Puck Soup - Double Cursed

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

Sean and Ryan talk about the Oilers, the Senators, the Canucks, and more.   Sponsored by Gametime (download the Gametime app and use code PUCK for $20 off), Factor (factormeals.com/puck50), Uncommon Goods (uncommongoods.com/puck) and Nuts.com (nuts.com/puck)

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I'm Sean McAnew from The Athletic. And folks, the San Jose Sharks have won a hockey game. They did it. This is a big bummer to me. Yeah, it kind of, it bummed me out a little bit too, not necessarily that they won, but that, like, they just beat the flyers. That and it feels like they stole something from us for tomorrow night. Yeah, especially with the Oilers. That's it.

Like, I wanted them to beat a good team or a spiraling team. And it feels like the Flyers are kind of neither of those. Well, I'll, you know, not to get too far into the Flyers' schedule of late, but they're spiraling. Remember, they started out as one of the, you know, more successful team. There was a point maybe three or four games into the season where they were, they were leading that division, I think. And they suck lately. It's crazy how that happened, but...

But they were supposed to, right? No, of course. But, yeah, I mean, just for the first, like, two weeks of the year, they were like, oh, are the fly? No, of course not. But, you know, they're, I'll put it this way. They're hitting the skids so hard that they lost to the San Jose sharks. That's how bad they've been lately.

Yep. I love that the sharks are a team that is, I mean, tanking, rebuilding, whatever you want to call it. This season is a write-off. I think everyone picked them for, if not dead last. You know, everybody knew what was up. Yep. And I love that, like, they were so bad that the GM had to address the team and be like, guys, not like this. Come on, man.

Yeah. Come on. Like, you know, I, I understand that I've done literally nothing to put a winning team around you, but can you please? You guys have, like, skated before, right? Yeah. Take, take the skate guards off before you hit the ice. And, uh, yeah, it's, uh, they, they were historically bad for two games. And I get, this is one of those things where in hindsight, it's like, yeah, they, it's, it, it's,

Sure, you're going to be, give up 10 goals and back-to-back games. You're going to win the next one. I didn't feel that going in. I didn't feel that watching that game. I just, the third period, man. Yeah, for sure. We looked ahead to the Oilers and we just, it's a trap game. Yeah.

It shouldn't happen, but damn it. But that third period looked like a Flyers power play for 20 straight minutes. It was insane. Yeah. And they got, look, when a goalie, the quality of McKenzie Blackwood is making you look bad, you just got to accept it, you know? Yeah. Again, he's been good this year. He's been very good this year.

So, you know, relative to expectations, certainly. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He has an 892 save percentage, but he plays for the sharks. Yeah, you're looking at, and you're watching them going, oh, that should be in like the 8th's 50s, maybe, you know. he is going to finish with a 900 save percentage and a 4.5 goals against tavern. It's going to be so fucking cool. But I get like if they had lost the Sharks and that Oiler Sharks game game

would have felt like a game seven. Absolutely. Like I would have stayed up to watch that game for as long as it was close. You know, if the Oilers were up 6-0, I would, I would have tagged out, which absolutely could have happened. But sure. That would have been like the only way you can get the whole hockey world watching one game in November. Well.

And we lost the chance. So let me try to sell you on tuning into this game tomorrow night. If the sharks win, they will be tied with the oilers at the standings. Is that true? Yes. The oilers are two, eight and one. For five points, the sharks are one, ten, and one for three points. So they'll have an extra game played, but, you know.

Wow. All right. You know, I'm excited, but I'm just could have been so much more. Totally, absolutely. The Oilers being the first team to lose to the sharks would have been just hockey Christmas. McDavid demands a trade in the post-game press conference. Yeah, to the sharks. He's like,

they got a brighter future. I want to get a piece of what they got going on over there. I didn't intend for this to happen, but let's just talk about the Oilers whole problem. I actually had the, you know, the Puck Soup curse 2X from last week ahead of this. But we'll do, we're on the Oilers. Let's do the Oilers.

Hey, Jack Campbell, the goalie who had it all figured out a mere month ago. This guy's the number one goal tender for the team that's going to win the president's trophy. They put him on waivers instead. Yeah. And we're recording this early so we don't know if he's been claimed yet. That was a joke. I'm just kidding. There's zero chance he's getting claimed.

That's right. Although, again, who was it that suggested that, like, the sharks should claim him and then start him on Thursday night? Oh, that would rock. I think, I think. I bet the mortgage on a shutout if that were to happen. Well, I'll say this, though. You know, I don't know that the sharks can squeeze him in. Yeah, they only have $3.7 million in cab space.

They couldn't fit him onto the roster, which is also very funny. The sharks are not even close to the lowest payroll team in the league. I hate this for Jack Campbell. Like, I mean, this move itself might be the right move and maybe, He goes down to the minors and gets his game back. But I just, I don't like this story of Jack Campbell as the big bust. He seems like a good dude. And even when he left the Leafs, it was like, I don't know too many Leaf fans who were like, oh, screw that guy.

Good riddance, yeah. Took the money somewhere else. Like it was like, all right, good, good for him. and it has not worked at all. Nope. And, you know, I think it's... Three more seasons after this one. After this one, yeah.

Five million. I think it's obviously a predictable outcome that he is bad. He wasn't particularly good in Toronto for most of his time. Was it predictable that he would be... Not this bad. Not this bad. Like anywhere near this bad. Was anyone like this guy's not...

even good enough to be a starter in the NFL? No, like, I mean, right now it's this guy's not good enough to be in the NHL. I don't think anybody had it that, that bad, you know, just going that sideways. But, you know, if you look at his numbers, like, the only real year in Toronto that he had, that he was good for the full time was that last year. You know, he only played 22 games the year before that. obviously in a short season. And even then it was really weird. Like he was phenomenal for half the season. Yep. And then awful. Yep. For half the season. So, but that's my point though is like there were a lot of signs that the oilers should not be doing this, right? But not like you say, not to the extent that like this guy's going to become unplayable in 15 months or whatever, you know? Um, so.

like you say, you don't want to see anybody just like completely lose it in their, in their career, just like one night he wakes up and, or one morning, I guess. You wake up in the morning generally. Am I right about this? That's typically how it works. Although in Edmonton, it's, you know, it's night 18 hours a day. It's true. You're pretty far north there, you know.

But yeah, so like that is, you don't want to see that, but this is, you know, him being a suburb. 900 goalie at some point in this contract was predictable. Nobody would have said, you know, 20 games into his contract. You're going, uh-oh, you know. And then the, you know, I guess the more predictable thing is, hey, we actually think we fixed him because of the, because he had two good games in the preseason or whatever. Let's give him a run out. And then it's like, oh, no, we can't fucking do that.

We in fact can't even have him in the lineup. So if there's good news for the Oilers, I guess. I just looked it up. No bonuses left on the contract. So it's all just as painless to buy out as it reasonably could be. Man, if they do that, they got to pay him for six more years. They got to pay him for six years and he would be, it'd be the typical thing where the first year, get a nice deep discount, two point something for two years after that, and then 1.5

for each of the three years up until 2030, which isn't even a real year. No, it's crazy. That's one of those years they make like sci-fi movies and books about, you know what I mean? 2030. Exactly. Los Angeles 2030. Oh, that sounds scary. I guess that's also true of 1984, though.

