Early NHL Season Reaction From @TheHockeyGuy – Sharks Audio Network

Early NHL Season Reaction From @TheHockeyGuy – Sharks Audio Network

We are now joined on the Sharks Audio Network by Shannon SKS aka the hockey guy. Shannon, what’s going on, man? How are you doing? Uh, not too bad. Been busy with the the season being well underway and just past the month mark, but uh yeah, it’s going pretty well. It’s been entertaining up to this point. And you know, as I watch your videos, as I’ve told you before, every night at the end of the games or the next morning, if I’ve gone to bed early, um, I always laugh to myself about how you made whiteboards cool again. And I just I for will forever get a kick out of that. You still get a kick out of it yourself, right? I you know the the whiteboard thing sort of evolved into being and I I really I I I do see the occasional you need to get a green screen. You need to get and I think I I I I don’t think I do. I’m I’m happy with the white boards. Um I enjoy rotating them through too. So, like I’ve already got the board set up for tonight’s games with the way I’ve got it set up in here. Uh, I’ve got a news board. I’ve got the board for the preview. I’ve already got that set up for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, that preview tomorrow morning. Like, I’ve got everything organized uh in my own way, but it it is it is organized. I like it this way. So, it’s it’s worked out pretty well. No. And now my kids, you know, they’re they’re 12 and 10 and they’re angry that we will not give them phones. But I do think it’s funny that when they watch your videos, they’ll be like, “Dad, we should we should get a whiteboard and put some, you know, update the standings every morning.” I’m like, “Maybe we will. Maybe we will again.” So, you’re you’re breaking through to the uh the Gen Alphas. So, I think you should be proud of that. Um, you know, before we go Shark Centric, and maybe this will be your answer, but what is your um early season surprise or what has really intrigued you about the league up to this point? Um, I I think I expected the Ducks to be better. I didn’t necessarily expect them to be this much better this soon. I knew that hiring Quenville as coach would help, but um yeah, Anaheim Anaheim’s flatout terrifying with their speed. And it it has been very interesting watching as some some established teams that are normally really good are struggling and some teams that have struggled for years are finally getting at least close to the playoff line and it looks like should be playing games that matter into February or March. Mhm. No, and that was something that we rifted on right before we started is just that we’re seeing some turnover and obviously people were paying attention to Baddard and Celibbrini and Carlson previously and and Hudson, but those names are more in the mix as is a Schaefer and we’re watching, you know, the Sharks make a little noise, Chicago make a little noise like you alluded to. Anaheim, obviously the Kraken have gotten off to a decent start. we have watched, you know, Detroit maybe not as hot as they were, but they, you know, they’ve been trying to break through after a decade to get out of that long slumber. And it’s it’s it’s fascinating because while I think we all acknowledge that Florida is not their full selves due to them being beat up and dealing with injuries, there is enough talent and star power around this league for everybody to get the attention they deserve. I I I agree. I think like whenever they talk about expansion and the first thing I see is, well, there aren’t enough superstars to go around. I think there are. And I think there’s enough players who we’ve seen get a chance in Vegas or Seattle who can be good, productive top six forwards. I I do think that we’re in this age now where there are enough talented players to go around. And it’s uh I I do remember an era where there were not enough players to go around and that was really really tough to watch, but I I don’t think we’re there anymore. And yeah, there’s a lot of good exciting young players right now. It’s fun and I think that’s one of the things that they’ve obviously done with the advertising, the the golden era or golden age, however they’re uh deeming it. But I think the skill level just on display, whether it’s the Bard snipes or Mlin Celibbrini making an absurd pass or some of the saves we’ve seen and then McDavid spinning backhand goal the other day and then there was one last night, I’m forgetting who it was. It was a just a ridiculous tow drag for a backhand goal. I mean, the skills on display, not just from the superstars either. I mean, it is it’s a whole lot of fun and it’s bringing in, I believe, a whole lot of um just fans and viewers. And I imagine that’s bringing even more of an audience to your videos because I feel like I have more people than previously that are sending me your videos who I wouldn’t have even deemed hockey fans before. I I do think that it has helped. I I think one thing that’s changed in hockey is there used to be this very um sort of baked in idea that you don’t hot dog, you don’t showboat, you go out, you do just the basics. And some of the goals we’re seeing now would have caused a fight 20 years ago. It would have been like what that move is, you don’t do that in a game. That’s not right. And even if it scores go, it’s not right. That’s not traditional hockey. and some of these hot dog moves that now we like the Michigan now is just it’s part of the game. Uh teams have learned how to defend it, but it does make it more exciting. It makes it more fun to watch. Um that guys are allowed to be creative. They’re encouraged to be creative. Uh players are finding different ways to work out in the off season. They’re staying in better shape. And so for players