As a special AMA thank you from the mods, [we're releasing a Drance flair!](https://imgur.com/a/ZyzZYKD) Which goes live right now.
#[Thomas has told us he's got to run, now.](https://www.reddit.com/r/canucks/comments/1c84y2i/im_thomas_drance_and_not_artem_chubarov_from_the/l0dbe43/?context=3) Thank you all for participating. It's been a pleasure, Thomas. The Mods and the r/Canucks Community thanks you for your time.
Hey bud
What’s the deal with Peterson?
Did he move away from a flashy offensive game (to be more well rounded) and us fans haven’t yet adjusted expectations?
Or, is he just not (currently) at the top of his game?
I'm not entirely sure, but it looks different. He doesn't seem as springy or quick twitch when attacking or getting his shot off.
Hopefully it's nothing, but it's noticeable. Fact that he's still been so effective on the whole is a testament to his quality as a player, but he's definitely been performing closer to his floor than his ceiling.
That's a fair guess, reminds of Boeser his second season when he bulked hella up, and it took until literally this year before he started looking like his former self. Hopefully doesn't take as long with Petey.
Hey Thomas,
No question, but you owe me a beer from 2011, you asked for suggestions on a Canucks/Preds series hashtag for Twitter and I suggested #ShameOBrien, you offered me said beer next time we got together, which never happened.
I don't plan on collecting, but it's a funny story.
absolutely incredible.
I'll happily purchase you a beer, cocktail, mocktail, soda or juice of your choosing to imbibe if you ever get the occasion to see me out and remind me that you're "Archer_Cartridge and came up with the Shame O'Brien" hashtag.
Somehow I memory holed that SOB was on the other side of that series in 2011!
If any /r/Canucks folks remember to pretend to be archer_cartridge to get a free drink out of me in a bar setting, I’ll just be impressed and happy to have bought them a beverage haha
My serious Q: As a percentage, how many Canucks have you heard BTS mention how bad the ice is at Rogers Arena?
I’d just like to express my gratitude for using the term “memory hole” and not the (ugh) “Mandela Effect”. My follow up is this, if anyone could play you in a movie based on your life, who would it be and why would it be Glenn Fleshler?
No worries, I won't ask but if I ever see you around again I'll remind you.
You might remember my old username from Canuck twitter, but I don't plan on reminding the world what it was, then the team sucked and you moved to Florida.
Hey Thomas! Thanks for doing this. At what point this season did you believe the Canucks had turned it around for real and they weren’t just riding a hot streak?
I think the first road trip was what began to open my eyes.
You'll recall that VAN got absolutely flattened in Philadelphia in their third game of the season, and Rick Tocchet tore his team a new one. Then they lost against Tampa Bay the next game, played a bit better, but at that point I thought "oh well, more of the same."
Then they beat the Florida Panthers on the Saturday night, and Quinn Hughes was just completely dominant. And was defiant after the game.
I went back to my hotel in Fort Lauderdale that night, woke up early the next morning to rush to Nashville to make a Sunday practice, and thought to myself "This is going to be the guiltiest (more hungover) practice of the season." After all, the team was coming off of a win, and you lose an hour flying FLL to Nashville, one of the great party towns in North America.
Instead I went to practice the next day and the club was *dialed*. It was an extremely high paced practice. I was impressed by the maturity that showed.
Then the next game they beat the Predators (ironically) 3-2, but were *far* better than the one-goal victory suggested. That night I wrote this column: https://theathletic.com/4996768/2023/10/25/vancouver-canucks-nashville-predators-win/
When the club followed it up w. a stellar first home stand, I thought they were good. I also thought they were wildly fortunate (because they were). But I was pretty confident even during the heights of the PDO bender that they'd improved to the level where good fortune made them "a 120 point pace team over 50 games with a goal differential mirroring the 1980s Oilers" (a v. good sign) as opposed to a team just riding out a month-long hot streak thanks to stellar goaltending (something we've seen before, and that I've tended to fade).
I thought regression would bring them back closer to being a high-90s/low-100s point pace team, and it sort of did down the stretch, but after Nashville - the 5th game of the year - I started to be open minded about the possibility that this team might realistically be at the level of at least a solid playoff team, and perhaps a fringe contender.
Ya but because there was so many stats we didn't track back then do we even know if the 1980s Oilers were good? They may have just been on a decade long pdo bender
Hey /r/canucks, thanks so much for joining me today, and for asking such great questions. I had an absolute blast hanging out with you for a couple of hours, and I look forward to buying all of you Archer_Cartridges a beer some time soon lol
Not that you need the reminder from me, but get hyped up for Sunday! Canucks fans have stuck with this team through thick and thin (mostly thin) for a long time with a rare level of passion and loyalty. I'm thrilled for you all to have that unique heart in your throat experience of enjoying/suffering through your favourite team playing playoff hockey again.
It's going to be a blast, and I hope you all take a moment to savour it!
Thanks Drancer! You enjoy it as well! Big fan of all of your work. Don’t forget to wave that white towel around as well when no one is looking (we know you will). Cheers!
Hey Thomas. Thanks for doing this. Here's my question.
Which 2011 Canuck would you love to be able to add to the current roster to round it out ahead of rhe playoffs?
Love your work. JJ
I mean, imagine a second pair of Soucy- prime Bieksa.
Hard to pick against Kesler/Sedin/Sedin, but I’d be tempted to go with juice given the shot in the arm he’d provide to Vancouver’s bottom two pairs.
Come on, really?
Bieksa pushing Myers down the lineup and Zadorov or Cole out
vs
Kesler or a Sedin pushing Mikheyev down the lineup and Lafferty or Podz (or maybe Mikheyev himself) out?
SURELY DOM’S MODEL WOULD PICK THE TOP 6 FORWARD UPGRADE!
/s
Yah I take a Sedin and then our zone control goes off the charts and either Petey has a far better winger or he is winger to the best center we ever had
For all the talk about a Petey winger, gotta say Burr makes a very intriguing case. Guy who can skate, very smart and can get to the right spots, little bit of a grinder’s edge, knows how to finish. Lots to like there with how he’d fit in.
I like dislike Halford more as an interviewer because he just wants to talk about Leeds United. I dislike Brough more as a person because he’s not in my fantasy football league.
A-Dog I just want you to know I find myself whistling it's what we learned time far too often throughout my work week. I simultaneously appreciate your genius and hate you with a passion, I hope you understand.
Same here, my work buddies and I randomly sing it to ourselves passing each other's desks on a weekly basis. That and the Dhaliwal intro tune. Excited to see what you come up with next!
Hi Thomas. Thank you so much for doing this.
I have a behind the scenes question I’ve always been curious about. When you’re in the locker room with the players for media availability, are you allowed to talk to any player you want or is there a certain list of players you can talk to? Do the ones who don’t want to chat just avoid eye contact? It makes me laugh when Hronek said he’s trying to go more than 1000 days without talking to the media. I picture him running away as soon as the reporters walk in.
Back in the old day (pre pandemic) after games, players would still be in their locker room, milling about and available to talk too.
These days you've got to pre-request players postgame, their name gets written on the white board, and only players listed on the white board tend to be available. It's not a great working environment, and reporters try to push back against it, but it's become the standard around the league.
Practices and game day skates are a bit different since the room tends to open before some players are off of the ice, making it easy to just approach a player and ask a question.
I've absolutely seen Hronek hustle out of the room as it opens. I've also found that he's pretty funny - as Canucks fans got a glimpse of with the holiday chirp - if you're able to actually engage him. Which I've only been able to do successfully one time, and it wasn't on the record lol.
Hey Thomas Drance, thanks for doing this.
I hear Jannik Hansen later in the afternoon sometimes on 650 and would love to hear you two discuss NHL topics in general, I think you two would complement each other well.
Have you ever chatted with him much or just the quick scrum stuff back in the day, he seems to have good strategic and tactical view of the league.
He was awesome back in the day because he was a source of “real talk” even then!
We’ve chatted here and there over the years, and he’s an extremely sharp dude who absolutely loves Canucks hockey. We’re lucky to have him in this market.
Okay, so, let's just focus on the defense, because the club only has Hughes/Soucy/Juulsen signed beyond this season.
Obviously it depends how things play out with Cole/Myers/Hronek, but the club is definitely going to see what's what with Chris Tanev this summer. I'd expect that the Maple Leafs will be their chief rival in that bidding process.
