Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - NHL SQUAD SHOW: The NHL’s Four Nations Has Been Must-Watch Television

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

Welcome to the NHL Squad Show! Today our hosts Gil Martin (Locked On Islanders), Seth Toupal (Locked On Wild), Erica L Ayala (Locked On Kraken), Eddie Garcia (Locked On Kings), David Morrassuti (Locked On Leafs) and Armando Velez (Locked On Panthers). Today we’re talking about how great the Four Nations has been and how surprising that was, and whether there’ll be a flurry of trades as soon as the tournament finishes, heading into the trade deadline in two weeks time. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!SelectQuoteGet the right life insurance for you, for less, at SelectQuote.com/LOCKEDONNHL. Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more!FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Four Nations tournament has been a pleasant surprise to most people with some very exciting hockey. We're going to break that down. Plus, the trade deadline is less than a month away. All that and more next on the NHL Squad Show. You are talking puck with the NHL Squad Show. From the Oilers to the Stars, Golden Knights and the Panthers, the Rangers, Avalanche, and yes, even the Maple Leafs. The Locked-on Podcast Network brings together all its local experts to provide the spooky, breakdowns and comprehensive looks at all the NHL with plenty of trash talk to go with it. Don't miss the hard hits and glove dropping hot takes on the Locked-on NHL Squad show.

It's time to drop the puck. Hi everybody, Gilmartin here and welcome to the NHL squad. Sit back, grab your favorite beverage and join us as we get you ready for another wild week across the NHL. We are part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team, every day. We have a great bunch of hosts here today to talk about all things hockey. Seth Tupil from Locked on Wild. Erica L. Iala of Locked on Crackin. Armando Velas of Locked on Florida Panthers. Eddie Garcia of Locked on L.A. Kings. And last but not least, David Morrisuti

of Locked on Leafs. And ladies and gentlemen, let's start with this. I for one have been very pleasantly surprised by what we've seen at four nations. I did not expect physicality. I did not expect fights. And I did not expect this high level of intense hockey. Your thoughts on this little experiment by the NHL and how it's working. Florida is a word that I think comes to mind because I spent most of Saturday getting ready for USA versus Canada as if it was the Super Bowl. I prepped more food than I did for the Super Bowl. I was more excited that for this game than I was for the Super Bowl. This tournament has single-handedly turned this into the spectacle that it deserves to be.

Ratings, I believe, were the highest non-Stanley Cup final game since 2019. And so I want to first start off by saying, Gary Bettman, I was foolish to doubt the Four Nations face off. It has been sensational. and let's do this again. I don't think you're foolish, Seth. I think we all had a bit of skepticism. And we needed to see to believe. And on the squad show last week, I said,

if USA Sweden, or excuse me, if Canada's Sweden, the lead off batters in this thing set the tone, that's going to really play a big factor in whether I'm going to be invested in this. And it was a terrific game. And as you talked about, there was physical play,

high skill on display. It was everything we wanted. So I was curious what it was going to be like. Gil, you talked about it off the top. Would we see them care? They care. Would we see them be physical? They've been physical.

It's been high level hockey. It's been pretty much everything we've wanted. A couple of overtime games. Obviously, USA Canada was amazing. And look, I'm all in. After I saw that first game, I said, all right, they're going to give me what I want. I'm in. And it's been great.

And see, for me, Yeah, you give kudos to Kerry and Bettman for putting this tournament on, but also shame on Gary Bettman for depriving us of the best-on-best tournaments for all this. So if you want to know why the players are giving it at all, because they finally get to do what they've been wanting to do for all this time, and that is represent their country, right? Once it's country involved, you don't hold anything back. So, yeah, I'm glad that we finally get it back,

and thanks to the players for really pushing the NHL to really get this going. again because I do think it's a two-way every single announcement. It's not just the NHL is doing it. The NHLPA is playing a big part of it too. And I think that's really why this tournament has been like success so far. I completely agree with you, David. I will never take a chance to miss the opportunity to humble Gary Betman and the NHL because I was not surprised.

