Florida Panthers are your Stanley Cup chants for the second straight year, they'd be the Edmonton Oilers. Our next guest joins us consistently to break down the world of pro hockey. It's the great Neil Smith on a Wednesday afternoon. Neil, Happy Wednesday, sir.
How are you good at a Happy Wednesday? To you two. I'm doing just fine, Thank you.
I appreciate appreciate the time. So, you know, last year's series was really interesting. You know, Florida wins three, Edmonton wins three, Florida gets Game seven. The way I'll start our conversation today is, at what point during the Stanley Cup Final did you start to get the sense that Edmonton was up against it and this was Florida's Cup to raise?
Oh? Very early, I honestly thought, very early in the series. And you've got to understand too, that I'm of Florida. I have been picking Florida will win the Cup since the regular season. Yes, you have, so, I mean I thought when they came out of Edmonton one to one, I thought, I'll look out because you know, that's all the that's all the Panthers needed. Those were two overtime games.
If you remember the first two games of the series, and then Florida just put a you know, just kick them out and in game three, six to one, and and then we go to Game four in Florida and it's another overtime game, but this time Edmonton wins. So if you if you look at it the way I did, you know, Florida could have already ended the series at that time if they if they'd gotten any bounces, but they you know, now it's it was two to two
at that point. But then what really told the thing was once the Panthers jumped all over them in Edmonton, I didn't think there was much way that there was much chance that they wouldn't beat them in Florida when they don't want to make that five and a half hour flight and twenty nine hundred miles back to Edmonton for Game seven. And that's exactly what they did. I mean, they just were better than them in every aspect of the game last night.
You know, we were discussing earlier, as the NBA Finals will resume tomorrow between Oklahoma City and Indiana, how the front offices of both teams have got about their business to build the roster that now has these two teams competing for the biggest prize in pro basketball. I would imagine, you know, Bill Zito, I don't know, but ultimately I wondered if you could shed some light on how he and his staff have built this club that is now won back to back Stanley Cup trophies.
You know, back in twenty twenty two, they won the President's Trophy and got eliminated by Tampa Bay, their cross state rival, pretty quickly, in the second round. And Bill Zito decided to change coaches because that was the year that Joel Quenville had to resi because of the problem that had happened in Chicago years before, and so and
his assistant coach became the head coach. And they still went on to win the President's Trophy, but they didn't play well, obviously, they didn't go very far in the playoffs. And he did two things that summer that has changed the whole franchise. He hired Paul Maurice as head coach, under a little bit of criticism from people because Paul Maraice had been in Winnipeg for many years and was
thought of as pretty bland. And the other thing that he did was he made a trade with Calgary to bring in matt Matthew Kachuck, and he traded away a really popular guy in huber Dough and a good defenseman we are, and Matthew Kachuck and the way he plays has basically changed that franchise around to the point that of what you see now because they added to that guys like Sam Bennett, Brad marsha On this year and that whole team is like a rat pack, like they
just play as a team incredibly well. I mean, you got to give that credit also to Paul Maurice and the way he coaches that team. But they're they're they're a team's team. I mean, they they watch out for each other, they're on top of every puck, they win all their board battles. They they do all the right things.
And so the other part that you've got to give Bill Fiedo high marks for is that after last year's Stanley Cup, as as will happen, probably this year, he lost, you know, three or four pretty good players that had been good for him to win the Stanley Cup in twenty four. Brandon Montour, the defenseman who logged a lot of Icetein went to Seattle, Oliver Ekman Larsen signed in Toronto.
