Empty Netters Podcast - 17. The Boys Learn About Lent

Episode Date: February 23, 2023

(3:10) What to order at dinner when parents are buying (8:05) Weekend at the Genesis Invitational (11:20) Hot Ice / O'Reilly Trade (22:22) The Injury Bug Has Hit The NHL (53:04) Hottest Teams of the Week (55:55) NHL Teams Participating in Lent (1:26:14) Eichel Watch/Auston Matthews/Playoff Trail (1:32:55) Games to Watch GET 15% OFF YOUR FIRST ONLINE ORDER AT https://www.siphecho.com/ WITH PROMO CODE "NETTERS" NEW EPISODES EVERY THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuf52MHW1O7guPMzsMvv2kA FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/empty.netters/?hl=en FOLLOW US ON TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@empty.netters   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We're into this new episode here. We're coming off the tale of a long President's Day weekend. Yikes. Yikes, indeed. Tell me about your weekend. Actually, before we get into it, condolences to producer Emily. She's not with us today. Because she's tired.

She's tired. She's tired. Aren't we all tired? So we have producer Brian. Do you have a mic? Is that mic working? Hey, guys. Brian, I'll tell you right now.

You better set that mic up right in front of you because we're going to be going to you a lot during this episode. Excited is my first time. Why don't you tell us right now? How was your weekend? I was pretty good. My roommate Brandon, his family's in town. They're like a second family to me. So got a couple of free meals out of that.

I was going to say they must have taken the dinner. Where'd you go? Yeah, where'd you go? Malibu Farm Cafe. Whoa, dude. Yeah. They went big. That's sick.

Yeah, big place. Nice place. I thought you're going to say Fridays. I don't know where I went the other night, but it was also in Malibu, so they're big ballers, yeah. Yeah, you were ripping a mall. What was the best menu item that you ate? steak flatbread at Malibu Farm

I still have leftovers too so I'm probably gonna eat that tonight when you this is a question for the entire room you're going out to eat with friends parents and it's a they're treating you oh this is a good question I know where you're headed with this do you go all out or do you order very timidly or maybe not even timid do you order kind of down the middle

we're not going market price but we're also not getting kids menu we're getting a safe probably some chicken dish yeah I mean I just kind of go with you know you got one main course and that's it if they ask you if you want some advertisers you always say no

but then they kind of go oh come on you want some and then and then you get them yeah right I do think it's good to mirror you know if they are ordering first and they're getting apps like you've got to do the same thing but I used to when I was younger I was like the garden salad guy like oh no garden salad

It's fine. I don't need anything. And then I realized how dumb that was because you get very few free meals in your life. Dude. And you deserve respect. And if I walk in there and go, I'll have two apps, please. And then the lobster tail. They're like, damn. There's no way.

That guy gets it. There's no way that you actually do that. Dude, you are a little pipsqueak, dude. There's no way that you flex on parents like that. Maybe not the first time. Like, if I meet the parents and it's the first. time they've ever taken me to dinner, probably not. But I'll tell you what, dude, by the time, like, Chatsky's dad shows up and is taking me to dinner, I'm like, yeah, surf and turf, bud.

Yeah. That was going to be my point, I think. I, if this is my first time, Brian, let's say your parents come to town. Your parents alive? They are. I was not prepared for that. Almost a disaster. If you were like, oh, well, I don't have parents. If your parents come to town, you and I are hanging out, and they're like, I want, let's all go to dinner. Dan, you should come. And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, I couldn't possibly. And they're like, no, please, we insist. That first dinner, I'm ordering down the middle.

I'm getting chicken parm. I'm getting a chicken parm. I'm getting a very reasonable dish. But I'm also going to make your parents respect me, you know. I'm not going to order a lame thing. The first thing on the menu, the turkey club of meals. if you will, you know, that's just the run-of-the-mill sandwich, that it's like, oh, yeah, everyone kind of gets that.

I will order something that when it arrives, I'd like one of your parents to go, ooh, that looks good. Great order, Dan. You got to show off your palate. That's what I'm saying. Yes. But I'm also not going to be the big swinging dick at the Cracker Factory and order the fillet or order the stuffed lobster tail until meal two.

We have a great time. and then the next time your parents are in town and they're like this we got to go to dinner with Dan again now I'm swinging I'm swinging my food ordering ball bag left and right

and if you get invited back for a third dinner after that you know you have free reign because now they know yes on the second dinner when you pop them in the jaw with a lobster tail

they're like oh shit I thought he was a chicken palm guy you might even get a comment like Jesus Dan but if you get invited back for dinner three that's free reign to get whatever you want

from now on yeah I think that's the movie I think eventually, if you know these, if you know the parents even remotely well and you're engaging with them having a good time, they know what they're signing up for too. Yep. So I think we go big. Were you guys drinking? I was not, I do not drink at all.

Ever. Yeah, never have. I actually knew that about brunch. That's awesome. When we went to Bungalow. Oh, yeah. And he was looking fantastic in his like linen. That was fire.

That was fire. My first time wearing that shirt. It was a great shirt. Got a lot of compliments. Yeah. I was like, can I grab you a bag? beer and he was like no and you never can have you busted that shirt out since i have i have it's uh it's a it's a crowd of favor i'm not gonna lie yeah keep save it though don't overdo it early

isn't it brutal when you get a new shirt that you love you pop on you take it out for its test flight and it goes phenomenally you're then like i want to wear the shirt all the time now every day it's brutal i think the other bad one is i have a uh i have a summer shirt i'm a big fan of it's a I love it. You do love it. But it is so loud that every time you wear it, everyone remembers it. So you can't wear it that often. Because people are like, oh, you wore that shirt two nights ago.

And I'm like, that was like three weeks ago. But I understand why it feels like two nights ago. Even the same place, dude. Like if you wear it out to the brig once, if you wear it to the brig again, everyone's like, dude, you always wear the shirt at the brig. And you're like, that was three months ago. But it just, the, the bartenders are like, oh, here's a pineapple shirt, dickhead. And I'm like, gosh, SpongeBob Square.

You wear a pineapple shirt one time and then you're fucked. All right, well, it sounds like Brian had a great weekend. What about yours? C.P., what did you do? It was a long weekend in both good and bad ways. I'm exhausted. Really did not behave myself this weekend. Yeah.

I got to say. But I'll tell you why overall net positive it was fucking fantastic. Do you know why? Do you know what I'm going to say? No. Oh, you got to see Tiger Woods? I saw the big cat. He was right there, dude.

I almost touched him. And I don't know how many times I'm going to get to see him live again for the rest of my life. And I certainly don't know how many times I'm going to get to see him on a Sunday in red. Yeah. And I kept the ticket. And it was an incredible experience. Usually I go all the time. And usually we bounce around.

We go see Rick. We go see Rory, DJ when he's not banned from the PGA because of the live chaos. This time, we followed Tiger the whole round. Didn't leave his side. He could have put me in his back pocket. And I loved every step. Yeah, it was great. Ricky Fowler is my favorite golfer on tour,

and let's call it what it is. Ricky's been struggling a little bit recently. And I did not expect to see Rick, and then we were just standing there by one of the cart paths, and there came old Rick in his orange hat walking up, gave him a nice dapp. He went about his way. It's incredible.

He dapped up our boy, Jeff. He gave a little girl a golf ball. He wasn't even asking for him. Yeah, that wasn't even like a fan was like, Rick, Rick. He literally just walked up, tapped like a five-year-old girl on the shoulder. It was like, here's a golf ball. I was like, what a guy. That's such a, yeah. Beautiful course, beautiful day. And Tiger. Thank you, Tiger. Thank you for everything, Tiger.

I agree. Tiger's the man. I had just a brutal weekend. I had one of those weekends where, and I can feel the judgment from Brian here after talking about how he doesn't drink at all, you fucking healthy piece of shit. I had such a good week, just a clean week of exercise, eating well, hitting all my macros, feeling fantastic. And I was an absolute garbage pale kid this weekend. He was, I saw it. It was fucking horrendous, dude. It was just like, dude, I think I'm in trouble, man.

I, as many people know now, we've talked about it, I had not had a burger for 13 years. I cut burgers out of my diet. And then due to a lot of peer pressure, about four weeks ago, we did a little burger taste test. situation. I ate six different burgers on the west side here of Los Angeles. Some of six different burgers. See, I did not eat six burgers. I took a bite of six different burgers. And let me tell you what, man, burgers are delicious and I'm now eating them too much. Like I, I, I think I had

three burgers this weekend. No such thing as too many burgers. I hope that's true. Because I just ate like a fat, slob piece of trash. And I, of course, feel like it today. I lost my appetite watching you several times this weekend. hope to God that's not true but I can't I can't say for sure it's not

because I grossed myself out it was just the next thing I was just eating and then moving on to the next thing it's fucking terrible but speaking of the next thing let's get into some hockey talk here this is what

maybe start with some hot ice yeah let's start with some hot ice we got to I think you know we're coming down the wire here we're about 60 games into the NHL season

trades are happening and a big one happened in a big market. Ryan O'Reilly left the St. Louis Blues and headed over to the old Toronto Maple Leafs. Kyle Dubus needed a big forward, a guess. Right, I was going to say Diddy? Went out and got one. Where are you at on this trade? So I have a ton, we have a ton of Leaves fan friends who are fired up. I was pretty curious to see what the fan base that I speak to on the reg felt about.

this and they were immediately, immediately fired up. And I reacted similar to you, Dan, in that I can't quite tell Redmond, a videographer, producer extraordinaire Redman, who was with us at the All-Star game. You all saw him there. He's like, you know, you're looking at an incredibly deep top three centers on this squad, which is undeniably true. I just don't know if that's what Toronto needed. And I don't think Ryan, Riley hurts you. He's a great player, is a great leader. But I just can't tell if that was the swing. My knee jerk was like, you need defense help. It feels like that's what's knocked you out the last few years. It's that side of the puck. And admittedly, I don't quite know enough about O'Reilly's

game. So either he plays 3C for you or you experiment with him on the wing with Matthews, right? And I don't know, admittedly, I don't know enough about O'Reilly's game. And I probably should, considering it seems like his game has scored dagger goals against the Bs in the cup finals. Fuck me. But other than that, I don't know much about his game. Can he play the wing? I have no idea. Is he the type of center, like, Craichi dude?

