Puck Soup - Panthers Power

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

Sean and Ryan talk about the Florida Panthers winning the Stanley Cup, the end of the Coyotes(?), and a crazy week of transactions. Sponsored by Hatch (hatch.co/puck)

I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects. I'm Sean McNeer from The Athletic. And folks, the Florida Panthers. They did it. They didn't blow it. I guess they just didn't blow it. They didn't do it, I guess. They didn't not do it.

The worst collapse in possibly team sports history. Oh, I think it would have been for sure. I mean, the Falcons blown a 28 to 3 lead was kind of the only other. candidate, I think. But now we don't have to argue about it because they got it. They did it. That's absolutely true. Never in doubt.

Ha ha. Well, let me say this. From that early goal, what was it, like seven minutes into the game or whatever, I was like, okay, this one's over. We're done here. Never a doubt in my mind from that moment on. Even when the Euler scored almost right away. Yeah.

Wow. Mm-hmm. Okay. Because I just, I watched that game and I was like, The Panthers were back to playing the kind of hockey that won them the first three games of the series. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like when they were losing, they looked like completely overwhelmed.

They couldn't handle McDavid and Dreisaitle and Bouchard and Hyman and all those guys. They just couldn't handle them. And, you know, they were really throwing their bodies around in a way you didn't see in games five, three. seven, or four through six, I mean. And I was just like, okay, they are fully, whatever was wrong, it looks like they figured it out. And, you know, obviously they still only won two to one. It wasn't a blowout by any, like any stretch of the imagination, like it wasn't one of those games where it's like, yeah, it was two one, but it might as well have been like five one,

you know, nothing like that. I was fully convinced the Panthers were winning as soon as that first goal went in. I was in doubt right up until the end. Even though I did feel like, like it felt going into the game, like the vibes were so on the oiler side that you kind of figured, like I, if I had predicted, which I didn't,

like that is kind of what I would have thought. You'd get the 2-1 sort of low-scoring, not a terrible game, but not a great one. I mean, the Panthers, like you said, they played the Panther way, which was, let the stars do their thing, get the lead, shut it down. Where were you at on the entertainment value of the game? Because this was...

I thought it was a really good game. This was heavily hyped. This may, you know, we'll get the numbers. We know the dance by now, right? We'll get the numbers at some point today. ESPN will say there's, the highest ever, somebody else will say that they were really low and nobody'll know which side is right. But presumably there were some new fans or non-fans watching. You thought it was

pretty good product to serve up to them? Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously the inherent drama of how this game even happened lent it a lot of, you know, just a lot of like, like you said, like vibes on its side. And I'm not going to sit here and tell you like, this was the most exciting two one game I've ever watched. It really wasn't like, I think through the first period, shots were like six, six or something like that. It's not as though, you know, this was like a high event hockey game

or anything like that. But I just think that the natural tension that comes out of, is this going to be the like a world historic collapse or a world historic like you had them on the ropes and you let them off you know um that that in and of itself just made the game super interesting yeah I was on the live blog duty with other Sean and when it was like one one 10 minutes in I was like man like these two teams are flying like they're not holding back nobody's trying to do it, right? And then, you know, I kind of jigsden, I guess, from there.

But that's it. I mean, that's what playoff hockey is. Can't expect much else. So, man, there's so much to cover. Kahn Smyth goes to a loser. How do you feel about that? I, look, I've seen people who are mad about this. Not a ton.

I think even the people who are mad about it are like 45% pretending they're mad about it, but they're sitting there going, of course, Connor McDavid won the fucking Conn Smyth. Yeah. I have seen some Panthers fans talk about, like, yeah,

he got booed for winning it. I get that. I get why, if you're a Panthers fan, you're mad about it for sure. But like, you're wrong. Insofar as, when Connor McDavid was on the ice

in these playoffs, The Oilers outscored their opponents, 54 to 21. Mm-hmm. I mean, that, and McDavid had points on what, he had 42 to finish, right? I think so, yeah. Yeah, that sounds about right. Whatever he had after game five, that's what he still has. Yeah, that is the other argument that I guess people are advancing.

And again, I get it to a certain extent, but. Yeah, I mean, it's the award. The word is for the entire postseason. It is not the MVP of the final, which some people mistakenly think it is, and it's certainly not the MVP of game seven. Now, that having been said, there's inarguably a lot of recency bias

when this gets voted on. Yeah, of course. There has to be. The fact that McDavid got shut down in the last two games does potentially, I mean, it moves the needle away from him, and I would argue more to Barcov then Bobrovsky, which was the name that I was seen

a bunch of, a bunch of Panthers fans talking about Bobrovsky was right. I mean, Barovsky wasn't even necessarily the best goalie in the series, let alone best player. So I just don't think it was enough. Like, you have an all-time historic great postseason. I think that's enough. Again, 54 to 21 when McDavid is on the ice.

When he's off, they scored 32. and they gave up, uh, 44. We're going to say this guy's not the MVP of the playoffs. Are you serious guys? Yep. Come on now. That's it. Um, I did think the voting breakdown, like from the 17 people who voted on it, was kind of

interesting. Okay, I didn't see that. Okay. McDavid had all but one first place vote. The only person who didn't give him one was Ryan Clark from ESPN, who wasn't, like, in the building for the finals. Uh, and he had. Bobrovsky first.

Okay. Which is... I did not know they gave votes to people who weren't there. I thought it was like a little press boxing. Yeah, I don't... Ryan Smart. I don't know what goes on with this.

Yep. You know? Almost every second place vote was for Barkov, to your point. Okay. Yep. The ones that weren't were Ryan Clark giving McDavid his second. uh, Jim Matheson giving Zach Hyman his second.

Uh, he had an all oil. I'm looking at it now. Yeah. That is, that is very funny that, uh, and that's actually it.

So those are the only two that didn't go to Barkoff. Okay. And then the third place vote was kind of like, who gives a shit. Uh, like it doesn't really matter. It's one of those two guys. Um,

for Heigy, Bobrovsky, Barkov, uh, uh, Forsling, another foursling, Skinner,

Forsling, Forssling, Bavrovsky Foresling, Bouchard Verhege, Bouchard, Foresling, Foresling, Skinner, Foresling. So like, the, you know, Foresling, it looks like got eight third place votes. But Brovowski got three, two, something like that. And then, yeah, you know, we can go from there. But the runaway was McDavid, then Barkoff. And I think that's probably about right.

I would say that's put it this way. It's certainly close enough to being right that I'm not going to be mad about it. And I can't imagine, like of any snub that your team could ever get perceived or otherwise, not winning the Kahn-Smith when you win the Stanley Cup feels like, you know what? Panther fan, you're going to be all right. Yeah, don't sweat it. Think you'll be good. You're fine.

You're fine. Um, so yeah, I, like I say, how, how could you be mad about it? Um, I don't know, what, what else you want to talk about here? Like, it's kind of hard to talk about this game individually because, in part because we, since the last show, we did games, uh, six and seven. Okay. Um, I don't, like, I don't, I don't, I barely remember game six. It was like a week ago. Yeah. You know, oh yeah. My, my, my perception of time when it comes to the NHL is all messed up. right now. Just a complete mess. We talked about McDavid going quiet the last couple games. Leandro Seidel. Yeah. Did nothing in the final. No goals in the final for Leon Dreissel, a guy who's big,

I wouldn't say maybe his number one attribute, but certainly his number two, if you're going to say the passing is first, and boy, the pass in game six, hachy-machi. but I think of Leon Drysodle as a goal-scoring kind of a guy and he was over in the final. And three assists. So, I mean, it's not like he was lighting it up there.

And yeah, a lot of the, I mean, the big guns were kind of not there, which is a credit to the Panthers, largely. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, especially a guy like that who throughout his career had always been such a big game guy. Like, he always got better in the playoffs. We didn't hear anything about injuries last night that I'm aware of, but everyone's banged up. We're going to find out their amputating a win.

We might, you know, like. God, that's got to be frustrating, though, like to. Oh, yeah. I can only imagine what's going through his head to after that series. Because, I mean, I don't think. hopefully nobody is going to be dumb enough to go like, you know, to say anything about that other than, I mean, he didn't perform in the final. It's like he just didn't. That's factually a huge story.

Yeah, I mean, just even, even watching that game down the stretch and obviously, like the, the benefit of being the coach of the Edmonton Oilers is that you can put Drysidal and McDavid out together at any time, you know, like, oh, I, I, I don't, I don't. We're down two goals. I don't know what to do. Oh, actually, I do know what to do. We'll put two of the five best players in the world out there. Yep. Just let them cook. And that works.

That works so frequently. But I just, especially like down the stretch in the third period, you could just see they didn't have the legs anymore. They were cooked. Yep. You know, they, they really put the pedal to the metal and ran out of gas and like before the final lap, basically. And that's how it goes sometimes. Um, I get like, you just hit us with a triple metaphor. That was.

Yeah. That was impressive, man. Some would say, uh, overly confused. Maybe. Maybe. Um, but yeah, to me, like, you, you just, you got all of, all of, out of them that you reasonably could have over the, you know, uh, previous three and six, sevenths of the series. Mm-hmm.

And it's worth remembering, you know, they played, they got the short series in round one, but then it was 7,67. With NHL mandated month-long breaks in between the series, but even then, that's a lot of mileage. Yeah, no, it's brutal, like the way the schedule worked out. You mentioned coaching. Paul Maurice gets his first Stanley Cup. And I got to say we have been kind of rolling our eyes at some of the Paul Marie stuff in the playoffs as far as his comedy bits. But I thought his comments after winning the Cup, I don't know if you guys got the whole clip down there,

but his comments on CBC I thought were very cool, where he was talking about his dad and talking about. Winnipeg and that sort of thing. I thought it was, those are some good comments. Yeah, his, his interview with Emily on ESPN was also very good. Actually, like, from what I saw,

I didn't see all of the CBC comments, just like the Winnipeg one, basically. Okay. But substantively different, I think. Like, in a way where it's like he talked about different things, it was pretty cool. um like i again i didn't see all the cbc stuff but he's talking about like i you could just kind to tell that like the way they go about business in florida was like markedly different than

everywhere else i've ever been um he's like i got off the phone with these guys and i told my wife immediately like these guys run things differently i'm really excited about this job um that kind of thing like i it was just you know it's easy to say like these guys are different after you win a Stanley Cup like what else you know you're not going to say you know these guys are just like the 2011 Carolina Hurricanes to me you know like obviously you're going to say something different um but it it was just it was it was very good um I I really uh I really enjoyed his his post game comments bill Zito was really good. Um Emily asked him like you know why is this like what about this is the most meaningful meaning

for you or something along those lines. And he gets like tears in his eyes. He's like, my dad's here. My dad's here. That's it. Yeah. And it's like, man, that rocks. That's so cool. So, yeah, I really, a lot of the post-game comments,

like, I think Matt Kachuk was the first person Emily talked to. Again, I didn't see much of the CBC stuff. But, and they were like, you know, this is a, this is a dream for you like, uh, in,

like for everybody, it's a dream, but like for you growing up as a dad who was an NHL player and, and didn't win a cup, like, this has to be a dream. He's like, it's not a dream anymore.

