Puck Soup - Buy, Sell or Stand

Episode Date: January 19, 2022

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's in tunes. It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. Both two. Hey, everybody. I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects. Sean McIndoo from The Athletic. Folks, I hate to do this.

I hate to talk about the freaking oilers again off the top of the show. But when a media guy calls one of the best players in the world pissy twice, you kind of got to talk about the damn oilers. Don't act like you don't want to talk. Everybody loves talking about others. Let's put it this way. Do I want to talk about the Oilers every week on this show? Not really.

The story doesn't change that much. You know? Yeah. But. But it's fun. It sure is. Like the Oilers, like, who are the teams of the league that are the most fun when they're bad? Like, it's the Oilers, the Leafs.

I mean, Montreal, kind of, but. Yeah. You know, honestly, I did the, I did the, Andrew Berkshire's, like, Habs post-game show that he does on YouTube last night. After they, they wumped on the stars. we, oh, we can talk about the stars later. Oh, boy. But, uh, so like, even they're kind of just like, oh, like they're jokerified a little bit about this, you know, like Montre, because they're just like, well, I mean, what, what can you say at this point? Yeah.

Yeah. I, I saw actually a TikTok of all things that, like that, the, the, the Dangal Podcast Network put out and it was just Andrew introducing like every podcast after a Havs loss all year. and just like deteriorating in real time. Like early on you can still see the optimism. Like, you know, he can't win them all. And then he just, it was, it was quite entertaining. Probably not for him. Yeah.

I did one of, I did one earlier this season where they lost in Seattle and it was Seattle's first home win. And like, there were questions coming from the listeners or viewers or whatever that were like, you know, with all the talent they have and I was just like, all the what? What's up, dude? But yeah, the other thing about that game last night, the Dallas Star has had 110 shot attempts in that game and lost, like, 5 to 3 or whatever. 110.

That feels like a lot. I literally looked it up in the middle of the show because I was like, there's no way 110, like, has happened. And literally, it is the most shot attempts one team has had in a game. game in the regular season since 2007-08. And that is like unequivocally the best game of the last month or so for Montreal. Like that is...

Yeah. And they got historically bombed. Yeah. Like, Dallas had, I think, five or six guys hit the post last night, too. That was the other fun thing. But anyway... If you watch shots on Sam Montemboe, who is definitely a real guy that I had heard of before I just looked at it.

Former Florida Panther? You don't know Sam Mott. Come on now. But anyway, the Ottawa Senators. So the setup to the media and the players clashing is they freaking choked on Saturday. They blew it on Saturday. And this was the game that had been, I think, rescheduled because they were supposed to play Ottawa earlier. And everybody was like, oh, this is the game that if they lose,

Dave Tippett's getting fired because the senators are once again that team that if you lose to them you immediately start firing people and they got a reprieve thanks to COVID scheduling and this

then they go out and they play actually well for two periods I watched that whole game it was a really fun good I think that like you said I think they played very well actually but didn't get the bounces which you kind of don't when you're playing your third string goalie for like, you know,

the seventh time this year or however many games Stuart Skinner has played in. Yeah. That's what made that game kind of a, I think even more depressing if you're an Oilers fan because I think with any young goalie, you're always kind of like, maybe. Who knows? Yeah, absolutely. Clearly, like, Mike Smith, you can't, doesn't feel like a great strategy to, count on him to be healthy. Miko Koskin and whatever you think of him is is not having a good

year. Maybe the guy comes up, we've seen it how many times, right? The guy comes up from the minors, he's a well-regarded young gold. Andrew Hammond. Right, the Andrew Hammond. I mean, come on. And sometimes it lasts and sometimes it doesn't, but you just kind of, it flips the season around and it could still happen, but that was not the game you were looking for. And, yeah, they fall apart. They lose five to four, I think. Yeah, that's right. After being up three to one.

Yeah. And then the senators tie it and then it's, yeah, the late goal. Yeah, and to not even get a point out of it, right? Like that, oh, that sucks. So now it's a couple of days later and Leander Seidel is facing the media and he gets into it. Well, did he get into it with Jim Matheson, or did Jim Matheson get into it with him? Like, what's, first of all, who's the instigator here?

The viral clip is Matheson basically going, so you're like really pissed off, right? And he's like, or no, it starts, I'm sorry, it starts off with, you know, what do you think you guys are doing badly that you weren't doing badly before? And he goes, kind of everything. and he's like, would you like to expand on, and Madison goes, would you like to expand on that? And Drysidal goes, uh, not really. You seem to know everything.

So you write it, you know. Uh, and, and then he says, why are you being so pissy? Uh, and, and Leon's like, excuse me? And he goes, why are you being, or you're being pissy? And he goes, I'm not actually. Uh, I'm answering the questions, but what, you know, um, but what that viral clip did not include was that, uh, Matheson asked two other questions before that that was like,

you're pissed, right? You're fucking steamed up about all this. You're mad. You're furious. And Drysidele being like, well, I mean, you know, and Matheson just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Yeah. Which, you know, clearly this is, we've talked about this before. There are questions that you ask in the media where you genuinely want to know the answer.

And then there's questions where. You kind of have your story mostly written, and you're looking for sound bites that will, in quotes, that will fit into that. And this feels like the latter, which is fine. It's not an unreasonable, you know, questions to ask. And I didn't think, you know, like, hey, everything's going bad. What's going to the worse is not an unreasonable question. but also, you know, saying, yeah, everything's going bad is not an unreasonable answer. And when he asked him, do you want to expand on that?

Okay. You know, try to get a little more out of him. But when he says no to that, then that's kind of it. I actually, I just found the full transcript before that. And he goes, Leon, what's your level of anger at how things are going right now? I know you're frustrated with where you were at the beginning of the season compared to where you are now. Are you angry as well as frustrated? Yeah, I mean, of course it's frustrating.

Like I said, we're not here or we're not where we want to be. Anger, I don't know if I would call it anger. It's more frustration, but that's obviously something you have to put behind yourself and go back to work. Do you think the last two years you've been second in the division and you've shown a lot of maturity? But now you've lost six in a row twice. Did you think your team was past that? not getting into those long losing streaks. Sure, yeah.

And then the other stuff. Yeah. So I mean, up to that point, I don't think there's anything especially wrong with the exchange. And Jim Madsen, for people who don't know, is a veteran writer in Edmonton, seems very well respected by his peers. He's one of those older guys who has committed the unpartisan.

sin of not being very good on Twitter, which means a lot of fans think he's bad at his job. I don't necessarily know that that's the case. But, yeah, sure. Yeah, it's not, I don't think, I mean, it's not a great look for either of them, but. I think dry sightal comes off better. What's that? Right? I think dry sidle comes off better because he's just like, look, man, you pushed me.

Like, I don't know what you want me to tell you. Yeah. And so the other context around all that is now the Edmonton media is pissed off that they're losing. Like that's one of the things you have to say is when the Oilers are bad, the Edmonton media takes it personally, right? And I think it was Ryan Rishog was like, they're just not trying. Nobody wants to work hard. They're just accepting every goal against that kind of thing. Same thing we hear of all the time.

Yeah. It's just it's all about effort. The team's great. The strategy is great. Everyone's good enough. They just need to try harder. And then it's... We're on year 12 of not getting enough trying. Yeah. Okay. And then the other one was there were people legitimately blaming, like, oh, Stuart Skinner had an opportunity and he blew it tonight. That kind of thing. And it's like, again, he's like a 22, 23 year old goalie. He's probably not like, you know, a world beating kind of a goalie. that everybody wants every, like you said, wants every young goalie coming into the league to be. And that's not his fault, especially given the defense in front of him. You know, like, are we not allowed to say that that defense sucks? Or at least is not built to lock things down at the end of a game. They're a defense that's built to facilitate the offense, let's say. And does that maybe not work with Dave Tippett's preferred style of playing the game?

well, you know, maybe a GM should have checked on that before the season started. Yeah. So I don't know. I mean, I thought, again, this is one of those hockey things, and we've talked about this before, where it feels like it happens and you have to do one of two things. You either have to pull out your feigning couch for Jim Matheson and how terrible it is that this Hall of Fame writer was not really in the Hall of Fame. game. That's a different.

Yeah. But, you know, you have to either do that or you have to act like Leondrocytel. It was the greatest thing in the world. Oh, this was so watches. Leondrocytel decimates the whatever. I mean, I didn't think either of them look great. I do think, you know, like Thomas Durant's had a take on it where, you know, he made several points. And I agreed with all of them except one, which is where he said that he said something along the lines of players don't owe the media politeness. I think they do. Just in the sense that I think... I think you kind of owe everybody to like this, right? When you're talking to somebody and, you know, people are just doing their jobs. You should, you know, there's a basic level of even if you're frustrated with somebody that you don't have to, you know, and this applies to both of these guys, you don't have to try to embarrass them in front of their peers or whatever else.

But I think the fact that this was question number four does maybe tilt it a little bit towards Drusitle where you say, like, okay, like at some point, you also have to read the room a little bit and see where you're just, you're just not going to get the answer you're looking for. But there may be, in fact, I would assume there was probably some history here beyond just that exchange. The other thing is, though, that like, you know, McDavid and Cassian, after the game, so, you know, temperatures are a little hotter, I guess you would say. but they were both similarly, I don't want to say dismissive necessarily,

but like, I wish I knew what to tell you, I think is the exact Connor McDavid quote, right? Like, you know, maybe if you give that answer two, three days later, people are like, what the fuck, like, give me something to work with here. But like, doesn't all of this tell you everything about where this team's headed? like both the stars are clearly pissed off, not only with how things are going, but with like the media and everything else that's going on around them.

As they should be. Of course. You know, at some point, you got the question must be asked, what happens if the Oilers miss the playoffs? Which right now, I'm going to pull up the standings here, but like they're not, there's like two or three teams in front of them for crazy.