3C, I don't think is that valuable. Like, if you move Creachy without skill guys around him, you get a way less version of Creachie. Yes. O'Reilly's been pending the last eight years of his career playing with good players, top two-line guy. if you bump him down to 3C and I can't tell you who plays the wings

on the Leaf's third line right now but if you bump him down there am I like you're not even getting the O'Reilly you thought you were getting because you're handcuffing him with some of this

you're asking him to play a third line role right and maybe there are some centers who can do that Charlie Coil stay in Boston can play 2C or 3C and I'm like yeah you get the same coil for the most part you know so I'm a little worried

I don't knock Dubus at all for spending big we said he had to he might not even be done so do whatever you've got to do to add talent to your roster. I just was a little surprised. We talked about a ton of O'Reilly destinations, and that was not one of them.

And I'm just surprised that's where he ended up. I agree. So the full specs of the deal are O'Reilly heads to Toronto along with Noll Achari. In exchange, St. Louis receives prospect, Mikhail Abramov, forward Adam Goddette, the Leaf's 2023 first round pick, the Senator's 2023 third round pick, and Toronto's 2024 second round pick.

The Wilde send forward Josh Pilar a 2019 fourth round pick by Minnesota to Toronto and received the Leafs 2025 fourth round pick in return. Pilar has 12 points in 12 games with the WHL's Saskatoon Blades. O'Reilly is a UFA next year. carries a $7.5 million cap hit.

50% of that is being retained by St. Louis. So the retained cap makes me think okay, you might be able to make another trade. But you're sending a little. lot of picks and a lot of problems. I mean, that's such chaos that trade, dude. Wave goodbye to your 2024 first round pick too. But again, if you're the Maple Leafs, if you're a Maple Leafs fan and Dubus gets, let's call it, Gostis Beer or Klingberg or something, and you trade your 2024 first

and maybe even 2025, if you're a Leafs fan and you're like, oh my God, what are we doing? You're an idiot. You're an idiot. You're an idiot. It's like, no, dude, you have the team now. Win now. You're your your your 2020 three four and five first round picks are not winning you a cup in the next three years the players that you have on the team now and that you're potentially getting at the trade deadline now is what's going to win you the cup so 100% make those moves o're Riley for me is playing center I think agree you go Matthews Tavares O'Reilly straight down the middle as your three centers I'm gonna look up there lines I think talking I think that because the strongest center group in the east, maybe in the league.

A lot of people are talking about, oh yeah, O'Reilly is a little off his game this season. I think he's got, what is it, Chris, 12 goals and 8 assists this year in something like 40 plus games. He's not playing at the clip that he usually plays that. But I think Ryan O'Reilly is a really, really impressive, really strong two-way center. He's going to win puck battles for you in the defensive end. He's going to bang home goals in front of the net. He's going to score clutch goals, and he brings a ton of veteran leadership to this group, and he brings a cup. 12 goals, 7 assists, 19 points in 40 games, dash 24.

Yeah. So far in Toronto, two games, one apple dash two. Yeah, that's a bad season by his standard. Yeah, that's actually, I didn't even realize it was that low. It's a bad. But I guess, but, you know, he's 31 years old, or how old is he? I'll tell you. He is 13.

32 years old. Recently celebrated a birthday, February 7th. Yeah, I was going to say. So he's 32. He's got, I think, at least a few solid years left in the league. I don't look at this, however, as Toronto's going to resign him. This is a rental. I think Toronto is going to get him hoping for a cut push.

What worries me about this trade for Toronto is it feels very much like the Felino deal they made a couple years ago. I think they went. They got the captain of the Blue Jackets who was having a down year after some really good years. They saw leadership. They saw a strong middle six forward presence. And that's exactly what Ryan O'Reilly is going to give you. Do I think this is the move that gets them cup? No, I really don't.

I'm not sitting here and saying that Toronto's not winning the cup this year. But the way we look at Teresenko joining New York, I go, that is a better ad for that group. I think Tarasenko better compliments the Rangers forward group and better improves their overall team play heading into a Stanley Cup playoff push. I think O'Reilly is an ad. No question about it. Toronto fans relax don't come at me. It is an ad for sure. But it's not the ad.

It's not. And I would hear the argument like what is, is there, has there ever been a trade that's like, oh, that is it? That is the ad that's going to get you a cup. But I do think as a fan base, there's trades that you go, fuck yeah, that was really. We just did. We filled our needs. And I don't think they can afford to be done. I think if you go into the playoffs with this defensive group on the Maple Leafs, you don't feel strong at all.

If they got Chikrin for, you know, whatever the asking price was, would you have said that maybe is the ad that pushes them over the top? If they got Chikrin, if they did this trade and it was for Chikrin, I feel much better. It would cost more probably, but, but. Yeah. I feel much better. much, much better. I am not sure I would say I like what do

it looks like what Dubas is doing. I think you need to get a forward night. I think you need to get defense and I think it's really good to get some forward help too. Increase the depth there. Yeah. And I think too as we've seen and by the way

I'm about to talk about a grueling playoff run the Leafs are worried about getting out of the first fucking round so that should be their focus. But in a grueling playoff run people get hurt dude. People get knocked people are out. It's never a bad issue to have depth. It is never a bad issue to have center depth. So if you lose anybody, if Tavarez goes down, if Matthews goes down, being able to slot in Ryan O'Reilly is a fucking godsend. Even look at Matthews, Matthews is hurt right now. And we have

no idea how severe that injury is. He might come into the playoffs like a badass and be like, I am knocked up so badly, but I'm going to play. And then one bad hit. And he's like, fuck, this is worse than everyone thought. I have to sit out now and you have Ryan O'Reilly now. That's great. I mean, that's a good person to plug in. And it's kind of I don't, I feel, I wish I could remember everyone we had listed of possible destinations, but wherever, you know, it's a two-player swing, dude. It's a dodgeball two-player swing, because maybe he would have gone to a competitor, you know, so it's like, maybe he wasn't the exact dream ad for Toronto, but he was for some other team in the East, and now you got him. So they didn't,

you did, you win, they lose good day. Yeah. And I love it, dude. I want Toronto to make moves because it's either going to be sick and they're going to get everyone and then go to the cup or they're going to trade for everybody and still losing the first round and that's going to be sick for me because it's going to be great content. So good. Keep buying, baby. The calamity of if they lose in the first round is going to be exceptional. There will be no Toronto. I mean, it'll be gone. I won't even begin to think about what's going to happen to that fan base if they lose in the first round which is so possible. Dude.

Because more than anything, because of how stupid the playoff seeding system is. And how savage the East is. You know what? The East is so, so good. It's ridiculous. We are hitting the point with Toronto specifically where I, there are teams. So, for example, Toronto caught the bees in the first round several times. So I was always rooting for the bees because I was like, I hope Toronto loses because they're playing the team I like.

Then it became a thing where they can't get out of the first round. And just as a neutral sports fan, it became kind of funny where I was like, I hope Toronto loses in the first round. But we're reaching, and it was the same with like OV and not giving a cup. Yeah. I was like, oh, I hope what we did. It's so funny he doesn't win. And but then I hit a point with Ovi. And I'm pretty much there with Toronto now where I'm like, just get out.

Just do it. I agree. I want like, I love those guys on the team. You know, I love Matthews. I love Marner. And I'm like, come on, boys. Like, as funny as this was, I'm now, you're breaking my heart. Like, just win.

Last year when they caught the bolts, I wanted to die. I was like, oh my God. this is so unfair please lord get out of here so yeah i think that they for everyone's sake for everyone's sake they got to get out so yeah i mean dubus just listen to us slash the world so far like you made a big trade you gave up a lot keep going dude if if the twenty twenty four maple leaf's first round pick is still in their possession after this trade deadline i think you've made a huge mistake uh okay i don't hate that take actually yeah keep going i really do keep going. We've got to talk about a bunch of injuries now. There's a lot of guys who are unfortunately,

who have gone down here. Nothing too, too crazy with the exception of one. Johnny Taves has, is currently sitting out for the foreseeable future. Yeah. Correct. He obviously had that very scary heart situation. Or was it earlier this year? Was that end of last year? I think earlier, I think this year he was, he started and was. Yeah, I think he missed all of last season. Yeah, was last season he was dealing with a hard issue and he has just shut himself down for the foreseeable future, possibly the rest of the season, uh, due to long COVID symptoms. I mean, he's, he's, he's kind of saying that his long COVID system symptoms are, are keeping him out, keeping him off his game. And this sucks so much for more than it. I'm, I mean, for Johnny

Taves more than anything, because he's an unbelievable person, unbelievable player. I hate that he's dealing with health issues this severe that are making him not play the game that he loves and the game that he's amazing at. This sucks for hockey. It sucks for him. It sucks for the Blackhawks. It sucks for other teams who are thinking about

trading for him making a playoff push. I look at Taves exactly how I look at Ryan O'Reilly. He would have been such a good middle six center ad for a team making a push here. Could you imagine the Devils or the Hurricanes

adding Jonathan Tafts? No. Because you, or, or we've talked about this one, Colorado. We're looking, you're looking at Colorado, everyone's kind of like,

Colorado, man, what a weird situation they're in. They're like not doing that well. They're the, you know, they won the cup last year. If all of a sudden Jonathan Taves is on that fucking team.

He does feel like to me, and forgive me, Ryan O'Reilly, if I'm talking out of my ass because I need to study your game more. But Taze does feel like a guy to me that could slot in at 3C and you're still getting,

the tase that you want to get. That would have been a big pickup. I'll echo what you said for the most part. As a, you know, we're getting older, dude, and some of the athletes we grew up watching

are retiring. Like, they're just out of the league. And when it's a team or a player, you love and respect, I just want them to have the most storybook finish possible. I hope the bees win the cup this year

so bad in Berg retires. You know, Ray Bork got his way out. Like, I want these guys, Sid, dude, you know I'm a Sid guy. Like, I hope Sid has another good run out. it even if you don't win like I just love to see Sid like make an Eastern conference final or so can I interrupt real quick yeah something that I've thought about a lot that I want more than anything and we got a glimpse of it in the all-star game this year

I want so desperately in two years three years whenever it is I want a big trade to happen probably at the deadline and I want Sid an OV to get on the same team and win a cup and walk out into the distance. I highly doubt that ever happens, but that would be the most fucking electric thing that has ever happened to our specific generation of hockey fans.