It's reality. It's crazy, you know. Oh, by the way, we should shout out the, the class of whatever high school in St. Louis,

him and Jason Tatum went to a really good week for those guys. And, and really good week for whoever took that one photo of the two of them together. Thank you for documenting I saw a rare Tatum Kachuk photo Oh okay Like they were on the bus together or something

That's the one I've seen The one where they're like leaning on each other on the bus There's one where they're like In like a computer class or something like that That's the one I'd always seen Okay Yeah maybe there's maybe there's a couple of them Could chuk had a funny comment on on CBC2

where he said like, he's like, yeah, shout out to any fans that I have left still in Calgary. You knew I wouldn't let the Oilers win. He's like, all right. You're back in. Yeah, you know what? You say, I didn't see the clip, but I saw people quoting it. And yeah. Speaking of Canadian, Martin.

He rocks. Roberto Luongo gets the cup that he couldn't get in Vancouver. That was cool. Yeah. It's always nice to see, like, the guys who are like scouts or whatever that you're, like, I forgot about him. And then they get a cup too. Yeah.

No, I mean, that is always the funny part. Like when all the players are done passing it around and then like they, you know, the coaches and the assistant coaches you've seen. And then just like some guy walk in a suit walks up and like Ryan Lomburg is like, I fucking love this guy. And you're like, who is that? Yeah. You know?

That's really cool. Or when it's like, you know, some guy in a suit and you're like, oh, what? And then you're like, is that Brian McCabe? You're like, yeah. His face turns all pink. And you're like, that's definitely. Brian McCabe. There he is.

All right. Good job, buddy. Yeah. No, like, the other thing that was really, that was really striking me last night is I felt like the building kind of cleared out quickly. And like, that's not a criticism necessarily. I know that rinks like an hour from the city. So that's fine. But the thing that I had said was just like, damn, like, if I was a fan of a team that won the Stanley Cup, they would have to drag me out of them.

fucking building. Well, I mean... I wouldn't... You know, I'm doing the Leonardo DiCaprio thing. I'm not fucking leaving. Here's my question then. If you were a fan of a team in the Stanley Cup final

playing a game seven, would you sell your ticket to a visiting fan? Because a lot of Panthers fans definitely did. Yeah. Because that building was half Oilers fans last night. At least according,

at least by volume. Like when you had the two goals in the first period, like they both sounded the same. They did. I don't know. I would have said like 60, 40. There's part of me that's like, dude, you can't sell those tickets.

That's career. What kind of fan are you? Then there's part of me that's like, yeah, you probably just paid for your season's tickets next year based on one game. That's exactly right. And you went to a bar or whatever and like hung out with your family. Like that's probably okay. But yeah, that's maybe partly why the building cleared out because a lot of Oilers fans who just spent their kids college fund to watch their team lose game seven. And see, that's the, I've said this before.

There, there was during, like the, the first post-COVID NCAA championship, some, like, it was a blowout UMass beat St. Cloud. And after, I think, the fourth or fifth, UMass goal, they just cut to a guy in, in the stands, like, full face paint for St. Cloud, just like, sadly eating a chicken finger. And I, and I was just like, nobody's ever been this bummed out in their entire. in the history of the world, you know? Mm-hmm. And I have to imagine that if you're an Edmonton Oilers fan who, on the spur of the moment, was like, you know what, I got to spend $7,000 to be there. Got to do it.

Or whatever the number is between the flight, the hotel, let's say two tickets. That probably cost you like $6, $7,000 easy. I would imagine, yeah. And, yeah, you get a single goal in the game, and it's in the first period. Mm-hmm. brutal that's a tough you know what

let's actually talk about the goals I mentioned earlier how sick the the tip-in by Verhagie who a guy you know

who like dry-sidal really getting a lot of criticism not doing a ton in that series and he scores what's basically like a 45-degree tip-in right

like the puck is going way wide and he tips it five-hole Awesome. Such a cool goal. By the way, I knew this was a big game because I had people who never, like, text me being like, are you psyched for the game tonight? Like, people who aren't even hockey fans.

Yeah. Just being like, this is sick, right? It did. Like, it jumped the track from a hockey story to something bigger, which is very cool. Yeah, it was awesome. But, yeah, that goal was cool. The Yanmark goal was really cool, not only because it was whatever, 217, I think it was. later, but just like another fucking breakaway goal where they, where they beat him going right to left.

Awesome. And then like the winner, the Reinhard goal, there's another guy. I didn't have a ton going on for him in this series. And they just kept backing up, backing up, backing up. And like the Kulikov, like bailing the puck out that might have, I don't think it was going to go in, but it might have gone it. You know? Like it wasn't on the way in, but it was sitting there. Like if it, you got to, and for him to get rid of it as he was like falling into the net was pretty good.

Pretty, pretty good. So sick. All three goals were awesome. And by the way, falls into the net doesn't knock the net off. Yeah. Kind of did that with the Kachuk play a couple of games ago too, but good, good read. Keep the play alive. Yeah.

By the way, that empty net goal and the diving save and all that. Yep. Maybe one of the coolest sequences with an empty net you're ever going to see. We were saying that it was the coolest play that we'd ever seen that immediately was rendered meaningless. Like, you didn't even get to enjoy it for, didn't even get to enjoy it for five seconds, I don't think. Like, I'm not even sure it's possible. Oh, not even, yeah. So, yeah.

So, okay, the Panthers lose in the final last year. Tell us all that they're going to get back and win it, finish the job. They do, ultimately. Can the Oilers do the same thing? Because Daniel at the athletic has a piece up today where he's like, it's going to be tough to get back. This was kind of, I know it's a weird thing to say about a team that started 2 and 13 or whatever, but this was kind of the dream season

where everything was in place. And if it wasn't going to happen this year, it's tough. It's tough because I think on paper they're just in a weird division to come out of. You know?

Like, I think on paper, the only team you could say has a claim to being, and obviously we don't know what's going to happen in free agency and at the draft and all that kind of stuff. But like Vegas and Edmonton are kind of neck and neck in that division in terms of on paper quality, right? But like Vancouver's right there.

I think Vancouver's going to take a step back, obviously. You know, I don't think that's telling tales out of school. But like Vancouver's going to be a tough out in the playoffs. So that right there, you're looking at two very difficult teams to beat that you're likely to play in the first two rounds. right um unless of course like l a does it again in which case the oilers are going to blow their fucking doors off but yeah you know i think it's i think it's just not um like daniel's point was that in addition to obviously the two big contracts that are looming with mc david and dry saddle you've got and bouchard and bouchard's got another another cheap year and then yeah and then

he's going to need more So even if you assume that everybody's staying, which I think is a pretty safe assumption, it's going to be in a much higher number. And the rest of the team is, other than those three guys, it's an older team than you think. I was surprised when he started running through, like, how many of those guys are over 30. It's an older group. So, you know, as he puts it, I mean, look, the Capitals won the Stanley Cup. years after their peak. So you never know when it's going to happen.

Nobody's sitting there saying it's done, it's over. But it did feel like everything clicked once they made the coaching change and then into the playoffs with the, you know, the path that they had and all of that. And yet one goal short. It's brutal, man. Yeah. It's interesting because if you look at their cast, situation, they're in a position where they can bring back basically everyone they want to bring

back if they really want to, you know? They don't have like, they have a bunch of guys coming off the books who are, let's say, not needle movers, which is always good, but then, you know, you got to spend that money wisely. And we don't know who their GM's going to be necessarily, I don't think. certainly there has been allusions to the fact that this might have been it for Ken Holland there. Yeah. Contract is up on the weekend when the... Yeah, that's what I thought.

So, yeah, the expectation is that he will not be back. He may be back in some role, but will not be back as GM, although that remains to be seen. Um, you know, they, they got a, as, as, uh, Tyler Della used to say, they, they got to keep their powder dry for, for both, uh, dry sidel and, and Bushard. And I think those are, at least one of those deals, I think they'll be announcing in early July. Let's put it that way. Um, um, but like, they got to figure out what they're doing with Jack Campbell. They cannot have that. I'm making $5 million this season, or, you know, for the next three, it looks like, you know. They got to figure out what they want to do with Darnell Nurse because that is, that remains a controversial contract, but obviously he has a full no move clause and it's a red arrow. And he's 29. Yeah. Yeah.

You know what I, what occurred to me is the way. everybody was talking about like, oh, what a revelation Zach Hyman was this season. And he was awesome, obviously. In fact, I looked this up the other day. He underperformed his expected goals this year. Oh, wow. In the regular season and the playoffs.

That is very funny. When you underperform and score 70 goals combined, that's wild. But the point is, like, we're all talking, whoa, this guy came out of nowhere. Yeah, this was his third year in Edmund. I feel like people forget that Or at least they don't talk about it The way, you know It feels like he came out of nowhere

Because he only had like 30 goals last year Yeah You know But as you say, he's 32 years old You know And he's got four years left on his deal I Let's put it this way

The Oilers Kind of went all in And I think they had to For obvious reasons I don't think this is like unrepeatable, certainly, because I think McDavid and tricytel are just like good enough that as long as they're going. You kind of get to a point where you go like, well, what, is Connor McDavid going to have 100 assists every year?

And then there's a voice in your head that's like, yeah, he might actually. Yeah. That does feel like. Well, the other thing is like, you know, let's say they don't get like 840 goaltending for the first month of the season. or whatever it is, right? They're not going to sit here and, like, lose as many games in October and early November as they did every year, right? And so you don't need necessarily McDavid putting up 100 assists

and Hyman scoring 55 goals in the regular season or whatever the number was. Like, you don't need that necessarily. And to your point, you probably still get it. But, you know, to me, it's kind of like my, argument with the Bruins from two seasons ago going into this one where it's like, well, they had like 150 points or whatever. So let's say they take the biggest step back in the league. They're still easily 100 point team.

