🔴 Dallas Stars Offseason + Glen Gulutzan HIRING 🏒 Fanatics View Hockey Show

🔴 Dallas Stars Offseason + Glen Gulutzan HIRING 🏒 Fanatics View Hockey Show

Welcome back to another edition of the Fanatics View Hockey Show. Back-to-back shows this week. You’re getting plenty of entertainment and happy to have on one of our favorites here. You know him from Fanatics View. He’s also part of the Texas uh podcast as well, Travis Tyler back here on the program live on vacation right now and he’s making some time. Travis, how you doing, man?
Yeah, it’s good. It’s a nice little break from vacation, honestly.
Yeah, it’s good. Uh never bad to talk some hockey. Of course, we want to focus this uh show mainly on the Dallas Stars. That’s why we love having you on here. Of course, you’re on the beat all the time covering things and uh you got a new coach uh for the Dallas Stars. Let’s start there first. Uh Glenn Goldson, someone that I’m quite familiar with here in Vancouver. He was an assistant coach for a year, was an assistant with Edmonton. He’s actually returning to Dallas. People forget he was a coach before for them. Um what do you make of this hire? Because I had heard for about, you know, a couple months uh when Dbor was fired. I shouldn’t say a couple months, I guess a month since the the playoffs were over that they wanted to hire internally. Um but then they go with Golson who obviously was with um Edmonton. So, what was this a surprise or is this something you were kind of expecting as far as the coaching hire goes?
Um, the hire wasn’t really unexpected once you started hearing things what was going on. Um, and the possible candidates. The first time I heard his name mentioned as a possible candidate, I was like, there’s no way they’re going to do that again. Jim Jim fired him when he first got here. There’s absolutely no way. But uh then the more you you heard it was he was became one of the prime candidates and the way Jim Nil was talking when they introduced him today it sounded like they were waiting for him to be able to interview him after the playoffs and make the decision then. Um so it’s it’s a interesting hire. I I I don’t think it pleased a lot of people to when he said he didn’t want to go backwards and didn’t want to do any kind of like retreads or anything and then you go and hire the guy that you fired in 2013 that’s not going to sit very well with anybody. But then at the same time you got to look at it um you know people around the team from people who have been around the team since then say that any coach would have failed with the situation he was in. The roster was bad. there was no ownership, no front office. Um, it was just a a terrible situation. Um, and then he straight up addressed that he’s become a different coach since then. So, we’ll, you know, jury is going to be out until the performances actually happen. But, um, you know, it’s it’s kind of a wait and see approach here. But, it was definitely interesting hire.
Yeah. Um, I mean, and and I’m just looking at the record here, you see, uh, you know, not only coached the Dallas Stars for two years, also with the Texas Stars as well. So four years with the organization back in ’09 uh starting at09 uh 2010 and then uh obviously let go in 2012 2013 and you’re right I was just looking at that roster like Louis Ericson was on there who everyone in Vancouver knows a lot about um not not a strong team you know Brendan Morrow back on the team I mean this was ages ago so much different squad there um I want to go all the way back though to Peter Dbor you know we um obviously we talked about this on the show uh when the um you know the the Dallas was ousted we actually didn’t get a chance to talk after uh Dallas lost I think both of us were pretty surprised that Dallas went out the way they did, but I just don’t understand the reasoning with Peter Dbor at that season end presser. Like I don’t know if he was fed up or what the deal was, but he basically threw his players under the bus. And I kind of figured there was some loyalty there from management to Pete Dbor, you know, that he was untouchable despite what he said, but I think when you throw your goalender under the bus, the goalender is not leaving. The coach is much easier to get rid of. So, um, did you kind of feel after that presser at the end of the year that he was gone just because of the fact he put the blame on the players? Um, I don’t I felt like that when he said that and then when they when they started talking to the when everybody else started talking to the media, it kind of sounded like it the media was blowing it out of proportion and they were trying to just kind of dispel any rumors and everything like that. Um, but I wasn’t surprised they ended up letting him go. I mean, like you said, it’s a lot easier to let the coach go than than a all-star caliber goalie. Um, and it’s not the first time that he’s done that to a goalie either. So, it’s kind of become a pattern, unfortunately. Um, I didn’t, but when they let him go, I didn’t think that there was really anybody out there that they were going to be able to hire that was going to be able to do better. So, it was it was
um was a interesting call, I guess, just to just from that standpoint. But, as Jim Nil said, it’s his job to push them to be better and to get to the next level. And when you’re when you’re getting ousted in the playoffs at during the in the same round, kind of in the same manner against pretty much the same teams every year, something’s got to change. didn’t one of the easiest things to do was to change the coach in the NHL.
Yeah. And and I I think it was the right move. Um you know, again, uh you know, we talked before that series. I thought that was going to be competitive. In fact, I thought Dallas was probably going to end up winning that one. But I do think there were some questionable things, especially in game seven. You pulling so early. You go with Casey to Smith. I I mean, is that a bit reactionary? I don’t know. I’m not saying that, you know, if they kept Ager in that game’s going any differently. I just thought it was a bit odd that he had such a short lease on oner in game seven. Um, but you’re right, it sort of a change was needed. Um, you know, I got this one completely wrong. I as soon as Dbor was fired, I thought they would go with someone like experienced that has head coaching experience. The name that the name that immediately came to mind and I didn’t hear a lot of people talking about it. Maybe there’s something I don’t know about this, but I thought Peter Lavilet would have been a good choice. Uh, you know, a guy that’s won a cup American as well. Uh, veteran coach, veteran experience. Now, obviously he lost the locker room a bit in New York uh towards the end. That was ultimately his undoing in with the Rangers. Uh, but you look at that season before they went to the Eastern Conference Finals. Um, he’s been with a lot of successful teams from Nashville to I mean, you name it, Lavy’s been out there at all. I’m a bit surprised they didn’t at least give him an interview or give him an opportunity. The other name I wonder, and I don’t know if he was interviewed or there was any options, is Jay Woodraftoft because Woodcraft was the head coach of the Oilers prior to uh Knoblock coming in and replacing him. uh he’s a guy that I know has a pretty good reputation as well where you know I I don’t know if you heard anything as far as some other candidates but it didn’t seem like any of those bigger names were really in the mix uh before hiring Goldson.
Right. And I was kind of surprised on Woodcraftoft too because he won a cup in Detroit with Jim Nil. So
that’s right. Oh yeah, good point. Yeah.
Um but yeah, they they kind of kept it tight lipped. I didn’t I wasn’t hearing anything. I mean I’m not super plugged in like insider type reporter or anything like that. I know for sure
they I I I said to Taylor and my co-host Trevor like, “Isn’t this the weirdest coaching search you’ve ever seen?” I It’s We’re two weeks in and I haven’t even heard a name other than what people are speculating from the first press conference.
Um, and then those ended up being the names that were there. But yeah, you didn’t really hear anything about who they were interviewing for a while, when they were going to make their decision. I mean, even when Golitzson was announced as the the uh the new coach or it was determined that he had been given the offer, it still took them a couple days to make the official announcement that he was taking the reigns. So, um, it was a very one of the weirdest coaching searches that I can remember just from the fact that nothing got out, which is a huge credit to Jim Nil to just keep that under wraps and kind of keep it secretive like that because
most of the times you you got rumors going everywhere. There wasn’t even like like a lot of times there’ll be other coaches trying to fix their reputations to be like, “Hey, you’ll go to their agent be like, hey, put my name in the ring for this job just so people know I’m looking or whatever.” And there wasn’t even that with this from what I could from what I could tell.
