HOUR 3: NHL insider Jay Stevens in-studio talking NHL playoffs, weekend full of game 7’s, Utah Ho…
Looking for the latest on the Jazz Utes, Cougars, and Aggies? Yeah, we’ve got you covered. This is Hans Olsson and Scotty G on 975 the sports zone. Walks the line, wrist through traffic. He scores. Deflected in front by the captain, Adam Lowry. Jets win. Jets win. Jets win in double overtime tonight. Oh man, does that give you chills every time? I was going to text you last night, especially when they when they scored right at the end. I was going to say like here we go. This is what it’s all about. Yeah. 1.6 seconds. It’s empty net and you’re like two in under two minutes and you want to know like is this crazy? You’re like no this is h this is playoff hockey. This is why everybody’s addicted to it. Gosh. And a little bit of Neil Diamond behind it. Lloyd, that might be too much. Holy cow. That’s energizing. Uh, by the way, this song reminds me that it’s going to be up to our Florida Panthers or maybe the Golden Knights to keep this thing in America. I don’t want the cup going back to Canada. I want to keep it here. Jay, don’t don’t count out the Caps yet either. They’re Oh, the Caps, too, huh? Yeah, they’re they’re really good. They’re uh Ovuchkin’s a different person right now than I’ve ever seen him. He’s just He’s pretty possessed. He’s possessed, isn’t he? Yeah. And he’s, you know, they they joke around about, you’ve seen the comparisons between him and LeBron. Yeah. And how many like Ovkin’s barely missed any games and LeBron’s missed a ton of games and they’re like LeBron takes extra good care of himself and Ovkin just pounds Big Macs and and beer and Yeah. and the freaking hot Cheetos and stuff and Cokes. So it’s it’s nothing makes sense. And it’s just like um you know, you had our iron man for forever. Um I forget his name. Phil over he played in Vegas, but you know, same guy. That guy was just pounding hot dogs all the time, and he’s always always just in the lineup. Just a man. And he became the NHL leader in in games played consecutively. So, there’s just no rhyme to it. There’s no rhythm to it. It’s just passion. It’s the love of the game. You can tell Veetchkin still loves it. You can tell these guys that are still playing still love it. And they just make it exciting. They refuse to quit like you saw last night. Yeah, it was incredible. the the empty goal and running for two minutes just something to the wall I guess is how I would say it and throwing it all out there and then finding that goal off a deflection with 1.6 seconds and then going into double overtime. I’m going to talk to you about postseason overtimes uh the five on fives the rules and things like that. But before we get into the NHL postseason and start really breaking down what we’re seeing and what could potentially happen. I haven’t talked to you since Utah Hockey Club cleanout, locker room cleanout. Yeah. Uh, how did cleanout go and guys kind of getting back to their homes and and starting off season? How did all that go? Yeah, it went pretty well. I I missed a lot of it cuz I left right after, but I’ve been in touch with quite a few of the players and um a lot of the guys are planning on sticking around here and doing some some training and and just using the mountains as a as a benefit to do some high altitude training and getting ice in Park City and they’ve kept ice at the oval and they’re a lot of guys are just this Utah is our home and we’re going to stay here. Yeah, they love it. You know, is that common with NHL players cuz NBA players, they all go home. It’s it’s not that common. A lot of guys, you know, they go back to their countries and stay there. Uh Minnesota guys always go back to wherever they’re at in Minnesota because there’s always a pocket full of guys that you can skate with and and keep at that intensity. But, uh, I think we’re trying to recreate that here with enough of our guys and then we have some other guys coming back that have been playing in Europe. You know, you’ve got, um, Brickley, Daniel Brickley, who just had an amazing year in Finland and, um, Nick Howerin who also had an amazing year in Finland. So, those guys are all going to come back and start skating together. And usually Trevor Lewis from the LA Kings gets ice and and runs these pro. Yeah, homegrown. I think we saw him play his last game when they got eliminated. Um, which was sad. I really wanted to see them go further. I really thought they’d beat Edmonton, especially after they had him down two zip in the first, but um, you know, that’s hockey. But those guys seem to to love Utah and I think Utah is just going to keep growing because of it. Well, we love them. You know, I think that the state showed that we love the NHL and I’ve got to imagine that there’s been a jump in postseason viewership here in the state of Utah. People are hungry for it and excited about it. Just talking about guys being able to skate on the ice with each other. Are you able to mix and m because I know that’s important just finding the the bodies that can get on the ice. Are you able to mix and mingle a little bit with the Grizzlies? like can the Utah hockey club meet up or can they can they get on the ice with some of these Grizzly guys to to just boost numbers and competition? Yeah, 100%. Now they can. And um during during the season they can’t. They’re different affiliations and I and I do have some