Puck Soup - Best of Seven

Episode Date: August 31, 2022

Sean and Ryan talk through the latest stuff that qualifies as NHL news in late August, then debut a brand new game show.   Sponsored by Trade Coffee (drinktrade.com/puck), Raycon (buyraycon.com/puck), Factor (factor75.com/puck130) and Betterhelp (betterhelp.com/puck)

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. But we also cover movies, TV shows, it's in tunes. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and nonsense. Bork to. I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects. I'm Sean McAnew from The Athletic. I forgot what the intro was for a second.

Yeah, so did I. I was thrown off there. I haven't done this show in quite a while. This is Puck Soup, the main show. And, yeah, I don't remember the last time we did it. A lot has happened, but also, like, you know, we talked about it all on the mailbag. So what you want for me? I don't know.

Had the Matthew Kachachit even happened the last time we did a show? I have no idea. I have no context. I feel like it had. That feels like it was a long time ago. Okay, well, yeah, I mean, to the point, right? But we talked about all this stuff like on the mailbags on the Patreon. So if you're not on the Patreon, which is fine.

But if you're like, I can't wait to hear their take on, you know, something that happened two and a half weeks ago, we probably talked about it already. And I don't remember it. Yeah. That's the other thing. Our takes were brilliant, but we may have already changed position or. And also, they've just left my mind. Yep. That's my point.

But yeah. So, you know, obviously it's the final day of August as we record this. And, you know, how it is in hockey. There's not a lot going on. So let's talk about what the one thing everybody wants us to talk about, which is the KHL preseason. It's underway. And Akbar's Ompsk or whatever.

Is that a team? Yeah. So let's go through all the teams and sort of just slot them. I don't even. How many teams are in the KHL? 20. Ooh, they just dropped Dina Mo Riga and Yokerate, I believe, are no longer in the KHL. Oh, okay.

So I'm going to say there's 22. I think it was a 24 team league, and now it's down to 10. You know more about the KHL than I do. Yeah. Well, hey, look, you got to know where all these Russian guys are. coming from. You know what I'm saying? They don't all go to the CHL.

Now, here's the thing. I don't think I could name every CHL team. Oh, no. There's a ton. There are, yeah. And the other thing is, could I name every college hockey team? I feel like I,

it would take me a while, though. Like, I couldn't just sit down and rattle them off. You know what I mean? Next August, that might be an episode. Sure. Town and Ryan try to name all the teams. That's it. No insight.

No stories about them. Just us sitting around going, uh, Cornwall Royals. And then just 30 more seconds of awkward silence. And then like London nights. The Voltageurs, I believe. I know that's a team, but I couldn't tell you what city they're in in the QMJHL. Three minutes in and we're stalling already. That's right.

I love late August hockey podcast. I don't want to. Here's the thing. There is news. It happened last night. The Buffalo Sabres signed Tage Thompson to a seven-year contract extension worth $50 million.

And, like, I don't know. Did you want me to say why that's a bad contract? Like, that's all that's going on. It's a bad contract. Absolutely do want you to say why it's a bad contract. Because here's the thing. If I'm a Sabres fan, or maybe I'm someone who doesn't follow the Sabres,

I'm going, okay, 20, I want to say, year old guy, has a big breakout season, scores nearly 40 goals. Yep. On a terrible team, hey, lock him up, right?

Yeah, sure. And they pay him, you know, first line winger money. But, you know, like, if he's scoring 40 goals, he's a first line winner, or first line forward.

because he can play center as well. But if he's scoring 40 goals. Right. This guy's basically Austin Matthews slightly, slightly discreet. He's a slightly poorer man's Austin Matthews, isn't he? Yeah, I think the direct analog, and I think this will ring true for Sabres fans, is Jeff Skinner. Remember, they signed him, he had all those goals that one here? Refresh my memory.

That was a... I think good. I think much like all contracts, the Sabres have signed in recent years. Good. But, yeah, so Tage Thompson, seven years, 7.14-ish per. I can't, you know, do the full digits out on the decimal places and all that, but about that. And as you said, scored 38 goals and 78 games last year. unbelievably productive season.

Took a shitload of shots as well. That is the other thing to say is he took 253 shots. That's a good number. But you know what his career high in goals was before this 38 goal season? Tell me. Eight. Now that's in 38 games. So you can extrapolate that out to 15, 20, maybe.

Yeah. But yeah, the problem for old Tage Thompson, this is a guy who doesn't score a lot until he did score all those goals at this one season. Now, shot 15%. His career average before that was a little under 10, I would say. And here's the thing. If you shoot 250-something times, And you shoot 10%. That's a 25 goal season.

That's good. Is that worth $7.14 million? No. Okay. And this is the part where I think some fans might say, well, you know, he's 24. Maybe he just had to break it. Maybe he found the next level. Maybe he figured it out.

And the thing that we have learned over the years of the analytics era, although shooting percentage isn't even an analytics creation, but one of the things that we've learned is when players break through as goal scores, it tends to be based on, and when they do it in a sustainable way, it's based on the volume of shots. It is extraordinarily rare for somebody to

have this sort of jump in shooting percentage and have it be a sustainable new mark that they hit going forward, as opposed to just random fluctuation. Whereas if you see a guy go from, you know, being a pedestrian goal score to being a big time goal score and it's based on volume, they're getting a lot more shots. And the shooting percentage is about the same. That often is sustainable. And that's what you want to invest in.

So that's why we're pointing to that stat and say, you know, just history shows that when somebody makes a big jump in that, that it's temporary. And it's not something you want to bet on. long term. Right. The other thing, though, is that people would say, well, look, like his, you know, maybe you're a guy who you scored a lot of goals in college or in the H.L or something like that. And then you take a little time to get your feet under you in the NHL. There are guys who fit that description as well. I don't think

Tage Thompson is one of them The famous stat from Tage Thompson's draft year The draft people always bring up You know how many five on five goals He scored in his first year At the University of Connecticut I think he scored like 14 goals total One of them was at five on five

Everything else on the power play And that one five on five goal I looked it up this morning to refresh my memory. It was an empty netter. However, it was against a goalie who, after the one season he played in Division I, transferred to Division III. Okay. And it was against an Arizona state team that I think went like 522 and 5 or something like that. So, you know, Dave Johnson not exactly feasting on elite goaltending.

Sure. You know? Yep. And that's in his draft year. He only scored one five on five. And it was first round pick. First round pick, yeah. Big boy.

That's why. Big guess. So along those lines, Taye Stromps has scored a bunch of five on five goals this year. But the reason that his shots per game went up a little bit and his goal scoring went up a lot is he got more than 200 minutes of. power play time this year and his previous career high was like 54. He's a big boy.

He's a big boy. And so this is what I want to say though regarding that powerplay stuff. It's good to be a power play weapon. To be a guy who, yeah, I can reliably score six, eight, ten goals a year on the power plate. That's awesome.

I do wonder, however, if the Buffalo Sabers had, say, a better roster. Is Tage Thompson getting 200 minutes on the power play? I'm not so sure. I will be honest here and acknowledge that I didn't spend a lot of time breaking down Buffalo Sabres special teams film. I'm assuming on the power play,

he's a guy you just plant in front of the net. Well, you know, I, this is going to shock people. Didn't watch a ton of Buffalo Sabres games last year. Didn't seem like it was worth my while. you know. So I don't, I honestly don't know, uh, off the top of my head where they played him,

uh, particularly often. I just, I'm saying, at Yukon, he was in like the Ovechkin spot and he's got, he's got a nice shot. So do we want to say that, uh,

that's, I'm just wondering if like part of the, the shooting percentage bump is that, you know, he's, he's figured out how to do like the Dave Andrew Chesuch, Dino Cicerelli.

Sure. Sure. Where, you know, 40 goals that travel a total of 40 feet because, you know, because that is something that you can, quote, unquote, figure out at an 100%. Absolutely. I'll also say this.

Like, let's be honest here. This is, it's a rebuilding team. Yep. They just had their so-called franchise player tag out a year ago, say, I'm done. Now, I hadn't heard about this. Is this true? Yeah, he went on. I don't remember where he went, but he had a ton of success and led the team.

team on a long playoff run, I'm sure. And much like the situation up here in Ottawa, there is now an impetus for them to get guys on board long term. Much like, you know, the senators with, you know, a guy like Josh Norris gets seven or eight years. And some people go, oh, that's kind of interesting. I mean, it's important that the senators have guys say, I'm committing, I'm going to be here. And it's the same with the Sabres, you know, like you can't. just come out of a rebuild without having some people plan a flag and commit. And, you know, if you got overpay to do it, maybe you're willing to do that. The other part of this, and I do

wonder if there's a little bit of the Ryan O'Reilly factor still here that, you know, Tate H. Thompson comes over in the Ryan O'Reilly trade, which is widely paid. For years, we've been hearing about what a terrible trade that was. And, you know, a bad trade goes over to, you know, I don't think it's telling tales out of school. No, and it was. And, you know, it was a great trade for St. Louis. And, you know, you look at the, you know, Burglan does nothing. Zbocka does nothing.

And, you know, so it's, oh, what an awful trade. You gave away the Con Smyth winner. And, and but Tate Thompson was in that deal as well. And if he emerges and becomes like a franchise cornerstone, then suddenly a trade that your team's been taking a ton of crap for doesn't look as bad. And I do wonder if there's a bit of wishful thinking there. I mean, I'm trying to come up with the nice pro-saber's view, but it's, it's, it's, I mean, I saw one, you know, one of the charts going around that basically said even last year that Tage Thompson wasn't quite a $7 million player. Right.

You know, even given all the goals, because, you know, there's other parts of the game that just aren't there. So you're, you're not just betting on him being last year's guy for seven more. years. You're betting on him taking even another step forward. And again, like, somewhat like Jeff Skinner and, you know, Skinner there was coaching and all sorts of factors there, too. But these are big bets. And sometimes it doesn't take very long for them to reveal themselves as being not the right bet. For sure. Yeah. Like I said, do I think Tage Thompson is a borderline, like a 35, 40 goal guy? No. I probably don't. don't even think he's a 30 goal guy.

Is he a 25 goal guy? Possibly. If he keeps getting these kind of power play minutes and that sort of stuff, sure, yeah. I can be talked into that. But yeah, with all that said, I just, you know, this is a classic. That's per year contract to me, you know. Yeah. It doesn't really.

And I guess the other thing here is. that's important is this is an extension. He's under contract next year already. Correct. And his cap hits 1.4. So he's a great value next year. But they didn't, this isn't a situation where he was even an RFA and they had to get a deal done before camp. This is, they had a whole other year to figure this out.

