Utah Hockey Club welcomes in the La Kings tonight seven o'clock drop of the PUK down at the Delta Center here in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Our next guest joins us on a weekly basis to talk about the world of pro hockey. Little Utah Hockey Club. Neil Smith good enough to give us some time on this Thursday afternoon.
Neil, Happy Thursday, sir, How are you.
I'm good. I'm very good. Thanks. Coming down the stretch here of the NHL season and looking forward to seeing who matches up in the playoffs.
Yeah, for sure. And we'll get to some big picture of NHL stuff in a moment. And I don't know if it's the pressure of the wild card race essentially being over, but ever since they're not officially eliminated, but if we're honest, it's not happening. But they've won their last two games by a combined score of eight to three at Chicago and then Calgary here, and of course Calgary is one of the teams they were trying to
chase in the standings. And we'll see if Calgary can catch Saint Louis, who just doesn't lose all of a sudden But do you think it's kind of just the pressure off this young team that's allowed them to win a couple of games in a pretty impressive fashion ever since it became pretty apparent that they weren't going to make the playoffs.
You know, there is a lot of pressure that comes off of the players when they know one way or the other what's going to happen. And I've seen often teams that are eliminated or know they're going to be eliminated to play with a lot more ease and play
a lot more relaxed, So that definitely can happen. But I just want to remind you of one thing for you and your listeners about the season, because I had said at the beginning what I thought would happen, and you have to remember that last year, the Arizona Coyotes, which is this year's TA hockey club, and Utah currently has eighty with seven games to go. So if they get five hundred in those seven games, just to throw out a number, if they can go five hundred, they'll
end the season with eighty seven points. That's a ten point jump from what they did last year. And I think a pretty darn good improvement of the club from a year ago. So if there's a bright, if there's late at the end of the tunnel for this hockey team, I think that's it. That they made improvements and they're continually improving.
Really good point.
And also if we include in the dynamic the fact that all of these people got a phone call that said you live in Salt Lake. Now you know, and they were able to make the move and not allow that to move the program in the wrong direction. And you've been good enough to outline how the ownership complications in Arizona led to Ryan Smith being able to make this happen with the cooperation, of course, of with Gary
Beman and the NHL. And you know, the commissioner Bettman joined our show and said, the first conversation he had with Ryan about this was in March, and suddenly it was the first week of May and they're here. So what does that say about the character of the organization that they didn't And I know that there were so
many positives about the move. But you know, whenever we talk about this, and of course this is based off my background, I talk a lot about the personal angle here where you're moving families and you're moving children, and you're relocating, and you're selling a home and you're buying a new home. It's I know, a lot of these people make a lot of money, and so the complications might fall on deaf ears for normal folk.
But it doesn't matter how much money you have.
When you're moving around and you're kind of upsetting the apple cart with your family and you're asking people to settle into a new community, it can provide complications. So what does it say to you that even moving into a new community, the hockey club was able to continue this incremental growth that Bill Armstrong talks about all the time.
No, I think I think it's great. I think it's a It says a lot of things about the ownership of the club, down to the management of the club, down to the character the players of the club, and of course the coaches. But that's a big adjustment, and you think people don't often think about it. You and I do because we've been through it together. But you know, you guy has to move if he's got kids, they got to change schools, they got to go and make
all new friends. And you know how tough that is on kids that you know they got their friends at school. It's a lot of people. Their wife is from the city that they were in, they met them earlier in their career, perhaps in Phoenix or wherever, and now they've got to ask them to leave there where they've lived
their whole life and go to a new place. So it's not just the hockey player that gets you know, has to make a big adjustments, but it's it's the family of the hockey players that have to make a bigger adjustment because everybody's doing what they can do to support dad in his hockey career. And it is truly a big adjustment and one that goes unnoticed by the
normal fan. All they know is that, well, he used to be wearing a coyote on the front of his jersey and now he's got Utah written down his jersey, and you know that kind of thing. But it can be traumatic.
So I want to put you in Bill Armstrong's seat as the roster constructor and the main decision maker. You're viewing this, I would imagine as a successful season and yet a you know, just another step in the right direction. And at what point do you kind of start looking ahead to start, you know, considering what decisions you need to make to make sure the progress continues the way you want it to go.
I think he's doing it continuously. I'm sure he's doing it continuously. So he's evaluating every day and every player and who's out there, and he's meeting with pro scouts and finding out what their thoughts are about the guy as it could potentially be free agents or be gotten in a deal. That exercise never stops for the GM. They're doing that all the time now. Obviously, Bill is going to focus more in on the future now than the present because of the fact that the president is
sort of decided. And I want to say one other thing about the president being decided. The only reason it's been this clearly decided is because you had a team win ten straight games, and that's the single Lois Blues. They've played Pittsburgh tonight looking for their eleventh straight. They separated themselves from the pack by doing that. And if you remember when we spoke two three four weeks ago about Utah and their chances to get in I said, if they could get on a run, they could do it.