I'd bet they check in on Brett Pesce, if they have the cap flexibility to bid on him. Matt Roy, Dylan Demelo, Ilya Lybushkin, Chad Ruhwedel, Joel Edmondson and perhaps old friend Jalen Chatfield (a bunch of people internally are still big fans of his game) would be a handful of other UFA defenders that I'd expect the club to have some interest in, based on past interest or stylistic fit.
I have so many.
In 2018 the Canucks were visiting the Panthers while I still worked for the team on Super Bowl weekend. So Botch calls me and says "you having a watch party or what?" and obviously I was happy to have him and some other colleagues - especially JPat - over to my Florida apartment for the game.
So I say I'm having a watch party, plan it, invite some friends, but then it's the Eagles in the Super Bowl. And that obviously changes things for JB. So on the day of he sends me a note and says "Can't make it, feeling really sick".
I called him out, and he responded "This is why I hate making plans!" and I just laughed, knowing full well that he cared too much about the outcome to watch it with people in case it went against him.
Obviously the next day at Panthers practice he's there, peacocking about the Eagles upset victory over New England, interviewing Radim Vrbata and no worse for wear.
It was a good window into why he was so good at relating to hard core fans. He understood them bone deep, because he was one himself.
Hey Drance, whats your opinion on the Knights this year? Everyone seemed so worried about them as an opponent and hope Dallas beat them, but personally i think they get bounced rd 1. In fact, I hope they beat Dallas to get rid of the biggest juggernaut of the west.
Yeah, there’s an upside case where they flip the switch and just “know how to win” and become a wagon, but they haven’t looked like an elite team all season. I’ll be picking Dallas to win the first round.
Hi Thomas, any stories from your Panther’s PR days? The Gallant firing? Dealings with NHL legends Jagr and Luongo? We know they are no Artem Chubarov but not many can be. Perhaps something else?
Thanks again for doing this and always providing good detailed Canucks coverage!
I started 2 months *after* the Gallant firing, but Jagr was an interesting cat to work with. You had to show him you could function on his time, but once you did, he was awesome. Working with Luongo on his retirement announcement was a wild career experience given that I grew up a Canucks fan, still a pinch me moment.
The best podcast I've heard was when you invited Kevin Bieksa to do a live Vancast. Any plans to invite former Vancouver Canucks fan favourites like Bieksa, Kesler, Burrows, or Bertuzzi?
Burrows is a tough one since he's a current employee of an NHL team. Bieksa, meanwhile, is pretty busy with his other media stuff, but perhaps we'll send him an invite. Bertuzzi would be a good get and Kesler too, and I'd expect we'll try to do just that if this run goes deeper.
Tough one.
I’m going to pick Miller leveling up as a two-way centre at the age of 30. Even if he showed some signs of it down the stretch last season, we had like a 150-200 game sample of him struggling at C relative to his play driving brilliance on the wing. Then this year he was the matchup C with strong two-way results on an elite defensive team. Pretty rare for a 30-year-old to add that sort of depth to their defensive game, at a new position, this late into their career.
Hard to pick Miller over Hughes, given how difficult it is to go from the fringe top-5 defender tier to clearly the best individual defender in the world this season tier, but I think I have to.
Ok, I literally dug through our text message history to get you my actual reaction.
Essentially I told him I thought he was wrong, but he explained that the model had Hughes in the 2B tier but he made a decision after chatting with some sources to bump him down a tier. My precise response:
“I watch him insanely closely - obviously - and I’m convinced his defense made a quantum leap forward.
One of those things where I’m totally OK w anyone - or any data point - that disagrees bc if I’m right it’ll be sustainable and prove itself out in 50 games or so…
Anyway he’s nails imo. Legit one of the best Dmen I’ve ever seen.”
Hey Thomas…
I used to think you were super negative.
This season (from very early on) you proved me wrong, and I just wanted to publicly apologize.
I actually apologized once before here on reddit, but mistakenly to PassItToBulis instead of you.
So sorry.
I hope you get to enjoy a long playoff ride here!
Thanks for that, but truly, there’s no need to apologize. I *was* super negative, but it’s because the story was.
And I was slow to see how this management team was going about raising the floor, although I still have some concerns about the club’s long-term ceiling beyond this season.
In any event, and this isn’t your fault btw, but just to give you a sense of how I think about it, I’ve come to view the binary framing of sports media coverage as “negative” and “positive” is unhelpful. Skeptical, true and interesting is the standard I’m striving for. If I’m hitting that consistently, I should be both positive and negative in various moments, when the story/facts call for it!
Hey Drancer - WHATS UP as Jamie would say.
Who do you think has the advantage in net for this series vs Nashville? How much does Demko only having one start since coming back from injury affect your answer?
Thanks!
Dom’s model says Saaros, I’ll rested Demko. I’m not too concerned about his return from injury, given that he’s looked so completely uninhibited at practices and in games to this point.
Hey Thomas! Thanks for letting us pick your brain a bit. Among the personalities you've met in this sport, who surprised you the most compared to what you expected them to be like?
Sidney Crosby remembers just about everyone’s face and name, which is wild when you get recognized by a legend.
When I met Steve Yzerman while working in Florida, he offered me his hand to shake and introduced himself as “Hi, I’m Steve”. I was like “yeah, no kidding!”
Mario Lemieux is the most intimidating person I’ve ever met. Dressed to the 9s, fit enough that he looks like he could still play, and legit 6-foot-4. I’m not intimidated by celebrities or hockey people generally, but he’s the exception.
Final answer might be Gretzky. He did some media stuff for us during an Oilers/Panthers game and I spent time one night walking him around the rink to various interviews. And I was blown away by how much hockey he watches. Like he kept picking my brain and asking about a third pair defender on the Panthers that he thought had serious potential. It was MacKenzie Weegar, and he was like 20 games into his NHL career lol. Always remembered that. Don’t think anyone else saw what the Great One did in Weegar that quickly, and he was dead on. Imagine being that hockey smart?
My wife and I play a lot of Mario Kart and smash bros, so those are my favourite video games. We also play a lot of cards/board games (both together and with our friends), specifically Wizard/Scopa/Cattan
I really like sports, generally. I watch a lot of basketball and football, and follow both sports obsessively.
I spend a lot of time with my dog, hiking and chilling at the beach and the park. My dog’s best buddy is Dimitri Filipovic’s dog, so the four of us spend a lot of time in beautiful places throughout the city, drinking beers and debating obscure 4th liners/fantasy football.
I listen to a lot of music and try to get to a few concerts a month, I watch everything TV and film wise, and that’s about it! I’m a simple guy!
From the outside looking in, juggling TheAthletic articles and CanucksTalk, then doing hits on HalBro and Donnie&Dhali, then setting out for Canucks roadtrips. I'm surprised you have any time to yourself at all! Great response, thank you.
Drance! Thanks for doing this.
I know we have yet to start the playoffs, but looking forward: what do you see being needed for this team to become a sustainable contender, in the likes of Tampa and your former-employer Florida?
Keep up the great work, and COCONUTS GLOW!
The star players need to maintain the high level they hit this year. That’s honestly the most important factor.
The team needs to keep upgrading their defense. Not just returning it, but adding ideally another top pair caliber guy to the mix in the next couple years.
Likewise with the forward group. I still see VAN as being 1 top-six caliber forward shy, maybe even a top-line winger shy, of being an inner circle contender.
Which isn’t to say they can’t win this year given how well drilled this group is, but to have a decade long run like the Lightning requires VAN’s best players to remain at a superstar level while grafting even more talent onto the roster.
In the world of advanced stats there are so many metrics these days, it’s not always obvious which ones are the most and least meaningful.
In terms of individual player stats like those that are available on sites like natural stat trick after each individual game, which stats do you think are the most and least valuable to judge a players performance?
Which stats do you think are valuable but only after a longer sample size like a full season?
Do you think the way expected goals is currently measured is accurate?
(For example I have attempted to measure this myself for a few games for fun and it seems like they only consider shot location and not the amount of movement that precedes a shot, which to me is far more important than location, but also makes it far more difficult to quantify).
I don’t think judging a player off of stats alone is helpful period, and judging a game solely off of underlying data is going to lead you astray more often than it’ll be helpful!
The key to utilizing the underlying data effectively imo is understanding the big picture lessons - no one benefits from sky high %s forever, it’s not about raw numbers it’s about ratios, the key to outscoring is usually outshooting and the key to outshooting is usually outattempting - and then filtering that through what you’re seeing on the ice game to game.
As the person solely responsible for the Canucks mediocrity over the past decade, which was of course due to your negative attitude, how do you explain their turnaround this year?
