Latest / OneLegUpAlex Sports / ONELEGUPALEX MEDIA GETS PAGS PERSPECTIVE AND GRANT FRANCIS’s Feels on the Stanley Cup 6-2-26
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Garrett.
- 0:06Speaker 2: All right, well we are at Stanley Cup Final Day,
- 0:09Speaker 2: Game one, Caines versus the Golden Knights, and you just
- 0:14Speaker 2: heard from lu Terminello. Now I'm gonna have it to
- 0:17Speaker 2: my guys here, Ryan Pagano and Graham Francis.
- 0:20Speaker 3: You've been with me pretty much the whole playoffs.
- 0:21Speaker 2: We didn't get to the last round, but it is
- 0:23Speaker 2: Stanley Cup Day. The Abs were upended by the Golden Knights.
- 0:27Speaker 2: I mean, let's start there. What momentum do they have?
- 0:30Speaker 3: I think they have a lot of them going to
- 0:32Speaker 3: the series.
- 0:32Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 0:32Speaker 4: Well, first of all, thank god Colorado is not back
- 0:36Speaker 4: in the final. That was probably the happiest moment for
- 0:40Speaker 4: me out of the entire Stanley.
- 0:43Speaker 1: Cup playoffs so far this season.
- 0:46Speaker 4: Just shocking the way they were able to dismantle them
- 0:49Speaker 4: in four games. Now, Cale mccarr was injured for a
- 0:51Speaker 4: lot of the series, so that is an explanation for
- 0:55Speaker 4: you right there at least. But I mean, still, the
- 0:58Speaker 4: firepower on Colorado, the way they guess was able to
- 1:00Speaker 4: just mow right through them was impressive. And I mean
- 1:04Speaker 4: I think you can't underscore two the and really this
- 1:09Speaker 4: is for both Vegas and Carolina because they both had
- 1:12Speaker 4: short series in the conference final. The rest side of things,
- 1:16Speaker 4: I mean, when you're that deep into a Steanley Cup
- 1:19Speaker 4: playoff run, there's injuries.
- 1:20Speaker 1: There's a ton of injuries you don't know about.
- 1:22Speaker 4: There's guys that are banged up, and to get a
- 1:24Speaker 4: couple of days off leading into the Steanley Cup Final,
- 1:28Speaker 4: it's it's a big deal for both of those teams,
- 1:31Speaker 4: and I think it's gonna be a great matchup. I
- 1:33Speaker 4: think you've got a team with so much momentum in Vegas.
- 1:36Speaker 4: By the way, Carolina twelve and one in the playoffs
- 1:39Speaker 4: this year, they have one loss and that was de
- 1:41Speaker 4: Montreal in Game one, so they're coming right in with
- 1:45Speaker 4: momentum as well, so it'll be interesting. I think Vegas
- 1:48Speaker 4: has had the tougher of the matchups in the playoffs,
- 1:52Speaker 4: which is why I think their momentum is stronger, because
- 1:55Speaker 4: I think it's more difficult to go from being Carolina
- 1:59Speaker 4: who is taken on definitely a weaker team in Montreal
- 2:04Speaker 4: than it was for Vegas, who was going up against
- 2:06Speaker 4: Goliath in Colorado. So it's gonna be interesting.
- 2:09Speaker 3: No, it certainly will be. As you were pointing out Grant.
- 2:13Speaker 5: I mean two very great teams, each with their own
- 2:16Speaker 5: momentum and their own right but exactly to what you
- 2:20Speaker 5: were saying, I feel like i'd lean more towards Vegas
- 2:23Speaker 5: here only yea. I mean they had to go through
- 2:26Speaker 5: the President's Trophy winners for crying alta team that I
- 2:29Speaker 5: picked to win the Cup is boring as a prediction
- 2:32Speaker 5: as that would have been. I'm sad that I won't
- 2:34Speaker 5: get to see brock nelsel the Cup this year, but
- 2:37Speaker 5: either here nor there, because regardless of however you feel
- 2:42Speaker 5: about the Canes and whether or not you think there
- 2:44Speaker 5: are a bunch of jerks, and how you feel about
- 2:46Speaker 5: the Golden Knights and their ruthless approach to team building,
- 2:51Speaker 5: especially with them letting go of Cassidy, bringing in towards
- 2:54Speaker 5: and seeing the incredible run that they have been on
- 2:57Speaker 5: ever since they switched their man behind the bench.
