Empty Netters Podcast - The Golden Knights Outlast The Canes in a Marathon OT

Episode Date: June 8, 2026

We are coming at you LIVE from Las Vegas. In game 3, The Knights and Doc Marner score 4 in the second, and it looked like they have the game under control. Then BOOM, the Canes bust out in the 3rd, with Bussi in net, and come roaring back in the 3rd to force an EPIC double OT that Vegas eventually triumphs. Can this series get any more dramatic? Is any lead safe? Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 3:25 - Game 3 was Drunk Hockey 43:36 - Where Does Dylan Larkin Go? 1:04:26 - Peter Laviolette the New Kings Coach Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Stanley Cup Final. The final series. The final handshake line. The final chance to have your heartbroken. Or watch your team make history. For the next few weeks, nothing else matters. No work, no sleep. Tons of group chat meltdowns after every goal.

It comes down to two teams. The Carolina Hurricanes chasing their first Stanley Cup in 20 years. And the Vegas Golden Knights. The young franchise going for their second cup in nine years. Two fan bases, two cities, one cup. And while the rest of the hockey world watches from home, we're hitting the road. From opening puck drop to the moment the Stanley Cup has raised, every city, every game, every unforgettable moment. We'll be there.

Outside the arenas, inside the arenas. With Hurricanes fans who have waited years for this run. And Golden Knights fans ready to turn Vegas into the center of the hockey universe once again. Nobody does the playoffs like hockey fans. Nobody travels like hockey fans, and nobody loses their minds quite like hockey fans. So whether you're chasing your first cup or adding another banner to the rafters, we've got you couple. Miles on the road, voices nearly gone, probably a few terrible decisions along the road.

Exactly how the Stanley Cup final should be. One trophy, one champion, one last push. The Stanley Cup final starts now. An empty netters is coming with. We are so back. We are so back and we are live from Vegas. Here we are. You can see in the background.

We got T-Mobile Arena right here. Shout out to the Park MGM and BetMGM bringing you this podcast. It's amazing to be back, boots on the ground. And we want to do a quick shout-out and a quick thank you to all of the fans for not only understanding, but celebrating us getting to go and celebrate our dear, dear friends, Sof and Loop getting there this weekend. That's our glue guy right there. That's our guy.

That's our best guy. And, you know, we said, I remember, I remember looking at him and he got engaged and we said, not in June. Don't do it. Don't do early June. And he went, I won't. I promise. And then he went, it's June 6th.

I was like, that feels early to me. But the last few years, the cup, I feel like starts even after that. So I was like, maybe we'll get lucky and it was early enough. There's a chance that was like right at the beginning. But it was. smack dab in the middle, and I'll tell you what, it was a blast. It was a blast. Here we are, folks.

It is the day before Game 4. We are here. Boots on the ground in Vegas doing so much. We're going to be back tomorrow at 6.30 p.m. Eastern Time for Stanley Cup Live on the NHL YouTube back hosting. Alexa's going to join us. It's going to have so many guests. It's going to be amazing.

So much fun. But we're here now. We're going to get into game three. We're also going to get into some craziness. Little news broke. Little news broke. Been a little bit wild in the NHL. We've got a coaching hire.

We've got Dylan Larkin's possible destinations. We've got rumors of another trade destination and rumors of another coaching. Yeah. So we're going to get into all that. But first and foremost, the cracked out drunk-ass hockey continues. And game three was fucking bonkers. We had a 4-0 lead, then we had a 4-4 tie, and then we had double O.T. But at the end of the day, Vegas is up two weeks.

one going into game before. And before we kind of go through the game, you know, in a minor way, I got to tell you, it was insane for us because, you know, we're on the East Coast. This game is starting, like, right as the wedding is ramping, right? Like, puck drop. It's like, okay, the dinner's over and let's go. People saw the bad, dude. So we're watching the first 10, and then we kind of release into the dance floor. And then I'm just kind of checking. And I go, uh, zero, zero after one. And then you had talked to one of our boys being like, take the over. And he's pissed.

Dude, I, he's showing you the phone. We got to do, we got to get into all that. It was amazing. Yeah. But basically it was just so crazy because we're, my, my experience was basically like, oh, refresh, zero zero. Refresh for nothing. Refresh four, four. And I was like, what's the thing?

It's going on, dude. It was so nuts. I couldn't wait to get back and watch it down. So yeah, let's get into it. It was absolutely fucking bonkers, dude. First and foremost, just the wedding in general, incredible. Such a good wedding, so much fun. I know people know me as a shrimp guy.

Yeah, but I was an oyster boy this wedding. And we were in oyster heaven. The oysters and the shrimp at the raw bar at this wedding, both the welcome drinks and the wedding were to die for. And at the wedding itself, I am not exaggerating. I swear I'm not exaggerating. I think I had roughly 20 to 24 oysters. Did you really? Yes.

I just, there were so many good. Passer on apps. There was this one little like cracker biscuit filled with goat cheese topped with a little brachetta that was out of this world. But I kept going up for more oysters. At one point Alice was like, what number is that?

Are you okay? And I was like, I've never been better. Yeah, well, she got worried because those are nature's greatest afrodisiac. Your boy was horned up. All wedding long. Dude, I probably only had nine, but I wish I had 30. Also, the steak d'artar thing was Yes. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Let's get into the bet. Yep. I had one of the best days of all time at the office. So we love a gift bet. For those who saw that post go up, we did with Dr. Locke's. The gift is goal in first 10 minutes. Yes or no? We went no. Which was insane because I also bet the over. Yep.

And what was funny is our boy, shout out Aaron. Our boy, Aaron, who's a degenerate gambler. In the best way. Yeah. Responsibly. Responsibly. Just like us. Responsibly.

Aaron's like, what's the action today? And I go, we're hitting the over. Yep. We're hitting Jack Eichel Point. Yep. And we're hitting Vegas first goal. Yeah. And he was like, boom, I'm on all of it.

Pretty sure Aaron did individual on all and parlay. Yeah. Which is just beautiful. I mean, like Aaron, beautiful man. But then I do no goal in the first 10 minutes. We get that video set up. We're watching the game. Aaron comes over and he goes, what are we on?

And I go, gift. And he was like, yes, of course. and I was like, no goal. And he was like, we're on the over. Why would we be on no goal in the first 10 minutes? And I was like, just trust me, dude. Just please trust me. And he did not trust me.

He immediately got mad. But you all saw the video. We nailed the game. We hit. Immediately after that, I'm like, okay, now we need some goals. First period ends no goal. And I'm like, uh-oh. All right.

I'm standing at the bar. Aaron comes running up to me. And he's like, dude, you fucked me. You absolutely fuck. It's zero, zero. there's no fuck and I was like can you just relax dude have you looked at these two get look at how many insane things happened in the second and third period just calm down

and he's like no dude there's fucking no way we're dead and then we are partying we're ripping up the dance for us on your shoulders at one point yeah yeah that was great I go up to Aaron there's three minutes left in the second period and I show him the phone four nothing Vegas Jack Eichael point on the first goal Mitch Marner Natty-Hattie and we're laughing. We've got two of the three and now all we need is two goals and we have a full

period to do it. And he was like, holy fucking shit dude. Unbelievable. And then the best part was Chris, I'm running around the wedding. I came up to you. Yeah. When it got tied 4-4 and I was like, holy shit like this is the craziest game of all time. And I just show it to Aaron and he goes, the over dude. Like he didn't give a shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. This game was stormed back in time. It was actually like five minutes later because he's rooting for Vegas because he's a jack guy, chums for boy. Yeah. He comes up to me, he's like, fuck, dude. Thanks, might not win now. And I was like, yeah, now it clicks. Yeah, yeah. That was

clicking for you, Aaron. Uh, so my favorite part dude was if he, I thank God, because dude, we have been in rooms with him where a bet isn't going our way in real time and he is, he's unwell. Oh, he's out of control. I thank God that we weren't watching the second period live with him because if he had vague, since he had Vegas first goal. The fact that Vegas scored and then it was challenged disallowed, then scored again, and then challenged disallowed. He would have been losing his fucking mind. But then obviously Vegas gets the first one anyway. I want to talk about those real quick. Mark Stone gets the first on a little breakaway pass and he goes, they score. I think it was maybe Freddie Fivehold. And then

