Puck Soup - Mr. Hockey vs. Mr. Softee

Episode Date: April 21, 2021

The boys cover the Patrick Marleau games record, and discuss his Hall of Fame case, and five other records that could be broken. Plus, the best athletes we saw as prospects, Canucks start rally, Boston and Taylor Hall, playoff bubble teams we want in, NHL drops ball on statement, Super League is dead, whether Gisele bets on Tom Brady and a new game show that tests your knowledge of offensive stars. Sponsored by Brooklinen and Sunday!  

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's in tunes. It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. I'm Greg Wichenski of ESPN, the worldwide leader. In, uh, let's see, sports. In sports, it turns out. I'm Ryan Lamper from Elite Prospects, the worldwide leader in Elite Prospects.

Sean McHugh from The Athletic. You're in Puck Soup. By the way, I don't buy that for a second. I believe Craig Button is the worldwide leader in prospects. Yeah, and he does a podcast for Elite Prospects. Uh, what? Yeah. It's incredible.

Do you only deal with elite prospects, or do you deal with middling ones? You know what? We even take the bad ones. The ones where it's like, oh, they shouldn't have picked him. We'll talk about him. And go, hmm, one thing he's not, elite. Right. But let's say there's a prospect who skates like me and has to like hold on to the plastic penguin at the skating ring.

I just said the bad ones, yeah. Right. So that person would still be allowed to be on elite prospects. Yeah, we just say whether he is or not. And the answer is no. You know what trips me out about elite prospects, to be honest with you? I was looking this up the other day when I was covering all the Patrick Marlow stuff. Like, Patrick Marlow's oldest son has a page on elite prospects.

And that trips me out. How young can a player be to be on elite prospects? Would, like, the 11-year-old Connor McDavid, the Jeff Merrick raved to me about, be on elite prospects? I don't think so. I think probably it's about Bantamage, if I had to guess. So, like, 14-ish, I think. probably about right. But you'd have to probably be elite then.

You couldn't just be a mediocre prospect if you're a 14-year-old. Yeah, you know, it's funny. There is a very famous elite prospects page of Stephen Stamcoast because it goes back, you know, again, like to his age 14 season. You're like, oh, I guess guys who are like really, really, really good NHL players score. Yeah. We have his Markham Waxers U-16 stats where he had 197 points in 66 games that season. Who was the – did you ever see an athlete in their nascent youth years that became like a star later in life?

Youth youth? Or just younger. Like what was like high school, let's say? I saw Chris Kreider play high school hockey. How was he? He's fucking really good. It was definitely a situation where he, you know, was just so much, like, faster and stronger than everybody else he was playing against. Where, like, you know, he had, he had hockey player ass, you know, like, he was just like the entire bottom half of his body was a grown man's.

And then he looked like a weble. Yeah, that's exactly right. And so, like, he was insanely fast. possible to knock off the puck and just, you know, making people look very stupid. Right. Again, against kids who, at best, we're going to go to, like, Division III hockey in a lot of cases. Sean, I'd ask you this question, but I imagine every time you walked out your door and looked at the old pond, you saw people that would eventually come to the NHL. Yeah, that's all of Canada, just crawling with future NHL.

It's actually my best story, and this wasn't, he wasn't that young, but in, uh, Spring training 91. I watched Carlos Delgado hit a ball like 500 feet. And this was like four years before he made Major League,

like before he actually got called up. And I remember just being like this guy. Like he was huge. He was just instantly, you look to the guy and you're like, who is that? Because that guy is going to be amazing. And when he got called up

to start the season, his first year, me and my buddy were in a baseball pool and I'm like, we have to draft this guy. I don't care if he's not on any list. He's a monster. He's going to be amazing because I saw him hit a home run once.

He made the team. He hit like 10 home runs in the first month. And people were offering us crazy trades. I'm like, no, this is our guy. And then people started throwing him curveballs. And it got sent down like two weeks later. But for a month, I was very, very smart. I'd seen him good.

That reminds me that I saw Hanley Ramirez, who went on to very successful, major league career. I saw him play single A baseball when he was 16 years old. Wow. Nice. He was really fucking... I just looked it up.

He hit 371 in 22 games with the Lowell Spenners as a 16-year-old playing against guys who had like just graduated college in a lot of situations. So, yeah, three-time All-Star, NL Rookie of the Year, two-time Silver Slug or a batting champion. Yeah, he was fucking great. He was pretty good. I went to high school with a kid who made the NFL eventually named Charlie Rogers. He played for the Buffalo Bills.

He was like a kick returner. I think he played for a couple other teams. And he was really good. But the one that will forever stick with me was I covered the state high school championship football game in 2004 for the newspaper I was working with. And there was a kid who played for Lanstown High School. Virginia Beach that when we were doing our previews of the game, everyone's just like, I don't care how good your Northern Virginia school is. Like, they're going to get fucking smoked by one player. And we're all like, come on, what does that even mean? The one player was a guy named Percy Harvin,

who you may remember from the Minnesota Vikings. He won the Super Bowl with the Seahawks, uh, offensive rookie of the year in 2009. And I have, in my entire life, I've never seen what, like, think what McDavid does on like a nightly basis, like taking over a game. Like, that's what Harvin did in a football game. That guy in the NFL, sometimes they couldn't catch him. So I can only imagine. Yeah. Like that must have been like Tecmo Bo.

Like, did he ever like go down to the goal line and then just come back? Run back 40. It was incredible. Like every single time that this kid touched the ball, like it was, you just couldn't stop him. Like total one-man team, but it didn't matter. But yeah, that was like the one time where the expectations met reality when you watched like an elite, an elite prospect, if you will, remember. That actually reminds me also covering high school football. And this is in New Hampshire, which is not a place where there's a lot of NFL.

Friday night lights of New Hampshire. There was a kid who played for Londonderry High School, who he was a tight end. and running back for Londonderry. And his name was Ryan Griffin. He went on to play a number of years in the NFL. And the thing with this kid was he was like six foot six, two hundred fifty pounds in high school. And so they just handed him the ball and he would run over all these like six foot one linemen on some other like small New Hampshire. Just like run straight through them.

And it was super duper funny. I think he ended up going to like Yukon or something like that. Man. And he just like, again, it was much like the, he was so fat. But this was just, he was so much bigger than everybody else that like they couldn't, three kids would try to tackle him and they'd just bounce off him. You know what I mean? It was so funny watching this kid play football.

I wish, I wish more, like, I think being an elite basketball prospect is probably better than being an elite football prospect. But in either case, like, I really wish I was one of them. because then everybody in my family gets, like, new cars before I even get to college. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, this kid wasn't even that good.

Like, that's the thing. He, you know, he was a perfectly okay NFL player for, you know, six, seven years. And he's great. The difference between the worst professional athlete and normal people is insane. Did you see so insane? I didn't, I didn't read it. I know what you're going to say, the New York Times article. Times article, yeah.

You think you can be better than the worst NBA player, but in actuality, the worst NBA player is so much better than you are. Yeah. Got an article? Yeah, because there was like this viral video of Brian Scalabrini just cooking some guy who played maybe Division 3 ball or something like that in a gym, you know, where they played like to 21 or something like that and he beat him 21 to nothing. And the article was basically like just talking to a number of NBA and WNBA players of people. people being like, oh, I bet I could put up a pretty good show against you. And they're like, you absolutely couldn't. But okay, let's try it.