Yeah. And it’s weird too because it would be a coveted job. I mean, no state tax, you’ve got the, you know, obviously the great environment. Um, you know, that’s one of the things I know nil and the entire organization prides himself on is like a good locker room, right? And like you want to get character guys. So, I mean, that seems like a great situation to be in. You’ve got a team that’s close, right? Like if you look at this roster top to bottom, especially getting Miko Rantin, like this is a team that is, you know, right there. I don’t know why there wasn’t more of that. Uh, you know, as far as candidates. Last thing I’ll just mention on candidates. Uh Taylor and I were kind of joking because uh obviously I was keeping an eye on the AHL playoffs. You had um you know Texas and Abbottzford playing in the in the West final. Absur goes on. They end up winning everything. I’m surprised Manny Mho wasn’t in the mix. Taylor thought for sure he was going there. I was like man I hope not cuz like I thought the Conucks should have hired him to be honest. He has ties to the organization with Vancouver. Obviously played for Dallas as well but uh you look at his assistant coaching uh resume with Vancouver with Toronto. Uh gets a Calder Cup final. We just saw another Calder Cup winner recently get hired by an organization in Marco Sturm. He’s now with Boston. Um I’m surprised he was not even considered either. I know the Cup didn’t wrap up that long ago, but at least put his name in the mix. Did that surprise you a bit?
Yeah. Uh I mean I think when the odds came out, he was actually the favorite. Uh so that that did surprise me that I never heard his name about anything.
Um especially since he’s a former Stars player himself, too. So, it uh I I definitely expected him to be mentioned in the mix and you didn’t see very much of that. It just seemed honestly it was Glitzen and uh and Neil Graham pretty much the whole time.
That’s what I heard too. And now they’re both on the bench because they hired Graham as an assistant, too. So,
Oh, interesting. And do we know the rest of the staff yet? That kind of leads me into my next question. Obviously, you watched the presser, took took took tabs on that. What’s um what what what did you get out of the presser and what what’s the staff going to look like? Do we know that yet? Yeah. So, I would have to look up the tweet for the full uh
Oh, no worries. I’ll go I’ll go look it up right now. But, um yeah, I was just curious kind of how Yeah.
Yeah. I know Neil Graham’s taking one. There’s one assistant coaching job uh open. I know. Okay. Uh Reese, the goalie coach is staying, so it was Elaine Nazerine. Um and they brought Neil Graham up. And then I don’t know what the
Yeah, no worries. I’m trying I’m trying to look for it now. I’m sure we’ll find it at some point throughout the show. But uh yeah, interested to see what the rest of that staff looks like. I know there’s a few candidates out there looking for work right now, so we’ll see if they get added. Uh what did you make of the presser? Again, there’s some familiarity there with uh Goldson and and the organization. Uh did he come across well? What’s sort of the I guess too like you know, what was your takeaway and what do you think the reception overall has been to them going with this hire? I I think the reception at first was like really this guy again for a lot of people and I saw a lot of fellow Dallas reporters that again were around the organization back then saying you know calm down this is a completely different situation.
Um and he kind of I I I think he won the press conference pretty easily. He he addressed that. He he kind of made a joke that 12 years ago Jim Niel sent him on an undercover mission to Western Canada and last week he found out he was coming back when he didn’t think he was ever going to come back. Um so he was he was kind of having fun with it when when he was asked about the about all the everything from before and all all the expectations and he said you know obviously I expected these type of questions and that thing and then he talked about just being a different team. I mean, asking players to do more. Uh, one of the things that stood out to me was that he wants them to be more physical. He said that, uh, playing in the in the cup finals taught him that it’s less X’s and O’s and more like you need to be ready for hand-tohand combat. So, he wants more handtohand combat from everybody was the quote that I got out of that. So that should be music to stars fans ears because after that Edmonton series, they looked like they were dead in the water and just like nobody retaliating from the the rupees slash and everything and that sounded like it would be something that would go differently under Gulletson. So u that was something that I I took away. And he also mentioned that when he was here before he probably wasn’t quite ready and that’s what Jim Neil told him and he was like yeah Neil Jim was right and all the experience that he’s had since then um with you know Vancouver with Calgary with Edmonton work he’s worked under Hall of Fame coaches now said he’s said back then he really only knew one system and wasn’t one way to play and only one way to play hockey and there wasn’t you know that didn’t that didn’t let make adjustments very easily and that’s something that we were wanting from Pete Dbor was a lot of adjustments being made and now he said that he’s comfortable making those adjustments because he knows different systems and he knows what fits what and uh he also said he was going to be more collaborative with the players with creating the system that they’re going to play and you know every coach says they’re going to create a system that fits the players that’s you know straight up coach speak and everything but uh it it was a lot of there were a lot of good things to take away from that and and uh it seemed like Taylor texted me after and he was like, “I’m sold.” So that that that’ll tell you there’s uh it seemed like he he quieted some critics on there and he knows what he’s up against. But then again, we’ll know for sure when he hits the ice. And if if I said this on our show the other day, um if there’s a slow start, the the fans are going to be quick to turn on him because of what happened before and what and what he did in Calgary. Um it’s not a successful track record, but I just think for now he won over a few of his critics.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think a players coach is what’s needed. Um you know, we we saw at the end of the year players were not happy with Dbor and his comments and and everything else. And you could even just tell sort of leading up to what the inevitable I mean we kind of knew it was inevitable at a certain point in the series that Edmonton was going to win and you just saw the players body language the way they were talking it seemed like there was just sort of a loss identity in the room and hopefully uh Golden can come in there and bring a little bit of positivity. Reminds me a bit of when you know Vancouver went through all their changes a couple years ago. Travis Green was you know sort of a hard-nosed coach and they brought Bruce Brujo in and everyone was happy because you know he’s a play he’s a he’s a fun guy to be around and all that and we we saw the coaches bump with that when that inevitably happened. So, we’ll see if something similar happens there. Uh, let’s take a quick look at the Dallas Stars lineup right now. Obviously, one name that we’re keeping an eye on and I don’t know if there’s still maybe actually we’ll kind of kind of start there first. Is Jason Robertson. Do you think that’s still something they’re looking at at getting rid of at this point? Um, we’re not, you know, I think a lot of teams um are kind of handcuffed right now. We we see the free agent class at the time of recording this. I mean, there’s just not a lot out there for teams to improve, but there are ways that they could make trades. Do you get a sense that Robertson’s someone they still want a deal or or do you think that uh they’re going to ride this this ship because it’s just hard to make trades right now?
I think that’s cooled off more and they would want to move one of their one of uh their fencemen with Dumbar or Labouchkin more than that uh to clear clear some cap space because right now they’re about 1.8 million over the cap.
So they need like I they signed that Radix Fox contract. I was like okay that’s nice but uh they didn’t have the money for that. So, they got to clear something out out there. And the the amount of money that he signed for kind of adds up to what those two defensemen are each making. So, it would make sense a little more sense for those two who are in and out of the lineup to get shipped off to somebody who’s willing to pay for them than getting rid of your first line left wing.
