32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Exit Interviews & Playoff Entrances: All 16 Out, All 8 Matchups In

Episode Date: April 19, 2025

In this episode of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman touch on all 16 teams that missed the playoffs:Flames (7:43)Canucks (13:22)Utah HC (26:31)Blue Jackets (30:50)Red Wings (35:55)Rangers (41:33)Islanders (48:04)Penguins (51:06)Ducks (55:09)Sabres (1:00:10)Kraken (1:03:27)Bruins (1:05:48)Flyers (1:11:17)Predators (1:14:51)Blackhawks (1:20:11)Sharks (1:23:36)Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions and respond to your voicemails in the Thought Line (1:28:16).In the final segment they preview all of the 1st round playoff series:Jets vs Blues (1:47:17)Avalanche vs Stars (1:51:22)Devils vs Hurricanes (1:57:50)Leafs vs Senators (2:01:52)Wild vs Golden Knights (2:09:31)Canadiens vs Capitals (2:15:28)Kings vs Oilers (2:21:49)Lightning vs Panthers (2:28:00)Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

No, did you see the photos of the avalach players getting on the plane Friday? No, actually, I didn't see it was snowing in Denver. Talk about playoff weather is snowing. Easter weekend terrible. That's down to Texas. They go. It should not be allowed to happen. This is why I support global warming, because it should not be snowing on. There's the title of this episode.

And you're cold open. Very, very good, Mr. Bukaskis. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X, Tom Schamade, Elliot Friedman, Kyle Bukaskis back with you once again. Elliot, we have made it 197 days since the regular season open between the Devils and the Sabres in Czechia. And early October, we have reached day one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The second season is upon us. I am super excited. I cannot wait for puck drop allow me just to say though Kyle over these 197 days you look like you have aged 197 years. That's that's the downside of that we've we've brought in the video component when we record these things so we can see how much this experience has aged. I mean, you've been gone for years and now I'm quickly catching up to you

much faster than I would like. You know, we should shout out Ailish Forfer, who won half of the end season cup and squealed with delight when she did so. And Matt Marchese won the most dates. Ailish has the winner of the Toronto Maple Leafs. This, by the way, is going to lead to a billion think pieces about, well, not really, but I'm thinking about it. How does the in-season cup victory affect the

Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs? I am curious to see if there's any correlation, but I did write beforehand that I thought it was egregious and embarrassing that you even had a chance to split half the victory considering your completely flaccid performance in this year. Flaccid? Yes. Great.

Great use of that word. That was very appropriate. Not only a chance, Elliot, I was 1.8 seconds away. I'm sitting there in the press box in Ottawa Thursday night because they were playing the Hurricanes, watching it on my iPad, and I'm watching Detroit. Toronto's got their goalie pulled and they look like they were in on it, like Ailish had bought them off. It was unbelievable. And anyway, heck of a play by 10 up there to tie it. And at that point you're like,

there's no way Toronto's losing at this point. So congratulations to her. I feel like it's that episode of Family Guy where Stewie grants Brian the one free revenge shot to get him back and he won't tell him when it's gonna come. Like it's for you and I now, we're waiting for either Marquesi.

Ailish gets the first pick of who gets to be the intern for the day. Waiting. When is the moment going to come when one of us gets selected? And who knows the laundry list of things we'll have in our hands? Did you ever watch how I met your mother? No, I didn't. I wish I'd gotten into it. But other than that, we're going way off't. I wish I'd gotten into it, but other than the odd flip. We're going way off topic here, and we'll get back onto it, people, I promise. But your mention of that Family Guy episode reminded me of this running gag in How I Met

Your Mother called Slap Bet. bet and you lose and you have to submit to five slaps which can be given to you with no notice. Right. So you never know when you're just going to get clobbered for no reason. Yeah. So it's coming. It's coming. So let me ask you, let me ask you, okay, again, we're gonna do this quick.

If you had a choice between five anonymous slap bets and 10 right there in the moment, which would you take? Ooh, I think, give me the 10 and get it over with. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm completely with you. You can brace yourself, clench up and just have at her. Get it over with. You know why especially?

Because if I lost something like this to BXA, I'd be worried he'd just slap me on the air. And that would be played over and over again for the rest of my life. Right in the middle of headlines. Yeah, you know he would. He just walks on the set and clobbers me. Okay, in all seriousness, before we begin the news, part of this pod, I did want to mention on Thursday, they had the celebration of life for Greg Mellon, and Gary Green, John Shannon, Colin Campbell, Chris Cuthbert, and especially

the Mellon family for getting up and speaking about Greg. I thought Gary Green did an incredible job running the event. John Shannon came up with the timeline of the event and obviously everybody who spoke, they told great stories and beautiful stories and the strength of Greg's children to get up and speak. Kyle, just maybe some thoughts from being there to see it. Yeah, it was first off, really neat to see the turnout, of course.

Me and a couple others drove up. I went with Jason York and Brent Wallace. We drove up from Ottawa to be there in Peterborough. And that was just the four kids delivering not only just the composure of delivering the eulogy, but the delivery itself, the way they played off one another. I mean, it was just remarkable and so beautiful to see. And then the video they had put together of Greg, just some old photo and home video from over the years. I mean, that's when the whole place was gone, right? There was some really powerful touching stuff. So that was kind of as everyone was,

you know, kind of commiserating and sharing in the emotion of it all after it was done there, the Peterborough Memorial Centre. You know, that was the growing sentiment was that, you know, that was just a tough situation and you never wanted to all be there. Certainly understanding you felt Greg had so many years left and good years left to live, but really was looking back just a beautiful afternoon. And man, it just nice to see everyone together. You just of course wish it was under different circumstances.

All right. So we're gonna get into the eight first round series here a little bit later on in the pod Elliott. But before we get there, we thought we'd start by just kind of running down the other 16 teams that did not reach the Stanley Cup playoffs this year. What's next for them? What to anticipate as they have entered into off-season mode and for a number of teams, they've already done their locker clean-out and exit interviews and the off-season has begun in earnest for them. So, we'll start with kind of who missed by the least and work our way down the standings from there, Elliot.

And if that's gonna be the case, we begin in Calgary, who finished with the same amount of points as the St. Louis Blues. 96 would have been good enough for third in the Metro division this year, but such is life in the National Hockey League sometimes. Dustin Wolf, at the very least, you would think, is going to be a finalist for the Calder Trophy. Where do the flames in a season wear? There were not a ton of external expectations and a lot of people wondering which direction this franchise was headed. What's next step for Craig Conroy and company? First of all, Kyle, you think about it and there's always a butterfly effect, right?

You can't always say if A then B, sometimes things can be different. But if Minnesota and St. Louis don't care't take care of their business, same with the Montreal Canadians, look at the way Columbus came out on the last day of the regular season. Look at the way Calgary came out on the last day of the regular season. Those teams made it very clear that they were not, even though their playoff chances were over, they were going out with the most possible pride. They were not quitting on their years. So congratulations to the Canadians and the Blues and the Wild,

but we were robbed of some incredible drama on the last night of the regular season. We really were. So I think the biggest victory for the Calgary Flames this year is the way we go into the off season feeling about them. Last year at the end of the season, there were a lot of questions like Markstrom's not coming back, well, what about Coleman? What about Anderson?

What about Cadry? What about Backland? Although I think Backland was always like no, I'm pot committed I'm staying but the questions were all there Look at the way that their season ended this year Kyle that game in LA all those guys scoring their first NHL goals You know the Calgary Flames fans were Electrified to see Zayn Perek for the last two months.

We want to see Zayn Perek. We want to see Zayn Perek. Not only did they see Zayn Perek, but he was one of three Calgary Flames that scored their first NHL goals in that game against the Kings. Even though they didn't make the playoffs, the season could not have ended better for the Flames, and the overall feeling could not be better about the Flames. Like, you know, the first round pick to Montreal, you know, some people are saying,

you know, we don't like that, we don't like that, fine. I understand you don't like that, but look at all of the pieces you have coming. Like, all of a sudden, you look at the Flames pieces you have coming. Like all of a sudden you look at the flames and you say, nobody likes to be without a first rounder. You take your chances, but you look at it and say, hey, this isn't a devastating blow to us.

We've got a lot here. I think to me, I agree with you by the way, I think Wolf will be a Finalist I think I think it's really between him and Hudson as good as celebrant He is as good as Mishkov is I would bet this is my guess one of those two is Not going to be a finalist and it's gonna come down to Hudson or wolf and we'll see who everybody votes for but I think the biggest question I have for the flames in the offseason is Are they gonna want are they gonna be willing to pay what Rasmus Anderson wants?

You know look like the the numbers are going up the cap is going up Anderson and the other thing to look at all the defensemen who are coming off the board. Now I know Anderson has another year, but all of a sudden, you know, Peonk is off the board. Chickren is off the board. Even though they aren't the same free agent class, it only increases the scarcity of who is out there.

So everybody who's, and Gavrikov, even though he hasn't signed yet, there seems to be a lot of people who think that he's gonna end up staying in LA. So all of this only puts Anderson in a better spot. I think the Flames know it's gonna be a really big ticket. And to me, that's the biggest Calgary off-season question. Are they gonna be willing to pay?

What Rasmus Anderson is going to want and if the answer is no How do they handle it? Do they make the deal at the draft? Do they start next year and see how it goes? Yeah, like I think Craig Conroy has earned his Good Friday slash Easter weekend. Craig, you can have your brisket, you can have your chicken, you can have your chocolate eggs. You've earned it with your family. You don't have all of the tire fires that you had a year ago. But at some point in time, that's the one who's gonna have to sit down and decide.

Yes, and to, I guess in a way, a lesser extent, just because we're not talking UFA, but the RFAs too, Ellie, come out in the summer. Conor Zary, Matt Coronado, Morgan Frost, who they traded for from Philadelphia. So there's a handful of internal business that Conroy has to deal with before looking at, all right, we came this close this year,

how aggressive does he wanna get in the summer as things try to still move on an uphill path for Calgary after what's felt like kind of some dark days just a couple of years ago, but a lot more brighter heading into the off season in Calgary. Those are happier problems though. I mean, it's always aggravating negotiating term, no term.

What's the number of caps going up? But you'd rather have those problems than the ones you had a year ago. Yes. And there's from Calgary to Vancouver, Elliott, and there were a number of problems throughout the year. And you've talked about here a few times that you didn't think it was going to be a big chunk of time when it comes to the Rick Tocket decision. I thought his breakup day media conference on Friday was quite fascinating. He was quite open with kind of how he felt about things, not only for himself and what was important for him moving forward, but where he saw the team was going. Elias Pettersson is a big conversation there as well. Where do you want to start with Vancouver? The talk it question or the Pettersson conversation?

Well, why don't we do this, Kyle? Let's start with you. What was your impression of what talk it had to say you said he was he was pretty open you found it fascinating How did you interpret what he had to say? So I really liked What he said on on Friday Elliot? I mean there was the sense of humor that came out early on just as things got started And then you know he was quite frank and you could tell there were times where he's like I know if I say this, then there's gonna be a whole bunch written about it and it's gonna catch like wildfire.

Like he was very aware. And very much in control. Sounds like he was doing the pod. Yeah. He was very much in control of it all, which is the anti 32 thoughts of the podcast in a lot of ways. So from that standpoint, that was impressive.

And I just think, and as open as he was, I don't think he was certainly tipping his hand in terms of what he felt and where he was going to be go with his own matters here over the next little bit. But I thought it was as honest as he was going to be. We talked about not too long ago, that's gonna be a big part of his decision, you would think, is what is he getting out of Elias Pettersson, one of his top paid players,

and what's the future hold in getting him back on track and closer to the guy that was paid what he was just over a year ago now. I thought just the thoughts about how the habits, the preparation, whether it be in the summer, the practice habits are all going to have to be different for him. I think I just I liked how he laid it all out there and even the conversation about the opportunity to go coach at the Worlds, he's going I'm not going to be the best version of myself. I'm just not there mentally with how trying of a season it was for him and the whole organization there. It felt like there is the opportunity for him to return, but he still had some things to think about. And I think from a Canucks

fan standpoint, I suppose you look at that and say, there's a guy that you know if he's signing on He's doing it because he is all in all the time And I really look at that as that's the only way he can operate as a head coach Yeah, I agree with you. I liked his media conference. I like I like him when he talks. He's honest. There's no BS He tells you what he's thinking You know, I'll say this over the last few days, Kyle, I really thought I had a good handle on this one, uh, going in, I agreed with you.