they challenge offside, which it was. And then the second one, I forget, maybe the chat can tell me, I forget who got the second Vegas goal that didn't count. But then they call that one goalie interference. And I didn't get a great look at it, to be honest with you, because it was chaotic as we were watching this back down. But I am like, man, dude, I hate this. I hate this rule. And not even because I'm saying that was a bad call. I'm just saying every fucking time there's anyone near the goalie. It's just such chaos. I do wonder if we need more blunt, clear rules when it comes to this type of shit. Because then it's, just there, then there's no debate. Right. It's like if you literally touch the goalie for the net,

touch him. Yeah. For the next two minutes, the play is goalie interference. Yeah. It should, it should almost be like offside. I know. It's like you have a chance to not shoot the puck on the net for two minutes because it's not going to count. Obviously, that's a ridiculous suggestion. But you get what I'm saying. Because it is so fucking annoying how any time this happens, no one knows what it is. Everyone's like, yeah, I mean, we'll see here. Now, we're league guys, and I'm going to go ahead and defend the league here and say, it's just tough. This is a very tough thing to deal with. It's like, dude, you know, or are people saying it was Jack? It was Jack. Yeah, yeah. Ikel had it. And then I think Barbie hit Anderson.

Yeah. That was interesting, by the way. It looked like Anderson might have gotten a little conked on that play. Well, that's another one that I never get. And it's not shocking that he gives up four goals right after that. Yep. But yeah, the goal interference thing sucks. It hasn't, it's obviously. it's come up here a couple times now with goals getting taken away or goals being allowed, whatever, whatever. It sucks when it happens but it's part of the game. I don't think that there's a fix for it. Yep.

You agree. Certainly not in the immediate. So I wanted to bring those up because I have something to say about them later, but also I want to give the Vegas team in this stage of the game a lot of credit because as good as you're feeling where you've seen two go in, that can be so demoralizing

in a big swing playoff game when the series is tied when you feel like you have two goals and the emotions. Like you see them, they jump around. It's not like one of those disallowed goals were right away. The ref's going like this. Those were both goal. Yeah.

Celebrate with the team, run down the bench, and then challenge gets ripped away from you. And you're like, fuck. So so much credit to that team and the fans just staying in it, staying on it, being like, this is going to break through, this is going to break through. And then fucking my God did it. CP and I were at a game once where someone scored a hat trick goal and hats rained onto the ice. and then it was challenged and taken away.

And I was like, that's the most devastating thing I've ever seen. Lose your lid for that. All of these people should get their hats back. Yep. Okay, so then, dude, Vegas power play. Michael gets your point. I think it was past a hurdle. Great pass.

No look. Jack, come from behind the net. Yeah, and that's what I was going to say. That was a big goal for me because finally they get one that counts. And like we said in game two, your fear was, oh, here comes the Keynes power play. And then in here now, like right away at home, getting a powerplay goal. I feel like that was so big, not only to get the one goalie,

but also just to be like, see, power plays humming, we're fine, we're in this too. Yeah. I mean, listen, man, like, I don't, it's been a couple days. I'm not being lazy here. I don't want to like step by step by step into this game, but to your point, that was so massive. It was like after the goal is taken away to then get the power play, jack buzzing. Like, it's ridiculous to say after how it went. on that goal, you felt kind of like this Vegas is winning this game. Yeah, and it's just like you've

you've now scored three goals. Right. With all of that win taken out of your sale shit, you're kind of like, okay, dude, we're in Vegas. People are fucking going crazy here. It's Saturday night. Loup's getting married across the country. Which they know. Everyone's out of control. Jack's

fucking wheeling and dealing. That goal happens and then Mitch comes in. The Mitch Marter show, dude. It's like, frankly, Chris, even before the second and third goal, which was he's fucking sane. We'll then talk about Mitch. But like Mitch then scores and I was like,

oh my God, dude, you are dead. Yeah, dude. So it was crazy because you're right when Mitch, Mitch's second is the one that he just fires in front and it hits like Sean Walker maybe or something. I can't remember. But Mitch hits Sean Walker, ricochets in.

And I actually felt like that was more of a Vegas is going to win now. Because you get the power play goal and then you get Puck's ricochew. staying in. They should have four goals and you're like, all right, this game's fucked. We're dead if you're Carolina. Yes. That's how I was feeling in that moment. I was incredibly, like, out of my mind almost like, wow. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I, the moment that's struck it for me was the Mitch Martyr interview. Oh, oh, yeah. When he's like, at the end of the second period, he's like, oh yeah, you know, we have a lot more left, but it feels so great. It just felt like it was over. They're chilling, right. Yeah, they were chilling. That's a great point. They feel calm. They feel calm.

even when these goals aren't going in, Mitch ricocheted that one in. And then, dude, this was actually, I obviously saw the score sheet that Mitch had a haddy, but what I couldn't believe, the most shocking thing to me was Mitch could have had fucking six goals that game. Legitimately six or seven goals. Because after he gets the second one, he gets sprung on the breakaway, which gets stopped. Yeah, that's crazy. But then that same shift is when it comes back to him, and then he goes like forehand backhand around Freddie with a nasty tuck. So then he's fucking man-vibeying.

Yep. in that moment. And dude, then the third one was so epic because it's such sickness from Mitch that he sees the puck, puck getting turned over in his own D zone and he takes off early, which is not cheating. What does Chelly always say? Anticipating? It's anticipating. Great forward to anticipate. But some, like Patrick Kane and Cooch sometimes, are quote unquote, cheating more than they're anticipating. But I want them to do that. You're Patrick Cain. Like get behind the D when you can. That play by Mitch wasn't cheating at all. That was straight up vision anticipation.

He sees what's happening and he's just the first to react. But it was epic because he gets that pass and he's so gassed. He's like, on a fresher shift, he turns that into a breakaway. But he's like, I don't have the legs. I'm just going to come down and hammer a fucking clapper. And then it goes bar posted in and him going like this, I am God. Oh, dude. That celebration.

And then I forget who said it. Someone was talking about it. I was like, I think I've seen Mitch hit more Clappers in this series alone than he has in his entire career. Agree. Which then goes into the amazing staff that's going around. It's like in Mitch's entire history with the Toronto Maple Leafs he has, I think it's 13 goals in the playoffs. That sounds right. And he has 10 in these playoffs.

God damn. And I actually want to talk about that. There are a lot of people, I think like Biz and Witt and Yans were talking about this and they were like, you mean like Vegas is just a better team. and that's obviously a huge factor, and they are. But I'm not letting Toronto off the hook for that. It's like I'm so... Oh, about Mitch, I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

People are like, how does he have 10 goals in these plays? And he had 13 in his entire career with Toronto. And there's like, there are a number of things to look at. One, he is, he's a Toronto boy playing for his hometown team with the insane media and the insane fans and the pressure off and playing in a fun, amazing place like Vegas has just made him be like, fucking right. I'm just, I'm letting it rip now. I'm flowing.

The other is, well, Vegas is just a way better team. So he's thriving on said better team. And my response to that is both scenarios is a knock on Toronto. Correct. Like, yes, I do think that it's partially a pressure thing. And that's not saying he can't handle the pressure. It is clear that no one enjoys the pressure in Toronto. But I think it's another thing.

It's like, look at this fucking team dude. You had Austin Matthews, Mitch Marner, and Willie Neelander for, Years. Years. And you're a long time. Like, what have you done? So either way, I'm like, Toronto, you fucked up. Yeah.

No, it's a nightmare, dude. And watching him, I got to say, dude, because I think it was Vickson. Someone said he had the penalty shot, too, which we were talking about. Which also was like- Can you imagine if he had six goals. That's what I'm saying. Like, legitimately, he had a had he and he could have scored six times, which is fucking lunacy.

