Conversation With Marco D'Amico Part 3

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Bring on recurring guests right in the show Marco Domingo Marco tough loss last night 75 ugly game

Seen like Montreal was in control and all of a sudden San Jose scores what three straight goals in the second I think to take a four to lead with a three straight

Not sure if you heard us heard us talking about Patrick line a I assume you have more information than the two of us what on that is L.A.

Seeming to be the front runner still with line a what have you heard at a Montreal in regards to him

Yeah, we brought up debt is and his reporting right and you know I was pretty adamant on the same thing

Line he was not a priority for the L.A. King's a week and a half ago even as early as the beginning of the year

This week, but you look at the market the prices are insane and the

Injuries have right yeah, and you and I think and as Dennis pointed out yesterday and I wholeheartedly agree

The injuries to file in whose men go change this dynamic entirely like the L.A.

Kings do not have that much to go to auction with so when you have a Patrick line who can be retained on so

4.3 million they have the cap space to take that on or it wouldn't require premium asset to get him if at all

To get him

It's those kinds of like last-minute trade deadline moves that I could definitely see L.A.

Circling back on and that's what I've said from the very beginning circle back candidate is the L.A.

Kings on the Patrick line a situation

Before that we were talking a little bit about Vinny Trocheck thinking he could be a good fit for Montreal thinking they

Definitely have assets they have prospects like there's familiarity between the two management staffs

I think we all know that we don't know whether it's good familiarity or bad familiarity like what the the tasting everybody's mouth is right now

But then after the game last night you're sitting here and you're like if the Montreal Canadians want to be a serious hockey team

They need to address the position in the blue paint more than anything. I mean

It just seems like this team's hopes of taking that next step are going to stall until they address the goal-tending position

Yes and no

I think it depends the way you look at it

The amount of high danger chances against is

Abnormal for the Montreal Canadians like if you watch that game yesterday

You know a lot of like Mises goal where James Strubel and Alex Kerry were kind of dancing around

The blue paint looking for the puck and it squeaks out to Mises who scores like that can't happen right and

On the other end you had Ascarov who

Was standing on his head for most of the game and he's still in five goals

So sometimes you can have the best goal in the world if

The defense is giving up 10 to 15 high danger chances of game

That's not conducive to the playoffs. So if you're Montreal I kind of understand why they would be looking to maybe

Re-vamp their bottom pair as opposed to trying to find a solution net because what's the alternative without being disrespectful

Everybody's pointing to Jordan Bennington but Jordan Bennington is an 860 safe percentage

And is playing behind

Analytically and statistically a more structured defensive core than Montreal right now right?

Like he

St. Louis's problem is not

Not allowing goals or playing defense it's scoring goals and so I'm not necessarily

Of the mind that bringing in another goal is necessarily going to fix things

I think it would open up the Canadians to a Tristan Jerry steward Skinner mistake

Like the Edmonton owners did because I feel like if the Edmonton owners had a Connor Murphy all season

Steward Skinner probably might you know would have looked better in Edmonton like he looks better right now in Pittsburgh

I'm curious as far as prospects go Marco like you know if Montreal does want to make a big splash

Everyone's going to look at Michael Hage right is is he an untouchable though for you he must be he's unbelievable

No one's no one's an untouchable for me really had a long time ago learn that long time ago

What I would say though is it always depends the opportunity right

Like trading Ryan McDonough for Scott Gomez was not the player worked out for the Rangers but it did not work out for the Canadians

Yeah, some trading me kill circuit chef for Jonathan drawing was not the play it worked out for Tampa Bay

And is now working out for Utah but it was not the play for Montreal

This is where you have to be very careful about trading your top prospects

And I think that's the reason why the Montreal Canadians aren't in a rush to move Michael Hage

And if they were

Agreeable to moving Michael Hage I think Robert Thomas would already be a Montreal Canadian

But yeah, there's a lot that kind of goes into that and I can understand Montreal

There is a world where Michael Hage can be as impactful a player as Robert Thomas if he develops

With a way that they think he can develop and I think

That's a that's something you have to really stop and think my two cents

I think there are questions as to whether or not Michael Hage will be a center at the NHL

I think there are questions as to you know how much of a duel threat he'll be I think he has a wicked shot

But there are habits that need to be fixed there so he's still a prospect. There's still unknowns

But when you want to trade a player like that you have to do it and you have to be sure what you do it

And I think especially with you look at the center market and you look at the way the teams are going to basically address themselves for some of these players

You guys just finished talking about road check before

Yeah, I just got to think that they're going to be cautious about this because this is the part of a rebuild where things can go

Yeah, this is well, this is the crux. We're not still saying rebuild are we from our well

They're they're on the tail end of their rebuild. Yeah, I mean

Rebuild online. Yeah

Right

The win a cup contender. Yeah, it can be for a cup

Yeah, but I'd say they're

Johnny, let me just put it to you this way in my opinion

In my opinion they look like the Rangers looked when the Rangers decided you know what

We're going to speed this up a little bit. We're going to sign Panarin and we're going to do this and that and then all the sudden look where they're at right now

And now it's

That was Jeff Gorton. I was born

I

I

We're excited again.

