But a little dynamism in that backfield to help Bryce Young this season?

Yeah, I think there is, right? Like, I've, I've said many, many times, there's the old sports cliché that the best ability is availability, and I think that that's true.

But I add onto it the second best ability is adaptability.

Can you do more than one thing or you are, are you a one-trick pony? The nice thing about Chuba Hubbard is that he has been adaptable to the offense the last couple of years.

When they needed a swing back, they had the guy.

When they needed, you know, third and one and they needed five yards and a cloud of dust, he could be that guy.

But with Jonathan Brooks back into the fold after what we saw Rico Dowdle do last year, he signed out of Dallas, has moved on since then.

Uh, strengths, weaknesses, question marks coming out of camp here heading into this season.

Rob, why don't you pick up from there and just talk about, you know, some examples of where culture worked, where it didn't and why it's so important.

So we have one ESOP company.

One of the characteristics, and excuse me for saying this, Tracy, that characterizes ESOP sellers is that they're used to control.

And that's because they started the business and they always make all the rules.

And everybody in the company looks up to them.

And the problem with that can be, it's not a problem with Butler Till, I'll tell you, but the problem with that can be that people don't develop individual initiative because they're always afraid they're gonna be second-guessed.

They come in as the controller and they put all this stuff together and they go to the CEO and they say, I've got a great idea for streamlining our accounts receivable.

So let's just hit on a handful of those each and talk about, Rob, what do you see? You talked about tax advantages, maybe discuss that a little bit more and then add some of the other advantages.

From an engineering perspective, Rob, what are your thoughts on the direction that radio should be headed? Are there engineering solutions that the industry should be looking at that might improve ROI for example?

I think from an engineering perspective, Matt actually got on this before, is about the underutilization of HD radio for one.

So that's what we have right now.

It's hard to tell the automotive industry or receiver manufacturers to put a $29 receiver on their store shelves at Walmart that actually sounds decent.

That would go a long way to bring back the... type of technology that was in what I mentioned, the AM Max receivers in the 1990s that could help, you know, AM radio.

Whereas HD might be with the multi-channel concept.

But I think the real transition point here is looking at our current FM spectrum and saying, can we go all digital like they have with television? You can put multiple digital carriers on one FM frequency, but in the Eibach mode, you're going to start dividing that up.

Rob, I think you believe station closures might accelerate.

Uh, it should make, uh, for an interesting season to say the least, shouldn't it, Rob?

[laughs] Oh, oh, it certainly is.

I mean, there are, uh, loud players.

There's loud coaches.

I mean, when you think Mike Babcock, there's no just quiet conversations for or against.

It is a big conversation.

Uh, everyone, as you said, everyone has an opinion and a feeling, and they're large opinions and feelings.

And, um, I just wonder from a player's perspective how much different that is to play as opposed to play in a more passive zone.

Uh, that's pretty rare in the league for you to be able to come back to a team that you really seem to enjoy playing with, and what was that experience like?

Uh, probably more fulfilling, in all honesty.

Um, I, I had a, a pr- really good start to my National Hockey League career, and then i- in the middle of it, uh, my inability to skate caught up to me, uh, and went and played a few years in the minors.

And in all honesty, I didn't think that I would ever be back at the National Hockey League level.

Uh, I thought it had passed me.

I was gonna enjoy playing in the minors.

I thought, "Oh, maybe I'll go play in Europe for a few years." And the Penguins called and asked if I wanted to come on a tryout.

Yeah.

From athletic to athleish, Sierra's got it.

Yes.

I mean, I think along the lines of what you see with Sidney Crosby.

Um, the hockey IQ is never gonna leave them.

I mean, Connor McDavid might go from 100 miles an hour down to 96.

Leon Draisaitl is not gonna lose his size.

The thing that makes him so effective, he's got an incredible hockey IQ, and he's got an, uh, his size that allows him to protect and, and keep players away from him so he can take that extra second to make a play.

Uh, do you have a, uh, an older guy that was stupidly good that you remember playing against back in the day?

And as an offensive forward, if you're somewhat passive in your forecheck, how do you get the puck back and then get this offense? Because obviously job number one for me, if I'm Hiller, is getting Austin Matthews back up to world-class scoring level.

Well, I mean, Toronto's built around Matthews.

It was Matthews and Nylander and Marner.

Now it's Matthews and Nylander.

They need him to be a 50-goal score.

I mean, it is not a deep offensive team.

So they need him playing the way he did.

Is the luxury that you would like to see, or are you like myself where you're like, maybe they got to put that money somewhere else?

So where do you want to start with those two nuggets from today?

Well, let's start with the latter first.

It's kind of funny.