And that's what Saint Louis did so and that's what separated them from the pack. Minnesota has been pretty good all year long. Now they've had a lot of injuries, so they've slipped back a bit and they're in the wild card. But it's not just Utah that couldn't keep up with Saint Louis. The Vancouver Canucks won the Pacific Division last year and just lost out in Game seven in the first round of Edmonton, and they're going to
miss the playoffs. And Calgary, who's had a remarkable season for what we expected, it looks like they're going to make miss the playoffs. So it's really hard and it would be very unfair to think that Utah Hockey Club could keep up with a ten and old record that Saint Louis went on at this critical time in the season.
Let me ask you about how Saint Louis did this, because you know, as a result of my background, they're one of the teams that kind of loosely follow and for the majority of the season they were looking up at not just the Utah Hockey Club, a lot of the other the other teams.
What what what clicked there?
Because as you reference ten straight wins, it is the longest winning streak in the NHL by kind of a long shot. Dallas has won six straight, but Saint Louis with ten straight.
What clicked for them?
Well, I think there's a number of things, but the most visible thing is Jordan Bennington. They're starting goaltender who played in the Four Nations for Canada. He was a starting goaltender for Canada in the Four Nations tournament. Canada won the tournament. Jordan Bennington was the winning goaltender of the Four Nations tournament and since then he's been eleven and one. He's won eleven and only lost one since
the Four Nations. So when you've got a goaltender standing on his head like that, that's a huge part of it. Now you've got to give credit to Jordan Cairo and to Jim Montgomery, the head coach and so on, and there's a lot of other pieces there, but the most visible piece to me is the outstanding play of the goaltender, Jordan Bennington. He's playing like he did when they won the Stanley Cup a number of years ago. So to answer your question, that's what I think it is.
Dallas.
I referenced second in the Central and Winnipeg is still the class of that division. They're differentials plus eighty. But Dallas has turned it on too. You reference them not too long ago as a team to watch out for. What's kind of click for them over the past couple of weeks, Neil.
Well, I think Oton's is a goaltend, And of course I'm always going to start with the goaltender, because without goaltending, you're not going to win, so you sort of got to go there first. But I think Ottiner has been very good for them. They're doing this too without one of their very best players, Miro Heaskin and the defenseman who's a dynamic force for them, and if they get him back for the playoffs, they're going to be even better.
But I think there's been a number of things. Jason Robertson is scoring goals, why at Johnson has been quite well developed, and now is putting pucks in all the time. They've got a good combination there that are all coming together at the same time. And you know, we've said all season that Dallas is a good team. They seem to be peaking at the I like the moves that Jim Neil did it before the deadline when he got
Granlin and Cci from San Jose. He moved Gurley and got those guys, and you know there's still a chance that they could catch Winnipeg. That's not out of the realm of possibility. That they're only four points behind them, and they have one more game than Winnipeg to play, so you know it's not out of the realm of possibility they can get there. It's going to be really tough for Colorado to catch Dallas. Now there's six points back of them, So it looks at this point like
it'll be Dallas and Colorado in the first round. And that's sort of sad Spence because they're both Stanley Cup contenders and yet one of them is going to be gone in the first round.
Of course, a ton of attention on Avechkin's chase to up break Wayne Gretzky's record, and he's only three goals shy of doing that, and I think he's projected to do that April twelfth or thirteenth, according to what I was reading and earlier on the ESPN coverage. But kind of lost in Ovechkin's chase is that he's doing it during a good run for a team that has a
chance to make some noise in the East. I mean, oftentimes, when a player is aging and he's chasing stats, and I'm thinking pro basketball, when Koreem broke his record and Lebron broke the scoring record during a pretty.
You know, mediocre year for the Lakers.
Oftentimes, when a player is aging chasing a record like this, he's not playing for a team that's contending. And I just kind of wonder where your thoughts are on just the fact that Ovechkin is close to breaking that record, but he's also doing it for a team that's in the midst of a run that could put them in contention to hoist the cup.
What are your thoughts on that dynamic deal.
I think that's a really good point. I remember when Wayne was breaking a lot of records back in his day with the La Kings. Is when he broke most of the records. That's when he got the book the Gordy hell goal scoring record, and the Kings. You know, we're not up and contending teams. So I think what you're saying, and I want to agree with wholeheartedly, is Ovechkin's doing this and they haven't taken their eye off
the ball. The Capitals, they haven't said, well, let's do all this for Ov and back off on our defensive responsibilities. Let's take every chance we have to get Ov the record. They're still playing great hockey now. Last night they got creamed by Carolina because they'd played the night before and Carolina was right on their game. They lost five to one, and guess who got the one goal. Ovechkin, of course.
