Puck Soup - Every NHL Trade, Reviewed

Episode Date: April 14, 2021

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 in tunes. It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. I'm Greg Wichinsky of ESPN, worldwide leader in rights holding and blockbuster Frozen Four ratings. Or as I call it, Lambert, the Bucci Gras effect. Yeah, he was the thing that was missing the last several years that made it all come together. Him and Mancato.

I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects, and I must say that we're recording this at 5.30 in the afternoon, and this is the time of day when my dog turns feral. So if he starts moaning in the background, he just wants food or walking. or someone pat him or something. I was going to ask if it was Will Ferrell or Perry Farrell, but it sounds like it's Perry Farrell, if it's moaning in the background. No, he's more talented than Perry Farrell. We have a special guest this week.

Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm Rachel Dory of, I guess, York University slash elite prospects. And I am taking the place of Down Goes Brown, aka Sean this week. He died. Okay. Well, that is RIP, Sean. He didn't die. He didn't die.

He's spending time with his family, although that does sound like he died. It sounds like that's the kind of thing that you say when someone goes to the farm or goes to the happier place is that they're spending more time with their family. That's right. But that's not what I was trying to say at all. He's literally just spending more time with his family. Although it does, you know, beg the question of, you know, he did have time to break down all the trades with Sean Gentilly on Monday before

he started spending time with his family. But no time with this podcast. Something about a full-time job. I don't know. He mentioned something. I don't know. Well, he said it's like spring break for his kids and he wanted to see his kids. But apparently they weren't a priority on the first day of this week because of the trade deadline.

He just locked them in a closet, yeah. Rachel, remind me, you were, were you a guest? On this podcast or on ESPN and Ice? I was on Puck Soup with you because that's when I met up with you like, I want to say like the Hall of Fame Inductions before the pandemic. Yeah. Right. It was me and you in downtown Toronto. In downtown Toronto.

Okay. That's right. I get confused sometimes as to who's been on what show. So all of you or many of you or none of you may remember Rachel from a previous episode. but I'm happy she's here because, boy, we have got some hardcore hockey talk to talk about today. It's the annual, I don't know if it's annual, it's the annual breaking down of all the trades that happened. Why wouldn't it be annual? Did we do it last year?

Did we do all the trades last year? Every single one like we're going to today? I don't think so. So that's, I feel like we did maybe, but I feel like if we did, it was quite, quite a more formidable feat than it is this year because there was like three trades. Eight trades. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So there was like a couple trades where admittedly like I, this year was the first year where I didn't take the day off apart from when I was working for the devils where I was actually like employed doing things on the trade deadline. And so I was trying to work and watch deadline. And there were multiple trades that came across like the screen. And I'm like, that's actually not a real person. Like I've been. I've never heard of that person before. That's not a real person.

You are, of course, referring to who is that guy the sharks acquired? Oh, man, he had a great name. Magnus Crona. Magnus Crona. Yeah. We'll get to him later. Yeah, he is supposed to be pretty good. I went with the, it sounded like the sharks acquired a Netflix anime.

Others went with, it sounded like the sharks acquired a high-end video game controller. which was admittedly a better joke. There's a lot going on. Or like nice internet. That's right. You've upgraded to the Magnus Crona instead of just the Crona. Yeah, that's better than gig speed, whatever Comcast calls their thing. If Magnus Crona made the NHL and if San Jose had a tabloid on the level of the New York Post,

would they eventually use a Corona virus-esque pun on their back page? These are unanswerable questions. I'm going to say earliest they try it is 2025. Earliest.

I was thinking like if he makes the NHL, he has to come in with like a Google Chrome kind of looking logo, but maybe it has to be like San Jose Sharks color or whatever just because like Corona and Chrome. Yeah.

Did you see this the other day? that like Nikita Zadorov has his own like branded logo an NZ logo? Yes. Did you see this? Come on. Yeah. Like I get it. Tom Brady has one.

That makes sense. He's one of the best players. Nick David has one. Yeah. But Nikita Zadarov maybe at one time the fourth best defenseman on his own team. He's like, I got to get this locked in. But what makes me excited about that was that there's a hundred percent chance that Nikita Zadorov has been on cross-country flights sketching out his own logo.

Like how George Clooney sketched out the cover of his book and up in the air. Well, he's on the plane. I love that about that guy. I love the, I'm drawing on my trapper keeper aspect of creating your own logo. And he's like showing it over to his teammates. Guys, guys, guys, look. Like how awesome this is. Oh, yeah.

That's cool, ma'am. That's what they're all saying. Yeah, it looks good. It looks great. All right. Let's start off with the first. We're going in chronological order. Chrono.

Magnus Chronological. Magnus Chronological. Do we include the Eric Stahl trade in the trade that one? No, that's too early. Okay. I feel like basically, what is it, like everything from a couple of days ago to now? Yeah, I would say the one week leading up to the dead. I don't even think there was anything before Wednesday.

Yeah. Our last show was the sixth? When did we last do the podcast? The seventh, I want to say. Well, the seventh was when I got the Vax. And so maybe we- Are cool. I wish I could get one.

Was it the eighth that we did it? Or we did the bonus and the regular show both at on Tuesday or no? This is impossible. We'll never figure it out. We'll never be able to figure it out. Someone will be like, actually, you did it. Okay, well. Because the thing I was asking,

The thing I was asking was, did we cover the Palmary trade? I forget. I don't think we did. All right. No, because I did the PDO cast the next day in the Palmary trade hadn't happened. Okay. Right. So we'll start with the Palmary trade.

Okay. I have fun things on the Palmary trade. So the New York Islanders acquire Carl Paul Mary and Travis Zajack for Mason Jobs. J. J. Greer. Vinesstar. Talkie guys. Vine Star, A.J. Greer, first round pick in 2021 and a conditional fourth round pick in 2022. Rachel, it's time for you to cook. What are you going to say about this trade?

I had heard, so I'm sure this trade will come up at some point on this podcast. I had heard that this was the package that the Islanders had offered Buffalo for Taylor Hall. And Kevin Adams basically said to Lou Lamarillo, which is never a good idea, take a hike, I can get something better. and then what happened. For me, I think, listen, good for Fitsy to recoup assets because, like, Kyle Paul Mary was not resigning there, and you can get Travis Adrack on a Trip contract in the summer. I just, I'm not sure it was enough. Like, I think the time to move Paul Mary was in the offseason, whereas his value was pretty high,

or it was at least higher than it was now. But from an Islander's perspective, in a war of a trip, that's that is the playoffs um Travis Ajax gonna fit great in a very Trot system and uh Kyle Paul Mary is Kyle Paul Mary like he's he's gonna score he already has um and so I think it's it's kind of a really good replacement for Anders Lee because they kind of filled both both sides of what Lee brings so yeah um that was great for the Islanders and I'm not surprised that Lou just kind of swooped in and said I'll take that thank you yeah they had they had they had to do it. That's the thing. Because of the Lee injury. And like the idea of Lou Lamarillo

trading for Taylor Hall is like absurd. So, well, the thing about the thing about the, the timing of the trade to Rachel's point, it's kind of funny how both Paul Mary and Hall had the same problem, which was that they both had bad years despite a pretty good resume beforehand. But the thing that separates Paul Mary from Hall is the Palmary is an actual goal score. Well, Taylor Hall is a playmaker. And I think that is, to me, if you asked me to stack up the wingers available at this deadline, just based on the ancillary stuff with Hall, which we'll get to later, I think Paul Marion might have been a bit ahead of him for me, to be honest with you, like, for various and sundry reasons. But I really like him. I think this is a great pickup for the Islanders.

Yeah, well, I guess we'll get to the various and sundry hall related reasons when we get to it. But, like, I mean, the thing with Kevin Adams apparently saying, like, we'll do better than that later, is, I mean, we saw on Twitter for, like, two straight weeks where everybody was like, he is not getting a first round pick. He's not returning a first round pick. It's not going to happen. And then for Kevin Adams, like, yeah, obviously he talks to GMs and stuff and people on Twitter don't. But everybody knew that this was going to be the fallout. Yeah. So I don't understand.

I just like, it's like, it's like era, I will actually give you a first round of Fetela Hall. And then Kevin Adams is like, well, if I can get one out of Lou, I can get two out of somebody else. That's probably what happened. That's not bad logic. That's not bad logic given the trade. The other, the other funny thing about that is Tom Fitzgerald, I swear on a stack of Bibles, I hope it's the 30 second overall. And everybody in the hockey media. Bravo.

Oh, the classiest man who's ever lived. He hoped that it was the 32nd overall pick because that means that Kyle, Paul, Mary, and Travis Zajek will have won the Stanley Cup with the Islanders. And really, what devil's fan doesn't want to hear their general manager say, I wish the Islanders win the Stanley Cup. Yeah, you know what? If I was the general manager, you know what I would say is I hope they missed the playoffs and then it's the first overall pick. That would be my choice. Right. I hope they play really well.

