Puck Soup - CanCon

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

Sean and Ryan talk about a few different Canadian teams that are on big streaks and big slides, trading goalies, not-trading Stamkos, and more. Sponsored by AG1 (drinkAg1.com/puck) and Bespoke Post (boxofawesome.com/puck20)

I'm Ryan Lambert from EP Rinkside. I'm Sean McIndoo from The Athletic. And let's start out this way. A lot of talk about ESPN and hockey broadcasts in general this week, right? And so I'm watching last night, while I'm waiting for the main event, the Leafs-Eylers game, which we'll get to in a minute. I'm watching Sends Rangers. Because, you know, I don't really like myself very much, you know. Sure.

And was it the Rangers now that I say that? The Sends were playing the avalanche. Avalanche, that's what it was. I was flipping back and forth between the two. Anyway, they're teasing the entire first intermission of that Sends-Aves game. We're going to talk about the best goal in NHL history. Okay. I'm like, oh, okay, I'm down for that.

And the reason they were doing that was that it was the whatever, like 19-7. anniversary of the Ovechkin coyote's goal where he does the little barrel roll on the ice and scores. Very cool goal. An insanely cool goal. And they show a clip of like they clearly at the media tour at the beginning of the year asked Marner and Nick Suzuki, I think it was, what's the best goal ever? And they both said the Ovechkin goal, you know.

And then they said, okay, but what about what are ours? What are me, Kevin Weeks and Steve Levy's, you know, what are we think? And I want to know, Sean, since you don't get ESPN up there, I want to know what you think they said each was, or, you know, one of the, was the best goal in the league history. Did either of them go with the Bobby Orr classic? Nope. No, okay. Both more recent than that. I don't think, you know, it's a big hint.

How recent are we? talking. One is old enough that I said that doesn't count. The league fucking barely existed at that point. All right. And one was from very recently. Okay. The old one, I mean, was it one of the, was it the Mario Lemieux splits the defense against

the North Starz and the fun? Yes, that was Kevin Weeks' pick. Honestly, that's a good pick. Yeah, sure. That is a, that's an excellent goal. But as I said, you know, it predates the invention of goaltending, so how can I count it? Yeah. Well, it was kind of the early days of goaltending.

But, yeah. I don't agree. I'm just surprised Kevin Weeks would pick a goal that memorably ends with the goaltender, not only getting scored on, but kicked right in the crotch. That's right. Look, maybe he's a big jackass fan, you know? And who isn't? Yeah.

As far as the more recent one, I don't know. I stopped watching hockey about mid-90s. That's smart. I'm assuming a Connor McDavid. Correct. Was it the one that he had against the Leafs a couple years ago where he kind of went start and stop and then went through the whole time? No, yeah. That's my personal favorite McDavid goal, but no, it was the one against the Rangers last year.

Okay. I mean, you can pick a lot of McDavid goals. All right, that's not bad. No, it isn't at all. I did hate that they didn't mention the Rick Nash goal. That's all. Okay, yeah. That I think that is the best goal in a nationals.

What's your favorite? Yeah, that one. That one? Absolutely. I'm amazed that they didn't go. That goes crazy. I'm amazed they didn't go Bobby or or like the Mark Messier empty net goal because of the guarantee.

Yeah, just because it's just because it's ESPN. If you don't know what I'm talking about. Yeah, turn on the NHL network. The game is probably on right now. But my, and I'll say my all-time favorite goal, as far as great goals go, the Doug Gilmore double spinorama in double overtime back in 93. That's good. Just because it was like Curtis Joseph was so good in that game, you're like,

oh, it's going to take a miracle to beat this guy. And Doug Gilmore was like, I got one for you. Sorry. You saying like the early 90s, it's like, you know, at least around the invention of goaltending. Now that I think about it, you're right, but it's like the invention of the bicycle, but it's the big wheel one in the front. 100%. Yeah. It's like.

A penny farthing there. Dominic Hasick was in the league, but he was like a weird backup in Chicago. That's right. You know, Broder had like played one game. Like it was getting there. But it was the right brothers, like, hey, we made it 100 feet before we crashed. Yeah, it broke all our legs. Yeah, that goalie made it three shifts without falling over.

It's pretty much the same deal. Playing the parade. Okay, yeah, so Leif Soilers, not on national TV last night. Is there anything more NHL than that? Well, and here's the thing. Not only not on, you know, when you say national TV, you mean the United States, No, I mean both national... But also, yeah, okay.

In Canada as well, it was... And in fact, when I sat down to watch it last night, I had two different local channels, or two different channels on my regular package that had the game. Yeah. One TSN, one sports net, because the two teams have different... And neither one was available. I couldn't watch.

Now, I was able to watch it because I have the center ice package, but... Right. I mean, they just, they didn't, uh, didn't occur to them that anyone might want to watch two of your five best players. Maybe even three, depending on how you feel about dry-sidal, right? Like, well, I was going, I was going like Matthews, Martin, or Nealander is the top three. Sure, of course, yeah.

Maybe McDavid is. Absolutely. Um, no, it's crazy. Um, It is, I think, a good advertisement for ESPN Plus or whatever the Canadian equivalent thereof is. But, like, you know, you shouldn't have to be paying an extra $9 a month or whatever the number works out to. Again, I don't know in Canada. I think it's $9 for if you have the full Disney package where you're getting who,

and Disney Plus as well in the U.S., I think it's $9 or something, I don't know. But you shouldn't have to pony up that kind of money to see, like you said, two of the best players maybe ever playing one another head to head. Yep. In a game where one team is absolutely on fire and the other one's kind of flatlining and, I mean, great stories.

It's like a super crucial game for both of those teams because of their playoff positions, right? Oh, the other thing I wanted to say about the ESPN Plus real quick is Sean Shapiro, who works for EP Ringsside, got a quote from one of the ESPN PR people saying it was like, there was a big controversy because people were like, oh, they're deleting games after 30 days off ESPN Plus. And people were very concerned that this was going to be like a big new policy change. that is bad for consumers or whatever. And Sean Shapiro got a quote from an ESPN PR person being like, yeah, it was a technical glitch. We recently caught it.

And all of the games for this season will be available until August 1st. Right. Which is good news, but it was a little weird because it was Tim Burke who initially reported that they were being taken down. Yeah. And he knows what he's doing. Not a, you know, he's not a guy that just makes stuff up. But I guess apparently he got it from, he contacted support.

And support said, we looked into it and we're told that this is a new policy and, you know, apologies. And then when the story started gaining traction immediately, it was like, oh, no, it was a glitch. We caught it. And it's going to be fixed. So whether that's actually the case or not, it sounds like it's a happy ending if you're. The power of complaining. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I did, I wanted to see that or get that out there just because I look like, like the number of people who were like, you know what, man, I'm going to, I'm going to go back and watch that Jets Islanders game from a three Tuesdays.

