NHL Stanley Cup Final started last night Game one. Edmonton was able to get it done at overtime. It was an awesome game. Such a grueling tournament. We'll do some hockey now with our friend Belle Frasier from the Salt Lake Tribune on a Thursday afternoon. Bell, Happy Thursday.
How are you good?
How are you?
I'm good? Thank you for your time. What'd you make a Game one last night? And who do you like in the series.
It was one of the most entertaining games we've had all NHL Playoffs, let alone the series. You know, both teams know each other really well. It's a rematch of last year's Stanley Cup Final, and I think it was really important for Edmonton to get Game one at home because everyone knows if you give the Panthers an inch will take a mile, especially winning on the road. They've been really good on the road throughout the playoffs, so
defending home ittes is huge. And also, you know Leon Drysdle is one of the biggest stars in this series. He didn't score one goal in last year's Stanley Cup Final, and he had two last night, including the game winning goal in double overtime. So I think you're going to see a different Edmonton Oilers team this time around. They're out for redemption. It's hard to think Connor McDavid and his crew, you know, let a loss in a Game seven or whatever game it is, let the Stanley Cups
slip out of their fingers again. But on the flip side, the Florida Panthers are that good. You know, they could have won last night easily as well, and they have a different kind of depth this year or two. You know, their third line has been one of their best lines throughout the playoffs. So I'm gonna go with Edmonton just because the redemption arc, but I would not be surprised at all of Florida pulled it off. It should be a good series, though. If last night was the.
Preview, do you'd think we'll get six or seven games? I mean, I've been bemoaning the fact, both in Pro basketball and Pro hockey, neither the conference finals went seven, and there really is nothing like a game seven in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Certainly in the final. Do you think we're going to get seven of these bell I.
Not to think it goes at least six alone, because they're so evenly matched as far as you know, there's not major major injuries. Obviously, Hymen's out for the Oilers and the guys for hour out, but it seems like both sides are holding up pretty well. So without you know, any big losses in terms of personnel, I can't imagine it doesn't go six, but we'll see. It's it's always when you predict something that the opposite happens. So who knows.
I'm going to be irresponsible here. Sam Bennett's a free agent two goals last night. A player like that, veteran player with a Stanley Cup title in his back pocket, type of player that maybe the Utah Mammoths could look at and free agency with that twenty ish million dollars at their disposal.
Yeah, I definitely think it's something they look at. I've kind of been high on Sam Bennett honestly throughout this I think that's more of the type of player that they need, not only because he's a center and he's been in the top six on a Stanley Cup winning team, like you said, but he has real grit to him. He's and he's controversial. You know, He's had some hits and cost some concussions that people really aren't happy about,
which is completely understandable. You want to keep the players safe. But he plays with an edge and he's physical, and not that he's crazy, but I think he just has a little bit of that, you know, like spider mentality. That not to say Utah's fully lacking, but I think he'd hold them accountable to a different level and also
make them harder to play against. People do not want to play against Sam Bennett at all when he gets on the ice, and that's something you usually see in Utah's bottom six guys are you know, it's hard to play against the Lost and Kraus, Josh Jone, Jack McBain line. But to have someone of that caliber upfront would be great, and like you said, he's able to produce. I do think the price tag because of the season he's had
in the playoffs he's had, is going up. A lot of NHL insiders have said that teams would be willing to offer him ten million dollars AAV, which I don't think Utah would do force him. Bennett, given you know, his age and also the players he's surrounded with in Florida, definitely helped him. He won't be playing with you know, Carter ver Hagen and Matthew Kashuk in Utah, So I don't think they go at that price tag, but I
definitely think it's someone you look into. You make a couple of calls, and that's definitely on their radar.
Any other you know, and again it's so early in the process, and we'll do draft here in a moment, but any other I'm sure you review the free agency list like I have in you know. Of course Sam is top of mind because he's playing in the Stanley Cup final. You know, I think the big name everyone's talking about is Mitch Marner. I'm not sure that you know he's only twenty eight, but maybe he's too. I have a name for what Utah would look to do.
Any other names you want to throw out there that Bill and a staff could look at to bring in to help this team take that next step.