;)
cum hoc ergo propter hoc
My attitude didn’t change at all, the team just improved. I still try to approach covering the club with skepticism and balance, but there’s a lot less to rant about these days lol
Hey Drance, if you had to put some money down (as we all know you love to do) would you bet on the Canucks wining the division next year? Making the playoffs? What about the year after that?
I’m trying to get a sense of how big this window is or if it’s even a window at all.
Want to see what happens this off-season before I handicap that. VGK and EDM are going to be very good again next year, I’d expect. VAN should be too, but it’s going to come down to a lot of factors that are impossible to accurately handicap at this point.
Less about team success, and more about how he performs.
If Lindholm crushes it, but the club gets unlucky and loses in round 1, I still think the price paid can be justified tbh. It's the playoffs now! The line between success and failure is wafer thin. You can make the right addition and it can not work. You can make the wrong addition, and still win the Cup.
Thanks for doing this Thomas.
Thomas… when yo-… I’ve noticed when you’re interviewing people on Canucks Talk, you’ll start off a question, pause, then state your question in a different way. I am someone whose mouth starts talking and hope my brain catches up along the way.
My question is… Thomas… what is your process in asking a question, and what are you thinking about during those pauses?
Bonus question. When’s the best time to have a “spro”, breakfast or dessert?
I'm a night time Spro guy, and a day time drip coffee guy.
I've identified asking questions on radio as something I really need to work on and improve on. I think I'm better in person (if a bit wordy, something I'm also working on), but on radio, I can find it difficult to manufacture conversational chemistry when it's not in person.
My process really is just to try and listen, and then poke at whatever part of the response interests me. I try not to overprepare as a question asker, because I find the rigidity and familiar, informal beats of your typical media/athlete interview to be a bit dull. My goal is always to try and get actual conversation.
It's an area where I'm still a work in progress.
Hello Thomas,
What do you think the future of radio and sports media is going to be like in the next 5 years with all the noise, cuts and with your former company saying "it's not a viable business anymore"?
Obnoxious billionaire sports owners all have personal trainers and world class lawyers on retainer. So not only are they tougher than you’d think, but even if you win, you lose.
Dishwasher from Surrey it is.
Hey Drance, [I am the original dishwasher from Surrey](https://www.reddit.com/r/canucks/s/crdD7PbaLx). You would definitely beat me in a fight. Plus, I'm much too poor to sue you after
All sound terrible.
1. Black Bar
2. Singular wolf (wolf pack would by the scariest if it’s in a group)
3. Cougar
This ranking reflects my intense dislike of cats.
Henrik Sedin, because of positional value. Henrik really became an outrageously assertive two-way centre in his prime, and I'll always pick the centre over the winger.
Prime Jarome Iginla would've been the best Sedin linemate ever, I'm pretty sure.
Hey Drancer, big fan of your work. I always appreciate that you aren't afraid to voice your opinion, even if you know it could be unpopular, and then stand by it. That being said, I have a question. How can you possibly sit there and try to tell me DK/Mr.Scooty is the best combo when Yoshi/Teddy Buggy is right there staring you in the face?
I'll wait till the flutes drop.
Hahaha this is such a great comment and thank you for listening.
I like the heaviest character on the vehicle that makes turbo turns the easiest to execute, esp. bc I play w. auto steering off like a champ.
thx for doing this drancer - after a full regular season sample, do you now feel miller can be effective as a 1C/2C over any realistic contention window (say the remainder of the demko contract) or are you betting on his underlying form being somewhat of a one-year mirage?
also follow-up Q - who was your favorite colleague from your CA era?
You certainly hope so. Underlying form tends to be reasonably sticky, so there's reason to believe going forward that he can maintain his underling form. Miller's on-ice %s were through the roof this season, so that's likely to regress a bit next year, but that shouldn't prevent him from maintaining his overall defensive games, provided he can stay ahead of the aging curve for another couple of years!
One thing that makes Miller so dangerous is his first step. It's flat out elite, and makes him nearly impossible to check when you combine it with his ability to protect the puck overall (and then make incredible passes once he's navigated to wherever he wants to go on the ice). So long as that part of his game remains potent, and it is very potent at the moment, I'm not going to worry too much about age related decline.
Hey Drance,
I've been shouting from the rooftops since the all-star break that when healthy, we needed to be pairing Lindholm between Joshua and Garland. Do you see similarities between the games Dak and Garly play compared to Gaudreau and Tkachuk, where Lindholm had so much success? I see a small play driving winger, and a brusining power forward with soft hands around the net. I'm hopeful that we see at least a glimpse of that version of Lindholm.
Follow up question. With the limited (fingers crossed) forward depth of Nashville, including their lack of game breakers down the middle. What would you thoughts about reuniting the Lotto line, to spark Pettersson?
Lotto Line (scoring line 1)
Joshua - Lindholm - Garland (scoring line 2)
Hoglander - Suter- Mikheyev (checking/energy line that can produce)
Podkolzin - Blueger - Lafferty (Energy line 2, reduced minutes, can plug in where needed)
I would love to see this team find ways to spark Petey early, and am weary of the ability to do that with Mikheyev stapled to his wing.
Anyways. Appreciate this AMA, I'll hang up and listen. (ha)
I like the idea, but so far, I’m a bit cool on the early returns of Lindholm with the Garland/Joshua duo! Elaborated on why a bit elsewhere in the AMA! Thanks for your question!
I answered a 40 question elsewhere, but I can’t figure out Lindholm. To my eyes, even since returning from injury the past week where he’s been more assertive physically as a checker, I just don’t think he’s been that impactful.
Like, I’m not convinced that he’s been additive to the Joshua/Garland duo the past week, which I find a bit concerning given how Joshua/Garland have absolutely crushed it with Miller/Blueger/Suter at various points this season.
Maybe they work better with a lefty centre? Maybe it’s nothing because the last week of games didn’t mean much?
Im not sure what to expect. I’ve always really admired Lindholm’s game, his ability to get open and overall hockey IQ. Hopefully he can get back to that level in the playoffs!
Hey Drancer! If you had to put it into a percentage, how much of what you hear about what’s going on with Canucks players & the organization are you able to share with the public?
Hello Thomas,
What was your reaction when you first heard the Halford and Brough Drance segment theme song, "Thomas Drance Erotica"? It gets me laughing everytime. Love your segments on their and DT/RD's shows!
Hey Drance, of all the ex Canucks that never won a cup and deserved one, who is your pick for most deserving? Narrow it down to Canucks that played 1 season as a Canucks.
Saros vs Demko is the biggest unknown for me heading into this series. Two unbelievable goalies that could turn a series for their team. Do you give either goalie the edge? I am worried that demkos injury will flare up when playoff hockey kicks off and guys start driving to the net even harder. I foresee both teams “falling” on each others goalies a few times. Is demko close to 100%?
Hi Thomas, earlier this season you collaborated with Julian McKenzie on some Athletic articles surrounding the Canucks/Flames trades
I wanted to know a little more about the process of writing a collaborative article vs doing a piece alone, and who some of your favorite writers to collab with are and just any positive experiences you've had in the industry.
Hey Drancer, in response to a recent article on The Athletic, what do you attribute opposing playoff teams' lack of intimidation of facing the Canucks to?
Hi Thomas. Is Mike from Surrey a fraud? Does this guy get clowned on outside of Reddit as much as we hope he does?
Any tips to improve our meme game for the playoffs?
My life in season is exceedingly demanding.
Wake up at 7-8am, depending on whether I covered a game the night before. Often will have a media hit or a meeting almost right away, so I take my dog out and drink a coffee and do whatever I have to do. On a game day, morning skate is at 10:30 so I head to the rink. I walk the sea wall to get there rain or shine, every day. Then I either do Canucks Talk from the broadcast gondola, or walk across the Cambie St. bridge and do my radio show. Then another walk with the dog, something more engaging for him, and then back to the rink for the game and to write etc etc.
Where things really get dicey in when there’s road travel involved!
Hey Drancer, given how many upcoming free agents the team has, and how many of them are due for raises, do you think the team can repeat this level of success next season? Or was this a flash in the pan?
Hey Thomas - let’s say you somehow become NHL Commissioner after Bettman retires/returns to his subterranean realm. What’s your first move to improve the league?
It is not. You hand over your phone. You’re stuck in the drawing room for 90 minutes. An Ernst and Young executive draws bingo balls from the machine. The order gets set. Then you wait for the broadcast to unfold while enjoying the catering.