I was surprised. I was surprised at the number of people who were seemingly very bothered by this. Right. Yeah. I was out there with a backlog where it's like, look, man, I may die hard Minnesota Wild fan, but I'm a little boss. behind on the latest season. No spoilers. I'm still in November.

I haven't caught up. I'm going to binge it all starting with November. What? Wait a second. Why is it not there? But yeah, I don't know, man. It's apparently a thing. Yeah.

But yeah, the other thing, as you alluded to, the other thing coming out of this game, is the least kind of stink, man. They've been bad lately for sure. And even overall, not great, blowing a lot of leads. I think this was the third or fourth straight game that they had lead, maybe even in the third period. I believe, third, yeah. I think it's three in regulation and four total.

Yeah. And he's coming on the heels, I should say, because losing a game to the Edmonton Oilers, in Edmonton where you're up to one early in the third is not shocking. The Oilers are a wagon right now. But it's coming on the heels of Saturday night. They're up 3-0 on Colorado. They lose that game in regulation.

And then they're playing Detroit, who aren't even all that good, but have now basically caught the Leafs in the standings, and they blow another third-period lead and lose. And so now it happens again. So, I mean, hey. It's the sort of thing where if you were allowed to ever change anything in this league, they probably would. But unfortunately, you're not. You just, you draft some players.

You hire a coach, and that's it. You just stay with that forever. So, leave fans are not happy, man. Sheldon Keith's been trending on Twitter for like a week. Yeah, quick trivia question for you. Oh, good. Last 26 games. 26.

How many have the Maple Leafs won in regulation? Hmm. The last 26 games, I'm going to say they've won nine in regulation. It's eight, yeah. You were close. They're 12, 8, and 6, which is a perfectly good record. But, yeah, four of those wins coming in a shootout or overtime. It's very weird.

Like, they've become that team that just gets to overtime almost every game, except for the last few, which is maybe where the panic is coming in. But, yeah, regulation wins. The Maple Leafs are behind a lot of teams that you don't consider good teams. They are one regulation win ahead of Ottawa who had another disaster last night.

And one ahead of Minnesota. And then the only other teams they're ahead of are San Jose, Montreal, Columbus, Chicago, Anaheim. So like the big five of being not very good. Now you notice, you mentioned the Sheldon Keefe thing, and you notice the two teams that are right around them in regulation wins. They fired their coach. They did.

Right? Yeah. And yet Sheldon Keefe, he gets to just keep going out there going, I don't know what's going on. This is crazy. I mean, it's the team that they played last night literally has a new coach. and they, some teams that are ahead of them, at least in the regulation wins category, Edmonton and St. Louis fired their coaches. And yet here is, I don't know, man.

I mean, it's becoming more and more clear to me and go ahead and save this clip for when the Leafs win the Stanley Cup and you can play it back to me and tell me it aged well and all that stuff. Yeah, in 2096, let them know. Well, it'll still be the same core and the same coach by then. It's becoming very clear in hindsight that they, the right time to move on from Sheldon Keith was after the Montreal series. They should have, that should have been a firing offense for all sorts of people, including people on the roster.

I don't know. What's the old, like the best time to do it was yesterday. The second best time is right now? I don't know, man. The downside is that the chances are that if they fire Shelton Keith, they just hire Guy Boucher, who's like a just-a-guy coach. So does that make you any better? Yeah. Or do you bring in a guy like Craig Baroubaer or Dean Evesant or someone like that who's going to, let's just say, change the temperature of that dressing room, you would imagine?

That would be, I think, the only move you could make. You tried the player-friendly coach that everybody likes him. That's why he still has the job. And you bring in someone to, like, kick in the door, throw a garbage can and say, listen up fuckers. I got to be honest, man. I am more and more talking myself into Craig Barrowbe as league. Yeah, why wouldn't you be? Dean Evison, too, same idea.

But, I mean, people know my history with Barubi, right? Like, briefly my favorite player a million years ago. So the idea of him coming back to Toronto, not just as the coach, but as, you know, remind me what happened the last time a team hired Craig Burabay in the middle of the season? I mean, a guy who literally, and, you know, Dean Evanston is a similar sort of guy, but like can sit there. Like, he's literally, can sit there in front of the team going like, look at my messed up face. This was how I stayed in the league. Right. You know, and you're going to tell me that, you know, Austin Matthews gets cross-checked in the ribs and you're, you're all.

all going to just stand around and look at each other. I'm, I got to say, man. And I don't even think Sheldon Keefe's a bad coach. I think Sheldon Keefe will coach another team after the Leafs and probably have success. But I'm more and more getting on the, let's bring in Craig Burubei, partly because I think he's a good coach. I think a change would send a good message. And partly because I'm so, I'm so sick of this Leafs team that the idea of bringing in

someone who will make. them sad kind of appeals to me. Like I can't ever remember as a sports fan having a team where I liked as many of the individual players, but I just, I hate this team. I'm just so sick. I'm so sick of this group, this collective. And in a way, that makes me like the typical, like, I'm a terrible fan because it's like, I hate this team, please make changes.

And they're like, how about we change this? And I'm like, not that guy. I like him. Right. Like I go down the list and then I'm like, but you know what? If you feel like you can move Callie Yankrook, but other than that, I like everybody else above him on the roster. And it's like, you're not helping. But I don't like the coach anymore.

I've had it. Let's go. Craig Barouba. I'm in. You got to do something at this point, man. You can't. This bum Detroit Red Wings team, you're going to let these guys back into the playoff picture. That sucks.

man, I'm sorry. I had a friend. The Red Wings, just so people know, are one point behind the Leafs. The Leafs have a game in hand. The Lightning are one point back. The Leafs have two games in hand. Right. The Penguins who are currently outside of a playoff spot are two points back

with the same number of games played as are Washington. And then, you know, you've still got New Jersey lurking around, which we all assume we're going to eventually find their game, but maybe not. The Leaves could miss the playoffs, is what I'm saying. Very easily, absolutely. So to your point, I have a friend who is a big Maple Leafs fan, and he's like, can we just do a coach trade with Pittsburgh?

Because you know Kyle Dubus would love that shit if you could pull it off. And, you know, Sullivan is a coach that's well liked by his longtime players. He's like a coach who won two Stanley Cups, of course. but also, you know, he has a reputation of being a bit of a hard ass and not like a Craig Barubi, you know, he might throw Mitch Marner through a play glass window kind of a coach. You know what I mean? And I was like, my perception of the Penguins is that they have played pretty well lately. And then I looked it up. I want you to tell me what you think rank in the league, the Penguins.

record is since like the around the end of November, around U.S. Thanksgiving. Oh. By points percentage. See, I would have, I would have said somewhere around like 10th. I thought they were doing. They're tied for seventh. Okay.

