Mm.

Um, which is viable, but do you take your best player, a 40-goal scorer, and play him, quote, unquote, out of position? Now, there's logic behind this as well.

I was in LA, I've been in LA for a long time.

When Adrian played center back in the day, he wasn't good.

Can't win a faceoff.

He's gonna be about a 40% faceoff guy.

But he's a much better player now than when he was playing center before.

No.

Mm.

Um, which is viable, but do you take your best player, a 40-goal scorer, and play him, quote-unquote, out of position? Now, there's logic behind this as well.

I was in LA, I've been in LA for a long time.

When Adrian played center- Back in the day, he wasn't good.

Can't win a faceoff, he's gonna be about a 40% faceoff guy, but he's a much better player now than when he was playing center before.

The question is, totally different assignments when you're playing the middle, Tom.

Of course they are.

So yeah, I, I have not, this is, it's crazy now.

[laughs]

Um, do they put Kempe, are they gonna experiment with Kempe in the middle? Like, would he be the second line center? And if so, then you have a legit top six.

But do you take your best player, a 40-goal scorer, and play him out of position? Now, when he did play center, he wasn't very good, but that was seven years ago.

He's a much better complete player, Adrian Kempe, right now.

He knows of how to play on the walls.

The question is, when he gain, when he gets the puck with speed along the wing, and he gets that devastating shot off, like, is he gonna do that at the center, or is he gonna have to play deeper in the zone, and then start earl- deeper in the zone? So it's gonna be interesting.

Now, the key, Connor, is it's not a long pre-season this year.

Uh, do you think it's enough to, I don't know, the, the big talk here is try to win that division for the first time since 1986?

[laughs]

Um, do they put Kempe, are they gonna experiment with Kempe in the middle? Like, would he be the second line center? And if so, then you have a legit top six.

But do you take your best player, a 40-goal scorer, and play him out of position? Now, when he did play center he wasn't very good, but that was seven years ago.

He's a much better complete player, Adrian Kempe, right now.

He knows how to play on the walls.

The question is, when he gain- when he gets the puck with speed along the wing and he gets that devastating shot off, like, is he gonna do that as a center or is he gonna have to play deeper in the zone and then start earl- deeper in the zone? So it's gonna be interesting.

Now, the key, Connor, is it's not a long pre-season this year.

Uh, do you think it's enough to, I don't know, the, the big talk here is try to win that division for the first time since 1986.

How is he gonna be used? Is this the last dance? What, what's gonna happen with Drew Doughty, you think?

Y- yeah.

As I mentioned with Clark, the numbers on time on ice, Jesse, have to flip.

From what Clark played, which is I think a little over n- almost 19 minutes a night to Drew playing 23, that can't happen this season, right? So with respect to looking at his productivity, I don't think it's gonna go much north of what you had last season.

So I think he, you're probably looking at the mid-30s, except maybe high single-digit goals, maybe 30 assists.

That gets you to what? 39, 40.

So it's not gonna be a big jump.

How do you see the splits between these two working out, who are both, I believe, under contract for this last season? What do you think we can expect from them, and will they, the Kings be able to protect them as well?

that's got to be the mo get a couple of picks back and get someone to take all the salary but at this point if that trade isn't able to happen now morgan riley to his credit is he's a professional hockey player he's a professional businessman but coming back might be just a little bit awkward at this point but we speculated on the show that if he comes back into a somewhat uh a role with reduced uh focus on him being the guy he might actually potentially be able to thrive again and perhaps under a new coaching system that's defensive focused as well yeah

There's floors in his game for sure, Kyle.

But again, he's not the only one in that boat.

Like, Connor Hellbuck's in that boat.

He's probably going to start in Winnipeg.

Dylan Larkin's probably going to start in Detroit.

There's probably two or three other players that have made trade requests that are still with their teams.

So what are reasonable expectations for the captain Austin Matthews coming into this season?

Yeah.

He played well in the playoffs, and actually, you know, you have the question marks.

Both guys are free agents at, after next season, but it's actually the deepest pipeline is goaltending.

They also have Erik Portillo, and they have the two kids, uh, in the, in the prospect pool, Carter George, who they picked in the second round, and Hamus Leszczynski, who plays at Western Michigan.

They actually could make a trade because they have enough depth there.

But you're right, Sladdy, there's definitely question marks about the goaltending 'cause it wasn't elite last season.

Yep.

Or no trade list at all.

