Puck Soup - Playoff Implications

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

Sean and Ryan talk about the East playoff picture, the scoring race, a bad shirt, and more. JOIN OUR NEXT LIVE CALL-IN SHOW THURSDAY APRIL 4 AT 6PM PT/9PM ET! Sponsored by Gametime (download the Gametime app and use code PUCK for $20 off), Hatch (hatch.co/puck), AG1 (ag1.com/puck) and Express VPN (expressvpn.com/puck)

I'm Ryan Lambert from Elite Prospects. I'm Sean McNeu from The Athletic. And I got to tell you folks right off the bat. I watched basically no NHL hockey over the weekend. I did watch a couple of games last night. But if anything happened over the weekend in the NHL, because of NCAA stuff, I just didn't fucking see it. Sorry.

You know? Oh, well. Oh, well is right. Oh, well. You didn't miss anything. Yeah, it's just one of those, like, it's a weird time of year to be missing games, obviously. But, you know, I had other stuff to do. I was at work, you know?

Yeah. I do want to talk a little bit about the NCAA tournament. Really awesome. Like a really fun weekend of hockey. Now, I'm obviously predisposed to saying that. But, I mean, like, more so than usual. I think of the games I went to, three of the six went to overtime

and one of them was double O-T. So that's pretty cool. I got 11 of my 12 predictions from the tournament or the first two rounds, correct? I saw that. So did you, like the one mistake, was that like an Astro Boy situation where you just threw that in

to make sure people were paying attention? Yeah. You didn't want to spoil the whole thing? I mean, this is going to sound so bold. bullshit, but it's true. It's like the game that I was the most this could go either way on. Cornell versus Maine. I picked Maine instead of Cornell.

And, you know, Cornell kind of handed their lunch to them. I'm going to be honest with you. It wasn't as close. I think it was three to one or something like that. But it kind of, you know, the way Cornell was playing, it was like, yeah, yeah, you got, you got the one that's cute. That's nice. You can almost feel like you're in it with this one. You're not.

but you could almost feel like it. Other than that, I nailed it. So the Frozen 4 is set. It is number one, Boston College versus, I believe, number 10, Michigan. And then the other one is number 2BU versus number three, Denver. Okay. And Michigan beat number four Michigan State. They're, like, huge rival, their biggest rival.

in the game that sent them to the Frozen Four. So, like, no cooler way to do it, basically, for them. So, yeah, it was really cool. It's going to be an awesome Frozen Four. I think Michigan's a lot better than people kind of give them quick. They started out very slowly, which is why they were only number 10. But I, and, well, the other thing is, I believe they played Michigan State six times this year. year and last night was the second time they beat them.

Yeah. They beat them in the first game, then lost four straight. It's not, they don't ask how many. They ask when. When is, that's exactly. I mean, they absolutely do ask how many. Yeah, I mean, in my opinion, the number of games they have preferred to win against Michigan State is all six.

Uh-huh. But I guess they'll take end their fucking season as the, you know, fallback plan. It's good stuff. Yeah, man. Really fun stuff. So, pardon my ignorance. The Frozen Four, is it this coming weekend? Next weekend.

Yeah. Not this coming weekend. They don't want to run against WrestleMania, you know? I understand, yeah. That makes sense. It's the showcase of the immortals. Sure. So, you know.

But yeah, so that's next weekend in St. Paul, Minnesota. I just saw a vision of, like, so many listener hands, like, reaching towards their device. thinking that this was going to tip into wrestling talk. But it's not, it's college. No, I couldn't tell you anything that's going on over in WWE these days. So not nothing, but, you know, pretty close to. So, yeah, it's, I'm really looking forward to that Frozen 4. Like, the potential for a BCBU final is still very much in play.

Is that the one we should be rooting for? Like, would that be? Well, they're the number one and two teams in the country. kind of have been considered such for the vast majority of the season. And they're separate, like, they're each other's biggest rival. They're three miles apart on the same street in Boston. So, you know, storylines. I mean, I'm rooting for that.

That would be my prefer. I mean, I like all these teams, honestly. I'm not like anti-Michigan or Denver or anything. thing. They're really fun. Their coaches are good to talk to, all that kind of stuff. But, you know, you want to talk about wrestling. And again, the listeners are like, no. There's, the ad goes back. But, uh, but, but like just from a, from a storyline standpoint, what's better than the two best teams in the country who hate each other's fucking guts? How's, how has that season series been?

Uh, I want to say, four to one BC, but the one knocked BC. out of the bean pot, which is their big in-season tournament that they care about. But they got their measure of revenge by absolutely fucking handing it to BU in the hockey's championship. Okay. I think it was 5 to 2 or 6-1 or something like that. BC had a lot and BU had very few. Eagles are just an insanely good. team.

They're the one with Cutter Gautier. I've heard of him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good player. Probably the best player in the country. I don't have a vote for the Hobie Baker. But if I did, I would be picking Cutter Gautier. I think he has 38 goals in 40 games or something like that.

Seems good. It's a lot of goals, yeah. And I can't, I couldn't tell you the last time. I would never trade a guy like that. Well, I think the issue is I would actually try to sign a guy like that. And that was that was the flyers mistake from what I understand. Yeah. But yeah.

So that's why like if you if you want me to know what what happened with like the Panthers this weekend. All I know is they're losing a lot lately. I don't know how or why. And if you want me to know, sorry, I just don't. No excuse. I was playing video games. Oh, what are you playing these days? No, actually, I wasn't.

I went home for Easter. So I saw the in-laws and, well, saw my folks and my little nephew and everything. So that was fun. That's nice. And didn't watch a ton of hockey. We will fake it for you. Well, hey, like I said, I watched some games last night. And the games I watched last night had big kind of play.

off implications, you might say, in the Eastern Conference. Let's start there because, yeah. The Islanders beat the Flyers four to three in overtime. Yes. This game was crazy. A wild ass game. The Flyers, I think John Tortorella said as much in his press conference last night. Did you see this presser?

No, I saw that there was something going around on Twitter that everybody was looking at, but I didn't see what he actually said. I believe he, like, you know, the first question he got, he was just like soft. They played soft tonight. We have a bunch of passengers tonight, you know, that kind of thing. Okay. And just like in the emphatic way that he would say that sort of thing, you know. And I mean, you know, hard to argue in the second period.