So it is remarkable what he's doing at his age and how that is helping his team perhaps win the President's Trophy, but certainly be a dominant force in the East. And I think that they really want to have this
record broken at home. I think that you may see it work out he scores that goal against Columbus on the twelfth, or maybe against the I'm sorry, I'm the thirteenth against Columbus, or that may work out that way, or if he can score against Chicago and then at the Islanders, he could do it at home against Carolina.
But I think he's about four games away from doing it now, and if I'm right about that, that would put him right in line with doing it against Columbus either there they played back to back twelfth and thirteenth, so it would either be in Columbus or in Washington against Columbus, So Mrs Lincoln's, who is the goaltender for Columbus, has that to look forward to, like I'm going to be the one that's probably going to get beat for the record setting goal.
Well, we've been hyper focused on the wild card race out this way in the Western Conference to see if the hockey club and get it done.
They're straight chaos in the East Neo, isn't there.
It looks like Ottawa is going to pull away and grab one of the spots, but they've lost a couple in a row. Montreal's differentials minus twenty five.
Yet they're right there.
But my guys, the Rangers, they've kind of resurrected their playoff chances and they're tied with Montreal right now. Montreal does have a game in hand. Who do you think captures that second wild card? Looks like Godawa was going to grab the first.
I think because on strength of schedule, you've got to go with Montreal only because they only have three more games left against teams that are currently in the playoffs, and they have five games left against non playoff teams. So and if you look at the Rangers schedule, they have five against playoff teams and only two against non playoff teams, and those two come back to back. So and I don't like the way the Rangers are playing.
When I look at them, I think, with the talent they've got on the team, they should be a lot better than they are, But their structure doesn't seem to be there, and every night something goes wrong for them. And even with a stirk and in net, you know, they squeak out wins like they did last night over Minnesota, but Minnesota got a point there. So I really do think that the Montreal Canadians are on a mission to
make it. I would have if my heart dictated who would make it, Spence, I would have had Columbus Blue Jackets make it because of what they've been through preseason and during the season for that franchise, losing Johnny Gidrou and his brother Matthew. But your heart doesn't set the standings. But I think it looks to me like the halves the Montreal Canadians are going to make that last spot.
We always talk about this time of year, when the playoffs are right around the corner, about teams that find their form at the right time. So I want to go back to the Western Conference, and of course in Winnipeg has been the class all year. We talked Dallas, in Colorado, there, Vegas, the Kings are in town tonight.
But based off of what the Blues have done, do you change the way that you kind of look at them heading into the postseason since they have seen to capture the right form at the right time of year.
You know, they're at plus eighteen, they've really turned their season around. I mean that Ken and O will end at some point because they always do no matter who the team is. But yeah, could they be a team that goes into the playoffs now with nothing to lose because nobody expected them to make it? Could they do what they did back in twenty nineteen and come in and start surprising people? Sure, I don't expect that, but I think they could do that. I still think that
the heavyweights are in Winnipeg, Dallas, Colorado and Vegas. I think then after that, you've got Edmonton in LA who looks like they're ready to play a fifth straight first round against each other if you can believe it, La and Edmonton. But it'll it'll all be interesting which way
it goes. And and again out there. You've got those five really dynamic teams that that have all got a shot in the In the East, you've got one division, the Atlantic Division, that's got three Stanley Cup contenders, Toronto, Tampa, Florida. And then you've got in the Metro you've got Washington and Carolina. So you've got five in the East, five in the West. It's it's not a it's I can't say and be honest with you that it's it's anybody's game,
like it's anybody's Cup. I think there's still favorites out of those ten teams I just mentioned, But it's going to be a hell of a series, a hell of a playoff.
And you know, I mean, that's one of the great things about this format. And I'm not sure why, and we'll wait into this area for a moment. I'm not sure or what breeds upsets in the Stanley Cup playoffs in a way that the NBA doesn't see, but we do oftentimes see upsets, and oftentimes home ice advantage doesn't
mean the same that home court advantage means. Any any thoughts on that for you a new hockey market out here, Why the Stanley Cup playoffs and professional hockey seem to breed upsets more often than pro basketball does.
Any thoughts on that, Yeah, My thoughts are that.