Yeah. Right? And I kind of see the Oilers that same way. Like a lot of things went right for them. But I kind of expect things to keep going right. Not in the same way necessarily. but just like I don't have a lot of doubt

that this team can be very good again what were they like the fifth seed in the West something like that that sounds that sounds doable to me yeah

yeah they were you just get these guys into the post season you know just get them into the post season some good shit will happen probably that's fair

and then from the other side The Panthers, are they, could we see them again? I mean, the lightning did it three years in a row going to the conference fun. They certainly did. I got to pull up their cat-friendly page really quickly. They have a lot of guys coming off the books and a lot of guys that need to be paid. Right. And the obvious one, Sam Reinhardt and then Brandon Montour and we're not, both of whom really sound like they want to come back.

Yeah. I can't wait for it. I can't wait for the Ryanhart contract to drop. And just every other fan base just be like, that's great. That's very cool that you just signed a 57 goal score for. Yeah, $7 million. Very low amount. Yeah.

The thing with him is, you know, I think you can very easily just go, look, man, you're 28, 29 years old, whatever he is. He scored 57 goals. You like look at look me in the eye and say to me you think you're going to even come close to that ever again in your entire career Just just say that to me I want you to like make me believe that you believe it Because I don't think you could do it right yeah Like yep you scored 57 goals Arguably the greatest contract year in the history of hockey For you know in terms of outperforming

Previous expectation Mm-hmm To me, I don't see the argument that he deserves to be like an $8 million player, except he did score 57 goals this. I mean. And the cup winning goal. Yeah. Cap going up, all that stuff.

I mean, it's almost one of those things where if you're the Panthers, you go like, look, here's the number we can do. Go ahead to July 1 if you want to. Feel free. Look around. find out what numbers are out there that are higher than this one because there probably will be some. And then figure out if you want to go be in Columbus or wherever or if you want to drive a golf cart to practice every morning on a championship team. We're going to be all partying all weekend.

Yeah. I'm doing the principal skinner like rubbing my fingers together. The finger thing means the taxes. Yeah. Yeah. That helps. that helps. It's all like...

Until they redesign the salary cap to help the... Those of us who live in communist places with taxes, then it's a reality. Yeah. I wonder if they'll get both of them. Like obviously, well, maybe I shouldn't say obviously, but to me, obviously, Ryan Hart's priority one. And then you see what's left for Brandon Montour.

Yeah. The other thing is, like... I don't know. I kind of, maybe this is unfair, but I kind of think Eckblad doesn't have it anymore, you know? And yeah, he has a modified no trade, 12 teams, it says here. He can't be traded to. That's $7.5 million.

I was just looking at it. But he's done this year. That's interesting. I had not heard anything about him needing an extension or anything. Which probably just everybody takes that as a given maybe. Maybe. But. Yeah, that would be some cutthroat Vegas golden night stuff.

It would, but you know, you got to do it. He makes a lot of money and he's not particularly good this past season. He wasn't particularly good, I should say, this past season. And he's going to be 29 during the season. And I bet there's a line of teams around the fucking block. for an Aronekblad. Probably. Even with the understanding that, you know, he's not exactly the most reliably healthy guy in the league.

They do, put it simply, they have to find some wiggle room in the, in their cap situation just because, in part, they're still on the hook for $14.5 million in goal tennings. That's the thing, right? You know, Spencer Knight, as far as assuming he's on the cap, 4.5, that's a lot. That's a lot for a backup who isn't, in theory, going to play very much. Yeah. No, I mean, it's why the Bruins traded Olmark, right? Like, you can only give one guy the start in any given game. I wonder, what do you think the trade market would be for Spencer Knight?

probably not great. He was actually pretty good. If I remember right, he was actually pretty good in the AHL this year. He played more than you would think. You got to assume he's got the off ice. 9.05 and 45 games for Charlotte, 925 and 2 games in the playoffs.

I mean, he wouldn't, you feel like of guys to roll the dice on considering some of the other names out there. Now, at 4.5, though, like that's low, starter money. Yes. So, and I don't think anyone's bringing them in to start. So, but, you know, there's retention or whatever other, the way you want to.

But there's, as you say, there's just stuff to figure out. There is. But that being said, if we assume Reinhard's back, like the core is here. They're this. Totally. So they've got the pieces in place. I don't know. It'll be interesting to, to see.

What did you think of the Bobrovsky getting the first handoff? A little surprised it wasn't Ocposo, just because, you know, all the ups and downs of his career. Big shout out to him, by the way. This to me was like the coaching masterclass was he had a bonus. I don't know if people know this. He had a bonus in his contract where he made half a million dollars if they won the cup. Oh, okay. And Paul Maurice was like, Nick Cousins, you're out.

Kyle Okposo you're in. Yeah. That's pretty good. Was there a more motivated play? Like he was, he was like noticeable in this game in a way that I didn't think he necessarily was earlier in the coach. He's very funny because he must like, you know, he would assign that with the sabers. Yeah.

Boy, blow the cobwebs off that clause. Yeah. That's like finding, that's like finding. I get what? It's like find a $20 bill in an old coat pocket that you're like, what? Yeah, his agent probably called him and we. was like, hey, you know that if you win the Stanley Cup tonight, you get half a million dollars. And he was like, oh, my God, that's right.

Whoa. First thing he does. Hey, coach, if we win tonight, I get half a million dollars. And Paul Maurice is like, you're in. Like, I need that level of motivation. I need make half a million dollars motivation. Seriously. As he's weighing the little scale that says, like, beloved veteran in probably his last game versus one of the worst people.

in the entire NHL. Who do I put in there? The ultra-motivated guy. The guy who's going to buy, you know, two speedboats with that money now. Sergei Bavrovsky gets the first cup handoff for a goalie ever. Ever, really?

Kind of weird, eh? At least going back to the 80s when it became a thing. Like the Steve Smith is generally considered the first one. And there had never been a goalie. got the first handoff. That rock. Which was always superman. I have no explanation for why that is, but.

It's just one of those things. Like, it's very rare you win with a goalie who's 35 years old. And, you know, obviously he has this kind of narrative thing of like, when they were losing, he was giving up a

shitload of goals and they weren't necessarily his fault. But, you know, there's a reason that people were like, yeah, the reason McDavid wins the Khan-Smith is that like there isn't really like a standout panther, you know, like he finished with 20 more points than Barkov. And he was pretty happy. He seemed like he had it sewn up until McDavid was like, well, I am going to score like nine

points in two games or whatever it was. Here's my happiness rankings based on last night's result. Number one, floor panthers players, coaches and employees. number three would be Panthers fans. Number two, right in between Igor Shosturkin and his agent. As Sergey Bobrovsky proves that you can win with a $10 million goalie. That's exactly.

You can win with $14.5 million worth of goaltending. Can be done. Yep, that's true. Look at these guys. They did it. And all they had was, you know. Right. I don't know if you've ever heard this.

offenseman in the league, the most underrated player in the league. I don't know if you've ever heard this. This is something I just made up this morning, so I'm going to testing it on you, but it's a copycat league. Yeah. And I think that you're going to do is get Patrice Bergeron Zero in Alex and Sasha Barkoff. You got to get the Calgary Flames to give you an all-star winger. Sure.

For a guy that you didn't really want on your team anymore. You got to get a guy to score 57 goals out of nowhere. You got to get 14 million goal-tending. And you're going to get $14 million in gold. 14.5 million dollars in gold-tending. You lock all that in? Forget it, man. Then you just won Carter Verhegey away from...

That's right. Another guy that they got basically for free. Yep. Good job by Bill Zee. And you know what? Also, congratulations to Bill Zito on doing the great. great job and also not having an aneurysm because I was getting stressed out watching that dude in the press box.

Yeah. Good for him. How many like top, what was Kachuk? Was he sixth overall pick? Yeah, he was. So how many top six picks do they have on this roster? So Barkov and Eckblatt were their only ones that are them. Reinhart and Bennett both from the dry saddle year slash Ekblad year and Kachuk.

And Oliver Reckman-Larsen, he was a sixth overall pick. Good call, yeah. I forgot that he was on that team. So that's all you're going to do. Just go out and you get like six or seven guys that were top six picks in the league. Mm-hmm. You're good to go. This isn't tough, people.

No. Get out there. Really easy. Really, really easy. Which is why everybody does it. Everybody that wins the cup has, you know, just unbelievable roster of, uh, And the other great thing is everyone who wins the cup, the guys in the room just all love each other, man. They just want to win for each other.

It's really weird. They've got a winning culture. They've got a winning culture. That is the main thing, is that for years. You heard Florida Panthers, you're like, you're going to tell me they don't? Yeah, exactly. I mean, if they didn't have a winning culture, would they have won? No.

Back-to-back cup finals. Boom. Checkmate. No further questions, Your Honor. Anything else you wanted to touch on? I can't really think of anything. Oh, I'll say this. Speaking of ESPN interviews,

they asked Evan Rodriguez what he's going to do with his day with the cup. He's like, I don't know. I have a daughter who's 10 months old. They'll probably put her in there, get some pictures, and then make some margaritas in there, I guess. Yeah. I was like, big dog. Like those are your first two go-toes when you win the cup.

Also, let's not do it in that order. But that was the thing that was, you wouldn't have seen it, but up here on the CBC, they had the two guys, they had David Amber and Kyle both doing the interviews on the ice. And I guess some of them were live and some of them were plausibly live. But they were in, they showed David, Amber start to interview Evan Rodriguez on the ice and like, so you're listening to the recording as you see the Panthers all gather for the Stanley Cup photo and not realizing that it wasn't a live interview, it looked like David Amber kept asking him questions and eventually caused him to miss the Stanley Cup photo. And like I said on Twitter, like I'm having an anxiety attack watching this. And the number of people who were like, I was screaming at my TV. Like let him go. And then like you see the photo break up.

he's still talking. And then they came on and they were like, that was a, that was a taped interview. He did make it to the photo. So that's going to be. Shout out. Shout out to Evan Rodriguez.

I was thinking about this too. Just the sheer volume of people on the ice and stuff like that. Like, what a chaotic environment that has to be to, to like just be a reporter. Like you're trying, like, let's say you're trying to get,

get your hands on Cardover Hagee, right? How the fuck do you find Carter Ver Hagee and all that? I have, Been on the ice a few times, not in the immediate, immediate aftermath, like the, you know, when the cup's being handed out. But it is a wild. It's a wild scene. It's, uh, it, it just feels like chaos. And the thing that always gets me is I'm like watching these, like the wives and the moms and the girlfriends and the sisters and all that walking around and like the high heels on the ice in front of like thousands of people in the stands. And you're just like, there's no chance. There's no chance. You know, if you see a, a, wife walking around in sneakers, that's somebody whose husband already has a cup ring. Like, that is somebody. That's rings in the room. Yeah, yeah.

