Empty Netters Podcast - 60. So Long, Jumbo

Episode Date: November 1, 2023

Is Alex Ovechkin slowing down? Is Bruins Panthers the best rivalry in the Atlantic? The guys have no notes on Jumbo Joe's retirement video but they do have a few notes on Frozen Frenzy. Plus find out which teams might need to get some new sweater swag back in their game.  Chapters: (00:00) - Intro (06:40) - Howie's Hockey Tape Hot Ice (06:55) - Frozen Frenzy Breakdown (11:40) - Joe Thornton Retires  (17:38) - Cause Tape is BACK in the NHL (20:46) - Is Bruins v Panthers a rivalry now?  (26:30) - Can Vegas and Boston go wire to wire again? (30:17) - Old Ovi  (40:06) - New Sweaters  (54:56) - Hottest Teams (58:04) - Toff Watch (59:10) - FPG (1:01:26) - What 2 Watch  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to another episode of the Empty Netters podcast. Who are you? Edith Gru. Is her last name Gru? I think that's what they become. His last name's Gru? No, I think he's Gru. But I think she is Edith Gru.

Okay. I don't know if that's true, actually. He goes by a last name. I think he's got a full name. But do you think Drew's his last name? No. I think it's his first name. I think his name's Gru.

grew you. I hope that is his name so bad. Who are you? I think it's fairly obvious that I'm Detective Benoit. It's not fairly obvious. From a glass onion, a Knives Out story. Should I do a Cajian accent this whole time? No.

What's curious is we're going to be talking about the game of hockey today. That's pretty good. You can do it. It was good. Listen, all right, we're back at it after a wild week and a wild week. wild weekend for the boys. Extremely wild weekend. It was a Halloween weekend. We're dressed up. This episode's going to come out on November 1st, which is kind of funny.

But listen, it's the 30th today. It's the 31st tomorrow. Like, we got to be in the spirit. Look at the spooky... Look at the spooky set. Look at Brian. Brian's a police tape behind. Yeah, look at my costume. Yeah. He's perfect. So we're here. We had a bit of a shaker

this weekend. Then we went to a wedding. Yeah, we had two shakers. and a wedding. I think you can hear it in my voice. Brian, do I sound like I'm a little down in the dumps? No, you sound fantastic to me. Do I? Wow, that's sick.

I don't feel fantastic. Well, we're here. We got a little bit of a revenge game going on on the TV. Bees, Panthers, Panthers up 2-1. Savage situation for Sam Bennett. Dude. Sam Bennett literally just got activated off IR is playing in this game

and then immediately goes down with what looks like a pretty tough need. And was playing out of his mind. Yeah. And we had even said, in all our previews and stuff, I had the Panthers higher than you, but we were saying they had a lot of injuries. They're going to guys can come back and then they're going to, then you'll really see the Panthers. Yeah. That could have been, oh, that could have been a seasoner, dude.

Like, I don't know. I hope not. Absolutely. But that is a tragedy for him, obviously. But for the Panthers' plans, too. You know, he is so, so valuable. I am extremely bummed about that. It's so shitty.

You hate to say, and like Bennett is such a good player. So to get him back and I'll immediately go down. It's terrible. We've got another episode of breaking down the game here. It's been a wild, wild week of hockey. Obviously, we had the frozen frenzy that we'll get into. Before we get into hot ice, before we get into some of the more fun stuff,

we do want to take a moment to talk about Adam Johnson. Yeah. Truly one of the most devastating tragedies that you could ever imagine happened last week over in England, Adam playing in a game in the professional league there and in an accident

caught a scape blade to his neck and unfortunately passed away. Adam played all over the AHL, made his NHL debut with the Penguins. He's an incredibly beloved player amongst the hockey community,

NHL, AHL, and then obviously abroad. And these are the types of things that you could never, ever in a million years guess. It's a complete tragic accident and it's just so devastating. And our thoughts, you know, go to his family, his loved ones, his friends, former teammates and all that because this is just such a difficult, difficult time and difficult thing to

deal with. Absolutely awful. It's so scary. You know how you hear, Mr. Mason says this all the time, but you hear woodworkers don't even like looking at accidents with saws. because like I don't even want to think about that. I can't even watch the video. Oh, it's, it's awful.

You just, the thought of that happening in a hockey game feels so impossible and then to see it happen. And of course, there's been cases before and the two guys were lucky enough to survive it. But it just, it's a stark reminder that it is, it can be very dangerous out there. And the training staffs who did everything possible for Adam do so much at all these levels and just, you know,

help people out as much. as you can, but that was crazy. Yeah, it's, it's horrible. Do you think, I mean, with, with this horrifying incident, with the van der Kaine's wrist last year, we just saw last week also Jacob Lauco took a skate to the eye, just barely missed. Do you think that there is maybe a reason to explore, you know, guys wearing wrist guards, neck guards, things like that, or is this just, you know, an unfortunate freak accident that happens in sports?

And, you know, it is something that you can't really. It's interesting because you want to, oh, I thought that was going in. Oh. You want to make the, you look, dust joke here, but it's not a joke. Well, Bride, there's a reasonable comp in F1. the drivers I don't know how the listeners know about F1

but the drivers in recent years have that thing they call the halo which is that like ridge and it goes right in front of their eyes too and it's the drivers hated it

because they're like I can't see as well I'm going 200 miles an hour I can't see and then that incident with Max and Lewis where the one over the top

and other people have gotten collisions where I'm like that halo you would have been decapitated and that halo saved your life

so oh my God so as much as it might be uncomfortable A neckguard might be uncomfortable. It might look stupid, whatever. I do wonder if there's a way to just build it into gear. Like maybe there's NHL issued undershirts, you know, that just like has, even if it was just like thicker material or something, you know, I'm sure someone else much smarter than me can do the math on how to protect people better.

But yes, they're freak accidents, but I would love to never see one again. And it feels like that would be possible. I don't think it's coming anytime soon, but something to think about. Definitely something that could be considered. saw a few guys in the HL, a few guys in the Providence Bruins were wearing neck guards the other night. But, yeah, again,

just want to send all of our love and our thoughts to Adam's family and friends because it's just horrifying. Yep. All right, let's move on to some hockey talk here and we're going to get into the Howie's Hot Ice, doing some hot ice. We got a lot of stuff to talk about,

brought to you by Howie's, the best in the game at getting you decked out in all of your hockey essentials. Where do you want to start? I want to start Frozen Frenzy. Let's start with Frozen Frenzy. We had, our last pod came out after Frozen Frenzy had happened,

but we got recorded right before Frozen Frenzy had happened, so we wanted to talk about it really quickly. Really sick. Really sick event. Really sick idea. It was so cool. It felt like the first few days of March Madness. It was so fun. When it's just like every 15 minutes a game's going, a game's going. Witt, I think, tweeted,

like, do this every week or something like that. And I was like, yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. Dude, this Saturday, there's 15 games or something, you know, and I'm like, they're basically there, so it just feels doable. What a cool marketing thing.

