Patrick Johnston on Zadorov walking, Canucks overpaying in free agency, coaching staff, Lekkerimaki

Patrick Johnston on Zadorov walking, Canucks overpaying in free agency, coaching staff, Lekkerimaki

how are you great how are you guys very well fabulous sun is out we’re all wearing our hats we’re all taking care of the top of our heads very proud of you all yes exactly that’s why that’s why we’re wearing hats not because we’re lazy and don’t want to do our hair in the morning definit what’s air I’ve started doing my hair from time to time I’ve noticed yeah breathe hair should breathe more often when I wear the hats too much the air doesn’t breathe enough that what it is yeah oh for sure that’s what’s hurt trick and I here’s the other thing p in the past I’m nearly 50 years old and I have all my hair oh listen okay very proud of you puts me in stark contrast to many of my peers so it’s a flex what can you tell us about Nikita zorov well just crickets I think um term I think a big sticking point um and as I think I said last week like why wouldn’t this guy look out the front door anyway it had a huge playoff he is massive you know he’s got he ticks off so many boxes that teams are going to want just visually now obviously there is the the rest of the story that people pay attention to in terms of analytics and that but you know big character guy he’s a he’s a player I think that showed himself well did everything he could in his favor in the playoffs so even if he were interested in saying and you know clearly likes Vancouver everyone says that he said that I think everyone says that we saw him golfing with murf and GT Miller the other day um you know his kids are in school here like or his kid is in school here yeah there’s I think the con certainly hopeful I think that that you know that that Comfort level and that desire to live here makes a difference it’s made a difference with other players but in the end um sounds like things are pretty quiet right now everybody workshopping this deal has said five years that blah blah blah so he just eared 29 you certainly don’t sign or I wouldn’t sign anybody with their age starting with a three to any super long-term deals unless you’re a superstar he just turned 29 would you consider a seven probably not an eight but a seven-year deal for zadorov I mean that’s a lot to pay for a third pairing defenseman right like that’s the thing to remember here is that as as loud and exciting he is um is he gonna play more than Carson sus he’s certainly not going to play more than Quinn Hughes and uh you know Susi is not tied up for anything close to that long and do you see a succession plan I I don’t think that’s the guy uh I I enjoy his game I think he was perfectly slotted for how they used him especially in the playoffs so yeah committing that long listen if you can get him for that long on $2 million a year great but I don’t think that’s happening not happening there’s a long-standing argument you should commit to those guys at low rates because then you can Flex around the rest of it but you know even you know the J beagle story of course four million four years like that was absurd um you know those guys in that range as loud as exciting as they may be is not where you should be investing your long-term commitments can I take something on with the both of you sure always yeah to this almost a weekly occurrence with Patrick now um calling him a third paired defenseman what was he not what was he Matthew he played 20 minutes and nine seconds per game in the postseason that was third amongst Canucks defenseman after Hughes and ronic that was a full three minutes plus more than Carson Susi I’m comfortable with him playing as much as Carson for sure I am well so that’s my point here are are we not talking about a guy who uh jumped Carson Susi in the postseason and became their second pair I mean Carson sus is only a $3.2 million defenseman I think the kucks are allowed to and and probably will have to sign a defenseman this year probably on the right side but you know what I mean who’s gonna make more than 3.2 million like 3.2 million is not a lot as your third most paid defenseman yeah I mean here’s the thing look at the regular season they were pretty equivalent in terms of they leaned on zadorov because he was playing great like absolutely like don’t you’re you’re totally right Matt like in the end in crunch time they leaned on him heavy it worked out great but in the regular season that was not the story and and you know your Baseline is what you need to remember not this not the the big huge exciting moment but the basine I mean if you’re paying a guy for his playoffs I mean that that is the point that’s what I think he’s going to try to do um but the Baseline here was a guy that was was pretty good in the regular season but had some moments and I think realistically at the trade deadline weren’t 100% committed to because they were trying to make other things happen I don’t think they were actively trying to get rid of him but I don’t think he was a guy there saying that they wouldn’t stay or that they were GNA hold on to if that meant say I don’t know getting Chris tan out right like yeah like there were other things they were trying to make happen they liked him but they in the end it played out well for him and obviously played out well for the Canucks in the moment but in the long run it’s going to be a different story I think yeah Susi played 17 minutes and 29 seconds per game in the regular season zadorov played 1704 susy’s ice time actually went down in the playoffs dipped below 17 minutes whereas zadorov shot Skyward the other the other thing to