And he, that was actually a great save by Bussie. And obviously, we'll get to Bussie in a second because that was a pretty good move. But it was a great play to get the breakaway. he is on I was about to say he's on another level but it's not a level that we ever thought Mitch Marner couldn't be as as hockey fans. You watch this guy play

and you see he's a hundred point guy and you see what he's capable of. Now I know people want to go he's not a playoff performer. To your point he's kind of been point per game his whole career in playoffs so fuck off with the he's not a playoff performance. Yeah, we want more goals for sure for sure. But dude, it brings me such joy to watch a guy

and this is coming as a dude who grew up a Bruins fan who has never really cared for Toronto and has had many battles with Mitch Marner, you know, as a, as of watching the Bruins against the Leafs. But dude, it is so sick to watch this kid get a new fresh start and perform this way. Win or loose, win or lose, but you best believe if they win, he's winning fucking Khan-Smith, which is epic. But win or lose, unless you just love the Leafs so much and like hate him because he left or something, I don't know how you can't be happy for him, the hockey player, him, the person. Even Keynes fans, once the dust settles, if you lose and you're like, I hate Vegas for a window because that's fandom and I have no problem with that at all. Once the dust settles, if you love hockey, there's no reason to not go, damn, proud of Mitch Marta, that was incredible. 100% dude. Like, that is fucking just unbelievable. And with all of the, hold on real quick, hey, before you say a word, you're live on the show right now and don't say anything. Don't even speak so people.

can hear your voice. We're not going to talk. I'm just going to say, you're the best. I love you, and I'll call you back soon. Buzz you back. Che-

Josh. So, yeah, go, Zach. Can we unpack that? Yeah, that was, there's just awesome news that has happened to

one of our favorite people, one of our favorite players. We're not going to talk. about yet and it'll come out soon. Very nice. Very nice. Very nice. Very nice. So, Marner Natural Hattie, the hats are raining down.

The crowd's going apeshit. Marner gives his interview like Zach was saying, we go into the third. And I, for sure, was like, man, this Vegas has been dominate. I said to you out loud. I was like, if you look at game one, the canes go up, but then it really felt like a crazy Vegas run to win that game.

And then game two, they're winning for 50 minutes, and then they fall asleep for five. And then now it's 4-0. I started to get sad with you there. I was like, man, this might be a runaway. Because even remember our Keynes fan friends were texting us with 10 minutes left in the third of game two, going like this, holy fuck, we're going to get swept.

And then I was like, oh, no, now it's a series. And then at 4-0, I was like, oh, no, this could be five. And all our fears were confirmed. Yeah. To come out in the third period, dude. And I'm pretty sure Marner had the penalty shot when it was into the third still for nothing. But to get the out, because it was, because it was bussy. So to get that same and then explode has made this the greatest series ever, first of all,

one of the great games ever, second of all. And third of all, for all the credit I just gave to Vegas, for being resilient and scoring two goals and having them challenged and coming back, all of that and more onto this Kane's team for going fuck you we I said after game two there's no quit we do belong and then they just went dude two oh come back hold my beer bitch yeah like what a fucking moment for that team so god so CP and I

always say when you're down a multi goal going into the third period you set benchmarks and this is this is something that a team does so you know this is good inside baseball. When you're talking on the bench, you're talking in the locker room, if you're down by a couple of goals, three goals, in this case, four goals, you kind of just look at everyone and say, hey, boys, if we get a goal by minute X, we're fine. We're still in this. So you got to kind of set those benchmarks. And if it's two goals, if you're down two goals and you go into the third

and you go, hey, if we score before eight minutes left in the game, we're alive. Because you make it a one goal game, you got eight minutes left. You are fucking fine. You're laughing. in this one you're like we gotta get one early yeah gotta get one early it's four goals we get one early we get one in the first five minutes it's a game like it's it's three goals sure but like we can get two goals and then pull the goalie figure something out when seven minutes goes by you were kind of like fuck me yeah yeah this one's tough like i don't know that we can come back the fact we again we've had three games in the stanley cup final all three games have gotten the official Danos stamp

of great action. Like, great action in every game. And this one came when three fucking goals were scored in 39th. Yeah. I don't even know how that happens. Like, truly when you're... It feels impossible. When you were as good of a team as Vegas, and

boom, goal, I think what was the first one, Chris? I think the first one was like... The first one was like... No, no, no, sorry. The time between the second and third goal was actually shorter than the first and second. Oh, I can tell you. But the first and second was like 20, six seconds. And when that happens, Martinuk scores, 26 seconds later, Taylor Hall scores. If you're Vegas, you are like, yo, calm down.

Chill. Everyone calm down. And then less than that, 13 seconds. Yeah, yeah. 13 seconds, stall scores. And it's like, Jesus Christ, dude. How do you even let it happen? Someone in the chat tell us, was there a timeout called at any point in that run? like did they call timeout after the second? Did they call time out after the third? That's what I'm curious about. Not later. If they call time out after the second, everyone on the ice is fired after that third goal.

Correct. Dude, because the Martinuk one, it's like, it's the, it was just a scramble. And dude, I actually feel bad because this is two games in a row where Carterhart is pitching a shutout. And then one goes in. I remember when, who scored the first one in game two? Oh, Stank. I remember when that Stank one goes in and it bounces off of, I forget. get who, one of the defenders, but it bounces off

of someone and goes in, and Carterhart's like, damn, there goes my shutout, but we still win. Yeah. And then it was like, uh, Jan Cousy's like, bang, goal. And I remember that Carterhart kind of just tough, like, I guess you always being like, are you kidding me, dude? Like now, now it's tied. And him having a, a four-nothing lead shutter deep into the third. And then it's like this, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, gold.

He's like, dude, I don't feel as though I'm playing bad, but this is fucking bullshit. And the first one was another one like that. It was kind of a jam goal. Yeah. And then the second one, and for people that have been talking shit about him. Unbelievable pass from Ahio to see Taylor Hall whipped on a backhand sauce going 30 miles an hour, backdoor, no look that Halsey bangs in. So that was actually really sick. And Gardhart's like, you've got to be kidding me. And then, dude, Jordan Stahl has turned into Joe Pavelski with the sauciest tips I've ever seen net front. Dude, if you're Vegas, I'm like,

move him out of the way. He is a wizard with that wand. It's ridiculous. So less than two minutes left, Carolina gets a peeper and scores and it's Svetch. Absolutely huge. Game is tied. We go to O.T. You mentioned earlier, CP, great in game two when Carolina figured out the power play. And in this game, they're one for two. So 50 percent.

Getting that power play goal huge. And the other thing, Carolina fans looking for things to cling to, hope to cling to, Taylor Hall is scoring in this game and Svetchnikov scoring in this game. In addition to a power play goal. goal is fucking monsters. Absolutely monstrous. So, like, there's a lot of hope here. So I don't really know if you have much to say about OT.

I don't. All I'd say about the fetch goal was, and, and, dude, we don't want to put the stamp up again, but great action, unbelievable. I'm so glad he tied it. But it's that goal to me isn't that far. And people are going to get mad at me in the chat, but that goal to me isn't that far from the Barbie no goal, where it was like, there's a thousand people sitting on a goalie. I hear you.

sticks are waving. The puck is loose the whole time and it goes in and everyone's like goal. And I'm like, that was amazing. But the Barbie goal, I'm like, people appreciate you saying. I'm like the Barbie, the same thing happened. There was a thousand people sitting on the goal and sticks were swinging and a puck got hit and it went in the net. Like people are hitting Carter. You know, it was chaos. I think they both should have been goals. I'm not saying set shit in the last. I'm saying that is fucking, that's a scrum. That's a good scrum. Good goal. That's a good goal. That's a great scrum. So we go to OT. At first OT was pretty chaotic. We actually, by this point, the, the wedding had ended. We had moved on to post-game parties. We went to, oh, fucking A. Shout out Richard.

I want to shout out Richard. Oh, oh, oh, yeah. Richard, our guy. So we went to, hold on, I will get this right now. Talk house. Yep, we move and we wind up at this amazing bar. Say the name again? Talk house.

Thank you. And we meet Richard there, who is just like the sweetest dude in the entire world. I'm so pumped that we finally met. him and just had such a blast and we were able to watch a bunch of the game which is just sick um so yeah talk house was gas yeah incredible spot fun fun spot hampton's richard the go yeah and richard is the absolute man richard cannot wait to come back and cannot wait to see you so we got to watch the game in there which was a blast first o t we were watching and i was like holy hell these guys are gassed yeah like they were so wiped and obviously second o t

same deal. It is a massive bummer that that game ends the way it does with a crazy ricochet shot off the boards, then off Bussy and in. Shout out Theo. Shea, yeah, happy for Shea. A couple things to say. One, so crucial that Vegas wins that game. Yes, it would have been a dagger. And again, we always talk about the discomfort of Vegas and then being fine in it. I genuinely think if they lost that, it would not have killed them. they would be like this, are you fucking kidding?