And he's an RFA at the end of next year, would have been prior to this extension. So they had a year to see him, you know, say let's see you do it again, and he was still under team control. There wasn't the leverage here where it was like, well, we're going to lose them if we don't get a deal done. They chose to get this deal done on the way it went down. So that part's tough to defend, I would say. All right, I just pulled up his shot chart from last season. And you know what?

He did score a lot of goals from the net front. A lot of guys do that, but he also did that. But on the power play, I was right. They just kind of use him in like floating around the Ovechkin spot in the left faceoff circle. And yeah, look, like the guy's got a nice shot from that area. If he can get open and use it, that's great. But yeah, this is a this is a tough sell for me. I don't know.

I guess the last thing I want to say about it is this feels like the kind of contract you talk yourself into when you're a rebuilding team. And again, like you put a guy who maybe isn't great higher up in the lineup than he should be. And then, you know, he does really well for himself. And if you had a better roster, he'd be a middle six guy at best, you know? Mm-hmm. And like I said, that's not the safer situation. And to your point, they could have waited and seen whether this was real, right? And I would even submit, like, let's say next season comes and he scores 35 goals.

And he's like, the price just went up $2 million. dollars. Well, it's not like the Buffalo Sabres have a lot of long-term commitments they need to make it big money. Yeah. Right? And so if you're like, you know what? You're worth eight and a half, nine million bucks to us.

Now that we know you're like a guaranteed 35 goal guy, those guys are hard to come by. Those guys are like Alex to Brinket level players, you know? And so you happily sign that guy if it's repeatable. There was no pressure on the Sabers to make this sign it. Yeah. That's the part that drives me crazy. And I don't understand it. It's a bet on him.

And yeah, like if he, if he's 40 goals or 45 goals this year, then he comes into next year. And you're right, the number is higher. And if he has that sort of year now, we all go, oh, what a great signing by Kevin Adams. They bought low. I don't know. I just, I feel like that's unlikely. But that's what they're betting on. clearly that this is real and this is you know they've now got this unicorn of a

you know giant player who can score it and at an elite level and they've got him reasonably cheap which is what this contract will look like if he's a 40 goal score I just think it's unlikely bad bet bad bet yeah could pay off but it's still a bad bet this is you know this is like I'm going to put my life savings on the Buffalo Sabres to win the Stanley Cup next season. Don't do that. It could happen. Yeah.

But it probably won't. We do not recommend it. No, exactly. Another extension signed yesterday. This one, I think it was a generally positive reaction, but there were some people in the Pittsburgh media who were like, why do this now? Basically, Mike Sullivan has, I think, two years left on his current deal, and the Penguins tacked another three onto the end of that.

So he's now signed through 2027. Yeah. This is more or less the end of the Sydney Crosby era. I believe Crosby is signed through 2026, maybe. 2025, it says here. So they were just like, you know, they're doing the thing of, if Crosby comes back for another year or two, Mike Sullivan will be there.

This is keeping the band together specifically for Crosby's benefit. Yep. Hard to argue with as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, I mean, hard to argue with. It is a little bit weird that, you know, you don't often see extensions for coaches or front office types that more than a year out. There's that dreaded lame duck here where we're told that it's impossible to coach if you don't have an extension, but he wasn't there yet. But he's a real good coach. And honestly, you know, if your fan, you don't care as much about these contracts because,

if it doesn't work out for some reason, you fire the guy and the team eats the money, but it doesn't, you know, it doesn't go on your cap or anything. It doesn't affect the roster. So, yeah, I mean, he's a really good coach. I don't know what the dynamic was that forced them to, or maybe didn't force them, but, but yeah, maybe it was just the case where both sides are happy and said, let's, you know, let's not go through this in a year or two. Let's just do it now. And that, that could be it. great coach I don't

I don't exactly know why you extend him and remove some flexibility but who knows again if this is just you know hey we we signed Malkin we signed Latang we're just keeping the band together because again

like the yeah the penguins lost in the first round last year but they were a really good team in the regular season and they lost with their third string goalie in the net You know? Yep. And so, like, I think it's totally plausible that under normal circumstances, they beat the Rangers and then they, you know, let's put it this way.

I don't think we're talking about the penguins being like in their dying days as a team necessarily if they get out of the first round. And that, again, is they took the Rangers to the brink of elimination or whatever you want to say. the Rangers have the best goalie in the world over the last two seasons and the Rangers or the Penguins were like what if we played a guy who's like an AHL goaltender? And the Penguins were like oh we'll still make it really far.

So yeah, or really far in that first series anyway. I don't know. I guess to your point I understand why there were a couple editorials in the Pittsburgh media that we're like, how can you do this now? There's, again, no pressure to do this now. Why get it done?

But on the other hand, I don't know if you're putting together like a best coaches in the league ranking. Mike Sullivan's probably top five, six, eight in that range at like the worst. Yep. So I don't know. If you get a good coach, keep them around. The one weird thing about Sullivan is it feels like he's, you know, and I would put him probably in the top five for my best, on my best coaches list. Yeah.

But it does feel like every year, year and a half, he's suddenly on the hot seat. And part of that is the Pittsburgh thing where they've changed coaches twice midseason and then won the cup. So I feel like there's like they go to that card quicker. And they might just be median fan base. I'm not saying the team. But, and you're like, oh, okay. I guess that's it for him. And then, nope, they run off eight wins in a row.

And he's right back to being one of the best coaches in the league. So I don't know. It's an interesting one. But, you know, I think if you're a fan, you're fine with it. Yeah, I, again, if it's just like, oh, one of the five best coaches, let's say, in the league, he's going to be around for another five seasons. That sounds like a W to me. I don't know why we're, why.

we got to be like, now if we examine what this could mean for the 2024-25 penguin, who gives a shit? You just got the best coach, or, you know, the, maybe the best coach in the division. Yep. Now that Barry Trotz isn't there anymore.

Well, it's him or John Tortorella, I guess. Oh, by the way, did you see what the, the flyers are doing to try to sell tickets? I did see something where it's, now explain it to me. They're... Okay. They are selling, like, it's a hundred,

bucks a month and they will guarantee you tickets to four games and there's like some flexibility to that. So it's basically 25 bucks a ticket and they don't tell you I think until like a couple hours

before the game where you're actually sitting and... Oh, okay. But the thing that people are interested in is they go, that includes you could end up like basically at the press

box level in like a standing room only like there's a um like a standing bar behind a a row or two of seats okay and those tickets could be $25 but you could also be in the first row of the balcony you know you could end up anywhere but $25 is the get in price and people were like well that yeah you don't want to be near there you don't want to be near the press box though that's the stench is The vibes up there are fucked, for sure. The vibes are terrible. But people were like, oh, that's a bit of a rip-off that they're saying, oh, you could end up with standing-room-only seats.

But I looked into this because I was like, how bad are these seats? They're not good seats or tickets. They're not even seats, right? They're not good particularly, but those seats were $25, like, a couple years ago as well. So it seems like $25 is just like the absolute bare minimum they will charge to, go to a game, which is fine. You're the Philadelphia Flyers. There's always going to be demand

in that market, even if they stink, which they absolutely will this year. And I don't know. I guess, you know, if I went to a full month of games and every single one of those tickets

were in the $25 standing room area, I'd be pissed, for sure. Yeah. But I have a feeling Flyers tickets are going to be a little easier to come by this year. I mean, $25 bucks in NHL team in action is pretty good these days. And the flyers are close. You know,

close enough. Yeah. So, hey, I'll say this, $25 is probably a good get in price for an AHL game. Yeah. 2012. Which you might be seen. So, yeah. Joe Brandon. I did that.

So, yeah, I think that at while the deal sounds like it could be a bum deal, that's a bet I would take in like October and November and then see how I feel about the rest of the home games, the rest of the way, you know? Now, that's the other thing is they could be like, we have somehow scheduled the Arizona Coyotes four times,

and those are all four of your seats. Yep. Tough bounce, but. Oh, that's a tough one. But, no, I, you know, I think they'll be like, oh, you'll get a fucking hurricane. or Bruins game mixed in there like a perfectly good

you're not going to a penguins game I'll tell you that right now No you're not But yeah Anyway I thought that was interesting That's a fun thing That they're

That they're doing to increase ticket sales At a time when Absolutely no one should want to see The fucking Flyers play hockey Uh But anyway One last one last bit of Recent signing

Or transaction news I guess you would say Vegas Golden Knights signed Phil Kessel. Yes. Love this. Awesome. Let's fucking go. Like it for the Golden Knights, love it for Phil Kessel.

Yeah. Did you see the article, or maybe it wasn't an article, maybe someone just asked him one question, and then it got spun out into, like, Kessel on moving to Vegas. Apparently he's a big poker guy. Yes. There was a piece we had on the Athletic where they were talking about his poker exploits. So, yeah, he's a big poker guy.

And they were like, oh, is that why he moved to Vegas? And he was basically like, dude, I have a wife, a baby, and like three dogs. I'm not leaving the house. Where are you talking about? He's makes sense. He's 100% going to be playing poker. Oh, yeah, sometimes, I think. But, like, they're picturing him going, like, card counter mode.

Like, he's awesome. And then suddenly, like, looking up at the TV, seeing that like the Golden Knights game is about to start being like, oh shit. I knew I had to be somewhere, yeah. Hoping on, yeah. But yeah, no, he might, hey, who doesn't want to swing by the casino every once in a while? Yeah. Get out of the house for a couple hours, maybe.

So the idea that Phil Kessel is going to be like a gambling addict. Does he get to the record now? Does he get to the Iron Man record for that Golden Knights team? Because that's a good team. That was one of the things we said, Phil Kessel, is some of the good teams. is some of the good teams might, there might not be the mutual interest because if he wants the record, you know,

you can't go play for Colorado where you could be a healthy scratch some nights. Yeah, no, he is, let's see, 20-something games away. Is that right? No, that can't be right. It's 20 something, yeah, it's, but it's not like imminent. It's not like, you know, a couple weeks into the season. He's got to get to. He's got to play a bit.

Yeah, I just say it's in the 25 range. Yeah, in my head it's 26, but I might be making that up. I don't know. The other thing with Kessel, though, is he is one goal away from 400 for his career and 44 points away from 1,000. I think both are very doable for him. Yep. I feel like the one goal is doable. Yeah, that's...