Mm-hmm. But in the third period, they pulled their goalie very early with like three minutes left or something like that. maybe a little more. And I think it took them until like the last 20 seconds or something to score, but they were fucking pressing. 10 seconds.

10 seconds left. Martin Frost scores a goal, which, whof, that's a tough one for the Islanders. Even though they couldn't get a clear. You get the win. You can't be given up points like that. They could not get a clear.

It was amazing. Like they would, the puck would be on their stick and they would be like, What if I, like, weakly skitter this to the middle of the blue line? Surely no one will be standing there, right? Mm-hmm. But, yeah, then they scored so effortlessly and over to, like, the first time they touched the puck, it was in the back of the net, like, three seconds later.

It was crazy. Good game, though. Again, I don't think either coach would necessarily say that, but good, good fun game. Yeah. And then the other one is Detroit beat the light. in regulation, a game where they just, you want to talk about

not showing up for a period. They just didn't show up for the first period at all. They weren't even, it's like they didn't know what time the game started. I think they had like four shots on goal in the first

or something like that. But they came back to win it because, you know, again, Tampa's kind of sliding these days. And what do they care? I mean, they're in. Yep. Well, that's it.

They're in. And again, sort of doing, they're sort of doing that. We already know what it takes in the playoffs, so we're going to hit exactly as much of the gas pedal as we need. There was a little bit of a stretch where it was like, oh, these guys might even miss the playoffs.

And they're like, well, we're not going to do that. And now they're kind of in. They're have a chance to catch the Leafs, but it really doesn't matter if they do because, I mean, is there that big a difference between Boston and Florida as far as who you're in round one. Probably not. And there's six points back to the Leafs.

Let's not like, I mean, yeah, they have a chance and the way the Leafs are playing, blah, blah, blah. But again, the way the bolts are playing. Oh, no, you know what? I mixed that up earlier. I said the Bullets aren't playing great. It's the Panthers who aren't playing great. That's my mistake.

Okay. The bolts, as they were saying on the game last night, are playing really well lately. This is their first loss of law. Regulation loss of a lot. Until last night. Yep. But yeah, it's, you know, it's good shit in the Eastern Conference if you're like, if you like the stakes of every night and that kind of thing.

There's nothing to dislike. I think there's like an important game tonight as well now that I think about it. It's, I think the Islanders might be playing again. Are they? Oh, okay. Hey, let's just, uh, let's just, uh, Real quick, double back to that Flyers game. Any thoughts on Ivan Fedatav?

Fedotov, I believe. I've heard it both ways, you know, that nobody can... But on the broadcast last night... Probably here it's seven or eight ways, just in this one conversation. On the broadcast last night, they were definitely saying Fadotov. Yeah, so he... First of all, I mean, the last time that we recorded... Mm-hmm.

We didn't even know he was coming home. No, he was... And now he's played in the NHL. I think Thursday, did he play for Ciska? I think Thursday, they were like, he doesn't play for us anymore. And then Friday, they were like, he's, here's a picture of him dwarfing Danny Breyer. Yeah. Making him look like a little tiny baby.

And then, yeah, he's in the game Monday. night and kind of just like pressed into action. Again, the torterella quote was funny. He's like, I just thought Erson didn't have it tonight. So we had to, we had to go to the other guy. Well, that was it, right? Like, they, another interesting thing in that game is Erson gets pulled after one period in a two one game.

Mm-hmm. Not a four nothing. I mean, it was almost like, you don't see this from NHL coaches very much. It was kind of like the, like our old palozo used to talk about managing goalies the way you'd manage pitchers in the playoffs. Yeah. Where it's like he doesn't have it.

So, I mean, we're just, we're going to the bullpen. We got better arms. And they don't do that. Typically, you don't get a goalie pull unless guys looks awful. Yeah. And he didn't look good. but two wills against, especially when you've got a rookie making his NHL.

Like, what a strange way to make your NHL debut. Yeah, and again, like... Almost worked. Got him a point. Yeah. I would argue they didn't really, based on the way that most of that game was played, I would argue they didn't really deserve it. So they got the point out of it.

And Tortoella had nothing, but, I mean, not that he's ever going to throw the guy under the bus, but like... Well, yeah. Well, not in that situation. In the... You wouldn't think, but... Here's your first game. You're going in cold.

Dot, dot, dot. My big take, I don't know anything about goalies. Like when people are like, oh, their head movement or whatever. I'm like, okay, this all sounds fucking made up. But, okay, sure. My opinion on him, a huge guy. Yeah. Just fucking enormous.

Again, like, and not, like, we've seen... big goalies in the NHL. Sure. But it's still always, it's when you see a guy and his shoulders are like covering up the crossbar to the point where there's nothing to shoot for. And then you're like, oh, wait, he's on his knees. He's in the butterfly and is still giving absolutely nothing up top. Yeah. It's going to be a problem.

It's crazy. It's a problem. If, you know, if it all comes together, if everything else all plays out, you never know with goldenders. And we should point out this guy is, he's 27. Yeah. It's taken a while for him to come over. So sometimes, like, I don't know. In my mind, every goalie who debuts is 22.

And I just start the clock from there. And then that. For sure, yeah. Messes me. I don't know what happened to that Tim Thomas kid, but. He only played until he was 26. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah.

But still, I mean, if they've got something, 27 gives you a lot of years. Sure. Goaltending in Philadelphia, which is... And I mean, you want to talk about a team that was suddenly thrust into needing a goalie, you know? Yep, exactly. But, you know, it's funny. So people who watched World Juniors might remember the Czech goalie Michael Hrabble. He is also 6'7.

And I, you know, covering college... He plays for UMass. And I was at a game at BC, and I didn't want to wait in the huge line for the bathroom. And there's, like, a bathroom downstairs next to the visitor's locker room that's, like, for, you know, people who are down in the bowels of the arena or whatever. And he, so I went down between periods, take a whiz. And I walked by him because he was, like, coming off the ice after doing one of those, like,

interviews that, you know, with the guys upstairs or whatever. like on the headset, you know. And six-foot-seven guy in skates and full pads. Yeah. I was just like, well, I've never seen anybody that's even half that big. This is the hugest fucking guy. Like, I was, you know, I've seen him a few, more than a few times this year. And you're just like, what the fuck?