One, two, there are three teams between them in the last playoff spot, and obviously that doesn't account for points percentage and all that kind of thing, but. But even for points percentage, they're, it's not great. They're out right now. So, yes, correct. Yep. Yeah, it's, yeah, if they miss the playoffs, I think,

There has to be a total house cleaning. I can't imagine, I mean, I certainly can't imagine Dave Tippett keeping his job. And then you just start going out of the chain. You know, does Ken Holland lose his job? He should. If they miss, absolutely. Yeah. You know, but he's also the highest paid GM in the league,

according to some reports, with multiple years left. So maybe that buys them time. If he goes, does Bob Nicholson go, who has been the president of this team for years of this? And was the guy hired Ken Holland? I've seen a lot from Oilers fans that, like, they want high-level changes. I haven't seen too many Oilers fans who strike me as particularly passionate one way or another about Dave Tippett. I've seen lots of them take a name at Ken Holland and lots of them take a name. at Bob Nicholson.

And look, I mean, the thing with Ken Holland is he's never fired a coach. Let's start there. Like somehow, in all the decades, he has never fired a coach. He has had one coach, Scotty Bowman retire. He's had two coaches leave at the end of their contract, which with Mike Babcock and Dave Lewis, and certainly with Lewis, it was a de facto firing. but he didn't, contracts expired and Tippett's contract

expires at the end of the year. So the playbook here is he leaves it, get to the end of the year, and then you move on. We've already, you know, we're already starting to hear that familiar song and dance from GM-friendly media where it's talking about how hard it is to make trades. It sure is.

Yeah, it's, and, and, you, you know, there was, they're doing their scouting meetings this week. So, you know, no imminent changes. We know that they're interested in Evander Cain. I think a lot of us assume that's going to happen, but now we have to potentially wait, see what the league rules, if they're going to suspend them again.

Other than that, I don't know, man. Like, you make $5 million a year, reportedly, which is more than just about every GM. A lot of cash. So, and I made this point, I've made it before. In other places, I wrote a thing today. It wasn't, I didn't include it in the piece, but we're talking about it in the comment section where it's like, look, I acknowledge that it is hard to make trades in the middle of the year.

It's hard to significantly change your roster. That's offseason stuff. And it's difficult to do during the year. I don't think GMs who say that are wrong, but it's the only job in the entire NHL that you're allowed to say is too hard. Like nobody else. gets to do that. Dave Tippett doesn't get to sit there and go, you know what? Like, yeah, maybe our strategy wasn't the right one tonight. Maybe we weren't ready to play. Maybe I didn't have the X's and O's. But those things are really tough. It's really hard.

Like if he said that, like a little cane would come out and hook him off. Yeah, absolutely. 100%. If Miko Koskin gets up there and they're like, hey man, you gave up five goals again tonight. And he's like, the shooters are really good in this league. Like, I just... You're not going to believe it. Yeah. These guys are really fast and they really shoot the puck hard.

Are you seeing this Drake Batherson kid? He's unbelievable. You can't, I can't be expected to be making a bunch of timely saves all the time. It's just too hard. He would be off the team that night. And yet GMs are allowed to just go like, if the cat makes my job hard and we're all supposed to go, okay, well, then don't worry about it. Yeah. And I mean, especially because, you know, the answer here, or one of the, obviously.

Obviously, there are multiple problems with this Oilers roster, but the number one problem, and who could have seen it coming, was that a Miko Smith and 58-year-old Mike Smith, that ain't working for some reason. Wow. Great. Oh, if only Mike Smith was healthy. Well, he's older than me. So, you know, like, I feel bad every morning waking up, like, just physically. My body's a mess, you know? And, like, now let's imagine I'm a guy who's, like, going to stop. Pucks for a living. No thanks. So no kidding, Mike Smith's hurt all the time. And even if he wasn't hurt all the time, he hasn't been good this year. So, you know, again, like. And the Oilers have been trying, and Ken Holland has been trying to upgrade the goaltending for the last two years. Like they thought they had Markstrom. Yeah. There have been other, like, so, but he, he hasn't done it. And now, you know. Well, again, Sean, it's so hard to get a goalie in the off. You can't get a goal in the off season. You can't get a goalie in the season. Maybe you try during the playoffs. That's the only time that it might be easy to pull off. It's not like, you know,

it's, I mean, hey, it's, it's not like raining Vesina winners are just available the following season from rebuilding teams. That would never happen. So, yeah, I don't know. Well, it can't, happen if you, if you go out and you trade for a guy like, I don't know, a Duncan Keith. That's, you know, one of, one of those really high-end leadership he does. that right. That's right. Clearly. Oh, my God. It's a mess. It is a mess. And, you know, there's no depth and there's no, the blue line's an issue. And some of that you can fix and some of it you can't. But the thing that blows me away is this, you know, again, this, well, I think in this case, it actually was from kind of Ken Holland's own mouth where he was saying, like, we're not going to move the first round pick this year. They don't want to. Yeah, well, he doesn't want to do it for a pure rental, which I understand that impulse, certainly. But also it's like... That's exactly right.

Because you just don't want to... You're wasting the prime of the best player in the league and another guy who's, you know, at a minimum top five and maybe number two in the entire league. and not only wasting their prime, but I mean, and I know this is, every Oilers fan is going to roll their eyes in the back of their head when I say this, because everybody's been trying to get Connor McDavid out of Edmonton

since literally the moment they won the draft lottery. Everyone's been like freeze framing every thing he says to try to look for the, you know, oh, he looks kind of sad there. And I get that most of that's been nonsense. But like his frustration level has to be huge right now. Like if I'm Ken Holland, And that's the first call I'm making every day is to like Connor McDavid's agent.

Like, how's he doing? What's the temperature check? Because, you know, at some point, you got to think there's an off-season phone call saying either I'm out or, you know what? I'm, he's getting very frustrated. And then now you're dealing from a position of weakness because everybody knows you've got to keep this guy happy. Like, what are we waiting for here? What? Yeah, look, I don't disagree with you.

Like I said, I get the impulse to be like, we're not going to trade our best prospects for a guy who's going to be here for three months. And, you know, again, at this point, maybe doesn't even help him get into the playoffs. Honestly, you know. But with that having been said, Edmonton's farm system stinks. They have like a couple of guys who are, who are, who are, you know, going to be legitimate NHLers, but like I don't

think that they have anybody where it's like that is a future difference maker. You know? Yeah, this is what happens when you only ever hit on top five picks. It's not... No, absolutely. And then, but so this is the other

funny thing. So they played on Saturday after not playing for quite a while. And then they have another huge layoff. They play on Thursday. So that tomorrow as we record this. And they are hosting the Florida Panthers, who are, you know, up until last night, we're averaging six goals a game over their previous nine games, which is a lot.

And I was like, well, look, you know, they're, they're going to play the flame. The Panthers are going to play the flames first. And maybe that softens them up a little bit. But they got killed last night. They got run out of the building. thing. Five won the final in Calgary. And it's like, oh, now the Edmonton Oilers have to play a pissed off Florida Panthers. Oh, I don't like that for them. Because I looked at that, and I'm sure lots of people did this where you kind of looked at how bad it was going at Edmonton and how unstoppable the Panthers

looked. And you're like, oh, Edmonton's clearly winning that game. Like, 100%. Miko Koskinin shut out. This is how the NHL works. But now, I don't know, maybe this. Yeah, four nothing. But now, yeah, now they're, now they're, they're going to be really upset. Because not only did they lose, like, it's not like they lost in a shootout or anything like that. They got killed by a team that much like the Edmonton Oilers, kind of struggling a little bit, you know? And so, you can't, look, not everybody can do what the Ottawa senators did and just run through Alberta, like it's not even there. Yeah.

It's a juggerna. But, yeah. The other big Canadian team news this week is the Montreal Canadiens hire player agent Kent Hughes as their new general manager. What's the take on this, Sean? What do you think? Well, it was sort of interesting how it played out because his name came up initially when the vacancy was there. but then he apparently wasn't interviewed in the first round. At least that's what was report.

I guess, yeah, he got a first round buy. And then he swooped in last week. And apparently the offer was made by the weekend. And then he had to figure out if he wanted to take it because when you're an agent, you know, he's making good money. This isn't like an assistant GM somewhere and this is an obvious move up. Yeah, and plus this summer he's about to, he would have been about to make commission on new deals for both Chris LaTang

and Patrice Bergeron, which is a bunch more money. Yeah. Yeah, Chris, two guys with French sounding names who. Yeah, so that is the thing is he is a Montreal slash Boston guy, Kent Hughes. He does speak French. He speaks for him. He grew up in Montreal, but I believe he's a Boston guy now. And it is funny that-

He was a Boston guy two days ago, but he- That's right. Not anymore. It is funny that two Boston guys are now running the Montreal Canadians, like unequivocally two Boston guys. But so his kids play for Northeastern, which is in Boston. One of them, the younger one, Jack, is draft eligible this year. He's probably going to be a first-round pick.

Um, the older one. Jack Hughes was drafted like three years ago. You've got to update your, the number of times I've gone to a northeastern game and had to like triple check the, the, uh, line charts just to make sure. No, that, that, that, right, I forgot. Um, but the fact, you know, he plays on a line with his brother, um, who is a Rangers six or seventh rounder, if I'm not mistaken, which drafted by Jeff Gordon, are we seeing a pattern here, folks? Um, and, um, And also the Canadians have two draft picks who are on the Montreal, or who were drafted by Montreal in Northeast or so. Yeah, there's a lot of connections there. And anyway, the question is, do you think the signals they're fully committed to a tear-down rebuild?

Because I think it does. I think typically when you bring in new people, like at the top of an organization, that's usually what it means. It's not always. Obviously, you need to look at what the Rangers did, pushing Gorton out, that was not a reset. But when a team is bad, they've got a, they've got the, I was going to say blank check. That's the wrong term. But they've got a window here where they'll have some credibility with the market. And clearly, this is what this team needs.

