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.
We are your home of the Stanley Cup Finals here in Salt Lake City, Utah and the surrounding areas. We have a rematch of the Stanley Cup Final from a year ago that went seven games. Florida won the first three, Edmonton came back and nearly pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in Stanley Cup history, and then Florida was able to get it done game seven. So tonight you can hear game one on our radio station and Neil Smith stops by to talk some hockey on a Wednesday.
Neil, Happy Wednesday, sir. How are you?
I'm very good, Spence. How about yourself?
I'm great, appreciate the time. First question, randomly, did you ever work for Jim Dolan?
Oh? Yeah, you did?
Okay, Okay, that's what I thought. I think I thought that you did.
So I as somebody who worked for the current and you know, still the guy that owns the Rangers and the Knicks. We exchanged a few texts, and I exchanged a few texts with some other people as well. And I'm biased because you know, Tom Thibodeau was Jeff's assistant and we got to know him. And oh also, by the way, he's a great coach that just did something for you that nobody's done in thirty years. And look, you handle it however you want. You know, you're a
very nice guy, You're a gentleman. I'm sure not asking you to rip anybody to shreds. But what was it like working for him? She had some insight into you know, listeners that maybe don't really have a full picture. And your thoughts on him moving on from coach Tiboda.
Well, you know, Jim is his own guy. I mean, he's different than all the other people that I've run
into in that kind of position. He obviously inherited a good deal of his wealth from Cable Vision, who was able to buy the Madison Square Garden from Paramount and they've had it since Jim was He was a little bit unpredictable when I was there, and you really, you know, you weren't sure what you were going to get from day to day or how he was going to feel about certain things, and sometimes the view that he took of things were a view that you hadn't heard of before.
So it was difficult, let me say, it was very difficult.
One follow up question, we'll move away from Dolin specifically because you know, as my mother often says, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
Advice that I probably should hear to more.
But just how and this is going to sound like a simp question, and maybe it is, but just how important is viable, balanced, consistent ownership when it comes to the success of a professional sports team.
There's nothing more valuable than that. You can have all the great players, all the great coaches, all the great all the great everything. But if you have somebody at the very top who owns it and who you ultimately everybody reports to, that's unstable or that you that doesn't let the people below, who are knowledgeable and have been doing the support their whole life. If they don't let them run that business, that sports business, you've got no chance,
none whatsoever. You've got to allow your people to do what they do, and if you don't, you won't get the result you want.
What have been your early impressions with the Smith Entertainment Group and Ryan and Ashley and the way they've kind of been able to conduct their business to support Bill Armstrong, his staff, coach Torny, coach Torny and his staff after only one year here in Salt Lake.
Well, the one thing that I can say from a long ways away is that the Smith family stays out of the limelight. They stay out of They seem to stay out of the operational part of it. You don't hear their name coming up saying that, well, you know, they wanted to do this or wanted to do that. They're very much in the background, which is what a
really smart owner does. They stay in the background. They oversee the professional people that have got a background in the sport, but they stay in the background and just have leadership skills to lead those people that know the sport really well and know how to work in the environment, but they don't interfere with the way they've got to work in the environment. And I think that the Smiths, from what I understand, have done really good, really well
at that. And I'll point to one thing, you know, would have been easy for the new owner to fire everybody coming from Phoenix you'd had no success there, What makes you think they're going to have any success here. Let's get a whole new management group. But he didn't do that. He gave them all chants to prove themselves. Obviously to this point, he likes what he's seen and he's staying steadfast with Bill Armstrong and his group. And I think I really believe that's the way you lead.
You make your observations, you give people enough time, you see how they work, and then you make your decision from there.
Were you ever strongly encouraged or straight up forced to go see a JD in the Straight Shot Show in New York?
No?
Who?
That never happened back then?
Okay, fair enough, fair enough, all right? Macro thirty thousand foot view question. Neil's a proud Canadian. Look, you know, whether it's Edmond Tin or any other Canadian team, But what would it mean thirty two years since the Stanley Cup was won by Canadian team, which is pretty wild because y'all are the best hockey country it have been for quite some time. What would it mean to just the country of Canada for Edmonton to pull this off?
You know, I think it would mean a lot only because Canada is, you know, compared to the United States, is a very small population wise compared to the US, and they've got the big elephants sitting next door being the US that seems to be good at everything and win everything, and you know, Hollywood and all the rest of it. So for a Canadian team to win the Cup after all these years, and it does mean a
lot to a lot of Canadians. Now, the people in Calgary aren't cheering for Edmonton because that's their bitter rivalry. So just because you know, there wasn't a lot of Toronto Maye Leafs fans hoping that Montreal would win in ninety three against La that's the last Stanley Cup they got.