Like, knowing him, he actually thinks. that he wants them to win. Sure. Why not? All right. The Florida Panthers started clearing out players and salary with the Vinnie Hinnitus trade that happened on April 2nd. They continued doing business with the Blackhawks trading away.

Brett Connolly, Riley Stillman, the promise that is Henrik Bjorgstrom and a seventh round pick for Lucas Walmark and Lucas Carlson. draining the Lucas pool, I imagine, for the Blackhawks. Bjorkstrom's a real interesting asset in this deal because I feel like Stan Bowman's done this a few times where he goes and get somebody else's like non-factor prospect in the hopes that he can find a diamond in the rough. Yeah. I think he's, I think Bjorkson is really talented.

And I wonder why that fit never worked. I mean, he obviously was part of the previous regime's prospect pool. but him getting shipped out in this deal was sort of an eye-opening thing. The thinking is, from what I understand, is that Flora is just like, we don't know what to do with them. Like, literally, I'm not, like, literally, that's what people are kind of indicating is they were like, we don't know. And so, like, to get out from under the salary cap problems created by Brett Connolly's contract, like Connolly is an okay player, but maybe not worth it.

and certainly not worth it to a team that has vague Stanley Cup aspirations this year. And is paying their goalie $7 million to sit on the deck? Well, there's that too. Yeah, I mean, yeah. But so, like, the thinking is, well, like, if we got to give up something, we might as well give up a guy we don't care about. And if he turned, like, he's not even scoring in Finland right now. So if he turns into something, then, like, Chicago did a great job on that reclamation project.

and if he doesn't, well, who cares? They got rid of the contract they wanted to get rid of. I think the thing with Borgstrom is, like, I actually really liked him in his draft year, and I like them through college. Like, he's one of the best college players I've seen in a while, but the problem he has is he tries to do way too much. Like, everything's got to be fancy.

Everything has to be a highlight real. He's very one-on-one. Like, he doesn't really use space. all that well. He doesn't read the game all that well. And so if someone's dead set on just highlight real chel style goals, like, that's not exactly a recipe for success in the NHL. And certainly not when Dale Tallin and Bill Zito are the two general managers. Like, I think that, first of all, Chicago has a better development system than Florida does. Absolutely. Very true. They actually spend money on it. So, yeah. Like, I think,

Chicago, I was doing research on this just for my school. I think Chicago spends in the top five in developing prospects. So if he's going to get a chance to succeed, it was basically like Chicago, Toronto kind of vibe there. And so if they can't shake that one-on-one chel style from him, that I don't see how he's an NHL player. But if they can, then that's a middle six player. Riley Nash goes from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a conditional seventh round pick to Toronto. And he's hurt, but they picked him up anyway as center depth. Well, they picked him up for cap space. This is Fritemnomics 101. Right, right. But I mean, he could be healthy for the playoffs in which case he would help. Yeah, he's one of those classic guys where when he's on the ice, absolutely nothing happens.

And if Toronto's like, well, look, we'll just, we'll just outscore everybody on our first two lines. And then if the other two lines just like grind the game to an absolute halt, then we just win. And that works for me. Right. Yeah, like I think obviously the cap space is the big one here. But I actually like Riley Nash when he plays. And I think that from your fourth line, like he's one of the best defensive players in the league. And so for all this talk about all Toronto can't defend.

and Matthews and Tavares have to take on this role of playing both sides. Well, now you've got players like Folino and Nash who are very defensively sound. And so I think that maybe the trickle down is that the top two lines don't have to take as much of the shutdown role because now players like Riley Nash can go and comfortably defend the other team's top players. And whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Folino, spoilers, Rachel, Jesus. Sorry, sorry. This hasn't happened yet. You're right.

So Patrick Nemeth goes from the Detroit Red Wings for a fourth round pick. From the avalanche, he goes to the abs for their defensive depth. I don't really have much to say about Patrick Nemeth. Yeah, he had previously played for the abs. He's a guy they're obviously familiar and comfortable with. Yeah. He's their seventh defenseman. There you go.

If that. Yeah. But then things get real funny for the defenseman bit. in the first maybe indication of things to come for Kevin Adams. Brandon Montor goes to the Florida Panthers for a third round pick. I mean, we're going to get ahead of ourselves on this regardless. Who cares? Once you see what the Columbus Blue Jackets acquired for David Savard,

and then once you see what the Buffalo Sabres acquired for Brandon Montor, you say to yourself, uh-oh, maybe we don't want this guy making too many trades for us, because in a market where this type of defenseman was at a premium, a third round pick ended up being a fucking bargain for Bill Zito. Well, I mean... That's because Steve Eisenman wasn't involved to start rinsing every team. Like, if Steve Eisenman calls me, just, I'm not even going to answer. Like, just hang up.

Yeah, you're getting tricked. Same with Joe Sackick, actually. Like, just... Joe Sackick and the whole analytics department there, I agree with that. I kind of feel like the same way about Carolina. But, yeah, Eiserman, obviously. But the thing with Montor is, I don't know, he's not that fucking good, right? Like, he's fine.

And the issue is he went to Buffalo and it seemed like, oh, he turned really shitty, really fast. That happens to everyone in Buffalo. Well, that's what I'm saying is, like, it happens to everybody. And that's why you can't get good value for the players when you're the GM of Buffalo is because they all played for you. You know what I mean? But don't you think if this trade gets made after the Savard deal that it's more than a third in this draft? No, because they didn't retain salary on Montor. Well, I mean, fair enough.

Florida got them for the full freight. That's why. That's literally the big reason why, yeah. Devin Dubnick goes to the Colorado Avalanche for Greg Pater and a fifth round pick. I don't like Devin Dubnick. know there are a lot of people that do, and I understand that he's played better maybe as the season's gone on, and he's got playoff experience and of the goalies that were available at the deadline. People really liked him. I just, it makes me pray harder that Philip Grubauer stays healthy, like more than I was praying before. I pray even harder now. And I think they just announced that Fran Soz is out for the season too.

For the season. With the same surgery, I think that Varlamov had a few years back. but yeah I'm not a huge Dubnick guy I think they maybe could have gone with a little bit for example I think the I like the Leafs insurance better than the avalanche insurance right now as far as goalies if it's save Dave yeah big save Dave yeah well I wonder what it would have taken because Sackick has all of this collateral like it's actually I don't even understand how Colorado is a juggernaut and also just has a plethora of prospects coming but I wonder what it would have taken to lift one of Mers-Lincoln's or Corpus Allo out of Columbus. They were rumored to be available, right?

So I wonder if maybe the price was too steep for Sackix liking. But this is like the year for Colorado to go for it. The trade I suggested on ESPN was trying to get Chris Dreger out of Florida for like Connor Timmons. Yeah, Colorado wouldn't do that for a million different reasons. I'd take Chris Rieger over. Devin Dubnick, wouldn't you? Yeah, but

Conrademannes fucking rocks, dude. Like, that's the thing. They're not saying anything bad about Dreeger. They're saying, oh, we think Conor Timis is like a future star

in this league. Well, you could sign Dreeger past the season, though, if you wanted to. I don't know. We'll see how it works. Then we get to the Savard trade. David Savard and Brian lash off

to the Lightning, a first round pick and a third round pick to Columbus, a fourth round pick to Detroit for having laundered the salary. of David Savard a second time, right?

This was the one where Columbus kept a portion of it and Detroit kept a portion of it to make the cap-pit work. 25% cap-hit. It's pretty fucking great. Steve Eisenman's really cool. He's so good at this shit. Yeah. The thing to say about this trade,

and I think this circles back to the Merz-Leekin's Corpus-Allo thing, is it seems like Yarmu had some real high asking prices and found a couple teams that were willing to pay him, and maybe that wasn't the case. Like Colorado was like, yeah, we're not giving you a first and Timmons or whoever, you know, like, but yeah, getting all that for David Savard, not bad. Not bad.

I just love the laundering because I think everyone on Twitter was super mad that Iserman did this for Tampa and saying, oh, he's helping out his whole team as if like he's not the GM of another team and isn't trying to do his own thing to help Detroit. Like, he basically bought a draft pick, which is what Dubus did last year for Robin Lainer. Like, I don't necessarily have a problem with it. If you're going to allow it under the CBA, then it's allowed. And once again.

Yeah, the creature. How dare you call it nonsense? It's an unfortunate injury that happened to benefit their team. Right. But once again, you know, the, the, Tampa Bay Lightning find a way to make this thing work. It's incredible what their cap management has looked like for the last couple of years and continues to look like. Always a close shave with the deadline. Speaking of close shaves, Lambert, Rachel, cover your ears. This episode is

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It's very fun. Were you impressed with the array of products? Because I thought it was, I mean, like. Oh, it is impressive. I took out that clipper. to my 17-year-old brother, like, here, YouTube, how to do this. I took out that clipper and I turned it on and the little light came on and I'm like, wow, this is, you know, we don't talk enough about the march of technology and society and how things have gotten, you know, easier and better. I mean, look at us.