Yeah, I mean regarding Mitch Marner. I personally am not on the Mitch Marner change just for Utah. I mean, it's crazy to say don't be interested in Mitch Maarner. If he came here, I'm sure he be great. No one's turning down an one hundred point player. Who has just the raw talent that he does. But I can't imagine that it's Bill. I'm showing so little to wrap up fourteen million dollars for seven or eight years in
Mitch Marner. I think that Utah would be much better getting someone bigger, more physical, a little bit more rough around the edges, who still has that scoring touch and comes at a lower price tag. And there are guys like that. I think Brock Besser from the Vancouver Canucks, he's going to be a UFA. He's twenty eight years old. Right wing believe. He had fifty points and twenty five goals this regular season, and of note, he shares an
agent with Nick Buke's dad. Nick Bukestad's the USA, but he spent last year in Utah and he raved about the team, the ownership, and his exit interviews he said it was the best place he's been, especially for his family too. So you have to think that Besser's the age, kind of has that in the back of his mind. And his last contract had a six point six five million AA, so you know, a lot more affordable. He's going to get paid higher than that this summer, but
more affordable than a marner. Also, you look at Nikolai Eilers from the Winnipeg Jets. I think that's another consistent you know score. I think he's had twenty plus goal seasons for a majority of his NHL career. Yeah, eight of his ten years in the NHL. He was on the President Trophy winning team this year with the Winnipeg Jets, and he's coming off a seven year, forty two million dollar contracts. So again, more in Utah's range and could
just add that backbreaking scoring touch. And then this is long winded, but I think maybe under the radar is someone like Ryan Donato from the Chicago Blackhawks. He's a center and he was one of the only bright spots for them this year. I imagine they tried to keep him because of the impact he had, but he was only on a four million dollar year for two years, so he's not probably that top two center that Utah
was looking for. But if they wanted a little bit more depth down the middle, they could look at that. But yeah, Bill Armstrong very creative, and I have a feeling that the biggest thing you Tall gets this summer might be through trade and not even through free agency. So we'll see what he does. But those are some of the main names kind of floating around the NHL market right now.
Okay, Bell for our listeners, totally not for me, but only for our listeners. Tell us what an what an entry level contract is and what it means.
Yeah, are you referring to Simyshevan Boot, Yes, Ed.
Gabe Smith, but Bell for our listeners, because I mean I totally could break it down, but I don't feel like it, so you go ahead.
Yeah. So, I mean they signed a bunch of guys to entry level contracts last week. The biggest names are Dimitri Simachev and Daniel Boot who were drafted in the first round by the Arizona Coyotes a few years ago and they were playing in the phl Over in Russia, so that's very exciting. So they were signed to entry level contracts and an ELC is entry level contract. It's a two way contract for players who are signed as
rookie so they haven't been in the NHL. Yet. It allows them to be sent back and forth between the AHL without having to clear waivers. So the teams if they want them to go develop with the Tucson Roadrunners next year, they don't have the fear of putting them on waivers and having them be claimed by any other team once you're out of your entry level contract or played a specific mannet games in the NHL, if you get put on waivers, anyone can claim you. That's what happened with Nikki Simone.
You know, the New.
Jersey Devils put him on waivers and Utah picked him up. So it just allows them to sign an NHL contract, play with the main club, but also if they need more time in the developmental League, they're able to go to Tucson or whatever their respective team is to have that time and their cost efficient all under a million dollars for Simashev and boot they both signed. I think it was eight hundred and fifty or the AAV was nine hundred and fifty thousand, but that was with the bonus.
So if you think about guys like Logan Cooley and Dylan Gunter, we're on their entry level contracts still last year, two of the highest point getters, but since they're.
Usually three year deals, if you.
Sign your top prospects to entry level contracts, they produce for you at a low price until you eventually have to resign them. We saw the Gunter extension. You're going to see it Loagan Cooley extension. But yeah, those are the types of contracts that the Mammoth kind of got squared away this week, and Utah fan should be excited. It sounds like Skimashev and Boot will be at development camp, training camp and have a pretty good chance of making the roster this season.
You referenced d Simone since you and I last spoke one year, eight hundred thousand dollars contract, So what are your thoughts on this transaction.
I love it. I'm really happy for Nick d Simone. Just from you know, a human being side, he was one of the best guys to talk to as a media member, super open, honest and also just you know kind doesn't have an ego to him, but that's the story of grit and determination. He hadn't played an NHL game when he got this season, yet when he got planed off of waivers in January from the New Jersey Devils, he was on an expiring contract. He came into Utah
as a depth defenseman. He could have been sent down to the Tucson Roadrunners, but he beat out Yuso Valinaki and Vladislav Poletronics, who eventually got traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for that seventh defensive role. You know, he beat out two guys who already had standing in Utah for that position, and then when Utah had injuries, he very seamlessly went into the lineup. And he's not flashy, he's
not trying to do too much. He was consistent, he was predictable, he was responsible, and he's thirty, I believe, so it's not like he's inexperienced. And that's what Coajondre Turni always said, like Niki Simon knows how to take care of business at the rank away from the rank, so I think for them it's more of an insurance policy.
