Puck Soup - Endless Summer?

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Sean and Ryan talk about how little is going on, unsigned RFAs, olympic camps, and more. Sponsored by Raycon (buyraycon.com/puck) and Mint Mobile (mintmobile.com/puck)

I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects. I'm Sean McAnew from The Athletic. And look, folks, we got to do a show this week. It's not up to us. And yet, what is there to talk about? What could there possibly be to talk about? I'll tell you. This is real news that happened in the NHL, I think.

I think it was like early last week. Buffalo Savers announced we're having a press conference. And everyone was like, oh, interesting. What's that all about? And they were like, and it's to announce the naming rights to our arena. Oh, okay. And all the local media guys are like,

I guess we'll go to this. I don't know, whatever. And so you see, like, there are videos of this. You see that there are like a bunch of people there. Like anybody gives a shit what the name of the arena is, right? And they have like pyro and everything. And they announce, we're keeping the same name because the sponsor is sticking with us.

Are you serious? Yeah. All right. They're like through 2026 or whatever the year was, 2036. Lock it in. We're doing it. And they have the fucking Cody Rhodes Piro and all this shit. I got to tell you, I think the thing about like this could have, this could have been an email is overdone. Yeah. It didn't need the pyro. I'll tell you that for sure.

Everything else, you know, you're really excited about the sponsor. They're giving you however many million dollars. But it's like, boy, LA's making a different company. There's nothing to announce. Yeah, that's not really an announcement, I don't think. The building name isn't changing. But the one thing I will say, having interacted with lots of Sabres fans, is their big thing right now is keep the status quo.

Oh, yeah, it's going great. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Stick with what works. don't change anything. So that's pretty good. They should do that with the roster, too, and just be like... Well, that's what I mean. I saw that they're holding a big press conference to announce Kevin Adams, still the GM.

Awesome. He's going to come out to the Hulk Hogan theme song. It's available now. It certainly is. Well, they say he's going to come out, but then he comes out he's got like shoe polish in his stubble. Oh no. Yeah. Yeah, the Kevin Adams heel turn has been masterclass in long-term booking.

That would be the... That would really throw everyone off. Anyway, this is how bad it is out there, apart from the thing I just said about the Sabres. This is a real headline on Sportsnet yesterday. NHL Rumor Roundup, and they spelled Rumor with a U for some reason. Well, two U's, I suppose. There's always one U in rumor.

no matter where you are. McDavid Caprizov spur waiting game for 2026 UFAs. That's the big headline. Waiting game in the headline. Something might happen a year from now, but probably not. Well, I mean, it could happen any day. That's the thing. Technically, both these guys are eligible to resign right this second.

They haven't yet. No, they have not. You're not going to believe this, Sean. They've had productive talks. Oh, that's good. You believe it? Yeah. Are they keeping the lines of communication open?

It seems like they are. Is there any indication that the teams want to get a deal done, but it has to be at the right number? Well, honestly, I read the article, and what it basically said was like, you, people wouldn't be surprised. I don't know who people are. I'm assuming, like, insiders like Elliott or whatever, are hearing that we shouldn't be surprised if Caprizov's number actually comes in higher than McDavid's. Yeah, that doesn't make any sense, but it doesn't sound like it would be ridiculous. Well, it makes sense insofar as McDavid's going to keep room for Bouchard and Drysidal and all

these guys. David's going to be a sucker. And yeah. And but who does Caprizo have to keep room for? Matt Boldie? Is that it? That's pretty much it. I guess eventually you'd say Zibu.

him, but, you know, that's like three years or two years from now, something like that. I think what we're saying is one of these guys is a greedy Russian, and one of them is a good Canadian boy who wants to win. Couldn't have said it better myself. And he's willing to do what it takes. Because when, see, what happened was when the Panthers beat the Oilers, the McDavid walked past the Panthers dressing room, and he saw all the Panthers were sitting there looking at their pay stubs. and going, I can't buy a yacht.

And he was like, oh, okay. I can't wait till I can't buy a yacht. I now understand what it takes to win. That's exactly right. That's a real story that definitely happened based on another real story that definitely happened. No, like I say, I get the, I get the gimmick there of like McDavid's going to take a little, he's going to take $17 million when he could have taken $18, whatever. the number is, you know?

Caprizov doesn't have to... Look, they just had all this buyout money come off the books. That's all going right in old KK.'s pocket, you know what I'm saying? You just transfer that over to me, he said, and they said that's not a problem for us. And, you know, sorry to all the Chicago fans out there who were like, oh, this actually is going to really happen. He hates it in Minnesota. He would love it in Chicago, a team that rocks and is good. But just in case it does happen, you definitely have to do absolutely nothing all offseason.

Yeah. Save that cap room. It's just he's going to Chicago out of the kindness of his heart. You're welcome. Cool guy to do that. But literally the other rumors in this article. The thing you said about the number is going to make sense. That's true for Jack Roslovick, who's like the only unsigned UFA that everybody.

It's getting weird with him, I would say. Apparently there are five or six teams in the mix, and they're all probably going, how's 3.5? And he's like, how about 3.55? I don't know. I don't know if I could do it, dog. That seems like what the gimmick is with them is just like everybody's just kind of circling around the same number, and he's trying to find the spot that worked for him.

I got a great news for you, Sean. One of those teams, he's friends with Austin Matthews, so that's why Toronto Maple Leafs. That's wild. You almost never hear the Maple Leafs mentioned. Isn't that crazy? Isn't that crazy? He's having trouble getting traction. He's actually really good friends with a guy who's the janitor there.

So you can bet your bottom dollar. Did his dad ever, was his dad ever roommates with the GM? Like college hockey or something. And the Roslavik. household. Did he play for the Sue Greyhound? Oh, no, that was the last guy. Well, so, now, the thing that I thought when I read, oh, you know, isn't a, isn't the

whole thing with the Toronto Maple Leafs, they don't have any cap room right now? And wouldn't you know it? They just re-signed Nick Robertson, but not, they're not keeping it. Robertson asked out a while ago. they're one of those they're one of those, yeah, we'll get around to accommodating that. No problem from us. That's fine. And it seems like it might actually happen.

And Nick Robertson is being connected to. This is the thing you're just not going to believe. The Pittsburgh Penguins, because he's a former Sue Greyhound. Perfect. Yep. That'll really move the needle for all involved. That's right. Yep.

