Puck Soup - Place Your Bets

Episode Date: January 9, 2020

The boys discuss the firing of Peter Laviolette and hiring of John Hynes on Nashville; the NHL vs. Alex Ovechkin over the All-Star Game, and whether or not we dig this season's jerseys; Tim Horton's makes a pass at Meghan Markle; the Sharks are in big trouble; the Penguins and Blue Jackets are surprising; our love of Jeopardy! and knowledge; and we make playoff bets on teams months before the playoffs with $100 in fake money. 

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's in tunes. It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense. I'm Greg Wyshinski of ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports, and I'm watching a lot of jeopardy this week. Again, I don't have a job right now. So when you say what your job is, it makes me go, oh, this sucks actually.

It doesn't work because you don't have the job. I'm Sean McAdenian. I love my job. It's great. I love my job. I love my job. You know who doesn't love their job? Prince Harry and Duchess Megan Markle, who quit the royal family this week.

That's pretty good, right? I mean, they didn't quit. They stepped back from their roles as members of the royal family. I cannot imagine caring about this. Like, the idea that it's like, oh, the insanely rich people, they're going to try to make it on their own. Wow. I really, I'm hoping for the best for these fucking psychos. Yeah.

I'm sort of fascinated by it in the sense that I feel like because she's American, there's going to be a certain yokoing of Megan Markle that, she put the idea in Harry's head to leave the family or whatever. Well, Greg, they've already done that. You've seen any of the coverage about the coverage of, like, apparently, you know, I don't, I don't know, but apparently the coverage by the British press of her whole existence has been insanely racist. I don't know that, you know, what specifically goes on with that, but I'll take people's word for it.

I don't think it's the fact that she's American or not, you know, from royal, I think it is the fact that she's black, that people are very upset about it. Although I did see that the apparently the Prince Andrew interview about Jeffrey Epstein might have played a role in this as well. As it should. My only thought on this is this just makes it even harder on guys where like your wife or girlfriend is like, you should quit your fantasy football league. And you're like, oh, babe, I can't do that.

Like this is coming at. Like, Harry quit the royal family is going to. get dropped, and there's no comeback for us. We're going to be like, sorry. Yeah, I guess. Maybe you could quit playing video games eight hours a day. I don't know. That seems like a big sacrifice. Yeah, we're done.

Well, Harry Crithel with the Royal Family. Oh, that's a good point. Yeah, I could probably put down the controller now and again. I bring this up also because apparently now, since they're free agents, I guess, there is become, it's become like when cities try to land the Amazon

headquarters. There's open courtship of Megan and Harry to come live in places including, and this is where it becomes hockey adjacent, Tim Whartons has put out a tweet that says, no pressure Megan and Harry,

but if you do choose to move to Canada, free coffee for life. Yeah, they fucking need it too. Well, that's an offer they can't refuse. Royal family's worth like a trillion pounds or something like that. Plus, you know, I figured they're probably tea drinkers.

Is that, is that, is that, we do have to you, Tim Horton's, great. Never, never been to a Tim Hortons in my life. Call the fuck, fuck on. You've never been to a Tim Hortons? Greg, I'm from blind. Sam, Massachusetts. We have Dunkin' Donuts, baby.

But you've been to New York, they have Tim Hortons in New York, could have stopped in. Aren't you, Dunkin' Donuts? What? They also have authentic, aren't you? Biggles, a smear on that, please. But you are a, you're a curious person who works in hockey,

although you generally loathe all things hockey culture. I always thought you would just be curious about, I know as a hockey fan, after watching Tim Horton's commercials and Tim Horton's references all my life, I wanted to go to Tim Hortons just to see what the fuck is about. The other issue for me is that I do not drink coffee. I don't enjoy coffee.

So I'm only going for donuts, which even at Dunkin' Donuts are not a selling point to me. So, you know, let me put it this way. The closest one, I think, is in Providence. Providence is certainly the one I tried to go to one time while I was in Providence. And it was closed. And thus ended my journey to attempt to go to Tim Hortons. You tried.

I tried. I put in the effort in that I pulled up. You put in the effort. I saw that the lights were out. I pulled on the door just to make sure it was firmly locked. And I said, well, I don't know what else you guys want for me. Oh, well, I'll tell you what else. You need to Ryan O'Reilly that bitch.

Drive a truck into us. your fucking donuts. Yep. I, listen, I, I like, I mean, I don't know how Sean feels about it. I like Tim Hortons. I like Tim Hortons. Breakfast sandwiches are pretty good. And at the Toronto airport, Toronto Airport, sorry.

When I fly out of Pearson, I frequently, if I'm like down and need a little energy boost, there's nothing that gets me vibrating quicker than a fucking ice cap and a Canadian maple donut. There's the sugar rush in that thing. I feel like I could lift a truck I've got so much fucking sugar coursing for my body. And you may need to. So yeah.

Yeah, Tim Hortons is good. But if you like something else, that's also fine. That's my hot take on Tim Hortons. What's that coffee place that's in Toronto? Starbucks. It's like the coffee. No, not Starbucks.

The bean, the beanery, the bean, coffee. Starbucks beans. It's called. No, it's not Starbucks. It's a competitor. But no, Tim Hortons is fine. And also the other thing about Tim Hortons, too, is that it's open, in many cases, 24 hours. It really comes in handy when I don't want to, you know, get that pizza pizza at 2 in the morning, which is bad.

I'm fine with Tim Hortons. You should go to one. You should experience it. I'm not trying to have a fucking problem is like. To have mediocre donuts and a hot tea, I can do that right here in the home of Dunkin' Donuts, Quincy, Massachusetts. It's so One of my favorite things about Dunkin' Donuts in Massachusetts was the

attempted proliferation of Krispy Kreme in Boston and then they got beaten back by the locals. Yeah, no. That happens every once in a while here. When I was a kid, there was a chain called Honeydew Donuts that really tried to horn in and everybody was like, get the fuck out of here. What's wrong with you?

I remember that happening in my hometown of Madawan. when I was growing up where we had a local bagel store called Eli's bagels, very, very popular, and a Einstein bagel tried to open up in the same shopping center as Eli's. And there was actually like a revolt from people that refused, like openly took pride in refusing to go to the chain restaurant and going to the local restaurant and Einstein closed within like a year because people had loyalty to the local bagel shop. Yeah, that's cool. Support your local business people. Yeah.

So one of the things I wanted to talk about in the show this week were these fucking All-Star jerseys. I know that some of us don't really give a shit about the All-Star game or the All-Star jerseys, per se. But I wanted to... You've seen these things, right, boys, by now? I think there are two or three good ones and the rest is... like, I saw where they were going with the idea, but it didn't really work.

I think the Vegas one is sick. I think the Vegas one is really good. I think the Vegas one's okay. And, like, they also, I think also, for those who haven't seen them, they took the bars from, like, sheet music and put them on the front of the jersey because of the blues. Like, we're going to, yeah, we're going to represent the blues. And then, so that's, that's the gimmick. And I think there's only two logos for me that really work in that format, which are the Capitals logo and the Blues logo. The rest of them kind of look kind of fucking weird.

They kind of look like they're out of sorts. Well, I think if only St. Louis had a, a distinctly shaped iconic physical structure that you could build a jersey around. What they, what they should have done was made, like music bars. made a crazy cat or whatever that thing was called Cool Cat jersey for every NHL team. Every team gets their own. Are you talking about the rejected Mike Keenan third jersey? Now, that would be a great jersey for everybody to have at the All-Star game. The dark jerseys look all right.

As Jeff Fleur pointed out, they kind of remind you of 1990s snapback hats a little bit that that design like words on bars. But the white, the fucking white jerseys look like a template. They don't look like they're done. Yeah. They look terrible. I think the problem is that,

especially with the white jerseys, is so the other thing is the logos are all, uh, one color and it's like the primary color of the other team that is, like, isn't black basically. So for example, the Bruins have an all gold spoke to be that would normally,

be black and golden. And the Flyers logo is all orange. And it just doesn't look good in that format because the rest of the jersey is white with like very light gray bars. And there's not enough offsetting it. Like if you want to do like just the big bright colors, like having an all white and an all black jersey doesn't work. You have to have a big bright colorful jersey, which would be fine if you're talking about the blues. Because, like, like the blues have a very colorful, especially that old blues, which is now their third jersey, with the red stripes as well. You could celebrate that, but instead, yeah, they just, they needed, all of them needed a little more time in the oven, is what I would say.