But for the majority of Canadians, I do think that you know, if it's Edmonton versus Florida and you're living in Manitoba or you're living in Ontario, I think you're probably going to cheer for the Canadian based team over
the American based team, only because it's in Canada. But you know what makes me laugh about the whole thing is all of the all of all of these teams in the NHL are divided up amongst many nationalities, Canadian and American being two of them, and so you might be cheering for Edmonton, but you might be cheering for a lot of American players and a lot of Russian
players and and so on. So it's you know, you cheer for your city where you're from, and then I guess once your city's gone, if you're in Canada, and again I stress it, it's a smaller country, you cheer for the country.
Before we get to the game tonight, excuse me and this iteration of the series. What are your memories of this seven game barn burner from last year between these two.
Well, I had predicted Florida to win since the regular season last year, and so when they got after that three nothing lead on Edmonton didn't surprise me. But when Edmonton came roaring back and won three straight, that did surprise me. And that's set up for a Game seven that was spectacular. Florida, of course, as you mentioned in the open winning it. I think it was two to one.
You know, they're both great teams, they're both a notch above everybody else, and they're deserving it being in the final. And this is a great final for the National Hockey League because you don't have a Cinderella team going in against a favorite. That happened. Sometimes some team that has a wild card spot ends up, you know, by hooker by crook, getting all the way to the final and then they face the you know, the best team from
the other conference. And so this year you've got the two teams that as the playoffs went on, you could clearly see that Florida was a notch above the rest of the East and Edmonton a notch above the rest of the West. Now one could point out, well, they both ended in third place in their division. Yeah, that happens. You know, it does happen. Not everybody that wins the President's Trophy, which is first overall, which Winnipeg one, ends
up in the final inside, very few do. So, you know, they've gotten healthy at the right time, They've got all their their gears in order at the right time, and I'm really excited about this series.
So let's let's attack this individually before we get to the matchup, and let's start with Edmonton. You know, they just have been able to respond to adversity throughout this run in a very impressive way, comebacks left and right, like they almost pulled off last year in the Stanley Cup Final, but they lose the first two games of their first series against the Kings, they win four straight.
They open game one of the second round series against the Golden Knights by giving up the first two goals before steady setting the Stanley Cup playoff record where their fifth consecutive comeback victory. And then against the Stars, the Stars scores six straight goals to take game one and then they gave up five goals total over the next
four games to advance in the final. So it's this interesting thing where all of their series they don't start out all that well, but then they figure something out and then they're just ruthless. So let's start with the Oilers takeaways and then we'll get to the Panthers and we'll talk about the matchup. What stands out most about this run from Edmonton, Neil Well.
The obvious is the most important thing, and that's Connor McDavid number ninety seven. I mean, he leads to the playoffs again this year and scoring and when he gets the opportunity which she won't get a lot of them against Florida, but when he gets the opportunity to dance and go at that high speed, he can go at and he is marvelous to watch and can do crazy good things for the Oilers. So you know, he plays on the line with Nugent Hopkins, who's having the best
playoff of his life. And then forty year old Corey Perry is on his other side that won the MVP of the league way back when he was with the Ducks in seven or eight and and so, and that's a formidable line because Corey Perry takes no prisoners physically and and Nutent Hopkins is a first overall pick, and Connor McDavid is McDavid. There's nobody else even like him. And then on the second line, this is your second line has Drive Cidle in the middle, who's you know,
leading the league and goals again this year. And you've got again a tough guy with him and Evander Kine and then Casperry cappen and on his other side. So their first two lines are really good. They've got a bomb of a shot on the point on the power play, and Evan Bouchard Mattias at coolm who plays on his left side, is is a really good defenseman, puck moving defenseman.
And then I'll just skip the goal, and the goal is the one place where they definitely take a back seat to Florida because Stuart Skinner I'll always played really well in these playoffs, and so is Kelvin Pickard his backup, He's always going to be a question mark until he can get it done. Is is he going to be able to play to the Paprowski level that he needs to play at to be able to beat the Panthers.