Yeah.

He played well in the playoffs, and actually, you know, you have the question marks.

Both guys are free agents at, after next season.

But it's actually the deepest pipeline is goaltending.

They also have Erik Portillo, and they have the two kids, uh, in the, in the prospect pool, Carter George, who they picked in the second round, and Hamus Leckinsky, who plays at Western Michigan.

They actually could make a trade because they have enough depth there.

But you're right, Sladdy, there's definitely question marks about the goaltending 'cause it wasn't elite last season.

Yep.

I would have taken the four first-round picks, but I think I'm on the outside looking in here.

It's tough, though, because you've got to pick Gaultier now.

If you look at their defense, it's one of the worst defenses in the league right now.

Everybody on the right side was an unrestricted free agent.

Paulson left.

Agudas left, Trubel left, right? But you have to put it.

So here's why.

and they made changes.

... any in the league, and it seemed like it sort of came back to bite them.

That's the key word, grind, right? They, they, they grinded McTavish, before that, Drysdale, before that, Zegras.

So they went, you know, at some point in time, the chicken's come home to roost.

That's what happened, right? A- and it happened to the, the worst possible player with respect to losing that player.

He's irreplaceable.

And c- Hustler, do you really think they would've traded McTavish had they known this was coming? I don't.

I think they would've held onto him, tried to fix that, and then move him, and they, if they had to lose Leo, at least they had McTavish to plug in that spot.

So I mean, if anything, I think you're gonna see NHL GMs first and foremost do everything they can to avoid making, like leaving themselves wide open to get blindsided the way that these two teams have been.

What do you think Dallas is going to do, whether it's with Jason Robertson, whether it's Thomas Harley's name being thrown out there for a potential Wierenski trade? What direction do you think Dallas goes in?

See, Jim Neal doesn't stop, Peter.

He doesn't.

He's got a contending team, and that team is good enough on its face to win a championship, but he's not satisfied.

So what I think, two things.

Robertson wants to stay in Dallas.

Wants $14 million.

Yeah?

Hey, Dennis, what's going on in Buffalo? What are the rumblings? What's the latest?

Well, Jason Robertson turned down... $15 million a year.

Mason McTavish is probably getting traded.

I think a lot of it revolves around what's going on in Columbus.

They're talking to Wierenski after the draft, which means Waddell kicked the can down the road on that.

That probably spurs any other activity.

Now there's a lot of rumors about Kirill Marchenko and some people thinking he'll wind up in Montreal.

If you're management, if you're running the Seattle Kraken, that's got to be really frustrating.

What are the chances he suits up for the Red Wings in October?

I would say 25-75 he does because Stevie Eisenman, he's got to hold – these GMs have to hold the line here.

The guys that gave out all these no-movement clauses, and that's what I've got to say to Stevie, to Dylan.

Like, okay, yeah, you want to go to the same four teams all the other players want to go to.

And I can't get the best deal from those two because they know, A, one team's out of it, Florida.

The rest of them may be Dallas.

But it's got to be the right deal.

Kings after losing their captain, their number one center? What's the plan here after hiring Peter Laviolette?

But how do you, how do you view Matthew Knies, and do you think the, the Leafs should seriously consider moving this guy?

How does trading him improve the team, Nick? I don't see it.

Like, are you gonna get back equal value? I don't think so.

Are you gonna get back futures? Right? If it's a hockey trade, if it's a player for player trade, give me the player that would make this team better that's at that level.

I, I don't understand it.

I don't get it.

I, I, I... look, if they're gonna rebuild, yeah, but now if you sign Darren Raddysh, why are you trading M- Matthew Knies? It's as simple as that.

What was your response, immediate reaction when you saw that go down?

Do you think we'll start to see other teams around the National Hockey League play the way that the Hurricanes do?

Yeah, and I think, Peter, what it does, it opens the door, and I think it's not just this team.

You can have smaller players on your team and win.

You really can.

It's not just that people are so in love with size over the past few years, and I get it, and you do need some size, and you do need some grit and strength, but your top six players, they can be Jarvis'.

They can be Stankovans.

Marner's not a big player.

So I'm blown away by this.

right?

Now, all the star players for Vegas, the end of the road, didn't show up.

Mitch Moore had a spectacular game, a signature game in game three, didn't see him for the rest of the playoffs.

Jack Ockler had two goals in the playoffs.

