey. It's it's a mini NHL, to be honest with you. Junior hockey in Canada is the closest representation
to the National Hockey League. And what you've got to do there, the travel and all the rest of it and the game itself is is it like a mini NHL. So that's why a lot of scouts and teams prefer to take guys out of the major junior hockey. But I think that it is now. College hockey is every bit as good a breeding ground for the NHL as the junior leagues.
You actually, you're getting good of this because you just answered my follow up question. But I'm going to ask it anyway to elaborate of all of the potential avenues, of all of the potential pathways, you know, when it comes to these different leagues, when it comes to these different you know, avenues that these young men take whether it's college hockey, whether it's the OHL or what have you. Is there a clear cut preferred pathway again, College, OHL, International,
whatever it is. Because I've got this mock draft in front of me and I'm seeing like, even throughout the first ten there's the WHL, there's the OHL, there's the q m j h HL whatever that is.
Then there's College Junior Hockey League.
Okay, So of all the pathways, Neil, is there a preferred one you look at as a roster constructor and a decision maker to feel like, yes, they're prepared the best because they did this.
You know, not not really? I mean there, I'll give you some examples. Connor McDavid played for Erie. That's where he was drafted by by Edmonton from Erie. His his sidekick there, Dry Sidle, played in Germany. Uh and so there there's two totally different places. You can you know, Meithan McKinnon played in the Quebec League, who's a great player.
So they come from all over the place and and there's a lot of great college players that are coming into the NHL now, So there's really not a preferred place. There used to be a very prejudicial to junior players because they would they understood, and they weren't. They weren't out getting an education, they were out to play hockey. But that's not the case anymore. It's it's really not
that now you're getting them from everywhere. I just found out today and realized that today that Michael kessel Ring, who was born in Florence, South Carolina. I didn't realize that. I don't think he lived there. I think he was just born there and his dad played in the ECHL. I didn't know all that stuff. But what I'm saying to you, why I'm bringing that up, is the players are coming from all over the place now and there's really not one hockey hot that like there used to be.
All right, So to your point, we don't know what the first three picks will be. It does feel like the Schaeffer kid is the consensus number one, and every mack I've seen has Misa too, And then it seems to get pretty interesting. Anton Frondell is the mach I have in front of me going three to Chicago. Brady Martin is the name that this mock has the Utah
Mammoth taking. But I've seen another mock that has Porter Martone the selection at four and Porter is a big forward that prior to yesterday, this hockey club did not have, but now they have one of those. Any thoughts, then there's the aforementioned James Hagen's kid out of BC. Any thoughts on who Bill and his staff land on Tomorrow night when the fourth pick is called, you know, there's.
They're talking about Brady Martin that plays in Sue Saint Marie. I'd be guessing, to be honest, he spins, I'm just gonna flat out and say, I'd be guessing if I said who they're gonna who I thought they would take. I don't have the expertise on these young kids, but I do see on some of the on some of the rating things that Hagen's has fallen down in people's minds. So you'd never know. You don't know what intel Bill
and his staff have on all these particular players. There's also psychological inventory testing done that way to see what kind of character, what kind of personality you're dealing with, So then that comes into play on it. So we'll we'll just have to wait and see. And I think your guest at this point is everybody's goroos mind.
Well, you know, it's interesting, Neille.
I was on a zoom call with Bill two days ago prior to the Turko deal, and he he's very calculated with his messaging and he's very careful not to promise anything. I mean, I've told you this anecdote when the introductory press conference took place where the fan base here was meeting that team for the first time, several of whom probably didn't have any frame of reference for what they were witnessing or how good or bad this
team was. It was just excitement that we had hockey in Salt Lake, and Liam O'Brien took the mic and really fired up the audience at Delta Center Spicy Tuna.
People started chanting, and when Bill had the opportunity to address the crowd, he basically said, look, everyone knows we're still rebuilding, right like he's very careful about setting expectations, and the messaging during a zoom call was the continued patients and the continued long game, and the continued were making good decisions one by one and we'll see how it stacks up. So reasonable expectations probably for either the fourth pick or the rest.
Of the moves per Turkus twenty three.
To your point, like, I don't know that this is a front office that's in any hurried ex but I had this process. I think they're verydmitted to what they've already done and are going to continue to see it through and tell it's, you know, the finished product on the other side.
Well, and that's smart because first of all, keeping everything in anything in life, keeping expectations in check is smart because you get yourself in a world hurt if you start over promising and under delivering. In the in the hockey business, I think that that's real smart. The teams that are elite teams Edmonton Florida, obviously, they weren't built overnight. They didn't just go bang and get and work, you know, become that good. It took many years and thoughtful construction
to get them there. And I would imagine that Bill's in his mind, he's going, you know, this is the same thing. Now we you and I have talked about their chances to make the playoffs last next year, I'm still going to stick to what I said. They're going to be fighting to get into the wild card spot. You know, last year at this time Steve Eiserman and then detray Red Wings thought that they'd be a playoff team or could be a playoff team coming up this season.