Yeah. With, and so this is the tricky part for them. The team that is fifth is the Flyers. The team that they are tied with is the devils. The team immediately below them is the hurricanes. Okay. So that's why it's tough for the Penguins. But they're 12.

five and six in their last 23 games. That's a hundred and seven point pace. Dude, if trading coaches was allowed, I don't believe it is in the NHL. It is not, no. That would be a fantastic deal for the Leaves. Not for the Pittsburgh. Well, I mean, for Pittsburgh, but you're right. Like, Dubas loves Sheldon Keith, and it probably would have been like a great move.

There were points in the season where maybe you could have done it. It gets you out of contracts like, You're not stuck paying your guy. Oh, man, that's a great idea. And the thing is, if, you know, people are wondering, it is allowed in other leagues. In fact, we're into that in the NFL that it's that time of year. You can trade coaches, including coaches who aren't even working for you,

but are still under contract for draft picks and what have you. But not in the NHL. happened once in the 80s, and I don't believe, I believe was relatively quickly written out of the rulebook. Yeah. The other thing I guess we should talk about with regard to leaf soilers is everybody in Western Canada is insanely good right now? Yep. Well, everyone is either insanely good or the flames who are pretty good lately. And well, they're getting a lot of points.

Well, I guess you'll say that about the... Seven and three in their last 10 have won four straight. Not into a playoff spot yet, but close. So, yeah, to your point, going back to that same, I think it's November 25th or whatever, thereabouts, this is the top three in the league in points percentage. Edmonton, 857, 857, Winnipeg 750, Vancouver, 750, Vancouver, 717. That's 1, 2, and 3 in the league. God bless the Canucks, man.

They are... The Canucks are having one of the funniest seasons ever. It's insane. It's crazy. And I know there's Canucks fans who are like mad that, oh, we're not getting enough or just enjoy this. This is... This should be so fun to watch a team just, you know, you're like, I don't think you guys can sustain a 104 PDO. You know what?

You're right, Sean. Why don't we, why don't we try on 105? Do you think of that? Do you like that or should we go? Should we go one of the last month and a half? You want us to go 106 there, you know? Just let us just, the Canucks are just like, they're turning the PDO dial and looking back at the audience to see when they start. Yeah, it's like when a cartoon character gets caught smoking. I'm thinking, I guess, of Bobby Hill specifically and Hank make some smoke the whole pack.

Yeah. And except they're like, I love smoking. smoking this many cigarettes. Yeah. This rocks. Yeah, let's keep smoking them. Oh, God. I mean, and, you know, Winnipeg a,

oh, boy, this, it might be, it might be Canada's time in the Western Conference. What would you, what odds would you put on a Canadian team coming out of the West right now if you had to, you get, you get those three, well, four. Well, because Calgary could make the playoffs. versus Colorado, Dallas, Vegas. Coming out of the West, so just making the Cup final. 25%.

Maybe that's not like fun. Like, oh, you know, two of the teams of the eight teams in the West have a good chance of doing it. I go higher than that, but. Yeah. Less than 50, I still think. But, I mean, Edmonton alone. I know, like, Dom's model has, like, Dom's model has. them now is the Stanley Cup favorite. And it's hard to argue too much.

Well, I'll tell you what Moneypuck says. Vancouver by itself 26%. To make the final. To make the final, yeah. Edmonton up to 14. And Winnipeg 8.8. So you're right around. Okay. I'm surprised by, I mean, Winnipeg's got the tougher path. And the thing with Winnipeg is, is good. as they've been, they're one point on top of the Central with a couple of games in hand.

But if they lose their grip on number one, that means you're playing Colorado or Dallas. Right. Well, and so the thing is. And probably then the other one next. So that's a really tough path. Whereas Vancouver, Vancouver has put some distance now between the knights and the Kings. I don't know what is. Oh, for sure.

Kings. I mean, they're a disaster lately. Yeah. I mean, not to get too far into it, but their offense is just. disappeared. I did the PDO cast last week, and so I was looking at some numbers. I think in the first,

I can't remember the exact numbers now, but in the last, like, this stretch where they're losing constantly, they have more goals, or more games where they had, like, under three expected goals than they had in the entire season up until this bad run started.

Okay. So I don't know what's going on with the offense. Like I don't, I guess I haven't watched enough Kings games that closely to, and this is where my beautiful ESPN plus subscription would be working so well for me. But it's just like, yeah, they can't generate offense all of a sudden. And it's not like they have huge injuries or anything. Like Kevin Fial is the only guy who's been out and, you know, he's been out for longer than this has been a problem.

The Winnipeg Jets still, remember for a while we were like, oh, they have this crazy streak of not giving up more than three goals in a game. That streak is still going on, but they have now gone over a month, 13 games, without giving up more than two goals in a game. Yeah, I said Kevin Fiala. I meant Victor Arvinson. That's my bad. That's a problem. Kevin Fial is healthy, you know. Yeah.

Anyway, yeah. No, the Jets, this streak is crazy. And if you go back to like not even just two goals, but like two goals in regulation, I can look this up very quickly. But it's obviously even longer than that. Like it's a, it's an unbelievable. Oh yeah, that's right. Because the third goal, they lost to the Canadians three, two in overtime. Since the start of December.

But you would have to go back to the oil. It's 21 games. That oilers wagon lit them up in a. 3-1 blowout and since then. Yeah. Yeah. Good Lord. And again, it's, it's, obviously you get a streak like this.

There is some luck. There's, you know, it's a hot street. It's not sustainable. Long, long, long term. But you've got Connor Helleba. This isn't, you know, Sergey Bobrovsky getting hot right in the right time. This is the best goalie in the league.

Yeah. Doing best goalie in the league things or best top three or whatever you want to. Yeah. You know, people I think remember he was bad like in October and early November, right? Well, they gave up four or five goals each of their first four games and then a couple more times after that in their first 10. But then after that, they were like this, we don't like this. First 11 games, 892. Yep.

Since then, let's see here, 941. This guy's pretty good, my opinion. Now, I had to fill out, like, our, you know, mid-season awards thing. And I didn't put Hella Buck, like, super high. I think I did have, he did show up on my heart ballot. I didn't have him super high up there, but if it keeps going like this, man, I don't know how you leave him out of your top two or three, at least. It's crazy how good he's.

I mean, a guy plays this good on a team that you, by you, I mean, the vote. voters, who are the hockey writers, that you didn't think was going to even make the playoffs. If they finish first in the West, God, if they win the President's trophy? It could happen. It could happen. It's fun, man. That could be, it's like the Western playoffs are just going to be like a Smythe Division reunion. Let's go.

Get an Edmonton, Calgary series in there. Vancouver hasn't played Edmonton since, like, 92, I don't think. That's cool. Winner plays the Jets in the conference final. Winner of that goes on to face the Leafs in the draft lottery. I don't know. All right. Why don't we take a break and then we'll be right back to talk about some goaltending situations.