Yeah, that's true. Yeah. They let almost anybody score one goal in the NHL if he plays enough games. if he plays enough games. Yeah. But yeah, I'm going to see if I can pull up the Vegas depth chart here, and we'll see where Kessel slots in. On his side, they have Mark Stone and Riley Smith,

and then Phil Kessel, basically. He's the perfect third-line wigger. Yeah, you use them as your second power, on your second power play unit. He doesn't have the wheels anymore, really. But, like, my point is, he's not going to be struggling to beat out Kegan Colissar for a, for a right-wing spot. You know? No.

No, I love the signing. I love the, you know, that I, it's perfect fit. I think the fan base is going to love. And, you know, for a team, what do we always say about the Golden Knights, right? Like, there's just something fundamentally wrong with them. Like you look at them and it's like one of those paintings where the eyes follow you Where you're like there's just something like disconcerting and weird About the Vegas Golden Knights like whole thing

And Phil Kessel helps sort that out a little bit I think everybody likes Phil. Who do you think doesn't like Phil Kessel at this point in his career? Definitely some Toronto media people Sure, I didn't want to talk about yet All his teammates apparently Or at least the from his early days I don't know what fans don't like Phil Kessel.

Easy guy to root for it. And also anybody who was in charge of putting together that Team USA that didn't include him that he then roasted. To be fair, the one guy did have a bad dream. Remember? Yeah, oh yeah, that's right. So, I mean, makes sense. Phil Kessel made a critical turnover in a nightmare I had in 2012. So I don't like this guy anymore.

There you go. That's so cool. Man, remember that article? And like USA Hockey just let that article be published? They were like... That was a Scotty Burnside, I think, right? Wasn't it? I believe it was.

In the ESPN article, yeah. Where they were like a look inside and they were like just, they were like guys hitting each other over the head. They were acting like the, uh, the weasels from who framed Roger Rabbit, where they're just hitting each other over the head with bats and laughing all day? Yeah. They were like, oh, this is the funniest thing that ever happened.

They put us in charge of this team. Was it, Dustin Bufflin also got snud? There was some other really good defensemen that got like totally snubbed because they were like, does this guy like play hard enough or whatever? If you guys aren't familiar with this article, you, the listener.

Seek it out. Seek this out. It is insane. funny, especially when you consider what happened to that team USA at the, I believe, Sochi Olympics, didn't go so well. Yeah. That's okay. In fact, it went so badly that the NHL was like, we can't go to the Olympics.

Yeah, we're done. That's it. This sucks. The other thing Vegas did this week, they traded for Aden Hill. Now again, I don't remember if we did a show the last time when they said Robin Lainer is not playing for them this year. out for the season after hip surgery. And so they were like,

Logan Thompson and Laurent Broussua are goalies. I think they have a combined like 80 games played in the NHL. And they were pretty adamant about that. Yeah. But I think the issue was that they went in kind of knowing Brassois might not be ready for the start of the season. And so I think Aiden Hill is kind of insurance against both Broussua isn't ready and what if one of them sucks? So there you go. They gave up a fourth round pick for a guy who, like, I don't know, he seems like he's an okay backup.

Yeah. And it's just, it's mildly weird. Like this is, when I say mildly weird, this is like, if this wasn't late August, I don't we'd even be talking about this move. Oh, for sure. Picking into it. But it's, like, they were so adamant that we're good with these two guys, which led you to believe either, A, they are good. or be there putting up a smokescreen so they can make a move without looking desperate.

And then they kind of just, you know, Aiden Hill, sure. It feels like they could have got him day one, two. You know, and look, by the time they found out Robin Leonard was hurt, there weren't any other goalies, big-name goalies out there. I guess maybe the mildly interesting thing is they didn't get Rimer. but yeah yeah i saw some people saying that but like it might just be a thing of like rimer wants three million dollars or whatever and he's i mean he's under contract right i mean he's oh is he still under contract okay i'm just saying if you're going to the sharks that

forgot about you know but uh man they may like one guy better maybe one guy's cheaper who knows but i i i feel like you've gone from having two not great goalies to three which sometimes is worse than two. Oh, Rimer actually even costs less. Yeah. Oh, does he? Yeah. He does have a modified no trade clause.

They might have just not wanted to navigate around that. I don't know. I'm just putting stuff out there. But yeah, this is from August 25th, six days ago and like three days before this trade, I think, two maybe. This is actual quote from Kelly McCrimand. Laurent is a proven NHL goaltender that's enjoyed a good career. In Logan Thompson, I think we're all excited and intrigued by his talent, his upside, and his competitiveness. The doctors really felt he Lainer wouldn't be able to get through a season, blah, blah, blah.

I think everybody expected us to find a goalie internally. We liked these two guys. We had a lot of conversations with our goalie coach Sean Burke and our head coach Bruce Cassidy. I think these two goalies earned that opportunity. McCriman said that Braswa's rehab is, quote, going really well, but, quote, I can't tell you he'll be for sure ready for opening day. So I think that that's what this is. If nothing else, this is a guy who maybe can't even play in training camp. So they got to have fucking goalies.

You got to have goalies. And, you know, we usually see right around opening night, suddenly a whole bunch of goalies hit waivers and like, Everyone's goalies are healthy, so usually you feel like you can slip them through unless you're the Leafs. Yep. And so, yeah, yeah, it's fine. It's fine. Like I said, I think he's a solid backup. And when one of these guys inevitably gets hurt.

Yeah, if there's any real news here, it's that the Golden Knights went out and got a goalie, and it wasn't anyone who moves the needle at all on them as a contender. So we are still looking at a team that it. is blue line and forwards looks like a cuff contender on paper and is, I mean, I can't remember the last time a team this good at the 18 skaters was this week in goal. And that's, you know, it's not a credit. Let me think about this. The 2022-23 Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yeah. Yeah, there's that, isn't there? There is that, yeah. The difference is the Golden Knights didn't choose this. The Golden Knights weren't like, you know what? You know what I want to do? I'm going to count on a big bounce back season from two guys who were horrible last year. How's that sound?

My neighbor babysat the guy when he was three, so we really feel like we have good insight into his character and where his head's at. Oh, God. Well, I'm in a bad mood now. Well, all right. the rest of the show. Let's do this. Let's take a break. You can maybe compose yourself, and we'll be right back.

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All right. We're back. We got to talk about some comments made the other day by Stars team owner Tom Gallardi Gaglardi. I don't know how it's pronounced. It's one of those Italian names. Tom. We'll just call them. There you.

We're TG. Now this is not the guy who called Jamie Ben and Tyler Sagan fucking horse shit or whatever. This is a different guy. Yes. But the reason he's in the news is the Dallas Stars have not yet re-signed Jake Ottinger and Jason Robertson, which is crazy to me. I don't know how you keep putting that off. But here is the quote from our old friend Tom. You're an RFA.

There's really no deadline. There's no hurry. And that's kind of how things go. These RFA deals will often sit and wait. That's kind of the nature of it. You've got the cap space sitting waiting for these guys. So no, we're not concerned about it. It's finding the right fit.

It'll be finding the right number in the right term. Those conversations are happening. I can't tell you that a deal is imminent, but maybe one of them is imminent. I don't know. Good insight from this guy. And yeah, the stars do have a bunch of cap space. fourth most in the league right now, according to cap-friendly. But they've got 10 million bucks in cap space, which may or may not be enough for both of those guys.

I would say it's pretty definitively not enough to... It would be enough if these guys were both doing like three-year deals. The bridge deal concept. Yeah. And I'm assuming, And J. I don't want to... Like, I don't think Jake Onger's, you know, he... he's not getting like an eight-year deal or something you wouldn't imagine.

But with Robertson, if, you know, if he's looking for the eight-year, I mean, that's a number that, I mean, that could start with a nine. That could maybe even start with a 10 if he's, you know, being aggressive on it. And that, I think, is where some of these other comments that were made come into play. because it got I don't know it's been framed as like Dallas Star's owner

rips on greedy players I'm not completely yeah let's let me hit you with those quotes so that people who didn't hear them a kid in the third year of his entry level deal puts up 40 goals and now he wants to make 7 million if you

want term with that player he's going to take you higher than that the stars are taking all the money the star is not like the team, like the star players, are taking all the money, and the guys in the middle are getting squeezed. I think there's a lot of players in the league

making a million dollars who are better players, and then the guys who can put the puck in the net are getting too big a piece of the pie. I don't like it, but that's the market. That's the way it works. That's a market in fucking Dallas, Texas, where they're paying Tyler Sagan and Jamie Ben

like a combined $20 million or something shit like that. two guys who stink now. They're cooked, I think. Yes. Fair to say. Or maybe not stink, but they're certainly not earning. I mean, Tyler Sagan did, it was significant injuries, but. Yeah, and overtime, Jamie Bennett was like just the accumulation of the miles on the chassis or whatever.

Like, I'm not saying it's those players' fault, but like the Dallas Stars looked at both those guys and said, we got to give these guys nine and a half, eight and a half million dollars, whatever their numbers are, at like 27, 28, 29. It's almost like this is some kind of a cautionary tale. Well,

who's to say? But now, but now the owner's going like, oh, we got to give a, we got to give a player a second contract before he gets a big payday. And it's like,

no, but like that's what, that's what happened with Tyler Sagan, Jamie Ben. And it didn't work out good for you. Mm-hmm. Like the reason you are where you are, which is like the fringe of the playoffs is because you have signed all those guys to big money contracts. And now you're like turning out your pockets.

What am I supposed to do? Give this 23-year-old potential superstar insane fucking money? Yeah. I could give them that insane money three years from now. Tom, what are you talking about, John? Yeah. Like Jamie Ben signed a, it wasn't a bridge deal, but his second. contract was a five-year, $5 million contract.

And Sagan's, which the Stars didn't sign his second deal, the Bruins signed him to it, it was like six and a half or six-six or something like that for a similar term. So both of those terrible deals were the, you know, the classic, that that's the way it used to be in the NHL, that you play, you get an entry-level deal, you're going to be a huge bargain, if you're any sort of player. Then you get a second deal, which is either a bridge deal or sometimes, you're, you you know, maybe five years, in which you're still going to be a bargain because that's eating your prime years.

And then you get the third deal, which is usually by then you're into your UFA years, in which you're going to make too much money. But by that point, you've earned, you know, somehow. And then... Quote unquote earned, yeah. Yeah. Over the years, slowly the thinking has sort of shifted to, no, let's pay these guys the big money on that second contract because that's when they're in their prime.

and you saw it first with, you know, guys like the McDavid's of the world, kind of skipping that. And obviously you weren't going to nickel and dime him on a second deal. But it's, you know, it's sort of shift. It's slowly but surely. Like, you know, and I'm saying that again, as elite fan, I saw them blow their brains out on Marner and Matthews, and then other teams kind of didn't really follow.