Come on. How's a guy that big? Doesn't make sense. So, Fidotov's same thing. Like, you know, again, that. picture of Danny Breyer where it's like, oh, you know,

that's Danny Breyer's father, I'm assuming. Yeah. And you're like, no, no. So, yeah, you know, hopefully good things ahead

for Fodotov. You know, always cool when a guy, like, you know, makes his debut late in the, late in the season or whatever, even like the college guys

where it's like, yeah, he's just burning a year of his contract. But it's pretty cool. Yeah. And given the wild story of him getting over

to North America is pretty cool. Do you think that in any way, and I know you're not really the draft guy, but does him getting over here somewhat unexpectedly help any of the Russian prospects as far as, you know, I was reading again today about how like some, there's a couple of Russian prospects in the draft that could go top five, but some teams don't have them on the list at all because it's,

they just don't want to deal with the hassle. And do you think, you know, does this nudge anybody or is it just, is every case different? I think probably every case is different. I mean,

the fact that he's only coming over at 27 doesn't maybe speak well to that whole thing. But like, I really, I really apologize for bringing up NCAA players this much in this episode. But Arndm Lev Shunov, who played at Michigan State this, year, as you might be able to tell by the name, it's Russian.

And I don't think that, like, that's affecting his draft stock, like, the fact that he's Russian and, you know, presumably would have to do the same kind of military service Fedotov did. I don't know what's going on with all that, you know, but, um, I, you know, as you say, Lev Shunov, in theory, should be like a top five, top eight pick in this draft. I think he's probably considered the best defenseman available, although I haven't looked at like a spreadsheet in a minute to tell you for sure. But he's certainly up there. And yeah, I don't know how all this stuff affects how he's seen.

But I know that he's really good. I don't know. It's just, yeah, it's just one of those things. You know what's kind of funny to me, at least, is I was looking up with the Fedotov. I was like, well, when was he drafted? And he was drafted in 2015. Give you a sense.

Yeah. So, you know, Connor McDavid, Jack Eichael, Mitch Martner year. But he was drafted in the seventh round, not super surprisingly given it was that long ago and didn't know if he'd even make it over. You know who else? What other goaltender was drafted in the seventh round? Actually, 11 picks after Fadotov. Joey DeCourt. Wow, there he is.

And it's kind of like, you know, another great story from this year. But it's like, Joey Decord is like the old guy who finally, finally did something in the NHL, finally cracked through after so. And meanwhile, but Odov's going to come in and, I was going to say be a Calder guy, but he wouldn't be, right? No, he's too old. He's going to be too old for. There are four games left in the season.

Well, I was saying for next year. Oh, for next year, sure, yeah. No, yeah, he's too old. Anyways, Decord is a year older when he was drafted, but I just found that interesting. No, you're right. That is interesting. It's always fun to think about that, well, at least for me anyway. I shouldn't speak for everyone else. But it's always fun for me to think about, you know, these like real late bloomer,

not even like the guys that were like, oh, he's getting his first shift at age 29 or whatever, like, as a one game call up. But these guys who like do seem to have like legitimate NHL futures that are, you know what I mean? like, I'm not trying to shit on the, like, 30-year-old guys who are making, getting their first NHL game or whatever. Like, that's a different story. But I'm always, I'm just always very interested to see a guy like, oh, no, this guy has over the course of the last nine years turned himself into a legitimate NHLer.

Yep. I always think that's really fun. But yeah, Joey DeCord. His dad is the goalie coach for Boston University. Look at this guy. Mm-hmm. We should have a game called Can Sean say something

that Ryan can't turn into a college hockey? It'd be really tough. I don't think I can. I could do it for a lot of things. Let's talk about some guys who didn't play college hockey though. Okay. Let's talk about the three-way race

at the top of the league for the Art Ross Trophy. You got Nikita Kutra. You got Nathan McKinnon. you get Connor McDavid. They are separated by one point. And, you know, Kuturov McKinnon tied Connor McDavid one point behind them with a few games fewer played. Right.

I think we were talking last week. I couldn't remember if it was on a bonus show or the main show or whatever. But we were talking about, like, ties for major, like, scoring awards. Like I think we brought up the the 0304 Rocket Richard, which was like a three-way tie with 41 goals. I looked this up. What are the, like, has there ever been a tie for the Art Ross? And there hasn't. And I'm like, that feels like it's impossible.

Okay. Has there not been, there's been at least one. But there are three tiebreakers for the Art Ross, which I didn't know about. Okay. And they are crazy. Okay. So when you say there's never been a tie, it's because there can't be a tie,

presumably. Like, it's, there will always be one winner. It's not like the Rock of Richard where three guys score the same amount of goals and they just cut the trophy into thirds and handed it. Right. That's exactly right.

The first, the first tiebreaker is the player who scores the most goals wins the Art Ross. Now, that one I knew, because the only Art Ross tie that I know of, is when a rookie Wayne Gretzky, I believe, tied with Marcel Dion in whatever year that would have been. It's 79, 80, something like that.

And Marcel Dion was awarded the Art Ross because he had more goals. And at the time, a lot of people were going, wait a second, are our assists not important? Are we not supposed to be passing the pot? I mean, a lot of people were just mad that Gretzky didn't. Yeah, of course. And that was, you know, minor controversy that I, you know, I was too young at the time, but I remember years later hearing about it that people were still, you know, anytime somebody talked about how many scoring titles Gretzky had,

there'd always be somebody going, and he should have one more, but, you know, on the stupid tiebreaker. Sure. I have no idea what the other two tiebreakers are. The other two, two should be one, in my opinion. player with fewer games played. Right. Okay.

That's simple. That's straightforward. Three, if somehow, let's say they both, you know, they both get to 130 points and they, you know, they've both played 80 games or whatever it is. Well, the third tiebreaker is which guy scored a goal earlier in the season? So if, like, McKinnon didn't score till his second game and, and, uh, whatever. Are you kidding me? No, that's, that's the third tiebreaker. Oh, that's wild.

