Puck Soup - Canada Joins The Party

Episode Date: May 19, 2021

The boys discuss the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including previews of the two North Division series that start this week. Plus, the Canucks' plans, Detroit's coaching decision, the Rick Tocchet derby, final NHL Awards picks, "Mare of Easttown" and a new game show involving who has and who has not won the Stanley Cup. Sponsored by Manly Bands and Manscaped.

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to whatever you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's in tunes. It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. I'm Greg Wichinsky of ESPN, and I'm doing this podcast from a guest room in Gary Bettman's quarantine bunker somewhere in Florida. I don't know if you guys knew that. holder, we have access to such things.

Wow. I'm Ryan Lambert. I'm sleeping in Bill Daly's garage. Sean McIndoo from the FLAic. I don't know. I don't have a bit about where I am. When I think of Bill Daley's garage, and this might just be because he's Jersey, I do think that he has like a weightlifting set up in his garage, like Tony Soprano kind of style. Yeah, that's what I'm sleeping on. I'm just on that I'm hoping the weights don't fall on me while I sleep I also kind of picture of Bill Daley-Santering down to the end of his driveway

and a bathrobe to pick up the Star Ledger I think that happens too his wife throws the orange juice at him or what? No, it was a phone. He was mad about the orange juice and shit. He was mad about the orange juice and got the phone throw it at him. Yeah. What the fuck, calm?

Speaking of accents, are you, Ryan, are you watching Mayor of East, East Town? I am, yeah. It's pretty good. Not great. But the show is good. The performances are great, I think, is what my big verdict on it is. It's a, the HBO does such a great job of curating its like true crime kind of shit. It's always super compelling, like sharp objects and season one of Big Little Lies. Even the, even the Nicole Kidman thing where she efforted an American accent in her show with Hugh Grant was pretty good. But speaking of accents, Sean, if you don't know, mayor of East Town takes place in Pennsylvania and it features Kate Winslet doing an impeccable Philadelphia accent. That's the hook of the show. I think it's pretty great.

I mean, I actually think that Gene Smarts is better. Like, she said, she said something about, like, something along the lines of, like, Quate Winslet was like, she's, like, her mood's being an asshole kind of thing. Yeah. And it was like, I had never heard anyone capture how someone from Philadelphia or South Jersey says asshole in the way that she did. But what a novelty. It was a pretty good show, too.

Philadelphia accents. All right. This is where our dumb show gets even dumber because it's the playoffs and we don't, we don't, we mean, we can't, like, we have to do the show at some point, right? So as we do the show, there are some series that are going and there are some series that are starting tonight. And by the time you listen to this, everything will be all upside down and which away, most likely. Yeah, so let's just get right into it, Canucks Flames. What do you guys think? series finale tonight why do the connects keep like winning aren't they like fucking their draft position by doing this like I thought the whole point was they would just give up

because they didn't want to play these games yeah I you know maybe they're all playing for the problem is the flames are giving up too so it's really a it's a really a movable object and a stoppable force colliding so it's like when

Sneakers goes to the dog park, and her and the dog, she's playing with both role on their, on their backs. Neither one of them wants to be the aggressor. Yeah, that's exactly what I. Let's start with the lesser of the two series that are starting tonight as we tape the show, which is Edmonton and Winnipeg. Ryan, what's your take on this series? Don't look too good for Winnipeg. All their good players are out, I think I read, or doubtful for game one, I think is what I read last night. And they didn't do well against Edmonton, even with all their good players.

So I'm not super optimistic about this for the Jets. Yeah, it's going to be an interesting test of the whole idea of, does your momentum down the stretch at the end of the season matter? Because they were, the Jets were real bad the last, what, month, you would say? It got a couple of wins at the end of the year, but really, they were in bad shape, but they've had almost a week off. And one line of thinking is that that kind of gives you the chance to hit reset and start fresh. I mean, I'm picking Edmonton. It should be a really fun series to watch.

It's just the fact that Connor McDavid's involved makes it fun on its own. But I think Winnipeg's got more of a puncher's chance at this than a lot of people. seem to be given them. Well, they have the goalie. They've got the goalie, and they can score too. And it's, you know, it's not like you look at Edmonton. Edmonton, the blue line's better than I think people give it credit for. And Mike Smith is really good this year.

But when you're talking about a guy is 38, 39 years old, it's hard to bank on that. And, yeah, I think if the Jets, if we're sitting there at the end of this series, again, I picked Edmonton, I think they're the favorites, they should be. If we're sitting there at the end of the series going, Winnipeg had a big edging goal and they were able to score enough with all of that top six talent to compensate for McDavid and Dracital and not much else than Edmonton had, yeah,

that's not going to feel like a super shocking outcome. So I mean, I wouldn't, I wouldn't ever be surprised that the Edmonton Oilers blew it. You know what I mean like that? I picked Winnipeg in the same. series. We had to make our picks, you know, before the playoffs started, the, you know, a week ago.

And my thinking was this. My thinking was, as Sean mentioned, the Oilers are absolute garbage when Connor and Leon aren't on the ice. Like, it's, it's like a 30, they get like a 38% goals, goals scored percentage when, when they're not on the ice. It's fucking, they're fucking amateur hour. So I thought Winnipeg would have a distinct depth advantage at forward, because there are at least three good lines deep, you know? I also thought they were a different team when Eilers is in the lineup.

And that was also something that I was very excited about. I was also very excited about playoff Pierre-Luc Dubois, because I was lulled into believing that he has, like, the Jonathan Taves gene based on what he did last year in the bubble. which is also probably why Winnipeg traded for him. Now, I've come to find out that Eilers might not play in game one, that DuBois is missing practices, that they're super banged up. So I think my path to victory here is, like, I need a hella buck game in game one and then hope that those guys either return to the lineup or get healthier if they're back in the lineup as the series goes on. I need a Winnipeg gets better as the series goes on play here, and not a, they,

not the team that lost, you know, seven of nine games against Edmonton in the regular season. Yeah, I mean, I think, uh, you need a hellabuck game in game one and two,

three, four, five, six and like, like honestly, that's, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at with, with them.

Like even, even when those guys are in the lineup, like they're just such a mess. defensively and they give up, excuse me, so many chances and expected goals and all that stuff that it's like, yeah, I mean, you know, they have talent, but like, they don't really seem to make much use of it. They don't. And I'll say this too, because obviously when we make these picks, we're all very analytics driven. We're all crunching the numbers and whatever. And then we also just like pick what we think might happen or what we want to see or what we don't think we

will get to see. And so part of me is like the hockey gods owe Winnipeg some karma points for what happened to Shifley last year because it completely fucked them. They were just, I mean, I think they won the next game, like inexplicably. But, but then they were just, they just were, they had nothing and once Shifley got hurt. Yeah. So I think that they, they're going to, they deserve some karma points. But I also think because, and not to jump ahead, but I do think that the Leafs are going to beat the Habs. I don't think the hockey gods are going to give us, Connor versus Austin.

Like, what did we do to deserve that? Too good to be true, right? Right. Yeah, like, it's too good to be true. We never get that. We might not get Vegas and Colorado, you know, depending on how the Minnesota series goes. So, like, the idea that we could get everything we want in the second round,

because before the playoffs, it was set up where we could get Austin versus Connor, Vegas versus Colorado, Sid versus OV. in the in the in the in the in the second round and then you know yeah I don't know where that came from Jesus what happened I think I'm watching too much Mary of East town um and then and then and then Carolina and Tampa which would be a super fun series like the second round is set up to be bonkers we can't we're not going to get all that they never give us all that no the hockey gods yeah so logic would dictate of the two series flips side

it's flip side two weeks ago we could have said the same thing about, oh, you know, we're not going to get the battle of, we're not going to get Leif's Habs and the first ever battle of Florida and the big Minnesota Vegas seven-round fight that everyone wants to see. We got all of that. So maybe this is, maybe this is just the, maybe the hockey gods are like, you know what, you guys have been through enough. We're going to actually give you the matchups you want.

Maybe. That's possible. But not probable. Winnipeg, Montreal. Who do you got and run? Yeah. So, all right, so make me feel better. Like, outside of Hellebuck stealing four games, is there, do you see a chance that Winnipeg could win this series?

