Darren Dreger: Habs v Lightning Series As Tight As It Gets!

0:00the puck's round. We know how big the puck is. In all likelihood, the puck is completely over the line. I can't even make a case to say it was maybe touching the goal line. It's over the line. But my understanding has always been, you need to see the puck. That was Ray Ferraro from the most recent edition of the Ray and Dregs podcast drama beyond controversial said Ray Ferraro and while luckily for the Oilers, they're still alive after playing well and winning last night. At least that's how I understand it from viewing the highlights. Let's bring in Darren Dreger, the other half of that conversation. Good morning, Dregs. Hey guys, good morning. What do you think? I mean, I'm glad the series didn't end on that one and it is weird, right? Like we all agree. That puck was in the net, but like none of us actually saw it. What do you make of the way the league handled that? Well, I understand what Ray is saying and I kind of feel the same way, but shouldn't

1:01obviously be enough, even though historically you're right. I mean, Cole and Camel and Company inside hockey operations, those men in the situation room who were reminded of multiple times over the course of the year are highly experienced men. The same group has effectively been in there and been in charge since the league went to video replay and review many, many, many years ago. But we're reminded by the heads of that department that it has to be conclusive. You have to see that puck completely cross the line, but they do lean on the call on the ice and even though the officials weren't in great position, they weren't behind the net to make that call and initially didn't say good goal, they did determine good goal on the ice. And so there was some backing there for the situation room to say, OK, well, we're not going to overturn it. We can more or less see that the puck is across the line obscured by the skateboard, but they felt like that was enough. And I'm told

2:06that someone who was heavily involved in the process that the determining factor was the view that we all saw. And I'm assuming that was the skateboard view because they refer to it as a crossbar camera. Well, that's the camera that points down and that would have showed what we all saw, right? Again, the blade over the puck. And for me, I think it's good enough. It's good enough, even though it's a bit different and not as direct in the language, I think we can all agree that the puck was across the line just based on the optics. The one thing that I have issue with here, guys, I think it's Rod Pazmock who's been in the situation room for a long, long time. He's a serious supervisor. I believe in that Edmonton Anaheim series. You know, why can't Rod be available to the media post or one of the officials available to the media post or representative like Chris King or somebody like that from the situation

3:06room to give us a better understanding and explanation other than the two line statements that is issued that really doesn't tell you anything. It just gives you what the conclusion was, but doesn't explain it. I honestly, for certain scenarios and situations, where you know there's going to be pushback and backlash, I think that that would be helpful to the overall understanding of a process. Fascinating. I think there's been a lot of conversation and talking points no matter what series you watch. I mean, it's, it goes along with the intensity of playoff hockey is the intensity from a fan perspective about complaining about calls or non-calls or the lack of the review process at the end of the day though. I'm not so sure. I don't have a defeatist attitude by saying that this is as good as it can get. But from your perspective, is there room for improvement? I mean, I'm not in favor of more challenges for hooking or high sticking calls and having a challenge system. I'm curious how you've seen these games officiated and really an abnormal amount of power plays awarded to teams

4:07that were not used to seeing come playoff time, Darren. I've got to, and I appreciate what you're saying. And I'm kind of stuck in the middle of this too, because I'm old school in the belief that judgment is an important factor in being an NHL official either a referee or a lineman, right? And as soon as you take judgment out, which is what you do when you allow the review process to determine right versus wrong? I'm like, that's what you're doing. And I understand why they do a good goal because the goal can change a game, it can change a series, and ultimately potentially stand it up. I mean, that's not being dramatic. That's real. And I can understand why they embrace video review, because the league doesn't want to get absolutely hammered by fans and media when it's clear that they get it wrong. The slippery slope, though, is, you know, you do it in some parts of the game, but you don't do it in every part of the game. And I don't know if you guys heard Rod Brenda more. I think the clips were released yesterday, but talking about how there should be more review in certain situations,

5:12just to make sure that you're getting it right. I mean, when you're handing out embellishment penalties as an example, you know, don't you need to know that stick actually hits the guy in the face or the circumstances that went around to how that play got played out, you know, things like that. And I always go back to the general managers meetings, especially the March meetings, because this is where the debate and that level of conversation happens. And almost every single year, they bat a certain scenario around whether it's one play or it's 20 similar plays and sell them to those general managers come out with a split decision or a majority in favor of doing more. It's always, now let's celebrate how great the game is, you know, and then they'll beat each other up when the meetings end, when it applies to their game in the outcome of a play of penalty, et cetera, a goal calls for