Yeah. Yeah. I think something will have to give here. Uh Dumba’s a name I wonder if they look at maybe moving at this point. I know he didn’t really have uh you know much success that there might be some salary retention there. I don’t know. They’re going to have to figure out something here. You’re right, they are over the cap right now. Um and teams are sort of still figuring out their lineup. So maybe there’s some sort of wiggle room there. Um you know the the moves they made, I mean the big move for you guys I think in the offseason and this was um you know I think for a lot of teams was resigning Matt Duchain. Um you know it’s been a good fit for the organization. Pretty good cap number as well. What did he end up coming in at? I’m trying to remember.
It’s four years for 18 million. So
yeah. So, I mean, he does get a bit of a bump, right? Because it was just one-year deals and kind of feeling it out, but I think it’s been a good fit for him. Uh, you look at what he would have probably got on the market. I mean, you saw Mel Granland, who you guys had last year, 7 million a season. Like, usually when you get older, your contracts go down, but he’s getting this, you know, getting the bank here for Anaheim, but it speaks to just the weak free agent class and just not a lot of options available. So, I think Duchain at 45 is actually a pretty good number for you guys. um and then you know Colin Blackwell. But I think for the most part um you know this is a roster that’s probably going to end up looking uh like what we’re seeing here on opening night. Uh do you expect many changes other than obviously dumping some cap?
No, I don’t think so. I think I mean they said yesterday um that their big splash move was made at the trade deadline which was Randon obviously.
M Ronin. Yeah, exactly. Um, I mean, you look at that that top six is pretty solid. That third line I think is better than it than a lot of people were expecting. Um, Sam Steel’s got some energy and then you got whatever Jamie Ben can bring with his leadership and and you know playing he’s always healthy pretty much so playing pretty much all those games. And then you got Maverick Bour continuing to learn from those. I mean he’s got supposed to have great scoring ability and speed. didn’t quite show up quite translate in the in his first year. Um, but there’s a lot of energy on that line and whatever offensive production you can get from them is going to be pretty good. I think those two surrounding Sam Steel could bump his offensive numbers, too. Um, and then Fox I think Foxa coming back, he kind of almost had the kind of energy that Blackwell was bringing to that lineup, too. So, you kind of got two of him now on that fourth line. Um, but Fox obviously uh older, well maybe not older, but more experienced and and more familiar with the team and and has had a little bit more success in his career. And then uh Bach obviously another guy learning from those guys. So I think I think it’s pretty solid. I they they’re definitely could have done a worse job on those. No. And I I think they’re good. And then the other big thing with Dallas and it’s always been this way is sort of their prospect pool. you look at the Texas Stars made the finals like they’ve got some good uh names in the pipeline as well that you know again I think this roster is pretty much set for the most part so we’ll kind of keep an you know an eye on you know any trades like I said it’ll probably just be like sort of a cap dump here as well in terms of some of the um you know some of the moves they make obviously uh one of the other names Danonov who’s with you guys he just signed I think with New Jersey um yeah kind of quiet on the Dallas but like you said most of the heavy lifting done before free agency opened up here um let’s move away from the stars a little bit a lot of signings yesterday. We haven’t had a chance to talk about some of the some of the ones here. I mean, I’m not going to go through all of them, but uh we’ll start with Mitch Marner. I kind of figured Vegas was going to be a destination for him just because of the fact that, you know, they’re a good team. They’re playoff team. Not as much media pressure. Um and Vegas once again swinging for the fences and getting, you know, uh uh kind of kind of getting their guy like it all kind of worked out with Petra Angelo. You know, it’s unfortunate what’s going on with um you know, his health. Doesn’t look like he’s going to play again, but uh Vegas looks pretty set with Marner. Was that kind of what you were expecting as far as MNER uh you know leaving Toronto and going elsewhere?
Yeah, I mean once I mean you knew he was probably out. Um and once it came out that he was probably headed to Vegas a lot of people were probably like how the heck did they do pull that off? But then uh you know once once he once he was headed there he kind of expected him to sign a contract like that. Um, a lot of these guys aren’t signing those eight-year deals and they’re more like five, six year deals now, but he’s one of those players that you you kind of want to lock up for that long term. Um, so yeah, we talked about Vegas going in. By the way, time we’re recording this, still no word on Nikolai Eers and where he’s going to end up. If I had to kind of guess, probably Carolina would be the fit there. They’ve got the cap room. Um, and then they’ve they’ve been trying to find that impact forward with the whole, you know, Rankin, Miko Rantin and thing kind of falling apart. They did lock up Logan Stanovven. I saw that uh deal yesterday. That’s looking like a contract that’ll age well. They also got Kandre Miller from the Rangers, I’m assum Brett Burns. Um any other like kind of things that really stood out to you yesterday? I mean, we were just seeing guys getting paid like, you know, Tanner Jano, uh Proverb going for, you know, 8.5. I didn’t see that coming. In fact, I thought he was probably headed to market. Uh anything else really stand out to you with some of the moves we had yesterday? And keeping in mind that you’re on vacation, so you can’t keep track of everything.
Right. Right. I think I mean there wasn’t anything in particular a particular move that really stood out. It was just like it feels like a lot of these guys are getting overpaid based on based on what was there. I mean we talked there was once the market opened up and it was officially go time. There wasn’t a lot left. Everybody had resigned pretty much. So you’re you’re probably looking at the trade market for the biggest splashes now. Um, and yeah, it’s just and it it it also seemed like there were only a couple teams that were pretty active yesterday. Um, so, you know, it’s it’s not a lot to take away from, but yeah. How about the I mean, we got to talk about this. How about the LA Kings? Uh, you know, lock Cody CC was with you guys last year. He’s getting what what did the contract come in? I think four point something.
Same contract as Matt Duchain.
Yeah, it’s it’s crazy that he got 4.5. Like I get he plays a lot of minutes, but like I don’t know if that’s a guy you want to be as like one of your top guys there. You’ve got an aging Drew Dowy, you know, $25 million in cap space to, you know, a couple defenseman. I don’t know, man. I don’t think the Ken Holland era started off too well for the Kings.
Yeah, that’s uh when we recorded uh I don’t think the episode’s out yet, but the Texas Hockey podcast we recorded after everything was done yesterday. And one of the things we touched on was that the LA Kings and I told LA Kings, welcome to the welcome to the Ken Holland experience because that’s exactly what it is. He wants he’s gonna overpay and your name’s going to be out there for a lot of free agents. They’re they’re going to be in a lot of conversations. You might sign them, you might not. I mean, this guy gave Steven Weiss five years, 25 million. And Justin Abdulator is still getting paid by the Red Wings going into the season and he hasn’t played since 2019. So, it’s those are the kind of deals you get within with Ken Holland.
Well, you can’t forget the big one in Edmonton. Aren’t they still paying Jack Campbell? I think
Jack Campbell, too. Yeah. Yeah. I mean that I’m not as familiar with his Edmonton stuff.
Yeah. Yeah. No, no, I just I know that was a big one in Edmonton. People criticized the nurse contract as well. I think nurse is, you know, he’s he’s been serviceable for Edmonton maybe a little high, but uh but yeah, it’s just interesting that they kind of threw all this money. What were you going to say, sir?
