Empty Netters Podcast - Trading Your Captain Mid Season Is Insane | w/ Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

Greg Wyshynski is back to talk about all the chaos in New York. Trouba is a Duck. Shesty is the richest man in New York. The Avalanche have seen enough in goal and make a big trade to save their season. The Blackhawks need a new coach and Torts is pissed about diving. Plus the guys play “Shoots and Ladders” and CP almost risked it all. NEW EPISODES EVERY MONDAY & WEDNESDAY! PRESENTED by BetMGM. Download the BETMGM app and use code “NETTERS” and enjoy up to $1500 in bonus bets if you lose your first wager!  SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: BAUER. Bauer is the go to destination for all your training needs. Head to http://www.bauer.com/training to explore tools like the Digital Reactor Danger for stickhandling or the Reactor Slide Board to add strength to your stride.  CASHAPP. Download CashApp and take control of your finances! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cash-ap... RIKI. Head to https://rikispirits.com/ to find out where to get RIKI near you. Follow @friday.beers and @rikispirits to stay up to date with upcoming RIKI contests and giveaways   FUNKAWAY. To check out the full family of FunkAway products go to http://www.funkaway.com to learn more funk’in cool stuff. And head over to Amazon right now and grab FunkAway products with just a few clicks.  FIREBALL . Fireball’s iconic cinnamon flavor tastes fire and goes down easy, making it the ultimate crowd pleasure. Go pick up some from your local liquor store and join us in drinking Fireball during our game days this season! #IgniteYourRivalry  EVERYMANJACK. Give Every Man Jack a shot today and go to http://www.everymanjack.com and use code “NETTERS” at checkout for 25% off your first order  CBDMD. Visit http://www.cbdmd.com to explore their extensive range of products and find the perfect solution for your needs. Don’t forget to use code “FRIDAY” at checkout to get 30% OF + Free Shipping.  DOLLAR SHAVE CLUB. Dollar Shave Club products are now available everywhere, so you can order from their website, Amazon, or get them at your favorite retailer near you. Visit their site right now for 20% off $20 or more, and get your products delivered right to your door. Visit http://www.dollarshaveclub.com/netters and use promo code NETTERS for 20% off $20 or more  CHOMPS. If you are looking for the PERFECT on the go snack that has zero grams of sugar and packed with high quality protein, then Chomps is for you. To learn more about Chomps, click here! http://www.chomps.com/emptynetters INTRO: 00:18 HOT ICE: 14:34 BRUINS COACH: 1:05:05 BEER LEAGUE HOTLINE 1:16:21 POWER RANKINGS: 1:20:05 STARTING 6: 1:27:43 TRIVIA: 1:37:41 OUTRO: 1:45:43 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rangers have officially sent Jacob Truba Packing to California, and Igor Shosturkin is now the richest man in New York City. The Colorado Avalanche have found a goalie to take them back to the cup, and Greg Wyshinsky joins the pod to talk with us about all of it. Ice is ready, and we are back with another episode of the Empty Netters podcast brought to you by BetMGM. CP, how you do it? I am...

I can't talk. You sound a little horse. I have a horse. What's a horse of a different car? What do you think happened? I feel like I was with you all weekend. You know what happened in? Bars are too loud.

Don't even get me started. How well received has that been? I know. And I do think... Can I shout out a young? I was... Yeah, yeah. I want to shout out a youngan.

There were some comments on that post where people were like, old guy take, but I respect it. And I was like, yeah, I mean, I'm old. I am old. I want to shout out. out a young man, Brandt Clark of the L.A. Kings was talking to him and he was like, dude, agree. We were at a restaurant a couple weeks ago and he was like, we were in this place. I couldn't even fucking hear you. And the fact that I've got a young NHL star in my side, he's only 21.

He's so young and he's like it's too loud. Yep. Then I don't even know if we're going to call this an old guy take anymore. Yeah, we're not going to. So huge shout out to, and thank you to Clarkie. Yep. That's big for me. But yeah, this is funny coming from a fucking podcaster, but I, feel like we had a it's holiday season everybody's you know is a million events with the crunched between Thanksgiving

and Christmas this year is a million events and literally dude all weekend and I know you for the most part too you did 90% of what I did I've just been running from thing to thing to thing to thing which made very little sleep a lot of drinking and a lot of

talking like I just had to gas boom fucking sick dude but I just had to talk I was just talking for 72 straight hours. You went to several things that I wasn't at that were, or not several, but a couple things that were heavy in the, you've got to perform. Yes.

Look at me, look at me, look at the baby, look at the baby. Look at the baby. I'm on display. Meeting significant others, families, coworkers, like people that you've got to be like, oh, hey, I'm Chris, let me put on my little cap and do a dog and pony show for you. Like you were doing.

The foot tap was really nice. I appreciate that. I appreciate that edition by you. But yeah, you were doing a lot of that, a lot of performing, a lot of dancing. Yeah, and I'm paying the ultimate price. Now I've got to come do my job. I can't even talk. Yeah.

So I want to get into a couple things. And just for the listeners here, I feel like some of our ranton and raven, the last couple episodes, have been very well received. So we're starting a new segment called Not Ice. Yeah, we always get into some hot ice later. But now we're going to give you Not Ice, then Hot Ice. Where we talk about all things, not hockey. Yeah.

Here's the thing. We were on the topic. Yep. This is life in the holiday season, brother. Yeah. A lot of parties. Yep. A lot of nonsense.

I am here to say, I think I've said this before to friends. Definitely have said it to coworkers. Yeah, quite passionately. We are big Christmas fans. Yeah. The two of us. People know that about us. Would you say that you like, would you say the bees of the professional sports team you like the most?

Or Chelsea? Probably, because of now my, because of this job and now our personal investment in individuals in the NHL, I would say my deep-seated Bruin's passion has not diminished, but has been overshadowed by my passion for friendship. Yeah. So I would maybe say that Chelsea is the team that I am crazed about the most. Yep. But it's, I would, yeah, I'd say Chelsea probably. But the, but the, but the, still. Would you say you're a bigger fan of the bees or Christmas?

Christmas. It's not even close. And that's no disrespect to the bees. It's just like, listen, Christmas season. Not even close. I'm very well documented for, I start watching Christmas movies on November 1st, and that's no disrespect to Thanksgiving. I start listening to the music and the tree goes up early. People who watch tuned to the hockey talk last night saw the tree behind me. So this is going to be a bit of a bah humbug. take for me. Actually, I don't think it is. White elephant, Yankee swap, whatever you want to call it,

is a bad game. It's a bad activity. We need to get rid of it. That, I'll take a step further. Absolutely and totally and completely spits in the face of the spirit of Christmas. So you're on my side. Oh, dude. And no one likes a secret Santa more than that.

than me. A secret Santa is a tremendous tradition and experience where you pull a name and you have a person that you are getting a gift for and it's cool and they get to be surprised because they don't know who it got it for them and it's so much fun and you can source. If you don't know them that well, you can source friends and whatever and it's a and there's still the cap, the present cap, whatever. Chris, wonderful. You get the special feeling of you get that name, that wonderful moment where you go, I wonder who I drew. Yeah. And then you see that name and then you get that wonderful experience of going, okay, I got to think about who they are as a person. Their interest, the things that they're looking forward to. Maybe they need something. You get

to personalize a gift, which is, I think, the best part about Christmas is thinking about the gifts that you're going to get for the people in your life and that look on their face when they open a gift that they could really use. It was the look on their faces. You know what that's from? Yes, it's from the prestige. I was at a Sandra's company holiday party and they had just, I get there for the, for the, for the, for the body. Yeah, but they had done their Secret Santa. And people were, were you drinking again? Yeah, big weekend.

People were ranting and raving about, like, look at what I got because they know I'm a skier, so I got this sick thing. Oh, look at what I got because they know I like this. So there we go. White elephant, dude. Yankee swap. I don't know where, we were Yankee Swap. We never played it, but that's what we called it.

Maybe an East Coast thing? Yeah, so I don't know, comments can say where white elephant ends and Yankee Swap begins. But it just blows. It blows. Everybody, there's a couple cool gifts. Everyone steals them from you. Because, like, that's the rules. I'm not saying you can't play by the rules.

That's the rules. But it's just your gifts are getting stolen. Can I give you my two things? Yeah. That's one of them. Like you said, I don't think it's in the spirit of Christmas. It's not. And inevitably.

Who famously steals gifts at Christmas time? Crampus. And? The hamburger. Does he? Maybe. Yeah, it's crazy. I think he's a year-round guy.

I think he's a year-round guy, but I think I loophole, that's correct, because he's just still stealing during Christmas. The Grinch. Thank you. That's the one you were going for? More than the hamburger. Yeah. What are we?

A group of Grinches, dude? This game is saying, and early Grinch, too, not comes around, part three times the size. Act one and two. Act one and two Grinch. And so they are saying, why don't we just call this game? We're all fucking Grinches. It's what it's, it's,

ridiculous. It's outrageous. I mean, we've got every year, if you do a white elephant or a Yankee swap, people get upset. There's fighting, there's bickering, because you've stolen this president, and then there's the rules, oh, you can't steal double in a row and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Why are we stealing anything? Stop stealing. It's the Christmas season. Why are we stealing anything? And then there's an office episode that makes fun of this.

They do Secret Santa, Michael gets upset. He changes it to Yankee Swap. Everyone loses their mind. Yep. So that, I think, is reason alone to have the stance of, let's stop playing Yankee Swap and White Elephant. Yep. So my reason, too, I would venture to guess that upwards of 75% of the time, when you do White Elephant Yankee Swap, those gifts get thrown away. They might be higher. Because you're going like this.

We have a $50 cap. Yeah. I don't know who this gift is for. I'm going to get something generic. Yep. It always gets pushed to the last second because since it's not a personalized gift, no one gives a shit. And then they buy something the day

before or the day of, guilty. Yeah, yeah. And it doesn't mean anything. So you wrap it, you put it under the tree, you put it on the table, someone goes, oh, great, look at this. I opened it up. It's a, it's a fidget spinner. And they get swapped around and blah, blah, blah. Like I said, 75% of the time,

maybe there's a few nice gifts in there. And someone's like, oh, I could actually use that. But 75% of the time, those gifts get brought home. They get left in the closet on the side table. And And they end up on Mount Crumpit. And they probably get re-gifted the next year at a shitty white elephant party. So, enough.

If you want to do a gift-giving thing, do Secret Santa and let people have the joy and great experience of getting a personalized gift. Being Santa. Be Santa. Don't be the Grinch. This is obvious. One game makes you be the Grinch. This is obvious. You've been talking a lot about drinking. And do it.

More than talking about it. More than talking about it. You've put in the money where your mouth is, partner. You've been drinking a lot this weekend. talking about it. We got into a drink discussion because I saw two two things with drinking this

week, this weekend. That really blew my mind. Yep. Number one, shout out our boy Kevin. Big white Russian guy. Now I'm not here to judge. I think white Russians are crazy. I love them.

And that's good for you, brother. I think dairy-based alcoholic beverages are wild to me. Truly wild. Okay. So a white Russian, an Irish coffee, at least an Irish coffee is like hot. So what? Well, I think that kind of changes it.

Hot dairy? Yeah, it's like a hot chocolate. Idiot? Yeah, but cold dairy. Dude, could I trouble you for a nice glass of warm milk? It helps me go to sleep. Yeah. Hot dairy is a thing.