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Right now, you can get a free mystery gift with your first monthly shipment when you sign up at boxof-awesome.com and enter the code puck-20 at checkout. That's boxof-awson.com code puck-20 for a free mystery gift with your first monthly shipment. That's box of awesome.com code puck 20. All right, we're back. And let's talk about Elvis Mersleekins demanding a trade. this guy wants out of Columbus. Did he demand a trade or did he kind of say he wanted out but not?

Because I feel like he denied demanding a trade. And then he said later that he wanted a trade. Oh, he did. He said it like, yeah, like after they, who did they beat? He gave that like pro wrestling promo afterwards where he was talking about being mad and what did he say I'm going to pull the monster out or something like that? Yeah. And you know what? When he said that, you, you, you, you.

would not believe the game, the statistical game he had where, where he said that. That's right. 27 of 30 he stopped. Here's the monster. 900. Dead even. Okay, man. But yeah, I think, oh, wait. No, he said, okay, Merslikins clarifies comments says he requested trade from Blue Jackets. Okay. After my last interview, everyone knows I requested a trade. Everyone was still here playing for me and blocking shots for me. This was awesome. I really appreciate my teammates.

It wasn't an easy game for me, and they made me feel easier. So it says here, here being Portsy's latest piece on the athletic, after Monday's game, Rizliken said that he did request a trade and that he appreciated how his teammates responded, blah, blah, blah. His agent, Jerry Johansson, said Merzleacon called him shortly after that interview and told him he misspoke to the assembled media. Okay, see, I didn't see this. So this is like the second or third, like, oh, he demanded a trade. Well, no, he actually didn't. Well, he did.

And he said he did. And then he said, no, I didn't. Okay. So in any event, this feels like semantics. This feels like he clearly wants out. The blue jackets, I guess, are, and this again, according to Erin Porcelain, have, were, this is Aaron's words, fed up after Merzleacons pulled himself out of a December 29th game against Toronto after the first period due to illness. And they said it's the third time in two years that he has, that he has done that. Wow.

So. I guess you don't see that very often. Yeah. The Blue Jackets feel like they're ready to move on. Sure. Merzleekins clearly wants to move on. The only problem here is that he is signed to a significant contract, and his numbers are not good.

So it's great that everybody wants to trade, but the problem is you also need one of the other 31 teams in the league to want to trade. Right. That's going to be your issue. So the thing is he's actually been pretty good this year. Better than you would think is how I think I keep raising it. He's been above average in terms of save percentage, which on a team like that, that's really all you can ask for. I think the league average is something like 902, 904, and he's 906 for the year.

That's as good as it's going to get for a guy like Elvis Mers-Leekins, I think, you know, in any significant number of games. Going into this season, his career save percentage was. was 906. So he's basically right where he always is. And as you say, the problem is career 906, he's signed for, I believe, another three years at 5.4 million. Three full years after this. Yeah, that right.

Sure. Yes. You know, he's actually pretty good. And then, you know, you get him out of Columbus. It's not the first time. And it's like, no, he actually isn't good. Yeah. He kind of sucks.

The Seth Jones situation. I'm talking specifically about goaltenders, but sure, yeah. Yeah. Even, and, you know, like. Senators can probably tell you a thing or two about that. That's what I was going to say. You don't have to look too far north of Columbus to find a great example of don't give this guy a lot of money in years. as you say

Is he more reliable than a lot of the other names that have been put out there of late in terms of like, you know, the goalie market, X, Y, and Z, they need help, and these are the, you know, career 1B guys that are going to be available and what should they give up for him. Maybe you say Elvis Mursleekins is in that class. I might go so far as to say he's a step below. that class, but I just don't see how anybody's going to make this work in season. Maybe in the summer, it's a different story. But in season, why would you take such a huge financial risk for three years and give up whatever Columbus is?

Because if Columbus is asking for, you know, just give us a seventh round pick or something, that's one thing. But then you're like, okay, and you get to eat 25% of his salary. Yeah, that's going to be it, right? is anytime we get into, well, you know, the cap hit and everything, okay, how much salary will they eat? Right. Because if they, and I'm not saying they would do this,

but if they say we're looking to move and we'll eat 50%. So now it's a 2.7 cap hit? I can live with that. You roll the dice on that. Yeah, for sure. Even if the guys playing 35 games a year for you as an above average backup, that's not an unreasonable number. he has said he wants to be a starter.

Well, I want a lot of things. Sure, of course. But you also don't want him coming in and you're like, and of course, here's the guy who is going to be starting in front of you and he's already, well, you know, put, let's say, based on this, doesn't have the reputation of a guy who takes things well and will maybe pull himself out of a game or three if he's not feeling up to it. The other thing about this is Elvis Merleekins, 10 team no trade list. So even if your team wants him and has the assets to get him out of Columbus with salary retained or whatever, you know, they're taking a bad contract back, something like that, he still has to say yes.

It's crazy. I relatedly, I had a piece today where I just kind of made mention in a throwaway. line that like hey we all assume you're a mokakal line and it's getting fired in the off season. You got to assume. And I had a few people go like, whoa, where did that come from? Like are you, you know, are you getting a scoop here or you got something? I was just like, no, I just. Look at the standings, brother.

Well, look at the standings and the fact that remember the owner after the Babcock thing basically gave the press conference where he was like, yeah, I would make even more changes if I could, but I feel like now's not the time. These guys love stability, huh? Oh, stability. So, yeah, I'm like, yeah, like we're all assuming that. And, you know, I bring that up because obviously Kecklelin is the one who signed him to that deal. Signed him in 2021.

So a year early. Right. You know, what could go wrong? Yeah. It's... We had one year at four million left, and the blue jackets were like, no, we got to lock this guy up. Long term. So let me ask you this.

Who would you rather have him or Jacob Markstrom, who has signed? for two years after this one at $6 million per. And he's having a great year. He's having a Vesna caliber year the way things are going right now. And I think a lot of people might be surprised to hear that, but you can check the stats. It's crazy how good he's been on a team that stinks. And so I think it was Kevin Weeks started the rumor by basically just like

tweeting out a picture of Jacob Markstrom. Okay. And Markstrom has a no-move clause. Right. That's the, that's the trickier part than even Merzleekins. And I believe it was Elliot said, like, they wouldn't even go to Markstrom without being really sure that it was a team he wanted to go to, and that team was coughing something up big time. Yeah. Yeah. And this is where I mean, I have no real, no, I have, I'm going to take the qualifier off. I have no insight into what goes on in an NHL front office or the dynamic of player management.

But this just makes me roll my eyes so much. Like, yeah, dude, you have a no movement clause. Okay, we're still allowed to talk to other teams. and we're still allowed to approach you and say like, hey, this is, this team is showing serious interest? Is this, is it even worth us going down this road? Is this something you would give some thought to? And you're allowed to say, no, that's what the clause in your contract means. But, like, it's not this idea that, like, you've got to tiptoe around this thing and that to even broach the subject is this horrible thing to the fact, to the point that, again, it got raised on, I want to say it was Hockey Nighton Canada on Saturday.