I thought it was going to get sorted out really quickly. I will tell you over the last 24, 48, 72 hours, there's been a lot of conflicting information around there about what the timeline for this will be and I admit to being a little bit confused as to how it's going to play out. A, and I think this is the thing I would say is that I believe the Vancouver Canucks have committed that Rick Tocket will be the highest paid coach in franchise history. I do believe that's going to happen if he stays. I think there is a debate to be had about whether or not it is the true market value for Tocket

that could he do better somewhere else and I think that's a fair question that I can't answer right now. But we have talked about that, you know, prior to Tocket I think that's a fair question that I can't answer right now but we have talked about that you know prior to talking I think the highest paid coach was Travis Green who was just under three million I think they're going to go well past that right now for talking I think at least in terms of the number it will be number one again though There is a debate about whether or not that is the proper or fair value for talking So I want to say that right now You know I I've had people who tell me they think talk it's gonna stay I've had people who tell me that

You know is it worth him? Stretching this out a bit to see what else is available? You know, I've had people who told me that he's tired of the market and just, it's just been enough. And I have another people told me that Rick Taukert is not a guy who runs from anything like that. Now, the one thing I do believe and I've been told by multiple people that it's true is that he went for dinner with Quinn Hughes before the season ended and you know again I had people say to me be careful what you say about this that's it's not a big deal it's

just the way they wrapped up their season I had other people tell me that the two of them wanted to make sure they were both on the same page. We know how Hughes feels about talk it. He feels very strongly about him. And I think talk it feels equally as strongly about Hughes. So what I'd say is that if we record this podcast on Friday night, there's I'm not a hundred percent ready to call this one way or the other but again I would say the Canucks have decided that they're going to make him their highest paid coach ever is it still his fair market value that's for Tauke to decide number two I believe that Taukeket is at least considering staying when some people told me they felt that he wouldn't want to stay. I think that him and Hughes had a conversation about their season and where they're going and we'll see if they make a deal.

But I will say this, I was surprised later in the week how much information there seemed to be out there that was kind of conflicting with each other and it leaves me a bit unsure of what to predict. That's the best information I can give you. I wish I could say to everybody it's going to be this or it's going to be this, but just I don't know a hundred percent Gotcha. So now the timeline is kind of we're not too sure No, no, I wouldn't I wouldn't say that I like I don't know that I would agree with that I think the Canucks do want to do this fast and I and I also think on one level I think talk it would like to know what his situation is.

But, you know, one of the things that's happening is we're starting to see more and more where teams and we're going to talk about this in a couple of situations, Kyle. Teams want to do their exit interviews before they make their decisions on their coaches. Like that's one thing that happened. Andrew Burnett met with the media. We don't know yet what his final future is, right? Anaheim, we'll talk about them in a second. We still don't know what the final decision yet

is going to be there. Like that's one thing, it used to be, Kyle, that the season ended the next day, the coach got fired, right? If you were firing the coach you fired them like the next day. It doesn't always work like that anymore So if you want to see what the markets are like you might have to wait a little bit. So But I think the biggest question is how long how long until we see a true picture out here long until we see a true picture out here. It's, I'll just admit that, you know, this week, as you know, I was away, I was taking a little bit of pre-planned vacation time,

but I was still plugged in and I got some differing opinions on where this was going to go and what the timeline is going to be. All right. Okay. The Patterson thing then, Elliot. I know Patrick Alveen hinted that, you know, they were looking at the idea of having him stay in Vancouver over the off season. What's the latest that you know with Pedersen and the Canucks? Well, you can't force a player to stay in the off season. You can suggest it, but the CBA says no the player decides but it sounds like here without looking at exactly how it's all going to work it sounds like there's been a compromise here that Pettersson has understood that he has to spend a bit more time there and his um and his workout routine is going to have to change like Takedon Pettersson was really good. Like, he defended Pettersson at points. Like, I don't find Taukead cutting. I find him very blunt. If you're going to

ask him a question, you're going to get the answer. And the thing that I thought about Taukead is he said, yeah, he's got to be better on his training. I think one of the reasons and it was interesting they kind of all went back and really get relitigated the JT Miller stuff and and Talk it said like sometimes it's nobody's fault and it just works out that way But one of the places where I think this really fell apart at the beginning of last year Was the way that Pettersson showed up to training camp it reignited a lot of this controversy So when talk it is saying this has got to change, it's not him taking a shot at Pettersson, it's this has got to change. And Pettersson

on some level has agreed to that. Now he made some jokes about it and he said, like, I'm just not that physically a strong guy, which I thought was pretty funny. But it said to me that he's like, like the one thing is like, when you're a key player like Pedersen is, there has to be push and pull. They have to understand what you need and you have to understand what they need. And I think in this particular case, Pedersen is well aware and he understands what they need. So, you know, we'll see how this goes. But this is obviously a very very big part of it. I think Vancouver feels very comfortable with their defense. I

think they, we know they're looking at a couple centers. I'm curious to see like do they find a way to get a suitor deal done. You know Besser talked about his his partner being from Vancouver and how much he wants to stay. And you know, the other thing too, I wanted to mention the Villander thing. There was a story last week that he had signed and he wasn't going back to Boston University and then that was retracted. This is where I think that stands.

I think that Boston University is operating under the impression that he won't be back next year. And I think that's why that story got reported as such. I think that came out of the Boston University side where they're like, he's not coming back. So I think they are not expecting him to return, but still, you know, Vancouver and the player have to make a deal, right? So that's been a little more challenging.

Someone thought that I had said that he did not want to play in Abbotsford this year. I didn't say that, but I did believe there was a chance he wasn't going to play pro this year, that he wasn't going to play for the Canucks and he wasn't going to play for Abbotsford. That eventually worked out happening that way. I think there was time to sort this out over the summer, but it definitely has been more of a battle than anybody expected. And the other thing I'd say about Vlander too is, you know, he didn't burn and I had a couple agents tell me that he's the kind of player it might make sense not to burn. Because if if you if you come to your second contract too early and you

haven't put up good numbers or haven't really burst through in terms of ice time Kyle they will do studies that say you will you will cost yourself a lot of money so they weren't surprised when he didn't burn they they felt that you know it might benefit him to build up more of a resume before he becomes an RFA. So, I mean, as one guy said to me with all the stuff that was going on this week, he kind of said, I don't know what it is about Vancouver. They're always in the news, like just always in the news. And it isn't always good. It's sometimes crazy, but they're always in the news. And this week it happened again.

Oh, yes. And surely will happen a few more times here before all is said and done on on this season, even though the Canucks after pushing Edmonton to the limits a year ago will not be returning to the postseason in 2025. OK, the Utahns, Elliott, 89 points, their inaugural season in Salt Lake. I know they're considered technically an expansion franchise. There's no ties to the Coyotes, but a lot of the same names and faces.

You have to go back to the 13-14 season, the last time any Coyote franchise finished a season with at least 89 points. We should look at year one even though they missed the playoffs a success with everything that was going on in Utah, no? Well, they made a good impression. There's no question about it. The market was very excited. I never got a chance to go to a game this year, but I knew people who went

and they really enjoyed it. They said it was a good atmosphere, it was a fun place to watch a game. They did the best with what they had. We know about their unusual set up there for games. Not everything is perfect, but they walked in there and they said, whatever challenges we have We're gonna try to make it the best experience we can and you know what they battled until the end They didn't make it, but they didn't fold they didn't they didn't quit and they kept competing I think this is going to be one of the most fascinating Fascinating

teams in the off season. You know, Ryan Smith is an aggressive guy, aggressive owner. And, you know, Chris Armstrong, who was hired there as their, you know, president of hockey operations, basically, he spent the whole year around the team, didn't say much, left a lot of the kind of public talking to Bill Armstrong and the GM. But basically, he came from, he was an agent, and not even in hockey, he was an agent primarily in golf, and he came in and he basically said, I'm going to learn this year. I'm going to be seen more than I'm going to be

heard and just learn about the business. And so I think everybody's curious to see okay now that he's learned about the business, Ryan Smith has learned about the business, and Utah's learned about the business, what is that going to mean? And I do think there's a feeling out there that the Utahns are going to take a big swing at something. And you know, we'll see what that means. Like more and more of the top free agents are coming off the board. There's still a couple out there, Kyle, but they're starting to come off the board. So what does that mean? And I just think that this is an

organization that's not going to be a sit back and let things unfold organization. This was their year to do that. Coming up next is going to be their time to start making an impression. From a hockey point of view, just a couple guys that I think to watch out for. Number one, Mathias Maselli had a great rookie season this year, didn't play much towards the end. I would think they're going to find him a new home. And I think up front, I think they're going to have to get a little bigger. I think one of the things that happened there was they felt they had too many guys who were kind of the same height-wise and it

kind of affected or physicality-wise and it kind of affected them a little bit. So when they return in the fall will they still be called Utah HC? Will they be the Mammoth? Something else? Oh that's a sense yet? Oh, that's a great question. I know where you would like it to land. Yeah, I'm still HC. I'm still HC, but you know what, honestly, I haven't thought about it, Kyle. I haven't thought about it. I'm hoping it's HC.

I like it. It's unique and it's different. Yes. Well, we got, there was a lot of reaction when we initially brought that up on the pod and then as time went on It was like well, you know what? Like they're starting they're starting to be a little more warming to it. It may be completely wrong It's like your friendship with me. It started terribly and then I grew on you like a bad rash Right Oh

Ointment, please Oh, ointment, please. Need some ointment. All right, from Utah to Columbus, Elliot and right down to the second last day, if not for as you mentioned earlier, Montreal defeating Carolina. Oh boy, was it ever close for the jackets and that coming? I mean, couple weekends prior that prior, that back-to-back when they lost in Toronto and lost in Ottawa, they looked like that was it for them. And they had one more final push and they come up just short. Naturally going through their kind of exit interview and final media availabilities of

the season, there was a lot of excitement for what they had done when not a lot of people had expected them to get this close, but still the bitter taste of not playing beyond 82 games. You saw that with Dean Evison as well, the head coach. A tremendous season for Zach Wierenske. He's gonna be in the conversation for the heart, for the Norris, you would think. Beyond that, how do you reflect back

on what was an absolutely just unthinkable hand dealt at the start of the season for them and where they landed at the end of 82 games? I mean, how can you not just look at this whole year as an incredible success for the Blue Jackets. I mean, obviously unspeakable tragedy, you know, and I don't think anybody expected anything from them, but they battled, they fought hard, you know, you forget Boone Jenner, their captain too,

remember that fluke injury that caused him a good chunk of the season and they just didn't quit. I think the other thing too is like, look how many, I think Waranski had an incredible year. Like I'll tell you this, Kyle, a summer ago there were teams saying to me, watch Zach Waranski this year. And this was before the Good Road tragedy happened. If they have another bad year, we're going to bet that he's going to ask out, that he's

going to say, you know what, it's time to go somewhere where I can win. And there were teams that were kind of counting on it. Yep, they're going to have a rough year and Wierenski is going to be available. And you know, instead, A, they had a really powerful year. And secondly, he was so much in the middle of that. He was so much in the middle of that. I'll say this, he's very, very high on my Norris ballot. By the way, you know how Kevin Biaxa, he rips Amber, he says, Amber only votes for people who talk to him. Somebody heard Biaxa say that and said, you're only voting for Wransky because he gave you a really good interview. And he did.

That was very funny. But he had such a great year, but also to the kids, Kyle. Yes. You know, Fantilly 31. Yeah. And also to like that was a really deep story he shared about his grandfather's funeral on the off day before one of their last games. You know, Kent Johnson this year, they had a lot, you know, Jet Greaves the end of the season. You know, he's got to feel pretty excited about his opportunity for next year. Like, to me, it's not only that they gave it a really good run this year, but in a really hard situation, how many of their players thrived?