Yeah. Well, just in in the cap era, he’s been known to overpay players. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Very often. Very often. Um looking at some other name like I think if you look at um you know, we talked about this yesterday on on the show here. I It’s an interesting time in the NHL because the cap’s gone up. So, teams are willing to spend, but everyone is pretty much buying. So, what you’ve got now is you’ve got teams that are like Vancouver yesterday. I mean, I think if they could have got a center, Brock Besser is probably not back. They keep Besser just to have something that’s going to be a little bit more positive, maybe a little bit more scoring with the team. They didn’t want to go seven years. They go seven years to kind of, you know, appease Besser, get a lower cap hit at 7.2, which is uh, you know, I think I think good. But um it’s like teams are changing their strategy in that they’re trying to keep the guys that they can get. They’re seeing more value in keeping their own players as opposed to going to free agency and overpaying because I don’t like I mean I’m just looking at some of the signings yesterday here. Um a lot of these guys are getting overpaid and they’re probably not going to age that well even with the cap going up. Um have you noticed it’s kind of been a bit of a different year as far as um you know teams trying to improve but also uh there’s just no one available, right? Yeah. Yeah. We said it was uh one of the most boring July 1st we can remember. That’s that’s one of the ways it went. I mean everybody like you mentioned Besser Vancouver saw the value in adding him. Yeah.
It’s interesting that to me that he was willing to go back there.
Yeah. based on what based on what everything that was out there and that how everybody was considering him as good as gone especially when all these guys are a getting overpaid on the market but b he probably would have been the top name out there right now if
yeah him and Eers I think Eer slightly ahead because of the skating but but you’re you’re exactly right he would have been number two and I think today he would have got he would have got way more in the open market I mean he would have got 8 n something like that um TC here says I’m a little bit more excited after hearing him talk talking about Goldson about playing a little bit uh uh turning up the toughness. So, yeah, I think it’ll be interesting to see uh if they can get some of the guys on Dallas to play a little bit more physical. That’s something I noticed, especially the first year they played Edmonton. So, two years ago, Edmonton was a lot more physical in that series. And that’s something that, you know, you got to get guys to step up, play a little bit more, and maybe maybe change the makeup a little bit. I don’t know what that would look like or who’s available, but um it’ll be interesting to see what type of changes uh Dallas can make coaching wise to kind of get that more physical uh you know, presence out there. So, especially for the playoffs. Um, and yeah, by the way, we didn’t even talk about this, but that Rupe Hints thing, that was ridiculous. Um, you know, if that was the other way around, if that was like, you know, Dry Cidle getting hit like that, it would have been a suspension and a and a bigger deal. But
yeah,
you know, there’s there’s some politics going on there, right?
When when Jim Nil was asked about that, too, he defended it and was like, well, it’s it was a like a 2-1 one-1 game. It’s not like we were up six nothing. So, I wouldn’t want them to
to retaliate and do something stupid at that point, which I get, but at the same time, you can’t expect to be up six nothing in a playoff game either.
No, exactly. Yeah.
But um and Golson today did say that he has some tweaks in mind for how they’re going to play, but he wouldn’t reveal what that is. So,
there you go. Keep it close to the vest. That’s good. I wonder if he brings in an older coach for a small role like Tort Circle. I don’t see Tor I I think if Torrs is coming into any organization, it’s got to be like a buddy of his. Like I thought maybe Mike Sullivan would have brought him to New York cuz they they’ve obviously coached together uh in Vancouver. Um and and I think some other uh places as well as far as an assistant. Galant as well. Galant is I thought Galant was an assistant somewhere. Was it St. Louis? I can’t remember. Um no, somebody else is an assistant in St. Louis, I think.
No, no, it’s Claude Julian I’m thinking of is is in St. Louis. That that’s what I’m thinking of. But yeah, I don’t know. Um, like do you get like I guess there’s how many spots open? There’s a couple uh that you said because they obviously hired
Neil G. I think there’s one
one spot. Okay.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. No, no worries. No, no, we appreciate the question TC. You’re not you’re not late at all. And um Yeah. Actually, yeah. Gerard Galant is actually not coaching anywhere. Hasn’t coached since the 22 23 season. So, he’s another name that’s out there that seemed but he’s been fired a lot too as as of late. So, I don’t know how much old coaches.
Yeah. Um Yeah. As far as um Yeah. So kind kind of looking again at free agency and what’s going on. Some other things to kind of keep an eye on, I guess, Bowen Bum’s name’s been out there for Buffalo. Uh we’ve been hearing that there, you know, a trade might be happening here pretty soon. The big thing with Bum obviously, um is is that he wants sort of that that lead role. He wants to play in a team where he can kind of be the guy. Uh this is where, you know, a team like maybe Anaheim or San Jose that’s got the cap room that has the assets might be able to facilitate that. Um so we’ll he sort of a name to keep an eye on. And then like I said, Eers as well. Um I I think I think right now though sort of the heavy lifting’s done. I think there was I mean you look at this yesterday. This is this is just yesterday and today. So I mean there’s just so many signings that has happened uh over the last little bit here and um one I wanted to ask you about too um you know because you follow the wings a bit. Uh the wings getting John Gibson. They’ve had problems in net for the last couple years. I’m curious to see Gibson in a different market if that will pay dividends or not. Yeah, that was a I thought that was a fantastic move because they uh the original asking price from what was reported was a first round pick and a player prospect and they ended up get I think they gave up a future second and a future third or future fourth something like that to get him and you get them two years on the books buy some time for Sebastian Kosa and Trey Augustine the two top goalending uh prospects to develop a little more. I mean, Trey Augustine’s going back to college this year, so that’s how far off he is. So, uh, you know, if you give give them some time to develop and then if if Gibson plays well, maybe you resign him to a shorter deal or you uh if if it doesn’t work out, you move on to these younger guys and see what they got.
Yeah. So, you’re looking at the trade right now, uh, Peter Morazzic, 2026 fourth round pick and 2027 second round pick. I’m a bit underwhelmed by this to be honest if you’re Anaheim. Yeah. Um because you I mean especially with the fact
Well, no, especially with the fact that like there’s aren’t there aren’t a lot of goalenders. Like Edmonton needs to to get a goalender. I don’t think I mean there there is some rumblings they might run it back, but like I don’t know how you can like I would at least switch out one of them whether it’s Skinner or or Picker. Like get a get a different backup combination or something. But um like I figure Gibson could have maybe even netted a first round pick just because he’s you know he’s been a solid goalender for years and the market’s so weak. So I don’t know. It’s going to be interesting.
Yeah. His It’s interesting because his his last two years before last year were probably his worst and then he got better this year.
Yeah.
And the price somehow went down.
Yeah. So yeah, again that a rare Steve Eisermanman good move because it’s uh hasn’t been too good for for Eisman, especially looking back at the whole Jake Walman thing with having to like give a pick to San Jose just to get rid of his contract and him obviously going to the finals with the Oilers. And uh yeah, I’m curious to see what the
A lot of us Detroit fans were not happy with that one. No. W wanted sticking around. So,
well, something happened and Aman won’t address it either. Like they’ve they brought it up.
Nobody will. Nobody will.