It wouldn't be like, oh my God, we are dead. Yeah. However, it would have been the similar to last round, Carolina being like, well, well, well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Getting us and then two back-to-back OT wins. That would have been huge. It would have been continued undefeated by Carolina in OT. So, like, that was very, very big.

It was very big for Vegas to sort of end the similarities of round three for Carolina to end their undefeated streak in overtime. and just more than anything to not blow that lead. The big questions for me are now, do you, what is Carolina doing in that? Okay, so this is what I wanted to talk about. So like game over, Vegas wins,

they're up to one, they have home ice, huge game for Carolina here tomorrow night, and you now officially have a question in net if you're Carolina. Freddie, I think it's an 818 save percentage in this round. It's just not good.

I mean, like, this is a guy who came in and he was a, he was a, what, CP, top three consmite, Freddie? If, if they won, he was going to win it. Yes. Yeah. He was the guy. Like, it was haul for a while after two rounds, but after the Eastern Conference final, it was like, if they have a consomite winner, it's going to be Freddie, you're dead now.

Like, you're most likely. So, Bussy came in. I think Bussy made fucking 18 saves, dude. That's what I was just going to look up. And, dude, it was in the third, sometimes you see Caroline in the third, or any period. I mean, dude, it is a phenomenon. Phenomenon, what Carolina does to Vegas in the first period. Vegas shoots twice in the first period every single game.

I think the most shots they've had in the first, I think it's gone two, four, two, literally, in the first period, which is insane. And then Vegas murders them in the second period every game. So anyway, Vegas nine shots in the third, seven shots in the first overtime, and then three in the second overtime. Does that shape, Theodore count as a shot on goal? That's what a fascinating question. Yes, it does. Because it misses the net, hits the end boards, hits the goalie, and goes in. Yes.

It's a goal. Yeah. Crazy. Anyway, Bussy comes in... So the reason I brought up, one of the reasons I brought up the two disallowed goals in the first is, and we always talked to Wyatt about this, even though they don't count, to a goalie, a puck's going past you. I remember we were talking about sway. Someone hits a high stick, a clear high stick, and it goes in, it still sucks because he's like, that did go past me. You know, I want to block everything.

So if you're Freddie, you've given up four, but actually six, because you're like, fuck, I'm getting cheased. the tricky part is the first hurdle goal is a point-blank shot. Right, like I go to hurdle, he's nude and he goes cheese high glow. The second goal kicks in off Sean Walker, literally not Freddie's fault at all. The third goal is Marner walking down Main Street, more hand back end, good move. The fourth goal is a clapper that Freddie probably wants. Def is it just kind of beat him here. But again, how often do we say it went posting it?

So I'm like, yep. Yeah, was his angle not perfect? Sure. But like, it's a low clap. Papper posting in blocker side. Dude, so first of all, C.P. Staying consistent. Protect our goalies. And I really appreciate that from you.

That said, at the end of the day, I think Keynes fans would agree. Freddie has not looked great at any point in these playoffs with the exception of that crazy paddle save in game two. Yeah. And that was one save. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not like it was even a stretch.

Like, his numbers have been bad, for him. He doesn't look confident. And I think that is the problem. Yes, we're three of the four, if not four of the four of those goals. Like, man, those are tough ones. Sure. But in order to win a Stanley Cup, you do need games, multiple, ideally, where your goalie is so dialed that when you're playing in front of him, you are going, I know he's got us. Yep. Right now, I'm sure the Canes players feel that way if Freddy's in that, regardless because they're such a tight-knit group and believe in their guys. But if we're talking objectively, they can't feel that way. Like, if I come out in game four, right, and a goal goes in and Vegas gets the first goal,

and I'm a McCain's defenseman, I go, fuck me. And if Freddy's in that. 100%. Yep. That's fair. That's fair. I feel that way before the game even starts. That's a fair take. Like, I am fucking throwing my face first. I'm going full McNabb in front of every shot because I'm like, I don't believe he's dialed right. Yeah. And that is a horrible feeling. And that's not me talking shit about Freddie. It's me looking. at the numbers and the T-leaves. If you have an 8-18 safe percentage through three games in the Stanley Cup final, I do not feel confident.

How could you possibly feel confident? So yes, if you start Freddie and a quick goal goes in, if Vegas gets the first goal again, you are not freaking out. You're not thinking you're out of it because bang, look at what happened in game two. Look at what happened in game three. But you are like, fuck me. I do not know if I trust Freddie to make a big save. So quick.

That's a problem. That's a huge problem. Quick shout out McNabb, by the way, for just being literally full. fine putting a bird cage on and having like two assists or something. There is no chance that a fucking single molecule of air is getting through his nose. I was like, dude, literally what happened? Like I actually want to know what happened. Like you took a 99-hour slap shot to the beak and I'm like, are you okay?

It's a fucking mutant. Anyway, um, so for me, dude, Bussie comes in, plays awesome, stops a penalty shot, looks really solid. Also, how often do we hear that the lefty, righty glove switch up is a big deal. thing. Big deal. You know, the whole team's been used to shooting a certain way. So that could be a factor too.

Someone in the chat already said, Bussy, if you don't think Bussy can win three games out of the next four year high, and I think they're right, he can. And we've been saying this all year. I would, dude, for most of this year, I was saying Bussie will be their guy in playoffs. In fact, someone go back and find the episode to start playoffs. I was legitimately shocked they went Freddie in game one against him. You and I both said you have to start Bussie.

Yeah. So, like, if you're a Caints fan, who can't, I, you're looking at two dudes sitting on a couch in Vegas who think Bussie's the better goalie anyway. We have said a million times. The only reason Freddie was as good as he was through three rounds is because Bussie let him be this fresh and this confident. You went the whole season being the best team in the east, in large part to having both of them. Rested. I am the biggest guy in the world of if you've got more than one goalie in playoffs, you have no goalies, you will lose. But maybe this team's identity all season was these two guys. Give it a fucking shot, dude.

Yep. And you know what? I am passionate that if you start Bussy in game four and you lose, I don't think people are going to be like this. Why do we start Bussy? What a dumb decision. I'm like, are you kidding me, dude? Freddie has been brutal. Like, sorry, he's not been brutal. I wouldn't say that because like I said, those goals weren't really his fault in my opinion. Chris, 18 is horrendous. Can we please stop talking about the shots? What's car? I could give a fuck less how many pucks go in off the post. If you have an 800 save percentage, that is horrendous. for a what was a Kahn Smyth favorite goaltender. Yeah.

800 save percentage. But people are saying Carter Hart, you know, should, like, we were just talking a couple of guys who are like Carter Hart should win it, and I'm curious what his is in this. Absolutely. Literally, dude, if there are 100 people. Yeah. Okay. That was 10.

That was last night, right? Yes. 8, 7, 9 in game 3. In game 2. Chris, put it this way. Carter Hart gave up, Carter Hart gave up three goals in 30-something-odd seconds, and he still had a better save percentage than Freddie has had in this point. And this is one game.

Yeah. Like that, it's not good. 6. 8-62. So his is probably 8-6 in the final. You know, and so I'm like, my point is it's just like both goalies are playing pretty bad. Oh, Carter Hart is dead in cons might. Yeah.

Unless they, unless he has a shutout in back-to-back games and they win. Yeah. He is dead. Yeah. agree. So that's the only thing I would say is it's just not like he both goalies are just, it's been chaos. A lot of goals going in. It has. Um, yeah. So it's, it's a tricky one. I don't think Freddie has been that bad, but I hear you on the confidence thing. My question to you is, well, I guess my question to you is who do you start game four? And then if you start Bussy and

lose game four, do you go back to Freddie or does your theory kick in where you're like, well, now we're dead. Absolutely not. So here's the, it's the same thing that fucking happened in, where the fuck did we just see this? Buffalo. Buffalo? No, no, no, no. Um, um, uh, uh, um, uh, A Colorado. Okay. Like you, you game four, when you're down 3-0,

you put in Blackwood, and he's like, thanks, dickheads. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You cannot do that to a goalie. Yeah. You cannot be up against it.