I mean, this is not a team where you go, yeah, we get Kerry Price back. We can be good again. But then it becomes how big a tear down are we talking? Are we moving Kerry Price? Are we moving Brendan Gallagher? Are we moving any other good players on the team, if there were any? But yeah, I think it signals that it's time for a tear down. And by the way, I don't mind the hiring.

Like I like the idea of having Jeff Gordon, who I've got a ton of, having Jeff Gordon, who I've got a ton of time for, I think, is an excellent NHL GM, hiring him as not a GM, but as, you know, kind of a GM. And then bringing in somebody who doesn't have that direct experience to learn along with Jeff Gordon. I think that makes a lot of sense. And, you know, there's a pretty good track record of player agents coming in as stepping into front office and doing pretty well. So this isn't bad for Montreal, but there's a lot of work to do.

So there are a couple things here about that. There's only been one other agent signed directly from being an agent in the capier. Do you know who that is? No, I don't. Mike Gillis is the only guy who a little before that Mike Barnett from the coyotes was in that's like early 2000s. Right. He also,

yes, and he also had been just an agent before that had no front office experience. What about Pierre Laquois? Did he go straight from? Um, I don't think so. I think.

Because there had been guy, like Kyle Dubas was an agent at one point and, but he slid into front office. It was, you're right. Like it wasn't. Yeah, because, um, what's his name? Bill Zito is another guy who went from an agent.

to a GM in in Columbus to and now he's obviously a GM, but there was a few years in the middle there where obviously he wasn't, he was like learning at the table or whatever you want to say. And that's kind of what's happening here, even though. Yeah, right. Hughes gets the GM title, which maybe was part of what helped entice him to come over is that he was he's getting the title even though I'm not I mean I don't know org chart wise who gets the final say

I guess will will be a question but I think we all expect Jeff Gordon to have a very heavy hand on the on the wheel here as he should yeah yeah and and like this is the question I have then so we're talking about a team that let's say hasn't turned all the talent they've drafted into what people thought that talent could be, let's say. That's a kind way to put it, yes. Right. Does that not also describe the New York Rangers under Jeff Gordon? Yeah.

Potentially, yeah. And here's the thing, right? Toronto, just to to bring a third ultra-rich team into the mix here, right? Toronto has invested heavily in that side of things

and turned a lot of guys who are, you know, hey, he's an okay player, sure, into legitimate NHLers. And whatever you want to say about, you know, obviously they haven't picked as high as as the Canadians or the Rangers, like

Marner and Matthews' aside, and even Marner, what was he 11? No, he was fourth. He was fourth. He was fourth. Okay, so, yeah. But the point is, Toronto invests heavily in these things and regularly turns so-so prospects into NHLers. The Rangers and the Canadians in recent years seemingly haven't invested all that heavily in it and have regularly turned high-end picks into okay NHLers, you know? And like guys have left the organization before, anybody would have said that was going to happen.

Kockinymi, of course. Leas Anderson and Vitaly Kravtsov, obviously, asked for a trade. Galchanyuk's another guy. That's a little longer ago, obviously. But the point is, now is the time for the Montreal Canadiens

to be like, we're going to invest a billion dollars into our amateur scouting and development teams. Yep. That makes sense. And then signed Chris LaTang in the offseason. That's right. And you're right back where you want to be.

You know, one of the quotes, I think, yesterday, was from Tyler To Foley being like, I want to be part of the solution here. But, you know, you got to trade Tyler to Foley. You got to trade everybody who doesn't have trade protection. You would think. You would. Like, what are, what's the point? Gain those, get those assets.

And just, you know, first. the record, Chris LaTang is a Montreal guy. Yes. Patrice Bergeron is not, how funny would it be? I mean, yeah, no. As an outsider, that's the move we all want to see, right? Oh, sure. Patrice Bergeron, just signing with Montreal and just every Bruins fan tweeting out pictures

of swords and backs and burning uniforms and, oh, man, that would be, that would be fantastic. The thing to say about that, of course, is that Patrice Bergeron grew up as a fan of the Nordiques and not the Canadians because he's from Quebec City or just outside, did I want to say. And also, therefore, it grew up hating the Montreal Canadian. Which probably hasn't lessened very much in his. No, yeah. And, you know, on that hab show last night, Berkshire was like, well, you know, after the Nordiques left. and they left when Bergeron was like 10 or 11 a lot of Nordiques fans just defaulted to being Canadian's fans

and it's like so you're saying like the first 10 years or 11 years of Patrice Bergeron's life he hated the habs Other two first 10 years and the last 18 Right and so but you're saying you know what That like six years right in the middle Between when he was when the Nordiques left And the Bruins drafted him

That really cemented it where he's like I've always was dreamed of being a Montreal Canadian. Okay. That would be the best. If you say so. That would be so funny to see. Yeah, it would rock. I mean, this is like Chris Nylans switching sides times 20.

Yeah. You know, it's, let's put it this way. The FBI would be opening some files on some Boston guys after the, after the Bergeron news. That's for sure. Yeah, so I don't know, like the good thing to say about this, if you're Kent Hughes or if you're Jeff Gordon is if you say, if you've convinced Jeff Moulson, we can do a tear it down rebuild. You're like, we're not going anywhere for five years easy. It's cashing those checks. Yep.

No pressure. That's it. I mean, it's, it's, it is. Why would you do anything else? It is a crucially important job for a front office to recognize. and execute on a tear down and a rebuild. It's something that many teams absolutely need to do. It is also the easiest thing that a GM can do

because it's easy to move guys out. It's the turning it around that gets tough, but you buy yourself probably not five years anymore, but at least two or three years of saying, like, hey guys, this is the plan, you know, this is, this is what we all said we were going to do. You all bought in, even in Montreal, I think there would be an understanding of that. So I think that's certainly what I would do. But the other piece of this is the owner is apparently involved in the hiring.

Maybe that's something, you know, maybe guys that the Danny Breyer's and that were coming in saying, yeah, we do a rebuild. and Hughes was the one guy who said, no, I think we can turn this around, and the owner decided that's what he wanted to hear. Hard to say. Yeah, well, I guess we'll find out the oppressor is in like an hour or something like that.

So, you know, as is Puck Soup tradition, not the greatest timing in the world. Yeah, exactly, yeah. You will all know the answers to this by the time you hear this. But, ah, well. That's life. it's no secret we all want to look our best this winter, right? Mac Weldon is the expert when it comes to essential clothing that's perfect for the cold.

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I don't know. And guys furiously trying to figure out how they're going to get out of going. Although, it's in Vegas, so maybe they won't, but it's also in COVID times. Yeah, that aspect. of it is interesting insofar as it really seems like, you know, from what has been reported,

it seems like the NHL already asked a bunch of guys and they were all like, no thanks. Yeah. You know, like, so even before you get to the whole, you know, they left off this guy, they left off that guy, it does seem like some guys begged out for whatever reason.

Right. And the league maybe due to COVID was a little more flexible about granting them that option. Yeah, and we all know that generally speaking, if you decline to go to the All-Star game, there can be a suspension or you have to miss a game, although I wonder if this year you can just say you got the sniffles and suddenly it's like, oh, all right. Yeah, no, like, for example, everybody took note of the fact that Sidney Crosby is not an All-Star. Right. And not a last man in option, if I'm not much mistaken.

And it's like, you don't think they asked Sidney Crosby if he wanted to go to the All-Star game. He was just like, eh, not really. And they were like, okay, have a good one said. Thank you. Yep. Thanks for taking our call. Given that he's missed time this season, it wasn't, you know, it's not as outrageous. And, I mean, part of this is part of the whole reason you do an All-Star game is so we can argue over guys who got snubbed.

Right. That's fine. That's fun. Where do you come down on the whole take one guy from each team thing that Nathan McKinnon, among other talking about? I get it. I get why, obviously, they do it. You want Arizona Coyote's fans to be like, oh, hell yeah, it's my friend, I don't even remember. It's Clayton Keller. Wow, I love Clayton Keller. He's my third favorite coyote, and maybe my first favorite who is not going to get traded in the next month. This is very exciting for me. I get all that, but also at

the same time, yeah, just like invite the guys who are better. Like, I don't need a guy from Chicago this year. I don't need Clayton Keller. I don't need Jordan Everley. You know, like, again, I totally get why they do it, but I, you know, who cares? Yeah. And that's, that's kind of where I'm at, I think, in the sense that I would prefer that they get rid of the one per team requirement. But I also get why it's there. I've had a few people say to me over the last week or so, like, look, this game is for kids, basically. And it's, well, I mean, the game is for the corporate partners more than anything. Correct. But they don't care. So you can get a signed Alex Ovechkin, All-Star jersey, all that shit. Yeah. And other than that, it's,

it's for kids. I mean, there certainly, there has, if there was ever any competitive integrity to the All-Star game, it's been long, long, long ago. Like, ever since the players decided to stop trying about 20 or 25 years ago, the All-Star game has sucked every year and will continue to. And so in that sense, you know, the fact that Nick Suzuki is there and Brad Marcher isn't, who cares? It's just a chance to sell some jerseys and, you know, increase the profile of some guys. I did like the quote from the NHL saying that they're not, they're not picking guys based on, like, entertainment or marketing, which is like, yeah, good job. Yeah, you wouldn't want to get into that business if you were the NFL.

I wouldn't want to be marketing your All-Star game at all. But, I mean, look, I would, I think it would be better. if you drop the one per team requirement, maybe say to, you know, when you're picking the teams go, hey, you know, in the case of if it's two guys that's a coin flip, pick the guy from the team that isn't represented. I'm not in favor of expanding the rosters. That's something I've seen a few people say.