So that's another bit of news. And also, maybe the Leafs don't trade. Robinson. Who knows? Maybe they wait a little while. We thought they would last year. They didn't. Then we thought when they didn't trade them that it would be like a Sandine thing where they would like get him in the lineup, play them for a few games, have them put up some numbers.

Because that always works. Because other teams don't have scouts or anything. They just get tricked by. It does work sometimes though. It kind of does. You have to say that. Yeah. They're like, hey.

and by the way, we're tricking you and teams are like, oh, I love being tricked. That sounds great. So it does work sometimes. And if you can have one of the times it works to be your time, that's great. What else is there, you know? The other option is just trade them for like next to nothing.

Here's a seventh round pick for a guy who may or may not be an NHL player. Yeah. They're not going to get much for him. That is definitely the case. Because everybody knows they have to trade him. Yeah. And also, you know, he's, he was a high-ish pick. He has some talent.

Obviously, his brother is a significantly better NHL player. This is why I'm going to sign us. Steve Lemieux. Yeah, it just hasn't clicked in Toronto. Like, he hasn't done enough. Like, if I'm one of the other teams, I'm interested in. taking a swing on a guy like this who could who could click but I'm not giving up much of anything

at this point. Lee fans are going to be like, what? We only got a fifth around pick for this guy? It's like, yeah. Well, like, what's the market for Nick Robinson? Like how many teams are like, damn, I got to get Nick Robinson under my control. You know, it can't be that many.

Even if what you're saying is true, which I think it probably is, the thing of like, oh, we can fix what's wrong with him here. You know, we've had luck with players who fit X profile before. Why couldn't we do it again? That's the way teams think to themselves about reclamation projects like this. And, you know, often they're right. They can fix the guy.

And maybe he's not like, you know, first line center or anything like that. But eventually, like, you find use out of him. And if it only costs you like a fifth round pick or whatever, then, If you're getting an NHL player for a fifth round pick, you did some good business. But, you know, they're not going to bet that much on it. No. Because he's probably not an NHLer. Okay.

That's fine too. Especially because everybody knows they have to trade it. The other thing is even that year ago, you kind of looked at it and went, oh, well, Dallas should pick him up, have him play with his brother. That'd be fun. every pair of NHL brothers have to play

on the same team at some point let's get it done but Dallas says A got no cap space and B doesn't seem to like their Robertson very much these days

Yeah there there is that as well Wait a second hold on I think I got a one for one trade one for one trade that fixes two teams issues That's right

Yeah, I guess there's not really been any update about the Dallas Stars hate Jason Robertson, by the way. And it's the same thing with Jordan Kaira, like we were talking about a few weeks ago where it's like, you hate this guy? Isn't he good? And it's like, yeah, but like not how good I think he is. What? And you have like 40 goals last year or something? Yeah, but, you know, could add 42. Okay.

I guess that's true. I could have had 70. Didn't, but... That's what I would have done if I was in issues, but... That's right. It can't be that hard. They used to do it all the time back in the 80s and 90s. Yeah.

Get 70? Easy. No problem. But yeah, I don't know. Like, it's just the time of year when, like, all these GMs are going to, like, yeah, okay, call me on, like, September 1st. I don't care about any of this shit right now. Mm-hmm.

I got like one month off a year. Can I enjoy it, please? Got all these arbitration cases settled. They didn't go, not a single arbitration case actually happened. Everybody signed early. And that's, that's the mindset at this time of year. We're all set. We don't need to, we don't need to, like, get on the phone with anybody.

I don't blame them. Nope. That's my mindset this time of year. So. I don't want to talk to anybody. in August about anything hockey related. It's a good policy.

It's a miserable experience. I'll do it, but I will sulk openly through the entire conversation. That's right. There are still some RFAs that need to be resigned. Now, again, this can wait till early September. These don't have to get done right this second, but there are a few where it's like,

oh, I guess now that you mention it, I have heard of that guy, you know? Are these guys where it's like... I always get confused at this stage. Are any of these guys offer sheet eligible? I don't... I think Marco Rossi must be. Yeah.

And I would think Mason McTavish is too, but I don't know off the top of my head. I feel like I saw McTavish mentioned in some of those, like, some of those June articles where it's like, here comes the wave of... offered and then like yeah well it's funny you meant like because i for whatever reason and again this is this must be just an august thing but like when you know when i do my googling for my for my weekly column that i write on sunday mornings and gets published on monday and uh i wrote about the national predators this week where i'm like are they gonna like do anything or like what's the what's the story with the preds was basically my my gimmick this week but

The last few weeks, when I've Googled like Anaheim ducks, there's all these rumors like Mason McTavish is going to be traded. And I'm like, is that just wishful thinking? Is that based on anything? And we'll never know because there's nobody who covers the ducks really, like on a full-time basis. We'll just never know whether the ducks, you know, again, Jordan Cairo. There are like multiple people who cover the blues all the time. So they're saying, oh, there's a little bit. a smoke to the Jordan Kairu thing.

Okay, great. Good to know. Thanks. You know. I can't imagine they're like, yeah, you know what? Mason McTavish, who gives this shit? See you later. We'll trade them to Montreal. But Montreal is the team that everyone's like, oh yeah, this is an obvious connection. Sure, yeah. The Canadian should trade for like a guy that everybody agrees is really, really good as a prospect.

I don't know. But that's one of the guys. and another one is Luke Hughes, who I think is going to cost New Jersey kind of a lot of money. And I don't really know why. Yeah, speaking of brothers, that is one where you can't, you probably feel like you can't go as lean into the leverage as much as you maybe would for other players. Right, for sure. Yeah, especially because you're getting.

Quinn in like six months. Exactly. You got to, now that's, I mean, that's your argument, right? You go to him and you say, look, two things. First of all, we got to save room for Quinn in two years. And second, our experience as an organization has been that your family are a bunch of suckers. Your absolute ruse. So we're going to give you a max-length deal for like half of what you're worth. And you're going to just sign it and smile and spend the next, spend the next eight years being number one on everyone's list of best contracts, which is to say dumbest contracts.

Yeah. Like, you know, I think he's a good prospect, obviously. There's a ceiling there, but like everybody's like, this is an $8 million player right now. And I'm like, I feel like I've watched him in the NHL and I can't agree to that. You know what I mean? Like, he's shown flashes and, again, he's certainly a good player. But everybody's like, he's going to be so expensive.