We're all talking to each other through little cameras on our phones. To me, that's as much of a technological advancement as a little light that you shine on your balls when you trim them. they're in the same league Jonas Seagenthaler was traded from the Washington Capitol I'm begging you to New Jersey Devils for a third round pick in 2021

Is Jonas Seganthal worth a third round pick? Says here he is Okay That's what the I A guy I straight up don't think about A guy, a player who might as well not exist

But he's in the NHL So that's probably worth a third round pick So Speaking of the devil's Speaking of devils, former devil John Merrill was traded from the Red Wings to Montreal for Hayden Verbeek and a fifth round pick. I assume that's a Verbeek-Styon, Hayden Verbeek? Or is he unrelated?

No idea. That's a good question. Yeah. It sounds about right. Why wouldn't they, okay, this is what I don't get about that. Yes or no, Victor Mette is a better defenseman than John Meryl. Ooh, that's a good question because John Meryl has sort of adopted the. Nick Jensen,

analytic Starling defenseman on the redwings mold. But I think Mette, I mean, he's got to be a bet. Merrill could barely, could barely crack the lineup in Vegas, right? I mean, as far as getting quality ice time.

He couldn't crack the line up, I believe, in New Jersey either. So, like, no, he couldn't. Like, you gave away two assets when you, and lost another asset to your arch rival for free.

when you didn't have to do any of those things. It does seem like a bit of a botch. It seems a little unnecessary. By the way, Hayden Verbeek, Pat Verbeek's nephew. Nephew? Nephew. Oh, wow. Get those hockey bloodlines.

There you go. I often tell the story. The first time I ever felt old in my life was when I was at the draft that Landon Ferraro got drafted. And I thought to myself, no, that can't be right. Right. This is the person that I watched play for the Islanders, and I watched on TV, and now his son is going to be an NHL player. And, I mean, it's the first of many sons of NHL players that I've watched that have

gone to the league. But that was the first time where I'm like, oh, no, the market time. For me, it was when I found out Henrik Siddeen was Daniel Siddean's brother. I was like, what? No. That can't be right. That can't be right at all. I think mine was when my brother's friend got drafted and I was like, um, no, no, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. I don't like this because I know you when you were like seven. And that guy, Wayne Gretzky, so pretty interesting. Wow, that's incredible. No, it is not Wayne Gretzky.

Oh, could have been. I don't know. I mean, I think he could be whatever he wants to be if he puts his mind to it. Yeah. Here's a big trade. The Maple Leafs acquire Nick Folino, Stefan Nosen, uh, The Blue Jackets get a first round pick and a fourth round pick. And the San Jose Sharks who helped laundered the cat pit get a fourth round pick. A first round pick for Nick Felino when Taylor Hall didn't get one? F minus Toronto Maple Leafs or whatever.

I mean, it's too much money to give up for Nick Folino. The really interesting thing is that apparently the Leafs just weren't interested in Taylor Hall, which is interesting. It's interesting, but only when it's clear what Kyle Dubus is doing. He is casting roles here. Like, he was looking for a winger whose primary contribution to the lineup is going to be defense. And Taylor Hall does a lot of things very well, defense not being one of them. And also, like, he's clearly also doing the people say we're not, we're too easy to play against in the playoffs. So I'll go out and get your Wayne Simmons's and Zach Bago.

and Nick Folino's, and there's a certain, like, leadership component, too, where he's got dad strength and was a captain and Columbus. And all these things are not what Columbus had under Nick Folino. And I can't wait for the Steve Simmons piece that says the leaves have spent too much on leadership and not enough on skill or some other nonsense that he'll come up with. Right. When they went out and made all those acquisitions this summer to get harder to play, against. I legitimately was like, I bet this is just so the local media shuts the fuck up.

And they did it? They were like, oh, did the Leaves acquire too much old people? And I'm like, dude, pick a side. Like, yeah. Oh, the side is anything Glasses Boy does is bad. That's what the side is. It certainly is. It very much. The side is we are that we are friends of Mark Hunter. Isn't this is just the Blake Coleman trade on steroids, right? Not saying that Nick Falito is on steroids. We're talking about the transaction. action. Essentially, that's what it is, right? It's acquiring a specific role you want to see played, and then this is the guy you want, and you have a first-round pick-to-deal, and off we go. So I was completely fine with it, but then I kind of understand what Kyle Dubus is trying to do here, but I understand also it's very hard for a lot of people to be like, Nick Falino is not as good as Taylor Hall, vacuum.

Nick Lee was not as good as Taylor Hall, though. But that doesn't mean the trade didn't make sense for the team. Like the team needed this. Yes, but it's because of what they gave up. Like, if we're all in agreement that Nick Folino isn't as good as Taylor Hall. We are. And obviously the whole, the whole like no movement clause thing, I don't know if you wanted to go to Toronto, any of that kind of stuff. So that also plays a role in it.

But the idea that they weren't, and the idea that they weren't interested in Taylor Hall, fair enough. I get why you wouldn't be, I guess. Not all the way, but I don't not get it, I guess, is what I, as a better way to put it. But the fact that then you're like, you know what, like, we're willing to give up whatever it takes to get Nick fucking Folino? Can I ask a question that I haven't heard to answer it yet? Where does Taylor Hall play on the Leafs as they're currently constituted? Their left side is not that deep, man. Like, it's, it's, now I'm blanking on it, but it's,

freaking, like, just, it's okay on the left side. You wouldn't think it is? I got to pull up Maple Leafs lines here. But their left side is Zach Heiman, Alex Gelchenyuk. Yes, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. Ilya McKeyev or Pierre Engvall. And you're telling me that you'd play Taylor Hall over the resurgent Alex Galchenguk in that lineup? Yes. Right. Yeah. That is actually exactly what I was saying. But no, like, you, so we were talking about it on the PDO cast, and it's like, you either put Taylor Hall with Austin Matthews, and then the forecheck just makes it so the other team does not leave the attacking, their defensive zone. Yeah.

And then you drop Hyman down to play with Tavares and Nielander, and is like, oh, yeah, we're all set. We don't need to do anything else. I mean, you'd cast them with Tavares, probably, but listen, I like Taylor Hall a lot. I think that this move is a, for better or for worse, a response to playoff performance by this team. It is. And maybe it's a smart move and maybe it's a stupid move. We'll find out. Nick Falino has won one playoff round in his fucking career.

I appreciate it. It's not a, no one is saying they're acquiring Mark Messier. They're acquiring a specific kind of. a player. And this was the guy. And by your law, by your, by the way, by your logic, don't, no one should, no one should, no one should trade for Sasha Barcoff by your logic.

Well, no, he's not available, so. I don't, yeah, I don't think he is available. When he gets to be Nick Folino's age and he's still only won one round in the playoffs, then we can have a different conversation. I mean, considering where he plays, we may have to have the conversation. I think they're in good shape to maybe get out of the first round. I hope so. Yeah, that would be cool.

But the thing is, I like all three of those teams. So somebody's going to get eliminated, and I'm going to be like, well, that sucks. One of my favorite nicknames of the trade deadline was Mike, quotation marks, holy shit, Mike Riley is having a real good season, close quotation marks Riley. He gets traded from Ottawa to Boston, whose blue line has. has been decimated through injuries and defections for a third round pick. Again, one of those guys is just like, you know what kind of Mike Riley is, and all of a sudden you look and it's like, oh, actually, this is a player you'd probably

won your team at the trade deadline and it would be worth a third round pick. Yeah, I think Mike Riley is actually, Ottawa doesn't have many bright spots this season. He is one of them. And so I think that was a pretty shrewd move by Boston kind of coming in. I think Riley was a little bit under the radar because people just weren't paying attention for whatever reason. And he's already on their top power play unit. I was speaking to someone in Boston this morning. Like that's pretty much where he's going to be.

He's definitely capable of that. And I mean, given that Boston made the decisions they did in the offseason, this type of move, if you're going to extend your contending window, it was pretty much necessary. And they clearly believe they are based on the next move that they make. Which one was that? We'll get to it. The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Dave Riddick, Big Save Dave, as Lambert mentioned, for a third round pick in 2022 that goes to the flames. Again, anybody that gets a 2022 pick in this deadline,

Bravo. It's exactly what you should be doing. But yeah, I like Riddick. And I don't know what this says. about Freddie Anderson. I heard someone, I talked to someone who knows Freddie, and Freddie apparently believes he's coming back. If you listen to

Kyle Dubus talking about Freddie Anderson, it's a little bit more specious. So this is good insurance going forward because obviously you don't want to do all the things that Kyle Dubus has done for the Leafs and know what the path looks like to the potential Stanley Cup and then get it all subverted

by not having another goaltender on your roster that could carry some freight. Yeah, right a competent backup, and that's fine. That's all they need him to be in the event that Anderson comes back. You know, I don't think it'll be before the end of the regular season, certainly. So whatever, just have like four NHL goalies at that point. What's the difference?

