Puck Soup - Changes in Coaches, Changes in Approaches

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

Sean and Ryan talk about the two coaching changes, who else in on the hot seat, the Rangers, the Sharks, and more.

I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospect. I am Sean McIndo from The Athletic. And we didn't have a regular show last week. You just did the mailbag on the Patreon. And in that time, I don't know the timing on when you did the mailbag, but I'm assuming we had two coaching changes since that mailbag came out. We did. Yeah, because it was Wednesday morning that we had the Jim Montgomery change number one.

Mm-hmm. Now, I feel like when I did the mail, but oh, wait a second, no, it may have been right around that time. I feel like it was Tuesday afternoon. Yeah, you know why? I feel like it was Tuesday afternoon. I'm thrown off because I did the other pod, which is usually a Wednesday, on the Tuesday. Because it was the Monday night was the terrible loss of the blue jackets where it was like. Correct.

Six one or something like that. Yeah. And we did the other show, like the argument we were having was, is Jim Montgomery going to get fired during the podcast? like as we're recording or will it happen after. That was the debate. And so, yeah, I think it would have been right around that time. So, yeah, two coaching changes involving one guy. Yep, selfish, really, I think.

So let's start with the Bruins. I don't think anybody's going to be taken aback to learn that the broad consensus, at least among the people I talked to was, you know, they weren't going great, obviously, but also it does just feel like it's a GM problem that the coach paid for. Yeah, as is often the case, right? I mean, behind every coach who gets fired is either a bad roster constructed by the GM who fired him or a slumping goalie or both. Yep.

Now, the one thing you might say with this Boston team is, okay, they went from 130 points to like 110 points with not this same roster because they added some guys in the offseason. Obviously, Bergeron left after the big regular season, but still the same core. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, apart from losing their number one center. If I'm Don Sweeney, I'm going, all right, how bad a job could I have done that this 100 plus point team that had home ice in the playoffs last year is now missing the playoffs? Is that really a roster problem?

Or was there maybe some coaching? And sometimes the coaching problem is just guys tuning out. The message just isn't hitting anymore. but I do feel like we've we've kind of moved too quickly into well I mean this Boston team stinks and what do you expect well and I'm kind of like I agree man we all had them in the playoffs in our we all thought they were locked so yeah no totally but that that's what I wanted to say is I think what you what you can definitely say about this team is the guys they went out and got this summer stinky right like Elliot Friedman isn't out there

floating the idea that, oh, maybe they just trade Zedorov back to Vancouver based on, you know, but he's playing really well in Boston. Yeah. They want to trade him back to Vancouver because he sucks, right? He's figuring it out a little bit, like, the timing on that was kind of funny

because it does actually seem like he was getting his head on straight. But like Lynn Holm, not really working out apart from whatever, the first two or three games. and the swam-in debacle in the off-season. Like, the fact that, the fact that Corpus Allo is, like, unequivocally their best goal, it does seem like a problem to me, you know? Right there is, yeah, that is going to be a, that's going to be a big issue anytime.

So I guess what I'm saying is, you know, when they lost Virgeron and we were like, well, they're not getting to 130 points, but if they lose, 20 points, they're still one of the like three best teams in the league. Yep. Right? And all the guys on the team are a year older. There's the contentious Swamen thing. They whiff on their offseason acquisitions, you know, at least in the first like 20 games or whatever.

And it's like, then it becomes a thing of, oh, maybe you can't. Because remember last year they were like, everybody said we couldn't make the playoffs without Bergeron? It's like, did people say that? that? Yeah. You know? I think, like you say, I think we all had them making the playoffs again. And right now, they are tied for a playoff spot with the Buffalo Sabres, which you don't

want to be in that situation, obviously. But like, it's not so bad that, like, they're not the, they're not the Ottawa senators, I guess is my point, right? Like, they're not horrible. They're just not up to the standard. Catching strays, senators. They won last night. Yeah, sure.

How many games below 500 are they now? A few. Three, four, yeah. Two. Okay, congrats to them with their 452 points percentage right now. We'll talk about them in a minute because it feels like, or a little later, I guess, because it does feel like something's going to happen there. But, yeah, I, like, I get why they fired Jim Montgomery,

but also I think that you can just look at how this roster has deteriorated, not just this year, but like over the last. you know, they didn't have a post version on plan. No. Frankly, they didn't have a post David Craichy plan. You know, like when he did the, I'm going to retire to Europe, then come back thing. They didn't have a plan for them then either. So, like, I really do, like, kind of sympathize with Jim Montgomery as, like, you know,

it was kind of hinted at again by Elliot Friedman that, like, maybe over the summer the reason they didn't arrive at a, um, an extension was that there was a philosophical difference about like where this team's going. I don't know if you saw this report. No, I hadn't seen that. Yeah. And basically, you know, when I hear that kind of thing, that makes me say, well, the Bruins are one of those teams that refuses to rebuild. We never rebuild. And Jim Montgomery may be going, you know what we should do.

I'm just thinking out loud here. try rebuilding a little bit. I don't know that that's what happened, but that's certainly what the hint was. Yeah, that would typically be the, well, put it this way. If it was the other way and Don Sweeney wanted to rebuild, the off-season didn't really indicate that.

Correct, yeah. They would be rebuilding if the GM wanted to rebuild. You would think. Yeah, I mean, is there anything I said there that, like, you're kind of budding? up against or anything like that? I don't think so. The only thing is I gotta say, man, there's a lot of people shoveling dirt on the Bruins right now.

And it's like my Twitter buddy, Actin the Fool of him and had a tweet where he was like, have you guys never seen a horror movie? Like, they're still in a playoff spot. Like, can we all settle down on the writing our eulogies for the Boston Bruins.

I don't know. Here's a question for you. And I'll ask this as this is of interest to not just Boston fans, but I think Canadians, since he's already locked into our roster.

It's a deal with Brad Marchand. He's 36. Yep, that's right. Is that the answer to the question? He's 36 or... You know what my answer to that question is. going to be.

Yeah, man, he's, you know, he's, well, first of all, he's still second on the team in points. But, but, yeah, well, okay, so part of it is he only has one power play goal. He usually has more than that by this point in the season, right? He's shooting under 10% for the first time in his career, which isn't good. And also, like, you know, he, you know. He's not exactly playing with the best and brightest anymore. You know what I mean?

