Puck Soup - Metaphor Week

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

Sean and Ryan talk about all the ongoing series, Mike Sullivan getting fired(?), and more.

I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects. I'm Sean McIndoo, and according to this, I'm the new Prime Minister of Canada. Wow. Yeah. I don't even. I think I screwed up. I think I sent the wrong link when I was telling people to sign up for the newsletter. This is not good.

Well, hey, it all works out, you know. I can't take the pay cut. I saw those elections results come in, I don't know, pretty early. It seems like they were just like, yeah, this one's over. We're calling it. But that all happened while I was watching the Florida Tampa game. Yeah. While you were sitting there going, why are there no Canadian teams playing tonight?

Why are there only two games? That had to be why, right? Yep. That's on us. Sorry, hockey. We had a thing we needed to do. It's strange. We're back.

But yeah, Florida and Tampa, hey, this series might be over. Well, don't know about that, but Florida looking good. They are looking extreme. I don't remember. Were you one of the many, many, many who were picking Tampa? Yeah, I picked Tampa. Eastern favorite. Like, not just in the series, I mean, but like you.

I think I did. I don't remember now, though, off the top of my head. I think I did. So that's egg on my face, you know? I mean, I get where it was coming from. It wasn't like some. Wild out of nowhere thought to have. Totally.

It's, you know, Panthers at Panthers. I think this series being 3-1 is more a Florida story than a Tampa story. Could we agree on that? I think that sounds right to me, yeah. Say more about that, please. I mean, just in the sense that I think we, I think a couple things happen. I think down the stretch, we all kind of. got lulled into this false sense of, okay, the Panthers are maybe not what they were before.

When in reality, it was more like the Panthers are exactly what they've been for the last few years. They're just sort of easing off the gas pedal a bit, letting guys come back from injury and other things. And they hit the ground running. now has Tampa showing their A game? No, I don't think they've been at their best. Can Tampa win three straight? Yes, they absolutely can, but I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.

Florida's a good team, man. Florida is a really good team. And I also wonder how much of the people picking Tampa was just that, like you get tired of pick in the same. teams and picking the favorites. And so it's like, well, I'll tell, I'll tell you exactly why I picked Tampa. I just thought Vasilevsky would be better than this. I don't, I don't, I'm not saying this is like his fault or anything like that, certainly.

But I, I thought that, you know, Florida getting Kachuk back would be a huge boost. Like, that's kind of the thing that you're saying about, like, we're not trying to rush it. We're not trying to, you know, we don't need to fight for a playoff spot. Matthew could chuck and show up whenever he needs to, you know, one of those things where if they needed the points, eh, he's probably back a few weeks before the season's over or something like that.

But they're like, well, let's get them closer to 100%. Makes perfect sense to me. But I just thought, you know, they would get a little bit better. goaltending than this. That's all. The other thing I want to say, though, is this has been a remarkably even series on the balance. I'm just going to read you some stats at five on five here. Corsi four, dead even, 165, 165.

Wow. Fenwick four, dead even, 115, one-fifteen, one-fifference. Florida has a plus 14 advantage in shots, which, you know, it's like three a game at five on five. It's not nothing. But this is, oh, scoring chances, you're going to love this, Sean, 69 apiece. But high danger chances is kind of where Florida is differentiating itself. They're getting to the net a little bit more, 35 to 27. So that's, if you want to say that's the difference in the series, I won't argue with you.

You know, they're getting the bounces. They're getting the suspendable hits aren't resulting in suspensions. Yeah, let's talk about those. Sure. Because we've had the two interference calls and then we had the Ekblad, I don't even know if I'd call it a hit last night, that as of we're recording this, I don't believe we've heard anything about a hearing. That's correct. Yeah, I haven't seen anything. Maybe, I would assume by the time people hear this, we will know. I assume there will be a hearing.

But maybe I shouldn't. Where are you at on the, especially the, you know, Hegel gets suspended and Kachuk doesn't for what certainly seemed to be similar offenses? So, I, I can totally. see the argument, and in fact I agree with the argument, that what Hegel did, like, you know, was a bit a bit more forceful, let's say, than the Kachuk hit and resulted in an injury, quote unquote, you know, and the Kachuk hit did not rise to that level. I agree with that. with that having been said, I think if you want to make the argument that the Kachuk,

even though it was not as hard of a hit, it comes at a point in the game where the result is determined, right? It's purely predatory. It is purely, I'm hitting this guy, even though the puck's not there. And that's like a whole different, you know, we don't hit the guys without the pay. That was very funny.

That was. Yeah. Leaving that aside, I mean, who cares ultimately. But to me, the thing with what the hit is it's so late and the result is so you could make the argument that Hegel, even though Barkov didn't have the puck, never touched the puck. Like, he's making what he thinks is a hockey play because he's anticipating that that Barkoff will get the puck by the puck. time he arrives. It doesn't work out that way. And I agree he should have been suspended. Kachuk watches Gensel make the pass, and he's admiring his own pass a little bit, let's be honest. And that's why Kachuk's like saying, keep your head up as the, as they're pushing and shoving. But like, to me, I think if you want to make the argument Kachuk should

have been suspended, I would, I would be like, yeah, I get it. That makes perfect sense. me. But let's talk about the, the Echblad. It's not even a hit for, I guess it is, but it's more of a Lex Lugar, 1993 forearm to the face that I'm just going to say, literally unbelievable that didn't get called. Very strange, because it's not like the sort of play that you see and you go, oh, that was borderline, was it a late hit? Did he get the, like, there was nothing there that's,

look like a legal hit. No, not even close. I don't know how two officials, plus linesmen miss that. Now, I assume that Department of Player Safety will not miss it, but I guess we wait and see. Yeah.

And this one did result in at least some level of injury, and, you know, I all had to go and get checked out. and, yeah, I don't see how they don't suspend. I mean, I think it's one game is what we get out of that. Yeah. Would be my prediction. But the lack of a punishment on that hit, basically you could argue, cost ham for the game, maybe.

Well, you could. I mean, they immediately score the two goals right after. Right. But Eckblad scores the crucial goal in the third period. So the fact that he's still in the game. And I don't even, like, it was such a weird hit, the forearm, that I don't even know what penalty they would have called. Ruffing.

It could have been ruffing. I mean, there's no major for roughing, so they would have had to gone something higher to kick him out of the game. But I don't know, like, the reason I say that is, depending on what the penalty is, there's different rules around whether it's an automatic ejection or not or what have you. So maybe he's still in the game and you say, hey, if he gets five minutes, you know,

maybe Tampa scores twice in the power play. We're right back where we started. Yeah. Well, they later got a five-minute power play and did jack shit with it. So, I mean, this is one of those series where it is starting to get a little bit out of control on the outside the lines hits, which I think is even more reason for the Department of Player Safety to probably look at this and say, okay, we've got to, we've got to set up another flare here to these guys that it's gone too far. And let's be honest, Eckblad's an easier got to suspend than Kachuk.

Sure. Which shouldn't be a factor, but it is. Of course it is. Yeah. So, yeah, to me, I just, it seems like the tides running, running out on Tampa here, unfortunately, for them. This is the problem with the playoff format as it's currently constituted, right? Is that like two great teams play each other in the first round, and maybe you would say this is more an appropriate match. for the second or third rounds.