But that being said, you had a take, so I want to let you say it, and then we can talk about it. My take was this. We had Bucci and Weeksie, doing the hosting the Frozen Frenzy. I think Booch and Weeks are fantastic. love them both, I could have used a bit more energy from the boys.

And I'm going to give them a pass because it's the first time we've ever done this, right? And I think that there was definitely a little bit of a lag in that we'd switch over to a new game and they'd go, all right, we're kicking it to the broadcast of this game. And then there'd be a little, you know, 10 second wait for the audio of that broadcast to come on. But there were some times where it kind of just felt like they were having a casual chat on the golf course. And I was like, boys, get some. you know, shotgun a few Celsius Celsius or something, because I need you

fired up for this. I loved switching to the local feed, so that was cool. Keep doing that, because they shouldn't be, you know, doing their dance the whole time. But even the Red Zone guy. What's that guy? What's that dude's name, Brian? The guy with huge ears? Red Zone. Yeah, he's got huge years.

Oh, wait, that, I mean that the main Red Zone guy? Yeah, yeah. Fuck, man. I'm such a casual. No, me too. I mean, we don't know it either. The Scott. Look that up. But he's, he's kind of like red zone guy with huge ears put that in google so what happened he's not gus johnson like march madness going chaotic every second but he is like i think it like leaves in my hat still

oh wait bro his name is andrew siciliano but get this i typed in a red zone guy with and the first search was big ears yeah yeah of course that guy looks like dumbo it's unbelievable no offense no offense no offense um he's great in his job but he he's he's snarky he's snappy he'll go to a bad game and he's like, and another punt from the Jets or something. He's amazing at his job. He was great at trans. And again, I think Weeksy and Booch will, I hope we do more

of this. Because here's the thing, man. There's what, what's their nine games on tonight? Yeah. Like you could even you could do it now. I mean, Frozen Frenzy needs to be a weekly thing. Be awesome. Anytime, for me personally, where there's over eight games,

is it actually, are there nine games tonight? I think there are. Anytime there's over eight games in a night, I feel like you got a frenzy. Oh, I see. You're saying you don't need 16, you just call it frenzy. 7, 8, 9. Yeah. Like, we don't need all 32 teams playing. Obviously,

it'd be sick if we did. We should do that more. But any time, I mean, dude, think about it. Nine games tonight, it's a lot of teams. That's a cool... It's 18 teams playing. Idea. Would you have to? Would you have to stagger the start? So, right now, there's nine tonight, there's 15 on Saturday. Would you be like, hey,

everybody readjust your start so they start 15 minutes apart so we can do this again or you like it's too late for that the rinks have made their commitments and people have bought tickets and blah blah blah so they're going to all start at seven and deal with it i think i think that yeah but even so i think you know right now there's one one two three four five six of the nine games all on right now that's frenziable my friend yeah yeah sure is i could have a frenzy with that we should be frenzy and And it'd be great because if there was a channel that was just switching around to all of them, that would be dialed. I would lock into that. Oh, my God, that's an unbelievable.

I'm into it. And I think I need just some more goofing. Yeah, I could have used some new boot goofing from the boys. And I think that that's, I think these are notes that they take into the next time we do this. I think they're going to go, what were ways we could improve the frenzy? And I think it's that. Yep. I think that we go a little more goofing from the fellas on the broadcast.

How does that sauce not go? Did he whiff it? Was it still in the air, though? Yeah, I think so. Um, yep, I'm in. Okay. Next bit of news, this is a tough one for you up personally, I think. We all sort of thought that it was happening,

but it has become official with a retirement announcement video. Jumbo Joe Thornton has retired from the NHL. C.P., you want to give us some of his stats, some of his career stats? Dude, I'll get that up while you talk to me about Jumbo Joe. He finished sixth all-time in games played 1,714 NHL games, which is just redonculus. And Marlowe, like, he's one season away, well, and he's an 82er away, from, being one all time. And I don't think anyone was going to give him 82.

But my point is like, it's not like he's six all time and he's eight million miles behind somebody. Like he was, he's right there. It is sad to me. Well, it's devastating he didn't win a cup. I feel like he will go down as one of the most deserving guys to not win one, both from a talent and dude level. Like maybe there's some guys that had the talent that you could throw in the conversation that never won one. maybe there's some great guys in the league that never won one. Combining those two things, he has got to be one, if not,

top five for sure, if not one. Yeah, let me let you with this. 1,714 games played, 430 goals, 1,109 assist, 1,539 points, a career plus 182. Yep. Joe Thornton, in his career, never won a cup. 32 playoff goals, 102 playoff assists. But he was a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Time All-Star. One in Art Ross in 2006. One a heart in 2006. Legend of the game, dude. Legend of the game. Is he a Hall of Famer? Fuck you. I'm a serious question.

Obviously. Okay. I think so too. Hey, just so you know we're on the same case. Don't ever fucking say that near me. I think so too. What's what's a bummer, a particular bummer for me about Jumbo is, it didn't feel like he was ever particularly close.

He went once, obviously. One Cup trip in 2016. Yeah. But that Sharks team was just so underachieving. Yes. It's such a bummer. When you look at the insane talent that was on that team for so many years, they underachieved over and over again.

And then, you know, he obviously went to Toronto, then to Florida. Yeah. Kind of made a few runs at it with other teams. But he's got to be up there on the Mount Rushmore of names for guys you wish got a cup. Yes, that's what I'm saying. We really wanted it for him. Is he your one?

Probably. I'd have to think about it more, you know? Like there's some, certainly in my, in recent memory, there's some legends. I've got, and again, I don't think you're going to agree because I like this guy more than I like Jumbo. It was Iggy for me. Oh, yeah, killer. Like I, and he was so close, dude. He went to all of these teams that, like, then got beat.

Like, he should have come to Boston. and then he didn't, and then he went to Pittsburgh, and then he did come to Boston. And it was sick, and then we choked around him. And then we choked. And, yeah, it's just, yeah, I wanted Iggy to get one back. All I'll say that makes me happy about Joe, well, two things I guess. One is he did the Yager thing kind of, the thing that Brady said he was going to do and didn't really,

but was like, I just played till they wouldn't let me anymore. You know, it wasn't a killer injury that knocked him out. He didn't hang him up when I felt like he still had game left. I do think he has a game left. My point is teams weren't just, there was just nothing, no offers. So it was like, okay, you know, I didn't, the game left me.

I didn't leave the game. Yeah. And I'm glad that he gave it everything he had. The second thing that makes me happy is the video was fucking money. Yeah, it was perfect. Dude, you need me. I'll be at the rink.