Yeah. How many fucking guys do we are all-stars at that point? Yeah. Like, I mean, this is the whole, you know, yeah, it's the NHL. You get points for losing and everyone's second line. center is an all-star somehow. The other thing you could do is with the skills competition, you could say, we'll invite some guys to the skills competition that aren't going to play in the All-Star game, and that's how

you, you know, so you're not, you know, Nick Suzuki, you're not an All-Star, but you can come be in the fastest skater, and so Montreal fans have a reason to tune in. And, well, you know, again, you'll get to have a good time in Vegas. And it seems like the, you know, based on what people are saying, obviously, like this has been a big topic of conversation on 32 thoughts of late of like well Trevor Zegris will get invited to do something at the skills competition because we couldn't justify having more than one duck on the Pacific roster fair enough you know obviously makes perfect sense but also we needed a goalie so we we had to get John Gibson in there because who else from the Pacific is going

be the goalie. Yep. If it's, once you get past, uh, uh, Demco, because you need someone from Vancouver.

Yeah. You know, you know, Miko Koskinin is not available. Right. And obviously the answer there would be Lainer, but you already have two Vegas guys, Stone and Petrangelo.

So like, where you're going to have three. Markstrom, but then you lose. But again, this is, yeah, where you,

you get into the hole. If we didn't have to have a Seattle guy. Right. Then that freeze. up a spot. But although, I don't know, maybe a first year expansion team, you'd want to have someone. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

There's, I, I feel like it should be pick the 11 best guys in each division, regardless of team. I can't summon up a lot of, you know, a lot of rage on this because the All-Star game sucks. Yeah, of course. The only thing that I did think was very funny about. all this is that the guy who is fifth in the league in scoring Nazan Khadri, and he's like, yeah, fifth, right? Fifth, yeah.

Yeah. He clearly didn't get ass. It wasn't a situation where, like, if you're, say, Nikita Kuturov and you're like, oh, you know, I'm not fucking going to that shit or whatever, you know. Like, he clearly was like, oh, yeah, nobody asked me because that's why his teammates were pissed off, you know? That's funny. You can't take that away from them.

That is good. It is also fun always to look down the list of All-Stars and kind of see, because they tell you like how many times they've been. And, you know, how many times you've been to a mid-season All-Star game is meaningless because of injuries, because of the one per team, because some guys don't want to go. This is why whenever I'm talking about Hall of Fame or whenever I always talk about the postseason, like the first team, second-team all-stars, not mid-season. but it is still interesting to see like this, like Mark Stone, first All-Star game.

Huh. Okay. He's been to fewer All-Star games than Jordan Eberley, apparently. Or Tristan Jari. That's interesting. Right. You know, Austin Matthews. Rathustalline.

Yeah. Austin Matthews has been to more All-Star Games and Patrice Bergeron. Hmm. Okay. That strikes me as a little odd. And yeah, Dylan Larkin's going back for the second. second time so, you know, maybe we can figure out a new way for him to cheat in the fastest skater competition.

Just shoot him out of a can. Let him skate downhill or something like that. He gets the, uh, he gets that big slingshot that they have when you're doing the bowling on, on inner tubes. Exactly. It'll be. Why not? That'll be fun.

Who cares? Yeah. Who cares, I think, is the exact right attitude to take about the, uh, the all-star game. I can't, I can't imagine getting worked. up about this kind of thing. Like, again, even if you're like, oh, Igor Sarkin should be a goalie for the, for the Metro.

And it's like, oh, yeah, one thing I definitely want is my guy going there and like blowing out a hamstring. Sure. Doing the, like, lateral movement, uh, competition or whatever. Like, keep your guys on the same thing with the Olympics. Oh, you know what I want is actually my guy's like, uh, home wrapped in bubble wrap. Yeah. Catching whatever new COVID variant.

That's right. Yeah, the Vegas COVID variant. Yeah. Yeah. Another thing is, Willio Rhee got his jersey retired by the Boston Bruins. You know, a long time coming, obviously, further extended by the pandemic thing you might have heard about.

And he even couldn't be there last night because of that. Which sucked. That was too bad that he didn't get like the full experience, It's also, it has taken it so long to do it that, yeah, it's, you kind of don't want to keep delaying. But yeah, it's great to see. Yeah, I do have just one question about this, honestly. Like, there's, there's nothing, it's just nice that this happened, right? That, that Willie O'Ree got his jersey retired and everybody got to say, we love Willie O'Reie.

Why isn't his jersey retired league wide? You could. I mean, that's... There's no reason not to do it, right? Let's put it this way. Major League Baseball did it with Jackie Robbins. When did they do that with Jackie Robinson? That was a million years ago.

Yeah, it's, it's been a little while at least. I mean, the argument... 1997, they did that. Yeah. So, yeah, they did it in 1997. That's a long time ago, you know, obviously, also a long time after Jackie Robinson was no longer playing, but yeah, the precedence there. I mean, the argument would be such as it is that Jackie Robinson,

in addition to breaking the color barrier, was... Immediately was the best player of Major League Baseball at age 35. One of the greatest of all-time, you know, first ballot, you don't even have to consider his influence to put him in the Hall of Fame, whereas Willio Reeve played two games the year that he broke the NHL color barrier for black players and played like a half season other than that. Right. No, I get that, of course.

Yeah, I mean, I certainly, if I woke up to the news that they were retiring to league wide, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't object to that. Right now, the only player who's received that honor is Wayne Gretzky, and there's a certain, you know, certain appropriateness to him being the only one, I guess, But no, you could make the O'Rea case. I mean, I was banging the drum for Willie O'Rea in the Hall of Fame for years before you got to get him. To the great shame of the Hockey Hall of Fame that it took them that long. Yeah.

Which is why I call it the Hockey Hall of Shame. Everybody was like, yeah, he did it. He got their asses. Trademarked that one. But like, so that is kind of the thing with this is that, like you said, Gretzky's number is. retired league-wide, just for being good at hockey, it seems like, like, really, really, like historically good at hockey. Well, and also.

Southern expansion, yeah, sure. Making it a truly national game on some level, sure. Absolutely. Get all of that. But I would say that is less historically meaningful than breaking the color barrier. Yeah. Here's the other argument that, or not an argument, here's the other difference. between

uh the between willy o'Rey and and jacky robinson and this is this is not at all a knock on willy o'ry this is a knock on the n hl and uh and you know everyone involved in it um jacky robinson breaks the color barrier in baseball and slowly but surely black players almost immediately follow you know you got larry doby and others and we in a few years afterwards. Whereas this is a piece of the Willie O'Reast story that a lot of people

don't necessarily know is he breaks the color barrier in the 50s, plays his last season in 1960, and there is not a second black player in the NHL for another 15 years or so until Mike Marsen of the

capitals. So, you know, he, the color barrier in the NHL was broken, but then it got put back up again. But not really, yeah, sure. And, uh, you know, that's a part of the story that,

you know, it has to be, has to be told, you know, we, we, we, we,

we, we can't just all pat ourselves on the, oh, you know, good old Willie O'Rey and then, we, we fixed it. You know,

yeah, of course. It, and, uh, you know, that is, is no knock on him and his influence and, you know, and everything like that.

Because the other thing with Willie O'Re is not only, did he do this but and and then for a long time was sort of not forgotten but not recognized in hockey history as well as he should but as right as that started to be fixed he's been out there like he's been an advocate for the game hustling yes fantastic i mean the guy is 85 years old and he's still doing like he's doing more to market hockey than 90% of today's that's right that's right like he's absolutely i mean i don't know i don't want to get into the whole Hall of Fame thing again, because I'll just get angry about it, that it took that long. And then when he finally got in, they put him in with Gary Bettman so that

Batman got the spotlight. And it was so, so brutal. But yeah, let's, I wouldn't be adverse to it. And, you know, in the meantime, let's get Herb Carnegie in the Hall of Fame. Let's get, you know, some other guys in there. But, yeah, if they wanted to do it league wide, I certainly I wouldn't have an issue with it. Yeah, especially, and this is the other thing about retiring Gretzky's number, right, is like nobody wears 99. Yep. And likewise, if you're that worried about it or whatever,

not a lot of guys out there wearing 22, you know, like, I think I've been certainly more than 99. Like, no, it was a great honor for Gretzky, but nobody else was going to, it's not like anyone was getting ready to wear that number, I wouldn't think. But, yeah, I'm going to look up what guys right now in the league today are wearing the number 22. Yeah, the only two guys who have the number 22 retired are Mike Bossy and Daniel Sadeen. Yeah. So there are actually, there are 19 players wearing 22 who have played at least one game in the league this year.

Most notably, I guess you would say, is maybe Kevin Chattonkirk or Kevin Fiala. If you're a guy named Kevin, you're a big 22 guy, I guess. Tyson Barry, Jake Bean, Brett Pesci, Johann Larson, Cole Cawfield. And, you know, you can do the thing where you kind of grandfather everybody in like they did with Mariano Rivera or whatever. If you're wearing it now, you can keep wearing it for as long as you want to play. Or you can not if you don't want to. None of these guys are Mariano Rivera. Or who is the other one?

David Ortiz, I think. Was he a 42? No, he's 34, not 42. All right. Never. Yeah, there were a couple guys at first, and then Rivera ended up being the last one. I'm surprised there's no black players working 22 right now. That would be interesting, but, yeah.

Yeah, it's, yeah, it certainly wouldn't be, to do it wouldn't be disruptive, not that that would be a reason not to do it. But, yeah. Yeah. I'm with you on this. Yeah. This is, and again, this is a fucking easy one. This is free, this is free PR advice from us to you. Just do it.

It's fine. Yep. Everybody's like, okay, that's fair enough. Again, I'm not super married to this Chase Priskey number 22 jersey I bought. That's fine. Whatever. So, yeah, I think, like, like we said, long time coming for the Bruins, long time coming for the Hall of Fame.

and, you know, five, ten years from now we might be going, boy, why haven't they done that yet? Especially, like, you know, you hate to say this, but like he's 80-something years old. It doesn't have that long left. Let's get it done now. Yeah, yeah, well, that's it. I mean, do it now or don't. Don't do it ten years from now and don't do it. Correct, yes. But, yeah.