That's a bit you're like, oh, you must be Teresenko's wife. Like, that's, you've definitely, that's the veteran presence that you need. Rings in the room, Vladimir Tarasenko. Oh, speaking of, Corey Perry, first player ever to go to four straight finals and lose? What a shame. Yeah, tough bounce. It's too bad. You know, you hate to see.

When bad things happen to reportedly awful people. Yeah. Oh, you're right. My bad. Yeah. So, okay,

let's go out with this. Give me your, like, letter grade for how this final went. Just in terms of the whole thing for, for everybody. I'm, I'm going to say,

you know what, I'm going to say an A. Not, it needed a classic game seven to go A, Plus, I know. There was no overtime. There weren't even before last night, I think, any one-goal games. Too many blowouts, yeah.

The storyline of back and forth, the star break. I'll go, A. Not perfect, but pretty close to. Absolutely. I'm with you. That's my time. Definitely, definitely the best one since, uh, is it the best one since Penguins Wings, 2009?

Oh, I would have said the, the 2011 cup final. Yeah. entertainment factor and all that. Like, that's, that was more, that was as much off ice as on, you know. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Pumping the tires or what have you. Um, so yeah.

But you're going back a ways in, in either case, obviously. So pretty sick. Um, I guess that's, I guess that's it for, for wrapping up the cup final here. Uh, why don't we take a quick break. We probably don't have that much else to talk about since. No, no. I mean, nothing ever happens during the cup final. League shuts down.

Anyway, we'll be right back. This week's episode is brought to you by our friends at Hatch. Let's talk about bedtime. Do you remember bedtime back before the NHL playoffs when you weren't watching hockey until however long at night you had to watch and then arguing about hockey and being hyped up about hockey, it's time to get settled back into something resembling a root. So let's talk about it. Let's talk about that old school bedtime where it's 10 o'clock and your TV is saying one more episode and your phone wants attention and you've got your to-do list percolating around in your head. That's where Hatch comes in. Because with Hatch, you can learn to put your screens away and build sleep routines that help prioritize your rest. Hatch helps you prioritize rest and create bedtime habits to make you feel ready for sleep at night and energized in the morning. Unlike her traditional alarm or sound.

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That's hatch.com slash puck. We're back and folks, you know, they handed out the Stanley Cup last night, but the Florida Panthers were not the biggest winner in the NHL last night because coyotes fans are finally out from under the thumb. Oh, man. How good was that? Alex Morella. Five minutes after the Stanley Cup final.

And it was Craig Morgan who broke it, right? It was. All time. Like, name a bigger news dump. I feel like that was something where, you know, whoever gave it to him was like, don't put this out during game seven. And he was like, done. No problem. Type up the tweet.

Just like finger hovering over the enter key as soon as soon as the final horn goes, bang. There you go. Oh, what a shame. I really thought this guy was going to pull it off. He seemed like such a stand-up dude. So, okay, let's backtrack a little bit. What was it? Thursday or Friday?

It must have been Friday, I think, because I was leaving the movie theater. I saw the bike riders. Good movie. Doesn't really narrow it down for you, does it? Well, I just said, I saw the bike riders. So I know it was on Friday because it came out on Friday. Okay, there you go. Um,

anyway, uh, the, the, the announcement is made, I think by the, I can't remember the name of the agency, but the state of Arizona is like,

we're actually going to go ahead and cancel that, uh, that long planned auction. Because, uh, it seems like they didn't have all the permitting they needed to, uh, to get this off the ground.

And it was like, no, I, I mean, that makes sense that that would have been the case that, you know, they wouldn't have done the due diligence on this one seemingly. And if you read the articles that Craig Morgan wrote, it was basically like, the coyotes had a different interpretation of what all that stuff meant than the state did. And it's like, okay, good luck with that. I don't know what to say to that, you know. You're trying to get off on a technicality with the people who make the rules.

they're not going to go, oh, you know what, you got us. So apparently it was the sort of thing where they kind of understood they probably needed the permit, but I guess the permit is like an eight-month thing. And they just don't have time to meet the Gary Betman imposed deadlines. So they sort of had to roll the dice. And it didn't go great. Came up snake eyes, as they said. Sure did.

So with that having been the case, there was just never going to be a timeline on which they could get the team back is basically what it boils down to. They needed to have the arena 50% complete by, what was it, December 30th or 31st, 2027? Yeah, three and a half years from now, whatever, was pretty much, yeah, they had to be 50% of the way there. And that's like 50% the arena is built, not 50% of the way to building the arena or anything like that. So not, um... And as their referendum history shows, this team has a little trouble getting to 50%. So do we now feel like in hindsight, I know some people certainly said this at the time, that this was never going to happen and this was all like Gary Bettman giving Alex Marillo like enough to save face, but like...

Yeah, to avoid litigation. Yeah, I think that's kind of how a lot of people interpreted it. So now they'll sue the city or whoever instead of. Right. The other thing about this, this is when I knew it was like over, over, like they weren't ever going to get a team or anything like that. The Marillo group, I should say. I knew it was over when insider, like quote unquote insiders who have always been very careful to choose their words about how they're talking about. the coyotes under Morello and all this kind of stuff,

where they were like, who gives a shit, man, fuck this? Like, it came up on 32 thoughts, and Elliot's like, I didn't do any reporting on this. It doesn't really matter to me. And I was like, oh, that's it. He's like, don't even bring it up to me. I don't want to talk about it. This is like not even interesting to me anymore.

And I was like, okay, he's done. I want to pull up the John Butchagros tweet because this is, like, even if I had, um, even if, if I had a some lingering, um, feeling that this was gonna, that this was gonna work out. Uh, I gotta see what the, what the exact word. I don't want that you'll, you'll, you'll learn in a second why I don't want to get this wording. Okay. But, um, he like, let's say expressed skepticism. Um, uh, let's see here. Okay. Uh, let's see here. Okay. Uh, It wasn't that scene.

This is why. Oh, he might have deleted it actually. But anyway, he basically said something about, this is like a flim-flam man. This is a con man. This is a scam artist. One of those applies. He didn't say flim-flam.

I'll put it that way. That's me. Nobody ever has, so yeah. Well, I mean, somebody has, let's say, since since like the 1890s or whatever. Here, let's see. Oh, here it is. He quote tweeted their statement, the coyote's statement,

where they were like, we're going to pursue all avenues, blah, blah, blah. He just quote tweeted that with con artists. Okay. You saw the tweet that went kind of viral from the, I think it was a stack. for one of the councilors, councilmen? Yeah. Where he was basically like, nobody trusts you, nobody likes you,

you're always operating in bad faith. You just, you made it very clear that, like, yeah, just nobody can stand these guys. All right. Well, the other thing about that is, I can't, there was, again, just another quote from somebody

that was just like, Yeah, I think that what they should do is get like a zoning lawyer on this. And it's like they didn't have that that implies that they didn't have a zoning lawyer this Yeah. Which is, which would be in my opinion a mistake. Feels like you probably would want that for your billion dollar project. But then again, I'm not. Yeah, I can't remember who it was that tweeted they're like, yeah, but then it might have been Rousseau.

He was like, yeah, but the problem with that is they would have to pay the bills of that lawyer. Yeah, well, Rousseau was another one where I was like, oh, he's going gloves off. It's over. Yeah. Like, even Craig Morgan was just like kind of retweeting all the, all the negative comments and just being like, this is a guy who works for the city. And again, I was just like, okay, he wouldn't normally be doing this if he, if he didn't think it was like down. Yeah, yeah. It's almost not burning a bridge because you've just watched the bridge collapse. Right.

I can only imagine the level of frustration to be somebody who is in any sense invested in this team, whether as fan, as media, as anything watching this guy go. So that's it. Would you be frustrated? Or would you be like, fucking finally, man? Now like a real owner can bring a team to Arizona. Yeah. So that will be the question of how quickly do we get.

expansion talk how quickly can sound i mean there's no arena there's no arena so it's uh and there at least in atlanta there's like plans for an arena there's like drawings and stuff you know they don't have any of that um in in Arizona right now but i believe buried like deep in the Craig Morgan it's over article last night the one that came out one second after the final buzzer um I believe it said there are at least two groups that have expressed some kind of interest in having a franchise.

And as we've seen this year, that can mean a lot of things. Sure. I mean, I can express interest in a team, and it doesn't matter. But also, we saw a guy in Utah express interest, and everybody was like, what, Utah? And a couple months later. Within four months, it was like, oh, he has a team. by the way. One interesting thing about this

is in theory, based on, remember how this all worked, right? Like they, Utah basically was an expansion team that got all the coyotes hockey assets, but the coyotes made it.

In theory, this means the, what, four and a half decades of history of the original jets and the coyotes is now done. It's over. right

what franchise did you know what what franchise record does Timuselani hold the go none none anymore it didn't not that it didn't happen but there is no team that has the claim to any of that history I do wonder if you know

would they give an expansion team that history would they even want it or do you want to start fresh you know clearly I would want to start they should give it they should just give it to fucking Utah at this point that's that's an option as well, you know,

maybe you do it that way. But as of right now, this is the first time since, you know, in theory, this would be the first time a team has gone defunct since the, you're right, the Barron's in the late 70, which was also the last time any pro sports team, you know, theoretically at least,

cease to exist. Now, we're dealing in technicalities here, obviously, but it's still, Sort of a weird situation. I mean, I think it's safe to assume that whatever team, if there is an Arizona expansion team, and I think there will be because it's a big TV market. Of course. I mean, all this stuff.

Like, it's fair to say they're not going to be called the coyotes. Will they be called the Phoenixes? Will they just go ahead and lean right into that? I hope not. Look. The Phoenix Phoenix. No, how about this? The Phoenix.

Now you're thinking with your Utah hat. From your from your silence, I'm taking that as a strong yes. It's going to be a no for me, I think. But yeah, this is a, this is maybe not surprised. Like, I shouldn't say surprising because I'm not surprised that this didn't work out for the Alex Morello ownership group. I'm just surprised that this is happening to a, you know, putatively a major sports league. put it that way it's surprising that this was allowed to happen

this is one of those things where it's like if this was a serious thing somebody would lose their job over this like Gary Bettman just wouldn't be allowed to be the commissioner anymore since this was like his whole deal was like keeping the coyotes there but in actual practice nobody's going to get in trouble for this no

oh well way she goes I guess the you know what the southern markets giveeth and they take it away so Stanley Cup in Florida nothing at all

in Arizona can't say they didn't try though right they really tried for two decades the leach sure did yeah well that's what I mean yeah

can't win them all cannot why don't we then go on to talk about all the transactions that happened in the last little while here since we did the show, the last episode. And I think this is at least roughly chronological order. You know, if I get something wrong here, you know, don't scream at me. But no promises. We'll start with, fair enough.