like Ovetchk and Crosby and some of the older players, they have to evolve as well and keep ramping up their game because everybody else is as well. I I think it’s just a more talented and creative league than we used to see. And I think that what you alluded to with, you know, an Ovetchkin or a Crosby having to evolve, that’s a previous generation in the middle. You kind of have McDavid who I think in ways fed off of what he saw from Sid and Obi and that helped create his game along with his just incredible physical gifts. And then we’re watching this younger generation. So we kind of have three generations still playing like absolute superstars at the old age and then the young guys playing like superstars and it creates a really interesting dynamic. But I think you can obviously credit Sid and Obie and I know there’s some guys I’m leaving out, but that highlight of their play early on is what is spurring the incredible skill level we’re seeing at such a young age right now. Yeah, we’re we’re really seeing that that creativity and skill being encouraged. And that that hasn’t always You would think that would be how the NHL is always targeted, but it hasn’t. Um it it’s still there’s still size is very much something that drives the league as well. I I still am always surprised on draft day that there’s there’s some big players that get drafted ahead of really skilled smaller players that we look back and go, “How did they not see this?” They did, but they still drafted by size. But it feels like that’s less common now. And we understand more and more that the skill and the speed and and the intelligence that these players have on the ice, that’s what has to be valued just as much as size. No. And I think the other aspect of this is that with the the four nations last year, I I think that also got a lot of eyeballs and then you’re entering a really interesting situation now where team Canada is having to to make some very very difficult situations. And a guy that we’ve talked about before who you’ve been very big on since day number one is William Ecklund as I awkwardly transition to the Sharks. But I remember you were very big on him early on when a lot of people said that he was too small and you referenced how he was ranked as a skater among the European skaters and that you liked a lot of what he could do. He had a little bit of an injury for the last week or so, but before that was essentially becoming that point per game player, driving his line, getting between the dots and really making things happen, forcing the issue. I’m just curious, you know, from your point of view, I guess, is this a well this is what I expected from William Ecklund. He’s he’s right about where where I figured he would be. Um I’ve been really impressed with Will Smith and the chemistry with Celabbrini and Celabbrini’s ability to elevate the players playing with him is just and and the confidence, the swagger he’s already showing is crazy. It it it and it’s it’s not coming across as arrogance either. It’s just coming across as I’m going to do this. I can do this. And his celebrations after the goal are basically like, all right, that I knew that was going to go. And and he’s I I really like the confidence. That’s something I don’t think I’ve seen a lot with San Jose for years. It’s kind of nice to see that swagger with a young player like that. Um, but I I I do like Ekkan. I really like the young like last night uh here in Abbottzford we saw the the San Jose Barracuda and I was like okay I know all these players and I’m going through like there’s another yeah there’s another good prospect and of course they destroyed Abbottzford the night before and when I looked at their lineup I got it like there’s real depth now in the San Jose organization as well. It’s it’s impressive to watch because we see so often in sports to where you have these prospects to where you’re not sure if it’s going to work and we still don’t know in all these guys but when they’ve brought up an Ethan Cardwell he’s played well and he’s scored for San Jose and he’s been dynamic and I think you know we’ve seen what Chernoff looks like he’s potential and capable of doing the same thing with a Quinton Musty and you know I think that that’s it’s interesting because for a justosition I know a lot of people have told me the knock on Vancouver and Calgary is they refuse to ever go through the pain of a true rebuild that San Jose recently has gone through. Is that does that ring true to you or is that too much of an outsers’s lens? There’s there’s a lot of frustration in the Vancouver market that when the team needed to do the rebuild and Trevor Lyndon was calling for it that basically he ended up out of his job because reportedly people weren’t listening to him and and ownership had no interest in a rebuild. Mhm. I’m I’m not a huge fan of a full rebuild, but I’m I’m okay with like some sort of a reset where you take a couple years, you build up prospects and draft picks. My frustration in Vancouver’s always been, okay, they traded another top draft pick, they traded another player to to try to sandbag and get into the playoffs, but they’re not trying to become Stanley Cup champion. They’re not getting those franchise players. And so I feel bad for Person because he just gets slaughtered by media and fans locally, but he doesn’t have superstar players to play with. He’s he’s got some good players. The Conucks have never surrounded their star players with really good star depth, at least not since the heyday back in the early 2010s with the Sadines and Kesler in that era. And so it is frustrating because the the franchise just feels like it’s spinning its wheels. Even now they’re we’re gonna go out and get try to get a center and and so they they want to try to, you know, peg their way through to