Not really. I mean, I just, like, the Edmonton Powerplay and McDavid, obviously, at five on five, it's just so overwhelming that even against a better team, like, I kind of can't believe I'm saying this, but I think Winnipeg, or Edmonton rather, you know, has like a 50-50 chance to go to the, whatever we're calling the conference finals this year. Wow. Because he's just that much of it. Like, I mean, you know, obviously, I've never seen a player do this kind of scoring in the cap era.

Not even close. So that's just kind of my thing. It's like, well, shit, he's just going to score enough goals that it doesn't, that nothing else that Edminton Oilers even do matters. Yeah, I got a, I have a story on ESPN today about the Jets and approaching McDavid. And like, even, even the theory that, you know, let them get theirs and then just like outscore the supporting cast, you can't even do it. Like Paul, Paul Maurice said, you know, we lost a bunch of one goal games the regular season. What do you, what do you think the margin in those games was? It was Connor getting fucking multiple points in every single game.

So even the theory that you could like just demolish Edmondson's depth while allowing Connor to be Connor isn't going to fly because if Connor's Connor you're probably going to lose by a goal. Yep. It's a bummer. I mean, I think we're mostly on the same page. One thing I'd say is I don't think the Jets path to winning this series has to involve Hellebook stealing it. He's got to be better. And he should be. They've got the better goalie.

So I think if he's better by a decent margin, then this series is in play. And I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation. I don't think this has to be, he doesn't have to halak this series for Winnipeg to have a chance. He's just got a hell of bucket. And obviously, if he's not great in the series, they're dead. I don't see a scenario where they lose the goaltending.

and still make up enough ground in other places. That seems unreasonable to me. But I don't think he has to be amazing. I think he has to be very good, and he's a very good goalie. And if he is, then that at least gives them a puncher's chance at this. Now, speaking of, well, we'll get to that in a second. I don't want to jump ahead, because we do have another series to talk about here. Is there another series in Canada?

I don't... It's true. It's all Edmonton and Winnipeg up here. It's just you can't get more. In fact, I started calling TSN the Winnipeg Sports Network. You can never even say that. So it's like the underscore Winnipeg Sports Network. That's right.

Yeah. Gotcha. I'm still working on it. Brilliant. Leaves and Habs. Sean, go ahead and cook for us. What do you think of this series? It's amazing that it's going to happen finally, even under the circumstances.

And look, I mean, on paper, the Leafs are the big favorites. This is, it's, they're the better team. They have been better over the last few weeks, the last month of the season. You go down and do the usual checklist of the different factors, and the checkmark is going to be on the Leafs side. for most of those, they should win the series. But it is anyone who can't envision multiple scenarios where Montreal wins this series is either not paying enough attention to how things usually go for the Leafs or just ignoring the fact that this is the NHL. You can be an overwhelming, overwhelming favorite and you have like a 75% chance to win.

And that leaves a big door open for the underdog. And I'll tell you right now, if the underdog does win in this series, it's going to be just a complete mess of an offseason in Toronto. Oh, yeah. I mean, obviously. Yes, it certainly shall. Even if it is like a halak situation where the leaves are getting 50 shots a night and just, it will matter. It will not matter.

The halak situation is, it speaks directly. to the psychosis that sets in after it. Because the whole act situation wasn't simply them winning the series. It was sending the capitals into an identity crisis that lasted like four seasons. Right. And that's exactly what happened here. A few seasons and it's the sort of thing where

you look back on it now and you go, of course the capitals shouldn't have reacted that way. Of course the capital should have understood that they just ran into a hot goalie and they were the better team and they should have stayed the course. It always looks that way in hindsight. But in the moment, it doesn't.

And if the Leafs lose this series, under whatever circumstances, they're going to be in that moment. And that market, everything, fan-based media, all of it, it's just going to be so awful slash amazing, depending on what your perspective is and what kind of entertainment you want to get out of this. Ryan? Yeah, I mean, all that. Yeah. It's just a situation where, like, everybody's going, well, Leaves are going. to win.

You know, Carrie Price is getting lit up in the AHL right now. So things aren't looking good for the haves. I think everybody when their starting lineup is hurt right now, I think is the last thing I read. So, you know, it all, everybody, everybody except all their exciting young players who are healthy scratches. Oh, my God. What do you, like, what, like, Nashville kind of did the same thing with, uh, with their

young guys. Fabro and what was the forward's name. I always grew up his name and I always end up saying Terra Vinen. It's like a name blindness on my part. Like shouldn't you just be playing these guys? Like I know that maybe you have grand designs of getting through the leaves and winning

a cup and everything but isn't the thing to do to play these guys and get them battle tested and then come back and be better next year for it? I don't understand the logic. It's classic it's classic like coach brain shit where it's like well I couldn't possibly trust the young guys

what are you talking about that's crazy we need 38 year olds who can't skate out there it's so dumb and it's also this is this is the other piece of coach brain which is okay if I could just start with my best roster or I can do something a little more coachy and if we win one of the first couple of games

great good for me and if we don't then I can drop it game three. Oh, oh, Cole Cawfield is practicing with the, and okay, wow, big adjustment. I'll just tell you, as a leaf fan, I'm very happy that these guys are not, apparently not going to play because I am more worried about Cole Cawfield doing something in this series than I am Eric Stahl. Let's be honest, you're worried because you're trying to figure out how it's going to happen,

right? Like that's, that's, you mean, there's, I, I think this is the year for them, but they're the Leafs. And it's, you know, if they're going to go, it's going to be in spectacular fashion. And Colcalfield with seven goals and seven games would be like a thing that we'd talk about in 10 years about how the Leafs got, got lost a first round upset to Montreal. Like, I completely understand you're thinking on that. Yeah. It's so funny because last year, here, like, somebody said, pointed this out on Twitter. I don't remember who it was. But, like, last year, Cochneumee wasn't good for the regular season.

And then in the playoffs, he goes nuts. And they're like, well, obviously, this is why we're going to trade every center on the roster. This is the number one guy. And he was pretty good this year, but didn't score as much as maybe people expected him to based on the playoffs last year. And so now they're like, well, we have to healthy scratch him going into the playoffs. And it's like, no, it's the opposite is true. Yeah, it's the opposite.

Like, like, he, he, he did what you thought he was going to, but then couldn't score as much because nobody on the Canadians could score. That was kind of like their thing this year, right? Yeah. And it's like his fault that they didn't score all year. And it's like, no, you haven't been scoring for like four seasons. I don't know. I don't know what you think, man. Sean, let me ask a question.

So let's, let's say they win. Let's say the Leafs win. what does better for them in thinking of the path going forward? Is it a five-game route where they can maybe get their swag on a little bit? Or is it a war of attrition that they emerge from victorious? What does better for them? It's the first. You want to get in, be quick.

This is a team that is built more for the playoffs than previous ones have been, but it's still not a war of attrition team, and you don't, especially when you're starting almost a week after some of the teams that you could run into in round three, you do not want to be doing seven-game series this early. Like, yes, in terms of the narrative, you can imagine the whole, like, the Leafs have finally showing

that they know how to play the right way, blah, blah, blah. But screw the narrative. You want to, this is, again, on paper, a series, that you should be able to win in four or five games. Get out there, get it done, get rested, get the next series hopefully started as soon as possible,

and go from there. We didn't really talk about the Leaf's goaltending yet. How are we feeling about that? It's interesting. You don't say that? Yeah, I mean, I think Jack Campbell will be fine, but... Yeah.

I mean, Jack Campbell's been real good this year it's not, I don't buy this idea that, well, he's never started in the playoffs. Like, the playoffs aren't that different. It's not, you know, it's not like he's going to be out there in the first period, just totally lost. Like, wow, what's going on? This is, oh, yeah, it's the playoffs, Jack. You've never done this before. I think they should be okay.