I'll also say this, like, I understand the idea that you want to put the music bars on the jerseys to represent the blues. Is it, though? Yes. Like, when you think about the blues, do you think, think about sheet music? No, that's certainly true. But again, this is where you need the cat. This is where you need the cat to come in. When I think about the blues, you know what I think of? A cat wearing sunglasses. And if, Sean, do you give a shit about any of this? I care about uniforms slightly more than I care about the royal family. But other than that,

I find every year this stuff comes out and I see the like pictures go up on Twitter and everyone's mad and I look at it and I go, yeah, that doesn't look very good. and then the actual game happens, and I'm like, they look fine. That's exactly right, yes. So I'm sure these will be roughly the same. And beyond that, I don't, I don't care. Sean, did you like the eggplant and teal ones that used to wear for the All-Star game 20 years ago? No. And that was, because the other weird thing is, like, with this 14 tournament, like, you kind of have to have, like,

stuff that looks the same. Yeah. Yeah, and that you can flip. And so, yeah, no, I didn't love that. But then, then again, I should also point out, like, my last really strong uniform take was, uh, that I can remember having was when the sharks came in and with the teal, uh, uniforms and I thought they were terrible and just a disgraceful.

And that was super wrong. They're like the best uniforms in the league. So I, at that point, it took me a couple years to get used to it. Then I was like, yeah, maybe I don't know what I'm talking. about and I should just not have an opinion on this stuff. Yeah, I think that the jerseys the Sabres

wore for their skills competition last week or the week before were cool. Like that style of a jersey is really good. The orange and black and now I guess they'd be silver and black but and then somebody posted like the ones that are

you know, the black and orange modeled after the Rangers jersey for the Campbell and Wales conferences with the diagonal letters and stuff like that. Like, just, you know, everybody's all about throwbacks these days. Just be like, you know what? We're bringing the fucking 1977 All-Star Game Jersey, and don't get mad at me if that's like an ugly jersey or something.

I'm picking a year at random. But like, just bring back a random old All-Star jersey every single. The jersey from 30 years ago is the All-Star jersey for the next 10 years. Great, perfect. That'd be pretty cool, right? I did like the black and orange man. Yeah, those are cool. So, like, everybody likes those.

But, you know, Adidas or the NHL is like, we won't sell enough of them. Oh, I think you'd sell a fucking shitload of them. Yeah, I agree. I think there's always room for nostalgia. And I think that, like, seeing today's, like, young players, and let's face it, with the way the people are dropping out of the All-Star game, it'll just be the kids. Except Dylan Larkin. He's like, please, I beg you.

Don't. He's right to do it. Who, like, wearing shit from the night. 1980s is kind of cool. I like it. It's like stranger things. Okay, now I don't like it again. We had the official mascot of the All-Star game is a Demogorgian. It'd be really fun.

We had Bill Daly on the other podcast where I don't curse, and he said that while the NHL was cool with Alex Ovechkin missing the All-Star game last season, because he went to all the other All-Star games pretty much, and also you know, played four rounds of Stanley Cup playoff hockey, that skipping out this year for some rest, they're not really cool

with it and they might look to try to figure out a way to ensure the star players appear in the mid-season classic. This led to widespread decrying of the NHL from people who say, fuck the All-Star game, who gives a shit, why would you punish players for skipping it? What are your thoughts on this? I think those people are right. I mean, like, yeah, like, yeah. like here's what I would say is at least make the stars, like if you want to be the,

well, the star is going to be there, make them show up for the skills competition. Don't make them actually play in the game. Invite 75 people, like just an insane number of players, five guys from every team, so that like you do get, you know, every team represented in some way, but also like, so that you have the actual fastest skater, the actual hardest shooter in the league and not just like the guy who happens to be on the All-Star team who shoots the puck pretty hard, but not like Shea Weber hard or whatever. You know what I mean? That's my big All-Star game take is like that's what the NBA does.

They don't get like the best dunkers from the All-Star team. They get the best dunkers. So you like the specialization. That's an interesting thought. Yeah. And they have done that in the past. Like there was a time where they, every team did its own hardest shot competition and like the eight hardest shots in the league. but the problem was sometimes you got guys winning those and they showed up and you're at the All-Star weekend going,

I don't even know who this player is. Yeah, but that's how you made you start. Again, I said it last week, but like that's how Dylan Larkin became famous was he was fucking fast. That's how Dylan Larkin becomes famous. But when it's like Frederick Modine suddenly you're like, yeah, this maybe isn't. Like, make Freddie Modine like the Harlem Globetrotters of shooting the puck hard. Like, who cares? That sounds cool to me.

Look, the All-Star game sucks. I've said that a million times. I understand why the players don't want to go. But if you're going to, if you're going to have it, if you're going to insist on having the thing, you kind of want the players there. So I don't know. I think the suspension rule they have now is fine.

I don't know what more you can really do. I mean, the game isn't fun. It isn't, you know, nobody likes it other than children and corporate partners. And the latter group seems to be the one the NHL cares about. So fine, do your thing. There's certain things you can do. I think part of the reason the NBA All-Star weekend is, is works a little bit better is they tend to turn it into this huge party.

It's a party, yes. Players don't want to miss. And, you know, maybe, I don't know, I think I saw somebody say, like, only do the All-Star game in, like, cool locations. Like, put it in, like, put it in Vegas every year. And then, you know, maybe it's, maybe it becomes the thing. The NFL did that with the Pro Bowl for so many years where it was in Hawaii. So it was a free trip to Hawaii. Yeah.

maybe you get some players to go to that. Beyond that, I think the only other thing you could do is put a big bonus in like the standard contract where it's like $100,000 or $200,000 for making the All-Star team, but you have to actually go to the game and have that be like a non-cap hit bonus that's just always there that you can earn. And if you turn down, then you're turning down that kind of money. I don't know. With that help for Alexander Ovechkin, probably not. Like there's just a point where I don't know if this problem is fixable. And I don't know if this problem is really even that high on the list of problems with the All-Star game in general. If you really want to do a showcase of the best to the best, you got to do some sort of international tournament.

That seems to be the one thing that would bring the players out. I've seen that suggestion a few times that you do a mini World Cup some years, do the Olympics. Hey, I mean, you know, and like a lot of people, I've known. sympathy for the NHL saying, oh, we don't get to showcase our stars when they don't go to the Olympics because it disrupts the season. Well, Alexander Ovechka is saying, your all-star, your crappy All-Star game disrupts my season. I'm not going to do it. I think he's got a point. The only other thing you could do, and this would only work for short term, would be to just play with the format to an extent that some of the players would maybe be intrigued

enough to go. I've always liked the idea of doing, if you're going to do four teams, do do one team of guys in their first three years in the league. That's your young gun team. Do your young stars in their prime. Do your veteran stars in their prime. And then do your old guys team. Maybe that would kind of gin up the competitive juices and a little bit and guys would want to go. But also, maybe not.

I mean, at the end of the day, if you're going to just skate back and forth doing crappy, low effort hockey as your showcase game, you can't be surprised that a lot of players are like, you know what, I'm going to go on vacation. with my family. Thanks very much. Okay, what about if you get 10 grand per check you throw in these games? 50 grand for a fight. 10 grand for a open ice body check. Five for a slash to the wrist that puts another team star player out. 2,500 for blocking a shot.

For blocking a shot, right. All the players are a lobby for Tortorella to be named one of the coaches so they can make crazy bank. Two reactions to this. First off, it will be an international play format next year in some way, shape, or form. We talked about this on the bonus episode that we did this week, the look back at 1999-2000, which you should really check out on the Patreon. But it's going to be something internationally flavored, and they'll get away from this divisional thing, at least for next season.

But no one's really sure what that is going to look like. But I think, too, to good to good. To speak to one of your points, Sean, like, these guys are always complaining about how the NHL markets individual players, they don't market stars, you know, it's why can't we be more like the NBA? And then, like, the one fucking thing in the season that they do that's all about individual players and marketing stars, like, these guys duck out of it. And I always found that to be a little bit hypocritical, to be, to be candid.

I mean, I get what you're saying, and that's certainly true. But again, it's the Dylan Larkin thing of, well, fuck. Like, would I rather be promoted or would I rather go on vacation? I think I'd rather go on vacation and take, you know, five days off in the middle of a brutally long, physically arduous season. Like, I get why guys take the, you know, it's not an option, but take the option. And especially, yeah, if we're all going to say that it's all. all about winning. And if you don't win a Stanley Cup, you're nothing. Yeah. And I mean, the thing Sean said earlier about, you know, the corporate executives at the

league's partners or whatever, like if you, if you cut down the number of glad, the amount of glad handing these guys have to do with all these, you know, the senior VP of marketing at fucking enterprise rental car or whatever, I bet, I bet it's like, you know what, if I can just hang out with my friends a little bit more and like party a little bit more. Okay, maybe I would go if it wasn't in St. Louis. That's the biggest point. Like when they do the game in Vegas, everybody will go. One hundred percent attendance. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Just do it in Miami or Vegas every single year, maybe LA too, and everybody goes. Guaranteed. Yeah. You might even get them to go to New but I don't know. Maybe not because it's cold.