There is a lot of pressure playing at home, and so it has turned from not being that much of an advantage anymore to play at home. I think because of the pressure. When you're on the road, it's you against the world. There's a traveling party of thirty people and it's thirty and twenty thousand others cheering for the other side. I do think that there can be a lot of pressure when the expectations are high for your team, and certainly the teams that I just mentioned, they've all
got very high expectations on them. If you take a look at Toronto for example, Lenith and you know this Spence, they haven't won the Stanley Cup since nineteen sixty seven. So the Leaf fans are just propping at the mouth to get them to do well in the playoffs and
their whole season will be judged by the playoffs. And the Florida Panthers want to repeat the Washington fans are going to think that they've got a Stanley Cup team because they're way up in the standings and we've already talked about these teams in the West, where you know Edmonton oiler fans think, well, why shouldn't we win with Connor McDavid and Leon Drysidle. But to get to your point about upsets, I think that it's a pressure things.
Sometimes when those expectations are that high, it can make you squeeze your stick a lot tighter and not play as loose as you should. So Winnipeg, for example, hasn't been successful in the playoffs. They've been successful in the regular season, and there's they're going to be judged by their fans based upon what happens in the playoffs, and if they lose in the first round, well that six or seven months of regular season hockey will be out the window.
So the Utah Hockey Club has announced that after their final regular season home game, which will be April tenth, first Nashville, they're going to hand out their postseason awards. Fans can vote on it right now, so check that out. If they asked you, Neil Smith, the MVP of the Utah Hockey Club this season, who would you go with Clayton Keller is they're leading He leads them in points.
Kind of by a long shot.
I know a lot of people close to the club would tell you Serga chef should be an option. And when you look at the unsure nature of the goalie situation, because Connor Ingram has not had a great year, maybe Vimelka is in the mix as well. Who do you think the Utah Hockey Club MVP is this year?
Neil, You know, I'm going to go back where I was at the beginning of the year because I like this kid, Clayton Keller, that Saint Louis, and I mean he's been the captain, He's had a fantastic year. But you've got so much growth going on there. I mean you've mentioned it. You've got Bimelka, who wasn't who was on a contract that was going to expire, gets a new contract and has played really well for them and
has proven that he can handle the reins. This kid Dylan Gunk, what a player he is and what a shot he's got and able to score goals. He's got a fantastic future in front of him. So I guess I would go with the captain and say that if I had to vote or had to say somebody who was their m VP, it would be Clayton Kellan because he's done a good job in both his roles there. But and and you mentioned chev and Sergachev has been
has been really a great acquisition by Bill Armstrong. And when I got to be honest with you, when I when they acquired him, I thought, I wondering if, if, if they're getting damaged goods because you know'd had those injuries in Tampa, and boy, he has played great for them for Utah and has I think set you know, given them an element that they didn't have in playing tough and playing also good offensively. So you know, I think any one of those guys would be deserving.
Before I say you loose Neil, genuinely curious.
You know, there's a debate around the NBA right now, and it's prevalent here in Salt Lake because the worst team in the NBA is the Utah Jazz, and they're not alone in their approach. There's about ten teams. If I'm being generous, I would say six or seven teams. But if I'm being honest, I would say about ten teams in the NBA have stopped trying. Players have been shut down, They're not playing the rest of the year.
And the Jazz were in Houston last night. They got smoked by nearly forty And that's kind of status quo. How prevalent, if at all, is tanking in the world of pro hockey.
Well, you know, we have the lottery, and so therefore, even if you do tank, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to end up with not only not the first pick, but not even be in the top three. I do think I don't think there's anybody in the league that tanks here because I think the rebuilders are obvious. I think that you know, for example San Jose and Chicago or in the middle of a massive rebuild. I think that the Ducks are a little bit ahead of
them in that. And you know they're over in the East. You got the Philadelphia Flyers that are in a rebuilding stage that they're not. Nobody's going to try to lose to get the first pick. It's not like when the old days, when Mario lemu is going to become available. In New Jersey and Pittsburgh were the two candidates to be last, and New Jersey tried to win their games and Pittsburgh tried to lose theirs and guess who Marriyo. You became iconic with this is the Pittsburgh Penguins, so
it doesn't happen as much in the NHL. I don't think it would do them any good to do that because they wouldn't accomplish a lot. I think what you have in the league is you have teams that are rebuilding and know they're not going to win that season, so they're just trying to do whatever they can to build for the future.
All right, Neil, where can everybody go find a podcast?
It's on every podcast platform and it's NHL Wrap Around and we've been having a lot of fun with it and it's going to get even more fun in coming up in the future. So you get it on Apple or Spotify or YouTube or anywhere where you get your podcasts called NHL Wrapround. Please subscribe, Please give us a hit. We need all the numbers we can get and we need the word to get spread. But we do have listeners in Salt Lake City. I've been looking at that. There we go, so this show, this show is helping
us get listeners in Salt Lake City. So I must be saying something light.
Well, we appreciate your presence every week You've been good enough to help us understand this sport. We're all trying to get used to, Neil, so anything we can do for you, we're happy to do that because you do so much for us.
So thank you for the time and have a great weekend.
Okay, you two, thanks for having me on.
All right.
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