Yeah, but cold milk is so much better than hot milk. Well, it depends what you're doing with it. I don't know. You're telling me a nice hot chocolate or a nice caribou drink. What are those things called when we're skiing at a mammoth? It's like a caribou coffee. Oh, yeah, fuck. Hot.

Hot. Fuck. Yeah. Fuck, dude. Those are good. So a white Russian, I just think, is like, it's kind of crazy because if I'm drinking, I don't want a belly full of milk. But I will agree with you that they taste good.

So I'm like, I get it. I just, it would not be my drink of choice. I think going out, we're at a party and Keb just starts making white Russians. And I was like, dude, what the fuck are you doing? It's a Christmas party. It's a Christmas. Like, you're going to be drinking. Yeah.

You're going to have multiple. You're going to like six white Russians. I think that's nuts. You got a belly full of milk. I thought that that would be the craziest drink situation that I had seen that weekend. And then I proceeded to see a man at a bar that night at 10 p.m. Order a Bloody Mary. Dude. And I did not know this man, and I hope to not know this man ever. I hope to not meet him. Unfortunately, the timing of the situation was I went up to the bar to order myself a drink.

And then I watched an adult man, Chris, order a Bloody Mary. The bartender looked at him and must have paused for five full seconds because I assume she thought there is no possible way that I heard this man correctly. And he did. Yeah. He ordered extra spicy, Bloody Mary at 10 p.m. We then talked about this the next day. Yeah. Do, does there need to be a sun-up rule with Bloody Mary's?

Dude, it's like anything on the brunch menu, it ends. There's a cap. It says when you open a menu, it says, you can order these things. Ends at 3 p.m. Ends at 3 p.m. Bottomless memos till 3. Then it's over. But Bloody Mary will be removed from the menu at 3.

Dude, and I would even hear, you had said yesterday, like, if the sun's up, and I think that's a good rule of thumb, but I would hear earlier, like, three is pushing it. Because, dude, that drink for me, and God bless all the bottom. It might even be an AM rule for me. No, no, no. Maybe you're getting a late start on your brunch. You get there at one fine. But yeah, dude, the, because I gasped when you said that to me. Yeah.

And my only thought was this person has just flown in on a direct flight from Australia. So 10 p.m. he's lagged. So 10 p.m. is 10 a.m. For him and winter is summer. Like he's, he's completely backwards. He's 10 a.m. summer. Yeah. So it wasn't, he had no.

choice. Yeah. It's 10 a.m. on a summer Saturday. But barring that, it's an insane person. It's insane. Like that is, it is truly insidious work to gulp down a bloody Mary at 10 p.m. at a bar at a crowded bar. The visual, bro, and I know it wasn't this crowd, because we talked about it, but the visual of a super hoppin bar where the bartender is absolutely covered slinging and is doing like the reach over, pointing to you over three rows of people because they've already got everybody else. like, yo, what do you want? And the person next to you, they go the person next to you, and they go three tequila.

And don't even say you at tequila, because the bartender's like, don't fucking care. Boom. And then they point at you too because they're hoping that you have a similar order or something else because they can carry five. And you go like this, Bloody Mary, extra spicy.

Dude. She's got to go down to the cooler and find the Bloody Mary mix. She's probably has to make new Bloody Mary mix. Like, they usually come with like a... An olive, celery, maybe. A shrimp cocktail. Hell, like, this is a nightmare, dude. Nasty work, dude.

I couldn't believe it. I went back down and sat down at our table and I just stared at the man because I was like, this must be a bit, right? Then I watched him drink the whole thing. I got another one probably. I can't live in a world where that is the case. Oh, dude. Build your own, pal.

Because it's weird. Go home, build your own. If he had gone up and ordered a mimosa, I would have also been a bit taken aback. But I'm like weird, but maybe the guy's drinking champagne. He doesn't want. Yeah. He's getting a little orange. Whatever.

At Bloody Mary. Late night bloody. It is fucking wild. Absolutely wild. All right. Let's get Greg Wyshinsky here on the pod and let's get into some hockey talk. We are about to dive into some hot ice and it's very special because we are joined once again by our good, good buddy, Greg Wyshinsky. How are you, buddy?

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It's always my, it's always the process of elimination. Like, I wait so long. And then I get these amazing, like, eureka moments of what I should get my loved ones. And then I go online and find out that all the sizes I need are sold out. So then I just have to, like, adjust on the fly. That's usually how it works with a holiday shopping. My mother gets it done in September. And then her son gets it done December 24th, at around 10 o'clock at night. I'm literally the guy inside of the Walgreens or the CBS looking through the old IP-related action figures

that have been relevant for at least seven years and wondering, could this work? Is this retro yet? Like, is this now cool? Right. As it come back around. I don't know why I do the same thing. I'm holding a water world character in my hand being like,

will this work? Could it? Do they know Guinness Hopper? I've also devastated to hear how many amazing gifts your loved ones almost got. Like, you have incredible ideas, and then it's sold out. So they're really missing out. Well, they aren't because as they say, it's the thought that counts. So, of course, I explained to them in lieu of this shitty gift, like how many cool things I was planning on getting.

Yeah. Dude, you know what I've been doing a lot lately, Wish, is we'll fly home to Maine, and, you know, we'll do Christmas there with our parents. And when I get him something, and I'm... And I know, especially if I'm ordering it, I'm like, I'm not going to ship this to Maine so Chris can order a gift and then fly it back to California. So I'll just send it to the place in California. And on Christmas Day, I'll like print out a picture of it and tape it to like a hockey puck and have him unwrap a hockey puck. And I'm like, I promise you it looks sick in real. It takes away so much of the joy on Christmas Day.

But I think it comes back around later when you get back. It's like a second gift. I get it twice. Yeah. Like you get back to California, you're like, oh yeah, sick. I get to see this gift. So it's tough. Surprisingly, surprisingly exactly how I asked my wife to marry me.

He gave her hockey puck. Hey, well, the good news is we know that it works. So if I ever need to do that, we're fine. You're so fine. That's fantastic. So, all right, we've got a lot of shit to get into. And I think the first one we have to do is the news that just broke. Colorado's got a new goalie.

McKenzie Blackwood, trade it to the abs for Alexander Giorgiiv. Yep. And let's see, I wrote down what else, 2027, 5th round pick. Giovanni Smith. Yeah, going the other way as well. For Covalenko, 26, second round pick, 2025th, 5th round pick.

Wish, what do you think? Yeah. Yeah, you're familiar with Blackwood. I mean, a devil's legend now going to be playing with Nate Dog in Colorado. Do you think that this moves the needle for the abs? It's funny you should say moves the needle considering his vaccination stance,

but the, uh, the, uh, You know, the interesting thing about this for me is like, well, not only is it Colorado again, basically remaking their entire goaltending battery in season. I can't remember another team that did that. Great point. Great point. That's actually wild.

Yeah, it's really wild. I give San Jose a lot of credit here. I mean, the cost of acquisition for Blackwood, if memory serves, was like a sixth rounder, I think, for the Devils. And so now they've turned that around to him being the centerpiece in this deal with Colorado. Colorado. One, it's great. They get an on-rastered rookie coming back the other way. They get a second round pick, which is great, coming back the other way. And in Georgiev, they get a goaltender who is demonstrably extremely worse than Blackwood because the sharks have been kind of pesky good so far this

year. Maybe a little too good for my liking. Like, this is still a rebuild, boys. You know, you still have a lot of holes in the roster to fill, fill them with high draft pick players. Don't get good quite yet. And now they've traded a guy who I think was in the top 10 and goals saved above expected for basically a slice of Swiss. And that's great. Like that's what they should be doing at this point. And like you said, for Colorado, listen, I think Matt Blackwood has been sneakily one of the better goalies in the league.

Is he like Stanley Cup contender good? I don't know. But, you know, neither was Darcy Kemper necessarily in the year that they won. They just needed someone to be confident. and not lose them a series. And I think if that's the bar for Blackwood, he could be that. I completely agree.

I also think there's something interesting to be said about the amount of Sharks fans that were in our DMs right after this being like, what the fuck? Like we were making a playoff push. And I'm like, no, all right. Calm down, guys. Like, to your point, Wish,

I'm like, you don't want to make the playoffs. Like, the Sharks making the playoffs would be a disaster for them. It's like, there's no point in this. Calm down. But I also wonder if there is a weird situation that we might see here of Giorgiev going to San Jose

without someone like Nate Dog being a dictator, and I don't mean that in a bad way, but you know what I mean. He's an intense leader on the team. Giorgiv might get to San Jose. Everything's very chill there. He's got his nice Russian goalie tandem partner and Ascarov.

And he might be the Giorgio that Colorado thought they were getting when they signed him. I'm saying he might be playing better. He might just show up to San Jose and everything's very chill there. And he's like, all right, cool. And then starts bawling. Yeah, because that was my question, which he went, that first year in Colorado, 62 starts,

and 40 wins led the league 9-1-1-8, say a percentage, 253 goals against. That was he was 26 years old. That was his best year of his career. And then this year, as you said, 8-7-4, say, percentage, 3-3-8 goals against. Looks like a completely different person. Is he either? Probably not. I'm guessing he's somewhere in the middle, but could he bounce back in San Jose to change

a scenery or who knows? I mean, he could. You know, I, you know, it's funny. The Shark fans and your DMs made me think about Calgary and how I've been screaming from the rooftops all year that like you don't want to be Calgary. Yes. You don't want to mistake a rebuild for a retool

and be just good enough to get a sniff of the bubble. And at the end of the day, all you're doing is screwing your own draft position, which is exactly what they're doing. You know, I tend to, I always tended to think of Georgiev, much like every other backup goalie in this league, it's the same thing as backup quarterbacks in the NFL. Like you either hit big with one that's basically a guy that was in, you know, a starter in waiting or you get a guy who maybe should just be a tandem guy or a backup guy.

And like you said, the first year in Colorado, Colorado was kind of mind-blowing by how good he was. It seemed like they really hit on something and the investment that they made in acquiring him was pretty smart. but ultimately that, you know, maybe he's not that guy. And so, you know, like you said, you know, San Jose is a different place. Maybe he finds himself. It's not exactly the most defensively-skinned place per view.

I mean, not only in the personnel that they have on the blue line, but also, like, they're going young, so it's going to be a lot of guys that don't necessarily pay attention to the other side of the ice all that much. But I wish him luck. I mean, I don't think the pressures of being the guy in Colorado were necessarily his strength. I mean, based on what we saw in the playoffs. So, you know, making a change they were smart for them, getting him to another market is probably good for him.

And then on the other side, I look at Mack, that second year in Jersey, right, he had a really good season, 47 games, 9-1-5-6 percentage, 27-3 shutouts. Tremendous. You know, and that was like, there were so many goalies you guys had there. You know, there's so many young goalies in the stable there. It was interesting to see who was going to shake out. then he really fell off, right?

It was like putting up mid-three goals against. So far this year in San Jose, 19 games, 9-09, say, percentage, and the three even goals against, best year he's had in five, six years. Do you think his level of play can make the abs less Jekyll and Heidi like they've been? Because like you said, they won with Kemper. They won with a guy that wasn't a one-a goalie.