I was like, I heart, I just like, I don't want it to cry, dude. I don't think anyone likes the game as much as Jumbra. It's incredible. He's the biggest locker room, He's the biggest team vibes hanging with the boys guy that's ever with. And I'm glad it didn't occur to me

when I used to think about this career for him. I'm glad he loves the game so much. He'll stay around it in some capacity, right? I'm not sure he's dying to be a coach or a GM or anything. Beards looking too, wants to be tarpless too much for that. But I could see him being an advisor

on one of these squads or doing something with one of these squads and wins a cup, they win a cup that way. Definitely. So it would bring me great joy to get his name on the cup. It doesn't feel like he's leaving the game. I think Jumbo is going to get his name on the Cups thing, one way or another, because he will be involved with a team.

Yeah. And it's got to happen. That would really make me happy. Just has to. So a huge farewell to one of the great beauties. Yeah. To ever play. You hate to see him go.

Happy trails, bud. Peace and love. What do you say? Peace and love, Jumbo. Peace and love. I want to talk about quickly a thing that was not chill that has recently become. Become chill. Yes.

A while ago, the NHL announced that they were banning cause tape, which included Pride tape. Oh, big city. And then last week, they lifted that ban after a lot of backlash. So I want to say the NHL got a bunch of flack for this when they banned it. Rightfully so, in my opinion. I think that that was not the move. I did not like that decision to ban it. and I think that there should be conversations

and have been conversations about why it was banned in the first place. That said, I think sometimes there are takes. I've seen a few takes online that were like, you know, the decision to remove the ban only highlights how stupid this was and the league. Worst run league.

I don't like that take at all. Okay. Because you were allowed to make a mistake and then correct your mistake. And that is what happened here pretty quickly. Yeah. And again, it was a bad mistake, but I love that the band has been lifted because I think cause tape, cause jerseys, and cause knights are so, so cool and incredibly important to the game. I think hockey over the years has become such a great sport in terms of representation

and showing that the game is for everyone. Trying to get more diverse. Absolutely. And I think that those things like cause jerseys and cause tapes are so fun because it makes people feel included. It makes all sorts of people go, hey, look at that. That's a night for me. That's an amazing feeling, and I think it's something that the league should continue to do more and more and more of. And I think Brad Marchand made a comment when it was banned, and he was like, I think that the things like Pride Tape, CAUSE tape, stuff like that is so awesome

because it allows everyone the opportunity to show what they care about and support something, if they want to. The choice to be able to support something if they want to, I think is beautiful. So I agree completely. The only flack I would give the league to your point is it just, it felt so, the mistake felt so dated. Like I was like, what are you doing? So dumb. And they were just trying to avoid the controversy that we've seen in recent years when players are choosing to be like, I don't want to wear that or whatever. And it's like the players, I'm sure are like, dude, now I get lit up by the fans. fuck you. Like, you did this to me.

Yeah. And I'm kind of like, you did it to yourself, bud. Yes. So, whatever. I'm not here to throw fast, too much judgment, but I'm just like. But I think, I think that's a great point by you because I think sometimes people in the media, sometimes the fans need to understand that in those circumstances, yeah, there were certain players, whether you agree with it or not, who didn't feel comfortable doing some of these

things. And then when you're doing them and then they're the one not participating, they kind of get targeted and it's the league being like this. We don't want any of our players to feel targeted or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But agree. It was dated. It was stupid to ban it. It's great that it's lifted because supporting various causes around the league is one of the beautiful things going. So I'm glad we're doing it again. Excited to see it out there. Fantastic stuff. Let's get into next thing I have in hot eyes is something about this game. Before this game, we're watching the Bruins Panthers for everyone that I have a spicy take on this. Okay, I might too.

the before this game montgomery monti the bruin's coach said uh there was a headline that said this is not one game of 82 to us they ended our season this is personal and just the other night the uh biz and the boys had um avs crackin and they were interviewing Nate dog before the game and they were like Nate these guys ended your season this expansion team ended your guy season is the sending the only cup champs how much are you fired up to pummel them tonight Nate Doug goes, sorry to not help sell the game boys, but like I, not at all. Like, this is a game.

This is one of 82. We are here to play the game in front of us, which is what we do every time we step on the ice, and it's just a game and let's try to win, which they did, by the way. Yep. It's only 2-1 right now, but the Bruins were getting beat 2-0. I'll hand it to you now in case your take is similar. Yeah, okay. My take on this is I believe that Monty and the boys might feel that way.

believe that they might be like, I'm fucking pissed that we lost to this team. I want to beat them right now. Sure, it's just one game in the season. But I really want this. I think to say and admit that was stupid. And I think it clearly showed because we're big bulletin board material guys. That's just bulletin board material, man. And if you've got a guy like Maddie Kachuk who is just a, you know, he's a grease ball, dude.

He's going to get in your kitchen. and if he hears you going, this is not one of 82 for us. We're pissed. He's smiling now. Yep. Like he's like, he's like, yeah, I'm in your head already. Yes, fucking idiot. Yes.

Like you have let this Florida pant. Now, by Montgomery saying that, now there's a thing here. There's a thing with these two teams. And I think the thing with these two teams probably exists anyway. Just should have been unspoken. Yeah, yeah. You think Brad Marshand. You think Charlie McAvoy.

You think Matthew Kachuk and you think Sam Bennett, guys like that are going out onto this sheet of ice, even in a regular. game and they're not going, this is going to be chippy, this is going to be spicy. Of course they are. But you don't need to say that as the coach to the media because now the other team hears it. They know that they're in your heads. Clearly, they were routing the Bruins at the beginning of this game. And dude, you just have to go like this. I'm not saying this is what you have to say to the media. You have to go inside your locker room. No disrespect to the Panthers because we talked last season. That was amazing. They're good.

They're a good team. However, no matter how you slice it, that was a failure by the Bruins. Losing to that wildcar team and people going like this, stop calling us a wild, you were a fucking wildcar team. I'm not disrespecting you. I'm saying in their rankings, you were a wild card team. Losing to a wildcar team after setting multiple records and being the greatest regular season team of all time is a failure.

So then coming into this game and going, this is not one of it, this is personal, blah, blah, I get what you're trying to do, but what you're actually doing, is going, that failure still haunts us, they're still on our heads, and you've just given them the upper hand. Yep. It's stupid, you should have gone like this. We don't give a fuck about that, dude.

It's a completely new team. They have a new team. It's a new season. We're going to go and try to beat the shit out of them. Yes, because Nate Dogg left that interview, went back to the locking with the boys, and he goes, yo, we're fucking up the crack and they ended our season.