Yeah. So what do I know? But yeah, I've seen a lot of people saying, well, look, the Oilers aren't giving this guy any help, right? And they're not giving him a lot of help. But I got to say, you look at the underlying numbers, you watch the games, you know, it's not as bad as people are making it. I think people are trying to run a lot of cover for Jack Campbell right now. And I get why, you know. it's not like the oilers are playing well,

but like the underlying numbers, it's not like this guy is facing 50 shots. He's not in McKenzie Blackwood mode, where he's facing 50 shots a game in 25 or from 15 feet in front of it. The problem right now is the oilers give up one or two bad chances, let's say per period or something like that, and all of them are in the back of the net. That's the problem.

The problem isn't, well, I mean, we'll talk about the coaching in a minute, but like the problem is definitely that they change the defensive coverage to like match a personnel that the Oilers just don't have, right? Like their scheme, their coverage schemes are just like fully not working. Jay Woodcroft made a horrible calculation in the summer. So let's say that. And let's also say that a lot of these guys on the Oilers Blue Line aren't particularly good. let's also say that. But at the end of the day, you need a guy stopping 90% of the shots he faces at a bare minimum, right? Especially these days when you've got a fragile team.

Even leaving the, I'm just saying broadly speaking, if you're not getting a 900 save percentage from your goalie, you're probably not doing well in this sport right now, you know, as things stand. And the oilers, like, can't even rely on this guy to get to, to get to 900 most nights, right? Like, it's just that simple. There are other problems here. Absolutely. The power play, it's kind of is weirdly bad, you know? But at the end of the day, if you're getting 870 goalie from a guy you're giving $5 million to, you're fucked. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Especially when you're also paying nearly 10 million to a number one defenseman who's not... You want to talk about unplayable. Yeah. So... What do you do if you're...

Well, if you're Ken Holland... I start packing my fucking office up. Where are you talking about? I, uh, yeah. Okay, here's the stat. This is the real stat. High danger save percentage. I just pulled this up.

High danger save percentage at five on five. Jack Campbell, 639. Now, what's, for reference, like what's considered good for a high danger chance? You're going to want to 639 is nowhere near it, but. Yeah, a guy who is, let's say, here's a good example, James Reimer, a guy nobody who is like, oh, now, there's a great goalie, right? He is currently 25th in the league. He's only played four games, but he's 25th in the league.

with an 842 high danger save percentage. That's like, you know, on the, once you filter out the guys who have barely played, you know, who, you know, one or two or three games. So James Reimer is not good. I mean, 25th in the league is not great. No. He's closer to saving every high danger chance to being a literal brick wall than he is to being Jack Campbell. Yeah. Let me filter out for guys who have played 100 minutes at five on five.

Let's put it that way. And Jack Campbell is the worst. He's played 200 minutes. He's got, like I said, 639, 5-on-5 save percentage. The next closest guy is Devin Levi, 652. And there's a bunch of guys with numbers in like the 800s. Like almost everybody has a number in the 800s. So, oh, by the way, you know, Thatcher Demko's high danger save percentage?

This will be our brief Canucks talk in this break anyway. 983 What happened to him on the one that got in? You know, I'd have to go back and look. 59 of 60 high danger chances. Thatcher Demko was stopped. It's pretty good. Anyway, we're talking about the Oilers.

So, yeah, I think as a guy who picked them to win the Stanley Cup in the president's trophy this year, first of all, what was I fucking thinking? It's the Edmonton Oilers. you know, your instinct on a team is always right, right? Mm-hmm. And you look at this roster and you're like, well, as long as they just have another historically good power play and this goalie that kind of came out of nowhere to be, you know, in the Vezna conversation last season. And, you know, Ryan Nugent, I said it a million times. How good did the season go for him last year?

Ryan Nugent Hopkins had 100 fucking points. That's how well it went for them. Mm-hmm. And I looked at that, and I said to myself, oh, they'll do it again. They got the two guys. What was I fucking thinking? Well, I will tell you this, the prediction contests that I run,

the wisdom of the crowds had the Oilers number two, as far as playoff locks. I don't ask people to predict cups and President's trophy and that sort of thing, but the Oilers were the 85% roughly of the people who entered the contest said the Oilers were making the playoffs. Yeah. And you only have to pick up to five teams. So that's as a Carolina was the only team ahead of them. And boy, Carolina's turned it on lately after that slow start, huh?

Yeah. Yeah. And the other thing I guess we should say about the Oilers is they absolutely have it in their power to turn things. around, get it going, and at least get back into the playoff conversation. I don't think there's any reasonable way they can, I mean, I guess it could happen, but it's tough to see them pulling ahead of like one of the top three teams in that division. So they're already playing for a wild card spot. It feels like, right?

There are 11 points behind the Kings right now. That's a lot of ground to make up in this league. But then again, they're eight points behind Arizona. So, you know, it's been a weird year in the West. I think we could all agree. I don't think that a lot of us had the ducks and the coyotes holding down playoff spots through 12 games.

But, yeah. It's been a weird year everywhere. But the thing with the West is you looked at it before the season, you went, okay, Vegas, Evanton, Colorado, Dallas in somewhere. Totally. And three of those teams are just stomping everyone. And one of those teams is the Oilers. Right.

How funny was the, like, the first 10 minutes, was it of the Vancouver game where they were out shooting them 19 to 2? Same old Oilers, you know? I don't know if I could get 19 shots and 10 minutes in a video game. I could very easily. Oh. It's not a problem for me. You're better at video games than I am.

But no, you're totally. you're totally right. Like, again, that's that's the time because that's a guy stopping 59 to 60 high danger chances. You know, and then like you, to the point you made about them being fragile, they gave up that one goal game's over. Yep. Here we go again. Are you at all considering a coaching change if you're there? You fucking have to.

You have to consider it or you actually? No, you have to consider it for sure. Okay. Like, I think, I wrote about this the other day. So this is all fresh in my mind. But I think that like when you're looking at a coaching change, you all, you always have to be thinking about who out there is better. And almost everybody that gets hired to be a coach these days is on like their first or second head coaching job in the NHL. The days of like John Tortorell, like the John Tortorellas of the world, your Bruce Boudros, your Claude Julian's being considered for these jobs.

You barely hear their names anymore, right? And so, like, they kind of pulled Woodcroft out of nowhere a little bit, you might say, right? Like, I don't think a lot of us were like, oh, Jay Woodcroft, he's a lock to get that Oilers job. It was, I don't remember the candidates now, but it was probably him, maybe one veteran coach and then, like, two or three other, like, oh, this guy's an A future NHL head coach, kind of a guy. And so I don't know why the Oilers would go, okay, we try to. with that one guy. We got to go, we got to go, with a veteran now.

We got to go get Claude Julian. We got to go get Bruce Boudreau. I don't think they would do that for obvious reasons, right? And so then you're like, okay, now we got to, now we got to find a guy in the H.L or a guy who's an assistant somewhere else. But those guys don't get, aren't allowed usually to talk to teams in season. It happens, I guess, but it's rare. And so, like, just your options for replacing Woodcroft are few and far between, I would imagine, like, you know, legitimate reasonable options.

But we would assume that right now, Joel Quenville is off the board again. Yeah, we're going to talk about the Chicago thing too, obviously, that we'll talk about that later as well. But, yeah, you're absolutely right about that. And so if you don't have those options available to you, why would you just like promote the coach of Bakersfield or whatever? Yeah. Of the assistant coach is Glenn Gulletson. Remember him?

Yeah, I remember how he was insanely bad at coaching an NHL team. He wasn't very good. Dave Manson is an assistant. I, man, you imagine getting a pregame speech from Dave Manson? That would motivate me. Yep. but, you know, at best that feels like a lateral move.

Like, I don't know how much higher the ceiling is on a Dave Hanson coach team. You know what I mean? It's, yeah, it's not high, but can I throw a name at you? You are allowed to, yes. Mark Messier. Does he have a connection to the Oilers? You're going to win. It's a lack of leadership.