But you got to play the hand you're dealt with this is, we're, what, 12, 13 years into this playoff format. Like, that's life. And, yeah, I just, it's hard, it's hard for me to see Tampa winning three in a row against this Florida team. They can do it, but the odds of them doing it have to be what, like mid single digits, like 5%. I would think it would be better than that, but it's tough.

Five is tough. It's, it's, uh, or three, I mean, sorry. Yeah. Yeah, three in a row is tough. It's, it's, and this is the playoffs, right? Because Tampa's leading that game with a few minutes left last night. They hold on and win. We're like, yeah, it's a 2-2 series.

Tampa's got all the momentum, et cetera. etc. Yep. But this time of year, man, the narratives are fun, but it's the results that matter. And, you know, 3-1 is a big lead, but not an insurmountable lead. Money puck says 12.5% for Tampa to win three in a row. Yeah. So that sounds better.

Because that's basically... That's double what I thought, yeah. If you assume that these two teams are 50-50, then that's, you know, Tampa's got to win the three coin flips in a row. That would be... Yeah, that's basically what it's saying. This is a 50-50 proposition. Yeah, so that sounds good.

I mean, because I think it is 50-50, but 50-50 when you're down 3-1 is not easy. Nope. The other game last night, Colorado and Dallas, this one was a little less testy, a little less tightly played, let's say. This was, Dallas scored nine seconds in. They heard all the talk about, oh, they're not leading in this series.

They said, fuck, you will lead the entire game, basically, and sort it out from there. It was close for a little while, but in the end, Dallas kind of just ran away with this one. Well, there was, right? Like, there was the kind of fake comeback thing where, you know, Dallas is up 3-0. everyone who's covering the game has, you know, got their stories already half written, and then Colorado gets a couple of real quick ones, and it was that that power play goal

to put it back to 4-2 at the end of the second period that really felt like the TSA turning points, so to speak. Some might call it that, yep. And yeah, you know, this is, it's funny because if you look at all the, you know, all the underlying numbers and things of this nature, like this has been all Colorado this series basically. Apart from, oh, was it game two maybe where the stars looked really good?

But otherwise it's like this has been just like Colorado saying, no, no, no, you don't understand. We're way better than you. Well, I mean, until last night it was two Colorado blowouts and two Dallas over time. Squeakers, that's what I'm saying. But now, you know, again, you're looking at them and you're saying, can they win, can they win three in a row? Two in a row, sorry. And again, Moneypuck says like 27%. So it's like a weighted coin, a slightly weighted coin flip.

But they needed a big offensive night. They have the firepower, you know, to do. this and they did it. So that's good. But they also, I feel like, need Ottinger to, I don't want to say steal one at this point, but like just hold the fort basically. Yep. And, you know, easier said than done against this Colorado team.

I like them to win two in a row, certainly, a lot more than I like Tampa to win three. Sure. Let me throw this out there. and I will preface this by saying this is way too early but we only have a show once a week. Yes.

So we've got to sometimes get out over our skis a little bit. I'm doing that here. Don't be mad if you're a Colorado fan. Don't accuse me of jinxing or whatever if you're a Dallas fan. But if Dallas escapes this series without Heiskin and without Robertson

and gets them back, let's say relatively, soon for round two. Do they zoom to the top of the favorite list be regardless of what happens in any other series? Like are they... Yeah, that's the question, right? Like a very, very, very good Colorado team

without two of their best guys. Yeah, and especially if they do it and sit, like if the series doesn't even go seven and they get like an extra day or three off to everybody recover and that kind. the thing. Yeah, I can see you making the argument, but, well, and especially because the team they would play in the second round would be either a Winnipeg team that, you know, we'll talk about this in a minute, but doesn't seem like it's in the best mental shape, or a St. Louis team that is,

you know, how good do we really think they are, you know? Pretty good. Yeah, pretty good, but like not, you wouldn't say they're as good as Colorado. No, no, you wouldn't. Yeah. And again, That's what I'm saying. And way ahead of ourselves, but you can just see the like, oh, yeah, you know, they got a couple extra days off. Oh, Ice-Kinn is practicing with the, you know, with the main team and everything. It looks like he's going to be back and suddenly look out. Because I think, you know, like a lot of us, I had Dallas very high at my cup rank.

I think I had them too. But there were a lot who were sort of like, man, if they could ever get past Colorado. but that's a tough ask. They haven't done it yet. Yep. But they're three quarters of the way there. I think they're the clear favorites if they can finish this series. And that's even before we get into some of the other teams that we thought were favorites that have looked a little shakier.

Yeah. And, you know, I think the big thing you would say here is that the guys that you would want, to step up for Dallas in the absence of Robertson or whoever. Those guys are doing it. Like, Sagan, you're noticing. Ben, you're noticing. Dushan, you're noticing. You know?

And maybe you're noticing the other, the, you know, the higher, Rantan had that great goal last night. But maybe you're noticing those guys a little less and the depth guys are stepping up a little bit, you know? And if that's. Would you say that's the case for Colorado where, you know, it's all running, it's not necessarily all just like running through the usual suspects? Yeah, although, I mean, McKinnett's still. Oh my God, that goal last night was ridiculous.

Like, it's becoming more and more clear to me, and this isn't some sort of new observation, but it's just more and more undeniable. There are just certain stars in this league who have a beast mode. And certain ones that don't. And McKinnon might have the scariest beast mode of anyone in the league. Like, in the sense that he just, there are some shifts where it's like a bowling ball rolling down the stairs. You're just like, just get out of the way, man, because you're not, you're not stopping this guy.

But, yeah, you're, I mean, good teams need more than just the top two or three guys. there's always those contributions from somewhere else. Can I put this one out there for you? Zero points in the series so far? At five on five? Kale McCar. Bum. Absolute.

Quinn Hughes wouldn't be doing that. No. Well, I mean, Nathan McKinnon has five of their, what, like 13 goals, something like that? Personally scored them. Let's see, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. So he's got one in every three goals is coming off Nathan McKinnon's stick. It's a problem. It is.

Unless he can go even more beast mode, which he can. Which he absolutely can, right? Right. And it's all like this is every, not even conversation, but like every thought in my head in the playoffs is always this team is in trouble because this isn't happening. unless they're not in trouble because what if this does start happening? Right. Along with all the rest of it. Like it's three to two.

You've lost twice in overtime. McCar's not doing much. You know, it's McKinnon driving the bus. Boy, that's a problem, except that that's not really who you are. So if we get back to it, do we run over these guys? This series is to state the extremely obvious, not over by any stretch. No, yeah, I mean, you're just saying like, okay, well, we just need Kale McCar to have a Kail McCar game. Okay, he does that like 75 times a year.

Yeah. You know? What's another one to him? It's nothing. So I'll just do that. And it's, and everybody's like, okay, thanks, Kale. Appreciate you, brother. So, yeah.

I don't know. And again, like, you would, you would. like Blackwood to do a little bit more out there, I think, for you. Yeah. And that's it. You know, if you're Dallas, you're happy you got to him last night. Put a little bit of doubt and somebody doesn't have a huge playoff track record. Yeah.

Can't hurt. Can't. It doesn't tell us a whole lot about what's going to happen next game out, but it doesn't hurt, I think. Yeah. All right. Let's shift to the games that are being played tonight. There are two elimination games tonight. Are there, though?