I never knew that. Isn't that crazy? What a weird third tiebreaker. Goal. Just fucking cut the trophy in half. Would it go to like, like, are we doing this now by like seconds into the game? Like, if that. I mean, presumably if they both scored in their first game, I could look up whether they did.

but I mean I would love to see that come down to time zones I want to see the connect well so the other the other issue with this all is that McKinnon has 47 goals and Kutrov has 42 so it feels like if it does come down to a tiebreaker hand the trophy to Nathan McKinnett but but also it won't because Connor David is going to win this by 10 points. Yeah, I saw a stat over the weekend, like on November 1st or whatever. I'm not getting it exactly right. But around November 1st, he was like 130th of the league in scoring.

That rocks, man. I mean, literally doing that, like, cartoon thing where, like, the starter's pistol goes and, like, Bugs Bunny stays at the starting line looking at his watch. Yep, that's right. Can I just say on Connor McDavid, he's going to get 100. assists. I don't feel like four times ever. We're not making a big enough deal about that.

Besides him. Yeah. Like as far as it's Gretzky, Lemieux, and Orr are the only ones who've done it. And I remember back, and I know that because being a big homer back when Doug Gilmore had his huge year, he got to, I think, 97. And I feel like Adam Oates that year got to 97 as well. And at the time, people were saying, yeah, the only three guys who have ever got to 100.

And it was like, that's just such a crazy number. And that was during the 93 season when scoring was all over. Crazy. Ridiculous, yeah. To do it now. And that's, I mean, we love in sports round numbers, right? I mean, here's the roundest number that you can pretty much have. Somebody doing something and not in some obscure stat in one of the main stats is going to hit 100 and become.

not only the fourth guy to do it, but I mean, there's no, there's no Bernie Nichols hanging around in this, on this. No, it's the Mount Rushmore.

Ask anyone who the best hockey player of all time is, and all three of those guys will come up, and nobody else will. Yeah. So, I mean, I don't feel like we're making a big enough deal, but,

I mean, like if Austin Matthew gets to 70 goals, that's awesome. That's very cool. A hundred assists to me is, a different level. No, I mean, it's one of those things where

like I'd never even thought about it. You know what I mean? Where it's like a hundred. It's like like, you know, I'm sure at least a couple of those seasons happened in my lifetime, but I certainly wasn't watching the league at that point.

And again, it's just like, like you said, those are the Mount Rushmore guys. Those are the three guys where it's like, if your top three players, unless you have like Hasch in there, your top three players are those three guys in some order ever ever to put on skates and and the guys who didn't get there i'm looking at the list now so other than than mac david it's and oh by the way

bobby orr and mary lewis each did it once right it maybe is even more amazing to say like But Mario Lemieux got to this place one time in his career. His second best total was 98. So, like, I mean, that is just crazy to me. The closest other ones, Adam Oates 97, Joe Thornton had 96 in his MVP year. Gilmore was 95 in 93. So it was Lafontein. And then you get into like the Peter Stasney, Ron Francis, Paul Coffey shows up in

Like, even the list of guys to get to 90. Like, that's it. Steve Eiserman is the only other guy. Right. To get to 90 in a season. It's crazy. That's absolutely. My opinion is a good player.

It's just all, it's all Gretzky through the 80s and early 90s, getting to 100 assists. And that's it, which again kind of reminds you of how ridiculous Gretzky was. Yeah. Especially that he was doing this while also setting the all-time goals record. but man that blows back Bobby Orr one time got to this number now great Bobby Orr only played like eight seasons or whatever right so that's true it's a little

it's a little different but yeah I mean obviously what a fucking player like what else can you say you know um so yeah I thought those tiebreakers rocked I was I was very I was very much a fan fantastic yeah who scored first though. Oh yeah, I forgot I was going to look up who that was. Kutrov didn't score,

scored two goals in his first game. I wonder, maybe we can make that the tiebreaker. How many goals did you score? Like, in your first game, how many goals did you score? If that's the, if they both scored. Anyway, let's see here. McKinnon really quickly. McKinnon's first goal of the season was also in the first game.

So let's dig in a little deeper. 725 of the first period for Nathan McKinnon. That's pretty good. It's nice and early. Nikita Kutrov, 948 of the first period. So it would be a difference of two minutes and 23 seconds, Nathan McKinnon, if they somehow tie in gold. Doesn't it feel like this is the sort of thing that the NHG? I mean, clearly this tiebreaker has been on the books forever.

Yeah. Like this is not anything that anyone would put in recently. Doesn't it feel like this is the sort of thing where it's like it probably doesn't actually say in the rulebook what they mean by earliest? Right. And you could picture like Tampa being like, well, actually, I mean, his, but his came a day before. So he did score the year. And then I want to see a custody battle over the era roster. Oh, yeah, you're right.

It is the, yeah. No, I mean, that's the whole thing, right? And this would also force the league to be like, oh, maybe we need to fix that whole thing. Maybe. Because that's not right. That's a stupid way to do it before it ended up being a total disaster. I can't think of a single reason why you would do that. Anyway, why don't we take our first break and we'll come back and we'll talk about, again, the Matthews thing.

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Check it out. All right. We're back and, you know, we kind of mentioned it in passing earlier. Austin Matthews over the weekend, he got to his 60th goal of the season. And then last night he was like, ah, 61 and 62 as well. sure. Why not? You know, might as well.

Including two of the three being empty netters, which he had not done all season long. Right. So you'd love to see a player add to his skill set. Mm-hmm. Boy, I tell you that. He's growing, yeah. I tend to roll my eyes at empty-net goals, but the one last night was both a huge goal because the Leafs were in the process of blowing a 5-1-third period lead.

to a potential playoff opponent. And a hell of a goal, because he had to win a couple of puck battles. Yep. And then, uh, and then, uh,

and then snipe it from his, his own blue line. Um, there, there's not, you know, that, that was a big kid empty net goal. So,

um, yeah, that was a, uh, cool, uh, cool total that he's getting to. Doesn't look like he's going to get to 70,

unless something goes really crazy, especially if you've assumed, that he may sit a few games. Yeah, so that's the thing. Suppose he doesn't sit. He needs a goal of game for the next eight games. Yeah. Is basically, if I'm reading this standings page, right, they have eight games left.