So if you start Freddie, you are going like this. Freddy is our guy no matter one. I don't care if Freddie gives up five goals on five straight shots in game four. You then start him in game five. Yeah. You have to make your bed on the guy.

Obviously, that's a bit hyperbole. But you understand what I'm saying. I would start Bussie probably. let's rule out anythings of like what did Freddie get conked right yeah

he's not practical everyone's saying he didn't practice but they called it a maintenance day and I believe me too he needs it's a normal maintenance day if he has any concussion if he has even one concussion symptom yeah and you don't start bussy

yeah you are you have fucking Boston Bruins yourself and you're like this all all the signs were there that he probably shouldn't be playing and we played him anyway and now we've lost in the playoffs you're a fucking idiot if you do that If he's fully healthy, I probably, honestly, would start Bussy. Like, look at what he did.

Obviously, that was third period. Vegas probably felt like they had it. But then you have a full overtime period and you go into a double overtime. And it's a ricochet goal. Like Bussy played great, dude. 19 saved one goal against like, Jesus Christ. I would probably start Bussie. But I am here to say this.

If they start Freddie, I'm like, okay. You know, it's fine. It is what it is. but if you start Freddie tomorrow, you are starting Freddie for the rest of the series. Yeah. As far as actually a fair take. It is just such bullshit to do to a goalie dude.

Like Bussie comes in in this game three and saves your ass and allows you to even get to overtime and then you don't reward him with a start in game four and then you go down 3-1 and you go, hey, save us now. It's bullshit. It's bullshit to do to a goaltun. Yeah. So I think barring a disaster, if you start Freddie in game four,

barring a disaster, it's probably Freddie the rest of the way. I agree. But I'm kind of with you. Here's the only fucked part, though. And it's only 2-1, so it's completely fine. But if you start Bussy here, I think you have to go with him the rest of the way. Because I just think, now you go, Freddie, we don't trust you. So we're going Bussy.

Bussie gets lit up in game four. And you go, Freddy, just kidding. Just kidding, bud, game five, we need you. Like, I think whoever you start next game, it's over. First of all, agree and hear you. But don't you think that that's the game, dude? Like, if you, yeah, if you start starting. different goalies in playoffs, you can't get in your head about like, well, now I have to switch back.

What are they going to think? I'm like, you're a player on this fucking team, do you? I think go in the net and save goal. I trust both of you. I'm going with my gut. Yeah, it's just tricky. It's a tricky. It is tricky one. And, you know, the thing that really blows now is, if you have been a fan of this Carolina Hurricanes team for the last four years, a huge Freddie topic has been, he runs out of gas in the playoffs. Yeah, exactly. And yes, it's great how good he was through three series. but when you think about it, look at how many games he played through three series. Right?

He played 13 games. That's not a lot of games. That's literally one more than the absolute minimum you can play through three series. So it's not that surprising that maybe he was pretty good up until now. But through three games in this series, like we've said multiple times, his save percentage is pretty bad,

his goal against is very bad. And you're like, has Freddie run out of gas? Right, which was always the fear. And we'd seen it in the third round usually. And right now the amount of games they've played equals the third round mess. And what's very scary for me is, and we'll move on to our other topics after this, the interesting thing heading into game four here is if you're the Carolina Hurricanes,

I think you feel great about pretty much everything else. You have scored so many goals in every single game through this point. You have your good play, like Jarvie with an OT goal, Svetch, Halsey with goals in this one. Aho is starting to get certain things going. You stall is fucking watching back in the clock. You feel very, very good for a lot of reasons. You would love to give up less goals.

You'd love your defense to play a little bit stronger. You would certainly love the goaltending. But that is the big question is like the one thing that you really didn't want in this series through two games through three games is does Freddie look bad. Yeah. And Freddie does not look great. And that is very scary. So like, but what's interesting and this is, I suppose, this would be. a massive area to advocate for starting Bussy is you go,

really the one question right now we've got is we need goal tending and defense to be a little bit better. And you know what? As a defenseman, I'm a plug, but as someone who played defense, if I'm looking at these numbers and I'm like, if I'm a D man and I'm like, dude,

look at the shots. The shots are pretty fucking low. Like we've had, we've held this team, this Vegas team to like under 30 shots and, regulation for a long time and the goals are this high, I'm kind of like, it's maybe not us. Yeah. Maybe we are getting in front of shots.

Maybe we are taking away lanes. That's what you sort of have to ask yourself. And that blows. But I'm saying that is something to point towards advocating for starting bussy. And a lot of people in the chat are saying bussy. And I think maybe if you're a Keynes fan, you go, what a luxury we have Bussy, right? If most teams go, oh, shit, our starters run out of gas. we're in big trouble and we have no one to put in. But the Keynes go, we have Bussy and Kelly.

I see you in here. Shout out Kelly. Dan, she brought up to. Freddie had an incredibly emotional loss. Can't forget that. And that is an interesting factor in this. Obviously, you do whatever it takes to get let your team win the cup. And if that's Bussy, then they don't care what's happened and they go Bussy. But I do think it is a bit of a factor in Freddie's head where he goes, I need to be out there because I'm honoring someone, you know, like I want, I need it. So when Rod has those conversations. I'm just sure that's, Freddie's like, no, dude, that's my net because I have to do this. For sure. Makes it harder. It's all. But yeah. And again, just to sort of reemphasize what I was saying, game one, Vegas, 23 shots total. Yeah. Five goals. Game two, 26 shots total. Three goals.

Yeah. This, this game, I think in OT, I think they had 35 shots total. Yes. And, and, but to my point, 19 of those were saved by bussy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just like, again, if you're the defense, you're kind of like, We're not playing badly, dude. I think I'd go bust you. I bet it's Freddie. That's my answer. I bet it's going to be Freddie, too.

And I am here to say to all Kane's fans and the Kane's team, they know this. But if Freddie starts, hell yeah. Yeah, yeah, we're okay. You feel, I don't even think it's okay. You feel totally fine. Like, this team is such a fucking locked unit. It's amazing. And then Vegas, man, I just like, God damn it, they are so fun.

Yeah. They are so fun. What an insane game. to give their fans like the, are you fucking kidding me feeling of blowing a four-mole lead, but then to still win it in double OT and have a Saturday night

on the Vegas strip is fucking unbelievable. And it's just another piece of evidence of how this team is so unfazed. It's one of the most fun teams I've watched in years. Yes, it's incredible. Incredible. All right, we've got game for tomorrow night, 6.30 p.m. Eastern Time,

Stanley Cup Live on NHL's YouTube. We will be there, giving you the pregame and then we'll be boots on the ground with Zach in the building giving you all the content as usual. Let's wrap up and talk about some fun shit going on. Hell yeah. First one, Zach, what do we got? Let's talk about Larkin. Let's talk about Larkin. So we had a little bit of a release. We obviously last week discussed Dillon Larkin has officially requested a trade out of Detroit. Today, it has surfaced that the three teams Larkin and his camp have said he would like to go to

are the Minnesota Wild which we talked about one of the suspected ones the Vegas Golden Knights which was another one we talked about and shout up Pagg shout up Pagnata

who was like that's a team to look at and the third team is the Florida Panthers don't think a lot of people were talking about Florida yep so

stick taps to us anyone who thought that Dylan Larkin would be like to send me to a Canadian team like please God like Toronto fans Montreal fans

who were talking about that listen obviously a player like Dylan Larkin becomes available, you want to talk about it with your team. That was never in the cards. So we've got Florida, Vegas, and Minnesota. What's very interesting to me, dude, about all of these. And we can have some, Evan, if you're listening,

maybe look this up and text us. Not a single one of these teams other than Florida because of the craziness of how the draft lottery broke out. Vegas does not have. a 2026 first round pick. Minnesota does not have a 2026 first round pick. Florida has that ninth pick, I believe. Oh, is that true? Yes, too. And we talked about it a lot with Florida. They are, look, look me in the eyes, everyone watching. Florida is trading that pick. Yeah. There is no planet where that ninth overall pick is helping this Florida core win another Stanley Cup. Like that player is

not playing for probably three years at a high NHL level. And this team is in win fucking now mode. So I assure you that pick is getting traded. So that is an interesting one to keep an eye on for the Florida plan. I think it's it is it is yeah. Yeah. So that is something to be very aware of. That said, what can Florida do with the cap space? What can they do with their roster? Because they're very good down the middle. Yeah. A lot of people are talking about Samiskevich. maybe throwing in a Verhagi in there to make the cap work. But again, now you have a situation of you have Barkov, you have Bennett, you have Lundell. Do you have to lose Lundell to make this work?