Easy decision, I think. I'm still so tist about the Hall of Fame. Of course. Oh, my God. It's insane. This, again, like, you know, we talk about it all the time. This league will fuck up a free lunch at the slightest provocation, right? And that extent, even though, again, the Hockey Hall of Fame is not the NHL Hall of Fame, all this kind of stuff, yeah, you're legally obligated to say it.

The Hockey Hall of Fame hates a free lunch and will fuck it up on purpose. you know, Pat Burns and all that shit. I tell you, this is one of those things where it's like the fact, it's probably a good thing that the complete lack of transparency because I don't know what would be worse to find out that Willi O'Reary wasn't discussed for two decades or that he was and he just wasn't getting at. Yeah, there were like six guys who were like, nah, I don't. We're good.

Thank you. Yeah. We love the sport, folks, don't we? It's so good. Everybody is just on their best behavior at all times and making all the right decisions. All right, gang. My turn on the pre-recorded ad read and our partner this week is Athletic Greens. And to give you an update, if you heard my ad read a few weeks ago, still have not been able to get near it. My health conscious wife is still monopolizing our sample shipment and still raving. about it. She is a huge fan. I am considering I may at some point this week try to sneak over and get in on the supply, but that will be risky because she is a very, very big fan. So,

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buy seller stand. That's it. Easy. The Tampa Bay Lightning, buy seller stand. I would sell. I don't think. That's right. Yeah.

They're first in the league right now. We're going by pure points, not by points percentage because I clicked on the wrong column. So this is what we have to live with. If you're Tampa, you buy if you can afford to, uh, it doesn't. doesn't look like they can afford to, but we've thought that in the past. And Julian Breezeba is doing the whole, we have no cap room thing, but a lot of people aren't buying it because they're one of those teams that when everyone else is complaining about how hard it is to be a GM, they just seem to find a way to do things. Yeah, they're going to trade for Leon Drysidal.

Yeah, yeah. No problem. Exactly. Alex Killarne and Brian Elliott. And we'll launder. That would fix those Oilers up real good. And we'll launder dry sidle through Detroit and Seattle. Just whatever.

That's fine. Next up, Florida Panthers. I don't know if there's a harder buy in the league than the Florida Panthers. Like, this is it for them. Whatever you can do, man. This is you haven't won a playoff series in 25 years. Plus, you've got an amazing team. Bye, bye, bye.

Yeah. And like they have some clear areas of not need. I would say. They'd probably like some help in net if they can get it. Whether they can, who knows, they'd like to add on the blue line, I'm sure. Do you trade Spencer Knight if you were them? I mean, you'd need a lot. No, I would.

Get like a veteran goalie and something to help you elsewhere? I think, you know, like I think Elliot reported that they're interested in Jacob Chikrin. I, you know, that's at least the kind of guy you can have a conversation about because he's so cost controlled and that kind of thing. But like, Arizona doesn't have a goalie to give you, you know? So, yeah, that would be a tough sell for me. I think I do, you know, he obviously hasn't. That's just where it gets tough because you would like some more stability and goal, but if you're not going to move Knight, you can't move Bobrovsky. Is Knight?

Would you be able to send him down? Yeah, a nice waiver eligible. Okay. So I guess that would be the answer there. All right. Well, that would work. But yeah, bye. Next up, Carolina Hurricanes.

Soft buy, I think. I think they don't need a ton of help. I think they're just good. Obviously, they'd like to add somebody if they can and, you know, just get that extra little bit of depth as injury insurance and all that kind of thing. But, yeah, they're great. They're a great team. Yeah. I mean, it's not sure what to tell you.

We're going to get lots of... Well, actually, I think maybe even the next team is a little trickier. The Nye Rangers. Yeah. Yeah. Real good team, but where you're at in the rebuild, is this the push-forward season? Or is this the let's see what this current core can do? And then...

Yeah, I kind of lean toward the ladder. Again, soft by, like, if you want to give up like a third-round pick for something, go nuts. go crazy. Yeah. In fact, that can be a nice, you know, we always hear about, you know, again, GMs making their excuses, always, you know, we don't want to disrupt the room. We don't want to, you know, the chemistry. But a lot of times in sports, when you don't bring in anyone, that hurts the chemistry.

Yeah, everybody's looking around, go, well, what the fuck? Yeah. What did we just do? You know, everybody, you thought we were going to barely make the playoffs. We're playing 700 hockey, and we don't get any help. And especially if the Carolinas and Washington's or whoever are doing it. Yeah, I think that's me. I think you got it right.

You get a couple of deaf guys, but this is not the year to be moving high picks and that sort of thing. Yeah, did you see Deadspin, if we want to call it that? I had an article that was like, analytics can't figure out why the Rangers are so good. And it's like there's an analytics called Save Percentage. And we cracked it. We don't. We put fucking Sherlock Holmes. on the case, he got it in one.

We don't need to really dig in. The Colorado Avalanche, sure they'd love to add. Why not? But the money, I'm doing the finger thing that indicates money. Well, I mean, yes, but this is, again, like I feel like they're creative, they're smart. But also, you know, we did the Panthers, haven't won a playoff series in forever. We'll get to the Leafs in a couple. Colorado hasn't been out of the second round since 2001,

like not even in the cap era. It's crazy. They haven't even been to a conference final. I feel like we all love Joe Sackick, but at some point, do you not have to go a little? I mean, you're looking around Vegas gets Jack Eichol in the middle of the year. Like, is there not any pressure to add?

And I don't know what it would be other than maybe the goaltending, where you go, like, is this the team the, goes out and gets Mark Andre Fleury to play against Vegas in the conference final? Or is this just me projecting what I would really, really love to see happen? Probably the latter. Well, I'll give you the better Mark Andre Fleury destination, and it's next up the Washington Capitals. Their goaltending stinks. Like Colorado is a Devon, or Devon Dubnick. It's not Devon Dubnick. I always get them confused. What's their goal is named? Darcy Kemper. They're a Darcy Kemper injury away from, you know, they're going to make the playoffs, but if he gets hurt and Darcy Kemper gets hurt a lot.

So, you know, whatever. They're a Kemper injury away from real problems. Yep. Washington Capitals are already. Maybe a Darcy Kemper just playing like Darcy Camper's played this year in the playoffs away from real problems. But yeah, you're right. Whereas Washington is already there. Their two goleys are bad.

They were bad last year. Why would they be good this year? This is a slightly better oilers situation where it's like you knew what these guys were. I don't know what you're so confused about here. They've got the actual, the rest of the roster looks good. Yep. You're not on these Zach Bucali bandwagon here? Let's put it this way.

Compared with what they have currently? Maybe. I could be talked into it. Yeah. Flurry would be good. I'll just throw it out there because we know we know NHL teams they love the nostalgia.

Braden Holpey. Braden Holpe, sure. He's out, yeah. Probably it could be had. Oh, for sure he could be had. Absolutely. Oh, we've, I guess we could have gotten to them a little bit later, but

seems like the Dallas stars are cooked, right? Like, again, they play great last night and lost, and but that's kind of what cooked teams do sometimes. This is Dallas. They are either on a five-game winning streak or a five-game losing streak. Yeah.

All season. They're currently in a three-game losing streak, but I have lost three of the last, or four of the last five. So they're going to lose two more. I will write about how they're definitely done this time, and then they're going to win six in a row. Well, if they lose two more, I'm looking at their schedule right here. If they lose two more, their next two games are Buffalo and Detroit.

If they lose two more, curtains, it's over. We're turning on all the lights. Sabres, Red Wings, Flyers, Devils. On the road. Don't have to go home. Can't stay here. Yeah. They should trade everybody.

They should fire the coach, all that stuff. They have had a four-game losing streak, a seven-game win streak, a five-game losing streak, a four-game win streak. Those last three were back-to-back-to-back and are now on a three-game losing streak. And this isn't the first year. They've done it either. They did it last year. You know, they're bad. The Toronto Maple Leafs, I'd love to see how they could figure a way to wriggle out of this jam,

cap-wise, but they could use some help, sure, why not? They could, yeah, I, I, much like the Rangers, add some depth, you'll be feeling good about yourself. Add some depth, or, you know, could they be in the mix for a bigger defenseman that, you know, could play a little higher up there. There's no bigger defenseman than Zadano Chara. That's true. He's good. He's going to bounce around that whole division by the time he's done. They've been in the Klingberg discussion, which everyone assumes that if you're Dallas,

you're going to get more by trading him to a team that's going to resign him, and that clearly wouldn't be the leaves. They can't. Yeah, no, of course not. He wants $8 million a year almost. That's great. I think he's a good player, but like, come on, man. I think we talked about this last point.

If Arizona is willing to eat half of a Jacob Chikrin salary, then that's where, as the Leafs, you get really interested. Oh, my God. If you could get Jacob Chikrin for the next three years at like $2.5 million, fucking forget about it. But I also think the bidding on that would be wild. And Toronto has got, like, they're okay as far as prospects. They've got, you know, some decent ones, but it's not great.

And their first round pick is not going to be a high, like, I just don't see them outbidding teams. And, you know, we saw last year they went aggressive at the deadline, and it just did not work in more ways than one. So, but yeah, they'll clearly be buying. Yep, the Pittsburgh Penguins. It's Brian Burke, baby. Ron Hextel.

You can't not, again, this is maybe. Sydney Crosby, you got to. Yeah, you got to roll out the carpet for somebody. Again, like you got to be a little creative, let's say. Yeah. But there's no reason they shouldn't be buying, especially because, again, like they can turn Evan Rodriguez into a borderline all-star kind of a guy. Like, they can do it with anybody. So just go out and get like a, you know, a middle six guy or whatever and off you go.