But if you go to like a party city with a little bit of Nashville, I think, was a pretty well-attended one. I don't think anybody skipped out of that one. So, you know, you want people to go, make it worth a while. And if you're in, if you're a fan sitting in Ottawa or Winnipeg or Buffalo or wherever going, well, what about us? You get the draft. Or you get the, yeah, well, no, no, but it like, you know, how come we get, like Ottawa, the All-Star game a few years ago. Are we never going to get that again?

No, maybe not, but you get the draft or you get an outdoor game. Like there's marquee events to spread around. That might be the way to approach it. Indeed. Well, it should be. I think it's going to be a pretty fun event. The people in St. Louis are certainly all about the hockey these days. We should mention before we get into coaches being fired and whatnot.

The greatest thing that happened this week, which is Larry David becoming a hockey commentator. That was pretty tight. If you haven't heard, if you haven't heard, Larry David of Caribbean enthusiasm fame. Who? Wait, hold on. What is that? Yeah, it's true. Oh, it's a show that's on HBO occasionally.

You may know him as the co-creator of Seinfeld. He was on ESPN Radio in New York. and now Larry David does attend Ranger games now and again. He's a fan. He gets the game. And tore into Rangers coach David Quinn for his usage of Capo Caco in the third period of a game against Calgary. I don't need any. Why do he bench Caco in that third period after he's, first goal in 14 games, add an assist.

He benches him. because he takes a bad penalty. Come on. That's ridiculous. But you've got to learn when you take the bad penalties. You can't be out there, and he's won goal games. Every game is important. I can't believe I'm breaking down hockey with Larry Dave. But you think putting him on the bench is going to make him, you don't think he knows that he took a bad penalty? He knows. Benching isn't going to do anything. They need another goal. He's done a good job. I'm not going to question Quinn.

Wow. Homer. He's 18 years of this game. You are such a fraud. He won't question us. Did you ever have? So Larry David, take it a run. That was very, that was kind of my reaction when they gave Curb another season after the last one, where it's like, yeah, he knows he did a bad thing. Like, you can, you can cut him some slack a little bit. Oh, I totally think that too, that this is like redemption tour, because the last season was, was underwhelming.

Terrible. I completely agree. Really bad season. Now, I bring this up about Larry David, because as we do the show, breaking news, New York Rangers coach David Quinn has responded. to noted hockey pundant Larry David by saying, listen, I've watched a few bad Seinfelds and Curbs. I still love Larry David and his work.

I don't know, man. Taking a run of the man's art. Good take. Way to play into it. Yeah, I mean, but like the way Dave Quinn has coached the Rangers is if Larry had built an entire season around Jeff and Susie's daughter, Sammy. Like, is that a usage joke? Yes, of course it is.

I shouldn't have to explain this. That's, eh, anyway. I like it. Thank you. I know. I appreciate it. My only concern about Larry David going viral with comments about the NHL is that it increases the chances of the NHL putting him on the award show and ruining him, which is what happens

whenever anybody famous shows. He's going to let the hacks they get to write. the NHL Awards. Do you think he's going to let them write for him? Come on. I'd watch the NHL Awards. It was two hours of Larry David doing, what am I doing here jokes?

No, of course. But he's not going to let those schlubs, those UCB rejects, like, write jokes for him. It's not going to happen. I just, I love the fact that Ryan thinks that the NHL Awards has joke writers.

Here's the thing. When I, there's no. They don't. No one's come even close to UCP. It's the fucking guy. It's probably the NHL.com writers. It's probably fucking Sean Rourke writing the jokes.

No. I can only tell you from behind the scenes when Jay Moore was hosting, he had his own writers. It was nobody at the NHL. He did his own stuff. I'm assuming it's the same for it. So if whoever the host is sucks, it's because they wrote their own jokes. Because, yeah, you're right. I can just picture the.

Hey, yeah, we got some, we got some pretty good. references here for it. Yeah, that's not going to happen. I will say, for me, the best part of that clip is when the guy tried to defend Quinn and Larry David called him a fraud. Yeah. That is Creamo sports radio shit. That is calling someone a fraud is like the most sports radio thing you could possibly call someone. I loved it. It's so good. It was great. It was awesome. Yeah, it was sick. Favorite curb episode? Do you have a?

Favorite herb? Palestinian chicken, I think, is probably most people's... There it is. But I think... The Manos, the hands of fate of Herb Your Enthusiasm. Everybody's favorite. It's really fucking good. But I like a few of the episodes with the season of the producers.

I thought was really, really funny. And then, you know, like, the freak book is another all-timer. Palestinian chicken or the carpooling one is... Carpool lane saved a guy's life, right? Yeah, save a guy's life. And also, like, one that, it's like, if you broke that out into two different episodes where it's an episode about using the carpool lane to get to a Dodgers game and also a different episode about pot, like, they're both great episodes. Yes.

Like, the, you know what? The marijuana plotline with him and his father is fucking phenomenal. I am canceling all the other stuff I said, the orphan is the best episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, because, it's a Funkhouser episode. It is a Funkhouser episode. I went back and watched a little curb the other day, just because in seeing the ads for the new season, I got kind of the bug.

And it's not the best episode, but I think the best comedy concept that he came up with in Curb was the Survivor episode. The idea that a guy brings Cody from Survivor, or Colby from Survivor, to a dinner at, And Larry believes that it's going to be a Holocaust survivor is fucking... Like, you're kidding.

I feel like I have a pretty good comedic mind. I could not get to that level of fucking genius. Oh, you don't think you're on the same level as Larry fucking David? That's interesting. Okay. No, I will freely admit on the podcast right now. I don't think... I don't think I'm as funny as Larry Davis.

There, I've said it. I'm going to put it out in the world. Oh, man. There, I've admitted it. Admitting it is the first step. the predators admitted that they think Peter Lobulet was the problem, which I thought was interesting. Yeah, days after we both predicted that in our 2020 predictions. So, although we're both of us are only halfway there because he needs to wind up in Seattle for your prediction to come true.

And the predators have to turn things around and make the playoffs. Which, I don't know. Yeah, see, I was kind of assuming that they would expand their search a little further than just who was David Poil's ex-roomate's cousin or whatever the criteria seemed to be. By the way, can we talk about the fact that on the conference call, like, somebody, because they were like, oh, the devils love this fucking guy, blah, blah, blah, blah. And somebody on the conference call asked, okay, if they like him so much, why do you think they fired him? And there were like audible gasps from the media that was like, that is an untoward question. It's a great question. It's a perfect question.

And it was, I might have been the same dude who was like, you know, Peter Lavellat made the playoffs every year he was here. John Hines made it once in New Jersey. Yeah. So tell me about that. Yeah. That's fucking great. Well, and not to mention this, this idea that, like, New Jersey sold this guy so hard because they just love him so much. Yeah, they're also paying him.

So when he gets hired by another team, that takes him off their pay. No, more takes him off their pay. Like, I would definitely, if I had to let somebody go and. still pay them, I would try very hard to talk you guys into hiring that person, so I didn't have to pay them anymore. He was one player away from winning four consecutive Jack Adams. And that player is Wayne Gretzky from 1985. But, hey, you know. Ryan, your point's taken, though.

Like, let's say you run a multi-million dollar business. And let's say that you have to hire one of the most important, for one of the, of the most important positions in that business. How many people would you talk to? Greg, I would talk to one. And it would be a guy that I just had saved in my cell phone as, you know, his nickname from college anyway. Right. And he was the manager of Enron.

Like, what the fuck? Like, that's the thing I know. One guy, he doesn't even win anything. And he's the only guy you talk to. I just don't understand it. Like, why not take the fucking week and sniff around and see who's available and see who's the best fit and who has the best ideas? Like, John Heinz said their first reach out to him was a day before he was hired. So, like, they just basically said, this is the guy.

Yes. Like, I refuse to believe that the fucking natural predators were casting a jealous eye at the New Jersey Devils and saying, oh, whoa, if only we had fucking John Heinz right now. It's truly, that's impossible. I made the joke on Twitter, but it's like there are 31, soon to be 32 NHL head coaching jobs, and 35 people are considered qualified for it in the entire fucking world. It's literally incredible how much there are like retreads. And so I can't remember who, but somebody was like, well, you know, the last six cup winners have been guys who had coached in the NHL before. And it's like, no, but you said the same thing I'm saying. Like, you're just saying the same thing a different way is only fucking five people are ever considered for any open NHL job.

There is never a thought put into, and part of it is because like when they do go off the board and hire Dave Quinn, he's like, well, I'm going to use Brendan Smith as my number three right fucking wing. And it's like, maybe there are only 35 people who are qualified to do this. but it's truly insane that like not one person is like what if we thought not outside the box but maybe closer to the edge of the box Sean a baseline question should Peter Lavilat have been fired I mean it's always hard to say without knowing what's going on behind the scenes but yeah there was a reason that he was near the top of all our lists as a guy on the hot seat, he had been there forever. Your message does start to fade in time. The team wasn't playing well.