You can have as many as you like. You have all the goalies in the world. Yeah. And obviously, like, if he can't come back at all, for some reason, like if Toronto gets bounced early or something. Well, you know, you probably weren't going to, you were riding or dying with Jack Campbell anyway, so at that point, you're just kind of letting the chips fall where they may. I think everyone panicking about Freddie Anderson, like, let's all remember that he hasn't

exactly been Martam Broder in the playoffs. Yeah, and plus he's been bad for like three years straight now. Like, this isn't a new thing where he's bad just this year. It's getting worse. Right. Like what the Leafs don't want is a situation where you have to play Michael Hutchinson because that went famously not well for Colorado last year. So I think this is insurance and it's good insurance.

I mean, pretty much every – the majority of my friends are Leaf fans, and every single one of them was absolutely stoked about this deal. Now, Rachel, when you say not exactly Martambrador in the playoffs, you mean not a product of the Hall of Fame defenseman in front of him? That's right. I'm sorry. I just mean, you know I don't believe that about Marty. Marty's amazing, but could look at past.

I mean, I think you can't go, like you can't go into the playoffs with Campbell Hutchinson. Like that's just not a good idea. No. Yeah. Correct. Although Campbell Hutchinson does sound like a 2021 draft pick. Probably. It's a W-H-L-Pick.

Campbell is K-A-M-B-Y-L-L. Yes. With an E at the end. Hutchinson has a Y somehow. Yeah, it's got in two S's. Braden Coburn, Pierre Dorian does a solid for Brayden Coburn, Brick Coburn and sends him to the Islanders. Not only a contending team, but also I think he wanted to kind of get back to that part of the country.

And it costs the Islanders a seventh round pick in 2022. So like here's Braden Coburn. Bit of an overpay, but all right. Yeah. Like, Braden Coburn, who cares? There's a guy who he's going to be like ninth on the depth chart and nice to get out of Ottawa, I guess. All right, let's go. The time stamp on Sports Nets trade deadline, whatchihuahooie, was 12 midnight on 12th, 12 in the morning on April 12th.

The Boston Bruins acquire Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazare, the Buffalo Sabres acquire a friend of Jack Eichael, Andrews Bjork. And a second round pick in 2021, could even get the 2022. Jesus. And there you have it. Taylor Hall was a, is a Bruin. Now, Lambert, when you heard about this trade, how quickly did it become apparent that maybe Taylor Hall was wielding a move clause? It severely limited the marketplace for places where he was willing to go. Yeah, like I said, I was very interesting because, you know, that was a thing that not a lot of, people were bringing up this whole time. Right.

Because we all thought he just wanted to get the fuck out of Buffalo. Right. Right. Which is true. Not untrue. Correct. And also more than fair. Would you want to be in Buffalo?

Like, even if the team was good, probably not. Buffalo is not my favorite place on Earth. I will pause here. I completely agree that as Buffalo is a place, not necessarily. But Buffalo is a hockey town. If the Sabres were good, who working for the Pagoolas, who wouldn't love it? Okay, we have to put it on the scales.

You're working with the Pagulas. You're living in Buffalo. So the scale goes down. But you have a hockey mad success-starved market that would look like the bills but hockey. And so it may balance out a little bit more when you include the quality of wings at places that aren't anchor bar. No, not at all?

No, I will say. The fan base there is awesome. Like, I used to go, I was there actually, the conference finals between Ottawa and Buffalo, like, second row on the glass beside the Sends bench. And, like, that place, it was one of the loudest buildings I've ever been in for any sport. And, like, I've been to the World Cup. Like, it was loud. This is the next one after, like, the Blackhawks and the Bruins where you're going to take a dormant. you know,

hockey market because of how bad the team is and the ownership issues. And then they're going to get good one day. And the place, it's just going to be insane. Like, you're going to want to be part of that party. Anyway, so, all right. So Taylor Hall goes to ruins. Wheels is no move clause.

We come to find out that that certainly did impact the market. I do wonder, though, because, Rachel, you know, you mentioned the package, the out or sent for Paul Mary, likely the package for Hall. We heard that, you know, the Leafs were sniffing around. I think from the West Vegas had the best package for Hall. Colorado is sniffing around too. In Colorado, too, yeah. I do wonder, I happen to think just based on what I know about Hall and how badly he's

wanted to play in Boston, that once they get involved, he's got blinders on, right? He just wants to play for the Bruins. But if they weren't there, I wonder where he would have waived for. Would he waived to go out west? Would he have waived for the islanders? I wonder how that looks. I think he was pretty open to almost anywhere that wasn't Buffalo based on what I know. He really wanted out of Buffalo.

He actually didn't want to be there in the first place, but some things went awry in the off season. Thank you to his agent. I'm frankly surprised he's still. employs, quite honestly. Yeah, they kind of misplayed his hand this summer, or our last offseason, I should say. Taylor is one of those people, and I have some experience with him on my time in New Jersey. He's one of those people where he just wants to play, and he trusts the people he

employs to represent him or do what's in his best interest. and I would say that Darren Farris did not do that in the offseason and gestures wildly at this season. Look what happened. Yeah. I mean, to be fair, he got him $8 million, which is a lot of money. But, and the rumors out of the, about the offers he would have gotten elsewhere. Like, it sounded like Buffalo kind of said, we'll pay a premium.

and also we have Jack Eichael, so that should work out great for you. And give him a full no move. Right. Like that's something to give him to. Why are you doing that? Yeah. For a one-year deal, it seems insane. But it's also, I guess, you know, like, so he could get into this exact situation, right?

Where, like, if it goes sideways, get me the hell out of town, and I'm telling you where I'm going. Right. So I defended Kevin Adams against some people that felt like he. really botched this. I mean, you didn't do good. But I also think that his hands were tied in a lot of ways. Not only because of the new move, but because, I mean, I, I know there are people out there that, that understand that Taylor Hall is very good and the analytics are very good, but it's still two goals in 37 games, which, I mean, scares away some general managers.

You know what else scares away from general managers? The amount of money, they've got to pay Taylor Hall because they gave them $8 million, and only a million of it was in signing bonus, which is fucking crazy. Yeah. So other teams looking to acquire Taylor Hall in this economy had to pay a hell of a lot more than, say, the penguins are going to pay Jeff Carter for the rest of this year. Boston retained, though, right? Or Buffalo retained, though, right? That's just the cap hit.

In real money, you know, teams are still paying. No, I understand that. But, yeah. But anyways. So, yeah, it's, I think you could criticize Kevin Adams for the original contract more than. than you can for the return. Yeah, like I said, I think, I think we're going to look back at this, even with the understanding of, you know, his hands were kind of tied, blah, blah, blah,

and go, boy, that's all he got for Taylor Hall and Curtis. Because, like, that's the thing about the trade, too. And Lazare is a good fourth-line player. He's a very good fourth-line player. And so, like, the fact that Boston got two, like, undervalued. because of where they played assets for Anders Bjork, who's probably not much of anything at the NHL level. He's a friend of Jack Eichols, so that's the important part.

And a late second round pick, probably, mid to late. Oof, I don't know, man. I think, especially because it looks like it's going to be Hall with Craichie and Craig Smith. I think Craig Smith's going to start popping in a lot of goal. It was funny. I remember when the Bruins. Smith in my hockey pool. Hell yeah.

Hell yeah. As you should. I remember when the Bruins got Craig Smith and I looked up on like, doesn't he score like a lot of goals? And he was, I can't remember the number now, but he was like 12th or 15th in the entire league since he came into it. And I was like, oh, yeah, that's a lot of goals. Jesus. And he's a guy who also kind of had a decent amount of bad luck this year. But with a shot assist guy like Hall and just, you know, like Craig's, another guy who I guess is having bad.

year. So all of them are having a bad year. Now they can play together and I think it'll go great. Do you think Taylor Hall resigns with the Bruins? I think it depends on how it goes. I think if it goes well, then yes, he does. Yeah, I think that and also it kind of depends on what he's looking for. Like, I don't think he necessarily wants to like cash out, but he might. But also like the Bruins have a decent amount of money coming off the books. year if I'm not, like, I think the Craigich contracts up. Yeah, I was going to say one of them is the center. Yeah. And like, you know, if I'm Boston, unless Crachie's taking a pretty hefty, like a really hefty pay cut, I'm not interested in

bringing him back. Right. Because he's, what, 34? Honestly, I was a little surprised I didn't try to move him and be more proactive about it. I don't think it's really. That would be the classic telling the boys were, we're selling thing, you know? The problem is that you could wave the white flag on the season. If there is any team that couldn't afford to do that with this, with like their roster as currently constituted, it was the Boston Bruins.

Well, yeah, because they already said deuses to their captain. Right. In the off season. So like, I mean, what kind of message does that send up Posternok and even Bergeron who, like, yeah, he's old. But I would take him on my team any day of the week. Yeah. Yeah. He still rocks.