Yeah. But again, is he 36? You fucking bet he is. He's on pace for 60-ish points. That's not like horrible or anything, but it's not up to the Brad Marchand standard. Yeah. For a guy that everyone's already inducted in the Hall of Fame,

he needs a few more good years. I don't know. I'm curious to see how that. Anyways, I've now guaranteed that he's going to have four goals against the Leafs the next time they play. Yeah, that's exactly right. No, like, you know, it's just one of those things where I think he's still a really good player,

but at age 36, you kind of have to go, but is he Brad Marshand anymore? You know? Is he the 25 plus goal guy that we've come to expect? 30 or 35 plus goal guy? Well, he hasn't scored 30 in a few years now, I don't think. Okay, I've stopped watching. 12, so.

Yeah. 21-22 was a lot he had 29 last year I'm not I'm acting like this guy fucking sucks yeah um yeah no I think I think it's a reasonable question also maybe you know he didn't like the coach before but let's say this about the Bruins they're two and oh since the coaching change yep he fixed it and and they a one-nothing win and a two-one win that's what I was going to say a grand total of four four goals across their guys let's be super boring and let's

you know what they really need Ryan is an identity we need to carve out our own identity and that identity not doing shit exactly the same as 31 other team's identity yep um Joe Sacco is the coach now of course I guess we should say that a guy who was up for the job

when they hired Jim Montgomery a guy who it feels like anytime there's been an opening the last like three or four years they're like what about Joe Sacco literally anywhere. If I'm remembering right, he was a Jack Adams nominee early in his career. That's a good question. I would have to check that.

He did, I mean, he had the, he was the coach of the avalanche before they were saved by Patrick Waugh. That's right. And yeah, they did make the playoffs one of those years. So he may have been a Jack Adams. finalist. And he is a Boston guy, right? Like he's a... Yeah, he's from Medford. Yeah. He's from Medford.

Yeah. He's a Boston college dude and all of that stuff. And a guy that I'm just... I'm looking at this now. I was going to say had a cup of coffee in the NHL, but he played for a decade. I did not realize.

Yeah, he was in the league for a long time. I did not realize. Before people get extremely mad, including me, he played for BU, not BC. I wasn't going to say anything. Well, you said it. Why, Boston is just kind of a general.

I think the people at BC and V you would beg to differ. Same thing. It's the same thing. Get over yourself, guys. Wow. Joe Sacco was a Jack Adams finalist in 2010. Lost to Dave Tippett and Barry Trots. Tough bounce.

Yeah. Can't win them all, I guess. So, yeah, I mean, again, the ruins are tied for, a playoff spot right now that the savers have the edge by points percentage, 23 points from 21 games to the Bruins 22. But, you know, if they get their head, look, the savers are in the middle of their classic November. We're actually pretty good run, which is, of course, going to be followed immediately by their December. No, we're fucking not run. And then that opens the door for the Bruins.

And we're all sitting here going, oh, the top four in the Atlantic are Toronto, Florida, Tampa, and Boston in somewhere. That's crazy. That never happens. It feels like that's how it's going to work out. But Jim Montgomery, unemployed for, I think, a grand total of five days. Yeah. St. Louis Blues come calling. Feels like they came calling the next day.

Yeah. They did not. they did not mess around, which in theory is what you should do. If there's a chance to upgrade anywhere in your organization, you take it. And they obviously felt like they were one of, I think probably a few teams

that view Jim Montgomery as an elite coach. Yes. And you can sit there and say, well, you know, we have to give Drew Bannister a chance. he's only had the full-time job for 20 games. He's had less than a year overall behind the bench. Or you say Jim Montgomery is a better coach than what we have now. So we do what we need to do.

And Doug Armstrong is not screwing around. He's got a year and a half left with this team. It literally seems like that was, like, I guess the Blues kind of ostensibly want to make the playoffs and they weren't on track to do that. But every quote from Doug Armstrong was like, well, a guy that won the Jack Adams two years ago and who, you know, has an association with this organization and blah, blah, blah, he became available. And so we had to do it. And it's like, well, yeah. So, I mean, you said tough bounce before, real tough bounce for Drew Bannister.

All right. I mean, you get the, you got to follow a cup winner last year on an interim basis. get the full-time job. All right, now I got a summer to work on this. I got a training camp, put my system in place, and you get 20 games in. And not a great 20 games, but also not a disaster. You know, it's not like 3 and 17.

Right. But, yeah, I mean, it's a tough business. They were sub-500. And again, ostensibly the Blues want to make the playoffs. I don't know how realistic that ever would have been. but like that certainly would have been the the thing that they wrote on the whiteboard at the beginning of the season make the playoffs you know yeah um and so yeah i can't like and and the blues won big last night so it's all working out great everything's fine whatever was wrong with jim montgomery as a coach has been fixed that's right um but yeah i i you know we say it all the time like if you're gonna fire your coach who's a better coach out there. Yeah.

The Blues were like, well, that guy, obviously. What do you, well, yeah, come on, man. So, yeah, I don't, I don't blame them at all for doing it. Like, like you said, it sucks for Drew Bannister, 22 games with the, with the full-time job. They're like, hit the bricks, brother. You know, we got, we got a good coach come along. That's right.

That's tough. Like, on the one hand, he has to go, oh, I mean, I get it. Like they had, the Bruins had 240 points in two seasons or whatever the number is. Hard to do that. I get it from that point of view. But also, that sucks bad because, again, you look at the Blues roster and you have to go, is this Drew Bannister's fault that they're not that good? Like Bennington can't make a save. They had some injuries.

Like, Broberg definitely. Who's the other guy who was out for a while? Butchenavich, maybe? So they had another guy out like... Thomas was out for... Tom, it was Robert Thomas, yeah. And it's like, well, that's not really his fault. No.

It isn't, but also, I mean, injuries happen and you kind of... Yeah, no, totally. I think at a certain point, you sort of know what you have. And I even remember there being some thought that when they hired Drew Bannister the full-time job in the summer. even then there were a few people going, they're just waiting on Jim Montgomery. At the time, the thought was in a year

because he was in the last year of his deal. Right. He'd do one more year in Boston and then part ways. Yeah, interesting. And got apparently a five-year contract. Hope Alex Steen was looped in on that. I would imagine. I would imagine he got that call.

I guess the only other thing I'd say on that is it is sort of interesting to me that the last time I can think of this happening where a team fired a coach and then another team very clearly fired their coach just to hire the new guy was Claude Julian

going to Montreal in 2017 after he got fired by Boston same team doing the dumping yeah and I thought you were gonna say when Bruce Cassidy got the job in Vegas. He was out of work for like less than a week.

