Empty Netters Podcast - 72. Sidney Crosby MUST Leave Pittsburgh

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

The boys are headed to Toronto for a jam picked week of All Star events. We get into the complete s*it show that is the LA Kings, as well as the unstoppable Edmonton Oilers. If the Penguins were to miss the playoffs again, could they consider blowing it up and starting the rebuild now? The team gives out mid season major awards. See who gets the most love! Chapters: (00:00) - Intro (1:02) - All Star week ahead (19:36) - No Buckie Warm Up (21:22) Current players smashing career highs (36:01) - The Best Team California (39:35) - Comparing NHL team to their NBA comparable (51:33) - The LA Kings are falling apart (1:04:59) - The Oilers refuse to cool off (1:20:37) - Fans need to back off Ovi (1:25:34) - Pens should trade Sid so he can chase another cup (1:35:05) - Hot Ice/Mid Season awards (1:52:33) - Overtime/Saucey Predictions (1:58:45) - Sydney Sweeney on Hot Ones Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're listening to this episode of the Mpteen netters podcast right now, I imagine that you're a big hockey fan. And if you're a big hockey fan, let me tell you how you can elevate that experience. It's by cracking a fresh Labat blue light. No question about it. The most crisp and refreshing beer in the game right now. And that's because every single pint, can, and bottle is brewed with Canadian kindness. And you know there is no better kindness in the world, just like there's no better beer in the world. So if you're at the game, if you're sitting on your couch, hanging with the buds,

grab yourself a bat blue light and make the game even better because it is the best beer in the game. Ice is ready and we are back with another episode of the empty netters podcast. CP is taking down a bottle of Soco to the face and we also just had a great idea. Blake just said that we should start hitting salts before episodes and I couldn't agree more. Me neither, dude. I want salts right now. We need studio salts. I'm fired up for Toronto. I'm fired up for this.

Yep, dude. We need studio salts. Oh, yeah. Big week coming up. We've got two games today, one game tomorrow, three games on Wednesday. I think that's right. And then we are officially an All-Star Break, but we're already in All-Star Break. Half the league's on All-Star Break, dude.

The team is headed out tomorrow to Toronto for NHL All-Star Week. Blake, are you pumped going home? It is a homecoming for me, that's for sure. Yeah? I got the OVO jacket on today. Hey. To celebrate the, yeah, the homecoming. Yeah, it'll be my first time going back to Toronto in five years.

And for a little context, I grew up in Toronto, went to university there. So, yeah, it'll be surreal. Dude, five years, that's kind of crazy. It is. Yeah, it's been too long. I feel bad for not going to see, you know, family and friends. So you went back just before COVID? So I moved, yes, I went back for university in 2017, and then did three and a half years there.

then couldn't afford to keep living there. So I had to give up my apartment there and move back in with the parents. And still there today. And now we're getting them. Yeah. Dude, but we're getting them back on track. Here we go. Are the boys, not to call you out here, dude, but are the boys like, what the fuck, bro?

You never come. You never call, you never right. Or are they, like, pumped to see you? They've never, my friends have never really said anything directly to be like, dude, what the fuck? Like, come visit us. But I can definitely sense it a little bit. Oh, you feel some animosity from the squad.

Yeah, maybe it's just myself putting pressure on myself. But, yeah, no, I definitely am very excited to see a lot of them. Sweet. It'll be wild if we get there and they show up and they're like, fuck you. Dude, we show up for the dinner res on Tuesday and they actually just fucking toss one in his face and bounce. Stiff us with the bill. And I'm like, the fuck? That'd be wild.

Thanks, Blakey. That would be wild. I'm really psyched. We threw up a couple fun stories over the last. last few days. I was driving the other day and thought to myself, I don't know what the, the food is in Toronto. Now I say I could have asked Blake, but I wanted to, to crowdsource it. Blake, what would you say is the food? Because I got a lot of bacon sandwiches. Yeah, okay. Well, was it okay, so I grew up eating this really weird sandwich and maybe it's like a Canadian thing,

but bacon and peanut butter sandwiches. Oh, bro, those are fucking, wait. Wait. Do you mean Canadian bacon or do you mean? Oh, no. Oh, okay. Oh, dude, crispy bacon and PV sandwiches are gas. Okay, it's, yeah. But yeah, a lot of people were like, you got to get a bacon sandwich. There's something else in there.

I'll look at it. I know that there's one Canadian bacon sandwich at St. Lawrence Market. Okay. That a lot of people hype up and it's a big, you know, it's like a market kind of thing. My big thing was I don't want specific places. I don't want you to tell me to go to a restaurant. I was like, what is the food? Oh, because you know what I mean?

Yeah, I said, I was like, if I go to Montreal, a lot of people are like, get putteen. You go to Boston, clam chowder, lobster, shit like that. So I was like, what is the thing? Toronto doesn't really have like, I mean, to me personally, I'm not like, oh, it's got this one thing. Toronto's so multicultural. It's crazy. Like, it's so multicultural. I think it's one of, if not the most international cities in North and South America.

It's crazy. And like, like, so you can really find any kind of. food and quality of that specific kind of food. So I don't know. It's really got, it's got a bit of everything. There's a huge Asian population, right? Yeah, massive. So there must be great Asian food.

I've also, someone told me that there's unbelievable Caribbean food there. Caribbean food. And I'm like, dude, get me some jerk chicken and I'm fucking. Get P.K. up in here. Seriously, P.K. Actually, we should text him because he's definitely going to want to get some jerk chicken over there. Yeah. I, uh, there's one, there's a couple restaurants that I have in mind, but,

But, you know, like I said, like it's not like there's one specific food that you're like, oh, we're in Toronto, we're getting this. It's like, you can get really anything there. The top one for me, I got to find it. We got some great, great nods. But I was told, yes, here we go. Did you say, did you mention St. Lawrence Market earlier? Yeah. Okay.

Awesome friend of the pod sent me a message, said go to St. Lawrence Market, ground floor, and get the best. and get the Betz chicken parm sandwich. Oh shit. And I'm a huge chicken parm guy, big chicken parm sando guy. Me too. So I'm going there immediately. I might go there tomorrow. Yeah.

When we land? Seriously, before the hotel. When we land, no, no, like, let's go to the hotel. And I might be like, let's go, let's get in the mixer. Go right to St. Lawrence. Give me a, oh, a pre-dinner chicken parm sando, warm up the stomach for dinner with a chicken parm sando. I'm into that.

We could, yeah, like, what time we land at, what, 3.30? So, I mean, we'll get to the hotel. So we'll probably be at Pearson by, like, 7 p.m. Yeah, sounds like right. No, we should meet at the hotel. I hope, hopefully by like five. Yeah. Oh, that'd be tight, dude.

Customs usually doesn't give you too hard of a time nowadays. And we've got nothing tomorrow night. So we're just going to. American. They love Americans. I can't wait. I just want to, I want to leave. I mean, I've spent a lot of time in Toronto.

Yeah. Not a lot of time. Good amount of time. I want to leave this week with a, and this is blasphemous for me, with a Leafs hat and a whole bunch of love for the city of Toronto and the people of Toronto in my heart. That's what I really want. I want to leave with a Austin Matthews tattoo. I want to have Austin Matthews. What?

What? Hold on. Hold on. tattooed. So just for reference, CP and I. and I think you too, Blake, I'm not sure. Do you have any tats? No.

Yeah. Zero tat boys. Tatless. We're a tatless crew here. What circumstances would have to happen for you to actually get an Austin Matthews tattoo? This weekend? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because in my mind, it would have to be like Austin himself was ripping it with you.

And you guys were just, you know, in the shit, having a wild night. And he was like, get a tattoo of me right now. I think, and it would it be up to me how big and... Yeah, yeah. I think that there's two circumstances. You could just get like an AM 3-4. That's what I mean. You could even do like Roman numerals too to make it not a...

I think there's two circumstances. One, circumstance one is I get offered an amount of money. Yeah. Like someone was like, I'll give you X amount of money. And I'll figure out what that number is. But like, you know, I'll give you this amount of money to get a tattoo. I'd be like, okay, yeah, fuck. Ballpark.

What is that amount of money? Because I have my answer and you guys are... You're going to scoff at me when I tell you. Dan's gonna say like a million dollars dude Go ahead Dan I'm being dead serious I'm being dead serious My answer to get a tattoo is A

The cost of said tattoo Yeah of course Yeah 500 grand Oh okay But then I thought I truly that that is how much Even if you got to pick where it was You get to get an AM 34 somewhere

Yeah 500's I mean like I would obviously take 500 But I think I would probably go Like 50 Like it's almost like here's 50 grand cash. I'd be like, and I can get like an AM 34 under my watch band or something.

I'm like, yeah, sure, dude. I appreciate the clean canvas that is my body. I get my foot, dude. And you are both kidding yourselves if you're not acknowledging how fast 50K is gone. I know, but it would just, it would go towards something. No, that would be a bummer though.

It would be a bummer if you did that. And then in two months, that 50K is gone. And you're like, ah, I got this tattoo forever. Like I want that 500K. I also love Awesome Matthews. I wouldn't even be that mad about it. Okay, but scenario two is this.

Also, I just want to say real quick, I kind of mentioned it offhand. If it's not a logo already, I feel like AM Roman numerals 3-4 would be like sick on a hat. Isn't like three is three bars and then four is another bar? Like it's just a lot. I think that still looks sick. Like if you did AM and then like a little dot. What's that term, dude? Do you know what that term is?

So there's a term in fonts that's. how far the letters are apart. Oh, that shows, like, it designates a new thing. It's a crazy word. I'm gonna fucking look this. Look that up. But it's like, if you did AM with the wide that. Yeah.

So then the three four. I'm gonna type it out right now and see what it looks like. But I think if that's not on a hat already or something, he needs to figure that out. I tell you what, if we're at, we are in one and AM 34 is around us, I will get that same tattoo with you. Look at that. Kerning. Kerning. It's kerning.

Kerning. Is the amount of spaces between things? It's the amount of spacing between the letter. So if we get, is it a kern or a kerning? Or is kerning? What is kerning? Kerning is the spacing between individual letters or characters in a font. I'm just saying look at that. That looks pretty sick. Yeah, okay. So dude, I heard you.

The scenario two is that, and you brought it up, great call. if the Thursday before skills, we are out till sunrise with Matthews. And it's like the four of us and just having a fucking time of our lives. And he's like, dude, we got to commemorate this. I would be like, hell yes, dude. Okay. I'm in.

Like, hell, yeah. If we are all out with Austin. And it's just like the most bananas night. He's just like bankrolling everything. And he brings this up. And he's like this, I'll pay for the tattoos too. I will get, I won't get AM 34, but I will get 34, I'll tattooed on my body. Yeah, I mean.

Oh, imagine if Beaver is the one doing it? Yeah, Bieber does it. Beaver. What a scenario we have created here. Holy shit, dude, Bieber's going to tattoo my body. I will happily get 34 tattooed to my body if we're ripping it with Austin, and that's where the night takes us. Okay. Oh, boys.

Teamsmanship on three. One, two, three, teamsmanship. Austin. Austin. Deal. Sick deal. But anyway, yeah, we're headed to All-Star. I'm absolutely fired up.

I think this is going to be a wild, wild and fun week. Dan, Blake asked me this earlier. Who do you think is going to have the, of the players, is going to have the most fun this week? Neander. I just don't even... Ooh, that is a good player. I just don't even think...

I mean, this is, this season has been Willie's coming out party in every single way. Yep. He is just a dominant force. He just signed the fattest ticket of all time. he 69 guaranteed nice nice he's an all-star he's just he's doing it all

I think he is going to be the king of the castle he's going to be crowned in Toronto this weekend okay here's my counter he he's too it's his home like you can't he's not on me you go away

you can you can go nuts because you're like whatever did I'm going to come back like no one knows no one I'll do whatever I want here I fear that if he runs rampant around Toronto And then just wakes up on next Monday And they're like, hey bro, that was out of pocket I hear you But you lost your mind

I have two other options I think it's because Think about when you have someone visit your hometown You go Okay fair You're the bell of the ball You gotta show everybody You're the mayor

You want to show them everything And he's an all-star this year Like he's got his boy pasta coming into town He wants to show everyone everything There's no question about I think he's going to be on his egg. Good counter counter. Go?

No, that was good counter counter by you. My two that came to mind. One, Brady Kachuk. Brady Kachuk has the best time of his fucking life everywhere he's ever gone. I think Brady's going to have fun as always, but I think Brady is a captain. He's a businessman. The Sends are not doing well. I think he is like, dude, I'm not going to.

Dude, I don't think they were doing that well by last All-Star. But they didn't have these expectations. Fair. Two. Frank Vitrono. First-time All-Star Boston boy. New Dad. Needs to blow off steam.

Dude. New Dad. Like, that boy is going to be going off in Toronto. Dude, I guarantee it. I don't want to meet him so badly. I don't want to put anyone on blast because I know that we are going to be directly responsible for some of this. I know. Don't even do it, dude. I think Pastranak.