consider here guys is just should they spend every cent that everybody wants to spend on Nikita zor off should they spend that on Brett peshy and that’s it and overpay on the right side to make sure you’re settled for your top four at the very least well you’re paying you’d be paying for a guy that’s what you know a year older than pH ronic it depends on what you do with ronic like I just I have no sense of I I I thought for a while they weren’t her we’ve talked about this before Heron obviously has a skill set that helps but if they could find an alternative I do think they would like to try to do that and peshi who is a bigger defenseman a right shot defenseman roughly the same age um not as necessarily offensively skilled but still pretty handy with the puck I I just knowing having seen talk at work and what his preferences are I think he’d rather have a larger guy with Quinn Hughes than two little guys playing together that’s I think the overall philosophy whether it’s right or wrong that’s what they think they’re looking which is why they likeed I mean in the end why they were what they were hoping to get from zadorov and what they got in the playoffs from zadorov was to their you know their satisfa that’s what they wanted we asked yesterday on our poll question if you’re o going to overpay for one of these free agents who are you overpaying for ronic Joshua zador off or just flat refus to overpay what do you think theck will do and and what would you do I I mean I think that’s a fantastic question I like how you framed it too I mean to me I I think you said honic for you right which I you know the overpay on honic is probably you know relative terms is not the same as say an overpay on Joshua but then again Joshua is not signing for long ter I I’ve made it pretty clear I think Joshua of that group is the guy that you really want to bring back just because of the age uh because of sort of the curve you’ve seen But and also realistically you’re probably not having to sign him for too long a term term is the question on all these guys uh Heron’s offensive skill set I think we know that first half of the Season there was a reason why he put up so many points it wasn’t just that he was playing with Quinn Hughes that said he struggled when he got injured and I think you can see why you would want to look at somebody else for the O overall context I mentioned before who do you want actually what do you want your pair to look like um it doesn’t have to be Chris tanv but you would like a guy that plays a similar way can move the puck in a similar way has has to serve the same Baseline skill set as honic you don’t necessarily worry about the production um I think at the end you’d rather not overpay for anybody but you’re probably in the in the circumstances going to have to accept some guys that you want to keep or you’re going to sign from elsewhere are going to go for more than you might have budgeted just because there’s more money in the system this this summer because there are so many teams with cap space and the Caps going up right like that that’s the big biggest thing Canucks are Ks are actually one of the teams with the most space to work with but they’re not alone in having what is it 26 million like there’s a lot bunch of teams that are in that range they have to do a fair bit of work like I think they know that their lineup may look very different next year um but it’s not impossible it’s not like you know they’re not like the Oilers who have what $10 million and eight guys to sign and on and on on and the other thing page is uh this summer you have to account for the Utah Club because they’re gonna exactly never used to Chicago still has tons of space and the Venom you mean the Venom are going to spend so uh Chicago you know and San Jose so you have teams out there that are bad that are going to spell on spend on top of the cap space that other teams have on top of the cap going up so no you’re quite right I think it’s going to be a very competitive Marketplace and I don’t begrudge these agents or players at all for saying no I’m going to go to free agency and see what the market Bears because I have a feeling that some of those contracts are going to come in way over and above what the final offer was from their existing clubs the thing that interesting me just on that point about about Utah is that Arizona for so long I think was kind of seen as this safety valve Dumping Ground and and and you know they would absorb a certain amount of League wide mistakes just because they were required to carry players and have a cap hit they were like the Cayman yeah yeah exact they were the Cayman Islands that the NHL exactly and and there that’s not going to be it anymore there isn’t a team like that right now um there is teams there are teams with cap space obviously San Jose and and and and and Utah literally spring to mine Chicago but those are all teams that claim to have a plan and claim to actually be trying to win and not just pretend that they’re we’re building for the Future No you’re cutting salary because your owner doesn’t have any money like we’re not living in that Universe at least right now as far as I know of any other team in the NHL Alex Mel gets to sit in the corner and be an AHL owner um yeah the that I with that in mind I think I mean not that I think Patrick Alvine is a guy that has been looking for ways out the way Jim Benning used to or other managers like that but I do think certainly here they’re going to be conscious of the fact that there that there really is no room for error that you have to nail every one of these signings yeah 12 teams so more than a third of the