|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 13, 2009Don CherryPierre McGuireMike MilburyEd OlczykSCHUYLER BAEHMAN: Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. Thanks for joining us today. We're here, of course, to discuss the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. We announced our conference quarterfinal dates and times last evening. On Wednesday we open with four games, including a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Final with the Penguins hosting the Flyers. Also that night the Capitals will host the Rangers, Carolina will visit New Jersey, and out West the Blues will be in Vancouver to take on the Canucks. The four other series open on Thursday when the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings host the Columbus Blue Jackets in that franchise's first?ever Stanley Cup Playoff game. Another chapter begins to be written in the storied Montreal?Boston rivalry when the Bruins host the Canadiens. Later that night Chicago returns to the playoffs for the first time in seven years when the Blackhawks host the Calgary Flames, and San Jose, winners of the Presidents' Trophy, begin their quest for the Cup against Anaheim. National network television coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs will be provided in the United States by NBC and VERSUS, in Canada by CBC, TSN and RDS. VERSUS starts its coverage Wednesday night with a special playoffs preview Hockey Central show at 6:30 followed by Game 1 of Philly?Pittsburgh at 7:00 and St. Louis?Vancouver at 10:00. NBC Sports starts its playoff coverage Saturday featuring the Rangers in Washington for Game 2 of that series, and continues its coverage on Sunday when Philadelphia hosts Pittsburgh in Game 3. NBC will continue weekend afternoon coverage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Final. CBC's Hockey Night in Canada continues its 57?year tradition of Stanley Cup Playoff coverage with a Wednesday double?header featuring Philadelphia?Pittsburgh at 7:00 and St. Louis at Vancouver at 10:00. The TSN family of networks will show two games Wednesday night, Rangers at Washington on TSN and Carolina at New Jersey on TSN 2. With us today are four great NHL analysts, Don Cherry of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada; Pierre McGuire from TSN and NBC; Mike Milbury from NBC and CBC; and Eddie Olczyk from VERSUS and NBC. Thank you very much for your time, gentlemen. I'm going to ask the participants to say a few words before we open to up to questions. Don, you can go first. DON CHERRY: Thanks for having me on. Now, this program got me in a little trouble at the beginning of the season, but it proved how smart I am. Last year Ovechkin got 66 goals, and I said he would not get 66 goals, he would not get 60 goals, he would win the Richard trophy with 55 goals. Pierre, how many goals did he get? PIERRE McGUIRE: 56. How many did he get last year? 65, not 66. DON CHERRY: So you don't give me any credit for the 55? PIERRE McGUIRE: You're so smart. He's a Rocket Richard Trophy winner. He's the best goal scorer in the NHL today. DON CHERRY: Just what I said he would be before the season. I don't say things like that after the season, I say before the season, and it had headlines, "Cherry Sour on Ovechkin." I just had to straighten him out with these goofy things and now he's a good kid. PIERRE McGUIRE: What about your playoff series? DON CHERRY: My playoff series is Boston, nice and tough, they've got eight 20?goal scorers, or they would have had eight had Chara not gotten injured ?? we had 11, remember, Mike? Only Washington scored more goals. They had 18 guys at plus, and they only lost six games at home. I mean, I don't see how Montreal has a chance. They had nobody in the top 40 scoring. They had 50 more goals scored against them. But I'll tell you one thing, I always hate when I was a first place club playing a team that snuck into the playoffs because they're going to be loosey?goosey, and you've got a gun to your head. When you're a first place club, those first series are always the toughest. But I'm taking Boston in five, possibly six. PIERRE McGUIRE: Well, it was a spectacular season in the National Hockey League, and like Don, I'm pumping up Alexander Ovechkin, he had a spectacular year again. But I think the biggest thing is you look at the great stories, Steve Mason in Columbus and what a job he did; Andy Murray and the young players, and Keith Tkachuk, one of the older players in St. Louis, and the job that they did in their mad dash to the playoffs; John Tortorella going into New York and just doing a spectacular coaching job, getting those guys to go from a passive team to a very aggressive team; the reemergence of Sean Avery as an important