And not only the veterans like Warrenske and Monahan, but the kid and Matthew Olivier, who obviously had a huge season and turned it into a new contract, but the kids who are going to be your cornerstone of your team for a long time. You know, aside from missing the playoffs, You know, aside from missing the playoffs, I really thought that everything that they did this year was just great news for them. We, you know, it's easy to be successful when things are good. You truly find out what you are when things are hard. And they had the hardest of years. And I think we found out that there's

a lot of high character people on the ice in that organization and you know, Evison too, I thought he did a really fantastic job. Yeah, and just one thing on Fantilly also, as someone pointed out the organization that, I mean, even when Sean Monahan went down for a period of time and Ventilli was elevated like they looked at that and said the fact that how well he played, you know He could have gone one or two ways where now the matchups and the usage changes a little bit when There isn't the same protection with a guy like Monahan playing ahead of you that was a critical part of his season that this person was was saying and that was a critical part of his season that this person was saying and finishes with 31 goals

and just a lot of growth in terms of his all around game as well. So Columbus, the story there. Detroit, another year of disappointment. To say nothing of failing to capture the in season cup on the final day of the regular season. Beyond that, it's been no playoffs for them since 2016. Elliot, for the longest time, they were the standard

in being able to make the playoffs year after year after year. And now they've got one of the longest droughts in the league between post-season appearances. They made the coaching change mid-season, had a good push, looked like they were in a great spot. But unfortunately, as has been the case a couple of times here, as they've gone through the last number of seasons, they get close down the stretch, but not enough to get in. So, you know, the good, like I thought Casper really took a big stride in the second half

of the season. You know, the Red Wings were looking at cousins, they were, Dylan, they were looking, they were one of a bunch of teams, obviously, were looking at him. And I think that, I believe that was Buffalo's ass, Casper. And obviously the Red Wings didn't do it. And I think in the long run, they long run they will be happy with that. Like I watched Casper a lot. When I heard that that was kind of what was being discussed, you know, I really thought that I really wanted to watch a lot more of Casper in the second half of

the season and boy you can see a real player there. I think the toughest thing is that again you can see the young players that are going to be very good for Detroit for a long time but they just can't climb over that hill Kyle they always get right there and they just can't get over and what do you have to do? You know I think think last year I really believe that Iserman took a big run at Stephen Stamkos You know one of the things that Stamkos has really tried to do is try to get veterans to help them get over the hump, right and I really believe last year that he was hard in to Stamco's You know one of the things one of the mysteries of this of the last year in the NHL

Was the Jake Wallman deal right where eiserman traded wallman with the second rounder to San Jose? The more I think about that and the more I've heard about that The more I wondered if the reason that Iserman did that and I'm assuming he will never tell me. But the more I'm assuming that the reason that Iserman did that or one of them anyway is he was trying to make room to get Stamkos. And obviously it didn't happen and they went out and they resigned Kane and they got Tarasenko and Tarasenko had a bit of a tough time there. But again like that's one of the things I kind of

wonder again is what veterans are they gonna try to take a shot at to get them over the hump? Because that's been a big issue for them. Like Patrick Kane had 58 points this year, Kyle. And the other thing I believe is that he's at 492 goals and I think Kane wants to get there. But the other thing too is he's like 30 points back of Mike Medano for most points by a U.S. born player and I think around 50 back of Brett Hall even though Brett Hall was born in Canada, Belleville, Ontario he's 50 points away from the most points by any American player I gotta think knowing Keynes fire, his knowledge of the history of the game

he would love to do that so I'm curious to see if he's gonna be back So that's what I'm looking at again. Like does he take a shot at a veteran or two? to get In there, you know, he's He's hinted he tried to take swings at the deadline but didn't like the prices I'll tell you this like like, I always love guessing with Aizerman because he always loves it when I do this. But there was one quote he had at the trade deadline, Kyle, where he said, someone asked him something,

I don't remember what it was, and he goes, if you have a better idea, I'm open to it or something like that. And part of me just said, is there any piece of Steve Vizerin that says, I don't need this aggravation anymore? Right. I think that was, yeah, was it the trade deadline

or when they made the coaching change? I think it was at the deadline. It was at the deadline. And I remember looking at that and I was like, hmm. Like, yeah, he can be biting. Like, I think any media member's been on the receiving end of those before. But he can be biting. But, you know, I just remembered hearing that and going,

like, he doesn't walk away from a fight and the job's not finished. But I do admit when I heard that, when I was like, is he saying, or is he thinking, I don't need this aggravation anymore? Man, well it's been six years, and accumulated some really promising young talent, as you highlighted, but still no payoff of reaching the postseason yet. Gotta get over that hump.

Yeah, the hockey talent. Always there, can't get over it. Yes. All right, from Detroit to another Original Six franchise that came up short in the playoff bid, the New York Rangers. Elliot, President's Trophy winners a year ago, not off to the postseason this year, and a lot of questions on Broadway.

Kyle, let's start with this for the Rangers. As if this season wasn't already bad enough for them, Katie Strang reported Thursday about settlement payments from Artemi Panarin and Madison Square Garden to a former employee after sexual assault allegations. It's obvious there's some NDAs here. So it's unwise to speculate on information that we don't have. It's a terrible story to read. And even though both the NHL and the team say that they consider the matter closed, you just don't know what will happen once a story or information like this becomes public. Even if all the parties involved knew about it, the public didn't, and that can make things very different. So I don't want to speculate any further

other than to say that now this is in the public domain, and we'll see where everything goes from here. You know, elsewhere with the Rangers, we talked about this after Calvin DeHaan, and Calvin DeHaan met with the media and cleared the air. But, you know, I think the number one thing the Rangers have here is they have to determine who really wants to be there. You know, last season unfolded, they knew it was Trubas last year. I don't think they expected it to go like this. It went really poorly. They put Truba and Crider out there. I think there were points in the season when the Rangers

started to play better that you really thought it was behind them. You think that maybe over the four nations with time, everybody would be able to put it behind them, but it was very clear they couldn't do that. Now, if you're the Rangers, you have to sit there and you have to say, we're ending this. This is not going to hang over our team next year. And you have to ask your players honest questions. Can you move on? No. If not, we'll get you out of here.

Now, Mika Zabinajad had some interesting quotes where he said, look, I signed this contract. They signed this contract. I have rights. And he is right about that. It is more than fair that he can exercise the rights that he signed. That contract was signed in good faith. I think what you have to be aware of here than fair that he can exercise the rights that he signed. That's contract was signed in good faith. I think what you have to be aware of here is we saw

what happened with Truba. Now Truba was in a position where he only had partial protection. Subbinajat has full protection so it would be harder to do that with him than it is with Truba but at the very least here you have to be aware that the Rangers are capable of pushing some boundaries or fighting back and saying the status quo will not work for us. So if they're convinced Zubinajad is going to come next year, be refreshed, play like he can play. We don't have an issue. But if they are not convinced that's going to happen, even though Zubinijad has drawn the line in the sand,

you have to wait and see what can happen here. But I think the biggest thing is, is I do think reputation wise. The Rangers have taken a hit this year. Players notice how things like that happen. For them, it's easier to bounce back because of who they are and where they play. You can recover quickly from that. Other organizations, like for example, for years,

Columbus had a reputation where you know it wasn't easy at times internally there and they really had to fight hard to change it it's easier for the Rangers to change that and I'm really curious to see how they're gonna go about doing that this offseason. There's a lot of questions about La Violette I don't think people expect to see them back. Who are they going to hire and what are they going to do roster wise? Do they sit there and

say this was just a nightmare? Like do you look at it and say we are the team of a year ago and we can get back there like the Messier Rangers did? Or do you look at it and say, yeah, last year was a fluke, this year was more who we are, and we have to change it again? That's the biggest question. I would also say this, if Ken Holland is in a position in the NHL next year,

like a president of hockey ops, I think a lot of people are wondering if Ryan Martin, who's the current AGM in New York, goes with Holland with a promotion. So I think that's something else to keep an eye on with them too. If you look at since, I mean, as you say, we'll see what happens with Peter La Villalette, but since Alain Vigneault, Elliot, I mean, it's been kind of a quick in and out. David Quinn was a few years. There's the pandemic in there, of course.

Gerard Gallant, two seasons. This is only the second year for Pierre Lavillelette. And you have a great start with the president's trophy. And now suddenly questions about his future and the direction that the team is going. There's been a little bit of a history with that there behind the bench with the Rangers for Just about a decade here now that they're still trying to get to the bottom of The success hasn't really sustained on Broadway

No, it certainly hasn't and even James Dolan would probably tell you that's a lot of money to pay people for not coaching. But, you know, like this year, when you have a year like you had this year, it doesn't stay the same, right? You make your changes. And you know, the thing is too, is that's not an owner who tolerates seasons Like this one he makes changes And all the best to Sam Rosen to yes see the send-off he got on Thursday night At Madison Square Garden Congrats on an incredible career Sam and from Manhattan to Long Island

Sam and from Manhattan to Long Island. Elliot, the Islanders came up short again this year after a couple of years where they managed to sneak into the playoffs. Weren't able to say the same this time around. There was a number of issues that were going on with them over the course of the year that kept them from getting them where they wanted to go. It looks like this is going to be the end for Matt Martin, one of the longer serving islanders. I know he had a couple stops in between, namely Toronto.

But where do you see the future for the islanders? And I guess Patrick Waugh as well. You know, I think to me, one of the biggest questions is gonna be how the owner, the majority owner Scott Malkin feels. I had a chance to meet him at one of the Board of Governors meetings this year. People who know him say he's really, really smart, which shouldn't be a surprise if you

take a look at what he's accomplished. But he's also very understated. He's not a guy who likes to announce his presence. He's not a guy that you know feels he needs to Be like the dominant person in a room But I think after like a kind of year like this one Where especially with some of the contracts that haven't gone well, I think he's become a little bit more involved in terms of where are we going and how do we get there. And I think that his feelings on how kind of the organization is going and what the next steps are, I think they could be very important over the next little while. You know, for example, you know, we all are

expecting that there's a Kyle-Paul-Mary contract extension coming here. That one was kind of quietly agreed to at the deadline. I think the Islanders have started initiating some things. I've heard that, like for for example Adam Boquist who came there someone told me that they've been moving something along with him and there'd been some talks with Dobson and there'd been some talks with Romanov but I just don't know where all of that kind of stands right now I think they're waiting for some clarity on how this is gonna play out for the over the next little while so I don't know that we're going to get a full picture yet on the islanders until we

get an idea of how Malkin sees things kind of unfolding over the next little while. One thing I am curious about is Varlamov and his health. You know, Barzel missed a lot of games. They really lost him and they really lost him and they really missed him, but he's gonna come back. There are some rumors about Varlamo's future, like how serious the injury is, so I'm sure we'll get some clarity whenever Lamarello speaks and we get some direction on where the Islanders are going. All right, that'll take us to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Elliott.

And I think of this quote from Sidney Crosby during their locker cleanout on Friday. It's difficult when you're cleaning out your locker install and you're just thinking and you know just how fun it is to play in the playoffs and how important that is. It's been a few years in a row now for Crosby, that he hasn't had a chance to experience that. There was a sense maybe going into this year that, I don't know, a long shot that the Penguins could be in that conversation.

They were not. Mike Sullivan said that it's his intention to continue to be behind the bench there in Pittsburgh. This was a team that is an older group, Elliott, but Kyle Dubas had started the process early on in the season when things weren't going well in trying to get younger. Does that plan go into, I don't know,

maybe a hyper drive of some sort as we head into the off season? You know what the only problem is with that quote, Kyle? What? From Crosby what's trade him to Colorado with the draft oh Sid you're not supposed to pour gasoline on the fire lie Sid don't tell the truth don't start these Colorado rumors all over again a couple of things things for the Penguins.

What has Dubas done? He's looking for young players, players who can play, like young players ready to play in the NHL. I think he does this again this off season. He's got Caproom. How does he go out there and get more young players? Like I think he wants to be aggressive. I think he wants to continue to make the team younger and better. So I look at him this summer and I say okay

how are you gonna go out and continue to do that? What young players can he target to bring it? Now everybody's got Caproom. Now everybody's got summer LTIR. So how is Dubis gonna go out and do that? One of the things I do believe is, as I do think we will hear some legitimate Eric Carlson conversation, and one of the things there is that after his bonus is paid, I think he's only owed about $11 million in cash for the next two years. Teams are not going to run away from that. One of the things about Carlson is he doesn't miss games, knock on wood.

He's played every game in the last two years for the Penguins. And he still, as he showed at the Four Nations, he's still got a will and the ability to play with good players. I don't know that they do deal him, but I do think they will have legitimate opportunities to trade him Remember he has control over this, you know the Tang the sir every time the Tang has surgery You wonder if this is it but they're saying no that this was a scheduled thing and number one I just hope he's alright. Yeah guys been through a lot and number one, I just hope he's all right. That guy's been through a lot.

But I look at Carlson, I look at Left D, like that is a team that's gonna need help on the left side if they're gonna try to take another step. But in a creative guy like Dubas, I always look at him and say, he wants to get younger. He did it a lot during the season, he's active about it. So in a summer where everybody's gonna have room to get good young players that might be available,

how is he gonna do it? It's a very good question. And you know Crosby's burning desire to be, and it was interesting that he hasn't completely, because Kyle Dubas, of course, is in charge of world championships. And Crosby didn't say no to that idea. He talked about how Four

Nations, you know, we all wondered about his health going in and the fact that he just kept playing into Four Nations and then out of it again with Pittsburgh. He said that helped him and it sounds like he's kind of weighing all that of does he go over to play for Team Canada at the World Championships just to keep his season going a little bit longer with the eye with the Milan Winter Olympics next February too. That was interesting. Okay. The Anaheim Ducks, Elliott, you mentioned a little bit earlier on that, you know, some questions about the future of head coaches and the importance of

the exit meetings with the players. So why don't we start there and Greg Cronin in Anaheim after an 80 point season in SoCal? Well, let me first say this before we get to Greg Cronin in Anaheim after an 80-point season in SoCal? Well, let me first say this before we get to Greg Cronin. Number one, I think the Anaheim Ducks want to make the playoffs next year. I think in their eyes, the rebuild is over and they are going for the postseason. They were aggressive last year. They pursued Stamkos. They pursued Marciusot. Didn't get them, but they were out there.