league have 20 million or more in cap space and we should shout Columbus too because selli tells us he thinks Columbus is going to get active uh not to mention Buffalo with 23 million in cap space and having to finally take the next steps a lot of lurkers there the conu probably won’t buy out but we were talking about this yesterday do teams buy out players because they’ve got the cap space now too they can absorb it a little bit and it saves the money down the road yeah yeah I mean you know yeah I mean like M it’s not a nightmare but I don’t think you want two biot sitting on your on your on your cap no whatever it is structure yeah um I was looking at like Jack cble and Edmonton it’s an easy buyout actually and yeah I think that’s one that like you look at all the variables that Edmonton’s facing and it’s hard to imagine them not doing that um but yeah like I mean Edon just has to work with like there’s no space and they have you know Conor Conor Brown and there’s the Conor Brown I know people probably tired of hearing what Happ you know Conor Brown’s got the overage and that’s going to be a c penalty and you know they got a bunch of decisions to make there and and not a lot of stuff underneath right now they kind of look a familiar although obviously their to is amazing um yeah there are things that are going to happen I think things are going to be active whether it’s just just standing back you don’t even need to talk anybody you just sit back and look at the system the way the system set up there’s a lot of room for movement you know teams that are going to want to maybe reshuffle their makeup trading fil pronic isn’t easy because of that the arbitration thing but you know if that’s something they’re going to do like I’m not I’m not I I I think but I’m not certain it’s something they’re going to do um how they make up their blue line it’s going to be really interesting to watch and you know I wrote about this last week and Zora fonic obviously top the list but sounds like you know sounds like Ian Cole’s going to walk and they’d like to bring Myers back um but they need to think long and hard about what their defense core was why it was pretty good last year it worked pretty well and if you’re going to try to sort of reset that you need to keep that in mind as well and it’s it’s not going to be easy task given the competition beautiful chaos coming yeah have you um have you noted how much of the free agent question also overlaps with the Special Teams when you look at all the penalty killing forwards who are free agents not to mention defenseman although I think yeah is coming back and then of course a big one on the power play side where if no lindol then you know what to do there yeah I mean that’s that was an obvious thing that that obvious item that they need to figure out that essentially Bo Horvat replacement it wasn’t really kko it was really borbat he needed to find a trigger man in there uh in in the bumper uh PK yeah I mean Teddy bler is also free agent Ian Cole was the was not the number one penalty killing time guy um by the way Rick toet scooping us on the radio or scooping me on the radio this morning I had heard that Adam foot would be running the PK but uh you know and a big task for him right like a guy who’s come a long way who a year and a half ago was not in the NHL had never stood on an NHL bench um and as tet told me mid-season had developed a million percent as a coach in just you know eight or nine months 10 months um and now he’s gonna have to help this team figure out how to PK which you know obviously came a long way over the season were League average but in the end held held um held the Oilers to serve right I mean the Canucks in the end lost the the SP the Special Teams battle not because their PK failed but because their power play couldn’t score right like that in many ways is the story of that series and that’s why the Oilers beat the Stars the Oilers shut down the stars power play um so so getting the kis PK to at least where it was this year and if not better is a huge task for for foot what do you buy do you buy the the now that the PK is more important than the P PP in the power play in the playoffs in the playoffs no I think no I think in the end scoring goals is what matters right like look at the oil the reason why the Oilers are where they are is because they’re offens kept running right like they’re they’re they’re the can slowed down their power play but at the end of the day the Oilers are just scoring goals in bunches and they’ve scored goals in bunches since the end of November and that’s more than anything what matters the most like the people inside the game will tell you that goal tending is you know you figure out what you can Woodley will tell you you can figure out everything um but you set your defensive structure as best you can but at the end of the day scoring goals is what matters and that’s what teams are focused on on it how to make it happen and that’s what I think Rick tet’s going to be thinking about all summer look at the long history of the Stanley Cup and who wins it’s typically really good offensive team yeah occasionally an airtight defensive team breaks through and wins but more often than not it’s teams that can score goals which is you know why that’s sort of the next level of coaching you can you know talk about how you’re a systems guy and identity guy and hard to play against and goal prevention and that’s the essence of what your job is as a head coach yeah completely right yeah but even if you put as you say or as Kevin says you put all that into place it still may not be enough need to I just thought the btor quote