Canucks roster reaction + preseason wrap | Canucks Conversation

Canucks roster reaction + preseason wrap | Canucks Conversation

[Music] Hello Kucks fans. Welcome back to another episode of Kucks Conversation brought to you by Bet 365. We’re coming to you from the Pacific Toyota dealer studios. This is shop toyota.ca or visit your local Pacific Toyota dealer. Today my name’s Dave Gelli. I’m joined by Harmon Dial. Big news day in the NHL. Massive, massive news, leaguewide news. Braden Coots has made the Vancouver Conucks roster a kid, of course. We’ll get to that. We’ll get to the story that people can’t stop talking about. This is what the kids are saying, Har. This is what they’re saying. Uh Conor McDavid signs a two-year contract with the Edmonton Oilers at a cap hit of $12.5 million. Let’s start there. Harm, the cap hit came in. It came in lower, but I don’t think you need much analysis for this. This is very clearly the Oilers agreeing to what McDavid is saying in the sense of you have two years to win me a cup. You have two years to give me a good enough team to win a cup and if you can’t figure out in that time I’m gone. That’s how I look at it. Yeah. And the discount was even better than I think a lot of us had expected. I figured all right he’s going to take less than Capri up. I thought all right maybe two years at 15 15 a.5 but to have him take less than Leon Dry settle who’s at 14 million 4 and a half less per year than Carrill Capriovv is is insane and honestly the Oilers have no excuse or and and have no one to blame but themselves if they don’t win a cup in this time frame and McDavid walks because no one can and this is actually pretty smart on the part of McDavid as well as far as protecting his legacy in Edmonton if he ultimately does decide to leave if they can’t win there. Because no one can say him taking too much money was part of the reason why the Oilers couldn’t get it done. No one can say, “Oh, oh well, when you’ve got two guys making that much money, you can’t win a Stanley Cup.” No one can pin that on McDavid now. And this is going to be really fascinating to see. I mean, I’m mildly surprised that it happened before the season started, just after all the talk and and him preaching patience and wanting to really take his time. I thought he might decide to see how the roster looks, see how some of the young guys perform, but you step back and look at it, he’s got such a close relationship with so many people on that team, right? Leon Dryetttle, he’s close friends with Chris Knobblock. um relationship obviously goes back to their days together in uh in Erie and then Jeff Jackson the team president is his former agent and and you just know hockey players when like they’re more likely to give the bene benefit of the doubt they’re not as cutthroat as NBA players they have more sort of even kill temperaments and so the fact that it ultimately did get done I’m not too surprised I’m just a little like I thought if he was going to wait this long that he might even wait to till the start of the season, see how the others start before putting pen to paper. The other thing to consider when it comes to the money for Conor McDavid is that he’s going to be a free agent again ahead of the 2728 season. And like that’s that’s the season where it jumps to 113.5 million, right? The salary cap. Or wait, no, he wouldn’t be a free Yes, he would be a free agent before that. Now my math’s wrong. 2526, he’s still signed. 26 27. No, sorry. 29. Yeah, 2829. But the salary cap does jump to 113.5 million in 2728. I don’t think it’s going to go down after that. Like salary cap’s going to keep rising and that’s going to set up McDavid to really really cash in um on his next deal. Now we have other Oilers news. They lost to the Vancouver Conucks. Conor Garland with the overtime dagger. I think that’s why McDavid signed for less money. His confidence was down after that game. Thoughts? It’s I I can’t beat the logic quads. This is uh It was You know what it was? You know what it was? This Coots and Lecher Macki duo is going to be in the Pacific division for how long? Holy cow. I got to minimize my time committed to the Pacific division seeing these two play together. And I got to take less to make sure we have a supporting cast that’s as elite as Vancouver’s. Uh they got these kids on ELC’s. We got to be able to compete with that. I got to take less. Yeah. But no, in all seriousness, one other point that I thought was really interesting, Chris Johnson and Pier Lebrun wrote a piece at um The Athletic in the aftermath of this extension, sort of reacting to it. And one interesting point CJ brought up was yes, it’s two years after this one, but if the Oilers, let’s say two years from now, don’t like let’s say they have a disappointing playoff run, fall short again and McDavid is looking at their roster and the supporting cast, which we’ve talked about before, is only getting older, only getting deeper and deeper into their mid-30s for a lot of these key guys like Heyman, Ekhome, Nan Hopkins, If the Oilers get an indication ahead of the last year of his deal that McDavid’s not going to reup, well then what if they’re forced into a situation where they have to move McDavid before the last year of his deal because they can’t afford to lose him for nothing. So even though McDavid is under contract with the Oilers for the next three years, it doesn’t actually guarantee that he’s going to stick for all three years, depending on how the Oilers actually do as far as addressing the goalending situation, whether some of their young guys actually become impact NHL players and whether some of their secondary important players can actually age gracefully. because if some of those ingredients go wrong then it might end up being shorter than than 3 years in terms of team control um and McDavid remaining with the Oilers and and to Harm’s point like look what Vancouver has been talking about all summer. Is Quinn Hughes going to stay? What’s Quinn Hughes going to do? Quinn Hughes has two years left on his deal. all the conversations we’ve been having about Quinn Hughes this off seasonason leading into this year. This is what they’re going to have in Edmonton leading into next season if they don’t win the cup this year, right? It’s all they did was kick the can down the road and they didn’t actually kick the can down the road two years. They kicked the can down the road one year and anything less than a cup win and all the conversations are going to be is McDavid actually going to stay or you know if if we’re out of it like when do we start worrying about McDavid getting traded? Harm’s exactly right. This this isn’t this isn’t three more years of McDavid. This is hey, let’s see what happens this year. And you know, maybe that this contract doesn’t even finish with him playing for the Edmonton. And and this is why as much as Oilers fans should be celebrating because there was uncertainty around is he actually going to resign or could he entertain the possibility of hitting free agency, the two years of term does scare you a little bit. should should make you a little bit nervous if you’re an Oilers fan because let me ask you if you were the Edmonton Oilers would you prefer 12 and a half time two or something like 17* 8 even though 17* 8 is a much higher capit and would hurt you a little bit in the short term. You’d rather take nine years of McDavid under contract because that’s an actual long-term commitment. There is no one foot could be out the door if we don’t get the job done immediately. Yeah. Uh, as I so often do, I’m looking for the positive Kuck spin on this. Other than what I said about Coots and Licker Macki, which we’ll get to in a second as well. For Quinn Hughes, do do you think there’s any positive way to look at it where it’s like, okay, well, a superstar player signed for short term. Is is when we talk about Quinn Hughes, it feels like we always talk about the long term, like, oh, he’s got to commit to Vancouver long term, but New Jersey is not going to have money for him in two years. You wouldn’t think. So, is there a chance that this is positive? I mean, they could they’ll they’ll have with how much cap is expected to go up. If if Quinn ever, and I don’t want to talk about worst case scenarios, but New Jersey cap situation is not going to be an impediment if it ever got to that point. Okay. So, there’s no positive then. Well, I wasn’t saying there’s no positive. Um, but this is kind of the the template if the Canucks have a good year is if that’s