And I'm just like, we're talking about the same Luke Hughes, right? Like, he hasn't shown it in the NHL for me. Again, I think he's good, but, like, I don't think he's an $8 million defense. Maybe that's just the old way when the cap wasn't $100 million. But I just don't see where everybody has come to the consensus, you know? Am I crazy? I don't think you're crazy. Again, some of this is the name.

Thank you. But, uh... Yeah. They'll get something done. Oh, for sure they will. Yeah. You know, this isn't the Mason McTath. Nobody's, nobody's saying, oh, and of course they're going to trade one of the Hughes brothers.

They're going to trade for one of the Hughes brothers. Everyone agrees on that. But they're not going to like let this kid walk or hold out or anything. It's going to get done. That's fine. And then the other one. And Luke Hughes is not eligible for an offer sheet. So.

Great. everyone who's like, you know, what if the Canucks? Yeah, can't. Can't do it right now. That's what I figured. And then the last guy who kind of fits this bill, and it does seem like it's going to get traded. So, you know, start your engines. Is Marco Rossi of the Minnesota Wild?

Just seems like it's not going to happen there. They don't like them. They don't have time for them. Whatever. You know, he's not hitting the benchmarks they wanted to see from him. and maybe you just, maybe you're just writing on. I feel like it's been a prospect for seven years now.

Yeah, I mean, he got, didn't he get drafted pre-COVID? Isn't that the whole, wasn't that the whole gimmick that he got like a, a serious health issue, like with his heart or something? He was drafted in 2020. Okay.

Knight overall. Yep. In that weird 2020 draft. So, yeah. 60 points last year. I mean, a lot of them were kind of, I know the argument is there were sort of some empty calorie points in there, but. You're going to have a hard time finding, yeah, you're going to have a hard time finding a lot of like 23 year olds or 24 year olds, whatever he is, who hit 60 last year. It's that simple.

Empty calories are not. Like, we're all agreeing like J.J. Peturca, the Utah getting J.J. Paturca. You want to talk about empty calorie points that didn't fucking matter. Yeah. You know? And we're like, oh, they killed it.

Utah, they're about to take off. Marco Rossi gets to 60 points. Oh, hum, who gives you shit? Oh, okay. I guess I miss the memo on this.

That sometimes it's great and sometimes it sucks. I can't imagine there were too many guys on the wild who got the 60 points last year. So, you know. And look, obviously points aren't everything. So why do you think, why do you think he hasn't been moved?

Like, do you think this is, a guy that just there isn't a market for him like you would expect? Or do you think it's that the wild art only kind of sort of want to trade him? I think they want to trade him. But then they hear what the price is and they go, oh. That's exactly right. I think they want to trade him.

But they go like, okay, that'll be a first round picking a prospect. This guy had 60 points last year. And teams were like, I thought you wanted to trade him. Like, isn't the end? implication there that you think he kind of sucks or isn't going to reach, you know, the levels you thought he was? And the Wilder, like, yeah, well, he had 60 points last year. Did you not see this?

Pull up the, pull up the elite prospects page. It says it right on there. And, you know, this is a deal that maybe the price comes down in September. GMs don't, again, GMs don't want to be picking up the phone this time of year. They don't want to haggle. Okay, well, we'll circle back. You let us know when you want to trade him. I think that's honestly what's going on here.

And I don't think the wild are wrong to do it. Right? Like, they control the player. Yep. So they control the player, but are, and I'm asking this rhetorically because there's, there's no way for us to know. But is all of this trade talk putting the relationship in a point where can he come back? Can you just walk into training camp and opening night and be like, all right, get out there, go get another 60?

Right. Or is he like, wait a second. You can't, you can't just, can't do me like that all summer and then expect me to act like nothing, nothing happened. Yeah, I guess I don't know the answer to that, like, how afraid the relationship is, like on there. and I guess I don't know, but it certainly sounds like they're kind of just fed up with them or whatever. And again, I don't totally understand why, but also, you know, I don't follow the wild every single day. Maybe there's some secret reason that, like, is common knowledge. You don't know that he didn't backcheck in the game against the jets, and that's why, you know, like, there might be that.

There could be, yeah. I don't know. Look, there are guys that have played their way out of cities before and, like, found out that, you know, it just wasn't going to work. The coach didn't trust him, whatever you want to say. But then he gets to another city and the coach is like, okay, you know, I can come to an understanding with this player. I can, he fits more into our system better, whatever it is.

And that guy ends up being a good player. And again, maybe not like an unbelievable player, maybe not a guy who, you know, oh, 60, that's no problem for me. But a guy who, you know, if he's up around like 50 every year, you're still really happy with that. Isn't that the gimmick? Like, you could see that happening somewhere. But. Yep. And I saw.

That's, that's both the hope and the fear, the fear in Minnesota that this is going to be one of those things where three years from now, maybe less, we're like, why did you trade this guy? How did you talk yourself into? Right. It was time to move on. But again, it gets into that thing of, I mentioned before, GM once told me, like,

I'm wondering, what does this other team know? I can scale it as much as I want, I can know the numbers. I will never know this player as much as the team that's had them for the last five years. What do they know? that I don't know that they're so eager to unload him.

Hard to say. Yeah. Nope. I agree with you. I think that's where all the, we're not going to give you like a first and a prospect for this guy. You don't like him. Yeah.

You know, it's an interesting dance for sure, but that's just how it is. You know, you know, speaking of that, I didn't have this on the outline, but do you want to briefly talk about the,

the classic, whatever you want to say, like best and worst contracts article that comes out over here. I enjoyed that. Tom Head is top 10 and bottom 10. You never want to be in that bottom 10, do you? But unless you're Sam Bennett,

because that was... Sure. And I would encourage people if you didn't see the article or if you just skimmed it. That's right. Is Sam Bennett appears as one of the 10 worst contracts.

And basically, Dom then spends 500 words. Not trashing his own model, but basically saying, like, yeah, this is wrong. And here's why everyone thinks Sam Bennett's contract is completely fine. Which was interesting to me. He does that, like, you know,

people give him crap about, oh, you know, the model spits out these numbers. But very often he will say, look, here's why I'm not sure if this is right. Here's why I think maybe this isn't, you know, here's what I think maybe the model is missing. In this one, he just was like, nah, I don't, I don't agree. You don't agree.

Nobody does. Here's why. And they move on. Well, again, it just gets into the model can't account for we don't give a shit what happens four years from now. Yeah. That's basically what that is. You know, can't factor in, we have so much surplus value from all our other contracts that we're completely happy to throw this on it.