And respectfully, we know I'm the biggest Larkin guy in the world, I don't think you're trading Lundell for Dylan Larkin's 8.7 mil. Lundell's on like 5 mil for a couple more years, I believe, and he is baby Barkov. He is like in, I mean, this is a guy who has just been a part of this team. I don't think you want to lose that. And if you're Florida too, no disrespect to Carolina, but if you're, if you're a healthy Florida and you're looking at the way the East broke out, you were probably like this. We are obviously in the Stanley Cup right now. Yes. And I also think, and this, I'm not even saying Larks wasn't an improvement over some of these guys. But in a way, if you're Florida, I think you go, why would I bust this up? Why would I ship off swaggy? 100%. Even though I'm like, 100%. Oh, I'm improved or whatever. I don't even want to make an opinion on this. Larks in this scenario plays right wing, don't you think? Yeah.

So you're not trading Bennett. I don't think you're trading Lundell. Like I think this is a situation where you, if you were to get Larks, you would be playing him on the wing with a Bennett, with maybe first line with Markov and like a Chuck on the left wing or something. I don't know. So it kind of feels weird to bust this up if you're Florida. So that's an interesting factor there.

To go to his teams for a second, I think we said with DZ, if you were watching Stanley Cup Live, We had Michael Delzado on to talk about this right when it broke. And we both said, hey, DZ, I'm sure Olympics played a big factor in this, eh? And he was like, oh, 1,000 percent. And then look where the three teams he listed are all his team USA. Quinn Hughes, Brock Faber, Matt Boldie, Bill Guerin, Minnesota, down in Florida. You've got Maddie Kachuk, obviously.

And in Vegas, you've got Ikes, you've got Hanna. Yeah. Like it's, yeah. So it's like a no brainer there. I want to talk about the perception of this. Do you want to talk about that? I do. No, I do.

I do. Everything that we said when we were talking to DZ, and I've been happy to debate anyone about this, my stance on this was good for Larks, and I stand by that. I think he is well within his right to ask for something like this. He should ask for something like this. I know there are a lot. We brought up Matthew Kachuk, we brought up Jack Eichel, and there were some people who were like,

Dylan Larkin is not the same player as those guys. And that's true. Dylan Larkin is way fucking better than a lot of you people understand and realize. He is a natural born leader, and he will be that wherever he goes, just like he was on Team USA, filled with nothing but leaders. Talk to anyone on that USA team.

They will talk about how valuable he is. But I understand that comment. but the point is not comparing the players. The point is comparing the situations. People want to bring up that eight-year extension, and then they want to say he's got five years left on that. This is bullshit that he would do this. Guys, he gave a decade to this team, and they didn't do enough.

Every Detroit Red Wings fan will admit that. They will say that they did not do enough to build around this guy. When you look at that Detroit team and you look at a guy like fucking Dylan Larkin making 8.7 million, that's what Larks is making. And you're telling me you couldn't figure out ways to build around that. What the hell are we talking about? And I love Eisenman, but I am going to just be honest and say it is a massive failure of what they have put around it. And like you trade, I love Falk.

I talked about the trade, but like you traded a first round pick to get a 34 year old Justin Falk and like good player. Yeah. But I'm like, look at the other trades being made and what people are getting for the same price. It's just there have been missteps in it. I had a lot of other teams that I really liked for Larkin's potential destination. I loved Boston. Yeah. I think a Boston makes a ton of sense.

I think a Utah makes a ton of sense. Yeah, yeah, that was good one. What was the other one we talked about? Oh, Carolina. Carolina is like, I mean, Jesus Christ, they don't even need to do anything. Now, I don't love that these are the three that are named, and I do want to say shout out to Johnny Laz,

because we were talking about this this morning, and Laz was saying, like, would not be surprised here if Isermint's camp leaks this? Dude, I loved this. I loved this. I was thinking it, and I loved that Lazzie said it, because, dude, I mean, this doesn't look great for Larks.

Like, Minnesota was the one we all assumed. Vegas is the bad boy of the NHL. Everyone hates that. They are up two games to one in the Stanley Cup final as we speak. And then Florida is the team that, if healthy, everyone's like, they would have obviously gone to a third straight or fourth straight team. Yeah, yeah. Essentially won a third.

So you've picked two of the top teams in the league, and it does have a cup chasing look to it. if this is, you know, good friend of ours, Larks agent, and, like, Larks Camp, you you can't be naming just these teams. Like, truly just, like, throw in one, because he has a no move. Throw in a name that you don't even believe in, dude. But then, what if you get traded there? Like, I'm like, fuck you. Here's a no move. Here's where I'll go. He could say no. But they're saying, this is who he said to the team. These are my, these are places I'll go. Yes. And you can, dude, if it happened, you could say you have a change of heart. But like,

Yeah. There's got to be at least one or two others that he would still be, maybe they're not his top three, but he'd still be happy. You just got to name those two. So, like, I wouldn't be shocked if this is Steve. Because it's like, at the end of the day, there is something that people need to understand is Steve does not have to do anything. I am the biggest proponent of if a player goes, I want out, you trade him immediately

because you just cannot have that in your locker. Yep. You simply cannot. I agree. And with Calgary and Rasmus Anderson, I thought that went on for way too fucking long. Yeah, good call. Like there's a reason. I mean, they were never a playoff contender, really, no offense, Calgary.

But, like, there's, that's just not a vibe. You want in the law. You're building kinship with these players and your teammates. And you've got a guy that you're like, literally any day this guy's going to get traded. It's just not great for vibes. You cannot have your captain just like chilling, playing in training camp. Yeah. And also, like, if you're larks, you got to work with him too because we've seen, dude, like, look at what happened to Mason McTavish this year.

Look at what happened to Sway the year before. Like missing fucking camp is not good. It is brutal for your fit with the team and for your own progression. So like don't miss camp. So like if you're larks, you got to work with this. If you want this to happen, you got to make it make a trade happen that makes everyone happy or at least happy enough. Yeah. I, to me, man, like I've seen a lot of Danilla You're of Charlie Strammel and a 2027.

first round pick, which I believe Minnesota has. Someone in the chat, check me on that because I know they moved big pieces to Quinn. But I've seen a lot of Wings fans see that and go, if that's the package, Steve Y better call Larkin and go, see you at camp, pal. That's not enough. And I'm, there's a bit of me that's like, that might be enough, dude. Like I think Yurov had a great year this year and is showing that he can be a very impressive top nine, top six player stramble's an amazing prospect and that's a first round pick and i i think like i saw

someone um who was it uh oh jersey someone was looking at uh someone hit us up on twitter awesome netters fan awesome awesome dude and was like all right how about a trade with jersey that involves simone or excuse me uh that involves nemich and heeshur yeah and and then coming back the other ways like larks and falk and uh i think koso was in there thinking about the replacement for Markstrom down the line. Number one, I'm like, I know that, I know that part of that deal would be to eventually get Quinn. Yeah, yeah. I will come here.

I would be very interesting to hear, interested to hear if Devils fans would want a Heeshire for Larkin deal. Right. Like, he sure is like a. Selky guy just had fucking 80 points. Like, I mean, the points production, they're pretty similar. And like, he sure is one of the best two-way centers in the game. I was like, oh, I don't know. I don't know if people would want that.

But for Detroit fans, I'm like, this ain't going to be a one for one, dude. Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, man, you're losing Dylan Larkin. You are, this is, you're blown up. You are rebuilding. Yep. I mean, I'm pretty sure Kat, like, can, Zach, do you have access to internet right now? Yeah.