And, you know, I get the frustration in Dallas might be that you're looking at, you look at a team like Tampa and go like Kutrov signed a cheap deal. Brain Point a few years ago, signed a cheap, you know, for three years and, you know, why can't we do it the old way? The thing that's a little strange is you got to remember in a cap league, if you're a team that's spending to the cap, you're spending what you're spending. You don't really care, or at least you shouldn't really care how it gets distributed. When he's talking about while the stars are taking the money from the death guys, that's okay. I mean, it's... Again, the stars are dedicating a quarter of their cap to two guys who are on the wrong side of 30 and are, again, for various reasons, probably not even middle, like, top six players anymore.

They're more like middle six players. And the stars, again, like, if the teams like, yeah, it's so fucked up, teams sign these kind of contracts for the top talent, it's like, you do that. Yeah. Where are you talking about? They thought they were getting the top talent. You're the biggest culprit of that. And it's not like, I mean, you know, you look around. I mean, do you want to be the islanders?

You want to give the money to those lower lineup depth guys and not have enough left over for the top? Yeah. But I mean, owners in general. He also says that they gave $4.5 million to Mason Marchment this summer in a full no move clause. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That doesn't seem like the smartest investment I've ever heard. In general, you've got, like, they're in a flat cap league, there is no more like the players get paid too much.

Like if we didn't have a cap and the star players were, you know, launching into the stratosphere and everyone else to stay in the same, then yeah, you could understand owners kind of complaining about that or, you know. But what happens is every year the owners collectively just give a huge chunk of money to the players and basically kind of say you distribute this, how you've. guys think. And the players collectively have sort of decided that a big, a huge chunk of it goes to the stars. And that's fine. As an owner, you don't really care. As long as it's consistent, as long as, you know, you're, you know, you can't give all this money to Jason Robinson and then have your death guy come and say, I want five million because I'm, you know, I'm good in the room or whatever. But it's just, it's, it was weird comments. And yet also, I think they're being spun a little bit as if he was

ranting against greedy players. Right. I think this is a commentary on how general managers handle like maybe he didn't intend it this way. But like I think it's should be taken

as criticism of how GMs handle their business. Now let me say this about Jason Robertson real quick. I think it was James Myrtle had like kind of comparables of like guys coming out of their entry-level deal and potentially looking for big money. Jason Robertson over the last few years has been more productive as an entry-level player

than basically any entry-level player in recent memory. And that includes Kirill Caprizov. That includes Mitch Marner. That includes William Neelander. You're like guys that where you're like, oh, they kind of cashed in. They got big money. Robertson's had more points and, you know, similar underlying numbers than all of them. Every single one.

Yep. So like to, he's really good. So to turn out your pockets for that kind of player, like, that seems like, you want to, you want to say Jake Ottinger doesn't deserve the big money? You can say, you know, I don't know. fucking McKenzie Blackwood 2.0. Carter Hart 2.0? He's a goalie. Lock him in for three years and yeah. And see

where it gets you. Absolutely. Jason Robertson is not the guy to be like oh, this guy scores has 40 goals one time in his entry level. Yeah, no shit, dude. Like, he had, you know, here's the thing. He didn't have

an unbelievable year as like a 22-year-old. He had 45 points in 51 games in a fake season. But 45 points, that makes you, like if you extrapolate that out, that makes you like a 75 point player, let's say. And that's, again, at 22, he's still growing into his role. Is he going to score 41 goals next year?

Probably not. He probably had a pretty high shooting percentage. But like, this is one of the best young wingers in the league. And you're just like, I don't know how we get this guy to fit in. He wants too much money. Again, as a least fan, I'm sure fans of other teams can relate. It is tricky with these guys because some players around the league in this situation take the three-year deal for $6 million.

And you go, wow, that's going to be a great value for a few years. And then in theory, you kick the can down the road and you pay later, which can be riskier. Because now you give a guy on a third contract eight years, even if he's 26 when he's signing it, and now you're buying some of those bad years down the line. But you can do that. And some teams do that. And then other teams, you lock the guy in. Again, like, if you go and listen to the clip, he's not ranting.

He doesn't sound like, you know, it doesn't sound like he's calling the player greedy or anything like that. He's just sort of explaining a shifting dynamic that's challenging for a team by way of explaining why this superstar player hasn't been signed yet. but yeah, get him signed because he's really good. Yeah, and, you know, not to, I guess the other thing to say is that like we just shit all over the, the Buffalo Sabres for signing a 23, 24 year old player long term for a bunch of money coming off one high scoring season or whatever. But I think people can kind of understand the different. This is, I think, Thompson's, like, fourth year in the league or something like that.

Yeah, he goes from a career high of, again, eight goals to 38. And the difference is Jason Robertson had 17 in the COVID-shortened season or the 56 game COVID season. And then 41. Again, I don't think, but is he like a 30-gold top-line guy in a way that Tage Thompson isn't? 100% he is. And, like, honestly, all you need to do is, as they say, Sean, watch the fucking games.

You're going to tell me that these are comparable players. I would submit to you that they are not. Nope. But yeah, with Ottinger, it's a whole different thing. I totally get why he would be like, oh, I want a bunch of money. It's like, yeah, this might have been the one good season you're ever going to have because that's how goalies work sometimes.

Yep. But yeah, anyway, there are tough negotiations elsewhere in the league as well, I have written down here. Tim O'Meyer and the San Jose Sharks have not started talking extension. That's got to be a fun one. If you're him, you're like, where's my eight-year contract that is pretty much guaranteed to age terribly well into my 30s? Because that's the San Jose Sharks signature. Yeah. Yeah, that's what they do.

And this, I mean, he's a pointed game player. He's really good. It was last year. But what do you? I mean, how many, how many eight year contracts for eight million bucks can a bad team have before you just go, we can't, we can't keep doing this? Yeah. They don't have any bad contracts coming off the books. Oh, I'm glad you said coming off the books because I almost fell out of.

Yeah. Yeah. No, obviously. Thomas Hurdle signed through 2020 2030. It's the same conversation we had with Hurdle last year, right? Where you go, he deserves a bunch of money. You can't keep giving out these contracts,

but you also can't lose Thomas Hurdle because you screwed up Mark Edward Vlasic. You've got to at some point keep your good players, but yeah. But yeah, like Hurdle. The list is terrifying. 8.14 through 20, 30. Logan Couture 8 through 2027.

Logan Couture also already 33. Already 33. It blows my fucking mind. Five more years. Good, the Lord. Eric Carlson, signed through 2027, $11.5 million. Mark Edward Vlasic, signed through 2026, $7 million. And again, like, how do you turn out your pockets to two-time 30-goal score or Tim

O'Meer? Yep. They did get rid of Brent Burns. And the other thing is, they did. We don't know what the Evander Cain situation is going to be yet. Oh, my God. That'll presumably be negotiated,

but I think they're going to have a cap hit for him for a while, too. They could? Because that was another one. They gave him, like, he was like eight years times something or other. And, yeah, we'll see on that one. But, oh, it's so. And I mean, again, this is a team that is, bad every year.

So it's one thing to say, like, we got to keep our good players, but I don't know what the sharks do. They're a mess. Huh. That's interesting. I don't know if anybody's brought that up. But let me talk, let me say this about Tim O'Meyer. Unlike Thomas Hurdle, this extension that everybody was like, oh, they probably like shouldn't

sign that. They should trade them, blah, blah, blah. Meyer is 25, turning 26 on October 8, it says here. So for all intents and purposes, he will be 26 when this season starts. He has one year left. He's an arbitration-eligible RFA. If he gets to arbitration somehow and he has another 30-goal season, which he probably will, because they've got to play somebody on the fucking power play.

That's big-time cash for Tim O'Meer. That's good, like you said, that's going to start with an eight, whether it's for one year or five years or eight years, whatever. Now is the time to figure out what you're going to do. You haven't started negotiations with this guy? If you're going to trade him too, like the summer was the time to do it. Like, you don't, like, you'd be able to get a ton for him at the deadline, presumably. But presumably. But teams in the summer and they got lots of cap space and they go, oh, yeah, you know, I can, I can resign the guy.

I don't know. I guess the two things to say about this is this guy, Craig Wimpsky had an article today on ESPN saying, basically like checking in on all the UFAs that are notable and still out there, P.K. Sue Van Evans Rodriguez, Sonny Milano, maybe one or two others. Those were the ones that were of interest to me because I think they can help a team. Um, basically all their agents were like, every team has told us they're waiting for something to shake out. They're trying to move some money around, blah, blah, blah. And we'll figure it out in like September is basically what every agent said. Well, tomorrow's September, first of all. But second of all, um, if everybody's like, oh, yeah, we'd love to sign you.

We just got to get some bad team to take our bad contracts. I think we said it on a previous episode. Like more than half the teams in the league are at or over the salary camp right now. And that's before putting guys on LTIR, shuffling guys into the Myers, all that stuff. Sure. But there are only so many teams that can take on bad contracts. And the Arizona Coyotes have 22 roster players for next year already. Yep.

So to your point, like I don't know where this money gets freed up. and if they're going to use it on your Evan Rodriguez and stuff like that, which team should. He's a good player. Sonny Milano is a good player, et cetera. A Timo Meyer trade, I don't know that I would advocate for it just because he's, you know,

it's not as imminent with him as it was with like Thomas Hurdle, for example, where it's like, oh, he's going to be 29 and you got to extend him for eight years and you stink? I don't know But I could see the sharks going either way with this But I just look at this and I go Oh shit

This is uh And I guess we should also point out like New management In San Jose so But I think they also said like oh I don't anticipate Um I don't anticipate any kind of Movement for whoever

You're Mark Edward Vlasics Like I don't see us buying him out. No. I mean, they did, they got out of Burns, although they're paying a third of his contract. I mean, Vlasic is,

I don't even know what you would have to do to get out of that deal. Get Arizona to eat half of the half. You know, like that. That's a problem. Like, Burns is still a player. Like, they're, oh, for sure, yeah. You know, I don't even know.

But they're, I hate talking about San Jose. They bum me out. I had absolutely no rooting interest for or against them, but it still just bums me out to every time. Here's the thing. There are a lot of players on that team I really like. I really like Eric Carl. Like, you know, like that's a guy I am always rooting for.

Thomas Hurtle, another guy, Logan Couture, another guy, you know. I like Timo Meyer. Yeah. You know who, you know who they're paying $5 million a year to for the next three years? Brent Burns and Martin Jones. Huh. The Jones buyout and Brent Burns retained salary. About $5 million for each of the next three years.