The guy is, so it's going to be his fourth All-Star game. I think he's going to be so comfortable. He's going to be like, yeah, this is just another weekend. And he's with Willie, dude. He's with his boy. And I just said, Willie's going to be going crazy, but you're close to my pick.

Pass is also the villain in Toronto, and I think he likes playing that card, so he's going to be like, I don't give a fuck. Dude, it's sway. Swee. Swayman is going to... Swayman.

Like, he is finally getting recognized as the all-star that he is. He's with us. It's going to be nuts. Pop a sway is coming. I don't know if he told you that yet. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

So it's going to be a whole... It's going to be family fair. By the way, I pulled some strings, boys. I'm not going to say it on the pod. But I, I pulled some strings with some contacts, and I got us a really, really, really fun setup for Friday night. Great.

So. Where are we going? Do you know the name of the establishment? I sure do. Is it a surprise? Yeah. Or it's off the air. It'll be an off the air surprise. Awesome.

But it's going to be a good time. Yeah, I'm going to try and get some goaltending tips from Jeremy. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, unfortunately, Sway just says stop the puck. Like, Sway's whole mentality. He's like, yeah, dude, just dive in front of it. Just stop the puck.

I put Blake on blast real quick. Yeah. We need a goaltender in Beer League, and you don't like playing goalie anymore. You could save us. That's not true. I still like playing goalie. It just fucking hurts. Yeah, I believe it.

For some context. Is it knees or hips for you? It's the hips. So for context, and I don't know if I've told you guys this. So about two and a half years ago in 2021, I had a double hip surgery. Great. Great. So it was literally just-

Trying to ruin his life. Just been being a goalie over the years. and, you know, they might have been fucked up for, you know, the two years prior to that and just didn't really have the information to get the surgery. But so had one hip done, then two weeks later got the other one done. I mean, I was skating and back fully functional in six months and, you know, still play goalie here and there. It just hurts more than it did. But I still, dude, I still have the itch. Like, we played in a men's league game last night.

And, you know, I was, I still watched the goalies and warmups and I'm like, fuck, hey. You missed. Trash. He's fucking garbage. I could have made that safe. No, I definitely would. Hey, you give me a call. I'll be there.

Was it, was it hurting you to play goalie more pre-surge? I feel like the surgery usually relieves the pain. So, yeah, when I was pre-surgery, it hurt to play. But when you're playing and you get that adrenaline. Yeah. And like, it just, it kind of just kicks in and you don't notice it when you're playing. And like, like, when I was in junior, I would get off, get out of the game and get on the bus.

And you get on the bus and you're on the bus for like an hour or two, three hours. That was the worst. You're sitting there and your hip just gets locked in that sitting position. So it was always, pre-surgery was always it hurt right after playing in like those days or weeks after. And I'd say post-surgery, it's still somewhat hurts that way. But it's like a different kind of pain. And it's more just like it's not as, you know, easy to move those hips as once was.

But hey, you give me a call. I'll stop the puck. Yeah, dude. Blake wants to go for walks with his kid someday, and Dan's like, we need a 10D, dude. Fuck you. On that topic, I want to make another apology. Remember last episode?

We were talking about fan etiquette, and I talked about sewering that BYU basketball player. Oh, yeah, dude, this is so funny. So we got a DM. No way. And lovely person in the DMs was like, dude, really funny story about you chirping the BYU kid.

He was like, I went to BYU. His name's Nick Emery, great basketball player, and he has a medical condition, which is why he wears full sleeves on arms and legs. So I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Nick Emory. Because what a scumbag I am. Dude, I was so mad. I didn't know.

How many years later? Oh, dude, this is a long time ago. This must be almost six years later. Easily. I can't find it right now. I have a pick. But I feel terrible. I'm just truly sending my deepest apologies to Nick. Yep. And also, deepest respect to him for being unfazed. Yeah.

By, you know. He's a bucket, dude. He's like, I'm a bucket, dude. Fuck you. Yep. He could have turned to me and been like, I have a medical condition. I would have been laughed out of that arena. But he let me live. They politely asked you to move. Yes.

Just to wrap up the All-Star weekend ahead. What else? do we got going on, fellas? Any other things we want to highlight? Man, of course we've got Does everyone know Gretzky's basement? Yeah, yeah. Gretzky's basement thing popping off. We're going to do a pod there.

We're going to record a lot of stuff there, hopefully. CCM skate. Wednesday. Wednesday night. Yep. NHL, influencer, skate. And hockey hall of fame tour. We're going to do some on accuracy and breakaway competition, fun stuff. It's going to be goofy.

It's going to be silly. It's going to be awesome. And then, of course, as you guys all know now, thank you for all your guests and everything. Keep eyes on the page for more posts about this, the Legends Roundtable on Friday. BetMGM Legends Roundtable event. It's going to be a sort of Hollywood Roundtable vibe hosted by your boys. We're going to be hanging out with Ray Bork, our guy, Chris Chelyos, and Toronto legend Wendell Clark. It's going to be a all-time event live. It's going to be legendary.

Yes. I do say so, my sense. Yes. Cannot wait. So keep eyes on the page. We're going to be doing so much stuff this week. If you're in Toronto, follow along. You'll be able to see where we are every step of the way.

We want to meet you. We want to crack some beers, have some laughs. So come up and say what's up. Let's get into No Bucky. Boom. We've got to jump into this episode. We've got a lot to cover. No Bucky warm up.

What do we got up first? Okay. I want to talk about this really fast. BR Open Eyes posted this. You guys all saw it, but it was the cover page was Players on Pace to Smash Career Highs. Pretty cool post, pretty cool Carousel.

Very cool Carousel, I should say. I'm going to read you some of them. I'll read you all of them, but I'm going to land on the one I wanted to aim at. And this is when the stats I'm about to give her when this was posted. I'm sure they're slightly off now. Sure. Willie Nealander, 61 points at time of posting. Previous career high 87.

Going to go way over. Way over. Barring any disasters, obviously. Carter, for Hayland. Hagee, 50 points, previous career high, 73. Monster year for Hagee. Quinn Hughes, 62 points, previous career high 76. Smashed.

Monster, dude. He's going to be monster. It's going to be crazy when Quinn Hughes gets over 100 points this year after Carlson got 100 and won, I think, last year, and it blew everyone's mind. And they're like, oh, my God. He's just going to do it immediately. Zach Heimann, 30 goals, previous career high, 36. Preposterous.

That one's preposterous. Zach Hewman has stuffed a lot of people in a locker this year. Sam Reiner, 37 goals at time of posting. Previous career high 33. Like already well past that. Yeah, can you believe that? So he's course 60 goals, too. He's already past his career high.

And is a great player. Yeah. Because he had something like 73 points last year too, right? I think so, yeah. 20 power play goals, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, you know what? I don't want to get off the rails here, but I always hate when, you know,

Reiner's having this unbelievable year, 37 goals, and people go, power play specialist, dude. Yeah. Because I'm always like, power play goals are important. He scores them. If he wasn't scoring those goals, their power play would be much less effective than it is. So that's something to celebrate. He's scoring tons of goals.

It's amazing. It's sick. Sam right, I did. Brock Bester, 30 goals. Hell yeah, Brock, he's back. Previous career high, 29. Already passed it. Brock, he's back.

So it's sick stuff. And there's a few more that didn't even list, but this is the one I wanted to bring up because I just... Could believe it. And all of those are pretty... This one blow your... Did any of those shock you that I read? Yeah. I mean, not Brock.

I said at the beginning of the season, you know I said this. Brock is back this year. He's going to be right back to the elite all-star level that he is. Heimann is kind of shocking. I'm not surprised that Hyman's having a good year, but wow, is he having a good year? Yep. I think Reinhert.

Yeah. Actually, the two that I, again, I don't like the word shocking because all these guys are elite players. Reinhardt being a dominant goal score. It is like, whoa. and then Quinn Hughes being on pace for like 115 points is... That's insane. And then sorry, I phrased that.

Everything you just said is completely correct. And I agree with it. I phrased it poorly. I meant were any of the previous career highs? Like, for example, I hear Carter Hagee, he's going to shatter it. He's at 50 points already. Previous career high, I'm like, yeah. Like, I wouldn't have been, if you would ask me to guess his previous career high,

I'm like, probably 70 something, maybe, you know, whatever. Willie's previous career high was 87. and I think in my head I kind of forgot and that was last year, right? I think I thought he was like a hundred guys. I just kind of forgot. I was like, oh, yeah. We've just talked about him so much that I know his-

87's a sick year, don't get me wrong, I was just like, oh, whatever. But this one, dude, I haven't read this to you. Breadman. Panarin. 30 goals so far this year. Going to shatter his previous career high of 32. Like in my mind, Panarin, I'm like,

he's certainly had a 40-goal season. Oh, no way. Wait, is Panarin already? You had 30 goals? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I think I would...

Panarin's a past guy. I know, but he went... These first two years, he went 32, 32. Like, I was like, oh, yeah, as an 18-year-old, you're tucking 32 goals. Like, certainly, you've beaten your 18-year-old mark. And he was like, no. I know. Exactly.

Holy fuck, dude. No, yeah. I don't think I'm surprised by that one, but, I mean... He's going to score 50 this year. Yeah, maybe. So everyone's like, he's a past guy. I'm like, we scored 50 goals. He might score 50.

He might score 40. Yeah. That's for 35. Come on. When I look at this list, I'm most surprised by Verhege. Oh, okay. That guy came out of nowhere. Because he's doing so well that part of it.

You're surprised? Yeah, not the previous. What do you mean, dude? He left the shit show that is Toronto and then he became the player that he can always be. And he was a fucking killer in the playoffs last year, dude. Murdering you guys. Oh, my God. Not he left.

Belief fucking gave. Yeah, yeah. He got booted. And with Hyman. Like, I look at that list. and I'm like, Hyman and Verhege could be Toronto Maple Leafs today. Yeah. Doing all that for the Leafs.

Like, Hyman, I don't know what the Leafs were thinking. They could be Leafs if they played for VET minimum because, definitely half of your salary cap goes to four players. On that topic, what got Reiner to the, off the Sabres? I think the Sabres didn't want to extend him. And I think it was the trade. I'll pull it up. Yeah, pull that up.

Because that's a bummer. Oh, that's a. Like, look at that. Florida team, dude. Like, Reiner. Verhegey Kachuk. Yeah. I'm like, dude, they were just like,

gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. Yeah. We're fucking nasty now. I was like, Jesus Christ. Sasha Barkov every day is like this great pickups, boys. Great pickups. So in 2021, July, Buffalo Sabres traded Samarano to Florida for Devin Levi and a first round pick who ended

up being Yuri Kulich, who just lit up the world juniors. so you know and that Levi trade was coming off his impressive world yeah okay so maybe it's certainly if Levi and he's been better after that start but like certainly if Levi pans out that's a win-win that's a win-win I think that's a win-win yeah you know what someone was where we're getting I don't want to that would have been a whole new discussion I almost just launched us into Sabres talk and I'm glad I'm glad I pulled up I'm glad I pulled up oh okay sorry I thought you're going to keep going okay so some boys are firing this year. It's pretty exciting.

Yes, absolutely. Next one I have, Saturday Night Game. Have I showed you this tweet yet? This video? I mean, I'm sure you saw it, but, okay. Red Wings go up 2-0 against Vegas. They blow two-go-le-lead, go up 3-2 in the third. And that, do you have this, can you put this on the screen?

I know exactly. I just want to watch it again. Rasmussen Slides was over to cop. Fisher crashed in the net. Fish with one of the great snow. No jobs you will ever see. Snow job, dude. Dude, an in-gameplay.

If you have the doc... An in-game play, it's on that, too. Like the, I don't know if you do, but yeah. The docks of my laptop, unfortunately. Oh, okay, yeah, but... I'll text it to you. I'll text it to you. Or what do you... It doesn't matter.

Dan's seen it. Yeah. The, dude, that... It doesn't... You can't quite tell how bad it gets him from the angle. Like, I can't tell if he's truly been blinded. I think he has been white, to the point of not being able to see a damn thing.

So I have two questions. Question one. Actually, I have three questions. How fucking sick was that? Question one. Ten out of ten. Question two is... Is any of this all legal?

Is any of this legal? Imagine if they called goalie interference. But dude, could they? I'm genuinely asking. Could you have been like that is blatant goalie interference? So if you watch the play, like he comes over and that glove doesn't move until that puck is in the neck. Yeah. Like he is just there blocking me.

What I didn't see in the re I mean, well, I was watching it live and what I also didn't see in the replay is, does Thompson turn to the ref, like, what the fuck? I didn't see that. Because I didn't, I didn't either. I wonder if we have the Sean Avery call where you can't wave a stick in the bully's face. This feels like you shouldn't be able to do either. Well, my third question is going to be, as a goalie, what do you think about the play? Are you like, fuck this? Oh, this has happened so many things.