6:12versus against. I mean, it's a very selfish process, but I can understand that, but where are those voices, you know, during those GM meetings, when you can say, in break, I've said this repeatedly, I'd like to see that general manager meeting include coaches, and see if that changes anything. Now it's impossible, right, because teams are playing in the condensed guest room and all of that. But I'd like to see more voices allowed into that process during those March meetings to establish whether or not more needs to be done, or is it just fodder for conversations like this? Speaking of fodder, plenty of it when it comes to Ottawa Senators exit from the playoffs. Brady could chuck ends up with more penalty minutes than shots on goal of zero points, lots of off-ice stuff involving the Senators capped in, including his podcast with his brother and his dad, and what seemed like his dad going after Linus Olmark on that podcast, Olmark was great for the Senators, Darren. Where did the Senators and Brady could chuck go from here after he wasn't

7:16available for obvious and very valid reasons? Yeah, but after the meeting over. Yeah, yeah, yeah, valid reasons, right? Because life digs a bird for the second child, correct? Like he left and pulled right after the game, right after they got swept by the Carol Hunter Hurricane T, and to be with his family where he should be. I'm Cynthia Lois, and I'm Josie Dye. And we're done pretending we have it all figured out. Each week we laugh, cry, and talk our way through life's messiest moments. Things you think about, but would never say out loud. The questions you are always too shy to ask, relationships, regrets, awkward moments, and the stuff no one warns you about. It's honest, it's funny, and sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable, but that's kind of the point. This is Cynthia and Josie's Unmentionables. Listen on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. And my understanding is that they will try and come up with an alternative date or maybe it's already been established by PR and Ottawa.

8:16I don't know. I would think that if it hasn't happened already, it probably hasn't. That Steve Stales would have a direct conversation with Brady when the dust settles. And the emotions do have to subside. He deeply disappointed. He knows that he needed to do more. Tim's personal, needed to do more. Top players, the Ottawa Senators, needed to generate offense, and they couldn't do that. And maybe you give credit for how the Carolina Hurricanes play. Freddie Anderson was light so good. But it does feel like they wasted a four game performance by Linus All-Marking Gold. So when I say that I think Stales needs to talk to his captain, it's because of all of this speculation. Find out if it's real. Just cut to the chase. And look, just simply say, what are you feeling because we're hearing, we're seeing, we're reading all kinds of stuff. And we don't necessarily feel like we need to address it publicly.

9:17But I know this, guys, because this is the world that I work in. When we as insiders talk about things that are being discussed, that could happen, that just about happened, all of that. Well, that fuels other general managers around the league to at least explore the possibility. So I'd be surprised if Stales last off season at varying points this year. I'd be surprised we didn't get calls for rival GMs to say, hey, if you're ever in a place where you're even mildly interested in having a conversation about moving Brady Kitschock, I want to be a part of that conversation. That's just the nature of the business in the industry. That happens. But I also know that Ottawa considers Brady Kitschock to be the center of their nucleus. And much of this team has been built around Brady Kitschock. Now, every player is potentially trade bait.

10:17We know that, right? We know that. So it's incumbent on Stales and the Ottawa Senators to find out whether that's real for Brady and for his family. I'm guessing there'll be a conversation this off season on that. I feel like as a line, and personally, I think there's a lot more chances. Last couple of games, I just didn't go in. And you know, we just keep creating and eventually turn our way. And I think there's, you know, we've learned more as a line to play against them. And, you know, what works, how they're defending us. So I think, you know, we're turning that corner here. And hopefully you can help the team in the game tomorrow. There's Captain Nick Suzuki ahead of game five tonight at seven o'clock here on TSN 690. What's the path forward here in your eye when it comes to the Canadian's top line trying to get something going? Darren, do you think they're lacking a little bit more of a physical presence? Lots of conversation in the two-day layoff here between game four and five.

11:19But maybe Josh Anderson being a guy, dropping Slavkovsky down to maybe help get Ivan Demidov going. Now that this is the best of three, do you think it now is the time for change from Martin St. Louis that the sample size is growing enough? It may be time for a different look. It is for me. And I'm sure that they have an ample conversation with the coaching staff and, you know, management involved in that. It's trying to go beyond the obvious and the fact that coffee of Suzuki and Slavkovsky aren't doing anything, even strength. You know, we saw them enter the series and provide in a big way on the power play, but even strength, they haven't done squat. And worse, you know, they've been on the ice for four against. And that's because I call it the Hegel-wise, right? Now it has the key to culture up on it. But Brandon Hegel has been absolutely lights out in every sense. Like, you talk about physicality. I mean, Brandon Hegel is there every step of the way. You know, timely goals.

