Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - What The HELL Just Happened To The Colorado Avalanche?? 💀 w/ TSN’s Noodles | BB Clips

Episode Date: May 27, 2026

Boomer, Pinder and Rhett dive into the Colorado Avalanche getting swept by the Vegas Golden Knights and try to figure out what the hell went wrong for a team that came into the playoffs with massive expectations once again. Was Vegas simply the better team from start to finish or are there much bigger questions now surrounding the direction of the Avs? The guys discuss whether Colorado needs a coaching change, if this core can still realistically compete for another Stanley Cup and just how concerning this playoff exit really is for a team that isn’t getting any younger. Later in the show, TSN’s Jamie McLennan joins the conversation to give his thoughts on the series, what stood out most about Vegas and what this loss could mean for the Avalanche moving forward. Let us know what changes, if any, Colorado should make this offseason. Video Link: https://youtu.be/tL45xCs2Bzc#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #coloradoavalanche #colorado #denver CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 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.

Colorado, thanks for coming. Oh, it's, I don't know, like that is, how dejected are you if you are anyone in that organization? Very. Like, it could not have been better position and it could not have been worse. I mean, maybe earlier rounds, but the way that you dismantled good teams along the way. Yeah, you kick the living bejesus out of Minnesota. L.A. too. L.A. is not a good team,

but they still won't. There's got to be a, I mean, we know there are injuries. Many very good. You wonder if there's a bunch of. That was the question I was going to have. I mean, we'll get into. We could talk with the game and the goals and everything that goes. Injuries, for sure.

Would it have mattered? We're talking about a four-game sweep. So if those guys are healthy, what were the scores of the games? I think that, I don't think you can. look at it as a we got all four and you got zero i think you have to look at it on a game to game basis frick they were up three nothing Colorado chanson games one and two pretty handle he came three they did till they didn't and then last night was Vegas's best game yeah and Colorado's not

best yeah they seemed uh they seemed disjointed yeah and resigned to a certain outcome i mean going back to it you guys were talking about yesterday and i'm like i kind of poo poohed it because i'm like yeah they were mad they lost so they're disheartened that that won't show up. Did you see someone out there that's like, I'm not letting my season end like this? Like I'm going to go run through a wall for this? No.

And that's what I wonder about the DNA of this team now. Because you've added a lot of older guys and vets who are on their final contracts. And you're up against, you know, in the division, some young and hungry groups. And obviously if they're healthy,

they're obscenely talented. But like, I think you need to change something material here. Can I go deeper? Can I go deeper? Yeah. I don't know the age of their players. I don't think they're that old.

I don't think the car and McKinnon and Natchez are ancient. Your key guys. Yeah, key guys are still good. What I was wondering about last night after they lost was the talk of Landis Dogg needs to be here because he needs to. But when Esco's sideways, can he even steer the ship? Do you know what I mean? It feels like there's dynamite in that room.

And this is a million miles. away. K.L. come home, get away from the dynam. Don't play with dynamite. Yeah. But I don't know. Maybe I'm thinking too much about it, but it feels like any time that, not anytime, this specific time when things weren't going well,

those guys look to freeze up. Now again, maybe they're all beat up and beat to piss and injured. Landis Cog, he was the only guy that scored last night. He had three goals in the four games and it's hard to just look at numbers. May this just have one in the playoffs? Well, no, he was really good last round. Last round,

But how many goals did he score? I thought I heard somebody say last night he had one. He was on a bit of a cooler at this point, but I don't know where that started. He had nine points against the wild in the five games. That's good. But like we're talking about Nate here, guys. Like that's what this is about. Right.

If we're asking questions about Landisog, because he can insulate from Nate, and we're wondering about, you know, dynamite in the room. And now we're talking about his dynamic with the coach, which we've mentioned this postseason run. It's like, how do you manage Nate at this point? Like what needs to change there? Losing ages people in a hurry, right?

Because six months ago, we were not worried about their age. When they added Codry at the deadlines, like, ooh, this is another old guy. The Brock Lobster, you know, he's an old guy. But yeah, Nelson is 34, Nate's 30, Lattis Cog is 33, Codry's 35, Nachushkin, 31. You know, they won't bring Burns back. But, you know, McCar is already 27. Devon Taves is 32. I don't know. I like this team.