I mean, think about it. Every three on two nowadays, your coached puck carrier has the puck, obviously. Center guy drive the net, put back the D up. So that guy, if he's doing it properly, he's going to stop right at the top of the crease or right at the side of the net. And if he's a good skater or fast, like that's going to create a lot of snow. So it has happened multiple times to me. And I remember a time where a guy came in, sprayed me, and literally the snow is all over my face. and the guy just went around me and tucked it in.

And I literally had to wait for the snow to just kind of melt off my eyes. It literally felt like I had shards of ice in my eyes. Oh, yeah. Not the cleanest snow. I mean, also, it doesn't help that I'm, you know, 5 foot 9, 5 foot 10 on a good day. But there's, you could freeze frame that clip and you can't even see Logan Thompson's face. Yeah. So what I was going to say is, and you just said it, Blake, is that and, you know, whoever

plays that's listening knows. but like that is that was textbook fisher's job like it's crash fucking net and stop there because if you blow by it and then there's a rebound you're fucking benched and yeah yeah you you blow by it and you are getting sent to the fucking locker room yeah or you blow through Logan Thompson and we have a bench clearing brawl or you do what he did so so and and the the unlucky part it felt like and correct me if I'm wrong is and I know only the YouTube fans are following me here but it's like Logan's here on Rasmussen, right? And the past goes this way.

So, like, theoretically, if Fisher stops real hard right here, you're kind of taking it on the side of the face. Like, as he's coming across to the pass, he caught it so, like, the timing was so unlucky that he was, like, oh, dude, it was a full-on. If it hits either side of your face, it's annoying, but you're fine. It was a facial. It was a full facial.

It was a snow buccas. Yeah, so it was a timing thing. It was true snow bucoccaque facial, right to the grill. Nothing you can do about it either. and listen you can't outlaw this because it'd be so hard to police exactly that was my next thing. It changes the game. Imagine if they did and you had West McCauley

going to make those calls at Center Ice Facial. Yeah. Two minutes for a facial. Can't do it. Like you can't but to and some of the comments in the tweet. So if we all are agreement that it was the correct play by Fisher and we're all in agreement that you can't really

outlaw this. I'm like people should be doing this more. Like you should be, because it's, if you had teams being like, this is in our playbook, this falls in the scumbag category. If you're a Ford who's crashing the net and you're like, my number one priority here is to snow the goalie, first of all, you're going to get out of your gameplay. You're going to miss passes across the crease because that's what your first thought is. It should just be, if that's the play, that's the play.

But no, this should not be incorporated into strategy. That's scumbag territory. I have another tangent question. I'm just thinking about this right now because I just, as you, you were talking, I literally was, like, fantasizing about, like, windshield wipers on goalie's masks. Like, how do we combat this? But how come, and I think I know the answer because it's like a bubble, a bubble fogs up

more than a visor. And they both fog up, but, like, a bubble fogs up a little bit more than a visor. But I'm like, I can't believe goalie masks never went to, like, a visor type thing. Like, I know cat eyes are good and whatever you can see, but I'm like, you, theoretically, you must be able to see better if it was a fucking visor than whatever cage it was ever going to be. That's it. I'm just surprised that never happened. I, yeah, I think if you think about it, like, if you have a shield and you're taking Pucks off there, that's going to shut.

But obviously, you're going to manufacture it to be, you know. Certainly that would be very beautiful. So think about the football helmet that Patrick Mahomes was wearing that got cracked because of the cold conditions. So imagine you're just in, you know, an outdoor game and a goalie takes a one T from Olvechkin off between the eyes and a piece of that visor goes into his face. Right. Even if it happened one in a million, it wouldn't be worth. Simply scuff marks too.

If a puck hits that and it doesn't break, you probably have a puck mark on it. Yeah, it's insane. Fair. Because, like, I was like they can change them out. Also, that Patrick Mahomes helmet was pre-cracked, and they did it for a dramatic effect, I'm sure. Everything about that fucking clown is...

Script. Yeah, that's all in the script. Just all the fucking bullshit Hollywood Johnson. Fucking hate the Kansas City. Oh, they're insufferable. But anyway, dude, spray more goalies. And, like, I'm going to be doing... Like, I'm kind of surprised, though,

because the fucked up part is, if I did that in men's league, even though that's the right play. Like, if I crashed the net on a three on two and fucking sprayed the shit out of that dude and we got backdoor goal, it's a fight in Menzley. It's a fucking fight.

No, it's not, dude. Oh my God, dude. What are you talking about? Fights in Menzley are rare. Sorry, not like to drop the gloves fight, but like people, there's a massive shoving match after I spray the goal of three. I don't think there's even that.

I think it's just people would bitch. Imagine spraying Nordell. He sprayed the goalie. Imagine spraying Nordell on a three on two. And we scored. Yeah. And he gets up and puts his blocker through your fucking jawbone. He wouldn't do it.

You're being dramatic. You are being dramatic. That's true. That's 100% true. I'm going to pull the team after this and I will win. A fight in Beer League, impossibly rare. And you think on a clean goal a fight would break out. There was a full-on fight in my beer league game last night.

Really? Like just drop the gloves. Guy on my team. Shout out Bill, if you're listening. I think he listens. And shout out Tony, by the way, the smelling salts topic. He brings smelling salts to every game. those late night games, you crack one of those.

I mean, it's fucking makes it impossible to fall asleep later, but whatever. Yeah. But yeah, no, Bill, I think it was, you know, an altercation at one end, and the play came up the ice, and I guess the guy on their team gave him a nice cross-check in the back and a hack in the back of the legs. Automatic ejection, as we know. Then the, no, it wasn't hard at all. And then it came back to our end, and I guess it continued.

And then the guy on their team sucker punched our guy who wasn't wearing a visor or a cage. their guy was wearing a cage and our guy was like yep green light sheds the gloves yanks this guy's cage off like literally yanks it off and then punches it off and this whole time the other guy has

keeps his gloves on and our guy still like just feeds him and he's leaking from his jaw and his mouth and I mean granted the bottom line fights in men's league just should not be happening it is insane it's absolutely insane but it was also hilarious

to watch and just a like a textbook fight. Like it was like, whoa. Yeah. And, but also the one thing to piss me off is the rest did absolutely nothing. Like they did, dude, they don't want a part of that shit. But I mean, that could have been broken up. Yeah. At the other end.

Yeah. Or you could have seen that developing and, you know, said something to them before they, that sucker punch happened. But if you don't get in early though, then, then they're like, I'm not catching a stray in here. You know what? I've always thought about that. And for me, there's two schools of thought. If it's a slow brewing one, get in there, break it up.

If you're a beer league ref and two guys snap the wires cross and they just start going at it, I can see two points of view. One being, I don't want to get in the crosshairs here. Like, you know, go for it. The other, and this would be my mindset if I were the ref, if you are such a needle dick that you need to fight in beer league and get yourself banned from the league, I would let it happen. That's what I'm saying. I'd go like this. You're so

fucking dumb and insecure that you need to drop the mitts in beer league. I would sit back and grab popcorn and watch it happen and go like this. Well, you're gone. You'll never play in this league again. Hope it was worth it. I'll gladly collect all of your season dues and

watch you waltz your way out of this arena. You pigeon. That is exactly how I would feel. Yeah, I was on the ice. I was literally right next to it. And I was just like, fuck, please don't have a third man in from their team and everyone has to jump in. I want to go to work tomorrow. I got to be on camera. We got a podcast tomorrow.

Fuck. We have to start throwing on a bird cage, actually. Yeah. The one tough thing is if it's a important player on your team getting in it, as his teammate, I would want to jump in to be like, you can't get kicked out for the season, dude. We're low on bodies. Yeah. Oh, dude. That's the most involved I've ever been in any beer league scruff is when it's when it's

one of my buddies who's good. I'm like, hey, I'm going to like, spear him out. I'm like, stop it. All right, we got to move on from the goalie spray. Let's talk about players by state. Okay. Fun little crowd sourced. Okay, so listener Tom Olson. Yeah, shout out. Tom. You know. Had a great idea. Yes. Really an inspired idea to figure out what the all-time starting lineup would be state by state. State by state. Now, do you do some work? I did a little work, yeah. We're not going to do every state because some states are irrelevant and we're not going to do it every week, but I was like, oh, this is a cool thing. Louisiana, Mason Lurai. Nothing else. And so there's going to be some heaters, right? Like Minnesota, Massachusetts, like there'll be some big

ones coming through. But I wanted to do California first because this was such a cool idea from Tom Olson. Yeah. And we're in California here. So I was like, let's just, let's just rip this one. knee jerk who do you think which lineup do you think is better team Massachusetts or team Minnesota Massachusetts I love that

and it's all time by the way like we're not talking like players in the game right now should be right now no no it's all time should be right now I think team New York

would be pretty savage too team New York's defense has McAvoy and Fox pairing up together yeah New York would be elite I'm trying to think what is the other one Michigan's probably solid

Michigan. Even Florida now. Florida might be pretty solid. Pretty decent. Yeah, all right. Okay, and the rules are, by the way, I made these rules, but it's the only way to do it fair, where they were born.

Yeah. So, like, if they were born somewhere and then grew up, you know, like immediately at age two months, but I'm like, you were born here. So at center, Austin Matthews, bang, born in California. Bang. Thank you very much. Hell yeah.

Okay. At Wing, here are the ones that are locked in for sure for me. Okay. Center, Austin Matthews. At Wing, Jason Robertson. Yeah. Hell yeah. At goalie, Thatcher Demko.

Hell yeah. California, you're looking tough right now, I did. So then, at the other wing, I think you're either going, Jason Zucker, who played 6655 games, had 355 points. Got to be Morsi. Or our boy Trevor Moore, 308 games, 151 points. Morsey. Boom, Trevor Moore. So Austin Matthews, Morsi, Jason Robertson,

Thatcher Demko, a goalie, at D, Brooks Orpick. Fuck yeah. And then either Lee Norwood, who played 503 games with 211 points, or Cam York, 21 years old, 136 games so far, 47 points. I don't hate Cam out there. I love Cam out there. Get some youth playing with Orpick too? Brooklyn, veteran, Brooks Orpick and Cam, Morsey, Matthews, Jason Robertson,

Thatcher Dempso. Shockingly good. California lineup. However, I think Austin will have some gripes there. He's like, I'm on team Arizona. I know that's what I'm saying, but I'm like, sorry, you're born in California. You were born in Cali. Okay, that's a solid squad.

Solid squad. Really solid California start to start out the state royal rum. Yeah, yeah. I had no idea Brooks Orpick was from San Francisco. That one surprised me. That one surprised me. Do you have any others or do we just do it out? No, I'm just to do it.

Just did Cali, just to get us started. Okay. And eventually we'll put together all the, the relevant states will put together. Oh, I love that. We'll kind of do like a bracket. We'll put it on the story. People will vote the bracket to the best team. Dude, the goal scoring power with Austin and Robo

and then, and Morsi too, frankly. And then Thatcher Demko and Net, that's a tough lineup to beat. Kidding me? That is a tough lineup to beat. Thank you, Tom Olson. Yeah, California getting us off to a hot start. Yep. I like it a lot.

Now, another little fun crowdsource thing that we wanted to do had a great DM saying, Do you remember who it was? Can you find that? Yeah, I think I can. DM said, big basketball fan, recently getting into the NHL from Georgia. So thrashers are gone, doesn't have an NHL team, basically said to us,

do you guys have any other pro-team comps for all the teams in the NHL to help me figure out who my team should be? And I loved this time. Like what's the NBA equivalent for the NHL teams? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I loved this time. So I made a list and you can weigh in. Yeah, yeah.

You both can weigh in. Keep in mind, there's two more hockey teams. So I had to give two NBA teams, two teams. Oh, I like that. And to be clear, folks, we're not doing a, you know, this is a if you have no allegiance. So it's not like if you're a Celtics fan, you're automatically a Brutes fan. It's like, who are the Celtics like right now based on, you know, how you're doing in the league, but also your vibe. And it's not like all time.

Like I'm not like, oh, if you're a story to NBA, you know, I'm kind of like how you're doing the last few years, vibe, whatever. Some were easy, some were super hard. How well do you know the NBA? Like, fair enough. Well, definitely a Raptors guy was on the streets of Toronto when we were celebrating that 2019 championship.

It was on top of a... That's the last time Blake was in Toronto. I honestly, that was right about the last time I was there. Yep. But, yeah, so... You went out on a high. You literally went with Kauai. Yeah, fuck.

Oh, yeah. Okay, Dan, way in when you see fit. Pistons? Sharks. Pistons lost 50 fucking games in a row. The sharks are fucking horrible. Yeah, I mean, just based on this year alone, not terrible. I would like to say if the Pistons look like they've got a little bit of a bright future,

I think it'd be a good comp. But yeah, right now it's like if you... are miserable. Piston sharks. Be a shirt. Yep. Timberwolves, Canucks. Yeah, really good. Great players in their roster for years, always like, why are you bad?