news on that also. Oh. Um but yeah, you know, you had Colorado Avalanche players and you had Utah hockey players and they weren’t really allowed to practice together once the season ended. Um even because Avalanche had gone further into the playoffs. So they were still affiliated. A lot of those guys have now moved up or moved down as the Grizzlies season ended. Uh the Colorado Eagles, our AHL affiliate, pulled up the rest of the players that were remaining. The Eagles basically had taken all of our skilled players already, which is why the Grizzlies had such a miserable season. But um some of those practices are happening and I can tell you through unofficial channels, and I know this is 100% correct, but I and I’m not getting this from a coach and I’m not getting this from Ryan Smith. This isn’t my normal source of information, but I can tell you I’ve been on the ice with players from both organizations. And it is it is a known fact that the Utah Hockey Club is going to announce an affiliation with the Utah Grizzlies. It’ll be a co-affiliation between the Colorado Avalanche and the Utah Gri or the Utah Hockey Club, and they’ll both be sending players to the Utah Grizzlies for the next season. And I know that’s going to happen. Wow. So that’s a that’s a huge huge deal for us. Yeah. But that’s that’s gigantic because inside of a year year and a half, you’re now tapping into our local resource and the Grizzlies. Yeah. So tell me what exactly would that affiliation mean for the Utah hockey club and the Grizzlies? Is that a a back and forth exchange with bodies or how exactly does that work? So, typically your affiliation is you get one goalie and maybe five or six guys from your parent club that are almost good enough to make your AHL team. And that’s what you’re going to get from the Avalanche. So, the Avalanche are going to give the Grizzlies. And there might be some negotiations where only one team gives a goalie. I would see that being the hockey club, Utah hockey club. Just call them Mammoth if you want to. Um, as long as we were just dropping No. Gez. Mammoth. Uh, Amazon’s. We’ll just call them whatever. I that stuff got leaked. The Mammoth stuff got leaked. I think it really did get leaked and I know it’s some kid just trying to make sure that all the every all the boxes were checked and who knows but I I think it got leaked. I think it’s going to be Mammoth and what will happen is that um I think the Mammoth will put one of their better goalenders here for the Grizzlies and then give five players and then the Avalanche will also give five players and maybe another goalie. But typically if your parent club gives you a goalie that’s the guy that starts. So, when you have a mixed affiliation like that, which is not uncommon, used to happen quite a bit, um, when you have a mixed affiliation, you typically only get one NHL drafted goalie because, you know, that’s the goalie that’s going to play the majority of the games. Um, the Eagles have been kind of unfair to the Grizzlies over the last few years. Last two years, three years ago, the GM was Craig Billington, who was running the Colorado Eagles, and he was phenomenal. He was phenomenal and respected the the Grizzlies and helped the Grizzlies and had skills coaches here all the time. And then this last season in particular, you’d see guys get pulled up for almost a month or two months and they’d play one, two, three games and sit the bench. So, they’re not helping the Grizzlies and they’re not helping the Eagles. And the Grizzlies have fed, if you look at the Eagles roster, their starting goalie, their backup goalie, they all came from the Grizzlies, you know, and I get it. It’s the same organization. and we’re all trying to help the e the Avalanche, but the Eagles just kind of went real one way and kind of just basically didn’t want to even deal with the East Coast League. So, doing this, you’re going to have GM Bill Armstrong, who we have seen to me is a very intimidating, very thorough person, is going to be right here overseeing everything that happens with the Utah Grizzlies. That’s a really good thing. It’s a really good thing. That’s a really good thing. and and our you know our AHL affiliates in Tucson for now so that’s not that far away either but I I think that one gives us an an NHL drafted goalie probably Thailen who’s he’s phenomenal unless if Prable comes out of college early which I can’t see him doing. Um I could see them maybe giving him an East Coast League spot. He’s he’s probably our future in net but we’re going to get a guy like that. We’re going to get a high draft pick goalender to start for the Utah Grizzlies and we’ll get five really good players. So, so now when you go out to watch a Grizzlies game, you could potentially see some future mammoth. Yeah. Especially starting in net. Like that’s that’s where you’re going to look. And the Utah Grizzlies are going to be better because you’re going to get those five players from from the Avalanche, too. And five players. So, yeah. So now you’re going to have 10 players on a two-way or a three-way contract instead of five players on a two-way and 10 more players that are just on an ECHL contract. So that definitely elevates what happens with the Utah Grizzlies. Uh before we jump into some of the postseason stuff, I did want to go over just a couple more things with you on on locker room cleanout and the Tampa Bay Lightning being