And, you know, like one of them is a guy's like, oh, I'm like 52 years old. But because I'm like six, seven, guys still feel like they can they can hoop against me and stuff like that. And I'll beat them like back to back 11 to 2 or so, you know, just like it's not even close. And I just always think about when I was when I played. you know, like pickup hockey when I was in college, there was a guy who was in his late 40s, early 50s, who showed up in like full Rochester Americans gear, like head to toe. And he was the best player on the ice. And he was older than everybody else by, you know, a hundred percent older than everybody else, basically. And he just destroyed us.

I think, I often think about this. Like, what are the biggest disparities between your skill level and the skill level of somebody that's a professional athlete? And I think of certain situations when you'd be trying to take on somebody. First of all, I often think of that scene in train wreck when Bill Hader's playing against LeBron James and trying to, like, get shots off against them. I think that's one instance. Trying to create offense against an NBA forward, I think would be really, really hard. I think scoring on an NHL goalie would be really, really hard. Like the amount of skill that it takes to even do rudimentary things against an NHL goalie, I think, is daunting.

You know what another one is? Yeah. If you've ever played rec league hockey and the other team has like a guy who used to be an enforcer. I remember, I saw that happen once where it was like, hey, that guy over there, like in the German third tier league. Got, I had like 400 penalty minutes. And it was like, there were guys on our team that were like big tough guys. And they were like, do not go near that guy. Don't even get it in your head to think that you can, don't mess around.

You will die if this guy gets angry at you. Like just do not even go near him. Like our biggest, toughest guys were like, I'm not making eye contact with that guy. There's no way. I just love the fact there's like some dude named like, Das executioner skating in some rec league. Yeah, well, it was the sort of thing.

Like, it was literally like, you know, like the officials would have to come over and they'd be like, do you know who that is? Number 69 over there with like four scars and cauliflower ears. Like, that guy do not. And, uh, yeah. The other one I always think of is covering an NFL wide receiver

must be like fucking impossible. There'd be no chance. Like they're literally... Even if you had the, speed to keep up their ability to like make plays while you have your back turn yeah if you had a reasonably good quarterback and an actual like pro level receiver mm-hmm i'm trying to think of a number like i feel i was going to say they could they could throw a hundred passes and you would not touch the ball once covering him and that feels low like i may be a thousand you we could go all day

i'm not talking about picking it off i'm talking right you get your finger on the ball, no. There's, you wouldn't. Especially because, Sean, as a, as a Jets fan, can you define a reasonably good quarterback for me? Yeah, sorry. It's like, you know, you know what the other team has? Yeah, like, I just, anytime I do watch the NFL, like, I haven't watched it regularly since probably like 2005, 2006, something like that.

And I see like three plays a game now where it's like, oh, somebody in like 2005 or, like, that would have been the highlight of the season, uh, in 2006. And now it's like, yeah, that's like, you know, first and 10. Like, that's just everybody's like, yeah, okay, sure. The first time that the first time O'Dell Beckham had made the one-handed catch and people lost their mind. That was like four years ago. And now it happens every single. It was like, everybody was just like, oh, you can do that.

And then they went and tried it. And they're like, yeah, I guess you can. Very easy. I just catch the ball with one hand now. Yep. Oh, God. All right. Well, speaking of elite skill levels, I guess we should.

talk about Patrick Marlowe. Who? You know, that guy and the sharks who set the record. Oh, his kid has the elite prospects page. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah. The father of Landon, Marlowe, I think it is. Anyways.

Patrick Marlowe is your new all-time career games leader. Set the record this week. What's that? Did you strike you weird? Like, isn't there a, isn't an official game happen after, what, two periods? Am I right on that? That sounds right, yeah. I found it kind of weird that, like,

in COVID times, they didn't wait until the third period to be like, yeah, now the game's official. They just kind of like stop the game after the first shift. And they're like, congratulations Patrick Marlowe. That would have been insanely funny, actually, that they were like, you know what? Like, you're here. That's nice. But come on. This could all get shut down any minute.

Yeah. But, yeah, but Nick Holden went to a TGI Friday's there. There's contact tracing. Yeah, that would have been insane. But anyways, he sets the record. And again, I just, this league, we'll talk about how fucking dumb this league can be later on in a more sad and frustrating way. But Marlowe sets the record. They stopped the game.

There's a nice ovation. There's a bunch of sharks fans in the crowd. His family's there. Everybody banging their sticks. It's a great moment. And the celebration of this moment is fucking Gary Bettman on the Jumbotron for 10 minutes, giving a soliloquy about Patrick Marlowe. and, you know, the versatility and tenacity of a player to play that many games. And the only thing I could think of the entire time this is happening is,

do you understand how much sooner he would have broken this record were it not for your lockouts, sir? It's 100. It's 100% true. He missed like a hundred and being a player. You set a guy, he said an all-time record, and your gift is Gary Bettman. I mean, I don't know. Not just like any all-time record either. It's not like, you know, he set the, like, you know, he set the,

like career power play assist record. He set a record thought unassailable. Exactly. So yeah, let me ask you, Sean, about this record in context. You're somebody who obviously dabbles in the history of the game. The all-time games record, one, did you think it'd be broken? And two, where does it land in your pantheon of great NHL records? I did not think it would be broken, although, you know, the last few years it became

clear that Marlowe was tracking there. But no, and growing up, you looked at Gordia. And you went to that guy played until he was 51. There's no way anyone's going to do anything like that again. And yeah, it is a big record. And I wrote about this this week, how it's been, how long it's been since anybody set a major record in the NHL, any skaters, at least. Goalies have had a few.

But, I mean, it's been like 20 years. So it's a big deal. is, you know, I'll be real honest. It was probably a little bit more prestigious record when it was held by Gordy Howe than it may seem now that it's being held by Patrick Marlowe. But that's fine. It's every sport, this is one of the major marks. And we didn't think it was going to fall. And it's pretty amazing that in this era for somebody to stick around and play as long as he has.

And now next up is probably. the Iron Man record, which is another one that has been around forever that we wondered if it would ever get broken. Yeah. You know, whether it's Marlowe or Yandel or somebody, it looks like someone's breaking that one too, which is also cool. You know what's crazy about Barlow, by the way, is he's, I'm going to say only. He's only 41. Yeah. You know, like he, people act like, oh, well, you know, gory how.

He played till he was 51. and that's crazy and, you know, all the years in the W.A. I'm sure we'll talk about that in a minute. But like, it's just like, yeah, I mean, Patrick Marlow can't play for another 10 years. But to have 130 games or whatever taken from you by the owners, another 50 by COVID or whatever the number you want to say is, for him to be at this point and only have been in the league for 25 years is bonkers. Yeah, especially for a guy that, you know, for a lot of his.

career, the knock on him, oh, he's soft. This is a soft guy. Well, I guess not. When you're breaking Gordyhow records, we can probably drop that label from Yeah. But that's what's great about it. I mean, I read about this in my column this week a little bit, but like, the thing that's great about the record is that the antithesis of Gordy Howe broke it. Like Gordy Howe who led with his elbows, Gordy Howe, who was his own enforcer,

Gordy Howe, who's like the, you know, the namesake of the Gordy Howe Hattrick, which involves a fight. And like the guy who broke it is the guy who is almost most famous for being called gutless on national television by a former teammate. Like it's it's insanely wonderful that Patrick Marlowe ended up being the guy to break this record and almost symbolic of the changing of the eras that Patrick Marlowe ended up being the guy to break this record too. Where you know, Gordy Howe sets it back when hockey was a meat grinder and Patrick Marlowe sets it during a time when there's been a gradual shift towards the appreciation of skill over brute force. The other thing to say, though, is, like, how did Chris Chelyos not set this record?