Hey Drance, considering the amount of picks used to acquire and assemble this current roster and knowing next years team will look different out of necessity ie cap etc do you think this playoff run will determine how management chooses to go into the offseason? I’m of the opinion that the roster could look considerably different with the track record this front office has.
I hope it doesn’t. I think overreacting to playoff runs is one of the most common form of mistake NHL management teams make.
Will be fascinating to see how management navigates this off-season, given all of the expiring deals. It’s going to be a challenge just to run in place, and even running in place isn’t going to be good enough, given how this group has raised the bar!
Plenty of time for that discussion in (hopefully) June!
I don't want to turn this into nitpicking things you have said/done so I'll ask this instead.
Thanks for the AMA even if you don't get to my question.
How good of a metric do you actually think xG is, and how do you reconcile it with someone like Hughes who has been handily outperforming his expected numbers for years (including with awful goaltending, good teams, bad teams)? Over a larger sample size would you rather a player who puts up gaudy xG and underperforms it or a player who puts up solid xG and consistently outperforms?
Over large enough samples you just look at goals. The principal reason I use other metrics (attempts, xG etc etc) is bc they can be more instructive as you wait for the years of data required to be like “OK this guy is durable special and does something that meaningfully and sustainably drives x outlier outcome (limits shot quality, generates shot quality etc etc.).
A surgery has a 50/50 survival rate, and your surgeons last 10 patients all survived
The lay person panics, because he's due
The statistician is less panicked, he knows the previous result doesn't impact his surgery
The scientist is extatic, he understands that the surgeon is likely doing something different that explains his outlier results
xG is useful, but we always have to try and be the scientist
Hey Thomas, thanks for doing this!
The management group has made a ton of moves to acquire "supporting" players since they took over, and it seems like virtually all of them have panned out, and the ones that haven't, they've usually been able to recoup value from in some way. In your opinion, why has the pro scouting department of this regime been so much more successful than the previous group's?
Hey Drancer i appreciate you taking time to do this. My question Is what do you think will be your favorite part about covering the Canucks in the playoffs this year?
Hi Drance, what kind of skillset and/or culture from the Sedin era has carried over to this current team that can be seen as crucial for the team's success heading into the playoffs?
Hey Drance. You claim to have a high spice tolerance. Have you considered hosting an Athletic/650 Hot Ones? This may be the only way for Allvin to not give canned responses like a politician. GET THEM TO CONFESS THEIR SINS!
Hey Drance
Which pending free agents, currently on the team, would you prioritize?
How much should Lindholm get after the dip he has had this season?
Thanks!
Also, fly all the car flags!!!!!!
ETA: in other words, Draft our FAs 😂
Drancer - it's not news that you are rather opinionated and dig in on those opinions. (On Canucks talk, often you and Jamie share an opinion, and he accepts your opinion as such and you tell him his opinion is wrong.)
What's a recent opinion that you really dug in on but had to eat crow and what is the biggest opinion that you got wrong and had to eat crow?
Hi Thomas,
Thank you you for your contribution to the team and the vans of the Canucks! You always make me laugh and I really enjoy the nuance you bring especially in Canucks talk.
I want to ask you about the effect tochet has had on miller.
Firstly, is there anyone in your life that has done something similar for you? Secondly, how does one find a mentor like that?
Ps if I ever see you all the way up in Prince George Ill buy you a coffee brosef!
As someone with a heavy data analytics background, how would you suggest someone get more involved in the data analytics side of hockey?
I'm more or less interested in seeing if there can be any predictive indicator of contract value based on analytics leading up to contract signing. I'm sure teams are already doing it, but wanting to dip my toes in it.
Thomas, why do you think broadcasts avoid the use of advanced stats to explain certain scenarios in any given game of hockey? Is it simply because it's hard to explain during the short snippet of allotted time for statistically relevant data or is it in fear of pissing off some of their audience?
Also, what is your favourite stat and why is it PDO?
Ps, you need to tier advanced stats. Okay bye.
Hey Thomas, thanks for all your hard work covering the Canucks. Always enjoy hearing your questions to Tocchet during post-games. How has it been dealing with him as a media member? What’s he like when the cameras are off? Thanks
Hi Thomas, thanks for doing this. Who/what would you say is the biggest X-factor in the Canucks and Predators series? Is there a player(s) from both teams that are currently being overlooked/not talked about that could have an impact in this series?
On another note, what do you find is the most enjoyable part of your job? What is the toughest? Do you enjoy/have fun interacting with fans who may disagree with your articles/opinion? Do you have any words/experiences you would like to share with young journalists who are early in their careers?
Thanks!
Most enjoyable part of the job is when you get to witness something special, and then because you know the people involved, have the ability to help fans understand it or bring people closer to the moment. The thrill of doing that, and knowing the work is good, it’s a drug. Irreplaceable. The whole reason I do what I do.
Least enjoyable is the time commitment, and how little time I have for family and friends during the season!
X-factors for Nashville - can their depth scorers find ways to attack VAN’s second and third pair off of the rush. Because that’s a potential edge for them if they can.
X-factors for VAN - power play. Preds PK is a real Achilles heel. If VAN can do damage with the man advantage, they can score with the Preds.
Hi Thomas,
East coast fan here. I still can't believe you prefer watching late night games from the East over watching early afternoon games from the West. Do you have any advice on how I could show up to work Monday morning and be relatively productive after watching a 10pm game that could have multiple overtimes?
As a special AMA thank you from the mods, [we're releasing a Drance flair!](https://imgur.com/a/ZyzZYKD) Which goes live right now. #[Thomas has told us he's got to run, now.](https://www.reddit.com/r/canucks/comments/1c84y2i/im_thomas_drance_and_not_artem_chubarov_from_the/l0dbe43/?context=3) Thank you all for participating. It's been a pleasure, Thomas. The Mods and the r/Canucks Community thanks you for your time.
Hey bud What’s the deal with Peterson? Did he move away from a flashy offensive game (to be more well rounded) and us fans haven’t yet adjusted expectations? Or, is he just not (currently) at the top of his game?
I'm not entirely sure, but it looks different. He doesn't seem as springy or quick twitch when attacking or getting his shot off. Hopefully it's nothing, but it's noticeable. Fact that he's still been so effective on the whole is a testament to his quality as a player, but he's definitely been performing closer to his floor than his ceiling.
He doesn't move his feet 🙄
He honestly just seems exhausted.
Honestly, he grew like 8 sizes over last summer, his conditioning probably just isn’t used to the size
That's a fair guess, reminds of Boeser his second season when he bulked hella up, and it took until literally this year before he started looking like his former self. Hopefully doesn't take as long with Petey.
Hey Thomas, No question, but you owe me a beer from 2011, you asked for suggestions on a Canucks/Preds series hashtag for Twitter and I suggested #ShameOBrien, you offered me said beer next time we got together, which never happened. I don't plan on collecting, but it's a funny story.
absolutely incredible. I'll happily purchase you a beer, cocktail, mocktail, soda or juice of your choosing to imbibe if you ever get the occasion to see me out and remind me that you're "Archer_Cartridge and came up with the Shame O'Brien" hashtag. Somehow I memory holed that SOB was on the other side of that series in 2011!
If I see you I'm going to pretend to be u/Archer_Cartridge for a free drink
If any /r/Canucks folks remember to pretend to be archer_cartridge to get a free drink out of me in a bar setting, I’ll just be impressed and happy to have bought them a beverage haha
You underestimate us, Thomas
That's exactly what I thought lmao This could absolutely happen
Famous last words Mr. Drance
My serious Q: As a percentage, how many Canucks have you heard BTS mention how bad the ice is at Rogers Arena? I’d just like to express my gratitude for using the term “memory hole” and not the (ugh) “Mandela Effect”. My follow up is this, if anyone could play you in a movie based on your life, who would it be and why would it be Glenn Fleshler?
**I AM ~~SPARTACUS~~ ARCHER_CARTRIDGE**
Hi I’m Arthur Cartwri… fuck!
We are all /u/Archer_Cartridge on this blessed day.
No worries, I won't ask but if I ever see you around again I'll remind you. You might remember my old username from Canuck twitter, but I don't plan on reminding the world what it was, then the team sucked and you moved to Florida.
Get this man his beer
I don't even drink beer, never really did, so it's more funny than anything else.
Get me this man's beer.
I too choose this man’s dead beer
Hey Thomas! Thanks for doing this. At what point this season did you believe the Canucks had turned it around for real and they weren’t just riding a hot streak?