today and any coach can make somebody play defense Only God Can Make a Score well say some to some degree with that in mind PJ is it wrong to for the Canucks to have even small hopes that Jonathan like raki makes this team like is should they just put that out of their minds or is it reasonable that a 20-year-old can come in and on this team it’s totally reasonable whether he is ready to do it because he’s not you know in the end he’s a guy that figured it out finally playing against men last year in the shl um the defensemen are bigger in the NHL and they’re just better at it and I think that is the fascinating challenge in the big picture for him period of whether he’s going to make it or not can of course believe that he will he’s not a big kid but you’re you’re not gonna hope that he comes in and scores 35 next year I think you’re hoping comes in and has the hog glander season you know something like that where are you playing them like I I I mean I guess if they’re so weak at Winger you can drop him in the top six is that the idea oh yeah because you’re not scoring in the bottom he’s got I mean in the long run he’s got to be there so I mean this is the thing right like Risk is the game right you have to be willing to give the kids a chance but you have to also know that the kid is ready so if the kid’s not ready you don’t give he’s it’s not going to it’s not going to work so the question is is he ready you know is he physically strong enough to deal with the wear and tear that is required of playing his position in the NHL which is a goal scorer guy who needs to get to the net need to get inside like listen Brock besser is not the tallest guy but he’s big he’s a strong kid right like is Jonathan lar macki ready you know has he put on enough muscle I stood next to him in the food line you know the media meal pregame uh I think game seven and you know he’s he’s a well built kid but he’s still a kid and it’s a long you know it is a big step from the AHL to the NHL and certainly the can would love it I mean I know the cans are definitely need him and certainly elas Pon the defenseman and they think they hope for Tom wander to break into this lineup in the next couple Seasons because of the cap like those guys are going to be cheap deals they need them in there there’s simply no other way for them to really sustain this window without those guys being a being read in be able to step in is Lara macki going to be ready a training camp I have no idea but certainly we’ve seen stories in the past of players who were ready needed a half year in the HL and then they step in and by the second half of the season and they’re ready to go and I think at the end of the day that’s the most likely path here that that they certainly would hope that he’s ready to go in second half be Gob smacked if he uh played and played well in the early part of the season it’s not only a big step from the uh Swedish League to the NHL but for a Winger in this system it is entirely different on the on the small ice so uh yeah yeah I would think if anything lecki is a second half um which brings us to the staff or at least the old discuss the previous discussion got us off to LR um so what do you make of everything they’ve done here well I mean do you understand it and you know like what what are the reasons behind it like what’s wrong with the head coach and two primary full-time assistance you know model that a lot of teams have it’s not nothing I mean I just this is the thing that I think I the thing I thought a lot about this season was you know people kept oh look how many coaches on The I’m like good you know like this is this is where you should be um The Evolution I I think there’s a lot of parts to this um and so just bear with me but you know there’s the evolution of how they think about uh development and coaching needs um and and and and assignments so you know the sadin the the original notion was to sort of learn about how it works learn a bit about coaching devel you know figure out how to talk to players and what matters and those kind of stuff and originally you know kind of just naiser then this year was kind of a bit bit of everywhere um by the playoffs apparent you know one of them one of them would be on the road helping out um we did see Sergey gonar when he was here fairly often was the ey in Sky guy um you know they’re evolving parts and then beyond that I mean part of it’s the Chris Higgins story Chris Higgins is you know not involved development because I guess in the end he was part of the old sort of setup and they’ve really dialed in on on on how Samuel Michael Samuelson and and Mike keric are working um and how they are engaging with players and to a degree Marco terenus because he’s the goalie coach in abord but also working with some of the kids um and and just sort of seeing how the roles and responsibilities were going to flesh around and and at the end of the day the sadin ready to take on new tasks and you learn more about what they’re able to do and what they’re ready to do and um I have no doubt that’s some of the story here uh Mike yo like I the thing that’s interesting in all this was Mike yo they made him an offer right it wasn’t a huge offer but they made him an offer they were interested enough in the coach to keep him um and he went for basically more Security in Ottawa um yo was clearly a solid NHL coach uh Co you know as we said I think last week assistant coaches change all the time um they they once you reach a certain standard you’re in it but you’re not necessarily always going to be in the same team um so so from that s point it did surprise me that they haven’t brought anybody