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Senators Roundtable - Reaction to Travis Green Hiring & 2024 NHL Draft Lottery Results
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May 8, 2024
In this episode of The Hockey Writers Senators Roundtable, Ottawa Senators writers Jacob Billington and Paul Quinney get together to react to the Travis Green hiring and discuss what the Senators will do with their seventh overall pick after the results of the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery. The Senators Roundtable crew are great writers too - Jacob Billington - https://thehockeywriters.com/author/jbillington/ Paul Quinney - https://thehockeywriters.com/author/pquinney/ Dayton Reimer - https://thehockeywriters.com/author/dreimer/ Subscribe to The Hockey Writers Ottawa Senators Substack for all the best Sens content - https://thehockeywriters.substack.com/subscribe Follow The Hockey Writers: Twitter - https://twitter.com/TheHockeyWriter Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thehockeywriters_ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheHockeyWriters/ Graphics by Vince Richard - https://www.behance.net/vincergraphics #senators #ottawasenators #nhl #2024nhldraft
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Senators Roundtable
0:04
I'm your host Jacob Billington, joined by Paul Cooney today. We're missing Dayton. He's busy at a Saskatoon Blades game, watching them in the playoffs
0:11
So good luck to the Blades on behalf of Dayton. Paul, how are you? I'm really good
0:18
You know, ever since the lease were eliminated, spring sprung here in Ottawa
0:22
So, you know, you have to wait until that happens before the weather starts to warm up
0:27
So, you know, lots of golf and birds are. tweeting tulips are blooming so and the leaps are on the golf course it's always a good year
0:36
and the leaps are on the golf course and that's every year so um unfortunately ottawa has been on
0:41
the golf course for two weeks longer as per usual um but we did just have the draft lottery and
0:46
we got some news yesterday it was officially announced today that the ottawa centers have hired
0:50
Travis green as their head coach i gave a couple of my thoughts yesterday on a roundtable put on by
0:56
the hockey raiders um but i think you and i should chat a little bit more about it just because just from a purely Ottawa perspective
1:03
So what were your initial thoughts on the hiring? I mean, I guess at a high level, my first reaction was what, who
1:14
What? Travis Green. I mean, he wasn't even on my radar screen
1:17
I wrote an article back a couple of months ago listed five candidates who I thought could
1:24
be considered. And so Green came out of left field. I was talking
1:29
Bay Rubei like others were and McClellan and Claude Julianne. So this was a surprise
1:40
It's not going over that well on social media here in Ottawa
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That's for sure. I think the feeling is that among Ottawa fans was
1:51
it would have been nice to get someone with more pedigree. agree but yeah i agree but uh i actually have a stat here i'm going to bring up but you're right
2:05
the the initial reaction from a lot of senators fans and people on social media is incredibly
2:12
negative and they're not happy about it obviously he didn't have a great tenure with the
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canucks but they liked them in vancouver it just wasn't working out so um a lot of people are
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saying um and i was talking to matthew about this yesterday that he's a player's coach um he'll stand up
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for his players, the players like him. But on the other side of that
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he's going to demand the absolute most out of all of his players, which is something that Ottawa needs
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He's notorious for having incredibly difficult training camps and bag skates and all these things that help players
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kind of with their integrity and make them work harder. You, I forget the wording you just said
2:49
but they were hoping for somebody with a little bit more pedigree. Out of all of the senators' coaches that they've hired
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where does green rank do you know in previous games played or previous games coached
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I can't rank them but just reading that. I think what's he coached I'm going to say 150, 133
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335. 335 games as a head coached. the NHL. And based on all of the head coaches that Ottawa has hired, he is ranked third in
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career games coached before coming to Ottawa. So before coming to Ottawa, Brian Murray had over
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a thousand and Hertzberg had 443 and Green is next with 335. And they have Cluston
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McLean, Cameron, and Smith with zero games before coming to Ottawa. So they got somebody with a bit
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more pedigree than they're used to hiring, which is good. But you're right
3:59
When you look at the names that were in the mix, like Barube, or Todd McClellan, or even
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if you think of Jay Woodcroft, or even some of these guys that nobody was really
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thinking of, they all have much more pedigree than Travis Green, but I do think that this
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could end up being a pretty good hiring. Well, you know, and I'll forgive him for, so, you know, there's some observers have said, look
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he's, Stato says he wants to develop a winning culture in Ottawa
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and they hired a coach with a losing record. Some of that's unfair
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You know, if you look at his tenure in Vancouver, no, he didn't have a 500 record with the Canucks
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but you have to understand that that was a low point with the Vancouver franchise
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When he came in, the Siddings were on their way out. They were in their twilight
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he just didn't have a lot to work with. So I don't know how much of that you can hold against them
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And it's easy to say, hey, you know, it would have been great if they'd had someone with more pedigree
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But all right, a lot of these guys like Bay Rubei, rumor has it, he's holding out for Sheldon Keith's job in Toronto
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So he can go anywhere he wants. Ottawa would be a hard sell for him