Exactly. The model is going, oh, like, this guy is barely worth this much now, let alone in a few years, he's going to be just a black hole of value per contract. And, of course, everyone else goes, yeah, yeah, he will. So what? That's fine. Who cares? Of course you bring him back. It's the matter to be.

Yeah. He needs to go. Here's what Dom needs to do, and I don't know if he's thought of this. He needs to go into his code. And the place where it says flags fly forever equals false, he needs to change that to flaggles forever equals. Absolutely. Yeah, he needs to.

That needs to be a true. It needs to be equal true instead of equal, equal, true. And once he does that, boom, it's going to the, the, and maybe what he should also do is set to watch the games to yes and then he can like turn his monitor so it faces the TV and like I'm assuming some blinking eyes will appear on the screen or whatever and then then you got yourself a model. Yeah, absolutely.

So yeah, just to run through it real quick, number one, Jack Hughes. Oh, there was a 32 Thoughts podcast the other day and they were talking about this article and the model and all that kind of stuff. and apparently agents hate when their players show up on the best value list. No kidding. It makes perfect sense, but it is funny to think about like an agent opening up the article and going, fuck. Yeah, be like not come on one time. Well, here's the thing.

Agents should hate that, but agents should also be sending flowers to people like Dom and us and others in the media for constantly framing this as best contracts and not like, Biggest screw-ups by a play. Which players have cost themselves the most tens of millions of dollars? I agree. By signing stupid contracts. They should actually send us money. His agent is this person and here's what they signed and here's how much.

That's right. But yeah, Jack Hughes is number one. Which, you know, anybody who listens to this show, it's all we fucking talk about when we talk about Jack Hughes. So there's that. Brandon Hagle's number two. I thought that was a little interesting just because it's like, he's he's super good and I think he's a lot better than figure that out yeah that's exactly right I think I think he's a lot better than people give him credit for but he fucking rocks and he's signed long term uh at six and a half million dollars which is gonna three years from now we're gonna be like six and a half million dollars this guy where does this guy live in a hovel that's right that's nothing plan for free let's see here Seth Jarvis.

Okay, sure. Yeah, makes sense. Good player. Good value. Absolutely. Sam Reinhart, it's number four, like you said. Nathan McKinnon. Boy, he's got a love, he got like a one-year break.

Mm-hmm. From being on these lists. And now he's back. Yeah, he got the extra, like, $100,000 over McDavid. And everyone's like, this is the best contract in the league. And I'm sitting there saying, is it really? I'm really here. My thing with it is his game is so predicated on speed and power.

And, you know, once you get into your 30s, that I obviously still. I mean, when you don't, when you haven't eaten a grain of sugar in four years. That's right. He doesn't even look at tomatoes. You're right. And we should point out that, like, that's the other thing about Dom's model is it classically, it basically loves elite level players. As well it should.

It believes that every elite level player is almost by definition underpaid. Criminally underpaid, right? Even if you are, like, Leon Drysidal is not on the list. I don't think he was an honorable mention. He's right below Nathan McKinnon at number six. He is, okay. So, I mean, there you go. Highest paid player in the league.

still one of the better team-friendly contracts. Yep. After Drysidal, another guy where you're like, oh, I don't think of him as being like elite, elite, Dylan Gunther. Yeah, that was an interesting one. That was not a name I would have assumed would be there, but you can see it. I think it's the combo of he's young and the cats going up,

and he signed for eight years. So by the end of this contract Again, 7.1 million is going to be like nothing for a guy that's whatever, 31 years old and theoretically a top line player. I think that's the gimmick with that one. Then you got Lucas Raymond, probably the same idea except, man, 8.1's a lot of money.

I don't know. He's a good player, but like, are the Red Wings going to be good at it? any point in that eight years. It's, it's tough to say. Then the aforementioned Matt Boldie, seven years, he's got five left, good player. And then Tim Stutzlow. One of these days, he's going to be, he's going to be hitting that hundred points, like we all, like we all said. Someday. One of these days. So yeah, and then where's the, where's the worst contracts one? That's a separate article I got to click on. Come on, man.

Dude, we're farming those clicks. it's all about the clicks. It really is. It really is. Okay. When did people stop saying clickbait and start saying clicks? I don't know. I feel like there was a thing.

Like what happened there? How did everyone? Is there like just a meeting of like whiny sports commenters and they just threw that out there? It's a really good question. I feel like, uh, frankly, I think probably the thing is like art. The art of the take, the art of the article is dying, and now it's just like, hey, can you, can you really sum this up in like a one image social media post? Right. I think that's probably what it is.

I'm 60 years old saying shit like that, but that, I do think that that, like, people just don't read articles anymore. Like, they, they want the DOM article, but they want it summarized for them. I ask for you chat GPT. Well, don't, first of all, don't do that. But second of all. Don't ever do that. No. All right.

The worst contract in the NHL is once again, Jonathan Huberto. Everybody agrees with that. Everybody is on board. They think that's fine to say. And the GM who signed it surely never got a job in the league again. I know he's not in Calgary anymore. So I got to assume he's.

That's right. And then this one hurts. This one number two on the list, a contract that cut signed a month. month and a half ago, I've improved of him, expected to deliver negative $33 million in value. Is that bad? Oh, my God.

That sounds bad. Yeah, I mean, again, this was an this was a, I almost had an article. This was a contract, they signed it and everybody went P.U. What are they doing? Why did they do this? Well, I think everyone said, did the P.U part.

The why did they do this is kind of Like, there's a Columbus tax. But beyond that. And they had a surprisingly good year last year. And so there's a feeling of, you know, if we let guys go, we just take a step back to, but, like, I feel like I understand why they did it while at the same time having 100% certainty

that it's a bad move. Well, okay. So with Huberto, Dom projects him to be a positive value player, They're not like, not value versus what the AAV is, but just like, he is a positive contributor on the ice to the Calgary Flames for the next four years. And then it's the last three that's the problem. Okay? Number of years, Ivan Proverov is projected to be a positive value, just an above replacement player for the Columbus Blue Jackets. out of the next seven is zero.

Okay. So that's a problem to me. Hold on. Let me run the numbers. That feels bad to me. Mm-hmm. Number three on the list, Chandler Stevenson. Another one.

They signed that contract. Everyone was like, uh-oh. Yep. We are now, after last year where he was actually not horrible or anything like that. And it's all negative value from here. We talked about empty calories. Like I threw that phrase out there with Margarossi. Like Chandler-Stevenson is the empty calories guy.