The guy played until he was, like, almost 48, I think. Like, how did he not do it? Can I touch on the Gordy Howe 51 thing, by the way? I got into it, of course, over Marlowe and Gordy this week about these people being, like, well, he hung on just to break this record. and, you know, I think there's some truth to it. I don't think, I don't, I'm not entirely convinced Patrick Marlowe would still be in the league right now, weren't not for the San Jose Sharks, but he is and he plays.

He's not very good anymore, but here he is. But this is, I said it earlier this week. This is his first year ever below replacement level. I completely agree. It's like, yeah, he's bad now because he's 41. He's played 7,000 games, whatever, you know, like, I get that, but this is, this is, this is the first year he's been like actively bad. Right.

And so people point to Gordy Howe putting up like 43 points in his, or 41 points or something in that neighborhood in his final season when he was 51 years old playing for the Whalers. And I'm just like, it's 1980. All three people on this podcast could have put up 41 points with the Harvard Whalers in 1980. I'm not so sure about you. You step on the ice, you score 41 points in 1980. Yeah.

And the other thing, too, is the only reason Gordy Howe is playing that season is because he wants to play with his son. and I talked to somebody yesterday who was sort of familiar with that time and when Gordy was playing. There was sort of an unspoken edict around the league not to touch Gordy Howe. Yeah. Like it was like watching some guy who is a... There was an unspoken rule not to touch Gordy Howe for pretty much his whole country. Right.

But this is especially true because he's, you know, it's like when you have an old ass guy in the All Star game or something. Just like just let him cook. It was kind of the way they treated Gordy Howe that season. So it's not as if, you know, he's taken out on the... chin from the flyers in that error or anything. So spare me the longevity argument and spare me the Patrick Marlowe hung on for too long if you're going to put over Gordy Howe being basically a circus attraction at 51 for the Hartford Whalers. It's a tremendous record. And I got a new appreciation for him breaking the record and writing the story about him because the awe with which

his peers and former teammates treat the record kind of puts it in context and just thinking about how many fucking guys lost their careers so early in this league. And to have played as long as he did in an era with so many guys getting their careers cut short because of concussions in particular is pretty remarkable. And the more you hear people talk about Marlowe, the more you realize that while there's an element of luck to it, he also had that intrinsic Gretsky-like skill to understand where the hits coming from, to understand where the pressure is coming from, And it's a very interesting conundrum of him being labeled as a soft player, but also him not putting himself in harm's way to get injured and to have his career be cut short. Yeah.

You can't have it both ways. Yeah, that's a hockey sense thing for sure. I remember when I, when Johnny Goddrow was in college, I saw him get, I saw a lot of Johnny Goodrox games at BC. And I saw him get hit hard, maybe. twice and one of them, a guy just ran him from behind. Like, elite level players, like, really good players just have that ability to not get hit that hard. And, and, like, that's a, that's a mark in Marlowe's favor.

Because you not only have to have the ability to know where the hit is coming from, you have to have the ability to get out of the way. and combining those two things is like pretty rare. But yeah, but like let's not paint it like this guy was, you know, Danny Breyer's size. Yeah, he's a big guy, too. He can absorb a hit. He could take a hit. I don't know, the Marlowe as a soft player thing leading to this moment is a really interesting through line for his career.

All right. So we did a bonus episode this week about, we did Hollis. of Fame court, and we said that we weren't going to do Marlowe as one of the cases because we'd talk about it on the main show. Let's talk about it on the main show. I'll start because as everybody knows if you've been reading me for a while, like my Hall of Fame would be extraordinarily small and stringent and exclusive. And I'm only taking generational players and I'm only taking like the top five from every era. In my Hall of Fame, Patrick Marlowe would not be in it. In this Hall of Fame, of course he's in the Hall of Fame.

I mean, there's no way he's not going to be in the Hall of Fame with this record, with the amount of goals that he scored, with the Team Canada stuff. And above all else, as we've come to find out from this cursed selection committee, he's a very nice guy with kind eyebrows and never said an ill word about anybody. So of course he's in the Hall of Fame. Lambert? Yeah, I, would I personally put him in? Maybe not.

But I, you know, I think it would have to be one of those situations where there were like four really good classes in a row to even have an argument about keeping him out, I think. And so, yeah, I just look at it and I say, you know, you can't leave out the guy who has the career record for games played. Like, you just can't do that. So that's what it boils down. Yeah, and not if he's a guy with 500 goals. Like, if it was like a Ken Danico type situation, maybe.

but yeah I mean I think the goals record or sorry the games played record is what puts him over the edge I think he's he's in I agree with with both you that he's he's going to get in like this isn't an argument about will he because I think that's pretty much a done deal um you know it's it's it's the same thing right it's it comes down to what do you like in your hall of famer do you want the guy who had the peak where he was the best in the world or the best in the league, best of disposition, or do you want the guy with the longevity? And I think most of us, myself included, prefer the guys with the high peak. Marlowe was never that guy. Like Pat Peak? Yeah, that's exactly who I'm referring to him. You know, Marlowe was never that guy.

No awards, no, you know, never really the best player on his team. Never a guy that you went to a game and you were like, oh man, I'm watching. Hall of Famer right there. He's a compiler, right? That's what we say when we look at some of these guys in all these sports. He's a compiler. But I've said this with other guys like Dave Anderchuk and Mark Recky. Sometimes a compiler compiles numbers that are so high that you really got to give him a good look. And you got to say, look, at some point, if a guy's got 600 goals, yeah, maybe he was never the best player in his own team, but it's 600 goals to get him in there. And Marlowe's not going to get quite to that. But having the game's played record. Given the standards that have been established for the Hall of Fame as we know it, I'm fine with him getting in, and I think he absolutely, with near certainty, will get in. You make a great point about the compilers and the necessity to have maybe something that's

unique about them. That's why Cicorelli was a horrible Hall of Fame, but there was nothing unique about Cicorelli. But like Andrew Chuck, you could point to and say, well, at the time of his enthrinement, no one was, no one scored more power play goal. and Dave Anjachuk. His skill set was very unique in that sense, and no one was able to do what he was able to do in that part of the game. In the case of Marlow, obviously, it's the games played.

I looked at the goals thing, by the way. He's 23rd right now. Everybody that's ahead of him is either in the Hall of Fame or is headed there, and you have to go 10 spots behind him before you find the first guy that's not in the Hall of Fame, and that guy's Keith Kach. So he's in, like the neighborhood where you're just an automatic check to get into the Hall of Fame based on how many goals you scored too. I mean, there's always got to be somebody. This is like the Peerreterjean argument. There's got to be somebody who's got the most and isn't in.

