Puck Soup - Four Nations Face/Off

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

Sean and Ryan try to talk themselves into a Four Nations final that isn't USA/Canada, talk about the playoff races at the break, and more. Sponsored by Mint Mobile (mintmobile.com/puck)

I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects. I am Sean McAnneux from The Athletic. And folks, it's Four Nations and they're facing off. You've heard it for months now, I feel like. I don't know about you. Every time I'm watching a game on ESPN Plus, they're like every single commercial break starts with Sidney Crosby going Four Nations Facing Off.

Is that the level of excitement that he has? I might be overstating it. Well, I mean, give him credit. Sid actually does want to play, unlike the coward Quinn Hughes. So, I don't know, man. Well, okay, so we'll get to all the roster stuff in a minute. But along those lines, the first question I simply have to ask is, do you care what happens in this tournament? Okay.

A short answer, yes. Slightly longer answer, ask me in a week. Uh-huh. Sure. No, this is a... I do care. It has been almost a decade since we've had any form of best on best hockey. That's what this is as far as the matchups between the teams.

I understand not every country is here for various reasons. And that, you know, does that mean that the entire tournament itself can't be considered a best on best? Maybe. But, you know, Canada against the U.S. on Saturday night, it's going to be the best players each country has facing each other for the first time, at least since 2016. And, you know, if you want to factor in that, like, the Matthews and McDavid's weren't available for that game because of team North America. then it's been over a decade. Yep. So yeah, I do care.

Is it the Olympics? No. Is it a true world cup? Not quite. This is like, if everything is wrestling, this is like one of the B paper views. This isn't in your house.

It's not WrestleMania. Yes. We get that. But it's, it can, it's still, it could still be pretty good. Unless Canada goes 0 and 3,

in which case it's garbage and I never cared about it. Right. I think I think you've identified what it really boils down to for me is this coming Saturday. That's that's where the excitement is. Yeah. Sweden, Finland, U.S. Canada. Awesome.

Let's fucking go. Thursday, Monday, maybe not so much. You know what I mean? And then the final will be, uh... I mean, we'll see. If somehow it's like Sweden, USA or Sweden, Canada, it's going to feel at least to, you know, the North American viewing audience, which let's be honest, that's who this is for. You know, if you don't think the NHL sitting there going, maybe we just rig this for you, for a U.S. Canada, too, you know, a week from Thursday or whatever. Yeah, that's what's happening.

Lock it in, you know. That's absolutely what they would. would want. And it's a super short tournament. Three round robin games, you know, with, we all know what can happen in a hockey tournament. I mean, we know what can happen in a best of seven when a goalie gets hot,

let alone, you know, something where you've basically got to win two or three. But it is set up for, you know, potentially a hell with storyline. I mean, let's let's be honest. We're going to get Canada, U.S. on Saturday is the main event as far as the round robin goes. Totally. It's in Canada. Canadian fans are going to boo the crap out of the U.S. anthem, which means a bunch of people will clutch their pearls and do the whole fake outrage thing and drive some publicity about that.

and then in theory you get the rematch except this time Brett Hart's got to go into the USA and get it from the fans there and that'll be the rematch and the chance for you know America to give it back to Canada if they choose and all of that stuff

okay that that can make for some pretty good some pretty good sports I mean I the best the best hockey rivalries and the best hockey international games were between teams where the countries didn't like each other too much. Yeah. That added an element to it. Yeah, of course.

So we didn't think a year ago we were going to have that for this tournament. But, hey, I mean, if the world's going to go to hell, at least we get a couple of interesting hockey games out of it. Yeah, I think the way I'm thinking about it for the most part is like, this is like dress. rehearsal for the Olympics, right? Sure. It's an appetizer. Yeah, and like, you know, I get all this stuff about, like,

the Czechs wanting to be there, you know, Leon Drysidal not being there, kind of makes it feel like bullshit, because he's one of the best players on Earth. Well, you know, find me 23 German guys who are good enough to play in the NHL. Get 19 teammates together, Leon,

and then you can, totally, yeah. I don't know what to tell you. Yeah, no, like, but what I'm saying is I get the argument that like we're stretching the limit of what or what the definition of best on best can be. You know what I mean? Like it's not it's not like actually best on best. It's quote unquote best on best. Having like you're right, guys like Dry Saddle not being there or like an Anzicolpatar like that's just, I mean that's just part and parcel of doing a true best on best is that if you're from a country that cannot ice a.

competitive roster, then, no, you're not, you're not part of it. Russia not being there is purely from a hockey point of view. That's an issue. That's tough, yeah. But it's also, I mean, this isn't. What can you do? Yeah, what can you? I mean, there's bigger things than hockey, and it's not like the NHL really made a

controversial call here. So, no, in fact, like in the last week, the IAHF was like, yeah, we're we're keeping that ban going. So. And once you, you know, once you say Russia's not in it, so now you're probably just looking at it and saying, well. Four teams it is. Yeah, of course. Because then we can do, we can do the whole thing much quicker.

I don't think could you even put together a roster, like a, because they have to be NHL players. Could you put together like a check roster of, you know, 23 NHL players with like 12 forward, 7 defensemen, three goals? goalies. I don't know if you can. I haven't looked, I guess. Yeah, you would have to open it up to supplement internationally. Yeah, you have to go, you have to go, what about Czechoslovakia? Do you guys want to get the old band back together, boys? Just to make our North American-centric hockey tournament logistics a little smoother? Yeah, so like I get all that. I think, I think it's interesting insofar as, I don't know how many roster spots from, you know,

the the rosters we're looking at now are going to be different a year from now. But I think there are spots up for grabs. Like, I think everybody kind of believes Connor Bedard will be there next year in a way that he isn't, you know, there have been some takes about that, including from myself in the last little while here. But,

yeah, I just, I just think like they're doing kind of the best they can, um, given the, the, the limitations. if we're only going to let in

NHL players, like not even AHL players, that kind of thing. I get it from that point of view, but I don't know, like, the idea of like, oh, man, I can't wait for this USA Finland game. I don't give a shit, you know?

It's tough. Yeah. But even then, you know, you won't care until it's 3-2 Finland and Matthew Kichick scores with 10 seconds left. Yeah.

The place is going crazy. or, you know. We'll see. I think it's like, as I said, this is not the All-Star game. Very clearly. But I'm getting a little tired of the competition to, like,

out there to have the take that, like, diminishes it the most. Like, yeah, are you, I'm sorry we took away your All-Star game. I'm sorry we took away your mid-February, Nashville, you know, Minnesota game. St. Louis, yeah, yeah. Dude, can I tell you how natural it felt for me to say Columbus there?

Like, you could hear me struggling to not say Columbus because I like them as a story this year. But that was like, my brain was like, oh, you're doing the bit where you talk about a hockey team. No one cares about. Say Columbus. I apologize. It's a real clear A to B there. That's not, that's defensible, I think. Instead, we get mid-season best on best.

hockey, 80% of the way there. Yep. Love it. Let's do it. I agree. Especially on the assumption that this is not only like the appetizer for the Olympics, but this is the re-entry into having a regular World Cup that, you know, hopefully within a few years, we'll have more teams. Well, it's funny you say reentry because they've never really had a regular World Cup. There was one like in, I want to say, 96 and then 2004 maybe, and then 2012 was that?

2016 was 2016. Yeah. That's right. So not really happening at regular intervals. No. And even the Canada Cup, which is the precursor, was like, roughly every four years. Yeah, ball parked it.

But it was, you know, kind of... And then, yeah, then the Olympics came in and... And everything. I'm trying to think... Why didn't they have a World Cup in 2000? There must have been a reason, but there wasn't... Oh, I'm sure there was some weird thing with, like... Well, wouldn't they have had an Olympics in...