Yeah. Okay. Let's talk about it. Toronto and Ottawa. What do we think? This should be the game the Leafs end. Yes. This is, if the Leafs are a remotely good team, a remotely different team,

then this should be the night that it ends. But, you know, we're all thinking. that way. Let's see where it goes. I mean, so the last time we talked would have been what? It was 1-0. So we've had the three overtime games since. I mean, it's been three overtime games.

You take three coins, drop them on the table, see how they look. Credit to the senators, they sort of found their footing after a not very good first game. Yeah, I'd say they flat out looked good the last few games. Yeah. Yeah, I would say so. And, you know, the Leafs have looked good enough to stay with that, but you'd like to think they have another level. You'd like to think they could find it on home, but a home ice.

But I have mentioned this stat before. In the last 60 years, the Toronto Maple Leafs have won a seven-game series in five games or less one time. Right. They have won the Stanley Cup more often than they have won a short best-to-seven series, and their whole thing

is they never win the Stanley Cup. So that kind of gives you a sense of how rare it is for the Leafs even have this opportunity. And what is it now? They're one in 12 in elimination games in the Matthews era?

Mm-hmm. Not great. Yeah. So, you know, that said, if they come out flat tonight, that's going to be a real indication that this is not a different team. This is not, you know, the stuff that was said when it was 3-0 about, oh, the Leafs are different.

No, they were just playing a weaker opponent. Now, if they go out tonight and play great, but all Mark stones them or whatever, it's playoffs, I don't think that we're necessarily into panic mode. But we will be, whether we should be or not. But yeah, as an outside, as somebody who can watch the series with actual intelligence and objectivity, where are you at on this? Yeah, the Leaf should win tonight. I think what I would say is, apart from, you know, winning Game 4 and all that kind of thing, like you're, I just think when I look at the senators, I think this is this is.

is a good team. This is not a great team. They don't have the difference makers that the Leafs do. The Leafs have guys who, who, you know, can take over a game in the way that we're saying that, like, Nathan McKinnon can, right? You haven't super seen it with, like, Matthews or Marner. I don't think Matthews has the Beast mode. Okay. that McKinnon does. Now, he certainly has the gets hot, best scorer in the league, you know, all of this stuff. I'm not knocking the guy, but he doesn't have that. He's on the bench.

They're down by one. The game's getting away from them. You know what, screw this. I'm doing. I don't think he has that. You know, well, okay. So when, what was it, was it game three where it was the crazy pass from Barner behind the net to Matthews for the goal? Yes.

Mm-hmm. I watching that and I was like, oh, the senators don't have anyone who can do that. You know, like that's basically. You mean, you mean make the pass or? Make just a play out of absolutely nowhere. Because anybody could have scored that goal, but. No, that's what I'm saying. Like that, that whole play, the senators don't have.

Here's my weird take. Here's my weirdly fan take, all right? So talked about McKinnon with Beast mode. Yep. And I promise I'll stop saying that after this. until we get to the Oilers. I don't think Matthews has beast mode. I feel like Marner does, but we just never see it. Well, that, well, that and also, like, he's not really, like, a huge goal score.

So, like, his beast mode is he goes around two guys and then makes a pass that eight people on the planet can make. Yeah. I feel like he has it, but he tries to activate it sometimes and it isn't there. And then he ends up doing, like, stupid stuff on the ship. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Doing the thing. Yeah, well, again, it's harder to, like, when you're, when your next level includes another guy has to do something to.

Yeah. That, that, that makes it less obvious what that talent is. You know what I mean? So, whereas Matthews, it's like, oh, I could just like, or McKinnon certainly, well, why don't I just go around this guy very easily and shoot it at a million miles an hour into the back of the net? you know, like that's not how Marner plays that can play the game for the most part, you know? So. Yeah. But my point is Ottawa just doesn't have guys who can do that so much.

They have, you know, like just again, the way Brady Kachuk plays the game, that doesn't result in incredible individual effort goals. That ends with him, like on the fourth attempt on the back door banging the puck into the net with a guy like hanging all over him. You know, so. And that's, that does worry you a bit if you're the Leafs, again, because this gets to my whole thing about, you know, this hasn't happened, but what if it did? Kachuk has not been what we thought he was going to be in this series. We were all waiting for like the playoff Kachuk. And he had the one, the one goal was real nice, the one that tied game three. But other than that, he's just kind of been a guy.

out there, you know, looking, trying to draw penalties, trying to start scrums. And Stutzel as well has had the one goal, but otherwise hasn't done much. So, again, if you're a leaf fan, you're going, hey, great, we're not shutting them down, but we're minimizing the damage. If you're an Ottawa fan, you're going, boy, if these guys wake up, we could really make this into something. Well, and to your point, I'll give you the stat that I just pulled this up,

And this is, this to me says that kind of everything about where this team is at when being down 3-1. Who do you think is there, like has the most individual expected goals on this team? Just like is generating scoring chances and, yeah. Oh, geez. Um, I don't know. I guess I probably would have said Kachuk. He's second. Okay.

Ahead of him by point one one is Drake Bathers. Okay. You don't want Drake Batherson to be your most impactful offensive forward. That kind of does not speak well to the Kachucks and the Stutzlis and the Shane Pinto's and all that, you know, go down the list. Like, that's just kind of how I'm, again, I just think like Ottawa is a good team with some very good players. I think Toronto is a very good team with some great players. So as a Lee fan, what should my concern level be? Well, if they lose tonight, you're like, uh-oh, they're getting loser brain.

Okay. You know? But if they don't lose tonight, there's nothing to worry about. If they don't lose tonight, I feel good about the series. I feel like... Well, sure. I'll put them at 90% if they win tonight. They're at 91.2% according to Moneypuck to win tonight's game.

Okay. That seems crazy to be. To win the series or to win tonight's game? To win the series, sorry. Yeah. Even that is high because, I mean, that that's saying that the coin in this series is nowhere close to 50-50. They're at 59.6 to win tonight. Okay.

I looked at the wrong column earlier. I apologize for getting your hopes up. Yeah. But yeah, I just think that, you know, they're just the significantly better team on paper. On paper doesn't always translate on ice. We've seen it a million times. But if I'm the Leafs, I'm feeling good about it.

It's fun. I mean, this time next week, we're either talking about Leafs hosting one of the Florida teams, game one, what do we think, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or the complete and total detonation of the entire franchise. I can't wait. Yeah, it should be fun. Somebody asked me, they're like, if the Leafs did blow this to the set,

like what would this be like, how bad would it be? What would, and I was kind of like, you know what, it'd be like when you're playing a video game, you've only got three hit points left and somebody like drops the hundred point fireball on you.

It's like, yeah, that was, you did an extraordinary amount of damage, but I, like, it would have taken, like a paper cut would have done it. So, I don't know, it's sort of a, weird thing.

But. Yeah, it would be, who did the Romans salt the earth against? They not only beat them, but they were just like, also we're going to make it so nothing can grow here ever. Fuck off. Was it Carthage, maybe? I don't know, but that's a good metaphor.

I think it was, I think it was Carthage. That'll be what happens. Yeah. All right, let's move on to the other, the other game five that could be an elimination game. Carolina and New Jersey. Everybody seems to just be assuming this is over. Yeah, I mean, you watch these games.