I think it would immediately go down. Let's say it's OV goes to pit. Because I think the biggest thing... Well, I almost think they'd have to be on a different team like they'd both have to win. Probably, probably. But it does feel like one of those things that's like, Neither of them are going to leave.

Yeah, totally. I mean, you look at the legends of the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise before Sid. Sid is, without question, top three Penguin of all time, in my opinion. Agree. And I think there's an argument to be made that he is one. I think that there's an argument to me that when it's all said and done, Sid will be one over Mario. Sorry. How many cups is when you have, do you know?

I don't know. I think it's three. But if Sid got one, I think that, I thought that was right, too. Brian, got one more. Will you look that up? I think it's three or four. But anyway, I think I could see Ovi come into Pitt. It's two.

He only has two. So Sid already has more cups. Okay, wow. Look at that. So yeah, if he gets four, it's something to think about. Something to think about. My thing is, I could just see Ovi because he feels like he's going to yager himself. Yeah.

But, you know, as he's currently playing, it would make him. and no sense for the caps to move on from him. Like keep them, keep them. But anyway, I think if that happened, dude, if they wound up on the same team in a playoff push and they both won a cup together, that moment of one of them handing the cup to the other and them winning a cup together

and then retiring in the same year, like they came in together. They both created legacies separately. And then they wound up together at the end and then they were tired together winning one more cup, that would be a instant top five, three moment in NHL history. Instant. What if they went up to Betman together and took it together and raised it? I think, dude, let's say another scenario here, okay.

They get SIDS 35, 36, 35. OV's 36. Yeah. Let's say it's three years. They both get traded. Two deadline acquisitions. Sid and Ovi are like, we're done. Yep.

Penguins are missing the playoffs, caps are missing the playoffs. A team scoops both of them to play third line. And you now have Ovi and Sid on your third line together. If I'm the captain of that team and you win a cup, I would straight up look at the two of them and go, come up here and get this together. Because Joe Sackick basically did that.

He didn't even raise it. He took it from Batman, but he just handed it right to Ray. Yeah, not even going up would be unprecedented. Well, no, I think you go up and take a picture with Betman, right? And then if Batman picked it up to give it to me, I'd be like, no, no, hold on. And I would look at the two of them and be like this, you two get up here right now. What if it's that captain's

first? Because Joe only, and I love Joe, and I respect Joe, but Joe only did that because he already had one. Has he said that? No, but I promise you, I promise you this. If Joe had never won a cup, he would erase that thing to the fucking sky and then waved in Ray. If it's my first, I still do it. Because it's so, it would be the most iconic thing. The NFL needs to make this happen.

Can you imagine that powerful? play? Oh my God. The PP1 unit with Sid and Ovi on it. I don't even care if they're 39 and 38. Like it would just still be so electric. All right. I'm sorry I interrupted you. Keep going. Okay. Yeah. To bring it all the way back, all I was going to say is as a fan of hockey, this is not how I need Jonathan Taze's career to end. I don't mean it's going to end this year. I just mean like I hate this whole last two-year saga of his career. I am crossing fingers and toes every day for his health because he deserves a much cleaner finish than what this is shaping up to be. And I'm not even saying he needs to win one more cup.

He's done fucking fine. But come on, dude. I want him to play the game. Like, I just am so sad that he's just sick and can't play and it's being robbed from him. Agree. If there's any, I mean, fuck COVID for so many reasons, you stupid, stupid thing that has happened to us. But if Jonathan Tave's career is severely hampered and dwindles out because of long COVID.

Oh, remember when I'll puke. Remember when COVID was starting and it was kind of like, no one, we didn't know a lot or whatever. And then it came for Tom Hanks and everyone got, everyone got, dude, everyone was like, oh, whoa, dude. COVID's real. It came for Hanks? It got Hanks. Put your fucking masks on. Yeah, dude, put your, I got Hanks. That's how I feel right now.

I'm like, I got Taze. Everybody fucking, hey, stop. We got to figure this out. I feel bad. I did not believe in long COVID. Yeah. But it got Taze. I still feel like shit.

I was like, you're a fucking baby. Yeah. But now that Jonathan Taves an elite NHL player is like. I have long COVID. I'm like, oh, long COVID is real. And we need to put a stop to it any way possible.

It's, it's just devastating. Get well, Johnny. We fucking love you. I agree. Honestly, I really wanted to see him on another team.

I didn't, and I don't think he was going to leave, but I don't, I want to see him on the ice. Yeah. End of discussion. Okay. Let's pop over to the abs.

Kale McCar is in Kanky protocol right now. Kocked. Yep. I hate to see it, but he'll be back, but losing Kale, even, you guys are in the playoffs

but you're not in first place so interesting and Eric Johnson broken ankle right out indefinitely and you can come back from that like I could play in the playoffs but he could because Eric Johnson's a you know he's an older guy he was already playing

probably bottom pairing one of the best bottom pairing guys you can find but ankle injury is no joke a broken ankle is no joke so coming back from that that's tough so look for Colorado to make a deep move here now it's possible right like um well this is actually what I want to bring up. The whole reason I want to talk about this,

because there was only one other one I wanted to say, which was Flip Forrestberg, three games for the Preds, upper body. And what I think is interesting about Colorado loses a defenseman as they're like in third place in the western, Nashville, it needs to score goals.

Flip Forestborg is hurt. When the shit like this happens right around the deadline, it can really force teams hand to be like, we have to make a move because I was counting on maybe the guys in this locker room to internally figure it out and we're going to we're going to go here but then you lose one i'm like well then you even if the trade wasn't in your plans you have to make a trade now you have to or you or you just wave the white flag now which is fucked for the players and the fans so i always keep an eye on injuries right around this time of year because it changes

gm's plans drastically when someone goes down unexpectedly so devastating when you you're a team that's absolutely buzzing and you're heading into the playoffs and then someone gets hurt because it's you see it all the time a guy, you see a wing go down, your second line winger. And you think it's like football. Football is an interesting example.

If a player goes down, you just go, okay, plug and play. There's a guy who goes down, here's the dude on the practice squad or on the depth chart that now slots into this role. So often what happens when you lose a second line winger

or a first line winger, you can't just go, okay, dude in the HL who is scratched. You're now playing on the first line. Yeah. You have to shift up. And then that fucks the second line. It fucks the third line.

Fucks the fourth line. It changes chemistry on every line. It's insane how it disrupts every single line. Every single situation. Fucks up your power play, your penalty kill. And yeah, man, when you're buzzing like this and a injury happens and it now potentially is going to disrupt all the chemistry on your team because like you said, it also might lead to a trade now, which is going to mess up chemistry.

It's just terrifying. you can that's why it's you can be the best team in the league at this point in the season and everything looks great but every game i'm nervous as fuck yeah i'm like ah god please no one get hurt it's so insane and you brought up football football is a sport dude being a football gym would fucking drive me insane because you build this team and you know for a fact you're gonna lose like seven of them to season ending injuries and yeah in the first half of the season i'm like so the team i made is not they're not even real that's not the team that's ever going to play in the playoffs. What a fucking nightmare that is.

The NHL, less so, but you're 100% right. There's massive injuries right around the corner. It's a violent game, and it sucks to be like, we got it. This is the locker room that's going to do it. And then flips three days. Like, hopefully he's fine. And Eric Johnson,

like you said, isn't Kail McCarr, but it's like bang, dude, one broken ankle. And you're like, fuck, like Jake DeBrusky. Jake DeBrusky's back now. If that had happened now or if that happens in a month, you're like, fuck, there's the whole, there's the whole playoffs, a wash, or not a wash, but like the whole playoffs has to be re-thought, re-jumbled because of this one injury. So it's, uh, we are now officially in the injuries are scary part of the year. Yeah. Because you're like,

oh shit. Team cam is also nuts in hockey man because to go, again, to go back to football, you've got a 53 man roster. How many times have we heard guys hop on podcasts or in interviews and they're like, yeah, I don't know half the dudes on the team. Like I don't know they're crazy. It's not only is that insane. It's so disrespectful. Could you imagine? being on a football team and not knowing your teammates name. Which a lot of them admit that they don't. They're like, yeah, I don't know that, dude. Like our sixth cornerback on the roster, you're some high-flying wide receiver.

You're like, yeah, I don't know him. Yeah. That's insane to me. I don't get it at all. So. I have a story. I played football in high school. Oh, hell yeah, Brian. I played football in high school when I was a sophomore.

We had a pretty small team, but we were getting our rings into the year. Whoa, flex. Yeah, hold up. Did you guys win something? Yeah, we were state champions. Let's fucking go. dude, wait, where is this? New Jersey.

Oh, that's no joke, too. That's good football. Well, when I went to school in Texas, people kept telling me, oh, it's not Texas football, but take what you can get. Kiss the ring, bro. So I was a sophomore,

and we were giving out, they were giving out our rings end of the year, and everyone just kind of called me Baker because that was my last name. So when they call my name, like, oh, Brian Baker, one of the seniors was like,

oh, that's his first name, huh? Dude, yeah. That's his name. I didn't know, dude. That's so crazy. And it's offense and defense, too, right? Like, I feel like office and defense, the higher levels you get, you're like, I legitimately don't associate with them at all. So then basketball is, I don't even know this.

How many players are on the bench in a basketball? I think the rosters are 12. Yeah, seven on the bench. Yeah. So five-hour. Okay. So that's like 12. That's such a small amount.

So it's so hard to make the lead. And then baseball, you've got pitchers and catchers are kind of doing their own thing. All the pitchers are in the bullpen. They don't know shit. They're not even in the dugout. Like, these guys don't talk to each other. Hockey is the most tight-knit, like, 23-mile. It's a big size, but not too big.