You know, somebody was, it was Ron McLean and Kelly Rudy, I believe, were saying, like, if you have a no move clause, teams shouldn't even be able to approach you. Like, that's it. It should just mean you are not getting traded, period. They're not even allowed to talk about you with other teams.

And it's just like, no, man, like you have. Yeah, I was going to say, this is, this is cut to, smash cut to Kelly Rudy has Sean in his crosshairs. Like, Sean's crossing the street. Yeah. And you're just, you know, POV sniper scope.

Yep. He's going to be compromised to a permanent end by Kelly Rudy. Maybe. But like, like, first of all, if I'm a player and I haven't, like, imagine you played for, like, the blue jackets. No, thanks. No move clause, right? And you're just like, and they're like, sorry, man, we lit, we legally cannot even trade you. I mean, that'd be, it would be, no, like, there is nothing.

First of all, the Markstrom rumors are out there. So I'm sure he's aware of it. but I don't know. To me, there should be nothing wrong with a team. You know, yeah, go ahead. Talk to other teams about them and then approach him. Obviously, try not to do it publicly. But approach him and say, hey, we think it might make sense to make a move.

These three teams have approached us. You have a no move clause. You hold the power here, but is this something you're open to? And, you know, people treat it. I guess the thing is people treat teams. They treat it as like approaching your significant other and being like, what if we did break up? You know, I'm not saying we should,

but what if we did? What if I did start dating so-and-so instead? And then, you know, obviously they're going to be like, what the hell, man? But I don't view it that way for players. No, like is that? No, of course not. Thank you for making you feel like I'm not crazy.

it's just the thing of they have to come and ask you if you want to go get traded somewhere and I think the Calgary approach of like we're not going to go to him with like if you you know if you if you're the devils and you're like we'll give you a third round pick for Jacob Markstrom yeah I'm not even no I'm not I'm not going to Markstrom with that but if it's a quote unquote serious offer and you think it's a team that he would want to play for you know like you're not going to to be like, how would you feel about playing? But also, like, pick a bad team.

I'm not going to. I'm not going to. The sharks this year. No, thanks. Fuck off, right? I'm not going to, I'm also not going to go to him only after I have a completely fully negotiated deal. Because as these guys love to tell us, these trades are so complicated.

They take months and months of work to figure out. For sure. And then go to him and have him be like, no, I'm not going to New Jersey. Get the hell out of here. Like, I could have told you that two months ago. saved you a lot of trouble. But I don't know. I don't get the psychological management that apparently goes into this.

And I'm sure there is a lot. And this is probably one of those things that is one of the many things that is so much easier to do from your couch. But yeah, absolutely. Shop them around. And as far as your question, who would I rather have Jacob Markstrom 100 times out of 100? Yeah. Yeah, even with the, I would say, variance in quality and the age being. The age, yeah.

I mean, he's got two years. You get him this year. He's, like you say, having a borderline Vesina quality. He's been awesome this year, yeah. And you get him for two more years after this, which is probably about right when you're trading for somebody. Like, you don't want necessarily someone who's just a rental, but you also want to be able to. Yeah. Like, you know, if he plays next year and he's not as good, then.

You got one more year to figure out which one's the real guy or buy them out or, you know, that's... I think if they choose to me, man, I have made this point in a few places. The flames to me are the most fascinating team heading towards the deadline. Not just Markstrom, but all of the UFAs. Depending UFAs, yeah, of course. We've talked about it before, with Craig Conroy, calling a shot. I will not let another Johnny Godreau situation happen. All right, man.

Easy to say that in May. What about now? Because we just said, the flames, they've been playing good. They're back in the playoff mix. They are? If they are three points in the playoffs at the deadline, what do you do if you're Craig Con? Oh, they're not selling.

No, absolutely not. But then do you go and re-sign these guys? Do you give a license $9 million? Do you lock in this core and then? I hate to relitigate this because I feel like we've said it on three or four episodes over the course of this season so far. But, like, you cannot look at this team and go, look, if we just get a Vesnaquality season from Jacob Markstrom, we're going to really commit to a team that's about to

finish seventh in the West and fourth or fifth in their division. And that would be crazy to me. But the history in Calgary, across multiple generations, managers is that that's exactly what they'd fucking do. So who knows? But I, you know, if I fully have control of it, that I'm making the decision of like, no, we're selling high on every, well, you know, as high as you reasonably can on every single one of these fucking guys. It's time for like an actual.

Sell high because you look at these trade boards that all these sites are putting out, including the athletic, it's all flames at the top. Yeah. You could own the market right now. Mm-hmm. Sure. No, they have they have a guy that's worth trading for at every position. An extraordinarily rare opportunity for a really forward-thinking GM to... I just don't know if the ownership lets him do it. That's all. Good point. Yep. That's all. Let's quickly go through all the other All-Star has got named this week. I'll read them very quickly.

Willie Nealander, Kale McCarer, Leas Pedersen, Leon Dreisuttle, Mitch Marne, J.T. Miller, Morgan, Riley, Brock Bessar, Thatcher, Demko, Sergey Bobrovsky, Alexander Georgiev and Jeremy Swamen. Anybody stand out that you want to talk about real quick? I mean, lots of Leifs, lots of Canucks. The Leafs, not surprisingly, because they are the host team and, you know, tends to be much more interest there. Plus, it's a big market.

Vancouver may be a little bit surprising that they got that many guys in, but why not? Yeah, I guess it's interesting to some extent that Swamen gets in over Allmark. Well, Almark is temporarily hurt, but I think it's kind of inarguable that Swamen's had a better season. It's just one guy's the reigning Vez in a winner. Oh, I understand. Yeah. No, I mean, I feel like maybe and God help me for if this is viewed as in any way disparaging to the patrons.

of 200-foot hockey. But I feel like maybe we all, in hindsight, overreacted to Patrice Bergeron, leaving a team that had a Vezina winner as its second-best goalie. Sure. And we were all, like, immediately, like, Boston's missing the playoffs.

Well, Whoops. So the thing about that is this, is the Bruins, if you go full season, expected goals at five-on-five. What do you think their number is? I do not know. 49.9.

Really? Yep. And you wouldn't know it from their record. You wouldn't know it from the way they get talked about. But this is a team that, you know, they're not the Canucks in terms of PDO or anything like that. But 932 save percentage at five on five. I feel like maybe, you know, you could make a very strong argument that number is sustainable. They have a lot of, not a lot, but they have a number of really good defensemen.

Yep. And two very good goaltenders. And, yeah, and a bunch of forwards who are not Patrice Bergeron, but very good defensively, right? Yep. And they have some higher end offensive firepower. But I think, I think it's pretty obvious that when, you know, the name brand forwards for Boston are off, the ICE, these guys are having a little bit of trouble. Yep. That's all.