what I’m saying. Yeah. if they have a good year, yeah, sure. Then Quinn could resign on another short-term deal. Um to essentially say, well, let’s see if we can maintain some of this positive um positive momentum. How Braden Coots and Jonathan Leer Mackey saved the Conucks franchise. That’s what that’s how that’s how the history books will look back on it if this happens. Uh Jonathan Leeraki, unbelievable preseason. I called him out after the first first preseason game he played and he just turned it on. The Canucks have announced their roster. Jonathan Leer Macki is on the team as he should be. He had a phenomenal preseason. It looks like he’s going to skate with Braden Coots on that third line uh alongside Evander Kane. That’s what they did in the preseason. I would expect that that line gets a look in the regular season with Calgary Flames coming on Thursday. We’re going to have lots of time to talk about line combinations and whatnot. So, we’ll we’ll get to that throughout the week. And really, I want to talk more about Coots probably tomorrow. I think we can focus more on him and just how crazy it is that he’s been able to make this team. And really, one conversation I want to have tomorrow, and I’m saying this out loud now so that you can remind me, Jacob can remind me in the chat can remind me, one conversation I want to have tomorrow is, and not to get too ahead of ourselves, but what if Braden Coots looks really good in those games he plays? Like, it’s not a foregone conclusion. He’s going to go down after nine games. I want to have that conversation. That’ll be one that we have tomorrow. Jeff Patterson’s going to join the show tomorrow. But we’ve got business to get to today. We’ve got stuff to talk to today. Let’s get to our opening segment where we break down Friday night’s game a little bit more. It is brought to you by the Daily Faceoff Survivor Pool, which is officially live. If you think you’ve got the hockey knowledge to go the distance, this one’s for you. It’s a game of elimination strategy and a $2,500 grand prize for the last fan standing. Here’s how it works. You start with two lives. Each round, you pick one winner from the slate of NHL games. But here’s the twist. You can only use each team twice throughout the entire contest. Get a pick wrong, that that’s one life gone. Lose twice and you’re out. The pool runs until there’s just one person left standing and that winner takes home 2500 bucks. So, are you ready to outlast the rest? Sign up now at dailyfaceoff.com or hit the link in the show notes. May the best fan survive. All right. Um, this game it was again the the takeaway like we’re not going to get into all individual performances. The takeaway for me is that we have gotten through the entire preseason and the CS were fun to watch in every preseason game they played. Basically, no matter who is who was skating, but I think Friday is the biggest indication that this is this is who they could be. Didn’t matter who was playing, the Canucks were fun to watch. The Conucks were creating off the rush. The Conucks were taking chances that they just weren’t taking last year. And so far, Adam Foot Hockey has got two big thumbs up from me. People are very excited about this team. Like, the vibes are very good. I don’t know. I don’t know if maybe I’m in an echo chamber of positivity, but the vibes seem really good around this team right now. Not only with the players, like what you what you see and what you hear when you’re around the players right now, but the fan base seems optimistic as well. And and a lot of people are hoping that it was just really get rid of big bad JT Miller and things could turn around. That that’s really how it feels right now. Yeah, no doubt that it’s been encouraging to have a dramafree training camp in preseason. We haven’t had any major storyline to worry about. The only bad news really has been Nils Hoglander’s injury. Um but outside from that, the blue line looks um encouraging especially to see but even Hoglander’s injury, sorry to cut you off. Even Hoglander’s injury, Jonathan is not on this team without Hoglander’s injury. Maybe Braden Coots definitely isn’t on this team without Nils Hoglander’s injury. Like it’s created different I don’t know. Like even I still think there’s a scenario where those guys could have made it even because then I think Carlson or Baines would have just gone on waiverss. Sure. Sure. But I get where you’re I get where you’re coming at with that overall there’s a lot that seems to like that Demco is healthy and looks good which is is massive. Now I will say in relation to this team playing a more entertaining style that will benefit them offensively. I’m curious to see if there’s a tradeoff defensively though because that was always the discussion we had last season was okay if they open things up they’re going to be more fun and dynamic offensively but does will the bottom fall out to some extent in terms of the number of chances that they allow their overall defensive structure. We aren’t going to have a great handle of that until the regular season actually starts. But this is where I I mentioned this a couple times last week. That’s why you need your goalending to be top five, top seven in the NHL in terms of your tandem. If you get Demco and Lankin giving you sturdy hockey for 82 games a season, then I feel pretty confident about this team’s playoff chances. But if Demco gets hurt, then I worry about an environment where you’re going to be potentially giving up quite a few rush chances. A lot of East West plays and that could like I wonder if that could expose them if they don’t have top top 10 at minimum type goalending, which on paper they should have, but as we know in this league goalending is really volatile. Um, and Demco’s health is always a question mark, not only because of what he dealt with with the Pop Letas injury, but even when he came back from that, he got hurt another couple of times after that. And he was fortunate that both of those, I think one was was back spasms and and one was another um one. He was fortunate that they weren’t major injuries, there were only minor, but we we still got to remember the the initial injury that he dealt with is something that no NHL goalender has ever experienced. We’re in uncharted territory with him. And you always worry a little bit about the compensation. How could that affect the rest of his body? Um, but that really is the key to me. Like it just thinking about this Canucks season as a whole. If they get good goalending, I think they’re going to be a playoff team. If they don’t, then as you dial up the volume in terms of opening things up to play a more aggressive style, I just I don’t know. Like I could see them if they don’t get good goalending being a team that is slightly below average um offensively and kind of like middle of the pack defensively which just leaves you in the mediocre mushy middle where other teams could pass you in the west. I know people laugh at this but Nikita Toapilo is the perfect third goalie for this team. East west movement type thing. Like if you want to keep playing your style and Toolo is the guy you have to call up. He’s going to do great. I really like Nikita Toapilo. Don’t forget the strong preseason he had. And hey, I was saying this last year, too. I was I was banging the drum for Nikita to get his shot. He shuts down the San Jose Sharks in April uh in that one game he got. But yeah, again, like my my my broader point is just that like vibes are good. They wrapped up the preseason. It was a good preseason for this team. I again, as far as preseasons go, doesn’t matter all that much, but it’s a good it’s a good time. Like it’s a good time to be covering the team. It feels like it’s a good time if you’re a Canucks fan. It feels like it’s a good time to, you know, and I know there’s some clouds hanging over obviously, but from what I’ve seen, the vibes are really high. And I’m giving you my vibe check, as I so often do, the vibes are really, really solid. There’s a lot of optimism in this fan base, and I don’t think it’s unfounded optimism either. All right. Uh, speaking of optimism, let’s get to our final roster reactions. Our next segment is brought to you by one of our new sponsors, Uber Eats. I love Uber Eats. All right, the NHL season’s ramping up and Kucks Army is pumped to be partnering with Uber Eats all season long to deliver hockey fans the ultimate game day experience. The best matchups on the ice are made even better with top pairings and