And, you know, once Marlow goes in, then people are going to say, well, doesn't Keith Kachuk kind of have to go in? Because he's got the most goals and you can keep going down the list. Why? You've got to draw the line someplace. But, yeah. If Marlow hadn't played this year and he had, fallen just short of the record. I think at that point it becomes a really interesting.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, but you can't leave them out now. That's not what happened. Can't leave him out. Why was Pierre Turjan so unremarkable? Like, you think about all the other names that are out on the outside looking in. And like, you could make a case for Ronik and you can make a case for Kachuk. I don't, I don't know if there's a case you could make for Pierre Thurgeon. Why is that? It's, it's a few things. He has the, like a lot of guys, the curse of being a center in the 80s and 90s in the Gretzky-Lamu era where nothing you did was ever going to seem really remarkable. He only had the one real monster year, and he had it in 93 when many guys had monster years. He wasn't super well-liked by a lot of people in the league, and some of that dates back to the 87 World Juniors thing.

And the other thing with Turjan and a bunch of other guys, guys who bounce around, a lot and play for a lot of teams, you might think that would help a guy's case. Like, you played in a bunch of markets. And this guy played in Montreal and he played in New York and you think that would help. It really doesn't seem like it does. It seems like the guys who bounce around a lot, either don't get in or sometimes take a long time to get in. Ander Chuck took a long time.

Doug Gilmore took a long time. Was rec? Was rec? Yeah. You know, unless you're Paul Coffey and you bounce around a lot versus the guys who played for one team only, the Bernie Ferderkos, they see. seem to get a real boost because you've got one town that's completely behind you and is really banging the drum and pushing for you. And that seems to help. And I think, unfortunately,

with Turjan, he played for what, like six teams? That works against you, whether it should or shouldn't. It's a good point. Well, as we said, like, the Hall of Fame is full of people that probably shouldn't be there. You should go in there tomorrow and start weeding out some of these player. Speaking of weeds, today's episode of Puck Soup was sponsored by stretch. It was a stretch. Is it? Yeah. It's sponsored by Sunday. Okay. You know, it was an exciting journey

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I wrote about six of them this week. I want to get your take. Will Alex Ovechkin break Wayne Gretzky's record of 800 94 goals? I don't think so. I used to be out on it And then I He kept scoring and I was like You know what? He might fucking do it

And then Now with COVID and all that kind of stuff Like they just take they took too many games from them You know You can't play forever That's that's I mean he's he's still going So it certainly wouldn't shock me But I feel like

Losing these games may have nudged him From Slightly more likely than not to the other side of that. ESPN stats and info ran the numbers for me. If his goal pace dropped to 0.50, okay? Over the last five seasons, it's been at 0.58. So if it drops to 0.50, he would need 330 games to catch Gransky.

Yeah, if he only scores at a 40 goal pace at age 37 or whatever. Yeah, sure. But I think he's a freak, so it's possible. It's definitely a situation where, I can't remember, but somebody had, I think it was probably Dimitri posted, like, I don't know if anybody noticed this, but Ovechkin has 16 goals in his last 20 games or whatever the number was. And it's like, yeah, he can just do that. There can be a stretch where he's just going to sit at the top of that circle and pump

the puck into the net. And, you know, he does it for three weeks every season. and in those three weeks he scores 15 goals. And, you know, in theory, you don't need to be particularly useful in other aspects of the game to do that. And so from that point of view, Alex Ovechkin can absolutely do it. But I just, I think the clock is ticking, you know. Yeah. And this even assumes that he never gets hurt.

Yep. He never decides to go to the KHL or anything like that. And even if he drops, like there really is no press. for guys scoring at that rate into their late 30s. Now, Alex Ovechkin's done a lot of unprecedented stuff, so maybe he's going to be the first. But if he drops even like a 30 goal a year score, then unless he turns into one of these guys who plays well into his 40s,

he just runs out of time. But it's, it's ridiculous that he is even in the conversation. In the conversation, playing in this era, it's insane that somebody is even making us think about it. The power play thing gives me hope because he's just such a specialist in doing that particular skill. But I say he breaks it. Now, if we had not gotten the rights, I would say he doesn't break it. But since we have the rights, I have to believe that he will break it.

I do. Because what a moment that'll be. I really want him to mainly because he has said the second he scores the goal that breaks the record, he's leaving the ice and he's retiring. Like, I think that would be such an amazing. amazing way to do it. Just like he scores the goal. Everybody celebrates. He's like, okay, see you later. Like, drops his skates and his stick on the ice, has someone else picked them up. He's done. He's out. That would be the greatest way to go out. And then we get a 10 minute offside review.

That's right. Whoops. I don't know. I think that maybe he should take the Rosie de Mano perspective and retire at 893. So Gretzky forever has the record. Yeah. Out of deference to Gretzky. Yeah, that seems like the kind of thing Ovechkin would do. Next record, most games coached. Scotty Bowman's at 2141.

Joel Quenville is at 1751. Trots 1719. Maurice, the youngest of the trio, 1645. Does anyone get to Scotty? I think all three of those guys do. And then Maurice, you. You know, he's like 10 years younger than Quinnville or something like that, right? Like he's...

He's eight years, but yeah, he's still very much younger. He's significantly, like, he's, and he's never going to lose that Winnipeg job. It's just not going to happen. It doesn't matter. Like, for real, like, everybody says the owners just love him, and so he's not going anywhere. And, you know, they can be as bad as they want. It doesn't seem to matter for various reasons. I really think that that's his job until he decides he doesn't want to do it anymore.

So the idea that... You made me think about Barry Trots' longevity as a coach and how, like, most... The two places in which he's coached, he's coached there for quite a long time. And I never considered the fact that you have a guy who just coaches for a really long time in one place, now being general managed by a guy who twice in his career has named himself coach. because he's fired so many fucking coaches. But Lou's calm down on his old age a little bit, I think. I think he's not as trigger-happy as he used to be.

Well, we'll find out. That's right. If the Islanders look bad on the last weekend of the season, he might make him more. Yeah, if the Rangers make it remotely interesting, Trots is going to be out on his ass. I agree with you. I think there's a chance all three could pass Scotty, but I do agree that Maurice, because Maurice is good to,

for one more like long run somewhere too you know the looking he's professorial and they like him and he'll probably be the all time later like i think i think they all pass him but then you get into can anybody get close to him in wins which is where yeah that's you you got to go you got to go a while there because he obviously racked up a ton of wins on some really good teams scotty bowman but the answer is that would be the answer is john cooper interesting Maybe. Good, good base, good foundation for him attacking that record one day so far. He's only got like 900 to go.

Yeah, I don't know off the top of my head. What is the record and like who is even remotely close? Bowman's got 1,244 wins. The next is Quenville, who is not at 1,000 yet. So he's got 300 behind. So, yeah. Quinville, like, six more 50 win seasons thereabouts. Oh, there you go.

He's not even 65 yet. Like the idea that he's going to be coaching into his 70s is totally reasonable. I think Quindville will run that down. Wow. Putting a lot of faith into Spencer Knight over here, aren't you? Yeah, he rocks. He's so good. Yamir Yager is the career game-winning goals leader at 135.