Is this a Kemper guy that they're getting? Like, can they win the cup now? Or is Mac Plaque not quite that guy for him? I mean, I think then when it, the cup really all depends on how they flesh out their supporting cast. And if that supporting cast can stay in the lineup, in particular, Nikushkin would be the guy that I think a lot of us look at in that regard. Yeah, I think he could be a stabilizing force.

I think he probably wins you more games than he loses. And the thing about him in Jersey that was always interesting was that he kind of like lingered on for a while despite his numbers declining year over year. And I remember asking some people in the organization what that was about. out. There were some people that felt that ownership liked him, and that's why he stuck around. But I have to imagine it was also some people, maybe it was Brodor, I don't know, within the organization who thought that he had something beyond the numbers that he was putting up. So again, he's a guy that went someplace else, sort of found himself a little bit and now finds himself back in a reasonable pressure situation, maybe more pressure than he's ever felt. Yeah. And so far as being on a cup contender. And I think he's matured a bit. So I wish him, I wish him the best. I think it's a good spot for him. I'll tell you what, too, which there's a goalie on our beer league team who got McKenzie's old setup without Mac knowing. So he's playing in his gear.

And he's every day. He's like, I hope I don't get a call someday. That's like, Matt's like, can I have my gear back? So I think I just need the abs to be good because then he'll be too distracted to give a fuck what happens to his old devil setup. Yeah. I do. I also, I really love the fact that. like now, I don't know if you guys are aware of this,

but the abs are just collecting a forest of players. Like they've got wedge wood now, blackwood and wood. Very interesting. It's a lumber yard, dude. There's a full lumber yard in Colorado, and that's nice. I think that adds to fun elements in the locker room. Dude, I hadn't even considered that. It's big to think about it.

A very appropriate state for that to happen. Exactly. It's absolutely perfect. You're the Rocky fan. Yeah. How frustrated would you be if you were a Colorado Avalanche fan watching how Val Nishu-Shkin is playing right now. Dude, he is the most, like, if I were a die-hard abs fan,

and I was watching the way he just comes in and out like this. And like, if he just stayed mentally with it for 82 games back-to-back, like he would be, I legitimately think he could be like a heart contender. He's so good when he's on. I would lose my mind as a fan. I'd be like, just stop fucking around, dude. What are we doing? It's insane.

God, I would lose my mouth. lot of that talk that year. His big breakout year, there were people that pointed to the analytics and how many like wins above replacement he provided to that team and said he was like a sneaky heart candidate. It's tough to make that argument when you have McKinnon and McCarr on the roster who obviously soaked up so much of the attention, especially McKinnon when it comes to the MVP. But yeah, there are definitely people that put him on that pedestal of being like he's kind of sneakily the most valuable guy in the lineup when he's on. He's also massive. Like he's just a huge person. Him and and Moose. I was about

to say, and like if you add Nate in there, too, it's like those are three of the most deceivingly brick shit house guys in the NHL, and they play on the same team. And when they're all cooking, that's why they want a cup. But it's, you know,

it goes into that. You know, the first, sorry, the first guy that ever, like, earned that description from me, just like brick shit house when I,

when I saw him up close, we were doing the players media tour in Toronto one year. And it was when Tarasenko was still on St. Louis. And his, like, star was ascending. So he was, like doing the rounds of the player media tour. First time I ever saw that guy in person, man.

Like, it's a miracle he could fit through the doorway with how wide his shoulders were. Like, oh yeah. I mean, nickname of Tank, obviously, for his last name, but also for description because that motherfucker, like, I could not believe how thick that guy was the first time I met him. I had the same reaction,

because I had never met him in person until this past year. And I completely agree. And he doesn't, he looks small on TV. my opinion. Like when I was watching him play, I was like, oh, that's like a shifty little waterbug guy. And he's like, no, I'm a machine. He's also like he's bursting out of his suit pants every time I see him at some events. Like his legs are so big. It's amazing. Yeah, it's like you think he's a shifty forward because of the way he plays and then he winds up being like the Kool-Aid man. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, let's stick on goalies and talk about obviously the huge news of last week.

We'll get into what instigated this news after. But Igor is just a lot. Sturkin signs the biggest goalie contract in NHL history, eight-year, $92 million deal, 11.5 AAV. Here's my question for the both of you. When this is exactly the deal that he turned down months ago. Yeah, that's correct, right? I kind of lost the threat on that. Turned down 11.5 and now here we are months later.

He signs the deal. Question for both of you is, I was banging the drum hard when he turned down that deal, Rangers fans who are calling him selfish, calling him a piece of shit, being like, How could you possibly turn that down, blah, blah, blah. I was going, he's earned it. He deserves it. He is carrying this team night in and night out. And I stand by that.

That said, I do wonder, after we saw what happened in Montreal with Kerry Price signing his massive 10.5 AAV deal and what that led to, regardless of cap going up, Igor Cistercane at 28 years old, signing an eight-year, $11.5 million deal as a goalie, I think there's a situation. where I believe it is something that he deserves, but also maybe an overpay. Yeah, you go for a switch. I don't think it's an overpay with the cap going up. And I also think that this idea of comparing his salary to that of other goaltenders is kind of misleading too, because we're in a tandem league. And there are so few guys that are on his level. And, yeah, I mean, you know, Hellow Bucket probably had the chance to maybe make this dough on the open market.

was a little bit intimidated by the idea of maybe not finding it. And plus he was pretty comfortable in Winnipeg, so he resigns there. Would Igor have found that money on the open market? And the answer I give to that is the Philadelphia Flyers exist, and they are never shy about spending that kind of money on a goalie, and they need one. And when I think about, like, is there a destination for Igor's to shirkken as a free agent? Yes.

and one that might be willing to go that high AAV because of their need. That doesn't mean I know anything, you know, as far as like if it would have happened. But if you're looking for could he have gotten it, I think he could have. Oh, yeah. Listen, here's the thing about the beginning of the season, though. Like you said, he turned down that contract and was sort of doing the, I'm going to bet on myself. I wonder if he, like, is looking around at this Rangers team that can't defend five on five. And he's like, I'm probably not doing better than this.

Like my numbers at the end of the season may not be Vesinaworthy based on what's happening in front of me. So I might as well take the money and run right now. Yeah. It honestly looks like it. I'm not saying like he's tired, but we saw in the beginning of the season through the first 10, 15 games, they were winning some games. I always point to that two-un win over Ottawa when Ottawa had 44 shots in that game. He was just stealing them games and making them their record look much better than the team actually,

was and it feels like already now through 30 or so games coming up on 30 games it's like he he looks like he's like oh I can't keep doing this all season long so I agree I think there is a world where he's like I think if anything it'll get worse than it is right now so let's just fucking take that contract and get out of here and I love that take for him right like in his head space but there's two things I wanted to point out because I actually I'm kind of on the other side of this argument to be honest with you guys, where I, if I'm Shisterkin, the, or sorry, I guess if I'm the Rangers, because I really was looking forward to asking you wish if you thought there was an offer out there. And I was, because maybe you had an insider info. And I know you're saying you don't know

anything for sure, but it felt like the flyers exist because they sure do. I will, I will jump in and say, I believe firmly. If he hit this summer and hit UFA, Vegas was giving him 12 no matter what. They were going to trade. Somebody would have paid him. I think they would have been in that sweepstakes for sure. Okay, so I guess here's like... Even if I knew something about this, I couldn't share it with you because I don't want to be accused of soft tampering. Yes.

Something we've discovered. We can't... We can't... We can't... I mean, the city of Ottawa will come for us immediately if we do that. And dude, that's... I don't want to piss off some owner. Yeah, exactly.

It's the fear of God and you. ...convable conversations with his players. No, I think the money could have been out there for him, to be honest with you. And it could have been out there. there also maybe at a different term as well yeah oh interesting you know i i it's it's tough to say i will say this though about about this and and you know i am team pay the guy right but always so are way sorry yeah some of the pushback yeah but you're not like given that much money necessarily is what you just said and that's fine i'm not yeah yeah that's fine what i find

interesting though is like there's this notion out there of you don't have to have a goalie that makes that much if you want to win, you know, because there's been so many teams that have been able to do it, you know, succeed, let's say, with a goalie tandem or a goalie that doesn't make that much money, kind of Chris Osgooding it a little bit more than teams that have these elite guys. To which I say, let's see, Kemper was an exception, Bennington was a freak, But other than that, Bobrovsky, Vaselesky, Holpsey, if you want to put them in that category. Which is fair. Right.

Goaltenders. Aiden Hill, of course, being the other exception because of the team that played in front of him. But most of the time, you need the guy. Like, you need that elite goaltender to come through. And those guys get paid. If Dallas somehow wins this year, Ottinger's name goes on the list, too. I think that if you want to win, you need that goalie. And I think if you don't have that goalie,

you sometimes spend a lot of time trying to find a reasonable facsimile of that goalie. So I think once you land on someone likes to shirk and then you're the Rangers, you keep them in the fold or else you're just creating another problem for yourself that you don't need. A hundred percent agree. So what I was alluding to earlier when I said it might be an overpay. I caveat that with I would have paid him exactly this if I were the if I'm jury I give him this

and that's why I'm like it's a good move it's a good signing because I don't think that we're going to see some implosion from Igor Shister yeah he's not going to be like I got the bag and I fucking suck now I just do not think that there's any planet where that happens obviously there could be a tragedy

like with Montreal and Carrie Price and a brutal injury happens but you can never play that game and you can never play that game and you can never get on a GM how could you ever predict that? My point is, you are right wish, at least I think. I don't think there's anyone else on his level. I think he is the best goalie in the league right now,

but I don't think it is obvious. I think that is my, I'm like, yeah, I would give it to him personally. I think regardless of the cap going up, you are forced to ask the question, is he $2 million better than Vassie? Is he three plus million dollars better than Swayman, then Ottinger, then Hellebuck? Because the answer to that question,

question is I don't know. So when I am looking at it as just an objective observer, that is a lot of money to be paying your goalie when you're trying to build. Because like the Rangers window is closing shut. You know, like where I think we're in the middle of a retool. Like it's not a rebuild, but I think a retool is happening. It's a lot of money. That's such an interesting question though, because I mean, that's clearly, I know we're going to probably talk about the Truba thing in a second, but like that's a, that's a debate that a lot of us have been having here in New York over the last, you know, week or so is, you know, what is this team? Where is it going? You know, if they end up trading Crider, what does it mean? And, you know, now that you have Igor locked in, you do kind of

have like a little holy trinity of players that you can now say as a pillar for whatever you're going to build around them, which is Lafranier, Fox, and Chichirkin. And that's a pretty good starting point for any team, you know, to kind of like say, okay, this is what we're rolling with and then we'll kind of figure out the details around them. Keeping in mind that, you know, Panarin still has a lot of good years left in him. How much, what's his contract? How much does he have left? I believe two, maybe.

Okay, yeah, so he's, but he's there for a bit. Yes, yes. I think it's two. It might be three. So it is, I agree with you. I think a retool probably is coming, but it's, it's a proper retool. It's not a bullshit retool like Calgary. Like it's a, we.

have a lot on this roster right now. And oh, by the way, we're going to open up a ton of salary space with some of the older guys that are aging off our roster to kind of morph and change into whatever is going to be next. And to have to sure can be the foundation on which you build that, I think is vital. Much in the same way with Winnipeg, like having Helibuck as the foundation on which you build, whatever you're building, you know, post all these guys Dubois, Wheeler, all the older guys that left the roster, like they were able to really transition and come back strong, that that was going to be there too. Yeah.