exclusive game day offers on Uber Eats. We can’t wait to get downtown to the home opener on Thursday this week. Uber Eatats is doing something big for Kucks fans. So come hang with us and Uber Eatats to celebrate the return of Kucks hockey. Kucks Army is going to be right there in the mix as well. So, if you’re heading to the game, make sure to drop by after 12:30 p.m. at Rogers Arena to hang out with us and get in on the excitement. Uh Uber Eat on the excitement that Uber Eatats is building. Uber Eats is enabling fans to maximize their fandom all season long with exclusive game day deals on the app starting on home opener game night where they can get anything, almost anything truly from game day eats to paper plates and napkins if you’re hosting to all the ingredients need to make your favorite game day dip before, during, and after the game. Uber Eatats is assisting every fan’s hockey experience all season long. It’s that time of year where we get more sponsors on the show. So, thanks to Uber Eatats for coming aboard. But harm, that means you’re going to have to learn how to do one of these ad reads. I’m going to let you pick which one, but I ain’t doing all the ads when we when we get over. Yeah. No, remember you do the you do the anyone else read and you Oh, yeah. I remember that. Yeah. Back with sponsor that will not be named. Uh, all right. Let’s get to the Conucks roster reactions here. Um, so the again the big story, Braden Coots makes the team rewarded for a really, really strong training camp. Jonathan Leer Mackey as well makes the team rewarded for a really strong preseason. And the defenseman on the outside looking in, Victor Mancini and Tom Wanderer. Those cuts coming down on Sunday afternoon. Let’s start there. Harm, any surprise there that Mancini in particular? We knew Wanderer was going to go down and it’s great. He’s going to have tons of time to play in Abasford. We don’t spend much time talking about that, but any surprise that Mancini was on the outside looking in. I thought it was a 50/50 because I mentioned this on Friday when was filling in that if they go 14 forwards and 7D that only one of DPD or Mancini can make the roster. And we know that DPD proved himself as more of a consistent, reliable third pair option down the stretch last year. And and even though Mancini had a terrific camp in preseason, DPD was also rock solid. and his play didn’t dip to the point where you thought, oh, like he might be able Manini might be able to leaprog deep DPD. So, that part of it isn’t too too surprising. Um, I also don’t think it’s the end of the world. I I I think we focus so much on what’s the opening roster, but then five games into the season, injuries happen and like who who knows, five games into the season, you might look at Braden Coots and say, “Well, he’s not NH already and we we he showed some flashes, but we’d prefer for him to go back to Seattle and just dominate Junior.” Boom. That could be an open roster spot that um ends up becoming available for Mansini get to get called up. We we still wonder a little bit about Joseph or Joseph and Forbert in terms of they had some day-to-day knocks. One of those guys reagravates those injuries. Boom. Mancini is the next man up. So I I don’t think fans should freak out too much about Mancini being sent down because rosters are fluid. You can call call guys up whenever you want. and he’s firmly to me established himself as the next man up um to play and and it’s an opportunity for him to just play a ton of minutes in Abbottzford um continue to build his confidence. I’d rather have that than him sitting in the press box the way Pio Joseph is going to be. Exactly. And that’s what P Joseph signed here to do. Like I I saw a little bit of it. Most people get it, but I like I saw a little bit of it. People have been like why why did why are you keeping PO Joseph instead of Mancini? Because Joseph signed to be the guy that doesn’t play all that often. He’s Mark Freriedman. He’s Mark Freriedman. What the what Mark Freriedman had gave the Conucks. That’s what Pio Joseph is going to give them this season. You don’t want Mancini sitting in the press box. And like I already said, tons of opportunity in Absor. Don’t forget Jet Woo out monthto month. Keon Breez again just got another injury. So there’s tons of opportunity down on that Abbottzford blue line. The best place especially for Wanderer uh is Abbottzford. Again, Mancini, you could argue he’s NHL ready now, but champagne problems. Like, this is this is a good problem to have for the Canucks that all we have too many young good good young defenseman. Like, what do we do? No, it’s it’s great. This is great news for the Canucks and Mansini is going to go down to Abbottzford, play a ton. Jacob, book Victor Mancini. Let’s Yeah, let’s let’s talk to Victor. Actually, that that one we can probably do. We’ll work that out. We’ll we’ll get friend of the show Victor back onto the show. Yeah, he was great every time he was on Kucks Combo. So show it to Vicini. Mancini, we should have a bigger picture conversation about his development because we know the tools are are so exciting, right? He’s 6’3, skates like the wind. He showed really well in preseason, but in the first few games, he also talked about how Adam Foot was emphasizing the importance of him playing within himself and sort of calming his game down a little bit, not trying to do too much and and limiting some mistakes. I think that part is still really prevalent. And during Mancini’s final preseason game, I think I think that was really the template of what he needs to be every game in order to stick as an NHL um style defenseman where he managed risk really well. He was in the right spots defensively. His Dzone retrievalss were clean and it wasn’t just I’m doing the loud flashy stuff, but the actual details of his game were really sharp, too. Whereas I think in his first two or three pre preseason games, he did a lot of the loud flashy stuff, but some of the subtle details were were off a little bit a little bit at a time. Just little things like occasionally he’s going back for a puck in in the defensive zone and in one of the games he sort of stumbled a little bit and it allowed I think it might have been Seattle to to generate a a scoring chance. um his feel and and sense of pressure in situations when he’s not just able to wheel the puck out. Is he able to sort of show some deception and um and escapability down low, make the right reads? Just little details like that which may not stand out a lot when you’re just watching a game in real time, but coaches with a sharp eye will always always notice. I think that’s key because right now he looks like a Rover style defenseman and there just aren’t many Rover style defenseman that play on NHL third pairs. And what you run into is it’s stylistic preferences. Mancini is good enough to play in the NHL, but it’s it’s almost like the same way when we talk sometimes about forwards that are trying to break through from the AHL and and make an NHL impact. Sometimes we talk about forwards as, well, he’s not quite skilled enough to play in the top six, but his style doesn’t quite translate to a bottom six role either, right? The classic Daniel Sprong thing, for example. Uh, brilliant one there. That’s going to be the the step for Mancini is he needs to show that his style of play can translate to being a third third pair defenseman because before you can prove that hey I’ve got second pair potential you got to start in a third pair role and generally this isn’t just an Adam foot thing around the league coaches prefer more of a reliable lowevent kind of style where where they don’t as much need to see the loud flashy stuff they don’t as much care about the offensive upside side um and whether you can rush pucks end to end. They care more about if I put put you o over the boards, are you always like nine times out of 10 going to make the right defensive play? And that’s where Mancini still has room for improvement. Talked about it in the preseason. You’re right. You’re right. You’re absolutely right. Do you think he can get that in Abbottzford? Like he’s going to be the guy in Abbottzford. What does that look like putting into practice for a player? What does that actually look like going down to Abbottzford? you’re going to be a first or second pairing defenseman. It was probably first, right? He’s going to be all situations like he was in the Cder Cup playoffs. How do you work on that? That’s a really good question because I don’t know