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yeah and auto is a little bit of a hard sell for everybody just based on what historically the franchise has done And that not much especially over the past few years
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They have a lot of issues. They have a first round pick to give up still for the Afghani Dadanov situation
5:38
We're going to talk a little bit about that in a few minutes. And it's just not as big of a market, which some coaches will like, but some coaches
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really like the spotlight, like you'll get in Toronto. So, but these coaches, there's a lot more attractive options
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Toronto has a better roster. The Devils have a better roster. The Jets have a better roster
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And they're all in like ready to win mode. Like none of these are headed into a rebuild
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And so people are going to look and say, where's my best chance to win? And right now Ottawa is kind of the bottom of the barrel for the open slots
6:12
Other than, I mean, San Jose is looking for a coach too. But. Well, what were your thoughts, Jacob, on
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the term. If I understood it, if I'm right, he's got four years on that. Did you find that a little
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long? Yeah, it's absolutely a little bit long. The average coach lasts 2.8 years. I don't know why
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you don't just give him the three, but it's it's not my money, right? And when you fire a coach
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all it is is money. So if he's absolutely miserable, if Michael Ann Lowers is willing to just pay up
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the money, he can be fired without any repercussions other than just coming out of the
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the wallet of the team. So I don't put too much thought into the term just because, like
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there's no cap penalty for firing a coach or anything like that. So I do think the four years was long
7:01
I would have went two or three, but who might really judge on
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Because I don't know what was said in the interview. Like, you look at all these guys that interviewed in Ottawa
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and there's an impressive list. And you can have some, like, really good
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AHL coaches like John Gruden, Todd Nelson. and these guys were in the running too
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Travis Green must have had a very good pitch for Steve Steyos, Dave Poulan
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and Michael Ann Lauer to kind of say, you're our guy. So that's my thought
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Well, with some of the minor league coaches that apparently, that were rumored to have been in the running
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I think Steyo has probably figured, look, I need an NHL coach, you know
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with any NFL experience here if we're going to turn this thing around. And then apparently
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Green's got a reputation for being tough on players. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in that dressing room to see how those guys react to this
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Because up to now, these guys have had kind of a mommy for coaches, right
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I mean, DJ was a mother to them, mother hand. And I guess Jacques Martin, I mean, what was he going to do with him
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He knew he was only there for a few months. So it will be interesting, if it's true, that he is as tough on players
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and willing to hold them accountable, as everyone says. And one fantastic quote that came from Dayton months ago on this
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but always stuck with me is that Jacques Martan's job was to get them ready to be coached appropriately
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And I think that that was his job. And now Travis Green, who can be pretty hard-nosed, can come in and really tell them what it's going to be like
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how hards are going to have to work and what to work on. We chatted just for a minute
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Actually, while I was fixing my microphone, you and Matthew chatted for a minute before we started recording
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But rumor has it that Nolan Baumgartner is coming in as the defense coach
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and might replace Jack Capuano. It's time to move on from Jack Capuano
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Paul, I'd rather see you on the bench just for the sake of change over Jack Capuano
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So Nolan Baumgartner, again, the Canucks defense was not very good in that
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five-year tenure that he spent with Travis Green in Vancouver. But he was pretty good with the Manitoba Moose for the last two seasons
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A lot of good things to come out of his coaching styles
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And again, it's hard to really judge where the issue lies, whether it's the head coach in
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their systems, whether it's the defense coach. But the one kind of stagnant piece in Ottawa's coaching staff for the biggest struggles
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has been Jack Capulano, because of course they've, they fired. DJ Smith
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They fired Zach Burke and now Justin Peters is the goal tending coach
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so hopefully we see a little bit of a change there and then yeah
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of course Travis Green is the head coach and there's a couple other coaches and developmental pieces
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nobody's really said much about where Daniel Alfredson's going to be if he's going to be
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on the bench or not moving forward I don't expect he is but he very well could be
10:11
and I guess we'll see yeah be interesting Do you have any last thoughts on kind of the coaching scenarios
