Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Vegas Is Setting A CUTTHROAT Trend Across The NHL π w/TSN's Noodles | BB Clips
Episode Date: April 9, 2026Boomer, Pinder & Rhett dive into a growing trend across the NHL β and it all starts with the Vegas Golden Knights. From firing their coach with just 8 games left to making ruthless, win-now deci...sions, Vegas has built a reputation for being one of the most aggressive organizations in hockey. But nowβ¦ other teams might be following their lead. The Islanders make a late-season coaching change, the Devils move on from their GM, and suddenly it feels like the league is shifting. Is this just coincidence, or are the Golden Knights quietly changing how NHL teams operate? The guys break it all down.Video Link: https://youtu.be/cAVfjR-gkMk#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #vegasgoldenknights #vegas CHECK OUT OUR STUFF β¬οΈBARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8π² Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=enπ§ Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Did the Vegas Golden Knights do something to the league?
And what I mean by that is they have been cutthroat
since the second they stepped into this league.
It's like make the finals.
Even before, right, when they were setting up the expansion draft
and how they manipulated teams?
Yes.
I mean, you are looking at an organization that says,
win at all costs, or we're going to try every year to do this.
So I don't know if in,
if you're an owner and you're sitting there going,
this team won a cup in year six,
this team's been to the finals,
this team,
great coaches, got to go.
You know, great players, got to go.
Like, it's like, what are,
has there been some sort of an effect
or at least an expectation now
with other organizations going,
you know,
we're not as,
we're not as, what's the word where you're loyal?
We're not as, you know, this is a business, and we're going to treat it as so.
Because I feel like, and I don't know if Vegas has caused all this, we kind of joke.
We had Kelly McCraman on our show and kind of joked about it.
I think he took umbrage to it, but it's like, you look at it.
Vegas is not shy to swing and make big moves.
So I look at the organizations going, the owner going, why didn't you make the playoffs of these guys there?
Why don't you do this?
Why don't you do that?
And there's changes left and right.
And it might be come back to expectation level internally that's been set.
Money.
Not everyone has, well, I'm going to ask.
I don't know because I don't live in that world at all.
Owner has to be willing to chew the money.
Do you make enough money in your organization?
Like Buffalo can't chew two, three million.
Well, they can if the owner chooses to do it.
But that's more.
Yeah, but that you're right.
You're right.
all the owners could choose to do that just based on their own personal wealth,
but are some of the franchises financially stable enough to do that?
I don't know.
And as the ownership, I think that's the biggest piece, isn't it?
You're right, because give an example.
Again, I'm coming back to Vegas.
McCriman said, like, our team, you know, needed something.
They needed a jolt.
So he's probably verbalizing that to the owner, and the owner's saying, well, you know,
what would jolt?
Well, you've got, you can't fire the players, but I can certainly fire the coach,
but you're going to have to chew on $4.5 million, whatever Bruce Cassidy makes.
But, and then we got to spend it on the new guy coming in.
And, you know, so it's, it's, you're right, it comes back to money.
And a lot of times the owner will go, well, you're the guy that put this in place.
You fix it and stay on budget.
So I do think the commitment to, we'll call it disposable income,
it does factor in because you do have to have the owner's blessing to go,
hey, you know, it's not working out here and this is the fix we see in the short term.
And we're going to do this.
And the owner goes, yeah, I'll write that check.
And I agree, Brett, like a lot of teams work on an internal cap and go,
we're not going to spend that money.
We're not going to, you look at other teams that have money to go,
yeah, we can have five one-way contracts in the miners, guys making 900.
Other teams are like, that's a no-fly zone.
Are you crazy?
Why would we spend $4.5 or $5 million for a guy to, for players to not play on our team?
The other thing Vegas is done, just to jump in and then we can pivot because I get tired of us talking about Vegas.
But the one thing that they've done, it's not been, well, we're firing our coach and we're going to elevate our assistant and interim basis.
He has gone out because there's been a stud out in the mix.