Like, he's one of those few players where it's like, yeah, I'm not really worried about his aging curve anymore, I guess. Like, he's just, he's just going to be fine right up until he says, oh, I'm not fine anymore and I quit immediately. Like, I don't think he's a guy who hangs around, like a lot of older guys who are good into their mid to late 30s do. Like, I think he, the second he has, like, a season where his course, he's under 50, he's like, fuck this. Speaking of aging curves, Jeff Carter goes from the Los Angeles Kings, the Pittsburgh Penguins. I really, I really never thought I'd see a Jeff Carter trade, man. Like, I thought that guy was going to be, you know, stuck through the duration of his contract in Los Angeles. And then, you know, he either retires or he goes someplace else to, like, live out his Corey Perry years.

But I mean, okay, so Ron Hextall wanted a big body, check. And he wanted someone who could score some goals, I guess. No check on that one for me. Thank you. Wouldn't it be kind of funny, though, if Ron Hextall and Jeff Carter won the cup with the penguins as opposed to the flyers? Yes. That would be kind of funny. Yeah, I'll have to file that away for, like, the inevitable things you want to see in the postseason story.

Yeah, I've said it before, but I also wanted the pen. Instead of Jeff Carter, I wanted the penguins to trade for Johnny Goddrow for the same reason of pissing off Islander fans or Flyers fans who were like, well, he's coming to Philly, baby. That's it. It's locked in. I think for me, this is a trade where it lays bare how little cap space and prospect draft capital the penguins have. This was the limitations of their reach was conditional third, contiguous. fourth and a guy that Ron Hxtall knows, right, is the, is the trade. Yeah, they still shouldn't have traded for him, though.

Like, I would have rather kept, rather they kept the third and the fourth if I'm a Penguins fan. They've traded so much draft capital. Like, they are going to be Buffalo bad when 87 and 71 retire. Like, it is going to be awful. But, hey, it's all right, because they've got to, and they got, and more importantly, they've got Jeff Carter for another year on this. They're, they're, uh... And he said today, I'm not retiring at the end of this season.

I love it. Why would he? Why would he? In the vein of, yes, you're going to be terrible, but you got three cups. I know someone who said this to me last night. He said to me, if the Leafs win the Cup, I will attend whatever makeshift parade and risk getting coronavirus, because if I die after I see the Leafs win the Cup, I don't care. I'm like, oh my God.

Like, opportunity costs. here. So I think like Penguins fans like, yeah, you're going to be absolutely brutal for like five years, but also three cups. So nobody cares about your feelings. So on the one hand, it's disturbing that someone would want to die, like literally die after seeing the Leafs win the cup. But on the other hand, and this is where the bar is set currently in society, he does believe that coronavirus is fatal, which is again, I mean, I don't want to use the word refreshing. But it's refreshing to hear. Yes. But yeah, they get another year of Jeff Carter in Pittsburgh. Just the psychotic trade. I can't believe it. Hey, wouldn't you want to be married to Jeff Carter?

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You've really chosen a hell of a show to appear on. I don't know how. These ads are curated for you, apparently. Apparently so. Let's freeze through the rest of these, because I know they were running out of time. Matthew Highmore for Adam Gaudet. I'm just happy to see Adam Gaudet finally move because he'd been rumored to be moved for most of the season. Patience.

Zero. Matthew Highmark. Did you see that, by the way? I did. Some people reported that that had nothing to do with it. And other people were like, I heard the exact opposite. Fun. Either way you slice it.

Like, Steve Iserman and Joe Sackick are playing 5D chess, and Jim Benning is gluing macaroni pieces to construction paper. It's true. Yeah, he's like, oh, what could possibly happen that I could. sell at the absolute low. Not only is he having a bad season, he just gave everybody on the team COVID. And now, perfect time. We got to sell them now.

Okay, this is what I've always said. If your description, and this happened at the draft, which is when I originally said it, and it happened both Benning and Jeremy Colleton said this, if your first descriptions of a player are anything, to do with his size, work ethic, or grit. That means he's not a very good hockey player because if he was a good hockey player, you'd be talking about his skating and passing and shooting an ability to score.

So the second you talk about size and work ethic, you've already lost me because I'm like, should this player even be playing? I think what you guys miss is that Jim Benning is a huge fan of the good doctor and he thought he was trading for Freddie Highmore. I had a Freddie Highmore joke teed up. Fuck you, Greg. I was going to say Finding Neverland, his first big movie role.

Speaking of size and grit, Dmitja Kulikoff gets traded to the Edmonton Oilers from the New Jersey Devils for a conditional fourth round pick. Did you see the holdup on that trade? What? Did you see the hold up on that trade, though? What was it, no. So I had this issue when I got hired in New Jersey.

So Kulikov's passport expires within six months. and basically they won't give you a visa unless you have a passport that is longer than six months. And so they had to make sure that Marie, who is Hermione Granger in New Jersey, could get him his passport so that he could get his visa. And as soon as I heard that, I was like, it's going to be fine, because Marie got me, who is not a professional hockey player, a passport and a visa in 48 hours. Holy shit. What a fixer. She's actually legit a wizard.

She had immigration there waiting for me the day I landed. Put your devil's hat back on. Why do you think they didn't trade Ryan Murray at the deadline? Honestly, I think that was an error in judgment. Yeah, I kind of, I mean, for what, the defensive defense of them were at a premium. Exactly. And you were seeing some pretty high picks go for them. I agree.

Matias, Yarmark, Nick D. Simone. A fifth round pick to... He's a fourth round pick to Vegas. Great. Yeah. And a fifth round pick to Vegas. Second round pick. Third round pick to Chicago.

San Jose jumps in to help launder the salary. And there you go. Matias Janmark is a member of the Vegas Golden Knights. I like... I love his versatility to play up and down the lineup. It doesn't solve their gaping issue at center. Or on the new line. Yeah, but a nice pick up there for Vegas.

A lot to give up for, like, I think Mitya Siamarck is fine. The giving up a second and a third forum doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, but. Yeah, like I think Mattias Yenmark's a little bit overrated for my liking, I would say. Like, he's okay. Like, you're not terrible or anything. No, but he's not worth all of those assets. Like, he's cratered quite a bit this season. But he is going to be a pain.

He plays for Chicago, so, you know. He's going to be a pain in the ass. to play against in the playoffs, which is something that Vegas could use a lot of. Yeah, they famously don't have anybody who's a pain to the house. No, I mean, they're very tough to play against, but I like him to kind of fit that culture. Carl Soderberg goes home. He is acquired by the Colorado Avalanche. The Blackhawks get Josh Dickinson and Ryder Ralston, who, I mean, if you had a top

10 ranking of guys that sound like the main characters of hockey romance novels, Ryder Ralston. Yeah. Like top five maybe. Wasn't I see something about him? Like where there, oh, somebody was just saying like, oh, I'm actually pretty high on Ryder Ralston. And I'm like, oh, this guy I never heard off.

Cool. Well, that makes one. Yeah, plays for North Dakota or Notre Dame. That's all I know about him. The Florida Panthers gets Sam Bennett and a sixth round pick from the Calgary Flames for a second round pick in 2022. Well done. Browardt for Living.

and Emil Heinenman, who is a forward with some skill, who was their second round pick in the draft just a few months ago. So it's like two seconds for Sam Bennett. What do you think about that return, Rachel? That's well done Brad Tree Living. I like Heineman a lot. I'm definitely a fan there. I think that that's a middle six forward that can contribute.

Like he's an 18-year-old and he's playing constantly in the SHL. And he's not putting up like insane point totals, but he's putting up points. And that's difficult to do in the SHL. And then you get the second round pick on top of that. That's for a player who was noted to be on the outs in Calgary had been a healthy scratch. Demanded a trade. Yeah, like demanded a trade. So talk about like cratering your trade value.

and Brad Tree Living did a hell of a job here. Absolutely. I don't think he should be allowed to use that second round pick. I think somebody else should be the team. I think I might agree. But he did a good job securing it. But that's an unbelievable trade. Yeah.

Eric Gustafson goes to the Canadians from the Flyers for a seventh round pick. Ben Hutton goes from the duckies to the leaves so they get another body. on their blue line, along with anti-Sulamala, who comes over from the sharks. Another defenseman moving. Eric Good Branson goes from the senators to the predators for a seventh round pick and Brandon Fortunata. The predators are such a weird-ass team, man.

Like I have been saying for weeks that they should be sellers. They weren't. And yet they also weren't buyers. They were literally nothing. That was the definition of doing nothing. They were just in purgatory. It's the weirdest fucking thing. If you're not going to sell your players, then go in and be, yeah, do something.

It's, I kind of get it from their perspective because, again, you don't want to say to the team or, I mean, personally, I wouldn't give a shit having a, like, I'd have no problem saying to a team. Right. You're barely 500 in the division with all these dog shit teams. Like, who cares? Yeah. This is my favorite. playing for the right to get bashed in by either Tampa or Carolina. Like, what are we doing here?