I guess just, and even though I will firmly say, any player in the NHL that can get whatever money they can get, I want them to have. I do feel that way. But dude, I just, I'm surprised, because you think he's the best. I don't. But he's obviously in the conversation.

I'm not an idiot. But I think he's so overhyped by, I think Rangers fans are consistently like he's the best goal in the league, for sure. Yeah, it's ridiculous of me to say, I think he's probably the best in the league, but then also overhyped, but he is overhyped by. Because he has won Vesna, never been a Vesna finalist since.

He's gotten worse every year in save percentage and goals against, including this year. And I just don't understand, like, you have the right to go give me 12 mil a year. But I just can't even believe that was entertained. If I'm the Rangers, I would have been like, well, dude, everyone else gets eight and a half. Like, what are you talking about? And if he had got 10, I would have been like, okay, you, because they don't have a backup planning, that's right. But the fact that this is an 11 plus, I'm like, but I think it's, dude, I think it's the team in front of him.

I think it's the defense in front of him. That is why his numbers have gone down every year. But that goes into my point. If I'm Drury, I would be like, dude, take 10 and a half and I'll get you a better defense. And that didn't happen. That is my point of the, it might be an overpay because I think, regardless of cap going up, again, it makes it difficult. You have a difficult situation. Like we talked, Panarin has this year and next year left at 11.6.

Zabanajad is a full no move until 2028. at eight and a half. Like it's, there's not that much freedom on this team's cap space. And I think that that's interesting. I don't know, man. Like, I feel like if you solve the goalie problem,

then you pay to keep it solved. And I agree. Agree. Look at the oiler situation right now. Or it's like, okay, you've got the best two and a half weeks of, of Stuart Skinner's goaltending life.

And that got you to game seven of the final. Can you depend on that happening again? Can you depend on him being a good regular? season goalie for guys. Yeah, yeah. There's so many things up there that are built for success. And then you come back to the crease and you're like, well, if this, then. Yeah.

And, you know, when you find that guy, you got it, you got to pay him. You don't, you don't know. No, no, you're absolutely right. Especially when you know when you're convinced that it's not them throwing money to a guy that might be it. Like, Swamen, God bless him. I love the kid, but, you know, do we know what he is when he's not playing on a Patrice Bergeron team?

Extremely fair take, based on this season. Extremely fair take. Absolutely. I suppose, like, we're all in agreement. I just suppose my one thought is, and you kind of touched on this, absolutely pay the guy, and that's the number that he and his camp set to, but I'm just surprised it was that number. Like, my whole point is, like, the Ottinger and Hellebuck and Swamen thing, I would say that the two, the first two on that list, are you that, are you three million dollars better than them? I just think, I thought that was surprising. I thought 11 and a half of the number was surprising. That's all I'm saying. Let's get into Truba. Babes, we are in the heat of sports season right now. It's December. We just had all the conference championships in college football.

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you obviously are in the thick of it over there seeing how all this shit breaks down and there's a great article everybody listening Greg wrote a great article about this so go to esbn.com and read it right now yes absolutely so truba after a full off season and now beginning of this season tons of drama about his life and and future on the New York Rangers after turning down certain trade opportunities. He finally gets moved to Anaheim. And Wish, do you know did he waive for Anaheim or was that, do we not know? He did.

Okay, so he waived that and said, I will go to Anaheim. Which feels crazy because so many of the stories were like he needs to stay in and around New York and then he goes to literally the furthest part. Well, he kind of mentioned that in his quotes. Yeah, yeah, go on. Yes, he did. Yeah. Well, part of it, as has been pointed out by a lot of people, like the staying around

New York part was for the benefit of his wife. Yes. You know, in the medical profession, the reason he asked for a trade out of Winnipeg was so he could, you know, she can go to New York and do all that stuff there. And then, you know, the owners of the ducks are also in the medical field. And so there's a notion of Anaheim being a friendly landing space for him because, you know, her career is going to be, you know, able to advance and she can find a gig out there eventually if he hangs around an Anaheim.

That's cool. I didn't know that. That's cool. Yeah, it's fantastic. But yeah, where do you guys stand on how this all shook out? And as you answer this, Greg, it's been calamitous. I want to hear your thoughts on a lot of the quotes you have in your article. Are you surprised he went there to the meet?

Oh, I also want to say one of his quotes, but it's a right of passage to get fired from MSG. Hell yeah, bro. Yeah. Us and Truva, welcome. So proud to be a part of that club, dude. Fucking awesome. the club. But yeah, were you surprised he went there with some of those comments? Yeah, here I thought he was talking about Gerard Gallant, but he was talking about you guys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that was a huge empty netto, shut out. I think I, so, okay, so he needed to go because they, he wasn't really playing all that well. And I think he wasn't playing all that well because the weight of all of this stuff from the summer was weighing on him. He said it himself. I thought one of the more interesting quotes the Truba had in that press conference was that his ability to be an effective captain was subverted by knowing he was basically a lame duck player. I thought that was really fascinating, like that concept of can you wear the sea and be effective if everyone knows they're trying to boot you out the door? And the answer, of course, is no. Look, I think the Rangers were right to want to move him.

I think that they should have known that their inability to do so in the summer was going to adversely affect him, the team, everybody involved. But like I said in the piece I wrote, the MVP of this situation is Jeff Gorton. Jeff Gorton used to be the GM in the New York Rangers. He's the guy who signed Trubita of that contract. He gave Truba a lot of money as an average annual value, $8 million, I believe it was. And at the time, people said, that's a big overpayment for Jacob Trupa. And it turns out that it's also transactional because if you give the guy a lot of money, he doesn't get everything he wants in his contract.

In this case, it was two years at the end in which his no movement clause became a 15 team, no trade clause. His no movement clause could then not prevent the Rangers from strong arming him like they did on this trade, which is to say, if you don't accept a trade out of New York, we're going to put you on. waivers and then you lose any control yeah as to where you're going to go next um so if if gorton now the president of the montreal canadians doesn't sign him to that deal this whole situation doesn't play out uh the way it did last week correct yeah and it's i i i'm the responses have been really interesting for us to watch in our comments and everything from the rangers fans because a lot of people as you said were disappointed in his play even before this year right like that was already

going back to last year, especially this year, but then even they have been like, I actually can't believe the treatment of this guy on the way out the door. And it's like, it's raising a lot of questions like, okay, well, here comes the New York shit show as this all falls apart. Something that I just find so fascinating that I think goes into a lot of the larger roster problems on this New York Rangers team. To your point, when he signed that contract, there were a lot of people, myself included, who were like, that is a very high A.A.V for Jacob Troop.

shocked that they're giving him this deal. Then Truba's named the captain, what, two years ago? And I think a lot of people were going, that was unexpected. That's an interesting choice for captain. And I think a lot of people even then knew that this situation might come. It was a player that I think a lot of Rangers fans were not satisfied with and were like, he's a guy that I would like to move if we possibly can. And now you're making him the captain. And now you have eight months of what looks like to a lot of people on the outside of just this shit treatment of your captain. who now gets kicked out the door and sent off to California for nothing. Yeah. And it begs the question, which I'd love both of your opinions on, do you hold any stock in some of the comments of people saying, this is going to be an interesting situation with how other people's around the league, other players around the league look at the way they treat leaders in the Rangers organization?

Do you think there's any truth to that? No, I don't. Because like, here's the thing. about players. And I talked to a few of them on and off the record about Truba in the last week. When they say they know it's a business, they're being honest. Like they know it's a business. They, there are going to always be lingering bad feelings about losing a friend from the locker room or a coach getting canned or whatever. But at the end of the day, they know that management has to do the things that management is going to do. And sometimes that means making very

uncomfortable decisions. Now, the point of demarcation, for me between does this affect future business for the Rangers or not is Vegas. Like Vegas is the single most cutthroat organization. Yep. Maybe in sports. Yeah. So far as how they've treated beloved players, Mark Andre Fleury, Nate Schmidt, Jonathan Marshall, so the list goes on and on for all these guys that have meant so much the fans in Vegas

and they were just treated like dog shit by this team on the way out. But it's on the way out. And that's the big point of demarcation I want to make here. When you're a New York Ranger, you are treated like a fucking prince. You are giving every single thing that you need, whether it is, it is, you know, the assets that the team has, you know, the support staff that they have, the fact that they put people with tape recorders next to you in every interview to make sure that the media is doing their job and covering you, which is an actual thing that happens. I forgot about that until I looked behind me the other night at MSG, and I saw a phalanx of Rangers employees that had been recording all of our conversations with the players

in post-game interviews to make sure that the players weren't taken out of context. And the same thing with Vegas. Vegas sets you up with housing. You're going to live in Summerland. It's going to be beautiful. They take care of your family. Like, when you're in the organization, you are treated better than you are in 90% of the other organizations in this league.

but God forbid you don't have a no move clause and they decide it's your time that you are getting Barclay Goodrode or Jacob Trubudin and that's just gonna be how it is and I think the players see the difference between those two things. Yeah, I'll hear your take

but I completely agree. I think it's, oh, well I get it, I get people being like, dude, this is a shit look and there's part of me that was like it is a shit look. Like I can agree with that while also be like,

yeah, who doesn't fucking matter, dude? Because at the end of the day, Truba admitted himself. He's like, I was not playing well. So when you've got your captain, a defenseman who is being paid what should be first pairing D money, and you're not playing well, you cannot be surprised if the team is like, we got to get you out of here. So it sucks, but I don't think at all it makes any player in the league be like, I don't want to sign with the Rangers because they treat you like shit.

It's like, no, if you play well, they're going to treat you great. Same. I think it's a great answer wish. And it's a perfect segue into another leader on the team, because this is in your article two. it says general manager Chris Drury sent a memo to the other 31 NHL team saying he was ready to make trades specifically mentioning forward Chris Kreider and Truda as being and Truba as being available. We have talked many times on this show that if Kreider wins a cup, his numbers going to the rafters. Like this guy.

It's already going to the rafters. Yeah. If he wins a cup, he might be considered the greatest ranger of all time over Brian Leach. And to hear that they're like this, get him out of here. It was like the Truba thing we kind of all saw coming via this summer. But the Crider thing is shocking to me based on, yeah. So like, what do you think about that? He has zero fucking assist.

He's not playing well. I love him. I love him like a brother. He's not playing well. Yeah, what do you think about that wish? He's always had like an EA sports NHL game glitch to his stats where he has like, you know, 30 goals and an assist. Like it's always really weird. But like, I thought that there was a difference between Drury putting Truba in that email or that memo and Crider.