Okay, Gerard, we're going to get Cassidy.
Cassidy, we're getting DeBore because DeBore, he would.
not ordinarily be available.
We go get Tortarella.
Like there's no, oh, we're just making a change.
It's this guy.
And now Torrance is four and all.
It's only four games.
But I can imagine when you sometimes,
it's not because Cassidy is a bad coach or anything else,
we just need a shake-up.
Well, that was Jim Montgomery and St. Louis last year.
That's just how you can do it.
That's a great point, Pinder.
Doug Armstrong actually said,
I went and got him because I never thought he'd be available.
Yeah.
And that had to be with the honors thinking.
If we wait until the summer, we're bidding with five teams.
Like, A, there's just a chance we can get in.
And B, let's not wait for this to get more crowded and more expensive.
Let's do it now.
I agree.
Because you're bidding with maybe the Toronto Maple Leafs who have unlimited money.
You know, and maybe you're bidding with other teams.
I think that you have to look at every organization's situation isolated because the islanders don't match what was going on in Vegas.
Right.
You know, so it didn't happen.
And in New Jersey, that's a different story, whereas I think Tom Fitzgerald had a great start early on in his tenure there with Jersey.
And then I think the expectations are high and now they're falling short.
And the owner probably saw enough there at saying, again, maybe he's having conversations with other teams or he's looking at going, well, look at what the Islanders just did or look at what Vegas just did.
I need to be more proactive in my business here.
So it speaks to more the league is heading and very,
and I'm saying thin-wise,
but like the NFL's cutthroat,
the NBA, it's like the players go,
I'm going there and that.
The NHL has never kind of leaked into that,
but you can see a little bit now.
It's a bigger money business.
But again, it comes back to what you said,
Rhett, the owners have to be able to chew on money
that were, whether you admit a mistake
or you admit that change needs to be happened,
needs to happen, and it's going to cost money to do that.
And, you know, it'll be fascinating theater for me
and for us to sit and watch with all these organizations.
I live in Toronto.
Man, that's going to be fascinating to see what happens in that market
with the, you know, Keith Pelly hiring Neil Grassberg,
you know, now to go out and try and find a GM president,
search, whatever it is.
And so it would be interesting to see what happens.
The other thing, like, this, yes, Vegas is taking it to another level,
but wasn't it like Robbie Fittoric in The Devils?
There was like 10 games left and they went on to like the cup final or win.
Like it isn't unprecedented, but it is a reminder that the stakes are so high in the playoffs.
Like you budget on a regular season and everything you make in the playoffs is gravy for the owner.
And they're like, shit, if we can swing the percentages a couple points our way,
we have to do that for the chance of making tens of millions of dollars.
Yeah.
And it was Lou Lamarillo that made that move.
Yeah.
He was not worried about getting.
getting fired.
True.
Yeah.
And I don't know of Kelly McCrimmon.
Like he probably feels like I can,
not a lot of GMs are going to have,
sorry James,
I'm just going to say,
like Matthew Darsh,
maybe pretty ballsy.
Yep.
No.
And the other thing you throw in,
the league is wide open.
Like Florida's not in the,
you know,
Florida's not in the mix now.
There's going to be a new Stanley Cup champion.
So you're looking at it.
If you're the Islanders going,
okay,
coach is available.
You know,
maybe we need a little bit of a jolt here.
The players,
have all come out and said that they're disappointed.
Vegas is looking at the Pacific and going,
if we can get a save,
maybe we can come out of the Pacific.
That gives us two rounds.
You know, like,
and it goes hand in hand,
new coach,
well, guess what?
Carter Hart's back.
And Carter Hart's the best goaltender.
And, you know,
he looked good against Abington the other day.
I could have been in a lawn chair last night against Vancouver.
When I,
my time I got to back in,
10.
Within the third period,
he had nine?
What did they end up with 11?
11 is the total.
I saw the end.
Nine.
when I turned it off because I was like, this guy literally could have been laying there in a lawn chair the rest of the game.