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No, he'll, well, to your point, I mean, you're talking about sort of the subcoaches that need to move on
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Capuano, for example, I would imagine he's going to put his imprint on team
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You know, you'll see a whole bunch of, and you'll probably see him bring in people that he's
10:45
comfortable with as well So stay tuned Yeah And I mean the way the Canucks have kind of formed themselves since Travis Green has left So Rick Tocke obviously he went in and he the perfect coach for that team
10:59
And I mean, they have Sergey Gonshire helping out. They have Adam Foote helping out
11:03
It's very impressive coaching staff there in Vancouver. So Adam, Adam Foot or Adam Graves
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I can't remember. I think it's Adam Foot. Forgive me if I'm wrong there
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But they have a very impressive coaching staff. and they have done fantastic this season
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I hope that Travis Green, I mean, this all happened after moving on from Travis Green
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but I hope he can kind of look at the difference between what he did and what Vancouver is doing now
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and kind of bridge the gap between the two coaching styles and systems and whatnot
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So that's my last thought on coaching for now. We just watched the draft lottery
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Ottawa is going to be retaining their seventh overall draft pick. do you what do you think they do with it do you think they make the pick do you think that they
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trade it for oh i don't know Alex de Brinket that is going to last a year and trade them for
12:00
pennies on the dollar or do you think that they forfeit this one to the NHL for the
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of Guany Dadenov's whole debacle what do you think that they should do with the pick
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that's quite a he's in a quite a quandary right i mean they're they're
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POSPEC pool is so depleted that, you know, his guts probably screaming at him, like
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keep this pick. It's a number seven overall. You've got to keep them. But on the other hand
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when he looks out down the road in future years, particularly the draft next year
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that's supposed to be a draft for all time. And assuming that there's still a lottery team
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maybe that's the draft. You know, you'd be, you wouldn't want to give up your
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your first pick in next year. So I guess you could make an argument for
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for trading away this one, but he'd be subject to a whole lot of criticism in Ottawa
13:02
I think if he did. And he's got this year, next year, and the year after to give up a pick
13:08
So it doesn't have to be this year next year for the compensation. and I think the plan is to do the 2026 pick anyway and hope the NHL's like
13:16
ah, you know what, just keep it. We've stressed you out enough about this. Just kind of like they did with the New Jersey Devils and Kovachuk situation
13:25
But yeah, I think that they absolutely need to keep the pick. I think you desperately need to help out this prospect pool
13:33
The top 10 of this draft looks very, very good. Assuming best player available is the correct kind of
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mindset headed into this draft for Ottawa. If there's a toss-up between a winger
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a center, and a defenseman, what would you like to see Ottawa kind of add to their prospect pool
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Because there's a lot of everything. There's a lot of defensemen in the top 10 that are very, very good
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But there's a little bit of everything. And so what do you want to see Ottawa kind of focus on in this draft
14:05
If it were me, it would be defense. You know, they've got two good right-handed defensemen
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Zane Perrick, if I've got the pronunciation of the name right, and Carter Yakum Chuck, two right-handed defensemen
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Sam Dickinson as well, more all-rounded. But that's what I'd be looking at
14:27
As much as it may hurt to pass on some of the forwards that are available
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I guess, again, Liz Son, what's his name? Tidge. Ginglin. The Gingler, yeah
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I mean, he'd be a nice catch if they could get him
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But, yeah, I guess given the need to improve the defense, that's probably to be those guys
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that I'd look at. Yeah. And I do think, like, the whole prospect pool is really suffering
15:04
They've got some wingers that are coming up. So I wouldn't really focus too much on position if you're going for a forward
15:11
But on defense, like they don't, they don't have a whole bunch of anything. They have Jorny and Donovan who looks okay
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He's had stints that he's looked good, but in the long haul, he looks okay
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He looks like an okay prospect. Lassie Thompson, he's done in Ottawa
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Maxent's going to be okay. Maybe a bottom pair defenseman. Like, they don't have any huge standouts, especially on the right side where right now
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you're running Travis Hamannick and Jacob Bernard and Docker for natural right-handed defense
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Like underneath Aramzoub, of course, you absolutely need a right-handed defenseman. Now, don't reach with the seventh overall pick
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I don't think you take the guy listed at 13th or 16th or whatever just because he's right-handed
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Like if you get there and all the righties are gone and Zeev Boom, I would absolutely be more than happy to see Zeevum selected
16:05
Even though he's an offensively minded, left-handed defenseman, Ottawa doesn't need that
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but you need to take the best player available. And if it's a toss-up, just take the defenseman anyway
16:13