Interesting thing with the penguins is if we were, you know, talking about this three months ago, we would have said, yeah, that's the team that's going to. need a goalie in the middle of the season. Yep. That's the team that's going to be an on Flurry. That's the team that's going to be an on Holpey or whatever else. And now it's like, oh, maybe not. Maybe they're okay. Yeah, Tristan Jari looks great.

You know, he's an all-star. You can't complain. The St. Louis Blues, now this is interesting. This is where we get into, some of these get a little tougher. Yeah. Like, yeah, big surprise that best eight teams in the league should all be buyers. St. Louis.

So the last team other than the lightning to win a cup, what do you do? Yeah, they're an interesting team just because they're good. They're unequivocally just plain old good. They are kind of bad on the road, for one thing, which is interesting. They're dead even 500 on the road this year, which is wild. You know who else is, by the way, is the Florida Panthers. They're 5, 5, and 5 on the road. Um, but anyway, uh, you know, the blues, and like, and like 37 and one at home.

And we're just like, oh, that doesn't seem very balanced, but okay. Yeah, the blues are 16, 4 and 2 at home as well. Uh, the thing with the blues is, obvious holes in the roster. A guy who, as far as I know, still wants to be traded out of St. Louis. That's the question. And so, like, if you're making a pure hockey trade where you're like getting quality for, Tarasenko, is that something? Maybe.

But also, like, you know, they clearly want a defenseman. And they've been connected with Ben Chirot for weeks now. And, you know, if you want to, if you want that to be your big, like, you're giving up a first-round pick, well, I would personally, couldn't be me, as they say. I would be not interested at that price point in a guy like that. because he's not good and I venture around. I don't know. It's interesting.

They're a team where they kind of should buy but also like because this is the other thing. The best teams in the East are clearly the best teams in the East. The best teams in the West are right now by points percentage.

The best teams in the West are the Colorado Avalanche. Fair enough. Everybody agrees that they would have been that all along, right? Then you got, then you're going to drop way down to the Minnesota Wild or the second best team in the West by points percentage. The West, and it's like, can the St. Louis Blues?

Yes, that's exactly right. Can the St. Louis Blues get past the Minnesota Wild in a seven-game series? Yeah, they definitely. And, you know, we talked a bit, a little bit, but if I'm in that room, I'm sitting there going, man, we've, there's a bunch of us here who won a cup not that long ago. Like, we want another shot. We want to take another swing at this. And I think you have to do what you reasonably can to give them that.

Yeah, I agree. Next up is Nashville speaking, you know, again, they're in the mix. You can't say they're not in the mix. They're fourth in the West by points percentage. It's mostly because of the goaltending. And, you know, they have a couple of guys who are having really good offensive seasons. but, you know, they're a team. They go to overtime a lot, let's say,

and they tend to win in overtime a lot, and obviously they don't let you play three on three in the playoffs. I could see this going either way. Yeah, this is the first team where I think you could make the argument that they're a little bit fake and should recognize that, but also who's the GM? in Nashville. David,

You think David Poil's looking to do a five-year rebuild, or do you think he wants to, you know, going on 40 years as a GM in the league with no cup? Come on. Like, he's going to buy if he can buy. Yeah, I don't disagree with that. And again, should he?

Probably not. But, like, I, you know, this is one of those situations where if they're still fourth in the west at the end of the season, I don't know how, or, you know, at the deadline, I don't know how you'd sell the fans. Like, you know what? We actually kind of suck, though.

Like, intellectually, I understand that. But, like, as a guy who's, like, also has to keep in mind the business aspect of the game, less so. And the thing that really complicates that whole situation is Philip Forsberg, where he's a U.S. at the end of the year. So if you don't sell, you're stuck because he did. It's going to be tough to bring him back. maybe they can. Maybe they can even re-sign up before the deadline and take the question off the table. But it's going to cost you a lot to do that.

And it's going to be another one of those classic commitments of, yeah, we're giving this guy a shitload of money into his mid-30s. And we, the Nashville Predators, have never been bid on the ass by that. Yes. Yeah, exactly. So next up, the Vegas Golden Knights, I don't think they can buy. They'd love to be able to. They will. They'll find a way. that's what Vegas does. I think with this you can at least make the argument of the guy we bought was Jack Eichel.

Have you heard of him? He's been our number one center for the last four weeks by the time the deadline gets here. And he's kicking ass probably. Yep. So, you know, they're done. They are completely capped out. In fact, they're beyond capped out. They have no room at all.

They have to make a trade to get Eichel on the roster. Exactly. So congratulations. Congratulations to the Vegas Golden Knights on acquiring Thomas Hurtle. That's right. Just being like, screw you. Mark Andre Fleury's back. They'll play with eight guys for two weeks, and it'll be fine.

And win, like Tampa did last night. Oh, yeah, we have 16 guys on the roster. Yeah, Victor Hedman is going to play 58 minutes. He's going to score four goals. He was unbelievable. Anyway. The Minnesota Wilde, Heavy by. Heavy buy, but it's got to be rentals because the cap Armageddon from those buyouts hits not this year but next year.

The year after, yeah. And then you're screwing. You're eating, what is it, like $11 million in dead cap? Oh, it's more than that, isn't it? 13 or something? It's really bad. Not going to look. So, yes, you absolutely short-term rentals get in there because this could be.

the chance. It's 12.7 next season. Then it goes up to 14.7 for two years. Holy shit, man. Insane. Insanity. That's bonkers. And they made that thinking, well, by then, you know, the cap will be up like four or five million bucks. Well, bad news folks. But they didn't, though. Like, this was only, like, last off season that they did this. Yeah. They knew it wasn't going to be up. I mean, you're right. They probably thought back then that it was going to be a little bit better. But this wasn't like one of those decisions back in the day where we all thought the cap would be 90 million by now. This is just... Right. Absolutely. Yeah. Crazy. 14.7 and change. Holy shit, man. All right. Next up, we have the Boston Bruins. Got to buy. They have to buy. Yeah.

They have to buy. The Bergeron, the windows closing. The Bergeron, Tuka Rask era could be coming to an end. these guys have absolutely earned the right to gear up for another big swing. And I wrote this week, man, we're all looking at the Atlantic and it's Toronto, Tampa, Florida, Toronto. Would anybody be remotely surprised if Boston comes out of that division? At this point, I would. Like, I'm not saying they're the favorites, but could you not see them in the conference final? And we're all like, yeah, it was Boston. Why weren't we talking about these guys more?

Right. Especially if brass can be good again, although last night. Yeah. Again, like this is a team I've been like wishcasting Thomas Hurdle to for, for months. Like, you know, oh my God. That would rock. That would be so good, especially if they get David Crachie back next season somehow. Forget it, man.

That would be so cool. Again, like Hurdle is just like such a likable player, you know. and the Bruins, say what you want about the Bruins. They are usually pretty heavy on likable centers. David Craichy, Patrice Bergeron, et cetera. So let's continue the grand tradition. Next up, the Los Angeles Kings. Now, this is very interesting.

Yep. They should sell. They should be selling on everybody they possibly can because they're probably going to make the playoffs either way. at this point it kind of feels like but like if you can get someone to take Dustin Brown off your hands if you can get someone to take the last two years of Jonathan Quicks contract look they're having Jonathan Quicks having a great year I don't know so much about Dustin Brown but

Jonathan Quicks having a great year if you can get the oilers to take the last year of that contracting you know what hell will even retain some salary on that one for you why not go for you yeah quick I would agree Brown I don't know that you get a ton for him and... No, sure. But like, get a fifth round pick or something. Yeah.

I think if it's a fifth round pick, then there's something to be said for just letting a guy... Yeah, fair enough. A lifelong king. But yeah, quick. I mean, especially because that Cal Peterson contract kicks in next year. Next season. It ain't cheap.

Can't be spending $10.8 million on goaltending if you're the Los Angeles Kings. Wouldn't think so. So, yeah. But other than that, you know, the Kings, again, this is a, been a, it's been a classic rebuild. They've done it well. They've got some good pieces. Let's, uh, let's see if we can get into the playoffs. Let's see if we can get some playoff experience for some guys. Um, I don't think it's a hard sell. No, for sure not. I do think quick, yeah, maybe you move him if you can. Um, certainly if a team like Edmonton gets desperate

and, uh, you know, Ken Holland realizes I'm going to get fired unless I can bring in somebody with some cup rings. Then, uh, yeah. Work with Duncan Keith. Why wouldn't it work now? But other than that, I'm happy to sort of, you know, even maybe bring in a little bit of veteran depth just to try to get a push, get some experience. Next up, we have the sliding Anaheim Ducks, 2, 6 and 2 in the last 10. They're, I think, no longer in a playoff spot. Oh, no, they still are technically third in.

in the Pacific, but, you know, not even by points percentage anymore. Calgary Flames are second by points percentage, or tied for first by points percentage. Good Lord, that's crazy. And San Jose is even ahead of the ducks. So I think now is absolutely the time to sell. If you're the ducks, you're like, hey, we tried. It didn't work out so good. That's life.

We didn't think we'd be good this year anyway. We're going to sell a bunch of tickets with Trevor Ziegress and Jamie Driesdale and all those guys down the stretch, but it just didn't work out. And they also have to make some very difficult UFA decisions, Ricard Raquel, up this summer. Ryan Gatslap, obviously, like, he's probably not going to go anywhere. He's got a full no move, but he's up. He'd be a hell of a rental. He'd be a hell of a rental. Both Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm are up this summer.

It feels like Josh Manson's been on the block for years, and you always said, well, yeah, but he's got years left on the contract. And now he doesn't. Not no more. I mean, I think with Anaheim, what you do is you wait a couple of weeks, maybe a month, and then the answer will be clear at that point. Because, yeah, this is, we can see the direction this is headed, and I think you do, you move.