That doesn't seem like it's good to me. No. Personally, I would say it's bad. Okay. Interesting. I'll put you down for bad, and I'm going to crunch the numbers a little bit. Okay. Thank you.

Let you know where I wound up. All right. Let's move on to negotiations that are going, I would say, a little better, and then we'll go to ones that are going, like, even worse. somehow. Okay. The Boston Bruins and David Pasternak have not agreed to an extension. This is, you know, being in the Massachusetts area, I get a fair amount of people asking

me about the Bruins and people giving me their Bruins takes and all that kind of stuff. David Pasternak, one year left, 6.666666, et cetera. Keep going. I think I might have nailed all of them. Okay. I'll attack on one extra six. just to be sure, six. He's 26 years old.

He'll be 27 in May, so start in next season. He'll be 27. And as far as last I saw, here's the quote. Ongoing would probably be the best way to describe it, says Don Sweeney. This was like three weeks ago. We've been in regular communication. David is still over in Europe, and the likelihood is he'll come back and we'll talk between now and then. When he gets back, we'll maybe have a better.

idea of a deal timeline, but I don't have one today. I'm not going to comment publicly on ongoing negotiations, but we've been in regular contact with J.P. Barry, his agent. I can't imagine this doesn't get done. I can't imagine this gets walked to free agency. The news here, if there was any, was like, remember at the beginning of the off season, there was some talk that, like, he was really ticked off and wasn't going to sign a deal and were they going to have to trade him. And there was some wondering, like, it was that, you know, that he didn't like how they had handled his friends and, you know, was it was, was the relationship broken? And it doesn't sound like that went anywhere.

It, it sounds like cooler heads prevailed. Yeah, he's posted some pictures on Instagram or whatever, I think, of him and like David Creti Palin around. He's happy This guy from the Czech Republic is back, you know? He's happy about this. So I get it. Why wouldn't you be happy that your friend is back?

And Patrice Bergeron's back. Like, again, if Crachey and Bergeron weren't back this year, I'd be like, oh, this is maybe going to go. But, like, you know, they're going to be a good team again this year now. Yep. will they be a good team in 2020, 324? Well, that's a different story, isn't it? But they, yeah, I, like I say, I think this is going to get announced at some point.

We certainly haven't seen any of the kind of thing. For me personally, I don't know if this is always true, but when I see, we're not going to negotiate in season, bad fucking news. I don't know if that, like, bears out 100% of the time. But to me, that, you know, Johnny Goddrault ask you Kachuk. Oh, I'm not going to negotiate in the season. That means I'm getting the fuck out of here. Well, to me, what it means is I'm a player who understands how deadlines work and how they tend to be leverage points in a negotiation. So I'm arbitrarily just making an early deadline.

Yeah. I still wait for teams to just call the bluff on that and be like, don't screw. like, wait, we offer you 10 million two days into the season and you're not going to take it. Like, I hate it when players are like, I, you know, I'm not going to go to you to see it. It's a dude, you have an agent. Your agent negotiates during the season. You play. He negotiates.

He will call you when there's something close. But it's smart. If I was a player, I do that every chance I got. For sure. But, yeah, it would worry you a bit to see that. but I imagine they'll get it done with the caveat that you're right. Like, you know, like other guys, once you get like halfway into the season, like, then the player can start to smell the finish line of unrestricted free agency.

Well, this guy's check. He's not finished. Oh, sorry. But they look around. They see other players signing extensions and they start going, man, I'd be the big fish in free agency. Mm-hmm. And if that happens, I could maybe go to Columbus for a below market deal. And then, you know, which I think is the dream of every superstar player.

Absolutely. The last thing I'll say about it is if I'm the Bruins and I'm – we somehow get to, let's say, the trade deadline, or January or whatever, and they're actually not that good. This year the bottom drops out on the goal tending, whatever. Injuries pile up again because we have a bunch of old guys on the roster. You want to, I at least go, you know what? Let's see what a David Crachie gets me at the draft or whatever.

Because I bet the answer is an absolute shitload of current and future roster players who make a difference. Do you think? Yeah, well, in so far as... Wait, crateshire or pastorneck? Or pastorneck. Did I say crachie? I meant pastorneck, yeah.

Because the thing is, he's an unrestricted free agent at the end of this year. Correct. So you've got... At the deadline, you'd get a lot for him. At the deadline, yeah. Maybe not so much the draft because he's a UFA.S.A. But if you can do a sign and trade, hey, we got the...

We can sign him to the extra year you can't. kind of a thing. Yeah, but I don't think you get a ton for that. Like the, the flames did because it was an RFA,

right? Yeah. It was an RFA situation where then, and here, I mean, if I'm, if somebody's,

you know, if the Bruins are like, we want a first round pick. I'm like, okay, how about I'll, in a week, I'll get them for

nothing as far as assets. Sure. So, I don't know, I think it's got to be a deadline deal, which is tough because the thing in Boston is this is the last dance,

right? This is, Yeah, but what I'm saying is if it's obvious things are not going well, if they're like a, you know, they're playing toward being like an 85 point team or whatever. I'm picking up the phone. I'm picking up on the phone too, but it's just, it's like things would have to really not be going well. Like I'm saying if you're, if you get to the deadline, you're six points out, which as we all know is almost always means you're done. They're hammering nails into your coffin lid right there. in there, yeah.

Yeah, like, but this is, this is the last dance, man. You got to, you're really going to pull the plug on the last, you know, I mean, maybe then you trade Bergeron. That's, that would be, that would get you something at the deadline. But, uh, yeah, I don't know. It's, uh, I, I think they get them signed is what happens. I think, yeah, I, I think that is the most like the easiest answer is often the right one. And I think this will be.

All right. Now, now let's go to one that, uh, I think that, uh, is going apparently badly. And this is Rasmus Sandine. This is a quote from like two weeks ago. But I haven't seen a single quote since then. So let's assume here. This is from his agent Louis Gross talking to Sportsnet.

Negotiations are going nowhere. And then they ask them like, why the standstill? I can't answer that. You know I usually don't say much anyway. But they're just going nowhere right now. Negotiate, and then Kyle Dubus says, negotiating contracts via the media have an adverse impact on player and team reputation and traditionally do not create resolutions to private matters.

And then his agent says, I'd rather not get into Rasmus's feelings. Let's not get into, let's not all up in his feelings. So the situation in Toronto is obviously, Cap space is limited. They have... Toronto Maple Leafs, is that right?

Yeah. Okay. They do. I don't know if this is... They don't get a lot of coverage, so people may not be aware that they have some big contracts there. And they went into the season.

They had two young defensemen, Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Lilgrin, who needed new contracts. And Lilgrin signed reasonably quickly a two-year deal that had a $1.4 million cap hit. A bargain. A bargain, probably.

I mean, both of these guys are, you know, they're both considered good prospects. They're both former first round picks. They're both guys who haven't done a ton in the NHL but have looked good in the opportunity they've had, but they've been brought along slowly and all of that. So, again, tricky stuff where you're sort of, how many years do you do in all of this? And with Little Grin, it was kind of the, he sort of bet on himself, took a cheap deal. He's going to be a value for, you know, I mean, 1.4, that's like six defensemen money at that, if that in today's

NHL and he has potentially much more than that. And then in two years, might get more. Sandine, a lot of people thought would sign a similar deal. Hasn't yet.

It is maybe looking for a bigger cap number or more years. Could also be looking for more opportunity, which is potentially where some of this problem comes in is that he could be sitting there going, like, you know, the Leafs have got like five veterans,

in front of them, assuming they keep Justin Hall. So is there, and Logren as well, is it, you know, are they going to be competing for a sixth spot? Do they want to do that? The, this should get done. You know, there isn't a ton of leverage here. This isn't, you know, this isn't a situation where the player has a, you know, this is a William Nylander a few years ago where he's already established as an important part of what you're doing. So you've really, you know, don't want to lose him.

The one interesting thing with Sandin has always been that it always felt like this was a situation where the team was uniquely vulnerable to an offer sheet because of their cap situation and how tight they are, that if another team looked at this guy and said, it's got a real good prospect, let's give them a $4 million one-year offer. That costs us a second round pick. That's a decent trade, and the Leaves might have to take that. rather than, you know, to, they, they just, you know, the Leafs, not only are they heavily cap, but they're so top heavy that it's, it's not as easy as just going well, you just move out this three or four million dollar guy. They don't have a lot of three or four million dollar guys. They got a lot of guys that are key pieces that make a ton of money, and then a lot of guys on cheap deals. I mean, I guess you could move like Kerfut or someone like that, but

the Leafs. Wouldn't be happy to do it. Yeah. You, you might be able to get this guy on an offer sheet. I don't know if that's being explored. I don't know if the Leafs are concerned about that. Who knows? But that's the kind of the interesting leverage point here because we don't see that, right? A lot of people, when we look at Offer Sheets, we always focus on the big stars and go like, why isn't somebody giving up the four first round picks? And a lot of times it feels more like the opportunity is on the cheaper guys that you can get for a, without even giving up a first round pick, but you apply that leverage, kind of tighten the screw on a team. For sure. The Leaf seemed like you could do that. But at the end of the day, you know, Sandin's a good player has the potential to be

a very good player. I don't think he's a future All-Star or anything like that, but he could be very good. They need him. I think it'll get done just because these things usually get done. The players don't really have a lot of leverage unless they're willing to go the Offer Sheabrook. Yep. Yeah. One thing that just got announced, like as we were talking about this, the Buffalo Sabres are bringing back their ready. black jersey as a third. No thank you. No. Okay.

Sure. I'm trying to even remember what those look like. The saber... See, now I'm forgetting. I feel like they were the ones with the crossed swords. Like the ones that they turned into their reverse retro. Remember those? They were reverse retro Yes, they were

I'm looking at them Yeah, I don't love the logo They yeah, they look fine I mean Sure They look like one of the jerseys That you Create with like the default art

In NHL 23 Yeah Yeah, they do They really do We're called the swords Here's our logo It's two swords Yep

It's I mean I think what happened here Is the the hurricanes, like, went to the black jerseys that look like they have a B. So now, like, the, the sabres are retaliating by going to the hurricane colors. I don't know, man. I, like, people know my feelings on this. A, I don't really care about jerseys.

B, everyone's jerseys were the best in 1993, and they should just stick with those. And C, I'm tired. And the sabers were like, what if I go 2005? How does that? C for me is I, I'm sick and tired of. third and fourth, whatever jerseys, and, like, being expected to keep track of, like, it's a cynically over-the-top marketing ploy to sell $200 jerseys to people, and I don't care. Whatever.