Carolina's better. Much better. What's the money puck for this one? Because I would assume this is maybe even lower than the Ottawa. Yeah, 63.7 to finish tonight. Okay. And overall, do you have like the- 91.9.

Okay. So it's not. Yeah. Yeah, I just don't, I have not seen anything that makes me think New Jersey can win three in a row other than it's the playoffs. They got a good goalie. You know, we'll see how it goes. But there's been nothing else that makes me go, you know what? This one's not over.

Well, to your point. Certainly not to the extent of the other two series. Jacob Markstrom, the Devils have lost three games. You know what Jacob Markstrom's save percentage in this series is at five on five? 939. That's what you went out and got them for, and it does. And look, I mean, they don't have jackuze. I really feel like there's no, like, you never want to lose in the playoffs

and you never want to assume, you know, next year will be this or that. But, I mean, come on. If they lose without Jack Hughes, I think we can sort of write it off as just wasn't their year. Yeah, and I think we brought this up a week or two ago, like, when we were talking about the start of the playoffs, of you, I think you asked me, like, can you really just say it's one of those years? Wasn't our year? All the injuries. What can you do? Because it's not just Jack Hughes.

They're missing three defensemen for tonight's game, right? Like Kovicev's out, Hughes is out, and Dylan's out. Right? So you can, I think it's totally reasonable to say. say, well, what can you do? You know? But if you're the devils, like how many kicks at the can do you reasonably have? They already kind of squandered the last two years of like a pretty good team with not so great goal tend.

It's tough. I think I would be just like if I'm if I'm like, you know, one of these people who has to like answer to someone like, why do we lose in the first round? I just go, well, you see this guy? He's the best player on the team by a lot. Yeah, he wasn't available to us for the last like three months in the season. That would be my excuse if I was running the team. There's honestly a good chance that, well, how do I put this? I mean, I think if they have Hughes in the lineup, they probably still get rolled pretty good by the hurricanes.

I agree. Maybe this just saves him a little bit. Right, this is what I'm saying. I'm just like, but we didn't have Jack Hughes. What are you want for me? Yeah. You know? Whereas the real problem is like, not so good on the dad.

depth up front and Carolina does kind of look like. We didn't talk about this. I haven't seen, is Freddie Anderson healthy for game five? I don't think we know. That's smart. Which would not be, I mean, you lose your starting goalie, it's bad, but Carolina is not a one team, right? They're a one-one-a situation. Yeah.

That doesn't change my perception of this series significantly. as it would in, you know, I mean, Vasilevsky is the obvious one, right? Nobody ever even knows who the backup in Tampa is, but no, I think we are still waiting to hear on that. Okay, that makes sense. I meant to say this earlier, I think I implied it. You know, like, I don't know, I don't know what Tampa is doing,

like having Gensel out there after the Kachuk hit. Oh, he might never play again. me in the in the five minutes five minutes left in the gate yeah yeah like why did they send it back out there for that power play there goes your he he you know because that's the thing if he's hurt maybe just could chuck get suspended yes i forgot to say that 100% 100% with you on that one that's a that's a good point um anyway uh anything else you want to say about this it just feels like there's not really a ton to say i You know what? I'm just going to write this one off, if anything,

so that people can have fun when it's a week from now. And we're like, devils, man. They did it. Hey, I'd love for them to have a comeback. And by the way, I will, I will, if that happens, I will be on next week's show saying, I knew it. Yeah. I always think they had a great chance. What do I always say I root for?

Whatever the funniest outcome is, nothing would be funnier than the devil's missing three defensemen and Jack Hughes. coming back from down 3-1. Nothing would be funnier than that. You're right. Not to go back to the Toronto-O-O-O-S series, but there's one thing that would be funny. Yeah, you're right. All right, Vegas and Minnesota.

It's a series, man. I got to be honest, I was maybe dozing at the wheel a little bit on the wild. Well, so here's the thing. What were they saying about this series? going into game four. They being who? Just like general, like this is why the wild are up two to one.

What were they saying? They were saying, Matt Boldie, Carol Caprizov combined eight goals. Jack Eichol, Mark Stone combined zero goals. And Bruce Cassidy's out there saying, look, I don't want to shuffle the lines. We know what we have. We know what we have works. I don't want to shuffle the lines. I don't want to shuffle the lines.

halfway through game four, I got to shuffle the lines. Mark Stone's new line immediately scores off that weird tackle deflection play. Eichael picks up a primary assists in the game. And it's like, I get why you don't want to break up an ultra-dominant line, you know? But if you can put Jack Eichael on one line and Mark Stone on a second line, all of a sudden,

you're exploiting matchups that didn't that you didn't get to exploit before, you know? I think it was after they shuffled it. Eichl was mostly getting the Brodine pairing. And he ate those guys for fucking lunchman. Again, he didn't personally score, but like just they tilted the ice when

Eichl was out there in a way that wasn't happening when a different guy was on the second line, you know? And so I'm curious to see if they kind of dance with who they came to the dance with like for the full season tonight, go back to the original lines. Or if they're just like, hey, it worked already. Worked once. Why not try it again? Nothing prevents them from reverting back to it in the second period.

I feel like this time of year we make maybe, and maybe it's not we, maybe it's the coaches, make a little too big a deal out of it. of switching up the lines. As if it's like, as if you're just completely you know, reworking your entire system. It's like, well, no, these guys can

figure it out and move up and down the lineup and that sort of thing. Do you feel like, there is a part of me, I just said I underestimated the wild. So here I go again. There's a part of me that feels like Game 4 was the game of this series.

This is your chance. Go up 3-1, you know, overtime, all that stuff, and that it wiggled off the hook, so to speak. I don't like many teams' chances to beat Vegas two out of three times. You know what I mean? Yeah. Especially with them having home ice and last change and all that kind of thing. I just, I wouldn't be super confident about it, let's say. money pocket still has them at 65% to win the series.

Okay. And it thinks that winning in six is more likely than winning in seven. So, and I guess that makes sense, but you know what I mean. So, yeah, to me, like, you're right. Like, they had them on the ropes and they didn't, They didn't deliver the knockout blow and the ref was like, okay, you know, let's move off the ropes. Let's reset that kind of thing.

Okay. Good metaphor. Thanks. I guess I'm full of them today. But yeah, I just, you know, the last two games, Minnesota won one of them, but the last two games, I just feel like Vegas was really, and even game two, I guess. But both of the games, Minnesota won and game four, Vegas was just like, by the way, we're the Vegas Golden Knights. I don't know if you, if you were aware of that, we're actually going to not let you anywhere near our goal, you know. On and on it goes.

It's like I just, I don't think Minnesota has the horses. I think they're a really good team, but against a great team like Vegas, this is a tough one for them. Sure. That makes sense. So I think you have it open. What time is the game? Is it like at 3 a.m.? What?

I think they're being really nice to us east coasters, and they're putting this at a normal 10 o'clock start tonight. Nope, 9.30, because the late game, of course. Of course. The late game is Los Angeles, Edmonton, at 10. Gotcha. Anything else you want to say about Minnesota? I don't think so.