player and a controlled player for the New York Rangers. But I think the one thing I'm really excited about in terms of playoff series there, too, the Chicago Blackhawks versus the Calgary Flames. A lot of people are counting Calgary out, but it's hard to go against Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff. But being in Chicago, that city is back, the team is back, it's front page news, the fans have been unbelievable, and I think that will be a dynamic series. And then in the East, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, I mean, the vitriol, the anger, the bad blood, the villains, Scotty Hartnell for Philadelphia and Matty Cooke for Pittsburgh, you've got star power galore with Crosby and Malkin and Jordan Staal, who's been superior ever since they made the coaching change in Pittsburgh. And then you look at Jeff Carter and Mike Richards emerging in Philadelphia. So those are two of the playoff series I'm really looking forward to watching, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in the East and Chicago and Calgary in the West. I can't say enough about what's going on in Chicago. Mr. McDonough and the entire organization there deserve a huge amount of credit. MIKE MILBURY: Well, I'm certainly familiar with the Montreal?Boston match?up, and Montreal came in here the last game of the regular season and tried a new tactic. They taunted and turtled. They wouldn't fight, but they taunted people all the way around, and the Bruins lost their composure, got it back and still won the game. Hopefully they learned their lesson there, and they won't repeat that mistake. They should win. I'm with Grapes -- in five or six. The series that really intrigues me is Anaheim?San Jose. How would you like to be San Jose doing everything they needed to do to clinch the Presidents' Trophy and then wind up with a team that's nasty and dirty and has got a Cup under their belts and has played their best hockey in the last month or so of the season. That one stacks up as a real test of character for San Jose, and if they can get through it, especially if they can get through it quickly, I really like their chances going forward. EDDIE OLCZYK: Well, you know, how much time do we have? There's really some breathtaking series. I think for the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, I think it is a good thing for the Philadelphia Flyers to be starting on the road in that series. I'm going to keep one eye on that series. The other series is going to be a tough, hard?nosed ?? you want to have a throwback type of series, is the Vancouver Canucks and the St. Louis Blues. That series has a chance to be a real old?fashioned type of series. Great speed, you've got some old veterans there. There's going to be a lot of finished checks, I think there's going to be a lot of nastiness going on. So that is one series that I'm really looking forward to, and I think people should keep an eye on that series. A couple individuals I think that I'll be keeping a close eye on, in particular Pierre touched on Chicago, I think a guy by the name of Duncan Keith, who has really evolved into an outstanding two?way defenseman in the National Hockey League. I mean, you look at his point total, he got into the mid?40s as far as point total, but this is a guy that has really been on a second power play unit most of the year, and I think at some point in moving into the future, I think he has a legitimate chance to be a Norris Trophy candidate, and I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of Jarome Iginla, one of their premier players in all of the National Hockey League. And go back to the Philly?Pittsburgh series, you think about last year, the Conference Finals, the Philadelphia Flyers with no Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn going out in that team and no Simon Gagne. Health is certainly an important part of playoff success and you need a little bit of luck come playoff time, but the Philadelphia Flyers are going into the series a little different, a little bit more depth, a little bit more experience, and I think Marty Biron proved to a lot of people that he is a top goaltender. So those are some individuals and some series I'm going to keep an eye on. SCHUYLER BAEHMAN: We'll open it up for questions now, please. Q. This is for Pierre and Ed. A lot of people in Anaheim were wondering who the Ducks would be better off playing, whether it would be Detroit because of maybe a little goaltender uncertainty, or the Sharks because of all the playoff burdens and demons they might have. Now that they've got the Sharks, do you think they got the right match?up, and what do you think of those two reasons for one or the other? EDDIE OLCZYK: Pick your poison. Anaheim to me is