I think this is emotional growth for you, Lambert. Like, you are clearly someone who would not give a shit about signaling to your team anything. Like, you would just be cruel and calculated. But it sounds like you do have empathy for these general managers that don't want to, like, swoop their teams by, by telling, betraying somebody. If I'm huffing paint or something like that, giving myself brain damage and I'm trying to get into that mindset, right? Like, like, I, you know, I'm going, okay, well, yeah, I guess they'd be mad if I traded

to TSA home and so I shouldn't do that. But with that having been said, like, you know, like Rachel said, what's the fucking point? Whoever you play in the first round in the central division of you're the fourth team is going to beat your brains in. Yeah, you're going to get. And so, like, To not sell, I get why you don't do it and to not buy, obviously, because like, who are you going to get that's going to not stop them? Like, who's that's going to stop them from obliterating you?

Right. Like, that's so, like, you're, like, you said they're, they're in purgatory. They were kind of stuck in purgatory where by conventional NHL logic, they could neither sell nor buy. But then they were like, but what if we went out and got one of the worst defensemen in the league? Okay, this is what I don't get. One of you, please explain to me. How? How?

Uh-huh. Yes. Do people, GMs, 200 hockey men, right. Watch, Eric Good Branson play and say to themselves, now that's the guy I need. I don't know if you know this. He's a big fellow.

Big man skate. Yeah, that's it. That's literally it. You don't have to. But the best part about this whole thing is, like, I obviously know the coach in Nashville relative. well. He doesn't like

these type of defensemen. So, like, what the hell is going on? David Poyle is the first one of the 200 hockey men, though. Him and Ray Shiro are the presidents of the co-presidents. But I'm speaking just in terms of age. Like, they have to literally

be the first ones, right? So, like, for real, he's just yeah, that guy's big. He must be pretty good. Who wouldn't be in the league? Keep in mind that David Poyle once acquired Hal Gill at 36 years old. So you tell me what's going on this trade. And how about this?

He traded away Brandon Fortunato, right? Right. Yeah. So, Brandon Fortunato play college. Maybe the smallest defenseman I have ever seen in my life. Like, they have him listed at like 510, 511. Not a chance. Just a guy who is so little.

And like, I don't know, he's, he's fine, whatever. I don't think he's anything in the NHL. But could conceivably be chokeslanded by Torrey Krug, is what you're saying? Yeah, he's like a Torrey Krug-sized young man. Like, they literally had Good Branson come and throw him out of town, just like DJ Jazzy Jeff. Like a javelin. Yeah. The Rufflecopter lands in Washington.

They get Michael Raffle for a fifth round pick from the flyer to the flyers. The Jets make their big move for a defenseman. Oh, this is going to solve all the problems. They can easily beat either the Leafs or the Oilers now. Jordy Ben for a sixth round pick to the Vancouver Canucks. That should be a fireable offense for Kevin Chimple Dayoff to be like, okay, what's been our problem for three straight years? Our defense sucks. This is the year where we're actually looking better than we have since the heyday of the jet.

when they went to the Western Conference final. Since they made the conference final, yeah, for sure, yeah. And like, yeah, it's kind of all smoke and mirror. It's just Hellebuck and, like, the fact that their power play is really good. That's the only reason they're any good at all. But he's like, okay, our obvious weakness is defense. We're going to go get a guy who's like a, like, bottom three guy on the Vancouver Canucks in 2021. It is, it is professional malfeasance.

Yeah. Especially when you could have gotten. Ryan Murray or probably Kulikov. Like, that's one of those things. I just, I don't get it. I mean, okay, better than acquiring Eric Goodbranson. But at the same time, like, I think the Jets didn't want to do the whole, like, Pierre-Luc Dubois thing where you've got to sit in quarantine.

But at the same time, like, that's just how it is right now. Like, you've got to do what you've got to do what you've got to. ought to do. And acquiring Jordy Ben ain't it. Yeah, they're like, that's the thing is, people kept saying, okay, well, they don't want to have all these guys sitting out for, for quarantine and stuff like that. And the Canadian government cut it to seven days, even though everybody in Ontario has COVID now. That's all fine. But it's like, you're all locked into a playoff spot. Yeah, like, what do you care? It happens in the regular season. If the fucking playoffs started in six days, then yeah, you'd have a

problem, but they don't. Like a month away. Yeah. And because the NHL is going to decide that we absolutely need to have Ottawa and Vancouver play games and delay the playoffs. Right. It'll be even longer. Because that's definitely necessary and a good idea.

All right. The big blockbuster, the Red Wings get Jacob Verona, Richard Panic, a first round pick in 21, a second round pick in 22. Stevie. for Anthony Mantha from the Washington he goes to the Washington

Capitals Rachel what was your take on the big blockbuster of Deadline Day Don't answer the phone when Steve Iserman calls you

The other takeaway I have and I actually like took this trade I took a couple of the trades and like inputted them into my research because I'm going to use them this tells me

that Steve Iserman has an acute handle on player evaluation and sense of timing because is Manta a fantastic hockey player? Absolutely. But Iserman was smart enough to recognize that Manta's career timeline doesn't jive with Detroit's contending timeline and moved him for assets that jive with Detroit's contending timeline. And so you're getting, I mean, I would argue that Jacob Varenna is potentially as good if not better hockey player than Anthony Manta. But you're also getting assets, like you're getting the first and the second, which jive more with the Lucas Ramon, Moritz-Sider type of timeline than Anthony Manta.

So all you're doing is essentially like shipping out and adjusting the timeline. And so that's just like it's brilliant asset management from my perspective. Yeah. And Manta's acquisition seems to go back to our previous conversation. based a lot around size. He big. He big boy. Verana's never going to get any bigger than what he is right now.

And, you know, Peter Lobilette said as much, like, the kind of player that we needed in the spot where Verona was is a mantha type. And so, you know, hopefully I think the ceiling's high for him. I still think that he can get a little bit better. Manta? Yeah, I do. I think, I think, you have to remember who's the... Anybody can be better playing with Nicholas Baxter. That's what I'm saying.

I can be better. When you've been spending the majority of your time with fucking Robbie Fabri on your line, all of a sudden you go to backstrom and Oshi. Like, you could be better. There's a, there's an uptick that could happen there. But I don't know. I mean, like, I don't dislike the player or anything, but like the idea that he's got a lot more to give you and you just got to unlock. I didn't say a lot.

I didn't say a lot. But I think he could be better, especially, well, first of all, he'd be better if he can find consistency. But I also think he can be better with a, right. A better class of criminal on his line, let's call it. Yeah, all the Blaschell comments were like, boy, if he like tried every night, that would be crazy. That would be, he'd be a fucking unbelievable. What could be the thing that's held him back effort-wise? Could it be playing for a dog shit team for five straight years?

For sure, but also, like, I don't know. The thing with this trade is, like, it's not, like, I like that Steve Eisenman looked at the numbers and was like, this guy's 26. by the time we're any good. He's going to be like 29 or 30. So who cares? See you later. We'll take the first round pick. But like Verana's a year younger than him, I think.

He is a year younger. Verana and I are the same age. Rana's like, yeah, he's like over a year, but we can call it a year. Like, not, you think, Manta's 26 and 25, I think it or something like that. Yeah, it looks like it's about 16 months. is separating them or 18 maybe. But that's really big when you consider the trajectory of that franchise and when they're going to be ready to contend again.

Yeah. And the other thing to say is, Manta's expensive and signed for the next few years, which helps Washington insofar as he's locked in. They don't need to worry about the number changing. Whereas Verana is up this year. Not that I think, I don't think it'll cost nearly as much as Manta, just because the numbers, like, you know, Manta's like a 25 goal guy kind of a thing. and Verona can't get ice time this season.

So I think that kind of depresses his value, which is a plus for Detroit. Like I think this is good for both teams, but obviously Detroit getting like five assets for Anthony Manta is the clear winner here. And Lobelet made mention of playoff performance, which really fucking sunk Verona's boat with the Capitals. You can't go like 13 or 14 games without a point in the playoffs, which is what he's at right now.

Yeah. and expect to hang around. Two more. We're almost done. Madison Bowie and a fifth of Vancouver for a fourth ground pick to the Blackhawks. And, of course, the Hayden Flurry trade, the last transaction of the day, the Anaheim ducks. I mean, God, we're doing grades on Friday. I'm giving them a D.

I don't know what the hell is going on in Anaheim. I don't know what they think they are. Ridic. But I don't know how the hell you don't sell a single asset at this deadline when you've got places of people like Josh Manson to sell. Hayden Flurry goes to the ducks for Yanni Hakapest. for a guy named Yanni and a sixth round pick in 2022. So both of these, okay, go ahead, sorry. What are you going to say about the ducks?