Everyone loves each other. And, yeah, man, you lose a guy like that who's now sitting up in the press box during games. That sucks or gets shipped out on a trade. That's brutal. That can fuck up your whole system. I thought it was interesting when we were chatting with Fabro last week where every time you think about a trade, you think about people leaving, right? Like, if you're talking about our tight-knit locker, I mean, you're like, I don't want anyone to go. Yeah.

But I'm like, I know. that we asked him. He had a great answer, but we asked him like, is it equally weird having someone come in? Because you're like, yeah, we're better now, but I'm like, hi, Ryan O'Reilly. Nice to meet you. Like, we're the boys up in here. I don't even know you, you know. These are the weird ass traditions and weird things. Yeah, yeah, right. Like Ryan's playing Gloria and they're like, dude, no, we don't do that here. You know, whatever. But I'm saying it's just, it, you are so right, it is a tight, tight knit locker room. And what a, what a chaotic time of year for everybody. The good news is that we're all weird.

So it's not like you are going to come into a locker room and see these new traditions and be like, what the hell goes on in here? You'll be like, oh, yeah, this is your weird shit. We do weird shit too. But it is a learning curve, dude. It's nuts. It's absolutely crazy.

Let's kick it to some college hockey. Yes. Cool. Do you see this, Brian? I do not know what this is. Yeah, okay. Well, I mentioned college. I was wondering if you would know.

So for the listeners who are unaware, Stadium series is going on right now. we've got, what's the, what's the park in, uh, Carter, it's like Carter Finley or something like, I think Carter Finley is, but it's where the NC State football. Yeah, so it's NC State football stadium. They did, uh, ODR rank there, stadium series. We had the capitals and the, uh, Carolina Hurricanes playing a game there. Whenever they do that, they also let kind of like surrounding, uh, colleges play. And we had an NC state UNC hockey game. And for those listening, you might be saying, oh, I didn't realize they have an NCAA team. You'd be correct. This was a

club hockey game and there was fucking 25,000 fans in the stadium. And the videos of it online are electric. Like, it's like the coolest environment. You had all of these UNC and NC State fans piled in, all in on the environment, all in on the game, going bonkers. And this has got to be one of the coolest things in hockey this year. Not just college hockey, in hockey. Dude, I, when I finally gave up the dream and was

off to college and shit, well, off to grad school, I was at Duke and I played on the Duke team. And it was fun as fuck. The ACHA is so fun. It's good hockey too. Especially, yeah, it was. Very good hockey. And there, well, similar to like every D-1 sport there, but like Duke, UNC, NC State,

we were so close, right? So we had that Duke UNC rivalry. It was really fun, bouncing around. And we get up everywhere. We're playing, you know, up, up, uh, Georgetown, Maryland, those schools are playing down in Florida. We're playing all over the place. It was such a blast. Some rinks in particular, UVA, shout out, their old rink was incredible. The stands hung over the bench. Their fans would pour beers onto our bench all over us. And they did their homework. They were on Instagram and shit like chirping people's girlfriends. Like, they go hard, you know. So every now and then, when you get a crowd in playoffs, by the way, we're pretty sick.

Like, we packed Barnes at playoffs. Well, small rinks, but like they would be a fill up, you know, a couple thousand people, whatever. and it was so much fun. You know, like, I missed my old juniors days and shit when people actually came and I was like, this is cool. I love people being here. When I saw this, I first saw it on Instagram, like UNC posted something, like two of their current players, like, holding up like UNC swag being like we're playing at the rink.

And I was like, oh my fucking God. Yeah. That would have been the sickest moment of my fucking life. I am so jealous of those kids. I'm so sad for my Duke buddies on the team now that I'm like, how did you miss this, dude? You should have made quick round robin with the boys or something Yeah like oh my God

But dude What a cool I'll tell you what man The first time I ever played in a game With like actually significant people there And it wasn't even that crazy It was probably my first big big game

It was probably like 7,000 And I remember my coach in the locker And being like don't freak out And I know there's fine And in my head I was like calm down dude What gives a fuck But then you walk out And it's just like

Especially in a smaller rank when it's that packed I was like, yo, dude, this is wild. And I was pretty young, too, but it was crazy. And that must have been a, I mean, they won't remember that forever. That is a feeling you remember your whole life, 25K up in there, dude, going nuts. It's so dope and it's such a cool moment to acknowledge club hockey. Yeah. I mean, it's people forget, Arizona State was a club hockey team.

Yep. And now Penn State was a club hockey team. And now there's significant D1 programs who are sending kids to the NHL. So, so. awesome. Don't overlook these club teams. If you guys are at some of these awesome big schools with big club programs, go. They're fun games and it's good hockey. Dude, you catch guys like, you know, some guys are literally just like high school players that wanted, you know, didn't play and end up here, but some guys like fucking me kind of and some other people were like we're playing. And then you just

your career ends and you end up here and you're like, I'll jump out there. So there's guys that are like that can fucking move it. I mean, it was sick. There's a lot of guys in the pro hockey system in the NHL and HL and you think a lot about over the last 20 to 40 years how many dudes didn't get recruited by one of the few NCAA D1 hockey schools in this country who then went and played club somewhere who possibly could have gotten a lick in the pros just because there wasn't enough attention and this is how you changed that I mean you're telling me it wouldn't be sick as fuck if UNC State Duke UVA all of these schools had legit D1 NCAA hockey programs, everyone would go there.

The student show out. You think kids, no offense, dude, do you think kids are trying to go to fucking union and Colgate and live up in Schenectady, New York, and play hockey when you could be going to UNC and be a tar heel on the hockey team? Be fucking sick. Those jerseys, can you imagine those jerseys? It would be so elite. So, fuck yeah, man.

Grow the game. That includes college and club. Massive shout out. I don't know the answer to this. Massive shout out to whoever pitched that first. Like whether it was the club teams reaching out or the NHL reaching out. But fucking big props. That was an awesome idea.

And what a great treat for everybody. And props to the students and fans. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. They were like this. People will come and then holy fuck. Yeah. So that's so dope. That was awesome.

I mean, UNC, NC State club hockey games got significantly more attendance than any single home coyotes game this year. So something to think about. Wow, dude. Fucking great. Yeah, even think about that. Something to think about. Awesome. All right.

Last couple bits of hot ice here. We're going to kick it over to some Bruins talk because, you know, we do our best to not be biased to the Bruins here. But they're making news. They're making news. Number one, Brad Marchand, the best, possibly best troll on the ice, best troll on the internet in the NHL, no questions about it. I think he is that for sure. The best social, NHL social social. Oh, yeah.

Brad Marchand has the best social media presence in the NHT. Yeah. No doubt. NHL announces that Seattle, Detroit, and Edmonton are the favorite. for hosting the 2025 NHL All-Star game. And Marcy came through in the comments and was like,

can't wait to see how many guys boycott that game. People obviously had what they had to say to Brad for dumb biased reasons, but then fan-based fans came after Brad. On Twitter, came after him in the comment section

on Instagram, and Brad was clapping back. Like a couple, a couple, I think someone posted it. A Bruins fan posted it on Twitter and was like, Brad is back.

Yeah. And Brad said, I mean, am I wrong? Like, I stand by this. And then Oilers fans got loud. Some Oilers fan was like, well, you're not going to be playing in the game anyway. And Brad was like, I hope not if it's there. Which is also a funny statement from the fan because I'm like Brad is a probably will. Yeah, he very certainly could be. And then another oilish fan came out of him with some like hate speech. And Brad was just like, dude, here's the thing. No one's taken less to play in those markets. which is a savage comment. I feel a little bad for Seattle getting ricochet shot it in here. Yeah. Because I'm like, dude, relax, man.

It's their second year in the league. They're in the playoffs. Give him a break. I thought it was tough to include Detroit. Well, you're just saying because it's like a great hockey market? Yeah, dude. And people have taken less in Detroit plenty in the last 25 years. Sure.

So that part of his comment, yes, probably tough to include Detroit. But now it's... It's sketchy and Do it. This is me putting on my tinfoil hat. Do you think that comment has anything to do with Dylan Larkin? Maybe.

Because Detroit is currently asking Dylan Larkin to take less. And he don't want to. And I don't blame him. I don't think it is totally, but maybe. And I think he more, even though I love that comment back,

I think he more meant. So we were just there. We were just at the All-Star game, right? And it was in fucking Waterdale, basically Miami, beautiful place. I love Florida. Always have. And we made a couple jokes about guys

missing vacations or getting vacations cut short. Dahlene was like, yeah, I was on the way of the Bahamas and then they called me to fucking turn around. And I'm like, that sucks. So as much of an honor as it is to go to these All-Star games, which is why he turned around, some of these guys like, do we don't get a lot of time off.

I wanted this break. Yeah. I think Dahlene doesn't. turn around if it's in Detroit. That's my point. I don't think it's a bad hockey market. It's a great hockey market. But I just don't know that it's a fun weekend getaway in the middle of fucking winter. Yeah. The last Brad comment was definitely the people were coming at him so he was going to come back. Yeah. The greater sentiment here is no one wants when you get your week, week and a half off during the middle of the season. It's the only time off you have. And all the boys are in the

Bahamas. Yes. Everyone else. I mean, if there's anything we learned about being at All Star weekend, that everyone on those teams that doesn't make the All-Star game is traveling to tropical locations. I don't think anyone is trying to go to these three cities. We're already hearing it with next year, it being in Toronto. Yeah. Which is a all-time city and an all-time hockey town. But these guys are like, no, dude, I don't want to fucking go hang out in Toronto for five days. I'd like to go to Cancun.

Yes. Seattle in the summer? Cool. But it's in February. Dude, I honestly think it should be like the Super Bowl, where they're like, we rotate between, you know, L.A., Miami, and I don't know. I don't know if any of the Texas ones are fun enough. But I would literally be like, just pick the cool, warm weather cities and the All-Star weekend just bounces back and forth.

I would love to know, I'd love to know if how much does the All-Star game do to the bottom line of these teams each season. How helpful was that to Sunrise, Florida and the Florida Panthers organization? Yeah. To host the All-Star game. Because if it's super helpful, I don't think it's growing their brand at all. It's because it's not about the Panthers. None of the advertising for that all-star games was like, oh, look at this.