a dangerous team, regardless of who they're playing. I don't think it really mattered to the Anaheim Ducks. I guess you could argue with the uncertainties you mentioned on the goaltending in Detroit. I think as of late when it's really counted, Chris Osgood has played very well. He played well yesterday, maybe one bad goal, the Jonathan Toews goal, but we saw him play up close this past week and he played really well against Minnesota, thought he played very good against the Buffalo Sabres. Either way, you're going to have your hands full on either side, whether it be the San Jose Sharks or the Anaheim Ducks. Really to me you get to this time of year, especially with the experience of Getzlaf and Perry, and whether it's going to be Jonas Hiller or J.S. Giguère, time will tell, and then you've got Pronger and Niedermayer. I thought Bob Murray did a great job of retooling and making a good trade. I think the trade with Pittsburgh really helped out both teams with Chris Kunitz going one way and getting Ryan Whitney, and I think the trade for James Wisniewski, a lot of people don't know who he is but he's a solid four?five defenseman that gives you a little bit of nastiness, perfect for the Anaheim Ducks. But I just think really, you get to this time of year, you've got to go out and play. But as Mike said, for San Jose getting as many points as they did, they get the gift of taking on Anaheim in the first round. PIERRE McGUIRE: This is going to be a good test for San Jose because if you think back to the second to the last weekend of the NHL season, Anaheim went into San Jose and won, and then they obviously go down to Anaheim and they win with a late goal. I watched both those games, and the thing that's amazing to me is the pushback that Anaheim had. San Jose is a big team and they come at you in waves, and they're not afraid to roll four lines. But Pronger elevated his game, Scotty Niedermayer elevated his game, Robby Niedermayer was tremendous in that weekend series. But I can't say enough, and as I've touched on it a bit, about Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and a young player by the name of Bobby Ryan, who played in the Ontario Hockey League and was a steal, was the second overall pick right behind Sidney Crosby. There was a big debate at the time who was going to go second, Jack Johnson or Bobby Ryan, and Brian Burke when he first went to Anaheim deferred to the scouts, and it's a good thing for him that he did, because Bobby Ryan has developed into an elite player, and that's one of the top lines in the NHL. This is not going to be an easy series for San Jose. It's going to be very tough because of what Eddie just said, too; in terms of retooling on the fly, Bob Murray has done a great job. James Wisniewski is somebody that Mike Milbury and Don Cherry would love to have as part of a team, whether they were as teammates or as players. He's a throwback player. Now they get François Beauchemin back, that's a very tough Ducks team, very tough. Q. Also, Pierre, when you talk about goaltending, a lot of first?time goaltenders in the playoffs like Hiller, like Mason, is there any way to really tell how they're going to do in the playoffs by how they've been in the regular season in? PIERRE McGUIRE: I just think back to 1971, and Don and Mike would remember this, there was a guy by the name of Ken Dryden that nobody even knew about. In fact, the day he was called up, the night before, I think he gave up eight goals in an American Hockey League game, and he thought he was actually going to be told that he was no longer a professional player. He gets called up, and the rest is history. Young guys can make big marks in the NHL as goaltenders. You can think back to no?names that had miraculous one?year runs. But I don't know what anybody can expect from Jonas Hiller or from Steve Mason for that matter in Columbus. But guys have shown without a lot of experience they can get it done. Q. Being this is a coaching panel, I have a coaching?related question. Four of the eight teams in the Eastern Conference to make the playoffs fired their coaches during the season, and I want to get your perspective, Mike from a GM perspective and the other guys as coaches. Do you think that those were the right moves that proved out, that since they made the playoffs, they did the right thing by changing coaches, or maybe was it a little bit of a panic move for guys that had success with all those teams? MIKE MILBURY: Every situation is different, but when the guys that get the nod to coach the teams bring them to the playoffs, you have to say, well, maybe it was the right way to go. There are a lot of coaching changes I think that were positive this year, and whether it was luck of the draw or