I think that goes doubly so for this year They've got capital. They've got Cap room and I think the Ducks are like I think the rebuild is over They want to make the playoffs next year. So everything that I believe with the Ducks is in the prism of that Greg Cronin, okay. So number one, I believe that Pat Verbeek likes Greg Cronin I believe he believes in the in the way Greg Cronin does things last year when they were complaints from the players He backed his coach. He said yes, we are gonna ask him to do some things differently, but we're not making the change Yes, we are going to ask him to do some things differently, but we're not making the change now I still think that some of those complaints are there and we'll see how it goes after

Verbeek meets with the players does he feel that line has changed at all? But I'll say this one thing about for beak. I had a player tell me a pretty interesting story Said that like this year. There's a couple times. I wrote and talked about Kyle about how I Think some of those young D especially they were very frustrated they didn't get to play all the time and You know they traded Duma Lin and then more of them got to play it kind of opened up a logjam there but this player told me that

there were times that some of those young guys were really frustrated when they weren't in the lineup. And he said that from what he was told, like whether it was Cronin who told the players or it was Verbeek who told their representatives, they said, look, the NHL is not easy. If you want to play here, you are going to have to earn it. We're not just going to hand you a roster spot. If we want to win and you want to win and you

want to be successful you are going to have to fight and scratch and claw for your roster spot. Like there was an interesting situation in San Jose where Kovalenko has basically said that he's unhappy with his playing time. And if you read Mike Greer's quotes and you read, I was one of the veterans in San Jose, I can't remember which one it was, but I saw one of the veterans was quoted, maybe it was Vvenberg basically said like, you know what, like you have to earn your spot, you have to carve it out yourself. And I think that I do think that Verbeek likes that his players are being made, especially

the young guys are being made to fight for their ice time. And I think he likes the way that Cronin makes them earn their ice time. But I think two things. Number one, they want to make the playoffs. And number two, I think Verbeek's default position is Cronin is coming back I always leave the door open a little bit last year the players made him force change a bit again it comes down to that do the players through what they say force Verbeek or make Verbeek think he has to

make a change but But first and foremost, they're going for the playoffs next year. And as they go to look for people to bring in to help them accomplish that, one of the conversations I was having with one of their players early on in the year when they had come through Ottawa was that you look at all the young guys they have

in that room that you've talked about here, Elliot. He said, especially with the new generation of players, there's not a lot of chatter, as you say, in the room. Like it can be a pretty quiet dressing room at times. And maybe part of that is just because you're a young player, you're still getting comfortable in your own skin and being a national hockey league guy. So I wonder as they go and try to attract and target

who they believe they think can help them get to the playoffs. Maybe a little more volume to the room as well is something that they wouldn't mind having. Just the dynamic that you know is important over the course of a long season to help them in some ways get to where they want to go. Hmm. Interesting. I do think that the quieter a room is, the worse it is, which is good when we're together, Kyle, with our group, because it's, it's never quiet when we're all together. No, no, no, I, uh, I don't doubt that for a second. So Anaheim's looking to make some noise this summer. And it was another noisy year at times, but for the wrong reasons, once again, for the Buffalo Sabres, Elliott,

you know, they tried to what's old is new again and bring back Lindy rough as the head coach last off season, didn't work 79 points and, you know, probably cost them some spots in the, the upcoming draft with a bit of a late some spots in the the upcoming draft with a bit of a late season surge in the results that they they put together but it's a conversation that's been going on in Western New York for 14 seasons now where does Buffalo go from here to try to end the longest playoff drought standing currently in the National Hockey League. Yeah, so I always think of Craig Simpson, beware the team that wins when the season's over, right? He talks about that a lot. So, but, you know, Kevin Adams and Lindy Ruff are doing a media

conference on Saturday, so we'll hear more. When you take a look at some of their videos from the trade deadline that they put out, it's very clear to me that Lindy Ruff has a very big voice in that organization. So the fact that it looks like he's coming back, and congratulations to him on his 900th win the other night, but it looks to me like Terry Bagula really believes in Lindy Ruff and he seems secure.

Kevin Adams, I think there's going to be changes in the front office of the Sabres. I'm curious to see how it's all going to work with Adams, but I do think he's going to, at the very least, some of the staff around him will be out and he will change it. Does that mean Adams changes his title at all? I don't know. We'll hear from him on Saturday. But like I said, I believe there's going to be changes around Adams. There will that that front office will have some kind of a new look next year. And we'll see what he says on Saturday. I'll say this, the other thing that I have heard this week is that there are

teams who believe that Luka-Nin could be available. That maybe the Sabres are, I don't know, down is the right word word but feel that he could have given them more this year And I don't even know I don't know if it's fair I mean every Sabres fan can deny it can decide if they think that's fair or not But there have been some whispers around the league that teams who are looking for goaltenders That he might be a guy who could be out there. So that's going to be one to watch for Buffalo. And just from not even a year into the five year contract he signed last July, Elliot. But to your point, he also I mean, a 2017 draft pick a different different regime of course was in as opposed to Kevin

Adams, but he did sign him to the latest extension there. It's been another down year in general for Buffalo and we've seen it. You know, there's years where they score well, they can't keep it out of their net, they get some good goaltending performances and the offense isn't quite there. And once again, they haven't been able to put it all together over the course of 82 games. So that's the story with the Sabres. The Seattle Kraken, Elliot, that was another year out on the West Coast that seemed to be frustrating. They took some big swings in the summer. They landed Brandon Montour, who was fresh off winning a Stanley Cup in Florida.

They landed Chandler's... What was he, third in the league in goals among defensemen, Brandon Montour? Quietly, right? Yes. Quietly put together a good year. I heard Seattle was very happy with the free agents, Montour and Stevenson. Like they, Montour, as we said, scored, but Stevenson too, I think that they really felt that one of the reasons Shane Wright took a big step this year was because Stevenson took a lot of the load off him

So I think even though it wasn't a great year for them Kyle sort of interrupt I think they felt that Montour and Stevenson were were good pickups for them. All right. So if they're happy with them Where does the consternation lie? So if they're happy with them, where does the consternation lie? So I'll confess something here. I haven't really poked a lot into Seattle. You know, Ron Francis and Greg Miller were really tight, and I kind of left that one alone. So we'll see that one over the next week.

But the one thing I did hear is that I think that organization wants to be aggressive. I think they feel they've been too conservative. And I think they would like to be a little bit more aggressive. And part of that goes with what we just talked about here. If you take a look at those two free agents, they were really happy with the way those guys played for them. So I think they would like to take a couple of more shots out there at some things. They have a lot of draft capital now, like, and they just didn't have any, right? Now they have some, they just got a couple first round picks in the trade for Bjork Strand and Gord. They're starting to build up their prospect base now. A couple of those guys played late in the season. But the one thing I did here was that I just think the organization wants to be a little bit

more aggressive and I would expect that that is something we see from the crack and they have a lot of cap room and now they have capital and I think that's something to keep an eye out for. Okay. The Boston Bruins, Alietta for the first time since 2016, not post-season bound. They made the coaching change mid-season, did not get the desired bump. Uh, I thought the most compelling stuff that come out of there over the last couple of days was Charlie McAvoy going into

a little further detail of all that he went through with the injury and then all the aftermath at Four Nations and just the line about, you know, I was willing to put a lot in for that Four Nations, but you know, what the cost, it wasn't quite totally what he was anticipating in the grand scheme of things. So that was just kind of one example of many of a trying year in Boston, just the complete opposite direction of what that organization had gotten used to for a long time. Yeah, I think that the whole Swamen thing, it kind of blew up their season before it started and they never got on the rails. Like, like I think this about Swamen, again, as you can tell, I've been talking to teams who might

need some goaltending or I've been looking around goaltending. I do think there are going to be teams that call the Bruins about Swamen and his no move doesn't kick in for another year, 26-27. No Move doesn't kick in for another year, 26-27. Now if I was them, I would say that this whole year went off the rails, as I said before it started, put in a good summer, don't do any interviews, just show up in great shape, be ready to go. Not everybody will look at it this way, but I do look at this year as a lost year for Swamen, but it doesn't mean it can't be recovered. I would just say, hey, focus, there's no contract talks,

we're locked in, nothing to worry about, just go out and be ready to be a great goalie, the goalie you were a year ago. And if he does that, it solves your problems, a lot of your problems, right? You know, McAvoy is still a great player. I think we learned a lot about David Posternak this year. 47% of the goals, number one in the league,

he could have mailed it in, he didn't. Like, it's what we talked about before with Columbus, very different circumstances. But things were bad in Boston and Posternak showed up. He tried to make a difference when things were terrible and he was really good. You know, I think a lot of people figured that McEvoy would be the next captain of the Bruins for sure. I don't think that's so obvious a decision anymore, right Kyle? Like I think you could look at Posternak and say,

the way he finished this year, he should be the captain. I think you have two very good options there now. So to me, the big question is Swainman though. Like, do you believe and does he believe with a summer of no distractions, he can get back there. Yes. You know coach, cap space, I read Charlie Jacobs quotes to Kevin Paul Dupont, the Boston Globe, it was a really good interview. You know, the Boston Bruins haven't always showed so much patience. But he said, look, we think Don Sweeney's done a good job for a long time.

Are we really going to throw him out after one bad year? It's kind of the same thing that Mark Chipman has said about Kevin Sheveldayoff. Generally, I do agree with that philosophy. Everybody can have a bad year. But I have to admit I was a little surprised that the Bruins of all teams subscribe to that philosophy. We've seen them make changes a lot easier than that. You know Claude Lemieux, the agent, told me a story once that when Hampus Lindm got traded to the Bruins from anaheim. He signed an extension right away and You know I just said why'd you do that? And he said because it's the Bruins They've been a good organization for a long time you want to play for them. They figure things out

I've never forgotten let me you said that I kind of made a note about that I like that he said that about them, you know clue the news been around a long long time he's seen a lot so it's clear that Charlie Jacobs at least has said you guys are gonna get a chance to figure this out so Linholm kind of blamed his injury a bit is he gonna be better but I think the whole key is Swamen. And to me, if he can have a good summer, the Bruins actually could fix a lot of what ails them. Certainly could. Certainly, certainly could. And I'm with the job too, just going back to Pastor Duck. I mean, how he helped elevate a guy like Morgan Geekey.

Now give Geekey full credit for making good of the opportunity he got with him. But all of a sudden, north of 30 goals for the first time in his career riding shotgun with 88. Another example of someone that looked at a tough season for the group and still tried to get something out of it. And he goes into a summer too in need of a new contract as Morgan Kiki. All right, lots to think about and decide

and to go through with Boston as they go into their offseason. The Philadelphia Flyers, Elliot, now you would think, you would think number one on the list for Daniel Breyer is figuring out where things go in terms of behind their bench Beyond that what's top of mind for Breyer and Trying to make his Flyers Club a much better version of themselves a year from now Goaltending I think they got to sort that out That's number one. Briere has kind of talked about before, this is going to be a big summer for them, right? Like one of the things is like there's a lot of teams here with Caproom, there's a lot

of teams that want to take the jump. We've talked about Anaheim, we've talked about Pittsburgh, you want to do things. Who's going to be the most aggressive to do things? I think I would suspect that Philly is going to try to be pretty aggressive. You know, we just mentioned Boston, we're talking Philly, they have coaches opening, you know, we're gonna get to Chicago and we're gonna talk about David Karl. I mean, you know, who's going to come after him a little bit, try to make it hard for him to say no, you know, talk its situation.

How much does it affect all these other jobs as well too? Like I'm starting to put a list like who are the really good coaching candidates out there that can make a difference on some of these teams? We start to look at this as well, too. But I do think this is a big summer for Philly to kind of go at their roster a little bit. I think that the Flyers are like the ducks. They've kind of said, okay, it's been enough of this It's time to go for it a little bit They need a center centers hard to find. Where do they find that center? I will say this If there's gonna be offer sheets

Teams talk about Philly. That's one of the teams definitely that people look at and say, if this is going to be an offer sheet summer, Philly is going to be one of those teams. And if you look at 2026, they have all of their picks. In the first four rounds. Yes, they've got the capital. They've got a ton of picks this year, like they got a ton of picks this year. They've got seven picks in the first two rounds. like you can't use those in offer sheets this year But you can dangle those to get things

You know Philly is one of those teams that people look at and say okay. It's Philly. They think big they do big They're gonna They're they're at the point where they're gonna try something. They've had enough of being mid. Oh, that's good. Ring the Liberty Bell. They are prepared to enter the offer sheet ring. I like that.

I like that. Yeah, it could be a big one for Philly coming up here this summer, Elliot. So that's the story with the Flyers, the Nashville Predators. I think Elliot, hearing this a few years ago, that it like as a general manager, one of the worst things you could hear

or the thing you least want to hear and get caught up in is you've won the offseason. Not quite going to the point of it's a kiss of death but man it certainly felt like it this past season when you look at how things played out for the Nashville Predators finishing the year 30th of 32. You know one of the things that happens in these situations is you have your exit meetings and sometimes the general manager waits a few days to talk. So the Predators went on Friday, the players Andrew Burnett and Barry Trotz is going next week.