Alex Ovechkin is 19 behind Yager. Does he catch you? That's a lot. Well, I mean, if he's going to, it's a lot. but if he's going to catch Gretzky. I did like how, because I read your article and it was like all these records, but then like every one of them is like Alexander Ovechkin. There's like three of them that are Alexander Ovechkin.

I think this guy might be good. Yeah. Like, wait a second. How's the fourth in coaching games? That's crazy. The Gretz, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, Ovechkin record that's going to, he's going to get is, he is, he is, he's got 269 nice power play goals.

And, and Andrew Chuck, has 274. So he could break it by the end of the season. Two more records. Consecutive games played. Doug Jarvis 964, as mentioned before, Yandel, Marlowe, and Kessel could all break that mark next season if it's an 82 game season. Who do you...

Again, man, the fact that, like, Marlowe and Phil Kessel are two of the guys that might break that record that's associated with toughness and perseverance and Kessel especially. That cracks me up. I love that guy. Yandel, too. Like, Yandals, Yandals not exactly, you know, Radco Gudis back there.

Yeah. But, but, but I, I, I'm, listen, we all have our favorites.

Obviously, we all know who our favorite is here. It would be fucking amazing if Phil Kessel ended up, like, with this record in perpetuity. Yeah. It'd be great.

And the one thing I do hope is, maybe, and maybe this doesn't matter, but if Marlowe is the one who ends up breaking it, there's going to be some, controversy because he did miss games when he wasn't signed a few years back and there people are going to argue well you know Steve Larmer when he held out he lost his streak and this and that and it'll be a dumb argument but it's yeah my patience for dumb arguments is not

high so I kind of hope it doesn't happen I hope Phil plays until he's like 45 all with the coyotes and just like plays 2,000 games in a row he's going to break the he's going to break marlow's games played record. He's just going to hang around forever. That would be so cool. Like 45 years old, he weighs 270 pounds. He hasn't scored in three years. If you, like, if you think the Canadian media... All of like Hulk Hogan and... If you think the Canadian media was mad that fucking Patrick Marlowe broke Gordie Howe's record, they're going to act like Gordy Howe's both, or Marlowe is both Gordy Howe and Wayne Gretzky if Kessley even gets in the neighborhood.

I have, I have no patience for bad arguments, but for like truly insubes. insanely dumb arguments, I'm here for them. So I would love to see that. Let's- I just can't wait for, Phil. For a 92-year-old Emperor Betman to go on the Jumbotron. Congratulations on the record, Phil.

That's all I want to see. Yep. Selky Trophy wins. Bob Ganey and Patrice Burgeron tied with four. I mean, this basically comes down to Will Patrice Bergeron win another Selke? Yes, of course he will. Even if he doesn't necessarily earn it, right?

Like they'll do the Nick Lidstrom thing of you get to be tied with Bobby Orr now. That's fine. You know, like they'll just give him one when he's when he's 38 years old. They'll say, great job all these years. You rock. And they'll be right. He rocks. He does rock.

Yeah. But like, will he earn another one? Like, it's totally within reason that he would earn one on the merits in any given season, the next two or three years, right? Like, that's totally reasonable. But even if he doesn't, I'm saying, they'll make sure he sets the record. All right. Moving on to current events.

The NHL forced the Canucks to play a game despite missing a bunch of players due to the COVID protocols. And I think a bunch of players severely, physically impacted by their own bouts with COVID. Of course, they beat the Leafs. I mean, that's why the Leafs exist. And beat him twice. And Braden Holthby, the most maligned goldfender in the league, looks like a fucking Vesina winner, because again, the Leafs, that's what happens. Four straight games as we do this podcast against the Ottawa senators coming up, and

Moneypuck has Vancouver at a 9.7% chance of banking the playoffs. Montreal is dropping like a stone because they lost Brendan Gallagher and all of a sudden can't score. will the sweet beautiful Canucks make the playoffs? So I think I saw Drant's post last night or this morning that even if Vancouver wins the next four games against Ottawa, which is certainly within the realm of possibility, but not likely, I think. Like they don't have a better chance of winning four games than not, right? But if they win all four of them, their chance to make the play.

playoffs improves to like 40% from the current whatever number you just said. So like even if you're going by that standard of let's just gift them eight points and see what happens, they are less likely to make the playoffs than not. Yeah. And Ottawa is a classic spoiler team here to jump in. It's not hard to imagine them getting a winner two. The thing with Vancouver is, like, yeah, they've got the four games in hand, but those games have to get played somewhere.

The schedule is just insane the rest of the way. I know we all kind of expected them to come out of the COVID break with, you know, we weren't sure what we were going to see, but we kind of expected that they, you know, would they be in game shape? Would they be rust? Would they be fatigue? And that didn't happen. And it was great.

It was a great story to see them in the last couple games. But that may also have been at least. partly just the emotion of it, the kind of the adrenaline rush of being back out there, they got a huge grind ahead of them. And I just, I have a real heart. You know, maybe, and given the nature of the story, sometimes these things, once you get it in your head, it becomes self-fulfilling. And you start thinking, like, we're really doing something crazy here.

This could happen. But, man, it's just so, it's going to be so difficult. Even take away the whole COVID break. Take away the impact of that, whether any of the players are still. feeling that or will be impacted. Just the fact that a team has to play this many games in this few nights is going to make it very, very hard for them to have the sort of success they need to make up the group. Yeah, the other thing to say, of course, is that they've won both those games against the

Leafs. They looked like shit. They did not play well. They won those games against the Leafs, it says here, by shooting 17.5% and getting 936 goal tending. I don't think they will need that to, win games against the senators, for example, but like the entire rest of the way

they would basically need to play almost that well. So, yeah, it's a tough sell for me. As much as it would be funny to see it happen. That's what I'm saying. Like, first of all, I'd be funny, and it would be an awesome source. It'd be awesome, but no, but I understand what Lambert's saying. Lambert's saying it'd be funny because you had half the world saying, you just let him, you know, don't play the games, just go by points percentage.

then Vancouver wins like fucking 12 in a row makes the playoffs. Right. It's just like, I mean, of course that's how it would work out. The other thing, too, is if they make the playoffs that most likely means Montreal doesn't, which means Birchivan gets fired, which is, again, the greatest outcome. The COVID team makes the playoffs and Montreal falls apart. Jim Benning gets 58-year extension. What an absolutely conflicted fan base it would be if this happens.

I mean, obviously it's all going to be like despite Jim Benning. But, man, I mean, they already are already. he's saying, I guess people have said that he's not going to go anywhere, but it's just, what a wild ride. Taylor Hall, baby. Looking like Taylor Hall again. Here come the Bruins, Lambert. Yeah. Bruins look real good all of a sudden, huh?

Yeah. You know, I wrote, I wrote the column for Monday, but like they, the Bruins went out and addressed the three real needs they had, right? like they needed someone to make the second line dangerous. Taylor Hall does that. They needed another guy who can play in a bottom six role and be effective, like killing penalties and stuff. Curtis Lazard does that. And they needed a competent puck-moving defenseman who is healthy.

And that's Mike Riley. And then so when you get all three of those things, a team that was a one-line team with a ton of injuries on the blue line is now, suddenly not that. And they look really fucking good. Yeah. Which doesn't really, you know, make the East playoff race any more compelling, unfortunately. I mean, outside of just like seeing where the chips fall, you kind of wish one of those teams would fall back to the pack a little bit to give the Rangers a chance. But, but say Levy, next season. Team on the outside, you're kind of rooting for to get in besides Vancouver.