how much of that he can actually work on. Like part of it is going to be intentionally changing his approach that I don’t need to look for the home run play all all the time. And again, I think he’s shown progress in that. when he was on the show with us, he talked about how valuable it was to work with Manny and sort out some of those details. And again, in the last preseason game, I thought he did a much better job of playing within himself. So, he is showing progress in that area. And I think a lot of it is is a continued mind mindset just sort of um evolution in his game. But part of it is also he needs to do it at NHL speed. And the AHL is slower and and part of Mancini is is like the development I want to see is him thinking the game both with and without the puck at that big league pace, which I don’t know how much of that he’s going to be able to work on and actually improve in the American League because that’s an AHL speed. And at the AHL level, he looks confident and comfortable making those decisions for the most part. Um, but it’s another level when you get to the big leagues. And so I still think to some extent with Mancini, as as much as coaches don’t like uh players having to learn and grow and develop at the NHL level, part of that is going to have to come with NHL experience. Listen, at some point whenever injuries hit, Mancini is going to be in a position where he’s going to play on the third pair. And and at that point, that’s where it’s going to be so interesting to see how much of a leash does he get. um how patient is the coaching staff with potential highs and lows because I I do think the last 10% of his game needs to like that development is is probably going to come from NHL game experience rather than spending more time in the American League. Let’s get to our poll question. Uh it’s about the roster decisions and this conversation is obviously going to continue throughout the show, but I want to get to our poll. It’s a presentation of our friends over at Greta. Hockey is back, baby. We’re dropping the puck on a brand new season as Vancouver takes on Edmonton. And this isn’t just a watch party. It’s a full-on hockey celebration with the Conucks Army crew, plus friends from Rinkwide Vancouver and Carrison Price bringing you the ultimate game day experience hosted by me. We’ve got the game on every big screen, game day specials along with giveaways and surprises all night long. Doors open at 600 p.m. Puck drops at 7. Grab your crew, rep your fan gear, and get ready for the kind of season opener party only the Army can pull off. Tickets are free. Just register at nationgeear.ca. Seating is limited, so text Greta at 604256422 or visit the open table link in the show notes. Does this script say the day? I don’t think it did. October 11th, uh, Vancouver, Edmonton. That’s the day we’re talking here, right? Am I reading correctly that there are high ball shots for $3.33? Yes, that that was my first thought too, harm, when I saw this. $3.33 for a highball. Like that’s the best deal in the city. A steal. I I don’t really drink, so I’m not going to be taking advantage of that. But that is that’s a steal, especially on Saturday night watching the Conucks game. 333 off of food menu items. The nachos, the wings, and the Greta Burger. I don’t know if the Greta burger is different than their smash burger. I think it’s the same burger. Okay, that’s got my attention. That has got my attention. So, very I should have yours, too. So, get your tickets, which are free. nationgeear.ca. Come hang out with us. I want to meet all our listeners. I love doing that. Are you going to be there, Harm? Yep. Hell yeah. So, Harm and I are going to host. It’s going to be a lot of fun. All right. Uh, let’s get to our poll. It’s about the Canucks roster decisions. It was, “Which opening night roster move is most surprising to you?” Coots making the team. Mancini getting sent down or going with 14 forwards and 7D. And then other reply below. 51.4% say it’s Coots making the team. 32.9% say Mancini getting sent down. 14.4% say going with 14 forwards and 17. And 1.4% say other. The other here is just I can’t believe our Steve Baines made the team. Let’s talk about that uh in anyone else. Let’s address the Baines portion of this. But focusing on these ones here. Uh, Coots making the team to me is the most surprising thing. Not given the context of how the preseason went like that. That’s not super surprising. I think he I think it was clear that he should make this team probably within his second or third preseason game, it was very clear that he should be on this team. He’s he’s here uh going into training camp. If you told me that, and again, I know he has strong training camp, but day one of training camp, if you told me, oh yeah, Braden Coots is making this team, I would have called you crazy. So, this is the most surprising one to me, I think. Yeah. Before camp opened, I thought Coots had no realistic chance of making this team just because we rarely see 18 year olds. Yeah. Make the NHL, especially somebody who’s not a top five draft pick the week. 10. Yeah. Like out of the top 10 and you’re making your Yeah. It’s crazy. It’s rarified air. Yeah. And sure, you’ve se you see once in a while a guy like Zack Benson do it. Um or Cole Cinger we’ve uh we’ve seen as well, but it really doesn’t happen. And yet from day one in camp in Pentictton, that was the first takeaway was, damn, this guy looks close to being NHL ready with the speed, with the shot, uh, with some of the 2-way details of his game as well. And he fully earned this opportunity. I’m really excited to see see um whether he’s able to seize it because regular season action is a totally different um animal and beast compared to the preseason. And then I’m also curious to see what the coaching staff’s plan is for like we saw John Shannon’s report that he is going to play uh on Thursday the season opener opener against Calgary. But when they go out on the road to Edmonton, is that playing on the road an opportunity where especially with somebody like Atuatu who is on the fringes? We’ll see if he actually ends up drawing into the uh season opening lineup or not. Is that the kind of environment that the coaching staff would say, well, well, let’s not put too much on Coots’s plate right away. Um, and especially if it’s going to be a nine-game trial, let’s spread this out a little bit. Um, and also, it’s been physically demanding for an 18-year-old to battle against NHLers. Let’s maybe give him the night off against u, you know, the Oilers potential. I’m really curious to see how they handle he’s made the roster, but integrating him into the lineup and in deployment. I’m really curious to see how um how they approach that. I’m just I the reason I’m laughing to myself right now is just thinking about like we’ve had conversations with AHL guys about what is and not this isn’t a knock on any anything to do with the Kucks or their facilities or anything but just like what’s available to you even in visiting buildings right for recovery like we’re talking sauna tubs like cold plunge all that stuff and we had we’ve had this conversation that’s our favorite question to ask is how do you recover and you know diff different schedules right there’s different schedules in the A and the NHL, they’re they’re they’re different. I’m just imagining like the WHL, like knowing what junior hockey is like compared to the NHL. Like Braden Coots thought he we we were driving to training camp, but we were behind the Prince George Cougars bus and we were like or no, whose bus were we behind? Portland. Portland winner. They were going up. They were going to Prince George and I was like, “Holy cow, like that’s a that’s a far far drive for those guys.” And they were just sitting on that bus. And for Coots, I’m like, you know, I’m just thinking it’s going to be a shock to his system jumping to an NHL lifestyle. Like, you mean we’re on this plane? Like, how do we how do we get steak on it? How do we get to the Boston Pizza? Like, does the plane fly us there? Like, how how does this work? Because that’s what junior teams do. Like, they they love their Boston Pizza, right, Jacob? Like, that’s the spot. Oh, yeah. When I when I worked for the Express, we would go to Boston Pizza at least once a road trip. That was just kind of where you went. It It was cheap enough and there was enough selection. And they’re in like every And they’re in every every like small town whether you’re playing in that town or it’s just a stop along