And then this year, best record in the league. In the West. Yeah, you have a young superstar on the team who could leave at any moment. Yep. Yeah, this one's a slam dunk. Yeah, that's an easy one. Okay, this one is two. 76ers get two teams.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers. one of the best living players is on your roster cannot get out of the fucking second round I know you always made it past that one time You have impossibly confident fans who also hate your team more than anything on planet Earth

when you lose You have a rivalry with your You know Same conference team You're like Fuck you, we beat you every time And you actually lose every single time And it's yeah

That's a really good Slam dunk That one's money Milwaukee Bucks Colorado Aves Won the ship a couple years ago Phenomenal. Both have an elite Possibly the best player alive on your team

But somehow being kind of slept on this year Like either of them could easily win Yeah This one just worked out but I think it's right Celtics Bruins Story franchises They're both in first place They both have

A great great player on the team Who's like a top five guy You're like oh you're like a top five guy in the league I don't Celtics are better than the Bruins are but the Bruins are have the best record in the league I was I was going to just say vibe that the Bruins feel like there's

they've got a more mature veteran squad than the Celtics do but then again they both choked last year they're both embarrassing themselves so not bad pretty good not bad it worked out that way it's crazy all the Boston sports teams

like Red Sox Pat's Celtics Bruins they kind of all have that similar vibe and narrative around them and like persona. I think it also, I think it just has to do with the Boston area and the people from there. But God, you guys are just a Boston homers. It's so funny how, well, dude, we're also masochists because the Pats and the socks were the, they were the title holders. You know, they did all the legwork.

The Celtics got one. The Bruins got one. Oh, I've heard it all. And now, now, though, the Pats and the Red Sox are the most embarrassing clown shows in their respective sports, and the only hope Boston has is the Bruins and the Celtics. Crazy flip. Yeah.

We only get two out of four. Oh, no. Okay. Nix, and this one's not as good for past years, but this year's pretty good, I think. Nix Flyers. Both like, oh, wow, you guys are pretty competitive. Both of them coming in kind of like, ah, maybe we'll see how they are. Flyers even more so than the Nix.

Both big market. Yeah, big yes. Story franchises. And I'm like, oh, damn, you're doing pretty good. I think similar to the Bruins one, this could have been Rangers, too. I almost did. They're teams that are pretty solid, you know, have a shot at a championship run, completely living off of their storied history.

Yep. Like it's, sorry for doing that. But yeah, that's a. Here's what I did do, though. Heat Rangers. Both have been really close for the last few years, never quite got it done. You have good players. Like, Jimmy Butler's good, but you're not like, oh my God, you're the best player in the league.

Like, Panarin's great, but I don't think anyone's, you know, like really good teams have been close the last few years. Don't hate it. Yeah, can't quite get there. Don't hate it at all. Okay, this one's also slam dunk. Spurs, Blackhawks. First overall, God-like prospect on your team, dead last. You're horrible.

Bright future, you're horrible. The Spurs last again this year? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I love that picture of Wembe and Bred. He's twice his size. He literally twice a size. It's like, oh, Baderd looks like he's back in peewee.

Yeah, unbelievable. This one, we'll see. Nuggets, Golden Knights. Obviously, I did it because they're both defending champs, but I think they're both, like, not in first right now. The Nuggets are in third or fourth right now. Knights are in, like, third or fourth. But I'm like, they're nasty, though.

No one wants them. Great player on the team. Jack, Joker. You know, I'm like, not bad. Not bad. Keep going. Warriors, penguins. Money, dude.

No. Aging. aging stars out of both out of the playoffs, both trying to do one last run. Like, oh, Steph and Clay, we're all back. Malkin, Latang, we're all here. And you're both out of the playoffs by, like, one spot. Okay, right now it's okay.

But, like, they won two years ago. The penguins are, you know. Yeah, I mean, it was five years ago. No one's going to be perfect, dude. That's pretty fucking good, dude. All right, that's fair, fair, fair, fair. I don't hate it. Mavs, who are also, like, basically out of the playoffs right now,

but have Luca. Devils, perfect. Perfect one. Clippers, bolts. And I put that one because I was like, I think they're both pretty nasty. They have Kauai. They have stammer. Like, they've got studs on their team, but everyone's like, they're fine.

And I'm like, yep. And they are fine, but like they could win in a world. This one's fine. Suns, Stars. I put them in there because I kind of did the Stars dirty here because the Suns aren't doing that well, but the Suns are scary. KD. Rattle these off now.

Unless you got a couple that are dope, rattle them off. Cavs, Cains. magic. I did Islanders and predators because the magic are kind of good. I was like, are you guys good actually? You know, I can't quite tell with that one. Pelicans, blues, same. Like, pelicans are like kind of doing pretty good and the blues out of fucking nowhere. Oh, I like this one. Jazz capitals. The jazz have sick players and like the caps have Ovi, but they're fucking, they both suck. And I'm like, you're, yeah, you're bad. I'm seeing a flaw here. Okay. I think the Raptors should be compared to the St. Louis Blues. I know they both won this championship in the same year, 2019. Yeah, that's nice.

That's what I see is, like, you know, they've had their one championship that was, like, the first of their franchise. And now they're kind of waffling and, like, are you in playoffs or not, dude? What's going on? It was like everything was perfect that year and everything came together. So I see those two teams. And, like, you put the Raptors with the Wild, are you, that's an insult. That was an ins. But the Raptors are bad, dude.

But they won a championship. Yeah, true. And the Wild can get out of the first round. Okay, I like that. So that would be what? Who would I put the Blues with? The Pelicans? The Wild, they're way too good for the Pelicans.

Or the Wild, they're way too bad for them. I see two flaws here as we wrap up here. Okay. Lakers Flames, I just, ridiculous. That's a ridiculous comparison. Yeah, I couldn't find a good Lakers one. Yeah, and I'm not giving you a hard time because that's a hard one. But like, if you're telling a Lakers fan what hockey team to be a fan of, it's certainly not the flames.

Oh, yeah, but that's not it, though. It's not. I'm not saying like, if you like the Lakers, you should root for the flames. I'm saying like these are the team cops. But I think that, like, the whole point of this exercise was this person asking, like, if I'm a fan of this team, who should I root for? You know what I mean? So, like, that one is, I don't think that's a good one at all. Okay. And then, I think with how much fun the Preds are, I like the Magic Islanders Preds, but, like, the Preds are so cool.

I don't know if you realize how cool the Magic are, though. Like, you're not, you don't. I don't. Yeah. That's what my question is, like, are the shit this year. Okay, but see, like, dude, this is where we're getting the, the, the, you know. the, the, our, wires crossed. The magic

might have cool players but like, is Orlando cool? It is like the culture of the Orlando magic cool? Yeah. Is the arena cool? No way.

Like, yeah, we're doing it different, but I think the listener should listen to me because this is much more what he's looking for. You're,

you're really basing this strictly on performance right now. Yeah, because I'm like, if this is the team I root for, I'm like, I'm curious what that team caught. I don't care about like,

well, I want to know what the team is like. But you got, we're talking about fans. We're not talking about standings. Like, I like, I like looking at this as like, if this is what I'm into, if this is the culture of my team, if this is the vibe of my fan base, what's a comparable NHL squad that I would like to be in on that fan base? Yeah, well, listen, he DM'd us. Someone did work and

made a list. Someone did not do anything. So if you want to make your own list about feel, then go ahead. I'm into this, dude. I like what you've done. I'm just saying I think we could go further and think about, you know, what is it good? Like, if you're a Lakers fan, least Lakers. not bad, right? Like, that's a pretty solid one. So, I love, you know what I love? I love what you've done here? I wonder if we did that and see how many crossovers there are.

Yeah. Because that would be a great, like, this is who you should definitely. Yeah. Oh, right. Looking at it, probably not a lot. But there might be. But I think, even if there's four, then I'm like, just, we, like, there you go. That's your money spot.

Okay, that'll be your homework. But that's good stuff. I like that a lot, dude. I really, really like a few of those. The T. Wolves Canucks. And do, T. Wolves Canucks, that feels kind of viby to me. Like beautiful Minnesota, beautiful BC. Yep.

Locals love the team, love the players. Like that's... This one's money. Pacer's Red Wings. Hockey, hotbed, basketball hotbed, bad last year, really up and coming this year. Really good. That one's spot on. That one's really good. Yep.

Really, really good. Good job. Great job. All right. Oh, wait, one more. Grizzlies, sabers. I love that, like, I know a jaw's fucking, like, out of the league right now, but, like, or hurt. But I love that they have these, like, iconic talent players, and they're in fucking dead last.

Yeah. And I'm like, dude, what are you doing? Brutal. Okay, before we move on to some other stuff, we're going to talk about a team that is absolutely buzzing in the Oilers in a second, but before that, we've got to talk about our Los Angeles Kings. Got to go good news, bad news, get the bad news out. Yeah, let's start with the bad news. Give me the damn veggies.

The Los Angeles Kings are a true tragedy right now. I believe it's they've lost, what is it now, 13 of their last 15, might be 12 of their last 14. But they are on a colossal skid started with an overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings. that they were winning 2-0 in the first period against, then just couldn't finish the job. Red Wings clawed back. Losing a out.

Losing a shootout. Patty Kane, ice in his veins. Yep. We saw that Rob Blake announced that Todd McClellan is going to be the coach for the rest of the season, kind of putting to bed a lot of the speculation on Twitter from people like us, from people like chicklets, from people all over the internet, beat reporters,

stuff like that. things have gone from bad to worse. Yep. Dowdy is talking about there's a culture problem in the locker room. So here we are, brutal loss to the blues. What on earth is up next for this King's team? I don't know that I know what's up next. Well, I'll say this.

Here's what's up next changes. There's going to be, no matter what Rod Blake says there, might be firings, there will be trades, there will be health bombs, there will be line adjustments. Like there's a lot of change coming to the Kings no matter what. I'm not going to sit here and be like, this is exactly what's going to happen. But I'm telling you things are going to be happening. For sure. Here's what I want to talk about, though, and you can weigh in with what you think changes will

happen. the it's weird to me to see this happen to that team specifically yeah because I feel about the Kings the way I felt about the Bruins the last couple seats

you know go just go back into the Winberg and Crachie were still playing that is a core and the Bruins only fucking won once but like that is a King's Corps that had two cups that had playoff success you had a really cool super fast on the fly rebuild

retool, let's call it, with your core still there. You know, like, as Brownie leaves, you're like, oh, is this the end of the kings? And then they're like, dude, bang, bang, bang. We're right back in the hunt here. There are too many veteran leaders that have experienced success in this league.

And there are too many veterans that have experienced success in their front office to have the locker room problems that it's presumed they are. having right now. Agree. Like, if this was the devils, I'd be like, yeah, fuck, you know, like they're just their young kids, they're sick, they, you know, everyone wants to get theirs, what Doughty said,

like it's a cookie night, it's a cookie night. How is this happening to this team? How did it, and I'm projecting, we're reading into what Doughty said. I don't know shit about what's going on inside those laws. You're cooking, keep going. But like, how on earth, and I'm not blaming the vets either, but I'm just like, how on earth is a Drew Doughty-Onsi-Copatar captain's team coming apart at the seams like, this and to be and to be very fucking clear dude this season is going up in smoke dan and i were talking

on the way in here it is so fascinating in pro sports how a month ago we can all be sitting in this studio being like dude the kings are an absolute wagon what a fucking awesome season they're having and now they are this close to being fucked to being completely fucked out of the playoffs and your season is over out of the playoffs and it's just so crazy to me the culture in that locker room how could have deteriorated not only dude over an off season like midseason you know everyone online it's like PLD the fucking trade sucked

he's been a team cancer everywhere why wasn't he a team cancer for the first two months of the fucking year dude like what did something did he come back after Christmas and fucking poison everyone's drinks like what are you talking about and again I don't know what it is I don't know if it's anything but just it is impossible

to me that the culture of that locker and specifically could implode out of fucking nowhere incredibly well said, man, I said on our first pod of the year in Seattle, my crazy prediction, our first saucy prediction was

this team's going to be in the Stanley Cup. Yeah. Because everything looked that way. I just can't believe all of the things that you said. For me, this is a crazy situation of what I hate is seeing the deterioration of the fan base right now. People being like

Robbitt's a fucking idiot, robotize a fucking idiot, this organization, this, that the other dude the kings are a phenomenal organization i've said that forever i think it very very passionately i think they have unbelievable leaders i think doughty i think copi i think talbot these are guys who've been in the league for a long time who know what it takes to win and i don't believe that there is just complete chaos going on in this locker room i think that there are small issues and you look at the season, early in the season, they couldn't win at home.

It was absurd. They had all their wins on the road, but then they started cooking. They started getting those wins. Copley started slow, so Talbot took the reins. Then Copley started to get it going a little bit, then he gets hurt. Those are speed bumps.