I was not surprised. I was curious as to, you know, because of all of the things that we talked about, how long it would take to get here. But I mentioned it. I come from international hockey. I come from women's hockey at all stages. I do a tournament down in Florida. That's the Caribbean nations playing hockey.

So playing for your country is a big deal. The Olympics is a big deal except for with the NHL. This is something that the players have wanted. COVID disrupted that a little bit. We know. And so am I surprised? No. We have World Baseball Classic, World Cups, World Championships,

where we know players like Messi and Ronaldo and, you know, the Megan Rapinos and, you know, Sinclair's of the world continue to dominate an international competition and talk about how important that is for when they do come back to domestic leagues. It's just been a little flip-flopped in the NHL. Yeah. And for me, I'm not surprised whatsoever, especially because when you think about the roster turnover from Team USA from the 2016 World Cup of Hockey to now not a single player is left from it. And then the nine-year gap between Sidney Crosby having his last game with Team Canada prior to

this tournament. I mean, he's not getting any younger. For his team, he's likely not going to the playoffs. So this is his only chance of getting some type of playoff hockey for him. And then seeing with the assist that he got in the first game, the three-assist night, and then getting the assist on the empty netter in the clincher for Team Canada. So can't be surprised that this has been just a success, especially those first nine seconds in rivalry night for USA, Canada,

that just put the NHO world on display. People who don't normally watch hockey are tweeting about it as well. So, I mean, it was just really at the forefront when you put everything together for this tournament. And, hey, we're set up for a pretty great final on Thursday night. I would just say something real quick if you don't mind, you'll. I'm not surprised about the passion for playing for country, but I would just say other sports,

soccer, basketball, baseball, it's not physical. So these guys are risking something by going out there and playing hard and hitting each other and dropping the gloves. So to me, that makes it a little bit more different. That makes it made me a little bit more curious to see if they would do that or not. And so that's why for me, answering that question was a big deal for me.

Well, and that's one of the things I wanted to, to touch on. We already have seen an injury. Shea Theodore now week to week, which probably means a month or more in NHL speak these days. Or Vegas golden nights. So the risk of injury obviously is there a lot more than your typical All-Star game where, you know, there's no contact or hardly any contact. If one of the big players on your team was lost for the playoff stretch drive or maybe even for the playoffs as a result of injury, how would that change how you feel about this tournament? I would be upset about it, but you can't have one without the other.

If you want them to play passionately, if you want them to play hard, there's no way to eliminate that. So would I be selfishly upset? Of course I would because I want my team to do well. but I don't know how we can ask them to show us the passion, play hard, and not risk something. So it is certainly unfortunate for Shay Theodore or anybody else who gets hurt if that happens, and I hope it doesn't. But there's just, I don't know that how you can have one without the other. I just don't think it's possible. So I think as hockey fans on the whole, we just kind of have to accept it and keep our fingers crossed for our individual teams.

Yeah, I think if this was the old format and a team has. had a major player get hurt. That'd be one thing. But the fact that this, the fact that this clearly has been ramped up, you just, you just assume that injuries are part of the process. And,

you know, on my, on the Minnesota wild side of things, I was pretty concerned about Jewel Erickson-Eck playing in this tournament because he's been banged up all season. He looks great. So I don't know if it's just, I don't know if it's just him getting a little juice in the bones.

he looks fantastic. So, you know, I'll play kind of the flip side of that, that I wanted to see all the wild players that were 50, 50 held out of the tournament. And the wilds player by player, they're all standing out like crazy. So I, if that's going to kind of get some people going, that's fine by me. Yeah, I'm totally down with that. I think it's part of sport, right? I mean, you know, I would disagree that world baseball classic or especially World Cup,

are not as physical, but we can go down that rabbit hole some other time. But I think that it's sport. I want to see competition. That's what I want to see. That's what I see as sport. I think there is a way to do it where you are respecting the sport and you respect your opponent. Arguably, that's not what happened in the first, what, nine, ten seconds of USA, Canada,

but that's hockey culture. I mean, you can join Locked on Graggan if you want to know how I feel about hockey fights. But I think that you want to play your best. And playing for country is extremely important. And I mean, hockey is a sport that's very prevalent in North American culture. And we understand that when it comes to anthems and when it comes to all of the cultural things. So why wouldn't we respect and honor that we have some of the right best on best that want to honor their country, honor the sport by playing their best?