So the thing is, do we think Austin Matthews could score a goal a game for the next couple of weeks? I personally do think that. He sure could. And especially, I mean, it's been the season where he keeps getting hat tricks. So, yeah, it absolutely could, especially if, you know, you start throwing him on the ice for those empty netters and all of that stuff. All I'm going to say is this. If he gets to 70, that's phenomenal. If he doesn't, I mean, he's still, he's already, every goal he scores now is a new Toronto Maple Leafs record, which given that this franchise is over 100 years old,

is very impressive. Just, if we finish this with 65, awesome, 66, 67, 68. Well, 66. Just not 69. Just, 66 would be the

Cap era record, though. That would be cool as well. That would be very cool. So, just not 69, man. I don't, I don't need. Okay, but like, hear me out. That is the sex.

Okay, but, but, okay. Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute, how about this? How about this? Okay, you, you, you, you say the number, and I'm going to blow you away with what I say. Okay. You say the number of goals he might finish with. It's freaking 69. Nice.

Yeah, buddy. I said, see, somebody said that number and I replied, nice. Oh, man. Because I know, because I know the, I know the funny number. Yeah. It's a pretty funny one. As numbers go, I'm laughing. There are very few numbers where I'm hearing it, I'm hearing it and I'm laughing.

Yeah. That's one of them. That one and 420 is the other one that is just. Yeah, they recently said the NHL was planning to start the playoffs on April 20th, that I was like, yeah, buddy, let's go. That was pretty cool, right, that the NHL just randomly decided to move the start of the playoffs up two days with like a few weeks notice. Well, this is the league that one of their major trophies can be decided by when you scored your first goal. That's true.

Like, none of this fucking matters. Wasn't it, I feel like this is the case, that it wasn't until like a month before the draft that they actually told us when the draft was going to be last year? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And then they get to the draft and they still don't know what the salary cap is and keeping trades and that. You know, that's a good point. You know, I was just saying this off the air. I've been playing out of the park baseball.

in my downtime the last little while here. And one of the things I like about out of the park baseball is that like if you set up, you can set up your own league and stuff like that and like make up all the stupid fucking rules you want, which in baseball I think is very cool, you know? So I can't be mad that they do it in hockey. Where it's just like, it all gets made up on the day.

It's fine. I think that's cool. You know what? I'm going to take back every bad thing I ever said about the National Hockey League. They're doing, they're just trying to keep it interesting for us, you know? Who are we to complain about that kind of thing? No, I don't, I don't do any complaining. No, no, no, not about the National Hockey League.

We didn't have this on the list, so I'm throwing you a curveball here. Uh-oh. But because we're talking about Austin Matthews, we're talking about empty-neck goals, any thoughts on the Minnesota Wild losing an overtime and not getting a loser point because they had pulled their goaltender.

Yeah, my thought is why didn't they pull the fucking goalie in regulation? What are you guys thinking? If you're going to do it in overtime, pull them in regulation. What's the fucking difference? So I'm with you and I, in fact, I tweeted out to that

essentially at that point saying like I don't understand this. I don't understand this. I don't understand why you wouldn't pull the goalie in regulation. My logic being that they're playing the Golden Knights, a team they are chasing. So it's not just about- In theory. Yeah, right.

No, it's about denying them the, yes, of course. So if by not pulling your goalie in regulation and they did have some opportunities to do it, it's not like they were pinned in their own zone for the last two months or whatever, you're essentially conceding one point to the team you're chasing. chasing. Yes. Now, putting aside the logic of pulling a goalie in overtime and, you know, versus just getting to the shootout, I mean, I think you could argue that that doesn't make sense, period. But, hey, if you think you're not a good shootout team, if you think you've got, you know, particularly good chance scoring four on three, I get it. But to not pull your goalie

in regulation against a team you're chasing, again, if they're playing the Columbus Blue Jackets, Or an Eastern conference team, yeah, of course. Then it doesn't matter whether the other team gets points. But I, like, and so I tweeted out like, you know, I'm not sure about this. And I got a couple of, like, private replies from people who were like, yeah, they screwed up. They're just wrong on this. Now. The only thing I could think of was that, like, they just felt like they had a better chance to score at four on three than five on, or six.

Six on five. Which you would. I mean, a four on three power play is a significantly better advantage than six on five. But just take the fucking point at that point. Yeah. That's it. I mean, I don't know what the, no. Factoring in not just that you're chasing this team and you're conceding a point to them, but also regulation wins is the first tiebreaker.

Mm-hmm. So, I mean, it's, I think this is. just like I know they did it like a few weeks earlier. Yeah and it worked and everyone's like their geniuses. Whoa. But it's like yeah, they're not that far. And I'm reluctant to say that because

despite despite how I may come across sometimes I don't actually think I'm smarter than the people in the NHL and so to sit there on my couch and go like I think they got the math wrong and screwed this up but I honestly at this point think they got the math wrong and screwed this

Yes. I think that's kind of undeniable. Okay. Like, again, the only thing I can think of is they really crunched the numbers and they were like, it actually doesn't benefit us to do it, you know, like, or doesn't benefit us enough to do it in regulation. Like, you know, whatever. It increases our playoff percentages by like 0.63, as opposed to if we do it in overtime, it increases them by like 0.11. I just feel like. But it doesn't make sense. Yeah, I haven't even tried to run the numbers, not that I would know how.

But it just, I mean, my gut tells me, you would have to feel like you were like an 80% favorite to score on that four on three. Totally. Again, as soon as you lose the puck, well, not necessarily, but, you know, the way it worked out, again, this isn't about like, you know, being results oriented. And yeah, they pulled the goalie and Vegas scores pretty much. right away. Right. Even if it had worked, I still think it's a mistake because they should have done it in reg. I think it's the right move to do it in regulation when you're that far behind a team.

Every point matters. And if every point doesn't matter, then what are we, why bother even doing it in overtime? The only other thing that's worth saying about this, I think, is I think at that I think at that point, they were already in single digits to make the playoffs, like percentage chance. So again, it just boils down to maybe who gives a shit. Yeah. But I mean, obviously. But if you're close and like, I mean, for the Islanders and the Flyers last night,

you could argue that the Islanders are close enough that they shouldn't be screwing around with potentially giving up points that they can earn. You have to be far away. You have to be a super long shot to consider this. Yeah. But anyways, the loser point sucks, and I applaud any team that is willing to lose. That's what I'm going to go with. Minnesota just hates the loser point.

And this was an act of civil disobedience. Yeah. Yeah. And they're right. It is dishonorable to rely on loser points. So, yeah, there you go. The other bit of news here, I guess, from the last week that I saw again. I didn't see much of anything last night or over the weekend, so what do I know?