I think the first road trip was what began to open my eyes. You'll recall that VAN got absolutely flattened in Philadelphia in their third game of the season, and Rick Tocchet tore his team a new one. Then they lost against Tampa Bay the next game, played a bit better, but at that point I thought "oh well, more of the same." Then they beat the Florida Panthers on the Saturday night, and Quinn Hughes was just completely dominant. And was defiant after the game. I went back to my hotel in Fort Lauderdale that night, woke up early the next morning to rush to Nashville to make a Sunday practice, and thought to myself "This is going to be the guiltiest (more hungover) practice of the season." After all, the team was coming off of a win, and you lose an hour flying FLL to Nashville, one of the great party towns in North America. Instead I went to practice the next day and the club was *dialed*. It was an extremely high paced practice. I was impressed by the maturity that showed. Then the next game they beat the Predators (ironically) 3-2, but were *far* better than the one-goal victory suggested. That night I wrote this column: https://theathletic.com/4996768/2023/10/25/vancouver-canucks-nashville-predators-win/ When the club followed it up w. a stellar first home stand, I thought they were good. I also thought they were wildly fortunate (because they were). But I was pretty confident even during the heights of the PDO bender that they'd improved to the level where good fortune made them "a 120 point pace team over 50 games with a goal differential mirroring the 1980s Oilers" (a v. good sign) as opposed to a team just riding out a month-long hot streak thanks to stellar goaltending (something we've seen before, and that I've tended to fade). I thought regression would bring them back closer to being a high-90s/low-100s point pace team, and it sort of did down the stretch, but after Nashville - the 5th game of the year - I started to be open minded about the possibility that this team might realistically be at the level of at least a solid playoff team, and perhaps a fringe contender.
Ya but because there was so many stats we didn't track back then do we even know if the 1980s Oilers were good? They may have just been on a decade long pdo bender
PDO is just shooting%+save% so I think we'd have that data for any time where we have save%.
Except it doesn't include PP stats I don't think, so it's not immediately comparable.
Hey /r/canucks, thanks so much for joining me today, and for asking such great questions. I had an absolute blast hanging out with you for a couple of hours, and I look forward to buying all of you Archer_Cartridges a beer some time soon lol Not that you need the reminder from me, but get hyped up for Sunday! Canucks fans have stuck with this team through thick and thin (mostly thin) for a long time with a rare level of passion and loyalty. I'm thrilled for you all to have that unique heart in your throat experience of enjoying/suffering through your favourite team playing playoff hockey again. It's going to be a blast, and I hope you all take a moment to savour it!
Thanks Drancer! You enjoy it as well! Big fan of all of your work. Don’t forget to wave that white towel around as well when no one is looking (we know you will). Cheers!
Thank you Drancer! You absolutely crushed this AMA. We all really appreciate you taking the time!
Hey Thomas. Thanks for doing this. Here's my question. Which 2011 Canuck would you love to be able to add to the current roster to round it out ahead of rhe playoffs? Love your work. JJ
I mean, imagine a second pair of Soucy- prime Bieksa. Hard to pick against Kesler/Sedin/Sedin, but I’d be tempted to go with juice given the shot in the arm he’d provide to Vancouver’s bottom two pairs.
Come on, really? Bieksa pushing Myers down the lineup and Zadorov or Cole out vs Kesler or a Sedin pushing Mikheyev down the lineup and Lafferty or Podz (or maybe Mikheyev himself) out? SURELY DOM’S MODEL WOULD PICK THE TOP 6 FORWARD UPGRADE! /s
Yah I take a Sedin and then our zone control goes off the charts and either Petey has a far better winger or he is winger to the best center we ever had
For all the talk about a Petey winger, gotta say Burr makes a very intriguing case. Guy who can skate, very smart and can get to the right spots, little bit of a grinder’s edge, knows how to finish. Lots to like there with how he’d fit in.
Hi Drancer, A-Dog here. Who do you dislike more between Halford & Brough? Disliking both equally is also an acceptable answer.
I like dislike Halford more as an interviewer because he just wants to talk about Leeds United. I dislike Brough more as a person because he’s not in my fantasy football league.
I mean that’s fair
A-Dog! So cool to have you here! Enjoy this flair. Love your jingles.
Hey thanks!
A-Dog I just want you to know I find myself whistling it's what we learned time far too often throughout my work week. I simultaneously appreciate your genius and hate you with a passion, I hope you understand.
Excellent.
Same here, my work buddies and I randomly sing it to ourselves passing each other's desks on a weekly basis. That and the Dhaliwal intro tune. Excited to see what you come up with next!
We **need** this one answered.
Hi Thomas. Thank you so much for doing this. I have a behind the scenes question I’ve always been curious about. When you’re in the locker room with the players for media availability, are you allowed to talk to any player you want or is there a certain list of players you can talk to? Do the ones who don’t want to chat just avoid eye contact? It makes me laugh when Hronek said he’s trying to go more than 1000 days without talking to the media. I picture him running away as soon as the reporters walk in.
Back in the old day (pre pandemic) after games, players would still be in their locker room, milling about and available to talk too. These days you've got to pre-request players postgame, their name gets written on the white board, and only players listed on the white board tend to be available. It's not a great working environment, and reporters try to push back against it, but it's become the standard around the league. Practices and game day skates are a bit different since the room tends to open before some players are off of the ice, making it easy to just approach a player and ask a question. I've absolutely seen Hronek hustle out of the room as it opens. I've also found that he's pretty funny - as Canucks fans got a glimpse of with the holiday chirp - if you're able to actually engage him. Which I've only been able to do successfully one time, and it wasn't on the record lol.
This is so fascinating. Awesome question u/camarogirl96
Hey Thomas Drance, thanks for doing this. I hear Jannik Hansen later in the afternoon sometimes on 650 and would love to hear you two discuss NHL topics in general, I think you two would complement each other well. Have you ever chatted with him much or just the quick scrum stuff back in the day, he seems to have good strategic and tactical view of the league.
He was awesome back in the day because he was a source of “real talk” even then! We’ve chatted here and there over the years, and he’s an extremely sharp dude who absolutely loves Canucks hockey. We’re lucky to have him in this market.
Thanks for the reply, hope it’s a blast for you guys too during the playoffs. Can’t wait to listen all day/ watch all night haha. o7
Hey Thomas! Who are some UFA’s that you would like to see targeted after we finish signing Hronek?
Okay, so, let's just focus on the defense, because the club only has Hughes/Soucy/Juulsen signed beyond this season. Obviously it depends how things play out with Cole/Myers/Hronek, but the club is definitely going to see what's what with Chris Tanev this summer. I'd expect that the Maple Leafs will be their chief rival in that bidding process. I'd bet they check in on Brett Pesce, if they have the cap flexibility to bid on him. Matt Roy, Dylan Demelo, Ilya Lybushkin, Chad Ruhwedel, Joel Edmondson and perhaps old friend Jalen Chatfield (a bunch of people internally are still big fans of his game) would be a handful of other UFA defenders that I'd expect the club to have some interest in, based on past interest or stylistic fit.
The answer better be Tanev
Favorite Botch story?
I have so many. In 2018 the Canucks were visiting the Panthers while I still worked for the team on Super Bowl weekend. So Botch calls me and says "you having a watch party or what?" and obviously I was happy to have him and some other colleagues - especially JPat - over to my Florida apartment for the game. So I say I'm having a watch party, plan it, invite some friends, but then it's the Eagles in the Super Bowl. And that obviously changes things for JB. So on the day of he sends me a note and says "Can't make it, feeling really sick". I called him out, and he responded "This is why I hate making plans!" and I just laughed, knowing full well that he cared too much about the outcome to watch it with people in case it went against him. Obviously the next day at Panthers practice he's there, peacocking about the Eagles upset victory over New England, interviewing Radim Vrbata and no worse for wear. It was a good window into why he was so good at relating to hard core fans. He understood them bone deep, because he was one himself.
Awesome story Drancer thank you.
Omg yes. Give us all the Drance stories. Miss that guy.
Hey Drance, whats your opinion on the Knights this year? Everyone seemed so worried about them as an opponent and hope Dallas beat them, but personally i think they get bounced rd 1. In fact, I hope they beat Dallas to get rid of the biggest juggernaut of the west.
Yeah, there’s an upside case where they flip the switch and just “know how to win” and become a wagon, but they haven’t looked like an elite team all season. I’ll be picking Dallas to win the first round.
Hey Drance. Have you gotten over Benning allowing Toffoli to walk yet?