You move the unrestricted guys, and then that's probably all you do. But that's enough. And then you keep building around it, and you've got a real good rebuild going. Yeah. There are a couple guys on that roster where, again, like, if you're keeping them, you're extending them basically till their Ryan gets last age almost, right? At that point. So are those guys going to be part of the solution when you're ready to actually compete in

the Pacific two, three years from now. Maybe, but they're certainly not going to be worth the money, I would think. So, you know, sell them now. Why not? Next up, San Jose Sharks. Sell everybody. The sharks are bad. Yeah, I think you kind of have to.

I mean, the argument would be that this is a very old team, an overpaid team, and they're in the playoff mix, so you just double, triple, quadruple down on your previous bad bets, but I would say at, I would not. If you're not going to sell, you obviously can't buy. You stand pat. Yeah. And the question is, you know, who do you sell? Because all the other than hurdle, which I think is.

Hurls, there are only UFA of any note. Yep. With all due respect to Jacob Magna, it says here. Andrew Cogliano. Yeah. But still in the league, Andrew Cogliano. for him. All these guys,

like all the guys that you think of as big, expensive names, Carlson, Burns, Vlasic, Couture, they've all got not just term left on their contract, but a ton.

A ton of term. Let me, Burns has got, not counting this year, three additional full seasons left, and he's the first of those to us. Carlson and Couture both have the dreaded red arrow on the cap-friendly page to show you.

I want to be involved with the Red Arrow. That's a bad arrow. Let me say, let me ask you this. Do you deal Tim O'Meyer, who's already 25 and signed for this season and next at $6 million? You could get a ton for him. Oh, he just scored five goals, folks. Yep. The other guy on the sharks that would be interesting would be James Reimer, because he's playing really well.

Which is the reason they're even remotely in the playoff. Yeah. And there's lots of teams. and he signed through next year, but he's cheap. There's teams out there that could use a goaltender, and I don't think anyone is lining up to get James Reimer. I don't think anyone has him at the top of their list in a market where there's Flurry and guys like that. But if I don't get number one or two on my list,

I could do a lot worse than spending $2 million on James Reimer having a real good season. Yeah. And, you know, I'd give up something for that. And that's one that makes a lot of sense for the charge. because they're not very good this year, and I don't think anyone expects him to be really good next year, and then he's a UFA after that. Next up, we got the Calgary Flames.

Another interesting team insofar as they are looking at some iffy cap situations this summer. They got to resign Matt Kachuk, who's a RFA, but arbitration eligible. That is an interesting wrinkle. Then you got Johnny Goddrow, who's a pending UFA. then you have like half your defense but nobody you're super like excited about somebody's somebody will always trade for Eric Goodminson there's never a shortage of that that market is always there but here's the thing I said it earlier they are second in the

or tied for first in the Pacific by points percentage right now I don't think you can sell even if it makes sense to do it I think I think you know like a Again, if somebody wants to make a hockey trade for Johnny Goddrault, that's a little different than just like getting a first round pick for them. But, like, I think they have worked themselves into a position where, like, they kind of can't do what they should do, which is sell everybody. Yeah. Well, and everybody. The flip side of that is until last night beating the Panthers, they had lost four straight in regulation. They, that was.

Yeah, they've been on a slide for, like, almost a month. Yeah. Yeah. It's been their third win since the first win. first week in December. And obviously, the COVID delays are part of that. But this is another one where the answer might be that you wait a few weeks and the answer

becomes clear. I get the sense that they're going to resign Johnny Gerdrall. Like, I don't think this is a one where he's necessarily on his way out. Yeah, they have a ton of cap space next season. It should be said. They have the money to spend if they want to. I'm more curious I would say is that if they were to not make the playoffs

which is certainly in play it's in the realm of possibility absolutely like Brad for Living has got to be getting into a hot seat situation if he's not already soon enough because I would have thought in there a long time yeah it's not really happening

the other thing with Godreau is he might not want to stay yeah Because they've been trying to trade them in the media for like four years. Yeah. So you got to find out. You got to hope that they know that already. And I know everyone always says, oh, we're not going to talk contract during the year. Yes, you are.

Everybody does. You'll at least have the temperature of that for sure. And yes, certainly if he has said, you know what, I don't, I'm going to go to market and I'm, you know, I'm going to see what I can get somewhere else and finally go to the flyers or whatever else. then yeah, you do consider moving them, but it is kind of a tough sell. You know, the other piece I'd say, though, and I say this every year, if you're moving a guy like a Godreau or, you know, with somebody on an expiring deal, there's no law that says it has to be for a first-round pick or it has to be for some prospect who's two or three years away. Call up teams and say, I want a young player who's going to play for me right now and step into his spot in the line.

No, absolutely. Like I said, hockey trade. Yeah, nobody's giving you like an 80.22 year old for your 80.29 year old, but you know, you can get somebody who can step in and you can say, look, we're not giving up on the season. We're, you know, we've got one eye on the future, but we're still, you know, or you trade them for picks and then you flip some of those picks for immediate help. There's ways to do it, but, yeah, we'll see. Let's see here. Next up is the Detroit Red Wings. Sell, easy.

Nothing to even discuss. You sell. You sell. I mean, I think the thing to discuss is they don't have a ton to sell. Right. You sell where you reasonably can, obviously. Like, they're in a position where... Nick Ledy, if you can get anything for him, go ahead.

Mark Stahl, if you can get anything for him. But other than that, no, you've got a... you've got a good rebuild going here. I don't think Thomas Grice gets you into the goalie market, but you've got a good patient rebuild happening, and you just kind of keep writing. Stay in the course and maybe see if anybody wants Tyler Bertuzi. Let's see.

The Winnipeg Jets are next up here. Tough road for them back into the central playoff picture. They're at best a while. card team it feels like, but they're in a situation where they just change their coach and maybe they want to kind of stand Pat a little bit. I think standing Pat maybe makes the most sense. I don't know that they have a ton of guys. I don't see anything here that's going to be a great, a great move. I don't think you necessarily want to take a step back when you do have three or four really good forwards in their mid-20s. Best goalie in the world.

Yeah, I think this is one of those situations where you go. Let's do what we can this year. If there's a specific piece of depth that we can bring in, maybe we do it. But then you just reset and go into next year. And plus, you know, Kevin Shevoldeoff, not exactly the most active trader out there. He's been a little bit lately. But he's not a guy who loves to wheel and deal. So I think this is a stand pat.

Yeah. Let's see here. The Vancouver Canucks sell. Sell everybody if you can. Yeah, you would think that would make sense. They're in an interesting position, let's say, because they don't have a ton of UFAs. Well, you know what else they don't have? Is a general manager.

That's true. That seems like the first piece you want to do. And then, yeah, then you got to figure out. Yeah, I don't see anyone on the UFA list that. is getting you anything. They've got to figure out the Brock Bassler situation, but that feels doable. And I don't see anyone that you would necessarily want to get rid of

that's having the sort of year where you're going to get, you know, nobody's talking themselves into two more years of Tyler Myers, I don't think. And there's Oliver Ekman-Larson with the dreaded Red Arrow. That's not happening. Yeah. I don't know what you do if you're Vancouver. Yeah.

I mean, you know, I guess you look at do we want to be in the Brock Besser business for the next eight years? I guess that's the only question you really have to answer. Which isn't one that you have to answer this season. You can punt that to the off season. He's still team control. Yeah, he's a pending RFA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If Jim Benning were still the GM, then it probably becomes a buy just because he's trying to protect his job.

But the new guy coming in, like we said with Montreal, whoever comes in is going to have a little bit. of a leeway. So, yeah. Okay, here's an interesting one next up. The Edmonton Oilers. I think they got to sell. Oh, okay. Buy hard.

Buy, you have to. Of course. Of course, you buy hard. Wait. Yeah. Or you trade Leonerset. I think that's the option. That's right.

Yeah. Yeah. And get some toughness. That's right. Some guys who are tough in the corners and tough in the press conferences. Don't wilt. or the questioning of Hall of Fame. That's right.

The withering machine gun fire questions from Mark Specter. That's right. Yeah, the Dallas Star Cell, we already said it. They're not going to make the playoffs. Let's be honest. And you know what? This is a classic situation of, we went deep into the playoffs and it tricked us into thinking we should be trying to compete.

we shouldn't have been this whole time. The interesting thing with Dallas, and yet you're right, and this is one, like we've had a few of these teams where we go, you look at the roster, I don't really see anyone that makes me. Klingberg, they will get plenty for. Brayden Holpe, they could probably get from somewhere, something from somebody. I don't think you're going to get a ton.

The interesting one is Joe Pavellski. Last year of his deal. Oh, my God. And he's been so good the last two seasons. It's unbelievable at his age to be this fucking good. And, you know, he's got the modified no trade, but 37, no cups. I can't imagine he's turning down. Well, I shouldn't say that because in COVID times, you never know what somebody's situation is.

But if there was ever a guy who you think would go to management, say, send me to any contender, I'm ready to go. You've got to think it's him. Who can fit him in at $7 million? Well, some teams could. Who could fit a minute at 3.5 if you retain, which you should. Probably quite a few teams would talk themselves into that, I think. Yeah. And I'm just for the, I'm looking at their cap-friendly page right now.

As best I can tell, Dallas does not have any retained salary, which is important, because remember you can only retain up to three at a time. Yeah. So, I mean, I'd retain on Pavelski, Klingberg, and even Holpey. If somebody wanted them, it doesn't cost you anything after this year. Get some assets. Yeah, I think that's the right call. Yeah.

I don't think there's an easier call on this list. But next up, Chicago. Except that they're one four-game winning streak away from being right back in the mix, and then it's, and then who knows. Yeah, Chicago, what do you got? What do you think they're going to do? I mean, I think the thing with Chicago is not, whether you sell, it's who do you sell and how aggressive do you get?

I would certainly... Everyone and extremely. That would be my answer. Well, like, my question would be, like, are you open to taking calls on Patrick King? Mm-hmm. I sure am. Yes, both. You are. Alex D'Brenka, like, his name is starting to come up.