They're still very, very good. It's just can they win a cup? And how do you deal with the prickly guy? The prickly guy. Clear path. No. This was it. This one. This was, but, but you want me to cliche? Yeah. Just don't get any of it. Or just state the others. I guess it's hard to do winning the cup, apparently. Other teams? Winning's hard, yeah.

The other teams are, are they? They're trying hard. They're trying to. Oh. It's all. It, when was the last time a team was, the best team for 8 to 2. And it wasn't even a full season, right? Like it was, I think it's 2013 when they're coming out. I don't, well, short in year.

Like to win the President's trophy and win the Stanley Cup is, it's proven to be incredibly difficult. It's real rarity. It's like Pinder, sober at midnight. Incredibly rare. The thing of it is, they, they had the cameras on Nate and the warm off. He looks a little ginger. It looks a little ten of it.

Looks a little sore. And then he, shoot that shit up and freezing and all kinds of stuff. He should be fun. Then he was all right. He was buzzing around. And then 442. in you don't even get to the first TV time out guys are still getting their first shifts under

okay feeling good boys here we go and then it's I guess it's a brain cramp it's McCar and it's Cadry you got I got who you me who you me who's got um oh got it not mine it's it's a great play it's a flip a flip out of the zone

by Theodore I believe it is and then it's a great hell hell of a grab by stone puts it on the ice it's a great move on the goaltender and it's won nothing very early. And the crowd is then into it. And doubt starts to creep in.

And more than that, it allows Vegas to do what they do, which is let's clog. Let's make us incredible difficult. Go ahead, Jack. Play that son of a bitch. Talked about it long enough. He's allergic to play.

Are that over there with her? What's he doing over there? Christ. So there it is. Zip! Codry's got to be hurt. He missed a lot of time after they added them. Remember we got hurt right away with a hand or something?

You see that that backtrack there is not a burst of speed, not overly aggressive. And it was interesting watching on the broadcast. I was waiting for the, okay, show this replay. Stone was like, okay, celebration over, face off. He's back, et cetera. He's ready for the draw. Let's go.

Let's keep out this thing. Not much for the goalie to do there. He was good last night. They make the goaltending swap. it didn't matter in the end, but he made 24 saves, I guess, on the night,

but a couple were tremendous along the way. My two biggest takeaways is maybe we underestimated Vegas. And I don't even know if we did, because they played so flat all year that you... They're an awful regular season. Yeah, they were terrible. They were part of the pillow fight.

So we'd give ourselves a pass on maybe our grading of the Vegas nights, but you've got to give them credit, and you question what the hell is going on in Colorado, how much the injury is impact, it and what their dressing room is like because they did not come flying out of the gates and take over the first 10 minutes of of the game. Even those games in Denver were weird. It felt like the crowd was out of it early.

It didn't, they didn't feel like. And we see it a lot of times. You go into the visitor, you go into, we're on the road. And that team just survived the first five, 10, just hang on for dear life. Vegas never had to do that in games one and two. They were down, but it was always a shot away. They came back in games one and two late. I guess game, yeah, maybe games.

But you're right, it wasn't electric. Like, if you're a Colorado fan, you're like, geez, we've been creating a lot. How are we only up by one here? Like, we're still a shot away. It was a nervous lead, not a, oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, boys are rolling. And maybe everyone's hurt. Lots of guys. Maybe everyone's hurt.

And Vegas got lots of guys hurt, too. Mark Stone missed game one and two. But it's, it's a, it's a, four-game sweep. You talked about Bednar. Here's Jared Bednar. We played his clip after game three. A little down.

He was a little somber. The somber tones continued last night. You wonder if he's... You wonder if they knew. If they knew, felt it coming, knew it was coming, and now what's next? Here's Jared Bednar. You know, I'll look at this and we'll see how it goes,

but we run into a buzz song, Vegas. I think they deserve the credit. and it's a nod to knock on our guys and how hard we played, but they're a well-o machine right now peeking at the right time, and I look at their series and man-to-man, they're playing at the top of their game, and it's a very, very good team that we lost to, and we'll have to regroup and reassess and reflect on our season and our series

and go from there. And you know what it is? what's he said? They're shell shocked. Yeah. Yeah. They lost one game in each of the first two. They had an unbelievable residence trophy, one of their best seasons in franchise history, and they've had some great teams.