Now over to the Panthers, what stands out most to me, Neil is I'm kind of looking at some of these numbers here. Nineteen different players have lit the lamp this postseason, so clearly, clearly tremendous depth. They're averaging more goals per game than they were last year, they're giving up fewer goals per game than they did last year as well. Their power play has been better, and their penalty killer
is the best in the playoffs. So clearly there's a lot to like and there's not a lot to nitpick about the Panthers.
What should we know about them prior to Game one tonight.
Well, what's really going to be interesting and may be on the first base off if the two coaches or let's say the visitors have to put their lineup in first, and if they put in Barkoff's line, Barkoff, Reinhardt and Rodriguez, maybe it's amazing as they'll go up against Connor McDavid and Nuten, Hopkins and Perry. But Barkoff won this year, for the second year in a row, the Selki Trophy,
which is the best defensive forward in the league. And he's he is terrific at that, so he'll go head to head against McDavid to try to shut him down. But here's the other part. Out of the three finalists for the Selki Trophy, Sam rein Hart was the other one, and he plays on that line. And then you've got Evan Rodriguez, who did a lot of damage in last
year's playoffs and can score. Their second line can score with ther Hage and Bennett and Kachuck, and of course Bennett and Kachuck are most known for irritating the living heck out of the visiting team and whoever they play against.
That we haven't even mentioned Brad Marshaw yet, the former captain of the Bruins, who plays on the line with Lundell and lous Terrain and they got a terrific top three lines there, and maybe not the star studded McDavid Drice title type of name that everybody's heard of, but guys that can all put the puck in the net. And that's why you say so many different players have scored for the Panthers, and I like their defense. Aaron act Glad has been good offensively this playoff, and Foresling
was great last year. But Seth Jones that they got in a trade from Chicago before the deadline has really added some great one B depth. So if Aaron Ekled is one A, Seth Jones is at least one B. And then you've got Pubrowski, who pretty much a household name now if you watch hockey, because they he won it all for them last year.
All right, now that we've learned about both these teams individually, right now, the money as far as betting goes on sportsbooks going towards Edmonton pretty overwhelmingly. How do they match up and X factors for both sides, as far as how you think this thing is going to go, you.
Know, they match up extremely well. I think that the Oilers are not going to get the opportunities that they got against Dallas Vegas or in the first round against the La Kings. They're not going to get those because they're going to be Florida is a very good shutdown team. Florida's going to have to capitalize on a few chances they get. And again, I think it goes back expence to Stuart Skinner versus Serge Brabrovski. If one of them let's in a bad goal, it's going to be huge.
And when I say a bad goal, it doesn't mean they should score from center. It just means a shot that they should have had that they somehow didn't get and the other team takes the lead. So I would expect tonight that Edmonton would start out slow. They seem to always do that at home for some reason, and Florida. Florida's ready for them. I mean they've had more rest.
Both teams are very well rested. The other thing I should mention is that Zach Hyman dislocated his wrist against Mason Marchmont on the Dallas Stars in that series, and he's a huge part of the Edmonton Oilers. If he was playing, he would have been one of the names I would have brought up when we talked about Edmonton, but he's out of the lineup. That's a bit of a blow.
You know.
If you asked me to pick a pick a winner, and we do it on our podcast all the time, I don't know where which way to go. I've been calling Florida for a lot of long time now, so I would stick with that. But nothing would surprise me in this series. Absolutely nothing.
Yeah, I was going to ask you because based off of everything that I've been reading and watching, I've heard a lot of people straight up say this is a pick them and it could go one way or the other. Are you surprised that the majority of the public money is going the way of the Edmonton Oilers.
I am, and I think that they might. You know that they might just be in love with the Connor McDavid factor and the Leon Dreisidles and the new guys on the block. And this is a revenge Cup and that has favored the team that didn't win the year before in a lot of times. I can tell you that for sure, Florida is not as sexy as Edmonton because they don't have Connor McDavid and Leon dry sidele on these guys so they're not as sexy, but they're boy,
they're a hard working team. You should compare to two great coaches. Chris knob Block for the Edmonton Oilers has done a fantastic job. He came in part way through last season, led them to the final, and now he's leading them to the final again. And then of course Paul Marie, who's in his fourth year with the Florida
Panthers and and has done a terrific job there. Their first year, the upset the record breaking Boston Bruins in the first round, and then last year we know what they did and now here they are again this year. So they're they're terrific, well prepared teams. The coaches are going to have them really going hard. And again I
think it is a pick'm thing. I don't know why all the money would be going towards Edmonton other than if people, just as I said, just think, well, it's their turn, so I'm going with them.