Yes. Which is what you're saying, too. Everyone on the Bruins is aware that they, Panthers ended Petrese Bergeron's career. Yes. And they would like to get some redemption for that. Yes. I hated saying it.

and by the way Marcied scored but like Bob had a shutout again and like Olmark got to start tonight and like he's losing I just like didn't need this added shit

and finally last point on this I even if the let's say the bees come back and win this game 5-2 I also hate when teams lose to someone in the in the playoffs or something

or some big event and then next year they beat you in a regular season game and they're like dude got them back and I'm like you didn't get shit dude like you lost the big thing this doesn't mean

anything. Obviously you want to win games, but like, we are not even until you knock them out of the playoffs when they have the best record of all time. That's the only way you can come back from that. Yes. And it's just, you know, you start the season, the Bruins are much better so far than the Panthers have been. How do you not just walk into this and go, no, it's just another game, dude. We're going to just go and win. But instead, you've made it a thing now and not in a good way. Yeah. And we're making a bigger deal of this than we even should, but I just, I was like, oh, I saw that headline. My first thought, before this game even started was like, I wouldn't have said that.

No, I think it's good to talk about, man. I love the head game. I love the mind games. I love the mental warfare. And that's part of what it is. And at the end of the day, regardless of winning the cup or not, the Florida Panthers won the mental warfare games of last year's playoffs. Every single round. They were all over it.

There's chance of, you know, we want Boston that, that, uh, was that, you know, they were chained. You're mixing it up, but the Panthers fans were chanting. Florida at the Leafs. Because the Leafs were chanting, we want Boston. No, they were chanting, we want Florida, because I was making fun of them, because I'm like, you're supposed to say bring on the hard team. They were like, we want Florida.

They were saying, we want Florida. And then Florida was like, Florida, you got us, bitch. Yeah. They did that stuff. Maddie Kachuk on the ice was so great about getting in people's head. So, yeah, I'm really low on, you know, when you've got a little tyrant with a kitchen knife, don't piss him off. Yeah.

And that's what you've done with this team. So I would have passed it on. All right. More Bruin stuff, but looping in the Vegas Golden Knights. And I won't even linger on this one. I just thought it was an interesting thought. And I actually should go back. Maybe I'll try to go back and look at the first 10 games into last year.

Yeah. Because that's right about where we're at. But it is, I was looking up, I was like, who's still undefeated in regulation? And it's only the Bruins and the Knights. Yeah. The Knights 8-0-1, Bruins 7-0-1. pending this game. Yeah.

And I, it's crazy to me to think that the start of last year, the two far and away best teams were the Golden Knights and the Boston Bruins. And then Vegas hit some injury slums. The Bruins stayed out the whole way, obviously. But I feel like so much has changed. Vegas just had a long year, you know, so you kind of, I was predicting a little bit of a slow start for them, wrong. Yeah. The Bruins lost a ton of firepower. I was expecting a much different season for them so far wrong.

But even these other teams, you kind of just would think, Dan, of 32 teams, two other teams would just start hotter. Even if the Bruins and Knights ended up good. I was like, oh, it's going to be, you know, the hurricanes really were blazing to start the year and then so were the stars or something like that. And it's like, no, it's the Bruins and Knights still. And a ton can happen. Maybe they both miss the fucking playoffs.

Who knows? But my point is, I'm just shocked how we've had such a similar start at the top. It's been very funny. Not so much for Vegas for me. I knew Vegas was going to be this good. I think you had them second in that division, but by a hair. So I don't think you're surprised by them. I am surprised at this start by the Bruins, but it also kind of makes sense.

My question for you is, of those two teams, what slows them down or what is the possible hiccup for them? Yeah, great question. For me, Vegas, and this hasn't been an issue at all so far. The only hiccup I could see for them is goally play. And it's been great, but like maybe there's trades or maybe there's. a dip in performance, but that could happen. The Bruins... Can I go?

Yeah. Because I agree with your Vegas one. I want to see if you agree with me. We talked about in our division previews. I pad the Bruins higher than you. And I said, my big thing, even with losing a guy like Patrice Bergeron, who's arguably the greatest defensive forward of all time, the D and the goaltending on the team was the same. you added Orlov, obviously, then lost Orlov, but

you know, for 60 some odd games, you know, 50 some odd games, you had that same core and they're all back. I was like, I could see them just being just as amazing defensively as they are like, Olmark and Swayman are so fucking good. It's ridiculous. My thing for the bees is they've got some older guys on the team. They've added, you know, they've got some young guys too, but they added some of these bargain pieces, if you

will like JVR, like Shatt and Kirk, like Luch, my question is, do they get tired? You know, Marshie's 36. You know, it's like, that is the big question. I'm like, can you sustain this with these guys? Yep, I love it. My take is pretty similar. It felt like the Bruins are going to win games. They're going to win them low scoring.

And they have been, they've scored, but they have been. But I just felt, I think I said this in the previews, they are a couple injuries away from having a not that good of a lineup. Yeah, yeah. And injuries hurt everybody, obviously, but they just feel thin. Don't even want to put it out there in the universe for the bees there, but if one of those centers goes down, I'm like, I don't even know who you call. That's what I'm saying.

So it's like... I know geeky can play center. I know Freddie can play center, but it is like, there's a lot of mix up going on. And if you lose a pasta or someone who's going to be getting a bunch of your goals, I'm like, oh, this team cannot compete offensively. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so interesting start. We'll see if they stay hot both those teams.

Yeah. Okay, here's what I got. And this might get some people riled up, but I'm just curious what you think. I want to talk about Ovi. Oh, yeah. Alex Ovechkin, he's having a point per game season. Eight games played, eight points. Two goals, six assists. The caps have been better.

They started horribly. They looked like genuinely bad. Our guy BD. They were like, I think we were talking about it frozen frenzy night because they just got plastered again. Yep. I couldn't believe how bad they were. They stink. it was through their first five or so. I was like,

these guys suck. Yep. But they have pulled it together a little bit here. They're up to 4, 3, and 1. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. They have much better. But they look bad. He didn't have a shot his first two games. Didn't score until game 5, but he's got the points, whatever. But my point

is... I love to see him with more assist. That's kind of fun. Yeah, it's cool. And he's doing... I hadn't seen a ton of games, but our guy Bobby, our guy B.D. who does could be the move and some glue guy stuff he uh is a big caps guy yep and he was saying he was it was kind of he's our best guy by the way bobby he's our best guy and it's i started seeing him say things like man it's been i forget when they made the playoffs like ovi's second year maybe he's like it's been like 15 years dude of like legitimately competitive

caps hockey and they weren't last year but they were kind of in the mixer and he was like this year, dude, or this was early, this was during frozen frenzy, but he was like, I just, it's, it's about Ovi at this point and we're just bad. And it was sad hearing him be down so hard on the caps. But I was watching Ovi and he's doing the stuff. Dude, he's posted up in his office, he wants the puck in the power play, he's banging his body around, but it just wasn't happening for him. So a couple have gone in, but, and sometimes that's all it takes, right? Toff, we were saying that about Toff and he's gone nuclear. But I was wondering if you felt like maybe for the first time ever

we're seeing somewhere and tear on OV or and this is the first sign of like and I'll still think he'll get the record

because he can probably just yager himself but is it like oh you're your old yager now or are you like he's just started slow he was still going to score

45 goals this year he's not old yager yep I have two really two pillars of this take here he's not old yager okay

but I think we saw the signs of the slowdown last year. Okay. I think OV is still absolutely elite and electric and is still one of the best goalscores in the game. But I thought his season last year, kind of both on the stat sheet, but more so just on the ice, was lackluster. I think he is slowing down. But is that a, to quote our friend Tom Ventura. Is that a your board of LeBron reaction? It is not.