um sent home. Y the the rumor was that John Cooper was going to be It’s a bad internet rumor. Okay. I never believed in it for one second. Okay. So, so John Cooper’s fine in Tampa. Yeah. Not only is he fine, he’s got the golden ticket in Tampa. First, that would be tampering. So, that would mean Ryan Smith is using his friendship to lean on John Cooper to say, “Hey, why don’t you come to Utah?” Uh, so can’t do that. Can’t do that. Definitely can’t do that. And one thing I’ve learned about Ryan Smith is he plays by the rules. He does. 100% plays by the rules. He would not break that rule. two, and I know I’m going to get chirped for being a Ryan Smith fan or whatever, but that’s in my interactions with him and I’ve seen him interact with players and he plays by the rules. And two, John Cooper is the best coach in the NHL pretty much like that’s accepted that John Cooper is if he’s not the best, he’s one of the top three and he has another year left on his contract in Florida. He’s very comfortable in Florida. Um like he’s got every setup you could possibly want in Tampa. He’s got two uh two Stanley Cups already. He’s got the system he wants. He got he’s got the players he wants. He’s got a GM that listens to him. If if he goes and says, “Hey, you know, this is the guy I need,” they’ll go get him, you know, and that’s that’s a pretty typically you just get what your GM gives you. The coaches don’t get to ask, but John Cooper’s got that kind of flex in Tampa. So that that was just bad internet clickbait that everybody fell for. So, we just saw Will Hardy, the Utah Jazz head coach. He just signed a contract that’ll take him through the 2031 season. Okay. Long extended contract. And I know that that’s how Ryan Smith likes to work. I know that that’s how Smith Entertainment Group would like to work. They find their guy and they commit and move forward with him. What do we know right now about Coach Tierney’s contract and just his the level of confidence that this team has in him as the head coach moving forward? You know, I don’t know his contract right off the top of my head. I know that I thought he had three years left last year. So, I think he has two years left. Okay. And I I should I should check that out. But I can tell you that the way we believe in Bear, the way that Bill Armstrong speaks about Bear, the progress we’ve seen, the development we’ve seen with Gunnar and already, um, and the way that team Canada believes in Bear, we have something that a lot of other people want when they have such a young roster. We have a guy that knows how to develop talent and how to like curate this thing. And I’ I’ve used the analogy before of like we’ve planted all the seeds in this garden and Bear is the master gardener to grow them all at their own pace. We’ve got a bunch of different crops. They’re going to grow in their own pace. And you’ve seen him like he even scratched like was it He scratched for a game. Um or he benched gunner during during a game. He’s just got that like old school mentality of holding you accountable and then the new school teaching technique of bringing you up. You know, he doesn’t break you down first, but he brings everybody else up together. And that entire locker room speaks so highly of him. I can’t see us making a change, especially I think he’s won at every level he’s ever coached at. And I think that’s why they went and got him and they told him this is going to suck for you at the beginning. I don’t see him bring him in, let him suck for him now and then as things start to mature and he’s then they cut him off and bring somebody else in to run it. And I could totally see that and totally understand it. And and I will tell you this just from a a personal perspective and a guy that I always love to play for the harder coaches. they always felt like they got more out of me and and I did play for some uh you know less abrasive coaches but we’ve played cuts through the entire NHL season of Coach Bear and Coach Bear does not take it easy. Hey, he is very pointed, very aggressive. People would ask, “Wow, the Milka in net again 15 straight.” Well, well, do you think everybody else needs a break? What do you want me to baby him? Do you think what you want me to take him off? Everybody’s sore. You know, he’s he’s a hard-nosed car. I love him. I love him, too. It’s just I’m trying to learn the game and understand, okay, because I do feel like the NHL is more dependent on good coaching than the NBA. I actually feel like the NHL is more dependent on good coaching than the NFL. Yeah. or managing than the major leagues. And I say that because as I watch line changes and matchups, when I’ve got four lines and I’m throwing guys over the wall and I see other guys that are throwing over the wall and I’m adjusting my lines to make sure that I’ve got the match, it’s a constant strategic placement. 