Those are things that should not completely derail a team. And I think we're looking at a situation where, yes, they were firmly in second place in the Pacific, flirting with first. Now they have. have flip-flopped, like you said, Blake, with the Oilers. They're boogeyman. They are potentially staring down the barrel of being out of the playoffs, which is so

unacceptable. And, dude, I, we never like to talk about someone's job. We make this a joke all the time, but obviously, we mean it passionately. I don't want anyone to get fired ever. I think Todd McClellan's a great coach. I think he's a great person, too. Yeah. Unfortunately, when Rob Blake tries to settle the waters and say something like,

Todd is our coach, that's fine. I respect that. But when it's this bad now, you cannot let this team just keep playing like shit. If you fall out of the playoffs, I don't even care if you get back in. That's just poor management. And the thing that I think is really crazy is you have a game on Wednesday against the Nashville Predators. After that, we are heading into the Alps. All-Star break. If you lose that game and Todd isn't fired by Thursday morning, again, I do not

want this to happen. Just looking at it from a standpoint of as this team, can you afford to let things get worse? You cannot is the answer. So for me, dude, if you're a guy in that locker room, if you're a leader in that locker room and you see what's going on and you lose on Wednesday to the Preds in their barn and nothing is done and you just head into All-Star Break and hope everyone's back after 10 days, however many days, and we're just going to be fine. Can you imagine the low emotions that would be coming back into that locker room if you've now lost, what will it be? Look this up. So they've lost 14 of their last 16. So it is 14, 16. Yeah. So if you lose 15 of your last 17 and you look at yourself where you are in the standings, I mean, there it is right there.

You're number one in the wild card. You have 54 points tied with the St. Louis Blues. Look who's one point behind them. And the Preds, yeah. Like if you look, if you look, lose that game and you're now potentially out of playoffs, you are not coming back into that locker I'm going, all right guys, let's reset here. You're going, we're fucked. Our management has given up on us

and just assuming things are going to write the ship, it's a clown show. And for me, the people who have been talking shit about PL, I'm not coming to PL's defense here, but I don't know, dude, I look at, you've got Copey having a great year. You've got Dowdy having a phenomenal year.

You've got Byfield, finally, having this breakout season. You have surprises like Trevor Moore playing unconscious, best season of his career. Spence has come in and is fucking amazing. Just a bastion of hope on the blue line that came out of nowhere. Kempi's playing phenomenally, as always. Fiala picked it up and is playing really, really well. I just think when you are losing this many games and the just lack of juggling situations.

Like, PL has really, I mean, Blake, you can speak to this definitely. To me, I felt like PL got maybe 10 games on a legitimate line. And since then, it's just been bullshit. He's been playing with Grenstrom. He's been playing with Turquod. He's been playing with so...

Laferrier. He's been playing with so many different players. And I've said this before. PL is... Just signed a big ticket. There's pressure on that. Just moved across the content. A different country. Big part of that.

There's going to be growing pains, absolutely. PL is the type of guy who's going to get you 70 points when he's playing with good talent. I don't think PL right now at this juncture in his career is going to be a guy that's carrying bottom six guys to, wow, you're having a career season. You need to mess around with these lines here, especially when you're losing this much. And they're just not really. So change is the answer. Change has to happen. unfortunately it's significant significant change if if a big fucking trade

doesn't happen here as far as it's gonna mix up the lines it's gonna add a huge body to some part of the lineup or a coaching change unfortunately if that if one of these things doesn't happen this team could miss the playoffs and this team missing the playoffs would I think be the great failure of massive step backwards yeah what were you gonna say so it sounds like the writing on on the wall is there for Arthur Calliath. Sounds like management is getting ready to kind of, I think they've been shopping them around,

but I think they're now getting ready to find them a new home. And I think the speculation is that they'd like to add some grit to their bottom six in a little more depth. You know, probably someone to play with PL. My thing with PL, though, if you're going to pay someone $8.5 million, you've got to be able to drive play by yourself. Yeah, that's so fair. rely on having your sidekick there. Obviously, yeah, dude, it helps so much. Like you look at

Kopitar playing with Kempe, Morsi playing with Dono, with Fiala. Like, yeah, you need to play with good players, but you also need to see more out of a guy who's getting that big ticket. Yeah, that's absolutely. There's, there's, it's a bit of both. You know, it's that yin and yang. You need more from him, but you also need to provide him more and give him more opportunities to succeed. It's tough when you come to a new team that has already established a core and a winning culture and then you come in and you're looked at as the bad guy or the ingredient that fucked up the recipe.

But, you know, I think it's, like I said, it's a bit of both. You need more out of him, but also we need to support him a little more. And I agree with you. The fan base is just flipped. Oh, the fan base is out of control, dude. And you're absolutely right. I think the last thing I'll say is, and you both circled on it, they were buzzing. They were so good.

They were one of, if not the best team in the league for close to the first half. So it feels a little savage now that everyone goes like this. It's P.L's fault. And I'm like, well, what was he doing for the first half of the season then? So it's just, I think it's ignorant to blame it all on one piece of the puzzle here. There's clearly some things, if not a lot of things, that need to be shuffled around here. But, yeah, closing on this is things are big bad. I think I got a solution.

Go. Dowdy and Copee need to orchestrate and coordinate a team bonding vacation over this All-Star break and just green light, let loose, and really get that core and that camaraderie back together. And come back out of that break, nice and sun-tanned, nice and ready to go, recharged. Like the previous month never happened. Because, dude, it starts with the culture, for real. As silly as it sounds, because like that sounds like a simple solution. but dude, I honestly agree.

I think there needs to be like a collective. We're all hanging. We're all in this together and write the ship here. I kind of look in the mirror moment. Like look, guys, like struggles are going to happen. Like good teams go through this. Look at Vegas. Like they went through this last season, not to this extent.

But it's inevitable. So if it's inevitable, we need to be the team or the culture or the leadership that can react to this and not overreact to it and get back on track and stay on. track and know that these kinds of hardships are going to come. These kinds of losing streaks happen every single season. But there needs to be that leadership and that that cohesiveness that I think they've lost a little bit, but they can easily get it back with that core. Definitely. Agreed. All right. Let's talk about some positive things now and the team that has not lost in I think it's 367 days. The Edmonton Oilers are the best NHL team in the history

of the league. Ever put together. Ever assembled. Talk to me about this team. They are one 16 straight games. They are one win away from tying the NHL record of 17 straight, except by the Penguins in 92, 93. Yeah. I think it's 41 days now, time of recording. They have not lost in 41 days, Blake. The bad news for the Oilers is,

if you care about the streak, well, I guess everyone probably cares about the streak, the bad news for the Oilers is the break comes at a horrible time, I would say. Because you're buzzing? Yeah, like I think when you're on 16 game here, you just want to fucking play again in two days. Like you don't need to take a time off

and everyone go fuck around. But I wonder, Chris, if it's one of those, you're absolutely right. I wonder, though, if it's one of those situations where you come back, you win that first game and everyone in the league is like, Jesus Christ. Yeah, oh, for sure.

It's just such a mental confidence thing. But it's harder to get that next one with the break. Yeah, fair, fair, fair, fair. You want to play the next night. You're like, let's fucking go to it. Yeah. So bad timing on that.

That being said, even with the bad timing, do you guys think they break it with the record? Who do they play? Do you know? Pull up the Oedler's schedule. And what is the record? Except one more. They're 60.

Or they're going to win two more to break it. One more to tie it. Yeah. Absolutely. I do. I think you click on them right there, Blake, on your screen. Or unless you already have it. Absolutely, I do.

And let's check out who their next two games are. Blake, hit us. So on Saturday, they defeated the Predators. Now they're into the All-Star break. Yeah. So they come out of the All-Star break at Golden Knights, at Ducks, at Kings, and then at home against the Red Wings,

home against the Blues. Okay, so at the Blues. Yeah. So they're on a all- On a road west coast swing where they play the Knights to die, ducks to breaking. So we're obviously going to that Kings game. Yeah. I think they do it.

Because they'll tie it with the nights. If they beat the Knights, they'll beat the Dunks. I think they do it too. I think McDavid and Drysiddle are so focused and dri-led. And I don't think, I think they're honestly looking at this season. Like, we don't care if we score tonight. We just want to win tonight. Do you know what?

You know what's unfortunate? You know, it's unfortunate for Edmonton, or excuse me, for Edmonton haters. This could be it. The beginning of this season, the way people were relishing in their potential downfall and the way they have grabbed the stick and pulled straight up. Yeah. This could be that adversity that Connor needed. Dude. Where he just put his head down. He aged 25 years and went. went, fuck it.

I'm going to do it myself. Yep. And just buries the rest of the league and wins a cup this year. I am so, so pleased with my preseason Oilers take and my unwavering of them. Like even when they're doldrums, I was sitting in here with you guys being like, yep, this team could be in dead last at the All-Star Break and they will still make the playoffs and still go to the cup. I'm over here speculating. I was like, if they miss the playoffs, you've got to change something up.

They're going to win the Pacific. Dude. And they're going to win the Cup. They are an absolute machine. And I just said it. I do think Cassidy, I got money on Cassidy beating them coming out of the breaks. I don't think they'll break the record. But they are fucking dominant, dude.

It's so insane. Like, they always had the firepower. And dude, I forget when I pulled that up to Zaff for last week. Like, they give up like the third least amount of goals in the league. And every time I've beat them at all, it's been like, the D's bad and the goaltending's bad. And I'm like, they have the fucking third best D in the league, dude. And I don't mean like literally defensemen. I don't mean literally their goalie.

I mean, do you keep pucks out of the net, which is all that matters? Yeah. And they are top three in the league. And you couple that with fucking R&H and McDick and Leon and Tyman and whatever the fuck. And I'm like, Jesus Christ, dude. It is crazy because they're just so dominant. If you watch the games, they're so dominant. And they're winning low-scoring games now too.

That's what I mean. The playoffs are such a different beast. And this is not going to happen. And they're not even thinking about this. I'm just throwing shit around. There's part of me that wants them to identify what's going on and make a big trade for a goalie. No, dude.

Yes, dude, listen to me. Listen to me. Because, dude, you know what's going to happen? Well, you know what could possibly happen? This is no disrespect to Stu Skinner. Yep. But they could get into the playoffs, even get through the first round,

and then just come against a good team where all of a sudden, Stuart Skinner, Stuart Skinner himself, like he did last year, and you lose because of one piece. Yeah. It could happen. Dude. And that will suck, dude. Yep.

Like, it'll suck for everybody. I think Stuart Skinner is a good goalie, but I don't think he is a great goalie yet. And as we have now... How is he? Stuart Skinner? Is it 25 or 26, I think. Yep. But we have talked about this ad nauseum.

There's one team in the last team. in the last 10 years that won a cup without a great goalie, and it was the ass. But here's the thing. Stuart Skinner, and, dude, I talked the most shit about him last year, yeah. And anybody. Like, I feel like, that dude sucks.

And everyone's up my ass. He's an all-star, and I was like, he fucking blew, dude. He's been so solid. I'm not saying you're saying that is going to happen. But I'm like, dude, if Stuart Skinner makes an all-star game as a rookie and then, or was he, makes an all-star game as a rookie, and then this year,

Who's record was it? Fure's record for most wins in a row as an Oilers goalie. And then at the debt, so he goes, rookie year All-Star, second year breaks the record for most consecutive Oilers wins. And they go like this, traded. Oh, oh, no, sorry, sorry. Or they trade for someone above him.

I'd be like, what the fuck if I'm him? I'm like, are you fucking kidding me, dude? Who is their backup right now, Blake? Calvin Pickard, who just had a shutout over the weekend. I think it was over the Black Hawk. They can't lose, dude. But here's the thing. Stuart Skinner, dude.

I am very happy, not happy, well yeah, happy to potentially eat fucking crow that he might become. I don't think he's a great, great goalie yet, I agree with you. But in a couple of years, we might be like, Stuart Skinner is one of the best boys in the league, and I can't believe I ever talk shit about him. Well, see, I was going to say I'd be happy to eat crow, but it's not even eating crow because here's the facts, people. We were absolutely right.

Yeah, yeah. Like we were 100% right. he was not great at all and that showed in the playoffs. He was not great at all to start this year when they were struggling. And even with those stats, they're not giving up that, but his numbers were not good. At the beginning of this year, they were horrific. Dude, there's a cool stat on.

But now, he is playing very well. So it is, it's the age-old question, are you too hot too early? Because there's people forget, you know, like we're starting to talk about the trade deadline here. It's All-Star Break. People are like, oh, my God, oh, my God. There's a lot of the season left. Like, pull up, Stewart's iners, hockey. reference while you're talking to

so it is you just you need picker to get some good games in here to finish out the season because you don't want to overplay Skinner because as we've talked about we are not in the place yet where we're doing tandem in the playoffs and to your point earlier Dan I think maybe last week I forget what we were talking about unfortunately for Skinner

nothing he does in the regular season matters literally nothing they can win the Pacific he can win the Vesna the Oilers are one of these teams they're one of these Roll down, Blake. Look at this cool stat, Dan. I've never seen this before. Okay, stop.

See, like, goals against save percentage all that shit. It's, I think it's RBS. Put your mouse over RBS. Really bad starts. That's a stat. I was like, hell yeah, dude. It's electric.