Their backup goalie Stolars signed in Toronto, and so they they they took loss, but Bill Zito turned around and saw there was an opportunity to get Seth Jones out of Chicago, who wanted out of Chicago because they were losing all the time. Jones has been a real good defenseman on Nashville when he first broke in, traded to Columbus,
good on that team and good on Chicago. But those are all teams that really weren't of a high caliber, and so you wondered would Seth Jones be able to be as good on a good team as he was on these week teams while he came in, And he was even better for Florida Panthers than he was on Chicago or on Columbus, and that added to a defense that already had Ecblad and others that were playing great, like Nate Schmidt has played out of his mind this year,
and then at the deadline he picks up Brad Marshall, who you know was long in the tooth at thirty seven, always played feisty. A lot of people thought was slowing down. And you add Brad marsha On to the third line where he was a first liner in Boston, and all of a sudden, you've got these layers of players coming at the opposition. And as you saw, Brad marsha On was probably second in the Consmith Trophy voting to Sam Bennett, who set the record for most goals in the playoffs
on the road. So Bill Zito has been able to not he's been able to do everything right. Every movie he's made has turned out well for them. And even back in getting guys off waivers back a number of years ago, Forsling, who plays a ton of ice, I'm on their defense, he got on waivers, so you know he he's done a remarkable job with the Florida Panthers.
So over to the Edmonton takeaways here. You know, oftentimes in any sport, you look at, you know, the most talented player in that sport and you say things like, well, he's too good not to win a Cup, too good not to win a super Bowl, too good not to win a championship. And that feels like conomic David narrative in pro hockey. I mean, it feels like he's just
so good. At some point he'll break through, but this is the second straight year that they have fallen short in that endeavor at the very same the hand of the very same club. What do you think the offseason looks like in Edmonton? What do they have to do to maybe surround McDavid in dry Sidle obviously others, you know, to maybe take the last step they need to potentially be the first Canadian team to lift the Cup in what thirty two years?
Yes, since nineteen ninety three. It'll be thirty three years next year. So I think what this says to me, and I've known this for a long you know, quite a while, but it's very evident with this, with this Edmonton team, is that even though you've cut arguably the two best players in the league. And I say arguably because you could argue the coucher off on McKinnon are better than Ice Tidle. Nobody's going to argue that McDavid's not the best player in the league. I don't think
unless they are, you know, on something. But so you've got those two players, but you don't have as good a team as Florida has, And that's what I think separates hockey from NHL from NBA. I think in NBA, and I know in NBA, if you have Lebron James, you've got a real good chance, not maybe at winning the title, but certainly at contending for the with the big boys. If you add a second guy who's a sand notch under Lebron James, now you're really powerful. That
doesn't hold up in hockey. In hockey, you only you know, you go out once every fourth shift, once every third shift. If you're a star, you're on the ice for forty five seconds. But that whole team has to be in sync. And the Oilers are just not as good a team as the Panthers, even though they have two franchise players on their one team. So what have they got to do? They got to sit back and analyze how they're going
to surround these two guys going forward. I think they did a real good job of that between Ken Holland and Stan Bowman this year. But it's it's not easy, as we know, right, it's not easy to have great defense and great forwards. I mean, they Mattia sack Holm, who is a player badly missed by the Oilers when he's out of the lineup. He was hurt near the end of the season a little bit and they were dying for him to get back in the lineup. He
had a horrible Game five and Game six horrible. Guys jumped over him and went in and scored, and so there's an there's obviously an injury there with him. But they they're gonna have to, you know, sit back and analyze what what ingredient they need more of and what ingredient they need less of. They've got a number of free agents, including Trent Frederick and Connor Brown, Corey Perry, and they're going to have to decide who they want to keep out of Brad Marshaunt to who do they
want to keep I'm sorry, I said Brad Marshaunt. He's from Florida. I made a mistake. But Frederick and Brown and Corey Perry, they're going to have to decide who they want to spend money on and who they're going to let go.
I don't have to tell you this, Neil, but only five teams have ever won three consecutive Stanley Cups. The Maple Leafs did it twice, The Montreal Canadians did it twice. In the New York Islanders, as you are aware of, are the most recent team to do it. From nineteen eighty to nineteen eighty three, No other team in the expansion era has won more than two Cups in a row. Vegas already has odds for next season, because of course they do, and Florida is among the favorites to win
the Cup again next year. In addition to Florida, we're looking at Edmonton is on the list, Carolina or Colorado. Those are the four teams as of now that have the best odds to hoist the Cup next year. Do you think the Panthers have it in them to win their third straight or do you like one of the other three favorites, Edmonton, Carolina or Colorado.