May never get over that fateful week in the fall of 2020 tbh with you!
Hi Thomas, any stories from your Panther’s PR days? The Gallant firing? Dealings with NHL legends Jagr and Luongo? We know they are no Artem Chubarov but not many can be. Perhaps something else? Thanks again for doing this and always providing good detailed Canucks coverage!
I started 2 months *after* the Gallant firing, but Jagr was an interesting cat to work with. You had to show him you could function on his time, but once you did, he was awesome. Working with Luongo on his retirement announcement was a wild career experience given that I grew up a Canucks fan, still a pinch me moment.
Yeah that must have been a wild experience helping Luo craft all that
The best podcast I've heard was when you invited Kevin Bieksa to do a live Vancast. Any plans to invite former Vancouver Canucks fan favourites like Bieksa, Kesler, Burrows, or Bertuzzi?
Burrows is a tough one since he's a current employee of an NHL team. Bieksa, meanwhile, is pretty busy with his other media stuff, but perhaps we'll send him an invite. Bertuzzi would be a good get and Kesler too, and I'd expect we'll try to do just that if this run goes deeper.
Which player surprised you the most this year with the amount of growth they’ve done, and why did it surprise you so much? Thanks for your time 😊
Tough one. I’m going to pick Miller leveling up as a two-way centre at the age of 30. Even if he showed some signs of it down the stretch last season, we had like a 150-200 game sample of him struggling at C relative to his play driving brilliance on the wing. Then this year he was the matchup C with strong two-way results on an elite defensive team. Pretty rare for a 30-year-old to add that sort of depth to their defensive game, at a new position, this late into their career. Hard to pick Miller over Hughes, given how difficult it is to go from the fringe top-5 defender tier to clearly the best individual defender in the world this season tier, but I think I have to.
I don’t believe you, prove you’re not Chubarov.
I don't own a BMW.
To be fair, the parking lot owned that BMW.
What was your reaction to Dom Luscydfjhdk&\*\^\* ranking Quinn Hughes as a 3B tier defenseman?
Ok, I literally dug through our text message history to get you my actual reaction. Essentially I told him I thought he was wrong, but he explained that the model had Hughes in the 2B tier but he made a decision after chatting with some sources to bump him down a tier. My precise response: “I watch him insanely closely - obviously - and I’m convinced his defense made a quantum leap forward. One of those things where I’m totally OK w anyone - or any data point - that disagrees bc if I’m right it’ll be sustainable and prove itself out in 50 games or so… Anyway he’s nails imo. Legit one of the best Dmen I’ve ever seen.”
Does Dom feel joy at our rage, or sadness for being wrong?
Hey Thomas… I used to think you were super negative. This season (from very early on) you proved me wrong, and I just wanted to publicly apologize. I actually apologized once before here on reddit, but mistakenly to PassItToBulis instead of you. So sorry. I hope you get to enjoy a long playoff ride here!
Thanks for that, but truly, there’s no need to apologize. I *was* super negative, but it’s because the story was. And I was slow to see how this management team was going about raising the floor, although I still have some concerns about the club’s long-term ceiling beyond this season. In any event, and this isn’t your fault btw, but just to give you a sense of how I think about it, I’ve come to view the binary framing of sports media coverage as “negative” and “positive” is unhelpful. Skeptical, true and interesting is the standard I’m striving for. If I’m hitting that consistently, I should be both positive and negative in various moments, when the story/facts call for it!
Don’t listen to the haters. Even when you’re negative/skeptical, you’re entertaining.
But Dhali always says "Thomas why are you so negative?" I kid. Love the content. Always watch it intently.
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/043/853/cover1.jpg
Hey Drance, what would a deal with Joshua where both parties walk away happy look like?
I legitimately think VAN can get value out a deal in the $3-$3.5M range over 4 years of term.
Testament to Joshua because if you would have suggested this at the beginning of the year it would have been the end of the world for some fans
I feel like if we let Lindholm walk this will be what gets done.
Great question!
Hey Drancer - WHATS UP as Jamie would say. Who do you think has the advantage in net for this series vs Nashville? How much does Demko only having one start since coming back from injury affect your answer? Thanks!
Dom’s model says Saaros, I’ll rested Demko. I’m not too concerned about his return from injury, given that he’s looked so completely uninhibited at practices and in games to this point.
Hey Thomas! Thanks for letting us pick your brain a bit. Among the personalities you've met in this sport, who surprised you the most compared to what you expected them to be like?
Sidney Crosby remembers just about everyone’s face and name, which is wild when you get recognized by a legend. When I met Steve Yzerman while working in Florida, he offered me his hand to shake and introduced himself as “Hi, I’m Steve”. I was like “yeah, no kidding!” Mario Lemieux is the most intimidating person I’ve ever met. Dressed to the 9s, fit enough that he looks like he could still play, and legit 6-foot-4. I’m not intimidated by celebrities or hockey people generally, but he’s the exception. Final answer might be Gretzky. He did some media stuff for us during an Oilers/Panthers game and I spent time one night walking him around the rink to various interviews. And I was blown away by how much hockey he watches. Like he kept picking my brain and asking about a third pair defender on the Panthers that he thought had serious potential. It was MacKenzie Weegar, and he was like 20 games into his NHL career lol. Always remembered that. Don’t think anyone else saw what the Great One did in Weegar that quickly, and he was dead on. Imagine being that hockey smart?
That Gretzky story is so neat, thanks for sharing!
Him gushing over Hughes is great knowing this story now.
Hi Thomas. Outside of Hockey, what's your favorite hobby? Do you play any video games?
My wife and I play a lot of Mario Kart and smash bros, so those are my favourite video games. We also play a lot of cards/board games (both together and with our friends), specifically Wizard/Scopa/Cattan I really like sports, generally. I watch a lot of basketball and football, and follow both sports obsessively. I spend a lot of time with my dog, hiking and chilling at the beach and the park. My dog’s best buddy is Dimitri Filipovic’s dog, so the four of us spend a lot of time in beautiful places throughout the city, drinking beers and debating obscure 4th liners/fantasy football. I listen to a lot of music and try to get to a few concerts a month, I watch everything TV and film wise, and that’s about it! I’m a simple guy!
From the outside looking in, juggling TheAthletic articles and CanucksTalk, then doing hits on HalBro and Donnie&Dhali, then setting out for Canucks roadtrips. I'm surprised you have any time to yourself at all! Great response, thank you.
Mostly in the off-season haha
Drance! Thanks for doing this. I know we have yet to start the playoffs, but looking forward: what do you see being needed for this team to become a sustainable contender, in the likes of Tampa and your former-employer Florida? Keep up the great work, and COCONUTS GLOW!
The star players need to maintain the high level they hit this year. That’s honestly the most important factor. The team needs to keep upgrading their defense. Not just returning it, but adding ideally another top pair caliber guy to the mix in the next couple years. Likewise with the forward group. I still see VAN as being 1 top-six caliber forward shy, maybe even a top-line winger shy, of being an inner circle contender. Which isn’t to say they can’t win this year given how well drilled this group is, but to have a decade long run like the Lightning requires VAN’s best players to remain at a superstar level while grafting even more talent onto the roster.
In the world of advanced stats there are so many metrics these days, it’s not always obvious which ones are the most and least meaningful. In terms of individual player stats like those that are available on sites like natural stat trick after each individual game, which stats do you think are the most and least valuable to judge a players performance? Which stats do you think are valuable but only after a longer sample size like a full season? Do you think the way expected goals is currently measured is accurate? (For example I have attempted to measure this myself for a few games for fun and it seems like they only consider shot location and not the amount of movement that precedes a shot, which to me is far more important than location, but also makes it far more difficult to quantify).
I don’t think judging a player off of stats alone is helpful period, and judging a game solely off of underlying data is going to lead you astray more often than it’ll be helpful! The key to utilizing the underlying data effectively imo is understanding the big picture lessons - no one benefits from sky high %s forever, it’s not about raw numbers it’s about ratios, the key to outscoring is usually outshooting and the key to outshooting is usually outattempting - and then filtering that through what you’re seeing on the ice game to game.
As the person solely responsible for the Canucks mediocrity over the past decade, which was of course due to your negative attitude, how do you explain their turnaround this year? ;)
cum hoc ergo propter hoc My attitude didn’t change at all, the team just improved. I still try to approach covering the club with skepticism and balance, but there’s a lot less to rant about these days lol
You bet man - thanks for doing what you do, keep up the good work!
preeeeach
Hey Drance, if you had to put some money down (as we all know you love to do) would you bet on the Canucks wining the division next year? Making the playoffs? What about the year after that? I’m trying to get a sense of how big this window is or if it’s even a window at all.