You know, we said with Winnipeg that, you know, Hellebuck needs to be the better goalie. I don't think that's the case for the Leafs. I don't think Jack Campbell needs to be better than Kerry price. If he is, then it's probably series over anyways. But, you know, he needs to be good enough. He needs to just, just not have those games that, you know, we need to not be halfway through game one and seeing lingering shots of Freddie Anderson on the bench. Yes. Side-eyeing the coach. And it's just, it's got to not be that, that, unfortunately, the Freddie

Anderson experience in the playoffs in previous years where it's like head to head, you know, you're banging back and forth and who's going to get the goal and then suddenly a bad goal goes in and you just see the whole team go like, oh, gee, are we really doing this? We're just, you know, that's the goal that's going to beat us. Yeah. Avoid those. That's, that's it. I mean, if Jack Campbell can turn this into a draw with Kerry Price and Jake Allen and

whoever else, that's good enough. That's all he needs to do. Do you, I mean, are the Leafs good enough where you can, you just, you can, you just looking for competence. Like, I don't want to draw the Chris Osgood. He's good enough relative to the Canadians. Right, that's the thing. But what about going forward?

Like, I mean, I don't, the Chris Osgood comparison is a tough one because I actually think that he was, he was a really good postseason goalie. Like, yeah, he was on a. Chris Osgood? Chris Osgood definitely was. It wasn't just, I mean, he, he was competent. He didn't make mistakes. He wasn't the liability.

But he also played well in the postseason, for sure. But are we there with Jack Campbell where competent and then maybe you get a couple good games out of them will be good enough? I think competent Jack Campbell can get you out of the North Division. Yeah, if you run up against Andrei Vasilevsky or Mark Andre Fleur, the way he's playing now or whatever, then maybe not as much. Yeah, okay. But hopefully by then he's settled in and, you know, maybe it's something better. You are a dyed in the wool of Chris Osgood Hater. We know this.

We know this for a fact. Yeah, I mean, I think your memory here is colored by the fact that the like three of the five good post seasons he ever had, they won a Stanley Cup. Or two of the five, I should say. And then the next year he was pretty good when they went deep but didn't win the title. But, you know, before he went to back-to-back cup finals, 9-07, 890 out in the first round, four post seasons in a row. So, you know, again, I think a lot of that has to do with, boy, he got to play with the best team of the era, the late 2000s Detroit Red Wings. I think a lot of people made a lot of money playing with Nick Lidstrom. you're absolutely right yeah coaches made a lot of money always made a lot of money and then the other the other year uh let's see the other year he had a good postseason the 97 98 Detroit Redwax I'm just trying to think how many Hall of Famers were on that team oh Steve Eisenman Nick Lidstrom Brendan Shanahanhan

Slavacacov well Slavokov it wasn't a hall famer but the russian virus kind of a guy uh Larry Murphy Igor larionov sergey fedorov oh Slava Fatisov. Yeah, so they had a pretty good team, I think you would say. Yeah, it was all right. I think the bottom line, whether the Leafs need Jack Campbell to be competent. Yes. And if he's competent, you know, maybe they win a ring. Speaking of rings, today's episode of Puck Soup is sponsored by Manly Bands.

Now, Manly Bands is a very interesting sponsor of Puck Soup. I have now touched, smelled, I did not taste. a manly band. And what is a manly band? A manly band is the perfect wedding ring for dudes. The band buying experience can be a hellscape. You know what you want. You can't really find it. And to the rescue comes manly bands. Now, here's the thing with manly bands. They've got a number of different materials that you could wear on your finger and you're saying to yourself, I've created something that is unique and something that speaks about who I am. Now, when we talk materials, boys, we're not talking about gold, although you can get gold.

And we're not talking about titanium, but you can't get titanium. Lambert, we're talking about antler. We're talking about meteorite. And yes, we're talking about dinosaur bone. That's right. That's the kind of wedding ring and wedding band you want to have. but they also have incredible collections of stuff. The Jack Daniels Whiskey Barrel collection of wedding bands.

The MLB collection of wedding bands. We can get your favorite team's logo on your wedding ring. And then they also have a sports collection. If you're a golfer and you want your wedding ring to reflect that, you can get yourself a wedding ring looks like golf ball, but like cool looking. Manly bands is a very unique and awesome product. To get started, you order the manly ring sizer for manly bands

to ensure that your ring will fit perfectly. Once you know your size, then it's time for the fun part, picking out what kind of ring you want from the materials or from one of their collections. If you already have a wedding band, it's a fun idea to get a different one for different occasions. So you're going out. You want to wear a different wedding band.

Go get one that matches your vibe. Once you've selected your band, Manly Bands offers free shipping worldwide, a third-day exchange policy, and free warranty. To order your manly band and get 20, 31% off. That's a big chunk. Plus a free silicone ring for those times, you know, you're, I guess if you're in a wrestling pay-per-view, you don't want to wear your wedding band. You can wear your silicone ring. That's what the boys do.

Go to manlybans.com slash puck. That's manly bands. M-A-N-L-Y-B-A-N-D-S-com slash puck for 21% off manly bands. They're the best damn rings, period. I mentioned the Halak thing before I was going to jump to talk about the blues in the West because I was told on Daily Wager that the avalanche in this series were the heaviest favorite in any series since the fabled Washington Capitals versus Montreal, Canadian's 1 versus 8 series that resulted in Halak beating the capitals. So there was one path to victory here, and it was Jordan Bennington. And for two periods of game one, it looked like maybe there was something there. And then in the third period, the avalanche were like, uh-oh, we're the avalanche, and just pummeled them. Yeah, and we do have to say that even in the first two periods, the avalanche pummeled them. Just Binnington made a bunch of saves early on, and then, you know, that game really felt to me like if you watched, like,

the height, like, Manchester United at the height of their powers, and they'd be down two to one to, like, Burnley. and then they'd score five goals in the last four minutes of the game, and you'd just be like, oh, right, that was always going to happen. Sure, sure, sure. Right, the inevitability of it. And just like, not just the inevitability, but when things inevitably flipped, it was like, oh, right, yeah, this game should never have been as close as we let you believe it was.

I remember, you know, watching the game, there was a point where they were like, yeah, man, St. Louis really has to do a better job of stopping these odd man rushes for the McKinnon line. And it's like, great advice. What are they going to do with that? Oh, you know what? We thought we should keep allowing them. But, you know, you said the thing we shouldn't do it.

That actually sounds a lot smarter. And what a bummer, man, Peron being out on the COVID list, like neutralizing the one line you might have to actually do something in that series. And it's just not good times for St. Louis. Well, I know he had a good season or whatever. But if you're like, man, our season really hinged on David Perra. Ron being a beautiful. Well, no, I mean, it hinges on two things. It hinges on Bennington being insane.

And then it hinges on you finding, and he was. And then it hinges on you having one good scoring line that at the, at the very least could play against the McKinnon line, but also like create some offense. And with Peron off that line, you know, O'Reilly had something like, like eight points in in his last nine, like he had scored a point in eight of his last nine games and then he gets shut out in that game and, you know, Brown's office line. It's not a big surprise. Sean, this series, I mean, the game two of this series is Wednesday night. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's toast, right?

I, I wouldn't say that, but it, oh, well, only, again, it, this is the modern NHL, bad teams, the difference between the really good teams and the just okay teams is much smaller than we like to imagine. Uh, so I mean, it's, it's, it's not inconceivable that, the, that, the, the Blues could at least make a series out of this, but that game won, that, like, that had to be demoralizing because you're sitting there going, we know that we're one through 20, we're not as good as the avalanche. We need to hang in there, hang in there, have our goalie stand on his head and then steal one. And you're two periods in and you're going, this is exactly the sort of game that we're looking for. And then that third period happens and it's like, oh, okay. So we got most

of what we wanted and it still wasn't enough. It's, it's, uh, abs are a really, really good team. Yeah. And, uh, you know, sometimes it's, you know, surprises happen. This is, the NHL these days is designed for upsets and chaos and all of that stuff. But, uh, also sometimes a team that is way better just wins a series relatively easily. And that's maybe what we're on track for here.

Yeah. They're real fun to watch. The abs are like one of those teams where, they just come at you in waves and possess the fuck out of the puck and just like it's just fun to watch it's fun to watch a team at the height of its powers play that well you know maybe not if you're a blues fan probably sucks but it's fun as a hockey fan to see a team like that well constructed play that well and live up to expectation um the Vegas Minnesota series as we talk about it as 1-1 um Vegas had to have that game in game two. I mean, had to have that game in game two. And Flurry's great.