They were underachieving. They'd made big moves on the roster. There's only so many cards a GM can play, especially during the season. And fair or not, I'm not saying Pierre Laville, that's a bad coach. I'm not saying he won't have a lot of success. I'm not saying John Hines won't come in and do a worse job. But, yeah, you know, at some point this is one of the few tools in your tools. box and I think this was the right time.

Yeah, I mean, it's the thing of how many, yeah, they, like you said, they went out and they got talent every single year he was there. And they all underperformed under Peter Lavillette, who I think, again, is a good coach. But like when, when, you know, P.K. Suban stinks. And maybe that's not the best example because, you know, he just maybe got a little too injured and, you know, lost what made him so special in the first place. but when you bring in a Ryan Johansen and he has one good season, when Philip Forsberg has one good season gets paid and doesn't really ever return to that level. When Kyle Turus comes in and is nothing basically on your roster, and now Matt Duchesne is having an okay season, but they're paying him way more than to just be okay.

And when all of those guys are underperforming who aren't Roman Yosep and Ryan Ellis basically, you start to go, I wonder if somebody else might be the problem here. You know, and, like, that's the only, like, conclusion you can reasonably come to, I think, at a certain point. So, you know, it can't be a coincidence that all these guys have underperformed over multiple seasons is basically my take on it. And, and, you know, then the other thing is, and I think it was, was it Ellie Friedman that had the, the stat where, like, in the last two years, there's only been one coach fired when his goalies were putting up better than a 900, say, percentage. Yeah.

It's crazy. And it does put John Heinz in a good position because there's a lot of indicators that this team was underperforming for reasons that weren't necessarily coaching related. And so he might come in and even if he does as good a job as Peter Lavillette, things might turn around anyways and he'll get the credit for that. And look, I'm not saying John Heinz is a bad coach. I'm not saying he's not the best option that they had right now. I just wish I saw something in all of the coverage that started as soon as Peter Lavalette was fired.

And like, weirdly, there was like half a dozen reporters who all tweeted out like, oh, I'm getting the sense that maybe John Hines might be a kid. Like, it was clearly something that got fed out there. And I just would have loved to have seen somebody say, here's why John Hines is a good choice. Here's why he would be the best coach. Here's why his system fits with the president. And all I saw was David Poyle has a connection to Team USA. David Poyle and Ray Sherro are.

And even to the extent that there was one where it's like he, he's the assistant GM's former roommate. And like that was a reason given for this being a good fit. And it's like, how about he's a good coach? How about we worry about that instead of all of these little cross connections and who knows who and who used to play with who? But the cross, the cross connections is all that had like to Ryan's point. it's all that happens now in the NHL.

It's not unique for sure. It sucks because it closes off the fucking pipeline to so many qualified people who didn't have the good fortune of fucking working for some dudes former assistant GM or having played college hockey with the other assistant. Like fucking, it speaks to all the problems that we have in this league, one with the opportunities for guys that aren't part of the nepotism chain,

but also for people that kind of look a little bit. different. You know, that's part of the problem, too, is that, you know, when you are limiting your pool of candidates to one fucking guy within a 24-hour period, well, God damn it, like, how many people is that leave out in the cold? And, and I get that, it does. And, and, and I get that the, the counter argument to that is going to be, look, it's the middle of the season. Go with what you know. You can't do an extensive search. You can't, and, and I can't sit here, like, look, I'm a Leafs fan. I can't sit here and dump too much on the predators. I just, I just, you know, you can't, just saw my team fire a coach and who did did they do an extensive search no

Kyle Dubas hired the guy that we all knew he was going to hire that he's already hired before that he's been working with for years and and everybody thinks that's great and everybody thinks that you know this guy's maybe going to be the coach of the year now so it can work and even during the season yeah it can work but you're right like just the fact that we we've all we're so used to this in the NHL that we think this guy used to be the assistant GM's former roommate is a good reason to put out in the world for for making a change. And that doesn't even strike us as odd when we're saying it unless you take a step back and think about it.

It's annoying. I'll make the case for John Hines. First of all, LaVuillette's team at five on five was pretty damn good. Yeah, the problem was they were horrible on both ends of the ice at special teams. They couldn't get a save in any situation. and their penalty kill was, if not at the bottom of the league, close to it. And their power play, which was, yeah, their power play was at the bottom of the league last season. Now it's like 22nd or something.

So like you said, their special teams suck. Where John Hines works here is in two places. One, the devil's traditionally always said a pretty good. The Devils traditionally usually had a pretty good penalty kill rather under Heinz. So while you can give that credit to assistant coaches or what have you, that at least is something that's in his favor. If you can turn that metric around with this Predator's team, then they're obviously going to be better for it. Where I think he works, if you want to go under the philosophy of David Poil and say, I've built a playoff roster here. and Peter LaVuillette after five or six years has gotten all he can get out of some of these players,

but I believe someone else can get more out of them. John Hines is a very good coach for that thing. He's a good motivator. He has really solid relationships with his players. The Devils were in fucking morning when he got fired. Taylor Hall's talk about how he was a huge influence on him winning the Hart Trophy is completely honest. It's not just shining the guy. He made Taylor Hall a better player.

And so if your thought is that a different voice and a different level of motivation can get more out of Ryan Johansson or Matthew Shane or what have you, then that's a pretty good hire even if I think from a tactical standpoint, he's nowhere in the class of Peter Lavillette. Right. No, like, I think Sean said it earlier. Like sometimes your voice just kind of wears thin and guys were like, okay, Lavie, whatever you say, you know, like. and but you know to that point like that might come with john hines as well because yeah okay he made Taylor hall a better player well why was Taylor hall so fucking bad this year then under under john hines right like you you can ask that question and i think it's a legitimate and fair question but it's just one of those situations where you know you maybe you do need to change the

voice but at the end of the day like you need like what's he going to do is it going to be like Hey, Pecca, why don't you try making a fucking save? How does that sound? And like Pecker-Renae goes, Lavey never told me that. That's a great fucking idea. Had I thought of that. On the one hand, there's enough situations where guys who are kind of bad in their first jobs

get real good in their second jobs. Like, draw a glance a good example of that. Where it's conceivable that John Hines walked into the situation and does quite well. on the other hand, he's coached in five playoff games. Like, his team sucked. And they sucked in seasons where they were supposed to be good. And they sucked in the seasons when they were supposed to be bad. But they weren't never really good.

Outside of one season where Taylor Hall put the team on his back, and they got like the best three weeks of Keith Kincaid's life as a goaltender to make the playoffs as a fucking last seat in. So, I don't know, man. It's weird that this was the guy. Like, oh, we've got to get, we've got to be. in the John Hines business. But then again, maybe it's the perfect fit for what they're trying to do there. Who the fuck knows?

It was just strange to see that that was the guy that they had to have. All right. Further breaking news, this courtesy of Matt Cowman on the Boston Bruins beat. For the game tonight, Bruce Cassidy says that David Backus will be in for Brett Richie because they want everyone to get a chance to play in front of the moms. That's good coaching. Mike Babcock wouldn't have done that No, Mike Babcock would have punched

David Beck as his mom No, Mike Babcock was not the physical abuse guy Mike Babcock would have just degraded her And made her break down on the bench Yeah, he would have said submit a list of The best sons on the team And you can't list your own son And then she shares it with all the other moms

Exactly You know, I don't want to rock the boat here, but, you know, Jake DeBrusk turns out you are the worst son on the team, according to David's mom. So goddamn good. Other news, Jason Williams is back. We all knew, or Justin Williams, rather, Jason Williams. I don't think he's coming back. Yeah, I don't think he's coming back at all.

Justin Williams is back. He did the Niedermeier-Salene thing and sat out until January. his team was pretty good. He decided to come back. He kind of played it off that he was sitting on the sideline, wondering if he was going to come back or not. But I don't know. I never for a fucking moment thought he wasn't coming back this season.

Did you? No. He was always coming back. Well, we all assumed it. You never know until it's done, done. But yeah, this is always what made the absolute most sense for everybody. Are you upset as upset as I am that he didn't announce his comeback inside of a storm, sir? Yeah, that's the only way to do it.

Like, I mean, come on, this is an entertainment product, folks. You know, like, you, you, you make, you don't have him around the arena, you tell all the, all the local beatwriters, like, you don't know fucking one thing about Justin Williams being here tonight. And then for the storm surge,

you know, all the lights go out. And, and, and, Oh, my God. How great is that? Maybe, maybe you don't have him descend from the rafters like sting. No, but maybe you do. Too risky. Or you have him in the pig suit.

That's it. And the pig comes out and he's dancing and he takes off the head and it's Justin Williams and he goes, I'm back, baby, like he's miced up or whatever. This is basic shit. That's just you ripping off my Gary Betman Gritty idea from the NHL Awards from last year. Oh, that's true. I forgot about that, yeah. Batman should come out as gritty and take off that head and go, aren't you glad to see me? I don't think he could descend from the rafters,

but I do like the idea of shutting off all the lights. He just skates out really quickly, and then all the knees in the middle of the circle. And he's got the sea on his jersey. This is, because now they're, because now they have to go like, we don't know who's going to be the captain. Wink.