The capitals are staying in Washington, D.C. after their little plan to move to Virginia fell through for, boy, there's a lot of finger-pointing, apparently, in Virginia politics these days. Okay. And it looks like the governor down there, Glenn Yonkin, it's going to get his ass handed to him in November. Is the way it's looking right now, apparently. Okay. So this probably isn't going to help. But the Capitals and the Wizards are staying in D.C. through 2050,

in part because the District of Columbia is cutting them a $500 million check to renovate the arena. Not a bad consolation prize. Nope. And you got a wonder? It's almost like these billionaires are playing with a stack deck and always win. Yeah, you got to wonder if maybe, just maybe, this might have been the plan all along. Hmm. Maybe.

Maybe. What do they call that a stalking horse? Something like that? You know what? I've never known what that term means. Okay, let's look it up, folks. I'm pretty sure that's what it means. Let's see here.

A stalking horse is a figure used to test a concept or mount a challenge anonymously on behalf of a third party. So it's not, I guess it's not because they're not a third party. If the idea proves popular or viable, the third party can declare its interest and advance the concept with little risk of failure. Okay, so it looks like that's not what a stalking horse means, and I'm stupid. It happens. All right. This show is educational. It has all, the DC has also approved the expansion of monumental commercial and business offerings in the adjacent gallery place shopping center with 200,000 square feet of new space.

Renovations to the arena, this is from a sport cow. Renovations to the arena will be centered on improving seating and hospitality offerings, modernization and digital infrastructure enhancements, and increasing the potential for fan engagement. that all sounds real. That, to me, sounds like they're putting a sportsbook in. Yeah. I got to say, when it comes to increasing the potential for fan engagement, at least half that $500 million is going to that.

Yeah. I mean, that's what's more important than increasing the potential for fan engagement. I'm often at a professional sporting event going. I mean, I'm engaged, but I do feel like my potential engagement could be increased. Could be increased. Yeah, absolutely. Specifically by more opportunities to be grabbed by the ankles and held upside down and shaken until coins. Well, I mean, there's that, but there's also the digital infrastructure enhancements.

Hmm. Okay. You know? You want to talk about fan engagement. If I could just sit at my seat and gamble away my child's college savings on who would win the next face off, oh, I would be so engaged. Yeah, man. You know So at the

At the NCAA games There's a There's a They just play the same like Bullshit little videos on the scoreboard At the same time of every game like you know Third media time out of the second period It's always this video

That kind of thing And there's one I want to get your take on this There's one that is like We asked a hundred student athletes What a snow snowman should be afraid of. And this is the exact same video with the exact same, like, family feud style question as last year.

And maybe even before that, I don't remember now. But I just remember being like, we didn't come up with a new one of these, huh? Okay. Great. So, what do you think they said a snowman should be afraid of? The sun? Okay, yeah, that was in there. What else?

Um, like warm temperatures. Yep, that's right. Uh, bratty teenagers. Nope, that wasn't on there. Uh, there was, basically it boiled down to the sun, summer, warm temperatures melting. And I'm like, these are the same fucking thing. I was going to say, that's, all right. It's too, it's too specific of a question.

Yeah. Like, oh, what would an apple not like? And it's like being eaten. getting a bite taken out of it. Being chewed, yeah. Yeah, it's just like, okay, sure. Well, you know what? Really, really gotten my, got my crot.

As a family feud that it was me. But as a sports writer who spends most of my time just rephrasing the exact same take, with slightly different words. Not bad. They should be afraid of, be afraid of the ambient temperature. Right. No, I know. Yeah, no.

Yeah. Having the molecules shake a little. That's right. See, this is why me being bad at like high school science is hurting me all of a sudden. What's the process of like, it's not just called melting, is it? Of turning a solid to a liquid. I mean, there's maybe a fancy your name. I think it's worse.

You know what? I think you're right. I'm not going to look up what it is though. Because I don't want to be proven wrong. We've already taught people enough. This has already become too much. That's exactly right. Let's get to the wrestling talk.

Okay. Randy Orton, what do we think? That guy hits the RKO out of nowhere. Does he do anything else interesting? Well, no, I mean. No, that's it. One thing. Yeah. But it works for him.

It's worked for him for him for 25 fucking years. You know what, actually, won't we take one more break and then we'll be back to talk about a couple other things. Our next sponsor this week is game time. You shouldn't have to worry when you buy. tickets to your next big event. And you won't with GameTime. I was recently on the GameTime app and I was looking, browsing for tickets for a event near my place, a big concert.

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Right now, Hatch is offering our listeners $20 off your purchase. of the Hatch Restore and free shipping at Hatch.com. Visit Hatch.com slash puck to get $20 off and free shipping, Hatch.com slash puck. One thing I guess we should mention is that, you know, we're coming up on a thousand games played for Jeff Skinner.

John Carlson just hit it the other day. I think Nick Letty hit it since the last time we recorded, or maybe right around the same time we recorded. and I get to say, I can't be playing 20 questions for every one of these guys. Sure. Three in the last two weeks, that's too much.

We'd run out of guys. Honestly, I don't think that's how the math works. Yeah. But I mean, you know what? Actually, if we did two per guy, I mean, God, it's just crazy that, like,

it's happening so much. I don't know. And to me, let's see, let's see, how many more guys we got coming up. I don't think there's any more this season,

I want to say. But you know what? Eric Carlson is six away, so he'll probably hit it this year. That's bananas. And then the guys after that, a bunch early next year, Luke Shen, Tyler Myers, Eric Johnson,

Michael Backland, Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Luke Shen. That's a fun one. I don't know. Yeah. He's one of those guys where it's like, yeah, he might not be in the league. He probably will be. But, you know, he's gotten into 55 games this year.

You can't argue with that. But the other guy where is it's like Eric Johnson. I don't know if I don't know how much more run out he has. And Luke Shin has, like he signed a multi-year. your contract. So I'm pretty sure, yeah. In Nashville. So I'm pretty sure he will stick around.