I mean, first of all, Drewree's not an idiot, as far as I can tell. He knows that information is going to get out to some insider. And it ended up being, I think, Elliot Friedman, who reported it out. And knowing that means that he knows that the two players he decides to mention my name in that email are going to get out too. In Kreider's case, I really felt at the time it was less about Chris Kreider's in the trade block, what do you got from you, boys, than it was Chris Kreider's in the trade block. How do you feel about that, Nick is a band of the head who's played like Darryder's

shit this year. How do you feel about that other veterans on this team who love, love Chris Kreider in that dressing room? How do you feel about knowing that this guy could be shipped out because your play necessitates it? I felt that was more of a psychological play that it was an actual trade thing. But again, as the Rangers continue to not exactly stack W's on W's at this point this season, who knows maybe he could be on the way out. And but I think it's an awesome take. And I honestly love that from a general manager standpoint to kind of the wake up all kick in the pants, but the other side of it, and you never know, every player is different, but the other side of it is what you just described Truba was feeling, where it's like,

you've cut the legs out from under me in the locker room now because I can't talk to the boys because they know I'm on the block, right? And maybe Kreider takes it that way instead of the kick in the pants that I think he wants it to be. So it's a bit of a gamble is all I'm saying, I guess. Yeah, absolutely. It's crazy. Absolutely. Yeah. And in Trubba's case, it crushed, it crushed him. Yeah. Like, there was no coming back from knowing how, how hard the team was working to move him and then knowing he had to use his trade protection. And then as he mentioned, knowing it was all out there. Like that was the biggest thing for Truba, I think.

I was in the locker room beginning of training camp when he went off on Larry Brooks about reporting all this stuff about his wife and her residency and things like that. Like I think Truba is a guy who really A doesn't like his business being put out there and B, really, really doesn't like the fact that his family had to be part of that business. Yeah. And so all of that weighed on him. How do you, I mean, come at home and seeing you. your loved one and being like, sorry your names in the fucking New York Post.

Like, shit. That sucks. Yeah, the post of all places, dude. Come on. Do we know. Do we know, do, yeah, seriously, at least get into times, dude. Fuck. Do we know if the Rangers and Ducks are playing again this year?

Oh, great question. They already played, I think. Yeah, they're not playing again, right? Yeah. Because there's part of me. I don't know. They might play out in Anaheim, but they're not, like, we were talking about, like, what is the Jacob Tribor tribute video going to look like?

and he uh it's all near decapitation that's what well here's all the guys you almost killed like i don't even know if they could do it like you know and there's other part of me that was gonna be like do you see it's funny wish we were we were over we did some stuff with the kings the other day as the trade happened and we were talking to the boys after they got off the ice for practice and i was like truba just got traded to the ducks so keep your fucking head on a swivel and they're all like god damn it dear so yeah they got gudas and truba unbelievable yeah they play at they play at anahehyman they play at Anaheim?

Yeah, yeah. That'd be fun. Brilliant. I wonder if he tries to murder something. The day of the trade, the day of the trade, the Rangers were playing the Penguins. And I said to somebody I was sitting in the press box with, I'm like, how much money would you give me if I go ask Sid about the Truba trade? There is not enough money. Oh, Christ.

Sid, Sid, another loss of the Penguins, but thoughts on Jacob Truba getting traded. You wouldn't be the best out in Anaheim? I wish you had done that so bad. I know. You would never speak to you. All right. Let's talk about another guy you just got checked out of town. Luke Richardson, fired in Chicago.

Quick trigger, wish, or what do you think there? No, I don't think that was a quick trigger at all. I think that team is a disaster. Disaster. And I think the only reason that that guy wasn't out, like being sent out on a rail by the hockey media writ large, is because he's a really nice guy. Yeah. a really inspiring backstory.

And I think there was a certain amount of protection for this guy. And also on top of that, maybe a little bit of like, this is Kyle Davidson's making versus the coach's problem. But I'm telling you, man, you know, when you have one job in theory in Chicago, and it is to do right by Connor Bardard. And I think Luke Richardson was working a second job in Chicago, which is trying to keep him employed. Yeah.

meeting Richardson. And those two things were diametrically opposed, unfortunately, which is that by having Bedard play more of a defensive role, by putting it with linemates that were more defensively responsible than some of the better offensive players in the team that Badard should be playing with to get him going, you know, he's trying to then have this team play a style which could keep him in a job longer than, maybe keep him in a job through the rest of the season. And that wasn't doing right by Badard. And the more you heard Baddard talk about like, how disappointed he was and the team being a non-factor again, and then, you know, grumbling about, you know, his role and saying,

there's a hundred things that he could do differently, maybe with his game to get his offense going. Like, he was clearly unhappy. And when you have a star that important to the franchise, that that's unhappy, something's got to change. And I don't think it's coincidence, like the minute that Richardson leaves, here's Baderd playing with, like, Tara Vinen and, again, another good offensive player on the team.

Yeah. I also think there's a direct correlation with Baderd, did get kind of vocal about his frustrations with the team. And then we saw a weeks later, Richard. Yeah, that's it for sure. Because you're right. You're 100% right, wish in terms of this is the Bedard show in a good way. And it's like, you know, you need to cater to your superstar.

It just, I guess I was curious because I'm with you, that team stinks. That's a bad team. And so I look at it. And I'm like, yeah, they're in last again. But their winning percentage is up from last, a tiny bit. You know, but like, it's, I'm like, you have a bad team last year. You have a bad team this year. you're getting slightly better.

I'm not sure why we're firing the coach. Usually it's like we're supposed to be nasty and we're underperforming. And this was like, you're horrible and you're slightly better. Like, why do you fire the coach? So that's what, that's why I was curious.

But I think if you piss off the darned, I also think honestly, you know, in asking around the league, I think the Taylor Hall thing really resonated as being like, what is this guy doing? You know, for those that don't know,

you know, Taylor Hall was a healthy scratch earlier this year. And he went off in an interview, saying that he had never gotten the heads up that that was even a possibility. And yeah, Taylor Hall now is not Taylor Hall Heart Trophy season. But Taylor Hall is still a pretty important veteran in this league.

And for him to come out and be like, this is kind of like unprofessional. To read it between the lines is kind of what he's saying, to scratch me without telling me that that's a possibility. And then having Luke Richardson subsequently say, yeah, I could have handled it better. I probably should have given him the heads up that he was going to be a healthy scratch.

Like, that's the kind of shit that can't happen if you're a head coach in this league. And also a guy that's been in this league as an assistant forever, too. Like he should be better than that. And I know in talking to some people around the league, they were really taken aback by that moment and being like, you've got to really know your details better than to have, you know, one of the more prominent names in your team come to the media and be like,

yeah, they did wrong by me here. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. It's quotes like that. We have a Black Oaks friend or Black Oaks fan. friend who was talking to me after that and I was like I think the writing's on the wall for Richardson after that you hear a quote like you're you're you've lost it dude like you've

completely lost the plot if you're openly admitting like yeah I fucked that one up and the team like important veterans are upset with me it does not bode well for your future and the team's future so feel like it had to happen um think about badard though boys is like someone's got to get to him and explain they they tore it down to the foundations to the to the screws in the foundations like I've never seen a team go that well. That might have been a mistake by Kyle Davidson and the Blackhawks, but it did serve its purpose, which is to secure a generational talent for the roster.

But like, you know, Ovi didn't win until Baxterm was there and Mike Green was there. You know, Sid had Malkin, he had Flurry, he had Letang, he had all the, Jordan Stahl. Like, when these generational guys come up, they need to have other guys in the roster that allow them to excel. dry saddle and Newton Hopkins. You know, the list goes on and on as far as like, you know, McDavid and Ottawa. Like,

Chicago is a, is a wasteland. Yeah. It's going to take a few years for him to get, to get the kind of supporting cast that he thinks that they maybe already have to be a relevant playoff contender. I mean, for God's sake,

Celibini is way more set up in San Jose right now than the Bard is in Chicago. Yeah. I mean, I, it's funny, bring that up. I don't blame, Godard for being frustrated. He's obviously, he's a very great good player. He's a great competitor. He

wants to win. I understand him being frustrated, but this summer when you got guys like Taylor Hall, Nick Falino, I know Felino was already there, but like you get guys like Hall, Falino, Bertuzi, Taravinen, some of these vets that have joined the team. And people were like, whoa, like, look at this. I was kind of saying they're like, that's not going to do anything. Like, yeah, they're not going to be the literal AHL team like they were last year. But I was Like, this is not, like, people were thinking like, oh, the Black Oaks are going to make some noise this year. And I was sitting there like, no, they're fucking not. And I think Badaard maybe got caught up in that of like, all right, last year was last year, but here we go now.

We're a different team. And they're frankly not really a different team. And I do think that he is struggling with that reality. Yeah, it's going to take it. Yeah. And it doesn't help that like Tyler Bertuzzi and Ella Cortinas forgot how to hockey. Yeah. Oh, I did.

I hate what that happens. Man, it is like Bert feels like he got that deal. And he was just like, all right, cool, I'm chilling. He's like, he doesn't know what hockey is anymore right now. It feels like it's absolutely crazy. The highlight that's been going around, I don't know if you've seen this, but like, they're, they've got the goalie pulled, Boudard has an incredible zone entry where he walks three people and then dishes it to Burt in zone at the top of the circles and Burt just like

dumps it and rims it. And then it goes all the way around and gives up a goal. Yeah, like he could have taken it to the dad. He had a lane and he just like decides to just like cyclify. It's, it's wild. It's crazy. All right, a couple quick hitters before we move on. What do you think about another coaching chain situation, how the Bruins look under Sacco?

Do you think that they are back, or do you think that this is a flash in the pan with the new coach bump? No, they've righted the ship a little bit. I mean, they're playing better. I haven't really checked the underlying numbers to see if anything has really dramatically shifted from going Montgomery to Sacco. But it's pretty clear they needed a different voice behind the bench and maybe one that wasn't trying so hard to motivate them by doing things that weren't really sitting sitting well in the locker room, scratching guys, yelling at guys, yada, yada, yada. Plus, at last check, Swamen's numbers are trending in the right direction. Yeah, much better. Which to me was going to be inevitable.

You know, guy misses camp first month and a half of the season. He's playing horribly. Naturally, those numbers are going to go in the right direction, whether the coach gets fired or not. So, you know, I mean, you look at the East right now and you, you know, see the separation between the playoff teams and the ones that are kind of bubbling under the surface. And you get a sense that the Bruins just had to kind of play the way they're playing right now to be a wild card. And then you go from there. Yeah. The all I found, which is I was going to say, you do have some good numbers. Yeah.

Since the coaching. This is in third period specifically. Okay. Third period specifically. Since the coaching change, goals for B's worth 32nd in the league in the third period under Montgomery are now. tied seventh in the league. Goals against, they were 16th under Montgomery, now tied second, and goal differential at negative 12 under Montgomery,

32nd in the league, at plus five, tied fifth in the league under Soco. So the third period, you've seen a huge shift, which is obviously the big one. I think you're right in terms of they have righted the ship a bit. I don't think any of us here, I think Montgomery's a bad coach. It just sometimes things change in the room and whatever. Now they're playing a bit harder, playing a bit smarter.

However, I do think this beast team is more flawed than I maybe hoped coming into this season. With the moves they made, you know, bringing in Linton, bringing into door off, I was like, yeah, and everyone's going to be fine. And I was banking on some production that was there last year from a coil from a Zaka. I am like this, but preseason I thought this team could be a legitimate cup contender. And right now I'm like, I don't know how you score enough to to compete in the playoffs. Yeah, and I never, never thought they'd be a cup contender. Like, I was impressed with the assemblage of beef they put on the blue line. And, you know, but, like, they're a donut.