No, I think we're all set. All right. Boy, do the L.A. Kings probably feel like they have fucked up this entire series, huh? Yeah. Speaking of missed chances at a knockout or whatever. Well, you know, it's both, like, in theory, they could have, they could have won, they could be done already. But they have just blown it in the two games they lost. There's the, there's the insanely stupid challenge in game three. I love that everybody is hating on this

Because whether people know it or not The way that everyone's reacting to this Jim Hiller challenge Is putting the lie to the whole Nobody gets gull-tender interference It is exposing the act It is breaking the K-Fabe Of that whole Ridiculous song and dance

That we were all betrayed to do Because everybody saw that And they were like, oh no, I understand it well enough To know this isn't going to work there have been some interesting challenges and non-challenges. And I feel like maybe this is, I don't know, recency bias, confirmation by, whatever it is. I feel like since that Hiller challenge that was so bad and got him ripped,

I feel like there have been more than a few potential challenges that haven't been taken. I wonder if coaches are getting a little gun shy of like, wait a second. I don't want to be like I've seen people say like that like that that challenge could have been almost like a job jeopardizing mistake. Yeah. I love it. By the way, I'm fully in support it.

I hope coaches are afraid to challenge. I love it. Thank you, Jim Hiller for your service. Yeah. So that challenge like completely changes the complexion of the series it feels like. let's the oilers up off the mat and, you know, turns out if you have two of the, what do you want to say, five best players in the world? If we're being kind of unkind to one of them, maybe. I feel like the list is getting shorter than five.

Yeah. You talk about beast mode, which you don't. I do. Yeah, I feel like you brought up kind of a lot today. This guy loves saying beast mode. It's my new thing. Like, you know when you learn a new word? You're just like, yeah.

So I went back to 2012 and learned. What's a cool sports phrase that make me sound hip? But yeah, McDavid and Drysidler are just going ape shit in this series now. And again, game four, you're like, Patriots are in control here. The Kings have this game locked the fuck down. It's over. We're going back to L.A. 3 to 1. And then the oilers are just like, hey, if we put McDavid and Dreisdell together, we can't lose.

Yep. They just go crazy. But L.A. is still in control. And then this isn't Jim Hiller's fault. This is Quentin Byfield. It's just like, oh, I'm just going to skate this puck out of my own zone. Yeah. I was, I wasn't screaming at my TV, but I'm like, he's just going to air this one out, right?

Just like the high flip, no problem. Just reset the play. The Oilers are buzzing. And he's like, what if I just try to go around this guy? Oops. What's the worst they could happen? Yeah. And then the overtime was just a bloodbath.

Like, if I may once again use the boxing analogy. The ref should have just been like, stop the fight. This one's over. They don't even need to score the. goal here. We're done. Everybody go home. This isn't fair to the, to the Kings. Pretty much. I'm going to, I'm going to pull up the, I'm going to pull up the stats on this one here. In overtime, shots on goal were 16 to 7 at 5 on 5. I'm assuming that's just 17 to 7 overall. Scoring chances were 17 to 5. High danger scoring chances were 9 to 3. Expected goals in the

overtime, which was only 18 minutes long. Expected goals were 2.3 to 0.6. Yeah, you don't want to get into the 2.3? You don't want to get into the 2.something in next goal wins some death. Good Lord. Yep. So I don't know what you do if you're the Kings. This is tough.

Well, I mean, what you do is first of all, you go back to Holmeiss where. Yep. Got the harmonical ladies. All year. And I mean, this is, it's been a weird series because there have been stretches where the Oilers have been just dominant. Mm-hmm. But the fact that it's 2-2, and it's not like a fluky 2-2, tells you there have been stretches where the kings have been doing exactly what they want to do. So you've got to sit down and look at that.

Okay, how do we continue this? Yep. And then just really hope they don't put dress out on McDavid on the same line. Yeah, that would be a real problem for you. I feel like I've used this terrible metaphor before. But when you were a kid, did you ever watch the cartoon Hercules? Was that a thing? It may even have been Canadian, I don't know.

Like, based on the Disney show? No, like this was even before that. Or a movie, I mean? It was a very, like, cheap. Then no, I don't know what this is. 80s cartoon. You were probably, I don't know if it was in the states, but you were probably a bit too young.

Basically, every episode was like Hercules would just get his ass kick for 25 minutes by a bad guy. And then he'd be like, oh, right, I have this ring that makes me invincible. And he would put it on and there'd be this whole, like, big, you know, fancy thing with him putting the ring on. And then the bad guy would be like, crap. And then he would just go to town on it.

And I feel like that's like Chris Knoblock putting the ring on. at the end of every, like, wait a second. McDavid, Drysaddle, go on the same line, ring comes down, you know, cheesy animation plays, and the Kings are like, damn it. Oh, well. Yeah, this is getting scored on immediately. The analogy I would, I make kind of that would be similar to that,

is you ever see the movie Pacific Rim? It did not. Okay. Well, it's about like big robots fighting big, like, Kaiju, you know what a Kaiju is? Kind of sounds awesome. Are Kaiju is like the big monsters? Yeah.

Godzilla-style monsters. Look at me. I knew a thing. And so like there's a fight scene. Basically every fight scene in the movie is like they're fist fighting the kaiju. And the kaiju is like doing laser breath at them and all this kind of stuff. And they're just like punching and kicking the whole time. And then like 15 minutes into the fight, they're like, oh yeah, we have a giant sword.

Why don't we just use that? And they cut the monster's head off easily. Okay. I didn't like that movie very much. I'm not a cinema since guy. I gotta be honest. Yeah, well, it was all the stuff that wasn't the fighting. You know what I mean?

All right. Charlie Hunnam is the lead actor. You were looking for more character development in the robots versus monsters? I think they were looking for more character. Like the filmmaker, Guillermo del Toro, the director of this film, was like, you should really care about these people who were fighting. I don't. Sorry. Show me the big guys fighting, please.

I love Godzilla movies, you know? Anyway. Or, you know, if you're going to do it right, do it like Godzilla minus one. And it's like, oh, Godzilla's kind of like an ancillary character in this one. Pacific Rim kind of meets in the middle in a way that is unsatisfying to me. I know a lot of people like that movie, not me, though. But yeah, to me, like, L.A. probably should still. they'll win this series.

Just don't let the robot get the sword or Hercules put on the ring. Is that a pick or is that a they should but dot dot dot. They should but you know, again, like do I, sometimes I think you just got to defer to

do they have the guys who can who can make the biggest difference with one play? And they do not. They unequivocally do not. The only thing to say is the other team has Stuart Skinner and Calvin Picker as their goalies.

Yeah, they sure do. You know? Is it pickered the rest of the way? I guess not, right? Like, I mean, if he gets shelled tonight, you'd probably go back to. Yeah. There's, you know, no good answer, though. I think if you're a knoblock.

So, yeah. Okay, well, again, Moneypuck has it 53% the Kings win the series. I got to tell you, once again, sounds about right to me. What's that number again? 53. 53. Okay. I think it's Edmonton, but I've been... They have a home ice to two times, I think, is probably...

Sold on Edmonton for a few years now, so... Yeah. Take that for what it's worth, which is probably nothing. All right. Montreal, Washington. That's not tonight. That's tomorrow night. This one's been a lot more fun. Yeah. I thought it was going to be.

Holy smokes. This has been... I have enjoyed this experience. Yeah, it just doesn't seem like Montreal has the juice. And I don't think anybody thought they did. Really? I picked Montreal to win the series, but that was me being a little stinker. You know what I mean? Sure.