Why would you not bring in the greatest, I don't know if you know this. The greatest leader in the history of team sports. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong. I believe this guy was so good at leadering that they actually named a whole trophy after it. Yeah. Okay. He's pulling Conn McDavid aside. Now, what I want you to do is guarantee a win in this game in February against the Winnipeg Jets.

And then, and score a hat trick to make you a legend. And Connor McDavid will be like, well, can one of the goals be into an empty net? He's like, yeah, that's totally fine. Don't worry about that But yeah I mean it's just It's just a situation Where he might force their hand

They lose two or three more games In the next week or two here Their playoff chances are going to be pretty close to zero And you would have to Make a coaching change at some point then right Like If a team that everyone's picking to win the Stanley Cup And the President's trophy and all that

Is like No we're instead going to miss the playoffs. Now, of course, they would be getting Macklin Celebrini in June, right? Like that guaranteed. It happened with Chicago. Why wouldn't it happen here? Ah, but whole, I mean, Chicago, can I just point out Chicago has Taylor Hall right now? Mm-hmm. So, I mean, they're winning the lottery. Yeah. The Oilers still, according to Moneypuck, okay. And that worked out great last time in Edmonton, so why wouldn't they? Yeah. According to Moneypuck, the Oilers are still at 55.5% to make the playoffs.

Yeah, it does feel like this is, you know, this is the time of year where you see, whenever teams going bad, you start seeing those stats pop up of, well, this is the pace they have to play at to make the playoffs. This is the pace they would have to play at to get to 100 points. Yep. And I think I saw something where they were like, you know, for the Oilers to get to 100 points, they would have to play at 109 point pace the rest of the way. They can totally do it. Yeah, like normally when you see a stat like that, you go, oh, man, like that actually, that puts it in perspective.

Like, holy crap, if the sabres are going to make the playoffs, they got to like really pick. I saw that and I was like, oh, well, they can, they can do it. That's what they were last year. They just need to go back to what they were last year and they'll be a hundred point team. And we'll all be looking back on this going, that wasn't too big a deal. Yeah. By the way, it's, it's 109.7. So you're closer to 110.

That's. That still doesn't feel. It's not an outrageous ask. It's a big one. It's a big one for a team that's like just like they're in shambles right now. Totally. 100%. It doesn't feel like a fix is around the corner.

Although again, they are playing San Jose. If it's three months from now and you're looking and going, oh, right, remember they won eight games in row in December and that like cleaned up the whole whole day of Doug? You'd be like, yeah, sure, of course they did. Yeah. It's totally reasonable, but, you know, with each pass in game, now they're like, oh, let's call up some AHL guy to be our backup goalie. It's not like Stuart Skinner's playing well, you know, he's just not. And that's the difference from last year. Like, Jack Campbell wasn't great last year, but Stuart Skinner just kind of stepped in.

Yeah, Stuart Skinner's worse. 856 and 7 games. You can't have a goalie stopping less than 86% of the shots you face. Like, and again, I think part of that, a big part of that is, Jay Woodcroft was like, oh, the way Vegas defense, we should do that. They won the Stanley Cup. And it's like, hey, do you have like any defensemen who are as good as like the third best defenseman in Vegas? And it's like, well, I mean, not really, but, you know, the principal's the same. Okay.

But the other thing is the reason I think they don't fire the coach, the coach gets fired, that GM is also out the door with them. Yeah. And if people either missed it in the offseason or they forgot about it. Like the Oilers brought in a new team president in the off season to sit above Ken Holland. Yeah. Connor McDavid's agent, which is pretty fun. That's right. Former agent now, obviously. But so it's not like, you know, you look and you go like, oh, it's Ken Holland.

They wouldn't fire Ken Holland. Like they have, Ken Holland was very much on watch heading into this. year. Because he's got a new boss. That's the way that works. And, you know, everybody he brought in this summer, I guess with the exception of Sam Gagne, has not really delivered. Right?

So, like the Connor Brown thing, you want to talk about unplayable. He sucks. And it's not really his fault. And got hurt. We talked last week. I think we did about the 10 game cutoff that was coming up. And, you know, because that, if, if, If he hits 10 games this year, his bonus for next year is enormous.

Yeah. Kicks in and hits their cap next year. So, I mean, there goes the cap increase for the Oilers next year. And we wondered if maybe they would sit him. They didn't. He played game number nine and got hurt. Yep. And looks like, I don't think we, I haven't actually seen what the prognosis is,

but it was a weird, like, in football we were talking about non-contact injuries. Yeah. are often worse. Man, that's, like, if this, if he actually is hurt long term, I mean, you know, we, we talk about like the cap hits and all that. I mean, this three million bucks riding on it for this guy to get back in the lineup. And soonish, because you assume if he's like, I'm ready to come back in March, that the team's going to be like, no, not.

Yeah, undisclosed injury, no timeline listed anywhere that I can. But it was very weird. Like he didn't really seem to get touched. And then suddenly it was like something in his core or upper body like just seized up on him. Yep. It was a weird one. Very strange. But yeah.

So it's just it's just a mess for them. Impossible to know what's next barring, you know, just more time passing, I guess. Like you got to wait for the, if they lose the sharks game, all options are on the table. If they win the Sharks game, still plenty of options are on the table. Yeah. I mean, the Sharks will buy them a little bit of time.

What do they got after that? They go Seattle and then home to the Islanders in Seattle. So, man, they're set up for a nice little stretch. Win four games. Nobody's got a lot to say anymore. And then after that they go on the road, Tampa, Florida, Carolina. So that gets... Okay, back to Problem Town.

offer. Yep. But, okay, let's talk about the Puck Soup double curse. So last week, we record the whole episode. Boy, I got us, man. Fucking senators, man. Fucking senators. So, last week we recorded the whole episode.

I would say five minutes after we stopped recording everything, the news comes out, okay, it's going to be a first-round pick they have to give up. Okay, let's just record like a, you know, five-minute reaction to that, have Katie stitch it in. No problem. I go out to go do some food shopping while I'm driving back. A friend texts me. Did you see what happened? I'm like, oh, yeah, the senators had to give up a first round pick.

No, Pierre Dorian got fired. Oh, well, that's, I mean, that makes sense. The guy was bad at his job. So. But it was, it, it. I got to say, like, here at Ottawa, it was kind of a fascinating situation because with the team being sold, and when Michael Anulari, like, emerged as the leading candidate early in the summer, and we knew that he had the connection to Steve Staeos and other people around the league, we're like, oh, yeah, Dorian's done. He's gone. and DJ Smith too

and you know it's just that's it the new boss comes in he wants his own people and then the process like dragged on and on and on and Dorian gets to run the draft in the off season and do the to brinket trade and sign Teresenko

and all that other stuff and it got to a certain point where you're like okay well they're not going to be able to make a change now you know the ownership finally happens late in the same. And from there it was like, okay, it was like it switched to, now they don't want to change things. They want that stability. That's what Ottawa has needed for years under Melnick, right? Stability.

So it really felt like Dorian was like dead man walking and yet he had the season. Yep. And then who knows? But with this, it's like, okay, I don't want to fire this guy. Now, I might want to fire him in the summer, but if I don't fire him now, how do I justify doing it? Like, ah, crap, I got to do it. And then they do the press conference, and Steve Stahos goes, we don't want to fire DJ Smith. And so now they're kind of like, do you turn around after, because you got fans in Ottawa chanting, fire DJ.