That'll be cool. And also, I'm the cryptkeeper. I'm doing the old guy blowing into dust face right now, hearing the. Yeah, I mean, a thousand games. When, when, uh, remember that hockey night in Canada game where he like shut down of getting Malkin that one time? And everyone's like, well, this is a future fucking hall of fame right here. Didn't work out that way, but a thousand games later, can't argue.

with it, you know. But yeah. I just wanted to mention that just in case people were like, they haven't played, you know, whatever. I don't think anybody's like demanding it. But anyway, do you have any thoughts on Ryan Hartman getting three games for throwing a stick at an official? You can't do that. Now, I don't know that he's through it.

In the direction of an official, I think. That's correct. The way to put it. If he had thrown the stick and. and hit or come all that close to hitting the official, I think it's, I mean, at that point, the 10-game abusive officials kicks in. But even, I mean, you can't allow for even the perception that that's okay.

So three games, I guess, is fine. No, I'm trying to look back here and find out, who is the guy, that we're, oh, maybe it was the week you were off. We were talking about, like, a guy getting in trouble with the refs. Oh, it was, uh, who was it? Oh, John Tortorella getting thrown out of the game and the flyer's going to get more, more penalties because of it. Hmm.

I haven't looked into it, but, you know, at least, I guess the good news for Ryan Hartman is, you know, he doesn't have too many games left this season. Yeah. For the refs to have it out for him. Well, wasn't it, uh, And maybe you guys mentioned this, but that after the Chris Wyman thing, was he the one who, yeah, that took the big suspension that the Flames, I think, were the most penalized team in the league for, I think, multiple years after that. So, flames fans love to point out. I just found it.

A guy made like an infographic almost. You could say after we mentioned it, because he was like, oh, I've never heard about this. The Wydenman thing was in 2016. Yeah. And it was Dennis Weidman, by the way, not Chris Weidman. Yes, that's right. So he made an infographic. I'll just read it here.

On January 27th, 2016, Dennis Weidman, cross-checked alignsman. He was suspended 20 games. He said he was woozy. The suspension was reduced to 10 games on an appeal. Why bring it up now? Because after that happened, here are some notable Calgary Flame stats from that season. Minor penalties per game before the incident, 2.6. fewest in the NHL.

Minor penalties after that incident, 3.86 10th in the NHL. Largest change in minor penalties in the entire NHL plus. 1-26, obviously the most. The NHL average was that penalties increased 0.14 per game over that time. So this is a guy, data-driven hockey, this guy named Nick. Thank you for sending this along. Run the numbers on the Tortorella thing for me, and then get back to me, you know?

I'm curious to see if that's had any effect. I've been assured that NHL officials would never hold on. They would never do that. So that's not a thing that would ever happen. It simply wouldn't happen. Can't put it any. And if it does happen too much, John Tortarillo, just hold up your fingers on the bench

and let the camera catch you doing that. and then that will cause the referees to stop calling penalties on you. Mm-hmm. I'm going to die mad about that. I made that decision. Oh, I thought you were saying to indicate his support for the tribal chief, Roman rain. Well, there's that day. One's up.

I mean, two birds, one stole. That's me, baby. Really? That's right. The only other thing I wanted to talk about this week, really, is that the Canucks officially qualified for the playoffs. We're at the point of the season where teams are officially. in, even if their spots aren't locked.

What teams are in right now? Do you know off the top of your head? No, because I don't care. I don't care who has officially clinched until, like, the final week. But I'm going to say, let's see, New York, Carolina, Boston, Florida, Colorado, Dallas, Vancouver. He nailed it. Did I really? Yeah, that's the exact.

Two top teams from each of the other divisions. Look at me. Yep. Yep, that's right. And I think the Leafs could have last night if like certain things it happens. That looks like it's correct just based on how bad the rest of the East is. Do you, I don't know, okay, I didn't have this on the thing. So whatever, but this whole thing about like this is why you shouldn't expand the playoffs and then other people going, no, this is why you should expand the playoffs.

Right, yeah. Because here's the third option. contract the playoffs. Yeah. My theory here, if you don't get to X number of points in the season, you don't make it. That's it. But everybody that does get to that point total, like remember the year everybody in the East had like 100 points or whatever? Everybody that does get to, let's say it's 98 points, you're in.

I don't care how many of you there are. There can't be that many, obviously. but like everybody who gets there, you're in. Everybody who's below 98 points, should have tried winning more fucking games. I don't know what to tell you. This is a good fix. It's a good idea.

Yeah, he stands by. All I will say, without getting into the whole debate about playoff format, the argument in favor of expanding the playoffs has never been that there are just too many good teams. And we need to playoff spots.

So the fact that the flyers and capitals aren't very good, is not a plus or a minus as far as, as far as expanding the playoffs. Other than to say, if you think the Flyers and Capitals are really bad, then good. Let them play a play in round against the also not very good Detroit, New York, while the rest of us eat popcorn and cheer. Like, why not? You're not sacrificing the sanctity of anything by doing that.

I'm still on team. Expand the playoffs, but I don't think anything happening. this season moves the needle on that argument. One way. I looked it up last year. Only 13 teams had 98 points. This idea might not work. 98 might maybe can't be the cut.

I'm just going to suggest that maybe just maybe in a league where the GMs vote on all the rules based on whatever makes them look best, maybe you're going to have an uphill climb. It looks like 95 gets you to 16 pretty much every year. Okay. Looks like that. Now, now that I'm looking not 2018-19, this year, I mean, you know, paces and all that, I don't have the spreadsheet open. But 95, there are currently 10 teams there already. And then it's basically 600, right? 600 gets you to 96.

Yeah. So, yeah, right now it looks like 13 teams are on pace for that. Anyway, my idea is I don't want to People always say oh the playoffs are too long The playoffs are too long We shouldn't be ending in June I have a great fucking fix for you Yeah

Eight teams make the playoffs There you go And they're best you know You can make them best to nine Best of 13 something like that This is a good fix Anyway the reason I bring this up is We talk all the time about teams

With like a loser mindset you know Mm-hmm the Vancouver Canucks selling t-shirts with their like clinched logo on it or whatever to indicate that they clinched a playoff birth

this is fucking loser mindset to the maximum man they let half the teams in the league into the playoffs who gives a shit now is this actually the Canucks or is this like some, this is one of these like off brand. I'm pretty, you know what?

I'm scrolling through here. I'm trying to find it. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, no, there, here it is. Yeah. They say it's not official until it's on a T-shirt. Limited edition, 24, playoffs, clinched shirts are here. Get yours.