We're in what I don't even fucking remember what it's called. FLA Live, like Florida Live Stadium. No one was talking about that. You're just talking about the All-Star game should be in fucking Vegas every year. Oh, yeah, that's another good one. It should literally just be a team. It should be at Vegas. And they split the profits, dude.

Take the profits, split them across all the teams in the league. Maybe Vegas gets like a little boost for a whole. They already do rev share. Like, you know, fucking A. Just let it be in Vegas and let it be an absolute gas. I mean, I fucking stamp, dude. I'll put my stamp on that right now. Boom, NHLLL star game is in Vegas every year moving forward, done.

So I think Brad has a point, personally. And then the last bit of Bruins news we're going to talk about here, this is specific to Boston, but I think anyone with eyes who is an NHL fan would have something to say about this. the old boys at NBC Boston and some of the sports hub talk I think it's Adam Jones and Mike Felger Got a role got in I like Jonesy but I'll I yeah

I mean Felger is a fucking troll Especially when we're Professional though professional He knows what he's doing But yeah respect him They get to talking about the Boston Bruins And the question of the trade deadline has come up We did our piece talking about the trade deadline

these two guys started talking about the Bruins goaltenders, Linus O'Mark and Jeremy Swayman. And they both were in agreement saying that the Bruins should 100% trade one of them here at the deadline. And if you want to say, actually, C.P. or Brian, one of you get out your phones and help look up for me. Swamen is not under contract next year, I think. and is he RFA or UFA? I believe, I'm almost certain he's an RFA next year. Okay, Jeremy.

And while you do that, I'll say this. If you want to make the argument, you've got Linus O'Mark who has broken out this year. He's RFA. Okay, so he's a restricted free agent. He's 23, 24 years old, I believe. 24 years old. And he is a fantastic goaltender. And he is, I don't even think this is up for debate.

He is part of the best goalie tan. in the NHL this season. If you want to talk about trading him because you have Olmark and you'll get a great return, fine. I still think you're a moron, but fine. Jonesy went on to say that if they got the right offer, he would 100% trade Linus Olmark. And Linus Olmark is potentially about to be the first goalie triple crown winner since 2015,

I believe. He is leading the league in every measurable as a goaltender. And this is something that people aren't talking about. Currently, Linus O'Mark has the best contract in the NHL. It's nuts. He is a, he is almost a runaway Vesna winner this season.

Bob's making 10 and looking like a fucking sieve out there. And Linnis making five. Lina makes $5 million. You have a, again, we'll see if he continues this play through the rest of the season and the playoffs. And into next year,

whatever, whatever. Right now, and we are 60 games into the NHL season, he is hands down a top three goalie in the league, making $5 million a year in his mid-20s. Wild. And you're like, yeah, I'm going to trade that. How many years does he have left, Brian? I think he signed a five by five, so he'll have three after this year. Yeah, that is, um, did Jonesy say, because I didn't hear it, did he say at the deadline or did he mean in the summer? Because trading him at the deadline is possibly the most preposterous thing I've ever heard. How could you ever... He was saying at the deadline because he's like, you have swayment.

How could you ever be having this prune season and get rid of it, Allmar? It's, dude, again, it's people on the internet. I mean, it's fucking us. You know, you say troll shit to get troll responses sometimes. I cannot believe that statement from a Boston news outlet being like, yeah, trade Omar. Let's say we put him on the block. Do you think Buffalo would go... I'll give you anything.

Come back. Of course. If you put Linus O-Mark up on the training block right now, what team wouldn't fucking call? Well, everyone. Well, not everyone, but a lot of teams. I think of the 16 playoff teams, I mean, we'll call it 22 right now because there's bubble teams. I think literally every single one of them, but maybe four would call. The Rangers don't.

The Rangers don't. The lightning don't. The stars don't. The Jets don't. And the Jets don't. I think that's probably it. yeah I'll hear that

I even think the Preds call oh well juice is so nice yeah point made by the deadline that would be it would go down internet would break

it would go down as the demonstration in the NHL history so I'm like I just wanted to bring that up to just at least get it out there saying like we heard it yeah

bold prediction here at Empty Netters Linus Allmark is on the Bruins on March 5th yeah we're gonna say it dude he's on the Bs we're calling our shot, Linus O'Mark does not get traded this deadline. Bang.

Some people are going to say we're stupid. Can't wait to clip this one. Yeah. Fucking crazy. All right. Do you have any more hot ice? That's it. That's my hot ice.

I want to do hottest teams. Let's do hottest teams. That's right. I think I'm leading the way. Yeah, do it. Take us away. All right. Hottest teams this past week in the NHL.

We're going three to one. Number three is the Carolina Hurricanes. They had a three and a week. Beat the caps three two, the Habs six two. then the Caps again 4-1 in the ODR game in North Carolina gave the home fans a nice treat. Shout out to UNC and NC State like we just said. But Carolina Hurricanes are hot and they stay hot. That's a tough swing for the Caps too because the Caps are a bubble team here.

They're on a little skid, I think. Ovi's obviously gone for very justifiable reasons, but they're on a little skid. Running into the Cains is tough. Yeah, they got some games in here, but they've got to figure it out. Okay, number two, second hottest team of the week, the Los Angeles Kings. They had a three in a week. They've won four straight overall. If you bounce back,

that was the Brownie 60 game against Pitt. So that was a big win. Then they beat the Sabres. Sorry, Dan. Then they beat the Ducks. Then they beat the Yotes in a shootout. There was almost a fucking goalie fight in Anaheim. It was pretty sick.

Do you see that? I sure did. Copley's pounding someone with his blocker. I fucking love it. I think he got sussied, actually. He rejected at least. He got ejected. Maybe sussied.

But let the goalie fight, Raff. I know. Let the boys play. I love Phoenix. As in Phoenix Coffin. I think he is the goalie of the future for that team. No offense, Cal Peterson.

But like I said, Buffalo, go trade for Cal Peterson. Give him a new start. Give him a new place to live. I'm telling you. Phoenix is the guy. And the number one team of the week we were just talking about him. Sorry everybody who hates when we talk about the bees, but the Boston Bruins are the hottest team of the week.

I don't know what you want me to say. They're an absolute wagon. They are shit-pumping teams. You know, they beat Dallas in a great game, beat Nashville, then the Islanders, then the Senators. I hate to say this because they're friends of the program, but the Predators Bruins game was one of the more lobsided games I've ever seen. Dude, Islanders, too. You're talking about, yeah, actually. It's crazy.

But that Preds game, man, you're talking about a, I'll call them a playoff bubble team. I'm not sure if the Preds are going to sneak in, but they're a great team with great talent, great goaltending. and that game ended up 5-0, I think. They might have got one. And it was just, no, it was a sway, shut out. Oh, really? Okay. And it was just a beatdown.

And you've got guys like Roman Yosey running around out there taking like stupid penalties because he was just like, this ice is tilted so badly. And the bees are just tallywacking teams. And they're bullies, dude. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah, they're bullies, but not even like the broad street. Yeah, yeah. They're bullies in that.

They're just like, we're so much better than you. you and we're not going to hide it. Yep. And it's just crazy. They just added Jake Debrusk back from injuries. It has two goals and his first two games back. Wow. It's just fucking crazy.

So they're the hottest team. Be smoking hot. Smoking hot. We're going to give a little shout out to Lent here. Oh, yes. Okay. So I want to play a quick game. Lent starts Wednesday.

Wednesday. Is that right? Yeah. So by the time you guys are listening to this, it will have started yesterday. Lent has started. I have never personally participated in a Lent. Norvite. Brian, have you ever given up something for Lent?

I'm Protestant, so we don't really do that. Yeah, so you hate Jewish people is what you're saying to me. On the record. I'm denying that comment. Disavow. Disavow. I wanted to make a joke, but I should just come out and vehemently deny that. Hey, shout out, we were raised Protestant as well. Yeah, let's go.

Really? Yeah. I've never really, yeah, I've never really met anyone besides people in my church were Protestant, so that's pretty cool. Yeah, I didn't realize, well, I guess I did. I just kind of forgot. Because somebody the other day was like, oh, it's Lent. And I was like, I thought that was Easter. But they were like, well, that's when it ends. And I was like, oh, right, of course.

So they, you give something up for a long time. Is it a month or is like 40 days? No. I'm not sure. Look that up. How long is Lent? One of my roommates said he, or roommate's friends who's over a lot, said he was giving up TV for Lent and I was like,

I'm watching TV. I'm sorry. Like, you got to leave the room. Oh, that's fucking funny. That's really funny. He's like, yo. Also, Brian, no joke. I think if someone offered me.

$10,000 to give up TV for Lent. Well, let's see how long Lent is first. 40 days. Yeah, buddy. 40. 40. If someone offered me $10,000 to go up TV for Lent, I would, I would not even thinking, I would go absolutely not.

10 Gs? No fucking way. I might do it for 10 Gs. No way. You wouldn't? You couldn't. Wow. TV?

I know it would suck. But I actually love, who did you say just did that? You can't go anywhere. It's my roommate's friend, but he lives in the same apartment as us and he's always over. Okay, yeah. So, dude, I actually love this take where I go like this. I'm giving up TV and then if someone else is watching in the room, that ain't me watching it. So I think you get that loophole with God, dude. I wasn't watching it. They were watching it. This is kind of what I want to,

what my point is like, listen, if you're going, I'm giving up TV in my place. Fine. I could do that, but that's some bullshit. Like that, I don't think that's lent. I think people who practice Lent aren't pulling god loopholes here. Well, dude, no, that's the thing, bro. No, dude. Yes, listen to me.

No, no, no. If you're giving up TV for Lent, you have to give up TV, which is my overarching point here, you can't go anywhere. Like, Brian, if you gave up Lent, if you gave up TV for Lent, rather, you couldn't come to work.

Yeah, the TV's on. There's 10 TVs in this office, and they're always on. That's true. I just don't think you, like, again, I know that there are some people are like yeah I give up stuff for Lent and it's like it's like dry January

people are like doing damp January Yeah There are some people who are I mean I know people who aren't Jewish Who are like I'm gonna give them something for like Because it's a good practice of self-restraint They are Jewish? Lent is Catholic Sorry yeah

That's right right It's yeah It's why I kind of didn't get when you said The thing about Jewish people earlier Yeah I'm like I'm mixed What is? Lent is Catholic It Lent is Catholic

I'm thinking of fucking Christ I told you my brain was mush today Yeah no I'm thinking of um when's the fast? It's only like a day. They do one day of... It's one day of fasting. Oh, shit.