They're eight and one coming to this. They're completely, they're completely, what the fuck? What happened? How did this happen? What did, what just happened here? And I think it was Logan O'Connor. It just happened so fast. Mm-hmm.

People were referencing the eight days in jet fuel. Yeah. Was this eight days? and there was only one trip. It was, I guess, maybe not a lot of jet fuel because Colorado was at home. They made one trip to. I guess now fit in your locker.

Are you at a point where, so, okay, so if you're, if you're Colorado and the emotions are high or the emotions are down or there, there's lots of emotions, let's just say. It's a situation where, why don't we go away for a few weeks and look back and go, yeah, we lost to a really good team. We're still a very good team, or do we look at this score? squad and go, well, a change needs, something needs to happen because they didn't win the cup. Like they won the presidents.

Like, I'm trying to recall. I could be wrong, but didn't the Rangers win the presidents? Lost these Cromberts final. Lost in the semifinals to the Panthers. Yeah. And started to dismantle or at least. It was around the next season. Things unraveled.

Yeah. Right? And is that a word of caution for a team? was that just a unique situation or is this something that Colorado has to go through? I just, it's the easiest thing to do and it's, I don't think he's done a bad job, but you've had 10 years with this coach. He's setting into the last year of his deal, which is the type of offseason that a guy with 10 years or 10 years, he's going to say, hey, can we go working on an extension like Darrell Sutter and Chris Knoblock

and all these other guys do when they're a year away? I don't think that you're ready to commit to another contract with this guy. And if that's the case, do you cut bait now? Because something needs to change. And I think it's part of the Nate dynamic. Like you see him and Nate barking on the bench. Like, is that a coach that has the full respect and attention of a player? Is it two guys that are comfortable with that?

Is that a good situation to have? I don't know. But when it's 10 years and it's this ugly and sometimes you need to have a sacrificial lamb, so to speak, I won't be surprised if it happens at all. I wouldn't be surprised even if they changed the coach. It's 10 years. Yeah. It might be based strictly on that because if you just look back and you go, well,

they won the presidents and they lost in the semi-final. Should a guy get his ass handed to or walking papers because of that? Probably not. But he's been there for 10 years, too. Yeah. And the expectation was out-coached anyone? I don't know. And he's coaching part of it.

You know what I mean? I know. Like, that's the thing. This group especially, there's so much high-octane, like, just playmakers and skill and speed. I don't watch Colorado and say, man, their structure's good. I do watch them and say, I don't know how your power play can be that bad. I'll tell you what, the power play.

That's coaching. The power play was one thing, and we saw what they looked like without, he's one of the best in the world, but without Kail McCar, they were a completely different team, like completely different team. You need to be able to absorb, I don't know, take any other team that has a world-class player. Does their level of play and style, does everything drop that dramatically? And maybe it's because it's the playoffs and the pressure is high. But man, it was all of a sudden, okay, well, now Malinsky's doing, who are we moving?

Well, that can be part of the coaching and the structure. Lick, is he running a bunch of thoroughbreds there, or is this a tactically strong team? Or is it a bit of both? Like, I think it's more the look at the collection of players, not their systems are airtight. They're an incredibly good team. But what they lost to, Two was incredible structure. Yeah.

Right. And again, the goal tending we can mention in every single series ever, if you're going to have 950, you're going to win the series. Like, the only time I think that didn't happen was like

lost to your Dallas. Like I know you've been saying that for days now, but if you watch the saves that Carterhart's making, a lot of it's kind of routine stuff. No, but that's what he said. Because of the structure. So it's not like, it's both.

It's not like he's, Dobish is on the other side. He's kind of standing on his head making unbelievable. saves. Carter Hart just kind of needs to make the saves, control the rebounds, make sure there's not two, three opportunities after every shot. Not to take away what he's been doing, but I think in a way it's to just say, well, they're getting 950 goal tending. No, and that's why I really just said they lost a structure. It helps when your goal he's hot and you have that structure, but nobody clogs the net front as well as Vegas has done. And they've shown us that over the last two series.