Like, how great is Flurry? And kudos of the knights for not doing the dumb shit thing and try to rotate the goalies when you obviously have one guy going so much better than the other guy. Well, I mean, you know, what did he give up like one goal on 38 shots or so? It wasn't like he wasn't good in game one. No, he's great in game one. Well, right. So that's why they didn't do it, right? Like, there was nothing to overthink.

What do you give, what do you, having seen Minnesota now for two games, what do you think about the rest of the series? Uh, I mean, they look good. They just, you know, couldn't get the, couldn't get the bounces, I guess you would say in, in game two. But like, you know, they had a lot of shots. They had a lot of shots. And, and Flurry was just. just, you know, the big shock here, Mark Andre Fleur is better than Camp Talbot in a game. That's crazy.

I think the Knights have to be feeling pretty good about life. Like, I feel like if Game 1 was a 50-50 proposition, you're bummed, you could have really put your stamp on the series in that game. But Game 2 was sort of a quintessential golden Knights win. Like, overreliant on your goaltender. Alex Tuck does something, you know, for a game. and really, you know, just kind of keeping things on the margins when you can and then relying on Flory when you can't. I think they should be feeling pretty good about life after these first two games.

But Minnesota's good, man. Yeah, who knows? Minnesota's good. I mean, I know we're all super hyped for Vegas, Colorado in round two. But Minnesota's got a real shot at this. I think I picked them actually on my list. coin flip maybe but i think that's about right coin flip sounds good yeah which is you people are talking about this series as if it's something more than that in favor of vegas and i i just don't

think it is no i think it's i mean they played them super super evenly in the regular season um that's been fun to watch and and minnesota definitely brings it and it's going to be real fun to see what they do it on home ice too against them so not not done there yet quite yet the Central, obviously, like, you know, the, the, give me seven more of these injected in my veins series of the playoffs has been Florida and Tampa. Well, that first game was amazing. The first game was one of the best hockey games. Yeah, last night was good. The first game was like one of the best hockey games in last five years.

Just for entertainment value, that was right up there. That was just, you know, a lot of people had this take, but that is the game where we say, this a lot when we're talking about low scoring and defense and all the things that this league has become and I always say every game, every two one boring game, that was somebody's first hockey game, that they gave it a try and you're never ever going to get them back after they sit through three hours of that. I hope there were a lot of people who that was their first game, that game one between Florida and Tampa because that's how you make new fans. People see that and they go, when the hell is game two?

When's the rest of the game? I'm clearing my schedule because I got to watch more of this. It was just a plus entertainment value. And the NHL already has a meeting schedule to see how they can fuck up all that goodwill. We're going to hammer this out. Even game two, right? It felt like both the teams were like, hold on, let's pump the break a little bit, slow this down. A friend of the show, Sean Gentilly wrote a great story this week about people that he found on Twitter who watched the Florida

a lightning game and that was their first hockey game and their thoughts on how lit it was. You're right. It was high scoring. It was bad blood. There was everything you'd want. And look, it's not, I know every time we do this, it's not just about the goals. And that one nothing game with Vegas and Minnesota, that was the fabled, rare, great entertaining one nothing game. Because both the goalies were making actual saves and doing things to keep it won nothing and not just having the puck hit them in the chest over and over. So this has been a real good start to the playoffs just in terms of the games being fun to watch. Yeah, not to get down the philosophical hole again, but like I've always been, one of the

planks of my platform for years has been it's more about the flow of the game than it is about the actual goals. Now, from a gambling perspective, it's about the actual goals. But from an entertainment perspective, you just have to. have chances back and forth and back and forth. You can have a one-nothing game with the pace that we saw in game one between the nights and wild and come away feeling like you really got your money's worth. And so whenever we get to these conversations about make the nets bigger, fucking make the goalie smaller, all this shit.

Like, no, just let them skate. Like create ways where you can generate more offensive chances versus create ways to make the little black thing going to net more often. Making the nets bigger does give you more chances. And it's an easier way to do it than fundamentally changing the game, how it's played from net to net, because you're right. That would be a fantastic way to do it. But we've had 25 years of every single player having it drilled into them how to clog and get in the way and prevent. So I don't know.

That's a lot easier said than done. But yeah, you know, this is, you know, oh, I've seen one-nothing games that were more entertaining. Well, yeah, I've seen one-nothing games that were absolutely terrible, but that Vegas game, that was a good one-nothing game. That it was, that it was. But I like the lightning a lot. Like, I like watching them play. I like a lot of the players on the team.

I like the coach. There's something, as much as I wish this series was kind of the Panthers, you know, knocking their neighbors off the throne, there's also something very satisfying about seeing the old pros take it to the upstart. It's like the Captain America's Spider-Man fight in Civil War. It's like, where you from, kid, sunrise? You got heart. But at the end of the day, like, the lightning just had better players

and guys that do amazing things when necessary. And there's something satisfying about that. But, man, if this series ends up going the way it looks like it's gone, this is brutal for the Panthers. Like, you're the little brother for 25 years. you finally get your shot and if you lose you lose but if you just get swept away

and Tampa's like oh yeah we're healthy now we got our good players back and they just like it's going to make that team feel like they are so far away and it's just going to take so many positives from this season and make it feel like it none of it really mattered right

yeah I mean that's the thing, right? Is the issue with Florida that I think anybody would have said coming into the series is, I don't really know who their goal he is. And I personally wouldn't have gone with Bobrovsky in game one, certainly. Although I also don't think he's necessarily the reason they lost that game. Yeah, he was okay. I mean, the reason they lost that game was to pound the kill.

Yeah, sure. I think that's right. And yeah, so that's been their biggest issue all year. And, you know, is Chris Trigger? Like, is he the guy? No. I mean, I think everybody realizes he's not the guy as like a guy going forward for them. They might not even resign them, right?

So, yeah, it's just a really, it's a really tough sell where it's like, yeah, we're this team that we're fun and we're pretty good. obviously have some holes and it's like, oh, and we just drew the rating Stanley Cup champions who have been one of the best teams in the regular season for the last, three years running. Who just got a former MVP back for game one. And that way, man, that was the thing, right? I remember going into the series thinking like, you know, everyone just assumes Kutraub's going to be 100% and ready to go. Not necessarily.

We've seen guys come back and not been the same player. And then he just comes back. He's like, no, I'm 100%. Yeah, he's like, I'm actually like 120% right now. Yeah, I got better. I got some cyborg parts put in while I was off. It's like a, it's like of a fully grown chicken hatched out of an egg. Like, he was just ready to go.

It was, and what a fucking, and what to fuck you to the rest of the league that is just like down low kind of complaining about caps or a convention? And then he comes back and lights up the Panthers for a couple goals in game one. Just hilarious stuff. Hurricanes and Predators. I did Nashville radio yesterday and was surprised to hear this. They are so emotionally, emotionally torn. Like they're happy to be in the playoffs, the Predators fans. They acknowledge the fact that the team is sort of not built really well,

but yet they're also optimistic that maybe it is built well. They're in such a conundrum about what this franchise should be that I think it even trumps whatever is going to happen. in this playoff series. But anyways, Caroline is much better and they're going to win the series. Right. And so I think to your point, Caroline is really going to clarify for all those people who were just like, I guess I don't know what this team is.

Caroline is like, we're going to show you. It's bad. Don't worry about it. We got you. But it's just funny to hear like a, you know, there was a certain amount of recognition that they're not good and all these conversations. that the Predators fans have been having for the last half a year about, you know, poil should go or break up the roster or everything.

Like, that's all sort of in their mind, but also there's a part of their mind that's like, what if Duchayne and Johansen level up for game, you know, three, like kind of shit? Yeah, what a is? Yeah. It's very strange. It's a crisis of conscience there. This really felt to me like one of those series where it was like Nashville's coming in with the hot goalie.