I know it. It's Yom Kippur. There's not a big one that it's something. No, I think Yom Kippur is 24 hours of fasting. That might be right. I'm fucking moron. But yeah, Lent is Catholic and 40 days. Yes, obviously.

It's the 40 days, 40 nights of Jesus Christ. I get it. God, I fucking religion. Insane. anyway I know people who aren't Catholic is what I meant to say who will do Lent because they're like this is a good practice and self-restraint oh oh got it interesting they'll they'll be like I'm not Catholic at all yeah yeah yeah I'm gonna do Lent because I just think it's good to give something up those people I think are often like I'm doing it but you know

like whatever like if so people like give up sugar and they're like oh well you know I'm getting a cocktail at the bar and there's like a little bit of sugar and pineapple juice like it's fine I'm more meant like candy and stuff like that yeah but I think I think practicing Catholics who are like, I am doing Lent. You're not loophole. You're not loophole. I will hear you that practicing Catholics probably aren't doing the TV-style loophole, but Lent does crack me up in that. I almost wish there was, or I don't wish,

because I don't care, but it would make more sense to me if the Catholic Church had a kind of list of like, here are things, you can pick one of these things to give up for Lent. I do, it does crack me up that it is so self-regulating because I know, I know well practicing Catholics who don't loophole it, but they do pick like,

you know, they're like, I'm going to give up, uh, like sleeping past noon. And I'm like, right, but did you, that happened once? Yeah, you know, like they just pick the easiest things. And like, I did it.

And some of them take it really seriously, but I know some that are like, yeah, I just pick something that I barely fucking do anyway. Okay, here's your question. Since I don't know anything about Lent, apparently. What, when did this start? When did Catholics say, oh, yeah, Lent is something that we have to give something up? I have no idea. And some, I think people, actually, I clearly know nothing about Lent too.

I was going to say, what happened for 40 days and 40 nights? I thought people were people somewhere. Like, why is it? I thought that was like an early Jewish thing or something. Let's figure out what this is. What is Lent? I'm lost. I don't know.

If my mom listens should be mad at me because I think it. Yeah, this is. I agree. I'm going to take over this. Chris, talk about Lent while I figure out how this began. Well, I'm going to set up. Because we can't. We can't have Brian forsake his religion right now.

325 AD is when Lent started. Oh shit, dude. This is what I'm fucking seeing. Oh, so I thought this was like a modern thing. Lent observers including... What, dude, 325A.D? People were like, let's give something up for 40 days. That's fucking wild.

They'd have much to give up either. I don't know. Think about it. Like, no bread. I'm like, no bread. I'm going to starve to death. The fuck. Origin.

Early Christianity records the tradition of fasting before Easter. Wow. The apostolic constitutions permit the consumption of bread, vegetables, salt, and water in Lent, with flesh and wine being forbidden. I can't eat a person during Lent. They had to give up cannibalism. The practice of fasting and abstaining from alcohol, meat, thus became established in the church in AD 339. It was written that Lenton fast was a 40-day fast that the entire world observed. St. Augustine of Hippo wrote that our fast

at any other time is voluntary, but during Lent we sin if we do not fast. So you have to fast for 40 days except for bread, what'd you say? Bread salt, water. So you had to eat bread and vegetables and water for 40 fucking days. And then they softened and said you can just pick one thing. Which vegans do anyway. Oh, true. Fucking, you're torturing yourself. This is insane. This is insane. So anyway, now that we know Lent, now we know the rules of Lent,

we decided to pick a couple teams each that need to give something up for Lent. So for the next 40 days, these teams are gonna fucking cut the shit. Guys, I'm spiraling. This is nuts. This is crazy. I'm glad we learned something today,

but it just seems like Lent is made up. I can't believe it's that old. I thought it was like a modern day church. 3.39 AD. They just, the Catholics just went like this. We're going to torture ourselves for 40 years. Dude, and they gave up everything.

It wasn't like, Yeah, we're all going to give up this one thing. They were like straight up, you can't eat for a month and a half. Do you think that they can frick? Are you allowed to have sex? I think it's strictly fasting. We need a Catholic in here so bad right now. Strictly fasting.

I think it's a strict. It's just fasting. Yeah. You just can't. What were people even eating then? That's a piece of it is nothing to give up, dude. Yeah, what do you give up? Like, I guess like dairy and alcohol.

That's pretty much all the, oh, meat. Yeah, whatever they were eating. But like, there's nothing. else. Like you're not eating meat. Yeah. And dairy and alcohol. Bread and veggies. Bread, veggies, water, and salt. I like how salt gets in there. Yeah, because they had to put salt on everything. Yeah. Dude, this is fucking nuts, man. I'm out on, I'm so out on lent. Yeah. Well, I'm out on that lent. Holy shit. I'm out on new land anyway, but I'm way out on old lent. I'm, I'm, yeah, I'm out on all lengths. I am lentless. This is so, this is so. I'm out. I'm not. I'm, I'm, I'm not. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, relentless. Yeah, I'm out. Lent is a period of grief that necessarily ends with a great celebration of Easter. Thus, it is known in Eastern Orthodox circles as the season of bright sadness.

The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, almsgiving, simple living, and self-denial. And Lent, many Christians commit to fasting, as well as giving up certain luxuries and limitation of Jesus Christ's sacrifice during his journey into the desert for 40 days. That's what I'm talking about. I was like, Jesus did something. Yeah, I thought it was like, I thought Moses did 40 days. He journeyed into the desert for 40 days. 40 days. No, there was like a burning bush with Moses, I think. I don't know, whatever. Anyway, man, ass. At Lent is assed. Yeah, it's tough. I'm so out on Lent. And no disrespect, man. If you fucking lent

yourself, do your thing. Yeah. But I... Be careful. I'm out, dude, I'm out on Lent. That said, we think that there are some teams in the NHL who should practice something for Lent. I'm going to start. Do it.

And I'm going to go a two-fer. Okay. I guess we're making the rules here, dude. Lent, you can do whatever you want. Lent. I think for Lent, the Florida Panthers and my Buffalo Sabers need to give up giving a million fucking goals every single game. I think it's going to do them very well.

I think this practice has not been going well for them. Just for context, the Panthers, they have the second most goals for in the league. One goal at this point of recording behind the Boston. Yeah, they're like the highest scoring team in the league. You are shelving goals. Which is nuts, dude, because they were the highest scoring team in the league last year. And then we made that big trade. They made that big trade.

We had that big talk about who would do better, Calgary or Florida. They're also one point away from each other. right now, by the way, which is lull funny. But I was shocked to hear that they're still pumping in goals. Yeah. Would you like to hear who has the third most goals for in the league? Yeah. The Buffalo Sabres.

We were talking about two of the top three teams in the NHL in goals four. And neither of these teams is currently securely in a playoff spot. Yeah. I mean, that is absolutely insane. They, I mean, Florida is a dash one on the season. Buffalo has the fourth most goals against I mean these two teens if you just stop giving up so many goals

you're gonna win more has given up the second most goals and the fact that you have the second most goals scored and your goldiff is minus one because you also have the second most goals given up is unacceptable it's not great I don't know what floor's excuse is

because they have Spencer Knight well I wanted to check that Like, is Bob just getting too many games and getting lit up? Or is Spencer Knight getting lit up too? Spencer Knight's sick. Goley mask, by the way. Yeah, for everyone that saw that. He went to a children's hospital be and had the kids draw stuff and then made a,

his goalie mask was all like the kids drawing. He's fucking sick. I just think that they both would do really well by giving up less goals. Yeah. Oh, man. Stop getting scored on. Just for a month. Try it.

40 days. Try it out. I just think you can do it and it would do well for your season. Okay. My first team. is the Colorado avalanche. And I think they need to give up not giving a fuck about this regular season.

They've started to already, okay? They've got 67 points through 55 games at the time of recording. And listen, we all know those are quick summers after you win the cup. It's always grueling to try to win the cup. You come back pretty fast. No one's quite ready to play yet.

Right now, they're third in the western, they'd be fifth in the Pacific. They're seventh in the Western Conference overall. They have a couple games in hand And by the way No one is really running away with the West Dallas and Vegas are tied For first with 72 points

And Colorado has 67 So it is it is clumped And they got games in hand And you know I could blink next week And they could be in first Uh huh The abs are right there

But the teams ahead of them Edmonton Seattle The Kings, the Jets Dallas and Vegas Do any of those teams scare the abs dude Fuck no Right

Like you gotta believe That the abs are like Yeah we're fine We're gonna roll through that If you told me right now that the abs The abs are going to represent the Western Conference in the final against the bees, whoops I wouldn't be surprised at all

Right? I'd be like, yeah, of course they're the best team in the West I just think dude you had Your fun the parade was great we got Bob Byram running around fucking gas and beers The cops are confusing him for fucking pedestrians They're easing into the season Kail McCarr's getting dunked at the All-Star game Talking to me about fucking alligators

Sweet everyone's having a good time dude okay but we're almost 60 games in it's go time lock it up yeah lock it up make a run at the repeat it's time to go you've had a you've had a great relaxing ease in let's fucking do it if there is a time i mean the aves have been knocking on the door for a while here they were unreal last year they won the cup it was electric everyone loved every second of it but you guys that wasn't a one-off that wasn't a 2019 blues situation it wasn't a caps like you guys should win this yeah yeah You absolutely can win this year.

And you have all the tools and all the pieces to do it. You should probably lock in. Let's go, dude. It's time. It's February, dude. Come on. Almost March. All right. My second one is, I think that the devils, the surprise devils.

What should they give up? They should give up sucking at home. I think it would be really beneficial to them. And I've got a big reason why. So their record on the road, they're 21, 4, and 3. And then at home, it's insane. and then at home they're 16, 10, and 2. They're close to 500 at home.