We'll start with Capo Kako, resigning with the Rangers, one year, $2.4 million. Your thoughts. Sure. Why not? Another kind of prove-it deal. Obviously, he has not set himself up for long-term security. And so we weighed another year. I mean, when was he drafted?

He was 2019, right? That sounds right, yeah. It's been a wait, but I guess we'll see. But sure, I mean, get it. I was going to say this this presumes that they're not going to trade him although I don't I don't think it does any such thing actually it just gives you a little now he's a known commodity

yeah this seems to me where if they if they are going to trade them and I feel like that's still probably the most likely outcome here um illies load him up on power pole oh wow we promoted him to the top powerplay unit and look at all these sets second assist. Well, don't look too close, but look at them. Yeah. It's a lot of assists, right? You know, that kind of thing. Um, like you say, like, you can't get too worked up about it one way or the other. Like, who cares, really? But I was at least a little surprised, I guess, to see the deal get done so early. The Rangers have a lot going on this summer. So maybe they just wanted to get the one thing that didn't matter as much to them out of the way as possible. Because we'll, we'll talk in a bit about some other, moves that happened, let's say.

Jalen Chatfield re-signs with Carolina. Three years, three million bucks. Cool. I was a little surprised the number was that low. Chadfield's good. Yeah. Okay. But, you know, that's kind of how they do business down there, I feel like, right?

Yeah. You're like, oh, I guess they got that defenseman for way less than I would have thought. Yeah, they do. and every dollar counts for them this year heading into this off season. So, sure. A tidy bit of businesses, people like to say. Well, the other thing is I haven't like slapped a grade on this or anything because it can't be signed until July 1.

But the rumor is that they have a deal with Jacob Slavin all locked in for also pretty cheap that they're just waiting for July 1 when they can actually sign it. it. Okay. So, you know, they're keeping a good chunk of their decor together, but it does seem like Brett Pesci is going to be the odd man out there. Yep. And there was a report that he's headed to New Jersey. Yes.

Which is weird considering, like, where would that be coming from? Have they given permission for him to talk to people? Maybe. If not, then what are we doing here? But we'll see. I just looked this up and I was right. In my recollection, he is from upstate New York and he is indeed from Terrytown, New York, which is like right outside the city, basically. If I'm getting my geography right, that's the word.

Yeah, it's right north of Yonkers. So, you know, close enough to home that, you know, he's not signing with the Rangers. They don't have that kind of cash lying around. No. Close enough. These guys love going home, these New York guys, you know? They sure do. Hey, speaking of defensemen signing contracts, Philip Ronek, re-signs in Vancouver, eight years, seven and a quarter.

Your thoughts. Yeah, that's a big number. Sounds reasonable. I mean, I don't feel like he's a total settled finished project yet, which introduces some risk on both sides. when you go max length, but I mean, that's not a ton. Certainly, that's not a lot for a top pair defenseman. So if he's that, you're all set.

Yeah, the question is, do you believe he's a top pair defenseman? And is he a top pair defenseman just vis-a-vis Quinn Hughes, or is he something else? But you got to say, like, I mean, I'm a couple years ago or a year and a half ago when they make that trade with Detroit. I was like a lot of people going, like, what are they doing? Worked out? Yeah. He's a good player.

Your point that, you know, even if he's working out only because he plays with Quinn Hughes, well, they get to keep playing him with Quinn Hughes. It's not like that's like illegal for them, you know? Yeah, I mean, the downside is always, you know, he gets hurt, he misses three weeks, you put someone else with Queen Hughes, that clicks great, and next. you know, he comes back and you're like, oh, wait a second, why are we paying? Right, no, of course. But you're right.

It's not, Quinn Hughes isn't going anywhere, so. But he's 26. He's not like old. Again, like, you don't want to be paying anyone until they're 34 as a general rule. And certainly not guys with like, let's say lower ceilings than Quinn Hughes would have when he's 34. Yep. Let's say. I thought this was going to come in higher.

So for them to get him at seven and a quarter. like make sense to me. Again, I think that like if, you know, the pucks don't fly into the net for them like they did this year, maybe people have a different view. But if nothing else, I think they're probably underpaying Quinn Hughes and if they're just giving that money, some of that money to Ronek instead. Yeah. You know, I get it.

I think it all comes out in the wash at that point. Yep. But it's not like terrible. but... No, I don't think... It's not great either. It says here I gave it a B plus or a B minus. That seems about right to me.

That works. Okay, next up. We got our big goalie trade. One of two, I said. Which one? One of three, actually, now that I say it. Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils for a top 10 protected

2025 first round pick and Kevin Ball. Yep. Now, you know what they're saying about Kevin. ball. You don't believe how fucking big this guy is. I've heard he's a large dude. He's a big guy. Big boy. And that does still matter.

So, you know, that's, uh, it's I can't teach that. So yeah, I, this is a weird one because there was a lot of talk about the devil's moving the 10th overall pick.

Mm-hmm. And then this trade happens and obviously value-wise, they don't get anything really close to that. This is a pretty stinky trade for the flames. But then you've got a lot of flames fans

immediately, and you know, this is them doing the fan thing, but they almost immediately go, well, we were never getting the 10th pick. Come on. Nobody was ever, you know, no, it was completely unrealistic. Nobody who watches the games, blah, blah, blah. It was ever going to give up a 10th

overall pick for a 34-year-old goalie, which, which may be true, but... That is the thing, right? Like, this is a 34-year-old goal. But they also retain salary on it. And they make the move. I would love to know, and probably never will, the dynamic of the negotiation,

as far as, like, how did Linus Allmark play into this? How did, you know, some of the other stuff? Because the fact that this was the first domino to fall in the goaltending market, so to speak. It's, and that the return was, I would say, disappointing for Calgary. Totally. In a world where there seemed like there were a lot of teams

that need of goalies, and you had, in theory, the best of the bunch. And yet, you know, this is, this is the return you get. It just, it feels like it's a pattern, right? Like how many times during the season did we see Calgary make a trade earlier than maybe we felt like they needed to and the return was so-so, right?

Like you saw it with Tanev, you saw it with like, Zedorav, maybe not as much. Lin-home for sure. Lin-home, you know, like they didn't wait right up until the deadline. They didn't, like, it just feels like with Craig Conroy, we've got this pattern of deals being made early and not for,

not for the sort of return that would make you go, oh, I understand why they jumped at that. I understand why they didn't want to play chicken with this because when it offers too good to say no to you take it. And I just wonder if that's, you know, there could be a dynamic where Tom Fitzgerald is in New Jersey. Like I've got Boston on the phone right now. I'm making this deal if you don't say yes to this. Or is it just that, you know, does Craig Conroy maybe not quite have the stomach for pushing? some of these a little bit, you know, pushing to get that little bit more in a deal.

Because that adds up when you've, I mean, this is now what, the fourth major piece of the roster they moved in the last, certainly the last year, less than that. Yeah, and then to Foley as well. Yeah. Okay. So there you go. Yeah. What's interesting about it for me is I saw a lot of people saying, like, why couldn't

they just get this return in the season, right? Like what made this fucking trade so complicated, basically? Like, if it's just going to be a 25 first that can't be in the top 10 and Kevin Ball, like, how did they? And I think the answer is Calgary retained 31, what is it, 31 and a half? 31 and a third percent of Markstrom's contract bumped him down to 4.125. Okay. For what he actually cost the New Jersey Devils. And this is just like, to me, the Calgary Flames hate retaining salary.

I think this is only the second or third time they've done it ever. So that's why to me. It's tough. I shouldn't say ever in the cap era. It's tough to be a Flames fan right now because the roster's being dismantled. And yet they're still acting like. Wow, we're going to be pretty competitive. And it's a lot of this like, yeah, but we got, you know, we didn't get a prospect,

but we got this defenseman who's, you know, plug him in. Yeah, he can be an, and it's like, like Julian wrote a piece where he's like, are the flames rebuilding or not? And it doesn't sound like they think that they are. It's unbelievable. That's the path to getting stuck in the middle. And you got to ask, like, is that an ownership thing? If it's an ownership.

I have to think it is. You're, that's, boy, is that ever? Not great. It's tough. It's tough, man. I wouldn't, I wouldn't want to be in that position, you know? Like, just, we can't move forward, really, but also we're not being allowed to move back. It's tough.

You hate to see, like you say, if you're a fan, you've got to hate this shit. But the flip side is, uh, the Oilers lost game seven. So, you know what? Maybe it's a good. Maybe it's a good. Matthew Gochuk can bring the cup to Calgary and they can do like the Ray Bork, Boston thing. Yes. That's a week.

That's just as good, right? That'd be just fine, yeah. Just as good. Here's a controversial transaction here. The San Jose Sharks claim Barclay Goodrow off waivers. You've got three years, 3.642 million in change remaining. Per year. And it seems like Barclay Goodrow might be a little pissed about it.

I'll put it to you this way, Sean. They had a press conference yesterday, or the day before maybe, and Mike Reaver was like, no, we do expect Barkley Goodrow to show up to training camp in September. Oh, that's good. Yeah, that's always good. Good when you're saying that in June. Awesome. No, I'm sure.

Like, he was asked the question or whatever. But the fact that it was a question is a problem, I would say. So he had, Goodrow had a 15-team no-trade list, presumably the sharks were on it. Yes. But it's no trade, it's not no movement, so you can be placed on waivers, and you can be claimed. And the sharks, as the worst team in the league, had first crack at them, and they were like, yes, please. Yeah. Now I've heard, you know, there have been some, like, rumors or, you know, whatever you want to call it, that, you know, did, where the sharks doing a favor was this?

like Mike Greer helping out his buddy, Chris Drury. Is there maybe a second part to this somewhere down the line where I guess we wait and see. But yeah, I mean, this is kind of, I mean, if you've got a 15 team no trade, that means you can't be traded to 15 teams without your permission. That leaves half the league, leaves waivers, it leaves being sent down. Like, that's in the deal. and you know it's the you probably are thinking like you know I don't know I mean I guess what what

this is the Rangers are doing what they're allowed to do the sharks are doing what they're allowed to do I don't know if you're Barkley Goodrow like what's are you willing to say I'm not going to go like stand on principle what what principle is that it's a tough spot but I can understand why it'd be ticked off I mean you go from scoring goals for a Stanley Cup contend to a team that is not that. To the San Jose Sharks, yeah. No, I think it must have been on 32 thoughts where they were like,

you can be sure that the league will be going over any trades between the San Jose Sharks and the New York Rangers for the next little while with a fine-tooth comb. Sure. Because you just can't have even like the hint of like the impropriety of, okay, he doesn't want to be traded to you,

we'll put him on waivers, you claim him, it's fine. You know, like, you can't even have that, like, suggestion because that's a huge fucking problem for the, for the NHLPA at that point. Yep. The integrity of the, of the no trades and all that. Like, if you can just undermine it that easily,

then that's a big problem. And so, yeah, I'm, I'm, curious to see if there's a future considerations trade or anything like that in the future but I think these teams will be on their best behavior on that front for that reason as far as the San Jose Sharks like actually just getting the player is concerned

why are they doing this exactly I mean you gotta get to the cap floor you know you gotta have you gotta have good veteran leadership for your for your Will Smiths and maybe Macklin Celebrini's. I get that. But like, as you say, it may be from a different point.