Something happened.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You were asking people and people still don’t know. It’s you know, it’s like the JT Miller thing like no one really knows what happened there with I know I know some people who know, but they they’ve said like we can’t talk about it. Like they it can’t. So,
which is tough. We live we live in an age where we want to know everything, right? And it’s like, you know, to not say anything like at least give us something general like, you know, team incident or whatever, you know, I think people are going to keep crying. What’s your opinion on the Robertson talk? Because with the cap, I don’t see us signing anyone else. I think he would help Dallas more as a trade than keeping him. Don’t get me wrong, I like him, but um yeah, what’s your take? Like, should they move? Like, you know, Robertson, I I think you could get a lot of value for him, but then it’s like, how do you replace someone like that? Like, I don’t know. What’s your take on the Robinson thing?
That’s the thing. like it it hurts your top six so much right now. Um because looking at that, you don’t I mean, I guess a couple of those second liners could jump up to the first line, but you don’t really have like a true firstline winger to put in his spot. And I don’t think you’re getting that if you’re don’t if you’re trading them for salary reasons, you’re probably not getting a first line player back. So yeah,
it it’s and with what’s out there, you’re probably not signing one either. So it it makes a little more sense to trade one of those defenseman than to trade Robertson right now.
Well, here’s a prediction I’m going to make right now. I think you’re going to see a lot of trades happen uh like mid like close to the Christmas break. I think what’s going to happen is you’re going to see certain teams that either got off to a bad start or maybe things aren’t working with like certain players and you’re going to see some movement there. In fact, I think that’s what the Canucks are going to be doing right now because basically right now with Vancouver, they didn’t get the second line center they wanted. My understanding is is that, you know, a lot of these teams want some of their good prospects like Tom Vander or Leaki or, you know, Lias Person, the defenseman, Mancini, all these names and CO want to part with them because they’re like they’re really good for the organization and they’ve, you know, they’d rather kind of go elsewhere. Right now, your second line center is Philip Cheetel, which is like a huge liability. He can’t stay healthy. Um, I think they’re hoping that something pans out there. And tying this to Jason Robertson, like you know, maybe things go well and they’re like, “Hey, we’re going to keep them.” Or maybe it doesn’t go well, maybe another team’s got an issue and you do like a swap for swap thing, you know, like like that type of trade where maybe Dallas can get in, you know, a play now player, like a player that can help them now that might be a fit for Robertson. That that type of thing could open up um you know, throughout throughout earlier in the season. I think
that’s the one situation where I can see them considering trading him.
Yeah. And I think you’re going to see a lot of
something that’s going to help you now. It’s not
Exactly. Yeah. Um, and and listen, we’ve seen this every look at like Nashville last year. No one called that Nashville was going to be bad last year. Um, in fact, I’m a little surprised they’re not really selling off any assets or trying to go through a rebuild right now because it’s like, you really think things are going to turn around from last year? Like, it didn’t go well all season. And it’s obvious this combination isn’t working. Like, why are you not exploring, you know, Maraso or Stamp Coast or some of these names that they brought in and and not selling off like that? I don’t get, you know, I don’t know. So, we’ll see. Um and and you know even like like and and again I think there’s more moves to be made. Uh Carolina uh again we’ll see if they end up getting Eers but I still think they need a backup goalender. I think they need to address that a little bit. Nothing against Freddy Anderson and some of the other names they have that other goalie whose name escapes me right now uh that they have but like I just wonder like do you not want to change things a little bit with that team because they’re you know Carolina they I said this was going to happen. They would they can’t get past Florida. So it’s like you got to do something different. You can’t just expect that things are going to get better. Um, you know, I think there are teams like that where they got to figure things out. The Leafs, they need to somehow replace Mitch Marner. Uh, they don’t have a lot of cap room, but maybe they look at making some moves there. I don’t know. I think there’s going to be a lot of movement uh earlier in the season, and you’re going to see some teams that we don’t expect that maybe come off the stumbling block. I’ll call it right now, though, Travis. I think the Kings are going to regress this year for sure. Um, I think they were a bit of a lightning in the bottle last year anyways, and now you got a slower defense. I think that’s going to be really blown wide open next year. That’s just my call on that. So
yeah, I think I mean you’re paying Cody CC four and a half million a year.
I know it’s crazy. Thank you, Kevin Holland. I mean, I’m Listen, as someone who’s, you know, watching the Conucks and, you know, seeing that division like that’s because you got to think like people are like, “Well, who’s going to be out if a team’s going to make the playoffs?” Like, you know, I think with Vancouver as an example, they had everything go wrong last year. Uh they had health issues. You know, it sounds like Demco’s healthy. Like they had 15 overtime losses last year. If you have a healthy Demco for half those games, you’re probably winning some of those. that they were they were super close to making it. I could see a Vancouver getting in, LA being out and I could see some other teams as well maybe regress a little bit like Winnipeg like again they’re they’re another team where it’s like you know they I think if you look at their PDO stats for the year they were a little inflated and you know they always run out of steam in the playoffs like it’s just I don’t know. So and then you know again they lose uh you know a couple key members like they’re going to lose Eers and I think they’ve lost some other names as well. So those are just some things to keep in mind. I feel like with this value they could get a uh get a round and depth. Yeah, I don’t know. Like again, it’s going to depend what the thing you don’t want to do if you’re Dallas though is you don’t want picks unless you’re going to use those picks to flip it um you know to other teams. You know, those trades can be done. Vancouver did that with Pittsburgh, right? When they traded JT Miller, they needed defensive help. They flipped Miller to get a first round pick from the Rangers that ended up they used to get um Marcus Patterson, which by the way, that contract’s looking like gold right now. Marcus Person 5 years, 5.5. Ivan Prov got 8.7. I’d probably take Person over him if I’m being honest as far as like a stable defenseman back there. So, it can be done. It’s just it’s tricky with certain GMs. You have to, you know, use those assets and flip them. And again, some teams are going to be cash strapped as well
because I mean with Dallas, you’re not interested in future assets right now.
No. Exactly. No, you want you want Exactly. You want You want play now thing, but but maybe you do a trade where let’s say there’s a team that’s cash strapped a little bit with the cap. Maybe you do take on some assets uh you know, and do like a three-way trade is kind of what I was getting at. Like I think I think you could give me
No, I understand where you’re getting at. I was just further explaining that’s that’s what they’re No, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, of course Dallas doesn’t want picks. Well, it’s like it’s that that was my thing last year and I know I rag on on them a lot on this show, but Carolina like people talk about how great of a GM they are. They have all these picks, but like you should be like going all in now. This is a core that you know is is you know obviously can get to that level, but you don’t want to also be stuck in the same spot for a couple years. Like they’ve got all this draft capital. You got to use it though. You gota you got to get some impact players and that’s something I think Carolina has missed out on. Um you know especially with you know again Stan Kovven’s great but Stan Kovven I don’t think will have the same impact that Amico Rantin would have right. So that that’s where I think they need to sort of build now. Uh Robertson to Toronto for Carlo add some uh like depth forward or three something. Yeah I mean I don’t know if Toronto um necessarily wants a Jason Robertson at this point. Obviously, his brother plays there, too, but I don’t know if that’s like a thing. And like
is one of the teams that a lot of Dallas fans have thrown out there as a destination because of his brother, I’m guessing. Probably. Probably.