And I just think you've got your own barn here, guys. You should get better at playing in it. Because here's the thing. The devils are second in the Met right now. They're only three points back from Carolina. So taking first is very possible. He's in play, yeah. And if you get better at home, that's a really good way you're going to do that.

And I say that because of this. You look at the East right now. The East is stacked. Your top three teams in the Atlantic are Boston, Toronto, and Tampa Bay. Wagons. Yeah, yeah. Your top three in the Met are Carolina, New Jersey, and the Rangers. Wagons.

And I wouldn't have called the Rangers a wagon necessarily until the flagrant train. And even before that, they got so hot as we said. They have been hot. And then your bubble teams here are, realistically, there's five of them. you've got the islanders, the Panthers, Pitt, Washington, and Buffalo. And Detroit. No.

They kind of got, they crept up to like tied with Buffalo now. They might have a couple games. They are, they do have this, yeah, and Detroit. That's actually fair. My point being, those, we'll call it six teams. They aren't really scaring anyone of those first six, in my opinion. Yeah, those bottom six aren't scaring the top six. Yes.

Yeah. Those bottom six that I just listed are not scaring the six wagons. But what sucks about the playoff format is currently, if you're the New Jersey Devils, you're playing the New York Rangers in the first round. Yeah. You take that MET spot from Carolina. You're now playing one of those bottom six. Get better at home, New Jersey.

And your first round is much simpler than what it currently looks. And Dan, at least, or assuming not much changes, which it could because the Rangers are sick, at least the first round, maybe into the second round, you have extreme air quotes, home ice advantage. Yeah. So if I'm like, you're catching four of the seven games at home, but you suck at home, I'm like, this is not, it's not sustainable.

Get better at home. You're out of here. Get better at home. That's a really good one. And I think they should strongly consider that way. I think it would be silly not to. Okay, my next team, the Arizona coyotes. For Lent, I believe they should give up winning fucking hockey games.

Stop, you fucking morons. This is insane. What in the actual fuck are they doing? Bro. It's like, dude, it's serious. That's funny. I know we don't believe in tanking and it is not a, your last place, you get that first pick.

But dude, collect fucking balls like a golden retriever in a tennis court. Get as many balls in that lottery as you can and try to get out of the fucking swamp that you are in with Connor Bardard. The fact that they're winning games is insanity. Okay. Bro, they're 27th out of 32 teams right now. From bottom to top, it goes duck. Columbus, Chicago, Sharks, Vancouver, Arizona.

The Ducks, we probably expected to suck. Columbus did not expect to be this bad, I don't think. They got Johnny, and they were like, no way. So, like, they're not, they didn't expect to be here. Chicago expected this, and I almost could point at them to stop winning, but the Ducks, Chicago and Columbus all have four, they're tied for dead last. So Chicago's doing their job. Thank you very much.

San Jose, 47, Vancouver, 48, Arizona, 49. Vancouver shouldn't be this bad, but they're a train wreck. We've said that a million times. The sharks, I guess, expected to be bad. but Arizona was supposed to be the worst team and get badard. And they are currently clowning around too much and winning hockey games and not giving them a good chance to do it. We mentioned this earlier. I can't tell if I'm like, Betman wants, I thought Batman didn't want Bader in Arizona because he's like, I can't have him go waste away in Arizona.

But you made a great point of like, I think he wants him to go and save hockey there. They need to make Arizona work. And I can't tell if Batman. Here's the thing, dude, people don't realize this. Arizona is a hockey state. Yeah. Like, it's becoming a hockey state. Truly, it is, dude.

Agree. And then you look at some of the other teams, because I was thinking about this, I was like, oh, does Batman want him to go to Chicago because that's a marquee franchise and now they'll get a new generational talent? Or does he not want him to go to Chicago because they had that huge scandal? And he's like, I can't reward you for this. Yeah, you can't get caught. So, while my lent message to Arizona is stop winning fucking games, idiots,

my question to you, Dan, is, where do you, you, what's your dream where Bardard goes? Like, where do you want him to go of these bottom teams? Oh, I'm not this question. Do you list them to me again, please? Yep. So from bottom to top right now, it's Ducks, Columbus, Chicago, Sharks, Vancouver, Arizona. And what I want to know is where you would love him to go.

And I have to pick a Borgia 6. Or wherever, but that feels like the most likely right now. Like, what's the dream scenario in the Conno Bernard's mistakes? My two dream teams of where Cona Bredard ends up is Detroit. and... Oh, they could be literally anywhere. And Montreal. Literally anywhere.

Yeah, okay. But I look at those... Montreal is probably like just ahead of Arizona, so that's actually more... Yes, I look at those two teams as teams that are going to miss the playoffs and get a lottery...

An assortment of lottery picks. Detroit is a pipe tree. Yep. I know that. Of those six, I have to honestly say I really don't love any. I don't love the idea

of him throwing on any of the... those sweaters. I really don't. So I have to look at players. Okay. The ducks would make me very happy for Trevor. I think those two playing on the same team would be fun. Although they play the same position, so they're not going to be on a line together. It's all right. Which is all right, but whatever. I don't like the sharks. I don't like that at all. I love the idea of who he could be playing

with in Columbus. I mean... Oh, really? I don't like that one as much. If you have him with Line A and Godreau, like that's pretty exciting. I'm sick. So I think, I mean, Chicago would be so dope, but I don't, what you said, no. You don't deserve this.

You don't deserve it. You need to pay the Piper for at least another year. You guys had a fucking scumbag working in your organization, and you were pulling some shady-ass shit. You do not get Conor Bader. Take them wrong. morality out of it because you're right but take the morality out of it for a second to just ignore that even though we shouldn't ignore that but just ignore that i don't want him to go there because

it feels like the mario sid thing or to go to the nfl it feels like peyton leaves and they're like we got andrew luck yeah and i'm like fuck you dude like i can't have the hawks ride tase and cane so 20 years and they'd be like and then bad dard take yeah take out the bullshit i actually can because i the it's like we always talk about the nchill is better when the chicago black i actually agree with that and chicago is one of the best fucking cities in this country. It's one of the best cities in the NHL market. Chicago being good at hockey is electric

and I would love it for that. So I think my answer is the Yotes dude. I'm a desert dog boy and I think him throwing on that kachina sweater would be fucking fire. I think playing with Lawson Krause with Schmaltzy with Keller is like is really exciting

and I want it. I didn't know. The reason I asked is I didn't know. Sorry, go on, go on, go on. I was going to say, I didn't know how I felt about this question until I was doing this. And you were looking at it.

And I couldn't, I can't even tell you how hard I'm in on Arizona now. I didn't even know I felt this way till now. I need Badaard on the Yotes. I'm rooting for this so hard. If you don't think, say what you will about Mollett, but, you know, we're,

here's our shout out to the Yotes and to the organization and to the fans. Bring us down, dude. Hit us up. Bring us to a game. will fucking bring that empty netters energy and show out at a game at mullet. I've heard that the environment is electric. And the ASU students are coming in there.

They're fucking doing their thing. Those are a top five jersey in the league, as I've said multiple times. And if you don't think that that would be the best party on ice, if the Yotes got good, you're down in, you're down in Tempe, Arizona. There's so much fun shit in Tempe in Scottsdale. It's a sick spot, dude. Arizona is dope. Dude.

And if you just had Keller, Schmaltzy, Badaard, and you had, you built around the, the desert boys, you know, that would be so much fun.

Especially if he is what we think he's going to. Yes. He's got, dude, he's got, he's got 105 points in 42 games right now.

He also has 46 pimms, which I fuck with so hard. Yeah, dude. He's going for it. Scrappy motherfucker, dude. I love it. I love it.

All right, my last lent is, um, for we I just talked about how I want them to get a pick but to your point I think Detroit needs to stop underperforming. Keep going. I blamed this on injury early in the season and I still do. I think they really got fucked with injury because they were hot, dude.

They started hot. I know. But this was supposed to be the playoff year. This was supposed to be the first year of the Eiser plan really coming full circle. they were going to sneak into the playoffs, probably get bounced in the first round, but with the young core, you know, with Raymond, with with cider, with larks, with all these guys, you added Pius Souter, you added Pyrrhan, you got Huso and net now. It was supposed to be the, we're in the playoffs, we're going to get bounced here, but we're

here, what's up? And this year's been very disappointing. And I think that it's not too late to stop underperforming. Like we just said, they're right with Buffalo in, you could sneak in here. And I just think there's no time like the present. It would be, I'm sad. They are completely fine long term. Maybe if you lose larks, you're not that fine.

But you're a completely fine long term. Big picture, Izer plan. But I agree. It is such a mini gut punch when, like, dude, honestly, last year the Kings, you know, skid into the playoffs, you're like, oh, shit, the Kings are kind of back. Give a great run to Edmonton that first round. This year, they come out and they started kind of slow. And I was like, oh, God, this, like, backslide, this really sucks.

And they completely, well, even Phoenix Copley completely corrected it. But now, now the Kings, it's momentum, dude, momentum. Revolutions. They're just going, going. So the wings being like, oh, shit, the wings are like, it's happening. It's happening again in Detroit. All they needed to do is get an eight seed this year. And it's fucking revolutions, dude.

Your money. And again, I'm not pulling the ripcourt on their franchise and their fuck for the next five years wrong. I'm just saying, God, it would have been nice to get in this year. And something that I'm saying, I actually, in some of our trade talks in previous episodes, I mentioned Olimata being a chip. He just signed for two more years. So Eiserman's looking at this team being like, this is the team.

There's no rebuild. So it does feel like the options are like, okay, you know, you could kind of mail it in the end of the season and miss playoffs and see if you can get a decent little pick here. Or it's like, no, dude, we have the team. And like, cider started very cold. He's hot now. Like, go win. Get in the playoffs, dude. I want so bad. And I hate this. for being an OV and a Cid guy,

I want so badly those two wildcard spots to go to Detroit and Buffalo. It would make me so happy if they just surged here and jumped all of those teams. Detroit searched kind of quietly. I didn't check how many games they have, but I didn't realize their level with Buffalo right now. It's like, oh, shit. That would be sick, actually. I want Pitt, obviously, as you know, but if it was pit and wings, I'd be like, let's go.