Wear them for three games. I'll be confused for five seconds at the bar, trying to watch the highlights. Yeah. And then, other than that, I don't care, except that your 93 jerseys were awesome, and you should go back to those. I mean, they pretty much have, but I don't disagree with you. The classic savers jerseys are among the best in the NHL, especially the white ones. Not many teams I would say that for, that the white jersey is their better one, but I think that's true with the Sabres.

I will just say credit to them for not just like writing Buffalo diagonally across the front and calling that a jersey. At least they went a little further than that. Hey, you got to put a little effort in. Do you? Let's put it this way. This is a jersey I don't like. I think this is a negative for the Sabres.

It's the best bet of Sabers news in the last like 12 hours. 16 hours, whatever it is. Yeah, yeah, there is that. So, all right, why don't we take another break? We'll come back and we'll play a brand new game show. And now a word from our sponsor, BetterHelp. more athletes than ever are speaking out these days about the importance of mental health. We're really seeing that become part of the story in pro sports and high-level sports of all kind.

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That's BetterH-E-L-P dot com slash puck. This week's episode of Puck Soup is brought to you by Raycon. And folks, lately I've been listening to a lot of friends of the podcast, some would say, the band Pup. They put out a new album earlier this year. It's just dynamite. It's really, really good. And one of the reasons it's been so great,

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You want to get in on this action. Go to buy raycon.com slash puck today to get 15% off your order. That's buyraycon.com slash puck to score 15% off. Buyraycon.com. All right. Before we get to the game show that I just teased on the other side of this break, probably talk about women's worlds a little bit. We're just getting out of the

We're just getting out of the preliminary rounds. Here's my problem with women's worlds Is you always have the U.S. and Canada in the same group. They always play a game that doesn't matter. Really. Yeah. US won yesterday, like five to two, I think it was. But they got out played for a good chunk of

the game. I watched all of it. And yeah, I didn't think they, uh, looked particularly impressive until the third period. But, um, the problem with it is, it's like, boy, you got to tune into TSN and watch Canada, uh, put 58 goals up against Japan. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not sure you do. Yeah. And it's, I mean, at this point, we kind of, we know the deal and it leads to the familiar criticisms of the, you know, lack of balance and even though we see it on the men's side as well. Bottom line, Canada versus the U.S. women's hockey is the best rivalry in the sport right now. Absolutely. And I can't wait for the gold medal game, which presumably we will see it.

I don't get, you know, it's the round-robin game is always a nice appetizer. And it's usually a good game. And, you know, yesterday was a reasonably good game. game, but it's not the real thing. And that one game, I mean, that one game, if you're going to watch one game of international hockey all year, that's the one to watch. So I'm looking forward to seeing it. But I'm not too worked up about the round robin loss.

And if we had one, I'd be talking endless amounts of trash about it. So, you do the math. Yeah. Like I say, it was a really good game yesterday. It was fun. The U.S. white-knuckled their way through the first period, especially. Things were more even in the second and then, but the U.S. scored. I think outscored Canada to nothing in the second after being outscored two nothing in the first.

And then, yeah, took it away from there. But, yeah, like, I think we say it a lot. lot, boy, they should just have those two teams play like 50 times a year. Everybody would fucking love it. I've said before, like, I want the women's game to expand. I would love the women's game to be, you know, six or seven teams the way it is on the men's side that have a chance to win and more competitive and all that stuff. Until it is, can we not figure out a way to just have these teams play like a best to seven for the gold medal in the, the Olympics and world championships.

Like, there's got to be a way, man. With all due respect to, like, Sweden and Finland or whatever. Like, I, yeah. I know it's, but it's best of seven, man. Can you imagine during, like, the Winter Olympics, if that was it, like, just every second night, there was, oh, it would be so good. Yep. Oh, well. All right.

Why don't we move on to the game? This is a new game, brand new. And it's called Best of Seven. and this is a game in which, for example, I will say to Sean, Sean, there are 15 guys who have worn the number 34, or 16, sorry, who have worn the number 34 for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Can you, you have to name four correct before you get three wrong, as though it is a best, or four wrong, rather, as though it is a best of seven series. Yes. And then I would say, no, Ryan, I can't. Right. And then Ryan would go, oh, all right. And we just... Yeah, I frankly haven't heard of... You could probably get two for sure. Maybe three.

Now, is this, hold on. Are we doing this as a real question or is this an example? No, this is an example. Because I'd say, obviously Austin Matthews, Jamie McCowen's the other one I remember, because that's from the 93. Yep. And then I'd probably be into guessing mode. Yeah. So you can guess. Just name four guys real quick.

I don't know. Let's say John Cullen. No. Jonas Hoagland. No. Corey Schwab. Nope. And, um, and Ryan Lambert.

I did, uh, I, I, I, I wore 34 for the Quebec Nordique. Right. So, it was, it was close, but, uh, no, the, the other ones you might have gotten were Brian Barard and James Reimer both wore 34. I should have gotten those. Yeah. Um, but that is an example. So Sean would have lost that one.

I get a win. Mm-hmm. For that. And then, uh, it, uh, the, the, You know, the wins are also best of seven. Yep. So why don't we give, and we're going to treat this like it's a regular playoff series. So why don't we give Sean a home ice advantage?

He gets the first two rounds. Okay. Here where I have to name things. Okay, so I'm giving you the question you're doing the name. The first two rounds. The first two, okay. All right, I want you to name current NHL captains. who have played for other teams at some point in their career.

Ooh, okay. Mark Stone. That's one. Ryan O'Reilly. That's two. Jordan Stahl? Is he the captain of the Carolina? He is, yeah.

Who? This is going to be a talk. Now we're getting into it here. Fuck, who's the captain of the Minnesota Wild? I don't know. It's probably not good. You know what? Why don't I say the Buffalo Sabres?

You go with these Sabers. Sabers have no captain right now. That's what I figured, but I was taking a guess that it might be Alex Tuck already. Okay. Hmm. The New York Islanders? Islanders captain is Anders Lee. Okay.

He's the only play for the Islander. So that's another. Another no. Okay. The Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg Jets, Blake Wheeler is a correct answer. He played for the loss of Bruins. So there you go.

So Ryan takes game one. That's right. The other, there were two other answers. One is the new captain of the New York Rangers, Jacob Trubba. Oh, sure. Yeah. And the other one that I'm surprised you didn't get, especially when you mentioned the Islanders. John Tavar's captain of the Toronto Maple.

Sure. Yeah. You know what? In my head, Austin Matthews is the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. You know, and also in my heart. Sure. So, yeah, there you go. Okay, so now I go back.

I give you another one, right? Okay, so this is, Ryan has a chance to take a big two-nothing lead. I want you to name players who are playing in the NHL this coming year. Okay. I feel like it's going to be an easy one. In the top ten. in the top 10 among players for active games played. I phrase that weirdly.

Name guys who are in the top 10 among active players for career games played. And when I say who are playing next year, I'm not counting Zadano Chair or Joe Thornton. Okay, that was going to be my question. Patrice Bergeron's got to be up there. He's been playing for a million fucking years. He is? So that's one for you.

I'm going to say. Phil Kessel, he's got to be, I looked at it earlier, he's around 1,200, right? That's going to be way up there. Bill Kessel is on the list? There's a guy who's been around for a million years, guy that's just like really old. And I can't say Joe Thornton. This is bullshit, man. You could say Joe Thornton, but it will count as an incorrect answer.

It will not count. But I'm not taking away your freedom to say any name that you want. Who's another old guy? Who's another old guy? Uh, oh, Alex Ovechkin. Got to be up there. Alex Ovechkin is up there. So for the third time, you were, sorry, for the second time, you are up three nothing right out of the gate.

Okay. Um, uh, probably isn't Sidney Crosby, right? Because he missed all those. I'll say Sidney Crosby. I bet that's wrong. Sydney Crosby is wrong. He is very close, though. He is, uh, he is like in the next five, I believe.

Well, if we're doing that, why don't I say, of Gennie Malkin as well? If Gany Malkin is not there either. Really? Who's another old guy? If Gany Malkin has not played a thousand games yet, which is somewhat surprising. Wow. That is shot. Again, I know he had some injuries, but it came in at the same time as Sidney Crosby.

Mm-hmm. All right. Is it 3-2 right now? It is. Yeah. Okay. Who's another old guy? You know, I almost said Drew Doughty

because he feels like he's been around forever, but he famously won the Norris at like age 26 is his lifetime achievement award. So that's why I feel like that. But let me pivot, Anse Copatar. Ozacopatar is in the top ten. So you take another one.

Very good. The other guys that would have qualified, actually number one on the list of active players not counting Thorntonichara Ryan Suter Ovechkin's next then it's Brent Burns

Bergeron, Copartar Kessel Corey Perry Jeff Carter Joe Pavelski and Mark Edward Vlasic would have been the other ones that we were looking for huh

Yeah I wouldn't guess Brent Burns was that close to it but again feel like he's been around for a million years And he is He is very old

And whereas as some other guys that not yet, Crosby not on the list, Patrick Cain, not there yet. Mark Giordano would have got me because he started late. Remember, he was one of those guys. He did, and he spent at least a year in the KHL. Yes. So that also hurt his candidacy.

All right, we're moving to my home. So I'm under pressure now here. This is... That's right. All right. There are 16 players who fit into this category, and I want you to name play who had more than one hat trick last season.

Okay. All right. Well, I'm going to just name some goals scores. So I'll assume Austin Matthews. Bingo. Ovechkin? Alex Ovechkin did not have more than one hat trick last season. Wow. Okay.

Let me, you know what? That sounds wrong, so let me double check that. But I'm pretty sure he didn't. I'll keep going as you Dracidal Yeah yeah yeah Drysidal is correct Yep

Yeah only one hat trick For Ovechkin last year November 26 against the Florida Panthers Connor MacDavid Let me look at my list I just changed windows here No on Connor McDavid So you are two and two

Okay Chris Kreider Feels like you're gonna I feel like you're right But I don't have them on this list right here. So, okay. Give me one second once again. I put this list together like two weeks ago when I thought we were going to do a show.

Yeah, he only had one and it was against the coyotes. So does that even really count? Yep. No, it doesn't. Doesn't at all. Okay. All right. This is, I'm, I'm, I'm danger zone now. Yeah. I'm down three to two for this again. And I can't, I cannot fall behind. Three nothing. That would be a tough bounce for you. Yeah. So. And yet, I mean, how do I even? I'm trying to think if I like remember any hat tricks, you know, who got them against the Leafs or anything like that. I really don't.