Uh well, some of it was because of Marner with they wanted to flip Robertson as part of
Ah, good point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Mind you, they just acquired Carlo, right? So, I don’t know. Like, and plus it have to take way more than Carlo to just get Jason Robertson. Like, they again, this is what it comes back to what we just said like Toronto would have to give up like, you know, some prospects, but you guys don’t need that. your prospect pool is like really full right now. So it’ have to be like Carlo and like someone else. I don’t know what that would even be right now in the Leafs.
Yeah. Yeah. So we’ll see. Um yeah, but again keep an eye on teams that are uh um you know that that I mean I know the Leafs are trying to get rid of Morgan Riley, but like obviously like that contract’s not looking so good for for other teams. Uh before I let you go, man, because again I don’t want to take up any more of your time. I know there’s probably some lake time right now. How’s the weather in Michigan? Are you going to get out in the water today or what?
It’s all right. Yeah. Yeah. Um, everybody else is out on the boat ride right now, so I’ll
Okay. Well, I won’t keep you much longer. Um, I was going to say, um,
whatever time you need.
Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no problem. No, we’ll wrap things up here. Any other signings or any other names you’re kind of looking at like just just as a whole? Like, do you see any, you know, again, I think things like Eers wants that domino falls. Pew Sudter is another name as well that I would keep an eye on um as far as getting signed. Like he’s not going to be back with Vancouver. Vancouver’s capped out now with the Besser deal. So, um, Pio Sudter’s, you know, I think he’s looking for something like 5 million a season. If you look at his stats, if you look at his like, um, you know, shot percentage, it was something crazy that like won’t be sustainable. So, I think someone’s going to end up overpaying for him and he’s not going to end up living up to that. So, that’s that that’s a fair warning to the teams out there if you do need help. You know,
I feel like there’s a lot of players in this offseason that that’s going to happen with just because the the nature of the market right now. Yeah. Yeah. Well, team teams are going to, you know, they’re kind of desperate. But they need they they want to improve, but they also
build their rosters.
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Uh Marco Rossi, that was one more name I just wanted to mention here. We’ve heard his names out there, but again, like I don’t think there’s a fit. And I think a lot of teams like Vancouver was in on Rossi, but apparently they offered the 15th pick and then they offered a prospect. Minnesota said no. And I’m like, what leverage do you guys have? We know he wants to leave. He’s an undersized center.
Get more than that.
That’s what I’m saying. So, it’s like you’re you’re really handcuff like I think Garren might end up regretting that because it’s he’s basically told everyone that it’s he’s not a long-term fit and they can’t come to terms here. So, we we’ll see if that that’s another name I would keep an eye on. I’m trying to think of any other RFAS where like there’s a situation like that that you could see some movement. Like I said, Byron’s another name that we’re hearing uh could could get moved as well. Uh Travis, I told you, man. I’m not going to keep you any longer here. You go enjoy the rest of your summer. Texas Hockey podcast. Let us know uh when that’s coming out, what you guys talked about, and any other stuff you got coming up because you you do a bunch of different stuff. So, keep your work.
Uh yeah, we so Texas newest episode of the Texas Hockey podcast was recorded last night, so it should be out soon. We talked about the Gulletton hiring and and their free agent signings um and and kind of where their situation is now. So, you’ll be able to find that on the on the Hockey Fanaxity channel. Um, and then uh you can follow me at on uh Twitter. I refuse to call it X. I’ll call it Twitter. Um, I call it Twitter, too.
Tyler Sports. Uh, I’ll be posting all of my articles and interviews and stuff on there. It’ll have links to my, you know, star stuff, my NFL, college football, college basketball, and variety of sports that I put on my Substack channel. And there’s probably a link tree link in there too where you can find all my stuff and everything on that. So very very easily findable if you’re looking.
There we go. Got to get you back on before the season starts and we we can kind of do a preview of the stars. I mean October will be right around the corner so we’ll have to check that out. Uh enjoy the vacation time Travis. Always appreciate the time, man. And uh enjoy the your the week off. Thanks Jeff.
There you go. Travis Tyler, one of our regulars here on the FAX View channel. You can always see his podcast, the Texas Hockey Podcast here on the Fanatics View Hockey Channel. Really good stuff from Travis. Again, uh keeping tabs on the Dallas Stars. We like to get uh people on the show from different markets and um you know, get get sort of the insight there. Again, Travis has been on the beat for a while. Uh keeping tabs on everything. So, always good to get that insight. Uh again, not a ton of talk, not a ton to talk about uh today. We can go over some of the signings here that we have. Um let’s get into uh some of the stuff that we got going on. Uh Curtis Lazar signing with the Edmonton Oilers, of course, uh from uh British Columbia. um originally was with the Devils last couple seasons. Remember the Canucks signed him a couple seasons ago as a depth guy. It didn’t work out. Um that’s one thing with this Canucks regime with Rutherford and Alvine is they will flip players if they don’t work out. That happened last year with Dante and Vinnie Dehar. They did that with Curtis Lazar a couple years ago. So one-year deal uh league minimum around there going to be playing for Edmonton. So again, a bit closer to home for him. Uh Anthony Mantha, that was one of the names we were keeping an eye on. $2.5 million for Pittsburgh. Again, Pittsburgh, a team that is in a bit of a rebuild right now. I guess they just want to stabilize that forward group a little bit, so get an Anthony Mantha signed there as well. I like this Jacob Pelchce signing here by um Tampa Bay, 24 years old, three-year deal. I think the the the money was pretty low from what I saw. So, again, Tampa Bay kind of betting on Pelchier as being someone that kind of works out there. Bajia uh signs with Edmonton, $3.6 million, pretty reasonable contract. Again, there’s been some injury issues with him uh in Washington. Uh so, we’ll see if he’s sorry, not injury. I get him in Manthem. My bad. Uh, Maji Aani, if you look at his stats from last season, uh, let’s go have a look there with Washington. Um, so yeah, Majapani used to play for the Flames. So coming back to Alberta, we’ll see what he’s able to do. I’m trying to remember last season what he ended actually. Yeah, so he played um, he got 28 points last year. So, you know, again, a guy I’m sure they’re hoping will uh, get some time with McDavid and Dryside, get those stats up a little bit, but u his best season coming in 21-22 with 55 points. So, the Oilers hoping that that’ll work out. Of course, a number of players leaving the Oilers last season or this in this offseason. You got Arvverson leaving uh Evander Kane going to Vancouver. So, um they’re looking to kind of replace some of those names. Connor Brown, by the way, getting $3 million from the Devils yesterday. I think that’s a bit of an overpay um as Connor Brown leaves the Oilers. So, again, Cory Perry signing with the Kings. So, we’re seeing a number of the Oilers uh you know, sort of depth pieces uh move elsewhere. So, that’s something to keep in mind. Some other names that kind of stand out here. I’m just looking, not a whole lot. Um, most of these like kind of minor league signings. Brandon Sod coming back to the Golden Knights. I kind of missed that one. Uh, one-year contract. Uh, $2 million. That’s fair for another sort of depth piece for Las Vegas. As we’re going down the list here, Adam Goddard gets two $2 million. So, Godet, someone that, uh, very familiar with, played with the Canucks way back when. Uh, didn’t work out. They ended up trading him. Had a good season in Ottawa last year. Let’s go look at those stats. Bit of a breakout year. Is that is that going to be the norm for him or is that just you know you know