Sick. Okay, I'm for that one. Give it up. Give it up. Give it up, give up underperforming. My last one, Nashville Pritz. We kind of talked about this already, but you need to give up being allergic to scoring goals. It's nuts, man.

When we had Dutchie on, he was talking about goals being hard to come by this season for them. And it's shocking that in November, Dutchie knew that that was a problem for them. He was like, we have a hard time scoring goals, and I don't know why. Let me give you the bottom seven goal scoring teams in the league in order. Chicago, Ducks, Columbus. Makes sense? They're literally tied for dead last. fourth team Montreal

fifth lowest goal scoring team the Nashville Predators and I'm like bro and to finish it out Dan it's then Arizona Philly so of those seven they are like

the worst teams in the league basement dwelling teams and then the predators who are like almost in the playoffs and I'm like bro you

you cannot score goals at this clip and expect to make it which by the way it means juice has been awesome he's fucking fresh squeezed orange

awesome so good almost possible the best there is, except pulp, I fucking hate pulp, by the way. You a pulp guy? Not a pulp guy. Thank God. You know pulp. Hate pulp. But juice has been fresh, squeeze orange. It's amazing. But you've got to put the buck in the net for him. Yeah. Yosey, Dutchie, and Flip are leading the way. They have 49, 43, and 42 respectively. 49 is fantastic from Yosie, obviously. Yeah. As from the blue line, that's incredible. But I think you need a little more, a little more from Dutchie and Flip.

Yes. We love Dutchie. As everyone knows, he's not having a bad season. That's what's crazy. He's on place for 67 points, which would be the fourth most in his career. So he's playing pretty good. It's just after the 86 burger. He's entering his, he's burjurani. He's in terms of his late 20s to early 30s are his prime. Like he's, it's

electric. And it's just agree. And it's just after the 86 burger last year, you kind of were hoping for 75 plus, which I know is a lot, but you're like, come on, like be that guy. Need more from Joey? Yeah. For sure. So I check this out, dude. they, because I don't need them to be the top scoring team in the league.

They don't need to be the Bruins. But they were the 12th highest scoring team in the league last year, right behind Washington Pitt, just ahead of Vegas, Boston, and the Rangers. So like, if they were middle of the pack again, they'd be in the playoffs. Oh, easily, yeah. But they're fifth.

They're the fifth worst in the fucking league. Score goal, dude. You've got to score goals. It's crazy. It's crazy. I think it shouldn't be as hard as they're making it. Yeah. But unfortunately.

Just think about it. It's 40 days. 40 days. Score some goals for 40 days. Tell me how it goes. Dude, Patrick Kane once said when he goes through droughts of goal scoring, feels like he's not playing well. He will literally whip out YouTube and watch highlight videos of himself. He's like, I know how to score. It's one of my favorite stories ever, by the way. I'm just going to watch it

and see it. I suggest highly that everyone on the Preds does that. That should be the next film session for the Preds instead of watching whoever that's why. It should just be YouTube clips of them tucking. Dutchie, Joey, Grandland, Flip. Just watch some videos of yourselves. You can all tuck at least 30 goals of season. So just do it. Get back in there. It's unbelievable. All right. That's our suggestions for Lent. Happy Lent. We know that that is a Catholic thing. And it's because of Jesus's

March through the Desert in 40 days. And we think Lent is legit. It's cool. I am, this is actually a PSA. Stop doing Lent. Every one of you. I don't care if you're a practicing Catholic. God loves you, we love you. You don't need to give something up for 40 days. He'll forgive even if you don't get something up. That's kind of his MO actually. His forgiveness is a huge thing. Yeah. I mean, don't do it. That sounds awful. Let's get into our usual closing segments here. Amazing. Let's start with a little Jack Eichael watch. I actually have no idea as this good or bad. It's okay. 39 and 43, so we're okay. He has one point in his last couple, you know, um, in his last two, I think.

The good news is... He's 39 and 43. Yeah. He's the man, dude. We're both going to lose this bet. Because that's 90 pace, right? So if he hits 72, he's only going to play 69 games this year. Yeah.

So if he hits 72, it's a 90 pace. So if he hits 72, I win and you eat in shrimp, buddy. But if he doesn't hit 72, I lose. The shrimp bet is 90 points. Yes, but you agreed. Since he got hurt if it was 90 pace. So very coincidentally, the 72 is exactly 90. It's exactly 90.

So if he hits 72, you eat in shrimp. If he doesn't at 72, I lose. And I get a fucking jersey. But if he hits 72, I'm fucked double? No, there was no, there was nothing. Remember, it was like between 72 and 90 was no blood. I was just right. I forgot about that.

So, yeah, it's, everything's on the line. Everything. Oh, my God. But we're okay. The good news for me is Vegas is looking really good. like they're hot again. I think he does it. It is all health at this point.

I think he needs to play all 69. If he misses any more time, where I guess you're still giving me pace, but if we're missing any more time, we might be in trouble. But I need him healthy. I need the team healthy. Don't sleep on them making a move at the deadline either.

They're definitely. And then I think if they bring it, if it's offensive talent, rising tide raises all ships, as they say, I think that would only be good things for Jack. So I feel all right. Okay.

where in the world is Austin Matthews? Austin still hasn't played. I know. Or maybe he did. Keep going. Look that up actually for me. I don't believe he's been back in the lineup yet. So nothing to report on Austin's points.

There is something to report, though, that Toronto is back in second place in the Atlantic with two games in hands over Tampa, but they have a three-point cushion. So again, those three games could swing things, but they're currently in second. They're playing great hockey. They just added Ryan O'Reilly. It's hard for me to say that Austin's anywhere but Toronto. He popped down to Aspen, like I said. Yeah, right.

But he's right back up. So Toronto's looking good. They just made a big trade. Keep eyes on them making another big trade. But I wouldn't worry about Austin. Yeah, he's good. He's back. A couple points.

Two points, two points, and then dash two no pointer at Chicago. Don't love that. He's back in the lineup. Yeah. Yeah, okay. And he's feeling good. playoff trail, Dan, they got the two wins after the three games. They always do this.

It's like four game skid, five game winning streak. That's kind of the Sabres MO this year. But that's the Oregon Trail, baby. That's what happens on the playoff trail. Listen, dude, typhoid and dysentery pop up. Everywhere, dude. They won the two they had to in California, ducks and sharks. But now they go Leafs at Tampa, at Florida.

This week, that's not easy. Detroit is up their ass all of a sudden, like we said, the deadline's approaching. We think they're going to do something? Yes. No? Do you think the goalie happens or no? Say it right now. No.

Oh, wow. Okay. My team's on the floor. Actually, I think, here's the thing, man. Sorry, I got distracted. He's looking up. Austin has 57 points, 50 games. That's so fucking man.

He's so good at hockey. It's ridiculous. He's just going to have the quietest 40 goal, 40 assists in that you've ever seen. Buffalo are my guys. I love them. I want them to make the playoffs. I think they're going to make the playoffs. And so much of me thinks that because I think that this Buffalo team is different.

I think we got to see an awesome side of Rasmus Dahlane. Shout out, Spit and Chickles. Yeah, great episode with Dahlene on that show. And hearing the way he was talking about the team and the boys and how it's their team now, he was like, we got Ocposo leading us, and we've got guys like me, like Tage, like Owen Power now on the blue line. like Skinner, all of these young dudes who are just now becoming the culture and the image and the face of Buffalo Sabres hockey.

And Dahlian sounds so invested. Yeah, he does. He sounds so into it. And I think they all are, dude. I think they genuinely love that team. So I think the next two weeks here are going to be monumental in terms of what they're doing at the trade deadline.

If they get some good wins here, coming up. They got two in a row. You said that they were necessary, but they did it. I think that they have to be looking at this. Like, look how much we score, dude. If we get a better goalie situation, we're making the playoffs. So if I'm the GM of this team, I'm calling every team with a goalie to move. But I truly, dude. Like I said, I would be calling L.A. right now and getting Cal Peterson on this team so fast. Me too. I support it. So I think they do. Like I said, they are currently out of the playoffs, and that is just fine.

A lot of games in hand, though. Because, yes, they currently have 60 points, and the two teams in wild card spots are the Florida Panthers and the New York Islanders with 64 and 65. That's two wins from being in a playoff spot, and the Sabers have six games. Yeah, that's crazy. Less played than the Panthers and the Islanders. So let's say they go on a six-game win-streek. Not only are they in the playoffs, they're like pretty well ahead of them. And it's not even close.

So I'm just saying they're playing Toronto tonight. We'll see. They're actually, I think, puck dropped 20 minutes ago. So I feel great about my savers and we'll see what happens here. But they got to go get a goalie. They absolutely have to. It is what it is. They're currently losing three to nothing.

Fuck. This is the greatest moment of my. my life. They have dysentery. They have dysentery. They, there is literally 12 minutes and 46 seconds left in the first. And Ryan O'Reilly has won, two goals are two, he does? First two goals of the game. Sick. We've got an assist for Marner and Tavares, Marner and Tavares, and then Tavares and Marner on the third one. So it's three nothing. So that is quite bad. Don't think they're going to pull that one out, but savers, who knows they score a lot. After this, you've got five games to, let's see what happens.

But you got anything for the people to watch? Yes, I do, but you lead the way. Thursday, as this drops, Edmonton at Pitt, McDavid at Sid. It's a good game. Just watch the two stars go head to head. That is a good game. My Thursday game is Kings at New Jersey.

Like I always say, I love prioritizing young talent on the ice, and those are two teams with an abundance of young talent all over this. Two second place squads, too, I think, yeah. And then I'll go give you two more Friday. Colorado at Winnipeg. That's just a good ass game. I don't have much to say about it.

That's just a good ass game. I watch that game all day. Saturday rags at Caps. Hopefully Ovi's back, and that could just be a matchup in the playoffs. So I'm going to put eyes on it. Yeah. My Saturday Tilt, Western Conference Tilt,

is Stars at Vegas. Oh, good one. Two of the top teams in the West. Tide for the top in the West. That's a great game. All right. Well, that is it for us this week at the Emptenters podcast. guys stay on Twitter

stay on Instagram because shit is popping off trades are happening left and right it's getting to be the most exciting part of the season and as always skate hard skate hard