And if you want to make a change, if you are ownership and that and you look at, what are we going to do. It's going to be tough to do anything on the ice because a lot of guys are signed long term or at least for another season. The only UFAs they have burns on the back end and Kulak who you might want to keep. And then up front, everybody is basically signed except for Kivirantah. So you're trying to try to get that very San Jose did it for years. We're damn good. We might win a presidents. We're going to be the top of the league. We're going to have home ice in the playoffs. We didn't win the time. It's our year. It's our year. Now, let's roll.

I don't know what's right. Like, even if you, the ownership, even if you make a coaching change, okay, great. That's going to be some sort of spark, but a spark for what? They won the presidents and went to the semi-final. And is there a coach out there that Nate won't ignite with? It might be worse for them. That's what we don't know. He may not exist.

That's where the, you know, if there's. But maybe it's been pissed for the organization from the start for 10 years. Maybe if a, I don't know, I like that. I know. I know. Good too. But maybe a veteran coach when Nate started out would have been like, no. Yeah.

And over 10 years, you've leaned on him a certain way. And that's just the, I don't know. We don't, we're not in that. We don't know the dynamic. But it is a curious one because we know how hot Nate runs. And you don't see the back and forth that he has with his coach amongst many superstars and their coaches. And it's been 10 years.

And maybe it's just time for new voice, new vision. The torts too clip there, Jack. not that he was asked about it, but John Torterell at the end of his post game had some thoughts about what the Denver media should be doing. Get off Pizzi's ass. Yeah. Get off,

you could tell he's like, they're going to crush this guy. Yeah, they're going to go after him. Our team outplayed his team. Destroy this guy and he maybe doesn't deserve it. He's knocked off a president's trophy, get a team before a sweep, he knows. Clearly I'm not a NHL head coach

or even a quadrant, City head coach. I'm not allowed. Sorry, City. Oh, wow. After a decade with a team, do coaches want change? Right? Because it can happen even with players

where it's like, no, I never want to change. And then you get trading, it's like, oh, this was, this was good for me breath fresh air. This is great, right? Like, I wonder, is Bednar going, you know what? I'll go to Edmonton. I think in hindsight, the answer would be yes,

but right now it's like, why would you want to uproot? and you've got two superstars in the prom and all that. But I think what you're saying is correct, down the road, you know, just for any of us in any occupation, to work for different people, for different organizations,

with different colleagues. 10 years. It's a long time. Like, he's the second most tenured coach, I believe, behind just Cooper. Yeah, I think who else in France? Or Brindamore would be up there too. Like, it's,

he's probably triple or quadrupled the average coaching life expectancy. Tartarella is getting a lot of flowers right now, As he should. Is that good? Flowers are good? With the win, what is, I mean, it's just. I would rather meat pie.

You said yesterday they were like 19, four and one since taking over. 19. They've won six straight. They, I don't know if they won six straight. I think that was a stat all season, but he was asked about it. So Taurus, what'd you do? What did you have some magic potion? What'd you put something in the water?

What'd you do with these guys? How come it's going so well? How did you activate this team? to get this team activated themselves let's get that straight we the coaches we our job is to get away get rid of the obstacles in front of them so they can play but this team activated itself they they it's a group that just understands i don't know how many they've won they they know what it takes and uh we're just kind of guidance counselors that's the way i look at us as coaches sometimes especially with this group, when we need to bring them back in and put them on the tracks the right way,

we'll nudge them there and try to get them there. But they're the ones that, they're the ones to play, and they're the ones that handle the situations. And we've got a damn good group here doing that. We'll take a couple. There you go. I actually don't think he has done a whole bunch. And I don't mean it in a negative way. I think that that group disliked their old coach enough to not play hard for him.

Yeah. And he's come in and said, hey, you guys enjoy coming to the rink? Yes, we are. Yeah. Go work. Yeah. Then earn it's not like they've installed some new system. Like, whoa, look at this revamp.