- 3:00Speaker 3: It's amazing. I mean, it truly is amazing that they
- 3:04Speaker 3: have been on.
- 3:04Speaker 1: It's like a.
- 3:05Speaker 2: Limited time contract with Torderella, so he's really making the
- 3:07Speaker 2: best of this right now, and I want to get
- 3:09Speaker 2: that next.
- 3:11Speaker 1: A lot of years.
- 3:12Speaker 2: It does come down to coaching, right and I feel like,
- 3:14Speaker 2: I'm intrigued to watch every game solely on that alone.
- 3:17Speaker 3: I mean, Brenda bor versus Tortorella.
- 3:19Speaker 2: I want to see how that matchup goes.
- 3:21Speaker 1: Gaming and game out this series.
- 3:23Speaker 5: And if you ask anybody at the beginning of the
- 3:25Speaker 5: year that if they really thought that Brenda Moore Tortorella
- 3:29Speaker 5: was gonna be the Cup finals matchup, everybody would be saying,
- 3:34Speaker 5: you know, you're crazy, You're out of your dawn mind.
- 3:36Speaker 5: And that's not pointing to the fact that torts didn't
- 3:38Speaker 5: even have a job at the start of the year,
- 3:40Speaker 5: or he did, but he was just with ESPN at
- 3:42Speaker 5: that point. But either way, I don't think anybody would
- 3:45Speaker 5: have expected one the Canes to finally break through that
- 3:48Speaker 5: invisible ceiling of not being able to make it to
- 3:51Speaker 5: the Cup finals for however many years that they were contenders.
- 3:55Speaker 5: But then also Vegas, we've seen them steadily declined a
- 3:58Speaker 5: little bit since they're Cup win in twenty three, and
- 4:02Speaker 5: look that they were still a good team at the
- 4:04Speaker 5: start of the year, but their tactics and all were
- 4:07Speaker 5: starting to get a little bit sale. So I don't
- 4:09Speaker 5: think anybody would have been able to and that especially
- 4:12Speaker 5: with a reloaded Avs roster too. I mean, who wouldn't have.
- 4:16Speaker 3: Thought that the likes of the Avs or even Dallas.
- 4:21Speaker 2: And I know he left New York siting on a
- 4:22Speaker 2: really sour note a few years ago, Jack eigele but
- 4:24Speaker 2: I'm happy for that guy. He's about to embark on
- 4:27Speaker 2: a Stanley Cup final after winning gold. And of course
- 4:30Speaker 2: Mitch Marner, who Lou and I talked about a lot,
- 4:32Speaker 2: leaving his situation in Toronto for this, I mean, and
- 4:35Speaker 2: then of course on the Cane side, my guy KeAndre Miller,
- 4:39Speaker 2: who I did meet a couple at least once last year,
- 4:43Speaker 2: now celebrates It almost is like a Saquan story.
- 4:45Speaker 3: He leaves New York and.
- 4:46Speaker 2: Now he's on the Stanley Cup final like he was
- 4:48Speaker 2: out of the Super Bowl, like sa Kuan was. I mean,
- 4:50Speaker 2: it's sort of similar here, and he's playing really good hockey,
- 4:54Speaker 2: so it's gonna be a fun matchup. I don't know
- 4:57Speaker 2: if you want to do predictions now, but I would
- 4:59Speaker 2: still I'm saying that the Canes have.
- 5:00Speaker 1: The edge here. That's that's just my initial reaction.