This is the series that has to be the Halak series If it's going to be a real series And game one was not And if it's not, then forget it Yeah I think you can forget it I think Caroline's just better Especially healthy

They're better Sounds right And hey, the Delkovich baby Go with the Rook Just like Cam Ward Back in 06 Here we go Win a division

Play a rookie goalie Recipe for a Stanley Cup That's the Carolina Way It's worked. It's worked for other teams. That's right. Okay. East.

It's Islander's Penguin series. It's just as fucking brutal as I thought it was going to be. It's just, ugh. It really is. I'm going to NASA for the home games there. So at least there's going to be, hopefully, like, a real fun end of, end of day's atmosphere at the old barn before they move to the new place. But this, it's just, I mean, we've got so.

much great hockey that's happening every night in these playoffs and then this series. And I don't want to be anti-Ilanders and whatever. It's just not fun. Like, I was watching this game and then if you flip over to watch Florida and Tampa and the other one, you're like, why am I wasting life paying attention to this Penguins Islander series? Just tell me who wins at the end. Yeah. We all saw that coming, right? Like, everybody kind of thought that was going to be the situation. So the fact that it is. I mean, it's, yeah, and it's, you're right, and it's kind of a bummer that you've got one of the best players of his generation,

maybe the best player of his generation, still you could argue one of the five best players in the whole league, and it's like, yeah, it's still going to be adult series because that's how hockey works. I do think it's going to be an interesting series in the sense that it'll have its twists and turns. I could see it going seven. and there's going to be,

there's a lot still to be revealed about this series, but it's not necessarily appointment, buzzer-to-buzzer viewing. The thing that needs to be revealed is, like, Malkin is the thing that needs to be revealed, because that's kind of the thing. It's a real good player, not there yet. Kind of hanging out there.

The thing I love about this series was after game one, here's the entire Pittsburgh media. Yins know this is the end of the run, right? Like, you're going to break up, the team, right? After game two, you didn't know they got still more gas in the tank, right? Like, here we go. Over and over and over every fucking postseason. Yeah, that, I mean, again, it's because it's like, I guess I have to trust Tristan Jari. Is that, is that where, is that where I'm at in my, he played well in game two. I mean, he played well enough to give you a little bit of

hope. I think he's a perfectly all right goalie. So sometimes he's going to play well. Sometimes he's not going to play well. And like, you know, he was not good in game one, obviously. But just again, the book is out. Shooted his glove. It's like, yeah, no, we know. Shoot it everybody's fucking glove. The book is out on every goalie in the league and has been for a decade. But, you know, the goals he gave up in game one were humiliating for an NFL level goalie, I think, is what you would say.

I hate that we have to keep using this phrase, but I saw something on Twitter, but I don't know who made it. It was the Scooby-Doo. where someone says, let's see who Tristan Jari really is, and they take off the mask, and it's Matt Murray. Right. I think it's pretty fucking great and completely accurate. Who do you like in this series now, though? Like 1-1 going back to the Coliseum?

Still Pittsburgh. You know, obviously, if it was not 1-1, I would feel more strongly one way or the other, but if you're saying, well, it's going to be five games between the islanders and the penguins, I guess I got to go with the team that I thought was going to win seven games. Yeah, maybe the thing is that the Allander's offense wasn't ropa doping. Maybe the thing is that Jari was that bad in game one. And that the Allender still are a team that's going to struggle the score in the series. It's distinct possibility.

What about you, Sean? Yeah, I mean, I think this one's probably going to go to the distance and probably going to come down to, I mean, I don't want to say, a balance and make it sound like it's, it's just going to be luck. But it's, there's, the margin on this one feels small. So hopefully we get a outcome that feels satisfying and doesn't feel like, oh, it's just because somebody got hurt or somebody fanned on a puck. But it's, I, I feel like this is going to be a close one.

To your point, if you're going to make us watch this fucking series, at least have it go seven. Right. Yeah, sure. You know what I mean? Um, by the way, you know, it was so fun. about after game one is Kyle Paul Mary has the big game and everybody's like, oh, I guess that wasn't a bad trade after all. And then like last night he had zero shots on goal. Right. Yeah, no, he still is Kyle Paul Mary after all. That's crazy.

I liked the other theory was that after the trade, Lou made him shave. And then, you know, for the playoffs, you're allowed to kind of grow out some scruff. So as soon as he got some scruff on his face again, he started scoring goals again. And then Lou made him shave between games one and two, I guess. Yeah, it's not exactly a Samson proxy necessarily. Capitals, Bruins, is just a wacky-ass series. I love them in the Capitals are in the playoffs because nothing's ever boring. Vanichek gets hurt in Game 1.

Craig Anderson comes in. Craig Anderson, happy 40th birthday this Friday, wins game one, game two. And then game two gets the thing that we all thought was going to happen in the series. which is that they get a goal from the Taylor Hall line to tie the game, and then they get a goal from Marchand to win the game in OT. Two good lines going at the same time for the Bruins is a recipe for disaster for their opponents. But the Marchand thing was fun because I honestly didn't see a lot of regulation on this game. But apparently he had a bunch of fucking shenanigans going,

and everybody was sort of like, what a dick he's being, and he's being a detractor for the team. He was having old Marchand game, like the bad, the not-in-con-configure. control sort of game. And it was one of those games where you're just watching it going, okay, Washington's in his head. This is, this is not good for Boston.

This is not, oh, he just scored the OT winner. Okay, never. Right. Right. Exactly.

It's, yeah, it's a new Marchand. And like, everybody in the post game just like, yeah, you know, he could do his thing.

But, hey, when it counted. So. Yeah. Yeah. All right. And the,

well, the other thing to say is, like, uh, I don't think the Hall line was necessarily bad in game one or most of game two for that for that matter, but like it wasn't

scoring. But I think the Bergeron line was fucking awful for a good, you know, by their standard certainly, for a good chunk of the like the first five periods of the series. And then, you know, they were like, oh, right, we're one of the best lines

in hockey. We got this. That's fine. And they just like, much like the Colorado Avalanche at the second intermission of game one, we're just like, yeah, we're going to come out of the corner like Rocky at the end of Rock. And the music started and it was like, oh, no, this is over. Like those lines just went off and that was the end of it. And I think, you know, yeah, if you're relying on Jake DeBrus to score all your goals for you, that's not a recipe for success.

but if you can get everybody kind of pulling in the same direction this is what Boston can do to you they can just go oh yeah we've decided this game so yeah and plus the caps are now like beat up and you know who knows with the goalie situation Eller got nicked up and you know who knows with the constant on ice drama with Kisnets off what's going on there yeah and and the other thing to say is you know um coming into this series, you didn't really have a lot of reason to believe in the Washington goaltending anyway.

Right. Like, even if it was Vanichek, you'd be like, well, I mean, it's V-Dematechick. Yeah, and Samsonoff had played one game since, like, April 24th. Right. Because of the COVID protocols and stuff, too. Yeah, it was a bad scene to begin with, and then all of a sudden he got Craig Anderson. Who, again, played really good in game one. I mean, in the emergency situation.

The Bruins made it real easy for him. All right Well, it's It's going to be an interesting series I feel like it's one of those series It's going to have at least Like three more major plot twists Yes

Maybe one of them involving Tom Wilson Again this is Both the East series to me just feel like Almost not even worth talking about yet Just because it feels like There's a long way to go on both of them And I have no idea I have no idea on that entire division

I haven't all year long there's four good teams put them in a bag, shake it up, pull one out, that's your winner. But, yeah,

Boston Washington's been a fun series so far. Actually, I've, I've enjoyed it, and let's keep going, more overtime. We get Sid versus Ovi or no?

Yeah, I don't think so. I think Boston, you know, if they can, if they can keep the Marchand line rolling, uh, that feels like it's game over,

right? Like, they're just, they're that kind of, you know, next level. Even with the acknowledgement that obviously Washington's very dangerous, I don't think anybody would be like, and they are a, they're a dangerous team and not a dominant team, if that makes sense. Yeah. But, I mean, not to start getting too far ahead on two series we just said are still

up for grabs, Pittsburgh, Boston would be a real fun series two. There's a lot of hits. history there. There's, you know, you get the team Canada's first line going against each other, Taylor Halls, all that stuff. That'd be, uh, that, uh, that, uh, that, uh, that'd be fun too. So. Yeah. I think, I think whoever would emerge from that series, it would be legit. It would not be a tainted victory. Speaking of taint, today's episode of Puck's super sponsored by Manscape. Um, great. We'll, we'll, we'll fix it in post. I want to thank Rachel Dory for not being on the podcast this time.