Now, what I will say is we had this issue when it came when it came to the Summer Olympics on the men's and women's, mostly the women's basketball side, NBA was already offseason. but you know what is the balance between an athlete saying hey i want to play for my country so i might sit out for club or you know you know professional league that is a balancing act then you have to have cba conversations and things of that nature but at the end of the day i'm i'm more often than not going to lean on player autonomy and they should be able to utilize their gift in their craft as they see fit and if that means being able to know their body enough to balance that, have conversations, of course, with their club team and or, you know,

their professional team as well as their federation. I say, hey, go for it. Yeah, and we've seen, and we've seen the injuries happen before, most recently in the 2014 Olympics with John Tavares and then Alexander Barkoff for the Florida Panthers just in Chris Jinger. Yeah. So it's happened before and I don't think it's going to stop it. And they're going to, the players are going to take that risk if it means playing, playing for something more than themselves. I mean, and just going into the future, you could say, hey, I was on this Olympic team and it's a celebration of the game. But just being around the Olympic village and everything come next year for these players and obviously, including

more than four nations. I mean, it's the opportunity just for a lifetime for these guys. I mean, look at Austin Matthews, right? Try telling Austin Matthews, even though he's been hurt for most of the year, but he can't go play in this tournament. I don't know how well that's to work out for any general manager trying to have that conversation with. We had that conversation about Sidney Crosby going into the tournament. Yeah. Yeah. You're not telling these guys, no.

Yeah, he did. All right, we've got lots more to get to, including what we'll touch on some of the fights that took place between the United States and Canada. We'll also discuss the trade deadline. We've got all that and more coming up on this episode of the NHL Squad Show. Today's episode is brought to you by Wonderful Pistachian. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious, crack into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios.

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a road trip or just need a quick protein boost. They're always my go-to. And if you love cracking open every shell for that satisfying crunch, the in-shell options are a classic favorite. Get snacking and get cracking with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. That's wonderful pistachios.com. So we did see the three fights in the first nine seconds of the game between the United States and Canada. How surprised were you guys by the fact that we, I mean, we don't even see fights in many regular season NHL games. This is not 1976. The Broad Street bullies are not taking the ice anymore. How shocked were you guys by what you saw on the ice? And do you think that was staged in any way or prearranged in any way?

I'll take this one. Yeah, go ahead. I'll take this one first because one of the players that I cover, it was part of the fights in Matthew Kachak for this one. Not at all for that, for this one. But they did say after the game that there was a group chat going on with the guys from Team USA about just getting it going for that. And also for the casual hockey fan tuning in,

I mean, I think that's a great introduction to the sport if you're just getting into it for the first time and then putting it on the international stage for it. And just the thing that came out after that when Jacob Slavin was asked is like, oh, they don't put that information for the lady being winner when it comes to these fights. So it was also the guys involved with, on the American side, the Cichuk brothers and J.T. Miller can't be surprised whatsoever for that. And then Hagle, Sam Bennett for the Florida Panthers, and then Colt of Pareko, which was a random one. Tate Miller just grabbed the random person and say, oh, Paraco happened to be the first one. The first one I can get. There was a lot of emotion. There's a big buildup in Tennessee.

Oh, he talked about it all week long. I get that one. The second one, to me, that was just Brady Kachuk feeling left out with his brother deciding to get everything going off. You saw it on his face after Matthew had that fight. Like, it was no way that wasn't on it. The third one, I'm just like, okay, like, like, really? Like, that one was just like, this is J.T. Miller. First off, really, out of all guys, you go up to Korn Pareko, who is just a mammoth of a human being.