- 5:03Speaker 4: I think for me, I'm gonna lean Vegas and I
- 5:08Speaker 4: think Carolina has a little bit of a problem when
- 5:11Speaker 4: it comes to meeting the level of pressure when in
- 5:16Speaker 4: situations that they haven't been in before. And I'm looking
- 5:20Speaker 4: back on their experience in the conference finals aside from
- 5:23Speaker 4: this year, over the last few years, and it seems
- 5:26Speaker 4: like the series aren't ever super close. I think Florida
- 5:30Speaker 4: ran away with it m h with them and for
- 5:32Speaker 4: multiple years in the Eastern Conference Final. And now that
- 5:36Speaker 4: they've finally gotten over that Eastern Conference Final hump again,
- 5:40Speaker 4: they were going up against Montreal, a team that you
- 5:43Speaker 4: wouldn't traditionally view as a conference final contender. So while
- 5:48Speaker 4: they did, you know, finally get over that conference final hump,
- 5:52Speaker 4: they've got a big hump in Vegas to get over.
- 5:55Speaker 4: And I think Vegas is a much more difficult team
- 5:57Speaker 4: to play against than Montreal. I think Vegas plays the
- 6:01Speaker 4: style of hockey that really works in the playoffs.
- 6:04Speaker 1: They're just not fun to play against.
- 6:07Speaker 6: Their rowdy and would you say the level goal the
- 6:10Speaker 6: level of teams they ran through, not all the apps,
- 6:13Speaker 6: I mean they knocked out that, they knocked out the Ducks.
- 6:18Speaker 2: I thought they knocked out the Oilers also, I mean, look.
- 6:20Speaker 3: They had a run.
- 6:20Speaker 2: They had a run leaving the Stanley Cup Finals, you know, well,
- 6:23Speaker 2: and whereas the Canes competition wasn't as strong in my opinion.
- 6:26Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it's kind of like the NBA's Eastern
- 6:30Speaker 5: Conference of the two thousands, right, very weak in comparison.
- 6:33Speaker 5: To that end, I mean, if this, if you have
- 6:36Speaker 5: to pick any year for the Canes to finally break
- 6:38Speaker 5: through that ceiling, this was gonna be the year because
- 6:40Speaker 5: you didn't really have a lot of steep competition that
- 6:43Speaker 5: could go against them throughout the rest of the playoffs.
- 6:46Speaker 5: Buffalo maybe, but even then, they're relatively inexperience compared to
- 6:51Speaker 5: their fellow counterparts in Carolina, and especially considering they burst
- 6:54Speaker 5: on the scene literally this year Montreal.
- 6:57Speaker 3: To their credit, they at least have an.
- 6:58Speaker 5: Additional year of experience of course last year getting curb
- 7:02Speaker 5: stomped by the Caps in the first round, but they've
- 7:05Speaker 5: at least been there before and they've got some pieces
- 7:07Speaker 5: to help rejuvenate for at least one Conference finals win.
- 7:14Speaker 3: But they've still got a long way to go.
- 7:16Speaker 5: Carolina, though, now they got their biggest test with Vegas,
- 7:19Speaker 5: and that's why I was saying earlier too, I'm leaning
- 7:22Speaker 5: towards Vegas in the Cup Finals. Now this, I do
- 7:25Speaker 5: think this could go to seven games, no question about it,
- 7:28Speaker 5: because if you look at the goalie matchup, carter Hart,
- 7:31Speaker 5: Freddie Anderson both have been playing out of their damn
- 7:34Speaker 5: minds and if there is one Kine that can win
- 7:38Speaker 5: the conspin, it's a thousand percent Freddy. Now the question
- 7:41Speaker 5: is could he stay healthy? Could he maintain his form
- 7:45Speaker 5: in the playoffs, because keep in mind too, he's also
- 7:47Speaker 5: dealing with some personal stuff at the moment, Claude Lemu's
- 7:50Speaker 5: agent Pat sadly passing away just last week.
- 7:54Speaker 3: God rest his soul. So I know he's he's definitely
- 7:57Speaker 3: going through it.
- 7:59Speaker 5: But if any thing, it might very well just empower
- 8:02Speaker 5: him more to play in an elite level, kind of
- 8:05Speaker 5: like his counterpart on the other end of the ice,
- 8:07Speaker 5: Carter Hart. I mean, where the heck was he at
- 8:10Speaker 5: the start of the year, Where the heck was.
- 8:11Speaker 3: He in the regular season.
- 8:13Speaker 5: And the fact that Towards has decided to ride the
- 8:16Speaker 5: hot hand in these playoffs with a Carter Hart coming
- 8:19Speaker 5: back from certain allegations and all that and taking the
- 8:23Speaker 5: starting spot from Aiden Hill in the playoffs.