not, what coaching changes do is basically bring an attitude change. They're not going to reinvent the game and the style of play, but you take a classic case of Pittsburgh and Dan Bylsma, Mike Therrien is not a bad coach, but everybody seemed to be down and really not enjoying playing the game. He brought in a free?spirited aggressive kind of style, and it seemed to let the horses out of the barn. Tortorella has certainly dipped into a different well of motivation to get guys going in New York. All in all, you have to say the changes that the GMs sought to make and made turned out pretty well for the most part. So you've got to give them credit. But I've seen plenty go the other way, as well. DON CHERRY: Well, the guy in Ottawa, he'd give everybody the right idea. Cory Clouston, what a job he has done, got a two?year contract, and he turned them around immediately, and I think general managers and owners said, look what he did. So he ruined it for all the coaches. But hey, when you are a coach you've got to go in knowing you are hired to be fired. And the players, when they want to ?? let's take Pittsburgh. Don't tell me they weren't working on that coach, getting that done. You don't turn a team around that fast. The same thing in Ottawa. They don't want to blame the players anymore. We got rid of him, now it's up to us. That's what happens. It's usually, I'd say 80 percent there's a turnaround. EDDIE OLCZYK: If I could I would like to add, the look at the two situations that Mike had mentioned in particular. New York, they change, they brought in Sean Avery, they brought in Nick Antropov, they brought in Derek Morris; Pittsburgh they went out and they made that good trade with getting Chris Kunitz, bringing an experienced guy like Billy Guerin, a guy that won a Stanley Cup with Carolina, Craig Adams, they got a healthy Sergei Gonchar, so I think it went hand in hand, not only with the job that these two particular coaches did with getting the teams into the playoffs, but also the personnel, the important personnel changes that the general managers did, almost a piggy?back type of situation of bringing in a new voice and then also bringing in, really key components to Pittsburgh taking their game back to the level that I think a lot of people saw last year. But I think some of us anyways thought they would have a little bit of a downturn without Malone, without Hossa, and then in the particular situation with New York, as Pierre has mentioned, just an up?tempo type of philosophy. But I think it's proven, you need the horses in the barn, and it's up to the coach to be able to let them play to their strengths. But in those two situations I think it was the coaching change and then going out and getting different personnel for their particular teams. PIERRE McGUIRE: I'll piggy?back off Eddie in terms of what Paul Maurice has brought to Carolina, a fresh voice over Peter Laviolette, and also when you see a general manager like Jimmy Rutherford go out and identify, you know, maybe we made a mistake not keeping Eric Cole, he's got unbelievable chemistry with Eric Staal, and once they bought him back, that thing just took off, and it made everybody around the team better and it made the atmosphere around the dressing room a lot better, and then Rod Brind'Amour got a lot better because they put Sergei Samsonov with him, and Tuomo Ruutu got a lot better and he's pushing almost 30 goals now, and Eric Staal has become one of the more dominant players in the league. It's just because of a little tweak. Yeah, they make a coaching change, and Paul Maurice has a fresh voice. But it's what Eddie just said, the little change. And you can't ?? it's completely different in Montreal; when Gainey comes in, he's the boss. And Don knows this and Mike knows this; when the bought gets behind the bench, he's not just the coach; this guy runs your everyday life, and if he chooses not to like you, you're not going to be there. This team just started to really take off when Bob Gainey came in because I think the players realized there was no more joking around, he was serious. DON CHERRY: The guy in Ottawa, like we were talking about, they did make a lot of trades and got new players in, but the guy in Ottawa, he took over the same club. There was nobody on it, he just walked in there and came from the American Hockey League, and that's where I think everybody should learn to coach if you take a look, and he just walked in there and he looks like a million bucks. Sharpest dresser in the league, too, by the way. Q. I wonder if maybe everybody could comment on what Canadian team you see as going the farthest in the playoffs? DON CHERRY: Vancouver the way they're going. I'm not saying I want them to, because I really like