Maybe in a couple of years. He like oh well I can play the right side I really good on the right side And you just never know So where I so tell with his problem like anyway right A guy comes in You think he you know he great reputation People are
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predicting great things and they just never gel in the NHL. You know, it really is a crop shoot
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Are you talking about Eric Ransstrom? He well, there you. But he comes in and I kind of laughed at the
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some of the language being used among the commentators, you know, uh
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celebrini is a generational player. Well, every bloody draft, there's a generational player
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I mean, they can't all be generational. I guess that's just a hype
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And speaking of a hype, I thought the NHL could have done a better job, uh
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with this draft of formatting. And my God, it was boring. at least in the old days, you'd have the little ping pong balls that would, you know
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they'd put it in the machine. You could see them trickle down into the place, but they didn't have that
17:23
They just had Bill Daley where they're, you know, holding up numbers
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He's doing his van of white impression. Well, yeah, yeah, too bad van
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I couldn't have done it, but, you know, he's holding up the side
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and then in the backgrounds are all the picks. I don't know what the point of that was
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and then occasionally they'd bring in poor McClain-Cellibreeny and torture him for a bit, put in the spot
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And I don't know. I thought it could have been done better. I think the NFL or any other professional sports team
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probably would have done a better job with this. I don't know where their marketing is
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See, I actually completely disagree. I think that it was exactly what it needed to be, short, sweet, concise
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It was the show, it was, I'm trying to do time zone conversions
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It was 630 to 7 was the allotted time for the show, Eastern time
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But the actual lottery started at 645, and it was 15 minutes, and it was just over and done nice and quick
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there wasn't long drawn out stuff like the NHL usually does like how their games
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always start 15 minutes late because we all need to hear the anthem every single night and we all need to see
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the local fire station wave to all the fans like I'm glad that they do it at the hockey games
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it does need to be on TV but and I feel the same way about the draft lottery
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I just think that it can't just be a tweet right it needs to be on TV
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but I think that that's all it needs to be is just Bill Daly standing up there saying this is what it is
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That's just my opinion. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I thought it was pretty boring, but it just seemed to me to lock some jam
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that other professional sports leagues would have had. But, and then Celebrini, I don't know, kids 17, you know
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and they're saying corny things to them. And, you know, how do you feel
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now and it asked him that three times he's like well what was he supposed to say you know
19:47
yeah and i i don't know if zillo was a paid sponsor of the uh the draft lottery show but
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that came up in a weird amount of times um and that was quite funny i really like john buchy gross
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uh i think that he does a fantastic job on the air so i really enjoyed that but uh yeah and
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gary betman officially announces i mean it was as gary betman said it was worst kept secret in hockey
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right now that the draft is going to be taking place at the sphere that's incredibly exciting i'm
20:16
really excited to see what they do um just the drone footage of the sphere with the announcement for
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the draft lot or the draft being hosted at the sphere i think that that was incredible so i'm really
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really excited to see and how that shapes up and how that looks at the at the sphere well yeah but
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that'll be uh that'll be the last of that right uh they're moving to a new format yeah so um
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I'm not sure how that's going to, I was always kind of the draft, you know, everybody getting together, all the teams together and all the players
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I thought that was exciting, a good marketing tool, but I guess that's no longer than the cards
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Yeah, and I think having the ability to kind of walk down and go talk to another GM and just kind of put your hand on his shoulder and say, listen, this, this, this and this
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Like, that's pretty unique. And I really like the way that Ottawa, or Ottawa, the NHL
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does these things. And I'm upset to see it going remote, but I understand why the NHL is doing it as well
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Yeah. Well, enjoy the dome or whatever it's called down now on the sphere. Yeah. Well, this has been a pretty
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short episode, but there's not a whole bunch going on in Ottawa land outside of the coach. So if you enjoy
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this episode, make sure to let us know. And we'll see in the next week or two to talk a little bit more
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about the draft and maybe some upcoming free agency stuff and just a little bit of everything
21:41
for the senators in the off season. So if you enjoyed, let us know and we'll see you next time
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