Like, you mentioned it from a different point of view, but like, this is the sharks doing the Rangers a huge fucking favor for no readily apparent reason. Potentially, yeah. They may also be looking at them as like, all right, veteran guy coming off a big playoff, maybe at the deadline.

We can flip them for something. Yeah. Do the thing you're always. say put them on the first line, put them on the power play, have him go into the deadline with a career high 40 points and then trade him to somebody dumb for a first round pick. See. Calgary Flames are calling.

That could be it. Get this guy. Get him over the line. I got to look this up. What do you think Bargley-Gudrow's career high in points is? Oh, I know as like in goals he's like, he's gotten up to like 10 or 15. I'll say 35 points. 33.

A couple years ago with the Rangers. Oh, this is funny. So remember when he signed that big contract and everyone was like, P.U. That contract stinks. And then he goes out and has the best year of his career by a pretty wide margin. 13 goals, 33 points. His previous career highs were 8 and 26. Don't look up how he did after that.

Was he, he was the one, he was the one who scored the game 7 OT winner for the Sharks, wasn't he, against the Golden Knights? I believe that's right. Oh, yeah. I forgot he used to play for the sharks. Oh, yeah, yeah. He started his career there. And now he doesn't want to go back. Uh-oh.

See, you know what the problem must be? He must have moved all this stuff. His stuff isn't there. A couple of times, I guess is the real problem. Well, I mean, usually when you move, you leave a few things behind. Like, you know, I got that storage unit. Mm-hmm. Some of my stuff is there.

God, he stopped playing for the sharks in 2019, or 2020. Halfway through the 2020 season, it seems like. Or maybe a little earlier than that. that. But yeah, that's a long time ago now. It's weird to think about that, isn't it? Like, you know, every once in a while, somebody will be like 2016, and I'm like, oh, yeah, sure, two weeks ago. Yeah, I remember 2016.

Then you're like, wait a second, hold on. Because, you know, Mad Max Fury Road came out. I was like, oh, I remember seeing that movie at theaters like it was yesterday. Yeah, that was nine fucking years ago, you know? It's brutal. They made a whole, they made a whole sequel or prequel to it, came out recently. Anyway, the other thing the Sharks did this week was they traded a fourth round pick, I believe, for Tide Delandria.

It was like an okay player. Yeah, what grade did you give that? What grade did I give the Tide Delandria move? I gave it, I gave them a C plus, and I gave Dallas a B minus because Dallas freed up a little bit of cap space for themselves, and they're going to need it. So, yeah, Delandria is an arbitrary. Elitration Eligible restricted free agent He's moving into his age 24 season So he's not like

You know 26 27 year old guy that Like there's a little bit more maybe for him to give But I don't see him as like a hugely high ceiling guy So you know He'll be a decent depth player for them I don't dislike the player or anything But like You know you can get a tie to Landria pretty easily

On the UFO market I guess I'm curious what he ends up signing for. Yeah. So there's at least a little bit of protection there. Do you have any thoughts on title, Andrea? I do not. I didn't think so. Okay.

Sorry. I'm pacing myself, man. It's going to be a busy week. I can only... Yeah. Well, the remaining brain cells. We still have two more trades and potential signing and the Hall of Fame and the draft and free agency to talk about.

So let's keep it moving. Let's go. Pierre-Luc Dubois to Washington for Darcy Kempard. Wow, that's a fascinating. Really fascinating. That was, like, it's been a while since I've had one of those, like, I actually had the feeling where I was like, seeing stuff on my timeline, I'm like, I got to check for the blue check mark.

Oh, wait, no, I don't. Nope, don't do that. Okay. But is this real? It's, I mean, I guess, in a sense, good for the Kings for kind of acknowledging a mistake. And, you know,

they say you're supposed to ignore sunk costs and just get out of the deal any way you can. They pick up a goalie who, I mean, they needed a goalie. I don't know that they needed this goalie, but they need a goalie for sure. They may still need a goalie, but they're

paying, but I mean, this is, yeah, this we all heard the, you know, the kind of the drama about would Dubois be bought out in, we now know the Stanley Cup final one seven games, so it wasn't going to be possible, but they build on it. And look, a lot of GMs would be stubborn. A lot of teams would be stubborn here and say,

like, no, we've invested in this guy, we've got to dig in. And instead, they saw what they needed to see in a year. I'd love to know what, if anything, is going on behind the scenes, with Pierre-Luc de Blas, or if it's just a case of, no, this guy is not producing on the ice,

but he's now onto team number four. And I had to laugh at the, you know, the Capitol's comments, you know, as Brian McClellan, I'm assuming, is saying, you know, this guy's 25, he's got a great pedigree. We really think we're going to be the ones to unlock the, and it's like, guy, you're the fourth team.

See how it goes. He'll play higher up the lineup. But also the reason why I'm playing high. high up the lineup in L.A. was he couldn't beat out Philip Dino for second line center minutes. So. Yeah. At some point, you would think some sort of light bulbs got to go off for this guy and say, like, I'm, but maybe not. He got, he got paid. He got his money. So. Yeah. You know, there's a, there's a perception out there that this is like a, just a situation where he doesn't necessarily want to put the work in. Mm-hmm.

You know, Dubois. And to me, I respect that so much. Yeah. You want to get a bunch of money? You don't want to work that hard for it? Who can't relate to that, you know? Hero stuff. You know what?

Yeah. Big fucking arms to PLD. This guy hasn't figured out, man. Don't work. Smart. That's just good business. Yeah. Work smarter, not harder, as they say.

Yeah. Like you said, fascinating trade. What grades did you put on that? I'll just keep this open here. So I stopped clicking away from it. I gave Washington a C-minus because they took on a shitload of money for a very long time for a player that, who knows? And I gave the Kings a B-plus because as much as I don't think Darcy Kemper is the guy for them, obviously, they got out from under what could be one of the worst contracts in the league.

Yep, that sounds fair. Not that I think Kemper's contract is good by any stretch of the imagination, but like, this is also something you just don't see in the NHL of a team being like, oh, we fucked up. We got to get out of this ASAP. That's it, right? Right? Like, you just don't see that. Yeah, I'm curious because, like, you know, the Capitals have tried this before. Remember they were like, we'll fix Anthony Manta.

Remember that? How that worked out? Anthony Manta traded to Vegas. Anthony Manta, apparently, from what I read, told, we're not really interested in bringing you back. Sorry about that. Here's the thing that I put, the real issue for the capitals here.

They are currently on the hook for Dubois and Tom Wilson until 2013 at a combined cap hit of $16 million. Sounds awesome. Yeah, I'd love it. That's two-thirds of a good third line. That's, yeah. And for only $15 million, Bucks?

Hell, by 2031, the cap might be like $102 million. Pretty good. One other big goalie trade here, having during warm-ups, I think, of the Cup final last night. Yeah. Linus Allmark to Ottawa for Junus Corpusallo, Mark Castellick,

and the Bruins' own first-round pick in this year's draft. Well traveled that first round pick. Has been. It was what? Bertuzi de Brinket and now Allmark. Yep.

Comes home. Another fascinating deal. And again, similar to Markstrom, compared to where what Brutus fans had been maybe led to believe they might get,

didn't happen. They don't get. Shane Pinto, they don't get Jacob Chikrin, they get 25th overall pick, a 25-year-old guy who's fine but, you know, not a

prospect, not a... He is speaking of being big, the exact kind of player that everyone in Boston is going to be like, this is like a $3 million dollar player. He's so good. And I was like, he's not, but I can see why you think that. Yep. It's because you're not very smart.

And they get a goalie. who was downright bad last year signed for three more years and yet's 25% retained salary. That's a million bucks. That's still three million a year. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. That is huge.

Like that, like, I saw the trade come in and I literally was like, Allmark to Ottawa, I was like, okay, they get the first round pick. I was like, all right, you know, they get the center, and then I saw it like,

And, you know, it's not they get Corpus Sallow. It's they take back court. Like, this is the sort of trade that should not be reported as a three for one trade. This is a two for two trade. Yeah. This is, I get Allmark and not Corpus Sallow and you get the first round pick and this guy. Like, I saw some Senators fans saying, like, we would have been okay with them attaching the first round pick just to get rid of Corpus Sallow. Absolutely, man.

No question about it. I don't know how this. You know, his first major trade. And he's just like, yeah, I'll get rid of one of the worst contracts in the league. That won't be a problem for me. Again, like what's the behind. A division opponent? What's the behind the scenes dynamic here?

What does it look like, you know, obviously once Markstrom goes, once a camper goes to L.A., that takes arguably the two best teams that are in the goalie hunt for starters off the, off your list. was there another team bidding against Ottawa? You know, kind of like, I say with Conroy, it sounds like Steve Stales was sort of like, no, I'm willing to draw a line and play a bit of chicken here. The thing, obviously the big thing with Allmark is always, was there going to be an extension?

Right. And it doesn't seem like there is one right now. It doesn't sound like there is. Now, he can't sign one until July 1st. Yeah, he can't sign one until July 1st, but, you know, it doesn't sound like, like there was any conversation. But even then, like, honestly, if they get him for a year and they get rid of Corpus

Alu, like, that's probably worth a late first round pick. Oh, absolutely. Not even probably, man. The part that worries me here is, and I've written about it a million times, but the shiny new toy contract here is hanging over this. I've seen a lot of people say, like, you know, this looks good for the senators, but let's see if they can get an extension signed. I'm more like, this looks good for the senators, but let's see, because, you know, the implication in that is if they don't get the extension sign, then maybe it's not so good.

I'm more like, let's see what the extension looks like. Because if they come in and it's like an $8 million long-term deal, then maybe that moves this down for the senators. But for now, yeah, no, it's, I think it's a great deal for Ottawa. This is what they need. They had terrible. goal tending last year. And it wasn't the only problem, but it was an insurmountable problem. Like, they were dead in the water based on the goal tending that they ended up getting.