100%. And you have to have the right personnel on the ice or you give up a goal at 1.6 seconds left in the third period when you were up by two. Yeah. and and you end up get pushed to the second overtime and you lose. Like it’s critical to have proper coaching schematically outside of development. Yeah. Schematically, I think it plays larger in the NHL. 100%. And and and it’s funny. I don’t know if you got to see any of the excerpts from my interview with Barry last week. I had him on my show and I said, you know, what do you think about all of our guys playing in in Europe, you know, or or playing in Sweden in the World Championship? You know, you’ve got VMLA going again. you got, you know, Gunner and and now and Keller’s playing and and all our guys are playing. And I said, “Are you worried about, you know, injuries? We’ve seen what what we saw happen in the four nations.” And he said, “Do you drive your car every day? Are you kidding me? There’s going to be car crashes. You could die. You know how dangerous that is?” He’s like, “You’re a hockey player. You play hockey.” That’s awesome. And I loved it. And I said, “Okay, the other part of what I’ve seen from you, and the thing, and I I told you this before, is, you know, I have this amazing seat on media row where I get to sit really close to the ice and I get to watch it. And then there’s this other seat up above the Delta Center, up above the clubs where the media also gets to go. And you get to sit, I can see down on the ice, and everybody’s like, “Oh, you’re in the nosebleleeds.” Yeah, I’m I’m at the top of the top with the nosebleleeds. and to watch the systems and to watch the second somebody steps out and to watch Bear notice them step out. And not only does he match lines, he is observing who on the other team is performing better today than they performed yesterday. So, it’s not just about numbers through the season, it’s about numbers right now. Who’s playing well right now? 10 minutes on the ice. What happened in that 10 minutes? He’ll tell you on 45 seconds who shouldn’t be on the ice again. Like, he’s matching guys every 45 seconds. I think that stuff’s critical. It’s that’s where you get when I call him a maestro and people think that I’m just pumping his tire or whatever. That’s where it comes from. It’s because he’s watching and he’s balancing. It reminds me of Fantasia from Disneyland. I mean all those Yeah. the waves. Yeah. Just waving all the different music and he’s reading things like like you know like excellent musicians see music in colors. And I think the best coaches see hockey in a different way that we can’t see it. And I mean I’ve told you the story before. where I sat next to a guy named JP Perezy, rest in peace, but he I was sitting here watching a game with him and he’s like, “Oh, this guy in warm-ups he’s like, “Oh, this guy’s not going to be able to pull off the boards like he normally does. He’s using a different lie on his stick.” And I’m like, “How can you tell it’s a different lie than he used before?” Like, how can you tell that? How can you tell? And that how do you know that automatically eliminates this move out of his repertoire? And sure enough, it did. And sure enough, later in the game, he said, “See, normally he would have pulled that and went left.” And I’m like, “Man, I don’t see the game at that speed.” And I think I’m a great vision. I I watch it and I think I understand 90% of it, but at the NHL level for a guy like Bear, I think he sees it in colors. Well, I’m excited to see him moving forward and and to see them continue to place good talent in his care. And speaking of good talent, you’d mentioned some of the National League play. So, help me understand what does this mean? Keller is going to be wearing the sea. He’s got the captainship for the Nationals. Yeah. How big of an honor or how big of a deal is that? Huge. I mean, that’s a very stacked roster of of US superstars, and we have a ton of them. And it just shows one, he shouldn’t have been left off the Four Nations that I don’t know why that happened. Um, yeah, that was shocking to me because you see him get a C at the Nationals, but wasn’t on team US for the Four Nations. Yeah, I I don’t understand it. And, you know, we different coaches or different different things happen, but it it’s a it means a lot. And I hope the rest of the Utah audience realizes what that means. And there’s a couple uh other hockey analysts that just don’t love our captain. They think he’s soft because he doesn’t get in and mix up like you like you’d think a captain should. He leads in a different way and he leads by example. He leads with poise on the ice and he’s going to pick up those assists. He’s going to be surrounded by some amazing talent. And that’s a huge nod to not only him as a player, but him as a leader. And I think it just speaks volumes for the fact that he’s our cap, the first captain over at the Utah Hockey Club. All right, we’ll come back and we’re going to reset this. This is Jay Stevens. Uh he is our Utah hockey club insider. We’ll just call him the Mammoth insider now. And um very good friend, very dear friend of mine and and excited to have him in studio kind of going through some NHL postseason. There was some Utah hockey club insight. But we’re going to jump into this Panthers Leafs game one tonight. I think out of all the series that you could come up with, I think that this is as good as it’s going to get. So excited for this series to start out tonight. It’s a oneame night tonight is all which I was kind of bummed about, but we’ve got the other series, the other three series that that are going to be kicking off shortly. Hey, join Jake and Ben this Tuesday from 10:00 to noon at Peach Window and Doors, 2940 South, 300 West in Salt Lake City. Peachbuilding Products.com. More Jay Stevens coming up next. Number one, miss any part of the show. Every moment of every show is available in podcast form by searching Hans and Scotty on your