the way. Like I’ve eaten at Boston Pizzas in Williams Lake in White Horse, Yukon, in uh in like any town you can imagine out in the island. Yeah, Boston pizzas everywhere. Getting an NHL paycheck too for a couple of weeks. Cuz probably wasn’t expecting that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Like I didn’t even think of the paycheck part of it all. Yeah. Like that’s save those pennies. Like say save that money. Save that money. Um and yeah, I’m sure you know I I obviously I want to see him play that first road game in Edmonton. A it’s a wash party. B you saw the the the folks he had coming out his family because again Sherwood Park, right? Um, you saw how much family he had for the preseason game, playing an actual NHL regular season game in Edmonton, man. Like, that’s a really cool moment for that kid. I hope I hope they don’t take that away from him. But again, I it’s it’s they’re not they’re not trying to do feelood stories. They’re trying to win hockey games, right? So, I get it. Like, I understand why it might not happen, but I just hope for his sake that it does happen. But, yeah, Rain Coot’s on the road. That’ll be a again after the first road trip, I think that’ll be one guy I want to talk to like, hey, how how was it? bit of a shock to the system there. Uh anyways, all right. Um let’s get to the Bane stuff because I think that was the other one that people found surprising was Baines making this team. So, we’ll go through the forward group. Really, we can kind of go through the forward lines um as best we can. Let’s get to anyone else, which is presented by Pacific Toyota dealers. And the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid, a no compromise approach to electric vehicles that offers the best of both worlds. Drive up to 72 km on the battery alone. Seamlessly transition from electric mode to the gas engine for a combined range of 962 km. There’s no sacrifices when it comes to horsepower or style with its sleek, low, and wide exterior and sophisticated interior. Loaded with tech that’s actually easy to use. Plug in to recharge at home or at one of the over 2,000 public charging stations in BC alone. And now you can lease a 2025 Prius Plug-in Hybrid SE from $99 weekly at 3.49% APR for 60 months with 3,800 down. And it includes a $3,000 discount. Visit shoptoyota.ca or your local Pacific Toyota dealer today. All right. Um, let’s start with Baines. We’ve had conversations about him this preseason and the I have a take. I’m workshopping a take and I’m going to just throw it out there. I haven’t refined it, so I’m going to do it right now. I’m just going to say what’s on my mind and you tell me if I’m wrong, if I’m right. this idea that like Arshie Baines wouldn’t wouldn’t ever make this roster if he wasn’t from Suri, like if he wasn’t the hometown kid. A, I think that’s wrong, and B, I think it’s gone so far the other direction that it hurts him that he’s from Suri. Like, if this were just some kid from Whitby, Ontario or whatever, okay, and he he’s playing this nononsense style, this lowevent style of play, and he’s he’s done all the things that Archie Baines has done through his time with the Conucks organization. I don’t I think people would still be frustrated that oh there’s a you know a guy who hasn’t shown a ton of offensive potential at the NHL level yet playing in the top six forward group and potent you know potentially in the top six but that he’s made the team is infuriating to some people. I think it’s gone so far the other way that it’s like yeah it hurts him that he’s the hometown kid. Not hurts him specifically but you know what I mean? Like I think people are being harsher on him and more critical of him because he’s from the hometown kid. Yeah, I I understand some of the push back to why is he consistently getting more opportunities in in the top six. Um like I get that element of it if you want to see other guys get an opportunity in that lineup. But if it’s just making the team, I mean, let’s be honest. As much as I love Lenus Carlson and I ahead of camp would have rated Carlson ahead of Baines, and as much as Carlson outperformed Baines at the start of camp and through the first preseason game, let’s not sugarcoat it. Carlson kind of faded down the stretch of preseason and Baines picked his playup. um picked up some points near the end. And this is the biggest reason why he’s earned the coaching staff’s trust and continued opportunities is because the details of his game are so sharp. A and I know fans don’t love hearing about the little things, but the little things are why a guy like Victor Mancini still needs some time in the American League in the eyes of of the organization versus a guy like Archie Baines where none of the loud flashy stuff is there yet, but they like he’s just a coach’s pet and dream because he rarely makes mistakes. Um, we see how much quicker he’s gotten and how disruptive he’s become on the forch. uh his wall work. He’s a quick learner as well. That’s one thing that when he was first called up, Rick Tocket raved about was this guy just gets the message and processes it and implements it right away. And when you’re a new coaching staff coming in and you’re trying to implement changes and tweaks, like you value somebody that somebody when it comes to the fringe um depth competitors, you value somebody that can like take and process those changes and and not skip a beat, have it be a seamless transition. And again, a lot of those are just related to the little details of the game, the def defensive side, positioning, but coaches stress over that with their depth players all the time. And I think that’s where especially because his foot speed has really increased over the last two or three years. Um, why he’s earned an opportunity here to to make the roster. And I I’ll be honest, who else did you want to be the 13th or 14th forward on this team? team. I mean, Max Assassin has amazing speed, but I don’t think his details are as sharp. You don’t see him breaking up as many plays defensively, um, and winning as many battles as Baines does, despite Sassin being faster. Um, Sassin’s also unders sized. Um, and I think less effective on the wing than than Baines has been. And, and this is a key, too, Sassin is waiverss exempt. That’s a I imagine at least part of the reason why he got sent down compared to Baines and Carlson is you didn’t have to expose him to waiverss to have to send him down. So, uh I I have no issue with him making the team. Now, I will say, and I brought this up on Friday’s show as well, the opportunity with Heedle and Garland, it’s got to be a short leash. If that isn’t working, that’s got to be we got to hit the hit the blender on the lines. And I honestly, and I’m curious to get your take as well, I wouldn’t have minded seeing Atu Ratu get that first crack with um with Heedle and Garland on the wing because that line as it’s currently constructed in my mind anyway doesn’t have a natural finisher. Baines is a pass first player. Garland is f is a pass first player and Heedle is in terms of pure shooting ability, it’s not always the best finisher. Whereas you look at Ratu, he doesn’t do much from play driving element, but you know that Heedel and Garland will handle the puck possession style, whereas Ratu could just as a big body get to the front of the net. And we’ve seen him have a couple of nasty snipes in preseason. I would have loved to see what he could do just playing a Dakota Joshua kind of role. Um, not to mention he’d be able to take draws for Philip Pedle who’s only 41% career in the faceoff dot. Um, so I understand that part of it in the like Bane’s leash is got to be short if he’s getting a top six look. But him just making the roster, I don’t have a problem with that. Yeah. And I mean, I agree with all of that. I never thought about Ratu on that line, though. That’s a really interesting take and one I agree with, especially on the surface. Like again, I when you think about finishers on this team, it’s a pretty short list, right? Like obviously Jonathan Leraki’s in that conversation and if he wasn’t you know looking like prime Kane and Taves with Braden Coots over there on the third line you’d be okay splitting those guys up but it looks like they’re going to start the season together as they should. I really like that third line of Kane Coots and Leer Mackey. And again it could get changed tomorrow like they’re going to practice tomorrow. We could see totally different lines but those are the last lines that we saw was those guys