I've been asked that a few times today too.

They may in my era have met with leadership groups.

I just was never invited to any of those meetings.

So maybe it did happen and I don't know about it.

Brownie, this floor is yours, buddy.

Why? Why are you a no?

Well, I mean, to me there's a lot of question marks.

I think there's more question marks with Babcock than any of the other coaches you would've brought in, whether it's Cassidy, Laviolette, Gerard Gallant, Patrick Roy, Dean Evason.

And it goes, A, there's all the off-ice stuff.

So there, there's those questions that are gonna follow him, and they have followed him.

Because there's a lot of player, players that have played there that have strong opinions, really strong opinions.

So that's one side of it.

Right?

Visit your nearest Crocs store today.

It's a very good line.

It's, it's funny.

It, for Taylor Hall, it, it, when you are a first pick overall, for, for most of his career, he's been the g- the guy.

And whether the team won or lost was based on his night.

He just slides in in Carolina.

Yeah, there's not any pressure on him.

Who's ever coaching the Edmonton Oilers next has to get more out of Trent Frederic than Kris Knoblauch did.

Are you, uh, as surprised as everybody else that Colorado got swept?

Yes.

Um, I'm not surprised.

I, I, I picked Colorado to win, and I actually picked Colorado to win the Stanley Cup.

I did say before the series started that, uh, Vegas is not a, is not an easy out.

Vegas has been a good team all season long.

They got terrible goaltending.

Totally agree.

Should we be surprised that Kelly's always sort of operated on his own terms, Rob, if you know what I'm saying?

Well, yeah, I don't think...

A- as I said earlier, I don't, I'm not surprised by this.

Um, it's funny, when it first came out and I, I'm thinking, "Well, I wouldn't think they would have to let him go if they were paying him." Uh, and, and we brought it up, and they, then they would said, "Well, the NHL will do something about it." I'm like, "Well, can the NHL legally do anything about it if Vegas is following all the rules?" So it's, it's, the Oiler fans want Bruce Cassidy, and obviously the Oilers do, so there's a frustration level.

But I can absolutely see exactly why Vegas is doing this.

And if they can somehow stop their division rival from hiring a coach that they feel can get them to the next level, they're gonna do everything possible to do that.

So not surprised at all.

Yep.

What do you think this says about that whole space?

I, I think what this says is that the growth of the private capital markets, the size of the private capital markets, the, the lack of cyclicality in that market is, is a market people wanna be in.

And, and we sit at the epicenter of that.

And, and becoming a public company, having a permanent capital base, uh, the elevation of our brand, driving equity further down our organization, uh, we think that's going to put us in a better position to realize our goal, which is to be the best investment banking advisor serving the private capital markets.

[laughs] Yes

... an IPO window like the one in the moment, but, but, but I, I did not.

And so I think the plans to be a public company, to think it was probably five years ago, as we started thinking about the evolution of where we wanted to be and, uh, and, and, and really be the leader in what we do, we thought that was the right evolution for the firm.

And I think we felt the time to do that would be when we had, uh, momentum in the confidence of our business, when, uh, capital wanted to rotate into our markets, the private capital markets, and when, as you point out, there would be a window to do this.

... and is that a factor for the GM of the hockey team?

Well, A, it can be, it can be concerning, uh, 'cause it's public.

Uh, B, what we hear publicly, he was, they were gonna say in their exit interviews with the GM anyways, and probably more so.

Um, Connor and Leon, uh, all they wanna do is win.

I mean, when you're Connor McDavid and you take a minimum $12 million haircut on a contract to give your team a better chance to win, that's his only focus.

And whatever it takes to win.

Is it a new coach? Is it new players? Or whatever, whatever it is.

Okay.

So Brownie, maybe I'll let you go first, and Struds, you can give your opinion after.

Um, well, the guy that I think is going to win that I would pick is Werenski, and I've said that probably for about two months now.

To me, guy leads his team in scoring.

Uh, he is All World.

Uh, he's a fantastic defenseman.

He, to me, is gonna win it.

Uh, I thought with the season that Bouchard had that he would be in the top three.

Brownie.

Uh, let's get y- your postmortem assessment on the season that was for the Edmonton Oilers.

I- in all honesty, I don't think I can say it any better than the two leaders, Leon a- and Connor.

And I thought Connor had the best line when he said, "We were an average team all season long.

And when you're an average team with high expectations, there's gonna be disappointment." And I think that is so true.

I think over the course of the year, the Oilers were an average team.

They were in the Eastern Conference.

They don't make the playoffs.

Yeah.

Um, and it changed what they could have been for these playoffs.

Well, and Shauggy, in, in knee-jerk reaction, because I think Stan Bowman had a plan in place when he went and got Connor Ingram.