I mean, you know, you respect to Linholm. He's a complimentary player. They don't, they don't, they, I mean, the days of Bergeron and Kreachie are long gone. Yeah. And until they address that, I don't think they could be a true contender again. My secret theory, maybe not secret, but my personal theory was that they were, they were hoping that dry saddle was going to shake loose. Dude, not yet. I don't, yeah.

We share that theory in a big way. That is like, yeah, they're going to keep the warm for him. That is a certain truth. There's no doubt about it. But yeah, no, I think you're both right. I think they have right at the ship. But at the end of the day, you know, you're seeing a bit of a step up, but like, Elias Lindholm, Pavel Zaka, these are guys that need to be doing better.

The fact that that second line right wing is still completely nude, they haven't given Lysel a single shot. Merculov got maybe two games. Matt Potra is in the HL right now, playing at a point per game in the last 10 games. And he hasn't been called back up. It's like those are the things. I'm like, great, you're winning games. But when it comes to the dog days of the season and then playoffs, you can't be relying on Mark

Castellick and Cole Kepke to be getting you these like that second wave of scoring. It's just it is what it is. Like this team is going to get into the playoffs and then it's going to be the same story. It looks like. And that's no disrespect to the team because they're playing much better. Very happy for Sacco. Happy for certain guys. But it's like there are holes on that team.

Something that came up in that game. What do you guys think about torts calling out the bees for diving after? Mitch Koff was going full Olympic diving gold medal in the same game. Do you think we have a diving problem in the league? No, well, yeah, but not a problem. I was going to say kind of. I mean, like that, yeah. I mean, but is it a problem though, or is it just a tactic that will always be in the game

the matter, you know, if they, maybe if they increase the fines to $100,000 for your first offense, maybe guys won't fall. But like, it's a tactic and the guys that are good at it will continue to do it. And torts always does. Torz is like a real like gaslighting type coach where he knows this thing does a lot of bullshit but he's the first to try to call out that bullshit on other teams. And you know his team is always virtuous. You know, his team never whines but you know, Crosby and Malkin, they're the whiners, you know, when he was the Rangers coach.

Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, and I love Toritz. Like he was a co-worker. But he is always pulling these cards out. out to play him knowing full well that like if not his team then all other NHL players do the same stuff that he's calling out yeah and I got to believe I know they would never admit this but I got to believe it's a little bit of a play you know you just you want the next call right like that's why you complain about calls at all

you're not going to fix what happened but you just want to get the next call when you're whining so it's like I got to believe that there's something in him being like we get out penalty six to two or whatever it was yeah I'm gonna bitch about this and then maybe it's a little bit softer in the next game yeah It is, ah, man, it's an interesting thing because we've all done it, but there's a difference, I think there's a difference with the diving that we're seeing in the NHL right now than there is in European football, for example. It's like if you get the slightest bit of contact, you can't be flopping around on the ice. That would be insane.

But when you get around a guy with puck control and his stick gets in your legs, I'm not really mad at, you know, if it's tripping you up a little bit, and you're like, yeah, I'm just going to go down, get us on a power play. Yeah, I'm not. Stick shouldn't have been there, dude. Stick shouldn't have been there. I'm not really mad at that. But it is one of those conundrums, right, where you're watching and you're a fan of a team

and that happens against you. You're like, fucking get up, bitch. You know, it's like, it happens. Badard just said it to Patrick Kane. But ultimately, Badard Stick was under Patrick Kane's skate and he tripped him. So it's like, what are you going to do? It does not matter to me.

I know that we all want to have integrity in the game and, you know, this, that, and everything. But it, like, I respect it. as a tactic. I respect the players that can draw penalties on the reg. I respect players Ovi being one of them that do a masterful job of, of, whoa, and you get high stick. Like, it's a real talent, in my opinion, to be able to pull off that stuff and do it in a way where you're not, the, the, the, the risky run is not getting fined by the league. The risky run is being the boy who cried wolf. And like that's, and never getting a call. And so to be able to do that with regularity and draw calls

and not be someone who all of a sudden, all the riffs are like sending a memo to each other, or Colin Campbell sending a memo to them saying, don't do that one, he's a diver, or whatever they do. You know, if you can get away with it, more power to you,

because I think it's a skill, like any skill in the National Hockey League. It absolutely is. It's a competitive edge, too. I don't think, you know, you say the integrity thing. I'm totally with you. I don't think it has anything to fucking do with integrity.

I think it's wanting to win. Yeah, same. Give it, give it that shout every single. the time. And also, if I was a pro, if I was a pro player, I would, I would fucking tumble like Simone Biles at every chance I got. Absolutely. What do we kid?

You get to voice of PP minutes. Dude, you draw a penalty that shows up on the game tape at practice, dude. Like, I fucking need that for my stat sheet. Dude, I would spend more time on the ice on my, but I would be like my toddler during playtime. I would just be, just constantly just be on my back, waving my arms and legs around, hoping to get a call. Dude, Bombay, early Bombay would have loved.

you in Mighty Ducks. Early Bombay. Take the fall. It's early Bombay. All right. Before we get into the Beer League hotline, I do just because I know listeners are going to want it, can we just have a quick round of stick taps for Tom Wilson? Yeah.

That was gorgeous. Like I think that is our early vote for hockey guy of the season. Yeah. Puck off the cheek. Oh, without question. Ends up looking like Will Smith and Hitch comes out. The two goals gets the caps the win. Like that is the stuff that you wish for when you're watching hockey.

And I did want to say, have we seen a guy? I feel like Marchand comes up. The turn that Tom Wilson has taken from when he was going, I'm going another Mighty Ducks reference here, but full Dean Portman with his jersey off in the penalty box, taunting fans, taunting everybody. He was the number one guy. I feel like after Marshaun that everyone was like,

I fucking hate this guy, unless you're a Capps fan. And now I feel strongly he's taken to the turn where every fan is starting to be like, oh, Tom Wilson's the man. Like I would kill for him on my team. It's amazing. I don't, I mean, I'm based in the East. So I think that there is a certain amount of, like, feelings that Islanders fans and Rangers fans and Penguins fans have about Tom Wilson.

It doesn't square with that notion. Yeah. That being said, I do think, much like with Marchand, the farther away you get from the height of illegality, the more beloved the player becomes. I think we saw that with cadre too. The farther away you get from the most heinous acts

in a guy's history, the more focus can be spent on what he actually brings the lineup. And, you know, again, I think you know, a Ranger fan, looking at Tom Wilson, would be like, no, no, thank you. Yeah, Penn's fan too, for sure.

But I think everybody else, I think there's a lot of people around the league that do see the value. And even in something as simple as the talent to hang on the top line for the capitals, which I think, you know, is something that was always an underrated part of his game. And when you would talk to people in the league about like, you know, don't you think this guy is a human piece of garbage for how many times he's been suspended, they'll be like, no, he's an actual hockey player. Like he can hang with elite talent and, and produce at a reasonable level for the capital. He's not just like, you know, a cheap shot artist. Yeah. That's my thing, man. It's like,

I look at him like, you know, Marchand has obviously entered his, his amazing twilight years of, he's just like a skill player, great vet in the league. He's a statesman now. Yeah. Yeah.

God, and he's really leaned into the Mr. T&T thing. Like he's funny now. I think he's winning people over. But I look at Tom Wilson a lot like Sam Bennett, where I'm like, yeah, he might be a pain in he has to play against, but I would put him on my team 10 times out of 10.

Like you said, he's a real hockey player. To be able to put up 60 plus points, keep up on a line with guys like OV and Dillenststron. and then also lay the hardest check in the game, those guys, they're few and far between. We don't really have a lot of them. Plus, I think the existence of Matt Rempay has cost the Ranger fans, the high ground in the humblous in the future.

Yes. Only they have the high ground before. Yeah, New York Rangers literally hired a club bouncer and put him on skates. So there's no morality anymore. All right, do you guys want to jump into a beer league hotline? Yeah, absolutely. Let's do it. I do the scorekeeping at our rink.

The other night I was doing the C-League games. The second of three games that night ends in a tie, so we go to a best-of-three shootout. But since it's the C-League, nobody is that skilled. Ten rounds go by and nobody has scored. Me and the refs are looking at each other like, should we just call it? At round 23, one-team scores. I'm positive it's over. Sure enough, the other team ties it.

It ends up going 31 rounds before someone finally wins it. The next game started 30 minutes late. should we have called it a tie? Should the league have a max number of rounds for the shootout? Wow. That is 31 rounds of C League kids missing breakaways. That is unheard of, dude. Oh my God.

I think my knee jerk is you can't end in a tie, but yeah, I think after like 15 rounds, something has to be done. Like my knee jerk is you start going on two on oh. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Maybe we have a good solution. I was trying to figure out what the solution could be. Like, do you go without goalies and just shoot from the red line?

Like, what is the mechanism that you could use to try to affect the end of the game artificially? And you're right. Like, two on-Os would, I mean, again, the root problem is a lack of skill. So maybe a two-on-o may not ultimately be the solution, but maybe it could be. But the answer is no, you do not cap the number of rounds in the shootout. I am a big fan of like, you know, when your tank is on E, before the days of like seeing the exact amount of gas you have left, you know, it was one of those deals where you had just had to kind of guesstimate where the needle is. And there's nothing more exhilarating than pushing that thing to the limit. Let's just see how absurd we could make it and how far we could drive before this thing just sputters to a halt.

I feel the same way about shootouts. Let's see how long we could possibly go with this painful. absurdity until we actually find a way to a way to finish this thing. I could never want to cap it. And also, if you're the team that's going to go out after them, you got to imagine you're sitting in the stands watching the game. And when it's going beyond 20 rounds, at this point, you're not mad anymore and you're just going, this is fucking unbelievable.

Dude, I will add to, I will add that this is Beer League, my friends. So this isn't a 20 person roster. They were probably lucky to have 10 guys show up. Oh, people are shooting. Which means they've shot three times. kids are on their third breakaway move and still nothing. So like we are really, it's really diminishing. It's getting worse and worse. I do feel. I will say though, if I had the late game and it's like round 30 of a shootout in the game before mine, I might, I might look to take out a trank dart at some

point. Yeah. And just try to hit the goalie. Wish I might leave. I might, I might go back into locker and take my shit off and go home. I have a 30 minutes late. I have the solution. I have the solution. You start saving in the late game kids to shoot. Well, are they C league two? Yeah, but they're fresh. They're fresh. I don't know if that makes a difference. They're fresh.

I go, you come out. Fine, you want to play? You come out. Somebody score for us. Let them shoot. Now they're involved. Yeah. You do, I think you do need to start implementing variables.

Like a two on no. Maybe you pull the goalie out and it's players in the net. It's just a, you know. Oh, good one. Players and go. We're going to get more goals that way. But something, I think we're going to put the line at 15. If you go to 15 round.

and nothing's happening, you've got to start implementing some new situations. You do something cool. Throw in the shooter, tutor, like, whatever you want to try to, like, affect change. I agree. Yeah, absolutely. That's great. Phenomenal. Let's do power ranking wish.

All right, we're going to do just the last thing we'll do, and then we'll let you get out of here. What we think is our top five teams in the league right now, but we've got to agree. Yeah, the three of us have to agree on the top five in order before we can be done. So actually, Wish, I want you to take this away. Start us off and tell us who you think right now is the number one. team. If you have a clear one, I don't know if I do, frankly. I think it's, I think it's, I think it's Minnesota. I wanted them last week. And Dan, Dan's gone the caps, though, who are also nasty right now.