I definitely think Florida has it in them. But you know, there's a lot of runway between here and there, and a lot of things can go wrong, a lot of injuries, a lot of people get older. They don't have the same legs in twenty six that they had in twenty five. You know, Bobrovski's not a youngster anymore. He's getting up there. We just talked about Brad Marshaun being thirty seven. You know. So I'm not saying they won't win it. I think that in my mind they're the favorite right now. But
there's a lot of things that can go right. And if they could pull off a third Street Cop, I would be startled because I know how many things can go wrong and I know how difficult it is. And even the Sydney Crosby Penguins couldn't get it done when they were in their prime with Milk and La Tang, and they won two as you know in sixteen and seventeen,
couldn't get the third one. It's very, very difficult now because you take losses in the off season to free agency and you're not always going to be able to pull the rabbits out of your hat that Bill Zito was able to do this year.
So Sam ben and wins the con smythe and you know, Neil, we've talked about this before. He's an unrestricted free agent and the Utah Hockey Club has about twenty two to twenty three million dollars in cap space during their off season project. He just feels like he would be so perfect for the Utah Mammoth. Out this way, if you're Florida, it's probably hard hard to let a cons my trophy winner leave, but they have some financial decisions to make
as well. What do you think the future for Sam Bennett holds, and you think there's even a slight possibility the future holds potentially a role with the Utah Mammoth.
I think Sam Bennett's future is going to be rich. I think he's going to make a lot of money wherever he goes. I think that Toronto may be leaves are going to be very interested in trying to get him. And he's a Canadian kid. You know, it's always hard for me, being an old school person, to see picture Sam Bennett not in a Florida uniform because he's been so successful with Florida. You know, it will be up to him his preference of what he wants to do.
Does he want to stay with his teammates that he's won these two Cups with and keep trying to ride that and maybe take a little less money because of the fact that they don't have the cap space that Utah has, or does he want to go in and get a huge contract from whoever will pay him the most. It's it's he would be a good player and an impactful player on anything that signs, and he would make a huge impact on Utah if they were to get him,
because he's that kind of guy. You know, he's you know how he plays, He's he's so gritty and so intense and yet has his skill set as well. Even last night I marveled at his skating ability to go through the neutral zone and deep guys and then hand the puck off at the right time. He's going to be one of the most sought after free agents in this summer, along with Brock Besser and and of course Mitch Marner that we've talked about in coming out of Toronto.
All Right, Neil, I've thought about you when the story broke that the Stanley Cup is a little banged up thanks to the Florida Panthers celebration of their second straight Stanley Cuff title, just totally out of curiosity as somebody
that ran a club that lifted a Stanley Cup. What's the dynamic like when the team gets the cup and how do you decide, Okay, the coach gets it this day and the player wants it that day, and are there rules that you put into place to make sure that the Stanley Cup has returned in good condition.
Well, I hope they do now because it was because of the nineteen ninety four New York Rangers that Phil Pritchard follows and travels with the Stanley Cup and doesn't let it out of his sight. Because with our players, and I probably shouldn't name who the player was, but it was Stefan Mettro. He took the cup to Quebec.
On his turn, the top came off because as you know, the bowl on the top and a little bit of the neck is the original trophy and there's something that goes up the middle of the trophy that connects that cup to the rest of the base. And it came off when he had it. Somebody tried to solder it back on and I got the cup next and was horrified of what I saw. And when the league found out about this, that was the end of the players
getting the cup by themselves. On the logistics. What we did was our pr guy orchestrated it with you know, with the captains and that on who got it when and who wanted it when and who you know what what what went on with that, And I would imagine it's the same thing now. I imagine that Sasha Barkoff will have a big say in orchestrating that, and so will the assistant captains in not that they get it first, but in saying, okay, that's what's the right way to
do this? Where should it go? But that's the ways off now because these guys will these guys will have it celebrating at it in Fort Lauderdale for for quite a bit right now, the parade and the bars and everything else where the Stanley Cup travels. But yeah, we we did a number on that. I can't say I did it, but we did. Our team certainly ruined it for everybody else.