But last year he had nine really bad starts. Okay? This year he already has six. Yeah. Which is like on-paced. I mean, I guess that's a hard one to say, quote-unquote, on pace because, like, you could just not do it ever again. Yeah.

But I'm pretty sure those six were like in the first month. This start of this season, he was fucking really bad straight up. And he's completely reeled it back in. But I guess my larger point is that is in him. You know, like if he gives you three really bad starts in the playoffs, you probably lose a series and now you're out. Yeah, his last five, you know, he's... Oh, he's been unbelievable.

His save percentage is absurd. He's playing so much better. They're giving up one goal, one point five goal per game in this win streak. Like, they are ridiculous. So let's look, we're getting into doing. about a month away from the deadline, especially coming out of the All-Star break. Last deadline,

Kenny Holland kind of unloaded the clip a little bit and gone out and trained for at home. We traded two first-round picks, while their previous first-round pick, Reed Schaefer, and then their first-round pick in last year's draft, Tyson-Berry, and another draft pick. So this year, based on their assets,

in 2024, they have a first and a second. In 2025, they have a first and a third. Notable prospects, we got Borgo, might be mispronouncing that one, but he was their first round pick in 2021. Rafael LeVois was their second round pick in 2019. He's been a solid A.HLER. Philip Broberg, eighth overall pick in 2019,

has not really panned out for them. And then their second round pick last year, Akey. And their projected deadline cap space is four millions. Not nothing. We have some money to work with. They just added Perry. What do we think they're thinking going into this deadline? I, you're going to hate this, but I think the fact that they have a Vander Kaine on this team who's not really buzzing yet, who could wake up easily at any point, and certainly in the playoffs, is terrifying.

Listen, I put them in the same category as I put the Leafs in terms of you don't need more firepower. Yeah. You said last week Perry was a gargantuan move. I disagree in some sense, but I do see Perry on offense, what would they need? It's bottom six. That's a good bottom six. Yeah, plus power play. So I'm like, you're done, dude.

On offense. I think they should go get a defenseman 100% and it sounds funny to say this because they're not doing well right now. But go get a defenseman like Gavrikov like the Kings did. Like get a D man, a defensive D man because you've got Bouchard. Bouchard is a monster. Nurse, obviously not playing that well. But I think nurse is borderline more offensive than he is defensive. of which sounds so crazy because he's such a big body.

Yeah. You just need, you need like a Dennis Seidenberg, like the Brunsett in 2011 when they won the cup. You need a guy like Petrangelo who can just high hockey IQ dominate another team's first line and shut them down because. So you want them to go trade out for another at home, essentially? Right. And for me, or go ahead. You can answer that. Yeah, I do.

And it's like it's just to me feels like. Like, Ecombe is, looking at their decord, Echom is on an island, in my opinion. And Euler's fans jump down my throat, please, if someone, one of these guys is having an unbelievable defensive year. But to me, it's more a sense of it can't hurt. Like, go get fucking Cam Fowler, dude. Like, you just need a veteran.

You need a veteran defensive guy who is going to stay mentally strong through a playoff run because you need to. to give Skinner help. You need to give the forwards help in terms of you can't win a Stanley Cup even with Connor McDavid and Leon Drysaddle going, you guys need to score fucking five goals. You can't do it. So I love the idea of this team, you know, buckling down again, getting another at-com type and just going, we are going to get so much stronger defensively to help Skinner, just to help the whole decore and push through a playoff. Okay, I'll say this. Obviously, this 16-game run is not a responsible sample size to look at, right?

But at the very least, they've proven they can win games without needing to score five goals. Right? Yeah, yeah. We can play. This roster right here, as constructed, has proven over a long stretch, 16 games. That's four fucking rounds if you sweep everybody. Yeah. We can keep the puck out of the net.

I'm digging in on, I don't think they make a big move, to your point. Like, I don't think the assets they have in the space they have would allow them to make a bit. Like, you could try to go out and, like, make some fucking ripples. I'm digging in that they don't. I don't think they need any more forwards. I don't think they do anything a goalie. I agree with you that if they do something, it would be D. And I'm going to say a name that is not someone that this team would give up or that I think they should target.

I'm just giving a comp. Instead of going to get a petrangelo, which would like literally make this team win the cup, I think. Instead of spending what that would cost, I would go get like a Brandon Carlo who's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, dude, this is not a big move. one's like, holy shit, they got Petrangelo. I would, if they do anything else, I would get a D guy who is a D guy who's like

not a one pairing, like not a high pay, don't have to pay that much for, give a prospect maybe, whatever. Some of the guys that have been mentioned on the trade block, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Chikrin, those are not. Not their targets. Those are not targets here.

I don't care if the math works. I just don't think those are the type of players who you're going to be sitting there saying, Oh yeah, yeah. This just made our D way stronger. The two factors, I think, are interesting for them to think about is one, sometimes you don't want, like this locker room maybe is a fucking family right now. I don't know. But maybe they're like, dude, I don't need anything else in here.

We want to go to war with exactly who we've got. Yeah, they went through a divorce and now they're getting stronger. Exactly. So maybe they're like, I don't need more ads. The other thing is if someone, if the West, this happened one year, I forget what year it was, but sometimes everyone retools. Like if the whole, all the top teams in the West all start bringing in huge, huge guys at the deadline, I could see them being forced into a move.

That's the only other factor. Yeah. I think they go out. Look, their cap situation, Leon's got two more years at 8.5. Yeah. Bouchard, two more years at 3.9. McLeod, two more years at 2.1. Skinner, I know we just shit on them.

Three more years at 2.6. So all three, all four of those guys, reasonable. numbers, core pieces to your team, they're only going to get more expensive, and you're probably not going to be able to keep all four of them. I think, and you have the assets right now, and like this team is hot, I think they're going to make a big move. I think if I were to make a sauce and prediction right now, I'm saying they're going out and making the biggest splash. I don't know what that splash specifically is. As in they need to move a big piece. I think you could do a similar trade like last year where they had to move Barry as a part of that equity trade. If you need to

move CC to upgrade that that top four or you know like like we said they have the cap space right now go unload those those picks and prospects and really you know go for it this year yeah you don't need those picks you don't need your your 28 you know 26 to 32 overall first round pick also you can't do it but if they could move nurse if they could move nurse I don't think they can either but if they could move nurse and get at Cam Fowler tight back. Holy fuck, would that set them up? Fantasy land over here.

Yeah. I want to talk about two goats really quick before we finish up. No, Bucky and move on to Hot Ice, and that's Sid and Ovi. Yep. I'm going to start with Ovi. This is very quick. Okay. This has been coming up a lot this season with people in the DMs, people we see on the

streets, and just other news channels that we watch, beat reporters, stuff like that. The OV disrespect this season is getting out of control. And I want to look at you and say, I appreciate that you've not been a part of it. I know. As a Cid, Dick Rider, you've talked your shit about Ovi. And you haven't done it at all. The big stories with Ovi, the last calendar year have been, is he going to catch Gretzky?

And then this season, what is going on? I think it's important to note Ovi is having a very, very down year. he's still leading or maybe not quite now. He was up until like three weeks ago leading the caps and points. So everyone piped down a little bit. And he's hurt right now. We also don't know if he's big hurt. Been hurt.

Yeah, yeah. But dude, Ovi's slowing down at age 38 and people taking this as an opportunity to A, dance on his grave and go, he's not even going to sniff Gretzky's record. He's already sniffing it. He can smell it. And calling him like a one-dimensional player. He's just a goal scorer, this and that. Dude, put some respect on Alex of Edgekin's name.

This guy, over the last 18 years, has been one of the most electric NHL players of all time. We'll easily go down in history as one of the greatest to ever play the game. We'll easily go down as one of the greatest goal scores of all time, if not the great. Even if he doesn't pass Gretzky, I think he's the greatest goal score to ever live. The way he scores and at the pace that he did it, Matthews might eventually pass. I know, dude. But, dude, what people need to remember is OV. maybe doesn't have the vision and the passing that guys like Sid and Drysidal and

Baxter have. But Ovi is a guy who has won the Rocket Richard Richard Trophy and also led the NHL in hits in a season multiple times. That is so impossible. I need people to understand how impossible that is to throw your body around that much while also being the most feared goal scorer in the league. And he did it for almost two decades. So everyone must take a breath, respect Alex of Etchen and what he's done for this game

because he was a big part of Sid in their first year together. When he won rookie of the year, by the way, in saving the NHL, coming out of a lockout season. So show some fucking credit, give some credit rather to the king and the grade eight. That's all I've got to say. Now, moving on to Sid, we tossed out a tweet last week that got some attention. Got some attention from some penguins writers, big penguins fans. Looking at the situation, standings, penguins are currently out of a playoff spot. And we said with the penguins struggling, missing the playoffs last year,

currently being out of the playoffs this year, Sid is playing so insanely well. He's an all-star again. He's on pace for what, like a 93-point season. Looks like he's 28 years old still. and we did not say that this is going to happen, that we think it's going to happen, is just literally a thought of, I wonder what it would look like if Sid was like, hey, trade me. Let me play out the last couple, three years of my career.

I'd like to see if I can get another cup. I was shocked with the angry, angry NHL fans saying, this isn't the NBA. Sid's not a scumbag cup chaser. He has too much respect. He has too much class to do that to the Pittsburgh Penguins. I'm not going to go on an angry or fired up rant here. What I want to say is I don't like this old school NHL. You're a piece of shit if you leave your team.

Mindset. I don't get it. Because if you're a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, if you're a real Pittsburgh Penguins fan, in my opinion, and let's say, let's look into the glass ball, the Penguins missed the playoffs this year, they miss it next year, they miss it the year after. If you're a real Penguins fan and you say that you would rather Sid just die on this team for the next four years and miss the playoffs for the last years of his career while he's still playing at this truly elite level, then watch him try to go get one more. I think that's crazy. And I don't get the,

classless take because you saw it with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marlowe. You saw it with Joe Pavelski. You saw it with Ray Bork in Boston. You've seen it time and time again where a icon who's on the Red Wings. Patrick Kane, whose number will be pulled into the rafters who brought your team and your city and your fan base, Stanley Cups. You've seen it happen plenty of times. And dude, there was a period after the Bruins won the cup in 11, went to the cup in 13, there was a little bit of a struggle skid there where it was like, ooh, the Bruins might be tanking now.

So what the Blackhucks did. Blackhawks won in 13 and then it all fell apart. If they didn't pull up and get guys like pasta and McAvoy and really kind of pull out of that and be a great team again and get back to Stanley Cups, if they were missing playoffs, I would have been all for trading Bergeron. and Craichi. Because I would have been like, dude, you've given us everything. If you want to keep

competing and giving it another go, go. It's not ring chasing. It's not cup chasing. It's these guys dedicating their entire lives to this game, wanting to compete at the highest level, wanting to win the greatest trophy in all of sports. And if they looked at your team after everything they've done, specifically, Sid, and said, hey, I'd love to just give it another kick at the can. And if you trade me, You are completely fire-starting your rebuild. Yes. Like the haul you get back. Dude, Jake Gensel is a point per game player.

He is a UFA this summer. He is not extended. If you think Jake Gensel isn't looking at the deal pasta signed, the deal Nielander signed, and is going, I deserve easily over 10, you're nuts. There's a chance he takes a team-friendly deal because Sid and all the boys are doing it, yep.

Gino's been doing it. But that's ending. But it's, why would Jake Gensel sign his one, because he's already taken a team-friendly deal? Yeah, yeah. He's already done it, Pittsburgh fans. Why would he go, this is my last chance of signing an eight-year deal? I'm going to take a team-friendly deal just to watch Gino, Sid, Tanger, all retire in the next two to three years. At the most.

And then stare at the next six years of that contract going, damn, I wish I got paid once because they're gone. Yeah. So Gensel deserves that 10 plus. That's going to be tough to afford this summer. If they're missing, again, I want to preface this, or now midpoint this, with saying, I don't think this is going to happen. It's not going to happen. Sid is going to stay in Pittsburgh forever is what I would guess. But, dude, looking at it from a business decision, if they're not going to make playoffs, if they're at the deadline here and they're like, fuck, we're not going to make it.

And Sid was like, dude, I would love to just like, I'm going to play. more years. I'd love to go win a cup. And I think if you trade me and you get one, if not two, first round picks, a prospect, probably a good top six player in that hall to make the contracts work. And you give that to Gensel, you give those picks, that prospect, and allow Gensel to sign for eight more years, be that next captain of the team, and get the money he's worth. That is such a good situation for both Pittsburgh and Crosby. That's my only point. And I'm using Crosby as an example of my greater point in. I want fans and fan bases to drop this like the NHL's too good for letting players go and try one more time, ring chasing all that. I don't like that, dude. I don't

like that at all. I think you should honor and respect and wish well these guys who've given you everything to go try one more time. If your team's not doing it. If your team's still in the playoffs, and they're like this, oh, we're a playoff team, but we're not the number one seat, get me out of here. Yeah, I think that's a little shitty. But if you're missing the playoffs,

give me a break. Let him go. Yep, you said it really well. All I'll add is this. Sid is, how old's Joey Pete? 40 fucking three. Is Pavelski 40? I think he's 39.