favorite podcasting platform or online at kslsports.com. This is Hance Olsen and Scotty G on 975, the KSL Sports Zone. All right, get mom the best Mother’s Day gift ever. Mik Couture blanket. Save 50% using promo code zone in stores and online at mikouture.com. The best Mother’s Day gift ever. Guess who’s going to be there on Wednesday? Who? You guys. Let’s go. We’ll bring them in. Get those Mother’s Day gifts taken care of. All right. Um, in the grand scheme of things, Jay Stevens, by the way, our NHL insider, and he is a goalie in his own right. How insane is 43 saves? That’s That’s a lot. You You expect up to 10 shots period. Okay. So, you 30 is a lot. Okay. 40 43 is is getting out of there. That was Jordan Bennington. Yeah. Uh he was on the ice for 96 minutes and 10 seconds. So, I’m putting that in perspective. You had me on the ice in full goalie gear in net for about eight minutes. Yeah. I wanted to die. It’s just you your lower back gets because I you stay crouched. Yep. Even when the the the puck is on the other side of the ice for the most part, you’re you’re still intently waiting for that thing to bounce off the wall and come back at you. Oh yeah. 96 minutes and 10 seconds. The third longest game in game seven NHL history. Right. So, when you’ve got 43 saves, 96 minutes of net time, how does that play for a guy like Jordan Bennington? He’s he is a finely tuned athlete and I’m sure he was tired, but I’m sure he was definitely he knows these over game overtime games are going to come up and he knows how to handle it and he knows how to prepare his body for it. um the best thing for them and the best thing that I’ve always done and I I’ve been in games that have gone overtime and even just games now where I’ve gotten older like I know I need more potassium. I need I know but the main thing I know is I need to change I need to get into a dry shirt and it’s so nice we have the wicking material now and I need my gloves to be dry because they start getting soggy and heavy and then they start almost falling off like when you make a save and that’s one of the things you’ll see every goalender every time a puck comes into the zone you’ll see each goalie tighten his gloves. Almost every goalie in the NHL pushes his gloves tighter onto his hand and gets ready because you’re sweating so much and mine are cranked on like I I’ve seen Yeah. I’ve had the the all the straps. There are multiple straps that actually physically set it on your arms. Yeah. And my catcher is not coming off. Like if I get into a fight, I need I need a couple minutes to undo some buttons. Oh. To get it off the fight. My blocker will come off. My blocker comes off easy, but my catch glove is strapped on tight. But as you get like even at my age, at the end of an hourlong practice, I’m soggy. And that’s and those he gets soggy. And that’s that’s the problem. Your gear doesn’t move. exactly how it moved in the first period. Like if you’re in the fifth period, it’s it’s a lot harder. So that’s the best thing they do is they go in, they rehydrate. A lot of times I’ve seen guys in especially in the NHL level get IVs. Um back when we had the AHL, I I would help the Grizzlies out by giving some of those guys IVs during playoffs. Okay. So yeah, it’s but it is tough and you like you said and like I told you before you went on the ice, they’re like, “What do you expect?” I I said, “I expect he needs a drink of water within the first five minutes.” Interesting because goalending pulls so much sweat out. I’ll sweat 10 to 14 pounds a game. That’s crazy. Yeah. And the Grizzlies weigh weigh us in and weigh us out or they did a long time ago. Oh, there’s like six layers on you. Oh, yeah. And you’re constantly crouched. The anxiety and intensity of just anticipating that puck coming at you. Yeah. Is got to be high level insane. Yeah. It’s it’s crazy. So, uh, I’m I’m not I’m not going to pat myself on the back too much, but coming out of OT1, I sent out a tweet coming out of OT1 and I said, I expect Winnipeg to end this in OT2. A couple reasons. Um, one of the biggest was it being in Winnipeg and having your fan base. I I think that that plays huge even though apparently in game sevens it doesn’t. Yeah. Kind of a weird factor, but yeah, normally home ice is better for you. So I I figured home ice and the fact that at least Connor Hellabuk was able to come off the ice for three to four minutes on empty net and at least catch a a break or two. Now I know that you go through one OT and that’s a a short time but I got to imagine as things went by because they scored the first two goals in the first period. Yeah. And then it just went dry. And I don’t know how much that was Hella Buck and how much that was what the Blues were doing, but I felt like Hellabuk had to started to feel really confident seeing his team having the empty net getting through OT and I was like and then being at home I was like now Winnipeg’s going to end this. Yeah, I I was really and Winnipeg really dominated the rest of the game. The thing my only thing was I Helauck had so much pressure on him. He’s a Vzna. So he’s he’s up for the best goalie of the year again, which he’s been over the last couple years, and that’s the Vzna trophy. And in this series, every loss was hanged on him. And so can I throw in one more? Yeah. Has he been a part of the first or the last three exits in the first round? Yes. So he was their goalie in the last