No, this is how Vegas plays when they play well, whether it's DeBore, Cassidy, or now torts. They're physical. They're structured. They, their will to do whatever it takes to win. They compete really, really hard. And when you have had enough of your coach, it's been there for what, two, three years, if your work rate drops 10%,

and then all of a sudden you're not getting saves and the shooting percentage is way low, all of a sudden it's a shitty regular season. It's like, we've got to change us up. So I heard you guys talking about, you know, and I watched Torx's sound and all that. Obviously, I did the game for SportsCenter last night. And I don't want to dumb this down,

but Pinder, you brought something, up. It's you get saves. Brock Nelson scores on that, that breakway early in the game. Maybe the game three opportunity. Like Vegas wasn't getting saves this year. Aiden Hill did not have a good year. Neither did a cure Schmeet. You know who's played great? Carter Hart. And if Carter Hart's not in the the conversation for the con smite, then shame on the voters. Yeah. Because Mitch smarter I know is the leader and everyone's voting and all of that great no problem he's been awesome but if they don't get saves you know goalies can be coach killers they can be GM killers they can be all of that because you know and this isn't a quote for me I work with a guy O'Dog says a goaltender can

save everybody from going through video you make a bad play in the neutral zone or a bad pass through the middle of the ice and a goalie makes a good save you maybe the coach mentions it to you on the plane later, hey, you know, manage the puck a little better. If he allows that goal, hey, what's going on here systematically? What's going on? For me, Carter Hart has been the biggest thing, the biggest transformation for the Vegas Golden Knights. You're right.

John Tortorella, breath of fresh air. We hate, you know, we're done with Bruce Cassidy. I get it. Expiration date. That team has played unbelievable. They were unbelievable against Colorado. Unbelievable. Colorado couldn't get in the zone.

And when they did or when they did get it. chances the goalie makes a save. So it goes hand in hand, but confidence from a goaltender making saves, all of a sudden that team looks unstoppable, this Vegas team. What happened for Hart? Because obviously he had a lot of time away from the league. Darts believed in him. Comes back in the fall, but then gets hurt. The regular season numbers are pretty bloody miserable, just like Schmeads and Hills, to be fair. Yeah, not, I mean, not good enough. That's the thing. I think health, like Carter Hart was jumping on, from the start of this season was jumping on a moving train.

This guy hasn't played hockey in however long it was. I think it was 18 months or whatever. It was going to take him a long time to get up to speed, just organically because of his situation. But coming back off of injury, I think you go in. The team is going to be a lot more focused now because the coach has changed. You know,

the shot across the bow from Kelly McCrimand saying, we needed something to wake our group up. We like our group, but they were kind of sleepwalking through the pillow fight. And that's, you know, it's funny. You know, you've got a pillow fight team that is now four wins away from winning the Stanley Cup. So it's interesting, but there was lots of blame to go around for why Vegas has 39 wins this year. You know, if you look at it, I think it, is that we have 39 wins, right? Yeah, yeah.

That's less than like five. teams that missed the playoffs. Right. So you've got to give yourself a chance to get there, but this isn't just lightning in a bottle. These guys know how to play. And they're they're balanced, they're deep. They've got a little irritability. Thomas Hurdle with a little hip check on NACIS. That was it. Greasy play. Greasy play. But that's the one thing I've been kind of talking about with people. I brought it up on my show yesterday. The last four teams that are still standing in the playoffs. You know exactly what they're about. So Vegas, they can play the villain. They make no apologies for it. We're here to win. Coach doesn't work. It doesn't matter if you want

to cop, you're out. And from day one, Vegas has been a team that just focuses on today. Not what you've done before, not what your pedigree is. And it, you know, we talk about it. Gerard Delon had to go. James Neal, Mark Andre Fleury. You know, people. Peter DeBoer. They're just everybody. We're trying to win today. This is what we're trying to do. Players in, players out.

And it's not going to change. They make no apologies for it. The other day, their press conference, hey, we screwed up. John screwed up. We're not going to talk about it again. That's it. Done.

100 grand, second rounder. They don't care. They're trying to win a Stanley Cup. We know what Vegas is. We know what Carolina is. They're just an extension of Rod Brindonmore. That's literally, they work hard. they're dedicated,

their low ego, they just, they play. Montreal, young, exciting, humble, likable team,

right from management down. You know, I'm looking at all these teams. And then Colorado was just a juggernaut that looked like they had no answer for Vegas, none. And the frustration and the adversity,

this was the first adversity they had, and they didn't handle it very well. Do you think it was as much that? It was a, they realized they were up against a good team and they're like, holy shit, they started to get frustrated or do you think they're a beat to piss too? Lots of talk. Did you see McKinnon's body language when he's not getting a pass, the headshank, you know,

like he's a win now guy. McKinnon's a hard guy, I'm sure to. I played with a guy like that. Chris Pronger is demanding, but he demanded it from himself first. So he wasn't a guy that that sat in his style. and pointed fingers. I don't think Nate McKinnon's a guy who sits in his stall and points

fingers, but what he does is he expects it from himself and he expects it from everybody else. And that's a high pressure situation to play it. But it's amazing when your top players are either hurt or not playing well, how the rest of the group underneath them looks very average. Shouldn't though. That's the opportunity where they should step up. And that group has enough depth.