But again this summer when we went to get dobson

So the younger town on this team is so much better than the younger talent that the Rangers had

The Rangers had

Yes, they had Adam Fox to want to know her. Spontry all has Lane Hudson co-coffield who's now a leader in

They also pick number one and number two and they expected them to be good players not complete busts. I mean that that is that you know that

Really derailed the Rangers

Plans that those two guys ended up pops

Still had a true power forward and Chris Criter still had

And let me just say that

Criter wasn't a premium power forward

But hold on Johnny

Remember something

Lane Hudson is a second round pick

Okay, you know like these guys weren't so I would I would side here with Marco more like this kind of is reminding me now that he brought this up of

More the area where

Where the Rangers like hit fast forward a little bit and in my opinion has led them to two years of great success

And now right back to the shit you know the absolute shit storm that they're in

But I will say this Marco like to me Johnny's point is very valid the young talent

And here's where I I'll push back on the dobson thing how old is Noah dobson I mean Noah dobson is like 26 right

46 years old and is looking like a premier right shot top pair defenseman in the national hockey league

So I'm a I'm a believer that those types of players do not grow on trees

And when you have the ability to lock a young one up you're okay

It's okay to take a little bit of a risk there like I think the risk reward

Way, way outweighs the you know

Then some of the moves that the New York Rangers made in a similar time period

No, I agree Colvin and I just like I just wouldn't go so far as to say you don't trade a defenseman like Noah dobson

Because then I don't stop Johnny and Islanders Jersey again

We don't need that

But also like we

We have the goalie when discipline at the goalie though we have the goalie

Like you have the goalie it makes you look way better you know the Rangers were never a good team in front of Chesterkin on those runs

Like Chesterkin is the one who got them there you know like Montreal is the opposite problem

They've got all the talent in front and you know it's it's so I don't know if it's the same

Well, I think it's because the core is disjointed from where that goalie is that goalie is Jacob Fowler

Yeah, he's a rookie in the American athlete when he's ready. I think that's a different story

Yeah, in the meantime if you're the Montreal Canadians there are areas you need to shore up definitely to see is one of them

I think right shot defense is still up in the air and those are the two

Yeah, they're looking out right now

But but staying with this conversation a little bit like I'm calling it like the end of a rebuild because Montreal like

Out outside of Tampa and Carolina this year like they're right there for the third spot in Eastern Conference like

Yeah, no, I mean

Who is the third best team in the East right now? Yeah, we can all say Buffalo

But we

Buffalo

Are the Montreal Canadians afraid of Buffalo?

Like are you afraid of that? I think everyone can be afraid of Buffalo right now

Anybody

Buffalo is a trap team to play in the playoffs this year if you but Buffalo is also good. It's mostly goal tending

Like a lot of it has been goal tending UPL and one of the best goals in the league as well, right so does Montreal

Absolutely absolutely. I'm not saying much y'all versus Buffalo is the problem. I'm saying like if you're Tampa that's a trap team to play

Yeah, Boston that's a trap team to play if they're in the wild card spot

I feel like they would no offense Carolina Hurricanes fans, but I think that they would have a fun time against the Hurricanes

So you know like Buffalo is definitely a team to watch where in your Montreal you look around the Atlantic

It's not just this season this season is a trend of what's to come and the Canadians are trending quite nicely

One of the top scoring teams in the NHL

What they need is to find ways to stop getting scored on

And that comes defensive structure like I don't know if a man-to-man game in the speed of this today's NHL is the way to work defensively

But I'm not the coach, right? So these are some of the elements, but also maybe it's the defenseman that you have there, right?

Yeah, and the Canadians upgrade on a Jake and Strubel and Urban Jacki and Alex Carrier on the bottom pair to be harder to play against

Because that's really you know where you go you I bring this back to the range is unfortunately but like stop it. What happened?

They became harder to play against when you had Jacob Truba in the lineup

That acquisition changed the dynamic from being you know more of a

Two way kind of defensive situation to being something much more you know a broad and physical

And I kind of see the same thing with Anaheim nowadays where they had the Pavel Minty Ucabs

They had the Olan Zellwiders but by adding Truba by adding Goudus now they're a physical backup

That's exactly the transition I feel Montreal needs to do

That's the worry is like how are some of these smaller lighter inexperienced players going to fair in the playoffs for Montreal

Like do they need a little more heaviness? Do they need a little bit more sandpaper? And I think we know the answer is yes

And that kind of leads me into a player that I want to ask you about

I do watch Montreal more this year than I have and I don't know how long

Marco like they are a they play with such pace and the puck possession that they really aren't enjoyable team to watch

Especially for someone who has no rooting interest because the I don't the defensive struggles don't bother me

And I love watching Lane I think Lane is is just one guy that is worth buying a ticket to go see

But they did make that trade for Phil to know they brought him back to Montreal

A place where they felt like they could get him back to his game

Look the numbers are better as far as like his offensive output

He's got like 10 points since he joined the team and the previous you know year

I think he had all of five goals or something like that so obviously the offensive numbers are better

But I think to knows

He doesn't like his impact is not always on the score sheet right and for you who's watching this team every single night

How is that move shaking out and working like do you feel like that?