that that that’s I think what um you can see the um San Jose Sharks are betting on. Uh 12 points or sorry 26 points last year but 19 goals so they’re hoping from some production there but previously his career high in points was just at 12 with the Ottawa Senators with the Canucks actually sorry he had 33 points with the Conucks uh back in 2019 2020 um has yet to get there since then. So, they’re really hoping that uh San Jose anyways adding some more pieces there that that can kind of uh move along a little bit. I mentioned Muel Granland, $7 million in free agency. Uh that’s a pretty hefty contract uh for what he’s getting. But again, a veteran who’s been around there for the while of course with Minnesota a bunch of years. Nashville, Pittsburgh, played just five games there. And then uh with Dallas last year getting 21 points um and actually splitting actually no, he got uh he ended up getting more than that because he was just San Jose and Dallas. So, pretty good season last year. 60 points with the Sharks the year before. This is a 60point player right now. You know, good veteran signing. Again, Anaheim, it doesn’t matter that they overpaid for him because Anaheim needs to spend and they’re, you know, that was one of the things we heard in the offseason was that, oh, they’re going to be big players. They’re going to be a team that, um, you know, is going to make some big moves, but those big moves haven’t happened outside of trading Trevor Ziggress. They’ve been pretty even keel with what they’ve been able to do. So, again, getting Granlin, I don’t mind the move there because they just need to fill up the cap. In fact, let’s look at their cap situation right now. I think they still got, look at this $28 million in cap space. Like they got to get to the floor here. Um, yeah, you got Granlin for a couple seasons. Troy Terry’s locked up. Chris Krider, who they got from the Rangers, Kilhorn. They’ve got a number of veterans coming in which I think will help some of those younger players like Aal Carlson who uh, you know, is going to need some some help there on the back end. They’ve got Trouba and Rako Gudas as well. Um, so yeah, slowly building out that roster and they’ve obviously given the uh, Reigns to Lucas Dosel who will be their starter this year. But they actually have three goenders. They got Morazzic and Huso as well. Um, but Doul’s their starter, so I don’t know what they’re going to they’re going to trade one of them or put one of them in the minors. Not really sure what’s going on with the goalie carousel there. Let’s keep moving down the list here. Some notable names here on the free agent tracker. Tanner Pearson, who’s been a veteran for a while, split some time with Vegas and Montreal, was with Vancouver for a number of years. Pittsburgh, he gets a $1 million contract with the Jets. So again, you know, the Jets are replacing some of these players um that they’ve lost. Again, Brandon Tanov’s another name that left the Jets uh last year. Let’s actually look what the Jets lineup is looking like right now. Again, I would think they’re a little bit weaker than last year. So, again, your top line’s still there. They did shine Jonathan Taves. I don’t really know what type of Jonathan Taves we’re going to get this year. He’s been out for a number of years uh with some health stuff. So, he’s pencled in as their number two center. Uh Neyskov is moved down to the third line. And that fourth line right now looks like Tanner Pearson, Kupari, and Morgan Baron. So, we’ll see how this looks. Josh Morreny, Dylan Dlo still there. Neil Pink and Samberg, Logan Stanley and Luke Shen obviously on that third pairing right now and they’re still rolling with Inet Hellabuk and Eric Comry as well. So yeah, again I think the Jets they’re about the same, maybe a little bit worse than last year. It’ll be interesting to see uh if they make any more moves there. Jonathan Duan leaving the Avalanche going to the Islanders. Uh two years $4 million Aav I think with Colorado he’s sort of league minimum or close to that there. Um, you look at Druan, uh, hasn’t really been able to, you know, be the big breakthrough star that we saw in, you know, earlier in his career, uh, with Tampa Bay getting 53 points back in 2016, 2017. Um, yeah, I guess got 56 points with the ABS um, in 23-24. Last year though, big dip there and also was injured a bit, only 43 games last year, 37 points total for the Colorado Avalanche. What’s up, Billy? Uh, thoughts on the Blues have made, have been able to keep up completely with it. Uh, they signed Nick Bustad yesterday. I actually like that signing a lot. They signed him for I think under $2 million. Let’s look at St. Louis and some of the moves they’ve made. So that was one that came to mind. Um Joel Holer, they signed him as well to a contract extension. Nick Bustad, like I said, two years filling out that center line. Let’s have a look at Winnipe St. Louis’s lineup right now. You know, there’s some rumblings that they’re going to trade Jordan Kyu. I mean, pretty solid uh roster if you look at it there. Bushnavic, Thomas, and Snoonard going to roll out that first line. Braden Chen, Holloway, Kyu on that second line. Jake Neighbors, Bustad and Tyler. So Nick Bad’s penciled in right now as their third line center. And I do like that a lot. Um, and their fourth line’s not bad either. And then back on the back end, Cam Fowler, Pareo, Broberg, and Faulk, Tucker, and Lety is not going to be bad, too. I thought I believe Lety got put on waiverss though today. So, I don’t know if he’ll be back. And then you’ve obviously got Holer and Bennington and net. So, I think St. Louis, we’ll see. You know, I do wonder was that run last year a bit of a flash in the pan or was this something that’s sustainable? We’ll have to see, but you know, I I don’t know how many more moves they’re going to make. Let’s look at the cap space with St. Louis. I don’t know if they have any or what sort of the deal is with that, but we’ll have a quick look. Yeah, they don’t have much cap space at all. So, you know, maybe they’re um maybe we’ll have to take a look at that. And you mentioned hearing the Canucks have a strong team. Well, the Conucks team’s pretty much the same as last year. I think what the Conucks are banking on right now due to some of the handcuffs with free agency is they’re really kind of just uh hoping that this team’s healthy and they can run it back with this. And obviously, everything rides on Elias Patterson here. If he can’t get anywhere close to the 11.6 they’re going to be giving him this year, this team is doomed. They really are. They he cannot play like he did last season. Um, I think they’re hoping for, you know, something at the, you know, the minimum if they’ll be good. They’re hoping for something in the middle where he’s not as bad as he was last season, but maybe not as good earlier. Uh, but you look at that first line right now, Jake De Bruss, Person, and Bester. That’s a pretty solid first line. Your second line, Kane, Cheetel, and Garland. If Cheetel’s healthy, that’s a solid second line. Third line right now looks like Hoglander, Ratu, and Kefir Sherwood. I think they’ll put Kefir Sherwood maybe on this line just to kind of rough things up a little bit. Although saying that you signed Connor Garland to a $6 million contract, uh he’s probably actually going to stay on that second line. Yeah, I could see Sherwood there in the third line. You got Teddy Bluger, Joshua, and Drew O’ Conor. Joshua is a guy they might look to trade at this point. Um actually, I could probably see Joshua being a center here. Ratu being well, no, I I guess Ratu and Bluger are sort of your um your your your third and fourth uh centers there. So yeah, this does look like a pretty well balanced forward lineup. That doesn’t really eye popping. The the defense though is what really is is Vancouver strength here. Hughes and Heronic, maybe one of the best pairings in the entire league. You got Person and Tyler Myers. Great second pair. And then you’re going with Forbert and the uh younger Elias Person, which is going to be solid, too. Keep an eye on Tom Vander, their first round pick from I think 2022 or 2023, I can’t remember. Uh he may be someone that could take Forbert’s place. We’ll see. Forbert was very serviceable last year, especially on the penalty kill. And then I think you got one of the best goalending tandemss in the league right now with Demco and Lankin. That’s going to be a force to be reckoned with this year as well. So yeah, I’m I’m a little bit glass half full with the