It is your reputation. But, you know, I don't think this Washington team's, like, great or anything like that. This Montreal team that I was looking this up this morning, almost all their underlying numbers are, like, bottom. six or eight in the league this year. And there were a minus 18 goal difference team. 18? Something like that. And so they kind of did like a diet version of what Washington did last year. You know?

Mm-hmm. So it's not like really a surprise to me that this is 3-1. Again, I was just going stinker mode. But I don't know. I don't have a ton to say about this. Like it's been fun. I like how much these teams seem to dislike each other. That's been the fun part for me.

Is it like that, and this is like a playoff thing that just every now and then you get the two teams that it feels almost random. Like you come in, you're like, well, there's no rivalry here. There's no real history. And then after one period, it's like we hate each other more than anyone has ever hated anyone. Fighting on the bench. I don't know if I've ever seen that. That you don't see a lot of it. For sure.

Certainly not in the playoffs. No. And I don't know if you saw this, Ryan, but there was a gif of Tom Wilson. Yeah. Did that make it to your timeline once or twice or seven thousand times? It's going to be like the this is fine dog, where it's like we're never getting away from this. Anything Tom Wilson does for the rest of his career, good or bad. We're getting that stupid fucking gift.

everybody cannot wait till the capitals have to win the cup now because as soon as they get eliminated our internet infrastructure is not ready for everybody posting the crying tom wilson gift at the same time oh christ never thought of that did you that no i didn't and i hate to think about it but other than that you know like i'm just looking at montreal and going yep this is this is a team with a lot of really good young The power play looks cool. I'd love to see that for another like six or seven years straight. But at the end of the day, I think Montreal looks a lot like a team that wasn't particularly good in the regular season. And you never want to say like, you don't, you know, you're just happy to be there, whatever.

It's never like that when the playoffs start. But if, even if Montreal loses it in five, I feel like you come away from this as a Habs fan feeling pretty good. certainly about the season, and even about the playoffs, even the fact that, you know, a lot of the things that you wanted to see in a playoff series, you're seeing. And that, yeah, that power play unit of average age of whatever it was. 22, something like that's crazy.

That's wild. Yeah, I, you know, as teams get eliminated, I do like an article about, like, what do they do this summer and that kind of thing. And, you know, not to, not to, give the shop away here, but like, I wrote Montreal right before we started recording, basically. And they don't have a ton to do. Basically, everybody's signed or they're like David Savardin. They're retiring.

Like Christian Dvorak is the one, like, big name they need to resign. And it's like, yeah, you don't like need to resign Christian Dvorak if you feel like there's a better option out there, whatever. But I do see them kind of being like Washington where it's like, yeah, they got to. They're going to get a little creative to make this whatever amount of success you want to say they had this season, like to make it more sustainable because they're not getting another season like this out of Montembow in all likelihood. And they had the sixth or seven highest shooting percentage in the league this season. And I don't know if that's going to last either. They certainly have the skill at the top of the lineup, but the depth is, I think, a huge problem for them. So I think they got to get a little creative.

But they have all their picks this year and a bunch of cap space. So, you know, they haven't as an organization been shy about offer sheets before, just saying. But if it sounds like we're giving these guys a funeral right now, even though they're still technically in this series. And hey, if they win the series, I love it. That's awesome. Again, couldn't be funnier, you know? Yeah. But Moneypuck has the caps at 93% to make the second round.

So, you know. Yeah. I don't want to, like, sit here and like, I don't know, take credit away from the capitals. They've just kind of run the show this series, but they're supposed to. Yeah, that's it. Like, they are doing what they're supposed to do when you face an eighth seed that, you know, didn't look super impressive. and what have you. They're putting up a fight.

We're getting the right result so far. Yeah. Now we see. You know, I mean... Washington has 55% of the expected goals and 56% of the goals. Checks out for me, you know? Go back to 2010, though, after four games. It's exactly what that series felt like, so...

Sure. Never know. Well, and I mean, the other thing, I guess we forgot to say, about the goaltending with Montembow. I don't know if he's going to be available for him. their next game. He certainly wasn't... He's not practicing,

according to Arpin just now. Okay, great. Well, well, not great. At the start of practice, I should say. Right. But like, Dovish looked fine in... Like, he wasn't the reason they lost game four. But...

Mm-hmm. At some point, you're just running out the clock, I feel like. And then, hey, speaking of goaltending, St. Louis, Winnipeg. How we feel in about these jets. As somebody who picked the jets, both as my cup pick and as my like bandwagon pick, like this is the team that you should be rooting for,

I feel bad. I think you should. My tummy hurts. Yeah, I think that's the correct response to all this. This is a tough. You know whose tummy doesn't hurt from getting hit by Pucks? It's Connor Halibux. This dude stinks.

It's unbelievable. I don't know. Because here's the thing. Okay. One year, maybe two years, you could say, hey, shit happens. Three years? It's a big fucking problem. I don't know how else to put it to you.

Yeah. Especially when we all went in this year, and I'll put my hand up as being almost, you know, guilty of this. Not almost. as being guilty of this is we heard the narrative so much about Helleba. That it just, it became so convenient and so over the top that I almost just kind of rejected it out of hand. Like, come on. Like, he's going to be, he'll be fine and we're all going to look stupid. Yeah.

Because I've seen that play out enough times with playoff narratives. And, I mean, he was okay in the first two games. he's not been okay in the last two. I'm scared right now. If I'm the Jets or a Jets fan or just someone who is hoping for the best for this team. Here's the stat for you. Over the last three playoffs, Connor Halebuck has an 863 save percentage.

It shouldn't be possible for this to be such a consistent issue for this. them right like that's ultimately what it boils down to i'm sure you could go back and watch every single goal and it's like wide open shot on a on a two on one hit off a guy's ass hit off a guy's skate deflect it tipped on the way to the net like you could go back and make an excuse for probably like 60% of the goals he's giving up you know ballpark in it but at some point you're just like, 863 fucking sucks. If Jeff, or Jeff Skinner, if Stuart Skinner was this bad, Edmonton would not have made the cup final last year, certainly.

But also, like, he wouldn't be the, he wouldn't be in the NHL anymore. Yeah. Whereas Connor Hella Buck, he goes from the best goalie in the world over the last, like, seven or eight years probably, like taking, taken as a whole, right? Like, when, when did he win it, when did he win his? first Vesna, like three years or seven years ago maybe? Mm-hmm. And like...

So is this, are you talking me into not worrying about this? Because we have such a huge sample size of this guy being an elite goaltender? No, I'm like, I don't know what you do if you're, if you're Winnipeg. I have no idea what the answer to you. Yeah, would I reach out for reassurance. No, no, just to be clear, I'm not trying to reassure you. There's been a lot of talk about the screen. green goals, that that is part of what's happening here, is he's giving up more goals through

traffic. Yeah. That's, I mean, and maybe you can say that's a result of the way he plays. He's not like a super athletic goalie. He lets the puck come to him. He tries to be square to everything. Goes a little bit back in the net. Yeah, Jesse Granger had the really good piece.

Him and Marat kind of tag teamed on a film breakdown. And they didn't come out with any smoking gun of the, like here's the thing that's causing this, but they did see some interesting stuff. I'd encourage people to read that. But, I mean, if the Achilles heel is getting traffic in front of them, that's awfully hard to defend. Because I know you can say, Glee, we'll clear the front of the net, but, I mean, you don't have Chris Pronger back there. Right. And also, like, if they're going to plant in front of him.