If you took away their top line, they should still beat the Calgary Flames. Yes, veteran. I agree with you, but that group as a whole was built to have tons of depth, and they had none. And I mean, I got a million things. Okay. So remember years ago,

go ahead. Just because you're right. You're 100% right. There's depth there and that. But, and it's amazing how your perception of something can change overnight. When, when Colorado shredded L.A., you know,

and got through Minnesota, you're like, nobody's beating that team four times. And you're going, oh, Cadry looks great. Boy, this nature is just fine. Oh, shame on the Ebbinton Oilers for letting Kulak go. My God, is he, you know, game winner here and that. None of those players either played to their capability or all of a sudden I'm

looking at Brock Nelson. I'm looking at Nazim Kadri looked 36 years old in this series. So that's my point. I look at them different because of the lack of success. and them not playing to their potential underneath those stars who were not there because of injuries. I get the feeling that a guy like Mark Stone,

regardless of whether he's having success or not, is in that room in Vegas, promoting everyone. I don't get the feeling from a guy like McKinnon. And I don't mean it in a bad way. I think you're right. I think he runs hot and everyone says the same thing and he wants to win. But Zedorov came here.

And Zadurov had a comment years ago when he first signed or got trade, I can't remember if he signed, it got trade, it doesn't matter about Nate and it was kind of construed as it's too much. Is it too much? I'm wondering if it's too much.

And we talked about, you wouldn't have been listening yet, we were talking about Bednar. He's going to be on a hot seat, even though he won the president's trophy and they go to the semifinals, it's still going to be a hot seat. But he's been there a decade.

Has he allowed Nate? Has he taught Nate the right way to go about this? And it doesn't matter now, but young coach, young kid, superstar trying to cater to him, has he developed a guy that's, or am I reading too much into it? The only thing I would say, and I don't know this for sure, my understanding was McKinnon was a lot different when Landiscagg was not there.

My understanding is Landis Gogh is really good for that room and really good for McKinnon because he is the type of guy with cachet enough to go, hey, breathe a little bit. Until he doesn't. Yeah. Until you've got a dog, until you have a dog that's trained and then that dog bites you and says,

yeah. Yeah. But I guess my point is they've got a veteran enough team. Nate McKinnon starts yelling at Brent Burns. You know, Brent Burns is going to go, dude. Like,

I'll get a snack. That's a good point. I know you guys, noodles, you were talking about on your show. I saw the clip that. so much of what we do if you want to call this media,

if this is what we're doing. But in this instance, it's in the eye of the beholder. Nate McKinney runs hot. When you're winning, it's like that guy. Oh, it burns to win. That's all that matters to him.

It's like Connor and him. Oh, man. And then when you lose like, geez, it might be too much on the room. He's too much here. He's too intense. He's too hard. That's my point.

The fine line, and the only example I can use from my position, Tim Thomas, by all accounts was a lunatic. Nobody in Boston cared when he was winning a best, winning a Stanley Tom, jominating because they're like,

just let that guy stop Pox. I don't care what he does, who he votes for, who he's doing this and that. It's like, just go play hockey for us and be really good. The minute that his ability dropped off, they're like, oh, we can't have this.

Can't have this in the room. Can't have it. He's a cancer. It's this and that, whatever. So it's exactly the point that, that boomer you brought up. Yeah, yeah.