Are you going to defend the ducks? Oh, no. Okay. I will say this. If there is one thing and only one thing the ducks are good at, it is drafting a developing defenseman. Like, that is the only thing they're good at. They're the best team by the model I've built in the last 10 years.

at drafting and developing defensemen. So might they get more than bottom pairing value out of Hayden Flurry? I think they will. However, great that you brought in a youngish defenseman because that will allow, like he's still, you can work with him, whatever the case may be. But to not sell off the assets when you are where Anaheim is is absolutely inexcusable. Yeah. And, yeah, you know, it would be good to give him some playing time.

You know how you do that? You trade some of those fucking defensemen you have on your Oster. That's right. And clear it out. All right. We did all the trades. The one thing I wanted to say, though, is both of those trades, Bowie and Flurry were related to Seattle. And that was kind of like kind of a looming thing over a lot of teams.

This now allows them to Vancouver to expose Bowie and protect Tyler Myers, which I don't know why you were. think you need to do that, but that was literally their thinking. I could tell if Seattle listens to Alexandra Mandricki at all ever, they are not going anywhere near Tyler Myers. No, no. But right. I think I said it last week. I don't remember even who it was about, but like the protection that Tyler Myers has

against being acquired by Seattle is his play and his contract. Like, if you can just divorce your feelings about. about him from the fact that he sucks and costs $7 million or whatever, six, five, whatever the number is, it's too many. Too much. Yeah. Setting those two things aside, he's a perfectly good player. But otherwise, I don't think Seattle's all that interested. And then the hurricanes had to trade Flurry because they would have just lost somebody else.

They lost him. Right. And I think. And I think – So get something for him. I don't think I've ever seen this before. At least not that I can remember, but like Yanni Hawkenpaw is like in the second percentile for even strength offense, which means he's literally horrendous. And in the 98th percentile for even strength defense.

So by my count, he basically doesn't skate over the red line. Yep. Like he only knows how to play defense. That was Hawkenpaw? Yeah. Yeah, wasn't that complicated. Sounds about right. In the time remaining real quick, overrated, underrated, favorite, least favorite.

I'm going to give you some options. And Rachel, you can tell us which one you want us to do. Salad dressings, hockey media personnel. We've done vacations. Things you cook on a grill is one. Donuts. Ooh. Okay.

She's at Udood a donut. Let's go with us. Is there McDonald's menu items on there? You want to do McDonald's menu items? Because we could totally do that. We've never done that before. Can I put my input in there for McDonald's? Let's do McDonald's menu items.

All right, here we go. That's fine. The listeners sometimes don't come up with the right answer, but that's the right one. All right, overrated menu item, Ryan Lambert at McDonald's. The Big Mac. Agreed. Okay. Now we're talking.

That's a tough one because there's like one. There's like one time a year when I'm like, you know, it'd be really good, a Big Mac. But you know what? You're right. And then I eat it. And I'm like, I don't eat it for another year. I will say this. When they did the Mac Jr., which was the single-

Oh, I love the Mac Jr. Incredible. Yeah. I agree. Oh, good call. As, as the- Which, of course, was the response to the Wopper Jr. But, you know.

McDonald's connoisseur of hockey Twitter, given that I eat it five times a week. Mm-hmm. That's about where I'm at these days. Every single time I get a Big Mac, which is not often anymore, like, I am disappointed by it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. Big Mac, I like that answer.

Underrated, Lambert. Falaeo Fish. What? Wow. Fleeo fish rocks. Brian, please. Every once in a while, it's not, it's certainly not in every time thing. I think it is underrated.

I don't get it every time But every time I do, I'm like, you know what? It's pretty good. I have a complicated relationship with fish sandwiches at fast food places Because I worked at Burger King when I was in the high school. And the Let's just say the demand for fish was not there oftentimes unless it was like lent. And those fish patties would certainly,

they would sit there and sometimes they wouldn't even get the courtesy dunk in the oil to try to bring it back to life. So it was not a good, a good, a good show. It kind of turned me off to it. But, I mean, flailo fishes are fine. I lament the fact that Burger King used to call their fish sandwich. You remember that, Lambert? The whaler.

I don't remember that. True story. You used to be called the whaler. They stopped calling it that because go ahead and fill in the blank. That's right. Idiots thought it was made of whale. and they had to stop calling at the whaler. Are you actually, wow.

No, for real. Guys, come on. I just thought it was when that Patrick Stewart as Ahab version of Moby Dick came out and everybody was like, we're out on that. It stinks. No. All right. Underrated, Rachel. I will go with the junior chicken.

Now, what is a junior chicken? So essentially it's We have like this thing called the McPicks menu up in Canada And it's like everything on the menu is like between $1.39 and $1.99. All right. And this this junior chicken is essentially a Mick chicken but with like a Kind of like happy meal style bun But the patty is like 10 times as good as the McChicken patty

because it's like actually it's got a bite to it. Like it's got some pepper on there. There's like actual seasoning involved. Oh, I like it. And it comes with like just lettuce and you can get mayo on it too. Mayo is such an important thing for a chicken sandwich, in my opinion. I can't eat mayo because I'll get sick. But like the McPicks like you go and it's like when you're admittedly, when you are hammered out of your mind

and you will stumble into McDonald's and you can get a whole ass sandwich for a dollar-fifix. it sounds good to me. Now, have you ever used mayo to style your hair like that dude on 90-day? Oh my God, Ed? Right. That was a real thing. He is not knowing. That was for you and for the night.

I feel like that's a thing that happens in a movie, too, but I can't. I can't pull the ref now. It's for you and 90-day fam, that reference. Underrated for me. I say this is underrated because I don't feel like, I feel like there's a lot of breakfast items that people really obsess over at McDonald's, like an Egg McMuffin or the fucking thing, what's the McGrittle? But this is a contender for my favorite, but I think it's also underrated is the

sausage McMuffin with egg. A sausage McMuffin with egg is a fucking perfect sandwich at any time of day. You want to add a hash brown on it, though. I mean, if you want to do that, that's fine. but I'm just saying that I think people put over McGrittle so much that they don't respect what is by far the best breakfast sandwich at any fast food restaurant is a sausage muffin with it. For me, when I go when I go for breakfast, it's the McChicken biscuit and we're feeling great. What? Oh, that sucks.

Fucking low country Lambert over here. That's right, baby. Chicken biscuit for breakfast. McChicken biscuit is incredible. I wish there was some kind of a condiment on it, but I'm, you know, I'm not. I will say, though, I had the, what is it, like the Popeye's chicken sandwich for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Yep. Oh.

It's amazing. So good. It's great. It certainly does meet the hype. Yep. Favorite McDonald's item, Ryan Lambert. Don't make me choose. Wait, can we ex-and-a French fries?

Because, like, that's the most elite thing on the menu. I like that call. Yeah, I think that's right. French fries is Connor McDavid. You're allowed to say French fries. I almost, and this is. You know, recently on Stick to Sports, we did a thing of if you could make a meal out of one menu item from McDonald's Burger King, Wendy's, and Chick-fil-A, what would it be? And my choice for McDonald's was the McDonald's Coca-Cola.

Yeah. I mean, it's just amazing. It's incredible. And, but I do have to go with, it's a relatively new menu item, but I think it's a fucking 10 out of 10. The spicy McNugget. Spicy McNugget. The spicy McNugget is unbelievable. Time out.

Time out. What's up? What's up? My favorite menu item since I was born is the chicken nuggets. Yeah. What are these spicy chicken nuggets? Fill me in. Oh, man. I guess the border issue is coming into play right now, isn't it?

Yeah. You can keep your nasty little chicken sandwich. We'll stick with our spicy nuggets. Yeah, I need the deets on this because I will be prokeptu. procuring this immediately upon the border opening. So at some point during quarantine, like maybe six months ago, they had, they just said, like, hey, we have spicy nuggets now. And I saw it at the drive-thru, and I was like, well, you just sold yourself, however many nuggets is the maximum number you'll sell me. And I got them, and they came with...

Like buying arrows in Breath of the Wild? Yeah, just... I'm maxing out, whatever. And so it's literally just like a spicy batter instead of the regular one. Like I'm sure they just put some kind of a spice in the batter. I don't know what it is. It's got some real heat to it. And also they introduced a new sauce that is also supposed to go with it that is very hot,

like especially as like a fast food place goes. Like this, it's the kind of a kind of sauce that'll make your nose run a little bit. It's fucking unbelievable. The thing I always liked about McDonald's when it comes to new menu items is that they're not they're not like Burger King, which is a fucking trash factory of like, you like fucking Cheetos. How about Cheetos on your burger? And they're not, they're not Taco Bell in the sense that they're just always trying to innovate and come up with really cool shit. When they do something new, it's like, it's like a massive cultural moment because they're not always doing new things. So spicy nugs was a really big moment.

Change the game. And then they got rid of it after like six weeks, brought it back for another, like another two or three months later, and then got rid of it after another six weeks. So I think it's just going to be a seasonal thing for forever. I don't think it's going to be a regular menu item, unfortunately. Rachel, did you give your favorite? I forget.