Sean, when Rachel hopped on, I had to do a full Manscape read with her here and it was just a real train wreck. Anyways, Manscaped, as you know, is a super great product for the men. But here's the thing. We interrupt this programming for a special announcement from Manscape.com. This is your pubic service announcement. Oh, my God. And the news you've all been waiting for. The Manscaped Engineering team has confirmed that they have successfully created the lawnmower 4.0, a trimmer, which is now available for purchase in the USA and Sean in Canada.

Join over 2 million men worldwide who trust Manscaped with this exclusive offer for you, 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code Puck 20. PUCK20 at manscaped.com. Now, we've talked about these incredible devices before. The lawnmower 4.0 is one of them. It's got a new multifunction on-off switch, which can engage a travel lock created for people who like travel. The lawnmower 4.0 gives you the ability to turn the 4,000K LED spotlight on and off when you need a more precise shave in your nether regions.

The new trimmer even allows you to customize your trim all over through additional guard lengths with sizes 1 through 4. It's like getting clippers at the barber. And looks wise, it's sleek with a two-toned mat and gloss finish and even features a hot foil-stamped black chrome manscape logo. So you could show off that mower loud and proud. It's also waterproof so you can groom in the shower and not have to worry about making a mess on the the bathroom floor. Get 20% off of free shipping. Wow, with the code Puck20 at M-Scape.com.

That's M-A-N-S-C-A-P-E-D.com. 20% off, free shipping. Unlock your confidence and always use the right tools for the job with Manscaped. Anything to add guys or no? No, I'm good. Thank you. Thank you got it. Yeah, very good.

Let's talk about Vancouver for a second. So the latest that we heard last night was that Benning, Jim Benning, their GM is probably safe. And then there were reports, rampant reports, that they're going to do the Trevor Lyndon thing, but times two by bringing back the Sedans to help run the team. Is this what we're doing? Well, sort of because what I read was that they were going to be under Jim Benning and not because, like, technically, I believe Trevor Lyndon would over Jim Benning. Right. they would work, they would be a go between the players and Jim Benning of some, some sort.

Cool. What a great idea. This will fix everything. Well, the thing about the Siddins that's, that's fun is that like, they're, um, they're really smart and they're, they're really, they're really good hockey people. And so automatically, there's people in the media that are just like, yeah, give them a chance, not recognizing that every single. fucking time someone's tried to do this,

it doesn't seem to work. But maybe it'll work with the Cedines. It doesn't work often. Yeah. I mean, here's the thing. From what I've been able to read, it sounds like the thinking here is that,

hey, they're smart guys and they are going to begin their journey towards a front office career. Similar to, you know, Chris Derry with the Rangers. Steve Iserman was spent four or five years in the front office in Detroit before he went to Tampa and that sort of thing. And if that's the case, then sure, fine.

You've got to start somewhere. I've always said there's a big difference between guys that just get pulled off the golf course and dropped into a prominent decision-making role and guys who actually pay their dues and learn and do all that stuff. If they're going to do that, great, but then it's not going to help for years. you know, this does nothing to help with the Canucks issues right now, except for provide a little bit of PR cover because, hey, man, you like these guys, right? You've got their poster in your, in your childhood bedroom. You're not going to criticize us. And, you know, you roll them out.

And that's clearly a piece of it. And it's the same thing with Lyndon and guys like that. Yeah, I mean, if I'm a. Canucks fan, and that is what they're now. If they're bringing them in in prominent decision-making roles, that's very different because they have no front-office experience. And I don't care how smart you are. You can't just drop in and be good at this sort of job day one.

But if they're going to come in to learn and start that journey, great, but it doesn't help the team right now. Right. And that's the ultimate thing is like everybody kind of is, you know, over the weekend, everything you read about it was, oh, the brand is in danger. And that's what the aquilini's really care about, is that the brand is safe. And it's like, I mean, okay, but, you know,

if you're keeping Jim Benning in the job, all the people who are, like, they're not going to get better over the summer in all likelihood, except if, you know, players get better. You know what I mean? Like, they're, he's going to make a bad signing. That's just kind of what he does. And then he's going to go,

oh, everything's fixed. Don't worry about it. And then, you know, it'll take three weeks and everybody will go, oh, doesn't this guy kind of suck? Oh, that's too bad. Didn't anticipate that being the outcome here. And, you know, that's every summer under Jim Benning. And he's like, well, look, just give me like another two years on this rebuild.

We'll be fine. All right. Sure. Yeah. Well, the thing I still don't get is the idea that, like, if you keep Benning and you get off to a middling start, and the fans are back in the building, you're going to have to fire them anyway. Because the fans are just going to turn it into a shit show. They're just going to chant fire Benning, keep flying fucking planes over Vancouver with banners on them and shit. Like, you're

obviously going to have to fire them if they don't get results in the first part of next season. So why delay the inevitable? It's such a baffling situation. Well, they just, they did the classic thing of, oh, well, we made a semi-deep playoff run. We're good. We're actually really good. They bought their own bullshit. That's all it is. I think that's a really good way of phrasing it. The other interesting, apparently interesting to the rest of us, but not to the people in Detroit news of the week,

was Jeff Blaschell getting an extension. When everybody read it, everybody was like, what? And then when I read all the Detroit writers are like, ah, the inevitable has happened. Jeff Blashele gets an extension. So in talking to some of them, I guess it's a thing where they, it was just assumed that the,

rebuild in such a nascent form that they were obviously going to keep him around for a little bit longer, because what's the sense of trying to upgrade at this point? Yeah, I get it, but also, you know, he seems like he doesn't do a very good job. So, like, because even you're not watching the Red Wings and going, well, look, obviously the roster is what it is, but, like, there's some really good, like, the young guys are really going off and just, they're getting sunk by X, Y, I and see. Like, the only reason they were any good is that Jonathan Bernier kind of had a, had a surprisingly good season, right? Mm-hmm.

So it's, it's, I don't look at them and go, oh, they're really doing a good job of, like, advancing and developing the young guys and putting them in roles where they can succeed. I, I look at what they're doing, and I go, ooh, they actually were like a good goalie performance away from being maybe worse than they were last year. So I don't, I don't see why they're. that should have been such an inevitable thing. But also, if he's cheap and you're like, well, we're going to suck no matter who we hire, then I guess I get that.

Yeah, I mean, we've all seen enough rebuilds to kind of know how it usually goes, which is usually you've got the rebuild coach who's there for the bad years and hopefully is your developmental guy. And then when it's time to be good, that guy gets thanked for his service. And somebody else comes in to be the contend. coach. And every now and then, it's the same guy gets to do both jobs. But that's rare. And the question that I had when I looked at this was, okay, is this them saying that Jeff Blashele is going to be, get to be the contender coach too? Or is this them saying, no, we've got a few more years

of rebuild. So we're going to keep the rebuild coach. It's been five years that this team has been bad. Jesus. I'm, but this is. Yeah, but Eisenman's only been there for a couple. Right. And they were bad, like, trying to be good, and now they're bad, trying to be bad. And that's obviously a very different kind of an organizational mindset, right? But I guess my thing is, like, if I was, if it was up to me, right? Like, it would be more of a situation where you go, okay, yeah, we're going to fire Blaschell and then we'll hire his replacement. And that guy is the guy who is the rebuild coach. You know? what I mean? Like, I just, how long, how, how many kicks at the can does this guy have? Other than, again, he probably is going to do this for very cheap because he, they could go, Jeff, have you seen what your record is as the coach of the Detroit Red Wings? Yeah, we're going to give you a 1% raise.

And that'll be just about it for you. And he goes, yeah, it's better than not having a job, which I wouldn't. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's a thrifty, a thrifty contract. Yeah, that's what I, that's kind of my thinking, especially. You know, everybody in the league is going to be in financial recovery mode for however many years. Yeah, I just, I mean, six years as a coach, one playoff appearance, one one playoff game. I just, to me, if I'm a redless fan, look, I know.