And you know, one of the things I kind of wonder about that is, does the general manager just say, look, I need some a couple of days to process what I've heard and that can lead me one way or the other into making some decisions. I think people in what in Nashville have wondered will there be a coaching change or not and Barry Trotz fought to keep brunette this year. He said it's not all his fault and i don't want him to wear the full blame for the way this year went you know if you go when you read through all these comments from both brunette and the players um it's pretty clear you know brunette has an interesting quote you know brunette has an interesting quote and

Whenever I hear it. I'm kind of like okay. This is a Coach that realizes he may not be back and his quote is Basically if I'm told I'm not returning I feel very confident in my ability to continue that path somewhere else So whenever a coach says that it says to me that Brunette's not really sure. He thinks he could be back, but he thinks there's a possibility that he might not. And if you listen to comments from some of the players, like Jonathan Marchesot, he gave credit for Brunette making some changes but if you listen to some of the quotes from the players it's very clear that and

even from Brunette himself in some case that the way he likes to coach and the way he likes to play it didn't always fit with what he had. So I think Barry Trotz has a decision to make. Can he keep the coach, make the necessary personnel adjustments, and he will have to make the roster better anyway, but can he make the necessary personnel adjustments to help Burnett play the way he wants to play, or does he simply say with most of these guys here I can't play like that and I'm going to need a different coach? And I think that's what Trotz has to decide.

You know, it's always easy to say, well, it's easier to fire the coach than trade all 23 of the players. I'm not really sure. I think that answer, you could say that in like the 80s or 90s. I'm not really sure it's that simple anymore in the 21st century. You know, one of the things he talked about also too was players not coming back hard enough. That's something the players can fix by themselves that's not always on the coach.

So to me, the biggest question is, what does Trotz think his best way to fix is? And I think we get that answer over the next couple of days. You know, I think too with Nashville, I will say this. Trotz around the deadline asked a lot of his players, are you still committed here? Do you want to play here? Even some of the guys who just signed.

And they all said, yeah, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in. And I'll say this about Ryan O'Reilly. Ryan O'Reilly at the deadline, he could have been traded to Toronto, he could have been traded to Ottawa, he could have been traded to New Jersey, he could have been traded to probably a bunch of other places, and he said, no, I made a commitment here, I want to be here.

And so I'm not talking about him with this but I do think there were some people who felt it's really hard to get honest answers in the middle of a season like that and those trades can be very hard to make in the middle of a season. I think now that the season's over and everybody's had time to decompress, I think Trotz is going to be able to get a better idea of who's in it for the long run and who isn't. I also like Brunette's line on Friday of just hinting at he's made a career of finding solutions, whether it was his days as a player or now as he's gotten into coaching, that's been his hallmark.

So whether that's here in Nashville or elsewhere, didn't mind the confidence and the belief in his own self and letting that come across on Friday. Coach of the year last year, he didn't suddenly become stupid. Yeah, yes, exactly. Oh, so that was a really difficult year in Nashville and it was a challenging trying year in Chicago to the sophomore season for Connor Bidard, rookie of the year, a season ago, just not the same type of traction and same feel in terms of trajectory around not only the player, but of course the the team at large here.

Elliot, so for Kyle Davidson, what are they looking at in terms of what they need to tackle first for a team that still feels a long long way from contending? You know the thing I like the most about Chicago's getaway day was what Connor Bedard had to say about speed, where he talked about how he says, I'm not slow, but I need to get a bit more of a burst. I thought that was really interesting because if there is one critique I've heard about Badaard's play, it's that he's not as quick as some of the other star young players are. When he said that it strikes me

like he is acutely aware of what his weaknesses are and what he has to work on. I thought that was a really good omen for the Blackhawks. Because this thing that other players talk about he's aware of he sees it he gets it he's like yeah that's something I got to fix so I really like that for Bedard and I like that for Chicago you know you heard Bedard also to say like he's not unhappy there as certain NHL players were whispering yes they've heard rumors that he was unhappy. So that's not true.

Look, like I'll take a look at, I'll, I'll tell you about Chicago. Like you can see the young talent there on the blue line, Frank Nazar. He had a great end to the season. You know, Spencer Knight, you can tell that he sees himself as someone who can help build a culture there, right? Like he's barking at those guys on the ice, like, do this, do that, or he's talking to them in practice, do this, do that.

They've got some pieces there. You know, I will say this, there's a lot of David Karl rumors around there. The moment Denver was out, and they lost in the Frozen 4 semifinals, the moment Denver was out, there were rumors Chicago was going to make them like a massive offer and have them in there the next day. Now obviously that didn't happen. That was premature. But I do think Chicago is very interested and you know, we'll see how it all plays out.

We've talked a lot about Carl. I don't think they're the only team that's going to try to get him. But I think they, you know, Kyle Davidson at his closing media conference was like, he was throwing cold water, no, we haven't talked to anybody yet. We're, this is all premature. I think everybody's kind of aware that Chicago is going to try at the very least to make that happen. Oh boy, yeah, interesting, interesting. And that's the ties have been there, as you say, for a long while, this is not something

that's coming out of nowhere there between David Carl and the Hawks. All right, we'll wrap up with the San Jose Sharks, Elliot. Had to have been one of the most entertaining 20-win teams, perhaps in the history of the National Hockey League. A lot of nights where they would come up short and maybe just short but boy they were a lot of fun to watch with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith William Eklund you go down the list from there. I look at them Elliot and I wonder I mean are they in a

situation potentially similar to Anaheim where they look at maximizing the enhanced cap space and bringing in some more help that could really make a difference or are they not quite there yet for Mike Greer and company? Well listening to Greer it sounds like they're not quite there yet. I don't think they're gonna go, like I think they're gonna be players but you know we talked about not wanting to give out really long term. Look, he signed to Foley, to Foley scored 30 goals and he's like the uncle, he's like the fun uncle for Cellebrini and Smith.

That one was really good for them. You look at that and you see, I think those are the kinds of things he's going to try to do. Like I'm not sure he's swinging for the upper deck yet. I think that the Sharks have a plan and they're going to stick with that plan. I think next year, the one thing I'm really curious about next year is they sound like they're ready to handle, hand the number one goalie job to akarov and a 1B. They're going to go out and they're going to find, they told Georgiev he's not staying, so Askarov's going to be the guy and they're going to do a 1B.

I was also wondering, would they give Celebrini the C? Because even though he's still young young he has been around elite athletes all his life he knows what it takes to compete well you know Greer said on Saturday he may not have a captain right so I was curious about that you know I'll say this a guy they said they're probably gonna move Will Smith back to center a little bit but I think Will Smith had a better year this year than some people were expecting. I know people who felt that Smith would have a longer adjustment to the NHL and he took it like Jake Wallman talked to us when we saw him in Edmonton for a feature we taped. He said that he was really impressed,

obviously with Celebrini, but he said he was really impressed with Smith too. And the thing is, like he said, Celebrini believes. It took a bit longer for Smith to believe, but he said, look, the other players there, they really saw it. Like they said, he's a player. And it just took him a while to believe he was on that level and obviously he got a taste of it And he's better now You can see the cornerstones there celebrini Smith a scar of next year Gets that chance who does he play with them?

But I still think they realize that it's not yet time for them to spend money like a drunken frat boy. Is that taking that from memory, Elliot? No, no. Shades of a younger self, perhaps? You know, I also wanted to shout out Logan Couture, who announced his retirement. Couture a great playoff player. I really remember him in that game, the big comeback against Vegas, scoring that first goal on the power play and saying that's one.

And then he scored later. He scored again. And he was such a great playoff player. I'll tell you this, I sent him a note wishing him all the best, and I said, you know, you could probably be pretty good on TV. And you know what his response was? Get me away from you? No chance. That was his response.

No chance. He said, no way. Oh, doesn't hurt to try. Doesn't hurt to try, Elliott. All right. So we ran through the gamut of the 16 teams that not go into the playoffs. Elliott will take our first break. We'll come back with the thought line first, and then we will finish with running through the eight first round series of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.

You're listening to 32 Thoughts the Podcast. Okay, welcome back. Time once again for the Thought Line. Now, Elliot, you and I were having a conversation recently, and I learned that you were not necessarily a huge Mighty Ducks trilogy guy. Now, is that because you didn't care for the movies or it just didn't line up with your age and childhood and the window where you would have consumed it and had it resonate with you in the critical years of your life? It's B. Okay. It's B. Now, have the critical years of your life? It's B. OK. It's B.

Now have you watched any of them over? Yeah, yeah. I've watched them. I mean, I like them. I think they're, like I like them, but there are people who are obviously huge Mighty Ducks fans. They know it inside and out.

They know all the subplots. They know all the, you know, from, obviously, I know what Knuckle Puck is, but KnucklePuck and everything else that you would, KnucklePuck, Goldberg, and everything else that you would know, I don't know it as well as those people. Okay, that's not a problem here, but I just wanted to ask that question before. Our first question here today. Okay.

Comes from Jake from New Haven, Connecticut. Home of the Nighthawks. Very good. Hello to the good people of 32 Thoughts, the podcast, and also Elliot. I like that. I have a multi-pronged question about penalty shots and official scoring. Famously, at the end of the first Mighty Ducks movie, Charlie Conway is awarded a penalty shot with no time on the clock.

But I can never remember seeing or hearing about a real life penalty shot with zeros on the clock in any period in any hockey game. Ooh. Theoretically, is it possible for such thing to happen if a penalty occurs on a breakaway late in the period, but the offending team does not gain control of the puck until after the buzzer sounds and what would the official scoring be 1959 20 0 of the following period would

love to know your thoughts well first of all I have to say one thing, and this is for my generation. The most famous end of period penalty shot ever is in the movie Youngblood. Ah. So while your generation and others are big in the Mighty Ducks, for my generation, it was Youngblood. Rob Lowe is fouled by the infamous Raqui at the end of the game giving him the penalty shot in Youngblood. So while I absolutely, I am not a jealous man, I am not a grandfather or a zoomer who says I went up the hill both ways to school I respect the greatness of the mighty ducks but I feel I must represent the

penalty shot of young blood the answer to your question is at least part of it I don't know all of it but I do know one thing if a penalty shot is awarded and before the play is blown dead the clock hits zero, the penalty shot still gets awarded. That happens. I know that. Yes. The rest of it, I'm not so sure. No, my understanding, I believe it would be recorded like as the clock would be the end of the period for something like that because time had technically run out but as you say the time it takes to record a penalty shot

is not factored into the actual time of the game. And the other thing too with this Elliot, the referee it's actually at their discretion you know if you have the unique circumstance where say a player's on a breakaway and they get tripped just inside the blue line with one second left, we'll say that. get a shot off, but the referee can look at that situation and go, okay, there was one second left when the trip happened. He was just inside the blue line when it occurred. Was he really, even if he wasn't tripped, going to get a legitimate scoring chance because of how little time left there was there? No. So in those situations they can say, even though it was a penalty because of how little time there was and the realistic chance that a scoring opportunity could come of that,

the referee could go, there's no penalty shot here either. Boo. If you commit the foul, if you can't do the time, don't commit the crime, Kyle. Boo. I don't like that. Not enough time to do the crime, Elliot. Not enough time to do the crime, Kyle. Boo. I don't like that. Not enough time to do the crime, Elliot. Not enough time to do the crime sometimes. I don't like that. I don't like it. That will just lead to chaos on our streets.

Dogs and cats living together. Thankfully, thankfully, we don't have many examples of that. But that was, I mean, it can't be overstated enough and I've seen it a few times because, I mean, the whole crux of that finish of Charlie Conway getting the breakaway at the end, it was in a way to avenge you know Gordon Bombay when he was a kid because he missed his penalty shot in the Pee Wee, I think it was the state championship game and his coach Jack Riley was on the other side.

He of course was Bombay's coach when he was a kid. It just so unjust for Bombay at that time. Cause I think he scored 198 goals in Pee Wee that year. Like he was the only reason that team was any good. And then he misses one penalty shot. He rips it off the post. And that jerk Jack Riley of a coach was any good and then he misses one penalty shot he rips it off the post and that jerk Jack Riley of a coach with just the most disgusted disappointed

look on his face that this poor 12 year old didn't happen to score one time and completely changed and he'd like just lost his father too like the lack of compassion was unbelievable there. So thankfully Gordon Bombay found success in hockey later on as a coach as those movies went on. But it can't be understated that it was cruel, cruel how he was treated as a kid, as a generational talent growing up in Minnesota. Just got to get that that. Love your passion. I love your passion. Jake, thank you for the question. All right, Kate up next.

Hello. I am a recent hockey fan and I've had a great time following the San Jose sharks and your podcast. There are two things I've noticed and been curious about lately. It seems like whenever they need an extra person to serve a penalty, they pick rookie Will Smith. Is this because he is a designated whipping boy or does it say something positive about his offensive contributions when he rejoins

the fray? Is there someone in the NHL who has served the most time for someone else's crime? Oh PS my favorite shark is Randy Hawn. Go sharks. Randy Hawn, the play by play voice. Of course. Yeah, Randy. Great guy. That's a good pick.

