BREAKING NEWS: Bouchard Finishes 4th In Norris Trophy Voting | Jamie McLennan’s Thoughts. And As Fans React To The Results, One Question Refuses To Go Away: Was This A Fair Outcome Or The Beginning Of A Much Bigger Debate About Bouchard’s Place Among The NHL’s Best?

BREAKING NEWS: Bouchard Finishes 4th In Norris Trophy Voting | Jamie McLennan’s Thoughts. And As Fans React To The Results, One Question Refuses To Go Away: Was This A Fair Outcome Or The Beginning Of A Much Bigger Debate About Bouchard’s Place Among The NHL’s Best?

Final vote totals for the Norris Trophy, released yesterday, and of course it’s got everybody talking and up in arms here. Evan Bouchard finishing fourth. Um but that’s not unexpected, right? I mean, your thoughts on this whole voting total and and where we see Bouchard ultimately, again, not cracking that top three, um but coming in at fourth.

I mean, that’s where he should be, if not higher. >> I agree. You know, I had this argument because I had him in my top three. I believe I had him first or second. I I can’t remember. I’ve lost my email. My email got flushed. It’s my new computer. So, um but at the end of the day, I know I had him high.

And you know, I had Werenski I don’t want to say I had Werenski at four. And farther a little bit farther down, and the reason being is cuz his team didn’t make the playoffs. And I I know that probably shouldn’t factor in it, but if it’s 1% out of 100 of the piece of the pie, I I looked at everything. I also looked at an interesting stat.

Because everybody in Canada, and I know that the narrative around Evan Bouchard is, “Oh, this guy is terrible turnovers that end up in the back of your net.” Well, according to Sport Logic, he had 13 of those. Connor McDavid had 12. Zach Werenski had 12. Rasmus Dahlin had 12. So, Bouchard had one more than than them.

But my argument is that all 13 were highlighted on SportsCentre and Sport Connected on on Sport, you know, on on Sportsnet. Like, on both highlight shows in Canada, >> Mhm. >> Bouchard’s mistakes are front and center. Werenski’s, I can’t remember one that was played on on any of the the, you know, the sports shows in Canada. So, that’s the one thing.

You got You have 95 points. You play a lot of minutes on the penalty kill, and you know, you’re a top-tier player. Uh you you should be in the top three, for sure, and may and and maybe win it. And that’s where I I kind of had a problem with it, but at the end of the day, it’s no slight on Zach Werenski. He had an amazing season.

I don’t I think all five guys who were up for it, uh you can make a case for it, but at the end of the day, I I thought Bouchard should have been higher in the voting. >> It You know, it’s interesting as I’m listening to you answer that. Werenski, and you know, he was for a long time uh leading the discussion for the Norris. But is it possible to be as good as he was and be under the radar because of the team he’s on and the market he’s in? >> I I I Yes.

And the reason being is because if kind of the comments what I made earlier, it’s like how many how many people actually sat down and watched Columbus play other than me. For some reason I you know, I’m I’m a hockey freak when it comes to that. Everybody will be watching an NFL game and I will be watching Columbus play Anaheim and you know, enjoying that on a Friday night.

You know, I’ve got a sickness. But um you know, and the end of the day like it is flying under the radar, it’s more about the market that you play in and how much attention that you get. And I think that’s where Werenski, you know, it’s hard to hide when you’re the number one guy on Team USA that wins gold. So there there you know, there’s a there’s something that that you know, you can put in your back pocket.

But ultimately like again, I come back to the market he plays in and how much fanfare it gets or not gets. >> Uh TSN’s Jamie McLennan joining us for GS Construction on the Fire House Subs Hot Line. Speaking of markets in the one you are in uh alongside O’Dog and Hayes on TSN 1050 and talking a lot of Leafs. And Darren Dreger tweeting out a couple hours ago, Leafs coaching search is getting more interesting.