I think he regretted it instantly. Yeah. He's like almost like, I'll go pick the, pick on the biggest guy in the room. And he's just like, oh, wait, but this guy can actually dish it. So, like, to me, the third one was, was ridiculous. But, like, I, it's hard to argue. of the result of what happened in terms of the atmosphere that it created. But I'm sure there was a wake,

week, not just like we knew, like Hagel knew that this was going to be happening. The other ones where I felt you didn't need it. That first fight alone, I think really got everything going. The other ones just kind of felt like a little too much theater in a way. Exactly.

And look, and look, I get it. I know there's a lot of debates about fighting and hockey and their place. it. But at the same time, if the players are going to go for it, you got to let them settle it themselves. And yeah, but I felt like you don't want to make it too obvious at times with what you're doing

with fighting on the ice in these sort of situations. Yeah, I mean, I, again, I have a very strong opinion about fighting and hockey. I'm like, if that's what gets you going for hockey, you like boxing and not hockey, maybe you like boxing in cold climates, that's what you like. But you don't like hockey. Also, if you're worried about guys injuring themselves, but you're cool with them just throwing haymakers at someone with a freaking visored helmet on, then you're not worried about injuries. You just want to see fights. Like that's how I feel about it. I don't know. But I also agree that with a USA Canada rivalry in hockey especially, there's going to be the juice is flowing. People are going to be disrespectful, like 100%. I think, though, you've got to earn that. I don't know. that three fights and nine seconds is anything but theater, unless there was some stuff said,

I will say like Angela James, she bought once her own teammate because they said some racist stuff to her before the puck even dropped. So I mean, it's not impossible, very improbable, but, you know, I could do without it. If anything, I want to see in a rivalry like that. And I think the game did dictate some of this. I want to see like disrespectful plays,

just completely undress somebody with your play, right? go heavy on the hits, you know, make sure you're standing up for your goaltender. And then if the fights come after stuff like that, that's, you know, everything's fair game at that point. But to have that so early on, I guess you could say, all right, maybe you're trying to set the tone. But this isn't, you know, I feel like I can say this because I host the show. This isn't the Seattle Cracken, you know, like some little team that is not known for physicality that has to go out there and throw the first punch because maybe they want to kind of sort approve something. This is the United States and Canada in a best on best tournament. Everybody

knows what we're getting. So I could have done without it. It got a lot of attention. So I guess everyone wins in that situation, but I would do without it. One question I did want to ask, and David, I'm not picking on you, but you did say before we started recording that you were glad we have a Canadian viewpoint here. And I am going to ask you to at least represent that a little bit. Do you think the political tension right now between the United States and Canada and the booing of the national anthem by fans in Montreal contributed at all to that atmosphere? I think it played a factor. Like, you can't tell me, didn't. The players were, like, every, press conference, they were asked about it. They were asked about the anthems. They were asked

about beforehand. Like, it's in the players' heads. And it's, it's, I mean, everyone gave a viewpoint about it. And like the crowd itself. Like, I have never seen an anthem booed like that before. Right. And so I felt like, yeah, it's just everything, like building up and all the, like, the fights happened. Like, everything was apparently agreed upon before the anthems happened. But I think there was already this understanding that it was going to happen, that that the booing was going to happen.

So I do feel like there was, yeah, it definitely contributed. It's been a, it's been a tough time, I think, for Canada, given everything that's been going on. So like they, Canada will stand up for itself when it feels like, as you saw with the players, it's kind of just embodies Canada in a way. Yes, we're nice people. But at the same time, when push comes to shell, there's going to be a bit of a pushback too, right? And so I think there was a little bit of that involved with it. Yeah, Gil, I'm glad you brought that up.