But, yeah. that's just a brief tangent on the Bruins are worse than a lot of people think this season. Okay. That's all. Fair enough. Yeah, the only other name that really stands out, well, okay, Morgan Riley, like I get why he's there, but come on now. And Georgiev, I'm sure this is still the case, but at the time they voted him in, he was a sub-900 goalie, which is just very funny. Okay.

Even the fans are just like, well, wins, though. Yeah, 896 right now. Yeah, he's got the wins. Oh, right. Yeah, Annen played last night. And he's playing a ton to the point where that was interesting, right, that the avalanche gave him the full day off. Yeah. Not a backup.

Like didn't, which it's surprising teams maybe don't do. Obviously, most teams don't carry three goalies, but a lot of teams, you know, if you have the HL team nearby or anything like that, Like just don't make the guy suit up and sit on the bench. Like give him the full day. Last night was Annen's first game of the season. So I don't think they're in the business, generally speaking of carrying three goalies. Annen has not played a minute before last night.

So, yeah, they're an interesting team too. They're right up there with the penguins and all those teams in the, you know, since Thanksgiving win percentage or points percentage thing. But again, the way they get talked about is kind of like, what's wrong with the abs? And it's like, I'm not really anything. Goaltending, I guess, is the answer. The answer is they have a team 896, say, percentage. So, you know, if you want to say that's what's wrong with the abs, how could you disagree?

But McCarra is on pace for like well over 100 points this season. No, well over, like 105 points or something like that this year. McKinnon is probably your heart pick if you're picking right now. Rantanin's having another great year. Well, I guess the one bit of Avs news, I didn't have this on the rundown now that I think about it, is that it seems like Valerian Nautruchkin's going to be out a while. He is back in the player assistance program. Right.

It's a bummer. But doesn't feel completely unexpected, given. the events of last spring. Yeah. I don't know that we know for sure that they're related, but we wish him the best. Yeah, for sure. Anyway, yeah, I don't have too much to say about all that.

That's, it's a tough situation. Anyway, now that I've brought the room down, the skills participants, they've named, I believe, eight so far or ten, and there are going to be two more voted in by the players. By the players or the fans? Yes, sorry, by the fans. I saw the word players on my outline.

So here we are. David Pasternak, Nathan McKinnon, Cale McCar, Leon Dreisidal, Connor McDavid, Jack Hughes, Nikita Kuturov, Austin Matthews, Willie Nealander, Elias Pedersen. Now, Jack Hughes is not going to be participating. So I don't know, I guess, in theory, the league will name a different guy who's not Jack Hughes and the fans will continue their votes.

Yeah. Probably the other way around. Like the fans will name two and then the league will. Sure. Okay. You know, once Hughes. So honestly, this is a good mix. I agree.

This is pretty much, when you factor in the Toronto bias, which again, they're the host team. This is pretty much the elite of the All-Stars. I kind of wondered if it would be that, if it would be the sort of thing where, like, you know, you'd have guys going like, nah, I don't really want to do it. And then it would be all the B and C tiers. But other than, you know, Crosby is the name that kind of stands out as being missing. Yeah. And even him, it's like, I don't know, because the way the format is it's kind of like the decathlon or whatever this year where like is crosbie going to be like oh i can't wait to do fastest skater now it should be said i'm sure crosbie doesn't want to do it but yeah well i think it should be said too

that um you know this this is for a million dollars so i think that is going to get the stars out of the woodworks you know um where they're they're just like yeah all you're going to do is win this and we'll cut you a check for one million dollars like even if even if you're McDavid. That's a pretty good bonus tacked on to the end of your, you know, biggest in the league salary or whatever, you know? So I don't, I'm not like, whoa, I can't believe they got this many

elite level players. They're putting seven figures on the line. So I... Although I got to say, man, you know who the big winner in that is is going to be whatever downtown Toronto establishment players choose to go to afterwards?

Because that guy's picking up the pick it up the bill going to tg i friday is there anyone in particular you're real other than crosbie that you would really hope to see really hope to see i don't know like there there are there are fun options for sure like you know like sasha barkov what you know matthew could chuck like well i guess he's not even playing right um but yeah i don't i don't know that i'm like, damn, I got to see Sebastian Aho in this. Like, it's such a good group already

that I'm not, that I'm not like losing my mind. They've got all the big names. That's what I mean, yeah. Other than Crosby, like, you know, you could make Jack Eichol or someone like that. Quinn Hughes instead of Jack. Quinn Hughes, taking Jack Hughes spot, I think, would be very cool. I would mind seeing Hughes and McCar in there.

Macar's already in. Oh, you're right. He's already in. So, yeah, put Quinn Hughes in. Quinn Hughes is the one guy I want to see. And obviously, Vancouver fans have been doing a good job of stuff in the ballot box already. So I wouldn't be surprised if he gets in. And I would also, in a similar vein, assume that Mitch Marner has a very good chance of being one of the players voted in.

Of course. So, you know what? I hope Marner and Quinn Hughes get voted in. And then the league goes to Crosby and says, like, would you take the Hughes, the Jack Hughes spot? And if he says no, then you probably respect that. Who's the Wilds All-Star? Is it Caprizo? Caprizo, I believe.

That'd be good. Take that. Yep. Yeah, I just couldn't remember if he was like the guy that they named. Although who else are you going to name from that team this year, right? So, yeah, I think that's a really cool, fun mix. I'm all in favor of it. That's for sure.

I'm kind of looking forward to it. Yeah. It would be, that could be good. Yeah, no. You know, if you're going to watch any skills competition, the one where the guys are actually going to be trying really hard, I think. Well, I mean, they'll be trying, just the nature of it. Like, they'll be closer to full effort than the game itself. No, that's what I mean.

Like, that'll be, you know, if you win the, if you win the All-Star games, you get, you know, your slice of a million dollars. If you win the skills competition, they're, they're handing you the fucking big Ed McMahon check. Yep. You know, like that's, that's what it's all about, man. These guys get competitive over like, you know, money on the board on like in like a February game where a guy's playing his old team, you know. They get up for that. A couple thousand bucks. They would try a lot harder if it was in Florida or Vegas or like a non-tax place.

I mean, that's the big thing. I wonder if that would like how that would work tax wise because there, you know, there are those cities that have the jock tax or. whatever. Because as people may know, the tax rate in Canada is 105%. That's how it should be. Damn, Trudeau. Damn you, Trudeau. This is the problem.