Let's try to think of some Zamboni drivers real quick. Let's see if we've talked to any of those. Come on, man. Let's go, we talked about him. Jason Robertson. Jason Robertson is correct. Okay. Three and two.

You have one left to get. This is it. Oh, man. This feels like the whole. This feels like the whole Shabang here Uh Thinking of gold

I'm not guessing these guys I'm thinking out loud Yeah yeah yeah I'm thinking guys like Caprizov scores a ton To brinket head a lot Kchuk maybe

Did Stamcoe Stay healthy enough Tage Thompson I could Uh All right Did anyone have like a

go on like a freakishly hot I feel like Robertson I feel like that was the one word didn't he like go just insane down the yeah he did yeah but I can't say him again um

that's true you cannot that would be a little you know what let me circle back to Austin Matthews again well yeah yeah yeah yeah he had more than one that's right four times can we please um

all right um let's go Matt answer. Matthew Kachuk, final answer. No. Oh, no. It's three and three. This is, this is for all the marbles here. Oh, no, I thought, oh, I thought I just, didn't I just, I thought that was my fourth one. I thought I was. Oh, yeah, no, you're right. You're right. You're right. Brock Nelson. Okay. David Pasternak, David Perron, Dylan, Dillon, Gabe Landisog, Jake Gensel.

Gensel is one that I think I would have guessed if I didn't have the list in front of me. Shifley, Bergeron, Patrick Cain. Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Timelmeyer, Tomas Hurtle. There's all your guys that didn't get named. If I'd guess Sam Bennett, I would have been cheating is what would have happened, actually. Sure. All right. Hey, you know what?

If you would just guess like four guys who were on the list, you would have won. Yeah, if only. All right. So I got it now at this point, I'm down three nothing. That's right. You need a Los Angeles King style. I am going to get this one. and then I'm going to look into Ryan's eyes and see that he's already beaten.

That's right. Okay, so there are 12 guys who fit into this category, and it's North American-born Calder winners since the year 2000. Okay. Rookies of the year, North American. All right. Since the year 2000. Okay. Austin Matthews.

Correct. Patrick Kane? No. Great. Great start. All right. Let me look up Patrick Cain just again. Just make sure. Because again, it feels like that has to be right. No, he did win the Calder. I just didn't write him down, I guess. Sorry about that. So, yeah. I might have to demand a recount on the rest of this. I just checked. You heard me check all the other guys. Aaron Eckblad won it. Aaron Eckblad did win it. So you're up three nothing right now. Since the year 2000, can I be an absolute garbage Leafs Homer? Yeah.

And in the worst way, I know that Andrew Raycroft won the Calder. He sure did, yeah, that's four. You're four for four. The others are Barrett Jackman, Kale McCar, Jeff Skinner, Jonathan Hubertow, Matt Barzall, Nathan McKinnon, Scott Gomez, Steve Mason, Tyler Myers. Barrett Jackman won the Calder trophy? In 2000, I believe, yeah, like dead on in the year 2000. Oh, wow.

Because he was a guy who, when you played a lot of the early NHL, early 2000s NHL games, Barrett Jackman turned into a pretty good player because they were like, well, he won the Calder that time. I was wrong, 03. He won the Calder in 03. But yeah, so if you played like NHL-0-305, Barrett Jackman turned into a good place. player. Now, here's the thing. This is fucking crazy. Barrett Jackman, he wins the Calder, with 19 points, three goals. You know what happened, though? He was plus 23. Oh, well, there it is.

Yeah. Played 20 minutes a night. Yeah. Yeah. I like that he won it in, like, 2003, and obviously the hockey gods were like, we're not making enough young NHL players. And then they delivered that year's draft. Like, let's just make a draft with, like, 30. borderline Hall of Famers in it. Okay. Yeah. Three to one, I'm, okay, I, I'm back in it,

maybe. If I get this one, if I get this one, Ryan's going to start getting nervous. And I'm giving you the question, right? Yeah. This is, I honestly don't know if this question is the easiest question possible or if it's going to be really,

really difficult for you. Okay. Okay, this is a question designed for you. And knowing your, you know, knowledge of history and when you sort of came online as a hockey fan. I want you to name four guys who at some point in their career had a 300 penalty minute season. Oh, my God. And this is an active players.

This is all time. Not active players. I don't, there are no active players. That's what I think. But just wanted to make sure. I'm going to say the name that jumped. right to the top of my head is Ty Domi. Yes,

Ty Domi is on the list. And then who's another guy that I think of as being like a Bob Probert? Yep. Right? Proby. Proby on there. Bob Probert had 398 as his best season, depending on that if you want to call that the best.

A guy who I only know who he is because his name is, so cool is Tiger Williams. Tiger Williams is on the list quite a few times, yes. Yeah. A guy where not only is his name cool,

it directly tells you what kind of player he was. Yeah. Yep. And also a very cool thing about Dave Tiger Williams is he is listed as Tiger Williams in hockey reference. So it's not even like a nickname thing.

It's like Tiger Woods. I love that in Pro Sports. where a nickname replaces the guy's name. That's more of a baseball thing. You don't see it a lot. Yogi Berra. Yeah. But, all right, so you're one away.

And you've got four swings to finish me off here. I'm, I am dangling from the top rope. One foot has already brushed the floor. That's right. And Ryan is tuning up the band to finish me up. Here's the thing is, I just don't know a lot of, like, old players. you know, like these are all guys that, again, like, I only know Tiger Williams because of the name. Like, you see him on lists of career penalty minutes guys or whatever.

And you're like, nobody's ever had a better fucking name than that. With all due respect to New Zealand alone. I'm trying to think who's a guy who, like, there has to have been a guy in the, like, salary cap era who did it once or twice, right? like has to be. So who's a guy like that? I think this is probably wrong, but I'm going to say Sean Thornton. No.

He used to have a million fights? Nope. Not one of those guys. Not on the list. Who's another guy? Just used to get in a million fucking fights. How about this guy? I don't know if he played much in the cap era,

but he was definitely around when I was starting watching hockey. Christoph Oliwold. Ooh, Christoph Oliwa. That's a guy I only remember as being like a fighting man. Can I tell you, Christoph Oliwa has a career high, 295 penalty minutes. This fucker couldn't have gotten in one more fight for me? Yeah. Chris Simon is another guy like that.

Chris Simon hit the 250 mark twice, but never higher than that. So you're now three and three. Big fighter guy back in the old days. I suspect this isn't true, but I'm just not going to pull anymore, I don't think. I'm going to say Zadanochara, I'm assuming that's wrong. No, not Zanachara. I don't believe that there actually has been anyone in the Cap era that has done it. Oh, Zenon Konopka at 307 minutes, it looks like.

That appears to be... Wow. See, I don't think of him as being a big fighting man. Yeah, I know he led in penalty. He had a lot of fights and he had rabbits, I think, are the only two things I do. I do remember that he had a rabbit named Hoppe, if I want to... Very good. I'm going to say, yeah.

So there were... There have been 80 seasons of 300 more penalty minutes. Obviously, some of them are the same guys. So I won't do the whole list. Tiger Williams had 12 of them. Yeah, he had a lot. The record is Dave the Hammer Shultz with 472 in the mid-70s. You put a name like Hammer in the, yeah.

Yeah. Boy, should my mind have jumped to the fucking Broad Street bully flyers, right? Like, Jesus Christ. Basil McCray, Joey Kosher, Gino Ogic, Rob Ray, some other guys. Rob Ray, I probably should have gotten. Yeah. Oh, fuck, what's his name? The guy from Buffalo Radio now.

Did a lot of fighting. Matthew Barnaby. Barnaby. He's got to be up there, right? Barnaby had 2.49. Oh, no, he did. He had a 3.35 season. Matthew Barnaby had a few. And Marty McSorley also has is... Should have got Marty McSorley.

I definitely remember, like, around the time I started watching the NHL regularly was when he high-sticked Donald Brasheel. And hey, Donald Bruchier's probably a guy who did it, right? Now that I think about it. Yes, Donald Bruchier is also a... top 10 all time. He had 3702 minutes in 97, 98. Boy, I'm coming up with a lot of guys too late. Now I'm like, oh, what about Georgia LaRoc? It's interesting because I was going to say, you know, that this list is almost all guys

from the 80s and early 90s. But it's like, there's quite a few late 90s guys too. Like the NHL was a gong show for a good 20 years there. Let me look up, I'm going to look here. George's LaRoc never had more than 157 penalty minutes. Now, would you, that's going to be a surprise. Yeah. Right? That I, I would be surprised. Only, only the timing. Peter Warrel seems to be the leader for post-2000. In 2002, he had 354 minutes. But man, you don't see it. Daniel Carcillo had a 324 year in 2008. So that would be another cap era. But him and Konaka are the only ones in the cap era. And I'm pretty sure that like these days, the leading penalty minute guy has like 80s.

seven minutes. It's wild how... Yeah, I'm going to look that up, actually, how many penalty minutes... Somebody will beat Gretzky's scoring record before somebody beats Dave Schultz 470, whatever penalty minutes. Leading penalty minute and guy in the league this past season. Mark Boravietzsche, 151. Yeah. Nobody else even north of 134.

So do that, triple that, and you're still a couple of misconducts away from Dave Schultz. Yeah. 13 guys only cleared 100 penalty minutes. Although, hey, shout out to Liam O'Brien. He got to 106 in just 39 games for the Arizona Coyotes. Good stuff. Salute.

Jeffrey Veal, a guy who played for the San Jose Sharks, had 114 and 34. Definitely somebody who I know exists. Yeah, no heart of that guy, for sure. Yeah. All right. Three to two. Yeah. We got the momentum.

All right. I'm going to, this is current NHL players who are centers primarily who were drafted in 2013. Okay. Who are not Nathan McKinnon. And I give you Nathan McKinnon to contextualize the year for you. Who are guys who are about Nathan McKinnon's age. Okay. So we're doing the, so this is the 2000.

2013 draft and we want centers who have what played? We're in the league last season. Okay. Played, I think probably one game was my cutoff. All right. So that was the McKinnon Barkov, Drew and Seth Jones here. So Barkov. Sautra Barcov is correct.

Druin, I don't think, would count as a... He's a winger. I don't have him on this list. Unless you're the Montreal Canadiens. Right. So I'm going to say that's not... I'm not even going to count that as a guess because he's... Yeah, okay.

So you've got two? One. No, I've got one. You've got one. You got Sasha Barkoff, right. Who else went that year? Newton Hopkins was the year before. That sounds right to me.