So they, now they got a guy who's pretty good and they dumped their worst contract. Like, what's Boston going to, like, they're, because didn't Boston have a kid that was supposed to be like Swayman's backup? Brandon Bussie, who they just resigned

to a two-way deal. I don't know. know that they thought he first of all he's not a kid he is older than jeremy swayman he's like three months older than swayman who is 25 and a half or something like that's 25 is a is still a kid for a goalie in the for goalie yeah but like in terms of like how much more upside is there i don't know um the the the talk was that like you know once they traded all Mark, it wasn't going to be like Bussies locked in because they have Michael D. Pietro in Providence as well.

So, like, they could have gone with him instead, you know, competition. And now they've got a $3 million corpsollo blocking. Like, I guess some of this is also like, is there, is there some other piece of this that Boston has, you know, would they buy him out? Is there, like, is the plan here actually? Yeah, I was just going to click on buy out this contract and see what that, uh, Is he actually the plan here? But again, this is, like, this is the coping mechanism that fans pull out, right?

Whenever a weird trade happens, like, well, maybe there's another shoe to drop, and there usually isn't. Right. So. If they buy them out, they get a quarter of a million dollar cap hit this year, 625, the following season, 1.375 in 26, 27, 1 in 3 quarters, in 27, and 28, and then 1.4. million a year until 2032. I don't personally want to be on the hook for paying this guy for eight years, but I also don't want to be on the hook for paying this guy for the next four years. So, you know, take your fucking pick, right?

The thing for me is, you know, obviously you're going to struggle if you're on the auto senators, right? Like, they're just not a particularly well-coached team with a professional. well-coached team with a particularly good roster, let's say. And I think what you would say is the hope is that Bob Asenzo, who turns seemingly every goalie in the world into a world-class goal, like every goalie who comes through, it's like, oh yeah, I'm like 9-15 this year. Have a good one.

See you out there, you know? I think that's the hope for Corpusalla that they can kind of get his head on straight. But as we said, when he signed with Ottawa, this guy has like three good seasons. in his career ever. Mm-hmm. You know? So to me, it's tough. We'll,

he has almost as many seasons of like 900 plus hockey, 905 plus hockey, let's say, as he does 890 or worse. And including a couple of years that are like, or at least one year where he was like

horrible, horrible. So I don't love this for the Bruins. I gave them a D plus for this one, I think. Okay. Yeah. But with the understanding, like we said, of you just don't get a lot for older goalies. And Olmark being 31 and needs a new contract that he's not getting right now, that depresses the value. But the return here sucks for the Bruins in terms of, as we've said, now they have Duna's Corpusel on the roster.

That's not so. The return here is the cap space that you can. And look, if you're in the cap space, you need. Yeah. And you need the cap space for Swamen. And look, if you think that you've got this goalie whisperer, then why are you paying about to pay Jeremy Swayman, $8 million a year or whatever it is?

Yeah. I don't know, man. I don't like it for Boston, which means I like it in general. I gave Ottawa a B for the record. Okay. A B is for Boston. Also, it seems like the flyers are going to sign Matt Veemichkov, which is a little bit of a surprise. Yeah.

Just in terms of the timing, because they thought it was going to be like a three-year wait. Now it's a one-year weight, it turns out. So. And then while we were doing this, Casey Middlesat re-signed with the Colorado Avalanche, three years. He did. 5.75 million. Not bad. Not bad.

Team friendly and yet also, you know, as a player, you're not signing your whole prime away. So makes some sense. Totally. Yeah. No, I don't, I haven't really processed my thoughts on this, dug into the numbers or anything. But it seems like a perfectly good deal for right now. And Dylan Develo is. And Mitzkov just got released by his KHL team.

So there you go. So that's locked in. And Dylan DeMello is re-signed with the Jets as well. So that's another name off the board. Oh, I didn't see that one yet. Yep. Four years, 4.9, I think, is the number I saw. Okay.

That's kind of a lot of money. The Panthers have put the Stanley Cup in the Atlantic Ocean. Disrespectful. Put it in the Gulf of Mexico for crying out loud, you know? Yeah, what are you doing? throw the game here. The stars remain... This is from Pierre LeBron.

The stars remain in talks with pending UFA, Kristana, trying to make it work. Obviously, a huge market for him should he get to Monday's open market or market opening. Say the line. Including interest from the leaves. There we go.

Yeah, this is the part where, you know, we've said a few times in recent months, like the free agent roster is actually pretty solid this year. Yeah, it is. As of Tuesday morning. As of Tuesday morning. Let's see what it looks like in three days.

There's a lot that's going to happen between now and, geez, it's crazy, man. We got to, the draft is in three days. I don't know. Like, it's been done to death. Everybody has put out their take that, like, the season went way too long, but it went way too long. Well, here's how you know it went way too long.

All the teams are just like, fuck this, man. We're just going to make trades in the signings and stuff. Fuck you. Yeah. We're not doing this anymore. Oh, and the Panthers, I saw the thing, that their Stanley Cup parade isn't until next week because, like, they have their own shit going.

They want the front office to be able to attend. And it's like, yeah, we don't have time to. So we also get the Hall of Fame coming. By the time people hear this, they're very likely going to already know who's in. But Pavel Datsuk's the big name as a first year guy. He's the guy that everyone seems to agree, has the Hall of Fame resume,

but there's the Russian question of do you put, do you put not just a Russian player, but a Russian player who's been a little more vocal politically than the McGillneys and some other guys. Shea Weber's out there. That's interesting. Another first year guy. And then obviously a whole bunch of holdovers.

Who you got? Who's your pick? Is there anyone that you feel really strong? strongly about? I guess McGilney is the guy I feel really strongly about. Yeah. I expect Shea Weber to go in. I don't know that I would necessarily put him in myself.

No Norris is for him, right? No Norris is, although he finished second in two of the closest votes ever, including the year that Lidstrom got the career achievement, 40-year-old. Yeah, yeah. Whatever one. Now, I'm trying to think of. of a recent example of where a team got really close to winning something and then didn't win it. Nothing's really coming to mind?

No, I don't think so. But yeah, to me, like, if you didn't win the, like, it's tough, right? Like, he was really good for a really long time, but was never the best in the world. But he was close. I mean, he was close for sure. He was top pair on all those team candidates. And, you know, I know, like, people. Because what happens is people say you never won a cup

And then you go, yeah, but he won gold medals in Canada And people go, well, yeah, but that was an all-star team. Yeah. Any idiot could do that. But he was the top pair on an all-star team. Like, that's pretty impressive. We did our, at the athletic, we do our, like, fake committee thing where we follow their process.

And I voted for Weber. I ended up feeling like it was a pretty easy vote. But he didn't get in. He fell one vote short for us. Yeah, I feel like that's about right. I wouldn't put him in first ballot, I'll say. Okay. And it's the same with Datzuk as well.

Okay. And that's apart from politics or does that play a role in? Yeah. To me, I'm just like, you know, obviously an unbelievably great player, but if we're not letting like, if we're making certain guys wait, and I'm not even, I think he had probably a better career than McGilney, quite frankly. but if we're making certain guys wait, like he doesn't jump off the page. It's like, you've got to put this guy in first, you know? Okay.

A lot of people, like, it was interesting. In our athletic committee thing, like I sort of did the devil's advocate on that suit where I was like, are we sure that he's a slam dunk, no doubt about it, first ballot hall of famer? Like, didn't get to a thousand points, didn't do this or that. Yeah, that's kind of the thing. It's like the longevity is not quite as there as you would think it was.

Yeah. If that makes sense. Like, he didn't play for as long and he wasn't as productive. But also, like, a hugely, you know, it's a cliche almost at this point, but he was your favorite player's favorite player. Sure. And like, you know, how many Celties did he win, right? Like, he was a really good player for, I was going to say a long time, but that's kind of my point is it wasn't as long of a time as you think. Yeah.

And how many. Didn't come into the league until he was 22, which. Right. Awesome. Yeah. How many forwards, you know, who are like considered slam dunk hall of famers or even anything close to it didn't get to a thousand points in their career. That's just like a bet.

You can say that's a stupid benchmark, but it is a benchmark. You know? Mm-hmm. So like I think that, I think that's the, to your point, the thing about like, are we sure he's a slam dunk guy? I think he is, but not first ballot. If that makes. And guys like Burrey Lindras, Korea did make it in, but they all waited.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It'll be interesting. I will say when we posted it, because we did ultimately put Dadsuk in, we being the athletic. Yeah, yeah. But we talked about in the article that Eric DeHatchik wrote, he talked about like, hey, man, like the politics of this is part of it. Whether it should be or not, like you're sitting there, if you're the Hall of Fame going, do we want this guy who's like a Putin apologists slash supporter, who knows what he's going to say in the next six months or who knows what he's going to say in his acceptance speech or whatever.

We had a lot of people, like, furious that we even brought that up. You know, like keep the politics out of the Hall of Fame, this and that. Even though we put them in, they were really mad that we even, because they just felt like he was such a slam dunk, no doubt about a guy. So it's going to be interesting. And other than that, all I have to say for the Hall of Fame is please put two women in. I don't even care who at this point.

You've got two spots. Please use, like, Jennifer Botterall's there, Megan Duggins there. There's a list. Use both the spots, please. After careful consideration, they're not going to do it. Yeah, there weren't any. We really thought about it.

We decided to borrow the women's spots to put more men in. So, yeah. Well, put Gary Bettman in twice. Why not? Sure. Um, you know what? One last thing. It would be kind of fun if Keith Kachuk got in. The leading goal score among guys who weren't in, like talk about a fun 24 hours. Can you imagine being Lanny McDonald's like having to make those famous phone calls that you got to make where you get, you know, somebody picks up and you go, it's Lanny McDonald from the Hall of Fame.

And then, you know, they realize why you're calling. That's calling Keith Kach this afternoon. Like getting that. That phone's ringing, brother. I don't know. picking up. He might pick up if he sees it's Lanny, but let's just say I don't feel like he's nervously waiting by the phone. Maybe not running on too much sleep. I would watch

a tape recording of that. Well, that's what I mean. Like, I think he's going to sleep through that phone call. Hey, like, you know, you've reached the mailbox of Keith Kachuk. Please, hey, it's Lanny. Just give me a call

back when you get a chance, not urgent or anything. You know. Keith was probably out till, let's say, sunrise. That feels conservative. Do you get the joke? No, I don't. Look at that.

Okay, I see this guy's just slipping puns past me like he's Warren Fogle on a breakaway. I'm pretty proud of that one. So, yeah, the draft, that's coming up on Friday. The sphere you'll be there. I won't. Yeah. It's a big circle. It is.