together. I never thought about Ratu on that second line though. I like that. But really, yeah, I I the the point I was just going to make was you don’t want to see RC Baines in this team’s top six. You want to see them score a lot. And if he’s not helping with that and he’s kind of just whatever, like basic, okay, put it this way. If what Baines is bringing to the second line, he could bring just as easily to the fourth line, then put him on the fourth line and put someone who’s skate who’s having to skate on the third or fourth line up to the second line. like give them those minutes. You know what I mean? I know I know it’s kind of a a little bit more complicated than that, but that’s just how I look at the conversation is yeah, he’s going to make this roster. Good for him, but short leash in the top six. I know I just basically repeated what you said, but I had that written down, too. That that’s really my only thing on Baines. Yeah, totally fair. All right. Uh this was one from Nar, and it’s absolutely worth mentioning. He said, “One full season of Manny coaching in Abbottzford and we see three of his players make the big club roster. Coincidence? Doubt it.” Yeah, look, Manny Mahaltra, friend of the show. We’re going to get Manny back on the show soon. Um, we’re going to Yeah, we we’ll talk to Manny soon. Uh, but yeah, he you’re not going to hear any anything other than us singing Manny’s praises on this show for sure. He’s a Yeah, he’s he’s a really good coach. Uh, this one from Rat in the chat. He said, “Coot’s making the team is nuts. Mani played great, but it’s just waiverss and a strong decor. Not too too shocking despite the strong preseason.” I want to go back to the start of training camp. And I’d really like if I if I could, I’d hit play on us reacting to the first day of camp with Braden Coots because it didn’t take long for him to stand out. But you had that conversation with him and if you don’t mind, can we revisit that conversation that you had with Braden Coots cuz it was one of those off the record or not off the record but like not in a scrum so we don’t have video of it or anything like what was that conversation like? Like what was your takeaway on the first day of camp and do you think anything’s changed for him since then? Yeah, it it was um it was interesting because in a one-on-one setting, you’re able to kind of have more of a conversation as opposed to super strict kind of interview. And you could tell one of the main takeaways was he legitimately from day one was taking the approach of I’m not just here for the fun and to to soak it up. Like obviously that’s an element of it, but I’m here to do my absolute best to force a tough decision. and just you could see the self-belief in himself and and even getting his take on the the first day of camp. Right away he told me that he felt comfortable with the pace um and and the skill level of of the NHL players around him because that was the first time he would have been in that kind of setting. What he told me was just all right, my biggest challenge is going to be holding up strengthwise. and and he was pretty honest about the fact that when you’re going up in uh a battle drill against a Brock Besser or or Natu Rawatu or one of their bigger defenseman, how he has to expend so much more energy compared to those bigger bodies just because as an 18-year-old, he hasn’t developed that man strength yet. And and that was really his his biggest takeaway was I feel confident with the the speed and the skill level and and my ability to make plays. And then for me, the the biggest test is going to be how am I going to be able to hold up physically because it it does take a lot out of me. It is quite draining to to battle these guys. So that’s the thing that I again I know I want to have this conversation more tomorrow, but we’ll see how this audition goes. And I’m happy for him, don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for him. But it is uh it’s a different story when we’re talking about like okay those mid January like January is always a busy month for the Canucks. How you holding up in mid January? Do you feel like you got enough in the tank to go on? What do you think of the idea of burning the nine or going over nine and doing what the Oilers did with Leon Dryidle where what did he play 37 games then they sent him back to junior. Do you think that’s a good decision for the Canucks to make? Because the alternative of it is like what we’ve talked about in the past where it’s like, okay, you burn the year of the ELC, you’re due for your next contract after you’ve only had two seasons of NHL experience rather than three full seasons where you’re a bit older as well. What say you to that? It’s not ideal because you’re you get one fewer year where he’s on where he’s at an entry level rate and this team’s window to win isn’t the longest. It’s sort of now. You look at the age of Demco, Hughes, Person, these guys are smack in the middle of their prime. And one of the the biggest advantages you can have on your on your roster and building a team that you can fit so many talented players on your roster is if you get those entry level contributors. And so to burn one of those precious valuable ELC years um especially in a world where young players are getting paid quicker and quicker right as an RFA because the cap is exploding. We’ve seen, look at um Frank Nazar’s contract in um in Chicago this summer. Nazar is already is already going to be a $6.5 million dollar player once the EL ELC expires. And look at how little he’s sort of proven himself at the NHL level. Um he had 26 points in 53 games last year. He’s a total of 56 career games, right? So Nazar is already a $6.5 million player. And don’t get me wrong, that I think that contract is going to age beautifully. But the point being, a guy with less than 60 games of NHL experience is already being paid $6.5 million a year. Um, Luke Hughes is already a $9 million player coming off his ELC as a 10.2C player where he wasn’t even eligible for uh an offer sheet. So the the point being like I if you’re if if you show even a little bit of flash and promise on an ELC and a team wants to lock you up long term, which they should because the alternative is bridging you at a cheaper capit, which down the road is going to cause you bigger problems, you’re going to get paid a lot. So it’s not ideal. However, if the Conucks end up in a scenario where they give him longer than nine games and you hit a wall in December and January um where he looks a little bit tired and you think, “All right, could be best for his development to send him back to junior.” Well, at that point, the first year’s burned regardless at that point. If the best thing for his development is to go back and spend time in junior, then that’s the the then send him back. There’s no problem with that. You’ve already burned the first year. But ideally, you feel confident about the decision one way or the other before that 10th game and before you burn the first year. And like you said, he doesn’t have to play 10 straight games. You can sit him out every once in a while. Let He’d probably enjoy that. You get the NHL paychecks for longer. You don’t have to play as much. This is a comment from Mobs. I want to read it. If Coots at 3C makes you a better team than not, you keep him in the NHL to be a better team to retain Hughes. Yes. But you also I I agree with that side of it, but the other side of the coin is Coots plays such a premium position and is such an important part of this team’s future that his development is also in your team’s best interests. And like you you have to weigh the trade-off of would being slightly better at the NHL level as a team if Coots is ready. Is that worth potentially sacrificing his development and and rushing him a little bit too soon? Right? That’s going to be the the the tough debate. Okay. I’m going to ask you a question and maybe this is a question better suited for an ex NHLer or someone who’s lived the life that we’re talking about. What is he going to gain in the WHL that he’s not going to gain at the NHL level? I know we’re talking about size. We’re talking about strength. And trust me, like that’s one thing I’ve learned from talking to these players is it’s really hard to keep up weight, keep up muscle mass during the season. It’s really really difficult. It it’s it’s it’s it’s hard. Like they’ve talked about that. I understand that. So that aside, um you’re like it’s not like coffee, and I know coffee doesn’t