the way they play in Calgary. And I don't know whether Kiprusoff is too tired or not, but the odds are Vancouver, I'll say they'll go the longest. EDDIE OLCZYK: Ditto. I'll agree with Don on that. I think with Roberto Luongo, the two Sedins and the developing player Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows have been two tremendous stories, and their defensive depth will be very tough. The only thing that makes me pause about Calgary is just the injury situation going in. If they can't have a healthy Robyn Regehr, having watched Chicago a fair bit now and having been at their game yesterday, they've just got a lot of good stuff going on. It's going to be a very tough series for Calgary. But if they were healthy I'd probably say them, but they're not nearly as healthy as Vancouver, so I think Vancouver will go the furthest. PIERRE McGUIRE: I agree. I say Vancouver, as well. MIKE MILBURY: I'll make it a clean sweep for me, as well. It won't be easy for Vancouver with their match?up. St. Louis has been ?? they've been as good as just about anybody. It's hard for me to say that. When you start looking at that group of forwards, it's pretty deep and it's pretty strong, and the goaltending they've got has been outstanding. They will not go down easy, that club. Q. This is a hindsight question for Mike. Mike, why didn't you pick Zach Parise when you had the chance? MIKE MILBURY: Can I say go (expletive deleted) yourself on the air (laughter)? It was one of those things when you're in the middle of the pack that I didn't really even pay attention to. If you're going to scout, you have to go out and scout all the time. You can't just take one shot, one look at players and then think you know what you're talking about. You leave it to your scouts. And in the end there were question marks about Parise's skating. You've seen Robert Nilsson; his skill set is extraordinarily high. But where Parise clearly is one out is in his work ethic and character, which made up for any deficiencies that he might have had. He's one of the elite level players in the league, and thanks for the question, Dave. Q. I was wondering if you each might make a prediction on who you like in the Stanley Cup Final. MIKE MILBURY: These things always are ?? they're made up to make us look ridiculous. But I've got to go with what I started with at the beginning of the year. I think San Jose is ready to make the leap. I think they've shown some good character and resilience, and they've got all the ingredients to get there, they just have to prove that they have the character, the mettle, to come out of the Western Conference. And the East is going to be interesting. It's going to be ?? if things go according to plan here, it might be a Philadelphia or Pittsburgh versus Boston match?up in the second round, which is going to really screw me up. But I'm going to stick with the Boston Bruins coming out of the East. They've been consistent, their coaching has been excellent, their goaltending great. I read something a week or so go on actually an NHL site where they didn't give Thomas consideration for the Vezina Trophy because he had only played something like 55 or so games, which I think is ridiculous. He's been far and away the most consistent goaltender in the league, with all due respect to the kid in Columbus. This guy has been outstanding. I'll go with Boston and San Jose in the finals. EDDIE OLCZYK: At the start of the year I said San Jose and Philadelphia, and I'm not going to waver at all with a lot of the stuff that might get said. It's never easy, and I think both those teams have as good a chance obviously with San Jose being on top, and Philadelphia a tough draw. But like I said earlier, I think it's a good thing for Philadelphia to be starting on the road, so I'll say San Jose?Philly in the final. PIERRE McGUIRE: I thought New Jersey would play Detroit at the beginning of the year. I'm going to amend that a little bit and I'm going to say Boston versus Detroit in the Stanley Cup Final. You just can't say enough good things about what Claude Julian and the Boston Bruins have done, and Timmy Thomas and the way he just resurrected an unbelievable run for himself. It's been a great story to watch, to Zdeno Chara, and I think Dennis Wideman is the most improved defenseman in the NHL, and hopefully he can get healthy for this playoff run the Bruins have to be on. But this has become an unbelievably tight team. I know Don and Mike are on the call, but watching Milan Lucic play reminds me of what the Bruins are all about, so I really have a lot of faith that Boston is going to go deep and potentially will represent the East. And in terms of Detroit, I discounted them last year going in because I was really worried about