Right. Do you turn around and make that move a week after you said you weren't going to? Or like, it's just, it's weird how like a desire for stability has seemingly made this situation even more unstable. Well, okay. So the thing, the thing you said about we don't want to fire DJ Smith and we don't want to fire Pierre Dorian and all this. It feels like when you bring in, like you said, when you bring in Steve Seos, you're expecting a cleaning house. It feels like it was always just one of those things. And it felt like this with DJ Smith with Dorian too, where it's just like, okay, we're not going to be that good again this year.

Like, let's be honest here. We're not going to be that good again this year. All I'm waiting for is for like one three game losing streak so I can be like, oh, DJ, you know, what are we supposed to do? We're going to get rid of this guy. Because that was like the pressure release valve for Fire Dorian. Oh, whatever happened to the summer repeat? Pierre and all this shit. Well, look, I mean the coach.

And then you change the coach, you buy yourself another season or something like that. And maybe it turns around, probably it won't. But like, this is a tale as old as time in the NHL, right? But then Steyos comes in. And now there's that both, like, you know, everybody's got a gun pointed at each other, right? And Steyos is the only guy wearing a bulletproof vest, you know? Yep. Um, and so Dorian's got, pointing a gun at Smith.

Smith's pointing a gun at Dorian now, because if the team sucks, that is also on Dorian. And at the end, it was just like, look, we, we were going to fire this guy eventually anyway, bring in whoever Steyos prefers. And now we now. Stoos himself. Or, I mean, in all likelihood, right? Yeah, he's looking in the mirror. He's like, I think, you know, who do a really good job is. me, you know, the Dick Cheney thing, right?

Yeah. Where George W. Bush is like, who should be the vice president? He's like, you know, I thought about it and it's me. Yeah. You know? Kyle Dumas this summer, right? Exactly. I launched an extensive search for the band.

Everyone's like, dude, it's going to be you. Just, I don't know. I'm going to. It's crazy how that works. Yeah, it's me. But anyway, like, it's, so, you know, they were looking for an excuse and he gave him one nice and early by doing the most Pierre Dorian shit in the world to me. I fucked up something very simple.

Which, by the way, we still don't know the details. Yep. And I complained about that and I had people like tweeted me like, you know, and then they summarize in a tweet. They're like, what do you mean we don't know the details? There was a, blah, blah. And it's like, yeah, no, I thank you for your 30 word summary. But there was a 73 page report on this.

Now, I'm not suggesting that the report should have been made public. But I don't know, man. A little more detail. Senator fans who are getting a little cranky with getting things dropped on them without any details at all. Hey, speaking of which, as somebody as like an outsider with no attachment whatsoever to the situation, like I'm here at Ottawa, I'm surrounded by Senators fans a little different for me. What was your impression of the press conference, the owner's press conference? The one where he's like, look, the league maybe tried to screw me here.

I can see why a guy would be mad about that if the league didn't tell him those things. It just paid like almost a billion dollars for the team. And there are, I'll say this, there are a lot of franchises where if you really want to, you can say, somebody's out to get me, whether it's the media or it's the league or whatever. and those people will fucking eat that shit up. They love that in Ottawa. And I can't tell if that means

that Andahar's has done his homework and knows his market or if he's just that's naturally how he is and it's a great fit. But like, in a way it's kind of amazing me

because remember like Elliot Friedman had a report in the summer when it was Ryan Reynolds. Yeah. Maybe it was before the summer but when Ryan Reynolds was the leading candidate that his whole marketing plan in Ottawa

was going to be like us against the world they're all out to get us, you know, which you think on some level might feel a little insulting to a fan base that like somebody was that cynically going to play into their little brother complex and yet here they are like, yeah, hell yeah, the owner said it.

It's great. I was surprised at how it felt like the perception of that was like, oh my God, the owner went scorched earth on the NHL. I didn't read it that way. To me, it was a guy being maybe a little bit more honest than most would be because nobody in the NHL says anything. And obviously he hasn't fully acclimated to that.

But I didn't feel like he said anything that crazy. No, I agree. And, you know, people were like, oh, is he going to get fun? I mean, the suggestion, the throwaway suggestion that maybe the, the league kept something from him. That was the shocking part. Everything else was just like... But he did say, he said in the press conference that he did know about the Vegas thing, the investigation.

Yeah, that was all... But it wouldn't be a big deal. Well, that's what... I mean, that's... Sorry, man, that's on you. Like, if you're, if someone's like, yeah, we're being investigated for this and this, but take our word for it, it's not going to be a bit like, come on. And the Shane Pinto thing, I don't like Shane Pinto's availability.

for three months is going to really tilt the balance of a billion dollar acquisition. No, for sure. And, you know, maybe you knock on, maybe you go, you know what, we are going to have to give a first round pick. Let's make it $948 million. Yeah. Instead of $9.50. What, you know, whatever. Like, it's all rounding errors to these people, like, because they don't really fucking care.

I did find it funny the whole, like, and it. again, people latched on to this. They love the quote. Like, I don't, I don't understand why I inherited this. And it's like, because, buddy, it's because it's not you being punished. It's the team and you bought the team. Right. So that's glad I could clear that up.

Anything else you're confused? Like, why did you inherit the logo or Tim Stutzel or the organist? Like, you bought the team, man. That's why. By the way, I'm hearing bad things about what's happening to that organist. They're getting ready to fire that guy. Yeah. They're like,

well, that's, I mean, obviously the fans aren't, aren't happy with the music because they're chanting fire DJ. Like the whole game,

right? So it's clearly, you can only play Cotton Eye Joe so many times. That's right. But yeah, I do want to talk about this fire DJ stuff. And,

you know, obviously the, the Brady Kachuk quote where he's like, it's bullshit. It's like, you know it's not bullshit, dude.

You know that. Again, is this guy a good coach? Pierre Dorian was going to be looking for any excuse. So, excuse me, fire this guy, you know, at the earliest convenience. Because, again, it was just the, it was just the release valve for, for what was going to happen. So, or what was going to happen like kind of inevitably, right?

Where it's like, oh, it turns out where the, where the, the, the Ottawa senators were not actually going to be that playoff competitive. Turns out, crazy. how that keeps happening under me and DJ's watch, you know? So all this stuff about like, oh, fire DJ, like, yeah, man, that was always going to happen. I don't think it's like an outrageous thing to suggest that a team that's dead last in the conference should maybe think about fucking changing the coach who everybody was like, oh, it turns out if things go a little bit sideways, the coach is going to get fired. Yeah, no shit, man, you know? And look, a coach that has never made the playoffs, has never, you know, like this, it's not like there's a track record here. Right.

I think DJ Smith is fine as a coach. And he seems like a good dude. But it's not, this isn't some panic move. This isn't like, you know, we're going to fire Mike Sullivan because we got off to a bad two-week start in Pittsburgh. Like, how many years of, how many years of being. at best kind of mediocre team in that conference is going to be acceptable for you. He's in his fifth year as coach and they've never finished higher than sixth. If you're the senators and you're doing the Ottawa, you know,

summer Pierre, like all the Ottawa fans are doing or you're, what is this, the fourth year of unparalleled success or whatever? They're dead fucking last in the conference. And you can say it's a DJ Smith problem. You can say it, but like, how many people did we have to listen to go, you know, might make the playoffs this year as the Ottawa senators? You know, the goal is to at least be around it at the deadline and see what happens. It's like, no, man, you suck.

You suck again. And that was the one thing that, I mean, you saw it over and over again with Ottawa. I'm sure I said it a few times on the show. Like you, you, it's, it was always summer of Pierre, we're going to, this is the year the rebuilds over, blah, blah, blah, and then the terrible first month. And so the thing on this year was, guys, you cannot start slow again. And it was almost like you, you can imagine them going to DJ Smith saying like, dude, don't leave anything in the quiver, right? Like any card you have to play, we must start well. We cannot get into mid-November and be chasing it again.