in I mean this is talk it’s kind of second go around here’s a guy who thinks endless about how his staff works and how things move around and how things evolve and and so it the fact that they are down a guy I mean I guess they’ll hire a new skills coach um you know guy who’s a specialist does a lot I mean seosi was on the ice all the time it wasn’t like he wasn’t part of this coaching staff right like he was actually on he was on the ice here more than I expected he would be because originally the idea was he was going to be on the ice and avisford a lot um but he was a guy that clearly built a rapport and his and runs practices you can see he knows skills like he definitely knows that and um makesense systems too more than just skills too so yeah that’s what I mean like he’s been in this game like he’s been studying and paying attention to hockey for a long time um so yeah adding him to the staff yeah it makes sense um and there is a bit of that mentality of upwards you know building upwards and creating finding new rules for people that are inside your own house and you work from below and bring them up so you know there in a way is how it’s worked out with him um it still surprises me because a lot of it does still like the colon thing and the fact that he was a guy that they lauded and were so in favor of and then clearly it came down to money and yo got more term and you know Rick toet is on a year plus a team option and you know I mean it’s obviously a business and so you think about that but you still can’t help but think about the the sort of money and this this these are the detail parts of running the business that um do matter and I think there have been people in the past and certainly I think I have that criticize ownership for not necessarily being willing to spend beyond the shop window and so you do wonder about that um that said this management team seems pretty happy and this coaching staff seems pretty happy so we’ll see how it goes out I mean I they need to figure out the power play need to figure out the PK those are the big tasks and this is the staff they have apparently they think they can do it yeah and the other thing is is um I think taka deserves the benefit of the doubt here sure after season so um we’ll see how all of this we’ll see how all of let me ask you this how far are we away from having a sadine on the bench on a nightly basis I don’t I don’t think we’re that far like I think that’s part of it too right like they these are guy there’s on the road right well one of them yeah exactly like they’re going to be on the road so whether they’re on the bench or they’re eye in the sky like you know I that’s that it it is a it is a different coaching model you know the the gonar element where he’s not always here is a different way of doing it but there’s a connection there and and the fact that he’s around a lot and that he’s able to talk with the players and text and like you know that that is the other thing of course is that’s how people communicate and that’s how people engaged and engage with each other and it’s not just face Toof face anymore even if you know us cresty old guys think it should be all face to face um it they are trying new things here and yeah benefit of the doubt Matt’s absolutely right like when they climb thead when they climb the ladder who’s the head coach and who’s the assistant coach between Daniel and Henrik do it just assumed that it’s Henrik because he was the captain he’s the older well maybe it’s a co co you know like doesn’t matter like I don’t know it it’s probably G to be a one guy like our our instincts say it’s always been one guy but maybe they’re different there you’re breaking the mold Coes no no no no I don’t think it is I don’t think it is either I think they will be on their own and one will be here and one will somewhere else I think you’re right I don’t think they want to be coaches what do they want to be Matt oh I think they want to be managers yeah fair enough Co co-gen manager co-presidents could work yeah Works in Andora how do you know is that one of the European micro countries yes how do you know the the political climate of they have co-presidents or co- Dukes or something I don’t even know it’s the president of France and the king of uh Spain or the co- rulers I don’t know why I think it’s because of the tour to France and goes through there once in a while oh that trying to remember if I did like a grade five project I think I did like a grade five project on Andora but I don’t remember knowing the co-president Andora heads of governments head of state Archbishop Joan AR Vives e chilia head of state Mr Emanuel macron head of government Mr Xavier espot Zamora all of them referred to as your Excellency oh briy heads of state wow there you go you learned something next we’ll talk about lonstein I was gonna say San Marino far enough much as I like the San Marino Grand Prix yes and the downhill skiers from Luxembourg we’re GNA catch up next week B’s small medium now jid Deli right yeah hey everybody if you’re enjoying what you’re seeing here then follow along with Saron price on YouTube I promise more content coming they call it the kids call it subscribe on YouTube well how about liking it do that as well smash it right now

The Province’s Patrick Johnston stops by as well, he gives his thoughts on the new coaching assignments, plus he has more on the Nikita Zadorov negotiations and the possible term being discussed. Also, PJ gives his take on the day’s poll question on trading players on a high, not to mention, his comfort in overpaying to keep free agents.

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