It's not because read his stats. 73 games, 75 points, 42 goals, 33 assists. Yeah. Over a point per game with over 40. Like, see, like, that's still a great year. But what I'm so, that's the reason I said not so much on the stat sheet, like, it was on the statute. You know, that's over a point per game. Yeah, you'd love that.

Yep. And he's at a point per game right now. But I just, I found him to be. slightly less explosive last year. And it's hard, dude. You think about his game. The way he throws the body around, the way he flies around on the ice at his size and at his age, you can't do that forever. So I don't think he's necessarily regressing, but I think he is slightly slowing down, if that makes sense.

However, I'm not worried. I don't think that the caps are going to make the playoffs. I didn't pick them to make the playoffs, but I did say that they would be a little bit better. I think getting backstrom back was going to be huge. I think that this team is older, dude. You know, it's their guys of Ovi, Backey, and Carlson, they're older. They're all in their 30s, you know, late 30s for Ovi.

But you look at the team so far. Ovi leading with eight points, Carlson with seven, Strome with six, Tom Wilson with only five, Coozy with five, all the way down to Baxter with one point. They're not firing yet. I think that they will click, little bit more. So I'm not worried about Ovi. If he stays healthy, he's going to have over 75 points. No doubt about it. So that is something that you still take, no matter what. But I do think we,

I'm not sure we're ever going to see another plus 90 point season from Ovi again. Okay. I'm not sure. Yep. Well, he did it. He did 90 in 20, 21, 22. Yeah. With 50 tucks lit. But he hadn't done 90 since 2010. Yeah. So he went 106, 92, 112, 110, 101, and then never sniffed 90 again, which is a huge barrier. Yeah, I was going to say, let's be very clear, guys.

I am talking about something that's ridiculously hard, and it's amazing when anyone does it, let alone a guy who's 38, 37. I wouldn't have guessed that. One, two, three, four, five. So six times in his career over 90, and I wouldn't have guessed that it was the first five years of his career, and then only once more after that.

So probably correct take from you because he's almost never done it. Here's an interesting one that I just stumbled upon. So he, by the way, Dan, if you extrapolate, so he's played two short in seasons, 2013, obviously, and then 2021 COVID. If you extrapolate his goals from those seasons, like just make it a full season, which, you know, whatever.

But if you do that, he has gone over 40 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. So the last 6 years, and then in 2017, he only had 33. Played 82 games and had 33. So it's been, and then it was 50, 53, 51, and then a 38 in 2012. So he's been over the 40 mark. So many times.

Pretty much every year. It's insane. And he only had 42 and 73 last year, but I could see him in the 30s this year. Yeah. Yeah, I could too. And here's another cool stat for you. that you just sniped somehow. Same rule about extrapoling those two short in seasons.

Last year was the first time in his career that he hasn't had over 300 shots on goal. And we saw that for the first time in his career this season, he had two games in a row with zero shots. Yeah. It ever happened to. 2.94 last year in 73 games, so I'm picking nits here. But, dude, that's, that is a measurable.

sir that's a staff check this out dan one two three four five six the first six years of his career then blank but then one two three four in a row so 10 of his first 11 years in the league he led the league in shots on and then another miss and then did it again hasn't since for the last seven years and dipped into the 200s for the first time in his career with the full season but that's interesting like are the shots 250 this coming season you know like it it That is a measurable slowdown where you're like, oh, I guess he's just not getting quite as many opportunities as you expect from an Ovi. And when you think about it, you know, a lot of those are rebounds, those little ones that squirt out that he pounds into the net or on that. He's in the gritty area.

Yeah, he's in the mix, dude. And the question is, is he starting to slow down a little bit where he's not getting to those pucks first? He's not going to be the one that's boxing out in front of the net and making sure to get that next shot on net. So I do think he's slowing down a little bit. But like I said, I don't think the caps are going to make the point. playoffs, I do think that they have kind of found the rhythm here. They're going to get a little hotter. I think some of those other guys, particularly Willie. Like I said I could see a 70 plus point season from Willie this year, and he started pretty slow. But at the end of the day, you know, five points

in eight games. It's not terrible. I think I, it's so funny because Ovi's the type of guy that he can just, he'll get three, he'll get a couple of hadies, you know, like he'll just bang a few home. I could see him getting really hot too. So even though I just said under 40, like, it might have to be 39. And I also want to say, too, I, honestly, Sid guy, obviously, but I was such a Sid guy early in their careers that I felt like I didn't even like Ovechkin, versus now where I'm a Sid guy, but I love Ovi.

And even when I'm transitioned into my loving Ovi phase of my life, which I'm currently in, I didn't want him to break Gretzky's number guy for a long time, just because I was like, Waino is the guy and it's cool that he has literally everything. But it just, what Ovi's done is so

special, and I'll be very proud to say I got to see it. Yeah. So I'm now, I really hope it happens. So all this chirps of like, he might only score 30 this year. I hope he scores 60. He's the man. And I hope he breaks it this year. But, you know, whatever.

He's awesome. But it'll be interesting to see if he is a little, little bit slowing down. Yeah. I think we might be seeing it. Let's get into the heritage. Do you want to talk some heritage, Dan? I think it's a perfect way to close out hotline. I didn't know that was going to come up today.

That's awesome. Me neither. It's unbelievable stuff. We got the great game out in Alberta, outdoor game. Oilers Flames. Sick jerseys. Yeah. Sick jerseys.

McDavid was hurt. Wasn't sure if he was going to play. Obviously he plays. He's all over the score sheet. They get a huge win. Do you think that that was big for Edmonton? Honestly, yes. And I know that sounds stupid.

We just ran out of our mouths about how it's one game. But you just got to get some in the win column. We talked about they could dump a few with McDavid hurt. They did. They didn't lose. Sorry, they didn't win until. came back. And he came back quick, so that was a boost too. Obviously

you see that Drysidal reporter question. Did you see that? When he asked about Skinner? No, the guy goes, this might not be a bright question, but is it a boost to get Connor back? And dresser's a guy, not a bright question, I would say, but you knew that.