I don't think... No, yeah, right. No, there's no Olympics in a... Yeah, right, right. It was 98 in 2002. And the 96 World Cup was the one that the U.S. won, which purely from an NHL marketing perspective, you think you'd want to jump right back into that.

But it must have been something to do with being, like, they didn't have a CBA to do in terms of a lockout, but I think the old one had been extended and there was probably something there. But yeah. And then it just got into, well, the NHL doesn't like you or care about what you want. So, Scream.

Well, so it's interesting. To that point, I saw this come up yesterday and I feel like this should, I didn't see a lot of people discussing this. I feel like this should have been bigger news. They announced the point or the rules for how the like standings will be determined in this tournament. It's a three to one point system with a 10 minute three on three overtime. Hmm.

Interesting. Yeah. I thought that was really interesting. But then, but Ryan, the playoff races aren't going to be close if they do it that way. Well, so what's interesting is I saw this like float across my timeline or whatever and somebody had retweeted, I think, the NHL network. And I was like, I got to check like in the same way of like, oh, you know, such and such a trade is happening and it's a crazy trade. And you're like, I better check to make sure this is really Elliott or Frank or Pierre or whoever. You know what I mean?

Like this could this could just be someone who changed like an L to an I in their username and is tricking me. But it seems like it was the real NHL network, 321 point system. I had somebody email me like a week or two ago and say, do you think that the fact that it's a 321 is the NHL kind of testing the waters? And I literally was like, this is the first I've heard of it being three. Yeah, I heard about it yesterday. That having been said, it's not unusual for international hockey tournaments. The Olympics certainly does it. Yeah, of course.

You kind of have to because you're – like, it's such a short tournament and you do need some separation of the teams. So when it comes to, you know, in this case, just the two teams are going to the final. But yeah, I think it's – yeah, I'm in favor of 3-2-1 for the – for the NHL, so hey, let's do it for a week and when the world doesn't end, we'll be fine. Or when Team USA goes 3 and O, but doesn't make the final because they went to overtime too many times and we'll never hear of this idea ever again. Well, I guess the thing that you got to say about that is they're not, you know, don't get your hopes up about a 3-21 point system in the NHL. But what I do think might happen if this proves popular is the 10-minute three-on-three overtime is just like instituted at some point, you know? It should be.

I mean, it's- Yeah, of course it should be. So ridiculous that we don't have. Like, as much as I think the point system needs to be fixed, at least I understand. I get why it is how it is now and I get why it might. feel difficult to move off of what we have now. The overtime is just like, dudes, come on. Yep.

And no one wants to see a shootout. I think we're at a point now where people are just like, oh, fuck, man, a shootout, okay, I guess. And anything you can do to get away from that, including just tacking an extra five minutes onto the three-on-three. I think that works out for everyone. Well, that's, and that's the argument, right? is that you add the extra five minutes,

you vastly reduce the number of shootouts, which is good. But also, by doing that, shootouts maybe feel a little bit special again. You know, maybe there's one or two a week instead of one or two a night. And you go, oh, crap, there's a shootout. I might actually flip over and watch this

because we don't see it much. Anyways, obviously, the worst case scenario or this tournament is you get like a playoff spot being decided by a shootout. Right. Everybody hates that. I mean, I would almost like to see them slip in a rule or something that says, like,

if a game is going to determine who go, like only the third games. Because I get, like at some point, yeah, we don't want USA Finland going four over times and now everyone's exhausted. Like I get you've got to, for the round robin, you've got to end the games at some point. But if it comes down to those last, you know, Canada, Finland and Canada's trying to get into the second spot in the championship and comes down to a shootout. That would suck.

They're not doing the shootout for the final, by the way, if people aren't aware. It's actual NHL. You play until overtime rules. Yeah, you play five on five, right? Yes. Yep. So they're doing that, right? We'll see you, man.

It's, uh, I don't mind that they're taking this swing. And I sure don't mind sacrificing the All-Star game to get it done. Totally. 100%. All right. Let's talk about, uh, all the, the machinations with the rosters and how they all came together in the last like week or so. seemed like there was a lot of movement, except I guess, with the Swedish roster, pretty consistent in the last little while here.

There are obviously some injury changes, but we've known about them. So we'll start with Sean's home country of Canada, the future 51st state. No Alex Tarangelo, which we knew about for a few weeks now, but they waited to know. name a replacement and it turned out to be Drew Doughty. Yeah. Which makes sense. Yeah, one of those I get it, but, you know, okay, sure. And, and, you know, I had come back from injury and I think that, I think the longer

they waited, it sort of suggested that maybe they were just keeping it out of time. Totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come back and, uh, so that's fine. So again, like, you look at Team Canada, it's exactly what we've been. expecting ever since we knew this tournament was happening. They're loaded up front. Blue line's good.

Not great once you take, you know, once Cal McCar goes to the bench, but good. And the goaltending is a huge question mark. And if there's any sort of surprise, I think it's the fact that they didn't, quote unquote, find an injury on a goaltender somewhere. Right. They didn't like go up to Sam Montembow and be like, you, look like you're just you're looking a little peeked buddy what's it's it's the what was petrangelo like you've you've got an ailment that's right yeah and uh to to get somebody else in there but uh yeah

you know you know i i that's that's all it's going to come down to for can i mean i saw that the tweets in that yesterday were people like oh look at this first power play unit this is insane. It is insane. It sure is. No two ways about that. Are they going to play McDavid and McKinnon on a line together? Yeah, that would be super cool if they did.

It's not going to matter if they're giving up four holes on 20 shots every night. But we'll see. You just need one guy to get hot, but you don't really have time to figure out who that is. So you just got to kind of guess. I have not even seen. Has there been any indication? of who starts where, like any? I'm sure somebody yesterday reported who was first out for,

oh, who's the one who's not Bennington or Montembow? Who's the other guy? Aden Hill. It looks like it's going to be Aiden Hill. Hey, he had some success playing in like a high value tournament behind a team that isn't going to let anyone anywhere near him, you know? So like, of those three, It's Aden Hill with a bullet for me as the guy I want in goal.

Dude, that's the saddest thing I've ever heard anyone say. Am I wrong? Of those three? No, maybe not. I mean, Bennington, I thought I'd seen somewhere that Bennington and Hill are the only two goalies who've won a cup in this tournament. That sounds right, yeah. That would check out. So there you go, bud.

It's all about knowing how to win. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, the flip side of this is that we're making too much out of this. And, you know, Team Russia's not here, but Team Canada's classic international score is a six-five win. So. Right. We've got the five part all set up and ready to go. We just got to squeeze the six out of these guys.

Yeah. So I think that's all, you know, as good as you can hope for for Canada. is just like, you know, who, again, like, let's, let's say you're making a goal tending change. Who do you put in instead? I don't know, I don't know what the answer to that is, that you're, like, confident about. Oh, this is a clear upgrade? I don't know that there is one. So that's life.

And again. Who's driving the Zamboni? Yeah, absolutely, man. The other thing, I guess, that, you know, Mark Sheifley, feel free to go on vacation. Crosby, good to play in the first game. And, you know, there were concerns there for a little while that there was something wrong with his arm. But no, now we're good. There clearly was.