The All-Star game has gone woke, I'm afraid. And we're going to be looking into this very strongly. Why don't we take another break? We'll be back to talk about, I don't know, a couple more bits of news, I guess. This week's show is brought to you by AG1, taking care of your health. is not always easy, but it should at least be simple. And that's why AG1 is a great solution for your health needs. You can take it every day. One scoop, mixed in water, once a day, every day, and gives you that extra little bit of energy, that feeling that you've done something good for

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slash puck. That's drinkag1.com slash puck. Check it out. All right. A couple more items here. Sean, do you want to start by talking about Stephen Stamcoast, not being traded? Julian Breezebaugh came out and said that very pointedly this week. Or do you want to talk about Chicago? Go ahead. Yeah. Speaking of guys not being traded, it's sort of the two, the two ends. The Stamcoast one is interesting because if people haven't followed the story, He's in the last year of his contract. The lightning have been very clear that they are not interested in talking extension with him until after the season.

Right. And he hasn't been super thrilled about that. Correct. So there's a bit of drama here. Like in here's the face of the franchise, the captain, quite possibly the greatest player in team history. I think that's fair to set. And but the team is saying like we're not, they're not. saying you're gone after the year, but they're saying, you know, no extension talk, and he's

not thrilled about that. And that has kind of naturally led to some speculation about whether he could be traded, especially if they are on track to miss the playoffs, which they're not there yet, but depending on how the next month goes. But yeah, Julian Breezeball kind of shuts it down. Here's the quote. I know as we get closer to the deadline, a popular and interesting topic is who's going to get traded and who won't get traded. Stephen Stamco's isn't getting traded. We can put that one to bed. If anyone was speculating on that,

that's not going to change between now and the deadline under any circumstances. I said it all along after this season, we're going to sit down and we're going to evaluate where we are as a team, where Stephen is. We will see how we can make all the parts work. That's the quote. Okay. That's it.

That's the quote. So, I mean, that is, I, to me that's that's pretty decisive it's pretty clear it shuts down speculation it probably makes sense for the team i i mean yeah you could you get a first round pick for him as a rental etc etc yes but i do think there is something to be said for saying like we're going to if if this is it let him go out on his own terms go down with the ship absolutely my question would be And again, this almost certainly involves the lightning losing a few games and dropping back of the race. What happens if Stephen Stamcoe says, goes to Julian Breezebond says,

I'm open to a move. Either because he wants another cup or he wants to go increases UFA value somewhere or maybe he out of some combination of that and a sense of loyalty to the team of saying, like, go ahead and get something for me. But it sounds like if that happened, it would be behind the scenes. thing and this is it's it's probably i'm not a big fan as people know of gms kind of immediately shutting ideas down but um you know what in this case it makes sense yeah and as you said they're they're still around the uh the the the playoff picture i guess you'd

say they're there they're certainly within a few points of it and um the issue for them is they don't really have anybody else worth trading. Like, yeah, you could trade Tyler Mott or Austin Watson or Phil Myers or Calvin Dahan. But like, what are you getting for those guys? Like a fourth round pick or something? You know, those are the only other pending UFAs on the team. So if it's not Stamco's, it's probably not going to be anyone that, moves the needle one way or the other.

Like, they're not trading, I don't know, Connor Sherry, right? Like, he's signed for three more years with a full no trade. Good Lord. Well, that's it. Like, they're, like, the other thing, though, with the lightning is,

even if they're four points back of the playoffs, let's say, like, if the islanders are four points back, well, maybe the islanders aren't a great example because they've got Sorokin. But, you know, if the capitals are four points back, of the playoffs. You know what, man?

So what? You make the playoffs, finish eight. You get swept in the first round. I know we said all this stuff about the Panthers too last year. So, you know, maybe that's the counter argument right there. But the lightning have got the guys that nobody wants to play them in the first round. And Andre Vasselowski hasn't been good this year, but it takes one good week and we'll all be like, oh, here we go. He's back.

So, you know, I don't, I'm generally of the mind that mindset that GM should be more aggressive, looking for, you know, looking for things to do. But I could see, I think it makes sense for the lighting to be like, you know what, we've got two championships, three conference wins. We're going to let the, we're going to keep this group together as long as we can and until we have no choice and go down with the ship, like you said. I don't mind that. Yeah, to me, like, I'm usually the first guy to be like, well, they should, they should have traded Stamcoast two months ago. You know what I mean? Like, why even bother?

But, like, the way their roster is set up, it's a very different situation, right? They're just so locked in with this group. And I'm not even saying, like, historically, we all understand about X, Y, and C. I'm saying, like, this group is good. It's not as good as it used. to be because of the way the cap works and, you know, COVID and all that and flattened the cap that like maybe they could have kept the band together a little longer. But like, I don't know, man.

To me, it's just like most of the guys on that are like that have been driving this team for, for years aren't fucking going anywhere. They have four, five red arrows on cap friendly. Red arrow index is high. And two more guys who are within a year or two of being a red arrow. Kuturov signed till 2027. Vasilevsky signed till 2028. And these guys are red arrow guys are not even the guys you would think.

Point Cerelli. Not headman. Nick Paul, Brandon Hagel, Eric Chernak. Which like honestly, age-wise, those are the guys I guess you would want to have your red arrows, right? The point, I guess, is a little on the older side for that. And I guess so is Nick Paul. They were about the same age. But like, you know, 25, 26, if you have a guy who's signed for seven or eight years, you know, at that point, like, that's not ideal, but that's deal withable.

You certainly don't want it for a guy who's 30, right? And they don't. They don't have anybody like that. Although, you know, Victor Hedman, this is a guy whose, his UFA is not this coming summer, but the next one. that'll be an interesting one because, you know, kind of starting to lose his fastball a little bit, I think it's fair to say. And, you know, future first ballot Hall of Famer,

he's making under eight and he's going to be 34, 35, when this contract expires. That'll be interesting to see what they do with him. Yep. But with all that having been said, that's why you keep Stamco's because, you know, the difference between having Stamcoast, not having Stamcoast, vibe-wise, is, I think, more important than whatever return you would get for, you know, how. Yeah, you trade him.

Like, he could get a good return, but, like, it's not going to be a great one. He's 33. He makes $8.5 million against the cap. Like, there would have to be some serious gymnastics to make that happen. And also, he has a full no-move clause. Right. Right. So, like, you can't even probably.

So he's not going anywhere unless he wants to. That's right. Yeah. And also keep in mind, part of the dynamic, part of the awkwardness of the situation is 2016, he got to go out, explore the market, and he came back to Tampa on what at the time people viewed as a below market deal, certainly compared to what the Leafs or Habs or wherever else who would have offered him. So he showed his loyalty. He took less. I don't know, man. That's going to be an interesting one to watch. it is for sure. All right. The other bit of news here. Chicago has re-signed Nick Folino and Jason Dickinson in the last few days here.

Do you have any thoughts on, I guess, giving not a ton of money or anything and certainly not a lot of term to two guys where it's like, oh, you're logging in those guys for the rest of Bedard's ELC. I guess here's what I'd say with Jason Dickinson, like, hey, he had the career year in the contract year. How old is he? He is 28, 29. He'll be 29 in July. You got to have some players, man. And this team doesn't have players. Sure.