He's probably not going to play every night. He might spend some time in the AHL, but it's good to have that defensive depth and have someone that you know, if you need to stop the bleeding because of injuries or just settle the back end down, you have him. It's only one year to cost efficient deal eight hundred thousand dollars, and I think it shows the intention Bill Armstrong has used when he brings these guys in. He got Nick d Simone for nothing. They didn't have to
trade for him. His scouts and his staff did a good job watching the waiver, why or what players were on it, how they could fit in Utah were able to bring him over, and now they sign him for under a million. So I think that's just good work from the entire organization and good for him too, good for Nicki Simone to be able to stick around for another year.
So it's a few weeks away from the NHL Draft, and in year one of their existence, the Utah Mammoth received luck that the Utah Jazz have now received in fifty years. So a lot of people excited to see what happens with this top four pick. So two part question. First part is if they hold on to four, who do you deem as best case scenario for them to draft? And the second part, I've got your Twitter pulled up.
Is there a legitimate chance that they utilize this as a bargainship in the trade the kidnets something bigger?
Yeah.
Well, I think the good news for Utah Mamits fans is you can't really go wrong if you're in the top five of the NHL Draft, especially this year, because a majority of the forwards in the top nine even are centers, and it's no secret most NHL teams are looking for a center, but Utah definitely is looking for a number two center to go behind Logan Cooley eventually.
So that's a lot of the guys and I think someone that's been linked to Utah that fans like a lot and scouts say that kind of fits the Utah mold is Caleb de Noyer. Porter Martin is in a center, but he has that size, that scoring ability. He's a right wing, so he's in there. Anton Froundell is a center. He had a good season playing professional hockey in Sweden.
Michael Misa obviously I think Utah would jump out, but it's likely he's going to go in the first three picks, so he's kind of outside of the picture, I would say. But the NHL Scouting Combine is this week where the players meet with every organization, say go through interviews and
they all get physically tested. And it was reported that Michael Visa did go out to dinner with the Utah Mammoth front office, So that's something to think about as well as James Hagen's who was the consensus number one You know overall pick. A year ago, everyone he was super highly touted. Everyone kind of thought he would be for his overall and his stock kind of dropped this season. He was in the NCAA playing college bockey for Boston College.
But he's still a legitimate, you know, number one, number two center. I actually got to talk to him a few weeks ago. There's a story about that in the Tribune. But he has a really good head on his shoulders, and all of his coaches were saying if they had even the number one pick in the NHL draft, they'd go with Hagen. So, like I said, a bunch of centers, I think the one thing they're probably going to lean
more towards his size, just because Cooley Keller. You know a lot of guys in their top six are on the smaller side. So I would say Caleb Danioier or portomartone, but I don't know. I think Hagens could sneak in there, and like I said, you can't really go wrong. And then what was the second part of your question?
Sorry is there?
Well?
Real quick, thank you for saying it, saying Caleb's last name for me, because I almost said it and I would have completely destroyed it. The second part of the question is the conversation about them using four as a chip in a trade. How viable is that.
Yeah, I think it's definitely viable. And Bill Armsheng came out and he said that. You know, we talked to him ten minutes after they got the fourth overall pick, and he said, that's an avenue we're always going to look at. That's how they've gotten a lot of their bigger players. You know, there was a couple of draft picks and the services trade. It obviously wasn't fourth overall. That carries a lot more weight, but he's done it before. And I think the biggest difference here is the team's
picking within the top five, top seven, top nine. Weren't seven points out of the playoffs last year. They weren't one to two players away from being a contending team. And Utah was supposed to pick fourteenth overall. They got really lucky winning that second sequence and jumping up ten points. So they're not in the to be rebuilding with a
top pick anymore. They're coming out of a rebuild. So I could see Bill Armstrong knowing that it's probably going to take two to three years for even a fourth overall pick to fully pan out and have that NHL fluency that you would want, and maybe you bundle it.
You bundle the fourth pick with someone who didn't pan out for Utah, like Mattias Micheli, or a couple prospects in Tucson or another roster player to get someone who is NHL tested, who is a top six scoring winger or center, and who can come in and have an immediate impact. Because Utah's and win now load, they want to make the playoffs next year, they want to keep pushing, and you could argue that trading it for someone that's been in the league for a few years that has
established themselves would work. And there are a lot of teams in the draft order that would like to trade up. You look at the Bruins or the Buffalo Savers. So I definitely think it's in the realm of possibility. But I also think it'll have to be the perfect deal. I don't think Bill Armstrong is going to let go of that pick just to get someone that might work in the top six, so it'll have to be a
really good fit. But yeah, one hundred percent, I don't think anyone should rule that out until that draft pick has a Utah amate jersey on after they call his name.