make it into the playoffs, but there’s no long-term plan. So we’d love to we there is no long-term plan, but that’s that’s the danger because I’ve often wondered about how differently this the Sharks rebuild will be viewed if they do not land a Mlin Celebrini. And that’s not a knock on any of the other young talents that came out of that draft, but it is that’s part of the narrative. But I mean, it is working for San Jose ostensibly. And I don’t know if they continue winning eight out of 10 games for the rest of the season, but as I’ve heard you frequently say, it feels like the Sharks are starting to figure things out. And I guess more than just Mlin Celbrini, what more are you seeing from the Sharks when you watch their games? Well, even even when they were 04 and two to start, I I I know I’m doing videos. I was like, they’re better than this. I don’t know why they’re still winless. I swear they’re not the same as they were previous years. I don’t know what’s happening here. The goalending had its issues very early in the season. Defensively, there were some miscues as well. Um, but San Jose really does seem to have started figuring this out. And it’s it’s not just the winds, it’s being able to protect leads. It’s one of the things that’s impressed me with with the Ducks as well. Other the other California team that’s not the Kings. And that’s that’s part of learning how to win is learning how to protect those leads. Mhm. And not to get rattled. Like with San Jose, I don’t know how many times over the last few years you’d see them allow a goal and then they just slump and all of a sudden there’s two or three more that are in. And that doesn’t seem to be happening this year outside of early on when Ascrov was struggling and Nelkovich was going on journeys out of the net and everything. But since the goalending’s really solidified over the last few weeks, yeah, San Jose right now is is a team that I don’t think anybody would want to play if they eek their way into a playoff spot. I think they’d be a terrifying opponent for anybody, especially as a number two wild card where there’s no pressure or expectation. When we juxtapose that though with what they’re still trying to build towards and I, you know, the tear down is done, but it’s still in the building phase. Does that create a situation for Mike Greer where if this team ahead of schedule is looking like they can get into the playoffs, does he move any of those large numbers of assets that he would have to try and improve it? Or do you say, “No, you’re playing with house money. If you can get into the playoffs, this is not the time you start, you know, trying to make trades towards the deadline to improve the team. You just take what you have and see what happens. I could see I mean they have a lot of cap money they could put on long-term injured reserve. We know that. And I could see them putting a couple of players on on LTIR and bringing in a couple of rentals at the deadline. Probably nothing earthshattering, but at least a couple of rentals cuz then what you’re telling your room is, I think you guys can do this. Mhm. And you’re close enough. I’m going to give you guys a chance and we’re going to add a couple of pieces here to to aid you guys. I I think they’re in that kind of a position to do that without mortgaging a lot of their future. With Mlin Celibbrini, it does seem, like I said, that not only is he accelerated the timeline, but he is the type of a player that can kind of pull the team along with him, that he has the ability to elevate his game. I’m just curious that when you’re watching Celibbrini, and I know I’m way too close to it, but when you watch him, does he look like a player who is, as some of the people have said, could be the face of the NHL for the next generation? I I just I often wonder about how much me being or at every game or watching every game or being in the midst of it, how much my perspective is skewed from an outsers’s view. Oh, I I would I would definitely say he he could be the face of that next generation. Uh the the battle between either he and Baddard or he and Leo Carlson. I’m not sure which one’s going to be a bigger feud. Um obviously Anaheim and San Jose California teams don’t like each other in the first place. So there’s a naturalb born feud there. But I I definitely think celebrkkin that always gets that national broadcast which would be nice because western teams generally don’t get that traditionally. We don’t see as much attention for the star players on the west coast that you’re going to get on the east coast. So that would definitely be nice. Uh Celabbrini is just too talented to be ignored. I guess that’s the hard thing to to really wrap my head around is that he’s playing a game at age 19 that just seems so mature and so complete and he’s adjusting to the game as it adjusts to him in real time and it kind of makes us not pay attention to the fact that you have seen like I alluded to William Eklan really come on strong. Will Smith is having a great start to his second year and people aren’t talking about it. You know, Shakir Muk McDullan is coming in and playing well. I think the other part about it is that people want those rivalries with the CBrini, the Carlson, the Bedard. But it was really interesting, and I’m sure you saw this the other day where Bedard said, “Oh yeah, I’m happy for Mlin CBrini. No one’s happier than I am when he scores.” And it’s like you have to remind yourself that because these hockey circles are so tight. These guys have pre-existing relationships. As much as the fans want it, you know, want it to be blood and guts, that’s not how these guys on the ice are always viewing it unless they’re actively going headto-head in a game. Yeah, they’re they’re both BC boys, so they they definitely would would know each other