there's two things that come to my mind. One is that I find it interesting, maybe somewhat refreshing, that hockey can understand why at certain points, given a political climate, that people might feel some kind of way when certain anthems are played. So just want to put that out there, number one. But I'm also glad that you pointed out, David, as the Canadian representative here, because, you know, the only representative of the Seattle Cracken plays for Team Finland, and at least on Sirius FM radio, they kept referring to him as a former Rangers player,

as if they didn't know what team he played on. And I feel like there's also some North American exceptionalism that has happened with how this tournament has been broadcasted and talked about even on air. Now, granted, at the time that we're recording, you know, the Finland, Canada game, it took a little while for Finland to get going again. But, you know, the fact that there's so much buildup for the U.S. and Canadian players, I think that, and we talked about this on the last squad show, I think there was a missed opportunity to do some storytelling around other athletes, especially knowing that it's not just going to be four nations next year that the NHL has the potential to highlight. They can highlight all of the countries because they will have representation there. So I would have liked to see a little bit more of that.

And that's the beauty of international hockey for me. And I got to wonder, because the first. fact that both of these both of the games will take place both on on previously on canada's soil and now in u.s as now that it's shifted i mean you kind of see it in the gameplay between you between finland and sweden how there wasn't as many of those post-wistle scrums or or i mean there was throwing cross checks one of them being patrick liney in the game but not as many penalties even called in the game uh yeah we did see the quote from line saying hey we're a big brother now for for for against Sweden.

But you got to wonder how this, how different it would have been if it would have been on their soil. That's what, that's something that will, that I wonder here. I'll just say real quick for me on the booing. I'm not a fan of it. I understand it.

But I will say this from purely a sports standpoint. I was getting ready to watch this game. I was excited about the talent on ice, but I didn't have any rough feelings towards Canada. I don't hate Canada, even though my team was the last team to lose in the Stanley Cup final. to a Canadian team. But once that happened, I can't deny it got me a little more invested in the game.

So just purely from a sports standpoint, it got me a little bit even more excited before they even dropped the puck. I was like, okay, it's us against them. Let's go. Let's go. So from that standpoint, it actually kind of fired me up a little bit. All right. Well, we've got a lot more to get to here on the squad show.

We're going to talk about the future of these international competitions, plus the trade deadline, all that and more. still to come on the locked on NHL squad. So next year, the NHL goes back to the all-star game format, which I think is going to be a big letdown to a lot of people, quite honestly, even though the game is being hosted by the New York Islanders. I think I kind of enjoyed this a lot more than I enjoy the prospect of another all-star game. But, you know, the NHL has said they want to bring back the World Cup of hockey,

so we're going to have Olympics World Cup, Olympics, World Cup. How do you feel about that and the future of international competition as part of this hockey culture? Let's remember that when they were trying to go to the 2022 Olympics, they tried doing the All-Star game in Vegas right before going, but then the spread of COVID obviously happened. So the players were unable to go to the Olympics there in Beijing at the time. So, I mean, the NHL is always going to try to find some type of way to profit for this, for these events to actually make both.

Chances are it's going to be the same structure for them. But hey, congrats to Long Island for getting an All-Star game with the new arena being. And as a place in South Florida that's recently hosted one, it's for the fans in the area for it. So I hope that the people on Long Island do have a great time there for All-Star weekend. Hey, I think of it like the Olympics next year. Have you seen Switzerland's possible roster of what they could possibly put out? That's going to be a country that's going to be involved in it. So that adding them, Denmark, Germany, although they're not the strongest of rosters,

but you're going to see Tim Stutzel, Mort's Sider, Leon Drysettle there. That's going to be great to see for that now multiple players are going to be added to this mix. I mean, you think of David Posternak for Czechia. He's going to be part of this mix as well. So so many guys getting involved here. And the fact that even during some breaks in the action, at least in America, from what we're seeing on the TNT and ESPN broadcast saying NHL players are recording, are returning to the Olympics.