Oh, yeah. But this is, I mean, obviously he's, if he was legitimately at a health risk, you would assume he wouldn't play. the fact that he's Sidney Crosby and has been around forever and has done this so many times and you kind of trust him to make the decision. But I do think it also speaks to Pittsburgh understanding that they're not in the playoff race. So it's like, dude, go have fun. Go do your thing before you come back and sludge your way through the last eight weeks of the season, as opposed to other players where they're,

maybe under more pressure to prioritize the NHL team or they're cowards, one of the two. Yeah, well, I mean, the thing is like the penguin season is effectively over, right? Well, we'll talk about the East Playoff race, you know, in the second part of the show here. But like, you know, oh, no, Sidney Crossley is going to aggravate an injury and totally, you know, miss the last 25 games or whatever it is of the penguin season. Well, I guess that doesn't matter. So who cares? Go get your gold medal or whatever prize they're giving out for winning this thing, you know? So, yeah, I think Canada, you know, once you see the roster on paper and, like, all the lines are laid out, you're like, oh, fuck, who's going to beat these guys?

You know, Jesus Christ. I mean, yeah, Aiden Hill, like, sure, but, you know, their fourth line is three, like, top teams. you're all stars. Yep. So you can't really say too much. But I wonder, because I don't know, maybe this is me buying into the Canadian media thing of like, actually I think our team kind of sucks. And it's the USA who's the number one favorite.

And if they don't win, it's actually the biggest disappointment in the history of sports. Correct. Yeah. The only change on the U.S. roster, Quinn Hughes is out. Jake Sanderson is in. Yeah.

That's rough. Yeah. Coward. Yeah. Well, I don't know if you heard. The word agonized over the decision not to go was agonized was used about 6,000 times in the last three days. Yeah. This is a really tough call.

And, you know, unlike Sidney Crosby, I don't think the Vancouver Canucks were leaving it up to their captain. Well, that's right. You want to go? We're in a playoff raceman. In fact, they're sitting in a playoff spot as the break begins. They're, I think, three points up on Calgary. So, like, I think, frankly, yeah, he might have agonized over it.

I don't know that it was up to him, ultimately. I think there was certainly some, yeah, the degree of pressure a team can place on somebody. I mean, if he had really said, like, you know what, I'm going no matter what, and, you know, off I go. But the end of the day is, you know, the other piece is unlike a Sydney Crosby where you would assume maybe this and the Olympics are it for him. Yeah, oh, for sure. Quinn used to got a lot of this ahead of him. but also he just didn't want to hang out with J.T. Miller, I think is a big part of it.

Sounds like who can blame him, you know? I don't know what goes on in the room there. But yeah, you know, same thing with the U.S. you look at the lines and you're like, yeah, all these guys, you know, not as deep up front as Canada. I think taking the best defensemen in the league over the last two years off the roster and replacing him with Jake Samerson, who's a good player, but he's not going. Quinn Hughes, right? Like, that just, that makes the, that makes the defense feel a little bit dicier to me. Like, where you're like, oh, Charlie McAvoy, he's on the second pair. I guess he's not really having a good season and wasn't like unbelievable or anything last year.

You know, like, there's just, there's just a little more that you, that you're kind of gritting your teeth over, you know? Sure. But they do have the best goalie in the world. again. And I don't know, how many of like the top five goalies do you think are on the U.S. Or let's say top 10 because there's three of them. Yeah.

Two at least. Yeah, two. And I mean, you probably put Swayman back into that group given how he's been since his not very good start. Yeah. I mean, if you were going to throw all the goalies in this tournament into a draft, what do you get three of three of the five three of the top five picks would be American yeah I think I think that's probably about right

with Markstrom out you know yeah Saros is probably the only guy and that might be three of the four I don't even know that you necessarily take uh take uh Shisterkin and Surocan oh I see what you think yeah yeah yeah right

if they're in the tournament then yeah then then Russia's got the trio of goalies that look look like uh look like the U.S. group. But, yeah, as far as the 12 guys that are bringing their pads to this tournament, I think far away, a U.S. advantage.

And that's part of hockey. That's the goal. It's part of the team, man. You don't get to write it off and just shrug and go, oh, well, we got to, you know, we were the better team, just the other team had a better goalie. Well, then sounds like maybe you weren't a great team. Yeah, and also like, especially in a short tournament,

goal technique probably is just going to make or break everybody's tournament, right? Like, if you can't get two stops, two extra stops against Canada or whatever, or frankly, Finland, you know, it becomes a tricky situation for you to actually get to the final, let alone win it. So, you know, obviously you're, you're, you're, uh, maybe not as high on the U.S. once you actually see the lines laid out. And again, there was a picture yesterday of, like,

John Tortarella talking to Austin Matthews, and it's like, oh, fuck. Oh, no. I saw that. It was like him, wasn't it like Matthews Eichel and somebody, and it's like they're just all looking like they're trying to swallow their own tongues. Yeah, and he's like, okay, guys, I need you out there blocking a lot of shots of this one. It's like, don't tell him that. No, no, no.

I need you each to tell me one thing that you're, insecure about that I can yell at you on the bench front of everyone. Or he was just telling him about his dogs. That's the other option. Okay, I'm listening if that's the case. You know? I got to say, man, I'm looking at the team USA lines.

They're good. They are good, but... The gap between US and Canada up front. I still think it's Canada, but it's not a big gap. And I'm sure there's, if you wanted to piece together an argument, say the U.S. had better forwards. It wouldn't sound ridiculous, at least. I think it would sound a little ridiculous.

But, you know, again, the way that, look, look at the U.S. roster the last time they had the Olympics and the difference in quality between what Canada brought up front and what the U.S. brought. This is like night and day. Yep. So, yeah. You know, I like the U.S.'s chances here. in a way that even maybe five years ago I wouldn't have. You know what I mean? Do you think they're the favorite?

Because of the goaltending, I guess I have to say yes. Yeah, I agree. I think, you know, you look at the odds that are out there and they've got basically U.S. is a slight favorite over Canada, then a step down to Sweden and then a bigger step down to Finland. And, you know, we'll get to those teams. But I think that's about right. I think it's enough that, yeah, if you head to pick a team, I think it's team USA, but it's not a, you know, it's not going to be a miracle on ice upset if somebody else wins and it's not going to be a total collapse.

If Team USA doesn't, it'll be disappointing. Totally. Because they are set up well for this. And, you know, we've talked for years about the gap in goal-tending quality. You couldn't ask for it any better here, right? Like, I mean, even heading into the season, you would have said, oh, yeah, I mean, Team USA is going to have a better goal tank.

But they've got a guy who not only has sewn up the Vezna, but might be the favor for MVP, and Canada didn't even bring their best guys. Right. So if there is going to be a part of it where it's like, if you can't win with that advantage in that, then one. But we'll see. Totally.

Yeah. Sweden, the only team without a like semi-recent injury replacement. We've known Jacob Markstrom was going to miss this tournament for a couple weeks now. Samuel Erson takes his place and William Carlson out, Ricard Raquel in. So. So you look at the top two lines. Yeah, really, really good. competitive with what the North American teams can offer.

You look at the top of the blue line. You know, the goaltending, even without Markstrom, is... They've got two solid guys. Very credible, yes. It's the depth. When you get down, like... And this is often the case with Sweden is... You get down to the fourth line, maybe the fifth and six D spots,

and you start going... these guys would not make, not only would they not make Canada or U.S. rosters, they probably wouldn't significantly be in the conversation. Like, I don't think Victor Arvetson is getting an invite to the team USA tryout. For sure or not.

Yeah, you're right about that. But, like, their defense is actually pretty, like, Hedman, Rodin. Right. I mean, headman is the, well, sure. Carlson is, you know, they've got him down on.

probably what's, I mean, it's interesting, right? The pairings that they've, that they're showing is him with, with Matthias Echom who, in theory, is that like, hey man, I'll lock it down on our end. You go do what you do. Yeah, I think that's the exact right pairing for them to, for them to put him on. Yeah, for sure. And, and, you know, depending on how they use them on the power play, which it doesn't seem like they're, like Carlson's going to be the powerplay guy. Like that, that's going to be your talent. Yeah.

but, well, I mean, you kind of like, why do you bring the guy if you're not going to give him power play time? But he was Carlson one of the, he was one of the early picks, right? Yes. Okay. So you're like, he was one of the guys where it's like we named him so far in advance that it kind of tied our hands a little bit in terms of how the season went. It's, I mean, you talk about guys who have something to play for as far as the Olympics. Carlson might be an interesting one, like a guy who feels a little bit washed as an impact NHL guy, but he's also not on a very good team, not a great situation.