Fourteen of the twenty three quote unquote experts audespn dot COM's hockey page has Edmonton winning the series. Tell me about these two coaches, Neil and then attendant to that question. Oftentimes, when you get this late into the season and you're playing for a trophy. Yeah, you do make adjustments here there game to game, but more often than not, you kind of are who you are this late in the season,
and we're just going to do what we do. But tell me about these two coaches and what sort of adjustments you think will be necessary for one or the other to come out on top.
Well, Chris Knoblock with the Oilers has to get that power play going. Their power play hasn't been nearly what it was last year, and they're penalty killing either, but especially their power play. He's got to get when the Panthers take up that penalty or take a penalty, they've got to be able to threaten to take advantage of that because one of the things about the Panthers is they play that dirty, grimy game where they want to
get in your face all the time. On the other side, you know they're going to have to lock down McDavid and dry Sidle and that's a hard job. But they've got two of the best guys for that in Barkoff and Ryan Hard and as I said, backed up by two guys with Bennett and Kutchuk. But Paul Maurice has been around for a long, long long time, a really good coach, and I don't think they'll be a better
prepared team than the Florida Panthers. But Chris Knoblock, who's assistant that, by the way, is Paul Coffee, the great Paul Coffee. He runs a defense for them, and he's won a few Stanley Cuffs, so they're going to be well prepared too. It's hard to you might hear it in my voice. I can't give the to anybody. They're both great and they're both deserving.
Is there kind of a mini rivalry budding here? I mean, you reference Bennett and Kachuk, who are just irritants no matter what. But and maybe it's because Mick David is Canadian and you you're nicer than we are. But I listened to interview with him and he didn't indicate there was very much bad blood. But these two teams saw each other year ago in a seven game series. Does it feel like there's an underlying dislike sports hatred kind
of brewing. Here are these two teams that are maybe not necessarily in a space where they have bad feelings for one another, even though this is the second straight Stanley Cup final.
They'll be battling for.
I think if they don't have bad feelings for each other, they will have about ten minutes into the game, because that's how intense this thing will be. Yeah, and they do, they do have negative feelings. I mean, one team walked off with the cup. The other team walked off in tears. And so Connor McDavid wants to cement his legacy by winning a Stanley Cup. It's one thing to be the
greatest player in the league. That's all good and well, but you've got to win a cup to really cement how good you are, and that's what Connor McDavid really wants to do. At the other end, they're going to try to stop them from They want to win their second in a row, as their cross state rival that Tampa Bay Lightning did just not too long ago. So it's again it's going to be a battle. And you know, I think that Dry Sidle and McDavid are going to want the one thing they have never had and that
is a Stanley Cup. And we'll see, I mean, you'll know some stuff. Five to ten minutes into the game, you're already going to see some thing's happening. And as I said, you sit down right from the opening pace. I don't miss a minute of this one.
So before I do have one more Utah mamm a question for you before I set you loose. But it sounds like, based off of the way you've been breaking down the potential of this series and everything I kind of reading and watching, you know there's nothing better than a Game seven and the Stanley Cup playoffs and we didn't get one of the conference finals. Does it feel like this has a good chance to go the distance?
Absolutely? Absolutely. And I've always said, and you could hear me say this on the podcast. Sometimes when I'm picking projecting who's going to win the series, I say I go full chicken, meaning I go game seven, because I feel that's the Chicken Chickens way out is to say it'll go seven. You're really hedging your bets. But in this one, just from watching them last year, just from watching how great they are this year, just terms knowing the type of you know, thirst and hunger that these
two teams have to win the cup. They know they are four wins away from, you know, the great trophy of the Stanley Cups. So I would not at all be surprised if it didn't go seven. And as fact, if you made me name how many games is going to go, that's the only one I would say is seven.
Let's move over to a couple of off season initiatives and potentials for the Utah Mammoth dads and pieces, and we'll start with the draft where the Utah Mammoth jumped from fourteen to four. Here's my question, It's just more of a big picture, general type question, because I've seen a bunch of mock drafts. I think a lot of people believe the Mammoth need dad to the defensive portion of their team. But for according to what I've read, feels like a stretch for even the best defensive players
in this draft. How often, and look, there are always unicorns, and there are always opportunities that sometimes we don't see, But how often are these young kids.
Ready to play right away? When you're drafting at four that's very high?
Is it realistic for Bill Armstrong and his staff to bring an instant help to the hockey club? Or will be a situation where they draft a young prospect and watch them grow internationally or and juniors and such?