So whatever you have to do to figure this out, go do it. Only five points out with a game in hand, but it's like, yeah, man. Yeah, again, not, you know, not craze. I'm sure if you ran the numbers of whatever pace they have to play at, but it was just, I mean, the frustration, like all this frustration put aside the draft pick and the, and Pinto and all that, it was absolutely. Like if you had said a month into the season, senators are going to be playing 400,

they're going to be last in the conference. There was no scenario where the fans weren't going to be booing and chanting and all this stuff. 105 point pace, by the way, is what they need to reach 100 points now. Unlike the Oilers, that feels out of reach. It's great. That feels out of reach, but I don't think they don't need, like, you know, they need 95 points. They need to just get into the playoffs and the season is a success.

Well, you know, I. The other issue there is they also have to now leapfrog literally every team in the conference that's not in the playoffs right now. So what's that? Seven other teams, they got to do better than seven other teams for their remaining 72 games of the season.

No, eight, because of course that would, yeah, not bump them into the playoffs. So they need to do better than eight teams for the entire rest of the season. And it's like, do you see them getting one over on the Islanders and the Panthers or the Leafs?

Because that's who you're going to pass. Yeah. Let alone the sabres. Part of it, right, is that. The penguins. We didn't think, you know, Detroit, we weren't really sold on and they're coming back to Earth, but they've banked a few points. Totally. The other thing is the senators are in Toronto tonight.

Yep. And then they play 9 of 10 at home. Okay. Which is a great chance to, you know, to get everything going, but also a great chance to really have that crowd get especially They've got Vancouver tomorrow So back to back with travel

Not great They've got Calgary And then next week They've got Their games include Detroit Islanders and Panthers at home So all teams that they're changed So they could make this up

In a week and a half Is the good news if you're looking for it Or they could be completely Dead and Buried in a week and a half To me It all boils down down to this simple question. Did you really think the goalie from the Columbus Blue Jackets was going to fix your

fucking problems? It's that simple. It's crazy. It was a crazy bet. It's not been great. Nope. And even if he had been pretty good, they're still like not that good of a team. I don't, I don't watch these guys and go, oh, they're X away from making the playoffs.

You and I disagreed on this heading into the season. And so far, you're looking right. No further questions, Your Honor. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back. This week's episode of Puck Soup is brought to you by Nuts.com. And folks, I don't know about you. I love snacking.

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Last-minute tickets, lowest prices, guaranteed. All right. So we talked about the Canadian teams that are playing badly. And I guess we left out the Calgary Flames, but, you know, whatever. Let's talk about one, at least, that's doing insanely well, the Vancouver Canucks. These guys keep winning. They do.

They're banking a ton of points. You know what their goal difference is right now? I'm assuming very good. Plus 15? No, through 12 games, they are plus 30. That's like, that's ridiculous. Yeah, okay. That is...

That's crazy. Something. That's what happens when you have... Nine, two and one. Yeah. This is what happens when you've given up like two high danger goals against all season. Yeah. Rick Talk, it has cracked the code.

Yeah. Guys, huddle up. What if we stopped everything? That's on you, Thatcher. And what if all our shots win in? It's a winning formula if I ever heard one. Check back with me and let me know. Yeah, like, we've reached the point where even like the local media who are normally like,

you know, it was great is that the Vancouver Canucks. These guys are unbelievable. Even they're starting to write articles like, okay, this is getting to be a little much, but here's the thing. You know what I mean? Yeah. Because every indication that we have, that we have figured out over the last 15 years to tell us whether things are,

I was going to say real or fake, that's the wrong way to phrase. It's sustainable or not. Yeah. Everything, every warning light on the dashboard is flashing that this is not remotely sustainable. Nope. They have a PDO of 107, I think. Is that a lot? That's pretty high.

Yeah. Yep, they're shooting 13% at 5 on 5 and getting a 954 save percentage right now. Like, it's hard to contextualize those numbers. Obviously, 954 is something no goal he could ever do. That's, you know, that that's beyond Hasick-Vessna years level. But, like, shooting 13%, like, that's, you know, that's what Stephen Stamcoast did at the height of his powers. Just like a guy where it's like, no, I, I just make the puck go in the net. That's all I do.

one in every eight shots they put up goes in. You know, like, that's crazy. But, you know, as you say, the underlying numbers are not great, but they're not bad either. They're running at 49% of the expected goals in all situations, but scoring 70%. And I definitely think this is where you get in trouble, right? What I think is they have a really, really, really good goalie when he's healthy. And it looks like he's finally healthy. And that alone is going to add a couple of percentages to your goals for or a couple of percentage points to your goals for a percentage.

You know, if it should be 49, it'll be 51 because you have an elite goalie. The high end of that lineup, same deal. They have enough talent where I go, you know, they can add it, they can add. at a point or two. So if we're saying for the entire, starting tomorrow, the entire rest of the year, they score 52% of the goals and they're still playing,

you know, a little under 50 in expected goals, they're still going to win a shitload of games. You don't have to be like a 55%, 58% goals for team to, to put up a ton of wins in this league. But like, honestly,

things, you're never going to see things go. better for a team over a 12-game stretch than they have again for the Vancouver Canucks this year yeah it's that simple and and I will say like unlike some other times I don't get the sense that anybody like you mentioned media or otherwise is like no I think the things that they do well contributes to whatever it is everybody understands like I did that if anything it's been more a case of they are banking so many points that That's exactly right.

Yep. Like I, we, we did in the first segment, right? Like, you know, a bunch of, well, this is the pace they have to play it. They have to play at like an 85 point pace to hit the playoff mark of 95 points. Yep. That's very doable. You know, even if they do that, the rest of the year will get back, you know, they'll get into the playoffs and maybe it won't feel like much of a threat. But there and, you know, the other good things that are happening is Lias Peters,

looks like the fact to MVP level. Oh, he rocks. Quinn Hughes is. You want to talk about MVP level? This kid's going to, I tell you, man. This kid's going to win a Norris and move up to Tier 2B if he keeps this up.

That's right. And yeah, like, you know, Demco, it's goal tending, so it's a little weird. J.T. Miller looks like a player again. Brock Besser looks like a player again. He's at 10 goals. Yeah. And again, like some of this is the, you know, it's the hot streak and it's going to calm down.

But, you know, like when I say, like with J.T. Miller, it's not just he's got, I'm looking at now, he's got 18 points through 12 games. Okay, he's not going to score at 120 point pace. I don't think anyone thinks. But he's, he's just that guy on the, like, he was, like, getting under Connor McDavid's skin all game. Sure. And not even in, like, in the pesty way. but in the like, you know, I'm going to like, you know, I'm a fellow star who's going to like go nose and owes with you. Hey, you know what? It's cool. It's, I've, Vancouver's an entertaining team when it's clicking.

And right now it's clicking beyond anything. Yeah. And could, but. The other thing I want to say is, say what you want about Patrick Alvin and some of the decisions he's made. This Ronick trade looks fucking. unbelievable. I don't think it's a coincidence that they put Quinn Hughes with a guy who can skate backwards and all of a sudden Quinn Hughes looks like a fucking mega star.

Yeah. You know what I mean? And a lot of us towed around these fucking bumps. It was, you know, at the time, they took a- They gave up a lot for him. Yeah. They gave up a lot. And it was, you know, at the time, it was like, why are you trading a first round pick?