12:19Like, he's just brought it in such a big fashion and so has that line. So, you know, five on five, especially, Montreal's big boys have not been able to produce. But that extends into the second line with Demidov and New Hook and Kaplan. So, what do I know about coaching the national hockey league? I'm not telling Marty Stainley what to do, but you know that they've talked about it. And, you know, I think that Josh Anderson has been a factor. He certainly was through the first two games of the series. I thought he tried to be physical again in the last game, not as physical as he was early in the series. So, why wouldn't he try something different and give the lightning a different look? I would. And, yeah, slowing down Hegel. You know, he's got six of their 11 goals. I mean, that's it. But he got to try something. But by the same token, it's like, well, be careful what you wish for. You slow down Hegel. And who knows which of those other guys might get going. And they've got plenty of them. But how do you set it?

13:20I mean, you're not a coach. But what would you do? What can you do to try to slow a guy down who's going the way Hegel is right now? Well, it is hard. It is hard because that line is so many different ways that they can get to you, right? And we, you know, I don't want to sound critical of Nikita Kutraub. Because what I'm going to say is also being mindful in giving credit to the Montreal Canadian to, I think, you've done a good job more or less isolating Nikita Kutraub. You know, you give him any time in space. As San Luis said, near the end of the regular season, the demand plays chess. And he always seems to be a move or two ahead of everybody else. But Montreal for the most part has done a nice job against Nikita Kutraub. But as they focus too much on him and has that allowed Brandon Hegel to be more opportunistic. The guy that would scare me the most straight now to be fair, going into game five, braiding point. And mostly because he too has been isolated and he has been quiet.

14:24And it's been the Brandon Hegel show through four games of this series. But we've seen it out from braiding point in winning Stanley Cups. And being the player that he is, there's a superstar in the national hockey league to know that if he's close to healthy, he's got to be itching, man. He's got to be itching. No different than the top line for the Montreal Canadian. Braiding point is like, this is the best of three. And I'm dem, I'm going to put my mark on the Tampa Lightning moving forward in this series. So it goes beyond what you can do to try and neutralize Brandon Hegel. That's obvious. They haven't been able to do it. He scored six times into those men on the power. But what about the other guys? Kutraub has a taste. Braiding point hasn't had much. But it feels to me like that guy's ready to pop. Yeah, I get draggers tiny to sit on Brandon Hegel. Quite a sky down there. That'll do it. One more on the Canadians for me when it comes to this series. What's your hockey brain tell you about the two day layoff in the Canadians? Kind of sitting on the fact that they had a two nothing lead in front of their fans in game four.

15:26And it flipped to a three two regulation loss problematic or not not so much. Not so much for me. You know, that's just the up and flow of a game and a static a playoff. So it is. And you can't dwell too much on that. I'm sure that Taylor ween the staff have identified, you know, what happened and how they let it slip away. And I, by the way, love is response to like in Carlin, Cully, Ackable and our post game coverage are hot zone. I don't know. You guys got it. This thing is viral on TSN on our YouTube channel. It's the hot zone. We do it to post game Montreal Tampa Bay. An extended version of post game analysis. So he viewed the Crosor hit on Slavkowski as a turning point. And I'm not going to disagree. I mean, you see a funnering body check like that. I mean, the good news is Slav was able to come back into the game. Right. So that's the good news. But it sure can wake up the team and it did seem to have that momentum shift for the Tampa lighting yet.

16:28San Luis said, you know, don't let moments like that define it rewrite it. He's talking about momentum swings like that. So you look at that and why that matters in a two day layoff. It matters for a couple of reasons. I think when you have that extra day, you allow some of the emotion and disappointment of what happened in that game to subside. You recognize that it's a seven game series. It's now a best of three. And when you look at all the stat lines that matter, it's incredible how close to the series is, right? It's incredible. From the crease out. I mean, we're talking about hair splitting when you're looking at the numbers and comparing Montreal to Tampa Bay. So I'm sure that Marty San Luis coaching up and he is pumping tires. And he's cramming on the details, especially defensively of how his team needs to play. But they shouldn't lack confidence going in the game plot. What do you think of Nate McKinney and getting snobbed by his colleagues for the Ted Lindsay nomination?

17:31Yeah, I mean, I guess that's okay. I don't look. I mean, every individual player looks at those awards. And the Lindsay matters because you're right. It's his peers. It's his colleagues. It's not media that is selecting. It's not coaches. It's not management. It's peers. But I think that McKinney has been around long enough. He has won his share and recognized developing greatness and others. So I don't think he's going to lose too much leap over it. I was hoping to take it out on his offseason and nutrition over. Yeah, start having a cheat day. Maybe every once in a while. Yeah, sure. All right. Well, Darren, thanks so much as always. We'll be tuning into the hot zone on TSN's YouTube channel after the game tonight. All right. Follow us and we'll talk again Friday. That's Darren Dregor coming up next year on the morning show. The newest tracks. Let's go. Music. And the next big thing. Always on the new music first.

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