Yeah. One weekend, he will have the sea on his jersey again. Like this is, again, it's an entertainment product. Make it fun out there. Yeah. Like, Tom Duned, what are you doing? Like, why are you doing this celebrate? Why are you even doing the celebration?

If you're not to do it this way. Puff of smoke. The only problem with that is how funny would it be if they organized all that? And then the team went on like an eight game losing streak. Yes. I just couldn't do a storm surge. And he's like, guys, I'm ready to come back. I'm in shape. And they're like, no, man, we can't do it until we got to win at home.

Yeah, I mean, then you can have the contingency plan of, of, you know, how they actually did it. But the plan A should have been 100%, you know, gimmicks. I did enjoy the 15 minutes where we were led to believe there was some sort of bidding war or possibility that he might go throughins. Yeah, okay. The fact that the ideas might get them. The Bruins and the Leafs, because, I mean, clearly that was just put out there to nudge the negotiations over the finish line. But that's a great strategy. To say that Toronto and Boston, the two teams that play in a game seven every year would be the two teams that he'd be considering going to is that that was fantastic.

A lot of times these leaks are like poorly done. That one was A plus. Good job to whoever did that one. I don't know, Sean. I do believe that the Bruins would be interested in a right wing with more than 10 career goals and a pulse. I mean, that seems to be something that's a fit for the Bruins. But come on, man. But the Leafs, I mean, come on, what the fuck are the Leafs going to do?

We're going to trade Willie Nealander to create Cap's face to sign Justin Williams. Like, what the fuck? They can't afford anybody. By the way, how good is fucking Austin Matthews this year? Jesus Christ. All right. Is he going to win the Rashard? No.

No? Young man out of Boston run by the name of David Pasternak. Still, I... If Austin Matthew stays healthy, I think he wins the goal scoring title. I'm not against it, certainly. But I think you're still going to go with the guy who has been scoring all fucking year. Well, David Pasternak's one goal up as we're recording this. So it's in play.

Put it that way. That's true. Yeah. And like that's, he could win the Richard and not get a single heart vote because he pulled his pants down. Right. Is that the equation for Austin Matthews? I mean. History has shown that the voters will overlook a lot of recent stuff when it comes to voting for MVP.

It's a very good point. So a little thing on the sharks here. First of all, news broke today that Logan Guter is out for at least six weeks, yet another guy making up an injury to get out of the All-Star game with a fractured ankle. And he hit the end boards in a game against St. Louis and is out for six weeks, which really doesn't speak well to the shark's potential comeback in the Western Conference. but you, Sean, you wanted to mention the loss that they had against Washington recently. I just, I mean, that Sunday loss was where this, this is the one where they, they're up three to two, it's late.

This is, this is one of those losses that, or one of those, one of those games that can be your season turning point, right? You're in the, this is a recent Stanley Cup champion. It's the first place overall team. You go in as a road team, as an underdog, and you're up three to two. in the dying minutes of the third period. This can be like the win that you hang your hat on. Logan Couture scores the empty net goal with a minute left. It's done.

You've won the game. It's the biggest win of the year. I think Kevin Kurtz tweeted out like this is the biggest win that they've had all season. And then it falls apart. Washington scores two goals in the final minute and scores another goal and wins in overtime. Like just crushing and absolutely psychologically the sort of loss that makes you throw in the towel and say we're this is not our year we're done but the thing that really got to me and i don't know that this is i haven't confirmed it i don't know if this is actually true but i saw

like one of the stats sites actually said that this was the first time in nchl history that a team scored an empty net goal with the lead like scored the empty net goal to go up by two and still lost the game wow it was one of only i think seven times that a team had had blown a two-goal lead in the final minute. So maybe it was the only time that a team had scored in the final minute with an empty net goal. But that's fascinating to me because I always like every time I'm watching a hockey

game and a team's up by one and they score in the empty net and everyone always goes, oh, it's over now. That ices it. That puts it away. And I'm always like, there's a minute left. Like there's still time. Like you'd think it would happen. Apparently, at least according to the stat, it had literally never happened before.

of the first team. So when you're in a league that's 100 years old and you're losing in ways that have literally never happened before. That's bad. That's bad. So it's probably time to start focusing on who you're going to take with your first pick. Yeah, I always say the most humiliating thing in hockey is to get scored on after, like, after they put the goalie back in on the empty net goal, this might be worse.

It is. This might be a lot fucking worse. Like, you know, you've seen teams blow plenty of leads, obviously, even late leads, that kind of thing. I don't think I've ever seen a meltdown quite this embarrassing, where you were like, you know what, this team isn't very good, but like the sharks have plenty of talent. Like, they should be able to pull out a game, even against a, team like Washington who's leading the league and all that kind of stuff.

And they were like, you have misunderestimated, or misunderestimated, very stupid men. Hey, all right, Mr. President. You have underestimated how fucking truly committed we are to sucking shit this year. And so. I got to tell you, Matt, I'm a Leafs fan. Yeah. I got like four decades under my belt as a Leafs fan. When I'm watching another team going, oh, that's rough.

That's the worst thing I've ever seen. And in case you're wondering, even the four. one Leafs, but like it, the first goal was with 90 seconds left. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't a minute left that they gave up those two goals. So, wow, when you're, I tip my cap. That is, as far as heartbreaking losses, you can have midway through a season, that's an all-timer, literally. Um, what are they going to do? Like, they can't do. Obviously, there's some, there's some things they can do. They can, they're going to trade Brandon Dillon. That's fine. He's a UFA, who's going to leave anyway.

But I mean, $26.5 million tied up in Carlson, Burns, and Vlasic, 27 million tied up in Kutur, Kaine, Meyer, and Hurtle. Like, what's the pathway here? Like, is this a team that could possibly reload in some way, shape, or form, and still contend, or can they not do that as long as you're spending $7 million? Is Mark Edward Vlasic now Brent Seabrook? Yeah, I was just going to say they're Chicago now. And maybe even a worse Chicago.

They're a worse Chicago. And the thing is, like, I've sort of adjusted over the years where I've backed off on looking at teams' cap situations and saying they're screwed. Because every time I say a team is screwed or every time I say a contract is untradable or the team finds a, the team finds a, the team finds a, you. way to get out of it. So I'm not going to sit here and look at their cap situation and go, there's nothing they can do. But if there's any team where there's nothing they can do, it might be these guys, because they're in really rough shape with a lot of these guys, a lot of these contracts. I mean, they've got six, no, seven guys on signed through 2023 to deals, to deals that are, the cheapest of those deal is Martin Jones, 5.75 million.

They've got a seven, an eight million, a six, a seven, an eight, and 11.5 for Carlson. Almost all of them have movement or trade protection of some kind, like, it's, it's grim. It is a grim, cap friendly. Well into their 30s by then, except for Tim O'Mire. Like, everybody is in their, like, yeah, Martin Jones, you can buy, you can get out of. Maybe, maybe when the new CBA comes, there's completely. appliance buyouts, although that's no guarantee, but that's still two years from now. Like, I don't, this has the potential to be really, really ugly.

And, man, I've mentioned this before, but Kevin LeBonk, man, this is, this is why you don't, you don't pass up millions of dollars to be a good guy and, and make sure that your team has the cap room to go, because I really hope this kid doesn't get screwed by this organization. I hope whatever They should trade him. But, well, they could trade him to some team and he's going to be like, hey, I'm an under the table handshake deal that I was going to, no, not with us. Sorry, man. And it's, when he signed that one million

dollar deal, everyone said, yeah, but watch what happens on January 1st. Well, January 1st is come and gone. I'm waiting, yeah. I'm waiting. I'm sure he's waiting too. Like, man, I don't, uh, yeah. they have 41.5 million dollars committed to their cap in 2024, 25 already. God. And all those guys are on the wrong, are, will be like 33, 33, 34, 35 years old. Like it's not even, it's not even like, oh, well, you know, Kevin LeBonk is is, whatever, 23 years old.

He's signed until, you know, 2025. And that's actually good. No, it's, it's all like burns. Placix 32, Burns is 34, Carlson's 29, but looks older than that. Like, can I say it? Like, just with the injuries and everything. Even Logan, like, you look at Logan Couture and you're like, yeah, he's the young, the leader of the young core. He's like 30.