That you're pointing to because Nate McKinnon, his comments, remember when they handed him that stuffy? That pair of stuffy. He wanted to choke that guy out. Like that is literally

Nate McKinnon and we were loving him, lauding him for it, saying like this guy, all he does is eat and breathe to win. And he got us. He was pissed off that he got a silver medal. And I guarantee he woke up today, pissed off that they didn't

get it done. But I would rather take that than have to cattle prod somebody who is fine with waking up today and going, ah, you know what? I've got an extra month that I didn't have. So it is, it's more in the eye of the beholder. I still would want that fire and that drive. But in the, you know, in the moment when we're talking about it, it's pointed out on Instagram. It's pointed out on Twitter. Hey, look at him, throw his head up when Nate just didn't get the pocket. to him and stuff like that. So it is kind of, I have the beholder, put it down. So what do you expect to happen with the coach?

It's been 10 years. Everyone believes he's a good coach. And you know what? You also talked about expiry date on Cass. I was just thinking about this too, because I remember, I mean, we've done shows together forever. Before Colorado won that year, Bednar was right on the verge of being fired. And it was like Bednar has saved his job by this incredible playoff run and winning the

cup. And that was, what are we taught? That was 2022. That was a number of. years ago. I think the only answer I would say is the people who have worked with him know how good he is. So there's a difference. Here's an example. You'll hear, and I'm not going to name a name, but you'll hear a veteran coach. And people, you know, after he's done retired or whatever, people are like, that guy wasn't a very good coach, but he still had 500 wins in the league.

but he wasn't very good structurally, he didn't understand this and that, but he had good assistance around him, all that type of stuff. I think Chris McFarland, Joe Sackick, their whole group, knows how good of a coach Jared Bedner is. So what I'm going to defend Jared Bedner on is Julian Breezebaugh gets asked about John Cooper every year. And he goes, why would I try and go find the next John Cooper when I have John Cooper? So I always felt like John Cooper will leave Tampa on his on his own terms, unless all hell breaks loose. And I feel like Bedner has been, he's afforded, because he's won and that team has been, for the most part, a juggernaut under his tenure once they've won, I think he's bought

himself at least, I would call it a longer leash, but maybe not, because what people are pointing to, and I know I'm getting long-winded with this, is going, look at the team that just beat them. They fired a hell of a coach that won a Stanley Cup. Exactly. Keeps the day. So should the ripple effect of what Vegas does affect the whole league on how you do business or is that just, are they an island? That's how they do business. We don't do business that way. Well, with torts, it's a double middle finger. It's like, not only did I just beat you,

I'm also an example of what making a coaching change can possibly do for a very good hockey team. Yeah. It's, he's four times the average tenure of a coach in the league already. Like we just say,

oh, it's an expiry date with Cassidy. And then it's a decade with him. Well, he's a really good coach. Well,

yeah, I think Cassidy is a good coach too. Is it time for a new voice? It's really the question. It's not a bedner's a good coach. I read something this morning. It was kind of like a fallout of Colorado

and some bullet points from a writer there saying what could they do to be better next year as far as addressing some of their shortcomings. I didn't have a great power play. Awful. So maybe there is a coaching change on the staff for somebody to handle the power play. Has to be. It's all right shot.

You know, they've got all right shots. So you're going to have to bring in somebody or they might have to have a different look on the power play. So they have more options. That's the type of stuff that has to be thought about when you have a fallout with short, you've come short of your expectations. I don't think it's a wholesale change. I don't think it's anything like that. I do believe Bender is now put on the clock.

But I, you know, as like anything, if you fall short, you should be given the opportunity to make amends for that, to battle back. And, you know, maybe they're going to sit down at the end of the year and go, you know what, we needed X, Y, and Z. They talked about the goaltending tandem. I've always believed that Blackwood is a better goaltender than Wedgwood. Wedgwood had a better year.

There's no doubting that. Wedgwood was one of the best and like statistically goaltenders in the NHL right at the top in everything. So is he a product of a really good team and having a good season? I would say yes. Because if you look at Wedgwood, he's traditionally been more of a tandem kind of backup lean. All of a sudden, this is the guy they're riding in the playoffs. So I would argue that if they're going to come back with that tandem, the role should be reversed.

I think McKenzie Blackwood agrees with you. This was his post game from last night. Okay. If you missed it. I did miss it. I mean, it's freaking hard to not play for so long and come into a big game. But, you know, I just said, fuck it. I go play the best I can and give them the best chance I can to win and just battle.