I can't I can't argue with Randy Hawn being someone's favorite shark. None. You know what? I mean, you see players, there's generally on teams, players who become the designated server of a bench miner. Usually it's someone who doesn't kill penalties. And more and more, it's become someone who maybe when they get out of the box, you can spring for a breakaway. So I can see why Will Smith would be like to me, I think Will Smith is a good

pick to do that. Yes, because I feel for a lot of years, it was someone that didn't play often would be one of the four. Fourth liner. Exactly. But to your point, now there's the shift of like, there's an opportunity to try to jump on some quick offense when the penalty has expired. So you've got an offensive guy who maybe wouldn't be in a penalty killing role to go serve the

two minutes for that opportunity once the two minutes are done. Yes, I agree with that. I mean, I remember when I was younger, the late John Kordak, if the Maple Leafs got a bench minor, or even when he was with the Canadians, when they got a bench minor, he would almost always serve it but now it's it's a bit of a different role so I think Will Smith it makes a lot of sense to me if you're not going to kill penalties and maybe you can get a chance on the way out why not all right up next a voicemail this time Marco from Winnipeg hey Elliot hey Kyle Marco from Winnipeg here currently sitting on the couch watching my Winnipeg Jets thumping on the couch watching my Winnipeg Jets

thumping the Dallas Stars. Hopefully that comment doesn't age Coraline and we can pull off the win here. Question for you guys, I've been watching the game, they were mentioning a stat of somebody who had, I can't remember the exact number, but very few penalty minutes but had played all 82 games throughout the season and it made me think I'm wondering if it's ever happened if a player has ever played all 82 games or I guess it could be less games but have played all every single game of the season for their team and not have recorded a single penalty minute I'm really curious know if you guys can find the answer

and thanks a lot, love listening to the podcast. Thanks guys, bye. Who? Who, I'm trying to think. Not in 82 games. Okay. So there have been 13 instances of a player recording zero PIMs in a season

while playing in every game available in a season that's at least 70 games long because it has of course changed over the years. But there are two players that have played the most games in a season with zero penalty minutes. How many games are we talking here? 78. One occurred in a season which there was only 78 games played total. The other one was in 1980, 81.

It was an 80 game schedule, but this player only played 78 of them. So 70s and 80s, that kind of thing? Yeah, 80, 81. Because 78 games would have been in the 70s. Correct. Yeah, that's right. So 78 games would have been in the 70s.

Geez, I'm trying to remember lady Bing type guys. And these have got to be forwards, right? Yes. Like, I gotta tell you, there's two guys I think of and I have no idea if they're the right answer but they're the two guys well the two guys I think of. One would be Butch Goring and the other would be like Jean Rattelle kind of guy. Elliot you are one for two, my man. Really?

Butch Goring is one of them, yep. No kidding. Yep. The other guy I just kind of popped into my head, and I don't know if he's the answer, would be Mike Bossy. Good guess, but no. Okay. So Butch Goring in 80-81, zero PIMS in 78 games. Wow. And he also went on

to win the Stanley Cup and the Con Smythe. That was the year he won the Con Smythe, right? Yes. Yeah. Correct. And he did win a Lady Bing a few years earlier. Yeah. Butch Goring, great player, hilarious broadcaster. And from what I've also heard about Butch Goring, great player, hilarious broadcaster. And from what I have also heard about Butch Goring, nobody is a better road packer than Butch Goring. Oh yeah, in terms of efficiency? Minimalist. Minimalist and efficiency, yes.

I've been told that about him. We talked about him on one of the pods and someone reached out and said he is the best road packer in the league too. Wow. So like give Heels a run for his money? Yeah. You know, the Heels story is a good one because he lost his bag once and they didn't find it for a month.

So after that, he never checked a bag. But I don't know if he... That's how it started. Yes. It was the Carolina All-Star game. Whatever year the Carolina All-Star game was, he lost his bag for weeks and he never checked it again. That's a good reason not to.

Okay. So the other guy, long time coach after his playing days were done. Mostly as an assistant. And this was the guy in the eighties, the early eighties? No, uh, Goring was 80, 81. Oh, this player did it with 73, 74. Oh, this is a tough one. Elliott. I'm very impressed that you got which Goring, the scoring, the Buffalo Sabres. Long time coach after?

Yeah, mainly an assistant. Not talking like Jimmy Roberts, are we? No. No, I don't know if he would have played for Buffalo then. All right, you got me. Oh, yeah, you got me. Craig, Craig Ramsey, Craig Ramsey. I can't believe I didn't get that. Terrible. That's terrible. That's not terrible. Yeah, you know what? If you're my age, you should, if you're gonna give me the Buffalo Sabres,

like the first guy I thought of was Don Luce, but you should get Craig Ramsey. Like that's a miss. That's a miss. It's all good. I curl up in the fetal position in shame. That's a miss. Just hang on to the glory of butch coring.

No, I never think of the good ones. You never think of the hits. You only remember the misses. Like Gordon Bombay. Yeah. Is there no justice? No, that's just terrible. Terrible.

Up next, Blake in Vancouver. Hey, Kelly Dom. With the cap rising considerably, could you see teams with cap space make big swings on short-term deals? A team like San Jose with lots of space and two seasons before the young stars get paid after their entry-level deals. Could you offer free agents massive overpays on two-year deals. John Tavares for example. San Jose was a team that was interested in him before he signed with the Leafs in 2018. Could be a great mentor for the young kids while improving their squad. Maybe two times 15 million? Would love your thoughts. Yeah I absolutely believe that things like this could happen.

And it happened in basketball when the 76ers were really bad. I remember they signed JJ Reddick who's now coaching the Lakers to a one-year deal at like 20 million. Those kinds of things did occur. You'll remember when Artemi Panarin was a UFA and signed with the Rangers, Colorado offered him something like 4 times 13 because they looked at their cap window and they said, okay, you know, McKinnon's going to have an extension coming, McCarr is going to have an extension coming.

We really want the player and we've got to do it this way. And you know, obviously, Panarin didn't take it. He went to the Rangers instead, but they've tried that. So yes, I also I think with I've talked before about Vancouver considering offer shooting Jamie Ben when he was in Dallas and they what they were going to do is they're going to offer him a one year deal at big money that they didn't think Dallas would be able to match and then they would have done a longer deal later on. So this stuff hasn't always happened, but it certainly has been contemplated.

Yes. And I do think with more cap room going up, I think it does increase the possibility of that occurring. Yes. All right. Last one. Ryan in Victoria. Hello, Kyle, Dom, and the man who has too much screen time.

Yep. I had a thought recently when I realized that both the Bruins and the Rangers are not going to be in the playoffs this year, which, by the way, feels really weird. I saw someone on X recently say that the last time both the Bruins and the Red Wings missed the playoffs in the same season was 1967 which is both impressive and also funny. Of course there's also Chicago who are rebuilding so this means the only original six teams that are going to make the playoffs are the two Canadian teams Montreal and

Toronto my question is this has this ever happened before if so what year appreciate the hard work guys especially the stats department yes so we were talking about this yesterday it's never happened before. No, it has not. This is the first time it's ever happened. Incredible. Incredible. Of all the different, well, now especially as we've gone to 30 and beyond teams in the NHL, never this combination before. Never ever. Of course, in the original six days, well well the four teams made it in, right? Yes. Yes.

So you never had that situation then? That's right. Four out of six, nope. And since then, nope. I think it was Kevin Paul DuPont who was the first person to mention it, but we were talking about it yesterday. Fascinating stuff. Ryan, thank you for the question and that'll do it for this edition of the Thoughtline. 1-833-311-3232 if you would like to call and leave a voicemail or if you would like to type in your question or idea. 32thoughts at Sportsnet.ca. Thanks as always to Griffin Porter for helping put this all together. One final break and 32 Thoughts the Podcast will wrap up on the other side. Stay tuned. All right. Welcome back, Elliot. The time has come.

Let's run through the eight first round series of this year's Stanley Cup. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season.

We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season.

We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. We're going to start with the first round of the season. All right, welcome back, Elliot. The time has come. Let's run through the eight first round series of this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. Are you ready? I am ready. And we'll start with later today, Elliot. You'll be on the air at 530 Eastern, 430 Central, and the lead up to the Winnipeg Jets and the St. Louis Blues. The President's Trophy winners and one of the great second half post-Four Nation finishes

in St. Louis. It's Hellebuck versus Bennington. Luke Shen versus Braden Shen. The top team in hockey this season versus the power of Jobu. Lots to get into here. Where do you want to start with this series? To me, you know, Jim Montgomery, if there was any doubt about what a great coach he is, he walks into St. Louis, he completely turns them around. He made a like there there were

guys who looked really poor. Before Montgomery got there, who particularly on the blue line who suddenly looked really poor before Montgomery got there, particularly on the blue line, who suddenly looked really good after he rebuilt the way that they wanted to play defense. And I think that's the sign of what a great coach that Montgomery is. To me, a lot of this is about the Jets. Last year in the first round against Colorado, they panicked by their own admission. When things went wrong, they fell apart. They forgot the way they're supposed to play. And they got completely frazzled

and the avalanche buried them. That's one thing they talked about. Don't panic. They also talked about how the avalanche were selfless as players. If a McKinnon or a Rantanen then or a McCarr had a play where it didn't look like it made sense, they either dumped it in or reloaded or they did something safe. Their best players were unafraid to be safe when the time really counted for it. Like did they, they've talked a lot about learning the lessons Now they've got to show us that they really have learned the lessons, you know, honestly I think both these teams can defend I think both these teams have great goaltending Bennington outdueled Hellebock at the four nations. They've both got injury issues

They've both got injury issues, Ehlers for Winnipeg, Velarde although they seem kind of confident. Holloway is a big loss for the Blues. You know, I think here to me one of the biggest questions I have about this series Kyle is whose bottom six is going to score more? Like there's a lot of elite offensive talent here, guys who can score goals, but the depth guys, who's going to score a little bit more? And to me also too, I love the way Cole Perfetti finished the regular season. Can he do that in the playoffs? Can he be that hot? Because I think he's a difference maker for the Jets if he is. I think this is a real, I've seen a lot of highlights

of the Jacob Truba giveaway in the last Winnipeg St. Louis series. I think that's replayed on the internet and on my television since this playoff series got announced, but to me it's the depth scores. Who gets more of it? That I think is gonna determine who wins this series. I'll tell you going through the award selection process this week. Elliot, you're reminded of just how effective of a player Adam Lowry is for the yes.

And for the blues, you've got Jake neighbors, Zachary Bolduc, Jimmy snuggeroon, all making their Stanley Cup playoff debuts this spring. But I'm with you. The key here for this series is how do the Winnipeg Jets handle the first time they are punched in the mouth? Because you know it's going to come at some point from St. Louis. That's going to dictate where the outcome lies as those teams meet in the first round for the first time since 2019 and

Coincidentally enough there are some parallels at least from the st. Louis perspective of 2019 how they got in and the fact that it's Winnipeg that they're facing in the first round yet again So that's first up on Saturday later to come on Saturday night. I mean one of if not the on Saturday night. I mean one of if not the heavyweight tilt of the first round Elliot the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars. Now Dallas of course unfortunately has run into a little more injury trouble this week. Jason Robertson has announced week to week still no Miro Haskin and though Tyler Sagan did come back just before the regular season came to an end. However, regardless of all of that Elliot, this feels like one of those series where whoever

comes out on the short end of things should not be looked at. You were a team that lost in the first round because this is the one that has the gravita of a mid-June matchup over Father's Day weekend, not Easter weekend. Agreed a hundred percent and that's the way I do look at these playoffs. Not when do you lose but who do you lose to? You know the thing about Dallas is they're going into the playoffs on a real low. They don't look good. It's not just the Robertson injury. They've been losing. They've been exposed at times. If you look at it, you can find examples of teams that went into the playoffs hot and won,

teams that went into the playoffs hot and lost, teams that went into the playoffs cold and won, and teams that went into the playoffs cold and lost. There isn't a definitive way of saying you have to go into the playoffs this way or you're not going to win the Stanley Cup. Now I will say this Kyle, to look at the way Dallas has gone in, it's very, very rare. The one I remember is the Red Wings when they won the Stanley Cup with all those Hall of Famers in 2002. I think they lost nine in a row, including playoffs, and eventually righted and won the

Stanley Cup. So it's not impossible, but it really isn't the way to do it. And, you know, the Robertson, like he'd been hot, he'd taken the four nation snub the right way, right? It's kind of like Shifeley. They were impressive. Without Haysken in there, I think Thomas Harley has to be fantastic. He is going to have to be phenomenal. And I think there's going to have to be at least one other defenseman. And Lindell's an easy one. I'm gonna go even deeper than that, Kyle. I think someone from three to six on the Colorado blue line, particularly until Hayes-Gannon shows up, someone from three to six on this blue line is really gonna have to punch above their weight. Now, I'll say this, like one guy, Cece, he's taken a lot of abuse,

but I think in the last couple playoffs, in the right spot, I think he's been a very good player. So I'm kind of wondering if in the short term he's gonna have to be that guy, but I see one Dallas defenseman beyond Harley and Lindell is really going to have to punch above their weight to help them. You know, I'll say this, someone sent me a stat that when McCarr and Taze weren't on the ice, it's not like the Colorado defense was gangbusters either.

So they have their holes too, but they go in healthier. They got McKinnon the rest. And I don't really know what to expect from Landiscaug here, Kyle, when or how good he's going to be. Like I had people telling me even as great as it was last weekend, they thought after the second game, he still had a long way to go. And he obviously the difference between an AHL game and an NHL playoff game is going to be very big. That lift that he's going to give them, it's going to be massive. It's going to be incredible to see.