Van Canucks.com slash clinch tea. Man. Yeah, that sucks. I, I, I, I, Yes, it does. Why would you buy that shirt? Like, if you... You know what?

I clicked on it. 404 not found. Yeah. Okay. Maybe because it's just sold out. You think of that? It's possible. It's possible.

Limited edition. Or it's everybody replying going, uh, cringe. Very cool shirt. Does it say first round exit on the back? I mean, what? If you've got, Holy fuck, this is embarrassing.

I was going to say $20. I'm assuming that, I mean, it's a plain basic t-shirt, so it's probably at least $40. If you've got some Vancouver Canucks shirt money in your budget, why wouldn't you wait? See how the season goes, you know? Yeah, man, they might get out of the first round. You can buy a shirt for that. I mean, this is like I remember way back when, you know, I used to be a big. baseball fan whose team actually did anything in the playoffs.

But like, yeah, you'd buy like a shirt, ALDS winners. And you're like, yeah, but just wait two weeks, man. See how it goes. Maybe you can get a better one. Yeah. This is just. And then if you buy a Vancouver, like an ALDS winners shirt and start wearing it around, loser's shit.

What are you doing? Don't do that. Like, if that's as far as they get and you want to go at that point, grab it, I guess. but I don't know. It's tough, man. It's really tough. I'm clicking around on their website. I'm really trying to track this shirt down.

I think it's under new arrivals, maybe. Yeah, I'm not seeing it. They wised up here. They were like our bad. Yeah. I'm going to go ahead and say sold out. It's possible. Yeah, I mean, the quote tweets are really mean.

They're beating their ass in the QTs as. they say. Yeah. This is, this is brutal. Anyone who actually buys one of these deserves to be

clowned on accordingly, that's right. Yeah. I saw that though and I was like, just for making the playoffs. Look, I get it.

It's been a long time. When the fucking sabers finally make the playoffs, they're going to be selling a lot more than T-shirts. I'm pretty confident in that in saying that. That having been said,

however, this sucks. Yeah. Very funny. Don't. This is one of those things. You pay, if every team in the league just paid me like, I don't know, a couple thousand bucks a year and they just were like, this is a design idea for a shirt we have. Just run it by me, you know?

I'd save them a lot of, a lot of production costs and a lot of, what you call it, like embarrassment. Yeah. I just be like, don't do that. What are you thinking? Again, I like to think of it this way. Like, even if you wanted to do like, the number of layers you had to go through. Suret of like the Canucks season or whatever. You want to celebrate a great season, go ahead.

But like to be celebrating clinching is such a like ephemeral two weeks. Loser-brained thing, absolutely. There you are. Can't, uh, can't win them all, unfortunately. Apparently not. That's just my opinion. opinion. But yeah. Anyway, why don't we wrap it up there? Let's hit him with the plugs. Find me at the athletic. I have lots of written content there.

Wow. Is that true? Including this week, I think I'm going to be doing a piece on my quasi-annual attempt to think of really nice things to say about all the loser teams that are out there that have nothing to play for even down the stretch in a league where even the flyers and islanders and St. Louis Blues are still kind of in it. If your team is out. Wink, yep. Then I'm going to pump your tires a little bit, as they say. And then you can find me with Sean Gentile on the Athletic Hockey Show podcast. We'll have Frankie tomorrow. Wow.

One non-betrayer on the show next week. Is that even allowed? It's the maximum. Okay, that actually makes a lot of sense. For me, E.P.Ringside.com and, you know, use the code I love EP. You get an extra three months tacked on to the end of your 12-month subscription. It only works on an annual subscription. But yeah, you go over there.

I have a whole bunch of coverage of the NCAA tournament. I was on site for two of the. regional for the Springfield and Providence regionals. And, you know, got a lot of good stuff out of the coaches and players and all that kind of thing. And as I mentioned earlier, I will have continuing coverage. I'll be in St. Paul for the Frozen Four. And, yeah, like I said, it's going to be really good Frozen Four, I think, really fun stuff. So check all that out.

And then also over there, people, you know, we're getting to, you know, we're getting to, you you know, prospect grading time or whatever. And rankings and all that are just weeks, days away from coming out. I know there was a big Zoom meeting the other day of all the scouts to put together, I think, our top 90 or something like that. So lots, lots going on over at EP. This is the time of year to sign up. And, yeah, check it all out.

And then patreon.com slash pox soup. We do bonus episodes. We do mail bags. and this Thursday night at 9 p.m. Eastern, if you sign up for the Patreon, you can hop over on the Discord, and we will have a live call-in show where you can call in and ask me and Sean and Gorp

and the other Sean, all kinds of questions and force us to play your diabolical little game shows that don't really work as well as the ones we come up with for some reason. And can we just say for the record? Mm-hmm. feel free to call in without a game show for us. If you've got one, go ahead, but don't,

I feel like the last few call-in shows, almost everybody is calling in with a game. Yeah. It's perfectly fine to call in and just have a question or a comment or a topic. Don't feel like we have to play a game on every single call. It gets tedious.

I'm just going to say it. Some of them are very creative. But it's not the call-in game show night. It's just the call-in show. And I'd hate to think that anybody is out there not calling in just because they haven't prepared a whole elaborate, researched little game to play. That's exactly right. Let's dial down the games this week. It's true.

With that having been said, me and Sean will prepare a game show for listeners to play. I think that's the better way to play it, quite frankly. is that we come up with the games and then you guys play it. Because we have, well, I have a prize to give away. Nobody won my beautiful prize last week of a Don Cherry music CD, which I bought off Discogs for $8. But yeah, if you win, you could get, what is it called? Rockam-Soccom techno, I think it's called.

That's exactly. I'm looking at the CD, it's just like across the room on a shelf right now. But I have a CD copy of Rockham Sockham Techno that I will send to you if you can win one of our games. But here's the thing, folks. You've got to beat Sean at it. Not easy. This is a hard one. Especially if I'm playing for the CD.

I'm going to be motivated. That's exactly right. Yeah, like I said, we always have a lot of fun with that, especially when they're not making us play game shows that are either. in my recollection they were either like too hard and weren't fun or too easy and weren't fun. So. Yeah. Can't win them all. But yeah, check all that out.

Patreon.com slash puck soup. And we will talk to you next week. Thank you so much for listening. Goodbye. Bye.