So I don't have an issue with that. I mean, yeah, you could have moved him at the deadline, but I don't feel like there would have been an insane market. for this guy, you didn't turn around to give him six years and just go, oh, yeah, this is who he's going to be. Two years is about, you know, like I said, with Markstrom, right? Like if two years, I want my good player signed for two more years perpetually and then I'm pretty happy. So I wasn't surprised at that.

I don't have an issue with that. I was a little bit surprised at Nick Felino. Yeah, that is the more eye-opening one, I guess you would say. If only because it just felt like when they brought him in. that part of his job was to get traded at the deadline. Yeah. He is the sort of guy, and I say this from experience, he is the sort of guy that teams that think they're contenders

overpaid to get at the deadline, let's just say. Absolutely. So I think when they made that move, him and Corey Perry, right? You went, oh, yeah, the 2024 deadline, that's who the Hawks will be trading for second round picks. And, you know, in the meantime, they come in and show some leadership and teach some of the young guys how to play. And I guess they decided they wanted to lock them in instead. Again, you need players.

The Hawks do have lots of picks and lots of prospects. Whether it's enough is a question mark. But they do have lots of those guys. So at some point, you need players. I'm a little surprised they made that choice. but I'm a lot surprised that they made that choice, but I can see some logic to it. I think the thing that I'm surprised by,

and look, I don't know if you heard, but the cap is going up, but they gave Nick Folino a raise on his AAB at age 36. Like, that's what I was just like, okay, yeah, sure, if you can bring them back for like a million or two a year, Sure. Yeah, there's a good leadershipy guy. They're going to have $4.5 million.

And I guess, and part of this, I alluded to this, but as a Leaf fan, I felt like this guy was cooked in 2021. So maybe he's been much better since then. Like, yeah, it's like I'm sort of still carrying that grudge, I guess maybe is the way to put it. So maybe I'm not giving him enough credit. And again, like, it's, some of this is what's the internal dynamic, right? If you're Kyle Davidson, you maybe you sit down, you talk to some players, you talk to certainly Luke Richardson, and they go, we love this guy. Yeah, for sure.

This guy does everything right. He is the absolute goal standard of being a pro. And then you're sitting there going, all right, well, do I want that or do I want a second round pick who has a 20% chance of helping me in three years? You know what, I'm going to keep this guy around. And they've got the cap room for now, at least. Well, so that's the, that is the thing, right? Is if you look, I'm on their cap-friendly page right now.

They have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, fifteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, pending free agents. Yeah. They have nobody signed. A lot of those guys are RFAs, as you might imagine, because they're a young team. And so like a lot of those guys will get new contracts. But it's not like they're going to be up against the cap anytime soon, but or at least for next year. But my thing is, it's the second year for me that I'm just like, isn't like the last year of Bedard's ELC before he signs a $15 million a year deal? Like isn't that supposed to be when you're kind of at least around the playoffs?

Isn't that when you should be spending a bit of money on guys who are good? Well, like, what do you think that negotiation look like? Do you think they went to the Nick Felino camp and said, well, we'd like to extend you to next year and we're told like, no, it's got to be multiple years? Would he have had that leverage? Or was that a choice of? I guess I could see that going either way. You know, for me, if they're like, yeah, we actually need two years. I'm like, but you're Nick Falino, right?

Am I in the wrong room? Because I came in here for the Nick Falino, the 36-year-old negotiation. Yeah. Jason Dickinson, two years. Look, he's 28. He's a good player having a good year. Nick Falino, like, he kind of bucked a trend last year with Boston

where it was like, hey, he's actually pretty good. To me, I'm just like, I don't know what all. what all these words necessarily mean all the time when people are talking about like fallacies and opportunity cost and all that. But I feel like the word opportunity cost has to be flying around here somewhere, right? This extra two and a half million dollars you're giving to Nick Falino. Couldn't that be spent somewhere better, couldn't it? Is that what opportunity cost means? I don't really know. I'm not like one of these business guys, you know? That's because you don't rise and grind.

I certainly don't. I woke up at like 9.30 today. Next year, maybe not, but two years from now, sure. This is the sort of, if it was still allowed in the NHL and it's not, this would have been the great case to do the one year plus an option sort of deal. Yeah. But you can't. So he got us too. Hey, you know what? Nick Filino, man, older guy, been a warrior for a long time.

Good job by him. Maybe that's the way to frame it. Yeah. Look, I never begrudge the player for getting the money. I just begrudge the team for being like, I will happily give you this one. I will never begrudge players on another team from getting the money. Sure, yeah.

All right, that's about it for us this week. Why don't you hit them with some plug, Sean? You'll find me at the athletic. I have my annual tank index up today, and later this week I am bringing back the second edition of the contrarian where you guys are going to give me statements that should be impossible to argue again. I think the best one I got this time around was that Ray Bork winning the Stanley Cup with the 2001 Avalanche was a good story.

So you can watch me make the contrarian argument against that. And also check out, if you didn't see it, I tweeted it out the podcast that I did with Will Arnett, where we got to hang out and talk about the old school Leafs and how much we hate Harold Ballard and how much we love Wendell Clark and all of that. You can find it on my Twitter. It was, it's the name of the podcast is owned. It's hosted by Rex Chapman, the NBA guy. And, yeah, Will Arnett, in addition to being Batman, is a diehard, Aleph fan. And he's a real one.

He's not, he knows his stuff. But it was a very fun conversation. And you can go listen to that. Very cool. for me, go to E.P.Rinkside.com. You sign up for an annual subscription. You use the code, I love EP. They'll give you 15 months for the price of 12.

That's a bargain at any price, I would say. And, you know, we got all kinds of stuff over there. Obviously, a lot of World Junior stuff is going on. But we're also getting into, you know, really honing in on the draft stuff. Now the World Juniors is over. So head on over there, find out about all your team's prospects and who they're going to draft and all that kind of stuff. And then also go to the Puck Soup Patreon, Patreon. Patreon.com slash Puck Soup.

And you'll get all kinds of bonus episodes, hockey, other stuff, me, Sean McIndoo, Sean Gentilly, Greg Blandski. Do I want to still do that bit? I guess I don't. Hey, speaking of which, can we give a special show to? out to our friend Gorg? Yeah, he had a little baby daughter over the weekend. Gorg Jr., I believe, was the name. And a beautiful name it is.

Yeah. Well, I don't want to be in the business of giving out my friend's baby's names. Yeah. So, yeah, big shout out to Greg. Big shout out to the baby. The baby is allowed to be on the podcast, by the way. Okay. Unlike Greg.

It's not a, like, family thing. We could have the baby on it any time. That baby has never experienced a Toronto Maple Leafs win. Long may it continue, I say. Thanks so much, folks. Have a good week, and we'll talk to you later. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.