I know wings fans have all the faith in the world in Steve Eisenman as well. They should. So, you know, you're not panicking, but this is, this is as close as you get to a ranger-style letter to fans. saying, hey, just so you know the rebuild, like the part of the rebuilds, you go another two or three years at least. And I'm going, oh, okay, I was kind of hoping by now we'd be a little bit more of an upward trajectory. But all right.

Yeah, I mean, that wasn't realistic, though, just based on what the roster looked like looked like when Eisenman took over, right? Like, there were just so many dead contracts on that where you were just like, no. You know, like, there's, I think they're still cycling out some of those guys that, like, next season, right? They are. Yeah. So, like, yeah, they still have Nielsen on the books for next season, right?

Like, they still have Danny DeKaiser on the books for $5 million next season. Like, they have a lot of guys to either re-sign or not reason. Like, you know, they're not going to bring Darren Helm and Val Philpola back, right? But, you know, they have some decisions to make. And once they get more of those guys out of the lineup or at least off the roster, they're options to kind of accelerate the rebuild if you want to say like maybe throw some money at Dougie Hamilton something like that they can do that yeah but that's it's it didn't occur to me until you said it that no one no one picked up just an ablocator after they bought him out huh yeah no

dude that he's bad jarrag galant and rick tocket are interviewing for the new york rangers opening and tocket is getting an interview with the seattle crackin uh i guess the rangers and crack in both desirous to be teams that don't score but have good goal tending. Very exciting times. I don't know. I like Galanton, I like Galant in New York a lot. I think that's a good landing spot for him. Yeah, I agree.

Listen, I like, I like, I like, a little surprise that he is still even out there. So, yeah, jump, jump on that if you've got the opportunity. I like Tocke it as a dude. I think he, big, big gambling guys. so that makes Yeah, big, big gambling guys. I like his approach.

I've enjoyed talking to him. I'm just not as high on him as a head coach as I think a lot of people are. I feel like there's a little bit of the, kind of like how when you do well in Arizona, your effort gets like a three times multiplier because of how tough it is to do well there with that team. Yeah. And his teams,

his teams are always just fundamentally flawed. They would constantly have like one of the worst shooting percentages in the league and just not generate enough offense. And, you know, they would, they would. And I guess the struggle I have is that, is that him not being the coach that people seem to believe that he is? Or is it him just coaching the roster he was given to play a system that speaks to the talent level that they had? I don't know. Well, to your point, you know, you said, oh, when people do well in Arizona, did he do well in Arizona? I don't feel like that's the case.

One of the playoffs a couple times. No, once. And, you know, it was the bubble playoffs. Like, I don't think they would have been a playoff team, if not for the bubble. Right? Like, if not for, we got to have the playing games because of the way the season ended. And again, the bubble's all fake. Like, I just pulled it up here.

Arizona, 284 points from 290 games. and less than a point of game this season as well, like, you know, 482 points percentage. It's really not that hard to be a 500 coach in the NHL, and he didn't do it in Arizona. So I don't, you know, did he do well? No. I mean, he's a 490 coach in a league where 500 is easy. So. Yeah.

Okay. I feel better about my take then. Thank you. You're well. Welcome. All right. Final trip around the NHL Awards, as the voting is happening this week, I got to do my ballot today, actually. Carter wins the heart.

Won't be unanimous. It should be unanimous. It's a crime that it's not going to be unanimous. It won't be unanimous. I guarantee you. No, I know it isn't. Yitz, Doug Crosby is more important to the penguins than McDavid is to the Oilers. Yeah, Sasha Barkov's going to get some votes, I bet.

Yeah. No, I mean, you know. And the pHWA. Will anyone leave, will anyone leave Connor off their ballot? No. Who, who do you think he'll,

that's not the question. The question is, who do you think gives him like a third place vote? Because I think that's the lowest you could put him without, you know, just completely trying to galaxy your brain your, your way through a voting process there. Like,

somebody will put him, third. And it might be somebody who has Mike Smith second. Well, I was going to say, like, the perfect scenario would be he's third and dry sidles second. Yeah. In a season where you can't justify it. Oh, man.

It's going to be great. Making these ballots public is the best thing we ever did. Calder, Caprisoff, I mean, do you respect to the other candidates, but, I mean, I don't think anyone came close to what he did this. here. Yeah, I mean, like I said it a couple weeks ago. We all had that like nice week and a half where we were like, well, Jason Robertson and then Freezov was like, who?

Come on. Get out of here. I don't know her. So the Selke will be the de facto Ryan O'Reilly MVP voting where it'll go to Barkoff. Yes. Instead of like him getting MVP votes.

And then the Norris goes to who? Fox. Yeah, it has to be Fox. Oh. Yeah. Oh. Because everybody decided Headman and then even the people who were like so died in the wallet while it has to be Headman were like, well, I mean, Headman did suck down the strategy.

He was really bad. So like I think I think Hedman will get his share of first place votes. But I think that enough people will have been convinced by, you know, the fact that he neither started nor finished that well. and also Fox was really good all year on a bad team. Yeah, I don't disagree with that. I just, as far as predicting who's going to win, the two things working against Fox are number one. The Norris has never been won by somebody whose team missed the playoffs,

and that should not matter, but, you know, will it matter to enough voters maybe? And the other thing is, as we've talked about in the past, the Norris does tend to be one of those awards that has a little bit of a lifetime achievement. component to it. And I can see people go and yeah, Adam Fox absolutely had a Norris worthy season. But Victor Headman is a Hall of Famer and Adam Fox were still not sure. I want to see it from him for another year before I'm going to put him first on my ballot ahead of a Victor headman.

That's why the Kale McCarr aspect of this is fascinating. Because he's a more known commodity than Fox, I think, even though they're the same, the same progression career-wise almost. And I do wonder if Adam Fox is going to have

sort of a you know, in a season where nobody played each other and no one got to see him if they were

covering the North Division necessarily. I wonder if you can break through that and from a name recognition standpoint,

get enough support to win. Well, I think the thing with the McCarr candidacy comes down to whether voters

are like, well, I don't, I either care or don't care about missing games this year. You know what I mean? In a 56 game

season. But also because, like, COVID and all that kind of stuff, like, I wonder if that'll matter to voters. It wouldn't matter to me. I would, you know, I would have McCar probably second on my ballot, but it'll be interesting. Yeah, the Norris is fascinating. Zvezna Vasiliski in a walk, unless the GM screw it up. And then Jack Adams, where do you think the broadcasters go with this one? Brindamore?

Sounds like Brendan Moore is getting a lot of the And that's Totally reasonable I'm a little surprised There isn't more Dean Emison buzz

Just because that seems to fit The pattern of Yeah, I agree We typically look for With that award But Brindamar would be fun By the way, can we circle back To the Vesna

Like I get the headman Or Hedman Vesolevsky had like a really good year But like Mark Andre Fleury, man My only concern with that Is that the GMs Had never even nominated

Florey for the award before. Right. And that... Speaking of life and achievements though, like if there's... Yeah, oh, completely. And maybe maybe perceptions change after the shit that he went through last year, right? Or whatever. But like, I just don't trust them to put him over.

And I look at, I look at Tampa and I mean, like, Flory was great. Don't get me wrong. He's going to be a finalist. But I just feel like you could make an MVP argument for Vaselowski. And I want... Listen, I... I would be thrilled of Flory won. By the way, that motherfucker tried to score a goal in game two, and I got super excited.

Did you see that last night? Oh, it's great. I love flour. I think I would be happy if he won, but I just don't think he will. I think they'll give it to Vasleski again. Jack Adams, Brindamore will probably win. I'm completely with you, Sean. I think Evanson has been hugely underrated on what he's done to that team to change it from what they were under Boudreau to what they are now.

It's not simply just inject Carreel Caprice off and let's go. It's a lot of other sort of structural changes systematically that he did that team that were really good. Is Jared Bedner just now going to get like the Babcock Bowman treatment? Yeah. Where he's just like the team's so fucking good that no one gives a shit how good of a coach he is. Could be. Yeah, I think so. I remember when they hired him, I was like, yeah, everything kind of indicates he's good at this.