Yep. This is sort of like, you know, okay, is best on best, can he still shine and be an impact guy, or is he going to just get turnstiled out there in which case somebody might have to make a pretty tough call a year from now? Yeah. Will they be chanting at him? You still got it. they being the fans in Boston, probably not.

Oh, okay. Interesting. And then, yeah, like, in goal, Philip Gustafson, like, he rocks. He's so good. So, you know, it's going to give them a chance. They have just enough talent that I think they can win some three, you know, a three two game here and there. Again, obviously it's such a short term. You've got a guy who won the Vezina two years ago as a backup.

Yep. Not bad. Not bad. Yeah. And then we get to, I regret to inform you, we get to Finland. Their injury situation is so bad that in their first day of practice, they had 11 skaters and two goalies on the ice. Yep.

Aye, aye, aye. It's, yeah, it's not. And, you know, of all teams to be missing this many guys, Finland's not. The thinnest one, yeah. Yeah. Especially on the blue line, which is where they've been hit the most. I am I am kind of fascinated by the, who's the one guy in the NHL who didn't get invited? Okay, yeah.

So let me tee this up with that. Yeah. Or that up with this. Okay. So they have, I believe, like eight or nine total defensemen, 10 maybe that are in the NHL from Finland. Miro Heiskin and out Yanni Hock and Pa out And most recently Rasmus Ristelian and out

Ingo Ingo Henry Yokoharuu Erho Vakanin and Nicholas Montepa Mattin Paulo Who I believe has played like 20 NHL games in his career Meanwhile Vili Hai Nola

The only guy In the NHL who is a finished defenseman Who didn't get the call That hurts That is a crazy crazy. There's a difference between feeling like maybe you're the last pick and actually being the last

pick. A million percent. This dude literally got left leading on the chain link fence for an international tournament. Totally. Well, we're good. And it's crazy because... Sorry, we have... We have every...

We got an even number of players on both teams, so we're just going to leave you. It's crazy because, like, Winnipeg just kind of... years now has just refused to use him as a regular defenseman. And so, like, I get why he doesn't get the call to a certain extent. Like, his career high in games played in a season is 16, right? So, like, and, you know, this is a guy with an injury history, all that kind of thing. But to, like, get passed up by a guy who has 20-something career games, you've got to be sitting there going, what the fuck, man? That sucks so bad. I'm sorry. It's but again, like he he didn't play all of last season in the NHL.

So I get it from a certain point of view, but otherwise, like you said, it's just going to be like to actually know you're the last pick. Yeah. Has to be a real punch in the gut. I don't know what else to say. But otherwise, you know, like the thinning out of this, I think you would have said, you know, the most likely team to finish fourth, like two months ago, you would have said Finland, even before all these injuries.

So I feel like two months ago you would have said fourth best odds, most likely to finish fourth. But everything clicks, everything bounces the right way. How many times have we seen it in international tournaments? Finland, they don't often win, but they hang around more than you think. Totally, yeah, of course. level of death. I mean, yes, UC Saros could stand on his head. I mean, I think that's...

Yep. It's hard to envision any good news story for Finland that doesn't start with that as the lead. And again, much like Team Sweden, lots of good players, but you get down to the third and fourth lines, and it's like, come on.

Like, there just isn't the depth there. Top six, sure, mostly. Yeah, they have Sasha Barkoff. They can grind you into dust if they need to. But again, maybe not with the third and fourth lines on the ice. It's tough. So I had a little idea for how we can approach, like, our predictions for this tournament.

We've kind of, you know, talked around it a little bit. But why don't we just predict the winners and losers of every single game in the tournament? and try to keep track and then, you know, we'll go from there. Okay. So it's... I'm going to go down the schedule here. It starts off Wednesday night. Canada, Sweden, 8 p.m.

I'm going to give me Team Sweden in the upset to send a nation into a panic. I love it. That's great stuff. I have Canada winning in overtime for this one. Okay. And, you know, I think we're kind of thinking along. the same lines. Sure.

Yeah. In fact, you know what? Give me Sweden in overtime. Okay, great. Perfect. So we're both predicting overtime. When they prove us wrong. When they prove us wrong, we'll have to just simply tip our caps to those scrappy underdogs from hockey Canada, you know?

Yep. Thursday, also at 8 p.m. USA Finland, I think, you know, U.S. regulation win, probably a pretty comfortable margin. Sure. You know, now that I think about it, I'm sure that they, that they're just going to use like goal difference as a tiebreaker if we get to that, like if it comes to that, but you wonder how much people are just going to be trying to pilot on Finland in particular.

Yep. And then Saturday, kind of a doubleheader, spaced out weirdly, 1 p.m., Finland, Sweden, give me Sweden, in regulation. Mm-hmm. And then at 8 p.m., again, weirdly large gap, but, you know, TV time and stuff like that. Apparently those games are both on ABC, which is pretty cool. Okay. Wait, both is in, they're showing Finland, Sweden on ABC?

That's what it says on the NHL's website. Damn, all right. Okay. Look, we're after the Super Bowl. There's nothing in sports to talk about. Good point. And also, I believe the NBA All-Star game is on Saturday. Okay.

So, like, they're counter-programming that with USA Canada. I get it. Anywho, USA Canada, I'll take Canada in overtime again. I'll give them another two points. All right. I'm going to go. Hold ice matters, et cetera. I'm okay, I've mapped this out in my head.

Okay. I'm going to take Team USA in the shootout. Love it. Drops Canada to 0 and 2, but they've got two points, sets up a do or die. Wouldn't they have one point if they lost in the shootout? Because they also lost Sweden in over. Oh, that's right. You're right.

Right, right, right. Right, right, right. Okay. And then the game we're all looking forward to. Canada, Finland, on, you know, Monday, I guess, the 17th. So this sets up in my scenario. Canada needs a win and a Sweden regulation loss

and then to win on goals differential. So Canada just has to go absolutely bananas. Yeah. And they will. And they do. Yeah. Canada blowout regulation win. And then, yeah, I'll take the U.S.

in regulation. Wouldn't that be interesting because that would set up U.S. Sweden rather with the U.S. already having clinched a spot in the final. Right. But Sweden needing a point.

Hmm. Or to keep the goals close. You know, it could be a situation where, you know, if the U.S. wins by two or less Sweden is in, how do you handle that if you're Mike Sullivan? Yeah. You have that John Tortorella magic.

Let's just get this one to overtime see what happens. Yeah, exactly. But I'll take the U.S. in regulation. I will too. Great. And so I believe that sets up for both of us, USA Canada final, which Gary Betman's going, yes, please. I love that. And then give me Canada in double overtime.

I like it. Thank you. Yeah, I guess based on the scenario I laid out, I don't actually know if it's Sweden or Canada against U.S., but I will. Well, I will pick Team USA then. And I will pick Team USA in a surprisingly, not a blowout, but a surprisingly safe regulation win. Okay. And I'm just, I'm doing the long-term booking, man. If you want to set up the big Canada-US rematch next year, you've got a, this is, this is like Canada's

Canada's Cody Rhodes doesn't finish the story moment. Right. To set up for a year from now. Long-term booking. And then Canada wins the Olympics. Sure. Yeah, that all checks out for me. That would, you know, that's an extremely plausible outcome, let's say.