But I think the other one too, for me, it's Rantanen. He has to have a monster series. I thought he had some really good quotes on Friday about how he already went back to Colorado, he already saw it, it's easier the second time. I think right from the start of this series, he's going to have to be a difference maker. Last year, Dallas, last year Dallas fell down two nothing to Vegas and they still came back to win it. I don't like it this year if Dallas falls behind to Zip. I don't like to write off the stars.

I'm a huge fan of theirs. It's, it's almost as if the as if the hockey gods are conspiring against them at the absolute worst possible time. Think about too, we mentioned Craig Sipson earlier on in the pod, Elliot. He tells a story about in 89 after Gretzky was traded to LA and the Oilers faced the Kings in the first round that year. And, you know, looking back, just the realization of like, they just couldn't put themselves into the head space to play Gretzky hard enough because he'd have been part of so much. I know, Rand is not Gretzky, but they won with him. They all won together and now he's elsewhere. And just the challenge of pushing through that

barrier is going to be an interesting one to watch too. Did you see the photos of pushing through that barrier is gonna be an interesting one to watch too. Did you see the photos of the avalanche getting on the plane Friday? Did you just compare Miko Ratan into Wayne Gretzky? No, I specifically said he's not, one is not the other. Two different guys. I don't know.

But the idea that they won together. I don't know, that's not what I was hearing. won together. Don't, don't, don't even. No, did you see the photos of the avalach players getting on the plane Friday? No, actually I didn't see it. What was it? It was snowing in Denver.

Talk about playoff weather, it was snowing. Easter weekend. That's terrible. That's not right. Down to Texas they go. That should not be allowed to happen. This is why I support global warming because it should not be snowing on good. There's the title of this episode and you're cold open. Very, very good Mr. Bacoscus. I like

it. All right. So that's going to be Hopefully just a banger of a series even though the stars are a bit banged up How about the Devils and the Hurricanes like this was kind of the one matchup Elliot were for weeks now They were on a collision course you knew that they were going to end up meeting here Saw Dougie Hamilton come back this week played nearly 24 minutes on Tuesday the Carolina Hurricanes have made the playoffs. That was big. Yes it was.

Every year under Rod Bryndemore they have never won a game beyond the second round though. What kind of challenge is New Jersey looking at without Jack Hughes? I always believe Kyle that the most important thing you have to do to win the Stanley Cup is score Yes, you have to be able to defend. Yes, you have to be able to keep the puck out But it's a stupid saying but it's a good saying if you can't score you can't win And and I really believe in the playoffs you can never have enough Offense and the thing about, like if you watch them play, they are really, they're hard to play against, they lean on you, they don't give

up a ton of shots, but they can be scored on. Like right as we go into the playoffs, their goal tending does not scare anybody. Everybody respects how they play. Everybody respects how they defend, but they aren't scared of their goal tending. It's kind of the Achilles heel. And I think in a series like this one, where you may not get a lot of chances, but it doesn't mean you can't convert an offensive talent like Jack Hughes. He's a difference maker in it. I mean, he's a difference maker in it normally, but I think he's especially a difference maker

in a series like this one where you may not get a lot of chances to score, but it doesn't mean you can't score if that makes any sense. Yes, it does. It does for sure. By the way, Elliot, I'm sure you got a kick out of this Brent Burns stat line Thursday night in Ottawa the final game of the regular season one shift 24 seconds of ice time on the night so the Ironman streak continues 925 to wrap up the year he spent the rest of the game just hanging out on the bench. I'll tell you this, I do not like to say anything bad about Brent Burns. So deep

is the respect I have for him. But there have been times this year it hasn't, it's looked a bit rough. But he doesn't complain, he goes out there, he competes. And what that says to me is that that is an organization that's a deep respect for him as a player and You know I'll be honest if it was me. I don't know if I'd want to do that but I Know how much pride Burns has I know how much he cares and how much he competes and That is a coach and an organization saying you know what this is for everything you've done over

a long period of time and we're gonna get it done for you I respect that I'll tell you this if I was a coach and I had a player that I thought deserved it I would do it I don't it, I would do it. I don't know if I would do it for me, but I would certainly do it for someone else. A couple of other things about this series, Markstrom, this is why they got him. Markstrom has to win the goaltending battle. He has to win the goaltending battle here. And the other thing too is I think that the devil's power play has got to be great in this series too. Seigenthaler not being there is a huge loss.

I think Markstrom's got to out duel the Carolina goalies and like a lot of teams against Carolina you have to score when you have your chances because they don't give up a lot of them. All right. Sunday night, Elliott. Downtown Toronto. The battle of Ontario in the playoffs for the first time in 21 years. That's the series that I'm going to be following frominkside, the Senators, and the Maple Leafs.

The discourse has already started in earnest online from A, who are we selling our tickets to in Ottawa for three and four and potentially six to make sure it's not a blue and white takeover. I watched that Edmonton Vancouver series last year from afar, but it felt like you were caught up in it with everything that was going on online. Already you're seeing the temperature rise there and we're still, as we record this, just under

48 hours from the puck dropped on game one of this actual series. So I just wanted to tell you I bought a couple tickets and I'm gonna give them to fans in Ottawa who will be wearing head-to-toe leaf clothing and I'm giving them a sign saying Kyle Bacoskas bought me these tickets. Oh man that's great that's really great that's really nice of you to do yeah you know what that's really nice of you to do. Yeah, you know what? That's really nice of you to offer up some tickets to some fans to go see a playoff game.

That's great. And that's when the kindness stops. I like to think of myself as like St. Francis of Assisi or something like that. Like that's kind of who I am. I can't wait for this. I'm very excited for this. It has been too long.

And you know what the best thing about this series is? It's got the personalities for it, right? Everybody talks about Brady Kachak, obviously, David Perron. David Perron did a great article with Wayne Scanlon a couple weeks ago. It was a really hard year for him. In the playoffs, everything is forgotten. It's a whole new script. We start over.

And David Perron is made for this time of year. If you look at Toronto, Marner had a great year. I think Matthew's to me, it's almost like tapering a swimmer. Okay if those of you who are unfamiliar with swimming and if you know my Olympic work you know I'm an expert on swimming but you know what a swimmer does is that when they taper it means they prepare to be elite or at their best at a certain time. There are certain preparations you do leading up to a meet to make sure that you are the elite of the elite for your own performance at that time. And the thing

about Matthew's was there were a lot of issues earlier this year. You know one of the things I heard was surgery wouldn't solve the problem. It was a muscle thing, at least for the one that he went to Germany for. And the hope was that it would heal and he would be ready when it matters. And I think the Maple Leafs are counting on that and that Matthews is properly tapered for now. I think Matthew Nyes, who's had a phenomenal season, like you talk about like he's not Kachak but I think he could have a Kachak like presence in these playoffs. Health

Toronto, you know McCabe's coming in, Ackman-Larsen they both missed time. How healthy are they gonna be? I think this is going to be a big series for Jake Sanderson. The other thing I want to see is I have believed that the longer Toronto goes the more they're going to need both goalies. Like these are not guys who are used to playing every game all the time, especially not in the playoffs. Now I don't know if that'll be the factor in one round. Maybe Stollers does last four to seven however long it is. But I'm curious to see it because it's not something these guys have ever really done before. Wolves had the injury issues

and Stollers has had a fantastic year, has never carried the mail for this many big games in a row. Like there's a lot here. There's, there's an awful lot here. And you know what, I think I really do believe that keeping cool is going to be a big deal. There's a lot of guys on these two teams that can get under people's skin. And I think that's going to be a big part of Ottawa's strategy. Kachak, Perron, Ridley Gregg, those kinds of guys. And I think Toronto, they have some guys like that, but Ottawa's guys there, they're like experts at it.

And Toronto's gonna have to keep its cool. There's a lot to love about this series, and I can't wait to see it. I think the Borubi effect is a real one here for Toronto as you're trying to figure out, okay, what's different about this group this year compared to seasons past. Lena Salmark, you mentioned what Markstrom was brought in for for New Jersey. Allmark was brought in not only to help Ottawa get to this point, but also try to get through. You also have to remember too, Elliot, Almark himself has never won a playoff series. He's won a Vezna, but he hasn't won

a playoff series before. So that's a challenge that he's trying to get on the other side of too. And I think back to, you brought the story, I know in the past, of what Keith Yandle said going into a playoff series with Arizona against, I think it was Detroit, right? All those years ago. Yeah.

And that feeling of being game planned against for the first time. I wonder for somebody like Tim Stutzla what that is going to feel like and how he handles it. Now, as I say that, the only thing I'll ever add is few people at organization told me or I just overheard it over the last few days here is that of all the young guys in Ottawa that are going through this experience for the first time, Stutzel is the one player they are worried about the least. So we'll see. Hmm, it's gonna be a lot of fun. I think it's gonna be I think it's gonna be, I think it's gonna be absolutely fantastic.

Cannot wait to see it. Cannot. And the social media hate, it's Kyle. Every time we open our mouths, if we say something nice about the Lees, you Leaf lovers, you guys only care about the Le Leafs if you say something about the nice of the Senators and it could be like within 10 seconds. You hate the Leafs, you love the Senators, bias, bias, bias. I love series like this. It is going to be awesome. You could say 99 great things about one team and then one bad thing about them and all

their fans are, you hate us you hate us it's gonna be fantastic. Leafs net at it again. Yeah this is the this is the shut the DM off series. No it isn't that's the best thing about it. I know yeah you love the chaos you're sick. I love it's it's gonna be fantastic. What a great series. This is gonna be This one that says by the way this one goes seven. Oh, I like that

Yeah, just like Saturday May 3rd 2004. Yeah, Saturday. That's great. And they set up they've loud Yeah Gives them the opportunity to have two Saturday nights in this series, game four and potentially game seven. So that gets underway Sunday night. A little later on on Sunday is the Minnesota Wild and the Vegas Golden Knights. Not seeing many give many much of a chance here in this series. Elliot, how do they make things interesting against a Golden Knights team that looks to be putting themselves in a situation to take another run at what they accomplished just two years ago?

Well, I think this number one for me with Minnesota, it's always their health, right? Guys always seem to get hurt. And whether it's, you know, Kaprizov or Spurgeon, or it just it just seems like Minnesota always runs into injury trouble. So your key players, can they stay healthy? That's a big deal for me. You know, they played a series a couple years ago, it was a really tough mean series. I hope it's kind of that thing again but I think Kaprizov has to have a monster series that's number one I think Gustafson has to have a fantastic series that's number two you know the thing is too is that you know Vegas set a record this year fewest penalties by

any team and you're not going to get, so you can't, you have to be good against them five on five. You can't expect you're going to get a lot of power play opportunities against them. So you really have to feel that you really have to battle them to at least a standstill five on five. If you don't do that, you really have a challenge to win against them. I'm going to say this about LA, because I like this against Edmonton. But I really do think this about Minnesota too against Vegas.

You have to be able to score. And the one thing about Vegas is, Vegas, you have to be able to score. And the one thing about Vegas is, I was reading some of Marc Cissot's quotes from the Nashville clean out day and he talked about how Cassidy always adjusts to shut people down. He's got a great defensive team, a lot of great defensive players, a lot of really committed defensive players. Jack Eichel is a great two-way player. Mark Stone is a great two-way player. Their best offensive players are also great two-way players. So I just look at it and say, how is Minnesota

going to score? And the big way to score is that Caprizzal is going to have to have a big series. Boldy is going to have to have a big series. Boldy is going to have to have a big series. Rossi is going to have a big series. And you know that everything the Golden Knights are going to do is going to be about making life miserable for those guys at 5 on 5. And so I just, you need depth, you need to be great from 1 to 25. But there are some series I think where your star players really have to carry you. And I think this is one of those series for Minnesota against the Golden Knights.

The other thing too, Kyle, I really want to see. John Hines threw us a bit of a curveball the other day. Zeev Bouim, quarterbacking the power play. I am really curious to see this. If the Wild are serious about this, or they're throwing a pre-playoff fake. This is a confident young lad. He certainly believes he can do it. I want to see if the Wild are actually going to do it. Well, it was interesting though, Elliot, because in that game against Anaheim that they had to have at the start of this week, he didn't dress, right? Yeah. So that's something to keep in the back of your mind too, but it has to be tempting,

doesn't it? I don't know Hines as well as I know Garron, so I don't know how he feels about it, but Garron's a gambler. Like he's a gambler. And you know, sometimes I think coaches, you get, let's just say for argument's sake you get down in a series three to one you say okay I'm gonna try this and it might be too late. I almost subscribe to the opposite theory.

Just do it. Do it early. I would rather gamble and possibly be down 1-0 than gamble when I'm down 3-1 sometimes. Yes. You don't want to be chasing at the tables. No. No, because then you end up wearing a barrel. Yes, that's right. That's right.