They are nasty. They are nasty. And I think my thing last week, which was the fact that they maintained their nastiness without OV is so impressive to me on a number of levels. And I would have put the wild this week at one. if they didn't just get whacked by the Kings. Yeah, the Kings are on that. That was a big win. It's a fair point. It's a bit of recency bias, but it is a fair point.

It is. I mean, the caps are, I think we're like six, two and one without OV. Yeah, dude. I think that's right. I think that's right. I mean, when you consider a guy who had 15, 15 goals and 18 games, he gets taken out of the lineup, and then it becomes like the living embodiment of Ewing theory

where the team gets better when he's not there. Chris literally said Ewing theory last year. week. Like he was like they are going full Patrick Ewing right now. It's unbelievable. It's so funny. If you want to put the caps first, I've got, I've got no beef with it. I mean, like, they've been, they've been great. I've seen them a few times recently. And, and, you know, it's not domination. I know. But then you look up at the scoreboard and you're like, oh, wow, maybe it is domination. Like, they've played that well. Getting good goaltending. You know, shout out Logan Thompson, snubbed by the Canadians for inexplicable reasons.

inexplicable. Yeah, I mean, like you said, what they've done without OV probably means they're one, and then you can bump the wild down to two. In an effort to keep things fresh, though, if you want wild one, I do, I want wild.

I'm down to go wild one caps too, because I agree, without that King's loss, I do think they were the team this past week that did catch my attention the most. Like, they were winning games in a very dominant fashion, and Carill has been,

sick. just he keeps elevating to the point where people are watching games our buddy bobby went down to the ducks game a few days ago and he was like this guy is so much better than everyone on the ice it's untends like i know so i'm fine to go i'll go wild one caps too for you guys i i i but okay but now i'm disagreeing with arsole that's called reverse psychology wish and i got you right where i want you caps won here we go gold differential for the caps versus the wild the caps have let me let me at last check a plus 35 goal differential yeah Yeah.

Wish. Dude, they're a wagon. They need to be fun. After last year, remember they got in at like minus 40? And I was like, what are you doing?

The turnaround in that has been incredible. They're a wagon. Okay, so we're back on Caps 1. Two big, beautiful, bald coaches, too on those teams. Yeah. That's true.

Wow. I don't realize that too. All right. I mean, this is the guest in my life. Okay. Caps won Wild 2. Now it's actually kind of tricky for me.

The two I like, I think Vegas is just such a, it's consistent force. It's crazy. They're great. Three wins in a row. And the kings are on a heater, too. I don't know if we have them all the way up at three, but I like both of them a lot.

I would go Vegas. Here's how I do the next three. Okay. I do Vegas. I do Winnipeg. Still? Still. Okay.

And I do the devils. Oh, I knew you were going to do that, dude. They have their off nights. They just got shellacked by Colorado. I know. I know. The devils are the devils are the most Jekyll and tied team in the league. Like there are times when you watch them.

Yeah. And you're just like, you might as well just start etching the cup. Yeah. Because like they're going to win it. And then there are times you watch them like Sunday against Colorado where you're like, oh, did they mistakenly iced their HL affiliate? Yeah. Dude, it's actually.

The bust breakdown. It's actually crazy. I know. When they're on, I think that they are, they might be the best team in the league. When they're on and everyone's buzzing, I legitimately think that. I legitimately think they have a partying problem. That's the only, like, when I watch, it's the only explanation because they go out there and they all look drunk as fuck. And they're like, I couldn't begin to play hockey if you paid me twice as much to do it.

And they lose games like that Colorado game. But in fairness, that might also be why they're so fast. Yes. It's finding the right amount. They actually might have a partying problem. It's finding the right amount of, it's like on the golf course. You know, like you find the right amount of beers and you're firing and then too many and you slow down. I do love, the Panthers are kind of getting it back together here.

Leaves have obviously been strong, but I agree. I just think it's Vegas and Winnipeg still. Let's all go Vegas 3. I'm happy with that. I'm interested in bumping the jets out for the Kings. Like I would even go Devils 4, Kings 5 and bump the jets out unless you guys think they're just so good. I mean, again, that's why. They're clearly on the downward spiral right now.

They've banked a lot of points. You're feeling pretty good about life. if I'm fine with getting them out of there, if you want to put Vegas and the doubles in, and the Kings. I love it. I mean, no one's happier than me to put the Kings in because I do think it's special. I mean,

we have Minnesota as our number two team, and that was a huge win that the Kings get over there. And it's just, we keep seeing Copey turning the clock back. Brant Clark gets better every single day. You've got the, the, what is going to feel like a trade deadline slash midseason acquisition

that the Kings are going to have with Drew Dowdy is going to be unbelievable. Yeah. So, like, it's going to be incredible. Yeah. I think it's worth showing them to respect. They're so, they're an incredible story. I think this is a team that should be celebrated.

And we have a limited time to celebrate it before they get eliminated by Edmonton again. We might as well put them in the top five now. Oh my God, dude. We have to do it now. Yeah. We're running out of time. Very limited time. So we're putting them in at five.

There we go. So we've got Caps, Wild, Vegas. Devils. Kings. Winnipeg, you're out. See you. Beautiful. Winnipeg's out.

Unbelievable. Well, Wish, thank you so much for joining us, my man. It's always so fun having you on. And like we said, if you're down, we're going to have you keep popping and out of here because it's too much fun chatting with you. I would love to do that. I've come to realize that there's a great misconception of my life and my career in that people think I'm extraordinarily busy because I'm constantly like online. Yeah. And all that means is that I'm constantly online.

It doesn't mean that I don't have time to hop on with my two beautiful empty netters boys or do like other things in life. Yeah. So anytime and next time hopefully in person. Yes, yes. I'm just going to say that. Yes, sir. We'll find a cavernous hotel lobby like you did last time. So funny.

That is funny. Which is online all the time. And it's a cry for help. He's like, guys, I'm available. I'm bored. And everyone's like this guy's busy as fuck. I mean, do you know how many how many like, you know, memes and jokes I've spilled out about like. The CEO shooter in the last like 24 hours.

I mean like it's a career in and of itself to be honest to you. But yeah, I do. Anytime you want me to hop on and and shoot the breeze. We'll have to come back and talk about skeleton crew when you guys. Yes, I know that. It's very true. A very fun show. No, I'm not saying that because Disney pays me.

I'm saying it because it's good. It's a good show. And, yeah, we'll do it again soon. Hell yeah, we will, buddy. Let's get into our starting six. Starting at left wing, player who has not been on here yet, which is very exciting. Could have been krill.

Could be every week. He's having an MVP season. But we're going to go with Brandon Hagle. 10 points in his last 10 games, on pace for 41 goals. 30 has been his career high before this point. On pace for 105 points. Unbelievable stuff from Hagle.

A guy that I said was going to be a monster for this team. And I'm very happy to be being proven right. He was a name. This is idiots, right? I'm not trying to say most people said this, But that was a name when people were discussing Team Canada, snubs. It was like, oh, Hegel's on the team. And I'm like, yes, you're an idiot.

But I'm actually been so, I've been so impressed because that was a, he's a player that when I'm thinking, how you're going to survive without Stammer's 40 goals. Not that he has 40 this year, but, you know, that you took off the team last year. And everyone hoped it would be him. That was the projection. Yeah. He's going to be the guy. But, you know, you just don't know, like elevated roles, something's different.

Totally. Having an absolute career year. Huge reason why Tampa is still afloat. I'm actually curious how good this kid can be. Like, he's 26, you know? Like, if he becomes a point, if he becomes a hundred point guy over the next, you know, consistently a hundred point guy over the next,

Christ, you keep saying the prime getting older and older. Like, do we have nine years of Hegel being a hundred point guy now? Well, you know what I think is very interesting, dude, is we had this era of stammer and cooch on this team and cooch is obviously still unbelievable. Now you got Point who is on pace for possibly over 100 points this year. He's got. He did that once or was he a 99?

I think he's, I think his career high is 95. But he scored 50 in that year, 51 in that year. But I just think you've got point in Hegel now. Like these two guys are unreal. But yeah, I do think that they have done this unbelievable job of you've got 28-year-old Braden Point. You got a 26-year-old Brandon Hagel. Those are the next two guys for the next.

next five, six years that are just going to carry this team. Like what the fuck? Yeah. So many people thought this team might be regressing and Hegel's like, well, no, I'm a hundred point guy now too. Yeah. And me, I was like, oh, we're at the changing of the guard in the east. Like Tampa, the reign of Tampa is over. It's like, wrong, wrong. Wrong. Okay, center for the first time. Surprisingly. Conner McDavid. You know, Connor McDavid is the best center in the league this week for the first time in 2024. 27 points in his last 13 games. He's up to 35 in the year. I kind of like, 27 in his last 13.

Like, no one, no one's talking about that. Like this, Dan, you know this thing? Yeah. Eyes coming out. Yeah. When I was looking at who was leading the league and it's NACIS, I'm pretty sure right now, with 41 or something.

I think it might be krill with 42. Maybe, yeah, something like that. And then Connor, because he hasn't even been on the big board, you know, you get the big board and then you can click for see all the people. Connor doesn't even show up on the big board. And then all of a sudden he's six points away. I was like, wait, what the fuck? Yeah, it's Krill and Nate just had 42 right now.

Yeah, and then, yeah, Connor's just right down there with 37 points. Unbelievable. So I'm like, dude, he, the, the Oilers have passed the flames. They're tied for the Canucks in third place. Like, all of a sudden, here comes with David. Here comes the Oilers. And you're like, and they didn't even have as bad a start this year as they did last year, but it still felt like, I was like, oh, the o'ers are broken.

It's like, those are never broken. You're a loser. He's nasty. This is how the world wears. It's unbelievable. We'll always carry that. Yep. We were just talking about NACIS.

NACIS could be our starting right wing, but he's just, you know, we've done it before. It's a little boring. Let's get some new blood in there. And a guy who absolutely deserves some shoutouts, we're going to go, yes, Jester Bratt. Jester Brat, unbelievable. He's got nine points in his last five games, including that monster four-point effort against the Rangers and a 5-1 drubbing. He has been the star of this Devils team so far this season for me.

We've been banging the drum. He's one of the most underrated guys in the league. he's so, so talented, absolute steal of a draft pick, starting to become a star in the NHL. And when the devils are buzzing, he is a huge part of that. Dude, I think not to call him out,

and I'm glad when Wish gets to listen to this back, he knows what we showed. Brats of the devil. Not to call him out, but I'm pretty sure, and then now I will call him out, but we were talking to G, right, pre-season?

Yeah. And he was like, I don't think Brats that good. Yeah, that happened. And I was like, isn't he? And I'm not even saying, we are confirmed right and he's confirmed wrong but I'm like I think he might be nasty he is that good dude I made that video of that backhand sauce that he grew to jack Hughes it's like that's not a guy that's like you're playing pretty well yeah that is an elite talent

inspired inspired play jess pro brad is fucking nasty what it what a he's leading the team is corn yeah tremendous he's fantastic uh left d we're going jacob chickering and there's a lot of left defense when having a great year but i wanted to do this because he's got four in his last five 15 and 20 on the year, but his two goals this week put him to eight goals on the year, which is tied for the league lead among defense, which is pretty sick. You're getting that from Chikrin. He's also a plus 10 on the season for the massively high goal differential caps. Nick Jensen has been good on that top pairing in Ottawa, but what a great trade for Washington.