Sources say Patrick Waite and Peter Laviolette are part of this week’s stage of the interview process. Now it’s again, we we’ve talked about from an owner’s point of view as well. These are just These are people talking. You’re going through your due diligence. You’re talking to people. Um but what does a Patrick Waite and a Peter Laviolette uh response get out of that market? >> Well, I think it’s going to at least be topical for a day or two, for sure, because, you know, all the talk was David Carle, hey, we’re going to get this, you know, Colorado, University of

Denver uh coach potentially, and you know, by all accounts, he’s a fantastic coach. But at the end of the day, he’s chosen, you know, probably maybe a different pathway for himself and his young family right now. We’ll We’ll wait to wait to see on that. But I I still think there’s coaches in the AHL that are going to get looks, that potentially are still playing.

Um, I I do think you have to go through your due diligence. And if you’re Edmonton, I’m hope hoping that you’ve talked to both of those coaches as well. Uh I think Patrick Roy was an interesting one, because Hall of Fame goaltender, and if you look at it, he’s a very hardened coach. I I had a buddy, Drew MacInnis, played for him in in Colorado, and he told me he said he thought Patrick was an excellent coach.

And his practices were very hard. He pushed his team. Uh he was not shy to speak up and and hold guys accountable. And that’s kind of again, when I if I’ve got >> Yeah, you you should put him into that tier of what the Oilers are apparently looking for, right? >> Ex- Exactly, and that’s kind of where I was going.

I’ve said it on this show several times, you know, what the Oilers need is somebody with pedigree that is not shy to lack for lack of a better words, have accountability with his players. The only thing I would argue though, is you need that systematic detail. So, for me, it’s Cassidy, Laviolette, into Roy, into Boudreau. So, those would be my if I had a one to four list, I think Bruce Cassidy fits every bill for the Edmonton Oilers, just based on how hard he is.

And I I think tongue-in-cheek, I’ve brought up Darryl Sutter’s name, too, on a one-year deal. Uh you know, hauling him off to farm and having him a attack these guys for a year, I think that would be great as well. But what they need is hardened players or sorry, hardened coaches. And and Wa and Laviolette fit the bill for any team that is looking for that.

Toronto, if they are not looking to rebuild, if they’re looking to kind of retool and go right back at it like Boston did, um I think they would be looking for a veteran coach. So Laviolette and Wa would fit that bill. So I think John Tortorella you have to do your due diligence and look at everybody and it sounds like those two are the next up.

>> Uh would Jay Woodcroft intrigue you at all linking him to Toronto? Cuz I did see that name circulate. I mean and and if so, why? >> Um I think he’s smart tactically. Uh he did have good seasons with McDavid and Draisaitl and and knows how to handle talent. Uh I think he’s strong from a you know, a standpoint of of you know, systematic.

If you look at you could argue that Anaheim beat uh Edmonton on a lot of different fronts, okay, in the playoffs. Obviously, McDavid, Draisaitl, Dickinson, Henrique not healthy. So let’s let’s throw that out there. If they were, it probably looks different. But you could also argue there was something personal there where Joel Quenneville and Stan Bowman who don’t very get along um and things didn’t end well in Chicago.

So you wanted I’m sure Q wanted to beat them on that level and Jay Woodcroft probably wanted a little bit of redemption against his former team and probably knew how to coach against them uh systematically. So I I look at it. I think Jay Woodcroft would be a great fit in Toronto cuz I think he has the the swagger and the confidence to handle the market.

But he knows how to work with star players and I look at William Nylander, I look at uh Auston Matthews. And then, you know, he So from a systematic standpoint, I think he’s he’s strong. So, there’s not really a downside for Jay Woodcroft other than fact that he hasn’t had tremendous success as far as winning a Stanley Cup or anything like that.

>> In terms of movement as well, and we’ll get off the Leafs talk as BB texts in the Paris to lose in box. Sadly, you guys are more and more sounding like Maple Leafs West. Get the F over it already. So, we’ve already used up our Leafs talk for the for the week, I think. But, moving on, I mean, Predators and Avalanche dealt within the division here as well.

McFarland going to Nashville, going to start that program up. Of course, we know the success he’s had in Colorado. And some people might say that’s due to Joe Sakic. I’d like to get your thoughts on the on that move both from a Predators angle and an Avalanche angle. And will a guy like Jared Bednar be following him down there? >> Well, what’s interesting for me is I don’t know how you guys feel about this.