either, but it’s not going to stunt his growth as a player. I don’t think like as as a human. Like I don’t think he’s going to not grow as much if he plays in the NHL as opposed to the WHL. And I think Do we know that though? Well, scientifically that’s I mean this this organization Oh, physically. Yeah. I mean, just as an overall player though, like look at what happened to Mac. Size and strength. What happened to Macan? Let’s Let’s talk about Jared Macan. Let’s do it. Let’s talk about Jared McCann. Recount the Jared Macan story for me. Well, he came in at what, 19 years old? Yep. He’s a year later than Coots. Yes. And you could tell that he was in the NHL too soon. And because of that, it made the organization sour a bit on him. And and look at how long it took for him to become like fulfill his potential, become a top six player. He had to take a roundabout trajectory to his career because he was rushed to the NHL and only had 18 points in 69 games as a rookie. Okay, so this is this is what I’m this the reason I wanted to bring up Jared Macan is the lesson with Jared McCann isn’t oh well Coots has to go back to junior. The lesson with Jared McCann is okay Coots looks great in the preseason, he looks great in training camp. let him play these games and yeah if he starts to struggle around December January we were expecting that and let’s not be afraid to send him back to junior we’ve already burned burned the year of the ELC like you said harm or let’s do what the Florida Panthers did when they got Jared McCann and send him to the AHL the next season if it’s needed and then he can go find his game like I’m just I’m and I’m not I’m not saying you’re saying the opposite of what I’m saying. I’m just trying to make people think about this idea that if he goes back to the WHL, that’s the absolute best thing for his development. It’s 100% foolproof. You can’t go wrong if he just goes back to the WHL after nine games. Again, there’s so many different moving parts to it. I want to dive into it more tomorrow. I’ve had too much of this conversation today, but yeah. Okay. Well, we can we Yeah, you’re right. We can you can respond. You can respond to the Macan stuff because that’s the topical thing that we’re talking about right now. Well, also I was just going to say it’s not just the size part where has room to improve. He like I want to see his offensive game improve. And to go back to Junior, there’s it’s not like he’s too too good for that league offensively. K is coming off a year. We had 63 points in 60 games. That’s good, but that’s not elite. Um it’s not like he was Michael Misa scoring 134 points in 60 games in the in the OHL. um you know sucks and they’re gonna suck again this year. Like well no offense I when I say a junior team sucks every all the junior fans get really mad at me. So they don’t they’re not a they don’t have any other drafted forwards on that team. You could look at so Berkeley Ken in Seattle he’s a year older you would look at him as a player um 109 points in 57 games in the dub last year. That’s a player that you would look at and go offensively he has nothing to gain from going back to the dub and it’s an unfortunate spot um for him because this year I believe it’s NHL or or back to junior. Um but Coots, even with the context that the Thunderbirds aren’t very good around him, like you’re not talking about him averaging two points per game. like he had he was a point per game guy which again is good considering the context of the team he was on but it’s not like he was dominating the league and there’s nothing for him to gain offensively even when you look at his profile in his in his draft year just stylistically a lot of scouts have talked about as an east west playmaker there is room for him to to grow that dynamic part of his game um so that’s why I still lean towards we’ll see what happens ultimately that in once the games start and and how he performs forms, but I lean towards if you were to ask me today, I have to make a decision now, would I rather see Coot spend the full year in the NHL or go back to junior? I would probably choose him going back to junior because I think that would be the best thing for the long-term development of his offensive um ceiling. LC250 said this, the draft profile of Coots was high floor, low ceiling. Now that we’ve seen him in training camp, does this change his ceiling? Where’s Dave Hall when you need him? We’ll have Dave on the show. Blackfish will be out tomorrow at.com. So, I actually dug up the clip we posted after the draft quads when you and Dave did the show together. Um, let’s do it here. So, give me like two seconds. I can get it in and we can actually listen to what Dave said right after the pick was made. I need about 30. Jacob shut off his mic midway through talking. I need about 30 I need about 30 seconds. So, pause until or time until then and we’ll answering this question. high floor, low ceiling. I don’t think a training camp’s enough to change your ceiling. I think you’re on a really solid trajectory, but also like a high floor player would stand out in an NHL training camp theoretically. Yeah. I He’s better than I expected as a prospect in general, though. Yeah. If you’re if you’re able to just even as a higher floor prospect to hold your own in an NHL environment and play as well as he has, you’re a better prospect than I figured when he was drafted 15th overall. And that bodess well um for his development. Ultimately, the proof will be in how he per how he produces in his D+1 season, whether it’s whether it’s uh in the WHL or or if he sticks in the NHL, then all right, you don’t care as much about the offensive production because you’re not expecting the 18year-old to light it up. Um o overall the takeaway is just yeah his his probability of and chances of becoming an impact NHLer have undoubtedly increased um with him taking the steps that he has over the last few months. All right, play the Dave clip him as an elite third line center, which yeah, say what you will about that, but I think he has the chance to blossom into that 2C, which at the 15th overall pick, I I think that’s a pretty good projection in my opinion. Like, yes, maybe you’re leaving some offense on the table with Victor Ecklan. Yes. Um, Kan Herson is right there. But, you know, you’ve got enough defense where I you need centers and you need right shot centers. And so, Brian Coots, in my opinion, was a home run pick. He might not be the most offensively talented guy and that’s not to say that he’s not offensively gifted. Like there is there is a world where he finds another gear at the NHL level. I mean he put up 63 points on a pretty lousy Seattle Thunderbirds team last year. He could easily get 100 points in the RHL this year and people start thinking completely different of him, right? And so I I just think it’s an easy it’s an easy projectable pick for, you know, a guy that they desperately need. So I love the pick. I’m a big ring coots guy. Well said, Dave. Um, that aged so well. Yeah, I know. Dave, like all of Dave’s takes. Yes. F he he can find another gear at the NHL level and he comes into training camp and earns a spot on the team. Dave absolutely nailed it. All right. LC250 said, “If Coots puts up 30 points, plays the full season, will his ceiling then go up?” Oh, yeah. If as an 18-year-old you put up like 30 points, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but to do it at 18, it’s just rare in general for 18 and 19 year olds to be full-time NHL players. And look at Leon Dettle’s stats in his first NHL. They were not good at all. So, if Gu makes sticks as a full-time NHL player, if he’s that good where it’s so undeniable that even a guy like me who thinks that junior would be best for his development, like at that point, it doesn’t matter how many points he scores. Like, I don’t care about that. It’s just if you’re like the NHL is the top 1% of the top 1% at 18 when you’ve still got so much room to improve. if you’re good enough to still provide some kind of value and stick there, then yeah, the ceiling increases even if he doesn’t put up many points. Uh, and so Harmon brought up Dryidle. So, yes, when Dryidle first got his look in the NHL, 37 games, two goals, seven assists, he gets sent back down, but he got traded from the Prince Albert Raiders to the Colona Rockets, who were a really good team. They won the WHL. Did they win the Memorial Cup? They definitely I think they were in the Memorial Cup final at the very least. Uh and he after going back down put up 53 