Help sort of plug a little bit of a hole are you still kind of wishy watching down the middle

You know throughout the lineup

Well I think Phil to know offers two things a left shot center on a team full of right shots

And you know the ability to win a grand majority of those face offs

I think he was somewhere close to 60% before the break

In the face off circle for the Canadians after the trade that's massive

And it's coming handy he had you know I think there's at least five either game winning

Or time goals that have come off his winning draws

So that right off the bat like it's maybe not a big enough deal in the regular season

But when you have set plays in the playoffs and you see how goals are scored

Heck just look at team USA at the Olympics

How many set plays that they have off face off wins?

Good call

It's huge right so when the games are tight those are with the difference makers

And so yeah with him

I don't necessarily know if they're optimizing him from an offensive perspective

Playing him with Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson

I think that you know you could easily have him with with a new hook

And and Kirby docked down the line

And it would be probably better for his offensive output but defensively

And at least in the face off circle

You know he has already made a difference

You'd like to see more consistency from the veterans a little bit more assertiveness

But definitely in terms of those elements

He's helped them a great deal. Now it's more a question of

How do you better create that cohesiveness with that team?

And so that's going to be a problem for Marta and St. Louis to figure out

In terms of the elements that he has and then potentially can't use

If he goes and gets any more depth before Friday

Mark I just got one more for you because we got Marty Buron here waiting

But I think the last time we had Jon

You were pumping the Demidov for the call to trophy

After watching that Canadian Zionist game

I don't know. I think you were

I've been on the Schaefer train since like

Okay, I was I was going to ask you of that if that game settled it with Schaefer

No, we're good enough. Absolutely not. That didn't settle it for me at all

I think it was settled sometime in November or October.

Okay. Okay. So it is Schaefer

Well, the reason why Lane Hudson in my opinion unquestionably won last year is

Because he did something historic

Really historic well the same applies to Matthew Schaefer

I mean, yeah, 18 having played 17 games last year

Kind of crazy like we shouldn't eat while we're asking to be like eccentric

But he should it's not even a question of the colder should he have heart

Considerations

We had that conversation on how he's revolutionized that team

They're transition their offense

Their ability to defend off the rush

He does it all and he does it all playing 25 minutes a game like this is

Elite we didn't even see this from kale macar

Quinn Hughes at the same age and that to me is absolutely bonkers because those two players

Had better supporting casts in my opinion then Matthew Schaefer does right now

We respect the islanders and and let me just point out this

Lane Hudson was rookie of the year last year

And Maclin Celebrini very well may win the heart this year, you know what I mean

They can both be

Ivan Demanoff can still turn into a heart candidate rock star

You know what I mean it just

It's just timing of these these types of things and you know what what guy gets on a run and a roll a little bit more

So you know, I just think that both of those guys can be

Can be unbelievable, but you're right what Schaefer has done is it's it's it's every bit as historical as what Lane Hudson did

At an even younger age and that is the crazy part we were talking about macar two years of college

Quinn Hughes two years of college like Lane Hudson two years of college

Schaefer played like you just said 17 games of junior hockey last year

I mean this is the most insane thing we've seen and

Maybe up until we're seeing what 19 year old Maclin Celebrini is doing right now, which is also

Out of this world, but these are special special talents. They're all fun to watch and listen to Montreal Canadians

Are going to have to do some dancing here if they want to make their team better because they their cap situation is not great at the moment

But they've hit on a lot of good picks and a lot of good players and I think they want to take the next step

I've heard rumblings that they're unsure if the man behind the bench is the coach to take them the next step

I have heard that I'm not saying there's any

Heat on him where I have any inside information just kind of sort of rumblings that

Their questions is he the guy to take them to the next step and that's something that we're going to see

I hope it is because I love Marty St. Louis. I love the guy. I hope it is. I hope he gets this team over the hump

And the Montreal Canadians have a nice long playoff run here the next couple of seasons. That's that's my hope

Yeah, I mean look with the calder. I'll just say this. I'll like Sylvester and won the calder in 0506 over Sydney crossbeat

I don't think it affected either of their

Yeah, exactly. Generation of careers. No, definitely not. I'll go with that. And in terms of Marty St. Louis, I heard he has the entire full backing of the Canadians management team

So yeah, we'll definitely see if maybe he should add to his stuff. Yeah, I think they firmly believe that he can grow with this team as a coach as well

Marco, thank you so much for the time this morning. We always love checking in with you about those Canadians

So I'm sure we will check back in depending on the moves they make on Friday. We'll probably hear from you maybe next week or the week after

But thank you so much for doing this. We always appreciate your time and talk to you soon. All right

Sounds like applying guys have a great day

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