And again, I would encourage people when you click on an article, read every word of the article and think about it. But definitely read the Chandler-Stefonson because it is, you know, I could see people looking at his stats and saying, he's not that bad. Guy was like their second leading score or whatever. I mean, and Dom really gets into like how almost stunningly bad some of the, I don't even want to call them underlying numbers anymore. You can't play defense, yeah. He's a black hole.

Yeah. You know, as far as like he gets points on the power play, including a lot of secondary assists. As Dom says, on a bad team, somebody's going to get points. There's no NHL teams that are out there scoring 120 goals in a season because they're that bad. Every team is going to get a certain number of goals. Guys have to get points on it. But, I mean, it's not like, oh, he doesn't drive play.

He, like, somewhere in there, there's a number that, like, starts with a three. He's, like, a 35 percent, something around, like, as far as whether it's expected. to goals or shot attempts or whatever. But, I mean, it's some, like, one of those numbers where you're like, oh, we're not supposed to see numbers like that in today's NHL. Right. Certainly not for, highly paid guys. When he was on the ice at five on five last year.

Not good. Seven points lower than the next worst crack in forward. So the next worst guy was at 44, which is bad, but like, maybe you can live with it. And that is like, it's. It's almost impossible to have that big a gap between two guys on the same team. Like the worst guy and the second worst guy on the same team. Because obviously there's a lot of team effects that sprinkle into all of this in ways that we can't fully break out yet.

But yikes. Yep. That's, yeah. Here's my theory on Chandler-Stevenson. Okay, go ahead. I think he's a- And I'm not sure who's behind it. But I think he's a paid sleeper agent whose job was to single-handedly destroy the teams in tax-free states, get all the good contracts argument.

That's right. I think Gary Bettman just designed him in a lab. Big Tax-A-Chucet. Him and Ron Francis. That's right. Actually, Ron France probably wasn't in on it. Ron Francis probably just like, oh, this guy's good. Give him a huge amount of money.

What do you mean he played next? to Mark Stone and that's why. Anyway, talk to you later. That dude should be sending a percentage of his paycheck. Oh, absolutely. I think about this all the time. That would be an episode someday. Like what guys in the NHL should be directly sending a chunk of their free agency

paycheck to a teammate or a coach or whatever? Absolutely. Yeah. That's a September bonus episode. That might be the number one. Chandler Stevenson and Mark Stone. I just remember, God, this must have been a decade plus ago.

Back when I had to watch the NHL Award show every year for Yahoo, you know, they were talking to Ryan Getslaff on the red carpet. And I think it's Kevin Weeks, says to him, is there something, I heard a story, you know, like the Graham Norton style setup of like, I heard a story. I'm teeing you up to tell it.

You know, that kind of thing. And basically he was like, I heard a story that you say the, whenever you get a new linemate, you say the same thing to them every single time, especially if it's a young guy. And Ryan gets left, like, I certainly do. You got me. Yep. And he's like, what is it? And I, in my memory gets left demurred.

Maybe I'm remembering it wrong. But he was like, oh, you know. whatever, you know, blah, blah, blah. And Kevin Weeks goes, is it, go to the front of the net and I'll make you a millionaire? And Ryan gets left. I was like, yeah, yeah, it is. It is. Yep.

And that's not all. Congrats to Mark Stone on that one. Next up, number four on the list is Brady Shea. The great Brady Shea. He helped the predators win the summer last year. Interesting that of the three, were you? surprised it of the three, the big three of their free agents that he's the guy on this list? Well, not, not, yeah, I mean, a little bit only insofar as, like, the AAV isn't crazy.

Yeah. It's the term that's the problem. Well, I mean, the AAV, to be clear, is crazy. But it's not, it's not like Stamcoases, right? Like, it's not. and again, say what you want about Chandler Stevenson. He's giving them value on the power play, and obviously that's it, but there is value there. And Stamco's, he's giving you value on the power play, in theory, in actual practice last year, not so much.

They had the low, so I mentioned I wrote about the Predators. I didn't realize they had the lowest shooting percentage in the league last year. That'll do it. That'll get you fucking 31st in the league or whatever they were. You know? Especially because Saros was bad as well. So my whole thing of like, what are they doing to fix this? It's like, they made the defense a little better, but they're just, they really need

Saros to be like good and not to shoot 8% or whatever it is. And that might get them into the playoff mix. That was the idea. But other than that, they should probably trade for a forward. But yeah, Brady Shay, not a great player. but it's rough. You know, things are tough all over in Nashville. Because next up, number five,

a guy they just traded for Nick Hague. Oops. That's two guys who were on the list. Traded for and signed. Yes, that's exactly right. Right? Like they didn't trade for the contract. They said, oh, this guy has no contract?

We have a great idea. Let's give you some assets first. And then. Yeah. And they didn't give up that much to get them, but yeah. So, you know, I don't have a take. Read the article. You know what I'm saying?

Read the article about the predators and their problems. Next up is Sean Couturier. I don't think anybody would be surprised by this. Maybe they would be. I don't know. I can't look into the mind of the Sean Cotorier. Honestly, my surprise in seeing his name was I didn't realize how many years he had left. Yes.

I would have thought. That contract was winding down. Five years left. Yeah. No, I remember when he signed it, I was like, it's a lot of term for a guy who is already like 30 something. Now, was that, did he sign that right before or right after Tortorella was benching him and there was all that? I think it would have been before. I think, I don't know if Tortorella was even hired when he signed this extension.

Let's look this up. Octuary extension. Because he got the captaincy. Yes. So that was August 21. Now I got to Google Flyers hire Tortorella. Yeah, and they hired him June 22. Yep, not working out so good.

Maybe the new coach can unlock something here. I'm not super hopeful. But again, he's not like a negative value play. he's just negative value relative to his contract. He's not a black hole out there like Chandler Stevenson, right? He's a good player. He probably isn't going to live up to this deal. That's the way it goes.

Ryan Poulock over on the New York Islanders, that checks out for me. That's fine. It does, but it's interesting that there was a time where Pooleck and Pellick were like considered, A, they were like a great pair, and they both got long-term deals and people were like, okay, yeah. Like, this is one of the, most of the deals, and you've said it a few times, most of the deals on this list, you go, yeah, when they sign that, everyone went, oh, oh, oh, I'm not sure this one falls into that category.