Obviously, as a number one. The recital was the next year. Okay. Was that the... Was that the Sam's? Sam Ryanhart, I will guess. Nope, that was not the Sam's draft at all. Was it the Elias Lindholm draft?

Elias Lindholm is another one. So you're two and one? Yeah. Two and one. Okay. And if I remember right, Lindholm went to, he wasn't picked by Calgary, but that was the, then Calgary picks Sean Monaghan right after.

Also correct. Three and one right now. And now you're in the deep water, I'll say. Yeah, now I'm... Okay, I'm gonna... Was that the Senator's Mika Zabanajad year? I'm not seeing Mika Zabanajad on my list. Let me double check that.

And also, yeah, let's see here. Mika Zabanajad. Yeah, no, his NHL debut was 1112, so no. Three and two. Is See, I don't remember Like I've already named some really good players And I don't remember the 2013 draft being that great

So I'm thinking of guys drafted around that time There are some good players left, I will say Now, maybe not great But good solid NHL players for sure That you've heard of pretty much all these guys For sure This is, there is maybe like two guys You're like, who?

But that's it. Was that the, okay, was that the year that the avalanche, I know they got McKinnon, was that the year that they got Ryan O'Reilly in the second round? I don't believe so. Yeah, his NHL debut was 2009-10. Oh, wow, okay, so I'm off by a mile there. Three and three. I'm in trouble.

I'm in trouble. I'm not guessing him yet. Okay. But I'm throwing this out there so people can have. The guy I'm thinking of is Dylan Larkin because I know he was like a middle of the first round pick. But I feel like we would hear more about this draft being like a really. Okay. Put a pin in that.

Okay. Did the 2013, did the Leafs have a pick that year? I don't know. Who would the Leafs have taken as a seat? they obviously didn't get a good player. This is before they start drafting. This is in between the good core, and that's not the Cadre year.

It's not the Morgan Riley year. Was it the Tyler Biggs? I was going to say, are you around Tyler Biggs? No, but it's not. Couldn't have been Tyler Biggs because that Tyler Biggs was Brian Burke. Yeah. Okay, is there, sorry, hold on. Is there a cutoff for games played?

Like, does this guy have to be a good player? No, he doesn't have to be a good... I think the Leafs took... I think that was the Frederick Gauthier year, where they took it. Because he was 6-6. Yes. You got it.

The other ones, Alex Wenberg, Andrew Cobb, Bo Horvett, Carter Hagee, Curtis Lizarre. And this is according to NHL's positions. NHL.com. Curtis Lazzar, like I said, Jason Dickinson, John Hayden,

and Johnny Brodsinski. Those are the two I was like, you never heard of these fucking guys in the whole life. Laurent those are two college hockey guys Laurent Dauphin Matias Yanmark Max Domi

Nick Pitan and Tyler Mott Wow Max yeah Max Domi Because he went Where did Max Domi go? Was he like he was top ten? Middle was the first round I want to say right So if I had he went 13th but that might

12th he went so no Dylan Larkin then No Larkin was the next year Wow okay Larkin was the next year All right So we're going to a game seven. Oh, this is exciting. All right.

From you, I just want guys who scored. We're not going to a game seven guaranteed yet. You got one more. What? I thought I got, oh, I thought I had four. No. Oh, did I not? Okay.

No, yeah. You just listed the, all the guys. So I must have had four. Oh, right. No. Yeah. Well, wait a second. Because I've got, okay.

No, I see what happened. I see. because we both wrote down four categories. So I was like, I still have a category. Yes. What are you talking about? Okay. All right.

Right. But you're doing my category. Okay. Yes. Right. I want guys who scored 35 goals or more in the 2019, 2020 season. So this is the season that was cut short by COVID. I'm looking for guys with 35 goals or more in that season.

35 or more in that season. 35 or more. that season. Austin Matthews. Yes. 47 goals. Boy, he's pretty good, huh? He's good.

Oh, was that the year he, Ovechkin and Pasternak, all went sight. Like, the rocket race was going to be insane. So it's him, Ovechkin, and Pasternak. That's correct. Yes. Asternak and Ovechkin ended up winning the Rock of Richard.

They were tied. So again, 3-0, you're one away. Who's another guy scores a bunch of goals? Oh, Dreisaitle won the MVP that year. He must have scored more than 30. You got it. In fact, you nailed the top four. Those were the guys.

Yeah. Hey, as long as you keep a contemporary, I'm pretty good, huh? I feel like this happened. And didn't this happen in a playoff series where, like, some team, blew a 3-0 lead. They got to game 7, and then it just ended up being like a blowout. And the other guys that would have qualified Mika Zabanajad,

Sebastian Ajo, Kyle Connor, Jack Eichol, and Nathan McKinnon. No Connor McDavid that year. Patrick Kane just missed. Kuturov just missed, and other guys like that. But you took it. Yeah, that was...

Never in doubt. You know, honestly, if you hadn't said, like Matthews had, like, an insane number of goals, like 47 and... 60, whatever. I don't know. Did they play? Were they one of the teams that got to 70?

I have no idea, right? But I just instantly, it came back into my mind that he had been in like a heated rocket race with Ovechkin and Posternak. That's a good call. Yeah. Well done. Thank you so much. Well earned. Do you want to try the last one that doesn't count since I wrote everything down here?

It was players born in the Czech Republic, not Czechoslovakia. They have to be just Czech players born when the country was the Czech Republic, which I don't remember the cutoff for that was like 86 or something like that, right? And just anyone who played in the NHL or is this current? I think this is looking at this list, I think this must be current. No, because I'm seeing a couple guys who aren't in the NHL anymore. So it's basically anyone who's ever played in the NHL. Wow.

I mean, Pastor and actually only obvious one that jumps to my mind. And the Czech Republic apparently dissolved in 1992, or Czechoslovakia dissolved in 93. 93. Oh, you're just cruelly forcing me to. So anybody born after 93 who is Czech? Wow. And there's a lot. There's 34 of them.

Oh, really? Yeah. I'm trying to think of like radics and Filippes. But this is... One radic. I'm not seeing four Filippes. Four Filippes. But not Filippe Forbesberg, right?

He wouldn't... No, he's sweet. He's apoleep. Yes, okay. See, you can't. can't be doing that to me. Flip Zadina. That's one.

So you got two, you're two for two. Yeah, but then I'm, I'm, uh, I cannot give you the other, like,

very common check name. You'll get it easily. Uh, two, there's two other really common ones, but you'll get both of them easily. I'm trying to think of, like,

trying to think of some leafs here now. Mm-hmm. But, um, oh, um, Andre Chasha. Andre Kasha is correct, yep.

Oh, man. And then from there, I'm just, I'm pulling, I'm pulling blanks here. Any other Andres you can think of in the league right now? I can think of lots of, like, oh, Andre, Andrage spell that way. Oh, wait, no, you know what? He doesn't count. He was born in 1991. I was, Andre Palat is the other one, but he was born in a check. Oh, okay.

I was thinking, uh, Pavlett, but, uh, Pavolet, but the, the crappy goalie. He's also got to be, uh, older than, yeah, he's born in 87. I feel like, I feel like I would end up tapping out on this. I don't think I would have, I would have got this one. Give me, give me the rundown. Uh, Adam Raska guy I've never heard of. Dan Vladar. A very common check name is David, David Kemp, David Kasha, Andre's brother.

Oh, David Kemp, I should have got. Yeah, that's my other leaf. Dominic Cahoon, Dominic Kubolique, Dominic Simone, Fulik Chlapik, maybe, Philip Heidel, Philip Hedl, Philipronic. And then this is one of the common check names, Yakum, Verona, Yeah, okay. Zaborna, and Galvis. None of these are real guys.

Yacob, Verona's a real guy. Come on. And Zaborl is one of the guys the Bruins took instead of the... That's true. Could have had, yeah. Jan Yenik. I don't know who that is. Yosef Coronar.

Karelva Malka. Might remember him from the coyotes. Christian Reichel. Lebor Hayek. Leibor Sulak. Still fake. Lucas Dostal. Lucas Sedleck.

Merrick Langhammer. Great name. Random name generator from NHL 22 right now. Martin Frick. Martin Cowan. out. Martin Frick, I probably should have got just because... Marty Natchis.

Yeah. The nature boy. Real guy. Pavel Zaka. Radick Foxa. Radam Zohorna. Tomash Erdle, Tomas Heika, and Vitechuk.

Those are all the Czech guys that I... Can I say that I thought Hurtle was Swedish? That's probably... Yeah, that's not allowed to say, I don't think. Not great. So there you go. That's the new game. All right.

You all like it. There you are. And we're done. Sean, why don't you hit us with some plugs, brother? Find me on the Athletic. I have a... Actually, this week I've got a piece with a friend of the show, Sean Gentilly, as well as Ian Mendez.

We're bringing back the rules court. And this time it's a special edition. We're doing a... Taking a look at that weird three-on-three league. Oh, yeah. Looking at some of their weird rules. There was an article on ESPN by Craig Wschniewski, and he, like, went into seven of the big rules.

So we kind of took a look at those seven and decided which ones we would steal for the NHL and which ones we wouldn't. And, yeah, listen to my podcast with Ian Thursdays on The Athletic. There you go. For me, E.P.Rinkside.com. If you sign up with the code, I Love E.P. For an annual subscription, you will get three months tacked on to your 12 months. for free. So 15 months for the price of 12. And then of course the Puck Soup Patreon where boy,

oh boy, have we been churning out the content lately. Oh, yeah. Let's see. Just yesterday I recorded to stick to sports with the aforementioned Sean Gentilly. We talked about snacks or whatever. Stupid bullshit we talk about on there. Greg and his lovely wife Ruby did a mezan pod where they talked about two movies about chefs. We did the ultra-specific draft last week. Everybody enjoyed that, I think. I won't spoil it, but I could probably guess who won a draft on the Puck Suit Patreon. And then a week ago, me and Adam Vingen, formerly of the Athletic, we did our wrestling

podcast, Superplex, where we talked about all the crazy shit that's happening. happening in wrestling lately. It's a wild time if you're a wrestling fan. And people seem to really like that show. So, um, why don't you check all that out? Patreon.com slash puck soup. And, uh, yeah, we'll, uh, I think we got another couple of weeks off from the main show. And then we'll be back closer to the end of September, um, when we'll do season previews and shit like that. So, I want you to swing by, check all that out on the Patreon if you want to keep listening to the podcast for the next little while. And until then, talk to you later.

Bye bye. Bye.