He's like 30. Yeah. Eddie Vander Cain's 28 and, but a physical, like, man. Yeah, they got like two guys to build around. And it's Meyer and Hurdle. And Meyer has had a really subpar year. after signing that contract. And who knows when her, like,

it's always a gamble that hurdle's ever going to be healthy, too. And hurdles 26. Like, he's not 22 with, like, you know, he's going to get better and better. Like, trade him. I think he,

I think you have to try to trade Burns, don't you? Like, you're going to try to trade everybody, but like, doesn't Burns have a full no move? He has a partial. He has,

he has, like, three teams you could trade him to. So it's like, okay, well, so more or less, yeah. You might as well have a full no move. Yeah. Somebody has a no move. move on that team, though. It might be Vlasic. Carlson, Vlasic, Carlson, and Thornton. Which still, I mean, if you, if you say we're going to tear it down, we're going to blow this up and start

over and finish last for three years, then 30-year-old veterans suddenly, even if they have a no move, may be willing to open it up. Although, I don't know, man. That's a good point. But who's taking those contracts? San Jose is a pretty nice place to live. Well, yeah, you got to use some. You got to get, I mean, the farm system isn't great. They don't have that first pick this year. Like, this is. Oh, that's so brutal. They're in really rough shape.

So that brings me to Nick P's question. This was in the mailbag. We might as well answer it here. Do you guys regret having Doug Wilson take the number one spot and you're ranking the GM's podcast for last summer? Don't. There's no. Friendly page looks like a shit show right now. No going back.

Don't go back and look at old podcasts or old articles. We're focused on the future here. look forward, not back, twirling towards maybe having a good thing. Trilling. Yes, I'll give you the short answer. Yes, I do regret. I do think Doug Wilson's a real good GM. I think he did, he pushed all his chips into the middle on a closing window, which I think is what you should do.

I think that's a, in theory, a better strategy than kind of hemming and hawing and always being like, no, I got to hold on to my, I got a team that can win the cup now. I'm not going to worry about my draft pick that might help us in four years. But it's a strategy with the downside, and the sharks are becoming the poster child for what that downside can look like. But it's also, it's also a recancy bias. I mean, I think that when we gave him that title, it was based on him having kept this team in contention for over a decade. The sharks went to the conference final last year. The sharks very nearly beat the blues.

I wrote about this last week because I had somebody on Twitter reached out to me and they said, you know, hey, you were when the only people in the summer who said the sharks could crash hard. And I said, yeah, I did say that, but I said it even more about the penguins, because the penguins were another. Old team, long-term contracts, locked into an aging core, and the penguins hadn't even won a game in the playoffs. And I was much more convinced that if any team was going to do this, it was going to be the penguins.

And the penguins look amazing. And it's the sharks that are just absolutely rock bottom and grabbing a shovel. Yeah, let's touch on the penguins now. this on the list here, Penguins in Columbus as being two teams that are quite curious this year, the Penguins defensively this year have been fucking phenomenal. I can't believe how good they've been. And I know some of that is the way that Jari's played, but like, they've kind of transformed themselves a little bit with all these injuries into being a different kind of team. It's been really impressive. Yeah, Mike's all of them, pretty good coach. Yeah, he's all right.

A couple cup rings, you know. That's just my take, folks. Don't get mad about that. And here's Here's my thing that I'm really looking forward to. As an aficionado of bad sports takes, I'm looking forward to the penguins continuing to roll, continuing to look great, continuing to get wins and points. And then Sidney Crosby comes back and they lose two in a row. And somebody, you know what?

Somebody out there is going to be like, are they maybe better without Sidney Crosby? Is there some? And I'm just like, I'm preemptively chef kissing that, that tape. I mean, look. I might write it.

It might be me. It used to, this used to be my big thing. But, like, they tried so hard for so long to make anybody who wasn't Sidney Crosby better than Sidney Crosby. Drew Doughty's the best player in the world. It's starting to look like Claude Jureu's the best player in the world. What about Alex Havichin? What about Jonathan Taves? And it's like, I think it's probably just the guy that you keep saying all these other guys are better than is probably still the best player in the world.

And, like, you know, I don't know why specifically with Sidney Crosby, because it seems like any time we've ever had another definitive best player in the world, there wasn't a shitload of takes about like, okay, Mario is pretty good, but, you know. Yeah, but maybe it's Mike Madano. Exactly. Like, nobody, nobody ever tried that. So I don't know why what Cid did specifically to start that. But, like, that's why I'm fully, not only, like, prepared for that take, but I have a. pretty good idea of who's going to try and trot it out. You know, like, you can, you can get a list of the usual suspects on this one together

pretty, pretty quickly. So, um, the, the east has a little bit of separation now. Like, you could clearly see Washington, the Islanders in Pittsburgh, maybe finishing one three, and Boston, Tampa, Toronto, or once again solidified in the three spots in the Atlantic. Yeah. So Carolina, Philly, the Blue Jets. And Panthers, I mean, unless you wanted to do extend it to the Sabres, but I don't think that you should. We don't.

Like, that's your playoff race. Yeah. Your playoff race is basically, 14s for two spots. And the Blue Jackets being in that mix is a big fucking surprise. Like, I give Tororella credit. Yeah. I mean, they've done a really good job. I mean, they're playing better as this year than they did last year as a team.

They're in the red on goal differential right now. That should be said. Well, they have bad. They have two bad goals. Like, one of, one of whom got insanely hot. Excuse me. I've been told many times in the last week and a half.

Oh, I haven't heard you mention this lately. You have played extraordinarily well. Did something happen, Greg? No, I don't want to get into this again. It's fucking, I know. So let's not. But all it was. No, we know.

I was thinking a comment about the media. And then they twisted it into like, okay, we know. We know. We're good. I don't give a shit about Elvis. We're all set. We're all set.

But like, it really is a. a situation where, you know, they had their, coming into the year, you had to say Columbus had the worst tandem in the league. A guy with an 893 career save percentage, or at least the previous two years. For that question. And a guy who had never played in North America before. Corpusallow, for his lack of success in the NHL, had some amount of people going, oh, he's going to be a pretty good goalie in the league one day and may, and, you know, never showing it.

Merslickens like, who knew, nobody had any idea what he could be in the NHL, and Columbus just didn't have any other options. And for the first, however many games of the season, they were both as bad as everybody expected. Then Corpusallo goes like 940 plus for a 10 or 15 game stretch, something like that. And part of that was the team started playing really fucking good in front of him. And yeah, Merslikens has, he hasn't been like great or anything. but he's been good enough to win all these games. And so now they're in the conversation because the team in front of those guys

is making their jobs pretty easy. Yeah. And like sixth and expected goals against for the Blue Jackets. I mean, they're playing kind of next level defensively right now this season. And I mean, coming into the year, that's what you would have said their strength was.

They have Werenzky. They have Jones. If you keep them apart, you're going to have two pretty good. good defenseman on the ice for 85% of your game, so you're going to be in good shape. Yeah. This conversation brings us to a little gimmick this week. It's Ryan Lambert's playoff cut gems.

Now, is that a play on words of a recent film? A certain film about sports gambling? Oh, I don't know. Oh, the Irishman. This is a concept that I've, I can't, like, say I invented it or anything. I've heard it on a couple of podcasts. in the past. Mostly about basketball, though.

I've never heard it about hockey. But you just, you're given, like, all three of us are given $100 to spend. And we are betting on because, again, this is the NHL and nobody cares about setting odds for the NHL because nobody bets on the NHL. We don't have odds to make the playoffs, like Vegas odds to make the playoffs. But we do have odds to represent the conference in. the Stanley Cup final. So with that in mind,

you get $100 you can distribute it however you like among however many teams. If you want to put $1 on the Ottawa Senators because they're 1,000 to 1 to win the Easter conference, you can do that. Can I put my $100 in my pocket and just acknowledge that? No, you have to pick. I mean, you could put all $100. on, say, the St. Louis Blues, who are five to one to win the Western Conference, but I would advise not doing that.

Probably not. All right. I'm in. So, Sean, why don't we start with your first allotment? All right. So I think we had agreed that we were looking at the bubble teams. Was that it? No, well, that was before we...

We could look at all the teams. Because that was before we realized that there were not odds to do. just make the playoffs. I got you. All right. Well, you know what? I'm going to swing for the fences a little bit, and partly because I didn't, on my original list, I didn't have teams like, like Tampa.

I did put Tampa. And I should pick Tampa because I picked Tampa to win the cup last year in our, our predictions. But let's. They're four to one if you want to drop a few of you. I probably would, but it's going to screw up my mat. I've got five teams altogether. So I don't know how you want to, if you want to do this in chunks or if you

want to just kind of go around. Go ahead. You roll. We'll go one per person and then we'll move through it that way. Okay. So my first one, and I have a fail in this team might show up on other lists because they tend to be a team that people like us like more than the general public. And that's the Carolina Hurricanes at 10 to 1. Yeah, I think those are pretty solid odds.

So how much are you putting on them? I'm putting $25 down. 25. 25. 25. And at 10 to 1, because I, you know, this is a team with a history of either missing the playoffs. On Vegas, Vegas insider odds, we're going to lock them in right now, we should say. Yes.