Yeah. Was that during the season? Or was that an offseason? It was, eh? Okay, well, maybe, yeah. I'm pretty sure. Maybe I'm wrong. Let me double check on this, but I'm...

Austin loves... I'm pretty sure. Firing good... Oh, no, you were right. You were right. It was in the off season. But again, he was out of work for less than a week. Vegas hired him, I think, six days later.

Yeah. The one I was thinking of was when Tarian, like, I think he had the HABs even in first place. But Julian came along. And Montreal was like, oh, here's like the other coach that can speak French. So we got to jump on this. That's right. And I'm not even saying that as a criticism of Boston to say that, you know, you're doing something wrong if people keep hiring your ex-coaches. You got to make the move that you feel like you need to make.

but yeah, it was, it's a tough business. It is. And as I mentioned and even wrote about last week, that is now all three coaches from the 2003 Jack Adams finalists. All gone. Lindy rough back in the league already and Cassidy as well, obviously, but not Cassidy, Montgomery as well. But, uh, yeah.

Yep. Now, I guess that this leads naturally to the feeling that like multiple other coaches are days away from getting fired around the league. Yeah. It just, it's that time of year. There's like, you know, there's enough time that you can write the ship in theory. And as soon as you see other team, like as soon as one team fires, it's like now you don't have the patience argument anymore. You don't have the it's too soon, especially when you're looking at the Bruins and, oh, yeah, they're 2 and 0 with their new coach, man.

Then the coach fixed everything. What are we doing? Yeah. I had to laugh. Gentilly wrote like a piece last week about hot seats and he was making fun of me and him collectively because when we did one of our season preview shows on that podcast, we were like, man, I don't see any coaches that are really going to. get fired early in the season.

And, like, 10 games into the season, it was like, oh, yeah, there's like nine guys in danger. Yeah. Who's next to those? Well, the one where I saw a lot of their fans on line, on Twitter or whatever, saying, like, when Jim Montgomery got fired, saying like, fire the coach, do it quick, hire Jim Montgomery is Detroit. Yeah. They're sub 500. They, again, I don't know who was looking at this Detroit team and going Playoff time, baby, we're doing it, you know?

Detroit fans would be. Because they're fans. I think you'd have to be a sucker to believe that this Detroit roster is getting into the playoffs, right? I mean, we said... Well, let me, I'll push back on that. They had 91 points last year. Yep. They missed the playoffs by a point.

Yep, in one of the worst playoff years in recent memory. Yep, that's true. Like, that's the thing is, that Washington Capitals team that beat them and everyone was like, they sucked. They were fucking horrible. The Red Wings didn't finish ahead of them. I think everybody looked at the Eastern Conference last year and said one of these 91-point teams is going to get a lot better. And it just happened to be Washington instead of it. Yeah, that's right.

50-50, man. Coin came up tails. What can you do? Is, is Steve Eisenman going to actually fire a coach? Like, didn't we do this with Jeff Blasheel where it was like for four years he was the next coach who was going to get fired? Totally, man. Yeah. But it just feels like it's it's got to be getting to the point where, look, the Eiser plan has to be like, a plan, right? You know, like people just have to ask that question in the in the Detroit organization at some point. Like, are we ever going to find? fucking do this with this guy? How long has you been the GM there? It's been a long time now. It has been a while. And I know, like, okay, so whenever we talk about Detroit anywhere, there's always this kind of weird dynamic where you look at the, the Eiser plan and how long it's taking. Yeah. And how little progress, if any, is being made. And, and people like us say it's, he's going to slow. It's too patient. And then some

people, including I think a lot of Detroit fans, say no. Part of the problem is he's gone too fast in terms of signing guys in the offseason and that's my argument. Yeah. Totally. And it's kind of and I guess

what I would say is I don't think there's actually a disagreement there. I think we're talking about two different things. We're talking about some of the roster construction went too fast and yet the results have been too slow and like the overall you know because he didn't sign like yeah signing bencher out was a mistake you don't need to do that when you're at that point well i mean you don't need to do it period but at that point in in a rebuild but also

nobody like he didn't sign that guy and go there you go that's 10 extra points in the standings it was a supplemental piece, but he didn't have anything to supplement. Well, it wasn't it wasn't because look at the JT. Comfort contract. Look at the Andrew Cop contract, right? Like, it wasn't, it wasn't that he signed Ben Chirot. I think he traded for Jeff Petrie. Is that right? He went out and got not just, not just Chirot, two or three other guys where it's like, oh, I'm paying a little more than I should for a guy who's like, pretty good and he's supposed to help me accelerate the rebuild but what it what it really does is just like block spots in the lineup for the younger guys and that that to me i've been saying

this for like three years now is the pro or two or however long it's been since they since the offseason with charot and cop um that's the problem is you can try to accelerate the rebuild if you want but you got to be able to like make space and also like understand what accelerating the rebuild looks like given the playoff format and the division you're in, right? And I still just keep coming back to like what, even with full benefit of hindsight, what should Steve Eisenman have done if we take for a given

that they weren't going to win the draft lottery ever? So they weren't ever going to pick higher than fourth, fifth, sixth. Now, I know there's some Detroit fans who say, say, well, that shouldn't be a given because they should have been tanking two years ago for Connor Bedard instead of signing guys to try to get into the playoffs. Yes. But I don't know. There is a part of me, and I feel like I'm already writing the post-mortem on, the Steve Eisenman era.

But I don't know. I'm not sure that when you start with Dylan Larkin is the centerpiece and you don't win the lottery. We've said that a million times. We kind of have, yeah. You know, where it's like, he, to me, he's like a better version of Elias Lindholm. But he's still kind of, it's the Elias Lindholm problem of like, if that guy's your number two center, you're in great shape. And if he's your number one, maybe not so much. Yep.

And, you know, at some point, like, you never know what these things. But at some point, don't you just kind of say like, yeah, Jeff Blasheel and now Derek Lal. like these guys don't seem to have it, but also the roster options they're being given, who's going to succeed with that? And again, that's even before you account for like, yep, they're in the same division as Toronto and Boston and Florida and Tampa. And, you know, we had a question in the mailbag that was actually really interesting

and I wanted to bring it up on the show of like if one of those three never make the playoffs, Atlantic teams, Buffalo, Detroit, Ottawa, but maybe I guess you would say Montreal, but let's be honest, you know? If one of those teams makes the playoffs, does that make the other two go? Fuck it. We got to blow it up. Like everything has gone so wrong for us that like we let the Ottawa senators take that play or the Detroit Red Wings or the Buffalo Sabres take that playoff spot.