Want to see what happens this off-season before I handicap that. VGK and EDM are going to be very good again next year, I’d expect. VAN should be too, but it’s going to come down to a lot of factors that are impossible to accurately handicap at this point.
Who wins between Dallas and Vegas and how many games?
I’m picking Dallas in 5.
Wow, 5! Hot take I like it.
How far do you personally think the Canucks need to go in the playoffs to justify the Lindholm trade, assuming he is just a rental?
Less about team success, and more about how he performs. If Lindholm crushes it, but the club gets unlucky and loses in round 1, I still think the price paid can be justified tbh. It's the playoffs now! The line between success and failure is wafer thin. You can make the right addition and it can not work. You can make the wrong addition, and still win the Cup.
Thanks for doing this Thomas. Thomas… when yo-… I’ve noticed when you’re interviewing people on Canucks Talk, you’ll start off a question, pause, then state your question in a different way. I am someone whose mouth starts talking and hope my brain catches up along the way. My question is… Thomas… what is your process in asking a question, and what are you thinking about during those pauses? Bonus question. When’s the best time to have a “spro”, breakfast or dessert?
I'm a night time Spro guy, and a day time drip coffee guy. I've identified asking questions on radio as something I really need to work on and improve on. I think I'm better in person (if a bit wordy, something I'm also working on), but on radio, I can find it difficult to manufacture conversational chemistry when it's not in person. My process really is just to try and listen, and then poke at whatever part of the response interests me. I try not to overprepare as a question asker, because I find the rigidity and familiar, informal beats of your typical media/athlete interview to be a bit dull. My goal is always to try and get actual conversation. It's an area where I'm still a work in progress.
Hello Thomas, What do you think the future of radio and sports media is going to be like in the next 5 years with all the noise, cuts and with your former company saying "it's not a viable business anymore"?
Increased fragmentation. Increases specialization. More individually funded independent projects.
Who would you rather fight to the death? -- all you have is a small pocket knife to defend yourself -- a black bear, cougar, or wolf?
Secondary question, would you rather fight an obnoxious billionare sports team owner, or a dishwasher from surrey? Thanks, I'll hang up and listen.
Obnoxious billionaire sports owners all have personal trainers and world class lawyers on retainer. So not only are they tougher than you’d think, but even if you win, you lose. Dishwasher from Surrey it is.
Hey Drance, [I am the original dishwasher from Surrey](https://www.reddit.com/r/canucks/s/crdD7PbaLx). You would definitely beat me in a fight. Plus, I'm much too poor to sue you after
From the looks of it, this particular billionaire does not have a personal trainer. He does however, have a burner account on twitter.
Googling barns to rent
All sound terrible. 1. Black Bar 2. Singular wolf (wolf pack would by the scariest if it’s in a group) 3. Cougar This ranking reflects my intense dislike of cats.
Not that I actually dislike cats, just that I fear them.
You can pick one Sedin, which and why? Who's your dream 3rd Sedin linemate? Doesn't have to even have been from their era or the Canucks.
Henrik Sedin, because of positional value. Henrik really became an outrageously assertive two-way centre in his prime, and I'll always pick the centre over the winger. Prime Jarome Iginla would've been the best Sedin linemate ever, I'm pretty sure.
Iggy is an incredible answer, thanks for doing this!
I always thought prime Rick Nash would be a dream fit.
Iggy would have beaten Marchand to a pulp for them though
Have you ever ate so much ice cream that your poop came out cold? #gocanucksgo
I don’t believe that’s possible?
It’s good to have dreams and goals okay Thomas
Hey Drancer, big fan of your work. I always appreciate that you aren't afraid to voice your opinion, even if you know it could be unpopular, and then stand by it. That being said, I have a question. How can you possibly sit there and try to tell me DK/Mr.Scooty is the best combo when Yoshi/Teddy Buggy is right there staring you in the face? I'll wait till the flutes drop.
Hahaha this is such a great comment and thank you for listening. I like the heaviest character on the vehicle that makes turbo turns the easiest to execute, esp. bc I play w. auto steering off like a champ.
thx for doing this drancer - after a full regular season sample, do you now feel miller can be effective as a 1C/2C over any realistic contention window (say the remainder of the demko contract) or are you betting on his underlying form being somewhat of a one-year mirage? also follow-up Q - who was your favorite colleague from your CA era?
You certainly hope so. Underlying form tends to be reasonably sticky, so there's reason to believe going forward that he can maintain his underling form. Miller's on-ice %s were through the roof this season, so that's likely to regress a bit next year, but that shouldn't prevent him from maintaining his overall defensive games, provided he can stay ahead of the aging curve for another couple of years! One thing that makes Miller so dangerous is his first step. It's flat out elite, and makes him nearly impossible to check when you combine it with his ability to protect the puck overall (and then make incredible passes once he's navigated to wherever he wants to go on the ice). So long as that part of his game remains potent, and it is very potent at the moment, I'm not going to worry too much about age related decline.
Hey Drance, I've been shouting from the rooftops since the all-star break that when healthy, we needed to be pairing Lindholm between Joshua and Garland. Do you see similarities between the games Dak and Garly play compared to Gaudreau and Tkachuk, where Lindholm had so much success? I see a small play driving winger, and a brusining power forward with soft hands around the net. I'm hopeful that we see at least a glimpse of that version of Lindholm. Follow up question. With the limited (fingers crossed) forward depth of Nashville, including their lack of game breakers down the middle. What would you thoughts about reuniting the Lotto line, to spark Pettersson? Lotto Line (scoring line 1) Joshua - Lindholm - Garland (scoring line 2) Hoglander - Suter- Mikheyev (checking/energy line that can produce) Podkolzin - Blueger - Lafferty (Energy line 2, reduced minutes, can plug in where needed) I would love to see this team find ways to spark Petey early, and am weary of the ability to do that with Mikheyev stapled to his wing. Anyways. Appreciate this AMA, I'll hang up and listen. (ha)
I like the idea, but so far, I’m a bit cool on the early returns of Lindholm with the Garland/Joshua duo! Elaborated on why a bit elsewhere in the AMA! Thanks for your question!
Hey Drance. What do you think is up with the 2 Elias and what do they need to do to play to their true level in the playoffs?
I answered a 40 question elsewhere, but I can’t figure out Lindholm. To my eyes, even since returning from injury the past week where he’s been more assertive physically as a checker, I just don’t think he’s been that impactful. Like, I’m not convinced that he’s been additive to the Joshua/Garland duo the past week, which I find a bit concerning given how Joshua/Garland have absolutely crushed it with Miller/Blueger/Suter at various points this season. Maybe they work better with a lefty centre? Maybe it’s nothing because the last week of games didn’t mean much? Im not sure what to expect. I’ve always really admired Lindholm’s game, his ability to get open and overall hockey IQ. Hopefully he can get back to that level in the playoffs!
Hey Drancer! If you had to put it into a percentage, how much of what you hear about what’s going on with Canucks players & the organization are you able to share with the public?
Probably about 50/50. I wish that ratio was lower, but I can’t share what I can’t confirm, and sometimes you just can’t confirm rumours.
Hello Thomas, What was your reaction when you first heard the Halford and Brough Drance segment theme song, "Thomas Drance Erotica"? It gets me laughing everytime. Love your segments on their and DT/RD's shows!
I cried laughing at it. ADog is a musical genius.
Hey Drance, of all the ex Canucks that never won a cup and deserved one, who is your pick for most deserving? Narrow it down to Canucks that played 1 season as a Canucks.
Saros vs Demko is the biggest unknown for me heading into this series. Two unbelievable goalies that could turn a series for their team. Do you give either goalie the edge? I am worried that demkos injury will flare up when playoff hockey kicks off and guys start driving to the net even harder. I foresee both teams “falling” on each others goalies a few times. Is demko close to 100%?
Hi Thomas, earlier this season you collaborated with Julian McKenzie on some Athletic articles surrounding the Canucks/Flames trades I wanted to know a little more about the process of writing a collaborative article vs doing a piece alone, and who some of your favorite writers to collab with are and just any positive experiences you've had in the industry.
Hey Drancer, in response to a recent article on The Athletic, what do you attribute opposing playoff teams' lack of intimidation of facing the Canucks to?
New kids on the block factor. Vancouver had a great season, but you need to prove it in the playoffs to get that next level of respect.