Did you attempt or anyone with the organization to implement any rules as these young players, young men went on their way with the Stanley Cup understanding that there probably was going to be some booze involved in all that.
Yeah, here's the thing though, with US Spence, we had Mark Messi as a captain who already wanted five times, and we had Kevin lowho had already won it five times. So we had Glenn Anderson who'd already won it five times, and we had a fetiakin in them had won four times and Craig mctavis that they wanted three or four times.
So these guys knew how to do this. And I remember when Mark said to me at the party right after the game, you know we're going to take this over to Block auction house, and I said, sure, you should do that and he's, yeah, I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm doing. And I thought that. I said, well, who am I to tell him, you know, the captain, the guy that actually was probably the most responsible for the Rangers winning the Cup? Who am I to tell
him after he's done this five times before? So that was our that was our deal. I got to know what you did.
If it's safe for radio when you had your turn too, okay?
God yeah, oh no, no, no, it was safe for radio. I took it to a couple of my favorite places in New York where people I don't think they even understood is that the real thing? And is that really true? I took it to a couple of favorite places. I didn't take it home to Toronto. I don't know why. I can't remember why I didn't do that, didn't visit all my friends. If I was ever to do it again now, I would make sure that I went to the places that meant a lot to me. But I
guess I was letting the players have their day. I will tell you one funny thing. It's not funny, but it's the truth. When I had it after Stephen Matteau, I actually John Hughes was my lawyer. He had played at Cornell many years ago as a captain. His daughter was Sarah Hughes, the figure skater that won the gold medal in the early two thousand. She want to hear Neil and yes. And his wife Amy that he married from Cornell was Jewish at the time and the children
therefore were Jewish at birth. And their one son, David, was having his bar mitza that day, and I told John I'll bring it to his bar mitza. And so I took the Stanley Cup to David's bar mitza and something that all those kids that were there and families and that will never forget that the Samley Cup was there. So that's what I did. Very cool.
Well, Nil, before I set you loose, tell all of our listeners where they can go get your podcasts.
Well, they should go get it. It's been a lot of fun. We did it again today. With the Stanley cupdate and this past week Pat for Beek, the general manager of the Anaheim Ducks who acquired Chris Krider from the aforementioned Rangers. Last week we had him on the show and that was very insightful. It's NHL wrap Around. You can find it on any platform that carries podcasts, from Spotify to Apple, podcast, I Heeart, Amazon, and if you want to see my mug, you can watch us
on YouTube. We have a YouTube channel that all our podcasts go on, and you go to our website, which is Nhlwraparound dot com and everything that we've ever done is on there. But along with your show, Spence, this has been a lot of fun season for me do in the podcast and doing your show, and I look forward to doing it with you in the future.
Certainly. I know it's the off season, but we will be bugging you soon because we have the draft and free agency and there's a lot of interest in this little old hockey club out here, the Utah Mammoth. Neil, So thank you so much for your time, having excellent week.
One person, thanks for you events. I just found this out yesterday and that is that I'm speaking at Stanley Chaffie's Celebration of Life Wow on the twenty eighth, and I was informed that there was one other speaker by the name of David W. Checketts's speaking at it as well.
Yes, sir, yes, sir, that will be excellent, So enjoy that. I'm sure you'll kill it, knock it out of the park and have a great week and save travels Neil, thank you, sir.
You're welcome, all right.
The Great Neil Smith, general manager of the Rangers, the Islanders, high level scout for the Detroit Red Wings, and joins us on a consistent basis to help us understand the landscape of pro hockey. And the hockey season is now done and your Florida Panthers are the Stanley Cup chances for the second year in a row.