That's a really interesting way to look at it. Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, I don't know that that. That in and of itself, like, would be the impetus to do it. Like, oh, fuck, if the, if the Sabres did it, we are way off course. But, like, I think just missing the playoffs again, you know, where it's like, we're going to be competitive in March or whatever.

No, you're not. Come on. And what's interesting, too, is, like, there are rumors now that, like, Ottawa is kind to open for business. Call up. You want Josh Norris? You want Thomas Shabbat? I think it was, I can't remember who it was.

One of the Ottawa writers over the weekend was like, anybody but Brady Kachuk is on the table. Call and ask. And they're not firing the coach. Yeah. And that's sort of a believe it when we see it kind of deal. Well, they just hired the coach, didn't they? No, sorry, not on the coach.

I meant on the, you know, we're open for business. call up and make an offer on Tim Stoz. Yeah, sure. Let's say, maybe they'll surprise me, but I don't necessarily see that. I guess the last thing to say going back to Detroit is part of the problem this year, bad special teams. And fair or not, that is something that we all kind of tend to agree

lays at the feet of a coach. Yep, totally. So not a great sign. The other thing linked to that is, as we always say, and we said it once on the show already, you're going to fire the coach, who's out there that's better?

Well, they have Bob Boogner on the bench, who has plenty of NHL head coaching experience. Don't look up how that went, though. Don't look up how it went. And also, he's apparently the penalty kill guy. So.

Yeah. And when you say bad special teams, I want to be clear. Their power play is great. 26 and two-thirds percent on the power play. But the PK, 68.4 percent. Uh-oh. It's not great. That's no good.

No. So, yeah, I don't know if it's him, but is it, should I dust off my Gerard Gallant to the Red Wings? I mean, the dude played. with Steve Eisenman. How was he not already hired? I don't know. They must not have room together. Yeah.

It's one of those things. You always hear about this. But yeah, I don't know. Again, I just look at it and people are like, damn, I can't believe Patrick Kane doesn't seem to have it this year. One, low shooting percentage, two, 36 years old. This is a tale as old as time.

So Bride Marchand aged. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. saying. The other team, obviously, is the Detroit, the Pittsburgh Penguins. I don't think they relocated the team yet. No, that'll be next. But, yeah, the Pittsburgh Penguins dead last in the east by points percentage. Another team, like, call us about.

Goals differential. Call us about anybody but Crosby. Yeah. If I was Kyle Dubus, I'd just leave it to call us a, uh, about anybody. You want, Crosby? You can fucking have them. It'll cost you 14 first round picks, but you can have them.

And then Crosby says, no, you can't. But, yep, no, it's, it's, everybody's been saying, oh, let's get them on the avalanche for as long as we can remember, you know? So let's do it. Let's just have fun out there. Let's, let's, fuck, let's get Brad March Ann on the avalanche, too. Let's get that long ago. Are we rebuilding or are we not rebuilding?

You know what I mean? What's happening? Well, I mean, they're, they are rebuilding in Pittsburgh, but they just traded a draft pick for a player. Well, I mean, that player's Phil Tomasito. Surely he's got, oh, wait. Now he is 23. Yeah, but he's also, like, fine. He's fine.

And they traded a fourth round pick, which is. It's not anything. Yeah, totally. Oh, Phil Tomasino, by the way, boy, the thing about, like, when you're drowning, the GMs want to throw you, like, cinder blocks or whatever, instead of a, like, Life Reserver. Yep. Phil Tomasino, 11 games this year, zero goals one assist. Yeah, but the assist was probably a really nice one.

I bet it was great. I mean, I can look up. Was it a secondary assist? Let's find out. But yeah, it's just, it was indeed a secondary assist. It's just funny, right? Like, things kind of couldn't be going worse for them. Like in terms of just everything has gone wrong this year, except Sidney Crosby is still insanely good.

When he's off the ice, they are like, I mean, they're a lottery team anyway, I guess. But like, they're, you would think they were tanking bad. And it's like, no, they have like multiple Norris winners and a former MVP on that roster. And it's just not moving the needle at all. Yeah, they are very bad. And yet Mike Sullivan is, I mean, I think clearly it's not a coaching problem in the sense that I think Mike Sullivan's a very good coach. Now, it could be a coaching problem in the sense that, man, even Scotty Bowman eventually would wear out his welcome somewhere, especially when you have the same core of guys as making up the key to the team. But from all accounts that I've heard, Crosby loves a guy.

So I don't know, man. Yep. That's a tough one. What about the bottom of the West? Nashville, I think, is still a question. Nashville's got to be the only one where it's really... I think Chicago now is on the board. Yeah, you know what? You're right. Luke Richardson, not only the way that the team is not making any progress,

and unlike the Detroit's and whatever of the world, This is a team that nobody had as a playoff contender. And yet, there's still a disappointment. And just the way some of the things have gone down. The fact that the Taylor Hall thing were, you know, was benched and it wasn't communicated well, the way that some of the young players have been handled. And the really scary thing, if you're a Chicago fan,

Connor Bedard not having a great year in year two. And like bouncing around the lineup, like he's playing with some just weird choices. And it feels like one of those. Being put on the wing. Being put in defensive roles to take the pressure off, which I mean, to me, I don't know that that takes a pressure off of a 19 year old kid who's been a unstoppable offensive force his entire career to tell him like, hey, go out there and concentrate on not the thing you do best. Yeah. So that one, that's one where, I mean, just purely, you know, as you guys know, a lot of times I look at these more from the lens of what is the GM thinking than what is best for the team necessarily. I think if I'm Kyle Davidson, like this is that part of the rebuild where it gets hard. He did a fantastic job on the easy part, which is tear it down to the studs and cross your fingers on lottery day.

he nailed that part now you got to get it going again firing the coach is the moment in the rebuild where now the attention shifts to you if it doesn't work in a perfect world you fire the coach and you hire your Joel Quenville

as Chicago did in 2009 all the other stuff aside where it was the right veteran coach for that team and takes them to the next level. Not easy to do. Could be done, but I don't know, man. Who do you go out and get? Yeah, I mean, there isn't really an out of work, obvious answer.

I think there's some good coaches out there. I agree, but like nobody who's like Joel Quenville, that guy's a future Hall of Fame or kind of a thing. No, and I mean, even at the time, I mean, at the time, was viewed as a very good coach, but he wasn't. Yeah, you might, yeah, I guess you're right about that. What about Jay Woodcroft? That's what I was thinking, who was like the...