Yeah, I don't think you would look at Winnipeg's roster overall and say, you know what's a real position of strength for them is the blue line. you know like i i would say that's especially as you get farther from the the top pair like it's a little dicey back there and so like again like connor hellabuck can say i'm getting screened and part of part of getting screened is it hits a guy in the ass and goes in you know you can you can say that all you want but at some point the best goalie in the world since 2017-8. Listen to this. Second in Vesna voting, 2017-18. Wins the Vesna in 19-20. Fourth in the Vesna voting in 21.

Third in the Vesna voting in 23, wins it last year, about to win it this year. This is a guy who has one, two, three, four, five, six, yes, six, like, top four, Fesna finishes in the last eight years. You can't just at some point say, and the reason I have a career 905 save percentage in the playoffs is because these guys can't clear the puck in front of me. 863 over four years or three years. It's unacceptable.

The position is so mental that it's almost like even if you could go through a. convince yourself that none of these absolutely none of what's happening is actually unusual based on you know I looked at every single goal and he's not a fault and this like it's still what when that first one gets by him in game five

now one especially if it's on a screen where he's just like oh yeah fucking go again if it's a week one or whatever like exactly you know and and I mean I guess it probably helps that the games in Winnipeg I'm assuming the fans are great, they're going to give him like the huge, they're really going to be behind him. Until he lets up one goal in which case.

Until he, yeah, until he's 2-0-0 St. Louis and then, you know, you can't help it. The play starts getting quiet and he's just sitting there going, how do I swallow my own tongue right now to get out of doing any more of this? Absolutely. And again, like, it feels like we're taking credit away from St. Louis here because all we're talking about is how fucking bad.

Hellibuck is, but at the same time, you're sitting there saying, well, you know, this isn't a new problem. Like, this isn't St. Louis creating something where it's like they're making Connor Hallow. The middle of April is what makes Connor Hellabuck look bad. You know? I don't know that I, like, looking back on it,

I'm like, oh, there's a game, St. Louis. I guess you would say St. Louis kind of put, them around in the most recent game. But otherwise, like, it feels like it's been at best 50-50 for the blues, right? Yeah. Like, just, again, like, if- I mean, that's more than what we thought, given the, what we thought was a discrepancy between the two teams and.

But, yeah. But no, it's, you're right. They're not, it's not heavily tilted. And I would say in the, in the first two games, It was just like, oh, are the Jets going to sweep these guys? I thought St. Louis flat out didn't look good in either of those games. And then they get to home ice. It's all different.

So maybe you're just saying to yourself, look, didn't go well in St. Louis. It's a nasty city. We don't like it. Yeah. Now we're going back to Winnipeg, the beautiful city that everyone loves famously. And once we get there, we're going to be in good shape and everything's fine. If you want to say, if that's how you want to play it, you know, you get to tell yourself stuff at this time of year, you know, especially if you're a goalie and so much of the game is mental and all this shit. So my answer is of how, like how this series either turns or doesn't is Connor Halibuck goes to.

He doesn't even need to be Connor Hallibuck. He could just be Stuart Skinner, and I think the Blues would probably be fucking in deep shit. Yeah. But 27 saves on 29 shots would be really reassuring if you're a win a pick right now. Oh, I'd say I'd even take 26 at this point. You probably would, yeah. So I guess that's all I have to say about this series. Do you have anything to say about this Mike Sullivan situation?

I guess not a huge surprise. Just a surprise in that it feels like we've talked for years. for years. Like he's been like next coach fired guy on the hot seat. And every time he did, you were told, no, no. He's got a job for life. He's got another extension. The Fenway Group loves him, et cetera, et cetera.

I guess what the difference here is it's, he's fired kind of, but it's, it sounded sort of mutual. Which maybe it's just a nice way to frame it for a guy who's been there 10 years. But this does feel like, if he wants to coach next year, he'll have a job within days. Like, he goes right to the top of at least two lists. Yeah, I think, I think, I think you mentioned last week that, like, he wasn't even fired yet, and he was already, like, at the top of the Rangers.

He was number one on the Rangers, yeah, the Rangers betting odds list, which is interesting. Like, that's why I love looking at betting odds of stuff, not because of betting. Don't bet. It's dumb. But to see what the so-called experts are, think is likely to happen. And that was really interesting that he was number one, despite having a job in Pittsburgh, and now he no longer does. And this is now, like, I mean, I guess the question is, you know, who do they hire?

Mm-hmm. How hot is the Kyle Dubas seat getting now after only a few years? do we how does Sidney Crosby feel about this? It's a fair question. Did you see that clip yesterday? Was this the one where they were asking Duba's about it? Yeah.

They had like a five-minute conversation and that was it. Well, so I can't remember who asks it. But they're like, what did Crosby say? And he's like, I'm not going to speak for Sid. The guy just yells, it's a fair question. And Duba's is like, I didn't say it wasn't fair. Whoa. All right.

I mean, I had, there's, it took about eight seconds for somebody in the group chat to be talking about Sidney Crosby playing for the Montreal Canadians next year. Just to give you a sense of how this is. I heard he was going to Colorado. It's been Colorado for a while, but I don't know. Three or four guys from the Pittsburgh media are kicking in my door right now. You're not allowed to fucking say that. Yep. Getting dragged out.

Just putting the boots to you. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, all. Like, that's the obvious question is, is Crosby released a statement to the athletic, you know, saying kind of more very platitude-y style stuff? But the thing that I thought was interesting that Duba said was, if you look at most teams in the league, there are seven guys who love the coach, seven guys who hate the coach, and seven guys who don't care either way. And we can probably put Chris LaTang, Sidney Crosby, probably of Guinea Malkin, we can put them in one group for sure, you know. the question I think is how many guys you put in that hate the coach group and who they are, right? Because, you know, I don't know that those are the exact numbers.

Obviously, there were 23 guys in the room and there were two that got left off that little, that little math problem Kyle Dubus was doing yesterday. But like, obviously, Crosby, let's put it this way. Crosby knew Sullivan was getting fired before Mike Sullivan did. You know? So this is, this is, this is Dubus kind of going, look, I know who's really calling a lot of the shots here. Sometimes I get to call some of the shots. Sometimes.

Let's be honest here, you know. It wasn't his idea to resign Malkin and Latang. Let's put it that way. How badly would that Crosby phone call have had to have gone? to change or to make doves reconsider. Like, is there a scenario? Or is it just a courtesy call? Like, am I the boss?

Or, like, if Sidney Crosby's like, no, you're not. Well, yeah, if Crosby says, okay, if you fire him, you have to trade me like the next day or whatever. Yeah, I'm gone. I will, I've played my last game for the Penguins. I'm doing the Patrick Waugh thing right now. I think at that point Mike Sullivan keeps his job

I don't know what beyond that gets said to change that outcome Yeah But yeah like Like even screaming yelling Fuck as long as he doesn't Like withhold his his labor

You know Right I think you I think that that change happens But he could have withheld his labor You know? Good.

But Crosby is a smart guy. You know, I think everybody kind of sees where this is going. You know, it feels like there are a lot of guys on the Penguins who have kind of played their last game for the franchise. It feels like this is kind of Kyle Dubas realizing that they're just not going to be able to do this the easy way that he wanted of, you know, find a few more Ricard Raquel's to drop in and it'll all be okay. Yeah, in writing this up yesterday,

this went from, oh, this can be like a rebuild on the fly to, oh, no, this has to be like a rebuild, rebuild. Yep. And I think, you know, there are a lot of reasons that Mike Sullivan didn't have more success than he did.