Totally. For, you know, and yeah, the guy's 25 at the time the trade was made. but still, like, you're a rebuilding. And hey, so far, the logic, the Vancouver logic has worked out beautifully on that. Now, again, when these guys are on the ice at five on five, they're running at 54% of the expected goals. You can't really ask for anything better than that, right? Like, that's awesome. That's unbelievable.

They've scored 85% of the goals. And, yeah, that's not. not going to last, but the quality that they're putting out there right now, you know, it feels like, I'll give you an example of a guy I think of as like a 54% XG guy, Adam Fox, right? Like a Norris quality defenseman. And I think so far this year, Quinn Hughes is more than just in that conversation. He's at the top of it.

But these are the stats I would want. worn against. And I'm just going to put this out there. The, the Canucks two other most used defensive pairs are Carson Sussi and Tyler Myers, 41% of the expected goals. And Ian Cole and Mark Friedman, 54% of the expected goals. Um, I, I think, suggesting Ian Cole and Mark Friedman are not Adam Fox level players. What I, I think what I'm suggesting is I, I can see it that as much as they, I mean, they've used Chronic and Hughes almost twice as much as any other pair, which is how it should be, right? And what I'm suggesting is I think those guys can do well against, you know, the bottom,

the bottom pair matchups or whatever you want to say. Like, you're not line matching with Ian Cole and Mark Friedman. You're just trying to get through those, whatever, 18 minutes. a game. But Susie and Myers, if there's a, if there's a problem, that's where it's going to start. Well, I don't, and I, you know, I don't think it's me revealing any great mystery. Oh, maybe the worst defenseman on the Vancouver Canucks is Tyler Myers. Yeah, no shit. He was really good the other night, though. I think, uh, talk had specifically called out, like, he was one of our best players the other night. So it's not outside the realm of possibility that, like,

you know, they can, they can, you know, keep it more or less even. And then Hughes and Hironick go out there and wail on everybody and that's the end of it, you know. That's totally within the realm of possibility. But if I'm looking for cracks, I'm definitely starting on that second pair that's punching 30 something percent above its expected goals rate. That's all. Yeah. Very fair. But yeah, they look fucking great. And to your point about banking points, like the only thing that kind of sucks for them is,

you know, 792, they're probably like one of the three or four best teams in the league. They're, in fact, third best by points percentage right now, tied with the Rangers. And the best team in the league is in front of them, right? Like maybe you feel a little bit better about your playoff position if you're first in the conference after getting 19 points from your first 12 game. Yeah, first in the conference, first in the division, however you want to put it. They're not, though, because Vegas is kicking ass to start the season. I think that's just funny. And, you know, as well as they're playing, you know, who's right behind them,

the kings are three points back with a game in hand. Yeah, I wrote about the Kings on the weekend. Like, they're very quietly. They rocked. Well, maybe I should say very quietly. I'm sure people in L.A. are like, no, you East Coast. Bozo, it's only quiet to you. But they're good.

They're good. They are. They're beating some good teams too. Absolutely. And losing to some good teams. Like they've kind of only lost to elite teams, which... Hey, you're going to lose to elite teams sometimes, you know? Can.

But one other team, speaking of the Pacific Division, one other team we got a shout out, break up the fucking Anaheim Ducks, folks. I know they just lost last night to Pittsburgh. All the problems in Pittsburgh are over. Playing the sharks was exactly what they needed. But before that, they were on a six-game winning streak. Now, a lot of the, I think two or three of those games were in overtime. But I also thought, you know, watching their games, they look pretty good. They looked, they looked better than I think anybody would say they had any right to be coming into the year. And fund.

too. Like high scoring, fun, and doing it without largely Trevor Zegris contributing, at least on, you know, as far as on the score sheet. I know there's some Ducks fans who've said, you know, he's playing better than the numbers, but that's a good sign. Like, it's, you know, it's not good when a guy who's one of your franchise pieces isn't playing well, but when he's not playing well, like slumps are going to happen. Sure.

And when he's not playing well and you're still. filling the net. That's not bad. Yep. No, I just wanted to shout out the ducks. I think we said it last week that maybe it just all makes Dallas Hacons look bad.

That they're effectively an unchanged roster and they're a couple games above 500. Great. When Rick Tockets team comes back to Earth, Greg Cronin's going to be right in that coach at ear discussion. This is exactly the sort of thing

voters love. Yep. No, here's the thing. It's like, yeah, but you know, in those six games, I just pulled it up. The Ducks did get out shot by 43 or 44, rather. I did the math wrong on that. So that's not a way you want to go through six games,

but they won all of them. So they can just go that score effects. It happens, you know, whatever. Fuck it. Who cares? Yep. They can. And we're into like, what, like year? It feels like year eight of the John Gibson is going to be good again this year. Guess what? It's been pretty good so far this year. Him and Dawson, both 920.

Yeah. Can't ask for more than that. God, I'd trade John Gibson so quick if I could, if I was Pat for Beak right now. I would be on the phone with the Edmonton Oilers. You give us a couple first-round picks. We can make your problems go away, brother. I did not even think of that. That's...

Now, if I'm the Ducks, I don't want to be reaching a hand down to some loser fucking team in my division and going, why don't we help you out, you know? But are you really helping the moat if you? Only one way to find out, you know. But yeah, I wonder. If you were, sorry, if you were the Ducks, and I'm interested in this now. Okay. Would you trade John Gibson and take back Jack Campbell if it meant you could get assets? from the Oilers?

That's what I'm saying. It would have to be good assets. It would have to be good assets. It wouldn't have to be like, oh, give me your like fifth best product. Like I'm talking a first round picking a really good prospect of which the Oilers do have a few. But you're getting Campbell's easier to buy out. He's cheaper. He's not better, but, yeah.

Name a team that's in more win now mode than the Edmonton Oilers. Yeah. They have to do something. They might have to do something desperate. I don't want to say they have to, but they might have to. And if you can get them to take a bad contract off your hands, how many years is Gibson have left? I guess that's the only question.

It's the same as Campbell. Oh, well, then, yeah. So it's three more years after this year. No problem. I would be, I would be happy to make this trade if I'm, if I'm for beacon. And again, if I'm getting something good back. Because we have Dostal. We don't, we don't need, uh, that's it, right?

Yeah. We don't need like a decent goalie coming back. Maybe, again, maybe you're just putting Jack Campbell in the, in the miners and calling up somebody else or signing somebody else or something. But yeah, I'd think about it for sure. If I could get the oilers, like if Ken Holland feels like the walls are closing in on them, which he should. He definitely should. I can help you out here, brother. All you're going to do is take this goalie who is also bad, but less buyoutable.

or but he's having a good start to the year. Maybe he's fixed something, et cetera. Jack Campbell back to that California sunshine. Oh, yeah. Dude, we might be on to something here. This is a good idea. If this happens, must credit three minutes after we finish recording. Absolutely.

So, yeah, that's all I really had to say about the ducks. They're playing good. Shout out to them. They're fun. Yeah. And you know what, so is Arizona. Shout out to them as well. They're a game above 500.

not at or well they're a game above uh NHL 500 yeah fake 500 right they're they're regular 500 and in fact they're 458 in regulation it says here that's not good but they keep winning Minnesota is a point below them in the standings that's all you can really ask for anyway uh yeah we'll uh we'll be right back with uh with some more news our next partner is uncommon goods. We are officially in the holiday shopping season. And when you're scratching names off your list, when you're going and filling up that car, getting those gifts that you're going to give in a few weeks, the best ones to get are the ones where you're actually excited to give the gift because you want to see the reaction that the person is going to have because you

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There has been another lawsuit filed against Chicago by another player who claims he was abused by Brad Aldrich and it seems like it really jogged everyone's memory of oh yeah I guess there was a second player named in that Block and Jenner report

and this is that kind of not named but mentioned it was like right not identified but like yeah I don't know how you want to put it but apparently and

Apparently, like, people have already figured out who this one was, too. Like, don't do that, people, you know? But, yeah, so we'd seen over the summer and heard mention that, you know, some progress was being made toward Stan Bowman and Joel Quinville being able to come back into the league, which I think we were both like, oh, that would be bad if they did that. But now that feels like it's on hold. Because of this, we obviously don't have a ton of details. I think there was a mention that the lawyers are seeking like a jury case. I would imagine this gets settled out of court as well just because you don't want all these details becoming a matter of public record more so than they already are. So, yeah, just to...