I think he's 41, I thought. Is he 41? I think so. And Thornton was, Joey Tiptrill, dude. Thornton was, you know, something. I know Thornton didn't, the last year. He was like 43 in his last year.

So my point is like, Sid could play six more years. You know, like, in my mind, I'm like, Sid's got a handful of years left, three more years left. He legitimately. He could play,

Sid could be. Pavelski's 39. 39. So like, Snipe that. Sid could play four more years. Let's call it even 40. Sid could play four more years.

Yeah. Absolutely. So it's, it's less like, well, this is his last chance. You know, I don't know his crystal ball. But when you were saying, if this penguins team doesn't make the playoffs and then you've got all these guys

and to answer everyone online like you said I understand I'll be quick I understand that Sid asked these guys to come back yeah you know like it'd be kind of shitty if you're leaving and then you're like hey tanger come on Malkin come on by the way I'm leaving you guys fucking sit on the dying penguins like there's a lot of factors here that maybe Sid doesn't want to leave but my point is if this team misses the playoffs and then you've got to re-sign

Gensel it just I don't nobody sees the road for for this Penguins team in the next couple years, how they turn this back around into a super contender in two years to accommodate the end of Sid's road. So I think we're all kind of an agreement like, you know, it's like now or never really for this Penguins Corps. The part I don't get, and it's the only part I wanted to add,

it's not about the class of Sid, class or not class of Sid, it's about the class of the Penguins organization. Yeah. I'm trying to, I'll play you a compliment. Like if I am the Penguins, who I believe is a class, classy, organization, that's the first thing I'd be asking Sid if we missed the playoffs this year. Dude, do you want to go somewhere or like, you tell me? And if Sid goes, I don't. I'm happy to fucking ride out 90 point years here and just miss the playoffs for the rest of my

time, then of course, so be it, dude. Totally. But like, please, Sid, please let me do you this last favor. Yeah, it's, like I said, it's mutually beneficial. It's this, we always forget, or not forget, but you always try to remember to include the elements of, you know, a lot of these people, Sid doesn't, but a lot of these people have families. They have wives and kids in the areas,

and they don't want to, you know, blow it up and move to, possibly. But, yeah, to go back to your point of, you know,

he made those guys come back. I think that was more of a, he looked at ownership and was like, hey, bring him back. Yeah. I'm still cooking.

I want my guys here. Because if you remember, Gino was borderline gone. And then Sid was like, get him fucking back. ass back here. I don't think it was to him. I think it was to management was ready to let Gino go.

Remember, ownership and management all changed in the past. Yep, yeah, yeah, true. Totally. That Fenway Sports Group coming in and buying the team really changes the dynamics and how they give out money and how they give out contracts. But, yeah, like you said, it sounds like they are still kind of letting Sid kind of run the show and play the cards. So, yeah, it would come down to his decision being like, all right, guys, trade me somewhere.

My closing thought, dude, is let's fast forward. We're at the deadline, and they're out of playoffs. It's kind of like the caps last year where maybe they're not mathematically eliminated, but logically looking out at the team and coaching management was like, we're not getting in. If you had a conversation with him, Gino, Tanger, Carlson, and they're like, we're not getting in. And there was an honest look into the future with, you know, can we afford Gensel, with all you guys getting another year older, are we going to come back next season and just have the same problems? And if they were like, yeah, we're done, it would be one of the most

unreal things if the Penguins at the deadline moved all four of them, or multiple, two contenders and got in the greatest rebuild hall all time. I truly, dude, cap-wise, I'm sure some, some genius could, you know, run the numbers and be like, that could never happen. It could never work. There's not enough possible landing spots who would have whatever, whatever. But if it happened, I think that would legitimately be studied as one of the greatest moves of all time. Yeah. Like if you had four in their mid-30s legends who are still performing. I know. But your team as a whole is like we're not getting in the playoffs. This is a we are on a downward trajectory moving forward with all older guys. who could be a cup winning piece for multiple teams.

If you moved all that for picks, prospects, and some players. It's insane. You make me want to go on B.GM mode right now. Literally, Blake was just thinking, like, if you went on, if you even went on NHL right now, and you started a season with the Penguins, and you traded all four of them, I would love to Sim and see what that is for, like, the next.

You go like this, oh, we have five first round picks next year, Like, you could even package those first-run picks and trade for, you know, like, the possibilities are in it. That would restart a rebuild, which Penguins fans, it's coming. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's amazing to say you have three cups and you have all these guys. A rebuild is coming. So, again, moving on, but the larger point is, dude, let's change the mindset of, like, it's okay. It's okay to wish these guys well.

If your team's not doing it for them, getting them in the playoffs, let your legends go and try to get one more. Yep. Strap on the buckets. We're going to do one piece of hot ice here. And it is mid-season awards. C-P, BRMC, and take us away through these mid-season awards. Okay. Do you want to start with the big daddy?

Yeah. Okay. We're going to start with the heart. MVP. Do you want to go first? Sure. My three finalists for MVP this season are Nate McKinnon, Nikita Kuturov, and Quinn Hughes. I really, I'm a big guy on, I don't think the MVP should go to the guy who leads the league in points every year.

I think it's too often that is the number one element that people look at. I don't like it. Sometimes it's undeniable, McDavid last year, undeniable. I look at what those three players are doing, both from a points perspective, but also from a team perspective. and I just think that they are head and shoulders above the rest. It goes to Nate Dogg for me. I think the guy is literally a rabid animal frothing at the mouth, playing the best.

I think he's playing the best hockey maybe I've ever seen him play. And I just love what he's done for this avalanche team. I think we saw the bit of a dip last year without Landy. And I think starting this year without Landy, Nate has really taken the reins as like, okay, I'm the de facto captain right now. And I love everything about it. Nate Dogg's my heart winner.

my finalist, Nate Dog, well, I'll say this, my finalist, Nate Dog, Kutrov, Matthews, and I'm sticking to my guns. I said this in Nashville. Matthews, if Matthews score 70, how can you deny him? How could you deny him? I think Kutroff and Nate Dog are having,

you're right, it's not a point to word, but Kutroff and Nate Dog are having such crazy point years that it'd be hard not to give it to him unless someone does something extra special, which would be Matthew 70. The only wrinkle I'll throw in is, as of right now, McDavid is 20 points behind Kuturoff and Nate Dog

and if they stay nuclear and he's like even a couple points behind them like if he finishes the year if those guys get 140 and McDavid has 135 and took the Oilers from last place to first in the Pacific I think they would literally be like I mean

yeah he's in the conversation I still wouldn't do it I still wouldn't do it but I hear you I think McDavid I think he's coming I think he, like I said earlier when we were talking about the Oilers, I don't think they're so point-focused, but I just think you can look at that, that just absolute surge and the hole that they've dug themselves out of. But if I had to pick someone right now today and give out the award, it would be Nate McKinnon. Yeah, when I compare Kuturov and McKinnon together, McKinnon just logs those heavier minutes. He plays in all those situations that are more significant to scoring goals. I just think the leadership that he provides for that team. If I think of Tampa, their leader, I think it's Headman.

I know Stamcoast is the captain, and like same thing with Colorado. I know Landis Cog is their captain, but obviously he's been MIA. I think it's got to go to Nate Dogg. We've just seen him take his game to another level this year. And yeah. Yeah, and great point. McDavid for me would be a prediction. Like if the, if, same with Matthews, but if I'm handing it out right now,

Nate, Doug. Okay. Norris. Okay. Oof. This has to be easy for you. Oh, no, I know who it is. I'm trying to think finalists here.

Do you have yours? Points go like this. Quinn, Kale, mini drop-off, Dobson, Headman, Bouchard, Yossi. Canucks are in first, Avs are in second, Islanders fifth, bolts, third,

Oilers, third, Preds, fourth. Yeah, yeah. Okay, mine are Quinn, kale, and I feel like I'm swerving Dobs in here because, God, do I love his game. I know. But for similar reasons, you both mentioned McDavid. I'm going to mention Bouchard. The way he's taken over the blue line in Edmonton is.

And their goals against so good. Those three, points aside, it's Quinn Hughes by a fucking landslide. I don't even think this one is close, and that's why I put Quinn in my art finalist, too. look at where the Canucks were last year. You slap the sea on his chest. You give him the reins of leading this team, and he has led them to the best season they've had in over a fucking decade. It's Quinn Hughes, no question about it.

He's elevated his game in every sense. This is a full team unit, obviously, but goals against in the league of those guys. Oilers' fourth best, Canucks 6th, Preds 17th as 19th, Bolt's 24th Islanders 27th. I know it's not just those guys, but like, you know, Quinn in the landslide, KAL would be higher if the abs were going to have a few less goals. And Bouchard, I think is a great finalist, but Quinn.

Yeah, Quinn, easy. Quinn. I think it's McCar. Okay. So, I know they both, or they both are just, you know, elite scores. So I think there's a tier. Canadian Biles. Yeah.

The, those two are in their upper, upper tier. That's tier one. Yeah. The other guys, obviously, they're great, great defensemen. They're going to be candidates or could be candidates. Yeah. The wards come between those two. 100%.

And so I look at it. They're both bona fide point producers. They both quarterback that power play better than anyone else in the league. It comes down to, okay, we're grading the best defenseman who defends the best out of those two. I look at McCar as the higher level defender than Hughes. And I know Hughes used to get a bunch of shit for his defensive game years ago. But, you know, he's not a bad defender at all. I just think McCar is a better defender.

He's got 82 blocks to Quinn's 35. Both logging around 24 to 25, 26 minutes a night, and both play in all situations. You could pick anyone out of this. It's a pick-em. But I look at it. They're both lead scores. I think one's just a little bit better.

I don't hate to take. No, I don't either. And I agree completely with that. The reason I still go Quinn is because of Quinn's improvement. Yeah, yeah. What a jump. There was a lot of holes in Quinn's defense. of a game last year and I don't think there are even close to as many this year.

So, but fair, fantastic point. Sweet. Okay, Vezna. Okay. Vesna to me, this one breaks my heart a little bit. I think my finalists are Sway, Hellebuck, and Aden Hill. Okay. Hill's lack of games.

Just came back, though. Yep, finally. Hill's lack of games is, unless he goes. goes nuclear in this next stretch is why I Well, he went big in those two games He came back. I think the game against the Islanders at 40 saves. Dude, it's insane. I was ready, because he has the best numbers

by far, and I was like, well, now he's back, this is going to jump up. He has to have a big second half. Dude, yeah. Everything in me wants to give it to Sway, and I think Sway could still edge it, but for me it is Hala Bucre right now. Because of the weight he carries for the Jets. Yep.

Yeah, he's so... They have super comparable numbers. Goals against, save percentage are very similar. Right now, exact same say percentage, 924, excuse me. Swainman 2.3 goals against Helley 2.2. Aiden Hill 936, say percentage 1.94, only guy under 2. If he stays that way, Olmark did that last year. If he stays that way, he's getting it. And frankly, if we're handing it out

right now, fuck, the games are hard. It's Hellibuck. 35 games, dude. Like Swam in 27 games, nothing to shake a stick out. And I want to give it to him. But, dude, hell, hell he plays every fucking night. He is pushing the sled so hard in that. team so it's helly for me no demko love pretty good he's not he's got slightly worse numbers but the other the other and you have it on here on our our rundown here but joey decor wow oh my god yeah he is like i mean godson it might just be a hot streak might be you know

like his coming out party but if he can kind of continue this really elite level of play and maybe seattle sneaks into the playoffs yeah that guy's got to be a candidate in the running those are the five in my opinion the five we just named like that no one else is really in it. Yeah. Like I think his game and the way he's developed it, and I think I'm a little biased too, because so I went to a goalie camp years ago and Joey

DeCord was there as well. I was at like an overnight camp at Merrimack College and his dad who is the who used to be the director of goaltending development for the Leafs was the one kind of running it. Super cool camp and you know Joey DeCord back then was a nice guy.

Was a beast you knew. Oh yeah, he was elite back then too. But people just kind of didn't really see him or didn't really believe in him. He's not the biggest guy. But yeah, he's been on fire. Oh my gosh. Again, I'll say it again. God's end for Seattle. Yep. Okay, Calder. And I want to say up front, I'm fucking devastated about Fantilli's potential injury. Yeah, we got to keep an eye on fans, took a tough injury last night. Hoping for the best. Yep.

It's Connor Bardard. It's Brock Faber and it's Fantilli for me. are my top three, although there's a lot of really fun ones in there, too. I think Luke Hughes is absolutely in this conversation. I think Evangelista is in this conversation. To me, we talked about this a little while ago, barring Badaard's games missed here, because he's still got several weeks left with the jaw,

and we'll see how slowly they reincorporate him, because you have to be handling him like you handle the cup. Yeah. I think it's Brock Faber because of what he's doing as a rookie in such an important defensive role. With guys like Spurgeon missing time, Brodine missing time, the numbers that he's putting up and the minutes that he's eating, he's playing like a five-year veteran defenseman. Question, because that, I think, will officially be my prediction. Like, just because of the Bedard time, I'm like, I actually think Faber's going to win rookie of the year.