A guy who coached McDavid to come in and... I mean, he knows how to say Connor get out there. Like, he's good at that, so... It's one of the hardest parts of the job. It is. A lot of people mess that up. A lot of people accidentally go, uh, crappy third line death guy get out there. Oh, I should have put the... I mean, the real problem is that a lot of coaches intentionally say crappy third line

death guy get out there. That is. you know that is probably true um so yeah i think though i think those are the like the i guess we can talk about national a little bit they don't really seem to be writing the ship at all like they're better obviously than than they were at the beginning of the year but like that's they're still not like good or anything um but i i guess i don't have a ton to say other than i the one other guy that was on gentilly's hot seat list that we haven't talked about is

Martin Saint-Louis. Yeah, I just don't feel like anybody in Montreal was seriously under the illusion that this was a competitive team this year. But they're worse than

you know, again, it's kind of like Chicago. It's like, yeah, they weren't going to make the playoffs, but you want some progress. And you want the progress in terms of, yeah, you'd like to have 10 more points this year, but also just in terms. individually.

Sure. And like the thing is Montreal, like they're bad defensively. They're all over the place like one night to the next. Wait, hold on that Montreal team with that blue line is bad defensively. Are we sure about that? I mean, and this would blow you away, but Sam Montembow is not patching over all the holes like a 1999 dominant cast. There goes my Team Canada goaltending pick. Sheesh.

He could still. he could still be there. Yeah, I mean, isn't that the problem, you know? So anyway, I think a Martans-Saint-Louis mid-season firing still feels very, very unlikely. But I could see this maybe being the last year before they say, okay, thanks, Marty. You did everything we asked you to do when we plucked you out of the pee-wee ranks, and now it's time to... This is the National Hockey League, brother. It's time to get an NHL coach.

Yep. Yeah, I don't know. It's, to me, like you say, I think it's very unlikely that it happens, especially because part of the reason he got the job in the first place is him and the GM are boys. Mm-hmm. You know? But, yeah. I guess the one other team we should talk about, it doesn't feel like the coach is on the hot seat, but everybody else on the team is, is the New York Rangers. Yeah.

They are 12 and 7, and you're like, well, why would people be mad about them? that. Well, they've lost three games in a row, first of all. And second of all, they can't beat, like, playoff teams. All their wins are against bad teams, basically. And doesn't it feel like this has kind of been like the vibe, even since the off season, was that big changes are coming in New York after last year? And then they didn't really happen. And some of that was the weird Jacob Trubis situation. But yeah, it has just felt like there has been a just high level of dissatisfaction all year for a team that is coming off a president's trophy. Like I have to remind my – they had the best record in the league last year.

They did. And they went to the conference finals and lost to the eventual champions. Like without winning the Stanley Cup, you can't have much better season than that. And yet it felt like almost from the moment it ended, there was like a level of crankiness in that New York front office that you almost never see from NHL teams that aren't coming off a disaster. Yeah, there was definitely a point earlier in the, like in the off season where I wrote about like,

are we sure these Rangers are extremely good? Are we like for certain about that? because I just, I look at this roster and, you know, like, how much of their success is just like, well, we have Igor Shisturkin. So, I mean, what, you know, we don't have to think too hard about this. And I mean, that, that's just kind of what it feels like to me for, for the Rangers is like, you know, this, I think this was framed as like their last chance to do something or whatever, like, as. this group, somebody had that quote at the beginning of the year. And,

like, the Rangers didn't do anything in the off season, right? So it kind of seems like, or they didn't do much, I should say. So it kind of seems like Chris Drury going, like, I'll give these guys one last kick at the can. We'll see what happens. And, yeah, I was just looking at this. So they, here's who their wins are against.

You tell me if this is a good slate of wins here. Pittsburgh, Detroit, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Anaheim, Ottawa, the Islanders, Detroit again. That's three of their 12 wins against Detroit. San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver. That's all their wins. Right. So out of that list, Toronto's a good team. Vancouver's a good team having a so-so season, and the Islanders are the Islanders.

And then it's a bunch of disappointing teams. Yeah, their losses are to Utah, Florida, Washington, Buffalo, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, St. Louis. So, yeah, I mean, I get it. The interesting thing to me is you talk about, well, this is the last chance. This is the last, it's the last dance for this group. You look at the core players. They're all signed past this year. They certainly are.

Other than Shisterkin, obviously, is the big one. It's not like there's like six guys all pending UFAs that are key players. And I mean, there's not going to be room and we're just not going to be able to bring them all back. So, I don't know. I mean, Shistercans a big one. Artemi Pinaran's got one year left after this. So that gets interesting. And then the Chris Kreider rumor.

Yep. It's not even a rumor. The Chris Kreider report from Elliot Friedman who doesn't just, he's not one of these guys who just throws names out there to get attention, says that the Rangers are, I don't remember exactly how he phrased it, but basically said Kreider and Jacob Truba

are both available. They would listen. They're not shopping, but they're listening. And I mean, Jacob Truba, I think we all sort of expected that to be... Yeah, of course. You know, a name that would go back on the block. But Chris Kreider. Well, it's funny because Kreider has nine goals.

That's a good number for this time of year, right? Mm-hmm. But he has zero assists and, you know, he hasn't been playing well. And he's 33 and he's signed for two more years. Yeah. And he makes 6.5. which is, I mean, if you can score 30 goals, you're worse.

Certainly on pace for more than that, yeah. But, yeah, that's an interesting one. Because that, like, that is not something, the fact that it came from Elliot strongly suggests that it came out of New York. And I don't know if it's as simple as Chris Drury calling up an insider and saying, can you put these names out there,

or if it's a little more complicated, than that, but Elliot wouldn't report that if it was if he wasn't very sure on it. He's smart. He knows what it does when you put a specific player name out there.

So, there's a level of dissatisfaction in New York. And look, like, I'm not knocking it because this is, you and I spend a lot of time looking at teams that have good records and going, yeah, but are they really that good is now the time you know they they always say you can't make changes and things are going bad so maybe you make changes when you're still playing 625 hockey

it could be the right call this could be like a really gutsy Chris Drury doing what we think GM should do which is being brutally honest about those teams at and get out ahead of it but it's it's it's just interesting and newsworthy just because it's it's it's It's so rare that you see a team doing this well that seems to have a dissatisfaction with the whole roster, top to ball. Yeah. Larry Brooks column from last night, it's time to blow up this underachieving Rangers Corps. Which, again, that's not a guy who says that idly. No.