It will probably be a case of drafting a young player and watching him get better in junior. Right now, Jcobrien has rated number four in the draft, who's a six to two center playing in Branford, Ontario. And right behind him is Raddick mrca, who's a six foot five
defenseman playing in Seattle. So you know, I don't know how close those two guys are on the mammoths rating of their scouts, but you know you probably fall in around there, and who knows, maybe they could play defenseman usually don't play it the first year because defense is a much harder position to learn because one mistake and it could be in your net. So a defenseman is it takes more time than a forward. But it's possible
the kid could play this year. More than likely they'll put him back to give him more time to develop.
Let me ask you about your former club, the New York Islanders, as the lottery delivered a franchise altering opportunity to them with the number one overall pick, and it seems like people debate the Matthew Shaefer kid against the Michael Mesa kid. I'm not going to sit here, Neil tell you I've been grinding tape on either of these two players. I don't know anything about them. Do you have a preference? And who do you think the Islanders land on?
And why?
Well, first of all, there's a kid from Long Island in this draft, rated third I think James Haygenes and plays at Boston College, and so it'll be interesting to see if the Islanders are swayed at all by the fact that he's from Long Island that they would go that direction. But you know, I just Shafer and Mesa
are not that far apart, I guess. I mean, I would think that usually the guy that was ranked number one in the middle of the season was Matthew Shaffer, and he's still ranked number one at the end of the season. That tells me that he's probably were going to be number one. But again, I haven't been grinding tape either. Spend a few how he's playing, all right?
Before I say you lose, you know, last week we went over the free agent list. We will not do that again this week. I'll just ask you this for set you lose. The projected cap space for the Utah Mammoth is about twenty one mili. They have all their picks and so they have optionality is that's the new
buzzword in roster construction and pro sports these days. Prior to the start of the season, what would you say to the fan base about what you'd like to see Bill and a staff do, just generally speaking, whether it is a continued brick by brick build or maybe expedite the growth of the young players with some veteran pieces. What do you think the boxes that need to be checked for this hockey team next year to take that proverbial next step and maybe even make the playoffs.
Well, two things I'd really like to see them get a player that has a lot of experience, maybe a little bit longer in the tooth than the people that they've got there right now, but can bring some pedigree that had been winning. Not a forty year old, but I mean certainly somebody that has been around is one and that can help younger players. Addie and Cole there for that very reason already. So I'd love to see
it if they could do that. And then if if if they could, and if it fits with their program, and I know they have the money to get one of these top guys, if you know, if they can a Marner a Besser Nikolai Eelers that played in Winnipeg. Those three seem to be the top three names. I mean that would give some star power also to the Mammoth and perhaps raise them up another notch in the you know, another notch up in the standings and be able to get into the playoffs next year.
Is there like a cool Neil Smith Stanley Cup Final watch party that I'd get invited to? How are you going to be watching the game?
Now? I'm going to be swelled. The watch party is going to be me. My eight month old yellow lab Sammy will be sitting on one side of me, and my twelve year old chocolate lab aj will be sitting on the other side of me. We'll be staring at an eighty six inch screen that I have above my mantle, and we might even have a few beverages together. I'll bring out their bowl and pour some bud light in their bowl.
Dogs Welcome people tolerated. Neil is my personal philosophy that sounds like a good time. Hey, before I say you those to our listeners where they can go get that podcast to yours well.
Apple Podcasts platform is great. You can get it on Spotify, you can watch us on YouTube. It's on every platform you can think of. So whatever platform you use for podcasts, we're on there at NHL Wrap Around, And as I've said every week, I think that anybody that listens or watches will learn something. We've always got entertaining guess and we have a lot of fun doing it.
Neil, thank you, my friend. I appreciate it.
Excited to get going tonight, so enjoy it with the doggos and we'll chat soon.
Okay, Hey, did you tell your dad I was on last week? Remember he was in town. I think when I talked to you I did.
Yeah, No, I let him know and I sent him the link to listening to the interview, so hopefully he did. But I'm gonna let you check in with him on that because he'll lie to me and says he listens every day, So that's gonna.
Be up to you, all right, stake here, Thank you, Neil.
Neil Smith, the great Neil Smith, helping us learn about this pro sport that we now have in this market.
Always appreciate his time.
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Game one of the Stanley Cup Final between Edmonton and Florida is tonight, coming up at six o'clock Mountain time, so right when we say good night at six here on the show,