Let me throw this scenario at you, and maybe there's nothing here. But Neil Smith joined us yesterday and he brought up the Hagen's kid, the James Hagen's kid, because he's a strong Islanders from Long Island. And so Neil floated out the potential of the Islanders taking the hometown kid at one. Uh and a lot of what I've read, Bell and you tell me this. Matthew Schaffer kid is thought to be among the best prospects, and some mocks
have him at one, but he is a defenceman. If Shaffer's there at four, if the Islanders go Hagan's one, then mesa two and maybe it's poor or three. If Shaffer's there at four, does the Utahey club look at him?
I don't think so. One. I think there's I mean, who knows, because the draft board changes in a second based on a teen's pick. I think there's close to a zero percent chance that Matthew shay For drops to three, let alone four. But I also think Utah's pretty set defensively for now. I mean their top six defensemen, they all have locked up for the next at least one to three years. They extended Ian Cole, they extended Olimada obviously,
John Marino, Sergichev, Jersey they extended last year. Michael Kestering's still there. And then in Tucson too, they have Maverick Lamrude, they have Art and Duda, they have Dmitriy Simaschev who's coming in. Is going to fight for a top four defensive position. So I don't think that's their need. You know, everyone says you go for the best player available, and probably at that time, if he was available, Schaeffer would be the best one. But I think Utah desperately needs
a top four more than it needs a defenceman. And it's interesting. Yeah, I think the hometown thing definitely probably plays in for Hagens because he wants to be an Islander, and I think that's something teams look for. They want their draft pick to be excited to play for their organization. But I don't know if it's enough to you know, away, probably a generational defenseman like Schaeffer.
All right, Bell, before I say you lose, I'm gonna tie a little NBA topic into the conversation nowhere. I'm not gonna ask you about the NBA, but I'm gonna draw a little parallel. I'm gonna draw a little parallel to see if there's anything here, because you know, as we watch the NBA playoffs and the finals are about to start tonight, you watch a team like Oklahoma City, who resides in the West, where the Jazz reside, and you realize just how far away the Jazz are from
being close to the top teams in the NBA. As you watch the Stanley Cup Final, and as you watch teams like Florida and Edmonton, and you try to draw some sort of parallel between where the Utah well, oh my gosh, I've been doing so well the Utah Mammoth are now and you know, the top teams in the league. Do you see a sizeable gap or do you see, you know, a team that's not too far away from throwing punches with the best teams in pro hockey.
Sizable, for sure, I think sizable. But it was actually funny, you tell you NBA. I had Andy Larson, the famous Andy Larson, on the podcast they that'll come out tomorrow, and we actually talk about this kind of comparing the NHL and NBA and where the Jazz and Mammoth are respectively.
But we talked about and we said, there's a really big difference between a team and the NHL that makes the first round and it's great to make the playoffs, great to compete in the first round, but once you get past then, and obviously get past the second round, those are the big dogs. And I think you even saw it in the second round, and the fact that the Colorado Avalanche were eliminated in the first round like that shows the type of competition and I think Utah's
on its way. I don't think they are going to be able to size up to someone like the Florida Panthers or the Edmonton Oilers in a playoff series in the next two years, but I don't think it's as far away as the Jazz. But yeah, watching the playoffs it's hard to watch as players and management, I'm sure, because you want to be in it. But it's also very informative because you see what works and what's the build up of these teams to make it to the finals.
And I think there's a lot of whole for Utah in respect to that, in terms of how Edmonton and Florida looks so definitely a sizeable gap. But you look at the entire leag there's a sizeable gap between Edmonton and a majority of teams in the NHL, you know. So I don't think it's it's not that big of a downfall. But no, I don't think they could hold up against those teams yet. I do think it'll happen sooner rather than later, though.
Bell, it is not the famous Andy Larson at most, it is the infamous Andy Larson that we all tolerate. That's that's what you're allowed to use on the show. Okay, my bude, Yeah, I tease. That's hea. Hey, thanks so much for the time, great stuff as always, and have a great week.
Okay you too, Thanks all right.
Belle Frasier covers the Utah Mammoth for the Salt Lake Tribune has her own podcast. If you're looking for excellent Utah Mammoth coverage and content at Belle Fraser One is where you find her on her social media channel. She's done a great job and her first year on the beat for the trip. Appreciate her time today. All right, before we cat you break, we welcome in Ryan from the Dish Professionals give him a call at eighth one four to two four Dish save a grip of money
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