Yes. So 10 to 1, so I win $250 if they win the cup, correct. If they win three rounds, right? They got to go to the cup. If they win three rounds, you're right. Yes, sorry. Greg, you're up. I'll drop 20 bucks on the Dallas Stars at 7-1.

Yep. Yeah, because, again, they fired their coach mid-season. I get it. As history shows. Okay. I am going to, I'm going to go a little bit off the board as well here. Not as much as Greg, but I'm going to take Colorado at 6 to 1, and I'm going to put $20 on them as well. All right.

And, like, we can all, like, you know, to be clear, we can all take, uh, Colorado we can all take Dallas, whatever. Yeah. Yeah, they're still on the board. Yep. My best team on my list at 7 to 1 is the penguins. I'm going to throw 25 bucks down on them and just kind of gamble that when Crosby comes back, we won't get the, the Ewing theory won't kick in. And instead, they'll be even better.

And yeah, they've looked good for the last few months. So, yeah, give me 7 to 1, not much of a long shot, but, team. Who starts game one of the Stanley Cup final in this scenario for your penguins? I don't know, but by that point, I don't care because they only have to make the final. That's exactly right. You're right. The goal tending is the big flashing warning sign on all of this for the penguins, and that would concern me.

Plus the fact that they have to get past the Islanders again, the Capitals, the Lightning or Bruins or maybe leaves, it's a tough, all right, you're talking me out of this, to the next one. Yeah, I'll take the Washington Capitals at 5 to 1, and I will put $40. How much? On the caps. 40. 40 on the caps at 5 to 1. 5 to 1, that's a big bet.

I just assume that one of the goalies will play well, and it'll probably be Holtby because he does play well in the playoffs. And I'll assume that this, you know, these four days of rest that Alex Ovechkin's getting in January will obviously lead to him winning the consmite again. So I will go $40 in the Washington Capitals. Okay. I'm going to go $30, bumping me up to a nice round total of $50,

on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Oh, hey now. I mean, they're at 4 to 1. This seems, you know, the way they're playing these days all of a sudden, again, now that the goalie can actually make a save, they're all-star goalie, I should say, can actually make a save.

Oh, yeah, they're all fucking unbelievable. Yep. You're not getting them any better odds as the year goes on. Like, that number's only going down. That's exactly right. We're locking it in at four to one for sure. You know what? I'm going to combine two of my picks because I've,

I had a real tough time at the Western Conference. Like, I was looking, it feels like all the, the teams that you would expect have the low odds that you would expect and the other teams I didn't really love any. but I'm putting down $20 each, both at 15 to 1, on the Winnipeg Jets and the Calgary Flames. And those are just some medium-longish shot swings at the fences. The Jets, good team, good goaltender,

maybe Dustin Bufflin coming back. That still seems dicey. But if he does, you know, other than the Penguins, that's probably the biggest star who could come back to a lineup and influence a team. Flames, this was a 107 point team last year. they're starting to maybe look like it again, and plus a new coach. And yeah, he's been there for a while, but it's, you know, we saw it with Craig Brewerby. Craig Brewerby came in in November.

He didn't come in in January. He came in in November. It took them up there, too, to really get it going. You know, people are talking about Sheldon Keefe. I don't have it in front of me. What's their record under Jeff Ward? It's pretty fucking good, right? It's been better, yeah.

And it takes, especially, it takes a while at the best of times, especially when it's something unexpected and weird like that where they're probably, wasn't any sort of prep in place. You know, I'm not saying I think Flames are going to win the conference, but I'll take a swing at it. Dave Ridditch plays 101 games. And, Sean, those were $20 each. $20 each. Got it.

I picked them to win the cop, so I'll pick them here. 30 bucks, 6 to 1. Who the fuck needs defense? The Toronto Maple Leafs, baby. 30 bucks. God bless you, Gregory. Let's go. Yeah, I was, I was going to, I was going to drop 15 on the Leafs.

And I did not bet on the Leafs because I, if the Leafs ever win the Stanley Cup or go to the Stanley Cup final, I will have enough good things in my life that I don't need money. So I will be running around the streets. So, cartwheeling. Can you do a cartwheel? But I will. I don't think I've ever attempted one. I'll probably learn. Yeah.

My kid can do him, but she's like nine years old. Don't try. Don't. Maybe you can look easy. Don't, yeah. I just took Toronto as well. So it's Sean. I've got $10.

I've got $10 left. And I mean, if you're going to do something like this, let's have some fun. Let's get crazy. I'm going to throw 10 bucks down on a long shot. And the only reason I'm doing this is because one of my theories, I've said this a million times. I've written in a million times. Goaltending is voodoo. Every now and then,

a team wins for no reason other than some goalie gets hot. And it's usually, you know, Jordan Biddington, that's what happened to the Blues last year. Baroubae helped. Other stuff helped, but Jordan Biddington coming out of nowhere and being great, that was the turning point.

And usually, when this happens, it's one of two things. It's either a veteran star who hasn't been that good lately but regains his old form, or it's a new, a younger goalie who just comes in and suddenly pops. So I'm going to take... Los Angeles Kings. No, not so much.

I'm going to, at $10 to $1, I'm going to take the team that currently has three goalies, all three of whom kind of match to that description. Give me the New York Rangers. Fuck it, man. Wow. Let's roll the dice. Wow. You know, Georgiev hasn't been great.

Lunkwist hasn't been great, but he's Henrik Lundquist. and if Shisterkin can come in, he look okay, night one. He's starting again. Starting again. Can he be this year's Bittington? Probably not, but 100 to 1. I'm throwing down 10 bucks. I won't even think about it if I don't win, but that's $1,000 in my pocket.

If they win, let's get crazy. Let's do it. Well, I'm not going to get that crazy, but I like your idea about goal. You also only have $10 left just in case. Right. I'm fully aware. I'm terrible with money, but good when it's fake play money. So, as you know, World Junior's just happened.

It got me thinking about the greatness of Canadian hockey. How did that go? What happened with me? Yeah, it got me thinking about the greatness of Canadian goaltending. I mean, really, it's a goaltending factory. Fuck off Finland. It's Canada's goaltending factory that we love. So obviously all that established, you want to go with a young, bright,

Canadian goaltender, the hope for the future, the guy that when we go to Beijing may in fact grab the mantle and be the starting goaltender for Team Canada. On a team with a history of great goaltending. Right, a history of great goaltending and also a history of playoff success, this team I'm talking about. And also a coach that gets a lot out of his teams in the first year he arrives with that team.

I'm of course talking about. a young plucky go-getter named Carter Hart, an old swinging bachelor named Elaine Vigno, a 25 to one chance at winning the cup. And my last $10, the last $10? It's winning the conference. Oh, winning the conference. The last $10 to my name on the Philadelphia Flyers

to make it out of the meat grinder that is, the Eastern Conference. I like it. That's pretty good. I like it too. I played it a little bit safe for... I have two more. I played it a little bit safe with my $10 bet on Vegas. They're the favorites to win the Western Conference right now. You know, I'd only make, what, 35 bucks?

Is that how that math works? Yeah, it is. But they're fucking good, man, you know? And like, they're coming together. If they can get the goal tending to stabilize. just a little bit more. I have all the confidence in the world in a team that talented up top, and especially if they do what they always do and go out and get some help at the deadline in a kind of exciting way.

Why not, right? And the other one, just because we were just talking about them, I got five bucks to throw down here, Columbus Blue Jackets. There is. It is. I won the Columbus Blue Jackets to win the Eastern Conference. If my best friend, Junis Corpus Sallow, can keep this up, we're going all the way to Vegas, baby. Let's go.

I like all these picks. I think they're all going to be right. It's going to be fun to revisit this when all of a sudden, doesn't the conference champion. You know what? I've heard it all down. I will get out a pair of scissors, and I will tape it onto my desk right now. you can hear me cutting all right folks

two things before we go I wanted to mention the hilarious that happened with David Staples who I know is a frequent target of this show sometimes he tweeted when I think of gifted I think of Orle Mureenz Harlov and McDavid

someone named T.S. Gange tweeted at him how often did you see Morenz David Staples said 15 to 20 times NTS Grange said he retired 85 years ago Yeah

Howie Moran's is a guy where when his name comes up I just filed that away That was barely hockey Like they all had sticks and a puck And it was on ice The puck was a pine cone Yeah

But like it was This is not This is not real This is fake Like I'm not joking I think the Kaiser Was still around

When he started his career So when we have that discussion, I don't know that I could, like, even if I was bullshitting a little bit, if somebody called me on it, I'd be like, oh, fuck, I guess Howie Marenz is from a billion years ago. Are you trying to say you wouldn't have claimed to have watched him 15 to 20 times? You know, I might not have. Maybe once. Maybe I saw him play in an old timers game, you know, in 1960. and he was 85 years old or whatever. But yeah, I mean, anytime you're claiming to have seen a guy who was born in the 1800s playing hockey,

I think you're going to have a bad time with it. Oh, fuck. And then the other thing, too, just real briefly, no spoilers or anything, because I don't even know what the spoilers are. I've been actively avoiding them. The Jeopardy, primetime, greatest of all time tournament is so fucking heartwarming.