Yeah, I think, I think it's a function of, like, when they signed these extensions that the Islanders were probably just coming off the, hey, we went to two conference finals in a row, don't look into how fake those playoffs were. Like that thing of like, oh, yeah, the roster's not good, but like the system, they can keep this going forever. And then they fire a coach, then they fire another coach. And it's like, oh, actually, maybe we suck, you know. Like the bottom dropped out on the team and it turns out that it was the system the whole time. I think I'm perfectly willing to accept that as an explanation in 2025.

you know. So, but the other thing about that is Pelican Poulac, at the time, you were like, oh, I guess they're older than I thought. Huh. And so now that they're like 33 or whatever, well, how old is? Pulock is currently 31. He shouldn't be losing it this badly. But like, you know, the Asian curves comes for everybody, blah, blah, blah. it's not a situation where you're like,

I can't believe this is happening. I can believe it. You know what I mean? Yep. But then you got Sam Bennett. We already talked about that one. Then you got Cody Cici. Now, this is another one that just got signed.

That's a problem. Yep. And again, I could have told you on day one, oh, I wouldn't assign Cody Cici if I was Kent Holland. that maybe that's just me maybe I'm crazy I actually watched when he played in Edmonton where was Ken Hall oh oh oh because that's the thing right

Ken Holland saw him play like that in Edmonton and went this is actually great for me I love it and it's interesting because there's been and again in the article Dom gets into it a little bit like some revisionism or like

an attempt to better think about guys like Cody Cici who are, in theory, good or at least okay defensemen who just get thrown in the deep end, play too many minutes against too difficult competition, and get caved in. But still, you know, they bring something to it. Somebody's got to eat those minutes. And, you know, is there a different way to look at it and all that? And Dom, I believe in the piece says that he's actually,

like made adjustments to his model to better account for those sorts of guys and to not beat up Cody Cici a bunch. And yet he still shows up on the list as one of the worst contracts even after those adjustments. Yeah, because here's the thing. They signed him until he's 36 years old and he's Cody Cici. If you're, if this is a guy where you're like, there's something I'm missing about why everybody thinks this guy's good, you don't sign that guy until he's 36, you know? You would not think so, no.

And it's not even like they got them at like some discounted number where you're like, oh, okay, if this works out, they're going to be. Yep. And again, three years from now, four and a half million dollars, we're going to feel like that's nothing. But also three years from now, Cody CCC is going to be 35. So, you know, it's tough. And then finally, another contract that got signed this summer, Tanner, you know, my thoughts on Tanner Genoa as an NHL player are

well established at this point You love the guy? Yeah, he's awesome. One of the best we got. No, you know, it's the old joke about like when they signed this contract I would describe my scoff as audible.

Okay. You know, I just couldn't believe when they gave this guy to steal. Yeah. But they're the fucking ruins. You know, they're trying to be big bad. scary guys. My main recollection of that contract was like all the contracts being signed early in

and free agency were pretty reasonable. And it was like everybody was just flailing around. Like we have nothing to really hate on. And then that contract dropped. And everybody was like, there it is. That and Cody Sisi. That's what we all said. All right.

I'm in. Yep. That's exactly right. All right. Why don't we take a break? We'll come back and we'll talk. talk about a couple other things and wrap it up. Not a lot going on.

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We're back. and the only other thing that's really going on that's worth talking about, in my humble opinion, is Canada, at least, has announced it's like an Olympic orientation camp roster. Snubs and flubs, of course, there's always going to be those. And they mostly seem to be people are mostly upset about the goaltending situation. Because the goalies that got invited are, Four Nations gold medal champion, Jordan Bennington.

Makes perfect sense to me he would be there. Aidan Hill and Sam Montembow. And everybody's going, where's Logan Thompson? Where's Darcy Kemper? Where's McKenzie Blackwood? How many goalies do you want them to invite folks? How many nets do you think they have? They don't have that many nets, but also they invite it like 40 forwards.

Like, it's a very long list. No, right. That's what everybody's argument is. If your favorite player is not a goalie and is not and is Canadian and is not on this list, he stinks. Or at least, that's what everyone apparently thinks because they invited Brandon Montour to this thing. Yeah. So we're going to do like a stockwatch thing on elite prospects this week. Me and Cam are going to collab on it.

And I, you know, I was just like dividing the invites up into locks. probable fringe, probably not. And then the last category is, why did they invite him? And there are three guys on there. Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montor, and Colton Pareko. For now, obviously, some things can move around one, three. And obviously, Braco was on the Four Nations team, which is probably why. Did anybody on the Four Nations not get invited?

That's a good question. I don't think so. I didn't actually like put them side by side and compare. But yeah, like I said, the people are mad about the goalies. People are not mad. So with Shabbat, it seemed like people were a little mad. Thomas Shabbat not on the list here. Oh, yeah, he's good.

Yeah, but like I can totally see why. There's nothing here that is in any way a commitment. Correct. And those three goals. just because they invited only those three. That doesn't mean like, oh, crap, those are the three goalies. That's just... Well, actually, now, there is a bit of a commitment here

because there are six players for every team, basically, that got locked in already with, like, the first six or whatever they were calling them. So the guys that are locked in for Canada, no surprises here. Kale McCar, Sidney Crosby, Nathan McKinnon, Connor McDavid, Sam Reinhart, Braden Point. Those are the six. Okay. Makes sense to me.

Maybe the only one you would say is maybe Reinhardt, you would say, isn't a lock to make this team. But he is because he just, you know. Yeah. Did all that stuff, you know. But other than that, I, I, frankly, you know, who they should have used that, that sixth spot on Jordan Bennington. But they're not going to, even if we all. think he's the number one guy because, to your point, just a minute ago, so much of who gets invited is going to be who's hot in the three weeks before they have to submit Olympic rosters.

Right. Which is way too early, but okay. Yeah, but that's what it's going to. Do you know when they have to submit off the top of your head? I don't. I want to say it might be, when did they do it for four nations? Is it like early December for Four Nations? I feel like this time it's a few weeks later, but not...

It's not like it... Late December or early January, it says here. Which... According to NBC Olympics. For the Olympics, I get it. I still say for Four Nations slash World Cup or whatever, I would love to see them do it like they used to do it in the older where there was like literally a training camp

and they would cut guys and then the tournament would start. Like Mike Keenan would call Steve Eiserman in his office and be like, you're not on the team. Tough break. And like tomorrow night they're playing Sweden. And like it was just, but what do I know? Yeah. And then some forwards I kind of put together as snub.