Is it the Rangers? I guess I kind of want to see the stars pull it off because they've had just so many fucking problems this year, you know? Injuries and COVID and a winter storm that destroys the entire state infrastructure. And they've been trailing in terms of games played all year because of a few of those things. And everybody was saying, well, you know, they got to get these games in hand and they got to win them. And they actually finally started doing it.

They were just consistently 500. Every time you looked at the standings, they were 15, 15, and 11, whatever it was, right? And, yeah, now they're starting to actually pick up wins. They won four in a row, if I'm not mistaken. And they're a team making real use of the loser point. They have 12 overtime or shootout losses. Jesus Christ, that's incredible. Sean, what about you?

Yeah, I think Dallas is a good pick. The other ones that I might look at is not for me personally, but if there's any coyotes fans out there who have stuck with them through this miserable last calendar year that they've had, making the playoffs, bumping out a recent cup champ in the process would be pretty cool. And I personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the Kings. make a run. They're just a good,

a young team, you know, there'd be, but with enough old guys kicking around that I think that would be kind of a fun story that it would just be neat to see.

It's always nice when a team that thinks it's rebuilding, ends up getting ahead of schedule and sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't, but it can be fun to watch. I want San Jose only on the contingency

that Vegas plays them in the first round, because I just love that rivalry so much. And I also love, I love the sharks. Sharks are still a fun team as far as the individuals on that team. And while I'm sure Vegas will smoke them, still would be a very fun series to watch, I think. And of those three, Arizona, St. Louis and the Sharks, and I guess you could throw the Kings in there too. I'd rather spend my time watching the sharks in the playoffs than either the Blues or the Coyotes. Yeah, I think that's a pretty good justification.

I want to at least see like a fun four-game sweep, five-game gentleman sweep kind of a situation. Are you trying to say that the blues and the coyotes don't do it for you? No. Boring. Kind of put you to sleep a little bit? Yeah. Well, speaking to sleep, today's episode of Puck's Soup is by Wofflin. Yeah, I mean.

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It's so nice. I was walking around Brooklyn yesterday, coming back from the old Trader Joe's, and as I'm walking, to my apartment, I heard cheering and I heard car horns and I knew that the Derek Chauvin trial verdict had come in and luckily for society and for justice, they didn't, they didn't fuck it up. And I feel, I feel very, very compassionately towards everybody that's endured this for the last year. and you could feel the tension in the air yesterday about how this was going to go. And I'm just happy that some semblance of justice was served,

even though it's a very low bar to clear in a trial like this. And obviously, when there's a lot of work left to do, including on how we handle situations like this, NHL, my God. So the Vegas Raiders put out a horrible statement that tracks back to I guess what their owner wanted to release. But, well, they grabbed all the attention. The NHL also put out a statement yesterday that was rightfully maligned. There's a lot of teams that actually did pretty well.

The penguins came out of the gate with a strong statement, Devils, a number of other teams. The NHL statement was, while we hope the end of the trial offers a chance for healing, we remain committed to actively engaging in the movement. for equality, and we invite our fans to join us in supporting systemic change. Nothing about George Floyd, nothing about George Floyd's family. Nothing about any of it. The single most generic boilerplate fucking, let's make sure we don't upset certain segments of our audience statement that you could possibly imagine from the National Hockey League.

I just, I only mentioned this because of what we saw last summer when there was such a concerted effort made to like be with the times and now you see that the concerted effort was made to avoid criticism and and not because of any actually like longstanding longstanding held belief by the league that they're can actually like become involved in the in the change that they're asking for right which is not a surprise to no anybody and we we knew what it was and we probably would have expected about what we got You might have thought they might have at least tried to pat it out to two paragraphs. But I say this with some sympathy for the people who have to write messaging like this,

because you're certainly never going to please anyone, and you're probably going to greatly anger a segment of your audience, no matter what you do, and that's never fun. And maybe it feels like the way to handle that is to just say as a little as possible. and hope you get let off the hook. But like we said last summer, sometimes saying nothing is also saying something. And there really isn't an option to sit this stuff out.

And the NHL keeps trying to do that. Yeah. The devil's statement, just for comparison, for a team that plays in Newark, New Jersey, by the way. Keep that in mind. Today's verdict, which found Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges and the murder of George Floyd, represents a step towards accountability.

While the outcome of the trial may deliver a sense of relief, it will not bring back the life that was tragically taken. We know that full justice will only be achieved through systemic change. Our thoughts are with Mr. Floyd's family and friends and extend to all those affected. Last year, many of us made a pledge to address systemic racism. Now more than ever, we must reaffirm our commitment to that fight. There's still so much more work to do. I mean, like, it's night and day.

Yep. that's as good as a sports team, especially in the NHL, is going to get. Yeah. I don't know. Like we've often talked about with this league, like, it is so fucking hard sometimes to be a fan of the National Hockey League. Because you spend so much time apologizing for what they do and for what they are that it interferes with your enthusiasm for. supporting the league. And this has always been the case, whether it's, you know, the racism stuff or, you know,

misogyny, whether it's the CTE stuff and the denial that's happened for the last decade. Like, there's just so many things that this league does that if they just move the dial a little bit towards humanity, it would be so much easier to defend the league when it's, criticized. But they always, in these situations, they drop the ball, they try to play the fucking middle ground, and they come off looking terrible for it. And this was another one of those situations. But hey, at least they had a really nice aesthetic for their broadcast last summer, right?

It's good times. Yep. The Super League is a go. Oh, wait, no. It's a no. this was a very exciting week in sports that weren't hockey. The entire sport of... Boy, we could use that a lot in this podcast.

Right? Yeah. Indeed. That's the NHL's unofficial slogan these days. An exciting week in the sports that are hockey. The Super League situation was incredibly fascinating to me, but it was also incredibly fascinating to see how vicious and... the backlash was against it.

I don't profess to know the nuances of this situation. I am, my soccer fandom is mostly on an international level, I would say, i.e., like World Cup and friendlies and things of that nature, like a national level. So I can't profess to really understand the nuances of teams from the UK leaving.

I can say that I really enjoyed the, utter sanctimony of, like, this financial decision, quote, destroying the sport for in the eyes of, of UK fans. Yeah. So it reminded me very much of like the sanctimony you get from baseball fans when they like change the pitching mound or some shit. Well, no. I mean, yeah, this is, you obviously don't understand what you're talking about. So, uh, the, the, the, the super league, uh, was, I think 12 of the biggest club. in the world. Like, you know, they sell the most jerseys.

They're on TV literally every corner of the globe, that kind of thing. And they said, we don't want to have to participate in a domestic or international tournament in which we could theoretically not participate. Like, you know, in England or in international soccer, you have promotion and relegation. You can either make the Champions League or you cannot make the Champions League. And these are things that have a huge financial impact on the clubs that. And so, like, for example, Arsenal and Manchester United the last few years, these are two of the biggest clubs in the world. They've been terrible, like, in terms of how they've played in England.