There we go. But, yeah, what will be interesting is, you know, if in my scenario, like, I believe, again, it would, I think, count on, depend on goal difference. But I believe that my scenario would be Canada

as the home team in the US. Mm-hmm. So, you know. Which I, I,

I wrote a quick thing about this where I said, like, can we just not do the thing where if, if the,

if the country that is hosting is playing in the game, but they're the visitors, can we not do the thing where we like blare the horn for the,

other team. Like while there's dead silence in the arena, we got to pretend like Finland is the home team over Canada or whatever. By the way, having gone through my entire brilliant situation, I'm now looking at the tie-breaking rules and for a two-way tie, it's just head-to-head. So Sweden actually would have wound up in the... Oh, okay. So yeah, USA over Sweden in the final.

You heard it here first. Well, you heard it here second, because what you heard here first was... Getting it wrong. Yeah, that's right. All right, why don't we... When we take a break, we'll come back and we'll talk about some actual NHL stuff. This week's episode of Puck Soup is brought to you by our friends at MintMobile. Folks, I don't know about you, but I like keeping my money where I can see it.

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A front payment of $45 for a three-month five-gigabyte plan required, equivalent to $15 a month. New customer offer for first three months only, then full-price plan options available, taxes and fees extra, see MintMobile for details. All right, we're back. And, well, I just realized that we forgot to say who our, like, tournament MVP is for the four nation. So why don't you hit me with that? And then we'll... All right.

So I, I have picked Team USA to win. So I guess I have to take that. I was going to say Hellebuck, but I feel like even... He's probably only going to... He's not going to play all four games, I don't think. Give me... Give me Jack Eichl. I love that.

That's a really cool pick. Boston boy. All that? Yep. That's true. I'm going to go. I think they'll just like play Adam Fox like the entire game

you know what I mean and so give me Adam Fox I think you know he's having a bit of a down year in the NHL because his team's not very good but you know you put him next to a bunch of guys who are extremely talented and I think I think he can go kind of nuts so give me Adam Fox I'll go a little off the board

that's not bad can I just say something here that I'm as I'm scanning through the tiebreaker procedures I want to highlight something. And this is just off the NHL site, so it's not like it's a comprehensive rulebook. But I find this interesting. They make a note that they are carrying over the NHL rule that if you pull your goalie in overtime and get scored on,

you lose your loser point, basically. Cool. Here's my question. And it's not referenced here. Does the winning team then get three points? or would be only two points. And I flag that only, you know, A, as a rules nerd, it's just interesting to me. But also, there is a, the team chaos part in me hopes that they haven't actually thought of that scenario.

And it could come down to, like, have that be the deciding factor somewhere. And then suddenly it's like, wait, we didn't actually write that part down. Yeah, that would be extremely sick. Let's do that. Yeah. All right. Let's move on here to some NHL-related stuff. I figure, you know, this is a good point. Most teams have played like 55 games or more. In fact, I think everybody but Nashville has played 55 games at this point. Oh, that's good. That's great for Nashville. Oh, Nashville and Buffalo, it looks like. Yeah, you guys still have extra games. You get to play more games than anyone. Isn't that fun? Congrats. And L.A. has also played 53. But that doesn't work for the joke, so.

Oh, yeah. Wow. Okay. Well, I shouldn't have scrolled so quickly, I guess. But anyway. Typical East Coast sports writer only looks at the Eastern Conference. So I think the first thing I want to just kind of highlight here is that the Atlantic has turned into like, I don't know, maybe everybody's in it a little bit. You know what I mean?

Tampa's back in third now, but there are only two points behind Toronto, and like Ottawa's only four points behind them, although they get, they have the extra game played. Detroit obviously got really hot and then lost their last game before break. I think, right? They lost to Tampa. Yeah. Okay. Boston's still kind of hanging around, but not really. Tampa kind of did.

had a bit of a flex last week. A little bit of old band strength there because they had a two-game miniseries with the senators that had been somewhat hyped up here. Yeah, of course. Especially since Ottawa.

I believe Ottawa had never passed them like points percentage-wise, but may have passed them in total points. I believe that's right. Yeah. And Tampa beat them two straight, both in regulation. And then went and beat,

the unbeatable Red Wing. So it's sort of a, like, I don't know, there is a part of it that kind of looks like the Lightning are just a Stanley Cup contender that has been to the final so many times that they're like, we're not, you're not really going to make us roll out of bed for a bunch of midseason games. Oh, you do? Oh, you guys are saying we're washed. All right, hold on. Hold on. Gold difference. Yep. Let me put on my robe and my slippers and just come downstairs and, Whop your ass, basically. Yeah, exactly. Only two teams in the NHL have a better goal difference than the Tampa Bay Lightning's plus 44. And those teams are... Those teams are the Winnipeg Jets and the Washington Capitals. Yep. Man, Tampa Rocks.

They're so sick, man. If we had given, like, every hockey fan... And I'm thinking this because... If you look at the overall standings, Winnipeg and Washington are significantly ahead. If you had given every hockey fan said, pick the winner of each conference in terms of regular season standings. Do you think anyone out there would have had Washington, Winnipeg?

Not both of them, certainly. That's what I'm saying. Like that combo, like, are we getting into, like, picking all 64 games of March Madness territory here? Yeah. Yeah. It's insane. Like there's, and yet, because of the way the season works, like now we're just all like, oh, yeah, yeah, those two teams.

Makes sense to me. Yep, no problem. And they could meet in the final, the two Vesna finalists, Logan Thompson, Connor Hellebuk, rematch of the four nation. Oh, wait, no. Sorry. I thought. Yeah. Never mind.

Yeah, no, I mean, the Capitol's like. Like, again, I kind of, I still kind of don't buy it. Like, I don't think, I think they're good. I don't think they're this good. You know what I mean? Like that, that, and I feel kind of the same way about Winnipeg, obviously. Like, like you were saying earlier, a goalie's part of your team. But like the extent to which Hellebuck and Thompson are dominating is kind of

making it, making it a little bit of a mirage to me. You know what I mean? The Jets are scoring a ton of goals, but it's really. really like only like two or three guys who are doing it, and then everybody else that's kind of by committee. I don't know. Yeah. You know, like you say, would anybody have picked this at the 55 game mark?

No, for almost certainly not. But at the same time, like, is anyone still thinking at the end of the season, those are the two best teams in the NHL at 82 games? I don't know. They'll certainly have the best records in all likelihood. Very, very likely. And yet, when we get to playoff prediction time, you're going to, there's going to be like one guy somewhere who has those two teams in the final. And both of those fan bases will get to do the nobody believes in this thing.

And you know what? Yeah, you're right. Like we, I wrote about this over the weekend. Like Washington especially, we did a fan survey at the athletic. We said, you give us your cup picks. and Washington was like not very high. I mean, they weren't, they were certainly single digits. It's, you know, so if you're Washington, like, nobody believes in us is a cliche,

and usually fan bases are full of crap because it's like, no, dude, like every, you know, you, like, totally. The Oilers win the cop and Connerick David's like, no one thought we could do it. And it's like, yeah, dude, everybody picked you guys. It's, it's fine. But in this case, in Washington's case, it's actually. true. Like, they might win the president's trophy, finish with 115 points, and go in and, you know, half of us will be looking at the, going, ah, they're going to lose to Ottawa in the first round or something, you know, trying to be cool and pick an upset. They're a fun, you're a fun story, man. They're going to be waxed by the hurricanes in round two, but they're fun until then.

I mean, I guess we'll see. But, yeah, I mean, the Atlantic is just way more wide open than I think anybody. to your point earlier, like would have thought even a few weeks ago, right? Like, we would have thought, okay, yeah, Detroit, you know, they're running hot, but like it's not going to last another month or whatever. And Detroit was like, no, it is. It definitely is. The senators, kind of the same thing. Like, they're hanging on a lot more than I think a lot of people would have said.