I'm hyped. Yeah, I could do without another All-Star game for the rest of my life. It just feels like it has been completely played out. And let's be honest, it is kind of a perk for big sponsors to be able to meet with teams and players and what have you. And we've seen it. Like I was on X this weekend and saw that one of the teams in the skills competition for the NBA got disqualified because they cheated. And at that point, I'm like, okay, we just need to be done with these. Like, we just need to be done with any sort of skill-based competition.

Yeah, it's insane. So if the, if the NHL goes to World Cup and the Olympics, and that replaces the All-Star game altogether, you're not going to hear a peep out of me. I'm perfectly fine with it. Yeah, I, all-star games are tricky. They run their course in literally every sport. I did see something on, I think it was LinkedIn, where someone pointed to the WMBA, the WMBA twice now leading into an Olympic Games has had Team USA exhibition against Team WMBA.

And what I like about that is although there's not as much international flair as some of the other leagues that we're talking about, the NHL, obviously, what that did was there was a player who twice was snubbed by USA basketball. And both times, not only did her team, Team WMBA, win the All-Star competition, but both times she was the MVP, which comes with a huge bonus because of what we have already talked about. It's a huge sponsor grab. So I don't know what that would look like. A lot of people have been saying maybe, I don't know if it would be Team USA or maybe Team North America versus World. But something like that, I think, would be a lot more fun for nations. I wonder, I mean, obviously the PA has hopped on board, but if and when the schedule ever changes, if there are more games, the kind of the date-to-date of the schedule changes for the

NHL, will this seem like too much hockey at some point for players? I don't know. But it's just something to consider. But I'm totally with Seth. I could do without whatever the All-Star format was forever. And I know the NHL's committed to Long Island, but going forward. forward is anybody going to be shocked if they say, hey, we could have six or seven games in revenue as opposed to two days of revenue. It's not hard to see them saying, we're going to

go ahead and get rid of the All-Star game. And we'll add more World Cups of hockey or Four Nation spaceoffs or whatever they want to do. Yeah, do the math, right? I mean, that's more money, more money, more money. So I don't wonder, got to wonder how the compressed schedule will be with the back-to-backs and the V. Yeah, that's the rub. That is the downside. to it. Anybody's surprised that there haven't been any major trades during the break? Oh, I think there's a little bit of

don't even think about it from the NHL to the teams. Like, don't take the spotlight away. Why not just have a freeze then and make it, you know, kind of official? Yeah, a soft freeze. Yeah, like Dallas made the signing with Sam Steele during I think they're the only team that's done

anything throughout this. And it's just like, I don't know. Like you got, you know, you have some management that are focused on what's going on with the World Cup hockey got coaches that are coaching right now. Be kind of unfair for someone to have to worry about their NHL team

potentially making a big deal while some of them are coaching, right? So I think there's a little bit of that too. But, you know, the NH, like, I remember when Ottawa made the trade with Allmark ahead of. Yeah,

in the middle, like literally before game seven of the Stanley Cup final. And it's just like, really the NHL hates that stuff but at the same time you can you can keep that out of it by not allowing teams to do it so I feel like the NHL probably had a little bit of uh don't make us go into a position where we have to enforce a freeze and I think that's probably what they had to do so do we see like the tournament ends Thursday Friday Saturday do we see a flurry of moves that maybe have already been agreed upon but have not been announced

I wouldn't surprise me. Teams now, I mean, the trade deadline is not that far away. Teams like to get the work done early because they hate people like me who work trade deadline day and actually have to like talk and figure out stuff to write about that day. So the other part of it too is there still are so many teams that are still in it. Like there are maybe two or three teams in the east that are 10 points out at this point. So you've got a bunch of teams that have players that could help contenders that are still like, you know, we're still in position. We don't maybe have to make what looks like a step back until the absolute last minute.

So I think that's a huge factor too. Look at you, Islanders. There you go. No pressure, right? Well, I want to thank everybody for this great discussion. had a really good time talking a little World Cup of hockey and NHL trade deadline with everyone. So Seth, Erica, Armando, Eddie, David, thank you so much. And thank you to everybody watching and listening to the NHL squad.

We'll be back next week with more great NHL talk.