Like, you know, how many times did they get out of the first round since they won the cups? Now, granted, they won two Stanley cups, But how many times did they get out of even the first round since then? It's not very often. It's not many. Yeah.

And, you know, like on the one hand, let's see here, the answer is one. They got to the second round the year after they won the second cup. That was the year they lost to Washington. Yes. And then first round, qualifying round, first round, first round. And then no playoffs the last three years. Personally, I would have said this needed to happen like a year. Maybe not the firing, but like the serious reevaluation of where things stand need to happen a year ago.

But this year they were like below 500 regular style. You know what I mean? They were 34, 36 and 12. So not even like fudging it with NHL numbers could could save Mike Sullivan. And I think honestly, if that's just like the league-wide, if we finish below 500 and we think we're trying to be a competitive team, if you want to say like that's the reason every coach gets fired, I think that's totally reasonable. There's no excuse if you think you're trying to be competitive for getting to less than 82 points in this league. Yeah, they're a mess. They're a huge mess.

I don't know what the answer is. Do you, is the assumption that you go with like a fresh set of eyes, like this isn't a, you don't go and hire like a Peter Lavillette or something to come? No, you don't go higher Peter Lavialette. That would be a sign that you're just trying to drag it in the playoffs again. Makes it happy. The one, like, veteran coach that I really give some consideration to on that front is Woodcroft. Okay. Because, let's be honest, you got kind of a raw.

deal in, uh, I think Woodcroft would actually be a really interesting. Yeah. No, I might be close to the top of my list. He's coached a superstar. He's younger guy. Yeah, I like that a lot. Yeah. I mean, I think, I think the athletics, like, immediate write up of it, one of the first two,

I think the both, the first two guys named were like David Quinn and Rick Tockett. And I was just like, okay, I mean, are we being serious or are we fucking around out here, guys? Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? Like, we got to think outside the box a little bit, don't we? If I'm Rick Tockeet, I love that. Oh, yeah. Put my name out there.

I'm trying, every trick I know to get people to say that I'm closing in on a deal with the penguins to just up my number with the... Yeah, and I'm constantly going, you know, I actually played for them too. You did? So that's a natural fit. And people are like, well, didn't you play for the flight? Yeah, but I also played for the penguins. Play for a lot of teams. You should see me out there.

I'm good. I'm good at this. Go coach the coyotes again. Can't imagine any problem with that plan. Well, I know one problem with that. That's not a team anymore. Yeah, but are the penguins really a team anymore when you think about it? Let's ask Sidney Crosby and we'll get back to you.

I think that's it for news this week. So. Yeah, we get the award nominations coming out, but that's sort of, we covered the goalies. It was a rough one. It was funny. It was funny that they led with the Vezna because it's like, everybody knows that, oh, yeah, Darcy Kemper. Third place, brother, congratulations. You did it.

I was a little surprised. Maybe second. I was a little bit surprised that he, I assume Logan Thompson was going to get. Thompson tanked it down the stretch, man. Thompson, yeah, I was surprised at the gap in the numbers. was as, I mean, when I say the guy, like, eight or nine, say percentage points. But yeah, Kemper's numbers were a lot better.

But, of course, like, all three of these guys are just getting shelled in the playoffs because why wouldn't you? Well, and also Thompson didn't play as many games as Kemper did. He only, that says here, he only played 43. I thought they had the same number of wins, which is... I'm sure they did. Thought they would be okay.

But, yeah, from... So I'll just go by month here. This is Logan Thompson's season. 876, 926, 931, 947, 878, 883, 750. He only played one game in April, so that's why 750. But he had three good months. He got a huge contract out of it. Big salute for that one.

But that, like, you can't go sub 880 or whatever down the stretch and expect to to get a Vesna nod, especially in a year like this. Just no chance. Remember when people were like, oh, he should actually win it over Hellebuck. That was a fun morning.

It was like three months. Yeah, no, it was in January because he went 947 in January. When did he sign that extension? I bet. I bet it's right around the end of January. Smart guy. it right? Absolutely. Sean, January 27th. Sides that extension. That's it for me. 880 the rest of

the way. Smooth sailing. Let's go, boys. Ooh, I would, uh, hmm, the term buyers were more springs readily to mind. Anyway, why don't you hit them with the plugs? Find me at the athletic. I'll be on with Gentilion Frankie tomorrow. You can also read that fun new newsletter. that has just launched. We've been, we're into week two, three, something like that. You will get, basically it's like getting a special personal email

for me every Monday morning. Wow. Just, just chatting with you about hockey. That's nice. And also Myrtle on Thursdays. And other than that, yeah, check out my work at the athletic. There may or may not,

at some point soon be a new edition of a rules court. coming and you guys went suitably psycho on your suggestions. So we're going to have fun. What we're always looking for. And then for me, elite prospects head over there. Draft stuff is starting to come up and all these guys that are getting called up to NHL teams and maybe getting a little look as the playoffs roll on, you can learn all about them with your elite prospect subscription.

I'm writing about all kinds of stuff. for the rest of the playoffs. And like I said, like when teams get eliminated, I have an article almost right away, usually. That is, here's what they might do this offseason. Here's what they should do, that kind of thing. So you can check all that out. And then you head over to patreon.com slash puck soup, where we're doing all kinds of bonus episodes, including one yesterday with me, Sean, and Greg,

where we picked for every team in the league one point in their history where, like a thing happened and it caused them to spiral out of control for the next several years or more based on my theory that Milan Luchich

running over Ryan Miller broke the Sabres forever. A theory that has not been disproven in the many years since it was advanced. It's getting pretty close to be in a scientific consensus at this point.

Yeah, this is almost hard science. It's sort of like, you know, gravity is technically a theory but we have seen. no evidence to disprove it and we're going to go with it. Yep. And then me and DeShan also on the Patreon. We're going to head over there right now.

We're going to do a mailbag. So five bucks a month gets you the puck suit bonus stuff. Eight bucks a month gets you stuff like stick to sports, mezzan pod, OUFL, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, thanks for listening, everybody. We'll be back next week with more playoff reactions and things of this nature. and maybe more coaches get, oh, I forgot to give you this stat, Sean. In the last 16 months, how many teams would you guess in the National Hockey League have changed their coaches?

In last 16 months. Half. 20. Wow. Is that not fucking crazy? What are we doing the Martins-St. Louis watch? That's always my favorite, where it's like he's now like the sixth longest-tenured coach or something. Let me look.

a week ago? Because Sullivan would have been another one who... Well, Sullivan was the second longest behind Cooper. Martens San Luis is... Hmm. Let's see. I have it sorted the wrong way. That's why.

Martin San Luis hired in 2022, February 2020, is the fourth longest tenure coach in the league. Oh, God. Oh. Oh, man. That is so much. Only John Cooper, Jared Bednar, and Rod Brindamore have been in their jobs longer. All right.

Bruce Cassidy, Pete DeBore, Paul Maurice, all the other guys hired that same spring and summer as San Luis was. That's something. That's something. That is something. Okay. Thanks for listening, everyone. We'll talk to you later. Have a good one.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.