points in 32 games. They won and then then 28 points in 19 playoff games. And then he stepped into the NHL. He was a 50point guy and then he turned into one of the top players in the league. So that is still a possibility for Braden Coots. Everyone’s saying, “Oh, well if you know if he goes back down to this terrible Seattle team.” Well, if he sticks in the NHL for one, two, two and a half months, whatever it is, it’s very likely that if he plays at the World Juniors and then ends up going back down to junior after, which is what happened with Dryidle, he was let go to go to the World Juniors, play for Germany, who were in the top group at the time, thanks to Dryidle qualifying them for the top group. Uh, and then he went back to the WHL after. If that happens, Coots is going to get traded. he’ll haul like 14 draft picks for the Seattle Thunderbirds and whoever’s winning the WHL will go out and get a guy that’s going to help them win a Memorial Cup. So, just keep that in mind for everyone saying, “Oh, but he if he goes to Seattle, if he sticks in the NHL for more than a week and a half, he’s probably not playing for the Seattle Thunderbirds. They will trade him and get a boatload of draft picks.” Well said. All right. Uh I don’t know if we have enough to talk about Coots tomorrow, so we’ll figure out what we’re going to talk about tomorrow. Uh, but let’s get to our bet 365 bet of the day brought to you by, you guessed it, bet 365. NLDS game twos are tonight. You got the Dodgers, you got the Phillies, and then it’s Cubs and Brewers. Man, the Books really liking the Brewers after that spanking. But the Cubs have Ianaga on the mound tonight. I’m taking Cubs money line. Yeah, this is even this is going to be an even series after tonight. You heard it here first. Uh, plus 115 odds. You can get Cubs money line at bet365. Plus 115 odds. Whatever your bet is, it’s never ordinary. Bet 365. Download the app and get it on the game. Use the code nation at bet 365. Must be 19 plus to play. If you choose to play, please play responsibly. Uh, harm. Did you watch Trey Savage shove it down the Yankees throats on the weekend? 11ks in five and a third. Are you kidding me? No. That’s wild. And then the Vlatty Grand Slam. Uh, dude, this team that game two was just peak aura. Yeah, that was that that was I mean it got out of hand and thankfully you have John Schneider to make things interesting by taking the kid out and putting in their absolute poo poo middle relief guys. Uh, who made it somehow made it a close game after the Jays were up by that much. Um, but man, it is unbelievable that a guy again who is pitching in Vancouver this season with the Canadians went out and had one of the best postseason performances we’ve ever seen. Not just from a 22-y old, but just from a starting pitcher. Like 11 strikeouts in the in the postseason is not easy to do. Uh that splitter with the backwards movement moves like a fast screw ball. That’s impossible to hit. And that’s what the Yankees were having trouble with was that damn splitter and he was mixing in slider and his fast ball as well. It was a really good outing from Trey Savage. And hey, the Jays are looking scary as soon as Harman Dial becomes a fan of the team. So you want to you want to start rooting for the Mariners? Well, I think it’s the other way around. It’s only that I’ve become a fan now that they’re really good, not that they’ve become really good because I’m supporting them now all of a sudden. Fair enough. I I appreciate But I did You know what I was nervously I was in the gym the other day and they had the Tigers Mariners game and just um watching who was it? Was it Castillo starting? Castillo. Yes. Did you watch yesterday’s game? Is that what you’re talking about? Uh he started yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so just seeing him get out of some early jams while I was working out was just like I was paying attention to baseball way more than I should have in there, which uh which tells you that again I I’m not a big fan of regular season baseball, but in the playoffs it’s it’s pretty electric. I can’t lie. It it is. Yeah. And that was I’ll be honest like I I had friends over to watch game one and like we all kind of went our separate ways. Like people left my house without saying anything because we knew losing that game, game one with Terk Scubble coming back on the mound for game two, we were like this is over. Like the Mariners playoff hopes are dead before they even started with all that excitement and they lose that game. Uh but hey, they hung on to win. They put up two on scubble which I still can’t really believe, especially that it was horrible twice. That was that was crazy. Uh that was a crazy game. That was the most nervous I’ve been, I think, as a sports fan, certainly in the last like 10 years. Um, that was the most nervous I’ve been, but man, I uh yeah, I uh I enjoyed that. So, playoff baseball is here. It’s a good time. It’s the best time of year. Everybody knows that. You got football, you got playoff baseball, and of course, you’ve got the NHL regular season starting up as well. Uh where did it go? There was a good question. Yeah. Okay. Pick your pickle ball partner. Harm, this is this is another anyone else. I had to get get it in before we wrap up. Uh, out of these four, this is from Ka. Pick one P pickle ball teammate. JPAT, Thomas Dance, Jacob, or Quads. I think there’s a clear answer. Your pick. Go ahead. I I have no idea whether any of you guys have played raet sports before. I I would ask all of you guys like any experience with rackets like a tennis. I I I I play a lot of tennis. Quads are the right. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You’re the Yeah. As soon as you said I played a lot of tennis. Yeah, I mean because it’s just an easier version of um of tennis and I’ve actually started to play tennis a bit more. Uh haven’t played pickle ball as um as much and yeah, if you play tennis a lot, you’ll pick it up so quickly. Yeah, I I love I love tennis. And yeah, like dude, I think you and I team up. We could take down those seniors that you play against in the pickle ball tournaments. We could take down um the Golden Girls. That’s the team. That’s the team you beat in the final, right? All right. Uh let’s uh let’s wrap up. Yeah. A lot of people a lot of people with uh more comments about baseball and Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We’ll wrap it up. We’ll wrap it up. We’ll we’ll we got to save some stuff for tomorrow, folks. Game one of the Canucks season is until Thursday, so we’ll wrap it up there. Uh Jacob, how’s Family Feud? Do we need more responses? Yeah, I didn’t get the survey out until today. So, it is in the it is in the description right now. I know quite a few of you who are watching live have already filled it out. Thank you for that. If you’re listening on podcast, uh it is in the show notes as always. Uh please fill out that survey by Thursday. All right, then we’ll wrap it up there for my co-host Harman Dial and our producer Jacob Zazar. My name is Delli. Thanks so much for this episode of Kucks Conversation. Kucks Conversation is live Monday through Friday every weekday at 2 p.m. over on the Kucks Army YouTube channel. Make sure you like, subscribe, and interact in the YouTube live chat every day with us, folks.

Quads is back and the roster is set! The guys break down what to expect for opening night on this episode of Canucks Conversation.

📋 Submit your survey responses for our next edition of Family Feud: https://forms.gle/42KBvX6JcQKFGD2t7

💻 Website: https://canucksarmy.com
🐦 Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CanucksArmy
📲 Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/canucksarmy…
👍 Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CanucksArmy/
📺 Subscribe on YouTube: @Canucks_Army

———————

Thank you to all of our sponsors:

🟢 @bet365: It’s never ordinary! Download the app today and use promo code: NATION | http://www.bet365.ca/
🟢 Pacific Toyota Dealers: https://www.shoptoyota.ca/british-columbia/en?utm_source=TNN&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=pacific-influencer&utm_content=TheNationNetwork
🟢 GRETA BAR YVR: The home of all our watch parties | http://lnk.to/GRETAYVR
🟢 Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/ca

Daily Faceoff Survivor Pool – Register for free: https://fantasy.dailyfaceoff.com/dfo/hksurvivor25/home

———————

Intro Song: Get Sport Movement – Defense (APM Music)

#Canucks #VancouverCanucks #NHL #Hockey #Vancouver