It didn't happen. Things went wrong and it just didn't happen. And had Steve Eiserman come out and said, oh, we're going to make the playoffs this year. Well, now everybody's ticked off because you know, you said you'd make the playoffs and you didn't. It's always better to over deliver and under promise and make everybody happy that way. But
I don't I don't have a job to lose. So I'm going to tell you that I think that there's a good chance for Utah this season to you know, bang on the door of the wild card spots.
Any other I know, you guys just recorded a free agent primer, a draft primer.
So outside of.
The deals that we've already discussed, what are the main storylines regarding player acquisition, player retention, players that could be on the move that you guys are honed in on.
Before I say you lose Neil.
Well, you know, there was a lot of we had a lot of talk about the big guys that are that are free, that are USA's unrestricted free agents, and of course Mitch Marner from Toronto heads the list because he's not going back to Toronto, his hometown, so he's going to be out there looking for megabucks. Sam Bennett has said at some of the celebrations that he's staying in Florida and he wants to stay in Florida, So we'll see what happens with that. I can't imagine him being like,
let you know, letting Florida, letting him leave. Brad Marshan the elder statesman of the team, thirty seven years old, but prove that he's an awesome playoff player. He's out there and he's been a leader, he's been captain of
the Boston Ruins. We talked about all those guys. We talked about Florida and could they keep their team together and the job that Bill Zito had done so and then we also talked about Connor McDavid in his contract because he's got one year to go and then he's a UFA if he if Edmonton lets it get there, which I will never imagine that they'll let it get there. But Connor McDavid came out last week and said he's
in no hurry to get a contract done. That he wants to know that the team is going to be trying to win every year and doing everything they can to win a Stanley cupan Edmonton before he's going to resign there. So that's a lot of the stuff that we've been talking about, and we'll have to wait and
see what happens on Monday. We're talking about tampering to a little bit because that's so obvious that that goes on before the July first, because Spence, if if anybody announces on July first that they signed somebody anytime before to a plot, they didn't make a deal in two hours on those things. So do you know what I mean? They last year they were announcing deals at twelve oh five. I mean, if you could do it seven year deal in five minutes, that's pretty good.
Yeah. Look, it happens in every sport. How do you govern that though, Like you know, whether it's NHL, NFL, NBA, it's so very blatantly obvious that it goes down. But is there really any way to stop it?
There really isn't because there's so many ways to get information. So you know, it's if somebody lets the cat out of the bag. That's about the only way that you know, somebody wants to screw somebody and say, well, you know so and so called me. And it's not the general managers that are doing it. They're not going to call anybody and put themselves out there, but they've got people that will get information and can find out if this guy wants to play. Is there any chance that Sam
Bennett will sign with you? Tod you talk if somebody talks to his agents, somebody talks to his parents, somebody talks to his brother, somebody talks to somebody and says, tell me it was Sam going to consider any place else? And if they said, oh, yeah, is he definitely wants to see what you think he'd consider Salt Lake? Yeah, for sure if the money's there. You know that those kind of conversations You go back, you tell the GM
now he's waiting to see it. Like they don't negotiate anything, I'm sure or that that would be really dumb, but they do get their feelers out there and find out what's possible.
Neil, Where can people go find the podcast that you guys you know do in general, but also that you just did on the Free Agent Primer and Draft Primer and the Drafters tomorrow night.
Yeah, just go to our website NHL reperound dot com, or go on to Apple or Spotify or iHeart or any place where you listen to podcasts and see if there were YouTube if you want to watch it. But it's yeah, Pierre Lebron was on and he was really good. We had before that, and I think I mentioned this to you last week. We had Pat verbikon who had just traded for Crider and now Pat Verbeek made another big trade this past week and trading Trevor Ziegris to Philadelphia.
That's going to be real interesting to see if if Siegris turns out to be a good player with Rick Talkett as his coach, and that's gonna be a very interesting one. But anyway, there's always news going on at this time of year.
Neil, Thank you sir, Always a pleasure, a fun perspective on the eave of the draft.
Have a great weekend with chat.
Soon, Thank you, and good luck to the Mammoth.
Yes indeed, yes, indeed, the great Neil Smith roster constructor at the highest of levels. One a Stanley Cup with the Blue Sweaters the New York Rangers in nineteen ninety four, worked for the Detroit Red Wings and also the New York Islanders. Check out his podcast, NHL Wrap Around. Get him on Twitter at NYC Neil is where you find him, all right. The Utah Stampede Rodeo is on the way. Extreme bulls, extreme bulls porter, not just bulls. There you go, extreme bulls. You know what that means.
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