Like, credible. It's, it's incredible. First of all, it's incredible. to watch those three guys answer almost every question correctly. Unless you're Brad, in which case, not so much. He is in over his head.

Mine and Ruby's theory is that he simply doesn't have the quick buzzer. The buzzer, yes. That's almost always what the problem is. But any time he's gotten a freaks, almost any time he's gotten a double jeopardy, he has shit his pants. He has

like the eyes get real big. By the way, my favorite, finished with a negative total last night. He did. In one of the games. My favorite thing actually happened in the second episode where Alex Trebek said the thing we were all thinking, which is that the thinner Brad got, the more money he won throughout his life. Like, it's demonstrably true, but also kind of a thing you don't normally point out. But the reason I wanted to bring it up is that, like, Jeopardy is one of my favorite things in life. I watched it when I was a kid eating with my family.

We never ate at the dining room table. We always ate in the living room. We always watch Jeopardy together. I still watch it. I DVR it. I watch it every night when I get a chance. It's one of those things that I feel is a shared experience for a lot of people, but we don't. It's like doing a crossword puzzle.

Like, we all do the crossword puzzle. We don't really talk about doing the crossword puzzle. We all watch Jeopardy. We don't really talk about it. To have 14 million people tune in to the first episode and celebrate this fucking thing was great. Like, that's so cool. One, it maybe means we'll get more primetime game show stunts because, like, I still remember the Who Wants to be a Millionaire Mania from the first run of those episodes. And that was fun of shit, too.

And two, it's just a celebration of everything that the show is built and through the decades and Trebek and the whole thing and Johnny Gilbert and all the shit. And again, like, the question. on these shows are so fucking hard. And to see these guys, and the greatest, the most exhilarating thing about the show so far has been, the questions have been super hard and they're super hard for these eggheads where you can see them straining it sometimes.

Yeah. That's so cool. To pull the answer from their memory banks. And it's so cool to watch. Yeah. Like, you know, when I feel like like a lot of people, when you watch Jeopardy at home, I'm like, this is jeopardy. It's not so hard.

Right? But with like, what, what are they playing for? Like a million dollars, something like that. It's truly amazing. And like, this is the thing that's really impressive to me is they're playing with all that pressure. They're getting these mega hard questions. Like, you know how Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune both have like before and after? Well, Jeopardy in the first game was like before and after and later than that or something. And you had to do a three in the middle. Yeah. And you had to do a three phrase combination. and it was like, this is so fun. These guys are just having like a breezy time with it. They're busting each other's balls a little bit.

Like Ken Jennings did the like push all in thing. And Brad's like, you know, you owe him 10% of what you win now. Like, so good. And yeah, like these guys are just absolutely kicking. But then every once in a while, there will be a category where you're like, that was too easy. This shouldn't be on. Yeah. Sean, is Alex Trebek revered as a Canadian icon, or is it like Mike Myers, because he found so much success in the States?

He don't care about him. He's very much a Canadian icon. I've never been like a huge Jeopardy guy, but we all love Alex Trebek and wish him all the best. And yeah, this is cool that they're doing this and that he's there hosting it. And the other piece of it, and I haven't watched a ton of it, but I'm familiar a little bit with these guys is it's like it'd be cool. to have the three best players ever, but from all accounts, like, all three guys are like just good guys. Like, you know, there's not like that one, like the one jerk who's a little too, like they're all just fun and people like them. And it's cool. And it's, uh, and I'm glad to hear

that it's living up to the hype and people are really enjoying it. And if they are jerks, it's like born out of being that smart and being that good at something. Um, I do wish that at the end of this run, like whoever wins, it's like Willy Wonka, where they just like hand the key is to the show. And Alex is like, that's all for me, folks. Ken Jennings is your new host. You know, that'd be pretty cool. Probably won't do it that way. Well, I mean, the hockey connection is Alex Trebek said that he wanted Alex Faust, a friend of the podcast. Yes. Friend of the podcast. To be the host of Jeopardy. I still, I, we mentioned this when Trebek got sick. I still think that the guy I would choose if it's not Ken Jennings. And I do like the idea that like a goat player

becoming the host of the show. The tournament should be is James Holdsauer. You won. Now you're the new Alex Trebett. You won. You're the new host. It's a real Santa Claus situation. If you weren't going in that direction, the guy I would pick is John Hodgman. Like, I think he'd be a really awesome host for the show.

I think he would also have that Trebek kind of winking at the camera thing sometimes about the show. And he's someone who likes knowledge and comes off as an egghead. I love to like knowledge, dude. I'm always saying this to people. Liking knowledge is cool. No, but it's true. But I think that might be the underlying thing with this whole Jeopardy bit. Is that, like, at a time when there's such a premium on being the dumbest shithead you could be in life,

and the dumbest and worst among us seem to advance the farthest to the point where anti-intellectualism is celebrated in certain circles. Some of those circles are a freaking oval office, Greg. from the orange befoam himself, the Cheeto. There it is. There he goes, folks. To, like, have something be popular and celebrated where knowledge is at a premium and learning things is at a premium is just so fucking refreshing. Yeah, we all like knowledge here, and we're always saying it to people. It's amazing the same network that brings us America's Funniest Home Videos also brings us the Jeopardy Tourment of Champions.

And with that having been said, Tom Bergeron should be the new. host of no. Oh. Yeah. But it, but I will say this. If it is Alex, or if it is Alex Fow's taking over from for Trebek, he has to announce it on this podcast. Yeah. That's the rule. That's the rule. Once you, once you've been on Puck Soup, you have to announce your biggest news on Puck Soup, which is why I was so disappointed at Anthony Wiener for not telling us all he was going to jail on Puck Soup. Can we say that Puck Soup is part of the reason? that Hillary lost? Well, you know? I mean, as good a reason as any.

All right. That's the show for this week. I'm Greg Wischinski. You can read my stuff on ESPN.com. The wish list, my column publishes every Thursday. This week's edition was the 15 most shocking moments of the season so far. But I also get into the All-Star jerseys and some of their stuff in the column as well. And you can listen to my other podcast, ESPN on Ice with Emily Kaplan, where we had a giant, Hunkin newsmaking interview with Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley this week. I'm Ryan Lambert. Sign up for the Puck Soup newsletter. I write it every Saturday.

And frankly, I'm going to probably be writing it a little bit more. And, yeah, it's four bucks a month or eight bucks if you also sign up for the puck soup bonus episodes. Like Greg said, we just did one about hockey in the 99-2000 season. We're about to record a mailbag right after this, so plenty of content coming your way on the Puck Soup Patreon. You can find me on The Athletic. Check out my stuff this week. We did a look at the eight types of mid-season turnarounds that NHL teams typically have. Everything from firing your coach to making a big trade, to having a goal to get hot, to who the hell knows, because it's the NHL and sometimes weird stuff happens,

and tried to figure out which teams that are currently. muddling along might be candidates for that sort of bounce back. So check that out. Buy my book. And yeah, that's it. Yeah. If it's a celebration of knowledge we're doing, my God, buy his book. It's got a bunch of knowledge.

If the category is history of the NHL, then my book would help a little bit. And if it's anything like any other sports category on Jeopardy, all the dwebes who end up on that show, would not ring in for one question. Yeah. This, this, this, uh,

this Harrison Ford film saved the Colorado avalanche. Oh, by the way, speaking of that Jeopardy thing, uh, Ken Jennings was asked, uh, rang in and he just said what the answer was,

but, you know, like, let's say it was Margaret. It was Margaret Thatcher, but let's say it was. And he was like, Margaret Thatcher?

And they accepted it because it was kind of in the form of a question. And I was like, you know what? Finally, like, I've always wondered what would have. I don't watch it every night, but I've always wondered what would happen if that took place and he did it. And I was like, that's sick. I love that. Perfect.

Game changer. Ruby asked me if you could bet, if you could bet no dollars on a daily double. And I guess you could, right? No, I think the, I think it's like a hundred dollar minimum, maybe. Now that I say that. I mean, they've changed the rules a lot. But I remember when I had Jeopardy for the Nintendo Entertainment System, you could, you could bet zero dollars on it. a daily double. You get at zero dollars. I just love that. I love, I love that you're like, the

game's going so well for you. You get like double jeopardy and, and ancient Peruvian cabinet making. And you're just like, I'm good. Uh, nothing. I'll just, we'll do it for funsies. Fonzie's. Jeopardy kicks ass. Goodbye, everyone. Take care, everybody. We'll talk to you. Go to the Patreon for the mailbag in the Bose episode. Thanks everybody. We'll talk to you next week. Bye. See it. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to

what if you'll commute. But we also cover movies, TV shows, it's in twos. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and Nonsense. Part 2.