And it's not, as my understanding, the lawsuit is news, but what's being detailed is not... Correct, yeah. New. This is not like it's... Which then leads to, you know, does this expose the Blackhawks to further punishment from the league?

No, unless new information turns up. This is not a new layer being uncovered. This is simply one of the alleged victims taking his right to have his turn in court. Yep. See how it goes. Yeah, I don't know that there's much more that we can say about it right now. We just like don't know very much. Again, beyond, you know, the broad details.

and if you read the story, the details are bad. They're really bad. But, yeah, it's just one of those things where it's like, I don't know really what to say about it, except that, you know, you hope the, the player bringing this lawsuit is in a good place and hope maybe him bringing this lawsuit kind of indicates that he's at a better place than he was a few years ago

when he, when all this new, who's, you know, first broke or whatever, and apparently he wasn't in that place. But, you know, we just don't know. Mm-hmm. But needed to mention it on the show, of course. On another, you know, more current hockey-related note, Jack Hughes, week to week with a,

have they said it's a shoulder injury, or did they say it wasn't a shoulder injury? I saw some conflicting stuff about this. Oh, I didn't see. Oh, okay. Upper body. Upper body, the classic, you know, basically anything above the waist, you know, you figure it up. But week to week, that's not good news.

He felt for a little while there like the front runner for the MVP. But a guy being... Not good news, and yet when you saw the injury and how we went off, I think a lot of us were like, oh, crap, this could be... significant. And week to week is significant, but it still felt, like I think it was Elliot who phrased it as the worst case scenario was avoided, which the worst case

looked like this guy's going to miss half a year kind of deal. Yep. By the way, it is, it is indeed his shoulder. It's his right shoulder, it says. Like I said, I just saw some stuff that people were like, is it his shoulder? And people go, well, not so fast. Let's not say shoulder. But it is shoulder, apparently. So yeah, you never want to see a guy who's going as good as he was. Well, I mean, you don't want to see anybody get hurt, obviously. But you don't want to see a guy who's like leading the MVP discussion.

And also, like, we were just getting ready to start, like, Jack Hughes MVP, Quinn Hughes, Norris. Luke Hughes. Hugh's Calder, question mark. Yeah. How cool with that? have been. And maybe, I mean, if, if week to week ends up being two weeks, then maybe we get back to that. Yeah, I, I usually err on the side of a month plus is what week to week means. It did feel like that when they said that. Um, but yeah, they're, uh, the devils are going to,

devils are going to be, uh, in, in, facing some tough tests, let's say. They're playing exceptionally well. I, I will say that. Um, but, you're losing like again an MVP style candidate first game back they lose to the avalanche they give up a shitload of goals not great

you know again you just don't want to see and Luke Hughes got rocked last night too I don't know if you saw that I did yeah Ross Colton really gave him gave him the business but yeah so there is that

and it's just something that, you know, the headline I saw this morning was, we have the next man up mentality. It's like, right, that's how it works. And they have enough good players that they can totally weather this storm. I want to see a team that doesn't have that mentality. They're like, we are mentality. You know what?

Let's have Connor McDavid get hurt. And the Oilers are just like, you know what, not a next man up mentality. Our mentality is, we're just going to wait until he gets back. We're going to throw an empty jersey on the ice. and just have hoped that they skate around it because what else could we possibly do? Yep. So, yeah, there's that for the devils. The other one also in the Metro big injury.

Well, injury, I guess, isn't the issue here. But Freddie Anderson has a blood clotting issue, they're saying. Yeah. And so they had to go out and get Yarra Holok. Um, Anderson will be out an indeterminate amount of time. Take as long with something like that, take as much time as you need. Um,

but really, uh, you never want to hear about a blood clotting thing because that's one of those like, uh, this isn't, oh, the guy messed up his knee. This is like, his quality of life could be permanently affected. I don't know any of the details, obviously, but. Blood clotting is like really scary shit. Yeah. And I mean, we hear it sometimes with athletes and it doesn't seem to end up being a big deal as far as impacting their career for the long term and long term health or whatever. And then other times not so much. So you just wish them the best.

And meanwhile, a really good Carolina team apparently has already got a contingency plan. Right. Well, that and also they do have Kochekhov this whole time, right? Like they went into the year kind of planning. We're going to run a rotation. Now, their goaltending, it should be said this year, their goaltending has been bad on the balance. Team 876. That's no good, you know?

And like there are worse old hands out there than Yarrow Halak. Let's definitely put it that way as well. But if you were looking for stability in that Carolina crease, you're just not going to get it. And the circumstances here are obviously very frightening and upsetting and all that kind of stuff. And again, you just wish the best for Freddie Anderson. But, you know, this is a really good team. I think we can say that, you know, for the most part,

they're going to be put in a position to succeed. They've won five of the last six. So, you know, they're right in the ship a little bit. They're getting there. That's all, you know, they're a good team. I think everybody agrees with that. And it shouldn't be, it shouldn't be crazy to see them continue through this, through the situation without really skipping a beat.

But you're just going to say, like, you know, you wish the best for Anderson. One last thing I wanted to talk about this week, which is Greg's article about the advanced

like Puckton player tracking stats. Yes. Did you see this yesterday? I absolutely saw it. Yep. So Greg was like, I tried for two hours to figure out who the guy,

the slowest skater in the NHL is this season. And I already forget who it is. It's some guy that you would have been like, oh yeah, it makes sense. that he's one of the slower guys in the league. But he's like, I tried to.

It took me two hours to figure it out. And why is that, basically? And the answer is, and this is what we said, I think, when these stats came out. Well, we wondered when the stats came out because they all say, like, they give you a percentile, not a ranking. And then it just says lower 50 percentile. Right. And some of us were like, is that a, is the data? not specific enough?

Is there like, why would they be that vague? But we, we correctly sussed out very easily that it's because you're not allowed to say a guy's bad. Toughest, toughest players in the world, but also huge. Huge baby. Little snowflake babies. Yep. So, yeah, it's just, like, it's just funny that Greg got more. multiple, like, quotes from people in the game that are like, oh, the reason why is because

these guys don't want you to know how bad they suck. This is data that could make us look bad and, and, you know, make us the target of, I don't know what, like fucking tweets that are going, oh, you sure look slow out there, brother, and the stats back me up on this, you know? This league is so fucking funny. Like, the only league. From Greg, the NHL and NHLPA can be very sensitive about creating negativity around their players. The only league where it's like, stats are actually pretty scary.

Damn, I hope they don't find out about this podcast. I know. We're done for. Yeah, they'll be dispatching SEAL Team 6 to me and you. That's right. Compromise us to a permanent end for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for. what Jack Campbell's save percentages. Yeah, that's right.

Take the shot. Jack Campbell's like, don't take the shot, don't take the shot. But, you know, he misunderstood. Yeah, I just thought that was such a funny, like, the explanation is exactly as stupid as you thought it would be. That's right. It's because we're afraid the numbers will make us sad. Yeah, that's it.