pretty well would be my guess. And it does feel like it’s it’s different with this generation. I think with social media, with everything that goes on, I think a lot of these these players get to know each other before they reach the NHL. Um I I don’t think it matters come playoff time. I think then the hate ramps up pretty quickly during playoff time, even if you’re against your buddies. But um it it is definitely interesting to see this generation and how close they are. Um but yeah, I I’m I’m a proponent too of both Celibbrini and Bard being on team Canada. I am a big proponent of go young, go fast and and and go that route. I don’t know that they will. I think one or the other probably makes it, but I I hope it’s both. Just ask you about Baddard because I am just a fan of the idea of them both being generational talents. That might be how it’s looked at when all is said and done. When you see his short-range snipe and the amount of generation he gets out of that shot that he has, the pushpull with the full body turn, is there any direct comparison that you can make to that? Because he had a snipe the other day that had such extreme speed that it looked like a pitcher, you know, throwing a a 106 mph heater except from like half the distance. I mean, you couldn’t really track the puck, and I’m just trying to imagine what that’s going to do to goalies because he’s only going to get better and more skilled with that shot. Bard makes it look effortless. One thing that I noticed with Bard and and everybody was focusing on his numbers, there were always flashes in every game of what he was going to be able to do. Mhm. And like the the way that he’s got that release off his stick. Like I’m I’m trying to think back to guys like like Buret who just had that ability to bring everybody to their feet and just was made it look easy. Uh Ovuchkin definitely during his prime years made it look easy like he could score 80 goals a year if he really felt like it. Uh McDavid has that ability to to just kind of look at and go all right I’m just going to go through everybody and score. And there’s there’s definitely that with Bedard and and his his intelligence. I also think the defensive game for a lot of these young players gets undersold. Yeah. There was a time in the NHL where every star player that came in was kind of bad defensively and so you’re kind of like, okay, well, they’ll learn that part of the game later. They’re not as bad defensively now as they used to be. They’re more complete players. So that’s why I never panicked with Bernard because I could see he was doing a lot of other things and I I figured eventually the offensive side would work itself out. But just trying to think that release is Yeah, it it is elite. It’s one of the best. I keep thinking Paul Korea, but like it’s just it it is hard to just fathom how like you can hear the announcers, guys who’ve been in the NHL talking about that release and how ridiculous it is, just how fast it’s off his stick. So, it it’s it’s good those those have started going in for him. It’s bad for everybody else. Well, with Ovuchkin, he was always on top of the circle, the left circle. Obie, boom, there’s your goal. But with Bard, he’s drifting through and sometimes out of it and it’s like just pops off his stick. It’s like there’s my joke with Conor McDavid is there’s like a jetpack that he’s wearing that we can’t see. And with Bard, it’s like there’s a little charge on the end of his stick that we can’t see where the puck just explodes off of it. And this goes back to my original point, I guess, is just like I feel every night I’m seeing a candidate for goal of the year or I’m seeing maybe something that I haven’t specifically seen before and it’s all happening so rapidly on top of each other. It’s just making the NHL as a whole seem every night see so much fun. And then I guess to the other point is like you also don’t know what’s going to happen. I feel like there’s more unexpected finishes in the NHL this year to where you’re like, “Huh, that was a better game than I thought it would be. That was more fun than I expected. That was not my expected outcome, which again just breeds to this whole, you know, fun start to the season. I think everybody kind of feels it, too. Yeah, it’s uh with with about 80% of the games being one goal or a goal and an empty netuh difference, it it just it it does bring that air of complete and total um unpredictability to to hockey, which I I think is is good for the game. I think it’s good for the league. I think that it’s like I I do I do understand that people want to see dynasties and dominant teams, but I I think it’s better if everybody feels like they have a chance at the start of the night to win the game. Mhm. And and then see how that plays out. And I think it’s more interesting to watch on TV than just one team running everybody over. Um it it and and for me, watching the games every night, the fact that every night’s completely different really helps, too. So, I’m not just standing here and saying, “All right, so all these teams won again tonight. All these teams lost. Got an eight-point difference already for this team. They’re out of it.” I like that’s not really happening this year. So, I I I do think that makes for a better product. That said, you saw the footage of Barkoff already working out, right? Yeah. Yeah. He’ll he’ll probably be back before expected. It’s Barov and everyone should be very very scared about that when it does occur. But Shannon, I will let you go, man, because I know you’ve got stuff to do. But I appreciate your time and your work as always. And I hope I can bug you again soon. All right, man.

The Hockey Guy and I discuss the early trends of the NHL Season, The Sharks, and more!

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