And then he had that bad season, like his first year, they were quite bad. where like he showed up halfway through the first period of game one. That's right, yeah. You're right, right, right. Well, I just walked out. Yeah, but, but yeah, I think, I think he's good, man. And, and, you know, I think, I think the real thing that you would say about Bednar is that, you know, obviously all the talent is there. But, like, they're dominant even when the, you know, last couple of years, like, how many games did all their best players miss?

He's coached that team through some significant player losses in the last few couple years. And they still look like a buzzsaw even when those guys are like out of the lineup off the, like their fourth line's incredible, you know? Yeah, yeah. I think, I think he's a really, really good coach. Me too. And hopefully now that they've won the president's trophy, he can, well, like, because Bruce Cassidy won for Boston winning the president's trophy. So maybe that shifts perspectives a little bit. You don't just have to be the PDO team.

You can also just be, like, good. I do wonder if Sullivan might steal the award, too. I think he'll get some consideration as well. Absolutely. I do look forward to Rod Brindamore winning and then immediately signing a contract to make him one of the cheapest coaches. I hope that he takes the Jack Adams and rips off his shirt

and goes and poses with it in the middle of a stream, just like he did the Stanley Cup. He probably will. All right, closing out the show this week, Greggy has a quiz. And if Gregi makes the quiz, you know it's going to be super not complicated. The quiz this week, boys, as Ryan will face Sean, is called etch or sketch. And it is a real simple playoff-oriented quiz.

You tell me whether this person has had his name etched on the Stanley Cup or if this is a sketchy player that does not have his name on the Stanley Cup. Stanley Cup or if this is a sketchy player that does not have his name on the Stanley Cup. Etch or sketch? I like it. You follow? So, hold on. If they won a cup but they didn't get their name on the cup. They have to have their name on the cup.

Okay, what if their name was inscribed but it wasn't etched? Because technically then, okay, let's do the quiz. No, but to answer your first question is legitimate. Your first question is legitimate. Their name has to be on the cup. I double-checked. I don't understand what sketch means in this scenario. It's sketchy.

I thought this was going to be like an Elon Musk situation. No, no, I just, I needed a clever name. So, but like, sketchy in what way? Like, oh, it's sketchy that you think this guy's name's on the cup. If you don't win a Stanley Cup, you're not a good player. Yeah, sketchy. Well, I didn't know if it was like players who had been arrested. And had a court sketch made of them, like a police sketch?

If you don't win a Stanley Cup, you should be arrested. Yes, totally. Exactly right. File your retirement papers, you go right to jail. Round them up on Lambert Island and just put them on the kill floor, because with all the players above the age of 25. All right. Who goes first?

I'll go first. Okay. Eddie Olcheck, etcher sketch. Eddie Olchek. Check to not with Chicago, not with Toronto, not with Winnipeg. I think he was with the 94 Rangers, so I'm going to say he's etched. That is correct. He played one game in the playoffs in 37 regular season games, but did get his name on the Cup with the 94 Rangers.

So Eddie Olchek, etch. Good job, Eddie O. Ryan Lambert. Sketch. Correct. Dallas Drake, Etch or sketch? Dallas Drake. I'm going to say etch.

That's correct. Played for 100 teams. I figured there was a... And also, most recently, 2008, Detroit Red Wings. He played 22 games for them. Well, there you go. So, Dallas Drake. Well, honestly, when I think...

Oh, he was. Yeah, I was, I'm thinking of... I always get Dallas Drake and Tim Taylor mixed up as, like, miscellaneous checking forward who probably would have shown up on the Red Wings at some point. Dallas Drake, I think of as a Red Wing. So I was in that zone. I'm sure he played half a season for them or something like that. All right.

Sean, Brian Bellows, etch or sketch. Brian Bellows was on the 93 Canadians, so he's etched. That's correct. He is definitely etched. He's not sketch. Just trade it for Russ Cortnell, I believe, which is a lot of people think Russ Cortnell won a cup on that team because he was in their starting lineup in NHL 93, but no. Sean's doing that thing that, like, they do on the chase where they answer a question

and then they show off how smart they are beyond the answer by adding a bunch of fucking detail to the answer. It's great. Lambert, Miro Chatan, etch or sketch? Sketch. He's an etch, friend. He won the cup with the 2009 Penguins. Played 17 games in the playoffs, yeah.

All right, Sean. Etch or sketch? Joe Corvo. Uh, boy. Would have to be the Hawks, I think. And my memory of him is the Burroughs giveaway. I'm going to say, you know what, you haven't done a sketch yet. I don't think you have the guts to do an all-out edge.

So I'm going to say sketch. That's correct. Look at you. Playing the questioner. I like it. Yeah. Lambert. Simone Gagne.

Etch or sketch? Hmm. Simone Gagne. Mm-hmm. I'm going to say sketch. He is an etch. Jesus. Two thousand twelve Los Angeles Kings.

Oh, that's. That's right. He did end up playing for the king. Man. That's crazy. All right. So two yeses. Oh, wait, you got three in a row. I think you got all three. Yeah, I think it's over for me. Okay, well, we'll play the last round. Sean, Marco Sturm, Etra sketch.

Oh, boy. I mean, it's been explained to me that that Joe Thornton trade was the reason the Bruins won the 2011 Cup. So I'm going to, was he still around? I all say etch. He's got to be etched. He's a sketch. He does not, his name does not appear. He was,

I think he was gone from that team by that time they won. That's so strange because that's the only reason they won. The only reason they won. Finally, Lambert,

Brendan Morrow, etch or sketch? Uh, etch. Sketch? Really? He wasn't on that Stars team? His first season with Dallas

was in two, was the 99-2000 season. So he came in the year after they won. He came in the year they lost the, Devils. And he also just missed with Tampa, I think, didn't he? Yeah. He was like, yeah. And he's one of those guys that, like, he just kept just missing. I think he showed up at Pittsburgh at one point. So, yeah. You kind of feel like he should have won one at one point, but. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. That's puck soup for this week, ladies and gentlemen, a very hockey-centric show. My God, hardly any fucking soup this week. Lots of puck. Congrats to the people that always complain about the pop culture tangents on the show. That's me. You can read my stuff at ESPN. I got a story about the Jets trying to defend Connor McDavid. My column this week is going to be about Capsir Convention. And you can watch me multiple times on Daily Wager during the week on ESPN 2.

Lots of Gregy on that show now that we're in the playoffs. Hit on the under between Vegas and Vegas. and Minnesota last night, got back on the winning track, on the best bets. Wow, that's crazy. You took the under in a Vegas Minnesota game, and that came through?

Unbelievable. I can't, I can't, listen. At the very least, it was not a super favorite. Sometimes I see some of our colleagues that dabbled in sports wagering. They're like, here's my pick for tonight. Colorado minus 500 against the blues. That one was,

it could have gone either way, but I made the right call on it. The one I was thinking about that you could do player props for like what they do in a game and there was one where caprisoff had to have more than two shots in the game you only had two last night so glad I didn't take that made the safer play uh okay yeah sign up for EP rinkside dot com uh I use the code I love EP and um oh I believe you get a sign up for an annual subscription but you get three months for free if you do it if I'm not much mistaken so uh do that sign up for the Pucksoo

Patreon, all that good stuff. Yeah, I find me at the Athletic. They've got a Leeds Habs quiz up now later in the week. I'm going to have my annual playoff pressure rankings. And we have a deal right now if you're new subscriber, you can get in for a dollar a month for six months. So that's a pretty good offer. And check me out on the Athletic Hockey Show with Ian Mendez on Thursdays.

Just so I'm clear, there's a discount on the, subscriptions for the athletic? That's right. Okay. No, I get the joke, but we didn't have one for quite a while until recently. So do not assume that there's one right around the corner because, yeah, it's not as often as you would think. Get on it now. All right, everybody, thanks for listening to Puck Soup.

Go to the Patreon, listen to our mailbag, listen to Measump Pod when we record it this week. Thanks, everybody. See it. Bye-bye. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to whatever you commute. But we also cover movies, TV shows, eats and tunes. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and Nonsense. Part 2.