Like people seem online seem to be saying these are snubs. Matt Barzal? Yep, sure. Okay. I can. You know, if like, if, like, John Tavares is in there, I can see the argument for shouldn't Barsal be there instead. Sure.

Yeah. Okay. Great. Pierre Luke Dubois, Adam Fantilli. Fantilli's the interesting one because he's just young, you know? Yeah, they did. And they did lean into the younger guys. A little bit.

Yeah. More than they tend to as far as the real picks. Yeah. Like. I think they'll take the token one young guy. who we all would have assumed was Connor Bedard a year and a bit ago and now not necessarily.

It depends on how the first two months of the season go, but I would kind of guess Celebrini. And then Cadry, Cairo, Dylanstrom. Those are the potential snubs. Other than that,

you know, it's all guys you would think would be in the mix. And I did check and they did invite literally everyone from the Four Nations. Makes total sense to me. Right. I mean, especially if once you've got like 21 of the guys on the list, you're like, I mean, we're not going to. Like if they invited everyone but Colton Pereko, then that becomes a whole thing. Let me ask you this.

And this is just to help me writing the article. Do you think, I think personally that Brad Marchand is a lock to make this team, barring he has a horrible fucking start to the season. Yeah. I think elder statesman, he just had an unbelievable playoff, kind of an asshole to play against. Sure. I think Canada will bring an asshole line, basically, you know? Yep. And I say that with all the affection that I can muster.

I love a player who plays like that, to be clear. But I just think it would be really hard for me to see Marchand being left off. Do you think he's a lock or do you know, where are you? I would say healthy Marshawn is probably a lock. Yeah, healthy and not like absolutely falling off the map, which I guess at his age means I'm saying he's not a lock. But yeah, I put it this way.

If it comes down to any kind of tiebreaker. I think they're going to look at the guy who has been part of, Lord knows how many team Canada is at this point, and played well and played great in the playoffs. So even if he's not playing well in the regular season, you'll be able to talk yourself into like, he's saving it. Two other guys I wanted to ask you about. Because they invited everyone,

and you could put him on the asshole line if you wanted to, Tom Wilson. Or is it a thing where, you know, they don't even let you freaking check in the Olympics. And Tom Wilson would put some like Slovak guy you've never heard of in the hospital. Yes. And get kicked out of the Olympics. I think given the nature of the tournaments, he makes a lot more sense as a Four Nations or World Cup guy than he would an Olympics guy. I put them on the list.

Yeah, I think Tom Wilson being on the orientation list, but not on the roster is about right for Tom Wilson. Yeah, okay. And then the last one I got a question about is Drew Dowdy. Because everybody was like, oh, they're putting him on the four nations team. And then he wasn't bad or anything, you know? Yep. And if there's one area, well, I guess the one area where you're,

you'd say Canada is a little thin is, is goal tending. But I don't know. Like, I can see them talking themselves into, you know, let's give Mr. Lifetime Achievement Award at 26. Let's give him one last shot at winning an Olympic gold. Obviously, he already did.

And one of them arguably was the best player on the ice for Canada. But, yeah, I wonder if he makes it, basically, as like the 6-7 defense. I would not be surprised if he didn't make it, but being on the list, absolutely. Like, that's, you know, anyone like that, I think anyone who's been on a team Canada before, even if you're looking at the aging curves and going, this guy might fall off a cliff this year, let them do it then. Let's don't presumptively not invite a guy.

But yeah, it's kind of like someone's going to have to earn. and drew doughty spot take it away from the old man and that guy's going to be cc um so there are to your to that point about the Asian curves there are three guys on this list who were born in the 80s in the 1980s who are they uh okay so that's dowdy marchand and and crosbie yep that's exactly right follow-up question there are one two three three three, four, five, six, seven, seven guys who were born in the 2000s. It's too young. Yeah, it's, I saw a video on the NHL's Instagram the other day that was like, hey, I'm Roger McQueen, or who, you know, they just got all the prospects to do this.

But they were like, I'm Roger McQueen and I was born three months before the dark night came out. Okay. It's like, fuck, come on, man. Don't fucking say that. Don't be hostile towards. Yeah. All right, 2000s guys. So, Bedard, Celebrini.

Mm-hmm, of course. I saw Quentin Byfield was on the list. That's correct. That's correct. That's, uh, like to, like. Now think about guys who were drafted around the same time as Quentin Byfield, like plus or minus a year. Yeah. So, uh, Seth Jarvis would still.

Correct. I'm saying still as if his birthday is shifting, but you don't know. He's six months older than Byfield. No care. That's what? That's four guys. Yeah. Two defensemen and a four.

Remain. Two defensemen and a forward, okay. Oh, who are the young? McCar's not that young, is he? No, he is not. He's, uh, let's see, we're old. Kail McCar is a 98 birth year. Evan Bouchard would be...

Nope, he's 99. Damn. And a 99. You were so close. You were off by a couple of months. One guy just got traded this summer. Noah Dobson? That's correct. The other guy...

Yeah, because I was... This is the guy I've been picking as my Dark Horse Norris Trophy guy for like two years of running now. Thomas Harley. That's right. Harley Jarvis himself. Now, the great thing about this is Seth Jarvis and Thomas Harley can be on this team at the same time.

So they could run the Harley Jarvis. Are there any Barts in the league? No, I can't have been in the wrong. It's probably been a while since we've had a BART. Yeah, I think that's a safe bet. There was BART crashly in the 60s and 70s. Is he the only BART that we've ever had? He seems to be the only BART.

Bart Bradley played once. season for the Bruins. Oh, yeah, there he is. 1950. You know, it's funny, you mentioned that. Someone on the Discord posted that on, I think the MLB read it, they did a thing of like, here's every player in Major League Baseball history who has a unique pair of initials. Yes, I saw that.

That was. Okay. And you had, you dug into it. I only did A and B because that I got me curious, but then I had. had to do the prep work for tomorrow's bonus episode, which took me like four hours. And so I only did A and B, but there were three in the A's and Bs as last names. Quentin Bfield was one of them. Anyhow, the last guy is a forward.

He, how do I say this without giving it away? He is the youngest player who's not badark. or Celebrini, but he's younger than Jarvis and Dobson and all those guys. And he is on a team that just like churns out really strong young players. Oh, that sounds like Dallas. Robertson's a bearer. Wyatt Johnson. You got it.