Was this a mutual like, “Hey, we’re not going to fire you, but you can move on.” type of thing? Or did he choose to move on on his own? Which is very interesting because, you know, they won a Stanley Cup there. They put together a really good team and, you know, a regular season team that dominated. Yes, they got swept by Vegas, but it just didn’t look right.

They looked like they, you know, the Makar injury and then the MacKinnon injury. As we know, we just talked about it, star players getting injured in the playoffs, you need health. And when your star players are not to up to their speed, it exposes what’s underneath that. And and, you know, Colorado never got going against Vegas.

And they probably said, “We need a bar body on the tarmac.” That’s That’s the way I look at it. Is Is somebody’s got to pay for this. I don’t know if McFarland paid for it or if he decided to move on from what he’s seeing. But, at the end of the day, I think he’s a fantastic GM. He’s a great person. I know him. And he’s very smart.

So, Nashville got a lot better, uh, you know, yesterday by adding him as a manager. And, you know, you’re right. Joe Sakic helped put together this organization, this team. So, I think he’s him to go back into the GM chair. They’re not losing anything there because if anything, he’s just more proactive on a daily basis.

>> They say in the release that Sakic will be the GM for the foreseeable future. They just buying themselves some time? >> I think so, unless he wants to go back in the chair. Unless the owner said, “What the hell are you guys doing?” Keep in mind, like, you know, this is this is another thing that I’m sure that you you’ve talked about in Edmonton.

When you have a singular owner, you’re answering to a guy that, you know, he’ll call you at 2:00 in the morning say, “What the hell did I just watch?” or whatever. Now, we have no idea what the relationship is the between ownership to the president to the general manager. But, again, if you’re uh, ownership in Colorado and expecting to win a Stanley Cup and you get swept in that fashion, he probably said that change needs to happen.

What went went wrong here because I I was looking at a guaranteed Stanley Cup and guaranteed gate and all of that type of stuff. And and again, I use the it’s a it’s a bad term, but maybe somebody needed to pay for that, a body on the tarmac. So, that was probably, you know, the the fallout for something for falling short of expectation.

>> And just parting thoughts, I mean, it secret’s out, but Manny Malhotra it’s official now, head coach in Vancouver. Ryan Johnson naming him that. I mean, they’re moving forward in a rebuild. Um, a sound appointment there by the Canucks? >> Very. Very sound. And it also speaks to, you know, how an organization >> [snorts] >> when you develop people within, you give them opportunity and a pathway to get there instead of always looking at the outside.

Uh, I look at Calgary. Craig Conroy got the opportunity, you know, after working with Brad Treliving. RJ gets the opportunity now in in Vancouver. It’s nice because there’s not this settling in period here. R.J. was the GM and Manny was the coach in the minors. A lot of those guys we might see progress right into the National Hockey League.

They know the organization, they know everybody in it. So, I I like the hiring. They’re joined at the hip. I think the biggest and the multi-million dollar question is are they going to draft Manny’s son with that >> Yeah. >> third pick, which could be I’d call it a spicy meatball because, you know, if you look at it, you know, you rookie coach coming in and his son is going to be the number three pick potentially and you know, I I’m good friends with Dave Lowry.

I coached for them in Calgary. I think he’s a wonderful coach and when he became the head coach of Winnipeg, it probably was a bit awkward to have his son as the captain. Now, lot different because Adam was an established NHL player and the captain already and and Lowry got thrown in there.

But, it would be a little bit awkward just uh uh you know, as my colleague Jeff O’Neill pointed out, you’re sitting at the back of the plane at after a loss and the players are kind of m- f-ing the coach and the the coach’s son is sitting right there. That’s a little bit, you know, sometimes that relationship might hurt that process a little bit.

So, that’s probably something that has to be dealt with internally in Vancouver. >> There was a bit of a self-positioning of the magnifying glass in in that sense. That’s kind of the Manny and you’re right, it is it could be a spicy meatball. The degree of spice will remains to be seen, but we appreciate your time Noodle this morning.

Enjoy the rest of your day. >> Absolutely. Thanks for having me.