That's not a guy who, you know, think what you want about Larry Brooks. He's connected to that New York Rangers front office. If he's saying that, that's on the table. He's a columnist. He knows how to write a good column, and sometimes that means you go a little bit past the line you might, you typically go, but he's not just one of these poop flingers who just is going to say something like that

without it being there. But what does that mean to blow up the court? Like, Jabana Jad's a guy who's getting a lot of attention, I think. Yeah. He's been on the ice for a lot of goals against this year. He's not having a great year. And he is locked in. for a long time.

Yep. And he's 31, which is, I don't know if this isn't maybe just me as an Ottawa thing, but like to me, that's one of those guys who's been 26 for the last five years. Well, that's exactly. And he's not. So, yeah, I don't know. I mean, what does it mean to blow up a core? I mean, yeah, like you say, it's hard to do it this year.

Let's put it this way. Does that mean you let Shisterkin walk or you trade him this year? Yeah. Because that would be, that would feel fucking crazy. That would be like such a seismic change. Are you open to moving Artemipanerne? Same idea. And if the answer is,

MVP caliber players. And if the answer is no, obviously not, don't be crazy. I think that that's a very reasonable answer. But if you're not willing to talk about your two best players, are you really willing to blow up anything? Like, you're not blowing it up by trading, like, I mean, even Chris Crider, I don't think. And Crider, at least, is a guy who's been there forever. So that would, that really would send the shock through the room if you, if you moved somebody like that.

Yep, totally. Yeah, I mean, you're not moving Adam Fox. No, why would you? So, I mean, I guess it's. Unless you're really serious about nuking the roster, yeah. So, I mean, your best forward, your best goal, your best defensemen are all off the table. Yeah, you're going, like, are we saying like, how much of a blow up are we doing? Blow up the core.

Do you want Vincent Trocheque? I guess. Yeah, he's pretty good. Fine. Trochecks been really good lately. But again, like, this is a guy that is another 31-year-old center who's signed for four more years. Yeah, the contract's not great. He's a good player.

He was great last year. well right yeah this year he's been more i think what you'd think of vince frocheck as being also he gets to play with artemie panera and that's going to help you look good excellent ask this lefranier you know but yeah um there was something you wrote in your article yesterday i guess yesterday yeah that feels right um that apart from a couple very obvious outliers so much of what's happening year is just like, yeah, I called that. There's a few things that are, yeah.

Let me just read this list of current East playoff teams. Toronto, Florida, Tampa, New Jersey, Carolina, Washington, the Rangers, the Sabres. There's like two teams in that mix where you're like, well, that's a little surprising. Right. One of whom is the capitals who were in the playoffs last year. Right. And you go, well, the ruins fired their coach. you're like, okay, that explains it.

You know? And then in the, let me put it this way. If I had said to you, this is the top four in each of the divisions in the Western Conference. Winnipeg, Minnesota, Dallas, Colorado in the Central. You'd have gone, yeah, of course. Obviously, that's the top four. And then in the Pacific, Vegas, Calgary, L.A., Edmonton. You're like, oh, Calgary is a little bit of a surprise.

But we said it on this show. if they couldn't really weather the storm without Thatcher Demko, who apparently is a full participant in practice these days, so that's good news for them. And they're like, I'll point out with games in hand. Like, by points percentage, they're actually head of L.A. Everybody, and Edmonton, everybody's like, well, that makes perfect sense, you know? So just that alone, you're like, yep, that all, that all, uh, is like I said, how we expected it to go. And Calgary is only, you know, second in that division because they're getting insane goaltending from Dustin Wolf.

Mm-hmm. Who, to be clear, you know, that was kind of always his, what do you want to? Like, the potential was Dustin, and his track record said Dustin Wolf can be a really good NHL goalie. I don't know that he's like a 920 NHL goalie for his whole career because who is, but it doesn't surprise me that he's playing. well. I just figured Edmonton would be playing a little better and Vancouver would be I guess kind of about where they are.

Yeah, well, what was the other you said like the award stuff too was So yeah, the awards other than like I feel like Vezina Norris Calder are all going about as expected. Yeah. And I think that the bottom of the league is also in the San Jose, Chicago, Montreal.

all. Apart from Pittsburgh, yeah, I think. Yeah, Pittsburgh and Nashville knocking on the door we didn't expect. And I don't think we expected Anaheim and Columbus to be as good as they've been, which is to say not great, but respectable. They're competitive, yeah. So, yeah, I mean, a lot of it is kind of, like this is the time of year where we all go, man, look at all the stuff happening that nobody saw it coming. And it's like, yeah, but some of it, we did. Yeah, and I mean, I guess the other thing to say about the standings in the Central, to your point about Nashville, as I think probably we all had, I can look really quickly what I had going into the year. Yeah, I had Minnesota kind of well behind Nashville, and that's not working out for me. But I only had Nashville 13th in the league. I didn't have them like, you know, cup contender or anything like that. I thought they'd be a playoff team ahead of Minnesota.

But, you know, again, if you're not. you would come to me and said, well, Minnesota's going crazy because Caprizov is having like an insane year, I'd have gone, okay, sure. Yeah, he's really good, you know. He, uh, he obviously avoided, um, serious injury or whatever you want to say. He didn't even miss a game, I don't think. Played last night. That was, that was, that was, that was a bit of a scary one, but, uh, yeah, seems like we're all, bullet dodged. Yep. Um, um, Bullet that wasn't dodged. Alex Ovecgin fractured his, I think, left fibula?

Don't like to see that. You don't, especially when he was, God, he was heating up just to a ridiculous. Insane, yeah. It had gotten to the lead, leading goals, which this was a guy who had two goals at the end of October. Like a couple of days before the end of October when some of us were writing our end of October. well he's never going to do it yeah um and he just caught on fire now i've i've heard that he is already walking around and yeah like looks okay so maybe maybe he comes back closer to the the optimistic side of yeah they said four to six weeks and yeah if he's already walking around maybe

it's like three and three quarters of a week which you know it could all that that could all matter because obviously the goals chase is what we're all keeping an eye on. And when you first saw the injury and then you hear like, oh, Jesus, you got a broken bone, you kind of think, well, so much for that, for this season. Yep, totally. Maybe not. Maybe not. I was talking to somebody and just we were talking about which game he would break the record in.

And we're like, can't you just imagine a world where he is like, he finishes this season like one or two goals short? And then next season the Capitol start with like an eight game road trip. Right. Start in California like, you know, 3, 11 p.m. games. Like that would be the most NHL thing that could ever happen.