- 8:26Speaker 3: Now, if Vegas wins the Cup.
- 8:29Speaker 5: If they were to get their second Cup in three years.
- 8:35Speaker 5: Carter Hart is probably your cons winner more than likely.
- 8:37Speaker 5: It just goes to show how out of his mind
- 8:40Speaker 5: he has been. And it's also not like he single
- 8:44Speaker 5: handedly needs to carry this team night in and night out,
- 8:47Speaker 5: because they're averaging near four goals a game in the
- 8:50Speaker 5: playoffs right now, most out of these two teams in
- 8:54Speaker 5: the Cup finals. I don't know what the Canes are
- 8:55Speaker 5: averaging right now, but Vegas far and away better offense
- 9:00Speaker 5: of the playoffs and it's gonna be tough to beat.
- 9:03Speaker 2: All Right, question for you both because I only knew
- 9:05Speaker 2: you mid season here, so we really know prior to
- 9:08Speaker 2: you know, by opening night, But was this What was
- 9:12Speaker 2: the matchup you had going into.
- 9:13Speaker 3: The Stanley Cup? And how different is it now?
- 9:16Speaker 1: Like what did you see going in?
- 9:17Speaker 6: Originally?
- 9:18Speaker 4: I didn't have a team from the Pacific going in,
- 9:21Speaker 4: And I also wonder if for Vegas being in the
- 9:26Speaker 4: Pacific Division almost helps them. I think it's sort of
- 9:30Speaker 4: the Edmonson effect of the last couple of years too,
- 9:32Speaker 4: is that you go through the first couple of rounds
- 9:36Speaker 4: of the playoffs playing quote unquote easier teams from the Pacific,
- 9:42Speaker 4: and it allows you to sort of go into the
- 9:45Speaker 4: conference finals and you're finally facing your first difficult team. Meanwhile,
- 9:50Speaker 4: Colorado had to fight their way to the conference finals.
- 9:52Speaker 1: I think they spent a lot of their juice in.
- 9:54Speaker 4: The first couple of rounds before getting to Vegas, and
- 9:56Speaker 4: look what happened.
- 9:57Speaker 5: Especially against a very good Minnesota Wild team the second round.
- 10:01Speaker 5: I mean, they gave him a real run for their
- 10:02Speaker 5: money over there, and you could definitely expect them to
- 10:06Speaker 5: do a little bit more, assuming they can keep Quinn
- 10:08Speaker 5: Hughes long term.
- 10:09Speaker 3: That's gonna be a thing watched, but that's.
- 10:11Speaker 5: Gonna be a problem for them and in these future
- 10:13Speaker 5: runs as well for Colorado.
- 10:14Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I had At the beginning of the season,
- 10:17Speaker 4: I had Dallas in the final.
- 10:20Speaker 1: Obviously that didn't go.
- 10:21Speaker 4: Well, but I'm pretty sure I had Carolina in the
- 10:24Speaker 4: final in the finals out of the East, which, to
- 10:27Speaker 4: be totally transparent, I've had Carolina in the final for
- 10:30Speaker 4: a couple of years now. I mean, they're due, they're
- 10:32Speaker 4: so due, They've been there so many times. It was
- 10:35Speaker 4: it was bound to happen at some point. So I
- 10:37Speaker 4: think I had Carolina in the final.
- 10:39Speaker 1: I did not have Vegas.
- 10:41Speaker 4: It's just it's interesting because the Central Division was so
- 10:44Speaker 4: much better than the Pacific this year, and it's a
- 10:47Speaker 4: Pacific team representing the West.
- 10:49Speaker 2: There you go, Well, we'll see what happens as time
- 10:51Speaker 2: moves on. I know you're not a big basketball guy, Graham,
- 10:54Speaker 2: but Nicks in the final. I mean, it's amazing to
- 10:57Speaker 2: me because I know all eyes in New York gonna
- 10:59Speaker 2: be on on the NBA Finals, but every year it
- 11:02Speaker 2: feels like New Yorkers care more about that than the NHL.