I like your thinking. Yes. They bring it on. I mean, you can't really say there's nothing to lose of course, there's something to lose here for Minnesota, but going in as a big underdog and Vegas wouldn't have much of a book on them Doesn't matter like that that Vegas team Like that's a really smart team. Oh Yeah, Everything they do. No but also like

they're coached right, they're scouted right, like there's no way they don't have a book on this guy. Now who knows what could happen but Vegas is too mature to be thrown by that. They would have a plan. I just I want to see it. I'm looking at from Minnesota's point of view come out early firing. Yes. Would help with that whole scoring thing. Yes. Okay so that's Vegas and Minnesota late on Sunday night. Monday, Elliott, the Montreal Canadiens for the first time since 2021 are back in the Stanley Cup playoffs and they face the Washington Capitals,

the top seed in the Eastern Conference. We've seen this before. Yes, only one other time. 2010, also a time when it was a one versus eight different format but similar type of scenario here now with Washington the number one seed in the Eastern Conference both fan bases remember how that one turned out and for Montreal it has been a remarkable story for them to get here and for the first time this season when things were going poorly it felt like at least publicly there was more noise than

there had ever been at any other point prior to then questions around if the direction Martin Saint-Louis was trying to take this team was the right one but he stuck to his guns the players in the group continued to improve and it paid off in a huge way especially after going sluggishly into the Four Nations break they have returned with one of the great kind of resurrections along with st. Louis of course and getting themselves here and so do they have anything left in the tank against the Caps in this first round, Elliot?

Well, I think it's house money, Kyle. I think they go into it and there's no pressure on them and nobody has any expectations. I think you can just go at, I would just say go after it. Go after it. You know, the Capitals for all their successes and the great season they had, they've been very leaky lately. They've really struggled keeping the puck out of their net, giving up chances.

And I think that's the way you have to try to win this series is by attacking them and seeing if you can exploit that if they are incapable of tightening that up going into the playoffs. You know, the capitals, they're aggressive. They come at you, right? Are the Canadians physically on the back end going to be able to handle like, especially like a Tom Wilson, he's unique. Who's going to draw that matchup? Who is going to be the guy who's gonna have to really battle him because if you don't stop him, he can, or at least slow him down, he can really wreak havoc on you on a seven game series.

They can score, the Capitals, this has the chance to be a real seven game series. They can score the capitals this has the chance to be a real high scoring series. I thought at times last week the Canadians looked really nervous. They had a chance to clinch. They made it too interesting on themselves. That's over now. Demidov now comes in. He's a real X-Factor. Where are they gonna use him? He's incredibly talented. He's fresh. That's a weapon for them. But they're going up against a really experienced, big strong team whose weakness lately has been leaky. Can they continue to exploit that? Can they continue to get to force Washington to give up goals? The longer this series goes, I really think the more nerve wracking it's going to be for

the Capitals, they're all in with this team. But I look at the Canadians defensively and like a lot of their forwards are really committed to playing defense really hard, particularly Suzuki. But I look at the size and the power of the Capitals, and I do wonder, is Montreal gonna be able to handle that? But you know who's really popped, I've found for Montreal over the last, I guess month and maybe even do a shorter term than that, but Caden Gouly. I mean, the two goals the other night

was one thing, Elliot, but you talk about the physicality that Washington has, he's been really asserting himself. I guess you look at since he's come back from that ugly cut to his quad, it looked like his season could have been done. As he's gotten back up to his quad, it looked like his season could have been done. As he's gotten back up to speed again, he's looked like a player that could be a handful, at least in terms of how hard he plays, and just keeping the opponent wary out there of, let's make sure we know where he is on the ice.

That's going to be another interesting wrinkle for Montreal as they try to match all the things that you outlined for Washington and why they are the number one seed in the East going into this thing. I don't disagree with you on Gouli. He's a tremendous player and he is going to have to be great. There's no question about that. And you know what? You talked about my Yandle comment. Capitals are going to game plan for Hudson. About that and you know what you talked about my yandle comment Capitals are gonna game plan for Hudson. Oh Yeah This is yeah, you know, he's a great player

You have to slow him down that's what Washington's gonna try to do is four out of seven make life really is four out of seven make life really, really difficult for them. It's going to be a lot like that 2010 series. A heavy favorite against a real underdog Montreal team. I'll tell you this too, when San Luis played for John Tortorella, they played an awful lot.

An awful lot. How much is he going to play Suzuki? That line. Oh man. How much is he going to play a lot? Hudson and Gouli, those top players. I'm curious to see these numbers. Kyle, the other guy we haven't even mentioned yet is Dubois.

And last year was the first round was one of the low points of his career. He was basically run out of Los Angeles because of his first round performance in that series. You know he's got he's it all it's all been positive about Dubois this year. People have said great things now it's his time to deliver. Well it's fitting you mentioned Dubois and how it ended in LA for Tim Elliott because why don't we move next to the Kings and the Oilers? So the fourth straight year they meet in the first round of the playoffs.

Is this the year LA finally gets past Edmonton in the playoffs? It feels like this could be the most vulnerable of the four that the Oilers seem going in, but I loved McDavid's comment earlier this week that's like I don't understand the walking wounded like we're ready to go here so I have Andrew Kane practice on Friday the rest of the big boys practice Jake Wallman too so is this the year for Los Angeles or does Edmonton keep the streak going? You see the thing went the thing I always

believe with LA like this year They're like I think they were 14th in the league in goals, right? And the one thing I always and by the way good on you because you picked the Kings to make the playoffs this year So you were right about that the big challenge The the thing the thing I always believe is to beat the orders in the playoffs you have to be able to win a five four six five game twice Right the possibility of that. I just think you're gonna get games with Edmonton

Where they're gonna be shootouts because of all the talent they have there and you have to be able to win at least one of those, and if not two. And that to me is the question, can the Kings win in a series to knock out the Oilers two, five, four, six, five games? They have the big edge and goal. I don't have a Veznov ballot, but if I did, Kemper would be third on it after Hellebock and Vasilevski. I think he had a great year. I think the Kings, even though they hated their previous system, it taught them how

to defend. They know how to defend. But we talked about Matthew's tapering. I think the Oilers have done the same thing. McDavid, who cares where we finish? We know what it takes. Dry Cytl, who cares where we finish? We know what it takes. Those guys are going to be tapered to play these games. Now, we'll see how the rest of it goes. But like the Ekholm loss is a huge loss.

I think this is massive for Nurse. I think this is massive for Wallman. We talked about it. Wallman's been excited about this, the biggest games of his career, right? So can he come in and make that difference? Can Nurse be, for a lot of this season, he was very good, one of his best seasons. The other thing about Nurse is he has to keep his calm. He has shown he can lose his temper.

I think there's no doubt the Kings are going to try to get under his skin, get him to do something that gets himself in trouble with the league, maybe gets himself suspended. I would be on nurse, keep control. Skinner, that's a big one. Like one of the biggest edges the Kings seem to have is in goal. It's very hard for me to pick against McDavid and Dreisaitl. I just do not like to do it. I think this is LA's best chance to win. Can they win two six five games against Edmonton? They do and they can win this series. Yes because they were and it feels like for them the offense has kind of come on for the group as the season has gone on. Like defensively they've been tremendous kind of from,

well, maybe not from the start. There was some helter skelter games early on in the year, but by and large they've been a really good defensive team all season and now kind of down the stretch, like Warren Fogel had a really good first year there with him. Quinton Byfield came on as the season went on after a bit of a slow start there. Uh, so there's a number of reasons to think that there's signs there with LA that they can outscore Edmonton at least once or twice to do it enough to win a

series, but man, until they do it, it's always going to be the Oilers that have had their number here three years in a row, and now they try to make it four. You know, Bifield and Kopitar, one of the things that's happened over the years is that Kopitar has tired out from regular season usage against these guys as the series have gone longer. They really tried to protect against that this year. You know, Bifield to me, I picked him for the Four Nations team like at the beginning of the year.

He didn't get there, but he's a Four Nations Olympic national team talent. Like this is big for him. You know, you wanna see, can he, I don't know if you ever really go toe to toe with these two guys, they're too good, but can you win a lot of shifts against them? Can you make them work for everything they get? The Kings to me, they look like a deeper team than Edmonton, at least in the regular season. You've got to think that all those Edmonton guys are like, okay, the playoffs start, it's

going to be different now. But Edmonton has those two superstars. Is Kopitar there? Can Kopitar battle them to at least a standstill? Can Byfield battle them to at least a standstill? Can Bifield battle them to at least a standstill? Yes, should throw Phil Deneau into that. And Deneau, yes. Yeah, I was just thinking that, Deneau too.

It's like three on two. Yes, and it still might not be enough. It still might not be enough. But they're gonna try here here LA, fourth straight time to get by Edmonton in the first round. And we'll finish with this, the final thought which is brought to you by GMC, the final first round series we will take a look at here. Elliott, not till Tuesday do they get underway. The Battle of Florida, once again, the Panthers and the Lightning, Anthony Stolar said the Battle of Ontario

could be a bloodbath. The Battle of Florida could very much be the same too. And I wonder with the fact that this series gets started the latest of the eight, how much this benefits particularly Florida and in particular, Matthew Kachuck. So it was funny, like one other manager said to me, he was, he was like kind of joking. We're talking about how late this

series starts. And they were like, well, Matthew got heard in the NHL's big showcase. So they're giving him the most time to be ready for it. And I'm like, Oh my God, stop. Take this stuff away from me. I am curious to see though, when this series starts, like who's really healthy. As you know, there's a lot of mystery this year and you know, how like, I think Kachak saw the same guy Matthew saw in Germany, for example. So I think that he's been doing whatever he can to be ready. So hopefully not only is he ready, but is he effective. So that's kind of one of the things that we're looking at here.

I think also too, in case we've forgotten, we're going to be reminded of what a big rivalry this is. Like we're all talking about Battle of Ontario because you and I live in Ontario, it's hockey night in Canada, but the Battle of Ontario may be the second hottest rivalry in this first round. Like we've forgotten how much these two teams cannot stand each other. And I know, you know, there's comments like, well, you know, it's good for Florida, the Panthers win, the Lightning win. That's what they say in public. In private, they hate each other. This could be a really, really mean series. I love the goalie matchup, like two Hall of Famers, Vasilevsky's going to the Hall of

Fame, Bobrovsky's going to the Hall of Fame. Gensel has had an unbelievable year, like just a fantastic season, one of the best free agent pickups in the league last year, validating the decisions that the Lightning had made. You know, Marchand, it's almost like he's kind of been like biding his time. He's been quiet Marchand. Well, now the playoffs come out, right? You know, Verhege hasn't had a great year, but the better Florida's gotten, the bigger

he's been in big games. I just think that there's a lot of guys here. I don't want to say they coasted, but they weren't all out, especially on Florida side the last little bit. Nobody's coasting here. This is gonna be a fierce nasty angry series and It is not gonna be

For the week and I really do think This is gonna be one of those things like we're talking about a lot of the other series with attrition at the start like who's Gonna be available. I wonder if this is gonna be a series that's like attrition at the end Who's who's going to be available? I wonder if this is going to be a series that's like attrition at the end. Who's going to last through the series? Because there's guys banged up coming in. There's guys who you wonder how close to 100% they're going to be. Tampa got their rest last year.

They played a lot of hockey. They got their break. Now Florida's that team that's played a lot of hockey they got their break now Florida is that team that's played a lot of hockey I can't wait to see it gonna be awesome but I have no idea about who's gonna win this series like there's no nothing that happens in this series is an upset nothing unless no team sweeps the other then it's then it's an upset. Yes, yes. It kind of feels like in a way, the east version of Dallas, Colorado, like two heavyweights that are just going to exchange blows,

hopefully for seven games. Yes, I want to see as much of this as I possibly can. You mentioned the goalie matchup, I feels like this is gonna be the series that we are reminded of Andre Vasilevsky's brilliant. So the last couple years in the playoffs looked human at times I wonder if I got a feeling the inhuman side of Vasilevsky Comes out here against Florida in this opening round. He's had a great year. He looks rejuvenated after playing a lot of hockey. They're going to be falling all over him. How many scrums do you think are going to be in this

series? What's going to be the scrum per minute? Oh, scrums per 60. He scrums per 60 scrums per 60 oh my gosh like that the first 10 minutes of game one like could blow some other series total out of the water hundred and twenty scrums per 60 that's what I'm picking to to a minute jeez and I'm not you might be a little late. Yeah. All right. That was the final thought brought to you by GMC. And that's a look at the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. And we should note here, Elliot, that starting on Monday, we are ramping up to three episodes a week with the playoffs now underway until we reach the Stanley Cup final, of course. And we'll be doing shows after the end of each game once we get there. But three a week starting on Monday, Elliot.

I look forward to it. Me too, Elliot. Okay. One final reminder, game one, Winnipeg and St. Louis, the pregame show on the air at 530 Eastern, 230 Pacific, 430 Central, and Winnipeg is game one between the Jets and the Blues. Colorado and Dallas to follow a little later on on Saturday, and it continues into Saturday and onwards. The first round is here. The playoffs are about to begin. Have a great weekend, everyone.

Elliot, we'll talk to you again on Monday.