Can you look up for me, go to Puckpedia and go to Detroit's cap space and tell me when, Alex de Brinkett's contract is up. Like when is he an unrestrictive free agent? Because like, that's another guy that I'm like, if Larkin goes, I'm like, you probably fucking trade him too, dude. Like it's, you know. So my take dude is this. Larkin

I have no Put it this way, dude. 2026, 27. Okay, so at the end of next year, yeah. Kat is up. Yep. I would fucking trade cat this summer. Yeah. And Kane's up right now. So I'm like, yeah, I mean that, but I know, but I'm just like, you know, don't sign him.

Don't, do not, yeah, do not sign him. The reason this does look, quote unquote, bad to some people. I've had texts last was messaging us earlier and I love last so much and I love this take. I get why Stevie maybe would leak this because it looks bad. It makes you go, oh, look at Dylan. He's just doing this. However, usually if your player requests a trade, the fewer teams that he was willing to go to when he has a no move kills your leverage. So usually you don't leak stuff like this because then when you're negotiating with

teams you go, well, he's giving me 10 teams he would go to. I can fucking get the best deal possible. When it's now, when Florida, Vegas and Minnesota know they're the only three in the fight, they can give Stevie scraps and go, you're fucked. Because to your point, if Stevie goes, whatever dude, show up a camp, I go, okay, well, your whole season is ruined now. Yeah. And, like, Dylan hates you now, and, like, it's such a fucking debacle. You have to move him. I, the only thing I want to say about it is, I actually have zero issue with this. And we brought up to Laz. I brought up McDavid and Matthews. when, in my opinion, but if those guys move,

they are only going to go to the best teams in the league so they can fucking win right now. They've spent the first 12 years of their career. They're now 30, losing. They're not going to go, you know what? It would be really fun. Going to Utah and helping them get over the hump in the next couple of years. I'm like, no.

As sick as that would be, and I love the mammoth, going to Utah to be like, pretty soon we'll be good there, is fucking moronic. go to Vegas and just win the cup right now. Go to Florida and win the next three cups. Like I literally do not get this, wow, dude, I don't respect that. Because it's fucking hard to win the cup. Ring chasing and basketball is one thing where you're like,

I joined the Warriors. We're going to win. Like, you don't win automatically. Let me say this, CP. I think, and Zach, you got to jump in on this because I know that you have takes on this. I think, respectfully, I laugh like a witch. in the face of people who have a problem with ring chasing and cup chasing. Because in my opinion, I'm like, dude, the only thing in the world that matters is winning if you're a competitor.

So I'm like, yeah, dude, go win. Now, I think, to your point, basketball and hockey are impossibly different. Yeah. Like truly to me, with some of the shit like LeBron did and KD did, absolutely. Like, KD going to Golden State, I was like, are you? fucking getting me. That one, I was like, dude, this team is like breaking NBA records, winning titles and now the best shooter in the league or the best score in the league is going to this team. That was a little crazy. There is zero guarantee that Dylan Larkin going to,

let's say it's Vegas. Yeah. It means that they're going straight back to the cup. Like people, look at the way people are talking about Vegas this year. Yep. So I think with hockey, with how much bigger the rosters are and how much harder it is to win a Stanley Cup, I don't think it's that comparable. But at the same time, I'm like, how could you ever have a problem with a player trying to win a championship? I think personally, I think there's a lot of issues that can arise from ring chasing, right? Where for me, it depends on the team that you're leaving, right? If I'm leaving a situation in a setup where I have a, I'm close, right? I'm right there on the edge. I could be there. I could not be there, right? Like, let's take the haps, right? Like, I'm,

Imagine if, and I'm going to say Dobesh just because he did play so well in the playoffs, but imagine he's just like, he gets a great offer, gets a great contract. And they're young, but it gets a great contract to help out this Hurricanes team and fix that goalie issue that they have with Freddie. And then boom. I still feel like you were right there. You were seconds away from, I mean, not seconds away, you know, but you were close. Yep.

and I have a deep fear like if I'm just jumping or I'm just leaving a great situation for a slightly better one I feel like that's wrong but if you're on like a winless Detroit Pistons team that can't win anything then it's different. Yeah. Okay I don't

that's fair. I mean I would say the wings though have the didn't you just say they have the longest drought now? They have the longest playoff drought in the NHL currently and Dylan has been there for 10 fucking years and like yes I know he signed an extension but I I continue to go to bat for we don't know what has happened in the last three months what conversation like people keep going to that interview where he's like I signed the extension because I believe what's going on first of all he's the captain of the team he's obviously going to say shit like that but second of all we don't know what's

happened in the last two months you know and it's like that's where I'm always like anything he could have had an exit interview yeah with fucking Steve with with with the coach and with everybody and been like, hey, like, what are we doing? And then what they said in that moment could have been terrible. And he's like, all right, I want to help. Yep. Yeah. So, dude, I just go, like, that's a really fair point, Jack. But for me, and I said this, and you and last kind of, or I think last disagree, but I was like, when Connor McDavid leaves, who is literally the best player in the league and who has been extremely frustrated and misused, not misused, but like, they have fumbled the whole thing in Edmonton. When he leaves, he is going to go to a contender, full stop. He's not

going to go to any team that's like, oh, I'm trying to get there. He's going to go to a contender. He has no time to waste. And I don't think anyone is going to go, oh my God, look at McDavid, chasing the ring. I think they're going to go. Can I also have a more fair comparison to hockey? Yes. Football. Yep. Kenneth Walker signing with the chiefs this year, obviously Mahomes is hurt, but, you know, they desperately needed a running back. They definitely, like, he's going to get them back to the Super Bowl or close. Yep. Yeah. I don't blame him. Me neither. But I do think in basketball, I do. I think it's literally just a players, the amount of players on the ice, the amount of players on the court, and the amount of players on the field, and the difference that one player makes, that is how I view it.

That was kind of my whole thesis. Like, I couldn't agree more. Like basketball is like, it is such an insane, like people talking about a Janus trade to Boston. You and I were talking about that. If Janus gets traded to Boston for not Jalen Brown or Jason Tatum, everyone in the, you know, East is like, are you fucking kidding me? Like, that's crazy. And I'm like, I understand that and I get that. So this one, I agree. And Chris, we'll get into the Connor McDavid in a couple of minutes here with some of the more news that has come out. But I hope that there are some different options.

Like I mentioned, Boston, Utah, Carolina. I know a lot of people mentioned Tampa. We are not going to open this can of worms, but I think Tampa has way more question marks than Tampa fans want to. Yeah. Like everyone's like, we're right there. And I'm like, you are not. Yeah, yeah. Clearly. fucking not. But yeah, listen, I love Dill. I'm in his corner and I have his back 110% on this without question. And if he goes to any of those three teams, I'm like, fucking right, dude, good for you.

And I will be his number one fan. I do hope that there are other teams available. Because to me, it's not, it's like, just take away the optics of it. I'm like, to me, there are other teams that are a good option. Yeah, yeah. I mean, dude, I will go back to it. Dylan Larkin in Carolina or Boston is an insanely good fit. Insanely good fit.

Like, that would be awesome. Carolina is the most preposterously good fit at a time. Okay, let's pop to the next one. We've got a, well, actually, you know what? Before we pop, before we pop, we don't need to spend a lot of time on this because there's not much, but reports are coming out that Connor Hellebuck has officially requested a trade. Interesting. We have no confirmation on that yet, but it's being chatted about because a lot of people were bringing up that Hellebuck to the Buffalo.

The Sabers would be no. And now it's starting to be rumored and people are questioning, has Hellebuck actually asked for an official trade? And what is hilarious, dude, people keep bringing up Florida. Yeah. People keep bringing up Florida because they have Bob, who is much older. And with how young all of these guys are in Florida, the only thing keeping them from being a dynasty for the next five years. years is a new goalie and holy fucking Bob would just retire though like if they were like you're on the jets he'd be like oh no no I'm not saying well Bob hasn't been signed yet oh oh true true okay

yeah yeah and like listen that would be a dagger for Bob but like I think he would just retire yeah like if somehow Florida figured out a trade and got hellabuck because what's interesting is the Jets have the eighth overall pick yeah and if Florida could figure out a trade that gives them the ninth and is like here you go you have eight nine in this draft like you can try to trade that package or you can just, you know, kind of reset if you don't, you just miss playoffs. Yeah, you've lost Hellebuck. I think Bob would be like, oh, I retire.