Yep. And it's a yes. It's a yes for me, man. Like, they're... So much of their success is predicated. on guys who are Kane and Taves's age are older, right?

Like over the years. Like those were the young guys on those teams. Those guys are now 33 years old. Cain's coming up on being, or Taves is coming up on being 34. Kane is the younger one. And by the time you're any good again,

you don't have a first round pick this year, unless you finish on the top two, I guess, which isn't outside. the realm of possibility and in fact the league will probably make sure it's not outside the realm of possibility. But if you do, then you lose your first round pick next year. Yeah. And next year is the better draft, by the way.

Right. And you would not be able to win the lottery next year. Even if so, it's... Yeah, it's... But I would be like, again, like you just send out the email to all 31 other general managers and you say, fellas, you call me on literally anybody you want. Mm-hmm.

And there is nobody on this roster or in our prospect pool who is untouchable. Yeah. And I guess that the other two names would be, please, please trade Dillonstrom. You know, that clearly doesn't work. So, I mean, not, he's viewed as a bus given who he was drafted around, but this is still an NHL player. If there's not a good player. And especially a good player, if you actually, like, want to see him succeed, which I don't know that you could. say has been the case for his last two coaches.

And then, you know, and then Flurry, I think certainly you move Flurry, but you work with him to some extent to make sure that, you know, he's good with where he's going. See if he wants to go to Edmonton before you send him there, sure. Yeah, exactly. Because, I mean, that's, he's only got 10 teams he can say no to, by the way. Imagine they traded him to Edmonton for like a first rep, and he just retired. He was just like, no. No, thank you.

And Edmonton's like, we want to undo the deal, and the league was like, well, you can't. That's it. You just gave your first round. Tough no-y's, yeah. Oh, boy. Yeah, that's, uh, yeah. Easy call on them. Columbus, another one.

I think it's, you know, uh, it, what is interesting is that they have Patrick Linae coming up as an RFA. And Elliott reported this morning, do they want to do it? Not so sure. That's interesting. Again, RFA so you can punt into the, because I don't think anyone is looking at Patrick Glaney the season he's head and saying, like, this is our big ad for the deadline to come in. But yeah, certainly somebody would talk themselves into it. Max Stoom has been okay.

Yeah, he has been. 13 points in 17 games for line A on a kind of dead end team. Here's the thing. It feels like he's been around forever, right? He doesn't turn 24 until mid-April. Yeah. So I don't know how he is like, he got drafted with Austin Matthews and he's like six years older than Austin Matthews now. I don't know how that.

Both older and younger though, because I feel like he also hasn't been in the league as long as Austin Matthews. It's been in the league as long. Austin, but they're both going bald. Oh, absolutely. Good for them. And, yeah. The other thing with Columbus, I think, is obviously they're looking to trade Corpusalo. and then the question would be

both Jacob Vorichick and Guse of Nyquist have term left on their contract. Can you wiggle out of that? Do you want to? I mean, if you're rebuilding, you do need some guys to play. You don't want B-minus prospects

getting pushed up to the first line and getting overwhelmed. But I think you're certainly, you're happy if you get a phone call on either of those guys, but I don't know that you won't. Yeah. And they're also already looking at having two probably top ten picks in this year's draft, which is a pretty good. I said next year's is a better draft.

That's not to say this year's isn't a pretty good one. It is. No, you're happy to have that because they are the team that's got the Chicago pick. Yep. Philadelphia, sell. Sell everyone. They stink. They're bad.

You're going to be able to get something for Clodjeru. I don't know. You know, people are saying, like, more, we're hearing it more and more folks, him to the wild. I think maybe that only makes sense if you're convinced he can still be a center, I'm personally not. But we'll see. And then obviously the other guy they'd love to get out from under is Rasmus Rstallinan, who is his deal's expiring this year. He's bad. I don't know who is

talking to himself into that one. Well, Chuck Fletcher did, and he's still the GM. So that would be, you know, he's got to be a guy who's on a bit of a hot seat. And do you make that move knowing that it's an admission that you've majorly screwed up in the offseason. I think the standings are the admission that you majorly screwed up in the off season. They're awful. Fair point. Yep. Very fair point.

And, I mean, if you can get Van Riemstike's got a year left, you know what they should do. That's it. Wow. Trade Van Riemstike to, well, a year left after this year. Yeah, no, I knew what you may. Yeah. Trade him to Seattle. Trade him as like a do-over for Seattle who can't score and didn't take this.

this guy. Yeah. Retain some salary. Let's let's let's let's put the timeline back to what it should be like. Yeah. It's it. Yeah. I mean,

they're, they're an interesting team. Like they, they have some guys teams would want like a team would talk themselves into Travis Sanehive Christ, team would probably talk themselves into Ivan Provorov if you, if you really wanted to get wacky. Here's a fun one left, bud.

Um, that somebody, uh, somebody had, had asked me about. and I'll just throw it out there. Would you, could you, if you were the Philadelphia Flyers, think about moving Sean Couturier,

who is in the last year of his contract, but already has an extension, a real big extension. And the reason it came up is somebody asked me, could, if you're Philadelphia, could you trade Sean Couturier and retain salary only on this year, but not on the extension. I believe that is how that works. You can't.

Because I initially said, no, that's not how it works. And then I checked with the cap friendly guys, and they said that actually you could. So you could. Right. You could go to shot, you know, go to other teams. He's got no, no move or anything like that yet. No protection, yeah. And say, you can have them for two million this year.

We'll retain. And then you've got the extension and on from there. Oh, now. Now, would I want to be taking on a guy who just signed an eight-year deal for seven and three-quarters with trade protection? I don't know. Oh, no, full no move. I'm sorry, yeah. Full no move, which now would follow him, that they got.

Yeah, of course. Where you can drop that. Yeah, I wouldn't, but you know what? Which GM am I? How hot is my hot seat? How, I don't know. or again like a team like would a team like Seattle be interested in a guy like that I don't think right

a ton for him but you know team like Seattle Ron Francis in his precious weaponized cap space that he keeps promising to use here's a chance maybe you could use it I don't know I just found that interesting it was one of those where like it made me do that meme face where I was like no and then wait a second maybe all right and then then but maybe last but last but certainly not least, the seven worst teams in the league, the Devils, the Islanders, the Buffalo Sabres, Seattle, Ottawa, Arizona, Montreal, sells across the board.

Yes, sells across the board. The Islanders are the only one there that is sort of interesting, not in the sense that I would ever say they should buy, but that they're the one team in that group that didn't think they would be, well, I guess Montreal didn't think they would be there, but nobody thought would be there. Someone's going to talk themselves into Cal Clotterbuck is worth it. Maybe someone takes a flyer on Zach Peres at $750,000. You could Charra move. Cachara.

Obviously, he kind of depends on what he wants. I don't think he has no movement protection. I don't think you move him without talking to him, but you're telling me. You owe him that, sure. Like I'll tell you right now, I could absolutely see a team like the Leafs being like this will be our guy. And then watching him just get turnstiled. Yeah, sure.

And I'll also say Cal Clutterbuck, we always talk about this this time of year. It almost never happens. I could absolutely see he being the guy that gets traded, goes somewhere and comes back as a free agent in the offseason and signs another for another couple of years. That avenue makes a lot of sense. Other than that, though, I don't know. Who do they have that there's not a lot here that I see. Here's an interesting one. Semyon Var-Larmo.

That's what I was about to say. Got a year left after this one. But, you know. Colorado? And he's having, you know, he hasn't played a ton, but he's having a perfectly good year. He's 9-17 and only 11 games. I don't know his injury status off the top of my head. Teams love reunions.

He played last night. So teams love reunions. and his two former teams, Colorado and Washington, teams that we talked about. Let's go. Let's go. This is an easy one. Again, like, that's a situation where probably Lou would have to retain,

and one wonders if that's one of those things where Lou's like, I will never retain salary. You know, like, I could definitely see that being a Lou Lamarillo thing. I can't think of anybody he's retained salary for off the top of my head. So, but yeah, that's it. Everybody else, you know, we don't have to, we don't have to dig into it too much. You'd sell everybody who's not nailed down. But that's it.

That's the whole league. So we're done. Yep. No more show. Sorry that we spoiled the trade deadline for you, but. Yeah. We're just that smart, folks. It'll be interesting to see how things develop over the next eight weeks,

just because there were, as we said, said, so many teams are kind of like, well, you know, if they, if they win four in a row, they'll talk themselves into it. And if they lose four in a row, they'll be like, oh, fuck it, forget it. We're done. And, you know, that's, that's, that's, that's very conceivable that a bunch of teams, like Vancouver or Dallas or whoever is just like, you know what, let's nuke it. We're done. So, yeah. Yeah, we'll go to the plugs now. If you want to see all my takes I had, oh, geez, I wrote a bunch this week. I had a college hockey in the Olympics thing that I wrote.

I wrote about how the stars are just like in a no-win situation. I wrote about the decision to hire Kent Hughes in Montreal. I'm going to write about, you know, just all kinds of different stuff around the NHL for Take Town later today. So there's a whole bunch of stuff going on. And if you want to sign up for an annual subscription, the code I Love EP will get you an extra couple of months tacked on at the end there for free. So go for it. And yeah, you can find me at The Athletic.

My piece today was talking about how the conventional wisdom that you can't trade for a goalie in the middle of a season and how that doesn't actually bear out when you look at the history. and I've got a ranking of 10 cap-era mid-season goalie trades that worked out really, really well for the team acquiring the goaltender, and hopefully Ken Holland reads it. That's right. And also, of course, check out the Puck Suit Patreon. We're about to go do a mailbag over there. And next week we'll have the listener voted episode choice, and stick to soup is coming up later this week with me. Sean Gentilly and Greg Wyshinsky, who you might have heard of.

So, as always, plenty of content coming to you from our Patreon page. So check that out as well. And we're done. Thank you for listening. Goodbye. Bye. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute.

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