- 11:05Speaker 2: How do we as hockey fans get other people to
- 11:08Speaker 2: follow the Stanley Cup if not a New York team,
- 11:10Speaker 2: isn't it I feel like that we have a struggle
- 11:11Speaker 2: with that.
- 11:12Speaker 5: Maybe if you have Rangers fans climbing light poles, they
- 11:15Speaker 5: fans the Cup finals, and maybe maybe that would be
- 11:18Speaker 5: the case.
- 11:18Speaker 3: But I mean, that really is.
- 11:20Speaker 5: A good question to pose here, I mean, at least
- 11:23Speaker 5: from a New York perspective. And it also comes down
- 11:27Speaker 5: to how successful these teams truly can be, because we
- 11:30Speaker 5: saw it in twenty two and especially twenty four that
- 11:35Speaker 5: if you put good teams on the ice in New York,
- 11:37Speaker 5: people are going to show out for that one way
- 11:39Speaker 5: or another. I mean, we've seen the crowds outside of MS.
- 11:42Speaker 2: I think there are a lot of Ranger fans that
- 11:43Speaker 2: have been dormant because they suck this year that they
- 11:45Speaker 2: just want to burst out and say here we are.
- 11:47Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean the fact that Chris Jurie still is
- 11:49Speaker 5: employed by them also it probably doesn't help matters, but
- 11:53Speaker 5: I mean that's that's kind of a way up.
- 11:54Speaker 4: Then again, well, I think too, like we've had pretty
- 11:58Speaker 4: low profile Stanley Cup fives recently, Like there hasn't been
- 12:02Speaker 4: anybody that New York cares about that has.
- 12:05Speaker 2: Been even though the best player of the freaking league's
- 12:08Speaker 2: been into the last couple of years.
- 12:09Speaker 1: Sure, but like.
- 12:11Speaker 4: For instance, this season Carolina and Vegas, nobody from New
- 12:15Speaker 4: York cares about Carolina or Nous last.
- 12:18Speaker 2: I mean, maybe maybe the Tortorella effect will change that
- 12:21Speaker 2: a bit.
- 12:22Speaker 4: Maybe maybe, but especially with the Knicks in it, nobody's
- 12:25Speaker 4: gonna be paying attention to to the Stanley Cup finals
- 12:28Speaker 4: this year.
- 12:29Speaker 1: Edmonton. Yeah, you've got Connor McDavid.
- 12:31Speaker 4: It's interesting, but I don't think anybody had Like if
- 12:34Speaker 4: you're talking about the Bruins are in it, you're talking
- 12:36Speaker 4: about you know, the Islanders. Well, obviously it's this New York,
- 12:40Speaker 4: but like the rivals of the teams here in New York.
- 12:43Speaker 2: Even if Chicago, Dad, I think people would watch. I
- 12:46Speaker 2: don't know, but you know, I just think that every
- 12:48Speaker 2: year people have a choice to tune into one or
- 12:51Speaker 2: the other or both, and they don't always pick the
- 12:53Speaker 2: Stanley Cup.
- 12:54Speaker 3: Yeah, they don't always.
- 12:55Speaker 5: It also depends to one if there's any anybody with
- 12:59Speaker 5: formal New York ties in the Cup finals and all that.
- 13:03Speaker 5: And I mean you mentioned Caandre earlier, Alex, and I mean, yeah,
- 13:07Speaker 5: it's definitely a good enough name for Rangers fans. I
- 13:11Speaker 5: would say to pay attention to the final. But you know,
- 13:14Speaker 5: do you really have any other big names apart from that?
- 13:18Speaker 3: Not really?
- 13:18Speaker 5: I mean look from an Isles perspective, Yeah, you got
- 13:20Speaker 5: Mike Riley in the Cup finals for Carolina. And I
- 13:25Speaker 5: know Taylor Hall was in some Isles trade rumors five
- 13:28Speaker 5: years ago, but he.
- 13:29Speaker 3: Was also really what else do you have there?