Yes. But if the season ended right now, literally today, boom, season's over, I think you give it to Boudard. I, dude, like, I hear that, but Faber has what, five points less than him as a defenseman? Yeah, maybe. And he's, Badar's playing a ton of games too, but like, dude, this is a team that was sucking assholes through a straw. Yeah. And fired their coach and are now battling. Sucking.

Still going to miss playoffs, but they're battling. Slight improvement. And he is the best defenseman on the team. Yep. I don't hate it. And he needs my prediction to win it. But I think just what we saw the kid do. I think right now, for me if it is.

I think right now I would still give it to him. I think four weeks ago I would have given it to Boudard. Oh, no. I think Bidar now has to come back and light it up. I agree. I think he has to come back and play. But if the season ended right now, season's over. Badard.

Or favorite. Thank you. Okay, yeah. Thank you. Badaard for me. Too special. It was sick. Yeah.

Okay. Wow, actually, I'm interested to follow this because I don't know that he, I guess if he does come back, he will light it up. But I don't think, I think you guys would be surprised how willing they are to give this award to Bada. Oh, the NHR wants the force. Yeah, like I'm like Baderd is going to win this. Okay, Jack Adams. This one might surprise you guys. I don't even want to do my finalists.

I think the obvious one is Talk It. Yep. Complete flip. Came into what seemed like a dumpster fire of Vancouver and now they're in first place and they're electric. I think with what you were saying about certain somebody, I think this is Knoblock and it's not even close. I don't think so.

I don't know. Knoblock, that guy is just writing the numbers on the board and telling the place to get out there. What pisses me off about that is, if it were that easy, why did they start so bad? You fired a coach and you came in and this team is now, has not lost in over a month. But I think we've heard the players say, like, it wasn't, the coach wasn't the problem. The problems were within the locker room. But the coach came in and fixed it.

Yeah. Yeah. Look at the other teams who have fired their coach. I mean, like, WAA is off to what, a one and three start? Not good. Wild are not doing that great. Edmonton was in dead fucking last place and they're about to, if they finish,

and again, I'm talking trajectory here. Yeah. But if Edmonton wins the fucking Pacific or even comes in second, I'm like, dude, that's fucking crazy. So what if they come in second to the cops? I'm being hyperbolic saying, and it's not close.

Yeah. Who gives a fuck if they come in second to the... No, I'm saying, would you give it to talk? That's what I'm asking you. I think it depends. Like, how close it is. I think it's a serious fucking conversation. Me too.

I realistically, I think it's between those two, but my shoutouts, I think bonus absolutely deserve some credit here. I think Maurice deserves some credit here. And then last year's winner, Jim Montgomery having this Bruins team so far ahead in first place

after losing Bergeron and Creachie is very impressive. Yep. Only, and I don't think, unfortunately, for a lot of reasons, I don't think they'll finish there anymore, but if the Flyers stayed as a two or three seat, I think, massively in the conversation.

I think he'd be a finalist. Me too. I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? okay great um okay selky this one is so tough

oh it's not for me oh do you want to start then sure Austin Matthews hear me out shut the fuck me up name me a player with 50 plus points

this season and 50 plus blocks can't can't do it I can one there's one guy there's one guy in the league league. Can you imagine filling the net at a record setting rate and being defensively responsibly

in your own end? Like he's 53% on the face off. He logs heavy minutes. He doesn't play a ton of penalty kill. But I, you know what? I think the door is open right now. I think, you know, Cope's game is taking a little bit of a step back. Dude, and I think like a month ago, it would have been Coby. Like Kings are in first. They've given up no goals. And I'm like, Copee, dude. No. Burge is now out of the picture. You know, Mark Stone is obviously still a big force in the league, but I think it's time for some new players to get into this mix, and maybe I'm being just a, you know, a delusional Leafs fan,

but I, uh, I would, my take is Austin Matthews for Selkie. Dude, I fucking love it, bro. Give him the MVP and the Selke. Are you shitting me? And the rocket. And the rocket. I'm going Sasha Barkoff. I think he's been a finalist.

And I don't have the advanced stats on him, but I think he's been a finalist. the league loves it and he's clearly responsible player and they have been so good and so good defensively I forget where they are but they're really really tops of the league and goals against so give me Sasha

that's my pick too I liked Copey for this but this skid has been brutal absolutely brutal I do think we need a bit of a mix up the Selke feels like it's been a boys club for the last several years and I hate saying that because I think

Bergeron has deserved every single one that he's won. I think he and Copee have genuinely revolutionized the defensive side of the center position over the last 15 years. But it is frustrating that Bergey retires and it

just feels like it was going to be a toss-up between Copey and Sasha. Yeah. There were guys that I was interested in that just weren't really He sure, dude. I had big eyes. Same. Marner even. I was like, oh yeah, but not really happening. Okay, Rocket. We're done here. Right?

Yeah. And it's kind of close. It's not like it's a blowout right now, but I don't think it's going to be close by the end. It's Austin. Austin. And then Art Ross. Cooch.

Really? Cooch. I think he lights it up on the PowerPoint. He does, dude. He is a weapon. Oh, it's absurd. Yep. He's fucking nasty, dude.

Yeah, the creativity that he plays with just produces points for everyone around him, not only himself, so that would be my day. Nate Ducks on a 25 game point streak. I think the dog days of February and March are going to catch up to Tampa and hurt him, so I'm going Nate Dog. The only reason I'm going Nate Dog, too, but the Kooch point I like is they're going to be fighting for it big time. The rest of the way, like, they're really going to need him.

You know, Nate Dog can like take a night off and be in first place. Second place. Okay, I'll go Nate. All right, that wraps up mid-season awards. I got some news for you guys. If you got a blend of fruits and spices, then you've got some Soco. It's the ready for anything whiskey. It's good on its own.

It's good in a mixed drink. We got Soco black, which is a hint of sweetness. We get the Soco Original, and you guys know that Soco Original and Dr. Pepper is the CP Special. Cannot Miss. Take that one for a spin. Or next time you're out at the bar, try a Soco Sour Sour Shot, one part Soco, two parts sour, and keep the party going. Okay, so for Armchair GM this week, Dan, there's only a few games. It's all-star break, dude.

There's only with six games left this week. Only a couple teams playing. So we are going to skip our pick. We're not going to pick this week. We're on an All-Star brick, too. Yeah. But we are going to get an update from Blake on how we did last week. I was in the lead, as you remember, after my dominant week, too.

But I am going to say this before you even fucking reads. And I don't know the answers. I don't know the results. But I was so pissed because you picked Nate Dogg. And I think Moose, you picked like two Aves. And the Aves played two games last week. And I'm picking a lot of guys that are playing four games. And I was like, what a moron.

And then that first Aves game, it was like, Nate Dogg and Moose at four points. And I was like, fuck me, dude. You're playing a dead. Devastated King's team. Okay. Hit us. So, to update the week, yeah, we had a first, well, we had a new record for points in a week. Sorry, no, last week was our record with Matthews with 13.

But McKinnon and Kachuk, both on Dan's team, had 12 points each. But Dan picked Philip Horonick with a big fat donut. Brutal. Zero points. Dan had a total for 36 on the week. Wow, good one. CP is another solid week kind of even around the board

highest point producer was past it with nine points three goals three assists goalie bob solid week ended with 37 points on the week so the update on the score is CP with 99 and DP with 95 wow tilt

that's a tilt getting into saucy predictions okay what was yours last week dad my prediction was Kale McCar would surpass Quinn Hughes in points on the season. They both had great weeks, but Kale only playing two games definitely hurt me. And Quinn, just being a monster, hurt me even worse. So Kail remains four points behind, so I am fucked.

So that's an L for Dan, and he must eat a hot piece of chicken. Now, my prediction was that Sid, who had three games last week and was on a four-game point streak would be on a seven-game point streak by the time we're recording today, but he had to have one of those be a goal. In his first game of the week, he had a tuck, which I saw, which was huge. His second game he had an assist. His third game he had an assist. So for the first time ever in saucy predictions,

Sid is on a seven-game point streak with a tuck last week, which means I have won my saucy prediction, which means Dan has to eat my piece of chicken. And before you even do, Dan, I will say, dude, his assist in the second game. Bullshit, dude. The only reason this is happening is because goalie Bob, when they lost in a shootout to the Panthers,

Panthers up to one, Pittsburgh has the net pulled Sid has no points We're watching the game at home Puck gets dumped in, rimmed around And goleibob like an absolute jackass Goes behind his net gets it And then tries to dump it himself

Tries to rim it around the boards It's easily kept in at the blue line Pass in front of the net Sid gets one over But sick pass though Yeah that that triangle Sick no look back He like knows Malkin's back there

But Goley Bob fucked me Dude a pit was so lucky to get a point in that game And you are so lucky I was like, I need it, in the dying seconds here, I was like, I need a Cid point, but then a goalie Bob win, and I got it all, dude, I got it all. So here I go. I have two of these now. The second one, it compounds. Oh, man, yeah.

This is at the start of the day. Yeah. Early record is going to be, you're going to be buzzing tonight. Early record today. This is great news for me. I hate that this has just turned into a weekly occurrence. Fuck me. Yeah, dude, there it is.

A weekly occurrence. Takes one second. Oh, like, oh, great. I have to deal with this once a week. Also, I don't have water. I got a little bit. And I'm usually a bitch boy, and I need a ton of water. I did get some feedback on this segment.

People have been thinking it's quite funny. Yeah, great. To laugh at your demise. lick your fucking fingers. Don't touch anything. You don't touch anything. Okay, so what are we doing with predictions? Okay, so this week, since it's only a couple games,

Monday, Preds at Senators, Tuesday, jackets at blues, cracking at sharks. Wednesday, Sends at Red Wings, Kings at Preds, Sharks at Ducks. Blake, write this down. Our saucy predictions this week are going to be, we just have to pick the winner of those games. If you get Moneyline winners. If you get five or more, your saucy prediction was correct. If you get four or less, you're eating a wing.

I'll go first to let that just linger on Dan. Okay, Blake, ready? Give me predators, beating the Sends. Give me blues, beating the blue jackets. Crackin beating the sharks Give me senators Beating the Red Wings Give me kings beating the predators

And give me Ducks beating the sharks Fuck this is a bad one Two dude The two banger Look at his eyes Dude Oh my god

This is a bad Two in a row is that is bad I oversawed him Two in a row is bad All right I'm gonna go That it's so nice to give the prediction so calmly.

Jesus Christ. I'm going Preds over Sends, blues over jackets, I just need to equalize. Breathe in. That helps. Yeah.

Cracking over sharks. Preds over Kings. Detroit over Sends. Sharks over ducks. Oh, I was going to say all favorites, dude. Okay. Actually.

No, dude. No. That's it. Sorry, you said, sharks over ducks. I'm literally crying. Yeah, sharks over ducks is the last one. I'm literally crying. Yeah. Tears pouring down his face. God forbid I ever have to do two of those. I can barely do the fucking... I can't believe how much worse to do it.

Christ. So, I mean, it's been going around the internet a little bit. Have either of you watched the Sydney-Sweeney? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is it worth viewing? Dude, actually, let me get... Thank you for bringing this up. Let me take this opportunity to use my platform. That was fucking faked. Dude, she is like literally... She's like, oh, it's fine.

These only tastes good. There's no, I was so scared of this show. They get to fucking eight. Anyone who watches that show knows eight's the hottest one. They get to eight, and she eats eight. And eventually, like the after effects of eight, she's like, oh, shit, this is pretty hot. And, like, that's where the memes are coming from. But she eats DeBomb.

And she goes, like, what? I don't get it. And I'm like, okay, the integrity of the show is pretty. No, she's then crying. Yeah, eventually. She's like, oh, it hits her late, like DeBomb does. But, dude, every single person who's ever touched DeBomb to their mouth, including us right now, it's fucking right there. Touch that to your mouth.

God, dude. There's no, like, oh, this one's not that bad, and then it hits you. They faked it for her. This is bullshit. There's a pretty brutal cut in it, too, because she's, like, really struggling. Yeah. And then when they go to nine, he's like, you ready to go? And she's like, yep, here we go.

So they clearly, like, took a long break for her to. Integrity, dude. Integrity, integrity, integrity, integrity. Also, I think that's my favorite show. It's like, it's certainly my favorite chat show. Dude, I'm fucking struggling. Not a good episode. She was not entertaining.

Hot, spicy, take. Yeah. Okay. Those are our lineups of predictions. I'm dying. Yeah, we gotta get you out of here. Pumped up for All-Star. Going to be an unbelievable time.

We're doing so much fun stuff on the Instagram. Follow along, as always. Interact with us. If you're in Toronto, come find us. Let's have a fucking blast. We need some links together. Cut my own head off. And until then,

Skate hard.