That's all of them. All right, now let's move on to Team USA, which has not announced its orientation roster yet. But we know, how are you going to warn me at these players? Doug, I got, I got fucking articles to write. Get this list out. The Olympics are going to start and you guys are just going to be wandering aimlessly around the facility while Team Canada is like just all pointed in the same direction. Yeah, we're going to, we're going to look like District 5 and you're, you guys are going to look like the Hawks.

Yes. Got it. Yeah. The top, the first six for the U.S., as we've mentioned before, Quinn Hughes, Charlie McAvoy, Jack Eichel, Austin Matthews, and the Kachuk brothers. Now, this is interesting because we got news this week, or maybe it was last week. I don't remember, you know, it all blends together. Matthew Kachuk probably out until around the start of the Olympics.

Due to, he just got married. and he was putting off a surgery that he needed to have because of wedding stuff. And now that he's out of the woods on that, looks like he's going to get the surgery and it'll keep him out till January, February. So there's that. Gosh, do you suppose, is there any chance that Matthew Kachuk will dramatically recover just in time for the Olympics in a way that makes him the main character of the lead-up to this story? And what's really fun is that everybody's going,

Florida's over the cap, though. They got to trade Evan Rodriguez. They got to trade so-and-so. Brady Kachuk's like, ah, my back hurts. And I thought it was your knee. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. My knee's killing me. And, oh, by the way, I'm going to recover in time to play in the Olympics,

but that playing in the Olympics will take so much out of me that I will once again go on IR for the rest of the season. and then miraculously recover for game on of the playoffs. And I will be right there on the bench, always in the spot right next to the camera for some reason. That's right. Yeah, I'm on USAHockey.com. No further info about this. But there is a rumor out of Montreal

that the USA hockey people have put together their orientation camp list and left Lane Hudson off it. That's cool. Montreal fans will be chill about that. Yeah, totally normal. I'll say this. I don't know that they have like 10 defensemen who are better than Lane Hudson. But this is this is the organization that gave us.

We left off, was it Dustin Bufflin or somebody? Because I had a scary dream. That's right. So like that, that's, these are. these are the people we're talking about here. You know what I'm saying? Yep. And I can see where you could talk yourself out of it.

He's kind of a one-dimensional player. He's small, blah, blah, blah. I get it. But I think it's crazy. Yeah. He should be on the team. It is crazy. Like if he's not on that, yeah, it is crazy.

Yeah. Absolutely. I don't have anything else. There is no more galaxy brain, galaxy brain than specifically American front office people picking an international lineup. You couldn't have said it better myself. Maybe Tage Thompson will get an invite this time around. You guys scored a lot of goals in the...

I just can't see it. You weren't one goal away from winning or anything, were you? No, no, no. We got to get Brock Nelson back out there. Yeah. I know it didn't work last time, but what about this time, you know? Good work. One other bit of news, really, I guess,

affects the NHL. Matthew Schaefer has signed with the Islanders. This is really only notable because there was some vague imaginings that he was interested in playing a year of college hockey if going pro didn't really seem like it was in the cards for him. But it is in the card. So that's that. Yep.

But speaking of Roger McQueen, as I just was, he will play college hockey next year. He's going to Providence College. So, you know, save your little Lightning McQueen jokes for one year. I don't think I will. I'm going to still do them. But he is a lot like Caden Lindstrom, who's also going to Michigan State next year, or I guess this coming year, where he missed a bunch of time due to injury. And so his team was just like, how's college sound? It'll be a nice, easy schedule for you.

You only play like 40 games. You only play on weekends for the most part And I you know I think he's gonna do really well there They'll really you know He might not do well like he might not put up a million points But this kid is gonna be back checking his little butt off Over a Providence College

Yep That's what they do there So I think that's a I think that's an especially Especially after the whole Zegreous thing They want kids coming in who know what their own zone looks like.

And that's what they do at Providence College. Let's be real. That's it. I mean, even when they have guys who are like, whoa, this guy's like a Hobie Baker candidate level offensive player, he puts up like 49 points or whatever, which is a lot in college, but it's not like, you know, the kind of blow away stats that everybody's talks about like 50, 60 points. Like they just, Providence guys just don't usually get there.

It happens very occasionally because they play defense. That's it. You know, anyway, that's it for the show this week. As you can hear, Sean's under the weather. So we didn't, and there's nothing going on. I'm dying. I'm a great combination. I shouldn't.

You know, I'm the anti-Matthew Kuch, really. I'm just out there fighting through it. Well, he's, they're calling him the bravest man in podcast. You do hear that. Yep. Our little soldier. Well, yeah, I, I, I, I, I, I lipped out my crutches, and then I, like, threw my crutches away, and everyone was like, wow, that's... And then he collapsed.

Yeah, that I fell down, and, uh, that's it. I've been lying on the floor for the last hour. Smart. I wonder, I wonder what that's like. I bet, I bet it's great. Just lie down to a podcast. I'm at a standing desk right now. I'm not even seated.

Oh, geez. all right, Mr. Triathlete. That's right, baby. I occasionally stretch my legs when I do this podcast. Why don't you hit him with the plugs? Let's get out of here. I'm going to write some stuff. Yep, same here.

I don't know what I'm going to write other than I got to, you know, I got to wait for this USA hockey roster and then we can do Olympic Stockwatch. That's what's next on the schedule for me. Whenever that happens, you know, we'll figure it out. But that's over at Elite Prospects. At patreon.com slash puck soup, we're going to until, I think, like, mid-September, I think is our next main show. Oh, wow. So if you want to keep up with all our beautiful takes, it's patreon.com slash puck soup where we do during the summer where we don't have a main show, we do a bigger, longer mailbag than we usually do hour, hour and a half, something like that sometimes.

So that's going to be over there, all kinds of bonus episodes as well, including one we're doing tomorrow, where a listener said, what if, and this is based on an idea Sean had. I don't want to take credit away from Sean. But the premise is, what if they held off on MVP voting until after the playoffs? So all the guys who, your Cory Perry's who won an MVP and you're looking back, you're like, huh, that's weird. how would that change if they, if they included the playoffs? And I did a lot of work on this yesterday, as I mentioned. And I'm going to tell you this, it would change significantly who won all the various MVP awards over the last 20 years. So tune in tomorrow for that one.

The only one that stays is Taylor Hall. I think we can all agree on that. But yeah, tune in for that tomorrow again, patreon.com slash puck soup. Thank you for listening. We'll talk to you next month. And until then, have a good one. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.