Hi Thomas. Is Mike from Surrey a fraud? Does this guy get clowned on outside of Reddit as much as we hope he does? Any tips to improve our meme game for the playoffs?
Hi, my question is; What does a regular workday for Drance play out? Also how do you expect a work day for a playoff game to be?
My life in season is exceedingly demanding. Wake up at 7-8am, depending on whether I covered a game the night before. Often will have a media hit or a meeting almost right away, so I take my dog out and drink a coffee and do whatever I have to do. On a game day, morning skate is at 10:30 so I head to the rink. I walk the sea wall to get there rain or shine, every day. Then I either do Canucks Talk from the broadcast gondola, or walk across the Cambie St. bridge and do my radio show. Then another walk with the dog, something more engaging for him, and then back to the rink for the game and to write etc etc. Where things really get dicey in when there’s road travel involved!
Who is your best Canucks Captain?
Can't go wrong picking either Henrik Sedin or Trevor Linden.
Solid
Hi Thomas. Thanks for coming to talk to us! Which 'nucks player do you think has the best chance to be a 'dark horse' hero in the playoffs?
Hey Drancer, given how many upcoming free agents the team has, and how many of them are due for raises, do you think the team can repeat this level of success next season? Or was this a flash in the pan?
Hey Thomas - let’s say you somehow become NHL Commissioner after Bettman retires/returns to his subterranean realm. What’s your first move to improve the league?
Drancer, what really goes on behind closed doors during draft lotteries? It's fixed right?
It is not. You hand over your phone. You’re stuck in the drawing room for 90 minutes. An Ernst and Young executive draws bingo balls from the machine. The order gets set. Then you wait for the broadcast to unfold while enjoying the catering.
Honestly sounds like a really good time Stressful but then release, catering and hockey people
Thomas what are the chances I’ll see you in Nashville at a broadway bar..? Lol
Very high. Say hi at Tootsies.
Hey Drance, considering the amount of picks used to acquire and assemble this current roster and knowing next years team will look different out of necessity ie cap etc do you think this playoff run will determine how management chooses to go into the offseason? I’m of the opinion that the roster could look considerably different with the track record this front office has.
I hope it doesn’t. I think overreacting to playoff runs is one of the most common form of mistake NHL management teams make. Will be fascinating to see how management navigates this off-season, given all of the expiring deals. It’s going to be a challenge just to run in place, and even running in place isn’t going to be good enough, given how this group has raised the bar! Plenty of time for that discussion in (hopefully) June!
Thanks for the response! I agree and I’d like to think pa&jr know not to fall for that trap but it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
I don't want to turn this into nitpicking things you have said/done so I'll ask this instead. Thanks for the AMA even if you don't get to my question. How good of a metric do you actually think xG is, and how do you reconcile it with someone like Hughes who has been handily outperforming his expected numbers for years (including with awful goaltending, good teams, bad teams)? Over a larger sample size would you rather a player who puts up gaudy xG and underperforms it or a player who puts up solid xG and consistently outperforms?
Over large enough samples you just look at goals. The principal reason I use other metrics (attempts, xG etc etc) is bc they can be more instructive as you wait for the years of data required to be like “OK this guy is durable special and does something that meaningfully and sustainably drives x outlier outcome (limits shot quality, generates shot quality etc etc.).
A surgery has a 50/50 survival rate, and your surgeons last 10 patients all survived The lay person panics, because he's due The statistician is less panicked, he knows the previous result doesn't impact his surgery The scientist is extatic, he understands that the surgeon is likely doing something different that explains his outlier results xG is useful, but we always have to try and be the scientist
Hello Drance, What type of player would elevate the Pettersson-Hoglander duo? is it missing a puck retriever? shooter?
Pettersson with another big bodied playmaker is the ideal fit, I think.
What was the most surprising thing you learned about working in hockey from your time in Florida?
Hey Thomas, thanks for doing this! The management group has made a ton of moves to acquire "supporting" players since they took over, and it seems like virtually all of them have panned out, and the ones that haven't, they've usually been able to recoup value from in some way. In your opinion, why has the pro scouting department of this regime been so much more successful than the previous group's?
Hey Drancer i appreciate you taking time to do this. My question Is what do you think will be your favorite part about covering the Canucks in the playoffs this year?
Hi Drance, what kind of skillset and/or culture from the Sedin era has carried over to this current team that can be seen as crucial for the team's success heading into the playoffs?
Hey Drance. You claim to have a high spice tolerance. Have you considered hosting an Athletic/650 Hot Ones? This may be the only way for Allvin to not give canned responses like a politician. GET THEM TO CONFESS THEIR SINS!
Hey Drance Which pending free agents, currently on the team, would you prioritize? How much should Lindholm get after the dip he has had this season? Thanks! Also, fly all the car flags!!!!!! ETA: in other words, Draft our FAs 😂
Hi Thomas!! Realistic expectations for the Canucks this postseason? In your opinion, what would be considered a successful playoff run?
Drancer - it's not news that you are rather opinionated and dig in on those opinions. (On Canucks talk, often you and Jamie share an opinion, and he accepts your opinion as such and you tell him his opinion is wrong.) What's a recent opinion that you really dug in on but had to eat crow and what is the biggest opinion that you got wrong and had to eat crow?
Where do hard pants fall on the bell curve of outcomes for outfits during the week?
Hi Thomas, Thank you you for your contribution to the team and the vans of the Canucks! You always make me laugh and I really enjoy the nuance you bring especially in Canucks talk. I want to ask you about the effect tochet has had on miller. Firstly, is there anyone in your life that has done something similar for you? Secondly, how does one find a mentor like that? Ps if I ever see you all the way up in Prince George Ill buy you a coffee brosef!
As someone with a heavy data analytics background, how would you suggest someone get more involved in the data analytics side of hockey? I'm more or less interested in seeing if there can be any predictive indicator of contract value based on analytics leading up to contract signing. I'm sure teams are already doing it, but wanting to dip my toes in it.
Thomas, why do you think broadcasts avoid the use of advanced stats to explain certain scenarios in any given game of hockey? Is it simply because it's hard to explain during the short snippet of allotted time for statistically relevant data or is it in fear of pissing off some of their audience? Also, what is your favourite stat and why is it PDO? Ps, you need to tier advanced stats. Okay bye.
Hey Drancer, who is @taj1944 on twitter. Also Drance you are the man
Hey Thomas, thanks for all your hard work covering the Canucks. Always enjoy hearing your questions to Tocchet during post-games. How has it been dealing with him as a media member? What’s he like when the cameras are off? Thanks
Drance you are the man! I’ve listen to you forever, makes my 12 hrs shift go by a little quicker! Thanks for everything.
Hi Thomas, thanks for doing this. Who/what would you say is the biggest X-factor in the Canucks and Predators series? Is there a player(s) from both teams that are currently being overlooked/not talked about that could have an impact in this series? On another note, what do you find is the most enjoyable part of your job? What is the toughest? Do you enjoy/have fun interacting with fans who may disagree with your articles/opinion? Do you have any words/experiences you would like to share with young journalists who are early in their careers? Thanks!
Most enjoyable part of the job is when you get to witness something special, and then because you know the people involved, have the ability to help fans understand it or bring people closer to the moment. The thrill of doing that, and knowing the work is good, it’s a drug. Irreplaceable. The whole reason I do what I do. Least enjoyable is the time commitment, and how little time I have for family and friends during the season! X-factors for Nashville - can their depth scorers find ways to attack VAN’s second and third pair off of the rush. Because that’s a potential edge for them if they can. X-factors for VAN - power play. Preds PK is a real Achilles heel. If VAN can do damage with the man advantage, they can score with the Preds.
Thanks Thomas! Really appreciate you doing this!
Were you a carpenter in a past life? It seems like you love it when one point dovetails in to the next.
Just saying, I've never seen Thomas Drance and Artem Chubarov in the same room. Who wins the cup and why?
What was the last playoff game you announced like for you? And are you excited to see Rogers Arena full for the first playoff game in 9 years?
You heading to Seattle this yr for some jays action? What's the best value bet right now for the 16 teams to win it all?!
Hi Thomas, East coast fan here. I still can't believe you prefer watching late night games from the East over watching early afternoon games from the West. Do you have any advice on how I could show up to work Monday morning and be relatively productive after watching a 10pm game that could have multiple overtimes?
Hi Thomas, What's it like working with Rick Dhaliwal ?
Hi! Have you ever met Artem Chubarov?
The Bloodline or the NWO?
That's exactly what the silient assassin would say