The language on this guy. Not just the language. So great. clip. Interesting, it goes with what you're saying, noodles. Yeah. Bednar after game three was cooked. McKinnon on the band. They, what I'm getting at is that looks like, I know they just lost, but it looked like a room that was lost before. It wasn't like last night.

Yeah. Yeah. Were they completely dismantled? No, they didn't lose eight to nothing. But they were not the team that looked like, oh shit. We need everyone in everything and every shift. They were dealing with this defeat starting at the end of the jury. Guys, we haven't even mentioned, like, he says, well, I can't tell Cal McCar to play. It's in Cale's hands.

You know, it's his body. Like, there are so many ways to say that he's hurt and he's going to do his best without framing it like Cail McCar's choosing not to play. Like, that is a superstar who is due an extension, July 1. That's a foot on a bear trap. That's a mistake by the coach. Yeah, I agree. I think there were.

Listen, we can look back and look at some of the mistake. I would have started Blackwood. And I'm not pointing at the coach. I'm saying the room and the coach. They go hands and hands. Some of the messaging coming out of the players. But you would have gone with Blackwood, right? After two.

Blackwood in game three, and that's not me being a hero. I'm just saying sometimes you need to have a different look. Like I think sometimes, I'll give me example, Buffalo. Alex Lyons, smaller goal, tent are very active in the net, really good feet. UPL was just a different look, a big body. So all of a sudden, Montreal shooters are used to, hey, we're looking at lion, all of a sudden there's a monster in the net. That hole that we thought was there isn't there anymore.

To me, the different look is you've lost two in a row. Didn't matter that you can, hey, we're going to blame this, blame X, Y, and Z. I would have come back with Wedgwood in game three. They did. I'm sorry, Blackwood. You had these woods. I know what I mean. I would have come back with Blackwood in game three.

Not because Wedgwood was poor. It's a different look. And Wedgwood wasn't at the top of his game. And even Bettner said would have liked an extra save here or there. Isn't that code for I'm going to switch the goal tent? Could be. The other thing is you're talking about teams that use platoons all year. It's not freaking the Sabres out when they switch their goalies.

It's not going to freak the abs out. It was almost a 50-50 split for those two teams. Like, what was the hesitation? The team was ready for it. They've been doing it for eight months. This is the great argument moving forward. When you have a platoon, and I know the saying is more for NFL,

if you have two number one quarterbacks, you don't have one because you're always second-guessing going, just what we just did. I would have gone with Blackwood instead of Wedgwood because that guy didn't play well the game before. So if you're going back and forth, there's six, seven, eight teams. that the guy can stink to join out and he's going right back in.

That's Vasilevsky, that's Hellebuck, that's Ottinger. We know that the six to eight guys. The rest of the league has to figure out how they're going to handle it moving forward because I think it's something that is more of a, it's a hot-button topic because we're seeing it fail. And the platoon system is great. But what coaches get in their mind is like, oh, this guy played well in games one and two.

We've got to come back with him. Maybe he's not conditioned. Exactly. Play that third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh game in a row. It's a different workload than he's seen ever, right? Exactly. And that's the biggest challenge. So it is something that has to be looked at.

You've got to dive into the numbers. You've got to dive into the psyche of the team. But Pinder, you make a great point. The team is, it's not a drop off. Again, it's not Kipersoft and McLennan. These two have been playing. the same level and playing with the same team. It's like, okay, who's playing tonight?

Blackie or Wedgie? That's it. And the guys are like, okay, this guy, like, that guy handles the puck a little bit more. This guy has more rebounds here. Like, Rhett, you would adjust to whoever you in because you're used to them. You saw him for half of the season. Yeah, it's not a, oh, shit.

I mean. Yeah. It's not a panic move if you go to the other. Semifinals in Toronto. Lock every shot tonight. That guy's in the net. I've heard that secretly in the back room. but well

it was true in the but we blocked it because we loved you we blocked it because we loved you that was right that said that Daryl gave the shit and everybody fear does

Dale came in after the first period in December I still remember is this is that playing Colorado this is how you play for your good buddy noodles this is a pretty call here

we got you the window I scored. All right. I love that. I mean, Darryl had, he would pull out everything to go out people. But that's,

again, when you have a platoon system, you got to use it. You've got to use it to your advantage. Disagnot.