And it was, okay, I got Ingram.

He's on an expiring contract.

I got Skinner.

He's on an expiring contract.

I'm going to have a, a battle.

See your Ram dealer today, Brownie.

I know.

A- a- and they gave up four goals.

Um, it, to me, it was still not good enough.

This team is a better defensive team than they showed in this series.

And the Ducks can score.

Uh, they, they can.

They give up chances, but they can score.

I don't know what's gonna happen there, Rob.

Post your job for free on LinkedIn today at linkedin.com/quality.

Well, to start with, I think both teams will find positives out of it.

I think Edmonton will love their start and the way they played in the first twenty minutes, and they'll love the way that they finished the game.

And I think they showed again that there's no lead that is safe against the Edmonton Oilers, so they're gonna like a lot of that.

I think the Anaheim Ducks will like the fact that their second period, they were exceptional.

And the fact they stayed and, and hung in a game, and they will probably talk about bad puck luck was probably the reason that they fell, uh, fell in game one.

You know, they, they... their, their defense, their veteran defense in Gudbranson falls down in a game that they probably felt they were in control of.

Now, that said, uh, the Oilers were the authors of their own demise on all three goals because they turned pucks over in the two even-strength goals, and then a Darnell Nurse penalty, which you gotta be able to kill those off, but sometimes the toughest ones, Rob, are, are the bad penalties to kill off.

Uh, Brownie, just, can you give me your headline thoughts, Brownie, on how you think the Oilers played tonight and, uh, and how impressive that was from Jason Dickinson in particular, considering what he's been through lately?

Well, let's start with how the Oilers played.

They played well enough to win.

Uh, but I don't think, I think, I think the Anaheim Ducks may have some confidence after this game tonight that they can play in this series.

I think that they are gonna have a restless sleep tonight, feeling they gave one away, that they were in control of the game, uh, for most of it as the game moved on.

So I thought the Oilers played well enough to win.

Uh, again, I go back to the Oilers' strength is their ability to finish games.

[laughs]

Kinda worked out the way, you know, probably everybody's most comfortable with to start these playoffs for the Oilers, correct?

I, I, I think so.

I think that of all the teams and all the scenarios that the Oilers could've had, I think this one works out best for the Oilers.

Um, they, the, there's teams that I, I've seen the Oilers play now for, this is my 20th year.

So there's teams that they struggle against, and there's teams that just fit their eye.

And Anaheim is a team that, uh, gives up a lot of chances, and the Oilers are the top, one of the top offensive teams in, in, in the National Hockey League.

Anaheim takes a lot of penalties, and they're not very good at killing them, while the Oilers have the best power play in the National Hockey League.

How has that changed the dynamic of that blue line, and how much is this blue line ready for the challenge, uh, maybe in comparison to the last few years?

What do you think?

Oh, one team that everybody fears is, in the first round of the playoffs is the team that got in because they were on a run at the end of the season.

A team that had to win eight of ten, whose last dozen games were all playoff-type games because of the magnitude of what they were each and every night.

That team is already in playoff mode.

And you fear them.

You just won the President's Trophy, or you've clinched your division, and you've just floated through the last eight, nine games.

There was nothing to play for, and that's when bad habits get into your game.

But what are you noticing from the depth players after they've been given more of these reps and opportunities at higher levels in more minutes?

It's all yours.

Well, to start with, I believe all those analytics because the Oilers had been playing very good defensive hockey.

It's the last three games that they've slipped up.

You know, the last time they were in Utah, that was a masterpiece, a defensive masterpiece on the road, very professional.

But the last three games they've slipped.

You're right about Emerson and Wallman.

I think in the one that's the weaker in the two has been Wallman.

They needed to capitalize on it.

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I think start with Murphy, and I agree.

Darnell Nurse is the best he's looked.

in the last few years, especially regular season.

He looks calm.

He doesn't have to carry, you know, his pairing.

He can go out and simply play.

Right?

And you know that because you're around the rink.

Not everyone does what McColls has done, and he's improved to the point He scored two goals this year from below the goal line.

He scored a goal from below the goal line on Bobrovsky, who's going to be in the Hall of Fame.

Two years ago, I don't think he even thinks of doing that.

But the confidence that he has grown with because of the work that he's put in has allowed him to be played anywhere in the lineup, and whatever line he is on is better because of him.

So if you want him on your top six with McDavid or Leon in the playoffs, he'll fit in.

If you decide you want a third-line checking line with a captain and a Dickinson, and you're going to go out there and stop Kucherov, go out there and stop McKinnon, he can do that too.

He's playing about 16 minutes a game.