Oh my God, man. I was like absolute steel of a trade. He's been healthy. He's been solid. He's just, he's fantastic. And it's, yeah, it's this is the Jacob Chikrin that I, think Ottawa wanted. It's the jicc and Chikin we all thought was the guy in Arizona.

And seeing him on this Caps team, I mean, you've got to, you've got to admit that cap team that snuck into the playoffs last year that we all dogged on. They had this awful goal differential. You add this guy, all of a sudden,

their top team in the league, he's got to be a huge part of it. It's awesome, dude. It's fantastic. And to see, you know, he's got eight goals. He's an offensive defenseman,

but he's playing amazing defense. he's coming to his own as the player. He's a nearly point per game with a league leading eight goals and is a plus 10. I mean, that's unreal. Absolutely unreal. Right, D, we're going to go Kale. Kail's been unbelievable. Been a minute.

He deserves it. Been a minute. He's got five points in his last five games. League leader and defensemen at 34 in 27 games. That's fucking ridiculous. Him and Quinn are unreal. Eight goals tied with Chikrin. But I mean, dude, he's...

Well, you talk plus minus. He's got his back to zero. Yeah, he does. Which I actually really appreciate it because he was literally. worst on the team. Remember that? And he's pulled it together in a big way.

He's also just putting out highlight real plays. We saw that zone entry where he's just, you know, chipping around the devil, or the Dow stars, gets past Robertson, goes over to the side,

and then just opens up his body, finds the scene, throws it to Rantan. And I don't know if you guys have seen that clip, but like, it goes to Rantan and he goes, holy fuck. Yeah. Like, he's literally like,

are you fucking shitting me, dude? Yeah. You don't have any idea how good you have to be in the NHL to consistently make your teammates be like, what the fuck was that? And it's like, like we said, we've got elite guys in the league who have talked to us

and they're like, he's the best player in the league. And he's proven it with shit like that. Insane. Goalie, we're going back to flip Gustafson. Only goalie in the league with the goals against under two. Only goalie in the league with a safe percentage over 930. The wild have the most points in the league. They have given up the least amount of goals in the league. That turnaround that we're witnessing there

is largely, and thanks to two people, one you've mentioned previously. The other one is this man right there. Absolutely. Absolutely. Just start the season, it really felt like hellie. When's the last time someone won back-to-back Vezna's, do you know? It must have been Vazi, or did Vazi not go back-to-back?

That's a great question, dude. I'm going to look right now, but that is a great question. But if it's not him, then I would wonder if we go back to the days of... This would be an elite poll if you can get it. You could get it. Who it is? Yep. So it's not him.

No. Okay, so Vazzi didn't go back to back. This is a Eastern Conference goaltender. It is. It is a Canadian team goaltender. It is not. It is not. Okay.

Two Vezna's back to back. Oh, is it Columbus Bob? No, because I think Dan, oh, no, he does have two for the Blue Jackets. Yeah. But no, those were, that was 2013 and 2017. Oh, wow. Good little gap there. Yeah.

Okay, is this like way far back? Not way far, but, well, you know, it's funny, Dan, about that question. It's not way far back at all. But the fact that this person did it back to back not that long ago is going to blow your mind. Yeah. You might associate this person with being older. Yeah. Is it broader?

Yes. Yeah. But 07 and 08. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I'm like, was that like early 2000s? Yeah, I'm like, no. You won the back to back.

Yeah. What was he, 36 and 37? I think he was 54, dude. He won back-to-back. He won 0-3, 04, and then Lockout 05. Kiprasoff 1 at 06, and then Broder 7-8. So he won 4 of 5. Jesus Christ.

And that's last back-to-back. Close. Tim Thomas, 09 and 11. Yep. Split by Ryan Miller. I know. I was going to say, I know he had one in between. And Vassie only got the one.

Vasi only has one. Yeah. Oh, wow. always think he is too. Which is preposterous. That's a dash one for me. I've got to be better than that. And Hasick also won, oh, wow. He's got an elite. Ninety-four, Hasick. Ninety-four, Hasick. Ninety-four Hasick. Ninety-six. Jim Carrey. Ninety-fourth, yes. Ninety-five-hack-Hasick. Ninety-old Hessex.

Oh, boy. 2001. Hey, how are you? Ad-a-Boy. Out-boy. Great movies. Anyway, long-winded way of saying early this season, I was like, Hella-Bach's going back-to-back viz for the first time in a long time. And Gus. Gus got something to say about. saying you're no bell last last 10 15 games he's had something to say yeah want to do some trivia yeah sure do let's do some trivia we're going to do our 10 point scale trivia do we're going to

name for this you've got all these witty names for our trivia yeah true um yeah this is going to be called are you making this up on the spot yep come on the the um do it do it's gonna i started it started as trivia ladder and then i was like oh shoots and ladders and then i was like i need a different word for shoots oh oh hockey shot shoots Sh-H-O-O-T-S. Shoots and ladders. Shoots and ladders. Okay, I'm not sure it makes sense, but I love it.

Me neither, but I love it too. I love it. So we're playing shoots and ladders trivia. Basically what this is is I've got ten questions for you. You have ten? Well, it's ten points, eight points, six points, four points, two points, right? Yes, that's five. I sounded like five.

Sorry, I was reading literally ten points. Sorry, I've got five, Jesus Christ. I've got five questions for you here. Five questions. They are all clues to the answer of this trivia. they get easier as we go down, which is why the point totals that you can win go high to low.

And if I guess wrong, you get nothing. Yep. So we're going to start out. You got a six burger last time. I sure did. This is our 10 point question. The son of a football coach. Fuck.

This player made his pro hockey debut at just 16 years old. What, dude? So that's like he's playing in Canada. Or I guess he could have been on the in the, no, no. I think he's like, I think he has to play.

Or no, no, he's playing overseas. He's playing overseas, playing in Swedish League. It's not of a football player. And you know what? You prick. What kind of football? Do I get to ask? I feel like that's fair.

You just get football. And is it football or is it football? Well, that's not up for interpretation. Well, I should know. You just screwed yourself. I'll say this. It's not football because, for, For example, like in other countries that are not Spanish speaking, it's just football still.

Okay. Well, still, this is bullshit. It's not American football. Okay. Thank you. Son of her soccer player played pro in Sweden at age 16. Not a soccer football coach. Oh, coach.

Yeah, that's cool. Fuck. I, okay. I like my base. I like my base. Yeah, move to eight. Our eight point question. In 2015, this player became the second youngest player in history to be named to an AHL All-Star game.

Cool stat. Yes. Very cool stat. Second player ever, second youngest player ever to be named to an HL All-Star team. 2015. Okay, so he's in the A in 2015. Presumably he was like immediately called up because he was nasty. So by 2016, this is sharp work by 16.

This is sharp action. All of that happens. Yeah. This is sharp action, dude. So immediately. I do also want to say, these are hard questions. Yeah,

no, of course you're not. It should take an inspired, like, oh, I happen to know. Right? I happen to know that about the 10 thing. And anyone yelling at this radio right now that knows credit to you. Yeah, you're a deep fan.

Okay. I had a rogue guess at 10. and I still like it. Really? But I don't know for sure, but I just, the years lines up a little bit. Oh, interesting. Let's go to six.

We're going to six. This one should give you some juice. I really wanted here, but I'm afraid I'm going to need a four. Six-pointer. Six-point question. Along with his teammate and line mate, this player has been top ten in points in the NHL for the last three seasons, including this year. He's been top ten in points.

the last three seasons, including this year. Yes. Along with his teammate and line. Yeah. Okay. So my guess is wrong. Fuck. I want it so bad that guess to be right.

Dude, me too. Holy shit. Okay. So that's a hard one, actually. So top ten in points the last three years with a line mate. That's fair. That's a good clue. That's a good six.

Okay. And he's been in the league eight years. Or this is probably this is his eighth year. Let me just think of some point getters for a long time. I'm going to tell you this. You're going to get it on the next one, I think. Okay. I'm now wondering.

Okay, I now have another guess. And here's the problem. I really want to get it here. But a zero, because we're going to track this all year. Yeah, yeah. You have six currently, and like a zero is just such a dagger for me. It's a dagger. But I have a guess.

I think I'm too proud to ever get a zero. Like, I'm going to go to two every time if I have to. Yeah, yeah. God, but I just think, I just threw myself so. Can I tell you who I thought it was? Yeah, please don't want to wreck it because in the case I'm completely wrong. Yeah, because like maybe it is that person. I'll tell you after.

I think I know it. But I do need points. Do you want to write it down? It's the first quarter with the big game. Do you want to write it down? Yeah. It's the first quarter of the big game don't need a, Hail Mary here.

You don't need to throw up Hail Mary on the first play. Count Chocula. Yeah. Take me to the four and let me have this right. Four point question. After only nine NHL seasons, this player is already seventh on the all-time finish player point list. Jesus, I didn't have it right.

Say that again? After just nine seasons in the NHL, this player is already seventh on the all-time finish player point list. Okay. implying that this is just his 90 season in the league. Yeah, which I think I was on. So we have second youngest HL. All-Star.

All-Star. Soccer coach, dad. Played pro at 16. Top point score. Top 10 in points last three years, including this year. With his line mate. Yeah. Ninth highest fin.

What was that last one? Seventh highest fin in NHL points after just nine years in the league. Okay. I'm borderline not going to let you go to two here. Like you got to get this. Okay, okay. Think about just the last clue alone, I think. That's the one that's going to get you there.

Yeah, seventh highest fin. This is Homer all over again. People in their cars right now. I got a bunch of texts from my buddies on that. Okay, I have, it's got to be one of two people. Actually, no, the line mate. I don't know who would be on my other guess. Okay.

You got it. my guess. Who did you write down? Okay, so I now know I wasn't right, so I will tell you. I thought it was Flip Forrestberg at first. Okay. Because I know his dad loves soccer. Great guess.

He could have easily coached soccer. And that sounds about right. European player. I know he played pro at 16 in Sweden. So I was like 100%. And then 2015 sounded about right. So I was like, so after first two, I was on flip. After three, I was on dry sidal because...

Also a good guess. He's from Germany. I was like his dad could coach soccer and they definitely had a ton of points. Now, similar to the dumb people thinking, McDavid, I'm thinking as a line mate, I'm thinking Nate Dog as a line mate. My official guess is the moose is loose.

Your two point clue would have been this Colorado Avalanche player has earned the nickname Moose due to his large striking and size. Miko Rantin'in, four points on the board for a CP. Come on, baby. The reason I almost, as it, because I was like, Sebastian Aahou probably has a shitload of points. but I just couldn't think of the line.

Oh, it was nice. See? Yeah, I was like, good job. I was like, it's one of those two. Good job. Great job, Dan. Hey, that's a great job. That's four points on the board for you.

You're just two points behind me. Yeah, you know. Unbelievable stuff. All right, great episode. That is it for us today at the Empty Netters podcast. We've got some fun interviews coming for you on Monday. We'll be doing some fun stuff as always. And until we see you next time, skate hard.