It's apparently... What do you call that? It's going to be very cool to see. It's very neat that the NHL gets to be the first sports adjacent event held there. I have seen some things that it is not remotely set up for this sort of event. Like as far as media, like there is no press box at the sphere. No. Yeah.

Why would there be? It's a context. certain venue. Yeah, like it's, so they're just like you will, we will like reserve eight seats and the media will just do the anchorman parking lot fight over who gets to sit there. But yeah, it's, it's going to be fun. I will be, uh, if for people wondering, I will be live tweeting my travels on Thursday because I know that's what the people want. So if there's, if I have any flight delays or anything, I will be updating all my social media to reflect that. What a life.

It's very exciting. And then hopefully there's stuff to do in Vegas. I don't know. Dog, I'm going to say this. A good 58% of the reason I'm mad I can't go is like me and me and SG were going to go to like Culvers and out, like just all the restaurants that they don't, that they have in Vegas that they don't have most other places.

I love it. I love that like in a. a city filled with like five star chefs. You guys are like in and out, baby. Okay, well, you want me to drop some in the mail to you? Remember that whole thing about like who brought the in it? Like someone found an in and out bag on the streets of New York?

That could be us, but you plan. I'll tell you what, man, you, when my plane's going over on Sunday night, you go stand in your backyard, wave your arms. I'll drop it with a little. DC Cooper it right down to you with a little parachute on it. DB Cooper. Ah, damn it.

You know what? Who was that guy? We ever get to the bottom of this? They never did. They never did. I know that. Cool guy, though. It was cool guy.

Stole a bunch of money, jumped out of an airplane, never seen again. Became John Cooper coach of the lightning. DC, as I call him. It's a little nickname. Yeah. As you mentioned earlier, we got free agency coming up basically right after the draft. Draft is Friday, Saturday. Next week's show is going to be seven hours long.

What are we doing? Yeah, it sucks, man. I'm trying to be on vacation for Christ's sake. Yeah. Where's the consideration for me, the hardworking podcast guy? Yeah. Sorry, I guess I should say next week's show will be seven hours long unless there's no ads, in which case it will be zero hours long.

We'll just say there's not enough. Sorry, it wasn't enough news. The big names in terms of cap hit right now. I'm just going off cap-friendly here, so get off my back. Stephen Stamcoast, Sam Reinhart, Jake Gensel, Tyler Myers,

Adam Henrique, Anthony Mather, Tyler, Burtuzi, Tavo Terravine, and Jason Zucker are your top 10 cap-hit guys who are hitting the market. Yeah. So we assume Ryanhart gets done Gunzel's a big one, right?

Yeah, Gensel is a big one, right? Yeah, Gensel is a big. It actually feels like he could be a bidding war sort of deal. He turns, he will turn 30 before the start of next season. On October 6th is when he will turn 30. So, something to keep an eye on there. Samco's is interesting just because of the star power, the name. And here's the thing.

We're all talking about this guy like he was fucking washed or whatever. and in certain ways he is, 40 goals this best season. Uh-huh. 40! What the fuck? How'd that happen? I don't want you to know about him going crazy. If he doesn't stay in Tampa, which we all assume he will, what would be like the most likely and or funniest place for him to end up?

Funniest, the Leafs, obviously. That would be pretty funny. Most obvious you... You know what? It would be funny if only if, like, he goes to the press conference and like, you know, the...

Like, you've got Baroubae there and Shanahan and Trilliving and, like, John Tavares is there to welcome him and they, like, hold up a big stamp ghost 91 jersey. And Tavares is like, but... Hey, wait a second. That's my end there.

And just, you see the cane just comes in and just walks him off to the... Yoink. Why is there a C on his? Yoink. I think the funniest would be for him to wind up signing a cheap deal to go play in Florida. Just kick him off his teeth in a couple years.

That's a, yeah. They got their own problems, though, as we were alluding to earlier. But yeah, the most obvious destination, if it's not Tampa, is Utah. Here's 10 million bucks for three years or whatever. Mm-hmm. Have, you know, help us out. It is, I mean, the fascinating thing is, like, in theory, I mean, it, if, in, in In theory, if he was going to take a cheap deal, then you'd be cheap in Tampa.

But there may be an element of it where he's like, look, I want what I'm owed. I want a fair deal. I took less last time, all this stuff. And if it doesn't work out with Tampa and he becomes a free agent, you would presume that he's going to want a good number somewhere else. But maybe not. Maybe he says, okay, you know what, now I will go cheap somewhere. And then it becomes like where does he go? Gerdin-o mode.

Yeah. Does he wind up like in Colorado is like for a million bucks a year? Does he wind? I mean, go down the list of teams that are right on the verge of a Stanley Cup. Yeah, that'd be pretty sick. Yep. But yeah, I think Utah is the most obvious destination just because they have the cash to throw around. They're going to be fun to watch in the offseason, yeah.

God, how far below the salary cap is Utah right now? Let's look this up. Oh, they're only $20 million below the floor. They can double their team's salary right now and still be under the cap No, they'd actually, I take that back They would be $800,000 over If they doubled their payroll

That's fucking very funny Yeah, what do you think about Tyler Bertuzi? You got any big thoughts on this one? No, I think that's one where, you know, and probably would do me as well for the Leafs, you sort of say, we're tight against the cap, we like what you did, here's what we can offer,

feel free to go to July 1 and look around. And then, I mean, you've had a chance to play in Toronto. You've had a chance to see it. You know, Domi Moore feels like a Toronto guy, obviously, with his dad's connection and all of that. But you sort of see, but I don't think, neither one of those guys would I want to commit term to. Yeah, that's right.

So they, you know, a Bertuzi might say, I want six years. Okay, go go see if somebody will give you six years. And I don't mean that as a wise ass. Like, go, go see. And if somebody does, good for you. You know what? It doesn't hurt the Leafs to be able to say, hey, come sign a cheap deal here and you'll get a big payoff a year from now.

Have some proof of concept of that. Totally. Some other notable names here. and then we'll get the hell out of here. Jonathan Marsha, so. Seems like he's probably not coming back in Vegas. Which, again, man, talk about cutthroat. Yep.

And I'm fascinated to see what he would get somewhere because, yeah, like a Kahn-Smith guy like that, some team will very easily talk themselves into that. Totally. Wow, Sean Monaghan. I forgot about that. he's coming off a cheap deal well he was cheap only because yeah the injuries and stuff i understand yeah well that's right because he did now yeah because he went to montreal and then resigned there

yes because i was going to say it wasn't cheap that's why montreal got him but you're right they they they took the last year and then signed him that's right um he made this past season where i just lost his name on the thing, but like 1.985. Jonathan Drew N is kind of in the same boat. He had a really nice year for himself and he made 825 against the cap this season. Drew N, I think, will get paid.

I don't know that Monaghan did enough to get a longer term deal, but we will see. He had a great fucking 50, 26 goals, you know, great relative to what you would have expected at that price point, certainly. Yep. I'm trying to think if there's a... Chandler Stevenson's an interesting guy.

There's a good player. You know, maybe you don't want them on your top line. Obviously, Elias Linholm. That's an interesting question. Would you rather have Chandler Stevenson or Elias Lindholm? They're roughly the same age. I think I count on Stevenson to be a little more reliable defensively. I'd take Lindholm, but, yeah, Stevenson's been like the cheap guy that, you know, is...

It's closer than you think. certainly. Probably, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Anthony Declare, as we mentioned, Brandon Montour. Jake Debrusk is a UFA.

There's a lot of good shit out there. All signs apparently say he's coming back, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it could be. But let's see how much of it gets gobbled up. Um, yeah, just like some really good fucking players out there.

That, you know, if teams are smart, they won't overspend on, but that's not how free agency works. So. Mm-hmm. One last thing here. Then we'll hit the plugs. Weren't we supposed to get a big announcement about Major League hockey,

this three-on-three league that's definitely going to happen in Israel? Weren't we supposed to get one of those during the Cup final? I feel like the Cup final was extremely long, famously so, with a lot of days off and nothing got announced. Isn't that crazy? Hmm. Maybe they were holding off because they didn't want to upstage. Yeah.

They do seem like a real classy style league like that. Yeah, that's right. So yeah, why don't you hit them with the plugs? I'm going to have a bunch of stuff on The Athletic. I don't know what. I had so much stuff. As fun as this series was, the way it played out, just played havoc with everyone's scheduling

and trying to figure out what they were doing. Although I will have the results of the playoff prediction contest will be up at some point this week. Probably some fun draft stuff, maybe some final thoughts on the Panthers, and then, as we said, I'll be in Vegas. So I will be doing a wrap-up, I think, on the weekend. And then stepping outside and immediately melting into a puddle.

I got to tell you, I'm really rooting for you to have a better Vegas experience than a Nashville experience from a things to write about standpoint. Yeah. No kidding. Because I was supposed to be in Nashville last year for the non-prospect stuff, and literally nothing fucking happened. So, you know, here's hoping, brother. Yeah, for me, I just finished last night right before the game writing a thing where I talked to a bunch of college hockey coaches, both for and against Macklin Celebrini, about what it's like dealing with a player like him.

Some really good quotes in there, some really interesting comparisons to other players you have certainly heard of that certain coaches made. And again, these are all just like college coaches. So keep an eye out for that. I think that's either Thursday or Friday. And then, yeah, I'll be doing trade and signing and transaction grades and all that kind of stuff for the foreseeable future, let's say. That'll keep me pretty busy over at EP Rinkside. I believe there's still an ongoing 50% off an annual subscription deal that you might even get automatically. I don't know the full details.

But if you go to elite prospects, you will be hit with a pop-up for that. So now, you know, we always say this regarding the athletic. If you're going to sign up for Relate Prospects, now is the fucking time to do it. So 50% off. You can't beat that. And then I head over to patreon.com slash puck soup for all our bonus episodes, mailbags. We are doing a bonus episode tomorrow where listeners present us with bad takes. They have encountered.

Could be from us. Could be from them. Could be from other sources. And we're going to decide if the sort. What's that? It's not going to be from us. I don't know. They're hitting me with a lot of them.

About me specifically. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah, it does. Guy tried to be like, oh, you said the, the sharks should tear it down, but you got mad at them for trading Tomash Erdle. That's a pretty bad take. Use your brain, man.

You know? Got you. Think about it for two seconds. I'm begging you. So, yeah, keep an eye out for that. I think we're recording that tomorrow, if I'm remembering right? We are. Yeah.

Yep. Well, you know, allegedly. So, yeah, Patreon.com slash puck soup. for all the bonus stuff. Thanks so much for listening to this podcast. We will keep you informed about our summer schedule. I don't think we've decided a single thing about that yet. So keep an eye out or an ear, as the case may be.

And we'll talk to you next week. Have a good one. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.