Mark Stone, now we learned that Mark Stone has a torn adductor muscle, so no wonder he couldn't play great, right? Exactly.

So the injury, the William Carson injury itself, But with respect to that, you can't minimize what Carolina did.

You really can't.

How do you grade this season and what do you do in the offseason if you're Vegas?

Have you noticed a drastic shift? Is it sustainable for game six, or am I reading too much into this?

No, you're not reading too much into it at all, JJ, and good to see you wi- as well, Will.

Uh, yeah, the calculus ha- because Carolina finally got to their game, JJ, in game five.

It was a 4-2 win, and I think the te- shot totals were in the mid-20s.

That's the game they wanna play.

Vegas wants to drag you into chaos.

They love those 5-4, 6-5, 5-3 games.

Is that accurate? If Carolina wins tonight and Staal scores again, is he gonna win? What's your take here on this Conn Smythe, uh, you know, outlook here in terms of who's gonna win?

How would you look at it now?

It clinches it for Marner.

I remember this is the MVP of the playoffs because let's be real.

Jordan Stahl has a great final.

He's been great.

Five goals in four games.

He's the 25th leading scorer.

What do you think that's all about?

[laughs]

I, I don't, I don't see it, unless he wants to continue to coach.

But like you said, that w- like why not give him the contract for two, three years? And maybe they do give an extension, uh, at the end if he does win the cup and raise the cup.

But, you know, he's in his 60s.

He's won twice.

His legacy would be cemented if he won.

Uh, very, very few coaches win two Stanley Cups with different teams.

What's the word around the campfire with Babcock going to Edmonton?

How would you look at it now?

It clinches it for Marner.

I remember this is the MVP of the playoffs because, let's be real, Jordan Stahl has a great final.

He's been great.

Five goals in four games.

He's the 25th leading scorer, if you go to the NHL.com listing of scorers in the playoffs.

He can't win it.

What do you think that's all about?

... and the deciding game at home.

Yeah.

And that's it.

You say, "Look, I know we had a bad second period, but we can get these guys." Like, so it might be 2-1 in games, but those three goals in 39 seconds, we can get inside and we can score goals against that goalie and against this team.

I think that matters before game four.

It does.

Because look, it may not be mathematically their season tomorrow night, uh, but emotionally it is.

... again, and the captain of the Detroit Red Wings.

When did you see something that was going on with the Vegas Golden Knights? Was it really when they made that coaching change or was it a little bit after that?

No, it was after that.

It was one guy, actually two guys.

Go.

Carter Hart got healthy and started making saves.

And the one guy that really changed the dynamic for this team is William Carlson.

Because he goes to the 2C and puts Marner on the wing where he really should be playing, even though Marner did play 2C for probably 60 games because Carlson was out.

Doesn't it seem like a lateral move, though, going from Craig Berube to Patrick Waugh?

I wonder if it's, you know, that's where they can find their separation is just being able to get to that level of scoring that Carolina with up and down their lineup doesn't necessarily have the potential to.

And you think last night, Brendan, if I told you before the game, Carolina's scoring four, they're winning the game.

That's what everybody's thinking that, right? So I think that's it.

And I think it's a matter of now you can argue that maybe in round one, going to have Stutzler and Cousins at one, two in the center position, that might be good.

But I don't think they fight two centers like Carlson and Eichel.

And I think that's a major, major factor with respect to why they won here.

So, yeah, look, if you did a draft of the two rosters and you picked 12 players, Eight might come from Edmonton.

What do you think of it?

Are we going to see the Golden Knights pepper him with like 25, 30 shots?

Oh, I would play over 21 and a half.

I think Vegas has enough offense up front.

Their top six is a match with the top six of the Carolina Hurricanes.

But Mitch, don't penalize Mitch Freddie Anderson.

His save percentage is 931.

That's...

Now that we're in the ninth year of the Golden Knights and they're in their third cup, the people that you talk to going from city to city, are they tired of this team and the success that they've had in the first less than decade?

Are we going to see the Golden Knights pepper him with like 25, 30 shots?

Oh, I would play over 21 and a half.

I think Vegas has enough offense up front.

Their top six is a match with the top six of the Carolina Hurricanes.

But, Mitch, don't penalize Mitch Freddie Anderson.

His save percentage is 931.

That's...

Now that we're in the ninth year of the Golden Knights and they're in their third cup, the people that you talk to going from city to city, are they tired of this team and the success that they've had in the first less than decade?