I'm going to say it right now. If he's like a goal or two shy going into next season, the entire early schedule has to be built around that. I agree. I want nothing but home games. Capital's open with 42 games at home. 41.

All Gretsky's old teams, right? you have like Edmonton come in, then L.A., then New York. Then you have Pittsburgh so we can do it in front of Crosby, if that's... Someone forgot about his stint in St. Louis, I guess, but okay, sure. Yep. St. Louis. Then the Indianapolis racers come in. Let's bring them back, brother.

Yep. Yeah, no, I mean, it really looked like, it couldn't have come at a worse time. It's not like he was slumping and broke his leg. He was molten hot and broke his leg, and that sucks. I think he's going to be back, you know, sooner than maybe some closer to the optimistic side than the pessimistic side. Yeah, if he's back by Christmas, but he is a Russian machine. And only occasionally breaks. Russian machine rarely breaks is, I think now the new name of the website.

Yeah, you know, obviously we just kind of had to mention that. It's kind of a big deal. That was one of the storylines in the league when we left. And, uh, oops, yeah. Um, hey, speaking of, uh, guys from that, from that era who recently hit milestones, how about Sidney Crosby at 600 career goals? Very cool. It, it rocks, man.

Having him do it as part of a weekend where they get their doors blown off and back-to-back games was maybe, yeah, well, you know. Not ideal, but still, like, it's, It is always cool when somebody hits a big round milestone. It just is. Our little sports fan lizard brains, love it. But also when a guy who played his entire career in the remnants of the dead puck era does it. Yeah.

It's it was very cool to see. And did it in a week where he got in a fight too. Did you see his... Yeah, that's right. I did see that. Kyle Connor gooning it up. Yeah, two of the biggest thugs in the league, you know? Yeah.

Let me ask you this. So Crosby is the 21st player to reach 600 career goals. Can you name the other 20 off the top of your head? I bet you can. I bet this is easy for you. Oh, boy. I won't be able to get all of them because I'll like forget. Yeah, sure.

But let's, okay, so Gretzky, Ovechkin, Yager, espadio, Dion, Yep. Gindla got to 600. He did. Anderchuk got to 600. Certainly did. He got to 640. Brett Hall and Bobby Hol?

Did Bobby get there? Brett Hall, let's see. Bobby didn't eat. He got 610. Okay. Luke Robitai got the 600? Correct. 668.

Okay, so now I'm forgetting who I've already said or not, but Gordy Howe, obviously, I missed him. the top of the list. And then from there, Iserman. Sackick, I think, got there? Correct. 625.

Did Mike Bossy get there? I may not have. I don't think he did. Nine seasons, yeah. He wouldn't have had the time to get there. Wow. How many have I hit? You have one, two, three, four, five, six,

seven remaining. Seven remaining. Okay. I want to get to 15 is my goal. Okay. Okay. So other guys who get to see, did Jill Bear Parole get there? No. You're missing. I would say most of the guys you're missing are like very obvious guys from the 80s and 90s. Well, you know, when you say them or I tell them. Extremely stupid. I don't think I said Mario yet, did I? You didn't say Mario yet. See, that's one of them.

That would have crushed me. You're going to tell me that's not obvious? That was extremely obvious. No further questions, Your Honor. I should have had that. Brian Trotier, did I say? You did say Brian Trotier. Okay.

Yeah, that's right. I said him and Dion together. Other 80s and 90-Timu. Timu. Yeah, you didn't, by the way, you didn't say Brian Trotier because Brian Trotier topped out at 524 goals. Oh, really? So I don't know what I was thinking. Oh, okay.

All right. Yeah, Tammu, of course. Tammu and, oh, somebody else just jumped in my head as an obvious one and then it went away. Yari Curry. Yari Curry, he is one goal ahead of Sidney Crosby, 6.01. And Mark Messia must have got there, did he? Yeah, of course, 694. Really?

Okay, that's actually more than I would have thought on Messi. You're missing a 700 goal guy, a 650 goal guy, and a guy that I don't think you would get. Okay. Without help. I think I've got the 700 goal guy is Mike Gartner. I'm going to say the guy you think I wouldn't get is Dino Cicerelli. You're right. So who had 656 career goals?

I need a, can you give me a time frame? From 1987 to 2009. 87 to 2009. There's, he, um. Mike Madano? No. Medano got to 561. This is a guy who I would most closely associate with Steve Eiserman and Joe Sackick. So we're thinking center, like elite center that didn't...

Wasn't the center. Was not a center. Just that era and like that level of player. Okay. Beloved around the NHL, et cetera. I'm pretty sure he wasn't his center. He might have been a center. 87 to 2000.

See, this is going to, this, this will definitely bother. You're going to, you're going to be kicking yourself on. Oh, man. Come on. I want 19 out of 20. That's, uh. No, no, very impressive. Like I said.

87 to 2009. Okay, so it's around forever. Yep. Great player. Like, clearly not like a Cicerelli, Andrew Chuck compiler sort of guy. No. Um. I would say best known for playing was.

one particular team, but he actually played for a number of teams over the course of his career. Okay. Came to that, the most associated team probably later in his career and then continued to be around the NHL in one form or another. Okay, so he didn't start with the team that he's most

Absolutely not, no. And then kind of becomes 87. I feel like I can't give you more hints than that without just straight up giving it away. Multiple time, All-Star, of course. All-Star with, I think, let's see, you're one, two, three. Is it Shanahan?

It is. Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, all right. That's, I kind of do view him as a devil, but you're right, he's more associated with the Detroit. Yep, okay. And the other thing, the other reason I associate him with Sackick and Eiserman is they all became guys who ran teams. Yeah, that should have been the hand. In fact, when you said that, I thought, oh, you know, and then I was, my brain went to like, well, I already said robatai.

And I should have stuck with that. All right. That was an apologies to Brennan Chanahan for coming up with him after Dino Cicerole. I feel like he would take that a little personally. Yeah. I wanted to close with this on this week's episode here. Joe Thornton had his jersey retired. We love Joe Thornton.

one of my two favorite hockey players of all time, maybe three, depending on how I feel about Tame Mussolani at any given time. I love Joe Thornton. Obviously, one of the most richly deserved Jersey retirements of the era. It's not even close for me. Like, there are very few guys where I would say, that guy actually deserves it more than Joe Thornton. Like, again, Jerome McGinla, and that's probably it for that era of player.