Conucks. I think that uh they will be better than last year. Again, this was a team that had everything go wrong last year and they still were on the outside looking in just barely. If they get some of those overtime wins uh you know, the way they want them, um I think this is a playoff team and like I said, I could see a team like LA falling out and the Conucks being a little bit stronger there. So I’m a little bit more optimistic than other people. I you know, again, if something comes available center-wise, you know, we I would prefer that over having Philip Cheetel, but um we’ll see. Again, this is a I would say this is a very solid team. And again, you’re banking on Person to get better. If we look at Persons, the last two seasons hasn’t been so good. Well, I should shouldn’t say that. The start of 2023, 2024 was good for Person. It just sort of tapered off here. But you look at that, I mean, 2022, 2023, you had 102 points. That’s what you’re banking on, right? And every other season prior to that, other than the season he was injured in 2021, uh, he had at least 60 points. So, 45 last year, that’s not going to cut it. still had 89 points in a season where he took a dip. Like I think we’re closer to the 100 point player than we are to the 45 point player and again he was a minus 10 last year. First season for him where he was a minus there. Everything we’re hearing in the offseason is that he has um you know been taking the you know conditioning seriously. I think there was some injury stuff last year that you know we saw even in the four nations where you know he’s icing his knee. I I think there was there was definitely some injury issues there. I think Person will bounce back in a big way here and I think the Conucks will be much more interesting and I am curious to see how a Vander Kane goes because listen, as much as I was critical of the Kane move with the locker room issues that he’s had and everything else, he will bring some grit. One of the things that drove me nuts last year as a Conucks as watching the Conucks is that they there was no push back. You got a Brock Besser, you know, gets a concussion from Tanner Jano. You get Quinn Hughes being roughed up. There was no push back. That’s one of the reasons why I kind of wish they still kept Nikita Zidorov. He was a guy that would come in and step up. You’re going to get that from Evander Kane. Someone that will not basically take any and he’ll go straight for it. So Evander Kane, uh, I think we’ll add some toughness there. I’d like to see a little bit more toughness out of Dakota Joshua as well. That was sort of what he was brought in for too, aside from scoring some goals. Keep going down the signings here. We’ll do maybe another five minutes here on the hockey show. You guys have any questions, please let me know in the chat. Happy to answer them. My name is James Lynch. Um, some other moves here. Cappo Kacin signing with Montreal. That was sort of a notable goalie name. They moved out uh Primo as one of their players. I’m trying to remember where captain captain’s been the last couple seasons. Even I forget. Yeah, he’s been in the AHL. So maybe that’s the thinking is that he will play uh in the minors. He has not played full-time in the NHL since basically the season with the Sharks. So that’s something to keep an eye on, too. Uh Tanner Jano, not a great contract here. Uh $3.4 million a season. If you look at the production there, LA was happy to not keep him back, you know. And again, the Bruins are supposed to be a team that’s that’s kind of rebuilding a bit. You look at Jano’s stats here. here. I mean, you’re getting him basically, you know, for you’re banking on the guy that you got in Nashville back in 2122. That’s where we got 41 points, 130 penalty minutes. Since then, the penalty minutes have been up, the points have not. Huge drop off there. 14 points, 14 points, 13 points. For a guy that’s making that much, I know you need some sandpaper in there. I think this is a signing that the Bruins are going to regret, personally. So, we’ll have to see how that goes. But, that was one where I kind of shook my head a little bit. Connor Brown, I mentioned it there, getting $3 million a season. I don’t really get this one. Did he get more points than I’m giving him credit for? I just didn’t notice him at all on Edmonton. So, he gets 30 points last year. $3 million though for a guy like that. I don’t know. You know, you go back to his Ottawa Senator days, 43 points. That was almost 5 years ago. You’re getting at least 30 points is is $3 million for a 30 point getter is does that make sense? Maybe. Maybe. I don’t know. That seems like a bit of an overpay. Uh Gagrov, uh that was a good contract here for New York. Like that move. Seven years at 7 million. He’s again fairly uh you know kind of like he’s in the prime right now. Also has a bit of an edge too. Um you know again also 30 points but a guy that like I said can play with a bit of an edge. Uh did quite well for Columbus as well when he was there. So 29 years old you’re getting a guy in his prime that’ll help out New York’s back end. I think the idea is plays with Adam Fox and get a little bit more tough. And like I said the big one there Brock Besser little worried about his skating in that seven-year deal but he can score. That’s what the Conucks need. They really struggled to get offense last year. And I think with Adam Foot, you will see a bit more of an offensive style. Uh not not so defensive as we saw last year, too. Christian D’vorak was another big name that went off 5.4 millions. I like that move for Philly. I thought that was a better one here. Grant uh Connor Garland getting the six-year deal at $6 million. He’s someone that can do it all. Plays physical. A bit of a pest on there and can score some goals. If you look at the stats for Garland, this is a guy that has, you know, produced fairly well for the Canucks since being acquired from Arizona all the way back when they made that trade there. So, you look there, 50 points last year. uh 52 back in the day a little bit and uh again he’s hovering around that 50 point mark and getting some good penalty minutes too. Uh so like that move there and Thatcher Demco I talked about this yesterday like I think the move was was was fine. Um you’re not going to find a better goalender like as great as Kevin Lanin is the upside is not as high as Demco. If you’re getting Demco healthy um you’re getting you know arguably a goalender that can steal games for you. And a lot of teams can’t say that with their current goalending. So I like the Demco move. It’s only three years. Yeah, you’re paying 8.5, but if you can get anywhere close to the Demco that we saw a couple years back where he was a Vzna candidate, that to me is worth it because most Vzna candidates are going to be over $10 million. That’s that’s just how it goes. So, uh, yeah, mentioned Andre Kusmano. Really like that contract there, 4.3. A bit of a, you know, dip down from what he’s had. I think he was 5 million when the Canucks resign him. The big issue with Kuzmano is just defense. Doesn’t play very well in that regard, but will get you a lot of goals. Seemed like a good fit last year. definitely seems happier playing in LA than Philly or Calgary previously. And let’s find one more big one here if we can find one. Yeah, Brad Marshon obviously nice discount there. The big thing with Baron signing with Florida is that um you know only 5.25 but the six-year contract. I don’t think Marshon’s going to play six more years, but you never know. So, we’ll see. All right, guys. I think that’s a good time to end the show. So, I will not be back next week. I’m going to be away. Uh so, I know I haven’t been very consistent. I was away last week, so that’s why we got the two shows in this week. So, I will be off uh next week, but the week after I’ll be back. We’ll have a lot to talk about. Hopefully have some more signings to get into. But this show will run in the summer, and the hope is we’ll get some different guests to kind of talk about different markets and things that are going on um all over the NHL. So, again, if I missed your question, post in the comments. Happy to answer it there. My name is James Lynch. This is the Fanatics V Hockey Show. I will see you guys in two weeks. Hope you guys enjoy your summer and uh I’ll see you in a little bit and uh hopefully have some news to talk about. Take care.

Host @LynchOnSports is joined again by Travis Taylor to discusses the Dallas Stars offseason.

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