Dude, dries on fire. He's got a couple in a row where you're just bodybagging. So yeah, obviously a boost to get Conner back. Dude, why would you ever ask that question? I don't know. I know that sometimes Gernos need to ask questions to get a response but that is such a stupid fucking question Just frame it differently How much of a boost is it?

Yeah, go like this, it's obviously a huge boost to get Connor back but can you try to explain What does he do besides the points? Fuck you're doing, man. So I think it was And dude, it's the flames, it's an unspoken rivalry Or it's not a spoken rivalry But I mean it's unspoken in the locker room

Like we were talking about earlier with this shit Where yeah, of course they want to beat the flames You know, it's a it's a fun thing that they have, the fans get excited, and your outdoors, that's always cool to play outdoors, period. I don't care how old you are. So yeah, dude, they looked way, that's the best they've looked

all season, I would say, and you needed it. The boys needed it in the room, honestly, Dan, more than anything. You're down in the dumps, you're seeing the press, we're talking, obviously they're all avid, empty-nders fans, but we're talking shit about them. Everywhere they look, they're getting body-bagged. You just want to feel good. You want to play the wind song, dude.

I don't know what their win-song is this year, but you just want to have it on the tunes. You want to drink from pink. So they needed that. You've got to just have, you know, those are, those are big momentum games. Yep. You got to win the Heritage Classic. You know what I mean? So that was, that was huge. How do you think, how would you think say they did it, Dan? What was the difference maker for him? Dude, those uni. Those unis. I'm a, I'm a sucker for a brown pants and gloves. Yeah, you are. You've always, you've always had them last year in the winter classic. It's just such an old school crispy look. And there's

something about the brown, tan, whatever you want to call it, pants with the blue and orange oil colors that just looked sick. Did they also walk in, I've seen all their oil rig costumes. Did they walk into the heritage in those costumes? Oh, I'm not sure actually. I bet they must have, right? Yeah.

Because that was a vibe too, dude. Sick. Coming right off the rig. I really like the theatrics the NHL is doing these days. I mean, Pittsburgh and Boston last year at the at Fenway did the whole baseball things. Both of their uniforms were inspired by Red Sox and Pirates. They, how was that not a truth?

That was crazy. That was fucking insane. And Florida was going to score on this, you know, I mean, Jesus. I love when they do shit like that. So the oil rig, I mean, that stuff's just fun. It begs the question, dude, does a good new uni provide some juice? Dude, so yes, I think if I'm the Oilers, I wear that Heritage Classic jersey till we losing them. Because we're vibing right now. I'm pretty sure there was a several years ago where the

Bruins had a, it might have been a winter classic of old, or something that happened where they unveiled an alternate jersey that they didn't plan on wearing that many times in the season. Yeah. And then they were like, this jersey is so sick we need to wear it. I think I remember this. I'm pretty sure that happened. Yeah. And I'm here to tell you that that needs to happen more often. Like, we said that the ducks had their 30-year anniversary. They had the purple and teals. And everyone was like this. It's what we've been saying for literally, yeah, everyone was like, oh my God, we'll just wear those, wear those permanently. What the fuck are you doing? And dude, there is one team that is obviously at the top of this list. My Buffalo Shavers. Okay. Yeah.

They're doing much better. Yep. Got it up to four and five. They're still last in the Atlantic, But, you know, being four and five and last the Atlantic, you know, you're doing, you're doing okay. Been better recently. They just beat the wheels off of the aves for nothing yesterday. Yep. Tage is firing. Tuggy's firing. They are undefeated in the Goatheads this year.

Their record in the Goatheads last year was astoundingly better than otherwise. The Sabres are in a funny situation where they have two of the best uniforms in the league. Their blues are and whites are so sick. That logo is so sick. and I very much supported them when they went back to that logo you know the La Fontaine Day's logo and away from

the goathead but the goathead is just so gas now and you play so much better in it and the boys have said that they're like when we wear the goadheads we've got a different swagger about us and you clearly see it translate to the ice so right now like if you're in charge of the

sabers I'm like this we have to implement more games in the goadhead like I'm sorry if it was one of those things were like, well, no, it'll lose its luster. I'm like this, I don't care, dude. You're below 500. So like just, what's going to happen? We start losing in those two?

Oh, whatever. And they go back. Yeah, you have to wear the goadheads more. Agree, I think, you see it across everything. The Eagles in NFL just where they're Kelly Greens and the internet was freaking out about them. And the players there are like, we play better. I think having sick threads on gets you fired up way more than you think.

What teams, Dan, do you think? could use a full-on jersey redesign. And I'm not saying that you don't like their jerseys so they automatically get named because if they're good, they don't need a redesign. What team could use a look good, feel-good, pick-me-up? You know how when you get a new golf club and you stripe it for the first few rounds

because you've got new club swag? Yeah. Some teams could use some new sweater swag right now. So are we talking to full redesign here or like maybe go back to something of old? I'd take either. But again, my point is if the team is good, though, or if they're playing well right now, then I don't want you to name them because they don't

need it. Yeah. Right? So let me start you off with this example. Well, Buffalo is my number one. Yeah. But this one, the San Jose Sharks, I think a new club, New Jersey swag would be wasted on them right now. Like, I don't think they, I'm like, you just, no, just continue to be bad. They need a new team. Yeah, we need a new team and then a New Jersey in a couple years. And that's fine. But here's one I might give a New Jersey to, the Calgary Flames. I, dude, I don't know what to say about that because their jerseys are so sick. They're sick jerseys, but just maybe they need a little something. They need juice. They need some juice.

They're juiceless. And I do think that they, oh my God, that is a penalty too. What's going on right now? They do need some juice. They need some juice injected right into them. And I could, I could see that. That's a tough one because I like the jerseys. Here's one that hits close to home. Good record. They're doing okay. They've got some. you know, goaltending

issues that we'll get into here. If I am the LA Kings, I immediately go back to the Gretzky King. Okay. And I do it permanently.

Yep. I think the Kings have pretty great jerseys. Black and silver is as swaggy as it gets. Yep. And say what you will

about the chrome domes, but if you don't admit that those white Gretzky King jerseys are, you know, top of the league. Yeah.

You just don't. They look sick in person too. You don't know fashion, honey. Yeah. And they look sick in person. And then the black version of those are just, dude, you just need to go back. Like, I think that that, LA has really started to embrace the Kings more.

And the LA Kings do such a good job of like the Hollywood. Yeah. A vibe. If they did a full rebrand and they were like, we're back to this, we see it all the time. We just said Buffalo. Yeah. Viving. You know, I think you go back, dude.