And yeah, just, you know, he rocks. But let me ask you this. Did you see Macklin-Cellibrini's quote about like the Legends game they had? No. What did he say? He was like, oh, I had a lot of fun watching the Legends game because like it's all these guys I grew up watching and they're out there. But they like can't move around so good anymore. I thought that was really funny.

Dude. That's, uh, yeah. Clock's ticking, brother. You don't think so yet, but wait and see. And I know you're only 18. The best part of the Joe Thornton ceremony was him like giving the shout out to Thomas Hurdle and saying I would still do it. And that was like the retirement jersey of like that hockey joke. The epic bacon guy hockey joke for a decade that was still funny every time.

Yep. And when I say retirement, that does not mean we're going to stop using it. No, no, no. Well, much like other people aren't going to stop wearing 19. That's right. You know? Yeah, exactly. But the other thing I wanted to say, all this is great. We love Joe Thornton.

Positive vibes around the sharks. But not just because Joe Thornton got his number retired, which is usually how they do things. Like when a team goes in the toilet, they're like, it's a jersey number retire in time. We've got to get people in the building. We've got to get them. remember in the good old days, Patrick Marlowe, you're next, all this kind of shit. How about these San Jose sharks? They're seven, five, and three in their last 15 games.

Macklin Celebrini? Maclin Celebrini comes back from injury. He's going psycho mode. Yeah? He looks awesome. I don't know if you saw the stat that someone posted the other day of like, you know, puck battles won. He wins more puck battles per 60 than anyone in the league.

Really? Okay. Yeah. Not seeing that. That's wild for a teenager. Yeah. Absolutely. Guy kind of rocks.

And also a young teenager. He's only 18. He won't be 19 until June. And it was, am I a mistake? Like Ascarov was in that. Yep. They called up Ascarov.

He's been playing. Keep him. He's 927 and two starts. This is the future. There's some fun around San Jose getting ready. There's some fun around San Jose. Jose. Michael Granlin's playing out of his fucking mind so far this year.

Now, there's a guy the penguins could use, you know? That's a guy that, yeah, you may want to move that guy. So, yeah, that, you know what? I was surprised when you told me that because I was like, what, their record is terrible in it, yeah, because they lost their first night. They started 0 and 7 or whatever, yeah. But, yeah, it's, you know what? Good, good vibes in San Jose.

Okay, they deserve it a little bit. But yeah, the thing about Celebrini winning puck battles is over the summer, I talked to a bunch of college coaches about like, what's it like to coach against Macklin Celebrini? And multiple coaches were just like, that guy's a psycho, man. He doesn't want to come off the ice. He does, like, he sees you having the puck and he takes it as a personal insult. Like, how dare you to have the puck? That's my puck. Yeah.

And the puck battles thing, just like how he, you know, again, coming back from the injuries, kind of hit the ground running. And it's like, yeah, man. Man, he just seems like he has it. He in particular is going to just be like, no, no, no. We're winning a bunch of games the rest of the season. I'm ruining the tank. I don't give a shit. He rocks, man.

Good time. So cool. So, yeah, keep an eye out. If I'm the national predators, I'm looking in the rearview mirror and I'm getting nervous. Maybe. You know what? I take that back. The sharks have more points and a better points percentage of the national predators.

All right. So the predators are looking in the rearview mirror going, it's okay, I don't see them. Utah, you're next brother. Oh, how about this? Apparently, we're just recapping a bunch of Elliot Friedman news this week, but apparently he floated, I haven't listened to it yet, but he floated on 32 thoughts this week.

What if they just keep the name Utah Hockey Club? Here's what if. I think that sucks. All I'm going to say is if they keep that as their name, I'm going to start using it as a team name. Like I will say, like, the Leafs are playing hockey club tonight, which nobody is saying, of course, because we're all waiting for them.

But that's it. If that's your name, then that's your name. I'm going to say, like, you just got traded to the hockey club. No, not even the hockey club. You just got traded to hockey club. It's like fight club. Yeah. The first rule of hockey club is apparently we don't do marketing.

The second rule is we put Floaters out there about John Cooper, which is apparently best... Is that a thing? Apparently he's best friends with the owner, with Brian Smith. He's a real good buddies, so... Makes me think less of John Cooper, quite frankly.

He needs to go back to talking about like relatively obscure late 80s, early 90s metal bands. What does John Cooper think about like Caius? That's what I need to know. You know what I mean? As somebody who has... drank beer at 2 a.m. with John Cooper, he needs to hang out with a better class of people.

Like, it's... You're John Cooper, man. Don't lower yourself to just any idiot who shows up. Yeah. I agree. But I guess that's it for the show this week. Yep. So why don't you hit him with the plugs and we'll get the hell out of here. Yep. If I made at the Athletic, back with Gentile and Frankie tomorrow for the

for the other podcast and lots of stuff coming this week. See, what do I want to plug? I think I'm finally getting my latest edition of the contrarian out there. It keeps getting bumped. I was going to ask. It keeps happening. Yeah. But it's, I think it's going to happen.

Or is it? See how I kind of did the contrarian thing there. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then for me, head over to EP Rinkside and check out all my little articles over there. I just wrote about coaches getting fired for obvious reasons. I'm going to later today, maybe tomorrow, write about some statistical trends in college hockey.

And, you know, I'll have the power feelings on Friday, I think. So lots going on over there and you can check out all that and use the code I love EP at checkout on an annual. subscription. You know what? Actually, folks, I'm going to say, keep an eye out. I don't know what the Black Friday deal is. We always have one. Keep an eye out for that. It's going to be good. It usually is, you know. So now's the time for that. And then Patreon.com slash puck soup. We just did a bonus episode yesterday, me, Sean and Greg, where we talked about players who are currently in the NHL and whether they will become guys that we remember in the vein of remembering some guys. Yep.

It was pre-membersome guys, but it kind of ended up just being... Will that guy be a guy? Is this guy a guy, or is he not a guy? And that was... I enjoyed it a lot. I will be honest with you. I feel like I can say it now. I did not think it was going to be a good topic.

But I was wrong, as is often the case for that kind of stuff. Yeah, and then we got a bunch of other bonus episode stuff over there, too. You can check it all out. and yeah, Patreon.com slash Puck Soup. That's it for, oh, we're about to go do the mailbag over there. So that's it for the main show this week. We'll see you on the mailbag if you're doing the Patreon thing.

And thanks for listening. Have a good one. Bye bye. Bye bye. Enjoy Thanksgiving if you're in the U.S.