their goaltending, and they were a very mediocre team from February the 16th to the end of the year, but they proved me wrong, just because they are a team, and they've got great leadership and they care about one another and they are the Detroit Red Wings. So until they get beat, I'm not betting against them. So I think Boston will play Detroit in the Final. DON CHERRY: I think San Jose. But Vancouver with Luongo, I wouldn't bet against them, either. I just like that Luongo, I think he's going to come on strong. But I'm going to go with San Jose. I think this year they have a good coach behind the bench. What I like about the Bruins, they had 18 guys that were plus, which is unbelievable. They had seven guys that were 20 or more goals, so he can throw anybody on there. And like you guys said about Thomas, everybody makes fun of the way he plays. He just stops the puck, and I think they only lost two games of their last 10. They had their little slump, and this year Chara is going to be a force. I heard somebody say he had a sore shoulder last year, so I say Bruins?San Jose, and it will be a ding?donger, I'll tell you. But I'll tell you one thing, I just hope Anaheim gets a break this year. I mean, I'm not saying the referees say let's get Anaheim, but they really get stiffed. I've checked it out, they have had to kill 85 more power plays than they get. I've watched them all year, and I've got to say they get stiffed. And I just hope when they get in the playoffs, I know they're a rough, tough team, and I know we're going in a new direction, but I just hope they get a fair shot. They didn't in the playoffs last year, they were almost put out. I think they had eight straight penalties one time, power plays against them, and I just hope they get a good shot this year because Bob Murray is from Kingston, Ontario, and I want him to do good (laughter). Q. Guys, I was just wondering if each of you could pick one player you feel is under the most pressure to perform in the playoffs this year. PIERRE McGUIRE: Joe Thornton. I would say Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks. I hope he's 100 percent healthy because I know in other playoff runs he hasn't been healthy. But I think the scrutiny is really going to be on him. I basically think all the excuses have been taken away, and Joe is going to have to deliver. DON CHERRY: Yeah, I have to agree. Last year was kind of funny, though, in the playoffs. I remember the deciding game, I think it was the 7th game or something, San Jose started it, they were down 2?1, and they started a power play, believe it or not, in the third period, and he wasn't on the power play. So there was something going on there. And if you remember, he had all those ribs bruised and torn and everything when he was in Boston, and he played anyhow. So I hate to say this has got to be his year. You're just so sick of hearing all that stuff. I'll agree and I'll say Joe. Q. You've touched on a lot of this in the last couple questions but I'll ask it anyway. The Sharks have a history of regular season success and playoff disappointments. Do you still like them going to the Finals at least, and give me a sense of what you think the big difference is or what the differences are. DON CHERRY: Well, mine, they're almost the same team except the coach. They love the coach there and they'll do anything for him. He's a coach behind the bench. He doesn't stand there with his arms folded falling asleep. He's on everybody that comes off, and he talks to them, and you can see they love the guy. I'd say the big difference there is the coach. PIERRE McGUIRE: I think the addition of Rob Blake, Stanley Cup winner, Danny Boyle, a puck mover and a Stanley Cup winner, both right?hand shots, bringing in Kent Huskins, another Stanley Cup winner who adds depth to their defense, Travis Moen, who's a really good two?way player. They've had so much overall depth infused into their team, and you add the coach, too, who's a little bit different and the message isn't old, and Patrick Marleau's numbers speak for that. I just think San Jose is a very lethal weapon and a dangerous choice in terms of the playoffs; in terms of playing against them, you don't want them. I think Eddie said it best, you pick your poison basically, and that's poison you really don't want to taste. It's unfortunate for Anaheim that they play them in the first round, but that's going to be an unbelievable series, and the survivor will have definitely earned it. But San Jose has done a lot of good things to make their team better, not just a coach, they've added a lot of internal depth. EDDIE OLCZYK: And I think the time is now for San Jose. Doug Wilson has retooled, he's hit a couple of grand slams over the course of the