And, you know, there's some who would say, like, go to the purple and gold or something. I'm like, fuck that, dude. Like, that's Lakers colors. Let the Kings colors be what they are. and I think you go back to that. That's a no brink. I love that. How about this one?

Sitting at 4 and 4 7th in the Atlantic. I could get some new senators' jerseys. I was actually afraid to say this. Maybe they would get some juice. I was afraid to say this because I, I, we talk about on this show a lot, um, some fan bases emerge. Yeah. With our, with our fans of empty netters.

And I, I, sends fans. I have such a special place in my heart. Like they are awesome. They're knowledgeable. They're passionate. And I feel like if I were to say the Sends jerseys aren't great, they might come from my head. Yeah. Because the old Danny Alpherson, it was this, it wasn't, I mean, I know he played in this

Senator one, but it was that weird one. It was like this elongated face in the Senator logo. Yeah. It was really ugly. They were that for a while. And they then went back to this, which is the ocean. Oh, gee. This is like the Yashin days. And this logo is sick, in my opinion.

But I kind of hear you. I just think there could be... Yeah, look at that. Yeah, like, that's terrible. I just think there could be... So I'm not saying you go back to that. No, no, no. I could see a cool, like, third jersey swag.

Just like a little alt jersey for them, dude. They've got cool colors, you know? And you've got young studs with Brady and stuts. Like, you know, do something fun. That team could use some juice. I'm into that. Maybe I got one more. Because like Chicago, you stink, but that jersey's lit.

Don't do anything. They don't do anything. Arizona, they, yeah, I like it. I could possibly sit in 331, 6th, 6 in the Central. The blues could use some juice for me. Some people love that jersey, but I think the blues could use some juice. I love the, oh, that was beautiful. Oh my gosh, Charlie Mac.

Oh, friend of the pod goal. Friend of the pod goal, Charlie Mac on the board again. That was filth. That was actually nasty. That zone entry was filth. Wow. You love to see it.

This replay. Yeah, we got to watch this. Here we go. This was just a classic buildup goal. Boom. Zaka. Great pass. Unbelievable.

Cuts across the middle. Back to the middle. God. Shelf. Back in. I thought goalie Bob got that. Me too. That's why I didn't react.

I thought he gloved it. Oh, nice little play for me. Chuckie there. Yeah. And he's fired up. He knows it too, dude. Chuckie, low-key,

great-selling guy. Yeah, he is. Oh, yeah. It's cold. The archer. Love to see it. Pretty goal. Listen, they don't need this juice.

Yeah. But I'm just saying, we're talking about possible title teams here. Yeah. If the Dallas Stars whipped out the Madonna, and people are getting mad at me for saying it Canadian,

if they whipped out the Madonna, jerseys straight to the cup oh my god straight to the cup can you imagine and an award sweep yeah everyone on the team would win every award can you right to the cup imagine seeing robo hans and otter in that madano star sweater every night oh every single night of my life that would be sensual man i would love that so just something think about for some teams out here because i really think that the sweater can can be a big spark yeah so think about some juice Okay, before we move on to our last segments here, I wanted to quickly touch on something. Last episode, we talked a bit about Winnipeg.

Yes. We talked about why they were struggling. And we got... You mean attendance or the team? Attendance. Yeah. Sorry, thank you. We got a ton of DMs from Jets fans because we asked for it.

We were like, we don't know what's going on. And a lot of Jets fans came into the DMs and told us, here's one, the reason people aren't going to games in Winnipeg and some other Canadian cities is the cost. Cost of everything has gone up and the average person is hard pressed to go to an NHL game right now. They've been told, too, we've been told as well that as well as ticket prices, it's the same thing we see all the time in stadiums. You go in and it's $20 for a beer.

people are saying that they want they love the jets they want to go to these games but we saw that that announcement and report from the jets that was like tickets are 21 bucks but it's it's not actually the cost sometimes you can scoop one of the you know what do we call them the against the cement seats yeah yeah backs against the walls boys sometimes you can grab those for 21 bucks but most of the time it's even higher than that and then these these folks are going to the games and they're trying to grab a couple beers next thing you know like we always say cost of the travel getting there, cost of getting beers, food, whatever, at the games, you're spending well over 150 bucks, well, well over 150 bucks.

So I thought that that was really awesome from Jets fans to, hey, hit up in the DMs, let us know what's going on. And I think it's another good thing to bring awareness to, dude. It's like, you know, you've got these great people in these areas in Canada who aren't making that type of money. You can't really be charging that type of price to go to these games. If you want to fill that stadium, maybe rethink that situation. And I'm not educated on this situation.

Obviously, that there's different things that play with the Canadian economy and things that are going on like that, cost of living, stuff like that. But again, it's one of those things that it's good to know. You know, we have outlets like us talking about like, why aren't Jets fans going to the games? I thought it was just awesome that the Jets fans came to us to be like, this is why. And, you know, it's good to know that so people don't kind of shit on them. Like, you guys aren't even going to support. It's like, no, they want to, but you can't afford it.

We're going to have to do a giveaway for Jets fans. Hell yeah. Drop of the water in the motion, but we'll fill two of those seats. Hell yeah. We'll figure something out. Fucking love that. All right. Hottest teams of the week?

Let's get into hottest teams of the week. Okay. Hottest teams of the week is a fun batch this week. It is. Number three. I'm going to start. Oh, okay. You start.

Yeah, you did it last time. Number three, the Anaheim Ducks. Quackers were ripped up three straight. That's unbelievable. Yep. They beat the Blue Jackets in O.T. They shocked the Bruins with their first loss in O.T. Sick game.

And they beat the Flyers 7 to 4 Flyers who have been very good. Yeah. Beautiful stuff from the Ducks. Pretty sick. Getting it back. Ziegs finally got on the board with his first goal. He's going to start feeling a little bit, feeling it a little bit. Oh, you know what?

Actually, while you bring this up, I wanted to talk to you about this, and I forgot to write it down. Did you see that the ducks were saying they're going to sit Carlson a bunch of times to, like, for, for, for, uh, like keep the legs fresh for like load management. I did not. And I was like, bro, fuck you. Yeah. Like a child.

Yeah, I don't think he needs load management. Also, you are in a beautiful opportunity to play a kid like that and get a ton of minutes in his first season. What the fuck are you talking about? And I know it's the first time these kids play 80, right? Like usually it's like,

oh wow, this is a long season. It's a grind. But first of all, he missed a game to start. And second of all, he just needs the reps. And unless he has, a nagging injury that he's trying to work on. It's like, what are we doing?

I'm not trying to get into a this league situation here. No, come on. Number two, another bottom dweller. We brought them up earlier. The Washington Capitals also three wins this week. They beat the Devil's 6'4 in a ridiculous game. Do you remember that? Yes.