- 13:31Speaker 2: Taylor Hall at Devil's legend and I remember how devas
- 13:34Speaker 2: devils too, how can we forget them? Well, Devil fans
- 13:37Speaker 2: were actually devastated when he got traded, you know, I
- 13:39Speaker 2: mean that was a big loss for that team. Yeah,
- 13:41Speaker 2: we'll have to see guys, but I appreciate you joining
- 13:43Speaker 2: me right before the Stanley Cup hours from now. And
- 13:47Speaker 2: maybe it is also the fact of where they air
- 13:49Speaker 2: these games. I mean, it's not easy to find the
- 13:51Speaker 2: Stanley Cup on TV anymore.
- 13:53Speaker 4: We I'll tell you what else is disappointing for me
- 13:56Speaker 4: about the NHL and how they've scheduled their games this year.
- 14:00Speaker 1: There's been no games on the weekend during the day.
- 14:03Speaker 4: I want to sit down on a Saturday and watch
- 14:05Speaker 4: a game, or a Sunday and watch the game. Memorial
- 14:07Speaker 4: Day weekend, there's no games during the like I remember.
- 14:12Speaker 3: Growing up.
- 14:12Speaker 4: You know, Mother's Day weekend, Penguins, Rangers during the day,
- 14:16Speaker 4: you have that all like, there's no games during the day.
- 14:19Speaker 1: And then tonight Stanley Cup Final.
- 14:20Speaker 4: Now I get that it's a Tuesday, but you're starting
- 14:23Speaker 4: the game at eight o'clock Eastern. No, I'm going to
- 14:25Speaker 4: bed at eight o'clock. I had to wake up at
- 14:27Speaker 4: four thirty for work. That's not most people. But still, like,
- 14:29Speaker 4: nobody's gonna stay up until eleven o'clock at night, God
- 14:32Speaker 4: forbid the game goes to overtime.
- 14:34Speaker 1: To watch that game.
- 14:35Speaker 5: Oh, and especially if it goes beyond the first overtime
- 14:38Speaker 5: forget about and I mean even the same thing during
- 14:40Speaker 5: the NBA Finals is a diehard Knicks fan eight thirty
- 14:44Speaker 5: eight thirty starts and again if it goes into overtime,
- 14:49Speaker 5: I mean, who's stay up for that? I mean, yeah,
- 14:51Speaker 5: if you're a die hard fan of either the Knicks
- 14:53Speaker 5: or the Spurs, yeah you're gonna stay up for the
- 14:56Speaker 5: full thing. But if you're just a casual watching these
- 14:59Speaker 5: game from say, I don't know, Florida or even California,
- 15:04Speaker 5: it's a really an incentive to stay up there. Okay,
- 15:06Speaker 5: maybe California isn't the best example of that, but you know,
- 15:10Speaker 5: even even Boston as a good example, Like who else
- 15:15Speaker 5: in the East time zone is going to be willing
- 15:17Speaker 5: to stay up the full way through?
- 15:19Speaker 3: I just don't get that.
- 15:20Speaker 4: All say is it must be nice being in the
- 15:22Speaker 4: Pacific time zone and all your games starting at four
- 15:25Speaker 4: five o'clock.
- 15:27Speaker 3: How about in Hawaii too, start in the middle of
- 15:29Speaker 3: the work.
- 15:29Speaker 1: Honestly, why not?
- 15:30Speaker 2: Well, guys, I might have to drop my key andre
- 15:32Speaker 2: selfie just before the game, I'll see anyway, appreciate you.
- 15:36Speaker 3: I wish I had a Mike Riley picture for the education.
- 15:39Speaker 2: I appreciate both for joining me on this last short notice,
- 15:42Speaker 2: but it is game one tonight.
- 15:43Speaker 1: I wanted your thoughts.
- 15:43Speaker 2: Because we missed the last couple of rounds, so glad
- 15:46Speaker 2: to have you both back on.
- 15:47Speaker 3: Well you know what they say, it better later than ever.
- 15:48Speaker 2: There you go and enjoy the Stanley Cup Finals because
- 15:51Speaker 2: yes there is more than one final going on. I
- 15:53Speaker 2: want to bring that awareness to people. Have one like
- 15:55Speaker 2: a ballex media and you know my cats phrase, that's
- 15:57Speaker 2: my message. At one like a ballex Media.
- 16:00Speaker 3: That's right,