Yeah. Like retire and take a job. Four sides with Carolina. They win the cup. Sure. But again, we don't need to spend a lot of time and it will wait for any confirmation. But if Hellebuck, if we, if we potentially have Larks, Austin, Brady, Connor, Leon, and Hellebuck all this summer, right after the cup was won. It's a, we,

Dude, I will die of erection poisoning. Correct, correct. It's unbelievable. See you, doctor. All right. Next one, which will transition into another one. We've got a new coach in L.A., Peter Lavellette. We heard that the interviews were going on last week.

Now he has officially been hired in L.A. I have a grander stance on this. I think Labs is a really good dude. I think he's also a good in his first year. I think things tend to go well with labs. I think everything that we've ever heard and everything that we've experienced is he's a good coach for the players, gets along with guys really well.

I do not like overall the old boys club of this. Yeah, it's so tough because I was ranting about this earlier and then you calmed me down being like, well, Quendo looks to be doing great. Who else would you say? Maurice looks to be doing great.

So very fair. And I'm glad you said that because I'll yeah, Lindy did a perfect example. So very fair. I'm actually glad you said that because I was like, I got to calm down. And I also, I'll, well, knock on wood, but I'll be old someday. I'll be very old someday. I'm already old. People still want to work with me. Exactly. And I don't want to go, oh, I'm just out of, I'm out of anything I want to do because I'm old. That's not fair. But it does rattle me when it feels like there's got to be young minds. there willing to that know the game and we should be taking chances on and you and then people push back and go well dude taking a chance means like we suck for three years and I'm like you do anyway most teams suck for this is what happens like coaches get fired every three years all the time can we so this is a problem across sports yes sure this is a problem across sports and I here's why and here's if you're a GM and and you love that job and you're in and you're in a great situation and it's so hard just to even get a GM job, a GM job, right? It is one of the most difficult jobs to probably get in any industry, anywhere, any place, anytime. Okay. And now you're like,

all right, I know I have to pick one guy that's going to determine my entire future. And I think that is where we miss in so many arguments and across all of sports, we miss this every single time. You got to think it's just a normal dude who doesn't want to lose his job. I go with the unproven guy that I have no idea or I go with the guy that was kind of average and I go at least I know I'll get average

we might get better and that's what they do every time I think they're just human 100% dude you are you are fucking spot on I think it is the fear element it is the fear element of hiring I mean like look at fucking Chica

yeah I mean like we've got John Chica now hired in Toronto after he was hired in Arizona with this exact issue it was like this is a fucking 26 year old dude what happens here and he has a horrendous

win percentage, I think makes the playoff once and then gets fired for like improper conduct. Like that's a fucking nightmare. Yes, that can happen. But to me, man, it's like, Lindy's a great example of Lindy was in Jersey. And it's like not really working. And he gets hired in Buffalo. And we were like, people were going, this is going to be hilarious when they bring back Lindy as a joke. And then it happened. And it's, it's going great. It has gone very, very well. Quinville, I think, is just a brilliant hockey mind. Makes sense that that's going well. It's not to say that some of these older guys don't deserve another shot.

But for me with L.A., dude, you had a situation where you have legacy guys as your president and as your G. In my opinion, everyone in the world knows we are huge Kings fans. We love that organization. We love everyone who works there. I think there was an element of too much comfort there. These people who walk around, their king's royalty, people aren't going to hold their feet to the fire maybe as much as they should.

And then you had a situation where you fired Todd, you then hire Hiller. And it was kind of like, I don't think that was the right high. I don't think Hiller at the time was a NHL head coach. But you hired him. Then you fire Hiller and you let DJ take the job. So essentially you had the same fucking guys

behind the bench for like eight years. Right. And then you were shocked when things didn't turn around and go well. So at least this is a switchup. But the roster makeup of the Kings and the very, very significant changing of the guard here with Copey retiring, Drew is going to retire in a couple of years, three years, who knows, you have like this new era arriving. It would make sense to try to go and find your John Cooper. Try to go and find your young guy. I know David Carl's not available. like a young, maybe college coach, maybe Canadian junior coach, but someone, maybe an assistant coach on another team. Yeah. Who's making a fucking huge impression. And you go, bring in this new voice with new ideas that's going to relate to the players more and see how it works. Because for me, with LA being a great example, what do you have to lose? I know, dude. Now, that transitions

perfectly into our last topic here with another little report the Edmonton Oilers and Stan Bowman have asked permission from the league to interview Mike Babcock for the head coaching job in Edmonton that is truly man

the only response to that is this league yet again the Oilers doing something that is making us be like are you kidding me and I'm here to say right fucking now as a Detroit Redwings of the Mike Babcock era. I am here to say, if the Edmonton Oilers hire Mike Babcock,

and I am Connor McDavid and Leon Drysidal, I send in my trade request one hour later. Dude, one fucking hour later. I would give all the amount of money in my bank account to be there the first time Mike Babcock asks to see Connor McDavid's when he goes, give me your phone right now and let me look through your hidden pictures photo. He read a picture his file. It's like, for those who don't know, like, literally he did that in his last job and got fucking fired for it.

All the jokes aside, that would be mind-blowing. Mind-blowing. I don't even know, like, that is, that would be one of the worst decisions just based on fit. Like, I don't even mean Babcock. I have nothing to say. I have nothing to opine on this show about Babcock the man or Babcock the coach. But just the idea that what the reputation from him and the situation in Edmonton that has been, trying to marry that in, if he doesn't leave this summer, in the most important summer of your fucking life. Right?

Like this season either keeps Connor McDavid or means he's gone. Period. And then you go, let's just try Babcock, see what happens. To me, Chris, honest to God, I'm being dramatic because I want the change. I think it makes sense. We've talked about this a number of times, and this is no shade at Edmonton Oilers. It's no shade at the fans or the franchise. It's simply a look at it from a numbers perspective.

I don't think it's working anymore. I think it's time to call it quits, dude, and restart and get back what you can. I have been saying for for weeks you have to trade McNavid now like straight up if I were Bowman I would go like this hey listen either we go we take another crack at this

and we fucking get bouncing the first round or the second round or third round even if you lose in the cup final it is yet another we didn't do it with these guys and you're fucking fired if I were Bowman I would straight up go I'm at least going to try something

and I would fucking trade them I would try crazy I would I think it has not worked and if I'm those guys God bless the two of them that they haven't done it already, I would feel how Larkins feel. I'd be like this. We are getting worse, clearly.

If I were McDavid, you did your little contract last year. Yep. And you straight up looked at Bowman and this organization and you went like this. I'm doing you a favor. Do me one. Yeah. Let's get better. Let's win a cup.

And what they did was give Evan Bouchard the contract that they gave him, and then they went out and traded for Tristan Jari. And now are hiring Babcock. Well, my point be If you look at last year And your Connor, you go Whoa, whoa. Guys, not it.

And now they're going like this, we're going to hire Mike Babcock. I would request a trade right now. Yeah. Even if they don't hire them. Why does you say that? This is your best swing. That's funny.

I'm straight of go, I don't even need to see what you do. I'm out. Trade me now. Even say that. It's fucking crazy. Yeah. No, it would be madness.

I just cannot believe in any universe this happens. So we don't have to give it too much airtime. because it probably won't. But I just, to your point, very well said, I cannot believe, how is this even being floated? Like, what is going on? Dude, it's, you see the reaction, like, listen, we always talk about fucking guys like us who just, you know, have our amazing show and we just have a bunch of laughs and a bunch of jokes, and it's a great time. But when even guys like us and then fucking journos are all in agreement being like, this is crazy, that's when you probably

should know, you would hope Bowman knows better that that probably isn't going to go over very. Yeah, right. And it's not. Oh, my God. So it's an interesting one. Okay. Let's wrap things up here. We're going to have an amazing day in Vegas, getting some great content for you, and then tomorrow is going to be all fucking time ahead of game four.

Make sure you tune in Stanley Cup Live, NHL YouTube, 6.30 p.m. Eastern time for all of the pregame show action. It's going to be so much fun. I'm going to be right there, right outside of Team Mobile. Cannot wait. Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube guys. Everyone watching here. I'm sure you already are, but if not, send them to your friends. Get all of your hockey fans dialed in on us.

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