And then obviously the Bruins, like, it's getting interesting in Boston, we'll say. Like, they're still around it. Like, they're only a point behind Detroit, obviously, with, like, more games played or whatever. That's been kind of the whole argument against them all year. But, you know, this is four, maybe even five teams competing for an absolute maximum of three playoff spots. Mm-hmm. You know, I think the way the standings look right now is kind of how.

the finish in that, you know, give me some order of Florida, Tampa, and Toronto at the top. But then Detroit and Ottawa almost at this point kind of feel like locks to finish ahead of Boston and break up that like longstanding the top four in the Atlantic's, the top four in the Atlantic. Yeah, lock feels that feels strong to me. I just don't see the Bruins coming back. They look miserable. And vibes-wise, you know, they feel miserable as well. Which is where, you know, maybe having a break helps. Well, okay, I, that's a great point.

I wanted to talk about that. Washington couldn't be coming at a worst fucking time. Detroit couldn't be coming at a worse time, you know? Like, maybe they pick up where they left off. That's certainly within the realm of possibility. But, you know, the way people talk about momentum in this league. This is coming at an extremely bad time, especially because, you know, a lot of these teams don't have, like, I bet, you know, certainly the Bruins probably have more players in this tournament than like Detroit or Ottawa does, you know? Yep.

And obviously, you don't, like, extra games played isn't necessarily a good thing, but keeping the rust off, maybe, you know, maybe there's something to it. know, but yeah, like I say, the vibes with the Bruins are just fucking putrid to me. Okay. Yeah. So. That makes sense. But they have the talent. They have all the talent in the world.

But I don't, the other thing is, I don't know if the ruins are, you know, they've been saying for a while now. Maybe, maybe we, maybe we sell a little bit. Do you sell a little bit or do you sell a lot on Brad Marchehan is the question. I guess I was talking in terms of volume as a. opposed to like the importance of the player to the team. That's, but I mean, if,

if, if you're going to throw the towel in. Yeah. I mean, it depends what Marchand wants for, maybe. Well, let's put it this way.

I was on what chaos yesterday. And they teed up that they are talking to Brad Marchand today. Ooh. And they, there's a clip that they showed yesterday where they go like, I don't remember the exact phrasing of the question, but they asked him about getting traded, and he was like, well, and then they cut the clip off, you know,

which I thought was funny. But like, the fact that it's even being brought up to Brad Marshand, could you have envisioned that six months ago? Like at the beginning of the season. Yeah, no, of course not. So, who knows? I guess my point is it feels very ambient and has for a while now that like something has.

a change. Yeah. And you're right. Boston does have, they are a weird team in that they, they aren't super good this year, but they've got a bunch of guys in the four nations. Yep.

And not only a bunch of guys, but because it's in Boston, like you would imagine, that's going to be more demands on the time of the Marshall. Like, I don't know if I'd want 36-year-old Brad Marchand in this tournament, in a perfect world if I'm just purely a Bruins fan,

but well. Yeah, and he's one of those guys that got named early, I'm pretty sure. So, you know, maybe with how the season's gone, if he hadn't been one of the early named guys, would he have made the team? I don't know. I mean, he's having a pretty good. I think he still would have based on his international experience, but yeah.

Yeah. It would not have been, wouldn't have been a sure thing necessarily. Yeah. So let me ask you this. Yeah. Rangers and the Islanders. Are we pretending there's something? still kind of in the running here?

I feel like the Rangers still are. Okay. I agree. They've shown enough of a pulse a few times. Obviously, they had that hot streak. I mean, it wasn't even a street. Like for a month, they were playing really well. Yeah. Have sort of come back to the pack?

They haven't got like a J.T. Miller bounce in terms of wins and losses the way you might have hoped. He's been fine, but I still feel like, that's a talented team. That's a team that is all in on the season. You look at who they have to pass. I still feel like they could do it. The Islanders, despite only being one point back at the Rangers, I am less sold.

But I do count them as being in it. It's funny because I believe... Oh, yeah. Okay, so here were the Larry Brooks headlines from February 6th and then February 8th. Okay. Mika Zabandajad's new position has revitalized him and the Rangers. That's the 6th.

The 8th. Inexcusable Rangers loss makes one thing clear. It's time to retool for next season. I love it. We're so back, it's so over. Yep. So, yeah, I mean, look, it's funny. that last game against the penguins before break

inspired that the latter Larry Brooks headline but like in Pittsburgh I saw a couple headlines like what an effort from the penguins this is the best game of the season whatever it was and then you look and the Rangers

held them to zero shots on goal in a one goal game in the third period if that's the best the best from the penguins like yeah you man you want to talk about a team that should maybe think about selling, you know? They won't, but, yep. So, yeah, I don't know.

And then Columbus, it's kind of the same thing. They got hot for a while there. Now they're four, five, and one in their last 10. It just kind of feels like the door's swinging closed on them a little bit. You know, they're eight points out in the metro of third. With a game in hand, I guess. You know, eight's a lot to overcome in one game, in my opinion. It was a nice story for a while there.

I think we might be getting to the closing the book part of it. I'd love to be wrong about it, but I'm still hanging on to my hope there, only because I feel like they've earned it in the sense that, I mean, they were written off before the season even started. Yeah, of course. They're ahead of the Bruins and the Rangers in the standings right now. Tell the hell of a story. Unbelievable.

But you're right. I mean, it's a Cinderella story because it would be a big upset to see it happen. But we will hope. Yeah. So, yeah, you're a little less certain than me that Ottawa and Detroit are kind of locked in here? No. I think it kind of has to happen at this point. I mean, the thing with Detroit that's tough is,

is, like, how do you factor in the Todd McClellan record? Yeah, no, again. And by that, I mean, like, they're 15 and 5 or whatever it is with McClellan. I'm not suggesting they're going to, that they're a 120 point team. But you look at Detroit and big picture, it's easy to look at this team and go, guys, how many times have we seen this in the NHL? there's a playoff race some team gets hot for 10 games

we all go ah there there's your there's your team that's going to take the playoff spot and then they come back to the pack regression happens they go back to being a little bit better than 500 and they go back to the bubble and then we all kind of go

oh next time this happens I won't fall for it and we always do except the wings did make the coaching change so there is the argument that hey, throw the Derek Lelon era out, judge them based on what they're doing with McClellan. And again, like the record is not sustainable,

but is the, you know, did Todd McClellan improve this team from a 550 team to a 600 team? And if he did, that will get them into the playoffs. And that doesn't feel unreasonable for a short-term coach bounce. You know, we're not talking about completely flipping a switch. So I don't know. Ottawa is a little different. You know, they've been a bit more consistently inconsistent over the season.

For sure. They feel very much like a young team that, you know, has its moments and then maybe takes its eye off the road. The only thing I would say for Ottawa is don't, I feel like we're all kind of overlooking the fact that they went out in the offseason, got a number one goalie, Reese and Vezina winner, gave him $8 million a year, and then he was hurt for like a month. Mm-hmm. Totally. And, you know, if they had gone out and spent that money on a 90-point forward and then he missed a month, we'd all be going, well, I mean, you can't judge them because they don't have that guy. So let's see, you know, Ottawa could be better than their record because they haven't had Allmark. Detroit could be much better than their record because of McClellan, but I'm not completely convinced that either team is locked in.

Yeah, I think that's right. You know, to me, I said it last week, like, I'm starting to buy it with Detroit. But, you know, if you look at the five-on-five play, they've, under Todd McClellan, they have been outscored at five-on-five. They're a minus six at five-on-five. They're minus four and a half or so in expected goals. they've been out chance, they've been like high danger chances are, you know, in the opponent's favor.