Oh, yeah. He’s been there. Because people need to know Winnipeg is is it is it three straight? I think it was three straight. Yeah. Three straight first round exits. But and again, so and there was a thing that came out that said, “All right, out of the 40 goalies that started 30 or more games this season, Hella Buck was the only one that hadn’t been pulled during a game.” And then he was pulled three times in this playoff series, all three on the road. So you you start to doubt your goalender a little bit. The crowd was starting to doubt him. And right off the bat, so in the first overtime, uh, Winnipeg got a few shots and then you saw they came down and they they added like a really good scoring opportunity, it was a threeon-one and Helabuk came way out, super aggressive and confident and stopped the puck almost at almost at the faceoff dot and stopped a shot from coming. And I was like, okay, that to me tells me one that Hellabuk is engaged maybe a little bit too much so sometimes cuz sometimes you you got to go back to the basics before you start exploding out like that. Was that on that straightaway? There was one that came just off to the left. Off to his glove side. Um and then there was another one where the the guy came down and he passed from St. Louis. He should have shot. It’s it’s like battle, man. If you get into that zone and you get if you get past the puck and you’re in the middle, you got to one time it. You got to go. You got to got to fire it cuz something’s going to happen. Whether the goalie makes a save and there’s a rebound or it goes in or deflects like how many how many of those goals were deflections? Yeah, deflections are killer. Y So yeah, I I think I think you were right in thinking the Winnipeg was going to win it. I was believing that Winnipeg was going to win it. I was actually I want like this is the other weird thing. The head coach of the St. Louis Blues is a former Grizzly. The head coach of the Winnipeg Jets is a former Grizzly. Utah Grizzly. That’s great. I didn’t know that. Yeah. And the assistant coach of the St. Louis Blues, former Grizzly. The GM for the Winnipeg Jets, former Grizzly. So, it’s like for me, I had a lot of both. Like, there’s tie-ins both ways, right? Um, so I wasn’t I didn’t really have a dog in the fight. I wanted both teams to win, but I just was feeling so bad for Hella Buck that I needed him to win. I So, and I think they should go back to being the favorites. Well, I wanted the Blues to win because, you know, an 8-1 upset is always great, you know. Yeah, of course. And seeing the Blues come from obscurity and have to put was it a 12game win streak together just to sniff the postseason. And if they would have unseated the president’s trophy winner, then then I could continue to believe in my mind, well, anything can happen for the Utah Hockey Club. Well, and that’s what what you were saying before is that shows us like we were competing with St. Louis. We knew and I think I came on here and said one team needs to go on a 10ame streak. Yeah, you did. One game one team needs to go on a 10 10ame streak whether it’s Utah, St. Louis, or Colorado or Calgary. One of those teams needs to go on a 10ame streak to make the playoffs. St. Louis did it and then they looked almost unbeatable. But that’s going to show you how close Utah is to being that good of a team. And all right, if St. St. Louis would have won last night. Winnipeg kind of looks, it makes them look like a joke because they would have been eliminated the first round again. But that solidifies that wild card. It solidifies the West. It says, you know, Utah Hockey Club is right there. And it now just what’s what’s the piece we need to get us over the top? What’s the next piece we need? That’s why I wanted St. Louis to win that. Yeah. See, I I not that they had to win it for me to believe it, but I the whole time I’m like, geez. And it’s crazy cuz that was back-to-back game sevens that were they were down by two in the first period. Crazy. And I did tweet this too. I thought that the Dallas fans were more disruptive and rowdy than the Jets fans. Yeah, probably. Dallas was crazy. And they’ve got that arena just highlevel tricked. It is so sweet. The green lights up the steps and the fans interaction. And I’m just hoping that Ryan Smith can kind of capture there. There’s something about the the visual of it when you’re watching it on TNT or you’re watching it on ESPN and you’re seeing that arena, you know, that’s Dallas’s arena, right? You there’s no confusing. I’m watching Winnipeg and they’re all in white and the Blues were in whites. The the St. Louis Blues were in whites and it’s like, hey, you’ve colorcoded to the opposing team and you know, you’ve got your darks and I’m not sure if you’re in Winnipeg or if you’re in St. Louis. If I didn’t know the two, I I wouldn’t have known. And the crowd wasn’t separating enough. It’s like, man, I think you’ve got an opportunity. There’s something beautiful about NHL postseason. Yeah. To really make it your own. And I think Ryan Smith can do that. I think he can, too. and he sent people everywhere to look at like and he hired a company that’s done this for a long time and that’s converted other buildings and he you know even when we were first starting to do this I went to Vegas he wanted to report on the fan experience what was the fan experience like in Vegas how can we make that here so I know