And when you don't play well in England, you don't make the Champions League, you miss out on millions and millions and millions of pounds of revenue. Heroes. Yeah. So, like, it's not good to miss these competitions. And so what a lot of these teams said was, well, if we all get together and we create a breakout super league in which we are basically guaranteed entrance every year and people will pay us a show. load of money to put it on TV, that is financially advantageous to us as opposed to being in like a situation where, in theory, we could face precarity of making it or not making it. And so the thing I would compare it to is like, let's say some of the biggest teams in

college basketball, like, you know, Duke, UNC. North Carolina, yeah. Like just go down the list, like just UCLA. They go, you know what, we're sick of like sometimes we don't make March Madness. Let's start our own March Madness that we're guaranteed entry to. And then we invite, you know, however many other teams to participate in it. And then they can get the revenues from that. But mostly we get the revenues.

Like they would all get a smaller piece of it. And that's basically what the Super League was intended to be. It was like, it's a UEFA Champions League. but without the need to qualify, you know? And so the domestic and European authorities were like, well, what the fuck? You can't do that, you know? And so what they said was, well, if you do it, not only are you barred from playing in our leagues, your players will be barred from competing in international play.

If you play for Liverpool, you would not be allowed to represent England in the World Cup, for example. Right. And so that is probably where it really fell apart. The indications that everybody gave was like nobody on the actual playing the sport side of this was consulted. And it was all really like a brainchild of the American owners of international teams, like the glazers and, the Crankies and John Henry. Would it have killed soccer? Killed is probably an overstatement,

but it would have dramatically altered for the worst, the financial playing field. Because, again, like, those teams would have been kicked out of their domestic competition, so, like, La Liga wouldn't have had, like, I think, Real Madrid. I don't remember all the Spanish teams, but like some of the biggest names in Spanish football would not have been competing in La Liga anymore. And when that happens, those teams have huge fan bases. The TV money and ticket sales dry up because you're not hosting Real Madrid anymore, you know?

Right. So like all the teams that do face financial precarity on an ongoing basis because they don't have the fan bases in that. that sort of thing. Their situations would only be worsened. So, like, it wouldn't, it wouldn't have killed the sport by any means, but it would have made it a lot less financially viable for all the, for all the teams that aren't, you know, major international brand names. Hmm.

And now it's done. Yeah. Pretty much, right? Yeah. But, well, and it was really because they were. were like, well, you can do it, but not only will we not allow you to compete in, for example, the Premier League, we would also, if you tried to come back, we would bust your asses down to like the fifth division, which is, you know, the fifth division you're playing, like Hartlepool

United, and they have a stadium that seats like 1,800 people and some of the guys on their team are plumbers, you know what I mean? Like, that's how low they would get dropped down their domestic table. So they like that was I think what ultimately scared them off because they wanted to be like, no, no, we want to have it both ways. We want to be able to compete in every competition. And they were like, you could only compete in the Super League. And they were like, oh, that would be bad for us. So they didn't do it.

I think I've written a few columns over the years about the NHL and relegation and like how fun it would be. But then at the end of the day, it's kind of like, do you really want the best team in the AHL to replace the New York Rangers? That is like, that idea comes up all the time. So many fans are like, what if the NHL had relegation? And it's like, yeah, well, it would be really great. Up until Toronto or Chicago or somebody got relegated and lost like 10% of a threat. I mean, that's the ultimate like, oh, you want to get rid of tanking? Well, introduce promotion and relegation.

Make it a 20-team NHL and the bottom 10 teams don't compete in it. That would make teams try to be competitive every single year forever. But, you know, like, the real reason it would never happen, apart from obviously, like, owners in the league want guaranteed revenue, is that just like American sport is not set up for a promotion and relegation system. No. You know, like, Major League soccer is the only one that might be. And even then, like, the, I don't think the owners would ever fucking go for it.

But, like, you know, everybody has like a minor, like, you know, the idea then that, like, oh, you would call up, like, the best AHL team. And it's like, well, everybody on that AHL team is a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect. He's under contract with their team. Right. Also, it's also, you're basically saying, hey, congratulations. The Montreal Canadiants have been relegated. Congratulations to Utica. Now you have to gin up $81 million in pay her.

Right, exactly, before next season. So, like, it's just sports in America aren't set up to handle that. Right. I got to tell you, as a Leaf fan, I'm listening to this Super League idea, and I'm like, they're making some good points. Never make the playoffs? I've never missed the playoffs rather. Guaranteed playoffs every year.

Like, yeah, okay. Yeah, that'd be all right. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. The equivalent would be if the Bruins, Maple Leafs, Rangers, Chicago, Vegas. The original six league.

Maybe the original six, but like... But then add like Pittsburgh. Yeah, exactly. Just the teams that sell out all the time, basically. And the Kings. Like Pittsburgh and the Kings. Sure. Yeah.

And then they just go, oh, and by the way, like our playoffs are at the same time as the Stanley Cup playoffs. But also we want to compete in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the NHL regular season. And the NHL would be like... Oh, so wait. So the Super League teams wanted to stay and compete in like the Premier League? Yes. But they also wanted a Super League? Oh, that's fucking crazy.

They wanted the Super League to be a midweek competition only. So, like, they play their Premier League games on Saturdays or Sundays or whatever. And then, like, on Wednesday, they go play Barcelona. That actually sounds kind of fun. I don't know why it failed. Because they already do that with the Champions League. Oh. But the, but the champ.

Wait, so they're just trying to replace the Champions League? Yes, they want a Champions League. They can't, like, not make. They can't miss the playoffs. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Oh, I'm pro-chance. I'm pro Super League now that you explained it that way. It sucks. Oh, it sucks? Oh, all right. Hey, congratulations to Giselle Bunchen. David Purdem of ESPN reports that Giselle is a special advisor to the board of directors for draft kings, which also includes Michael Jordan and Cal Ripkin Jr. I mentioned this for a specific reason because it was the first thing I thought about.

Does Jazeel bet on Tom Brady? Yes or no? No, I don't think she knows anything about sport. Like she's trying to figure out the money line in, like, come on. Sean? Well, I mean, you never kind of touchdown Tom, so she probably, I mean, I hope she bets for him and not. It's pretty funny if she was bent against him. I would be shocked if she didn't.

Like, who knows Tom Brady better than Giselle to know. How he would, in theory, perform in a game? How did he wake up? How is he feeling? Is he walking with a limp? You know, she would know. Yeah, so why doesn't every athlete's wife bet on their team's performance? Perhaps they do.

Now, here's what I found out about the NFL rules about wagering. There is a rule that says sharing confidential information regarding any game or any participating individual status or performance in any game without authorization for the purpose of enabling or facilitating gambling is prohibited. That can get you suspended. But waking up next to the quarterback and seeing what kind of moody is on a game day, that's not sharing information. That's like, it's like almost a little bit of insider trading. But if I was married to a pro athlete, I would completely bet for it against that athlete,

depending on what I knew about that athlete and their health and disposition before a game. Yeah, right up until, uh, The defensive line can't stop the fucking run in one of the games and they lose and your husband comes home and you're like, what the fuck, man? I needed you to throw an extra touchdown, you fucking asshole. I just want to know if there's a situation in which she like bets a player prop of like over, you know, he's got to throw over like 250 yards. And she's just like, you know, Tommy, it'd be pretty good if you threw, you know, 251 yards. Wow, he's married to Padmalachshmi.