Like, I need them to get better at five on five, and certainly I would say they are trending up in that regard. Even like a week earlier, the numbers were worse than what I just said. So, like, they're moving in the right direction, but, like I say, I'm starting to buy it. If you go buy money pocket, It has the senators as the seventh most likely playoff team in the Eastern Conference at 67, almost 68%.

And then it says the Rangers at 49 and a half, then Detroit at 46 and a half. And then the Islanders at 32 and a half. And Boston at only 15. So I wonder, I guess I would imagine that the optimism. for the Rangers comes from they have a guy who's been one of the best goalies in the world for the last few years but

And has flipped that way for chunks of the season? Yeah, I don't, you know, I can certainly see it, but I just think maybe Detroit has more of the more of the inside track there, you know what I mean? But as much as there's a lot of stuff going on

in the east, out west. There's only one playoff race. And Vancouver is now three points ahead of Calgary with the same number of games played. One more regulation win. I don't know that either team's especially good at this point. But kind of... How Calgary's been a fun story, but... Yeah.

And it's weird, eh? Like, we... Feels like at least up here, we spent the last week or two hearing about how the flames are in. They're not selling. Stop calling about the veterans like this. And I think that's the right call. But, all right, we're now three weeks away from the trade deadline, a bit more. How far back can you fall before you say, you know what, maybe we pull the shoot on this?

And if so, do we go into us, do we go down the stretch in the West already knowing all the playoff teams? Yeah, I mean, certainly. it's starting to feel a little columbusy like you know a few too many grains of sand have run through the hourglass on on you know like you said

Calgary was a nice story for a while there but there's a reason that we all kind of had them not making the playoffs this year and you know Dustin Wolf was fucking great and otherwise you know you can maybe

you can maybe just write off the right off like what the flames are bringing to the table for the most part. Again, Vancouver, like, we all thought they'd be better than this. I think at the beginning of the year, I had them as, like,

the best of the kind of more mediocre teams in the league. Yeah. You know? And I'd say that's kind of where I'm sitting with them even now. Like, we're still kind of in, Hey, are we trading Pedersen 2? Mm-hmm. Mode, which I don't think you would have said a couple weeks out from the J.T. Miller trade, you know, when they made it.

You would have thought Pedersen would pick it up a little bit. But, yeah, to me, I'm just sitting here and I'm wondering how Calgary can make up even a three-point gap. By the way, both teams, negative goal difference, I believe they. are the only playoff. Nope, Detroit also still has a negative goal difference, but they're closing that gap, and I don't know that Vancouver is going to be doing much the rest of the way to get into the positive territory.

And Calgary, I have no real hope for that happening. Yeah, do you think that's kind of it for the flames? I'm not going to say that it's it for them, but I do think that, I mean, they're just not a team, that is, like one bad week throws them completely out of whack. And, you know, we may have just seen them have that one bad week that takes them out. So it's, I will point out, though, that Calgary and Vancouver have both played 55 games. They both have 26 wins and 29 losses.

But Vancouver is widening the gap because of the loser point that you have been told makes the playoff races closer is once again doing the exact opposite. Yeah, for the record, Vancouver, 64% Calgary, 22 and a half percent to make the playoffs at this point. Okay. And if they, let's put it this way, if they lose their next game in regulation, it says here, their odds drop below 16%. So like, they are operating on. Every game matters. margin for error is extremely thin for them at this point, which is too bad.

Again, really nice story for them. Like, nobody saw this coming, blah, blah, blah. But I don't know, man. It's just kind of, it feels like everything's kind of catching up with them. Yep. I guess one last thing we can talk about on today's show, unless you're, unless there's something really sticking in your craw here, is that we, we've, known for a little while that like trades were possible and maybe even, uh, you know,

fairly likely to happen, uh, during, during the international break or whatever you want to call it. Yep. Um, Elliot Friedman said yesterday on 32 thoughts that like, he's talked to a number of players who were like, I'm almost certain I'm getting traded. Really? Uh, during the break. Um, Jake Evans seems to be among them.

I saw, uh, the other day that Pierre LeBron reported, uh, the, the, the, the, Habs and the Jake Evans camp, I guess you would say, exchanged numbers on what an extension would look like. Okay. And not close. Hate when that happens. Brutal, huh? Um, and, and then Elliot said, like, there's another player that, like, in their last

game before break, they were kind of like, uh, yep, I'm a pending free agent. I think this is, I think I've probably played my life. last game with this organization. And, like, was saying their goodbyes as they were leaving the rink and everybody was getting ready for vacation or whatever. Wow. Yeah, it's interesting because, you know, as we said a few times, there is no trade freeze. There is nothing preventing anyone. I'm sure the league would rather teams didn't drop a bombshell an hour before the championship game.

Right. There's no trade freeze of any kind, but it was suggested that the feeling in the league was that there wouldn't be a ton of movement. And it sounds like that feeling has maybe changed. Yeah. Might as well, right? I mean, get the, I don't know.

Would this feel like it would this would be a good time to get traded? I guess I'm thinking like, you know, when you get, you always hear about players that have to scramble and you got so much stuff to figure out. And having a week off feels like a great time to do it, except all these guys are on a beach somewhere, you would hope. That's exactly right. That almost makes it even worse.

Like, vacations canceled. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, like, I guess if guys are preparing for it, like mentally, you know, some guys would certainly be taken by surprise. But if other guys are just like, yeah, man, there's a nice playing with all you, I'll see you when you visit my new city, you know. maybe they're already like yeah let's just start boxing some shit up and we'll we'll see where we'll see where we'll see where we got to send it you know yep could be um but yeah I thought that

was really interesting like there was one where Elliott was like okay this is a pen like this is a kind of we can piece it together a little bit this is a guy who's a pending UFA who expects to get traded and their last game was at home. And I was like, you could, you know, you could maybe put together a short list of guys that is,

but I didn't have time yesterday. So whatever. It's probably not someone that you're like, oh, yeah, I'd love for my team to get that guy. Yeah, I don't think we're talking like the Elias Pedersons of the world for this sort of thing. Although,

Pedersen's interesting to see, you could see his performance at this tournament impacting his view, how he's viewed in the NHO, because remember he's coming off that terrible playoff last year after he signed a big contract. I think it would be reassuring to Vancouver to see him light it up in a pressure situation and maybe a little bit concerning if he disappears. Yeah, no, it's funny because, like, I was thinking about. Again, like, if you score two goals in this tournament, you're basically a lock to make the Olympic team, no matter who you are.

Like Vincent Trochec, you have a two-gold game against Finland. Suddenly they're just like, yeah, I don't know how we can leave him off. Clayton Keller, I never heard of him. Vincent Trocheque, that's one of the best players in the world, you know? I'm really interested to see how seriously like GMs and coaches take the results. of this tournament. You know, again, fans, maybe even players, they might feel one way about it. But like, if we're talking about they used to base, like, who made Olympic teams on, like, dreams that they had, you know what I mean?

Maybe, maybe just maybe one good game against Finland for Alias Patterson. And everybody's like, you know what, forget it. He's one of the best players in the world again. He's back, maybe. We love him. We love them. We give them a big kiss every time we see them. That's exactly what's going to happen.

But, you know, it's funny because it's the same thing with, like, all those Canadian goalies we hate. You know what I mean? Like, Aiden Hill stops 35 of 36 against Sweden or whatever. And suddenly everyone's like, is this one of the best goalies in the world? Has a big diving save where Mathikichuk shoots the puck directly into his glove. And we all go, you know what? I think we got our starter for the Olympics. That's what I mean.