cuz that’s ridiculous yeah and I know that’s the intent right that’s why they’re just going to have a place where you don’t even have have a ticket you can go hang out insideish you’re not going to be in the Delta Center but you’re going to be in an area that’s warm enough that in January you don’t mind it and you’ll be able to watch. It’ll be like a watch party right there and then they might have watch parties for road games. So, they’re trying to make this inclusive environment where everybody can come and enjoy the game and he wants it to be the loudest and he’s going to have what they call the wall of fans and it’s going to be right up on top of you. I imagine the lights are going to be amazing. You know, he’s at every NBA game. He’s watching tons of NHL games. So, I imagine And he’s got that young vision. Yeah. And he just loves it, right? He’s just Those young tech guys love lights. Oh, he loves And so I I think we’re gonna have coolers. Yeah, 100%. Um and then yeah, eventually we’ll create our own thing. I know a lot of fans wanted to start our own white out, which I really drove me nuts. The white out has a long history in Winnipeg. It’s because of a farmer that tried to go to a playoff game and got driving his tractor to the arena and got caught in a white out. And didn’t make it. Didn’t live. Yeah. So that’s Oh, he didn’t live. No, he didn’t live. He didn’t make the game. He didn’t live. Open air tractor. It’s Yeah. It’s a tribute to him. So that’s where that heritage goes back. So something will hopefully not as sad as losing somebody, but something will find us and that’ll be our tradition and it’ll be the Delta Center and the Delta Center is going to be loud and proud and we’re going to have playoff hockey here soon. Yeah, we got to find it before we get there. So we’re we’re we’re sure in it because something will come because the environment plays a big role. Yeah, in my opinion. Um, from what I understand, Utah Hockey Club fans, you’re gonna have the base lower bowl for the 25 26 season, right Jay? I mean, this is going to be you’re you’re going to be completed on your lower bowl. If anybody that’s driving by Delta Center right now, you see the fences are up and reconstruction has began. From what I understand, it will be your implemented lower bowl. Yeah. And that’s for 26 5 26 zero obstructed seats in the lower bowl for next season. um this amazing retractable system. I don’t know if if everybody watched the video. Yeah. I mean, the plan is to make it just amazing and then in year after this season, we’ll have same things happening in the upper bowl. And the plan is within the next three years, zero obstructed seats. You’ll be able to see everything. They’re raising the ice. So, even upper bowl, you’ll be able to see the nets better. Uh they’re doing everything and ramping up to eventually about 17,000, right? Yep. Which surprises me. I I in the initial talks we were talking 19,000. Yeah, it’s tough. But you know 17,000 in that building is going to be unreal. The 11 plus has been loud and proud. You you just got to keep the the 17,000 loyal fans. Okay, so you’ve been to Vegas and and you’ve watched that crowd interact in different occasions. Out of Let’s just for a round number. Out of 10,000 fans, how many are Golden Knight fans? Man, I you know what I’m asking. Yeah, I know exactly. So, everybody that I was sitting around in the last few games were hardcore Golden Knights fans and none of them were for Vegas. They were like literally everybody on the row that I sat in, I went to four games last year and they were all from Utah and I didn’t know that till the third game in. Um, it seems like the majority of of the lower bowl of those seats that you thought were just going to be handed out to VIPs or whatever, turns out they’re all decked out in in uh Vegas night stuff and that they’re fans. And then you do get the the occasional out of town VIP, but from what I saw, I thought they were mostly Knights fans because I was able to get out to 12 13 games this year. Yeah. Um, for the hockey club and and had a blast. By the way, just in uh in-person sports observation, it doesn’t get better. It It’s just And and now my wife’s hooked. Nice. And my wife does not like sports. An expensive habit, but yeah, it is. But she’s she’s hooked on NHL, which is awesome because I’d love it. So, we’ll have some fun in years to come. But that that fan experience is is is critical to have your fan base. And I will tell you, after having gone to an Avalanche game here at Delta, a Leafs game here at Delta, a Penguins game at Delta, there were way too many opposing fans. Yeah. Way. Especially with Avalanche. Yeah. Way, way too many. I don’t I don’t know how I thought the I I thought it was worse with Red Wings, but yeah, I I was there for the Red Wings, too. And yeah, it was it was crazy for the Red Wings, but how do you prevent that? Because you don’t that’ll leak into the postseason. You can’t let another team take over your arena. I honestly don’t mind it. And I and you know, I think it just adds to it as long as we handle it right. And I’ve been the other fan. You know, I’ve worn a San Jose Sharks Joe Pavski jersey who was a friend of mine and I took six or eight Utah kids to a Detroit Red Wings game and we all wore Sharks jerseys and you know, you get chirped a little bit, but it’s all good fun. And then eventually like people were buying us, you