And then they beat the Wild 3-2 in a shootout, and they took care of the Sharks 3-1. The caps aren't exactly going to go so quiet into that dark night. No, they sure or not. So we'll see. And then the number one team this week, the fans are going to love to hear it. The New York Rangers. Congrats, Brian. Wow.

Can you believe it? Let's fucking go. All the Netters boys hate the rags. Oh, my God. Those comments are all me, though. Yeah, that's true. The big jump Rangers, four wins in a row, cracking 4-1, flames 3-1,

Oilers 3-0, then they beat the Canucks. Which was my game of the week to watch. Which is a fucking sick game, by the way. You're welcome. 4-3 in OT. Really great stuff from the Rangers. Truly no trolling at all. they look good.

They are the class of the MET right now. Absolutely. They look fiery and then got to say, Laffey, four goals already this season, nothing will make them happier. He's got no assists so far, but honestly, I'm kind of like, I like that he's like this. I'm just getting on the fucking score sheet here. The big jump Rangers.

Somebody make us, or maybe we'll have to do it, I want a Rangers shirt, one of these ones that goes the diagonal, that says big jump instead of for hex. Big jump? Yeah, instead of blue shirts. I wanted to get that for Las. I wanted to say big jump. That would be a fun gift for him.

Yep. Yeah, love to see it. Truly, I think the Rangers are playing, obviously, their best hockey season so far, but this is the team that, you know, you kind of thought, could this be how they look? And it is. Yeah.

You know, they're doing great. So fun stuff. Okay. Really, really, really great stuff for me. Yes, into a little bit of Toffwatch. Let's get into Toffwatch. Tyler to Foley, man. Has your boy ever been more all over a call?

No. That's insane. Last episode, I said, Toph's going to get hot. He got his first of the season. He's going to get hot. And I said, in the next few games here, he's going to have a three point night. Literally the next day, bang, Hattie.

And then the next game after. After that, bang. Two and one, I think. Two and one. And then their last game, goal as well. Tyler Tofoli, in eight games, has seven goals and three assists for ten points on the season. Seven tucks in his last five games. Fucking not bad, bud.

Not bad as well. Love in the pace. He's over a point per game. He's buzzing all over the ice. He's scoring big time goals, scores, goals. 80. 80s on the way, dude. 80s on the way. Okay, introducing a new segment, by the way.

we're going to be putting these up on the story when we see them. This segment is called Friend of the Pod goals. So it's only people that have been actually on the pod. So when we do those videos with IFalo and Fiala and Dewee, those guys don't count yet until they actually come on the pod. We're only talking pro goals. So some of the guys and the girls we've had in college, not yet. So like, Cotter-Goti, if he gets called up, those will count.

But for now, his BC goals do not count. and then we had a lot of amazing guests who aren't in the league anymore. So, of course, we're not tracking those. So far this year, Dan, and I haven't, I haven't, I don't know what's currently happening across the league in these other games. So coming into today this recording, we have five goals, five goals from Trevor Moore, Morsi's on fire, three goals from PLD, none from Swamon yet, but maybe. He wants it.

No, he wants it. None from Lucheech yet, none from Dutchie yet, and that one's going to go off soon. None from Taylor Heise yet, but she hasn't started the league yet, but we'll keep track of those. Two from Fance, none from Dante Fabro, seven from Toff, like you said. Two now from McAvoy, was one. Kirby Doc Zero out for the fucking year, killer. But maybe there's a miracle comeback here in Rodgers himself, so we'll keep an eye on it. Four from Tage, one from Tuck.

So that's 26 goals so far from Friends of the Pod this NHL season. Any new guests we get, any goals they score after the interview will count towards this. So we've got all these people plus all potential new guests. We've got some sick ones lined up for you soon. I kind of wanted to put the number, like I was going through this Dan and I was like maybe, maybe Tage is 40, Tucky's 40, McAvoy's 15, Tofs 40, like I was kind of doing some numbers. And 225 felt getable. Getable? Dettable. Two 25 goals from the pod. Let's set it at 225. Do you want to put it there? Do you want to put it higher because we might get new guests? We certainly are getting new guests and we'll be getting all those goals too. No, it's not good cocky. I like

225. Okay, let's set the number at 225 Friends of the Pod goal on FPG. Yeah. Let's see how many FPGs we can rack up And then if we hit them NARC, which we're setting We're going to do something sick I don't know what it is yet But we're going to celebrate We're going to get one of those like goal You know the fundraiser meter things

Yeah Oh nice We're going to hit Friends of the Pod goals And see if we hit our number I like it amazing All right, what else do we got? Games to watch? Games to watch for the people

By the way Frank for Toronto has nine goals Dude and I've been saying I said he was one of the most underrated players in the league At the beginning of this pod last season And I don't think he's He's, you know, Kyle Connor, like Kyle Connor, I also have in that category for different reasons, but Frank is slept on and could score, like, he has a NHL shot, dude. Oh my God.

He could score a significant. It's unbelievable. We're going to get him on the pot. I'll take all those goals. I'll say. We'll hit 225 by the end of the year. He will. Okay, what to watch?

I got a couple. Let me hit you with Wednesday when this comes out. Yotes at Ducks, two teams that aren't having monster years, but I just love the young players on both teams. I think it's super fun hockey to watch. Hopefully it's not one of the Carlson load management games, but if it isn't, a couple young stars out there ripping around. Can't wait for Toculi to get his first.

He didn't actually, he didn't pull it off against the Kings like we predicted, so I'm still excited for that. And then on Saturday, Avs at Nights is a sick hockey game. I love that. That could very easily be a Western Conference final preview. Yeah, I love that game.

Okay, I'm going to go my number one on Thursday. Maple Leaf's Appruance First showdown of the season for them Two teams towards the top of the Atlantic Always a good time when those teams play So I just think that that's gonna be That's gonna be a Ripper And then I'm gonna go

A Saturday game here I just I feel Wait what did you say for your time? I did abs at nights Yeah okay There's another good one I almost said I feel like I was going to say one That I think I already said

dead. But I like the stars at Canucks. Okay. Yeah. I just think that those are two lit teams right now. Stars are four one and one. Canucks five, two and one. I just love so much of the talent on that on that ice that I'm like, you know, how do you not get fired up for that game? So I'm going to go with it. I like stars Canucks. Rags it at Wild was the other one I almost said. Oh yeah. Fun game. That's a good one. That's a good one too. All right. That's it for us this week at the Empty Netters podcast. We're in costume. Hope you guys have a happy Halloween. And then, dude, you know that I'm going to be next episode.

I'm going to be sitting right here in a Christmas sweater because we're in Christmas season, dude. But until you see me in that sweater, enjoy the spooky season. What's left of it? And skate hard.