Chicken nuggets. Chicken nuggets. Okay. 100%. With fries off the table and with a sausage muffin with egg as my, underrated, then it leaves me with only the other part of my Holy Trinity of McDonald's items, which is the quarter pound of cheese. Yeah.

Quarter pound of cheese is incredible. The marriage of grease and ketchup on that burger is something that is unattainable by many other burgers in life. The onion, the way they slice the onions only for the quarter of butter. It's all incredible. Oh, yeah. All fucking incredible. Love it.

Yeah. That is my number one hangover cure is you get a, uh, uh, Quarter pounder with cheese, large fry, large Coke. 20 minutes later, you are sitting pretty, my friend. See, my hangover cure is to just continue drinking. Okay. Oh, there's a Canadian amongst us. Also, sometimes the quarter pounder is a little bit too big.

If my tummy is a little bit gurgly from drinking. Well, nobody says you're going to finish it, Greg. Well, I might go to two cheeseburgers instead, is all I'm saying. Okay. Mm-hmm. I think a cheeseburger, another very underrated menu item at old Mickey D. Well, this is exciting because there's been so much love given to McDonald's. I wonder what on earth least favorite could be for all of us.

Lambert, what's your least favorite item? This is a tough one. This is a real, real difficult one. I'm going to stick with things I would actually, like, I'm not going to get the apple pie or whatever. Like, it just doesn't interest me. Excuse me, I will not stand for apple pie erasure on here. That's fine. I don't like it.

Wow. Everybody says it's really good. it's not for me. Not for you. That's fine. So I will say of the things that you can get at McDonald's, I will go with if they give you a bad batch of fries. Because you're so high. What would make it bad?

Like they're overcooked? You can just kind of tell that they've been sitting. You can just kind of tell. Yeah. And because when you go to McDonald's, as we said, you are so hyped for those fucking fries. You are ready to eat 500. of them, and especially if they come out piping hot, oh, that's, you can't top that feeling. The opposite is true. The letdown you get when the fries suck, ugh.

That's a good point. You're like I could have got anywhere and gotten fries. Exactly. I could have gotten shitty fries at Wendy's. What am I doing? Right. Rachel least favorite item. Foleo fish.

How dare you? I literally had it one time, and it made me ill. So it's a no. That's an understandable reaction then. All right. So am I, okay. The answer is McRib. It's fucking nasty.

Yeah, it's nasty. I hate it. I hadn't had one in a very long time. And then when they just brought it back, I tried it for the first time of years. It is just, it's a terrible item. I don't understand the cult behind it. I have to imagine the cult around it is because of the, um, just the irregularity of it being there. But the real, if I can't have it, I guess I can because you guys seem to

agree that it's the worst. I would probably go pancakes. I don't like the pancakes at McDonald's. I don't understand the point of them. Couldn't tell you the last time I, I probably had them when I was a kid because that seemed like if you were awake when McDonald's was serving breakfast, that seemed like a very grown-up thing to do is to get the pancakes for some reason. I will say, though, the maple syrup, like we're talking about pancakes. The maple syrup at McDonald's is ass. Like I used to order the pancakes and get my own damn Quebec maple syrup and pour it on the pancakes because like the McDonald's maple syrup, it is literally like eating liquid paper. I like that you're some sort of like Canadian Beyonce.

You keep maple syrup in your purse. It's pretty good. I like it. I will say that I had the McGrittles for the first time ever when Wayne Woodrow. Whitaker, the former hockey writer, Wayne Whitaker, and I went to Disneyland. He lives in L.A. now. And we went to Disneyland. And on the way there, there's like a McDonald's right off the highway. And we got, and we went there and I was like, I've never had one. This is so exciting. Nasty. Very gross. One last, one last thing I'll say about McDonald's. I recently

took my daughter to one of the Smithsonian's. I guess it had to be American history in D.C. and in one of the displays they had the giant styrofoam containers that McDonald's items used to come in. Sure. And what a fucking joy to tell a kid who has absolutely no context about what that shit was. And they had the McDLT thing in there. You're like, no, you don't understand. This kept the cool side cool. And this is someone who is like cognizant of climate change and why you don't litter and all this.

I'm like, no, you don't understand. It's the size of a U-Haul. but your burger would come in it. Like, it just blew her fucking mind. Remember when people got extremely mad when McDonald's announced they were changing the color of their bags to brown so that they could use recyclable material? And people thought it was like a crime that they were doing this. Like, has anyone died because they've done that over the past 20 years?

No, I think we're good. But I will say this. I mean, like, there is something to be said for the protection that the big styrofoam container used to give you a fucking sandwich. I mean, there's no doubt about that. You know what I was thinking about the other day? because I went to Burger King, which I very rarely do, and I ordered a medium drink.

And the medium drink, they give you a Burger King, is the size of seven larges from McDonald's, right? Like, it's so big. And I was like, remember when, like, Wendy's had the Biggie Cup and McDonald's had the, what was theirs called? It was, like, the deluxe or something like that, just the size above large. And those things were the size of fucking, like,

Gatorade coolers on the size. headlines of an NFL game. They were so big. And as a kid, I would just be like, oh, yeah, I'll drink a whole Coke of this. Like, no problem, whatever. That's why, like, Burger King put us, puts out fucking, like, you know, chocolate pudding, jalapeno burgers. Like, they don't give a shit. They just want you to, they want you to die. I mean, I don't know that for sure. But that's the behavior that they have there. And you know what? I agree. Thank you, Burger King. There you go. That's right. Thank you. Very good. The guy at the Leafs Parade and you. and then that same aim different different different different different

same goal all right the that's a puck soup for this week thanks to Rachel Dory hey Rachel tell everybody where they can find your stuff

you can find me at Rachel Dory on Twitter the Staffing Graph podcast which is everywhere you can find this Puck Soup podcast and I write for

EP RingsSide and then check the trash you can find me unless you are so inclined to read my research, in which case, well, then tweet at me. Are you available? Like, would you, can people, like, buy your services to, like, do research for them and stuff? Or, like, freelance?

Like, NHL players can, yes. Oh, all right. Well, any of you NHL players, let's say a media company would like me to do things for them. ESPN. Oh, here we go. I am available, yes. Wow. EP Rinkside, that's a good website.

Only cool people write for it. Of course, we all know that. Also, the Puck Soup Patreon, where we're about to do a mailbag, and then I think next week we're probably going to do a bonus episode, or maybe the week after. I don't know yet. Yeah. And then also me and Greg and Ruby do Meezon Pod,

the Top Chef podcast, where we talk about the episode every week, forget what our own bits are. And really try to nail down in the middle of season two what some of the categories that we talk about every week are. We haven't figured it out yet, but one of these days. Somebody reminded me of one of the categories that we had last year that we forgot to add to the drap, what we will, which was making a judge cry either through food or storytelling. It should be worth something. I like that. Oh, yeah, and that'll come in huge this year, too.

I had to close my restaurant. 8,000 people got laid up. Yeah, it's going to be insane. An insane amount of bonus point. However, no old Italian men will cry at the beauty of a pasta this season. I love that so much. That was the greatest thing in the history of television. It's so good.

Just this old Italian guy weeping because like his ravioli was light and airy or whatever. It was fucking rock. It's one of the best shows on TV. Yeah, and you can listen to our episode recaps every week on MusumPod. And you can find my stuff at ESPN.com. Thanks for everybody who checked out our deadline coverage on Monday. Needless to say, it will be a lot different. next year.

Okay. And, yeah, read my column on Thursdays. And I think, like I said, mentioned before, Emily and I are doing a full report card for all the teams on Friday as well. So do you check that out. And next week, Lambert, we'll be talking, if everything goes according to plan,

the Gordy Howell record being shattered. That's crazy. By Patrick Marlow. It's fucking wild. I honestly think he's just. just playing, like, just to say he has that record. Why wouldn't he? That fucking rules.

Like a lot of other people, I've been working on a story about Patrick Marlowe for that very occasion. And let me tell you, more than a few of his former teammates believe that is the carrot in front of him right now. I will say, I saw multiple takes in the last couple of days about, yeah, but I mean, Gordy Howe also played in the WHA. So it doesn't really kind of. And it's like,

We know. Everything that happened before 1985 is the coolest shit that ever happened, and nothing has topped it since then. Well, if you're a fan of that take, get ready for when Ovechkin breaks Gretzky's record, because you're going to hear a lot more about the fucking WHA then, my friend. Let me tell you. I want that to happen, though. Oh, I want it to happen so bad, but I don't know that it will anymore. That's for another. We'll talk about it next week, probably. But probably we will.

Other records that can fall. All right. Thanks everybody for listening and supporting the show. Do check out the Patreon where we'll do our mailbag, and we have all the bonus stuff, and Lambert's a newsletter and all that shit, and we'll talk you next week. Bye. See it. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons.

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