know, nachos and snacks and stuff and like if you handle it right, I think it’s a good time. I don’t mind, you know, especially where Utah’s new in in so we all had our own fa, you know, our own favorite team before. And one of the guys compared it to like having two sons, like he’s been a Red Wings fan his entire life and his name’s Bryce Manik. And they they fly to Red Wings games and they they they’ve been him and his brother have been Red Wings fans. have known them since they’re seven or eight years old and they’ve always loved the Red Wings and now they love Utah Hockey Club and now they both go to both games and they’re like I you know I I just cheered for both and that’s fine. You’ll outgrow that. I promise that you’ll outgrow that. I promise that Utah will be your one and only. But for right now, you know, this is our our second wife. A lot of us were already married and and happily moving along. So right now we we we kind of still like the old wife, but we’ve got the new wife that we’re pretty excited about. Well, we need the new wife to take us to the postseason, which would be the altar, you know, like% let’s let’s get this thing sealed and and done because I can tell postseason brings a different level of fandom to that logo. All right, we’ll take a quick break. We’ll come back, wrap things up with Jay Stevens, 975, the KSL Sports Zone. You’re locked on to Han Soul and Scotty Chin. That’s right. On 975, the KSL Sports. Man, we didn’t even get to talk about that Stars Avalanche game seven. Amazing. Avalanche scored two and then they can’t find anything and the Stars go on a fourcore run. Yeah. And they end it in regulation. One of them was an empty net. Audrey was amazing. Like he he made some some huge saves, but the the Mo Rantin story that is going to be told forever and ever. Like the Avalanche got rid of him and it came down to $500,000 difference. Oh my gosh. They didn’t want to give the guy like he was making n something this year. He should have made 12 next year. He said he’d take 10 something and they had they you know, but they already had their big stars on big contracts and they’re like, “Well, we don’t want to give you that much.” So they instead of coming back, they didn’t even come back to his agent. They just traded him and he ends up killing him. Hat tricked him. Tell me that doesn’t cost you $2 million over the next few years. Getting blown out of the playoffs. Busted. And probably more years to come. Yeah, cuz that dude is hot. Oh, yeah. Um, we’ve got a big one tonight. Panthers and Leafs. I don’t think there’s going to be a better series in the second round, personally. Right. You’re correct. Um, this is speed versus physicality. This is this is the New York Yankees of the NHL, you know, facing Florida. I don’t know who to compare it to at the Major League Baseball, but don’t say the Marlins. Don’t I I’m not supposed to say the Marlins. Oh, it’s just this is the team that all the money and all the funding and everybody wants to play for. They’re the historic team. They’re torn apart in the media every day. There’s no more pressure cooker than being in Toronto. And then you got Florida who, like I’ve said before, is just built for playoffs with Kachchuck and Reinhardt. And I really, really hope uh our future center Sam Bennett, I hope he goes out there, and wins another cup before he comes to Utah. Like, I’m just th I keep throwing that out there. I’m going to I’m going to will it into reality. I hope that’s who Utah picks up. The other potential on that would be uh the fact that everybody thinks we’re going to get Mitch Marner. He’s the other unrestricted free agent who’s a big name, but I don’t think Utah that’s not what Utah needs. Like he’s a phenomenal player, but that’s not what Utah needs. But yeah, this playoff speed against grit, you know, you’ve got pressure against the guys that live on the beach. So, it’s it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be physical. Your other ones, Hurricanes, Capitals, that takes off tomorrow. Oilers, Golden Knights, that takes off to tomorrow. And then we got to wait till Wednesday to get a Stars Jets match up. Got to let Jets rest up a little bit after 97 minutes on the ice. And and Dallas, too, went to a game seven. I mean, those guys exhausted everything they had. I think it’d be fine just to play them tomorrow. They would. Yeah, I I think Coach Tney would say it. Let’s make it. You know, this is the playoffs. Like, they’re lucky that that’s the way the TV schedule just fell into place. But yeah, watching the playoffs for the next few weeks is all you should be planning on doing because it’s just going to get better and better. Jay, you’re the best. I love being here. Yeah, thanks for coming in. Thanks for being excited about hockey. No better insight. If you didn’t catch the beginning parts with Jay, he did break a little bit of news. The Grizzlies are going to be in a partnership with Utah Hockey Club and uh the depth of that is yet to be released, but it’s going to be a three-way partnership with the Avalanche, the Grizzlies, and the Utah Hockey Club. It’s going to play big. Excited to get the news on that and so much more. That’s Jay Stevens. All right, that wraps it up. Hans and Scotty, let’s send it off to JJ and Alex coming up next.
• Utah Hockey Club insider Jay Stevens in-studio for an hour talking NHL playoffs, Utah Hockey Club latest, offseason needs + MORE