Well, especially for Canada where it's like, oh, no, you know who they should have brought is Logan Thompson. And you're like, all right, man. Okay. Let's get you back to bed. Let's, but yeah, I think there's a real, you know, again, I wrote about Connor Bedard the other day. Everybody's mad at him because the Black Hawk stink, you know? And to me, it's just like, again, like, I think I think I. said this on the calling show or something, but like Mark Messia being like, what's he doing

out there? You know? It's like, well, I mean, you played with Yari Curry and Wayne Gretzky in your first two years in the league, man. I don't know what to say. Like, this guy, this guy's playing with Landon Slaggart on his line right now. That's still not a real guy. Here's the thing.

Like, I like Ryan Donato. And now everyone's going, oh, Ryan Donato. Like, wow, that guy, that guy's having a hell of a season. He's up to, like, 20 goals or whatever. it is. And it's like, right, who's he playing next to? There's no like A to B correlation with this for you guys. Yep. Oh, the Canucks, you know, the Maple Leafs, they're going to target, they're going to target Ryan Donato.

I hope they're bringing Connor Breddard along. That's all I'm saying. Again, that's a player I like. I've always been a Ryan Donato has more to give than people are giving him credit for a guy. But, you know, they put him next to like one of of the best young players to come along in a long time. We were told. Yeah. Turns out he stinks, but. Yeah, I looked it up.

You know who his three most common linemates in the NHL over the last season and change? Oh, God. Donato. Ryan Donato, I believe, was number three. Okay. I believe number two was Kevin Kornski. And number one, and this is all at five on five. And number one was Nick Falino.

Why isn't this guy producing? And what are we doing here? He's got a Mark Messier winner. Yeah. And look, he's on his line. You know, to me, it's a, has he been good? No. Not, not as good as the hype, certainly.

Certainly. You know. But like the idea that like he's now played his way off out of international consideration. Are we really getting that far ahead of ourselves? given the state of that team. And I think you're like, you've got the right mix on this because there's been all this criticism

and a lot of it's been over the top, but now you've got like the backlash to the backlash happening. Right. Where it's like, no, Connor Bedard is beyond. But it's like, well, hold on. He's a year and a half into what was supposed to be a generational type of career, and he hasn't shown that yet.

Like, it's fair to point that out. Yeah. But yeah, you would like to see him play with somebody who knows which end of the hockey stick goes up. Yeah, and it's the same thing with Cross. Remember, now I'm just like recapitulating the article I wrote the other day. But like, you remember when Sidney Crosby came into the league? Everybody was like, fuck this whiny baby. We hate this guy.

Alex Ovechkin, you're the best rookie. And then he wins a Stanley cop and we're all just kind of like, well, I guess you have to hand it to him a little bit. but you know who is actually the best player on that team is of Gennie Malkin. And you know who's actually the best player in the world is Drew Doughty or Claude Jureu or, you know, take your pick. Jonathan Taves. Jonathan Taves. It is a little bit of that. It's a million percent that, right?

But Sid did have an MVP, like, in his, in year two. So, yeah, no, for sure. Got a little ground to make up. But again, like, look at the roster that Sidney Crosby was playing with when he was in year. two. I'll just pull up the 0-607 Penguins roster for you here. You know? Let's see. Let's see Sidney Crosby of Gennie Malkin, Mark Recky,

Sergei Gondchard, Jordan Stahl, Ryan Whitney when he was like a really effective defenseman. He was 13th in Norris voting that year. You know? And part of that is he played with Sidney Crosby. 100%. Absolutely. But

like it's not like, again, he was getting third line minutes, which I don't know if people remember this. Connor Bedard was earlier this year. They were using him on the third line. I think we're all overthinking it. That is possible. That's all. Wow, Gary Roberts was on the 0607.

Penguins. The too much man himself, yeah. Rob Scuderry, when he was really good. John LeClair was on that team, played 21 games. or a pick. Future Hall of Famer, Mark Andre Fleury, Chris LaTang was a 19-year-old on that team. Man, that was a long time ago. It was a long time ago.

But, you know, I think we've all come around to the point where we can go, like, Sidney Crosby gets to decide who or whether he's on the Canadian team, even though he's maybe injured. And also he gets to decide whether the Penguins re-sign of Gennie Malkin and Chris Letang. Yeah, yeah, he is the GM. Yeah, and that's fine. I don't begrudge him that, but I just think we're all getting out over our skis one way or the other on Connor Boudard.

Very fair. To me, the answer is you're both wrong. There it is. Anyhow, got anything else you want to talk about in the NHL these days? Only one thing I'll say real quick. Sure. Just shout out and an RIP to Paul. Morris, the legendary Maple Leaf Gardens PA announcer, who if you're not a lease fan or you weren't in Toronto, you may have never heard of, but if you were a lease fan of a certain age, the guy was the literal voice of Maple Leaf Gardens.

and had like a classic, very nasally monotone delivery, which all of us did impressions of for decades. And it passed away yesterday. It was announced and just wanted to drop a mention because this is a, you know, that Maple Leaf Gardens was like the cathedral of my childhood. And Paul Morris was the voice of it. I liked your tweet about it yesterday.

Yeah. Everyone, these days, it's like every, every PA announcer is like just yelling at you constantly and always reminding you which team is your team and when you're supposed to cheer and this and that. And like you would never hire Paul Morris to be your PA announcer in any sport right now. But the dude, like, it was total monotone. No excitement ever. Could be an overtime goal. It didn't matter.

And the other classic thing, and this was a big thing in the 80s Norris Division, where there are brawls every night, he listed every penalty individually, and he just read the whole thing twice. And if it took 20 minutes, like, I mean, you go find like a classic clip of like the Leafs. There's a good chance that you just hear Paul Morris in the background, just droning on, listing off like 47 coincidental miners that happened. in the last, during the commercial break. Dude rocked.

He was so good. Yeah, it reminds me of the guy who used to be the in-rink announcer at Boston University games. This guy Jim Pryor. He had like his little signature thing. You know, he'd be like, ladies and gentlemen, this is hockey east. The teams are ready. So let's play hockey, you know, that kind of thing.

Yeah. But otherwise, same thing, just very monotone. like that goal the 30 second of his season you know whatever it is just like very and then you know he died several years ago now he was like 85 years old or something like that like he was up there

but you know basically did it till the day he died and it was always always a pleasure so like I know the value of like a like you said especially now where they're like okay Maple Leaf fans are you ready to go you know okay relax Here comes your...

It's like, yeah, man, I know which team is mine. Right, I got the shirt on and everything. Yeah. All right, yeah, you got any plugs you want to hit us with before we get out of here? Yeah, I find my stuff at The Athletic. I'll be on with Sean and Frankie tomorrow making probably completely different picks for the Four Nations. Yeah, don't write down with anything you said here today. Got some Four Nations adjacent content coming later in the week,

international hockey stuff. So keep an eye off for that. Very cool. And then for me, I went to the bean pot last night, really good game between BC and BU, BU1. And I have a big article that just came out like while we were recording this episode

about, you know, who stood out at the bean pot, which prospects and undrafted free agents and that kind of thing were really good and, you know, quotes from their coaches and themselves and all that kind. kind of thing. So check that out over at EliteProspects.com. And then head over to patreon.com slash puck soup where you can get all kinds of bonus episodes

that we did, including last week, we did a call-in show with our listeners, where, you know, we did some game shows and answered questions and told stories and yucked it up. So like I said, patreon.com slash puck soup, all the, just a ton of bonus episode. it's every month. And that's it. Thank you so much for listening, folks. And we'll talk to you next week when we're, you know what, this time next week we'll know who's in the final of the four nations tournament. So we'll either be doing an hour and a half previewing Canada U.S. the rematch or trade deadline preview. Yeah. That's right. Quite possibly. So yeah, thanks again, everybody. Have a good one. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.