Big thumbs up. Salute to you guys. I don't really have anything else to talk about this week. Can you think of anything that we're missing? No. Yeah. Not really. Yeah, I guess, you know, if we're talking about good teams,

we should say the Rangers are 9-1-2 or 9-2-1. Yeah, they're also really good. The formula is exactly what it's always been, and it's working. Good for them. Yeah. Now, again, I don't know that that's a form. that works in the playoffs when you have to like play nothing but good teams all season, you know,

for three months or whatever. But they got a great goalie. They got great top end talent. That's really all you need. Yep. And a new coach who historically doesn't have a great shelf life, but has been successful when he arrives in places in Pierre Lavalette. Yep.

Absolutely. Not bad. I guess I guess the only thing is, uh, since we did the show last week, Adam Fox went on LTIR. I'm not really sure how long that's supposed to. I haven't seen much in the way of reporting on like here, you know,

he's day to day week to week, whatever. But if you're LTF, is he LTIR? LTIR, yeah. That's 10 games. Yeah, right. So that's a good chunk of the season to lose a guy who's really,

really good. But they keep on rolling. You know? That was last Thursday they put them on LTIR. And since then, they have three points from two games. It's all you can ask for, I guess. I could ask for four. Yeah. I would settle for three.

Yeah. And they beat the Red Wings. So it's not like they're, you know, they're out there beating the Vegas Golden Knights. But, you know, get to play who's in front of you. Minnesota tomorrow night. That's the team they already lost to. They lost them in the shootout last week. Anyway, oh, you know what? I forgot to say this earlier.

Someone posted the stat. The Flyers lost to the 010 and 1 sharks. Remember when the coyotes started the year, 010 and 1? Oh, no. The Flyers lost to them, too, in 17, 18. The only team in NHL history to lose twice to a team that was winless to start

10 or more games in a season. Nice. These slump busters. Big salute to the Philadelphia Fly. Johnny Torts and the slump busters are coming to town. It's just funny that in 17, 18, the Flyers were trying to win. You know? So yeah, you got any plugs for us?

Find me at the Athletic. It's Hall of Fame induction week, so I'm doing Hall of Fame stuff. I've got a piece later this week. week where I'm going to look at the, you know, kind of my annual look at some of the tougher, what are shaping up to be some of the tougher cases among current players. And I got a piece today that I wrote, that I've been one with the right for a while on guys who aren't in the Hall of Fame and won't be in the Hall of Fame, but who at some point in their career, you were like, oh, that guy's, that guy's going to be a Hall of Famer.

And then for whatever reason, they didn't get there. Give me a couple examples. Who are we talking about here? Like, well, maybe the ultimate example, Jimmy Carson starts his career with, like, shattering records, still holds a record for goals by a teenager. 55 goal season as a 19-year-old. That's crazy. And then he went on to host that talk show. Yeah, exactly.

Three seasons he had like, what was it, like 140 goals, almost 300 points. That's crazy. Just crazy. Ends up being over half his career total. He's out of the NHL entirely by 27. Wow. Some of the other guy, Danny Heatley, Dionne Finoff, Norris runner-up in year two. Wow, yeah.

Scored, I think I looked up the number. The goals that he had in his first three seasons, the fifth most ever of a defenseman through three years. And I think the guys ahead of them are like Bork, Potvin. And I can't remember the other two. Yeah, didn't he have like one or two, 20 goals seasons? He had a 20 goal and then back to back 17 and was just crushing people with hit. Like he was Scott Stevens who also scored 20 goals. And then he wasn't.

Hockey's weird. You know, it's the how many times do we look at someone and go, that guy's going to be in the hall of it. Yeah, I just pulled up his page. 20 goals is first season. 50 points and 17 goals is second. 60 points in 17 goals is third. He's out of Calgary a year and a half later.

Yeah. That's wild. And just, and not even, you know, that trade with the Leafs. They didn't even get that much for them. Nope. I still, I've mentioned this before, but one of the funniest things if you can still find it is the, I want to say HF boards thread. It may have been one of the other ones.

It may have been like a Flames board. But when that trade was announced, the Flames have traded Deonuf to the Leafs, but we didn't know what was coming back. And you just see Flames fans reacting and speculating on what they're getting. Nine first round picks, yeah, sure. It's just, you know, all, I don't remember who the least prospects were back then, but all of them. You know, we're getting shed, we're getting this, we're getting, and then they find out it's like, no, it's Ian White and Nicholas Hagman, and you're going to like it. Oh, okay.

Probably still worked out well for them. Yeah, who's going in the Hall of Fame this year? It's Turgeon and the Goalies. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They backfilled all the kind of. Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, and Lundquist, of course. That's right. Yep.

Sure, why not? Go nuts. Yeah, my plugs are EPRinkside.com. I'm writing about the NHL. I'm writing about the NCAA, and we're having a good time over there. I don't know. There's a lot going on. So, just stay tuned.

Eprankside.com. Use the code I love EP, 15 months for the cost of 12, et cetera, et cetera. and of course Patreon.com slash Puck Soup where yesterday I made Sean watch a movie I'd never seen before. A little film called the Love Guru And we just...

How are you feeling 24 hours later? You know, sometimes you see a movie and you have an instant reaction 24 hours later you're like, oh I just, you know, I guess my big thing is I don't know how Vern Troyer didn't win Best Supporting that year. Yep.

You know, he was unbelievable. Sure. really believable as the coach. I believe that he was that he was short like every time he was on screen.

Yeah. I was like, this guy is a super short dude. Well, because at first I was watching it and I'm like, oh,

this must be a Lord of the Rings thing. Like they're calling they're calling so much attention to how short he is. Surely this is like a special effects trick and not just like kind of making the joke that this guy is short.

Yeah. Can you believe it? And, no, that actually, I looked it up. He is, like you said, actually really short. It's crazy how that worked out. But yeah, no, the movie sucks. It's fucking horrible. Yeah.

But, you know, if you want to hear me and Sean just, like, live reacting to my first viewing, and I'm sure Sean's 30th, 40th, something like that. Yeah, something about that. Yeah. It was something. I'll put it this way. It was well received despite just the amount of times that we just sighed at a joke in exasperation. Yeah, a lot of people in the, people on the Discord seem to like it, but they pointed out that there's like occasional long stretches of silence.

I mean, that's, we had penciled that in for laughter. Right. Movie is a comedy. Yeah. That's just us reacting to the jokes. I don't know if people know this. This is a movie that's like with credits and. three different full musical numbers, like 84 minutes long or something like that.

Yep. With credits. And I feel like there were long credits. I think it was like six minutes of credits. Yeah. And not like credits with any with like a scene at the end or anything. No. And you're going and you're going, oh, okay.

Well, surely it's such a joke dense mood. This is like an episode of 30 Rock, right? Where it's just like there's a joke every four seconds. Yeah. No. there's a lot of just like shoe leather that they're laying down in this movie to explain who people are.

And a lot of jokes followed by Mike Myers looking directly at the camera. And explaining the joke. This is one of the all-time great films. So, yeah, I'm a I'm a big fan of the love guru and watching the love guru. This is one of those movies, folks,

where some people might say it's so bad it's good. Not me. I would just say it's regular bad. Yeah. but I'm with you. Uh, yeah. So check all that out, Patreon.com slash Puck Soup. And we'll talk to you next week.

Thanks so much for listening. Bye bye. Bye bye. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. We also cover movies,

TV shows, it's and tools. It's your weekly bowl of Hockey and Nonsense. Pogsoup. I don't know.