That's great. Or Ilya Bresgala, one of the two. And then, like, in the fourth quarter, the bucks are up by 21. He's still throwing Hail Marys, trying to get the player prop for his wife. If they're up 21, he's got those 250 yards in the bag already. No, you never know. It could be the Jets could just be goal line fumbles by the other team. Yeah.

And a bunch of defensive touchdowns. Quarterback, Arizona Cardle's cornerback, Josh Shaw, was suspended in 2019. He was, I think, the last player that was suspended for wagering on football as a little bit of trivia. Yeah. But yeah, if I was Jezell, I would bet on Tom Brady every week, poor or against. We end the show with a Greg Design game show. The name of this game, boys, is Diminishing Returns. It's a very simple game. I don't try to overcomplicate things, as you know, because otherwise I'll get confused. I'm going to name a player.

You tell me, as of right now, as of this taping, As of Wednesday, April 21st, 2021, you tell me if this player is having a, has a higher points per game average than he did last season, or a lower points per game average than he did last season. All right. Everybody got that? It's dead simple, though. It's a very simple game. Your boy likes to keep it very simple. Who goes first?

Who won the last game? I don't remember. Okay. We'll assume... Well, Lambert, we'll assume it's you. Kick or receive? A kick. Okay.

Sean? Yep. Once again, as it turns out, the odds are forever in your favor when it comes to these dumb games. Oh, boy. Sean, Mitch Marner. Higher or lower points per game average than last season?

Mitch Marner, he's having an okay season by his standards. I'm going to say higher. That is correct. He is 1.2 points per game this season, 1.14 points per game last season. Mitch Marner is better. Worth every penny. See if you can play net. Lambert, a very strange, almost cosmic.

coincidence. Chris Kreider. Wow. Higher or lower points per game average this season versus last season. I'm going to say lower. That is correct. 0.61 this season, 0.71 last season. Of course, last season, contract year. Contract year. That's what I was thinking.

Singing for his supper. Yeah. But lower this year. Sean, Leon Drysidal. Higher or lower points per game average. this year versus last year. Then compared to his MVP season, this, you know, this is, this feels tricky.

This feels like an obvious lower that I'm supposed to walk into and wind up getting tricked by Greg. Am I that easy to trick? I kind of am. But I mean, he was the MVP last year. It's got to be lower. It is lower. and I did exactly the thing that you called out was hoping to bait you into it.

Okay. So this is again, this is like, but I know that you know that I know this. The poison is obviously in this cup. Exactly. Yeah, okay. All right. Wow. Tricky.

Ryan, Brad Marchand, higher or lower this year versus last season points for game. Lower. Actually, it is higher. 1.31 points per game this season versus 1.24 last season. A stealth MVP candidate if it weren't for the existence of Connor McDade. I've seen that the last couple of days is like a lot of Boston people being like, is Bradmore or Shannon MVP? No, he's not.

He's a Conor McDavid's an MVP candidate and everybody else is not one. It's not even close. I saw someone just devastatingly quote tweet a Daniel Wagner article from earlier this year in which Daniel argued that Elias Pedersen was the best player in the North Division. I also had a similar take. I thought there was a real possibility there that he, but, you know, didn't work out. Connor says now. Yeah, Conner decided he wanted to play defense this year.

It's a crazy thing that happened. Sean, Quinn Hughes, higher or lower this season versus last season? I have, from everything I've heard from Vancouver fans, I'm assuming it's lower. he's having a rough year is my understanding. It's higher. Is it really? Okay. 0.79 points per game versus 0.78 points per game.

I'm so stupid. I can't believe I. Idiot, piece of shit. I do wonder what is, I'm going to look this up to figure out. But what is Quinn Hughes's on ice save percentage this year versus last year. I bet that's a big reason why. I have it in front of me. Well, after the last two games, it's 20 points higher.

It says here 0.640. That can't be right. No, of course. I don't know what it is. Yeah, it's at 5 on 5 this year, it's 900, and last year it was 905. And in all situations, it's actually not that much different. I don't know what that's going on. Jacob Markstrom effect.

Well, I would have thought, but it doesn't seem like that's the case. Like, it's slightly higher last year in all situations, but it's still not like good. That's weird. Okay. Ryan, moving on. Sebastian Aho, the good one. Higher or lower than last season? Points per game average.

I got to say higher, right? I got to think that he's higher. It's actually lower. Wow. Wow. So, I think Andre Svetichikov not being himself this year, may have been impacted that. I just figured they're doing so much better in the standings.

That would have been driven by a Sebastian Aho type, but it shows what I know. Sean, for the win. Sydney Aloysius Crosby, higher or lower? I've heard of them. Than last season's points per game average. I'm going to say higher. Sydney Crosby's points per game average last season, 1.15. 5. Sydney Crosby's points per game average this season, 1.16. It is in fact higher.

Sean, you're the winner of diminishing returns. We'll play out the string. There's only one more question. Ryan, Brady Kachuk. Higher. That is correct. 0.63 versus 0.62. Once again, a very, very tight margin, but in fact, higher. And finally, we'll do the tiebreaker just for funzies. closest to the hole what is Cona McDavid's current points per game average?

1.45. 1.45? I think he's higher than that, isn't he? So he says 1.45 and what do you say? Oh, okay. I'll say 1.5 on the nose.

1.45, 1.5 and the answer is 1.68. Jesus Christ. Wow. He's pretty good, I guess. That is insane. What does that work out to if he played a 82 game?

That's like... Six eight times, 82 is 130. 138 points. Wow. He's pretty good. Yeah, he's all right. He does all right for himself. All right, well, there you go.

That's Puckoo for this week. Our thanks to everybody for listening to the show and supporting the show. Do check out. Hall of Fame Court, your bonus episode for this month, your Suppolet, I should say, episode for this month on the Puckusup Patreon. And of course, do check out our other podcast that I'm a part of on the Patreon, which is Mezan Pod. The podcast were me and my lovely wife Ruby and my lovely friend, Ryan Lambert,

that's me. Talk about Top Chef each week. Good. podcast. Good show too. Yeah. Damn. Yeah, sign up for relief prospects. We talked about it at length earlier. Do really good stuff. We have a new

prospect rating for, or ranking rather, for this coming draft out. And as you may imagine, a whole shitload of work went into it. And then also I, you know, do what we learned. I do the power

feelings on there. So check it all out. Tell them I sent you and then also sign up for the Puck Suit Patreon for all the stuff that Greg mentioned, plus my newsletter and Stick to Sports. Stick to Sports recording this weekend. So there you go. That's right. That's always exciting. Yeah.

I find me on The Athletic. I've got a piece up today where somebody asked me who could build the best roster, guys who were traded at trade deadlines or guys who were traded on the draft floor. and it ends up being kind of an interesting chance to remember some trades. I got a mailbag on Friday, and I've got my podcast with Ian Mendez on Thursday, the athletic hockey show. There you go. Thanks, everybody, for supporting Puck Soup. Go to the iTunes if you've never done it before and leave a review. Always appreciate that.

And talk to you next week. Take care. See you. Bye-bye. sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons we've got sportly commentary to what if you commute but we also cover movies TV shows it's and tunes it's your weekly bowl of hoggy and nonsense