last four years, Joe Thornton, getting Danny Boyle. To me, they've drafted extremely well. Joe Pavelski has really emerged into a solid two?way player that Todd McLellan, who's done a hell of a job, really trusts and plays him in a lot of those key situations, they have size and they can score. To me that window is only there for a short period of time, and I think the time is now for San Jose, and that was one of the reasons why I liked them at the start of year, and they've hit a little bit of a bump, but it's never a bad thing to get knocked off your horse in a while. The time is now for San Jose. I never got a chance to mention a player on the hot seat. I agree with the guys with Joe Thornton. I talked about the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh series. I think Marty Biron, what he did last year, we'll see if he can do it again this year. There is one guy that I think has a lot of pressure on him not only because of the series but the city that he plays in. He proved to me that he can be an elite goaltender, and we'll see if he can do it in back?to?back seasons. Q. Pierre touched on this a little bit, but could you other three gentlemen just assess the Red Wings' chances to repeat? Obviously their goals?against have ballooned this year. Do you think that their defense and goaltending will be good enough in the playoffs? EDDIE OLCZYK: Yeah, absolutely. During our NBC broadcast over the last couple of weeks we've had the Red Wings on. Still eventually it's going to go through Detroit. There's no ands, ifs or buts about it just because of who they are, what they represent. I said yesterday on the broadcast they are the model franchise in all of sports with the way that they do things, from Mr. and Mrs. Ilitch, the ownership, to Kenny Holland, to all their scouts, to Mike Babcock, to the character people that they have in their dressing room. It is going to be difficult to knock the Red Wings out. I don't think there's any doubt about that. This is a team that ended the year with 51 wins, I believe. They're a team that was in really the bottom 10 of goals?against all season long. It's a combination of goaltending, it's a combination of team defense. Their penalty killing really struggled, but they have the ability to be ?? I think anyway, and at times this year they've done it, be a push?button type of team, knowing when they need to crank it up. Trusting them come playoff time I think would be a very smart thing for people who would be doubting them. It's not going to be easy, but that's probably one team ?? you've got to beat somebody eventually, but you talk about avoiding teams, I mean, that would be a very, very difficult out if you had to take on Detroit. So I'm with Pierre as we said a little bit earlier. I would trust them until the very end, but we'll see if they can get that consistent goaltending from Chris Osgood. He's played very well the last handful of games. DON CHERRY: That's the key that is Osgood because you know they're going to be getting a lot of goals. They're going to be screening their goaltender. You've got Lidstrom, they've got everything going for them. And it all comes right down to the goalie. If the goalie is as hot like he was when they won the Cup, they've a got a great shot because he was dynamite. I know He's taken an awful lot of abuse this year, and he's had some tough games, but it looks like he's coming around. And if he comes around, they're going to be tough. Q. For Pierre and Mike, you like to jab Mike a little bit, what is the chemistry like between periods and shows? PIERRE McGUIRE: We get after one another, but I think it's all done with a lot of fun and mind and trying to keep it fresh and entertaining. I really enjoy Mike. I love our visits together. We spend a lot of time together on the road, and not as much as Don Cherry and Ron MacLean, but we spend a significant amount of time together. It's all about hockey. Mike has got certain views and I've got other views, and when he drafted ?? to go back to the beginning of the call -- I couldn't believe when the New York Islanders passed on Zach Parise. That's why Mike and I had a little bit of a falling out. I made it public, and I did it at the time. It was not a very good move. I had seen Zach Parise play a lot, I had seen Robert Nilsson play a lot, so I poke fun at Mike on those things. But by and large, it's been a ton of fun. Eddie Olczyk is around every Saturday or every Sunday, and he can tell you the same thing. We're together most of the time. We like to just talk hockey and eat steaks and watch hockey. That's what we like to do. SCHUYLER BAEHMAN: I just wanted to thank everyone, Don, Pierre, Mike and Eddie very much. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|